Aletho News

ΑΛΗΘΩΣ

Israeli settlers terrorize West Bank Palestinians with state-provided drones: Report

The Cradle | September 25, 2026

Israeli settler gangs are using drones to terrorize Palestinians across the occupied West Bank, harassing families and guiding armed raids that have killed Palestinians, The New Arab (TNA) reported on 25 September.

“When herders left their homes in the morning, the drones would pursue and shadow them; if they approached certain areas, settlers would gather to attack and drive them away. Eventually, the drones began monitoring residents inside their homes around the clock, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop them,” Rabie Abu Naim, a displaced resident of Al-Khalayel, east of Ramallah, told TNA.

Settlers later rigged the drones with speakers blaring abuse and orders to leave, and drones were also used to drop tear gas on targeted communities, as violent assaults wounded many until terrified families fled, the report said.

Abu Naim also pointed to the killing of a boy and a young man in Al-Mughayyir days ago, saying drones “played a major role” in a raid that began with a drone tracking a flock of sheep, after which settlers moved in to steal the animals while shielded by the Israeli army, which “killed the two victims in cold blood during the incident.”

In Mikhmas, shepherd Mohammed Abu Siyam told TNA that settlers sent a drone after his 19-year-old son, Nasrallah, and other young men searching for livestock stolen from the village in February.

With the drone watching their every move, armed illegal settlers lay in wait for the young men, then opened fire, killing Nasrallah and wounding others.

Another Palestinian living in Hajjah, near Qalqilya, told TNA that settler drones fly so close to village homes that families fear the machines will crash through their windows, leaving residents under constant watch and feeling that “privacy is non-existent, and everyone feels constantly threatened.”

Illegal Israeli settlement councils have recently begun arming settlers with drones to film, scout, and watch the areas around outposts, building on earlier Israeli funding that equipped outposts with drones as part of a so-called security package.

Palestinians, meanwhile, are barred from owning drones even for their work, and the Israeli army has arrested numerous Palestinian photojournalists over the past three years for having them, citing a military order that has banned Palestinians from possessing the devices since 2017.

Israeli occupation forces have also raided toy shops across West Bank cities dozens of times, confiscating every drone on the shelves, including those made for children, and threatening shop owners with arrest if they sell them.

In May, OCHA documented settlers using drones to chase residents of Arab al-Mleihat, a community since emptied.

Salah al-Khawaja of the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission told TNA that the constant surveillance of Palestinian homes can become “an additional factor driving families to leave the areas where they live.”

September 25, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , , , | Comments Off on Israeli settlers terrorize West Bank Palestinians with state-provided drones: Report

They see them, then kill them: Israeli quadcopters track, deliberately target civilians in Gaza

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor | September 12, 2026

Geneva – The Israeli military continues to use armed quadcopter drones to carry out deliberate killings of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip. Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has documented the killing of at least 60 civilians by gunfire from these drones or by munitions dropped by them since the ceasefire took effect on 10 October 2025 through early September 2026.

The repeated occurrence of these incidents after the ceasefire, and the targeting of children, displaced people, farmers, shepherds, and people returning to check on their homes, reveals a continuing pattern of the deliberate killing of Palestinian civilians, in which Israel employs military technology capable of identifying specific individuals, tracking their movements, and striking them with precision, despite the clear civilian status of those targeted and their non-participation in hostilities or posing of any imminent threat to Israeli forces or others.

Quadcopters are small, multi-rotor tactical drones, some systems of which can be operated by a single soldier. They can be equipped with daytime and thermal cameras, target-identification and tracking systems, and weapon stabilization systems. Depending on the mission, some models can also be fitted with 5.56mm and 7.62mm weapons or 40mm explosive munitions, enabling the operator to closely monitor individuals, track their movements, and then fire at them or drop munitions toward them with a high degree of accuracy.

These technical capabilities give the operator the ability to observe the targeted person, verify their identity, and track their movements before opening fire. This greatly narrows the margin for error in target identification and heightens the obligation to refrain from an attack when the civilian nature of the target becomes apparent or when there is any doubt as to their status. The repeated killing of children, displaced people, farmers, and shepherds by direct gunfire or munitions dropped from these drones, despite their clear civilian status and absence of any direct participation in hostilities or imminent threat, therefore provides, taken together, strong evidence that civilians themselves were intentionally selected as targets of attack, rather than being killed as a result of mistaken identification or accidentally struck. Such attacks are prohibited in themselves and cannot be justified by military necessity or subjected to a proportionality assessment, since a direct attack against a civilian is prohibited from the outset and cannot be made lawful by invoking military necessity or the rules of proportionality.

The data Euro-Med Monitor has collected shows that at least 60 civilians have been killed in attacks carried out by quadcopters since the ceasefire, while Gaza’s Ministry of Health reported that the total number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces during the same period had reached 1,368 as of the date of the statement.

Field monitoring revealed three main patterns in the use of these drones. The first involved precise and direct gunfire against individuals whom the operator could see and distinguish; the second involved dropping explosive munitions on civilian gatherings and tents housing displaced people; and the third involved using these drones to impose fire control over areas adjacent to what is known as the “Yellow Line,” by targeting civilians as they attempted to reach their homes and lands or carry out their work there.

Under the first pattern, Euro-Med Monitor’s field team documented the killing of 12-year-old Abdullah Nour Saeed Dawas on the evening of 11 April 2026, after a quadcopter opened direct fire on displaced people in the vicinity of Abu Hussein Schools and Al-Fakhoura Health Centre in Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. It also documented the killing of 26-year-old Fatima Al-Zahra Ramzi Ahmed Al-Ma’ni by fire from the same type of drone east of Deir al-Balah on 21 May 2026. It further documented the killing of 62-year-old Nidal Eid Salmi Abu Halib on 11 October 2025, after an Israeli quadcopter opened direct fire on him while he was heading to inspect his family’s home in Al-Qarara, northeast of Khan Younis.

Under the second pattern, Euro-Med Monitor documented the killing of at least three civilians on 6 December 2025 after a quadcopter dropped an explosive munition on a group of civilians near Al-Atatra roundabout in Beit Lahia. It also documented the killing of Fadi Adel Khalif on 20 February 2026 after an Israeli drone dropped a bomb on his tent in the northern Gaza Strip, and the killing of 52-year-old Inaam Abdullah Al-Attar on 17 July 2026 after a bomb was dropped near Abu Tammam School in Beit Lahia.

The third pattern involved the use of quadcopters to impose fire control over areas adjacent to the “Yellow Line” and target civilians as they attempted to reach their lands and sources of livelihood. Euro-Med Monitor documented the killing of 42-year-old shepherd Raafat Adel Ibrahim Barika by fire from a drone of this type in the Al-Shakoush area near the “Yellow Line,” northwest of Rafah, on 22 May 2026. It also documented the killing of farmer Hamouda Fayeq Al-Attar on 29 August 2026 while he was working on his land east of Al-Masdar village, coinciding with the Israeli forces’ advance along the line in the area.

Children were among the victims of this precision weapon. Euro-Med Monitor’s field documentation is consistent, in terms of pattern, with the findings of a multidisciplinary report published by the Costs of War project at Brown University’s Watson Institute on 17 June 2026. The report was based on 18 cases involving children who were killed or wounded by gunfire that was examined and documented by a physician who participated in preparing the report during her work in Gaza Strip hospitals between August and September 2024. Witnesses who brought the children to hospital reported that quadcopters were responsible for the gunfire in 90 percent of the cases, while most wounds were caused by single, small-calibre bullets that struck the head, neck, chest, or abdomen.

The report presented five detailed cases supported, in each instance, by X-ray images or diagrams based on clinical photographs and witness testimonies. One case involved a seven-year-old child who was wounded inside an area designated as humanitarian while playing in the street, with no one else in the surrounding area being struck by gunfire. Medical, imaging, and ballistic analysis in three cases concluded that the entry angles and trajectories of the bullets were from above, consistent with gunfire originating from a drone. Although these incidents occurred in 2024, these findings are consistent with the pattern documented by Euro-Med Monitor at a later stage and constitute strong evidence of the use of precise, targeted gunfire directly and deliberately against children.

Euro-Med Monitor documented the circumstances of a child’s injury that resulted in permanent mobility impairment after he was directly shot by a quadcopter, providing additional evidence that Israeli forces deliberately used these drones to kill and inflict serious harm without any justification.

In testimony to Euro-Med Monitor’s team, the father of 11-year-old Amir Mohammed Khalil Shaath, a resident of Qizan Rashwan south of Khan Younis who was displaced to an area near Al-Sikka, adjacent to the Yellow Line, described what happened, saying: “On that day, 12 August 2026, I received a text message inviting them to collect a food parcel, so I went with my son Amir to the designated warehouse in the afternoon. On our way back on foot to our residential area in Al-Sikka neighbourhood, at around 5 p.m., we came under random and intense gunfire from a quadcopter flying at low altitude between abandoned residential buildings. This was followed by the dropping of an explosive bomb, which caused a violent explosion and sent shrapnel flying. Metal fragments became lodged in my son Amir’s skull and thigh, causing fractures and severe damage to the skull bones, and he lost consciousness for a long period as a result. He was taken to Nasser Hospital, where doctors said that if he had arrived a few minutes later, he would have died from internal bleeding in the brain. Medical teams managed to control the bleeding, but the fragments lodged in his skull could not be removed with the locally available capabilities. The child sustained a permanent mobility impairment, losing the ability to walk or stand. Medical teams declared that the available local treatment options had been exhausted and recommended that he travel abroad for treatment to remove the fragments lodged in his skull.”

The operator’s ability to clearly see the targeted person, distinguish their status, and track their movement before opening fire, and then strike them with a single bullet or guided munition, effectively eliminates the pretext of mistaken target identification, particularly when the target is a child, farmer, or shepherd carrying no weapon and posing no threat. This demonstrates that these civilians were not struck accidentally, but were deliberately selected as targets of attack.

Targeting these civilians establishes the intent to kill them and constitutes wilful killing and direct attacks against civilians, both of which are war crimes. Because such conduct occurs as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against the civilian population in Gaza, with knowledge of that attack, it also constitutes the crime against humanity of murder. Within the context of Israel’s commission of genocide, it falls under the material act of killing members of the protected Palestinian group and, alongside the other acts, policies, and statements, constitutes additional evidence of the specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a substantial part of the Palestinian group.

Euro-Med Monitor calls on the international community, particularly states parties to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, to take immediate and coordinated action to halt all international crimes being committed by Israel against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, foremost among them the crime of genocide in its various acts and means of implementation, including the deliberate killing of civilians using armed quadcopters. We call on these states to employ all available political, economic, diplomatic, and legal means to fulfil their obligation to prevent genocide and ensure respect for international humanitarian law, and to refrain from providing any support or assistance that contributes to the continuation of these crimes.

Euro-Med Monitor also calls on states, the United Nations, and international investigative mechanisms to take urgent measures to ensure the preservation and acquisition of all evidence related to these attacks, including drone camera recordings, flight and positioning data, firing records, the types of munitions used, mission orders, rules of engagement, and targeting data, as well as the names of operators and commanders who ordered or authorised the attacks, and to prevent the destruction, alteration, or concealment of such evidence.

We further urge the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to include the use of armed quadcopters in the ongoing investigation into the Situation in Palestine and to investigate the individual criminal responsibility of operators and those who issued or authorised targeting orders, as well as the responsibility of commanders who knew or should have known that these crimes were being committed and failed to take the necessary measures to prevent them or punish those responsible.

Euro-Med Monitor also calls on the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel to investigate these incidents as a systematic pattern of deliberate killings and to identify the types of drones and munitions used, their manufacturers and suppliers, and the relevant supply chains, and to request all related recordings, digital data, and military orders.

We also call on states to impose an immediate and comprehensive ban on the export, transfer, re-export, or financing of armed drones to Israel, including their components, munitions, sensors, targeting and tracking software, maintenance services, training, technical upgrades, spare parts, and brokering, as well as to suspend existing licences and contracts and halt all forms of military and security cooperation that could contribute to or facilitate the commission of these crimes.

Euro-Med Monitor also calls on manufacturers and suppliers to halt any direct or indirect support that could enable such uses, trace the components of their systems, preserve sales, end-user, maintenance, and upgrade records, and fully cooperate with international investigative mechanisms.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor also urges states to investigate individuals suspected of responsibility for these crimes and prosecute them before their national courts where jurisdiction exists, including on the basis of universal jurisdiction; impose targeted sanctions on officials and entities involved in these crimes; work to ensure access for international investigators and forensic experts to the Gaza Strip; protect witnesses and survivors; and guarantee victims and their families the right to truth, justice, and full reparation.

September 25, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture, War Crimes | , , | Comments Off on They see them, then kill them: Israeli quadcopters track, deliberately target civilians in Gaza

Europe was part of the infrastructure of US aggression against Iran: Deputy FM

Press TV – September 24, 2026

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Kazem Gharibabadi has said NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte’s admission that some 5,000 sorties were flown from European bases in support of US military aggression against Iran proves that Europe formed part of the infrastructure of that aggression.

In a post on X on Thursday evening, Gharibabadi wrote that the NATO chief’s remarks demonstrated Europe’s role in enabling the illegal US campaign.

“Governments that placed their territory at the disposal of the United States cannot evade their responsibility,” he said. “This participation will not go unanswered.”

Rutte has repeatedly acknowledged that thousands of US military flights, between 4,000 and 5,000, departed from bases in Europe during the US-Israeli war of aggression against the Islamic Republic, which began on 28 February.

He described Europe as a “platform of power projection” without which Washington could not have conducted the operation.

Countries including Italy, Romania, the United Kingdom, France and Germany were cited in connection with the use of bases, airspace, tankers and logistics.

Iran has consistently described the US-Israeli assault as an unprovoked act of aggression in flagrant violation of the UN Charter and international law.

Tehran has stressed that providing territory, bases or infrastructure to an aggressor state itself constitutes participation in the act of aggression, as recognized under United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3314.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi separately warned European officials in New York of the severe and long-term consequences of facilitating and supporting US and Israeli war crimes, both in Gaza and against Iran. He noted that submitting to a bully never satisfies that bully.

September 25, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Europe was part of the infrastructure of US aggression against Iran: Deputy FM

‘A Big Victory’ – Palestine Chronicle Wins Two-Year Legal Battle

By Romana Rubeo | Palestine Chronicle | September 22, 2026

A US federal court dismissed the lawsuit against the Palestine Chronicle and its editor, Dr. Ramzy Baroud, after the three plaintiffs asked to withdraw it.

Almog Meir Jan filed the case in July 2024. Shlomi Ziv and Andrey Kozlov joined an amended complaint the following year. The suit sought to link the Chronicle to their captivity in Gaza through its publication of reports by Palestinian journalist Abdallah Aljamal.

The Chronicle rejected the accusations throughout the proceedings. The plaintiffs moved to withdraw their case in July, and US District Judge Tiffany Cartwright granted the request on September 15. The court record closed the case after more than two years of litigation.

“After a struggle of over 2 years, we have won a big victory.  We have beaten back a calculated attempt to chill the free speech of some of the most critical voices of the Palestinian people — The Palestine Chronicle and Ramzy Baroud.  I have been so proud and honored to represent these clients and am happy for the outcome,” Attorney Dan Kovalik said.

“Still, we must remain vigilant for the inevitable attacks to come against people whose only ‘crime’ is advocating for the lives and rights of the Palestinian people.  We are fully prepared for this ongoing struggle,” Kovalik added.

For his part, Baroud welcomed the outcome but said that the case “should have been thrown out from the start.”

“It was initially dismissed, only to be refiled and treated as though the accusations had any legitimacy, despite there not being a single piece of evidence to prove any wrongdoing on our part,” he said.

A Gaza Journalist at the Center of the Case

The lawsuit grew out of an Israeli massacre in central Gaza in June 2024. Israeli occupation forces freed four captives during the operation, which also killed hundreds of Palestinians.

Among those killed was Abdallah Aljamal, a Palestinian journalist who had contributed reports to the Palestine Chronicle. His wife, father and neighbors were also killed. After the raid, Israeli officials alleged that three of the captives had been held in Aljamal’s home.

The three former captives later sued the Chronicle and Baroud. They alleged that the outlet had aided their captivity by publishing Aljamal’s work and paying him for it. The Chronicle denied paying Aljamal and rejected any suggestion that publishing his reports, which were also widely disseminated in both Arabic and English, connected the outlet to the captives’ detention.

Aljamal had filed many reports during the first six months of the war. Baroud said the value of that work lay in its attention to Palestinians whose experiences rarely reached an international audience.

“When Abdallah was sending articles, what I liked about his work is that he spoke to ordinary people,” Baroud said in an earlier interview with journalist Rachel Blevins.

“(We) did not want political commentary; we already have analysts. We wanted the voices of people you never hear from. That’s all,” he added.

In the same interview, Kovalik challenged the allegation that the Chronicle had financed Aljamal’s activities. “The claim is that the Palestine Chronicle paid a journalist, and somehow that money was used to hold hostages. It’s not true. There’s no evidence,” he said.

For the Chronicle, the case put an ordinary editorial decision—publishing firsthand reports from Gaza—at the center of an accusation of wrongdoing. It also forced a small newsroom to defend its work in court while continuing to cover the genocide facing the people and journalists on whom that work depended.

“The saddest aspect of all this is that the victims once again became the accused,” Baroud said in his latest statement. “Some of us have lost hundreds of family members, relatives, friends, neighbors and colleagues, only to find ourselves having to defend against entirely politically and ideologically motivated accusations.”

Israeli authorities have repeatedly accused Palestinian journalists killed or targeted in Gaza of ties to Hamas. The Committee to Protect Journalists has documented a pattern of labeling journalists as “terrorists” without substantiated evidence, while Reporters Without Borders has reported smear campaigns against Gaza’s journalists. Those allegations should be assessed on evidence, rather than treated as established facts because they come from the army that targeted them.

According to the International Federation of Journalists, at least 240 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza as of September 2026. The federation described the toll as “the greatest massacre of journalists in the history of modern journalism”.

A Silver Lining

Baroud reflected on the people who helped the Chronicle through the case.

“There is a silver lining. This case made us stronger. Dan Kovalik and his team fought with extraordinary dedication on our behalf, while countless readers and intellectuals stood by us.

“Throughout it all, we refused to let the case slow us down. We expanded our coverage and our network, sharpened our journalism and emerged more resilient and more committed than ever to telling Palestinian stories.”

The Palestine Chronicle dedicated the outcome to its readers, solidarity activists, intellectuals, independent journalists and all those who stood beside it and defended the right of Palestinians to tell their own stories.

– Romana Rubeo is an Italian writer and the managing editor of The Palestine Chronicle.

September 24, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , , , | Comments Off on ‘A Big Victory’ – Palestine Chronicle Wins Two-Year Legal Battle

IAEA inspectors cannot return to Iran amid US threats: Russia

Press TV – September 24, 2026

Russia’s permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna says the return of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to Iran is not possible amid continued US threats against the country.

Mikhail Ulyanov said the United States has never provided guarantees that it will halt missile attacks on Iranian territory. “On the contrary, they are practically issuing threats every day, and sometimes several times a day,” Ulyanov said, according to RIA Novosti.

“In such circumstances, what meaning can there be in talking about the presence of IAEA inspectors?” he added.

Ulyanov’s remarks come against the backdrop of a fundamental security problem surrounding the resumption of inspections. In June, Israeli and US strikes targeted Iranian nuclear facilities that had been under IAEA safeguards.

The US and Israel attacked Iran while nuclear negotiations were underway, using the talks as a cover for aggression under the illusion that the attack would eliminate Iran’s nuclear program and eventually topple the Islamic Republic.

The bombing has killed the bilateral framework for cooperation between Iran and the IAEA, which has so far refused to condemn the aggression, thus failing in its commitment and now demanding Iran to go out of its way and cooperate with aggressors—amounting to awarding the aggressors.

The attacks forced the Agency to halt its field verification activities and withdraw its inspectors from Iran for safety reasons. The IAEA itself reported that its inspectors had been withdrawn from the country by the end of June because of the security situation.

That history provides an important context for Tehran’s refusal to immediately restore unrestricted access. Iran is being asked to facilitate the return of international inspectors while the military threat that forced their withdrawal has not been conclusively removed.

From Tehran’s perspective, the question is therefore not simply whether inspectors should have access, but whether the conditions exist for them to operate safely and independently without their presence becoming entangled in an active military confrontation.

The IAEA has also acknowledged the exceptional circumstances created by the attacks. In its reporting, the Agency stated that attacks against nuclear facilities can have serious consequences for nuclear safety, security, safeguards and international peace and security, and recalled that nuclear facilities must not be attacked because of the risks to people and the environment.

This is particularly significant because the facilities targeted in the strikes were not outside the safeguards system. Russia has argued that the affected Iranian sites had been subject to regular Agency monitoring before the attacks.

In a 2025 statement, Ulyanov said the facilities at Fordow, Natanz, Isfahan and Arak had been regularly inspected and that the strikes damaged both nuclear infrastructure and IAEA equipment.

The attacks therefore created a difficult contradiction for the international verification system: facilities under international monitoring were struck militarily, inspectors were subsequently withdrawn for security reasons, and Iran then faced intensified demands to restore access under conditions in which it continues to regard itself as exposed to further attack.

The Agency has reported unresolved questions concerning uranium particles and has said that it requires further information from Iran before it can provide broader assurances about the exclusively peaceful nature of the country’s nuclear program.

At the same time, the current dispute cannot be separated from the security environment in which verification is being demanded. A sustainable inspection arrangement would require more than simply instructing Iran to open its facilities.

It would require credible security arrangements for inspectors, protection for safeguarded nuclear installations, and a mechanism that prevents inspections from becoming a source of additional military or political escalation.

Tehran’s position is that inspectors should not simply return under the same conditions that existed before the attacks. There are several concrete reasons for that position.

First, the safety of inspectors has become a direct issue. The IAEA withdrew its personnel because of the security situation after the attacks.

Without credible assurances that inspectors and their equipment will be protected from further military action, Iran can argue that an immediate return would expose Agency personnel to risks that are beyond the Agency’s ability to control.

Second, Iran’s nuclear facilities have themselves become potential military targets. The IAEA has repeatedly stressed the dangers of attacking nuclear installations.

Allowing inspectors to return without addressing the possibility of renewed strikes would leave them operating in an environment where the facilities they are monitoring could again come under attack.

Third, the previous monitoring framework was disrupted by military action rather than simply by a disagreement over access. The IAEA’s own records state that verification activities stopped following the attacks and that Iran subsequently enacted legislation suspending cooperation with the Agency.

Fourth, the dispute now involves a question of reciprocity and confidence. Iran maintains that it cannot be expected to provide extensive access while simultaneously facing threats of additional military action.

The dispute has intensified following a September resolution by the IAEA Board of Governors reporting Iran’s case to the United Nations Security Council.

Iran has rejected the move as politically motivated and has stressed that the military strikes and subsequent diplomatic pressure have fundamentally changed the circumstances surrounding the nuclear dispute.

Russia and China have opposed efforts to escalate the matter through the Security Council.

At the same time, Iranian officials have warned that continued military and political pressure could lead Tehran to reconsider its position within the nuclear non-proliferation framework.

Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said Iran’s recent experience could encourage other countries to reconsider participation in the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

September 24, 2026 Posted by | Wars for Israel | , , , , , | Comments Off on IAEA inspectors cannot return to Iran amid US threats: Russia

Neria Leiter Was A Legitimate Military Target

By Justin K.P. | The Dissident  | September 24, 2026

Israel and its stooges in mainstream media are claiming that Neria Leiter, the son of Yechiel Leiter, the current Israeli ambassador to the United States, was wounded in a supposed “terrorist attack”.

In reality, it was in no way a terrorist attack, but resistance against illegal occupation, a guaranteed right under international law.

Neria Leiter was hit by a car driven by 29-year-old Palestinian Mahmoud Muhammad Mahmoud Suleiman- who was killed at the scene- while he was carrying out service as an IDF reservist manning the checkpoint outside of the West Bank settlement of Beit Horon.

As Drop Site News noted, Beit Horon is an “illegal settlement” which “sits on land in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli settlements are illegal under international law.”

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank is illegal under international law.

International law also guarantees the right to resist illegal occupation by military means.

Given that Neria Leiter was a combatant upholding an occupation illegal under international law, the “ attack” against him was not “terrorism” but a legitimate act of self-defence and resistance to criminal occupation supported by international law.

As journalist Glenn Greenwald noted in response to claims that this was a “terrorist” attack, “Don’t terrorist attacks require the targeting of civilians? This was an armed, on-duty soldier in a military considered to be an occupying force under international law. How does that remotely fit the definition of ‘terrorism’?”

As journalist Abubaker Abed noted, “It was a self-defence and resistance act. That’s the undeniable truth. He was a soldier illegally occupying parts of the West Bank. The Palestinian defended himself from his terror. Palestinians have a right to defend themselves.”

Neria Leiter was a combatant, sent to the West Bank to uphold an illegal military occupation under international law; he was in no way a victim of a terrorist attack, but a legitimate military target for Palestinians living under Israeli occupation.

September 24, 2026 Posted by | Illegal Occupation | , , , | Comments Off on Neria Leiter Was A Legitimate Military Target

‘We don’t seek permission to defend our country’: Snippets from President Pezeshkian’s UNGA address

Press TV – September 23, 2026

In a powerful speech to the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian held up photographs of victims of American and Israeli war crimes against Iran, firmly rejecting Washington’s terrorism accusations and declaring that the Islamic Republic can never be forced into submission through military aggression.

The address, delivered under the summit’s theme of “Rebuilding Trust,” came one day after US President Donald Trump delivered deeply provocative rhetoric against Iran in his own remarks from the same podium.

Pezeshkian systematically dismantled Western double standards, detailed the unprecedented crimes committed against Iran during the US-Israeli war of aggression, reaffirmed Iran’s nuclear rights, and issued a warning to the aggressors.

Below are snippets from his speech:

Response to US terrorism accusations

  • Yesterday, the president of the United States said we are terrorists. We are the victims of terrorism.
  • I come from an Iran where they assassinated our Leader, without any legal justification.
  • I come from an Iran where they bombed a school. You can see these children. They bombed these children and killed them with weapons they used from America and Israel. They had committed no sin. They had committed no crime.
  • Lamerd is one of Iran’s small cities. There is a sports hall there where children were exercising. America bombed it with cluster bombs that split into thousands of pieces. They martyred our scientists, our people, our women, and innocent children who had committed no sin.
  • Those who are terrorists and breed terrorists call us terrorists. We only defend ourselves. We are not terrorists.

The US-Israeli assault on Iran

  • Our innocent people are the target of the cowardly attacks they imposed on our country, and we defended ourselves with power. America and Israel attacked us with the latest technology and equipment, and our people stood firm. They struck, but we did not bow our heads before them. We struck back, but we did not strike civilians.
  • From the territories they came from and were equipped in, they attacked our schools, our hospitals, our universities, our bridges, and our infrastructure. All of this is in violation of international law.
  • When I took office, on the very first day, they assassinated [Hamas leader] Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Israel bombs and assassinates any government, any state, any region it wishes.

Gaza: 80,000 massacred

  • In Gaza, they massacred over 80,000 innocent human beings. More than 100,000 people are displaced. They are committing genocide with the tools and technology at their disposal. Then they say others are terrorists, that they are the source of instability.
  • Are we the source of instability? We who want to live independently, who refuse to bow our heads- are we the source of instability?
  • If those who assassinate, kill, and commit crimes are the agents of security and peace, while they observe none of the rules of international law, this is the reality we face.

Iran’s 200-year record of non-aggression

  • We want nothing. We have found our answer. We need power, because a nation that cannot defend itself will be crushed.
  • In this world, the powerful, instead of thinking about people, humanity, justice, and democracy, are agents of ruin, destruction, and annihilation. Whoever they want to destroy, they label a terrorist.
  • For 200 years, Iran has not attacked any country. Two hundred years. We have always defended ourselves. Yet now we must be accused of being terrorists and agents of insecurity in the region.

Power for defense, energy for development

  • This has led us to choose our strategy: We want power to defend ourselves. We do not want power to launch aggression. We want energy for development, not for building bombs, destruction, or threatening society. And for security, we want to participate.
  • Iran must be powerful enough so that its survival and progress are not threatened, responsible enough not to use its power for domination, and far-sighted enough not to seek its security in the insecurity of its neighbors.

The people’s seven-month vigil

  • Over the past seven months, our people have been in the streets every night to defend our Iran and to prevent those whom America and Israel had incited and armed from entering the country and creating internal insecurity.
  • For seven months, the people of Iran have been in the streets day and night. The people are our power, and we stand with the power of the people.

Iran’s defense doctrine

  • Regarding Iran’s defense, we have built our defense system so that no one imagines that bombing Iranian cities will go unanswered.
  • Iran’s military power is for defense. But we say clearly: we do not ask permission from anyone to defend our country.

Neither nuclear weapons nor deprivation

  • For years, they have spoken about Iran’s peaceful nuclear program in the language of centrifuges, enrichment, sanctions, and bombs. But for our people, nuclear technology is part of the right to development.
  • Nuclear energy means treatment for our patients, food security for agriculture, technology for industry, and sustainable electricity for the future.
  • Iran does not accept that nuclear knowledge should be the exclusive privilege of a few countries. Iran does not consider nuclear weapons a factor of security, but it will not relinquish its right to science, industry, and peaceful energy.
  • We say explicitly: neither nuclear weapons nor deprivation of nuclear knowledge.
  • Iran’s nuclear position cannot be resolved on the battlefield. The solution is an agreement that provides the world with credible assurance of the peaceful nature of Iran’s program and provides the Iranian people with assurance that their rights will be preserved.

The Strait of Hormuz

  • In the waterway of the Strait of Hormuz, we cannot be the historical guardian of a waterway that everyone benefits from, yet be deprived of the freedom of navigation even in our own waters due to unjust sanctions.
  • They close the road to us, and then they transport weapons, explosives, missiles, and energy for the destruction of countries through the same waterway. This is not possible. They cannot do this, and we will not allow such a thing to happen in our country.
  • The permanent deployment of hostile fleets and the expansion of war do not bring security. The security of shipping cannot be ensured by undermining the security of coastal states.

No peace without Palestine justice

  • Palestine remains a wound on the conscience of the international community, and Gaza remains the symbol of the failure of international mechanisms to prevent civilian suffering. For decades, resolutions have been issued, but occupation and violence continue.
  • We cannot speak of peace while ignoring Palestine. Lasting peace in West Asia will not last without justice for Palestine.
  • As long as occupation, aggression, and injustice exist in the world, resistance will continue. If one form of it is harmed, it will emerge again in another form, perhaps even stronger.
  • Gaza, despite relentless killing and widespread destruction, revealed the faith of the people that resistance cannot be forced into surrender by bombs and siege.
  • This is the nature of humanity. If you drive a human being from their land, they resist. If you bomb a person’s home, they resist. What should they do if they do not resist? Accept bullying? Accept being driven from their homes and sit silently? And if they want to defend themselves, call them terrorists?

Regional solutions and strategic independence

  • It is clear that the issues of our region, before becoming a pretext for the war of distant powers, can be solved within the region and by the countries of the region.
  • Strategic independence means that relations with no foreign power become the possibility of war against a neighbor.

Message to the aggressors

  • Now, a word to all those who were responsible for the decision-making, planning, and execution of the attack on our land: Our nation has experienced their military power and the consequences of their destructive decisions up close. They have tested Iran’s resilience, and now they know well that Iran cannot be forced to surrender through war.
  • Iran has never initiated any war and has always demonstrated its commitment to the negotiating table. War was imposed on us, but we proved that we do not fear war to defend ourselves; we do not flee from negotiation for peace, and we stand to the last breath for the defense of dear Iran.

International double standards

  • The theme of this summit is rebuilding trust. Trust is not built with words; it requires the avoidance of double standards.
  • The atomic bomb and other weapons of mass destruction in this region are in the hands of the Israeli regime, yet inspections are demanded of Iran.
  • Israel massacred 70,000 people in Gaza, yet Iran was bombed at the negotiating table.
  • Israel has nuclear weapons, is not a member of the NPT, has never allowed a single inspector into its territory in its entire disgraceful existence, yet is rewarded with billions of dollars in free weapons and enjoys immunity to bomb any capital it chooses.
  • I repeat: the nuclear bomb is in Israel, but the inspectors are in Iran. Israel kills, but Iran is sanctioned. This is a tragedy; if you tell this to anyone, they will laugh. It kills, and we are sanctioned. And sanctions target the poor, the sick, and innocent people.
  • Human rights are not a tool for geopolitical competition. Iran does not seek special privileges; it demands equal rights and accepts its responsibilities.

A warning against the law of the jungle

  • Iran has learned one truth clearly in its long history: the world without power is dangerous, but a world that only understands the language of power will not have sustainable security.
  • If international law is only enforced when it aligns with the interests of the powerful, more countries will conclude that they must rely solely on their own power to ensure their security, and this will mark the beginning of a far more dangerous world for all of us.
  • We must not allow the 21st century to become an era of returning to the politics of the strong and the rule of tyrants. We must not build a world in which military power replaces legitimacy, sanctions replace diplomacy, assassination replaces politics, and war replaces dialogue.

Iran’s call to the world

  • Iran extends a hand of cooperation to the world. We call the world not to another war, but to peace and justice, not out of weakness, but out of confidence in our own power and the understanding that no one in this region will have security alone.
  • Either we will build security together, or we will endure insecurity together.
  • We think of building a future in which security, justice, and human dignity are inalienable and shared rights for all nations. A future in which no nation is marginalized, no voice is lost in the noise of power, and no power has the right to determine the future of others on their behalf.
  • An order worthy of the international system must be based on equality of nations, justice, fairness, and the shared will of humanity. Because peace that is not for everyone is not peace, and justice that excludes everyone is not justice.

Final message to Trump

  • And finally, the remarks of the US president yesterday, before world public opinion, thinkers, politicians, and jurists, are a clear sign of bullying, the logic of force, and contrary to the explicit text of the UN Charter.
  • Let him know that threats make our nation more united and stronger, and increase the resistance of Iranians. They must know that the nation of Iran will not bow its head before force, and it will make the aggressors regret it. This is what Trump and those who want to bully must understand.
  • We are ready for dialogue, but let them know that we will not accept the language of force.

September 23, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Wars for Israel | , , , | Comments Off on ‘We don’t seek permission to defend our country’: Snippets from President Pezeshkian’s UNGA address

Refaat Al-Areer Was The Canary In The Coal Mine In Israel’s War On The Truth

By Justin K.P. | The Dissident | September 23, 2026

Three years ago today, Refaat Al-Areer, the well-respected Palestinian academic, poet, and commentator, was murdered, along with multiple members of his family, for telling the truth about Israel’s genocide in Gaza and atrocity propaganda used to manufacture consent for it.

The Zionists wanted Al-Areer silenced because he was one of the first media figures to expose the now well-documented fact that Israel issued the Hannibal Directive on October 7th and killed its own people, and because he was debunking Israeli atrocity propaganda used to justify the Gaza genocide, such as the mass rape hoax.

The Zionist propagandist Bari Weiss put a target on Al-Areer, taking a joke he made about the claim of Hamas “baking a baby in an oven”- a proven hoax– out of context to make it look like he supported it, when in reality he was mocking how absurd the hoax claim was.

Because of this smear campaign, Al-Areer was labeled as an “Amalekite” by IDF terrorists and murdered in a targeted strike “along with his brother Salah and one of his children (Mohammed); his sister Asmaa and three of her children (Alaa, Yahia, and Mohammed); and a neighbor.”

Later, his “daughter, grandson and son-in-law” were murdered in another targeted Israeli strike.

This was not an isolated incident; Refaat Al-Areer served as the canary in the coal mine for Israel’s ensuing war on the truth.

Following the targeted murder of Refaat Al-Areer, Israel murdered hundreds of Palestinian journalists, including high-profile ones including Anas Al Sharif, Hossam Shabat, and Ismail al-Ghoul.

Like in Al-Areer’s case, these targeted IDF murders often included targeting of journalists’ family members.

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate documented that “the targeting of journalists’ families has become a systematic and repeated pattern during 2023, 2024 and 2025, killing about 706” family members “of journalists in the Gaza Strip” adding that “The effects of these crimes are not limited to human losses, but extend to deep psychological traumas among journalists who lost their children, wives or parents, the disintegration of families and the loss of a sense of security, the forcing of journalists to flee or temporarily stop working, the journalist with a harsh sense of guilt, within the framework of an organized psychological war, and the Freedoms Committee confirms that this psychological dimension is an integral part of the system of repression”.

These Israeli murders were not confined to only Gaza.

Israel targeted and killed multiple journalists exposing its ethnic cleansing campaign in South Lebanon, including the well-known reporter Amal Khalil, as well as attempting and failing to kill the British reporter, Steve Sweeney.

Israel also committed the largest single documented murder of journalists in recent history in Yemen, killing over 30 journalists and media workers after targeting the Sanaa-based newspapers Al-Yaman and 26 September.

And Israel’s war on the truth has extended past the direct targets of its genocidal wars.

Israel’s lobby has done everything it can to destroy freedom of speech in its Western sponsor countries, to ensure arms and funding will continue to flow to Israel.

This includes having an endless list of Israel-critical journalists and activists being arrested in the UK over bogus terrorism charges, as well as having the non-violent direct action group Palestine Action proscribed as a terrorist organization in league with ISIS.

It also includes having the U.S. sanction Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur for Palestine, for her factual report exposing the Gaza genocide, and trying to deport legal residents who protested against Israel’s genocide.

Refaat Al-Areer was murdered for telling the truth about Israel and its genocidal propaganda, and was one of the first victims in Israel’s wide-scale war on the truth.

September 23, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance, Timeless or most popular | , , , | Comments Off on Refaat Al-Areer Was The Canary In The Coal Mine In Israel’s War On The Truth

Israeli election committee bars candidate from Knesset race over Gaza war opposition

MEMO | September 23, 2026

Israel’s Central Elections Committee on Wednesday decided to disqualify Knesset member Ofer Cassif from running on the Joint List in the upcoming parliamentary elections, Anadolu reports.

Cassif is known for his opposition to the policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government toward the Palestinian people, particularly Israel’s ongoing war in the Gaza Strip since 2023.

Israeli Channel 13 reported that the committee is holding sessions Wednesday and Thursday to discuss requests to bar several political parties from the Knesset elections and has decided to disqualify Cassif from running.

It said the decision was made following a request submitted by Netanyahu’s Likud party against Cassif, with the case to be referred to the Supreme Court, the country’s highest judicial body, for a ruling.

The channel quoted Cassif as saying: “The committee seeks not only to exclude Arab voices, but also to silence and exclude from the Knesset any voice that attempts to offer a real alternative to the rhetoric of wars and revenge.”

“Presenting my opposition to the government’s policies and the actions of its agents as support for the enemy, breach of loyalty and harm to the state is a blatant distortion of reality and a complete perversion of the spirit of democracy,” he said, noting that “opposition to crimes committed in the name of the state does not contradict its interests and does not strengthen its enemies.”

Israeli elections will be held amid a fragmented political landscape.

Netanyahu has led the current government since December 2022.

He faces corruption charges, while the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for him over charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip.

September 23, 2026 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance, War Crimes | , , | Comments Off on Israeli election committee bars candidate from Knesset race over Gaza war opposition

Trita Parsi: Middle East Unraveling — Are We on the Path to World War?

Glenn Diesen | September 22, 2026

Trita Parsi is the co-founder and Executive Vice President of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Follow his excellent Substack: https://tritaparsi.substack.com/

Follow Prof. Glenn Diesen:

Support the research by Prof. Glenn Diesen:

September 22, 2026 Posted by | Militarism, Video, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , | Comments Off on Trita Parsi: Middle East Unraveling — Are We on the Path to World War?

Seyed M. Marandi: U.S. Strike Imminent – Toward Total War in the Middle East

Glenn Diesen | September 20, 2026

Prof. Seyed Mohammad Marandi is a professor at Tehran University and a former advisor to Iran’s nuclear negotiation team. Marandi argues we could be days or hour away from a major war between the US and Iran, which could engulf the entire region.

Glenn Diesen clip channel

Follow Prof. Glenn Diesen:

Support the research by Prof. Glenn Diesen:

Books by Prof. Glenn Diesen

September 20, 2026 Posted by | Militarism, Video, Wars for Israel | , , , , , | Comments Off on Seyed M. Marandi: U.S. Strike Imminent – Toward Total War in the Middle East

How Real Is the Impact of Western Sanctions on Israel?

By Salman Rafi Sheikh – New Eastern Outlook – September 20, 2026

Europe is getting tougher on Israel in rhetoric and sanctions, but its latest measures may be designed to create political distance from Israel without creating enough economic pain to make Israel change course in the West Bank or anywhere in Palestinian territories.

On September 8, Britain, France, Canada and a group of other European governments announced new measures against Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Twelve countries—Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom—said they would introduce national restrictions, support European restrictions or consider further measures against trade in goods from settlements considered illegal under international law. Britain, France and Canada said they would move toward national bans.

The language accompanying the measures is strikingly forceful. The governments say that Israeli actions in the West Bank are undermining the possibility of a two-state solution and demand that Israel halt settlement expansion, stop extending civilian administrative powers and ensure accountability for settler violence. They specifically singled out the planned E1 settlement project, which they regard as a threat to the territorial viability of a future Palestinian state.

Yet the economic arithmetic behind the sanctions tells a very different story. Britain offers the clearest example. UK-Israel trade was worth approximately £6 billion in 2025. By contrast, the British government estimates that trade between the UK and the Occupied Palestinian Territories was only around £38 million in the same year. That is roughly 0.6 percent of the value of UK-Israel trade.

The £38 million figure is not equivalent to the value of settlement exports. Because Israel and the Palestinian territories operate within an interconnected customs system, precise figures for trade originating specifically in settlements are difficult to establish. But that is precisely the point. Even the broader figure for UK trade with the Occupied Palestinian Territories is tiny compared with the overall UK-Israel commercial relationship. The British government is therefore not threatening the economic relationship that matters most to Israel. It is targeting a small and geographically defined segment of economic activity associated with the occupation while leaving the overwhelming bulk of bilateral trade untouched.

There is, of course, a legitimate argument for banning settlement goods regardless of their economic impact. A government may reasonably conclude that it should not facilitate or normalize economic activity in territory it regards as illegally occupied. The measures also create a legal and commercial distinction between Israel within its internationally recognized borders and settlements in occupied territory. That distinction may prove important over time. But that is different from claiming that the sanctions constitute serious economic pressure on Israel. They do not.

Sanctioning the Settlement, Not the State

This reveals a deeper contradiction in Europe’s emerging policy. The governments imposing these measures are not primarily confronting an autonomous settler economy operating outside the Israeli state. They are responding to Israeli government policy. Their own statement makes that explicit: “The Government of Israel’s actions in the West Bank” are, they argue, undermining the two-state solution. Yet the principal economic response is directed at goods produced in settlements, not the Israel state and government themselves. Thus, the policy totally ignores the fact that the settlement enterprise is consequently embedded in the institutions and policies of the Israeli state. Sanctioning settlement products therefore addresses one manifestation of the policy while leaving the broader economic relationship with the state largely intact.

Britain’s approach illustrates this particularly well. London has sought to distinguish between economic relations with Israel and activities connected to settlements. The House of Commons Library notes that Britain has long maintained that settlement goods should not receive the same preferential treatment as goods produced within Israel’s internationally recognized territory. Before the latest announcement, however, the government had resisted a comprehensive ban, partly because of the difficulty of distinguishing the interconnected Israeli and Palestinian economies. The new measures are therefore a significant political escalation, but not a fundamental economic rupture with Israel itself.

That distinction is crucial. If the objective were simply to demonstrate opposition to settlement expansion, the measures make sense. If the objective is to force the Israeli government to abandon or substantially reverse its West Bank policy, they are much less convincing. Serious coercive sanctions would have to affect actors whose economic interests can influence government policy. They might target major financial institutions, companies involved in settlement infrastructure, state-linked enterprises, investment flows or preferential trade arrangements. But none of that is happening.

The Political Value of Doing Something

For European governments, there is considerable political value in demonstrating that they are no longer prepared to treat Israeli settlement expansion as business as usual. Public opinion has shifted sharply in many European countries, and governments face growing pressure to respond to the humanitarian and political consequences of Israeli policy in Gaza and the West Bank. But imposing serious economic pressure on Israel would be a very different undertaking.

Israel is a major European security and trading partner. Europe also has interests in intelligence cooperation, technology, defence, regional security and diplomatic coordination. A comprehensive economic sanctions regime would therefore impose costs not only on Israel but on European governments and businesses themselves.

Settlement sanctions offer a politically convenient middle ground. They allow European governments to say that they are imposing consequences on Israel’s policies while preserving most of their economic relationship with Israel. That makes the sanctions politically useful even if their coercive capacity remains limited. The distinction can be put simply: they create symbolic distance without creating leverage.

The danger for Europe is that symbolic sanctions eventually become an end in themselves: a way for governments to demonstrate moral distance while the underlying policy they condemn continues to deepen. If settlement expansion continues despite successive rounds of European restrictions, the credibility of European coercive diplomacy will gradually erode.

The next phase will therefore be decisive. Europe can continue refining a system of differentiation between Israel and the occupied territories, gradually increasing the economic costs of the settlement enterprise. Or it can conclude that protecting a future Palestinian state requires confronting the broader Israeli state policy that makes settlement expansion possible. The difference between those two approaches is not semantic. It is the difference between signaling disapproval and changing incentives. Europe has now demonstrated that it can punish the settlement enterprise. Whether it is willing to impose enough costs to change the policy behind it remains an open question. If history is any guide, it is unlikely to openly confront the state of Israel to the extent where a real economic rupture looks possible and feasible.

Salman Rafi Sheikh, research analyst of international relations and Pakistan’s foreign and domestic affairs

Follow new articles on our Telegram channel

September 20, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Progressive Hypocrite | , , , | Comments Off on How Real Is the Impact of Western Sanctions on Israel?

« Previous Entries     Next Entries »