Another mass grave indicates executions; UN says Israel has been lying about numbers of aid trucks; Israel kills 14 in a massive, 50-hour attack in West Bank; Israel loves the new aid package, denounces the new sanction against one military unit. 

Israel’s Military Intelligence Chief Resigns Over October 7 Intelligence Failures. Major General Aharon Haliva, head of IDF Military Intelligence, has resigned due to intelligence oversights related to the Hamas attack on October 7. In his resignation, Haliva called for a state inquiry to thoroughly investigate the failures that led to the attack. Haliva will remain in his role until a successor is appointed, concluding his 38 years of service in the IDF.

US Considers Sanctioning More Israeli Units Over Human Rights Concerns. The US is contemplating sanctions against additional Israeli military units beyond the Netzah Yehuda Battalion for alleged human rights violations against Palestinians, according to The Times of Israel. These deliberations are part of a broader US policy that criticizes Israeli actions in the West Bank while supporting Israel’s right to self-defense. The Netzah Yehuda Battalion, known for misconduct in the West Bank, is set to be the first sanctioned, limiting their access to US military aid.

Israel Asks U.S. to Reconsider Sanctions on Military Unit. Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz has requested U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to reconsider sanctions imposed on the “Netzah Yehuda” battalion of the Israeli military. Gantz argued that such sanctions could undermine Israel’s international legitimacy during its operations against Hamas in Gaza, claiming there was no justification for the U.S. action. He emphasized the strength and independence of the Israeli judicial system and the adherence of all military units to international law. The potential U.S. sanctions have raised concerns in Israel, with Prime Minister Netanyahu vocally opposing them, citing the timing relative to past events in the West Bank.

Israel Sought to Demonstrate it Can Strike Iran Without Entering Iranian Airspace. Israeli officials disclosed to The New York Times that Israel has opted not to expand its attacks on Iran following diplomatic pressures from the U.S. and allies. Instead, Israeli forces conducted limited missile launches from hundreds of kilometers away and deployed small drones to disrupt Iranian air defenses. This strategy was meant to demonstrate Israel’s ability to target Iran effectively without entering its airspace or triggering its air defense systems. 

Israeli Defense Minister Visits Syrian Border, Warns Israel Will Counter Iranian Presence. On a visit to the Golan Heights, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant emphasized the military’s preparedness for offensive operations to prevent Iranian entrenchment near the Syrian border. Gallant emphasized the strategic patrols with division commanders and the high readiness of Israeli forces to thwart any threats from Hezbollah and Iranian forces attempting to establish positions near the Golan Heights. Gallant detailed significant preparatory efforts to ensure the safety and return of residents to northern Israel.

Israel Genocide War in Gaza

The Israeli military’s intelligence chief has resigned, saying he took responsibility for the failures before Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva will officially leave the role once his successor is selected. “The military intelligence directorate under my command did not live up to our mission,” Haliva wrote in a letter. According to Israeli media, Haliva is the first IDF staff to step down because of failures that led to the attacks. David Gritten reports for BBC News; Jeniffer Hassan reports for the Washington Post.

Israel has yet to provide evidence that the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has terrorist links, according to an independent review led by the former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna. The report, which was commissioned by the U.N. in the wake of the Israeli allegations, found that UNRWA had regularly supplied Israel with a list of its employees for vetting, but that “the Israeli government has not informed Unrwa of any concerns relating to any Unrwa staff based on these staff lists since 2011.” The review makes clear that Israel has yet to substantiate any of its broader claims about the involvement of UNRWA staff in Hamas or Islamic Jihad. It notes that in March, “Israel made public claims that a significant number of Unrwa employees are members of terrorist organisation.” “However, Israel has yet to provide supporting evidence of this,” the report says. Julian Borger reports for The Guardian.

The Israeli military has ended one of its largest offensives in the occupied West Bank since Oct. 7, saying it killed 10 “terrorists” in the Nur al-Shams refugee camp. At least 14 people, including a child, were killed in the raid, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry and the official Palestinian news agency Wafa. The raid was the latest operation in a sweeping clampdown on the West Bank since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. Since then, hundreds of Palestinians have been killed and detained in raids in the territory, which Israeli officials describe as counterterrorism operations against Hamas and other armed groups. CNN reports; Vivek Shanker and Isabel Kershner report for the New York Times.

Palestinians in the West Bank went on a general strike yesterday to protest the Israeli military raid at a refugee camp yesterday in which at least 10 people were killed. Yesterday’s strike “paralyzed all aspects of life” in the West Bank, according to Wafa news agency, with shops, schools, universities, banks, and public transportation all closed. Vivek Shanker and Isabel Kershner report for the New York Times.

The Israel military killed several Palestinians over the weekend elsewhere in the West Bank. Yesterday, Israeli troops shot and killed two Palestinians near Hebron in what the military said was an attempted attack on soldiers. An ambulance driver was also killed on Saturday when his vehicle was hit by gunfire while transporting Palestinians wounded in an attack by Israeli settlers. The Israeli military announced yesterday it is launching an investigation into the driver’s death. CNN reports. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that Israel would soon land “additional and painful blows” and it would increase “military and political pressure” on Hamas to free Israeli hostages held in Gaza. CNN reports. 

Israeli strikes on Rafah overnight killed 22 people, including 18 children, health officials said yesterday. NPR reports for the Associated Press.

One third of those killed in Gaza so far have been women, according to a new U.N. report. “The war in Gaza is no doubt a war on women, who are paying a heavy price for a war not of their making,” the regional director of U.N. Women in the Arab States said at a media briefing in Geneva. According to the report, over 10,000 women have been killed since the start of the war, 6,000 of whom are mothers. The report did not specify whether its measure of women killed included female children, whom the U.N. classifies as females younger than 19. Cate Brown and Lousia Loveluck report for the Washington Post.

U.S. RESPONSE

Israeli leaders thanked the United States after the House passed a foreign aid bill on Saturday that provides $26.4 billion in military aid to Israel and humanitarian assistance, including some for Gaza. Netanyahu said on X that the measure “demonstrates strong bipartisan support for Israel and defends Western civilization.” The package includes $4 billion for replenishing the Iron Dome and David’s Sling defense systems, $1.2 billion for procuring the Iron Beam defense system, and $9 billion for humanitarian assistance, some of which will be provided to Gaza. None of the assistance, however, can go toward UNRWA, the largest aid group serving Gaza, to which U.S. funding remains suspended. Niha Masih, Annabelle Timsit, Hajar Harb, and Sarah Dadouch report for the Washington Post.

The United States is set to sanction an IDF unit for human rights violations in the West Bank. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to within days announce sanctions against the IDF “Netzah Yehuda” battalion, an all-male special unit for ultra orthodox soldiers, three U.S. sources told Axios. According to the sources, the sanctions will ban the battalion from receiving any kind of U.S. military assistance or training. It would mark the first time Washington has sanctioned an Israeli military unit, and follows ProPublic reporting on Thursday that Blinken was sitting on staff recommendations to sanction Israeli military units that have been credibly accused of human rights abuses. When asked about the recommendations at a press conference on Friday, Blinken said he had made determinations based on the panel investigation, adding, “You can expect to see them in the days ahead.” Barak Ravid reports.

Netanyahu called the possibility of the Biden administration sanctioning the Israeli military “the peak of absurdity and a moral low.” In a post on X, he said the Israeli government would “act by all means” against any such move. Netanyahu also said yesterday he “will fight with all [his] strength” against the measure. In a statement today, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, “I call on the U.S. administration to withdraw its intention to impose sanctions on the Netzach Yehuda battalion.” Isabel Kershner, Julian E. Barnes, and Adam Rasgon report for the New York Times; Tom Bateman reports for BBC News.

Israel’s president yesterday said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) should stay out of internal Israeli politics. “Whilst I respect Charles Schumer for his steadfast support of Israel. I would recommend to American political leaders not to intervene as such in Israeli politics, but leave it to the Israeli public and the body politic to take its own decision,” Isaac Herzog said. It follows Schumer calling for new elections in Israel last month, saying part of the solution to the war in Gaza would be for Netanyahu to be replaced. David Cohen and Paul Rozenheimer report for POLITICO.

The United States conducted another round of aid airdrops in northern Gaza yesterday, U.S. Central Command said. The operation included four U.S. Air Force aircrafts, airdropping 50,688 meals, with one bundle landing in the sea. 

INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE

E.U. leaders today called for sanctions against Iran as well as Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank. Speaking ahead of an E.U. Foreign Affairs Council meeting, E.U. foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said ministers would discuss sanctions on Iran, adding that sanctions against “violent settlers” in the West Bank should also be considered. Belgium’s foreign affairs minister also said the ministers would review new sanctions against Iran and that sanctions against West Bank settlers should be considered “in order not to suffer from double standards.” Sweden’s foreign minister said the meeting provides “an opportunity to show our support for Israel, because of the Iranian attack against Israel, which we condemn.” Louis Mian, James Frater, and Stephanie Halasz report for CNN.

IRAN-BACKED MILITANTS

At least five rockets were launched from Iraq’s town of Zummar towards a U.S. military base in northeastern Syria yesterday. The attack against U.S. forces is the first since early February, when Iran-backed groups in Iraq stopped their attacks against U.S. troops. A post on a Telegram group affiliated with Kataib Hezbollah said armed factions in Iraq had decided to resume attacks after a near three-month pause following stalled progress on talks to end the U.S.-military led coalition in the country, but another Telegram group close to the faction later said there had been no official statement. A U.S. official confirmed no personnel were injured. Reuters reports.

Israeli strikes hit four sites in southern Lebanon over the weekend, Lebanese state-owned National News Agency reports. The strikes hit the villages of Khiam, Tayr Harfa, Kfarkella, and an area between Ramieh and Beit Leif. The Israeli military confirmed it struck three of four locations, hitting what it said were Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah targets. CNN reports. 

ISRAEL-IRAN CONFLICT

Israel had planned a bigger attack on Iran, but after intense pressure from allies, agreed to scale it down. According to three senior Israeli officials, Israel abandoned plans for an extensive counterstrike on Iran after concerted diplomatic pressure from the United States and other foreign allies and because Iran’s assault on Israeli soil had been mostly foiled. The officials said Israeli leaders initially discussed bombarding several military targets across Iran, including near Tehran, in response to Iran’s strikes on April 13. Israel’s intention was to allow Iran to move on without responding in kind, while signaling that Israel had developed the ability to strike Iran without entering its airspace, the officials added. Ronen Bergman and Patrick Kingsley report for the New York Times.

Nuclear weapons have no place in Iran’s nuclear doctrine, the country’s foreign ministry said today. It comes days after an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander warned that Tehran might alter its nuclear policy if pressured by Israeli threats. Reuters reports.

Israel’s Genocide in Gaza Is a World Historical Crime

When Jews were being slaughtered by the Nazis, the world turned away. Now, the world has awakened to Israel’s crimes.

When I visited the West Bank city of Hebron in the 1980s, I saw graffiti on walls that proclaimed: “ARABS TO THE GAS CHAMBERS.” Back then, the renowned Israeli public intellectual Yeshayahu Leibowitz warned that Israel was turning its soldiers into Judeonazis. Recent YouTube videos of soldiers mocking their victims bear out his prophecy. Fascism is now pervasive in Israel. There are courageous exceptions, like journalists Amira Hass and Gideon Levy, who write for the newspaper Haaretz, and the group Combatants for Peace. But all too many Israelis have supported their country’s assault on Gaza, or even wanted something worse. I wish I could have told my classmates that, should they care about Israel, it’s their responsibility to speak out now.

The genocide in Gaza has been enabled, of course, by President Biden, who continues to send billions of dollars’ worth of weaponry, including devastating 2,000-pound bombs, to Israel. Without those arms, the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu couldn’t be acting as it is. While it purports to be searching for and killing Hamas perpetrators of the October 7 atrocities, it’s actually gone to war against the entire population of Gaza. Israeli historian Ilan Pappé sees it as “a massive operation of killing, of ethnic cleansing, of depopulation.”

When Jews were being slaughtered by the Nazis, the world turned away. Now, the world has awakened to Israel’s crimes. Many American Jews, like those in Jewish Voice for Peace (whose demonstrations I’ve attended) are indeed speaking out.

It’s often asked how a people who suffered so much could cause such suffering. In fact, almost all the survivors of the Holocaust are dead. Obviously, none of the perpetrators of the genocide in Gaza and the ethnic cleansing of the West Bank were in European concentration camps. In a 1979 interview, renowned Israeli dissident, Hebrew University chemistry professor Israel Shahak pointed out that no Holocaust survivor had ever been a member of the Israeli government. Israel frequently uses the Holocaust to justify its actions in the Palestinian territories. This is a sacrilege, while one of history’s great crimes is being committed, and this member of the class of 1958 knows it. Read the full text here.

Palestinian American poet Fady Joudah receives $100,000 prize.

By Associated Press

Fady Joudah, a Palestinian American poet who has said he writes for the future because “the present is demolished,” has received a $100,000 award from Poets & Writers.

Joudah is this year’s winner of the Jackson Poetry Prize, given to an American writer of “exceptional talent. He was chosen by a panel of three poets: Natalie Diaz, Gregory Pardlo and Diane Seuss.

The judges’ citation, released Thursday, noted Joudah’s “significant and evolving body of work, distinguished by his courage to speak in the face of the unspeakable, in poems of lyric concision and intensity.”

Joudah’s books include “The Earth in the Attic” and “Tethered to the Stars,” along with English-language translations of the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. His other honors include winning the Yale Series of Younger Poets competition, in 2007, and receiving a PEN USA Literary Award.

The Jackson prize was established in 2007, and has previously been given to Sonia Sanchez, Joy Harjo and Claudia Rankine among others.