Middle East Press On: Gaza, Lebanon, Iran-Israel Confrontation, Turkey In Somalia, Iran Fiasco, Trump America’s Blind Allegiance To Israel, Hezbollah, New Age Islam's Selection, 17 April 2026
By New Age Islam Edit Desk
17 April 2026
Two reasons, two keys: Stories of loss and hope from Gaza
A proxy battlefield: Lebanon in the Iran-Israel confrontation
Türkiye in Somalia: Geopolitics, investment and energy
The Iran Fiasco: Trump and Israel Go Down the Drain together
The Axis of Terror: The Destructive Price of America’s Blind Allegiance to Israel
Israel, Not Hezbollah, Needs to be Disarmed for Peace and Justice to Prevail
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Two reasons, two keys: Stories of loss and hope from Gaza
BY HILAL KAPLAN
APR 16, 2026
We arrive at an apartment building in the back alleys of Cairo’s Nasr district. Despite all of life’s hardships, the Ramadan decorations hanging at the entrance herald a sense of hope for the future.
We are greeted by the father of the household, Mr. Abdurrahman. We learn that they moved to Egypt in April 2024, leaving their parents and siblings behind, and that he worked as a nurse while they were in Gaza. He answers our questions with such short, one-sentence replies that we are forced to ask him to elaborate.
“I can only tell you this much. If I say more, I’ll break down,” he said. We fall silent.
His wife, Nadin, said, “I want to speak,” and we listened to her.
“We lost our home and our car in the bombing. The hospital where my husband worked is gone, too. There was no water, no electricity, no gas. Whenever we had money, I could only buy baby formula. I went hungry, but I made sure my daughters were fed. All my cousins were martyred, every single one...”
She pauses here for a moment, then continues, pointing to her twin daughters sitting by her side: “I couldn’t get pregnant for five years. The bombings started right after they were born."
“They are the reason I came here,” she said, “Conditions may still be tough, but they’re 3 years old now, and I have to provide them with a good life,” she added.
As she sees us off, we hug, and she points to her husband, saying, “See, I spoke better than him, didn’t I?” successfully dispelling the sadness in the room in an instant.
Mother, daughter, two keys
We move to another household. Mrs. Maryam is 43 years old. She has five daughters and one son. She describes how, while they were living a decent life by Gaza’s standards, they suddenly became homeless and had to struggle to survive while sharing a house with 40 people. Her eyes drift to a distant point as she describes the fearful nights they, especially their young children, spent together, huddled under a single blanket.
“I used to think, ‘If martyrdom is our fate, let’s be together,’” she said.
Then she tells of how 27 of her neighbors were martyred. “Melek was one of them. She was my closest friend. We’d been together since childhood. My happiest memory was her birthday, when they invited me to their home. We had so much fun that day,” she said.
As she smiles through her pain, an elderly woman enters the room with a cane in her hand.
Her name is Zaynab, she is Maryam’s mother. She is Zaynab of Yafa. She was only 2 years old when she was forced to leave the home where she was born during the Nakba.
“At 80, they made me a refugee again,” she says. “But this time, I hid the key to my home,” she added.
Mrs. Zaynab may not have been in this world longer than Israel, but we want to see the key that will be passed down to one of her 19 grandchildren.
Maryam said, “I hid my key too.” And so, with these two keys, which are symbols of hope for a nation, we immortalize this moment.
https://www.dailysabah.com/opinion/columns/two-reasons-two-keys-stories-of-loss-and-hope-from-gaza
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A proxy battlefield: Lebanon in the Iran-Israel confrontation
BY MUSTAFA YETIM
APR 17, 2026
Afull-scale war between Iran and Israel, alongside U.S. interventionist pressure on Iran, has pushed the region into an increasingly complex phase with profoundly destabilizing effects. These consequences extend beyond traditionally affected arenas such as Iraq and Yemen, reaching the wider Gulf region as well. However, among all states, Lebanon continues to experience the most immediate and severe impacts of regional polarization and conflict.
Although officially seeking to remain outside regional wars and confrontations, Lebanon’s fragmented political structure and the presence of powerful non-state armed actors, most notably the Shia Islamist Hezbollah, frequently draw the country into broader regional dynamics. This structural vulnerability has repeatedly resulted in Lebanon’s entanglement in regional conflicts, including its recent indirect involvement in the latest Israel-Iran escalation and wider cycles of confrontation.
3rd Hezbollah-Israel encounter
Before the eruption of the current conflicts between Iran and the U.S.-Israel alliance, it was evident that Lebanon would constitute one of the primary arenas in which these confrontations would unfold. Unlike other regions that have also been affected by the destructive impacts of recent conflicts, such as the Gulf, Iraq and Yemen, Lebanon, from the outset of the escalation, emerged as a central hotspot due to intensified confrontations between Hezbollah and Israel. Despite the degradation of its deterrent capability following the most recent confrontation with Israel before the cease-fire reached at the end of November 2024, Hezbollah appeared to recover part of its organizational, military and economic losses.
In this context, and in close alignment with Iran, Hezbollah interpreted recent developments as an existential threat, particularly the possibility of regime collapse in Iran, which it perceives as tantamount to the defeat of the broader Iran-led “resistance bloc,” of which Hezbollah is a key component. In other words, Hezbollah traditionally tied its survival and operational strength to the continuity of the Iranian state, highlighting the depth of its strategic, political and military integration within the regional balance between major and minor powers.
Therefore, unlike the Gaza invasion process that broke out in October 2023, Hezbollah did not opt for a gradual or indirect form of confrontation with Israel and instead immediately engaged the Israeli front from Lebanese territory, specifically South Lebanon.
In response to this new escalation, Israel, already inclined to contain and, if possible, eliminate Hezbollah, launched a series of aggressive incursions, initially targeting South Lebanon and subsequently extending operations toward Beirut.
Despite Israel’s previous effectiveness in intelligence-driven strikes and aerial operations, Hezbollah demonstrated a higher level of resilience in this round of confrontation, surprising many analysts and political observers and openly defying Israel’s military pressure on Lebanon. Consequently, while the U.S.-Israel alignment faced significant setbacks in its attempts to destabilize the Iranian regime, Israel’s unilateral military operations in Lebanon also failed to deter Hezbollah or achieve its strategic objectives, thereby encouraging Hezbollah forces to impose higher operational costs on Israel.
In this third encounter between Hezbollah and Israel, the first being in 2006 and the second in 2024, Hezbollah demonstrated its regional capability by responding to Israel’s superior military technology and by increasing the costs of any Israeli incursion into Lebanon. However, growing frustration over the prolonged conflict and the absence of a rapid military victory led Israel to intensify its attacks, including more extensive and less restrained strikes on civilian areas in Lebanon, resulting in a severe humanitarian catastrophe.
'Eternal Darkness'
In its latest attack before the onset of direct negotiations between the U.S. and Iran and possible cease-fire developments, Israel demonstrated its determination to sustain intensive aerial operations through heavy bombardments.
The operation, referred to as “Eternal Darkness,” involved over 100 strikes within approximately 10 minutes, resulting in severe destruction in Beirut. The city, historically regarded as a center of rich civilizations and cultural traditions, experienced extensive infrastructural damage and significant civilian casualties, including women and children.
This is not an unprecedented pattern for Beirut, which has repeatedly borne the costs of regional polarization, hegemonic rivalries, sectarian conflicts and external military interventions. However, this new phase reflects an escalation in Israel’s efforts to assert unilateral regional dominance, while Hezbollah’s deep strategic integration with Iran, rather than Lebanese state institutions, continues to generate additional layers of instability for the Lebanese population.
Demands of each side
The core problem arises from Israel’s refusal to include Lebanon within any potential cease-fire framework, arguing that its conflict with Hezbollah constitutes a separate arena from its broader confrontation with Iran and its alignment with the U.S.
From Tehran’s perspective, however, the so-called “resistance bloc” represents an integrated strategic alliance, in which no single component can be isolated from broader cease-fire or peace arrangements.
This fundamental disagreement is emboldened by the U.S.’ recent position, which largely aligns with Israel by seeking to exclude Lebanon from ongoing negotiations over an initial cessation of hostilities and possible peace arrangements.
In response, the Lebanese government, while rejecting both Israeli military operations and Hezbollah’s confrontations with Israel by siding with Iran, intensified its diplomatic efforts to facilitate potential direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel.
A central point of contention in these discussions concerns the disarmament of Hezbollah, which Israel identifies as a primary condition for any agreement. While the Lebanese government frames this issue as an internal matter and emphasizes the need to respect Lebanon’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and political centrality, Israel seeks to subdue Hezbollah through its own military instruments.
Within this complex configuration, Hezbollah still remains one of the most resilient and influential domestic actors in Lebanon, sustained by extensive regional alliances. Its position further illustrates the fragility of the Lebanese political and security landscape.
In conclusion, despite Lebanon’s historical resilience in the face of repeated cycles of regional conflict and external intervention, the interaction between regional power struggles and local allied actors repeatedly constrained its possible alternative journey. In this sense, Lebanon’s trajectory is often shaped less by sovereign choice than by externally imposed constraints and internally conflictual actors, resulting in recurrent cycles of instability and destruction.
https://www.dailysabah.com/opinion/op-ed/a-proxy-battlefield-lebanon-in-the-iran-israel-confrontation
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Türkiye in Somalia: Geopolitics, investment and energy
BY GÖKÇE NUR ATAMAN
APR 17, 2026
Türkiye’s offshore initiative in Somalia, unlike the wait-and-see strategy of conventional international oil companies, is a long-term and multilayered geopolitical energy investment based on early positioning in a frontier basin characterized by high geological and economic uncertainty.
At first glance, it may appear to be an initiative framed within energy supply security and the search for new reserves. However, upon deeper analysis, it reflects a notable expansion of Türkiye’s multi-dimensional geopolitical strategy focused on building regional and global presence. In this context, the work carried out in Somalia is not only a technical drilling operation. It demonstrates in which geographies, with which instruments and through what kind of power projection Türkiye seeks to exist.
Choice of location, timing
The selection of Somalia is also not coincidental in this regard. Located in the Horn of Africa and forming a strategic passage point between the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, Somalia stands out due to its proximity to the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, one of the most critical routes of global maritime trade. This narrow strait is an artery through which a significant portion of trade between Europe and Asia passes via the Suez Canal. Therefore, establishing a presence in Somalia means not only access to energy resources but also a geopolitical positioning close to global trade routes.
Another important dimension of this strategy is the early positioning approach. The region is, in fact, not newly discovered. Since the 1950s, major international oil companies such as Shell, ExxonMobil and Chevron obtained licenses in large offshore blocks in Somalia and conducted extensive seismic studies. However, with the collapse of state structures in the 1990s, these companies halted operations and, while not fully abandoning the fields, shifted to a wait-and-see strategy by preserving their legal rights. Today, a significant portion of these companies still maintains their license positions but does not proceed to active drilling or production stages.
Türkiye, however, has taken an early position in an environment where this passive stance has formed. Somalia’s offshore fields are largely considered frontier and unexplored areas. This represents high risk together with high potential. Türkiye’s entry at this stage may provide significant advantages in the event of major discoveries in the future.
Starting with Oruç Reis
In the first phase of Türkiye’s activities in Somalia, the vessel deployed was the Oruç Reis seismic research vessel. Its role is not to produce hydrocarbons or drill wells but to image the geological structure beneath the surface. Over a period of approximately eight to nine months, the Oruç Reis collected large-scale three-dimensional seismic data in Somalia’s offshore areas. This data acquisition process is one of the most critical stages in offshore energy projects because drilling a well in the wrong location can mean losses of hundreds of millions of dollars.
In terms of technical capacity, the Oruç Reis is equipped with modern multichannel seismic systems. This platform, approximately 87 meters (285 feet) in length, uses high-pressure air guns to image geological layers beneath the seabed. These systems send sound waves into the seabed, and by analyzing the return time of these waves, subsurface rock structures are modeled in three dimensions.
In particular, 3D seismic data plays a critical role in evaluating potential hydrocarbon traps, reservoir quality and seal integrity. The data obtained at this stage is not analyzed in the field but in central locations using advanced software systems.
It is known that data collected from Somalia is evaluated in Ankara. As a result of these analyses, structures that may contain hydrocarbons are identified and targets known as prospects are defined for drilling.
Role of Çağrı Bey
The deployment of the Cağrı Bey drilling vessel to Somalia took place precisely after this stage. In other words, the drilling decision is a technically supported selection based on seismic data. Cağrı Bey performs a completely different function from the Oruç Reis. If the Oruç Reis is a radar imaging the subsurface, Cağrı Bey is an engineering platform that physically reaches the point identified in that image and tests the reservoir.
Technically classified as a seventh-generation ultra-deepwater drillship, this vessel has the capacity to reach a total drilling depth of approximately 12,000 meters. This means that in a field with water depths of 2,000 to 3,000 meters, it can drill an additional 8,000 to 9,000 meters below the seabed. One of the most critical systems of the vessel is its dynamic positioning technology. Thanks to this system, the vessel can remain fixed at a single point using thrusters and sensors without being anchored to the seabed. This is essential in deep offshore fields such as Somalia because conventional anchoring methods are not feasible at such depths.
A crucial technical distinction must be made here. Seismic data indicates probability, not certainty. The data obtained by the Oruç Reis shows that a certain structure may contain hydrocarbons but this can only be confirmed through drilling. Therefore, the role of Cağrı Bey is to test this geological hypothesis.
Possible outcomes
In the event of a successful discovery, the process moves to field development, which includes platform installation, production infrastructure and export pipelines, representing a much larger investment cycle. For this reason, the strategic value of the project is shaped not only by the current technical progress but also by possible outcome scenarios.
In energy economics literature, such projects are defined as high-risk, high-uncertainty exploration plays, and their evaluation is based on the geopolitical and economic consequences of both success and failure scenarios. In a successful discovery scenario, meaning the confirmation of commercially viable hydrocarbon reserves in Somalia’s offshore fields, the impact for Türkiye would not be limited to energy supply security.
First, such a discovery would geographically diversify Türkiye’s upstream portfolio and position the country not only as a consumer but also as an international producer. This would mean an increase in operational capacity for the Turkish Petroleum Corporation on a global scale. In this scenario, the proximity to the Bab al-Mandeb and Indian Ocean maritime trade routes would allow Türkiye to integrate its energy diplomacy with maritime geopolitics. If the discovery is successful, Somalia would become not only a production field but also a strategic base close to global energy and trade corridors. This would enable Türkiye to establish a permanent economic and political presence in the Horn of Africa.
In a possible failure scenario, where drilling does not result in a commercial hydrocarbon discovery, the project does not become entirely meaningless, but its economic return remains limited. In offshore exploration projects, dry well results are quite common, and in such cases, the greatest loss is sunk cost. For Türkiye, this cost is not only financial but also includes time, operational resources and diplomatic capital.
However, there is also a critical third possibility, namely a partial success scenario. In this case, hydrocarbon indications are found in the field, but the reservoir quality or continuity is not sufficient for commercial production. Such outcomes are quite common in frontier basins. In a partial success situation, Türkiye increases its field knowledge, but this knowledge does not directly translate into production. Nevertheless, the seismic and drilling data obtained create a strategic dataset for future investment decisions and strengthen geological modeling in the region.
From a critical perspective, Türkiye’s Somalia initiative should also be evaluated in terms of opportunity cost. The same financial and operational resources could have generated more predictable returns if deployed in lower-risk regions. Therefore, the Somalia investment can also be interpreted not as a classical energy company behavior but rather as a state-driven risk optimization strategy aimed at geopolitical returns.
https://www.dailysabah.com/opinion/op-ed/turkiye-in-somalia-geopolitics-investment-and-energy
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The Iran Fiasco: Trump and Israel Go Down the Drain together
April 17, 2026
By Jeremy Salt
It took no time at all after the declaration of a ceasefire for Israel to declare that it would continue attacking Lebanon. The suspension of fighting on that front was explicit in Iran’s 10-point memorandum on which acceptance of the ceasefire was based. Israeli attacks on other ‘resistance fronts’ – Gaza and Lebanon predominant – would also have to stop.
But they did not, and literally within ten minutes on April 8, mass bombardment killed more than 350 Lebanese civilians, many of them women and children. This was Israel’s operation of ‘Eternal Darkness,’ and Lebanon’s ‘Black Wednesday
Israel is now destroying all the Lebanese villages along the 1949 armistice line. The operation is called ‘Operation Silver Plow.’ Israel Katz, the war criminal who holds the title of ‘defense minister,’ said, “All the houses are being removed,” not that they were being blown up.
The latest ‘victory’ is the vengeful destruction of the football stadium in the town of Bint Jbeil, where Hasan Nasrallah gave his ‘spider’s web’ speech in 2000 after Israeli ground troops ran like frightened rabbits from the occupied south.
The pilots of the 50 planes who murdered hundreds of civilians in the ten-minute attack on ‘Black Wednesday’ were at no risk because Lebanon has no air force to speak of. They knew they were killing civilians. Presumably, in a court charged with war crimes, they would argue they were just obeying orders.
Despite the mass murder of their own citizens, the (Sunni) prime minister and the (Maronite) president immediately opened negotiations in Washington with the regime committing these crimes.
The ceasefire that Israel has violated every day since it was declared is not even on the agenda. The only item on the Israeli-dictated agenda was disarming (Shia) Hezbollah. As always, the worst of the enemies in ‘confessional’ Lebanon are within its borders.
For 80 years, the evidence of Israeli barbarity has accumulated in a massive pile. The mind goes back to the shelling of Gaza’s markets in the 1950s, the bombing of the Bahar al Bakr primary school in 1970, killing 46 students and wounding 50, the shooting down in 1973 of a Libyan airliner that had lost its way in a sandstorm, killing 108 passengers and crew.
In Beirut that year, this writer saw the photos of a village mukhtar’s Mercedes crushed by a tank rolling into southern Lebanon. The mukhtar had driven out of the village with elderly female relatives packed into the car when the tank appeared on the crest of a hill. He didn’t have to turn around, and the tank just rolled over the car, crushing its occupants into a pile of metal about two feet thick.
This war crime never made the news, and the pilot never would have been punished because the same regime that administers ‘justice’ is responsible for these endless atrocities.
The ‘occupation’ is just the tip of a massive pyramid of state criminality going back to the 1930s, when Zionist settlers were rolling ‘barrel bombs’ from the back of a truck into Palestinian markets. Whether they were men, women or children didn’t matter. Their ‘crime’ was being Palestinian and the owners of every way of the land the Zionists were going to steal.
The onslaught on Iran has so far involved the killing of about 3500 civilians, including hundreds of children. The attacks have been launched at civilian targets across the country, including schools, universities, hospitals, residential buildings, oil and energy depots and a gas field.
The damage to the Gandhi hospital included the total destruction of the IVF department, thus recalling the destruction of nine out of ten IVF clinics in Gaza, with the loss of thousands of embryos in what UN officials called a “textbook example” of genocide.
Gaza was the template for the mass destruction in Iran and Lebanon, beginning with the murder of Hasan Nasrallah in September 2024.
The mass bombardment of Beirut at that time was followed by the pager and walkie-talkie attacks, rigged so that they would blow up in the hands of the people holding them. In an extra vicious touch, sufficient time was allowed for them to be raised to the face before they exploded.
Thirty-two people were killed, and 3250 wounded, including children and medics. Some were blinded, some had their fingers blown off. OCHR (the UN Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights) called the attacks a “terrifying” violation of international law.
Netanyahu celebrated by giving Trump a golden copy of a pager to mark the occasion. The pager attack was a war crime but Trump thanked Netanyahu and praised such a “great operation.”
In the operation ‘Eternal Darkness’, 160 bombs were dropped on Beirut and more than 40 towns across Lebanon in ten minutes. The targets ranged from the Beka’a valley to Suq al Gharb and Kaifoun in the hills around the mountain resort town of Aley, east of Beirut. The dead included at least 70 women and 30 children.
The latest revelations about the barbarity of the regime come from Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor. The subject is again the complete depravity within Israeli prisons, including the infamous Sde Teiman.
In July 2025, Israeli prison guards were videoed sexually assaulting a Palestinian prisoner (apparently with a baton) behind the cover of their shield, causing serious internal injury. Five soldiers were charged. Despite the evidence, these charges were recently dropped by the military because of “procedural difficulties.”
This prison is especially notorious for the sadism and cruelty within its walls. Accusations of rape and even rape by dogs trained for the task have been made before, but Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has now added more detail in a 69-page report on torture in Israeli prisons, ‘Another Genocide Behind Walls.’
The report is based on evidence from former prisoners. Female prisoners in particular were reluctant to talk about what they had endured, but the picture that emerges corroborates accounts already told going back several years.
One woman who did give evidence was raped day after day. Male prisoners were sodomized with metal rods, wooden sticks and even fire extinguisher nozzles, causing serious internal injuries. Actual male-on-male rape was reported in at least one act. Prisoners were also beaten around the testicles with kicks and rifle butts, so badly that the testicle of one prisoner had to be removed.
The intention is not just humiliation but psychological destruction. The intention of stripping naked male prisoners in Gaza and order them to squat blindfolded in helpless rows was the same.
Electrocution was also used in the Sde Teiman attacks, but the most depraved acts of all were the use of dogs trained to ‘rape’ prisoners, again confirming the evidence of former Sde Teiman prisoners going back several years.
After 80 years, no more evidence is needed to pass judgment on Israel. When it was admitted to UN membership in 1949, it swore to abide by the UN Charter. Instead, it has violated it at every turn. It has rejected every single resolution upholding the rights of the Palestinan people. Its war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other violations of international law could not be contained in a shelf of books.
Apart from the fact that it never should have been created on someone else’s land, Israel should have been suspended long ago from the UN for the crimes it was committing and expelled if it still refused to live within the law. If it wants to behave like an outlaw, it should surely be treated as an outlaw.
In an article written for Consortium News (‘Ending Israel’s War on Peace,’ April 10), Jeffrey Sachs says the US “must join the rest of the world to force Israel to live within its internationally recognized borders of June 4, 1967.’
Unfortunately, the “rest of the world” is doing nothing to force Israel to live within these borders, so there is nothing for the US to join. It wouldn’t anyway. Israel doesn’t even say what its hypothetical borders are because it wants to leave them open for further expansion. Why would the world want to recognize the borders of a state when it refuses to recognize them itself?
Furthermore, Israel’s “internationally recognized borders” is an assumption that is questionable in law. The outstanding example is West Jerusalem. The US and a handful of other states might recognize West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, but it is as much stolen and occupied as the eastern part of the city. The partition resolution of 1947 set it aside as a corpus separatum to be placed under international administration. Israel had no intention of respecting that and managed to seize half the city before international intervention brought the war to an end.
Although West Jerusalem had a predominant population of recently arrived Jewish settlers, the great bulk of land and fixed property across the city belonged to Palestinian Muslims and Christians. ‘Still belongs,’ it would be more appropriate to say. The passage of time does not change the nature of stolen property.
There is no logical, moral, or legal reason why occupied Wst Jerusalem should be treated differently from occupied East Jerusalem or why the Palestinians of the 1948 generation should be left aside in any hypothetical negotiations with Israel. The starting point for any settlement in the unlikely event that the point is ever reached is 1948, not 1967.
The West Bank is no longer a bargaining chip, not that it ever really was. The Jewish settler population is about 530,000, with a further 250,000 in East Jerusalem and 50,000 on the occupied Golan Heights.
Israel has just turned 34 ‘outposts’ into settlements and is steadily building up the Jewish settler population in occupied Syria. It has no intention of handing back any stolen territory. Jeffrey Sachs says the world should force Israel to live within the law. How this could be done, he doesn’t say.
In the US, opposition to Israel has risen to heights thought unclimbable just a few years ago. Pew Research polling in late March 2026 shows a 60% unfavourable view, compared to 53% in 2025 and 40% in 2022. ‘Very unfavourable’ is up from 10% in 2022 to 28% in 2026. No confidence in Netanyahu to ‘do the right thing’ polled at 59%.
Among registered Democrats, the 80% unfavourable view of Israel has risen from 69% in 2025 and 53% in 2022. Among older Republicans, 58% favourable compares to 41% unfavorable, but amongst the younger (18-49), 57% unfavorable has risen from 50% in 2025.
These statistics can be coupled with a parallel drop in approval of Trump’s job performance. Current polling shows 40% job approval and 59% disapproval. Support has crashed within his own MAGA movement, with former loyalist Candace Owen calling him a “genocidal lunatic” after he threatened to destroy Iran “as a civilization.”
These two sets of figures point to an obvious solution for Trump – blame Israel. After all, Netanyahu and Mossad chief David Barnea clearly deceived him. He expected a short victorious war against Iran and instead got a long, losing one, so why not pay them back?
He owes Israel nothing. The relationship is entirely transactional. He used Israel’s billionaire backers, and they used him. They might still need him, but almost at the end of his political life, does he really need them?
The American public is clearly ready for a break with Israel. The ‘special relationship’ is on its last legs, but Trump is showing no sign of wanting to cash in on American disenchantment by shifting the blame for the Iranian fiasco to Israel.
Given Trump’s narcissistic nature, this seems out of character so maybe there’s something Epstein gave to Mossad after all that could ruin him.
There is nothing left to talk about with Israel now. The ‘peace’ conversation has been totally exhausted. No options are left. Israel is going to bully its way to regional domination or more probably, eventually come down with a thunderous crash that will shake the world.
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/the-iran-fiasco-trump-and-israel-go-down-the-drain-together/
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The Axis of Terror: The Destructive Price of America’s Blind Allegiance to Israel
April 17, 2026
By Dr. M. Reza Behnam
The unprovoked joint -Israeli war launched against Iran on February 28, 2026, will manifestly change West Asia. When it ends, Arab despots, who allowed their countries to be used as platforms for aggression against Iran, will confront a new reality.
The safety and stability they thought was theirs based on fealty to the United States and its Israeli proxy was shattered as Iranian missiles and drones were en route to destroy the military and intelligence installations they had allowed on their soil; a subordination they falsely believed would protect them.
The Arab world is learning the hard way what the late Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, in his cold logic, implied decades ago about American foreign policy: “The word will go out to the nations of the world that it may be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be America’s friend is fatal.”
On the other hand, it is clear that Iran does not abandon its allies, having supported the just cause of the Palestinians for 47 years. And during the current war, Tehran has refused to abandon its Lebanese Hezbollah allies as well. It has adopted a “peace for all or no peace” stance, refusing peace negotiations/accords that would not include its regional allies.
Deep-seated militarism and distrust, hallmarks of the region, are directly linked to a legacy of foreign intervention: the post-WWI breakup of the Ottoman Empire; the 1948 imposition of the Zionist colony in Palestine; and America’s unwavering support for its killing machine.
From the Truman Doctrine to the Carter Doctrine, the Persian Gulf and its natural resources have been regarded as “vital interests” of the United States, to keep riches in the hands of wealthy Americans. Every president has declared a willingness to use “any means necessary” to dominate the region.
To “protect its interests” and its Israeli proxy, the United States has operated 19 military bases across roughly 10 countries in West Asia, housing 40-50,000 military personnel. Of that number, eight were considered permanent installations, while the others were temporary or forward-operating sites. It also deployed several naval ships to the Mediterranean, with the headquarters of the anti-Iran naval armada, the Navy’s Fifth Fleet, anchored in Bahrain.
Prior to the latest Zionist instigated war on the Islamic Republic, these sites had been used by America to spy on, destabilize and attack Iran as well as other Muslim countries.
For example, the drone that killed Quds commander, General Qassem Soleimani and several others, including Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, in 2020, was flown from the Al-Udeid air base in Qatar, home of Central Command. It is worth noting that the Iraqis assassinated in the attack were Qatar’s fellow Arabs; Soleimani was the lone Persian among them.
It is important not to forget that the presence of bases in Saudi Arabia was identified by al-Qaeda as a primary reason for the attacks of September 11, 2001; this, in addition to Washington’s unconditional support for Israeli atrocities against the Palestinians.
When the Arab states outsourced their security to the United States, believing they had purchased safety and security, they essentially relinquished their sovereignty; this is especially true of the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states that border the Persian Gulf: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Beyond military bases, the has dominated these Gulf regimes through economic ties, security partnerships and massive arms sales, which have created dependence on American military technology, training and maintenance.
As Washington built up its military in the region and increased its threats to use force if Iran did not surrender to its (essentially Israeli) demands, the Islamic Republic, in an official letter to the United Nations (February 19, 2026), reaffirmed once again that if subjected to military aggression, it would:
“respond decisively and proportionately in the exercise of its inherent right of self-defense under Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations. In such circumstances, all bases, facilities, and assets of the hostile force in the region would constitute legitimate targets in the context of Iran’s defensive response. The United States would bear full and direct responsibility for any unpredictable and uncontrolled consequences.”
Soon after the joint -Israeli strikes and targeted assassination of 86-year old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his family on February 28, Iran launched retaliatory attacks on in the Gulf; installations used to strike the country.
Ironically, the Gulf monarchies have based their security on the primary source of regional insecurity. Washington’s unconditional support of Israel has made the entire region a target.
Despite warnings of the risks to the economic and structural stability of its Gulf partners, the Trump administration, with Israel, escalated its attacks on Iran. Forced to the forefront of a war they did not want, Gulf rulers have learned that they are expendable in the eyes of Tel Aviv and Washington.
The disparity between the vast economic wealth of the Gulf states and their limited political agency is largely a legacy of their historical evolution.
The modern oil-rich monarchies of the Persian Gulf evolved from ancient maritime trading hubs and tribal confederations. Until the late 20th century, the Gulf states, except Saudi Arabia, existed as British protectorates and their boundaries were primarily shaped by colonial officials.
Most of the current ruling families are descendants of leaders maintained in power by the British during their 150-year domination of the Gulf (1820-1971).
To support its strategic interests, primarily in India, Britain legitimized existing hereditary leaders and installed local hand-picked rulers who were willing to accept British authority. Those who refused “supervision” risked being deposed and replaced with a more compliant family member.
Interestingly, Britain’s hegemony over the Gulf began in 1820 over its refusal to pay tolls to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. At that time, the powerful Qawasim maritime tribe (the Al-Qasimi family) controlled the waters of the Gulf and levied tolls on all trade that passed through the strait. The British refusal led to confrontations between the two sides and the destruction of the entire Qawasim fleet.
Today, the descendants of the Al-Qasimi family, continue to rule two Emirates (Ras El Khaimah and Sharjah).
If the Gulf monarchs survive the war, their populations may—for the first time since both world wars—decide their futures free of tyrants, profligate sheiks, and foreign domination. They can look to their own history, traditions and cultural heritage instead of relying on and mimicking the West, building one more alien, useless skyscraper, sponsoring LIV golf tournaments and drag racing in the desert.
For nearly five decades, Zionist regimes have focused on a strategic goal: the election of a president compliant enough to wage war against Iran on their behalf. They found their cat’s paw in the current occupant of the Oval Office, Donald J. Trump.
Born at the barrel of a gun, Israel secures its place in the region by fostering chaos and conflict. By deliberately sowing inter-Arab and Iranian-Arab division, it has reaped enormous profits through a booming arms and intelligence industry. And by keeping its neighbors at odds and concentrated on Iran, it ensures no unified front arises that can challenge its existence.
The war on Iran has forced evolution, if not a revolution, upon West Asia. This shift could alter the geopolitics of the region, triggering independence from Israel and enabling regional transformation free from and Israeli domination.
With these stirring words, “The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries, TIS TIME TO PART,” Thomas Paine (Common Sense) called on the American colonies to sever ties and declare independence from Britain. His call for a complete break from imperial power in 1776 is more timely than ever.
For America and the Arab states, severing ties with Israel is the only sensible path to take in order to finally end the chronic, destructive cycle the region has known since Israel was forced upon it. Yet, owing to Washington’s strategic myopia and Arab leaders’ historical deference, it is doubtful that they will make such a fundamental and necessary shift in regional politics.
Although our days are filled with grief and uncertainty because of yet another sponsored Israeli war against its neighbors, one thing, however, is certain: there will never be peace in West Asia until there is justice and self-determination for the Palestinians.
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/the-axis-of-terror-the-destructive-price-of-americas-blind-allegiance-to-israel/
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Israel, Not Hezbollah, Needs to be Disarmed for Peace and Justice to Prevail
April 17, 2026
By Iqbal Jassat
While the Netanyahu regime has been fixated on disarming Lebanon’s Hezbollah, surely the time is overdue to defang him, his genocidal thugs, and his terrorist regime.
The narrative that the so-called “international community” has endorsed Netanyahu’s goals against Hezbollah is misleading.
Indeed, it is extremely disappointing that by classifying the US and a handful of countries in Western Europe as representative of the entire global community, the rest of the majority of the world is marginalized.
It is thus unfair and incorrect to parade Netanyahu’s false version as representative of worldwide opinion.
Hezbollah was never and is not a terrorist organization. It is being slandered and deliberately profiled as such by the settler colonial regime, in much the same way the apartheid regime of South Africa criminalized the ANC as a terrorist organisation.
A cursory glance at the history of Israel’s destructively violent military entanglements in Lebanon, in particular its illegal 1982 military invasion of it, will shed light on the background of Hezbollah’s emergence.
During the early 1980s, when the PLO under the leadership of Yasser Arafat faced relentless pressure to evacuate from Lebanon, Palestinians in refugee camps from Beirut to the Southern border were left vulnerable to Israeli exploits.
It was in this vacuum that Hezbollah emerged as a political, military, and social organization, positioning itself as a primary resistance movement against the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon.
While its ideological roots stem from the Islamic Movement inspired by the Islamic Revolution of Iran, its formal establishment was a direct response to the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
The resistance by Hezbollah against Israel’s two-decade-long occupation of Southern Lebanon saw it adopt guerrilla-style warfare up until 2000, when it succeeded in forcing Israel to withdraw from the country.
This milestone in Hezbollah’s military conquest of a predatory colonial regime is celebrated in Lebanon as Resistance and Liberation Day.
The narrative thus has to be changed from Zionist-led allegations of Hezbollah being cast as a terrorist organisation, to Israel as a terrorist regime.
Demands have to be made to not only disarm the regime but also its Jewish militias.
To deal with Jewish-state terrorism, as is evident in the genocide it perpetrated in Gaza, the violent military occupation of the West Bank, the devastation caused by relentless bombings in Lebanon and the unprovoked war in Iran, it is necessary to completely dismantle it, collect all its arms and put its leaders on trial.
A close scrutiny of Zionism will undoubtedly reveal that it is inherently violent. The violence associated with the creation of Israel relied on terror and ethnic cleansing.
Far from the myth of Zionism being a “national liberation movement”, it is in fact indistinguishable from terrorism.
Ilan Pappe, a prominent Israeli historian and academic, has correctly characterized Zionism as a settler-colonial project that has employed systematic violence—or state terrorism—against the Palestinian population from before the establishment of the state in 1948 to the present day.
Pappe argues that this violence is not accidental but integral to a project aimed at maximizing Palestinian land while minimizing the number of Palestinians living on it.
Also in State of Terror: How Terrorism Created Modern Israel (2016), the author Thomas Suarez argues that Zionist organizations systematically used terrorism against Palestinians,
He does this largely by mining previously neglected declassified documents from the British National Archives, covering the period of the British Mandate for Palestine (1920-1948).
Suárez’s principal thesis is that Zionist terrorism “ultimately dictated the course of events during the Mandate, and it is Israeli state terrorism that continues to dictate events today.”
The evidence is abundant and overwhelming: Zionist Israel is a terrorist outfit. Unless it faces sanctions and isolation leading to its complete dismantlement, it will continue to terrorize the world.
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/israel-not-hezbollah-needs-to-be-disarmed-for-peace-and-justice-to-prevail/
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