Middle East Press On: Pariah Israel, Hamas, Gaza, Egypt, Anti Zionists, Racism: New Age Islam's Selection, 25 August 2025
By New Age Islam Edit Desk
25 August 2025
Netanyahu: The Mass Murderer As Hebrew Hero
Can Israel Survive As A Pariah Nation?
Dutch Gov't Should Focus On Domestic Troubles Before Collapsing Over Israel Criticism
‘Anti-Palestinian Racism’: It’s The Next Tool Of Anti-Zionists
In Gaza, They Film; In Sudan, They Die: The Politics Of Humanitarianism
Universitas Indonesia Betrayed Palestine
The UK Government’s £2 Billion Israeli Weapons Deal: Silencing Dissent And Complicity In Genocide
Compiled by New Age Islam Edit Desk
URL:
------
Netanyahu: The Mass Murderer as Hebrew Hero
By Jeremy Salt
August 24, 2025
On October 8 2023, Benjamin Netanyahu did not hesitate to exploit one of the boldest attacks in the history of Palestinian resistance, the assault on Israeli settlements and military bases on or across the Gaza fence the day before.
His aim was to use the attack as the pretext for a devastating general attack on Israel’s regional enemies. It has been clearly planned for years and in the short term it worked. Hezbollah was weakened and the Syrian government finally collapsed after 13 years of a proxy war in which Israel’s interests were paramount. However, the attack on Iran resulted in missile retaliation that caused unprecedented destruction and forced Israel to seek a ceasefire.
Undeterred, Israel still grinds on, massacring and destroying everything in its path as Netanyahu pursues his lifetime goal of a ‘greater Israel.’ He clearly sees himself as a Hebrew hero comparable to the greatest in Biblical myth, rather than the corrupt, lying genocidalist that will be his real place in history.
“I am on a mission of generations,” he told an interviewer recently. Asked if he felt connected to ‘greater Israel’ he replied “Very much … so if you ask whether I feel this is an historical and spiritual mission, the answer is ‘yes.’”
In the ‘west’ the idea of a ‘greater Israel’ originally came out of Christian Zionism in the 17th/18th century. It was not ‘greater Israel’ then, just the ‘land of Israel,’ inclusive not just of Palestine but most of the land around it. Even though most were secular, the ‘land of Israel’ or ‘eretz Israel’ was the tool utilized by Zionists in the 19th century in support of the claim to have a divine right to Palestine.
Even without ‘greater Israel’ the Zionists never wanted a small Israel. Weak in the beginning, they were forced to accept what they were offered after Balfour, which was only ‘a national home’ in Palestine, not Palestine itself and not a Jewish state.
On the map of ‘greater’ or ‘eretz’ Israel, however, Palestine was just the beginning. It was the seed that, properly nourished with steady territorial expansion, would grow into the Biblical kingdom stretching from the Nile to the Euphrates.
This was not just biblical rhetoric but the blueprint in the minds of ‘extremists’ and ‘fanatics’ and intended to subsume much of the central lands of the Middle East (Lebanon, Syria and Iraq), along with what is now northern Saudi Arabia and south-eastern Turkey) into ‘greater’ Israel.
Zionism is a fanatical ideology in the first place but what is fanatical to anyone else is normal in Israel – as the current state of public indifference to the slaughter in Gaza indicates.
However, even fanatics have their fanatics. Noone could imagine it happening but in 1977 the ‘former’ terrorist and mass murderer Menahim Begin was elected as Prime Minister. The less-fanatical mainstream was stunned. It had its own mass murderers, but Begin was not one of them. How could this have happened?
Now yesterday’s fanatics – to the less fanatical – are the government. Ben Gvir and Smotrich run the settlements and ‘national security.’ They are not just Netanyahu’s political allies. They are the essential props of his government and they share his annihilationist views. They are the standard bearers of ‘eretz Israel,’ not as they are more than likely to be seen in history, as Israel’s pallbearers.
To survive in the Middle East, Israel had to continually weaken it. Even in the 1940s Ben-Gurion was hoping a Christian leader could be found to turn Lebanon – supposedly the weakest link in frontline Arab states – into a puppet state. This was eventually attempted through civil war in the 1970s-80s but failed when the Falangist leader Bashir Gemayel refused to deliver and was then assassinated.
The Yinon plan in the 1980s crystallized Israel’s long-term aim of fragmenting the entire region into digestible ethno-religious states. Israel’s interests were deeply embedded in the US-led wars on Iraq, Libya and the proxy war on Syria, which delivered Israel its greatest triumph since 1948.
The refusal of the ‘west’ to stop the Gaza genocide has caused some consternation, as if the civilized guardians of the ‘rules-based international’ order can’t possibly be allowing this to happen which is precisely what it is doing, as if it agrees with Israel sotto voce that the only solution to the ‘Palestine problem’ is the removal of the Palestinians from Palestine, not the removal of its occupiers.
While continuing to back the genocide and planning the next hot war on Iran with Israel, the US is trying to bully Lebanon into destroying Hezbollah. It has been forced to acknowledge the reality of starvation in Gaza but its concern at human suffering is marginal and incidental to its complicity in genocide.
The US, the UK or European governments have never made any attempt to compel Israel to comply with international law. Not in 1948, not in 1967, not during the 1990s ‘peace process’ and they are making no effort now, despite being somewhat embarrassed by the fact of being seen to make no effort.
With Israel’s longer-term goals now being revealed more brazenly by Netanyahu, the issue is not just the future of Gaza or Palestine but of the entire region.
The ‘west’ wants to destroy what it created back in the 1920s. The ‘old’ Middle East will be turned into a ‘new’ Middle East with all the problems of the past cleared away. The ‘new’ Middle East will be what the US and Israel want it to be, not what its people want it to be. Just as in the past, their aspirations are the least of all considerations. ‘Eretz Israel’ will be part of the new equation.
Israel is totally dependent on the US but just as in the past the Zionists reached the point where they were able to bite the British hand that had fed them, so in the future they may feel strong enough to do without the US. That is, if the US has not finally decided before then that it can do without Israel.
Recent polls show the extent of extreme, genocidal thinking amongst the Israeli public. One poll held in March 2025 by the Geocartography Group of Penn State University showed that 82 percent of those polled support the expulsion of all Palestinians from Gaza and 56 per cent from ‘Israel,’ apparently including the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
Almost half believed that the Israeli military should behave in Gaza as Joshua did after conquering Jericho, by killing all its inhabitants. Another poll in late July 2025 showed that 79 percent of Israelis were “not so troubled” or “not troubled at all” by reports of famine and suffering in Gaza.
Whoever succeeds Netanyahu, Israel’s basic direction seems set in stone. The genocide is not just Netanyahu and his colleagues but the will of the population, as numerous opinion polls have shown.
There is no domestic barrier against the genocide being continued in Gaza and the West Bank if the Gaza captives are released. The Israeli public supports not two states but annexation. Colonization has gone so far it cannot be stopped short of a total boycott or military intervention by outside states.
The ‘pipedream’ of a ‘greater Israel’ is gradually being realized, with the full support of the US and the participation of Arab states that one day – however far in the future – are going to feel this fire burning at their feet. What Israel’s backers cannot see right now is that ultimately no-one is going to get out of this mess unscathed. The whole region is heading for meltdown.
In any case, there is no happy future for Israel. Its people are poisoning themselves through their inhumanity. What kind of future can such a country have except as a terrible memory best forgotten?
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/netanyahu-the-mass-murderer-as-hebrew-hero/
------
Can Israel Survive As A Pariah Nation?
By Sherwin Pomerantz
AUGUST 24, 2025
Our prime minister regularly says that in the last 22 months we have been involved in an existential battle with enemies on seven fronts, referring not only to Hamas in Gaza but also to others on our borders, those more distant, such as Yemen, and, of course, the “head of the snake,” Iran.
No one can argue the fact that his list of our enemies is accurate. However, I believe our government needs to look at these last 22 months as us having fought a battle on just two fronts. The first is the existential battle for survival with enemies near and far. Most analysts would admit that on that front we have been incredibly successful having (a) defanged Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon; (b) facilitated the fall of the Assad regime in Syria; (c) destroyed much of the Houthis’ military capabilities in Yemen as well as (d) having eliminated Iran’s defensive capability while simultaneously killing off much of its military and technology leadership. Score a big win for Israel.
However, the second front, the front that represents Israel’s image in the world, that battle has been an unmitigated failure regardless of which measurements are used to evaluate that effort. An honest assessment leads only to the conclusion that we are well on the road to becoming a pariah nation, similar to how South Africa was seen during the apartheid period. For sure, we are not guilty of apartheid, but once a country becomes a pariah nation, it almost doesn’t matter what the core problem is that made this happen.
After two years of war
In our case, we are smart enough to know how we got here.
First, the events of October 7 popped the cork on the pent-up anti-Israel and antisemitic intentions of NGOs worldwide who have been demeaning our existence for years. Funded primarily by bad actors in some of the same countries who claim to be working on finding an equitable path to peace for us and the Palestinians, their volunteer “troops” were at the ready, the protest signs were printed, the tents for the university encampments were ordered, and the professionally trained leadership was just waiting for the proper catalyst to cause chaos.
October 7 was, for them, the firecracker that set the whole house ablaze. Sadly, even with our sophisticated intelligence network, we are not ready to respond, even today.
Secondly, our political echelon, reflecting the attitude of too many of our leaders, simply does not believe in allocating the same resources for the information battle that we authorize for our defense activity. The budget for influencing the public sphere is minuscule in comparison to the military budget, and the results, or lack thereof, reflect that mentality.
A look at the state’s 2024 budget tells the whole story. In a budget of NIS 513.7 billion, NIS 64.4b. (12.5%) was for defense, while the combined budget of the Prime Minister’s Office (which handles public relations for Israel) and the Foreign Ministry was NIS 4.6b. (8/10 of 1%). Is it any wonder that our hasbara efforts are failing us?
AND FOR those who say it does not matter how much we spend, it will not change the minds of those who hate us; that is probably a true statement. But not funding the effort leaves the playing field to our enemies and supplies the fuel needed by them, and even some of our friends, to make us a pariah nation.
Finally, by dismissing the actions of even our friends who have turned against us as irrelevant, we should not be surprised if they react accordingly. We need to understand that they, too, have constituencies they must answer to, and often doing so is not beneficial to us.
The most recent case of Australia canceling the visa of MK Simcha Rothman as he was preparing to travel there is a case in point. Earlier in the week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented on X/Twitter that: “History will remember [Anthony] Albanese for what he is: A weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia’s Jews.” Netanyahu was criticizing the Australian prime minister for his decision to recognize a Palestinian state. Given that type of rhetoric coming from us, I am not sure why we are surprised by, or upset at, Australia’s action against Rothman. Diplomacy is, after all, a two-way street.
Unless we are prepared to recognize the fact that the public relations war is every bit as important as our military efforts in Gaza and other places, we will continue to see our worldwide image deteriorate. Our diplomats will find doors closed to them, our citizen tourists will continue to be attacked as they travel the world, Israel will be further vilified in international forums, sovereign wealth funds will withdraw their investments in our companies, institutional investors will give second thought to investing here, and tourism will continue to decrease.
While I do not doubt that, in the long run, Israel will survive. As a believer, I am confident that the good Lord wants us here and will continue to protect us. Nevertheless, I am less confident that we will be able to enjoy the quality of life that was the norm just a few years ago and less sure that some of our best and brightest will not continue to leave for more attractive climes.
We have the stamina, the motivation, and the desire to repel our enemies and prevail. The question is, do we have what it takes to live as a pariah nation in this 21st-century world? Of that, I am less sure.
Washington’s WorldData.Inc maintains a running list of pariah states, and we are already on its current roster of 13 countries: Afghanistan, Belarus, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Israel, Kosovo, Myanmar, North Korea, Russia, Sudan, Syria, Uzbekistan, and Zimbabwe. This is a club of which we need not be a member and from which we can easily resign. We should do so today while we still have the wherewithal to do so.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-865078
----
Egypt Takes The Lead As The Only Viable Plan For The Reconstruction Of Gaza
By Neville Teller
August 25, 2025
It was, doubtless, a combination of factors that led Hamas’s leadership to conclude that its best interests lay in accepting the latest version of the ceasefire proposals, first suggested by US special envoy Steve Witkoff.
It came after months of arms-length and deadlocked discussions between Israel and Hamas, whose refusal to conclude a deal was reinforced when a flurry of nations proclaimed their intention to recognize a Palestinian state – France, the UK, Malta, Canada, and Australia.
These declarations effectively removed any incentive for Hamas to give away their main bargaining chip – the hostages – or even consider disarming, and for a time, they ceased negotiating.
The dire effect of this rush to recognition was revealed by Hamas’s messages of congratulation to the governments concerned, and by Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas official based in Qatar. During an interview on August 2, he is reported as saying: “The initiative by several countries to recognize a Palestinian state is one of the fruits of October 7.”
Egypt's mediation efforts
Egypt, along with Qatar and the US, has been central to recent mediation efforts. Egypt is also the progenitor of the only viable plan for the reconstruction, development, and administration of post-war Gaza. So there was a certain logic in Egypt’s recent assumption of the lead role in the ceasefire/hostage release negotiations, with the focus shifting from Qatar’s capital, Doha, to Cairo.
Taking the lead in mid-August, Egypt significantly intensified pressure on Hamas to agree to a ceasefire in Gaza. On August 13 in Cairo, Maj. Gen. Hassan Rashad, head of Egyptian intelligence, met with Hamas leaders – including politburo chief Khalil al-Hayyeh – to push Hamas toward flexibility.
Egyptian officials warned Hamas that there was a limited window of opportunity to reach an agreement. Israel was preparing its attack on Gaza City. The proposed deal included suspending Hamas’s armed activities for a transitional period, oversight by Arab and international mediators, discussions about the temporary administration of Gaza during the interim, its demilitarization, and the release of all remaining Israeli hostages in two phases, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Media reports of the discussions that led to Hamas’s acceptance of the terms include a mention of Egypt inviting other Palestinian factions and the PLO to discuss a “comprehensive deal,” suggesting Egyptian willingness to sideline Hamas if it remained intransigent.
Linking its honest broker role with its plans for the reconstruction of Gaza, Egypt reportedly told Hamas that, contingent on a ceasefire agreement, it was ready to impose a temporary administration for Gaza and take practical steps toward rehabilitation.
Details of the proposed deal
After a while, reports from Cairo indicated that Hamas officials were starting to ease some of their previous red-line demands, particularly those that had led to the collapse of earlier talks.
At the heart of the emerging deal was a 60-day ceasefire, serving as a window for hostilities to halt, aid to resume, and negotiations to progress.
The hostage release terms, however, are proving to be a new bone of contention. The proposal accepted by Hamas specifies a two-phased sequence for their release: 10 living hostages and the bodies of others in the first phase; the remainder in a second.
But Israel’s position on the release of the remaining captives has recently hardened. A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office on August 16 said: “Israel will agree to a deal on condition that all the hostages are released simultaneously.”
Whether Israel will backtrack on this is possible, but not likely. Meanwhile, it has proceeded to implement its plans to chase Hamas out of Gaza City.
Gaza reconstruction
Egypt's reconstruction plan for Gaza was always intended to run alongside ceasefire negotiations. It was presented to a meeting of the Arab League on March 4, where it was approved unanimously. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who was present at the meeting, “strongly endorsed” the Egyptian plan and pledged the UN’s full cooperation in implementing it.
The president of the African Union, Joao Lourenco, also attended the Cairo summit and gave the plan his explicit support and a commitment to help realize it. Since then, it has been endorsed by the EU.
Egypt’s plan envisages a six-month immediate phase that would concentrate on removing rubble, the provision of temporary shelters, initial repairs to partially damaged homes, and restoration of core infrastructure.
The first reconstruction phase that follows would last about two years, and would include the construction of some 200,000 new residential units and establish vital supply networks.
The second reconstruction phase would last two and a half years, and would involve the creation of an economic infrastructure, including industrial zones, a commercial port, and an airport.
Regarding governance, Egypt’s blueprint calls for a technocratic committee to manage initial reconstruction, leading to the Palestinian Authority eventually taking over.
There has been some real progress in implementing the initial stages of the Egypt reconstruction plan – progress that has largely failed to reach the world’s headlines.
In February 2025, during the ceasefire that lasted from mid-January to mid-March, construction vehicles from Egyptian companies – particularly from the politically connected Organi Group – began operating in Gaza.
Their main activities were focused on clearing rubble, especially along Salah al-Din Street, the key north-south artery in Gaza, and preliminary site preparation for the construction of up to 200,000 temporary housing units for displaced residents.
Leading Egyptian construction firms and engineering syndicates are eager to participate in implementing the plan. The Talaat Moustafa Group, for example, proposed a $27 billion, three-year initiative, involving 50 top contractors.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian Syndicate of Engineers has teamed up with its Palestinian counterpart, and Egypt and Jordan have initiated training programs for Palestinian police to prepare them for security duties in Gaza. Egypt is currently preparing for a large international donor conference to secure funding and pledges for its $53.2 billion reconstruction plan.
In short, Egypt has begun taking concrete steps to implement the early stages of its plan, but the major phases are dependent on a stable ceasefire, donor commitments that translate into real funding, and the establishment of an effective governing mechanism for Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sent negotiators to Cairo and Doha to continue ceasefire discussions. Two interesting possibilities are in the balance: Israel could accept the deal that Hamas has accepted or, if Hamas is desperate enough for a 60-day respite, it could agree to release all the hostages in one go.
Then there is the report last October in The Wall Street Journal that during meetings with Egyptian officials, Israel’s chief negotiator, David Barnea, who heads the Mossad, offered safe passage to Hamas members in exchange for laying down arms and releasing hostages.
More likely, perhaps is stalemate on the ceasefire, and Israel proceeding with its plan to invade Gaza and defeat Hamas.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-865146
------
‘Anti-Palestinian Racism’: It’s The Next Tool Of Anti-Zionists
August 25, 2025
Anti-Palestinian Racism is coming to America and a campus near you. But what is it, why now, and why is it so dangerous?
APR is the latest evolution of anti-Zionism, rebranded in the language of civil rights and anti-racism. It uses “progressive morality” to silence dissent, intimidate Israel’s defenders, and shield Palestinians and their allies from criticism, even when they glorify Hamas or excuse antisemitism.
Framed as a new category of discrimination against Palestinians, their narratives, and their advocates, APR has been aggressively promoted since 2022, first in Canada and now across North America and Europe. Far from protecting human rights, APR is the latest weapon designed to delegitimize Israel and stigmatize its supporters.
Its proponents claim it targets discrimination that “silences, excludes, erases, stereotypes, defames, or dehumanizes Palestinians and their narratives.” In practice, however, APR functions as a tool of political censorship, punishing dissent and suppressing debate.
IHRA vs APR
Unlike the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism, which has been endorsed by more than 40 nations, the US State Department, and hundreds of universities, APR is not meant to clarify the boundary between legitimate debate and bigotry. The IHRA definition affirms that criticism of Israel is legitimate, but it draws a red line at demonization, double standards, and the denial of Israel’s right to exist. APR does the opposite: It turns nearly any defense of Israel into “racism.”
Call for Gaza’s demilitarization? Racist. Affirm Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state? Racist. Say no genocide is occurring in Gaza or that there was never a state of Palestine? Racist. Cite Palestinian rejectionism, terrorism, or antisemitism? Racist. Wave an Israeli flag or affirm Jewish indigeneity in the Levant? Racist. Under APR, virtually every expression of support for Israel becomes a racist act.
This inversion is not new. In 1975, the United Nations declared Zionism to be racism. In the 2000s, the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) movement swept across campuses, branding Israel an apartheid state. APR now borrows the language of critical race theory and social-justice activism to recast Zionism itself as structural oppression and racism.
What makes APR especially dangerous is its claim to moral authority. Classical anti-Zionism was political. APR disguises itself as a universal fight against racism, indicting anyone who challenges Palestinian narratives as irredeemably racist. It flips the IHRA playbook on its head, shifting victimhood from Jews under attack to Palestinians portrayed as the sole victims of “racism.”
Calling out racism
The timing is revealing. Since Hamas’s October 7 massacre, Jews have been attacked on campuses, in public squares, and on city streets. Yet APR reframes Palestinians as the only victims of racism while treating Jews as oppressors. Proponents dismiss the surge in antisemitism with a shrug, suggesting that “Zionists had it coming.”
The trend is spreading quickly. At York University, APR is formally defined as a “distinct form of racism.” At Stanford and Berkeley, faculty resolutions and student events have labeled opposition to Hamas as “racist.” In city councils from Toronto to Seattle, anti-racism resolutions now include APR while excluding antisemitism. NGOs like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations echo this narrative, accusing Israel of “genocide” while cloaking anti-Zionism in the mantle of human rights.
APR also exploits Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion frameworks. While DEI initiatives were meant to address historic injustices, many have been co-opted to portray Zionism as colonialist or privileged. In such environments, defending Jewish identity or Israel’s legitimacy is not a viewpoint but a bias to be corrected.
If left unchallenged, APR will reshape public discourse, empower hostile NGOs, and normalize antisemitism in schools, governments, and even corporations. Policymakers must act now. Congress, state legislatures, and school boards should ensure anti-racism curricula are not hijacked to advance anti-Israel ideology. Universities should adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism and resist attempts to elevate APR. Civil society must demand equal standards, where Palestinians are held accountable for terror and incitement just as Israelis are for policy decisions.
The stakes could not be higher. Anti-Zionism has always adapted to survive, and APR is its newest disguise. Racism is always wrong, but labeling something as racism doesn’t make it so. Only by rejecting APR and standing firmly behind the IHRA can we protect Jewish communities, defend Israel’s legitimacy, and preserve America’s moral clarity.
Betsy Berns Korn is the chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. She served as president of AIPAC from 2020-2023 and then as chair of the Board of AIPAC from 2023-2025. She is also a member of the AJC’s Board of Governors and the Israel Economic Forum.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-865136
-------
In Gaza, They Film; In Sudan, They Die: The Politics Of Humanitarianism
By Michael Ehrenstein
AUGUST 25, 2025
The UN-affiliated Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) has published a report claiming “mass famine” in Gaza. The announcement made instant headlines worldwide. But behind the drama was a quiet, extraordinary shift in methodology. Instead of the accepted global standards for measuring malnutrition, the IPC downgraded its criteria, relying on mid-arm circumference instead of weight-to-height and lowering the threshold for acute malnutrition from 30% to just 15%.
These drastic changes appeared only in a footnote. However, the global media treat them as hard facts, blasting headlines that Israel is responsible for “starving Gaza.” Amnesty International has gone even further, accusing Israel of running a “deliberate starvation project.”
The real question is not about the numbers themselves but about perspective. Why does Gaza dominate the global stage while large-scale famines – such as the one unfolding right now in Sudan – barely register? The answer: political humanitarianism.
According to that very same IPC report, nearly 24 million Sudanese face food insecurity. Over eight million are in emergency conditions, and tens of thousands are already in famine. Unlike the disputed Gaza numbers, these are facts that no one contests. Yet, Sudan earns almost no front-page coverage, no mass demonstrations in Western capitals, and no urgent debates in the UN.
Why? Because Hamas has perfected the art of weaponizing human suffering. It blocks aid, manipulates data, and circulates shocking images, all to increase international pressure on Israel. Western media, predisposed to highlight Israel’s faults, plays along.
Sudan’s generals, by contrast, are not running a global PR campaign. There are no glossy NGO videos, no Hollywood stars hugging starving children, no UN resolutions on endless repeat. Most of all, there is no link to Israel or the Jews. The result: Mass death in Sudan remains invisible.
An institutional obsession
The double standard is hardly new. Between 2015 and 2022, the UN General Assembly passed 140 resolutions against Israel, more than double the number against all other nations combined. In 2022 alone, Israel was condemned 15 times; Russia, after invading Ukraine, only six. The UN Human Rights Council even maintains a permanent agenda item, Item 7, dedicated solely to Israel. No other country in the world is treated this way.
This obsession now extends to the famine narrative.
While 249 million people around the world are hungry – across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East – international headlines obsess over Gaza, even if it means bending research standards and parroting Hamas talking points. This is not humanitarian concern. This is politics.
The real tragedy
Of course, the hunger of even one child is a tragedy. But that is precisely why the world’s selective outrage is so outrageous. If the global community were truly motivated by humanitarian concern, its focus would be on Sudan, Nigeria, Yemen, and other countries, where millions die. It would pressure all regimes that weaponize food, whether Hamas in Gaza or warlords in Africa.
The fact that this doesn’t happen tells the whole story. The campaigns for Gaza are not about humanitarianism. They are about politics, dressed up as humanitarian concern. Once again, Israel is cast as the convenient scapegoat.
And while the world indulges this obsession, millions of children in Sudan and beyond continue to die quietly, not because their suffering is any less but because it cannot be used as a weapon against the State of Israel.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-865129
------
Universitas Indonesia Betrayed Palestine
By Dr. Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat
August 24, 2025
On 23 August, Universitas Indonesia (UI), the nation’s oldest and most respected institution of higher learning, committed a profound mistake. At the orientation for its graduate program, UI handed the podium to Peter Berkowitz — a longtime defender of Israel’s occupation and its ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Berkowitz is no neutral scholar. He has spent decades justifying Israel’s bombing campaigns, collective punishment, and illegal occupation of Palestinian land. He served as director of policy planning in Donald Trump’s State Department — a government that gave Israel carte blanche to escalate its violence. His writings, including a book defending Israel against international war crimes investigations, repeat one message over and over: Israel’s supposed right to kill with impunity.
And yet, at UI’s flagship event to welcome Indonesia’s future scholars, Berkowitz was invited to deliver an oration entitled “Education for Freedom and Democracy.”
The irony could not be sharper. This is a man who has dedicated his career to attacking students and academics in the United States who stand with Palestine. He has mocked campus activists who call for boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS). He has defended the silencing of Palestinian voices in classrooms. To hand him a platform in Indonesia — a country whose constitution enshrines the rejection of colonialism, and whose people overwhelmingly support Palestine — is not mere negligence. It is complicity.
UI’s official explanation was to apologise for being “less than careful” in checking Berkowitz’s background. That excuse is insulting. Berkowitz’s record is not hidden in obscure footnotes. A quick search reveals decades of articles defending apartheid, whitewashing war crimes, and rationalising ethnic cleansing. This was not a clerical oversight. It was a moral collapse.
By presenting Berkowitz as a legitimate authority on “democracy,” UI treated the Palestinian genocide as an acceptable subject for polite academic disagreement. It suggested that supporting or opposing colonial violence is just another opinion, worthy of equal respect. But genocide is not a matter of perspective. There is no academic neutrality when one side calls for liberation and the other justifies massacre.
The decision is also a betrayal of Indonesia’s own history. The 1945 Constitution declares that “colonialism must be abolished” because it is incompatible with humanity and justice. Indonesia has long stood at the forefront of global solidarity with Palestine precisely because its own independence was won against colonial domination. To hand a stage to a Zionist apologist is to spit on that legacy.
UI’s choice was not only tone-deaf; it inflicted real harm. For Palestinian students and scholars, the message is devastating: their people’s suffering is up for debate, their right to freedom optional. For Indonesian students, the message is equally corrosive: that those who defend empire and massacre deserve the same respect as those who resist them.
Some will argue that universities must welcome all perspectives in the name of academic freedom. But academic freedom is not a suicide pact. It does not require us to legitimise propaganda, nor to elevate voices that defend ethnic cleansing. Berkowitz is free to publish his articles and seek audiences that share his worldview. UI had no obligation to honour him — and certainly not as the centrepiece of an orientation meant to inspire the next generation.
The students who immediately condemned Berkowitz’s invitation, and the public outcry that forced UI’s apology, show that Indonesians know exactly where they stand. They know that solidarity with Palestine is not a slogan but a principle. They know that normalising Zionist apologetics is a betrayal not only of Palestinians but of Indonesia’s own anti-colonial identity.
UI must reckon with the gravity of its failure. A perfunctory apology will not suffice. The university must ask itself why it saw no problem in celebrating a man who defends war crimes. It must accept that neutrality in the face of oppression is itself a choice — a choice to side with the oppressor.
History will not remember Peter Berkowitz’s speech at UI. But it will remember whether Indonesia’s leading university chose to normalise genocide, or to stand with the oppressed. For the sake of Palestine — and for the sake of Indonesia’s own moral integrity — UI and other academic institutions must never make this mistake again.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250824-universitas-indonesia-betrayed-palestine/
------
The UK Government’s £2 Billion Israeli Weapons Deal: Silencing Dissent and Complicity in Genocide
By Robert Inlakesh
August 25, 2025
This Friday it was revealed that the British government is poised to sign a whopping £2 billion contract with Israel’s largest weapons company Elbit Systems. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government is playing a dirty game by aiding Israel’s genocide, silencing its critics and pretending as if symbolic measures represent pushback.
Understanding the immense public pressure to act against Israel’s ongoing starvation campaign against Gaza, which has now been classified a famine by the UN, the British government say they will join France, Canada and Australia in recognizing Palestine at the upcoming UN General Assembly meeting in September. This was conditioned on Israel letting in food and signing a ceasefire agreement.
Last year, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy even announced that his government would suspend 30 arms export licenses to Israel, citing a “clear risk” that the components being sold could be used to violate international law. Although it chose not to suspend another 320 arms export licenses, including components for F-35 fighter jets and was even fought in court over it; ultimately receiving approval to continue selling the components.
Now David Lammy has signed onto a joint letter with Britain’s Western allies, asserting that “the decision by the Israeli Higher Planning Committee to approve plans for settlement construction in the E1 area, East of Jerusalem, is unacceptable and a violation of international law.”
This is all important, not to show that the UK is standing up to Israel, in fact, it is evidence that incriminates them by demonstrating their knowledge of Israel’s countless violations of international law, or at least intentions to do so, which aren’t limited to the moves above. Yet, despite this, they continue to back Israel and aid its ongoing war crimes.
Keir Starmer and His Cabinet to The Hague
UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, notably encouraged Israel’s siege tactics that are clear violations of international law, prior to taking office. He stated that “Israel does have that right” when asked whether he believes Tel Aviv should be able to cut off water from Gaza, a question posed to him during an interview for LBC radio on October 11, 2023.
It also emerged upon the Labour Party taking power, half of Keir Starmer’s Cabinet were funded by the Israel Lobby. Not only this, but Quadrature Capital that gave the UK Labour Party their largest ever donation of £4 million, also just so happens to have $121 million dollars worth of shares in a range of weapons companies, tech and logistics firms which have helped aid Israel’s military campaign on Gaza.
Some of those companies which Quadrature Capital invests in are specifically involved in producing parts for Israeli F-35 fighter jets. It therefore comes as little surprise to know that the British government fought a fierce court battle in order to continue allowing the sale of F-35 components to the Israeli military, despite knowing well that these fighter jets have specifically been used to commit civilian massacres in so-called “humanitarian zones”.
When it then comes to Israel’s largest weapons company, Elbit Systems, the story becomes even more sinister. The British government has in fact collaborated with the arms company throughout the genocide on Gaza, having awarded the Elbit with a three-year £57 million contract back in May of 2023, despite public opposition to the move.
Although the Labour Party government wasn’t responsible for signing that contract, it continued the so-called Project Falcon that came as a result of it. In fact, it went a step further and actively worked alongside Elbit Systems to combat dissent from the public, particularly Palestine Action.
Since 2020, Palestine Action had operated as an activist organization with its primary goal being to “Shut Down Elbit” from the get go, which led to a crackdown by the UK authorities. The activists have used tactics like blocking access to, smashing windows of and spraying red paint on weapons factories, as a tactic to see them close down across the country and stop supplying weapons that are used to commit war crimes against Palestinians.
Earlier this year, Declassified UK obtained documents that revealed the UK Labour government had held a private meeting with Elbit Systems in December of 2024, taking place only months after drones made by Elbit were used on three British military veterans who were protecting a humanitarian aid convoy.
In response to the deliberate murder of British nationals, the UK’s Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, attended the private meeting with Elbit Systems representatives, the contents of which were purposely hidden.
However, it is now publicly known that in previous meetings between UK government officials and Elbit, the Israeli weapons company had urged the British authorities to crack down on pro-Palestine activism. According to leaked police files, Elbit Systems even has “its own intelligence cell and share(s) information with the Police across the country on a two weekly basis”. In other words, the private Israeli weapons company was working alongside the UK authorities to crack down on free speech and assembly rights.
It was later revealed that Elbit Systems had even lobbied the UK Home Office to get a re-trial of Palestine Action activists and co-founders, in order to punish them legally, back in December of last year.
Then came the UK government’s push to proscribe Palestine Action as a “terrorist” organisation, a charge led by Israel Lobby funded Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, placing the group on a list next to militant groups al-Qaeda and violent neo-Nazi organizations. A move that was condemned and campaigned against by leading human rights groups like Amnesty International and senior UN officials.
While the British government has no proof for its allegations that Palestine Action endorses or planned to endorse armed action, nor that it is funded by Iran, the Home Office briefed The Times that the activist group could be funded by the Iranian government. This then led to a wave of mainstream media reports, published without any official quotes, fact checking or evidence, that painted the picture that British Authorities sought to spread; demonizing Palestine Action as foreign backed.
Back in February, the UK Ministry of Defense had paid £2 million to both Elbit Systems and Raytheon to develop their bids to win over the £2 billion contract that it is on the verge of closing with the Israeli weapons company, which would see them train 60,000 British soldiers, also making the company a “strategic partner” of the MoD.
The UK authorities have actively worked alongside an Israeli company whose weapons have been used to kill British nationals, in order to stifle activism against them, whilst also condemning Israel publicly for their actions in Gaza which are openly violating international law. So, there is simply no way of the Labour government even arguing that it wasn’t aware, it is actively working with an Israeli weapons company against its own public.
This isn’t even considering the direct role that the British military has played in aiding Israel’s genocide, including mass intelligence gathering through reconnaissance flights and even the deployment of a British spy team that were revealed to have been sent to aid Israel after October 7, 2023.
As for the Palestine Action proscription, not only did UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk warn that the British government’s use of anti-terrorism legislation risk “hindering the legitimate exercise of fundamental freedoms across the UK”, the MI5 (domestic intelligence services) and members of the UK government itself had raised concerns internally about the legitimacy of the move.
Meanwhile, as the UK government suppresses dissent, Elbit Systems laughs all the way to bank, as its profits soured throughout 2025, making a killing off of genocide. It’s partners in crime are Keir Starmer and his corporate funded band of crooks who are directly implicated in in genocide. Recognizing Palestine’s right to exist at the UNGA will not excuse their continued efforts to wipe Palestine off the map.
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/the-uk-governments-2-billion-israeli-weapons-deal-silencing-dissent-and-complicity-in-genocide/
----
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/middle-east-press/pariah-hamas-gaza-egypt-anti-zionists-racism/d/136592
New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism