Drop Site:

Microsoft has quietly implemented a policy blocking employee emails containing the words “Palestine,” “Gaza,” or “genocide” on its internal Exchange servers, according to No Azure for Apartheid, a group of pro-Palestine Microsoft employees. The automated filter, which silently prevents such emails from reaching recipients was first detected on Wednesday—just after Microsoft’s Build developer conference faced repeated disruptions by the activist group.

…

The terms “Israel” and “P4lestine” do not trigger a block, the group said. Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Guardian:

Israeli troops have fired “warning shots” at a group of 25 diplomats who were visiting Jenin in the Israel-occupied West Bank on an official mission organised by the Palestinian Authority to observe the humanitarian situation there.

…

The delegation comprised ambassadors and diplomats representing 31 countries, including Italy, Canada, Egypt, Jordan and the UK.

The IDF said it regretted “the inconvenience caused” …

I am fairly sure I didn’t read the city names other than Moscow when I was here in 2018, or if I did it was via Google Translate. I didn’t think about the hierarchy.

This is the Belarusian side of Agnieszka Holland’s Green Border. It’s a beautiful area, including a national park with old growth forest. It is within this forest that refugees are suffering and dying in order to reach the EU.

I walked by this street sign, stopped, thinking it looked strangely familiar, then realized I could read it. I’ve been having this experience continually. Being able to read simple words rather than having all meaning opaque really opens up the world of course.