‘Real Estate Bonanza’: The Macabre US Plan for the Post-Genocide Gaza

When the bombing of Gaza will finally cease, the U.S. administration will push the post-genocide opportunity for property development. In this quest, Tony Blair is the public face; Jared Kushner, the commissioner; and the Trump White House, the architect.

by Dan Steinbock | Sep 25, 2025 | ANTIWAR.COM

The jackals are back! In early September, Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and the scion of another Big Apple real estate tycoon, began working with U.S. administration, eager to plan for post-genocide Gaza.

After two years of destruction of Gaza and genocide of Palestinians, it was time for economic development – or at least property development.

“Converting military victories to political victories”

Kushner had served as Trump’s go-between in the Abraham Accords that seeks to “normalize” the relations among Israel and Arab states. Mediated by the United States, the Accords are a set of deals between Israel, Gulf States (UAE, Bahrain) and Arab states (Morocco, Sudan). But to Netanyahu, these accords were the first step in ejecting Palestine from the Middle East talks.

The goal has been to bring Saudi Arabia under the umbrella. Yet, Israel’s genocidal atrocities in Gaza and violent pogroms in the West Bank have effectively undermined the plan. Riyadh has little incentive to inflame regional destabilization, which would penalize Saudi Vision 2030, the huge modernization and diversification program.

Talking in a recent “No Priors” podcast, hosted by his AI biz pals Elad Gil and Sarah Guo, Kushner stated that “Hamas in Gaza is basically destroyed. They have an opportunity to convert those military victories into political victories. If you’re able to find a satisfactory resolution… you can get to a place where full normalization with Saudi and Israel.”

Kushner on “No Priors” with Elad Gil and Sarah Guo

But Kushner is neither the first nor the last in this macabre effort to cash on the decimation of Gaza and the genocide of the Gazans.

Israeli quest of Gaza’s forcible cleansing      

Barely a week after October 7, Israel’s intelligence ministry, which oversees policies related to the intelligence organizations Mossad and Shin Bet, prepared a secret memorandum on Gaza. Headed by Gila Gamliel, a veteran of Netanyahu’s Likud Party, the ministry sought to persuade the U.S. and other countries to support Israel’s goals.

The memo recommended the forcible transfer of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents to Egypt’s Sinai as the preferred course of action. It encouraged Israel’s government to lead a public campaign in the West to promote the expulsion of Gaza’s population as a “humanitarian necessity.” The challenge was to enlist Washington to exert pressure on Egypt, along with other countries in Europe and the Middle East, to absorb the Gazans.

Unsurprisingly, the memo sparked a global firestorm over ethnic cleansing. Yet, Gamliel’s ministry was advised by an Israeli thinktank to cash on the operation. The Misgav Institute for National Security & Zionist Strategy saw ethnic cleansing as a commercial opportunity and presented the plan as well-aligned “with the economic and geopolitical interests of the State of Israel, Egypt, the USA and Saudi Arabia.”

In reality, all of these countries oppose vocally such plans. So, Netanyahu’s cabinet developed Plan B. 

The Gaza 2035 Plan          

In February 2024, outraged by Israel’s mass atrocities in Gaza, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, and the Palestinian Authority developed a joint political vision for rehabilitating the Gaza Strip and establishing a Palestinian state after the Israel-Hamas war.

To preempt such schemes, PM Netanyahu’s office presented its own vision of “Gaza 2035.” It highlighted the Strip’s role in the historical Baghdad-Egypt trade routes and Yemen-Europe trade routes. It proposed to reintegrate Gaza into the regional economy – under Israeli terms.

The Gaza 2035 Plan

Gaza today

During the first year of the humanitarian aid phase, Israel would create safe areas free of Hamas control. Gazans would run humanitarian aid, but under the supervision of a coalition of Arab states. An Arab coalition would create a multilateral Gaza Rehabilitation Authority (GRA), to oversee the reconstruction and the Strip’s finances. The GRA would not include members of Hamas or the Palestinian Authority (PA), which would be “reformed.”

The key to the plan was huge infrastructure investment, which Israel delegated to the Arab countries.

But Israel’s carrots did little to instigate Arab interest or U.S. blessings.

Hard-sell of the century  

During a press conference with PM Netanyahu in February 2024, President Trump said the United States “will take over” the Gaza Strip. Gaza, Trump suggested, could become a “Riviera of the Middle East.”

“The US will take over the Gaza Strip”

Crafted largely by Kushner and unveiled in 2020, the Trump plan envisioned Israel annexing all of its settlements in the West Bank while granting the Palestinians a pathway to a semi-contiguous state on the remaining territory. The aim was to eject Palestinians from any serious discussion on their future.

Dreaming of the Nobel peace prize, Trump envisioned a “deal of the century” that would bring a lasting peace to Israel/Palestine. It was a hard-sell of the century. In turn, Kushner had a direct economic stake in the outcome of the Gaza War.

After his time at the White House, Trump’s son-in-law set up a $3 billion private equity fund to invest in Israeli companies, including $2 billion raised from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. Kushner’s Affinity Partners private equity fund had chosen two Israeli companies to invest in. By early 2025, he was building a Middle East business empire from Israel to the Gulf states.

And so, Kushner was back into dealmaking advising Trump and his special envoy Steven Witkoff to once again sidestep Palestinian leadership. And even though the Netanyahu cabinet chose to bomb Qatar, blessed Israel’s ongoing annexation of the West Bank and began a lethal ground invasion of the already-destroyed Gaza City, Kushner still – against all cold realities – sees Saudi-Israeli normalization as the light at the end of the tunnel.

The Man with the Plan
Touted by US neoconservatives and far-right, Kushner’s West Wing memoir was as truthful as its marketing: “a fast-paced and surprisingly candid account of… an earnest businessman with no political ambitions”

Smotrich: After demolition, real estate bonanza in Gaza  

When Trump stated in February that the US would take over Gaza, Bezalel Smotrich read every line with a smile. The political leader of Israel’s Messianic far-right was executing a biblical “decisive plan” of ethnic cleansing in Gaza, which he was incorporating into Israel.

In July, Smotrich claimed his vision had President Trump’s backing. Speaking at a Knesset conference called “The Gaza Riviera – from vision to reality,” he joined other participants with plans for rebuilding Jewish presence in Gaza. The Strip, he said, would become an “inseparable part of the State of Israel.”

In an August interview, Smotrich announced he was working to reestablish the former Israeli settlements of Ganim and Kadim in the northern West Bank, both of which were evacuated during Israel’s disengagement from Gaza in 2005.

Speaking at a real estate conference in Tel Aviv last week, Smotrich said Gaza was a potential real estate “bonanza” and that he was in talks with the United States on how to divide up the coastal enclave after the war. “The demolition, the first stage in the city’s renewal, we have already done. Now we need to build,” he said adding: “There is a business plan, put together by the most professional people here, that is on President Trump’s desk.”

Officially, the White House treated Smotrich like a rotten fish, with a tactful distance. In practice, the Trump administration cultivated similar plans, strongly promoted by its key financiers.

But Kushner knew that Trump needed a more credible figure. Hence, the return of Tony Blair.

U.S. ideas, Kushner’s commission, Blair’s face      

In the past two decades, Tony Blair, the former British PM, and his Tony Blair Institute for Global Change have shrewdly portrayed cashing on international conflicts as efforts of “driving real change.”

Not long after October 7, 2023, Blair began efforts to craft a plan for the “day after.” Yet, Israel’s bombing of and genocide in Gaza lasted far longer than anticipated. Moreover, Blair’s plan needed Trump’s support.

Yet, Blair plan is effectively Kushner’s design: Trump’s son-in-law commissioned the ex-British PM. Kushner needed an internationally acceptable face to sell the schemes he had originally introduced. In this task, he had Trump’s blessing. Mugged by realities, the White House understands it needs the support of all key actors for its blueprint in Gaza.

For a while, Blair has been rallying international stakeholders to form at transitional authority to govern the Strip before it gets handed over to the Palestinian Authority (PA). Blair’s proposal envisions the establishment of the Gaza International Transitional Authority (GITA) along with a series of subordinate structures, preferably by a UN Security Council resolution.

GITA is reminiscent of Netanyahu’s Gaza Rehabilitation Authority in the Gaza 2035 Plan.

With his signature broad smile, Blair has portrayed his plan as something that is not premised on forcible population displacement. All other schemes – including that by Netanyahu’s right-hand Ron Dermer, the highly controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and the Boston Consulting Group – have collapsed. And Smotrich’s transfer ploys will never gain international support.

Yet, the ultimate objective of the Trump administration is to get “Johnny” on board (Trump’s moniker to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman). In view of this White House, the Palestinians can only have a marginal role. That’s why Blair’s proposal downgrades Palestinian participation, even that of the Palestinian Authority (PA), in the name of “reforms.”

But as always, Blair has a knack of expressing negative objectives in seemingly positive, optimistic rhetoric. This discrepancy between U.S. ultimate goals and its diplomatic rhetoric was again highlighted during the weekend.

The Blair – Kushner – Trump Plan

What the White House wants, really

In August, Charles Kushner, the U.S. ambassador to France and the father of Jared Kushner, wrote in a Wall Street Journal letter to French President Macron that public “gestures toward recognition of a Palestinian state embolden extremists, fuel violence, and endanger Jewish life in France.”

As several U.S. allies – the UK, Canada and Australia – now recognize the state of Palestine, Macron called Kushner’s criticism of France “unacceptable” for diplomat. Preparing for the French recognition declaration, Macron stated that “recognizing the Palestinian state today is the only way to provide a political solution to a situation which has to stop.”

What’s at play here is two decades of gross diplomatic failure of the West regarding Gaza.

In the 2006 democratic election, the Palestinians in both the West Bank and Gaza gave a clear majority to Hamas, as opposed to the Palestinian Authority. Following Hamas’s takeover of Gaza from Fatah, Israel and the U.S. imposed a ground, air, and maritime blockade, and announced only humanitarian supplies would be allowed into the Strip. That’s when Israel first blockaded Gaza in a deliberate attempt to push the area’s economy “to the brink of collapse,” according to a U.S. diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks.

It was these ruthless decisions that set the stage to Israel’s genocidal atrocities in Gaza in 2023, several waves of weaponized famines in the Strip and to the complicity of the U.S. and the EU in the massacres.

Blair’s plan seeks to sustain this status quo in the post-genocide Gaza. Setting the rhetoric aside, it is commissioned by Jared Kushner to serve his ends. And those ends are the objectives of the Trump administration. It is the big picture – the Abraham Accords between Israel and the Gulf/Arab states – that the White House is after.

The problem is that, after two years of mass butchery in Gaza, such Accords are no longer viable.

The author of The Fall of Israel (2025) and The Obliteration Doctrine (2025), Dr Dan Steinbock is the founder of Difference Group and has served at the India, China and America Institute (US), Shanghai Institute for International Studies (China) and the EU Center (Singapore). For more, see https://www.differencegroup.net/.

The original commentary was released by Informed Comment (US) on Sept 21, 2025.

 

Was that the Best the “Civilised” World Could Do?

by Stuart Littlewood / September 26th, 2025

For the last 77 years the West has watched Israel devour Palestine, plunder its resources and mercilessly kill and maim its citizens. They finally say ‘we recognise Palestine’ when it’s far too late to be of real use. I have no words to express my contempt for the United Nations.

Where are the hard-biting sanctions?

Where is the total worldwide boycott?

Where is the UN’s armed protection force to push Israel’s genocidal maniacs back to the Green Line?

Where are the naval escorts to ensure aid is safely landed on Gaza’s beaches?

When will Israel’s embassies around the world be shut down and their staff ejected?

Why hasn’t Israel been sacked, or at least suspended, for its disregard of UN values and Charter obligations?

Why hasn’t the General Assembly used the tools available to bypass the US’s repeated abuse of its privileged position? Every day they hesitate hundreds more women and children are exterminated.

It’s simple. Palestinians have an inalienable right to freedom and self-determination regardless of what anyone else says, and the international community has a sworn duty to recognise Palestinian statehood. It’s not a matter for ‘negotiation’. So it is nonsense for Palestine’s enemies to claim that recognition is “a reward” for the resistance some describe as terrorism. Besides, it can be argued that the UK’s refusal until now to recognise Palestinian statehood has encouraged and rewarded Israel’s 77-year reign of terror, brutal occupation, massacre and dispossession in the Palestinian territories, and now the 2-year genocide.

Let’s just look at Britain’s disgraceful performance. We should have granted provisional independence in the 1920s in accordance with our Mandate agreement, but didn’t. We should have ensured Palestinian statehood in 1948 but didn’t, accepting instead an Israeli ‘state’ with no borders so they could pursue their outrageous land-grab. We’ve used every silly excuse since then to block Palestinian freedom and buy time for Israel to establish irreversible facts on the ground. It’s been a long story of betrayal.

Now, instead of punishing Israel’s vile butchery we make Hamas the villain. “They can have no future, no role in government,” says Starmer without explaining how he can legally interfere and dictate who may (and may not) rule the Palestinian state. That’s a matter entirely for the Palestinians, surely. He still speaks about a 2-state solution where there’s “a safe and secure Israel… alongside a viable Palestinian State”, as if Palestinians are children of a lesser God, don’t deserve security and only qualify for second-class statehood. And despite endless blather neither he nor anyone else has described what a 2-state setup would look like.

Starmer once again shows he is only concerned about the Israeli hostages and not the 7,200 Palestinian captives, including 88 women and 250 children, held by Israel on that fateful day in October 2023. Have they all been released? He forgets — if he ever bothered to find out — that in the 23 years up till then Israel had been slaughtering Palestinians at the rate of 8:1 and children at the rate of 16:1 (actual figures: Palestinians killed by Israelis 10,651 including 2,270 children and 6,656 women; Israelis killed by Palestinians 1,330 including 145 children and 261 women – source: Israel’s B’Tselem). And Gaza had been under cruel blockade for 16 years, turning the enclave into an open-air prison with Israel periodically ‘mowing the grass’. Were the Palestinians supposed to put up with that indefinitely?

Just saying “We recognise you” while the genocide continues unabated is unbelievably pathetic. Britain and the international community must accompany those words with speedy, concrete action to put an end to Israel’s genocide and illegal occupation immediately. To make sure, the British Government and others must persuade the UN to intervene militarily with a protection force, sending Israel back to the internationally recognised ‘Green Line’. We should also pull the plug on all trade, military and security links with the Israeli regime until its conduct improves sufficiently to re-join the civilised community of nations.

But there’s a problem. The British Government remains a Zionist stronghold. Starmer has said, “I support Zionism without qualification”. Lammy has made similar declarations. Yvette Cooper is a signed-up Friend of Israel. Can they ever be trusted to do the right thing? Peace can never be achieved without justice, but that is a word you seldom, if ever, hear from their lips.

“Nowhere near enough aid is getting through,” Starmer tells us, “let the aid surge in.” But he hasn’t bothered to send an escort from Gibraltar to protect the aid flotilla sailing to Gaza from drone attacks and the armed Israeli boarding parties that are expected to repeat their acts of piracy on previous mercy flotillas. The Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip amounts to collective punishment on the Palestinians living there and is therefore considered illegal under international law. The flotilla is entirely peaceful, does not seek to travel to Israel, let alone ‘attack’ Israel, so is entitled to free, safe and unmolested passage to its destination.

Meanwhile we see Israel, with massive US help and tacit UK approval, rushing to complete ‘Plan Dalet’, the Zionist terror blueprint for taking over the Palestinian homeland drawn up in early 1948 by the Jewish militia Haganah at the behest of David Ben-Gurion, who later became Israel’s first prime minister. It anticipated the British Mandate Government’s withdrawal and the Zionists’ declaration of Israeli statehood, and correctly assumed the British authorities would no longer be there to block Plan D’s hideous purpose. The document shows how “expulsion and transfer” (i.e. ethnic cleansing of Palestinians) was key to the Zionists’ ambition. The Israelis, backed throughout by the US and UK, are still busily fulfilling it.

Netanyahu’s response to the flurry of recognitions is to carry on regardless, insisting yet again there’ll be no Palestinian state and increasing Israeli settlements in the West Bank (which is classed as a war crime). Starmer’s reacts by announcing more sanctions against Hamas while still giving the real terrorists a free pass as they step up the genocidal slaughter. None of them gives a damn about international and humanitarian law, human decency, or justice.

A UN commission of inquiry now reports that Israel seeks to establish permanent control over Gaza and a Jewish majority in the occupied West Bank, which comes as no surprise to anyone who’s paying attention.

I expect maximum foot-dragging, as before, to prolong the misery and ensure the Zionists’ ultimate triumph.

Stuart Littlewood, after working on jet fighters in the RAF, became an industrial marketeer in oil, electronics and manufacturing, and with innovation and product development consultancies. He also served as a Cambridgeshire county councillor and a member of the Police Authority. He is an Associate of the Royal Photographic Society and has produced two photo-documentary books including Radio Free Palestine (with foreword by Jeff Halper). Now retired, he campaigns on various issues, especially the Palestinians' struggle for freedom. Read other articles by Stuart, or visit Stuart's website.

 

Violating the Terms of Service: Microsoft, Azure and the IDF

by Binoy Kampmark / September 26th, 2025

On August 6, The Guardian reported that “multiple individuals have asserted that the IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] is using Azure for the storage of files of phone calls obtained through broad or mass surveillance of civilians in Gaza and the West Bank.” The tale began in 2021, when Microsoft, the company responsible for the Azure cloud platform that promises endless wells of data storage, endorsed a plan that would enable Unit 8200, Israel’s famed cyberwarfare agency, customised access.

The agreement, reached between the unit’s commander Yossi Sariel and Microsoft’s chief executive, Satya Nadella, was a boon for mass surveillance enthusiasts. The Guardian report, a co-investigative effort with Hebrew-language outlet Local Call and Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine, drew from leaked documents and 11 interviews from the corporation and the Israeli intelligence services.

Nadella offered the fool’s defence, claiming ignorance at what Unit 8200 was hoping to store. A cursory look at the profile of Sariel’s outfit would have dispelled any doubts, suggesting that the chief executive was telling a massive fib. Three Unit 8200 sources, for instance, noted that Azure was used to facilitate “the preparation of deadly airstrikes and has shaped military operations in Gaza and the West Bank.” While Israel has long exercised control over the telecommunications infrastructure of the Palestinians, the cloud platform offered an indiscriminate netting of cellular calls.

The company’s thick links to Israel has drawn much attention from employees within the organisation and activists associated with the No Azure for Apartheid group. Microsoft is not shy in admitting, as it did in an updated statement on August 15, that it “provides IMOD with software, professional services, Azure cloud services, and Azure AI services, including language translation. As with many governments around the world, we also work with the Israeli government to protect its cyberspace against external threats.” Nor is the tech behemoth shy in punishing employees who have dared exercise a conscience on the matter. Last month, Anna Hattle, Riki Fameli, Nisreen Jaradat and Julius Shan, were sacked for participating in protests on company premises regarding the company’s ongoing association with Israel. These demonstrations had apparently, in the eyes of the company goons, “created significant safety concerns”.

The company had also conducted a previous undisclosed review into the findings of an investigation by The Associated Press that noted the use of Azure by the Israeli Defense Ministry and its insatiable appetite for commercial artificial intelligence (AI) products in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas. On May 15, the company declared with implausible confidence that its internal assessments and external review had “found no evidence” that the Azure platform and AI technologies “or any other software, have been used to harm people or that IMOD has failed to comply with our terms of service or our AI Code of Conduct.”

The dark publicity prompted by The Guardian and its co-investigators was enough to push Microsoft on August 15 to revisit the allegations, using the services of the law firm Covington & Burling LLP and the technical expertise of a consulting firm. On the morning of September 25, Brad Smith, Vice Chair and President, sent a message to Microsoft employees claiming that the ongoing review had “found evidence that support’s elements of The Guardian’s reporting. This evidence includes information relating to IMOD (Israel Ministry of Defense) consumption of Azure storage capacity in the Netherlands and the use of AI services.”

The Ministry had duly been informed of the company’s decision to cease and disable bespoke subscriptions and their services “including their use of specific cloud storage and AI services and technologies.” The decision had been reviewed with the IMOD and steps taken “to ensure compliance with our terms of service, focusing on ensuring our services are not used for mass surveillance of civilians.”

In keeping with the company’s vigorous spirit of having its cake and eating it too, Smith goes on to inform recipients of the message that the move did nothing to end or impair “the important work that Microsoft continues to do to protect the cybersecurity of Israel and other countries in the Middle East, including under the Abraham Accords.” And why would it? Israel is a reliable, valuable client, and had merely tripped in failing to abide by the terms of service. That such tripping played, as it continues to do, a vital role in the systematic destruction of Palestinian lives, infrastructure and cultural existence, was a minor matter. Palestinians, as the exhaustive work of Anthony Loewenstein shows, remain test subjects for new weapons, novel forms of targeting, and surveillance, an endeavour that has spawned a global cyber-military-industrial complex.

This explains why the move by Microsoft did not precipitate the usual accusations of discrimination and antisemitism Israeli officials foamingly issue when their conduct is found wanting. This was framed as a commercial matter, a crease that could be ironed out with solicitude. “There is no damage to the operational capabilities of the IDF,” stated one military official to the Times of Israel. Having been forewarned about the measure, Unit 8200 had backed up the data it had stored before the access to the cloud services was terminated. Both the IDF and Microsoft can now continue their working relationship, as long as those tepid terms of service are observed, even if it entails the continued program of extermination in Gaza and apartheid in the West Bank.

Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne. Email: bkampmark@gmail.com. Read other articles by Binoy.

Flotilla approaches Gaza

Friday 26 September 2025, by Mariana Mortágua, Paul Murphy


The Global Sumud flotilla is on its way to Gaza. Several dozen boats will try to break the blockade and open a humanitarian corridor. Some thoughts from those on board.

“Compared to the horror in Gaza, it’s nothing”

Paul Murphy (Ireland): There’s a genocide, you know about it, you can see it, you know that 60,000 people were killed. As was the case in Ireland, there is an organized famine. So, we have a duty to do something and put pressure on our own governments to act accordingly.

All those who participate in the flotilla run the risk of being arrested by the Israeli army and detained. We can’t know what will happen. It is possible that the boats will be sabotaged in the port and that they will not be able to leave, there is the possibility of an attack at sea – we saw drone attacks a few months ago.

And there is the possibility of being kidnapped in international waters, being taken to Israel and being detained there. This is what happened most of the time. There is therefore a personal risk in this action. But compared to the horror that people in Gaza are experiencing, this is nothing, absolutely nothing.
“Our conscience is now in Gaza”

Mariana Mortágua (Portugal): We are on our way, and I would like to ask you something. This is your third attempt to go to Gaza. I’d like to know why you keep trying?

Greta Thunberg: We promised the Palestinians that we would continue to do everything in our power to liberate Palestine. Giving up is simply not an option. When we are confronted with oppression, genocide, war crimes that happen every day, it is our duty to stand up and act.

And we will come back until we have reached our goal. What we are doing now is responding to the call of the Palestinians to end the complicity of our states, acting in solidarity with them and using all the means at our disposal, such as these boats, or even our own bodies to try to get there.

You are known for your activism on the environment. Why does a person from Sweden or Europe, who has spent their life doing something else, think it’s important to be here?

I have not changed my orientation in my activism. I always act in accordance with the same values. I always act according to the principles of justice, sustainability and well-being for humans, the planet and our ecosystems. For me, these principles are extremely interconnected. We cannot have climate or environmental justice if people are being bombed and starving. We cannot care about ecosystems if entire countries are destroyed and entire peoples die of hunger.

In short, what is happening in Gaza is at the heart of our morality. Our conscience is now in Gaza. What is happening to the Palestinians is an extension and an attack on humanity as a whole.

I think you have explained very well why we are here. To tell the government of Israel that other people will come after us, until a humanitarian corridor is opened.


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Mariana Mortágua
Mariana Mortágua is the national coordinator of the Left Bloc (Bloco de Esquerda) in Portugal and since the 2025 their only member of parliament.

Paul Murphy
Paul Murphy is a member of RISE in Ireland. He was re-elected to the Irish parliament in 2019, having been first elected in 2014. He was previously an MEP for the Socialist Party (2011-14).


International Viewpoint is published under the responsibility of the Bureau of the Fourth International. Signed articles do not necessarily reflect editorial policy. Articles can be reprinted with acknowledgement, and a live link if possible.

Global Sumud Flotilla Boats Attacked by Israeli Drones

The vessels were in waters off the Greek Island of Crete

by Ann Wright / September 25th, 2025

As the Israeli government continues unabated its horrific genocide of Palestinians and the destruction of housing and infrastructure in Gaza, in the third attack on the 42-ship Global Sumud flotilla, drones attacked multiple boats in international waters southwest of the Greek island of Crete, the morning of September 24, 2025.

In May 2025, another flotilla ship, the Conscience, was attacked in international waters off Malta. It  was damaged by Israeli bombs that blew holes in the deck of the ship’s bow causing severe damage in the hold in the bow of the ship.

These assassin drones have ruthlessly and systematically killed hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza over the past two years.

14 Sailboats Attacked by Chemical Devices, “Flashbangs” and Detonation Cords

Fourteen sailboats have been confirmed to have been attacked in the early morning hours of September 24 using chemical devices or “flashbangs” on steroids.

Detonation cords dropped from drones landed on several boats very near fuel cannisters.

Mayday Signal Sent to Greek Coast Guard Went Unanswered

When the drone attacks began, the flotilla sent a Mayday signal to the Greek Coast Guard, but not surprisingly, no Coast Guard vessel arrived to check on what was happening to the boats.

In 2011, the Greek government was paid off by the Israeli government to stop ten flotilla boats from departing Greek waters to break the illegal Israeli naval blockade of Gaza.

Attacks on Global Sumud Sailboats

The following are brief descriptions of the some of the drone attacks:

1. Ohwayla (US Veterans Boat) was hit by a small flashbang.
2. A chemical device poured a caustic substance onto Yulara but the capsule that was releasing the chemicals bounced and fell on the water. One person was burned by the chemical.
3. Otaria was hit by a flashbang at midmast.
4. Maria Cristina was targeted twice by a flashbang above the deck.
5. Selvaggia (Women’s Boat from Italy) was hit by a flashbang.
6. Morgana was hit by a flashbang.
7. Zefiro was hit by a flashbang. Confirmed damage to the rigging.
8. Taigete sustained some damage to the mainsail

Videos describing the attacks

This is link has a series of videos in which the attacks are described:
https://x.com/dropsitenews/status/1970627127792775584?s=12&t=LmTi29WSk5nIuU-BzL6sHw  and “Flashbangs” on steroids: https://www.instagram.com/p/DO9zPp9AjiG/

U.S. Citizens on the Flotilla

Of the approximately 550 persons on the approximately 50 boats of the Global Sumud flotilla, there are 22 U.S. citizens, including five military veterans on board the boat Ohwayla

Their names and congressional districts are:

• Phil Tottenham (OH 01)
• Zue Jernstedt (NY 10)
• Greg Stoker (TX 37)
• Zuleyka Morales Rivera (WV 01)
• Jessica Kaye Clotfelter (IL 16)

In addition, U.S. veteran Najeh Abduljalil (NV 02) is on Familia boat.

Other US citizens on the Ohwayla are:

• Logan Hollarsmith (AZ 06)
• Windfield Beaver (CA 23)

The following U.S. citizens are on other GSF boats (with Congressional districts for calling):

• Carsie  Blanton-Paola (NJ 07)
• Eric Lein-Jeannot III (NY 02)
• Adnaan Stumo-Mikeno (MA 01)
• Tor Stumo-Huga (MA 01)
• Paul Reid-Hio (OR 03)
• Jasmine Ikeda-Meteque (WA 02)
• Michael Fix-Familia (NY 16)
• Tom Marcus-Familia (NY 15)
• Hannah Smith-Familia (CO 02)
• Geraldine Ramirez-Mali Mali (AZ 02)
• Stephen Wahab-Alma (OR 05)
• Leila Hegazy-Alma (NY 11)
• Idris Hausler-Alma (lives in the Netherlands)
• Frank Romano-Spectre (NY 01)

Italy Sending a Navy Frigate to Support Global Sumud Flotilla

Italy’s Defense Minister Guido Crosetto announced that the country is sending a navy frigate to support the Global Sumud Flotilla, which aims to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza, after it was targeted by multiple drones on September 24.

Italy had earlier urged Israel to guarantee the safety of the aid ships and the Italian activists on board, noting that members of parliament and MEPs are also part of the flotilla.

Sixteen nations have warned Israel to respect international law and not attack the flotilla.  In a joint statement the foreign ministers of Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Ireland, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mexico, Pakistan, Qatar, Oman, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, and Türkiye said, “The Global Sumud Flotilla has informed about its objective of delivering humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and raising awareness about the urgent humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people and the need to stop the war in Gaza. We therefore call on everyone to refrain from any unlawful or violent act against the flotilla and to respect international law and international humanitarian law. We recall that any violation of international law and human rights of the participants in the flotilla, including attacks against the vessels in international waters or illegal detention, will lead to accountability.”

Israel Says It Will Not Allow Vessels to Enter an Active Combat Zone and Will Not Allow Any Breach of the Naval Blockade

Israel, which blocked two previous attempts by activists to reach Gaza by sea in June and July, has said it will not allow the flotilla to reach the embattled Palestinian territory.

“Israel will not allow vessels to enter an active combat zone and will not allow any breach of the lawful naval blockade. If their intentions are sincere, they should transfer any such aid to the nearby Ashkelon Marina so it can be forwarded promptly to the Gaza Strip in a non-violent manner,” foreign ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein said.

As the world knows, Israel is blocking the entry of hundreds of trucks carrying medical and food aid to starving and sick Palestinians in Gaza.

Take Action

• Contact US Government Offices and Officials Demanding Action Against the Israeli Genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and the Ethnic Cleansing of Palestinians in the West Bank…and the Israel Bombing of flotilla ships carrying food for the starving Palestinians in Gaza.
  White House  202-456-1111 and 202-456-1414
  Department of State Operations Center: 202-647-1512
  Congress – Demand that your Senators and Representatives:

1. Speak out publicly condemning the attack, call for accountability and the flotilla’s safe passage.
2. Direct the State Department to protect U.S. citizens on board.
3. Use the power of the purse under Article I of the Constitution to hold Israel accountable and immediately introduce legislation that cuts off U.S.
   You can use the template letter we have provided. Feel free to make an edit or rewrite to make it your personal message. You can also:

• Leave a voice message. Dial the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
  Click here to find your Congressional delegation.
• Go further: Contact the members of Congress with constituents on board.
• Organize vigils, protests, and teach-ins. Make the crisis visible in your communities.  This is also an excellent opportunity to highlight the plight of the Palestinian people and to push for an end to the genocide.
• Organize Direct Actions to disrupt complicit entities and dramatize our commitment to resist U.S. complicity in genocide.
• Pressure the media to cover this story of bold, international action to stop genocide. Write op-eds, contact local outlets. Use social media to call out those who enable propaganda. Demand honest coverage.
• Build coalitions with immigrant rights groups, faith organizations, antiracist and pro-Palestinian justice movements, union locals, and any groups fighting censorship and free speech crackdown.
• Stand with BDS: Just as Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions were crucial in ending apartheid in South Africa, they remain a legitimate nonviolent tool against Israeli apartheid and genocide.
• Be creative. Be visible.  Be loud.  Make your voices heard.

First published at Peace Planet News.Facebook

Ann Wright served 29 years in the U.S. Army/Army Reserves and retired as a Colonel.  She was a U.S. diplomat for 16 years and served in the U.S. Embassies in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, Micronesia, Afghanistan and Mongolia.  She resigned from the U.S. Department of State in March 2003 in opposition to the U.S. war on Iraq.  She is the co-author of Dissent: Voices of Conscience. Read other articles by Ann.

Palestine

Our eyes on the flotilla, not on the UN

Tuesday 23 September 2025, by Édouard Soulier


While Gaza City is reduced to ashes, media attention is focused on the futile and poisonous posturing around ‘recognition of the State of Palestine’. We must not lose sight of grassroots solidarity, support the Global Sumud Flotilla, isolate Israel and counter the process of normalisation.

The assault on Gaza City is underway. The Israeli army is systematically destroying residential buildings, including iconic towers. Residents are being forced to gather a few belongings and flee within minutes. The aim is to make any return to normal life impossible in a city that is much older than Israel. The rest of the Strip is a giant graveyard. One study estimates that 200,000 people have been killed in Gaza over the past two years, 10% of the population. A massacre. A genocide.

A vain and poisoned recognition

Yet the UN General Assembly has endorsed the Franco-Saudi resolution on ‘recognition of the State of Palestine’, which also calls for an immediate ceasefire and access to humanitarian aid in Gaza. Among the countries that voted against it are, unsurprisingly, the United States, Israel, Argentina and Hungary. Despite appearances, this resolution actually marks a setback for Palestinian rights. It makes no mention of genocide or war crimes and is obviously not binding. Worse still, according to the analysis of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

"... thanks to major commitments made by the Palestinian Authority and Arab countries for peace and security for all in the region. This roadmap involves an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the release of all hostages; it involves the establishment of a viable and sovereign Palestinian state; it involves the disarmament of Hamas and its exclusion from the governance of Gaza; it involves normalisation between Israel and the Arab countries. 

Thus, Israel’s security is systematically invoked, but never that of the Palestinians. The ‘peace process’ depends on commitments made by the Palestinian Authority, not by Israel. The resolution demands the disarmament of Hamas and its exclusion from the governance of Gaza — in other words, Palestinians are stripped of their right to decide for themselves, and in reality the aim is to prohibit them from any armed resistance. The real purpose of this text lies in the carrot offered to Israel: normalisation with its neighbours.

Amplifying active solidarity

But even this normalisation will probably not be enough to stop Israel, which has shown its ability to be at war with everyone. After decimating part of the Yemeni government, Israel attempted to bomb the Hamas delegation present in Doha for ceasefire negotiations at the request of the United States. Not only does this literally torpedo the process, it is also a military intervention in a major ally of Washington. There is therefore no other prospect in the short term than Israel’s headlong rush forward. Without a balance of power, without sanctions or military intervention against Israel, resolutions will have no impact. Israel, drunk with its impunity, has repeatedly stated that there will never be a Palestinian state.

The only solution is to increase Israel’s political and economic isolation. Active solidarity demonstrations must challenge Israel and its impunity. Mobilisation is having an effect: it contributed to the cancellation of the Vuelta cycling race due to the participation of the Israeli team. This is a breach in normalisation and an example to follow. With dozens of boats and nearly 50 nationalities represented, the flotilla set sail again on 13 September. The incendiary attacks did not dampen their determination. The Global Sumud Flotilla will therefore become a focal point for the solidarity movement. We must be ready to demand that Western governments do not allow a massacre in international waters.

18 September 2025

Translated by International Viewpoint from l’Anticapitaliste.

Attached documentsour-eyes-on-the-flotilla-not-on-the-un_a9184.pdf (PDF - 899.5 KiB)
Extraction PDF [->article9184]



Édouard Soulier


International Viewpoint is published under the responsibility of the Bureau of the Fourth International. Signed articles do not necessarily reflect editorial policy. Articles can be reprinted with acknowledgement, and a live link if possible.

 

Peace Demo and Overton Window on the Elephant in the Room

by Eric Walberg / September 25th, 2025

Draw the Line drew the lines

So many red lines. Putin, Macron, Hamas, Israel. Our Palestine-Environment demo Saturday September 20 drew humanity and Nature’s red lines, drenched as they are in the blood of martyrs and poisons sucked out of Earth – inflicted on us all.

I’m worn down by a half-century of calling for things that no one should deny. But joining the thousands (not nearly enough), walking among mostly teens and twenty-somethings was a shot in the arm. I can die happy. There will always be beautiful new humans to carry on the struggle. I can still see the lovely girl in striped tank-top, modest, full of health, relaxed as she chants along with us: From the River to the Sea Palestine will be free!

We moved like a stream, meandering currents. I pointed out a nerdy placard with tiny writing.

E: Who can read that? P’s eyesight was up to it: ‘killing babies’ genocide. ‘ethnic cleansing’ genocide… ‘Liberal Party’ NOT genocide.

Then a pause and we funneled down the narrow St Patrick’s ‘canyon’, streetcar track ‘rapids’ to stumble in, our detour to keep us off University Avenue. I suspect Premier Doug Ford took the liberty of making his own detour around City Council to tell the Toronto police to keep his businessmen from losing precious time and keep the deplorables on side streets.

Sunny and good spirits. A survey found only 20% of travellers on TTC enjoy their trip vs cyclists 70%. I would say 100% of our marchers had more enjoyment than from even a Blue Jays game. When I eyed a huge rock at the beautiful little crescent park by the Medical Sciences complex, with a photographer draped in a huge Palestinian flag, I knew I had found my promised land.

I convinced my friend P to take a rest and chat. The tragedy of Palestine makes such demos and exchanges with friends vital to my well-being. Feeling the angst makes you want to explode or end it all. The shift in the Overton Window on things Jewish is happening for very good reasons and I wanted to share with P my frustrations with the elephant in the room.

E: No one talks about the fact that it’s Jews enacting genocide, rape and torture, taking delight in their orgy of Nazi-like crimes. The Germans were the culprits in WWII and paid the price. It’s the Jews this time turning the sacred lands into a … sorry, no words express my disgust, horror. Evil! And they get away with it!! No once can stop them. They plan to flag the ‘blue and white’ over the ruins of Yemen.

Sure a few token dissenters but no loud outcries by the Jewish masses, Jewish organizations. Quite the opposite — THEY are the problem. AIPAC encouraging us to love Israel – or else. It’s only goys finally risking their jobs, their lives.

Well, the holocaust narrative has lost its power. The scales are falling from people’s eyes. The lies that Netanyahu et al. are spouting, contradicting the reality that people are watching on TV (recall Vietnam) and can read in blogs and hear in podcasts, make people suspect the whole zionist narrative, from the 6 million to 10/7 as a terrorist act and the genocide in Gaza as legitimate. As Charlie Kirk found out the hard way.

That woman with the black t-shirt ‘I’m JEWISH and support Palestine’, it’s like saying ‘My opinion is more important than yours because I’m JEWISH’. Supremacist thinking. Easily still Zionist.

At least my Jewish friend Syd is alienated from his father and not caving in. How sad. The supremacist thinking of his father leads him to reject his moral son. The definition of evil.

I remember my dad telling me ‘I see why you’re a communist. It’s really just like Jesus.’ He was probably chuckling inside for my naivete, but he loved me more than capitalism. Meanwhile, I was thinking ‘He would be an excellent chemist and manager in the Soviet Union.’

So supremacist thinking is not engrained in us goys. And it’s hard to unlearn that, even if you mean well. Jews are 2% of the population but control all sectors – business, politics, media, culture. They are THE censor to whom we unquestionably bow down.

We live not in a ‘Judeo-Christian’ society, but in a Judeo society. It’s like the emperor’s new clothes. We are sheeple, willing servants.

Liberating Palestine means liberating ourselves from the chokehold of Jewish hegemony. I used to think communism was the answer. For all their fanatical utopianism, Marx and Lenin had it partly right: no to racism, no to usury. Jews were key to 1917 and prospered in the Soviet Union but there was no Jewish hegemony like under capitalism.

In theory, ‘real existing communism’ meant the Soviet Union. So I went to live there – just as it was collapsing.

Hmm. So I decided to put dad’s Jesus back into the picture, which in today’s world meant Islam. I grew up in a Judeo society and have a lot of unlearning, reprogramming to do.

The nice thing about being human is we have really plastic brains (in the good meaning of the term plastic). You can do it if you really want to. That’s Islam: it’s all about your intent, your built-in program to keep to the straight path. Communism didn’t do the trick. I recommend Islam, especially to intelligent Jews. My spiritual guide is Muhammad Assad ne Leopold Weiss.

Muslims are the underdog, which usually means the good guys. Palestine is proving that in spades.

They are 4% of the population in Canada and are persecuted, barely holding on to life. A real struggle. Hijab and praying in public (i.e., practicing your religion) increasingly banned, violence, mosque burnings… They are nice. Not pushy. Humble as most are real believers. They take religion seriously. Strong families. Model citizens. Shariah law would be an improvement for America, as a young American convert ‘proves’ in a minute on Youtube.

We joined the remnants of the demo. Two friendly women from FoodNotBombs.ca were serving up tasty walnut raisin muffins and water or ‘brew’ (iced coffee with cream and sugar) for free! Canada spent $30b on war in 2024 while 1 in 10 Canadians live in poverty.

P: And Carney wants to double this waste. And all to buy US planes and bombs. His talk about being ‘Canadian’ was a joke. He’s a globalist banker. Take back the power to create money and give us a basic income. Wipe out poverty and take back some real sovereignty in a stroke.

A nice little old lady handed me a faithandclimate.ca flier on ‘free nonviolent action training!’ Greenpeace going strong with their smart stickers.

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Eric Walberg is a journalist who worked in Uzbekistan and is now writing for Al-Ahram Weekly in Cairo. He is the author of From Postmodernism to Postsecularism and Postmodern Imperialism. His most recent book is Islamic Resistance to Imperialism. Read other articles by Eric, or visit Eric's website.