Middle East Press On: China Won Cold War, Indian Jews, Palestine, Ali Al-Zaidi, Israel’s Political Drama, Palestinian Rights, Smotrich, New Age Islam's Selection, 26 May 2026
By New Age Islam Edit Desk
26 May 2026
China won the Cold War and it will win the Cold Peace
Indian Jews brought to Palestine as colonials, not homecomers
The illusion of a political solution in Ali al-Zaidi and the Green Zone
Israel’s political drama masks deeper crisis
Palestinian rights continue to remain inconsequential
‘A Darker Legal Hour’: Why Smotrich Could Become the Focus of a New Legal Battle
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China won the Cold War and it will win the Cold Peace
BY HAKKI ÖCAL
MAY 25, 2026
Thanks to U.S. Presidents Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Joe Biden and, now, Trump again, China, Russia and India have safely weathered the financial crisis that started in 2008. The crisis, after which the world was never the same again, was a departing gift from their predecessor, President George Bush, the son.
All three of these countries have a strong banking system. They had large foreign reserves when the Bush Recession started. Especially, China was not at the epicenter of the crisis like the U.S. and Europe. They are trade-dependent countries. Before the crisis, their export incomes were around 40% of gross domestic product (GDP). In other words, unlike the U.S., they were not deficit countries. They would buy less and sell more, and if they sold their products, they were happy; if not, they’d lower the price.
Remember, “Made in China” means “dumping” in the retailer lexicon. Yet, if the overall global economy is in trouble, as it is now because of the Hormuz closure, China cannot export. Again, unlike America, China is dependent on peace, not endless wars.
China replaced the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) as America’s Cold War nemesis. President Ronald Reagan faithfully prepared the funeral service for the soul of his favorite “Evil Empire." However, the honor fell, again, to George Bush, the son, who chose China, not the Russian Federation, not as an adversary, but as a candidate to be used against Russia and to prevent it from becoming another USSR.
That is why the U.S. fought against the Europeans to get China into the World Trade Organization. (Americans also study Chinese generals. As Sun Tzu, a military general and philosopher, said, “Keep your friends close; keep your enemies closer.”)
China has quietly established authority over world commerce and the related international organization. When you pay peanuts to your millions of workers, you can do that easily. Noticing all this, Trump tried to impose a trade embargo on China, but Beijing retaliated rapidly, which made Trump regret what he had done. Even if you ban Huawei Android phones, the American people still need $1.99 rechargers for their iPhones.
Then, Trump was inviting China to a “G-2” meeting between the two countries. He ended up asking China to send its navy to the Strait of Hormuz if they want their oil tankers to pass through it.
The Chinese-American relations have never been easy to comprehend, and Trump’s administration (or lack thereof) made it impossible to fathom. But one thing is seemingly apparent even to a layperson like me: The long period of Cold War between the U.S. and China has ended, but it has been replaced with a Cold Peace. 2025 was extraordinary regarding the U.S.-Chinese relations; but the Chinese investment in the U.S. steadily continued despite the uncertainty resulting from Trump’s tempering with the U.S. tariffs, reaching $204 billion since 2005.
The U.S. is not the top recipient of the dollars China earns in the U.S. anymore. They are Brazil and Saudi Arabia. Experts enumerate several technical reasons for that, like American vulnerability to China in supply chains such as pharmaceuticals and American technology loss.
If we read the messages buried between the lines of official addresses, especially Xi’s reference to “Thucydides's Trap," which educated Trump and us all about the inevitable surprises in the bilateral relations when a rising power threatens to displace a ruling power, we can see that the U.S. and China relations are peaceful but not so warm.
How could they be? Trump’s trade regulations caused disruptions that hurt China, and Beijing blocked exports of key rare earths and critical minerals. Trump and the elders in the room later learned that the Chinese response would hurt the U.S. manufacturing and backpedaled quickly before things escalated into a full trade war.
Chinese officials and trade experts, as well as international analysts, have pointed out that the U.S. was the vulnerable partner in that relationship and Beijing could manipulate Trump’s infantilism with ease. So far, the Chinese government has proved that it decides how much the U.S. can enforce its own national security steps, its export and import controls. In other words, it is Beijing’s decision to say how cold or warm that peaceful period would be.
International experts say that the economic relationship with China has never been so important to the U.S. However, it was the Chinese who saw that the U.S. got them into the WTO not just for love but to control and manipulate. They woke to the fact that Americans would like to have the money the Chinese sellers earn in the U.S. stay in the U.S.
Yanis Varoufakis, a Greek economist, academic, author and my favorite former minister of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, reminded us that you buy whatever you want with “the mighty dollar you make in America” but cannot touch Boeing, or not Microsoft, nor any of the crucial ones in the military-industrial complex.
After all those political mistakes, first riding into that tyrannical and inhuman wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran on the coattails of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, later, noticing the American people, even the MAGA crowd hated him for that, leaving the Zionist in the lurch (I hereby go out on a limb betting that Trump is not going back to Iran war), Trump finally observed the political calendar. Now that he and the GOP have 160 days for the crucial midterm elections, he has to boost exports, raise the employment figures, and reduce the trade deficit.
In order to sell more, the U.S. has to have a weaker dollar. If Trump allows the dollar to go weak, he might lose the monopoly game in international payments. Since he cannot possibly have the cake and eat it too, he has no choice but to kiss Uncle Xi’s hand. He needs to do better than praising his secret rose garden.
Well, if he asked me, I would recommend him to start selling snake oil to China. It originally was a Chinese medication rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which was made from the Chinese water snake. It was believed to decrease the pain of arthritis. The few dollars he earned would be his reward for such remarkable shortsightedness on stilts.
https://www.dailysabah.com/opinion/columns/china-won-the-cold-war-and-it-will-win-the-cold-peace
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Indian Jews brought to Palestine as colonials, not homecomers
BY AHMED ASMAR
MAY 25, 2026
Let us call this what it is: a complete lie, a myth, a political weapon dressed in fabricated ancient religious stories to serve a racist political and colonial ideology. Thousands of people from a remote corner of India are being told they belong to a “lost biblical tribe” and their ancestors were exiled from Palestine over 2700 years ago. And now, “Israel” is bringing them to the occupied Palestinian land as if they are finally “returning home." That’s what happened last month when Israel brought another group of 250 Indian Jews of the so-called “Bnei Menashe” community to Israel, celebrating them as homecoming, while planning to bring all of the community by 2030.
This is not a "homecoming." It is colonialism, dressed in religious costume. There is no evidence, no DNA proof, no historical records, no common language, nothing. Just a controversial belief that is based on a fictional myth. And on this basis, the Israeli government is moving thousands of people to a land that is not theirs, while the real indigenous people, the Palestinians, are being pushed out, killed and erased.
Bringing Jews from India is not the first case. Israel previously did it with a Jewish community in Ethiopia and with others from different parts of the world, who were also brought under the same claim to illegally settle on occupied Palestine, with which they have nothing in common, except for a myth that they are returning after 3,000 years in exile.
What an absurdity
Think about this carefully. People who have lived in India for centuries, who speak Indian languages, who eat Indian food, who have Indian culture, are being told they have more right to live in Palestine than the Palestinians who have been there for generations and for centuries. Why? Because of a delusional myth. Not history. Not science.
One member of the group told media outlets: “We have faith in the Torah.” He did not say “we have proof.” He said faith. That is it. And on that basis alone, Israel is bringing them to occupied land, building settlements and stealing more Palestinian homes.
Now imagine if any other group tried this. Imagine if Greeks demanded to take over Türkiye because of Byzantine history. Imagine if Italians claimed Tunisia or Algeria because of the Roman Empire’s conquests 2,000 years ago. Imagine if the descendants of the Mongols demanded to reclaim the vast territories their empire once conquered, from China to Persia to Eastern Europe, based solely on events from 800 years ago. The world would call that pure insanity and would reject it immediately. But when Israel does it, the world indulges in silence. As no reaction or comment has been taken by any legal entity on the shipment of an entire community to a land that is not theirs.
The truth is simple: those people have no connection to Palestine. None. Zero. They have never lived there. Their ancestors never lived there. There is no evidence, not a single piece, that links them to that land. They are being used as a tool for a settler-colonial project. They are being used to serve a political project called Zionism, which has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with land theft and colonialism.
Claims exposed
Zionism, which defines the Israeli expansionist government, has a long history of inventing connections. The case of Bnei Menashe is not the first, and it will not be the last. Look at what happened with Ethiopian Jews and how they were treated. Their living conditions in Israel describe that they are used as fuel for keeping a colonial machine functional. Zionism uses anyone for its colonial project.
Ethiopian Jews were not accepted as Jewish by Israeli religious authorities until the 1970s. Their practices were different. Their ancestry was questioned. But Israel brought tens of thousands of them in airlifts anyway. Why? Not because of a genuine belief that they were "lost brothers." Because Israel needed more settlers. It needed more Jewish bodies to maintain a demographic majority on stolen Palestinian land.
And what happened when they arrived? Racism and being treated as an inferior class. They were thrown away, and their children were sent to separate schools. They were placed in poor towns and neglected areas. They were brought to serve a colonial project, but they were never treated as equals. Today, Ethiopian Israelis still protest against police brutality and discrimination. They are forced to remind Israel, "their presupposed country," that they are human beings, not tools.
The "Indian Jews” or "Bnei Menashe” will likely face the same fate. They are not being welcomed because Israel or Zionists love them. They are being used. They are colonial soldiers without uniforms. Every time one of them arrives, another Palestinian family is pushed out or a piece of Palestinian land is taken away. Every new settler strengthens the occupation, whereas many of those Indian Jews reside in settlements across the occupied West Bank.
This is not an exaggeration. This is the reality of settler colonialism. Bring people from anywhere, tell them a story, even if it is still unbelievable, give them a house on stolen land, and call it a “return.” It is the exact formula of the Zionist project on the land of Palestine.
Defending rationality
This entire operation is an insult to rationality, to law, to history and to basic human decency. You cannot claim a land based on a story from 3,000 years ago while the people living there now are being murdered and displaced. You cannot call yourself a normal state while importing strangers as settlers to maintain an apartheid system. You cannot claim “homecoming” when you are destroying someone else’s home.
The Bnei Menashe might be living in difficult conditions, where they are used to living in India for centuries, as they say, but their suffering in India does not give them the right to participate in the suffering of Palestinians or strengthen the Zionist colonial project. They are committing a double historical mistake: one to the Palestinians and the other to themselves, as they agreed to detach themselves from their original place, culture and environment.
This is yet more proof that Israel is not only above the law but an imperialist project that imports entire communities to reshape demographics and manufacture new facts on the ground, then demands the world accept its myths as reality. The international community must stop accepting this myth and react in the proper way against it. Israel and Zionism must be stopped from exploiting faith and religion to transfer entire communities to others’ land based on invented fairy tales.
And finally, the truth is crystal clear, simple and cannot be manipulated: Indian Jews immigrating or brought to occupied Palestine, like the Ethiopian Jews or any other Jewish groups from any part of the world, are not coming home. They are colonials.
https://www.dailysabah.com/opinion/op-ed/indian-jews-brought-to-palestine-as-colonials-not-homecomers
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The illusion of a political solution in Ali al-Zaidi and the Green Zone
May 25, 2026
by Karam Nama
There is a familiar analytical noise that rises with every new government in Iraq, a noise that feels like replaying an old recording at a higher volume, nothing more. What is happening today with Ali al-Zaidi’s government is no exception; it is a pale repetition of what we saw with Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, and with those before him, and with those who will follow, so long as every prime minister is born from the same equation and bound by the same conditions that have governed the political process since 2003.
All this noise manufactured on television screens—by commentators who hang their university degrees on the wall behind them—does not produce a single fruitful paragraph capable of convincing Iraqis that anything real is changing. Because what is required, at its core, is not understanding but justification; not critique, but the conferral of political legitimacy on state thieves and on a sectarian party–militia class that believes Iraq has become the private property of the sect, and that the concept of a nation is no longer usable after they succeeded in dividing Iraqis against themselves.
In the midst of this collapse, we are asked to believe that Ali al-Zaidi can be the “political solution” who will return Iraq to the Iraqis, rescue it from militias and uncontrolled weapons, recover stolen funds, and put an end to political and financial corruption. What kind of illusion is this, and what fantasy do they want us to inhabit?
What truly delights that ruling class is not reform, but the debate about reform. It thrives on this heated media and popular argument that grows more hollow with every exclusion, every show trial, every theatrical election. The higher the volume of the debate, the more entrenched their fake legitimacy becomes. They climb out of the swamp, wipe the mud from their faces, and say to the world: look, we are a democratic country where disagreement and debate are allowed!
Yet a single glance at Iraq’s position on global corruption indices, or at the latest Reporters Without Borders assessment of press freedom, is enough to see that we are trading in illusions the moment we trust that al-Zaidi is any kind of “solution”. Leave aside his political illiteracy and his glaring ignorance of how the world works; the problem is not in the man alone, but in the stage he has stepped onto, and in the script written for him in advance.
We can see political failure laid bare simply by recalling what happened during the war with Iran and beyond, and how militias backed by Tehran crushed the very idea of the state under their boots, as they directed drones and missiles at targets inside Iraq and the Gulf according to Iranian instructions, while the government in the Green Zone claimed— with a brazenness rarely matched—that it was not a party to this war. What kind of state fires from its own soil, then swears it does not know who pulled the trigger?
This is what Nicholas Pelham, The Economist’s senior Middle East correspondent, calls a “gangster’s paradise”—a disgraceful counter-image to the “Land of the Two Rivers”. He writes about the ongoing farce in a country that was meant to become a “democratic oasis” in the region, only to turn into a fully fledged model of a spoils economy and gangster politics.
On paper, the scene looks reassuring: a Federal Integrity Commission, a Supreme Judicial Council, a parliamentary ethics committee, an electoral commission—institutions that are supposed to protect accountability and guarantee transparency. But these institutions, as Pelham describes them, are often used to destabilize society rather than protect it; to eliminate rivals rather than prosecute the corrupt; to beautify the face of the system, not to cleanse it.
In this context, betting on a “solution from within the political process” becomes either naivety or complicity. We cannot sympathize with those who lived comfortably inside the swamp of this process—however sincere some of their intentions may have been—and then, once they are pushed out or choose to flee, begin to reveal the theft and criminality they coexisted with, as if they have just discovered corruption. These facts have been obvious to Iraqis for years; they know them by instinct and experience. They do not need a latecomer at the banquet to certify what they already live.
Take Suha al-Najjar, for example, who worked at the National Investment Commission before resigning and fleeing. She says threats forced her to leave Iraq. She recounts how pro-Iran MPs would come to her office and openly threaten her with prison and death in front of employees. She also says: “Your life will be threatened anyway, so you have to be corrupt and make money. That’s why everyone is corrupt.”
But the question she does not answer is this: where did the trust that was granted to her originally come from, when she was working alongside state thieves in a cash-swollen commission, surrounded by dense networks of interests? What prevents her from being part of that oligarchic class while working among them and under their protection, even if she ultimately left with “clean hands”, as she claims? Why are we asked to sympathize with her resignation, but not asked to interrogate her earlier participation in a system she knows better than anyone is rotten to the core?
She is not the only example. Many have lived inside the swamp of the political process and, once they stepped out, wanted to condemn it without first condemning themselves.
The latest of them is former prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, who has now confessed to the decay and political failure in Iraq as a living witness who promoted, supported, and participated in the political process since 2003. He wrote:
“The Iraqi predicament has never been obscure; it is embarrassingly clear, matched only by a chronic inability to decide. We are not living a crisis of understanding or approach, but a crisis of will. Unfortunately, the political elites have failed to answer a simple question in form and phrasing, but profound in its consequences: what do we want? To build a state, or to perpetuate power? The state—here—means monopolizing arms, the rule of law, and institutions that are not reduced to individuals. It also means a serious fight against corruption as the ‘red line’ that must not be crossed. What is actually happening, however, is the management of fragile balances, where mistakes are used instead of being corrected.”
Despite their contradictions, these testimonies offer a truthful picture of what is happening in Iraq: a system that cannot be reformed from within, because the “inside” itself is part of the machinery of corruption. At this point, every attempt at “patchwork” or “gradual reform” dissolves, and talk of a “zero-sum equation” ceases to be theoretical luxury and becomes a condition for any real change: either a state, or no state; either one law, or an open jungle.
American journalist Robert Worth, who wrote one of the most important reports on corruption in Iraq for The New York Times, goes beyond blaming corrupt politicians. Failure, in his view, is not merely the product of individuals, but of “the political framework of this country”.
This framework, built on sectarian apportionment, consensus, and the division of spoils, does not produce a state; it produces an open market for loyalties. Ministries are not public service institutions, but small oil fields distributed among parties and militias. In such a system, any prime minister, whatever his intentions, becomes part of the game, not its breaker. Ali al-Zaidi, in this context, is not an exception but a continuation.
Worth does not absolve the United States of responsibility. Washington is not merely a witness to corruption; it is a partner in it. Its invasion destroyed the state, then left behind a fragile political system built on distributing power among competing factions, and fed by oil money flowing through the Federal Reserve in New York, where Iraq still receives billions of dollars annually in hard currency. Instead of building a state, this money is recycled through the same corrupt networks, under the gaze of the international community and with the tacit blessing of major powers that care more about the stability of the equation than the integrity of justice.
In light of all this, “Ali al-Zaidi and the Green Zone” is not just a provocative headline designed to attract readers; it is a condensed summary of a bitter truth: no political solution can be born from an equation originally designed to produce failure, and no prime minister can turn into a savior while he is bound by rules written by parties and militias and facilitated by foreign capitals. The illusion does not lie in al-Zaidi as a person alone, but in the very idea that the system can reform itself, that the swamp can wash itself with its own stagnant water.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20260525-the-illusion-of-a-political-solution-in-ali-al-zaidi-and-the-green-zone/
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Israel’s political drama masks deeper crisis
DR. RAMZY BAROUD
May 25, 2026
For those unfamiliar with the intricate machinery of Israeli politics, last week’s unanimous 110-0 vote to dissolve the Knesset appears to be an earth-shattering event. On the surface, it looks as if the days of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition of far-right extremists are numbered. The reality, however, is far more complex.
Israel’s current political implosion is fundamentally tied to its failure to escape the ghosts of Oct. 7. When the country’s military defenses collapsed on that day, Israel was transformed from a state with a formidable reputation as an invincible regional superpower into one trapped with a struggling army that is structurally incapable of decisively winning a single war.
Since the launch of the devastating genocide in Gaza, neither the Israeli government nor the military establishment has been able to answer two fundamental questions.
One, how did the world’s self-proclaimed “invincible army” collapse in a matter of hours, leaving the entire Southern Command — whose sole job was to keep Gazans besieged — in total shambles?
Two, why has that same heavily funded military machine failed to achieve a decisive victory despite the near-total destruction of the Strip and the unprecedented slaughter and wounding of much of its population?
Complicating the matter is Netanyahu’s pathological refusal to honestly investigate either the Oct. 7 intelligence failure or the subsequent conduct of the Gaza war. Instead, he has focused entirely on domestic damage control and image management, aggressively marginalizing or firing intelligence officials or high-ranking bureaucrats who challenge his narrative. Rather than pursuing a viable exit strategy, Netanyahu treated the defense apparatus as a public relations shield.
Consequently, opposition voices — initially led by Yair Lapid and his Yesh Atid party — began demanding Netanyahu’s resignation and snap elections. What began as predictable political fallout quickly evolved into a sweeping popular movement.
Public confidence in the government continues to plummet. Recent opinion polls consistently show that a vast majority of Israelis believe Netanyahu acts out of personal political survival rather than national interest. Data suggests that if elections were held today, his right-wing bloc could suffer a catastrophic defeat at the hands of a newly consolidated opposition coalition known as “Together,” established by Naftali Bennett and Lapid.
Netanyahu, whose legacy as Israel’s longest-serving prime minister is now defined by strategic failure, subsists in a profound personal and political crisis. His deliberate escalations of regional conflict have served no distinct military purpose; instead, they merely highlight his desperation, turning his rhetorical pledges of “total victory” into a hollow attempt to prevent his coalition from fracturing.
Meanwhile, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich have exploited Netanyahu’s vulnerability to advance their own extremist agendas. Bent on rapid colonial expansion, they have accelerated West Bank annexation, pushed draconian laws to execute Palestinian prisoners and tightened the siege on East Jerusalem.
Under normal circumstances, the sheer scale of the domestic, economic and diplomatic harm engineered by this coalition should have removed it from power. Yet Netanyahu has survived by exploiting deep social fractures and relying on unconditional support from Washington.
This survival shield was further fortified by the initial impotence of a fragmented political opposition and the perpetual wartime atmosphere that Netanyahu cultivated to freeze dissent. Not even his corruption trials derailed his career; he adapted state institutions into instruments of personal survival.
Yet the ultimate irony is that political pressure ultimately came not from the mounting casualties or international isolation but due to the compulsory conscription of the ultra-Orthodox, or Haredim.
For decades, secular Israelis have complained about the sweeping draft exemptions granted to yeshiva students, but the political elite routinely shrugged it off as a secondary culture war that could be managed via backroom political dealings.
However, Israel’s overextended, multifront war of attrition smashed that equilibrium. The issue was violently pushed back to the surface because the military literally ran out of bodies. The true gravity of this crisis was exposed when army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir broke ranks during a closed-door security Cabinet meeting in March to warn that the Israeli military “is going to collapse in on itself.”
Zamir reportedly raised “10 red flags” before the political leadership, stating bluntly that, after months of intensive combat across Gaza, the northern border and regional theaters, the military was facing an immediate, unsustainable deficit of more than 12,000 combat soldiers.
For more than two years, Netanyahu postponed a legal verdict on the Haredi draft. But mounting military setbacks, particularly on the Lebanese front, made further delays impossible.
The opposition seeks snap elections while Netanyahu engages in legislative theater, using loyalists and parliamentary procedures to slow the process.
Yet this political drama is secondary to the deeper crisis. No political maneuvering can salvage a state facing structural decline. Nothing will heal Israel’s fractures until it confronts the root cause of its crisis: endless, unwinnable military campaigns that have devastated Gaza and the region.
The crisis engulfing Israel is self-inflicted — and there can be no lasting peace until the state’s deep-seated criminality and ongoing genocide and wars against Palestinians and the wider Arab world come to an end.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2644893
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Palestinian rights continue to remain inconsequential
CHRIS DOYLE
May 25, 2026
Howls of fury emanated from the gilded halls of power in European capitals last week. A video had circulated of Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir taunting activists who, with hands tied, were being beaten and dragged along the floor. “Don’t be bothered by their screams,” he chimed. The soldiers seemingly were not.
These activists from multiple countries had the temerity to join the Global Sumud Flotilla with the aim of getting to Gaza. They were abused and detained in subhuman fashion, hence the outrage.
In total, 430 people were detained — or rather taken hostage — from 50 different boats near Cyprus and taken to the Israeli port of Ashdod. Reports indicate that Israeli forces even fired shots at the vessels. The illegal seizure of these citizens did not, as it should have done, precipitate outrage among European leaders. It is as if it is now legitimate to seize vessels in international waters and effectively kidnap those on board. Israel has done this too many times without the appropriate reaction.
What shifted the dial was the abuse of those captured and the glee of Ben-Gvir in celebrating this. At least 15 of the activists have claimed they were sexually assaulted.
Among those abducted and detained was Dr. Margaret Connolly, the sister of Irish President Catherine Connolly. She said the detainees were “all bent down like hogs and kept in this position for hours.”
Israeli ambassadors were summoned in numerous countries, including the UK, France and Italy. The standout condemnation came from Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy, who demanded an apology, not least because an Italian lawmaker was among those detained. Italy is considering imposing sanctions on Ben-Gvir, which Britain did last year. France has announced that he is banned from entering the country. If the world operated by Israeli rules, any European state could just seize Ben-Gvir if he happened to be in international waters.
Even Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu felt obliged to issue a criticism of Ben-Gvir’s conduct. It was barely genuine. The crime for Netanyahu was the minister being caught on video — not the abuse itself.
In the UK, a senior Conservative MP asked the pertinent question: “If this is what they do to British and European citizens on camera … what are they doing to Palestinians off camera?” The answer is that testimony abounds of the sort of disgraceful abuse, torture and even rape perpetrated on Palestinians.
The pro-Israeli mob, desperate to burnish the country’s credentials at a time of crashing global popularity ratings, try to pretend Ben-Gvir is an abnormality. A pro-Netanyahu UK lobby group, the Labour Friends of Israel, claimed he represents “an extreme fringe.” But Ben-Gvir is anything but fringe. He is the national security minister, inside the Israeli government.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich is of a similar ilk. Miri Regev, the Likud transport minister, who is from the same party as Netanyahu, was equally happy to post a video of herself in front of the abductees being abused. Netanyahu has used Ben-Gvir as the useful idiot extremist who sucks up all the international opprobrium, which should in fact be directed at the government as a whole.
The other lie is that these activists were a threat to Israel. Their aim, of course, was not even to go to Israel. They were aiming for Gaza, taking aid and, just as importantly, solidarity to millions of people who are suffering from genocide, mass displacement and a policy of starvation. They are brave and principled.
But what is stunningly clear from this saga is that, on the global stage, Palestinian human rights are barely consequential. Palestinians in their thousands face all the abuse that these activists face and far more. Substantive and evidenced reports of rape have been published for some time, even before this month’s highly controversial report in The New York Times.
None of that horror triggered more than a murmur of disapproval in London, Paris or Brussels. A genocide continues in Gaza and many states such as the UK cannot even stipulate that Israel has violated international law. The hypocrisy goes further in that these states did not even protest the original abductions or previous ones in international waters. It was only the video that compelled a more robust response to Israel’s behavior.
It all emanates from the same historic and flawed political mindset in Europe of viewing Israel as a state that adheres to basic fundamental norms of behavior. The reality is that it is an ever more dangerous and subversive rogue actor. When it comes to Palestinians and their supporters, Israel treats them as animals or worse.
As for civil society, these flotillas have challenged the Israeli blockade of Gaza for years. They will only get larger and bolder. As ever, this Israeli leadership has no other gear to use but force. Just as it has not intimidated its neighbors, neither will it stop a global activist movement that just grows and grows.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2644892
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‘A Darker Legal Hour’: Why Smotrich Could Become the Focus of a New Legal Battle
May 25, 2026
From Individual Cases to Broader Policies
Potential legal action against extremist Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich by the International Criminal Court (ICC) could carry implications extending beyond previous proceedings involving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to an analysis published by the Jerusalem Post.
At the center of the concern is not simply the possibility of legal scrutiny directed at another senior Israeli official, but what such a case could signal more broadly.
For years, legal and diplomatic disputes concerning Israel largely focused on specific military operations, wartime conduct or government decisions. Increasingly, however, attention appears to be shifting toward wider state policies, particularly issues surrounding settlement expansion and administration in occupied Palestinian territory.
The Jerusalem Post described such a possibility as potentially representing Israel’s “darkest legal hour,” arguing that current legal developments could move beyond disputes over isolated actions and instead challenge structures that have long remained politically contested but legally difficult to enforce.
The significance of Smotrich lies partly in his role within policies linked to settlement expansion. His position has increasingly placed him at the center of discussions surrounding broader questions about the legal status of the settlement enterprise itself.
A Different Legal Arena
Questions surrounding settlements have long occupied a largely political and diplomatic arena.
Over the years, legal challenges frequently surfaced through debates at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), where advisory opinions and legal findings generated international discussion but often lacked direct enforcement mechanisms. Political realities and longstanding diplomatic support for Israel often shaped the practical limits of those proceedings.
The International Criminal Court functions differently.
Unlike the ICJ, which resolves disputes between states and issues legal opinions, the ICC possesses authority to pursue criminal investigations and issue arrest warrants directed at individuals.
That distinction could prove significant.
If settlement-related scrutiny increasingly develops through ICC mechanisms, questions that once remained part of political disputes may move into a framework involving direct criminal accountability.
Approximately 125 countries are members of the International Criminal Court system, potentially giving future legal measures broad international reach.
Legal scrutiny may also extend beyond senior government figures.
Rights organizations have previously explored broader interpretations concerning participation in settlement activity, including involvement in infrastructure, services and administrative systems connected to settlements. Such discussions have raised wider questions about who could potentially fall within expanding legal definitions.
The Jerusalem Post also warned that broader legal exposure could eventually affect international travel or commercial activity abroad, drawing comparisons with previous cases involving Israeli military personnel facing legal scrutiny during overseas visits.
Accountability Efforts Expand
Questions surrounding legal accountability have increasingly moved beyond proceedings in The Hague.
According to Anadolu Agency, the Hind Rajab Foundation announced Monday that a criminal complaint had been filed in Poland against current and former Israeli political and military officials over allegations including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
The complaint, submitted to prosecutors in Wroclaw by Palestinian survivors and advocacy groups, names former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Foreign Minister Israel Katz, former Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, former military chief Herzi Halevi, current military chief Eyal Zamir and other officials.
The organization said it has submitted more than 90 legal complaints across 30 jurisdictions involving allegations related to actions against Palestinians.
These legal efforts continue against the backdrop of extensive devastation and ongoing genocide in Gaza.
According to figures cited in the material, Israel’s war on Gaza has killed more than 72,000 Palestinians since October 2023, most of them women and children, while over 172,000 have been injured. Approximately 90 percent of civilian infrastructure across the Strip has sustained destruction or damage.
World Food Programme figures indicate that approximately 1.6 million Palestinians in Gaza — around 77 percent of the population — face severe acute food insecurity, including more than 100,000 children and 37,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women.
All of these developments suggest that legal pressure surrounding Israel is increasingly emerging across multiple arenas — from international institutions and domestic courts to growing scrutiny of settlement policies themselves — expanding legal questions beyond individual officials and toward broader state practices.
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/a-darker-legal-hour-why-smotrich-could-become-the-focus-of-a-new-legal-battle/
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