Middle East Press On: Jewish, Democratic, Palestinian Statehood: New Age Islam's Selection, 4 June 2025
By New Age Islam Edit Desk
4 June 2025
Israel Has Lost the Gaza War
Why The Left Keeps Losing, Both in Israel and America
Israel's War in Gaza Leaves the Jewish State Stuck in A Catch-22
The 'Free Palestine' Rallying Cry Brings Increasingly Deadly Results
Yoav Kisch's New Education Plans Fails to Define Israel's Democratic Values
The Diplomatic Gamble On Palestinian Statehood Gives Palestinians No Security
Why Indonesia Must Reject the Arab-Israel Normalisation Wave
A Legal Perspective On the Day After in Gaza
Inside Gaza’s Hospitals: Nurse Ghada and Israel’s War On Medical Workers
Media Blood Libel Over Alleged Gaza Aid Shooting Will Have Far-Reaching Repercussions
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Israel Has Lost the Gaza War
Osama Al-Sharif
June 03, 2025
In its relatively short history as a state, Israel has achieved numerous resounding military victories. It has regularly fought Arab armies and defeated most, often entering battle as the underdog. But when it turned its guns against the people it crushed under the yoke of one of the most ruthless occupations in history, then its victories appeared hollow. But its leaders do not feel remorse. Quite the opposite: they thrive on hubris and vanity.
So, in the grand scheme of things, when Israel waged war on the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, the odds were stacked in its favor to deliver a resounding defeat to the militant group. But this was no ordinary warfare, not in the classic military sense. From the very start, this was an orchestrated pogrom against millions of Gazans. This is a war run by extremist politicians whose aim remains to obliterate or ethnically cleanse every man, woman and child in the Strip. From the onset, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has used Old Testament references full of hate, incitements and retribution to justify what has become the genocide of the 21st century.
Ironically, Israel could have run over and occupied the entire Gaza Strip weeks — maybe months — after degrading Hamas’ command and control structure and paralyzing its brigades. It could carry out surgical attacks to take out top Hamas military leaders, with little impact on the civilian population. In many ways, that is precisely what it did in Lebanon, decapitating Hezbollah’s upper echelons using stunning and precise attacks in less than two months.
Instead, and at the behest of its beleaguered leader, Netanyahu, it opted to prolong the war, killing tens of thousands of civilians and injuring hundreds of thousands without achieving a single military objective. It could have subdued the enclave, having one of the world’s strongest armies, and yet it wallowed in Palestinian blood, taking pleasure in killing women and children especially.
If it had achieved a quick victory, as it was capable of doing, it would have maintained the Western sympathy and backing generated in the wake of Oct. 7. However, to keep power and avoid accountability, Netanyahu chose to engage in an entirely unwarranted bloodbath.
So, after more than 18 months, Israel finds itself bogged down in Gaza with no clear political or military vision. Instead of securing that elusive victory, it is now gazing straight into the jaws of ultimate defeat. There is no way for Israel to reverse course and rid itself of the shame of committing the most shocking atrocities since the Second World War.
To begin with, this is no longer just about eliminating Hamas. As the death count for Gaza civilians passes the 54,000 mark, with thousands still missing under the rubble, the world has moved beyond the Oct. 7 Israeli national calamity narrative. It is now gripped by the daily deluge of harrowing Palestinian statistics: those who are killed and injured by Israeli fire, death by starvation, by disease and by lack of medical care.
It was inevitable that the world would finally take notice of Gaza’s killing fields. The list of war crimes Israeli soldiers and politicians have committed — and are still committing — is simply too long, too abominable to ignore. With the international press barred by Israel from entering the enclave — the only conflict zone not to be covered by an independent media in more than two centuries — Netanyahu thought that his army could go on butchering Palestinians covertly. He was dead wrong.
And when Palestinian journalists braved the carnage and brought the heart-breaking reality of Gaza’s misery to the living rooms and mobile phones of hundreds of millions around the world, Israel targeted them with vigor, killing a record 180-plus of them, many with their entire families.
Israel has broken so many records, in fact: killing doctors, medics, aid workers, university professors, women, babies and children, all with impunity. Israel knows exactly what it is doing. The only explanation is a belief that it has impunity, a blank check to kill Palestinians, because it genuinely believes it is always the victim and the world owes it.
But Israel has already lost the Gaza war, even if it continues to kill and starve the hapless 2 million Palestinians there for another month or year or more. Aside from Netanyahu’s interest in pursuing the war, there is no path to victory. The price the Palestinians are having to pay is enormous, but looking at the world today, one can see how a seismic shift is taking place. Israel has unintentionally delivered a huge boost to the Palestinian cause, resurrecting it on the global stage as the most noble and moral mission any decent individual can embrace.
The war has transformed the Palestinian struggle for liberation and self-determination into a universal crusade, galvanizing worldwide protests and calls for justice in a way that has isolated Israel on the international stage. Western governments, including key Israeli allies, have moved from supporting Tel Aviv to criticizing its crimes and calling out its violations of humanitarian law. For the first time, some European leaders are warning of concrete actions against Israel if it does not cease the hostilities and allow aid into Gaza.
Israel is reacting to such scathing attacks with the usual barrage of counterattacks, accusations of antisemitism and raw arrogance. That is only adding to its woes on the international stage. By attempting to manipulate and threaten Western leaders, Israel is further isolating itself. Even former Israeli premiers are now admitting that its army is committing war crimes in Gaza.
No one knows how this genocide will end or what will happen to Gaza and its people. For sure, the suffering of the Palestinians will continue in Gaza and the West Bank. Israel’s far-right leaders are so detached from reality that they are pushing for more killings in Gaza, while simultaneously pushing for the annexation of the West Bank. Once again, it is arrogance and smugness that are pushing Israel to the brink.
In the past, Israel has lost wars too. But it was able to recover. Can it ever recover from the inevitable defeat in Gaza? Israeli society has never been as divided as it is now. The government has been taken over by religious and nationalist zealots who have turned Israel into an international pariah, while promoting a fortress mentality. Israel’s war on Gaza has turned into a moral and military failure, one that will haunt it for decades. Those who stand by it — and they are getting fewer by the day — will also be judged as having stood on the wrong side of history.
Even when the war ends, Israel will have to account for its crimes in Gaza before international courts. Its leaders, generals and soldiers will be pursued all over the world, just as those of any other defeated nation have had to do since the end of the Second World War.
The rise of Israel was one of the most enigmatic stories of the 20th century from a Western point of view. Palestinians have been on the losing side for decades. Now, however, that romantic fable is crumbling as Israel becomes eyeless in Gaza.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2603202
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Why The Left Keeps Losing, Both in Israel and America
By Gil Troy
JUNE 4, 2025
Another week, another series of blows to the body politic. Those believing in the Israeli and American experiments in liberal democracy should worry. I’m getting whiplash from all the hits Left and Right keep landing – against us, the silenced majority.
They keep battering the core consensus of shared values all societies need to function, while ripping the two-ply tissue of mutual trust and hope that legitimizes democracies. Nevertheless, without engaging in whataboutism, condemning demagogues from both sides, I’m particularly struck by how self-sabotaging the Left is, in Israel and in America.
Partisans from both extremes prevaricate, demonizing the other to excuse their own excesses. But leftists in Israel and America keep tripping on themselves by thinking they’re better, even as their behavior suggests otherwise, and by oozing elitist contempt for others in an age of populism.
Israeli leftists are gold medalists in such harikiri politics. Yair Golan continues strutting around on TV, promising to save Israel, after libeling it and our holy soldiers by saying: “A sane country does not fight against civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby....” True, he backpedaled, saying he attacked the government, not our soldiers – but note how much he delighted Israel’s enemies worldwide. To them and most Israelis, he’s making a distinction without a difference.
This Golan “gift” will keep on giving: My Jewish People Policy Institute colleague Shuki Friedman warns that his slurs on the IDF will soon appear in international prosecutors’ briefs – against our kids!
If, however, my suggestion last week had been followed and liberals had repudiated Golan, Israel’s defenders could treat him as an outlier.
With those libels and many liberals rallying around him, Golan boosted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reelection campaign and the ultra-Orthodox parties’ extortionate power.
Imagine coalition negotiations after this awful government collapses or ends. Thoughtful center-rightists like Naftali Bennett will face a horrifying dilemma: afflict Israel with more divisive Netanyahu years or govern with Golan, the soldier-libeler. If anti-Bibistas want a Zionist coalition without the haredim – please God – or the Arab parties, why is Golan’s party, ironically named “The Democrats,” currently attracting eight seats, making itself radioactive to most Israeli patriots?
This is classic BDS – Bibi Derangement Syndrome. Just because an attack comes from the Left, that doesn’t make it okay – even against this government that is as demagogic as it is incompetent.
BDS also keeps liberals talking only to one another in coded language. They don’t realize how their sneers alienate most Israelis. Two-thirds of Israelis are fed up with Bibi – but many are also fed up with Israel’s cranky, condescending WASPs: once, they were white Ashkenazi Sabras with protekzia. Now, they’re WASPPPs: white Ashkenazi Sabras with perpetual protest posters.
Bigoted opposition
These are the sophisticates who oppose bigotry – except when they’re indulging in it; who demand civility – unless they’re assailing it; who love following rules – until they’re the ones breaking them; and love the courts – as long they’re dominating them.
The latest appointment Netanyahu mismanaged into a massive controversy is Maj.-Gen. David Zini’s candidacy to lead the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency). Questions about Zini’s qualifications and Bibi’s process are valid. But the WASPPP campaign to assassinate Zini’s character is unconscionable.
As Kalman Liebskind detailed in Maariv on May 30, the left-wing poison machine demoted Zini from his status as a strategic analyst who warned about a Hamas invasion in March 2022, then drove down from the Golan to fight heroically on October 7.
Suddenly, Zini became – wait for it – an evil, fundamentalist settler, not one “of ours,” who fathered, horror of horrors, 11 children.
Israel’s leading columnists claimed he wants the hostages killed, because he candidly acknowledged the tension between the war aims of freeing 20-plus hostages versus protecting thousands on the Gaza border.
One leading columnist sneered: “Can you name all 11 of your children in the order of their birth?” Another – in Haaretz, predictably – questioned the loyalty of this hero who first joined the IDF in 1992 and volunteered for the General Staff Reconnaissance Unit, implying that Zini would serve Netanyahu’s family or the Torah rather than the state he has served his entire life.
The Likud should formally thank Golan, his dupes, and these condescending columnists for keeping politics so tribal that many forget how bad this government is. I watch my friends, fed up with Bibi, gravitate back to him when they feel insulted by these condescending know-nothings who think they’re know-it-alls.
Meanwhile, in the US
Meanwhile, in America, as Democrats catalogue President Donald Trump’s many lies, they’re only accused of two really big ones. First, it’s shocking to watch CNN’s Jake Tapper become lionized for exposing the conspiracy to cover up Joe Biden’s cognitive decline, when he perpetuated it as part of the mainstream media. (Tapper’s coauthor, Alex Thomson, was more skeptical.)
The other big lie, as their blockbuster book Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again reveals, is just how unqualified Kamala Harris was to be vice president, let alone president. They report that in 2022, before Harris attended “a salon-style dinner with journalists and... socialites,” her aides “held a mock soiree with staff acting the part of guests.” Staffers so doubted her in unscripted interactions, they considered serving wine “so Harris could practice with a glass or two.”
It’s bad enough to lie. But in politics, it’s worse to lie badly and lie so badly you keep boosting your opponents. Those living in echo chambers are most prone to such misdeeds and mistakes.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-856376
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Israel's War In Gaza Leaves The Jewish State Stuck In A Catch-22
By Micah Halpern
June 4, 2025
Operation Gideon’s Chariots, the newest stage in Israel’s engagement in Gaza since the horrific massacre perpetrated by Hamas on October 7, 2023, has not been well received by many leaders around the globe.
While many world leaders will always be quick to condemn Israel regardless of whether Israel’s actions are justified, this time the numbers are staggering.
By now, it is clearly evident that there is a long list of leaders and their countrymen and women who simply despise the Jewish state for what it stands for. It is evident that these leaders believe – mistakenly believe – that the world would be a better place if Israel no longer existed. If it were to be obliterated.
They are wrong. But there is no convincing them otherwise.
Israel haters
Haters of Israel think that everything it does is wrong and evil. They suffer from Israel derangement syndrome – not dissimilar to Trump derangement syndrome. The looming problem now is that other countries, which have long stood by Israel and supported it, are now condemning it.
That group, composed of countries that recognize Israel’s contributions to the world, is now raising its collective voice and condemning Israel because it is their openly expressed opinion that the Jewish state oppresses Palestinians and that it must sacrifice in order to rectify the current injustice. No mention, of course, of the injustice perpetrated upon Israel.
And then there is a third group. A group composed of world leaders who mistakenly believe that Israel can easily solve the Palestinian issue. They falsely think that Israel controls all Palestinian land. That Israel needs only to give Palestinians more land, or even all their land, and everyone will be happy.
Of course, there are still a handful of countries that care about Israel and its well-being. There are a few nations that are carefully balancing their attitudes toward Israel and the Palestinians, and even fewer that steadfastly support Israel. The number of nations in these groups is, however, rapidly declining.
Catch-22
The Catch-22 is that no matter what Israel does, no matter what decisions it makes, or actions it does or does not take, Israel will be condemned on the world stage. Just look at this incomplete list of those countries whose leaders have officially, publicly condemned Israel: The Vatican, Indonesia, Bolivia, Chile, Spain, Algeria, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Turkey, Pakistan, Yemen, Oman, Malaysia, Iceland, Egypt, the African Union, Belize, Brazil, Columbia, Cuba, Iraq, Iran, Morocco, the Maldives, Qatar, Russia, Syria, South Africa, Venezuela, Luxembourg, and Slovenia. And that’s just a partial list.
I’ve yet to elaborate on the countries Israel has long considered her friends. Here are a few: France, Great Britain, and Canada issued a joint statement chastising and threatening Israel, announcing that: “We will not hesitate to take further action, including targeted sanctions.”
On May 7, a joint European statement reprimanding Israel was also issued. It reads: “We, the Foreign Ministers of Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Norway, Slovenia, and Spain, express our grave concern about the reported Israeli plans to expand its military operations in Gaza and to establish a prolonged Israeli presence in the Strip. This would mean crossing yet another line, marking a dangerous new escalation and jeopardizing any prospects of a viable two-state [solution].”
If Israel takes action against Hamas, it is condemned. But if it does not act against Hamas, the enemy that has sworn to destroy the Jewish state will fester and grow, and another October 7 will inevitably occur. A classic, diplomatic Catch-22.
The obvious decision
Now, there are voices saying that if world condemnation is inevitable, then the decision is obvious. Israel must act. They say there is no Catch-22 – the only question is how decisively Israel should act.
What they do not want to understand is that strong actions against Hamas by Israel will have strong ripple effects and significant consequences. That it will result in more vociferous snubbing of Israel worldwide.
Joseph Heller, in his spectacular 1961 work Catch-22, coined this new expression as a way of describing situations in which there is no right way – that there is a situational paradox where there is no good answer. In his novel, Heller writes that the best example of a Catch-22 is evidenced when insane pilots can be grounded – but if a pilot requests to be grounded, that proves that the pilot is sane and hence, will not be grounded.
Heller calls it Catch-22; I prefer to call these situations a “choiceless choice.” A choice must be made, but no choice is without terrible consequences.
It was best depicted in William Styron’s 1979 book and later his movie, Sophie’s Choice, starring Meryl Streep, for which she won an Academy Award for Best Actress. Sophie Zawistowska, a Holocaust survivor, is tortured by a decision she made in Auschwitz, where she was forced to choose between her two sons – the son who would live and the son who would die.
Israel confronts a similar dilemma. The ripple effect of the IDF’s operation in Gaza is felt around the world. Jew haters are using Israel’s response to Hamas’s massacre as an excuse to spew their evil vitriol. Jews suffer.
Houthis shoot missiles and rockets toward Israel, and one lands close to Ben-Gurion Airport. Flights are being canceled out of fear, and also because the Israeli government has yet to lend insurance guarantees to foreign airline companies. They are falling like dominoes, toppling one after the other.
Bad for tourism
British Air, Ryanair, the Lufthansa Group (which includes Austrian Air and Brussels Air), Discover Air, Eurowings, ITA Air, Swiss Air, International Air, Air France, Transavia Air, Air Canada, Japan’s Nippon Air, and Air Europa from Spain are no longer flying in or out of Israel.
The US airlines United and Delta have suspended their flights after just resuming them. It might be easier to list the very few airlines that are still flying to Israel. But because that list is so short, the money-making tourist industry will suffer badly this summer.
It is not just about the airlines. The summer is traditionally a huge tourist season in Israel. Tourists spend money. Their purchases drive a significant percentage of the economy. That will all be lost.
Attacking Hamas and ripping them out at the root is what needs to be done. It comes with a heavy price tag. But it is the right thing to do.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-856381
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The 'Free Palestine' Rallying Cry Brings Increasingly Deadly Results
By Michael J. Salamon, Louis Libin
June 4, 2025
It should be abundantly clear: The rallying cry of “Free Palestine” has become a call to engage in antisemitic attacks.
In just the past two weeks, two brutal assaults against Jewish Americans have rattled communities, exposing a grim truth – the rhetoric pushed by “Free Palestine” ideologues is used to encourage deadly violence far beyond the Middle East.
These acts are not random outbursts of hatred; they are the direct result of a global ideological campaign that too often paints Israel – and by extension, Jewish people – as villains, stoking anger that finds dangerous expression on American soil.
On a quiet Sunday afternoon in Boulder, Colorado, a peaceful group of Jews marching to raise awareness for Israeli hostages held by Hamas for over 600 days was suddenly targeted with Molotov cocktails. The attacker, Mohamed Soliman, was caught on video shouting “End Zionists” and “Palestine free and for us.”
Violent attacks on Jews symptoms of a wider, toxic narrative
Just days earlier, outside the Capital Jewish Museum, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim were murdered by Elias Rodriguez, who also screamed “Free Palestine” as he carried out his deadly act. Both incidents were swiftly labeled by American authorities as terror attacks, yet they reveal a deeper, disturbing pattern.
These violent acts are symptoms of a wider, toxic narrative that has taken root in parts of the West, a narrative that reduces a complex, brutal conflict to simplistic slogans and demonizes the only democracy in the Middle East.
For years, certain ideological circles, funded by hate groups, under the banner of “Free Palestine,” have pushed a story that ignores the harsh realities on the ground.
They portray Israel as a genocidal aggressor while glossing over the fact that it is defending itself against ruthless enemies and terror cults responsible for unspeakable horrors, including the raping, killing, and burning alive of over a thousand civilians. Hamas, the terror group behind these atrocities, has invested billions into tunnels, using civilians as human shields, and weaponizing grief, often fabrications, to sway public opinion.
They don't care about Gazans
Its leadership has openly admitted that the loss of Gazan lives is irrelevant to them, revealing a brutal disregard for human life on all sides.
This is not a conflict between equals or a battle of moral twins; it is a fight for survival against a force that cynically weaponizes suffering to mask its cruelty. Yet instead of confronting these facts, some media outlets and activists choose to amplify a one-sided narrative that fuels hatred and violence throughout the West and beyond.
Articles such as those questioning why American Jews enlist in the Israeli army miss the point entirely. When your community faces existential threats, you stand up to defend it. Increasingly, Jewish youths in the US are drawn to Israel not just by identity but by the stark reality of rising antisemitism in their own country – hostile campuses and communities where hatred is becoming alarmingly normalized.
This growing animosity is no accident. The demonization of Israel has bled, by plan, into the demonization of Jewish people, making synagogues, schools, and community centers, even friendly, peaceful gatherings, targets for violence.
The chilling truth is that some of the harshest anti-Israel rhetoric is a soundtrack for terror. Those who shout slogans like “Free Palestine” may not pick up a gun or Molotov cocktail themselves, but their words stoke the fires of hatred that embolden attackers like Soliman and Rodriguez.
What is most tragic is how this rhetoric reduces human lives to pawns in an ideological war where moral complexity is sacrificed for catchy slogans and political gain.
The crusade for moral simplicity has left Jewish communities increasingly vulnerable, turning them into collateral damage in a conflict that is far more complicated than soundbites allow. It is a reckless gamble with real lives that demands immediate reckoning.
The attacks in Boulder and Washington, DC, are not just crimes against individuals; they are warnings. They signal how dangerous it becomes when discourse is hijacked by extremism and when propaganda replaces honest conversation. They remind us that violence related to the global conversation about Israel and Palestine cannot ignore the real human cost of hate speech and lies.
Honest reporting needed
What is needed now is a return to honest, courageous reporting and dialogue – one that embraces complexity and confronts uncomfortable truths. One that is not driven by funding that rewards this terror. Israel’s fight is not perfect, but it is a fight for survival against a foe that freely commits atrocities.
Recognizing that does not preclude empathy for civilians caught in the crossfire, but it does require rejecting false equivalences and propaganda that deepen divides rather than bridge them and that promulgate antisemitism, justifying attacks on Jews everywhere.
The recent attacks are a stark reminder of what is at stake when words become weapons – and it is well beyond time to stop trading truth for slogans, to recognize that the funding for this terror flows from hate groups, and to begin defending the values of security and justice.
Michael J. Salamon, PhD, is a psychologist and strategic consultant specializing in trauma and abuse. He is director of ADC Psychological Services in Netanya and Hewlett, NY, and is on consulting staff at Northwell Health, Manhasset, NY.
Louis Libin is an expert in military strategies and innovation and advises on and teaches military innovation, wireless systems, and emergency communications at military colleges and agencies. He is the founder of a consulting group for emergency management, cybersecurity, IP, and communications.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-856384
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Yoav Kisch's New Education Plans Fails to Define Israel's Democratic Values
By Susan Hattis Rolef
June 3, 2025
Not so very long ago, Israel used to be defined as a Jewish and democratic state, and the challenge was to try to sort out any clashes that might exist between the two parts of this definition.
Last week, Education Minister Yoav Kisch (Likud) announced a change of emphasis in the education program at the primary school level, regarding Israel’s identities. The new program was given the title: “Roots – the national plan for Jewish and Zionist identity.” There is no mention of the word “democracy” in this program.
There is no doubt that if one looks at all sections of the current Jewish education system in Israel, one cannot help but conclude that the situation is far from satisfactory in terms of defining Israel’s Jewish and Zionist identities.
In the case of its democratic identity, it cannot be denied that in the last two and a half years Israel’s vibrant liberal democracy has started to deteriorate in the direction of a non-liberal democracy, in compliance with a systematic government policy, introduced by Justice Minister Yariv Levin, of “reforming” Israel’s judicial and gate-keeping systems.
Perhaps that is the reason that the new program does not include any reference to strengthening the democratic identity of our children.
If one listens to Kisch’s rhetoric, and takes note of one of the first act he performed after announcing the new program – a visit to a school in the non-religious national education system in Tel Aviv, which was not coordinated in advance with the school’s principal, and the main goal of which appears to have been to check on the Bible classes provided to the school’s pupils – it is clear that the target of the program is not a general revamping of the system as a whole.
Its main goal appears to be to force the non-religious system to place greater emphasis on the children’s Jewish identity, as defined by the National-Religious sector of the society, and their Zionist identity, as also defined by the very same sector.
At the same time, it is clear that there is no intension to teach the children in the National-Religious school system a pluralistic approach to Judaism or a pluralistic definition of Zionism, which goes beyond the occupation and settlement of lands that at some point in history constituted part of the kingdom of Israel, and accepts the pluralistic make-up of the Jewish people and the pluralistic nature of its aspirations.
Nor is there any intension to get the elementary schools in the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) educational system – which well over a quarter of all Jewish children in Israel attend – to teach their pupils about Judaism as perceived by any of the Jewish communities other than their own, nor to mention Zionism, which is considered despicable ab initio in most haredi circles.
Why did Israel's education minister push this plan mid-war?
WHY KISCH decided to initiate his program at this particular time – in the midst of a controversial war – is not absolutely clear, though some commentators have suggested that the fact that primaries might soon be held within the Likud, toward new general elections, might have something to do with this. It has been suggested that Kisch believes his new program might improve his chances of gaining favor with potential voters.
Others have suggested that encouraging greater long-term national unity might also be involved, though if it is, the method seems to be patently anti-democratic – encouraging uniformity, rather than unity through pluralism.
I recall that several years ago, Kisch himself proved quite ignorant when it came to the essence of Zionism and its history. I do not remember what the exact issue at hand was, but Kisch declared in a speech in the Knesset plenum that the Balfour Declaration of November 2, 1917, had contained a promise to the Jewish people of a Jewish state in the whole of Eretz Yisrael.
In fact, the Balfour Declaration merely declared the support of the British Government for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, “it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.”
The declaration was made a month before Britain actually conquered Palestine, and several years before it was given control by the League of Nations over the Mandate for Palestine, which mentioned the Balfour Declaration in its text.
When Kisch spoke, Yesh Atid MK Meir Cohen – a former school principal from Dimona – was acting speaker of the Knesset session, and he immediately intervened to correct Kisch and put the record straight. Under the circumstances, Kisch is not exactly the person who should decide what elementary school children should learn about Zionism and its history, and not necessarily for ideological reasons.
Last week, Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu (Otzma Yehudit) spoke in the Knesset plenum about a UN proposal towards the end of the1940s that Jerusalem be internationalized (I believe the issue at hand was a motion for the agenda having to do with applying Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria), while getting most of the facts wrong.
He claimed that the UN decision had been taken in 1949, after the State of Israel had been established and Jerusalem had been declared to be its capital. In fact, the idea was first proposed in the UN Partition Plan for Palestine of November 29, 1947 (General Assembly resolution 181) – before the British Mandate for Palestine had come to an end.
On December 9, 1949, General Assembly Resolution 303 repeated the proposal to internationalize Jerusalem. However, by then, the facts on the ground – the de facto partition of Jerusalem between Israel and Jordan – made internationalization irrelevant, and Resolution 303 turned into a dead letter. On December 13, the Israeli government declared Jerusalem (the part that was in Israeli hands) to be the capital of the State of Israel.
Eliyahu also stated in the plenum that the US had threatened David Ben-Gurion that if Israel were declared a Jewish state, the US would apply severe economic sanctions to it (that is not what happened). In addition, he referred to Israel’s foreign minister at the time – Moshe Sharett – as Moshe Shartuk.
So, before the current government takes it upon itself to reformulate the identities of our children, perhaps they ought to get their facts straight. No doubt for the sake of building a better future for our beloved embattled state, Israel’s Jewish, Zionist, and democratic identities ought to be redefined, or at least refurbished, in a manner that will preserve both the diversity and unity of the state.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-856415
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The Diplomatic Gamble On Palestinian Statehood Gives Palestinians No Security
June 3, 2025
After France announced its intention to recognise a Palestinian state, Israel and the US have been lobbying against the possibility. France and Saudi Arabia are due to host a summit on Palestinian statehood at the UN in June. The summit is based on UN General Assembly Resolution 79/81, and it seeks to “chart an irreversible pathway towards the peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine and the implementation of the two-State solution”.
The latest absurd comments came from US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. “If France is really so determined to see a Palestinian state, I’ve got a suggestion for them: Carve out a piece of the French Riviera and create a Palestinian state.” France, Huckabee said, has no right “to impose that kind of pressure on a sovereign nation”. The idea that France recognises a Palestinian state, Huckabee said, is “revolting”.
As France focuses on the humanitarian disaster in Gaza, which is the safe way for Western leaders to engage with international law violations while evading the necessity to stop Israel’s genocide, Israel’s Foreign Ministry accused Macron of waging “a crusade against the Jewish state”.
During a visit to Singapore, Macron raised the possibility of applying sanctions against Israelis if the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is not reversed. Since commencing operations, the Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) has been associated with the massacres of Palestinians more than it has with actual aid.
True to form, Israel has threatened annexation of the occupied West Bank if more countries recognise Palestinian state. For a government that claims to despise so-called unilateral actions, even if these actions are a result of decades of discusses and applied so belatedly that they amount to nothing more than symbolism, Israeli officials consider unilateral actions justified from their end.
France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot specified that France supports a demilitarised Palestinian state. “That is in the interest of Israelis and their security,” Barrot added. “The only alternative to the permanent state of war.”
This clarification, although made several times by other Western leaders, is important. A demilitarised Palestinian state, and so far, symbolic at best and hypothetical at worst due to Israeli colonialism, would still spell no real independence from Israel.
Although Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar opposed France’s statements, saying “You will not decide for the Israelis what their interests are,” it must be said that France, like other Western countries, is looking out for Israel’s interests. If France had Palestinians’ interests at heart, it would call for decolonisation.
In this entire diplomatic debacle, Palestinians are still far removed from the equation. Huckabee’s dismissive attitude towards a Palestinian state – carve it out of the French Riviera – signals a stance that will obliterate Palestinians from any discussion of recognition. That, after all, is colonialism, refusing the colonised peoples the right to speak.
And by focusing solely on the politics between Israel, the US, and countries that might recognise a Palestinian state, Israeli demands still take precedence. Even without Israel’s threats, the fact remains that Palestinian statehood is up to negotiations between countries that support Israel in varying degrees, while Israel claimed its colonial statehood on the debris of the Palestinian Nakba. Neither Huckabee’s puerile comments, nor Macron’s renewed attempts at playing a mediating role can alter the facts. Palestinian statehood without Palestinian input will always remain hypothetical or symbolic. No wonder the world is witnessing genocide.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250603-the-diplomatic-gamble-on-palestinian-statehood-gives-palestinians-no-security/
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Why Indonesia Must Reject the Arab-Israel Normalisation Wave
By Ibnu Fikri Ghozali
June 3, 2025
In recent years, the Middle East has witnessed a major diplomatic shift marked by a wave of normalisation agreements between Israel and several Arab nations. Sparked by the Abraham Accords in 2020, countries like the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco have established official ties with Israel. While some celebrate these agreements as milestones for peace and economic cooperation, they have also sparked deep skepticism, especially among those committed to justice for the Palestinian people.
Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority democracy and a vital voice of the Global South, has stood firm in refusing to recognise or normalise relations with Israel as long as a just and lasting solution to the Palestinian question remains absent. This principled stance reflects not only Indonesia’s commitment to international law and human rights but also its moral leadership in the Muslim world and the broader international community.
These normalisation agreements were driven primarily by political and strategic interests, notably under pressure from the Trump administration. Yet they have failed to address the root cause of the conflict: Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian territories, including the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as its blockade of the Gaza Strip. Israel’s latest military assault on Gaza, launched in October 2023, has killed tens of thousands of civilians, obliterated infrastructure, and triggered accusations of war crimes by various human rights organizations.
Despite these atrocities, countries that have normalised ties with Israel have largely remained silent or offered only lukewarm criticisms. In practice, normalization has emboldened Israel, allowing it to act with impunity under the cover of regional diplomatic protection.
In contrast, Indonesia’s foreign policy remains consistent and rooted in justice. Since its independence in 1945, Indonesia has opposed all forms of colonialism and has consistently supported the right of peoples to self-determination. Its constitution, foreign policy doctrine, and public sentiment are aligned with the Palestinian struggle. A brief proposal by President Abdurrahman Wahid in the early 2000s to reconsider ties with Israel was met with strong resistance from civil society, religious leaders, and parliament.
More recently, President Prabowo Subianto reaffirmed Indonesia’s position, stating that normalisation with Israel is contingent on full recognition of Palestinian rights. In a press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron, Prabowo made clear that Indonesia would only consider diplomatic relations with Israel once a sovereign Palestinian state is recognized. His statement reinforces Indonesia’s longstanding support for a two-state solution as the only path to a just peace.
Abandoning this position would carry serious risks. First, Indonesia would lose credibility as a principled actor on global issues. As an active member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Non-Aligned Movement, Indonesia is respected for its steadfast defense of justice and human rights. Normalising ties with Israel while the occupation persists would be seen as a betrayal of these values.
Second, it could provoke strong domestic backlash, particularly from Indonesia’s Muslim majority, who view the Palestinian cause as a moral and religious obligation. Third, such a move would send the wrong message to other Muslim countries and to Israel itself: that diplomatic rewards can be obtained without ending the occupation or respecting international law.
Indonesia’s commitment to Palestine is also backed by international legal frameworks. United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 call for Israel’s withdrawal from occupied territories and mutual recognition of all states in the region, including Palestine. The Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits the transfer of an occupier’s civilian population into occupied territory, rendering Israeli settlements illegal. In 2004, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s separation wall in the West Bank violates international law.
By continuing to reject normalisation, Indonesia upholds these legal principles and the universal application of human rights. More than that, Indonesia can play a proactive role in shaping a just peace in the region. Rather than following the tide of short-term diplomacy, it should lead efforts within the OIC and the United Nations to push for a ceasefire in Gaza, end the blockade, and revive genuine peace talks based on a two-state solution.
Indonesia should also continue providing humanitarian assistance to Palestinians and support international investigations into war crimes and violations of humanitarian law. With its moral clarity and neutral stance, Indonesia is well-positioned to serve as a mediator in future peace processes, especially as trust in Western-led diplomacy continues to erode.
This stance also reflects the voice of the Global South. In recent UN General Assembly votes calling for a ceasefire and humanitarian access in Gaza, nations across Asia, Africa, and Latin America overwhelmingly supported Palestine, while the U.S. and its allies became increasingly isolated. This suggests the world is not fully aligned with the normalisation narrative. Rather, it is seeking leadership grounded in justice, legality, and dignity over transactional politics.
In conclusion, Indonesia’s rejection of the Arab-Israel normalisation wave is not an act of diplomatic defiance, but a principled resistance. It reflects a deep commitment to justice for Palestinians, to international legal norms, and to the moral values embedded in the nation’s identity. Normalisation without justice is not peace, it is complicity in injustice. As long as occupation persists and Palestinian rights are denied, Indonesia must remain a voice of conscience in a world too often tempted to look away.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250603-why-indonesia-must-reject-the-arab-israel-normalisation-wave/
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A Legal Perspective On The Day After In Gaza
By Mamoun Fandy
June 3, 2025
Discussing the “day after” in Gaza should not be limited to clearing the rubble or reconstruction. Rather, it is a moral and legal question that imposes itself on the region and the entire international community. The day after should involve trials, similar to the Nuremberg trials that followed World War II after the persecution of Jews in Germany and Poland.
In Nuremberg, the evidence was based on bones, clothing, and survivor testimonies. In Gaza, the evidence is photographed and documented in audio and video, on every mobile phone, recording the systematic genocide that the Israeli occupation committed against Palestinians.
What has happened in Gaza since 7 October, 2023, cannot be described as war, as wars have rules. What has happened and is happening is a genocidal war, with clear intent and systematic action. It is an unprecedented humanitarian and legal tragedy in the modern era. In order for the international system to regain its balance, real accountability is essential, one that restores justice to the victims and puts an end to the policies of impunity.
The Nuremberg trials were not just a trial of Nazi-era leaders; they established new legal values, most notably the principle of individual responsibility for international crimes and the eradication of immunity for anyone, regardless of their position. This is what the “day after” in Gaza should look like.
The actions of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, which included the most extremist members of Israeli society, such as Smotrich and Ben-Gvir, surpassed Hitler’s brutality, employing the most modern tools of genocide. Gas ovens were not used, but rather advanced American bombs to incinerate people and farms before the lenses of the world’s cameras, in a live broadcast documenting the deliberate mass killing of civilians, the use of starvation as a weapon of war, and the systematic destruction of hospitals, schools, and camps for the displaced. All of these actions are war crimes, as defined by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Live documentation of genocide is also a form of state terrorism, as defined by law. Terrorism is not limited to killing but includes spreading terror and intimidating people with the threat of a similar fate. When the Israeli defence minister said he was “fighting human animals”, he wasn’t just referring to the residents of Gaza, but to all Arabs, as evidenced by the slogans of Israeli demonstrators chanting “Death to the Arabs.”
The real “day after” cannot merely be a political or humanitarian phase; it must be a legal and moral moment, separating the victim from the killer, holding them accountable rather than equating them.
“October 7” has been spun by the West as Israel’s “September 11,” even though the victims of America’s occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan are hundreds of times more in number than the victims of September 11, 2001. However, this date has been used to justify the genocide of Palestinians and the policies of ethnic cleansing and settlement.
October 7 cannot be separated from the context of the comprehensive military occupation that has been ongoing for decades. Under international law, resistance to occupation, including the use of force against military targets, is a legitimate right, as defined by the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocol I of 1977, which went into effect in December 1978.
The Israeli response after October 7 went beyond the limits of law and humanity, using excessive and destructive force against civilians, destroying infrastructure, and imposing a blockade and starvation lasting nearly two years. This is the collective punishment of an entire nation. It is morally and legally unacceptable to liken acts of resistance under occupation to these widespread crimes.
The major question today is not one regarding rebuilding Gaza, but rather regarding justice for Gaza. The Arab world can move forward through three main avenues: the International Criminal Court, which has jurisdiction over the Palestinian territories and opened an investigation in 2014 but faces political pressure that obstructs justice. This requires international support to expedite the investigation and ensure accountability.
The second avenue is establishing a special international tribunal – such as in Yugoslavia and Rwanda – to prosecute the crimes committed in Gaza within an independent and binding legal framework.
The third is activating the principle of universal jurisdiction, so that criminals can be tried before courts in countries that permit it, such as Belgium and Spain. This is a realistic avenue that has proven effective in previous cases.
Justice is not limited to governments, as it requires Arab civil society to document crimes, collect evidence, and submit files to support accountability processes. There is no peace without justice.
The anti-justice camp claims that accountability hinders “peace” efforts, but past experience proves that settlements which are not based on justice do not produce lasting peace, but merely temporary ceasefires. In Rwanda, reconciliation did not begin until accountability was achieved, and in Bosnia, stability was achieved only after the trial of military leaders.
Justice and the law are the foundations of the Palestinian state that Arabs aspire to establish. There is no state without a legal system. The “day after” in Gaza is not a moment of physical reconstruction, but rather a legal and moral moment. If the world fails to serve justice to the victims of the genocide in Gaza, it will make the idea of peace between Arabs and Israel difficult.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250603-a-legal-perspective-on-the-day-after-in-gaza/
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Inside Gaza’s Hospitals: Nurse Ghada and Israel’s War On Medical Workers
June 3, 2025
In Gaza, the war doesn’t only unfold on the frontlines or in the skies. It seeps into hospital corridors, overwhelms emergency rooms, and takes aim at those trying to save lives.
Among the many stories of unimaginable suffering and quiet heroism is that of Nurse Ghada—a woman who survived four sieges at Al-Awda Hospital in the Tal Al-Zaatar area and continues to carry the weight of those days.
Ghada remembers it all clearly. During one of the sieges, she and eight colleagues were holed up in the operating room, struggling to secure even the most basic food supplies.
“At that time, we could still reach a small supermarket near the hospital to get basic food supplies. I was with eight colleagues in the operating room, struggling to secure just the essentials we needed to survive. We knew we were on the brink of starvation,” she told the Palestine Chronicle.
Then came November 18. Ghada was inside the operating room with several doctors when they realized they were surrounded. They locked the doors, hoping to shield themselves. Within minutes, Israeli forces began pounding aggressively, flashing laser lights into their section of the hospital.
All male staff were ordered out, forced to strip, searched, and interrogated. What followed was chaos. According to accounts gathered later by hospital staff, Israeli soldiers opened fire without distinction. Some men suffered light injuries, others collapsed from heavy bleeding.
“They opened fire without mercy. Some sustained minor injuries; others bled heavily and lost consciousness. No one was spared. Those who were still breathing were executed on the spot,” Ghada told us, adding:
“Several of the wounded were forced onto the cannon of a military tank, which began to rotate. Some fell beneath its wheels. Others died from sheer terror. It was, as one survivor later described, an act of pure brutality.”
A few were still alive—but anyone showing signs of life was executed on the spot. Some survivors were thrown onto the cannon of a military tank, which then began to rotate. Several fell beneath its wheels. Others died from sheer terror.
Medical workers—already drained, already broken—became victims of the very violence they were trying to heal.
Among the memories that haunt Ghada most is that of her colleague, Nurse Ola. The news reached the hospital during one of the sieges: Ola’s entire family had been killed. Her screams echoed through the ward as she cried out for her children. There was no time to grieve. The wounded kept arriving, and she had to keep working.
Then the bodies started coming in—first Ola’s husband, then her daughter Lama, then her son Mohammad. Ola collapsed. Only one of her children was missing—13-year-old Amr.
They found him hours later, sitting silently in a corner of the hospital, too shocked to speak. He had survived the massacre, but not the trauma.
The next day, another house near where he had been sheltering was bombed. Peace never returned to Amr’s days or his nights. “My brother Mohammad was still breathing under the rubble… he was alive… I can’t believe he’s gone,” he keeps telling his mother.
Ghada often finds herself reliving those days, still in disbelief that she survived. She tries to suppress the memories, to push down the flood of emotions—but the psychological wounds linger. Her faith is her anchor. It’s what gives her the strength to believe that, one day, healing might be possible.
On May 18, at exactly 3:00 p.m., she was on her way to work—just as she had done so many times before—when a quadcopter targeted her team near the hospital. She survived the strike. But something inside her shifted. She hasn’t been able to return to her duties since. What remains now is a weight she carries every day: a heavy guilt for surviving, for being able to move freely, while others cannot.
Her colleagues are still inside Al-Awda Hospital. They have no access to food. Their situation grows more desperate with each passing day. I sat with her often as she cried—tears of fear, of powerlessness, of anguish for those she left behind. The sense of injustice burns deep: that she, by sheer chance, got out, while others are still trapped in a place that was once a center of healing, now turned into a prison.
Still, she keeps in touch with them daily. She prays for them constantly. She clings to the hope that those horrific days will not return—that somehow, this time, the worst is behind them.
And yet, people like Ghada rarely make the news. Their names don’t circulate in headlines or trending hashtags. But their resistance is real. It happens not with weapons, but with compassion. With endurance. With the quiet act of showing up every day to care for the wounded, the grieving, the dying.
I hesitate to call Ghada a hero—because she rejects that label herself. “We are human,” she told me. “And it’s our duty.”
Still, we must remember her. We must remember all those like her. We must not let their suffering be silenced. We must not let it be forgotten.
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/inside-gazas-hospitals-nurse-ghada-and-israels-war-on-medical-workers/
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Media Blood Libel Over Alleged Gaza Aid Shooting Will Have Far-Reaching Repercussions
By Jpost Editorial
June 4, 2025
"At least 31 Palestinians killed after Israeli forces open fire near Gaza aid distribution center, Palestinian officials say" screamed the tickers on CNN, and with minor variations, on BBC, Sky News, and most world media on Sunday.
The headlines folded into stories of a 'massacre' at one of the aid distribution sites opened by The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), citing the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Of course, any discerning reader would know that "Palestinian officials," "Palestinian Ministry of Health" – or any of the other euphemisms that the international media uses, like the Gaza Health Ministry, local officials in Gaza, or our favorite - Gaza’s Civil Defense - is doublespeak for… Hamas.
That’s the same Hamas that perpetrated the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust, on October 7, 2023, that precipitated the current hostage crisis and the ongoing war in Gaza aimed at ending the rule of the barbaric terror organization in Gaza.
The response of the GHF, the organization that has distributed close to six million meals in its first week of operation to hungry Gazans, appeared far below the headline and the claim.
That’s the same Hamas that perpetrated the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust, on October 7, 2023, that precipitated the current hostage crisis and the ongoing war in Gaza aimed at ending the rule of the barbaric terror organization in Gaza.
The response of the GHF, the organization that has distributed close to six million meals in its first week of operation to hungry Gazans, appeared far below the headline and the claim.
Media irresponsibility causes rise in antisemitism
Only some 12 hours after the reports on international media with the blaring, unsubstantiated headlines about the Israeli atrocities, the IDF Spokesman’s Office released the official Israeli side of what happened.
That’s half a day, or an eternity in the steroid-powered media frenzy that typifies most media organizations' lust for headlines. The damage had been done.
The combination of once respected organizations like CNN, NBC, and the BBC taking what Hamas says at face value, and Israel’s inability to relay the truth in real time creates a recipe in which Israel is demonized again and again.
The media’s irresponsibility in taking the word of a terror organization in order to create a sensational headline and boost their online clicks isn’t just unprofessional, it’s dangerous.
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee tied the inaccurate stories and ones like it that have regularly appeared since the IDF invasion of Gaza to the rise in antisemitism.
Referring to last month’s deadly shooting of two Israelis in Washington DC and to Sunday’s firebombing of a pro-Israel demonstration in Boulder, Colorado – both accented with calls to "Free Palestine" – Huckabee attacked the “reckless and irresponsible reporting” by CNN, as well as the New York Times and AP, about Israel’s blame for the Gaza aid shooting.
“These reports were FALSE,” Huckabee wrote, saying that the only source of the stories was “Hamas and its collaborators.”
This blind, one-sidedness, made no easier by the IDF’s delay in presenting the facts, throws shadows when an incident actually occurs in which Israel may be culpable.
On Tuesday, the IDF acknowledged that it shot at several suspects who advanced towards troops about half a kilometer from a GHF aid distribution site, after initially firing warning shots on Tuesday, the military said. The suspects were seen deviating from the designated access routes at the site, according to the IDF, and it was looking into reports of casualties. The IDF noted that the shooting occurred about half a kilometer from the aid center.
The response came much more quickly than the Sunday incident, showing that the IDF is aware that delays in responding are damaging.
War is conducted in a fog, and the truth can be murky. However, the world media’s tendency to assume that Israel is responsible for any atrocity that Hamas attributes to it is indicative of the coverage of the Gaza war in general. Most stories about destruction in Gaza now rarely even mention the 58 hostages being held by Hamas, let alone the October 7 attack. And when they do, it’s like a footnote that is totally disconnected from the Israeli ‘aggression’ that’s the main focus of the vast majority of stories.
The blood libel conducted against Israel over the weekend regarding the aid center shooting is bound to have far-reaching repercussions, some of which will be felt in the US, Europe, and anywhere that Jews stand proudly for Israel.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-856462
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