I was born in Poonch (Kashmir) and now I live in Norway. I oppose war and violence and am a firm believer in the peaceful co-existence of all nations and peoples. In my academic work I have tried to espouse the cause of the weak and the oppressed in a world dominated by power politics, misleading propaganda and violations of basic human rights. I also believe that all conscious members of society have a moral duty to stand for and further the cause of peace and human rights throughout the world.
Reports
from human rights organizations, digital rights defenders, and media
outlets have documented that Meta—the parent company of Facebook and
Instagram—has engaged in what has been described as systematic
censorship of Palestinian voices and content opposing Israeli military
actions
. While Meta has denied intentional, systemic suppression,
citing errors in automated systems, multiple investigations indicate
that the suppression is a result of a combination of policy, technology,
and, in some cases, direct government influence.
Jessica, a mother in Alabama, received a text on the evening of January 7.
“Hi, this is John with Friends for Peace. We’re gathering views on Israel today and would like to hear yours. Got a moment to chat? Stop2End.”
Jessica wondered if she would regret
sharing her views — which she describes as America First and skeptical
of the U.S. relationship with Israel — but John was reassuring and
offered a “listening ear” to discuss the sensitive topic.
Over the next three days, Jessica and John
exchanged messages about Israel. John promoted a pro-Israel narrative,
trying to convince Jessica that the U.S.-Israel relationship is about
“mutual benefit and shared interests.”
The only problem is that an organization
called “Friends for Peace” does not appear to exist, and it’s unlikely
that “John” is a real person. Rather than a peace organization, as the
name might imply, the texting campaign appears to be led by former Trump
campaign manager Brad Parscale and his firm Clock Tower X, which is
carrying out a $9 million contract with the government of Israel.
After Jessica told John that she gets a
lot of her news from X, John responded saying she shouldn’t trust a lot
of stories about Gaza. “There are networks of accounts pretending to be
Gaza civilians and a lot of the content is fake. Always check your
sources before believing anything. Learn more here,” he said. John then
sent a YouTube video
from an account called “Allies for Peace,” which claimed the narrative
of suffering in Gaza was manufactured. “Bombs, starvation, collapsed
buildings: all fabricated content…Don’t take every post at face value,
check receipts, demand truth.”
Allies for Peace’s YouTube channel was created in late October by a firm called Clock Tower X, founded by Parscale.
And Jessica is not alone. Since November,
an unspecified number of Americans have been receiving text messages
from unknown numbers claiming to be from organizations called “Friends
for Peace” and “Partners in Peace” asking their views on Israel,
promoting Israel as a U.S. ally, and pushing links to websites and
videos created by Clock Tower X.
Another source was sent a video called “Tunnels” by “Sara from Friends for Peace.” The video,
which was also created by Parscale’s firm, features a clip of an
episode of the Joe Rogan podcast with British commentator Douglas
Murray. In the edited clip, Murray claims that “you go into a hospital
[in Gaza] and you know there will be grenades or tunnel entrances
building an infrastructure of terror.” Many of the comments on the video
claim they were sent the link by the text message campaign. “I got this
from a scam text too. Lmao” reads the top comment.
RS could not identify an organization
called “Partners in Peace” or “Friends for Peace” that corresponded with
the description. During one text conversation, the campaign admitted
that they “use different names” for the organization.
Clock Tower X’s contract with the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which increased
from $6 million to $9 million in December, includes, “Delivery of
monthly updated audience segmentation and sentiment analysis, including
Gen Z and other key U.S. demographic groups,” which could correspond to
the mass texting campaign. As part of the contract, Parscale’s firm is
also integrating pro-Israel messaging into Salem Media
Network, a conservative media conglomerate that hosts high-profile
podcasts such as “The Right View with Lara Trump” and “The Dinesh
D-Souza Podcast.”
Parscale is carrying out this work as part
of “project 545” an Israeli campaign to “amplify Israel’s strategic
communication and public diplomacy efforts.” Eran Shayovich, Parscale’s point of contact in Israel and the chief of staff at Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, posted
on Linkedin about the success of the project last month. “A year and
two months into a long war, when the image of the State of Israel was at
one of its lowest points, and too many attempts to fight on the public
diplomacy front had not been particularly successful,” he wrote. “In the
past year, we began to fight back seriously.”
“Allies for Peace” uploaded its first video
on YouTube — which states at the end that it was “distributed by Clock
Tower X LLC on behalf of the state of Israel” — two weeks before the
mass texting campaign began, further linking the effort to Parscale’s
firm.
Parscale did not respond to a request for comment about his firm’s connections to the mass texting campaign.
Published date: 8 February 2026 13:43 GMT | Last update:1 day 23 mins ago
Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal said the Palestinian movement would reject any attempt at foreign domination of Gaza.
Speaking at a conference in Qatar’s
capital, Doha, Meshaal added that Hamas would also not relinquish its
weapons despite calls for disarmament from Israel and the US.
“Criminalising the resistance, its weapons and those who have led it is something we should not accept,” he said.
“As long as there is an occupation, there
is resistance. Resistance is the right of people under occupation. It is
something nations are proud of.”
Following the implementation of a nominal
ceasefire on 10 October, US President Donald Trump’s plan to end the
conflict in Gaza entered its second phase in mid-January.
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This phase is set to include the disarmament of Hamas and the gradual withdrawal of the Israeli army from the enclave.
According to a report in Haaretz earlier
this week, Israeli officials are exploring ways for Israel to benefit
economically from Gaza’s reconstruction.
Middle Eastern leaders including Netanyahu and Sisi line up to join Trump ‘Board of Peace’
Senior finance ministry officials
discussed potential opportunities with senior Israeli army officers, the
Israeli newspaper reported on Wednesday, including the construction of a
highway in Israel connecting to Gaza.
It was suggested that countries seeking access to Gaza via Israel would pay for Israeli highway construction.
This would include a highway along the
southern Route 232, which would provide better access for Palestinians
travelling between Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Israeli officials also discussed economic opportunities over the supply of electricity to Gaza.
Hamas, which has governed the territory
since 2007, has ruled out disarmament, but has indicated it is open to
handing over its weapons to a future Palestinian-led authority.
Governance of the territory would be
temporarily transferred to a committee of 15 Palestinian technocrats,
under the authority of the “Peace Council” chaired by Trump.
Meshaal said the “Peace Council” should
adopt a “balanced approach” that would allow for the reconstruction of
Gaza and the influx of humanitarian aid.
“We adhere to our national principles and
reject the logic of guardianship, any foreign intervention, or the
return of a mandate in any form,” Meshaal said.
“Palestinians must be governed by
Palestinians. Gaza belongs to the people of Gaza and to Palestine. We
will not accept foreign domination.”
Trump deployed the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln to the region to prepare for a potential attack on Iran
by Dave DeCamp, Antiwar. com, February 8, 2026 at 4:50 pm ET
US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, visited the US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln as it was operating in the Arabian Sea on Saturday after meeting with Iranian officials in Oman the day before.
Trump deployed the US aircraft carrier and
its strike group to prepare for a potential attack on Iran, and Witkoff
and Kushner’s visit to the US warship signals to Iran that the threat
of a US bombing campaign is still very real despite the diplomatic
engagement.
Video released by US Central Command shows
Witkoff and Kushner standing on the flight deck of the Lincoln next to
Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander of CENTCOM, as aircraft take off. An
F-35 fighter jet from the Lincoln shot down an Iranian drone in the Arabian Sea on February 3.
Steve
Witkoff, left, Jared Kushner, center, and Adm. Brad Cooper, right,
observe flight operations aboard Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS
Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea, February 7, 2026 (US Navy photo)
While maintaining its threat to bomb Iran, the US has also ramped up the economic pressure by imposing new Iran-related sanctions,
the same day Witkoff and Kushner met with Iranian Foreign Minister
Abbas Araghchi. The sanctions targeted ships and companies the US
accused of transporting Iranian oil.
Ahead of the talks in Oman, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent boasted
that the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure campaign” against
Iran collapsed the country’s economy and sparkedthe protest and unrest
that began at the end of December.
Any diplomatic deal with Iran would need
to include sanctions relief, but it’s unclear if an agreement will be
reached, as Israel is pushing for the maximalist position, which is designed to sabotage the talks and ensure war.
Ali Abunimah Rights and Accountability 25 January 2026
BERLIN, GERMANY - DECEMBER 27: Police detains a demonstrator as protesters march in support of Palestinians after gathering in front of Neukolln City Hall (Rathaus Neukolln) in Berlin, Germany on December 27, 2025. Police detain a demonstrator, as protesters march in support of Palestinian rights in front of Neukolln City Hall, Berlin, Germany, 27 December 2025. İlkin Eskipehlivan Anadolu Images
Exactly a year ago today, I was abducted from a Zurich street by plainclothes police, bundled into an unmarked car and taken to prison.
I was walking with one of my hosts toward a venue where I was scheduled to speak at an event organized by Swiss activists about Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
During my detention, Swiss intelligence officers tried to question me without my lawyer present – an apparent attempt, I told Swiss academic Pascal Lottaz in a recent interview, to manufacture grounds for my arrest retroactively.
After three days in detention, I was handcuffed, caged in a police van, taken to the airport and expelled.
The operation achieved its purpose: preventing me from participating in public events about Israel’s crimes. But it failed to intimidate or silence me.
In December, Zurich’s Administrative Court ruled that my detention violated both the Swiss constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.
I have filed additional cases, including a criminal complaint against Nicoletta della Valle, the Israel-linked police official later identified by a parliamentary investigation as having ordered the action against me.
As I told Lottaz, what happened to me is not exceptional. It is part of a widening campaign across the so-called West to silence journalists, students and activists who expose Israel’s crimes or advocate for Palestinian rights.
You can watch our conversation on his Neutrality Studies channel in this video: “One of the lucky ones”
Among the most shocking cases is that of Leqaa Kordia, a Palestinian woman and the last person still held in US federal detention in connection with protests at Columbia University.
On 13 March last year, Kordia attended what she believed was a routine, voluntary check-in at ICE headquarters in New Jersey.
Instead, she was transported to a detention facility in Texas, 1,500 miles away from her home, her mother and her brother with special needs who relied on her support. “Inside the ICE facility where I’m being held, conditions are filthy, overcrowded and inhumane,” Kordia wrote recently for USA Today.
“For months, I slept in a plastic shell, known as a ‘boat,’ surrounded by cockroaches and only a thin blanket.”
The food is inedible and with no halal meals available, she has lost significant weight.
“Still, I consider myself one of the lucky ones. Many women come and go through this hall of sorrows, and I try my best to help them where I can,” Kordia writes. “There are others with me who cannot afford legal representation. Some have diabetes or terminal cancer, or are wheelchair bound.”
An immigration judge has twice ordered her release. The Trump administration has blocked it using an obscure procedural loophole – a practice now being challenged in federal courts, many of which have already ruled it unconstitutional. In September, US federal judge William G. Young ruled that the Trump administration’s campaign of arresting and deporting noncitizen students and faculty over Palestine advocacy violates the First Amendment.
Last week, Young went further, finding that officials engaged in an “unconstitutional conspiracy” to suppress free speech.
The ruling focused on five prominent targets: Mahmoud Khalil, Yunseo Chung, Mohsen Mahdawi, Rumeysa Ozturk and Badar Khan Suri.
Khalil, who spent over three months in ICE custody, recently suffered a setback when a federal appeals court overturned an earlier ruling that found his detention and the effort to deport him likely unconstitutional.
Although the government cannot lawfully re-detain him while appeals continue, it continues to display contempt for due process.
“It looks like he’ll go to Algeria,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said publicly.
Khalil has vowed to continue fighting through every legal avenue. French woman imprisoned for exposing Israeli soldier
Repression is no less severe in Europe.
Last week, a court in the French city of Nice sentenced Amira Zaiter, founder of activist group Nice to Gaza, to 15 months in prison for “anti-Semitic” social media posts.
Zaiter admitted to calling Illan Choukroune, a French citizen who served in the Israeli army, a “genocidaire.”
“I will continue saying it,” Zaiter told the judge.
This is not her first conviction.
In June, a court sentenced Zaiter to six months in prison and a $7,000 fine – reduced from an original sentence of three years.
She was first arrested in November 2024 for her posts on Twitter/X and for exposing an Israeli soldier who had returned to Nice after being in Gaza, according to Civic Space Watch, an EU-funded group that monitors rights violations. Widespread repression
In October, UN experts called on Germany to stop criminalizing, punishing and suppressing Palestine-related speech.
“We are alarmed by the persistent pattern of police violence and apparent suppression of Palestine solidarity activism by Germany,” the independent special rapporteurs said. I have had a taste of German authoritarianism myself: In 2024, German authorities threatened me with up to one year in prison and a fine if I addressed a conference in Germany from abroad via the internet.
I did it anyway.
In Australia, the government exploited the aftermath of December’s Bondi Beach attack to rush through “hate speech” laws that target Palestine solidarity.
“These laws dramatically expand state power to police speech, association and protest,” according to APAN, the Australia Palestine Solidarity Network.
“Their vague definitions and broad enforcement mechanisms create a chilling environment in which political advocacy – particularly pro-Palestinian organizing and opposition to Israel’s genocide and apartheid – is criminalized.” British repression
Australia appears to be following Britain’s lead, where people are routinely arrested for holding signs opposing genocide and supporting Palestine Action – the protest group arbitrarily banned by the government as “terrorist.”
Meanwhile, anyone is free to hold a sign in British streets stating “I support genocide,” without fear of arrest.
Activists associated with Palestine Action continue to suffer severe persecution, including prolonged imprisonment, even though they have not been convicted of a crime.
That prompted several detainees to go on life-threatening hunger strikes in an effort to force the government to ease their conditions and cancel arms contracts with Israel.
One detainee, Umer Khalid, announced in recent days that he will stop taking fluids, after already refusing food for two weeks. Last week, Momodou Taal – a Cornell University doctoral student previously forced to leave the US over his Palestine advocacy – was detained at London’s Heathrow airport.
A British citizen, he was interrogated for hours about his political views under the repressive Terrorism Act. Police also confiscated his laptop and phone.
Taal – who has never been charged with any crime – called the interrogation, “a racist fishing expedition designed to intimidate and punish someone for advocating freedom and opposing mass slaughter.” Expanding censorship
This repression coincides with expanding systems of censorship.
Last week saw the finalization of the forced break-up and sale of TikTok to a group controlled by Larry Ellison, a pro-Israel billionaire whose family also recently took over CBS News. Meanwhile, Jonathan Greenblatt, the head of the Anti-Defamation League – the Israel lobby group that spied for apartheid South Africa during the 1980s – was caught on camera discussing efforts to “monitor and disrupt” left-wing and Palestine solidarity groups and report them to the FBI under the pretext of combating extremism. All of this is being carried out under governments that claim democracy, free speech and human rights as their highest values – yet readily sacrifice those rights to protect a genocidal apartheid settler-colony whose leader is wanted for crimes against humanity. Ali Abunimah’s blog
Speaking at Al Jazeera Forum, Khaled
Meshaal describes discussion around Hamas handing over weapons as a
continuation of a long effort to neutralise Palestinian armed
resistance.
Head of Hamas abroad says ‘resistance is a right’ for occupied people
Hamas’s political leader abroad, Khaled
Meshaal, has rejected calls to disarm Palestinian factions in Gaza,
arguing that stripping weapons from an occupied people would turn them
into “an easy victim to be eliminated”.
Speaking on the second day of the Al Jazeera Forum in Doha on Sunday, Meshaal described the discussion around Hamas handing over its weapons as a continuation of a century-long effort to neutralise Palestinian armed resistance.
“In the context that our people are still
under occupation, talking about disarmament is an attempt to make our
people an easy victim to be eliminated and easily exterminated by
Israel, which is armed with all international weaponry,” he said.
“If we want to talk about it … it is
necessary to provide an environment that allows reconstruction and
relief and ensures that the war does not reignite between Gaza and the
Zionist entity. This is a logical approach, and Hamas — through
mediators Qatar, Turkiye and Egypt, and through indirect dialogues with
the Americans via the mediators — has reached, or there has been, an
understanding of Hamas’s vision on that. Yes, this is something that
requires great effort, not an approach of disarmament.”
United States President Donald Trump last
month sought to achieve a “comprehensive” demilitarisation of Hamas,
threatening the Palestinian group with repercussions if it fails to do
so. Hamas has refused to give up arms as long as Israel continues to
occupy Gaza.
Now Playing02:32 Israel is killing far more civilians than fighters in Gaza
Next05:25 Fighting between Sudan’s army, RSF forced more than 13 million children out of school
In the second phase of a US-mediated
“ceasefire” deal between Israel and Hamas, agreed in October last year,
Washington says it will tackle the disarmament of Hamas and the
deployment of an international peacekeeping force.
But Israel continues to carry out near-daily deadly attacks across Gaza in violation of the “ceasefire”
and has so far refused to withdraw from the so-called “Yellow Line” in
eastern Gaza, an informal boundary separating more than half of the
territory that remains under Israeli military control from the rest of
the Strip. Israel has killed at least 576 Palestinians and wounded 1,543
others since the latest “ceasefire” started.
“The problem is not that Hamas and the
resistance forces in Gaza provide guarantees; the problem is Israel,
which wants to take the Palestinian weapons … and put them in the hands
of militias to create chaos,” he said.
Meshaal pointed to Hamas’s proposals for an extended calm as an alternative to dismantling its military wing.
“Hamas proposed a truce of five to seven
to 10 years. This is a guarantee that these weapons are not used,” he
said, adding that the mediating nations, who have a “deep relationship
with Hamas, can form a guarantee”.
Meshaal pointed out that if people were to
go back to the origin of the conflict, the issue is one of “occupation
and a people resisting occupation, with the right to self-determination
and independence”.
“Resistance is a right for people under
occupation; it is part of international law and the heavenly religions.
Resistance is part of the memory of nations,” he added.
‘Palestinian cause must have a solution’
Meshaal said the October 7, 2023 attack on
Israel was a “turning point”, arguing that the Gaza conflict forced the
world to reopen a “second question” of the Palestinian cause itself.
“The [Operation Al-Aqsa] Flood and this
genocidal war have shaken the world. There is now a question – the
Palestinian cause must have a solution,” he said, referring to the
October 2023 attack, as he welcomed a growing number of nations
recognising a Palestinian state, calling the moves “insufficient”.
“The fact that 159 countries have approved
or recognised the Palestinian state is good, but it is not enough. How
do we turn the Palestinian state into a reality on the ground? That is
the big question we are concerned with as Palestinians, as Arabs, as
Muslims, and along with our friends around the world,” he said.
Gaza: A Forever War
Meshaal called on the Arab and Muslim states to move from a “defensive policy” to “offence” in the diplomatic arena.
“We want to entrench that it is a pariah
entity and a burden on security, stability, and international interests;
to pursue it and turn it into an entity that loses its international
legitimacy completely, just like the apartheid regime in South Africa,”
he added.
“We are the owners of a just cause, and the accused is the one who committed the war crime of genocide,” he said.
Over two years after the start of the
Israeli genocide in Gaza, retired Israeli reserve general Yitzhak Brik
acknowledged sweeping military, economic and social damage, saying the
campaign has failed to achieve its primary objective.
Key Takeaways
Brik said Israel failed to defeat Hamas after two years of war.
Hundreds of billions of shekels were lost economically.
Israeli soldiers face a rapidly expanding PTSD crisis.
Suicide attempts and depression rates surged among combat troops.
Ongoing multi-front deployments continue to strain the military.
Failure to Achieve War Objectives
In a Channel 13 television interview, Brik described the war as a prolonged conflict whose costs exceeded its gains.
“In reality, we have lost national and
social resilience over these two years, along with hundreds of billions
of shekels,” he reportedly said.
The retired general added that Israel had
not succeeded in defeating Hamas, arguing that the campaign imposed
heavy casualties while failing to produce a decisive outcome.
“Over the past two years, we have borne
severe losses,” Brik stated, referring to both battlefield casualties
and long-term physical and psychological injuries among soldiers and
civilians.
He also warned of diplomatic
repercussions, saying Israel had “lost credibility in the world,” and
suggested Washington has intervened after viewing the war as
strategically stalled.
Expanding Psychological Crisis
Parallel reports from Israeli institutions
and healthcare providers indicate a growing mental-health emergency
inside the military.
According to data from the Israeli
Security Ministry, around 22,300 soldiers and personnel are receiving
treatment for war-related injuries, with approximately 60 percent
suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Israel’s healthcare provider Maccabi
reported that 39 percent of soldiers under its care sought psychological
assistance, while 26 percent displayed symptoms of depression.
A parliamentary committee documented 279
suicide attempts between January 2024 and July 2025, with combat
soldiers representing the majority of cases.
Authorities have expanded mental-health
funding and alternative treatment programs, but specialists warn the
scale of trauma could continue rising sharply in the coming years.
Clinical psychologist Ronen Sidi, director of combat veteran research at Emek Medical Center, also noted widespread “moral injury,” describing emotional distress linked to actions taken during combat.
Multi-Front War
The war has extended across several arenas simultaneously.
The Gaza Health Ministry confirmed that
more than 72,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023, while
thousands more have been killed in south Lebanon.
Israeli sources acknowledge over 1,100
Israeli soldiers killed during the same period. Resistance groups,
however, have disputed these figures, arguing that Israeli authorities
do not disclose the full extent of battlefield losses and that the real
number of casualties is likely higher than officially reported.
Despite a US-backed ceasefire announced in
October, Israeli occupation forces remain active across large areas of
Gaza, with continued operations causing further casualties in recent
months.
Israeli occupation troops also remain deployed in parts of south Lebanon and expanded areas in southern Syria.
Internal Debate over Strategic Outcomes
Brik’s remarks have intensified debate inside Israel regarding the feasibility of the war’s goals.
The retired general has long argued that
prolonged ground operations against an entrenched resistance movement
would produce high costs without decisive victory.
Israel is killing far more civilians than fighters in Gaza
Fighting between Sudan’s army, RSF forced more than 13 million children out of school
