NEW FROM FMEP
The Escalating Drive Toward Greater Israel – a View from Ramallah (Occupied Thoughts podcast)
FMEP President Lara Friedman speaks with Ramallah-based Palestinian journalist/analyst/commentator Nour Odeh. They discuss the situation in the West Bank today; trends in West Bank settler and IDF terror and ethnic cleansing dating from before 10/7/23, escalating through 2.5 years of genocide, and now escalating again during the Israeli-U.S. war on Iran; the situation in Jerusalem and the Haram al-Sharif; the implementation of Israel’s Gaza playbook in Lebanon and Iran; the role of the international community; the state of Palestinian domestic politics and the national movement for Palestinian rights and self-determination; and how all of this is playing out with respect to grassroots attitudes and activism around the globe.
Iran, Gaza and accountability (Occupied Thoughts podcast)
FMEP Fellow Ahmed Moor speaks with Ben Rhodes, former Deputy National Security Advisor to President Obama, about the US & Israel’s attack on Iran and the subsequent war. They look at the role that Israel is playing in American decisions around this war as well as the relationship that Zionism and other ideologies and points of view play or can play in American foreign policy decision-making more broadly. They also address the idea of American exceptionalism, the need for and absence of accountability in American wars, and the ways that American coercive behavior overseas — including narratives, technology, tactics, and even equipment — is currently being deployed on the domestic population of the US.
FMEP Legislative Round-Up March 13, 2026 (Lara Friedman)
- Bills, Resolutions; 2. Letters; 3. Hearings & Markups; 4. Selected Members on the Record; 5. Selected Media & Press releases/Statements
Settlement & Annexation Report: March 13, 2026 (Kristin McCarthy)
WEST BANK: Mount Ebal, Sha’arei Tikva Expansion, Court Rejects One “Relocation” Plan; 2. SETTLER & STATE TERRORISM; 3. Further Reading
GLOBAL/REGION
War on Iran (Drop Site 3/13/26)
U.S. and Israeli airstrikes pound Iran for the fourteenth day: A series of heavy airstrikes hit areas in and around Tehran on Friday, and blasts were heard in several neighborhoods…One strike hit near a large rally in the capital where thousands gathered for the annual Quds Day (Jerusalem Day) demonstration, a state-organized rally in support of Palestinians. The rally took place despite the Israeli military issuing an earlier warning on its Farsi-language X account for people to evacuate the area…Casualty count: At least 1,444 people have been killed and 18,551 injured in US-Israeli attacks on Iran since the war began on February 28, according to Iran’s Health Ministry. Iranian Red Crescent says over 21,700 civilian sites hit during war: The head of the Iranian Red Crescent said more than 21,720 civilian sites have been targeted during attacks on the country by the U.S. and Israel, including 17,353 residential units, 4,122 commercial properties, and 160 medical centers. The organization also said 69 schools and 16 Red Crescent branches were struck, and that 21 rescue vehicles and 19 ambulances were targeted.” See also UN: 3.2 million displaced in Iran (DropSite 3/12/26); Rescue Efforts in Tehran After a Triple Strike Hit Apartment Buildings, Killing 40 (Drop Site 3/11/26); ‘Nothing Will Remain of Tehran,’ Iranians Say Amid Heavy Bombing (NYT 3/10/26); Iranian school was on U.S. target list, may have been mistaken as military site (WaPo 3/11/26);
Record pace of strikes in Iran bombing campaign: analysis (Airwars 3/6/26)
“The first days of bombing in Iran saw far more sites targeted than any recent U.S. or Israeli military campaign, an Airwars analysis has found. By comparing publicly released targeting figures from both the U.S. and Israeli militaries with historic data, the analysis found the initial days of the campaign hit significantly more targets per day than any campaign in recent decades. Even in the opening days of Israel’s unprecedented bombardment on Gaza after October 7th, it appears that around half the number of targets were hit compared to the first days in Iran.”
Netanyahu says he doesn’t know if Iranians will oust regime, threatens new supreme leader (TOI 3/13/26)
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted Thursday that he was not certain that the Iranian people would bring down the Islamic Republic once Israel and the US create the conditions for them to do so…Asked whether Israel would go after Khamenei’s son and successor, Mojtaba Khamenei, Netanyahu replied: “I wouldn’t take out a life insurance policy on any of the leaders of the terror organizations.” He dismissed the younger Khamenei as a “puppet” of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps who “cannot show his face in public.” The new supreme leader, who has not appeared in public since the start of the war, is thought to have been wounded in an airstrike. On Thursday, Iran’s state media read out a defiant statement attributed to Mojtaba Khamenei — purportedly his first statement since being named supreme leader on Sunday — but he has not been seen or heard since the war started.” See also After urging Iranians to rise up against regime, Trump admits overthrow a ‘very big hurdle’ (TOI 3/13/26); Trump calls Iran leaders ‘deranged scumbags’ as Middle East violence spirals (The Guardian 3/13/26); Trump says Iran war is ‘very complete, pretty much’ as economic toll rises (The Guardian 3/9/26); Vague and contradictory Trump says Iran war ‘won’, but not ‘won enough’ (The Guardian 3/9/26); We attacked Iran with no clear plan for regime change, Israeli security sources say (The Guardian 3/12/26); Top Iranian nuclear scientists killed, Israel says (The Guardian 3/12/26); Exclusive: US intelligence says Iran government is not at risk of collapse, say sources (Reuters 3/11/26); US responsible for deadly missile strike on Iran school, preliminary inquiry says (The Guardian 3/11/26); U.S. weighs sending special forces to seize Iran’s nuclear stockpile (Axios 3/7/26);
Middle East war creating ‘largest supply disruption in the history of oil markets’ (The Guardian 3/12/26)
“Oil markets are facing the “largest supply disruption in history” as the war in Iran continues to block tankers from shipping millions of barrels of crude each day, the world energy watchdog has warned. The International Energy Agency (IEA) said the supply shock ignited by Iran’s effective blockade of the strait of Hormuz meant the world faced a deeper crisis than after the Yom Kippur war of 1973 and the 2022 outbreak of war in Ukraine. In an attempt to calm concerns over oil supplies, the IEA ordered the largest release of government reserves in its history on Wednesday, when its 32 members unanimously agreed to release 400m barrels of emergency crude. In addition, the US agreed to release 172m barrels of crude oil from its strategic petroleum reserve, in the boldest attempt yet by the White House to bring down oil prices. Before this week, there have only been four other coordinated releases of strategic supplies since the IEA’s founding in 1974, underlining the seriousness of the current crisis.” See also Iran escalates attacks on infrastructure and transport networks across the Gulf (The Guardian 3/11/26); ‘Severe water stress’: why desalination plants are the Gulf’s greatest weakness (The Guardian 3/11/26); Turkey Says NATO Defenses Shot Down a Third Iranian Missile (NYT 3/13/26);
‘Dark, like our future’: Iranians describe scenes of catastrophe after Tehran’s oil depots bombed (The Guardian 3/8/26)
“Thick black smoke was still rising in the sky, soot covered the streets and cars, balconies filled with black gunk, and the toxic air had filled the lungs as Tehran woke up after a night of airstrikes on the city’s oil depots on Sunday. In messages and voice notes sent to the Guardian, people described the situation in their homes and on the streets, some calling it “apocalyptic”. With the sun blotted out, disoriented people in Iran’s capital had to turn on their lights to see through the gloom. Four oil depots and a petroleum logistics site in and around Tehran were hit. Local authorities said six people were killed and 20 wounded at one of the sites…As rain poured down on the city of 10 million people on Sunday morning, authorities warned of toxic acid rain and many residents woke up with pain in their throat and eyes burning.” See also Bombing of Iran’s oil infrastructure to have major environmental fallout, experts warn (The Guardian 3/10/26); In Tehran, Iranians Struggle to Breathe After Israeli Oil Facility Strikes (Drop Site 3/10/26);
Scoop: U.S. asks Israel to halt strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure (Axios 3/10/26)
“The Trump administration asked Israel on Monday not to carry out further strikes on energy facilities in Iran, particularly oil infrastructure, according to three sources familiar with the matter…The Israeli strikes blanketed Tehran — a city of 10 million — in toxic black smoke and acid rain, raising urgent health warnings for ordinary Iranians.” See also Scoop: U.S. dismayed by Israel’s Iran fuel strikes, sources say (Axios 3/8/26);
Why the Iran war has caught Gulf states in a bind (Hind Al-Ansari//+972 Magazine 3/12/26)
“Since the war’s outbreak, Iranian drones and missiles have killed at least 17 people in the Gulf and wounded dozens. Several oil and gas facilities have also been struck, including storage tanks in Oman’s Salalah Port — the country’s largest — where thick black smoke billowed into the sky on Tuesday afternoon…For GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] states, this war exposed a paradox they have long understood but dreaded confronting: Decades of dependence on the United States as their main security guarantor, at astronomical financial costs, does not insulate them from the consequences of American military decisions. On the contrary, it turns them into direct targets for U.S. adversaries, while Israeli strategic interests take precedence over their security concerns. At the same time, a verbal confrontation with U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration, especially given its unpredictability, could lead to significant political and domestic implications that may harm their national interests in the long run: compromising strategically established networks in Washington, and, without a clear post-war plan, inflaming domestic attitudes against the United States even further.” See also Civilians Killed by Strikes in Gulf States Are Almost All Migrant Workers (NYT 3/10/26);
Spain recalls Israel ambassador, calls Iran war ‘flagrant illegality’: What to know (Al Monitor 3/11/26)
“Spain has recalled its ambassador to Israel to Madrid, the official state gazette announced Wednesday — a move that effectively downgrades diplomatic relations between the two countries. The decision comes as Madrid has been forcefully pushing back against the US-Israeli attacks in Iran. “This war was not provoked by Spain. It was a war driven unilaterally by two nations,” Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told El Diario Wednesday. “We are not going to resolve the situation of instability in the Middle East with such a flagrant illegality.”…Over the past decade, Spain has emerged as one of Israel’s most vocal critics within the European Union, alongside Ireland. That stance has become more pronounced under Sanchez, who hails from the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party and has been in office since 2018.”
Israel’s renewed war on Lebanon is about more than just Hezbollah (Elia Ayoub//+972 Magazine 3/11/26)
“At the time of writing, Israel’s attacks in Lebanon have killed 570 people, wounded over 1,400, and displaced close to 800,000…Even before October 7, officials were openly threatening Lebanon…Such statements have been accompanied by increasingly bold moves by Israel’s settler movement. For Lebanese watching events across the border, the idea that parts of their country could one day be annexed or settled by Israel no longer sounds like fringe discourse. A few weeks before this escalation, Israeli settlers — including children — crossed into southern Lebanon under Israeli military protection, planted trees, and returned to Israel, repeating a feat they first attempted in December 2024. And earlier this year, Israeli aircraft sprayed glyphosate, a chemical used to destroy vegetation, over farmland in southern Lebanon. For many Lebanese familiar with footage of Israeli settlers in the West Bank destroying Palestinian olive trees and even killing farm animals, the parallels have been difficult to ignore. Practices long associated with the expansion of settlements into Palestinian territory appear to be edging northward…Hezbollah is currently facing criticism from much of the Lebanese public over its decision to join the war following the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Yet this backlash should not be mistaken for the beginning of the party’s disintegration. The underlying source of its support remains unchanged: Southern Lebanon has no conventional means of defending itself against Israel…Israel continues to strike Lebanon with near impunity while the Lebanese army remains unable to intervene decisively. The people of southern Lebanon are essentially being told by Israel and the United States to accept their fate.” See also Israeli Leaflets Over Beirut Invoke Gaza’s Destruction and Stoke Fear (NYT 3/13/26); Lebanon asks U.S. for direct peace talks with Israel to end fighting (Axios 3/9/26);
Israel strikes Beirut and orders south Lebanon evacuation as conflict mounts (The Guardian 3/12/26)
“Israel issued a sweeping new displacement order for southern Lebanon, instructing residents up to 25 miles away from their border to head north, and striking the centre of Beirut in a sharp escalation of its fight with Hezbollah.” See also IDF Fire Kills 773 in Lebanon Since War Began, Health Officials Say; Two Wounded in Northern Israel (Haaretz 3/13/26); Israel kills dozens in Lebanon after failed mission to find pilot’s remains (The Guardian 3/7/26); Middle East crisis live: More than 100 children killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon, health ministry says (The Guardian 3/13/26); Israel Strikes Central Beirut, Expanding Conflict Zone (NYT 3/12/26);
Iran Weighs Tactical Shift in Persian Gulf Strikes While Intensifying Attacks on Israel (Jeremy Scahill//Drop Site 3/9/26)
“Iran is considering reducing its strikes in most Arab nations that house U.S. military bases while expanding attacks against Israel, a senior Iranian official told Drop Site. Iran’s political and military leaders believe their ballistic missile and drone operations targeting U.S. bases and infrastructure have largely achieved their intended aim of degrading major radar systems and depleting stockpiles of interceptors, said the official, who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to discuss internal deliberations.” See also Iran’s new supreme leader vows revenge on U.S., Israel (Axios 3/12/26); Hackers join U.S. and Israel’s fight with Iran (Axios 3/11/26); Iran-linked group says it hacked US company in retaliation for Minab school bombing (The Guardian 3/12/26); Iran’s Mojtaba Khamenei Vows Strait of Hormuz Closure, Attacks on U.S. Mideast Bases (Haaretz 3/12/26); Iranian cluster bombs cause damage but no injuries at multiple sites in central Israel (TOI 3/13/26); Iran Has Fired Widely Banned Cluster Munitions at Israel (NYT 3/11/26)
GAZA
The war is between Israel and Iran. Why should people in Gaza pay the price?’ (Ahmed Dremly & Ibtisam Mahdi//+972 Magazine 3/10/26)
“News that Israel had closed Gaza’s border crossings for “security reasons” immediately after launching strikes on Iran spread rapidly across the Strip on social media. For many residents, the announcement triggered fears of an immediate spike in food prices, especially given the already limited quantities of aid and commercial goods entering Gaza since the ceasefire…The consequences of the border closures extend beyond rising food prices: for the more than 18,000 patients in Gaza awaiting medical evacuation, including around 4,000 children, each delay can mean a slow and painful deterioration, if not a death sentence…Since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, Israeli forces have killed 14 Palestinians in Gaza — bringing the total number of casualties since the October ceasefire to 648, according to Gaza’s health authorities…For many Gazans, these attacks have revived fears that Israel could renew a large-scale assault on the Strip, with U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan now reportedly stalled due to the outbreak of war.” See also Seven Palestinians Killed in Sunday IDF Strikes, Including Two Women and Two Girls, Health Ministry Says (Haaretz 3/9/26);
Israeli-backed Palestinian militias step up operations against Hamas in Gaza (The Guardian 3/13/26)
“Pro-Israel Palestinian militia have launched repeated raids, clandestine assassination and abduction operations deep inside parts of Gaza controlled by Hamas in recent months, with new operations launched recently despite the outbreak of conflict with Iran. The militia, which are all based in eastern parts of Gaza that are under Israeli control after a ceasefire came into effect in October, have received significant logistic support from Israel since last year but appear to have increased their firepower, allowing new and more aggressive attacks in recent weeks. Israeli strikes in Gaza, which had averaged around 10 a day across the devastated territory over the last five months, have continued even as Israeli jets carry out bombing campaigns in Iran and Lebanon.”
Israeli military drops charges against soldiers accused of Gaza detainee abuse (The Guardian 3/12/26)
Israel’s top military lawyer has dropped all charges against five soldiers accused of the violent abuse and rape of a Palestinian detainee from Gaza. The military advocate general, Itay Offir, said prosecutors lacked key evidence after the victim was sent back to Gaza, and that the conduct of senior officials had affected the chance of holding a fair trial. Medical records show the detainee was taken to hospital in the summer of 2024 with injuries including broken ribs, a punctured lung and rectal damage, according to Israeli media reports on the indictment. The detainee had been held at the Sde Teiman military detention centre, which has become notorious for torture. After the first arrests of Israeli soldiers in connection with the attack, a far-right mob including a minister and lawmakers broke into the base demanding the men’s release. Israeli media broadcast a video of the attack soon after. Offir’s predecessor has been arrested on suspicion of authorising the leak, in an apparent attempt to defuse anger about the arrests and refute claims the men had been unfairly charged…Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, welcomed the decision to drop charges, saying it was unacceptable it had taken so long and describing the men as “heroic warriors”. Rights groups said the decision raised serious questions about the rule of law in Israel and accountability for abuse and killing of Palestinians during what a UN commission has called a genocidal war. Sari Bashi, the executive director of the rights group Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, said: “Israel’s military attorney general just gave his soldiers licence to rape, so long as the victim is Palestinian. “[The decision] is the latest in a long line of actions that whitewash abuses against detainees whose frequency and severity have worsened since 7 October 2023.”’ See also A Message to All IDF Soldiers: You May Rampage, Assault and Abuse, and You Will Never Be Punished (Haaretz Editorial 3/12/26);
RIVER TO THE SEA
Four dead in 24 hours: Israeli settler terror intensifies amid Iran war (Oren Ziv & Basel Adra//+972 Magazine 3/9/26)
“Four Palestinians were killed in two separate villages in the occupied West Bank this weekend, as Israeli settlers continue to ramp up their attacks amid the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. Three of the victims were shot dead by settlers, while a fourth died of cardiac arrest after Israeli soldiers fired tear gas in the aftermath of one of the shootings. These two fatal attacks followed another last week, when settlers shot dead two residents of the village of Qaryut, near Nablus, on March 2. The Israeli army has imposed a total closure on the West Bank since the start of the Iran war, shutting checkpoints and gates across the territory and restricting Palestinian movement between different districts, as settlers roam freely.” See also Israelis kill three in West Bank village as violence surges across occupied Palestine (The Guardian 3/8/26); Israeli Settlers Raid West Bank Community, Attack Palestinians, Steal Sheep, Witnesses Say (Haaretz 3/13/26); WATCH: Israeli Settlers and ultra-Orthodox Reservists Force West Bank Shepherds to Flee (Haaretz 3/13/26); Centralized, Coordinated, Brazen: The Dangerous Transformation of the Hilltop Youth (Haaretz 3/5/26); Several Palestinians injured in apparent settler attacks on multiple West Bank villages (TOI 3/13/26); Settlers said to graffiti and try to torch West Bank mosque; entrance damaged (TOI 3/12/26);
Ben Gvir significantly widens gun license eligibility for Jewish Jerusalemites (TOI 3/9/26)
“National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir cleared an additional 41 Jerusalem neighborhoods for personal firearms licenses Monday, meaning more than 300,000 Jewish residents will be eligible to obtain a gun based solely on their place of residence. The move in practice extended blanket eligibility for a gun license to almost all Jewish residents of Jerusalem, regardless of whether they are, or have been, a member of Israel’s security forces. The far-right minister touted the move to expand civilian access to firearms in a charged statement, saying it carries significance not only amid ongoing war with Iran, but due to the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. “Precisely in the shadow of the war and during Ramadan, Jerusalem residents have a basic right to defend themselves and their families,” Ben Gvir said, calling on those living in the newly-approved neighborhoods to go and obtain a gun license.”
‘Our coverage is not truthful’: How Israel is censoring reporting on the war (Oren Ziv//+972 Magazine 3/13/26)
“Since the start of the war with Iran, the Israeli military has imposed strict censorship regulations on local and international media outlets operating inside the country, severely impeding journalists’ ability to cover the situation on the ground. Reporters and networks are prohibited from publishing the precise location of Iranian missile impacts, or even filming or photographing the extent of the damage in a way that could give away the location — restrictions designed, in the words of the army’s chief censor Col. Netanel Kula, “to prevent assistance to the enemy during wartime.”…The police have already detained several journalists it deemed to be violating these censorship regulations…Several senior staff members in international media organizations operating in Israel told +972 that the censor’s restrictions have made it difficult to maintain normal reporting routines.” See also I Protested the Iran War – Israeli Police Beat, Arrested and Strip-searched Me (Haaretz 3/7/26); Drawn Weapons, Attack Dogs: Ben-Gvir Joins Televised Police Raid on Suspect Who Graffitied a Palestinian Flag (Haaretz 3/12/26);
The Danger of Being a Palestinian Citizen of Israel (Mairav Zonszein//NYT 3/8/26)
“A Palestinian citizen of Israel has been killed at least once every day on average since the year began…Palestinian citizens account for about 80 percent of documented murders in the country although they make up only about 20 percent of the population…Palestinian citizens of Israel are everywhere and yet nowhere. They account for at least 25 percent of the country’s physicians, 49 percent of its pharmacists and 27 percent of its hospital nurses. They are bus drivers, waiters, teachers and professors. Jewish Israelis come into contact with them all the time. Yet Palestinian Israelis live with deep-seated segregation and institutional inequalities when it comes to basic rights, services, housing, security and the economy. That has enabled organized crime groups to step into the vacuum, taking advantage of Palestinian communities…The crime epidemic is believed to be largely driven by a network of Palestinian Israeli crime families that the state has long failed to rein in. These families engage in protection rackets, loan sharking and arms and drug trafficking across Palestinian cities and towns in Israel…“There is an understanding that they are trying to push us to leave the country,” Aida Touma-Suleiman, a Palestinian Israeli member of the Knesset, told me. “If in the West Bank the state uses settlers to ethnically cleanse Palestinians, inside Israel they are using organized crime groups.”’
Israelis and Americans Have Wildly Different Opinions on the Iran War. Does It Matter? (Dahlia Scheindlin//Haaretz 3/10/26)
“The U.S.-Israeli war effort against Iran appears to have tightened the world’s tightest international partnership among its political and military elites. But public opinion surveys show the two societies view this war very differently. During the first week of the war, polls from the Israel Democracy Institute and the Institute for National Security Studies have found that over 90 percent of Jewish Israelis support it. The very low level of support among Arab Palestinian citizens brings the national average of support down to just over 80 percent…Americans, by contrast, have been asking themselves just why America is going to war, and the lack of clear answers has left the majority skeptical. A poll by NPR, PBS news and Marist last week (March 2-4) found that 56 percent of Americans were against the U.S. military action in Iran (as per the question wording), with just 44 percent for it…The basic contrast – near-consensus support among the Jewish population in Israel versus majority American opposition – isn’t entirely mysterious. For Americans…Iran was just one more foreign policy issue they could choose to think about or not. By contrast, Israelis live with Iran, which arms and funds violent actors attacking Israel from its perimeters. Iran looms larger than almost anything in Netanyahu’s rhetoric and his leadership. After the Hamas attack of October 7, Israeli Jews became more convinced than ever that Iran is the biggest and perhaps exclusive threat facing them (and the world). In the Israeli view, diplomacy is for amateurs and bleeding hearts – the only solution is war.”
U.S. SCENE
Trump gives longest interview since war began, says ‘we have to wipe out the evil’ (Haaretz 3/13/26)
“President Donald Trump gave his longest interview since the start of the war in a conversation with social media influencer Jake Paul, discussing military actions, negotiations, and Israel’s security…Trump said, “I think I have tremendous support on this. I have the best poll numbers I’ve ever had now.”’ See also Unlike Past U.S. Conflicts, Iran Attack Is Opposed by Most Americans (NYT 3/10/26); NEW POLL: Majority of Americans Believe Trump Launched Iran War to Cover Up Epstein Scandal (Ryan Grim//Drop Site 3/11/26)
Michigan synagogue attacker’s relatives killed in Israeli airstrike in Lebanon, officials say (CNN 3/13/26)
“A week before Thursday’s attack on a Michigan synagogue, the suspect’s two brothers and two of their children were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon, the mayor of the Lebanese village where they lived told CNN. The Department of Homeland Security said that Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, 41, drove a vehicle laden with explosives into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township near Detroit. It then caught fire, in what the FBI called a “targeted act of violence against the Jewish community.” The FBI said the agency is continuing to investigate the attack. Ghazali was killed after security officers for the synagogue engaged him and “neutralized the threat,” West Bloomfield Police Chief Dale Young said Thursday. One security officer was hurt in the attack, and at least 30 law enforcement officers were treated for smoke inhalation, authorities said.”
Israel and the US are fighting Iran together. Are they on the same page though? (Yousef Munayyer//The Guardian 3/12/26)
“When the US and Israel launched an attack on Iran to start a war that is now entering its third week, it was the start of something unprecedented; the first joint Israeli-American war…his Israeli-American war on Iran is deeply coordinated at the operational level between both belligerents day in and day out. That is precisely why clear, shared objectives between Washington and Tel Aviv will be crucial for the US to exit this war with a political victory and not just the tab for tons of destruction across the region with little significant change. Much of what we have seen so far suggests strongly that that is not the case; Israel and the US have different goals here, if they even really know what their goals are, and because of this no clear endgame can be envisioned even as the costs of the war mount…The differences between what Trump and Netanyahu want out of this war are increasingly starting to show and complicating how, when and on what terms it will end…Trump was hoping for a quick, low-cost “victory”. Netanyahu needs something different. This was Netanyahu’s decades-long dream: to get into war with Iran, and, now with US support, he hopes to topple the regime and install an Israeli-American client dictator.” See also Trump to Times of Israel: It’ll be a ‘mutual’ decision with Netanyahu regarding when Iran war ends (TOI 3/9/26);
Renowned Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi dies aged 100 (Middle East Eye 3/9/26)
“Renowned Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi has died aged 100 after a decades-long scholarship focused on the history and displacement of the Palestinian people. The Institute for Palestine Studies (IPS) – a research and publication centre focused on the Palestinian plight that Khalidi co-founded in Beirut in 1963 – said he died in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the US on Sunday. Khalidi was a leading figure in documenting Palestinian society before the Nakba – the “catastrophe” of 1948, when Zionist militias ethnically cleansed Palestinians from their homeland to pave the way for the creation of Israel. Under his guidance, the institute produced significant studies, including translations between Hebrew, Arabic and English, and it remains a major resource on Palestinian history…Khalidi’s work revealed much previously hidden about the takeover and expulsion of Palestinians, including Plan Dalet, the 1948 master plan that guided the occupation of Palestinian land. His encyclopedic collections, including photographs and village records, provide rare insights into pre-1948 Palestine. Notable works include Before Their Diaspora: A Photographic History of the Palestinians and All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948.” See also In Memoriam: Walid Khalidi (Mouin Rabbani//Jadaliyya 3/9/26); The Passing of Walid Khalidi, Co-Founder and Honorary President of the Institute for Palestine Studies (1925–2026) (IPS 3/8/26); Walid Khalidi, Scholar Called Father of Palestinian Studies, Dies at 100 (NYT 3/12/26)
AIPAC’s Attack on the Liberal Zionists (Alex Kane//Jewish Currents 3/11/26)
“Why is AIPAC using its resources to attack liberal Zionists, particularly in races where they face opponents farther to their left?…Political observers say AIPAC is focusing their money on liberal Democrats because they are going after the candidates thought to be the front-runners in their districts, and because the liberals increasingly support conditions on aid to Israel, a position that AIPAC sees as anathema.”
PERSPECTIVES//LONG READS
The Iran War Is a Disaster for Gaza (Mohamed Mhawish//The Nation 3/9/26)
“As Gulf states deepen their security dependence on Washington and expand economic and technological ties with Israel under the normalization frameworks that emerged over the past decade, their strategic incentives increasingly lie in maintaining those arrangements rather than disrupting them over Gaza. In that configuration, the Palestinian question becomes something to defer rather than confront. The political pressure that Arab governments once applied on Gaza, however inconsistently, was always contingent on their own strategic autonomy and their ability to balance relations with multiple regional actors. That autonomy is now being traded—voluntarily and with urgency—for security guarantees in the face of Iran’s retaliation. Gaza is what gets left off the table when that trade is made. Equally important is who and what fills that vacuum. The Trump administration’s peace plan for Gaza—which conditions any political process on Hamas’s disarmament, contains no defined sovereignty path, and was designed as a set of preconditions rather than a framework open to negotiation—is now the only framework on the future of the Strip with active US support. The international actors who might have pushed back—European governments, UN agencies, Arab states—are either impacted by the regional crisis, institutionally sidelined, complicit in Gaza’s destruction, or all of the above. One of the most consequential political effects of the Iran War is the closure of the diplomatic space around Gaza at exactly the moment when Gaza’s physical situation is deteriorating fastest.”
Insulation Not Isolation: Israel’s Super-Sparta War Economy (Ahmed Alqarout//Al Shabaka 3/11/26)
“In September 2025, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Israelis to transform the country into a “Super Sparta” of the Middle East—more militarized, economically self-reliant, and capable of sustaining protracted conflict despite mounting external pressure. This policy brief argues that this rhetoric reflects an emerging doctrine: a political-economic project structured around permanent national mobilization, preventative warfare, and accelerated defense-industrial expansion. Yet the Israeli regime’s shift toward self-reliance is not producing full autarky. Instead, the war economy is consolidating into a hybrid model that combines domestic substitution in critical defense sectors with deeper integration into transnational supply networks, thereby dispersing sanctions risk. This configuration blunts the impact of conventional accountability tools, such as fragmented or weakly enforced arms embargoes. As a result, effective international responses must move beyond traditional sanctions frameworks and instead target the material infrastructure and dependency nodes that sustain Israel’s war economy.”
The Path to the Trump Doctrine: From Syria to Lebanon to Gaza, the coercion central to the new regime has been incubated in the Middle East. (Aslı Ü. Bâli, Aziz Rana//Boston Review Winter 2026)
“Unlike earlier American framings, Trump’s embrace of conditional sovereignty suggests an approach where the United States stands first in a multipolar world of authoritarian hegemons and operates independent of longstanding American self-understanding with respect to democracy or the rule of law. This approach sees the globe as divided among “civilizationally” distinct ethno-national communities. And the explicitness of its embrace of quid pro quo arrangements and hard power alone renders quaint the long-familiar talk of international law. U.S. action now depends on raw threat rather than the classic combination of hard and soft power, where force proceeded alongside legitimating narratives and consensus-building. Under the Trump doctrine, “America First” suggests two claims: a domestic ethno-racial identity that asserts a fortress wall against immigrants, and continued global dominance where the strongest stick presides over a lawless order.”
The Theocracy Lives On (Trita Parsi//NYT 3/8/26)
“The central assumption underpinning President Trump’s diplomacy with Iran and his subsequent warmaking was that Tehran was on the verge of collapse. Believing the theocratic government was brittle, he demanded that its leaders surrender at the negotiating table — or face war. The United States and Israel brought that war. One week in, it seems clear that that assumption was wrong…Perhaps it isn’t surprising that the regime has proved resilient. Though polling shows it is deeply unpopular among most Iranians, the theocracy retains the support of millions of people. And the revolutionary state itself was built to last…Take what’s happened since the attacks in June. Ayatollah Khamenei removed himself from involvement in military operations, and replacements for key military and political positions were reportedly identified several layers deep — in some cases, five levels down the chain of command. Provincial governors have been granted authorities comparable with those of the president in order to keep the government running if the central command structure was disrupted. Local military commanders have similarly been empowered to make decisions without waiting for instructions from Tehran.”
I Went to Florida to See the 31-Year-Old Candidate Thrilling Gen Z. We’re in Trouble. (Michelle Goldberg//NYT 3/12/26)
“Most of all, Fishback has made contempt for Israel and its American lobby a centerpiece of his campaign, constantly reminding audiences how much America spends on Israel while its own needs are ignored. He often calls Byron Donalds, a Black Republican congressman who is the front-runner in the governor’s race, “AIPAC Shakur,” a play on Tupac Shakur. Appearing on Tucker Carlson’s show in January, Fishback described the “sexual, sadistic” pleasure that pro-Israel donors get in forcing America to “bend over” for a foreign country. Carlson endorsed him and wrote, “Pretty soon, all winning Republican politicians will talk like this…At Fishback events, it was easy to see how laws meant to quash anti-Israel activism have backfired, particularly among young men who’ve come of age in a conservative movement that treats demands for greater linguistic sensitivity as woke tyranny. When they’re ordered to watch what they say about Israel, it only imbues attacks on Zionism with subversive excitement. “Just like whenever you’re being raised up and your parents say, ‘Hey, don’t do that,’ it makes the kid want to do it even more,” said Metcalf. Given everything Israel has done to earn the world’s opprobrium, it isn’t always easy to determine the line between legitimate criticism and antisemitic demonization. Wherever that line is, though, Fishback seems to delight in crossing it.”
No Catholic Brand of Christian Zionism, or Tolerance for Antisemitism (Jordan Denari Duffner & Julie Schumacher Cohen//Contending Modernities 3/12/26)
“As the genocide in Gaza unfolded for two years, partly under the second Catholic president, Joe Biden, we witnessed silence on the part of too many American Catholics, many of whom were “progressive except on Palestine.” Now, things are beginning to shift, with both the political right and left coming to recognize failings in Zionism, Christian or otherwise. In this moment—as the U.S.-Israel war on Iran drags the region into conflict, and as Palestinians are still facing a catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the deepening of Israel’s military occupation and annexationist policies in the West Bank—it is important that we not repeat past mistakes and failures. There is no Catholic brand of Christian Zionism. Rather, Catholic Social Teaching provides a blueprint for promoting Palestinian freedom while eschewing anti-Judaism and broader antisemitic views that have no place in the movement for peace, justice, and equality in Israel-Palestine.”
To my Palestinian sister in ICE detention – I will carry you until you are free (Mahmoud Khalil//The Guardian 3/9/26)
“Sunday marked one year since Mahmoud Khalil, the Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate, was arrested last year for his political advocacy. Below, he writes to Leqaa Kordia, a fellow Palestinian currently in ICE detention in Texas. Khalil was released after more than three months but the Trump administration continues to seek his deportation; Kordia has been detained for nearly a year.”
Any Way You Look at It, Netanyahu Wins (Mairav Zonszein//NYT 3/13/26)
“Benjamin Netanyahu has spent much of his political life trying to make war with Iran seem not only inevitable but overdue. Thus, for the Israeli prime minister, the latest conflict was a victory the moment it began. Not because every consequence is good for Israel, but because he can sell almost every conceivable result as proof that he was right all along: that Iran had to be confronted, that force was unavoidable and that delay would only have made the threat more treacherous. Mr. Netanyahu does not need a clean victory — he just needs a durable narrative.”