Israeli journalist Gideon Levy on the implications of Israel’s strategy for long-term war in Gaza.
Given a choice between war and getting all its captives back, Israel has opted for more war, argues Israeli journalist Gideon Levy.
Levy tells host Steve Clemons that Israeli politicians may abandon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but even if he was replaced, Israel would continue its war on Gaza and occupation of the Palestinian people as a whole. “Radical change” in Israeli attitude and US support is needed for any improvement in the situation, says Levy.
After October 7, even those on the Israeli left believe that Israel has the right to do whatever it wants, the Haaretz columnist argues.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and others see an opportunity, but it remains unclear who will be qualified to run by the Guardian Council.
Tehran, Iran – Iran’s ex-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other divisive figures – such as moderate Ali Larijani and ultraconservative Saeed Jalili – have signed up to contest new elections after the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash last month.
Ahmadinejad, who was president from 2005 to 2013, registered along with dozens of others at the interior ministry on Sunday, a day before the sign-up period ends.
The politician, who had been largely sidelined following his controversial terms in office, said he’s only heeding “a call from people from across the country” to run again, and he’s confident he can resolve Iran’s domestic and international issues.
“Don’t ask political questions,” he said with a grin when asked by reporters about his reaction if he were to be disqualified from running by the Guardian Council – the constitutional body that vets all candidates.
Despite Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urging him to stay away in 2017, he signed up and was barred from running, but chose to not register for the 2021 election.
Ahmadinejad says improving the economy and combating corruption are among his highest priorities [Majid Asgaripour/West Asia News Agency via Reuters]
Ahmadinejad’s presidency was marked by economic malaise defined by massive inflation and currency devaluation, along with explosive tensions over Iran’s nuclear programme – which saw multilateral sanctions imposed on the country.
His 2009 re-election sparked the Green Movement of protests across the country amid claims of vote tampering, which were refuted by authorities as they mounted a crackdown.
Who else wants to be in the race?
The dozens who signed up to run for president also include senior security official and former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, former three-time parliament speaker Ali Larijani, Tehran’s Mayor Alireza Zakani, and former central bank chief Abdolnasser Hemmati.
Jalili is now the Iranian supreme leader’s representative to the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) and used to be security chief from 2007 to 2013 at the height of the tensions surrounding the nuclear file. He has run for president unsuccessfully three times before.
Larijani, a conservative figure belonging to a powerful family, is perhaps the only relatively moderate candidate with any chance of garnering a considerable number of votes – that is if he is greenlit by the Guardian Council after being disqualified in 2021.
Despite the disqualification last time, Larijani was the first major figure to announce his candidacy, signing up in Tehran on Friday with his campaign releasing a dramatic video containing cinematic shots of him in the process.
After the latest presidential and parliamentary elections produced the lowest turnouts in the near 45-year history of the Republic of Iran, turnout is expected to prove a challenging issue during this vote as well.
The research centre of the Iranian parliament announced on Sunday that 53.4 percent of people – responding to a survey it conducted – said they would vote in the June 28 presidential election, with 28.9 percent still on the fence.
This is just above the 48 percent that saw Raisi become president, and much higher than the 42 percent turnout announced for the parliamentary election in March.
The Guardian Council is scheduled to begin vetting the candidates from Tuesday for six days, after which the list of approved candidates will be announced on June 11.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under immense pressure from the families of captives and the White House to accept Biden’s proposal for a Gaza ceasefire, while his far-right allies are threatening to collapse the government coalition if he does.
Explore the powerful wave of student activism in the US against Israel’s war on Gaza.
As Israel continues its war on Gaza, student activism surged across universities in the United States. From New York to California, students demand an end to the conflict and call for divestment from companies profiting from it. These campuses, echoing a rich history of activism, become centres of tension and defiance. Facing suspension, expulsion, and arrest, students are convinced they are on the right side of history.
In this edition of Talk to Al Jazeera, we delve into these powerful demonstrations to explore advocacy, dissent and calls for policy change.
On May 21, Amr Musara went out to report on Israel’s raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The 25-year-old videographer was working with three Palestinian colleagues – all visibly identified as press.
The Israeli army fired at them.
Musara was shot in the back as his colleagues hit the ground to take cover. When the soldiers stopped shooting, Musara was rushed to the nearest hospital.
“I thought I was going to die,” Musara told Al Jazeera over the phone from his home where he is recovering from his wounds.
Musara said Israel routinely shoots at journalists across the West Bank.
“They targeted us in the same way they targeted Shireen,” Musara said.
“There was no danger [for the Israeli soldiers] around us. There were no resistance fighters.
“They just shot at us.”
Patterns of violence
Since it launched its war on Gaza on October 7, Israel has killed 516 Palestinians in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
According to an investigation by the Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq and London-based research group Forensic Architecture, Israel typically sends undercover soldiers into West Bank cities to monitor and assess the area before the army or special forces arrive.
Last week, several undercover Israeli soldiers pretending to be Palestinians came into Jenin and took up positions among the homes to survey the camp.
The next morning, the army stormed Jenin’s refugee camp with tanks, jeeps and bulldozers. The bulldozers were sent in to destroy shops, roads and homes, journalist and camp resident Atef Abdul Rub said.
“They started shooting at a school, … at the students and at the teachers,” Abdul Rub told Al Jazeera.
Ten civilians were killed during Israel’s latest incursion into the camp, including a teenage boy and a doctor.
Israel has raided the Jenin refugee camp over and over for years, ostensibly to root out an umbrella organisation of armed groups known as the Jenin Brigades, which opposes Israel’s occupation.
A Palestinian takes pictures at the spot where Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh was killed by Israeli soldiers during an Israeli raid in Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank [File: Raneen Sawafta/Reuters]
Israeli forces typically destroy entire neighbourhoods, claiming they are harbouring fighters. Civilians are punished in the process – killed, arrested or made homeless, residents and activists told Al Jazeera.
“What I saw in Jenin camp is like Gaza on a smaller scale,” said Zaid Shuabi, a Palestinian human rights organiser in the West Bank.
“You don’t see roads because they’re destroyed. The infrastructure, … the sewage and electricity system and the water pipes and telecommunication networks are damaged.”
Since January 2023, 88 people have been killed in the Jenin camp and 104 structures have been destroyed, according to the UN.
Resistance
Since 2021, a new cohort of Palestinian armed groups has emerged across the West Bank. In the Jenin camp, the Jenin Brigades has clashed with Israeli troops during dozens of raids.
The group is loosely composed of fighters linked to Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and Fatah, according to Tahani Mustafa, an expert on Israel-Palestine for the International Crisis Group (ICG), a think tank in Belgium.
“These groups [in Jenin] started as a community defence mechanism, so the more violent Israel’s raids got and the more systemic [they got], the bigger these groups grew,” Mustafa told Al Jazeera.
She said the young men who join these groups are reacting to Israel’s deepening occupation and are disillusioned with the Palestinian Authority (PA), which administers the occupied West Bank and is viewed as an Israeli auxiliary by many Palestinians.
The PA has engaged in security cooperation with Israel as part of the 1993 Oslo Accords, which it was born out of.
Some senior Fatah officials in the PA back and finance some Fatah factions in the Jenin Brigades to increase their leverage in any future power struggle to control the PA, Mustafa added.
The ICG has long warned of a violent succession struggle in the PA when President Mohamad Abbas, 88, steps aside or dies.
Mustafa said others in the Jenin Brigades are also part of the PA security forces, which give them a monthly salary.
“Originally, when the [PA] security forces were conceived by the Americans and Israelis, the idea was to use the security forces as a way … to disarm radical [fighters] and give them jobs in exchange for laying down their weapons,” she said.
“Now, obviously in the context of the occupation, that isn’t going to work. A lot of these guys have jobs – a monthly salary – but still engage in resistance.”
‘Die with pride’
Some young men join armed groups to receive a salary. The PIJ pays its members from $1,000 to $3,000 a month, Mustafa said.
The financial incentives have drawn young men from outside the camp.
Palestinians check their homes destroyed in an Israeli air strike in the Jenin refugee camp on May 18, 2024 [Majdi Mohammed/AP Photo]
“What we have seen since last July is that a lot of these guys are coming from other localities, … which then creates a contentious relationship because it is one thing if you are [a civilian] dying for [the actions] of your brother or son.
“It’s another when you don’t know who these guys are,” she told Al Jazeera.
Shuabi said Israel punishes civilians in the camp in the hope that they will turn against the resistance fighters. He explained that, in particular, Israel intentionally destroys neighbourhoods, roads and homes as part of a broader strategy to displace Palestinians from the Jenin camp gradually.
Those who stayed in the camp faced an acute lack of services after Israel deliberately destroyed water pumps and electricity grids.
Shuabi believes that Israel’s strategy is backfiring.
More young Palestinians are joining resistance groups to avenge loved ones or to defend their families and communities from Israel’s raids, he said.
“Families of martyrs – even if they are feeling pain – understand why their brothers [or sons] or other family members are getting involved in the resistance,” he told Al Jazeera.
“Even if they’re not a member of the resistance, they’re being targeted. They figure that they might as well die with pride by being a member of the resistance.”
Israel is attacking Gaza’s hospitals in violation of international law, but is it part of a pattern going back to 1948?
Hospitals are supposed to be immune from attack in times of war but Israel has repeatedly bombed and shelled them since October 7, 2023. This film looks at Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s hospitals in the context of its historical expansion at the expense of the Palestinian population, going back to 1948. The Israeli army cut off water, power, fuel and medical supplies to Gaza and has attacked most of its hospitals. It claims that al-Shifa Hospital shielded a Hamas command centre and attacked it despite the hundreds of civilians sheltering there – but produced little evidence to support that claim. The alleged war crimes that the International Criminal Court is seeking arrest warrants for on both sides include Israel’s deliberate targeting of civilians, many of whom have taken shelter in Gaza’s hospitals.
Israeli tanks and artillery fire have continued pounding the shattered Gaza Strip and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted on the destruction of Palestinian group Hamas as part of a ceasefire plan presented by US President Joe Biden, raising questions about the prospect of a deal.
During a news conference at the White House on Friday, Biden said Israel has put forward “a comprehensive new proposal” to end the war. The three-phase plan seeks to implement a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip that involves the withdrawal of Israeli forces from all populated areas of Gaza and the release of all Israelis held captive in the strip.
Hamas has indicated that it is open to the proposal, raising hopes of a halt to Israel’s eight-month war.
In a statement, the group said it “reaffirms its readiness to positively engage and cooperate with any proposal based on the foundation of a permanent ceasefire, complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, reconstruction, the return of displaced people to their homes, and the completion of a genuine prisoner exchange deal, provided that the occupation announces its explicit commitment to this”.
But on Saturday, Netanyahu was adamant in declaring that for Israel’s war on Gaza to end, Hamas must be destroyed.
“Israel’s conditions for ending the war have not changed: the destruction of Hamas’s military and governing capabilities, the freeing of all hostages and ensuring that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel,” his office said in a statement.
It said those conditions must be met, “before a permanent ceasefire is put in place”.
“The notion that Israel will agree to a permanent ceasefire before these conditions are fulfilled is a non-starter,” it added.
Abdullah al-Arian, professor of history at Georgetown University in Qatar, pointed out a “major contradiction” in the demand, with both Israel and its staunch ally the US saying they do not want a future in Gaza in which Hamas has any kind of political role left.
“At the same time, this is an agreement that would have to be reached through negotiations with Hamas, so, how do you do that? How do you eliminate them as a political force and at the same time reach a negotiated solution that is agreed upon by all parties,” he told Al Jazeera.
Another “major sticking point” to an eventual deal would be Israel remaining as an occupying force in some parts of Gaza, which he said Palestinians have continuously rejected.
Alon Liel, former director of Israel’s foreign ministry, said Biden’s announcement was “music to the ears of the Israelis who want to end the war.
But, there is a “mixed message again coming from Washington,” he told Al Jazeera. “The surprising thing was that [the ceasefire proposal] was described as an Israeli offer. This contradicts many things that Netanyahu said recently; it looks more like an American offer that is presented as an Israeli one,” Liel said.
The armed group Palestinian Islamic Jihad, meanwhile, expressed “suspicion” of the plan announced by Biden saying the “cessation of aggression” must involve “complete withdrawal” of Israeli forces from Gaza.
Blinken lobbies Middle East leaders
Even as Biden presented the new plan, Israel continued its deadly attacks in Gaza, with artillery fire hitting residential buildings in the northern neighbourhoods of Gaza City, killing several Palestinians.
Another early morning Israeli strike in Gaza City also killed a journalist, identified as Ola al-Dahdouh, according to the Palestinian TV channel Al-Aqsa.
Israeli forces also hammered Rafah in southern Gaza with tanks and artillery, while witnesses in the east and centre of Rafah described intense artillery shelling.
In the shadow of the continuous Israeli bombardment, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held discussions with the top diplomats of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Turkey amid efforts to gather support for the new Gaza ceasefire plan.
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud received a call from Blinken, during which they discussed the latest proposal, the Saudi state news agency said.
Blinken in his shuttle diplomacy in the region has invested time in involving Saudi Arabia, hoping that the prospect of Israel normalising relations with the kingdom will encourage moderation in Netanyahu’s far-right government.
According to State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, Blinken “emphasised that Hamas should accept the deal without delay”, in those telephone calls from his plane as he returned from a NATO meeting in Prague.
“[Blinken] underscored that the proposal is in the interests of both Israelis and Palestinians, as well as the long-term security of the region,” Miller added.
Meanwhile, Indonesia’s president-elect, Prabowo Subianto, welcomed Biden’s ceasefire proposal as a step in the right direction. He said his country is willing to send peacekeeping troops to maintain a ceasefire in Gaza if required.
“When needed and when requested by the UN, we are prepared to contribute significant peacekeeping forces to maintain and monitor this prospective ceasefire as well as providing protection and security to all parties and to all sides,” he told a security conference in Singapore.
Israeli attacks on Gaza since the start of the war have killed at least 36,379 people and wounded 82,407 others, with thousands more missing under the rubble and presumed dead. Israel launched its assault on the besieged territory after a Hamas-led attack in southern Israel killed about 1,140 people.
The Listening Post cuts through the confusion about Zionism and anti-Zionism in Western media and politics.
In the coverage of Israel-Palestine in the Western media, an ideology that is central to the story – Zionism – rarely gets discussed. Instead, we hear a debate about whether opposition to it – anti-Zionism – is anti-Semitic.
The Listening Post’s Daniel Turi reports on Zionism, the confusion that surrounds it, and what it tells us about the world’s longest-running occupation.
Contributors: Bernard Avishai – Professor, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Sherene Seikaly – Associate Professor of History, University of California at Santa Barbara Avi Shlaim – Emeritus Fellow, University of Oxford
Jewish anti-Zionism in the US: An interview with Simone Zimmerman
Anti-Zionist Jews have formed a key part of the protests across the United States against Israel’s war on Gaza. Given the importance of US support for Israel, it’s a movement that could prove pivotal.
We hear from one of its leaders, Simone Zimmerman, whose own transition away from Zionism forms the core of the recent award-winning documentary, Israelism.
Israeli prime minister set to deliver address to Congress despite growing anger over his government’s abuses in Gaza.
The top legislators in the United States have issued a formal invitation for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to deliver a speech to Congress in the latest show of support for Israel amid its war on Gaza.
The invite by Republican and Democratic leaders in the Senate and House of Representatives on Friday came as the International Criminal Court considers issuing an arrest warrant for Netanyahu over alleged war crimes.
“To build on our enduring relationship and to highlight America’s solidarity with Israel, we invite you to share the Israeli government’s vision for defending democracy, combatting terror, and establishing a just and lasting peace in the region,” the letter said.
It did not specify a date for the speech.
I am honored to invite Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to address a joint meeting of Congress. pic.twitter.com/rYKx0Z1p93
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) May 31, 2024
The letter was signed by House Speaker Mike Johnson, Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
If he accepts the invitation, Netanyahu would surpass the late former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill as the foreign leader who has delivered the most speeches to a joint session of Congress.
Churchill – who led his country through World War II and helped defeat Nazi Germany – and Netanyahu have each addressed Congress on three separate occasions.
Netanyahu has been facing global outrage over Israel’s apparent abuses in Gaza, where the Israeli military has killed more than 36,000 people and destroyed large parts of the territory.
Israel has also imposed a strict blockade in Gaza, bringing the territory to the verge of famine.
Netanyahu’s government defied its Western allies, including the United States, this month by launching a major assault in Rafah in southern Gaza, where nearly 1.5 million Palestinians had been sheltering. The offensive has displaced one million Palestinians.
An Israeli bombing of a camp for displaced people in Rafah earlier this month killed 45 Palestinians and sparked international outrage.
But the US Congress remains staunchly pro-Israel although some Democrats have been increasingly critical of Netanyahu.
In March, Schumer called for a new election in Israel and described Netanyahu as an obstacle to peace, citing the Israeli prime minister’s opposition to the two-state solution.
The congressional invite on Friday brought anger from Palestinian rights advocates. Actor Cynthia Nixon called it “shameful” in a social media post addressing Schumer.
“Perhaps Netanyahu can be arrested for his war crimes on the Senate floor,” she wrote.
Earlier on Friday, US President Joe Biden outlined a proposal that he said would lead to an “enduring” ceasefire in Gaza.
The three-phase plan would see the release of Israeli captives in the territory, as well as hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, Biden said.
The initiative, which Biden said was put forward by Israel, marks a shift in the position of the US administration, which had only sought a temporary truce while backing Israel’s goal of eliminating Hamas.
“President Biden understands that having this war drag well past his election is not going to be something that actually works for him politically,” Palestinian-American analyst Omar Baddar told Al Jazeera.
“It’s incredibly costly and damaging for him, and I think that this is why he’s putting his foot down at this point and placing enormous pressure upon Israel to accept the ceasefire deal.”
Hassan Nasrallah says the battle between Hezbollah and Israel will help determine the fate of Lebanon and the region.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has stressed that the Lebanese group’s battle with Israel is consequential and will help shape the future of the region, as the two sides continue to exchange fire daily.
In a speech delivered via videolink on Friday, Nasrallah said the Israeli military is losing the war in Gaza, with Hezbollah’s attacks “pressuring Israel” from Lebanon.
“This battle concerns Palestine, but also concerns the future of Lebanon and its water and oil resources,” Nasrallah said. “This front is a support front that is part of the battle that will determine the fate of Palestine, Lebanon and the region strategically.”
The Israeli military occupied parts of south Lebanon for decades until its withdrawal in 2000, raising fears in the country that Israel’s ultimate aim is to control Lebanon’s water-rich southern areas.
Nasrallah added on Friday that Hezbollah is continuing its operations against Israel, regardless of “narrow political calculations”.
The Iran-allied group began targeting Israeli troops along the border after the war on Gaza broke out. Throughout the recent conflict, Israel has been regularly bombing villages in southern Lebanon.
Earlier on Friday, Hezbollah claimed several attacks against Israeli positions after it said that Israeli bombing had killed a medic in south Lebanon.
The violence has forced thousands of Israelis to flee from the north of the country, with the fighting turning into a war of attrition, raising fears of a regional conflict.
Nasrallah’s comments on Friday come days after Israel’s Defence Minister Yaov Gallant warned that Lebanon will “pay the price” for Hezbollah’s actions, claiming that Israel has killed 300 of the group’s fighters.
“If you will continue, we will accelerate,” Gallant said in a warning to Hezbollah.
But Nasrallah appeared to dismiss that threat, saying that Hezbollah fighters remain at the border.
For months, Israeli leaders have stressed the need to push Hezbollah off the northern border of Israel, including through a major assault if necessary.
Last week, Nasrallah warned Israel against launching an offensive in Lebanon, saying that Hezbollah has military “surprises” that it will use in the case of an all-out war.
On Friday, United States President Joe Biden said Israel had agreed to a proposal for an “enduring ceasefire” in Gaza that would help end hostilities with Lebanon.
“Once a ceasefire and hostage deal is concluded, it unlocks the possibility of a great deal more progress, including calm along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon,” the US president said.
“The United States will help forge a diplomatic resolution – one that ensures Israel’s security and allows people to safely return to their home without fear of being attacked.”
Hezbollah had previously said it would halt its attacks on Israel when the war on Gaza ends.
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