Israel seeks ‘compensation’ from Washington over Saudi F-35 sale
The Cradle | September 18, 2026
Israel is expected to seek “compensation” from the US in the form of weapons systems that Washington has so far declined to sell to Tel Aviv, in response to US plans to sell F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia in a $25 billion deal, Walla reported on 18 September.
A source familiar with the matter told the Hebrew news outlet that the Israeli military would prefer that no other country in West Asia receive the F-35 to preserve Israel’s qualitative military edge (QME) in the region.
The deal marks the first time an Arab state gains access to the F-35, the US military’s most advanced warplane.
“This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by improving the security of a major non-NATO ally that is a force for political stability and economic progress in the Gulf region,” the State Department said in a statement on Thursday.
Even if the deal is signed soon, Saudi Arabia would receive its first F-35s only in five years and without all the enhancements Israel has for its fleet of the warplanes, US officials told Middle East Eye (MEE).
Using the deal as leverage, Tel Aviv intends to ask Washington to allow it to participate in the development and production of classified US weapons systems, including space-based weapons, the source speaking with Walla said.
Israel will also ask the US to participate in the development and production of some of its own weapons systems, including missile interceptors for the Arrow 4 and Arrow 5 systems.
Additionally, Israel wants access to advanced munitions that Washington has so far declined to sell to Tel Aviv, including bunker-busting weapons designed to penetrate through mountains deep underground, autonomous strike systems, and swarms of unmanned aerial vehicles.
Israel may also seek funding to finance a third F-15 squadron and additional F-35 squadrons, which Israeli officials say they are currently struggling to do.
At the same time, the source speaking with Walla said that the Saudi purchase of F-35s would not threaten Israel’s qualitative military edge.
Israel continues to hold a clear operational advantage over other countries that have purchased the aircraft from the US due to the extensive operational experience accumulated by the Israeli Air Force and its pilots while carrying out the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and the bombing of Lebanon and Iran.
One Israeli defense official sought to play down concerns, saying that Israel’s advantage lies “not just in the machine, but mainly in the people.”
Tel Aviv has also received Washington’s approval to integrate Israeli-made weapons systems into its Adir aircraft, the Israeli version of the F-35.
MEE notes that the sale has raised concerns among some in the US defense and intelligence community who believe China could gain access to critical US technologies through espionage if Saudi Arabia is allowed to operate the warplane.
‘We are not like everyone else’ laws that bind other nations do not apply to Israel, says Likud lawmaker
Likud lawmaker Hanoch Milwidsky
MEMO | September 17, 2026
Laws that bind other nations do not apply to Israel, says Likud lawmaker Hanoch Milwidsky, claiming that the Jewish people’s divine calling exempts them from constraints imposed on others.
“We are not like everyone else, and that is why all the laws that apply to everyone else do not apply to us,” said Milwidsky. His comments advocating Jewish supremacy were captured on video and have been shared on social media.
Milwidsky presents Jewish supremacy as a justification for exemption from laws that bind other nations, claiming that the Jewish people’s God-given status places them above rules binding others. He urges allegiance to religious authority while dismissing the views of international diplomats and leaders.
“The Jewish people are born a high people”, Milwidsjy went on to say. “Because they have a duty to create here a land of miracles and virtue.”
Milwidsky’s remarks come amid documented Israeli violations of international law. Human rights group have concluded that Israel in violation of established international conventions is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and maintains a system of apartheid involving institutionalised oppression and domination of Palestinians.
In its July 2024 advisory opinion, the International Court of Justice found Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory unlawful. It also found that Israeli legislation and measures breached Article 3 of the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which prohibits racial segregation and apartheid.
Many critics will see Milwidsky’s remarks as a religious justification for Israel’s continued disregard of international law: that the Jewish people’s claimed special status before God places Israel above the law and beyond accountability.
Zionist billionaire pressure to silence Macklemore sparks exodus from Ed Sheeran tour
MEMO | September 16, 2026
Ed Sheeran’s backing band and three supporting acts have withdrawn from his tour after Macklemore was dropped following pressure from billionaire Robert Kraft and other stadium owners over the rapper’s pro-Palestinian performances.
Irish band Beoga, singer-songwriter Aaron Rowe, Danish band Lukas Graham and US musician Finneas announced their departures yesterday.
Macklemore said Kraft, the pro-Israel billionaire whose company owns Gillette Stadium and the New England Patriots, told Sheeran he would not be allowed to perform at the stadium. The rapper also accused Kraft of rallying other stadium owners to issue an ultimatum.
Kraft confirmed that he opposed Macklemore’s participation at Gillette Stadium, citing his performances and what he described as anti-Semitic rhetoric and imagery. Promoter Messina Touring Group separately confirmed that multiple venues would not permit concerts with Macklemore on the bill.
Sheeran said venues had threatened to pull upcoming shows and attributed Macklemore’s removal to the promoter. He said he had spent the week attempting to resolve the dispute.
“Artists must not be silenced when they speak up for the oppressed,” Finneas said.
Beoga accused “Zionist lobbies” of silencing Macklemore. Rowe and Lukas Graham also confirmed their withdrawals while expressing affection for Sheeran.
The dispute follows another instance of Kraft using financial pressure amid pro-Palestinian activism. In April 2024, he said he was no longer comfortable supporting Columbia University “until corrective action is taken”.
Kraft’s intervention was part of a pressure campaign by wealthy supporters of Israel weaponizing their donations to press institutions over their response to pro-Palestinian solidarity.
Macklemore announced his removal on Monday after saying “Free Palestine” during performances at MetLife Stadium earlier this month. He denies being anti-Semitic and argues that conflating criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism shields Israel from accountability.
In his statement, reproduced on Reddit, the rapper urged readers to keep Palestinian suffering at the centre of the controversy.
“The victims are the Palestinian people,” he wrote, referring to those killed, starved and displaced.
He also challenged claims of political neutrality: “There is no neutral position between the oppressor and the oppressed.”
Macklemore has repeatedly advocated for Palestinian rights, including through his 2024 protest song Hind’s Hall.
Critics sharing Macklemore’s statement claimed that this was another example of how the “US is in the grip of a foreign power.”
Haaretz Editorial Board Acknowledges The Truth: Israeli ‘Consensus’ Is Pro-Genocide
By Justin K.P. | The Dissident | September 14, 2026
Haaretz, one of Israel’s largest newspapers, published an article on the new film ‘NAZA’, which features multiple IDF terrorists admitting to committing genocide in Gaza, titled “Israelis Must Finally Confront What Israel Has Done in Gaza”.
By the title, one would assume the paper is claiming that regular Israeli citizens are unaware of the genocidal crimes its government committed in Gaza and need to confront that fact.
But within the article, the editorial board acknowledges the truth: the overwhelming majority of Jewish Israelis know full well about the genocide unleashed in Gaza and fully support it.
“The Israeli consensus largely maintains,” the paper wrote, “that there are no innocents in Gaza, and therefore no such thing as collateral damage”.
In other words, the “Israeli consensus” is that slaughtering Gaza’s civilian population, including women and children, is justified (i.e. support for genocide).
The fact that the vast majority of Jewish Israelis hold openly genocidal views towards Palestinians is documented in opinion polls.
Opinion polls in Israel have shown that 75 percent of Israeli Jews agree with the openly genocidal slogan that “there are no innocents in Gaza”.
84 percent of Jewish Israelis have given the IDF an “excellent or very good grade regarding the moral conduct of the army” in Gaza, and 79 percent say “they are ‘not so troubled’ or ‘not troubled at all’ by the reports of famine and suffering among the Palestinian population in Gaza”.
Another poll found that 82 percent of Jewish Israelis “supported the forced expulsion of Gaza’s population to other countries” and 52 percent “he expulsion of Israel’s Arab citizens”.
47 percent even agreed with the idea of “killing all of the inhabitants” of “an enemy city”.
There is not a crime committed in Gaza that Israeli officials have not boasted about in Hebrew, from Israeli president Isaac Herzog openly stating that “It’s an entire nation out there that is responsible. It’s not true this rhetoric about civilians not aware not involved. It’s absolutely not true. … and we will fight until we break their backbone” to Science and Technology Minister Gila Gamliel boasting that the Israeli plan is to “make the Gaza Strip uninhabitable until the population leaves, and the same thing will happen in the West Bank” to Likud lawmaker Hanoch Milwidsky openly endorsing rape against Palestinian prisoners.
The truth, finally acknowledged by Harretz, is that the Jewish Israeli public knows full well about the Genocide unfolding in Gaza and has cheered it on from day one.
The Crippling Effects of Unnecessary War
By Ron Paul | September 14, 2026
In California, gas stations are facing a unique challenge. The station signs are only configured to go up to $9.99 per gallon and at several stations the price of diesel has reached that maximum. Diesel prices are higher than they have ever been in history.
Worse, according to some news reports the advertising of the maximum price of $9.99 per gallon is meant to signal to truck drivers that they have run out of diesel altogether. Expensive diesel is a hit to the economy, but running out of the fuel at any price is a whole different kind of crisis.
Our highways are filled with semi-trucks burning diesel to bring the products we depend on to the markets. Our freight trains use diesel to transport what is not transported by truck. When the price of diesel increases, the cost of everything moved by that diesel also increases. This is one reason we are seeing much more inflation than the government wants to admit.
The diesel crisis is getting so serious that even President Trump has been forced to admit it. Of course, instead of taking at least part of the blame over his war of choice against Iran and his continuation of the proxy war against Russia through Ukraine, he is blaming Ukraine’s military strikes on Russian energy infrastructure.
President Trump is now asking Ukraine to stop attacking Russian energy resources because diesel is a global commodity and the scarcity produced by the attacks is hitting us here at home. But the strikes deep inside Russia are guided by US intelligence, which provides the targeting data for Ukraine.
The Russia/Ukraine war is only part of the problem. Despite President Trump’s bluster about controlling the Strait of Hormuz, the fact is Iran is in control and very little oil – or anything else – makes it out without Iranian approval.
Yemen’s Iran-allied Houthis joining the fight only makes matters worse. Over the weekend they attacked Saudi Arabia’s bypass pipeline, taking much more oil off the market.
The real problem here is not oil or diesel. The real problem is that wars of choice spin out of control and destroy the economies of those who launch them. Empires throughout history have been undone by endless overseas wars. No amount of bragging about the size and strength of our military can change this reality.
Now we are seeing the chickens coming home to roost.
President Trump has justified tanking the US economy by claiming the attack on Iran was essential because they were about to get a nuclear weapon. Our intelligence community disagreed, but he refused to listen and took his cue from Netanyahu instead.
It turns out Iran actually does have a “nuclear weapon.” That weapon is the ability to control the world’s oil flows at a margin high enough to cripple the economies of any country seeking to conquer it. According to press reports, former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard tried to warn President Trump that Iran would close the Strait of Hormuz if attacked but he didn’t want to hear it.
The Founders were determined to prevent the executive branch from being able to start wars for this very reason. The “people’s branch” of government – Congress – is where they placed the power to launch wars. We are now seeing the consequences of ignoring their very wise advice.
Britain stands against oppression in Palestine… by supplying F-35s
By Finian Cunningham | Strategic Culture Foundation | September 11, 2026
So, Britain announced with much fanfare this week that it was imposing sanctions on Israel’s illegal settlements in Palestine. Note that the sanctions are not against the Israeli state, but rather a much narrower definition: Israeli entities in the Occupied Territories.
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham claimed that the move was an example of Britain giving international leadership to stand against oppression and injustice.
Addressing the British Parliament, Burnham said: “In this difficult and dangerous world, Britain has to stand for something, Britain has to show leadership, Britain has to stand for fairness against injustice… That is what the British people expect of us, and that is what this government will do.”
Several other European states and Canada have also joined the British-led initiative to ban trade and investment with companies doing business in the Occupied Territories of the West Bank.
Israel’s occupation is illegal under international law, yet Britain, the European Union and the United States have done nothing in the way of imposing sanctions. Sanctions are something the West prefers to impose on Russia, Iran, China, Cuba, North Korea, among others.
In announcing the sanctions, the United Kingdom’s foreign minister Ed Miliband told the House of Commons that “Britain was a country that upholds its values at home and around the world, fighting against oppression and suffering, and standing up for what is right.”
The pious tones from London about Israel’s “ethnic cleansing” are not convincing.
For starters, the supposed sanctions do not cover British components for the F-35 fighter jets that the United States sells to Israel. The British parts are crucial for flying the US-made stealth aircraft. The warplane has played a major role in razing Gaza to the ground. Also not included in the sanctions are drones and surveillance equipment that British firms supply to the Israeli military. All those components are crucial for enabling the nearly three-year genocidal violence that Israel has conducted in Gaza.
If the British government were serious about “standing against oppression,” it would go a lot further than focusing on violations by Israeli settlers in the Occupied Territories. The pogroms and construction of new settlements are carried out with the full assistance of the Israeli state, not just by gun-wielding fanatical settlers. Britain and other Western states have provided the legal and diplomatic cover for Israeli war crimes.
In any case, the supposed measures against Israeli business and exports from the West Bank are minimal. A recent Al Jazeera investigation found that Britain has billions of dollars invested in companies that are intimately involved in illegal settlement building. We can be sure that London is not going to cancel investments.
Total British-Israeli trade is estimated at $8 billion a year, including lucrative military items. The amount of business that Britain does with the Occupied Territories is about 1 per cent of its total trade with Israel.
Burnham and Miliband said the British government did not support boycott and divestment sanctions against the state of Israel. Both of them were at pains to emphasize that the measures are nominally limited to the violations going on in the Occupied Territories, not what Israel is doing right across Palestinian land, including Gaza, which is a genocide.
So there you have it. Britain’s “moral leadership” is nothing but tokenism and duplicity.
Should we expect anything else? After all, as former British diplomat Craig Murray pointed out this week, Burnham’s government has decided to give top-secret information for building cruise missiles to the corrupt Kiev regime. Murray warns that the Storm Shadow missiles will soon end up being sold on the black market, given the rampant corruption of Ukraine under the Zelensky cabal.
Britain is also supplying this NeoNazi regime with long-range drones that are being used to target Moscow and Russian civilians.
Is this standing up against oppression and for supposed British values?
What’s really behind London’s belated show of concern for Palestinians?
As Burnham and Miliband alluded, it’s all about Britain appearing to show international leadership. It’s a cheap way to burnish London’s “moral posturing” as a defender of “humanitarian values.”
Israel has hit back with the usual denunciations of “anti-semitism” and by closing down the British consulate in East Jerusalem. But for London, these repercussions are bearable for the bigger gains of British international PR.
As noted above, the lion’s share of its lucrative trade with Israel will go on, business as usual.
The other key motive for the Burnham government is that it realizes that a majority of the British public has become staunchly opposed to the Israeli regime. The three-year genocide has opened the eyes of many Britons (and those of other Western nations) to the historical injustices and illegal occupation of Palestinian lands. Israel is increasingly seen as a pariah, apartheid state that should be prosecuted for war crimes.
Britain’s role as the former colonial power in the Zionist annexation of Palestine is one of deep complicity and shame.
Andy Burnham was shoehorned into Downing Street to take over from the hopeless and hapless Labour leader Keir Starmer. The British establishment has bet on Burnham to shore up its imperialist interests by boosting military spending and deepening involvement in the NATO proxy war against Russia in Ukraine.
However, Burnham’s popularity has quickly worn off as he looks like Starmer 2.0.
The tokenistic moves to support Palestinian rights and oppose Israeli violations are a cynical electioneering ploy. By talking up sanctions against Israeli illegal settlements, Burnham is calculating that it will garner votes from the growing public anger over the genocide.
But the measures that London is taking are negligible. They amount to a polite tap on the wrist of the Netanyahu regime as it continues its genocide.
Britain is fuelling the genocide by Israel, as it is with the NATO proxy war in Ukraine against Russia. British duplicity is as legion as its hypocrisy.
BRICS Draws Red Lines on Lebanon, Cuba, and Global Security
Sputnik – 12.09.2026
In their joint declaration, BRICS summit participants spoke out against unilateral sanctions that violate international law.
BRICS also condemned the violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty and called on Israel to withdraw its troops from its territory, according to the declaration.
Other key points:
- BRICS expressed deep concern over the US tightening unilateral blockade against Cuba and its adverse impact on the economy, energy supplies and humanitarian situation.
- It reaffirmed its commitment to combating all forms of terrorism.
- BRICS voiced alarm over deliberate attacks on peaceful facilities under IAEA safeguards.
- The group stressed the need to strengthen energy security.
- BRICS underscored the necessity of ensuring the peaceful use of space technologies.
Iran War Just Got Much Bigger / Matt Bracken & Lt Col Daniel Davis
Daniel Davis / Deep Dive – September 8, 2026
Israeli Army Closes Tulkarem Zakat Committee Headquarters
IMEMC | September 8, 2026
Israeli forces invaded and closed the Tulkarem Central Zakat Committee headquarters in the northwestern West Bank before dawn Tuesday. After the soldiers withdrew, Palestinians found the body of Gaza Strip resident As’ad Mleiha inside.
Media sources said several Palestinian workers from the Gaza Strip had been living in part of the facility since October 7, 2023. When a large contingent of Israeli soldiers invaded the building, the soldiers forced the workers to leave.
Soldiers then abducted an unspecified number of workers and transported them by military truck to an undisclosed location.
The sources added that the soldiers vandalized the contents of the headquarters and then posted a notice at the entrance alleging that the committee was “illegal,” “supports terrorism,” and had been shut down.
During the invasion, Israeli soldiers fired concussion grenades and tear gas canisters at journalists covering the events and chased several reporters in the surrounding area. No injuries were reported.
Following the army’s withdrawal, Civil Defense and Palestinian Red Crescent Society crews recovered As’ad Mleiha’s body from inside the committee headquarters.
Civil Defense and Palestinian Red Crescent Society crews transferred the body to a hospital. The circumstances surrounding Mleiha’s death and how his body came to be inside the building remain unknown.
No information has been released regarding the fate of the Gaza workers abducted by Israeli forces during the invasion.
The closure of the committee comes amid ongoing Israeli military assaults throughout the Tulkarem governorate.
The Tulkarem Central Zakat Committee is a charitable institution affiliated with the Palestinian Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs.
The committee uses donations and zakat funds to provide humanitarian, social, educational, and financial assistance to families in need, orphans, and other vulnerable groups.
Once a refuge for Palestinians from Gaza stranded in the occupied West Bank after the since October 2023, the Tulkarm Central Zakat Committee headquarters has now become the scene of an Israeli military operation.
The development highlights the vulnerability of Gaza residents living in the West Bank, where ongoing Israeli invasions and abductions continue to expose them to heightened security and legal risks.
Blaming the Victim in the Gaza Genocide
Amnesty International blames the victim in a time of genocide
By Paul de Rooij • Unz Review • September 8, 2026
The late Dr. Israel Shahak once related that during WWII when a collaborator at the Warsaw ghetto was eliminated, the jubilant inmates (himself included) danced with joy.[0] Maybe the extreme situation didn’t permit the semblance of a legal process, but natural law ran its course. Now imagine if at that time a sanctimonious body were to pop up and chastise the inmates for this “crime”. Under the circumstances, it would appear hypocritical for anyone to criticise the inmates, let alone refer to their action as “unlawful” and demand “accountability”.
Well, Amnesty International just published an article that fits that description in a contemporary setting. It just published a news release, “Hamas must stamp out extrajudicial executions…”[1], which is an indictment of the execution or beatings of collaborators in Gaza. Amnesty’s rumination amounts to blaming the victim.
About Collaborators
For many decades Israel sought to recruit Palestinian collaborators. These were used as an enforcement arm of the oppressor; to inform on the Palestinian society and the resistance; to undermine the cohesion of the society, to sow distrust; act as propaganda agents; and to create dependence on the oppressor. The Israeli desire to destroy the Palestinian society has been ever present.
From the early days prior to the formation of Israel, zionists sought informers and traitors. Bedouins and the “peace bands” acted as trackers to find and eliminate Palestinian fighters. Wealthy Palestinians sold land or acted as agents for the zionists to acquire land. There are gradations of collaboration — from the ones who were involved in violence against their own people, to those engaged in acts that undermined Palestinian society[2].
Today the so-called Palestinian Authority (PA) are collaborators in the Israeli project; they suppress Palestinian resistance, maintain dependence and subjugation, and protect the network of Palestinian collaborators created by Israel. Prominent Palestinians opposed to Israeli oppression have been murdered by the PA; the PA goons have been tasked with suppressing resistance in key areas such as Jenin and Nablus; and PA forces coordinate their actions with Israeli forces.
Israeli prisons use collaborators (aka Asafir) placed in cells together with Palestinian prisoners to get them to divulge information. Asafir collaborators are also used to break the solidarity between prisoners; any activity that might create a spirit of resistance is broken up.
Notorious armed collaborators roam in the West Bank where they harass and intimidate victims at the behest of their handlers. But to create a culture subservient to the Israeli occupation, Palestinians are told to petition the collaborators to obtain permits, access to land or work. The collaborators simply do Israel’s dirty work.
Drug dealing and collaboration go hand in hand. There is a history of Israel supplying drugs and fostering the criminal gangs in Gaza and the West Bank.[3]
Yet another true and tested way to undermine a society. Drug dealers also act as armed enforcers.
It is fairly easy for Israelis to recruit collaborators. Any Palestinian who has to cross a checkpoint is easy prey for Israeli agents to coerce or bribe victims to become collaborators. No cooperation results in blocked access, and thus no work and the like. If a child requires to go to an Israeli hospital or a health facility in Jerusalem, the parents are often confronted with the choice of obtaining a permit by collaborating, or being turned back. Students seeking to go to study abroad are also put in the same quandary, collaborate or have passage denied. There is an upside to collaborating (obtaining access or favours), and the downside is minimal because collaborators aren’t persecuted. So, now there are collaborators everywhere in the West Bank.
Collaborators in Gaza
When Hamas took over Gaza after it won the elections in 2006, it displaced the collaborationist Palestinian Authority. But most of the ejected members of the PA forces, predominantly Fatah members, remained in Gaza and many were willing to collaborate with Israel. The Palestinian resistance has to contend with collaborators who would pinpoint tunnels, weapons or key personnel. Several resistance commanders were likely killed when exposed by collaborators. Hooded collaborators enable the Israeli military to identify and separate Palestinian prisoners who are either in or assist the resistance.
Some collaborators were tasked with spreading false rumours in crowded places. A favourite tactic was for a collaborator to take a shared taxi ride, and then loudly claim that a given official was corrupt or criminal. Others were instructed to paint defeatist or hateful graffiti.
And at present Israel is arming and organising Palestinian criminal gangs to terrorise neighbourhoods to drive people out of their homes. The Middle East Eye reports:[4]
Based on testimony from Israeli soldiers, UN reports and satellite imagery, the investigation found that increasingly well-armed collaborator militias have expelled Palestinians from their homes and carried out operations across Gaza. Israel has trained at least five militia groups, and potentially a sixth, operating from heavily fortified bases inside Israeli-occupied areas of the enclave.
One Israeli soldier described how the state, army and Shin Bet intelligence service send armed and “trained militias to commit war crimes, …”.
One can well understand Palestinian anger against the collaborators’ treasonous and criminal behaviour, and their attempts to poison Palestinian society.
Amnesty on rough justice
Although Israel is responsible for recruiting and exploiting a collaborator network, Amnesty portrays Hamas’ rough justice as “unlawful” and it calls for Hamas to be held accountable. It doesn’t portray the collaborators as an Israeli instrument.
Amnesty portrays the issue of collaborators as one between the Palestinian population at large and Hamas; not as one where Israel is the oppressor, and the Palestinians are the oppressed. And under the circumstances (Amnesty plainly admits there is “a collapse of law and order in Gaza”), how are Palestinians supposed to dispense justice? On the one hand Amnesty wants Hamas to operate under a legal framework, yet it plainly downplays the Israeli violations of most laws that should confer all Palestinians some protection. It is a clear double standard.
Israeli forces have targeted the police and courts. On day one of the 2014 attack, dozens of police were bombed and killed. In the recent past, police have been similarly targeted. So, it seems that Amnesty expects Hamas to operate within a legal framework meant to mediate societal tension in a state of peace. When Hamas establishes that organised crime in Gaza operates in tandem with Israeli forces, then it has the right to defend itself. Amnesty may not like the rough justice this entails, but it has no standing to criticise the way Palestinians defend themselves.
Erika Guevara Rosas, the author of the “Hamas must stamp out extrajudicial executions” article, seems to dismiss the accusations made by Hamas against collaborators. When referring to the collaborators, the article is sprinkled with the usual Amnesty weasel words: “suspected”, “alleged”. The word informant is put in quotation marks. Amnesty confers no credibility to statements made by Hamas. One wonders why Palestinians should be required to justify their actions when Israel carries on with impunity.
A legal argument
Anyone hiring a hitman for an assassination or any serious crime would face severe legal consequences. In the same manner, when Israel hires or coerces collaborators to perpetrate serious crimes, e.g., murder, then the contracting party should also bear severe legal consequences. Alas, this is not an argument that Amnesty understands.
There is a pattern
Most articles/news releases published by Amnesty seem to follow a pattern. One article will criticise Palestinians, and it is shortly thereafter followed by an article which criticises Israel. In the current context, we have the article about execution of collaborators, and it was followed a few days later by an article restating that Israel has done nothing to end the genocide and to abide by the ICJ’s ruling.[5] Amnesty seeks to portray itself as a neutral organisation which sits on the fence criticising “both sides”. Amnesty’s actions are neither proportional to the violence or injustice of the current situation. The reason it takes this dubious stance is because it doesn’t want to be in solidarity with the Palestinians, but it similarly doesn’t want to be antagonistic towards Israelis. The actions of the oppressed and oppressor are held to the same ahistorical standard.
Amnesty and genocide
It took a long time for Amnesty to unequivocally refer to Israeli crimes as genocide. On 28 October 2023, Craig Mokhiber, the former UN official in the High Commission for Human Rights, resigned because his agency was not reacting given the unfolding situation in Gaza, and stated in his resignation letter: “this is a textbook case of genocide”. It was only 13 months later that Amnesty acknowledged the nature of Israeli crimes, thus Amnesty was rather late to announce that Palestinians were subject to a genocidal campaign.[6] But then one would expect more action from “the leading human rights organisation”. Currently, several weeks transpire before it cursorily mentions genocide. It seems that Amnesty’s actions aren’t proportional to the severity of the crime — and to boot, Amnesty will regularly chastise Palestinians for the way they deal with collaborators or protestors.
A matter of timing
There are many egregious cases of Israeli violence or threats to perpetrate heinous acts. On 15 August 2026, Itamar Ben Gvir, the Israeli security minister, stated that he sought to kill 30 to 40 Palestinians every day. The man interviewing him helpfully volunteered to kill with his own bare hands. This is only Ben Gvir’s latest statement about an intent to kill many Palestinians, and he certainly belongs in the same dock as Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant to answer for all their mass crimes. Amnesty’s article chastising Palestinians for the assassination of collaborators coincided with Ben Gvir’s statements about criminal intent. What is worse, the elimination of collaborators or the threat to kill 30 to 40 Palestinians every day? What is surprising is that Amnesty didn’t utter a peep about Ben Gvir’s threats — hardly empty threats.
Human rights are for the birds
Human rights organisations think that they can opine on everything, and they believe that they can offer recommendations to everybody. Alas, the human rights framework is problematic and deficient, and human rights organisations are mostly compromised and propaganda tools for those who pay for them.
When confronted with mass crimes what is needed is justice, and not one of its bastardised, neutered, malleable and ineffective substitutes. If one wants justice then it behooves one to speak in terms of justice, and to avoid the human rights mumbo jumbo. When faced with mass crimes one should demand justice, and not merely seek some bandages. This is specially the case when human rights have been cynically exploited and weaponised by the US and UK. A framework that can be used to justify wars, the so-called humanitarian interventions (even humanitarian bombing!!), cannot be a framework that advances justice or motivates people to act against mass crimes.
Most human rights NGOs don’t even condemn the forever wars, the US/Israeli wars of aggression. Amnesty International is “not an anti-war organisation”.[7] How one can favour human rights and not oppose wars is a mystery. But then Amnesty is against capital punishment, but not opposed to some killing by the military. However, all killings by the Palestinian resistance are condemned or criticised in Amnesty’s weasel-like inimitable style. The same demands don’t apply when Israel bombs refugee camps, or hires, arms and organises collaborators to terrorise and expel the residents of the refugee camps. Here another standard applies.
Amnesty International is not part of the solution; it is part of the problem.
Notes
[0] Frank Collins, “Why Palestinians Kill Palestinians in Israeli-Occupied Territories”, WRMEA, Nov. 1989.https://www.wrmea.org/1989-november/why-palestinians-kill-palestinians-in-israeli-occupied-territories.html
[1] “Palestine: Hamas must stamp out extrajudicial executions and ensure justice for victims”, 21 August 2026.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2026/08/palestine-hamas-must-stamp-out-extrajudicial-executions-and-ensure-justice-for-victims/
[2] A good overview of early Palestinian collaboration see: Joseph Massad , “Palestinian elites have been collaborating against the resistance for a century”, 12 June 2026.
[3] Here is a recent example: Joe Glenton, Israel is smuggling narcotics into Gaza, Palestinian tribal council warns, The Canary, 17 December 2025.
https://www.thecanary.co/global/world-analysis/2025/12/17/israel-narcotics/
[4] Israel arms drug dealers to commit new ‘Sabra and Shatila’ in Gaza, MEE Staff, MEE, 27 August 2026.
See also: Palestine Information Center, “Agent militias in Gaza: Temporary occupation tool or project to reshape society”, 3 September 2026.
https://english.palinfo.com/reports/2026/09/03/369484/
[5] “Israel/OPT: South Africa ICJ submission must spur states to press Israel to end its genocide in Gaza”, Amnesty International, 1 September 2026.
[6] Amnesty International investigation concludes Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, Amnesty International, 5 December 2024.
[7] Personal communication with Donatella Rovera, an Amnesty researcher, January 2003.
Mark Levin Trashes the Constitution to Protect Violent West Bank Settlers
By Kurt Nimmo | Another Day in the Empire | September 8, 2026
Mark Levin is at it again. He is livid over a decision by the UK government to ban trade with violent illegal settlers in the West Bank. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said this week the UK will ban imports of all goods from settlements in the occupied West Bank, in addition to services including financing, construction, infrastructure, real estate, and advertising for settlements.
For Levin and the Zionists in Israel and the United States, a boycott of Kahanist settlers is antisemitism, the same as public criticism of Israel over its slaughter of Palestinians, most of whom are women and children, is hatred of Jews.
Levin considers himself a constitutional lawyer. However, his interpretation of the US Constitution is highly selective. As an ardent and outspoken Zionist and defender of apartheid and genocide, he believes a boycott of Israel is not protected by the First Amendment. The right to boycott was reaffirmed in 1982 with a Supreme Court ruling on NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co. It held that nonviolent political boycotts are a form of protected speech. However, this is irrelevant when it comes to Israel.
The case centered around a civil-rights boycott of white-owned businesses in Mississippi. The Court upheld the right to peaceful advocacy, association, and political expression that were integral to the campaign.
In 2022, the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed Arkansas’ anti-boycott contracting legislation. The majority determined that the law governed commercial purchasing choices rather than safeguarding speech. In February 2023, the Supreme Court decided not to review an appeal.
However, court rulings in Texas, Arizona, and Arkansas have upheld the right to boycott as as a protected form of political expression under the First Amendment, challenging the legality of anti-BDS laws across the United States.
“Close to 40 states across the U.S. have laws that require ending contracts with and/or divesting from companies that engage in antisemitic boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israel,” Levin posted to social media on September 7.
These states whose combined GDP is significant should publicly make clear to countries such as the UK that companies that engage in BDS because of their decisions will face consequences under state anti-BDS laws. By the way, Florida and Texas combined have a much larger GDP than the UK.
The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction (BDS) movement is now illegal in 38 states. Congress has also considered anti-boycott legislation. In 2019, the Senate passed S.1, which contains anti-boycott provisions. In 2023, Republicans, including Marco Rubio, reintroduced the Combating BDS Act.
Most Americans oppose anti-BDS laws by a wide margin. 72% oppose laws penalizing people who boycott Israel while 22% supported such laws, according to the University of Maryland’s Critical Issues Poll.
Levin is not opposed to BDS if it focuses on the correct target. In 2021, for instance, he demanded a BDS-style boycott of big tech and major television networks in response to criticism of Israel. “He argues that the way to fight against distortions and false claims, and to counter the media censors, is take a page from the anti-Israel activists’ playbook,” reported the Jerusalem News Syndicate in 2021.
Does Levin disagree with the colonial protests against British goods in the 1760s and 1770s that led to the Boston Tea Party? Does he believe the Montgomery bus boycott in the mid-1950s was illegitimate? How about the United Farm Workers boycotts in the 1960s, or the NAACP Mississippi boycott of white-owned businesses, also in the 60s?
No, probably not. The only legitimate opposition to BDS concerns Israel. The Zionist state gets a pass and the Constitution is null and void when confronted with spurious accusations of antisemitism.
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From the Archive
Zionism’s Violent Legacy
By Donald Neff | Washington Report On Middle East Affairs | January 1996
On January 4, 1948, Jewish terrorists drove a truck loaded with explosives into the center of the all Arab city of Jaffa and detonated it, killing 26 and wounding around 100 Palestinian men, women and children.[1] The attack was the work of the Irgun Zvai Leumi – the “National Military Organization,” also known by the Hebrew letters Etzel – the largest Jewish terrorist group in Palestine. The Irgun was headed by Revisionist Zionist Menachem Begin and had been killing and maiming Arabs, Britons and even Jews for the previous ten years in its efforts to establish a Jewish state.
This terror campaign meant that at the core of Revisionist Zionism there existed a philosophical embrace of violence. … continue
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