Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Sarah McLaughlin
“Last week, anti-Israel activist group Palestine Action won a victory in the courts as the High Court of Justice in London declared the government’s 2025 ban on the group disproportionate and unlawful. The ruling could have major implications for free expression in the United Kingdom given how widely and aggressively the ban on Palestine Action was imposed last year. Ultimately, the ban wasn’t just about the group itself or its conduct but a much broader range of speech about the group — all enforced under anti-terror legislation.” (02/19/26)
“The Commission of Fine Arts has unanimously approved plans for President Donald Trump’s almost 90,000-square-foot White House ballroom plans, the first hurdle in starting the building project. The commission, whose members were all appointed by Trump, including his executive assistant, Chamberlain Harris, 26. The original architect of the ballroom recused himself from the vote. Trump fired all the previous members in October. But now, the project must win approval from the National Capital Planning Commission, which could vote on March 5.” (02/19/26)
“Israeli forces, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups have both committed serious violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza and carried out atrocity crimes, a U.N. report published on Thursday said. Intensified Israeli attacks and the forcible transfer of Palestinians appeared aimed at a permanent demographic shift in Gaza ‘raising concerns over ethnic cleansing,’ the report by the U.N. human rights office said. The holding and mistreatment of hostages by the Hamas Islamist militant group may amount to war crimes, it said.” (02/19/26)
“Who are you to say? is a way of saying that you (or I) have no right to judge other people, nor to judge actions. As it is applied today, especially if the people whose actions you are judging are of a different ethnicity, ‘race’ (skin color), cultural background, nation, or even sex. It ties back to a statement by Jesus the Christ. It is perhaps the most twisted of any of His quotes: ‘Judge not, lest ye be judged.’ (King James version) It is taken out of context to make judging other people, their actions, and their character a sin. In context, it is clear that He is teaching teaching something else.” (02/18/26)
