Bombs Over Iran, Eyes Off Gaza
Plus Iran attacks Israeli military bases embedded in civilian neighborhoods
I don’t have much to say up top this week, for a few reasons. I’ve been tied up with a reported piece dropping later this week (stay tuned), but more importantly, the flow of news from Gaza has slowed to a trickle. On Wednesday, Israel severed the Strip’s last fiber optic cable, plunging 2.1 million people into a communications blackout. Between that and the launch of a new regional war, Israel has succeeded in shifting the world’s gaze. When internet returned on Saturday, Gazans reported a sharp escalation in IDF attacks since the strikes on Iran.
Also, I’m not an expert on Iran or nuclear science—if you’re looking for in-depth analysis, follow my friend Séamus Malekafzali, who’s been on it nonstop.
That said, a few things are clear even from my non-expert’s vantage point. Whatever you think about the “success” or legitimacy of Israel’s operation to take out Iran’s nuclear program, it should be obvious that Netanyahu’s goal has long been escalation, not containment, and that he would like nothing more than to drag the US into a massive regional war. That would be catastrophic, and if you support these strikes without seriously considering that risk, please do let me know how you see it ending well. It’s beyond me how the popular “liberal” stance is that Netanyahu is a corrupt authoritarian unfit for office, yet his decision to bomb the other regional heavyweight, while already waging war in Gaza, the West Bank, Yemen, Syria, and Lebanon, deserves support.
Finally, I have little patience for anyone who insists Iran must never possess a nuclear program while accepting, as some inevitable fact of life, that Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth, Benjamin Netanyahu and Itamar Ben Gvir, should have access to enough nuclear warheads to wipe out life on earth several times over. Ask yourself: Of all the world leaders in power today, who’s most likely to push the button?
Here’s this week’s roundup. If you find it useful, please tap the heart (algorithm fuel), share it around, and consider pledging for a future paid subscription.
Iran
The Strike
Israel launched a massive assault on Iran on Friday, hitting nuclear sites and killing top commanders, scientists, and negotiators in what Netanyahu called a “preemptive” strike—a fig leaf Israel has used since at least 1967, when it deployed the same logic to justify its conquest of the West Bank, Gaza, and the Golan Heights.
The surprise assault was powered by smuggled weapons, internal collaborators, and Mossad-run drone bases deep inside Iran. The strikes, which took place during U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations, killed at least 78 people, including dozens of children, and injured over 300. Netanyahu says the operation, which is still underway at the time of this writing, will continue for “as many days as it takes.” Surely, he’ll release a detailed roadmap with clear, achievable aims soon.
Experts say Israel failed to destroy Iran’s underground enrichment facilities, an aim it will need the US’s bunker-busting firepower to achieve. Axios reported on Saturday that Israel has formally asked the Trump administration to join the war. (Bloomberg, Axios)
The new front also serves Netanyahu’s personal agenda: with his coalition crumbling, Gaza war crimes mounting, and his corruption trial looming, the Iran escalation lets him recast himself as a wartime savior. (Intercept)
The Retaliation
Iran retaliated on Friday with a wave of missiles that killed three people and injured dozens in Tel Aviv, where Israeli military bases are embedded within civilian neighborhoods, prompting Israel’s defense minister to vow, “Tehran will burn” if attacks continue. (WSJ)
Over the weekend, Israel bombed Iranian oil depots—an unmistakable move to destabilize both the country and the global economy—while Iranian missile strikes killed ten more in Israel and wounded over 200. (BBC, Haaretz)
The US
The Trump Administration initially insisted Washington had no involvement and had warned Israel not to act while nuclear talks were ongoing. But President Trump later claimed he had known about the strike in advance and said the attack would help bring Iran back to the negotiating table now that “the hardliners are all DEAD”—a table Iran had never left, with the now-cancelled sixth round of talks scheduled for the weekend.
Trump claims he had issued a 60-day ultimatum to Iran, which expired the day of the strike, and praised the operation as “excellent,” noting that Israel had used “great American equipment.” As Malekafzali writes, Trump is trying to have it both ways: claiming the strike wasn’t his call while bragging that it achieved all of America’s goals. (Intercept)
Israeli officials now claim that Trump was fully on board and actively participated in a coordinated deception campaign to mislead Iran, pretending to oppose the strike in public while privately approving it. For my own part, I have a hard time believing Trump is capable of this kind of ruse. (Times of Israel, NYT, Drop Site, Axios)
On Saturday, President Trump posted a deeply personal, moving call for peace on Truth Social: “President Putin called this morning to very nicely wish me a Happy Birthday, but to more importantly, talk about Iran, a country he knows very well. He feels, as do I, this war in Israel-Iran should end, to which I explained, his war should also end.” (Axios)
On Sunday, Trump said that the US is not involved in Israel’s military operation in Iran, but “it's possible we could get involved.” (ABC News)
Gaza
Hiroshima-Level Destruction
A UN satellite analysis found that the destruction in Rafah and Jabalya exceeds that of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; it is more systematic and expansive than in the most extreme cases in modern history, including Aleppo, Mosul, or Sarajevo. A five-stage demolition campaign—aerial bombing, bulldozing, remote-controlled explosives, and a contractor-led effort where payment is tied to the number of buildings razed—has damaged or destroyed two-thirds of Gaza’s buildings, 501 of 564 schools, and 80% of its roads. A large part of the electrical infrastructure has been demolished, along with water and sewage lines. The number of egg-laying hens has decreased by 99 percent, the number of cattle by 94 percent, and the quantity of fish being caught by 93 percent. The UN estimates it will take two decades to clear 50 million tons of rubble and debris scattered across the Strip. (Haaretz)
Gaza’s Ministry of Health says the death toll has reached 55,297, with over 128,000 wounded. Independent analyses suggest the real toll, including those still buried under the rubble and those who’ve died from treatable conditions, could be well into the hundreds of thousands. (ME Eye)
Israeli officials have now said the military operation in Gaza is “secondary” to the one in Iran. (Haaretz)
Aid Massacres
The IDF’s daily massacres of starving Palestinians at U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid sites continued this week, pushing the death toll to at least 285, including 11 this morning. In addition to IDF shootings, gunmen from the Israel-backed Abu Shabab militia opened fire near a GHF site in Rafah on Monday, killing six and wounding nearly 100 before fleeing into IDF-controlled zones. (Times of Israel, BBC, Haaretz)
A Gaza resident called the GHF aid sites a spectacle of dehumanization—“like throwing meat into a cage of starving lions”—and mourned the loss of the old UNRWA system: “structured, respectful... run by kind people who treated us as human beings.” (Nation)
An American security contractor deployed with the GHF called the aid project a deadly sham, describing sleep-deprived, untrained men armed with rifles and flashbangs, chaotic distributions where starving civilians are trampled, and Israeli snipers coordinating behind the scenes as tanks fire on approaching aid seekers. (Zeteo)
A BBC investigation found no answers about who funds the GHF—just shell addresses, silent executives, and a PR flack dodging questions. (BBC)
The GHF says Hamas attacked a bus carrying its staff near Khan Younis on Wednesday, killing eight workers and possibly kidnapping others. (Haaretz)
Gang Wars
Israeli forces launched an airstrike in southern Gaza to aid the Abu Shabab militia—an ISIS-tied gang known for looting and collaborating with Israel—by targeting Hamas fighters in an active firefight. (i24)
Hamas says it has killed over 50 members of the gang. (ME Eye)
Targeted Killings
Israel killed three paramedics and a journalist in Gaza City’s Tuffah neighborhood as they tried to rescue the wounded and retrieve bodies; among the dead was Hussein Muhaisen, who weeks earlier had been filmed carrying a small girl away from a fire. (ME Eye)
A Haaretz investigation confirmed that the man killed in a May 30 IDF drone strike was Muhammad al-Farra, a disabled civilian with cerebral palsy; Israel maintains he was “a terrorist observing troops.” (Haaretz)
A video shows a young man carrying his dead father on his bicycle after Israeli forces shot him dead at an aid site. (Al Jazeera)
War on Healthcare
Israel’s siege has pushed Gaza’s second-largest hospital to the edge of collapse—doctors warn hundreds could die if Nasser Hospital shuts down, with premature babies, amputee children, and maternity patients trapped inside as fuel runs out, staff are stranded, and bombs fall nearby. (Haaretz)
Diabetic children in Gaza are dying because Israel’s restrictions on test strips force parents to guess blood sugar levels, making every dose of insulin a life-or-death gamble. (Haaretz)
Changing Story
The IDF led two separate tours of tunnels found under the European Hospital in Khan Yunis—first with Israeli journalists, then with international press—offering conflicting versions of the operation that reportedly killed Hamas commander Mohammed Sinwar.
On the Hebrew-language tour, commanders said the tunnel was struck to prevent those inside from fleeing, and that a second strike released gases that killed everyone inside.
But on the foreign press tour, the IDF spokesperson said he couldn’t provide definitive answers on how Sinwar was killed, but insisted that, “We don’t use gas as weapons” (a war crime).
The IDF also told Israeli reporters the tunnel was linked to the hospital’s power supply and that staff “must have known,” while foreign reporters were told only that it was accessed via a pit dug in the courtyard, with no known entrances from inside.
And while the IDF bragged to Israeli media about retrieving Sinwar’s body as a “bargaining chip,” that particular war crime was omitted from the international tour. (Haaretz, NYT)
Aid Flotilla
As the aid flotilla neared Gaza’s coast, Israeli officials shifted from menacing threats to mockery, dismissing the boat as a “selfie yacht” before intercepting it, detaining its passengers, and staging a PR-friendly scene of soldiers handing out sandwiches.
Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the activists to be forced to watch graphic footage of the October 7 Hamas attacks, calling Greta Thunberg “an antisemite” and saying the screening would teach her and her “Hamas-supporting friends” who the real enemy is. The activists reportedly refused to watch the footage, prompting Katz to accuse them of “closing their eyes to the truth” and siding with “the murderers over the victims.”
For reference, the UN defines torture as “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted… for such purposes as obtaining information, punishment, intimidation, or coercion…”
Israel began deporting the activists last week, though several remain in custody. (Times of Israel, J Post)
Protest March
Egyptian authorities detained or deported as many as 400 foreign activists from 40+ countries ahead of a planned march to Gaza’s Rafah crossing, raiding hotels, confiscating phones, and blocking access to the aid convoy as Israel called on Cairo to stop “jihadist protesters” from reaching the border. (Times of Israel)
Survivors
Palestinian pediatrician Alaa al-Najjar, whose husband and nine children were killed in an Israeli airstrike on their home, was evacuated to Italy with her only surviving child, 11-year-old Adam, whose hand was amputated and his body badly burned. “They were happy and beautiful before the war,” she said of her nine dead children. (Guardian)
Pulitzer winner Mosab Abu Toha wrote from exile about his loved ones in Gaza. (TNY)
West Bank
Never Miss an Opportunity
Hours after bombing Tehran, Israel locked down the entire West Bank—cutting off roads, closing checkpoints, and building walls around Palestinian towns. (New Arab)
In overnight raids on Sunday, Israeli forces reportedly detained at least 34 Palestinians across Hebron, Nablus, Tulkarm, and Bethlehem. (ME Eye)
Legalizing Land Theft
Israel is now allowing settlers to register ownership over West Bank land once held by Palestinians, nullifying decades-old Jordanian and Palestinian deeds. (Mondoweiss)
Gestapo
Israeli soldiers detained 28-year-old insurance rep Ezzedine Abu Rabie at a West Bank checkpoint, then beat, electrocuted, and tortured him for 13 hours for having photos of Gazan children on his phone. (Palestine Chronicle)
Israeli forces shot and killed two unarmed Palestinian brothers during a raid on Nablus’ Old City on Tuesday, and another man in Tammun during a Wednesday night raid, blocking paramedics from reaching the victims in both cases. (New Arab, ME Eye)
On Wednesday, Israeli forces returned to Khallet al-Dabaa—a Masafer Yatta hamlet they had already destroyed 90 percent of in May—to demolish 12 newly rebuilt structures and displace dozens of residents again. (IMEMC)
+972 reported on the life-threatening impact of Israel’s checkpoint regime on pregnant Palestinian women in the West Bank, with mothers forced to give birth on dirt roads or delay labor out of fear of encountering soldiers and settlers. (+972)
A 57-year-old Palestinian man from Tulkarm died in Israeli custody. (ME Eye)
The PA
In a letter to Macron ahead of a scheduled UN conference on Palestinian statehood, Mahmoud Abbas condemned October 7 for the first time, and said “Hamas will no longer rule Gaza and must hand over its weapons and military capabilities to the Palestinian security forces,” adding that the PA would oversee the transition with Arab and international support and pledging to hold elections within a year. Netanyahu maintains that the PA will not be allowed to play any role in Gaza’s governance. (NYT)
Israel
The Horrors of War
Confidence Man
Two ultra-Orthodox parties that had threatened to support opposition efforts to dissolve parliament over the military draft of yeshiva students ultimately backed down, allowing Netanyahu to survive the no-confidence vote. (Bloomberg, Al Jazeera)
Popular Opinion
Support for ending the Gaza war is growing in Israel, driven by fears for the remaining hostages, not concern for Palestinians. Sixty-seven percent of Jewish Israelis say Gaza’s suffering should play little or no role in policy decisions. (BBC)
A new poll shows 64 percent of Israelis believe there’s no need for more coverage of Gaza’s humanitarian crisis, with the same number agreeing that “there are no innocent people in Gaza” (Haaretz)
Israel the Brand
Birthright is having its biggest summer ever: 30,000 young Americans are flying to Israel on all-expenses-paid trips, funded by right-wing donors and the Israeli government, to party on stolen land, tour annexed territory, and bond with IDF soldiers. (Intercept)
Leaked data from Meta (Facebook) shows Israeli brands are becoming increasingly toxic, paying 155% more per click while getting 60% fewer ad engagements since 2023. (Drop Site)
Sanctions
The U.K., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Norway slapped personal sanctions—including travel bans and asset freezes—on Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, accusing them of inciting settler violence and pushing for Palestinian displacement. Benny Gantz, the centrist opposition leader, called the sanctions “a profound moral failure.” (Haaretz)
A Haaretz editorial argued that targeting only Smotrich and Ben-Gvir with sanctions amounts to symbolic disapproval, allowing Western governments to distance themselves from Israel’s most fascist faces while preserving diplomatic cover for Netanyahu and the state itself. (Haaretz)
Smotrich retaliated by moving to cancel a critical waiver that allows Palestinian banks to function, risking total financial collapse in the West Bank. (Al Jazeera)
US
America First
A new Florida bill pushed by Palm Beach County carves out a special exemption allowing local governments to pour unlimited public funds into Israeli junk bonds, transforming municipal treasuries into pipelines for Netanyahu’s war chest. (Jacobin)
War on Students
Despite a federal judge’s ruling that Mahmoud Khalil’s detention under a Cold War–era “foreign policy” statute was likely unconstitutional, the Trump administration refused to release him, arguing it could still detain him under spurious immigration fraud charges. (NBC News)
After paying $800,000 to a private firm that tailed, harassed, and surveilled pro-Palestinian students for over a year, the University of Michigan canceled the contracts, blaming the decision on one investigator’s “unethical conduct.” (Guardian)
An Intercept investigation confirmed that Michigan Democratic AG Dana Nessel personally ordered FBI raids on the homes of pro-Palestine student organizers at the University of Michigan, but has refused to unseal the affidavits justifying the search.
Free Speech Report
CBP detained two Masafer Yatta-based peace activists arriving at SFO for a synagogue-sponsored US speaking tour, revoked their visas without explanation, and moved to deport them. (Intercept)
Weaponized Antisemitism
A Jewish, Bush-appointed federal judge dismissed a sprawling 111-page lawsuit by student and pro-Israel social media influencer Eyel Yakoby accusing UPenn of fostering antisemitism. The judge blasted the plaintiffs for cramming their complaint with “unrelated facts” and “inflammatory” language while failing to show any actual intent to harm. (Court Listener)
Disgraced NYC Mayor Eric Adams signed an executive order adopting the controversial IHRA definition of antisemitism, which equates criticism of Israel with hate speech. (Forward)
NY Times on Antisemitism
The NYT Editorial Board published a 1,700-word piece titled Antisemitism Is an Urgent Problem. Too Many People Are Making Excuses. Fewer than 100 words cover Israel’s conduct in Gaza as a possible cause of the recent spike. The piece also seems to imply that while criticizing the Israeli government is not the same thing as antisemitism, criticizing Israel is.
Government
Trump reportedly told Netanyahu of Gaza, “Finish it. The war is exhausting itself.”
Ambassador Mike Huckabee said a Palestinian state “probably won’t happen in our lifetime” and floated the idea that a Muslim country should offer its own land for it. (ynet)
The US sanctioned Addameer and five other charities, accusing them of funneling donations to Hamas’s military wing and the PFLP under the guise of humanitarian aid, despite previous UN assessments that found no compelling evidence and described Addameer’s work as critical human rights monitoring. (Times of Israel)
NYC Mayoral Race
After Zohran Mamdani pulled ahead in the NYC mayoral race polling, a pro-Cuomo super PAC sent out a doctored mailer that artificially darkened and lengthened Mamdani’s beard while falsely claiming he “rejects Jewish rights.” (TNR)
Big Business
Israel’s genocide in Gaza is propped up not just by US military aid, but by a transnational “capital coalition,” with Wall Street underwriting Israeli bonds, US venture capital powering its tech sector, and Silicon Valley giants like Google and Microsoft supplying the IDF with AI tools and cloud infrastructure. (Jacobin)
Two rights groups filed a criminal complaint accusing Airbnb of money laundering for profiting from over 300 listings in Israeli settlements. (ME Eye)
World
Exactly As Planned
A UN conference on Palestinian statehood, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, was postponed due to Israel’s assault on Iran. (Haaretz)
The British Empire
In April 2024, then–UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron threatened ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan with defunding and withdrawing from the court if it issued arrest warrants for Israeli leaders. (ME Eye)
After 300 Foreign Office employees warned the UK was complicit in Israeli war crimes, the department’s top brass told them their “ultimate recourse is to resign.” (Guardian)
Real Recognize Real
Far-right neofascist President of Argentina, Javier Milei, visited Israel to express his support for its war on Gaza, receive the $1 million Genesis Prize—dubbed the “Jewish Nobel”—and declare Israel a “lighthouse of freedom” in the fight against terror. (Haaretz, J Post)
Welcome your thoughts in the comments—especially if you know people still defending Israel’s conduct. What are they saying? How are they justifying it?
Truly a thoroughly informative breakdown, thank you.
This is an excellent breakdown, thank you.