Last week TRAC's (the collaborative research network in terrorism, radicalisation and organised crime) annual conference came back after a 4 year hiatus thanks to pandemic. We partnered with @UNODC this year for 2 days of closed sessions. Happy to say it was a resounding success!

In light of what can only be described as the Lebanese president, Joseph Aoun’s historic betrayal yesterday and Netanyahu's assertion the day before that Israel’s freedom of action to strike Lebanon forms part of its agreement with the Lebanese state, it’s now evident that the Lebanese government isn’t even pursuing a humiliating peace settlement along the lines of the infamous May 17 agreement. Viewed alongside the U.S. State Department memo Aoun finally took ownership of, it becomes patently clear that these talks are structured around the singular purpose of disarming and dismantling the resistance, and not merely normalisation with the Israeli enemy. This is nothing short of a counter-resistance security agreement whereby the Salam government lends Lebanon's sovereignty to the reproduction of Israeli colonialism on its territory. This transcends the logic of any post-colonial comprador elite in that Lebanon isn't merely tapped into a relation of dependency or capitulation to US–Israeli demands, but actively reverses its own self-determination and hard-won sovereignty, claiming the sovereign right to redefine treason as “salvation” and resistance in pursuit of sovereignty as treason. In doing so, it does not stop at delegitimising and casting the resistance as the enemy from within, but extends that judgement to its social base, whereby the people of the South, and the Shiʿa community more broadly, are reclassified as a politically suspect body whose refusal to surrender their land to Israel is reinterpreted as complicity in treason.

Absolute must read. You don’t just need gas chambers to commit genocide. Level the homes, poison the water, erase the hospitals—make human survival impossible. “All they will find is sand” isn’t a metaphor, it’s a strategic plan to erase a civilisation lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n07/…

Shameful- horrified at the Lebanese government stance. Expect to see Hezbollah flourish!

In less than 24 hours, Israel committed 4 war crimes. Not may constitute to war crimes. Clear war crimes. Israel deliberately killed four paramedics in a successive strike on ambulances responding to an initial airstrike in Mayfadoun, Lebanon. Israel deliberately bombed The only operational hospital in the frontline villages of the southern regions in Lebanon where the Israeli attacks are relentless. Also targeted first responders and their ambulances. Israel destroyed the final bridge to Southern Lebanon, in Burj Rahal. Civilians can't flee. Ambulances cannot reach the wounded or the hospitals on the other side. Laying siege cruelly cut off all fuel from entering, with threats to bomb aid trucks and medical vehicles heading south. Entire communities are cut off from essential supplies. Israel blew up a public school in Marwahin, South Lebanon, which had been officially reported as not being used for military purposes. Israel deliberately targets civilians and civilian infrastructure in Lebanon. These are clear war crimes, and war crimes beget war crimes with total impunity.

#C4News last night reported on the wholesale targeting of ambulances & paramedics in Lebanon by Israel, including the recent 'triple hit', when Israel attacked an ambulance, then attacked paramedics who went to help, and then attacked further paramedics also trying to help.

⚠️So this is the “deal.” Israel just leaked what it calls a “declaration” reached with Lebanon. In reality, it is a surrender document. Lebanon is ordered to disarm Hezbollah, eliminate all non-state armed groups, & ensure only the Lebanese army can bear arms. In exchange? A 10-day “goodwill pause” that Israel can cancel at any moment. No Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon. No end to buffer zones. No commitment to stop the destruction. This is not a ceasefire. This is Israel demanding that Lebanon do what the IDF failed to achieve on the battlefield, ‘crush’ Hezbollah’s military power, while Israel keeps the right to strike whenever it chooses. The Lebanese government has still not issued a single word confirming or denying this text. Silence here is dangerous. This is not peace talks. This is asking Lebanon to tear itself apart so Israel can get what it wants through ‘diplomacy.’ Beyond shameful.

Regarding Trump's threat/decision to impose a naval blockade on Iran, color me a skeptic. 1. Taking more oil off the market, particularly the only oil that is now getting out from the Persian Gulf, will drive oil prices further up, and the paper price of oil will get closer to the actual price, which should be around $150 per barrel. A dramatic increase in inflation in the US will ensue. Avoiding this is precisely why Trump was stuck in a position where he had no escalatory options out of this conflict before the ceasefire. He still doesn't. 2. Stopping tankers carrying Iranian oil wouldn't just be an escalation vis-à-vis Iran, but also against the countries that are buying Iranian oil, which includes China, India, and other Asian countries. I doubt Trump is ready for that escalation, particularly given the upcoming summit in Beijing. 3. This is also true for punishing countries that have negotiated a toll with Iran for the Straits. That includes Pakistan, which hosted the negotiations. 4. The naval blockade escalation will make the closing of the Red Sea more likely by the Houthis. That would take another 12% of global oil flow off the market. We would now be looking at oil around $200 per barrel. There are nine or so days left of the ceasefire. Since neither side has explicitly stated that talks won't resume, or that the ceasefire is dead and over with, all these moves should be treated as tactics and threats within the negotiations. It wouldn't be surprising if these threats are walked back soon (perhaps before markets open on Monday) and a new round is announced. HOWEVER, there is a time for brinkmanship, and there is a time for serious negotiations. If the US truly was insisting on zero enrichment in Islamabad, which was not Trump's red line at first but rather Israel's, then the next talks will be rendered a failure - just as the talks in May 2025 were killed by Trump shifting to the Israeli red line. Still, I don't think that necessarily will lead to a return to war. A more likely scenario is a new non-negotiated status quo in which Tehran retains control over the Straits but doesn't get any sanctions relief, while the US pulls out of the war, and the question becomes whether Israel will continue the war on its own.

BREAKING! Amid widespread bombing across Arab regions, Israel approves its largest-ever colonial expansion. Under the "fog of war'', what I warned on 14 Oct 2023 is unfolding: the largest ethnic cleansing/land grab in Palestine, since the Nakba. It’s happening. Under our watch.

In 2021, @DCIPalestine reported that Israeli interrogators raped a 15-year-old Palestinian boy while in detention. DCIP shared the allegation with State Department officials, who reportedly raised it with Israel. In response, Israeli forces raided DCIP’s offices and later designated it as a “terrorist organization.” Now, DCIP has announced they can no longer continue their work under constant Israeli attacks.

‼️ Hezbollah delivers one of the worst beatings of the war. The story of Israeli elite unit ambushed hard on the Litani River, as reported by Israeli Channel 12: ‘An Israeli soldier from the elite Yahalom unit described the ambush on the Litani River opposite Beaufort Castle: "I have been fighting for nearly three years, & I have never seen firepower like this in my life." Hezbollah unleashed around 400 rockets & shells in minutes, including cluster munitions. Soldiers could not lift their heads. They were crawling on the ground just to retreat. Most of the force was hit within minutes, including a lieutenant colonel with serious wounds. It turned into a major mass casualty event. Fighters called it the hardest battle they have ever faced, worse than Gaza or last year's Lebanon operations. One soldier said: "You lie on the ground, crawling to treat the wounded, while your whole body shakes from explosions that never stop." Due to the heavy losses, commanders ordered an immediate withdrawal & abandoned the mission. They even left behind valuable Yahalom engineering equipment. The decision was approved at the highest levels by Northern Command & the Chief of Staff. After pulling out, Hezbollah walked in broad daylight, photographed the vehicles, & seized some of the gear. No Israeli strike came to destroy it. Senior Israeli officers are calling this one of the worst operational and intelligence failures of the entire war.’

💢🇵🇸 NEW: Drop Site News obtained a Hamas ceasefire monitoring report covering Day 177 of the Gaza “ceasefire” agreement, Monday April 6, documenting at least 10 different attacks on Gaza, and systematic Israeli violations of the agreement since October. CASUALTIES — DAY 177 ▫️10 Palestinians killed, 44 wounded Monday. ▫️Since the ceasefire began: 733 killed, including 204 children, 86 women, and 21 elderly. 2,034 wounded total, with children, women and elderly accounting for 52.7% of the injured. FIELD INCIDENTS — DAY 177 ▫️ 00:10 | Khan Yunis — Israeli military vehicles opened fire on eastern and central Khan Yunis. ▫️ 00:40 | Khan Yunis — Israeli military vehicles shelled eastern Khan Yunis with artillery. ▫️ 06:20 | Gaza City — Israeli military vehicles shelled and fired on eastern Gaza City. ▫️ 06:20 | Gaza City — Israeli naval boats fired shells off the coast of Gaza City. ▫️ 09:30 | Khan Yunis — Israeli forces opened fire on a civilian bus on Salah al-Din Road near Al-Abara Street, killing one civilian and wounding others. ▫️ 12:10 | North Gaza — Farah Rizq, 23, wounded by a bomb dropped from an Israeli quadcopter drone in Jabalia. ▫️ 12:45 | Gaza City — One civilian killed, others wounded in an Israeli drone strike on a vehicle in Sheikh Radwan neighborhood. ▫️ 14:55 | Gaza City — Bilal Ahmad Al-Masri, 21, shot and wounded by an Israeli quadcopter drone near Shafoot Restaurant in Al-Zeitoun neighborhood. ▫️ 14:55 | North Gaza — Ahmad Ibrahim Al-Hajj, 36, shot and wounded by Israeli forces near Al-Yemen Al-Saeed Hospital in Jabalia camp. ▫️ 15:25 | Central Gaza — Several civilians killed (Reuters reported at least 10) and wounded by armed gangs operating under Israeli military protection east of Maghazi camp. HUMANITARIAN ACCESS ▫️ Israel is obligated under the ceasefire to allow 600 trucks daily, including 50 fuel trucks. Less than 40% of aid, and less then 13% of fuel is getting in daily. ▫️Actual entry: 180 trucks Monday — 30% of the agreed amount. ▫️Fuel trucks reached just 14.8% of the agreed quota. ▫️The Rafah Crossing was closed Monday, with zero travelers crossing in either direction against an agreed daily quota of 200. Overall, 2,559 total travelers have crossed Rafah since the ceasefire began, out of a scheduled 10,000 — a compliance rate of just 25.5% across the full ceasefire period. Hundreds have died waiting on the medical evacuation list. PATTERN ▫️Since the ceasefire took effect, Israeli forces have committed an average of 13.1 violations per day across 2,325 total incidents, including 881 live fire incidents and 1,077 airstrikes and artillery attacks. ▫️Israel has also seized approximately 34 square kilometers beyond agreed withdrawal lines and blocked infrastructure repairs including electricity, water and sewage networks.

I have not seen a single mainstream media outlet give this the attention it deserves. Israel blew up an entire Lebanese town, an ancient place. It should be headline news. There’s footage of it happening. Imagine this was your town, and you saw every building blown up by a terrorist army to prevent you from ever returning. You would at the very least expect wall to wall coverage. Instead it passes without a word. It’s not the only town Israel has blown up. And sadly it probably won’t be the last.

Please understand that Trump is not the exception nor is he unique to American history; he is a byproduct of it. He is the unfettered, morally bankrupt rotten core of American white supremacism/ imperialism staring back at us. It's always been there, its just more unmasked now. Deep down I think the liberal corporate media/ establishment doesn't actually have a problem with Trump's policies per say (look at Pelosi, Schumer and other Dems comments on ravaging Iran), but rather that he's exposed the facade of America. That's what they find so difficult to stomach and contend with. He doesn't care to mask the true face of America's horrific violence or disregard for human life. American imperialist hegemony built itself upon a veneer of moral supremacy that legitimized it's violence as necessary and good. America was a brand, a business, with a very specific image that needed to be sustained. Marketed through its media, corporations and propaganda expeditiously— it depended upon upholding an illusion (myth) of moral and civilizational superiority, that covered over its true evils. That always gave it the upper hand because it was inherently benevolent. This justified it's global dominance, even though it was always maintained through such unforgiving brutality. Yet Trump routinely exposes this with both his incompetence and variable honesty, even though he's not actually trying to be honest. Hence they purposefully make Trump seem like an outlier to the presidency. Recall the years long obsession with the Russian collusion narrative, because of the optics. His victory over the neoliberal feel-good, female empowerment candidate (Clinton), made America, the self-anointed bastion of democracy and progressivism in the world, look bad. That it couldn't actually elect a borderline fascist or overt racist when racism had just ended with the first Black President previously. That it must have been that some foreign entity that helped him win. People today laud war criminals like Bush and Obama because they perceive the US presidency through the expectation of a performance. Trump lacks the relative decorum of his predecessors to mask the fallout of policies which are just as destructive as theirs, if not more. Trump is only an exception to American history in that he doesn't outwardly behave *presidentially* because he wasn't coming off of the traditional, cookie-cutter DC establishment politician conveyor belt. He doesn't possess the charm, wit or likeablity of his predecessors to paint over America's horrors. He has laid it all bare; gloves off, mask off. He's given them permission to show their true essence and not be ashamed of it. There is no need to hide it any longer— the violent white supremacy— unleashed to maximum capability. Maximum lethality, not tepid legality; as Hegseth put it. He's told them to take pride in it; to do it boldy. No fanciful language or need to spin the reality of what they're actually doing or believe in; unrelenting and unabashed; not restricted by or accountable to, any entity or semblance of morality. Just raw power. He is America's true face.

My gosh. Defense for Children International - Palestine is shutting down. DCIP has been huge in helping document human rights abuses against Palestinian kids & giving them legal support in an otherwise apartheid system for 35 years. Amid attacks by Israel, it's now shuttering.

Bloomberg acknowledges that the US war on Iran is backfiring, undermining the petrodollar system that gives the US empire so much power. Gulf regimes are exporting significantly less oil, and they're not reinvesting those petrodollars in US assets. Meanwhile, many foreign central banks have been selling US Treasury securities (US government debt) to prevent their currencies from depreciating, leading to US bond yields rising markedly -- not falling, as they typically did in past crises, when investors engaged in a "flight to safety". The US financial sector is losing its perception of having "safe haven" status. This means that both key aspects of the petrodollar system are breaking: there are fewer oil exports in dollars (Iran wants oil to be traded in Chinese yuan), and there are fewer petrodollars recycled into US financial assets.

Absolute horror on Al Jazeera. Live footage confirms the US and Israel are actively following through on threats to bomb civilian railway lines in Iran. Rescue workers are desperately pulling innocent commuters from the wreckage. These war crimes are sickening.

Why is there no one in the U.S. government stepping up to stop this insanity? The president of the US is openly threatening genocide against a country of 90 million people, saying “a whole civilization will die tonight.” No mass resignations and the opposition party is absent. What sick death cult. Unbelievably and shockingly dangerous.

Absolute horror. Al Jazeera confirms the Trump administration's near total fuel blockade on Cuba is causing infant mortality to surge. Doctors are literally operating blind in the dark as life saving machines shut off. This is a deliberate crime against humanity.

I am Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng, a medical doctor & the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right of everyone to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, I continue to demand, since his abduction, the release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya from the brutal detention by Israel. He faces imminent and grave danger as a result of ill-treatment and inhumane conditions & the denial of medical care has been leading to severe physical mental harm and his current deterioration is rapid - these are gross human rights violations. #FreeDrHussamAbuSafiya #ReleaseDrHussamAbuSafiya #FreeThemAll

The greatest source of Israeli influence outside of the Israel lobby is the tech networks through which it has weaponized interdependence across the world