As global attention is drawn elsewhere, Israel has resumed its full-scale assault on Gaza. Tareq Hajjaj reports on the deepening catastrophe: water and electricity have once again been cut off to over 2 million Palestinians, plunging Gaza into darkness pierced only by the flash of Israeli bombs. On the ground, Palestinians face a grim ultimatum: death or displacement. Chris Hedges describes it as the “final stage of genocide”—a campaign of total erasure.
This push is not just military. Qassam Muaddi unpacks Israel’s latest plan to facilitate the “voluntary emigration” of Palestinians from Gaza—another euphemism for ethnic cleansing. The world must not be fooled by the language of bureaucracy.
In the West Bank, Israeli forces are intensifying violence, turning refugee camps into battlefields. Felix Nobes documents how even Palestinian sports, a source of pride and resistance, are being systematically dismantled.
In parallel, the Trump administration is accelerating its domestic war on dissent. Michael Arria gives a detailed breakdown of the growing number of lawsuits targeting Trump’s sweeping efforts to criminalize Palestine advocacy. Among these is the alarming creation of the “Joint Task Force October 7,” which Arria says is designed to hunt down pro-Palestine voices under the pretense of national security.
At universities, students and faculty are being surveilled, silenced, and, in some cases, deported. D. Musa Springer interviews Momodou Taal, a campus activist facing deportation for his Palestine solidarity work. And an open letter this week calls on universities to refuse cooperation with the Trump regime’s agenda targeting not only critics of Zionism, but immigrants, queer and trans people, and communities of color.
Michael Arria also reports on Trump’s nomination of Mike Huckabee—a Christian Zionist hardliner—as ambassador to Israel. It’s yet another signal that this administration is doubling down on far-right alliances and apartheid policies.
Sahar Aziz argues that this is not just about Palestine—it’s about the larger backlash against social justice movements in the U.S. The attacks on DEI and Palestinian rights are two sides of the same coin.
The threads are clear: from Gaza to U.S. campuses, this is a coordinated war on Palestinian life and solidarity. But resistance continues—on the ground, in the courtroom, and in the streets. A major protest march has been called for Washington, D.C., on April 5th.
In solidarity,
Dave Reed, Publisher
Must read: The Gaza demonstrations, and the desire for certainty
Abdaljawad Omar: The protests in Gaza calling for Hamas to step down are fueled by a desire for certainty — that if Hamas simply surrenders, Israel’s genocide will stop. The tragedy is that these cries will go unheard or, even worse, will further fuel the war machine.
Catch-up
🧑⚖️ Michael Arria: Here is a rundown of all of the lawsuits that have been filed aimed at halting the Trump administration’s draconian crackdown on constitutional rights when it comes to Palestine. Also, Michael reported on Mike Huckabee’s nomination as ambassador to Israel.
🇮🇱 Qassam Muaddi: Israel announced that it would set up a bureau for the “voluntary emigration” of Palestinians out of Gaza. This isn’t the first time Israel has done it, and it won’t work this time either.
🎓 Open Letter: Universities are serving as staging grounds for the Trump regime’s attacks on immigrants, people of color, trans and queer people, and critics of Zionism. Universities and campus communities must refuse to cooperate with this fascist agenda.
🇮🇱 Jonathan Ofir: An Israeli conference on antisemitism has come under fire due to the participation of far-right European politicians, many with a history of anti-Jewish racism. While this invite list is offensive, it should not be a surprise given Zionist history.
🇺🇸 Michael Arria: The Trump administration’s new “Joint Task Force October 7” appears to be yet another weapon in the White House’s war on Palestine activism.
📰 Ahmad Ibsais: Hossam Shabat and Mohammad Mansour were the latest Palestinian journalists to be assassinated in Gaza. Responsibility for their killings rests in part on their Western colleagues who have failed to accurately cover Israel’s genocidal assault.
🗣️ D. Musa Springer: In an interview with Mondoweiss, Momodou Taal discusses the threat of deportation for his Palestine activism, Cornell’s cooperation with the government crackdown on free speech, and what is at stake in his fight against the Trump administration.
🇱🇧 Sabah Haider: The IMF and World Bank are conditioning reconstruction funds on Lebanon’s normalization with Israel and disarming Hezbollah. In the Dahiya suburb of Beirut, the people who’ve lost their homes in the war think this is unacceptable.
🇵🇸 Chris Hedges: Israel has begun the final stage of its genocide. Palestinians are being forced to choose between death or deportation. What we are witnessing dwarfs all the historical assaults on Palestinians.
🇺🇸 Sahar Aziz: Donald Trump has ushered in his second term with a full-fledged assault on DEI programs and advocates for Palestinian rights. Both attacks should be understood within the long history of White backlash to movements for social and racial justice.
🇵🇸 Aya Al-Hattab: Before the war resumed, I was able to visit my old neighborhood in Gaza City. Nothing of it was left.
🇵🇸 Felix Nobes: Palestinian refugee camps are known for producing resistance fighters and footballers. But Israel’s ongoing onslaught in Gaza and the West Bank is erasing every aspect of Palestinian life, including sports.
🚰 Tareq Hajjaj: Israel resumed its genocidal war on Gaza by cutting off water and electricity to 2.1 million Palestinians, threatening a humanitarian disaster.
