Israel Lies again about Hind Rajab Killing in a Public Relations Whitewash Maneuver

By Robert Inlakesh – The Palestine Chronicle – August 20, 2026
Historically speaking, Israel has never once charged a single Israeli soldier for killing a Palestinian in Gaza throughout any of its large-scale assaults on the territory that began to ramp up in 2008.
The Israeli military made headlines again this Wednesday, after they admitted for the first time to having fired upon the vehicle in which 5-year-old Hind Rajab was ruthlessly murdered in January of 2024. However, this “admission” is being presented dishonestly and is a clear Public Relations maneuver manufactured by Israel to whitewash their actions.
Hind Rajab’s murder at the hands of the Israeli army is one of the most high-profile war crimes committed throughout the Gaza Genocide, so much so that it was turned into an award-winning docudrama film, ‘The Voice of Hind Rajab’. The audio recordings of the young girl, released by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS), who were desperately attempting to put international pressure on Israel to permit their workers to rescue her, went viral and captured the emotions of millions around the world.
Israel understands this well and has therefore chosen to strategically place the event under a criminal investigation, in order to portray a sense of accountability.
It was one of five incidents that the ‘IDF General Staff’s Fact Finding and Assessment Mechanism’ claims to have investigated, three of which it chose not to pursue further and absolved its forces of any wrongdoing in:
– The killing of the seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) humanitarian aid workers in April of 2024 while they were operating in Deir al-Balah. The victims were Australian, British, Palestinian, Polish, and dual American-Canadian citizens, who were targeted in three clearly marked vehicles. Some of the survivors attempted to flee in other vehicles and were subjected to double-tap strikes.
– The February 2024 tank strike on a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) shelter that was located in Khan Younis, killing two of its employees and injuring others. Despite the location being known to be an MSF site, the Israelis simply claimed ignorance; they never presented any evidence that they struck a military target.
– The November 2023 strike on a clearly marked MSF convoy in Gaza City that killed two other employees. It was a convoy that was attempting to evacuate 137 civilians and had coordinated with the Israeli military, even halting at a crowded checkpoint for hours in order to receive the go-ahead from Israel.
Another incident that Israel claims it is opening a criminal probe into is the massacre of 15 Palestinian paramedics and first responders in Tel al-Sultan, Rafah. On March 23, 2025, when contact was initially lost with the emergency workers, Gaza’s media office believed the group had been kidnapped and appealed to the international community. Israel refused to acknowledge the incident had even occurred at the time.
Then by the end of the month, after the Israeli military had withdrawn from the area, an unmarked grave was discovered, where the bodies of the 15 paramedics, emergency workers and ambulance drivers were found. Reports indicated that the group was executed at close range, one by one, before the Israelis had buried them and their ambulances in order to discard the evidence.
Israel’s initial defense in late March was that a series of unmarked vehicles had headed towards them with their lights off and in the absence of emergency signals, prompting their forces to defensively open fire. This account was later contradicted by video evidence that emerged in April showing the opposite, prompting the IDF to change its narrative and claim it had mistaken the emergency lights for a threat.
By late April of 2025, the Israeli military concluded, as a result of an internal probe, that the incident could be attributed to “professional failures” and “operational misunderstandings”. Later, the Israelis would again shift their narrative by claiming, without any evidence, that six of those killed had ties to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) armed group.
Now it is going with a separate narrative, based on its latest so-called investigation, that the “firing conducted during the incident raises a reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct.” Its forces were shown by independent investigations, including one conducted by Forensic Architecture, to have fired at least 900 bullets and carried out close-range executions.
Silencing the Voice of Hind Rajab
Media outlets from across the spectrum have reported that Israel is now launching an internal criminal investigation into the killing of Hind Rajab and admits to firing upon the vehicle in which she was killed, along with six of her family members. However, Israel’s internal investigation just drew another conclusion that seeks to whitewash the entire event, protecting its soldiers rather than taking accountability for its actions.
“The findings of the examination indicate that IDF troops fired at a vehicle that was approaching them,” is what the Israeli military now claims as a result of its latest investigation. “Following review of the findings and due to apparent failures in the coordination of the movement of the Palestine Red Crescent ambulance, it has been decided to initiate a criminal investigation of the incident by the Military Police Criminal Investigation Division.”
Keep in mind that this is precisely the same excuse given to run cover for the executions carried out against 15 first responders and paramedics in the Rafah massacre; they are now stating they will be subject to a criminal investigation. It is an excuse that assumes that Israeli forces simply acted in self-defense and fired towards what they interpreted as a threat.
Also, two vehicles were struck in the incident, not one. Two PRCS paramedics were slain following a double-tap strike on their ambulance.
Numerous independent forensic and satellite investigations were conducted into the specifics of the incident, including one by the Washington Post and another by Forensic Architecture [in collaboration with EarShot and Fault Lines], which demonstrated Israeli forces fired 335 bullets into the Kia Picanto in which Hind Rajab and six of her family members were killed.
Evidence also shows that it was impossible for the vehicle to have traveled south as the Israeli military claimed it should have, following their instructions to locals that day, as the streets heading south from their location had all been blocked. The investigations also concluded that the car was fired upon from a short enough range for Israeli soldiers to see the innocent civilians sheltering inside it.
Israel’s shots also penetrated the vehicle from its right side. Even if the Israelis continue to claim the car was heading towards them – presumably somehow being driven by a terrified 5-year-old girl – the vehicle was clearly not shot from the front, meaning that it was conclusively not a threat.
That said, the Red Crescent workers based in occupied Ramallah spent around three hours on the phone with little Hind, desperately attempting to get Israeli permission to rescue her. By this point, it had become an international incident.
For 12-days, beginning on January 29 of 2024, Hind Rajab’s status was officially considered to be “missing” and presumed dead, until February 10, when her little body was recovered from the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood, riddled with bullets.
When Israel was finally forced to address the issue, it claimed that its forces were not even stationed in the area and that there were no operations taking place at the time. It even launched an internal probe, which produced the same excuse with different wording.
This narrative more or less held for around two and a half years, as Israeli officials and the military periodically made small alterations to their claims, despite the evidence that emerged to debunk them. Israel even attempted to blame Palestinian fighters for the killings, another tactic they have used countless times to explain away their war crimes.
Historically speaking, Israel has never once charged a single Israeli soldier for killing a Palestinian in Gaza throughout any of its large-scale assaults on the territory that began to ramp up in 2008.
The harshest sentence ever dealt to an Israeli soldier for their conduct inside Gaza was to a member of the Givati Brigade in 2009, during what Tel Aviv called “Operation Cast Lead”, landing the combatant a total of 7.5 months in prison. This was not for killing, raping or torturing Palestinians; it was for stealing a credit card.
– Robert Inlakesh is a journalist, writer, and documentary filmmaker. He focuses on the Middle East, specializing in Palestine.
US-led Board of Peace considers ‘wholesale’ Hamas disarmament deal to satisfy Israel: Report
The Cradle | August 18, 2026
US President Donald Trump’s so-called Board of Peace is “weighing” a “new” Hamas disarmament proposal after Tel Aviv rejected Washington’s latest one, sources told the Times of Israel on 18 August.
“The Board of Peace is considering abandoning its phased framework for Hamas’s disarmament” due to the “Israeli pushback,” an informed source told the Israeli outlet.
“Instead of having Hamas hand over its weapons in phases, with Israel conducting corresponding withdrawals … another option being weighed by the Board of Peace would see Hamas hand over all weapons throughout Gaza, and only then would Israel have to pull back its troops to the Gaza border,” the report went on to say.
The new proposal being reported on is, essentially, what Israel has been demanding – a full surrender by the resistance prior to any discussion on withdrawal of occupation forces.
“The shift could be enough to get Israel on board, it risks losing the support of Hamas,” the Times of Israel wrote.
An Israeli official claimed to the outlet that there remains a dispute between Tel Aviv and Washington over the initial disarmament plan.
The source says the US has not yet dropped the original plan but is considering a “wholesale approach” to appease Israel.
“In this different approach, the entire area currently under Hamas’s control would be decommissioned of weapons all at once, rather than sector by sector.”
The report follows a Monday meeting between Trump’s son-in-law and top aide Jared Kushner and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Board of Peace director Nickolay Mladenov was also present.
Another Hebrew report released by Israel’s Channel 12 said Kushner reportedly opposes Netanyahu on his plans to continue strikes and assassinations in Gaza.
“There was no agreement between Netanyahu and Kushner on the continuation of the assassination operations,” a source told Channel 12. “Netanyahu made clear that he will continue the assassinations, while Kushner expressed his opposition to them.”
Kushner had also met with Hamas officials in Egypt prior to his meeting with Netanyahu on Monday. The new reports coincide with continued Israeli attacks across Gaza.
Hamas said when Washington announced the new “disarmament deal” that it would hand over its weapons to the US-endorsed Palestinian committee of technocrats tasked with governing Gaza – but “only” if Israel adheres to its commitments. Israel continues to bar this committee from entering the strip.
Tel Aviv has openly refused the new deal – which Trump referred to as “historic” – claiming both Hamas and Israel were on board.
Hamas insists that any full disarmament depends on the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. According to several reports, intensive talks on the wording of the new disarmament deal took place between Hamas officials and mediators.
The reports say the weapons will be “stored” but not handed over to Israel or destroyed.
Israel has not stopped attacks, violations, and genocide since the 2025 US plan was launched. It has also illegally occupied 70 percent of the strip.
Since the start of Trump’s so-called peace plan, over 1,200 Palestinians have been killed and more than 4,000 wounded by Israel in Gaza.
Thousands of buildings have been demolished via detonation.
The impunity granted to Israel is as shocking as its violence
By Ramona Wadi | MEMO | August 18, 2026
More incitement to violence from Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir exposes how colonial violence is aimed at the entire colonised population. Speaking on a podcast with former Israeli hostage Rom Braslavski, Ben Gvir said that Israeli forced should kill 30-40 Palestinians each night in Gaza.
Braslavski requested to act as executioner should Ben Gvir’s plan come to pass, to which the security minister replied, “I will turn the world upside down to make that happen. I promise you that I will do everything I can and turn the world upside down until it happens.”
As shocking as the comments are, both are the product of an enterprise that knows it can only sustain itself through ethnic cleansing.
In 2025, a poll by the Hebrew University Centre showed that 87 per cent of the Israeli government’s supporters perceived “no innocents’ in Gaza, while 64 per cent of Israelis held the same view.
Israel’s Channel 14 branded all Palestinians killed during the genocide as terrorists. Among settlers that normalise the killings of Palestinians, and which even glorifies those murdering them, Ben Gvir’s comments are unlikely to elicit any lingering shock. On the contrary, Ben Gvir’s wish for extrajudicial killings may well find willing participants. And while Gaza remains within reach of the Israeli military in terms of extrajudicial assassinations, the occupied West Bank faces both Israeli institutions and settlers.
Ben Gvir’s comments were aimed at Gaza, but Israel’s colonisation plans do not only include Gaza. The occupied West Bank, which faces daily violence from settlers, is much at risk from extrajudicial killings. In Ras al-Ain, south of Nablus, Israeli settlers besieged Palestinian families and cut off their electricity, water and food supplies. While attracting international attention, the UN as usual preferred to rely on its usual condemnations while Erika Guevara Ross, Amnesty International Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns, described the siege as “an accelerating and well-documented pattern of coordinated and strategic settler terror, enabled, backed and funded by the State of Israel.” True, but what is being done with the information that is already mainstream knowledge to the rest of the world?
Likewise, Ben Gvir’s comments have not prompted a reckoning with world leaders or international institutions. Israel has already internalised such thinking – it thrives upon creating victims to sustain itself. The international community, supposedly a reference for human rights under the UN, does not seem to consider Ben Gvir’s threats dangerous enough. Even though Israel has a proven history of torturing and killing Palestinians.
Killing 30-40 Palestinians per night is not merely a fantasy. It has already been carried out by the Israeli military during the genocide; also exceeding that quota. Ben Gvir has also found someone willing to carry out the assassinations, even on a much larger scale. For Israel, as Ben Gvir again elucidated, Palestinians “are not worthy of life. They shouldn’t live. They’re not even people.”
If, according to Ben Gvir, killing Palestinians is killing non-people, then Israel is already completely absolved of culpability. This is the type of impunity the UN is harvesting for Israel.
The Colombian factor in South America
The Latin American left has spent the last few years investing in an image of Colombia that does not correspond to the country’s historical reality
By Lucas Leiroz | Strategic Culture Foundation | August 16, 2026
In Colombia, the newly elected president, Abelardo de la Espriella, has initiated a strong rapprochement with the State of Israel. Relations that had been strained during the government of Gustavo Petro have not only been fully restored but have also deepened substantially – with the new Colombian government even recognizing Israeli “sovereignty” over the Golan Heights, a Syrian region illegally occupied by the Zionists.
The move was met with shock among South American left-wing circles, particularly in Brazil, where Colombia’s historical image as Washington’s main regional asset in South America appears to have been completely “whitewashed” by the years of Petro’s government. It is curious to see how short collective memory is in Ibero-America and how political debate in general is shaped by the emotions of momentary agendas – and how this childish mentality has repercussions even at the highest institutional levels.
Although Espriella’s measures shocked Petro’s supporters across the continent, there is really nothing surprising about what happened – except for the infamous detail that the decision to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights came amid the emergency caused by a devastating earthquake. Colombia has always been the gateway for U.S. imperialism into South America.
Since the days of the Korean War – in which Colombia participated by sending a large contingent of troops – Bogotá has served as the United States’ offensive outpost in the region. Colombia is home not only to U.S. military bases, but also to biolaboratories, intelligence centers, narco-trafficking militias, and private military companies (PMCs) armed by the United States.
Most of the U.S. offensive infrastructure in South America is concentrated in Colombia. It was from Colombian territory that U.S.-armed mercenaries invaded Venezuela in 2020 during the failed “Operation Gideon,” whose objective was to overthrow then-President Nicolás Maduro through an asymmetric warfare campaign.
Going further back historically, between the late 1990s and early 2000s, the United States and Colombia consolidated total security and defense integration through the so-called “Plan Colombia” – the U.S. policy of sending security personnel to the South American country supposedly to “combat drug trafficking” and illegal guerrilla groups. Colombia subsequently internalized the entire U.S. security apparatus, from the CIA to the armed forces and PMCs.
If there is one country in South America capable of functioning as a military pivot for U.S. interests in the region, that country has always been Colombia. This has always been clear to any political analyst – or simply to any serious observer. Apart from Brazil itself – which has historically functioned as a “watchdog” for Washington while retaining a certain degree of autonomy – Colombia is the only country in South America truly capable of carrying out any U.S. military plan.
However, acting in an emotional manner, the left across the continent simply forgot all of this. Petro became a “revolutionary” icon because of his policies appealing to the left, particularly because of his performative response to the Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip. Petro severed diplomatic relations between Colombia and Israel and strongly condemned the actions of the Zionist state in international forums. But that was where it ended. Petro did nothing beyond diplomatic theater, nothing to structurally alter Colombia’s historical ties with the United States.
Not only that, Petro himself had previously maintained – during the presidential campaign that brought him to power – strongly pro-Western rhetoric, even going so far as to advocate NATO participation in the creation of an “environmentalist” military force to protect the Amazon from problems such as wildfires and deforestation. Petro, like the continent’s entire liberal left, was completely aligned with the agendas of the Democrats and the European Union, with disagreements emerging only in relation to Donald Trump and the State of Israel.
Unfortunately, much of the left-wing political establishment across the Americas seems to act solely on the basis of fleeting political trends and emotions, without paying attention to the deeper historical and geographical context. In recent times, there has been an information-terror campaign about a supposed “danger” to the region posed by Argentina (an economically fragmented country) and Paraguay (a tiny country with no significant military relevance), simply because the current governments of these countries have adopted a more explicitly pro-U.S. and pro-Israel stance. Meanwhile, Colombia was ignored because it was regarded as an “ally” on account of Petro.
Now Petro is out of the picture. And Colombia is returning to what it has always been: the U.S. offensive base in South America. Reality is returning with full force, to the despair of activists who childishly insist on believing in the liberal democratic game.
Seyed M. Marandi: Iran & Yemen Unleash a New Offensive Strategy
Glenn Diesen | August 16, 2026
Prof. Seyed Mohammad Marandi is a professor at Tehran University and a former advisor to Iran’s nuclear negotiation team.
Glenn Diesen clip channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Prof.GlennDiesenClips
Follow Prof. Glenn Diesen:
- Substack: https://glenndiesen.substack.com/
- X/Twitter: https://x.com/Glenn_Diesen
- Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/glenndiesen
Support the research by Prof. Glenn Diesen:
- PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/glenndiesen
- Buy me a Coffee: buymeacoffee.com/gdieseng
- Go Fund Me: https://gofund.me/09ea012f
- Buy merchandise: https://diesen-shop.fourthwall.com/en-nok
Ben-Gvir pushes for killing 30-40 Palestinians every night

Al Mayadeen | August 16, 2026
Israeli Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir openly called for intensified killings and permanent Israeli settlement across Gaza, saying “targeted killings should be carried out in Gaza” and advocating that “every night” 30 or 40 Palestinians should be killed.
He went further, declaring that “all of Gaza” should be “Israeli territory” with settlements throughout the Strip, while calling for Palestinians to be encouraged to leave and promising he’ll “turn the world upside down” to execute Palestinians.
“In my imagination, I see all of Gaza as ours, with settlements, not only in the Gush Katif area, but throughout Gaza. Encourage as much emigration as possible, send them back to their countries, and the terrorists? No emigration and no nothing kill them one by one,” Ben-Gvir said.
Ben-Gvir endorses executions of Palestinians in brutal ‘justice’ call
Ben-Gvir endorsed executions by hanging, repeatedly saying Palestinians “don’t deserve to live,” while admitting he was “glad things are bad for them” and arguing that “the death penalty” is the only path toward “justice”.
A rhetoric with grave human rights implications
The remarks represent a striking escalation in rhetoric from a senior Israeli minister, openly advocating killings, executions, and the permanent settlement of Gaza while describing Palestinians as people who “don’t deserve to live.”
Such statements raise grave concerns under international human rights and humanitarian law, which protect the right to life and prohibit arbitrary killing, collective punishment, and the forced displacement of civilians.
The United Nations has identified killings of civilians, collective punishment, incitement to violence, and the denial of essential resources as matters requiring investigation under international law.
Ben-Gvir’s Gaza agenda draws alarm over ethnic cleansing of Palestinians
Beyond their brutality, Ben-Gvir’s comments raise a fundamental question about the consequences of treating an entire civilian population as a target for punishment.
The call to make Gaza “Israeli territory” while encouraging Palestinians to leave, coupled with advocacy for repeated killings and executions, points to a vision in which Palestinians’ basic rights and protections are subordinated to territorial and political aims.
The remarks therefore go beyond inflammatory language, raising serious concerns about the lives of Palestinians under Israeli occupation and the extent to which such rhetoric can normalize the targeting, killing, and forced displacement of civilians.
Why you are being lied to about Yemen and the implications of its liberation
By Robert Inlakesh – Al Mayadeen – August 16, 2026
The Yemeni Armed Forces’ campaign to liberate their nation and end the Saudi-led blockade could be one of the most important events for the Arab world in decades. Not only will it have major implications for the ongoing regional war, but it also has the potential to dramatically reshape the region.
In July, the collapse of the Yemen-Saudi ceasefire agreement, which had been in place since 2022, was triggered by a strategic mistake committed by Riyadh. While Iran sought to break the inhuman blockade on Yemen through landing civilian airliners in the nation’s capital, Saudi Arabia’s air force rushed to bombard Sanaa International Airport. The Saudis may not have known it, but their irrational actions strung them up in a strategically placed trap.
Not only had the Sanaa government been coordinating a general mobilization, but its Armed Forces decided to directly retaliate by striking vital Saudi oil infrastructure and imposing a counter-blockade on their opponents to the north. The Yemeni Armed Forces then decided to take it a step further, committing round-the-clock ballistic missile and drone strikes that inflicted hundreds of casualties on Saudi-proxy forces inside Yemen and even advanced to liberate more of their nation’s territory.
Saudi Arabia is now unable to transit the Bab al-Mandab Strait, and its ability to export oil has been severed, representing a serious economic blow. Riyadh is now facing an unprecedented predicament, as Ansar Allah imposes an equation whereby Saudi violations of Yemeni airspace are met with direct strikes on oil infrastructure.
The reason why this all matters so much is that since 2015, the so-called “International Community” has rallied behind Saudi Arabia and its GCC allies. The global media have also participated in the facade, pretending as if some rebel group that they call “the Houthis” were fighting against an “internationally recognized government.” Why they kept up their lies is simple: without full control over their nation and its resources, the Sanaa government was simply not as valuable a partner as the Arab Gulf States, so everyone played along.
Nobody cared to point out that “the Houthis” is not an accurate name for Ansar Allah, that they aren’t simply a group of “rebels” but run a government that rules over the largest portion of the Yemeni population, or that two-thirds of the nation’s Armed Forces sided with them. Neither will they tell you that the so-called “Yemen Presidential Leadership Council” was created in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Riyadh and that its undemocratically selected leader lives in Saudi Arabia.
In fact, the idea that the Saudi-proxy forces in Yemen are the legitimate representatives of the nation and are somehow a sovereign government is even more outlandish than when most of the Western world randomly decided that Juan Guaidó was the “internationally recognised” President of Venezuela.
But none of this will even end up mattering if Ansar Allah succeeds in uniting Yemen and reaching an agreement to liberate its territory from its US-Israeli-backed aggressors. The reason why the Arab regimes, alongside the US-UK-EU-Israeli alliance, have fought against the government in Sanaa is that they all fear the consequences of their success.
Yemen will be the only Arab nation that will not only oppose US imperialism and support the regional resistance, but will also actively fight the Israelis and work to combat the “Greater Israel Project.” The only Arab government that dared to open fire on the Israelis or impose a blockade on them, in support of Gaza, was the Sanaa government in Yemen. All the others that fought for Gaza were non-state actors.
A strong and united Yemen, with access to its resources and the ability to continue developing its military capabilities, will without a doubt be the biggest threat to US-Israeli hegemony in the Arab World. Yet, it will also spell another equation: it could well serve as an example to populations throughout the region, as to what is possible if the people fight for their liberation. No prospect frightens the Arab regimes more than this.
The impact Yemen can have on global trade, oil markets, regional power equations and ultimately the Palestinian cause for national liberation, all have the Zionist allied powers shaking in their boots. For so long, the Yemeni issue has been ignored, but that could soon dramatically change.
CENTCOM Map Shows Gaza and West Bank as Part of Israel
Sputnik – 16.08.2026
US Central Command appears to have failed geography again, posting a map of the Middle East in which the Gaza Strip and the West Bank are shown as Israeli territory.
The map accompanied a post on X about the CENTCOM commander’s 10-day trip to a region torn by the US-Israeli aggression against Iran.
In the image, the Palestinian enclave and the West Bank are not separated from Israel by the border lines used elsewhere on the map.
The omission is striking, as Gaza and the West Bank remain central to the Palestinian question and the wider regional crisis.
Israel continues its [genocidal] war on Gaza and Lebanon with full US support.
EU faces criticism for secret police data talks with Israel: Report
MEMO | August 15, 2026
The European Commission has been negotiating a secret agreement to share sensitive personal data with Israel’s police service, despite internal legal warnings that the deal could violate international law and put Palestinians at risk, according to a new report by civil rights group Statewatch published by Novara Media.
The draft agreement, originally negotiated with the European police agency Europol, would allow the exchange of biometric data, genetic information, location data, political views, and personal details.
Critical research indicates the deal has progressed despite a 2022 ruling by the Council of the EU’s Legal Service which deemed the proposal legally untenable.
It warned that the agreement risks legitimizing Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territories and would undermine the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.
Concerns have been raised about the potential misuse of data collected by EU police missions operating in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip city of Rafah. Experts warn that if handed to Israeli authorities, the information could feed into existing military surveillance systems used against the Palestinian population.
“The data transferred via the agreement could be used as intelligence to support decisions to attack and kill Palestinians,” legal expert Eitan Diamond told Novara Media. “The EU would run the risk of arbitrarily depriving people of their freedom and subjecting them to systematic ill-treatment under hellish conditions in detention.”
Palestinian lawyer Raji Sourani condemned the talks, telling Novara Media that “the intended cooperation is rooted in the racist colonial mentality of Europe, and turns against us Palestinians, the victims of genocide.”
While the draft text tried to exclude the use of shared data in occupied territories, it contained broad exceptions for “imminent danger to life” and the prevention or prosecution of general crimes. European legal experts called the exceptions far too vague.
The negotiations build on a narrower 2018 arrangement that explicitly excluded personal data sharing and the occupied territories. Critics said the commission’s continued pursuit of the expanded deal breaches its own diplomatic policy and ignores recent rulings by international courts.
Douwe Korff, a legal scholar affiliated with Yale University, called the commission’s position “deeply concerning,” pointing to the risk of sharing sensitive information with a state “credibly accused of genocide and other crimes.”
Since October 2023, an Israeli genocide has killed 73,389 Palestinians and injured 174,266 others according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Despite a ceasefire signed in October 2025, Israeli attacks have continued in Gaza, causing further casualties and damage to infrastructure.
Israel Rejects 15-Point Gaza Deal, Insists on War, Genocide, and Economic Armageddon
By Kevin Barrett | American Free Press | August 15, 2026
No-one has ever accused President Donald Trump of being anti-Israel. Trump has supported Israeli extremism far more than any other US president. In 2017 he moved the US embassy to Occupied Jerusalem, an extreme violation of US policy, international consensus, and international law. He strong-armed regional nations to establish “normal” relations with genocidal Israel, against the wishes of more than 95% of their populations. And he has waged relentless war on Iran on behalf of Israel, setting the stage for the current countdown to global economic catastrophe.
But all of that isn’t enough for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, who fancies himself Trump’s boss. On August 9, Netanyahu arrogantly rejected Trump’s 15-point Gaza peace plan, thumbing his nose at Trump himself and the Board of Peace that Trump chairs.
Since the Trump-brokered “ceasefire” of October 10, 2025, Israel has killed 1,258 people in Gaza. Trump has remained silent. But now, the stakes are higher. To end his disastrous war on Iran, Trump needs to comply with the first term of the Memorandum of Understanding that he signed, mandating “permanent termination of military operations on all fronts” by both parties and their allies.
In other words, Israel must cease firing at Palestinians and Lebanese people, or Iran will continue to throttle global supply chains via the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab al-Mandab. If the Americans want to stop the bleeding, they must force Israel to withdraw from Gaza and South Lebanon and stop attacking Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank.
To prevent economic Armageddon, Trump needs to compel Israel to withdraw from Gaza in accordance with his 15-point plan. That plan is laid out in stages, with Israeli withdrawal and Hamas disarmament happening simultaneously and in parallel. Hamas will relinquish its heavy equipment and weapons during Israel’s withdrawal, but it is not required to give up the small guns it needs to ensure that its people are not exterminated by ISIS terrorists in the pay of Israel.
Hamas accepted Trump’s peace agreement even though it had to give up its only leverage, its Israeli hostages. But Israel refuses to implement the deal. It continues committing genocide, deliberately slaughtering hundreds of women and children while destroying infrastructure and preventing humanitarian aid from entering.
Before August 9, Israel had pretended to accept Trump’s deal, while muttering curses under its breath. But now it is openly refusing. Israel is telling Trump, and the world economy, to go get stuffed. Retired Maj. Gen. Giora Eiland, a former head of Israel’s National Security Council, explains: “Israel has no interest in Gaza being rebuilt, it is better for us that it be destroyed for generations to come.”
Trump’s Board of Peace Roadmap document states: “Israel shall fully complete, without delay, all remaining commitments.” The Board’s original language, which is still in effect, required Israel’s “full withdrawal” from Gaza, but last week it changed the wording to mere “withdrawal” under pressure from Netanyahu.
But small changes in wording won’t alter the underlying reality. Israel needs to get out of Gaza—and stop killing Palestinian and Lebanese people—or Iran will strangle the world’s economy, maximizing damage to the US and its allies.
Given the stakes, Netanyahu’s willingness to raise his middle finger at the US president is bizarre. Israel is a small country. It is immensely vulnerable to American economic, diplomatic, and military pressure. American taxpayers have been keeping it afloat ever since it metastasized in 1948. It is universally reviled in West Asia, and despised by ever-growing majorities everywhere else.
Netanyahu’s paradise for pedophiles and dog rapists wouldn’t last five days without American taxpayer support. Yet it is prepared to destroy the world economy, and with it the Trump Administration, so it can continue committing genocide and waging wars of aggression.
Trump should exit the Iran war smoothly and painlessly by transferring the pain to Israel. What Iran wants is a new regional order that will prevent further aggression against it. Trump could achieve that, and avoid the humiliation of a complete US withdrawal from the region, by making Israel, not the US, the loser of the war Israel started. How? Simple. Just put all of America’s economic, diplomatic, and (if necessary) military power behind a draconian ultimatum to Tel Aviv: “Withdraw to your pre-1967 borders within the next two weeks, declare those as your permanent borders, and disavow the Greater Israel Project, or face complete obliteration.” A roundup of the Israeli agents who currently infest America’s media and financial sectors, authorized by an executive order declaring Israel’s occupation of the US a national emergency, would drive the point home.
Can Trump force Netanyahu to toe the line? Or will the Israeli prime minister show that he is America’s real boss?
Subscribe to the digital and print editions of American Free Press. You’ll get early access to articles like this, and exclusive access to many others!
Stripe is Substack’s only processor and they debanked me, so you can no longer pay me through Substack. Now I am posting everything on Substack free and asking people to sign up for recurring donations at my Paypal donation page…or better yet, the free speech platform SPdonate. Alternately you can Paypal or Zelle to truthjihad[at]gmail(dot)com. Note that Zelle, unlike other methods, doesn’t charge any fees.
