Tag: israel

Did Netanyahu want Hamas October 7 attack to take place?

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 9.9.2026

It’s scary to think that Benjamin Netanyahu condoned and is criminally liable for the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on his own people so he could unleash the Israeli Defense Forces fury on Gaza Palestinians. Something to consider, eh?

Trump and Netanyahu are kindred souls in at least one respect. When they don’t like the news, what do they do? Go out and make some of their own. Go to Court and try to beat down the individual, organization or media outlet which has exposed their lies and illegal activities.

The Haaretz report Trumps anything that the American President has gone to Court for seeking relief. Netanyahu is responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people; his own Israeli citizens included.

What the Israeli newspaper Haaretz is claiming goes right to the gut of Benjamin Netanyahu’s three year assault on the Peoples of Gaza following the Hama attack on Israel October 7, 2023. Had Netanyahu been paying attention and taken the “threat seriously” the calamity of October 7 and the past three years may have been avoided.

On 21 November 2024, following an investigation of war crimes and crimes against humanity, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for two senior Israeli officials, Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, and Yoav Gallant, the former Minister of Defense of Israel, alleging responsibility for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts during the Gaza war and genocide.[1][2] The warrant against Netanyahu is the first against the leader of a Western-backed democratic country for war crimes.[3][4][5]ICC arrest warrants for Israeli leaders – Wikipedia

Revealed: Netanyahu Received an Explicit Warning Days Before Oct. 7. He Didn’t Brief Israel’s Security Chiefs – published in Haaretz

Benjamin Netanyahu says he will sue over claims he ignored an advance warning about October 7 attack – published in The Daily Mail

Jerusalem Post 9.8.2026

In September ’23, UAE President bin Zayed called Netanyahu to deliver a harsh warning. Netanyahu did nothing. An extensive investigation, conducted for a new book, reveals the PM’s failures surrounding Oct. 7. Netanyahu: ‘This is an absolute lie’

UAE President Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan (MBZ) warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Hamas was planning a major operation against Israel days before the October 7 massacre, a Haaretz investigation published Tuesday said.

Netanyahu reportedly dismissed the warning despite MBZ urging him to take the threat seriously, the report said, citing three senior foreign sources familiar with the contents of the conversation.

During a 45-minute conversation held 10 days before the massacre, MBZ reportedly warned Netanyahu that then-Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was planning a major operation against Israel. The United Arab Emirates leader expressed concern that an attack could lead to significant bloodshed, destabilize the region, and undermine the Abraham Accords, according to the report.

Excerpted from The New Yorker 9.8.2026

An Israeli news article on Tuesday morning managed to roil even a war-weary and jaded public. Published in Haaretz, its headline read: “Netanyahu Received an Explicit Warning Days Before Oct. 7. He Didn’t Brief Israel’s Security Chiefs.”

No event has shaped recent Israeli history more than the October 7th attacks and their aftermath. Netanyahu has refused to take responsibility or issue an apology for the failures in intelligence and policy that led to the worst attacks to ever take place on Israeli soil.

But his government, for all of its equivocating, cannot deny that it was in power when they occurred. Ynet, a popular news site, echoed the Haaretz report on its home page on Tuesday—an unusual tribute to a rival newspaper;

Channel 12 opened its evening-news edition with the story, calling it “jaw dropping.”

The article, drawn from a new book by the journalists Shlomi Eldar and Ruth Yuval, reveals that, a week and a half before Hamas led the October 7th attacks on Israel, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, the President of the United Arab Emirates, called Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, with a specific warning. During a forty-five-minute conversation, according to the report, bin Zayed cautioned that Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s leader in Gaza, was “preparing a major event” in the near future. Sinwar was quoted in the article as telling an official from the rival Fatah faction that he was planning a “zilzal”—an “earthquake.”

Netanyahu seemed untroubled, a close adviser to the Emirati ruler told the journalists.

He didn’t update the heads of Israel’s security establishment about the conversation. Instead, he assured bin Zayed that Israel was “prepared for any scenario.” If anything, he said, the “volatile” area was not Gaza but the West Bank. Bin Zayed was so startled that Netanyahu was making light of the situation that he expressed concerns to the C.I.A. director, William J. Burns.When the article appeared, Netanyahu denied that such a conversation had ever taken place. But the U.A.E.’s foreign ministry appeared to confirm Eldar and Yuval’s reporting, saying in a statement reported by Haaretz that the two countries maintain “open and direct communication,” exchanging intelligence “when necessary.”

Eldar told Israel’s Channel 12 that he and Yuval had based their story on talks with three independent sources and on “a recording and documents” of the conversation between Netanyahu and bin Zayed.Newsbreaks in Haaretz, a liberal paper with strong investigative reporting, are often met with silence by much of the country, or brushed off as leftist propaganda by Netanyahu and his mouthpieces in the media. This story seemed to land differently.

Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post – 9.10.2026.  Did you expect anything else?😵‍💫

Britain et al are correct to embargo a murderous Israel

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 9.8.2026

The Wall Street Journal editorial writers have gone into rhetorical excess with its “Israel can do no wrong, ever” hot air bloviation.

The blogger performed some historical research and quickly learned that the Israelis have historically utilized one way to deal with their foes as the comment I posted on the WSJ editorial page shows.

At least in this instance the Israelis cannot resort to actual physical violence.

The WSJ editorial writers need to stop pandering to The State of Israel. It’s way past the time when Israel is allowed to act with impunity in its destruction of the Palestinian state. The Brits deserve praise for finally standing up to Israel and condemning its criminal behavior.

I think the fatal bombing of the King David Hotel bombing – Wikipedia in Jerusalem killing 91 people in July 1946 by The Irgun (arguably a Jewish terrorist group) led by future Prime Minister Menachem Begin had a lot to do with the British antipathy directed towards creation of the State of Israel. It’s safe to say that nearly 80 years after the creation of Israel the Israelis have only one way way to deal with their foes, real and imagined. Violence by any means necessary.

Aftermath of the Irgun bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem – 7.22.1946

Europe Joins the Boycott Israel Crowd

Europe has a talent for dressing up domestic political pandering as righteousness on the world stage. The latest is a British ban on imports of Israeli goods from the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, plus sanctions on anyone facilitating new construction. France and Canada plan similar measures. “We will not acquiesce in the destruction of the two-state solution,” said U.K. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband.

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/britain-sanctions-israel-west-bank-palestine-hamas-gaza-e8bab985?st=86Gv5T&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

European Nations Impose Trade Bans on Israel Over West Bank Settlements

The U.K., France, Canada and nine other countries said they would impose new trade restrictions on Israel, escalating a dispute over the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Tuesday’s announcement prompted a swift retaliation from Israel against the U.K., which was the first to announce it would halt trade with settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israel said it would close the British consulate in East Jerusalem, which deals largely with Palestinian affairs, and expel British representatives from the U.S.-led coordination center for postwar Gaza.

https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/european-nations-impose-trade-bans-on-israel-over-west-bank-settlements-3a5cdfdb?st=emmcJo&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
The video is a simplistic recitation of the July 1946 King David Hotel bombing – Wikipedia. It provides a back to basics look at the incident. The British administrative headquarters for Mandatory Palestine, housed in the southern wing[1] of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, were bombed in a terrorist attack[2][3] on 22 July 1946, by the militant right-wing[4] Zionist underground organization Irgun during the Jewish insurgency.[5][6][7] Ninety-one people of various nationalities were killed, including Arabs, Britons and Jews, and 46 were injured.[8]

A true Israeli ‘terrorist’ Ben-Gvir. Minister of National Security

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 8.21.2026

Perhaps no Israeli leader, aside from Benjamin Netanyahu is more responsible for Israeli criminal behavior than Itamar Ben-Gvir.

The blogger keeps reading reports about Itamar Ben-Gvir. Israel’s Minister of National Security. A man who thinks Palestinians are sub-human; has happily posted videos of himself tormenting protesters who sailed to Palestine to support the people of Gaza and published a video of himself touting ‘gallows’ for Palestinians.

It comes as no surprise that much of the world now treats Israel as a ‘pyrrhia’ State. Its reprisal actions since October 7, 2023 when Hamas brutally murdered 1195 mostly Israelis October 7 attacks – Wikipedia has been labeled ‘Genocide’ by many world leaders and nations.

It is genuinely appalling to learn of how truly despicable is his conduct. The latest inflammatory comments being his wish that 30-40 Palestinians be killed each day.

Call to kill Gazans

In August 2026, he called for killing “30 to 40” people in Gaza every night while speaking to a former hostage, Rom Brasalavski, on a podcast. Ben-Gvir clarified that the killings should go beyond those who “pose an immediate threat”, stating that “there are people there who are not worthy of life… they’re not even people.”[92]

His statement was condemned by the Chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Merz, stating that Ben-Gvir’s statement was “inhumane”, “unacceptable” and a violation of international law.[93] Jean-Noël Barrot, France’s foreign minister, also condemned Ben-Gvir’s remarks, calling them “intolerable” and “inhumane”.[94] United Nations secretary-general António Guterres called the remarks as “appaling”, “dehumanizing”, “outrageous”, and “dangerous”.[95] Guterres’ spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, called his remarks as “abhorrent” and “scandalous”.[96]

Ben-Gvir has also called for the ‘hanging’ of Palestinians and showed off the proposed site in a video.

Israel continues to commit genocide, atrocity crimes by deliberately targeting Palestinian children, UN independent commission finds | UN News

Last year, the commission concluded that “Israel had committed genocide against the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip, found that the intense scale and systematic nature of the Israeli military operations have continued, resulting in unprecedented death, injury and trauma of Palestinian children.”

Here are some findings in the commission’s latest report:

  • Israel has killed 20,000 children and injured 44,000 more since 7 October 2023
  • Severe physical and mental injuries, mass trauma, orphanhood, separation, disability, repeated displacements, starvation and the collapse of education and healthcare have erased childhood and will continue to affect children in Gaza throughout their lives
  • Palestinian children have been arrested and subjected to torture and other severe forms of mistreatment in Israeli prisons and detention facilities, with no information on their whereabouts
  • Israeli security forces have used sexual violence against children as part of the collective shaming and oppression, entrenched within a prolonged, ethnic, gendered and intergenerational pattern of occupation and hostilities

Itamar Ben-Gvir – Wikipedia

Ben-Gvir is a settler in the Israeli-occupied West Bank; according to the BBC, his “political background lies in Kahanism—a violently racist movement that supports the expulsion of Palestinians from their lands”. He has a long history of anti-Arab activism, leading to dozens of indictments and at least eight convictions of crimes including incitement to racism and support for, as well as possession of propaganda of, a terrorist organization (the now-illegal Kach political party). As a lawyer, he is known for defending Jews accused of Jewish extremist terrorism in Israeli courts.

Ben-Gvir is known for being a provocateur and has attracted headlines for a variety of reasons: threatening Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on live television in 1995 shortly before his assassination; having had a portrait in his living room of Baruch Goldstein, a Jewish terrorist and mass murderer; calling in 2019 for the expulsion of Arab citizens of Israel who are not loyal to the state;[2] inciting violent clashes between Jewish settlers and Palestinians in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah in 2021; and making highly controversial visits to the Temple Mount, where the al-Aqsa Mosque is located, in 2023 and 2024.

Itamar Ben-Gvir (Hebrew: אִיתָמָר בֶּן גְּבִיר [itaˈmaʁ benˈgviʁ]; born 6 May 1976) is an Israeli politician and lawyer who has served as the minister of national security since 2022, except for a two-month gap in early 2025. He is the leader of Otzma Yehudit (“Jewish Power”), an Israeli far-right, Kahanist and anti-Arab party which won six seats in the 2022 legislative election and is part of the thirty-seventh government of Israel.

Top photo: Itamar Ben-Gvir and Benjamin Netanyahu


Holst’s The Planets – Mars, the Bringer of War
Gustav Holst’s The Planets, Op. 32, is a seven-movement orchestral suite composed between 1914 and 1917, inspired by astrology rather than astronomy. The first movement, Mars, the Bringer of War, sets a tone of relentless aggression and military force Wikipedia+1. performed appropriately by the United States Marine Band

Trump thought Iran war would be easy as saying “You’re fired!”

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 8.12.2026

Donald Trump seriously believed the war on Iran would be over quickly.

Instead he has taken the World into economic discord with no end in sight.

Trump just thought this just another episode of The Apprentice where he could dispatch Iran with the words, “You’re fired!!”

Excerpted from Foreign Affairs – August 12th 2026

EMMA ASHFORD is a Senior Fellow in the Grand Strategy Program at the Stimson Center and the author of First Among Equals: U.S. Foreign Policy in a Multipolar World.

Donald Trump campaigned for a second U.S. presidential term on a promise to end wars, not start them.

And for the first year after his return, there were indications that he might make a real break with the status quo that has led Washington to overextend itself. He pushed the United States’ European allies to spend more on defense, promoted peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, and pursued a cautious détente with China that has dialed down tensions over Taiwan.

Eighteen months later, however, the United States is bogged down in a new war in the Middle East. Although the U.S. military has enjoyed tactical successes, Washington has not achieved any kind of meaningful strategic victory; in certain respects, Iran exerts more power now than it did in February.

The DonaldTrump way

Nonetheless, Trump has shied away from making diplomatic compromises. Just like his nemesis, U.S. President Barack Obama, Trump promised Americans that he would extract the country from pointless “forever wars” in the Middle East and then proved unable to do so.

But the fact that the United States again became mired in a Middle East conflict is even more surprising today, because over the past two decades, the American public as well as many U.S. leaders have firmly concluded that such wars are mistakes.

At heart, structures and incentives pull Washington back, repeatedly, to avoidable quagmires. For starters, military action is easy for U.S. presidents to initiate. Since 1991, U.S. leaders have gotten in the habit of deploying force to secure even the most minor U.S. interests. The short-term costs and risks of using force against a smaller, distant state or nonstate actor often appear small—most Americans can go about their day-to-day lives without even realizing their country is at war—and Congress has largely become willing to cede its constitutional oversight.

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/guest-pass/redeem/92meLFc_TI8

Mayor Mamdani correctly labeled Bibi “war criminal.”

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 7.22.2026

The mainstream media is in a general uproar because New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has correctly labeled Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu a “war criminal.”

If it was up to New York’s Mayor the Israeli Prime Minister would be arrested when he arrives for the United Nations general assembly meeting.

It’s easy to ignore reality. The Israeli military has slaughtered over 70,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 7, 2023. In retaliation for the Hamas attack which resulted in the deaths of over 1300 people, mostly Israelis.

Netanyahu has been indicted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands. ICC arrest warrants for Israeli leaders – Wikipedia

On 21 November 2024, following an investigation of war crimes and crimes against humanity, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for two senior Israeli officials, Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, and Yoav Gallant, the former Minister of Defense of Israel, alleging responsibility for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts during the Gaza war.[1][2] The warrant against Netanyahu is the first against the leader of a Western-backed democratic country for war crimes.[3][4][5]

Eventually, Netanyahu will have his day in Court. Regrettably, it won’t happen in the United States.

Excerpted from The New York Times – 7.22.2026

Mayor Zohran Mamdani recently disclosed that he was in “active conversation” with his legal team about whether he could make good on a campaign vow to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, should he set foot in New York City.

What the mayor neglected to say, in a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times last week, was that he had already been advised by lawyers that he had no authority to do so.

The International Criminal Court – International Criminal Court – Wikipedia

His declaration risked a rare public clash with his police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, whose pro-Israel stance runs counter to the mayor’s longstanding position.

Ms. Tisch had no intention of arresting Mr. Netanyahu, and the Police Department was ready to make that clear with a formal statement declaring that it lacked the authority to take such action. Lawyers agreed that such an arrest was not within the scope of the Police Department.

Top photo: War criminal Bibi Netanyahu with the Israeli military

Vietnam to Israel. WSJ follows American hegemony party line

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 7.16.2026

I am unsure what is more infuriating reading this WSJ editorial screed.

Standing by Israel despite its ongoing three year onslaught against the People of Gaza.

Or, relitigating the US involvement in Vietnam. An act of Washington stupidity which lay waste to Southeast Asia resulting in the deaths of 58,000 Americans. And hundreds of thousands of Asians.

Several bloody and bandaged soldiers ride on top of a tank used as a make-shift ambulance after the Battle of Hue in the Vietnam War, Hue, Vietnam, February 15, 1968. (Photo by John Olson/Getty Images)

Wall Street Journal editorial 7.16.2026

The vote by 103 House Democrats on Wednesday to block U.S. arms to Israel as it fights a multifront war is a shocking abandonment of an ally. It’s a sign of the rapid conquest of the Democratic Party by its anti-Israel wing, and it echoes another betrayal half a century ago—in Vietnam.

The measure to strip Israel of all aid—humanitarian and military, offensive and defensive—was offered by the isolationist Republican Thomas Massie of Kentucky. He was the only GOP member who voted for it, as it failed on the House floor, 314–104.

The shock is that nearly half of all Democrats voted for it. They included former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the second ranking Democrat in leadership, Katherine Clark of Massachusetts. Another 10 voted “present”—non-profiles in courage all. “It is clear that the status quo is not tenable,” Ms. Clark said in a statement before the vote. “We should not provide a blank check for military aid to any country that does not comply with U.S. law, interests, and values. The [Benjamin] Netanyahu government has failed to meet that standard.”

Israel has violated no U.S. laws we know of. As for U.S. interests, Israel is fighting by the side of the U.S. against Iran and fighting alone against Iran’s proxies that have killed Americans. The defense relationship with Israel is a U.S. military advantage that helps maintain America’s technological edge over adversaries. When Democrats are voting to abandon even Iron Dome missile defense, this is self-sabotage out of anti-Israel animus.

It’s one thing to oppose Mr. Trump’s war on Iran, but it’s a far more radical step to cut loose a steadfast ally. How is it a U.S. “value” to disarm an ally fighting against murderous enemies that fire rockets on civilian towns?

VIETNAM – APRIL 30: The Fall of Saigon in Vietnam on April 30, 1975 – The north-Vietnamese tanks cross Saigon on the way towards the Doc Lap palace. (Photo by Herve GLOAGUEN/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

All of this echoes the sad denouement of the Vietnam War, when Democrats fought for years to cut off funds for South Vietnam, restricted U.S. aid, and denied its pleas for help in 1975. The North Vietnamese Communist offensive overran the South, sending more than a million “boat people” into the open ocean.

That is where the Democratic Party—and some parts of the far right—appear to be heading. It’s a telling sign that even Seth Moulton, often sensible on foreign policy, voted to disarm Israel as he competes in a Democratic Senate primary in Massachusetts. That’s where the party’s grassroots voters apparently are.

Some might dismiss the House vote as of no great account because everyone knew the Massie measure would fail. But the mistake is thinking that this is a one-time affair. The political momentum is growing against Israel, even if Israelis depose Prime Minister Netanyahu in their October election. This movement thinks Israel is evil while Palestinian terrorists are victims.

The party of Harry Truman, who recognized Israel in its time of founding crisis, is becoming the party of Zohran Mamdani. It’s a betrayal for the ages.

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/israel-arms-sales-house-democrats-katherine-clark-thomas-massie-cade897f?st=Pnbsue&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

Netanyahu needs to stop his whining and kvetching.

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 6.15.2026

Netanyahu needs to stop his whining and kvetching. Much of the World is totally disgusted with what this Guy is doing to the historic reputation of Israel.

Excerpted from The Wall Street Journal 6.15.2026

Israel Is Alarmed by Trump’s Deal With Iran

A man waves a Hezbollah flag in Tehran on Sunday. Vahid Salemi/Associated Press

Critics say the deal eases pressure on Tehran too soon, while others say it shows the war was a mistake

TEL AVIV—President Trump’s deal to wind down the war with Iran set off alarm bells in Israel, where top officials are wrestling with the consequences of easing the pressure on Tehran and the risks of opening a rift with the U.S. over the war with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

It is a harsh comedown from Israeli hopes that the war would bring fundamental change to the region by toppling or crippling the Iranian regime and paving the way to diplomatic relations with more of Israel’s Arab regional counterparts under an American security umbrella, said Michael Oren, a former Israeli ambassador to Washington.

The tension has been heightened by the lack of certainty about what exactly Trump has agreed to in the deal, which is expected to be signed later this week. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was urgently trying to set up a meeting with the president to sort out the competing issues, a person familiar with the matter said. 

An Israeli strike over the weekend on Beirut in response to Hezbollah attacks on Israel almost derailed the agreement and set off a last-minute scramble by the White House and mediators to keep the deal on track.

Trump criticized the strike in an interview with The Wall Street Journal and said on social media that Israel had to stop its attacks across Lebanon. That was at odds with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement earlier in June that only required Israel to end the fighting if Hezbollah also stopped. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the U.S. was on the hook to end Israel’s attacks and aggression in Lebanon, state media reported.

Defying those claims, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the military would hold its so-called security zone in Lebanon indefinitely, saying it was needed to protect communities in northern Israel. He also said Israel would act independently to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons if necessary. 

Israel is concerned that Trump has agreed to a deal that could provide Tehran with the financial relief it needs to rebuild its shattered economy but doesn’t include a commitment to turn over its enriched uranium.

https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israel-iran-deal-lebanon-581695ac?st=ohKSwx&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

Whose “hair is on fire”? Trump tosses Israel and the War Hawks into the Straits of Hormuz

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 5.24.2026

Trump does the “surrender” walk

Some commentators describe The Atlantic piece as War Hawk neo con talking points blasting Trump for “surrendering” to Iran.

Such talk is only correct by half. Yes Trump may be surrendering. But not for the reasons the War Hawks argue.

Trump is the prototype, for better and worse, transactional operator. He realizes belatedly the entire assault on Iran, pushed by Israel, has been a disaster from Day One on February 28, 2026. Now he is seeking an exit ramp realizing he’s made a shambles of the global economy and guaranteed the MAGA brand is going to take a beating on election day next November 3rd.

Excerpted from The Atlantic 5.21.2026 – Robert Kagan

According to one U.S. official, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “hair was on fire” after the May 20th call with Donald Trump—for good reason.

The outlines of President Trump’s endgame in the Iran war are now emerging. In a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu May 20th, Trump reportedly explained that the United States was negotiating a “letter of intent” with Iran that would “formally end the war and launch a 30-day period of negotiations” on Iran’s nuclear program and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz

Trump’s repeated threats to resume attacks since then have proved to be bluffs. The leaders in Tehran have been calculating for two months that Trump would not launch another attack, and for this reason they have made no concessions despite the damage they suffered from 37 days of relentless strikes. On the contrary, their terms for a settlement are those of a victor: They demand war reparations, no limits on uranium enrichment, recognized control of the strait, and an end to sanctions.

The purpose and effect of such an agreement should be clear: The United States is walking away from the crisis. Trump may launch another limited strike to look tough and satisfy the demands of the war’s supporters, but it would be a performative gesture. Endgame in this case is a euphemism for “surrender.”

Trump no doubt hopes that he can slip away without Americans noticing the magnitude of this defeat. The financial markets may stabilize if it is clear that oil will eventually start flowing again through a reopened strait, even if under the new Iran-controlled system.

The Iran war may end up as the single most devastating blow to Israel’s security in its brief history. On the present trajectory, Iran will emerge from the conflict many times stronger and more influential than it was before the war. It will exercise leverage with dozens of the richest nations in the world, all of which will have an acute interest in keeping Iran happy. They will be unlikely to take Israel’s side in any conflict that it has with Tehran or with its proxies in Lebanon and Gaza, because Iran will have the means to punish them if they do. Israel will emerge more isolated than it has been at any time in its history—and not least from its only reliable protector, the United States. When Trump turns his back on Israel, as he must do to implement this policy, MAGA will gladly follow. The bipartisan anti-Israel consensus in the United States will grow and harden.

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/2026/05/trump-surrender-iran-endgame/687252/?gift=og7bP-I2jPZ31wYIETbx1vmTNzK9tVbSb56RgKFzK1U&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

Thug Netanyahu pushes thru death penalty for Palestinians

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 3.30.2026

Just in time for Passover.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a war making, some would say, ‘war criminal’.

It makes perverse sense that this thuggish politician would push through a death penalty measure aimed at the Palestinians.

Netanyahu is already responsible for the slaughter of tens of thousands in Palestine, Lebanon and Iran already. The death penalty statute just adds to his list criminal and inhumane activity.

Aftermath of Israeli air strike in Gaza resulting in the death of 90 civilians

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 3.30.2026

Israel‘s parliament, the Knesset, on Monday passed legislation making the death penalty by hanging the default punishment for West Bank Palestinians found guilty of murdering Israeli citizens.

“The State of Israel is changing the rules of the game today,” said Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, a West Bank settler whose ultranationalist party introduced the bill and who has popularized the measure with a noose pinned to his lapel.

Israeli media outlets showed images of Ben-Gvir celebrating with his fellow Knesset members in Israel’s parliament.

Critics also say it is unlikely to deter attacks by Palestinian attackers and that Israel has no sovereign jurisdiction over the occupied Palestinian territories.

It stressed that “such laws and measures will not break the will of the Palestinian people or undermine their steadfastness, nor will they deter them from continuing their legitimate struggle for freedom, independence, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

A large number of Israelis are appalled by Netanyahu’s criminal behavior

The Palestinian presidency strongly condemned the law, saying it “amounts to a war crime,” in a statement carried by the Palestinian Wafa news agency.

A total of 62 of 120 lawmakers backed the bill, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose ruling coalition is reliant on the support of far-right parties, for whom the adoption of the law marks a major victory.

“Those who murder Jews will not continue to breathe and enjoy conditions in prison,” he said. “This is a day of justice for the murdered, a day of deterrence for enemies,” Ben-Gvir said after the Knesset vote.

https://www.dw.com/en/israel-knesset-approves-death-penalty-for-palestinians/a-76599313

Top photo: Netanyahu and Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, a West Bank settler whose ultranationalist party introduced the bill and who has popularized the measure with a noose pinned to his lapel celebrate passage of Palestinian death penalty bill in Israeli Knesset

The hangman for Palestinians in Netanyahu’s Israel

Berlin police brutally break up banned pro-Palestinian rally

SAN FRANCISCO via BERLIN

Dozens killed in Gaza as Israel weighs ceasefire plan – 7.5.2025

Emmy Sasipornkarn | Richard Connor with AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters

Dozens have been killed in Gaza as Israel presses its offensive. Reports say many died while waiting for food near aid sites and others were killed in airstrikes at different locations. DW has the latest.

The Israeli genocide against the people of Gaza continues unabated.

Lee Heidhues 7.5.2025

The German government cracked down from the beginning on those speaking out against the Israeli terror campaign against Gaza. The crackdown began less than 10 days after the Hamas attack on Israel October 7, 2023.

It’s dangerous to speak up for the Palestinians and against the Israeli ongoing genocide in Gaza. Nearly 60,000 children, women and men have been slaughtered by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) since the Hamas attack on Israel October 7, 2023.

Germany, which was responsible for the Nazi holocaust (1933-1945) and the death of 6M Jews, gypsies, those thought to be degenerate and opponents of Hitler, has stood by Israel since its creation in 1948.

The Israeli genocide is unspeakable and the crackdown on those speaking up for the Palestinian people is political, police and judicial overkill.

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 10.16.2023

German police and courts responded in different manners to a series of protests and demonstrations showing solidarity with Palestinians over the weekend, with some forbidden and others allowed to go ahead. 

Berlin cops roust Palestinian demonstrators – 10.16.2023

In the German capital Berlin, police on Sunday evening appealed online to people not to come to a planned “vigil” for people in Gaza at Potsdamer Platz in the city center, saying it had been prohibited “because in this case it is a replacement-event for an already banned demonstration.”

In a later update, police explained more on their reasoning for the restrictions. 

“More and more participants with flags and pro-Palestinian symbols were flocking to the gathering, originally planned as a vigil, which the organizer had said was neither desired nor planned when in prior collaborative talks,” Berlin police wrote on social media. “As a result of the considerable number of people with pro-Palestinian symbols arriving, the replacement event was forbidden even before it had formally begun.”

The issue of demonstrations in support of Palestinians has been highly visible in many European countries since Israel launched relaliatory airstrikes on Gaza after the militant Islamist group Hamas, which rules the strip, attacked Israel on October 7 killing some 1,300 Israelis as well as foreign nationals. In Germany, the issue has been particularly sensitive and met with a relatively hard line by politicians of all stripes. 

Deputy Chancellor Robert Habeck tried to describe these issues at some length in a speech released online late on Friday that gathered traction over the weekend.

Habeck’s personal video message, addressed at first to Israelis, promised them “we stand at your side, and we have forgotten nothing,” an apparent reference to Germany’s role in the Holocaust and its post-war guarantee of Israel’s security.

https://www.dw.com/en/berlin-police-break-up-banned-pro-palestinian-rally/a-67104373