NEW FROM FMEP
Born into Apartheid: The Work of Dismantling Jewish Supremacy (New podcast episode)
FMEP Fellow Ahmed Moor speaks with Yuli Novak, executive director of the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem. Their conversation covers a wide range of topics as Yuli addresses why it matters to understand the Israeli system from the inside. They discuss how Israelis were mobilized so quickly into supporting and committing genocide; the meaning and impact of the Zionist movement producing the Israeli apartheid state; and the expectation that Israeli violence and repression will continue to increase. Yuli states her belief that positive change is not coming soon, but the Israeli Jewish population has both the responsibility and ability to act to dismantle the paradigms of Jewish supremacy and militarism and work for both justice and equality.
GLOBAL/REGION
Netanyahu: The pursuit of ‘total victory’ against Iran and its proxies ‘never ends’ (TOI 7/1/26)
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted on Tuesday that his pursuit of “total victory” against Iran and its proxies “never ends,” as he touted what he said have been Israel’s military gains over the past three years, while insisting that there was more work left to do. In a rare TV Hebrew media interview — albeit on his Channel 14 mouthpiece network — Netanyahu was asked whether his Gaza war pledge to achieve “total victory” is still in force. “It never ends. Do you want to live in the Middle East or in the world? You have to be very strong. And we are very strong. Israel is stronger than it has ever been, and we have put off threats and weakened (our adversaries) considerably. We have more work to do. We will take care of what is left of the Iranian axis,” Netanyahu said to applause from the supportive audience.”
Lebanon walks into Israel’s trap (Elia Ayoub//+972 Magazine 7/1/26)
“Inside Lebanon, the 14-point “framework agreement” that the government signed with Israel last week is widely seen as the most controversial deal involving the two parties to date. A quick search for “withdrawal” in the 1,300-word document gives a sense of why: The word is nowhere to be found. Although the Lebanese government has attempted to portray the agreement to its citizens using the language of sovereignty, the only roadmap to the end of Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon is a tentative, limited “redeployment” to two “pilot zones.” Israel would allow the Lebanese army to enter those zones, but the army would not assume “full and effective security responsibility” until Hezbollah’s military capabilities have been fully dismantled. Already, this points to an obvious problem: Who determines whether a zone is demilitarized? Here, of course, the answer is Israel — the very state occupying Lebanese lands. What this agreement effectively dictates is the legitimization of Israel’s occupation of all territory that it deems to pose a security risk, with the Lebanese government, which includes Hezbollah, having no say in the matter.” See also Netanyahu Tours Southern Lebanon, Orders IDF to ‘Leave Nothing Behind’ (Haaretz 6/30/26); Lebanon-Israel deal may stop war crime victims seeking justice, experts say (The Guardian 6/27/26)
US brokers deal for limited Israeli withdrawal in south Lebanon (Al Monitor 6/26/26)
“A US-brokered trilateral agreement on Friday sets the stage for Israel to transfer control of two areas in southern Lebanon to the Lebanese military, according to officials from both countries. The deal followed four days of talks at the State Department centered on creating “pilot zones,” where Israeli troops would gradually hand over the territory they occupied during the ongoing war with Hezbollah to the Lebanese Armed Forces…In a blow to the Lebanese government’s basic demands, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video statement that Israeli forces would not fully withdraw from Lebanon and that the Lebanese citizens who fled Israel’s buffer zone, which stretches roughly 6 miles into Lebanon, will not be allowed to enter it.”
Araghchi warns Israel as US, Iran hold technical talks in Doha (Al Monitor 7/1/26)
“Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned Wednesday that Tehran would respond “immediately and powerfully” to any threat to its people or leadership as the United States and Iran held technical talks in Doha aimed at securing a lasting ceasefire and resolving disputes over shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Araghchi’s warning came after Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, was “marked for death.” “POTUS has committed the U.S. to muzzling its pets in Tel Aviv. If they ignore their master, Iran will school them,” Araghchi wrote on X.” See also Iran Warns U.S., Israel Against Attacks Ahead of Khamenei Funeral (Haaretz 7/2/26);
Israel’s Armenian genocide recognition marks new front against Turkey (Al Monitor 6/27/26)
“The Israeli government recognized Sunday the Armenian genocide, a move analysts believe was driven less by a historical reckoning and more by escalating tensions with Turkey, in particular with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.”
IDF Says Troops Came Under Fire in Southern Syria Amid Reports of Expanding Israeli Military Presence (Haaretz 6/29/26)
“Israel has expanded its military presence in parts of southern Syria following the collapse of Assad’s government, saying the deployments are intended to prevent hostile groups from establishing a foothold near the Israeli border, while Syrian officials and media outlets accuse it of entrenching a deeper and more permanent presence inside sovereign Syrian territory.”
The divestment drive that could shake Israel’s economic foundations (Aharon Porath//+972 Magazine 6/30/26)
“Unbeholden to the protracted political processes that characterize government decisions, bond divestment can be undertaken by an array of different autonomous actors including pension funds, private investors, local and regional government bodies, and private and public investment funds — often in direct response to grassroots pressure. And crucially, unlike the EU’s sanctions, it does not distinguish between the State of Israel and the settlements. In May, the UK’s largest public pension fund relented to pressure from campaigners to sell Israeli government bonds worth approximately $29.2 million. “We were horrified to discover that our retirement funds are financing genocide, apartheid, occupation, imprisonment, and torture,” one of the protest leaders told Middle East Eye. A few days later, a similar campaign in Maryland announced that it had succeeded in getting the state pension fund to divest $73.7 million worth of holdings in Israeli bonds. The fund’s management denied that the decision was made in response to the protest, but even if this was an investment decision rather than a direct achievement of the pro-Palestine campaigners, such cases threaten to shake Israel’s economic foundations.”
GAZA
IDF Expands Gaza Occupation, Displacing More Palestinians to Less Territory (Haaretz 6/30/26)
“When the cease-fire agreement was signed in October 2025, 53 percent of the Strip was under Israeli control. Since then, Israel has been steadily expanding the area under its control by displacing residents and relocating the yellow concrete barriers…According to OCHA, dozens of humanitarian facilities, water and sanitation infrastructure, health centers and schools remain beyond the Yellow Line, in the area controlled by Israel…As of April, the UN had verified 196 Palestinian deaths near the line, out of 1,045 killed by IDF fire since the cease-fire started.” See also: ‘We Must Finish Conquering All of Gaza’ Smotrich: Israel Ready to Build Three Settlements in Gaza ‘Immediately’ (Haaretz 6/30/26); Young Mother, Baby, 2nd Grader Among Killed in Latest Gaza Strikes; Over 100 Tents Razed (Haaretz 6/30/26);
Trump’s Board of Peace plans to grant itself sweeping immunity, documents show (The Guardian 6/27/26)
“The UN-sanctioned Board of Peace announced by Donald Trump earlier this year to rule Gaza is planning a sweeping grant of legal immunity for itself, according to a draft of the resolution obtained by the Guardian. The draft language would also let the organization obtain public property in Gaza “free of charge”. The four-page resolution, labeled “sensitive but unclassified”, extends broad protections to every member of the Board of Peace and its administrative affiliate, the office of the high representative (OHR), as well as to the Palestinian technocrats, international military forces and nonresident contractors lined up to perform work in Gaza. It defines legal processes from which they would have immunity as “any arrest, detention or legal proceedings in the courts or other entities in Gaza”.’ See also Pro-Israel Spanish journalist Pilar Rahola accused of complicity in genocide (EuroNews 6/25/26)
RIVER TO THE SEA
How children in West Bank are being killed by Israel ‘without accountability’ (The Guardian 6/29/26)
“Mohammad died in hospital, one of 235 Palestinian children and teenagers killed by Israeli forces on the West Bank – plus another five killed by settlers themselves – since 7 October 2023…“The widespread and unprecedented killing of Palestinian children and teenagers in the West Bank is the result of Israel’s broader policy that allows the killing of Palestinians without accountability,” said Yuli Novak, the executive director of the human rights group B’Tselem, which published a report on Monday titled Unshielded Childhood. It focuses on 54 Palestinian children and teenagers killed by Israeli forces in 2025 alone. “The system does not merely back the shooters – it effectively gives them a licence to kill,” Novak said, pointing to recent remarks by Maj Gen Avi Bluth, the head of the army’s central command, deployed in the West Bank, claiming “we are killing like we haven’t killed since 1967”…According to data from another human rights organisation, Yesh Din, no Israeli has been indicted for the killing of a Palestinian since October 2023.”
103 Nails on the Map: How Israel’s Government Is Burying the Two-state Solution (Matan Golan//Haaretz 6/30/26)
“The result is that across the West Bank there are now more than 470 settlement points designed to erase any chance of establishing a Palestinian state. Smotrich has said so in various ways, including in a video on social media this January, dedicated to French President Emmanuel Macron, in which he declared: “This is how you bury the Palestinian idea.” He receives backing from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who last September stated that “a Palestinian state will not be established.” “This is a real revolution, and it is flying completely under the radar,” says Hagit Ofran of Peace Now’s Settlement Watch team. “The West Bank does not look like it did three years ago. Extremely dramatic things are happening here – the approval of new settlements, a retreat from Oslo to a reality of de facto annexation, a crazy flow of funds for infrastructure and roads, the collapse of the Palestinian Authority, the takeover of a million dunams by farm outposts [four dunams are approximately one acre], and expulsions that are a combined effort of the Israel Defense Forces and settlers – and there is no public discourse about any of it.”’ See also In Israel, Emigration Is Now Higher Than Immigration (Lisa Goldman//New Lines Magazine 6/29/26); In His Own Words: Naftali Bennett Is Committed to Annexing the West Bank (Dahlia Scheindlin//Haaretz 6/30/26)
Palestinians Are Being Denied Return to West Bank Refugee Camps After Israel Bulldozed Their Homes (Aseel Mafarjeh//Drop Site 6/30/26)
“But in January 2025, Qalib was forced from his home, along with tens of thousands of other Palestinians, as Israel launched a large-scale military operation dubbed “Iron Wall” targeting refugee camps in Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur Shams. More than 30,000 Palestinians were forced from their homes over the ensuing months, in the largest displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank in a single operation since the 1967 war. After invading and occupying the camps in February 2025, the Israeli military campaign flattened entire neighborhoods, turning them into wastelands. Where narrow alleys once ran between tall buildings so close they blocked the light, wide dirt roads now cut through the heart of the camps, carved out by Israeli military bulldozers. As part of the campaign, the camps have been cordoned off…Recently, some Palestinians have been granted limited access to enter their old neighborhoods, mainly to scavenge in their destroyed or heavily damaged homes for items they left behind. What they described to Drop Site are neighborhoods made unrecognizable: men who spent their lives in these alleys wander in the middle of emptied out dirt roads, looking for a mosque that used to mark the turn, the building that used to anchor their route. The landmarks are gone. Some cannot even locate where their own homes once stood.”
Israel, U.S. Move Forward With Embassy on Jerusalem Land Said to Be Expropriated From Palestinians (Haaretz 7/1/26)
“Israel and the United States signed an agreement on Wednesday to build a permanent U.S. Embassy compound in Jerusalem, advancing plans for a new diplomatic complex on a site where Palestinian families say the land was unlawfully expropriated from them decades ago…”The Allenby compound does not belong to Israel, which has no right to offer the site to the United States for the location of its embassy in Jerusalem,” noted Palestinian-American historian Rashid Khalidi told Haaretz. The Khalidi family was among those whose land was expropriated for the Allenby Complex. He described the “collaboration of the United States government with Israel in the theft of Palestinian private and waqf property is yet another American infringement on Palestinian rights, in keeping with a long and disgraceful record of such hostile behavior towards the Palestinian people and their inalienable rights, national, religious and private.” Waqf property refers to land with a dedicated religious purpose under Islamic law.”
How to Show That Israel’s Sexual Violence Against Palestinians Is Systemic — and Has Gone on for Decades (The Intercept 6/30/26)
“Sexual violence by Israeli forces against Palestinians in detention is both a systematic and a decades-old practice — a well understood dynamic that is being put in the spotlight this week in a new report from the Palestinian Feminist Collective, a group of Palestinian and Arab feminist researchers and organizers. The extensive 188-page report, parts of which were shared with The Intercept in advance of publication, situates recent, high-profile news stories detailing the rape and sexual assault of Palestinians in Israeli detention as part of “a wider system of sexualized and gendered violence spanning detention, warfare, surveillance, reproductive destruction, family separation, domicide, and the desecration of Palestinian bodies” over decades. The report, “A Predatory State: Israeli Systemic Sexualized and Gendered Violence Against Palestinians,” brings together witness and survivor testimonies; news coverage; academic research; United Nations reports; and findings from human rights groups, like the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, and Israel-based B’Tselem; along with declassified Israeli archival material. (The Israeli government, military, and prison system did not immediately respond to requests for comment.) Crushed testicles, genital beatings, rapes of detainees including children and the elderly — the report, like a number of the previous human rights reports it draws from, shows that such abuse is, according to the authors, “institutional practice rather than individual misconduct.”’ See also Prisoners in Israel Face ‘Unprecedented’ Rights Violations, Public Defender’s Report Says (Haaretz 7/1/26)
Two more slain in Arab community, raising this week’s toll to nine (TOI 7/2/26)
“18-year-old gunned down in Haifa, two seriously hurt; hours later, 30-year-old shot dead in Reineh; watchdog figures show 149 homicides in Arab community since start of year.” See also Five slain within hours in shootings, car-bombings amid spiraling Arab community violence (TOI 6/28/26)
U.S. SCENE
Mamdani is Showing the Way (Peter Beinart//Jewish Currents 6/30/26)
“American public opinion is turning dramatically against the Jewish state. It’s possible that Tucker Carlson—or even J.D. Vance—might try to seize that populist energy in 2028. Mamdani’s success last week helps protect Democrats against being outflanked. By accelerating the party’s move toward a full-throated defense of Palestinian rights, he’s moving Democrats closer to where the American people already are. Increasingly, the American divide over Israel no longer pits left against right but the establishments of both parties against their base. The Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress all remain staunch backers of the Jewish state. But among voters of both parties, as well as among independents, that view is hemorrhaging support…The bipartisan collapse of American support for Israel creates an opportunity for a presidential candidate of either party in 2028. After last Tuesday, Democrats are more likely to seize it. In New York, Mamdani has shown the way.” See also Top Israeli Diplomats Accuse Mamdani of Antisemitism After He Declines to Support Israel ‘As Jewish State’ (Haaretz 6/29/26); Congressional Dems Shift to Overwhelmingly Oppose Involvement in Israel’s War on Lebanon (The Intercept 6/30/26); Scoop: Harris reaches out to Mamdani, pro-Palestinian activists in run-up to 2028 (Axios 7/1/26); Rep. Dan Goldman Says Support for Israel Cost Him New York Democratic Primary (Haaretz 7/2/26); Abdul El-Sayed Becomes First Senate Candidate Backed by Pro-Palestine Jewish Group (The Intercept 6/29/26);
Tucker Carlson’s Latest Foray Into Far-Right Antisemitism Flies Under the Radar (Ben Lorber//Religion Dispatches 6/26/26)
“On Tuesday, Tucker Carlson hosted Jordan Daniel Hall, a Christian nationalist blogger, for a wide-ranging interview criticizing the fundamental tenets of Christian Zionism. Carlson, who recently traded his American flag for the far-right “Appeal to Heaven” flag, has once again lent one of the most influential platforms in the MAGA movement to a hardline antisemite. But unlike his interview last fall with white Christian nationalist Nick Fuentes—which made headlines and helped trigger a seismic split in the MAGA movement—this week’s interview has largely flown under the radar despite garnering over 2 million views across X and YouTube in just 72 hours…Carlson began by praising Hall as “one of the clearest writers on the internet, so it’s an honor to have you here.”…Reformed Calvinists like JD Hall, or Catholic neo-Nazis like Nick Fuentes, don’t explain Israel’s systematic oppression of Palestinians as an outgrowth of supremacist political structures like apartheid, settler-colonialism or ethnonationalism. Their own Christian nationalist movements, after all, champion these same systems of oppression in the US. Instead, they claim to diagnose the problem in Israel/Palestine as one of quintessentially Jewish sin.” See also The Republican Party is starting to turn on Israel (Axios 6/28/26); How Israel and Iran Are Fracturing Both Parties in the Midterms (NYT 6/29/26);
Who is Melat Kiros, the pro-Palestinian who unseated a longtime Democrat? (Al Monitor 7/1/26)
“A vocally anti-Israel candidate won a key primary election in the US state of Colorado on Tuesday night, adding to a string of recent victories by progressive candidates who have made the Palestinian cause a major part of their campaigns. Melat Kiros defeated incumbent Diana DeGette…On the campaign trail, Kiros regularly criticized Israel’s actions against Palestinians as well as US military support for the country. Her campaign website lists pledges to “end all wars” and “end all military aid to Israel” alongside domestic priorities, such as universal child care. Kiros has repeatedly said her opposition extends to defensive aid to Israel and has accused Israel of being an apartheid state and committing genocide in Gaza.” See also AIPAC, Big Tech Back Diana DeGette Over Melat Kiros With $2M Spending Flood (Drop Site 6/29/26);
Vance’s New Promised Land (Julia Ioffe//Puck 6/25/26)
“As the Republican base sours on the Iran war and Netanyahu’s adventurism in the Middle East, the vice president has changed his rhetoric on Israel—positioning himself as the voice of a new MAGA foreign policy. “He sees the writing on the wall,” said one Trump administration official. “He’s trying to save his political future.”’
PERSPECTIVES//LONG READS
Neither Victory nor Liberation: After Three Years of War, We Need a Palestinian State Side by Side With Israel (Ayman Odeh//Haaretz 6/28/26)
“Consequently, we need to strive for a diplomatic solution, put an end to the occupation and respect the national rights of both of the nations living here. And the only possible solution that can ensure justice and security for both peoples is the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside the state of Israel. Nothing less, and nothing more.”
Safety Is When There’s No One Dying (Mary Turfah//NYRB 6/24/26)
“Israel’s assault on Palestine and Lebanon has reconfigured how children understand the world…Israel has created something unprecedented: the largest population of traumatic pediatric amputees in modern history.”
The ICJ Opinions on Palestine: Possibilities and Limitations (Dana Farraj//Al Shabaka 7/1/26)
“This policy brief argues that the advisory opinions issued by the International Court of Justice on Palestine reveal both the possibilities and the limits of international law, and examines how they can be leveraged to advance legal and diplomatic accountability at the international and domestic levels. Affirming the Court’s view that responsibility for addressing the unlawful situation in Palestine extends beyond Palestinians to states and international organizations, the brief argues that the effectiveness of its advisory opinions depends on their deployment within a broader political and emancipatory strategy to advance Palestinian rights and self-determination.”
The only logical outcome of a completely irrational war (Lior Sternfeld//+972 Magazine 6/26/26)
“Israel and the U.S. vowed to crush the Islamic Republic and its proxies. Yet despite its losses, the regime is stronger and has more leverage than before.”
How the Lebanon framework agreement reshapes the US-Iran standoff (Mouin Rabbani//New Arab 7/1/26)
“Most commentary on the 26 June US-Israel-Lebanon Trilateral Framework agreement has focused on the text of the document, and specifically the extent to which Lebanon’s leadership, under the pretext of restoring sovereign hegemony to the Lebanese state, in practice forfeits it to Israel. Missing from much of this analysis is how this agreement fits into the larger regional picture and seeks to achieve objectives that are not primarily about Lebanon. As has been widely noted, the mid-June Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreed between the United States and Iran represented a significant strategic victory for Iran…The Trilateral Framework not only fully removes Iran from the Lebanese equation and replaces it with Israel, but also eliminates all the achievements of the MoU and legitimises Israel’s occupation of Lebanese territory and continued aggression against the country. The Trilateral Framework is not only inherently incompatible with the MoU but also designed for this purpose.”
Why the Giant of Africa Loves Israel (Kovie Biakolo//The Key 7/2/26)
“How did Nigeria – a country that’s half Muslim – become one of the most pro-Israel nations in the world? The answer lies in oil, the pulpit, a civil war, and a left that no longer exists.”