Unprecedented Israeli air-strikes on buildings in Qatar's capital Doha apparently targeted senior members of Hamas' external leadership—precisely those involved in ceasefire negotiations. The Israel Defense Forces confirmed the operation, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying that the attack was "a wholly independent Israeli operation." He added: "Israel initiated it, Israel conducted it, and Israel takes full responsibility." However, the White House quickly confirmed that it was informed of the operation beforehand. On the same day as the Qatar strikes, organizers of a flotilla carrying aid for Gaza said their lead ship was hit by a drone while anchored at the port of Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia. A videoposted by the Global Sumud Flotilla appears to show a lit projectile falling from the sky onto the vessel before flames erupt on the front deck. The ship sustained some damage, according to later footage posted on social media. One day later, a second vessel in the flotilla was evidently struck, causing similar damage. The Global Sumud Flotilla's most prominent member is Greta Thunberg, internationally known for her climate activism and now a leading figure in the Freedom Flotilla Coalition.
Two of Israel's leading human rights organizations charged that government practices and policies in the Gaza Strip amount to an ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people. B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel each published a report and jointly announced their findings. It marks the first time that any Israel-based rights group has labeled state actions as genocide. Both organizations invoked the "legal and moral duty" of Israel's Western allies to bring a halt to Israel's conduct.
With Israel’s criminal air-strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites releasingradioactive contamination, Bibi Netanyahu cynically invokes the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protest movement that shook Iran for months from September 2022. Of course nothing is less conducive to pro-democracy civil resistance in Iran than to have this cause associated with the foreign power that is bombing the country’s territory—and is itself oppressing the Palestinians with biblical justifications. In Episode 282 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg again advocates a neither/nor position that rejects the militaristic and reactionary regimes of both Zionism and political Islam, and looks to a secular order in the Middle East.
In Episode 272 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg discusses the Israel-hosted "International Conference on Combatting anti-Semitism" that featured speakers from the European and American neo-fascist (and even anti-Semitic!) far right. The established phenomenon of paradoxical fascist pseudo-anti-fascism has been joined by anti-Semitic pseudo-anti-anti-Semitism. While Trump's 2019 executive order on anti-Semitism sought to conflate anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism, the new posture would actually substitute the prior for the latter entirely as the ideology to be opposed. Anti-Semitism is now acceptable as long as it is pro-Israel, fulfilling Zionist founder Theodore Herzl's 1895 prediction: "The anti-Semites will become our most dependable friends, the anti-Semitic countries our allies." (Photo: CounterVortex)
The US military could face legal responsibility for assisting Israeli forces that commit war crimes, Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated. Direct participation by US forces in military operations in Gaza since October 2023, including by providing intelligence for Israeli strikes and conducting extensive coordination and planning, has made the United States a party to the conflict under international law, HRW found. Members of the US military could also be individually implicated for the crimes, according to the rights group.
Future plans for the Gaza Strip currently circulating among United States government officials call for for the relocation of the entire population to make way for construction of tourist resorts and tech industry hubs under a decade of US administrative control, according to a Washington Post exclusive. The 38-page document obtained by the newspaper includes full-color artist renderings of the envisioned "Riviera of the Middle East." The prospectus, yet to be officially approved, would see the US take the Strip under trusteeship for at least 10 years, overseeing "voluntary departures" of the residents to third countries or into "restricted" zones within the territory. A "Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration & Transformation Trust" (GREAT Trust) would be established to coordinate the effort.
The Israeli cabinet will convene to discuss annexation of areas of the West Bank, local media report. The discussion has been called in light of the recently-approved settlement construction plan spearheaded by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, which will see some 3,400 housing units built in the West Bank's contentious E1 area between Jerusalem and the Ma'ale Adumim settlement bloc. This follows approval of a Knesset resolution in favor of annexing the entirety of the West Bank. The motion, which passed 71-13, declared that the West Bank is "an inseparable part of the Land of Israel, the historical, cultural and spiritual homeland of the Jewish people," and that "Israel has the natural, historical and legal right to all of the territories of the Land of Israel."
The Israeli military's extensive destruction of civilian property and agricultural land across southern Lebanon must be investigated as war crimes, Amnesty International said in a new research briefing. The report, entitled "Nowhere to Return: Israel's Extensive Destruction of Southern Lebanon," documents the demolition of more than 10,000 civilian structures between October 2024 and January 2025. Amnesty concluded that the destruction, often carried out with manually laid explosives and bulldozers while Israeli forces were in control of the areas, occurred outside active combat and without the "imperative military necessity" required under international humanitarian law.
A report released by the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) program found that a "famine is currently occurring in Gaza Governorate," the district covering Gaza City, and is "rapidly spreading" under seige conditions imposed by Israel. Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis governorates are also approaching the IPC's criteria for famine. Multiple international aid agencies and organizations have renewed their calls for an immediate ceasefire to facilitate an "unimpeded, large-scale humanitarian response that can save lives."
London's Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) reported that 466 people were arrested for displaying support for activist group Palestine Action at a protest in Westminster. The MPS added that an additional eight arrests were conducted, including five for assault on police officers. Police said they invoked Section 60AA of the Criminal Justice & Public Order Act of 1994, which grants police officers the authority to demand the removal of any signs or clothing "expressing support" for a "proscribed group." Palestine Action has been designated a "terrorist organization" by the UK government, following a series of "direct actions" (targeted vandalism) against arms manufacturers believed to be supplying weapons to Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told his ministers that he will seek cabinet approval for a plan to fully occupy the Gaza Strip. According to reports in the Israeli media, several ministers said Netanyahu used the term "occupation of the Strip" in private conversations describing his plan. One anonymous official was quoted as saying: "The die is cast—we are going for a full occupation of the Gaza Strip." Referring to IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, who is said to oppose such plans, the official added: "If the chief of staff doesn’t agree, he should resign." These reports come as more than a dozen former senior Israeli security officials issued a joint video message with a call to end the war in Gaza, arguing that it has become damaging to Israel's own national interests.
Bill Weinberg speaks at the NYC Anarchist Forum on "Neither NATO Nor Qaddafi, Thank You: Anarchist Perspectives on Libya and the Arab Spring," April 27, 2011
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