Home
Share |

Blogs

Israel's 'elimination project' on West Bank advances

Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem issued a comprehensive report charging that Israel is carrying out an "elimination project" on the occupied West Bank, seeking to dismantle Palestinian "collective existence" there to establish a permanent, contiguous Jewish presence and Israeli sovereignty. A campaign of "ethnic cleansing and territorial takeover" is effected through violence and intimidation, movement restrictions, economic strangulation, and criminalization of Palestinian political organizing. These steps toward annexation are taken jointly by the Israeli military and armed settlers.

Israeli leaders announce plan to cleanse Gaza

The foreign ministers of eight Muslim countries issued a joint condemnation of remarks by Israeli cabinet ministers announcing plans for the mass displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. Defense Minister Israel Katz said that Israel is seeking the support of Donald Trump for the scheme, adding that there is "no real solution for Gaza without migration" and that the Israeli government is "organized and ready to get them out." National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir followed up by saying that Israel has a plan to expel all 2.1 million Palestinians from Gaza over the next six years, starting with 250,000 people in the first year. Ben-Gvir is alternately calling his plan "Disengagement 7-10," a reference to the October 7 attacks, or the more euphemistic "National Work Plan for Voluntary Emigration from the Gaza Strip." 

Israeli 'ecocide' seen in Lebanon

Lebanese firefighters, residents, and environmental groups have accused the Israeli militaryof deliberately lighting wildfires across the areas of southern Lebanon it occupies, with some labelling it "ecocide." According to the reports, up to 40% of the land in areas close to the front line has been burned by Israeli drones, flares and munitions since June, with firefighters in some cases attacked as they attempted to respond.

UN decries Israel's new West Bank outpost plans

UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned Israel's announcement of plans to accelerate the authorization of settlement outposts under Israeli domestic law in the occupied West Bank, warning that the move constitutes a "flagrant violation" of international law. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the measures following a clash that left four Palestinians and two Israeli settlers dead at the village of Tal, near Nablus. Mosques, farmland and vehicles were set afire during the settler attacks that sparked the clash. Netanyahu simultaneously announced new Israeli military operations on the West Bank. Hundreds have since been arrested in sweeps of Palestinian villages. 

Mahmoud Khalil sues US officials, pro-Israel groups

Prominent Palestinian rights activist Mahmoud Khalil filed a lawsuit in US federal court alleging a "coordinated" conspiracy between senior Trump administration officials and three private organizations—the Heritage Foundation and online surveillance or "doxxing" groups Canary Mission and Betar—to target him for deportation over his advocacy work. Khalil is a former Columbia University graduate student who became the public face of the Trump administration's crackdown on pro-Palestinian campus activism following his detention by ICE last year. 

Israeli leaders reaffirm plans to ethnically cleanse Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he has ordered the Israeli military to take over 70% of the territory of the Gaza Strip, adding: "Let's start with that." Defense Minister Israel Katz meanwhile said the government is planningfor large numbers of Palestinians to leave the enclave "at the right time and in the right manner"—which rights groups say amounts to ethnic cleansing. As global attention has shifted elsewhere, Israel has created its own facts on the ground by progressively inching forward the so-called "yellow line" demarcating its area of control. More than 60% of Gaza's territory currently falls within this line, and the Israeli military regularly kills and injures Palestinians in the vicinity of the shifting boundary. 

Denounce Israel's treatment of flotilla activists

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told Israeli President Isaac Herzog that Israel's treatment of detained flotilla activists is "appalling" and "unacceptable" during a call between the two. This marked the latest in a wave of backlashafter Israel's Public Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir posted a video of himself taunting bound and kneeling detained activists. The activists were part of the Global Sumud Flotilla, an international coalition sailing to Gaza to deliver food and medicine, as well as attempt to break the Israeli blockade of the territory. Forty-five vessels of the most recent convoy were intercepted by the Israel Defense Forces in the territorial waters of Cyprus. The activists were detained without charge, with allegations circulating of beatings and mistreatment in custody. Of the hundreds of detained activists, 12 were Canadian. Nine were returned to Canada last weekend, while one is in Turkey receiving urgent medical care following "appalling abuse." 

'Hondurasgate' leaks reveal Israeli destabilization scheme

"Hondurasgate"—an apparent plot involving Israel, the United States, and former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández to destabilize Latin America's progressive governments through disinformation—has thrust Israel's ties to the region back into the spotlight. The scandal emerged ahead of a diplomatic visit by Israeli President Isaac Herzog to Central America as part of a push to consolidate alliances with the region's newly ascendant right-wing leaders.