Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has proposed legislation that would change Israel’s basic laws to define it as the home of the “Jewish people” only. ● Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting on Sunday that the draft basic law is meant to clarify that Israel is “the nation state of the Jewish people.” Israel “provides full equal rights, individual rights, to all its citizens, but it is the nation state of one people only – the Jewish people – and of no other people. And therefore, in order to bolster the status of the state of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people, I intend to submit a basic law that will anchor this status,” he said. Netanyahu stressed that the move is vital as Israel’s legitimacy is “under a constant and increasing assault from abroad and at home.”

There were fatalities among both Kiev loyalists and local militia members after governmental troops renewed their crackdown on the defiant eastern Ukrainian protester stronghold of Slavyansk. The death toll may be over 20. There was a shooting on the outskirts of Slavyansk as pro-government troops raided a protester checkpoint on Monday. A militia HQ spokesman as many as 20 fighters of the self-defense troops may have been killed in the latest clashes, according to Interfax. Slavyansk city hospital reported admitting seven injured during the morning. Two of them, suffering from gunshot wounds, died in hospital. The Ukrainian Interior Ministry said four of its troops were killed and some 30 others injured in Slavyansk during Monday’s attack. There are also casualties among the civilian population of the city, the ministry added.

South China Morning Post: Four Ukrainian troops killed in offensive on rebel-held stronghold of Slavyansk
Jason Ditz: 10 Killed as Ukraine Army Attacks Eastern City of Kramatorsk

Now that the situation in Ukraine has officially been upgraded to "war", what really happens on the ground will remain largely wrapped by the fog of war on either side, with just one thing assured: a war it may be but more than anything it is a proxy war - one in which both western and Russian interests are manifest in the fighting, and killing, of mostly innocent civilians in Ukraine - a carbon copy replica of what happened last year in Syria. The latest reminder of just this comes from AFP which reports, citing Germany's Bild, that "dozens of specialists from the US Central Intelligence Agency and Federal Bureau of Investigation are advising the Ukrainian government." From AFP: Citing unnamed German security sources, Bild am Sonntag said the CIA and FBI agents were helping Kiev end the rebellion in the east of Ukraine and set up a functioning security structure. It said the agents were not directly involved in fighting with pro-Russian militants. "Their activity is limited to the capital Kiev," the paper said. The FBI agents are also helping the Kiev government fight organised crime, it added. A group specialised in financial matters is to help trace the wealth of former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, according to the report. On the surface, this report is hardly surprising: we reported a month ago, subsequently confirmed by the White House, that CIA director Brennan had "secretly" visited Kiev in early April. It stands to logic that he was hardly alone and continuing the proud tradition of Libya, Egypt and Syria, the CIA was merely getting started unfolding the agency's core competency: regional destabilization.

Alex Lantier: US puppet regime in Kiev escalates violence after fascist massacre in Odessa ■ Washington and Berlin relied on their corrupt media establishments to package the putsch as a popular revolution for democracy while they prepared to crush popular opposition by means of mass killings carried out by their ultra-right allies. Responsibility for the atrocity lies first and foremost with the imperialist backers of the Kiev regime. The massacre itself was in all likelihood discussed and prepared with Western officials, as were the two waves of military assaults on eastern cities controlled by antigovernment rebels. The first crackdown came after a secret April 12-13 visit to Kiev by CIA Director John Brennan, the second followed an April 21-22 visit by US Vice President Joseph Biden. New reports have emerged substantiating the close ties between US intelligence agencies and the Kiev regime. Citing sources in the German security services, Bild am Sonntag reported Sunday: “The Ukrainian transitional government in Kiev is advised by dozens of specialists of the CIA secret service and the FBI federal law enforcement agency.” According to Bild, the CIA and FBI officials are working with security forces in Kiev to “help end the rebellion in the east of the country and build a functioning security infrastructure.”

Dozens of US officers from the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) are consulting the new Kiev government in its crackdown on federalization supporters in southeast Ukraine, Germany's Bild newspaper reports citing unnamed German officials. ● The FBI and CIA agents are in Kiev on a special mission to help the Ukrainian authorities quell the unrest in the southeast and create effective law enforcement bodies. The newspaper claims that they are not directly involved in clashes with pro-federalization rebels, that they have not left Kiev and that they are also advising the authorities on combating organized crime. FBI experts are helping Ukrainian investigators track down the assets of Viktor Yanykovych who insists that he remains Ukraine's legitimate President.

Yahoo: CIA, FBI agents 'advising Ukraine government'
Bild: Im Auftrag der US-RegierungAgenten von CIA & FBI beraten Kiew
Washington's Blog: America Backed Fascists In Ukraine 70 Years Ago
Michel Chossudovsky: America’s Neo-Nazi Government in Kiev. Towards a Scenario of Military Escalation?

Уже понятно, что в Доме Профсоюзов в Одессе было убито много более 42 человек. Провокаторы увлекли людей в здание, где их можно было убивать безнаказанно, с наслаждением и без свидетелей. Пожара внутри здания не было - была постановка пожара, чтобы списать на него массовое уничтожение граждан Украины. ■ It’s clear that the number of people killed in the Trade Unions House was far more than 42 (officials reported 42 dead people). Provocateurs captivated people into the building where it was possible to kill them with impunity, pleasure, and without witnesses. Fire inside the building was directed in order to hide mass murdering of Ukrainian citizens.

RT.com: Odessa slaughter: How vicious mob burnt anti-govt activists alive

Barry Grey ■ The US media, led by the so-called “newspaper of record,” the New York Times, shares political responsibility, having brazenly promulgated government propaganda and lies since the Ukraine crisis began last November. The Times, in particular, both in nominal “news” stories and in columns by State Department mouthpieces such as Andrew Higgens, C.J. Chivers, Roger Cohen, Nicolas Kristof and Thomas Friedman, has promoted the line that the insipient civil war in Ukraine is the result of Russian aggression, not US-European subversion. In order to promote this grossly distorted version of events, the Times has gone so far as to publish an article with fabricated “evidence” and doctored photos supposedly proving that the rebellion in southeast Ukraine is the work of Russian military and intelligence forces—a story the newspaper was forced to retract—and dismissed as Russian propaganda warnings about the fascist and anti-Semitic politics of Washington’s ultra-right allies in Kiev. Chivers has also penned on-the-spot reports on the right-wing Maidan protests in Kiev sympathetically painting the ultra-nationalist paramilitaries as honest patriots and obscuring their fascist politics and pedigree. Thus it is not surprising that the Times responded to the fascist murder of 38 people in Odessa on Friday by burying the story and deliberately obscuring the identity of the perpetrators.

Robert Parry ■ Will Ukraine Be NYT’s Waterloo? || For Americans interested in foreign policy, the New York Times has become the last U.S. newspaper to continue devoting substantial resources to covering the world. But the Times increasingly betrays its responsibility to deliver anything approaching honest journalism on overseas crises especially when Official Washington has a strong stake in the outcome. The Times’ failures in the run-up to the disastrous Iraq War are, of course, well known, particularly the infamous “aluminum tube” story by Michael R. Gordon and Judith Miller. And, the Times has shown similar bias on the Syrian conflict, such as last year’s debunked Times’ “vector analysis” tracing a sarin-laden rocket back to a Syrian military base when the rocket had less than one-third the necessary range. But the Times’ prejudice over the Ukraine crisis has reached new levels of extreme as the “newspaper of record” routinely carries water for the neocons and other hawks who still dominate the U.S. State Department. Everything that the Times writes about Ukraine is so polluted with propaganda that it requires a very strong filter, along with additives from more independent news sources, to get anything approaching an accurate understanding of events.

Police confirm that Sinn Fein leader has been released from custody. Authorities will send a file to Public Prosecution Service, say police. Decision over charges to be made after prosecutors review evidence. Sinn Fein leader was arrested on Wednesday in connection with 1972 Death. Widow Mrs McConville was abducted before she was shot dead. Mr Adams, 65, has always denied any involvement in the killing. ● Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams has been released from custody after he was questioned by detectives over the murder of Jean McConville for 96 hours, police have said. Mr Adams was arrested on Wednesday over allegations he ordered the killing of Belfast mother-of-10 Jean McConville in 1972. The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) confirmed tonight Mr Adams had been released and he will leave Antrim station shortly. A file on the case will be sent to Northern Ireland's Public Prosecution Service. The move means the ultimate decision whether to charge the 65-year-old politician will be made at a later date following a review of evidence.

An Phoblacht: Gerry Adams Arrest Politically Motivated - McGuinness

44m video of Odessa carnage. People rescued & then taunted by RightSector. Crazy. No Police & Fireservice turn up (Via @Syricide / Saif-Al-Islam)

VoR: Ukrainian nationalists sneering at Odessa victims
How the thugs killed Odessa inhabitants in the Trade Unions House - the details of bloody scenario
@Syricide: Images from inside of the TradeUnion Building
Eric Sommer: The Day U.S.-Supported Fascists began Murdering Civilians A Day that will Live in Infamy
The Saker: Ukraine SITREP update - May 3nd, 16:20 UTC/Zulu: "the mysterious Russian soul?"

Whatever You Think of Putin, You Should Understand How Russia Thinks. ● Even if you think Putin is a tyrant with ambitions to build an imperial Russia, you can’t understand the war in Ukraine unless you understand how Russians think. 20 million Russians died fighting the Nazis in World War II. Neo Nazis just killed at least 42 Russians when they firebombed a building in Odessa, Ukraine that the Russians had taken shelter in.

The Ukrainian military has started an operation against pro-autonomy activists in the city of Mariupol, southeastern Ukraine, as well as the town of Konstantinovka, according to local self-defense activists. ● The troops have moved into Mariupol and have surrounded an administrative building held by anti-government protesters. The protesters have set up barricades and are burning tires. There are a few hundred activists inside the building. They told RT that the army is warning them that if they do not leave the building in the coming minutes, they will be fired at and the building will be seized.

RT.com: ‘Go back to Kiev, fascists!’: Outraged locals chase off Ukrainian troops - Video
RT.com: ‘Why do they hate us so much?’ Southeast Ukraine seeks to understand new regime
Itar-Tass: Duma demands tribunal for Kiev authorities for bloodbath in Odessa