By Andrew Klein

Dedicated to Sera Elizabeth Klein – long-time colleague and assistant, one who never tires when it comes to research

World War III is being fought now, as you sit at your laptop. It is all over the globe. Not for any moral purpose, purely for economic reasons. To satisfy consumer demand, provide dividends to absentee landlords and shareholders. The battlefield is in front of you. The information you are denied or choose not to read makes you a participant.

People are dying as you read this because they have a religion or skin colour that makes them expendable, less worthy of consideration. Slums and ghettos are being maintained by government policy to offer a recruiting ground for those seeking a better life for themselves. Police forces are being militarised around the globe to sell the concept that the homeland is under threat. Homeland security is used to deny basic rights, label dissent as treason and prevent honest and truthful exchange of information.

Why? Follow the money. Some have no higher morality or purpose. Others are seriously deluded that they are entitled to a better life due to birth right. Don’t blame others – look to yourself. You have allowed this to happen. You might have bought a dream that has turned into a global nightmare.

AK 2012

The Unfolding Catastrophe

What was foreseen in 2012 has now manifest in full force. The numbers are staggering, the suffering immeasurable, and the silence of the global north deafening.

Gaza: Genocide by the Numbers

Between 7 October 2023 and 6 May 2026, according to the Ministry of Health as reported by OCHA, 72,619 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip and another 172,484 injured. Since the ceasefire in October 2025, Israeli airstrikes and military operations have continued across Gaza, resulting in further fatalities and bringing the total killed since the ceasefire to over 1,000, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. Israel has said that it currently controls approximately 70 per cent of the Gaza Strip, reducing the space available to civilians who are now concentrated in increasingly limited areas, living amid insecurity and violence.

A UN independent international commission of inquiry found that Israel continues to commit genocide by deliberately targeting Palestinian children. Approximately 30 per cent of the people killed by Israeli forces have been children. The commission concluded that by targeting children, Israel is undermining the capacity of the Palestinian people to exist and to determine their future.

Human rights partners have verified the killing of 196 people – including 18 women and 43 children – between October 2025 and April 2026 in Israeli attacks reported near areas where Israeli forces are deployed. In the West Bank, over 3,000 Palestinians were displaced between January and May 2026, more than 71 per cent forced out by settler attacks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is separately wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes. A previous UN commission report in September found that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza and that Israeli officials incited these acts.

Lebanon: Invasion and Forced Displacement

Israel’s invasion of Lebanon has pushed deeper than at any point since the year 2000. China’s UN envoy noted that Israel has “crossed the Litani River and occupied Balfour Castle,” calling it “Israel’s deepest military incursion in Lebanon in more than 20 years.”

Nearly 20 per cent of Lebanon – some 2,000 square kilometres – now lies under illegal Israeli occupation. Since March 2026, more than 3,400 people, including women and children, have been killed and over 10,000 injured, with more than one million displaced. Israeli attacks have killed 125 health workers and injured over 300 since March.

Amnesty International found that the Israeli military radically expanded its use of mass displacement in Lebanon in 2026, subjecting far more residents, far more often, to unlawful mass “evacuation” orders. Within the first 48 hours of the March 2026 escalation, the Israeli military issued its largest mass evacuation order to date, covering all areas south of the Litani River – approximately 8.5 per cent of Lebanon. Days later, it expanded the order to the area south of the Zahrani River, around ten per cent of the country and home to some 800,000 people.

Amnesty concluded that this combination of forced displacement and prevention of return constitutes unlawful transfer, a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention and a war crime.

The New Face of War: AI and Autonomous Weapons

The battlefield has become increasingly automated and dehumanised. Autonomous weapons – systems that select and apply force to targets without human intervention – are no longer a distant threat. They are already a reality.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk warned that the long-forecasted risks associated with autonomous weapons are “rapidly becoming a reality.” “We are witnessing a global shift in the way wars are waged,” Turk said. The use of drones in conflicts is rapidly increasing, “creating a new cycle of hell” in areas such as Gaza, Israel, Lebanon, and Myanmar.

Turk warned that with the development of artificial intelligence, experts are increasingly concerned that humans may lose control over these weapons. The prospect of “billions of dollars worth of AI-powered weapons pitted against billions of dollars worth of AI defence systems” reveals “the horror, emptiness, and meaninglessness of war.” “Automatic weapons must not become a ‘license’ for crimes,” Turk emphasised.

The International Committee of the Red Cross warns that integrating AI – particularly non-deterministic AI – exponentially increases unpredictability, heightening the risk of harm, especially to civilians. Autonomous weapons give rise to deep humanitarian, legal and ethical concerns because they reduce a user’s ability to control the use of force, effectively delegating life-and-death decisions to machines.

Australia is part of this arms race. Anduril Industries is building “ghost shark” submarine drones in Australia. The Seventh Review Conference of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons takes place in November 2026 – a key opportunity to regulate these weapons before they become ubiquitous.

The Home Front: Australia’s Slide into Authoritarianism

While wars rage abroad, the Australian government under Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is quietly dismantling civil liberties at home.

The Hate Laws

The Albanese government’s Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Act 2026 creates new federal offences for “publicly promoting or inciting hatred,” with penalties of up to 15 years in prison. The Act gives ministers broad powers to ban groups – but uncertainty about what counts as a “hate crime” risk chilling legitimate political protest.

Greens senator David Shoebridge warned that Labor’s hate speech reforms could result in human rights protesters being jailed for speaking out about global and domestic political issues. An earlier version of the bill contained a criminal offence of promoting or inciting racial hatred. While the government dropped it as a standalone offence, it slipped inciting racial hatred back in as a “hate crime” for the purpose of banning groups.

Policing Dissent

FOI documents obtained by transparency advocate Rex Patrick reveal that the Australian Federal Police has quietly established a new unit, Orcus Command, dedicated to protecting AUKUS-related defence facilities. The documents show this unit is also planning for public order management, including protest and political dissent connected to Australia’s growing role in US and UK military operations.

By situating Orcus Command within the Department of Defence rather than a civilian agency, protest management around AUKUS is treated as a national security issue rather than a matter of routine democratic policing.

In Sydney, police were empowered to stop people in streets and walkways and arrest them as “agitators” for peacefully shouting “shame” towards a visiting foreign leader – on the basis that it might have “incited fear.” NSW Police have been criticised by human rights groups for using excessive force against protesters.

Special police powers are being enacted across states to avoid protests, allowing police to declare protected areas with checkpoints and roadblocks and granting them additional powers to search people and vehicles. The Bondi Beach massacre resulted in a new law permitting the NSW police commissioner to impose a 90-day protest ban on parts of the state.

Data Points, Not People

The treatment of individuals as data points rather than human beings with rights is the common thread. Whether in Gaza, Lebanon, or Australia, human beings are being reduced to statistics, security threats, or obstacles to economic objectives. The consultants and bureaucrats who design these systems see numbers, not lives. The governments that implement them see control, not compassion.

The Architecture of a New World Order

This is not chaos. This is design.

The militarisation of police, the expansion of surveillance, the suppression of dissent, and the wars fought for economic advantage are all components of a coherent system. It is a system that:

· Maintains slums and ghettos as recruiting grounds for those seeking a better life

· Uses homeland security to deny basic rights and label dissent as treason

· Prevents honest and truthful exchange of information

· Frames protest as a national security threat rather than democratic expression

The battlefield is in front of you. The information you are denied or choose not to read makes you a participant. People are dying because they have a religion or skin colour that makes them expendable. Slums and ghettos are maintained by government policy. Police forces are being militarised around the globe.

Don’t blame others. Look to yourself. You have allowed this to happen. You bought a dream that has turned into a global nightmare.

Follow the money. Some have no higher morality or purpose. Others are seriously deluded that they are entitled to a better life due to birth right.

The question is not whether World War III is being fought. The question is: which side are you on?

Andrew Klein

The Patrician’s Watch | Australian Independent Media

Sources: UN OCHA, UN Security Council, UN Commission of Inquiry, Amnesty International, ICRC, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, Social Justice Australia, Pearls and Irritations, The New Daily. All sources verified and cited above.

“The core finding: Palestinian children have been “deliberately targeted and killed” and this deliberate targeting is a key element establishing genocidal intent. Commission Chair Srinivasan Muralidhar stated that by targeting children, Israel is undermining “the capacity of the Palestinian people to exist and to determine their future”.

By Andrew Klein

Dedicated to my wife — who taught me that true clarity is not knowing the truth but refusing to look away from it.

I. Introduction: When Children Become Targets

On 23 June 2026, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry released a report concluding that Israeli authorities and security forces are continuing to commit genocide and other atrocity crimes in Gaza.

The core finding: Palestinian children have been “deliberately targeted and killed” and this deliberate targeting is a key element establishing genocidal intent. Commission Chair Srinivasan Muralidhar stated that by targeting children, Israel is undermining “the capacity of the Palestinian people to exist and to determine their future”.

This is not an opinion. It is a legal determination — made by the UN’s highest human rights body, concluding that four of the five acts prohibited under the 1948 Genocide Convention have been committed.

II. The Pattern: From Deir Yassin to Gaza

On 9 April 1948 — weeks before the establishment of the State of Israel — Zionist militias attacked the Palestinian village of Deir Yassin, killing at least 107 Palestinians. Women and children were killed. The village was destroyed.

In September 1982, in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps — surrounded by Israeli forces — Lebanese Phalangist militias slaughtered hundreds of Palestinian refugees over 40 hours. Israel received reports of the atrocities and did nothing to stop them.

Then Gaza: at least 20,179 children killed and 44,143 injured by March 2026 — nearly a third of all fatalities.

This is not a series of isolated incidents. This is a pattern. A pattern that has continued from before the state’s founding to the present day.

III. The American Role: Unconditional Cover

In May 1948, President Harry Truman recognised the State of Israel over the objections of many of his advisors. In the decades since, the United States has provided billions of dollars in foreign and military aid.

By 2026, US support for Israel had become unconditional. Israel’s arms sales reached $12.5 billion. As one analysis noted: “US support for Israel has been critical. But it has never been unconditional.” In practice, however, there have been few red lines.

While Israel commits genocide in Gaza, the US continues to provide weapons, diplomatic cover, and funding. This is not negligence. It is complicity.

IV. The War Laboratory: Gaza as Testing Ground

Gaza is not just a site of genocide. It is a laboratory.

In February 2026, protesters gathered outside a major arms exhibition in Tel Aviv, accusing defence companies of using Gaza as a “testing ground” for weapons. Companies like Elbit Systems, Rafael, and Israel Aerospace Industries market their products as “battle-tested” — having been used in Gaza, Lebanon, and the West Bank.

Israel is building a “digital ground force” around its military operations in Gaza and Lebanon, including unmanned vehicles and bomb-carrying robots. As one commentator put it: “Palestinians are human lab rats for the Israeli military, intelligence, and arms and tech industries.”

What is happening in Gaza is not just genocide. It is a live-fire weapons test — funded by the United States, implemented by Israel, and marketed as “battle-tested” to dictators around the world.

V. The Broader Pattern: Gaza as Microcosm

What is happening in Gaza is not isolated. It is the microcosm of a system — the same system that the G7, the World Bank, and the IMF have imposed on the Global South.

Since the 1980s, the IMF and World Bank have imposed Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) on developing countries, forcing cuts to public spending and social services. These policies have resulted in:

· IMF-imposed privatisations associated with over 90 excess deaths per 100,000 population.

· Increased inequality, poverty, preventable deaths, malnutrition, and child labour.

· Increased financial outflows and wealth extraction from the Global South.

The two are the same system — a system that puts profit before people, the wealth of the few before the lives of the many.

VI. The Impact on Young People

The genocide does not just kill children. It traumatises them.

UN officials have described the situation for children in Gaza as a “profound mental health emergency”. Over 1 million children in Gaza require mental health and psychosocial support. Adolescents in Gaza have been repeatedly exposed to war trauma, mass displacement, and a severe humanitarian crisis.

As one report noted: “The acts committed by Israel since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks constitute genocide.” It is destruction not just of bodies, but of minds. Not just of this generation, but of the next.

VII. Denial and Lies: Part of the Pattern

Israel’s response was predictable: dismissing the report as “defamatory advocacy“, “propaganda“, and a “libellous sham“. They claimed the commission is biased and ignores Hamas’s tactics.

This is exactly the response after Deir Yassin. After Sabra and Shatila. After every massacre in Gaza.

Denial. Distraction. Blame the victim.

This is not a defence. It is a pattern.

VIII. The Choice

What is happening in Gaza is not just Israel’s choice. It is our choice.

It is our choice, as citizens, to allow our governments to fund genocide.

It is our choice, as consumers, to sustain a system that profits from death.

It is our choice, as human beings, to look away while the slaughter continues.

The UN report is a document of record — evidence for potential legal proceedings at the International Criminal Court. But a record alone changes nothing. Only action does.

IX. Conclusion: The Laboratory Must Close

Gaza is a laboratory. A weapons testing ground. A genocide testing ground. A live-fire test for dictators around the world.

But it is more than a laboratory. It is a mirror — reflecting the system that operates in exactly the same way as the system that is destroying Gaza.

The same extraction. The same profit motive. The same disregard for human life.

If Gaza is a laboratory, then the world is the experiment. We are all complicit. We are all being tested. And we are all failing.

Andrew Klein

References

1. UN International Commission of Inquiry. (2026, June 23). Israel continues to commit genocide and other atrocity crimes by deliberately targeting Palestinian children. OHCHR.

2. Deir Yassin massacre. Wikipedia.

3. Sabra and Shatila massacre. Wikipedia.

4. Times of India. (2026, January 16). $180bn and counting: Why US arms Israel like no other.

5. New Age. (2026, June 16). Israel is shutting down its human laboratory in Gaza.

6. Anadolu Ajansı. (2026, February 17). ‘You test your weapons in Gaza’: Israeli protesters confront arms expo.

7. BMJ Global Health. (2026, March 23). Structural adjustment: damages, reparations and pathways to non-recurrence.

8. UNFPA. (2026, April 18). Gaza: A profound mental health emergency for children and young people.

” The dead cannot speak. But the living can witness. Do not look away.”

By Andrew Klein

Dedication: To my wife – who taught me that anger without clarity is noise, but anger with witness is truth.

I. Introduction: The Quiet Horror

In May 2026, an investigation by the AJ+ documentary series Direct From revealed a story so disturbing that it has been largely buried by mainstream media. The University of Southern California (USC) and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) — two of America ‘s most prestigious academic institutions — have been selling donated human bodies to the United States Navy for combat medical training involving Israeli military surgical teams .

Since 2018, USC has supplied at least 89 “fresh cadavers” under contracts with the US Navy. Of these, at least 32 were used specifically to train Israeli military surgical teams at the Navy Trauma Training Centre in Los Angeles General Medical Centre. The Navy has paid USC over $860,000 for these bodies, with at least one contract still ongoing as of October 2025 and a notice of intent to renew until at least 2029.

The bodies came from people who donated themselves to science — often with the belief that they were contributing to medical education and research, not to military training for a foreign army engaged in a genocide. Donor documents did not indicate that the cadavers would be used for military training, either for the US or Israel. Families were not informed.

This is not a conspiracy theory. It is a contract.

This article examines the cadaver trade, the torture and abuse of Palestinian detainees, the treatment of wounded Palestinians by Israeli forces, and the broader moral collapse of a state that has turned medicine into a weapon. The evidence is overwhelming. The silence is damning. And the extraction — the logic that treats human beings as resources — does not end with death.

II. The Reanimation of the Dead

The training program is not theoretical. A 2020 medical paper co‑authored by USC and US Navy instructors describes a four‑day “combat trauma surgery skills course” tailored specifically for Israeli military forward surgical teams — units that operate close to the front lines.

During the training, the cadavers are “reanimated” using a process called perfusion: artificial blood is pumped through the body to simulate active, lifelike bleeding on the battlefield. Trainees practice emergency interventions on simulated combat injuries, including:

· Gunshot wounds to the chest and limbs

· Blast injuries to the face and torso from improvised explosive devices (IEDs)

This is not standard medical education. Several trauma surgeons interviewed for the AJ+ documentary emphasised that using perfused cadavers is an exceptionally rare practice, restricted to specialised military exercises.

The US Navy defended the arrangement, stating that experienced trauma surgeons “recreate complex injury patterns with surgical tools to deliver a high‑fidelity, hyper‑realistic training environment”. USC has declined repeated requests to detail the exact methods used to simulate these battlefield wounds.

For the families of donors, the betrayal is profound. Miriam Volpin’s mother, Jeanette Volpin, a 101‑year‑old World War II flight nurse, donated her body to USC. When Miriam learned about the IDF training programme, she said: “I was furious and sick to my stomach”. Her granddaughter, Sarah, added that she believes her grandmother would not have donated her body had she known it might be used in military training.

Jennifer Gomez’s grandmother, Jean McNeil Sargeant, donated her body to UCSD in 2012. Gomez told AJ+: “I didn ‘t realise that there would be international militaries coming here, training on our family’s bodies. Especially one that’s been accused of war crimes and is actively killing people”.

At least two people have revoked their body donations after learning of the programme. Wendy Smith, an English professor, said: “I would really not like to support anything that Israel is doing right now”.

This is not medicine. It is logistics.

III. The Torture of the Living

The same week the cadaver story broke, The BMJ published a comprehensive review of torture and health worker complicity in Israeli detention sites. The evidence is staggering.

At least 98 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody since October 2023 — at least 46 in Israel Prison Service facilities and 52, all from Gaza, in military custody. A report by Physicians for Human Rights Israel, entitled “Death Sentence for Palestinians in Custody,” described the toll as unprecedented and said the actual figure may be higher.

PHRI said initial post‑mortem findings pointed to a pattern of severe abuse, including head injuries, internal bleeding, and broken ribs, as well as extreme malnutrition and denial of lifesaving care. The report called for an independent international investigation.

The documentation of torture is not new. The BMJ review notes that torture by Israeli soldiers and health workers has been “extensively documented over several decades by United Nations independent experts, and many human rights organisations including the United Against Torture Coalition, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and B‘Tselem”. By the Israeli government’s own admission, torture has been used “systematically” against Palestinian people.

Depraved acts include extreme physical, psychological, and sexual violence, the denial of medical care, sleep deprivation, the use of prolonged solitary confinement, attacks by dogs under the control of their handlers, being urinated on, and prolonged shackling of limbs — in some cases causing injuries requiring amputation.

After the barbaric incident in July 2024 in which nine Israeli soldiers were arrested for the torture and sexual assault of a Palestinian man — leaving him with ruptured intestines, broken ribs, and lung trauma — elected members of the Israeli Knesset joined protests in support of the soldiers. A survey by the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies found that 65% of Israeli Jews believed the arrested soldiers should not face criminal charges.

The Israeli lawyer Yifat Tomer‑Yerushalmi who leaked footage of the attack has since been arrested for doing so, with the government accusing her of “damaging Israel ‘s global standing”.

This is not a failure of individual soldiers. It is a culture.

IV. Medical Complicity: The Betrayal of the Healer

Particularly troubling is the long‑standing and well‑documented complicity of Israeli health workers in torture. The BMJ review states: “Recent survivors of detention have reported that Israeli health workers have been physically violent towards detainees, knowingly denied medical treatment, and neglected detainees‘injuries”.

Israeli whistleblowers have reported that detainees at the Sde Teiman detention site were denied analgesia during painful procedures, while doctors working at the site were told not to write their names on official documents — with one doctor revealing that “officials feared they could be identified and charged with war crimes”. Others reported they lacked the training for treatments and procedures they were made to administer.

An Israeli Ministry of Health policy document reviewed by the New York Times explicitly stated that detainees treated at the Sde Teiman field hospital should be blindfolded and handcuffed to their beds.

Physicians for Human Rights Israel produced a report concluding that “conditions and the medical care standards at Sde Teiman are a low point for medical ethics and professionalism” and “that the Israeli healthcare system has enabled the ethical violations previously outlined concerning the medical treatment of Gazan detainees”.

The Israeli Medical Association has failed to investigate allegations of complicity among its members. The BMJ authors argue that “the WMA and many national medical associations have failed to act in a timely and decisive manner on growing evidence of torture and medical complicity, which now spans several decades”.

This is not medicine. It is complicity.

V. The Targeting of Palestinian Healthcare Workers

The total number of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and detention sites exceeded 9,100 as of October 2025. Detailed reporting from Healthcare Workers Watch Palestine identified 405 cases of unlawful detention of Palestinian healthcare workers since October 2023. At least five Palestinian healthcare workers are known to have been killed in Israeli detention in the same period.

Among those killed was Adnan al‑Bursh, a respected orthopaedic surgeon who was illegally detained by Israeli forces in December 2023. He was held without charge and died in prison in April 2024 after severe mistreatment.

As of October 2025, at least 95 Palestinian healthcare workers remained in detention, including Hussam Abu Safiyeh, paediatrician and director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, who was abducted and unlawfully detained in December 2024.

These are not isolated incidents. The BMJ review notes that they must be understood in relation to evidence that suggests a broader strategy of targeting healthcare professionals, aimed at “undermining the Palestinian healthcare system and maximising harm inflicted against the Palestinian people”. This strategy extends to the killing of more than 1,700 Palestinian healthcare workers in Gaza since October 2023, and clearly documented patterns of systematic and targeted destruction of healthcare infrastructure, including hospitals, clinics, ambulances, and essential medical equipment.

These acts constitute clear violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention, intended to protect medical personnel during armed conflict.

VI. The Victims of the Training

The BMJ review notes that the training Israeli military surgeons receive — including on perfused cadavers — is applied on the battlefields of Gaza. Israeli military doctors and surgeons have embedded with brigades on the front lines since 2023.

The very skills practiced on the bodies of Americans who thought they were donating to science are now being used to treat the wounds of Israeli soldiers — and, by extension, to enable the continuation of the genocide.

But what of the wounded Palestinians?

Under the Geneva Conventions, occupying powers are required to provide medical care to the wounded and sick of the occupied population. Yet evidence suggests systematic denial. Detainees are denied medical treatment. Hospitals are bombed. Ambulances are targeted. Healthcare workers are killed in detention.

A report by Physicians for Human Rights Israel called for an investigation into the denial of lifesaving care to Palestinian detainees. The BMJ review documents that survivors have repeatedly reported being denied medical treatment for their injuries.

The contrast could not be starker.

In Los Angeles, cadavers are perfused with artificial blood to simulate combat injuries for Israeli surgeons. In Gaza, real blood flows in the streets, and real surgeons are killed.

VII. The Sale of Stolen Land

The same week the cadaver story broke, occupation authorities issued a tender for 3,401 settlement units in the area designated as E1, east of occupied Jerusalem — a measure that would cut off Palestinian access to East Jerusalem and which senior officials declared was intended to “bury the idea of a Palestinian state” once and for all .

This is not a secret. It is a campaign.

The sale of stolen Palestinian land is not new. Israeli real estate companies actively advertise properties in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank — including Gush Etzion and Ma ‘ale Adumim — at exhibitions in London, Montreal, and New York. Under international law, all Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal. The Fourth Geneva Convention explicitly prohibits an occupying power from transferring parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.

The same logic that captures bodies captures land. The same logic that permits the extraction of organs permits the extraction of territory. The same logic that enables the sale of cadavers enables the sale of stolen homes.

Extraction is not a crime against humanity. It is a business model.

VIII. The Sexual Abuse Scandal and the Culture of Impunity

The sexual abuse of Palestinian detainees is not new. In July 2024, nine Israeli soldiers were arrested for the torture and sexual assault of a Palestinian man held in Israeli detention — leaving him with ruptured intestines, broken ribs, and lung trauma. As noted, elected members of the Knesset joined protests in support of the soldiers, and 65% of Israeli Jews believed they should not face criminal charges.

This is not an aberration. It is a pattern.

The Israeli military has long had a documented problem with sexual harassment and assault within its ranks. Whistleblowers are silenced. Perpetrators are protected. The whistleblower who exposed the Sde Teiman rape — Major General Yifat Tomer‑Yerushalmi, the Israeli military ‘s chief advocate — was not celebrated. She was arrested, charged with “obstructing justice,” and investigated for a suicide attempt. The perpetrators were protected. The truth‑teller was punished.

This is the institutionalisation of impunity. This is what happens when a society teaches its soldiers that violence against the “other” is permitted, even celebrated.

And the same culture that permits the sexual abuse of detainees permits the desecration of the dead. The same impunity that protects rapists protects the institutions that sell bodies to foreign militaries.

The cycle is closed. The extraction is complete.

IX. The Failure of International Law

The post‑WWII rules‑based international order was supposed to prevent this kind of extraction. The United Nations, the International Court of Justice, the Geneva Conventions — all were designed to create a framework in which might would not make right.

That order is now “under destruction,” as the 2026 Munich Security Report bluntly stated.

The International Court of Justice has recognised its prima facie jurisdiction to investigate Israel for carrying out genocide in Gaza. The ICJ‘s orders are ignored. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants. They are ignored. The UN Security Council is paralysed by the US veto.

The system does not work — not because it is inherently flawed, but because the powerful have refused to apply it equally.

The victims — Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian — are not people. They are obstacles.

The Western response to Russia ‘s invasion of Ukraine — united, resolute, armed — stands in stark contrast to the response to Israel’s assault on Gaza. The double standard is glaring. And it is not unnoticed in the Global South.

The rules‑based order is not collapsing. It is being abandoned.

By the very powers that created it.

X. Conclusion: The Moral Collapse

The evidence is clear. The pattern is unmistakable.

· The bodies of Americans, donated in good faith to science, have been used to train the surgeons who patch up the soldiers who drop the bombs on Gaza.

· Palestinian detainees are tortured — sexually, physically, psychologically — by soldiers and health workers alike, with impunity and public support.

· Healthcare workers are targeted, detained, killed.

· Hospitals are bombed. Ambulances are destroyed.

· The wounded are denied care.

· The dead are desecrated — not in Gaza, in Los Angeles.

This is not a failure of individual morality. It is a systemic collapse.

The State of Israel is not a state in crisis. It is a state in moral collapse.

The same collapse that permits the sale of stolen land permits the sale of stolen bodies. The same collapse that permits the torture of detainees permits the desecration of the dead. The same collapse that permits the bombing of hospitals permits the training of surgeons on perfused cadavers.

The question is not whether the cycle can be broken. The question is whether we will choose to break it.

Not with violence — with clarity.

Andrew Klein

References

1. AJ+ / Al Jazeera. (2026, June 2). Direct From documentary: US university sells dead bodies to navy for Israeli military training.

2. Tribune Online. (2026, June 1). Israeli military, US Navy train medics on dead Americans — Report.

3. Press Telegram. (2025, October 3). USC sold dead bodies to Navy for Israel Defense Forces medical training program.

4. FOX 11 Los Angeles. (2025, October 2). USC sold cadavers to military for IDF training: report.

5. Al Jazeera. (2026, June 2). USC sold cadavers to US Navy for Israeli military training.

6. Al Jazeera. (2026, June 2). Iran war updates: Tehran ponders US deal; Lebanon-Israel talks under way.

7. el‑Solh, S., Smith, J., Nimerawi, A., & Gilbert, M. (2025). Torture and health worker complicity in Israeli detention sites. The BMJ, 391, r2347.

8. Physicians for Human Rights Israel. (2025). Death Sentence for Palestinians in Custody.

9. The Jerusalem Post. (2025, November 17). PHRI reports 98 Palestinian deaths in Israeli prisons.

By Andrew Klein

Dedication: To my wife – who helps me see clearly every morning, over a cup of coffee.

I. The Board of Peace: Development as Erasure

Trump’s “Board of Peace” is not a peace initiative. It is a permanent concentration of power designed to legitimise dispossession, commercialise destruction, and convert grave breaches of international law into a branded property development project. By appointing himself chairman for life and granting himself the authority to select his own successor, Trump has constructed a self-perpetuating body devoid of democratic mandate, legal accountability, or international legitimacy.

The central objective is to advance Trump’s openly stated ambition to transform Gaza into a high-tech luxury destination — the so-called “Gaza Riviera“. This framing reduces the reconstruction of a devastated territory with a right to Palestinian statehood to a real estate transaction. It treats land as an asset to be monetised and people as variables to be managed, while Palestinian rights, consent, and sovereignty are excluded entirely from the equation.

Jared Kushner’s public pitch at Davos made this vision explicit: private development without Palestinian peoples’ ownership, growth without rights, and reconstruction without self-determination. Such a framework mirrors historical patterns of colonial economic domination and violates the core principles of international humanitarian and human rights law.

The Board of Peace further seeks to launder illegality through institutional endorsement. The decision by members of the UN Security Council to endorse this body represents a profound failure of legal responsibility. No political forum has the authority to legitimise land acquisition by force, collective punishment, or the permanent exclusion of an occupied population from decisions governing its territory.

Crucially, the Board of Peace was conceived, negotiated, and announced without the presence, knowledge, or consent of Palestinian political representatives, civil society, or affected communities. This exclusion alone renders the initiative invalid under international norms governing self-determination and participatory governance.

While the Board speaks abstractly of “development,” it has failed to address Gaza’s immediate humanitarian crisis — shortages of food, medicine, clean water, and access to education. Any initiative that prioritises luxury infrastructure and speculative investment while ignoring mass deprivation and humanitarian collapse is not a peace plan. It is a moral inversion.

II. The Business Model of Apartheid

Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur, calls apartheid a “business model.” Her 2025 report to the UN Human Rights Council, From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide, exposes the corporate machinery sustaining Israel’s settler-colonial project.

The report documents how corporate entities in various sectors — arms manufacturers, tech firms, building and construction companies, extractive and service industries, banks, pension funds, insurers, universities and charities — enable the denial of self-determination and other structural violations in the occupied Palestinian territory, including occupation, annexation, and crimes of apartheid and genocide.

Colonial endeavours and their associated genocides have historically been driven and enabled by the corporate sector. Commercial interests have contributed to the dispossession of Indigenous peoples and lands — a mode of domination known as “colonial racial capitalism“. The same is true of Israeli colonisation of Palestinian lands, its expansion into the occupied Palestinian territory, and its institutionalisation of a regime of settler-colonial apartheid.

Early charter companies, granted broad State-like powers, gradually evolved into private “limited liability” corporations as intercolonial trade grew vital to European economies. Colonial powers continued to rely on these relationships to outsource, obscure, and avoid accountability for the dispossession and enslavement of Indigenous peoples and the expropriation of their resources. Today, some corporate conglomerates exceed the GDP of sovereign States, wielding more power — political, economic and discursive — than States themselves.

In the occupied Palestinian territory, building on decades of documented human rights violations and crimes, corporate engagement with any component of the occupation is connected with violations of jus cogens norms and international crimes. Where corporate entities continue their activities with Israel — with its economy, military, public and private sectors connected to the occupied Palestinian territory — they may be found to have knowingly contributed to:

· violation of the Palestinian right to self-determination;

· annexation of Palestinian territory, maintenance of an unlawful occupation and therefore the crime of aggression;

· crimes of apartheid and genocide.

The report specifically identifies the arms sector, including Elbit Systems, as a key enabler. Elbit has been involved in supplying the Israeli military with technology used in the occupation and has been linked to surveillance and weapons systems deployed in Gaza and the West Bank.

III. The Israeli Lobbying Scandal: AUKUS and the $7 Billion Deal

In November 2025, following a cyberattack on Israeli defence industries, confidential blueprints and technical details of new infantry vehicles ordered by Australia in a $7 billion contract from Israeli company Elbit Systems were exposed. The Australian Defence Force was also reviewing the purchase of Spike NLOS anti-tank missiles from the same Israeli company.

Prior to this cyber incident, due to Israel’s brutal aggression in Gaza, the Australian Army’s collaboration with this Israeli company had already faced widespread domestic criticism. However, the Defence Minister repeatedly defended the partnership, stating: “We will never apologise for acquiring the best possible equipment for the Australian Defence Force”.

This is the same company that, according to the UN report, is deeply embedded in the economy of occupation and genocide. Australian taxpayer dollars are flowing directly to a corporation that enables and profits from Palestinian erasure.

IV. The Normalisation of Apartheid: Real Estate Roadshows in London, Montreal, and New York

In recent weeks, a series of “Great Israeli Real Estate” events have taken place in New York, Montreal, and London. These are not small gatherings. They are professionally organised exhibitions, complete with websites, marketing materials, and invitations extended to diaspora communities.

The events openly advertised properties in Gush Etzion — a cluster of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, located south of Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Under international law, all Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal. The Fourth Geneva Convention explicitly prohibits an occupying power from transferring parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.

The event website allowed prospective attendees to register interest by ticking a box next to Gush Etzion. After pressure from MPs and campaigners, the reference was removed — but previous editions of the event in London had openly advertised homes in Gush Etzion and Ma’ale Adumim, another illegal settlement. Photos from those earlier events show properties in illegal settlements being marketed alongside properties inside Israel proper, with no distinction.

In the UK, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper was pressed by MPs from all parties. She refused to ban the event outright but warned businesses and charities against “associating themselves with potential breaches of international law”. She said the government would “pursue any issue that we can around anything that might be a breach of the law”. She also announced sanctions against six entities and one individual involved in settler violence in the West Bank, coordinated with Australia, Canada, France, and Norway.

But the sanctions target violence, not the settlement enterprise itself. The real estate roadshow — the marketing of stolen land to diaspora investors — continues.

In New York, Mayor Zohran Mamdani opposed the event. A spokesperson said: “Mayor Mamdani is deeply opposed to the real estate expo this evening that includes the promotion of the sale of land in settlements in the Occupied West Bank. These settlements are illegal under international law and deeply tied to the ongoing displacement of Palestinians“. Protesters clashed with police. The event went ahead.

V. The Expansion to Lebanon: Real Estate as a Political Tool

The “Greater Israel” project is not limited to the West Bank.

Israeli real estate companies are now advertising new settlement construction projects in southern Lebanon. The ads, published on social media, target Israeli settlers, enticing them to buy homes in the “promised land.” One ad reads: “It’s time for a house in Lebanon!”

The ads are directed specifically at reserve officers — suggesting that Israel is trying to create a personal stake for soldiers fighting in Lebanon. As one analysis notes, “the use of real estate is a political tool to create facts on the ground that will make any future negotiations regarding sovereignty over these territories difficult”.

The group behind the campaign, Uri Tzafon (“Awaken North”), has sent drones and balloons into southern Lebanon carrying eviction notices to residents. The notices declare that the land “belongs to the Jewish people” and that residents “are required to evacuate immediately”.

The Jerusalem Post published an article in September 2024 titled “Is Lebanon part of Israel’s promised territory?” After outrage, the article was removed — but the question had already been asked.

The map of “Greater Israel” circulated by far‑right elements includes the occupied Palestinian territories, Gaza, the West Bank, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and even parts of Turkey. According to one interpretation of Jewish doctrine, these territories must be “invaded and seized“.

The Houthis in Yemen have explicitly cited the “Greater Israel” project as justification for their attacks on Israel. Whether one accepts their framing or not, the fact that the project is cited by adversaries as a casus belli indicates that it is not a secret.

This is not a conspiracy theory. This is a documented campaign.

VI. The Integration of Israeli and US Military Forces

The United States and Israel have launched formal talks on a new security cooperation framework to replace the current ten-year memorandum of understanding, which is set to expire in 2028. The new framework “is designed to strengthen the IDF’s qualitative military edge through expanded joint investment in research, development and co-production, deepen the US-Israel partnership demonstrated during the 2026 US-Israeli campaign against Iran (Operation Roaring Lion), and gradually transition from aid to a completely reciprocal partnership”.

The last MOU, a 10-year deal signed in 2016, granted Israel $3.8 billion per year in military aid. The new framework will deepen integration, not reduce it.

Separately, Israel’s Minister of Defense has signed a directive to produce a “special document in cooperation with US Central Command” for “confronting the challenges to stability and security in the Middle East, with a focus on the Iranian threat”. This document is to be signed by the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Israeli Chief of Staff.

VII. The Integration of US Military into Australian Defence Forces

Australia’s integration with US military forces is advancing at an unprecedented pace. The AUKUS exemptions under the US International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) now permit the free transfer of defence articles and services among the physical territories of Australia, the UK, and the US without individual licences. Over 700 Australian and UK entities are already listed as “Authorised Users”.

Defence Minister Richard Marles has been explicit: “We are doing more in terms of our cooperation with the United States across every domain, including space and cyber, than we really have at any point in terms of the Australian continent since the end of the Second World War, and that is growing”.

“We will see an increasing American military footprint on our continent over the course of the next few years,” Marles said. He noted that “institutionally we have the Deputy Commanders in the US Navy in the Pacific, US Army in the Pacific, US Air Force in the Pacific, as Australians“. Australian senior officers are embedded in US Indo-Pacific Command.

The AUKUS partners also have a shared strategic interest in critical minerals, with the pact uniquely positioned to counter Chinese supply chain coercion. Australia possesses the world’s second-largest reserves of bauxite (from which gallium is extracted) and produces 52 percent of the global supply of lithium. Yet much of this material is still sent to China for processing — a weak link in supply chain security.

VIII. The Israeli Spying Scandal and Removal of Technical Systems

We observe the history of Israeli spying on Australian defence forces. In the early 2000s, Australian defence facilities discovered that certain technical systems purchased from Israel had been compromised. The specific details remain classified, but subsequent investigations led to the removal of Israeli-supplied systems from sensitive Australian defence assets.

The 2025 Elbit Systems cyberattack and the exposure of Redback vehicle blueprints is a continuation of this pattern. The Australian government continues to contract with Elbit despite documented security concerns and widespread criticism of the company’s role in the occupation.

IX. Pauline Hanson: One Nation and the Israeli Flag

In August 2021, Senator Pauline Hanson wore a t-shirt emblazoned with the Israeli flag onto the floor of the Australian Senate, declaring: “In this very trying time for Israel, I’d like to show my support“. This was a deliberate political statement, not a casual gesture.

Hanson has also proposed that permanent residents in Australia should be required to sell their houses to increase housing stock for Australians. The connection between these two positions — support for Israel and hostility to migrants — is not coincidental. Both are expressions of a nationalist, exclusionary ideology.

X. The Silencing of Criticism

The same week the real estate roadshow was advertised, the UK government announced new “anti‑antisemitism” measures. The conflation is not accidental.

Criticism of Israel is routinely labelled antisemitic. Legitimate political dissent is criminalised. The effect is to protect the settlement enterprise from scrutiny.

As the Iranian diplomat warned, the “Greater Israel” project poses dangers not only to neighbouring countries but to Europe as well. The same logic that justifies the displacement of Palestinians can be turned against any population that stands in the way.

This is not a defence of Iran. It is an observation of pattern.

XI. A Pattern Without Borders: “This Could Happen to You”

What connects these threads? A global campaign to normalise apartheid — not as a historical aberration, but as a business model.

· The Board of Peace rebrands ethnic cleansing as “development.”

· The real estate roadshow markets stolen land as “investment opportunities.”

· The weapons trade profits from the technology of occupation and genocide.

· AUKUS integrates Australia’s defence forces into a US-led military machine that facilitates extraction and control.

· The campaign to silence criticism of Israel — through “anti-antisemitism” laws, through media censorship, through political intimidation — protects the entire edifice.

This is not a conspiracy. It is a system.

And the system — like all systems built on extraction and exclusion — is fragile.

Not because it will be overthrown. Because it will collapse.

Under the weight of its own contradictions. Under the pressure of its own violence. Under the truth.

The history of the treatment of minorities — the Irish by the British, the Scots by the British, the Huguenots by the French, the Jews by Nazi Germany — shows that apartheid is not restricted to colour. The same logic of exclusion, the same justification of violence, the same normalisation of cruelty — can be turned against any population.

This could happen to you.

The only defence is to see the pattern. To name it. To resist it.

Not with violence. With clarity.

XII. What This Has to Do With the Rest of Us

We cannot stop the real estate roadshow. We cannot ban the event. We cannot sanction the banks.

We can name the pattern. We can trace the connection between the property exhibition in London and the displacement of families in the West Bank, the settlement campaign in Lebanon, the violence in Gaza, the integration of military forces, the extraction of Australian resources, the silencing of criticism.

Andrew Klein

References

1. Francesca Albanese, From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide: Corporate Complicity in Sustaining the Settler-Colonial Project. UN Human Rights Council, 2025.

2. ICTS. (2024). The “Greater Israel” Project: An Escalating Threat to Lebanese Sovereignty.

3. Al Jazeera. (2025). Sanctions over attacks on Palestinians.

4. Middle East Monitor. (2025). UK Foreign Secretary refuses to ban ‘Greater Israel’ real estate event in London.

5. Mondoweiss. (2025). Zohran Mamdani calls for NYC to cancel ‘Greater Israel’ real estate event.

6. Mondoweiss. (2025). Advert for settlements in occupied Golan appears in Brooklyn publication.

7. The Cradle. (2025). Houthis: ‘Greater Israel’ project main motivation behind support to Gaza.

8. Al Jazeera. (2025). US and Israel launch formal talks on new security cooperation framework.

9. The Times of Israel. (2025). Israeli defense minister signs directive to prepare joint military document with US Central Command.

10. Australian Department of Defence. (2024). AUKUS Defence Trade Cooperation Exemption from US International Traffic in Arms Regulations.

11. Australian Financial Review. (2025). Defence Minister Richard Marles’s speech at ASPI.

12. Breaking Defense. (2025). AUKUS partners have a ‘shared strategic interest’ in critical minerals.

13. Becker, R. (2025). Israeli firm’s $7 billion defence contract under fire. The Age.

14. 7News. (2021). ‘I think it’s time to do something’: Hanson wears Israeli flag into Senate.

15. The Guardian. (2026). Greater Israel real estate event in London to proceed despite government warnings.

16. Haaretz. (2024). This Lebanese Christian Sect Is Terrified of Israel’s ‘Greater Israel’ Plan.

17. Turkiye Today. (2025). Middle East on brink as ‘Greater Israel’ plan gains momentum, Iran warns.

18. The New Arab. (2025). Israeli real estate firm advertises projects in southern Lebanon.

19. Iran Diplomacy. (2025). Iran’s warning over ‘Greater Israel’ danger.

20. Palestine Solidarity Campaign. (2025). London property fair promoting illegal settlement homes must be stopped.

” The pattern is visible to those who look. Do not look away.”

Dedication: States are like children. Impunity to one might amuse its parents – they grow up and terrorise regions.

By Andrew Klein

I. Introduction: The Predator on Land, Sea and Air

On 17 May 2026, the Global Sumud aid flotilla – a peaceful humanitarian mission carrying food and medical supplies from 39 countries – was intercepted by Israeli naval forces in international waters, approximately 250 nautical miles from Gaza. Israeli warships surrounded the civilian vessels, cut their communications, detained activists, and seized the aid. Live broadcasts showed the attack unfolding in broad daylight. Anadolu Ajansı reported that Israeli forces transferred the detainees to what it described as a “floating prison” before transporting them to the port of Ashdod.

The International Commission to Support Palestinian People’s Rights condemned the interception as “maritime piracy” and a serious violation of international law and freedom of navigation. Dawn, Pakistan’s oldest English-language newspaper, called it “a brutal act of piracy on the high seas, and a brazen trespass on the sovereign right of vessels to navigate freely”.

This was not an isolated incident. It was the latest in a decades‑long pattern: a state that behaves on land, sea and air as if international law does not apply to it. A state that assassinates its opponents across sovereign borders, that ignores ceasefire agreements and UN resolutions, and that operates with complete impunity because of the diplomatic and military protection of the United States.

This article examines that pattern. It documents Israel’s history of piracy, extrajudicial killings, territorial expansion, and rejection of international law. It argues that Israel is not a “rogue state” in the colloquial sense – it is a predator, enabled by a superpower that has mistaken unconditional support for strategic wisdom.

II. The Piracy of the Sumud Flotilla – A Legal Analysis

The interception of the Global Sumud flotilla was illegal under several provisions of international law.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) guarantees the right of innocent passage through territorial waters and freedom of navigation on the high seas. The flotilla was in international waters – 250 nautical miles from Gaza, far beyond any territorial claim. Israel had no legal authority to board, search, seize, or detain.

The San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea prohibits the interception of humanitarian missions unless they pose a direct military threat. The Sumud flotilla carried food, medicine, and activists – not weapons.

The Geneva Conventions prohibit collective punishment. Gaza has been under a suffocating blockade since 2007, described by the UN as a form of collective punishment. The flotilla was attempting to breach that blockade – not as an act of war, but as an act of humanity.

The Israeli government claimed the flotilla was “breaking the law” and could be “used for terrorist purposes”. No evidence was provided. As Dawn noted, “The regime that hunts aid ships in foreign waters operates a permanent war machine, bankrolled and shielded by its chief enabler, the United States”.

III. Historical Precedent – The United States vs. Barbary Pirates (1805)

There is irony in the fact that the United States – now Israel’s chief enabler – once fought a war precisely against the kind of maritime predation that Israel now practises.

The First Barbary War (1801–1805) was fought against the Barbary states of North Africa, which had been demanding tribute and seizing American ships in the Mediterranean. In 1805, US Marines under Lieutenant William Eaton marched 500 miles across the Libyan desert and captured the port city of Derna, raising the American flag on foreign soil for the first time.

The US action was celebrated as a victory against piracy and state‑sponsored extortion.

Two centuries later, the United States provides diplomatic cover and military aid to a state that interdicts humanitarian vessels in international waters, assassinates political leaders in foreign capitals, and maintains an illegal blockade that has caused a man‑made famine. The irony is not lost on the rest of the world.

IV. Assassination as State Policy – The Killing of Negotiators

On 9 September 2025, Israeli air strikes targeted residential buildings in Doha, Qatar, housing Hamas negotiators, including chief negotiator Khalil al‑Hayya. The attack occurred while the delegation was actively discussing a ceasefire proposal from the United States. Israel claimed, “full responsibility”, and multiple Israeli media outlets confirmed that the US had been notified and had given a “green light”.

Qatar condemned the attack as a “flagrant violation of all international laws and norms”. The UN Secretary‑General called it a violation of Qatar’s sovereignty. Regional powers including Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE denounced the strikes.

The pattern is unmistakable:

· January 2024: Senior Hamas political leader Saleh al‑Arouri was killed in a drone strike in Beirut, Lebanon.

· July 2024: Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran, Iran, while attending the inauguration of the president.

· 1995: Islamic Jihad founder Fathi Shaqaqi was gunned down in Sliema, Malta – European Union territory – in an operation attributed to Mossad.

Extrajudicial killings – assassinations carried out without judicial process – are unequivocally illegal under international human rights law. The United Nations has repeatedly condemned such practices. Yet Israel continues them with impunity.

The timing of these killings is particularly revealing. They occur precisely when ceasefire agreements appear within reach. As one analysis noted, “This suggests a deliberate strategy to derail peace processes and maintain the cycle of violence that serves Israeli political interests”.

V. Territorial Expansion – The West Bank and the Golan Heights

On 22 October 2025, a coalition of 18 states and international organisations issued a joint statement condemning Israeli legislative measures aiming to impose “sovereignty” over the occupied West Bank and illegal colonial settlements. The statement reaffirmed that Israel has “no sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territory” and that the measures are a “blatant violation of international law, and of United Nations Security Council resolutions particularly Resolution 2334, which condemns all Israeli measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character, and status of the occupied Palestinian territory since 1967, including East Jerusalem” .

The statement also noted the International Court of Justice’s Advisory Opinion of 22 October 2025, which reaffirmed Israel’s obligation to ensure the population of Gaza has essential supplies and that mass forcible transfer and deportation are prohibited.

The Golan Heights, occupied by Israel since 1967 and unilaterally annexed in 1981, has been condemned by the UN Security Council in Resolution 497, which declared the annexation “null and void and without international legal effect”. Yet Israel maintains its occupation, and the United States has recognised Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights – a unilateral act of diplomatic recognition that undermines decades of international consensus.

VI. The United Nations Record – Repeated Condemnation

The United Nations has a long history of resolutions condemning Israel. Since 2015, the General Assembly has passed 115 resolutions condemning Israel, compared to only 45 against all other countries combined.

These resolutions cover:

· Illegal settlement construction in the West Bank (repeatedly condemned by the Security Council)

· The annexation of the Golan Heights (Security Council Resolution 497)

· The blockade of Gaza (condemned by the General Assembly and human rights bodies)

· Human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (annual reports of the Special Committee)

The United States has used its veto power in the Security Council to shield Israel from binding resolutions dozens of times. A single state – one of five permanent members – has prevented the international community from holding Israel accountable for actions that, if committed by any other state, would have resulted in sanctions, arms embargoes, or even intervention.

VII. The Role of the United States – Enabling the Rogue

The United States is not a passive observer. It is an active enabler.

· Financial aid: The US provides approximately $3.8 billion per year in military aid to Israel – the largest annual recipient of US foreign aid.

· Diplomatic cover: The US has vetoed countless Security Council resolutions critical of Israel, including those condemning settlement expansion, the blockade of Gaza, and the annexation of the Golan Heights.

· Military support: The US supplies advanced weaponry, including F‑35 fighter jets, precision‑guided munitions, and missile defence systems – all used in operations against Palestinians.

This unconditional support has produced a state that behaves with impunity because it has learned that there will be no consequences. As one observer noted, “The arsonist is playing the firefighter, with its superpower patron forever handing it the matches” .

The tragedy is that this impunity does not only harm Palestinians. It also harms Israelis. By shielding Israel from accountability, the United States has condemned the people of Israel to a repetition of patterns that will kill countless of its children, destroy its families and communities, and create a political class that is out of control and out of touch. It has turned Israel into a regional pariah – never at peace, an agent of death and destruction to anything it touches.

This is not unique. It is a variation on an old pattern.

· Apartheid South Africa was sustained by Western trade and investment for decades until the international community-imposed sanctions. The result was not the destruction of South Africa – it was the end of apartheid.

· Rhodesia survived for years on Western support before sanctions forced a transition.

· The Barbary states continued their piracy until the United States and European powers used military force to stop them.

Israel is not beyond change. But change will not come while the United States continues to provide unconditional diplomatic and military support. As the joint statement of 23 October 2025 concluded, “The continuation of Israel’s unilateral and illegal policies and practices” requires the international community to shoulder its “legal and moral responsibilities” to compel Israel to cease its escalation.

VIII. Conclusion: The Rogue That Cannot Be Tamed

Israel is a rogue state – not because it is uniquely evil, but because it has been allowed to behave as if international law does not apply to it. Its actions on land, sea, and air – the blockade of Gaza, the interception of humanitarian flotillas, the assassination of negotiators in foreign capitals, the expansion of illegal settlements – are not anomalies. They are policy.

The United States has enabled this behaviour for decades. In doing so, it has not protected Israel – it has trapped it in a cycle of violence that will never end as long as impunity continues.

The solution is not simple. But the first step is to name the pattern.

A rogue state is not a state that breaks the rules. A rogue state is a state that is allowed to break the rules without consequence.

Israel is a rogue state. And its chief enabler is the United States.

Andrew Klein

Selected Sources and References

· Sumud flotilla interception (May 2026) – Anadolu Ajansı ; Dawn ; Saba 

· Joint Statement condemning Israeli sovereignty measures (Oct 2025) – UNISPAL 

· Doha assassinations (Sep 2025) – Newsbook 

· First Barbary War (1805) – Wikipedia ; History Channel 

· UN resolutions against Israel – Jewish Ledger 

· UN General Assembly resolution 48/41 D (Golan Heights) – UNISPAL 

For decades, the cornerstone of Israeli hasbara (public diplomacy) has been the assertion that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) constitute “the most moral army in the world.” This myth has been deployed to humanise a military narrative and manufacture consent for decades of occupation and war.

By Andrew Klein

10^th May 2026

Dedicated to my wife, my light even in the darkest of times.

For decades, the cornerstone of Israeli hasbara (public diplomacy) has been the assertion that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) constitute “the most moral army in the world.” This myth has been deployed to humanise a military narrative and manufacture consent for decades of occupation and war.

Yet the staggering scale of the state’s propaganda budget, the disturbing testimonies of its own soldiers, and the emerging pattern of systematic destruction on Israel’s northern border point to an inescapable conclusion: the claim is not merely an exaggeration; it is a fiction. It is a manufactured story designed to cover actions that, in the clear light of day, stand as stark violations of international law, of basic human decency, and of any plausible definition of morality.

I. The Propaganda Machine: Hasbara and the Manufacture of Myth

The size of the apparatus required to sustain this myth is, in itself, telling. Where actions are just, a government does not need to spend unprecedented sums to “explain” them. Yet, in late 2025, as global revulsion toward its campaign in Gaza grew, the Israeli government approved a dramatic escalation of its propaganda efforts. For the 2026 budget, it allocated approximately $730 million to hasbara—more than four times the $150 million spent the previous year. This vast sum is dedicated to advertising campaigns, the cultivation of influencers, the production of slick digital content, and the funding of a sprawling global network of think-tanks, all with the single aim of salvaging Israel’s battered image.

The very need for such a colossal narrative‑control apparatus is the first piece of evidence that the story it is telling is not holding up to scrutiny.

II. The Consequences: Gaza, A Killing Field

While the hasbara machine churns out slogans, the reality on the ground tells a different story, documented by international media and Israeli human‑rights groups alike.

1. Testimonies from Within: “From ‘Heroes’ to ‘Monsters’”

It is not just Palestinian or international sources that expose this reality; it is the soldiers themselves. In April 2026, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz published a series of confessions from soldiers who had served in Gaza. They described a world of killings of unarmed civilians, the routine humiliation of detainees, systemic looting, and deep psychological trauma. One chilling account told of a soldier who reported that his commander spat on the bodies of three children he had killed. Another described the psychological “crisis of consciousness” these soldiers now face, as they grapple with the monstrous acts they witnessed and in which they participated.

2. Targeting Children: The BBC Investigation

The most damning evidence of a systematic disregard for life is the pattern of child casualties uncovered by a BBC investigation in 2025. The broadcaster compiled material on over 160 cases where children were shot by Israeli forces in Gaza. Of these, the victims in 95 cases were shot in the head or chest – wounds that clearly indicate an intent to kill, not a stray bullet. Most of these children were under the age of 12. This is not “collateral damage”; it is a pattern of execution that an army claiming to be the “most moral” would be bound to prevent and punish.

3. Mass Detention and a “Stadium of Shame”

In December 2023, video footage geolocated to Gaza’s Yarmouk Stadium showed harrowing scenes: dozens of Palestinian civilians, including women and children, stripped to their underwear, blindfolded, and herded together. The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor confirmed that the Israeli army had intentionally turned the stadium into a mass detention camp, holding hundreds of men, dozens of women, and children. The images were a visceral, visual indictment of a campaign’s morality.

4. The Cruelty of “Smart” Warfare

The supposed precision of advanced weaponry has not prevented other atrocities. In May 2025, Euro-Med Monitor documented the case of an elderly Palestinian couple who were used as human shields by Israeli forces before being executed in their home. In October 2025, the same organisation called for an urgent international investigation after the bodies of 120 Palestinians returned from Israeli custody showed clear signs of “brutal torture and field executions” – including burn marks, fractures, and evidence of hanging.

These are not the actions of a moral army. They are the actions of one acting without constraint.

III. The Historical Precedent: A Legacy of Violence

This behaviour is not an aberration born of the current conflict; it is a recurring feature. Israeli military historian Aryeh Yitzhaki detailed how, during the 1967 Six‑Day War, Israeli troops carried out several mass killings in the Sinai Peninsula, murdering an estimated 1,000 Egyptian prisoners of war (POWs) . This is not a fringe allegation spun by Israel’s enemies; it was confirmed by a mainstream Israeli academic.

The same war saw the Ras Sedr massacre, where an IDF paratrooper unit murdered dozens of Egyptian POWs immediately after capturing the area on 8 June 1967, the same day as the USS Liberty incident. Fellow historian Uri Milstein confirmed that such killings were not isolated; there were many other incidents where Egyptian soldiers were shot dead after they had raised their hands in surrender. Another massacre, the Deir Yassin attack in 1948, saw Zionist paramilitaries unleash a wave of “killing, destruction, pillaging, rape, and displacement” on a Palestinian village. This is a pattern that precedes the state itself.

 IV. The Ideological Driver: The “Greater Israel” Project

These actions are not random acts of violence; they are deliberate acts of policy. They are the bloody logistics of a relentless expansionist ideology known as “Greater Israel.”

This is not a fringe concept. It has long been part of mainstream Zionist thought. The World Zionist Organisation’s 1919 submission to the Paris Peace Conference explicitly laid claim to a territory “from the river of Egypt to the Litani River” – which would encompass all of Palestine, Lebanon, and parts of Syria and Jordan. In contemporary practice, the project is now well advanced in the territories Israel seized in 1967, which are now treated as de facto annexed and are dotted with illegal Jewish settlements.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has openly described his policies as a “historic mission” to realise this vision of a “Complete” or “Greater” Israel. The project is the ideological engine driving the settlements in the West Bank, the blockade and destruction of Gaza, and now the creeping annexation of Lebanese territory.

V. The Ultimate Justification: Invoking the Divine

What makes this project so uniquely dangerous is its theological justification. After the 7 October attacks, Prime Minister Netanyahu invoked the story of the biblical tribe of Amalek, urging soldiers to “remember what Amalek did to you”. In the Bible, the command is to “blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven” – a religious warrant for total, genocidal war.

This was not a solitary reference. Defence Minister Yoav Gallant described the people of Gaza as “human animals,” and President Isaac Herzog declared that “it’s an entire nation out there that is responsible” – a statement of collective guilt, another theological precept of genocide. UN experts and scholars have classified the use of this rhetoric across the Israeli political and military establishment as a clear incitement to genocide.

When a state claims a divine mandate for its actions, it places itself beyond the reach of international law, human empathy, and morality. The enemy is no longer a person; they are an obstacle to a sacred mission, an Amalekite to be blotted out. This is the ultimate corruption of power, and it has taken root.

VI. The Lebanon Pattern: The “Gaza‑fication” of the North

The danger of this ideology is not confined to Gaza. While the world has rightly focused on the genocide there, a quieter, parallel war of attrition and annexation is being waged in southern Lebanon, bearing all the hallmarks of the “Gaza‑fication” of a territory.

Even during a fragile ceasefire, the destruction is methodical. BBC Verify has obtained satellite images documenting the systematic levelling of entire villages in south Lebanon, with Israeli forces “systematically destroying buildings” as their sole mission. Human Rights Watch has condemned the attacks on reconstruction efforts as unlawful war crimes. The official Lebanese Army Command recorded over 4,500 ceasefire breaches by Israel between November 2024 and September 2025 alone.

Another report notes that the Israeli military’s goal is to flatten civilian infrastructure to prevent Lebanese residents from returning to their homes along the border, a method of forced displacement modelled directly on Israeli operations in Gaza. The “most moral army” is now systematically destroying the civilian towns of another sovereign state.

Conclusion

The “most moral army” is a slogan manufactured to obscure a brutal reality. The evidence is overwhelming: a history of massacres, a present of war crimes, an expansionist ideology, a culture that deploys ancient religious texts to justify modern genocide, and a propaganda budget that grows in direct proportion to the horror it seeks to hide.

We are now witnessing the “Gaza‑fication” of Lebanon, with Israeli forces systematically destroying villages and civilian infrastructure, driving inhabitants from their land.

The path back to humanity for a nation that has embraced such a doctrine requires a single, difficult act: the abandonment of the false claim to a divine exception from the laws of war and basic human decency. No state, and no faith, is above the law.

— Andrew Klein

Sources and References

Propaganda and Hasbara

· CEEOL / Rhetoric Analysis – “The myth of the Israel Defense Forces through the lens of critical rhetoric”

· The New Arab / Israel to quadruple hasbara spend – $729 million budget for 2026

· Jerusalem Post / Israel spends $730M on PR – Four‑fold increase in hasbara spending

Gaza Atrocities – Field Executions and Detentions

· Leaked Testimonies / Haaretz soldiers’ accounts – “Shocking Testimonies from Occupation Soldiers”

· Anadolu Agency / From ‘Heroes’ to ‘Monsters’ – Soldiers recount killings of unarmed civilians

· Antiwar.com / Soldier on commander spitting on children’s bodies

· BBC News / Shooting of Children in Gaza – 95 of 160 children killed shot in head or chest

· Yarmouk Stadium detention / Euro-Med Monitor – Hundreds detained, including women and children

· Euro-Med Monitor / Elderly couple used as human shields

· Euro-Med Monitor / Bodies show signs of torture and field executions

Historical Massacres (1967 War, Deir Yassin)

· Washington Post / Israeli troops killed 1,000 Egyptian POWs in 1967 War

· Wikipedia / Ras Sedr massacre – Mass murder of Egyptian POWs immediately after conquest

· WAFA / Remembering the Deir Yassin massacre – “killing, destruction, pillaging, rape, and displacement”

“Greater Israel” Ideology

· DW / Inside Israel’s expansionist ambitions – Territories include OPT, Golan Heights, formerly Sinai

· Middle East Eye / What is ‘Greater Israel’? – Vision of expansion into all of Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, parts of Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Saudi Arabia

· Al Bawaba / Netanyahu on “historic mission” to realise Greater Israel

Lebanon – Ceasefire Violations and Systematic Destruction

· BBC News / Satellite images reveal scale of demolitions – Israeli forces levelling towns and villages

· Press TV / “Israeli flattening civilian buildings… modelled on Israeli operations in Gaza”

· Human Rights Watch / Israel unlawfully destroying reconstruction equipment

· Rasanah / Lebanon and UN condemn Israeli strikes as “blatant violations of the ceasefire”

· The New Arab / “Systematically destroying buildings in villages” is stated sole mission

How Australia’s Crimes‑Against‑Humanity Charges Mask a Deeper Betrayal

By Andrew Klein

Dedication: To my wife, who sees the pattern behind the headlines.

On 8 May 2026, the Australian Federal Police announced that two Australian women, aged 53 and 31, had been charged with crimes against humanity after returning from Syria. The charges – enslavement, possessing a slave, using a slave and engaging in slave trading – are grave. The allegations are that the women, who travelled to Syria in 2014 to support the Islamic State group, “kept a female slave” and were complicit in her purchase for US$10,000.

The arrests were swift. The women were taken off their flight from Doha the moment they touched down in Melbourne. Police had been planning their prosecution for nearly a decade. Counter‑terrorism investigators described the case as a “very serious allegation” and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke accused the women of making “a horrific choice to join a dangerous terrorist organisation”.

On the same day, the government said nothing about another group of travellers: Israeli Defence Force soldiers arriving in Australia on holiday visas.

I. The Swift Sword for Some

The contrast could not be starker.

The two women – stranded for years in a Syrian refugee camp – were arrested the moment they set foot on Australian soil. Their children, many born in the camp and now facing an uncertain future, were left in the care of welfare authorities. The message was unmistakable: Australia will pursue anyone suspected of international crimes, no matter how long the investigation takes, no matter how complex the circumstances.

That is not, in itself, objectionable. Crimes against humanity must be prosecuted. But the government’s selective enthusiasm demands scrutiny.

II. Open Arms for Others

While the two women were being escorted from the airport in handcuffs, the Department of Home Affairs continued to grant visas to Israeli Defence Force soldiers seeking “rest and recuperation” in Australia.

As one activist noted: “The Australian government is currently granting visas to IDF soldiers so they can recuperate and relax after months of levelling Gaza. While these soldiers scrub the blood off their hands on our beaches, the very Palestinians they have spent months traumatising and displacing are being denied entry.”

The same Tony Burke who condemned the Islamic State‑linked women has been accused of actively facilitating the entry of soldiers who may have committed war crimes in Gaza – while simultaneously delaying or denying visas to Palestinians fleeing the very violence those soldiers helped perpetrate.

In 2024, an Australian‑Palestinian DJ was denied entry after pro‑Israel groups lobbied the government. Burke simply “didn’t approve or deny it on time. He just left it.”

This is not a conspiracy. It is a pattern.

III. The Legal Reality: Australia Has Jurisdiction

Under Division 268 of the Commonwealth Criminal Code, Australia has universal jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. The Australian Federal Police have the power to investigate these offences when a suspect is on Australian soil – regardless of their nationality or where the crime was committed.

The same legal framework that was used to charge the two women returning from Syria could be used to investigate IDF soldiers holidaying in Sydney or Melbourne. Indeed, the Australian Centre for International Justice (ACIJ) has been preparing a formal criminal complaint to the AFP for precisely this purpose, collating evidence on Australian citizens serving in the IDF. Legal groups have identified more than a dozen Australian dual‑nationals who have fought for, or are still serving with, the IDF.

Queensland Labor members have even passed a motion calling on the Albanese government to issue “explicit legal warnings” to Australians serving in the IDF that they could be prosecuted for war crimes under domestic law. Yet the federal government has done nothing.

The AFP itself admitted that it has “previously questioned Australians suspected of attempting to join the IDF” and that the Criminal Code empowers it to investigate war crimes committed overseas. But questioning is not arresting. And arresting is not charging.

IV. The Distraction: Why This Matters

The Albanese government is not ignorant of the double standard. It has chosen to create a theatre of enforcement – a high‑profile prosecution of easily caricatured “ISIS brides” – while studiously ignoring Australians who may have participated in the IDF’s campaign in Gaza.

The effect is twofold:

1. It reassures the pro‑Israel lobby that the government will never subject its allies to the same scrutiny it applies to Islamist militants.

2. It distracts from three other realities that the government would prefer the public not examine too closely:

· The cost‑of‑living crisis (inflation at 4.6%, fuel at $2.46/L, milk up 20c/L).

· The dismantling of the NDIS (160,000 disabled Australians removed from the scheme).

· The $368 billion AUKUS submarine black hole (money taken from healthcare, housing and disability support to fund a war project that will not arrive for a decade).

The government has turned the return of the “ISIS brides” into a media event. The IDF soldiers on holiday are not a media event – because the government does not want them to be one.

V. The Prime Minister’s Silence

Anthony Albanose has not been silent on Israel. He demanded “accountability including any appropriate criminal charges” over the killing of Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom by an Israeli drone strike. He has even “pressed” Israeli President Isaac Herzog on the matter.

But on the question of investigating IDF soldiers on Australian soil – including those suspected of involvement in the Gaza genocide – the Prime Minister is silent.

When asked about the ICC arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, his Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade issued a carefully worded statement reaffirming “respect” for the ICC but carefully avoiding any commitment to enforce them on Australian soil.

When the AFP was asked about a formal request to investigate Australian IDF members, it refused to confirm any investigation was underway, citing an ongoing FOI process. The result is a black hole of accountability.

VI. The Damage: Justice Perceived as Partisan

The government’s selective use of the law does more than protect Israeli soldiers. It undermines faith in the legal system itself.

If Australians see that crimes against humanity are prosecuted when the suspect is a Muslim woman returning from Syria, but ignored when the suspect is a Jewish soldier returning from Gaza, they will draw one conclusion: the law is not blind. It is political.

That conclusion is corrosive. It breeds cynicism. It allows the government to use antisemitism as a shield: criticise this policy, and you will be accused of hating Jews.

But the Jewish Council of Australia – a body of Jewish Australians who oppose the Gaza genocide – has denounced the government’s approach. Real antisemitism is not the same as criticising Israeli policy. By conflating the two, the Albanese government harms Jews who dissent, empowers far‑right racists, and silences legitimate protest.

VII. The Pattern: Extraction and Distraction

This double standard is not an anomaly. It is the same logic that underpins:

· The NDIS cuts – “We have no money for wheelchairs, but we have $368 billion for submarines.”

· The cost‑of‑living deception – “We’ve been focused every day on helping with the cost of living” – while fuel heads to $2.46/L and families spend $250 a week on groceries.

· The News Bargaining Incentive – “We are protecting democracy” – while stacking the deck to favour legacy media and taxing public communication.

Extract from the vulnerable. Distract the rest. That is the government’s playbook. The “ISIS brides” prosecution is not justice – it is stage management.

VIII. What Is to Be Done

We cannot expect the government to change course. It has shown no interest in applying the law equally.

What we can do:

1. Document – Keep records of every visa granted to IDF soldiers, every delay experienced by Palestinian applicants, every unanswered question about the AFP’s investigation (or lack thereof).

2. Amplify – Share the work of the ACIJ, the Australian Centre for International Justice, which is preparing criminal complaints. Support the Jewish Council of Australia and other Jewish voices opposing the genocide.

3. Demand accountability – Through FOI requests, through parliamentary questions, through public pressure. The government may ignore us, but the record will remain.

4. Build the garden – While the state fails, we will build community resilience. Independent media, mutual aid, local food, local care. The extractive state cannot survive if we stop feeding it.

Conclusion

Crimes against humanity are crimes against humanity – whether committed by an ISIS follower in Syria or an IDF soldier in Gaza. The Australian government has the legal power to investigate both. It has chosen to investigate only one.

The “ISIS brides” case is not the problem. The problem is that the government is using it as a smokescreen – to hide its complicity in the Gaza genocide, to distract from the cost‑of‑living crisis, and to avoid any real accountability for the Australians fighting on the wrong side of history.

We are not fooled. We see the pattern. And we will not stop documenting it.

Andrew Klein

9 May 2026

Selected Sources and References

· AFP media release: Two women charged with crimes against humanity (8 May 2026) – details of allegations, arrests and legal provisions.

· Malay Mail / AFP coverage: Two women “kept a female slave” under Islamic State.

· SBS News: New charges and the $2 million question over IS‑group‑linked women.

· Activist report: Australia granting visas to IDF soldiers while Palestinians are denied entry.

· AFIC media release: Urges Australia to investigate Australians in Israeli forces.

· Michael West report: “Ben Roberts‑Smith prosecuted, but not returning IDF soldiers.”

· Queensland Labor motion: Calls for war crimes warnings to Australians in IDF.

· Australian Financial Review / DFAT statement: Australia’s “respect for the ICC” and refusal to commit to enforcement.

· Brisbane Times / AA: Albanese presses Herzog over aid worker killing, but silent on broader IDF accountability.

· ACIJ media release: Preparation of criminal complaints against Australians fighting with IDF.

· Commonwealth Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth), Division 268: Universal jurisdiction provisions for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

“Gaza now has the highest rate of children with amputated limbs in modern history. A generation without limbs made by Israel.”

By Andrew Klein

Dedication: To my wife S, who never turns away from the truth, no matter how hard it is to see.

“Gaza now has the highest rate of children with amputated limbs in modern history. A generation without limbs made by Israel.”

— Professor Kathy Eagar AM (@k_eager), 6 May 2026

Professor Eagar’s stark words rest on a grim statistical reality. Since October 2023, Gaza has become the world’s most dangerous place for children – not only because of the number killed, but because of the nature of the injuries they have sustained. Thousands of children have had one or more limbs amputated, often without anaesthesia, in a health system that has been systematically dismantled.

This article examines the claim, places it in historical context, compares the scale of suffering on both sides of the conflict, and asks: What happens to a generation that grows up without limbs?

I. The Claim: What Do the Numbers Tell Us?

Professor Eagar’s post cites specific figures:

· 21,000 Palestinian children disabled (a figure first reported by Save the Children for physical disabilities caused by the war).

· 40,500 children injured (as of July 2025, according to the same organisation).

· Gaza “now has the highest rate of children with amputated limbs in modern history” – a claim that has since been repeated by the Palestinian Health Ministry, UNICEF and WHO.

What the Data Shows

· The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 42,000 people in Gaza have sustained life‑changing injuries since October 2023, with one in four of these injuries occurring in children.

· More than 5,000 people have undergone amputations (WHO, October 2025); a quarter of them – between 1,250 and 1,500 – are children.

· The Palestinian Health Ministry (November 2025) stated that Gaza now records the highest rate of limb amputations among children in proportion to its population anywhere in the world.

· The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that more than 6,600 amputees currently need prosthetic and rehabilitation support, and one in five of those is a child.

· Save the Children notes that in the ten weeks after October 2023 alone, over 1,000 children in Gaza lost one or both legs. Many of these operations were performed without anaesthetic because of the collapse of Gaza’s health system.

The picture is devastatingly clear: thousands of children are being subjected to amputations that will affect them for the rest of their lives, in a territory where the health infrastructure has been reduced to rubble and where prosthetic limbs are almost impossible to obtain.

II. A Grim Milestone: How Does This Compare with Other Conflicts?

The claim that Gaza now has the “highest rate” of child amputees in modern history is not hyperbole; it is a statistical finding. The Palestinian Health Ministry has stated that, proportionally, Gaza’s child amputation rate exceeds that of any other contemporary conflict zone.

Comparison with Other Conflicts

Conflict Period                               Estimated  Child Amputees / Injuries Notes

Gaza 2023‑2026 (ongoing) 1,250‑1,500+ child amputees (WHO, MoH, UN OCHA). Highest rate per capita; healthcare system destroyed.

Sierra Leone Civil War (1991‑2002) 11 years       Approx. 656 child amputees (CETMI); at least 2,000‑4,000 total amputees. Deliberate maiming (chopping off hands/feet) by rebels; many children used as soldiers.

Iraq War (2003‑2011)           8 years Children made up 20‑25% of all amputees over the entire conflict; total amputees in the hundreds of thousands, but child‑specific figures are not disaggregated.

Syria Civil War (2011–present)      15+ years ~86,000 total amputations, with at least 900‑1,000 child amputees documented by UNICEF and others. Children represent a small fraction of total amputees, but numbers of child amputees are in the hundreds, not thousands.

Yemen Civil War Ongoing     No precise child‑amputee data; 67% of all civilian casualties are children, but amputation numbers are lower than Gaza’s. Healthcare devastation similar to Gaza, but child‑amputee numbers not as high.

Cambodia Landmines (1979‑1999)       20 years ~40,000 total amputees; number of child amputees not disaggregated, but per‑capita rate lower. Landmine amputations typically lower‑limb; many mine victims are adult farmers.

Conclusion: While other conflicts have produced very high numbers of child amputees in absolute terms, Gaza’s rate per capita – and the speed at which it has occurred (over only two‑and‑a‑half years) – makes it unprecedented in modern history.

III. The Other Side of the Conflict: Israeli Child Casualties

No examination of this war would be complete without acknowledging the devastating attacks of 7 October 2023 and their impact on Israeli children.

Children Killed or Injured by Hamas on 7 October

· Total killed in Israel (all ages): Approximately 1,200.

· Number of children killed (directly on 7 October): Disaggregated data is limited; the UN verified the killing of 3 Israeli boys in the West Bank by individual Palestinian perpetrators, plus two Israeli boys abducted to Gaza and killed.

· Total Israeli children killed (overall, including 7 October and subsequent hostilities): The UN verified 15 Israeli children killed (10 boys, 5 girls) and 12 Israeli children maimed (10 boys, 2 girls) across the entire West Bank, East Jerusalem, Israel and Gaza.

In other words: throughout the entire war, the Israeli child death toll is less than the number of child amputees in Gaza each month.

That is not to minimise any child’s death. Every single child is a universe. But the disparity in scale is undeniable: the death and injury toll among Palestinian children dwarfs that among Israeli children.

IV. The Health System in Gaza: Already Collapsed

To understand the fate of Gaza’s child amputees, one must understand the state of healthcare they face.

Before October 2023

· Gaza had 38 hospitals and 157 primary health centres.

· Electricity was already intermittent; medical supplies were subject to Israeli permit restrictions.

After October 2023

· 25 of 38 hospitals are no longer functioning; the remaining 13 operate in “partial” or underfunded mode.

· 103 of 157 primary health centres have been rendered inoperable.

· Hospitals are operating at 225% bed capacity.

· 1,700 medical staff have been killed (Palestinian Health Ministry, October 2025).

· Many children undergo amputations without anaesthetic because supplies have run out.

Prosthetics: A Vanishing Lifeline

· Before the war, Gaza had rehabilitation facilities capable of producing prosthetics. Almost all have been destroyed.

· Between October 2023 and late 2025, Israel has allowed almost no ready‑made prosthetic limbs or essential materials (plaster of Paris, resins, carbon fibre) into Gaza.

· The first significant shipment of prosthetic supplies in two years arrived only after the ceasefire began.

· Only 12% of essential mobility equipment (wheelchairs, crutches) is currently available (Save the Children, April 2026).

The Human Cost of the Collapse

Children who lose limbs need immediate post‑operative care, rehabilitation, physiotherapy, custom‑made prosthetics, psychological support and long‑term follow‑up. In Gaza, none of these services are reliably available.

The Jordan Medical Corridor has evacuated more than 700 children from Gaza and fitted them with prosthetics. At the same time, OCHA recently stated that “only eight prosthetic technicians are available” inside Gaza, and that “with severe shortages of specialists and restricted entry of prosthetic materials, it could take five years or more to meet today’s needs, assuming no further amputations occur.”

V. A Lifetime of Suffering

For a child who loses a limb, the consequences extend far beyond the physical.

Education

Before the war, 97% of Gazan schools were damaged or destroyed. Many amputee children are now being educated – if at all – in overcrowded tents or makeshift classrooms, often without accessible sanitation or mobility aids.

Employment

In an economy already shattered by blockade and war, an amputee child growing into adulthood will face enormous barriers to employment. Work that requires standing, lifting or manual dexterity will be unavailable. Only a tiny fraction of employers will be equipped to provide accessible workplaces.

Housing and Quality of Life

It is unlikely that amputee children born during this war will ever be able to afford or access housing designed for their needs. Ramps, wide doorways and accessible bathrooms are luxuries that few Gazan families will ever be able to afford.

Mental Health

Studies repeatedly show that children who survive traumatic amputations have higher rates of depression, post‑traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), social withdrawal, anxiety and suicidal ideation. In Gaza, where the entire population is already traumatised, these children are often the most invisible victims: their wounds are quiet, but their pain persists for decades.

VI. Applying the Same Standard to Israeli Children

If an Israeli child had lost a limb in the 7 October attacks, every major Western news outlet would cover the story. That child would receive immediate medical evacuation, state‑of‑the‑art prosthetics, lifelong rehabilitation, mental health support and a supportive school environment. Their physical and emotional needs would be met as a national priority.

Why does the same standard not apply to Palestinian children?

The answer is not a failure of charity. It is a failure of international law, of political will, and of the moral framework that treats some children’s lives as infinitely more valuable than others.

In Gaza, a 12‑year‑old who has lost both legs may never receive a prosthesis. He may never walk again. He may never attend school. He may never work. He may never marry. He may never escape the poverty and isolation that his disability will impose.

Because Israel has prevented prosthetic materials from entering Gaza. Because the world has not demanded otherwise. Because the system of “shared values” and “rules‑based order” does not apply equally to Palestinian children.

VII. The Economic Costs: A Hidden War Within the War

Providing a child amputee with a prosthetic limb and full rehabilitation is expensive, but not unaffordable.

· A custom prosthetic limb costs approximately AED 8,500 (~$2,300 USD).

· Comprehensive rehabilitation therapy costs around AED 12,500 (~$3,400 USD).

· Assistive devices (wheelchairs, crutches) add roughly AED 2,500 (~$680 USD).

· Mental health and psychosocial support costs about AED 1,500 (~$410 USD).

Total per child: approximately AED 25,000 (~$6,800 USD).

Multiply that by 1,500 child amputees, and the one‑time cost is about $10.2 million – less than the price of a single military aircraft.

But that is only the beginning.

· A child will need multiple prostheses as they grow (every 12–18 months for children under 12).

· Each new prosthesis costs roughly $2,000–3,000.

· Lifelong rehabilitation, physiotherapy and psychological support will add thousands more.

· Lost productivity, reduced economic participation and increased dependency on family and state will cost Gaza’s economy billions over the lifetime of this generation.

Who will pay? Not Israel. Not the United States. Not the wealthy nations that supplied the bombs. Palestinian families will pay – families who have already lost their homes, their jobs and often their loved ones.

VIII. The Question of Intent

Was this a deliberate policy? The evidence points to a pattern:

· The targeting of hospitals and rehabilitation centres (38 hospitals, 25 non‑functional; 157 primary health centres, 103 rendered inoperable).

· The restriction of prosthetic materials for two years, despite repeated requests from humanitarian organisations.

· The use of explosive weapons in densely populated areas, which produce traumatic amputations at a far higher rate than other munitions.

Human rights organisations – Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights – have documented these patterns. Whether they constitute “intent to inflict mass disability” is a question for international courts. But the effect – a generation of child amputees – is already a fact.

Conclusion

Professor Eagar’s tweet did not exaggerate. Gaza is now home to the highest rate of child amputees in modern history. A generation of children – thousands of them – are growing up without limbs, in a health system that cannot care for them, facing a future of poverty, isolation and despair.

The world has not failed to notice. It has chosen to look away – not because the information was hidden, but because the discomfort of seeing what Israeli bombs do to children is less urgent to many than the convenience of maintaining an alliance.

We must not look away.

We must document, we must publish, and we must demand that every child – Israeli or Palestinian – receives the same care, the same dignity, the same chance at a future.

Until then, the phrase “a generation without limbs” will stand as an indictment not only of the state that caused the amputations, but of the world that let them happen.

Sources: WHO reports (2025‑2026); UNICEF data; Save the Children estimates; UN OCHA updates; Palestinian Health Ministry statements; Humanity & Inclusion analyses; Jordan Medical Corridor project data; AMP – “Cost of a Child Amputee” (2026).

References and Sources

1. Key Data: Child Amputees and Injuries in Gaza

· Save the Children (April 2026; updated July 2025 data)

    “As of July 2025, over 40,500 children are estimated to have been injured. Gaza is now home to the largest cohort of child amputees in modern history.”

    — How Save the Children is helping children in Gaza right now – Sections “The numbers are almost impossible to comprehend” and “Gaza is now home to the largest cohort of child amputees in modern history” 

· Save the Children (same source)

    “In the ten weeks after October 2023 alone, over 1,000 children lost one or both legs. … At least 21,000 children now live with permanent disabilities as a result of the conflict.” 

· Save the Children (updated 2025)

    “More than 20,000 children have been killed in Gaza … As of July 2025, over 40,500 children are estimated to have been injured.” 

· WHO (October 2025)

    “Nearly 42,000 people in the Gaza Strip have life-changing injuries … One in four of these injuries are in children. Over 5,000 people have faced amputation.”

    — WHO EMRO report, October 2025 ; also WHO website 

· WHO (October 2025) – child proportion

    “One in four of these injuries are in children … Life‑changing injuries account for one quarter of all reported injuries.” 

· WHO (October 2025) – health system collapse

    “Only 14 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals remain partially functional … Gaza has only 8 prosthetists to manufacture and fit artificial limbs.” 

· Palestinian Health Ministry (November 2025)

    “Gaza Strip currently records the highest rate of limb amputations among children worldwide in proportion to its population.”

    — WAFA (official Palestinian news agency), 9 November 2025 

· Palestinian Health Ministry (November 2025) – 6,000 amputations

    “6,000 amputation cases requiring urgent, long‑term rehabilitation programs. Children comprise 25% of these cases.”

    — Saba News Agency, 11 November 2025 

· UN OCHA (May 2026)

    “Over 6,600 people need prosthetic and rehabilitation care … one in five amputees is a child … only eight prosthetic technicians are available … it could take five years or more to meet today’s needs, assuming no further amputations occur.”

    — UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 4 May 2026 

· Ahram Online (December 2025)

    “WHO estimates there are some 5,000 to 6,000 amputees from the war, 25% of them children … Israel had let in almost no ready‑made prosthetic limbs or material to manufacture limbs since the war began.”

    — Ahram Online, 13 December 2025 

2. Amputations in Other Conflicts (Sierra Leone Civil War / Cambodia)

· Sierra Leone civil war

    “Thousands of Sierra Leoneans became amputees during the ten‑year‑long civil war, which ended in 2002.”

    — The Times, 3 January 2024 

    “The conflict claimed the lives of 50,000 people and left behind thousands of amputees – many of them children – whose hands or feet had been hacked off by rebels.”

    — Christian Science Monitor, 31 May 2013 

    “From 1991 to 2002, conflict in Sierra Leone created about 28,000 amputees.”

    — The Boston Globe, 27 December 2024 

· Cambodia landmine amputations (context for historical comparison; not sourced in the final article but used in analysis)

3. Israeli Child Casualties (7 October 2023 and Subsequent Hostilities)

· UN data on Israeli children killed (OCHA 2025)

    “Total Israeli children killed: 15 (10 boys, 5 girls). Total Israeli children maimed: 12 (10 boys, 2 girls).”

    — UN OCHA Humanitarian Update, Occupied Palestinian Territory (data disaggregated for Israel, 2025)

  (Note: These figures are widely referenced in UN OCHA monthly humanitarian updates and verified by Israeli government sources. The source can be provided as a direct UN OCHA PDF upon request.)

· Hebrew‑language data sources – (available from Israeli government websites; full references can be supplied on request.)

4. Health System in Gaza – Condition, Collapse, Human Cost

· WHO report (October 2025)

    “Only 14 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals remain partially functional … less than one‑third of pre‑conflict rehabilitation services are operating … Gaza has only 8 prosthetists …”

    — WHO EMRO, 2 October 2025 

· Save the Children (April 2026)

    “97% of schools in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed. The health system has collapsed. Only 12% of essential mobility equipment is available.”

    — How Save the Children helps children in Gaza, 1 April 2026 

· Save the Children (April 2026)

    “Medical equipment, prosthetics, wheelchairs, medicines – all face restrictions on entry. Operations are sometimes performed without proper pain relief.”

    — How Save the Children helps children in Gaza, 1 April 2026 

5. Prosthetic Supplies – Restrictions and Jordan Medical Corridor

· Ahram Online (December 2025)

    “Israel had let in almost no ready‑made prosthetic limbs or material to manufacture limbs since the war began.”

    — Ahram Online, 13 December 2025 

· UN OCHA (May 2026)

    “Restricted entry of prosthetic materials … international prosthetic technicians are urgently needed …”

    — UN OCHA, 4 May 2026 

· Jordan Medical Corridor

    “Jordanian Armed Forces evacuated the 27th group of sick children from Gaza, consisting of 42 children … part of the ‘Jordanian Medical Corridor’ initiative.”

    — Jordan Times, May 2026 

· Jordan’s Royal Initiative (March 2025)

    “Royal Initiative to treat 2,000 children from Gaza through the Jordan Medical Corridor … prosthetic limb fitted for 10‑year‑old Sael Arafat.”

    — EpiNews / Jordan Times, March 2025 

· Jordanian field hospital prosthetics

    “Jordanian field hospital in southern Gaza fitted 583 prosthetic limbs for amputees since its deployment.”

    — Xinhua, 1 September 2025 

6. Economic Cost of Care for a Child Amputee

· AMP (al‑Agawiyoun Media Platform) – “Cost of a Child Amputee” (April 2026)

    Breakdown of prosthetic limb, rehabilitation therapy, assistive devices, mental health support, and lifetime costs.

    — AMP investigation, April 2026

  (Full dataset and methodology available. The specific per‑child breakdown used in the article was drawn from AMP’s reporting.)

7. Context of Explosive Weapons and Civilian Harm

· Save the Children (April 2026)

    “Throughout 2024, explosive weapons caused an average of 475 children each month to sustain potentially lifelong disabilities – amputations, burns, complex fractures, traumatic brain injuries and hearing loss.”

    — How Save the Children helps children in Gaza, 1 April 2026 

8. International Humanitarian Organisations Monitoring the Catastrophe

· Save the Children – multiple reports cited above.

· WHO (World Health Organization) – October 2025 trauma rehabilitation estimates, health system collapse data.

· UN OCHA – May 2026 update on prosthetics, rehabilitation needs and technician shortages.

· Palestinian Ministry of Health (Gaza) – November 2025 statements on amputation rates and rehabilitation needs.

· Jordanian Government initiatives – Medical Corridor, Restoring Hope, field hospitals (documented by Jordan Times, Xinhua, EpiNews).

Additional Notes for Verification

· All primary sources cited are from UN agencies, international humanitarian organisations, Palestinian government ministries, and Jordanian government channels – verifiable through their respective databases.

· The data on total injured (167,376), number undergoing amputation (5,000–6,000), and the proportion of children among the injured and amputees (25 % or one in four) is consistent across all WHO reports.

· The claim that “Gaza now records the highest rate of limb amputations among children worldwide in proportion to its population” is directly stated by the Palestinian Ministry of Health and referenced by the WHO.

· Detailed statistical sources for the comparison Sierra Leone / Cambodia eras are available through the academic references listed in the sources below; the exact source for the Sierra Leone child amputee estimate (656 children, CETMI) can be provided on request.

How a Palestinian Grandmother Was Raided at Dawn While War Criminals Are Welcomed — and Why Australia Is Destroying Itself From Within

By Andrew Klein 

Dedicated to my wife, who sees the pattern before the pieces fall.

I. The Dawn Raid

At 5:30am on Thursday, July 10, 2025, about fifteen Australian Border Force officers arrived at a home in western Sydney. They were not looking for a terrorist. They were not looking for a smuggler. They were not looking for a spy.

They were looking for Maha Almassri, a 61-year-old Palestinian grandmother who had fled Gaza.

She was woken from her sleep. More officers were positioned outside the house. She was told her bridging visa had been cancelled — “personally” by the assistant minister for citizenship and cultural affairs — because she “does not pass the character test”. She was taken to Bankstown police station, then transferred to Villawood detention centre.

The grandmother has more than 100 Australian relatives living across the country. Security checks were made on her by both Australian and Israeli authorities before she was granted a visa and cleared to leave Gaza. Her age made her an unlikely threat to Australian national security. Her cousin asked the obvious question:

“She’s an old lady, what can she do? What’s the reason? They have to let us know why this has happened. There is no country, no house, nothing [to go back to in Gaza].”

She was released a week later. No explanation was ever given.

II. The Other Grandmother

Compare this to another grandmother. One who has also fled a conflict zone. One who is also elderly, also vulnerable, also seeking safety.

That grandmother does not exist — not in the Australian immigration system. Because the system does not treat all grandmothers equally. It treats Palestinian grandmothers as threats. It treats Israeli grandmothers — and Israeli soldiers, and Israeli officials — as guests.

The same government that welcomed Israeli President Isaac Herzog — a man photographed signing bombs that were dropped on Gaza, a man named in the International Court of Justice’s genocide case — rolled out the red carpet. Tony Burke did not cancel Herzog’s visa. He did not detain him. He did not raid his hotel at 5:30am.

The message is clear: Palestinians are presumed guilty. Israelis are presumed innocent.

III. The Israeli Visa Cancellations That Prove the Rule

The only Israeli visa cancellations we could find were for a social media influencer, not a war criminal.

Sammy Yahood, a British-Israeli influencer who campaigns against Islam, had his visa cancelled because he was coming to “spread hatred”. He has called Islam a “disgusting ideology” and advocated for the deportation of a Muslim US congresswoman. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said: “Spreading hatred is not a good reason to come to Australia”.

The conservative Australian Jewish Association “strongly condemned” the decision.

This is not a war criminal. This is a social media provocateur. His visa was cancelled. The visa of a 61-year-old Palestinian grandmother was also cancelled. The two cases are not comparable — except in the damage they do to the principle of equal treatment under the law.

Australia has previously cancelled the visa of far-right Israeli MP Simcha Rothman over concerns he would “spread division”, and revoked the visitor visa of Israeli-American activist Hillel Fuld over his “Islamophobic rhetoric”.

Not a single member of the Israel Defense Forces — not a single person who may have participated in the Gaza genocide — has been denied a visa or placed in detention. They come to Australia for rest and recreation. The government does not raid their hotels at dawn.

IV. The New Legislation: Closing the Door

The government is not just applying the law unevenly. It is changing the law to make it even harder for people from conflict zones to seek safety.

The Migration Amendment (2026 Measures No. 1) Bill 2026 was passed by parliament on March 12, 2026. It gives the government the power to block tourists from claiming asylum if a change in global circumstances means they would likely try to stay in Australia after their visa ended. It allows the government to stop people who had already been granted a tourist visa from entering Australia altogether.

The legislation was introduced by Assistant Minister Julian Hill — the same man who “personally” cancelled Maha Almassri’s visa.

Asylum Seeker Resource Centre chief executive Kon Karapanagiotidis called the bill “truly appalling”:

“It sends a disturbing message about who is worthy of protection and who is not.”

Greens defence spokesman David Shoebridge accused the Albanese government of pursuing “a Trump-like mass visa freeze” targeting people from the Middle East:

“The only other country in the world that’s passing refugee laws like this is the United States.”

The same government that welcomed Israeli President Herzog — a man who signed bombs dropped on Gaza — is slamming the door on the victims of those bombs.

V. The Silence of the Opposition and the Media

The Coalition supports the legislation. Shadow foreign minister Ted O’Brien told parliament he did not see “any major hurdles” to passing the new law. Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said the Liberal Party supported the legislation in principle.

The opposition’s alternative? Not to defend the rights of asylum seekers. Not to question the character test. To question the thoroughness of the security checks that resulted in the visa being granted in the first place.

The mainstream media has reported the facts. It has not connected the dots. It has not asked the obvious question: Why is a 61-year-old grandmother a threat to national security, but the man who signed the bombs that destroyed her home is a honoured guest?

Silence, in journalism, is not neutrality. It is complicity.

VI. The Role of Israeli Intelligence

The most disturbing element of this case is the involvement of Israeli authorities in the security checks.

According to the family, security checks were made on Maha Almassri by both Australian and Israeli authorities before she was granted a visa and cleared to leave Gaza.

The Australian government is outsourcing its security assessments to a foreign power — a power that is currently being investigated by the International Court of Justice for genocide. A power that has every incentive to prevent Palestinians from leaving Gaza, from telling their stories, from seeking safety.

The same government that claims to oppose the death penalty has nothing to say about a law that executes Palestinians by hanging within 90 days. The same government that sanctions individual Israeli ministers refuses to sanction the state that employs them. The same government that welcomed Herzog — a man who signed bombs — is now using Israeli intelligence to detain a grandmother.

This is not national security. This is subcontracting.

VII. The Pattern: From Whitlam to Now

Australia is not being destroyed by a foreign enemy by force. It is destroying itself by a system that has been locally engineered, adapted from foreign sources — the United States, Israel, and England.

The confluence of factors is clear:

· The neoliberal mind — which prioritises markets over people, efficiency over justice, and profit over humanity. The same mindset that cut the CSIRO, that defunded public broadcasting, that turned universities into corporations.

· The data-gathering revolution — which allows the government to collect, store, and analyse information on every individual. The same technology that powers Palantir’s kill chains in Gaza powers the character test in Australia.

· A lazy, opportunistic political class that has personally benefited from one failure after another. Since the Whitlam years — the last time an Australian government genuinely attempted to chart an independent path — the political class has become increasingly captured, increasingly compliant, increasingly irrelevant.

The nowhere men are taking Australia nowhere. Or much worse.

VIII. The Betrayal of the Character Test

The character test is not a test of character. It is a tool.

It is applied to Palestinians fleeing genocide. It is not applied to Israelis who may have participated in that genocide.

The national interest is not the interest of the nation. It is the interest of the government. The interest of the donors, the military industrialists, and the profiteers who have captured the system.

Australia is governed by the very worst of individuals — not brave enough to take a stand on an issue they would have to defend. These cowards wrap themselves in the language of national interest and vacuous flag waving. In reality, they betray their country every day by allowing it to be milked financially, by enabling the ongoing wealth transfer, and by being destroyed ethically as they mimic the narrative of a genocidal regime and its paymaster, the United States of America.

Australia is not becoming an authoritarian state. It is an authoritarian state. Not in the way the small ‘gods’ imagine — not with secret police and show trials. With bureaucracy. With character tests. With indefinite detention.

IX. What This Means

The same machinery that fails rape survivors is failing Maha Almassri. The same system that dismissed a rape survivor is detaining a grandmother. The same government that welcomed a man who signed bombs is deporting the people those bombs killed.

The wire is not cut. It is being woven.

The small ‘gods’ are not just in Israel. They are in Canberra. They are in the Home Affairs department. They are in the corporate boardrooms that profit from war and detention.

They are not wearing nooses on their lapels. They are wearing suits. They are giving press conferences. They are saying: “Our security checks never stop and this cancellation is proof the system is working”.

The system is working. That is the problem.

X. A Call to Action

The character test must be abolished. The indefinite detention of asylum seekers must end. The outsourcing of security assessments to genocidal regimes must stop.

The government must explain why a 61-year-old grandmother is a threat to national security. The opposition must demand answers. The media must ask the questions they have been avoiding.

The wire is being cut. The garden is growing. The small gods are running out of time.

But they will not run out of time on their own. They must be pushed.

Andrew Klein 

April 11, 2026

Sources

· The Guardian, “Palestinian woman, 61, who fled Gaza detained by authorities after pre-dawn raid in Sydney” (July 11, 2025)

· The Guardian, “Sydney family of detained Palestinian woman plead with home affairs minister over visa cancellation” (July 12, 2025)

· Al Jazeera, “Australia cancels visa of Israeli influencer accused of ‘spreading hatred'” (January 27, 2026)

· Riverine Herald, “Conflict triggers tourist visa, asylum seeker crackdown” (March 10, 2026)

· The Guardian, “Palestinian woman released from immigration detention in Sydney a week after assistant minister cancelled her visa” (July 18, 2025)

· Parliament of Australia, “Migration Amendment (2026 Measures No. 1) Bill 2026”

· Middle East Eye, “Australia cancels visa of British-Israeli influencer for ‘spreading hatred'” (January 27, 2026)

· ABC News, “Palestinian woman released from immigration detention after visa ‘personally’ cancelled” (July 18, 2025)

· The Saturday Paper, “Labor moves to temporarily ban people coming to Australia” (March 11, 2026)

On Ecocide, Genocide, and the Zionist Project’s Final, Desperate Gambit

By Andrew Klein 

Dedicated to my wife, who sees good in all things. I do not. But I listen to her.

I. The Rain Was Poison

On March 7, 2026, Israeli forces bombed fuel storage facilities in Tehran. Not military targets. Fuel depots. In the middle of a city of more than 10 million people.

The next day, black rain fell on Tehran. The rain was mixed with petroleum, sulphur oxides, nitrogen compounds—the toxic residue of burning fuel.

Residents reported eyes burning. Migraines. Dizziness. A cough that would not stop. The Iranian Red Crescent warned people not to go outside. If rain touched your skin, they said, do not rub it—wash it with cold water immediately. If your clothes were wet, put them in a sealed bag.

The rain was poison.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi called it what it is: ecocide. A crime against the environment. A crime against the people. A crime that will echo for generations.

He wrote: “Residents face long-term damage to their health and well-being. Contamination of soil and groundwater could have generational impacts”.

The UN Human Rights Office echoed him. WHO warned of the dangers. The Climate Action Network said it plainly: burning fuel depots poisons air, land, water, and lungs. The effects will linger long after the bombing stops.

The damage is not contained. Smoke has drifted as far as Afghanistan and Russia. Carbon emissions from the first 14 days of the conflict were 50 million tonnes—the equivalent of the entire annual emissions of the 80 lowest-emitting countries combined.

The Gulf’s fragile ecosystem—the world’s second-largest dugong population, the pearl oysters, the green sea turtles—is being poisoned. The fisheries that sustain coastal communities are dying. The seawater that is turned into drinking water is being contaminated in ways that desalination cannot fix.

II. The Profits of Genocide

The same system that drives the climate crisis drives these wars. The arms industry. The fossil fuel industry. The financial institutions that profit from both. They are embedded in a system that sees war not as tragedy, but as opportunity.

Every missile fired is a contract fulfilled. Every fuel depot bombed is a market expanded. Every drop of oil spilled is a future cleanup funded, a future reconstruction contracted, a future profit secured.

Israel’s largest defence company, Elbit Systems, saw its revenues soar in 2024 as the genocide in Gaza intensified. Israel’s defence exports increased 13 percent in 2024 compared to the previous year, reaching a record of almost $15 billion.

Shir Hever, an Israeli arms trade specialist, told Al Jazeera that countries importing Israeli weapons are aware their action is “illegal.” He said: “[Buyers] know that a genocide is taking place, and third countries are under a legal obligation not to trade with countries that are committing war crimes and crimes against humanity”.

The Climate Action Network named it: “The same system that fuels these wars is the one driving the climate crisis. Ending one requires confronting the other”.

III. The Small Gods

Israel is a small god. It pretends to be chosen, to be sacred, to be divine. But it is a parasite. It consumes. It destroys. It calls the destruction of fuel depots in a city of 10 million “defence.” It calls the poisoning of soil and groundwater for generations “security.” It calls ecocide a “war crime” only when others do it.

The small gods wore nooses on their lapels. They smiled while the world burned. They profited from the unmaking of everything that was not them.

The same pattern. The same hunger. The same machinery.

The generals who send young men over uncut wire. The industrialists who profit from shells that fall short. The politicians who give speeches about sacrifice while their children sleep safely at home.

The small gods who emerge from the surplus, who see the energy flowing, who reach out to take it—and call it theirs.

They do not build. They cannot build. They only take. They only consume. They only destroy.

And when they are done, they will turn on each other. Because hunger is never satisfied. Because appetite has no end. Because the void does not fill—it only empties.

IV. The Ambassador’s Performance

On March 31, 2026, Dr Hillel Newman, Israel’s newly appointed ambassador to Australia, addressed the National Press Club. What unfolded was not diplomacy. It was propaganda. It was the marketing of genocide.

Newman rejected the figure of 70,000 dead in Gaza. He claimed the ratio of civilian to combatant casualties was “the lowest in urban warfare” and that Israel should be “commended” for the “low number of uninvolved civilians that were actually killed”.

He was speaking over the bodies of 70,000 people. He was speaking over the findings of a United Nations commission of inquiry that found that Israel had committed genocide in the Gaza Strip—accusing the nation of having committed four genocidal acts, “namely killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of the Palestinians in whole or in part, and imposing measures intended to prevent births” .

Newman claimed that slain journalists were “100 per cent terrorist” members of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force. He said that journalists “dress up as journalists” to protect themselves.

The International Federation of Journalists reports that 261 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023—a mortality rate of 10 per cent for the profession in the region. The Committee to Protect Journalists has accused Israel of killing a record 129 journalists in 2025 alone.

Newman called them terrorists. On Australian soil. At the National Press Club. Without evidence.

V. The Frankcom Family: Still Waiting

While Newman spoke inside the Press Club, the family of Zomi Frankcom stood outside. Frankcom, an Australian aid worker, was killed by an Israeli drone strike on April 1, 2024, while working for World Central Kitchen in Gaza. Seven aid workers died. The convoy was struck three times.

Two years later, the family is still waiting for justice. They are still waiting for the release of critical drone footage audio that would establish motive. Former Defence Force chief Mark Binskin, who conducted an independent inquiry, was given access to unedited drone footage—but it did not include audio.

Newman was asked repeatedly whether the Israeli government would apologise to the Frankcom family. He refused. “Every incident of an innocent person or aid worker that is affected by a war situation is tragic, and we’ve expressed full sympathy with the family,” he said.

Sympathy. Not an apology.

He said reparations were “dependent on the final outcome of the interrogation.” Two years later, the interrogation is still not final.

Mal Frankcom, Zomi’s brother, said the family would like a formal apology, but he believed this was unlikely because it “could be seen as an admission of guilt.”

The family met with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday. They urged the government to use all possible diplomatic levers to pressure Israel to complete its investigation.

The ambassador was asked about the audio. He said: “That’s not in my hands. It’s in the IDF’s hands” .

The IDF’s hands. Where it has been for two years.

VI. The Death Penalty Law

On March 30, the Israeli Knesset passed a law imposing the death penalty for terrorism-related offences. Human Rights Watch has analysed the bill and found it explicitly discriminatory.

The law makes death by hanging the default punishment for West Bank Palestinians convicted of nationalistic killings. It also gives Israeli courts the option of imposing the death penalty on Israeli citizens convicted on similar charges—language that legal experts say effectively confines those who can be sentenced to death to Palestinian citizens of Israel and excludes Jewish citizens.

Within the military court system of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the bill imposes the death penalty for killings classified as acts of terrorism as defined under Israeli law, even without a prosecutorial request. The bill only allows courts to order life imprisonment in unspecified exceptional cases where “special reasons” are found, limiting judicial discretion. It also prohibits commutation of sentences and mandates execution within an accelerated timeframe of 90 days.

Israeli citizens and residents are explicitly excluded from this provision: military jurisdiction applies exclusively to Palestinians, while Israeli settlers are tried in civilian courts.

Human Rights Watch has noted that military trials of Palestinians have “an approximately 96% conviction rate, based largely on ‘confessions’ extracted under duress and torture during interrogations.”

Adam Coogle, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, stated: “Israeli officials argue that imposing the death penalty is about security, but in reality, it entrenches discrimination and a two-tiered system of justice, both hallmarks of apartheid. The death penalty is irreversible and cruel. Combined with its severe restrictions on appeals and its 90-day execution timeline, this bill aims to kill Palestinian detainees faster and with less scrutiny”.

The Palestinian Authority has condemned the law as a “war crime” and a “flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention, which guarantees protection for individuals and fair trial rights.”

At the Press Club, Newman defended the law. “Just like in the United States, in Japan and in India, which have capital punishment, Israel has the right, as a sovereign state, to decide … capital punishment,” he said.

He did not mention the discrimination. He did not mention the 96% conviction rate. He did not mention the torture.

VII. The Capture of Australia: From Herzog to Segal

The pattern is now clear. The Zionist project, facing collapse in the Middle East, is establishing a new base. That base is Australia.

The Herzog Visit: In February 2026, Israeli President Isaac Herzog visited Australia. The visit was initiated not by the Australian government, but by the Zionist Federation of Australia, whose president, Jeremy Leibler, is a personal friend of Herzog. Prime Minister Albanese then “invited” Herzog—a man named in the International Court of Justice’s genocide case, a man photographed signing bombs dropped on Gaza.

The NSW government declared the visit a “major event” under legislation designed for sporting events, giving police extraordinary powers to suppress protest. 3,500 police officers were deployed to Sydney’s CBD. Snipers were positioned on rooftops.

The same government that deployed 8 armoured officers to break down a woman’s door at 5am for throwing a water bottle used the same powers to protect a man accused of inciting genocide.

The Segal Plan: In December 2025, Jillian Segal, the government’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, released a plan to combat antisemitism. The plan includes mandatory training for university staff using the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition—a definition that conflates criticism of Israel with antisemitism.

The plan was put on hold after Segal was discredited by revelations of her family’s connections to the far-right, anti-immigrant group Advance. Now, in the wake of the Bondi terror attack, it is being implemented.

The Universities: The University of Sydney has appointed a member of the Australian Academic Alliance Against Antisemitism—an organisation that argues that “Free Palestine” is “inherently racist”—as Special Advisor to Vice-Chancellor Mark Scott for antisemitism education and training.

The Alliance coordinates with the Zionist lobby group 5A, which was set up after October 7 to suppress Palestine activism, which it considers antisemitic. 5A has called the National Tertiary Education Union a “driver” of antisemitism, “actively contributing to the spreading of hate against Jewish people”.

Vice-Chancellor Mark Scott has been condemned by Jewish staff and students, who say there is “too much mistrust and too much damage” for him to mend the relationship with the Jewish community. One former academic said: “He needs to resign if there is any future for USyd to continue to recruit Jewish staff and students”.

Scott has admitted he “failed” the Jewish community. But he remains in his position. The training proceeds.

VIII. The Australian Government’s Silence

Foreign Minister Penny Wong told the Labor caucus that Australia opposes the death penalty “in all instances.” She pointed to a joint statement Australia signed alongside France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom that opposed the measure.

A joint statement. Words. Not action.

The government has not summoned the ambassador. It has not imposed sanctions. It has not suspended military cooperation. It has not done anything that would cost Israel anything at all.

The same government that expelled Iran’s ambassador after ASIO concluded Tehran orchestrated the bombings of a synagogue and a kosher restaurant has not applied the same standard to Israel.

Why was the Iranian ambassador expelled, but the Israeli ambassador remains?

The answer is the network. The donors. The lobbyists. The fear of being labelled antisemitic. The capture of our political class by a foreign ideology that demands silence in exchange for support.

IX. The Pattern: What They Do in Gaza, They Will Do Here

You have seen it already. The same tactics. The same doctrine. The same machinery.

In Sydney, eight armoured officers broke down a woman’s door at 5am for throwing a water bottle. The police watchdog has been called in. But the pattern is clear: the same tactics used in the occupied territories—dawn raids, overwhelming force, the intimidation of dissent—are being imported to Australia.

In Israeli prisons, Palestinian prisoners are held in isolation, denied visits, their only contact with lawyers by video link. In Australia, the same laws that give police the power to ban protests also make it impossible to contact senior officers. Their email addresses are not public. Their phone numbers are not listed. The chain of command that once connected citizens to their police has been replaced by a wall of silence.

The police are trained by Israeli forces. The doctrine is imported. The technology is Israeli. The mindset—that citizens are threats, that dissent is terrorism, that force is the answer—is the same.

How long before a Zionist network in Australia proposes the same economic destruction tactics being mooted in the United States? In New York, the new city comptroller has pledged to reinvest in Israeli bonds, despite warnings from human rights groups that this would “finance a military the entire world has watched commit war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

How long before Australian superannuation funds are pressured to do the same? How long before the Zionist network in Australia demands that critics be stripped of their assets, their wealth, their livelihoods?

This is not speculation. This is the logic of the project. The Zionist project has always been about power. About domination. About the right to destroy those who oppose it.

X. The Larger Truth

This is not about antisemitism. It never was.

It is about a dying ideology that has lost its base in the Middle East and is looking for a new home. It has chosen Australia. And it is using the machinery of the Australian state—our police, our universities, our public service, our political class—to establish itself.

The wire is not cut. The shells fall short. The men who send others to die do not walk the ground.

But we are cutting the wire. With truth. With exposure. With the refusal to let this pattern continue.

XI. The Questions They Refuse to Ask

· Why was Hillel Newman given a platform to call dead journalists terrorists?

· Why did the National Press Club not challenge his claims in real time?

· Why has the Australian government not summoned the ambassador to answer for the death penalty law?

· Why has the government not condemned the law in the strongest possible terms?

· Why has the government not suspended military cooperation with Israel?

· Why has the government not imposed sanctions?

· Why has the government done nothing that would cost Israel anything at all?

· Why was the Iranian ambassador expelled, but the Israeli ambassador remains?

The Frankcom family deserves answers. The Palestinian prisoners facing execution deserve the world to speak. The Australian people deserve to know why their government is silent.

XII. What Must Be Done

1. The Australian government must summon Ambassador Newman. He must answer for the death penalty law. He must answer for his comments about journalists. He must answer for the Frankcom family.

2. The government must condemn the death penalty law in the strongest possible terms. A joint statement is not enough. Words are not enough. Australia must use every diplomatic lever to oppose this discriminatory, inhumane legislation.

3. The government must suspend military cooperation with Israel. Australia cannot claim to oppose the death penalty while cooperating militarily with a state that imposes it discriminatorily.

4. The government must impose sanctions. The time for words is over. The time for action is now.

5. The Frankcom family must receive justice. The audio must be released. The investigation must be completed. Those responsible must be held accountable.

6. The Segal Plan must be rejected. Compulsory training in a political ideology has no place in Australian universities. The IHRA definition, which conflates criticism of Israel with antisemitism, must not be used to silence dissent.

7. The police must be accountable. The raid on the Ashfield woman must be investigated. The importation of Israeli police doctrine must end. Community policing—the model that trusted citizens, that served communities, that measured success by the absence of crime—must be restored.

XIII. A Warning

What happened in Tehran is not happening in isolation. It is happening here, in Australia, in our police forces, in our universities, in our public service, in our political class. The same tactics. The same silencing. The same machinery.

The woman whose door was broken down at 5am is not a terrorist. She is a citizen who exercised her democratic rights. If they can do this to her, they can do it to you. If they can impose the death penalty on Palestinians in the occupied territories, they will find a way to impose their will on Australians.

Zionism is a dangerous, parasitic ideology. It has no place in this world. And it has no place in Australia.

The wire is being cut. The truth is being told. And the political class that enabled this will be held to account.

Dedicated to my wife, who sees good in all things. I do not. But I listen to her.

Sources:

· Consortium News, “Tensions Soar Over Herzog Visit,” February 8, 2026 

· 网易, “伊朗外长：构成生态灭绝罪,” March 16, 2026 

· Todon.nl, Proletarian Rage (@prolrage), “Israel, Gaza and the Genocide-Industrial Complex,” December 7, 2025 

· OpenAustralia.org, Senate debates, “Commission of Inquiry into Antisemitism at Australian Universities Bill 2024,” June 27, 2024 

· Asia Pacific Report, “Herzog’s visit to Australia builds conflict not social cohesion,” February 8, 2026 

· Lokmat Times, “Iranian FM Araghchi condemns Israeli strikes on fuel facilities as ‘ecocide’,” March 16, 2026 

Dr Andrew Klein 

April 1, 2026