The Grim Arithmetic of 377, 000 Missing Palestinians
Posted by Internationalist 360° on June 26, 2025
Maximilian
A recent report by Yaakov Garb of Ben-Gurion University presents an data-driven analysis of the new “aid distribution” compounds in Gaza. Through meticulous spatial mapping, the report argues these facilities are not the humanitarian breakthrough they are claimed to be, but rather instruments of military strategy that defy international law. While the legal violations are stark, a deeper look at the population figures cited within the report reveals a demographic horror story that has, until now, remained buried in the rubble: a population gap of nearly 400,000 people.
These two themes — the perversion of aid and the decimation of a population — are inextricably linked. They paint a picture not of a relief effort, but of a strategy that advances military objectives while creating a façade of humanitarianism to placate international observers.
Part I: The Architecture of control, not compassion
International Humanitarian Law is not a set of polite suggestions; it is a body of binding obligations. As the occupying power, Israel has a duty under the 4th Geneva convention to ensure and facilitate the provision of food and medical supplies to the civilian population. The system described in the Garb report makes a mockery of this duty.
Instead of facilitating the work of experienced, neutral humanitarian agencies, Israel has crippled them in favor of a securitized alternative. This new model presents several grave violations:
A Rejection of Neutrality: Aid is being distributed from fortified compounds operated by private American security companies staffed with combat veterans, all under the protection of the Israeli army. This arrangement obliterates the core humanitarian principles of neutrality and independence, which are essential for ensuring aid is not used as a tool of war.
The Endangerment of Civilians: The compounds are located within Israeli-declared “buffer zones” where civilian entry is formally barred and liable to attack. In a cruel paradox, Palestinians must risk their lives by entering a prohibited military zone to receive life-sustaining aid.
A Blueprint for Violence: The internal design of these compounds is a masterclass in military crowd control, not civilian care. The report identifies a “fatal funnel” layout — a single entry and exit path with no cover, designed to maximize surveillance and control for armed guards. This layout, devoid of shade, water, or toilets, is documented to induce panic and create the very chaos that can be used to justify a violent response. This is not a system designed to help; it is a system designed to control, and if necessary, to harm.
This entire setup is described as the “inverse of well accepted and tested principles of food distribution”. It is a legal and moral charade, using the specter of aid to advance tactical goals.
Part II: The unspoken number: Gaza’s Missing 377,000
As damning as the legal analysis is, the population data contained within the report’s maps points to a far greater catastrophe. Before the conflict, the population of the Gaza Strip was approximately 2.227 million. The Garb report includes maps displaying IDF estimates for the populations remaining in what are considered the three primary enclaves.
The numbers are as follows:
Gaza City: 1 million
Mawasi: 0.5 million
Central: 0.35 million
Simple arithmetic reveals a horrifying gap: 2.227 million minus 1.85 million leaves 377,000 people unaccounted for.
This number is more than six times the casualty figures commonly discussed in media reports. While some of these individuals may be displaced in the rubble-strewn landscapes outside the main enclaves, the sheer scale of this discrepancy, derived from the occupying power’s own population assessments, is staggering. It suggests a demographic catastrophe — whether from direct casualties, starvation, or disease — far exceeding what the world has been led to believe.
The aid compounds and the missing population are two sides of the same coin. The compounds are positioned and designed in a way that makes them inaccessible to the majority of the population, particularly the one million people in Gaza City who are cut off by the Netzarim corridor. The system is not designed to feed the 1.85 million who can be counted, let alone address the fate of the 377,000 who cannot.
The international community must look beyond the veneer of these aid compounds and confront the grim reality they represent. We must condemn a system that uses the promise of food to force a desperate population through militarized chokepoints. But more urgently, we must demand an answer to the most pressing question this data raises:
Where are the missing 377000 Palestinians?
NB: Laith Marouf remarks in the video below that the figure of 377, 000 documented in the Harvard Study does not include the over 60,000 civilians whose bodies have been found buried under rubble.
Israel Renews Offensive on Gaza
Posted by Internationalist 360° on June 26, 2025
Youssef Fares
The Israeli army is still targeting aid seekers in Gaza (AFP)The Israeli army is still targeting aid seekers in Gaza (AFP)
With the war on Iran over, Israeli attention has shifted back to Gaza, now once again the Israeli government’s top priority. Israeli ministers appear united in pressing forward until their key objectives are achieved: eliminating Hamas, and freeing captives. This stance is reflected in a renewed military offensive marked by a sense of triumph and a deliberate freeze in negotiations over a potential exchange deal that could end the war.
Despite US President Donald Trump’s promise of “very good news” about Gaza in the coming days, and the optimism of unofficial mediator Bishara Bahbah, who claimed most outstanding issues had been resolved, the Israeli public broadcaster reported that “no negotiating team would be sent to Doha due to wide gaps and complex disputes over the terms for ending the war.” Meanwhile, Army Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir declared that “fighting in Gaza would continue until all objectives are achieved.”
The death toll in Gaza rose to 84, including around 60 people killed while waiting for aid on al-Rashid Street and at US distribution points.
Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes have intensified on the Strip. Over the past two days, Israeli strikes bombed and destroyed dozens of homes, especially in Jabalia al-Balad in the north, and Khan Younis in the south. Israeli drones returned in force, striking civilian gatherings and tents.
The death toll in Gaza rose to 84, including around 60 people killed while waiting for aid on al-Rashid Street and at US distribution points. Israeli strikes targeted homes across multiple areas, killing dozens from the Dahdouh, Qazaat, Nasr, Dada, Salman, Abu Ajwa, and Telmis families. The Israeli army also continued daily attacks on aid seekers, with medical sources reporting 14 killed near a US aid center in Netzarim, central Gaza.
Over the past three days, Hamas’ al-Qassam and Islamic Jihad’s al-Quds Brigades carried out dozens of ambushes and combat operations, causing heavy Israeli casualties. In a major operation timed with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s remarks on the Iran war, al-Qassam fighters planted a Shawaz explosive inside a troop carrier, igniting it and killing all onboard; then struck a second carrier with a bomb near the Imam Ali mosque in Ma’an, south of Khan Younis.
Israeli sources said “rescue teams could not extinguish the fire due to fighters’ proximity and fear of repeated attacks, dragging the burning vehicle east along Salah al-Din Street with soldiers’ bodies inside.” The army confirmed 7 soldiers were killed and 17 others wounded.
Footage released by al-Qassam worsened morale in Israeli military and media circles. Israeli Channel 14’s Noam Amir said “the Chief of Staff should send the 36th Brigade commander home,” while a senior officer called the footage “shameful,” criticizing the commander for failing to run over the militants or use the vehicle’s machine gun. Israeli Channel 13’s Moriah Asraf linked the ambush to an earlier video released by al-Qassam showing a Hamas fighter chasing an Israeli troop carrier on foot and trying to open its door before it fled.
South of Khan Younis, al-Qassam announced that its fighters carried out a complex ambush targeting an Israeli force holed up inside a house, striking it with a “Yassin 105” shell and an RPG, resulting in casualties. They also reported targeting a Merkava tank in the same area with a Shawaz explosive and another Yassin 105 shell. A pre-planted Shawaz device was detonated against a D9 bulldozer, setting it ablaze for an hour. When a second bulldozer approached to assist, it was also targeted with a Yassin 105 shell.
In Khan Younis as well, al-Quds Brigades reported launching a mortar barrage on Israeli troop concentrations in the al-Satr al-Gharbi area, prompting air and artillery cover for evacuation of casualties. They also confirmed destroying a military vehicle with a barrel bomb and detonating a Merkava tank east of the city. Two days earlier, the group had targeted houses used by Israeli soldiers with guided Fagot and Malyutka missiles and released footage of a sniper attack on a soldier east of Gaza City.
These successive and costly operations took place in areas long operated by the Israeli army; areas it had repeatedly claimed were cleared of resistance brigades. This underscores the brigades’ ongoing ability to rebuild cells, maximize available resources, and carry out high-impact attacks using combat tactics grounded in a close reading of enemy behavior and anticipated movements.
Israeli court rejects Netanyahu’s request to delay criminal trial
The prime minister’s lawyer had submitted a filing requesting a two-week hiatus, citing ‘security pressures’ following the war with Iran
News Desk
JUN 27, 2025
(Photo credit: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
The Jerusalem District Court rejected on 27 June Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request for a two-week delay of his criminal trial.
Israeli judge Rivka Friedman-Feldman said in a statement that the request, which was previously put forward by Netanyahu’s lawyer, “does not present a detailed basis or reason that might justify canceling evidentiary hearings.”
Earlier on Friday, the Israeli State Attorney’s office opposed the request and said the “general reasons detailed in the request cannot justify canceling two weeks of hearings, particularly in the run up to the recess.”
The State Attorney’s office added that it has already adjusted the schedule to accommodate the Israeli premier, including by allowing him to testify twice a week rather than three times a week.
“The prosecution, therefore, opposes the request,” it said.
The filing submitted by Netanyahu’s lawyer on 26 June said “the court is respectfully requested to order the cancellation of the hearings in which the prime minister was scheduled to testify in the coming two weeks,” adding that the premier was “compelled to devote all his time and energy to managing national, diplomatic and security issues of the utmost importance” following the 12-day war with Iran, which came to an end on 24 June.
After the start of the war on Gaza in October 2023, Netanyahu’s trial was put on hold before resuming in early December 2023.
The Israeli prime minister has been accused of and charged with fraud, bribery, and breach of trust in three separate cases filed in 2019. He faces a potential prison sentence of up to 10 years.
In one case, he and his wife, Sara, are accused of accepting over $260,000 in luxury gifts, including cigars, jewelry, and champagne, from billionaire associates in exchange for political favors.
Two other cases accuse Netanyahu of manipulating media coverage in exchange for regulatory or commercial benefits.
The Jerusalem District Court and State Attorney’s rejection comes a day after US President Donald Trump called Netanyahu’s criminal case a “witch hunt” and said Washington will “save” the prime minister from prosecution.
The US president called for an immediate cancellation of the trial and a pardon for Netanyahu.
“Thank you, Donald Trump. I was deeply moved by your heartfelt support for me and your incredible support for Israel and the Jewish people,” Netanyahu wrote on X.
Thank you @realDonaldTrump. I was deeply moved by your heartfelt support for me and your incredible support for Israel and the Jewish people.
I look forward to continue working with you to defeat our common enemies, liberate our hostages and quickly expand the circle of peace. https://t.co/zRd6LYfMbY pic.twitter.com/YCGN1dIu0d
— Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) June 26, 2025
According to sources in the ruling coalition cited by Israel’s Channel 11, Trump may ask Israeli President Isaac Herzog to pardon the premier.
Many, including Israelis opposed to the premier and his policies, have accused Netanyahu of seeking to prolong the war in Gaza in order to avoid trial and imprisonment.
Three Blows Against Zionism in a Single Day
June 26, 2025
A court ruling in Australia, an election result in New York and a military setback for Israel, all coming on Tuesday this week, signaled a serious turn of events for Zionism and its supporters, writes Joe Lauria.
Donald Trump cursing out Israel on Tuesday morning, June 24, 2025. (CBC screenshot from YouTube)
By Joe Lauria
Special to Consortium News
The impunity with which Zionism invades and bombs its neighbors and shuts up its critics in Western nations was thrown into question perhaps as never before on Tuesday as Zionism suffered a legal, a political and a military defeat all in one day.
A Military Defeat in the Morning
On Tuesday morning Washington time, President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Iran had agreed to a cessation of hostilities after an 11-day war that saw Israel seriously deplete its air defenses, undermine its economy and suffer the worst damage from enemy fire in memory.
A war that Israel — and especially its prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu — had lusted after for three decades had finally been launched. Netanyahu at last found an American president willing to join him in unprovoked aggression against Iran to extend Israel’s regional dominance well beyond the Jordan River.
That would require the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment program and the overthrow of the Iranian government to be replaced by a puppet regime led by Israel and the United States. Instead, Israel had to cut short the operation despite U.S. involvement because it was not going to plan. U.S. intelligence says the so far only civilian nuclear program was only set back a few months and the Iranian government has never been made more secure.
As it touts itself as the most invincible (and “moral”) army, the failure to achieve its goals in Iran and the physical damage it took from Iranian missile and drone attacks makes what just transpired a humiliating military defeat for Zionism.
And though U.S. presidents have privately groused about Israeli leaders before, never has Israel been cursed out before in public by a president, as Trump did on Tuesday morning.
A Legal Defeat in the Evening
Josh Bornstein, attorney for journalist Antoinette Lattouf, speaking outside federal court in Sydney, Australia after Latouff defeated the Israel Lobby and the ABC on June 24, 2025. (Cathy Vogan for CN)
Then at 8:15 pm Tuesday, U.S. East Coast time (10:15 am Wednesday in Australia), a federal judge in Sydney found the courage to stand up to the organized thuggery of Zionist lobbies by ruling that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) had succumbed to intense pressure from Israel lobbyists to sack a radio presenter because she shared an instagram post from Human Rights Watch which accurately reported that Israel was using starvation as a weapon of war.
That is the exact charge formally leveled in Netanyahu’s arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The Australian judge ruled that the presenter, Antoinette Lattouf, was wrongly dismissed and that the ABC must pay her restitution.
Judge Daryl Rangiah said the ABC had “appease[d] … pro-Israel lobbyists” because Lattouf “held political opinions opposing the Israeli military campaign in Gaza.” Rangiah said that “the complaints [to the ABC] were an orchestrated campaign by pro-Israel lobbyists to have Ms Lattouf taken off air.”
ABC managing director Hugh Marks apologized to the public on air, saying, “Any undue influence or pressure on ABC management or any of its employees must always be guarded against.”
It was a major setback for a powerful Israel Lobby in a Western nation. These lobbies have been untouchable until now no matter what underhanded tactics they employ to create cover for genocide and wars of aggression by smearing and silencing legitimate critics of Israel.
A Political Defeat in the Night
Zohran Mamdani Speaking at a DSA 101 Meeting at the Church of the Village in NYC, November 2024. (Bingjiefu He/Wikimedia Commons)
Still on Tuesday, at around 11 pm in New York City, a Muslim politician who has vowed to arrest Netanyahu based on the ICC warrant if he steps foot in the city while he is mayor, defeated a Democratic Party machine politician in the party’s primary election for mayor.
Despite being repeatedly smeared as an anti-semite, Zhoran Mamdani has refused to renounce his strong support for Palestinians. His electoral victory has incensed Zionists everywhere, setting off gnashing of teeth. “NY Democrats have fully embraced Marxism, antisemitism, anti-capitalism, and sheer insanity,” said fanatical Zionist Congresswoman Elise Stefanik. U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler called Mamdani “a radical, antisemitic socialist.”
The election result shows that a sizeable number of voters in the city with the largest population of Jews after Tel Aviv don’t care anymore about the taboos constructed and enforced against criticizing Israel. Israel has their live-streamed genocide to thank for that.
A Beginning, Not an End
Anyone of these events alone would signify a momentous turning of the tide against decades of built-up injustice committed by Israel and its lobby. The baseless smears of anti-semitism are losing their effect. The image of an all-powerful Israeli military is tarnished.
June 24, 2025 may be seen as the day in which fear of Israel was overcome on a scale not seen before. There is a long road ahead filled with enormous obstacles, but this day could usher in an era in which Israel and its enablers are at last held accountable for their many crimes.
'Bloodiest 21st century war': New study finds Gaza's real death toll nears 100,000
More than 56 percent of violent deaths during the Israeli genocide of Palestinians have been women, children, or the elderly—more than double the proportions seen in previous wars
News Desk
JUN 28, 2025
(Photo credit: Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images)
The pre-print of a new study led by Prof. Michael Spagat of Royal Holloway, University of London, and Palestinian political scientist Dr. Khalil Shikaki has revealed that Gaza's death toll from the ongoing conflict could be nearly 100,000, a figure significantly higher than official reports, Haaretz reported on 26 June.
The Gaza Mortality Survey (GMS), the most comprehensive to date, estimates around 75,200 violent deaths between October 2023 and January 2025—nearly 40 percent higher than the Gaza Health Ministry's reported death toll of 45,660 at the time.
Researchers carried out a detailed household survey, interviewing 2,000 families—around 9,700 individuals—to independently evaluate fatalities.
The results closely match a January 2025 study from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine published by The Lancet, which found a similar undercount of violent deaths by about 40 percent.
In addition to direct war casualties, the study quantified indirect or "excess" deaths—those caused by hunger, disease, and lack of medical care resulting from Israel's blockade of Gaza and the destruction of the strip's medical and sanitation infrastructure.
The study estimated 8,540 additional non-violent deaths through January, bringing the combined fatality count for that period to 83,740. Gaza's Health Ministry has recorded over 10,000 more deaths since then, raising the current total to nearly 100,000 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces.
The study also highlighted Gaza's shockingly high rate of civilian fatalities.
Over 56 percent of violent deaths were women, children, or the elderly—more than double the proportions seen in conflicts like Iraq, Syria, or Sudan. Gaza arguably now ranks as the deadliest conflict of the 21st century when measured by civilian deaths relative to the total population.
University of London economist Prof. Spagat emphasized that Gaza's social support networks and international aid had temporarily mitigated indirect mortality.
However, these protections have deteriorated amid ongoing displacement, collapsing healthcare, malnutrition, and mass infrastructure destruction. He warned that "waves of excess mortality" are likely to continue in the coming months.
The study refutes the Israeli military's claim of a “1:1 ratio” of combatant to civilian deaths. Even if Israeli assertions of 20,000 combatant deaths are accepted, the survey estimates indicate four civilians killed for every militant, far exceeding official ratios.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza reported Saturday that at least 81 people were killed and 422 injured over the last 24 hours as a result of Israeli attacks.
Israeli court ruling threatens eviction of 700 Palestinians from Jerusalem neighborhood
Residents say the Supreme Court decision was issued without legal representation, paving the way for a wave of forced expulsions under the guise of settler property claims
News Desk
JUN 27, 2025
(Photo credit: Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu Agency via Getty)
Around 700 Palestinians in Batn al-Hawa, East Jerusalem, face eviction after Israel’s Supreme Court ruled on 18 June to remove the Shweiki and Odeh families from a residential building.
The decision, issued without a right to appeal, is expected to be used as legal precedent to expel dozens more families in the area.
Located on the southern edge of the Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound, Batn al-Hawa has been under threat since 2015, when the Israeli settler group Ateret Cohanim began filing lawsuits claiming ownership of land allegedly bought by Yemeni Jews in the late Ottoman period.
The group bases its legal argument on Israel’s 1970 law, which permits Jews to reclaim property lost before 1948 – rights systematically denied to Palestinians displaced from their homes.
Fakhri Abu Diab, a Jerusalem affairs researcher and resident of Silwan, described the court’s move as a political ruling.
“This settler judge didn’t rely on any legal evidence, nor did he even notify the families involved,” Abu Diab said. “He issued a ruling without the presence of the families or their legal defence team, all under the pretext of war, emergency conditions, and the current crisis.”
The eviction case was suspended in 2020, awaiting an opinion from the attorney general, but no response came for over five years. Settler-judge Noam Sohlberg then reinstated a lower court ruling in favour of the settlers, dismissing the families’ long-term residence and the sale of the property to Palestinians before the Nakba, according to defence lawyer Nael Rashed.
Rashed called the decision “a dangerous precedent” that will allow the expulsion of 87 additional families.
Zuhair al-Rajabi, head of the Batn al-Hawa neighbourhood committee, said Ateret Cohanim exploited the Custodian of Absentee Property law to claim land sold by Yemeni Jews to Palestinians between 1939 and 1943, after the wider Jewish community rejected them for their Arab origins.
Rami Saleh of the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Centre (JLAC) said the ruling “legalizes violations” to facilitate the removal of Palestinians from Jerusalem, especially Silwan.
The Jerusalem Governorate says the ruling comes amid intensified settlement efforts across Silwan – Al-Bustan, Wadi Hilweh, Wadi Yasul, and Ein al-Loz – led by groups like Elad using archaeology to justify land claims. It urged UN and rights groups to intervene.
The court’s decision coincides with a wider surge in settler and army violence.
On 25–26 June, three Palestinians were killed in Kafr Malik during a settler arson attack involving over 100 assailants. Soldiers released the perpetrators without charge.
In June, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) recorded nearly 100 demolitions in Tulkarem and Nour Shams, displacing dozens.
Israel’s drive to uproot Palestinians continues via evictions, demolitions, and settler terror under the guise of war law.
Doctors warn flour sacks entering Gaza laced with Oxycodone: Report
The highly addictive opioid drug can cause severe respiratory depression, overdose, and death
News Desk
JUN 27, 2025
(Photo credit: Reuters)
Information is beginning to emerge about the smuggling of a highly addictive opioid pain medication into the Gaza Strip via bags of flour that are being distributed as humanitarian aid.
Reports have said that Oxycodone – the controversial drug behind the opioid epidemic in the US – is not only being smuggled in flour bags, but also crushed into powder and mixed into the flour itself.
Gaza-based pharmacist Omar Hamad has cited the Anti-Drug Committee in the strip as saying that Israel has been smuggling the drug in “through bags of flour provided as aid.”
“It has also been revealed that the drug is not only hidden inside flour bags, but the flour itself appears to be mixed with it,” Hamad said on X on 26 June.
“Many citizens have found these drugs, and I saw them with my own eyes in the flour sacks. There is also a doctor named Khalil Abu Nada who wrote a full report on this issue,” Hamad added.
Dr Khalil Abu Nada wrote in the report mentioned by Hamad that “this may be one of the reasons behind the recent theft of flour trucks in southern Gaza (as of yesterday),” while going on to describe the addictive nature of Oxycodone and its risks and side effects, which include severe respiratory depression.
Gaza journalist Abdullah Attar also reported that the opioid drug is being found inside flour bags.
Oxycodone and other heavy-duty opioid prescription medications like it were behind the deaths of hundreds of thousands of US citizens between 1999 and 2020.
The reports come as Palestinians continue to suffer due to severe, Israeli-imposed restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza – which resulted in the spread of famine across the strip.
A new, US-Israeli aid distribution mechanism called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) – which has been condemned by the UN and various international rights groups – is resulting in near-daily deaths.
The plan has accelerated the Israeli army’s goal of displacing Gaza’s population southward and securing control over the strip. Palestinians show up at distribution sites overseen by US contractors and Israeli troops, and are shot dead and targeted with artillery while waiting for aid.
Over 500 Palestinians have been killed at GHF sites since the initiative was launched late last month.
‘Killing fields’: Israeli soldiers ordered to shoot unarmed Palestinians at GHF sites
Israeli commanders have normalized the use of tank fire, mortar shells, and machine guns against hungry civilians, turning food lines into mass graves
News Desk
JUN 27, 2025
(Photo credit: Israeli army)
Israeli soldiers say they are receiving direct orders to shoot unarmed Palestinians seeking food aid at Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) distribution points, even when no threat is present, according to several testimonies published by Haaretz on 26 June
One soldier described the area near GHF sites as “a killing field,” where lethal force is routinely used to disperse crowds desperate for food.
“Where I was stationed, between one and five people were killed every day,” the unnamed soldier reveals, explaining that civilians are “treated like a hostile force – no crowd-control measures, no tear gas – just live fire with everything imaginable: heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, mortars.”
The practice, referred to as “Operation Salted Fish” – the name of the Israeli version of the children's game "Red light, green light” – is described as deliberate and systematic.
“Once, the mortars stopped firing, and we saw people starting to approach. So we resumed fire to make it clear they weren’t allowed to,” an officer tasked with securing a GHF site told the Hebrew daily. “In the end, one of the shells landed on a group of people.”
GHF sites, established with Israeli and US sponsorship at the end of May, are surrounded by tanks and snipers.
The Israeli army claims to protect the areas, but soldiers say their rules of engagement include using artillery and small arms fire to control civilians. “Firing mortars to keep hungry people away is neither professional nor humane,” an officer said.
“Gaza doesn't interest anyone anymore,” another reservist, who completed a round of duty in northern Gaza this week, told Haaretz. “It's become a place with its own set of rules. The loss of human life means nothing. It's not even an ‘unfortunate incident,’ like they used to say.”
A veteran fighter also noted that private contractors operate with financial incentives to destroy Palestinian homes.
“Today, any private contractor working in Gaza with engineering equipment receives 5,000 shekels for every house they demolish. They’re making a fortune,” he said. “These are areas where Palestinians are allowed to be – we’re the ones who moved closer and decided [they] endangered us.”
Brigadier General Yehuda Vach, head of Division 252, is repeatedly named in testimonies as the architect behind this policy.
According to one officer, Vach gave explicit orders to open fire on civilians gathering for UN aid trucks, telling his troops: “Not one truck should enter.”
The Israeli commander has also been linked to a campaign to “flatten” Gaza and block aid deliveries as a punitive measure.
“Sometimes we’re told they’re still hiding, and we need to fire in their direction because they haven’t left,” said another soldier. “But it’s obvious they can’t leave if the moment they get up and run, we open fire.”
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, at least 549 Palestinians have been killed near GHF distribution sites since 27 May, with dozens killed in single incidents on 11, 17, and 24 June.
A senior Israeli officer said, “Why have we reached a point where a teenager is willing to risk his life just to pull a sack of rice off a truck? And that’s who we’re firing artillery at?”
Military sources confirmed that demolitions often bring soldiers into direct confrontation with civilians, triggering deadly incidents to protect contractors and maintain operational control.
“It’s deemed acceptable to kill people who are only looking for food,” one soldier remarked bluntly.
In a closed-door meeting, legal officers from the Military Advocate General’s Office pushed back against claims that the killings were isolated. “This is not about a few people being killed – we’re talking about dozens of casualties every day,” one said.
Haaretz’s earlier investigations into Division 252 have revealed the existence of “extermination zones” along the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza, where Palestinians are indiscriminately shot and later counted as “terrorists.”
One reservist testified, “We killed a young boy, 16 years old, maybe. The commander said: ‘For me, anyone who crosses the line is a terrorist, no discounts, no civilians.’”
Soldiers have also reported photographing the dead for intelligence processing. “Out of 200 killed for testing, only 10 were verified as Hamas activists,” one reservist said.
Despite growing internal concern, there have been no disciplinary actions. “You know it’s not right – that the commanders here are taking the law into their own hands. But Gaza is a parallel universe. You move on quickly,” said another soldier.
Netanyahu Says It’s Antisemitic For Israeli Soldiers To Describe Their Own Atrocities
The more exposed Israel’s criminality becomes, the more absurd the arguments made in its defense are getting.
Caitlin Johnstone
June 28, 2025
Sometimes I’ll write a headline that looks odd on its face, but then I’ll lay out facts and arguments which allow the reader to understand the validity of the claim by the end of the essay. This is not one of those times.
This headline is just me saying the thing that happened. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz are publicly denouncing a report from an Israeli newspaper quoting Israeli soldiers who describe atrocities they were ordered to commit in the Israeli military, accusing the report of “blood libels”.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz has published an article titled “‘It’s a Killing Field’: IDF Soldiers Ordered to Shoot Deliberately at Unarmed Gazans Waiting for Humanitarian Aid”, subtitled “IDF officers and soldiers told Haaretz they were ordered to fire at unarmed crowds near food distribution sites in Gaza, even when no threat was present. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed, prompting the military prosecution to call for a review into possible war crimes.”
One Israeli soldier attests that civilians seeking aid are “treated like a hostile force — no crowd-control measures, no tear gas — just live fire with everything imaginable: heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, mortars.”
“We open fire early in the morning if someone tries to get in line from a few hundred meters away, and sometimes we just charge at them from close range. But there’s no danger to the forces,” the soldier says, adding, “I’m not aware of a single instance of return fire. There’s no enemy, no weapons.”
IDF sources tell Haaretz that Gaza has become “a place with its own set of rules” where they are interacting with civilians with whom “your only means of interaction is opening fire”. Deadly military weapons are used as crowd control to steer the starving populace wherever it’s determined they’re supposed to be, routinely killing desperate aid seekers.
Another soldier describes being instructed to fire artillery shells at a crowd to keep them at a distance, saying, “Every time we fire, there are casualties and deaths, and when someone asks why a shell is necessary, there’s never a good answer. Sometimes, merely asking the question annoys the commanders.”
In quote after quote after quote we read Israeli soldiers describing atrocities they were ordered to commit which they knew were wrong. I guess Israel’s PR machine never counted on some of the soldiers they sent in to perpetrate the Gaza holocaust having an actual conscience.
A joint statement from Netanyahu and Katz denounced the report, accusing Haaretz of publishing “blood libels”.
“The State of Israel absolutely rejects the contemptible blood libels that have been published in the Ha’aretz newspaper, according to which ‘IDF Soldiers Ordered to Shoot Deliberately at Unarmed Gazans Waiting for Humanitarian Aid.’ These are malicious falsehoods designed to defame the IDF, the most moral military in the world,” the statement reads.
“Blood libel” refers to the way medieval Europeans used to falsely accuse Jews of murdering Christian children in blood sacrifices — an early form of atrocity propaganda used to justify the persecution of Jews.
So again, just to be absolutely clear, the leader of the Israeli government is claiming that an Israeli newspaper quoting Israeli soldiers describing their own atrocities is antisemitic. And that mountains of testimony from inside the IDF is “designed to defame the IDF, the most moral military in the world.”
What can I even say about that here? It speaks for itself. I have nothing to add.
The more exposed Israel’s criminality becomes, the more absurd the arguments made in its defense are getting.
Chris Hedges Report: Francesca Albanese on an Economy of Genocide
June 27, 2025
In her forthcoming report, U.N. Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese will detail how Palestine has been exploited by global capitalism and the role certain corporations have played in the genocide.
By Chris Hedges
The Chris Hedges Report
There is not much more that can be said about the unfathomable levels of devastation the genocide in Gaza has reached.
Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, has been chronicling the genocide and joins host Chris Hedges on this episode of The Chris Hedges Report to shed light on the current situation in Gaza, including parts from her upcoming report on the profiteers of the genocide.
Israel’s siege on the Palestinians is leaving the population starving, and Albanese lambasts other nations for not stepping up and completing their obligations under international law:
“[Countries] have an obligation not to aid, not to assist, not to trade with Israel, not to send weapons, not to buy weapons, not to provide military technology, not to buy military technology. This is not an act of charity that I’m asking you. This is your obligation.”
Albanese compares Gaza and Israel’s siege to a concentration camp, stating it is unsustainable but also allows the world to witness how a Western settler colonial entity functions:
“There is a global awareness of something that has for a long time been a prerogative, a painful prerogative of the global majority, the Global South, meaning the awareness of the pain and the wounds of colonialism.”
In her forthcoming report, Albanese will detail exactly how Palestine has been exploited by the global capitalist system and will highlight the role certain corporations have played in the genocide:
“[T]here are corporate entities, including from Palestine-friendly states, who have for decades made businesses and made profits out of the economy of the occupation, because Israel has always exploited Palestinian land and resources and Palestinian life. The profits have continued and even increased as the economy of the occupation transformed into an economy of genocide.”
Host: Chris Hedges
Producer: Max Jones
Intro: Diego Ramos
Crew: Diego Ramos, Sofia Menemenlis and Thomas Hedges
Transcript: Diego Ramos
Transcript
Chris Hedges: When the history of the genocide in Gaza is written one of the most courageous and outspoken champions for justice and an adherence to international law will be Francesca Albanese, the special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories.
Albanese, an Italian legal scholar, has held the position of U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories since 2022. Her office is tasked with monitoring and reporting on “human rights violations” that Israel commits against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
Albanese, who receives death threats and endures well-orchestrated smear campaigns directed by Israel and its allies, valiantly seeks to hold those who support and sustain the genocide accountable. She lambasts what she calls “the moral and political corruption of the world” for the genocide.
Her office has issued detailed reports documenting the war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza and the West Bank, one of which, “Genocide as Colonial Erasure,” I reprinted as an appendix in my latest book A Genocide Foretold.
She is at work on a new report exposing the banks, pension funds, tech companies and universities that are aiding and abetting Israel’s violations of international law, human rights and war crimes.
She has informed private organizations that they are “criminally liable” for assisting Israel in carrying out the “genocide” in Gaza. She announced that if, as has been reported, former British Foreign Secretary David Cameron threatened to defund and withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (ICC) if it issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Cameron and the former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak could be charged with a criminal offense under the Rome statue. The Rome Statue criminalizes those who seek to prevent war crimes from being prosecuted.
She has called on top EU officials to face charges of complicity or war crimes over their support for the genocide, saying that their actions cannot be met with impunity.
She was a champion of the Madleen flotilla that sought to break the blockade of Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid, writing that the boat, intercepted by Israel, was carrying not only supplies but a message of humanity.
Joining me to discuss the genocide in Gaza and the failure by Western governments to intervene or adhere to international law is Francesca Albanese.
Let’s just lay out where we are in Gaza. It’s very bleak. We can’t sugarcoat it, especially since March 2nd.
Francesca Albanese
Yes, Chris. So first of all, thanks for having me. Such a pleasure.
Look, the situation in Gaza has gone so rotten, so horrible that I really don’t have the words to describe it anymore. I remember that when I had the first reports about cases of starvation, it was last year, primarily in northern Gaza, which by the way, is completely cut off our understanding of what’s going on in Gaza.
In a sense, the misery that we see is in the south of Gaza. The north is completely obscured. But when I received the first reports on starvation, I remember people from Gaza saying we are turning into monsters.
And this is something that I hear more and more from people. The hunger is so much, it’s so widespread, so profound that it’s turning people into a stage of pre-humanity and this is what happens to people who experience this brutality. They are forced, they are pushed back into a space which predates civilization and, again, thinking that this is strategic, this is intentional from Israel, it’s a stain for all of us.
How can we let it happen? Why European states, why Arab states have not sent their navies yet to break the blockade? It must be done. It’s an obligation, it’s not an act of charity. They must break the siege. And it’s already too late, you know? This is the situation in Gaza. It’s devastating.
Chris Hedges: Well, this is the kind of action of the flotilla with Greta Thunberg, of course they weren’t going to get through, but it was an act of shaming in a way, an act of conscience, certainly an act of courage. Your voice has been one that has just been unwavering since the genocide began. And yet at the same time, I think many of us who speak out against the genocide have to accept that we haven’t been able to save a single life and yet we must keep speaking out anyway.
Francesca Albanese: Yeah, look, I often wonder what is it for? Because, again, I feel in a way restless. I never stop talking about Gaza, the West Bank, the Palestinians. Because I think I’m like many, I carry a wound right now. It’s something that I would have never wanted to see happening again.
I am also from a generation who saw the genocide in Rwanda, who read about the genocide in Rwanda. I have vivid memories of the genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina and seeing the genocide of the Palestinians happening in slow motion and being the chronicler of this genocide somewhat has irreparably wounded me but it’s okay.
My only form of healing is by making sure that people wake up and realize that this carries the fingerprints of all of us. Because when you see the profits that companies registered in Western countries and others are making out of the genocide of the Palestinians, you see, I mean, you lose hope in humanity for good.
And it’s true that we have not managed to save lives, but we don’t know. We don’t know, Chris, in fact, because I do believe that had Israel been left free hands, it would have already cleansed Gaza of the Palestinians, while in fact by denouncing what Israel is doing, we are contributing to make sure that Palestine doesn’t disappear from the maps.
Because somewhat inside me I have this sense that the sacrifice of the Palestinians in Gaza will continue, will continue, really, will continue unless there is an arms embargo and unless the blockade is, I mean, the siege is broken and it cannot happen without coercive measures.
The only way to protect Israel, to ensure that Israel is protected, is by stopping Israel. Israel is harmful to the Palestinians, to the region, is harmful to many of us and is harmful to itself and its citizens.
This is something that Israelis must understand. None of us working for human rights and justice have anything… Personally, I have a lot of pain for the Israelis themselves because I think that they must be traumatized to the point that they have lost their humanity.
And I can just think of a huge form of healing both for the Palestinians and Israelis. But again, I don’t know, surely we have not saved lives, but we have contributed to show the real face of Israel’s apartheid.
Chris Hedges: When you talk about coercive measures, I covered the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Northern Iraq when they were carrying out a genocidal campaign against the Kurds. NATO forces established a no-fly zone. Iraqi forces had to withdraw what was happening to the Kurds. Doesn’t begin to compare, finally, what is happening to the Palestinians in Gaza.
But it was clear at that moment that only coercive measures would save the Kurds. And you’re, of course, correctly pointing out that that is exactly now where we are with the Palestinians. That without coercive measures, and that has to be imposed from the outside, then Israel’s campaign of genocide and probably displacement will not be stopped.
Francesca Albanese: Absolutely. And you know what shocks me is that when I talk to member states, even the most enlightened, so to speak, in the global, I mean in the West, which I call the global minority, given our territorial irrelevance in this world. But even when you spoke to member states who seem to be, to have an enlightened position and a human rights-oriented position on Palestine. When I make my recommendations to them, they say, oh, but you really expect us to boycott Israel?
Well, you’re a state, it’s not up to you to boycott. You have an obligation not to aid, not to assist, not to trade with Israel, not to send weapons, not to buy weapons, not to provide military technology, not to buy military technology. This is not an act of charity that I’m asking you. This is your obligation.
And this sort of nonchalance the member states have even the ones who appear the most principled toward the disrespect of international [law] because this is what they do with great nonchalance, they violate international law through and through.
And the way, the only thing that comes to their mind is, do you think that we are really going to isolate Israel? Yeah, yeah, I mean the fact that they are really struggling with the thought is a measure of how far we are from the solution of the question.
Chris Hedges: What do you think, I mean starvation and over a half million Palestinians are now on the cusp of starvation. And then there is the whole issue of water. There’s no clean water. And then of course, medical supplies or humanitarian [aid] or anything, 90 percent of the Palestinians are either living in tents or in the open air. Where is this headed?
They’re luring the Palestinians like mice into a trap in the South with these… and nobody thinks that the aid hubs or the amount of food, the paltry amount of food is anything more than bait to essentially cram Palestinians into guarded compounds in the South. And of course they’re shooting dozens of Palestinians off in a day in desperation trying to get something to eat.
Are they going to push them into the Sinai? Do you have any sense or maybe Israel doesn’t know but do you have any sense of where this is going to go next?
“I have a lot of pain for the Israelis themselves because I think that they must be traumatized to the point that they have lost their humanity.”
Francesca Albanese: I don’t have a precise sense other than knowing that Israel would be fine with whatever solution that takes the Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip for now and then out of the West Bank later and then probably out of Israel. These are the three stages of the planned ethnic cleansing of historical Palestine because your audience shall never forget that Israel is a state that was created inside Palestine.
So what we are talking about the Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem are the little pieces of land that remain. And even there, Palestinians are not let free to enjoy the right of self-determination, like existing as a people. Israel is after this. Israel doesn’t want the Palestinians in their way. This is the real victory.
Because when 80 percent of the population supports the government in maintaining this level of violence toward the Palestinians, especially those in Gaza who are starving as we speak, who have nothing left than their dignity and the very few things and loves that remain in their life.
The only victory for this government, which represents a large portion of Israeli society, is to get rid of the Palestinians.
I mean of course it doesn’t matter if it’s the Sinai or the Congo, they are begging every country to take the Palestinians. And the problem is that no one can do that unless they are forced, unless the Palestinians ask and beg for being saved. This is so cruel and this is what’s happening.
But the Palestinians have not done it yet. Eyal Weizman of Forensic Architecture, has a very interesting way, having studied other genocides like the German genocide of the Nama and Herero people in Namibia, saying this way that the Israelis are following to confine the people in a place where they cannot survive on their own. It’s like a concentration camp. It’s like being fully dependent on a hand that gives you, that hands out something but that’s not sustainable and all the rest is being destroyed.
Gaza will not return to what it was because of the environmental damage, because of the contamination, because of all what Gaza is today. But it doesn’t matter. If there is a place where the Palestinians from Gaza will move, it’s Israel.
This is the opportunity to let the Palestinians return to their original homeland. And I understand that this is a huge shock, comes as a huge shock for the Israelis, but sooner or later they would have been confronted with this. They are living like many, like other settler societies. Sorry, you’re living on stolen land.
“If there is a place where the Palestinians from Gaza will move, it’s Israel. This is the opportunity to let the Palestinians return to their original homeland.”
And you cannot, like the Americans who are not Native Americans and like the Australians who are not Aboriginal, you are living on stolen land. And the only redemption that you can have in this life, it’s fixing, it’s making right the wrongs of the past. So this is what conscientious Israelis should do.
Chris Hedges: I want to talk about erasure. Israel is not just physically erasing Palestine and of course has attacked its universities, its museums, its cultural centers. It has physically erased or killed through targeted assassinations, its intellectual class, its writers, its poets, over 200 journalists, its doctors.
And to what extent, and I want you to talk about the heavy campaigns that have been mounted against you by AIPAC and the Israel lobby, not only, I think, because you’re outspoken, but because your reports make it hard for Israel to erase what they’ve done and erase what is happening, which all genocidal killers seek to do.
Francesca Albanese: I often say that the attacks against me are emblematic of various aspects of this struggle. On the one hand, what happens to me is not unique in the sense that being accused of being pro-Hamas, pro-terrorism, antisemitic, it’s the litany of falsehood that everyone from the pope to the secretary general to scholars, activists, journalists, anyone with a minimum of decency who has dared denouncing the abhorrent reality in Palestine had to face.
So what has happened to me again is not unique. What I think is unique is the relentlessness of the attacks and how they continue to grow because I don’t give up. I believe it’s that because the more they threaten me the more I say let me see how better I can do my job because it’s not about… I call them the barking dogs.
They’re really barking dogs and they don’t matter, their objective is to distract me and they will not succeed because I know them I understand them because I often say I come from a place that has been plagued by the mafia. You know how many things I’ve realized over the past months also about myself?
Why am I this way? Why I’m not scared by them? Why every time I ignite my car I am scared. Of course there are times where I don’t open the door thinking my god, who’s going to be behind it?
But this is why I live my life in a way that it’s full of meaning. I love my family. I love my kids. I love my husband. I love my friends. I love my colleagues and this is what I treasure and I cherish every day and every day whenever I manage to go to bed and sleep I have no regrets because I’m doing what everyone should be doing.
“The more they threaten me the more I say ‘let me see how better I can do my job.’ “
So on the one hand, if I were someone in Gaza or in other places in Palestine, but even one of the many Israelis with whom I interact constantly and feel desperate, feel devastated by what is being done in their name. If I were one of these people, I would love to have, I would like to have someone who understands them, who listens to them and who connects the dots. This is the thing that annoys my detractors superbly.
The fact that on the one hand they don’t manage to make me shut up, rather the contrary, at every attempted slap there is a storm against them. Doesn’t matter where they come from, doesn’t matter who they are, it always turns into more support [for] me. This is why when people ask me, how do you feel to be so hated? By whom? By this bunch of minions and charlatans who are defending the genocide. Who cares? Who cares?
But there is an entire world which is in turmoil and somewhat I have the possibility to be listened to, which is a huge privilege for me. And because I know how fallacious human, sorry, yeah, the human nature can be.
My anchor continues to be international law to the best way I can of interpreting it because this is universal. This applies to all of us. This is for all of us. So I’m not bringing my precepts or my ideology. I’m bringing something that belongs to all of us.
And this is the thing that annoys the detractors is that I use the solidity of the facts and the law to tell them who they are, to put them in front of a mirror and it’s not that they don’t like me, they dislike the image that through me they get of themselves, genocidaires or supporters of a genocide.
Chris Hedges: How much has this changed the global community? And I’m thinking in particular, of course, within the Global South, which suffered their own Holocaust. You mentioned the Herero and the Namakwa, but the Armenians, the Kenyans under British colonialism, the Indians, especially the 1943 Bengal famine, for instance, three million Indians died.
And these Holocausts are not recognized by their perpetrators. Aimé Césaire in Discourse on Colonialism says that the reason that the Holocaust carried out by the Nazis against the Jews resonated was because the tactics that were employed, and these are his words, against the Coolies in India and the Blacks in Africa and the Algerians by the French in Algeria just were turned on other white Europeans.
And of course it’s been the Global South led by South Africa that has stood up to try and impose the rule of law on Israel on the genocide. But is this reconfiguring the global community?
Francesca Albanese
I think it is. I think it is. Not as fast as ending the genocide would require, but it is. So there are different trends that I see. First of all, as you say, there is a coming together around certain basic things. I’ve never heard so many people speaking the language of international law.
“How do you feel to be so hated? By whom? By this bunch of minions and charlatans who are defending the genocide. Who cares? Who cares?”
Seriously, I mean it’s as a lawyer, as a human rights lawyer, if I were given the opportunity not to look at the genocide for a moment, I would feel that the human rights mission is somewhat fulfilled because people are aware and are aware through a common lens that is allowing many, really, from Africa to Asia to the global minority and other places, really, to look at Palestine and recognize that.
There are some commonalities. People speak the language of human rights. Phenomenal, right? There is also another aspect of awakening is that never before have I heard so many people connecting the dots between the past and the present and the colonial past and the present.
I don’t know if you agree with me, but at least I sense that there is a global awareness of something that has for a long time been a prerogative, a painful prerogative of the global majority, the Global South, meaning the awareness of the pain and the wounds of colonialism.
Israel as a settler colonial frontier, a Western settler colonial frontier is giving an opportunity to understand what settler colonialism is and has done. The third thing is that the awakening is coming by linking the dots. And look, I mean, we will have a chance to talk once my report is out.
“Never before have I heard so many people connecting the dots between the past and the present and the colonial past and the present.”
But I keep on saying two things as I prepare myself to unveil what I’ve discovered through the findings of the last six months of investigation that the genocide in Gaza has not stopped because it’s lucrative, it’s profitable for far too many. It’s a business.
People have exploited, I mean there are corporate entities, including from Palestine-friendly states, who have for decades made businesses and made profits out of the economy of the occupation, because Israel has always exploited Palestinian land and resources and Palestinian life.
But I mean, the profits have continued and even increased as the economy of the occupation transformed into an economy of genocide.
And again, people need to understand that because Palestinians have simply, and I say simply with a lot of pain, and I don’t mean disrespectful toward the Palestinians, but they have provided these boundless training fields to test the technologies, test weapons, to test surveillance techniques that now are being used against people everywhere from the Global South to the Global North.
Look at what’s happening in the United States or in Germany. We are spied [on]. I mean, look at the use of drones, of biometrics. These are all things that have been experienced [experimented] on the Palestinians first and foremost. So I think that there is this link that unfettered and boundless unchecked capitalism, which has been, colonial racial capitalism also for the Palestinians, detrimental for all of us.
So how to respond to this? I do see a movement, I do see a revolution brewing, I call it the watermelon revolution and it’s there. There are young people, workers, anti-Zionist Jews or Jews who do not recognize themselves as anti-Zionist but still don’t want to have anything to do with Israel’s crimes and don’t want them to be in their names.
So there is this movement and at the level of countries I see for example the Hague Group which is a coalition primarily of countries from the Global South and it shouldn’t be like that. So I’ve supported, I’ve sustained, I’ve commended these countries and I call on other states from Asia to Africa and especially the West to join the Hague Group, which says let’s start by taking some modicums, some minimal steps to comply with international law.
No impunity, no harbor and no weapons for Israel. Which is really basic, but here’s where we are. Baby steps.
Chris Hedges
Can you talk about in this report that’s coming out some of the global corporations that are profiting off of genocide and how they’re profiting off of genocide?
Francesca Albanese
I won’t be able to tell you much because the report is still embargoed. But I decided to list about 50 corporate entities, from arms manufacturers to big tech companies to companies providing construction materials or extracting construction materials from the Occupied Palestinian Territory to the tourism industry, goods and services, supply chain.
And also these are the two main sectors of the displacement replacement of the Palestinians. And then there is a network of enablers like insurers, pension funds, wealth funds, banks, universities, charities. It’s an ecosystem sustaining this illegality.
You know, the private sector tends to escape scrutiny, they’re very smart. And in fact, the private sector has historically been either a driver of settler colonialism. During the 1600s, for example, think of companies of the Indies. They were leaving from the Netherlands, the Dutch ports, to co-reach and colonize West India or Southeast Asia. I mean, why? Why? Why on earth? And this has happened.
But also there are also cases where companies or private entities were not the drivers but the enablers providing tools, funds for colonial enterprises that then profited them. And this is why big companies and corporate interests have helped shape the law in a way that allowed them to escape scrutiny.
It’s not new that companies have profited from genocides, but think of what happened during the Holocaust. The Holocaust industrialist trials helped understand how companies made businesses out of the tragedy of millions of Jewish people.
“Big companies and corporate interests have helped shape the law in a way that allowed them to escape scrutiny.”
And it’s shocking to see that some of the companies who were held responsible in the case of the Holocaust industrialist trials are still involved in the genocide of the Palestinians.
And then there was the South Africa experience after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded its work. Some companies were condemned to make reparations. So there have been historical moments that have prompted greater regulation for companies.
And for example, the U.N. guiding principles imposing due diligence to companies are an outcome of the South Africa experience. And still, it’s not enough. It’s definitely not enough because companies continue to operate in the gray areas of state responsibility.
So, for example, I put on notice 48 businesses and the response was, yeah, but it’s not our fault, it’s Israel. Yeah, it’s not up to you to tell us what we should do, it’s the states.
So no, I’m sorry. Today the occupation is unlawful. Israel has been put on notice, is investigated directly or indirectly in at least three proceedings for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. And you cannot continue business as usual.
And if you do, you will have to face justice. So this is probably the storm that I will help to mount against them is to make sure that civil society and lawyers in every country where this business are registered, are active, and also that consumers know that they can vote, they can bail out.
They can make sure, for example, there are tourism companies who advise settlement properties. You should see, or for example, real estate agents who sell nice English speaking neighbourhood in the heart of Judea and Samaria.
So this is normalization of the occupation by a clique and you are going to be punished. Maybe not in court but surely you will lose a lot of clients when they will know what you do.
“This is normalization of the occupation by a clique and they are going to be punished… They will surely lose a lot of clients when they know what you do.”
Chris Hedges: Let’s just close by talking about international bodies, the ICC, the United Nations. They’ve certainly stepped up and spoken in opposition to the genocide, attempted to hold Israel accountable for the genocide, but have no enforcement mechanism. How do you look at these international organizations and the role that they’ve played in the genocide?
Francesca Albanese: Look, I do not agree to the fullest with the argument that there are no enforcement mechanisms. There are enforcement mechanisms and this is member states. Member states have an obligation to enforce the decision of the ICJ.
There is even the Security Council. The Security Council last year passed a resolution ordering a ceasefire in Gaza, which was not respected. So there is no enforcement of anything these days that is thought, is conceived to put a limit to Israel’s impunity.
And in a way, yes, I agree with what you were saying before. Israel is seen somewhat like part of Western settler colonialism. Israel is seen as part of the Western confrontation with the rest of the world, which is shameful frankly. We shouldn’t be here, still here, in this racial way of, racial optics, this racialized way of looking at each other.
We are part of the same family. This is what humanity means. Doesn’t matter the color of your skin, doesn’t matter the God you worship or don’t, doesn’t matter. It’s what makes us human and we are so cruel among all animals among all creatures in this world because we really have so many barriers that we have erected and we need to remove them.
Now it’s the chance I don’t know if we need another genocide, but this genocide is triggering something more Chris. You see the war in Iran? The war against Iran? It was totally predictable. It was totally predictable because Israel has been seeding wars in the region for decades. And it was Iraq, then it’s been other countries, Libya and Syria have also been devastated. It’s true, you cannot blame Israel for everything.
Well, Israel has surely benefited from an annihilation of all adversaries in the region. And Iran, bombing Iran has been like feeding a demon. It was the long-term goal of several Israeli governments and finally it has happened.
What would the Israelis have to gain from this seriously? From the death of innocent lives, being them Iranians or Israelis? This is why I say this needs to stop. And the enforcement is there, but it’s with member states.
Well, member states keep on, you know, kicking the can in the air and expecting that it’s a deus ex machina to intervene, being the European Union as a whole or being the United Nations as a whole. No!
It starts with principal member states and this is why once again I commend so much the Hague Group because they are acting not as a regional or trans-regional organization but as a coalition of like-minded and principled states.
Chris Hedges: Great. Thanks, Francesca. And I want to thank Diego [Ramos], Victor [Padilla], Sofia [Menemenlis], Thomas [Hedges] and Max [Jones], who produced the show. You can find me at ChrisHedges.Substack.com.
Israel escalates attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank
The IOF’s house raids across the West Bank, and mass killings in the Gaza Strip have been on the rise in the last couple of weeks, amid Israel’s war with Iran.
June 29, 2025 by Peoples Dispatch
IOF incursion in the West Bank during Operation Summer Camp in 2024. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Israeli Occupation Forces have been carrying out house raid campaigns across the occupied West Bank for decades. Grassroots groups and residents say the raids highlight the reality of living under colonial military rule, with no guaranteed right to privacy or safety.
For several years, even prior to October 7, human rights organizations have been releasing reports and footage exposing the systematic abuse and violence perpetrated by IOF soldiers against Palestinian civilians, including children, during house raids.
However, international institutions have failed to intervene, allowing the violence to further escalate.
IOF house raids: a lifetime nightmare for Palestinian kids
The IOF’s house raids have usually been carried out after midnight, during which masked soldiers carrying their rifles storm the bedrooms of sleeping children.
The occasional use of explosives by the IOF to detonate door locks during house raids has been reported. This act poses a real threat to the life of anyone standing at a close distance behind the door, and of course distresses residents of the house.
During some raids, Palestinian children are subjected to verbal and psychological abuse by IOF soldiers, who interrogate them, or force them to be photographed. Meanwhile, other kids are arrested, then placed in detention for hours, days, or years.
Ibrahim Abu Ghali, a 7-year-old Palestinian boy, told Al Jazeera in an interview published in March how he, his cousin Omar (13), and a number of their male relatives were arrested from his grandparents’ house in the besieged Jenin refugee camp, in the northern occupied West Bank, at dawn.
Ibrahim said that the IOF undressed him and the others in the street despite the cold weather, where he saw snipers stationed at rooftops, one of whom shot live ammunition at his grandmother, as she was looking at them from the window. They were later put in an armored vehicle, which took them to an Israeli military base, where they were detained for 12 hours.
“Any time any of us spoke, they would kick us in the back with their boots,” Ibrahim said in the interview. He added that he was deprived of sleep by a soldier, who continuously kicked the door, making him flinch as he was trying to fall asleep.
Ibrahim’s cousin Omar also mentioned that the IOF continued to beat them upon their release as they were getting into a military vehicle on their way back home. The grief of the two children was exacerbated when they arrived back at the camp to discover that their grandmother succumbed to her injuries, after she was shot by an Israeli sniper and passed away.
The IOF intensified house raids in the West Bank during Israel’s war with Iran
The 12-day war between Israel and Iran saw a drastic escalation in the IOF’s house raids in different parts of the West Bank, with a noticeable increase in violent acts by the soldiers.
Palestinian nationals, whose houses were subjected to house raids in that period, shared their testimonies with Peoples Dispatch on condition of anonymity.
Witnesses confirmed that the house raids were mainly focused on looting their money, jewelry, and valuable belongings. Such looting incidents were reported in the past, but they were less frequent, and were carried out by individual Israeli personnel discreetly.
Moreover, the IOF reportedly forced some Palestinians to evacuate their houses in the last two weeks, which they turned into military barracks for hours, and sometimes for days until they finished their raids in the area.
A young man from Jenin explained that the raid on his house was different from those conducted before the war. “They vandalized my room and other parts of the house, damaged my lighting equipment, stole a mobile phone and an expensive microphone,” he said.
“They tore down the posters of my martyred brother that were hanged in a corner inside my room, and marked my photo with an ‘X’, which I perceived as an implicit threat,” the young man added.
A woman from a village in Ramallah noted that after two hours of painstaking research at her house and nearby houses of her relatives, they discovered that a number of jewelry pieces and cash money were stolen.
“The officer who supervised the soldiers asked my husband to open the safe in front of him to allegedly check that no weapon was there. Yet, I believe that he did so as a matter of deceit, to cover the planned robbery his soldiers were carrying out in other parts of the house at the time,” the woman, who was also body searched, said.
“He wanted to maintain the fake image they have always tried to portray for themselves as ‘the most moral army in the world’,” she asserted.
She also suggested that the IOF intensified house raids amid the war for two potential reasons. First to show Palestinians, who expressed joy after seeing Iran’s missiles striking Israel, that the IOF is still strong and capable of imposing its military rule on Palestinian people, and second to loot as many assets as they could from their households.
Another woman from the same village said that the soldiers vandalized the whole house, took two of her children (11 and 10 years old) away to a separate room, where they interrogated them about their parents having weapons hidden in the house. They also asked them about the amount of money their parents might have, and where exactly they would be hiding it.
The woman mentioned being beaten by a female soldier, who accompanied her to one of the rooms to look for money. She also said that after breaking the money boxes of her children and looting them conspicuously, the IOF forced her, and her husband to sign a document written in Hebrew language, which they do not understand.
Both women recounted similar stories about their little children, who were accompanied by IOF soldiers when they needed to use the toilet. According to the women, the soldiers stood in front of the door of the toilet until the children got out. A situation that may have psychological impact on those children, being locked behind a door alone, while a soldier carrying a rifle was waiting for each of them outside.
IOF, Israeli settlers killed six Palestinians in the West Bank last week
The surging Israeli violence in the West Bank, which coincided with the war against Iran and its aftermath, has not been limited to violent house raids. At least six Palestinians were killed in the last few days by the IOF and illegal Israeli settlers in different areas of the occupied territories.
The slain Palestinians were identified as:
Ammar Mutaz Hamayel (13) – shot dead by the IOF in the village of Kafr Malik, in the central city of Ramallah.
Zahia Jawda Al-Obaidi (66) – shot in the head by the IOF in Shuafat refugee camp, in the northern occupied East Jerusalem.
Rayan Tamer Houshiyeh – shot in the neck by an Israeli soldier in the town of Al-Yamoun, in Jenin.
Lutfi Beirat (21), Murshid Hamayel (30), and Mohammad al-Naji (23) – shot dead by illegal Israeli settlers in Kafr Malik.
Bloodshed has continued in Gaza
Although Iran dealt devastating blows to Israel during the war, it has not prevented the IOF from continuing to commit daily massacres in the besieged Gaza Strip.
After the recent massacres, the death toll in Gaza has risen to over 56,331 since Israel began its genocidal aggression in October 2023, based on the latest statement issued by Gaza’s Health Ministry on Friday, June 27.
Israeli airstrikes on Gaza beach kill dozens, including a journalist
The massacre raises the death toll of Palestinian journalists killed by Israel since October 7, 2023, to 228.
July 01, 2025 by Aseel Saleh
Journalist Bayan Abu Sultan survives the Israeli beach massacre and is treated by several women. Photo: screenshot
On Monday, June 30, Israeli warplanes deliberately struck Al-Baqa beachfront rest area and cafe while it was crowded with civilians in Gaza city, killing at least 33 people, including a journalist, and wounding 50 others.
Palestinian photojournalist Ismail Abu Hatab, footballer Mustafa Abu Amira, activist Omar Zeino, and visual artist Frans al-Salmi were identified among the fatalities.
According to a statement issued by Gaza’s Government Media Office, Abu Hatab worked for several media outlets and held many photo exhibitions outside of Palestine, where he regularly exposed the catastrophic situation in the besieged enclave.
Bayan Abu Sultan an icon of steadfastness
Meanwhile, journalist Bayan Abu Sultan miraculously survived the beach massacre despite sustaining injuries. Footage of Bayan standing firmly with blood covering her face circulated online promptly after the massacre took place.
A few hours later, Palestinian photographer Issam Rimawi posted a video of Bayan, showing her smiling and being taken care of by several women, in what was widely perceived as a demonstration of steadfastness against the Israeli occupation.
The young female journalist has been known for her resilience and courage during the ongoing brutal war. On March 19, 2024, Bayan posted on X: “Israeli forces just murdered my only brother in front of my eyes.”
On March 27, 2024, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) sounded the alarm on Bayan’s potential disappearance. She had last been seen on the day her brother was murdered and was thought to have been detained by the IOF during a raid on Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.
That same day, Palestinian activist and journalist, Ahmed El-Madhoun, reassured RSF in a post that Bayan was not missing and that she was fine. He explained that she was stuck in her house near Al-Shifa Hospital with several neighbors, without enough food. El-Madhoun added that Bayan buried her brother in the backyard of her house, and that he had called for help in evacuating her and the other neighbors.
Two days later, Bayan wrote a reassuring message on X: “I survived.”
Death toll of Palestinian journalists in Gaza rises to 228
Gaza’s Government Media Office announced on Monday that the assassination of Ismail Abu Hatab raised the death toll of Palestinian journalists killed by Israel since the beginning of its genocidal aggression on Gaza on October 7, 2023 to 228.
Israeli Military Site Torched in West Bank Amid Rising Tensions with Far-Right Settlers
Photo: AP
June 30, 2025 Hour: 7:51 pm
A military security site in the Benjamin region, north of Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank, was set on fire and vandalized Sunday night by a group of Israeli citizens, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
The site, part of the Benjamin Brigade’s operational infrastructure, housed systems used to prevent armed attacks and maintain regional stability. The IDF described the incident as a “direct threat to security”, warning that the damage endangers both soldiers and civilians in the area.
The attack occurred amid mounting tensions between the Israeli military and far-right settler factions, particularly following recent confrontations near Ramallah, where a 14-year-old settler was reportedly injured by army fire during protests.
According to local media, the protest outside the Benjamin base began with hundreds of activists, but escalated into violent clashes led by members of the “Hilltop Youth”, a radical settler group known for its confrontational tactics.
Protesters attempted to storm the military compound, prompting border guards to deploy stun grenades to repel the crowd. The IDF condemned the violence and called for the immediate prosecution of those responsible.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Immigration Minister Ofir Sofer both denounced the attack. Sofer warned that such actions threaten national security and internal cohesion, especially at a time of heightened regional instability.
The incident came just one day after six settlers were arrested for allegedly assaulting soldiers during a march toward the Palestinian village of Kafr Malik, further straining relations between the army and ultranationalist settler groups.
Analysts say the attack on the Benjamin base reflects a deepening internal rift within Israeli society, as the military faces growing resistance not only from Palestinians but also from Jewish extremists opposed to state authority.
The IDF has faced increasing criticism from settler groups over its handling of protests and its perceived restraint in the West Bank, where settler violence against Palestinians has surged in recent months.
The military has reiterated its commitment to upholding the rule of law and protecting all residents of the West Bank, regardless of ethnicity or political affiliation.
The Benjamin region, historically associated with the ancient Israelite tribe, has become a flashpoint for settler-military tensions, particularly as Israel advances controversial annexation plans and expands settlement activity.
As the situation in Gaza continues to escalate and the West Bank remains volatile, the internal unrest among Israeli factions adds a new layer of complexity to an already combustible landscape.
‘Israel’ Ramps up Evacuations in Gaza City Ahead of Decisive Days
July 2, 2025
A Palestinian child carries a tent through rubble in Gaza City, June 30, 2025. Photo: AFP.
Gaza | Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu convenes a closed session of the war cabinet to discuss the prospect of a temporary ceasefire in Gaza, while the Israeli military is applying maximum field pressure across the entire Strip. Israeli media describe the coming days as “decisive,” emphasizing a rare and golden opportunity
Having already displaced residents from around 75% of Gaza’s territory, confining nearly 1.8 million people to less than a quarter of its original area, the Israeli army launched a new wave of evacuations on Sunday, targeting central districts in Gaza City. Residents of al-Zaytoun, al-Shujaaiya, al-Tuffah, al-Daraj, and East Zaytoun neighborhoods, core areas of the city’s historic center and now sheltering hundreds of thousands of displaced families, were ordered to evacuate. Similar instructions were issued for several neighborhoods in al-Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza.
Evacuation orders coincided with one of the most intense waves of aerial bombardment and urban demolition since fighting resumed in mid-March. Now, every evening, dozens of airstrikes and large-scale detonations target residential blocks. The town of Jabalia in northeastern Gaza has suffered the most from this destruction. According to Ahmed Abu Warda, a resident of Jabalia, the Israeli army’s strategy appears focused on total demolition.
Speaking to Al-Akhbar, Abu Warda described how “Israeli tanks advance during the night, planting explosive barrels throughout entire residential blocks, then withdraw before detonating dozens of homes at once. The warplanes follow up with relentless bombardment.” He noted that many so-called “combat zones” lack any “permanent Israeli army presence, only sporadic incursions aimed at destruction.”
This same approach has been used in the eastern neighborhoods of al-Tuffah, al-Zaytoun, and al-Shujaaiya, echoing the devastation previously inflicted on Jabalia, Beit Lahia, Beit Hanoun, and Rafah. The result: over a million people in these densely populated areas are now without shelter.
A report by Haaretz revealed that the Israeli army contracted demolition firms, offering $1,500 per destroyed building, to accelerate the pace of leveling Gaza’s urban landscape. Parallel to this, the Israeli army intensified its campaign of mass killings. In the past 48 hours, dozens of massacres have been recorded, particularly in western Gaza City. On Sunday, warplanes struck around 20 tents sheltering families near the Palestine Square intersection, carving a 25-meter-wide crater, 10 meters deep. The attack killed at least 13 people and injured dozens more, with residents and medical teams spending over 10 hours digging through rubble in the dark in search of survivors and bodies.
Further airstrikes targeted a bustling market in al-Tuffah, killing 15 civilians and injuring dozens. On the same day, an Israeli strike on a residential home belonging to al-Sadiq family in Jabalia killed 15 people and caused the injury of many others. In southern Gaza, similar strikes hit tents and homes, bringing the two-day death toll to approximately 150 martyrs, with hundreds more injured, according to medical sources.
On the political front, US President Donald Trump is promoting a potential prisoner exchange deal that could end the war, as part of a broader agreement that includes normalizing relations with several Arab countries in the region. To push this deal, Trump is reportedly intervening directly to stop the trial of Netanyahu, even going so far as to threaten to halt arms shipments to the Israeli entity if the trial continues. According to Israeli Channel 13, Netanyahu told close associates that “dramatic days lie ahead,” with the prospect of normalizing relations with the new Syrian authorities and moving forward with a prisoner swap deal, especially as the Israeli army informed the political leadership that the fighting in Gaza has reached its limit.
Yet, unresolved internal divisions, which were paused by the war with Iran, now reemerge as obstacles to progress. Israeli Channel 12 reported that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich harshly criticized Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir for backtracking on a previous pledge to evacuate Gazans from the north to so-called “cleansed zones.” Smotrich insisted the plan should have resulted in Hamas’s defeat within 100 days.
In Palestine, agriculture is a form of resistance against the Israeli occupation.
July 01, 2025 by Vittoria Silva Paz Barreto
Harvest in Palestine. Photo: Maria Silva
It is difficult to imagine the existence of agriculture and food production in Gaza, where there is no security, no peace, and even less arable land. After twenty months of atrocities and mass destruction of infrastructure, the death toll from Israel’s genocide on Gaza is over 56,000, with hundreds of thousands of injured, and the mass displacement of the majority of the population. The existence of arable land, untouched by Israel’s devastating bombing campaign, or even the possibility to have freedom to move and tend to the land in Gaza, are distant dreams. In the West Bank, however, agriculture is still a reality.
As of October 2024, half a million Jewish settlers lived in the occupied West Bank – a number that continues to grow especially since October 7, 2023, when Israel launched its genocide on Gaza.
The level of violence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is also growing with the intensification of land annexations, the increase of armed settlers, and the killing of Palestinians. And on top of that the Israeli government offers subsidies to Jewish families from other parts of the world (especially from the US and Europe) who, under the belief of an ancestral right to this long-inhabited land, come to the region. The number of settlements has also increased since the beginning of the Netanyahu government.
Agriculture is resistance to colonially-imposed hunger
In Palestine, agriculture is a historical form of resistance. While we see countless reports these days about hunger being used as a weapon of war, about children being killed in food lines and other atrocities taking place in Gaza, we also see the daily resistance of the Palestinian people living in the West Bank.
Despite all obstacles imposed by the Zionist occupation, agriculture continues to be a form of resistance and reconnection with the past and its roots. Beyond the olive tree, the symbol of Palestinian resistance, national food production exists and finds ways to persist amid the control of the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) and the settlements.
There are also other forms of production, such as hydroponics – a technique that doesn’t require the use of soil – which opens up the possibility of using other areas where people live, including urban areas. In addition, there are ways of prolonging production by processing fruit and vegetables, which can be used after the harvest period, providing new ways of entering the market.
In the West Bank, Israel has strong control over agriculture, land, the production model, crops, and trade. 65% of the land is under Israeli control. Thus, in addition to living under oppression, there is the restriction of land use and free movement within the territory, often accompanied by a lack of resources to invest in production. This results in the following data: currently, only 26% of the Palestinian population has agriculture as its main source of income, and 22% of the population still lives in rural areas.
The struggle for land in the West Bank
West Bank territories have been divided into Zones A, B, and C since the Oslo Agreement in 1993, a failed attempt (for the Palestinian people) of diplomacy. Thus, only Zone C is under full Israeli military control. Zone A and Zone B are under Palestinian administration. But that doesn’t mean that the Palestinian-administered areas are free from Israeli rule.
In order to have access to arable land under Israeli control, Palestinian farmers have to ask the IOF for permission to access it, still with restrictions and under surveillance – therefore, in a situation of great danger. Farming is also an alternative to the high unemployment rates, or to working in Israeli colonies, where Palestinians suffer countless forms of violence, for a salary far below the average and under extremely precarious conditions.
But it is precisely because Palestinian labor is cheaper for Israel that unemployment and lack of access to other alternatives is deliberately maintained. In addition, agriculture itself – because it preserves ancestral practices and Palestinian history – is the target of a project of national and cultural erasure.
Although there is resistance to an agricultural economy, which corresponds to 6% of the GDP (however in 1967 it corresponded to 67%), most fruits and vegetables consumed in the West Bank come from Israel. Which means that they are sold at a much higher price, competing with local production and are produced with the heavy use of chemicals.
Going out to sell products means that every day farmers need to go through the Israeli checkpoints with their products – without any guarantee that the products will reach the final destination. Difficulties persist from accessing seeds to the final stages of production.
The long history of Palestinian resistance around agriculture demonstrates the strength of popular and collective resistance. Cooperatives have always been strong among Palestinian farmers, but there was an alarming decline after the Nakba in 1948, with the number falling by 87%. Still, the strength of the cooperative model and family farming, so present in Palestinian society, provides us with a lot of information about political organizing as well – through the collective mentality as a historical component of the economy and resistance (both of which are interlinked).
This is not only a way to resist, but also to challenge the Zionist occupation. An example of this resistance happened when, between 1987 and 1989, 500,000 trees were planted throughout the Palestinian territory during the First Intifada. The so-called “Victory Gardens” were popular family farming and animal raising initiatives based on solidarity. During this period, agro-industries were set up and run by neighborhood cooperatives.
Thus, beyond the substantial number of trees planted, the Victory Gardens have ensured a reliable source of income for thousands of Palestinian families. This initiative exemplifies how the Palestinian economy operates as an economy of resistance, challenging the logic of Israeli occupation and the fragmentation of Palestinian territories and population.
Although the state of Israel sells an external image of a green and sustainable economy it reveals its true face with the promotion of apartheid and greenwashing. The concept of a sustainable Israel, designed to uphold geopolitical power, proves advantageous and profitable for the regime, while simultaneously limiting Palestinian access to land and water, further obstructing local agricultural development.
The establishment of renewable energy facilities on Palestinian land, including solar panels and wind turbines, exemplifies the concept of “green colonialism”, which disregards the socio-economic impact on the local population and represents an additional form of territorial domination.
Although 65% of the land is under Israeli control, the company Mekorot holds a monopoly on water exploration in the region. The company has built pipelines that transport water from Palestinian-administered territories to Israeli settlements, running beneath the colonized land. These pipelines supply water to the settlers while imposing high charges on the Palestinian people for its consumption, granting them controlled access only when permitted.
Hunger, along with the control of land and water, is used as a weapon of war. These tactics serve to sustain the oppression of those who resist, progressively restricting access to natural resources in an effort to suppress their struggle and erase their history.
The struggle for food sovereignty
The imposition of monocultures and the application of pesticides, in addition to causing changes to the ecosystem, are also means by which Israel is directly targeting the food sovereignty of these communities. This changes the population’s food culture, impoverishing their food supply, increasing prices and reducing the variety of foods available for consumption, especially healthy and agro-ecological foods. The restriction on land, the obstruction of local commerce, the meat costing around 350 dollars per kilogram and the current curtailment of humanitarian aid: All this shows us what the Zionist project really is and its ways of turning everything into a weapon against the Palestinian people.
The very notion of food sovereignty comes to counter the idea of food security and is, according to the Via Campesina website, “the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems.” Therefore, the Palestinian peoples’ struggle for food sovereignty represents a way of challenging the Zionist system itself, encompassing solidarity and a collective organizational logic that extends beyond the concept of food alone, addressing the broader political, economic, and social context.
To fully develop an agriculture rooted in agroecological transition and cooperativism, aimed at achieving food sovereignty, it is important to first achieve the liberation of the Palestinian people. There is no socio-economic development within a logic of invasion and domination. However, the continuity of resistance through the practices described in this text, as well as the maintenance of an entire culture and identity that the Zionists seek to erase, is the path to liberation.
Local Palestinian agriculture represents a form of struggle for self-determination by a people living under Zionist colonization, who never cease to fight and resist all forms of imposed constraints. Struggling for the right to produce, to foster local commerce, and to establish their own economy amidst colonization is a profound demonstration of strength.
Fighting for food sovereignty while on the other side of the wall the same people die of hunger or die trying to access food is an act of courage and a way of demonstrating that the Palestinian people will not cease in their daily struggle until Palestine is free from Zionist occupation and imperialism. It is a way of putting forward a popular project for society based on anti-imperialism, solidarity, and the autonomy of peoples.
The Best-Selling Apps Made By Israeli Spies
Nate Bear
Jul 02, 2025
The developers behind hundreds of Android and iPhone apps with billions of downloads are former Israeli spies whose apps are generating significant revenues for Israel’s genocidal war economy.
The apps I’ve identified range from innocuous image and video editing apps to casual games, and most users won’t be aware they’re installing Israeli products on their phones. Many of these app developers operate under the radar, their ownership structures are opaque and the identity of their owners isn’t commonly known.
The identification of these apps should add another frontier to the boycott, divest, sanctions movement, as it provides a straightforward way for ordinary people to avoid Israeli products that contribute to apartheid, genocide and ethnic cleansing.
The proliferation of these apps on Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store also raises questions over privacy and the harvesting of personal data, given the reputation of Israeli technology and past scandals involving spyware being smuggled onto devices by apps made in Israel.
One of the most significant Israeli app holding companies and developers is ZipoApps, whose model is to buy-out and monetise apps at a large scale. The apps owned by Zipo (which also goes by the name Rounds.com) include a suite of photo and video editing apps that have received hundreds of millions of total installs. Individual apps include Collage Maker Photo Editor and Instasquare Photo Editor: Neon, both of which have received more than 50 million downloads from the Google Play Store. Other ZipoApps products include baby photo editing and retouching tools. In 2022, the founder and CEO of Zipo, Gal Avidor, told an interviewer (in his only interview to date), that all the founders of the company are former Unit 8200 Israeli intelligence personnel. On Reddit, users have complained about ZipoApps approach to privacy and data mining. One popular group of tools known as Simple Gallery went from free and open source to a paid product with ads and trackers just one week after ZipoApps acquired it.
Another Israeli-owned photo editing app on the Play Store is the AI-powered Bazaart, which was founded by Dror Yaffe and Stas Goferman, two former IDF intelligence officers. Goferman far exceeded his mandatory service, spending a decade in the IDF up to 2011.
Facetune, made by the developer Lightricks and available for Android and iPhones, is another Israeli photo editing app with over 50 million installs. Users on the Apple Store have called Facetune, which demands access to unique identifiers and your location, a scam. The co-founder of Lightricks, Yaron Inger, spent five years in Unit 8200.
If you’re into mobile gaming, or if you create mobile games to sell, you will have come across Israeli company Supersonic from Unity, probably without knowing it. With billions of downloads in recent years, Supersonic is one of the largest mobile game publishers in the world with revenues estimated at around $23 million per year. Earlier this year the company reported that they owned three of the top ten most downloaded casual player mobile games in the world: Build a Queen, Going Balls, and Bridge Race. Trash Tycoon is another popular title. The company also has a game called ‘Conquer Countries’ which has been downloaded millions of times and on its advertising tile features a cartoon version of Donald Trump. The founder of Supersonic, Nadav Ashkenazy, spent seven and a half years in the IDF where he rose to become the head of operations for the Israeli air force, managing almost half the full-time staff. You can see all Supersonic’s games here.
A better-known Israeli mobile game app maker whose revenues we don’t have to estimate is Playtika. Listed on the NASDAQ, Playtika brings in revenues of more than $2.5 billion, generating significant taxes for Israel’s mass slaughter machine. Playtika, which builds gambling apps, is firmly enmeshed in the genocidal Israeli war machine. The company was founded by Uri Shahak, son of the former head of the IDF, Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, and last year its annual report revealed that 14% of its staff had been called up as reservists to participate in the genocide in Gaza. Current CEO Robert Antokol says the company has a “responsibility” to Israel and the taxes paid by its staff are “wonderful for the Israeli economy.”
Another Israeli company whose apps have been downloaded billions of times is Crazy Labs. With an estimated company value of around $1 billion and sales estimated at up to $200 million, Crazy Labs is another app maker integral to the Israeli economy. Its best-selling titles are Phone Case DIY, Miraculous Ladybug & Cat Noir, and Sculpt People. You can see the full list of the Crazy Lab apps on the Google Play Store. The founders of Crazy Labs are all ex-IDF, including Sagi Schliesser, who well exceeded his mandatory service by staying in the IDF and helping build the digital architecture of apartheid for eight years.
An app you may have heard of, but not have known is Israeli, is Moovit. The urban transport app was founded by a number of ex-IDF including Nir Erez who spent years at the IDF’s specialist computing centre known as Mamram, which Israeli propaganda says creates ‘cyber warriors.’ As the unit which runs the military’s intranet, Mamram is central to Israel’s genocide of Gaza. Moovit, which has close to one billion users and delivers significant revenues to Israel, has been an official partner of the Olympic Games, the European football championships and also partners with Microsoft.
With hundreds of millions of installs, Call App, which screens phone calls for spam, is another product of Israel’s military economy. The founder and CEO of Call App, Amit On, spent three years in Unit 8200 in the 2000s. The app has over 100 million users.
On the ride-hailing front, Gett, which is focused on corporate passengers and is particularly popular in London as a way to hail black cabs, was founded by ex-Unit 8200 Roi More and Shahar Waiser. A notable mention for GPS navigation app Waze, probably the most famous Israeli app of the last decade, acquired by Google in 2013 for $1.3 billion and also founded by ex-Unit 8200 spies.
Another fast-growing Israeli app which has been featured on Oprah, in the New York Times and on CNN is Fooducate, whose founder, Hemi Weingarten, flew bombing missions for the Israeli air force.
This expose, which follows my investigations into former IDF and Unit 8200 working in AI for the big tech giants, and those working at Meta and Google, further confirms how deeply and insidiously embedded Israel is in our digital lives.
These investigations also reveal how Israel is foundationally reliant on being in a permanent state of dominance over the Palestinians, because the only thing of value the country produces are tech companies founded by ex-IDF. Without being able to train their citizens as spies and soldiers, and butcher Palestinians at will, Israel's economy would collapse.
Yet most people who use these apps will have downloaded them in good faith with little idea they are contributing to Israel’s occupation-apartheid-genocide economy. In addition, these apps will be gathering information and data, including large amounts of personal images, and delivering them to devotees of Israel committed to maintaining the country as an apartheid state.
So check your phone and please spread the word.
Delegitimising, defunding and deleting Israeli products is one easy step we can all take to help dismantle Israel’s machinery of genocide.
Chris Hedges: The Genocide Profiteers
July 2, 2025
In her latest report, Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese demands that more than 1,000 corporate entities sever ties with Israel or be held accountable for complicity in war crimes.
Murder in the Bank – by. Mr. Fish.
By Chris Hedges
ScheerPost
War is a business. So is genocide.
The latest report submitted by Francesca Albanese, special rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, lists 48 corporations and institutions, including Palantir Technologies Inc., Lockheed Martin, Alphabet Inc., Amazon, International Business Machine Corporation (IBM), Caterpillar Inc., Microsoft Corporation and Massachusetts Institue of Technology (MIT), along with banks and financial firms such as Blackrock, insurers, real estate firms and charities, which in violation of international law are making billions from the occupation and the genocide of Palestinians.
The report, which includes a database of over 1,000 corporate entities that collaborate with Israel, demands these firms and institutions sever ties with Israel or be held accountable for complicity in war crimes.
It describes Israel’s “forever-occuption” as “the ideal testing ground for arms manufacturers and Big Tech — providing significant supply and demand, little oversight, and zero accountability — while investors and private and public institutions profit freely.”
The post-Holocaust industrialists’ trials and the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission laid the legal framework for recognizing the criminal responsibility of institutions and businesses that participate in international crimes.
This new report makes clear that decisions made by the International Court of Justice place an obligation on entities “to not engage and/or to withdraw totally and unconditionally from any associated dealings, and to ensure that any engagement with Palestinians enables their self-determination.”
“The genocide in Gaza has not stopped because it’s lucrative, it’s profitable for far too many,” Albanese told me.
“It’s a business. There are corporate entities, including from Palestine-friendly states, who have for decades made businesses and made profits out of the economy of the occupation. Israel has always exploited Palestinian land, resources and Palestinian life. The profits have continued and even increased as the economy of the occupation transformed into an economy of genocide.”
In addition, she said, Palestinians have provided
“boundless training fields to test the technologies, test weapons, to test surveillance techniques that now are being used against people everywhere from the Global South to the Global North.”
You can see my interview with Albanese here.
US Calls for Albanese’s Head
[The Times of Israel reported Wednesday, a day after Albanese’s report was issued, that the United States had urged the United Nations in a letter to the secretary general to sack Albanese on the absurd allegation of “virulent antisemitism and support for terrorism.”
The U.S. accused her of “an unacceptable campaign of political and economic warfare against the American and worldwide economy.” The World Jewish Congress also blasted her report, calling it a “deeply biased narrative.”
“Ms. Albanese’s report is yet another example of her repeated misuse of her mandate to advance a political agenda rather than to uphold the universal principles of human rights,” WJC Executive Vice President Maram Stern said in a statement.]
Albanese during a press briefing at U.N. headquarters in New York on Oct. 30, 2024. (UN Photo/Mark Garten)
A Captive Market
Albanese’s report lambasts corporations for “providing Israel with the weapons and machinery required to destroy homes, schools, hospitals, places of leisure and worship, livelihoods and productive assets, such as olive groves and orchards.”
The Palestinian territory, the report notes, is a “captive market” because of Israeli-imposed restrictions on trade and investment, tree planting, fishing and water for colonies. Corporations have profiteered from this “captive market” by “exploiting Palestinian labour and resources, degrading and diverting natural resources, building and powering colonies and selling and marketing derived goods and services in Israel, the occupied Palestinian territory and globally.”
“Israel gains from this exploitation, while it costs the Palestinian economy at least 35 per cent of its GDP,” the report notes.
Banks, asset management firms, pension funds and insurers have “channeled finance into the illegal occupation,” the report charges. In addition, “universities — centres of intellectual growth and power — have sustained the political ideology underpinning the colonization of Palestinian land, developed weaponry and overlooked or even endorsed systemic violence, while global research collaborations have obscured Palestinian erasure behind a veil of academic neutrality.”
Surveillance and incarceration technologies have “evolved into tools for indiscriminate targeting of the Palestinian population,” the report notes.
“Heavy machinery previously used for house demolitions, infrastructure destruction and resource seizure in the West Bank have been repurposed to obliterate the urban landscape of Gaza, preventing displaced populations from returning and reconstituting as a community.”
Israeli military forces arriving to demolish the Palestinian community of Khirbet Ein Karzaliyah on Jan. 8, 2014. (B’Tselem, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons)
A Testing Ground
The military assault on the Palestinians has also “provided testing grounds for cutting-edge military capabilities: air defense platforms, drones, targeting tools powered by artificial intelligence and even the F-35 programme led by the United States of America. These technologies are then marketed as ‘battle proven.’”
Since 2020, Israel has been the eighth largest arms exporter in the world. Its two biggest weapons companies are Elbit Systems Ltd and the state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd (IAI). It has a series of international partnerships with foreign weapons firms, including “for the F-35 fighter jet, led by United States-based Lockheed Martin.”
“Components and parts constructed globally contribute to the Israeli F-35 fleet, which Israel customizes and maintains in partnership with Lockheed Martin and domestic companies,” the report reads. Since October 2023, F-35s and F-16s jets have been
“integral to equipping Israel with the unprecedented aerial power to drop an estimated 85,000 tons of bombs, much of it unguided, to kill and injure more than 179,411 Palestinians and obliterate Gaza.”
“Drones, hexacopters and quadcopters have also been omnipresent killing machines in the skies of Gaza,” the report reads.
“Drones largely developed and supplied by Elbit Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries have long flown alongside fighter jets, surveilling Palestinians and delivering target intelligence. In the past two decades, with support from these companies and collaborations with institutions such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, drones used by Israel acquired automated weapons systems and the ability to fly in swarm formation.”
Israeli troop exercise with K9s and drones, 2020. (IDF, CC BY-NC 2.0)
Japan’s FANUC companies sell automation products and “provide robotic machinery for weapons production lines, including for IAI, Elbit Systems and Lockheed Martin.”
“Shipping companies such as the Danish A.P. Moller — Maersk A/S transport components, parts, weapons and raw materials, sustaining a steady flow of United States-supplied military equipment post-October 2023.”
There was a “65 per cent surge in Israeli military spending from 2023 to 2024 – amounting to $46.5 billion, one of the highest per capita worldwide.” This “generated a sharp surge in their annual profits,” while “Foreign arms companies, especially producers of munitions and ordnance, also profit.”
Surveillance Technology
At the same time, tech companies have profited from the genocide by “providing dual-use infrastructure to integrate mass data collection and surveillance, while profiting from the unique testing ground for military technology offered by the occupied Palestinian territory.”
They enhance “carceral and surveillance services, from closed-circuit television (CCTV) networks, biometric surveillance, advanced tech checkpoint networks, ‘smart walls’ and drone surveillance, to cloud computing, artificial intelligence and data analytics supporting on-the-ground military personnel.”
“Israeli tech firms often grow out of military infrastructure and strategy,” the report reads,
“as the NSO Group, founded by ex-Unit 8200 members, did. Its Pegasus spyware, designed for covert smartphone surveillance, has been used against Palestinian activists and licensed globally to target leaders, journalists and human rights defenders. Exported under the Defense Export Control Law, NSO group surveillance technology enables ‘spyware diplomacy’ while reinforcing State impunity.”
IBM, whose technology facilitated Nazi Germany’s generation and tabulation of punched cards for national census data, military logistics, ghetto statistics, train traffic management and concentration camp capacity, is once again a partner in this current genocide.
IBM R&D center on Mount Carmel in Denia, Haifa, Israel, 2006. (Orrling /Wikimedia Commons/ CC BY-SA 3.0)
It has operated in Israel since 1972. It provides training for Israeli military and intelligence agencies, especially Unit 8200, which is responsible for clandestine operations, the collection of signal intelligence and code decryption, along with counterintelligence, cyberwarfare, military intelligence and surveillance.
“Since 2019, IBM Israel has operated and upgraded the central database of the Population and Immigration Authority, enabling collection, storage and governmental use of biometric data on Palestinians, and supporting the discriminatory permit regime of Israel,” the report notes.
Microsoft, active in Israel since 1989, is “embedded in the prison service, police, universities and schools — including in colonies. Microsoft has been integrating its systems and civilian tech across the Israeli military since 2003, while acquiring Israeli cybersecurity and surveillance start-ups.”
Microsoft’s campus in Herzliya Pituach, Israel, 2020. (Ofrashay /Wikimedia Commons/ CC BY-SA 4.0)
“As Israeli apartheid, military and population-control systems generate increasing volumes of data, its reliance on cloud storage and computing has grown,” the report reads.
“In 2021, Israel awarded Alphabet Inc. (Google) and Amazon.com, Inc. a $1.2 billion contract (Project Nimbus) — largely funded through Ministry of Defense expenditure — to provide core tech infrastructure.”
Microsoft, Alphabet Inc., and Amazon “grant Israel virtually government-wide access to their cloud and artificial intelligence technologies, enhancing data processing, decision-making and surveillance and analysis capacities.”
The Israeli military, the report points out,
“has developed artificial intelligence systems such as ‘Lavender,’ ‘Gospel’ and ‘Where’s Daddy?’ to process data and generate lists of targets, reshaping modern warfare and illustrating the dual-use nature of artificial intelligence.”
There are “reasonable grounds,” the report reads, to believe that Palantir Technology Inc., which has a long relationship with Israel,
“has provided automatic predictive policing technology, core defence infrastructure for rapid and scaled-up construction and deployment of military software, and its Artificial Intelligence Platform, which allows real-time battlefield data integration for automated decision-making.”
Alex Karp, CEO and Co-Founder, Palantir Technologies, at the World Economic Forum, 2022. (World Economic Forum / Benedikt von Loebell, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Palantir’s CEO in April 2025 responded to accusations that Palantir kills Palestinians in Gaza by saying, “mostly terrorists, that’s true.”
Heavy Machinery
“Civilian technologies have long served as dual-use tools of settler-colonial occupation,” the report reads. “Israeli military operations rely heavily on equipment from leading global manufacturers to ‘unground’ Palestinians from their land, demolishing homes, public buildings, farmland, roads and other vital infrastructure. Since October 2023, this machinery has been integral to damaging and destroying 70 per cent of structures and 81 per cent of cropland in Gaza.”
March 16, 2003 — Rachel Corrie nonviolently blocks Israeli bulldozers from destroying Palestinian homes along the Rafah/Egyptian border along with nine other International Solidarity Movement volunteers. Photo from earlier in the day, not of the actual incident of her death. (Joe Carr/Wikimedia Commons/Copyrighted free use)
Caterpillar Inc. has for decades provided the Israeli military with equipment used to demolish Palestinian homes, mosques, hospitals as well as “burying alive wounded Palestinians,” and killed activists, such as Rachel Corrie.
“Israel has evolved Caterpillar’s D9 bulldozer into automated, remote-commanded core weaponry of the Israeli military, deployed in almost every military activity since 2000, clearing incursion lines, ‘neutralizing’ the territory and killing Palestinians,” the report reads.
This year, Caterpillar “secured a further multi-millionaire dollar contract with Israel.”
“The Korean HD Hyundai and its partially-owned subsidiary, Doosan, alongside the Swedish Volvo Group and other major heavy machinery manufacturers, have long been linked to destruction of Palestinian property, each supplying equipment through exclusively licensed Israeli dealers,” the report reads.
“As corporate actors have contributed to the destruction of Palestinian life in the occupied Palestinian territory, they have also helped construction of what replaces it: building colonies and their infrastructure, extracting and trading materials, energy and agricultural products, and bringing visitors to colonies as if to a regular holiday destination.”
“More than 371 colonies and illegal outposts have been built, powered and traded with by companies facilitating the replacement by Israel of the Indigenous population in the occupied Palestinian territory,” the report concludes.
Israeli settlement of Homat Shemu’el, East Jerusalem, 2016. (Ronan Shenhav, Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0)
These building projects have used Caterpillar, HD Hyundai and Volvo excavators and heavy equipment. Hanson Israel, a subsidiary of the German Heidelberg Materials AG, “has contributed to the pillage of millions of tons of dolomite rock from the Nahal Raba quarry on land seized from Palestinian villages in the West Bank.”
The quarried dolomite is used to construct Jewish colonies in the West Bank.
Foreign firms have also “contributed to developing roads and public transport infrastructure critical to establishing and expanding the colonies, and connecting them to Israel while excluding and segregating Palestinians.”
Real Estate
Global real estate companies sell properties in colonial settlements to Israeli and international buyers. These real estate firms include Keller Williams Realty LLC, which has “had branches based in the colonies” through its Israeli franchisee KW Israel.
Last year through another franchisee called Home in Israel, Keller Williams “ran a real estate roadshow in Canada and the United States, jointly sponsored with several companies developing and marketing thousands of apartments in colonies.”
Rental platforms, including Booking.com and Airbnb, list properties and hotel rooms in illegal Jewish colonies in the West Bank.
Chinese Bright Dairy & Food is a majority owner of Tnuva, Israel’s largest food conglomerate, which utilizes land seized from Palestinians in the West Bank.
Energy Companies
“Our Car is Big and Green” written on Tnuva’s first electric truck, May 2024. (Shlomi Yosef/Wikimedia Commons/ CC BY 4.0)
In the energy sector,
“Chevron Corporation, in consortium with Israeli NewMedEnergy (a subsidiary of the OHCHR database-listed Delek Group), extracts natural gas from the Leviathan and Tamar fields; it paid the government of Israel $453 million in royalties and taxes in 2023. Chevron’s consortium supplies more than 70 percent of Israeli energy consumption. Chevron also profits from its part-ownership of the East Mediterranean Gas pipeline, which passes through Palestinian maritime territory, and from gas export sales to Egypt and Jordan.”
BP and Chevron also serve as
“the largest contributors to Israeli imports of crude oil, as major owners of the strategic Azeri Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline and the Kazakh Caspian Pipeline Consortium, respectively, and of their associated oil fields. Each conglomerate effectively supplied 8 per cent of Israeli crude oil between October 2023 and July 2024, supplemented by crude oil shipments from Brazilian oil fields, in which Petrobras holds the largest stakes, and military jet fuel. Oil from these companies supplies two refineries in Israel.”
“By supplying Israel with coal, gas, oil and fuel, companies are contributing to civilian infrastructures that Israel uses to entrench permanent annexation and now weaponizes in the destruction of Palestinian life in Gaza,” the report reads. “The same infrastructure that these companies supply resources into has serviced the Israeli military and its energy-intensive tech-driven obliteration of Gaza. ”
Banks
International banks and financial firms have also sustained the genocide through the purchase of Israeli treasury bonds.
“As the main source of finance for the Israeli State budget, treasury bonds have played a critical role in funding the ongoing assault on Gaza,” the report reads.
“From 2022 to 2024, the Israeli military budget grew from 4.2 per cent to 8.3 per cent of GDP, driving the public budget into a 6.8 per cent deficit. Israel funded this ballooning budget by increasing its bond issuance, including $8 billion in March 2024 and $5 billion in February 2025, alongside issuances on its domestic new shekel market.”
The report notes that some of the world’s largest banks, including BNP Paribas and Barclays,
“stepped in to boost market confidence by underwriting these international and domestic treasury bonds, allowing Israel to contain the interest rate premium, despite a credit downgrade. Asset management firms — including Blackrock ($68 million), Vanguard ($546 million) and Allianz’s asset management subsidiary PIMCO ($960 million) — were among at least 400 investors from 36 countries who purchased them.”
Charities
Faith-based charities have “also become key financial enablers of illegal projects, including in the occupied Palestinian territory, often receiving tax deductions abroad despite strict regulatory charitable frameworks,” the report reads.
“The Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) and its over 20 affiliates fund settler expansion and military-linked projects,” the report reads.
“Since October 2023, platforms such as Israel Gives have enabled tax-deductible crowdfunding in 32 countries for Israeli military units and settlers. The United States-based Christian Friends of Israeli Communities, Dutch Christians for Israel and global affiliates, sent over $12.25 million in 2023 to various projects that support colonies, including some that train extremist settlers.”
Universities
The report criticizes universities that partner with Israeli universities and institutions. It notes that labs at MIT “conduct weapons and surveillance research funded by the Israeli Ministry of Defense.” These projects include “drone swarm control — a distinct feature of the Israeli assault on Gaza since October 2023 — pursuit algorithms, and underwater surveillance.”
You can see my interview with the MIT students who exposed the collaboration between the university Israeli military here.
Genocide requires a vast network and billions of dollars to sustain it. Israel could not carry out its mass slaughter of the Palestinians without this ecosystem.
These entities, which profit from industrial violence against the Palestinians and mass displacement, are as guilty of genocide as the Israeli military units decimating the people in Gaza.
They too are war criminals. They too must be held accountable.
Findings on an Illegal War that the West Enthusiastically Waged and Lost
5 July 2025 by Peter Haenseler
International law has been abolished and never before have events been so deliberately misrepresented. A failed attack on Iran, a response from Tehran that almost broke Israel’s neck. The painful birth pangs of new political realities – the war of two worlds.
Introduction
US President Trump does what he wants, his opinion changes hourly and his actions break both American and international law. We already reported on the American attack on Iran in “Trump has decided and is attacking Iran – this will have consequences – for the whole world?” on June 22. Now we have some new insights.
In this article, we look at the complete military and strategic failure of Israel’s and the US’s attacks on Iran, the response of the attacked country that brought Israel to the brink of destruction, the “ceasefire”, the reasons why Iran spared Israel from possible total destruction. Twelve days that had it all.
Israel and the US have failed
Regime change failed – Iranian people united
The war against Iran, jointly planned and instigated by the US and Israel, was lost by both. Even non-political contemporaries are increasingly amazed at the simple-mindedness with which the West, which once dominated the world, maneuvers entire regions into a new catastrophe time and time again, lacks any humanity in the pursuit of its goals and tramples on the rules it has set itself. No matter from which perspective you look at this adventure, it had no chance of success.
Reza Pahlevi as the new Shah – a spoiled brat seeks money
The eldest son of the last Shah left Iran with his father’s family at the beginning of 1979. The billions stolen enabled the multiple university dropout to lead a more than comfortable life. This money seems to have been running out for years. This is shown by lawsuits in the US in which he fought with employees and managers over money. He is therefore broke and looking for a new livelihood. Pahlevi has spent his whole life in the US, has never cared about the welfare of his country and is now being used as a puppet by the US, the British and Israel – with the prospect of a lot of money.
His father had already come to power as an illegal puppet. The Iranian people democratically elected the liberal Professor Mohammad Mossadegh. After he curtailed the power of the British and American oil giants in order to transfer the gigantic oil wealth to his people, the British and Americans reacted promptly. With the secret service operation Ajax, MI-6 and the CIA staged a coup against Mossadegh and installed the Shah as a puppet. He reversed the democratic achievements and returned the wealth to the US and Great Britain. The Americans, for their part, forced the British out of business. Business is business. The Shah was paid handsomely for this whoring service.
Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh – Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
Another unsavory step: in order to keep the Shah in power, the Mossad was hired to set up the notorious SAVAK secret police for the new masters. In doing so, it used the support of Gestapo and SS specialists who had been disempowered in Germany in 1945.
Against the background of this history, the West seeks to install this unsavory puppet in Iran, in the unrealistic belief that it can repeat the Ajax campaign. So Pahlevi was allowed to appeal to his people in Paris – nota bene in English. A speech to the British parliament is also planned. These dirty tricks are used to get the Western populations used to the desired ruler. The Iranian people have nothing to say about this – or so the Western powers think.
The following picture shows the young Shah during a visit to Israel on April 17, 2023 with Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel.
From left to right: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Reza Pahlavi, Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel
The perverse strategy of the West in one picture: After the last democratic president was ousted with the father of the would-be Shah, the cloned son embarks on a similar adventure, nota bene in minne with Netanyahu, who wanted to bomb the way to regime change in Tehran a few days ago, killing scientists and military personnel as well as many civilians in Iran. My sources in Iran just shake their heads: no one in Iran, young or old, even those who liked the old Shah, would want this little boy.
Relatively little damage in Iran, but many deaths
Iran is geographically almost as large as Western Europe, 75 times larger than Israel and has a population ten times that of Israel. It is therefore logical that the damage in Iran in the military exchange of blows with Israel was relatively minor compared to the Jewish state, which is very small in terms of area.
The nuclear program was literally and figuratively only touched on the surface, entrances to underground objects and bunkers were destroyed; symbolic damage. Trump’s reports of victory are so inaccurate that even the American secret services did not remain loyal to their supreme leader in their announcements and were more inclined towards the Iranian view of things.
It is difficult to assess the extent to which the decapitation strikes against scientists and military leaders have weakened Iran’s scientific and military capabilities. In any case, these attacks have had exactly the opposite effect on the Iranian people to that intended by the West: The Iranian people are united now behind their leadership, including the group of young people who want to see the society modernized domestically. The attack has therefore not only failed militarily, but also in terms of society.
Israel on the brink of disaster
Huge damage – photos and reports prohibited
Overview
Our colleague and friend Larry Johnson of Sonar21 – a former CIA analyst – compiled the following overview of the damage inflicted on Israel.
Overview of Iranian military strikes against Israel
Tel Aviv
If you searched for images of destruction on X a few days ago, you would find what you were looking for. The following image of the complete destruction of Tel Aviv (left) comes from a video that we wanted to use for this article. We are not surprised that the video has been removed – what remains is a screenshot. The photo on the left shows Tel Aviv and the one on the right shows Berlin in 1945. Apart from the fact that the picture of Tel Aviv is in color and the one of Berlin is in black and white, there is no difference in the extent of the destruction. We are not surprised that the Israeli authorities have banned the taking or distribution of photos of the destruction under threat of several years’ imprisonment – albeit with modest success. Needless to say, such photos cannot be found in the Western media.
left: Tel Aviv – June 2025; right: Berlin – 1945
Israeli defense companies
The Iranians have also successfully attacked Israeli arms companies. The state-owned arms company “Rafael”, which was attacked, is the crown jewel of the Israeli arms industry. Its production program ranges from anti-tank weapons to cruise missiles, marine drones and key elements of the “Iron Dome” and “David’s Sling”, Israeli strategic missile defence systems.
Source: Sonar21.com
Rafael operates internationally and also has a subsidiary in Germany, Dynamit Nobel Defence.
Infrastructure
The country has three important ports: Haifa, Eilat and Ashdod. The Yemeni Houthis “shut down” Eilat months ago by blocking the Bab-al-Mandab Strait, the entrance from the Gulf of Aden into the Red Sea for ships bound for or coming from Israel. The port has been dead ever since.
Since June 13, 2025, the port facilities of Haifa have been so badly destroyed by Iran in response to the Israeli attacks on Iran that this largest port in Israel will probably only be of very limited use for a long time. This also applies to the oil refinery located in the port area. Both infrastructure objects are core elements of the Israeli economy. Over 30 percent of Israel’s foreign trade is handled via Haifa. The refinery’s share of the Israeli market is probably even higher.
The port of Haifa today
But Ashdod, Israel’s third major port, was also so badly affected that American observers assume that it only has an effective capacity of 40-50 percent.
Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, another important gateway to the world, has also been largely destroyed.
But the destruction – and this surprised many – also affected the military infrastructure. Israel moved its fighter planes to a British base on Cyprus before June 13, 2025. Without this option, the expensive aircraft would almost certainly have been destroyed as well as the military airfields.
Iran speaks of major personnel losses on the Israeli side
The West diligently propagates how many Iranian scientists and officers were eliminated. The Israelis remain silent about their own losses. Iranian sources report the following: An Israeli security website had been hacked. Information about Israel’s losses was provided there as follows: 6 high-ranking generals; 32 Mossad agents; 78 Shin Bet (domestic intelligence) personnel; 27 naval officers; 198 air force officers; 462 soldiers. We have not been able to verify this information, but it does not seem implausible.
40% of Tel Aviv is destroyed – Israel is out of munitions
American analysts such as Douglas Macgregor assume that 40% of Tel Aviv has been destroyed. Destroyed, not damaged. The pictures above show the difference between “damaged” and “destroyed”.
The Israelis’ much-vaunted “Iron Dome” has failed. Given the extent of the damage, the attribute “pathetic” to describe this miracle shield (Iron Dome) is not far-fetched.
What’s more, Israel has been shot out: credible sources told us that the Israelis have practically run out of ammunition. In those 12 days of war, Israel used up as many defensive missiles as the US can produce in two years. So not only does the system not work as advertised, but its production capacity means that it cannot be used sustainably.
Financially unsustainable system
If you look at the weapons used in this system, it becomes clear that the Iron Dome cannot be operated in a financially sustainable manner in an actual attack. The Iron Dome consists of various components; we illustrate some examples.
Patriot – American
According to Reuters, the Patriot system costs 400 million dollars without missiles. The unit price of a missile ranges from 3.4 to 8 million dollars, depending on the version.
Patriot System – Quelle: New York Times
Thaad – American
The cost of a single complete Thaad system (Thaad stands for “Terminal High Altitude Area Defense”) is estimated at around three billion dollars for one system. A system comprises six launchers, a combat kit of 48 missiles, a radar system and a command vehicle.
Thaad – Quelle: Wikipedia
The costs for the heart of the system, the interceptor missiles, are not publicly communicated. In Russian sources, we found almost fabulous figures: One missile can cost between 45 and 500 million dollars, depending on the design in the export version (e.g. for Saudi Arabia or South Korea). One missile.
Arrow – Israeli
In addition to the aforementioned “Thaad” and ‘Patriot’ systems, Israel developed its own missile, the “Arrow”, due to the inadequate performance of the Patriot system. The costs for this system amounted to approx. 1.5 billion US dollars, one missile costs approx. 2 million US dollars.
Arrow – Quelle: Wikipedia
It is not known how many rockets of all systems were fired during these 12 days, but it is likely to have been thousands. A prolonged conflict – apart from the fact that the necessary quantities of rockets are not available and have very limited functionality – will result in Israel’s bankruptcy.
“Ceasefire”
No agreement
The announcement of the end of hostilities between Israel and Iran came as a surprise to many. But a detailed look at the 12 days of the war sheds light on the alleged darkness. The longer the mutual bombardment lasted, the more visibly and tangibly Israel ran out of strength, which is not surprising given the geographical and demographic circumstances. Iran is 75 times larger and damage is therefore spread over a much larger area; the population factor of 10 also comes into play. In contrast, Iran had reorganized its command structures after the decapitation strikes of the first few days, which was just as visible and, above all, painfully tangible for Israel.
The ceasefire announced by US President Trump on the night of June 25 is not an official agreement. The current state of calm is therefore not a ceasefire, but at best a temporary silencing of the guns.
Who initiated the ceasefire – and why?
According to Larry Johnson, the request to cease hostilities came from Netanyahu. The reasons are simple and convincing: Israel could not take any longer. The destruction of even the most sensitive objects is unprecedented in Israeli history.
Will the “ceasefire” hold?
This question is relatively easy to answer based on the behavior of Israel and the US so far. If Israel and the US come to the conclusion that they can achieve their goals with a further strike, they will strike. What Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Trump will say before such an attack is completely irrelevant. We have already explained why Donald Trump’s word is worthless in our article “Diplomacy on his deathbed – from peace president to warmonger”.
The fact that Israel and the US made a complete miscalculation before the first strike will also be irrelevant in the decision-making process. Netanyahu must continue to attack, otherwise he will end up in prison and Trump will probably believe that he must always win, as his character does not allow him to admit mistakes.
These imponderables combined with Western hubris will probably result in the war continuing and the “ceasefire” merely being interpreted as a breather for the Israelis. I very much hope that I am wrong.
Israel possibly at the end of the line
Israeli refugees and internally displaced persons
According to the Times of Israel, around half a million Israelis left the country after October 7, 2023. The newspaper refers to official figures from the Israeli Settlement and Immigration Administration. American sources even speak of up to 1.5 million, although it is not known whether these people only left the country temporarily or permanently. To these figures must be added the Israeli internally displaced persons as a result of the fighting with Hamas and Hezbollah, whose number amounted to around 100,000 in July 2024 according to the “Jüdische Allgemeine Zeitung”.
In view of the Iranian response to the Israeli-American attack on June 13, 2025, another large number of refugees were added. After the Israeli authorities banned Israeli citizens from leaving the country, many simply chartered boats to leave the country by sea. We found no official figures, but there are unofficial reports of up to another 200,000-250,000 Israelis who are said to have left their country.
Refugee flows are on the one hand a reaction to current events. However, they also reflect political and social problems and cause considerable economic and demographic problems. Israel is not exempt from this. There is currently not much sign of the much-vaunted patriotism. Those who trust their leadership never leave their homeland.
Direct and indirect consequences
The infrastructure and economy have been permanently damaged. It is impossible to predict how much time the country will need to rebuild if the ceasefire holds. Israel’s economy has not only been suffering since this conflict, but was already not in the best of shape in October 2023. In the last two years – i.e. up to June 13, 2025 – up to 1.5 million Israelis have already left the country – a catastrophe for a population of just 9 million. If you also take into account the fact that it is mainly those people who can afford to leave a country due to the financial circumstances, this figure is even more alarming, as well-educated, wealthy Israelis who would be essential for reconstruction are now missing.
A further indication of how disastrous the situation is is the travel ban imposed by Israeli Transport Minister Miri Regev – a comparison with Ukraine comes to mind. The information is vague, but the exit ban is in force, even if no details can be found on the website of the Israeli embassy in Berlin.
The demographic consequences of this exodus could be fatal for Israel. Official Israel is always keen to portray the country as a land of Jews, in which the majority of residents are Jews. However, millions of Arabs also live in the country. Their birth rate is significantly higher than that of Jewish Israelis. The waves of refugees following the war and the demographic development will sooner or later result in more non-Jews (Muslims, Christians) living in the country than Jews, which will foreseeably render the Zionist strategy absurd.
In addition, there is probably no passport in the world at the moment that is less attractive. The losers will be those who only have an Israeli passport. It is also difficult to imagine that anyone will move to this promised land. Who wants to live in a country where over 50% of the population is in favor of genocide?
A passport that nobody wants to hold in their hands – Source: Süddeutsche Zeitung
We will comment on the genocidal character of the majority of the Israeli population in a follow-up article.
Why did the Iranians stop the attacks?
Given the circumstances, this is a compelling question. In order to gain some clarity, it is necessary to look beyond the region.
Military mistake?
Our sources assume that a continuation of the Iranian barrage would have resulted in the collapse or even the downfall of Israel within days or weeks. Thus, from a purely military point of view, an opportunity to neutralize Israel in the long term was missed. All those directly and indirectly involved and affected were certainly aware of such a scenario. There must therefore have been serious and very compelling reasons why this historic opportunity was not seized or postponed.Geopolitische
Considerations by China and Russia
Iran has probably suspended hostilities under the influence of Russia and China.
When weighing up all interests, the disadvantages for Russia, China and ultimately Iran appear to have outweighed the foreseeable advantages, at least for the time being.
The following thoughts should be evaluated as such, as we have not been able to gain insight into the Russian and Chinese decision-making process. As a matter of principle, Russia and China do not let us look at their cards:
Firstly, Russia – always de-escalating – must take into account the interests of Israelis of Russian descent. At around 2 million, their number is considerable.
Secondly, a continuation of hostilities would very probably have forced Russia to become more involved due to the existing treaty of principle on strategic cooperation, even if there is no mention of obligatory military support in the event of war in the treaty. There was therefore a risk of becoming a de facto participant in the war against a country whose population has extensive connections to Russia and a large proportion of whom speak Russian. In addition, Russia is making great military progress in Ukraine and does not want to disperse its forces.
Thirdly, remember the patience that Russia exercised towards Israel during the Syrian war, despite the loss of material and, above all, human lives. For example, Israeli warplanes deliberately used a Russian unarmed aircrafts as cover against Syrian air defenses.
Fourthly, a further indication of Russia’s reticence towards Israel is the fact that the involvement of the Mossad in the Ukrainian drone attack against military airfields in Russia is still not officially mentioned in Russia, although many Russian blogs report on it and the facts leave little room for interpretation in view of comparable attacks by the Israelis in Iran.
Fifthly, a full-scale war in Iran would also come at an inopportune time for Russia in economic terms. The north-south transport corridor from St. Petersburg via the Caucasus and Iran to India is nearing completion and is of considerable importance to both countries.
China’s interest is more obvious. It is primarily concerned with economic reasons. A war in Iran would have severely disrupted the Chinese in the realization of their Belt and Road project, in which Iran plays a major role and represents an important link in its further expansion to Africa and Europe.
The Chinese also purchase a great deal of natural gas and oil from Iran. An escalation would have severely damaged China’s economic interests. For example, immediately after the ceasefire began, the US contractually allowed China to purchase oil and gas from Iran without sanctions. This provides Iran with income and China with planning security, if one can speak of reliability and security in agreements with the Trump administration. The current resurgence of social media reports from the White House about 500% secondary sanctions against Russia’s trading partners sends its regards.
Part of the gas and oil that China receives will be used by Iran – another agreement that was reached very quickly after June 25, 2025 – as payment for modern Chinese fighter jets. Previously, China insisted on cash payment, which delayed the realization of the project for a long time.
Interest of the US
We assume that Iran, Russia and China have been given something by the US in return for arms silence: Firstly, the US is allowing China to officially purchase gas and oil from Iran, as already described. In return, the US now appears to have regained access to rare earths from China. This is of paramount interest to the US, especially for the defense industry. Rare earths are not rare and the US also has significant deposits. However, the US does not have the complete production cycle from mining to refining, while China does.
Russia has probably obtained American concessions with regard to Ukraine – the details are not known, but the news on Ukraine certainly suggests this.
Trump has already admitted that Iran has hit Israel hard and those responsible in the White House and the Pentagon are well aware that a continuation of the Iranian attacks would have completely destroyed Israel. As a result, the US would have lost even more face than it already has. From its imperial perspective, it would have been forced to launch further military strikes against Iran, for which the US is neither economically nor militarily (lack of ammunition) prepared. A few B2 bombers would not have been enough, because Iran cannot be dealt with militarily with bombs and missiles alone. Any further attack by the US on Iran would in turn have forced Iran to attack the US bases in the Persian Gulf. And then what?
It seems that not only Israel has been shot out, but that the Americans simply do not have enough ammunition either. Three reasons for this: firstly, for three years the US has been emptying its stockpiles for Ukraine, despite the lack of successes. It is therefore not surprising that the US announced yesterday that it would not be supplying any more weapons to Ukraine. Second, since October 7, 2023, the US has been supplying vast quantities of ammunition for the genocide in Gaza. Thirdly, the US’s production capacities are anything but sufficient to meet demand. As mentioned above, Israel used as many air defense missiles in the 12 days of the war with Iran as the US is able to produce in two years.
The need is now so great that the production of Patriot missiles, for example, is also taking place in other countries. Germany, for example, will produce 1000 of these missiles. However, there is no mention of how long this will take. In a report dated 20 July 2024 , the Russian newspaper Kommersant, referring to the US Department of Defense, writesabout the increase in annual production of missiles for the Patriot missile defence system from 500 to 750 units. To put the figures mentioned here into context: To defend against an Iranian missile, the Israeli air defense system fired up to 25 of these missiles at the target. This figure is extreme and certainly due to specific circumstances. But as a rule of thumb: for every missile that attacks – and Iran has thousands of them – there are at least two interceptor missiles.
Conclusion
The destruction of Israel is in full swing. The reconstruction of partially destroyed Israel (Tel Aviv, ports, airports and arms factories) will take years, but requires that the ceasefire holds, which is completely uncertain as the protagonists are behaving so unreliably. This will result in the owners concerned not putting up any money in the current situation. Would you rebuild an office building if there was a 50% chance that it would be destroyed again tomorrow?
It is highly questionable whether the Israelis who have fled will return in the foreseeable future. Since October 2023, Israel has probably lost almost a third of its population, namely the part that is well educated, wealthy and therefore essential for reconstruction. It is also possible that many of those who have left the country are not part of the genocidal majority of the population – another reason not to return.
There are no indications that would allow us to predict the future of this conflict. It is possible that the war will break out again tomorrow – or not. What we expect with certainty, however, is that the War of Two Worlds, which we have already described in a series of articles, will continue – possibly in a new location, but it will remain bloody.
The only assessment we can make with certainty is that neither the US nor Israel can be trusted. In terms of reliability and respect for international law, these two countries are on a par with Nazi Germany.
Israel has killed or imprisoned directors of all North Gaza hospitals
Since October 2023, Israel has killed or imprisoned directors of every hospital in northern Gaza, continuing assaults on medical facilities.
July 04, 2025 by Ana Vračar
Israel killed 70 Palestinian health workers in 50 days leading up to July 2. Source: Healthcare Workers Watch
As of July 2, 2025, Israeli forces targeted the building where Dr. Marwan Al-Sultan, director of the Indonesian Hospital, was staying with part of his family, and killed him. With the killing of Al-Sultan, Israel has killed or detained the directors of all hospitals in northern Gaza, according to Healthcare Workers Watch.
“The death of Dr. Marwan Al-Sultan is a catastrophic loss both to the medical community and to Gaza as a whole,” Healthcare Workers Watch stated. A heart specialist – one of only two remaining in the area – Dr. Al-Sultan had dedicated his life to patient care and the training of future health workers. “He is the 70th healthcare worker to be killed by the IOF in the past 50 days,” Healthcare Workers Watch added. “Israel’s lethal targeting of healthcare workers is not only causing a horrific loss of life but also obliterating their decades of lifesaving medical expertise at a time when their skills could not be needed more.”
Meanwhile, dozens of Dr. Al-Sultan colleagues remain in Israeli prisons, including Dr. Ahmed Muhanna, director of Al-Awda Hospital, and the director of Kamal Adwan, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, who was abducted in late December 2024. Since October 2023, Israeli forces have killed over 1,500 Palestinian health workers.
“At least 185 healthcare workers from Gaza and the West Bank were estimated to be in Israeli detention as of February 2025,” 25 organizations warned in a recent joint statement, calling for their immediate release. “The conditions of many of those still detained remain unknown. Many of those released have reported severe abuse, while some have died in custody.”
British doctors vote to break relations with Israel Medical Association
The continued assault on Palestinian healthcare workers and infrastructure remains a major concern and action point for medical professionals worldwide. At the annual representative meeting of the British Medical Association (BMA) held from June 23-25 in Liverpool, members passed five motions addressing health in Palestine and their own right to protest the ongoing genocide.
These motions reaffirmed previous BMA positions, including the condemnation of attacks on healthcare, and calling on the British government to respect guidance from the International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court related to Israel’s actions in Gaza. They also emphasized the right of doctors and medical students to speak out against war crimes without fear of reprisal.
“Doctors and medical students must be able to legitimately challenge the actions of states and armed forces, especially when healthcare is under threat, without being unfairly accused of any kind of discrimination or threatened with disciplinary action,” the BMA stated.
Read more: Campaigners in the UK say get Palantir out of the NHS
Additionally, the BMA voted to oppose the integration of Israel-supportive firm Palantir into the National Health Service and to stop engaging with the Israel Medical Association “unless it endorses medical neutrality and condemns assaults on Gaza’s healthcare system,” BMA members reported on social media.
Israel’s “aid distribution” kills hundreds
Meanwhile, Israel’s takeover of humanitarian aid distribution in Gaza continued to worsen the crisis. Since Israeli authorities seized total control over collection and distribution of supplies, violence at aid access points has skyrocketed.
“The weeks following the launch of the Israeli distribution scheme have been some of the deadliest and most violent since October 2023,” warned more than 200 organizations in a July 1 statement. “In less than four weeks, more than 500 Palestinians have been killed and almost 4000 injured just trying to access and distribute food.”
New footage exposes ragtag US mercenaries firing toward Gaza aid seekers
Max Blumenthal and Wyatt Reed·July 7, 2025
Following an AP investigation accusing a US mercenary firm of firing on desperate Gaza aid seekers, the company has released extensive new footage in an attempt at damage control. But the video only further implicates the scandal-plagued operation.
On July 2, the Associated Press released an exposé containing short videos which appeared to show American mercenaries associated with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) opening fire on aid-seekers in Gaza during an incident in southern Gaza this May. The footage was supplied by a former employee of UG Solutions, a firm charged with securing GHF distribution sites.
“I think you hit one,” one soldier of fortune says to another following a loud burst of gunfire.
“Hell yeah, boy!” another exclaims.
In an apparent attempt to control the damage from the AP investigation, UG Solutions has distributed a pair of videos comprising over seven minutes of footage to the press.
The newly released footage offers an unprecedented glimpse of the disturbing interactions between the starving population of Gaza and well-armed, clearly unprepared Americans hired to provide security for GHF’s chaotic aid operations.
Filmed by one of its own employee, the recordings were seemingly distributed in an effort to show UG Solutions’ agents have not fired live bullets on unarmed crowds of Palestinians. According to a UG Solutions statement, the videos “not only clarify what happened, but provide critical context, which contradicts that [sic] AP’s reporting and shows that the accusations are unfounded.”
However, a closer examination by The Grayzone demonstrates that the video was anything but exculpatory. (Video at link.)
In one video, a ragtag group of mercenaries can be seen firing what they called “warning shots” toward a crowd of Palestinian civilians, whom they acknowledged to be non-threatening, before radioing the notoriously trigger-happy Israeli military for backup.
Following a series of nearby gunshots, a UG Solutions mercenary can be heard radioing the IDF to inform them, “We are firing warning shots. Warning shots – that’s from us,” he says. Like all others heard in the video, he speaks in an American accent.
Seconds before the gunshots ring out, a UG Solutions agent can be seen in the lower left hand corner of the screen aiming his rifle in the direction of a crowd of aid seekers.
These crucial pieces of evidence undermine claims by a UG Solutions spokesman, who told the AP he was “unaware of video showing gunfire from someone believed to be a UG Solutions contractor.”
While eroding the mercenary firm’s defense, the UG Solutions video also underscores the shambolic state of GHF’s supposedly humanitarian operations.
Mercenary candid camera exposes “amateur hour”
In the footage, the mercenary filming acknowledges that he and his fellow guns for hire are unable to exchange even basic Arabic phrases with the starving crowds.
“Think I’m gonna write down some… Arabic words,” he says, before rattling off a series of expressions that reflected his team’s lack of training and utter inability to communicate: “Tomorrow. Back. Go home. Stop.”
The mercenary tacitly acknowledges that in the absence of translation help, he and his team have been forced to rely on English speaking Gazan aid seekers. “There were a couple [Palestinians] that, like you said, spoke decent English, that were pretty helpful.”
“I think for the most part they don’t have any mal intent, because they’re desperate,” the American continues, noting the absence of genuine security threats.
A nearby mercenary chimes in, “They’re desperate as fuck.”
Later, the cameraman complains that refugees hauled off a light pole and a nearby tree — presumably for firewood — before grumbling that the desperate crowds took GHF’s distribution tables from the site as well.
The unsettling video seems to corroborate a high ranking UG Solutions contractor’s characterization of the firm’s Gaza operations as “amateur hour.”
US spooks and ISIS affiliates team up with Israel. What could go wrong?
UG Solutions splits armed operations in the besieged Gaza Strip with another US private mercenary firm, Safe Reach Solutions, which was founded by former CIA operative Philip Reilly.
Both operate under the auspices of the Trump-aligned Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which received an initial investment from McNally Capital, a private equity firm founded by mapping heir Ward McNally. The Grayzone has reported that GHF also appears to have received substantial funding from Israel’s Mossad and Ministry of Defense.
The US Department of State has since pledged $30 million dollars to keep the scandal-stained GHF operations afloat.
As of July 6, 2025, over 700 people had been killed at the hands of the only armed factions operating in the so-called “humanitarian zones”: the GHF, Israel, and the formerly ISIS-aligned clan of Bedouin gang leader Yasser Abu Shabab, who was recently deputized as Israel’s local enforcers.
Several Israeli soldiers have told Haaretz that they received orders to fire at aid seekers drawn to GHF distribution hubs, causing high numbers of deaths and injuries. “Where I was stationed, between one and five people were killed every day,” one soldier told the Israeli paper. “They’re treated like a hostile force – no crowd-control measures, no tear gas – just live fire with everything imaginable: heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, mortars.”
(Rent-a-cops with heavy weapons, what could go wrong?)
******
The Empire’s Strategic Failure: How the US-Israeli Assault on Iran Accelerated Imperial Decline
July 6, 2025
The aftermath of an Israeli attack on Tehran, June 2025. Photo: Wikimedia.
By Taha Zeinali and Sara Larijani – Jul 4, 2025
The June 2025 US-Israeli military assault on Iran—featuring Israel’s Operation Rising Lion and the US Operation Midnight Hammer confronted by Iran’s defensive Operation True Promise 3—despite achieving short-term tactical victories, represents a profound strategic failure that has accelerated the US-led imperial decline and strengthened global anti-imperialist forces. Rather than cementing Western hegemony, this illegal act of aggression has exposed the terminal contradictions of a declining empire desperate to maintain unipolar control through increasingly aggressive military adventures.
The Unmasking of the ‘Rules-Based Order’
The weaponization of diplomacy as cover for military aggression represents a fundamental breach in the international order’s trust architecture. By launching the aggression after announcing the sixth round of US-Iran talks in Muscat—with full prior coordination between Trump and Netanyahu—the West transformed diplomatic engagement from a tool of conflict resolution into a tactical deception for pre-planned strikes. As one statement argues, “the timing and scale of this attack only underscores the fact that this was a long-planned orchestrated campaign of military aggression, diplomatic maneuver, intelligence warfare, sabotage, and media manipulation, executed with the full complicity and material support of the US and its vassals.” This calculated betrayal, mirroring the WMD fabrications that enabled Iraq’s destruction, has irrevocably shattered the credibility of Western diplomatic initiatives. The strategic use of negotiations as operational cover not only violates basic principles of good faith engagement but also establishes a precedent where any future Western diplomatic overture must be viewed as potential military subterfuge, fundamentally undermining the possibility of genuine dialogue between the West and nations of the global South.
Furthermore, the fraudulent nature of the Western “rules-based order” stands fully exposed in the diplomatic theater that followed the attacks. In a spectacle of Orwellian inversion, European powers rushed to blame the victim while exonerating the aggressor. France’s Foreign Ministry condemned “Iran’s ongoing nuclear program” and reaffirmed “Israel’s right to defend itself,” while the United Kingdom’s foreign secretary called on “all parties, especially Iran, to exercise restraint”—conspicuously omitting any criticism of Israel’s illegal strikes. Germany’s response proved most revealing: the foreign minister “strongly condemned the Iranian attack on Israeli territory” even before Iran’s initial retaliation, while Chancellor Friedrich Merz later declared, “This is dirty work that Israel is doing for all of us…. I can only say, I have the greatest respect for the fact that the Israeli army had the courage to do this.”
This diplomatic reversal—where victims become perpetrators—exemplifies Edward Said’s concept of Orientalist logic in Western discourse: Muslims must always appear as irrational aggressors, even when defending themselves from unprovoked attacks. The United Nations Secretary-General’s weak call for “all sides to avoid escalation” without condemning the aggression and attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities is striking, showing how international institutions serve as what Noam Chomsky calls “instruments of the powerful,” using false neutrality to legitimize imperial violence. Notably, in 1981, UN Security Council Resolution 487 “condemned the military attack by Israel on the Iraqi nuclear installation as a clear violation of the Charter of the United Nations” and demanded Israel “refrain from such acts or threats of aggression in the future.”
This blatant double standard crystallized a permanent rupture in Iranian consciousness. Western powers reflexively defending unprovoked aggression while condemning Iran’s defensive response shattered all illusions about their commitment to international law. This betrayal transcended diplomatic disappointment—it exposed Western values as mere rhetorical weapons serving imperial interests. The depth of this shift emerged in Mohsen Chavoshi’s song “Alaj,” released the day of the US bombings, with lyrics declaring, “People! The remedy is in the homeland. The world is mere lip service; this battle is shield against shield. Free souls of the world, settle the matter with the slave masters!”
Nuclear Proliferation: The Empire’s Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
The weaponization of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s technical assessments represents a masterclass in imperial manipulation. The IAEA director’s June report became a strategic weapon for Israeli and Western aggression. One day after the IAEA’s politically motivated comprehensive report accusing “Iran of failing to meet obligations,” the United States and Israel launched their long-planned assault. In this regard, Grossi’s biased verification became stage-setting for military treachery, as Israel and the US used IAEA processes to justify pre-planned aggression, demonstrating how UN institutional and technical bodies become complicit when US-led imperialism weaponizes their “findings.”
Consequently, by allowing its reports to trigger violence instead of preventing it, the IAEA demonstrated that its assessments serve hegemonic interests rather than non-proliferation, which undermines its perceived neutrality in the global South. As nuclear proliferation expert Jeffrey Lewis warned, the attacks “will send shockwaves throughout the world” as nations conclude that “without nuclear deterrence, no nation is safe from Western aggression.”
The US-Israeli attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities, while achieving short-term tactical gains, paradoxically accelerate the very proliferation they claim to prevent through three reinforcing mechanisms. First, by targeting peaceful facilities under IAEA monitoring, the attacks transform a transparent, internationally supervised program into an opaque one beyond Western control, as Iran moves operations underground and ceases cooperation with inspectors—creating the intelligence blind spot the attackers feared. When a peaceful program under international oversight is attacked by the US and Israeli regimes without any consequences for the aggressors, it creates powerful incentives to move facilities underground and disperse them, cease or limit cooperation with international monitors, and accelerate clandestine development. Notably, Iran’s parliament immediately ratified suspension of IAEA cooperation, while other nations watched and learned. Second, external aggression generates unprecedented domestic unity and popular demand for nuclear deterrence in Iran, transforming what was once a debated policy into a matter of national survival across all political factions. Third, military action against a nation complying with international agreements destroys any remaining diplomatic credibility, sending an unmistakable message that compliance does not guarantee security and makes maximum deterrence the only rational strategy. This creates a regional cascade effect where other nations, observing that NPT adherence and IAEA cooperation provide no protection from attack, conclude that nuclear weapons serve “not as a threat, but as a shield”—potentially doubling the number of nuclear-armed states within decades. Thus, strikes intended to prevent Iran’s nuclear weaponization may have “more or less guaranteed that Iran will be a nuclear weapons state in five to 10 years,” according to a former IAEA inspector—transforming prevention into acceleration through a self-fulfilling prophecy of proliferation.
Normalizing Catastrophe: The West’s Moral Numbness
The Western public’s complicity in normalizing attacks on nuclear facilities—acts explicitly prohibited under international law—represents a catastrophic moral failure that will inevitably boomerang against Western interests. This ethical numbness, which is already evident in the silence regarding Gaza’s genocide, has set precedents that fundamentally compromise global nuclear security. By legitimizing strikes on safeguarded nuclear infrastructure, Western states have created a playbook that any actor can invoke, transforming their own nuclear facilities into legitimate targets under the logic they themselves have normalized. The sophisticated drone and quadcopter assassination campaigns celebrated in Western media as technological triumphs have democratized precision strike capabilities in ways that fundamentally disadvantage established powers. The proliferation of small FPV quadcopters capable of penetrating urban areas and infrastructure for terrorist operations—tactics perfected through the Zionist regime’s operations deep within Iranian territory—provides asymmetric actors with cost-effective templates for targeting Western interests. These lethal autonomous systems, applauded when deployed against Iranian scientists, officials, and civilians, will inevitably be replicated by groups planning attacks on Western soil. The technology cannot be contained; once normalized as legitimate warfare, these methods become universally available tools that favor weaker actors against technologically superior adversaries.
This boomerang effect extends beyond tactics to fundamental security vulnerabilities. Western support for indiscriminate quadcopter attacks that kill civilians alongside intended targets has legitimized a form of warfare where the distinction between combatants and non-combatants dissolves. The precedent of attacking nuclear facilities—once considered the ultimate taboo—means Western nuclear infrastructure now operates under the constant threat of similar strikes, justified by the very logic Western states championed. The complicity of Western publics in endorsing these violations of international law has not merely eroded moral authority but created tangible security risks that will haunt their societies for generations.
Manufacturing Consent for Aggression
The systematic media campaign followed the propaganda model Herman and Chomsky documented decades ago. Western outlets consistently framed unprovoked Israeli strikes as “defensive” while Iran was actively negotiating; amplified false claims about imminent nuclear threats despite IAEA contradictions; minimized Iranian civilian casualties (over 600 dead) while emphasizing Israeli military targets; and transformed Iran’s restrained response into “escalation.”
This transparent operation, reminiscent of Iraq WMD deceptions, has accelerated the collapse of Western media credibility across the Global South, driving audiences toward alternative information sources. For the Iranian public, this media blitz definitively unmasked Western journalism’s claimed neutrality as manufactured consent in service of imperial narratives. The brazen distortion of reality—portraying clear aggression as self-defense while casting legitimate retaliation as terrorism—has altered how Iranians view Western information sources. This represents more than media skepticism; it has ignited the emergence of an epistemological break where populations reject not just Western conclusions, but the very frameworks through which the West interprets global events.
The Boomerang of Regime Change Strategy
Beyond targeting Iran’s nuclear capabilities, Israel and the US pursued regime change through targeted assassinations of military commanders and systematic attacks on civilian infrastructure. This strategy fatally misread both the Islamic Republic’s military resilience and Iranian society’s response to external aggression.
The assassination campaign aimed to neutralize IRGC’s retaliatory capabilities through shock and decapitation. Despite successfully martyring numerous top commanders, Iranian missiles struck Tel Aviv less than 24 hours with devastating impact—shattering Israeli and US expectations of a paralyzed command structure.
Israel then deliberately targeted civilian infrastructure, particularly IRIB’s television studios, seeking to create chaos that would trigger popular uprising. This calculated terrorism altogether killed over 600 civilians but produced the opposite effect: unprecedented national unity transcending political divisions. The iconic image of an Iranian presenter continuing her broadcast as bombs fell became a symbol of defiance. Even government critics rallied to defend sovereignty against foreign aggression. As one Tehran professor noted: “They united us in ways our government never could.” The stark choice between opposing one’s government and defending one’s nation dissolved when faced with external assault. Ultimately, the regime-change opposition watched their hopes collapse as the Islamic Republic demonstrated unexpected resilience and Iranians rallied behind the military defenders despite the surprise terrorist assault.
Political Suicide of the Opposition
The opposition’s support for foreign military attacks ultimately proved to be politically fatal. Pro–regime change figures who backed the US-Israeli assault—explicitly or implicitly—found themselves utterly isolated from Iranian public opinion. Their alignment with forces bombing Iranian civilians was widely viewed as treason. Opposition figures who had cultivated international profiles through Western media and funding, Nobel prizes, and cultural awards saw decades of credibility vanish overnight. By calling for regime overthrow while foreign bombs fell on their countrymen, they committed what analysts termed “political suicide,” permanently destroying their viability as political alternatives.
Iran Transformed
The civilian casualties and infrastructure damage also intensified anti-American and anti-Israeli sentiment across Iranian society, gaining renewed emotional resonance as direct responses to military aggression. This emotional shift strengthened pro-resistance elements within Iran while discrediting those who had advocated for diplomatic engagement with the West with the hope of normalization of relations.
The regime change strategy thus achieved the inverse of its intended effects: rather than weakening the Islamic Republic of Iran, it consolidated domestic support around resistance to foreign intervention, eliminated viable opposition alternatives, and provided the government with renewed legitimacy as defenders of national sovereignty against foreign aggression.
Despite tactical military losses, Iran emerged politically stronger with enhanced national cohesion. The attacks against a nation actively engaged in negotiations generated widespread domestic support for resistance, strengthening defense forces and the IRGC’s legitimacy as a defender of national sovereignty. Supreme Leader Khamenei’s warning that Iran “will not surrender” to foreign aggression resonated across Iranian society, while the systematic targeting of nuclear scientists and military commanders was perceived as an attack on Iranian civilization itself. The aggression vindicated decades of Iranian warnings about Western imperial intentions.
The Illusion of Air Supremacy
Israel and the United States’ achievement of temporary air superiority through terrorist attacks from within Iran failed to accomplish strategic objectives. As military historians note, translating tactical success into strategic success requires more than what air power can deliver. Despite over 1,000 Israeli sorties, Iran’s nuclear program suffered only temporary degradation. US intelligence assessments concluded the strikes “only set back” capabilities “by months.” Furthermore, the US intelligence apparatus is unable to confirm with certainty how successful the bombing of Fordow was and whether the stockpile of enriched uranium was moved before the strike.
This uncertain outcome validates the historical lesson no imperial power seems capable of learning: air power alone cannot achieve political objectives. From Vietnam to Afghanistan, the delusion that technological superiority translates into political control has repeatedly proven false.
The Myth of Israel’s Impenetrable Air Defense
Iran’s unprecedented missile offensive during Operation True Promise III delivered a decisive strategic blow to Israeli deterrence by exposing critical vulnerabilities in its air defense architecture. Launching over 550 ballistic missiles alongside 1,000+ drones in coordinated waves, Iran demonstrated an ability to conduct saturation attacks that overwhelmed defensive systems despite high interception rates.
The US-Israeli war on Iran exposed the economic unsustainability of imperial military dominance. Israel expended interceptor missiles faster than production capacity, forcing reliance on increasingly expensive US munitions. Iran’s asymmetric response using relatively cheap drones and missiles demonstrated how “the cost-benefit curve is upside down” when “$10,000 one-way drones” threaten “$2 million missiles.” The economic arithmetic of imperial decline manifested starkly in the conflict’s cost dynamics. Israel expended interceptor missiles faster than production capacity, each $3 million Arrow interceptor defeating a $10,000 Iranian drone—what one analyst called an “upside-down cost curve” that guarantees bankruptcy through victory. This mirrors historical patterns of empires exhausting themselves through military overextension, from Rome to Britain.
Iran’s missile offensive revealed three critical realities: sophisticated tactics penetrated Israel’s Iron Dome and Arrow systems, proving that even the most advanced and expensive air defense systems leave critical infrastructure exposed to residual strikes. Iran has weaponized cost asymmetry, as Iran’s inexpensive drones and missiles forced Israel to expend multimillion-dollar interceptors at unsustainable rates. Deterrence erosion occurred as Iran proved it could launch precision strikes from its territory directly at Israeli soil—shattering the myth of Israel’s invulnerability. Iran’s missile offensive shattered Israeli deterrence mythology by demonstrating that sophisticated tactics could penetrate even the most advanced air defense systems. The psychological impact—proving Israel vulnerable to direct attack from Iranian territory—fundamentally altered regional power calculations.
Catalyst of Multipolarity
While providing limited direct military support, China and Russia’s diplomatic solidarity signaled hardening geopolitical divisions. China’s condemnation of “violations of Iran’s sovereignty” and Russia’s denunciation of “absolutely unprovoked aggression” marked the consolidation of alternative power structures. Even traditional US allies called for restraint, revealing cracks in imperial architecture.
The war of aggression represents what critical analysts identify as the “desperate phase” of imperial decline, when dominant powers resort to increasingly reckless military adventures to maintain control. The inability to secure broad international support, domestic American opposition, and the ultimate necessity for hasty ceasefire negotiations revealed the limits of unipolar power projection.
The aggression definitively confirmed that the West seeks Iran’s destruction, not accommodation. No diplomatic engagement or restraint could shield Iran from US-led imperial violence. This brutal clarity accelerates Iran’s pivot toward comprehensive integration with China, Russia, and North Korea—forging an Eastern bloc united against US hegemony. Beyond economic ties, Iran now leans toward full-spectrum military coordination with these powers as an existential necessity, not a policy preference. The defense minister’s immediate post-ceasefire trip to China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) defense ministers’ meeting signaled this strategic realignment. The war catalyzed stark global polarization: the multipolar order emerges not through gradual transition but through hardening opposing camps—a dynamic Western firepower cannot reverse.
Iran as Vanguard of Global Resistance
Rather than isolating Iran, the attacks enhanced its credibility as the primary force resisting Western domination. The act of aggression validated Iran’s consistent argument that accommodation with imperial powers remains impossible, strengthening anti-imperialist factions throughout the region. Iran’s missile strikes resonated far beyond military calculations, igniting support by peoples across the world horrified by Western complicity in Gaza’s genocide. For millions watching international institutions fail to address the atrocities by the Zionist regime, Iran’s missiles represented the most powerful resistance to Zionist aggression in decades.
This moment shattered decades of Orientalist caricature that painted Iran as a “rogue” and “reactionary” state. Instead, Iran emerged as the most consequential and principled power in West Asia, embodying the aspirations of those who demand justice, dignity, and a genuine end to impunity. Iran’s defiance redefined regional possibilities and exposed the moral bankruptcy of states complicit in ongoing genocide.
Iran’s direct confrontation with both Israel and the US simultaneously—previously considered suicidal—demonstrated a confidence that resonated across the Global South. As one Arab commentator noted, “They did what our governments only dream of.”
Strategic Implications for Forces
The June 2025 aggression, like previous imperial adventures, has accelerated rather than arrested processes of imperial decline. By choosing military confrontation over diplomatic engagement, the US and Israel validated arguments that Western imperialism respects only strength. The attacks have proven nuclear deterrence remains the ultimate sovereignty guarantee; air supremacy cannot achieve political transformation; high-tech militarism has inherent limitations; and imperial violence represents weakness, not strength.
For anti-imperialist forces globally, Iranian resistance provides both tactical lessons and strategic inspiration. The failure of overwhelming military superiority to achieve political objectives demonstrates that sustained resistance remains possible. As historians observe, “Every empire believes itself eternal until the moment it falls.”
The US-Israeli aggression against Iran marks not the restoration of imperial authority but its terminal crisis—a violent spasm of declining empire that has strengthened rather than weakened global resistance to Western domination. In this light, the empire’s tactical victory becomes history’s verdict: a pyrrhic triumph accelerating the very multipolar transition it sought to prevent.
PALESTINIAN CHILDREN TRY TO GET SOME FOOD FROM ONE OF THE CHARITABLE HOSPICES IN DEIR AL-BALAH IN THE CENTRAL GAZA STRIP. (PHOTO: OMAR ASHTAWY/APA IMAGES)
Every child is precious unless that child is Palestinian
Originally published: Mondoweiss on July 6, 2025 by Dina Elmuti (more by Mondoweiss) | (Posted Jul 07, 2025)
A month ago, I kissed my children goodnight–then watched five-year-old Ward al-Sheikh Khalil walk through an inferno. That hellish orange glow of childhood cremated alive is still seared behind my eyelids. Ward’s resemblance to my own daughter shattered me. I see it every time I blink: her ponytail bouncing with each step, a warped reflection of my child’s carefree walk.
The fact that the entire world saw what happened to Ward with barely any consequence led me to a conclusion: the world professes reverence for childhood until the child is Palestinian.
We are fed hollow platitudes about universal children’s rights, tender developmental stages, and inviolable innocence, while simultaneously witnessing the systematic erasure of these very principles in Gaza. We enshrine ashes behind museum glass, whispering “never again” in one breath as our tax dollars fan the flames of “right now.” We weep at archival photos of gas chambers, while live streaming Palestinian toddlers suffocating under concrete.
We’ve reached the nadir of liberal hypocrisy, where performative grief and genocidal complicity are indistinguishable. The same hands that sign billion-dollar arms contracts dab at staged tears for “children’s futures.” Their declarations of “universal rights” are meticulously worded to exclude Palestinian children, reducing them to ledger entries labeled “collateral damage.”
Last month, the world’s hollow pageantry continued with the gilded observances of “International Children’s Day”–the choreographed spectacles of concern–all while Gaza’s children were burned alive. This isn’t hyperbole; it’s extermination broadcast in real time as the world debates “proportionality” over melting flesh.
The numbers scream what the world refuses to acknowledge: a Palestinian child slaughtered every 45 minutes, 18,000+ souls extinguished in 20 months, zero accountability for their murderers. What makes this type of erasure of Palestinian children’s humanity so easy? And why do we so callously accept their fate as a tragic consequence of war when we would never countenance even a fraction of their fate to befall our children?
Palestinian children exist as living contradictions to this hypocrisy: their “inviolable innocence” framed in sniper scopes, their “developmental milestones” marked in emergency amputations, their “protected status” voided by every Western-made bomb. These hollow commemorations were never meant for the colonized. Their emptiness echoes in the abandoned strollers piling up in Rafah, their futility evaporating faster than blood dries on arms contracts.
Israeli massacres leave no whole bodies—only torsos without faces, tiny hands clutching air, scraps of fabric melted into flesh. Gaza’s parents have mastered the grotesque ritual, crawling through rubble and assembling fragments of infants like macabre jigsaw puzzles. They no longer bury children–only possibilities: a foot that might have scored a goal, a wrist that might have worn a birthday bracelet. They sort through sackfuls of flesh like archaeologists of their own extinction. Genocide systematically unravels every thread of human connection. This is the industrialized dismantling of kinship itself, where even grief is denied its rightful shape.
The mere thought of our own child’s severed limb in a mass grave unravels us–yet we expect Palestinian parents to endure this tormenting daily reality with quiet resignation, while our tax dollars fund the weapons that reduce their children to ash and bone fragments.
What we dismiss as “unimaginable” is Palestine’s unrelenting normal–where “before” and “after” have collapsed into an endless now, where the world’s performative “never again” chokes on Gaza’s exhausted “again this morning.”
There are no “sides” to a father reassembling his child from ash and bone, no “complexity” in a mother sifting through slaughter for any shard of the future she once held. One headline breaks us, but they endure an entire archive of horror.
Crocodile tears and calculated carnage
The manufactured outrage over Ms. Rachel exposed the colonial algorithm of childhood: some children deserve lullabies and trauma counseling; others are reduced to “human shield” propaganda. Some children learn belly breathing to calm their anxiety; others choke on clouds of white phosphorus. Some trauma is pathologized as “adverse childhood experiences,” while others are itemized as “acceptable losses.”
This is no accident. It’s the global machinery of grief-apartheid, where compassion follows ethnicity like a shadow. Palestinian suffering isn’t ignored; it’s precisely calculated into every arms deal and strategic briefing. Their deaths aren’t oversights; they’re line items.
When the world mourns a Ukrainian child but demands “context” for a Palestinian one, the hierarchy of human value stands exposed. This isn’t just indifference; it’s childhood weaponized.
The Ms. Rachel controversy laid bare the truth: trauma only matters when it happens to the “right” victims. We cannot preach emotional literacy while denying its universality.
Teaching “kind hands” while funding the bombs that dismember them isn’t hypocrisy–it’s moral arson. Either all children are sacred, or none are. Either all burning flesh horrifies us, or our ethics are ash. Either we believe all trauma demands healing, or our compassion is curated cruelty.
For far too long, Zionists have wielded the shield of perpetual victimhood, a status they claim, assert, and demand from the very world they devastate on an hourly basis. This carefully cultivated narrative has sheltered them from accountability, allowing them to get away with murder, funded by our tax dollars.
This genocide is the latest iteration of a death machine that has been grinding Palestinian children into dust for nearly a century, then demands we mourn the boot that crushes them. The Zionist settlers dancing on the ruins, the generals calibrating slaughter, the politicians laundering bloodshed as “self-defense”–all claim victimhood from their throne of bones.
Indeed, trauma can perpetuate cycles of violence—hurt people hurt others. But Zionism has weaponized this dynamic beyond recognition. They’re not merely traumatized individuals lashing out; they’re architects of a predatory system that controls the narrative, dictates who qualifies as human, who deserves compassion, and who is reduced to “necessary collateral.” All of this serves one purpose: to entrench their impunity while hollowing out words like “trauma” until they mean nothing at all.
They conjure outrage from thin air—distracting, deflecting, and reframing their bruised egos as the real crime, even as they burn children alive and call it righteousness. Zionism’s psychopathic narrative has thrived unchecked for decades, armored by hysterical victimhood and geopolitical might.
But the tide is turning. The world is no longer buying the act or subscribing to the script. The crocodile tears no longer blur the truth. Of course, Zionists are panicking. They’ve spent a century committing atrocities with impunity, only to feel the ground finally shifting beneath their feet.
From bubblegum-sweet children’s entertainers like Ms. Rachel, to raw punk provocateurs like Bob Vylan–when voices dare to speak Palestinian truths, Zionists suddenly discover their fragility. The same regime that shrugs at dead Palestinian children theatrically gasps at a protest chant or Instagram post.
The audacity of equating words—words that name resistance, words that refuse complicity—with the actual, ongoing holocaust in Gaza is grotesque. The “IDF” burns babies alive. It snipes mothers holding white flags. And yet, the moral hysteria is reserved for those who talk about it too loudly?
This is colonialism’s oldest playbook: Demand silence, then criminalize the breaking of it. The goal is never debate—it’s exhaustion and deflection. It’s making the world fixate on the “tone” of dissent rather than the corpses piling up in real time.
As someone who works with trauma, I can’t reconcile healing the pain of some children while sanitizing Palestine’s suffering for my own children’s comfort. Because when infants in Gaza learn the acrid sting of phosphorus before the sweetness of milk, when toddlers recognize the whir of drones before the rhythm of lullabies–then my own children are old enough to understand why such evil persists, and why it must end
Israeli Defense Minister orders plan to build concentration camp for Gaza’s civilian population
By Dave DeCamp (Posted Jul 09, 2025)
Originally published: Antiwar.com on July 7, 2025 (more by Antiwar.com)
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has ordered the IDF to prepare a plan to establish a camp to concentrate the entire civilian population of Gaza on the ruins of the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
According to Haaretz, Katz said that once Palestinian civilians are pushed into what he is calling a “humanitarian city,” they will not be allowed to leave. The idea is to first transfer 600,000 civilians from the al-Mawasi tent camp on the coast in southern Gaza, followed by the rest of the civilian population.
Katz said that if conditions permit, the “city” could be built during a potential 60-day ceasefire, comments that will make Hamas less likely to agree to a temporary truce. The Israeli defense minister also said that during the ceasefire, Israel will maintain control of the “Morag Corridor,” a strip of land between Rafah and Khan Younis.
Katz also suggested the camp can facilitate the government’s ultimate goal of ethnic cleansing, which it refers to as “voluntary migration,” telling reporters that Israel will implement “the emigration plan, which will happen.”
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has previously said that the goal of Israel’s current military operation, dubbed Gideon’s Chariots, is to create a concentration camp south of the Morag Corridor and pressure the civilians forced into it to leave.
“The Gazan citizens will be concentrated in the south. They will be totally despairing, understanding that there is no hope and nothing to look for in Gaza, and will be looking for relocation to begin a new life in other places,” Smotrich said in May.
Katz’s comments come after Reuters reported that the controversial U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) had proposed to the U.S. government the idea of creating camps it called “Humanitarian Transit Areas” inside Gaza or possibly outside Gaza.
The GHF plan describes the camps as “large-scale” and “voluntary” places where the Palestinian population could “temporarily reside, deradicalize, re-integrate and prepare to relocate if they wish to do so.”
Katz said Israel is seeking “international partners” to manage the zone and that four aid distribution sites would be set up inside the camp, suggesting the GHF will be involved in the plan. GHF aid sites are secured by American security contractors, who have been credibly accused of using live ammunition and stun grenades to disperse crowds of hungry Palestinian civilians.
Tony Blair Institute designing concentration camps in Gaza and the Jolani 'Greater Syria' project for Israel
My reports for UK Column yesterday
vanessa beeley and UK Column
Jul 10, 2025
Tony Blair Global Institute employees have been identified by the Financial Times as collaborators in the Zionist concentration camp plan for Palestinians in Gaza. TBI initially denied all involvement but were then shown group messages that included their participation. It should be no surprise that Blair is up to his eyes in the ongoing Zionist genocide in Palestine.
The article reveals the US industry interests in Saudi $ 1.3 trillion rare-earth minerals which would become available with access from the proposed “Gaza free-trade zone” once the Palestinians have been driven out, debt-enslaved, starved or bombed into oblivion. Companies like Tesla, Amazon, Ikea, IHG Hotels have already shown an interest in investing in the ‘New’ Gaza - Egypt, of course, is eyeing up the $53 billion reconstruction budget put forward by the Arab League. I am sure I don’t need to say, all these interested parties in picking profits from the carcasses of Palestinians should be boycotted and shamed publicly.
What my report demonstrates is that this plan did not begin yesterday - it began during Trump’s first administration 2016 - 2020 (and probably way before that).
Jolani is proposing a Greater Syria project to annex one third of Lebanon in the north. This actually serves the Greater Israel Project. The deal that Jolani has allegedly put on the table for the Zionists is not in the interests of Syria or of Lebanon or of the Resistance - it is Jolani’s payback to the US and Israel, for bringing him to power.
Anyone who thinks the long war is over is not paying attention to the Zionist alliance strategy right now..
The Empire Is A Nonstop Insult To Our Intelligence
The US has imposed sanctions on UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese for using her position to oppose the most thoroughly documented genocide in history.
Caitlin Johnstone
July 10, 2025
The US has imposed sanctions on UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese for using her position to oppose the most thoroughly documented genocide in history.
At the same time, the US has removed Syria’s Al Qaeda franchise HTS from its list of designated terrorist organizations, because its leader successfully carried out the regime change in Damascus that the western empire had been chasing for years.
At the same time, the UK has added nonviolent anti-genocide activism group Palestine Action to its list of banned terrorist organizations for opposing the Gaza holocaust.
At the same time, the Israeli prime minister who is carrying out that holocaust has nominated the American president who is helping him perpetrate genocidal atrocities for a Nobel Peace Prize.
At the same time, Israel has continued its ban on foreign journalists entering Gaza, while also arresting the Israeli journalist who helped expose the IDF officials who cooked up fake atrocity propaganda about burnt babies on October 7.
At the same time, the Trump administration has enraged its MAGA base by concluding that Jeffrey Epstein had no client list for any kind of sexual blackmail operation and definitely committed suicide.
The western empire is one nonstop insult to our intelligence. The peace advocates are terrorists, the genocide architects deserve peace prizes, the journalists are dangerous, and Epstein was just a wealthy socialite who made a few mistakes.
They do everything they can to make us stupid via propaganda, Silicon Valley information control, and indoctrination schooling systems, and then they treat us like we’re morons for the rest of our lives.
The empire depends on ignorance. The more stupid, racist, gullible, and easily distracted we become, the nastier agendas the empire can roll out. Now here we are watching a live-streamed genocide unfold right in front of our eyes for nearly two years while being tube fed a daily diet of the most ridiculous lies imaginable.
As Aaron Bushnell said, this is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.
Palestinian resistance factions in Gaza brand local Abu Shabab gang “traitors for hire”
Israel has recruited a number of local gangs to loot aid convoys and incite infighting in Gaza after “Operation Gideon’s Chariots” was frustrated by the Palestinian resistance.
July 10, 2025 by Aseel Saleh
Yasser Abu Shabab. Photo: wikipedia
The local armed gang Abu Shabab was branded “traitors for hire” in a statement from the Joint Operations Room of the Palestinian resistance factions in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, July 6, after the militia’s leader admitted to collaborating with the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF).
The resistance factions labeled Yasser Abu Shabab, who leads the gang, a “mercenary traitor” who, alongside his gang, “deviated from the homeland’s path”.
The Joint Operations Room, which consists of 12 military wings affiliated with various Palestinian resistance factions, including Hamas, warned that the Israeli-backed gang would receive “no mercy” along with “those who follow their path of aiding the occupation”.
The mob boss confesses to collaboration with the IOF
The statement was released by the Palestinian resistance shortly after Israeli media outlets published quotes from an interview, conducted by Israeli Arabic-language radio Makan with Yasser Abu Shabab.
“We’ve tasted the bitterness and injustice inflicted on us by Hamas, and we’ve taken it upon ourselves to confront this aggression. We don’t rule out confrontation with Hamas and we don’t rule out civil war, no matter the cost,” Abu Shabab said during the interview.
“We didn’t have any security like we do in zones under Israeli control. We entered these areas and carried out operations beyond expectations. As long as the goal is support and assistance [to the IDF], and nothing more, when we go on a mission, we inform them — nothing beyond that — and we carry out the military operation,” the head of the militia confessed.
Israel’s recruitment of Abu Shabab and other armed clans in the besieged enclave was previously exposed in June, when Israeli opposition leader Avigdor Lieberman accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of arming ISIS-linked militias in Gaza.
Netanyahu responded to Liberman in a video posted on X: “On the advice of security officials, we activated clans in Gaza that oppose Hamas,” the PM said.
“What’s wrong with this? This is only good and saves the lives of IDF soldiers,” he added.
Gaza’s revolutionary court gave Yasser Abu Shabab 10 days to surrender prior to his confessions
On Wednesday, July 2, the Revolutionary Court under the Military Judiciary in Gaza gave Yasser Abu Shabab a 10-day deadline to surrender himself to stand trial over charges of “treason and collaboration with hostile entities, forming an armed gang, and leading an armed rebellion.”
Abu Shabab’s infamous militia has reportedly conspired with the IOF to commit multiple crimes against the Palestinians in Gaza, including killing civilians, targeting Palestinian resistance fighters, and looting humanitarian aid amid Israel’s four-month blockade and starvation of the people in Gaza.
The court also urged Palestinians to report the whereabouts of Abu Shabab, who is believed to be in an IOF-controlled area in Rafah in southern Gaza, to the concerned authorities.
Yasser Abu Shabab’s long rap sheet
Abu Shabab, who calls his gang the “Popular Forces”, was arrested by Hamas in 2015 and sentenced to 25 years in prison on drug trafficking charges.
However, days after Israel started its genocidal aggression on Gaza, in October 2023, he escaped Asda prison in western Khan Younis as Israeli airstrikes hit the area. The details of his escape are still unknown.
Since then, Abu Shabab has formed a militia consisting of hundreds of men that has taken control of an area near the Kerem Shalom crossing, which connects Gaza, Israel, and Egypt.
The Washington Post leaked the content of a UN memo in November 2024, which identified Abu Shabab as a main aid looter, who has operated under “passive or active” protection of the IOF.
Multiple sources reported to Muhammad Shehada, a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, a number of activities that Abu Shabab’s gang has carried out during the ongoing genocide:
Looting UN aid under IOF protection, storing it in warehouses, and selling some on the black market.
Securing aid for the US-Israeli Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which has been accused of involvement in the IOF’s massacres of hundreds of starved people at aid delivery points.
Carrying out reconnaissance missions on behalf of the IOF.
Establishing concentration camps on behalf of the IOF in eastern Rafah, using looted food to lure Palestinians.
Acting as a proxy militia against Hamas in areas depopulated by Israel.
In June, the gang claimed affiliation with what it called “Palestinian legitimacy” – presumably the Palestinian Authority, which resistance factions have denounced as an institution that “serves the interests of the enemy”. Yet, the spokesperson for the Palestinian Authority’s security forces, Major General Anwar Rajab, denied any association with Abu Shabab.
“Operation Gideon’s Chariots” fell flat at the hands of Palestinian resistance
Israel launched its “Operation Gideon’s Chariots” deadly ground operation on May 18, in a bid to pressure Hamas to accept its ceasefire proposal. The operation has been confronted by intensified military operations by the Palestinian resistance, who have inflicted considerable losses on the IOF and left dozens of its soldiers dead.
The most recent of these operations was an ambush carried out by the al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, against the IOF in Beit Hanoun, in northern Gaza, leaving five soldiers killed and at least 10 others wounded.
Analysts argue that the defeat of Gideon’s Chariots thus far by the resistance, has pushed Israel to recruit local criminal gangs in an effort to dismantle the resistance groups in Gaza by instigating a civil war.
“Hebron Emirate” as Canton: Israel Recycles a Failed Colonial Strategy
Posted by Internationalist 360° on July 9, 2025
Ahmad Al-Abed
The Jaabari family categorically disavowed the statements made by one of its members. (AFP)The Jaabari family categorically disavowed the statements made by one of its members. (AFP)
Israel is once again attempting a strategy it failed to achieve in the past: establishing subservient client entities in the West Bank. This time, Tel Aviv believes success may be within reach, if these groups receive extensive political, financial, and military support, using a model similar to its backing of gangs like the “Abu Shabab” group in Gaza. Such tactics have long been central to colonial rule, whether under the British Mandate or Israeli occupation, where local elite collaborators- clan leaders, prominent families, or marginalized individuals, were co-opted to construct subservient governance structures.
This approach first emerged with the “Peace Bands” formed by British forces in 1938. These groups were composed of Palestinians who opposed the 1936 revolt, benefited from British rule, or were punished by resistance factions. They actively fought Palestinian revolutionaries and helped British forces carry out arrests, drawing widespread public hostility until the British eventually disbanded them.
Israel later revived the model through what became known as the “Village Leagues,” a concept floated during a 1979 dinner at Sheikh Mohammad Ali al-Jaabari’s home in Hebron. The idea, proposed by Hebron’s military governor Yigal Carmon, was to install Palestinian leadership loyal to the Israeli military and positioned as an alternative to the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). It was adopted by Menachem Milson, the Israeli military administration’s advisor on Arab affairs, who began implementing it in several cities.
Today, alongside the “Abu Shabab” model in Gaza, there are signs of similar attempts by some individuals in the West Bank, albeit through different tools. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that a group from Hebron is planning to secede from the Palestinian Authority, cooperate with Israel, and fully recognize it as a Jewish state. The proposal plan envisions the creation of a breakaway “Hebron Emirate,” which would eventually join the Abraham Accords.
At the center of this initiative is Wadi’ Jaabari (Abu Sanad), backed by four unnamed sheikhs. The group reportedly sent a letter to Israeli Economy Minister and former Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat, who has hosted them at his home more than a dozen times since February. They asked Barkat to deliver their message directly to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who, according to Israeli sources, is cautiously supportive and closely monitoring the project’s development.
The initiative signals a new and dangerous phase in the West Bank, particularly in Hebron, where tribal structures are deeply entrenched.
Within hours of the report’s release, a wave of outrage swept across Hebron. Families and clans convened to issue public denunciations. The Jaabari family, in particular, categorically disavowed the statements made by one of its members, stating that he is neither known to the family nor a resident of Hebron. The family reaffirmed its unwavering commitment to the Palestinian national cause and the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital—a stance echoed in a joint statement issued by Hebron’s clans.
All indications point to the initiative’s failure. The so-called “Hebron Emirate” has no genuine social or tribal support; its proponents are isolated figures without any real influence. Even if they attract Israeli backing or convince a handful of individuals, they will likely face fierce rejection from Palestinian society. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority would likely confront the group, benefiting from unified national, factional, tribal, and public opposition.
Nonetheless, the very timing of this initiative raises serious concerns. It signals a new and dangerous phase in the West Bank, particularly in Hebron, where tribal structures are deeply entrenched. Israel has made no secret of its desire to replicate the Gaza model in the West Bank. What makes this initiative alarming is not its novelty, but its alignment with Israeli political leadership, which appears not only aware of the plan but supportive of it. One of its public proponents, Mordechai Kedar, openly declared that the plan fulfills a personal dream and corrects the “mistake” of the Oslo Accords.
Adding to the suspicion, the leak of the plan coincides with rising calls within the Israeli entity to impose “sovereignty” over the West Bank, an agenda pushed daily by settler leaders. In this context, Israel may be treating the Hebron plan as part of a broader annexation strategy: absorbing 65% of the West Bank while confining Palestinians to 20 isolated cantons, fragmented by military checkpoints and barriers, and stripped of national cohesion or political identity.
The “Hebron Emirate” initiative aligns seamlessly with far-right Israeli visions that, for years, have advocated transforming the Palestinian Authority into a patchwork of local administrative councils, devoid of any national identity or political demands. It also complements Israel’s ongoing campaign to fragment Palestinian geography, a campaign that has already achieved significant success. Now, this latest plan aims to provide an administrative cover for this fragmented reality.
Stop Israel’s Dystopian “New Improved” Concentration Camp Plan—Before It’s Too Late
Posted on July 12, 2025 by Yves Smith
Yves here. It’s sad to say that genocide fatigue has set in as outrage across the world has not moved the one actor that could stop the Israel’s slaughter, the US. Photos of starving children provoked a recent spike of condemnation, but that made no difference. The US and Israel keep piling on with their sense of extreme entitlement as they add to their horrowshow rap sheet, from sanctioning the UN’s special rapporteur Francesca Albanese to planning to formalize the status of Gaza as a concentration camp, which Israel is calling, in an insult to intelligence, “humanitarian city”. Gee, like summer camp but with no food, medicine, or clean water?
If you’d been paying attention, Gaza pre October 7 was regularly described as an open air concentration camp. The post by Medea Benjamin below explains that this new concentration camp is presented as a waypost to intended expulsion of the Palestinians, which is ethnic cleansing and verboten under international law, not that Israel and the US are bound by such niceties. However, as readers know well, Israel and the US been trying to get other nations to accept Palestinians who are forcibly removed. There are no takers. So we’ll see how herding Palestinians into an overcrowded area furthers the genocide plan, since the excuse of mere ethnic cleansing seems to remain beyond Israel’s reach. Perhaps cholera will speed the deaths?
Yesterday, Conor linked to a story from +972 Magazine on Israel’s use of drones to herd Palestinians in Gaza. It seems likely these methods will be used on a bigger scale in implementing the new concentration camp scheme. From ‘Like a video game’: Israel enforcing Gaza evacuations with grenade-firing drones:
The Israeli military has weaponized a fleet of Chinese-manufactured commercial drones to attack Palestinians in parts of Gaza that it seeks to depopulate, an investigation by +972 Magazine and Local Call can reveal. According to interviews with seven soldiers and officers who served in the Strip, these drones are operated manually by troops on the ground, and are frequently used to bomb Palestinian civilians — including children — in an effort to force them to leave their homes or prevent them from returning to evacuated areas.
Soldiers most commonly use EVO drones, produced by the Chinese company Autel, which are primarily intended for photography and cost around NIS 10,000 (approximately $3,000) on Amazon. However, with a military-issued attachment known internally as an “iron ball,” a hand grenade can be affixed to the drone and dropped with the push of a button to detonate on the ground. Today, the majority of Israeli military companies in Gaza use these drones.
S., an Israeli soldier who served in the Rafah area this year, coordinated drone attacks in a neighborhood of the city that the army had ordered to be evacuated. During the nearly 100 days that his battalion operated there, soldiers conducted dozens of drone strikes, according to daily reports from his battalion commander that +972 and Local Call reviewed….
“It was clear that they were trying to return to their homes — there’s no question,” he explained. “None of them were armed, and nothing was ever found near their bodies. We never fired warning shots. Not at any point.”
Now to the main event.
By Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Global Exchange and CODEPINK: Women for Peace. She is the co-author, with Nicolas J.S. Davies, of War in Ukraine: Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict, available from OR Books in November 2022. Other books include, “Inside Iran: The Real History and Politics of the Islamic Republic of Iran” (2018); “Kingdom of the Unjust: Behind the U.S.-Saudi Connection” (2016); “Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control” (2013); “Don’t Be Afraid Gringo: A Honduran Woman Speaks from the Heart” (1989), and (with Jodie Evans) “Stop the Next War Now” (2005). Originally published at CodePink
The Israeli government has just put forward one of the most brazenly genocidal schemes in modern memory—and unless we act immediately, the world will once again let it happen.
As reported in Haaretz, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz is proposing to force some 600,000 Palestinians—and eventually the entire population of Gaza—into a fenced-in “humanitarian city” to be built on the ruins of Rafah in southern Gaza. The plan is to “screen” the population, separate out alleged Hamas members, and then pressure the remaining civilians—men, women, and children—to “voluntarily” leave Gaza for another country. Which country? That hasn’t even been determined. The point isn’t relocation—it’s erasure. This reflects a long-standing goal among many Israelis, especially on the right, to take full control of Gaza and clear it of Palestinians.
The UN has warned that the deportation or forcible transfer of an occupied territory’s civilian population is strictly prohibited under international humanitarian law and “tantamount to ethnic cleansing”.
While all eyes are focused on a possible ceasefire, Katz is not interested in peace—he’s interested in a “final solution.” A speeding up of the second Nakba we have been witnessing for the past 20 months. In fact, he has stated that construction would begin during a 60-day ceasefire. So what’s the point of a ceasefire, if it’s used to build a concentration camp?
Once Palestinians are herded into this camp, they will not be allowed to leave for other parts of Gaza. They won’t be allowed to return to what’s left of their homes, their neighborhoods, their farms, their schools. They will be trapped inside this militarized zone, under constant surveillance, held at gunpoint until Israel can arrange their deportation.
Just think of the tragic, unbearable irony: the Israeli government—founded in the aftermath of the Holocaust—is now building a massive concentration camp for an entire population.
If that sounds unthinkable, look at what Israel has already gotten away with.
For the past 20 months, the world has watched—and largely enabled—a genocidal campaign in Gaza. Over 55,000 Palestinians have been slaughtered, the majority of them women and children. Israel has bombed hospitals, schools, refugee camps, and mosques. It has flattened entire neighborhoods with AI-generated kill lists. It has assassinated journalists, targeted ambulances, destroyed bakeries and water systems.
It has used hunger as a weapon of war, deliberately blocking aid trucks, attacking convoys, and starving the population into desperation. And in a cruel twist, it has created the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation—a scheme to funnel aid through Israeli-controlled routes and sideline the UN and experienced NGOs. Its so-called “distribution points” are really death traps, where desperate people have been shot day after day as they risk their lives to get a bit of food.
This engineered starvation is not an accident. It is a strategy—a form of collective punishment on a scale rarely seen in modern times.
We have already failed the people of Gaza—again and again. We failed when we looked the other way as children were buried in rubble. We failed when we allowed our tax dollars to fund the very bombs that wiped out refugee camps. We failed when we kept pretending there was still a line Israel wouldn’t cross.
Now Katz is telling us—explicitly—what comes next: mass internment and forced expulsion. And unless we rise up with every ounce of outrage we have, we will fail again.
Let’s be absolutely clear: the infrastructure for this plan is already being built. Netanyahu and Trump are lobbyingcorrupt governments in the Global South to accept the deported. This is not a negotiating tactic to strengthen Israel’s position in ceasefire talks—it is the next phase of a genocide we’ve been watching in real time for nearly two years.
And what is the U.S. government doing? Still issuing meaningless statements about “Israel’s right to defend itself.” Still shipping weapons. Still blocking accountability at the United Nations—and even sanctioning officials like UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese for daring to speak out.
President Trump could stop this today—by cutting off military aid, backing the International Criminal Court’s investigations, and declaring that forced displacement of Palestinians will not be tolerated. But instead, he’s still dreaming of turning Gaza into a Middle Eastern resort for the ultra-rich.
Meanwhile, more Arab governments stand ready to normalize ties with Israel, making deals with war criminals while their fellow Arabs are starved, bombed, and now threatened with mass exile. Where is the outcry from Cairo, Riyadh, Amman? Is there absolutely no red line?
One bright spot on the international scene is the Hague group, which will convene an emergency meeting in Colombia on July 15–16. This growing bloc of nations has joined South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. These countries are taking a courageous stand to uphold international law and defend Palestinian life. Every nation that claims to value justice must join them—immediately.
And here in the United States, every member of Congress must be pushed—loudly, relentlessly—to take a public stand. No more vague language. No more hiding behind mealy-mouthed scripts. We demand immediate, public opposition to this “humanitarian city” plan—and a full cutoff of military support to Israel. This is a moment of moral reckoning. Choose a side.
Don’t fool yourself into thinking this can’t happen. It is happening. The groundwork is being laid. The walls are going up. The deportation flights are being negotiated.
There is no neutral ground. This is not a policy debate. This is genocide—on camera, with diplomatic cover, and with our tax dollars.
The time to stop Israel’s dystopian plan is not tomorrow. It is now.
Israeli Forces Kill 9 Palestinians Waiting for Aid in Rafah, Dozens Injured
Photo: AJ+
July 11, 2025 Hour: 2:15 pm
At least 9 Palestinians were killed and 78 others wounded on Friday after Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd waiting for humanitarian aid in Al-Shakoush, northwest of Rafah, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry and local medical sources.
The victims had gathered near a GHF aid distribution site, one of the few remaining hubs in southern Gaza, when Israeli troops reportedly fired into the crowd. The high number of casualties overwhelmed local hospitals, prompting urgent calls for blood donations and emergency supplies.
The Government Media Office in Gaza reports 773 killed, 5,101 injured, and 41 missing from Israeli attacks near aid centers since May 27, 2025. They condemn these acts and urge the world to demand open crossings and humanitarian aid for Gaza before it’s too late. pic.twitter.com/mvjOdgaPbG
— War Machine (@WarMachinist) July 11, 2025
In a separate incident, an Israeli drone strike near the Al-Nazla roundabout in northern Gaza injured five civilians, adding to the growing toll of attacks on displaced populations and aid seekers.
Earlier in the day, 15 more Palestinians were killed in overnight Israeli airstrikes across the Strip, including in Gaza City, Khan Younis, and Deir al-Balah, where residential areas and shelters were targeted.
Since the start of Israel’s military campaign in October 2023, at least 57,762 Palestinians have been killed and 137,656 injured, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Humanitarian organizations warn that the true death toll may be higher, with thousands of bodies still trapped under rubble due to relentless bombardment and lack of rescue equipment.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor has condemned Israel’s recent actions as part of a systematic plan to transform southern Gaza into a mass detention zone, accusing the Israeli government of engineering a forced demographic shift under the guise of humanitarian protection.
The so-called “humanitarian zones” have been repeatedly bombed, including Mawasi, which Israel itself declared unsafe in March. Aid seekers continue to face deadly risks, with over 800 Palestinians killed near aid sites since late May, according to the UN Human Rights Office.
Despite multiple UN Security Council resolutions and provisional measures from the International Court of Justice demanding an immediate ceasefire and protection of civilians, Israeli military operations have intensified.
UNRWA and other agencies report that over 90% of Gaza’s population is now displaced, with hundreds of thousands living in tent camps without access to food, water, or medical care.
The international community faces mounting pressure to intervene, as rights groups warn that the mass reconcentration of civilians in southern Gaza may amount to ethnic cleansing and genocide under international law.
Israel Prohibits Gazans from Entering the Sea Amid Water Shortage and Rising Temperatures
In war-torn Gaza, where most of the population lives in tents near the coastline, the Israeli regime restricts Palestinians’ access to the sea, threatening to use military force against anyone who breaches the restrictions.
(FILE) Palestinian children fill water containers on Khan Yunis beach in the southern Gaza Strip, 29 November 2023. Photo: EFE.
July 12, 2025 Hour: 6:43 am
The Israeli army reiterated on Saturday that it forbids the people of the Gaza Strip from entering the sea, and Zionist troops will punish any access to the water, while much of the enclave’s population remains displaced along the coast, living in tents under the intense summer heat. This order has been in effect since October 7, 2023.
“Entering the sea is prohibited. Army troops will enforce any violation of these restrictions. We urge fishermen, swimmers, and divers to avoid entering the sea,” warned Avichay Adraee, the Israeli military spokesperson in Arabic, in a statement on the social network X.
Israel’s news outlets added that the army attacks those who enter deeper into the sea under this prohibition, not beachgoers, although the military order is general. Adraee also threatened that “entering the sea along the entire coast of the Gaza Strip” endangers those who do so.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) reported on Saturday that children in Gaza are unable to bathe properly due to a lack of soap and drinking water caused by the ongoing siege. They warned that this situation, combined with overcrowded shelters and the summer heat, could lead to serious health problems. Temperatures throughout the Strip currently exceed 30 ºC daily.
The Zionist regime’s order, whose motivation was not detailed in the announcement, comes as the Gaza beaches of Mawasi (south) are the main area where the armed forces direct the population daily.
More than 425,000 people crowd there, according to the United Nations, living in a network of tents on the sand under poor humanitarian conditions, including lack of potable water and hygiene products, accumulation of garbage and sewage, and lack of electricity. Furthermore, in Gaza City (north), where around one million people are estimated to live, many also gather on the beach.
Israeli Settler Attacks in Sinjil Result in Deaths of Two Palestinians, One from U.S.
Two young Palestinians, including a U.S. citizen visiting family, were killed in settler attacks in Ramallah, West Bank. Ambulances were reportedly attacked en route to the scene.
Israeli soldiers keep watch from the distance on Palestinians during clashes at the northern entrance of the West Bank city of Ramallah on 20 October 2023. (Archive). Photo: EFE.
July 12, 2025 Hour: 4:13 am
Zionist aggressors in the West Bank killed two more young Palestinians in the city of Sinjil, north of Ramallah, including a U.S. citizen who was visiting his family. The Palestinian news agency WAFA denounced on Friday that settlers attacked ambulances heading to the area.
Mohammed Rizq Hussein al Shalabi, 23 years old, was shot in the chest, with the bullet passing through his back, and he bled for hours due to the delay in medical assistance, according to the medical report.
Hours earlier, in the same incident, the Health Ministry reported the death of Saif al Din Kamil Abdul Karim Musalat, also 23 years old, who was born in Florida (United States) and was visiting his relatives in the West Bank. According to the institution, he was beaten to death by Israeli settlers.
The confrontation occurred when Palestinians and international and Israeli activists went to a settler outpost near Sinjil to try to dismantle it. Outposts are the first step for an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, often consisting of a basic structure (a hut, a farm, etc.). They are also illegal under Israeli law, but Netanyahu’s government does not limit their creation and usually ends up authorizing their transformation into settlements, which the Zionist entity considers legal under its law. The Israeli NGO Peace Now estimates that there are currently about 224 outposts in the West Bank.
All settlements and outposts are illegal under international law since they occupy Palestinian territory. Last summer, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to dismantle all settlements, remove Israelis from the West Bank, and dismantle the separation wall in this territory.
About 160 Palestinians have died in the West Bank due to Israeli attacks (mostly by the army, but also by settlers) in 2025, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
