NEW FROM FMEP
FMEP Legislative Round-Up May 16, 2025 (Lara Friedman)
- Bills, Resolutions; 2. Letters; 3. Hearings; 4. Selected Members on the Record; 5. Selected Media & Press releases/Statements
Settlement & Annexation Report: May 16, 2025 (Kristin McCarthy)
- Annexation – – Israel Green Lights Land Registration in the West Bank Area C; 2. East Jerusalem & the Old City News; 3. West Bank Settlement & Annexation News; 4. Israeli Politics; 5. U.S. Politics; 6. Marking 77 Years of Ongoing Nakba
What’s happening between the U.S. and Iran? (New podcast episode)
FMEP Fellow Ahmed Moor speaks with analyst Trita Parsi of the Quincy Institute about Iran and the U.S. Their conversation spans from exploring decision-making authority and processes in Iran to the impact that U.S. sanctions have on ordinary people in Iran, where poverty has risen dramatically. They speak in depth about the regional and economic dynamics that may have primed Iran for a deal with the United States, including a growing recognition about both the potential and limits on what Russia and China can provide, and the possibility that President Trump will break with DC orthodoxy to make a deal.
What Harvard’s Antisemitism and Islamophobia Reports Get Wrong (New podcast episode)
FMEP Fellow Peter Beinart speaks with Dr. Lara Jirmanus and Professor Atalia Omer about the Harvard University’s two new reports, one on Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian bias and the other on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias. They discuss the quality of the reports, how the antisemitism report erases Jews who are critical of Israel, and what the potential impact is for a report on Islamophobia, anti-Arab and Anti-Palestinian bigotry.
GAZA
Israel kills over 100 in Gaza as Palestinians mark 77 years since the Nakba (Al Jazeera 5/15/25)
“At least 115 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in a wave of Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip, as indirect ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas continue. At least 61 people were killed overnight and early on Thursday in a barrage of attacks on the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, according to local health officials. In Jabalia in northern Gaza, an Israeli strike on al-Tawbah medical clinic killed at least 15 people and wounded several others, the health ministry said. Israel’s army also attacked three hospitals in north and south Gaza: al-Awda hospital in Jabalia, the Indonesian Hospital in Khan Younis, and the European hospital, which Gaza’s Health Ministry says is now out of service…“Israeli warplanes directly targeted nine houses without any warning in the city of Khan Younis,” he said, adding that entire families were “completely wiped out”.” See also Israeli airstrikes in Gaza kill 70 people, including 22 children, health officials say (AP 5/14/25); The 1948 Nakba and Today’s Gaza Genocide Are Two Sides of the Same Coin (Diana Buttu//Zeteo 5/15/25); Why Israelis Need to Accept That for Palestinians, the Nakba Is Ongoing (Rana Salman//Haaretz 5/15/25); Israeli strikes kill over 115 Palestinians as Trump suggests to ‘take’ Gaza (Al Monitor 5/15/25);
‘Render it unusable’: Israel’s mission of total urban destruction (Meron Rapoport & Oren Ziv//+972 Magazine 5/15/25)
“Together, these sources paint a clear picture: the systematic destruction of residential buildings and public structures has become a central part of the Israeli army’s operations, and in many cases, the primary objective. Some of this devastation is the result of aerial bombardments, ground fighting, and IEDs planted by Palestinian militants inside buildings in Gaza. However, while it is difficult to obtain precise figures, it appears that most of the destruction in Gaza and southern Lebanon was not carried out from the air or during combat, but rather by Israeli bulldozers or explosives — premeditated and intentional acts. According to +972 and Local Call’s investigation, this was driven by a conscious, strategic decision to “flatten the area,” to ensure that “the return of people to these spaces is not something that will happen,” as Yotam, who served as a deputy company commander in an armored brigade in Gaza, said.” See also Gazans Once Escaped To Rafah. Now Israel Is Razing It. (NYT 5/15/25); Thousands Flee in Gaza City After Israel Issues Mass Displacement Orders and Vows to Attack ”With Great Force” (Rasha Abou Jalal//Drop Site 5/15/25); Breaking down a deadly week in Gaza as Israel kills hundreds (Al Jazeera 5/16/25);
IDF says it has launched first stages of new major Gaza offensive dubbed ‘Gideon’s Chariots’ (TOI 5/16/25)
““Over the past day, the IDF launched extensive attacks and mobilized forces to seize strategic areas in the Gaza Strip, as part of the opening moves of Operation Gideon’s Chariots and the expansion of the campaign in Gaza, to achieve all the goals of the war in Gaza, including the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas,” the military says in a statement…According to Israeli officials, the Gideon’s Chariots offensive would see the IDF “conquering” Gaza and retaining the territory; moving the Palestinian civilian population toward the south of the Strip; attacking Hamas; and preventing the terror group from taking control of humanitarian aid supplies.”
Gaza’s Last Hospital for 10,000 Cancer Patients Shuts Down Due to Repeated Israeli Strikes (Haaretz 5/16/25)
“Gaza’s Hamas-controlled Health Ministry announced on Friday that the European Hospital in Khan Yunis would be closed due to ongoing Israeli strikes on the compound. In an attempt to assassinate top Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar, the Israeli military on Tuesday struck the European Hospital, Gaza’s last facility that could treat cancer patients, killing at least 16 people, wounding 70, and leading to the evacuation of its patients. Since then, strikes on the hospital have not ceased.” See also Israeli Forces Bombed Two Gaza Hospitals in One Day (Kavitha Chekuru//Drop Site 5/14/25); Israel says strikes on Gaza hospital complex targeted underground bunker (WaPo 5/13/25);
Trump touts ‘freedom zone’ plan for Gaza as ceasefire talks stall in Qatar (NPR 5/15/25)
“President Trump said on Thursday the Gaza Strip should be made into a “freedom zone,” doubling down on his proposal to displace Palestinians from the territory just as Israel plans a major offensive and intensifies deadly airstrikes, killing more than 150 people in the past day, including dozens of children…Israel’s far-right government has embraced Trump’s proposals on Gaza to displace Palestinians permanently outside the territory and turn it into a seaside real-estate development. Trump’s latest comments on Gaza were made while he was still in Qatar. All Arab states have rejected the plan, and Hamas has called it ethnic cleansing. Trump’s remarks about Gaza came on the same day the number of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks in the war surpassed 53,000 people — a third of them children, according to Gaza’s health ministry.” See also Netanyahu says there is ‘no way’ Israel halts the war in Gaza until Hamas is defeated (AP 5/13/25); Israeli airstrikes kill at least 80 as Trump talks of turning Gaza into ‘freedom zone’ (The Guardian 5/15/25)
Hamas Says Witkoff Personally Promised to Lift Gaza Blockade in Exchange for Edan Alexander (Jeremy Scahill//Drop Site 5/16/25)
“A senior Hamas official told Drop Site that the group received a direct commitment from Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, that two days after the release of U.S. citizen and Israeli soldier Edan Alexander, the Trump administration would compel Israel to lift the Gaza blockade and allow humanitarian aid to enter the territory. Witkoff, according to the official, also promised that Trump would make a public call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and for negotiations aimed at achieving a “permanent ceasefire.” “It was a deal,” said Basem Naim, a member of Hamas’s political bureau who has previously engaged in direct talks with U.S. officials. He said the pledge was made by “Witkoff, himself.”…“He did nothing of this,” Naim added. “They didn’t violate the deal. They threw it in the trash.”’ See also Witkoff told mediators US not planning to force Israel to end Gaza war, officials say (TOI 5/15/25); Hamas frees last living US citizen held in Gaza in what Trump calls a ‘good faith step’ (The Guardian 5/12/25); As Trump Declares “Golden Era” in the Arab Gulf, Gaza Burns and Netanyahu Threatens to Wipe Palestinians Off the Map (Jeremy Scahill//Drop Site 5/15/25)
Food security experts warn Gaza at ‘critical risk of famine’ amid Israeli blockade (The Guardian 5/12/25)
“Gaza is at “critical risk of famine”, food security experts have warned, 10 weeks after Israel imposed a blockade on the devastated Palestinian territory, cutting off all supplies including food, medicine, shelter and fuel. In its most recent report, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said on Monday there had been a “major deterioration” in the food security situation in Gaza since its last assessment in October 2024 and that Palestinians living there faced “a critical risk of famine”. “Goods indispensable for people’s survival are either depleted or expected to run out in the coming weeks. The entire population is facing high levels of acute food insecurity, with half a million people – one in five – facing starvation,” said the IPC, a consortium of independent specialists tasked by the UN and international NGOs with assessing the risk of famine in crises worldwide. Israel imposed its strict blockade in early March, after the end of the first phase of a supposed three-phase ceasefire…Aid workers in Gaza told the Guardian that prices for essentials had risen further in recent days, warehouses were empty and humanitarian teams treating malnourished children were being forced to divide rations designed for one between two patients to give both a chance of survival.” See also Trump says people in Gaza are starving and US will take care of situation (The Guardian 5/16/25); Gaza faces ‘critical’ famine risk, experts say, as Israel blocks aid (WaPo 5/12/25);
In Private, Some Israeli Officers Admit That Gaza Is on the Brink of Starvation (NYT 5/13/25)
“Some Israeli military officials have privately concluded that Palestinians in Gaza face widespread starvation unless aid deliveries are restored within weeks, according to three Israeli defense officials familiar with conditions in the enclave. For months, Israel has maintained that its blockade on food and fuel to Gaza did not pose a major threat to civilian life in the territory, even as the United Nations and other aid agencies have said a famine was looming. But Israeli military officers who monitor humanitarian conditions in Gaza have warned their commanders in recent days that unless the blockade is lifted quickly, many areas of the enclave will likely run out of enough food to meet minimum daily nutritional needs, according to the defense officials. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to share sensitive details.” See also The U.S. has a plan for getting food into Gaza. Top aid groups object to the idea (NPR 5/11/25); Construction sites appear in Gaza ahead of Israeli-US aid plan rejected by UN, images show (BBC 5/15/25)
7 European governments call on Israel to reverse aid blockade responsible for Gaza ‘humanitarian catastrophe’ (TOI 5/16/25)
“The leaders of seven European governments have issued a joint statement condemning Israel’s ongoing aid blockade in Gaza that has been in place since March 2…“We will not be silent in front of the man-made humanitarian catastrophe that is taking place before our eyes in Gaza. More than 50.000 men, women, and children have lost their lives. Many more could starve to death in the coming days and weeks unless immediate action is taken,” the leaders of Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Slovenia and Spain say in their joint statement. “We call upon the government of Israel to immediately reverse its current policy, refrain from further military operations and fully lift the blockade, ensuring safe, rapid and unimpeded humanitarian aid to be distributed throughout the Gaza Strip by international humanitarian actors and according to humanitarian principles.”’ See also Macron: EU may revisit cooperation pacts with Israel over PM’s ‘shameful’ Gaza policy (TOI 5/14/25); Netherlands urges review of EU-Israel trade deal over ‘catastrophic’ Gaza aid block (The Guardian 5/7/25)
REGION/GLOBAL
Trump blasts ‘interventionalists’ and ‘neo-cons’ in Riyadh speech (Jewish Insider 5/13/25)
“President Donald Trump lambasted “interventionalists” and “neo-cons” who previously led foreign policy discourse in the Republican Party in a speech on Tuesday at a U.S.-Saudi Arabia investment forum event in Riyadh. “The gleaming marvels of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi were not created by the so-called nation-builders, neo-cons or liberal nonprofits like those who spent trillions failing to develop [Kabul], Baghdad, so many other cities,” Trump said. “In the end, the so-called nation-builders wrecked far more nations than they built and the interventionalists were intervening in complex societies that they did not even understand themselves.” “They told you how to do it, but they had no idea how to do it themselves,” Trump continued. “Peace, prosperity and progress ultimately came not from a radical rejection of your heritage but rather from embracing your national traditions and embracing that same heritage that you love so dearly.” Trump also condemned American presidents who “have been afflicted with the focus that it’s our job to look into the souls of foreign leaders and use U.S. policy to dispense justice for their sins” — an apparent condemnation of former President George W. Bush.” See also In Trump’s Middle East, Israel’s Standing Has Been Downgraded (Haaretz 5/16/25); Visiting Riyadh, Trump tells Saudi Arabia: You’ll join Abraham Accords in your own time (TOI 5/13/25); Trump announces more than $200bn of deals between US and UAE (The Guardian 5/15/25); US signs $142B deal to upgrade Saudi military (Al Monitor 5/13/25); US, Saudi Arabia ink $600B economic pact amid AI, energy deals (Al Monitor 5/13/25); Saudis Greet Trump to His Tastes, With Pomp, Opulence and Real Estate (NYT 5/13/25); Trump Cites $600 Billion in Saudi Deals, but Real Figure Appears Lower (NYT 5/13/25);
Syria-Israel talks reportedly intensify as Trump asks Sharaa to normalize: What to know (Al Monitor 5/16/25)
“Israel is reportedly conducting secret talks with the new Syrian government and engaged in two indirect channels of negotiations as Washington intensifies its push to bring Syria into the Abraham Accords by normalizing ties with the Jewish state. What happened: The first, more formal track involves talks with Turkish counterparts, reportedly taking place in Baku under Azerbaijani auspices. Israeli diplomatic sources confirmed last week that these talks included official Israeli representatives. The second, less formal channel was initiated by senior Emirati officials. It involves former Israeli security officials and academics, rather than serving government figures. Both Azerbaijan and the United Arab Emirates have open ties with Israel…The Channel 12 report cited unnamed Israeli diplomatic sources who stressed that while these contacts are still in a very early stage, they could reshape the regional map, expanding the Abraham Accords and help mend relations between Israel and Turkey.” See also Syrians rejoice after Trump pledge to lift crippling sanctions (WaPo 5/14/25); Trump announces U.S. will remove sanctions on Syria (Axios 5/13/25); Gulf States Pay Off $15.5 Million Syrian Debt to World Bank (NYT 5/16/25); Rubio Meets Syrian Foreign Minister in Another Sign of Warming Ties (NYT 5/15/25); Trump’s Meeting With Syria’s New Leader Proves It: Israel Has Lost Clout With U.S. (Haaretz 5/15/25);
Washington’s Qatargate: How Doha Gets Away With Funding Hamas and Trump’s Air Force One (Ben Samuels//Haaretz 5/14/25)
“U.S. President Donald Trump’s Wednesday visit to Qatar puts unprecedented spotlight on the Gulf state that is already no stranger to controversy. Trump’s visit, originally intended to focus on an anticipated $200-300 billion in investments and weapons deals, was already set to mark a capstone in Qatar’s decades-long influence campaign among successive presidential administrations from both political parties. Scrutiny over Doha’s influence amid news of its planned gift of a luxury Boeing 747-8 jet (estimated to be worth approximately $400 million) to be used as the new Air Force One, however, has reached a fever pitch…Many of the concerns revolve the ethical implications of the Trump Organization’s $5.5 billion golf course and real estate deal with DarGlobal and Qatari Diar, a firm established by Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund…Qatar has employed more than a dozen white-shoe lobbying firms to provide a variety of services related to information control over its role in the Middle East.” See also More than just a plane: Gift to Trump highlights Qatar’s multi-billion US influence campaign (TOI 5/15/25); More Republicans voice concern about Qatari jet, as Dems pursue blocking efforts (Jewish Insider 5/14/25); In Middle East, Trump marginalizes Israel without helping Gaza (Ishaan Tharoor//WaPo 5/15/25); Trump repeatedly bypasses Netanyahu, stoking dismay among Israelis (WaPo 5/12/25);
Trump confirms U.S. gave Iran a proposal for a nuclear deal (Axios 5/16/25)
“President Trump on Friday confirmed that the U.S. gave Iran a proposal for a nuclear deal and called on Iran to accept it fast…What he is saying: “They have a proposal. They know they have to move quickly or something bad is gonna happen,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he left Abu Dhabi back to Washington on Friday. The other side: [Iranian Foreign Minister] Araghchi responded to Trump’s comment on his X account and claimed Iran has not received any “written” proposal from the U.S. or from the Omani mediators.” See also Trump Says Negotiations on Iran’s Nuclear Program Are ‘Very Serious’ (NYT 5/15/25); IDF pounds Houthi-controlled ports in Yemen in response to missile, drone attacks (TOI 5/16/25);
ICC war crimes prosecutor takes leave amid sexual misconduct inquiry (WaPo 5/16/25)
“The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, who was pursuing war crimes cases against the leaders of Israel and Russia, has abruptly stepped aside while under investigation himself amid allegations of sexual misconduct. Karim Khan, a British attorney posted at The Hague since 2021, informed the court Friday that he would take leave from his duties until the inquiry into his personal behavior concludes, according to Fadi El Abdallah, spokesperson for the global court.” See also “Hiding Behind Atrocities”(Alice Speri//Drop Site 5/11/25: “As Prosecutor Karim Khan seeks a flurry of arrest warrants, ICC staff accuse him of using court cases to dodge sexual abuse allegations.”);
RIVER TO THE SEA
The Destruction of Khalet a-Daba’ (Emily Glick//Jewish Currents 5/13/25)
“In the early morning hours of May 5th, two large excavators and two bulldozers rolled over the hills of Masafer Yatta and into the village of Khalet a-Daba’. In under two hours, Israeli military forces demolished nine houses, six residential caves, 11 bathrooms, ten water tanks, seven water cisterns, four animal shelters, an electricity room, the majority of the village’s solar panels, and the community center. By the time the army left, only four structures remained; 90% of the village was in ruins…The demolition of Khalet a-Daba’—the largest ever carried out in Masafer Yatta—marks the state’s first clear attempt to actualize the Supreme Court’s ruling by trying to expel one of the 12 villages [in Firing Zone 918] in its entirety. Residents fear that this step foreshadows an escalation in Israel’s campaign of expulsions and forced transfer across the region—the intensification they have nervously anticipated for the last three years. This photo essay—comprised of photos by Basel Adra, Eid Suleiman, Omri Eran Vardi, Oren Ziv, and myself—offers a glimpse at life in Khalet a-Daba’ before, during, and after its recent destruction.”
How Kahanism found its way into the Israeli political mainstream (Natasha Roth-Rowland//+972 Magazine 5/14/25)
“While he was still in the United States, [Israel’s current Ambassador to the U.S, Yechiel] Leiter had been a member of the far-right Jewish Defense League, a violent vigilante group founded by the extremist American rabbi Meir Kahane. In the 1970s, after moving to Israel, Leiter joined Kach, the fascist political party and movement that Kahane had founded after his own immigration…Leiter’s appointment as ambassador to the U.S. despite his prior membership in this group is noteworthy, and offers a depressing snapshot of the extremism of both Israeli and U.S. politics…At the same time, Leiter’s rise is a window onto a larger story: the perpetual and ever-growing absorption of extremist groups into Israel’s political mainstream, typically through their alumni either being elected into office or serving as top aides to powerful members of the Knesset. Indeed, the sight of Kahanists and members of the extremist hilltop youth going about their day in the Israeli parliament is now well-established, and has thrown into sharp relief Israeli politics’ rightward march over the past few decades — which has accelerated into a race to the bottom since October 7…This has been going on in some form since the founding of the state: The far-right militants who bombed hotels and markets during the pre-state era — and agitated against the British Mandate authorities, the indigenous Arab inhabitants of Palestine, and their mainstream Jewish rivals — were rapidly folded into the new country’s institutions, from the army to the parliament…The Kahanist pipeline into mainstream Israeli politics is the most notable and consistent aspect of this trend, given the movement’s longevity and transparently fascist ideology. But Kach is far from the only extreme-right group in Israeli society to find a place for itself in the Knesset. Members of Gush Emunim, the Jewish Underground, the Temple Mount Movement, and, as noted above, the hilltop youth, have all found their way into Israel’s corridors of power — whether as elected officials or as their aides and advisers.” See also Once Outliers, Now Indistinguishable: How Netanyahu Brought Kahanist Politics Into Israel’s Mainstream (Noa Shpigel//Haaretz 5/15/25); Flatten the West Bank? Why Israelis Are Apathetic About the War Crimes Committed in Their Name (Haaretz 5/15/25);
Israeli mother en route to hospital to give birth killed in West Bank terror shooting (TOI 5/15/25)
“A Palestinian terrorist opened fire on Israeli vehicles on Wednesday night in the northern West Bank, striking a pregnant woman who was en route to a hospital to deliver her baby, along with her husband, the military and medics said.” See also Settlers set fire to 15 Palestinian vehicles in West Bank, Palestinian media reports (TOI 5/16/25); Israel Launches PR Initiative to Boost Global ‘Legitimization’ of West Bank Settlements (Haaretz 5/7/25); In First, Israel Uses New West Bank Land Policy to Delay Settlement Eviction (Haaretz 5/16/25);
The Israeli Soldiers Who Refuse to Fight in Gaza (Ruth Margalit//New Yorker 5/14/25)
“In unit after unit, the Israeli military is seeing the attendance rates of reservists plummet. Among the resisters is a small but growing group of veterans, like Tamir, who openly express dissent and outrage…Nearly a thousand current and former pilots and airmen signed a petition last month calling for the release of the remaining hostages, “even at the cost of ending the war.” (The signatories stopped short of forthrightly calling for their peers to refuse call-ups, but the Air Force said that petition’s endorsers could no longer serve in the reserves.) Hundreds of current and former intelligence soldiers from the élite Unit 8200 and doctors in the Army reserves have signed similar letters. While these protesters announce their moral objections, thousands of other reservists are engaging in what has become known as “quiet refusal”—simply not showing up for duty.” See also Despite Netanyahu, Edan Alexander is finally free (The Forward 5/12/25); Israel’s Top Civil Liberties Group Warns Knesset Is ‘Building Dictatorship’ (Haaretz 5/14/25); Fear, Censorship and Repression Are Keeping Israelis in the Dark About Gaza (Haaretz 5/12/25)
U.S. SCENE
Indian academic held over pro-Palestinian views released from Ice jail (The Guardian 5/14/25)
“The Georgetown academic Badar Khan Suri was released from Ice detention hours after a Virginia federal judge’s order on Wednesday. Khan Suri was among several individuals legally studying in the US who have been targeted by the Trump administration for their pro-Palestinian activism. He has spent two months in detention. US district judge Patricia Giles in Alexandria, Virginia, said that the ruling was effective immediately with no conditions and no bond. She added that Khan Suri’s release was “in the public interest to disrupt the chilling effect on protected speech” during the hearing. The judge explained in her ruling how the government did not submit sufficient evidence on several of its claims.” See also He Denounced the Gaza War at Graduation. N.Y.U. Withheld His Diploma. (NYT 5/14/25)
Rümeysa Öztürk, Tufts student held by Ice, vows to continue legal action after jail release (The Guardian 5/11/25)
“A Tufts University student from Turkey has returned to Boston, one day after being released from a Louisiana immigration detention center where she was held for more than six weeks after being arrested for her political speech…[Judge] Sessions said the government offered no evidence for why Öztürk was arrested other than the op-ed…Öztürk was one of four students who wrote the opinion piece last year in campus newspaper The Tufts Daily. It criticized the university’s response to student activists demanding that Tufts “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide,” disclose its investments and divest from companies with ties to Israel.” See also SCOOP: Trump Admin Forcing Schools to Report International Students for Protest Activity or ‘Antisemitic Actions’ (Zeteo 5/16/25); Ben & Jerry’s co-founder arrested for Gaza protest at US Senate hearing (The Guardian 5/15/25);
ADL takes on shareholders questioning Israel arms sales (Eli Clifton//Responsible Statecraft 5/7/25)
“The Anti-Defamation League now says criticizing the use of US weapons is ‘antisemitic’”
PERSPECTIVES//LONG READS
I run a soup kitchen in Gaza. The horrors of starvation here are indescribable. (Faten Madhoun//USA Today 5/9/25)
“Each morning, as the sun rises over the dust and debris, my focus narrows to one thing: feeding the hundreds who rely on the lifeline we call our soup kitchen in northern Gaza, with what meager supplies I manage to find that day, if any at all. Meats, fruits and vegetables are a distant memory. Finding a can of beans feels like a small victory…Each meal I can provide is a small act of defiance against the gnawing engineered starvation that has become a constant companion, part of what legal experts and human rights groups have called a genocide – one that aims to erase us from existence…The stark reality I witness daily at the soup kitchen is children with pale complexions and skin sores, thinning hair and weakened bodies…Death is everywhere. It feels inescapable and inevitable.”
Even Once Reluctant Scholars Now Agree on Israel’s Gaza Assault: It’s a Genocide (Common Dreams 5/15/25)
“The seven experts were interviewed Wednesday by NRC, a newspaper in the Netherlands, and were unequivocal: Not only have they all come to believe—some earlier than others—that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, but the vast majority of their peers in academia concur. “Can I name someone whose work I respect who doesn’t consider it genocide?” said Raz Segal, an Israeli genocide researcher at Stockton University in New Jersey. “No.”
To my newborn son: I am absent not out of apathy, but conviction (Mahmoud Khalil//The Guardian 5/11/25)
“Yaba Deen,* it has been two weeks since you were born, and these are my first words to you…Deen, my heart aches that I could not hold you in my arms and hear your first cry, that I could not unfurl your clenched fists or change your first diaper…The grief your mother and I feel is but one drop in a sea of sorrow that Palestinian families have drowned in for generations…No matter where I am when you read this – whether I’m in this country or another – I want to impress upon you one lesson: The struggle for Palestinian liberation is not a burden; it is a duty and an honor we carry with pride. So at every turning point in my life, you will find me choosing Palestine. Palestine over ease. Palestine over comfort. Palestine over self. This struggle is sweeter than a life without dignity. The tyrants want us to submit, to obey, to be perfect victims. But we are free, and we will remain free. I hope you feel this as deeply as I do.”
I’m a rabbi. Starving Gaza is immoral. (Rabbi Rick Jacobs, President of the Union for Reform Judaism//WaPo 5/12/25)
“Nonetheless, Hamas’s actions do not excuse Israel’s policy of cutting off humanitarian aid to innocent civilians in Gaza…Starving Gazan civilians neither will bring Israel the “total victory” over Hamas it seeks nor can be justified by Jewish values or humanitarian law…As a proud Zionist who continues to feel deep solidarity with the people of Israel, including those who wear the Israel Defense Forces uniform, and as I have said on numerous occasions since Oct. 8, I cannot be silent in the face of the immense suffering of civilians in Gaza, including hundreds of thousands of children. Hamas is willing to sacrifice thousands of Palestinians by hoarding humanitarian aid; Israel must not. Depriving Gazans of food and water will not make Israel safer or hasten the return of the hostages. Each of us who loves Israel must say so — and urge Israel to change this policy.” See also I supported Israel’s actions in Gaza in October 2023 — not anymore (Rabbi Jay Michaelson//The Forward 5/9/25)
Why Israel’s demand for Hamas to disarm is a red herring (Muhammad Shehada//+972 5/13/25)
“For Israel, Hamas’ disarmament is merely the pretext; The real goal, as Netanyahu himself admitted recently, is to render Gaza uninhabitable, ungovernable, and ultimately unpopulated. Every negotiation Israel sabotages, every ceasefire it undermines, and every humanitarian convoy it blocks are part of a deliberate campaign of ethnic cleansing. Netanyahu’s strategy is not peace through security, but conquest through suffering: to grind Gaza down until its people either flee, starve, or disappear beneath the rubble. This is not a war on Hamas, it is a war on the very existence of Palestinians in Gaza.”
Israel is annihilating Palestinian children. Amer Rabea was one of them (Ahmad Ibsais//The Guardian 5/14/25)
“Amer Mohammed Rabea was 14 years old. He was a US citizen. On 7 April 2025, he was shot and killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank city of Turmus Ayya. There was no warning. No investigation. Just a bullet, a body and a silence so deep it threatens to swallow justice whole. The killing of a child should rupture the world. Instead, Amer’s death joined a growing ledger of erased Palestinian lives, tallied but never mourned by those in power. There was no state department briefing. No congressional statement. No public grieving for a child born under two flags, killed under a third. Even in death, Amer was made stateless.”
‘We need to do something’: the company releasing Palestinian films no one else will (The Guardian 5/14/25)
“As many films struggle to find distribution, Watermelon Pictures has stepped in to help tell stories from Palestine and other marginalized communities”
The Unbearable Pain of Leaving Gaza (Abubaker Abed//Drop Site 5/12/25)
“Since the onset of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, my life has been flipped upside down. My educational career was interrupted. In 2023, I was in my final undergraduate year at university. When the Israeli onslaught escalated, I stopped reporting on football and evolved into an accidental war correspondent—to cover the genocide against me and my people. With the exception of two periods—a week-long truce in November 2023, and a longer ceasefire this past January that lasted nearly sixty days—the bombs fell perpetually on Gaza. Al-Hassan Mattar, my closest friend, was killed. My aunt’s entire family was wiped out. About twenty relatives were killed in twin bombings that targeted my other aunt’s family. Being immunocompromised, the genocide exacerbated my long-time suffering. I contracted a variety of diseases—acute gastroenteritis, bronchitis, and hepatitis A…At the end of March, I was diagnosed with acute malnutrition…”I was 20 when I began reporting on the genocide. Now, I am 22. My hope is to be free—to be like any 22-year-old around the world. I was a football reporter who had to evolve into a war correspondent, and I kept speaking the truth at the top of my lungs and sharing our tragedies with a world that has let us down for the last eighteen months. My journey has been difficult. I was born in a womb of suffering, raised in a walled-in refugee camp, and I faced countless struggles and challenges. I grew up with war. I spent many nights in the dark with no light except for a candle whose wax would melt and sting my hands as I wrote. Gaza was always a place of suffering—the genocide thrust us to a lower rung of hell than the one we had always lived in…Outside of Gaza, I will fight with all my strength to change the world—to continue speaking up until the genocide ends. It must end. Now.”