Zionism won’t stop, the Arab world must collapse
By Lorenzo Maria Pacini | Strategic Culture Foundation | August 10, 2025
Four weeks after the signing of the Abraham Accords—signed on September 15, 2020, with U.S. mediation and involving the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain—Israeli urban planning authorities have authorized the construction of 4,948 new homes in the occupied territories of the West Bank. No significant public statements, no troop movements: just bureaucratic approvals marking a further step in the expansion of Israel’s presence. This advance, shrouded in the rhetoric of ‘peace’, took place in silence, reflecting a well-established approach: proceed with normalization when the region is compliant and intensify colonization when international attention wanes.
This logic is rooted in the expansionist model of Zionism: where possible, military force is used; where this is not convenient or feasible, soft penetration is used in the form of security agreements, economic cooperation, and intelligence alliances. This dual strategy—based on physical conquest and hegemonic consolidation—has been in place since 1967 and today extends unchecked from the Jordan River to the Atlantic Ocean.
Let us be clear: the Zionist project, in all its aspects, will not stop. The Arab world represents an obstacle to the construction of Greater Israel and the manifestation of Zionist hegemony.
The “Greater Israel” project manifests itself on two levels: on the one hand, the annexation of Palestinian territories, and on the other, geopolitical control of the region through indirect means. And, if we want to extend our projections, we must consider that Greater Israel is the starting point, not the end point.
This is a vision rooted in Zionist ideology, which envisages Jewish domination over the entire “Biblical Land of Israel.” When direct occupation is not sustainable, Tel Aviv prefers maneuvers of influence and destabilization that undermine the sovereignty of neighboring Arab states. The two dimensions—territorial and imperial—are interdependent.
This strategy has deep roots. Ze’ev Jabotinsky, the father of revisionist Zionism, wanted control over all of Mandatory Palestine and beyond, arguing that colonization should take place even against the will of the local populations. David Ben-Gurion, while publicly accepting the partition in 1937, saw that compromise only as an initial phase towards subsequent expansion, confirming the intention to extend the borders to the whole of Palestine once the Israeli military apparatus had been strengthened, as indeed happened. At first, Israel’s military power was insufficient for large-scale operations, so the “periphery doctrine” was developed, through which Israel cultivated alliances with non-Arab states and marginalized minorities (the Shah’s Iran, Turkey, Iraqi Kurds, Sudanese Christians), indirectly weakening its Arab rivals. This strategy, now adapted, is also visible in recent relations with the Druze communities in southern Syria.
Normalization means influence
Israeli penetration into the Arab world has reached an unprecedented level. The Abraham Accords have opened the door to large-scale economic, military, and technological cooperation. The historic treaties with Egypt and Jordan were only the beginning, with the United Arab Emirates subsequently becoming a prominent trading partner. The same is true in the Maghreb: Morocco, for example, has purchased weapons and signed industrial agreements in the drone sector, becoming a production hub for Israeli UAV systems. All this has created a geopolitical corridor linking Israel to the Gulf and North Africa, expanding its access to strategic routes, intelligence spaces, and crucial markets.
As economic relations intensify, colonization continues. Raze everything to the ground, indiscriminately; drive out the Palestinians, no questions asked; conquer the lands they consider “divine right.” Infrastructure is designed to isolate Palestinian communities in unconnected enclaves, making the formation of an autonomous state impossible.
Israel has also consolidated its presence in Syria (in the Quneitra region, near Damascus and Deraa), taking advantage of the chaos following the fall of Assad and the seizure of power by the jihadist group HTS led by Ahmad al-Sharaa (formerly known as al-Julani). In Lebanon, it maintains control of key areas such as the Shebaa Farms and the Kfar Shuba hills, as well as military positions along the Blue Line.
Expansion is masked by integration. Today, the Israeli occupation is no longer manifested solely through weapons, but is supported and fueled by diplomatic agreements and trade flows. “Normalization” has not stopped the occupation: it has made it more effective. Each new agreement with Arab countries increases Israel’s ability to extend colonization and strengthen military control. Plans are already underway to double the number of settlers in the Golan Heights and increase the military presence along sensitive areas. The consequences are being felt: Egypt is building a wall on the border with Gaza to manage possible flows of displaced persons; Jordan sees its water resources threatened; Syria and Lebanon are under increasing pressure to normalize relations with Israel.
The Greater Israel project is advancing: on the one hand, it is swallowing up territories; on the other, it is influencing the sovereign choices of Arab states. Together, they represent two sides of the same strategy: annexation and subordination.
And all this, let’s be clear, will not stop at Palestine.
Zionism is viscerally anti-Christian and anti-Islamic. Anything that does not adhere to Zionist Judaism must be eliminated.
From an Islamic perspective, criticism of Zionism is based on several levels. First of all, Zionism, in its state form, has led to the confiscation and occupation of Muslim holy sites—primarily Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem—with a progressive erosion of access to and management of sacred places. This is not only a political violation, but also a spiritual one, as Islamic sovereignty over Jerusalem is considered a religious duty, rooted in the Quran and prophetic tradition. The Zionist rejection of Arab sovereignty – expressed in the marginalization of Islamic religious institutions in the occupied territories – is a denial of the Umma, the unity of the community of believers, and of its legitimacy to safeguard the places of Islam.
Similarly, Christianity, especially in its Eastern expressions, has also suffered from an exclusionary Zionist approach. The Zionist theological imagination, which demands a Jewish “territorial redemption” of Palestine, excludes the historical and cultural presence of indigenous Christian communities, reducing them to tolerated or suspect minorities. Talmudic hatred of Christians is well known. For many Palestinian and Middle Eastern Christians, Zionism represents a form of nationalist secularization that empties the Holy Land of its universal value, transforming it into an exclusive ethnic-religious property.
In its quest to create an exclusive Jewish state, Zionism has promoted dynamics of exclusion and delegitimization of the other Abrahamic religions historically present in Palestine. This makes it ideologically antithetical to any pluralistic and shared vision of the holy places and communities that have coexisted there for centuries.
We should not be surprised if we soon see conflicts arise between the powers of the Arab world or, by extension, in other Islamic countries, such as in Asia, precisely because of their geopolitical and geoeconomic relations with the Zionist entity.
Because, ultimately, this is the plan: in Greater Israel, there can only be Israeli Zionism. Christianity and Islam must first be exploited, then banned. At any cost.
UK police arrest over 200 people at protest in support of Palestine Action
Press TV – August 9, 2025
British police have arrested more than 200 people in central London at a demonstration in support of the banned pro-Palestinian group Palestine Action.
London’s Metropolitan Police said in a post on X on Saturday that the arrests took place after a “significant number of people” gathered in Westminster’s Parliament Square, where they were seen holding placards in support of the “proscribed group.”
“Officers have moved in and are making arrests,” the Met said, adding that, “It will take time but we will arrest anyone expressing support for Palestine Action.”
Between 600 and 700 people participated in the demonstration, organized by Defend Our Juries, as they displayed signs reading, “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”
Video footage from the location depicted officers clashing with the protesters, most of whom were seated on the ground, and engaging in conversations with them before taking them away.
The Metropolitan Police stated that they had mobilized officers from other forces to bolster a “substantial policing presence” in the capital, anticipating a busy weekend of protests.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan warned that officers would be ready to arrest anyone showing support for Palestine Action, urging people to “consider the seriousness of that outcome.”
Palestine Action, which targets UK-based Israeli arms factories and their supply chains through direct action—such as splashing red paint and destroying equipment— was officially proscribed on July 5 under the Terrorism Act 2000.
The designation makes it a criminal offence to support or be a member of the group, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
The Met had threatened to take action against any public displays of support for proscribed organizations, including chanting, clothing, and placards.
The co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, won a bid last week to bring a legal challenge against the ban.
Ammori’s lawyers have argued that the ban breaches the right to free speech and is a gag on legitimate protest.
More than 200 people have been arrested across the UK since the ban was implemented by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper last month.
Palestinian prisoners electrocuted, abused in ‘Israel’s’ Gilboa prison
Al Mayadeen | August 8, 2025
Palestinian prisoners are being electrocuted, among more abusive forms of punitive actions, in “Israel’s” Gilboa prison, the Palestinian Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees’ Affairs confirmed on Friday.
According to a lawyer from the commission who visited the prison, Israeli occupation authorities have increased the use of torture with electricity.
Special repression units storm prisoner sections under the pretext of inspection, handcuff detainees by their wrists and ankles, and force them into the prison yard. There, prisoners are reportedly beaten, insulted, and subjected to electric shocks. They are then dragged across the concrete floors and forced into the shower area, where their clothes and bodies are soaked with water before being electrocuted again, amplifying pain and physical trauma.
The lawyer described the use of specialized stun guns, which double as blunt-force weapons. These are allegedly made of solid metal and have caused severe head injuries, leading to heavy bleeding among detainees. Prison guards were reported to have mocked and laughed during the abuse, with several prisoners losing consciousness due to the severity of the torture.
Neglect of basic needs and health threats
In addition to the physical abuse, prisoners are reportedly being denied adequate food. The portions provided are minimal, resulting in significant weight loss among detainees. There is also a critical shortage of hygiene supplies and disinfectants, creating a breeding ground for diseases inside overcrowded and poorly ventilated cells.
Detainees are forced to use plastic plates and spoons, each for an entire month, which increases the risk of virus and bacteria transmission with every use. According to the commission, these conditions pose a serious threat to prisoners’ health and survival.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office recently revealed similarly harrowing conditions in Naqab prison, where detainees live under constant fear due to relentless transfers and degrading treatment.
The office reported that prisoners are frequently subjected to humiliating searches and forced to kneel with their hands bound behind their backs during daily headcounts and inspections. This ongoing repression has created an atmosphere of instability and psychological torment.
As of early July, the number of Palestinians held in Israeli occupation prisons has risen to approximately 10,800, marking the highest figure since the Second Intifada in 2000. This total does not include detainees held in occupation military camps, whose status remains largely unaccounted for.
Only 188 of 800 promised aid trucks entered Gaza: Euractiv
Al Mayadeen | August 7, 2025
A recent report from Euractiv, based on a European Commission document, reveals a significant shortfall in the amount of humanitarian aid the Israelis permitted to enter Gaza, falling well below the levels set in a previous agreement with the European Union.
Under the terms of the deal struck in July, around 160 trucks carrying relief supplies were expected to be allowed into Gaza daily. This would amount to a total of 800 trucks over a five-day period, from July 31 to August 4. However, the actual number of trucks that made it into the enclave was much lower.
“Between 31 July and 4 August, the UN, and our partners report that 188 trucks were offloaded at crossing points to Gaza,” the European Commission document stated.
An unnamed EU official criticized the gap between the agreement and the delivery, noting that “Israel” had allowed “four times fewer” aid trucks than what had been committed to.
Israeli authorities, however, presented a different version of events. According to the same document cited by Euractiv, “Israel” claimed that 737 trucks entered Gaza during that period. This figure reportedly includes shipments from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation as well as commercial supplies, raising concerns about what actually qualifies as humanitarian aid under the agreement.
Aid Bottleneck Persists
Meanwhile, on the ground, the humanitarian situation remains dire. A RIA Novosti journalist at the Rafah border crossing reported long queues of aid trucks waiting for clearance. Several trucks were reportedly turned back after being denied entry by Israeli forces.
Despite these challenges, Egyptian officials claim that aid efforts have intensified. “The flow of humanitarian aid from Egypt to the Gaza Strip had increased in recent days,” Khaled Megawer, governor of Egypt’s North Sinai province, told RIA.
Amal Imam, Executive Director of the Egyptian Red Crescent, shared more specifics at the Rafah crossing, saying that “about 800 trucks carrying 8,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid, including food and medicine, had entered Gaza from Egypt since July 27.”
Nevertheless, Gaza’s needs continue to far exceed the supply. Local authorities estimate that a minimum of 600 aid trucks must enter the enclave each day to ensure access to essential goods, including food, medical supplies, and fuel.
Senior EU official accuses ‘Israel’ of genocide in Gaza
Earlier in the day, a senior member of the European Commission has said the displacement and killing of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip “looks very much like genocide,” becoming the first EU official to publicly diverge from the bloc’s official position on the war.
“If it is not genocide, it looks very much like the definition used to express its meaning,” said Teresa Ribera, the European Commission’s Executive Vice President, in an interview with Politico published Thursday.
Ribera, a Spanish socialist and the Commission’s second-highest-ranking official, does not hold a foreign policy portfolio, instead overseeing climate and anti-trust matters. Nonetheless, her remarks mark a rare and significant breach from the European Commission’s cautious language regarding the war on Gaza.
Yasser Abu Shabab: Israel’s agent of chaos in Gaza
By William Van Wagenen | The Cradle | August 8, 2025
In late July, the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed attributed to Yasser Abu Shabab, a Palestinian warlord with a criminal past, portraying him and his militia as potential saviors of Gaza.
The piece, echoing Israeli talking points, suggested that US and Arab support for Abu Shabab could swiftly “transform” most of the strip “from a war zone into functioning communities,” ostensibly free from Israeli bombardment and flush with humanitarian aid.
But behind this carefully crafted image lies an Israeli proxy – a man embedded in organized crime and political subterfuge, now repurposed to advance Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to starve, displace, and ultimately ethnically cleanse Palestinians in Gaza.
Who is Abu Shabab?
Abu Shabab, 35, hails from Rafah in southern Gaza and belongs to the Bedouin Tarabin tribe, which spans Gaza, Israel’s Naqab, and Egypt’s Sinai. Before Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on 7 October 2023, he was notorious for his involvement in smuggling weapons, drugs, and contraband through Gaza’s tunnels and border crossings. He was also believed to have ties to extremist groups in Sinai, including the local ISIS affiliate, formerly known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis.
Hamas authorities had imprisoned him for murder and drug trafficking, but he was released in October 2023 when Israeli air raids forced the movement to open its prisons.
Since then, Abu Shabab has rebranded himself as a “nationalist,” a “humanitarian,” and even a “liberator.”
But these claims are widely rejected by Palestinians, including members of his own tribe. A senior Tarabin elder publicly disowned him, labeling him a “looter and bandit” operating solely for personal gain. Aid officials echoed this assessment. One aid coordinator called him a “criminal, a fugitive … untrustworthy and mentally unstable.”
His own relatives have accused him of collaborating with the occupation military in targeted killings of Palestinians and have called for his “liquidation,” declaring his “blood is forfeit.”
Starving as warfare
After the 7 October resistance operation by Palestinian factions, then-defense minister Yoav Gallant – now a fugitive from international justice – announced a “complete siege” on Gaza, cutting off all access to food, water, fuel, and electricity. “We are fighting animals and are acting accordingly,” Gallant said in Hebrew.
Days later, a detailed proposal to forcibly expel all Palestinians from Gaza, under the pretext of protecting them, was prepared by Israel’s Ministry of Information.
Weeks later, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for both Gallant and Netanyahu on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the use of starvation as a method of warfare.
In response to mounting global scrutiny, Tel Aviv pivoted to a more insidious strategy: weaponizing hunger through sabotaging the existing UN aid distribution system.
In January 2024, Israel launched a smear campaign against the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the main provider of aid to Gaza, falsely claiming it was infiltrated by Hamas operatives who took part in Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. The campaign was successful in pressuring western countries to cut the UN refugee agency’s funding.
Simultaneously, Israel slashed the number of aid trucks allowed into Gaza. By February, only 62 trucks entered daily – a fraction of the 500 required to prevent mass hunger.
Israel ensured even this amount of food would not reach those who needed it by carrying out a string of airstrikes against members of Gaza’s Hamas-run civilian police force. The attacks caused officers, who were protecting the convoys, to withdraw from the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing.
According to the Washington Post, the amount of aid entering Gaza “collapsed,” as the convoys delivering it were then exposed to widespread looting by criminal gangs.
In May 2024, the occupation state further moved to sabotage the UN aid system by occupying and closing the Rafah crossing with Egypt, the route through which most aid had flowed, and redirecting it through the Kerem Shalom.
Tel Aviv’s looting agent
With the withdrawal of Hamas police, Abu Shabab and his gang established a base in southeast Gaza from which it could freely loot aid trucks entering the strip via Kerem Shalom, all while operating under Israel’s protection and watchful eye.
In October 2024, the UN issued a memo concluding that criminal gangs “may be benefiting from a passive if not active benevolence” or “protection” from the Israeli military. According to the memo, one gang leader established a “military like compound” in an area “restricted, controlled and patrolled by the IDF.”
The memo identified Abu Shabab as “the main and most influential stakeholder behind systematic and massive looting” of aid convoys.
The largest single looting incident occurred in November 2024. On that day, a huge joint convoy of 109 UN trucks carrying food supplies entered Gaza via Kerem Shalom – only to be ambushed and stripped bare by armed looters. According to UN officials, 98 out of the 109 trucks were raided, their food, fuel, and even tires stolen.
It was “the biggest looting of UN aid anywhere, ever,” in the words of an NPR reporter.
Crucially, a UN spokesperson noted the convoy had been rerouted on short notice by the Israeli military onto unfamiliar roads, ensuring it would fall prey to the gangs.
For months, Israel approved the use of only one road passing through a “desolate patch” of southeast Gaza, the Washington Post observed.
“The only route they give us is directly through the looters,” said one aid worker speaking with the newspaper.
Israeli media later reported that Abu Shabab’s group was armed with Kalashnikov rifles provided by “Israeli security bodies,” in a decision approved by Netanyahu, providing a further sign that Israel was behind Abu Shabab’s looting campaign.
Blaming Hamas
While covertly facilitating Abu Shabab’s looting, Israeli officials publicly blamed Hamas for stealing aid, in an effort to further restrict the entry of food to Gaza and deepen the hunger and starvation of its residents.
In the wake of the mass looting incident in November, it was reported that:
“COGAT, the Israeli military’s civilian affairs department for the Palestinian territories, has justified restrictions on the flow of goods by alleging repeatedly that Hamas is stealing aid and preventing it from reaching civilians.”
Israel’s cynical game was confirmed in May 2025 by Jonathan Whittall, the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the occupied Palestinian territories. In reference to Abu Shabab, he stated that:
“Israel has publicly claimed that the UN and NGO aid is being diverted by Hamas. But this doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. The real theft of aid since the beginning of the war has been carried out by criminal gangs, under the watch of Israeli forces, and they were allowed to operate in proximity to the Kerem Shalom crossing point into Gaza.”
Whittall’s comments were further validated by a July 2025 USAID report, which also confirmed Hamas had not been involved in stealing aid.
A war of attrition
In March 2025, Israel unilaterally broke a ceasefire reached with Hamas in January. Israeli leaders once again openly imposed a new siege on Gaza, preventing all aid from reaching the strip.
Then, in April, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz issued evacuation orders covering most of Gaza, while launching a new offensive pushing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians into an “ever-shrinking bubble,” CNN reported. Katz’s goal was to “empty” large parts of Gaza while treating anyone who refused to obey evacuation orders as a “combatant.”
While Israel claimed its objective was to defeat Hamas and free Israeli captives held by the group, CNN observed that, “Israel’s strategy may have another purpose; to make life so unbearable for Gazans crammed into an ever-smaller pocket of territory without proper shelter that they begin to head for the exit.”
Katz appeared to make this objective clear, saying amid the offensive and blockade that, “We are working to advance the plan for the voluntary migration of Gaza’s residents.”
According to Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, the so-called migration plan would be anything but voluntary:
“The real and lasting answer will come only through the full advancement of the emigration plan – ‘Force him until he says, I want it.’”
Gaza ‘Humanitarian’ Foundation
In parallel, Netanyahu launched the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an aid mechanism staffed by former US special forces and contractors with opaque funding.
But the GHF, which began operating in May, did not distribute aid across Gaza. It established isolated “hubs” in the south, “designed as death traps.” Nearly 1,000 Palestinians were shot at or killed while seeking food from these hubs. Some were targeted by armed GHF security guards, while others were targeted by Israeli soldiers opening fire on starving crowds with sniper rifles, mortar shells, and even tank fire.
Despite the danger, Palestinians needing aid to prevent their children from starving had no choice but to come to the GHF sites, which meant relocating to tent camps near them.
The GHF was part of Israel’s military operation “Gideon’s Chariots,” with the stated objective of the “concentration and movement of the population.” In June, Tel Aviv admitted its goal: relocating all Gazans to a southern “sterile zone” surrounding the GHF hubs.
The UN and aid groups quickly rejected the GHF aid model, saying Israel was “using food as a tool for forced displacement.”
Concentration camps
As hunger deepened, Abu Shabab posted videos inviting displaced Palestinians to settle in his Israeli-guarded tent city in eastern Rafah.
He claimed to launch a recruitment drive to staff “administrative and community committees,” which would include doctors and nurses, engineers, primary school teachers, and public relations experts.
Abu Shabab claimed that more than 2,000 civilians were already living in his “protected zone,” and that his Popular Forces, allegedly consisting of just 100 armed men, had built schools, health centers, and other civilian infrastructure there.
Speaking with the Washington Post, he asked for support from the US, EU, and Arab states.
“We hope they support our vision and empower us to make all people in the Gaza Strip live like we do, taking control of our own areas in dignity and humanity,” Abu Shabab stated.
However, his attempt to bring “dignity” to Palestinians was soon revealed to be the first stage of an Israeli effort to build a massive concentration camp in Rafah.
On 7 July, Defense Minister Katz announced a plan to build a “humanitarian city” on the ruins of Rafah, in the same area where Israel allowed Abu Shabab’s Popular Forces to establish their base and tent camp.
The plan would begin by moving 600,000 Palestinians, primarily from the tent camps in the Al-Muwasi area, into the new zone after a security screening. The remainder of Gaza’s over 2 million Palestinians would be moved there later.
“Once inside, residents would not be allowed to leave,” Haaretz reported, citing the defense minister.
The planned “humanitarian city,” which no one would be “allowed to leave,” was quickly acknowledged as a concentration camp and the first step toward the complete ethnic cleansing of Gaza, including by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
“It is a concentration camp. I am sorry … this is part of an ethnic cleansing,” Olmert told The Guardian. “It is to deport them, to push them, and to throw them away.”
Manufactured governance, planned chaos
In June, Prime Minister Netanyahu finally acknowledged support for Abu Shabab, saying on social media that Israel had “activated” some Palestinian clans in Gaza, on the advice of “security officials.”
Netanyahu’s comments affirmed previous reports in Israeli media that the operation to arm Abu Shabab and other clan-based gangs was “planned and managed” by the Shin Bet to create “alternative governing structures” that challenge Hamas.
The strategy mirrored the occupation state’s project to create “village leagues” in the occupied West Bank in the 1970s and 80s. The project involved backing local clan leaders with funds, weapons, and privileges to weaken the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and block Palestinian statehood.
“It’s the oldest colonial strategy in the book,” said Rashid Khalidi of Columbia University. By supporting Abu Shabab, Israel had succeeded in “sowing utter chaos,” which Israel wants” because if the Palestinians are unified, then they might have to actually negotiate or deal with them,” Khalidi added.
In addition to helping Israel starve Palestinians and establish a concentration camp for their eventual ethnic cleansing from the Gaza, Abu Shabab has vowed to help in the next stage of the chaos Israel has planned: civil war.
“There is no stopping a civil war against Hamas,” Abu Shabab stated in an interview with Israeli public broadcaster KAN in July, claiming that his Popular Forces “will be the heirs in Gaza” after Hamas is “crushed and defeated.”
Far from empowering Palestinians, Abu Shabab is simply a tool of Israeli strategy – facilitating the starvation, fragmentation, and displacement of his own people to serve the occupation state’s long war on Palestinian liberation.
Gaza Faces Unrelenting Israeli Attacks Amid Global Indifference
Al-Manar | August 8, 2025
As the Israeli war on Gaza Strip stretches into its 672nd day, Israeli forces are intensifying their military campaign, characterized by relentless airstrikes and artillery bombardments that have devastated the region. This grim reality unfolds amid ongoing American political and military support, as well as a troubling silence from the international community and Arab states.
Recent reports from Palestinian sources indicate that multiple citizens have lost their lives due to Israeli army fire since Friday dawn. Eyewitnesses stated that forces targeted individuals awaiting aid along the Netzarim axis in central Gaza, while others suffered injuries from gunfire near the Asdaa area northwest of Khan Yunis.
In further acts of aggression, Israeli artillery shelled areas close to an electricity company north of the Nuseirat refugee camp early Friday. Additionally, Israeli aircraft conducted strikes on a building in the Japanese neighborhood north of Khan Yunis, further escalating the aggression.
With unwavering American support, Israeli occupation forces are waging a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, which has so far left 61,258 martyrs, 152,045 wounded, and more than 10,000 missing. This is in addition to a famine that has claimed the lives of dozens, while more than two million Palestinians are living in conditions of forced displacement amidst total destruction.
Among the martyrs are 9,752 martyrs and 40,004 wounded, who fell after the occupation reneged on the ceasefire agreement on March 18, 2025.
How real is the U.S. rhetoric of a ‘Unified Syria’?
By Erkin Oncan | Strategic Culture Foundation | August 7, 2025
The recent statements by the U.S. Special Envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, may at first glance appear to reflect diplomatic commitment, but developments on the ground and the U.S.’s covert alliances reveal that this rhetoric is largely a propaganda maneuver.
Speaking to the Associated Press, Barrack emphasized that the “deaths and massacres” on both sides of the conflict in southern Syria are unacceptable, stating: “I believe the current Syrian government, which is a new government with very few resources to address the emerging issues, is doing the best it can.”
However, if we are to speak of “territorial integrity” in the context of a new Syria, it is clear that the U.S.’s de facto policy in Syria actually serves to strengthen structures that weaken the country’s territorial unity. On the ground, the U.S. has established a fragile balance between Syria’s new government and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). While this balance may give the appearance of localized stability in the short term, it carries the potential to pave the way for Syria’s long-term fragmentation. These entities are ideologically, ethnically, and politically at odds, with starkly conflicting expectations for a new Syria.
Red Lines in the Damascus—SDF Talks
The Damascus administration’s plans to integrate the SDF into the New Syrian Army, dismantle its autonomous structure, and transfer control of northeastern resources (oil, borders, educational institutions) to the Syrian state are clear.
The SDF, meanwhile, although it continues its contacts with the new Syrian administration, maintains a series of “red lines”: preserving autonomous administration, integrating its forces into the army independently of the central command, receiving a share of resources, and maintaining control over the borders.
In this scenario, the U.S. — a power that has provided extensive military and political support to both sides over time — appears to be attempting to “gloss over” this deeply uncertain process with diplomatic statements and messages of goodwill.
Israel’s Proxy Strategy
Israel, which has effectively “entered” the Syrian arena through the Suwayda clashes, likely sees the criticisms voiced by its greatest ally’s special envoy as a mere formality. Israel’s main strategy here is to sever southern Syria from Damascus and create new zones of control via proxy forces under the pretext of border security.
In other words, while there is rhetorical emphasis on a “Unified Syria,” what is being built on the ground is an increasingly entrenched multi-structure reality. A possible agreement between the SDF and HTS (Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham), for example, is not just about two armed groups sitting at the negotiating table; it encapsulates the conflicting interests of regional and global actors.
The negotiations between the SDF and HTS do not only involve these two actors; the balance includes the intervention of the U.S., Israel, and Turkey. Turkey, operating on the assumption that these negotiations will proceed parallel to the PKK’s disarmament process, seeks to secure its “share” in the governance of the new Syria.
The SDF, which received the most comprehensive support from the U.S. during the Trump era, is aware that such direct military and political backing may not continue under the Democrats. Furthermore, Washington’s regional priorities have shifted. Therefore, the SDF is striving to secure a balanced but strong position against HTS, with the primary goal of ensuring its continued existence. It is among the claims reported in Israeli and regional media that the group has engaged in a series of meetings not only with the U.S. but also with Israel.
Israel, for its part, is determined to exploit the “power vacuum” emerging in the new Syria to the fullest extent. What began under the guise of border security has now merged with Israel’s structural expansionist policy. Should Israel decide to “accelerate” its operations in Syria, it is well aware that Damascus may not be able to mount a serious resistance.
Is the Damascus Government Falling Short?
The new government led by Shara has so far failed to demonstrate the capacity to bear the role of “new leadership.” It faces a governance crisis, ethnic massacres that have sparked international condemnation, ongoing clashes with Israel, and severe economic issues.
Thus, the Damascus government finds itself compelled to “find middle ground” with the SDF, the U.S., and even Israel in order to secure its hold on power.
Within this equation, the perception of Iran as the “primary threat” on a regional level offers significant clues about the future of current power struggles.
The “Iran Threat” Will Determine the Balance
Despite suffering a severe blow with the fall of the Assad regime, Iran remains one of the strongest actors in the region. The SDF’s potential to serve as an “independent balancing force” against Iran perfectly aligns with the interests of the Tel Aviv—Washington axis. Therefore, in negotiations between the SDF and Damascus, the scenario in which the SDF’s demands gain weight and the central government’s power is curtailed is highly probable.
Despite the U.S.’s diplomatic calls for “unity,” the SDF’s de facto autonomy, its capacity to continue negotiations with Damascus thanks to current power balances, and the U.S.—Israel strategy of positioning against Iran all stand in the way of any real unification of Syria. Under current circumstances, it is nearly impossible for the new Syrian government under Shara to evolve into a stable and functioning structure. Ongoing military, political, and economic crises, coupled with the overarching “main threat is Iran” strategy, necessitate the continuation of the existing fragmented structure.
In conclusion, Washington’s rhetoric of a “Unified Syria” is largely propagandistic when viewed in light of the multilayered web of interests and covert alliances on the ground. With the U.S. and Israel seeking to expand the anti-Iran front, the scenario in which the SDF continues to play a strong role outside the framework of the central government remains the most likely outcome.
The US wants Lebanon, Gaza and Iraq to disarm and will fail
By Robert Inlakesh | Al Mayadeen | August 7, 2025
The US Trump administration not only believes it can disarm Hezbollah, the PMU, and Hamas, but that they will all do so voluntarily. To add to this delusional approach, they continue to demonstrate that by abandoning their weapons, the people of the region will be subjected to endless instability.
Washington based think-tanks are pushing for the dismantlement of the Iranian-led Axis of Resistance through disarmament, the policy being clearly designed to isolate the Islamic Republic in order to also force it into capitulation. However, the approach to achieving this goal is so incredibly out of touch that it may achieve the very opposite results.
Using its Arab Regime allies, particularly the Gulf States, to apply pressure, US envoy Steve Witkoff has attempted to demand of Hamas that it fully disarm. This has been combined with calls from the Pentagon and Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, for Iraq to dismantle the Popular Mobilization Forces and prevent them from integrating fully within the fold of Baghdad’s security apparatus. Then we have the attempt to disarm Hezbollah in Lebanon, an effort led by US envoy Tom Barrack.
Starting with Gaza, the request in and of itself is simply not serious. The al-Qassam Brigades of Hamas would never simply disarm without any guarantees or processes to ensure the protection of the people of the Gaza Strip.
In fact, if we look at the resistance in its entirety in Gaza, they fight as one unit that is inseparable from the people’s popular will. Hamas is no longer just a political party, the al-Qassam Brigades armed wing of Hamas is now the resistance of a people suffering through a genocide.
Also, the Palestinian people have the example of the West Bank and what the situation looks like when the resistance is disarmed and abandons the struggle. When Israeli settlements expand, annexation orders are imposed, and ethnic cleansing begins, there will be nobody to even fight back.
The lessons taught to the Palestinian factions in Gaza were learnt in 1982. When the Israelis invaded Lebanon, killing around 20,000 Lebanese and Palestinians, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) eventually decided to hand over its weapons and its leadership to flee to Tunisia.
Almost immediately afterwards, a series of bloody civilian massacres took place against Palestinian refugees and the Shia Lebanese, killing thousands at a time when no considerable resistance force existed to fight back. Then, the Israelis occupied southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah was born in 1985 out of this experience, as an organic southern resistance which would eventually expel the occupiers in 2000. After the 2006 defeat inflicted on the Zionist regime, the Israelis dared not launch any major aggression against Lebanon for the best part of 17 years.
In the case of Iraq, the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) were formed in order to put down the Daesh insurgency and liberate the country from a wave of Takfiri death squads. It is a massive force today which exists as a protective mechanism that deters the return of such groups from the country.
Attempting to disband the PMU in Iraq is impossible by force and would lead to a civil war style situation, which could end up resulting in Iraqi groups securing even greater power and popular support inside of the country.
In the case of Lebanon, the fall of Syria’s former government and the way the US has so far handled the situation, has taught the diverse population valuable lessons. Even if the Lebanese leadership will work alongside the US in an attempt to seize Hezbollah’s weapons, it is clear to the populace that disarmament leaves Lebanon open to invasion from Syria and places the country at the will of the Zionist Entity.
If we look over to neighboring Syria, immediately upon the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, the Zionists invaded and have been attacking at will inside Syria ever since, with no resistance whatsoever. The new regime in Damascus even works alongside the Israelis as they steal more of its land, instead choosing to allow their allied militias to butcher minority communities throughout Syrian lands.
Everything we have seen occur across the region over the past 22 months, with the full support of the United States, teaches the Arab public that capitulation spells the end of their nations and leaves them vulnerable to endless abuses.
It appears, however, that officials and pro-war think-tanks in Washington are not capable of grasping what the reality on the ground truly looks like and how this could very quickly spiral out of control; and not in the US’ favor. None of these groups which form the Axis of Resistance are going to abandon their own people by simply handing over their weapons, especially given the overtly stated intentions of their enemies.
John Fetterman, a hawkish US senator who represents Americans but speaks for Israel
By Musa Iqbal | Press TV | August 7, 2025
It is no secret that the political apparatus of the United States is teeming with Zionists.
While some politicians are sleek in their support for the Zionist Occupation (with politically convenient cries for ‘civility’ in Palestine and the rest of the region), others are completely devoted to a maximalist Zionist agenda – advocating for Zionist expansion, aggression, and total servitude to Israeli interests – no matter their maximalist goals.
Among the latter is US Senator John Fetterman, a hawkish politician who once campaigned as a “progressive,” but has now turned into the Israeli occupation’s most darling Democratic cheerleader and an unofficial mouthpiece and apologist of the genocidal child-murdering regime.
Fetterman’s unwavering support for Israel, which comes with belligerent calls for war against Iran, betrays the very principles he once claimed to champion.
During the election cycle that put him into power, progressive groups had rallied around Fetterman as a “working man” that most Americans could relate to. They could not have been more wrong.
Fetterman, often skulking the halls of the US Capitol in a hoodie and gym shorts, has become the poster child for the US political establishment’s subservience to the Zionist project and its reckless drive toward regional hegemony in Western Asia.
Fetterman has shown total support with each new act of Zionist terror, something his constituents are increasingly condemning.
His rhetoric, particularly his enthusiastic endorsement of Israel’s military actions and his calls for US involvement in illegal and unprovoked strikes on Iran, is not only a betrayal of his constituents but a dangerous escalation that threatens to give more support to an increasingly belligerent Israeli occupation entity as it faces an existential crisis.
He has draped himself in the Israeli flag on several occasions—literally and figuratively—while dismissing calls for a ceasefire and championing Israel’s so-called “right to defend itself” against a besieged, starving population.
Perhaps as a hat-tip to his pro-Israeli donors, his office walls are covered with posters of Israeli captives held by the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, further serving as a shrine to a one-sided narrative that erases the decades-long suffering of Palestinians under occupation.
To compare, there are tens of thousands of Palestinian hostages in Zionist prisons, a sizeable amount of them being Palestinian youth.
Speaking of donors, Fetterman has unapologetically collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Zionist lobby. Based on the data organized by Track AIPAC, Fetterman has received over $370,000 in donations from Israeli-associated PACs and donors, with one of his top donors being JStreetPAC, which donated $175k in 2024 alone.
Donations of this caliber suggest extreme levels of loyalty to furthering Israeli settler-colonial interests in the power corridors of Washington – from domestic policy fighting against Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) efforts to foreign policy warmongering on behalf of the American-Israeli axis of evil.
It also aligns with Fetterman’s refusal to acknowledge the Palestinian death toll—over 150,000 by some estimates, including thousands of children—while fixating on Israeli victims reveals a moral bankruptcy that aligns him with the most hawkish elements of the US political spectrum.
Fetterman ghoulishly refuses to acknowledge the catastrophic loss of life, insisting that “now is not the time to talk about a ceasefire.”
Clearly, Fetterman’s loyalty to the Zionist cause goes as far as deliberate endorsement of collective punishment of innocent Palestinians, including children and women, a policy that violates international law.
Of course, being in line with the Zionist occupation’s expansionist interests, Fetterman’s zeal for Israel does not stop at Gaza. He has cheered on for US military aggression against Iran, celebrating the bombings against Iran’s peaceful nuclear program and threatening that Israel can continue to assassinate its nuclear scientists with his and other US politicians’ approval.
In his March 2025 visit to the occupied territories, Fetterman told journalists in Jerusalem al-Quds that he supports “partnering with Israel to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities,” urging the US to “blow it up.”
His rhetoric continued to escalate, including in June 2025, when he called for Israel to assassinate the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei. Such statements are not the musings of a principled senator but the ravings of a warmonger eager to appease the Zionist war machine and its patrons in Washington.
Fetterman’s rhetoric must be seen in the context of the broader US-Israel agenda to neutralize Iran as a regional power, especially as the latter secures critical economic alliances such as a place in BRICS and the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization).
For decades, the US and its Zionist ally have sought to undermine Iran’s sovereignty, from crippling, high-pressure sanctions to covert sabotage operations and outright military threats.
Fetterman’s calls for illegal and unjustified strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, which Iran maintains are for peaceful energy purposes, echo the same discredited playbook used to justify the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, the bombing of Libya, the destruction of Yugoslavia, etc.
The threat of a nuclear bomb armed Iran is a propaganda campaign orchestrated by Washington and Tel Aviv to justify aggression while ignoring Israel’s undeclared nuclear arsenal, a violation of international norms, and a total means to destabilize the region.
The hypocrisy of Fetterman’s position declares the official US policy for the area: Israel’s nuclear capabilities are strategic and protect American interests, but Iran’s pursuit of energy independence is an intolerable existential threat.
Fetterman, in his blind allegiance to Israel, seems unperturbed by the realities of what the execution of this US-led policy would look like, choosing to ignore the total rupture of the region, plunging the US into a war it would not understand or be prepared for – Iran is not Iraq, Libya, or Afghanistan.
It is a regional power with a sophisticated military and an alliance with resistance groups that would be eager to defend their ally against American aggression.
By endorsing Israel’s strikes on Iran and advocating for US aggression, Fetterman is perpetuating a cycle of violence that benefits only the US ruling class and its Zionist beneficiaries.
The US has spent trillions on wars in the West Asia region, leaving behind shattered societies that will take decades to redevelop.
Fetterman’s call to “take out” Iran’s leadership and nuclear program is a recipe for more of the same- a reckless gamble with lives and resources that the US can ill afford, and would further plant the seeds of disdain for US policy both at home and abroad.
The American people, weary of endless wars and economic hardship, deserve a senator who prioritizes their interests over those of a foreign power tied to genocidal crimes and occupation.
Fetterman’s betrayal of his “progressive” voter base that elected him into power is not just a personal failing but a symptom of a deeper, more sinister alignment in US politics, where loyalty to Israel and the war machine comes before anything else, if anything else at all.
It is incumbent on the global community to reject the likes of Fetterman and their imperialist agendas, as there are war mongers like Fetterman, or worse, spread throughout different Western governments.
While they are considering replacements, they can also add someone who knows how to dress themselves as a requirement. Indeed, the bar has never been lower.
How Germany is coercing immigrants into normalising ‘Israel’
By Timo Al-Farooq | Al Mayadeen | August 6, 2025
With a prerequisite residency period of five years, Germany boasts one of the fastest pathways to EU citizenship. But what seems like a gracious timeline comes at a high moral price, depending on where in Germany you live.
In June, Brandenburg, which surrounds the capital Berlin, became the second state in Germany after neighbouring Saxony-Anhalt to make it mandatory for citizenship applicants to recognise “the security and right to exist of the state of Israel”, as the state capital Potsdam’s oath of loyalty form phrases it.
Yes, the same “Israel” that came into existence by ethnically cleansing 750,000 Indigenous Palestinians from their land, is responsible for the longest-running military occupation in modern history, and for the past 21 months has been waging a genocidal war of unvarnished savagery on Gaza, where an entire civilian population is also deliberately being starved to death since March.
“To say that our country is turning into a banana republic with its pro-Israel fanaticism would be a trivialisation of this insanity,” commented Tarek Baé, a German journalist and content creator of Arab descent, on Germany’s latest ploy to silence dissent in the service of a foreign, rogue entity.
Signing over one’s conscience
Brandenburg’s governing centrist Social Democrats (SPD) pressed ahead with the controversial move with neither knowledge nor consent of their left-wing coalition partner, the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), which lambasted the SPD’s solo run as “a direct attack on the heart of our democracy.”
The “Israel” caveat to the state’s naturalisation process now requires applicants who wish to become German citizens to sign over their conscience, with the text of the pre-formulated pledge exhibiting the boilerplate false equivalencies inherent to Western Palestine/”Israel” discourse.
Predictably, the form follows the oppressive practice of equating anti-Zionism with antisemitism. It also posits that two supremacist wrongs, Nazism and the Zionism, make a right when it says that Germany’s “national socialist genocide” against European Jews justifies its “special and close relationship with Israel,” the rationale behind Germany’s infamous Staatsräson.
“Israel’s” “repressive hybrid regime of settler colonialism, occupation and apartheid” and “Zionism’s urge to Judaize Palestine”, to quote from Israeli activist scholar Jeff Halper’s book Decolonizing Israel, Liberating Palestine, is not mentioned, of course.
Unsurprisingly so, as telling the truth about “Israel” would raise uncomfortable questions about why a democratic country like Germany would want to have a “special and close relationship” with such an ostensibly anti-democratic entity in the first place, let alone force prospective Germans to have one too.
Weaponising migration law
Following October 7, 2023, the wolf in sheep’s clothing that is Germany immediately began cracking down on Palestine advocacy in an hitherto unprecedented manner.
By doing so, it used the Hamas-led attacks on thar day as an excuse to do away with basic democratic rights, at long last shedding the snakeskin of play-acted sympathy for the decades-long plight of the Palestinian people to reveal a deep-seated, racist hatred of them.
Last month, a coalition of prominent Palestine solidarity groups released a landmark report which meticulously details Germany’s expedited metamorphosis from a democracy to “one of the most repressive EU states in relation to Palestine advocacy.”
Among the wide array of authoritarian measures, the report highlights Germany’s “use of migration law as a punitive stick” against “non-citizens involved in Palestine activism.” In this context, the weaponisation of naturalisation law against long-term immigrants has emerged as a creative way to coerce a significant demographic bloc of racialised people into normalising the Zionist project.
Brandenburg’s controversial move is already having an undesirable bandwagon effect in Berlin, home to the largest Palestinian diaspora in Europe and Germany’s epicentre of police brutality against anti-genocide protesters.
Kai Wegner, the city’s Zionist mayor, has voiced strong sympathies for adding a pro-“Israel” Nibelungentreue to citizenship applications in Berlin. He has repeatedly defamed peaceful anti-war protests as violent and antisemitic and spread mendacious copaganda that paints lawless hooligans in uniform who treat Palestine solidarity rallies as beat ’em up video games as victims.
State-sponsored blackmail
Compulsory oaths of loyalty, however controversial the practice, are nothing new in the context of citizenship applications in Western democracies. But they normally require the applicant to profess fealty to the country whose citizenship they wish to acquire.
Extorting signed pledges of allegiance to a third-party entity, particularly one whose “most cruel and machiavellian scheme to kill, with total impunity” has turned Gaza into “a graveyard of children and starving people”, to quote UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini, is an unprecedented anomaly and further cements Germany’s deplorable outlier status even among “Israel’s” most devoted allies.
As a result of Germany’s latest instance of state-sponsored blackmail in the service of legitimising “Israel”, citizenship applicants in Brandenburg will now be forced to make a Sophie’s-choice-like decision between their moral integrity and the secure legal status, political rights, and global mobility that a German nationality provides.
This dehumanising sadism reflects Germany’s overall post-October 7 authoritarianism which is leaving principled people trapped between the proverbial rock and a hard place: either speak out against genocide and risk being brutalised by the police, persecuted by the legal system or fired from your job, or be silent and forced to live with the corrosive effects of a guilty conscience.
Unit 8200 taps Microsoft to spy on millions in Palestine
Al Mayadeen | August 6, 2025
In late 2021, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella met with Yossi Sariel, the commander of “Israel’s” military surveillance agency Unit 8200, at Microsoft’s Seattle headquarters. Sariel sought support for a plan to move vast amounts of classified intelligence data into Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform. This arrangement would provide Unit 8200 with a dedicated, customized space within Azure, offering nearly unlimited storage capacity.
Equipped with Azure’s immense storage capabilities, Unit 8200 developed a sweeping surveillance system that records and stores millions of mobile phone calls made daily by Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. This cloud-based system, operational since 2022, allows the agency to retain a vast archive of calls over extended periods.
Microsoft has claimed that Nadella was unaware of the specific nature of the data being stored. However, leaked documents and interviews with 11 sources from Microsoft and Israeli military intelligence reveal that Azure has been central to storing this expansive trove of Palestinian communications.
According to three Unit 8200 insiders, the Azure cloud platform has been instrumental in preparing deadly airstrikes and shaping military operations in both Gaza and the West Bank. While “Israel” has long intercepted calls in the occupied territories thanks to its control over Palestinian telecommunications, the new system indiscriminately records calls from a far larger group of ordinary civilians.
‘A million call an hour’
One intelligence source explained that Unit 8200 turned to Microsoft after realizing its own servers lacked the storage capacity and computing power needed to handle the sheer volume of phone calls, a volume captured by the unit’s internal mantra: “A million calls an hour.”
The surveillance system was designed to run on Microsoft’s servers, protected by enhanced security layers developed jointly by Microsoft engineers and Unit 8200 according to the unit’s specifications. Leaked Microsoft files indicate that much of this sensitive Israeli military data now resides in company data centers located in the Netherlands and Ireland.
Employees, investors concerned about ties to ‘Israel’s’ military
This revelation about Microsoft’s Azure platform’s role in the surveillance effort emerges amid increasing pressure on the tech giant from employees and investors concerned about its ties to “Israel’s” military and how its technology has been deployed during the 22-month genocide in Gaza.
In May, a Microsoft employee protested during CEO Satya Nadella’s keynote speech by shouting, “How about you show how Israeli war crimes are powered by Azure?” This public outcry followed earlier revelations in January by The Guardian and others about “Israel’s” reliance on Microsoft technology during the Gaza genocide.
In response, Microsoft commissioned an external review of its relationship with the Israeli military. The company stated the review “found no evidence to date” that Azure or its AI tools were “used to target or harm people” in the territory.
A senior Microsoft source said the company had discussions with Israeli security officials, specifying how its technology should be used in Gaza, emphasizing that Microsoft systems must not be involved in identifying “targets” for lethal strikes.
Despite Microsoft’s assurances, sources from Unit 8200 revealed that intelligence gathered from the vast archive of phone calls stored in Azure has been used to identify bombing “targets” in Gaza. One source explained that when planning an airstrike in densely populated areas, officers would use the cloud system to review calls made by people nearby.
Use of the system reportedly increased during the ongoing genocide in Gaza, which has resulted in the killing of over 60,000 Palestinians, including more than 18,000 children.
Arrests without excuse made feasible
Originally, the system focused on the West Bank, home to about 3 million Palestinians under Israeli military occupation. According to Unit 8200 sources, the information held in Azure formed a rich intelligence repository used to blackmail individuals, justify detention, or even killings after the fact.
“When they need to arrest someone and there isn’t a good enough reason to do so, that’s where they find the excuse,” said one source, referring to the cloud-stored data.
Microsoft claimed it had “no information” regarding the specific data Unit 8200 stored in its cloud. The company alleged that its “engagement with Unit 8200 has been based on strengthening cybersecurity and protecting Israel from nation-state and terrorist cyber-attacks.”
They added, “At no time during this engagement has Microsoft been aware of the surveillance of civilians or collection of their cellphone conversations using Microsoft’s services, including through the external review it commissioned.”
‘Tracking everyone, all the time’
The driving force behind this cloud surveillance initiative was Yossi Sariel, the commander of Unit 8200 from early 2021 to late 2024. Described by one insider as a “revolution” within the unit, Sariel was a career intelligence officer who strongly championed large-scale projects like this.
Sariel expanded the scope of communications interception by Unit 8200. His strategy was to begin “tracking everyone, all the time,” said an officer who worked under him.
‘The entire public was our enemy’
Moving beyond targeted surveillance, Sariel’s approach employed mass surveillance across the occupied West Bank, combined with innovative AI tools to extract actionable insights. One source said, “Suddenly the entire public was our enemy,” reflecting how the project aimed to predict which individuals posed security threats.
Among the tools developed during this time was a system that scanned all text messages between Palestinians in the West Bank, automatically assigning risk scores based on suspicious keywords. Known as “noisy message”, it remains in use and can detect texts discussing weapons or expressing a desire to die.
When Sariel became Unit 8200 commander in early 2021, he prioritized building a partnership with Microsoft that would allow the unit to extend its capabilities and capture the content of millions of phone calls daily.
Storing Palestinian phone calls dubbed ‘sensitive workloads’
At his meeting with Satya Nadella later that year, Sariel didn’t explicitly mention plans to store Palestinian phone calls in the cloud, instead referring to “sensitive workloads” containing secret data, according to internal meeting records.
However, documents indicate that Microsoft engineers understood the data would include raw intelligence like audio files. Some Microsoft staff based in “Israel”, including former Unit 8200 members, seemed aware of the project’s goals. As one source said, “You don’t have to be a genius to figure it out. You tell [Microsoft] we don’t have any more space on the servers, that it’s audio files. It’s pretty clear what it is.”
Microsoft’s spokesperson maintained, “We are not aware of Azure being used for the storage of such data,” stressing that Unit 8200 was a customer of cloud services and that Microsoft “did not build or consult with Unit 8200” on a surveillance system.
Still, in early 2022, Microsoft and Unit 8200 engineers collaborated closely to develop advanced security measures in Azure to meet the unit’s standards. One document described the collaboration’s “rhythm of interaction” as “daily, top down and bottom up.”
Secrecy, scale of data storage
Within Microsoft, the project was highly secretive, with engineers instructed not to mention Unit 8200 by name. Under the plan, vast amounts of raw intelligence material would be stored in Microsoft data centers overseas.
Files indicate that by July 2025, approximately 11,500 terabytes of Israeli military data, equivalent to around 200 million hours of audio, will be held on Microsoft’s Azure servers in the Netherlands, with a smaller portion stored in Ireland. It’s unclear whether all this data belonged to Unit 8200, as some might belong to other Israeli military units.
According to the documents, Unit 8200 informed Microsoft that it intended to eventually migrate over 70% of its data, including secret and top-secret information, to Azure. The unit was “willing to ‘push the envelope’ with the kind of sensitive and classified information that intelligence agencies normally held on their own servers.” As one executive noted, “They’re always trying to challenge the status quo.”
When asked about Sariel’s meeting with Nadella, Microsoft’s spokesperson said it “is not accurate” to claim that the CEO personally supported the project. They said Nadella “attended for 10 minutes at the end of the meeting” and that there was “no discussion” of the specific data planned for Azure.
However, internal Microsoft records viewed by The Guardian show Nadella expressed support for Sariel’s ambition to transfer a large portion of Unit 8200’s data to the cloud, described earlier in the meeting as “sensitive intelligence material.”
One record states, “Satya suggested that we identify certain workloads to begin with and then gradually move towards the 70% mark.” It adds that Nadella said, “building the partnership is so critical” and “Microsoft is committed to providing resources to support.”
Sariel’s vision, AI advocacy
Several months before his meeting with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in 2021, Yossi Sariel published a book on artificial intelligence under a pen name, later revealed by The Guardian to be his own, in which he urged militaries and intelligence agencies to “migrate to the cloud.”
Known within Israeli intelligence as a technology evangelist, Sariel prized what he described to colleagues as a friendly relationship with Nadella. A senior intelligence source said, “Yossi bragged a lot, even to me, about his connection with Satya.” (Microsoft has denied that Nadella and Sariel had a close relationship.)
Another former intelligence colleague added, “He sold [the partnership] internally and got a huge budget. He claimed it was the solution to our problems in the Palestinian arena.”
Sariel declined to comment and referred questions about the project to the Israeli occupation forces (IOF). An IOF spokesperson claimed that their cooperation with companies like Microsoft was based on “legally supervised agreements.” The spokesperson alleged, “The IDF operates in accordance with international law, with the aim of countering terrorism and ensuring the security of the state and its citizens.”
Microsoft’s commercial interests, protests
For Microsoft, the multi-year collaboration with Unit 8200 represented a significant commercial opportunity. Executives anticipated earning hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue and described the partnership as “an incredibly powerful brand moment” for their Azure cloud platform, according to leaked files.
One executive noted that Unit 8200’s “leadership hopes to expand the mission-critical work tenfold in the coming years.”
As Unit 8200 began utilizing Azure’s storage capabilities in 2022, intelligence officers quickly realized the scale of the new tool’s potential. One source familiar with the system described it simply: “The cloud is infinite storage.”
Calls stored in the system, including those made by Palestinians to Israeli and international numbers, are generally kept for about one month, although the storage capacity can be extended to hold calls for longer periods when necessary. Several intelligence sources explained that this allows officers to retrieve past phone conversations of persons who later become of interest. Previously, surveillance targets had to be pre-selected for their calls to be intercepted and stored.
However, the system notably failed to stop Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.
Following October 7, Sariel faced criticism for prioritizing “addictive and exciting” technology over traditional intelligence methods. Critics argued this focus contributed to the intelligence failure. Sariel resigned the following year, acknowledging “8200’s part in the intelligence and operational failure.”
Use of AI tools and Gaza genocide impact
During the subsequent genocide war, the cloud system Sariel developed has been frequently used alongside new AI-driven target recommendation tools that were also introduced under his leadership. These technologies have played a key role in military operations that have caused widespread devastation and a severe humanitarian crisis for civilians.
While “Israel’s” destruction of Gaza’s telecommunications infrastructure has decreased the volume of phone calls, sources say the data stored in the cloud remains valuable. One source noted that intelligence officers working on Gaza have become increasingly enthusiastic about the system as the conflict continues, believing the military is “heading towards long-term control there.”
Broader implications
The expansive surveillance program reveals how technology firms like Microsoft can become deeply entangled in complex geopolitical conflicts. Despite Microsoft’s claims that its technology is not used to target Palestinians or support lethal strikes, internal sources and leaked documents paint a different picture of extensive intelligence gathering on Palestinians.
As protests grow and employees voice concerns, with one shouting during a keynote, “How about you show how Israeli war crimes are powered by Azure?,” the debate intensifies over the ethical responsibilities of tech companies working with military and intelligence agencies.
The case of Unit 8200 and Microsoft illustrates the immense power and risks of cloud technology, raising urgent questions about privacy, accountability, and the future of surveillance in war zones.
The verdict of history: How political calculations betrayed Gaza
By Ramzy Baroud | MEMO | August 6, 2025
The Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem released a comprehensive report on 27 July describing the Israeli war on Gaza as genocide. However, the delay in publishing such an indictment is troubling and adds to an existing problem of politically motivated decision-making processes that have, in their own right, prolonged the ongoing Israeli war crimes.
The report accused Israel of committing genocide, a conclusion reached after a detailed analysis of the military campaign’s intent, the systematic destruction of civilian life, and the government-engineered famine. This finding is significant because it adds to the massive body of legal and testimonial evidence affirming the Palestinian position that Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute a genocide.
Moreover, the fact that B’Tselem is an Israeli organization is doubly important. It represents an insider’s indictment of the horrific massacres and the government-engineered famine in the Strip, directly challenging the baseless argument that accusing Israel of genocide is an act of antisemitism.
Western media were particularly interested in this report, despite the fact that numerous first-hand Palestinian reports and investigations are often ignored or downplayed. This double standard continues to feed into a chronic media problem in its perception of Palestine and Israel.
Claims by Palestinians of Israeli war crimes have historically been ignored by mainstream media or academia. Whether the Zionist militia’s massacre of Tantura in 1948, the actual number of Palestinians and Lebanese killed in the massacres of Sabra and Shatila in Lebanon in 1982, or the events resulting in the Jenin massacre in the West Bank in 2002, the media has frequently ignored the Palestinian account. It often gains a degree of validation only if it is backed by Israeli or Western voices.
The latest B’Tselem report is no exception. But another question must be asked: why did it take nearly two years for B’Tselem to reach such an obvious conclusion? Israeli rights groups, in particular, have far greater access to the conduct of the Israeli army, the statements of politicians, and Hebrew media coverage than any other entity. Such a conclusion, therefore, should have been reached in a matter of two months, not two years.
This kind of intentional delay has so far defined the position of many international institutions, organisations, and individuals whose moral authority would have helped Palestinians establish the facts of the genocide globally much earlier.
For example, despite the ICJ’s historic ruling on 26 January 2024, that determined that there are plausible grounds for South Africa’s accusation of Israel of committing genocide, the court is still unable, or unwilling, to produce a conclusive ruling. A definitive ruling would have been a significant pressure card on Israel to end its mass killing in Gaza.
Instead, for now, the ICJ expects Israel to investigate itself, a most unrealistic expectation at a time when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promises his extremist ministers that Israel will encourage the ethnic cleansing of Gaza.
The same indictment of intentional and politicised delays can be attributed to the International Criminal Court. While it issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former defense minister on November 21, 2024, no concrete action has been taken. Instead, it is the Chief Prosecutor of the court, Karim Khan, who finds himself attacked by the US government and media for having the courage to follow through on the investigation.
Individuals, too, especially those who have been associated with ‘revolutionary’ politics, the likes of Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders, among others, have been reluctant to act. On 22 March 2024, Ocasio-Cortez refused to use the term genocide in Gaza, going as far as claiming that, while she saw an “unfolding genocide,” she was not yet ready to use the term herself.
Sanders, on the other hand, who has spoken out repeatedly and strongly against Netanyahu, describing him in an interview with CNN on 31 July as a “disgusting liar,” has had repeated moral lapses since the start of the war. When the term genocide was used by many, far less ‘radical’ politicians, Sanders doubled down during a lecture at a university in Ireland. He said that the word genocide “makes him queasy,” and he urged people to be “careful about it”.
These are not simply lost opportunities or instances of moral equivocation. They have had a profound and direct impact on Israel’s behavior. The timely intervention of governments, international institutions, high courts, media, and human rights groups would have fundamentally changed the dynamics of the war. Such collective pressure could have forced Israel and its allies to end the war, potentially saving thousands of lives.
Delays born of political calculation and fear of retribution have given Israel the critical space it needed to carry out its genocide. Israel is actively exploiting this lack of legal and moral clarity to persist in its mass slaughter of Palestinians.
This must change. The Palestinian perspective, their suffering, and their truths must be respected and honored without needing validation from Israeli or other sources. The Palestinian voice and their rights must be truly centered, not as an academic cliché or political jargon, but as an undeniable, everyday reality.
As for those who have delayed their verdict regarding the Israeli genocide, no rationale can possibly absolve them. They will be judged by history and by the desperate pleas of Gaza’s mothers and fathers, who tried and failed to save their children from the Israeli killing machine and the world’s collective silence or inaction.
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The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food
Lies Are Unbekoming | January 20, 2026
Soybeans generate approximately $80 million annually in mandatory producer assessments alone, funding a marketing apparatus that has transformed an industrial commodity into one of America’s most trusted “health foods.” The campaign succeeded. Soy milk lines supermarket shelves beside dairy. Soy protein fortifies everything from infant formula to energy bars. Vegetarians rely on tofu and tempeh as dietary staples. Doctors recommend soy to menopausal women. School lunch programs serve soy-based meat substitutes to children. An estimated 60 percent of processed foods contain soy derivatives. The premise underlying this proliferation—that Asians have thrived on soy for millennia and that modern science validates its health benefits—has been repeated so often it functions as established fact.
Kaayla T. Daniel’s The Whole Soy Story dismantles this premise through systematic examination of the scientific literature. The book documents that traditional Asian soy consumption averaged roughly one tablespoon daily, consumed as fermented condiments after processing methods that neutralized inherent toxins—a pattern bearing no resemblance to American consumption of industrially processed soy protein isolate, soy flour, and soy oil. Daniel catalogs the antinutrients that survive modern processing (protease inhibitors, phytates, lectins, saponins), the toxic compounds created by industrial methods (nitrosamines, lysinoalanine, hexane residues), and the heavy metals concentrated in soy products (manganese, aluminum, fluoride, cadmium). She traces the mechanisms by which soy isoflavones—plant estrogens present at pharmacologically significant levels—disrupt thyroid function, impair fertility, and interact with hormone-sensitive cancers. The evidence emerges from peer-reviewed journals, FDA documents, and industry sources themselves.
The stakes extend beyond individual dietary choices. Infants fed soy formula receive isoflavone doses equivalent to several birth control pills daily, with blood concentrations 13,000 to 22,000 times higher than their natural estrogen levels. Soy protein isolate—the ingredient in formula, protein bars, and thousands of products—has never received GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) status; its only pre-1960s use was as an industrial paper sealant. Two senior FDA scientists formally protested their own agency’s approval of soy health claims, citing evidence of thyroid damage and reproductive harm. The Honolulu Heart Program found that men consuming tofu twice weekly showed accelerated brain aging and increased dementia. These findings have not penetrated public awareness because the institutions responsible for consumer protection have been compromised by the industry they regulate. The Whole Soy Story presents the evidence that has been systematically excluded from mainstream health messaging, enabling readers to evaluate for themselves what the soy industry prefers they never learn. … continue
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