Days after the Israeli army raided and shuttered seven Palestinian civil society organizations, Israel is escalating its attacks on the groups, with Israeli intelligence officials reportedly threatening two of groups’ directors with arrest after calling them in for interrogation.

Israeli forces raided the offices of seven Palestinian civil society organizations, confiscated their equipment and materials, and shuttered their offices, claiming they were “unlawful”. The raids are the latest escalation since Israel arbitrarily designated six of the organizations as “terror groups” last year. Defense for Children International – Palestine director Khaled Quzmar tells Mondoweiss the message is clear: “We are under imminent risk now.”

Israel has admitted to conducting the airstrike that killed five Palestinian children in Gaza after initially blaming their deaths on a Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket. The strike targeted the al-Faluja cemetery in the town of Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, and struck five children, four of whom were from the same family, while they were visiting the grave of their grandfather. The youngest victim of the strike was just three-years-old. 

Democracy for the Arab World Now is calling on the U.S. government to investigate four lobbyists connected to the NSO Group for violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Actions that could constitute breach of loyalty or trust include anything the state finds as “terrorism”, espionage, or treason. Rights groups expect the law to be used disproportionately against Palestinian citizens of Israel, who make up 20% of the state’s population. 

Nine European Union states announced their support for the Palestinian civil society organizations that were arbitrarily deemed “terrorist institutions” by the Israeli government last year. The EU states rejected the Israeli designation, citing lack of proof.

New evidence reveals that US plans to build an embassy in Jerusalem would place the diplomatic compound on privately-owned Palestinian land that was confiscated from its owners by Israel, following the Nakba and the establishment of the state in 1948. 

Following the US investigation into Abu Akleh’s killing, which was ruled “inconclusive”, her family are still urging for an open independent investigation by the US, UN, and the ICC.

The Bennett/Lapid “government of change” has collapsed under pressure from Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud party. New elections are set for October, but there is no alternative to apartheid on the Israeli horizon.

In the years I’ve been covering Israel’s occupation of Palestine, it’s an issue that arises time and time again. Palestinians are criminalized and imprisoned, and their lives destroyed all because of a weapon that Israel can yield, without any question or consequence: secret evidence.