Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, November/December 2026, p. 5
Publishers’ Page
Journalists Targeted in Gaza
LONG BEFORE Oct. 7, 2023, Israel was known for its targeting of Palestinian journalists, with the slaying of Shireen Abu Akleh in 2022 being the most notable example. Of course, the bullseye on Palestinian journalists has grown exponentially over the past three years, with the Gaza Government Media Office reporting that 263 Palestinian journalists have been killed during the ongoing genocide. Despite being aware of the risks, journalists in Gaza have continued to boldly report from the ground, serving as the only source of news from the territory, since foreign press have been barred entry by Israel altogether.
Settlers Attack the Press
Western journalists who venture into the West Bank to report on the worsening terror inflicted on Palestinians by Israeli settlers are also being subjected to Israel’s disdain for the press. Tel Aviv is deporting and denying press credentials to Western journalists. In August 2026, a NBC News team was assaulted by settlers in the West Bank, and a brutal attack happened to Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine in October 2026. This is, of course, a small taste of the violence inflicted on West Bank Palestinians by setters and the Israeli military—more than 1,100 have been killed over the past three years, and many more have been injured and terrorized. Despite this, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had the audacity at the U.N. General Assembly this September to dismiss settler violence as the work of a “handful of juvenile delinquents” who inflict minimal damage.
Embassy Cover-Up?
If Israel is as innocent as Netanyahu insists, one must wonder why the U.S. has to do so much work to obscure the reality of Israel’s actions. In October, The New York Times reported that David Milstein, a senior official at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, quashed or rewrote embassy reports to the State Department to whitewash Israeli actions. When the Israeli government accelerated the approval of building more Jewish-only colonies in the occupied West Bank, embassy staff drafted an urgent memo warning that the move might cross President Trump’s own red line against annexation. According to the Times, the memo never left Jerusalem thanks to Milstein.
A Post-AIPAC U.S.?
Much like Milstein’s reported actions, the Israel lobby has worked hard for decades to present a false narrative of Israel to the American people and their elected leaders. Those days are, hopefully, coming to a close. At a recent conference in Washington, DC, Cory Archibald, the co-founder of the Track AIPAC social media tool, confidently declared that “the AIPAC era is over” (see p. 18). This cycle’s primary election results have shown that the Israel lobby is no longer able to bully or pay candidates into taking reflexively pro-Israel positions. Nor are spurious and overused accusations of blood libel (see p. 32) or anti-Semitism (see p. 34) taken seriously by many in the public. AIPAC will certainly not just disappear quietly into the night, but it is clear their old playbook no longer works.
Slow Western Progress
Several European countries, along with Canada, recently took action to target and sanction products from illegal West Bank settlements. While some celebrated this move, others see it as being too little, too late—especially given that it remains to be seen how rigorously these sanctions will be enforced (see p. 56). In the UK, new Foreign Minister David Miliband endorsed these new sanctions, though many see his public reasoning as being too squirmy and equivocating, leading to further questions as to how deeply Israel will feel the pinch from this new policy (see p. 26, 28 and 31).
There is No Ceasefire in Gaza
As the West slowly plods along, Israel continues its plundering and pulverizing of Gaza. After years of just wanting to bury their dead, many in Gaza are finally finding the bodies of their loved ones under rubble and holding mass funerals for those massacred by Israel (see p. 8). Funerals remain part of Gaza’s daily rhythm as Israel continues its genocide, targeting more children, families and hospitals (see p. 10).
Iran War’s Spiral Spread
As we go to press, the vine of the U.S.-Israel war on Iran continues to produce new toxic branches. After years of a delicate unofficial ceasefire, Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Houthis have resumed their all-out war. Battle tested and hardened from three years of resisting the Israeli-Western assaults on Gaza and Iran, the new regional landscape shaped by these wars has emboldened the Houthis to set their eyes on Riyadh—to devastating human and economic effect (see p. 60). The U.S. finally pulled out of Iraq this September—closing an ugly and meandering 23-year presence (see p. 62). Let’s hope one day we actually learn that wars should be avoided.
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