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.
Vance says ‘another option on the table’ if no nuclear deal reached with Iran
On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents
Email
*
Iran has accused Israel of sabotaging negotiations with the United States over Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani claimed Israel is attempting to “destabilise the region” after prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Donald Trump on Wednesday.
The Israeli leader has reportedly been urging the US president impose the strictest-possible terms in any agreement reached with Tehran in nuclear talks.
Commenting on the nuclear discussions with
the US, Larijani told Al Jazeera: “Our negotiations are exclusively
with the United States – we are not engaged in any talks with Israel.
Iran’s
security chief Ali Larijani (C) has accused Israel of sabotaging
negotiations with the United States over Tehran’s nuclear programme.
(WANA)
“However, Israel has inserted itself into this process, with their intent on undermining and sabotaging these negotiations.”
He added that he believes Israel’s agenda
“extends beyond its alleged concerns about Iran”, and claimed it wanted
to “destabilise the region”
“They are gambling not only with Iran, but
also Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey,” he added, warning regional
leaders to “be aware of this.”
Israel has yet to respond to the security chief’s remarks.
Following the meeting in Washington, Trump
said no ‘definitive’ agreement was reached on how to move forward with
Iran, but he insisted negotiations with Tehran would continue to see if a
deal can be achieved.
Donald Trump met with Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House this week (file photo) (Getty Images)
Netanyahu, who had been expected to press
Trump to widen diplomacy with Iran beyond its nuclear program to include
limits on its missile arsenal, stressed that Israel’s security
interests must be taken into account but offered no sign that the
president made the commitments he sought.
”The Prime Minister emphasized the
security needs of the State of Israel in the context of the
negotiations, and the two agreed to continue their close coordination
and tight contact,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement after
Wednesday’s talks.
Trump has threatened strikes on Iran if no
agreement is reached, while Tehran has vowed to retaliate, stoking
fears of a wider war as the US amasses forces in the Middle East.
On Wednesday, Iran’s president Masoud
Pezeshkian insisted that his nation was “not seeking nuclear weapons …
and are ready for any kind of verification”.
Iran’s
president Masoud Pezeshkian has insisted that his nation was “’not
seeking nuclear weapon’ (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved.)
In a speech marking the 47th anniversary
of the Islamic Republic, Pezeshkian said: “The high wall of mistrust
that the United States and Europe have created through their past
statements and actions does not allow these talks to reach a conclusion.
”At the same time, we are engaging with
full determination in dialogue aimed at peace and stability in the
region alongside our neighbouring countries.”
Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan – who
has been involved in the talks between the US and Iran – also said both
sides are showing flexibility.
He told the Financial Times: “It is positive that the Americans appear willing to tolerate Iranian enrichment within clearly set boundaries.
“The Iranians now recognise that they need
to reach a deal with the Americans, and the Americans understand that
the Iranians have certain limits. It’s pointless to try to force them.”
Berlin’s sovereignty has been deeply compromised, and no talk of ‘collective guilt’ or ‘reason of state’ can explain this away
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz leave after a joint news conference
in Jerusalem on 7 December 2025 (Ariel Schalit/AFP)
Just one month after the announcement of a “ceasefire” in Gaza, with the whole world aware that its sole purpose was to enable Israel to continue its genocide, Germany once again spread a veil of silence over the process, launching a “normalisation offensive”.
Last November, after having met his Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar in Tel Aviv, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul declared that his “confidence in the peace process as a whole has grown” and that “the situation has stabilised noticeably”.
A few days later, 160 “young leaders” from Germany were not above accepting an invitation from Israel to soak up Zionist propaganda.
And in early December, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz visited
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a wanted war criminal, thus
paying homage to a murderous regime that he continues to call a
democracy, while assuring Berlin’s continued unconditional support for
Israel’s crimes against humanity.
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
German police followed suit,
eager to “learn from Israel” – apparently fascinated by the weapons
tested on Palestinians in Gaza, which they would soon have at their
disposal.
And then 2026 began, with German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt travelling to Israel to sign a pact
on “the development of a joint ‘Cyber Dome’ system, an artificial
intelligence and cyber innovation centre, drone defence cooperation, and
improved civilian warning systems”. Israel, Dobrindt said, was “a premium partner”.
All this “normalisation” – the veiling of
genocide by the German government, young German “leaders” and the police
wishing to “learn” from war criminals and a minister making pacts with
them as “premium partners” – allows for little other conclusion than
that the Zionist police and surveillance regime has become a role model
for Germany.
Collective guilt narrative
Indeed, Germany’s transformation is
already underway. After Berlin police prohibited Palestinians and their
supporters from gathering in remembrance of the Nakba under dubious
justifications, the courts – both the administrative court and the high
administrative court – legally confirmed this massive infringement of civil rights.
Alongside the brutal actions of Berlin’s
militarised riot police against pro-Palestinian demonstrators, strongly
reminiscent of those carried out by Israeli security forces against
Palestinians, this should deeply concern everyone living in Germany.
After Nazi rule, nothing was more
important for West Germany than “normalising” relations with the newly
formed state of Israel, which had just committed crimes against humanity
in the Nakba.
Pretending that everything is ‘normal’ as
Israel continues its daily slaughter of Palestinians comes at a high
price: the ‘normalisers’ lose their own humanity
In a 1966 interview, former Chancellor
Konrad Adenauer, an enthusiastic supporter of Zionist settlement in
Palestine who paid reparations to Israel, said: “We
had done so much injustice to the Jews, committed such crimes against
them that somehow these had to be expiated or repaired, if we were at
all to regain our international standing … Furthermore, the power of the
Jews even today, especially in America, should not be underestimated.”
Author Daniel Marwecki pointed out
that this “illustrates the way in which the objective of German
rehabilitation was closely intertwined with a central idea of modern
antisemitism: that of Jewish power” – and Adenauer’s fear, as historian
Tom Segev has shown, was exploited by the Zionists in these negotiations.
Marwecki also shows how the reparations
had nothing to do with forgiveness on the part of Israel or German
atonement. Instead, one has to conclude, Germany allowed its sovereignty
to be compromised to facilitate its return to the international stage
as quickly as possible, while instilling a collective sense of guilt in
its own citizens, ensuring they would accept Germany’s future
subservience to Israel.
When these politics of collective guilt
became implausible for subsequent generations who had done nothing to
feel guilty about, former Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2008 trotted out the narrative that Israel’s security was “part of Germany’s reason of state”.
Proclaimed as if by an absolutist monarch
and repeated like a mantra by Germany’s loyal public and liberal media,
any democratic debate on this subject was to be nipped in the bud –
which is why today, any dissenting opinion on Germany’s support for
Israel’s genocide can easily be criminalised.
International law discarded
Interestingly, other parts of the alleged
reason of state, that might also from the experiences of Nazi rule, are
never mentioned: defending the dignity of every individual, complying
with international law,
obeying the decisions of global courts, defending human rights by all
means, and treating those who commit genocide as nothing less than war
criminals.
As the old saying goes: If you dance with the devil, you don’t change the devil. The devil changes you
Nothing remains of such maxims today, as
the Scholz and Merz administrations have willingly disregarded them in
order to support the genocide being carried out by the regime whose
“security” is so dear to Germany.
Not only has this enabled the destruction of Gaza and the killing of tens of thousands – if not hundreds of thousands
– of Palestinians, but Germany has also significantly contributed to
the destruction of the United Nations, the International Criminal Court,
the International Court of Justice and international law, which all
stand in the way of neoliberal imperialism.
As nothing remains from these high maxims
but the alleged obligation to protect Israel’s security, Germany is
doing the “dirty work” for the Zionist regime by “normalising” a state
that commits genocide in Gaza, ethnically cleanses the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, that systematically neglects Palestinian citizens of Israel and now introduces the death penalty for Palestinians only, intending to execute them not for what they allegedly have done but for what they are.
Berlin is further protecting a racist
ideology that feeds the fascist delusions of the vast majority of Jewish
Israelis, who welcome the extermination of the Palestinian people. It is also normalising a “moral” army of war criminals, sadistic torturers and rapists reduced to their lowest instincts.
Finally, Berlin normalises paramilitary militias and fascist hordes of Zionist settlers terrorising Palestinians in the West Bank and causing a second Nakba.
While Germany behaves as if all this were
“normal”, Israel has become radicalised within a specifically
settler-colonial dynamic; first, as Patrick Wolfe has made clear: “Settler colonialism is inherently eliminatory but not invariably genocidal.”
What is behind Germany’s complicity in Israel’s Gaza genocide?
World-leading genocide experts as well as Francesca Albanese,
the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in the Occupied
Palestinian territories, leave no doubt that Israel today is such a
genocidal regime.
Second, French-Tunisian writer Albert Memmi points out
that “every colonial nation carries the seeds of fascist temptation in
its bosom” – and this seed has undoubtedly taken root in Israel, as
Holocaust survivors also explain.
Over time, the normalisation of Germany’s
relations with Israel has developed into a normalisation of all Zionist
crimes, no matter how repugnant. No talk of “collective guilt” or
“reason of state” can explain this away; it is a product of deeply
compromised sovereignty.
The veil of silence that Germany has cast over Israel’s atrocities for decades has become a blood-soaked shroud.
Pretending that everything is “normal” as
Israel continues its daily slaughter and dehumanisation of Palestinians
comes at a high price: the “normalisers” lose their own humanity.
As the old saying goes: If you dance with the devil, you don’t change the devil. The devil changes you.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
Jurgen Mackert is Professor of Sociology
at the University of Potsdam, Germany. He was a temporary Professor for
the Structure of modern societies at the University of Erfurt, Germany
and a visiting professor for Political Sociology at Humboldt University
Berlin. His latest books include On Social Closure. Theorizing
Exclusion, Exploitation, and Elimination (Oxford University Press 2024).
Siedlerkolonialismus. Grundlagentexte und aktuelle Analysen (edited
with Ilan Pappe; Nomos 2024).
Israeli soldiers repair a tank near Gaza
in April 2025, when thousands of British nationals were serving in the
IDF, new data (left) reveals. (Photo: Jim Hollander / Alamy)
1x
0:00 / 7:15
More than 2,000 Britons served in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) during the Gaza genocide, it can be revealed.
The information was obtained by Declassified via a Freedom of Information request issued to the IDF by lawyer Elad Man from the NGO Hatzlacha.
The data outlines the number of people with dual and multiple nationalities who were IDF service members as of March 2025.
It shows how 1,686 British-Israelis and a
further 383 people with British, Israeli, and another nationality served
in the IDF amid the annihilation of Gaza.
They were among over 50,000 IDF soldiers with Israeli and at least one other nationality.
The largest cohorts come from the US, Russia, Ukraine, France, and Germany.
Prior to this, data was only available on
the number of Britons without Israeli citizenship serving in the IDF,
so-called lone soldiers, a figure that was as low as 54.
‘Authorities must investigate’
The revelation that far more UK passport
holders served in the IDF will raise serious legal questions for the
British authorities, which have thus far failed to prosecute any
citizens returning home after fighting in Gaza.
Paul Heron, a lawyer with the Public Interest Law Centre (PILC), told Declassified: “There must be no impunity where credible evidence links British nationals to grave breaches of international law.
“The UK has clear duties to prevent genocide and avoid assisting unlawful military action.
“Where dual nationals have served in units
implicated in atrocities, the authorities must investigate promptly
and, where the evidence meets the threshold, pursue arrest and
prosecution like any other serious crime”.
Declassified contributor Hamza Yusuf previously exposed
how Britons were serving in some of Israel’s “craziest” combat units in
Gaza where they viewed Palestinian fighters as “rats” and “animals”.
Among the Britons identified by Yusuf was
Levi Simon, who was seen “rummaging through the underwear drawers of
Palestinian women forced to flee their homes” in Gaza.
Another was master sergeant Sam Sank from London, who filmed himself fighting in Gaza between December 2023 and January 2024.
Sank had toldThe Times
that “based on the number of his friends in the IDF, which includes a
Scot in his own small unit, [he] believes there are hundreds, if not
thousands, more Britons fighting in Israel.”
His estimates match with the data Hatzlacha has now obtained from Israeli authorities.
The UK Foreign Office declined to comment
on the new data but confirmed that it does not collect information on
the number of Britons in the IDF.
The Metropolitan police’s war crimes unit was handed a complaint against ten Britons serving in the IDF last year.
Although their names were not made public,
the 240-page dossier accused the British suspects of “targeted killing
of civilians and aid workers, including by sniper fire, and
indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas”.
It was submitted by the Public Interest Law Centre (PILC) and the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights.
“British nationals are under a legal obligation not to collude with crimes committed in Palestine. No one is above the law”, said Michael Mansfield, one of the lawyers who issued the complaint.
Heron told Declassified: “In our
report to the Metropolitan Police, we set out credible evidence that 10
British nationals served in the Israeli Defence Forces and were involved
in war crimes and acts giving rise to genocide.”
He said our findings showed “the issue is far deeper than we could ever believe.”
The Metropolitan Police did not respond when Declassified asked last year whether the people referred by PILC would be investigated for potential involvement in war crimes.
Lone soldiers
In addition to dual nationals, over 50
“lone soldiers” from Britain – defined as IDF members without family in
Israel to support them – have served for Israel amid the genocide.
That data was released last year in a report on “lone soldiers” published by the Knesset Research and Information Center within Israel’s parliament.
“Lone soldiers” also include immigrants who arrive in Israel alone and volunteers from abroad.
The Knesset report detailed how 54 Britons were among around 3,000 lone soldiers serving in the IDF in August 2024.
Thirty-three of those Britons joined
through the Tzabar programme, which is an Israeli support system for
young Jewish adults to “make Aliyah” (emigrate to Israel) and serve in
the IDF.
In the past, the UK government itself has offered support to “lone soldiers” in Israel.
Chaim Schryer, originally from Manchester, served in Netzah Yehuda, an Israeli military unit which the US considered sanctioning in 2024 over evidence of gross human rights violations.
Schryer was invited
onto a British Royal Navy ship in 2021 alongside other British ‘lone
soldiers’ who joined the IDF without family in Israel to support them.
Schryer is among at least three Britons identified by Declassified, using open-source data and facial recognition software, who served with Netzah Yehuda over recent years.
Chaim Schryer (right) boards HMS Richmond in 2021. (Photo: Royal Navy / X)
Legal concerns
In July 2024, the International Court of
Justice handed down its advisory opinion on the legal consequences of
Israel’s occupation of Palestine.
The court advised that all UN member
states – including the United Kingdom – were obligated to refrain from
assisting Israel in maintaining its occupation.
In January 2024, the ICJ also put all
member states on notice of the serious risk that genocide was being
committed by Israel in Gaza.
“The duty to prevent genocide was
triggered due to the actual or constructive knowledge of the immediate
plausiblity that genocide was being or was about to be committed”, the
UN commission of inquiry subsequently wrote.
To this end, the UK government’s failure
to investigate or even monitor the activities of Britons serving in the
IDF could be interpreted as tacit support for Israel’s military
campaign.
Britain’s recent recognition of a
Palestinian state might also mean that British nationals serving in the
IDF could be in breach of the Foreign Enlistment Act.
This law, passed in 1870, makes it an offence for Britons “to fight for a foreign state at war with another state with which the UK is at peace”
A spokesperson for the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) said: “No one in the UK wants to live next door to a potential war criminal.
“And yet, British people who fought in the
IDF are allowed to return to this country and live freely amongst us,
despite fighting for an army that is committing genocide.
“It is utterly inexcusable that the UK
government is failing to take action to hold citizens accountable for
potential violations of international and domestic law”.
John McEvoy is Chief Reporter for
Declassified UK. John is an historian and filmmaker whose work focuses
on British foreign policy and Latin America. His PhD was on Britain’s
Secret Wars in Colombia between 1948 and 2009, and he is currently
working on a documentary about Britain’s role in the rise of Augusto
Pinochet.
In one of the scariest moments in modern history, we're doing our best at ScheerPost to pierce the fog of lies that conceal it but we need some help to pay our writers and staff. Please consider a tax-deductible donation.
The government of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced the shipment of 814 tons of milk, meat, beans, rice, and other foodstuffs to
Cuba on Sunday, February 8. The move came days after Cuban President
Miguel DÃaz-Canel presented a series of emergency measures being adopted
by his government to mitigate the impact of the severe fuel shortage
facing the island.
Cuba is currently facing a serious crisis, provoked by recent maneuvers from
the US government which, emboldened by its massive military build up in
the Caribbean and its recent bombing of Caracas, has sought to further
tighten the blockade on the island, hoping to finally force the
overthrow of the government. On January 29, Trump announced an executive
order under which any country that trades hydrocarbons with Havana will
see a 10% increase in tariffs on its products exported to the United
States. The executive order was said to have targeted Cuba’s main energy
suppliers: Venezuela, Mexico, and Russia.
Venezuela was already effectively forced
to halt oil shipments to Cuba due to the naval blockade imposed by the
US against Venezuela, which already resulted in the illegal seizure of a
Cuba-bound Venezuelan oil tanker.
Russia, a country which, due to heavy sanctions, is the most decoupled from the US economy, has declared that
it will continue supplying fuel to Cuba. The government has said that
“the situation in Cuba is truly critical” and top government
spokesperson Dimitry Peskov, said “We are in close contact with our Cuban friends through diplomatic and other channels.”
Mexico, for its part, announced that it
was engaged in negotiations with the US over oil shipments. President
Claudia Sheinbaum has openly declared her rejection of the Trump measure: “You can’t suffocate people like that. It is very unfair.”
She also promised that
Mexico would continue to help Cuba in any way possible: “We will
continue to support Cuba and take all necessary diplomatic action to
resume oil shipments.” In recent days, after learning of the Trump
administration’s “threat”. Mexico, one of the few countries that sent
oil to Cuba, said it would consult with Washington to determine the
extent of possible retaliation.
According to Cuban President Miguel DÃaz-Canel,
not a single drop of oil has entered the island in 2026, posing a
serious threat to a country that depends heavily on fuel for its power
grid and to keep transportation, health, education, and other key
systems functioning. Government officials and political analysts have
claimed that the recent measure seeks to annihilate the Cuban people.
Former Colombian President Ernesto Samper shared
this opinion in a post: “SOS for Cuba. The genocide of the Cuban people
is being prepared by suffocating their vital conditions for survival. A
United Nations humanitarian mission could lead a deployment of
humanitarian ships loaded with the fuel that the island needs today,
like the oxygen we breathe every day to stay alive.”
Mexican solidarity with Cuba
For his part, the Cuban president said,
regarding the Mexican shipment that departed in two ships from the port
of Veracruz: “Thank you, Mexico. For your solidarity, affection, and
always warm embrace of Cuba.”
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno RodrÃguez wrote on X:
“We thank the Government of Mexico, under the leadership of President
Claudia Sheinbaum, for sending more than 800 tons of aid to Cuba, amid
the intensification of the blockade following the recent Executive Order
by the US government. While some try to suffocate our population,
sister nations extend their hand in solidarity.”
Editor’s Note: At a
moment when the once vaunted model of responsible journalism is
overwhelmingly the play thing of self-serving billionaires and their
corporate scribes, alternatives of integrity are desperately needed, and
ScheerPost is one of them. Please support our independent journalism by
contributing to our online donation platform, Network for Good, or send
a check to our new PO Box. We can’t thank you enough, and promise to
keep bringing you this kind of vital news.
Tehran’s intervention comes as the Israeli prime minister heads to a hastily arranged White House encounter
The Guardian, Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor 10 Feb 2026 20.34 CET
Tehran has told the US not to allow Israel
to destroy the chance of reaching an agreement over Iran’s nuclear
programme amid speculation that Benjamin Netanyahu intends to use a hastily arranged White House meeting with Donald Trump on Wednesday to divert negotiations.
Iran’s intervention came as the Israeli
prime minister flew to Washington to plead with Trump not to negotiate a
deal with Tehran if it excludes limiting the country’s ballistic
missile programme, dropping its support for proxy forces in the region
and curtailing human rights abuses at home.
Netanyahu is deeply concerned that Trump’s
son-in-law Jared Kushner and his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, are
prepared to strike a deal confined to limiting the scope of Iran’s
nuclear programme, which in Israel’s view would do nothing to rein in
the long-term threat Tehran poses to the region.
Iran’s
security chief, Ali Larijani, said Washington ‘must remain vigilant
regarding Israel’s destructive role’. Photograph: Louai
Beshara/AFP/Getty Images
Speaking before leaving for Washington,
Netanyahu said he would “present to the president our approach around
our principles on the negotiations”. He is expected to provide Trump
with fresh intelligence about Iran’s military capabilities, including
new long-range ballistic missiles.
Netanyahu faces a delicate task in setting
out his stall because he risks being seen as challenging two of Trump’s
most respected aides by mapping out a set of demands that could force
the US into prolonged conflict with Iran.
He also risks angering Trump by opening up
divisions in the Republican party, especially if he reminds the US
president that he made repeated unfulfilled promises to come to the help
of Iranian protesters.
Netanyahu’s turbulent relationship with
Trump was already entering another rough patch as he continues to stall
on his Gaza peace plan by barring a Palestinian technocratic body from
entering the strip, and seeking in effect to annex the West Bank.
Benjamin Netanyahu. Photograph: Abir Sultan/EPA
In a sign that he knows he is treading on
thin ice, Netanyahu agreed to take the US ambassador to Israel, Mike
Huckabee, with him. Before heading to Washington, Huckabee said there
was “an extraordinary alignment between US and Israel on Iran”, and that
as far as he knew the two sides shared the same red lines.
Iran expressed its anger at Israel’s
intervention. Ali Larijani, the the head of the Supreme National
Security Council, the body overseeing Tehran’s negotiating strategy,
said: “The Americans should think wisely and not allow him, with his
posturing, to create the impression before his flight that he is going
to the United States to set the framework of nuclear negotiations. They
must remain vigilant regarding Israel’s destructive role.”
Larijani met the mediators between Washington and Tehran in Muscat to discuss the agenda for further talks.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson,
Esmail Baghaei, said in his weekly press briefing: “Our negotiating
party is America. It is up to America to decide to act independently of
the pressures and destructive influences that are detrimental to the
region.”
The Iranian government also still faces
political challenges at home, with more reformist groups and academics
issuing statements protesting against the suppression of dissent and, in
particular, the arrest of leaders of the Reformist Front.
The front issued a further statement
expressing its shock, and warning that the regime’s exclusionary
approach and baseless accusations would worsen the political deadlock
and “strengthen the violent and war-mongering factions supporting
Israel”. It called on Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, to intervene
urgently to secure the release of its leadership.
Even if the planned second round of talks
are confined to Iran’s nuclear programme, as Tehran wants, there is no
guarantee of success because it insists on maintaining its right to
enrich uranium as fuel for nuclear power plants, something the US
permitted under the 2015 deal but Trump has appeared to rule out.
Trump has sent the aircraft carrier
Abraham Lincoln and three accompanying warships to the region, which are
capable of hitting a huge range of Iranian military and economic sties.
The US has also buttressed the air defences of US bases across the
region.
The head of Iran’s atomic energy authority
has said Tehran may be prepared to dilute its stock of highly enriched
uranium to 60% purity, a limited concession given the 2015 deal limited
it to enriching to 3.75% purity.
TEL AVIV, February 5, 2026 (WAFA) — Former
Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert said a “violent and criminal attempt
at ethnic cleansing” is taking place in the occupied West Bank,
accusing Israeli police, the army and the Shin Bet security service of
involvement and support for attacks carried out by extremist settlers.
In an article published in the Israeli
daily Haaretz, Olmert said that armed and violent settler groups are
persecuting, injuring and killing Palestinians living in the area. He
said the attacks include burning olive groves, homes and vehicles,
breaking into houses, physically assaulting residents, harming
livestock, dispersing sheep herds and attempting to steal them.
Olmert stated that “Jewish terrorists” are
attacking Palestinians with hatred and violence for a single purpose:
forcing them to flee their homes in order to prepare the area for Jewish
settlement and advance a dream of annexing all the land.
He said the attacks are taking place in
front of the closed eyes of police officers and soldiers, arguing that
hundreds of violent youths would not have been able to carry out such
acts had they not been equipped with weapons through the initiative and
encouragement of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
According to Olmert, militias operating in
the West Bank are acting with direct backing and assistance from
Israeli government officials, adding that the Israeli police also serve
as a source of encouragement for “Jewish terrorism.”
He further argued that the Shin Bet does
not employ against Jewish extremists the same tools it uses effectively
against Palestinians, and fails to act decisively to prevent attacks,
identify rioters, or locate and arrest the leaders of these groups.
Olmert said the issue goes beyond the
Israeli army’s failure to prevent unrest in the occupied territories,
suggesting that in many cases soldiers cooperate with rioters or remain
nearby, watching events unfold without intervention.
He called on the international community
to take political measures to compel the Israeli government to activate
mechanisms to stop what he described as crimes against humanity
committed under its sponsorship, protection and support.
Olmert concluded by saying there may be no
option other than expecting the International Criminal Court to become
the inevitable address for investigation, exposure of those responsible,
and steps that could ultimately lead to their arrest and prosecution.
For all the obsessive coverage of the
disgraced financier’s political dealings, mainstream outlets have
skimmed past one of the biggest stories
Independent media reporting has
highlighted former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s past dealings
with Jeffrey Epstein (Jack Guez/AFP)
Since the release late last month of millions more files in the Jeffrey Epstein saga,
western media outlets have provided nonstop coverage. Yet despite an
extensive focus on the disgraced financier’s relationships with powerful
figures, his links to Israeli political and intelligence circles have
been largely ignored, marking a conspicuous omission.
Searches across online news archives turn
up thousands of recent stories on legitimate issues of public concern,
highlighting victims of Epstein’s abuse and the alleged involvement of
prominent persons and groups in that abuse.
The New York Times, PBS, NBC and CNN, among other notable outlets, have drawn from the files to publish exhaustive accounts of powerful men with ties to Epstein.
In addition to naming business, academic and sports figures, much reporting has focused on political figures, such as US President Donald Trump, former Norwegian Prime Minister Thorbjorn Jagland, and the UK’s Prince Andrew and politician Peter Mandelson.
Media coverage has also emphasised Epstein’s relationships with foreign countries, with Reuters and the Washington Post running stories about his alleged ties to Russia. Other pieces have documented Epstein’s purported links to Norway and Slovakia.
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
But despite Epstein’s ties to Israel having been known for months – an ongoing Drop Site News investigation
suggests that Epstein worked closely with former Israeli Prime Minister
Ehud Barak and participated in initiatives connected to Israeli
intelligence – there has been little mainstream coverage of this aspect.
Even as sites such as Middle East Eye, Al
Jazeera, Mondoweiss and TRT World, among others, have devoted
significant coverage to the Epstein-Israel connections, there appears to
be a glaring gap in western mainstream media.
Strategic omission
There are, of course, exceptions, such as the CNN interview
last November with Marjorie Taylor Greene, in which the then-US
congresswoman broached Epstein’s alleged ties to Israel. But the
response from CNN presenter Dana Bash was telling: she became visibly
irritated, and swiftly pivoted to the topic of antisemitism.
Journalism studies scholarship routinely
emphasises the importance of omission. The inclusion and exclusion of
information are among the primary mechanisms through which members of
the media create meaning.
So why does it seem that mainstream
western media outlets are bending over backwards to avoid the Israeli
elephant in the room? This dovetails with broader questions on why
western media tends to sympathise with Israeli narratives.
In the current moment, the biggest danger
for journalists is not getting a story wrong – it is appearing unwilling
to tell it at all
Some outlets – or at least some powerful
editors and producers – might have a direct interest in shielding
Israel. It is also possible that news managers are afraid of the
consequences of maligning Israel, or of being perceived to be
“antisemitic”.
Scholars John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt famously described
the power of pro-Israel lobbying groups, which have long exerted
considerable sway over American politics and media, helping to generate
favourable coverage. Reporting that is critical of Israel often triggers
pressure campaigns from these groups.
In such an environment, omission functions
as a type of risk management. News editors know that even the
perception of unfairness towards Israel can trigger accusations of
antisemitism.
Media institutions operate within the broader sociopolitical climate. Since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, American and British universities have come under fire for actively suppressing pro-Palestine speech and student protests critical of Israel.
In 2024, an American university took the extraordinary step of firing
a tenured professor over speech critical of Zionism, confirming how
Israel-related criticism carries an unusually high professional risk – a
reality that news outlets know well.
Pivotal moment
Western journalists have long had to be careful about covering Israel. In 2018, contributor Marc Lamont Hill was fired
by CNN for speaking in favour of Palestinian liberation. But
sensitivities were heightened after 7 October 2023, when Hamas attacked
Israeli communities and Israel launched its genocide in Gaza.
Since the start of the violence, media figures have faced intense backlash, including firings, over speech critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza. Journalist Mehdi Hasan’s show on MSNBC was cancelled following his criticisms of Israel.
Direct pressure is often applied by media owners, who are increasingly vocal about the need to protect Israel as it faces unprecedented global disapproval. Businessmen Larry and David Ellison have strategically acquired media assets – including TikTok’s US operations and CBS News – in an apparent bid to influence narratives about Israel.
What were Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to Israeli intelligence? | Murtaza Hussain
Since the acquisitions, TikTok
has aggressively censored pro-Palestinian content, and CBS has shifted
to a more overt pro-Israel stance. Zvika Klein, editor-in-chief of the
Jerusalem Post, recently praised CBS’s new editor, Bari Weiss, for “doing more for Israel than most of us”.
In the meantime, the Epstein files have
created a public obsession, with every new detail generating a firestorm
of interest, clicks, likes and shares. Serious independent news
organisations and popular podcasts have reported extensively on
Epstein’s ties to Israel, so the issue is unlikely to fade from the
public conversation. Mainstream outlets may ultimately be forced to join
in, if for no other reason than to maintain some semblance of
credibility.
After all, news audiences will soon wonder
– if they do not already – why journalists readily report on Epstein’s
alleged ties to Slovakia and Norway, but ignore his connections to a key
western ally entangled in major conflicts with far-reaching
implications.
This is an important moment for western,
and especially American, news organisations. Journalism derives its
authority from its willingness to pursue uncomfortable facts that matter
to the public. A growing number of observers in North America and
Europe already believe that a double standard shapes how Israel is
treated across western capitals.
Media outlets should avoid feeding this suspicion, especially now, when public trust
in media is at an all-time low. In the current moment, the biggest
danger for journalists is not getting a story wrong – it is appearing
unwilling to tell it at all.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
Mohamad Elmasry is Professor of Media Studies at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies.
