NEW FROM FMEP
The Holocaust, the Nakba, the Genocide in Gaza & How the I.H.R.A. Definition of Antisemitism Censors Scholars (new podcast episode)
FMEP Fellow Ahmed Moor speaks with Marianne Hirsch, Professor Emerita of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. Professor Hirsch made news recently when she withdrew from classroom teaching because Columbia instituted the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism, telling the Associated Press that “‘A university that treats criticism of Israel as antisemitic and threatens sanctions for those who disobey is no longer a place of open inquiry…I just don’t see how I can teach about genocide in that environment.”’ In this podcast, Ahmed Moor and Professor Hirsch discuss the IHRA definition of antisemitism and its impact on teaching and learning as well as the changes in academia and the changing balance of influence and power between administrators and scholars. Digging into Prof. Hirsch’s areas of expertise, they discuss genocide scholarship and Germany, looking at the achievements and failures of German “memory culture” and comparing the Holocaust, the Nakba, and the genocide in Palestine today.
How Israel Targets Palestinian Journalists in Gaza (new podcast episode)
FMEP Fellow Peter Beinart speaks with Laila Al-Arian, the executive producer for Fault Lines, an award-winning current affairs program on Al Jazeera English. They discuss what it’s like to be a journalist in Gaza and how Western journalists have failed their Palestinian colleagues. They also talk about remembering the journalists Israel has killed. On August 25, 2025, the day Peter & Laila spoke, Israel killed at least five Palestinian journalists in Gaza, including an Al Jazeera cameraman. Israel has killed nearly 200 Palestinian journalists in Gaza since 10/7/23.
Necroviolence: On Israel’s Corpse Captivity Policy and Palestinian Practices of Dignity & Defiance (new podcast episode)
FMEP Fellow Hilary Rantisi speaks with researcher Randa Wahbe about the Israeli policy and practice of holding Palestinian corpses as part of the broader Israeli regime of control over Palestinians. At present, Israel holds more than 740 Palestinian bodies. Randa describes this practice of control, which can be defined as “necropolitics” and/or “necroviolence,” and which includes desecration of burial sites and cemeteries. She also describes Palestinian practices of defiance and dignity that aim to counter the impact that this particular form of violence has on Palestinian families and communities. FMEP initiated this conversation after FMEP’s partner and friend Awdah Hathaleen was murdered on 7/28/25 by an Israeli settler who invaded Awdah’s village, Umm al Khair in Masafer Yatta, and Israel then held Awdah’s body, refusing to return it to his family for burial. Women in Umm al Khair, including Awdah’s mother, widow, and extended family, launched a hunger strike to demand that Israel return his body for burial without conditions. 10 days after the murder, Israel returned Awdah’s body and allowed his family to bury him.
FMEP Legislative Round-Up August 29, 2025 (Lara Friedman)
- Bills, Resolutions; 2. Letters; 3. Recess Travel; 4. Selected Members on the Record; 5. Selected Media & Press releases/Statements
Settlement & Annexation Report: August 29, 2025 (Kristin McCarthy)
Settlers Continue to Terrorize & Take Over South Hebron Hills Communities; 2. Senior Israeli Officials Appear to be Making Rounds to Illegal Outposts; 3. The IDF’s Collective Punishment of Al-Mughayyir Spurs Fears of West Bank Genocide; 4. Bonus Reads
GAZA
UN-backed experts declare famine in and around Gaza City (The Guardian 8/22/25)
“An “entirely man-made” famine is taking place in Gaza’s largest city and its surrounding area amid deteriorating conditions that threaten an exponential increase in deaths across the devastated territory, UN-backed experts have declared. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a globally recognised organisation that classifies the severity of food insecurity and malnutrition, found that three key thresholds for famine had been met, signalling a major escalation of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Only four famines have been declared by the IPC since it was established in 2004, most recently in Sudan last year. “This famine is entirely man-made, it can be halted and reversed,” the report says. “The time for debate and hesitation has passed, starvation is present and is rapidly spreading. There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that an immediate, at-scale response is needed. Any further delay – even by days – will result in a totally unacceptable escalation of famine-related mortality. “If a ceasefire is not implemented to allow humanitarian aid to reach everyone in the Gaza Strip, and if essential food supplies and basic health, nutrition and [sanitation and water] services are not restored immediately, avoidable deaths will increase exponentially.”’ See also GAZA STRIP: Famine confirmed in Gaza Governorate, projected to expand (IPC – Integrated Food Security Phase Classification); Israel Is Forcing Parents in Gaza to Watch Their Children Die of Hunger (Abdel Qader Sabbah and Sharif Abdel Kouddous//Drop Site 8/22/25); ‘There’s No Hunger in Gaza,’ Say Netanyahu, the Israeli Army and Media. Meanwhile, Starvation Worsens (Haaretz 8/14/25); Gazans are starving. Here’s what lack of food does to the human body. (WaPo 8/22/25); Famine confirmed in Gaza City region, global hunger monitor says (WaPo 8/22/25);
Netanyahu’s office calls Gaza famine declaration a ‘modern blood libel’ (TOI 8/23/25)
“After a UN hunger monitor on Friday declared for the first time that famine had struck northern Gaza, Israel vehemently denied the reports as “lies” and “modern blood libel,” and the United States appeared to dismiss the declaration as part of a “false narrative of deliberate mass starvation” from Hamas.” See also After Gaza Famine Report, U.S. Is Mostly Silent and Israel Is Defiant (NYT 8/23/25);
“This is Eternal Displacement”: Israeli Onslaught on Gaza City Forcing Thousands to Flee With Nowhere to Go (Abdel Qader Sabbah//Drop Site 8/27/25)
“Israeli tanks backed by warplanes and quadcopters are pushing deeper into Gaza City, destroying entire neighborhoods and leaving people with nowhere to go. The escalating assault comes amid a widening famine, with Palestinians starving to death every day. Airstrikes continue to pound civilians in central and southern Gaza. It has been one of the deadliest periods for journalists since Israel’s assault began, with at least 11 journalists killed in two bombardments just two weeks apart. Palestinians are describing the assault by the Israeli military to seize and ethnically cleanse Gaza City—Gaza’s largest city, where up to a million people are currently seeking shelter—as the end game.” See also ‘Gates of Hell Will Open’: Israel’s Defense Minister Vows to Level Gaza City After IDF Takeover Plan Approved (Haaretz 8/22/25); Israel tells Gaza City hospitals to ready for mass evacuations as war plans advance (TOI 8/21/25); Netanyahu: Israel will conquer Gaza regardless of whether Hamas accepts hostage deal (TOI 8/21/25); As Israel seeks to empty Gaza City, its residents weigh whether to leave (WaPo 8/29/25); Europe and Arab States Are Asleep. Soon, Anything That Moves in Gaza City Will Be Killed (Amira Hass//Haaretz 8/22/25); Israel pounds neighborhoods as operation to take Gaza City underway (WaPo 8/21/25); Gaza famine likely to worsen as Israel ends pauses for aid deliveries in capital (The Guardian 8/29/25)
Israeli army database suggests at least 83% of Gaza dead were civilians (Yuval Abraham//+972 Magazine 8/21/25)
“Data from an internal Israeli intelligence database indicates that at least 83 percent of Palestinians killed in Israel’s onslaught on Gaza were civilians, an investigation by +972 Magazine, Local Call, and the Guardian can reveal. Figures obtained from the classified database — which records the deaths of militants from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) — contradict by a huge margin the public statements of Israeli army and government officials throughout the war, which have generally claimed a 1:1 or 2:1 ratio of civilian to militant casualties. Instead, the classified data backs up the findings of several studies suggesting Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has killed civilians at a rate with few parallels in modern warfare. The Israeli army confirmed the existence of the database, which is managed by the Military Intelligence Directorate (known by the Hebrew acronym “Aman”). Multiple intelligence sources familiar with the database said the army views it as the only authoritative tally of militant casualty figures. In the words of one of them: “There’s no other place to check.”…The overall death tolls published daily by the Gaza Health Ministry (which Local Call revealed last year are considered reliable even by the Israeli military) do not distinguish between civilians and militants. But taking the militant casualty figures obtained from the internal Israeli army database in May and lining them up against the Health Ministry’s total death toll, it is possible to calculate an approximate civilian casualty ratio for the war up until three months ago, when the death toll stood at 53,000. Assuming that all of the certain and probable militant deaths were counted in the death toll, that would mean over 83 percent of Gaza’s dead were civilians. If the probable deaths are discounted and only the certain deaths included, the proportion of civilian deaths rises to more than 86 percent…Both Hamas and PIJ have been severely weakened by Israel’s offensive over the past two years, which has killed most of the groups’ senior command and significantly damaged their military infrastructure. Still, the data obtained from the intelligence database shows that Israel has killed only one-fifth of those it considers to be militants. American intelligence estimates suggest Hamas has recruited 15,000 operatives during the war — twice as many as Israel killed…The result of this firing policy and the broader culture of revenge following October 7 is a civilian casualty ratio in Gaza that is extremely high for modern warfare, experts say, even compared with conflicts notorious for indiscriminate killing such as the Syrian and Sudanese civil wars.” See also Revealed: Israeli military’s own data indicates civilian death rate of 83% in Gaza war (The Guardian 8/21/25)
Israel’s killing of journalists follows a pattern of silencing Palestinian media that stretches back to 1967 (Maha Nassar//The Conversation 8/25/25)
“Five journalists were among the 22 people killed on Aug. 25, 2025, in Israeli strikes on the Nasser Hospital in the Gaza Strip. Following global condemnation, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement saying Israel “values the work of journalists.” But the numbers tell a different story. Those deaths bring the total number of journalists killed in Gaza in almost two years of war to 197. The Committee to Protect Journalists, which collates that data, accuses Israel of “engaging in the deadliest and most deliberate effort to kill and silence journalists” that the U.S.-based nonprofit has ever seen. “Palestinian journalists are being threatened, directly targeted and murdered by Israeli forces, and are arbitrarily detained and tortured in retaliation for their work,” the committee added. As a scholar of modern Palestinian history, I see the current killing of reporters, photographers and other media professionals in Gaza as part of a longer history of Israeli attempts to silence Palestinian journalists. This history stretches back to at least 1967, when Israel militarily occupied the Palestinian territories of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip following the Six-Day War. Beyond the humanitarian toll, what makes matters even more drastic now is that, with Israeli restrictions on foreign media entering Gaza, local Palestinian journalists are the only people who can bear witness to the death and destruction taking place – and report it to a wider world.” See also Israel’s unprecedented slaughter of journalists in Gaza (Ishaan Tharoor//WaPo 8/27/25); ‘Hamas in disguise’: Israel’s tried-and-true tactic to smear Palestinian journalists (Muhammad Shehada//+972 Magazine 8/15/25); Reuters stopped sharing Gaza locations with Israel after ‘so many journalists’ killed by IDF (NBC 8/28/25); He Was the Face and Voice of Gaza. Israel Assassinated Him. (Lydia Polgren on journalist Anas al-Sharif//NYT 8/21/25); Israeli unit tasked with smearing Gaza journalists as Hamas fighters – report (The Guardian 8/15/25)
Maryam was my friend. Israel killed her and four other Gaza journalists (Ruwaida Amer//+972 Magazine 8/27/25)
“Maryam Abu Daqqa was my friend. She was a photojournalist and a mother. On Monday, she was killed by the Israeli army in a “double tap” attack on Nasser Hospital, along with four other journalists. She was 32 years old…It’s been more than 680 days of continuous work, with constant internet outages, no proper electricity, no safe shelter, and no transportation. I’ve continued to report since the beginning of the war because I believe in its mission, but I do it knowing that every day could very well be my last. No words can capture what we feel as journalists with the successive loss of colleagues. Why is Israel targeting Palestinian journalists in Gaza? Simple. We are the only ones able to document and transmit what is actually happening on the ground. Every image, every testimony, every broadcast we produce pierces through the wall of Israel’s official narrative. That makes us dangerous: by recording the displacement, the starvation, and the relentless bombardment, we expose Israel’s actions to the world.” See also Israeli strikes kill 22, including 5 journalists, in a Gaza hospital (NPR 8/25/25); Israel Says It Attacked Gaza Hospital to Destroy Camera Placed by Hamas (NYT 8/26/25); Israel bombed Gaza hospital a second time, killing rescuers, say health officials (The Guardian 8/25/25); Mariam Abu Dagga: Gaza journalist killed in Israeli strike ‘carried her camera into the heart of the field’ (The Guardian 8/25/25); See photos by Palestinian photojournalist Mariam Dagga, killed on the job (WaPo 8/27/25); UK among 27 countries to demand press given immediate access to Gaza (The Guardian 8/21/25);
Under growing Arab pressure, Hamas signals new willingness to compromise (WaPo 8/20/25)
“The decision this week by Hamas to accept a proposed ceasefire deal with Israel comes amid heightened pressure on the group from Arab governments and other Palestinian factions, which are eager to avert a planned Israeli invasion of Gaza City. Hamas announced Monday that it had signed off on a new ceasefire agreement, following a flurry of diplomacy in Egypt, where Qatari and Egyptian mediators huddled with Hamas representatives in recent days. The Israeli government, which voted this month to expand the war and occupy more of Gaza, has yet to agree to the proposal.” See also Scoop: Inside Trump’s Gaza meeting with Tony Blair and Jared Kushner (Axios 8/28/25); Israel Is in Talks to Send Gazans to South Sudan, Officials Say (NYT 8/18/25); Egypt warns Israel that mass displacement of Gazans is a ‘red line’ (CNN 8/18/25)
How much of Gaza is left standing? (The Economist 8/6/25)
“From above, much of Gaza appears flattened. But the full scale of the destruction and the number of people killed remain uncertain. Daily death tolls are issued by local authorities run by Hamas, the Islamist group that still controls parts of the strip, but many doubt their accuracy. Foreign journalists are barred unless embedded with Israeli forces. In the absence of access, independent researchers have turned to satellite images, surveys and public records to estimate what has been lost. Their findings suggest the toll may be even greater than suggested by official reports.” See also A Gaza City Neighborhood Is Now a Wasteland, Satellite Images Show (NYT 8/28/25);
REGION//GLOBAL
IDF said to believe entire Houthi cabinet was likely killed in yesterday’s strike (TOI 8/29/25)
“The IDF currently assesses that the entire cabinet of the Houthi cabinet — including the prime minister and 12 other ministers — were likely killed in yesterday’s strike in Yemen, Channel 12 reports without citing any sources. The network says the assessment is not definitive and that the IDF is still working to reach a more definitive understanding of the strike’s results.” See also IDF Strikes Yemen After Houthis Launch Two Drones at Israel; Report: Top Leaders Targeted (Haaretz 8/28/25);
U.S. denies Palestinian officials visas to attend UN General Assembly (Axios 8/29/25)
“The Trump Administration announced Friday that it won’t issue visas to senior Palestinian officials who wish to travel to New York to attend the UN General Assembly in September, and will revoke visas that were previously granted…The U.S. move comes in response to a planned initiative by several Western countries to recognize a Palestinian state during the annual global gathering. It underscores that on policy toward Gaza and the Palestinians more generally, it is the U.S. and Israel vs. nearly all the rest of the world…It was not immediately clear whether the State Department’s announcement will prevent Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas from attending next month’s assembly. Such a move would be unprecedented. According to its host country agreement with the UN, the U.S. government is obligated to allow delegations from around the world to visit New York to participate in the General Assembly.” See also Israel launches diplomatic attacks on its Western allies ahead of Palestinian statehood recognition (CNN 8/20/25);
With Palestine recognition, Europeans gave Israel ‘green light to take more pieces’ of West Bank (TOI 8/21/25)
“US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee says Israel’s decision to approve the controversial E1 settlement project, preventing Palestinian contiguity in the West Bank, was a response to the decisions by Western countries to announce plans to recognize a Palestinian state…“I don’t know what the Europeans thought they were going to accomplish, but by their actions, they’re accomplishing something that I don’t think they wanted to do, and that is to essentially to give a green light or encourage the Israelis to go ahead and take more pieces of Judea and Samaria, either by declaring sovereignty or annexation,” Huckabee says, referring to the West Bank by its biblical name.” See also Over 20 nations join EU, UN in opposing Israel’s illegal E1 settlement plan (Al Jazeera 8/22/25)
Germany inks $408M arms deal with Israel despite pledge to curb exports over Gaza (Al Monitor 8/26/25)
“Despite recently announcing an embargo on weapons sales to Israel that could be used in Gaza, Germany has signed a new deal worth more than 350 million euros ($408 million) with Israeli defense company Rafael. The new agreement comes after Chancellor Friedrich Merz vowed on Aug. 8 that offensive weapons would not be sold to Israel due to the humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave…Merz said that Germany would stop supplying weapons to Israel that could be used in the Gaza war. Though the new deal involves imports rather than exports, it has raised questions about the broader consistency of Germany’s defense policy, as the government has sought to distance itself from Israel’s actions during the Gaza war.” See also UK bans Israeli officials from major defense fair: What to know (Al Monitor 8/29/25); Norway wealth fund sells Caterpillar stake over Israel allegations (The Guardian 8/26/25);
Dutch foreign minister quits over failure to secure sanctions against Israel (The Guardian 8/23/25)
“The Dutch foreign minister, Caspar Veldkamp, has resigned after a cabinet meeting failed to secure sanctions against Israel, weakening the Netherlands’ already fragile caretaker government. Veldkamp’s colleagues from the centrist New Social Contract (NSC) party also walked out after the cabinet debate late on Friday reached an impasse over adopting harsher measures against Israel. The discussions about taking further steps against Israel came after the Netherlands joined 20 other countries in signing a joint declaration on Thursday condemning Israeli plans to build an illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank. Critics say the 3,400-home settlement would split the territory in half. The Netherlands barred the far-right Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich from entering the country in July.” See also Far-right Israeli politician barred from Australia ahead of speaking tour (Guardian 8/18/25); Australia accuses Iran of antisemitic arson attacks, expels ambassador (WaPo 8/26/25); Netanyahu Calls Australian PM Albanese a ‘Weak Politician Who Betrayed Israel’ (Haaretz 8/19/25);
The Growing Consensus over Israel’s Genocide in Gaza (Yara Asi//Arab Center DC 8/19/25)
“Despite growing recognition that Israel’s current campaign meets the legal definition of genocide, there is also an emerging agreement that the Palestinian people have in fact been suffering a protracted genocide for decades. Legal and academic definitions of genocide, after all, recognize that it is not a one-off event, but a much longer process of human rights violations. Although the conversation about genocide in Palestine has accelerated since the start of current assault on the Gaza Strip, it is by no means new. Unfortunately, history suggests that the growing consensus on genocide recognition will mean little for Palestinians if it is not accompanied by meaningful political action.” See also Accountability for War Crimes in Gaza: Where We Are (Sarah Leah Whitson//Arab Center DC 8/13/25); See also UN human rights staff urge leadership to declare Israel’s war in Gaza a genocide (The Guardian 8/29/25); Pope demands ‘collective punishment’ end in Gaza as 10 more die of hunger (The Guardian 8/27/25);
Israel, US rift with France widens as Paris rebukes US envoy: What to know (Al Monitor 8/25/25)
“srael and the United States have intensified efforts against France’s intention to recognize Palestine at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly summit in September, with senior Israeli and American officials accusing French President Emmanuel Macron of fueling antisemitism in Europe…The latest episode in the widening diplomatic conflict began with a letter sent to Macron Aug. 25 by American ambassador to France Charles Kushner. The letter, published in the Wall Street Journal one day before it was sent, denounced the rise of antisemitism in France, saying that “public statements haranguing Israel and gestures toward recognition of a Palestinian state embolden extremists, fuel violence, and endanger Jewish life in France.”…The words sparked a diplomatic row, and Kushner was summoned by the French Foreign Ministry for a reprimand on Sunday. One week earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a letter to the French president, rebuking him for his intention to recognize a Palestinian state in September.” See also France summons US ambassador Charles Kushner over his antisemitism allegations (JTA 8/25/25); See also Macron, in Letter to Netanyahu, Defends Call for Palestinian Statehood (NYT 8/26/25); In a first for an Israeli leader, Netanyahu says he recognizes the Armenian genocide (JTA 8/27/25); Netanyahu makes ill-timed Armenian genocide nod as Yerevan courts Turkey (Al Monitor 8/27/25);
Scoop: U.S. asks Israel to scale down Lebanon strikes after decision to disarm Hezbollah (Axios 8/21/25)
“The Trump administration has asked Israel to reduce “non-urgent” military action in Lebanon to bolster the Lebanese government’s decision to start the process of disarming Hezbollah, two sources with direct knowledge tell Axios…The Lebanese cabinet’s unprecedented decision to prepare to disarm Hezbollah came at the urging of the U.S., but many in the region doubt the government will be able to carry it out. The Trump administration thinks reciprocal steps by Israel would give Beirut more space and credibility to follow through.” See also Lebanon begins disarming Palestinian factions after refugee camp hands over weapons (Al Monitor 8/21/25); Israeli activists briefly cross Syria border in bid to establish settlement (TOI 8/19/25); Syria says six soldiers killed in Israeli drone strike as US pushes for security deal (Al Monitor 8/27/25)
‘The Lord Is Counting on Me to Stand on the Side of Israel’: ICJ Judge Reveals Her Bias (Zeteo 8/18/25)
“On July 19, 2024, Judge Julia Sebutinde of Uganda shocked the legal world by casting the sole dissenting vote to the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) finding that Israel was “under an obligation to cease immediately all new settlement activities, and to evacuate all settlers from the Occupied Palestinian Territory.” Her finding came despite that for decades – until a recent Trump-led U-turn – the notion that Israeli colonial settlements in the occupied West Bank were illegal under international law had been a largely unanimous, undisputed fact, even among Israel’s staunchest allies. The academic community had been baffled by her determination, unable to explain such an unusual vote. But according to recent revelations, Sebutinde, who was also the only judge to vote against all six provisional measures the ICJ issued in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel, has admitted she did it because “the Lord” was counting on her “to stand on the side of Israel.” To Sebutinde, like many Christian Zionists, what is happening in the Middle East is a sign that the “End Times” are here. “I have a very strong conviction that we are in the End Times,” she said, according to the independent Ugandan newspaper, the Daily Monitor. “I want to be on the right side of history. I am convinced that time is running out…I am humbled that God has allowed me to be part of the last days.” The legal world is now shocked all over again. What happens when a judge at one of the highest judicial offices in the world admits she has a religious duty to side with one of the parties in a dispute?” See also Trump expands sanctions against ICC officials over Israel, U.S. investigations (WaPo 8/20/25); Washington sanctions 4 more ICC officials over cases against Israel and US (TOI 8/20/25);
RIVER TO THE SEA
The Spread of Settlement Outposts and the Killing of Palestinians in the West Bank Are the Same Thing (Hagar Shezaf//Haaretz 8/14/25)
“A real war is underway in the West Bank. It’s being waged by settler militias – including reserve and active-duty soldiers – against Palestinians. It has several fronts: One targets shepherding communities, which constitute the weakest link in Palestinian society. These communities are small in number, rely on grazing flocks in open areas, and are therefore easy to impoverish and isolate – and have been expelled at a rapid pace since the beginning of the war. The second front – manifested in recent weeks by numerous killings of Palestinians in clashes with settlers – targets the larger, more populated villages. Within this framework, settlers establish outposts on the villages’ agricultural land, conduct patrols, provoke residents, or work to expand the outposts by building roads and establishing satellite outposts that absorb increasing swaths of land. Residents of the Palestinian villages who come to defend their land from seizure inevitably find themselves on the losing side: Not only are the settlers armed with weapons provided to them by the army or the National Security Ministry, but experience shows that the Israeli authorities always justify this use of force – whether the Palestinian shot had thrown a rock or was merely present in the area without interfering, as in the case of Awdah Hathaleen in Umm al-Khair. The fact that violent takeovers of Palestinian land precede these cases is typically ignored by the authorities.” See also Settlers in West Bank’s Hebron Set Up Trailers on Land That Previously Had No Israeli Presence (Haaretz 8/17/25); Israeli Settlers Set Up Four Trailers Near Village Where Settler Killed Palestinian Last Month (Haaretz 8/28/25); The Other Territory (This American Life 8/22/25: “Since October 7th, while the world has focused its attention on Gaza, the Israeli government has tightened the screws on the three million Palestinians in the West Bank in all sorts of dramatic ways. We travel to the West Bank to see these changes in person.”)
Israeli army, settlers unite in collective punishment of Al-Mughayyir (Oren Ziv & Shatha Yaish//+972 Magazine 8/27/25)
“On Friday, Aug. 22, a convoy of bulldozers rolled into the olive groves of Al-Mughayyir, a Palestinian village east of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. Most were civilian machines operated by settlers, with several armored military bulldozers in support. By Sunday, thousands of olive trees, many of them decades old and belonging to local families, had been torn from the ground. The order came from Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, head of the Israeli army’s Central Command…“Shaping operations” is the army’s euphemism for a policy of physically re-engineering areas where Palestinian resistance has emerged. Earlier this year, the tactic was applied in refugee camps across the northern West Bank, where soldiers demolished hundreds of homes, displaced tens of thousands of residents, and leveled structures to ease military access — leaving three camps, one in Jenin and two in Tulkarem, effectively deserted…Following Bluth’s remarks, two leading Israeli human rights groups, Yesh Din and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, demanded that the Military Advocate General open a criminal investigation into the general on suspicion of war crimes.”
Israeli protesters stage ‘day of disruption’ calling for end to war in Gaza (The Guardian 8/26/25)
“Tens of thousands of people took part in demonstrations across Israel on Tuesday, blocking highways on a “day of disruption” that aimed to push Benjamin Netanyahu into agreeing a deal to end the war and calling off plans to attack Gaza City. Relatives of hostages led the biggest march and rally in Tel Aviv, while in Jerusalem hundreds of people gathered outside the prime minister’s office as the security cabinet met to discuss the war. There were dozens of other protests around the country, including on the main highway to the northern city of Haifa and inside Ben Gurion airport.” See also Hundreds of thousands demonstrate in Tel Aviv at end of nationwide day of hostage protests (TOI 8/18/25); Mass protests erupt in Israel as IDF readies plans to occupy Gaza City (WaPo 8/17/25); Protests in Tel Aviv, army reservists refusing to serve: in Israel, more of us are saying no to this endless war (MK Ofer Cassif//The Guardian 8/25/25); Ben-Gvir Pressures Top Israel Police Commanders to Use Force Against Anti-gov’t Protesters, Senior Officers Say (Haaretz 8/29/25); Netanyahu says nationwide strike is ‘distancing the release of our hostages’ (TOI 8/17/25); Netanyahu: Hostage Deal Protests Guarantee Repeat of Oct. 7 Atrocities and Forever War (Haaretz 8/17/25); A death sentence’: Relatives of hostages urge Netanyahu not to ‘torpedo’ deal to free captives (TOI 8/21/25)
Israel’s Exhausted Soldiers Complicate Plans for Gaza Assault (NYT 8/28/25)
“Israel is preparing to call up tens of thousands of reserve soldiers for its Gaza City offensive, but military officials say it’s not clear how many of them will return to the fight after nearly two years of grinding war. Over the past few months, an increasing number of Israeli reserve soldiers have not been showing up for military service. Some cite exhaustion, as well as the need to save strained marriages or foundering careers. Others say they are increasingly disillusioned with the war.” See also The War in Israel Over Serving in War (NYT 8/24/25); As Israel begins offensive on Gaza City, an exhausted military may face a manpower problem (CNN 8/21/25); Israel to mobilize 60,000 reservists ahead of an expanded Gaza City operation (AP 8/20/25); The Zionist Left Never Stood in the Way of Transfer (Hagai El-Ad//Haaretz 8/24/25)
U.S. SCENE
Majority of Americans disapprove of US-Israel military alliance, new poll shows (Politico 8/27/25)
“A Quinnipiac University survey found 60 percent of voters disapprove of the U.S. sending military aid to Israel, while 32 percent support additional aid — the highest level of opposition and lowest level of support for the U.S. military alliance with Israel in a Quinnipiac poll since the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks against Israel by Hamas…Half of the voters surveyed, including 77 percent of Democrats, said they believe Israel is committing genocide. Sixty-four percent of Republicans said they do not believe Israel is committing genocide.” See also Half of Registered U.S. Voters Say Israel Committing Genocide in Gaza, Poll Finds (Haaretz 8/28/25)
U.S. halts visitor visas for Gazans, including humanitarian medical visas (WaPo 8/17/25)
“The move comes after far-right activist Laura Loomer criticized the visa program in recent days, describing it as a “national security threat” in a social media post.”
Democrats Edge Away From Unwavering Support for Israel (NY Mag 8/16/25)
“Support for Israel’s war among rank-and-file Democrats is quickly evaporating, and Democratic politicians are slowly but surely following. The biggest sign of a vibe shift on the issue occurred when a majority of Democratic senators (24 of 47) suddenly joined Bernie Sanders’s latest effort to cut off offensive military weapons sales to Israel (an additional three backed a separate Sanders amendment to block assault-rifle sales to Israel). A similar Sanders effort in April gained just 15 votes…It’s gotten to the point where Politico is calling the issue a “litmus test” for potential 2028 aspirants.” See also Israel’s Gaza Campaign Is Making It a Pariah State (Thomas Friedman//NYT 8/25/25); Even Former AIPAC Democrats Are Signing On to Block Arms Sales to Israel (The Intercept 8/27/25); DNC blocks resolution calling for recognition of Palestinian statehood and halting arms sales to Israel (JTA 8/26/25); Jewish Democrat Jamie Raskin joins list of lawmakers backing bill to restrict arms transfers to Israel (JTA 8/18/25); House Minority Whip Katherine Clark calls war in Gaza a ‘genocide’ — then walks it back (JTA 8/18/25); ADL chief attacks Zohran Mamdani, but gets his facts wrong (Jacob Kornbluh//Forward 8/18/25)
Jake Sullivan says he now supports withholding weapons from Israel (JI 8/28/25)
“Former National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Wednesday that the “case for withholding weapons from Israel today is much stronger than it was one year ago,” adding that he now backs such efforts…“The case for withholding weapons from Israel today is much stronger than it was one year ago,” Sullivan added. “One, they don’t face the same regional threats. Two, there was a ceasefire hostage deal in place and the ability to have negotiations, and it was Israel who just walked away from it without negotiating seriously. Three, there is a full-blown famine in Gaza. And four, there are no more serious military objectives to achieve. It’s just bombing the rubble into rubble.” Sullivan, who was tapped as the inaugural Kissinger Professor of the Practice of Statecraft and World Order at the Harvard Kennedy School, suggested that the political makeup of the Israeli government could affect the future of the U.S.-Israel relationship. “If nothing changes in their government — if it continues to be a far-right government that pursues the same policies — then it won’t be the Israel we’ve known,” Sullivan said.” See also How Former Biden Officials Defend Their Gaza Policy (Isaac Chotiner interviews former US Ambassador to Israel Jacob Lew//New Yorker 8/26/25)
Israel’s iron grip on the American right is slipping away (Ben Lorber//+972 Magazine 8/20/25)
“Since October 7, a panoply of prominent far-right pundits, including Tucker Carlson, Jack Posobiec, and Steve Bannon, as well as MAGA politicians such as Marjorie Taylor Greene have grown increasingly critical of U.S. support for Israel. They fiercely opposed the prospect of U.S. military intervention in Israel’s 12-day war on Iran. And while some pivoted to praise the strikes once it seemed that a longer war had been averted, voices like Carlson and Greene remain wary that Trump may still be swayed to plunge the U.S. into war in the Middle East. Carlson and others are joined by an array of popular voices across the right-leaning YouTube and podcasting ecosystem, including commentators like Joe Rogan and Theo Von and libertarian comedian Dave Smith. The more radical corners, meanwhile, have adopted increasingly hard-edged and openly antisemitic critiques of Zionism, such as popular misogynist “manosphere” voices like Andrew Tate and Jake Shields, conspiracy-mongers like Alex Jones and Candace Owens, and outright white supremacists like Nick Fuentes. Some of these figures have rejected Trump entirely, insisting he has been utterly compromised by Zionists and that an authentic nationalist movement can only arise from the ashes of Trumpism.” See also MAGA erupts after Israeli official charged in child sex ring flees U.S. (Axios 8/20/25)
Microsoft Asked FBI for Help Tracking Palestinian Protests (Bloomberg 8/26/25)
“For the better part of a year, Microsoft Corp. has failed to quell a small but persistent revolt by employees bent on forcing the company to sever business ties with Israel over its war in Gaza. The world’s largest software maker has requested help from the Federal Bureau of Investigation in tracking protests, worked with local authorities to try and prevent them, flagged internal emails containing words like “Gaza” and deleted some internal posts about the protests, according to employees and documents reviewed by Bloomberg. Microsoft has also suspended and fired protesters for disrupting company events. Despite those efforts, a steady trickle of employees, sometimes joined by outside supporters, continue to speak out in an escalating guerilla campaign of mass emails and noisy public demonstrations…Last week, 20 people were arrested on a plaza at Microsoft’s Redmond, Washington, headquarters after disregarding orders by police to disperse…On Tuesday, protesters occupied the office of Microsoft President Brad Smith, sharing video on the Twitch livestreaming platform that showed them chanting, hanging banners and briefly attempting to barricade a door with furniture…An employee group called No Azure for Apartheid says that by selling software and artificial intelligence tools to Israel’s military, the company’s Azure cloud service is profiting from the deaths of civilians. Microsoft denies that, but the protests threaten to dent its reputation as a thoughtful employer and reasonable actor on the world stage.” See also Microsoft fires four workers for on-site protests over company’s ties to Israel (Reuters 8/29/25); Microsoft employee protests lead to 18 arrests as company reviews its work with Israel’s military (AP 8/20/25); Microsoft launches inquiry into claims Israel used its tech for mass surveillance of Palestinians (The Guardian 8/15/25);
On WhatsApp, Palestinians in the U.S. look for food for Gaza — and mourn (WaPo 8/24/25)
“As famine has descended on Gaza, hundreds of Palestinian Americans have gathered on a WhatsApp group chat to make desperate pleas on behalf of relatives and friends in the enclave, many trapped and starving. “Every other day, somebody will say: ‘We have 10 families in this neighborhood. Can somebody get food for them?’” said Hani Almadhoun, a Virginia aid worker and naturalized U.S. citizen who started the group chat years ago and whose parents, multiple siblings and many close friends live in Gaza. “I’m talking to Palestinians who are upper-class, asking me to get their family a pot of soup,” Almadhoun said.
In Gaza, virtually every system of modern life has either collapsed or become unreliable: The banks. The stores. The internet. Cellphone service. Food distribution is intermittent and hundreds have been killed trying to collect aid. On Friday, the world’s leading authority on food security officially declared a famine is happening in Gaza City. For anguished Palestinians living in the United States with relatives and friends trapped in the enclave, the group chat has become a lifeline — a sort of communal bulletin board of urgent appeals for help, but also for information about who might be left alive in neighborhoods that have been bombed. The group — which has grown to nearly 500 people — offers a supportive space for people trying to live with the desperation and grief of war, as well as the guilt that comes with watching the horrors unfold from America.”
The Troubling Lines That Columbia Is Drawing (Eyal Press//New Yorker 8/18/25)
“The ability to threaten and extort universities is surely one of the reasons that the Trump Administration has embraced the I.H.R.A. definition. Another is the definition’s usefulness in framing antisemitism as primarily a problem of the left, flourishing on campuses teeming with young people who have been indoctrinated by radical Israel-hating professors. You would never know from reading the headlines in recent months that the evidence does not support this picture…The curtailment of academic freedom, the deportation of foreign students, the banning of protests: all of this is being done under the pretext of protecting Jews, who alone are entitled to protections that other groups apparently don’t merit. It is hard to imagine a more effective way to breed anti-Jewish animus.” See also The IHRA definition of antisemitism is anti-intellectual and cannot serve as Columbia’s standard (Gil Eyal & Peter Bearman//Columbia Spectator 8/6/25); Beverly Hills Unified School District board members vote to fly Israeli flags inside schools (CBS News 8/27/25); Columbia Will Make Direct Payments to Jewish Employees. Not All of Them Are Happy About It. (Chronicle of Higher Ed 8/15/25)
State Dept. fires official after internal debates over Israel (WaPo 8/20)
“The State Department fired its top press officer for Israeli-Palestinian affairs following multiple disputes over how to characterize key Trump administration policies, including a controversial plan to relocate hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip that critics consider ethnic cleansing, according to U.S. officials and documents reviewed by The Washington Post. Monday’s firing occurred days after an internal debate about releasing a statement to the news media that said, “We do not support forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza.” Shahed Ghoreishi drafted the line, which resembled previous remarks made by President Donald Trump and Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff, who said in February that the United States would not pursue an “eviction plan” for Gaza. State Department leadership vetoed the move, instructing officials to “cut the line marked in red and clear,” according to a memo dated last week. U.S. officials said Ghoreishi’s firing has sent a chilling message to State Department employees that communication straying from ardent pro-Israel messaging — even if it’s in line with long-standing U.S. policy — will not be tolerated.” See also Trump Calls Netanyahu a ‘War Hero’ and Adds: ‘I Guess I Am, Too’ (NYT 8/20/25);
US groups demand release of American-Palestinian teen imprisoned by Israel (The Guardian 8/26/25)
“More than 100 US human rights, faith-based and civil rights groups have demanded that the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, immediately secure the release of a 16-year-old dual American-Palestinian citizen who has been in an Israeli prison for six months over allegations of rock throwing. The coalition, which includes the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), the Center for Constitutional Rights and Pax Christi USA, warned that Mohammed Zaher Ibrahim’s deteriorating health puts “his life on the line” and demanded urgent US intervention in the most significant organized pressure campaign on the imprisoned teenager’s case yet… The teen, who splits his time between Palm Bay, Florida, and the West Bank, was 15 when Israeli soldiers arrested him from his home in the West Bank in February. He has since developed scabies, according to state department emails to the family, and lost at least 25lbs, his lawyer says.”
PERSPECTIVES//LONG READS
In Gaza City, I Have Surrendered to an Unknown Fate (Rasha Abou Jalal//Drop Site 8/29/25)
“We refuse to move south. We have made our decision. Like so many other Palestinians in Gaza, I have ended up in a tent—the enduring symbol of displacement. I am camped out on the rubble with my husband and five children in western Gaza City. The merciless Israeli military machine is bearing down on us, getting closer every day and there is nothing we can do. But we won’t leave here…We were displaced to southern Gaza before—it was a bitter experience that lasted 15 months. We were forced from our home in October 2023, after Netanyahu ordered all Palestinians to displace to the south a few days after the war began. Like hundreds of thousands of others, we were only able to return to the north after the January 2024 ceasefire agreement. That ceasefire only lasted until March 2024, when Israel broke it and resumed its scorched earth campaign. Our experience in the south will never fade from my memory. We never knew any kind of stability. We were forced to move no less than 13 times between different neighborhoods and cities—fleeing bombardment, or searching for water, or privacy, or a semblance of life in overcrowded shelters.Our decision not to go south again was not driven by courage as much as it was by a refusal to repeat this tragedy. Do you know that feeling when you’re stuck between two non-choices?”
Remembering Awdah Hathaleen (Maya Rosen & Erez Bleicher//Jewish Currents 8/21/25)
“For Awdah, the Bedouin tradition of hospitality was a primary strategy and cherished value in the work of countering the ongoing Nakba, and he had the remarkable ability to befriend every guest who ever passed through Umm al-Khair. As our lives became more and more imbricated with the life of Umm al-Khair—hosting delegations, actions, gatherings, or work days together nearly every week—we watched Awdah develop his graciousness and charm into a principle technology in the practice and process of liberation and in defense of his community. In his hands, hospitality became a tool of exquisite sabotage against an ever more refined system of partition—an offensive mechanism deployed like a carefully placed wrench in the gears of the bulldozers and a crowbar prying apart the stone wall of the state’s supremacist logics.”
Gaza Uninhabitable: Challenging Colonial Frames of Erasure (Abdalrahman Kittana//Al Shabaka 8/27/25)
“The erasure of Indigenous populations lies at the core of settler-colonial narratives. These narratives aim to deny existing geographies, communities, and histories to justify the displacement and replacement of one people by another. The Zionist project is no exception. Among Zionism’s founding myths is the claim that it “made the desert bloom” and that Tel Aviv, its crown jewel, arose from barren sand dunes—an uninhabitable void transformed by pioneering settlers…This same settler-colonial discourse drives the ongoing genocidal war on Gaza, where destruction is reframed through the narrative of “uninhabitability.” Gaza is increasingly depicted as a lifeless ruin—a framing that is far from neutral. This commentary contends that “uninhabitable” is a politically charged term that masks culpability, reproduces colonial erasure, and shapes policy and public perception in ways that profoundly affect Palestinian lives and futures. It examines the origins, function, and implications of this discourse within the logic of settler colonialism, calling for a radical shift in language from narratives that obscure violence to those affirming Palestinian presence, history, and sovereignty.”
How Israelis turned atrocity denial into an art (Ron Dudai//+972 Magazine 8/22/25)
“Israel’s ongoing genocidal campaign in Gaza may be the most thoroughly documented atrocity in recent history, measured both by the sheer volume of evidence and the speed of its circulation…And yet, faced with an unending flood of photos and videos of dead civilians, starving children, and entire neighborhoods reduced to rubble, much of the Israeli public — and a significant portion of Israel’s supporters abroad — responds in one of two ways: either it is all fake, or else the Gazans deserved it. Often, paradoxically, it is both at once: “There are no dead children in Gaza, and it’s good that we killed them.”’
Gaza under Siege (Tareq Baconi//LRB July 2025)
“A few years ago I had a meeting with a European diplomat in Brussels. He was a well-intentioned mid-career official looking for ways to get more aid into the Gaza Strip. At the time Israel was limiting the number of trucks allowed in, as it had been doing since tightening the blockade on Gaza in 2007. The diplomat was trying hard to increase that number. I praised his work, but said that the real issue was not the number of trucks entering, but the fact that Israel controlled that number in the first place. I argued that the goal of the international community shouldn’t be to make life under the blockade liveable, but to challenge the illegal and immoral blockade itself. Such conversations are constrained by notions of what is ‘possible’ and ‘pragmatic’; any proposals that fall outside those parameters are deemed ‘utopian’ and ‘idealistic’…’What can be done?’ the European diplomat might ask me today. For a start, call a spade a spade. This is an apartheid regime carrying out a genocide on a captive population. End military assistance. Suspend arms exports to Israel and stop buying Israeli weapons (Israel’s arms exports increased 14 per cent last year to a record $14.8 billion, more than half of which went to Europe). Impose sanctions: end financial and economic co-operation in trade and banking relations; stop all cultural links and diplomatic partnerships. Support the ICC and the ICJ and meet third-party obligations under international law. Bring criminal investigations against dual nationals who have committed war crimes in Gaza. Stop demonising the Palestinian struggle to end apartheid. The diplomat would no doubt tell me that none of this is possible or pragmatic.”