Middle East Press On: Jewish, Historic, Herzl, Arab, Resistance, Al Sharaa: New Age Islam's Selection, 8 May 2025
By New Age Islam Edit Desk
8 May 2025
Jewish Schools Around the World Face Historic Opportunity Amid Enrolment Wave
Herzl's Dynasty Is Gone, But His Heirs Are the Israeli People
Is Lebanon Dismantling Hezbollah? Beware of Premature Conclusions
The Impact of These Documented Atrocities Must Be Preserved
Official Arab Alignment with Israel to Eliminate the Resistance
How Will Al-Sharaa Respond to The Israeli Attacks?
Expulsion and Occupation: Israel’s Proposed Gaza Plan
Solving The Hezbollah Arms Conundrum
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Jewish Schools Around the World Face Historic Opportunity Amid Enrolment Wave
By Hana Dorsman
May 8, 2025
The Jewish world has been in deep turmoil since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, and the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas War. What began as a security crisis quickly turned into a wide-ranging identity crisis, crossing borders, continents, and classes.
In every conversation with educational leaders, teachers, and parents in the Diaspora, the same anxious voice is heard: Our children are being exposed to hatred at school, university, and on the Internet. The reality we knew has been shaken.
A new report being published by UnitEd, written by Rosov Consulting, in collaboration with Israel’s Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Ministry, provides, for the first time, a comprehensive picture of the consequences of the dramatic events in the Jewish education field worldwide.
Previous studies done this year point out the dramatic increase in antisemitism. Ninety-six percent of French Jews, 91% of Latin American Jews, and 90% of US and Canadian Jews reported having experienced antisemitism since October 7.
Increasing antisemitic experiences
Almost half of young Jews have experienced antisemitism personally, and that number is only growing. In Britain, 64% of Jews report being afraid to display identifying Jewish signs in public. For children, this means one thing: their Jewish identity has become a burden, not a badge of honor.
But it is precisely at such moments that the power of the Jewish education system is revealed. Jewish schools, where hundreds of thousands of Jewish children around the world currently study, have become an anchor, a protected space where one can simply be Jewish with pride and without apology.
According to UnitEd's report, in places where parents feel apprehensive about sending their children to public school, a clear phenomenon of switching to Jewish schools is developing. In France, the proportion of students in Jewish schools has jumped from 16% in 1986 to around 40% today; of this figure, some 2,000 students have transferred to Jewish schools since October alone.
In Toronto, the Netherlands, Australia, and throughout North America, there has also been a sharp increase in demand. In Amsterdam and France, there is simply no more room to accommodate additional students.
In Australia, 91% of Jews report an emotional connection to Israel; in the UK and Canada the percentages are 78% and 79%, respectively. Jews who experienced loneliness or alienation have found their way back to the community.
However, the reality on the ground is not simple. Schools are dealing with overload, teacher shortages, and infrastructure that is not prepared to absorb the waves of enrollment. Only 35% of educators reported that they feel ready to deal with the current emotional and pedagogical challenges.
A historic opportunity
But alongside the difficulty, there is also opportunity: Jewish teachers working in public schools are asking to move to Jewish schools, existing teachers are enlisting in complex tasks out of a sense of mission, and new organizations and networks dealing with Jewish education, such as the Jewish Educators Network of Australia, have emerged since October 7.
All this indicates an encouraging trend: a revival of modern, Zionist, Jewish education, connected to the world while simultaneously rooted in its Jewish heritage.
These figures are not just a warning sign – they are a call to action. The Israeli government and Jewish educational organizations around the world must act immediately to strengthen Jewish identity through massive investment in curricula, educator recruitment, teacher training, infrastructure, and educational discourse adapted to the current reality.
This is not just the responsibility of local communities – it is of global concern of the highest order.
The Jewish world is facing a historic moment. Jewish children today are asking themselves questions about belonging, security, and identity. It is our duty – as adults, parents, and leaders – to give them a clear answer: Yes, you have a place. Yes, your identity is worthy. Yes, we are with you.
Jewish education is not a luxury. It is the first line of defence for our future. If we strengthen it properly, we will find that it is also the front line of hope.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-853057
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Herzl's Dynasty Is Gone, But His Heirs Are the Israeli People
By Tova Herzl
May 8, 2025
Last Friday, May 2, the day after Israel's 77th Independence Day, marked 165 years since the birth of Theodor Herzl.
Known as the founder of political Zionism, he also established the Jewish National Fund to buy land and founded the Jewish Colonial Trust, the financial tool that enabled projects to materialize and was the forerunner of Israel's banking system. Additionally, he initiated other institutions that serve the State of Israel and the Jewish people to this day.
Herzl's success in setting up a national infrastructure where none existed exacted a heavy personal price. I recently read Ilse Sternberger’s book about the fate of his offspring, Princes Without a Home.
The hundreds of pages that contain numerous quotes from letters and diaries convey an unbearable tragedy.
Theodor and Julie, rich and good-looking, died young (he at 44, she 39), following a troubled marriage. His heart did not withstand the burden of intense journalistic work together with the demands of promoting his vision.
Who knows – had he accepted the Zionist movement’s offer to pay him so that he could dedicate all his time and energy only to it, he might not have succumbed so young, and the fate of his children might have been different.
A dowry for Zionism
He spent his money and his wife’s dowry on Zionism. Upon his death in 1904, the family was left empty-handed. The Zionist movement raised money for his children, who were brought up by guardians.
All three suffered major emotional crises during their short lives. Beautiful and talented Pauline lived a scandalous life and died at 40, probably of typhus, possibly of an overdose. Hans was exceptionally capable but did not find his place professionally and personally. He converted to Christianity, returned to Judaism, committed suicide upon his sister’s death, and was buried with her, aged 39.
Trude married a man of her parents’ generation. After the Nazis came to power, they sent their son Stephan to England. He served in the British army, was posted to his country's embassy in Washington, DC, and committed suicide when he learned that his parents had been killed in the Holocaust.
Absences and mental illness
Except for Trude, who shared the fate of most of Europe’s Jews, it is impossible to know what caused the demise of her older siblings. It is likely that their father’s frequent absences and their mother's mental illness undermined their stability. Possibly, young people from rich homes, especially women, were not trained to cope with life’s demands and could not adjust to changing circumstances.
It may have been the gap between their status (many referred to their father as “king of the Jews”) and reality, or their confusion regarding both their Jewish identity and Zionism. Regardless, their internal struggles were intolerable.
77 years of statehood
The dynasty reached its end. Herzl has no direct descendants, only very distant relatives, like me. But the Zionist effort bore fruit – these past 77 years, Jews have had a state.
Alas, Herzl's life work is again disputed. We witness a growing debate about the right of Jews to a national home, and within us, there is widening disagreement about the way forward.
This internal conflict was manifested in elections to the World Zionist Congress, which ended earlier this week. The ultra-Orthodox, who opposed Herzl and remain opposed to Zionism, ran in the elections, along with extremist nationalists whose ideology goes counter to Herzl’s principles, including equality, human rights, and a limit on the power of clergy.
These principles guided the Zionist movement, which led to the establishment of the state, at grave personal cost to Herzl, who envisioned it, and to his family. Let us hope that the movement and the state that it birthed will fare better than the fruit of his loins.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-853055
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Is Lebanon Dismantling Hezbollah? Beware of Premature Conclusions
By Sarit Zehavi
May 8, 2025
Over the past few months, several developments in Lebanon have prompted observers to ask whether the Lebanese state is finally moving to confront Hezbollah’s grip over the country.
There have been a number of positive government-led actions, such as arrests of Hezbollah-linked individuals, symbolic changes in public spaces, and stronger rhetoric from top officials . However, these moves still do not signify a full-scale confrontation with Hezbollah or its entrenched power.
One of the more notable developments was the Lebanese government’s decision to remove pro-Hezbollah signs and symbols from public roads and highways, particularly in areas under Hezbollah influence. This was accompanied by the arrest of 30 individuals employed at Beirut’s international airport, a move reportedly linked to an effort to curb Hezbollah’s infiltration of critical infrastructure for smuggling purposes.
Significant shift
Additionally, a significant shift has occurred in airport operations: Iranian flights that previously landed frequently in Beirut – suspected of transferring weapons and cash to Hezbollah – have reportedly ceased. On April 30, Agence France Press cited a Lebanese security official as claiming that the Lebanese Armed Forces dismantled over 90% of Hezbollah’s infrastructure south of the Litani River since the November 2024 ceasefire went into effect. There is no confirmation or proof of that.
The Lebanese president reportedly stated on April 16 that he plans to disarm Hezbollah this year, though Hezbollah responded to that statement with a firm “No.”
The Lebanese Armed Forces began reporting activities designed to remove some of Hezbollah's terror infrastructure from southern Lebanon, such as the April 8 report about the LAF finding a launcher and two rockets in the Tyre area.
Strict supervision
Further encouraging voices have come from the highest levels of the Lebanese state. On April 11, President Joseph Aoun, along with Transportation and Public Works Minister Fayez Rasamny, paid an unannounced visit to the Port of Beirut. Aoun stressed the need for strict governmental supervision over port activities, emphasizing proper documentation and full enforcement of regulations.
Aoun also floated the idea of gradually integrating Hezbollah operatives into the official LAF.
He explicitly rejected the notion of a separate force, such as Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units, instead suggesting Hezbollah members could be absorbed individually, through official military training channels as was done with other militias following the Lebanese Civil War.
On the surface, such moves and statements suggest a realignment of the Lebanese state against Hezbollah’s dominance. Optimists interpret this as a turning point, fueled by Hezbollah’s major losses in the recent conflict with Israel and by the weakening of its regional patron, Iran, and the fall of its ally, the Assad regime in Syria.
According to this view, Hezbollah’s internal opponents have gained confidence and political space, and Lebanon might finally be able to reclaim full sovereignty and dismantle the “state within a state” structure that Hezbollah has maintained for decades.
Approach with caution
However, this perspective must be approached with caution. While the atmosphere may feel different, the deeper patterns are all too familiar. Lebanon has been here before. After major political shocks – such as the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri in 2005 and the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah – similar hopes also surfaced. National dialogues were initiated, promises of disarmament were made, and pressure from the international community intensified. Yet in those instances, Hezbollah emerged not weakened, but stronger. It rebuilt, rearmed, and consolidated its hold at both the political and military levels, often with the passive or even active cooperation of elements within the Lebanese state.
The October 7, 2023, mass murder attacks teach us to evaluate actions, not rhetoric. The true test is not found in symbolic acts, but in whether Hezbollah’s ability to operate as a military and political power is being materially diminished. Recent Israeli activity offers a stark contrast. In just the past few weeks, Israel has eliminated over 140 Hezbollah terror operatives, including commanders from key operational branches – smuggling networks, special forces, and Radwan operatives.
UNIFIL and Hezbollah's bank
Over 40% of these strikes occurred south of the Litani River, an area where Hezbollah’s presence is supposed to be forbidden under UN Security Council Resolution 1701. These figures highlight a central reality: Israel, not the Lebanese Armed Forces or UNIFIL, is the one actively enforcing the terms of Resolution 1701.
UNIFIL, for its part, turned out to be a harmful element when it comes to the mission of disarming Hezbollah.
Another critical gap lies in Hezbollah’s civilian infrastructure. Despite being designated a terrorist organization by the United States, Hezbollah’s financial institutions, like its bank Al-Qard al-Hasan, continue to operate openly in Lebanon. These civilian arms are not secondary – they are the logistical and ideological enablers of Hezbollah’s military apparatus.
As long as this network remains intact – running schools, distributing aid, managing reconstruction, and indoctrinating youth – the foundation for future military resurgence remains intact. Even now, while Hezbollah faces logistical, resupply, and operational setbacks, the support structure that will eventually allow it to recover is functional.
Dismantling institutions
For real change to occur, Lebanon must act against both arms of Hezbollah: the visible military formations and the civilian systems.
This would require the Lebanese state not only to arrest operatives but to dismantle financial and social institutions tied to the group. It would also require a clear break from the fiction that Hezbollah can coexist within the Lebanese political system while maintaining a private army and foreign allegiance.
There are currently no signs that the LAF is willing or able to undertake such a challenge. There are occasional reports of weapons caches being discovered, but these pale in comparison to the scale and specificity of intelligence-driven operations carried out by the IDF.
Hezbollah’s weapons remain hidden across southern Lebanon, Beirut, and other areas under its influence. The quantity of weapons that likely remains in the areas that the IDF didn't maneuver in reflects a simple fact: Lebanon’s security forces have not significantly altered the status quo.
Hezbollah in Beirut
Recent Israeli strikes in Beirut reflect the presence of Hezbollah arms in the Lebanese capital. On April 27, the Israeli Air Force struck a building in Dahiyeh, southern Beirut, containing precision missiles, according to the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit. On March 28, a strike targeted a building in Dahiyeh that the IDF said was housing Hezbollah drones.
Intentions are irrelevant when assessing national security threats by terror groups. Despite its leadership crisis, Hezbollah’s infrastructure – military and civilian – remains largely intact, and Lebanon’s central institutions have yet to demonstrate that they can, or will, impose meaningful limits on its power. An important action in the right direction could be a Lebanese government order to close Al-Qard al-Hasan, Hezbollah's bank in the country.
While recent developments in Lebanon may appear to signal a shift in posture toward Hezbollah, history and current evidence suggest extreme caution.
Until there is demonstrable and sustained Lebanese action that matches the scale of Israeli efforts to dismantle Hezbollah’s threat, optimism about a new era in Lebanon should remain cautious and conditional.
The increase of efforts by the Lebanese authorities to degrade Hezbollah will inevitably up the chances of a Lebanese civil war – one of the key reasons why such efforts were not made before the current war. However, the alternative is worse: A reality in which Hezbollah emerges stronger from the current conflict, as has occurred in the past.
There is now an excellent opportunity to bring change to Lebanon. It is in the hands of the Lebanese, and they must not miss it.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-853032
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The Impact of These Documented Atrocities Must Be Preserved
By Hossam Shaker
May 7, 2025
The war on Gaza has unfolded before the world’s eyes with unprecedented visibility. From the first day, its violence has been continuously broadcast in real time through images, video clips, and live streams. The assumption was that such exposure would awaken the conscience of the international community and prompt meaningful action from global leaders.
Even without relying on the most graphic or controversial footage, the documented evidence is overwhelming: infants pulled from rubble, children weakened by prolonged hunger, and hospital patients left untreated in facilities lacking basic medicine or equipment some of which are themselves subject to bombing.
The visual evidence from Gaza stands as proof against a world that has failed to take serious action in the face of atrocities that challenge international law, undermine the Charter of the United Nations and fundamental human and ethical principles, despite the outcry of multitudes angered by the genocide and provoked by the brutality. This evident failure justifiably raises difficult questions about the equality of life, dignity, and rights among human beings in this world.
Staged images and others ignored
The ongoing brutal war of extermination unfolding in the Gaza Strip reveals a phenomenon of manufactured and exaggerated imagery, which coincides with a lack of concern for other documented realities, despite being indisputable and unambiguous.
There are many examples of this, such as a fabricated image promoted by occupation propaganda, claiming to show the charred body of a child allegedly burned by Palestinians in a settlement near the Gaza Strip on 7 October 2023.
This fabricated image and others like it were used as ammunition in an aggressive incitement campaign to justify the execution of a brutal extermination war in Gaza and to strip the Palestinian people of their humanity. Meanwhile, the same political and media platforms, many of which are prominent and influential globally, showed little concern for the vast number of documented scenes in which the occupation army burned the bodies of children and infants across the Gaza Strip, where charred bodies accumulated in scenes that deeply shock the human conscience.
Bias in this context is not limited to the duality of fabrication and exaggeration on one side and turning a blind eye and indifference on the other. It is also connected to the denial of the Palestinian victims’ right to recognition and to the reality of their suffering in general. When that suffering is acknowledged, it is often isolated from the perpetrator who caused it, leaving incidents without a doer, or in the passive voice, especially when the perpetrator is Israeli. This is reflected in headline wording that is usually subdued: “death” instead of “killing,” for instance. It contrasts markedly to the relatively heightened attention given to Israeli casualties, even when the harm is merely assumed.
The bias is also evident in the reluctance to draw attention to the reality of Palestinian children and civilians being burnt alive; their fragile bodies scorched by the army’s fire raining down on their tents around the clock. This is linked to the protected status of central propaganda narratives monopolised by the occupying power, which often excludes any mention of Palestinian children being burnt, even when images and videos of them are widely circulated from the field.
This contradiction cannot be understood without considering the reality of globalised Western centrality, which through its institutional mechanisms and influence, effectively monopolises global concern for certain events and selectively generates sympathy according to its own familiar biases.
And even when certain images or developments force themselves into global view, they are met with carefully measured sympathy, nowhere near the outpouring of grief and emotion that would follow if the victims were from the occupying population or from other, more privileged groups, such as Europeans or Westerners generally.
It has become clear, based on many available comparisons, that the logic of Western central bias places the lives of some people above others in terms of concern and sympathy. This globalised bias, by its influence, reach, and persistence, provides long-standing moral cover for the violation of Palestinian lives, dignity, and humanity, year after year, in full view of the world.
This occurs with increasingly deceptive practices: reducing global concern for what is happening to them, suppressing public outrage, and offering pre-emptive justifications followed by weak verbal responses once the scale of the brutality is exposed. There remains a consistent refusal to call things by their names: what is happening is rarely labelled as genocide, atrocities, ethnic cleansing, or starvation policy, let alone described as terrorism.
Horror from the starvation camps
Pale faces and emaciated bodies gather in large numbers in search of a piece of bread, a sip of water, or a simple meal to keep them alive, though often in vain after hours of exhausting waiting. Children and infants die from hunger while others await their turn on a growing list of impending death, all within the sight and hearing of the world. Pregnant women in critical conditions are left without basic care, newborns go unattended, and premature babies lack essential protection.
These escalating horrors are not the result of a natural disaster or drought, but rather the visible effects of a deliberate, carefully programmed policy designed to strip a vulnerable population of the means of survival. They are robbed of food and basic dignity while bargaining with them over their rights, their land, and their very existence.
Could anyone had imagined that a government or army in the world would dare to wage a prolonged starvation warfare against an entire population located at the heart of the planet, along the Mediterranean? Could anyone had imagined that the perpetrators would do so publicly, insistently, and even proudly? This has been coupled with continued military support, political endorsement, and generous economic backing from Western capitals, along with conspicuous neglect in the Arab world.
This atrocity has become a visible reality, in full colour and through live footage, as the Israeli occupation subjects the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, or more precisely, a society composed mostly of children and mothers to a tightly controlled campaign of extermination and starvation. The residents, their stomachs empty, are bombarded constantly in what has become an open-air killing field, under live global broadcast.
These daily images demand serious questions from news outlets, media platforms, and political and civil institutions around the world.
It is now evident that the world is prepared to tolerate all these horrors, show leniency toward them, and look away from them. Besides, the perpetrators are granted time and space to continue and intensify their barbarity, so long as they only affect a specific population and are carried out by those who are granted immunity from accountability and placed, in practice, above international law and its institutions. The difficult conclusion is that the global response to such crimes is not objective; it depends on the identity of the perpetrator and the victim.
There was once an assumption that capturing brutality on camera, sharing it through live broadcasts, and documenting it in reliable reports would be enough to shock the world into action and deter the perpetrators and pressure their backers to stop.
But this documented brutality found eager supporters some of whom repeatedly issued threats to “open the gates of hell.” Genocide, destruction, displacement, and starvation were all accompanied by pre-emptive justifications under the claim of “Israel’s right to defend itself.”
Deception reaches its peak through continued leniency, silence, and indifference, all expressed in vague concern, soft appeals, or lukewarm responses. These stand in stark contrast to how the world would have reacted had such horrors targeted other populations such as westerners, whites, or those from the privileged regions of the planet. Surely, the reaction would have been different had perpetrator not been the occupying settler regime in Palestine.
When the impact of documented atrocities begins to erode
A contradiction can be observed when reviewing past moments in this same place. Iconic footage once prompted significant reactions during previous Israeli offensives on Gaza: such as the bombing of the Al-Fakhoura School in northern Gaza during the winter of 2008-2009, the killing of four Bakr children playing on the beach in the summer of 2014, or the destruction of the Al-Jalaa Tower during the 2021 assault, which housed global media agency offices.
In those moments, the camera captured horrific scenes that provoked global outrage and put pressure on Israel to curb its aggression, despite pre-existing justifications.
But the sheer volume of horrific images during this prolonged campaign of extermination has stripped such scenes of their exceptional status, making them appear “ordinary” or more “tolerable,” so long as they involve people outside the privileged sphere of global attention.
This critical observation raises difficult questions about whether global visual culture can become desensitised to certain atrocities over time, losing the power of rarity and shock. It is as though the occupation has “trained” the world to grow accustomed to these horrors, which continue to escalate before global audiences, even though a single “rare” image in the past was enough to shake the world and prompt declarations of sorrow and shock.
When leading political and media platforms show indifference toward these visible atrocities and fail to give them due emotional or editorial weight, the public may come to believe, naively, that such horrors do not merit attention, are not enough to stir emotions, and do not call for urgent action or moral reckoning.
This is the logic of “acceptable brutality,” as it manifests in the constant stream of atrocities that were already pre-justified, openly supported, and lavishly funded by governments and institutions that pride themselves on being part of the “free world” and claim moral high ground, without acknowledging their role in encouraging the mass killing, destruction, and relentless starvation.
It is crucial to resist the logic of repetition and desensitisation which dulls public concern. But even though repetition may undermine the impact of shock, certain narrative strategies can still realign public perception with human conscience and moral clarity.
One approach is to focus on specific stories, highlight individual experiences, and bring to light names and faces, thereby humanising the suffering and restoring emotional engagement.
Ultimately, the real hope lies in mobilising immediate responses and generating active public pressure, regionally and globally, to awaken consciences and demand action. This kind of pressure is essential to confront decision-makers and those who wield power and hold them accountable for their silence, complacency, or inaction that enables ongoing brutality.
It must be acknowledged that the brutality of extermination and starvation warfare has its backers, those who directly or indirectly support it, justify it, or remain complicit through silence or weak statements.
Even mild criticism and soft appeals contribute to enabling this brutality and clearing the path for its continuation, while offering superficial disavowals of the extermination, accompanied by hollow statements of condemnation.
Sustained complacency emboldens the occupation to escalate its brutality, reinforcing the impression that these visible horrors do not warrant serious consequences. Instead, they are met with perfunctory expressions of “concern” and feigned focus on “the difficult humanitarian situation.” The genocidal government interprets such complicit or timid reactions as a green light to continue its policies with no serious challenge or deterrent.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250507-the-impact-of-these-documented-atrocities-must-be-preserved/
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Official Arab Alignment with Israel to Eliminate the Resistance
By Majed Zebda
May 7, 2025
The media warning issued by the Lebanese Higher Defence Council to Hamas, accusing it of undermining Lebanese national security, not only contradicts the facts that Israel is the one undermining Lebanese national security and violating Lebanese territory through killing, bombing and occupation without deterrence or accountability, but also paves the way for the disarmament of the Palestinian camps in Lebanon and suggests that they pose a threat to Lebanon’s security and territorial integrity. I will not rule out the possibility of the camp weapons issue being used to distort the image of the Palestinian resistance and to drag Hamas’s name into any future conflicts on the ground. This desire aligns with the vision of Mahmoud Abbas, who is hostile to the Palestinian resistance in general and Hamas in particular and plans to visit Lebanon to discuss the issue of weapons in the camps in the coming days.
On the other hand, the sudden Lebanese warning comes in response to the vision of the US and Israel’s arrangements for the future of the Arab region, which is being re-engineered politically and on the ground to allow for complete and undisputed Israeli domination. It also aligns with other Arab measures, including, for example, Jordan’s criminalisation of support for the Palestinian resistance and the new Syrian regime’s efforts, under American pressure, to tighten the noose on Palestinian resistance factions and prevent their activities inside Syria under the pretext of “arms control.”
This allows us to come to the conclusion that the Lebanese warning is just one scene among several others that together form the American-Israeli vision of the region. It is a bleak future for Arab dignity, in which Israel violates Arab lands and capabilities daily in a provocative and humiliating manner, while Arab regimes undertake the task of clipping the wings of the Palestinian resistance and cutting off its supply lines under the force of American pressure. The US will implement what these regimes fail to, and the American bombing of Yemen in defence of Israel, which has been ongoing for weeks, is a prime example of this.
Unfortunately, official Arab alignment with Israeli-American goals is pushing some to treat the Palestinian resistance with arrogance and condescension, describing it as the weakest link. Therefore, there is no high political price to pay for antagonising it and distorting its positive image, even though it has the legitimate and legal right to resist military occupation and defend its land, people and holy sites. This is a chance to recall the shameless insults and obscenities uttered by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas against the Palestinian resistance, which is the opposite of the official Arab approach to the criminal occupation, which violates the dignity of Arabs, their skies and their land around the clock. Yet, no one dares to threaten it or issue warnings—even as a formality—of resisting its attacks, which have become a daily occurrence on our television screens.
Arab identification with Israel’s desire to eliminate the resistance will strongly clash with the resistance’s popular support and its deep roots in the hearts of the nation’s free people. The resistance, which has persevered for 18 months against the Israeli enemies and sacrificed its best leaders and fighters without being broken, is capable of regrouping and rebuilding what the occupation has destroyed. When it does so, many of those who align with Israel’s goals today may seek to cosy up to the resistance after their strength weakens and they fail to eliminate it and uproot it from the land of Palestine and its surroundings.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250507-official-arab-alignment-with-israel-to-eliminate-the-resistance/
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How Will Al-Sharaa Respond to The Israeli Attacks?
By Omar Kush
May 7, 2025
Israel has gone too far in its attacks on Syria this time, as its warplanes bombed the vicinity of the presidential palace in Damascus. In a joint statement with Defence Minister Israel Katz, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu considered the bombing “a clear message to the Syrian regime: We will not allow [Syrian] forces to deploy south of Damascus or any threat to the Druze community.”
The matter did not stop at this level of arrogance and overconfidence, but rather went further, as the Israeli escalation continued, with Israeli warplanes bombing seven military sites in three Syrian provinces, in the largest attack since the beginning of April. Perhaps the question that arises here is: How long will the Israeli attacks on Syria continue, what messages does Israel want to send, and most importantly what can Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa do about the recurrence of these attacks?
Initially, since the fall of the Assad regime, Israel has targeted the military assets of the former Syrian army, claiming that its attacks were pre-emptive operations to prevent weapons from falling into the hands of the new authorities, whom it considers “terrorist groups”. However, it was not content with that, so it infiltrated the buffer zone, unilaterally ending the disengagement agreement signed in 1974, and established a vast buffer zone encompassing most of Quneitra Governorate, extending to areas in Daraa Governorate, and finally reaching Sweida Governorate. Israeli rhetoric attempted to establish a new narrative based on the weak and false pretext of protecting Syria’s Druze, positioning itself as the advocate for its minorities and threatening to target any Syrian forces entering the governorate. Israeli violations reached its peak with the targeting of a General Security Forces convoy heading to the town of Ashrafiyat Sahnaya, followed by the targeting of the vicinity of the presidential palace. This came after the new Syrian authorities managed to contain the bloody clashes that had taken place in the towns of Jaramana and Ashrafiyat Sahnaya, which had spread to areas in the Sweida Governorate. They signed an agreement with the spiritual and social figures in those towns, stipulating that they surrender their weapons to the relevant authorities and the deployment of General Security Forces units in those areas.
Israel seeks to send several messages, the most important of which is that it seeks to keep the new Syrian authorities under pressure and blackmail, exploiting the disastrous situation left by the Assad regime on every level. Israel seeks to prevent the new government from regaining their strength and extending their sovereignty throughout Syria, especially the southern region. Israel makes no secret of its efforts to separate the south from the new Syrian body, despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of Syrians in the south consider themselves an integral part of the Syrian homeland, cherish their Syrian identity and oppose any Israeli intervention. This is apart from a few voices in Sweida, represented by Sheikh Hikmat Al-Hijri and his followers, whose views are opposed by the majority of the governorate’s population. A recent meeting of religious and military leaders and activists in Sweida sent the message that it is opposed to the Israeli effort, by “rejecting partition, separation, or secession”, affirming that the people of Sweida are Syrian in origin and identity, and adhering to the unity of Syrians under the banner of one homeland.
At the regional and international levels, the far-right Israeli government seeks to send a message to the US, Turkiye and other countries in the region that Israel’s interests and security are a top priority and cannot be ignored or overlooked. This is despite US President Donald Trump expressing a support for Turkiye recently, in the presence of Netanyahu at the White House, and calling on the latter to be reasonable.
The primary goal of the Israeli project in Syria is not only to fragment and divide it geographically, but also to fragment it socially and politically. Officials from the occupying state tried to suggest that their attacks came in response to calls by some voices to protect the Druze, thereby inciting other Syrian social components against them. However, this will not fool the majority of Syrians who remember the struggles of Sultan Pasha Al-Atrash and other activists for the sake of Syria’s liberation and unity.
The Syrian authorities do not have many options for responding to the Israeli escalation, given the numerous challenges they face and the heavy legacy left behind by the defunct Assad regime, which has reduced the country to a pile of rubble and destruction. Therefore, the initial response in the presidency’s statement confirmed its determined efforts to “prevent any threats that may target the security of the homeland and its citizens,” considering the Israeli attacks as “targeting state institutions, its sovereignty, national security, and the unity of the Syrian people.”
However, this is not enough. Responding to Israeli arrogance requires action on several levels, including demanding Arab and friendly countries take a stand against Israel’s arrogance and formulating a general international stance against it in international institutions.
Still, the most important actions are on the domestic level, which requires the new authorities to work to fortify the Syrian interior and strengthen national unity by deepening dialogue with civil and political actors throughout Syria and not relying solely on reaching an understanding with religious and military leaders. The new authorities have not succeeded in imposing stability and preserving civil peace because they have not resorted to political tools but instead have relied on military solutions. This has increased anxiety and discontent among large groups of Syrians and weakened the Syrian leadership’s ability to achieve national consensus, in light of the inherited social divisions and conflicts that weaken attempts at national reconciliation.
Perhaps what is required internally is the establishment of political parties to find a way out of conflicts and differences, as they provide a public space through which Syrians can express their legitimate opinions and aspirations, regardless of their religious and ethnic affiliations. It is not new to say that political pluralism is the key to dialogue among people, as it gives them the opportunity to participate effectively in decision making and contribute to building their country, rather than remaining on the margins of the political scene.
The majority of Syrians hope that interim President Ahmad Al-Sharaa will adopt political solutions to the existing problems, with the aim of fortifying the interior and providing it with the necessary immunity to fight off the interventions of Israel and other forces opposed to the new Syrian transformation. Perhaps he bears a large share of responsibility as the people must rely on him to confront all internal challenges as well as confront Israel’s plots and those of other players.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250507-how-will-al-sharaa-respond-to-the-israeli-attacks/
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Expulsion and Occupation: Israel’s Proposed Gaza Plan
By Dr Binoy Kampmark
May 7, 2025
Killing civilians wholesale, starving them to convince those unaffected to change course, and shepherding whole populations like livestock into conditions of further misery would all qualify as heinous crimes in international law. When it comes to Israel’s war in Gaza, this approach is seen as necessary politics, unalloyed by the restraints of humanitarianism. When confronted with these harsh realities on the ground, unequivocal denials follow: This is not happening in Gaza; no one is starving. And if that were the case, blame those misguided savages in Hamas.
As the conflict chugs along in pools of blood and bountiful gore, the confused shape of Israel’s intentions continues in all its glorious nebulousness. Pretend moderation clouds murderous desire. There is no sense that those unfortunate Israeli hostages captured by Hamas in its assault on October 7, 2023 matter anymore, being merely decorative for the imminent slaughter. There is even less sense that Hamas will be cleansed and removed from the strip, however attractive this idea continues to be.
Such evident limits have not discouraged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet, who have decided that more force, that old province of the unimaginative, is the answer. According to the PM, the cabinet had agreed on a “forceful operation” to eliminate Hamas and salvage what is left of the hostage situation.
A spokesperson for the Israel Defence Forces, Brigadier-General Effie Defrin, has explained on Israeli radio that the offensive will apparently ensure the return of the hostages. What follows will be “the collapse of the Hamas regime, its defeat, its submission”. Anywhere up to two million Palestinian civilians in Gaza will be herded into the ruins of the south. Humanitarian aid will be arranged by the Israeli forces, to be possibly distributed through approved contractors.
The IDF chief of staff, Lt. General Eyal Zamier, confirmed that the approved plan will involve “the capture of the Strip and holding the territories, moving the Gazan population south for its defence, denying Hamas and the ability to distribute humanitarian supplies, and powerful attacks against Hamas.”
Within the Israeli cabinet, ethnocentric and religious fires burn with bright fanaticism. The Israeli Finance Finister Bezalel Smotrich remains a figure who ignores floral subtlety in favour of the blood-stained sledgehammer. He remains that coherent link between cruel lawmaking and baffling violence. “Within a few months,” he boasts, “we will be able to declare that we have won. Gaza will be totally destroyed.” With pompous certitude, he also claimed that the next six months would see Hamas cease to exist.
Such opinions, expressed at the “Settlements Conference” organised by the Makor Rishon newspaper in Ofra, a West Bank settlement, gives a sense of the flavour. Palestinians are to be “concentrated” on land located between the Egyptian border and the arbitrarily designated Morag Corridor. As with any potential abuser keen to violate his vulnerable charges while justifying it, Smotrich tried to impress with the idea that this was a “humanitarian” zone that would be free of “Hamas and terrorism”.
The program here is clear in its chilling crudeness. Expulsion, relocation, transfer. These are the words famously used to move on populations of sizeable number in history, often at enormous cost. That this should involve lawmakers of the Jewish state adds a stunning, if perverse poignancy to this. They, the moved on in history, the expelled and the condemned wanderers, shall expel others and condemn them in turn. Smotrich also points the finger to desperation and hopelessness, the biting incentives that propel migration. The Palestinians will feel blessed in their banishment. “They will be totally despairing, understanding that there is no hope and nothing to look for in Gaza, and will be looking for relocation to begin a new life in other places.”
Impossible to ignore in Smotrich’s steaming bile against the Palestinians is the broader view that no Palestinian state can arise, necessitating urgent, preventative poisoning. In addition to the eventual depopulation of Gaza, plans to reconstitute the contours of the West Bank, ensuring that Israeli and Palestinian traffic are separated to enable building and construction for settlements as a prelude to annexation, are to be implemented.
The issue of twisting and mangling humanitarian aid in favour of Israel’s territorial lust has raised some tart commentary. A statement from the Humanitarian Country Team of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, a forum led by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), does not shy away from the realities on the ground. All supplies, including those vital to survival, have been blocked for nine weeks. Bakeries and community kitchens have closed, while warehouses are empty. Hunger, notably among children, is rampant. Israel’s plan, as presented, “will mean that large parts of Gaza, including the less mobile and most vulnerable people, will continue to go without supplies.”
The UN Secretary General and the Emergency Relief Coordinator have confirmed that they will not cooperate in the scheme, seeing that it “does not adhere to the global humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality.”
The same point has been made by the foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, France and Germany. Despite all being solid allies of Israel, they have warned that violations of international law are taking place. “Humanitarian aid must never be used as a political tool and a Palestinian territory must not be reduced nor subjected to any demographic change”.
To date, a promise lingers that the offensive will only commence once US President Donald Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar takes place. But no ongoing savaging of Gaza with some crude effort at occupation will solve the historical vortex that continues to drag the Jewish state risk and oblivion.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250507-expulsion-and-occupation-israels-proposed-gaza-plan/
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Solving The Hezbollah Arms Conundrum
Dr. Dania Koleilat Khatib
May 07, 2025
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has engaged in a dialogue with Hezbollah over its arms. The Lebanese state and the president face a challenge. They need to disarm Hezbollah without clashing with the group and they need to be able to drive Israel out of Lebanon using diplomatic means.
Israel is pretending it is enforcing UN Security Council Resolution 1701. It strikes Lebanon almost daily, claiming to be targeting arms depots. It has deployed troops in five locations in the south and says they will remain there indefinitely. Israel is pretending that the Lebanese state and its army are too weak to handle the disarmament of Hezbollah. However, this behavior emasculates the Lebanese state and undermines its position when negotiating with Hezbollah.
The US has a dubious position in all this. It says that it wants a strong Lebanese state. Of course, only a strong Lebanese state can offer a viable alternative to Hezbollah. However, Washington is not behaving accordingly. Lebanon cannot pressure Israel. Israel has shown its disdain for international law. Therefore, any complaints Lebanon files with the UN will fall on deaf ears. The only actor that can pressure Israel is its patron: the US.
Lebanon cannot resort to armed resistance to fight Israel. The only way it can deal with Israel is through diplomacy. However, diplomacy is ineffective unless it is coupled with the power of coercion and with consequences for noncompliance. The US can strengthen the position of the Lebanese state with Hezbollah if it pressures Israel.
If the Lebanese state shows it is capable of defending Lebanon and has effective diplomacy, then it will be in a stronger position with regard to Hezbollah and the entire narrative of the group will become obsolete. However, the US is exercising pressure solely on Lebanon, while giving Israel a free hand in the country. Israel wants to have freedom of operation in Lebanon and in the whole neighborhood. It has attacked Syria without a just cause. Israel is unbridled and the US is boosting its confidence and arrogance.
Hezbollah, targeted by Israel, feels very insecure. Today, the group’s main aim is to secure its survival. Less than a year ago, it had full control of the country, but now its future as a political group is in doubt. Hezbollah has agreed to abide by Resolution 1701. It has agreed to disarm. However, precedents show that the stories of those who disarmed in the past did not have a happy ending.
Muammar Qaddafi was bombed after he gave away his chemical weapons stock. Iraq was invaded after Saddam Hussein destroyed his Somoud missiles. In Lebanon, the Lebanese Forces faced a grim outcome after they disarmed at the end of the civil war. Their leader, Samir Geagea, was imprisoned on bogus charges. Hezbollah definitely does not want to face the same fate as the Lebanese Forces.
Hezbollah is facing a dilemma. Its weapons are the reason it, and Lebanon, is being targeted. However, they are also its only negotiating card. If it gives them up, it has nothing, no leverage. The group’s insecurity is understandable. However, the fate of the country cannot be jeopardized just to serve the interest of one group.
Israel has been targeting Hezbollah’s leaders. On the other hand, the group’s transgressions throughout the years — and the fact it brought war to Lebanon because of its support front for Gaza — have created a lot of anger among the rest of the Lebanese. Hence, the group faces both internal and external threats.
Despite the fact it is weakened, Hezbollah still has support among the Shiite community. The group can portray any effort to contain it as an effort to corner this community. This, of course, can lead to internal unrest, especially since the Shiites have suffered the bulk of the destruction wreaked by Israel. Though Hezbollah does not have enough firepower to fight a war with Israel, it has enough arms and grassroots support to initiate a civil war. So, it has to be dealt with intelligently.
Israel is saying it is in Lebanon because Hezbollah is not fully disarmed, while the group is saying there is no guarantee Israel will stop its aggression if it were to disarm. We are in a chicken and egg situation. Which should come first? The best way to solve this conundrum would be a step-by-step approach. This would allow Hezbollah to save face and transition into a political party, without the appearance of having suffered a total defeat by Israel.
The US is demanding the group’s disarmament “as soon as possible.” This should go hand in hand with a full Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. A timetable for both should be put on the table. The Lebanese military should immediately fill the positions vacated by the Israeli military. Tying Hezbollah’s disarmament to the Israeli withdrawal would compel the group to comply. How could it refuse to disarm if it would directly lead to the liberation of Lebanon from Israel?
Aoun is right to follow the path of dialogue with Hezbollah to solve the issue of its arms. However, to make sure he can accomplish his task successfully and without any internal clashes, the US should pressure Israel to offer a timetable for its withdrawal from Lebanon that is linked to the disarmament of the group.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2599872
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