This week, U.S. threats toward Iran ramped up, Biden officials’ internal warnings about Gaza are exposed, and new Epstein documents add more detail to networks of influence related to Israel. Palestinians describe intimidation at the Rafah crossing, Gaza faces a deadly health outbreak under siege conditions, and West Bank communities continue to be targeted by settlement expansion. In the UK, Palestine Action wins an important court decision over their protest campaign targeting weapons manufacturer Elbit.
📹 Video
We’ve also launched a new monthly video companion to Michael Arria’s politics newsletter, The Shift! Each month, Michael and Mondoweiss Managing Editor Adam Horowitz break down Palestine politics across the U.S. This month: polling showing support for Israel falling across the spectrum, AIPAC’s increasingly evasive messaging, what the Epstein files suggest about elite networks, and the Biden administration cables on Gaza that were suppressed. Check it out below and let us know what you think!
🇺🇸 United States
The U.S. is escalating threats against Iran as part of a broader effort to maintain regional control. New reporting shows how the Biden administration suppressed internal warnings about Gaza while continuing to support Israel. Newly released Epstein files also add more detail to the networks of influence connecting powerful figures to Israel.
READ MORE → Trump is not threatening war on Iran over its nuclear program, but because it challenges U.S. dominance — Mitchell Plitnick
READ MORE → The Shift: Biden officials blocked early warning describing Gaza as ‘apocalyptic wasteland’ — Michael Arria
READ MORE → Newly released Epstein files reveal further ties to Israel — Michael Arria
🇵🇸 Gaza & West Bank
Palestinians described harsh treatment and intimidation at the Rafah crossing as some returned to Gaza after years in exile. Gaza’s health crisis is deepening, with a meningitis outbreak spreading and Israel restricting medication. In the West Bank, settlement expansion continues to target communities like Umm al-Khair, even as residents refuse to leave.
READ MORE → Handcuffs, interrogation, humiliation: Palestinians describe Israeli treatment at Rafah crossing — Tareq S. Hajjaj
READ MORE → A deadly meningitis outbreak is threatening Gaza’s children — Tareq S. Hajjaj
READ MORE → Life and loss in Umm al-Khair, an island within a settlement — Ali Awad, Rafaela Cortez, and Ricardo Esteves Ribeiro
🇮🇱 Israel
Israel’s war economy and political leadership are driving an explicit push for regional expansion and long-term dominance. A former defense minister’s warning about the rise of Jewish supremacist ideology points to how openly this worldview is now shaping Israeli politics.
READ MORE → The new era of Israeli expansionism and the war economy that fuels it — Ahmed Alqarout
READ MORE → Former Israeli Defense Minister: Israel’s ideology of ‘Jewish supremacy’ resembles Nazi race theory — Jonathan Ofir
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
A UK court acquitted six Palestine Action activists connected to a protest at an Elbit site, a significant outcome as authorities continue to target Palestine solidarity organizing.
READ MORE → Palestine Action activists acquitted over Elbit action — Michael Arria
One of the more under-reported issues in the ‘conflict’ is Israel’s economic warfare against the Palestinian Authority, under-reported partly because of the technicalities involved and partly because the home demolitions and settler violence overshadow all else.
Israel’s economic warfare and the hidden monetary and financial roots of Palestine’s humanitarian crisis….Like winter, the deadline was—and is once again—coming. The banking waiver that indemnifies Israeli banks to transact with their Palestinian counterparts in the Occupied West Bank was set to expire on Dec. 14, if not renewed. Following past trends for this waiver, Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, let this decision come down to the wire, and even then only extended it for another two months. It will now be up for renewal yet again in mid-February 2026. The survival of the West Bank’s economy is contingent on this waiver. As are Palestinian lives….This is the financial reality in the Occupied West Bank, where economic and governance functions are determinant on the banking waiver, and thus forced into a state of consistent precarity. In Gaza, even money has been decimated….Palestine’s greater financial system remains under Israeli control, with severe restrictions that make choice, dignity, and economic life near impossible….
Why Gaza’s Aid Effort Will Fail Without Cash | Lawfare
Meltdown Looms for the West Bank’s Financial Lifelines…Israel’s threatened termination of a banking waiver would paralyse financial activity in the West Bank, causing an economic meltdown and risking the Palestinian Authority’s collapse – with dire consequences for West Bank Palestinians – and maybe for Israel, too. The U.S. should press Israel to change course.
Meltdown Looms for the West Bank’s Financial Lifelines | International Crisis Group
See the IDF’s new Arabic-language spokesperson:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRWFSr3Sz84