NEW FROM FMEP
“The Condition of Being Palestinian in English” (New podcast episode)
FMEP Fellow Ahmed Moor speaks with poet & physician Fady Joudah about Fady’s new book, Exhibit G, which was released today by Milkweed Press and named on the 2026 National Book Award’s Long List for Poetry They discuss the book’s poetry, prose poems, and photographs, most of which come from the Gaza Soup Kitchen, and how Fady uses these to communicate the language and experience of daily living during this genocide. Fady asks, “what it is that Palestinians speak in a time like this?,” and points to the ways that he and other Palestinian writers and artists are addressing an erasure of Palestinian life and society that has existed for decades and been ignored until the genocide made the erasure impossible to deny. Fady and Ahmed discuss the mulitfaceted nature of gaining accolades and exposure for the book and the growth of solidarity with Palestinians as these come “at the cost of genocide.” Fady articulates “the condition of being Palestinian in English,” in which Palestinians are “starved…for any kind of believability.” Finally, Ahmed and Fady talk about Fady’s background — born in the United States to Nakba-refugee parents who grew up in Gaza and raised in Libya and Saudi Arabia, with extensive and extended family in Gaza — and his love of poetry and deep attachment to Arabic.
FMEP Legislative Round-Up September 25, 2026 (Lara Friedman)
- Bills, Resolutions; 2. Letters & Reports; 3. Hearings & Markups; 4. Selected Members on the Record; 5. Selected Media & Press releases/Statements See also Shifting Tides: Palestine, US Elections, and Pathways Forward — What Change is Possible?– Arab Center Washington DC conference 9/23/26 – panel II (video), ft. Cory Archibald (Track AIPAC); Lara Friedman (FMEP); Daniel Levy (US/MEP); Josh Ruebner (IMEU); Shibley Telhami (UMD); and moderator Ryan Grim (Drop Site News)
GLOBAL/REGION
In fiery UN speech, Netanyahu blasts Iran, Qatar, Turkey, slams Gaza genocide accusation (TOI 9/24/26)
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hit many of his favorite themes in a combative speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Thursday, including the threat Iran poses to the world and the Jewish people’s determination to stand up to antisemitism and attempts to annihilate them. He also surprised many observers by mentioning US President Donald Trump only once, and failing to offer new evidence on Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile program — despite Israeli officials saying he would do so. Two other Middle Eastern countries were singled out by Netanyahu for “spreading lies” and backing Hamas — Qatar and Turkey…Netanyahu said that Jews no longer feel safe in New York City, which has the world’s largest Jewish population. “This isn’t the city we remember. It changed so quickly,” said Netanyahu. He called Mamdani a supporter of Hamas — something the Gracie Mansion firmly denies…He also panned Mamdani’s wife for liking posts that celebrated the October 7 Hamas attacks…Turning to the war in the Gaza Strip, Netanyahu pushed back aggressively against the charge of genocide. “Israel didn’t commit genocide. Israel prevented genocide,” said Netanyahu, arguing that Mamdani’s “Hamas buddies” would have killed every last Jew if they could have.” See also Delegates walk out as Netanyahu touts Iran war, slams Qatar and Turkey at UN (Al Monitor 9/24/26); Delegates Walk Out in Protest as Netanyahu Speaks (NYT 9/24/26); Netanyahu, Addressing U.N., Denounces Israel’s Critics as ‘Moral Cowards’ (NYT 9/24/26); Susan Sarandon and Hannah Einbinder arrested at anti-Netanyahu protest in New York (The Guardian 9/24/26); I was arrested protesting Netanyahu’s New York visit. Here’s why we took a stand (Darializa Avila Chevalier//The Guardian 9/24/26); Mamdani Accuses Netanyahu of ‘Sanitizing Genocide’ After PM Targets Him at UN (Haaretz 9/24/26); Incoming anti-Israel members of Congress protest against Netanyahu outside U.N. (JI 9/24/26); About 100 Are Arrested in Protests Against Netanyahu (NYT 9/24/26);
UN General Assembly 2026: Trump talks up Iran, Israel, Latin America strategy (Middle East Eye 9/22/26)
“US President Donald Trump on Tuesday touted his 20-month legacy in the White House with wholesale generalisations about his foreign policy, relying on unsubstantiated figures, debunked allegations, and a demand that United Nations member states withdraw their membership from the International Criminal Court (ICC)…Trump called the institution “out of control”. “An evil group of people,” he said. “I call on all nations that are members of the ICC to officially resign from this rogue institution immediately.”’
PA’s Abbas at UN: Israel trying to force Palestinians out with ‘genocidal war,’ ‘settler terrorism’ (TOI 9/24/26)
“In a pre-recorded address played before the UN General Assembly on Thursday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas knocked US President Donald Trump’s administration for preventing him from attending the forum in person for the second year in a row…In his roughly 22-minute speech, Abbas bitterly criticized Israel for its policies against the Palestinians, insisting that Ramallah has completed the reforms demanded by the international community and recommitted to a two-state solution with a demilitarized Palestinian state alongside Israel.”
US arms sales to Israel worth $21.6 billion in 20 months (New Arab 9/25/26)
“Notifications submitted by the US President Donald Trump administration to Congress, along with US State Department data covering the period from 20 January 2025 to 17 September 2026, show that the Trump administration has approved arms deals for Israel worth $21.6 billion in just 20 months. The value of military aid, funded by US taxpayers, and arms deals approved by former President Joe Biden for Israel between October 2023 and early 2025 exceeded $17.9 billion, according to a study by Brown University.”
Board of Peace ask partners for Gaza funding for $2.45 billion recovery plan (Politico 9/23/26)
“President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace is hoping to raise $2.45 billion from the international community for a six-month recovery program in Gaza. Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy, described the effort Wednesday at the United Nations as a difficult undertaking requiring continued cooperation. The presentation suggested that as much as $71 billion would be needed to support Gaza’s long-term needs. Donors could channel support through the board and the new fund for Palestinian projects. The plan includes 66 projects across infrastructure, human development, economic development, digital transformation, legal affairs and peace and security. “We have no plan B,” Witkoff said. “Therefore, we will all work to have this plan succeed.”’ See also Kushner, Blair Urge Gaza Demilitarization at UN General Assembly Sidelines (Haaretz 9/23/26);
Former PA minister details Sinwar’s pre-Oct. 7 warning to Israel of coming ‘earthquake’ (TOI 9/25/26)
“Former Palestinian Authority minister Sufian Abu Zaida has given a detailed account of prisoner-exchange negotiations held between Israel and Hamas for roughly a year and a half before the October 7, 2023, attack, culminating in a warning from then-Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar shortly before that attack that an “earthquake” was coming. Abu Zaida’s account, given in an interview with the Egypt-based pan-Arab Alghad TV network, expands on revelations that he was the Palestinian intermediary who conveyed Sinwar’s warning to Israel as well as the United Arab Emirates, as first detailed in a Haaretz report earlier this month. That report said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was personally warned by the leader of the UAE that Hamas was planning a major offensive move against Israel, based on Sinwar’s comments to Abu Zaida, but that the premier sat on the information and did not update Israeli security leaders.” See also Netanyahu Is Said to Have Been Warned About Hamas Attack Before Oct. 7 (NYT 9/25/26); Report: UAE intel warned Shin Bet of Hamas action before Oct. 7, prompting leader’s call to Netanyahu (TOI 9/23/26); NYT: Sources Confirm Haaretz Report of UAE President’s Oct. Warning to Netanyahu (Haaretz 9/25/26);
The Israeli Occupation Is a Ticking Time Bomb. This Time, in Syria (Elizabeth Tsurkov//Haaretz 9/25/26)
“Over the past few months, I have spoken with dozens of people in southern Syria who live in territory Israel has occupied since December 2024. One after another, they described the severe disruption to their lives and their fear of Israeli troops. They spoke of raids on their homes, arbitrary arrests, surprise checkpoints and damage to their livelihoods. Although we have known one another for years, some refused to be quoted or even interviewed. Those who agreed insisted that their names be changed. They’re that scared of what Israel might do to them…As residents’ fear of Israel grows, so does their hostility. Experts, Israel Defense Forces reservists and residents warn that Israel is creating the very threats it set out to prevent, much as its prolonged occupation of Lebanon helped give rise to Hezbollah.” See also As Damascus Hangs Back, Syrians Have Been Left to Fend Off Israeli Occupation on Their Own (Fadi Ibrahim and Sam Kimball//Drop Site 9/23/26)
GAZA
Israel Is Expanding and Upgrading Compounds for Palestinian Militias in Gaza (Forensic Architecture and Sharif Abdel Kouddous//Drop Site 9/21/26)
“At least five Israeli-backed Palestinian militias are operating out of compounds in areas under Israeli military control across the Gaza Strip, according to satellite imagery and videos published online. Since the so-called ceasefire went into effect nearly a year ago, these compounds have been upgraded and expanded in size and sophistication, according to a preliminary analysis by Forensic Architecture. Many of these upgrades resemble Israeli military infrastructure, with berms, barracks, fences, and buildings. At least one compound in East Rafah includes new shops, classrooms, and a playground…Many of the militia leaders who rose to power in collaboration with Israel during the genocide in Gaza are former gang leaders with a history of criminal activity, were associated with jihadi groups, or are former Palestinian Authority security forces that were all sidelined after Hamas gained control of the enclave in 2007. “These militias are not just Israel-backed. These militias are Israel-created,” Muhammad Shehada, a writer and analyst from Gaza and a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told Drop Site News.”
What Life Is Actually Like in Gaza Today (Isaac Chotiner interviews Jaser AbuMousa//New Yorker 9/21/26)
“What we know is that, because Israel controls about seventy per cent of the territory of the Gaza Strip, some two million people are squeezed into thirty per cent of the territory. We know that eighty-one per cent of the Gaza Strip is damaged or destroyed, and more than three hundred thousand housing units were completely destroyed during the war, in addition to schools and other infrastructure, like clinics, hospitals, and mosques. But, after the ceasefire, and especially in January of 2026, when Israel recovered the last hostage’s remains, many people in Gaza were happy and thought that they would be able to start to restore their lives. However, this did not happen. And then there was the Israeli condition that Hamas disarmament should come first, and then the rest of the promises outlined in the ceasefire could follow. If I were in Gaza right now, there is a fifty-per-cent chance that I would be living in a tent or living in the remains of my house. Many people prefer to live in the ruins of their houses instead of having tents because the tents do not protect them from any kind of rain or any kind of heat, and there are also rodents that spread diseases…everyone that I’m talking to in Gaza is wishing to get out of Gaza. Everyone—literally everyone.”
‘This is where I live now, the back of a truck’: a day in the life of a grandmother in Gaza (The Guardian 9/23/26)
“The flat-bed truck is open to the hot summer air, its metal frame covered on two sides by draped tarpaulins, the rear by a pegged-up bedsheet. On the tin floor lies a squab mattress and pillow with a yellow frilled cover. Mansoura Ibrahim Mohammed Abdel Dayem balances a thin cushion at the truck bed’s metal edge to protect her knees as she crawls in and out. She lowers her foot to the plastic chair below, then drops to the ground, staggering slightly as she gets her balance. Mansoura is 76 years old. The truck is her home now. All around her, her family live in tents, the fabric ripped and fraying. This is a day in the life of a grandmother living in Gaza.” See also from the Guardian: ‘We skate on the rooftops of damaged buildings’: a day in the life of a skateboarder in Gaza (9/25/26); ‘I’m afraid they’ll bomb the cafe where I work, or bomb me’: a day in the life of a 12-year-old boy in Gaza (9/22/26); ‘I lost my children, and I’m afraid of losing my baby again’: a day in the life of a pregnant woman in Gaza (9/21/26);
Netanyahu Likens ‘NAZA’ Film to Launching Ballistic Missiles at Israel (Haaretz 9/25/26)
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu likened Israeli filmmakers Yuval Avraham and Rachel Szor’s production of the film “NAZA” to launching “dozens of ballistic missiles” at Israel, reiterating his plan to advance legislation that would allow their citizenship to be revoked. In a wide-ranging interview with the right-wing weekly Makor Rishon, Netanyahu said that “presenting IDF officers and the IDF command as war criminals causes us immeasurable harm,” adding that “it’s as if dozens of ballistic missiles were fired at us. If you don’t revoke citizenship over this, what would you revoke it over?”’ See also Global release announced for acclaimed Gaza documentary NAZA (The Guardian 9/24/26); From ovations in Venice to death threats in Israel: the extreme responses to NAZA documentary (The Guardian 9/19/26); ‘NAZA’ Filmmakers Announce Gaza Documentary Will Be Available for Free Online Viewing After Theatrical Release (Haaretz 9/24/26);
RIVER TO THE SEA
The ‘gray arm’ of Israeli annexation (Amos Brison//+972 Magazine 9/25/26)
“At the end of 2022, Yagil Levy, a professor of political sociology and public policy at the Open University of Israel, identified a shift taking place within the Israeli military. “When it comes to the Palestinians, the Israeli military is in fact splintered into two armies,” he wrote in +972 Magazine. “Alongside the ‘official’ army, a ‘policing’ force has emerged in the Israeli-controlled West Bank” — one with deep social and ideological ties to the settlement movement and the hardline religious-Zionist right. “The result is a clear army bias in favor of the settlers,” Levy continued. “It turns a blind eye to the establishment of unauthorized settlement outposts … it ignores vigilante violence against Palestinians and sometimes even partakes in it.” Four years later, the “policing army” Levy identified has become deeply entrenched, helping to push settler violence and Palestinian displacement in the West Bank to record levels. Since the start of 2026, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has recorded over 1600 settler attacks in 275 Palestinian communities — an average of 6.7 every day, the highest rate since it began keeping records. And since October 7, settlers have erected over 150 new outposts and joined forces with the army to expel at least 76 entire Palestinian communities.”
Israel’s Elections Committee Votes to Bar All Arab Parties (Haaretz 9/23/26)
“Israel’s Central Elections Committee voted Wednesday to disqualify Mansour Abbas’ United Arab List slate from running in the election, as well as the Joint List, which consists of the parties Hadash, Ta’al and Balad. The vote came after left-wing Knesset member Ofer Cassif of the Arab-Jewish Hadash party and Balad chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh were banned earlier the same day. These decisions may be reversed by appeal to the High Court of Justice. In its disqualification of the UAL – which was part of former prime ministers Naftali Bennett’s and Yair Lapid’s government – the committee said the party rejects Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, incites racism and expresses support for an armed struggle against the country…Additionally, the committee disqualified the Joint List on the same grounds as the UAL.” See also Budgets for submission: What Israel’s opposition offers Palestinian citizens (Waseem Hosary//+972 Magazine 9/21/26); Israel Shouldn’t Ban Arab Leader Sami Abu Shehadeh. It Should Learn From Him (Dahlia Scheindlin//Haaretz 9/25/26); ‘Hypocrisy’: Israel’s Palestinian parties hit back over election ban (New Arab 9/25/26); Israel’s Central Elections Committee Disqualifies All Arab Political Party Lists and MK Ofer Cassif and Balad Chairman former MK Sami Abu Shehadeh; Adalah to Challenge Decisions Before Supreme Court (Adalah 9/23/26)
Nearly 2 Years Into a ‘Temporary Evacuation’ of Their Refugee Camp, Displaced Palestinians See No Return in Sight (Haaretz 9/25/26)
“Palestinians from Nur Shams refugee camp can see their homes from the surrounding hills, but cannot return to them, as the IDF extends closure orders in the area. ‘We are waiting only to learn how long the next extension will be,’ one resident says”
Ben Gvir demands terrorist behind deadly shooting attack at West Bank spring be executed (TOI 9/20/26)
“National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir demands that the Palestinian terrorist who killed an Israeli man at a natural spring in the central West Bank today be put to death in accordance with a law the Knesset passed in March. “This is the first instance in which the ‘death sentence for terrorists’ law can be put into action,” Ben Gvir says in a statement. “In this case, there’s a mandatory penalty. A law is a law.”…The legislation effectively enshrines capital punishment for West Bank Palestinians alone, as it explicitly excludes Israeli citizens or residents, and only Palestinians are tried in military courts.” See also First Case in Which Racist New Death Penalty Law Could be Applied: Briefing Note by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) (9/22/26)
Israeli president pardons combat medic who shot dead wounded Palestinian attacker (The Guardian 9/19/26)
“Israel’s president has pardoned a combat medic who shot dead a badly wounded Palestinian attacker who had stabbed a soldier in the occupied West Bank, in a case that divided the country a decade ago. Elor Azaria’s conviction in 2017 for manslaughter and his release after serving two-thirds of his 18-month sentence drew enormous attention in Israel, where military service is compulsory for most Jewish men. In his first interview after his release, Azaria said he would “act exactly the same, because that’s how I needed to act”. Azaria had approached Abdel Fattah al-Sharif as he lay on the ground, unarmed and badly hurt, after stabbing a soldier in the city of Hebron. A mobile phone video captured Azaria shooting al-Sharif in the head. The office of president Isaac Herzog said in a statement on Saturday that he acted on the recommendation of defence minister Israel Katz…But the military’s chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, had said in a letter to the defence minister that the pardon should not be granted, Israeli media reported.
Israel facing water shortages caused by destruction of Gaza’s treatment plants (The Guardian 9/24/26)
“Israel is facing weeks of water shortages after an exceptional algae bloom crippled much of its desalination capacity, in a crisis scientists say was triggered when Israeli attacks destroyed much of Gaza’s wastewater infrastructure, causing a massive discharge of untreated sewage. “Pollution does not recognise political borders,” said the Zalul Environmental Association, an Israeli NGO dedicated to protecting the country’s seas and shores. “The discharge of untreated sewage from the Gaza Strip into the sea is contributing to the worsening crisis affecting the Israeli desalination facilities. The wastewater contains nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, which feed microalgae and cyanobacteria and may intensify their blooms.” Despite last year’s US-brokered ceasefire, Gaza remains gripped by a severe water and sanitation crisis. The Palestinian territory is plagued by rodents, and sewage floods its coastline after Israel destroyed its wastewater treatment plants.”
U.S. SCENE
US Senate Democrats seek sanctions on those facilitating controversial West Bank settlement project (The Forward 9/24/26)
“A slate of U.S. Senate Democrats, led by staunch Israel supporter Chris Coons, is seeking to sanction individuals and businesses linked to a controversial settlement expansion in the West Bank. The massive E1 project, which would add 3,401 housing units east of Jerusalem, would effectively bisect the West Bank, inhibiting the prospects for a contiguous Palestinian state in the West Bank. It would also further separate the West Bank from East Jerusalem, which Palestinians seek as the capital of a future state. Israel recently issued new construction tenders for the project, following the government’s approval of the plans last summer. Coons, of Delaware, introduced legislation this week that would target “any foreign person” deemed “responsible for or complicit in” the construction or financing of, or investment in, the planned E1 settlement, as well as the leaders of any entity that has engaged in such activities. “As Palestinian civilians face a campaign of devastation and fear from violent extremist settlers, the United States must send a strong message that this behavior is unacceptable,” Coons said in a statement…Coons thus far has garnered support from 18 of the Senate’s 44 other Democrats, including three co-authors: Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Ron Wyden of Oregon and Ruben Gallego of Arizona.” See also US Senate Democrats seek sanctions over Israeli settlements, bill says (Reuters 9/23/26); Jewish Communities Face Real Threats. David Morales’s Stance Against Genocide in Gaza is Not One of Them. (Aaron Regunberg, Lex Rofeberg, Ruth Ben Artzi//Boston Globe 9/23/26); The Trailer for ‘NIGHT FLOWER,’ Zeteo’s New Investigative Documentary on AIPAC, Is Here (Zeteo 9/22/26)
Shooter of Palestinian College Students Convicted After 3 Years (Shireen Akram-Boshar//Truthout 9/23/26)
“On Monday, a jury convicted Jason Eaton of attempted murder for shooting three Palestinian college students in November 2023, concluding a case that highlights an increase in anti-Palestinian racism since October 7. On November 25, 2023, Eaton shot Kinnan Abdalhamid, Tahseen Ali Ahmad, and Hisham Awartani in Burlington, Vermont, after seeing them walk by his apartment. The three students, who were 20 years old at the time, were wearing keffiyehs and speaking in both English and Arabic as they visited the town during the weekend of Thanksgiving. Eaton walked towards the students and shot them at close range, injuring the three young men and leaving Awartani paralyzed from the waist down.”
Charges dropped against Stanford students over pro-Palestine protest (The Guardian 9/21/26)
“Five Stanford University students who faced prison sentences and thousands of dollars in restitution in connection to a campus protest against Israel’s war on Gaza had all charges dropped on Monday. The students also had their restitution severely reduced, ending a two-year legal saga that also saw the lead prosecutor in the case removed by the court.” See also Macklemore Announces ‘Free Palestine’ Tour (NYT 9/24/26); YouTube star Ms Rachel to match Macklemore’s $1m Palestine aid donation (The Guardian 9/17/26); A Teacher and Activist Admits to Making Up Palestinian Background (NYT 9/23/26)
PERSPECTIVES//LONG READS
The Limits of Anti-Zionist Narratives during a Time of Genocide (Atalia Omer//Contending Modernities 9/22/26)
“The Gaza genocide broadened the demand for a history of Jewish anti-Zionism from beyond its previously more niche corners in academic and political discourse. Benjamin Moser’s Anti-Zionism: A Jewish History seeks to meet this demand by “uncover[ing] a suppressed tradition.” While presenting itself as a “rediscovery,” however, it in fact discovers nothing that has not been known to those working in this space for quite some time. In the book, Moser profiles a broad array of individuals, from Rabbi Aaron Samuel Tamares of the Pale of Settlement during the anti-Jewish pogroms, to the emergence of Herzlian Zionism, to Hannah Arendt’s post-Holocaust critique of Zionism, and to Nan Goldin, a US-based queer contemporary photographer and celebrated artist born in the middle of the twentieth century. The throughline across these profiles, for Moser, is each historical actor’s ability, from their unique vantage point, to see Zionism for what it is, namely, a violent ideology born at the intersection of imperial designs and racism (including antisemitism)…However, a recovery of lost stories and lost movements holds no value for the Palestinians who have undergone a genocide in Gaza and the ongoing Nakba, the systematic settler colonial depopulation and uprooting of Palestinians, for over a century. While Moser’s story might offer some solace to Jews who seek to articulate a different version of their tradition than that of the Israeli state, it fails to grapple sufficiently with the kinds of politics needed to confront the ongoing legacy of Zionism. My critique here is thus threefold. I will argue that (1) Moser’s account offers nothing “new” in terms of scholarship on anti-Zionism; (2) that it is not always reflective about its selection criteria for significant figures and movements in the “canon”; and (3) that it fails to meet the political moment it claims to. Given the imperative to respond to the Gaza genocide in the present, we need accounts of anti-Zionism that go beyond such conventional framing.”
‘NAZA’ is forcing Israelis to reflect. But we Palestinians are not your mirror (Ayat Abou Shmeiss//+972 Magazine 9/23/26)
“Abraham and Szor say that “without an honest reckoning with what happened in the dark, none of us will be able to see the light.” I have no problem with that. My problem is that I am the mirror. My family is the mirror. Our homes, our schools, our children are the mirror. To some extent, we are the backdrop — or, more accurately, the raw material — through which Israelis look at themselves. After three years of an ongoing genocide, Gaza is becoming the vehicle through which Israelis ask what they did, how they did it, and what it means for their own moral standing. After all, the journey out of the dark is indeed a moral one. But must the Palestinian — me, my family, and all Gazans — become the victim through whom the perpetrator constructs their own process of repair?…In almost any process of confronting a crime, the perpetrator must look directly at what they have done, and the victim will inevitably be part of the picture. How can we speak about what happened in Gaza without the Palestinians being present? How can we demand repair without the society that harmed them first acknowledging what it did? Perhaps, then, the question is not whether the Palestinian appears in the picture, but what happens after the Israeli looks at it. Is the movement toward repair limited to self-reflection? Or does it require Israelis to accept responsibility and redress the injustice they have inflicted on Palestinians?…We can leave the Palestinian as an object of contemplation and ask what was done to them and how it was done. But the Palestinian must also be a subject: someone whose suffering compels Israeli society to act, whose voice presents demands and calls for accountability.”
NAZA Will Change How Americans Think About Israel (Josh Nathan-Kazis, Natasha Soffer-Roth, and Alex Kane//Jewish Currents 9/24/26)
“There are few new factual revelations in NAZA. The reporting in the film has appeared in articles Abraham and his colleagues have published in +972 Magazine, Local Call, and The Guardian about how Israel used artificial intelligence to generate expansive target lists in Gaza, and then loosened the rules of engagement to allow for a startling number of civilian deaths in pursuit of even low-level targets. Palestinian reporters in Gaza have been documenting the destruction those policies have wrought since the start of the genocide. What’s new is the video footage of the interviews, mostly with Israeli intelligence officers, on which the reporting was based. In silhouette, these young Jewish people explain the mechanics and the experience of committing genocide…Alex Kane: The film absolutely debunks the entire Israeli propaganda playbook that they deployed after October 7th: We warn civilians when we’re going to strike, we don’t try to harm civilians. The entire Israeli reasoning for how moral their army was in Gaza completely falls apart. Because as the film shows, deliberate killing of civilians was baked into the army’s programs. It’s a portrait of an army and a society that has fully descended into bloodlust, which is what a genocidal society does. This is not unique to Israel. This is what happens during a mass murder that an army is carrying out. And this is a portrait of an elite doing it.” See also “NAZA” Puts Israel Face to Face with the War in Gaza (Richard Brody//Ne Yorker 9/23/26)
Under Siege: The West Bank After October 7 (Al Shabaka 9/23/26)
“The ongoing genocide in Gaza is not an isolated episode in the Israeli settler-colonial project. Since 1948, Palestinians have been continuously and violently displaced across and from Palestine. But as the Israeli regime began its latest genocidal campaign in Gaza three years ago, it has also escalated ethnic cleansing in the West Bank through state-settler-coordinated violence and theft of Palestinian land. In addition, the Israeli state has imposed ruthless carceral policies on detained Palestinian prisoners and orchestrated a war on refugee camps and UNRWA. This Focus On engages with some of the most pressing aspects of this escalation in the West Bank since October 7, 2023. It features analyses by Al-Shabaka members and contributors that show how collective punishment of Palestinians has led to a collapse in access to food, healthcare, work, and education. The compilation also examines the Palestinian people’s resistance to the expansionist Israeli scorched-earth policy, and the political leadership’s complicity and failures.”
How to Arrest Benjamin Netanyahu (Jake Romm for the Hind Rajab Foundation//The Nation 9/22/26)
“If lawmakers are serious about ending the genocides in Palestine and southern Lebanon, there are steps that they can, and must, take without delay. Congress must call for the prosecution of Israeli genocidaires and war criminals—including US dual nationals—under US law and support civil society efforts to ensure such prosecutions take place, as Representative Rashida Tlaib has done in her resolution to recognize the genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza, which we urge Congress to pass. These prosecutions would not only serve the interest of justice—they would finally bring the US into compliance with its international legal obligations. In two years, there will be a new presidential administration. Senators must commit to withholding confirmation of any attorney general nominee who does not promise to undertake prosecutions of Israeli perpetrators under the War Crimes Act. Congress must enact a full arms embargo against Israel, and call for the prosecution of those arms company executives who have aided, abetted, and profited from Israel’s genocides. Congress must also repeal the American Servicemembers’ Protection Act of 2001, thus paving the way for US cooperation with the ICC’s investigation into the Situation in Palestine and for enforcing the arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant.”
A restored history of Jewish anti-Zionism — and the loss it cannot repair (Yahia Lababidi//+972 Magazine 9/22/26)
“Benjamin Moser’s new book recovers a tradition of dissenters who paid a price for opposing Palestinian dispossession, even as they could not prevent it.”
The Language of Crime (Michael Sfard//Palestine-Israel Journal Vol. 30 No. 1&2 2026)
“Hebrew today is the language in which the orders to destroy the Gaza Strip were given. It is the language in which the plans to starve its two million inhabitants were discussed. In Hebrew, politicians and journalists, internet influencers and rabbis have incited and continue to incite at the time of writing, to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity, and to commit genocide. Hebrew is the language of the prime minister and his ministers, of Channel 14 (a right-wing Netanyahu-supporting channel), of the soldiers taking selfies in Gaza, and of the Israeli mainstream media that is glorifying the war and concealing the suffering in Gaza. In Hebrew, the minister of national security wrote on social media: “To destroy, to demolish, to cut down, to erase, to crush, to shatter, to burn, to be cruel, to punish, to destroy, to crush. To destroy!…Let’s tell the truth, the change in the tone of Hebrew did not begin in Gaza. After all, in Hebrew we have conquered and expelled, in Hebrew we have dispossessed and colonized, and in Hebrew we have oppressed and boasted and discriminated and humiliated. Hebrew as the language of power and superiority was not born in Gaza after the massacre that the damned murderers slaughtered us on October 7, the change in it began much earlier. But until Gaza, Hebrew still knew of this and that, and like iron it forged into both swords and ploughshares. Then, in Gaza, Hebrew was nationalized and its main avenue was diverted to the production of swords only. Iron swords.”
The Democrats’ Policy on Palestine Is Detached From Reality (Peter Beinart//NYT 9/23/26)
“Democrats should make Mr. [Marwan] Barghouti’s release a central part of their agenda in the run-up to 2028. They should also go further and call for allowing Palestinians to choose who runs in their elections, even though that probably means letting Hamas compete, either on its own or as part of a broader coalition. That prospect would outrage Israel’s supporters, and prove unpopular among many Americans. But no Palestinian election can be credible if the United States and other outside powers dictate who can take part. And the Fatah dominated P.L.O. can never regain its position as the representative of all Palestinian people if Hamas — one of the two largest Palestinian parties — remains outside of it.”
To Save Israel’s Economy, Businesses Must Separate From the Settlements (Emily Schaeffer Omer-Man//Haaretz 9/24/26)
“In June, Global Echo, the organization I lead, published the first independent large-scale study on the prevalence of settlement goods among Israeli exports to Europe. We now know that one in six agricultural products exported from Israel to Europe are actually sourced from settlements. The report also details, for the first time, exactly how settlement products are deceptively treated as products of Israel – through false labeling, invalid certification schemes, and intermingling along the supply chain. The result is that Europe now has a manual for how to detect them…If the Israeli government is not willing to change course, it is up to the Israeli private sector to create and enforce its own rules of differentiation in order to protect the local economy. The leaders of industry, labor and tech all joined forces to slow down the judicial overhaul three years ago. Soon they may have to band together again, or face an economic calamity.”
Exit and Exception (Noura Erakat//Boston Review 9/24/26)
“The Board of Peace represents the model of reform envisioned by the Trump administration. According to its charter, it is “an international organization that seeks to promote stability, restore dependable and lawful governance, and secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict.” Yet unlike the United Nations, which has traditionally fulfilled this global mandate, the Board of Peace has made membership invite-only, led by a nine-member executive board selected and overseen by U.S. President Donald Trump…Though invited, none of the major Western democracies—France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and others—chose to participate. Unsurprisingly, the Board features no Palestinian seats. Several aspects of the Board stand out in sharp relief: its absolute illegality in international and U.S. law; its imposition of what a legal expert calls an “illegal trusteeship” over Gaza; its likely function as another failed enterprise for the Trump dynasty to launder and make money. But it also reflects a new form of global governance that has the potential to serve as an alternative to the United Nations: the exit model.”
It’s not hypothetical: the dangers of AI are already here (Granate Kim and Mohamed Hussein//The Guardian 9/25/26)
“The reality is, we don’t have to wait to see how AI will bring about unprecedented death and destruction, because we’ve already witnessed its unleashing…Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza was a testing ground for the use of AI in warfare and the results were deeply disturbing. Israel’s military used AI to identify people to kill, with 12,000 targets generated and bombed in the first month alone. This was done with little to no meaningful human oversight, as documented in an investigation by Oscar-winning Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, whose latest film NAZA, a Guardian-produced film, includes chilling testimonials by the soldiers involved. Earlier this year in Iran, the US military launched an AI-involved airstrike that hit Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab, Iran, killing 156 children, teachers and other civilians. The strike that caused what is almost certainly the worst incident of civilian casualties in the war was, most likely, the result of a “targeting mistake” that relied on faulty data…One thing is clear: the dangerous future that Gates, Amodei, and others are warning us about is already here, and we must act now to prevent further harm. Those of us with families in Gaza, Lebanon, Iran and US neighborhoods terrorized by ICE already know people living through the nightmare.”
From Exhibit G: Surviving Image (Fady Joudah introduced by Zaina Alsous//Jewish Currents 9/25/26)
“Watching American Doctor a couple weeks back, I thought of “Exhibit G: Surviving Image” by Fady Joudah, a prolific Palestinian American writer, translator, and physician. The poem appears in the new collection Exhibit G: Poems, Essays, and Photographs of Gaza, in which Joudah attempts a task as impossible as healing amid genocide: writing toward life amid genocide. It is precisely this commitment to life—which is also a commitment to rejecting dehumanizing obfuscations so common in English—that underpins the poem’s unadorned and tragic opening: “Israel killed his younger brother, sister-in-law, and three of their four children. The daughter who survived: Salaam.” After all, the world as it is also is the world that is not—precious kin whose lives can never be returned, time and bodies warped by the miserable subsistence imposed on an entire population. “Every tent generation spans all generations. Children out in the elements, in line for food and water. Their hair all sorts of colors. DNA, the sun, malnutrition,” Joudah writes…This kind of looking is itself a nexus of care and brutality. Joudah demands we contend with that irresolvable knot, interspersing the poems with photographs of Palestinians in Gaza taken after the start of the genocide, courtesy of the Gaza Soup Kitchen. In one, a girl beams and flashes a victory sign, her joy infectious. “So that we may say we were here once, Palestinians smiling,” Joudah writes.”