Tag: israel

Charlie Kirk refused Netanyahu funding offer, was ‘frightened’ by pro-Israel forces before death, friend reveals

Charlie Kirk rejected an offer earlier this year from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to arrange a massive new infusion of Zionist money into his Turning Point USA (TPUSA) organization, America’s largest conservative youth association, according to a longtime friend of the slain commentator speaking on the condition of anonymity. The source told The Grayzone that the late pro-Trump influencer believed Netanyahu was trying to cow him into silence as he began to publicly question Israel’s overwhelming influence in Washington and demanded more space to criticize it. 

In the weeks leading up to his September 10 assassination, Kirk had come to loathe the Israeli leader, regarding him as a “bully,” the source said. Kirk was disgusted by what he witnessed inside the Trump administration, where Netanyahu sought to personally dictate the president’s personnel decisions, and weaponized Israeli assets like billionaire donor Miriam Adelson to keep the White House firmly under its thumb.

According to Kirk’s friend, who also enjoyed access to President Donald Trump and his inner circle, Kirk strongly warned Trump last June against bombing Iran on Israel’s behalf. “Charlie was the only person who did that,” they said, recalling how Trump “barked at him” in response and angrily shut down the conversation. The source believes the incident confirmed in Kirk’s mind that the president of the United States had fallen under the control of a malign foreign power, and was leading his own country into a series of disastrous conflicts.

By the following month, Kirk had become the target of a sustained private campaign of intimidation and free-floating fury by wealthy and powerful allies of Netanyahu – figures he publicly referred to as Jewish “leaders” and “stakeholders.” 

“He was afraid of them,” the source emphasized.  

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UN to Vote on Fantasy of ‘Democratic’ Palestinian State, as War Continues

The United Nations General Assembly is set to vote Friday on a controversial proposal to declare a Palestinian state that is “independent, sovereign and democratic,” even as Hamas continues to wage war.

The so-called “New York Declaration” would recognize a Palestinian state, even though Palestinians have made no commitment to democracy, have refused to negotiate key issues with Israel, and still hold hostages in flagrant violation of international law.

The text of the declaration reads like a wish list: a democratic state, elections within a year, and the release of hostages — as if Hamas would agree to these terms.

The declaration also asserts that the Palestinian state would include the West Bank and Gaza — bypassing negotiations with Israel — and leaves the key issues of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees unresolved.

The text also equates the Hamas terror attack of October 7, 2023, with supposed “attacks by Israel against civilians in Gaza.” Israel does not target civilians; Hamas deliberately places military infrastructure in schools and hospitals to maximize civilian casualties, as well as to maximize international criticism of Israel.

Several western states — including the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia — have committed to joining the New York Declaration.

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The House Just Passed a Bill Punishing “Politically Motivated” Boycotts of Israel

In a first step toward a federal law punishing criticism of Israel, the House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a massive defense budget that would bar companies engaged in “politically motivated” boycotts of the country from Pentagon contracts.

The bill would effectively ban contractors boycotting Israel from tapping most federal contract dollars, since more than half of the $755 billion the U.S. government spent on contracts last year flowed through the Defense Department.

The ban, the latest legislative attempt to target the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israel’s human rights violations, or BDS, would still have to pass the Senate. The upper chamber was debating its own version of the budget bill on Thursday that does not include an anti-BDS provision.

Critics predict a court challenge if the anti-boycott provision makes it into law.

“This amendment is really designed to shield Israel from any accountability by penalizing those who protest its violations of Palestinian human rights through boycotts, which should be protected by the First Amendment,” said Hassan El-Tayyab, the legislative director for Middle East policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation.

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By bombing Doha, Israel once again undermined America’s credibility and standing

President Donald Trump told reporters outside a Washington restaurant this evening that he is deeply displeased with Israel’s bombardment of Qatar, a close U.S. partner in the Persian Gulf that, at Washington’s request, has hosted Hamas’s political leadership since 2012.

“I am not thrilled about it. I am not thrilled about the whole situation,” Trump said, denying that Israel had given him advance notice. “I was very unhappy about it, very unhappy about every aspect of it,” he continued. “We’ve got to get the hostages back. But I was very unhappy with the way that went down.”

Trump may indeed be upset, but the Israeli Prime Minister is casting him in the same light as Biden: issuing indignant statements over Israeli actions that blatantly undermine U.S. interests, actions that almost certainly could not have occurred without Washington’s tacit consent, while offering no hint that Israel will face consequences for allegedly defying the United States.

To make matters worse, Qatar’s foreign minister revealed that Washington’s so-called warning came not before the Israeli strike, but only after Doha was already under fire.

“The attack happened at 3:46,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Jassim Al Thani said. “The first call we had from an American official was at 3:56 — which is 10 minutes after the attack.”

Whether Washington knew of Israel’s war plans, colluded in them, or whether Trump is truthful in claiming ignorance, the outcome is the same: Israel has dealt a severe blow to American credibility.

What value does an American security umbrella—or even the hosting of a U.S. base—hold if the United States either conspires in an attack against you, or proves unwilling or unable to prevent one?

That is the question now confronting every U.S. partner in the Persian Gulf, all of whom have staked their survival on American protection. Given how Washington has stripped away every meaningful constraint on Israel since October 7, 2023, their leaders should have known this day was inevitable.

Personally, I do not believe the United States should extend security guarantees—implicit or explicit—to any state in the Middle East. The region is no longer vital to U.S. interests, and America is already dangerously overextended. Existing commitments should be reassessed and, where necessary, rolled back. But this must be done deliberately and on Washington’s terms—not sabotaged by Israel—because the point of the exercise goal is to strengthen the credibility of America’s essential commitments, not to erode U.S. credibility across the board.

Adding insult to injury, Israel has undercut not only the credibility of America’s security guarantees but also its diplomatic standing. This marks the second time this year that Israel has exploited the cover of U.S.-led diplomacy to launch unlawful military action—the first being its strike on Iran in the midst of nuclear talks in June.

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Two Incendiary Bombs Dropped on Gaza Flotilla Ships in Past Two Days

For the past two nights around 11:30pm Tunisia time, Israeli forces have dropped incendiary bombs from quadcopter drones on boats of the Global Sumud Flotilla in the waters near Tunis, Tunisia. On the night of September 8, 2025, the first incendiary bomb hit the deck of the lead ship of the flotilla, the “Familia,” causing a fire.

A crew member onboard “Familia” told me that he saw the quadcopter hovering about 20 feet above the ship and then going higher and moving to the bow of the ship. The quadcopter then dropped the incendiary device.

The second incendiary bomb dropped from a quadcopter drone hit the “Alma” ship in the night of September 9, 2025 and again caused a fire to break out.

The Global Sumud Flotilla will not Stop the Mission

The Global Sumud Flotilla issued a statement that the flotilla will not be deterred by the incendiary bombs:

“The Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) confirms that on September 9, another boat in our fleet – the “Alma” – was attacked by a drone as it was docked in Tunisian waters. The boat, sailing under the British flag, sustained fire damage on its top deck. The fire has since been extinguished, and all passengers and crew are safe. An investigation is currently underway and when more information is available it will be released immediately. This marks the second such attack in two days.

These repeat attacks come during intensified Israeli aggression on Palestinians in Gaza, and are an orchestrated attempt to distract and derail our mission. The Global Sumud Flotilla continues undeterred. Our peaceful voyage to break Israel’s illegal siege on Gaza and stand in unwavering solidarity with its people presses forward with determination and resolve.”

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Qatar Says It Reserves Right To Retaliate Against ‘Barbaric’ Netanyahu

Qatar has threatened retaliation after Israel’s strike on Doha Tuesday which killed five top Hamas officials. Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani in a fresh speech condemned the attack as “state terrorism” on the Gulf country’s capital and warned that payback is coming.

He said Qatar reserves the right to retaliate, saying, “We’ve reached a decisive moment; There should be retaliation from the whole region.”

Referencing Israel’s Netanyahu at one point in the address, Thani said that “barbaric actions that only reflects one thing: It reflects the barbarism of this person that is leading the region, unfortunately, to a point where we cannot address any situation and we cannot repair anything, and we cannot work within the frameworks of international laws.”

The Qatari leader continued of the Israeli prime minister, “He just violates all those international laws” – he said through the translator from the Arabic.

But for all the tough talk, the reality remains that Qatar has long been host to major US military and naval bases, especially Al-Udeid Air Base – the largest US installation in the Middle East, and is the operational regional HQ for US Central Command (CENTCOM).

And so it would not take drastic action against a close US military ally such as Israel, also given Qatar’s military capabilities are miniscule compared to Israel’s. The small oil and gas rich GCC nation also does significant lobbying on Capitol Hill.

Reflecting this reality, Thani quickly switched to a more restrained tone in his reaction speech at one point: “Mediation and Qatari diplomacy is part of its identity, and it will continue, and nothing will deter us from persisting in this role across the various issues around us in the region, in order to achieve the stability of the region and ultimately the stability of our peoples,” he said.

So we should expect that absolutely nothing will happen, at least on the military front, but a direct aerial attack on a Gulf state does put the prospect of expansion of the Abraham Accords at a greater distance.

Trump says he assured the Qataris that such an attack “will not happen again on their soil”.

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Israel attacks Hamas leadership in Qatar

he Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday it has attacked Hamas leadership in Doha, Qatar.

“The IDF and ISA conducted a precise strike targeting the senior leadership of the Hamas terrorist organization,” the Israeli military group posted on X. “For years, these members of the Hamas leadership have led the terrorist organization’s operations, are directly responsible for the brutal October 7 massacre, and have been orchestrating and managing the war against the State of Israel.

The leaders of Hamas, the Palestinian group with which Israel has been at war for nearly two years, have had their headquarters outside of Gaza for years.

“Prior to the strike, measures were taken in order to mitigate harm to civilians, including the use of precise munitions and additional intelligence. The IDF and ISA will continue to operate with determination in order to defeat the Hamas terrorist organization responsible for the October 7 massacre,” the IDF also posted on X.

The attack reportedly happened late Tuesday afternoon local time. 

A senior Hamas official told CNN that their negotiators were targeted. Hamas’ chief negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya met with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani in Doha on Monday.

A senior Israeli official told CNN that among those targeted was Al-Hayya.

“We are awaiting the results of the strike,” the official said.

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Israeli intel campaign used US comedian in effort to flip Iranian scientists

A mysterious online campaign linked to Israel’s intelligence services attempted to recruit Iranians to overthrow their government. Some appear to have been placed by an Atlanta-based comedian and influencer.

Desi Banks, an Atlanta comedian and content creator, is known for his light-hearted comic sketches and currently has more than nine million followers on the social media platform Instagram. There is no public record of Banks commenting on sensitive Middle East issues, and each of his ad campaigns on Meta’s platforms relates to his work as an entertainer.

The comedian, who did not respond to repeated requests for comment, seems to have served a surprising role in an apparent Israeli intelligence operation over the last year to recruit members of Iran’s security and intelligence services – including those working in nuclear centers – into aiding the overthrow of their government. Would-be defectors were offered both money and the protection of their families.

Google advertising transparency records show that a production company owned by Banks, Desi Banks Productions LLC, served a set of four Persian-language recruitment ads across at least 19 countries, including the U.S., Sweden, France, Germany, India, and numerous others across the Middle East and Africa.

The four ad campaigns included both overt and deceptive redirections into recruitment pages purporting to be run by Israel’s foreign intelligence services, the Mossad. Others advertise lucrative, tax-free jobs at apparently fictitious international consulting firms.

The most aggressive campaign redirected users to the Mossad’s official, Persian-language recruitment form, advising viewers to activate their virtual private network (VPN) before clicking. According to Google’s ad disclosure portal, this campaign was the sole instance of a Google ad directly linking to the Mossad’s official website, mossad.gov.il.

Germany-based family members of Iranian nuclear engineers appear to be a major focus of the effort, as Germany is the only country identified by the Google ad transparency portal as being targeted with all four ad campaigns.

“You are just one click away from making history,” read the Mossad recruitment ad, captioned atop a darkened cartoon of a man walking down a multi-lane road. “Call Now. The future belongs to you.”

This direct call to espionage was targeted to viewers in at least 18 countries, including the United States.

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“Go Talk To Bill Gates About Me”: How JP Morgan Enabled Jeffrey Epstein’s Crimes, Snagged Netanyahu Meeting

On an autumn day in 2011, Jeffrey Epstein stepped into JPMorgan Chase’s headquarters at 270 Park Avenue and rode the elevator to the executive floors where the bank’s leaders, including Chief Executive Jamie Dimon, kept their offices. Epstein, who had pleaded guilty to a sex crime in Florida three years earlier, had a message for the bank’s top lawyer, Stephen Cutler: he had “turned over a new leaf,” he said, and powerful friends could vouch for him. “Go talk to Bill Gates about me.”

Key takeaways:

  • Epstein was connected to Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, not just former PM Ehud Barak
  • He wired ‘hundreds of millions of dollars in payments to Russian banks and young Eastern European women‘
  • Accounts for young women were opened without in-person verification (in one case a SSN could not be confirmed)
  • Jes Staley was constantly running interference for Epstein vs. JPM compliance concerns
    • At Jes Staley’s urging, compliance spoke with Epstein’s lawyer Ken Starr, who insisted “no crimes” had been committed. 
  • Epstein had accounts at JPM for at least 134 (!) entities
  • JPMorgan funded/serviced pieces tied to Ghislaine Maxwell (millions, incl. $7.4M for a Sikorsky helicopter) and helped finance MC2, the modeling agency linked to Jean-Luc Brunel.

For more than a decade, JPMorgan Chase processed over $1 billion in transactions for Jeffrey Epstein – including hundreds of millions routed to Russian banks and payments to young Eastern European women, opened at least 134 accounts tied to him and his associates, and even helped move millions to Ghislaine Maxwell – including $7.4 million for a Sikorsky helicopter – while anti–money laundering staff repeatedly flagged large cash withdrawals and wire patterns aligned with known trafficking indicators, according to a new report from the NY Times following a six-year investigation that involved “some 13,000 pages” of legal and financial records. Funny how they sat on this until now – maybe it’s related to this, but do read on. 

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West Bank annexation plan is just one more dirty game that Israel plays with the West

As far as cunning plans go, Israel’s claim that it will annex 80 percent of the West Bank is as bold and as whacky as it gets. But will it work? And perhaps more to the point, is it a threat that they intend to go through with, or is it simply a bluff?

The West Bank often is underreported and rarely gets the media oxygen it deserves. Some might be forgiven that this latest announcement of Israel’s extreme right ministers of intending to annex the West Bank is out of the blue. In fact, the Israelis have been considering the plan for quite some time. If it weren’t for the Hamas attack of October 7th 2023, a longer, more measured policy of allowing settlers to do it for them – with the occasional days of military intervention – might have done the job. Some might even argue that the land grabs and the dirty work of armed settlers there stealing houses and land played a key role in the Hamas attack. But the truth is that the idea is nothing new and that Israel has wanted all along to take more land and control of West Bank and now it has the perfect pretext to do it.

The timing of this announcement is worth a second look. If we are to consider that Israel has made many victorious moves in recent months – decapitating Hezbollah in Lebanon, inheriting Syria and carrying out what some western analysts consider to be a successful strike against Iran – then it is fair to say that the confidence level of Netanyahu and his cronies is at an all time high. The hardcore fanatics on the right will be pushing for him to go ‘all out’ with both Gaza and the West Bank, given that they have Trump in the White House and they might consider anything is possible, given his ignorance and servitude. Let’s take West Bank.

Yet it’s the recent move by a number of EU countries to recognize Palestine which is the driving force behind the stunt. Even though the votes at the UN will be unprecedented as France, the UK, Portugal, Canada and Australia push for the recognition of Palestine, the move will still be blocked by the U.S. – yet the symbolism will still mean something in Palestine’s long road towards having its own state. Israel must teach the Europeans a lesson and the West Bank plan, although quite crude, will be effective in doing that: you push for a Palestinian state, we’ll create our own state in West Bank.

The Israelis probably believe that all it will take is for one of these western countries to retract their zealous plan to support the Palestinian statehood idea and it will fall like a house of cards. They might well be banking on the UK being the weakest link here as even Keir Starmer’s most ardent supporters are doubtful whether he will even stick with his so-called threat of supporting the vote for Palestinian statehood. His record of flip-flopping is unprecedented after all.

Perhaps this is the thinking of sending Israel’s President Isaac Herzog to visit Starmer in London on the coming days.

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