Weekly Briefing: Assassinations, closed borders, and the “new security reality”

This week, Tareq Hajjaj reports that Israel continued its assassination campaign in Gaza. Resistance sources described it as an attempt to lure fighters back into direct confrontation so Israel can dodge its ceasefire obligations and continue the war. Noor Alyacoubi shows how Gaza remains sealed off because Israel refuses to open the Rafah border crossing, trapping families, blocking reunification, and keeping the territory cut off from the outside world. Israel is moving to lock in new “security realities” beyond Gaza, with a renewed military push in the northern West Bank that Palestinians say is meant to pave the way for rebuilding settlements.

In the U.S., Michael Arria examines Zohran Mamdani’s win in New York City, which was partly driven by Palestine organizing, and where the first real test will be whether his City Hall can withstand pressure to discipline that movement once it becomes politically inconvenient. He also breaks down the growing campaign against Israel Bonds, as activists notch real divestment wins and show that “follow the money” organizing can still move institutions. Phil Weiss’s must-read on the New York Times Epstein exposé is a reminder of how elite media sanitizes power, even in a story about trafficking and impunity, by treating Israel as an unmentionable factor. From Australia, Jennine Khalik reports that the Bondi Beach attack is being weaponized to accelerate repression of the Palestine movement, while Jonathan Ofir shows Netanyahu exploiting the tragedy to conflate Jewish safety with Zionism, a maneuver that fuels antisemitism while demanding obedience.

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Must read: The New York Times ignores an essential part of the Jeffrey Epstein story — Israel

Phil Weiss: The New York Times has published a major exposé purporting to explain how Jeffrey Epstein rose to the top of the financial and political world, but it ignores one key topic: Israel.

Genocide in Gaza

🇮🇱 Tareq Hajjaj: Since mid-October, Israel has carried out an assassination campaign in Gaza targeting resistance leaders. Contacts within the resistance say Israel is trying to lure them back into direct confrontation to avoid fulfilling its ceasefire obligations.

🇵🇸 Noor Alyacoubi: Gaza’s Rafah border crossing was supposed to reopen in October as part of the ceasefire agreement. But the border remains closed, keeping Gaza shut off from the outside world and preventing families from reuniting with loved ones.

Catch-up

🐘 Mitchell Plitnick: A new poll provides extraordinary data regarding the changing view of Israel in an unexpected place — inside the Republican Party.

🍎 Michael Arria: Zohran Mamdani’s victory in New York City owed no small debt to Palestine activists, many of whom mobilized behind his campaign. But how will this relationship fare once he enters City Hall? There are some early tests that will help us determine the outcome.

🇮🇱 Shatha Hanaysha: In recent weeks, the Israeli army launched a renewed military campaign in the northern West Bank. Palestinians say these operations aim to establish a new “security reality” to facilitate the rebuilding of Israeli settlements dismantled in 2005.

🇮🇷 Nargol Aran: Israel’s attack on Iran was the latest campaign in a longer war to subdue the region.

🇦🇺 Jennine Khalik: The Australian government is using the Bondi Beach attack as a pretext to accelerate its repression of the Palestine movement. This response lays bare the state’s true interest: to protect and defend Australia’s complicity in the Gaza genocide.

✡️ Jonathan Ofir: Benjamin Netanyahu is blaming the attack at Bondi Beach on Australia’s support for Palestinian statehood. He conflates Jewish safety with Zionism to garner support for Israel, but in doing so, he enlists all Jews as agents of Palestinian oppression.

🇵🇸 Rima Najjar: What Palestinians actually mean by “one democratic state,” and what liberation can look like when the settler society refuses to leave.

🏆 Michael Arria: In recent weeks, activists have achieved major victories in getting states to divest from Israel Bonds. But what exactly are Israel Bonds, what role do they play in the Israeli occupation, and how are activists successfully mobilizing against them?