Trump’s Tanker Grab vs. the Houthis’ Anti-Genocide Blockade

Who’s the Real Outlaw at Sea?

by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J.S. Davies / December 23rd, 2025

The United States has now intercepted multiple Venezuelan oil tankers as part of its escalating aggression against Venezuela, while also destroying dozens of small boats in the Caribbean and Pacific under the banner of “drug enforcement,” killing over 100 people whose identities the U.S. has obscured. At the same time, the Trump administration has threatened a naval blockade of Venezuela—a sovereign country with which the United States is not at war.

How can Washington claim the right to seize or blow up vessels, disrupt maritime trade, and kill civilian boaters—while bombing Yemen and condemning its de facto Houthi government for intercepting ships in the Red Sea to counter Israel’s genocide in Gaza?

This contrast exposes a stark double standard in U.S. policy. The U.S. government labelled the Houthis’ actions as “terrorism”, piracy, and a threat to U.S. national security, even as the Houthi government presented plausible legal justifications for its actions based on the laws of war. But Washington has tried to normalize—or even glorify—its own attacks on tankers, pineros (ferries or water-taxis) and fishing boats, which violate the most basic principles of international law.

Beginning in November 2023, Yemen’s Houthi movement launched a naval campaign in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Arabian Sea in response to Israel’s assault on Gaza. The Houthis publicly announced their criteria, stating they would target only vessels linked to Israel, bound for Israeli ports, owned by Israeli companies, or connected to states materially supporting Israel’s war.

The United States and its allies immediately denounced these actions as criminal. And there were legitimate grounds for scrutiny. Human rights groups raised concerns about attacks that struck vessels without obvious Israeli connections and about the safety and treatment of civilian crews. Over the course of the campaign, the Houthis targeted more than 100 commercial vessels, damaged dozens, sank several, and seized at least one ship outright—the Galaxy Leader—detaining its multinational crew for more than a year before releasing them in connection with Gaza ceasefire negotiations.

But as a matter of law, the Houthis consistently framed their actions as blockade and interdiction during an armed conflict, justified by Israel’s grave breaches of international humanitarian law. That legal framework exists. Under the Geneva Conventions and customary international law, parties to an armed conflict have the right—and in cases of grave breaches, the obligation—to interdict shipping that materially supports a belligerent committing mass civilian harm. In the case of Israel’s genocide, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has found, and the UN General Assembly (UNGA) has affirmed, that all states are obliged to cut off all military and economic support for Israel’s assault on Gaza.

The United States’ response was not to pressure Israel to halt its genocidal assault—an outcome that would have also immediately ended the Houthi campaign—but to unleash overwhelming force against Yemen. Beginning in December 2023, Washington organized Operation Prosperity Guardian, a multinational naval deployment backed by extensive U.S. airpower. Over the following year, the United States and Britain carried out hundreds of airstrikes on Yemen, bombing radar sites, missile launchers, ports, the capital, Sanaa, and other infrastructure. Several hundred Houthi fighters were killed, along with scores of civilians. One U.S. strike on the Ras Isa oil terminal killed dozens of African migrants when U.S. bombs hit a detention facility.

But how do the Houthi interdictions compare with the Trump administration’s actions toward Venezuela?

On December 10, Donald Trump boasted to reporters, “We have just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela — a large tanker, very large, the largest one ever seized actually,” as his administration released video of U.S. Marines rappelling from helicopters onto a civilian oil tanker. This was not a conflict zone. Venezuela is not at war with the United States. There was no UN Security Council authorization, no armed conflict, and no claim of self-defense.

Since then, additional Venezuelan-linked tankers have been intercepted or turned back, and the administration has openly threatened a naval blockade. Meanwhile, U.S. forces have destroyed dozens of small boats in the region under the pretext of counter-narcotics operations, killing over 100 people at sea without arrests, trials, or even public identification of the victims. These were not lawful acts of war or legitimate law enforcement. They were extralegal, summary uses of lethal force.

Under international law, seizing civilian commercial vessels in international waters or imposing a naval blockade outside of a declared armed conflict are “acts of aggression” and can constitute acts of war. The Trump administration claims its actions are justified by U.S. sanctions on Venezuela. But those sanctions are themselves illegal under international law. Only the UN Security Council has the authority to impose and enforce sanctions. Unilateral coercive measures—especially when enforced through military force—violate the UN Charter.

Legal experts have been unequivocal: the United States has no jurisdiction to seize foreign-flagged vessels to enforce its domestic laws or unilateral sanctions outside its territory, particularly in another country’s territorial waters.

The distinction could not be clearer.

The Houthis declared a blockade and attacked ships that violated it, based on a legal rationale rooted in the laws of armed conflict, to try to end mass civilian slaughter in Gaza, and their interceptions stopped when a ceasefire was declared in Gaza.

On the other hand, the United States, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, has seized tankers, destroyed boats, killed people at sea, and threatened a blockade against a country it is not at war with—not to try to end a war or save a civilian population from genocide, but simply in pursuit of extralegal regime change and U.S. control of that country’s most valuable resources.

If the United States wants safety at sea, whether in the Caribbean or the Red Sea, it should stop enforcing illegal sanctions by the illegal use of military force, and stop enabling genocide in Palestine. U.S. murder and violence against other people and countries does not become lawful simply because officials in the White House wish that it was.

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Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J.S. Davies are the authors of War in Ukraine: Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict, published by OR Books, November 2022.  Medea Benjamin is the cofounder of CODEPINK for PEACE, and the author of several books, including Inside Iran:  The Real History and Politics of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Nicolas J.S. Davies is an independent journalist, a researcher for CODEPINK and the author of Blood on our Hands:  The American Invasion and Destruction of Iraq. Read other articles by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J.S. Davies.

Progressive Jews Decry ADL ‘Mamdani Monitor’ for Conflating Israel Criticism With Antisemitism

The head of one group decried the ADL’s “disproportionate attention on left-of-center activists’ views on Israel while failing to apply the same scrutiny to the Trump administration.”



Palestine defenders protest the Gaza genocide and conflation of anti-Zionism with antisemitism during a February 8, 2025 demonstration in Edmonton, Alberta in Canada.
(Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Brett Wilkins
Dec 23, 2025
COMMON DREAMS

The heads of three left-leaning US Jewish groups on Monday admonished the Anti-Defamation League after the controversial watchdog once again conflated criticism of Israel with antisemitism in its latest report on New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and his transition team.

The Anti-Defamation League noted approvingly in its updated “Mamdani Monitor” that “at least 25 individuals” in the democratic socialist’s transition team “have a past relationship with the ADL or partner organizations, or a history of supporting the Jewish community.”

The group also appreciated that “Mamdani’s team can and will respond appropriately” to actual incidents of antisemitism, pointing to last week’s resignation of Catherine Almonte Da Costa, Mamdani’s former director of appointments, following the revelation of antisemitic social media posts she published in the early 2010s.

However, the ADL said it remains “deeply concerned” by Mamdani’s statements and actions, highlighting what the group claimed were “many examples of individuals who have engaged in some type of antisemitic, anti-Zionist, or anti-Israel activities and/or have ties to groups that engage in such activities” among the mayor-elect’s transition team appointees.

“These activities include spreading classic antisemitic tropes, vilifying those who support Jewish self-determination in their ancestral homeland, seeking to undermine the legitimacy and security of the Jewish state, and more,” the ADL said, adding that “at least a dozen transition committee appointees expressed support for the anti-Israel campus encampments in the spring of 2024.”

The Mamdani Monitor also noted that “at least 20% of the 400-plus appointees have ties to anti-Zionist groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), which openly glorifies Hamas’ October 7 attack... Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), a fringe group that advocates for the eradication of Zionism and demonizes Zionists; Within Our Lifetime (WOL), a New York-based radical anti-Zionist organization... and others.”

Asked about the report during a Monday press conference, Mamdani said, “We must distinguish between antisemitism and criticism of the Israeli government.”

“The ADL’s report oftentimes ignores this distinction, and in doing so it draws attention away from the very real crisis of antisemitism we see not only just in our city but in the country at large,” he continued. “When we’re thinking about critiques of Zionism and different forms of political expression, as much of what this report focuses on, there’s a wide variety of political opinion, even within our own 400-plus transition committee.”

Critics say the ADL’s claim in the update that it “has long distinguished between legitimate criticism of Israeli government policies and antisemitism” is belied by not only the Mamdani Monitor’s language, but also its own significantly expanded definition of antisemitism and antisemitic incidents, which include protests against Israel’s US-backed genocidal war on Gaza.

Jamie Beran, CEO of the progressive group Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, said in an X thread that “we were disappointed but not surprised to see today’s ADL report continue their conflation of criticism of the Israeli government’s actions with antisemitism” and the group’s “favoring of Trumpian tactics over bridge building and its prioritization of fearmongering over the safety of American Jews and our neighbors.”

Beran continued:
The ADL of today seems to have three interests: keeping their right wing megadonors happy, protecting the current Israeli government’s violent far-right agenda by conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism, and cozying up to [US President Donald] Trump to stay close to power.

None of this fights antisemitism. Their McCarthyist Mamdani Monitor is the first of its kind because the ADL chose not to deploy a similar tactic when their bedfellows offered Nazi salutes, hired and pardoned neo-Nazis, and continued to openly spread dangerous antisemitic conspiracy myths.

“If the ADL truly wanted to fight antisemitism—like we do every day—they would actually confront it at its roots and how it works alongside all forms of bigotry, not instrumentalize it for an unpopular political agenda that has nothing to do with Jewish safety,” Beran added.

Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of the liberal Jewish group J Street, also rejected the ADL’s “continued conflation.”

“J Street continues to be deeply concerned by the ADL’s ongoing use of its so-called ‘Mamdani Monitor,’ which goes well beyond combating antisemitism and too often conflates legitimate political speech with hate,” Ben-Ami said in a statement Monday.

Ben-Ami asserted that there is “something deeply wrong when major Jewish leaders and institutions focus disproportionate attention on left-of-center activists’ views on Israel while failing to apply the same scrutiny to the Trump administration and MAGA leaders, whose blatant antisemitism and ties to white nationalist movements pose a clear and dangerous threat to American Jews.”

“Our communal institutions should fight antisemitism consistently and credibly, wherever it appears—not selectively, and not in ways that inflame fear or deepen division,” he added.

Another liberal Jewish antisemitism watchdog, Nexus Project, also decried the ADL update, which it said “repeatedly blurs the line between antisemitism and anti-Zionism.”



J Street among the groups supporting the Antisemitism Response and Prevention Act (ARPA), legislation introduced last week by US Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), Becca Balint (D-Vt.), and Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) in the wake of the Sydney Hanukkah massacre.

According to Nadler’s office, the bill “clearly states that it is against the policy of the United States to use antisemitism as grounds to pursue ulterior political agendas, including attacks on educational institutions, suppressing constitutionally protected speech, or any other enforcement of ideological conformity.”

ARPA stands in stark contrast with the Antisemitism Awareness Act (ARA), which was introduced in 2023 by Reps. Mike Lawler (R-NY), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ, Max Miller (R-Ohio), and Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) in the House of Representatives and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) in the Senate.

The bill would require the Department of Education to consider the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism when determining whether alleged harassment is motivated by anti-Jewish animus.

The ADL has pushed a wide range of governments, institutions, and organizations to adopt the IRHA definition, which conflates legitimate criticism and condemnation of Israeli policies and practices with anti-Jewish bigotry, and forces people to accept the legitimacy of a settler-colonial apartheid state engaged in illegal occupation and colonization, ethnic cleansing, and genocide.

House lawmakers overwhelmingly approved the legislation last year; however, the bill remains stalled in the Senate.

Zionism—the settler-colonial movement for the reestablishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine—is being rejected by a growing number of Jewish Americans due to the racism, settler-colonialism, illegal occupation, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and genocide perpetrated by Israel and rooted in claims of divine right and favor.

Jewish-led groups like JVP, IfNotNow, and Jews for Economic and Racial Justice (JERJ) have been at the forefront of pro-Palestine demonstrations since the start of Israel’s war and siege on Gaza, which have left more than 250,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing; 2 million others displaced, starved, and sickened; and most of the coastal strip in ruins.

Policing of Palestine Movement in Canada

by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East / December 23rd, 2025

A new report has been published by the Anti-Racism Program of the CJPME Foundation (ARPCF), documenting how Canadian authorities have responded to pro-Palestinian activism with disproportionate policing, surveillance, and legal targeting.

Titled “Policing Palestine Solidarity: A crisis of Civil Liberties in Canada (2021-2025),” the 71-page report finds that in the wake of Gaza solidarity mobilizations, state institutions increasingly treated a largely peaceful human-rights movement as a “national security threat,” and built an enforcement posture designed to deter participation rather than facilitate Charter-protected protest.

Based on protest data from 2021–2025 and extensive documentation, the report highlights a stark disparity: pro-Palestine demonstrations accounted for 10.1% of all protests but drew 37% of all police interventions, even though over 96% of pro-Palestine protests were entirely peaceful.

The report highlights key findings:

• Disproportionate policing: Pro-Palestine protests faced dramatically higher rates of police intervention than any other protest cause in Canada (2021–2025).
• Surveillance and coordination: The report describes an “unprecedented apparatus” of surveillance and inter-agency coordination, including integration between federal agencies and municipal police forces.
• Legal and political escalation: The report warns that proposed federal measures—including Bill C-9 (Combatting Hate Act)—risk codifying repression through “bubble zones” and expanded discretion around “hate” and symbols.

The report urges governments to act immediately, including:

• Withdraw or fundamentally overhaul Bill C-9 and reject “bubble zone” style repression that criminalizes legitimate protest.
• Launch a Federal Commission of Inquiry to investigate political interference and the national-security framing used to justify these policing operations.
• Amend the Canadian Human Rights Act to include “political belief” as a prohibited ground of discrimination, to help stop political persecution and institutional retaliation against pro-Palestine and anti-Zionist speech.
• End the criminalization pipeline (including punitive bail conditions and “hate-motivated” enhancements applied to protected political speech).
• Dismantle surveillance and demilitarize public-order policing (including limits on drone/biometric surveillance and the use of militarized crowd-control units).

Canada cannot claim to uphold democratic rights while building the machinery to suppress dissent. The report warns that once these tools are normalized, they can be used against any movement that challenges the political status quo.

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CJPME’s mission is to enable Canadians of all backgrounds to promote justice, development and peace in the Middle East, and here at home in Canada. Read other articles by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, or visit Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East's website.

The Children of the World vs. the Conscience of Humanity

by Sammy Attoh / December 23rd, 2025

On a night when much of the world turns its attention to the image of a child placed in a manger, it becomes necessary to confront a reality that contradicts the season’s sentimentality. While hymns are sung and rituals are performed, countless children lie tonight under rubble, under hunger, and under fear. The children of Palestine—who bear no responsibility for the circumstances into which they were born—are subjected to levels of suffering they neither initiated nor deserved. Their cries rise into the same sky that once received the cry of an infant in Bethlehem, yet the global community, equipped with sacred texts and moral traditions, often refuses to acknowledge them.

Palestine is not the only site of this abandonment. Children in Congo, Sudan, Haiti, Yemen, and across informal settlements, reservations, refugee camps, and neglected communities worldwide carry injuries that expose the ethical failures of humanity. They enter a world that confuses power with virtue, wealth with legitimacy, and domination with divine approval. Their suffering is not the result of personal wrongdoing but of global systems that prioritize strategic interests, economic gain, and political convenience over human life.

And so we must ask, with the sobriety of scholars and the anguish of prophets: What conception of God would elect one people for favour and abandon the rest to desolation? What deity would crown one tribe with celestial privilege while permitting millions of children—equal in innocence, equal in breath, equal in sacred worth—to perish unheard?

This question is not rhetorical. It is the moral fault line running beneath our world.

If God is understood as the Creator of all, then the idea of a “chosen people” collapses under the weight of universal creation. A God defined by love cannot simultaneously be defined by partiality. A God defined by justice cannot simultaneously be defined by exclusion. A God who is the source of all life cannot endorse or sanctify the suffering of any child, in any place, under any circumstance.

The tragedy, therefore, is not God. The tragedy is religion—or rather, what human beings have done in its name. For religion, fractured into sects and slogans, has too often become a weapon rather than a wellspring. It has justified conquest, sanctified inequality, and baptized violence. It has proclaimed choosiness where there should be compassion, superiority where there should be solidarity, and dogma where there should be dignity.

This is the hypocrisy that must be named. This is the blasphemy that must be confronted.

For if the divine is truly present in every child, then every bomb that falls on a child is a desecration. Every policy that starves a child is a sacrilege. Every theology that excuses the suffering of children is a betrayal of the very God it claims to defend.

If the divine is present in every child, then any act of violence against a child is a violation of the sacred. Any policy that deprives a child of food, safety, or shelter is a moral transgression. Any theology that excuses the suffering of children contradicts the very principles it claims to uphold. A society that tolerates such suffering cannot claim moral legitimacy, regardless of its religious heritage or political rhetoric.

The birth of a child in Bethlehem, commemorated each year with ceremony and devotion, carries a meaning that extends beyond religious tradition. It symbolizes a universal truth: every child is Bethlehem. Every child represents inherent value. Every child embodies the potential of humanity when dignity is recognized and protected. The child remembered at Christmas was not born to establish a religious institution. He was born to articulate a principle: that the divine is present wherever a child suffers, and that the authenticity of any moral or spiritual tradition is measured by its response to that suffering.

Yet the crisis before us is not only a crisis of geopolitics or theology. It is a crisis of conscience—a global moral paralysis that has normalized the unacceptable. Images of wounded or displaced children circulate daily, yet they rarely produce meaningful action. The world debates the legality of wars while ignoring the illegality of suffering. Complexity is used as a shield against responsibility, even though a child’s pain is never complex. It is immediate and absolute.

The children of the world are not asking for ideological alignment. They are asking for humanity to remember itself. Every society is judged not by the strength of its armies or the wealth of its elites, but by the safety of its children. Moral courage today requires confronting the structures that normalize cruelty, challenging governments and institutions when they betray the vulnerable, and acknowledging that traditions and sacred texts have been misused to justify what should never be justified.

The children of Gaza, Congo, Sudan, Haiti, Yemen, and beyond are not merely victims of circumstance. They are mirrors reflecting the fractures in our collective conscience. They expose the hypocrisy of nations that preach human rights while profiting from arms sales. They expose the contradictions of religious institutions that speak of compassion while remaining silent in the face of suffering. They expose the moral bankruptcy of a global order that assigns value to a child based on geography or political utility.

Their suffering also reveals the possibility of a new moral horizon. Their resilience demonstrates that the sacred is not found in temples or doctrines, but in the breath of every child. To defend a child is to defend the future. To protect a child is to protect the foundation of human dignity.

The question before us is straightforward: Will humanity choose its children? Will we build systems that nourish rather than exploit? Will we create a world where no child is born into predetermined suffering? Will we dismantle the hierarchies that privilege some lives over others?

The answer to these questions will determine the future of our species. A world that cannot protect its children forfeits its moral authority.

Let this season be more than ritual. Let it be a turning point. Let it be the moment when humanity recognizes that the manger is not a symbol of nostalgia but a reminder that vulnerability demands protection. Our response to that vulnerability is the true measure of our integrity.

The world must be free—free for every child, in every nation, under every sky. And a Merry Christmas to all creations.

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Sammy Attoh is a Human Rights Coordinator, poet, and public writer. A member of The Riverside Church in New York City and The New York State Chaplains Group, he advocates for spiritual renewal and systemic justice. Originally from Ghana, his work draws from ancestral wisdom to explore the sacred ties between people, planet, and posterity. Read other articles by Sammy.

Israeli Defense Minister Tries to Walk Back Vow to ‘Never Leave Gaza,’ Build Settlements

The remarks drew critical responses, including from other Israelis and the White House.


Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz attends a ceremony at the Pentagon in Washington, DC on July 18, 2025.
(Photo by Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Jessica Corbett
Dec 23, 2025
COMMON DREAMS

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz “said the silent part out loud” on Tuesday, then promptly tried to walk back his comments that his country would not only never leave the Gaza Strip, but also reestablish settlements in the decimated exclave.

Israel evacuated Jewish settlements in Gaza two decades ago, but some officials have pushed for ethnically cleansing the strip of Palestinians and recolonizing it, particularly since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack and the devastating Israeli assault that followed.

The Times of Israel on Tuesday translated Katz’s remarks—made during an event about expanding Beit El, a Jewish settlement in the illegally occupied West Bank—from Hebrew to English:
“With God’s help, when the time comes, also in northern Gaza, we will establish Nahal pioneer groups in place of the settlements that were evacuated,” he said. “We’ll do it in the right way, at the appropriate time.”

Katz was referring to the Nahal military unit that, in part, lets youths combine pioneering activities with military service. In the past, many of the outposts established by the unit went on to evolve into full-fledged settlements.

“We are deep inside Gaza, and we will never leave Gaza—there will be no such thing,” Katz said. “We are here to defend and to prevent what happened from happening again.”

The so-called peace plan for Gaza that US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced at the White House in late September notably states that “Israel will not occupy or annex Gaza,” and “the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will withdraw based on standards, milestones, and timeframes linked to demilitarization.”



Gadi Eisenkot, a former IDF chief of staff who launched a new political party a few months ago, responded to Katz on social media, writing in Hebrew, “While the government votes with one hand in favor of the Trump plan, it sells myths with the other hand about isolated settlement nuclei in the strip.”

“Instead of strengthening security and bringing about an enlistment law that will bolster the IDF, the government, driven by narrow political considerations, continues to scatter irresponsible and empty declarations that only harm Israel’s standing in the world,” he added.

The White House was also critical of Katz’s comments, with an unnamed official saying that “the more Israel provokes, the less the Arab countries want to work with them.”

“The United States remains fully committed to President Trump’s 20-point peace plan, which was agreed to by all parties and endorsed by the international community,” the official continued. “The plan envisions a phased approach to security, governance, and reconstruction in Gaza. We expect all parties to adhere to the commitments they made under the 20-point plan.”

Later Tuesday, Katz’s office said that “the minister of defense’s remarks regarding the integration of Nahal units in the northern Gaza Strip were made solely in a security context. The government has no intention of establishing settlements in the Gaza Strip. The minister of defense emphasized the central principle of border defense in every arena: The IDF is the first and last line of defense for Israel’s citizens, and the state of Israel relies for its protection solely on it and on the security forces.”

Katz became defense minister in November 2024, just weeks before the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for his fired predecessor, Yoav Gallat, and Netanyahu over Israel’s assault on and blockade of Gaza. When Katz took on the new role after serving as foreign minister, Palestine defenders accused the prime minister of swapping one “genocidal lunatic” for another.

Israel faces an ongoing genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its mass slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza. As of Tuesday, local officials put the death toll since October 2023 at 70,942, with another 171,195 Palestinians wounded, though global experts warn the true tallies are likely far higher.

At least 406 of those confirmed deaths have occurred since Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire that took effect October 10. In a Monday letter demanding action from the White House, dozens of Democratic US lawmakers noted Israel’s “continued bombardment against civilians, destruction of property, and insufficient delivery of humanitarian aid.”

‘No More Military Aid for Netanyahu,’ Says Sanders as Israel Ramps Up West Bank Takeover

“It’s not just Gaza,” the senator said. “Netanyahu’s extremist government is supporting the violent annexation of Palestinian land in the West Bank.”

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) speaks to reporters during a news conference on November 5, 2025, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.
(Photo by Tom Brenner/Getty Images)

Stephen Prager
Dec 22, 2025
COMMON DREAMS

As Israeli settlers escalate attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank as part of a furious state-backed annexation push, US Sen. Bernie Sanders said it was yet another reason to suspend military aid to the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“It’s not just Gaza,” the independent Vermont senator wrote on social media Sunday. “Netanyahu’s extremist government is supporting the violent annexation of Palestinian land in the West Bank. This is illegal and immoral, and decades of American silence have enabled it.”

Military Budget Bill Would Ramp Up Israel Aid to Fill In ‘Gaps’ When Other Countries Impose Embargoes Over Genocide


“NO MORE MILITARY AID FOR NETANYAHU,” he concluded.

Sanders was responding to a feature published in the New York Times that same day, which examined the rapid expansion of illegal settler outposts over the past two decades, and the further acceleration after October 7, 2023, when Israel’s more than two-year genocidal assault began in Gaza following a Hamas-led attack.

The report provides data from the Israeli activist group Peace Now, which found that in 2024 and 2025, Israelis built more than 130 new outposts in the West Bank.



Despite the fact that they are illegal under both Israeli and international law, the settlers constructing these outposts operate with the support of the Israeli military and government.

As the Times reports:
The unrelenting violent campaign by these settlers, that critics say is largely tolerated by the Israeli military, consists of brutal harassment, beatings, even killings, as well as high-impact roadblocks and village closures. These are coupled with a drastic increase in land seizures by the state and the demolition of villages to force Palestinians to abandon their land.

Many of the settlers are young extremists whose views go beyond even the far-right ideology of the government. They are not generally operating on direct orders from Israel’s military leadership. But they know the military frequently looks the other way and facilitates their actions.

In many cases, it is the military that forces Palestinians to evacuate or orders the destruction of their homes once settlers drive them to flee.

Just in 2025, the report says, settlers and the military have razed more than 1,500 Palestinian structures, double the annual average from before 2023. Since the war began, more than 4,000 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced from their homes.

Meanwhile, the Israeli government has also declared a record number of areas in the West Bank to be “state land,” meaning that they are off limits to Palestinians and that Israelis can use them to build more settlements.

Far-right forces in the Israeli government have been overt about the intention of these settlements: to carve up the West Bank so thoroughly that a contiguous Palestinian state becomes effectively impossible. Netanyahu has often reiterated his position that under his watch, a Palestinian state will never be created.

In August, as the Israeli government approved a massive 3,400-home settlement project in the heart of the occupied West Bank, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich—himself a settler and one of the leading representatives of the far-right settler movement in Netanyahu’s cabinet—boasted that the project “buries the idea of a Palestinian state,” adding that “Every town, every neighborhood, every housing unit... is another nail in the coffin of this dangerous idea.”On Sunday, Israel’s cabinet approved another 19 Jewish-only settlements across the West Bank, raising the total number to more than 200 in the territory, up from around 140 three years ago. Smotrich said with the new construction, Israel was “putting the brakes on the rise of a Palestinian terror state.”

Until recently, the official policy of the US government has been one of opposition to settlements, even as their construction continued largely unimpeded.

During his second term, President Donald Trump has talked out of both sides of his mouth. While promising Arab leaders that Israel would not annex the West Bank as he sought to broker a ceasefire, his administration has often expressed tacit, and occasionally overt, support for settlement expansion.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres denounced the rapid expansion of settlements, saying it “continues to fuel tensions, impede access by Palestinians to their land, and threaten the viability of a fully independent, democratic, contiguous, and sovereign Palestinian state.”

In July, as reports of famine out of Gaza grew increasingly dire due to Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid, Sanders sponsored a Senate resolution to block $675 million in US weapons sales to Israel.

Though the vote was far from passing, 27 members of the Democratic caucus—a majority, for the first time—voted in favor. Sanders said it suggested that “the tide is turning” with respect to attitudes towards Israel’s actions within the party.

In an AtlasIntel poll published on Friday, 62% of respondents said they opposed US financial support for Israel, compared with 20% who supported it. 50% of respondents said they “totally oppose” weapons to Israel, while just 9% said they “totally support” it.

Despite this, the most recent military spending bill, passed last week, provides another $650 million in military aid for Israel, up $45 million from the previous package, despite the implementation of a ceasefire in Gaza.

The bill also included an unprecedented measure requiring the executive branch to assess how the US can supply additional weapons to Israel to fill in “gaps” from embargoes imposed by other nations over the country’s human rights abuses in Gaza and the West Bank.

House Dems Call Out Israel’s ‘Near-Daily Violations’ of Gaza Ceasefire

In a letter demanding action from the White House, US lawmakers noted “continued bombardment against civilians, destruction of property, and insufficient delivery of humanitarian aid.”


Relatives of the six Palestinians, including children, who died as a result of Israeli artillery shelling of a school-turned-shelter, despite the ceasefire, mourn as dead bodies are brought to al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on December 20, 2025.
(Photo by Khames Alrefi/Anadolu via Getty Images)


Jessica Corbett
Dec 22, 2025

Dozens of congressional Democrats wrote to the White House on Monday to highlight “the long-standing relationship between the US and Israel,” and urge President Donald Trump “to exert maximum diplomatic pressure” to end the Israeli government’s violations of a ceasefire deal with Hamas that took effect in the Gaza Strip on October 10.

As of Monday, Gaza’s Government Media Office accused Israeli forces of 875 ceasefire violations, which have killed 411 Palestinians and injured 1,112 others. The official death toll in the strip since October 7, 2023 is at least 70,937 Palestinians, with another 171,192 wounded, though global experts warn the true figures are likely far higher.



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In the letter, Democratic Reps. Mark Pocan (Wis.) and Madeleine Dean (Pa.), along with 45 of their House colleagues, pointed to Israel’s “continued bombardment against civilians, destruction of property, and insufficient delivery of humanitarian aid.”

“It’s imperative that we hold the Israeli government accountable for its actions,” they wrote. “It’s also vital that we hold Hamas accountable for the violent crackdown it has pursued against any potential competitors in Gaza in violation of its commitment as part of the ceasefire to step back from governing the Gaza Strip.”




Under both the Biden and Trump administrations, the US has given Israel more than $20 billion in military aid since it began retaliating for Hamas’ attack over two years ago. The lawmakers on Monday called for Trump to take whatever action needed, “including leveraging US assistance, to ensure full compliance with the terms of the framework and an end to the continued acts of violence and destruction that undermine this fragile agreement and threaten the prospect of lasting peace in the region.”



“We recognize that both Hamas and Israel have committed ceasefire violations... However, we are deeply concerned that the Israeli response to violations by Hamas have been severe and disproportionate, resulting in massive loss of life,” they wrote. For example, “on November 29, the Israeli military killed two brothers, aged 8 and 10, in a drone strike after they crossed into an Israel-controlled area of Gaza, referring to the children as ‘suspects’ in a statement that failed to acknowledge they were children.”

In addition to “attacks by air, artillery, and direct shootings,” the House Democrats highlighted, “since the beginning of the ceasefire, Israeli forces have reportedly destroyed more than 1,500 buildings, many of which did not appear to be damaged prior to being destroyed... These include homes, entire neighborhoods, gardens, and small orchards.”

“We also are gravely concerned that the Israeli government is not allowing sufficient levels of humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. The ceasefire agreement calls for 600 trucks per day to enter Gaza, but recent reports indicate that far fewer trucks are actually getting through,” they continued. While the global initiative that tracks hunger crises concluded last week that Gaza is no longer facing “famine,” it also stressed that “the situation remains critical” for 1.6 million Palestinians.

The mass starvation of Palestinians in Gaza has been a factor in the ongoing genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice as well as the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, which the Trump administration has retaliated against with sanctions targeting ICC judges.

“Mr. President, this ceasefire agreement is supposed to represent an opportunity for permanent, lasting peace in the region,” the Democrats said Monday. “While the agreement is not perfect, and the proposed peace plan faces many obstacles, we are hopeful that this moment is one that can be met with the conviction needed to end the cycle of bloodshed that has plagued the region for so long.”

“Unfortunately, the near-daily violations of the ceasefire threaten to plunge the region back into full-scale war,” they warned. “It is imperative that your administration exerts maximum diplomatic pressure on the Israeli government, including by leveraging US assistance, to bring an end to the near-daily attacks on civilians, including children, destruction of civilian property, and insufficient delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid.”

Trapped under Israeli bombardment, Gazans fear the ‘new border’


By AFP
December 22, 2025


Most of Gaza's more than two million people have been displaced at least once by the war - Copyright AFP Saeed KHAN

When her children, trembling with fear, ask where the family can go to escape Israel’s continued bombardment in southern Gaza’s Khan Yunis area, Umm Ahmed has no answer.

In her small, devastated village near Khan Yunis city, recent Israeli strikes shattered the tenuous sense of peace delivered by a ceasefire that has largely held since October 10.

Residents say the attacks have targeted neighbourhoods east of the so-called Israeli-controlled Yellow Line — a demarcation established under the truce between Israel and Hamas.

More than two years after a devastating war, tens of thousands of Gazans still live in tents or damaged homes in these areas, where the Israeli army maintains control and operates checkpoints.

Now, many fear being forced from their homes, compelled to move west of the Yellow Line.

“We don’t sleep at night because of fear. The bombardments in the east are relentless,” said Umm Ahmed, 40.

“My children tremble at every explosion and ask me, ‘Where can we go?’ And I have no answer.”

Her home in Bani Suheila has been completely destroyed, yet the family has stayed, pitching a tent beside the ruins.

“Staying close to our destroyed home is easier than facing the unknown,” Umm Ahmed said.

Crossing the Yellow Line to Al-Mawasi, west of Khan Yunis, is not an option for them.

There, makeshift camps stretch as far as the eye can see, housing tens of thousands of Palestinians who fled the fighting.

“There is no place left for anyone there, and not enough food or water,” Umm Ahmed said, as Gaza remains trapped in a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.



– ‘We will not leave’ –



The war in Gaza began on October 7, 2023, following an unprecedented attack by Hamas on Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Since the war began, more than 70,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory’s health ministry. The vast majority of the territory’s more than two million residents have been displaced, many multiple times.

A fragile ceasefire has been in place since October 10, though both sides regularly accuse each other of violations.

Under the truce, Israeli forces withdrew to positions east of the Yellow Line.

Earlier this month, Israeli army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir described the Yellow Line as the “new border” with Israel.

“The Yellow Line is a new border line — serving as a forward defensive line for our communities and a line of operational activity,” he said to reserve soldiers in Gaza.

For Palestinian officials, the line is seen as a tool for permanent displacement.

“The objective is to frighten residents, expel them from their areas, and force them west,” said Alaa al-Batta, mayor of Khan Yunis, denouncing the bombardments as “violations of the ceasefire agreement”.

The Israeli military did not respond to AFP but has regularly reported strikes near the Yellow Line on what it described as suspected militants.

Mahmud Baraka, 45, from Khuzaa, east of Khan Yunis, described constant artillery fire and home demolitions in the area.

“It feels like we are still living in a war zone,” he said.

“Explosions happen as if they are right next to us. The objective of the occupation is clear: to intimidate us and drive us out, so the region is emptied.”

For now, residents feel trapped between bombardment and displacement, uncertain how long they can endure.

Despite the danger, Abdel Hamid, 70, refuses to leave his home located north of Khan Yunis, where he lives with his five children.

“We will not leave… this is our land,” he said.

“Moving would not be a solution, but yet another tragedy.”

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