ELNET taking UK journalists on secret pro-‘Israel’ propaganda tours
Al Mayadeen | April 24, 2026
A lobbying organization, ELNET, has been quietly arranging trips to “Israel” for British journalists and retired military personnel, according to an investigation published by Declassified. The tours coincide with the Israeli military’s ongoing campaign that has killed over 259 Palestinian and Lebanese journalists since 2023.
The investigation noted that on Wednesday, journalist Amal Khalil and photographer Zeinab Faraj were reporting from southern Lebanon when an Israeli airstrike targeted them. Khalil was killed and Faraj was seriously injured. The Israeli military is responsible for two-thirds of all journalist killings globally in 2025, the report states.
While systematically killing Palestinian journalists, Declassified reported that the Israeli government has blocked foreign media workers from entering Gaza, effectively creating a blackout of its military operations.
ELNET created to counter criticism of ‘Israel’
According to the investigation, ELNET was founded in 2007 with the stated aim of “countering the widespread criticism of Israel in Europe.” The group is increasingly viewed as the European equivalent of AIPAC, the powerful American-Israeli lobby.
Declassified found that journalists who participated in ELNET delegations have written for major British publications including the Telegraph, Spectator and Mail on Sunday. The group has also taken former British military officers to “Israel”, who subsequently portrayed the IOF’s operations in Gaza in a favourable light.
Professor Des Freedman of Goldsmiths told Declassified that such trips are not genuine fact-finding missions but rather “junkets specifically designed to generate pro-Israel coverage.” He added that embedded journalism of this kind is “utterly scandalous during a genocide when the rest of the world’s media have been locked out of Gaza.”
ELNET has close links to Israeli government
The investigation reveals that ELNET maintains close ties to the Israeli government. Its board members include two former advisors to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The group was invited to a 2024 meeting with foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar to discuss improving “public diplomacy”, and its delegations are frequently organized “in partnership” with the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
Emmanuel Navon, who directed ELNET’s “Israel” office between 2023 and 2025, described “Israel’s” offensive into Rafah as “necessary” and dismissed concerns about Palestinian civilians, Declassified reports.
ELNET’s UK branch is directed by former MP Joan Ryan, who once chaired Labour Friends of Israel. Under her leadership, the group has sought to cast doubt on casualty figures from Gaza, calling them “demonstrably unreliable and strategically manipulated.” The UK branch has also condemned British recognition of a Palestinian state as a “PR win” for Hamas and urged the restoration of arms exports to “Israel.”
Journalist declared ‘war must go on’ after ELNET trip
Declassified identified British journalist Zoe Strimpel, who writes for the Sunday Telegraph, as one participant in an ELNET delegation. Days after returning from “Israel”, she wrote in The Spectator that “most people” in “Israel” agree that “the war must go on until Hamas is completely destroyed.”
In a separate Telegraph article, Strimpel dismissed accusations of “Israeli ‘genocide’ in Gaza” as “grotesquely false”. When approached by Declassified about her participation in the ELNET trip, she declined to offer any defensive response, stating, “The more pro-Israel the better in my view.”
Another participant, David Rose, wrote for the Jewish Chronicle after his trip that “the trauma experienced throughout Israeli society means serious consideration of the longer-term relationship between Israel and the Palestinians is almost impossible to contemplate.”
Former British generals toured Gaza with ELNET
The investigation also revealed that former British military officers have joined ELNET delegations. Retired British army officer Sir John McColl, who served as a NATO commander in Europe, joined a September 2024 delegation that met with Netanyahu and former Security Minister, both wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes.
The group received briefings from Israeli military commanders and spent time in Gaza “observing troops in action.” Shortly after returning, McColl wrote in The Times that the Israeli military’s “rules of engagement in Gaza are at least as rigorous as those of the British army.” ELNET subsequently listed McColl’s article as one of its “recent successes” in an impact report.
Three other former British military figures on that delegation were Johnny Mercer, Colonel Richard Kemp and Major Andrew Fox. Fox later wrote on Substack, “When does a journalist become a legitimate military target? Many not often enough.”
After the ceasefire illusion: Why Gaza’s “Day After” still has no buyer?
By Dr Mustafa Fetouri | MEMO | April 23, 2026
The international community remains fixated on a phantom: Gaza’s “Day After.” While Washington, Cairo, and Doha debate elaborate governance frameworks and the “Board of Peace,” these plans share a fatal flaw—they lack a viable “buyer” on the ground.
This diplomatic theatre has been eclipsed by the US-Israeli aggression against Iran that began on 28th February. Since then, Gaza has been sidelined globally, yet the genocide—begun in October 2023—has never stopped. Even before the Iran escalation, the 10th October ceasefire was a hollow promise; Israel violated the agreement over 2,400 times through near-daily air raids and shelling.
Since that supposed de-escalation, nearly 1,000 Palestinian civilians have been killed, pushing the total death toll past 72,300. This grim reality proves the “Day After” is not a sincere peace plan, but a cynical mask for a permanent, lethal status quo. Far from transitioning to Phase II, the current impasse suggests the ceasefire was merely a tactical suspension of a conflict Israel refuses to end. With the occupation intact and violations occurring daily, Gaza is not moving toward a post-war era. Instead, it is being forced into a state of managed catastrophe, where “peace” serves as a placeholder for the next phase of destruction.
The “Day After” blueprints—specifically the Trump-led Board of Peace and the National Transitional Committee (NTC)—envision technocratic governance for Gaza but face a wall of refusal. For the Israeli government, any plan offering a pathway to Palestinian sovereignty is a non-starter; Netanyahu’s coalition instead prioritises “forward defence” and indefinite military hegemony. Conversely, the Palestinian Authority (PA) remains wary of being “parachuted” into the ruins on the back of Israeli tanks, a move that would permanently strip them of national legitimacy.
The vacuum is further complicated by the survival of the Resistance on the ground. Despite the fanfare surrounding the Board of Peace’s “Phase II,” Hamas has explicitly rejected any form of international guardianship, viewing the NTC not as a governing partner, but as a Trojan horse for disarmament. Meanwhile, the wealthy Arab states—the intended financiers of a reconstruction effort now estimated to cost $71.4 billion—have failed to commit any tangible funds.
Their hesitance is rooted in a grim economic reality: the regional losses they have accumulated, and continue to accumulate, from the spillover of the war on Iran have depleted the very sovereign wealth once earmarked for Gaza.
Without a “buyer” willing to assume the immense security and political risks of governing a site of ongoing genocide, the various “roadmaps” coming out of Washington and Brussels serve as little more than academic exercises in a theater of the absurd. The international community continues to pitch governance models to a phantom audience, while the reality on the ground remains one of systematic destruction, leaving Gaza caught in a loop where “reconstruction” is discussed as a future hope but never funded as a present necessity.
The “Day After” illusion is further sustained by the inflammatory rhetoric of Nickolay Mladenov, the High Representative for the Board of Peace. In his recent April 2026 briefings, Mladenov has essentially weaponised Gaza’s reconstruction, explicitly linking the release of the $71.4 billion in aid to the immediate and total disarmament of Palestinian factions.
By framing the situation as a binary choice—disarm or continue to suffer—Mladenov has abandoned the role of a neutral mediator.
Hamas has responded by accusing Mladenov of siding with the Israeli occupation and ignoring the thousands of ceasefire violations that have occurred since October 2026 effectively freezing the process in Phase II. By prioritizing the “decommissioning of weapons” over the immediate cessation of the genocide and the lifting of the blockade, Mladenov’s framework has become a symbol of international bias rather than a bridge to peace. This disconnect is why the “Day After” has no buyer: the brokers are selling a plan that demands the surrender of the victims while the aggressor continues its military operations with impunity.
Sensing that the Resistance groups are not convinced by his frameworks, Mladenov has recently attempted to soften his public tone while maintaining his rigid demands. In an interview with Reuters on 20th April, he admitted that negotiations with Hamas are “not easy,” yet he struck a jarringly optimistic note, claiming he is “optimistic that we will be able to come up with an arrangement that works for all sides and, most importantly, works for the people in Gaza.” Since neither Israel—which continues its strikes—nor the Resistance—which has rejected international guardianship—has publicly shifted their positions, Mladenov’s forward-looking posture appears increasingly detached from the ground reality.
In recent high-level meetings in Cairo (ending 17th April), Hamas negotiators, led by Khalil al-Hayya, delivered a firm list of prerequisites to the Egyptian mediators. They made it clear that they will not consider any decommissioning of weapons without:
- A definitive and irreversible plan toward a sovereign Palestinian State.
- The complete and immediate lifting of the 19-year blockade.
- A full Israeli withdrawal to the pre-October lines (specifically removing the “Yellow Line” military zones).
- The prior implementation of all Phase I humanitarian commitments, including the reopening of all commercial crossings and the restoration of Gaza’s power plant.
By insisting on these core national rights as a baseline, the Resistance has effectively neutralized Mladenov’s “aid-for-arms” trade-off, exposing the Board of Peace as a seller with a product that the actual stakeholders refuse to buy.
Ultimately, the “Day After” is failing because it has lost its primary architect. Donald Trump, once the loudest champion of these regional “deals,” is now completely bogged down by the escalating war on Iran, a conflict that is siphoning away the political capital and attention once directed toward Gaza. His schedule for next month confirms this pivot: a rescheduled state visit to China (May 14-15) and a high-stakes reception for the UK’s King Charles later this month, both of which were delayed specifically by his war on Iran.
With Trump preoccupied by a naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz and a domestic battle over war powers, Gaza has been relegated to a secondary theatre.
This lack of American bandwidth means the “Board of Peace” is effectively a rudderless ship. For the people on the ground, this means the “Day After” is not just a geopolitical myth, but a casualty of a larger regional fire that the White House is currently more interested in fuelling than extinguishing.
Monitoring group finds UK media guilty of ‘systematic’ dehumanization of Palestinians
The Cradle | April 23, 2026
A British media monitoring group accused major UK media outlets on 23 April of “systematic” anti-Palestine bias in their coverage of Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza over the past two years.
NewsCord announced it had analyzed thousands of articles published by BBC, The Guardian, and Sky News in their coverage of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza since 2023.
The group quantified various bias metrics, including “attribution, passive voice, source qualification, humanization, legal framing, and the reporting of documented genocidal statements by Israeli officials.”
NewsCord found systematic patterns of anti-Palestine bias in the reporting of all three news outlets. For example, the BBC names Israel as the perpetrator in just 50 percent of reports of casualties and uses passive voice, which obscures responsibility, in 80 percent of sentences reporting casualties from Israeli attacks.
The Guardian names the perpetrator in just 54 percent of cases.
All three routinely label the Gaza Health Ministry as “Hamas-affiliated” in an effort to undermine the credibility of its casualty and death counts, even though the UN and Israeli military view the ministry’s reporting as credible.
In contrast, the outlets only noted the credibility of the UN in one percent of instances when the international body’s reports are cited.
Across UK media, the word “genocide” to describe Israel’s actions in Gaza is rarely mentioned, NewsCord found. This is despite the International Court of Justice issuing provisional measures ordering Israel to halt its military operations to prevent its troops from perpetrating genocide, and despite the findings of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory that Israel has committed genocide.
Rights groups Amnesty International and Israeli-based B’Tselem have also concluded Israel is guilty of genocide in Gaza.
Additionally, none of the three UK news outlets have reported on documented genocidal statements by Israeli officials that are cited as evidence of intent in ICJ proceedings, NewsCord added.
Shortly after the genocide began, Netanyahu referred to Palestinians in Gaza as “Amalek,” recalling a story from the Jewish Torah in which God commands the ancient Israelites to eradicate an entire people, including every last woman and child.
The monitoring group also found that Palestinian voices were given far less prominence, as measured by word count, compared with Israeli perspectives, and that detainees were more often humanized only when Israeli.
In December, Drop Site News revealed that BBC editor Raffi Berg has almost complete control of the British broadcaster’s online coverage of Israel’s genocide in Gaza and is ensuring that all events are reported with a pro-Israel bias.
“This guy’s entire job is to water down everything that’s too critical of Israel,” one former BBC journalist said.
Pro-Israel bias is not just an issue in the UK media, but in the western media broadly.
A media-analysis report released by Media Bias Meter last November titled “Framing Gaza” presented data showing that major western outlets mention “Israel” far more often than “Palestine” in both headlines and article bodies.
The outlets in question included the New York Times (NYT), BBC, Le Monde, the Globe and Mail, The Guardian, Reuters, AP, and AFP.
According to the dataset, NYT uses “Israel” in headlines 1,868 times and “Palestine” only 10 times, a ratio of 187 to 1.
The disproportionate pattern appears across the other outlets, with BBC showing 1,100 uses of “Israel” in headlines and 91 uses of “Palestine,” Le Monde showing 1,087 versus 65, and De Telegraaf showing 952 versus 65.
Israeli-backed armed gang kidnaps 25 Palestinians in Gaza’s Zeitoun neighbourhood
MEMO | April 22, 2026
An armed gang backed by Israel has reportedly kidnapped 25 Palestinians, including women and children, in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood.
In a statement issued yesterday, the “Deterrence” force, affiliated with the Palestinian resistance’s security forces, said that the gang attacked families in the Al-Dawla and Al-Sawafiri areas before abducting several people.
The statement added that these areas are effectively under Israeli army control, making it difficult to obtain accurate information about the identities or fate of those abducted.
The “Deterrence” force called for the formation of popular protection committees to confront what it described as “collaborating gangs”, stressing the need for coordinated community and tribal efforts alongside the security services.
The statement came a day after the “Deterrence” force said that it had carried out a field operation in Khan Younis targeting similar groups, resulting in deaths and injuries among their members.
Similar incidents have been reported in other parts of the Gaza Strip in recent weeks, including an attack by an armed group east of Al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza. Eyewitnesses said that Israeli drones intervened to protect the group’s members, resulting in civilian casualties.
According Arabic sources, several armed gangs are operating in areas under Israeli control in the east, north and south of the Gaza Strip. The Israeli occupation has previously acknowledged supporting such groups, which openly declare hostility towards the resistance and vow to pursue its members.
Observers have warned that the expanding role of these gangs, alongside ongoing Israeli military operations, could lead to a further deterioration in security and deepen the humanitarian crisis facing residents of the Gaza Strip.
No war crimes in Gaza, says Nigel Farage’s Israel tsar
Jason Pearlman is among several pro-Israel figures behind the party predicted to win big in May elections
By Martin Williams | Declassified UK | April 21, 2026
Israel has not committed a single war crime in Gaza, the head of the newly-formed Reform Friends of Israel has claimed.
Speaking to Declassified, Jason Pearlman also described the torture and abuse of Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons as “the minutiae of individual claims”.
Until December, Pearlman was a media adviser to Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, who a UN commission found to have incited genocide.
Speaking from Israel, where he still lives, he told Declassified that he started a conversation with Reform about turning the party’s ‘Friends of Israel’ group into a “full-time” organisation while he was still working for Herzog.
“We did have a dinner with Nigel and some key backers,” he said. “We were able to put seed funding together.”
Pearlman refused to say who Reform Friends of Israel’s (RFOI) donors were.
But he admitted: “I’m sure some of the people who fund CFI [Conservative Friends of Israel] and LFI [Labour Friends of Israel] will also be funding RFI.”
Who is Jason Pearlman?
While Jason Pearlman remains an obscure figure in British politics, he stands to become one of the most influential figures on foreign policy, if Nigel Farage’s party wins the next election.
He has said he has “great respect” for Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes.
And, when his departure from Israeli politics was announced in December, he was personally thanked by President Herzog.
“Jason has helped guide the Office of the President through perhaps Israel’s most challenging times with the international press,” Herzog said.
“I am grateful for his tireless efforts to promote understanding of the work of the President of Israel and bring Israel’s story to millions around the world.”
When Declassified asked Pearlman if he believed Israel had committed any war crimes since 7 October 2023, he said: “No, of course not.”
He added: “The tragedy is that there is no nuance when it comes to discussing this conflict.”
Declassified asked if he could think of a single specific case where he would condemn IDF soldiers in Gaza. Pearlman replied: “Probably… [but] I can’t think of anything specifically off-hand.”
And when asked about the well-documented abuse and torture of Palestinian prisoners, Pearlman said: “I am sure there is some truth to all of these things…” But he appeared to dismiss such cases in favour of focusing on “the wider perspective of ‘how do we solve these issues?’”.
He said: “We are looking at how can we promote a dialogue and a narrative that advances a better region or, in this case of Reform Friends of Israel, a better relationship between the UK and the values and the UK with Israel and the values of Israel.
“And rather than getting dragged into the minutiae of individual claims – which obviously need to be dealt with; if they’re brought to you, then you obviously need to deal with them – but individual cases, I’m much more interested in promoting a dialogue which puts a very clear line between terrorism and a future.”
Pressed about why he was referring to abuse allegations as “the minutiae of individual cases”, Pearlman simply said: “I have full faith in the judicial system to prosecute, investigate and prosecute any such cases. I am not aware of any such cases being proven or prosecuted.”
Discussing the aims of Reform Friends of Israel, he pushed back at the suggestion it is a lobbying organisation, saying that he instead considered the group to be “a resource for the party”.
“[RFOI] believe fervently that the UK-Israel relationship is an important relationship,” he said, adding that it “needs heavily investing in”.
“Reform, as a party, I think we can find a lot of people who understand that importance and want to help promote it.”
Hamas dismisses US-backed disarmament plan as ‘collective suicide’
The Cradle | April 20, 2026
Hamas has rejected a US-backed proposal to disarm, describing it as a “trap” that risks igniting internal war in Gaza, according to Palestinian officials who spoke with Middle East Eye (MEE).
The plan was presented earlier this month in Cairo by Gaza Board of Peace envoy Nickolay Mladenov, with US officials present, as part of ongoing ceasefire talks that have stalled due to Israeli violations and unmet obligations.
Palestinian sources with direct knowledge of the negotiations said Hamas believes the proposal is designed to “ignite civil war in the Gaza Strip and destabilize Palestinian society.”
A Gaza-based source told MEE, “Hamas completely rejects this,” adding that within the Qassam Brigades, disarmament is viewed as “collective suicide.”
The resistance movement argues that surrendering weapons would leave Palestinians exposed, especially as “Israeli-backed armed gangs” continue to operate.
“They know that giving up their weapons is not an option and will not happen,” the source said.
The proposal also includes the removal of around 20,000 civil servants from Gaza’s administrative structure, which Hamas considers unworkable.
“This would be a complete disaster for any society,” the source said, questioning who would replace experienced personnel tasked with running the besieged enclave.
Hamas officials insist that any discussion of disarmament must follow full implementation of the first phase of the ceasefire.
That includes lifting restrictions on humanitarian aid, which Israel has not fulfilled, allowing only a small fraction of the required air to enter the strip.
Talks over the past two weeks have been described as tense, with Mladenov reportedly issuing a 48-hour ultimatum, warning that fighting could resume if Hamas did not respond.
Egypt has urged Hamas to accept the proposal; however, sources indicate that Hamas still insists on firm guarantees that Israel will fulfill its commitments before any second-phase negotiations move forward.
The eight-month plan presented by the Board of Peace proposes a phased process to disarm Hamas and other resistance factions while transferring governance in Gaza to a technocratic body, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG).
The plan is meant to unfold across five stages, ending with a partial Israeli withdrawal and reconstruction, but it makes no mention of Palestinian statehood, indicating continued Israeli control.
Hamas official Bassem Naim rejected the proposal, accusing Mladenov of serving Israeli and US agendas and warning that linking reconstruction to disarmament “contradicts previous understandings.”
Israel Hayom recently reported that Israel is preparing to resume its genocide on Gaza as the deadline for Hamas disarmament approaches, with Tel Aviv warning it would “complete the mission” if the resistance does not surrender its weapons.
Israeli violations of the ceasefire have continued unabated, with hundreds of Palestinians killed since the agreement took effect and aid deliberately restricted to a fraction of agreed levels, leaving Gaza’s population exposed to famine conditions.
Last week, Israeli soldiers killed two UNICEF-contracted truck drivers and injured two others during a routine water delivery operation at Gaza City’s only operational filling point, disrupting critical aid as shortages deepen across the strip.
Since the so-called ceasefire was declared, at least 738 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, including at least 214 children and dozens of women.
Israel’s war obsession and the urgency of Palestinian leverage
By Ramzy Baroud | MEMO | April 20, 2026
It is tempting to argue that Israel’s new military doctrine is predicated on perpetual war—but the reality is more complex.
Not that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would object to such an arrangement. On the contrary, his relentless drive for military escalation suggests precisely that. After all, his openly declared quest for a “greater Israel” would require exactly this kind of permanent militarism—endless expansion and sustained regional destruction.
However, Israel cannot sustain an open-ended fight on multiple fronts indefinitely.
Israeli officials boast about fighting on “seven fronts,” but many of these are, in military terms, largely imaginary rather than sustained battlefields.
The real wars, however, are entirely of Israel’s making: from the genocide in Gaza to its unprovoked regional wars.
Still, that fact should not blind us to another reality: in the lead-up to the war on Iran, and in the escalation against Lebanon, there was near-total consensus among Jewish Israelis. An Israel Democracy Institute survey conducted on March 2–3 found that 93% of Jewish Israelis supported the joint US-Israeli attack on Iran. Support cut across all political camps.
The same enthusiasm for war accompanied the Gaza genocide and the various wars and escalations in Lebanon.
Even Yair Lapid—so often and so falsely marketed abroad as a “dove”—fully backed these wars, admitting after the Iran ceasefire that Israel had entered them with “rare consensus” and that he supported them “from the very first moment.”
His repeated criticisms, like those of other Israeli politicians, are not of the war but of Netanyahu’s failure to deliver a strategic outcome.
And this is the crucial distinction. Israelis mostly support the wars, but many no longer trust Netanyahu to translate destruction into strategic victory. By mid-April, 92% of Jewish Israelis gave the army high marks for its management of the Iran war, but only 38% gave high ratings to the government.
In other words, the public still believes in war but increasingly doubts the leadership waging it.
That distinction may not matter much to us, since the outcome remains mass death, devastation, and colonial violence. But in Israel’s own military and strategic calculations, it matters enormously. Its wars have historically followed a familiar model: crush resistance, impose military and political domination, and translate battlefield violence into colonial expansion.
Netanyahu delivered none of that.
This is why the uproar in Israel over the April 16 Lebanon ceasefire has been so fierce, and why the fears surrounding a possible stalemate with Iran run even deeper.
The Lebanon ceasefire clearly did not secure one of Israel’s central declared aims: the disarmament of Hezbollah. Israel kept troops in southern Lebanon, but the agreement halted offensive operations and fell far short of the promised “total victory.”
For many in Israel, any outcome that falls short of total victory is immediately read as defeat. One northern Israeli regional leader, Eyal Shtern, captured that mood with brutal clarity when he reacted to the Lebanon ceasefire by asking how Israel had gone “from absolute victory to total surrender,” in remarks reported by CNN.
That is the real crisis now confronting Israel: not that it has discovered the limits of permanent war, but that it has once again discovered that exterminatory violence does not automatically produce political victory.
While Iran possesses political leverage that could allow for a long-term, or even permanent, truce, Lebanon and Syria remain in a far more vulnerable position. However, no one is in a more precarious condition than the Palestinians, particularly those in Gaza.
Unlike others who retain some political margin and space to maneuver, Palestinians live under Israeli occupation, apartheid, and siege. Gaza, in particular, has been reduced to a sealed enclave of devastation.
Its hermetic siege has produced one of the most horrific humanitarian catastrophes in modern history: an entire population surviving on polluted water, with infrastructure destroyed, food critically scarce, and thousands still buried beneath the rubble.
Aside from their legendary steadfastness—sumud—Palestinians operate under severe constraints in their ability to impose conditions on Israel, particularly as it continues to receive unconditional support from the United States and its Western allies. Yet their resilience, collective action, and enduring presence remain powerful forms of leverage that cannot be easily contained.
Netanyahu—and those who will come after him—will always find in Palestine a space in which war can be waged continuously and at relatively low cost to Israel itself.
Unlike other battlefields, where war becomes politically, militarily, and economically unsustainable, Israel has turned its occupation of Palestine into a permanent battlefield.
Even if Netanyahu, now politically diminished and aging, exits the political scene, the underlying paradigm will remain intact. Future Israeli leaders will continue to wage war on Palestine, not despite its costs, but because of its perceived benefits: it is financially subsidized, colonially advantageous, and politically sustainable within Israel’s current structure.
To break this paradigm, Palestinians must generate leverage—real leverage. This cannot come from futile negotiations or appeals to long-ignored international law. It can only emerge from sustained collective resistance to colonialism, reinforced by meaningful support from Arab and Muslim states and genuine international allies, and amplified by global solidarity capable of exerting real pressure on Israel and, crucially, on its principal benefactors.
For now, Netanyahu continues his wars because he has no answer to his own strategic failures. Here, escalation is not a strength; it is the last refuge of a leadership that cannot deliver victory.
This, however, also reveals something else: Israel is entering a moment of unprecedented vulnerability.
That vulnerability must be exposed—clearly, consistently, and urgently—by all those who seek an end to these senseless wars, an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and a path toward justice that has been denied for far too long.
Netanyahu’s ‘total victory’ to total flop
By Robert Inlakesh | Al Mayadeen | April 19, 2026
Promising annihilation, dominance, and total victory, the Israeli leadership has found itself in a predicament no closer to victory on any front. Tactical victories sold as strategic ones have been exposed; instead of meticulously planned operations, Tel Aviv engages in aggression without any discernible long-term strategy to achieve its stated aims.
Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli regime of old is no more. Instead of implementing methodical planning, public deception, and fighting the long game, its thinking has been replaced by a ruthlessly violent vengeance scheme that seeks to try and achieve in months what it was previously aiming for over decades.
The beginning of the war on Iran was not February 28, 2026; instead, it was October 7, 2023. This was the moment when everything changed in the strategic thinking of the Israeli leadership. For them, the illusion of absolute control and superiority was crushed under the boots of a few thousand Palestinian fighters, who single-handedly dealt the most severe blow to the Zionist regime in its history.
As an event, the collapse of the Israeli southern command at the hands of a guerrilla force possessing homemade light weapons, Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, represented the moment of a great shift. It wasn’t long before the decision was made to launch a genocide against the people of Gaza.
Inflicting the genocide was the whole strategy, not dealing a military defeat to Hamas or any other Palestinian organizations. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu foolishly believed that the genocide would restore the Zionist entity’s prized “deterrence capacity”, while the side effects of the genocide would mean the de facto defeat of the Resistance, destroying Palestinian will to resist that could lead to a mass ethnic cleansing event that would end up inflicting a predicament on Hamas that replicates the PLO’s defeat in 1982.
When it became clear that this strategy was not working inside Gaza itself, the Israeli military continued without any clear goals and launched operation after operation in desperate attempts to achieve their desired outcomes. The majority of the tasks performed inside Gaza by the invading ground forces were simply round-the-clock demolition work; so much that they even recruited private businesses and settler employees to aid in these efforts.
Ultimately, they ran into a major problem; after two years, they had still failed and presented a plan to try to implement a West Bank-style occupation over Gaza City, a task that experts predicted could take them a decade. This is why they accepted a ceasefire, one in which the war was simply frozen and meant they were able to engage in a prisoner exchange.
In Lebanon, they were also put into a difficult predicament. The stance of former Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah had been that Lebanon would remain a support front for Gaza until the very end. “Hamas will win,” stated Nasrallah in a 2023 speech, after which he asserted that “no matter where the region is taken,” Hezbollah will stand with Gaza.
The daily operations by Hezbollah were a thorn in its side, which is why the Israelis began planning to escalate in an unprecedented way. Through their terrorist indiscriminate pager attacks, followed by the assassination of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and most of Hezbollah’s senior leadership, the Israelis believed they had dealt a death blow to Hezbollah.
Selling this lie to the public, the Israeli leadership claimed a major victory and alleged to have taken out around 80% of Hezbollah’s weapons arsenal.
In March, when Hezbollah began responding to the some 15,400 ceasefire violations committed by the Zionists, suddenly the Israeli public was jolted back by the power and coordination with which Hezbollah managed to attack, especially as these operations were carried out alongside Iran’s missile and drone strikes.
Eventually, failing to score victories in key towns like Bint Jbeil and Khiam, the Israelis begrudgingly accepted a temporary ceasefire, one that they immediately violated.
If it were true that the Israelis were close to, or even believed that a victory over Hezbollah was possible, they would not take any ceasefire agreement of any description. Instead, they were forced to go back to the drawing board.
Similarly, they launched the 12-day war on Iran and came out empty-handed. They also used their US allies to launch an air assault on Yemen and failed to achieve any of their goals. Then came the February 28 attack on Iran, where the largest blows were landed during the first 24 hours, yet even with the US on their side, their aspirations for regime change quickly faded into a distant memory.
When Yemen’s Ansar Allah joined the war in support of Iran and Hezbollah, the Israelis didn’t even launch strikes on Yemen, likely due to it being a useless endeavour.
So as it stands, the Lebanon front is again open, the Iran front was fought to a standstill with no goals achieved, Yemen is open whenever there is aggression on their allies, and Gaza is a temporarily frozen arena that they still have no plan for. Even in Syria, the constant aggression is like playing with fire.
Meanwhile, the delusional Zionist leadership is still chasing its aspirations of a “Greater Israel”, threatening even Turkey with retaliation for simply criticizing them. What this behaviour and all of their decision-making since October 7 point to is an irrational inability to close any conflict, lacking any coherent plans to win.
Therefore, the Israelis will use any and all ceasefire agreements in order to go back to the drawing board, in order to conjure up new plans for further aggression. Whether it’s a Lebanon, Gaza, or Iran ceasefire, they are not about to give up on attacking everyone mercilessly.
This means that despite all of its efforts and attacks over the past two and a half years, the predicament they find themselves in has not changed. A ceasefire kicks the can down the road, simply delaying the inevitable resumption of war. Either the Israelis are totally defeated in battle, or they will continue to attack again and again. This will go around in circles until they are eventually defeated.
The prospect of an expanded and far more violent war
By Kurt Nimmo | Another Day in the Empire | April 18, 2026
… Earlier this month, Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich declared an official start to the Greater Israel project. He included Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine in the project. Since the establishment of Israel in 1948, Zionists have strived to weaken neighboring states, dismantle their military capacity, and worked to reshape the balance of power in West Asia. The original plan called for occupying and ethnically cleansing the entirety of Palestine, all of Jordan, south Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq, the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, and northern Saudi Arabia.
The Nazis had a similar plan during their occupation of Europe in the Second World War. It was called the “Greater Germanic Reich” (Großgermanisches Reich). In the autumn of 1933, Adolf Hitler made plans to annex territories including Bohemia, parts of western Poland, and Austria to Germany. He also aimed to create satellite or puppet states that would lack independent economies or policies. Nazi racial theories classified the Germanic peoples of Europe as part of a racially superior Nordic subset within the broader Aryan race, which they considered to be the sole true bearers of civilized culture.
In Deuteronomy, the Jewish God chooses Israel to be his holy (kadosh) and treasured (segulah) people. Deuteronomy 14:2 states God has chosen the Jews “to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” According to the Torah, “Eretz Israel” (“Land of Israel” in Hebrew), now defined as “Greater Israel,” was “given” to the “children of Abraham” and serves as the basis for “a merger of religious fundamentalism and modern political ethno-nationalism, whereby ancient texts are used to justify a modern military expansionist state.” In regard to Lebanon, the Zionists believe Greater Israel extends up to the Sidon and Litani rivers.
According to Amichai Friedman, a rabbi in the Israeli Army, “This land is ours, the whole land, including Gaza, including Lebanon,” while Daniella Weiss, a Jewish ethnonationalist and former mayor of Kedumim, called for the “invasion of Lebanon” immediately after the war in Gaza. Lebanon-born Israeli journalist Edy Cohen posted to social media that areas of Lebanon, including Faraya and Kesrouan, will also suffer the fate of Gaza, that is to say ethnic cleansing, massacres, and wholesale theft of land, homes (those not demolished), and infrastructure. … Full article
Israeli soldiers kill UNICEF truck drivers delivering water to Gaza families
The Cradle | April 18, 2026
Israeli soldiers killed two Palestinian truck drivers hired by UNICEF and injured two others during routine water delivery operations at a filling point in northern Gaza on 17 April.
“UNICEF is outraged by the killing of two drivers of trucks contracted by UNICEF to provide clean water to families in the Gaza Strip,” a statement from the UN agency reads.
UNICEF added the victims were “killed by Israeli fire in an incident that took place early this morning at the Mansoura water filling point in northern Gaza.”
The attack occurred during normal operations, with no changes in the convoy’s movements or procedures that morning.
UNICEF has since told its contractors to stand down at the site until conditions are safe enough to return.
“The Mansoura water filling point is currently the only operational truck filling point for the Mekorot water supply line serving Gaza City,” UNICEF said, highlighting the significance of the disruption.
“UNICEF and humanitarian partners use it multiple times a day to sustain critical water trucking operations for hundreds of thousands of people, including children.”
UNICEF called on Israeli authorities to “investigate this incident, and ensure full accountability,” adding that “Humanitarian workers, essential service providers, and civilian infrastructure, including critical water facilities, must never be targeted.”
In March, Israel slashed already restricted aid flows into Gaza, allowing just 640 trucks to enter out of 6,000 expected under existing arrangements – around 10 percent of the required amount.
Palestinian officials warn that the cuts have intensified shortages and pushed the strip closer to famine, with fuel, food, and basic goods increasingly scarce.
UNICEF said prices for essential items had surged by 200 to 300 percent, placing more than 1.5 million people at risk of severe food insecurity.
At the same time, Israeli attacks on the besieged Strip have continued despite the so-called ceasefire.
Earlier this month, Israeli forces shot and killed nine-year-old Palestinian schoolgirl Ritaj Reihan inside a tent classroom in northern Gaza, around two kilometers from the so-called ‘Yellow Line,’ in front of dozens of her classmates.
US Middle East Policy: The Growing Propensity for Genocide
Arab Center Washington DC | April 10, 2026
Professor John Mearsheimer discusses the #IranWar, the #Gaza genocide, and the US policy toward the Middle East.
His remarks were the keynote address for Arab Center’s Eleventh Annual Conference.
John J. Mearsheimer is an American political scientist and international relations scholar who serves as the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago and is the author of How States Think: The Rationality of Foreign Policy, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics, The Great Delusion: Liberal Dreams and International Realities, and The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, among other works.
Israeli General: War with Iran does not serve Israel as global standing erodes over Gaza
MEMO | April 17, 2026
A former Israeli General close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned of the strategic and political consequences of the ongoing conflict, saying a military confrontation with Iran is not in Israel’s interest.
Major General (res.) Giora Eiland, former head of Israel’s National Security Council, said in remarks reported by Israeli media platform Walla that Israel’s international standing has sharply declined over the past three years, adding that the war in Gaza is the main driver of this deterioration.
He said the prevailing view among political circles in Europe and the United States is that Netanyahu has drawn Washington into an unnecessary confrontation.
Eiland added that these tensions have caused tangible harm to the global economy and threatened its stability, fuelling international public opinion against Israeli policies.
He stressed that the erosion of Israel’s standing is no longer limited to international institutions, but has become “clear and evident” within the United States, Israel’s closest ally.
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Not Hamas-Israeli conflict: The Palestinian cause belongs to the world
By Ramzy Baroud | MEMO | October 15, 2023
This, in his thinking, could only mean one thing: “Never before has Israel stood more honored and revered by the nations of the world.”
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