2026-05-17: Israel Roundup

So far today: 2026-05-17 09:06am GMT

Farhang Jahanpour (2026-05-17). The Surprising History of Warm Iranian-Jewish Relations. juancole.com Berkshire (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) — After the massive US and Israeli attacks on Iran on 28 February 2026, the second attack in the middle of negotiations within a year, with his characteristic modesty, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "The war on Iran fulfils my 40-year dream". Netanyahu has not only been dreaming of involving the United States in a war against Iran, but he has also been actively working and plotting to bring this about. US Senator Chris Van Hollen put it this way: 'Netanyahu waited 40 years to find an American president "stupid enough and reckless enough" to s…

NAG (2026-05-17). Friday 5/15: Nakba Day protest at israeli consulate. indybay.org 456 Montgomery St | "israeli" consulate…

aljazeera (2026-05-17). Could a leadership change undo Israel's international isolation? aljazeera.com Opposition leaders hope to end Israel's isolation, even as they retain policies towards Palestinians that led to it.

American Friends Service Committee (2026-05-17). Saturday 6/6: How Communities Across Turtle Island are Cutting Ties with Israeli Apartheid. indybay.org Online | www.mobilize.us/us-palestineactivism/eve…

newarab (2026-05-16). Israel strikes south Lebanon day after ceasefire extension. newarab.com Israel launched a massive series of airstrikes on Israel claims it is targeting Hezbollah, but the strikes were preceded by an evacuation warning covering nine villages. | The continuing bombardment has only increased Lebanon's state-ru…

newarab (2026-05-16). Israel strikes Lebanon; Nakba, far-right protests sweep London. newarab.com Israel continued to attack At least six people were killed, including three paramedics, and 22 were wounded in an Israeli strike on a civil defence centre in the town of Harouf, the country's state news agency said early Saturday. | Israel and Lebanon agreed to extend the truce on Friday following two days of talks in Washington,…

newarab (2026-05-16). Israel strikes Lebanon; 250,000 attend London Nakba protest. newarab.com

newarab (2026-05-16). Lebanon-Israel diplomacy: Ceasefire on paper, war on the ground. newarab.com

newleftreview (2026-05-16). Alexander Zevin: Trump's Gulf War. newleftreview.org Asymmetries of the US-Israeli assault on Iran, as an uneasy balance holds between Tehran's tourniquet on the Strait of Hormuz—and the world economy—and the enormous firepower of the aggressors, at the end of the first round.

Carlos Martinez, Friends of Socialist China. (2026-05-16). A Successful Visit To Beijing. popularresistance.org In the following article, Carlos Martinez assesses Donald Trump's 13-15 May state visit to China, arguing that the positive mood music between Trump and Xi Jinping reflects a (slowly) growing understanding in US policy circles that a hawkish anti-China strategy simply is not working. The semiconductor war has accelerated Chinese self-sufficiency rather than slowed it; Trump's 145 percent tariffs collapsed within days of Beijing tightening rare-earth export controls; and the US-Israeli criminal war on Iran has strengthened, rather than weakened, the multipolar trajectory. | The deeper meaning of this summit is tha…

al-monitor (2026-05-16). US says Iran-backed militia commander planned Jewish site attacks. al-monitor.com US authorities on Friday detailed charges against a commander of an Iran-backed Iraqi militia who was allegedly involved in plotting terrorism against Jewish people in Europe, Canada and the United States. Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, 32, is said to have directed and urged others to attack US and Israeli interests, and to kill Americans and Jews, in retaliation for the war against Iran.He was identified as a senior figure in Kataeb Hezbollah, a US-designated foreign terrorist organization linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

al-monitor (2026-05-16). Iranian filmmaker Farhadi condemns Middle East war, protest massacres. al-monitor.com Oscar-winning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi condemned Friday both the killing of civilians in US and Israeli attacks on his country and the "massacring" of protesters by the Islamic republic. Farhadi, who travelled from Tehran last week, trod a fine line when asked for his thoughts about events in his war-hit homeland at the Cannes Film Festival, where his latest film, the French-language "Parallel Tales", received its premiere.

aljazeera (2026-05-16). Thousands protest at Eurovision final as five countries boycott over Israel. aljazeera.com Spain, Ireland, Iceland, Slovenia and Netherlands all withdrew in protest against Israel's participation amid Gaza war.

al-monitor (2026-05-16). Israel says Hamas armed wing chief killed in Gaza strike. al-monitor.com Israel said Saturday it had killed Hamas armed wing chief Ezzedine Al-Haddad in an airstrike in Gaza the previous day, describing him as a key architect of the October 7 attacks.Since Hamas's October 7, 2023 cross-border assault, the Israeli military and intelligence services have waged a campaign targeting the group's senior political leaders and militant commanders in Gaza and across the region.The military said Friday it had carried out an airstrike in Gaza targeting Haddad, before confirming his death on Saturday.

newarab (2026-05-16). UNRWA secretly rescued Nakba archive from Gaza. newarab.com Millions of documents chronicling the The mission was carried out amid fears the archive could be destroyed, seized, or lost during Israel's war on Gaza. | The operation lasted around ten months and involve…

James Marc Leas, Substack. (2026-05-16). New Phase Of Gaza Flotilla Mission Launched. popularresistance.org Today, five Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) sailboats joined up with 54 Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) boats departing from Marmaris, Türkiye, to set sail to Gaza in a new phase of the flotilla mission. | This new phase continues the mission to break the siege of Gaza notwithstanding the Israeli government's April 29 attack on 22 GSF civilian vessels off the western coast of Crete and its abduction and abuse of two (GSF) organizers, Thiago Avila and Saif Abu Keshek for 12 days. They were released without charge on May 10. | Despite the April 29 attack, FFC launched its boats from Siracusa Italy on May 2.

Reuters (2026-05-16). Gaza: Israel kills Hamas leader as deaths mount despite ceasefire. scmp.com Israel's military on Saturday said it had killed the chief of Hamas' military wing in an air strike on Gaza the previous day, the most senior Hamas official killed by Israel since ‚Äåan October US-backed ceasefire agreement that was meant to halt fighting. | A senior Hamas official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed Izz al-Din al-Haddad, who was born in 1970, was killed in the attack. Hamas Gaza spokesperson Hazem Qassem later said in a video statement published on Facebook that…

Reuters (2026-05-16). Bulgaria's Dara wins Eurovision contest, beating out Israel for top spot. scmp.com Bulgaria won the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time on Saturday in a final overshadowed by five countries' boycott over Gaza, claiming a dramatic ‚Äåvictory despite another big public vote for Israel that secured it second place. | The garish and usually good-natured competition involving pop acts from countries across Europe and beyond, now in its 70th year, has been plunged into crisis by a dispute over Israel's military offensive in Gaza, a response to ‚Å the Hamas-led attack on October 7,…

newleftreview (2026-05-16). Nancy Fraser: Gaza as World Event. newleftreview.org The global reverberations of Israel's destruction of Gaza, understood as world event—an epochal turning point which serves to reveal the changing nature of the times. Philosophical reflections on the rise of a new-era McCarthyism in Germany and the US.

aljazeera (2026-05-16). Israel launches deadly air strikes on Gaza City apartment building. aljazeera.com At least seven Palestinians were killed when Israeli air strikes hit a residential building and a vehicle in Gaza City.

newarab (2026-05-16). Israel kills 8 Palestinians in Gaza, Hamas official assassinated. newarab.com The Israeli bombardment, which comes despite a ceasefire in place since October, targeted residential buildings and vehicles in Gaza City, medical sources said. | The victims, who include a 45-year-old woman, were tr…

Philip Weiss (2026-05-16). Labour Party scandal shows how support for Israel is plummeting on both sides of the Atlantic. mondoweiss.net Keir Starmer is facing a political crisis, in part because of his support for Israel, as a rising star in the party calls for sanctions against the "pariah" state. Gaza has altered politics forever, and the shock waves are now reaching the UK.

newarab (2026-05-16). Volkswagen to produce Iron Dome parts in deal with Israeli firm. newarab.com German car giant The proposed joint venture would reportedly convert Volkswagen's Osnabruck plant from manufacturing cabriolet cars to producing truck chassis and other parts used to transport Iron Dome batteries and future systems such as th…

Committee on Academic Freedom (2026-05-16). Protesting Israeli Control over Palestinian Archeological Sites. juancole.com — | Letter to document and condemn Israel's efforts at taking full control over and re-defining archaeological sites in the occupied Palestinian Territories: | Volker Türk | UN High Commissioner for Human Rights | ohchr-registry@un.org | Khaled El-Enany | Direct…

aljazeera (2026-05-16). Spain PM defends Eurovision boycott over Israel. aljazeera.com Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez has defended Spain's boycott of the Eurovision Song Contest over Israel's participation.

al-monitor (2026-05-16). Prosecutors seek death penalty for US man charged with killing Israeli embassy staffers. al-monitor.com Prosecutors said Friday that they will seek the death penalty for a Chicago man charged with fatally shooting two Israeli embassy staffers in the US capital last year.Elias Rodriguez was arrested immediately after the May 21 shooting of Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and his fiancee, Sarah Milgrim, 26, outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington.US Attorney Jeanine Pirro said in a court filing that prosecutors will seek the death penalty for Rodriguez, who faces murder, firearms and hate crime charges.

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