Heavy Israeli airstrikes hit southern, eastern Lebanon
The Cradle | March 21, 2025
The Israeli army carried out heavy airstrikes on southern and eastern Lebanon on 20 March, claiming it targeted “terrorist infrastructure” and a “military site” belonging to Hezbollah.
Massive explosions were seen in video footage of an Israeli attack on the outskirts of the southern Lebanese town of Jbaa on Thursday evening.
Airstrikes also hit the town of Taraya west of Baalbek and the Shaara area near the town of Janta in the Bekaa Valley, in eastern Lebanon.
“A short while ago, the IDF struck a military site containing an underground terrorist infrastructure site in the Bekaa area in Lebanon, as well as a military site containing rocket launchers in southern Lebanon in which Hezbollah activity has been identified,” the Israeli army said in a statement.
“The IDF will continue to operate to remove any threat to the State of Israel and will operate to prevent any attempt by the Hezbollah terrorist organization to rebuild its forces,” it added.
Israeli forces recently expanded their occupation of southern Lebanon in violation of the ceasefire agreement, which was supposed to see Tel Aviv fully withdraw its forces from the country.
Israel has also relentlessly bombarded south and east Lebanon since the ceasefire was reached in November last year.
Tel Aviv claims to be acting on its rights within the deal by preventing Hezbollah from rearming itself. However, the agreement signed by Beirut does not include anything about Israeli forces having the right to attack the country or occupy its land, instead stipulating that the resistance’s presence and military infrastructure must be dismantled by the Lebanese army south of the Litani River in south Lebanon.
Israel accuses Hezbollah of having not fully withdrawn to the north of the Litani River, as per the agreement. It also accuses the Lebanese resistance of trying to reconstitute its forces.
“We maintain five points on the Lebanese side of the border to protect our territory. We will not relinquish control [of the five sites],” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week.
Azov Gaining Power is ‘Symptom of Collapse’ of Remains of Ukraine’s Civil Society
Sputnik – 21.03.2025
The destruction of the gas pumping station in Sudzha by Ukraine makes it look like Volodymyr Zelensky has “limited control” over the Ukrainian military and “limited to no control” over the neo-Nazi “Azov* forces,” USAF Ret. Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski tells Sputnik.
Due to their belief in their superiority over the rest of the Ukrainian troops, Azov militants “believe that the war was theirs, always, not the politicians, and certainly not Zelensky’s as a propped-up politician who actually ran on enforcing the Minsk II treaty, a ‘peace’ platform.”
“I think Azov, like many effective, violent and nationalistic military groups, disrespect politicians on principle, as compromisers and double dealers. Traditionally, these are the ‘generals’ that the politicians fear, not the other way around,” says Kwiatkowski, a former US Department of Defense analyst.
Thus, there appears to be a danger of Azov exercising the “real political power” in Ukraine.
“It is a symptom of imminent collapse of what is left of Ukraine’s civil and political society, and it underlines the real problem that [US President Donald] Trump will have to face and has not yet — and that is how to help Ukraine recover a liberal and rights-based society at the conclusion of hostilities,” Kwiatkowski says.
“The anger of the Azov will not be quenched, even after Zelensky is gone and a new president elected.”
Stepan Bandera’s Sinister MI6 Alliance Exposed
[Source: ar.inspiredpencil.com]
By Kit Klarenberg | Covert Action Magazine | March 20, 2025
October 15, 2024, marked the 65th anniversary of Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN-B) and Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) founder Stepan Bandera’s assassination by the KGB in Munich, in then-West Germany.
The date passed without mention anywhere. This may reflect how prior public commemorations of the life and death of Nazi collaborator Bandera—widely credited as the father of Ukrainian nationalism—in Kyiv sparked significant controversy and condemnation across Central and Eastern Europe, particularly neighboring Poland.
The complicity of Bandera and the fascist movements he birthed during World War II is well-documented. His influence over modern-day ultranationalist and Neo-Nazi factions in Ukraine, such as the Azov Regiment, has also been acknowledged in the mainstream media.
Yet, Bandera’s secret Cold War bond with British intelligence has never been seriously explored by Western news outlets. Now, examination of little-known declassified CIA records by CovertAction Magazine exposes the malign contours of a long-running, ruthless conspiracy between Bandera and MI6 to destabilize the Soviet Union.
This dark handshake only expired because MI6’s fascist asset was resistant to joining forces with other Ukrainian anti-Communist forces, therefore jeopardizing plans by Washington and London for all-out war with the Soviets in Donbas. That plot, intended to ultimately collapse the entire USSR, has eerie, direct echoes of the current Ukraine proxy war. So too Britain’s willingness, then and now, to go even further than the U.S. in building alliances with the most reactionary, dangerous Ukrainian ultranationalist elements, in service of balkanizing Russia.
“Bandit Type”
MI6 first contacted Bandera while he was exiled in post-war West Germany in 1948, via Gerhard von Mende. An ethnic German hailing from Riga, Latvia, von Mende has been described as the “enthusiastic Nazi” who headed Berlin’s Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territory, or Ostministerium. Among other connivances, von Mende was charged with recruiting fifth columnists from the USSR’s Central Asian republics, to undermine and attack Communist authorities. He has been credited with influencing subsequent British and American support for Islamic extremists.
Per a declassified CIA biography, after Nazi Germany’s defeat, von Mende was “interned as a ‘guest’” at the Agency’s Camp King, where Nazi officials and soldiers were interrogated and tortured. In some cases, inmates were unwittingly dosed with LSD under PROJECT BLUEBIRD, a forerunner to the CIA’s notorious MK-ULTRA mind-control program. Subsequently, von Mende became an asset for West Germany’s Nazi-riddled BND, the CIA, and MI6, continuing his spy recruitment in the USSR via a front company.
Through this position, von Mende was kept abreast of UPA activities and capabilities, and maintained an intimate personal relationship with Bandera. The Ukrainian fascist ideologue’s thuggish West German network was by then hard at work killing hundreds of local citizens suspected by the CIA and MI6 of harboring Communist sympathies. While the OUN-B chief’s “ask” of British intelligence was initially judged too high, that perspective rapidly changed. By 1949, MI6 was helping Bandera airdrop his chaos agents into Ukraine.
A year later, Britain’s foreign spy agency began formally training these operatives to gather intelligence and carry out sabotage and assassinations on Soviet soil. This sinister compact was established despite stern CIA and State Department opposition. At this point, the Agency had identified a comparatively moderate alternative to Bandera’s murderous ultranationalist mob, the Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council (UHVR). The group was led by Ukrainian-Greek Catholic priest Ivan Hrinioch, a “longtime CIA asset” and former high-ranking OUN-B operative Mykola Lebed.
During World War II, Lebed oversaw the UPA’s massacre of tens of thousands of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia. However, he subsequently disavowed this genocidal carnage, and led UHVR’s push to unite Ukrainian émigrés, who had fractured due to bloody, internecine squabbles toward the conflict’s end. Under the auspices of Operation AERODYNAMIC, for decades the Agency exploited the UHVR to foment “nationalist flare-ups” throughout the Soviet Union, “particularly” in Ukraine, and “encourage divisive manifestations among” the population, to “exert pressure on the Soviet regime.”
By this time, Bandera had fallen out of favor with many Ukrainian nationalists, and was even renounced by what remained of OUN-B’s Kiev-based leadership. This, his genocidal past, and overt anti-U.S. actions and statements due to Washington’s refusal to publicly advocate for Ukrainian independence, all deterred the CIA from employing him. However, MI6 was unperturbed and pushed ahead with its Bandera operations. This created a ludicrous situation, with London and Washington supporting bitterly antagonistic Ukrainian nationalist factions, which frequently undermined and attacked each other.
As a British intelligence memorandum on “the crisis over Bandera” noted, by 1950 Ukrainian nationalist leaders had “become aware of the fact that the British and Americans were backing rival groups,” putting the agencies’ joint anti-Soviet project at risk. It was decided to dispatch a co-signed message to UPA headquarters via Ukrainian CIA and MI6 agents parachuted into Lviv, calling for an end to “present disagreements” between opposing nationalist factions, which London and Washington professed to “deplore and earnestly hope may be resolved.”
It signed off with the now-infamous, Bandera-coined nationalist slogan, “Glory to Ukraine” (“Slava Ukraini”). The memo’s MI6 author, moreover, recalled an in-person meeting they had with Bandera in London. The spy described him thusly:
“Convincing and sincere… a professional underground worker with a terrorist background and ruthless notions about the rules of the game, acquired by hard experience, along with a thorough knowledge of the Ukrainian people… a bandit type if you like, with a burning patriotism which provides an ethical background and a justification for his banditry.”
The MI6 operative cheerfully added that genocidal mass murderer Bandera was “no better and no worse than others of his kind I have had dealings with in the past,” and “genuinely grateful for the help given to him” by British intelligence, “but at the same time is certainly trying to get all he can out of it.” The CIA begged to differ, however, commissioning a study of London and Washington’s conflicting positions on the “Ukrainian underground” and Bandera, and how to resolve this divergence.
UPA poster from the 1940s. OUN/UPA’s formal greeting is written on two of the horizontal lines “Glory to Ukraine!” “Glory to the Heroes!” The soldier is standing on the banners of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. [Source: euromaidanpress.com]
“Political Overtones”
A subsequent appraisal repeatedly declared Bandera and OUN-B to be “completely unacceptable” to the CIA, “both from the political and the operational standpoints.” It proposed the Agency and MI6 take joint ownership of the UHVR and its anti-Soviet wrecking project in Ukraine, and “exchange political, operational and intelligence data resulting from these operations.” Meanwhile, the CIA would “take independent action to neutralize” OUN-B’s “present leadership,” including Bandera himself. It is unknown if this was pitched to MI6, although London’s steadfast opposition was inevitable.
The “British position,” as described in the study, was Bandera’s “importance” had been perennially “underestimated by the Americans, as a rallying symbol in the Ukraine, as leader of a large émigré group [and] as a leader favored by the homeland headquarters.” This did not conform to the reality on the ground as detected by the CIA, but MI6 had a vested interest in maintaining the fascist demagogue as an agent. An April 1951 Agency memo summarizing recent “talks” with British intelligence “on operations against the USSR” noted:
“[MI6 is] seeking progressively to assume control of Bandera’s lines… [MI6 argues] Bandera’s name still carried considerable weight in the Ukraine… [and OUN-B is] the strongest Ukrainian organization abroad, is deemed competent to train party cadres, [and] build a morally and politically healthy organization.”
By contrast, the CIA observed Soviet authorities “had been successful to a remarkable degree in transforming the mentality of the younger generation” of Ukrainians, resulting in them vehemently rejecting Bandera and his brand of rabid nationalism. While the Agency, therefore, favored “political neutralization of Bandera as an individual,” MI6 balked, as this “would lead to a drying up of recruits” and “disrupt British operations.” However, the declassified paper trail shows London eventually tired of their fascist asset.
In February 1954, a senior MI6 official who led liaison with OUN-B for two decades made a “final attempt to bring Bandera to reason” in London, due to the genocidaire’s refusal to reconcile and unite with opposing Ukrainian nationalist elements. The high-ranking British spook offered him “one last chance” to make amends with émigré leaders. Bandera “refused this suggestion with arrogant finality,” thus making “the break” between Bandera and MI6 “complete.”
All British intelligence-run Ukrainian agents who remained loyal to Bandera were duly jettisoned. MI6 informed other nationalist leaders the agency “would not resume” its relationship with him “under any circumstances.” Bandera remained exiled in Munich, West Germany, and continued to run belligerent cloak-and-dagger operations against the Soviet Union, while ratcheting up his anti-Western rhetoric. The CIA and MI6 viewed these activities as a significant problem, with no obvious solution.
As CIA records of a January 1955 “joint U.S.-UK conference” put it, despite the “unanimous desire” of British and American intelligence to “‘quiet’ Bandera,” it was equally vital the KGB was “not allowed to kidnap or kill him.” This could make Bandera “a martyr” among Ukrainian ultranationalists, a prospect to be avoided if at all possible. Hence, London and Washington kept him alive and well, while permitting West Germany’s BND to run him as an agent. Their old friend Gerhard von Mende was his handler.
West German authorities wished to punish Bandera and his in-country network for crimes including kidnapping, but von Mende consistently intervened to insulate his compatriot from prosecution. A July 1959 CIA report noted the BND’s use of Bandera was such a “closely held” secret within the agency, it was not even formally cleared with the West German government “due to political overtones.” Despite this omertà (code of silence), the BND moved to secure Bandera a U.S. visa.
It was hoped he would connect with Ukrainian émigrés Stateside, while ingratiating himself with the CIA and State Department. Per an October 5, 1959, Agency memo, the BND believed “it should be a simple matter” for the CIA “to influence the issuing of a visa” for Bandera, as “many less desirable and less ‘exploitable’ individuals” had already visited the country via Agency assistance. A formal request was submitted to Washington. Just ten days later, though, the KGB finally caught up with him.
Despite their mutual wish that Bandera not be “martyred” by Soviet intelligence, it is likely that the CIA and MI6 breathed a collective sigh of relief upon hearing of his death. The OUN-B and UPA founder’s destabilizing, disruptive influence within the Ukrainian anti-Communist underground was a significant impediment to Anglo-American spying agencies’ implementation of a far grander plan than has hitherto been tried. Namely, fomenting all-out war against the Soviet Union, using Ukrainian ultranationalists as foot soldiers.
This is the first instalment of a two-part investigation. Stay tuned.
Google to acquire Israeli firm staffed by former Unit 8200 officers
The Cradle | March 20, 2025
On 18 March, Google’s parent company, Alphabet, announced plans to acquire the Israeli cloud security startup Wiz in a $32 billion deal, marking one of the largest-ever influxes of former Israeli intelligence officers into a US tech company.
“Google LLC today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Wiz, Inc., a leading cloud security platform headquartered in New York, for $32 billion, subject to closing adjustments, in an all-cash transaction,” the US tech giant said on Tuesday.
Reports from western media indicate that following the acquisition, Wiz will keep its brand and operate independently from Google. Additionally, an extra retention bonus will be offered to employees, potentially totaling $1 billion, along with a break-up fee that Google would owe to Wiz if antitrust regulators block the deal.
The Israeli tech company was founded in 2020 by four former members of Unit 8200.
Wiz employs around 1,995 people, with most of its sales and marketing personnel located in North America and Europe. However, most of its engineering staff is based in Tel Aviv, a major hub for cybersecurity talent primarily linked to Unit 8200 alumni.
A 2018 study cited by Haaretz estimated that 80 percent of the 2,300 people who founded Israel’s 700 cybersecurity companies at the time had come through Israeli army intelligence. Two years earlier, Forbes estimated that over 1,000 companies were founded by Unit 8200 alumni.
“There are at least five tech companies started by Unit 8200 alumni publicly traded in the US, together worth around $160 billion. Private companies started by ex-8200 soldiers are worth billions more,” the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported last year.
“While Unit 8200 alumni once talked about their service in hushed tones, they now tout it in press releases to attract clients and investment money for their startups,” the report highlights.
As an integral part of Israel’s intelligence apparatus, Unit 8200 conducts signal intelligence (SIGINT) and cyber operations, emphasizing advanced technology, cybersecurity, and intelligence gathering.
Unit 8200 played a crucial role in the planning and execution of Israel’s pager terror attacks in Lebanon last year. Specifically, western security sources revealed that the unit was involved in embedding explosives inside the pagers ordered by Hezbollah, with the operation reportedly taking over a year to plan.
The Israeli spy unit is developing an artificial intelligence (AI) tool similar to ChatGPT, which is “capable of answering questions about people it is monitoring and providing insights into the massive volumes of surveillance data it collects.”
“It’s not just about preventing shooting attacks, I can track human rights activists, monitor Palestinian construction in Area C [of the West Bank]. I have more tools to know what every person in the West Bank is doing,” an informed source told The Guardian earlier this month.
At least 85 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza
MEMO | March 20, 2025
At least 85 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded in Israeli air strikes across Gaza today after Israel resumed its bombing campaign and ground operations in the enclave, the Ministry of Health said.
A day after launching a new ground campaign in central Gaza, the Israeli military said today it had begun conducting ground offensives in the north of the enclave, along the coastal route in the area of Beit Lahia.
Palestinian medics said Israeli strikes targeted several houses in northern and southern areas of the Gaza Strip. Asked for comment, the Israeli occupation military said it was looking into the reports.
The military has resumed its air assaults on Gaza since Tuesday and launched ground operations on Wednesday, effectively abandoning a ceasefire with Hamas that had held since January in spite of Israel’s refusal to abide by its terms.
It said today that its forces had been engaged for the past 24 hours in what it described as a targeted ground operation to expand a buffer zone separating the northern and southern halves of Gaza, known as the Netzarim corridor.
Israel ordered residents to stay away from the Salah Al-Din Road, the main north-south route, and said they should travel along the coast instead.
Israel killed more than 400 Palestinians on Tuesday alone, one of the deadliest days of the war.
Hamas said the Israeli ground operation and the incursion into the Netzarim Corridor were a “new and dangerous violation” of the two-month-old ceasefire agreement. In a statement, it reaffirmed its commitment to the ceasefire deal and called on mediators to “assume their responsibilities”.
The resumption of air strikes has sent Palestinian residents again fleeing for their lives from homes they had begun to reinhabit among the ruins of the devastated enclave.
Some Palestinians who tried to use the Salah Al-Din Road said they saw cars come under fire from Israeli troops advancing towards Netzarim. The fate of the passengers in the vehicles was unknown.
Some residents turned to social media to report the disappearance of some relatives, while others reported cases to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Demonstrations in American, European cities condemning Israeli crimes in Gaza
Thousands gathered outside the British government headquarters in London on Tuesday evening
Palestinian Information Center – March 19, 2025
Thousands of pro-Palestinian activists marched through the streets of American and European cities to condemn the resumption of the Israeli occupation’s war of extermination against the Gaza Strip that resulted in the martyrdom and injury of hundreds, most of whom children and women.
The marches began in cities like Seattle in Washington State, San Francisco in California, and Milwaukee in Wisconsin, protesting the U.S. administration’s approval of violating the ceasefire agreement, as shown in footage shared by pro-Palestinian pages on social media.
Participants in the protests demanded a ban on arming Israel while it commits genocide in Gaza, as well as the release of Palestinian student Mahmoud Khalil.
In Minneapolis, dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered outside the Israeli consulate, holding signs demanding an end to the genocide in the Gaza Strip.
The Minneapolis demonstration, announced just four hours prior to its gathering, garnered significant attention as it coincided with rush hour in the city.
In France, demonstrators in Place de la République in Paris condemned Israel’s breach of the ceasefire agreement and the resumption of attacks on the Gaza Strip.
The protesters called for an end to the war on Gaza, an immediate end to the blockade of the Strip, halting Israeli genocide in Gaza, holding Netanyahu and occupation leaders accountable, and boycotting Israel.
In Italy, clashes erupted between police and pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Milan, where hundreds called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza amidst stalled ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas.
Footage shows columns of red smoke filling the air, while the sounds of explosions echoed through the Italian city’s streets. Protesters were seen marching, raising Palestinian flags and signs that read “Hands off the West Bank” and “Glory to the martyrs, freedom for the prisoners,” before being attacked by police forces.
In the Dutch capital Amsterdam, another demonstration was held in support of Gaza and against the genocide being committed by Israel against Palestinians.
Cities like Ankara, Istanbul, Diyarbakır, and other Turkish cities also witnessed demonstrations condemning the Israeli massacres against residents of the Gaza Strip.
Protesters accused Israel of committing genocidal crimes through its ongoing aggression against the Gaza Strip and called on the international community to hold it accountable for these crimes.
Turkish organizations, including the Anadolu Youth Association, the Humanitarian Relief Organization, and the Turkish Institutions Coalition for Jerusalem, called for organizing supportive demonstrations for the Gaza Strip in various Turkish cities and for the continuation of the boycott against Israel and products from supporting companies.
Death toll from Israel’s renewed offensive on Gaza rises to 970
Press TV – March 19, 2025
Gaza’s health ministry says Israel’s renewed savagery has led to the massacre of at least 970 people in 48 hours.
The wave of deadly airstrikes that shattered a fragile ceasefire in Gaza on Tuesday has so far claimed the lives of at least 970 people across the besieged territory, the health ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
Before the resumption of the offensive, the death toll from the regime’s 15 months of genocidal war recorded by the ministry at midday on March 17 stood at 48,577.
By midday on Wednesday, the figure had risen to 49,547, the ministry said.
The health ministry also registered “one death and five severe injuries among foreign staff working for UN institutions.”
It said Israel attacked a UN headquarters in Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, on Wednesday.
The victims had been taken to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, the health ministry said.
Israel’s military denied attacking a UN building in Gaza.
The UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) confirmed the death of one of its staff by an explosive that was “dropped or fired” on its building in Deir el-Balah.
“An explosive ordnance was dropped or fired at the infrastructure and detonated inside the building,” it said, adding that five others were injured.
UNOPS Executive Director Jorge Moreira da Silva said he was “shocked and devastated” by the death of a staff member.
“This was not an accident.” he said, adding that “attacks against humanitarian premises are a breach of international law.”
Bulgaria’s foreign ministry said later in the day that one of its citizens working for the United Nations was killed in Gaza, without specifying where in the territory.
Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel threatened on Tuesday that the massacre of women and children in Gaza was “only the beginning.” He stands accused of committing war crimes and ethnic cleansing in Gaza.
The Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Farce
By Ilana Mercer • Unz Review • March 18, 2025
‘A ceasefire is when the Israelis fire and we cease.’ ~ Refaat Al-Areer, RIP
Nobody can quite determine any longer which of the two countries, America or Israel, is the Great Satan and which is the Little Satan. ~ ilana
“We’re the United States. We’re not an agent of Israel. We have specific interests at play.” So said Trump Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs Adam Boehler to Zionist enforcer Jake Tapper, on CNN.
Boehler had been deputized by President Donald Trump to bypass Bibi Netanyahu and negotiate directly with Hamas. More to the point, Boehler had described Hamas, whom by now very many around the world consider resistance fighters, as holding points of view that merit a hearing. He even suggested, as Jewish Insider reported, that—lo—! “they’re actually pretty nice guys.” Hamas, that is.
Whatever was he thinking! Boehler was off his leash. Israeli officials were scurrying about in an attempt to get him back on it.
Talking to Hamas? Now Trump was talking!
Unlike the president’s Gaza Rivera plan to evict Palestinian survivors from Gaza; negotiations with Hamas do indeed constitute “out-of-the-box thinking,” if not original thinking. Unoriginal, because diplomacy, namely talking to adversaries, is standard statecraft. At least it ought to be.
Excerpted but barely in the Washington Examiner, the testy Boehler-Tapper televised exchange took time to propagate to the Internet. You see, US Deep Tech, Google included, generally cover for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which is also business partner to American tech. These multinationals are not about to throw sand in the IDF’s military bearings.
Tech multinationals (or Deep Tech, as I call them) have, after all, supplied the IDF with the killer infrastructure required to “build artificial intelligence (AI) programs designed to produce human targets with little human oversight.” (The other reasonable conclusion is that these multinationals are undisturbed by genocide.)
Talking to Hamas would certainly have been inconceivable under Joe Biden, alias Genocide Joe, remarks commentator extraordinaire Mouin Rabbani, a Palestinian. And while Trump has prioritized negotiations over American dual-national captives; his bold move broadcasts some salient facts about the situation:
Israel is an obstacle to an accord; to closing out the genocide. It is especially eager to avoid phase II of the January 17, 2025 ceasefire agreement. Not that the media system had noticed, but Israel never quite quit the killing.
By March 13, Israel had violated the ceasefire agreement upwards of one thousand times, in the estimation of Jon Elmer, military analyst at the Electronic Intifada. Staggering, perhaps, but utterly predictable historically. “Israel,” reminds a dejected Chris Hedges—he is a famed war correspondent—“has assassinated more people than any other people in the Western World.”
In the hours right after the ceasefire deal was announced; Israeli forces killed at least 87 Palestinians, 23 of them children. Quipped the late Refaat Al-Areer: “A ceasefire is when the Israelis fire and we cease.” As in “expire.” A mild-mannered, bookish Palestinian scholar, Dr. Al-Areer was murdered in his Gaza residence, in December of 2023.
Indeed, the low-grade killing across the coastal strip had continued throughout phase I of the “ceasefire.” To be exact, Israel had started up the killing fifteen minutes into the ceasefire’s implementation. Since January 15, 2025, Israel has murdered an average of three people every 24 hours—150 Palestinians since the start of the ceasefire on 19 January 2025.
No sooner were the Israelis steered by Steven Witkoff, in January, to a ceasefire; than the urge to kill overcame them. Israeli newspapers were telling about the “salty” language Witkoff, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, had deployed with Netanyahu, instructing the Israeli prime minister’s aides, as follows (and I paraphrase), “I don’t care that today’s your Sabbath. Get down here and sign this [old] ceasefire on the dotted line.” I ad-libbed “old” in, because the January-15 accord was modeled after one Hamas had composed in May of 2024.
Did Witkoff remind Netanyahu that the Israeli army, the IDF, does not rest up on the Seventh Day from the slaughter of innocents, and that, surely its commander-in-chief could get off his duff to make peace on the holy Sabbath?! Probably not. Still, what transpired was refreshing, even delicious.
The March 2025 violations of the agreement have seen Israel halt the meager aid let into starving Gaza, and cut off the remaining supply of electricity to Gaza. Because the main desalination water-treatment plant is producing a fraction of its prior output, running as it is only on generators—only one-in-ten Gazans currently has access to safe drinking water.
From the start, Israel had failed to allow into Gaza the agreed-upon medicines, fuel, food, housing units (15 out of a promised 60,000), tents (20 percent of the requisite 200,000), heavy earth-moving machinery, spare parts, construction material, and alternative energy systems, like generators.
Still regionally omnipotent, still resistless—Israel has now put its exterminatory foot to the floor again. The Jewish State continues to bleed the region like a leech, seizing Lebanese and Syrian territory, including the Golan Heights. As I write, via the chyron scroll across the screen comes news that Israel has just extinguished nine lives in Northen Gaza, and two in southern Lebanon, where a ceasefire is in effect.
Unless it is killing things, Israel is just not happy. Flora and fauna, too. Israeli genociders, candid economists might say, have a high time-preference mindset. In such an uncivilized society, impulses (to kill) are privileged over contractual commitments (to quit killing). Not some of the livestock, but all of the livestock. As hard as it is to believe, but under decades of a medieval blockade, Gaza’s farmers had, before October 7, fed a third of their people. Croplands, irrigation systems, batteries of greenhouses, living things that produce flowers then give fruit: everything has gone the way of cattle, poultry and family pets: dead.
The term Carthaginian Peace has lost its meaning under Israel’s malign sway. The bad idea of “peace” through crippling the opponent Israel has replaced with the idea of “peace” through conquering and killing the opponent off. Conversion is complete. The structural violence that is the State of Israel the US duopoly has helped normalize. Genocidal violence, yes or no, saturation bombing of civilians, pros and cons, and forced mass expulsion of starving, subjugated people—if not de rigueur, these state crimes are now part of normal governance in the West.
On top of all that, there was never a ceasefire in the West Bank. The West Bank’s civilians, so closely clustered, have been strafed from the air. For the first time in 20 years, tanks travel all over what are urban neighborhoods.
The depopulation underway in this de facto annexed territory hardly even percolates through to the West’s press. Yet thousands of West Bank Palestinians are being plucked from their homes, some detained, mostly without charges, at times shot on the spot; always degraded, tortured, and sicced upon by fulminating Jewish settlers, who “work” cheek-by-jowl with Israeli soldiers.
A screen picture of any day in the life of a subject in the State of Satan seconds my description. Taken on February 15, the captured headlines via Ha’aretz tell of 30,000 Palestinians driven from Jenin, a so-called refugee camp in the West Bank. The number of people evicted and dispossessed from these “camps” has since ballooned to close on 50,000. The West Bank’s Palestinians are denied access to their agricultural land, which means that soon it will lie fallow, and settlers will colonize it.
I call places like Jenin “so-called” camps because these were proper cities, not tent cities. As was noted in the Journal of Middle-East Studies (1992), these “camps are similar to any other urban neighborhoods,” into which they have evolved.
I’d been to Jenin. Our family had been invited as guests by generous residents. Childhood in Israel saw me visiting what I then knew as The Triangle: Tira, Tulkarem and Jenin. In the 1970s, these were not yet cities, but were definitely no nylon-dome encampments. My step-father, a doctor, headed healthcare clinics in what he called The Triangle. Daily, he’d return home laden with export-quality fresh produce. His patients were poor, yet so very generous. Upon the town’s doctor, a South African Jew who was appreciated in his role as a healthcare provider, they showered respect, affection and gifts.
We’d also be invited as a family to feasts held on the occasion of a wedding. The tables groaned with heavenly cuisine. Bestowed, this was a great honor, and these were grand affairs, an example of a culture in which hospitality and generosity are defining values. An invitation meant that you were never ignored. A lovely, if genteel, welcome awaited.
I do not know if the term Triangle deployed then denotes the same cluster of cities and villages. I do know that Jenin today is 70-percent levelled. Burdened by history like never before, I note, too, that Tira is no longer visible on the map.
Although the occupation army has pulled out of the Netzarim Corridor, which divides Gaza, it retains a presence in southern Rafah and the Philadelphi Corridor. The serial-killer state had hoped, with Trump’s backing, to renege entirely on the ceasefire agreement, and, in particular, on its Phase-II obligations to permanently end the offensive and “withdraw armed forces from the Gaza Strip completely.” In order to “surmount the obstacle” that is Israel, the Trump Administration had, therefore, chosen to speak directly with Hamas leaders.
Early in January of 2025, there was hope. Trump is an Alpha Male; Bibi Netanyahu is a kept man. How long can the ego-bound leader of a Super Power tolerate being bossed about by the leader of a “sh-thole country,” to use Trump’s old coinage?
Two months distant, and hope is fading. Trump chose to channel son-in-law Jared Kushner. Kushner, the nepotistic scion of a dodgy New York realtor, and an empty husk of a man, has had his eye on the waterfront property of a conquered and dying people. He had said as much about Gaza in 2024.
In essence, some of the world’s wealthiest men were coveting the property of the world’s poorest and most persecuted people.
Soon to follow was Trump’s Gaza plan, a gaudy vulgar production, replete with bearded belly dancers. “Trump Gaza,” the plan’s title, was not “out-of-the-box thinking,” as some in the president’s Westen coalition had dubbed it. Rather, it sits on a continuum of evil. It is an extension and completion of Joe Biden’s genocide.
Eager, it would seem, to write the Palestinian People’s obituary, Trump had vowed to assume control over Gaza, rebuild it and evict the survivors of a genocide committed by client state Israel.
By removing the pitiful exhibits from the scene of the crime; Donald Trump would be covering-up the crime of genocide. Next, he planned to conclude Biden’s genocide by scattering the survivors across the Middle East. Israel will have been rescued. Gazans will have ceased to exist as a nation. The forced displacement and mass murder of Gaza’s Palestinians would have been achieved, completed.
Who said crime doesn’t pay? When the Superpower inverts the moral order of the universe; the Crime of All Crimes pays—and then some.
As Trump told it, nobody quite knows how or why Gaza became a “demolition site.” Somehow, the soil got soaked through with the blood of tens-of-thousands of Palestinians, and a toxic mix of 50-million tons of building debris. Somehow, piles of bodies decay beneath the surface. Somehow, garbage is piled as high as the bodies, were they to be stacked. Open sewage runs through what remains of the streets, and the byproducts and contaminants of munitions, like unexploded ordnance, lie everywhere.
It’s all a big mystery.
The other thing nobody can quite determine is which of the two countries, America or Israel, is the Great Satan and which is the Little Satan.
Back to Boehler: Israel went barking mad when our ex-envoy failed to show monk-like devotion to Israel, asserting, instead, American foreign-policy independence. The Lobby was marshalled. Fervid assurances were soon provided. Soon enough, Adam Boehler was gone. After being “nominated for the Senate-confirmed position of Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs,” he was demoted to “special government employee,” reports Ha’aretz. Found deficient in Zionist solidarity, Boehler “withdrew his nomination.”
The median elapsed time between an American official opposing anything Israel and then dropping out of history is getting shorter.
Like Joe Biden did before him, president Trump followed the Israeli prime minister on a leash. On March 5, he bellowed on Truth Social:
“Release all of the Hostages now, not later, and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered, or it is OVER for you.” Buoyed, at 2:00 AM today, March 18, Israel murdered over 400 Gazans. It is currently demanding that Hamas hand over hostages for nothing.
Will the Palestinians wronged and ruined get a reprieve? Will the mercurial Trump, who, to his credit, is ideologically unattached to Israel, cut Israel dead, as he ought to? These possibilities are looking remote.
***
Ilana Mercer is a paleolibertarian theorist, author and essayist. Her new book is “The Paleolibertarian Guide To Deep Tech, Deep Pharma & The Aberrant Economy” (February 2024). Mercer is described as “a system-builder. Distilled, her modus operandi has been to methodically apply first principles to the day’s events.” She’s Jewish and grew up in Israel from which she fled, aged 19, never to return. She had refused to serve in the IDF, the Israeli military.
Tensions escalate on Syria-Lebanon border as EU/NATO-backed massacres of minorities continue
By Drago Bosnic | March 18, 2025
Ever since the destruction of sovereign Syria, the situation on the ground keeps deteriorating. The EU/NATO-backed terrorist “government” is resorting to extreme violence in an attempt to establish control over areas primarily populated by minorities, particularly Alawites and Christians. Thousands have been brutally murdered as a result of this terrorist takeover, with the new “government” sending its forces (composed of Al Qaeda-affiliated armed personnel) to crush any opposition. This issue is now slowly becoming transnational as armed clashes are reported on the Syria-Lebanon border. Namely, the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) terrorists (now posing as the “new Syrian military”) are shelling and launching rockets at Lebanese border towns.
Beirut sent military forces to respond to these attacks. Over the weekend, local sources reported that “the Beqaa Valley has been under continuous shelling for three hours with rockets and artillery coming from Syrian territory”. The new terrorist “government” occupying Syria since early December also regularly launches armed drones into Lebanese territory, while several rockets launched from the Qusayr countryside (administratively part of the Homs Governorate) hit the Lebanese border town of Qasr. Local sources report that “heavy shelling is ongoing”, resulting in “civilian casualties on the Lebanese side, including at least one child”. Citing military data, the traditionally pro-terrorist Al Jazeera reports that “eight members of the Syrian Ministry of Defense were killed in the clashes”.
It should be noted that the “Syrian Ministry of Defense” in this case refers to one controlled by the unelected EU/NATO-backed terrorist “government”. The fighting supposedly “began several hours after three HTS fighters were found dead inside Lebanese territory” and “were handed over to the new ‘government’ by Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and the Red Cross”. The HTS-run “Defense Ministry’s” media office told former Syrian state media outlet SANA that “the Hezbollah militia kidnapped the three fighters on the border, took them to Lebanese territory and executed them on the spot”. Other sources report that the three HTS terrorists “were already in Lebanese territory when they were killed”. These clashes seem to have been in retribution to the new terrorist “government’s” actions.
Namely, local sources report that the HTS killed several citizens of Lebanon. According to Annahar, “on Monday, two Lebanese youths were found dead in the Matraba area near the border”. They were reportedly kidnapped from their homes inside Lebanon by the new terrorist “government’s” security forces and subsequently killed.
The EU/NATO-backed puppets in Damascus claim they’re “fighting Hezbollah on the border”, although the Lebanese Shia organization regularly denies involvement in recent events in occupied Syria. There are claims that “a Syrian photographer and journalist were injured by retaliatory rocket fire launched from Lebanon on Sunday”. On the other hand, Beirut reports that “Lebanese villages and towns in the region were subjected to shelling from Syrian territory”.
The Lebanese military sent “units [that] responded to the sources of fire with appropriate weapons, reinforced their deployment, and maintained security” and reported that “contacts continue between the army command and the Syrian authorities to maintain security and stability in the border area”. The new terrorist “government” in Damascus also reportedly sent reinforcements to the border area.
The incidents come over a month after fighting was reported between the HTS-run forces and Lebanese tribesmen back in early February. At the time, the former sent troops to “set up checkpoints in an attempt to thwart smuggling”. The fighting stopped after Beirut and local tribes came to an agreement that resulted in the latter’s withdrawal from the border.
It should be noted that the security situation in western parts of Syria deteriorated dramatically after the new terrorist “government” started a genocidal campaign against the locals, murdering even Sunnis who offered shelter to their Alawite and Christian compatriots. The Russian military in the area continues to house thousands of refugees, with more coming in daily. New footage confirms that gruesome atrocities by the HTS-run “security forces” continue unabated, while the EU/NATO keep supporting and even financing the terrorists.
Namely, Germany just pledged an additional €300 million ($326 million) in “foreign aid” for the new terrorist “government”. Its Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock insists that “over half of it will bypass the interim government of Jolani, to be distributed through NGOs and UN agencies”.
“As Europeans, we stand together for the people of Syria, for a free and peaceful Syria,” Baerbock declared without even mentioning the ongoing massacres.
The assertion that the terrorist Jolani regime “will be bypassed” is beyond laughable as recent revelations about the USAID and its illegal activities around the world show that around $15 billion were funneled into Syria precisely through the USAID. This money ended up in the pockets of various terrorist groups that took over Syria and are now killing civilians across the occupied country. Estimates vary, ranging from over a thousand to as many as 10-15,000 casualties.
The areas populated by minorities (particularly Alawites and Christians) are disproportionately affected, meaning that the new terrorist “government” is determined to eradicate any and all groups deemed “infidels”. Locals are subjected to brutal torture and then murdered by the EU/NATO-backed Islamic radicals.
Worse yet, Brussels is now even condemning the victims for fighting back, calling them “pro-Assad forces” and accusing them of “destabilizing Syria”. On the other hand, somewhat astonishingly and unexpectedly, the US is condemning the jihadists after decades of supporting them. Both Donald Trump and JD Vance have criticized not only the terrorists, but also the preceding US governments, even admitting their policies led to the eradication of ancient Christian communities in the Middle East.
Even some (now former) Democrats, such as the former congressman Dennis Kucinich slammed this foreign policy approach, asking rhetorically: “Why would America champion policies that lead to the killing of Christians, the destruction of churches, the massacre of Alawites and the rise of radical jihadists?”
“Why did our leaders knowingly aid those who murdered the very people America claimed to want to protect? The answer lies in a corrupt, immoral foreign policy dictated not by ethics, human rights, or even national security, but by the interests of the military-industrial complex and strategists who view human lives as pawns in a geopolitical chess game,” he concluded.
Maersk AGM to vote on Israel arms transport amid Gaza war
MEMO | March 18, 2025
Owners of shipping giant Maersk MAERSKb.CO will vote today on a shareholder proposal to halt any shipments of arms to Israel for as long as there is a war on Gaza, a proposition the Danish company has so far dismissed, Reuters reports.
United Nations experts have called on countries to impose sanctions and an arms embargo on Israel, arguing that Israel’s military campaign in Gaza since 7 October 2023, in which Gaza health officials say more than 48,000 Palestinians have been killed, amounted to genocide.
Israel has strongly rejected the UN report.
The proposal to ban Maersk from shipping arms to Israel, which was put forward by Danish shareholder group Kritiske Aktionærer, is on the agenda for today’s annual general meeting (AGM).
Maersk said the company’s board did not support the proposal.
“The premise of the proposal is not correct, as the company is not transporting arms to Israel,” Maersk said.
Activist group Eko in a separate proposal called for Maersk to enact greater transparency in its human rights processes, particularly focusing on high-risk areas including arms shipments.
Maersk’s board said it also did not support Eko’s proposal.
Eko said in a statement the company’s denial of arms shipments came despite Danish media pointing to the contrary.
Investigative media outlet Danwatch and Danish tabloid Ekstra Bladet have reported bills of ladings from Maersk, which showed it had shipped armoured combat vehicles and other military hardware to Israel.
Denmark, where Maersk is headquartered, does not currently have an arms embargo and has not imposed any restrictions on sending weapons to Israel.
Bankrolling genocide: The biggest donors to AIPAC, America’s leading Zionist lobby group
By Ivan Kesic | Press TV | March 18, 2025
The most recently published list of donors to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the notorious Zionist lobby group in the US, includes some well-known and some lesser-known figures from the American corporate community.
On March 13, the anti-Zionist advocacy group TrackAIPAC published on its X platform the latest list of major donors to AIPAC and its allies through 2023-2024.
The list includes 231 names, mostly billionaires and corporate executives, as well as companies, who donated a total of $75,762,055 to the pro-Israel lobby group, the biggest in the US.
Fifteen of them donated over $1 million, thirteen over half a million, and about two hundred of the remaining over $100,000, which is the lower limit for inclusion on the top donor list.
Million- and multimillion-dollar donors collectively contributed about $35.4 million, or almost half of all those on the list, as examined by the Press TV website.
TrackAIPAC is an anti-Zionist group dedicated to systematically documenting the Israeli lobby, their financial contributions to US federal officials, and their anti-democratic influence on the United States.
We list out the major donors to the AIPAC, who are directly complicit in the Israeli genocide of Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, which continues to claim innocent lives.
1. Jan Koum
With a total of $7,432,880 in grants, the largest donor to AIPAC and its allies is Jan Koum, a Ukrainian-American entrepreneur and computer programmer best known as the co-founder and former CEO of WhatsApp, a popular messaging app.
Born in Kiev to a Jewish family, he immigrated to the United States with his mother and pursued a career in tech, joining Yahoo as an infrastructure engineer and working there for nearly a decade
After leaving Yahoo, Koum and his former Yahoo colleague Brian Acton founded WhatsApp, which grew rapidly, reaching 400 million active users in five years.
In 2014, Facebook (now Meta) acquired WhatsApp for $19 billion, one of the largest tech acquisitions at the time. Koum stayed on as CEO four more years when he stepped down.
His net worth, largely from the WhatsApp sale, has been estimated at around $15 billion, making him one of the wealthiest tech entrepreneurs in the world.
Despite keeping a low public profile, Koum is known for his intimate ties to the Israeli regime and its lobby groups and shells out generous donations to Zionist causes. Through the Koum Family Foundation, he has contributed tens of millions of dollars to Israel-related organizations.
Between 2019 and 2020, his foundation donated approximately $140 million to around 70 Jewish organizations, many of which operate in the occupied territories or support Israeli causes.
Specific examples include $6 million to Friends of Ir David, the US fundraising arm of Elad, a Neo-Zionist organization focused on expanding illegal settlements in occupied East al-Quds.
Another significant donation was to Friends of the Israeli military (FIDF), a New York-based Zionist lobby group that supports Israeli soldiers and veterans, to which he gave $5.3 million.
He gave $600,000 to the Maccabee Task Force, founded by Sheldon Adelson to promote Zionist advocacy on college campuses, and $175,000 to the Central Fund of Israel, a Neo-Zionist association linked to supporting illegal settler groups in the West Bank.
Jan Koum
Koum has also supported Israeli healthcare, donating over $13 million by 2020, including $7.7 million to Shaare Zedek Hospital in occupied al-Quds, affiliated with Hebrew University.
His ties also intersect with his political engagement. in 2022, he donated $2 million to AIPAC’s United Democracy Project (UDP), a super PAC supporting pro-Israeli candidates in US Democratic primaries, marking him as its largest individual donor at the time.
A year later, he contributed $10 million to a super PAC backing Nikki Haley’s 2023 presidential campaign, influenced by his connection with Miriam Adelson, a major Zionist donor, suggesting a deepening alignment with pro-Israeli political networks.
Beyond donations, Koum has publicly expressed Zionist views. On his Facebook page, which had nearly 90,000 followers before he stopped posting, he shared content celebrating the Israeli regime.
He also shared propaganda content from StandWithUs, a right-wing Zionist organization that works closely with the Israeli foreign ministry and has obtained funding directly from the Israeli Prime Ministers office, directed against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Koum has no known direct business or residential ties to Israel, however, his financial support and public statements reflect a strong personal affinity and a commitment to Israeli settler-colonialism.
Due to Koum’s and Mark Zuckerberg’s staunch pro-Zionist stance, there continues to be deep collaboration between Meta group and the Israeli occupation regime.
Meta reportedly provides Israeli intelligence services with an unobstructed installation of spyware on WhatsApp, used for monitoring anti-Zionist journalists, pro-Palestinian activists, and prominent Palestinian individuals themselves.
2. Miriam Adelson
Israeli-American Miriam Adelson, widely known as the biggest donor to the Republican Party, comes in second on the list with $5,000,000 donated to AIPAC, all of which went to the affiliated Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC).
According to a report filed with the Federal Election Commission in October last year, Adelson donated $100 million to a campaign committee supporting the candidacy of Donald Trump.
The widow of Sheldon Adelson who was known for his empire of casinos and resort hotels across the US, Miriam is a Zionist settler who was born and raised in the occupied Palestinian territories and has championed the cause of settler-colonialism.
Miriam mostly kept a low profile, leaving Sheldon in the foreground of their political and donor activities, until his death in 2021, when she stepped forward as his successor.
Last year, Forbes estimated her net worth at over $35 billion. She has recently been spending more time in the Zionist entity than in the United States.
Her political views represent the most radical form of Zionism, extreme even concerning the American Jewish mainstream and the Zionist entity itself.
Miriam Adelson
She is associated with the right-wing ideology of Neo-Zionism, which advocates not only the retention of occupied territories but also the further expansion of the occupation and annexation of Palestine and neighboring countries.
Adelson is a major donor to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, and the couple gave $25 million to the internationally boycotted Ariel University, located in one such Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank.
The Adelson Family Foundation is a large financial contributor to the Taglit-Birthright Foundation, giving more than $500 million to the organization in a 15-year period.
The couple also got heavily involved in the campaign against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, launching the counter Maccabee Task Force (MTF) in a closed-door meeting.
This $50 million initiative was set to become America’s largest pro-Israeli campus program, and the MTF later expanded its activities to Europe and beyond.
Adelson is also associated with financing various Zionist groups that have played a significant role in the production and dissemination of Islamophobic propaganda in the West.
3. Jonathon Jacobson
Third on the list of major donors to AIPAC with $4,575,000 in donated money is Jim Harris, an American financier and investor, best known as the founder of HighSage Ventures and the co-founder of Highfields Capital Management.
His career began as an options trader, followed by stints at Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers. In 1990, he joined Harvard Management Company, where he managed investments for the university’s endowment.
In 1998, Jacobson co-founded Highfields with Richard Grubman, starting with $1.5 billion in assets, a third of which came from Harvard Management Company.
Highfields grew into a prominent hedge fund, managing over $12 billion at its peak and achieving annualized net returns exceeding 10 percent over two decades.
The fund was notable for its investments in companies like Microsoft, Genworth Financial, and SLM Corporation, as well as a high-profile bet against Enron before its 2001 collapse.
Jacobson led Highfields until 2018, when he announced the fund would return outside capital and transition into a family office, citing a desire for a less demanding lifestyle after 35 years in the industry.
In 2019, he founded HighSage Ventures, a private investment firm managing his family’s assets and those of the One8 Foundation, where he serves as non-executive chairman.
Jacobson has leveraged his wealth and influence to engage with causes tied to the Israeli regime, primarily through his donor activities, political contributions, and leadership roles in organizations supportive of Zionist interests.
One of his most direct connections is his role as Chairman of the International Board of Trustees of the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), a think tank based in Tel Aviv focused on strategic, military, and security policy research.
This position reflects a significant commitment to Israeli occupation discourse and aligns him with influential figures in Israeli and global policy circles.
Jonathon Jacobson
Jacobson and his wife Joanna oversee the One8 Foundation (formerly the Jacobson Family Foundation), which explicitly prioritizes “Jewish causes and Israel” among its focus areas.
The foundation aims to promote “a thriving and democratic Jewish state by increasing understanding among Americans and by strengthening a diverse Israeli society,” as stated on the website.
While specific grant details are not fully transparent, past giving has included support for Zionist organizations, alongside education and community initiatives in Massachusetts.
Additionally, Jacobson has served as a trustee of the Birthright Israel Foundation, which facilitates trips for young Jewish Americans to the occupied Palestinian territories to strengthen their cultural and personal ties to the Zionist entity.
Politically, Jacobson has made substantial donations to pro-Israeli advocacy in the US, donating millions in the 2024 election cycle to AIPAC’s UDP, making him one of its largest individual donors at that time.
This funding supports candidates who align with AIPAC’s pro-Israeli agenda, underscoring Jacobson’s influence in shaping US policy toward the Tel Aviv regime.
His political giving also intersects with figures like Miriam Adelson, with whom he shares connections through mutual support for causes like Nikki Haley’s 2023 presidential campaign.
While Jacobson’s professional career in finance does not appear to involve direct business dealings with the Israeli regime, he is one of the leading individuals engaged in Zionist causes through donations and advocacy.
4. Bernard Marcus and family
With $3,000,000 in donated funds, fourth on the list is Bernard Marcus, an American billionaire businessman, best known as the co-founder of The Home Depot, the world’s largest home improvement retailer, who died in November last year.
The first stores opened in Atlanta in 1979, and under Marcus’s leadership as the first CEO (until 1997) and chairman (until his retirement in 2002), the company grew into a retail giant with over 2,300 stores and a market valuation nearing $400 billion by 2024.
His wealth, derived largely from Home Depot stock, was estimated at $11 billion by Forbes at the time of his death in November 2024.
A vocal Republican, Marcus donated millions to conservative candidates, including Donald Trump ($7 million in 2016 and 2020), John McCain, and Ron DeSantis, and was outspoken on political issues, particularly supporting free-market principles.
As a first-generation American born to Russian Jewish immigrants, Marcus maintained a strong connection to Jewish identity and Zionist causes, including those benefiting the Israeli regime.
Bernard Marcus
With his wife, Billi, he founded The Marcus Foundation in 1989, which has donated over $2.7 billion to causes including Jewish and Zionist initiatives, medical research, veterans, and free enterprise.
One of the most notable contributions was a $20 million donation in 2006 to Magen David Adom (MDA), Israeli medical service, which funded the Marcus National Blood Services Center in Ramla.
The $135 million state-of-the-art facility is designed to protect Israeli strategic blood reserves from missile, chemical and biological attacks.
Beyond MDA, The Marcus Foundation supported numerous Israeli-related organizations, including grants to aforementioned FIDF and Birthright.
Marcus also backed the Israel Democracy Institute, a think tank focused on strengthening Israeli occupation and apartheid, donating millions over the years to advance its research and programs.
His giving often aligned with Zionist priorities, such as supporting Israeli settler society, though exact figures for some contributions remain less publicized due to the foundation’s private nature.
The Marcus Foundation continues these pro-Zionist activities even after his death, under the leadership of Billi Marcus and other family members.
5. David Zalik
Fifth on the list is David Zalik, an Israeli-American entrepreneur and financier, who donated $2,000,000, the same amount as the next three donors individually.
Born in the occupied Palestinian territories, Zalik immigrated to the US with his family as a boy, where he launched his entrepreneurial career by founding MicroTech Information Systems, Phoenix, and Outweb.
He is best known as the co-founder and former CEO of GreenSky, a financial technology company which provided a platform for instant point-of-sale loans, primarily for home improvement projects, partnering with banks and merchants.
Under his leadership, GreenSky facilitated over $30 billion in loans, went public in 2018, and was acquired by Goldman Sachs in 2022 for $2.24 billion in an all-stock deal, after which Zalik joined Goldman as a partner.
In 2023, Goldman sold GreenSky for roughly $500 million, ending Zalik’s direct involvement. Zalik’s net worth has been estimated at around $2.3 billion as of 2024, reflecting his stakes in GreenSky and other investments.
Zalik has maintained a relatively low public profile regarding direct involvement with the Zionist entity since emigrating as a child, but his business ventures do appear to have direct operational ties to it.
David Zalik
Through The Zalik Foundation, co-founded with Helen in 2018, he’s donated over $100 million, focusing on education, mental health, and Jewish Zionist initiatives in the US and the Zionist entity.
While specific grants are not always itemized publicly due to the foundation’s private nature, it has funded organizations with ties to the Israeli regime.
The foundation’s emphasis on “Jewish causes” mirrors efforts by other donors, often encompassing support for programs like Birthright Israel, though Zalik’s exact beneficiaries are less publicized.
In Atlanta, where he resides, The Zalik Foundation has supported local Zionist organizations, such as the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, which frequently collaborates with Israeli counterparts on education and community-building projects.
A notable donation includes $5 million in 2022 to Technion-Israel Institute of Technology’s American fundraising arm to establish the Zalik Accelerator Hub on its New York campus, aimed at fostering tech entrepreneurship.
Zalik rarely gives interviews or speaks publicly about his ties to the Zionist regime.
6. Paul Singer
Two million dollars were donated to AIPAC by Paul Elliott Singer, an American billionaire hedge fund manager and activist investor, known as the founder, president, and co-CEO of Elliott Management Corporation.
He pioneered “vulture capitalism,” buying distressed sovereign bonds, such as those of Argentina and Peru, at steep discounts and pursuing full repayment through litigation, earning both massive profits and criticism.
Known for his strict approach, Singer built Elliott into one of the world’s most formidable hedge funds, managing $72 billion in assets by 2025. As of 2024, Forbes pegged his net worth at $6.1 billion, though it likely grew with Elliott’s expansion.
Through The Paul E. Singer Foundation, he’s donated roughly $300 million since 2010, with a significant portion supporting Jewish organizations and Israeli regime-related initiatives.
Singer has been a major benefactor of groups like FIDF and Birthright. He has also supported United Hatzalah, an Israeli volunteer EMS organization, and has been linked to donations for Jewish schools and welfare programs that benefit Israeli settlers.
Paul Singer
He co-founded Start-Up Nation Central to connect Israeli tech ecosystem globally, and has personally invested in Israeli tech firms, including cybersecurity company Cybereason, via Elliott Management’s private equity arm, Evergreen Coast Capital.
Singer is a staunch political supporter of the Israeli regime, channeling his influence as a top Republican donor to bolster American-Israeli ties.
With over $40 million donated to political causes since 2010, he backed figures like Marco Rubio, Mitt Romney, and, after initial opposition, Donald Trump.
He has contributed millions to pro-Israel groups like the RJC (where he sits on the board) and AIPAC-aligned efforts, backing candidates who prioritize Zionist policies.
He co-founded the Philos Project to foster Christian support for the Israeli regime.
Singer’s funding of neoconservative think tanks, such as the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), also promotes hawkish policies aligned with Israeli interests, particularly against Iran.
7. Haim Saban
Haim Saban, an Israeli-American media mogul and investor, best known for creating Saban Entertainment, also donated two million dollars to AIPAC.
After partnering with Fox, his company generated over $6 billion in merchandise sales. He later sold Fox Family Worldwide to Disney for $5.3 billion, netting him $1.6 billion personally.
Saban re-entered media, acquiring Univision for $13.7 billion with partners, selling it in 2020. His Saban Capital Group now manages investments in entertainment, real estate, and tech, with his net worth estimated at $2.8 billion by Forbes in 2024.
A major Democratic donor, Saban has given over $30 million to US political causes, backing Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden, while fiercely advocating for the Israeli regime.
Through the Saban Family Foundation, co-founded with his wife Cheryl in 1999, he’s donated over $500 million to Jewish and Zionist causes.
He’s also given millions to FIDF, including a record-breaking $16.5 million pledge in 2019, to support the Israeli military.
Haim Saban with Barack Obama
One of his flagship contributions is the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, launched in 2002 with a $13 million gift, aimed at shaping US policy toward Palestine and the region.
Saban has funded healthcare and education in the Zionist entity directly, notably donating $50 million in 2018 to the Soroka Medical Center in Be’er Sheva for a new emergency facility, one of the largest private gifts to an Israeli hospital.
His support extends to the American Friends of the Hebrew University and other institutions, bolstering Israeli academic and social infrastructure. His giving often targets the Negev region, reflecting a desire to strengthen Israeli periphery.
Saban has lobbied against policies he sees as threats, like Iran nuclear deal (which he called a “disaster” for the Israeli regime), and has funded efforts to counter the BDS movement, including through the Israel on Campus Coalition.
8. Helaine Lerner
Along with the three listed above, the positions from fifth to eighth are also shared by Helaine Lerner, an American environmental activist and the widow of Sid Lerner who died in 2021.
Her wealth, derived from Sid’s advertising success and their joint investments, remains private, but their combined giving exceeds hundreds of millions.
Helaine Lerner with husband Sid Lerner
Sid, born to Jewish immigrants, was a staunch Zionist and a significant donor to Jewish Zionist organizations, including the American Jewish Committee (AJC).
Helaine shared this Jewish identity, and like her husband and other billionaire donors, she is also prominently documented as having direct, personal involvement with Israeli-centric initiatives.
Gaza government officials martyred along with families in renewed Israeli aggression
Senior Hamas officials killed in Israel’s airstrikes on Gaza on March 18, 2025
Press TV – March 18, 2025
The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas says several of its senior members have been assassinated after being directly targeted by Israel’s military forces on Tuesday.
Gaza’s fragile ceasefire was shattered early Tuesday as the Israeli military launched deadly airstrikes across the Palestinian territory, killing more than 400 Palestinians, including children.
The resistance group said in a statement that “a number of government and emergency committee leaders were martyred in the Gaza Strip as a result of the brutal and sudden aggression on the Gaza Strip at dawn today.”
“These leaders, along with their families, were martyred after being directly targeted by the Zionist occupation forces’ aircraft.”
The head of the Hamas government, Essam al-Dali, interior ministry head Mahmud Abu Watfa and Bahjat Abu Sultan, director-general of the internal security service, are among the martyrs, Hamas said.
These leaders, according to Hamas, were responsible for “distributing aid, preventing “thieves” and “bandits” (in reality, collaborators with the Zionist regime), protecting the security of the Palestinian people, and ensuring fairness and social cohesion amid the most difficult of circumstances.”
“They are being assassinated in an attempt to create chaos, famine and internal conflict.”
In a separate statement, Gaza Government Media Office said two top police officers were among those assassinated.
These leaders, it said, “worked tirelessly since the beginning of this genocidal war to alleviate the suffering of their people and who fulfilled their responsibilities with dedication and sacrifice.”
Hamas also reiterated that the resistance will stand “firm with our nation against this brutal aggression.”
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- Israel Asked Facebook to Censor Iran War Content, Internal Documents Show
- Deaths in Gaza undercounted, possibly by 100s of thousands; “Psychopath” Ben-Gvir talks trash – Daily Update
- UNICEF: “Trauma is woven into the very fabric of childhood in Gaza”
- 15 articles a day: The extent of the Israeli army’s media interference
- No Tricks Zone
- THE TRANSCEIVER PARADOX: Why Organoid Intelligence (OI) Could Become Our Ultimate Alien Predator
- German Wind Turbines Face Regulatory Shutdown Due To Excessive Noise
- New Study: Chile’s Relative Sea Level Was 3.2 Meters Higher Than Today During The Mid-Holocene
- Beyond The Pitch: Why FIFA’s World Cup Is One Of Humanity’s Best Investments
- Climate Alarmists Now Using Natural Phenomena To Support Their Claims
- New Study: Significant CO2 Fluxes From Non-Volcanic Sources Are Largely Neglected In Carbon Budgets
- Women Climate Scientists Being Harassed, Insulted By Skeptics, Claims Berkeley Earth Researcher
- Germany’s Longterm Spring Climate Data Show “No Climate Trend”
- New Study: Solar Photovoltaic, Wind Power Fail To Meet Annual Energy Demands 62% Of The Time
- Germany’s Die Welt: “Too Much Is Too Much” … Green Energies Are Cannabalizing Each Other!
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