NEW FROM FMEP
How Gaza Broke the Art World (New Occupied Thoughts episode)
Fellow Ahmed Moor speaks with David Velasco, the former editor-in-chief of the art magazine Artforum. Ahmed and David discuss David’s decision in October 2023 to publish a letter from cultural workers in support of Palestinian liberation and an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and in opposition to violence against all civilians, regardless of identity. David was fired following the publication of that letter. Ahmed and David discuss the concept of solidarity in the art world, the role of money in culture, and how they understand voluntary complicity and capitulation in the early stages of genocide.
FMEP Legislative Round-Up March 27, 2026 (Lara Friedman)
- Bills, Resolutions; 2. Letters; 3. Hearings & Markups; 4. Selected Members on the Record; 5. Selected Media & Press releases/Statements
GLOBAL/REGION
Trump extends deadline for Iran to open strait of Hormuz by 10 days (Guardian 3/26/26)
“Donald Trump has extended his deadline for Iran to open the strait of Hormuz by 10 days to 6 April after saying talks are “going very well”. The president made the statement on Thursday in a social media post, saying: “As per Iranian Government request, please let this statement serve to represent that I am pausing the period of Energy Plant destruction by 10 Days to Monday, April 6, 2026, at 8 P.M., Eastern Time,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform. “Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well.” Later Trump told Fox News: “I gave them a 10-day period, they asked for seven.” He also continued to declare victory in the war, adding: “In a certain sense, we have already won.”’ See also Iran vows to destroy Middle East water and energy facilities if US attacks power plants (Guardian 3/22/26); Trump tells Iran it has 48 hours to open Hormuz or US will ‘obliterate’ its power plants (Guardian 3/22/26); Israel and U.S. Running Low on Interceptors as Iran War Drains Stocks, U.K. Think Tank Says (Haaretz 3/26/26); U.S. Can Only Confirm About Third of Iran’s Missile Arsenal Destroyed, Sources Say (Haaretz 3/27/26);
U.S. Circulates Iran Peace Plan While Sending Troops to the Middle East (NYT 3/25/26)
“The United States circulated a 15-point peace plan, diplomats said, demanding what would amount to a complete termination of Iran’s nuclear program and sharp limits on the reach and size of their missile arsenal. It bore strong resemblance to the U.S. demands in February, during negotiations that collapsed when the United States and Israel struck Iran on Feb. 28. But the Iranian government, in a statement issued through state television, declared it would not end the conflict unless the United States paid war reparations and recognized “Iran’s exercise of sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz,” suggesting it would continue to decide which ships pass through the narrow strait and which remained bottled up, unable to deliver oil or fertilizer. The messages between the two countries were being passed by Pakistan, which was trying to assemble peace talks in the capital of Islamabad, proposing dates as soon as this weekend. But neither Iran nor the United States would confirm such discussions, each wanting to avoid seeming the overeager party in a conflict where each wants to demonstrate it holds the upper hand.” See also Pentagon weighs sending 10,000 more combat troops to the Middle East (Axios 3/26/26); US to deploy at least 1,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East (AP 3/24/26); Gulf states’ scepticism over alleged US-Iran talks signals a distrust of Trump (Guardian 3/26/26);
Israel Races to Hit Iran Hard While It Still Can, Officials Say (NYT 3/25/26)
“With the growing potential for talks between the United States and Iran, the Israeli military is striking as many key targets as it can, concerned the war could soon be brought to a halt, two senior Israeli officials and two people briefed on the matter said. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered that every effort be made over the next 48 hours to destroy as much of the Iranian arms industry as possible, according to the two officials…The haste reflected a concern in the Israeli government that President Trump could announce peace talks at any moment, the officials and the two people briefed on the matter said.” See also Israel hedges, intensifies Iran and Lebanon strikes ahead of Trump talks (Al Monitor 3/24/26); Israel Races to Cripple Iran’s Arms Production Before War Ends (WSJ 3/26/26); Israel suspects Trump betting on 3 Iran officials, including Ghalibaf, to end war (Al Monitor 3/27/26); Israel Launches Wave of Strikes on Beirut, Attacks Steel Plants in Iran (Haaretz 3/27/26); [Israel Defense Minister] Katz warns strikes on Iran to intensify as regime keeps up missile fire at Israeli civilian areas (TOI 3/27/26)
Iran rejects US ceasefire plan and submits its own amid push for talks (Guardian 3/25/26)
“Iran dismissed a US ceasefire proposal on Wednesday and countered with a negotiation plan of its own as intermediaries sought to keep diplomatic channels between the warring countries open. Iranian state TV quoted an anonymous official as saying Tehran had rejected the plan it had received via Pakistan, saying it would “end the war when it decides to do so and when its own conditions are met”, and until then would continue fighting across the region.” See also Iran Blasts Trump’s Claims of Direct Talks as “Fake News” Aimed at Manipulating Markets (Jeremy Scahill//Drop Site 3/23/26); White House downplays reports Iran rejected Trump peace proposal (Axios 3/25/26);
Saudi Arabia urging US to ramp up Iran attacks, intelligence source confirms (The Guardian 3/27/26)
“Saudi Arabia has urged the US to ramp up attacks on Iran, a Saudi intelligence source has confirmed, while it is weighing a decision on whether to join the fight directly. The Saudi source confirmed reporting in the New York Times that said the kingdom’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has urged Donald Trump not to cut short his war against Iran, and that the US-Israeli campaign represented a “historic opportunity” to remake the Middle East. The intelligence source said Riyadh was not just calling for the military campaign to be continued, but to be intensified. Trump appeared to confirm the report about the crown prince’s role, telling journalists on Tuesday: “Yeah, he’s a warrior. He’s fighting with us.”’ See also No disagreement with United States on Iran, German minister says (Haaretz 3/27/26);
War on Iran (Drop Site 3/26/26)
“U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran continue: Heavy U.S.-Israeli airstrikes continued in Iran on Thursday with strikes on Tehran, Isfahan, and Mashad, according to the AP. At least 1,937 people have been killed in Iran during the U.S.-Israeli war, Iran’s Deputy Health Minister Ali Jafarian told Al Jazeera. He said 240 of the dead were women and 212 were children. At least 24,800 people have been injured. Israel says Iranian naval commander killed in strike: Israeli defense minister Israel Katz said the Iranian naval commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Alireza Tangsiri, was killed along with other “senior officers of the naval command” in a strike overnight. Iran has not yet confirmed Tangsiri’s killing.” See also “They’ll get mowed down”: Trump rebuffed Netanyahu idea to call for Iran uprising (Axios 3/25/26);
5m tonnes of CO2 emitted in just 14 days of US war on Iran, analysis finds (Guardian 3/21/26)
“The US-Israel war on Iran is a disaster for the climate, according to an analysis that finds it is draining the global carbon budget faster than 84 countries combined. As warplanes, drones and missiles kill thousands of people, level infrastructure and turn the Middle East into a gigantic environmental sacrifice zone, the first analysis of the climate cost has found the conflict led to 5m tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in its first 14 days…The US-Israeli axis claims to have bombed thousands of targets inside Iran, and Israel has hit hundreds more targets in Lebanon. Reports from inside both countries show extensive destruction of infrastructure. Destroyed buildings constitute the largest element of the estimated carbon cost…Fuel is the second biggest element, with US heavy bombers flying from as far away as the west of England to carry out raids over Iran…One of the most shocking images of the war has been the dark clouds and black rain that fell over Tehran after Israel bombed four major fuel storage depots surrounding the city, setting millions of litres of fuel ablaze…There are also the bombs, missiles and drones themselves, the use of which has been extensive on all sides.” See also Tehran’s toxic cloud: satellite images show oily fires burned for days (Guardian 3/23/26);
More Than 1 Million People in Lebanon Have Been Displaced. These Are Their Stories. (The Intercept 3/22/26)
“Israel’s wave of attacks on Lebanon are the deadliest conflict in the country since the 1975–1990 civil war. According to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health, Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 1,000 people, 118 of them children, and displaced 1 million others. Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah but has consistently struck residential buildings in the south and east of the country, the southern suburbs of Beirut, and, recently, parts of central Beirut as well. Nowhere seems safe, especially for those whose apartments are in evacuation zones that encompass nearly 600 square miles, according to the United Nations. As of mid-March, as many as 1 in 5 people in Lebanon have been displaced by Israeli military operations.” See also Israel deliberately targeting medical facilities in south Lebanon, say health workers (Guardian 3/21/26); Displaced by War, Many Seek Shelter in Beirut (NYT 3/26/26); Why Israel Is Attacking Lebanon (Isaac Chotiner interviews Maha Yahya//New Yorker 3/20/26)
Israel says it will seize parts of southern Lebanon as ‘defensive buffer’ (Guardian 3/24/26)
“Israel said on Tuesday it would seize parts of southern Lebanon to create what it called a “defensive buffer”, while Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue striking Iran, dimming hopes of de-escalation even as Donald Trump talked up the prospects of a deal to end the conflict. During a meeting with the military chief of staff, Israel defence minister Israel Katz said Israeli forces would “control the remaining bridges and the security zone up to the Litani”, a river in Lebanon that meets the Mediterranean about 30km (20 miles) north of Israel’s border. Katz’s remarks appeared to suggest the presence of Israeli troops could become prolonged, with Hezbollah, the powerful Iran-backed armed group, calling the move an “existential threat” to the Lebanese state.” See also Israel used white phosphorus to scorch earth in south Lebanon, researcher says (Guardian 3/25/26); Israel Orders Military to Intensify Demolitions in Southern Lebanon (NYT 3/22/26); Israel Strikes Across Lebanon Amid Fierce Ground Fighting in the South (NYT 3/21/26); Lebanon Expels Iranian Envoy as Rift With Tehran Deepens (NYT 3/24/26);
About 200 injured in Iranian missile strikes near nuclear facility in Israel (Guardian 3/21/26)
“Iranian missile strikes have wounded about 200 people in southern Israel, after air defence systems failed to intercept projectiles that hit two cities close to a nuclear facility…In Tel Aviv, 15 more people were injured on Sunday in a separate attack involving a cluster bomb. The attacks are adding to mounting pressure on Israel’s air defence systems, with Iranian strikes increasingly testing their limits.”
GAZA
‘There’s no ceasefire’: Gaza paramedic and father of two killed as civilian death toll since October passes 650 (Guardian 3/23/26)
“Since the ceasefire was announced on 10 October last year, Israel has killed 677 and injured a further 1,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Israeli strikes in Gaza have averaged about 10 a day across the territory over the past five months.” See also Sidelined by War With Iran, Gaza Residents Remain in Limbo (NYT 3/23/26); Palestinians struggle as Gaza endures severe fuel and gas shortages (Al Jazeera 3/24/26); State Department sends $1.25B from other programs to Board of Peace (Semafor 3/26/26); Plan to Disarm Hamas in Gaza Is Detailed at U.N. (NYT 3/24/26);
What Happens When You Can’t Get a Death Certificate in Gaza (Mahmoud Mushtaha//Wired 3/23/26)
“For families of the missing, systemic obstacles to identifying remains and locating people in Israeli detention has created a kind of social and legal purgatory.”
Hassan Took a Bike Ride. Now He’s One of the Thousands Missing in Gaza (Mahmoud Mushtaha//Wired 3/23/26)
“In a place denied access to basic forensic technology—and where people disappear into Israeli detention—the fate of thousands remains unknown. One of them is an autistic teenager.”
Israeli soldiers torture one-year-old Gaza child to force confessions from his father (Anadolu Agency 3/23/26)
“Israeli soldiers subjected a one-year-old child in central Gaza to torture to pressure his father into making confessions during an interrogation, Palestine TV reported Sunday, citing Palestinian journalist Osama Al-Kahlout. It aired footage showing injuries to the child, identified as Karim, after he was detained by Israeli forces near the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. Witnesses said the child’s father, Osama Abu Nassar, was traumatized after the death of a horse he used for income. While taking his child to buy supplies, he was caught up in gunfire near his home and was forced by Israeli soldiers to leave his 18-month-old son on the ground and approach a nearby military checkpoint, where he was stripped and interrogated. The forces tortured the child in front of his father, including burning one of his legs with cigarettes, pricking him and inserting a nail into his leg, as confirmed by a medical report. The report said the child suffered burn marks from cigarettes and puncture wounds in his leg caused by the nail. The child was released about 10 hours later and handed over to his family through the International Committee of the Red Cross in Al-Maghazi, while the father remains in Israeli detention.”
RIVER TO THE SEA
Israeli settlers carry out series of West Bank attacks as security forces stand by (Guardian 3/22/26)
“Israeli settlers have carried out a series of attacks across the occupied West Bank, setting homes and vehicles on fire and wounding several Palestinians in what witnesses described as coordinated raids on communities. The violence, reported across at least half a dozen locations overnight from Saturday into Sunday, comes amid a wider surge in tensions in the territory…Human rights organisations say such attacks often occur with little accountability. The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has accused the government of enabling settler violence “as part of a strategy to cement the takeover of Palestinian land”. The UN has said Israeli policies in the West Bank risk forcibly displacing Palestinian communities.” See also The Military Arm of the Campaign to Judaize the West Bank Has Been Given a Free Hand (Haaretz 3/27/26); Palestinians in the West Bank Are Now Experiencing Multiple Settler Attacks Per Day (Drop Site 3/27/27);
‘Erasing the lines’: How settler outposts are seizing new regions of the West Bank (Oren Ziv and Ariel Caine//+972 Magazine 3/24/26)
“Since October 7, settlers have worked in tandem with the Israeli army to expel at least 76 entire Palestinian communities, while settlers have simultaneously established 152 new outposts. Among these outposts, at least 22 have been established in Area B, including 12 in the “Agreed-Upon Reserve” (a plot of 167,000 dunams in the southern West Bank that is designated as Area B). One outpost has also appeared inside Area A. According to mapping by +972 Magazine, Local Call, and The Nation, based on data collected by the Israeli organizations Kerem Navot and Peace Now, the settlers living in these outposts have taken control of around 98,000 dunams (almost 25,000 acres) in Area B and Area A. In total, settlers living in outposts now wield effective control over roughly 1 million dunams (250,000 acres) across the West Bank. This dynamic has been building for a long time. For decades, settlers expanded herding outposts across Area C — which constitutes 60 percent of the West Bank — using grazing to take over vast tracts of Palestinian agricultural land…Now, the settlers have shifted their focus toward Area B and the peripheries of larger Palestinian towns. The objective is to encircle them, restrict Palestinians’ access to surrounding farm land and open space, and consolidate territorial contiguity between settlement blocs while pushing Palestinians into fragmented cantons within the major cities.” See also 257 incidents of settler violence carried out against Palestinians in 25 days, says watchdog (TOI 3/26/26); Palestinian Man Shot Dead, 14 Wounded in West Bank Settler Raids as Five New Outposts Established (Haaretz 3/27/26);
15 Palestinian Families Evicted From East Jerusalem Homes After Legal Battle, Properties Handed to Settler Group (Haaretz 3/26/26)
“Fifteen Palestinian families were evicted from their homes in Silwan in East Jerusalem on Tuesday and Wednesday after a long legal struggle. Their apartments were transferred to a right-wing organization dedicated to establishing a Jewish presence in East Jerusalem’s Palestinian neighborhoods…Most of the neighborhood’s Palestinian residents, who have lived there since the 1960s, claim they purchased the land without knowing it was Jewish-owned…The law allows Jews to claim property belonging to them in East Jerusalem, but does not allow Palestinians who left extensive property in West Jerusalem to do so.”
Israel’s death penalty bill for Palestinian prisoners moves to final vote (Guardian 3/25/26)
“Israel’s parliament has advanced a contentious bill to impose the death penalty on Palestinians convicted of terrorism to its final vote, after the Knesset’s national security committee approved the measure on Tuesday…Under the proposals, those sentenced to death would be held in a separate facility with no visits except from authorised personnel, with legal consultations conducted only by video link. Executions would be carried out within 90 days of sentencing. The measure allows courts to impose the death penalty without a request from prosecutors, and without requiring unanimity, instead permitting a simple majority decision. Military courts in the occupied West Bank would also be empowered to hand down death sentences, with the defence minister able to submit an opinion. For Palestinians under occupation, the bill would close off avenues for appeal or clemency, while prisoners tried inside Israel could see their sentences commuted to life imprisonment.” See also Judge: Palestinian Minor Who Died in Israeli Prison Was ‘Likely Starved,’ but Case Closed (Haaretz 3/24/26)
I represent a Palestinian woman in Israeli prison. Now I can’t reach her (Janan Abdu//+972 Magazine 3/23/26)
“Israel locked down its prisons at the start of the Iran war, barring almost all lawyer visits and leaving my client without a voice beyond her cell.”
From Sde Teiman, the truth about Israel’s military justice system has been set free (Michael Sfard//+972 Magazine 3/21/26)
“Last week, Israel’s top military lawyer dropped all charges against five soldiers from Force 100 who were accused of beating a Palestinian detainee and tearing his rectum by stabbing it with a sharp object — an act that was partially caught on CCTV camera in footage that was later leaked. In doing so, he exposed once and for all the great Israeli lie about the existence of a professional, independent investigative and prosecutorial system seeking substantively to hold rogue soldiers to account…The truth is that a law enforcement system that genuinely strives to hold soldiers accountable when they kill, humiliate, or abuse Palestinians has never existed in Israel, or at least not for several decades. The truth is that what exists is a system that effectively provides immunity for soldiers when their victims are Palestinians, and even strives for that outcome. And the truth is that the rare instances of accountability that the system does produce are intended to conceal this reality and fend off the claim that there is no punishment in Israel for harming Palestinians. In other words, the military enforcement systems have long wanted to proceed without enforcement, while still appearing as though they were fulfilling their purpose, by sacrificing a few cases, usually minor ones, in which indictments were filed. These indictments were never meant to enforce the law but rather to serve as a symbolic performance of enforcement — an exception designed to obscure the rule.”
The Battle to End Palestinian Self-Determination (George Zeidan//FP 3/25/26)
“As the war between Israel, the United States, and Iran escalates, Palestinians are facing immediate and visible consequences on the ground. For Palestinians, the danger is not only that they become a secondary issue in a rapidly evolving regional order. It is that policies once considered “red lines,” including displacing populations from Gaza or annexing the West Bank, could quietly advance. Without international accountability, the possibility of Palestinian self-determination will continue to erode—and along with it the potential for improved human rights and regional stability…Taken together, these actions fragment Palestinian geography, confine communities to isolated enclaves, and consolidate Israeli control over land. By arming settlers, expanding their operational reach, and subjecting civilians to escalating coercion, Israel is accelerating a process of de facto annexation without the need for formal declaration. The war with Iran will eventually end, but the political consequences it sets in motion may last much longer. Ultimately, what is at stake is the broader question of Palestinians’ right to self-determination. Without sustained international pressure on Israel, the window is closing for a just and durable political future for Palestine, and for the broader regional stability that would come along with it.”
[IDF Chief of Staff] Zamir said to warn cabinet that IDF will ‘collapse in on itself’ amid manpower shortage (TOI 3/26/26)
“Military Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir reportedly warned the “IDF is going to collapse in on itself” during a security cabinet meeting this week, as the army deals with mounting operational demands and a growing manpower shortage. “I am raising 10 red flags in front of you,” Zamir told ministers, according a Channel 13 news report on Thursday.”
The Iron Dome is intercepting our chances of a normal future (Guevara Bader//+972 Magazine 3/25/26)
“Over the past few decades, Israeli engineering has produced something close to the ultimate technological marvel: a multi-layered missile defense system that can turn incoming projectiles into a fireworks display in the night sky. But beneath this protective canopy, an inconspicuous yet consequential transformation has taken hold that is more perilous than the missiles themselves: The Iron Dome has eliminated Israelis’ fear of war. A technology designed to preserve life has fostered a sense of near-total immunity, turning the catastrophe of war into a tolerable disruption if not a sterile consumer product — something absorbed into daily life with indifference, somewhere between the evening news and a food delivery. When fear of war recedes, so too does the public’s motivation to bring it to an end. In this environment, technological security does not shorten wars but helps sustain them as a permanent condition. Israel, in the Iron Dome era, no longer presents itself as a vibrant civilian society that also maintains a military; instead, it takes pride in essentially being a massive military base around which civilian life is organized.” See also Why most Israelis back the conflict with Iran, even as international support wanes (The Guardian 3/26/26)
U.S. SCENE
2028 Dem hopefuls scramble for distance from AIPAC (Politico 3/24/26)
“Democrats eyeing White House runs in 2028 are preemptively breaking up with AIPAC. Sen. Cory Booker, who received donations bundled by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee as late as December, told POLITICO that he’s sworn off the group’s funds (and other PAC money). California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he never has and “never will” take donations from the group. Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) vowed last week that he “wouldn’t take AIPAC money” anymore…Their retreat underscores how rapidly AIPAC has become a bogeyman for Democrats seeking to criticize the Israeli government, particularly with the Netanyahu administration’s involvement with President Donald Trump’s operation in Iran. Many former AIPAC-friendly Democrats see the historically bipartisan group as becoming more and more aligned with Netanyahu’s right-wing government in recent years. Its emergence as an early touchstone in the shadow 2028 presidential primary reflects a calculation among leading Democrats that liberal voters’ hard shift away from the longtime U.S. ally will stick.”
How Does TrackAIPAC Actually Track AIPAC? (The Intercept 3/26/26)
“The social media outfit TrackAIPAC’s signature anti-endorsement cards have become a fixture of the 2026 midterms. The ubiquitous graphics show a disapproved candidate’s face in grayscale over a smoky red backdrop. To the right, a number denoting their pro-Israel funding glows. Controversially, not all of that money comes from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. “It’s as broad as possible, and that’s by design,” TrackAIPAC co-founder Casey Kennedy told The Intercept. Instead of just AIPAC, the group tracks spending from across the pro-Israel lobby…Depending on whom you ask, TrackAIPAC is a hero for pushing pro-Israel spending into the forefront of voters’ minds, a scourge peddling antisemitic tropes, or a well-intentioned activist group with an imperfect, ever-evolving model…TrackAIPAC’s growing influence has set off a debate over its messaging and methodology, part of a broader conversation about outside spending in politics refracted through the lens of Israel.”
Newsom Says He Regrets Remarks Comparing Israel to ‘Apartheid State’ (NYT 3/24/26)
“Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, a Democrat widely seen as a likely 2028 presidential candidate, said in a newly published interview that he regretted describing Israel as an apartheid state, just weeks after using the term…At another point, when asked if he considered himself a Zionist, Mr. Newsom repeated the question before saying, “I revere the state of Israel.”’
The Justice Department’s Oct. 7 task force is unraveling, report says (The Forward 3/25/26)
“A Justice Department task force meant to investigate the perpetrators of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terror attacks has shed much of its staff and resources as the Trump administration has upended the federal judiciary, according to a new report in the Washington Post…According to the Post, the task force’s struggles are due at least in part to its top staffers being caught up in Trump’s broader purge of Justice Department officials…The moves have reportedly left the task force without prosecutors with national security experience, hampering its goal to root out American connections to the Hamas attacks (which included 40 Americans among its approximately 1,200 victims).” See also Trump administration sues Harvard over ‘hostile’ environment for Jewish students (JI 3/20/26); 120 Harvard Jewish Affiliates Condemn Justice Department Antisemitism Lawsuit (The Crimson 3/26/26);
PERSPECTIVES//LONG READS
A Critical Mass of U.S. Jews Is Now Disgusted With Israel’ (Haaretz 3/26/26)
“What Jewish Currents editor Arielle Angel has to say about Israel is tough to hear. But she reflects a growing anti-Zionist movement aiming to dismantle the Jewish-American establishment and rebuild it around a new vision.”
From Gaza to Iran (Amjad Iraqi//LRB 3/20/26)
“The images from Iran since 28 February have been dismayingly familiar. The Islamic Republic’s leaders are being killed off. US military officers are using AI to pick their targets. Government buildings, police stations and other public institutions have been destroyed; an air strike hit a primary school during morning classes, killing 168, almost all of them schoolgirls. Israeli leaders cheer on the offensive with messianic zeal. The war ‘allows us to do what I have yearned to do for forty years’, Benjamin Netanyahu said on 1 March, ‘smite the terror regime hip and thigh’. The aim isn’t merely to weaken Iran’s rulers, but to bring about the collapse of the Iranian state. It’s no surprise that Operation Roaring Lion (Israel’s name for its campaign) and Operation Epic Fury (as the US calls its own) bear the hallmarks of Israel’s offensives on the Gaza Strip. For more than two years, Israel has radically reshaped its policy of managing conflict by what it calls ‘mowing the lawn’. Since 7 October 2023, its political and military leaders have embraced a much more ambitious and devastating approach, which has been tested in Gaza, then replicated in Lebanon and to some extent in Yemen. Palestinians and their supporters have long likened the occupied territories to a ‘laboratory’ where Israel experiments with military tactics, surveillance technologies and methods of population control, before applying them elsewhere. War with Iran is a long-held ambition of Netanyahu’s, but Gaza is where he and his generals designed the playbook that is now being followed in that war.”
The Iran War Is About Palestine (Jonathan Shamir//Jewish Currents 3/24/26)
“Today, three decades after he first cast Iran as the engine behind anti-Israel sentiment, Netanyahu has finally gotten his war. Israel posits the war as defense against an existential threat, but as ever, what is driving it is the impulse to suppress and displace the Palestine question. Seen this way, the Iran war once again reveals Israel’s most fundamental interest, which has remained unchanged for decades: to prosecute the question of Palestine on its own terms, whether through the continued system of apartheid or outright genocide. Netanyahu is once again proving that he would sooner redraw the map of the Middle East than push back Israel’s borders—preferring to crater Tehran and Isfahan than concede a single dunam in the West Bank.”
Israel has crushed Unrwa in Gaza – and the rest of the world has done nothing (Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of UNRWA//The Guardian 3/21/26)
“Having endured more than two years of relentless physical, political and legal attacks, most fiercely in Palestine, Unrwa has reached breaking point. The risks to Palestinians’ rights and the stability of the region are immense…In December 2023, amid the escalating brutality of the war in Gaza, I wrote to the president of the UN general assembly that in my 35 years of working in complex emergencies, I had never had cause to report the killing of 130 personnel, nor to predict the killing of many more. Hundreds of Unrwa premises in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed. The parliament of Israel adopted legislation to end the agency’s presence in occupied East Jerusalem, including by forcibly shutting schools and health clinics, and cutting off the supply of water and electricity to our premises. The Unrwa headquarters in East Jerusalem was seized, looted and set on fire, with senior Israeli officials celebrating the destruction on site and online. A deputy mayor of Jerusalem even threatened to “annihilate and kill all members of Unrwa”. It is incomprehensible that a UN entity has been allowed to be crushed as Unrwa has, in violation of international law, with total impunity, and with staff and Palestinian communities paying an unacceptable price.”
Trump’s sanctions against a UN human rights expert show free speech is dying (Sandra L Babcock, Susan M Akram, Asli Bali, Thomas Becker and James Cavallaro//Guardian 3/242/6)
“We are North American university professors and human rights lawyers who teach, write, and speak about the human rights of people around the world, including Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. In a country that purports to value democracy and human rights, we never imagined that we could face civil penalties or imprisonment for our work. That sense of security has evaporated after the Trump administration issued a series of executive orders and memoranda that aim to stifle speech and demonize dissent – particularly when it comes to Israel’s crimes against Palestinians living in Gaza. Let us be clear: the evidence that Israel has committed war crimes is overwhelming.
From Palestine to Lebanon, A War Without Limits and the Wages of Impunity (Maya Mikdashi//Jadaliyya 3/22/26)
“In Lebanon, Israel’s war of impunity is being waged against three fronts: the battlefield, the country’s social fabric and its political society. Militarily, Israel is doing what it has done in Gaza and previously in Lebanon: assassinations, the destruction of entire landscapes and indiscriminate bombardment against a people that have no air defenses, no bomb shelters and no air force—in conjunction Israel has launched a ground invasion. It is also trying to break the Lebanese army by calling on it to collaborate in fighting Hizballah…Israel is targeting Lebanon’s social fabric, inflicting mass punishment to weaken public support for Hizballah—a strategy it also pursued unsuccessfully during the 2006 war…In pursuit of this permanent war, and while they still have the unconditional support of the US government and its politicians, Israel has decided to be a country buffered by depopulated wastelands, with no people, party or government capable of mounting any modicum of resistance to either the occupation of their own land, or that of Palestine. This goal requires not only the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, but also, at this point, of South Lebanon. Israel’s vision for the Middle East—ethno-sectarian cantons—is an existential threat to Lebanon and its system of governance. However, even if Israel occupies South Lebanon, and Hizballah is somehow neutralized, resistance will grow like weeds under every boot print in the ground.”
Jewish and Arab-American Solidarity Is More Important Than Ever (Jamie Beran & Maya Berry//Common Dreams 3/24/26)
“Our country is at war. The American-Israeli attack on Iran has plunged the Middle East and the Arab world into chaos, displacing millions and causing thousands of casualties. Here at home, this war has consequences for the safety of Jewish and Arab American communities. Last week, a man drove a car containing explosives into a synagogue just outside of Metro Detroit. Reports indicate he held Jews responsible for the death of several members of his family in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon. At the same time, multiple congressional Republicans have decided anti-Muslim bigotry will be a key part of their strategy for the midterms. This, after their language dehumanizing Palestinians and Arabs, went generally unchallenged. This moment requires solidarity.”
Joe Kent’s Resignation Was Brave. His Analysis Is Faulty. (Peter Beinart//Jewish Currents 3/24/26)
“His resignation letter also contains some essential truths. In it, he declares that “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation.” That should be obvious given that Tehran possesses no nuclear weapons and no missiles capable of hitting the US, that it tried to avoid war despite being struck repeatedly in recent years by Israel and the US, and that it complied with the stringent nuclear inspections required by the 2015 nuclear deal. Kent also writes that “we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby,” a reality that was corroborated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio himself. Unfortunately, Kent’s letter includes other assertions about Israel’s role in America’s wars in Iraq and Syria that are not only unconvincing, but suggest a myopic and conspiratorial view of US foreign policy. Opponents of this criminal war can applaud his resignation without endorsing his most outlandish claims, which cast Israel as the sole cause of America’s imperial violence in the Middle East, and suggest that the US was duped into its own wars…These are not the statements of a man who is merely outraged by Israel’s well-documented crimes. They suggest a willingness to speculate, without evidence, about the most fantastical of hidden treacheries, and a refusal to acknowledge that the United States might have motivations for dominating the Middle East that don’t originate in Tel Aviv. Opponents of America and Israel’s war should welcome Kent’s resignation. But they should take care to avoid the habits of mind from which it sprung.”
The Paraguay Scheme: Israel’s secret plan to deport Gazans in the ‘70s (Ben Reiff//+972 Magazine 3/26/26)
“A new podcast series lifts the veil on the Mossad’s failed attempt to expel 60,000 Palestinians soon after occupying the Gaza Strip. Almost six decades later, Israel’s methods and objectives remain eerily similar.“
Is Israel’s Economy Collapsing? (Maya Rosen interviews Joel Beinin//Jewish Currents 3/25/26)
“Over the last two years, a major debate has been playing out among observers of the Israeli economy. Some have argued that international pressure, alongside the high cost of ongoing war, has pushed the Israeli economy to the brink of collapse. According to these scholars, Israel is facing a crisis comparable to what the South African apartheid regime faced in its final years. The economist Shir Hever, for example, refers to Israel as having a “zombie economy” that “is not aware of . . . its impending demise.” Hever argues that “the level of crisis of the Israeli economy is severely underestimated because the Israeli government is working hard to try to hide the information,” pointing to the emigration of educated Israelis abroad, manpower deficiencies faced by the military, labor shortages, business closures, and Israel’s significant debt…On the ground, though, Israel’s political and war machines grind on, seemingly undeterred by these developments—and perhaps even buoyed by them. It is true that certain smaller sectors, such as tourism, construction, and agriculture, are reeling from the war and international boycotts. However, sales of Israeli arms and surveillance technology—cynically marketed as “battled-tested”—are booming, with even supposedly Palestine-supportive countries like Ireland rushing to buy. Alongside other foreign investments, this has contributed to the flourishing of the Israeli stock market…”