NEW FROM FMEP
What Will Sanctions on Israel do? (New Occupied Thoughts episode)
FMEP Fellow Peter Beinart speaks with international lawyer Itay Epshtain about the recent decision by 12 countries, led by the UK and France and including Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden, to UK, to impose sanctions on Israel, including import bans on goods from Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The new policies may also include sanctions against companies providing services, such as construction or financing, for Israeli settlements in the West Bank, personal sanctions against individual Israeli settlers, and a new bank on certain weapons used in the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. In their conversation, Peter and Itay look at how the International Court of Justice set the stage for these sanctions, how the UK and other countries will determine what sanctions to impose, and how Israeli banks and businesses are reacting to the prospect of being sanctioned.
How the Media Manufactured Consent for Genocide (New Occupied Thoughts episode)
FMEP President Lara Friedman speaks with historian and author Dr. Assal Rad about the media’s role in the Gaza genocide, and about her newly-published book on this topic, Don’t Say Palestine: How the Media Manufactured Consent for Genocide (Vintage, 2026).
FMEP Legislative Round-Up September 17, 2026 (Lara Friedman)
- Bills, Resolutions; 2. Letters & Reports; 3. Hearings & Markups; 4. Selected Members on the Record; 5. Selected Media & Press releases/Statements
Settlement & Annexation Report: September 18, 2026 (Kristin McCarthy)
WEST BANK: Second E-1 Tender Set to Open, Court Freezes WB Land Registration Tender, Update from Qusra, New B’Tselem Report: “The Elimination Project”; BONUS READS
GLOBAL/REGION
Trump Approves $2.8 Billion Arms Sale to Israel, Including 40,000 One-Ton Bombs (NYT 9/15/26)
“The Trump administration has approved a $2.8 billion sale of heavy bombs to Israel, according to a U.S. official, in what would be among the largest deliveries of U.S. munitions there even as American public support for the country declines. The proposed sale would include 40,000 one-ton bombs whose use by Israel in Gaza and Lebanon has drawn international anger because of the civilian harm caused by their wide blast radius. Human rights groups and some foreign governments have condemned Israel for dropping the giant munitions in densely populated areas, sometimes killing dozens of civilians in strikes targeting just one individual. The package would include 20,000 each of America’s 2,000-pound MK-84 and BLU-117 bombs. It would also provide Israel with 20,000 bunker-busting I-2000 penetrator warheads, which explode on delay after smashing through an outer surface like soil, rock or concrete.” See also As U.S. Stockpiles Dwindle, Trump Rushes Weapons to Israel, Saudi (Blaise Malley//Responsible Statecraft 9/15/26) Scoop: U.S., Israeli and Arab military chiefs held secret meeting on Iran (Axios 9/15/26); Trump Moves Ahead With F-35 Jet Sales to Saudi Arabia Despite Intelligence Concerns (NYT 9/17/26);
Why Israel Wants More One-Ton Bombs From the U.S. and Why the Sale Is Controversial (NYT 9/16/26)
“The Trump administration’s decision to send 60,000 powerful one-ton bombs to Israel as part of a $2.8 billion deal — one of the largest arms agreements ever — will allow Israel to replenish its supply of a munition it considers vital. The weapons became the focus of great tension between the Biden administration and Israel after one-ton bombs were widely used in densely populated areas of Gaza where Israel had steered civilians for their safety. With opposition to military assistance to Israel growing in Washington, such a huge sale of heavy bombs, paid for by the U.S. government, could be an effort by the administration to stock up the Israeli arsenal before political shifts make such shipments impossible, analysts said.” See also Serbia opens factory to assemble Israeli-made drones: What to know (Al Monitor 9/17/26);
Saudis reportedly won’t budge on Israel normalization, even as they seek help against Houthis (TOI 9/17/26)
“Saudi Arabia is running low on missile interceptors and has turned to regional and Western allies for assistance as its standoff with Houthi rebels in Yemen drags on, two regional officials said Wednesday. An unnamed Saudi source speaking to Israel’s Kan public broadcaster, however, dismissed the idea that the path to Israel-Saudi normalization would be advanced if Israel were to provide assistance. The regional officials said the Saudis have asked France, Britain, Pakistan and Egypt to deploy air-defense support to the region to help defend against missiles and drones fired by Houthis and other Iran-backed groups. The outreach was initiated because Saudi Arabia’s main ally and arms supplier, the United States, has seen its own stock of interceptors dwindle over the course of a six-month war with Iran, one official said.” See also Israel, Morocco agree to exchange ambassadors, open embassies (Al Monitor 9/16/26)
Trump administration denies entry visas to Palestinian officials ahead of UN general assembly (The Guardian 9/17/26)
“The US state department said on Wednesday that it had again denied entry visas to Palestinian officials ahead next week’s United Nations general assembly gathering in New York. The state department said in a statement that the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) had “failed to live up to their commitments”, accusing the groups of “taking actions to internationalize the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict including through the International Criminal Court (ICC) and International Court of Justice (ICJ)” and of “glorifying terrorism” among other allegations…The move marks the second year in a row that the Trump administration has barred the Palestinian delegation from traveling to New York to attend the UN general assembly in person.” See also State Department Extends Visa Ban on Abbas, Other Palestinian Officials (NYT 9/16/26); Mamdani says he won’t protest Netanyahu — and doesn’t urge New Yorkers to, either (JI 9/16/26); US to let Iranian president attend UN General Assembly after barring PA leader (TOI 9/18/26);
Why Latin America is key to Israel’s diplomatic impunity (Xavier Abu Eid//+972 Magazine 9/15/26)
“During the Israeli genocide on Gaza, several left-wing and social-democratic governments sharply criticized Israeli policies, withdrew ambassadors from Tel Aviv, joined South Africa’s ICJ case, and pressed the International Criminal Court (ICC) to accelerate investigations into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Palestine. Some also joined meetings of the Hague Group, which called for coordinated accountability measures in response to systematic Israeli violations of international law. But recent elections have brought right-wing, far-right and populist leaders to power across a growing number of countries, including Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and Honduras. A Latin American diplomatic tradition long grounded, at least formally, in international law is shifting toward a more transactional politics: closer alignment with Israel and endorsement of its political narratives in exchange for deeper military and security cooperation, as well as the potential for stronger relations with Washington.”
The Ulm 5 Trial Dramatizes Germany’s Complicity with Israel’s Genocide in Gaza (Hebh Jamal//Drop Site 9/16/26)
“Five activists who vandalized an Elbit Systems factory aim to put Germany and the Israeli weapons company on trial.”
GAZA
At least 21 killed after Israeli-hit building in Gaza City collapses (Guardian 9/16/26)
“A building housing about 100 displaced Palestinian families has collapsed in Gaza City, killing at least 21 people in their sleep, including 11 children, forcing rescuers to dig through the rubble with their bare hands as they search for dozens of people believed to be trapped…The bombed-out multistorey building, which contained four apartments on each floor, had previously been hit by Israeli strikes during the war, leaving its structure badly weakened and at risk of collapse. When it gave way on Wednesday, it fell on to tents beside it housing displaced families, witnesses said. The collapse highlights the continuing danger facing tens of thousands of Palestinians living in an estimated 2,000 buildings damaged by Israeli airstrikes across Gaza.”
The Collapse of a Gaza City Building Reflects Palestinians’ Reality: Future on Hold, Present in Ruins (Jack Khoury//Haaretz 9/17/26)
“The authorities in Gaza City warn that the same scene could repeat itself. Some 2,000 buildings are believed to be at risk of collapse, hundreds of them in immediate danger. Like those who lived in the building that came down, thousands of people remain in such structures because they have nowhere else to go. As fears of further collapses grow, Gaza’s health system is itself being stretched to the limit. Gaza’s Health Ministry said Thursday morning that more than 70 percent of the main generators powering its health facilities are no longer working. Fuel and oil are in short supply, as are medical equipment, medicines and laboratory supplies. For medical workers, even reaching hospitals has become harder, with transportation across the Strip increasingly difficult. The grim state of Gaza’s health system captures the limbo in which the Strip remains: the intensity of the fighting has subsided, but the reconstruction that was meant to follow has yet to begin.”
Pregnant woman among more than 10 killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza (Guardian 9/13/26)
“A pregnant Palestinian woman died on Saturday from injuries sustained after being shot in the head by Israeli forces south of Khan Younis, according to her family and medical workers, as strikes across Gaza killed at least 10 people in 48 hours…The health ministry in Gaza said 10 Palestinians had been killed and 56 wounded in Israeli attacks over the previous 48 hours, amid artillery shelling and gunfire in several areas of northern, central and southern Gaza.” See also Israeli Strikes in Gaza Kill Teenager and Rescue Worker, Local Official Says (NYT 9/15/26);
Israel will ‘finish the job’ in Gaza and seek Palestinians’ migration — defense minister (TOI 9/16/26)
“Defense Minister Israel Katz says it is only a matter of time before the country resumes full-scale war in Gaza and moves to encourage the emigration of its two million Palestinians…Defense Minister Israel Katz says it is only a matter of time before the country resumes full-scale war in Gaza and moves to encourage the emigration of its two million Palestinians…He said earlier this month that Israel was ready to remove Palestinians from Gaza by sea and land but was waiting for the United States, which he said was discussing where the two million people would go. Katz described the migration plan as voluntary, saying most Palestinians wanted to leave.”
RIVER TO THE SEA
Israel accused of trying to ‘eliminate’ living conditions for Palestinians in West Bank (Guardian 9/14/26)
“Israel is working towards the systematic “elimination” of the conditions that sustain Palestinian collective life in the occupied West Bank, according to a major report published by the human rights group B’Tselem. The Israeli organisation’s hard-hitting report, shared with the Guardian in advance of publication, says Israel is “dramatically intensifying its attacks on every aspect of Palestinian life in the West Bank”, including “the ability to get to work, take children to school or university, receive medical treatment or municipal services, meet family and friends, cultivate land or go on vacation … routine activities that make up human life”. According to B’Tselem, the assault on Palestinians is “governed by a coherent organising logic” and comprises five “interwoven domains of action”: violence and intimidation, movement restrictions, economic strangulation, social and political destruction, and ethnic cleansing and territorial takeover.” See also Masked settlers filmed attacking West Bank village for third time this week (Haaretz 9/17/26); IDF soldier filmed shooting Palestinian in leg amid West Bank settler standoff (Guardian 9/12/26); One Month and One IDF ‘Outpost Evacuation’ Later, Qusra Remains Besieged by Settlers (Haaretz 9/16/26)
PM pledges bill to strip citizenship from those who smear IDF abroad amid ‘NAZA’ outcry (TOI 9/16/26)
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that he will introduce two bills to punish those who slander IDF soldiers abroad, amid an outcry over the Israeli-made documentary “NAZA,” which alleges that the military killed civilians in Gaza using AI-powered strikes. The first bill will introduce the option of revoking their citizenship, and the second will increase the sum they can be sued for if found guilty of defamation, Netanyahu said in a video, explicitly referencing The Democrats party chief Yair Golan, former military advocate-general Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, and the “NAZA” directors, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor.” See also Israeli minister threatens to strip Israeli film-makers of citizenship over Gaza documentary NAZA (Guardian 9/14/26); Right-wing Agitators Call to ‘Execute Traitors’ Outside ‘NAZA’ Filmmaker’s Family Home (Haaretz 9/16/26); ‘This should be condemned by any thinking human’: film industry rallies behind NAZA directors (Guardian 9/15/26);
After Accolades Abroad, an Israeli Documentary Faces a Backlash at Home (NYT 9/14/26)
“When “NAZA,” a documentary about the killing of Palestinian civilians by Israeli forces in Gaza, premiered at the Venice International Film Festival last week, the Israeli directors received a 25-minute standing ovation. The film also won the Special Jury Prize. But in Israel, the film has whipped up a storm of official criticism, as well as pushback from the military, which rarely weighs in on matters of the silver screen. On Monday, the Israeli military chief, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, consulted with top generals about how to respond to the film, saying it is “based on blood libels” and “deliberate distortions of reality.” He said the military would examine possible legal measures against those suspected of disseminating false allegations and of disclosing classified materials…Mr. Abraham responded to criticism from home in a video statement on Sunday, saying that it was important for Israeli society to learn about the military’s actions in Gaza and that the soldiers had spoken in Hebrew “because they want to reach the Israeli public.”’ See also A Guardian statement on NAZA (The Guardian 9/14/26); +972 condemns escalating threats against ‘NAZA’ directors (9/18/26); IDF Tells Shin Bet: We Can’t Investigate ‘NAZA’ Before Watching It (Haaretz 9/16/26); Far-right Israelis call for NAZA co-director to be hanged in protest outside parents’ home (MEE 9/17/26); For Second Night in a Row, Dozens Gather Outside ‘NAZA’ Filmmaker’s Family Home (Haaretz 9/17/26)
Palestinian-American Journalist Naqaa Hamed Detained by Israeli Forces After Settlers Targeted Her (Mariam Barghouti & Sharif Abdel Kouddous//Drop Site 9/16/26)
“Palestinian-American journalist and Drop Site News contributor Naqaa Hamed was arrested by Israeli authorities at a checkpoint on Tuesday as she was returning from a reporting assignment in the occupied West Bank, according to her colleagues and family. She spent the night in Israeli custody and is being interrogated about her journalistic work, a lawyer who spoke to Hamed on the phone told the family…Hamed is a freelance journalist who has worked for various international outlets, including Drop Site News (read her reports on Israeli settler attacks and expanding settlements in the West Bank here and here). Over the past several weeks, Israeli settlers have targeted Hamed with a wave of incitement on Telegram channels and in Hebrew media following her coverage of an Israeli siege on families in the village of Qusra, according to her colleagues. Hamed is from the village of Beitin, northeast of Ramallah, holds American citizenship, and is married with three young children. Hamed’s family contacted the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem about her arrest but has yet to hear back.”
Israel adds tender for 2,167 housing units to E1 settlement plan, rights group says (TOI 9/17/26)
-Israel has added a tender for 2,167 housing units to its E1 settlement expansion plan, a left-wing Israeli rights group said, referring to a controversial project near Jerusalem that critics — and proponents — say undermines prospects for a future Palestinian state. The new tender is in addition to a previous tender for 1,234 units announced at the end of August, bringing the total number of housing units to 3,401, rights group Ir Amim said in a statement on Wednesday night. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich greenlit the construction of roughly 3,400 housing units as part of the E1 settlement expansion plan in August 2025, saying that it “practically erases the two-state delusion” by splitting up territory that would be slated for a Palestinian state.”
‘Everything necessary for human life was erased’ (Basel Adra//+972 Magazine 9/16/26)
“In the span of a week, Israeli bulldozers demolished Al-Taban and northern Fakhit, two neighboring Palestinian communities in Masafer Yatta. When residents helped each other stay on the land, soldiers came to make arrests…Nidal Abu Aram, head of the Masafer Yatta local council, agreed the demolition was part of a broader effort to force residents from their land. “It appears that the occupation had been waiting for the residents to leave after three years of settler intimidation and attacks,” he told +972. “When that failed, it resorted to a policy of erasing entire communities [through demolitions]. “They were not given enough time to remove all their belongings or their food supplies from their homes,” Abu Aram continued. “Everything necessary for human life was erased.” See also Israel Razes Homes in Three West Bank Villages Inside Firing Zone, Displacing Over 100 Palestinians (Haaretz 9/14/26);
A West Bank-style settler outpost comes to northern Israel (Oren Ziv & Baker Zoubi//+972 Magazine 9/17/26)
“The scene looked as if it had been transplanted from a West Bank hilltop: young Jewish settlers in white shirts and kippot, newly erected tents, a sheep pen, water tanks, an Israeli flag, and land leveled by a bulldozer. But this was not the West Bank. The new outpost had been established in the western Galilee in Israel’s north, near the Palestinian town of Majd Al-Krum…The discovery immediately raised fears in Majd Al-Krum that a tactic honed in the West Bank — establishing farms and grazing posts that gradually expand their control over surrounding Palestinian land — was being imported into the Galilee.
Indeed, in recent weeks, leading figures on the Israeli right have been calling for exactly this: transplanting the West Bank settlement model to the Galilee and the Naqab (Negev), including by using farms and livestock grazing to seize land and alter the demographic balance by “Judaizing” the area.”
Palestinian prisoner dies in Israeli custody as family seeks answers (MEE 9/17/26)
“Moataz Nizam al-Atrash, from Hebron, died at Ofer Prison, the Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs said on Wednesday. He had spent nearly a year in administrative detention without charge or trial, based on what Israeli authorities call a “secret file”. Legal records indicate that al-Atrash had no known health conditions before his arrest.”
U.S. SCENE
Key House Democrat refuses to clear Trump’s $2.8bn arms sale to Israel (The Guardian 9/16/26)
“The top Democrat on the House foreign affairs committee has thrown up a roadblock to one of the largest US arms transfers of Trump’s second term, refusing to clear a $2.8bn sale of 2,000lb bombs to Israel. Gregory Meeks announced the hold on Tuesday on a package of 40,000 of the bombs, among the most destructive conventional munitions in the US arsenal. “The Trump administration has not provided sufficient assurances that these weapons will be used by the Netanyahu government in accordance with US law and with appropriate protections for civilians,” he said. “I therefore will not clear this sale at this time.”’
Macklemore dropped from Ed Sheeran’s US tour after ‘free Palestine’ speech (Guardian 9/14/26)
“Macklemore has been dropped from the remainder of the US leg of Ed Sheeran’s Loop tour, after the American rapper drew headlines for saying “free Palestine” on stage at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. In a brief speech between songs on 4 September, the Grammy-winning artist told the audience he wanted the people of Gaza and “the occupied West Bank” to know “we have not forgotten about them”, prompting a petition from the Israeli American Council demanding his removal from the tour.: See also All supporting acts withdraw from Ed Sheeran’s tour in solidarity with Macklemore (The Guardian 9/15/26); A Timeline of the Ed Sheeran & Macklemore ‘Free Palestine’ Tour Controversy (Billboard 9/17/26); Robert Kraft pushes Ed Sheeran to drop Macklemore from tour following ‘Free Palestine’ controversy (JTA 9/14/26); Ms Rachel matches Macklemore with $1m donation for Palestinian children (MEE 9/18/26); Ed Sheeran’s Craven “Neutrality” Is a Watershed Moment for Mainstreaming Palestine Solidarity (Natasha Lennard//The Intercept 9/16/26)
Robert Kraft Claims His Donations Help Palestinians. Turns Out He’s Funding Friends of the IDF. (Jonah Valdez//The Intercept 9/18/26)
“Days after pressuring pop singer Ed Sheeran to drop rapper Macklemore from his tour over the latter’s “Free Palestine” remarks, Kraft claimed in a statement posted to social media that “for decades” he has “supported efforts that create opportunity for Palestinians,” such as initiatives to “to build businesses, create jobs, and forge relationships” between Israelis and Palestinians. The claims were made as a part of Kraft’s pledge to give $2 million to “aid in the region.” Kraft did not disclose which organizations would receive his money. Nor did he mention his long history of donating to Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, an organization that collects money on behalf of Israeli soldiers, and the United Democracy Project, the super PAC of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which lobbies to tilt American politics in favor of Israel. Kraft has also given money to a host of pro-Israel advocacy groups that attack critics of Israel, spread content that critics warn is Islamophobic, and have steadfastly defended Israel against mounting evidence of its ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.” See also Robert Kraft’s attempts to silence Macklemore have backfired spectacularly (Arwa Mahdawi//Guardian 9/18/26)
Palestinian American activist arrested and ‘charged for trespassing at a public hearing’ (Guardian 9/16/26)
“The human rights lawyer Noura Erakat was arrested on Tuesday at a Palm Beach county, Florida, budget hearing about the county’s more than $1bn investments in Israeli bonds. Erakat, a prominent Palestinian-American activist, legal scholar and Guardian contributor, was one of several people in attendance at the public commission hearing who were forcibly removed by local law enforcement. The removal happened when the group attempted to speak out against the county’s investment in the bonds – the largest by a municipal government…In a video of Erakat’s arrest posted by Al Jazeera, two law enforcement officers are seen taking her away as she speaks about wanting to exercise “basic free speech”…Nationwide, a coalition of groups has launched a “Break the Bonds” campaign encouraging advocacy for divestment at the local level, as well as targeting state and union pension funds and universities’ investments in Israel. Several candidates in recent primaries races have pledged to end public investments in Israeli bonds.”
JD Vance: US cannot be ‘subservient’ to Israel on Middle East policy (Politico 9/16/26)
“U.S. Vice President JD Vance said Washington cannot allow its Middle East policy to be “subservient to the State of Israel,” in a blunt assertion about a key regional ally from one of the Trump administration’s top figures and a leading 2028 Republican presidential contender. Speaking Tuesday at the All-In Summit in Los Angeles, Vance said Israel remained an important partner on military technology and intelligence, but that the U.S. would not automatically follow the Israeli government’s lead on security issues.”
Scott Wiener’s Pivot on Gaza Isn’t Enough for the Left (Alex Kane//Jewish Currents 9/17/26)
“This November, voters in San Francisco will decide whether to send California State Senator Scott Wiener or city Supervisor Connie Chan to replace legendary power-broker Nancy Pelosi in Congress…Both Wiener and Chan have embraced core policies of the pro-Palestine left: They have pledged to reject AIPAC money; say that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza; and want an end to US military aid to Israel. But as the close race enters its final weeks, only Chan is winning the support of pro-Palestine groups, despite past criticism from activists over AIPAC reportedly donating to groups that backed her during the primary. Wiener, for his part, is a liberal Zionist who has shifted to the left as he sought Democratic votes, much to the chagrin of his allies in the California Jewish establishment. But unlike other candidates who once aligned with Zionist groups before being embraced by pro-Palestine organizations, the left has not celebrated Wiener’s evolution. The continued tension between Wiener and the left raises the question of whether the pro-Palestine movement should continue to battle a political figure over past transgressions if he has moved toward their point of view—and whether a candidate’s reasons for shifting matter in the bigger battle to move the needle on Palestine in US politics.” See also ‘Too Far Right’ for Some, ‘Too Far Left’ for Others: J Street U Pushed Out of Michigan Hillel (Haaretz 9/15/26);
Mahmoud Khalil Sues Columbia University Over Persistent Anti-Palestinian Discrimination (Areeba Fatima//Drop Site 9/15/26)
“Mahmoud Khalil, Mohammed Ibrahim Zubairi, and other members of the Palestine Working Group (PWG) at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) filed a federal civil complaint on Monday accusing the university of failing to protect Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students from doxxing and harassment. Columbia suspended PWG—the last remaining named student organization with “Palestine” in its name—in September 2025…The suit is just the latest against Columbia’s administration over its policies around the pro-Palestine student encampments. Last month, a group of Palestinian students and faculty filed a lawsuit against Columbia alleging that the university engaged in “anti-Palestinian discrimination and fostered a hostile learning and work environment.” In February 2025, three students filed a complaint against the school administration for their suspensions related to their pro-Palestine activism on campus, claiming the university violated its own policies during the disciplinary process and that the university targeted the students for their views.” See also Mahmoud Khalil Says Columbia Failed to Protect Pro-Palestinian Students (NYT 9/14/26);
PERSPECTIVES//LONG READS
Health Sciences and Genocide Prevention in Gaza and Beyond (Yara Asi, Rania Muhareb, Osama Tanous, Weeam Hammoudeh, David Mills, Bram Wispelwey//Al Shabaka 9/9/26)
“Genocide generates intended and foreseeable threats to life and health, whether directly or in the creation of conditions designed to bring about a group’s destruction. Yet the health sciences, dedicated principally to understanding and mitigating threats to life, health, and well-being, remain an untapped resource for adjudicating, early identifying, and potentially interrupting genocide. This policy brief argues that public health frameworks provide the organizational and explanatory structures necessary to understand the short- and long-term health implications of genocide. From documenting these effects and supporting evidence to predicting the risk of genocide, the health sciences can systematically contribute to genocide studies and inform legal arguments, public discourse, and political action. These contributions can, in turn, strengthen efforts to prevent, document, prosecute, and punish genocide.”
Israel’s Elimination Project (Yuli Novak//NYT 9/14/26)
“The logic of elimination does not require every Palestinian to disappear. It seeks to make Palestinian collective life increasingly impossible while securing permanent Israeli Jewish control. In Gaza, the logic of elimination has taken its most extreme form: genocide. In the West Bank, it dismantles the conditions that allow Palestinians to remain on their land and live as a society and a people. And yet, even as Israel states its goals openly, international governments and institutions keep recasting those aims in conventional political language: a conflict to be managed, an occupation expected to end, an extremist government that needs to be restrained. That reframing lets governments condemn violence without confronting the system behind it. It lets them remain within a reassuring political story, rather than facing their obligations under international law and exerting the sustained pressure it would take to reverse it. It obscures the larger reality: a new phase of the political project to make Israeli Jewish control permanent while dismantling the conditions for Palestinian collective life.”
The secret quest to preserve Palestinian writer Raja Shehadeh’s diaries (NPR 9/12/26)
“The world’s leading Palestinian writer, Raja Shehadeh, has been on a mission to save his most personal work: his diaries. The award-winning author of more than 20 books has been documenting decades of Palestinian life, starting in 1967 at the very beginning of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank when he was a teenager…Shehadeh, now 75, feared his diaries and archives — kept in his garage in the West Bank city of Ramallah — were at risk of destruction from Israeli military operations. So he took part in a two-year, discreet effort to spirit them to Scotland, where he has spent many summers. The archives are now at the University of Edinburgh, and the University of Exeter in England has published thousands of pages online…”I n the Nakba (the Arabic word for “catastrophe,” commonly used to refer to the displacement and dispossession of Palestinians when Israel was established) in 1948, they destroyed so many of the journals and private papers of Palestinians, and they were never found again. And then in 1982 in Lebanon, in Beirut, they went to the Palestine Research Center and took all the papers and all the journals and everything there and destroyed it. And in 2002, in the re-invasion of Ramallah, they went into so many homes and destroyed the private papers and everything. And so I was worried that they would do the same for me.”
What is Zionism? The different meanings of a contested term (Dov Waxman//The Conversation 9/14/26)
“As a scholar of Israel studies who teaches about Zionism, what strikes me when I read such statements is how narrowly they define it, reducing Zionism to a single belief in “the right of the Jewish people to self-determination and statehood in the land of Israel.” This ignores the fact that there are multiple “Zionisms,” rather than a singular “Zionism,” and that the term has more than just one meaning. It is, at best, oversimplified to describe Zionism only as the belief in the right of Jews to have a Jewish state…What “Zionism” means, therefore, has never been definitively settled. It has always been contested by Zionists themselves, who are divided into different streams…Moreover, Zionism is more than an ideology. In the eyes of Zionism’s critics, it is what the Israeli state does in its name. This is how Palestinians tend to think of Zionism. For them, Zionism is defined in terms of its outcomes for Palestinians, which have included displacement, dispossession, destruction and the denial of their rights. This is why Palestinians and many of their supporters adamantly oppose it.”
‘With Gaza, I Couldn’t Not Speak Out’: Ms. Rachel on Controversy, Fame, and the Future (Rolling Stone 9/15/26)
“The children’s YouTuber has drawn outrage and adoration for her work. As her first album, I’m So Happy, drops, she discusses how she’s surviving her newfound celebrity”
Palestinian Suffering Must Pass Through an Israeli Voice to Be Heard (Hanin Majadli//Haaretz 9/16/26)
“The claims are familiar: Abraham, as an Israeli liberal, doesn’t act for the liberation of Palestine, but for repairing Israel. He isn’t doing Palestinians a favor. He’s trying to save the society to which he belongs, not to dismantle the balance of power from which it benefits…Others ask how one can even applaud the testimonies of colonialists telling about their own crimes. Does the exposure itself make them less partners in crime?…The sensitivity provoked by Abraham and his ilk wasn’t born in a vacuum. It touches a familiar Palestinian wound. The world tends to listen to Israelis differently than to Palestinians. It grants credibility, resonance and prestige to things Palestinians have been saying for decades. It seems that in order for Palestinian suffering to be recognized, it must first pass through the throat of an Israeli. That’s an understandable anger. But this anger sometimes leads to a problematic conclusion: that everything coming from Israelis is inherently tainted. Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor are dissidents; their films didn’t arouse enthusiasm in Israel, but rather rage and anger and an outburst of violence, and calls for revoking citizenship and even murder…Whoever tries to present them as another arm of Israeli hasbara, the term used for government efforts to explain policy, is ignoring reality. Abraham and his peers have access to documents, testimonies, and sources that we, the Palestinians, don’t have. They can enter places we can’t. They can bring the voice of the pilot, the officer, the intelligence agent, the system operator, the settler. They can expose the mechanism from the inside. This is a privilege, but it has value. We can use their help in order to strengthen the Palestinian argument; there’s no need to panic.”
Why Israel Fears This Searing New Documentary (Michelle Goldberg//NYT 9/18/26)
“Israel is treating the new documentary “NAZA,” by the Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, less like bad publicity than a national security crisis…After seeing it, I can understand why Israel finds it so threatening. Its subjects described factory-scale targeting, enabled by artificial intelligence, in which little effort was made to avoid enormous numbers of civilian casualties. “The goal was quantity, not quality,” said one of the speakers. According to the sources in the film, the military chose to target members of Hamas, some low-level, at home at night rather than when they were out during the day because it was easier, even though it meant killing their families and neighbors. One man told of hacking into the phone of a 12-year-old girl to learn when her father arrived home, and then ordering a bombing in which she was killed…Part of what makes “NAZA” so devastating is the way it shows that mere indifference to civilian deaths can shade into deliberate mass killing. To Israel’s defenders, after all, the fact that the military puts limits on acceptable collateral damage shows that it’s not trying to kill as many people as possible and thus can’t be genocidal…But “NAZA” suggests that the system Israel created had mass death built into it.”
U.S. Makes, Israel Takes: The Real Story of U.S.-Israeli Military Cooperation (Ryan Grim & Murtaza Hussain//Drop Site 9/15/26)
“That alleged ingenuity is at the center of a debate roiling Washington this month as Congress returns to debates about whether to create a new office in the Pentagon to coordinate U.S. and Israeli military research, testing, and industrial production, giving institutional architecture to a relationship that is already deeply intertwined on a de facto basis. The legislation, known as Section 219, was included in the House-passed National Defense Authorization Act, but remains contested in the Senate. Backers of the bill argue that tighter coordination with Israel should not be seen as a giveaway or cost to the United States, but rather is a boon to U.S. military capacity because the U.S. benefits more from the partnership than Israel. Arrow and Iron Beam are routinely held up as case studies of such innovation. But the real story of how these weapons were developed is quite different. In fact, both weapons systems were developed and financed by the United States before being handed off to Israel by acts of Congress, according to government documents and interviews with key personnel involved in their development—despite warnings from U.S. intelligence agencies that transferring the tech to Israel effectively hands it over to U.S. adversaries such as China and Russia. The pattern has long been cause for concern inside the intelligence community and among some in the Pentagon, but the mandates have come directly from Congress.”