When the Iran War is over: Why the West Bank may be Netanyahu’s next front
By Ramzy Baroud | MEMO | June 17, 2026
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing perhaps the most precarious moment of his political career. He knows it. His allies know it. And his rivals—both within his coalition and across Israel’s political spectrum—are preparing to capitalize on his growing weakness.
Former Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon, who also served as deputy prime minister between 2007 and 2009, is among the latest Israeli political figures to join a growing chorus of criticism directed at Netanyahu.
“In the final result,” Ramon said in an interview with Radio Galey, cited by the Israeli outlet Srugim, “we did not win.” He then broke down that failure in blunt terms: “We did not win in Lebanon, we did not win in Iran, and we did not win against Hamas.”
Another prominent critic is former Israeli army chief Gadi Eisenkot, who joined Netanyahu’s emergency war government following the events of October 7, 2023, before resigning with Benny Gantz in June 2024.
Beyond accusing Netanyahu of failing to protect Israel on October 7, Eisenkot argues that the prime minister has effectively surrendered Israel’s political decision-making to US President Donald Trump, thereby strategically weakening Israel.
Ironically, Netanyahu’s coalition partners have often been even more opportunistic than the opposition.
Since the formation of the current coalition government on December 29, 2022—widely regarded as the most right-wing government in Israel’s history—figures such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich have repeatedly used Netanyahu’s political vulnerability to expand their own influence. Whenever Netanyahu needed political support to remain in power, they demanded concessions in return.
For Israel’s far-right extremists, Netanyahu’s inability to secure decisive strategic victories has often translated into opportunities to advance their own agendas. Every setback on the battlefield became an opening for greater settlement expansion, harsher measures against Palestinians, and deeper entrenchment of extremist policies.
Unable to deliver ‘victory’, Netanyahu turned perpetual war into a political strategy in its own right. The result has been a genocidal war in Gaza, widespread devastation in Lebanon, and a dangerous confrontation with Iran that has repeatedly brought the region to the brink of a wider catastrophe.
For a time, this formula proved politically sustainable. Netanyahu successfully enlisted unwavering US support to keep the fires of war burning.
At the same time, the failure of Europe and much of the international community to hold a wanted war criminal accountable provided him with the political space necessary to continue his bloody calculations.
Yet that formula may be nearing its limits. While this possibility may appear encouraging, it comes with a serious warning. If Netanyahu can no longer sustain the wars that have prolonged his political life for nearly three years, he may escalate where resistance is weakest: the occupied West Bank.
Regarding Iran, there is growing recognition that the current confrontation is unsustainable indefinitely and that some form of arrangement will eventually emerge. Likewise, regardless of whether Lebanon is formally included in any future agreement, Israel’s ambition of permanently occupying parts of Lebanese territory remains untenable.
Historically, when Israel fails to secure a strategic breakthrough on one front, it seeks compensation on another—typically where Palestinians are most vulnerable and where international scrutiny is weakest.
As Israeli elections approach, it is therefore reasonable to fear a further escalation of the genocide in Gaza, pushing both the death toll and the level of destruction to new heights. According to Gaza health authorities, nearly 1,000 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire agreement was announced in October, bringing the overall death toll of Israel’s genocide in Gaza to 73,000 Palestinians.
Though Israel’s war has already failed to break Palestinian steadfastness, the broader objective remains unchanged: the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza and the transformation of the Strip into a space that can no longer sustain Palestinian life.
The West Bank, however, presents a different challenge.
There, Israel faces a fragmented political landscape and a Palestinian Authority that refuses to develop an effective strategy for confronting accelerating Israeli violence, ethnic cleansing, home demolitions, land confiscation, and the relentless expansion of illegal settlements.
This vulnerability has enabled Israel to move from discussing annexation to implementing it in practice. The strategy rests on two interconnected pillars: extreme violence and displacement on the one hand, and rapid settlement expansion on the other.
According to an Oxfam International study published on June 12, Israel has killed 1,244 Palestinians, including 268 children, in the occupied West Bank since 2023—more than the total number killed during the previous seventeen years combined.
This bloodshed has been accompanied by large-scale displacement that has already uprooted nearly 46,000 Palestinians, many of them from refugee camps and vulnerable communities across the northern West Bank.
An Amnesty International report published on June 10 documented the full or partial displacement of at least 117 Palestinian Bedouin and herding communities between January 2023 and April 2026.
Expectedly, the violence, displacement, settlement expansion, and land seizures are not isolated developments but components of a coherent political project. In September 2025, Smotrich openly proposed the annexation of 82 percent of the occupied West Bank. What was once presented as a political vision is now steadily being translated into facts on the ground.
The era of Netanyahu may be nearing its end, but before this bloody political chapter closes, countless more Palestinians may be forced to bear the cost.
Arab and Muslim countries, along with their allies in the international community, must not wait for Israel to launch a much larger assault on the West Bank before responding.
The matter demands urgent attention and immediate action.
Trump leverages illegally frozen Palestinian funds to force normalization, halt legal cases against Israel
The Cradle | June 17, 2026
US President Donald Trump is seeking to leverage severe Palestinian financial hardship to coerce a “normalization” agreement that would require the Palestinian Authority (PA) to drop all international legal challenges against Israel, the Times of Israel reported on 17 June.
This proposed memorandum of understanding (MoU), negotiated by US officials Aryeh Lightstone and Scott Leith, demands the Palestinian Authority (PA) “halt efforts to internationalize the conflict with Israel.”
In exchange for these concessions, Washington has offered the hollow possibility of reopening the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) mission in Washington and lifting sanctions, but only after the PA completes a series of “Saudi-chaperoned reforms.”
The PA has further requested language in the MoU calling for a cessation of Israeli settlement expansion and a crackdown on “rampant settler violence” in the occupied West Bank.
Central to these talks is the fate of over $5 billion in Palestinian tax revenues, which Israel has been illegally withholding for over a year in violation of the Oslo Accords.
The US seeks to redirect these funds to the “Board of Peace” and its National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) to finance a post-war governance plan that bypasses the PA until it meets Washington’s benchmarks – including the dissolution of the PA’s welfare program for the families of Palestinians killed or imprisoned by Israeli occupation forces.
While the PA has agreed in principle to this diversion to secure a fraction of its own money, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has blocked the transfer, openly advocating for the “collapse of the PA” and rejecting even debt-settlement transfers in a deliberate effort to ensure the total financial strangulation of Palestinian governance.
Despite external audits confirming the PA has successfully reformed its welfare system to end payments based on attacks, a US Department report, relying on Israeli data, claimed the PA still provides “compensation in support of terrorism.”
As the US explores legally thin options to unilaterally seize Palestinian funds, officials admit the administration views the West Bank as an “afterthought” while prioritizing the expansion of the Abraham Accords.
Israeli government plans to fund extremist occupier group in occupied West Bank with $1.89M: Report
MEMO | June 15, 2026
The Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to allocate 5.5 million shekels ($1.89 million) in state funding to the extremist occupier group known as the “Hilltop Youth,” the Yedioth Ahronoth daily said Monday.
The newspaper said the budget was outlined in a document issued by the Settlement and National Missions Ministry, headed by Minister Orit Strock, which will oversee the transfer of funds through regional settlement councils in the occupied West Bank.
The funding plan is scheduled to run from June through the end of the year and totals 5.5 million shekels, it added.
According to the newspaper, each member of the Hilltop Youth movement would receive the equivalent of approximately $550 per month to help cover food, clothing and living expenses for more than 650 youths living in hilltop outposts and pastoral settlement sites across the occupied West Bank.
The Hilltop Youth is an occupier movement whose members primarily live in unauthorized settlement outposts in the West Bank and are known for opposing efforts to evacuate them.
The group has frequently been linked to attacks against Palestinians and is considered the ideological nucleus of the extremist “Price Tag” movement, which has carried out retaliatory attacks against Palestinians and their property.
Founded in 1998, the movement is largely composed of Israeli occupiers aged between 16 and 26, who left their homes and schools to live in illegal settlement outposts built on hilltops overlooking Palestinian communities.
The group is considered an offshoot of the extremist movement Gush Emunim, which advocates expanded Jewish settlement in the occupied Palestinian territories.
According to Israeli and Palestinian rights groups, violence by Israeli occupiers in the occupied West Bank has increased significantly in recent years, including attacks on Palestinian communities, farmland and property.
Since Oct. 8, 2023, at least 1,169 Palestinians have been killed, 12,666 injured, around 23,000 arrested and approximately 33,000 displaced in the occupied West Bank amid intensified Israeli military operations and occupier attacks, according to Palestinian figures.
Israeli officials: ‘Security zones’ to remain in Lebanon, Syria, Gaza
Al Mayadeen | June 15, 2026
Israeli War Minister Israel Katz said the Israeli army will continue to hold so-called “security zones” in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza indefinitely, asserting that what he described as border security requirements take precedence over any political or diplomatic arrangements.
He stated that the policy is being pursued in coordination with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, adding that the IOF would remain deployed in these areas without a defined timeline.
According to Katz, the stated objective of maintaining these zones is to prevent what he described as threats from armed groups operating near the borders.
He said Israeli forces would remain in the “security zones” in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza in order to protect Israeli settlements and border areas, framing the deployments as a defensive necessity to mask its colonial nature.
“We will not compromise on the vital interests of Israel’s security and the protection of our citizens, and we will not leave the security zones,” Katz said.
He also stated that this position had been communicated to US President Donald Trump, US War Secretary Pete Hegseth, and other senior officials.
Netanyahu signals rejection of withdrawal from Lebanon
Separately, Israeli media cited officials close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as saying that he informed Trump that “Israel” does not intend to withdraw from Lebanon under any emerging understandings linked to regional negotiations.
According to these reports, Israeli forces will remain in their current positions in southern Lebanon and continue what Tel Aviv describes as operations aimed at preventing threats from Hezbollah.
Netanyahu also reportedly rejected any linkage between developments on the Lebanese front and broader US-Iran diplomatic arrangements, insisting that “Israel” would not be bound by agreements affecting its military posture.
Internal political backing for hardline stance
Israeli political figures across the governing coalition expressed support for maintaining occupation deployments in Lebanon and other theaters.
“Israel’s” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich was quoted in Israeli media as arguing that any attempt to connect the Lebanese and Iranian fronts should be resisted, while also emphasizing the importance of preserving military deterrence without direct confrontation with Washington.
Other ministers, including Itamar Ben-Gvir, reportedly stated that any US-brokered agreement with Iran would not be binding on “Israel”, asserting that Tel Aviv would continue to determine its own security policy independently.
Energy Minister Eli Cohen and Transport Minister Miri Regev also stressed the need to maintain what they described as clear deterrence while avoiding unnecessary escalation with the US administration.
Israel Fails to Sabotage Islamabad Accord… At Least for Now
By Larry C. Johnson | SONAR21 | June 14, 2026
Well, when news broke that Israel had bombed the southern suburb of Beirut on Sunday afternoon, the Iranians started gearing up for promised retaliation only to be dissuaded by a Donald Trump bribe. Iran and the US reportedly were closing in on an agreement based on Iran’s 14-point plan when the Israeli strike in Lebanon threw everything into chaos. Iran quickly started ramping up for a renewed missile strike on Israel, but Donald Trump rump reportedly offered Iran financial incentives to not attack Israel.
Iranian media outlet Mehr reported that a 14-point memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran calls for the release of $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets during a 60-day negotiation period, with half of that — $12 billion — required to be made available to Iran before negotiations even begin. The MOU also reportedly includes immediate and permanent cessation of war on all fronts including Lebanon, a US commitment not to interfere in Iran’s internal affairs, lifting of the naval blockade within 30 days, and reopening of the Strait of Hormuz under Iranian arrangements.
Trump essentially offered Iran a bribe to not attack Israel. Hedeclared on Truth Social that the US deal with Iran was “now complete,” authorizing the toll-free reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and the immediate removal of the US.naval blockade, instead of waiting 30 days. He also agreed that Iran could receive the $12 billion as soon as the ceasefire agreement was signed on Friday.
With that change, the Supreme National Security Council of Iran confirmed the achievement of an agreement between the United States and Iran:
“The Islamic Republic of Iran, under the leadership of its martyred leader, has completed its success over the American-Zionist enemy and, under the guidance of the Supreme Leader of the system (may God protect him), with the support of the entire nation and the diligent efforts of Islam’s warriors, after a difficult and intensive several months of negotiations and based on the resolution of the Supreme National Security Council, finalized the text of the Memorandum of Understanding regarding negotiations to end the war (negotiations in Islamabad) between Iran and the United States on the evening of June 14.
According to the agreements reached, the war and military operations on all fronts, including Lebanon, will end immediately and forever from tonight, and the naval blockade against Iran will be immediately and fully lifted. The signing of this Memorandum of Understanding will be officially carried out on Friday, June 19. Negotiations for the final agreement will be postponed until the other party fulfills its obligations in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding. The Islamic Republic of Iran highly values the efforts of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the government of Qatar.”
But before you start popping champagne corks you must understand that Trump administration officials — mostly unnamed — are painting a different picture of the agreement. For example, asenior U.S. official rejected Iran’s claim that it would receive $12 billion in frozen assets unconditionally before the start of the 60-day negotiations, describing the assertion as “a spin,” Axios reports:
This is completely not true. This is a pay-for-performance deal, and no frozen funds will be released without the Iranians implementing their commitments,” the official said.
The point is simple… Major differences remain between the US and Iran regarding the details of the proposed MOU. Even if those details are eventually ironed out and a letter signed on Friday with both sides confirming their mutual agreement to the 14 prinicipals spelled out in the final MOU, this will mark the start of a negotiations process that will last at least two months, if not longer. And, at any time in the succeeding days, a US or Israeli violation of the MOU will likely lead Iran to renew its attacks on Israeli and/or US military targets.
The Crusades – colliding narratives
Ashes of Pompeii | June 13, 2026
They say history is written by the victors, but the Crusades offer an interesting historical contrast: a two-century collision that produced not one history, but two parallel, irreconcilable realities. The dates and the battles are identical in both accounts, but the moral axis is entirely flipped.
In the traditional Western narrative, the Crusades are framed as a heroic, if tragic, epic. The First Crusade is a pious pilgrimage; the knights are romanticized figures of chivalry in shining armor, bravely holding the line in a hostile, exotic land. The eventual loss of the Holy Land is mourned as the “fall of Outremer,” a tragic retreat of European civilization. In this telling, the East is often reduced to a passive backdrop, its inhabitants viewed through a lens of mystique or backwardness, mere obstacles to a divine mandate.
But cross the Mediterranean, and the exact same timeline reads like a chronicle of foreign invasion and eventual, hard-won restoration against the barbarous northerners. The dates do not change, but the adjectives do. Here is the history as it is remembered in the Levant:
When the Frankish armies breached Jerusalem in 1099, they imposed a martial culture utterly alien to the region. Accustomed to northern forests, the crusaders relied on heavy wool, salted provisions, and isolated stone keeps. To the local Muslim inhabitants, this was a stark contrast to a society built around sun-washed courtyards, communal public baths, and markets vibrant with fresh flatbreads, olives, and citrus. The invaders carved out the fragile states of Outremer, but beneath their rule, the region’s sophisticated urban rhythms, complete with organized hospitals and regulated water systems, quietly endured.
For much of the twelfth century, an uneasy coexistence defined the borderlands. The crusader hold was always tenuous, a reality first exposed in 1144 when Imad ad-Din Zengi reclaimed the County of Edessa, shattering the myth of Frankish invincibility. In the decades that followed, daily life became a complex tapestry of friction and exchange. Frankish knights governed from damp, drafty fortresses, yet they increasingly depended on local markets for sugar, glass, and silk. Truces allowed merchants to cross lines, but the cultural divide remained visible: while the crusader elite often struggled with Levantine heat and basic sanitation, local communities maintained their traditions of regular ablutions, scholarly study in madrasas, and shared, herb-rich meals.
The political tide turned decisively in 1187. At the Horns of Hattin, the fragmented crusader armies were outmaneuvered, leading to Salah ad-Din’s recapture of Jerusalem. For the local population, this was not merely a military victory, but a restoration of civic order. Mosques and “bimaristans” (hospitals) reopened, and the region’s administrative heartbeat resumed. Though the Third Crusade saw Richard the Lionheart besiege Acre, he could not retake the holy city. The ensuing century of negotiated truces only highlighted the resilience of local society, which continued to thrive on its established foundations of public hygiene and civic welfare.
By the mid-thirteenth century, the crusader presence was a relic waiting to be cleared. After the newly established Mamluk dynasty halted the Mongol advance at Ain Jalut in 1260, securing the region’s eastern flank, they turned their disciplined, centralized power toward the coastline. Sultan Baybars initiated a systematic dismantling of the crusader strongholds. Antioch fell in 1268, and the formidable fortress of Krak des Chevaliers surrendered in 1271. The contrast was laid bare: as crusader outposts decayed into isolated, supply-starved enclaves, Mamluk cities flourished, repairing irrigation canals and expanding vibrant, clean urban centers.
The end came methodically. In 1291, Mamluk forces besieged and captured Acre, the last major crusader capital, driving the remaining defenders into the sea. A final, tiny garrison clinging to the island of Arwad was swept away by the Mamluk navy in 1302, erasing the last physical foothold of the crusades.
The crusaders left behind crumbling, hollow castles, silent monuments to a foreign experiment. Yet, the echoes of that era have never truly faded. Today, the very same soil remains a stage for competing historical claims, where distant powers still invoke ancient rights and civilizational mandates to justify their presence.
In the West, 1291 is often romanticized as a tragedy of lost glory, recounted in medieval verse and modern films. But in the Levant, it is simply the day the northern barbarians were finally vanquished. For those who still walk these sun-washed streets, it remains a timeless cautionary tale of foreign invaders, resiliance and ultimate redemption.
EU state lifts arms embargo on Israel after spy scandal
RT | June 12, 2026
Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa has lifted an embargo on arms sales to Israel after allegedly enlisting the help of an Israeli private intelligence firm to oust his left-wing, pro-Palestine predecessor.
Jansa’s government announced the decision on Thursday, adding that it would also overturn an entry ban on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyah, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
“This will restore the conditions for a normal political dialog with Israel,” the Slovenian Defense Ministry said in a statement, adding that the move would help “strengthen the role of the Republic of Slovenia in the efforts to achieve a lasting peace in the Middle East.”
Former Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob barred the export of military goods to Israel and banned the import of goods from illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank in August. One year earlier, he had recognized the State of Palestine and declared Israel’s war on Gaza to be “genocide.”
Last December, Jansa met with executives from Black Cube, an Israeli private intelligence firm founded by Israel Defense Forces intelligence veterans, whose advisory board includes two former Mossad directors. Three months later, and with parliamentary elections drawing near, covertly-recorded video footage emerged on social media, showing associates of Golob’s Svoboda party discussing corruption within the Slovenian government.
The videos, which Black Cube admitted to filming, weakened Golob’s standing ahead of the election, but Svoboda managed to beat Jansa’s Slovenian Democratic Party by a margin of 0.67%. However, Golob’s coalition lost its majority and was unable to form a government. Jansa, who served three previous stints as Slovenia’s prime minister, built a right-wing coalition and took office last week.
Slovenia’s Intelligence and Security Agency (SOVA) has since determined that Black Cube deliberately attempted to “influence democratic elections” by releasing the videos. “This interference was most likely commissioned from within Slovenia,” the agency concluded, without directly accusing Jansa of hiring the Israeli spies.
While it is unclear whether the Israeli government knew about or officially sanctioned Black Cube’s work in Slovenia, Israeli officials welcomed Jansa’s return to office and reversal of Golob’s policies.
“I commend Slovenian PM Janez Jansa for his swift and just decision to lift the distorted anti-Israeli measures taken by Slovenia’s previous government,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar wrote on X on Thursday, hailing Jansa as “a bold leader and a true friend of Israel.”
UK judge brands Palestine Action activists ‘terrorists’ for storming Israeli weapons company
Press TV – June 12, 2026
In yet another blatant example of Western complicity with the Zionist regime, a UK judge has ruled that four Palestine Action activists have a “terrorist connection” for storming a British site of the Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems.
The ruling by Justice Jeremy Johnson was delivered as hundreds of Palestine Action supporters held a demonstration outside Woolwich Crown Court in south-east London on Friday.
Metropolitan Police arrested 107 peaceful protesters who had gathered to support the activists.
In August 2024 — at the height of the Israeli regime’s genocidal war on Gaza — Charlotte Head (30), Samuel Corner (23), Leona Kamio (30), and Fatema Rajwani (21) carried out a courageous direct action at Elbit Systems’ factory near Bristol.
They inflicted approximately £1.2 million in damage to military equipment destined for the occupying Israeli forces, aiming to disrupt the flow of weapons used to slaughter defenseless Palestinian civilians and to pressure for the closure of this Israeli arms factory operating on British soil.
However, the judge declared that the damage “had a terrorist connection” because the activists are linked to Palestine Action, the pro-Palestinian direct-action group that the UK government had proscribed as a “terrorist organization” in July 2025.
Notably, the High Court later ruled this proscription unlawful in February 2026 — a decision the British government is still appealing, while keeping the ban in force.
Under the legislation, even membership in or public support for the group is now a criminal offense in the UK, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Because of the judge’s “terrorist connection” ruling, the four activists will be denied normal early release provisions.
Instead, a Parole Board will assess their supposed “risk to the public” before they can be freed.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk strongly condemned the UK’s misuse of counter-terrorism laws against pro-Palestinian activists, describing it as disproportionate and a threat to fundamental freedoms of expression and assembly.
This case exposes the hypocrisy of the British establishment: it shields Israeli war criminals and their arms suppliers while criminalizing peaceful citizens who dare to resist the machinery of genocide.
True terrorism is the Zionist regime’s daily massacre of Palestinians — not the brave actions taken to stop the weapons flow. The resistance continues.
Report: US military building new base near Gaza border to support post-war plan
MEMO | June 12, 2026
The US military has begun constructing a large base near the Gaza border that is expected to serve as a headquarters for military and civilian personnel involved in implementing President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan, according to a report by the Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom.
The newspaper reported on Wednesday that construction is underway near the Israeli community of Re’im, close to the Gaza Strip.
According to the report, the facility is intended to function as a central command and coordination hub for international organizations, civilian personnel and military forces expected to participate in the implementation of the next phases of Trump’s plan for Gaza.
“We have learned that the US Army has begun constructing a massive base on the Gaza border, not far from Re’im,” the newspaper reported.
Israel Hayom said the new installation is expected to replace the multinational headquarters currently operating from Kiryat Gat in southern Israel.
According to the report, the Kiryat Gat facility previously hosted representatives from more than 24 countries, including several Arab states, who participated in international coordination efforts related to Gaza.
The newspaper said many of those representatives left following the outbreak of the conflict involving Iran earlier this year.
Hamas: Israeli shift of Gaza’s “Yellow Line” constitutes blatant ceasefire violation
Palestinian Information Center – June 12, 2026
GAZA – Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said on Friday that the Israeli military’s movement of the so-called “yellow line” westward in Gaza City, accompanied by shelling and the displacement of Palestinians, represents a blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement.
In a statement, Qassem said the move reflects threats made by the Israeli prime minister to expand Israeli control over parts of the Gaza Strip. He also criticized the silence of the “Peace Council” and its head, Nickolay Miladinov, as well as the inability of mediating and guarantor countries to prevent what he called a new breach of the agreement.
Qassem noted that the developments come amid ongoing negotiations in Cairo and a positive approach by Palestinian factions toward the talks.
He said that the latest actions demonstrate Israel’s unwillingness to implement the ceasefire agreement, accusing it of attempting to derail negotiations, undermine diplomatic efforts, and continue escalation for political and electoral purposes.
88 attacks against Palestinian Christians recorded since start of year
MEMO | June 11, 2026
The Religious Freedom Data Centre said on Wednesday that attacks and harassment targeting Palestinian Christians and their religious sites have increased.
The centre documented more than 88 incidents against Christians since the beginning of this year, including 63 cases during the second quarter alone. It said the figures suggest that 2026 could set a new record, surpassing the 181 incidents recorded last year.
According to a report presented in Jerusalem, the violations included spitting incidents, verbal abuse, vandalism of cemeteries, gravestones, statues and crosses, as well as racist graffiti and the desecration of Christian religious sites.
Most of the incidents were concentrated in Jerusalem’s Old City, Mount Zion and the area surrounding the Armenian Patriarchate.
During a conference in Occupied Jerusalem where the report was presented, human rights activists and lawyers criticised the performance of Israeli police in handling complaints submitted by Christians.
Uri Narov, head of the legal department at the Israeli Religious Action Centre, said most cases are closed without results. He noted that 19 out of 25 complaints filed by the centre between 2012 and 2021 were closed for various reasons, including failure to identify suspects or no offense had occurred.
Representatives of Catholic churches also presented a series of attacks targeting religious institutions and church-owned property. These included the toppling of stone crosses, damage to vehicles, and the throwing of stones, eggs and rubbish into monasteries and Christian guesthouses.
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