Tag: israel

“Existential”: Israel Quadruples Foreign-Influence Budget To Massive $730M

With the ranks of its foreign sympathizers plummeting all around the world and all across the political spectrum, the State of Israel is quadrupling its budget for so-called “public diplomacy,” bringing its 2026 spending on foreign influence campaigns to a massive $730 million.

With the country’s growing unpopularity threatening US financial, military and diplomatic support, Israel’s foreign minister has said an intensified effort to mold global opinion is an “existential issue.” Both inside and outside of Israel, the country’s public diplomacy effort is also referred to by its Hebrew name: hasbara. Even before the 2026 ramp-up in spending, Israel’s spending on hasbara was already striking. 

Recent disclosures about 2025 hasbara spending shed some light on how Israel goes about shaping public opinion. Per the Jerusalem Post, that year’s outlays included a $50 million social media ad campaign carried out on Google, YouTube, X and Outbrain. Another $40 million covered the hosting of foreign delegations. “We flew a lot of delegations to the country – whether it’s pastors, whether it’s politicians, universities,” Israeli Consul General Israel Bachar told the Jerusalem Post. “Everyone who returns from the country understands better and is more supportive. But you have to fly out a lot of people.”

“We must as a country invest much, much more,” Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar argued in December. “It should be like investing in jets, bombs and missile interceptors. In the face of what’s arrayed against us and what’s invested against us, it’s far from enough. This is an existential issue.”

An April Pew Research survey found that 60% of American adults now view Israel unfavorably — that’s up 18 points from 2022. Underscoring the mammoth challenge faced by Israel’s hasbarists, the proportion of Americans who have a very unfavorable view of Israel now stands at 28% — triple what it was in 2022. Most alarming for Israel is the cratering of support among Republicans, with 57% of those under 50 now viewing Israel unfavorably.  

The erosion of US support has taken place over a span that has included Israel’s stunningly-destructive rampage across Gaza in response to the Oct 7 2023 Hamas invasion of Israel, and this year’s US-Israeli war on Iran which has caused fuel prices to rocket higher while threatening a global economic catastrophe.

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Israel Says Preparing For Escalation With Iran, Didn’t Know Deal Was Close: ‘Series Of Targets Ready’

Wednesday saw yet another early morning Axios ‘scoop’ that within hours of being issued proved premature and too out front, given talk of Iran and the US being ‘close’ to a deal was quickly denied by Tehran and even President Trump quickly acknowledged it’s “too soon” to plan peace talks with Iran.

But the headline of “US and Iran closing in on one-page memo to end war” was enough to raise alarm bells in Israel, which has insisted that the conflict must end with a nuclear-free Iran.

“Israel was unaware that US President Donald Trump was close to reaching an agreement with Iran to end the fighting and open the Strait of Hormuz,” an Israeli official told Army Radio soon after the optimistic peace deal headlines went international.

“We were preparing for an escalation,” the official said. Indeed the last couple weeks of stalled Pakistan-mediated talks have seen several reports out of Israel saying the Netanyahu government is waiting for the ‘green light’ from Washington to renew the aerial bombing campaign, which took place over prior 38 days as part of Operation Epic Fury.

But as of Tuesday Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that Epic Fury was ending, and that Project Freedom – to open the Strait of Hormuz – is the new focus. But even after that President Trump in the evening announced a ‘pause’ to allow negotiations to proceed.

So there has been much confusion and contradictory signaling out of Washington to say the least. Tehran has meanwhile made clear its “finger is on the trigger” – but Israel is also saying the same thing.

For example, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir on Wednesday made it known that military has a “series of targets” ready to strike in Iran at the moment the war resumes.

“Cooperation with the United States military and coordination continue at all times, and we are monitoring the situation,” he stated during a visit to southern Lebanon, where Israel ground forces are occupying territory.

“In Iran, we have a further series of targets ready for attack. We are on high alert to return to an intense and broad campaign that will allow us to deepen our achievements and further weaken the Iranian regime,” Zamir said further.

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Israel strikes Beirut for first time in almost a month; Netanyahu, Katz say target was Radwan Force chief

Israel carries out its first strike in Beirut since before the ceasefire in Lebanon entered into effect on April 16, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz saying it targeted the commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force.

“The IDF has just struck in Beirut the commander of the Radwan Force in the Hezbollah terror organization to eliminate him,” the joint statement says.

Netanyahu and Katz say Radwan Force operatives “were responsible for firing [rockets] at Israeli communities and harming IDF soldiers.”

“No terrorist has immunity, Israel’s long arm will reach every enemy and murderer. We promised to bring security to the residents of the north. This is how we act, and this is how we will continue to act,” they add.

The IDF has yet to issue a comment on the rare strike in the Lebanese capital, the first in almost a month, with the last having been on April 8. Israel and Lebanon agreed to a ceasefire on April 16.

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Israelis with dual nationality behind ‘large-scale’ acquisition of Syrian agricultural lands: Report

Israel is expanding its control over territory in southern Syria, not merely through military means, but also through the purchase of agricultural lands by individuals of Jewish descent holding multiple nationalities, Al-Akhbar reported on 4 May.

According to a local source in the Deraa Governorate of southern Syria, extensive purchases of agricultural land are underway in the Yarmouk Basin, an area with significant water resources bordering the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

These transactions are reportedly being orchestrated by individuals linked to Jewish agencies and holding passports from various countries, including Canada, Australia, and the UK.

The reports specifically name an organization called the “Pioneers of Bashan” as one of the key parties involved in the land purchases.

According to these sources, the total land area involved in these transactions amounts to approximately 200,000 dunams (200 square kilometers).

The sales have been formalized through official contracts, amid apprehension among local residents regarding the suspected links between some of these deals and Jewish entities.

The sources speaking with Al-Akhbar also reported that an Israeli delegation recently visited archaeological sites in the region – including several hills believed to contain ancient Jewish burial grounds.

In a related context, reports indicate that former Syrian army military sites in the Deraa countryside – including the headquarters of the 61st Brigade and the 128th Battalion (part of the 5th Division) – have been purchased by an Australian businessman. This individual is reportedly acting on behalf of a Jewish agency dedicated to expansion and settlement activities.

Since Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s government was toppled by formerly Al-Qaeda-linked Salafist extremists in December 2024, Israel has expanded its occupation of the Golan Heights and other territories in southern Syria.

Jewish settler groups in Israel say it is their goal to occupy land in southern Syria and southern Lebanon in a bid to expand the borders of Greater Israel through military conquest and Jewish settlement.

Israeli forces carry out nearly daily incursions into southern Syria, facing no resistance from Syria’s new government, led by the former ISIS commander Ahmad al-Sharaa.

Sharaa’s new army has instead been targeting Syria’s religious minorities, including carrying out major massacres of the country’s Alawites and Druze, as well as at times against Christians and Kurds.

In the 2024 documentary “In Israel: Ministers of Chaos,” Israeli Finance Minister and settler leader Bezael Smotrich stated, “It is written that the future of Jerusalem is to expand to Damascus.”

Smotrich claimed that Israel would expand “little by little” and eventually encompass all occupied Palestinian territories as well as Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia.

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Censorship in Disguise? Congress Introduces Antisemitism Resolution

Two congressmen introduced a resolution this week that appears to include pressure on tech companies to censor people.

Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) have co-sponsored a resolution “condemning antisemitic rhetoric from prominent online personalities.” At four pages long, it urges “social media platforms and public leaders to denounce and address” antisemitism.

The resolution blames online platforms for the recent rise in anti-Jewish bigotry. It claims antisemitic incidents have “significantly increased, including a 344 percent increase over the past 5 years, and [an] 893 percent increase over the past 10 years.” And the reason is because online platforms have served as “a major vector for the spread of such hatred.”

Piker and Owens

Two influencers are targeted in the resolution, Hasan Piker and Candace Owens, both of whom have intensely criticized the Israeli government’s military operation in Gaza. “Piker has openly applauded Hamas’ terrorism, downplayed the mass rape of civilians on October 7th, and dehumanized Orthodox Jews as ‘inbred,’” Lawler said in a statement. “Owens has trafficked in vile conspiracy theories, promoted blood libels, and platformed Holocaust deniers.”

“Hatred is hatred, period,” Gottheimer said. “We must stand up and speak out. I get that speaking up is not easy, but our constituents didn’t elect us to always take the easy path. That’s what principled leadership is all about.”

Piker denied being an antisemite. “They are once again conflating legitimate critics of Israel with actual antisemites,” he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, according to reports. “They would rather complain about fake antisemitism in defense of Israel than call out the real sources of Jew hatred with a full chest. I have spent my entire career combating all forms of bigotry including antisemitism and will continue to do so in spite [of] this cynical ploy to satisfy donors.”

Owens has called the Israeli military’s actions in Gaza a genocide. So has another popular podcaster, Tucker Carlson. The Israeli human-rights groups B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel agree. As do millions of people around the world. And, if polls are to be believed, most American Jews believe Israel committed war crimes in Gaza, with about four in 10 saying it’s guilty of genocide.

Israel and Gaza

Reports say 70,000 people have been killed in Gaza, most of them civilians, thousands of them children. Most of the Gaza Strip has been carpet bombed, leaving a majority of people homeless. A few months back, U.S. President Donald Trump admitted people were starving in Gaza. Understandably, people have spoken out against that.

Israel has justified its severe response as a proper way to address the October 7 massacre during which Hamas brutally killed 1,200 Israelis. While it goes widely unreported, it should not be overlooked that Israeli defense officials reportedly ignored several warnings from within its own defense apparatus of what was coming. Nevertheless, this has all inflamed tremendous criticism toward the Israeli government. In some cases, it has ginned up genuine anti-Jewish bigotry.

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Did you know the US and Israel helped create Iran’s nuclear project? Here’s the story

What’s 3,000 people killed in Iran, 2,020 killed in Lebanon, 23 in Israel, and more than a dozen in Gulf states after the US launched its war against Iran? “A little Middle East work” that’s going “very well,” US President Donald Trump said at the White House last week during a state dinner for King Charles. 

Trump’s ‘little work’, which involved significant casualties in the region without a clearly defined objective at the outset, was later framed as serving the purpose of ensuring that “Americans and their children would not be threatened by a nuclear-armed Iran.”

Will Charles help Donald make sure there’s nothing – and no one – to allow Iran to work on its nuclear project? It seems like the US will try to level Iran to the ground anyway. According to The Atlantic, the Trump administration began considering strikes aimed not simply at Iran’s military capacity, but at the faction inside the regime that Washington believed was preventing a deal.

Trump even reposted a video by Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen calling for an air campaign along those lines. According to Axios, the military prepared options for a “short and powerful” wave of strikes, which General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, briefed the president on.

The timing is politically delicate. Trump has a state visit to China scheduled for mid-May, a trip that has already been postponed once. If strikes are ordered, they could come before the trip, allowing the president to travel after demonstrating strength. Or they could come immediately afterward, once the diplomatic optics are out of the way.

While Trump supplied the performance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio supplied the doctrine. When Trump spoke of military victory, royal agreement, and Iran never being allowed to possess a nuclear weapon, Rubio framed the same position as strategic necessity: Iran’s government cannot be trusted, its future intentions are already known, and any deal that fails to address the nuclear question is unacceptable.

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Israel threatens Gaza war resumption to force disarmament as ‘truce’ frays

In the shattered neighbourhoods of Khan Younis and Deir el-Balah in the Gaza Strip, the roar of Israeli drones and the concussive thud of controlled demolitions are daily reminders that the war has never really ended.

Despite a “ceasefire” in place since October, families continue to pull bodies from the rubble. According to local medical sources, 828 Palestinians have been killed since the “truce” began. Now, families in Gaza are bracing for a renewed offensive as Israeli officials threaten to tear up the fragile agreement to force a surrender.

In Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abruptly cancelled a scheduled security cabinet meeting on Sunday, opting instead for smaller consultations. Simultaneously, the military has ramped up pressure to resume hostilities. A senior official in the Israeli military’s General Staff told Channel 15 that an additional round of fighting was “almost inevitable”, citing the refusal of Hamas to surrender its weapons and the alleged “failure” of the International Stabilization Force, a multinational body deployed under the recent truce framework to oversee security and manage the ceasefire’s implementation.

Israel’s Army Radio reported that on the ground, the military has steadily been enlarging the territory it controls in the besieged enclave. By gradually pushing the “ceasefire”-established “Yellow Line” westwards, Israeli forces have expanded their territorial control to 59 percent of the Strip, regularising their occupation through daily violations of the “ceasefire” and moving additional troops from the Lebanese front into Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

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Obama: Netanyahu presented to me same arguments for war with Iran that he made to Trump

Former U.S. President Barack Obama said in an interview with The New Yorker published Monday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had presented him with the same arguments he later presented to current President Donald Trump to persuade him to launch a war with Iran.

“I think my prognosis was accurate,” he said. It may be that Netanyahu has “gotten what he wanted. Whether that’s what is ultimately best for the Israeli people, I would question that. Whether I think it’s what is good for the United States and America, I would question that. I think there’s an ample record of my differences with Mr. Netanyahu.”

Netanyahu opposed the nuclear deal Obama signed with Iran in 2015, an agreement that Trump ultimately canceled in 2018 during his first term in the White House. Since then, Trump has not succeeded in bringing Iran to a new nuclear deal, and no such agreement was signed during Joe Biden’s presidency either.

Since the agreement was canceled in 2018, Iran has raced toward a nuclear bomb, and its progress eventually led to two wars — the 12-day Operation Rising Lion in June 2025 and Operation Roaring Lion, which began in late February 2026.

In the interview, Obama was asked about threats Trump has made toward Iran in recent months, including that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”

Obama replied: “believe American leadership, as represented by the American President, has to reflect a basic regard for human dignity and decency, not just within our own borders but beyond. That’s part of the responsibility of leadership. If we are not giving voice to those core values—that there are innocent people in countries with terrible governments and we have to care about those people, that we can make mistakes if we are not guarding against hubris and pure self-interest . . . If we don’t have those things, the world can break in very bad ways.”

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Anti-boycott laws run afoul of the free press

The First Amendment is under attack. The formidable frontal assault came quietly, stealthily into state legislatures across the nation. The attackers wielded pens proving mightier than swords and signed laws that punish the refusal to sign a pledge of allegiance — not the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States; rather, a pledge of deference to a foreign government and a promise not to boycott the nation that government represents.

What’s more American than a boycott, Alan Leveritt pondered when he spoke with Editor & Publisher during a vodcast with E&P Publisher Mike Blinder back in December 2021. Leveritt had penned a Nov. 22, 2021, op-ed for The New York Times about a legal case he’s been waging against an obscure Arkansas state law that suppresses free speech and requires people and businesses who contract with the state to sign away their rights to “boycott,” a subjective term.

Leveritt cited the Boston Tea Party and the centuries-old tradition of boycotts, using rhetoric and the power of the purse strings to influence people, companies and even government.

Leveritt comes from a family of Arkansas farmers. “We’re just white-trash farmers. I mean, that’s where we come from,” he explains in the new documentary film, “Boycott,” by Director Julia Bacha and the team at Just Vision, an award-winning production company.

Leveritt carries on that farming tradition today; in the film, he’s seen tending gardens and gathering eggs. But his day job — one that he’s held for nearly 50 years — is serving as publisher of the Arkansas Times, a free, local news source he co-founded in his 20s. Since the beginning, the venture has been entirely advertising-supported, and a significant amount of it comes from state agencies, including the state university system.

“I was raised conservative, and I started moving to the left over the years. As a recovering conservative, I want to be left alone, you know? Do your job. You get your business on merit, and you get paid for it, and you don’t pass some political litmus test. This is America,” he says in the film.

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Israeli Police Arrests Jewish Man Who Assaulted Catholic Nun in Jerusalem

Attack brings back worries about inter-religion violence.

A few days after two Israeli soldiers were arrested for desecrating a Jesus statue in a village in Lebanon, a new episode of Jewish violence against Christians has taken place in Jerusalem.

Israeli police reportedly arrested a 36-year-old man who was recorded assaulting a French Catholic nun near Jerusalem’s Old City.

The attack caused a wave of indignation, and led Israeli authorities to react swiftly with ‘zero tolerance to all acts of violence’.

Euronews reported:

“Police said the unnamed man was arrested after the attack near David’s Tomb, a holy site outside Zion’s Gate on the southern side of the Old City, “on suspicion of a racially motivated attack,” and remained in custody.

Police video showed the nun bruised and the attacker wearing tzitzit, a fringed undergarment worn by some observant Jewish men. The nun, a French national, suffered injuries including a bruise on her forehead, as seen in an image posted by Israeli police on X.”

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