This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
People attend a funeral ceremony for 13 security personnel, who lost their life in Israeli airstrikes near a government complex and a State Security office in Nabatieh, on April 11, 2026 in Sidon, Lebanon. [Murat Şengül – Anadolu Agency]
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Sunday that 35 people were killed and 152 wounded in Israeli strikes over the past 24 hours, Anadolu reports.
In a statement, the ministry said the new fatalities brought the death toll since March 2 to 2,055, with 6,588 others injured.
The victims include 252 women and 165 children, while 1,120 and 644 others were injured, respectively, it added.
The Israeli army has pounded Lebanon with deadly airstrikes since Hezbollah launched a cross-border attack on March 2 amid escalating regional tensions following a joint US-Israeli offensive on Iran.
On Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to escalate attacks across Lebanon unless Hezbollah is disarmed and a peace agreement “that endures for generations” is reached.
Lebanon’s presidency said Friday that Beirut and Tel Aviv agreed to hold their first meeting in Washington on April 14, a move condemned by Hezbollah.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Straight of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don’t need people to join wars after they’ve already won. He’s challenged with the claim that he lies as much as the IDF.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators are gathered outside of the Port of Oakland building as they demand an end to military shipments to Israel on December 18, 2025 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“A foreign country that a majority of Americans now disapprove of gets $3.8 billion a year from them.”
The bipartisan support Israel and its powerful lobby have enjoyed for decades in the US—with lawmakers from both parties insisting the federal government must help Israel “defend itself” with nearly $4 billion per year in military aid—is likely to shift considerably in the coming years as public support for the country continues to collapse, particularly among young voters, in the latest Pew Research poll.
The survey was taken last month as the US-Israeli war on Iran, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahureportedly pitched to President Donald Trump in an unusual Situation Room meeting in February, was escalating and spreading across the Middle East. It found that overall, 60% of US adults had an unfavorable view of Israel.
That share has grown considerably since 2022, before Israel began its US-backed war on the population of Gaza in retaliation for a Hamas-led attack. That year, just 42% in the US viewed Israel unfavorably.
Public opposition to the country’s government has also gone up by seven percentage points since last year, according to Pew. The share of adults who describe themselves as having a “very unfavorable” view of Israel has gone up by 9% since 2025 and has nearly tripled since before Israel began waging war on Gaza.
Journalist Prem Thakker commented that it was “absurd” to continue providing a country that a sizable majority of Americans disapprove of with military funding.
Think how absurd this is, simply: a foreign country that a majority of Americans now disapprove of gets $3.8 billion a year from them https://t.co/V847d3rb0E
Over the past two-and-a-half years—as US public support for Israel has steadily declined—that funding has helped Israel to kill more than 72,000 Palestinians; injure more than 172,000; displace more than 90% of Gaza’s population; carry out nearly 800 attacks on the healthcare system, damaging 94% of hospitals; damage or destroy 97% of school buildings; and impose a mass starvation policy through a blockade on humanitarian aid. Israeli officials have publicly called for the killing of 50 Palestinians for every Israeli killed in the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attacks, for Gaza to be burned to the ground, and for Israelis to “remember what Amalek has done to you,” a reference to the Israelites’ enemies in the Old Testament, whom King Saul was ordered to massacre.
All the while, Israeli officials and bipartisan US lawmakers who continue to support the Israeli government—and take donations from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and other influential pro-Israel lobbying groups—have accused Americans who have spoken out against Israel’s genocidal attacks on Gaza of being antisemitic.
In the poll released by Pew, the shift away from support for Israel is most pronounced among voters aged 18-49, with 70% of respondents in that age bracket reporting unfavorable views. Majorities of both Democrats (84%) and Republicans (57%) under 50 had unfavorable views. In 2025, just 50% of Republicans under 50 viewed Israel negatively, while 71% of young Democrats said the same—representing a 13-point jump in just a year among the latter group.
Americans’ views on Netanyahu have also grown more negative, with 59% of respondents saying they did not trust the prime minister to do the right thing in terms of world affairs—up from 53% last year.
The poll was released as Israel continued its assault on Lebanon, which it began attacking in March after Hezbollah retaliated against Israeli forces for the US-Israeli killing of Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Israeli officials claim the two-week ceasefire reached between the US, Israel, and Iran does not include Lebanon, despite statements from Pakistan, which helped broker the deal declaring otherwise.
Israel has killed more than 1,400 people in Lebanon in the last month, in addition to striking Iran along with the US in attacks that have killed more than 2,000 people.
The Pew survey was released days after a poll by the IMEU Policy Project and Data for Progress found that among Democratic primary voters in Texas, the US relationship with Israel was not seen as an abstract foreign policy issue, but one that significantly impacted how many chose between US Senate candidate James Talarico and his primary opponent, US Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas).
The poll found that Talarico gained a 4-to-1 advantage over Crockett when he spoke out against providing US weapons to Israel. Nearly 90% of respondents agreed with his stance, and 44% of his supporters said his position deeply influenced their vote.
“Democrats,” said political operative Isi Baehr-Breen in response to the poll of Talarico supporters, “are gonna have to choose between Israel and winning elections.”
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz holds a security situation assessment meeting with Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, Head of the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate (AMAN) Shlomi Binder and other senior commanders in Tel Aviv, Israel, on March 07, 2026. [Israeli Ministry of Defense – Anadolu Agency]
A warning by Israeli Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir about a potential army “collapse” due to troop shortages has triggered a wave of political reactions in Israel, with opposition figures backing the assessment and allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu questioning its motives, Anadolu reports.
Israel’s military is currently engaged in conflicts in Iran and Lebanon while continuing strikes in Gaza. The army has also deployed additional forces to the occupied West Bank amid rising violence by Israeli occupiers, which necessitates sending more soldiers there, while ultra-Orthodox Jews (Haredi) refuse military service.
While the army has been using its aircraft to attack Iran since Feb. 28, it announced the deployment of four military divisions to southern Lebanon and is deploying large forces in the West Bank, in addition to the forces present in Gaza.
“More than 100,000 reservists are deployed across all fronts, but the army still needs around 15,000 additional troops, including 7,000 to 8,000 combat soldiers,” military spokesperson Effie Defrin told a press briefing Thursday.
A day earlier, Zamir warned in a closed meeting of the Security Cabinet that the army could face “collapse” if the manpower shortage is not addressed, citing expanding missions in southern Lebanon and continued control over roughly half of Gaza.
He explained that the scope of the tasks is “constantly increasing,” with the expansion of military operations in southern Lebanon, and the continued control of about half of Gaza.
“But the number of soldiers is decreasing, especially after the cancellation of the extension of service for regular soldiers, which exacerbates the crisis,” he added.
Amir Yissscharoff, an analyst at Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, told Anadolu that Zamir’s warning was “professional, even as pro-government factions tried to cast it as political.”
Zamir spoke after the government legalized dozens of settlement outposts in the West Bank and as violence by Israeli occupiers escalated, alongside multiple security threats from Iran, Lebanon and Gaza, Yissscharoff said.
“Zamir sounded the alarm about a crisis, and his message was directed primarily at the Israeli domestic audience — he spoke before Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz and other political and military officials,” he said, adding that the message was clear: “We face a problem, and given the military’s expanding missions, everyone must be drafted — including the ultra-Orthodox.”
Attacking Zamir and labeling his remarks as political “misses the point,” Yissscharoff said. “He is addressing a professional problem. Zamir is not the problem; Netanyahu is.”
Haredi draft
Zamir’s remarks came as Netanyahu continued to stall on a military draft bill.
The opposition, along with factions within the nationalist right, argues that everyone — including the ultra-Orthodox — must serve, while the religious parties Shas and United Torah Judaism are pushing for legislation that would formally exempt seminary students from military service.
Opposition parties accuse Netanyahu of shielding the religious parties to preserve his governing coalition, dubbing the proposed measure the “draft evasion law.”
Israel’s Supreme Court ruled in June 2024 that Haredi must be drafted and ordered a halt to state funding for religious institutions whose students refuse to serve.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews make up roughly 13% of Israel’s population of approximately 9.7 million. They do not serve in the military, citing religious devotion to Torah study.
While Israeli law requires all citizens over 18 to serve, the Haredi exemption has fueled controversy for decades — a debate that has grown sharper amid Israel’s multiple wars and mounting military casualties, with secular parties demanding the ultra-Orthodox share what they call the “burden of war.”
The current Knesset’s term expires in October, when general elections are expected unless early elections are called. The Knesset passed the 2026 state budget Sunday, allowing the government to avert early elections — a result attributed largely to Netanyahu securing Haredi party support, even without passing legislation cementing their draft exemption.
Yissscharoff stressed that Netanyahu needs the religious parties, and it is in their interest for the government to remain in power.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid sought to capitalize on Zamir’s remarks ahead of the expected elections.
“I want to warn Israeli citizens that we are facing a security catastrophe,” Lapid wrote Thursday on the US social media company X.
“Over 13 years, I served on Israel’s most important security councils and committees — as prime minister, foreign minister, finance minister and a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee,” he said. “Throughout all those years, I cannot recall a warning as severe as the one issued by the chief of staff.”
According to Lapid, the army chief told the Security Cabinet he no longer has the means to continue mobilizing reservists, with some soldiers now on their sixth and seventh rotations since October 2023.
“They are completely exhausted,” Lapid said, adding that Zamir also informed the Cabinet that regular forces are in a state of total collapse and that the military does not have enough troops to carry out its missions.
“The government’s continued encouragement of ultra-Orthodox draft evasion constitutes a security threat,” he said, adding that Zamir presented a series of threats, “most of which cannot be mentioned on camera, but the bottom line is: the government is sending the army into a multi-front war with no strategy, no resources and too few soldiers.
“The government will not be able to claim this time that it didn’t know. This is their appointed chief of staff, and they will not be able to politicize him or blame him. From now on, Netanyahu cannot escape responsibility,” Lapid said, calling on the government to immediately cut funding to draft evaders and deploy military police against those who flee service.
He also called on the government to “combat Jewish terrorism by all means” and strip authority from National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir “who publicly supports Jewish terrorists.”
A cry for help
Yair Golan, former deputy chief of staff and leader of the opposition Democrats party, said Zamir’s remarks are “not merely a warning — they are a massive black flag waving over the government’s policy.”
“When the highest military official tells the Cabinet during wartime that the army is struggling to fulfill its missions because of government policy, that is not a situation assessment — it is a cry for help,” he wrote on X.
“A government that continues this policy is one that has abandoned security. It is a dangerous government that promotes Jewish terrorism, draft evasion, and combines anti-Zionism with antisemitism,” he said.
“Despite all the warnings, the government continues to establish more outposts, supports and arms rioters (occupiers), and the result is direct damage to the army’s ability to carry out its real missions. Whoever continues this policy in wartime bears direct responsibility for harming state security,” Golan added.
Former Defense Minister and Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman said on X that Zamir warned draft evasion “is harming Israel’s security.”
“The government, as usual, is ignoring warnings before disaster strikes. The army is facing the worst manpower shortage in its history, and everyone must be drafted,” Lieberman added.
Israel has occupied Palestinian territories and land in Lebanon and Syria for decades, and continues to reject withdrawal or the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Straight of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don’t need people to join wars after they’ve already won. He’s challenged with the claim that he lies as much as the IDF.Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres (L) stands next to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk at the opening of the 61st session of the UN Human Rights Council at the United Nations office in Geneva on February 23, 2026. (Photo by Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)
“We are living in a world where mass suffering is excused away… where humans are used as bargaining chips… where international law is treated as a mere inconvenience,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
The secretary-general of the United Nations and the body’s top human rights official did not call out world leaders by name as they warned that “impunity has become a contagion” among powerful governments at the opening of the UN Human Rights Council’s annual session in Geneva on Monday.
But their comments appeared to allude to numerous recent actions by the Trump administration, whose officials have explicitly dismissed concerns about international law regarding the White House’s foreign policy in recent months.
Secretary-General António Guterres warned global officials that “the rule of law is being out-muscled by the rule of force.”
“This assault is not coming from the shadows. Or by surprise. It is happening in plain sight—and often led by those who hold the greatest power,” said Guterres.
The leader’s comments came nearly two months after President Donald Trump ordered an invasion of Venezuela, killing dozens of people, abducting President Nicolás Maduro and his wife and charging them with narcotics trafficking, and pushing to take control of the South American country’s oil supply.
That operation as well as the United States’ bombings of dozens of boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean in recent months—also ostensibly to fight “narcoterrorism”—have been violations of international law, according to numerous legal experts, with the former violating the prohibition on the use of force in Article 2(4) of the UN Charter.
Trump officials, including Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, however, have claimed the US has the right to use military force against any country if doing so advances US interests.
“We are living in a world where mass suffering is excused away… where humans are used as bargaining chips… where international law is treated as a mere inconvenience,” said Guterres on Monday. “Conflicts are multiplying and impunity has become a contagion. That is not due to a lack of knowledge, tools, or institutions. It is the result of political choices.”
When human rights fall, everything else tumbles.
Peace. Development. Social cohesion. Trust. Solidarity.
It’s more important than ever to translate political engagement into a path towards strengthening human rights everywhere.
The UN has directly condemned other policies by the Trump administration in recent weeks, including Trump’s executive order threatening tariffs on any country that provides Cuba with oil as it baselessly accused the island nation’s communist government of harboring terrorists, and Guterres has suggested Trump’s creation of a “Board of Peace” to govern Gaza is akin to “one power calling the shots.”
Guterres mentioned just two specific conflicts: Russia’s war on Ukraine and the “blatant violations of human rights, human dignity, and international law in the occupied Palestinian territory,” where the US-backed Israel Defense Forces have been waging war on Gaza and Israeli settlers have been carrying out increased violent attacks in the West Bank as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government pushes to further illegally annex the territory and make the creation of a Palestinian state impossible.
“The current trajectory is stark, clear, and purposeful: The two-state solution is being stripped away in broad daylight,” said Guterres. “The international community cannot allow this to happen.”
Regarding Ukraine, which will enter its fifth year of war with Russia on Tuesday and where more than 15,000 civilians have been killed, Guterres said, “It is more than past time to end the bloodshed.”
Volker Türk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, added in his own remarks that “domination and supremacy are making a comeback.”
“A fierce competition for power, control, and resources is playing out on the world stage at a rate and intensity unseen for the past 80 years,” said Türk. “The use of force to resolve disputes between and within countries is becoming normalized.”
Türk highlighted how “the gears of global power are shifting”, calling for people to band together to protect rights and create “a strong counterbalance to the top-down, autocratic trends we see today”.
Some world leaders, he said, are operating as though “they are above the law, and above the UN Charter.”
“They claim exceptional status, exceptional danger, or exceptional moral judgement to pursue their own agenda at any cost,” he said. “They spread disinformation to distract, silence, and marginalize.”
Türk also warned that some leaders appear to “weaponize their economic leverage”—an apparent reference to Trump’s decision to drastically cut foreign aid funding and withdraw from dozens of UN organizations last month, putting the international body at risk of “imminent financial collapse,” as Guterres said at the time.
“Humanitarian needs are exploding while funding collapses,” said Guterres on Monday. “Inequalities are widening at staggering speed. Countries are drowning in debt and despair. Climate chaos is accelerating… Across every front, those who are already vulnerable are being pushed further to the margins. And human rights defenders are among the first to be silenced when they try to warn us.”
“In this coordinated offensive, human rights are the first casualty,” he added, urging world leaders to “not let power write a new rulebook in which the vulnerable have no rights and the powerful have no limits.”
“Let this be the place that helps end the broad and brutal assault on human rights,” said Guterres. “Because a world that protects human rights protects itself.”
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
US President Donald Trump is welcomed by Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Ben Gurion International Airport on October 13, 2025 in Tel Aviv, Israel. [Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]
Israeli President Isaac Herzog is seeking clarifications from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over whether he incited US President Donald Trump to issue an “insult” amid controversy over a pardon request, local media said Sunday.
On Thursday, Trump said that the Israeli president’s hitherto refusal to pardon Netanyahu of his corruption charges is “shameful,” a day after the US president met with Netanyahu at the White House.
Herzog “is seeking clarifications from Netanyahu following sharp criticism directed at him by US President Trump,” the daily Yedioth Ahronoth said.
The Israeli president “wants to know whether Netanyahu was behind the remarks, which officials described as a serious affront to Israel’s sovereign institutions,” it added.
“If it emerges that Netanyahu encouraged Trump to make the comments, it would constitute a ‘red line’,” the paper said, citing sources close to Herzog.
According to the sources, Herzog received dozens of inquiries over the weekend from within the US and Israel, making it necessary to demand clarifications from Netanyahu.
“There is a difference between criticism and insult, and what we heard from Trump was an insult. Someone clearly stirred him up,” an official told Yedioth Ahronoth.
Last November, Trump sent a letter to Herzog asking him to pardon Netanyahu, who is on trial in corruption cases.
Netanyahu formally submitted a pardon request on Nov. 30 last year, seeking relief from the corruption charges without admitting wrongdoing or withdrawing from public life.
Since his trial began, Netanyahu has consistently denied all accusations. Under Israeli law, however, a presidential pardon can only be granted following an admission of guilt.
Beyond the domestic proceedings, Netanyahu is also facing international legal scrutiny. In November 2024, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against him over war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza, where more than 72,000 people have been killed, mostly women and children, and over 171,000 others injured in a brutal assault since October 2023.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAKeir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
