Hamas has accepted a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. The U.S.-supported resolution passed Monday on a vote of 14 to 0, after Russia abstained. Its passage came after the Biden administration vetoed three previous resolutions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour called the resolution a “step in the right direction” and demanded a permanent ceasefire.

Riyad Mansour: “Our position has been always to have an immediate ceasefire, to stop the killing of our people. So this resolution is a step in that direction. … The proof is in the details. And we want to see that this resolution to be implemented, beginning with the ceasefire, and that this ceasefire to be permanent. We do not want to see the continuation of fighting.”

In a statement, Hamas said it would accept the ceasefire resolution and was ready to work with mediators to engage in indirect negotiations with Israel. Top U.S. officials have said Israel would accept the plan — contradicting statements by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Meanwhile, there’s been no letup in Israel’s assault. Following the resolution’s passage, Israeli attacks have killed at least 11 people in northern and central Gaza.

This all comes as world leaders and top aid officials are gathered in Jordan for an emergency humanitarian summit on Gaza. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are attending the summit. Israel was reportedly not invited.

In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces raided the Al-Far’a refugee camp Monday, killing at least three people, including 15-year-old Palestinian teenager Mahmoud Al-Nabrisi. This is a resident of the Al-Far’a camp.

Abu Odeh: “They raided the house and damaged everything, and the house and the ceiling, everything. They ruined the washer and refrigerator, the bathroom, not leaving anything in it. They are terrorists and do not care for anyone.”

Israeli forces have also arrested multiple children in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem in recent days. Since October 7, Israel has killed over 530 Palestinians in the West Bank and arrested over 9,000.

Here in the U.S., a federal court heard arguments Monday in an appeal to a lawsuit accusing top Biden administration officials of complicity in genocide. The case at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was brought by Palestinians and human rights groups, including Defense for Children International–Palestine. The suit seeks to end U.S. military and diplomatic support to Israel during its assault on the Gaza Strip. It names as defendants President Joseph Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Monday’s oral arguments were presented by Katie Gallagher, a staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights.

Katie Gallagher: “Your Honor, what this case presents is a clear allegation, a well-pled allegation, of violations of binding law, the duty to prevent genocide, and aiding and abetting genocide. Those are clearly established in law.”

In California, police arrested more than 20 peace activists Monday evening as they staged a protest on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles. The violent arrests came after students held a funeral procession for the more than 37,000 Palestinians killed by Israel’s assault. This comes just days ahead of UCLA’s commencement, when scores of student protesters facing disciplinary hearings may be prohibited from joining graduation ceremonies, and just weeks after campus police and security officers refused to intervene as pro-Israel counterprotesters, armed with sticks, metal rods and fireworks, attacked students at a Gaza peace encampment.

A federal jury in Florida has ordered Chiquita Brands International to pay over $38 million in damages to the families of eight Colombian men who were killed by paramilitaries that the banana giant funded. Chiquita previously pleaded guilty to paying the far-right United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia paramilitary group, or AUC, $1.7 million from 2001 to 2004, which Chiquita argued it did to protect its employees. The AUC has been found responsible for committing mass human rights abuses and murdering civilians from 1997 to 2006. EarthRights International, which helped represent the plaintiffs, said in a statement, “This verdict sends a powerful message to corporations everywhere: profiting from human rights abuses will not go unpunished. These families, victimized by armed groups and corporations, asserted their power and prevailed in the judicial process.”

Belgium’s prime minister has formally resigned following a surge of support for far-right candidates on Sunday, when Belgian voters cast ballots in general, regional and European elections. The right-wing anti-immigrant New Flemish Alliance will lead negotiations to form a coalition government. This came as part of a wave of gains by Eurosceptic and far-right parties in EU elections over the weekend. We’ll have more on those elections and the rise of the far right in France after headlines.

Newly published audio reveals Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito questioning whether the United States can overcome its polarized political divide — and appearing to endorse a Christian theocracy. Alito made the comments at the annual dinner of the Supreme Court Historical Society on June 3. The audio was secretly recorded by documentarian Lauren Windsor, who posed as a conservative activist. In the recording, Justice Alito agrees when Windsor says she hopes to “return our country to a place of godliness.” Alito also appears to rule out compromise between polarized political factions.

Justice Samuel Alito: “One side or the other is going to win. I don’t know. I mean, there can be a way of living together peacefully, but it’s difficult, you know, because there are differences on fundamental things that really can’t be compromised. They really can’t be compromised. So, it’s not like you’re going to split the difference.”

In a separate recording from the same event, Justice Alito’s wife, Martha-Ann Alito, complains about rainbow flags during Pride Month, quotes at length from the Bible, assails feminists as “feminazis” and boasts of her “German heritage.”

In May, Justice Alito told Congress that he will not recuse himself from cases involving Donald Trump and the January 6 Capitol insurrection after photos emerged of two flags associated with election deniers flying in front of his homes in Virginia and New Jersey. 

Donald Trump sat for a virtual interview Monday with a New York probation officer ahead of his July 11 sentencing for his conviction on 34 felony counts of conspiring to interfere with the 2016 election. In other Trump news, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee held an outdoor Las Vegas rally Sunday. As temperatures soared above 100 degrees in the desert city, Trump joked to his supporters they should not die before they are able to vote for him.

Donald Trump: “Isn’t that breeze nice? Do you feel the breeze? Because I don’t want anybody going on me. We need every voter. I don’t care about you. I just want your vote. I don’t care.”

Six rallygoers had to be taken to a hospital, and another two dozen received on-site medical attention due to the intense heat.

Meanwhile, in Arizona, Rudy Giuliani was booked and posted a $10,000 bond in the state’s criminal case involving the use of fake electors to overturn Trump’s 2020 loss.

Jury deliberations are underway in Hunter Biden’s gun trial. The president’s son is accused of illegally purchasing a gun at a time when he was using drugs.
Hunter Biden’s defense team argued he was in recovery and not a drug user at the time. If convicted, he could face up to 25 years in prison, though would likely receive a much lighter sentence.

The Reverend James Lawson has died at the age of 95. Lawson was a godfather of the civil rights movement whom Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once called the “the leading theorist and strategist of nonviolence in the world.” During the Korean War in the 1950s, James Lawson was imprisoned for refusing to be drafted into the U.S. Army. He was later expelled from Vanderbilt University Divinity School for helping to organize lunch counter sit-in protests against segregation. As a missionary in India, Lawson studied Mahatma Gandhi’s principles of nonviolence; he would go on to teach nonviolent civil disobedience tactics to rank-and-file activists in the civil rights movement. In 2020, Reverend Lawson was among speakers at the funeral of Congressmember John Lewis at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.

Rev. James Lawson Jr.: “We will not be quiet as long as our nation continues to be the most violent culture in the history of humankind. We will not be quiet as long as our economy is shaped not by freedom but by plantation capitalism that continues to cause domination and control rather than access and liberty and equality for all.”

Click here to see our interviews with Rev. James Lawson.