Israel

Israel’s military has begun injecting “high-flow” seawater into Hamas-built tunnels beneath the Gaza Strip as part of its attempt to “neutralize terrorist infrastructures.”On 30 January, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed that the plan to flood tunnels under the Gaza Strip, a strategy that has been the subject of rumours since December, is being implemented at a number of undisclosed locations. The IDF’s statement added that the move was a “significant engineering and technological breakthrough” and that locations…

Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. took to the 2024 Grammys stage to pay tribute to the victims of the Supernova music festival massacre that launched the Israel–Hamas war on Oct. 7, 2023. “Tonight, we celebrate the world of music,” he said. “Every one of us, on matter where we’re from, is united by the shared experience of music. It brings us together like nothing else can and that’s why music must always be our safe space. When that’s violated, it strikes at the very core of who we are.”…

Suddenly, the ground beneath our feet doesn’t feel so solid. That’s because as 2024 kicked off, the topic of tunnels began to come up again and again. They can be dangerous or just baffling, their scale often impressive (and sometimes disputed). A few remain works in progress: TikToker @engineer.everything, nicknamed “TikTok tunnel girl,” confirmed to media last month that city officials in her Virginia town halted a digging project underneath her home, which had gone viral on the platform since she began…

The music rights company BMG is parting ways with the Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters over comments he made about Israel, Ukraine and the United States, Variety reported on Monday.The Germany-based company had signed a publishing agreement with the 80-year-old musician in 2016 and was scheduled to release a newly recorded version of Pink Floyd’s 1973 album Dark Side of the Moon last year, but ultimately scrapped the release upon the hiring of Thomas Coesfeld as CEO. The re-recording was ultimately released by the…

Music rights company BMG is preparing to split entirely from Roger Waters following controversial comments he made on Israel, Ukraine, and the United States, Variety reports. According to the publication, the Pink Floyd co-founder and German-based company signed a publishing agreement in 2016 and had plans to release a re-recorded version of the band’s 1973 album Dark Side of the Moon last year. However, the deal was tossed after Thomas Coesfeld was hired as CEO on July 1, 2023, and the record was released by…

Nancy Pelosi suggested that Russia may be funding pro-Palestinian protesters who have been interrupting Democratic campaign events, saying that some calling for a ceasefire are promoting “Putin’s message.” Protesters disrupted Pelosi’s appearance in Seattle on Thursday to call for an end to Israel‘s assault on Palestine. Vocal demonstrators have also been appearing regularly at President Joe Biden’s events. Pelosi said that she would like the FBI to investigate whether Russia is financing these groups. “I’ve…

Once every year, a select group of nuclear, climate and technology experts assemble to determine where to place the hands of the Doomsday Clock. Presented by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the Doomsday Clock is a visual metaphor for humanity's proximity to catastrophe. It measures our collective peril in minutes and seconds to midnight, and we don't want to strike 12. In 2023, the expert group brought the clock the closest it has ever been to midnight: 90 seconds. On January 23 2024, the Doomsday Clock was…

The International Court of Justice has found that there is “plausible” evidence to suggest Israel may have committed acts of genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and is ordering the nation to take “take all measures within its power” to prevent violations of the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention. The highly anticipated ruling did not include a demand for an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s ongoing military offensive against the Gaza Strip.  Earlier this month, the court, based in The Hague,…

Melissa Barrera seems remarkably composed for someone navigating one of the most trying periods of their personal and professional lives. You’ve probably seen the headlines: The rising star of Vida, In the Heights, and the Scream films was fired from the horror franchise and falsely branded antisemitic for a series of Instagram posts calling attention to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza that’s claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people. She subsequently released a statement saying, in part, “I condemn…

In 2015, I directed the American premiere of an Israeli play that grapples with Gaza — a play I could never direct today.Gilad Evron’s “Ulysses on Bottles” centers on Izakov, a Jewish Israeli lawyer representing two clients: a Palestinian teacher, nicknamed Ulysses, arrested by Israel for trying to reach Gaza on a raft made of plastic bottles in hopes of bringing Russian literature to the strip, and an Israeli defense official, Seinfeld, seeking advice about whether Israel’s blockade of Gaza could implicate the country…