Who's behind the mysterious 'Iran-backed terror cell' haunting Europe?

Wyatt Reed | The Gray zone

Claims that an Iran-backed group is carrying out attacks in European cities raise questions about why they're not targeting countries directly involved in the US-Israeli war, and why they appear to communicate like Israelis. Strangely, suspects arrested in the attacks have been released on bail.

A specter is haunting Europe - the specter of Ashab al-Yamin. Officially known as "Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia (HAYI)," or the "Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right," the group mysteriously appeared in early March, and, according to mainstream media, it's taking the continent by storm.

But a closer look at the supposedly Iran-backed terror organization suggests that it does not exist in any concrete form, and may be a confection of Israeli intelligence.

Though the nebulous HAYI claimed credit for torching ambulances belonging to a Jewish community organization in London on March 23, two suspects in the attack have been released on bail, and are not charged with any terror-related crimes. What's more, London Metropolitan Police have so far refused to release the men's names, raising questions about their identities. Were they even Muslim?

HAYI's first public mention in the West came on March 9, when the previously non-existent organization released a video showing an explosive device detonating outside a synagogue in Liege, Belgium, alongside a statement taking credit for the attack. Within hours, the group had somehow been identified by the "SITE Intelligence Group," an Israeli-led private intelligence firm founded in the aftermath of Sept. 11 to cash in on the newly-minted Global War on Terror.

The materials HAYI published were promptly circulated on social media by Joe Truzman, a self-described "Senior Research analyst examining Palestinian armed groups and Iranian proxy organizations" at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), a neoconservative DC-based think tank founded in 2001 with the stated goal of working to "enhance Israel's image." As The Grayzone reported, the Trump White House plagiarized its public justification for attacking Iran word-for-word from an FDD paper.

Though Truzman declined to state where he'd found the materials, he wrote that "Telegram channels linked to the Axis of Resistance... widely disseminated the publications," using a reference to a variety of resistance factions sympathetic to Iran and Palestine throughout the greater Middle East. The group he linked to, a popular Telegram channel called Sabereen News, made it clear they were reposting the video, which they said was the work of a group calling themselves "the companions."

Almost immediately, Truzman began asserting that these "companions" were all but guaranteed to be a Tehran-linked cutout. For starters, he told British media, "their logo with the wording is a sign of a classic Iranian front organization." And Iran had already threatened to carry out just such a wave of attacks, Truzman claimed. After all, he wrote, "On March 8, Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Iran's deputy-foreign minister, warned that if a European country joined the US and Israel in the current war against the Islamic Republic, it would be a 'legitimate' target 'for Iranian retaliation.'"

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Tucker Carlson Responds to Israel’s War on Iran

Tucker Carlson

The Tucker Carlson Show 

Gaza does not need new overlords

Jehad Abusalim | Mondoweiss

The U.S. plan for Gaza is the final stage of Israel’s genocide. Bombs and bulldozers obliterated Gaza’s landscape, and now skyscrapers and data centers aim to dismantle its social fabric and capacity to resist.

Every few decades, a new group of powerful men gathers around a table to decide what to do with Gaza or with Palestinians in general. The language changes. The underlying logic does not.

The latest proposals to “govern” postwar Gaza, from Jared Kushner’s beachfront development fantasies to the so-called “Board of Peace” and various international trusteeship schemes, are presented as bold, forward-looking visions.  In reality, they are just recycling the same colonial framework that has governed Palestinian life for over a century: external actors decide what Palestinians need, what they may have, and what they must become in order to deserve it.

Gaza’s crisis was never a problem of governance or waiting for the right foreign administrator. It was, and remains, the product of a specific political structure: prolonged military occupation, a seventeen-year siege that strangled every dimension of life, and a settler-colonial project that treats Palestinian existence as an obstacle to be managed or removed. These are the roots. Everything else — the poverty, the misery, the desperation — is a symptom.

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Israeli ban on 37 aid organizations expected to have devastating impacts across Palestine

Qassam Muaddi, Tareq S. Hajja | Mondoweiss

Aid organizations say Israel's recent ban of 37 groups has dealt a severe blow to humanitarian work across Palestine. In Gaza, it means "cutting off a lifeline for over two million people," says Rahma Worldwide's Dr. Shadi Zazzah.

Israel's decision to cancel the registration of 37 international aid organizations at the beginning of the year has dealt a severe blow to the international presence in Palestine. Beyond that, it has delivered a serious blow to Palestinian society itself. The banning of dozens of international NGOs threatens many social assistance and development programs, many of which are Palestinian-run and crucial to sustaining essential services in communities across Palestine.

The ban followed a new set of registration conditions imposed by Israel on international organizations earlier in December, including a requirement to provide Israeli authorities with the personal data of Palestinian staff. Israel said the 37 organizations failed to comply with this requirement, with Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister, Amichai Chikli, saying the decision aimed to prevent the "exploitation of humanitarian aid for terrorism," although Israel has never provided evidence of such links.

The decision includes several prominent international humanitarian organizations, such as Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, the Norwegian Refugee Council, and even the Catholic Relief Services (Caritas), all of which were notified to cease operations in the Palestinian territories by March. The ban does not apply to any UN body.

The impact of the ban is expected to be felt most acutely in the Gaza Strip, where all two million Palestinians depend partly or entirely on humanitarian aid. Aid deliveries remain restricted following months of near-total shutdown prior to the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that came into effect in October 2025.

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Second Nakba, Bibi's 9/11: The start of monumental destruction of the Middle East?

Peter Koenig | Global Research

On October 7, shortly after the Hamas attack on Israel, PM Benjamin Netanyahu declared the offensive as Israel's 9/11. He is right in more ways than one. The US 9/11 was a horrendous and deadly false flag, and so is the Israeli one, or the so-called Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, assault by Hamas.

Both 9/11's are meant to "justify" endless and crushing retributions. In the US, an endless and worldwide war on "terror" which means the entire world, as Washington sees fit, according to its "rules-based order." Misbehaving nations are simply sanctioned and crushed, forced to their knees.

Israeli intel, as well as that of Egypt, the UK, the US, Brussels - EU - knew about the impending attack, planned by Israel in coordination with Hamas. A Jewish charity leader says Netanyahu ordered the Israeli military to stand down for 7 hours during the Hamas invasion.

For Israel, it justifies a stepped-up war on Palestine, the end of Gaza, eventually forcing 2.3 million Gazans to flee through Rafah into the Sinai Peninsula in northeast Egypt.

Despite the official rejection of Israel to establish a corridor for Gazan refugees - an agreement with Israel and Washington to starve to death as many Palestinians as possible - Egypt eventually may allow to open the Rafah border for "humanitarian reasons." It is all part of the deal. 

[...]

This was planned for years.
Hamas was set up and funded by Israel and the US/UK secret services.

Hamas must do the bidding of its masters - namely periodically shooting back at aggressive Israeli attacks at Palestine settlements, mostly in the Gaza strip, and eventually launching a massive attack on Israel (on 7 October), thus, provoking an even more gigantic and deadly act of retribution - one that may not end until Palestine is erased from the map.

And then onwards - for the creation of Greater Israel, in the process absorbing one third to half of the current Middle East.

For broader understanding of the Israel-Palestine war, see also this.

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How many countries has Israel attacked in 2025?

Hanna Duggal | Al-Jazeera

Israel has attacked more countries than any other country this year.

In 2025, Israel attacked at least six countries, including Palestine, Iran, Lebanon, Qatar, Syria, and Yemen.

It also carried out strikes in Tunisian, Maltese and Greek territorial waters on aid flotillas heading for Gaza.

According to Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), an independent conflict monitor, from January 1 to December 5, Israel carried out at least 10,631 attacks, marking one of the broadest geographic military offensives in a single year. [...]

According to ACLED, in 2025, up to December 5, 2025, Israel attacked:

• Gaza and the occupied West Bank 8,332 times
• Lebanon 1,653 times
• Iran 379 times
• Syria 207 times
• Yemen 48 times
• Qatar once
• Tunisian waters twice, Maltese and Greek waters once each

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Israeli Cabinet approves 19 new apartheid colonies in occupied West Bank

Brett Wilkins | Common Dreams

"The ONLY reason Israel gets away with this naked thievery is US military and political support," said one observer.

Israel's Cabinet on Sunday finalized approval of 19 new Jewish-only settler colonies in the illegally occupied West Bank, a move the apartheid state's far-right finance minister said was aimed at thwarting Palestinian statehood.

Cabinet ministers approved the legalization of the previously unauthorized settler outposts throughout the occupied Palestinian territory, bringing the total number of new settlements in recent years to 69.

The move will bring the overall total number of exclusively or overwhelmingly Jewish settlements — which are illegal under international law — to more than 200, up from around 140 just three years ago.

Included in the new approval are two former settlements — Kadim and Ganim — that were evacuated in compliance with the now effectively repealed 2005 Disengagement Law, under which Israel dismantled all of its colonies in the Gaza Strip and four in the West Bank.

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Fire still raining down on Gaza

Lorenzo Maria Pacini | Strategic Culture Foundation

Trump's elusive peace deal was an excellent ploy to quietly continue with the final occupation plan.

Bomb after bomb

There is no peace for Gaza. Trump's elusive peace plan - or should we say his gigantic real estate plan to make money off the suffering of the people? - was an excellent ploy to quietly continue with the final occupation plan.

The occupation has convinced international public opinion that the violence in Gaza has ceased, when in reality entire families continue to be wiped out in total silence. The world remains silent, perhaps only because something called a "truce" has been proclaimed, an excellent move of infowarfare.

What cannot be seen from the outside is that, day after day, the Israeli army is expanding its grip on the territory of Gaza. It advances slowly, taking over a street, then a neighborhood, then entire areas — silently redrawing the map while the international community celebrates a fictitious calm. The war is not over; it has simply taken on another form: from bombing to silent expansion, from air strikes to creeping occupation.

At the same time, the world fails to notice that a false appearance of normality is being constructed in Gaza: sweets, chocolate, and electronic goods enter freely, as if people wanted the superfluous, while basic goods such as meat, eggs, and medicines are systematically blocked.

The most basic necessities have become rare and precious commodities, and when they do appear, they are sold at unsustainable prices. Traders raise the prices of essentials — medicines, meat — because availability is minimal. Israel continues to deceive the world, and the world continues to be easily deceived. Meanwhile, bombs continue to fall, leaving Gazans in a state of endless war, not only conventional but also psychological, because anything can happen at any time. And this has been "normal" for them for decades.

Israel uses a well-known strategy, tried and tested over the years: it violates the ceasefire, bombs as it pleases, then announces the return of the truce. A unilateral, violent and unpunished act. This now recognizable pattern has a devastating effect on Palestinian communities and constitutes a clear abuse of international humanitarian law.

According to the rules of war, a truce should represent an effective and verifiable suspension of hostilities, aimed at protecting civilians, allowing humanitarian aid to enter, and preventing further loss of life. However, Israel's interpretation of the term seems to be purely instrumental. Every time the army conducts "targeted operations" during the truce — striking densely populated neighborhoods, advancing with armored vehicles, or shifting the boundaries of controlled areas — the truce is effectively violated. Yet, at the end of the attacks, it is announced that the ceasefire has 'returned' or "remains in force," as if nothing had happened.

This dynamic renders the very notion of a truce meaningless and undermines the foundations of international humanitarian law, which requires good faith, transparency, and respect for agreed conditions. Declaring the return of the truce after repeatedly breaking it is not only a formal violation, but a strategy that allows the occupation to operate with total impunity, while the international community remains paralyzed by ambiguous and contradictory narratives.

And it is precisely in the realm of narrative that infowarfare comes into play. Presenting bombings and advances as "limited incidents," claiming that the truce is still in force despite the explosions, and spreading the idea that the situation is under control serves to construct a distorted image of reality. The goal is twofold: on the one hand, to avoid international pressure and formal accusations of violating the truce; on the other, to shape global perception, pushing the media and governments to see stability where destruction reigns.

This manipulation of information is not an accessory element, but an integral part of military strategy. Infowarfare allows operations on the ground to continue while maintaining an acceptable diplomatic appearance. In this way, the use of the truce becomes a narrative tool rather than a mechanism for protecting civilians. This is where the most serious abuse occurs: the transformation of the language of humanitarian law into a rhetorical weapon that masks violence rather than limiting it.

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The Terrifying Case of Natalie Strecker

Comment: Full blown tyranny, Orwellian style is here. It was bad before, but it's a whole new slice of totalitarianism now descending... We resist this now or the there will be no freedom left to do so. The window is closing...

-------------------

Craig Murray

I am confident that over 2 million people in the UK have shared thoughts on the Genocide in Gaza that are stronger than anything Natalie Strecker has expressed

I am quite certain that I am one of those 2 million.

Yet Natalie Strecker, an avowed pacifist, today faces up to ten years in prison under the Terrorism Act when the verdict in her case comes in.

Strecker is charged with eliciting support for Hamas and Hezbollah, based on 8 tweets, cherry-picked by police and prosecutors from an astounding 51,000 tweets she sent, mainly from the Jersey Palestine Solidarity Committee account.

The tweets were rather rattled off in court and referred to occasionally again in whole and in part. There may be minor inaccuracies not affecting sense, but this is the best reconstruction of those tweets that I can make (they were not displayed to the public):

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International Court of Justice Delivers Opinion on Israel’s Obligations

Voltairenet.org

At the request of the UN General Assembly, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the internal court of the United Nations, issued an advisory opinion on 22 October on the "Obligations of Israel with regard to the presence and activities of the United Nations, other international organizations and third States in and in connection with the Occupied Palestinian Territory". 

The Court is of the opinion that the State of Israel, as the occupying power, must fulfil its obligations under international humanitarian law. These obligations include:

 ensuring that the population of the Occupied Palestinian Territory has access to the essentials of daily life, including water, food, clothing, sleeping materials, shelter and fuel, as well as medical items and services; 

 accepting and facilitating to the fullest extent possible relief actions for the population of the Occupied Palestinian Territory as long as they are inadequately supplied, as has been observed in the Gaza Strip, including relief actions by the United Nations and its entities, in particular the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, and by international organizations and third States, and not to prevent such actions; 

 respecting and protecting all emergency and medical personnel, as well as their premises; 

 respecting the prohibition of forcible transfer and deportation to the Occupied Palestinian Territory;... 

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British citizens serving in the IDF can now be tried for war crimes in the UK

Joe Glenton | Canary 

The legal landscape around UK citizens serving in the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) has shifted, lawyers say. Palestinian statehood means that Brits who served in Israel’s genocide can be tried and jailed.

Paul Heron of Public Interest Law Centre told Novara Media:

The legal landscape has shifted.

Now that Palestine has been recognised as a state, the legal and moral excuses for inaction have fallen away.

For the first time, it is now arguable that British dual nationals serving in the Israeli military in Gaza or the West Bank could fall foul of the Foreign Enlistment Act, a law that makes it an offence for a British subject to fight for a foreign state at war with another state with which the UK is at peace.

Foreign enlistment act: applicable to the IDF?

Technically the Foreign Enlistment Act of 1870 means Brits who served in foreign armies can be jailed or fined. But the act is very old and poorly enforced. Heron said may not serve as a basis for prosecution.

In April 2010, Public Law Interest Centre and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights submitted evidence to British police regarding ten individuals who’d served in the Israeli military:

Our 240-page submission to the Metropolitan police highlights that the UK cannot turn a blind eye.

The police have the power, the resources and the responsibility to investigate British nationals alleged to have taken part in war crimes, wherever they occur.

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Two Years Since

Israel Shamir | Unz Review

Two years passed since this memorable morning raid, when the Hamas fighters realised the wildest fantasy of our lifetime, and escaped on the eagle wings from the prison of Gaza. They flew over the barbed wire and mine fields where their cruel prison guards kept them jailed for fifteen long years, and attacked the jailers. This was the bravest, most noble deed of the Hamas warriors. Let us do the fast forward of Gaza fate previous to this fateful day.

Palestine’s fate is the most bitter, in violation of all norms. It is ruled by Israel, which does not allow its inhabitants to live peacefully, to enter or leave, use the airport, while its own airport and seaport had been destroyed. Palestinians are killed for no reason — there is always a justification and explanation for the killing. If the explanation collapses, there is an oops, but never restitution, not to mention justice. Palestine is an anomaly, the only colony in our time where the local population is under complete colonial oppression. Attempts to decolonise Palestine have failed, and people around the world who seek justice cannot accept this situation.

Gaza is the most unfortunate part of Palestine. It’s a rather small Bantustan, surrounded by Israeli territory and Israel’s dependency, Egypt. The city, located on the Mediterranean coast, is not allowed to have its own port, even though this very port existed here 1,000 years before the birth of Christ. Ptolemy and Strabo wrote about it. It was one of the main ports of the Eastern Mediterranean, known throughout the ancient world. Incense from the south of the Arabian Peninsula was brought here — frankincense and myrrh, popular in ancient times, as well as other aromatic oils and spices. So, when life was bustling here, trade flourished.

It was the site of a great battle, from March to November 1917 the Brits fought for Gaza, and with great difficulty took it. In 1948, the Jews couldn’t take it, and not for the lack of trying, but they pushed into Gaza thousands of Palestinian dwellers of villages and towns south of Jaffa.

Incidentally, this is why, when Yasser Arafat agreed with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on the ‘peaceful coexistence’ of the two peoples (the so-called Oslo Accords, signed in 1993), the Israelis assured that Gaza would become the main metropolis of Palestine. Unfortunately, this did not happen. It is very difficult to negotiate with the Israelis. If they do not like an agreement, it is a ‘bad deal’ and they are not obliged to comply with it. This applies not only to politics, but also to business, and indeed to anything else. And they simply threw the Oslo Accords out the window. 

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Mahmood and Starmer “weaponising” appalling Manchester synagogue attack to further restrict right to protest

Stop the War Coalition

The right to protest is fundamental in any democratic society and must be defended

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Prime Minister Keir Starmer are seeking to weaponise the situation to ramp up the attack on the Palestine movement, with talk of “repeated protests” being a drain on police resources, the Stop the War Coalition has said.

In response to the home secretary’s announcement of plans to crack down on pro-Palestine protests, Stop the War convenor Lindsey German said:

“Stop the War is alarmed that the UK government intends to introduce greater restrictions on the right to protest in the wake of the appalling attack at the Manchester synagogue.

“It defies logic for the Home Secretary to suggest that there should be limits placed on how often people can protest against a genocide that has been waged on the people of Gaza for two years.

“Marches organised by the Palestine coalition, which Stop the War is a part of, have been attended by hundreds of thousands of people, and we believe they are representative of majority public opinion in this country which wants to see an end to the suffering of the Palestinian people.

“We condemn the attack on the Manchester synagogue, just as we condemn recent attacks on mosques and hotels accommodating asylum seekers.

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Did you know that Israel had Jewish spies pretend to be Muslims to marry Palestinian women and start families with them?

Shaun King | The North Star

In the 1950s, Shin Bet agents married Arab women, had children, and lived double lives — until the truth was revealed in France: "Your husband is a Jew. He is a spy."

Family, what you're about to read is one of the most disturbing stories in Israel's history — a story even most Israelis don't know. It's not about bombs or wars. It's about how Israel infiltrated Arab villages by destroying the sanctity of marriage itself, and by using women and children as disposable cover stories.

The Story Israel Tried to Bury

Family, if you've been reading me for a while, you know I try to explain things as simply as I can. Before I ever wrote the news for a living, I hated reading articles that assumed I already knew who or what they were talking about. So let me slow down and explain this clearly.

The Shin Bet is Israel's domestic security service — think of it like the FBI in the United States, except it spends most of its energy spying on and controlling Palestinians. The Mossad is Israel's foreign intelligence agency, like the CIA, running assassinations and covert operations abroad. And the IDF — the Israel Defense Forces — is Israel's military, though most of what it has done for 75 years is offensive: invading, bombing, and occupying.

This story is about the Shin Bet. And it is one of the most intimate, chilling false flag operations you've probably never heard of.

In the 1950s, the Shin Bet created a secret unit of undercover agents known as mistaarvim — literally "those who become like Arabs." Their mission was simple: to pose as Palestinian refugees returning after the 1948 war, to move into Arab villages inside Israel, and to live as if they were Arabs themselves.

But here's where it crosses the line into something crueler than even espionage: these men married Arab women, had children with them, and built entire families under false identities. For more than a decade, their wives and children believed they were married to and being raised by Arab men. Only later — in secret meetings in places like France — did the wives learn the devastating truth: "Your husband is not Arab. He is a Jew. He is a Shin Bet agent."

This is not rumor. It's not conspiracy theory. It's reported by Ynet, one of Israel's largest news outlets:

"Ten Jewish men assimilated into Arab communities in the early 1950s, marrying local women and starting families with them, all the while serving in the Shin Bet as 'mistaarvim.'"

And when the truth came out, families collapsed. Women were forced into conversion. Children were told they were Jews without ever choosing it. Even Shin Bet officers later admitted the intelligence gained was marginal, while the human wreckage left behind was permanent.

(I know some of you have to see an Israeli source before you believe anything so here you go.)

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Recognition of Palestine Is a Repeat of the West’s Oslo ‘Peace’ Fraud. Jonathan Cook

Jonathan Cook | Global Research

he reluctant recognition of Palestinian statehood by Britain, France, Australia, Canada this week is a con – it is the same switch and bait that has been blocking the creation of a Palestinian state for three decades now.

Imagine that these four leading western countries had recognised Palestine not in late 2025, when Palestine is in the final stages of being eradicated, but in the late 1990s, during a period of supposed Palestinian state-building.

That was when the Oslo accords were signed with western backing. The Palestinian Authority was established under Yasser Arafat with the apparent aim that Israel would gradually withdraw from the territories it still occupies in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem and begin ruling an emergent Palestinian state.

At Israel’s insistence, let us note, the Oslo accords carefully avoided any mention of the ultimate destination of this process. Nonetheless, the message from western politicians and media was the same: this was heading towards a Palestinian state living in peace alongside Israel.

Looking back, it is evident why that did not happen when it still looked feasible.

The Israeli leader of the time, Yitzhak Rabin, told the Israeli parliament that his vision was not of a state but of “an entity which is less than a state”: a glorified Palestinian local authority utterly dependent on its bigger neighbour, Israel, for its security and economic survival.

After Rabin was assassinated by a far-right Israeli gunman, his successor, Benjamin Netanyahu, was propelled into power by a majority of the Israeli public on a mandate to stop the Oslo process in its tracks.

He repeatedly reneged on commitments to withdraw Israeli soldiers and Jewish settler-militias from the occupied West Bank. In fact, in this period of supposed “peace-making”, Israel colonised Palestinian land at the fastest rate ever.

In 2001, during his time in opposition, Netanyahu was secretly caught on camera, explaining how he achieved this reversal.

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Israel is trying to collapse the Palestinian Authority. The first step is destroying the Palestinian economy.

Mondoweiss | Qassam Muaddi 

As countries around the world recognize a Palestinian state, Israel is doing everything it can to prevent the possibility of any future state. One way it plans on doing that is through financial strangulation.

Following the wave of global recognitions of the State of Palestine from key Western and European nations, Israel has been stepping up its plans to render these gestures moot by implementing measures meant to cripple and delegitimize the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Earlier this month, Israel approved a massive settlement plan that would split the West Bank in two. Since October 7, 2023, it has plunged the PA into an economic crisis by withholding nearly 7 billion shekels (around $2 billion) in Palestinian customs money. And in recent months, the Israeli army has launched repeated invasions into the heart of Palestinian cities in the West Bank, ostensibly under PA control.

But Israel still hasn't used its most important trump card in responding to the recent Western and global recognitions of a Palestinian state. It involves a piece of paper, and the person holding it is Israel's hardline Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich.

Every year, the Finance Minister renews an indemnity letter allowing Israeli banks to accept money transfers from Palestinians in the West Bank, shielding Israeli banks from anti-terrorism laws they might be at risk of breaking by dealing with Palestinian banks. Smotrich has repeatedly threatened to revoke this letter in response to global sanctions against hardline Ministers like himself and Itamar Ben-Gvir, which could cause the collapse of the Palestinian banking sector — and possibly, the Palestinian Authority. Smotrich has recently been periodically renewing the letter in four-month stretches, using the intervals as pressure points to threaten the PA.

This is the spearhead of Israel's campaign of economic warfare against Palestinians in the West Bank. Here's why it could hasten the collapse of the PA and formally bring about a one-state apartheid reality. 

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U.K., Canada and Australia formally recognize a Palestinian state, breaking with the U.S.

NBC News

LONDON — The United Kingdom, Canada and Australia officially recognized Palestine as a state on Sunday, marking a significant shift in foreign policy and a step away from their alignment with the United States, with several other European nations and U.S. allies set to follow suit this week.

“Today, to revive the hope of peace for the Palestinians and Israelis, and a two state solution, the United Kingdom formally recognizes the State of Palestine,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement.

Canada had, moments before, become the first Group of 7 nation to recognize the state of Palestine, as Prime Minister Mark Carney promised a "peaceful future for both the State of Palestine and the State of Israel."

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese released a statement shortly after formally recognizing "the independent and sovereign State of Palestine."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “We will have to fight both at the UN and in all other arenas against the false propaganda against us and the calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state that will endanger our existence and constitute an absurd reward for terrorism. The international community will hear from us on this matter in the coming days.”

Netanyahu accused the foreign leaders of giving a “prize” to Hamas.

“It will not happen,” he said. “A Palestinian state will not be established west of the Jordan River.”

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Stolen Homeland: Genetics Debunk the Zionist Myth of “Return”

Muhammad Hamid ad-Din | New Eastern Outlook

 

Israelis tell us and the entire world from the podiums of the UN, on television screens, and in the pages of the global press: “We have returned home.” 

“A Tiny Peaceful State Against Arab Hordes”

This Zionist lie is not just a distortion of reality; it is a grotesque propaganda narrative, meticulously constructed and lavishly funded to justify blatant colonial expansion. Apologists for this myth paint a picture of an Israeli David fighting against an Arab Goliath, deliberately ignoring the fact that the roles were reversed long ago, and that “David,” with the West’s help, possesses one of the world’s most advanced nuclear arsenals and a military equipped with cutting-edge technology.

This “tiny peaceful state” is, in practice, the most powerful military enclave, whose drones, tanks, and total surveillance system control every square meter of historic Palestine—from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. This is not self-defense; this is a classic military occupation, lasting for decades and being the longest in modern history. They are the ones building walls, shutting out those whose lands they have annexed. It is their high-ranking ministers and members of parliament who openly dream of a “new Nakba” and call for “erasing entire cities” in the Gaza Strip, putting into practice the long-standing Zionist slogan of “driving the Arabs into the sea.”

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Israel has attacked six countries in the past 72 hours

Al Jazeera | Marium Ali and Alia Chughtai

In just three days, Israel has carried out strikes in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Tunisia, Qatar and Yemen.

 

On Tuesday, Israel launched a targeted air strike on a Hamas leadership compound in Qatar's capital, Doha, during a meeting to discuss a US-proposed ceasefire for Gaza.

The strike killed six people, including the son of senior Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya, the director of al-Hayya's office, three bodyguards and a Qatari security officer. However, its top leaders are reported to have survived the attack.

The attack was part of a wider wave of Israeli strikes extending beyond its immediate borders, and marked the sixth country attacked in just 72 hours and the seventh since the start of this year. 

Israel continues to bombard Gaza

Israeli attacks across Gaza have killed at least 150 people and injured more than 540 others since Monday.

On Monday, 67 people were killed and hospitals received 320 wounded, including 14 people killed while seeking aid, while six people - among them two children - died from famine-related causes. On Tuesday, another 83 people were killed and 223 were injured.

Israel is continuing its assault on Gaza City, targeting high-rise buildings, destroying infrastructure, and forcing residents from their homes, leaving many with nowhere safe to seek shelter.

Since its onset in October 2023, Israel's war on Gaza has killed at least 64,656 people, [a far more probable figure is at least half a million] including at least 404 who have died of starvation. Thousands more have been lost under the rubble and are believed to be dead. 

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In defiance of voter base, DNC rejects resolution calling for Israel arms embargo

Mondoweiss | Michael Arria

On Tuesday, Democratic National Committee (DNC) members at the party’s summer meetings rejected Resolution 18, which called for the recognition of a Palestinian state, a ceasefire in Gaza, an arms embargo, and a suspension of military aid to Israel.

Instead, members backed a status quo resolution introduced by DNC Chair Ken Martin, which simply called for more aid to be allowed into Gaza and a two-state solution. Despite the support, Martin went on to withdraw the resolution.

“I know that there are some who are interested in making changes today, but as we’ve seen, there’s divide in our party on this issue,” said Martin. “This is a moment that calls for shared dialog. It calls for shared advocacy, and that’s why I’ve decided today, at this moment, listening to the testimony and listening to people in our party, to withdraw my amendment and resolution.”

Martin says he will establish a task force “comprised of stakeholders on all sides of this” so that they can “bring solutions back to our party.”

Resolution 18 had faced opposition from lobby groups like Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI).

“Should it advance, it will further divide our Party, provide a gift to Republicans, and send a signal that will embolden Israel’s adversaries,” claimed DMFI president and CEO Brian Romick. “As we get closer to the midterms, Democrats need to be united, not continuing intra-party fights that don’t get us closer to taking back Congress.”

Polling has consistently shown that Democratic voters are, in fact, united on Israel. A majority of them oppose the genocide in Gaza and want the Israeli government held accountable for its actions in the region.

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