Pro-Palestine Activists Fell for Iran’s Propaganda Western supporters would do well to note how Tehran’s policy has left the Palestinian cause in ruins. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2025/06/iran-propaganda-palestine/683322/ Israel’s attack on Iran has elicited a predictable response from groups that identify as “pro-Palestine.” At protests in several Western cities—some merely anti-war or anti-interventionist, others explicitly anti-Zionist or pro-Iranian—people rushed to criticize the Israeli military action to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons. In so doing, they offer succor to a ruthless theocratic regime that has ground its heel upon its own people and brought misery to the entire region for nearly half a century. By backing various regimes and militias in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and Gaza, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been responsible, directly or indirectly, for the death of hundreds of thousands of Arab and Muslim people in the conflicts it has fomented. Iranian meddling in the region has provided Arab dictators such as Syria’s Bashar al-Assad with both the moral and material means to suppress dissent, crush reform, and extend their autocratic rule. The pro-Palestine messaging ignores the fact that a nuclear-armed Iran would be far more belligerent and dangerous than the regime already has been for the past three decades. For the pro-Palestine lobby to take at face value Tehran’s claim to lead an “Axis of Resistance” against Israel is at best naive, and at worst malignant in a way that can only be described as anti-Semitic. It means accepting that the Islamic Republic’s eliminationist rhetoric about Israel has made it a legitimate advocate for the Palestinian cause. These pro-Palestine voices seem oblivious of the fact that the Palestinian national project for independence and statehood is in ruins, thanks in large part to Iranian influence. Back in the 1990s, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps and political leadership worked to undermine the Oslo peace process by inciting Hamas’s opposition to any settlement that would have led to a two-state solution. Later, they encouraged Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas to carry out suicide bombings inside Israel. Beginning in 2005, Iran increased its arms shipments to Hamas, enabling the group to seize control of Gaza in 2007 and turn it into a one-party Islamist statelet. Iran also financed Hamas’s construction of tunnels in Gaza and provided the group with missile technology, funneled via the smuggling networks that Iran effectively sponsored in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. Iranian support for terrorism also benefited from Hamas’s Qatari financing, which propped up the group’s tenure as the government of Gaza. This arrangement also had the tacit assent of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, because the Islamist-controlled enclave helped keep the Palestinian national movement divided and block any progress toward a two-state solution. In this respect, the backing that Hamas received from the mullahs of Tehran aligned with Netanyahu’s security policy—a fact that the pro-Palestine voices expressing solidarity with Iran might do well to reflect on. Iran’s pro-Palestine posture was entirely instrumental. It never cared about any of the Middle East’s Muslim or Arab peoples as such. Instead, it used their causes solely as a means to exert influence and build a network of proxy forces in the region. Tehran’s realpolitik surfaced memorably in 2011 when Hamas sided with Syrian protesters against Assad; Iran was furious at this affront to its Syrian asset, and cut off Hamas’s funding until after it reestablished relations with the Damascus dictatorship. I realize that many people in the West are furious about what Israel has been doing in Gaza since Hamas’s abhorrent attack on October 7, 2023. Israel had a right to self-defense against that incursion and the atrocities perpetrated against its citizens. Yet, in the nearly two years since then, the brutality and intensity of Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip have mobilized opposition around the world. I, too, feel sadness and anger about the remorseless violence: Israel’s war in Gaza has killed members of both my immediate and my extended family. Too often, however, I see that harsh criticism of Israel fails to pin blame on the current Netanyahu-led government, which is loathed by a large number of Israelis, and devolves into delegitimization of the Jewish state itself. This inability to distinguish between Netanyahu’s far-right coalition and other trends in Israeli politics does a profound disservice to the pro-Palestine cause because it gives credence to Tehran’s cynical posture as a Palestinian champion. The Islamic Republic of Iran will never cease its meddling in the Palestinian issue, because Tehran needs the conflict to feed its propaganda machine. The reality is that a secure, stable, independent Palestine will remain a remote possibility as long as the Islamic Republic exists in its current form and is allowed to maintain its pro-Palestine pose. Only by calling out this evil regime and distancing from it can the pro-Palestine movement hope to be effective. The pro-Palestine lobby would do better to take its cues from the regime’s internal opponents, the brave Iranian people who have, in successive waves of a popular movement for reform and freedom, protested their violent, repressive government. The partisans of the Palestinian cause should stop to ask themselves how else Israel’s intelligence agencies would have been able to gather the kind of information that has led to its stunning military success in the opening hours of the war. Many Iranians inside Iran today view Israel as their only hope of overthrowing the mullahs. Unfortunately, but understandably, many Iranians have come to resent the Palestinian cause—precisely because the regime has used it as a pretext to squander the country’s precious resources on its militia proxies in the name of fighting Israel. Ultimately, the Iranian people should be the ones to decide their nation’s future. This war, which may not be truly over despite the current cease-fire, must avoid the error of mission creep by keeping its focus solely on eliminating Tehran’s nuclear program and military capacity to destabilize the region. Confronting the Iranian regime need not repeat Iraq in 2003; at present, the United States seems mindful of that risk. What onlookers in the West should know is that the Islamic Republic is no true friend of Palestine. The misguided slogans of anti-Israel leftists and overzealous social-justice activists that echo the Iranian regime’s anti-Zionist talking points do nothing but harm the Palestinian cause. They are a form of sabotage, not solidarity. Cheering Iranian missiles as they cause death and harm in Israel is no way to advance the Palestinian people’s just aspirations for freedom, dignity, and self-determination.
The U.S. bailed out the GHF giving them $30 million. The organization's food distribution efforts have been a complete failure. It is time for a new approach. US State Department Approves $30 Million in Funding for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation https://english.aawsat.com/arab-wor...-million-funding-gaza-humanitarian-foundation GHF boss defends Gaza aid operation after hundreds of Palestinians killed near sites https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20rz63g1zko
The future for Hamas looks bleak. Hamas In Rough Shape With Tehran In Disarray https://dailycaller.com/2025/06/27/hamas-rough-shape-tehran-disarray-israel-war-gaza/ Hamas may be on its last legs as Israel’s weakening of Iran and arming of rival clans in the Gaza Strip threatens to choke the fight out of the militant group, Reuters reported Friday. Hamas has lost much of its top-level leadership, struggles with a collapsing tunnel network and faces potential abandonment from its most powerful ally in Tehran after the Israeli and U.S. strikes on the Islamic Republic, according to Reuters. President Donald Trump instituted a ceasefire between Iran and Israel June 23, paving the way for Israel to refocus its efforts to destroy Hamas. “They’re hiding because they are being instantly hit by planes but they appear here and there, organizing queues in front of bakeries, protecting aid trucks or punishing criminals,” a construction worker in Gaza City told Reuters regarding Hamas’ recent activities. “They’re not like before the war, but they exist.” Hamas’ strength has dropped off considerably, with the militant group even reportedly struggling to pay its own fighters as supplies dwindle. Israel is working toward the eventual objective of achieving total control over the Gaza Strip and denying Hamas the ability to ever regain control of the territory again. Hamas is seemingly treading water in terms of numbers, adding just about enough fighters to make up for their losses since the start of the war, Reuters reported in January. Israel has taken out Hamas leaders repeatedly during the course of the war, most recently assassinating Mohammed Sinwar in May. Israel also recently decided to start arming rival clans in the Gaza Strip as a means of indirectly fighting Hamas. The Israel-Hamas war has raged for nearly two years after the Islamic militant group launched its Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, killing nearly 1,200 people while taking 240 hostages. Many of the hostages have either been returned during a brief ceasefire from January to March, or died in captivity. Israel resumed military action in the Gaza Strip on March 18 after two U.S. proposals for hostage releases were reportedly shot down by Hamas. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced considerable international pressure to end the war, but has so far continued to pursue the conflict in Gaza. Iran has taken a massive hit since Israel began its strikes on the nation on June 12, with numerous airstrikes taking out key Iranian leadership, weapons and logistics centers while targeting the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program and top nuclear scientists. President Donald Trump ordered strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities on June 21, later saying that the bombing runs “obliterated” Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. The Israeli Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
Yeah, whatever. Trump says ceasefire in Gaza possible "within the next week" https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-gaza-israel-hamas-ceasefire-possible-next-week/
Another terrorist bites the dust. IDF kills key Hamas founder deemed an 'orchestrator' of Oct 7 terror attack in Israel Hakham Muhammad Issa Al-Issa was actively working to rebuild Hamas' organizational systems damaged during the war https://www.foxnews.com/world/idf-k...eemed-orchestrator-oct-7-terror-attack-israel
Why is the below article in this thread? Because it's an example of billions of dollars of American working class tax payer money feeding Israel's appetite for war, while the despised Gazan's get nothing from the West for their poverty. Opinion The Bezos-Sanchez wedding party proves it – the age of vulgarity is upon us Jacqueline Maley Columnist and senior journalist June 29, 2025 https://www.smh.com.au/national/the...-of-vulgarity-is-upon-us-20250627-p5maui.html One should never be cynical about love, but it is impossible to not be a little bit cynical about the nuptials of Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos and his recently acquired bride, former television host Lauren Sanchez. The happy couple this week took over Venice for their wedding festival, which commenced with a foam party aboard the $500 million Bezos mega-yacht, moored in view of paparazzi off the coast of Croatia. Bezos and Sánchez are pictured here sharing a kiss as they leave their hotel in Venice for a pre-wedding reception.Credit: AP For the uninitiated, a pre-wedding foam party seems to be a yacht-based, poolside romp in which the bride and groom-to-be frolic in their swimwear, covered by soapy bubbles that have presumably been prepped by one of the many invisible workers who have toiled to make this $50 million special day come true. Just as the working-poor labour force that powers Amazon has invisibly toiled to make Bezos one of the world’s richest men (currently fourth-richest, as per the Forbes “Real Time Billionaires List). We know about the foam party – from which the couple was helicoptered to Venice – because it was abundantly photographed. Like the Zen koan about the tree falling in the forest, there is zero point in a billionaire wedding unless it is telegraphed widely across the world in exquisite detail: the guest list (which included Oprah Winfrey, Katy Perry, Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, Kim Kardashian and sundry other Kardashi), the rolling schedule of parties, the flight logs of the 90-odd private jets expected to land at local airports, the price tags, and the dresses, the dresses (for the bride did not have just one). The publicity is the point. The transparent vulgarity is even more the point. As reported in New York magazine, “Sanchez, in some respects, represents the aesthetic and moral pinnacle of the Mar-a-Lago era.” It was not so long ago that stealth-wealth was in vogue, and that so-called quiet luxury was aspirational. But the re-election of Donald Trump, and the slavish compliance the tech-bro oligarchs immediately bestowed on his administration (Sanchez managed to upstage the president by wearing a cleavage-driven inauguration outfit that Vogue noted “forgoes inauguration style codes”), has changed all that. An authoritarian’s power is bolstered by military might and (often plundered) wealth, but most of his power is given freely to him by the people who surround him, and who want to please him. In the same way, the hold that the current crop of tech-bro billionaires has over the global consciousness at this moment in history has been largely given to them by us, the horrified/fascinated public. (We have also handed them an unregulated digital space in which they can make their own rules, as well as their fortunes.) The billionaire bride and groom are giving us a show because they know we will watch it. And MAGA wealth exists to be seen as much as it exists to be enjoyed. On a geopolitical level, the MAGA crowd is hostile to Europe – Trump is always kvetching about the European powers not spending enough on their defence, and in leaked Signal messages from the “Houthi PC small group” group-chat, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth expressed “loathing” for “European free-loading”, which he said was “PATHETIC”. In an interview on Fox News, Vice President JD Vance famously dismissed the UK as “some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years”. But all such quibbles are pushed aside when it comes to MAGA celebrations that must project wealth and glamour. That’s when European class is required, and thankfully, it can easily be bought. Sanchez had her hen do in Paris, and it included an open-top boat ride down the Seine with the gals, as well as the attendance, reportedly, of one billionaire’s wife in an Issey Miyake bronze-effect breastplate-top recently bought at auction for $54,000. For the actual wedding, the guest list was reported to be about 200. They can’t all be famous people, of course. Some of them must be cousins and siblings and siblings’ spouses who have been fighting off considerable anxiety about what on earth to wear to such an event. Thankfully, the couple relieved guests of the anxiety of choosing a wedding present. They specified that no gifts were expected, and instead, they would make donations to several Venetian charities. The people of Venice were not altogether happy with the takeover of their city, with local groups organising protests that caused at least one of the wedding parties to be relocated. Venice has become prohibitively expensive for ordinary people, they complained, and such spectacles only drive up prices further. Some of the protesters contended that Bezos should pay more tax. Their activism was a welcome gesture of resistance, from which the US Democrats could learn a lot. Because now vulgarity is in, and if it is accepted, for example, that the United States president will use profane language in public when speaking about a US ally, as Trump did this week, then there is no longer any value in restraint. The Gatsby-esque Bezos nuptials are proof-positive of that, attended by the kinds of “careless people” that F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote about it in his 1925 masterpiece. People who “smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made”. In the words of a Venice resident quoted in a Reuters report: “There’s only one thing that rules now: money, money, money, so we are the losers. “We who were born here have to either move to the mainland or we have to ask them for permission to board a ferry. They’ve become the masters.” Jacqueline Maley is a columnist.
What does this have to do with Israel and Hamas. Not a thing. Let's see if you at least can stay on topic.