Never Again for Me but Not for Thee
A new low for Jewish institutions; another sabotaged ceasefire deal; and an Israeli prison guard admits to holding Palestinians hostage
Quick editor’s note for new readers: I aim to send this out every Saturday or Sunday. It opens with a short reflection on what’s been on my mind—in this case, three quick things—followed by a weekly news roundup organized by region: Gaza, the West Bank, Israel, the US, and occasionally elsewhere.
Never Again
On Saturday, the Holocaust Museum of LA posted this graphic on Instagram:
In a parallel, saner universe, a post with such a basic truth would have gone unnoticed. But in this one, it was flooded with comments insisting Actually, no, ‘Never Again’ is only for the Jews.
Within hours, the graphic was gone, replaced with this:
I’d like to say this response was shocking, but in my mind, the only surprising thing was that they posted what was, in effect, a tacit political statement against the genocide in Gaza to begin with—likely slipped through by an intrepid social media manager, disguised as a banal message of inclusivity. That such a gesture now feels remarkable says everything about how low Jewish institutions have sunk since October 7. In today’s climate, not only can the Holocaust Museum not oppose genocide, it must apologize for implying that Jews don’t hold the right to wage a Holocaust of their own.
In addition to the moral bankruptcy of this position, I’m still struck by how many of my fellow Jews insist antisemitism is an existential threat while simultaneously doubling down on tribalism. I can’t imagine what kind of future they think they’re securing for our people, but it’s not one I’d want to live in.
Back To School
Settler leader Yossi Dagan marked the new school year in the occupied West Bank by trotting out kindergartners as props for a PR stunt to celebrate the resettlement of Homesh, 20 years after its evacuation:
In East Jerusalem, more than 800 students are locked out of their classrooms after Israel shut down six UNRWA schools on the claim that they “teach hate.” Meanwhile, settler children from an illegal outpost showed up in Taybeh to share the lessons in kindness they’ve clearly been taught:
The disturbing video reminded me of a June Haaretz story about extremist settlers who register their illegal outposts as foster homes so they can recruit poor, at-risk kids from Israel, radicalize them, and deploy them to terrorize Palestinian villages.
And of course, it brought to mind the famous quote from the late Prime Minister of Israel, Golda Meir: “Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.”
Tremendous Mistake
On Thursday, just hours after I published my explainer on Israel’s potential formal annexation of the West Bank, Israel’s Channel 14 reported that the military is preparing for an “extreme scenario” that would lead to all-out war in the West Bank in September, calling it a “sensitive month due to the UN assembly and political developments.”
The subtext isn’t hard to parse: with UN recognition of a Palestinian state on the table and annexation pressures mounting, the military is preparing for Palestinian resistance—promising to freeze Gaza operations, shift forces east, and wage “a war that will end decisively.” That choice of words echoes Smotrich’s 2017 Decisive Plan—his blueprint for annexation and for solving the Palestinian question once and for all. Settlers and right-wing extremists who now control Israel’s government have long been itching for a confrontation—a Third Intifada—as the pretext to make it a reality.1
As I note in the explainer, I still think formal annexation is far from a done deal, given the economic and diplomatic costs to Israel—on Saturday, new reporting indicated that the UAE’s threat to the Abraham Accords blindsided Netanyahu’s government and forced them to reconsider. But momentum inside Israel is still building: most Likud ministers, including Defense Minister Israel Katz, are reportedly backing the Yesha Council’s call to extend sovereignty over 82% of the West Bank, and Israel’s foreign minister repeated that recognition of Palestinian statehood would be a “tremendous mistake” that would compel Israel to take “unilateral action”—the classic look what you made me do defense. At this point, I’d call it a coin toss based on the signals I’m reading.
ICYMI: I joined Tommy Vietor on Pod Save the World—1:17:43 on YouTube, or 1:20:00 in the podcast version (Apple / Spotify)—to talk about annexation, why the two-state solution is akin to climate denial, and the case of 16-year-old Palestinian American Mohammed Zaher Ibrahim, who is starving and abandoned in Israeli military detention.
Unsurprisingly, I caught some flak for going on a show that still backs the Democratic Party despite its despicable policy toward Israel/Palestine (though it was only a handful of comments), and whose views may not be as far left as my own. Clearly, I operate in a far different world than Tommy and his co-hosts, who come out of the Obama administration and tend to frame things in political terms rather than strictly first principles.
But after numerous conversations with Tommy before going on the show, my sense is that on Israel/Palestine as it stands today, he gets it. He may not be as unsparing toward Democratic politicians as I would be, but he can play an important role in making the Palestinian cause more legible to a mainstream liberal audience and more viable in Washington. I’ve long believed the single most important step toward freeing Palestine is ending US weapons shipments to Israel, and like it or not, that decision will ultimately be made through electoral politics.
If you find my writing valuable, I ask two things:
Here’s this week’s roundup.
Gaza
Lack of Intent
At a six-hour cabinet meeting last Sunday, Netanyahu blocked a vote on a Hamas-approved hostage deal, backed by army chief Eyal Zamir, even though it was his own phased framework that he abandoned only after Hamas accepted it. (TOI)
After MK Orit Strock called Zamir “fearful and fainthearted” for backing the deal, he shot back, “Every morning, I review the Middle East map and authorize strikes across the region.” (TOI)
Axios now reports that White House envoy Steve Witkoff revived the effort last week, sending a new proposal to Hamas through both Palestinian-American businessman and unofficial Trump envoy Dr. Bishara Bahbah and Israeli peace activist Gershon Baskin. Hamas replied that it was willing to accept a comprehensive deal—hostage release tied to a permanent ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal—but Israeli officials immediately dismissed it. (Axios)
Bahbah corroborated this account, saying he personally delivered the US proposal to Hamas, who accepted it “almost immediately,” before Israel rejected it. Bahbah concluded that Israel has “no intention of ending the war or even releasing the hostages” without heavy American pressure. (Drop Site)
Alternate Timeline
KAN reported that in the months before Israel’s May 2024 Rafah invasion, former army chief Herzi Halevi urged a one-stage deal to free all the hostages, allowing Israel to “defeat Hamas more easily,” but Netanyahu shut it down without discussion. (KAN)
The Offensive
The Israeli army refused to disclose how many reservists reported after 60,000 call-up notices for its Gaza City invasion. (Haaretz)
Israel said Thursday it controls 40% of Gaza City after days of intensified bombardment. (France24)
On Friday, Israel began flattening high-rises in Gaza City, including the 12-story Mushtaha Tower, sending shockwaves through surrounding tent camps and wounding civilians. The military claimed without evidence that the buildings served “Hamas terror operations.” (AJ)
On Sunday, Israel destroyed the Al-Rouya residential tower in southwest Gaza City (Drop Site):
The Israeli military declared a new “Humanitarian Zone” in Khan Younis as it continues trying to force 1 million Gaza City residents south. (X)
The UN said it cannot confirm that any shelter equipment has entered Gaza since March 2, despite Israel’s pledge to allow it in. (Drop Site)
Mass Murder
The Gaza Health Ministry reports the confirmed death toll is 64,368, up from 63,459 last week. Tens of thousands are still thought to be buried under the rubble. (AJ)
Historian Jean-Pierre Filiu writes that Gaza’s official death toll excludes thousands of Israel’s indirect victims, including those who died from lack of evacuation, medical care, food, or clean water. (Le Monde)
Israel has killed more than 19,424 children—including 1,000 infants—averaging one child every 52 minutes since October 7. (MEE)
Last Sunday, Israeli forces killed Louay Estita, 46, the longtime director of Gaza’s oldest sports club, in a strike on crowds waiting for aid near the Zikim crossing. (Anadolu)
On Monday, Israeli forces killed a pregnant woman and her unborn baby in a Gaza City strike near Shati camp, as airstrikes leveled over 1,000 buildings in Zeitoun and Sabra, and killed four in a strike on a crowded Nasser Street market. (AJ)
A Tuesday Israeli strike on al-Mawasi—a “safe zone” the army encouraged Gaza City residents to evacuate to—killed nine Palestinians, including five children who were fetching water. (Guardian)
The Israeli military used a drone to drop incendiary grenades on an ambulance at Al-Sheikh Radwan Clinic in Gaza City. (MEE)
Israeli forces killed over 100 Palestinians on Wednesday, including at least 33 seeking aid. (Drop Site)
On Thursday, Israel bombed a displacement camp, setting tents on fire. (AJ)
Reuters video captured a grandmother clutching her three-year-old, who narrowly survived a bombing in Gaza City. (Reuters)
At least 46 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since dawn today. (Drop Site)
Famine
At least 387 Palestinians have died from Israel’s imposed starvation of Gaza—up from 339 last week—including 138 children. (Al Jazeera)
Palestinian university lecturer Dr. Omar Harb died on Thursday morning after suffering from cancer and severe malnutrition. (Quds)
UNICEF said more than 7,000 Gaza children under five were put on malnutrition recovery programs in just two weeks last month, with August’s total expected to top 15,000, over seven times February’s figure. (Guardian)
General Annihilation
Haaretz revealed that the “Uriah Force,” a rogue demolition crew of settlers and reservists tied to the brother of the incoming Shin Bet chief, has spent nearly a year operating in Gaza with little oversight—flattening buildings, sending soldiers into uncleared tunnels, and using Palestinians as human shields. (Haaretz)
Israel blew up an elementary school in Gaza City in a controlled demolition. (X)
Ninety-five percent of Gaza’s educational infrastructure has been destroyed, leaving over 660,000 students out of school for the third straight year, with a fraction of them crammed into makeshift tent classrooms. (AJ)
Health officials in Gaza warn of a deadly winter as respiratory infections spread rapidly among displaced families crammed into tents, with hospitals gutted by Israeli attacks and medicine scarce. (Haaretz)
Midwives in Gaza describe a nightmare of childbirth amid famine and bombardment—mothers arrive “like walking skeletons,” babies are delivered without pain relief, and deliveries happen by phone flashlight when power cuts. Israel’s bombardment has destroyed nearly 80% of incubators; the first half of 2025 saw more than 2,600 miscarriages, 220 pregnancy-related deaths, and over 1,460 premature births. (Mondoweiss)
Al-Rantisi Children’s Hospital, the last pediatric hospital still operating in Gaza City, is at 300% capacity, overwhelmed with sick and starving children. (Drop Site)
A Gaza medical student described how classmates are forced to invent new forms of medicine, from sterilizing wounds with chlorine to amputations on dining room tables without anesthesia. (AJ)
Consensus
The International Association of Genocide Scholars voted 86% in favor of declaring that Israel’s Gaza policies meet the legal definition of genocide. (TOI)
Rockets from Gaza
For the first time in three weeks, rockets were fired toward Israel from Gaza; one was intercepted, the other landed in an unpopulated area. (TOI)
The Show Must Go On
A Haaretz investigation revealed that Col. Haim Cohen, the military officer who approved and oversaw security for the Nova festival, visited the site just an hour before Hamas’s October 7 attack, saw thousands of party-goers with only 50 police officers on hand, but neither dispersed the event nor boosted military protection, leaving most military units unaware the festival was even happening. (Haaretz)
A leaked internal Israeli army assessment says the first phase of “Gideon’s Chariots” made “every possible mistake”—from botched aid distribution that it claims let Hamas mount a “starvation PR drive,” to mismanaged resources, sluggish repeat maneuvers, and mounting attrition that left forces strained, ultimately failing to topple Hamas or free any hostages. (TOI)
Solidarity
Italian dockworkers threatened to shut down the country’s ports if Israel blocks the Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla. (Anadolu)
West Bank
Sure Why Not
On Friday, US Ambassador to Israel Huckabee reiterated, “The United States has never asked Israel not to apply sovereignty. I have repeatedly said that the United States respects Israel as a sovereign state and will not tell Israel what to do. This is also what Secretary of State Rubio said just last week.” (X)
Quiet Annexation
Israel announced the seizure of 456 acres of land from the Palestinian villages of Jit and Farata near Nablus, adding to over 26,000 acres already confiscated in the area around the illegal settlement of Havat Gilad. (MEE)
Shin Bet warned that the Palestinian Authority is showing signs of financial collapse, fueled by Israel’s withholding of tax revenues, denial of work permits, and restrictions preventing Palestinians from reaching their jobs. (Anadolu)
Israeli authorities forced a Palestinian man to spend 30,000 shekels ($8,924) renting machinery to demolish his own two apartments in Shu’fat refugee camp—homes for seven family members—after warning he’d face even heavier fines if they carried out the demolition themselves. (MEE)
The Palestinian Authority accused Israeli authorities of secretly excavating and demolishing beneath the Al Aqsa Mosque to erase Islamic antiquities from the Umayyad period and prepare the ground for a future Jewish temple. (MEE)
Israeli forces bulldozed a minaret under construction for a mosque in Dura. (AJ)
Water War
The UN recorded 62 settler attacks on wells, pipelines, and springs across the West Bank in the first half of 2025. (JPost)
This Week in Pogroms
Last Sunday, settlers attacked Palestinians in the South Hebron Hills, injuring a man and his wife in Khallet al-Daba. (AJ)
On Monday, Israeli settlers torched acres of Palestinian farmland in the town of Sa’ir, northeast of Hebron, burning grapevines, almond trees, and olive trees. Earlier the same day, a settler ran over 14-year-old Dalal al-Hawamdeh in Sammou, south of Hebron, leaving her hospitalized. (MEE, MEE)
On Thursday night, at least 30 settlers returned to Khallet al-Daba, wounding an 84-year-old man, a 64-year-old woman, and a 13-year-old boy. Locals said a baby was pepper-sprayed. Despite the police being called, no arrests were made. (Haaretz)
Armed Jewish settlers stormed and seized a Palestinian home at the entrance to Hebron’s Old City. (AJ)
On Saturday, settlers torched two farm structures in the Bedouin community of Al-‘Arara, released livestock into residential areas in Shalal al-Auja near Jericho, assaulted a family of five in Hebron, and attacked Palestinians in al-Mughayyir. (Anadolu)
Settlers opened fire on Palestinians and their property in Sinjil, injuring two more in the Khallet al-Eis area of Hebron; under army protection, they torched farmland, fired into homes, and stormed the Hanbali Mosque in Nablus. (AJ)
Earlier this year, settlers from the illegal Givat Gal outpost built a shack just meters from the Tamimi family’s homes in Hebron, then barred them from their olive groves, stole their livestock and furniture; in August, settlers beat Faraj Tamimi with iron bars and nearly strangled his 14-year-old son for picking sumac berries. (Haaretz)
Military Raids
Last Sunday, Israeli forces raided Bethlehem, Hebron, Nablus, and Ramallah, detaining multiple Palestinians, including a child, and injuring five with live fire. (AJ)
On Tuesday, Israeli forces stormed Hebron Mayor Tayseer Abu Sneineh’s home and arrested him, while raids around Nablus swept up 13 more Palestinians and left one hospitalized; in Tubas, troops opened fire on a family car, killing the father, who they claimed was a “terror suspect,” and wounding the mother and three children. (Ynet)
On Wednesday, Israeli forces shot and killed 25-year-old Muhammad Jamal Omar Madani during a raid on Balata refugee camp east of Nablus. (MEE)
Israeli forces stormed homes across the West Bank on Friday, arresting two men in Jenin, three in Al Fawwar camp near Hebron, and three in Al Mughayyir village, where settlers were also raiding the village. (MEE)
On Saturday, Israeli forces wounded 26 Palestinians and detained 18 during raids across Nilin, Anata, Tubas, Hebron, and Nablus. (Anadolu)
Israeli troops raided Bethlehem-area villages, tore down posters of slain Palestinians, set up new checkpoints, and detained at least 70 people across the West Bank in the past week. (AJ)
Israeli forces arrested seven more Palestinians on Sunday in raids across Ramallah, Hebron, Jenin, Bethlehem, and al-Yamoun, while also bulldozing land near Salfit to expand a settler outpost. (AJ)
Suspect Apprehension Procedure?
Israeli soldiers shot dead 57-year-old Ahmed Abd al-Fatah Shehadeh at a checkpoint near Nablus after he “threw a suspicious object and ignored orders”; witnesses report it was a water bottle. A military spokesperson said, “The terrorist did not comply with the forces’ instructions, leading them to initiate a suspect apprehension procedure, which included firing to neutralize the threat, resulting in the terrorist’s elimination.” (INN)
An International Solidarity Movement volunteer recounted being beaten, robbed, and held at gunpoint by Israeli soldiers in Ibziq, describing how laser dots from their rifles traced his head before settling on his groin. (Mondoweiss)
Israel
Ten Plagues
Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed to kill Yemeni children in the name of God:
End of Zionism
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid warned that if Netanyahu’s coalition wins again, “it will be the end of Zionism.” (TOI)
Peaceful Coexistence
Ben Gvir added five more towns to Israel’s fast-tracked gun-permit map—making ~100,000 more residents eligible—as his ministry touts ~230,000 new licenses since October 7 amid 403,000 requests. (TOI)
On Sunday, he stormed into the Arab Israeli city of Umm al-Fahm with police and border guards for what he called a “governance tour,” handing out demolition warrants, and claiming he was there to “teach them what the law is.” (Haaretz)
Residents of a wealthy Israeli town are trying to block a home sale because the buyer’s last name is Haniyeh, though the Israeli Arab businessman says he has no relation to Hamas’s leader, has deep roots in Israel, and relatives who fought in Gaza. (ynet)
Israeli Diplomacy
Netanyahu reportedly blocked French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Israel unless he abandoned his push for international recognition of a Palestinian state. (JNS)
Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Gaza City has sparked a diplomatic clash with Egypt, as Netanyahu urged Cairo to accept refugees while Egypt’s foreign minister accused Israel of trying “to push the residents out of their land.” (NYT)
Torture Camps
Leaked Israeli military intelligence shows only about 1 in 4 of the 6,000 Palestinians seized in Gaza are militants, while Israel uses the Unlawful Combatants Law to hold civilians without charge—among them 100+ medical staff and even an 82-year-old with Alzheimer’s—in overcrowded, abusive detention where lawyers can be denied for 75 days, detainees are stacked on open trucks, a “geriatric pen” holds the sick and amputees, and dozens have died. (+972)
A Palestinian prisoner advocacy group accused Israel of equipping guards with stun guns and new types of rubber bullets, calling the prisons a “testing ground.” (Anadolu)
A record 360 Palestinian children are imprisoned by Israel, with 41 percent held in administrative detention without charge or trial, the highest number ever recorded, as lawyers face bans on visits, families are cut off entirely, and children report being beaten daily, fed rotten food, and isolated in prisons like Megiddo and Ofer. (DCIP)
After a rare visit, the lawyer of prominent Gaza doctor Hussam Abu Safiya, who was abducted by Israeli forces in December and detained at Ofer prison, said he and his nephew are given only 30 minutes of sunlight a month, forced to stay in the same clothes while scabies and boils spread across their bodies, allowed just two-minute baths, and have each lost a third of their body weight, leaving them in urgent need of medical care. (MEE)
Israel is still withholding the body of 17-year-old Waleed Ahmad, who died in Megiddo Prison in March; the official autopsy found an intestinal infection likely caused his collapse and documented severe weight loss, loss of fat tissue, scabies, colitis, and a body mass so low it was classified as “sickly underweight.” (Haaretz)
Israel’s High Court ruled the state is failing to meet its legal duty to adequately feed Palestinian security prisoners and ordered steps to ensure “a basic existence.” Ben Gvir accused the judges of siding with “murderous Nukhba terrorists and abominable rapists,” questioning if the judges are “of Israel,” and vowing to preserve his policy of giving prisoners only “the most minimal conditions under the law.” (TOI)
Protest Movement
An Israel Democracy Institute poll found 64.5% of Israelis—including half of Likud voters—support a ceasefire and hostage deal. (Haaretz)
Netanyahu called anti-war protesters rallying near his home “fascists.” (France24)
Families of hostages, reservists, and Gaza border residents staged a different kind of protest by shutting off the water pipeline into Gaza, demanding that Netanyahu impose a full siege and the “decisive elimination” of Hamas. (INN)
Collective Punishment
A Palestinian-American mother from Meriden, CT, Intifada Abdelghani, and her 14-year-old son Musa have been stranded in Israel for more than two weeks after being barred from boarding their flight home, with her husband saying Israeli security scanned her eight times, demanded a strip search by male officers, mocked her US citizenship, and held them for 13 hours—treatment he believes is retaliation for her name. (CT Insider)
Ben Gvir Targeted
Shin Bet said it foiled a Hamas plot directed from Turkey to assassinate National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir with explosive drones. Turkish authorities denied any involvement. (Haaretz)
US (and World)
Dual Loyalty
Trump said about Israel, “They had total control over Congress, and now they don’t.” (Daily Caller)
The US sanctioned three leading Palestinian human rights groups—Al Haq, Al Mezan, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights—for cooperating with the ICC probe into Israeli war crimes. (Politico)
A year after Israeli forces shot and killed 26-year-old US citizen Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi while she protested settlement expansion in Beita, her family says they’ve heard “nothing” from either administration, as Biden called it an “accident” and Trump has stayed silent. (Zeteo)
Pure Racism
The Trump administration imposed a sweeping suspension of almost all visitor visas for anyone holding only a Palestinian passport, blocking travel for medical treatment, university study, family visits, and business. (NYT)
A 22-year-old Palestinian, Taher Mohammed Taher Hasan, has spent 16 months in cockroach-infested high-security ICE detention without charges, after refusing FBI pressure to become an informant. (Zeteo)
Quisling University
Columbia University launched an investigation into pro-Palestinian protests during the first week of classes—after students held a sign calling classmates “IOF criminals”—warning of suspensions for intimidation or harassment. (Haaretz)
Four months after being arrested, detained, and nearly deported by the Trump administration, Palestinian activist and permanent US resident Mohsen Mahdawi returned to Columbia University to begin a master’s in international diplomacy and security at SIPA. (Guardian)
Economy of Genocide
Google is running a six-month, $45 million campaign with Netanyahu’s office to spread propaganda, pushing ads that deny famine in Gaza, promote the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, and smear groups documenting Israeli war crimes. (Drop Site)
A US-registered nonprofit, American Friends of Judea and Samaria, has been soliciting tax-deductible donations to buy drones, helmets, and rifle plates for Israeli soldiers in Gaza and Lebanon. (Drop Site)
Gaza Riviera 2
Trump’s envoys Tom Barrack and Morgan Ortagus are spearheading an American plan to disarm Hezbollah, seize towns in southern Lebanon, and create a U.S.-secured “economic zone.” (Intercept)
Message Testing
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs commissioned American polling firm Stagwell, led by longtime US political operative Mark Penn, to run extensive research designed to rehabilitate Israel’s image abroad. The project, still underway, has so far found that Europeans widely describe Israel as a “genocidal, apartheid country,” Americans underestimate the Gaza death toll by tens of thousands, and Israel’s most effective propaganda comes from stoking fear of “Radical Islam.” (Drop Site)
Terrorism in the UK
Elbit Systems unexpectedly shut down its Bristol facility—long targeted by Palestine Action with rooftop occupations, smashed windows, and red paint—despite holding the lease until 2029, marking another retreat for Israel’s largest arms maker after years of losses and sell-offs linked to activist pressure. (Guardian)
Meanwhile, the UK’s Metropolitan Police charged six activists with terrorism offenses for allegedly encouraging support for Palestine Action through rallies in London, Manchester, and Cardiff. (BBC)
Thanks for reading. As always, I welcome your thoughts, questions, etc. in the comments.
And if you’ve made it this far and can afford it, consider upgrading to a paid subscription.
Editor’s Note, 9.8.25: On Monday morning, two Palestinian gunmen opened fire at a bus stop at Jerusalem’s Ramot junction, killing at least six Israelis and wounding more than twenty. Prime Minister Netanyahu declared Israel is waging “an intense war on several fronts,” and Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed “severe and far-reaching consequences,” adding: “Just as we defeated Palestinian terrorism in northern Samaria — we will soon do the same in other terror camps” (a reference to the crushing raids in the Jenin and Tulkarm refugee camps). Large-scale military operations are now underway across the West Bank.
Thank you, Jasper. I’m sad I can’t afford a subscription at this time but know that your work is very appreciated. I’m no longer on social media and it’s refreshing to receive updates via the thorough & unapologetic reporting that you provide here. Free Palestine.
I was actually grateful you went on Pod Save The World- I subscribed because of that.