Crooked Bough News Round-up

— UK Government Targeting of Muslim Scholar Part of a Coordinated Campaign to Clamp Down on Pro-Palestine Solidarity

 

at 8/6/26 11:18am

Amid a deepening crackdown on Palestine solidarity in the country, a senior member of the British parliament is leading a campaign to have a popular activist and Muslim scholar arrested. Alicia Kearns, the Shadow Minister for Home Affairs has called on the U.K. Home Office to detain Sayed Hussain Makke.  Her letter accuses him of providing “sustained public support” for Hezbollah (a proscribed organization in the United Kingdom), organizing “combat training camps” for British Muslims where “radicalization is alleged to have occurred,” and relocating to southern Lebanon, the heartland of Hezbollah itself.  A spokesperson for Counter Terrorism Policing London said that “All reports are reviewed and, if it is assessed that further police action is required, then it will get passed to the relevant police force or counter-terrorism unit to carry this out.” Makke strongly contests Kearns’ framing, claiming that he is the victim of a coordinated attack by the pro-Israel lobby. “I have always acted in accordance with UK terrorism law, and any allegation to the contrary is defamatory, ludicrous and racist. British counter-terrorism police should be commended for ignoring the malign Zionist influence-peddlers calling for my arrest,” he said in a statement, adding: “It is an open secret that Alicia Kearns is a British intelligence asset, but she appears to be an asset of the Zionist regime as well. She should be investigated for working against British interests on behalf of a hostile foreign power.” That there is an Israel or antisemitism angle to this story appears to have been confirmed by Kearns herself, who told The Daily Telegraph that:  “Months ago, I handed the Government evidence about Hussain Makke. This week he walked into Britain unchallenged. He is here now. If that’s what ‘stopping at nothing’ looks like, the Government’s promises to Britain’s Jewish community aren’t worth the paper they’re written on.” The campaign against Makke has also been led by The Jewish Chronicle, a stridently pro-Israel newspaper that refuses to disclose its ownership, even amid widespread speculation of foreign powers or agents controlling the outlet.  Last year, following a pressure campaign from pro-Israel forces Australia revoked Makke’s visa, citing his support for Hezbollah and other forces resisting Israel’s ambitions in the region. He had been scheduled to carry out a speaking tour across the country. Shadow Australian Home Affairs Minister James Paterson welcomed the decision, stating that, “No one who praises a deceased terrorist [Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah], let alone attends the funeral organized by a listed terrorist organization, should be welcome in Australia.”  Listing Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, however, is fraught with difficulties and inconsistencies. To begin with, the group holds 15 seats in the Lebanese parliament and has held positions inside the cabinet. Founded in 1982 in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, it has, since 2023, proved to be the only force effectively resisting the ongoing Israeli occupation. Thus, it has earned significant support, particularly among the population of South Lebanon. Therefore, by proscribing Hezbollah, the U.K. government is effectively criminalizing resistance to Israeli colonialism, occupation, and land left – a violation of international law.  Paterson also would likely not be impressed with Makke’s assessment of Ayatollah Khamenei, who was killed in a U.S./Israeli attack in February. In an Instagram post, Makke described him as a “true miracle of a man”, a man “who embodied Islam,” and one with “deep knowledge, political insight and wisdom.” In July the government of the United Kingdom officially outlawed support for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), claiming that the organization was responsible for at least seven recent terrorist attacks on Jewish targets in Britain. It is now a criminal offense to express a positive opinion about even assisting the IRGC, one punishable with fourteen years imprisonment. Hezbollah is also proscribed under U.K. counter-terrorism laws, with the same penalty applying to support for the Lebanese organization.  In January, the European Union also added the IRGC to its terror list, following the wave of anti-government demonstrations in Iran.  The increasing pressure on Makke is part of a wider crackdown on freedom of speech and criticism of the State of Israel by British authorities. In October 2024, around 10 police officers carried out a dawn raid at the house of Electronic Intifada journalist, Asa Winstanley. Winstanley had seven devices, including work computers and phones, seized. Months later, a court ruled that the raid and seizures were unlawful.  Last year, academic and journalist David Miller was stopped at Heathrow Airport by counter-terrorism police upon his return from Lebanon, where he had been reporting on the assassination and funeral of Nasrallah.  A similar occurrence befell journalist Kit Klarenberg, who was met at the airport by six anonymous plainclothes counter-terror officials, who seized his electronic devices, and memory cards and took his fingerprints and DNA. In an interview with MintPress News, Klarenberg said of his experience: “Britain has, for a very long time, had the most sweeping counter-terror laws in the Western world and arguably in the world. They have overturned centuries-old and hard-fought-for rights, protections, and freedoms that average citizens enjoy, and have granted police sweeping and disturbingly vague powers.”  These figures, however, are but a drop in the ocean compared to the U.K.’s crackdown on pro-Palestine groups. Palestine Action in particular has faced rigorous suppression, with London designating the organization a terrorist group. More than 3,500 individuals have been arrested and over 1,500 charged under laws which equate the group to organizations such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda, primarily for holding signs in public reading “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.”  A significant proportion of those arrested are retirees, and the sight of huge numbers of elderly and disabled individuals being led away in handcuffs, supposedly as dangerous terrorists, has shocked human rights organizations. Amnesty International, for example, described it as a dangerous blow to basic rights. “It is completely disproportionate to punish protesters for criminal damage as if they were terrorists, a sentence that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. The use of terrorism laws against direct action protesters must end,” they wrote.     Makke has attempted to take the scrutiny and suspicion in his stride. “I am not moved in the slightest. Rather, I am more determined than ever before to BE A GOOD PERSON, which is why [they] want me to be arrested,” he said in a post on Instagram, “I will enjoy my freedom with dignity, and continue to be successful in everything I do by the will of God, as long as God is pleased. My voice will be louder and I will work harder.” The post UK Government Targeting of Muslim Scholar Part of a Coordinated Campaign to Clamp Down on Pro-Palestine Solidarity appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Foreign Affairs, Front Page: Foreign Affairs, Front Page: Inside Stories, Investigations, Top Story, counter terrorism police, Israel, Israel Lobby, Lebanon, South Lebanon, terrorism, UK home office]

— How Lockheed Martin, Raytheon & BAE Systems are propagandizing children to support war through STEM

 

at 7/31/26 2:04pm

Raytheon sponsors the Girl Scouts of America. BAE Systems is reading your toddlers their favorite fairytale stories. And Lockheed Martin funds children’s math and STEM festivals. This is done with great fanfare, supposedly to empower and inspire children to pursue their passion for science. In reality, though, these companies are attempting to launder their images and enlist the next generation to become cogs in the military-industrial complex. All the while, these organizations’ products are being used across the world by the United States and Israel to commit war crimes – in Iran, Yemen, Palestine, and beyond – to target children. MintPress explores the murky world of the arms companies training kids to bomb kids. Normalizing War to Kids When many Americans think of Raytheon (now officially rebranded as RTX Corporation), they don’t envisage rockets and cruise missiles; they think of math. For decades, the second-largest arms manufacturer on the planet has bankrolled a wide range of organizations aimed at getting children excited about STEM subjects. Since 2009, Raytheon has been the title sponsor of MATHCOUNTS, a non-profit organization that provides engaging math programs for middle school students in every U.S. state, as well as organizing math competitions to find the brightest children in America. In 2005, Raytheon launched its MathMovesU program, aimed, in its own words, “to inspire middle school students to get excited about math and science.” In addition to the materials provided, it has also spent millions on scholarships, grants, and study awards to thousands of students, teachers, and volunteers. And its MathAlive! traveling exhibit promises, in rather outdated branding, to take math “2theXtreme”. MathAlive! Has also traveled to several countries in West Asia, including Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia – all of them among the biggest purchasers of Raytheon weapons technology. The company also enjoys a longtime partnership with the Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA). In 2017, for example, it launched the GSUSA’s first national computer science program and cyber challenge for middle and high school girls. “The progress to diversify the STEM workforce needs to be accelerated… At a time when technology is transforming the way we live and work, we can – and should – show young women a clear path to taking an active role in this transformation,” said Thomas A. Kennedy, then-Raytheon CEO; “Working together, Raytheon and Girl Scouts will help girls build confidence to see themselves as the robotics engineers, data scientists and cybersecurity professionals who will create a better tomorrow.” Raytheon also spearheaded the GSUSA’s “Think Like a Programmer” project, which encourages girls to explore the world of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, and developed many of the programming badges available to the scouts. GSUSA appears proud of this relationship. Its website profiles one former scout who now works at Raytheon as a success story and a model to follow. The article includes a step-by-step guide and a list of tips for those wishing to follow in her footsteps. Unsurprisingly, Raytheon also works closely with the U.S. military on these matters, establishing four new STEM “centers of innovation” with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America in Michigan, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Washington, D.C., all near military bases. While some might be surprised by the closeness of the relationship between a children’s organization and an arms manufacturer, it is worth remembering that the scouting movement was originally established by Lieutenant-General Robert Baden-Powell, as a stepping stone towards boys joining the military. Baden-Powell was deeply concerned that English boys would not be physically fit enough to fight for their country in any upcoming wars, and designed an organization that would train them both physically and mentally to do so. Kirsten Bayes from the Campaign Against the Arms Trade was unimpressed by Raytheon’s attempts to improve their image and to train the next generation of weapons manufacturers. “Our view is that arms companies have no place in schools or colleges, and should certainly not be working with childrens educational charities,” she told MintPress, adding: “Schools and other places of education should be places where children learn, grow and develop their full potential. They should not be a recruiting ground where arms companies whitewash their activities.” Lockheed Martin U But Raytheon is far from the only weapons giant directly targeting America’s children. Lockheed Martin hosts CYBERQUEST, an annual high school competition that encourages children to pursue careers in intelligence and cybersecurity. The 2026 event was held in 11 locations across the country, as well as virtually around the world. The arms giant offers high school internship programs designed to fast-track America’s brightest young minds into careers in defense. Every year, Lockheed Martin hires thousands of young interns, and claims that 60% of these candidates go on to paid work at the company. It also sponsors “young minds at work” days, setting up hands-on experiments for children to play with, including bottle rocket experiments and more. Universities are a key recruitment ground. The corporation spends huge sums attracting top talent, including hosting “Lockheed Martin Day” at more than a dozen colleges nationwide, where company recruiters are allowed on campus to dazzle students with virtual reality exhibitions, flight simulators, and even landing helicopters directly on college greens. Lockheed Martin has entered into partnerships with several top colleges. A $1.5 million donation to the University of Texas at Arlington, for instance, resulted in the renamed of one of their buildings as the Lockheed Martin Career Development Center. The company touts its reputation as a safe space for women and LGBT employees, and is regularly listed as one of the best employers for inclusivity. One woman the company itself profiles is Haley, who, as a girl, dreamed of becoming an inventor. “As a child,” they write, “Haley clung to a notebook where she sketched her ideas and inventions. On the cover she scribbled, ‘Haley’s Way to Make Life Better.’ Her best idea? A self-folding Christmas tree cleverly called ‘Merry, Bright and Boxed’ to make cleaning up after the holidays more efficient.” Today, that child with dreams of making the world a better place is a missiles and fire control engineer with Lockheed Martin, developing weapons that efficiently kill people all across the planet. Targeting Toddlers Boeing, too, has developed a number of projects aimed at young children. Their “Engineering is Elementary” program is designed for pre-K, kindergarten, elementary and middle school students, and, like those from Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, is focussed on funnelling young minds into a career in weapons manufacturing. “Boeing has a strategic community focus to increase teacher effectiveness in math and science and to attract more students into STEM-related careers,” a company representative said, adding, “Engineering is Elementary provides teachers and students a greater understanding of engineering, and it accomplishes that in a fun, interactive way. Our goal is to interest students in engineering at an early age and increase the number of scientists and engineers.” Aerospace manufacturer BAE Systems, however, goes even further. The London-based giant that produces jet aircraft, missiles, howitzers, and warships published a series of bizarre videos featuring both its employees and members of the British Armed Forces reading classic fairytales to children. This included Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Cinderella, and Hansel and Gretel. These came complete with worksheets to help extremely young children with their problem-solving skills. Reading bedtime stories to babies is just part of a wider strategy BAE Systems is conducting in order to, in their own words, “improve our corporate reputation at both a local and national level.” Other initiatives include hosting school roadshows, robotics festivals, science camps, and local community outreach programs, all aimed at children. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it also stepped in to provide schools with branded learning materials for children as young as five. Bayes appeared appalled at the company’s actions, stating: “We are aware that BAE Systems claims to spend as much as £100m [U.S.$134m] per year on educational activities. It claims its motives are community based, but we would say that this is part of their recruiting strategy: seeking to influence young people without presenting the full facts of what an arms company is, and what the consequences of working for them would be.” Fairytales and Nightmares As much as these companies attempt to present themselves neutrally as scientific entities, the reality is that their primary businesses revolve around producing the hardware and weaponry that the United States uses to dominate the world. In the past twelve months alone, the United States has bombed seven countries: Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen. And it is companies like Raytheon and Lockheed Martin that make this kind of extraordinary planetary violence possible. For example, on February 28, the United States launched an attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh Girls’ School in Minab, Iran. A Tomahawk cruise missile – one of the most precise guided weapons on the planet – was launched from a nearby warship and pummelled the building, causing the school to collapse in on itself. Soon after, a second missile hit the school’s courtyard, where desperate survivors were gathering. The attack was timed precisely for maximum damage: 10:45am on a school day. At least 156 people were killed, most of them pupils at the school, which neither served any military purpose, nor was located near any military target. Over 100 more were injured. The event was immediately denounced as a major war crime. But Secretary of War Pete Hegseth brushed it off, and later stated that, “The only ones that need to be worried right now are Iranians who think they’re going to live.” The Tomahawk cruise missile is produced by Raytheon, and subsystems used in the operation were made by a subsidiary of BAE Systems. Washington also uses its primacy in weapons to keep its allies in power. Saudi Arabia is by far the U.S.’ top arms customer, purchasing hundreds of billions of dollars worth of hi-tech weaponry, which it immediately uses against Yemen, and to suppress domestic dissent. Riyadh has pursued a genocidal attack on civilian infrastructure in Yemen, including against farms, sewage, and water facilities, causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians. In August 2018, it dropped a 227 kg (500lb) laser-guided bomb on a school bus in Dhahyan, northern Yemen. Fragments found at the scene identified the bomb as having been produced by Lockheed Martin. Forty children were killed in the attack – a far from uncommon occurrence during the Saudi-led campaign to topple Ansar Allah from power. If Saudi Arabia is Washington’s biggest customer, then Israel is its prime recipient of welfare. A study from Brown University found that in the two years following the October 7, 2023 attack, the United States spent $21.7 billion on military aid to Israel, including aircraft, missiles, and all manner of small arms munitions. Israel has used these weapons to systematically target children in Gaza and beyond. At least 97% of schools in the densely-populated strip have been hit. One of the more notable examples was the Khadija Girls’ School in Deir al-Balah, which was targeted on July 27, 2024. A Human Rights Watch investigation found that Israel dropped at least two GBU-39 bombs on the school – munitions manufactured in the United States by Boeing. Thus, while arms manufacturers read fairytales to Western kids, children across the world are forced to live out a very real nightmare, thanks in no small part to these companies. Whether they live in the United States or one of the countries under its boot, however, children everywhere are being targeted by these weapons firms, though in different ways. In the United States, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and others have stepped in to bolster cash-strapped education departments. While their rhetoric emphasizes empowering children – especially girls – to follow their science dreams, their true intent is to launder their reputations as merchants of death, and to train up the next generation of Americans to become willing members of the American war machine. Children on the other side of the globe, however, are given no such illusions, and have to live with the constant terror that they be these companies’ next victims. This image, is not the one the likes of Raytheon want us to think about when we picture their products, and so they spend millions attempting to distract us with stories of empowerment and discovery. What a world we live in, where weapons companies are training kids to bomb kids. Alan MacLeod is Senior Staff Writer for MintPress News. He completed his PhD in 2017 and has since authored two acclaimed books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent, as well as a number of academic articles. He has also contributed to FAIR.org, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, and Common Dreams. Follow Alan on Twitter for more of his work and commentary: @AlanRMacLeod. The post How Lockheed Martin, Raytheon BAE Systems are propagandizing children to support war through STEM appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Foreign Affairs, Front Page: Inside Stories, Investigations, National, News, Top Story, What's Hot, arms trade, Boys & Girls Clubs, children and war, defense contractors, Gaza, Girl Scouts, Iran, Lockheed Martin, military-industrial complex, Raytheon BAE, STEM education, Systems Boeing, U.S. militarism, war propaganda, Yemen]

— Iran’s Shock Strike Strategy Against US Assets Opens Multiple Fronts

 

at 7/30/26 11:50am

While another lull in direct combat between the United States and Iran has come into effect, other fronts begin to expand and threaten to drown the region in a much broader conflict. In the latest episode of The Target, Robert Inlakesh examines the ever expanding battlefield, its impacts on oil and gas. Yemen’s Ansarallah led government, based out of Sana’a, has launched strikes on at least four different oil facilities inside Saudi Arabia, following airstrikes carried out against major Yemeni cities. Riyadh was put on standby that all aggression would be matched in kind, as the spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces Yahya Saree affirmed that the newly imposed Red Sea Blockade will continue. Donald Trump again backed down from his threats to launch a major air campaign targeting Iranian civilian infrastructure over the weekend, which has been covered in the corporate media as if the move to halt strikes represents a de facto cessation of hostilities. The Target livestream delves into what is really going on behind the scenes and how this indicates a desperate attempt from Washington to manipulate the price of Brent Crude oil Futures. With the absence of direct American strikes on southern Iran and a lack of strikes from the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in return, the issue has faded from the media cycle. Meanwhile, the Strait of Hormuz is now completely closed, the Bab el-Mandeb crossing has also just been sealed by Yemen for Saudi shipping, all as oil and gas facilities go up in flames. The US President is also threatening to attack Yemen directly, as his allies in Kiev also targeted an Iranian vessel in the northern Caspian Sea over the weekend. All as the pressure mounts on Syria to invade Lebanon in order to go after the weapons of Hezbollah and Kurdish-Iranian opposition groups continue to suffer pre-emptive blows. Contrary to the regional conflicts portrayed by the White House, the US finds itself in a difficult position whereby it continues to suffer major economic blows, as its strategic petroleum reserves diminish, all as Iran no longer needs to endure airstrikes. Supporters of the Trump administration have posited that the President’s decisions are tantamount to five-dimensional chess moves, when in fact they appear to be desperate bids to delay an inevitable show down. What is truly happening on the battlefield? Is there a reason why we aren’t being informed about the true nature of the Yemen-Saudi War, could the Ukraine War merge with the US’s War on Iran? All of this and more are addressed in this Monday’s episode of The Target. Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst, journalist and documentary filmmaker currently based in London, UK. He has reported from and lived in the occupied Palestinian territories and hosts the show ‘Palestine Files’. Director of ‘Steal of the Century: Trump’s Palestine-Israel Catastrophe’. Follow him on Twitter @falasteen47 The post Iran’s Shock Strike Strategy Against US Assets Opens Multiple Fronts appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Behind The Headlines, Daily Digest, Foreign Affairs, Front Page: Foreign Affairs, The Target, Top Story, Videos, Iran, Israel-US War on Iran, oil crisis, U.S. war, War Crimes]

— Regime Change Mission Foiled: Yemen’s Ansarallah Uncover Saudi-Mossad-CIA Espionage Network to Decapitate Resistance Leaders

 

at 7/20/26 5:28pm

Newly leaked documents reveal that while the Yemeni Armed Forces escalated their military campaign and Red Sea Blockade against Israel during the genocide in Gaza, a secret intelligence alliance and a “sophisticated espionage network” were being formed between Saudi intelligence, Israel’s Mossad and the CIA inside Riyadh to achieve regime change in Sana’a through political assasinations, dismantling Ansarallah from within, defecting military officials and gathering intelligence through charitable aid organizations. Recently uncovered documents, combined with confessions from alleged members of a sprawling espionage network in Yemen, reveal an agenda far beyond gathering intelligence for the sake of developing a target bank inside the country. Yemeni authorities say that instead, the plan was to assassinate the country’s senior political and military leadership, while dismantling Ansrallah’s current governing structure. They argue that in their place, a Saudi-proxy leadership was being prepared, one that would steer Yemen away from its support of the Palestinian cause. According to Yemeni investigators, the operation mirrored intelligence campaigns previously carried out against Hezbollah in Lebanon, in addition to those that sought to enable decapitation strikes against senior Iranian officials. The alleged targets included Ansar Allah leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi, President Mahdi al-Mashat, the Minister of Defense, the Chief of Staff, members of Ansar Allahs Political Bureau, and numerous senior military commanders. At the center of the alleged political transition was former military intelligence General Ali Al-Sayani, who Yemeni officials say was being prepared abroad to lead a post-coup government loyal to Riyadh.   Secret Operations Room Uncovered   Towards the tail end of last year, Sana’a’s security forces announced that they had dismantled a ‘sophisticated espionage network’. What they would later find, however, was a series of networks linked to joint operations rooms – staffed by Saudi intelligence, CIA and Mossad officers – that had been operating out of Riyadh. Yemeni officials shared that the network consisted of multiple compartmentalized intelligence cells spread across the Sanaa, Sadah, and Hodeidah Governorates of the country. Each cell is said to have operated independently while remaining connected to a centralized command center that was based across the border in neighbouring Saudi Arabia. Yemen’s authorities alleged that operatives were tasked with gathering intelligence on senior government officials, Ansarallah leaders, military commanders, as well as security personnel. Cells were also guided to map out government headquarters, monitor the movement of officials, and identify critical military infrastructure, including weapons manufacturing facilities, ballistic missile and drone launcher locations. Speaking to MintPress News, Nasr al-Din Amer, a senior Ansar Allah official and deputy head of the movements media authority, described what he said was an attempt to dismantle Yemens entire leadership structure. There was a major plan to target the civilian, military, security, and even media leadership system. The dismantled cell were part of the intelligence operation that targeted offensive and defensive capabilities and aimed to overthrow the regime in Sanaa completely. Amer argued that the campaign was designed not only to remove Yemens leadership but also to halt its ability to continue military operations. The goal was also to prevent us from supporting Gaza, and to secure the passage of Israeli ships in the Red Sea, but none of that was achieved, as our operations did not stop, the regime in Sanaa did not fall, and Yemen became much stronger.   Inserting A Proxy Regime   Yemen’s internal investigative unit concluded that the US-Israeli-Saudi joint operations room had recruited former Yemeni military officers, including Major General Ali Ahmed Al-Sayani, alongside Farouk Ali Rajih and former Air Force Brigadier General Abdullah Al-Haifi. Rajih was taken into custody by Ansarallah and was later sentenced to death along with 16 other operatives. As part of his confession, he had alleged that a Saudi intelligence officer, known as Abu Khalid, personally informed him that senior Saudi officials wanted to meet General Al-Sayani abroad due to  Yemen being on the verge of a major change supported by multiple foreign governments. Because of Al-Sayanis relationships with other former military leaders, he was viewed as the ideal figure to oversee a political transition, assuming that the US-Israeli-Saudi joint room’s regime change plot went to plan. Rajih later claimed: The meeting did indeed take place in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, and arrangements were made for a military coup in Yemen. For this purpose, military teams were formed and provided with sophisticated communication equipment and large sums of money. Amer informed MintPress that the same joint operations room played a central role in the assassination of Yemens Prime Minister Ahmed Ghaleb Nasser al-Rahawi, who was killed in a series of Israeli airstrikes on August 28, 2025. Those strikes also killed nine cabinet ministers and the countrys Chief of Staff. There is no doubt that these cells had a major role in the operation to target the government. Investigations, evidence, and documents held by security prove this. Officials in Sana’a maintain that the broader operation ultimately failed because of the vigilance of their own security services, who successfully uncovered the network before its objectives could be completed. While acknowledging that some Israeli strikes did successfully kill senior officials, authorities characterize those attacks as isolated successes rather than evidence of an effective intelligence campaign. Bolstering their narrative is the fact that the only successful assassinations took place in publicly known locations, not highly sensitive and secured sites. Amer, for his part, dismissed the overall operation as a failure. We have developed security expertise over the past years, and we are engaged in an intelligence battle with the most advanced global security agencies.   Decapitating The Military Leadership   While one branch of the espionage network focused on political leaders, Yemeni authorities say another concentrated on the countrys military command as Yemen intensified its operations in support of Gaza. The key targets in the scope of the cell included the missile force, drone units, naval forces, the Minister of Defense, the Chief of Staff, and commanders responsible for Yemens missile and drone operations. Revealed as part of Sana’a’s investigation, was that the Joint Operations Room recruited a man by the name of Colonel Ali Muthanna Nasser, the former head of the Military Security Divisions office within Yemen’s military intelligence. The US-Israeli-Saudi project then assigned this asset with the responsibility of monitoring Defense Minister Major General Mohammed Nasser Al-Atifi and Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Mohammed Abdelkarim Al-Ghamari. Authorities claim Nasser supplied detailed intelligence, including the locations of military leadership meetings, operational plans, troop movements, and copies of confidential reports circulating through the Military Security Division. This intelligence later became essential in supporting a broader targeting campaign. Only six days into a fragile U.S.-backed ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, Al-Ghamari was assassinated in an Israeli strike. Shortly afterward, Israel publicly claimed responsibility for the assassination, with Defense Minister Israel Katz announcing that Al-Ghamari had been “eliminated”. The killing came months after another Israeli strike that killed Prime Minister Ahmed al-Rahawi along with several cabinet ministers during an official government meeting in Sanaa. Yemeni investigators argue that both attacks were made possible through a sophisticated intelligence operation involving several specialized cells working simultaneously. MintPress was informed that the cell conducted preliminary surveillance of government headquarters in Sanaas Haddah district. A second allegedly installed concealed surveillance cameras inside concrete blocks positioned near the facilitys entrance, while hidden audio devices were placed nearby to confirm activity within the compound. Once the information had been verified, investigators say, the intelligence was transmitted to the operations room. Authorities further allege that another team remained positioned near the target immediately after the strike with vehicles equipped for live recording, documenting both the attack and its aftermath. A fourth cell reportedly tracked the movements of senior officials before and during the operation, helping determine the optimal moment to strike. Taken together, Ansarallah sources describe the operation as far more than a conventional intelligence-gathering effort. Instead, they argue it represented a coordinated campaign designed to provide real-time targeting information for Israeli airstrikes while simultaneously dismantling Yemens civilian and military leadership.   Humanitarian Organisations Used As A Cover One of the most shocking revelations of the intelligence operation was the alleged use of organisations claiming to have been carrying on humanitarian and development work. According to a number of security officials, several operatives embedded within international and regional organizations allegedly carried out espionage missions while presenting themselves as aid workers or development professionals. One of the most prominent cases involves an individual called Bashir Ali Mahdi, who was arrested on March 20, 2025. Authorities in Sanaa accuse Mahdi of conducting intelligence operations disguised as humanitarian projects through the ‘Qudrah Organization for Sustainable Development’, which he headed. Mahdi is reported to have confessed that he was recruited in Ethiopia, by Senior Director of Programs at the International Center for Religion & Diplomacy (ICRD) Rebecca Cataldi. Security officials further allege that Matt Selinsky, Middle East Program Director for Partners Worldwide, was among those directing aspects of the broader intelligence operation from the Joint Operations Room. According to Yemeni government sources, Mahdis responsibilities extended beyond simply collecting information. He allegedly recruited additional operatives while organizing initiatives intended to generate public resentment toward Ansarallah by exploiting worsening economic conditions, such as rising food prices, increasing rents, and the hardships facing displaced civilians. Mahdi described those efforts during questioning as follows: We worked to incite public opinion against Ansar Allah by forming neighborhood-level councils and training thirty participants in several of them under the false pretense of strengthening social cohesion, as well as through the Voice of Youth for Youth program in partnership with the German organization GIZ and the European Union. He also claimed that preparations for the alleged coup were discussed during meetings in Cairo. In a meeting in Cairo, Rebecca told me that they are about to launch a major military and economic operation in Yemen, so the intelligence monitoring and information gathering activities about Ansar Allah and militaries needed to be increased. By that point, I had already carried out approximately 70 operations. Mahdi went on to describe what investigators say was the networks standard targeting procedure. Initially, we gather preliminary information. In the second stage, the accuracy of these targets is verified and examined using high-resolution surveillance, monitoring, and imaging equipment, which another team places near the targets. Afterward, the coordinates are transmitted to the joint operations room. Another alleged operative, Khaled Qassem Abdullah, reportedly worked for the International Organization for Migration before being recruited in 2024. According to Yemen’s investigators, Abdullah monitored 23 residences belonging to senior government officials in Sanaas al-Haddah district. They say he admitted to installing surveillance equipment inside several of those locations. I successfully installed advanced cameras and listening devices in seven houses and headquarters. I had placed a spy camera inside a block next to the house in Iran Street at Hadda. That house was targeted by an Israeli airstrike that night. Investigators obtained surveillance footage, also viewed by MintPress News, that purports to show Abdullah placing a concrete block containing a concealed camera beside a residence on Tehran Street in al-Haddah; before driving away in a Toyota RAV4. Yemen’s authorities say Abdullah later confirmed the authenticity of the footage. The action took place on December 21, 2024. The operation was part of the second phase of verifying the target. Later, the house was targeted. Commenting on the arrests, Nasr al-Din Amer argued to MintPress that foreign intelligence agencies had successfully infiltrated portions of the international humanitarian community operating inside Yemen. He further suggested that some reactions from international organizations following the arrests deserved closer scrutiny. The eagerness of some UN officials to defend the alleged Israeli spies raises questions about the role of those leaders in providing cover for espionage and putting them in a position of responsibility. International organizations, meanwhile, have leveled their own accusations at Ansarallah, claiming they were obstructing humanitarian operations in northern Yemen and have protested the detention of several aid workers. Authorities in Sanaa reject these criticisms, maintaining that while many organizations conduct legitimate humanitarian work, others failed to prevent foreign intelligence agencies from exploiting their staff and operations for espionage.   A Sophisticated Intelligence Network   The espionage network in Yemen relied on many of the same tactics that have been employed in intelligence operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon and IRGC officials in Iran: a combination of international intelligence cooperation, advanced surveillance technology, extensive local recruitment, and carefully timed military strikes using AI technology, satellite imagery and human spotters. While the operation demonstrated significant technological sophistication, Yemens intelligence services ultimately succeeded in disrupting the broader campaign before its strategic objectives could be achieved. Nasr al-Din Amer argued that the network exploiting international organizations as operational cover has real world consequences. Those arrested in connection to the espionage cells possessed sophisticated surveillance equipment, including concealed cameras, listening devices, GPS tracking systems, encrypted communications tools, and live-streaming technology designed for covert intelligence work. Authorities further allege that many operatives were taken abroad and received specialized training from American, Israeli, and Saudi intelligence officers inside Saudi Arabia before being deployed back into Yemen. One of those accused of partaking in this, Magdi Mohamed Hussein, allegedly operated a vehicle equipped with advanced live-streaming technology that could be remotely accessed by the Joint Operations Room. This vehicle was used to monitor parking areas near civilian and government facilities while identifying vehicles associated with targeted officials. On multiple occasions, the car was reportedly positioned close to anticipated strike locations to automatically record airstrikes, documenting casualties, rescue workers, ambulances, and the aftermath of the attacks in real time. Another suspect, Sinan Abdulaziz Ali, described while in detention what he claimed was his recruitment and training. My residency in Saudi Arabia was renewed on the condition of working for the Joint Operations Room. In Riyadh, I was trained alternately by Saudi officers Abdullah and Saad, and American officers John and Michael. I was trained in reconnaissance, surveillance, and report writing. I was provided with a camera shaped like a remote and a Camry equipped with hidden cameras, live streaming devices, and listening devices that analyze voices using a technique known as voiceprint, in order to locate Ansar Allah leaders.   The authorities say another operative, Anas Ahmed Saleh, worked directly under a Saudi intelligence officer known as Abu Saif. Saleh was accused of photographing homes, official vehicles, security cameras, civilian guards, and internet infrastructure associated with pre-selected targets. They allege he supplied intelligence on at least 25 residences, particularly around the former U.S. Embassy compound in the Sawan district of eastern Sanaa. Saleh also described his role following one of the Israeli strikes. After targeting a location behind the Sam Social Events Hall, Abu Saif asked me to go there to record the crowd, the rescue operations, and the ambulances in order to identify the victims bodies. I carried out the operation successfully. This was one of more than 100 operations I conducted for Saudi, American, and Israeli intelligence. For Yemeni investigators, such testimony points not only to intelligence gathering before attacks but also to the systematic documentation of their aftermath. Infiltrating Yemens Popular Mobilization Forces   As Yemen expanded its military operations in support of Gaza, domestic support for Ansarallah grew rapidly, leading to the rapid expansion of what has become known as the General Mobilization Forces – a network that allegedly grew to around 1 million fighters, led at the local level by tribal leaders and community leaders. This soon became a prime target for infiltration. Among those arrested in connection with the cell responsible for infiltrating the General Mobilisation Forces was Imad Shayea Ezz El-Din, a tribal sheikh and official within the Ministry of Local Administration. Authorities claim his assignment was to gradually infiltrate Ansarallah, obtain promotions within its ranks, recruit additional operatives, and gather intelligence on tribal leaders and military formations supporting Yemens campaign against Israel. During questioning, Ezz El-Din described his alleged mission. I was tasked with infiltrating Ansar Allah and assuming high-ranking positions within their organizational structure, as well as recruiting spies within the movement and obtaining their personal phone numbers in order to hack cyberattacks. Although he acknowledged that the effort largely failed because of Ansarallahs internal security measures, investigators say he nevertheless identified several ballistic missile and drone launch sites. Some of those locations were later targeted by U.S. and Israeli airstrikes, although the strikes reportedly failed to achieve their intended military objectives, resulting primarily in the destruction of critical civilian infrastructure in a country already devastated by years of war. Following a Saudi-Emirati-led military campaign that inflicted widespread damage across Yemen, these new strikes have further deepened the humanitarian crisis, killing hundreds of Yemenis—including women and children. The role of local informants has become a central element in understanding how targets were identified. In another confession extracted under the detention of Yemeni authorities, Ezz al-Din stated: I provided the joint operations room with 50 targets, including vital facilities. I also provided them with information about newspaper headquarters in al-Tahreer zone. This intelligence contributed to strikes that devastated civilian areas, including the Al-Tahrir district, where more than 150 residents were killed by Israeli airstrikes. Among those civilians affected were journalists, medical workers, and government employees. The attacks targeted an entire neighborhood, while rescue operations continued for two weeks as teams recovered the dead and injured from the destruction. Another case involving alleged intelligence cooperation emerged through the arrest of Daifallah Saleh, who was reportedly recruited during the broader regional conflict surrounding Gaza. Saleh stated that a man identified as “Abu Abdullah Al-Saudi” sent him coordinates of a detention center, telling him it was a military camp and asking him to photograph it. Days later, the center was targeted by air raids, Saleh said. I told Abdullah that all the dead were African migrants. He replied that it didnt matter. Following Saleh’s arrest, investigators reportedly recovered voice messages from his phone containing information related to the targeting of the detention facility. Amnesty International stated that the U.S. strike on the Sa’dah migrant detention center constituted a war crime, raising further questions about civilian protection, accountability, and the consequences of intelligence-driven military operations. For years, Yemen has remained among the most heavily targeted countries in the world, enduring extensive bombing campaigns, foreign intervention, and widespread destruction. Yet despite the scale of the devastation, Yemen has continued to assert its role in regional conflicts, positioning its actions as opposition to Israeli military operations in Palestine, Lebanon, and Iran. Yemeni officials have repeatedly stated that their armed forces remain prepared to respond to what they describe as aggression against countries across the region—ensuring that Yemen remains a central and contested actor in the expanding geopolitical struggle of the Middle East.   Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst, journalist and documentary filmmaker currently based in London, UK. He has reported from and lived in the occupied Palestinian territories and hosts the show ‘Palestine Files’. Director of ‘Steal of the Century: Trump’s Palestine-Israel Catastrophe’. Follow him on Twitter @falasteen47 Ahmed AbdulKareem is a Yemeni journalist based in Sanaa. He covers the war in Yemen for MintPress News as well as local Yemeni media.     The post Regime Change Mission Foiled: Yemen’s Ansarallah Uncover Saudi-Mossad-CIA Espionage Network to Decapitate Resistance Leaders appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Foreign Affairs, Investigations, Top Story, AbdulMalik al-Houthi, Ansarallah, CIA, Mossad, proxy war, Regime Change, Saudi Arabia, Yemen]

— Lionel Messi’s Ties to Netanyahu, The Israeli Military and Its Elite Spying Unit 8200

 

at 7/15/26 12:14pm

The world’s eyes will be on Lionel Messi on Wednesday night, as Argentina face England in the World Cup semi-final. The diminutive superstar has gained a massive following across the planet, not least in Israel, thanks to his numerous business and security connections with the Apartheid State. From being the face of an Israeli A.I. company led and run by Israeli spies, entrusting his private security to a team of Israel secret agents, MintPress explores the reasons why Benjamin Netanyahu considers him to be his favorite football player. Palling Up With Ex-Israeli Spooks As the world’s foremost football star, Lionel Messi is understandably protective of his image. The Argentinian forward carefully picks and chooses whom he is associated with, and has signed lucrative long-term deals with enormous global brands, such as Adidas, Pepsi, and Mastercard. That is why many were surprised when, in 2020, he announced a partnership with OrCam, a relatively small Israeli A.I. firm that makes wearable artificial vision devices (similar to Google Glass). OrCam markets itself as helping visually impaired people live more fulfilling lives. Messi became its global brand ambassador and the face of the company. More controversially, however, OrCam is an outgrowth of the Israeli national security state, employing dozens of former agents of Israeli military spying agency, Unit 8200, many in highly influential positions. Chief among these is Adi Levitski, a longtime intelligence officer with Unit 8200, who, in 2024, was appointed director of operations at OrCam. Many OrCam staff were commanders in the shadowy spy agency, responsible for some of the worst crimes of the post-October 7 2023 war, as well as many of the most scandalous international hacking and surveillance operations. Mor Shamy, for example, rose to become head of intelligence analysis at Unit 8200 by 2015, and would later be hired as an algorithm developer at OrCam. Working alongside him was Matan Albeck, the former head of Unit 8200’s data analysis department. Despite major layoffs in recent years, the company continues to be largely staffed by former spooks, with a revolving door existing between the two entities. Some, such as Eliya Segev and Eli Corn, went from OrCam into Unit 8200, while Amitai Edrei’s resume show that he worked for both OrCam and Unit 8200 at the same time, underscoring the close relationship between the two. For Messi, this should have been a major red flag in working with OrCam, as Unit 8200 is the prime designer and operator of Israel’s hi-tech genocide in Gaza and beyond. And its agents are responsible for producing much of the world’s most invasive spyware. Using big data collected by its massive digital Palestinian dragnet, the organization created massive A.I.-generated kill lists of Gazans, and carried out tens of thousands of drone bombing operations that was the centerpiece of the destruction in Gaza. Its agents also developed highly-invasive spyware, such as Pegasus, which was used to spy on tens of thousands of foreign leaders, journalists, activists, and human rights advocates across the world. The Israeli government sold Pegasus to dictatorships and authoritarian regimes globally, helping them crack down on human rights. Perhaps the most well-known case of this was Saudi Arabia, who used Pegasus to monitor Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, before dismembering him with a bone saw in their embassy in Türkiye. It is, therefore, highly questionable that Messi should decide to become the face of such a company.   Messi’s Israeli Handlers The Argentinian has made multiple visits to Israel during his career. In 2013, he and his club, F.C. Barcelona, went to Israel and Palestine on a supposed “Peace Tour.” During his trip, he met and talked with Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres, and glad-handed with IDF soldiers. He also donned a yarmulke and visited the Western Wall, the holiest site in Judaism. Even after leaving, however, Messi takes a small part of Israel with him everywhere he goes. His security is handled by an elite force of former Israeli agents, who plan his every move, especially internationally. He takes his security very seriously, even missing his sister-in-law’s wedding in Argentina due to safety concerns. Those same Israeli forces were in charge of security at his own 2017 wedding, ESPN reports, although it did not detail whether those agents are from the Mossad, Shin Bet, or an elite commando group. Messi, who avoids political controversies, has not made any statements on Israel/Palestine since October 7, 2023, despite many (false) stories suggesting otherwise. The Inter Miami forward left an impression on Netanyahu when the pair met in 2013. In a recent interview, Netanyahu revealed that he is supporting Argentina at this year’s World Cup. “He’s 39 years old now,” he said of Messi; “They are lucky to have such and experience player who knows how to score goals.” The Israeli public clearly agree. A recent poll found that 38% of Israel are actively supporting Argentina at the tournament – well ahead of second place Brazil. Yoav Berkowitz, head of sports at Israeli public broadcaster Kan, stated that this was due in no small part to the Messi effect.   Zionist Brothers Others, including Netanyahu himself, cite Argentinian president Javier Milei as another factor. Since coming to power in 2023, Milei has made support for Israel a central pillar of his political platform. Internationally, Israel has few friends left. But Milei’s Argentina has emerged as among its most vocal backers. In May 2024, it voted against an overwhelmingly popular United Nations vote to elect Palestine as a full member of the body. Four months later, it did the same with a resolution demanding an end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. His government also declared Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Quds Forces terrorist organizations, and cheered on the US/Israel attack on Iran, Milei himself calling it the “right thing to do.” Argentina also stated that it would move its Israeli embassy to Jerusalem, thereby effectively legitimizing the occupation. The move was paused, however, after Israeli oil firm Navitas announced it would begin drilling near the Falklands/Malvinas – a group of islands controlled by the United Kingdom but claimed by Argentina. On a personal level, Milei has distanced himself from Catholicism (the dominant religion in Argentina) and all but declared himself a Jewish convert. Earlier this year, he described himself as “the most Zionist president in the world.” “Milei is a great friend of Israel,” Netanyahu said, adding: “He’s a superstar, he really is. He’s done amazing things with their economy by adopting the free market.”   How Israel Helped Argentina Massacre Its Jewish Population Since October 7, 2023, Israel has lost massive amounts of public support across the world, even in Western nations. A 2025 YouGov survey found that more than 20 times as many Italians, for instance, hold “very unfavorable” (43%) views of Israel than “very favorable” ones (2%). Even in Germany, where popular support for Israel is highest, only 21% said they hold favorable opinions of the state (including only 4% highly favorable), with 65% displaying open opposition (including 32% who strongly dislike it). It is widely claimed that October 7 was the largest slaughter of Jewish people since the Holocaust. This, however, is not the case. In fact, the fascist military dictatorship that ruled Argentina in the 1970s and 1980s relentlessly persecuted Jews, killing or “disappearing” thousands. Taking inspiration from Hitler and the Nazis, the dictatorship equated Judaism with socialism, and rounded up and killed huge numbers of political opponents, even turning football stadiums into makeshift death camps. Many of those involved were the sons of German Nazis who escaped to Argentina after the end of the Second World War. Israel actively helped the dictatorship with their slaughter, selling them sophisticated military hardware, and upping their levels of military assistance even as attacks on the country’s Jewish community increased.   A Love Hate Relationship While Israel is supporting Argentina, the goodwill is certainly not reciprocated, no matter Milei’s attempts. A recent Pew poll found that the majority of Argentinians hold a negative view of Israel, including 34% who have highly unfavorable opinions of the country – seven times that who reportedly hold very positive views of Israel (5%). In this respect, they are taking after another Argentinian footballing sensation: Diego Maradona. The star, often regarded as the greatest footballer ever, declared himself the “number on fan of the Palestinian people,” and stated that “in my heart, I am Palestinian. Maradona consistently condemned the actions of the United States and Israel, and aligned himself with revolutionary causes across the world. In contrast, Messi has constantly shied away from political issues. But, as discussed here, he has made several decisions – embracing Netanyahu, visiting Jerusalem, becoming the face of an Israeli tech firm staffed by spies, and surrounding himself with Israeli spooks as bodyguards – that should lead many to question this supposed neutrality. Argentina play England today for a place in the World Cup Final. While the result remains to be seen, it is no mystery that Israel and Netanyahu will be cheering for Argentina – and for Leo Messi. Alan Macleod Alan MacLeod is Senior Staff Writer for MintPress News. He completed his PhD in 2017 and has since authored two acclaimed books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent, as well as a number of academic articles. He has also contributed to FAIR.org, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, and Common Dreams. Follow Alan on Twitter for more of his work and commentary: @AlanRMacLeod. The post Lionel Messis Ties to Netanyahu, The Israeli Military and Its Elite Spying Unit 8200 appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Behind The Headlines, Foreign Affairs, Front Page: Inside Stories, Investigations, Top Story, What's Hot]

— The Israeli Spy Behind PragerU’s Plan to Rewrite American Education To Indoctrinate Children

 

at 7/8/26 12:52pm

PragerU is trying to take over American schools. The right-wing, pseudo-educational group is now an official educational partner in at least ten states, and blitzes children with highly questionable messaging on race, history, and politics. Even more concerning, PragerU is led by former Israeli spy, Marissa Streit, who has stated she uses the tactics and techniques honed by IDF military intelligence on the American people. Streit’s company is involved in a big-money operation targeting children with neoconservative, pro-war, pro-business, pro-Israel messaging, attempting to indoctrinate them at their youngest and most impressionable age. MintPress explores this increasingly powerful group, with ambitions to completely overhaul the American educational system.   Leave Our Kids Alone You have probably seen a PragerU video. An estimated one-in-three Americans have. The billionaire-funded media machine is a powerful force on the American right, providing highly-produced conservative content attempting to push U.S. politics and society rightwards. Recently, however, PragerU has set its sights on children, and is seeking to hijack the American education system. Since 2023, it has signed deals with ten states – Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah – to become an official education provider, supplying books, videos, and other content to schools across the United States. Students in New Hampshire, meanwhile, can earn credits by completing online PragerU courses. And with PragerU Español, it has plans to expand into Latin America as well. Florida was the trailblazer in this phenomenon. As part of his Stop WOKE Act – a bill that sought to eradicate liberal ideology from public life – Governor Ron DeSantis partnered with the organization, identifying it as one that “aligned with the state’s revised civics and government standards.” PragerU now provides ultra-conservative “American values” messaging for use in grades K-12. Florida’s post Stop WOKE Act curriculum now requires middle school teachers to instruct students on the benefits of slavery for black Americans, including that “slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.” It has also rewritten the 1920 Ocoee Massacre – a pogrom that saw a white mob kill dozens of black residents and permanently ethnically cleanse the Florida town of its black population – as an “act of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans.” College students at Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida, meanwhile, can earn extra credit by taking a PragerU history course. This, despite the fact that, despite its branding, PragerU is not an accredited educational institution, let alone a university. Oklahoma, however, has gone even further. Last year, the state’s superintendent of education, Ryan Walters, launched a controversial teacher evaluation test developed by PragerU to vet teachers for their ideology and filter out applicants considered insufficiently conservative. The plan even withheld teaching certificates from educators from what Walters described as “woke states.” Walters left his position to head the Teacher Freedom Alliance, a conservative pressure group opposed to teachers unions.   Free Healthcare is Slavery, But Actual Slavery is A-OK The PragerU content being shown to American schoolchildren contains a number of highly controversial viewpoints presented as common sense. Most “lessons” are presented in cartoon format, with one about the founding of America including an animated Christopher Columbus stating that slavery was “no big deal.” “Slavery is as old as time and has taken place in every corner of the world,” he said; “Being taken as a slave is better than being killed, no? I don’t see the problem.” Further justifying the enslavement and genocide of two continents, Columbus tells those watching that, “The place I discovered was beautiful, but it wasn’t exactly a paradise of civilization, and the native people were far from peaceful.” Another video lesson grossly distorts the views of abolitionist Frederick Douglass, with an animated Douglas justifying slavery in America, stating that “the founding fathers made a compromise [supporting slavery] to achieve something great: the making of the United States.” PragerU Kids videos also cover more contemporary issues. One video, titled “Los Angeles: Mateo Backs the Blue,” deals with the murder of George Floyd, whom the narrator describes as a “black man who resisted arrest.” The video claims that “violent protests” and “looting” were sparked by “false claims” of racist policing spread by unnamed “activists.” Mateo, a Los Angeles child, is aghast by protestors “threatening police,” or, as the video calls them, “protectors,” and decides to stand firmly in solidarity with the Blue Lives Matter movement. Another educational resource approved for use in schools is a lecture called “Is Fascism Right or Left?” by controversial conspiracist Dinesh D’Souza, in which he insists that, “Fascism bears a deep kinship to the ideology of today’s left.” In 2014, D’Souza pled guilty for violating federal campaign financing laws. Unsurprisingly for a conservative movement funded by fracking billionaires, PragerU also instructs children to reject the overwhelming consensus on climate change. However, it takes it to absurd levels, comparing the supposed oppression of climate skeptics to the living in Warsaw Ghetto, where upwards of 300,000 Jewish people were killed by the Nazis. In “Poland: Ania’s Energy Crisis,” the titular character is fed propaganda at school about the disastrous impact of human-made climate change, only to have her eyes opened by her conservative parents. Ania is ostracized by the other children for merely expressing her concerns. Luckily, her grandfather Jakub gives her the strength to continue, by telling her about the Warsaw Uprising. “Through her family’s stories, Ania is realizing that fighting oppression is risky, and that it always takes courage,” viewers are told. On India, American children are told that the country benefitted greatly from British imperialism, who “spread the influence of Christianity and Western values through India” and “discouraged or even outlawed harmful traditions,” and “gave” India its independence in 1947. “Western influence helped transform the country in many positive ways, but some ancient customs are harder to change than others,” the video concludes, framing India’s problems as entirely down to their own backward culture, rather than centuries of direct rule and oppression. Another video lambasts Canada’s free healthcare system and highlights the supposed dangers of socialized medicine, while extolling the for-profit privatized American system, despite it being by far the most expensive, comparatively, and having the worst outcomes of any developed country, according to international studies. PragerU also sets its targets on Cuba, China, Venezuela, and North Korea as well, publishing videos demonizing those countries as authoritarian nightmare regimes in need of U.S. intervention.   Netanyahu’s Favorite Channel No nation, however, concerns PragerU as much as Israel. The organization has dedicated a huge amount of time and resources to defending and promoting the country. Their “Israel at War” series of lectures denounces the “lie” that Israel is occupying its neighbors, and includes a link to sign a petition “to condemn Hamas and stand with Israel.” A lesson plan designed for young children shows teachers how they can make a model Iron Dome out of juice boxes and straws, in order to educate American children on how Israel is defending itself from Palestinian terror, interspersed with messaging like Israel and the U.S. are best friends that “share values that are tied to God.” Another video, explaining the current crisis in the region to older children, claims that, “Like the United States, Israel is a nation of immigrants, which prides itself on its freedoms for all citizens, no matter their religion, ethnicity, or race,” and, “Uniquely, Israel is the only country in the Middle East that does not oppress its minority populations.” This will come as some surprise to Israel’s Arab minority, who face systematic and institutionalized discrimination, including restrictions on land ownership, jobs, and education, and to human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, who describe Israel as an Apartheid state carrying out a genocide against Muslims and Christians. PragerU, however, frames Israel as the victim. Israelis, they tell their audience, grow up under “ongoing attacks from terrorist organizations, whose primary goal is to destroy Israel.” “On many occasions,” it continues, “Israel sought peace with surrounding countries, and the local Palestinians,” but to no avail. The network even comes with an endorsement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who shared their video, “Israel: The World’s Most Moral Army,” with his followers. “We stand with Israel,” PragerU replied.   PragerU: Run by an Israeli Spy This unconditional support is unsurprising, given who actually runs the company. PragerU CEO Marissa Streit is, after all, an Israeli spy. On her eighteenth birthday, Streit joined Unit 8200, the Israeli Defense Force’s spying agency. In interviews, she has admitted that she was an officer in the controversial unit, and stated that she uses the tactics and techniques honed by Israeli spying agency on the American people. “Coming back here to the United States with the gifts that Israel had given me during my military training, I felt compelled to employ them here in my nation of the United States,” she explained. Exactly what her role as a Unit 8200 officer remains a mystery. Streit has said of her time there that, “We were tasked with looking at problems that the intelligence community might be missing.” Given that her service coincides with the Second Palestinian Intifada, however, one can speculate that suppressing domestic resistance to occupation was among her tasks. One does not join Unit 8200 by chance. The group is Israel’s most elite spying agency, accepting only the top 1% of applicants. Rich parents spent fortunes on extra STEM classes for their children in the hopes that they will be chosen to serve in the unit, knowing that serving there is a fast track into the upper echelons of Israeli society. Unit 8200 is responsible for cyberwarfare and psychological operations worldwide. The group has created a massive surveillance dragnet targeting Palestinians, and uses the data to generate massive A.I.-derived kill lists. It is widely identified as the group behind the 2024 Lebanese Pager Attack, which injured thousands of civilians. Unit 8200 agents are also responsible for producing much of the world’s most invasive spyware that is sold to authoritarian regimes across the planet. This includes the notorious Pegasus software, which was used to surveil tens of thousands of politicians, journalists, human rights defenders, and union leaders. The Saudi government, for example, used Pegasus to track Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, dismembering him with a bone saw inside their embassy in Türkiye. “So much of what I learned in Israeli military intelligence has impacted the way I think today. It is such a gift, what they have given me,” Streit said. From there, she moved back to the U.S. to work for pro-Israel pressure group, the Israeli-American Council. She sees Israel and the United States as fundamentally linked together, and both under threat from progressive values. “We are losing America to radicals who hate the West and everything we stand for… We must teach our children to be grateful to live in America,” she said, adding: “Students should learn to cherish our Judeo-Christian heritage, which is the foundation of our great society… If we provide our children with a proper education, grounded in truth, justice, goodness and liberty, then I can assure you that they will grow to love both America and Israel.”    Streit has made her own views on Israel’s attack on Palestine clear. She has justified attacks on civilians in Gaza, claiming that they are “harboring terrorists and hostages in their homes,” suggested that Hamas plans to “kill all Jews including nursery children,” and asserted that slogans such as “Free Palestine” are “synonymous with ‘destroy the West.’”   Make America Dumb Again Streit has been at PragerU since its inception in 2009. Her views on politics and Israel/Palestine, however, could almost be described as moderate, compared with company founder, Dennis Prager. The right-wing talk show host has visited Israel dozens of times, including leading a “Stand with Israel” tour across the country, including into occupied East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. He labeled Palestinians as “among the world’s most morally unimpressive national groups” and claimed that “lying is a Palestinian art form.” Prager, who has campaigned for whites to be allowed to use the N-word, fell in his bathroom in 2024, and was left quadriplegic and paralyzed from the neck down, and since has taken a back seat in the organization. The empire he built was bankrolled to the tune of millions by fracking billionaires, Dan and Farris Wilks, although the pair later pulled their money after Prager was insufficiently homophobic for their liking. By this time, however, the company was funded by Israeli-American megadonor Miriam Adelson, and had grown from strength to strength. By 2024, its revenue climbed to a reported $70 million, and it could afford to hire A-list conservatives such as Ben Shapiro, Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson, Nigel Farage, and Douglas Murray to present their videos. The original plan was for PragerU to pursue university accreditation (hence the name). However, this was quickly dropped. And yet, despite holding no educational accreditation whatsoever, they kept the misleading moniker. This sort of callous relationship with the truth has been a constant feature of the organization. It is regularly criticized for producing content with little to no intellectual merit. Multiple sources have cataloged what they call the “blatant lies” present in the outlet’s videos. Officially, PragerU is a non-political organization. “We’re a 501(c)(3)” non-profit, company co-founder Allen Estrin said. “We don’t have any political involvement with anybody. That would be against our charter.” Few, however, would take this at face value, especially as Streit herself posted a video of her dancing with President Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence, with the caption “Make Education Great Again! Thank you President Trump.” PragerU has strongly supported Trump’s wholesale attacks on the education system and teachers unions, who they see as the primary obstacle to their plan to “disrupt the education market.” Trump has also attempted to cut funding for PBS children’s programming – music to PragerU’s ears, as the organization attempts to shape young minds from infancy stepping in to fill the vacuum left by Trump’s gutting of the U.S. education system.   Racist Sesame Street PragerU sits at the apex between neoconservative foreign policy, reactionary social policy at home, and relentless pro-Israel advocacy. But the primacy of all three of these positions are increasingly under threat in the United States, and are becoming progressively more unpopular. Large majorities of Americans support a system of socialized medicine that PragerU so actively campaigns against, as well as making colleges free to attend, and building social housing nationwide. Sixty-two percent of young Americans hold a favorable view of socialism. Polls show the country overwhelmingly disapproves of Trump’s aggression against Iran. And after nearly three years of genocide, the tide is turning on Israel. An April Pew Research Center study found that even four in ten Republicans hold an unfavorable view of the country. That figure rises to 57% of Republicans under the age of fifty. Top right-wing media figures, such as Candace Owens, and Nick Fuentes, are all vehemently anti-Israel. Meanwhile, pro-Israel conservative thought leaders, such as PragerU’s Ben Shapiro, have seen their audience crater by up to 90%. For pro-war, pro-Israel, pro-billionaire PragerU then, the situation is grave. Despite years of extremely well-funded P.R., they have been unable to stem the tide of public opinion. Their new strategy of targeting children appears to be an attempt to inculcate Americans with these values when they are at their most impressionable; to stop the rot before it gets started. PragerU is enthusiastically backing Trump’s dismantling of the U.S. education system, and is poised to step in to fill the void. In this sense, they are hoping to do to American education what Israel has done to Palestine. And with a former Israeli spook at the helm, they are in a perfect position to do so, blasting young minds with a blitz of reactionary propaganda, making them passionate advocates of a system that fundamentally does not work for them.   Alan MacLeod is Senior Staff Writer for MintPress News. He completed his PhD in 2017 and has since authored two acclaimed books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent, as well as a number of academic articles. He has also contributed to FAIR.org, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, and Common Dreams. Follow Alan on Twitter for more of his work and commentary: @AlanRMacLeod. The post The Israeli Spy Behind PragerU’s Plan to Rewrite American Education To Indoctrinate Children appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Daily Digest, Front Page: National, Investigations, National, News, Top Story, Education, Epstein Class, indoctrination, Israel, PragerU, USA]

— Hezbollah Hunts Down Hind Rajab’s Killers & Crushes Israeli Offensive

 

at 6/24/26 10:09am

More than two years after six-year-old Hind Rajab was killed alongside her rescuers in Gaza, Hezbollah is systematically targeting commanders linked to the Israeli unit accused of killing her. In this weeks episode of The Target, Robert Inlakesh examines the battlefield campaign, the evidence, and the growing pressure on Israels military leadership. On this Monday’s edition of the Target Stream MintPress News’ Robert Inlakesh looks at how Hezbollah has hunted down the Israelis connected to the infamous killing of Hind Rajab in the Gaza Strip – investigating how the Lebanese resistance has managed to target senior officers, while also repelling recent attempts to advance. On January 29, 2024, six-year-old Hind Rajab pleaded for help over the phone for three hours, trapped in a car surrounded by the bodies of her family.  An Israeli invading tank opened fire from just 13 meters away in Gaza Citys Tal al-Hawa neighborhood, leaving the little girl in a state of shock. For hours she pleaded over the phone for the Red Crescent rescue workers to save her, but the request to send in a rescue team was denied by the Israeli military. In a bid to put pressure on the Israelis to greenlight an emergency vehicle deploying to the area, Red Crescent workers based in the West Bank city of Ramallah published the audio from phone calls with Hind on social media. Quickly the situation became a major international story and eventually the greenlight was granted to permit an emergency crew to reach her. However, once the emergency vehicle reached the vicinity of the 6-year-old girls location, the Israelis organised a tank ambush that killed every living person on the scene. Israel initially denied its troops were even in the area. Yet, then came the satellite imagery and a forensic investigation proving they what the world already knew: they lied — 335 bullet holes in Hind Rajab’s family car, a coordinated tank ambush, and two Palestinian Red Crescent paramedics, Yusuf Zeino and Ahmad al-Madhoun, had been deliberately killed after receiving Israeli-approved clearance to rescue her. Now the 401st Armoured Brigade — the unit identified as being behind Hinds killing — is being hunted down in Lebanon by Hezbollah. The Hind Rajab Foundation, a non-for-profit seeking justice for Palestinians killed in Israel’s genocide, filed a 120-page complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) that named 24 Israeli soldiers and commanders responsible. Among those names was that of Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Ella, a commander of the 52nd Armoured Battalion, who was targeted and seriously injured back in 2024 by Hezbollah and whose replacement commander was also critically wounded. Accountability in The Hague moves notoriously slowly. But accountability on the battlefield is much swifter as Hezbollah has continued to pursue the leadership structure implicated in Hind Rajab’s brutal killing. In May of 2026, Hezbollah seriously wounded Colonel Meir Biderman of the 401st Brigade. Then, on June 19, another commander of the 52nd Battalion was killed when his tank was destroyed in southern Lebanon by an FPV drone strike, eliminating him along with three other soldiers attempting to advance upon the Ali al-Taher Hills area. The brigade that terrorized Gaza is being systematically dismantled. This episode examines this arc, from the killing of Hind Rajab, to Hezbollah’s targeted takedown of Israeli commanders in the hills of southern Lebanon. All this, as the Islamic Republic of Iran threatens to strike Israel if it continues to violate the ceasefire with Lebanon and pushes to force the US to hand over the concessions that it has agreed to on paper. Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst, journalist and documentary filmmaker currently based in London, UK. He has reported from and lived in the occupied Palestinian territories and hosts the show ‘Palestine Files’. Director of ‘Steal of the Century: Trump’s Palestine-Israel Catastrophe’. Follow him on Twitter @falasteen47 The post Hezbollah Hunts Down Hind Rajab’s Killers Crushes Israeli Offensive appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Behind The Headlines, Foreign Affairs, Top Story, Videos, What's Hot, Gaza, Hezbollah, Hind Rajab, ICC, israeli military, Red Crescent, South Lebanon]

— Tinder’s Secret War: How Israel used the Dating App in the Propaganda Battle for South Lebanon

 

at 6/23/26 1:58pm

As Israel intensifies attacks on Lebanon and seeks to entrench its occupation of southern Lebanese territory despite repeated ceasefire violations, another front of the war is coming into focus: psychological operations conducted through some of the worlds most popular technology platforms . In August 2024, the United States military ran ads on Tinder in Lebanon to  discourage users from joining the resistance against the continued Israeli genocidal assault on the country demonstrating the full spectrum of the Zionist military strategy. Backed financially, politically and militarily by the United States Israel has long aimed to engulf Lebanon with desires to reoccupy the South along with regular bombardments on civilian areas. And despite there being a “ceasefire” between Lebanon and Israel since April 17th, Israel has bombed Lebanon over 3,500 times all the while pushing for normalization. US CENTCOM ads on Tinder represent another front in the Zionist military strategy: psychological operations with militarized “dating” platforms. Tinder, the most popular “dating” app in the world, boasts over 75 million active users in more than 190 countries. It is owned by Match Group a multi billion dollar conglomerate that owns the largest market share of dating platforms Hinge, Match.com, OkCupid. Plenty of Fish, Salams, and others. Largest market share also means one of the largest data gold mines personal and intimate user data, messages, video calls, facial recognition and location data on potentially hundreds of millions of users across Match Group’s dozens of dating applications. Tinder’s user data was found in a breach at Gravy Analytics a data broker company who sells data to governmental agencies to be used for police and military location tracking. But Match Group’s strategy and their technologies became fully militarized after Zionist billionaire investor and trump donor Paul Singer and his Elliot Management group built a $1 billion stake in the company in January 2024. Paul Singer has long worked to integrate Israeli military tech into global markets co-founding Start-Up Nation Central (SUNC), a Tel Aviv based nonprofit started to combat the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. SUNC works to promote Israeli tech and get Unit 8200 officers Israels elite military intelligence unit hired at all major US tech firms like Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and Palantir. In February 2024, Match Group announced their new partnership with OpenAI in a press release written by ChatGPT. OpenAI’s technology has been instrumental in powering the AI genocide in Gaza. In February 2026, the company struck a deal with the United States Department of Defense CEO Sam Altman sharing that the deal was made due to the Department of Defense’s “deep respect for safety.” In March 2024, Zillow co-founder and Palantir board member Spencer Rascoff joined Match Group’s board. Palantir’s technology is used by the Israeli military to surveil, target and genocide in Gaza. Rascoff was then named CEO, replacing Bernard Kim in February 2025. “Do not take up arms against the United States of its partners,” the Tinder ad read in Arabic, along with pictures of warplanes and the CENTCOM logo in August 2024. Match Group was sued in February 2024 over allegations that the platforms are designed to turn users into compulsive addicts who never find love but are turned into “gamblers locked in a search for psychological rewards.” Yet despite partnering with Paul Singer and OpenAI, installing a former Palantir board member as CEO and running US military ads in Lebanon Match Group says that they are just on a mission “to spark meaningful connections for every single person worldwide.” Jennifer Kings is a MintPress contributor, psychiatric nurse practitioner, sexual assault forensic examiner and former emergency medicine registered nurse with a graduate degree in global public health. She produces short and long-form content for her social media platforms and written work on substack. She is also a contributor at Vocal Politics. The post Tinders Secret War: How Israel used the Dating App in the Propaganda Battle for South Lebanon appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Front Page: Inside Stories, Investigations, Top Story, Videos, AI genocide Gaza, big tech, Centcom, Israel, Tinder, US military]

— Leaked Documents Reveal UK Intelligence Operation Targeting Russia, Iran, Gaza and Beyond

 

at 6/23/26 1:49pm

Hidden under the guise of a civilian “countering disinformation” organization, British intelligence outfit MI6 has helped build a vast propaganda apparatus, leaked documents reveal. Once targeting only Russia, it has recently expanded its scope to Iran, Gaza, and beyond, as this MintPress News investigation reveals.  Britain’s Hidden Information Warfare Machine This investigation, based on secret leaked documents, including internal Intranet pages, reveals a clandestine new propaganda unit inside the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Directed by MI6 and hidden behind civilian cover, the unit exists to professionalize and expand the British state’s long-running practice of promoting disinformation under the guise of “countering disinformation”. The operation against Russia began in 2014 through the Russian Language Program and its apparent successor, the Counter Disinformation and Media Development (CDMD) program. It was expanded to Ukraine after the launch of Russia’s Special Military Operation in 2022. Iran and China were added as formal targets in 2023, with Gaza incorporated on a semi-detached basis. The leaked materials allow us to re-read what is publicly known about British government propaganda and actions against the Islamic Republic of Iran. The pattern is unmistakable: whenever one iteration is exposed, the secret state simply rebadges and relaunches the same operation while quietly broadening its targets. The Integrity Initiative Scandal and the Evolution of UK Counter-Disinformation Efforts The UK government’s counter-disinformation work began with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Russian Language Program under the HMG (His Majesty’s Government) Russia Unit. Officially aimed at Russian-speaking audiences abroad, it is this program from which the Institute for Statecraft applied for funding for its flagship project, the Integrity Initiative. In practice, the Integrity Initiative largely operated in English (not in Russian) and extended well beyond its supposed foreign focus. Leaked documents in 2018 revealed that it built international “clusters” of journalists, academics and policymakers, and amplified material that targeted UK domestic politics — including sustained attacks on Jeremy Corbyn the then-leader of the Labour Party. The Integrity Initiative funded by the secret state to undermine the Leader of the Opposition The scandal broke in late 2018 following a major data breach. It soon became apparent that the think tank running the project, the Institute for Statecraft, listed an abandoned mill in Fife, Scotland, as its registered address. Investigations of the leaked documents also showed multiple intelligence links to the project, including most notably the director of the project Chris Donnelly who was revealed to be an Honorary Colonel in a hitherto secret military organization called the Specialist Group Military Intelligence. Foreign Office official Andy Pryce was also named in the files, and it became apparent that he was effectively in charge of the program that funded the project. Even the mainstream media began to show an interest. Gateside Mills in Fife.  Derelict and abandoned.   In December 2018 the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) opened an inquiry into the Institute for Statecraft. Its October 2019 report was highly critical. The Executive Summary stated that the organization “was not meeting the charity test required for continuing registration as a charity in Scotland” for three main reasons: its purposes were not entirely charitable; the Integrity Initiative “did not provide public benefit in furtherance of the charity’s purposes;” private benefit to charity trustees “was not incidental.” OSCR also found that trustees had breached their duties, including through “a lack of collective decision-making” and “failure to provide effective oversight” of the Integrity Initiative’s Twitter account, which resulted in “severe reputational damage”. In response, the Institute for Statecraft terminated its involvement in the Integrity Initiative, moved the project to a non-charitable entity, ceased paying trustees, and implemented governance reforms. OSCR ultimately took no formal action against it. The Institute’s website was taken offline in early 2019 and never reinstated. The company itself was dissolved in 2023. The Institute for Statecraft website, 5 February 2019. By this point, the original Russian Language Program had already been restructured. But it has never been exactly clear what happened or when. According to some sources, the Counter Disinformation and Media Development (CDMD) Program was created in April 2016. In 2018 in a written answer, the Minister of State, Alan Duncan claimed:  “The Foreign and Commonwealth Offices Russian Language Program was launched in 2014 following Russias illegal annexation of Crimea. In April 2016 we launched a new four-year strategic communications and media development program authorized by the National Security Council, called the Counter Disinformation and Media Development Program. The former Russian Language Program was amalgamated into this. The funding provided to the Institute for Statecraft was funded from the Counter Disinformation and Media Development Program.” But if we look closer at the precise sequence of events, contradictions in the story emerge. The RLP was created in 2014 and according to the government response to the Foreign Affairs Committee report on Russia, it had a budget of £70 million (U.S.$93 million) for its first four years. It is worth quoting the official view at length. “The FCO-led Russian Language Program brings together expertise from the FCO, MOD, and DFID as well as external experts… These projects seek to enhance independent media; to engage with Russian speakers; and to expose Russian Government disinformation.” “Through this program, the Government is working with a range of partners to enhance the quality of public and independent Russian language media so that it is able to provide Russian-speakers with reliable access to accurate information. The type of support given includes mentoring with UK media organizations; consultancy on programming; funded co-productions and support for regional Russian language media initiatives.” As can be seen, the program was explicitly related to activities in the Russian language. And yet, the Integrity Initiative was not. What could explain this seeming mismatch? The government summary just cited was one of the first mentions of the RLP, and it came on 20 July 2017. But this was not the first public mention of the program.  In fact there was one other earlier statement published the day before.  This was a program summary which gave further details.  It is interesting to note that the Russian Language Program had been operational over three years before the FCO announced it to Parliament and the public. This in itself is an indication that it was a covert operation. This perception is only enhanced by the program document itself.  There is an asterisk beside the column headed “implementing organizations” and below, the explanation given for omitting the organizations involved is “Information has been withheld from publication on security grounds”.  This is a clue that the intelligence services – specifically MI6 – were involved. The conclusion to which we are led is that the RLP was a covert operation which the FCO made public in 2017 and then, once it was apparent that the Integrity Initiative did not fit the remit, a new supposed program was necessitated, even though dating it to 2016 flatly contradicted previous official statements. “Information has been withheld from publication on security grounds” The Money Trail: CSSF Funding and Andy Pryce’s Central Role The Russian Language Program and the Counter Disinformation and Media Development (CDMD) Program, received funding from the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF). The CSSF is an intelligence-directed fund controlled from the National Security Secretariat in the Cabinet Office, which is an intelligence unit. The money was given by the FCO (later FCDO), though strategic oversight sat at the heart of the UK’s intelligence apparatus. Official records show the CDMD program alone spent over £80 million (U.S.$106 million) in the three years to 2021, with substantial additional funding reportedly continuing in later years including more than £33 million (U.S.$44 million) in the year 2022-23. Taken together with the first four years of the RLP (£70m), the program disbursed over £150 million – or $199 million – in the nine years to 2023.  Andy Pryce appears to have overseen both the RLP and CDMD.  He claims on his LinkedIn profile to have run the CDMD since July 2015. But even the FCO statement only claims it started in April 2016. In that role, he directly authorized funding to the Integrity Initiative. Pryce also shaped the British government’s communications response to the 2018 Salisbury incident – the alleged poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal. This is reported to have been a turning point in British propaganda tactics. According to the Daily Express:  “In the five weeks since the attempted assassination of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, Moscow has been pushing out conspiracy theories. Whitehall sources say two in every three stories shared on social media are from media outlets backed by the Kremlin… The fact that British ministers have to remain tight-lipped while the painstaking probe by police, intelligence services and Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons laboratories takes place, has left a vacuum, which is being filled by Russia…” “Until a fortnight ago, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office seemed content simply to post statements rebutting the most outrageous claims. But the last fortnight has seen a series of mini-videos, which, sources say, “mark a departure” from the norm. They are said to be the brainchild of Andy Pryce the FO’s head of counter-disinformation and media development.” The report goes on: “One video, poses six questions that Vladimir Putin’s Russia has so far failed to answer.” Among these is “Why does Russia persistently cover up the use of chemical weapons in Assad’s brutal regime in Syria?” Not only is this completely false – neither Russia nor the government of Bashar al-Assad used, or covered up the use of, chemical weapons –  but it is ironic, given the direct role played by MI6 in fabricating chemical attacks in Syria. Alex Aiken, who was instrumental in the creation of yet another controversial propaganda unit in government, the Rapid Response Unit, remarked: “It took 13 days to pull together the authoritative, government response to the Salisbury poisonings, which involved the communication staff and all other elements of the national security establishment working together to declassify the intelligence where appropriate, and put together the case that would be understood.”  Post Salisbury, the National Security Communications Team (NSCT), yet another of the covert units set up by British intelligence in response to the Salisbury “poisoning” operation in April 2018 (and also funded by the CSSF) was reported in regard to “harnessing ‘the incredible power of declassified intelligence’ as a core role and that they, as a team, must “provide a stronger bridging function.” They also stated that the use of intelligence is “much more part of the discourse and discussion” and that ‘intelligence is there to be used’.” Leaked emails later exposed Pryce’s close operational coordination with journalist Paul Mason, with multiple accounts describing him as Mason’s handler. Together they were involved in targeting critics of British intelligence operations in Syria, including the present author. Though Pryce “denies ever having worked for MI6, or having ever operated as an intelligence agent or covert operative,” his leadership of an intelligence-funded program makes clear he operated under intelligence direction. Pryce is a key operative who will appear repeatedly in this story. Andy Pryce, disinformation professional, 2025 The Government Information Cell: New Front in 2022 In February 2022, the UK government created the Government Information Cell to support its response to alleged Russian disinformation in relation to the Russian Special Military Operation in Ukraine. It pooled cross-government expertise in analysis, intelligence assessment and strategic communications. Catherine Hunt, later a key figure in the FCDO’s subsequent covert propaganda unit served as Head of Analysis in the new cell. The GIC was created out of a previous covert MI6 propaganda unit called the Counter-Daesh Coalition Communications Cell, which oversaw UK disinformation activities in both Iraq and Syria. Overall, it is reported that the UK spent some £350 million (U.S. $465 million) on regime change in Syria. One of the key elements of the propaganda war were the multimillion-dollar contracts for MI6 contractors like Ark, Albany Associates, Incostrat and Mayday Rescue, better known as the White Helmets. Amongst the crimes to which they were accessory was the creation of fake chemical weapons attacks in Syria. These were directed by MI6 and involved the White Helmets in constructing a narrative that the so-called Red Line had been crossed by the government of Bashar al-Assad. We can note that in more than one of these faked events civilians were killed for the purpose of artful arrangement before the world’s media, such as in Douma in 2018.  We can note that the CCCC was overseen in the early years by Alicia Kearns, who went on to be an MI6 contractor herself in Lebanon. Later she became a member of parliament, and, between 2022 and 2024, was the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament. Funding for the CCCC and for its successor came from the intelligence slush fund, the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund. HMG Russia Unit: The Covert Liaison Point Inside the FCDO The Counter Disinformation and Media Development (CDMD) Program formed a core part of the HMG Russia Unit, located inside the Eastern Europe and Central Asia Directorate (EECAD) of the FCDO. HMG Russia Unit: “Liaison point for covert aspects of EECAD work” Internal FCDO intranet files state that the HMG Russia Unit is the “liaison point for covert aspects of EECAD work”. Andy Pryce was based in this unit while overseeing CDMD and the Integrity Initiative. His role in CDMD does little to undermine perceptions that he is very closely involved with the intelligence services. However, his cover was blown repeatedly. First in 2018, after which he was dispatched to Brussels, and again in 2022 over his coordination with journalist Paul Mason. We will now discuss this period. Pryce’s LinkedIn profile states he was in Brussels from November 2019 to December 2021. It would appear that he remained attached to the HMG Russia Unit for the duration. The OSCR report on the Integrity Initiative was finalized just days before he took up the new post. His apparent “return” to London was in January 2022. Only months later, leaked emails between Pryce and Mason appeared to show that Pryce was briefing Mason (and others), and was, in effect, potentially Mason’s “handler.” Mason did not take kindly to being described as an MI6 “agent” and threatened this author and others with legal action, as can be seen below.     However, in a hilarious turn of events, this year, more of Mason’s emails were leaked.  Among them were communications with his lawyer asking for advice on whether he could sue the present author for libel, who replied that it would be difficult to say that he had no contact with the U.K. intelligence services.  But there was one detail in the emails which casts doubt on the claim that Pryce was simply in a civilian role in Brussels. This was when Mason claims in an email to his lawyer that he thought Pryce was not in intelligence, since Pryce had told him he was attached to the Counter Disinformation Unit.   Paul Mason is not an MI6 Agent. Direct Message to the present author from Mason, 16 June 2022. David Miller (who else) – Mason asks for legal advice on whether its a libel to call him an “MI6 Agent”. Mason’s lawyer advises that Mason should not say he doesn’t have any contact with “Britain’s secret state”. Mason claims here that he thought Pryce was not in intelligence since Pryce had told him he was in the Counter Disinformation Unit. This would appear to suggest that his role there was covert. It certainly has not appeared on his Linkedin page or in any other public source. The Counter Disinformation Unit (originally called the Counter Disinformation Cell) was created in response to the Salisbury/Skripal incident. Given Pryce’s claimed leading role in the Skripal operation, it would not be too surprising to find he played a role in the unit. If so, this adds more weight to the idea that his job in Brussels was a cover role. Rebranding Under Pressure: The Birth of the Information Threats and Influence Directorate Pryce was only back in London for a few months before the CDU became controversial. By late 2022 the Government Information Cell (GIC) and the Counter Disinformation Unit (CDU) faced intense criticism and exposure from both left and right. The government was forced to admit to the COVID-19 Inquiry that the CDU had “worked closely” with the U.K. intelligence community.  Susannah Story, Director General at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, also noted that “At its peak, the Counter Disinformation Cell [the former name of the CDU] was formed of a team of up to 50, however, this figure is indicative. The CDC was virtual and flexible in nature, with DCMS and other departments pulling on their wider resources (which may not have been entirely focused on disinformation) as needed.” So, yet again the apparently covert connection of Pryce to the CDU was also intelligence related. The pushback the covert units received also forced them into rebranding. Thus, the CDU was renamed as the National Security Online Information Team in October 2023.  In March 2023 the FCDO created the Information Threats and Influence Directorate (ITID). It folded in the Counter Disinformation and Media Development (CDMD) Program, the GIC and related functions. At the same time the strategic need to broaden targets beyond Russia/Ukraine to Iran, China, and Gaza (on a semi-detached basis), helped trigger another reorganization. The Integrated Review Refresh 2023 confirmed the new directorate’s role in countering “hostile manipulation of information” by Russia, China, and Iran. Pryce and veteran teams were quietly integrated into the fresh civilian cover structure. The internal structure of the Information Threats and Influence Directorate, 2023. Inside ITID: The FCDO’s Rebadged Propaganda Hub The Information Threats and Influence Directorate (ITID), created March 2023 under Director Jonny Hall, is the FCDO’s central unit for countering “hostile information manipulation”. Leaked FCDO intranet charts show two deputy directors: Rachael Goodwill (Counter Information Manipulation) and Owen Bassett (Government Information Cell – Campaigns). Bassett previously ran the Counter-Daesh Coalition Communication Cell. Goodwill, meanwhile had previously been Head of the Syria External Team in charge of covert ops pushing for regime change in Syria. A semi-detached Israel/Gaza Team (labelled xITID) delivers early C-FIMI (Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference) support, with Gaza concerns explicitly including Iranian angles. It reports to the director. Abigail Cullen was named as lead of both the Gaza team and the China and Iran desk, which develops “proactive campaign approach with China Dept/MENAD and Comms Dir”. Cullen’s public LinkedIn profile omits ITID, naming only the larger directorate general, which is called Defense and Intelligence. Andy Pryce is listed as heading Threat Mitigation; Catherine Hunt co-leads Analysis and Insight. Abigail Cullen is rather modest about her involvement in a secret info war operation. ITID Exposed: FSB Expels British Diplomats and Forces Rebrand However, in 2024, the Information Threats and Influence Directorate’s cover was blown. On September 13 of that year, the Russian intelligence service, the FSB, declared six British diplomats persona non grata, accusing them of espionage and subversive activities aimed at inflicting a “strategic defeat” on Russia. The FSB stated their actions showed “signs of intelligence and subversive work” and linked them to the FCDO’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Directorate (EECAD) and to the HMG Russia Unit.  The screengrabs of the FCDO Intranet appeared online in Russian news media sourced to the FSB. The FSB also published a variety of other materials including covert surveillance footage of the ostensibly innocent British diplomats meeting Russian opposition figures, in what appear to be handler/agent relationships. In addition, there is further material on HMG Russia Unit, including a document that appears to have been produced by the FSB which included the names, email addresses and sometimes phone numbers and even home addresses of scores of alleged HMG Russia Unit officials. The document claims that all of these officials are from intelligence agencies including MI6, MI5, GCHQ, Defense Intelligence (in the Ministry of Defense) and the Joint Intelligence Organization (in the Cabinet Office), in other words, almost all British intelligence agencies. The document also claims that MI5 operatives in the unit use cover email addresses from the Ministry of Defense to disguise themselves.  Could any of this be true? Is it possible, as the FSB claims, that five separate British intelligence agencies are involved in the unit? The answer is, technically, no. In fact, there are more; at least seven British intelligence agencies are involved in the unit, according to official British sources. Hidden in plain sight in a throwaway line in a report from July 2020 by the Intelligence and Security Committee is a discussion of HMG Russia Unit. It states that responsibility for the government’s Russia strategy falls:  “To the National Security Strategy Implementation Group for Russia, which …is co-ordinated by the HMG Russia Unit… All seven organisations that we oversee are represented in the Implementation Group.” The seven groups referred to are MI5, MI6, GCHQ, the Joint Intelligence Organization (JIO), and the National Security Secretariat (NSS) both in the Cabinet Office; Defense Intelligence (DI) in the Ministry of Defense; and the Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism (OSCT) in the Home Office. So, as we can see, the FSB had somewhat underestimated the extent of British intelligence agencies involvement in HMG Russia Unit. In response to the cover of ITID being blown, the FCDO restructured again. In late 2024/early 2025 ITID became the Cyber, Information and Tech Threats Directorate (CITTD). By early 2026 it was rebranded yet again to the Hybrid Threats Directorate. At the end of March this year the foreign Affairs Committee showed that it had been misled by the FCDO when it recommended that  the government “increase funding and staffing within the Hybrid Threats Directorate”.  The Foreign Office had, naturally, neglected to mention that this was a covert intelligence operation in its formal evidence to the inquiry. There is also a certain irony in the fact that the Chair of the committee at present is Emily Thornberry MP – the very same person who in January 2017 called for an inquiry into the Israel lobby and one year later did the same for the Integrity Initiative.  Escalating the War on the Islamic Republic: ITID’s Successors in the Propaganda Frontline As the U.K. has stepped up its information offensive against the Islamic Republic of Iran, the role of the FCDO’s rebranded propaganda unit has come under fresh scrutiny. In March 2026 Lord Walney released his report, “Undue Influence,” accusing the Iranian regime of building a network of over thirty U.K. charities and Shia Muslim groups as “soft power” vehicles linked to the IRGC. The document has been weaponized to intensify calls for proscription of the IRGC. MI5 Director General Sir Ken McCallum has repeatedly stated that British security agencies have disrupted more than twenty potentially lethal Iran-backed plots on U.K. soil. Mossad has frequently claimed it has tipped of Western intelligence agencies about such alleged “plots.” Even the 23 March 2026 arson attack on four Hatzolah ambulances in Golders Green — widely reported as an antisemitic incident — triggered immediate claims of a Zionist false flag. While three individuals were later charged, the speed and coordination of the subsequent information campaign cannot rule out involvement by the FCDO’s specialist disinformation experts. Even more recently a recently discharged psychiatric patient, with a history of violence stretching back almost twenty years, who allegedly stabbed two Jews in Golders Green, has now been recruited via credulous and ideological Zionist and state responses to the global “antisemitism” panic. Almost all commentators ignored the Muslim he had allegedly stabbed earlier in the day. Facts dont matter: Jewish supremacist demands must be enforced. With the semi-detached Israel/Gaza Team (xITID) and Abigail Cullen leading both the Gaza and Iran desks (at least in 2023), the unit is structured to shape narratives across multiple theaters at once. The Information Threats and Influence Directorate (ITID) — and its successors — sit at the center of these operations. Leaked FCDO charts show the unit running “counter foreign information manipulation and interference” (C-FIMI) campaigns explicitly targeting Iran. The pattern is unmistakable: every time this MI6-directed propaganda operation is exposed, it is simply rebadged and relaunched, always with expanded targets. The Islamic Republic is now firmly in its sights. And more and more repressive attacks on Shia Muslims, Palestinians and all who support them are in the works. The post Leaked Documents Reveal UK Intelligence Operation Targeting Russia, Iran, Gaza and Beyond appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Foreign Affairs, Front Page: Foreign Affairs, Front Page: Inside Stories, Investigations, Nation, News, Top Story, Disinformation Campaign, Gaza, Institute for Statecraft, Iran, MI6, UK, Ukraine]

— FARA Docs: Israel is Spying On Millions Of Christian Americans In Their Churches

 

at 6/18/26 1:42pm

If you are a Christian living in the Western United States, you have almost certainly been targeted with pro-Israel, anti-Palestine propaganda, paid for directly by the government of Benjamin Netanyahu. Your searches, location, and internet activity is being monitored by Israel, and your algorithms and search results across multiple platforms are being manipulated by Israeli government in what its American partner calls the “largest geofencing and targeted Christian digital campaign ever.” Amid a massive drop in support from the Christian community, Israel is spending millions of dollars to target individuals entering churches or Christian colleges with ads, and paying pastors across the country to promote propaganda and false “anti-Palestinian” narratives every Sunday, documents filed with the United States’ Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) show.  The 86-page disclosure reveals that Israel is recruiting Hollywood celebrities and sports stars to promote the country, while also manipulating Christians’ social media feeds. And they are doing it by spying on you through your phone.  MintPress explores this explosive story, largely ignored in corporate media.  Propaganda Storm In September, Show Faith by Works LLC, a San Diego-based company led by conservative activist Chad Schnitger, filed a sworn document with the U.S. Department of Justice. The declaration revealed that the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs was paying Show Faith by Works $4.1 million to carry out a massive, covert, digital surveillance operation targeting Christian communities across multiple states, including California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.  The document noted that all students at every Christian college and every congregant at “every major church” in California, Arizona, Nevada, and Colorado has been spied on through their phone’s location data, and targeted with propaganda extolling Israel’s “moral superiority” and “linking the Palestinian population with extremist factions.” The campaign estimates that it has reached well over eight million Americans. Show Faith by Works itself divides its messaging into two themes: “pro-Israel” and “anti-Palestinian”. Its primary goals, in its own words, are to “combat low American Evangelical Christian approval of the Nation of Israel,” by “using biblical arguments to highlight the importance of Israel and the Jewish People to Christians.” It also wishes to “educate Christians on the historical importance of Israel and its significance in the region,” and to “counter new and evolving pro-Palestinian messaging as the global narrative shifts.” Many of their anti-Palestinian talking points are highly controversial, dubious, or even blatant falsehoods. Their principal messaging on Palestine is that there never was (or should be) a Palestinian state in history, that “Palestinians shelter terrorists” and “hide weapons in their schools and hospitals,” and that they are not a trustworthy actor, as the Palestinians’ goals are “genocidal.” They also share ads and messages with American Christians claiming that Gazans kill U.S. Christian aid workers distributing food to them, and that “Israel is the birthplace of Jesus.” (In fact, Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, in the Palestinian West Bank.) The overall message, then, is one extolling Israel’s supposed virtues, encouraging Americans to visit, while dehumanizing Palestinians (including the 12.5% of historic Palestine who were Christians themselves) as genocidal terrorist intent on destroying the world.  Show Faith by Works projects that this content will receive 47 million impressions across the United States in its first twelve months in operation.  Hi-Tech Targeting Show Faith by Works and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs are able to carry out this sophisticated operation by taking advantage of a technology called “geofencing.” Geofencing creates invisible digital boundaries around real world locations (in this case, hundreds of churches and universities). Any phone or smart device entering a church on Sunday or a college during term time is logged and recorded. The operation then begins sending targeted advertisements and messaging to each device through ad networks, promoting Israel and demonizing Palestine. These messages appear in Google searches, on social media, and on any number of apps and platforms.  Your behavioral data – how you respond to the ads, what you click, or how long you watch for, is fed back into the operation in order to tailor messaging to each individual, making future targeting more effective. Over time, the system builds up an enormous amount of data on each individual – their locations, beliefs, preferences, and actions, in order to better manipulate them.  Once you enter a church or college targeted by Israel, there is almost nothing you can do about it. They are paying to manipulate your search results, news feeds, and algorithms. What you see online will be decided by Israel, not by you. And virtually none of the millions of people affected are aware this is happening.  Is Your Pastor a Secret Israeli Agent? The operation admits that it has “digitally target[ing]” every large church in four western states. This includes 219 in California, 39 in Arizona, 32 in Colorado, and 14 in Nevada. Some of these megachurches boast congregations of up to 45,000 people, helping reach an estimated 3.9 million individuals. It has also geofenced hundreds of smaller churches across the country, reaching a further 3.8 million Christians, primarily in urban locations.  A wide range of Christian denominations has been targeted, including some traditionally associated with the conservative right-wing, such as the Southern Baptists and Pentecostals, generally associated. But the operation also focuses on others, such as the United Methodist Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Churches of Christ, and the American Baptist Churches USA.  A full list of confirmed churches and Christian colleges likely targeted can be found at the end of this investigation.  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described the battle for American public opinion to be the “eighth front” of the war, comparing it to the seven-front campaign he is already waging. In order to win this crucial struggle, Israel is employing Show Faith by Works to insert its messaging directly into the sacred sanctuaries of American churches.  The company was involved in the 1000 Pastors Project, an endeavor that saw some 1070 American clergymen accept an expense-paid trip to Israel in December in order to equip them with the ability to serve as unofficial ambassadors for the country. Thousands more pastors are expected to be invited on a similar trip this year.  Show Faith by Works has designed, published and distributed “pastoral resource packages” to hundreds of churches, packages that include “pro-Israel educational materials,” like the ones discussed previously, information “debunking pro-Palestinian popular arguments,” and helps to  organize group travel trips to Israel. They also recruit pastors to write newspaper op-eds, and produce 3-5 minute pro-Israel video lectures designed to be played in churches across the nation.  There is also a special effort to reach minority communities, with content specifically aimed at young women, Catholics, and Hispanic Christians being produced, while their pro-Israel material is also translated into Spanish, Vietnamese, and Russian.  American Colleges Get “the October 7 Experience” Young American Christians are moving away from their traditional positions on the Middle East. A 2021 poll found that support for Israel among evangelicals aged 18-29 had dropped from 75% to just 34% over the past three years.  To that end, dozens of Christian colleges, with a total student body of well over 100,000 students have been geofenced. The Israel/Show Faith by Works project goal is to establish a major presence at Christian universities and seminaries, including making connections with professors, and hiring student representatives to spread the word and hand out specially designed merchandise.  The campaign includes creating an interactive travelling virtual reality exhibit called the “October 7 Experience” that will tour campuses, showing “atrocities from 10/7” and explaining the difficulties that the Israeli Defense Forces face while “fighting bad guys in hostile territory.” Celebrity Agents of Israel  According to the documents, the October 7 Experience would be constructed by the company’s (unnamed) Hollywood coordinator, who would use their Tinsel Town connections to build a five-star exhibit. The coordinator’s job also included making connections with “top-tier Hollywood talent to book Christian celebrities and Christian athletes to deliver pro-Israel messaging.”  Among the names floated as possible hires include actors Jon Voight and Chris Pratt. From the world of sports, they aim to recruit former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow, three-time World Series winning pitcher Clayton Kershaw, and NBA star, Stephen Curry. Curry has expressed a deep interest in Israeli culture, has told the press that he is learning Hebrew, has two Hebrew tattoos on his wrists, and has invested heavily in Israeli defense corporations founded and staffed by IDF officers. For more on the NBA’s connections to Apartheid, see the MintPress investigation, “From Dunks to Drones: The NBA Has an Israel Problem.” Another key category of influencers the project was looking to recruit was celebrity megachurch pastors. These included Mark Driscoll, Rick Warren, and Greg Laurie. Together, it was hoped that this stable of prominent Christians could use their power to influence the opinions of millions of followers nationwide, shoring up Israel’s sliding approval ratings in the United States.  Manipulating the Media The Israeli government considers the online war as important as its military attacks against Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, and beyond. The documents show that Show Faith by Works planned to flood the internet with digital content – websites, social media posts, podcasts, and videos – in order to overwhelm both search engines and ordinary users with pro-Israel content.  Search engine optimization (SEO) – the practice of enhancing media’s visibility in search results – is a key part of this. As the document explains, the group will “optimize SEO traffic so that favorable coverage is increased and unfavorable information is decreased,” by “redirect[ing] nearly all web traffic to friendly sites based on key [search] terms,” “ensur[ing] that [our] website is the top of all search results,” and “prioritiz[ing] our information to key demographics.”  A less well-known tactic the group is using is generative engine optimization, or GEO, a new technique aimed at influencing how A.I. chatbots like ChatGPT and Claude “learn” in order to make them espouse pro-Israeli views. Show Faith by Works planned to deluge the internet with fake questions and answers written by them, in order that A.I. will parrot their talking points to users across the world.  Other media projects listed included starting Christian podcasts designed to sneak pro-Israel messaging to listeners, paying for pro-Israel ads and messages to be read out on other faith–based shows, and hiring a pastor to “keep up with Isreal [sic] news and to highlight pro-Israel, anti-Hamas news.” They also plan to pay Christian influencers on social media to post about the virtues of Israel and “counter pro-Palestinian propaganda with response videos.” This strategy is similar to that of a similar Israeli campaign called the Esther Project, which paid influencers a reported $7,000 per post that supported Israel. None of the individuals receiving the money, however, has followed the law by filing as a foreign agent under FARA, leading to rampant speculation online about who has become rich accepting cash from Tel Aviv.  In short, then, the project’s goal is to create an enormous astroturfed wave of support for Israel in the Christian community by paying pastors, celebrities, and influencers to espouse their support and admiration for the country, its society, and its geopolitical goals.  Unbeknownst to the tens of millions of Christians seeing these messages in their ads, search engine results, chatbot answers, or in their churches and universities, none of this is natural. Rather, it is the result of a deliberate and designed strategy to manipulate their thoughts and opinions into supporting a state carrying out a genocide – including against Christians.  Israel’s War on Christians in West Asia Palestine was once a land where large numbers of Christians and Muslims lived side by side in relative harmony. Today, that is not the case. During the Nakba – the 1948 establishment of Israel, Israeli ethnically cleansed 90,000 Palestinian Christians, and shut down dozens of churches. Since 2023, the attacks on Christians have greatly increased. Every church in Gaza has been damaged or destroyed. This includes the historic Church of Saint Porphyrius, the third-oldest Christian place of worship in the world. The site has been targeted multiple times by Israeli forces, leading to the partial collapse of the religious building, which can trace its history back to 425 A.D. Also targeted was the Al Ahli Church and Baptist Hospital, where repeated Israeli strikes pulverized the complex, killing hundreds.  Inside Israel, attacks on priests, pastors, and other clergy are a regular occurrence. Last month, footage of a 48-year-old French nun in East Jerusalem being pushed to the ground and kicked by a settler went viral, as did images of Israeli soldiers gleefully desecrating a church and taking a sledgehammer to a statue of Jesus in Southern Lebanon.  For decades, Christians have had to endure the common practice of Jews spitting on them. This sort of overt daily hostility towards Christians has proved to be a problem for pro-Israel conservative American church groups traveling to the region. Last year, conservative commentator and podcaster Brandon Tatum drew international ridicule, when, in an interview with Netanyahu, he thanked the Israeli prime minister and revealed that his Christian group was “only spit on once” during their trip to his country.  One of Show Faith by Works’ key talking points that it promotes, however, is that “Israel protects Christians like no other nation in the Middle East.” American Christians Losing Faith in Israel Support for Israel among Christians is crashing. This is reflective of a broader trend across the country; an April poll conducted by Pew Research found only 37% of Americans see Israel in a favorable light, as opposed to 60% unfavorably.  For decades, Israel has enjoyed widespread support from American Christians, particularly Evangelical Protestants, as many believe its existence is a prerequisite for the end of days, when Jesus Christ will return to Earth to establish his heavenly kingdom.  Nevertheless, its popularity, especially among younger Christians, is cratering, falling to just 34%. This age discrepancy is partially down to different patterns of media consumption. Elderly Americans continue to get their news from TV networks owned and controlled by billionaires such as Larry Ellison and Rupert Murdoch, both of whom are extremely close personal friends and passionate supporters of Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s expansionist policies. Younger Americans, by contrast, rely primarily on social media as their number one source of news.  Explaining this phenomenon, Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of pro-Israel pressure group, the Anti-Defamation League, stated that “we have a TikTok problem…a Gen-Z problem.”  To that end, Israel has poured vast amounts of resources into targeting Americans. The government’s yearly public relations budget has ballooned to $730 million – a roughly 100-fold increase on pre-October 7 levels. And it is Americans that are the prime targets of Israel’s focus. Indeed, the word “target” appears 44 times in the 86-page document, indicating that Show Faith by Works sees them as threats to be neutralized.  Christians report that being singled out like this in their sacred place of worship feels like a violation. Millions of American Christians are being secretly spied upon, and bombarded with propaganda. Christians in Palestine, Lebanon and the broader region, meanwhile, are surveiled, harassed, and bombarded with drones and missiles. In both cases, Israel is carrying out a coordinated, sophisticated and sustained attack on the Christian community. In Palestine, however, they are paying for it with their lives.  There now follows a list of all places of worship listed as targeted in the disclosure.  Abundant Life Cathedral Church Houston TX Abundant Life Christian Center La Marque TX Abundant Life Christian Fellowship Mountain View CA Abundant Life Church of God San Antonio TX Abundant Living Faith Center El Paso TX Abundant Living Family Church Rancho Cucamonga CA Acts Full Gospel Church of God In Christ Oakland CA Adventure Christian Church Roseville CA Agape International Center for Truth Culver City CA Alamo City Christian Fellowship San Antonio TX Alamo Heights United Methodist Church San Antonio TX Alief Baptist Church Houston TX All Nations Church Lakeview Terrace CA Allen Temple Baptist Church Oakland CA Antioch Community Church Waco TX Antioch Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church Dallas TX Antioch Missionary Baptist Church Beaumont TX Apex Church Las Vegas NV Arcade Baptist Church Sacramento CA Ark Family Church Conroe TX Atascadero Bible Church Atascadero CA Austin Christian Fellowship Austin TX Austin Ridge Bible Church Austin TX Bandera Road Community Church San Antonio TX Bannockburn Baptist Church Austin TX Baptist Temple Church McAllen TX Bay Area Christian Church Palo Alto CA Bay Area Fellowship Corpus Christi TX Bayside Church Roseville CA Bayside of South Sacramento Sacramento CA Bayview Baptist Church San Diego CA Bear Creek Baptist Church Katy TX Bel Air Presbyterian Church Los Angeles CA Beltway Park Baptist Church Abilene TX Bent Tree Bible Fellowship Carrollton TX Berendo Street Baptist Church Los Angeles CA Bethany Lutheran Church Austin TX Bethany Slavic Missionary Church Sacramento CA Bethel Church Irvine CA Bethel Church Redding CA Bethel Church of San Jose San Jose CA Bethel’s Family Houston TX Big Valley Grace Community Church Modesto CA Bonita Valley Community Church Bonita CA Braeswood Assembly of God Houston TX Brentwood Baptist Church Houston TX Bright Russian Baptist Church West Sacramento CA Brookins Community AME Church Los Angeles CA Calvary Austin Pflugerville TX Calvary Baptist Church Beaumont TX Calvary Bible Church Burbank CA Calvary Bible Fellowship Temecula CA Calvary Bible Fellowship Temecula CA Calvary Chapel Santa Barbara CA Calvary Chapel Downey CA Calvary Chapel Chino Valley Chino CA Calvary Chapel Golden Springs Diamond Bar CA Calvary Chapel La Habra La Habra CA Calvary Chapel Modesto Modesto CA Calvary Chapel Montebello Montebello CA Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa Santa Ana CA Calvary Chapel of Oceanside Oceanside CA Calvary Chapel of Prescott Prescott AZ Calvary Chapel of Vista Vista CA Calvary Chapel Rancho Santa Margarita Rancho Santa Margarita CA Calvary Chapel South Bay Gardena CA Calvary Chapel Spring Valley Las Vegas NV Calvary Chapel Westgrove Garden Grove CA Calvary Christian Center Sacramento CA Calvary Church Irving TX Calvary Church of Santa Ana Santa Ana CA Calvary Community Church Westlake Village CA Calvary Houston Friendswood TX Calvary Murrieta Murrieta CA Calvary Phoenix Phoenix AZ Calvary Temple Concord CA Calvary Tucson Tucson AZ Calvary Worship Center Colorado Springs CO Campus Hill Church Loma Linda CA Canyon Ridge Christian Church Las Vegas NV Canyon View Vineyard Church Grand Junction CO Capital Christian Center Sacramento CA Capo Beach Calvary Capistrano Beach CA Casas Church Tucson AZ Cathedral of Faith San Jose CA Cathedral of Hope Dallas TX Celebration Church Georgetown TX Central Baptist Church College Station TX Central Christian Church Mesa AZ Central Christian Church Henderson NV Central Christian Church Lancaster CA Champion Forest Baptist Church Houston TX Chandler Christian Church Chandler AZ Chapelwood United Methodist Church Houston TX Chase Oaks Church Plano TX Cherry Hills Community Church Highlands Ranch CO Christ Chapel Bible Church Fort Worth TX Christ Church Plano Plano TX Christ Community Church Tucson AZ Christ Community Church Greeley CO Christ Fellowship McKinney TX Christ United Methodist Church Plano TX Christ’s Church of the Valley Peoria AZ Christ’s Church of the Valley San Dimas CA Christian Assembly Foursquare Church Eagle Rock CA Christian Chapel Temple of Faith Dallas TX Christian House of Prayer Copperas Cove TX Christian Life Center Stockton CA Christian Tabernacle Houston TX Christian Worship Center Manteca CA Church at Sugar Creek Sugar Land TX Church For All Nations Colorado Springs CO Church for the Nations Phoenix AZ Church of the Harvest Los Angeles CA Church Without Walls Houston TX Cielo Vista Church El Paso TX City of Grace Mesa AZ City of Refuge Church Gardena CA Clear Creek Community Church League City TX Coast Hills Community Church Aliso Viejo CA Colorado Community Church Aurora Aurora CO Colorado Community Church Englewood Englewood CO Columbus Avenue Baptist Church Waco TX Community Bible Church San Antonio TX Community Church of Joy Glendale AZ Community of Faith Hockley TX Compass Christian Church Colleyville TX Compass Church Salinas CA Concord Church Dallas TX Concordia Lutheran Church San Antonio TX Cornerstone Christian Fellowship Chandler AZ Cornerstone Church San Antonio TX Cornerstone Church Fresno CA Cornerstone Community Church Wildomar CA Cornerstone Community Church Simi Valley CA Cornerstone Fellowship Livermore CA Cottonwood Christian Center Los Alamitos CA Cottonwood Creek Baptist Church Allen TX Covenant Church Carrollton TX Covina Assembly of God Covina CA Crenshaw Christian Center Los Angeles CA Cross Timbers Community Church Argyle TX Cross Word Christian Church Riverside CA CrossPoint Community Church Modesto CA Crossroads Christian Church Grand Prairie TX Crossroads Christian Church Corona CA Crossroads Church Loveland CO Crossroads Church Grass Valley CA Crossroads Church of Denver Wheat Ridge CO Crossroads Community Church Vallejo CA Crossroads Grace Community Church Manteca CA Denton Bible Church Denton TX Desert Chapel Palm Springs CA Desert Vineyard Christian Fellowship Lancaster CA Destiny Church Indio CA DFW New Beginnings Church Irving TX Dream City Church Phoenix AZ Eastern Hills Community Church Centennial CO EastLake Church Chula Vista CA Eastside Christian Church Anaheim CA Elevate Life Church Frisco TX Emmanuel Faith Community Church Escondido CA Experience Life Lubbock TX Faith Bible Chapel Arvada CO Faith Community Church Tucson AZ Faith Community Church West Covina CA Faith Evangelical Free Church Fort Collins CO Faith Family Church Victoria TX Faith Fellowship Foursquare Church San Leandro CA Faithbridge Church Spring TX Faithful Central Bible Church Inglewood CA Fallbrook Church Houston TX Family Community Church San Jose CA Fellowship Church Grapevine TX Fellowship of the Parks Keller TX Fielder Road Baptist Church Arlington TX First African Methodist Episcopal Church Los Angeles CA First Baptist Church Belton TX First Baptist Church Midland TX First Baptist Church Wichita Falls TX First Baptist Church Aldington TX First Baptist Church Dallas TX First Baptist Church Pasadena TX First Baptist Church Amarillo Amarillo TX First Baptist Church Euless Euless TX First Baptist Church McKinney McKinney TX First Baptist Church of Elk Grove Elk Grove CA First Baptist Church of Hamilton Park Richardson TX First Baptist Church of Lubbock Lubbock TX First Baptist Church of Richardson Richardson TX First Chinese Baptist Church Los Angeles CA First Christian Church Huntington Beach CA First Church of the Nazarene Pasadena CA First Covenant Church Sacramento CA First Evangelical Free Church Austin TX First Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton Fullerton CA First Presbyterian Church Colorado Springs CO First United Methodist Church Mansfield TX First United Methodist Church Richardson Richardson TX Flatirons Community Church Lafayette CO Flood Church San Diego CA Foothills Bible Church Littleton CO Foothills Christian Fellowship El Cajon CA Friendship West Baptist Church Dallas TX Gateway Church Southlake TX Gateway Community Church Austin TX Glenview Baptist Church Fort Worth TX Glide Memorial United Methodist Church San Francisco CA Globe Harvest Church Dallas TX Golden Hills Community Church Brentwood CA Gospel Tabernacle Church Dallas TX Grace Baptist Church Santa Clarita CA Grace Bible Church College Station TX Grace Brethren Church Long Beach CA Grace Christian Center Killeen TX Grace Church Reno NV Grace Community Church Tempe AZ Grace Community Church Reno NV Grace Community Church Plano TX Grace Community Church Tyler TX Grace Community Church Houston TX Grace Community Church Sun Valley CA Grace Covenant Church Austin TX Grace Fellowship United Methodist Church Katy TX Grace Korean Church Fullerton CA Grace Outreach Center Plano TX Great Commission Baptist Church Fort Worth TX Great Hills Baptist Church Austin TX Greater Cornerstone Baptist Church Dallas TX Greater Mount Zion Baptist Church Austin TX Greater Saint Matthew Church Houston TX Greater Saint Paul Baptist Church Oakland CA Green Acres Baptist Church Tyler TX Greenwood Community Church Greenwood Village CO Harvest Christian Fellowship Riverside CA Harvest Church Fort Worth TX Harvest Church Elk Grove CA Harvest Time Church Houston TX Healing Word Tustin CA Heart Revolution Church National City CA High Desert Church Victorville CA High Point Church Arlington TX High Pointe Baptist Church Austin TX Higher Dimension Church Houston TX Highland Church of Christ Abilene TX Highland Park Community Church Casper WY Highland Park United Methodist Church Dallas TX Highlands Church Scottsdale AZ Hill Country Bible Church NW Austin TX Hillside Christian Church- Amarillo West Amarillo TX Hillside Community Church Alta Loma CA Hope Fellowship Frisco TX Hope Point Yuba City CA Horizon Christian Fellowship San Diego CA Horizon Christian Fellowship North County Rancho Santa Fe CA Houston’s First Baptist Church Houston TX Hyde Park Baptist Church Austin TX Iglesia Cristiana La Familia de Dios Ontario CA Iglesia Cristiana Misericordia Laredo TX Iglesia Cristiana Rios De Agua Viva Pomona CA Iglesia De Restauracion Inc. Los Angeles CA Iglesia Ni Cristo Los Angeles CA Iglesia Puerta Del Cielo El Paso TX Immanuel Baptist Church Highland CA Inland Hills Church Chino CA Inspiring Body of Christ Church Dallas TX International Christian Center Brownsville TX International Church of Las Vegas Las Vegas NV Irving Bible Church Irving TX Journey Community Church La Mesa CA Journey of Faith Manhattan Beach CA Jubilee Christian Center San Jose CA Jubilee Fellowship Church Lone Tree CO Kingdom in the Valley Christian Church Litchfield Park AZ Kingsland Baptist Church Katy TX Knott Avenue Christian Church Anaheim CA La Casa de Cristo Lutheran Church Scottsdale AZ La Iglesia en el Camino Van Nuys CA Lake Arlington Baptist Church Arlington TX Lake Avenue Church Pasadena CA Lake Hills Church Austin TX Lake Pointe Church Rockwall TX Lakeside Baptist Church Granbury TX Lakeside Church Folsom CA Lakewood Church Houston TX Lancaster Baptist Church Lancaster CA Life Church Irving CA Life Church of God In Christ Riverside CA Life Tabernacle Houston TX LifeBridge Christian Church Longmont CO LifePoint Church Minden NV Lifeway Church Ministries Rancho Cucamonga CA Lilly Grove Missionary Baptist Church Houston TX Little Country Church Redding CA Living Stones Church Reno NV Living Streams Church Phoenix AZ Loma Linda University Church Loma Linda CA Longview Baptist Temple Longview TX Love International Ministries Phoenix AZ Loving Word Fellowship Houston TX Maranatha Chapel San Diego CA March of Faith Ministries Houston TX Mariners Church Irvine CA McKinney Memorial Bible Church Fort Worth TX Menlo Park Presbyterian Church Menlo Park CA Milestone Church Keller TX Minister io s Bethania USA Carrollton TX Ministerios Llamada Final Downey CA Mission Community Church Gilbert AZ Mission Ebenezer Family Church Carson CA Mission Hills Church Littleton CO Mobberly Baptist Church Longview TX Morningstar Christian Chapel Whittier CA Mount Calvary Baptist Church Fairfield CA Mount Corinth Baptist Church Houston TX Mount Olive Baptist Church Arlington TX Mount Sinai Missionary Baptist Church Austin TX Mountain Springs Church Colorado Springs CO Mundo De Fe Carrollton TX Name Location State Neighborhood Church of Redding Redding CA Neighborhood Church/Three Crosses Castro Valley CA New Birth Baptist Church Dallas TX New Birth Church Pittsburg CA New Covenant Community Church Fresno CA New Faith Church Houston TX New Harvest Christian Fellowship Norwalk CA New Hope Church Manvel TX New Hope Missionary Baptist Church San Bernardino CA New Life Center Bakersfield CA New Life Church Colorado Springs CO New Life Church Alamo CA New Life Community Church Pismo Beach CA New Light Christian Center Church Houston TX New Song Church Carrollton TX New Venture Christian Fellowship Oceanside CA New Vision Church Milpitas CA Newbreak San Diego CA NewSong Church Irvine CA North Church Carrollton TX North Coast Calvary Chapel Carlsbad CA North Coast Church Vista CA North Phoenix Baptist Church Phoenix AZ North Scottsdale Christian Scottsdale AZ North Valley Baptist Church Santa Clara CA Northern Hills Christian Church Brighton CO Northside Christian Church Clovis CA Northwest Church Fresno CA Northwest Community Church Phoenix AZ NorthWood Church Keller TX Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship Church Dallas TX Oak Hills Church San Antonio TX Oakwood Baptist Church New Braunfels TX Oasis Church Valley Village CA One Community Church Plano TX Orange Hills Assembly of God Orange Hills CA Oriental Mission Church Los Angeles CA Overcoming Faith Christian Center Arlington TX Palm Valley Church Mission TX Palm Valley Community Church Litchfield Park AZ Palmcroft Baptist Church Phoenix AZ Pantano Christian Church Tucson AZ Pantego Bible Church Fort Worth TX Paradise Alliance Church Paradise CA Park Cities Baptist Church Dallas TX Park Cities Presbyterian Church Dallas TX Parkcrest Christian Church Long Beach CA Peoples Church Fresno CA Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church Phoenix AZ Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church Dallas TX Place for Life San Antonio TX Pomona First Baptist Church Pomona CA Potter’s House Church of Denver Denver CO Prestoncrest Church of Christ Dallas TX Prestonwood Baptist Church Plano TX PromiseLand Church Austin TX Radiant Church Surprise AZ Rancho Community Church Temecula CA Real Life Corpus Christi TX Real Life Church Valencia CA Reality Carpinteria CA Red Rocks Church Golden CO Redemption Church Tempe AZ Resurrection Fellowship Loveland CO Revival Center Modesto Modesto CA Revival Christian Fellowship Menifee CA River of Life Christian Church Santa Clara CA River Pointe Church Richmond TX Riverbend Church Austin TX Riverlakes Community Church Bakersfield CA Rock of Roseville Roseville CA RockHarbor Church Costa Mesa CA Rocky Mountain Calvary Chapel Colorado Springs CO Rocky Mountain Christian Church Niwot CO Rolling Hills Christian Church El Dorado Hills CA Rolling Hills Covenant Church Rolling Hills Estates CA Saddleback Church Lake Forest CA Sagemont Church Houston TX Saint Andrew’s Presbyterian Church Newport Beach CA Saint John Baptist Church Grand Prairie TX Saint John’s Downtown United Methodist Church Houston TX Saint John’s Lutheran Church Orange CA Saint Martin’s Episcopal Church Houston TX Saint Michael and All Angels Episcopal Dallas TX Saint Paul Baptist Church Sacramento CA Saintsville Sanctuary Church of God In Christ Dallas TX Sandals Church Riverside CA Santa Cruz Bible Church Santa Cruz CA Sarang Community Church Anaheim CA Saturn Road Church of Christ Garland TX Scottsdale Bible Church Scottsdale AZ Seacoast Grace Church Cypress CA Second Baptist Church Houston TX Shadow Hills Church Las Vegas NV Shadow Mountain Community Church El Cajon CA Shepherd of the Hills Church Porter Ranch CA Shoreline Christian Center Austin TX Shoreline Community Church Monterey CA Silverlake Church Pearland TX Skyline Wesleyan Church La Mesa CA Sonrise Community Baptist Church Santee CA South Hills Church Corona CA South Mountain Community Church Draper UT Southeast Christian Church Parker CO Southwest Community Church Houston TX Southwest Community Church Indian Wells CA Spring of Life Christian Church Mesa AZ St Lukes United Methodist Church Houston TX Stonebriar Community Church Frisco TX Stonegate Fellowship Midland TX Sugar Creek Baptist Church Sugar Land TX Summit Christian Center San Antonio TX Summit Christian Church Sparks NV Sun Valley Community Church Gilbert AZ Sunnyvale First Baptist Church Sunnyvale TX Sunrise Church Rialto CA Tallowood Baptist Church Houston TX Temple Bible Church Temple TX Templo Calvario Assembly of God Santa Ana CA Thanksgiving Church Buena Park CA The Austin Stone Community Church Austin TX The Bridge Fresno CA The Bridge Bible Church Bakersfield CA The Church at Bethel’s Family Houston TX The Church at Rocky Peak Chatsworth CA The Church at South Las Vegas Henderson NV The Church on Rush Creek Aldington TX The Church on the Way Van Nuys CA The Community of Faith Houston TX The Crossing Costa Mesa CA The Crossing A Christian Church Las Vegas NV The Dream Center / Angelus Temple Los Angeles CA The Father’s House Vacaville CA The Foundry United Methodist Church Houston TX The Fountain of Praise Houston TX The Grove Community Church Riverside CA The Heights Baptist Church Richardson TX The Heights Church Prescott AZ The Hills Church of Christ North Richland Hills TX The House Modesto Modesto CA The Living Word Bible Church Mesa AZ The Met (Metropolitan Baptist Church) Houston TX The Oaks Fellowship Red Oak TX The Packinghouse Church Redlands CA The Potter’s House Dallas TX The River of Life Church Phoenix AZ The Rock Anaheim CA The Rock Church San Diego CA The Rock Church and World Outreach Center San Bernardino CA The Rock Church of Sacramento Elk Grove CA The Village Church Flower Mound TX The Well Community Church Fresno CA The Woodlands United Methodist Church The Woodlands TX Timberline Church Fort Collins CO Torrance First Presbyterian Church Torrance CA Travis Avenue Baptist Church Fort Worth TX Trinity Church Cedar Hill TX Trinity Church Lubbock TX Trinity Evangelical Free Church Redlands CA Trinity Fellowship Church Amarillo TX Twin Cities Community Church Grass Valley CA Twin Lakes Baptist Church Aptos CA University United Methodist Church San Antonio TX Valley Baptist Church Bakersfield CA Valley Christian Center Church Fresno CA Valley Creek Church Flower Mound TX VBF Church Bakersfield CA Venture Christian Church Los Gatos CA Victorville First Assembly Victorville CA Victory Assembly Tucson AZ Victory Missionary Baptist Church Las Vegas NV Victory Outreach Church La Puente CA Victory Outreach Church San Diego San Diego CA Vineyard Christian Fellowship of North Phoenix Glendale AZ Vineyard Church of the Rockies Fort Collins CO Vino Nuevo de El Paso El Paso TX Visalia First Assembly of God Visalia CA Ward African Methodist Episcopal Church Los Angeles CA Warehouse Ministry Sacramento CA Washington Heights Baptist Church Ogden UT Water of Life Community Church Fontana CA Watermark Community Church Dallas TX West Angeles Church of God in Christ Los Angeles CA WestGate Church San Jose CA Westover Hills Assembly of God San Antonio TX Westside Baptist Church Lewisville TX Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church Houston TX White’s Chapel United Methodist Church Southlake TX Whittier Area Community Church Whittier CA Windsor Village United Methodist Church Houston TX Woodlands Church The Woodlands TX Woodmen Valley Chapel Colorado Springs CO Word of Life Christian Center Lone Tree CO Yorba Linda Friends Church Yorba Linda CA Alan MacLeod is Senior Staff Writer for MintPress News. He completed his PhD in 2017 and has since authored two acclaimed books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent, as well as a number of academic articles. He has also contributed to FAIR.org, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, and Common Dreams. Follow Alan on Twitter for more of his work and commentary: @AlanRMacLeod. The post FARA Docs: Israel is Spying On Millions Of Christian Americans In Their Churches appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Foreign Affairs, Front Page: Foreign Affairs, Front Page: Inside Stories, Investigations, Nation, News, Top Story]

— Hezbollah Forces Israeli Withdrawal as Trump Scrambles for Iran Agreement

 

at 6/17/26 11:45am

On this Monday’s edition of The Target stream, Mint Press News’ Robert Inlakesh cuts through the corporate media’s spin on the newly agreed Memorandum of Understanding between the United States and Iran, focusing on the broader issues that will determine the deals viability. Following a two-month long deadlock at the negotiating table, due to US intransigence, a sudden breakthrough was announced by President Donald Trump. In the days prior to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the US and Iran were trading heavy blows initiated by American aggression on southern Iran. Backing down from his threats, last Friday, to launch enormous strikes on civilian targets, Trump instead unilaterally declared the war was over for yet another time. By Sunday, which was set by Washington as the intended MoU signing date, the Israelis decided to yet again violate Tehran’s red line and bombard Beirut, Lebanon. Before Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) could implement their pledge to retaliate, the Trump administration reportedly offered last minute concessions that ended up resulting in an agreement. According to reports a 60-day period will be entered following the formal signing ceremony planned for this Friday in Geneva, during which the US and Iran will have to meet a number of demands. The sudden nature of the agreement, especially considering that the region was on the brink of war just last week, has created great skepticism. Is the US President finally breaking from Israel and deciding to pursue his own interests, or is this simply another diplomatic trick to stabilize global oil markets, ease the economic and political fallout from the Iran war, while plotting yet another scheme to topple the government in Tehran? Meanwhile, the Israeli military has continued its operations in southern Lebanon and flatly refused to withdraw its occupation forces from its imposed “Yellow Line”, arguing the need for a “buffer zone”. Thus, Israeli invading military convoys have pushed even deeper into Lebanese territory, falling into Hezbollah ambushes and engaging in fierce clashes. In this episode we cover the latest video evidence of Israel’s unraveling in southern Lebanon, as it faces swarms of FPV drones that continue to pick off their soldiers and military vehicles. Hezbollah also released footage of its successful air defence operation, that resulted in the downing of a sophisticated Israeli Heron-1 Drone. The downing of the drone, which costs around $10 million per unit, using MANPADS, represents a major blow to Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI)’s ongoing attempts to sell the UAV to foreign nations. If the shaky MoU manages to succeed, it could represent a historic victory for the Islamic Republic of Iran, granting it increased economic opportunities, stronger regional influence, and de facto control over the Strait of Hormuz– one of the world’s most important economic chokepoints. On the other hand, the Israelis would face the end of their long desired ‘Greater Israel Project’, forcing them to give up their ambitions for territorial expansion outside of occupied Palestine. Whether Donald Trump can force such a deal upon the Israelis and weather the inevitable storm of the Israel Lobby at home, could perhaps determine who truly calls the shots between Washington and Tel Aviv. A major shift in West Asia power dynamics could be about to take place, which has also led to intrigue as to how this may impact the besieged population of the Gaza Strip and whether they will also be included in the upcoming Iran-US deal. Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst, journalist and documentary filmmaker currently based in London, UK. He has reported from and lived in the occupied Palestinian territories and hosts the show ‘Palestine Files’. Director of ‘Steal of the Century: Trump’s Palestine-Israel Catastrophe’. Follow him on Twitter @falasteen47 The post Hezbollah Forces Israeli Withdrawal as Trump Scrambles for Iran Agreement appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Behind The Headlines, Foreign Affairs, Front Page: Foreign Affairs, News, Top Story, Videos, Gaza, Hezbollah, Israel bombing Lebanon, Lebanon, Strait of Hormuz, US-Iran Peace Deal, US-Israel War on Iran]

— DHS Docs: Govt Bracing for Nationwide Anti-AI Riots, Preparing to Crack Down on Dissent

 

at 6/11/26 10:51am

New documents from government agencies such as the FBI and Department of Homeland Security show that Washington is preparing for widespread anti-A.I. riots, as the technology destroys communities and industries across the country. Ironically, the Trump administration is already using invasive A.I. technology to identify and suppress what it calls anti-A.I. “extremists,” in the process, sweeping the entire nation into its massive surveillance dragnet.  More than 1,000 pages of leaked documents reviewed by WIRED Magazine show that government agencies are anticipating a huge wave of domestic unrest in the coming years, as artificial intelligence upends American society. Automation-related job losses could shatter entire industries, while the building of gigantic data centers will remove water and electricity from public use, ramping up the price of what little remains.  As one report from the New York Intelligence and Counterterrorism Bureau notes:  The chaotic atmosphere that may result from emergent A.I. technology in the next five years may fuel large-scale protests that devolve into civil unrest and anti-tech violent extremist activity, especially in large urban areas such as New York City. An Environmental and Health Catastrophe  Last year, the tech industry collectively spent around half a trillion dollars on the construction of new data centers. These buildings consume near insatiable amounts of energy and water. By 2030, they are expected to represent around 12% of total U.S. electricity consumption. One large data center consumes up to five million gallons of water per day – as much as a small city. It has been calculated that a single 100-word A.I. prompt to a chatbot like Claude or ChatGPT uses over half a liter of water, equivalent to one bottle.   When a data center moves into town, utility prices skyrocket. In this situation, wholesale electricity, for example, jumps by up to 267%. Ordinary Americans cannot compete with the likes of Amazon or Microsoft, and can be priced out of even the most basic necessities of life, causing widespread resentment.  Living near a data center can also be hazardous to human health. Thanks to the low-frequency noises they produce, residents often report chronic symptoms such as insomnia, vertigo, and nausea. Worse still, to meet their enormous energy demands, data centers often rely on gas or diesel generators, which emit high levels of nitrogen oxides, fine particular matter, and so-called “forever chemicals” into the air, further complicating the situation. A.I. will also have a profound effect on employment. Goldman Sachs predicts that, over the next decade, 300 million jobs could be lost to A.I.-based automation. Sam Altman, CEO of ChatGPT’s parent company, OpenAI, has suggested that whole industries may be replaced by his product. “Entire classes of jobs will go away and not come back,” he confidently stated in 2019. Facing growing public anger, last month, he walked those statements back, assuring the public that there would be no “jobs apocalypse.” But if these predictions are anything close to correct, it will cause massive economic disruption across America, and send towns and entire cities dependent on certain types of work into potentially permanent depressions. The latest news that Washington is preparing to treat this unrest as akin to terrorism should be of great concern to all Americans.  The Dark Side of A.I. The public, as a whole, is highly skeptical of artificial intelligence. A recent poll found that only 5% trust A.I. a great deal, while 77% think it could pose a fundamental threat to humanity.  The U.S. national security state, however, has fully committed to A.I., and is using it to mass surveil the public and to identify those not sufficiently supportive of the new technology. In March, FBI director Kash Patel confirmed that the bureau is buying Americans’ personal online user data from brokers in order to track the public. The Department of Homeland Security has spent millions purchasing A.I. software that detects the sentiment and emotions of Americans’ online posts, and is using it to identify activists and other potential “threats.” It has also sent subpoenas to Google, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Discord, and other large social media apps demanding they share the personal information and identities of anonymous users who have criticized the actions of the Trump administration. Government officials confirmed to The New York Times that platforms have often complied with their requests.   A.I. giant Anthropic publicly pulled out of a deal with the U.S. Department of War to develop A.I. systems in “classified environments,” stating that they feared the technology would immediately be used to carry out mass domestic surveillance in the United States. “We cannot in good conscience accede to their request,” they said, explaining their decision. The company was immediately labeled a national security “supply chain risk” by the Trump administration, and the contract was fulfilled by OpenAI. OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman is one of Trump’s most generous donors, having channeled $25 million to the president’s super PAC, MAGA Inc. He has also poured $50 million into Leading the Future, a bipartisan super PAC aimed at promoting pro-A.I. legislation in Washington, D.C., and defeating and silencing lawmakers who wish to curb the influence and power of the new industry.   It remains to be seen to what extent A.I. will actually become a revolutionary technology, but what is clear is that the U.S. government is preparing for major economic and social disruption in its wake. Instead of creating economic bailout plans and social welfare programs to help those negatively affected, however, it is preparing an authoritarian response, looking to crush dissent. What makes this future even more ironically dystopian is that, to do so, it is using the very A.I. that is triggering the problem in the first place. Alan MacLeod is Senior Staff Writer for MintPress News. He completed his PhD in 2017 and has since authored two acclaimed books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent, as well as a number of academic articles. He has also contributed to FAIR.org, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, and Common Dreams. Follow Alan on Twitter for more of his work and commentary: @AlanRMacLeod. The post DHS Docs: Govt Bracing for Nationwide Anti-AI Riots, Preparing to Crack Down on Dissent appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Front Page: Inside Stories, Front Page: National, Investigations, Nation, National, News, Top Story, AI, artificial intelligence, data centers, DHS, dissent, Environment, tech pollution]

— The Resistance Responds: Iran, Yemen and Hezbollah Reshape Battlefield in Lebanon Against Israeli attacks

 

at 6/9/26 2:42pm

On this Monday’s edition of The Target stream, Mint Press News’ Robert Inlakesh breaks down the confrontation between Israel and Iran, cutting through the propaganda and presenting the evidence available to suggest what damage was inflicted. After warning that any Israeli strike on Beirut would trigger an immediate response, Iran implemented its threats and targeted a series of Israeli military bases. Yemen’s Ansarallah later joined the defense of Lebanon, linking broader regional fronts and tightening the economic stranglehold over the US-Israeli alliance by locking down the Bab al-Manbad Strait. Last Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to target the southern suburbs of the Lebanese Capital, but temporarily held back from doing so after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) threatened retaliatory strikes in response. On Sunday, the situation came to a head, following a limited Israeli attack on Beirut, triggering a 15-hour battle between Tehran and Tel Aviv. How big was this moment for the region and will it set a new deterrence equation? Can Iran reinstate the concept of the Unity of Squares linking all the fronts that former Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah had fought to achieve? Meanwhile, Hezbollah’s asymmetric warfare tactics on the ground in southern Lebanon are continuing to burden Israel’s occupation forces and inflict growing casualty numbers. Especially is this the case with the widespread use of First Person View (FPV) drones, which are impossible to jam using electronic warfare equipment and just as hard to detect before it is too late. In the latest edition of the target Stream, we review the latest footage emerging from the battlefield. As the war wages on in the south, the US-backed Lebanese government continues to lash out and blame the Iranians for Israel’s airstrikes and invasion of their nation. Despite the recent assassination of a general in the Lebanese Army, President Joseph Aoun refuses to order his armed forces to resist and instead pursues direct talks with Israeli officials in Washington. Reshaping regional dynamics the Yemeni Armed Forces have carried out missile attacks against Tel Aviv; overtly in support of the Lebanon front. In an even more devastating development, Yemen’s Ansarallah has re-instated its blockade in the Red Sea and closed down the Bab al-Mandab Strait to all Israeli shipping, a measure it had previously taken in response to Israel’s genocide in Gaza. With the closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran, the potential that Yemen may fully blockade the Bab al-Mandab Strait, has many bracing for the enormous economic repercussions. All of this as tensions rise dramatically across the region, reaching boiling point and laying the groundwork for a renewal of full-scale hostilities.  Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst, journalist and documentary filmmaker currently based in London, UK. He has reported from and lived in the occupied Palestinian territories and hosts the show ‘Palestine Files’. Director of ‘Steal of the Century: Trump’s Palestine-Israel Catastrophe’. Follow him on Twitter @falasteen47 The post The Resistance Responds: Iran, Yemen and Hezbollah Reshape Battlefield in Lebanon Against Israeli attacks appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Behind The Headlines, Foreign Affairs, News, What's Hot, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, War]

— Iran Arrests 6,500 Israeli and U.S.-Linked Agents Amid Expanding Spy Crackdown

 

at 6/6/26 6:34am

As new revelations continue to break regarding US military losses during its war on Iran, Tehran has publicly announced the results of a widespread crackdown on agents working on behalf of foreign intelligence agencies. Thousands have been detained in the latest wave of arrests. The Commander-in-Chief of Iran’s Law Enforcement Command (FARAJA), Ahmadreza Radan, announced earlier this week that the Islamic Republic’s security apparatus had arrested upwards of 6,500 agents since the beginning of the latest US-Israeli attacks; that the official described as “The Third War”. On Tuesday, Iran’s Intelligence Ministry went on to release a statement that claimed the capture of 19 individuals, who were part of four separate “Takfiri terrorist cells” in the Sistan and Baluchestan Province. The term Takfiri is used to describe Salafist Sunni Muslims, usually linked to ISIS or Al-Qaeda, who believe in a fringe version of the Islamic faith that justifies killing fellow Muslims and others over religious disagreements. The Iranian government statement, regarding the thwarting of alleged terrorist plots, went on to state that most of those arrested were foreign nationals, and published a video showing a cache of weapons stored at one of the uncovered hideouts. Although the militants were accused of being part of unspecified Takfiri organisations, the Ministry accused them of “operating under the direct guidance of the American-Zionist enemy”. This comes amidst the US Congress uncovering that 42 US aircraft were lost during its 40 days of operations against the Islamic Republic, a staggering statistic that has triggered backlash in the house over the costly nature of the conflict and its implications on American power projection. Iran’s judiciary has executed a number of individuals accused of working on behalf of the Israeli Mossad, since the war began on February 28, which has drawn criticism from the United States. For example, Mohammad Masoum Shahi and Hamed Validi were both sentenced to death on charges of operating as part of a Mossad-linked network, planning terrorist attacks and receiving training in Iraqi Kurdistan. Despite attempts by Iranian opposition groups to deny all of the charges against those who have been handed death sentences and claim that Tehran is killing its own people to silence dissent, as was claimed regarding the Iran riots at the beginning of 2026, some US officials have been transparent about their involvement. US President Donald Trump not only supported a plan that would involve Kurdish militant groups invading Iran from northern Iraq, but had even voiced dissatisfaction with Kurdish forces keeping weapons that were intended to reach Iranian rioters. While the death penalty charge, against accused agents of foreign intelligence, has drawn the ire of the mainstream human rights organisations, the statistics are often skewed in the Western corporate media to present an unrealistic picture of events. For example, in June of 2025 alone the Iranian authorities arrested 700 people on suspicion of working for the Israeli Mossad. That same year, the death penalty statistic hit 1,639 inside of Iran, which was widely cited without the context that only 57 of those executions were carried out on security related charges. While independent verification does not exist to substantiate the claims in each case, the majority of death sentences in Iran are for crimes such as murder, rape and drug related offences. Earlier this January, during the Iran riots, former CIA director and Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, openly stated on social media “Happy New Year to Iranians and Mossad agents beside them,” which was widely interpreted as an admission of foreign involvement in the unrest. According to an Israeli Channel 13 report, during the 12-Day War, the Mossad had carried out “its largest ever mission” inside of Iran. Using more than 100 “foreign agents”, the Israelis managed to target Iran’s air defences and missile launchers at the beginning of the war. This enabled Tel Aviv to strike Tehran relentlessly for around 15 hours, prior to there being a response. Despite an abundance of admissions from former US officials, the American President, and detailed reports by the Israeli media, regarding the pivotal role that agents have played in supporting military operations targeting the Islamic Republic, there remains a refusal from the Western media to admit the consequential role of the Mossad and CIA on the ground. Meanwhile, Iran’s authorities continue to announce that they have successfully located thousands of agents and militants, in addition to continuing strikes against Kurdish-Iranian opposition groups based in Erbil and elsewhere in northern Iraq. All as the true US military losses during the war thus far, continue to present themselves. Robert Inlakesh Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst, journalist and documentary filmmaker currently based in London, UK. He has reported from and lived in the occupied Palestinian territories and hosts the show ‘Palestine Files’. Director of ‘Steal of the Century: Trump’s Palestine-Israel Catastrophe’. Follow him on Twitter @falasteen47 The post Iran Arrests 6,500 Israeli and U.S.-Linked Agents Amid Expanding Spy Crackdown appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Foreign Affairs, Front Page: Foreign Affairs, News, Top Story, Al-Qaeda, FARAJA, Iran, Mossad, Mossad Spy Cell]

— Iran Inflicts U.S. Casualties, Halts Talks and Challenges Trump’s Authority in the Gulf

 

at 6/6/26 6:34am

As new revelations continue to break regarding US military losses during its war on Iran, Tehran has publicly announced the results of a widespread crackdown on agents working on behalf of foreign intelligence agencies. Thousands have been detained in the latest wave of arrests. The Commander-in-Chief of Iran’s Law Enforcement Command (FARAJA), Ahmadreza Radan, announced earlier this week that the Islamic Republic’s security apparatus had arrested upwards of 6,500 agents since the beginning of the latest US-Israeli attacks; that the official described as “The Third War”. On Tuesday, Iran’s Intelligence Ministry went on to release a statement that claimed the capture of 19 individuals, who were part of four separate “Takfiri terrorist cells” in the Sistan and Baluchestan Province. The term Takfiri is used to describe Salafist Sunni Muslims, usually linked to ISIS or Al-Qaeda, who believe in a fringe version of the Islamic faith that justifies killing fellow Muslims and others over religious disagreements. The Iranian government statement, regarding the thwarting of alleged terrorist plots, went on to state that most of those arrested were foreign nationals, and published a video showing a cache of weapons stored at one of the uncovered hideouts. Although the militants were accused of being part of unspecified Takfiri organisations, the Ministry accused them of “operating under the direct guidance of the American-Zionist enemy”. This comes amidst the US Congress uncovering that 42 US aircraft were lost during its 40 days of operations against the Islamic Republic, a staggering statistic that has triggered backlash in the house over the costly nature of the conflict and its implications on American power projection. Iran’s judiciary has executed a number of individuals accused of working on behalf of the Israeli Mossad, since the war began on February 28, which has drawn criticism from the United States. For example, Mohammad Masoum Shahi and Hamed Validi were both sentenced to death on charges of operating as part of a Mossad-linked network, planning terrorist attacks and receiving training in Iraqi Kurdistan. Despite attempts by Iranian opposition groups to deny all of the charges against those who have been handed death sentences and claim that Tehran is killing its own people to silence dissent, as was claimed regarding the Iran riots at the beginning of 2026, some US officials have been transparent about their involvement. US President Donald Trump not only supported a plan that would involve Kurdish militant groups invading Iran from northern Iraq, but had even voiced dissatisfaction with Kurdish forces keeping weapons that were intended to reach Iranian rioters. While the death penalty charge, against accused agents of foreign intelligence, has drawn the ire of the mainstream human rights organisations, the statistics are often skewed in the Western corporate media to present an unrealistic picture of events. For example, in June of 2025 alone the Iranian authorities arrested 700 people on suspicion of working for the Israeli Mossad. That same year, the death penalty statistic hit 1,639 inside of Iran, which was widely cited without the context that only 57 of those executions were carried out on security related charges. While independent verification does not exist to substantiate the claims in each case, the majority of death sentences in Iran are for crimes such as murder, rape and drug related offences. Earlier this January, during the Iran riots, former CIA director and Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, openly stated on social media “Happy New Year to Iranians and Mossad agents beside them,” which was widely interpreted as an admission of foreign involvement in the unrest. According to an Israeli Channel 13 report, during the 12-Day War, the Mossad had carried out “its largest ever mission” inside of Iran. Using more than 100 “foreign agents”, the Israelis managed to target Iran’s air defences and missile launchers at the beginning of the war. This enabled Tel Aviv to strike Tehran relentlessly for around 15 hours, prior to there being a response. Despite an abundance of admissions from former US officials, the American President, and detailed reports by the Israeli media, regarding the pivotal role that agents have played in supporting military operations targeting the Islamic Republic, there remains a refusal from the Western media to admit the consequential role of the Mossad and CIA on the ground. Meanwhile, Iran’s authorities continue to announce that they have successfully located thousands of agents and militants, in addition to continuing strikes against Kurdish-Iranian opposition groups based in Erbil and elsewhere in northern Iraq. All as the true US military losses during the war thus far, continue to present themselves. Robert Inlakesh Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst, journalist and documentary filmmaker currently based in London, UK. He has reported from and lived in the occupied Palestinian territories and hosts the show ‘Palestine Files’. Director of ‘Steal of the Century: Trump’s Palestine-Israel Catastrophe’. Follow him on Twitter @falasteen47 The post Iran Inflicts U.S. Casualties, Halts Talks and Challenges Trump’s Authority in the Gulf appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Foreign Affairs, Front Page: Foreign Affairs, News, Top Story, Al-Qaeda, FARAJA, Iran, Mossad, Mossad Spy Cell]

— Iran Inflicts U.S. Casualties, Halts Talks and Challenges Trump’s Authority in the Gulf

 

at 6/4/26 3:31pm

Iranian retaliatory strikes on three US bases in the Persian Gulf, in response to continued aggression against southern Iran, inflicts American losses and throws the future of an already shaky ceasefire into doubt. Stifling the Trump administration’s attempts to achieve leverage, Tehran now halts communications and raises the stakes regionally. The start of June has been marked by an increase in US aggression in the Persian Gulf. At least 6 US personnel and contractors were injured late last month in Iranian retaliatory strikes, with 3 US bases now having been struck within the past days alone. What had been otherwise sporadic low-intensity warfare, between Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the US navy, that has taken place since the imposition of the temporary ceasefire on April 8, recently evolved into a scenario that could initiate a return to full-scale war. Following the Iranian downing of a hostile US MQ-1 attack drone over the Persian Gulf, American forces decided to launch a series of strikes on military sites located in Iran’s Goruk and Qeshm Island. Despite US Central Command’s claims that they “responded” to an IRGC provocation, the action in question was the Iranian air defence shooting down their attack drone. On June 1, Tehran announced that it had carried out retaliatory strikes on US forces stationed at a base in Kuwait, from which they say the ceasefire violations against its territory were carried out. At least two ballistic missiles were fired towards US forces, located at a distance of around 40 kilometers from the Iranian mainland. While CENTCOM announced that “no American personnel were injured” in the attacks, leaked reports had emerged revealing a number of casualties had been inflicted amongst US servicemembers and contractors stationed at Ali al-Salem Base at the end of May. On June 2, the IRGC also responded to US strikes on southern Iran, launching its largest wave of missiles and drones at two US bases in Kuwait and America’s 5th Fleet headquarters in Bahrain. Initially, US Central Command denied any damage from the attack. Satellite imagery later revealed impacts on hangars/shelters at both Ali Al-Salem airbase and Camp Buehring base in Kuwait, in addition to what appeared to be smoke rising from Sakhir Airbase in Bahrain. CCTV footage of a drone striking a terminal of the Kuwait International Airport, also emerged the following day, which Washington is yet to address. On May 27, Kuwait announced that it had shot down a single Iranian ballistic missile fired towards US forces stationed inside the Gulf nation, stating that there was no damage nor injuries from the strike. However, US sources speaking to ABC News days later revealed that there were in fact an unspecified number of injuries caused to American personnel, along with contractors, attributing the casualties to falling debris from the allegedly intercepted missile. The ballistic missile attack was the most significant strike carried out by the IRGC since the beginning of the ceasefire and came after US strikes against Bandar Abbas in southern Iran. On May 25, the American navy had opened fire on two IRGC speedboats near the Strait of Hormuz, killing 4 Iranian personnel and triggering retaliatory fire towards their warships. Since the ceasefire was implemented, following intensive Pakistani mediation, Tehran has expressed its frustration at the US violating the terms of the truce. A major condition of the temporary ceasefire agreement has been the inclusion of Lebanon in the deal, which the Israelis have since failed to comply with, which has meant that Tehran has ordered the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz as a result. Back in April, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth was quick to return to the escalatory rhetoric of his President, threatening that his forces are “locked and loaded” – ready to destroy Iran’s energy infrastructure. He echoed Donald Trump’s threat that “a whole civilisation will die tonight”, referring to his threat to wipe out Iranian power plants and brides; a blatant violation of international law and speculated to have been hinting at the use of nuclear weapons. On June 1, in addition to Iran’s ballistic missile strikes on US forces in Kuwait, it also adopted the launch of a cruise missile striking the MSC Sariska V ship that the IRGC says is affiliated with “American-Zionist interests”. Meanwhile, the Iranian military and political leadership had announced not only the cessation of contacts with US negotiators over repeated ceasefire violations, but took matters a step further. Iran also directly threatened to strike Israeli targets in northern occupied Palestine, if Tel Aviv is to go through with its threats to return to bombing the Lebanese Capital. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defence Minister Israel Katz had announced their intention to strike southern Beirut, on Monday morning, but halted the implementation of the strikes following Iran’s threats. The commander of IRGC’s Quds Force, Esmail Qaani, also issued another threat, stating that continued Israeli ceasefire violations in both Lebanon and Gaza “will mark the determination of the resistance axis to expand support from both fronts, take steps to activate other fronts, and equate the traffic situation of the Bab El Mandeb Strait with the Strait of Hormuz”. A first direct exchange of fire between Iran and the US, during the ceasefire, occurred on May 7. However, the hardline stances of the US Trump administration, accusations that the American President is unserious in his efforts to reach a ceasefire and is instead engaging in market manipulation through his rhetoric, in addition to the continued low-intensity battles and economic warfare waged by both sides, indicates that the fragile truce may be waning. Robert Inlakesh Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst, journalist and documentary filmmaker currently based in London, UK. He has reported from and lived in the occupied Palestinian territories and hosts the show ‘Palestine Files’. Director of ‘Steal of the Century: Trump’s Palestine-Israel Catastrophe’. Follow him on Twitter @falasteen47 The post Iran Inflicts U.S. Casualties, Halts Talks and Challenges Trump’s Authority in the Gulf appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Foreign Affairs, Front Page: Foreign Affairs, News, Opinion & Analysis, Top Story, Iran war, Kuwait, Persian Gulf, US Central Command]

— Israel’s Genocide Economy: Record Weapons Profits Driven by Muslim and European Buyers

 

at 6/4/26 2:03pm

Newly released data, published by the International Defense Cooperation (SIBAT) of Tel Aviv’s Ministry of Defense, revealed that arms exports for the year 2025 amounted to $19.2 Billion– an all-time record. This means Israel rakes in record earnings for the fifth consecutive year while it profits from battle-testing weapons on civilian populations in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran. While openly adopting a quasi-critical approach to Israel’s military actions, It’s the same European and Muslim-majority countries that are fueling Israeli weapons exports. Calls for boycotts, direct action against arms manufacturers and campaigns to bar Israeli weapons companies from arms fairs has proven unsuccessful in the face of governments willingness to purchase Israel’s weaponry. That represents a more than 30% increase in profits from the year 2024, in the export of Israeli weapons, in addition to it being the fifth consecutive record-setting year. The uptick in sales have coincided with two major developments, the first being the defence cooperation with Arab and Muslim-majority nations following the signing of the “Abraham Accords” normalisation agreements, the second is the marketing of its technology following the initiation of the Gaza genocide[a][b][c][d][e]. While the United States is considered Israel’s closest international partner, Israel sold more weapons to its Arab allies in 2025 than it had to the Americans, representing a major shift. North America accounted for 13% of Israel’s arms exports, while the Middle East and North Africa accounted for 15%; a percentage that is anticipated to rise this year. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has, for example, this year established a fund with Israel to jointly acquire and develop new weapons systems. Abu Dhabi also notably carried out coordinated military operations with Tel Aviv against Iran, earlier this year and has integrated its air defence systems with its Israeli partners. Immediately following the signing of the 2020 “Abraham Accords”, Israeli arms export profits ballooned to record highs of $11.3 billion in 2021 and $12.5 billion in 2022, a significant portion of which was attributed to sales made to its new Arab allies. Israel has recently become Morocco’s second largest weapons supplier, after Rabat decided to choose Elbit Systems as its major weapons supplier over France’s KNDS in early 2025. But it isn’t only the UAE and Morocco who are purchasing Israeli weapons, Muslim-majority nation Azerbaijan has bought around 70% of its weapons from Israel over the past years. Turkmenistan, which like Azerbaijan borders the Islamic Republic of Iran, is also a purchaser of Israeli military technology, recently acquiring Skystriker kamikaze drones produced by Elbit Systems. Despite many European Union nations making moves last year that were lamented in Tel Aviv, such as recognising the State of Palestine and taking symbolic action against Israel since October 7, 2023 – Europe was the single largest purchaser of Israeli weapons in 2025, amounting to $6.9 billion in sales or around 36% of total Israeli exports. The single nation that purchased the most Israeli arms was India, however, a relationship that both New Delhi and Tel Aviv have bragged is completely unaffected by the assault on the Gaza Strip. Considering that Israel attacked eight countries last year, inflicted a man-made famine in the Gaza Strip by blocking all aid from entering the besieged territory for three whole months, while carrying out countless acts of aggression against Muslim and Christian Holy Sites, has raised questions about the viability of international law when nations refuse to implement it. In November of 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. South Africa’s case against Israel, accusing it of what the court has deemed a plausible genocide, is ongoing in the International Court of Justice (ICJ). All major human rights groups Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Israel’s BT’Selem have accused Israel of both Genocide and Apartheid. Amid global public uproar over Israel’s military actions, governments appear to have largely ignored the democratic will of their people, and that of international law, aggressively pursuing the purchase of weapons that Israel “battle-tests” in the same arenas it is drawing accusations of war crimes. This is reflected in a whopping 56.1% increase in Israeli arms export profits since the year the assault on Gaza began. Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst, journalist and documentary filmmaker currently based in London, UK. He has reported from and lived in the occupied Palestinian territories and hosts the show ‘Palestine Files’. Director of ‘Steal of the Century: Trump’s Palestine-Israel Catastrophe’. Follow him on Twitter @falasteen47 The post Israel’s Genocide Economy: Record Weapons Profits Driven by Muslim and European Buyers appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Foreign Affairs, Front Page: Foreign Affairs, Nation, News, Top Story, Abraham Accors, Gaza, ICJ, Israel, Israeli weapons, Lebanon, UAE, War Crimes]

— Greg Brockman: Meet the ChatGPT Billionaire Funding Trump, Pushing A.I. and Designing Hi-Tech Weapons

 

at 6/4/26 9:24am

He may not be a household name yet, but Greg Brockman is among the world’s most powerful individuals. The OpenAI co-founder is one of President Trump’s richest and most generous financial backers, and is spending tens of millions of dollars to fight A.I. regulation. He is using OpenAI to produce hi-tech and futuristic surveillance and military systems, with Israel using its technology in its genocide in Gaza. MintPress News sheds light on the tech billionaire quietly pulling the strings in Washington, D.C. Trump’s Billionaire Backer Politics is an expensive business to be in. Thankfully for the Republican Party, they can rely on the support of Greg Brockman. Together with his wife, Anna, the OpenAI co-founder donated $25 million to MAGA Inc. – a super PAC funding President Trump and his allies.  MAGA Inc. relies almost entirely on billionaires like Brockman for its money. Sixty-two percent of the $305 million it raised came from donors pledging $5 million or more, and 96% from pledges over $1 million.  The figure of $305 million is completely unprecedented, dwarfing all previous records for a president’s super PAC. This, despite the fact Trump is legally barred from running for president again. Nevertheless, during his time in office, he has ignored so many laws and protocols that many are predicting he will attempt to do so regardless.  The decision to bankroll Trump’s political ambitions has provoked alarm among many employees of OpenAI – the company that launched A.I. chatbot, ChatGPT. Some have suggested that Brockman’s contributions go beyond merely quid pro quo political lobbying and represent an effort to change the course of the country. A.I. PAC Brockman himself has claimed that he is not political. His largest previous donation was $5,400 to Hillary Clinton back in 2016 – a paltry sum for someone worth an estimated $25.5 billion. Yet this new Trump contribution is part of a wider wave of influence, as the billionaire enters the political sphere in order to advance his own interests, and those of OpenAI.  The Brockmans have also sunk $50 million into Leading the Future, a bipartisan super PAC aimed at promoting the adoption of A.I. into a wide variety of sectors, and attacking and unseating skeptical legislators calling for increased regulation of the industry.  “This mission, in my mind, is bigger than companies, bigger than corporate structures,” he told WIRED Magazine, adding, “We are embarking on a journey to develop this technology thats going to be the most impactful thing humanity has ever created. Getting that right and making that benefit everyone, thats the most important thing.” The public, however, are deeply skeptical. A recent poll found that public confidence in A.I. is very low – and falling. Only 5% of Americans say they trust A.I. a lot, and 77% worrying that the technology could represent a fundamental threat to humanity.  Many politicians agree, and wish to get a hold on the technology before it is too late. Yet the A.I. Industry is already worth hundreds of billions of dollars, making the likes of Brockman and co-founder Sam Altman some of the richest people on the planet. The worry is that the A.I. Industry will find its newfound wealth to lobby hard against legislation that would limit its growth, spending millions to crush anti-A.I. lawmakers.  To this end, they already have a model to follow in AIPAC. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee floods money into races involving candidates critical of Israel in an effort to cajole and coerce U.S. politicians into supporting Israel.   Earlier this month, Representative Thomas Massie – a fierce critic of Israel and the war on Iran – lost his Kentucky primary, after AIPAC and other pro-Israel groups spent tens of millions of dollars attacking him and funding his opponent, Ed Gallrein. Massie’s Kentucky primary was the most expensive in U.S. history. The second- and third-costliest primary races in history also featured AIPAC successfully defeating Israel critics, Jamal Bowman and Cori Bush.  If many in the tech world have their way, unqualified support for A.I. could become the default position like championing Israel, with lawmakers wary of taking on the industry, lest they lose their seats. They certainly have the money to create an A.I. PAC of sorts; OpenAI alone is already valued at some $852 billion.    Using A.I. To Crack Down on Anti-A.I. Dissent President Trump is already moving to block moves to regulate the industry. In December, he signed an executive order preventing states from passing their own laws limiting A.I., something that 38 states had already done.  The reasons for the decision were not clear. Trump himself stated that the plan was to have “one central source of approval.” But his A.I. czar, David Sacks, said that it represented an attempt to push back against many states’ “onerous” rules, and to help the U.S. compete with China.  Trump himself is personally invested in A.I., having bought stocks in Nvidia, AMD, CoreWeave, KLA Corp., and other industry stocks, even while deciding the laws around how it will be allowed to develop.  Perhaps more worryingly, new documents show that the Trump administration is planning to use the power of the national security state to crack down on what it calls a new wave of “anti-tech extremism.” More than 1,000 pages of leaked government documents show that the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security are anticipating a wave of domestic upheaval, as A.I. destroys communities across the country. Automation-related job losses and the building of gigantic data centers will remove water and electricity from public use, ramping up the price of what little remains.  As one report notes:  The chaotic atmosphere that may result from emergent A.I. technology in the next five years may fuel large-scale protests that devolve into civil unrest and anti-tech violent extremist activity, especially in large urban areas such as New York City. Thus, the government has already begun to surveil a new and extremely broad category of Americans. Ironically, they will be using A.I. to do so, monitoring individuals’ output on social media, messages, location data, and more.    Israeli “Talent” Driving OpenAI In doing so, the U.S. government will be relying on tactics and technology honed by Israel in its surveillance of Palestine. Brockman and OpenAI are intimately familiar with this matter. In fact, both have deep connections to the Israeli national security state.  Brockman has previously stated that OpenAI runs on Israeli “talent.” The most prominent of these is company co-founder and former chief scientist, Ilya Sutskever. A Soviet-born Israeli, Sutskever left OpenAI in 2024 to found Safe Superintelligence, a new Tel Aviv-based A.I. company that will “prioritize safety and Israels role,” specifically recruiting Israelis to the firm.  While he tries to avoid making overtly political statements, Brockman has been publicly enthusiastic about Israel. “We have a number of Israeli engineers, scientists, and managers. They are top-notch, no question,” he said, “We have a manager who runs one of our core teams who is ex-special forces, and there is nothing that phases him, so I think that there is something about the Israeli way that I think is actually very conducive to this field.” He made those comments on stage at a 2023 event with Benjamin Netanyahu, who responded:  “You know what A.I. stands for? It stands for America and Israel.” The Israeli prime minister also stated that, in this field, Israel punches above its weight because it has “this feed of military A.I. that moves very fast and takes a very large part of the population.” A few months earlier, Altman traveled to Israel to meet the country’s president, Isaac Herzog. There, Altman proclaimed that Israel will have a “huge role” in the future of A.I. He has also put his money where his mouth is, investing heavily in Apex, an Israeli A.I. startup founded by former members of Unit 8200, the IDF’s most elite spying and cyberwarfare division.    A.I.-Powered Genocide  Unit 8200 has been the centerpiece of Israel’s hi-tech onslaught on its neighbors. The group used the power of A.I. to sift through vast quantities of data it stores on Palestinians under their control in order to generate kill lists for its automated weapons systems. It was A.I. that enabled them to get around the bottlenecks of human targeting and unleash the full force of their arsenal on the civilian population of Gaza, killing tens of thousands in the first weeks of the attack alone.  An investigation by the Associated Press found that the Israeli military’s use of Microsoft and OpenAI artificial intelligence increased by nearly 200 times, or 20,000%, compared with the week preceding the October 7 assault.  OpenAI states that it has no partnership with the Israeli Defense Forces. Yet in January 2024 – at the height of the Israeli attack on Gaza – it quietly removed language in its terms of service prohibiting clients from using its models for “activity that has high risk of physical harm,” such as “military and warfare.” Just days later, news broke that the corporation was working with the Department of War on a number of projects, including cybersecurity programs.   From there, the floodgates were opened, and OpenAI became a fully-fledged defense contractor. Last year, it bid for and won a $200 million U.S. military contract to “develop prototype frontier A.I. capabilities to address critical national security challenges in both warfighting and enterprise domains.” And in March, it came to a mysterious agreement with the Department of War to deploy A.I. systems in “classified environments.” This news was particularly controversial, as OpenAI rival Anthropic had previously pulled out of the same deal. It stated that it had grave ethical concerns that the Department of War would immediately use the technology to carry out mass domestic surveillance in the United States and to build fully autonomous weapons systems that would function without any human input or oversight, whatsoever. “We cannot in good conscience accede to their request,” Anthropic – a company hardly known for their moral stances – wrote on its blog, explaining their decision.  OpenAI has also announced a partnership with Anduril Industries, a U.S. based firm specializing in advanced military systems. Anduril founder, Palmer Luckey, who describes himself as a “radical Zionist,”  is actively trying to work closely with Israeli security forces, travelling to Israel in February to meet with Netanyahu and senior military officials.  This convergence of Silicon Valley, Israel, and the national security state is a feature of even the largest and most well-established companies. Microsoft – a major funder of OpenAI – is a key player in the genocide in Palestine. It supplies the servers and technology to Unit 8200 to allow the group to store, surveil and analyze at least 13.6 petabytes of information (equivalent to 23,000 years of audio, or seven trillion pages of text) that it holds on Palestinians. For this, they are handsomely rewarded; the military industry is among the most lucrative fields to be a part of. Getting ChatGPT To Be More Pro-Israel There is also money to be made by gaming A.I. chatbots like ChatGPT to be more Zionist. The government of Israel has spent millions contracting American companies to deluge audiences with pro-Israel messaging.  A $6 million contract with U.S. firm, Clock Tower X, for example, notes that the company will create and promote pro-Israel websites designed to influence A.I. platforms like Claude and ChatGPT into parroting the official Israeli line, especially when it comes to questions about the Middle East.  And on Thursday, it was revealed that an enterprise run by former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale had directed $13 million of Israeli government money to firms dedicated to creating content specifically designed to influence ChatGPT into taking more pro-Israel positions.  This is just a fraction of the enormous $730 million public diplomacy budget Tel Aviv approved in March – a nearly fivefold jump from last year, and 100 times the amount it was spending before October 7, 2023.  Ultimately, then, the case of Greg Brockman and OpenAI highlights the growing connections between Silicon Valley, Israel, and the national security state. The billionaire is a new and important figure in domestic politics, bankrolling the Trump administration’s ambitions, while simultaneously flooding the country with money, supporting lawmakers that will promote his company’s interests, and ensuring widespread public opposition to A.I. does not find its voice in Washington, D.C. OpenAI is increasingly becoming a military contractor, as 21st century battlefields become progressively automated. Nowhere is this more apparent than with Israel’s attack on Palestine. Indeed, many of the invasive surveillance tactics pioneered by Israel are being brought home to crush rising dissent. Brockman and OpenAI sit at the center of this, quietly planning the future of American society. A.I. itself might not be conscious, but Brockman certainly is.  Alan MacLeod is Senior Staff Writer for MintPress News. He completed his PhD in 2017 and has since authored two acclaimed books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent, as well as a number of academic articles. He has also contributed to FAIR.org, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, and Common Dreams. Follow Alan on Twitter for more of his work and commentary: @AlanRMacLeod. The post Greg Brockman: Meet the ChatGPT Billionaire Funding Trump, Pushing A.I. and Designing Hi-Tech Weapons appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Daily Digest, Foreign Affairs, Front Page: National, Investigations, National, News, Top Story, artificial intelligence, ChatGPT, Greg Brockman, Israel, MAGA, OpenAI, Sam Altman, SuperPac, Trump]

— NDAA: New U.S. Bill Will Fuse Israel and U.S. Militaries Into One

 

at 6/2/26 1:00pm

Amid widespread and growing public opposition to the Israeli genocide of Gaza and South Lebanon, a controversial new bill seeks to formally integrate the U.S. and Israeli militaries like never before, making it difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins. Section 224 of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) proposes to join the two forces together at the hip, laying the groundwork for extensive cooperation into “seemingly every manner of U.S.-Israeli military-industrial complex cooperation,” according to the Institute for Responsible Statecraft. This includes the research, development, and production of modern, hi-tech arms, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, drones, directed energy, cyber, and autonomous weapons systems. It would compel the United States to integrate Israeli arms and technologies into its defense supply chain, and fuse the countries’ data capturing and storage facilities together, meaning that Israel could have access to essentially all the U.S. military’s data. The bill also requires the creation of a new position within the Department of Defense: an executive agent whose role is to coordinate cooperation and integration between the two parties. In essence, then, it would dramatically change the relationship between the two states, from one where Washington supplies Tel Aviv with money, weapons, and diplomatic support, to a situation where the two are fundamentally intertwined. It would also make the relationship far less transparent, as aid to Israel currently requires an annual public debate and vote. However, by moving it away from the political realm into that of defense acquisition, oversight and accountability mechanisms will be removed, and the public will have little right to know the details going forward. Judging by its sponsors, Section 224 has strong support on Capitol Hill. It was put forward by Mike Rogers (R-AL), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, and Adam Smith (D-WA), the panel’s highest-ranking Democrat. It is surely, therefore, a formality that it will pass the House Armed Services Committee, before being taken to Congress and the Senate. Analysts have noted that, if passed, the bill will “extraordinarily” expand Israeli influence in domestic American politics, giving Tel Aviv the opportunity to pull powerful political levers through the tried and tested method of offering jobs. As the Institute for Responsible Statecraft warn, by expanding or starting new arms production facilities like they already have in Mississippi and Arkansas, the Israeli government could use the influence of bringing jobs to districts to buy the support of American members of Congress. The news that a new bill could essentially fuse together the U.S. and Israeli militaries has been met with pushback online, but provoked little comment in Washington, D.C. One lawmaker who has spoken up in Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie. “If the provision in the NDAA to integrate/synchronize the U.S. and Israeli militaries (section 224) makes it out of committee, I’ll offer an amendment to strip it from the bill on the floor. We are a sovereign country,” he said on Saturday. Massie, a strong critic of U.S. support for Israel, recently lost his primary to challenger Ed Gallrein, after AIPAC and other Israel Lobby groups flooded the race with tens of millions of dollars, making it the most expensive contest in American history. The U.S. already provides Israel with enormous amounts of military aid, having sent hundreds of billions of dollars worth of weapons since 1948. Since 2008, it is required by law to protect Israel’s “qualitative military edge,” by supplying it with advanced weaponry. Section 224, however, would transform and deepen this relationship, making it all-but-impossible to democratically break the U.S.-Israel special relationship. That alliance is under increased scrutiny, as support for Israel is collapsing across the United States. A new poll published by Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies found that 60% of Americans (including 75% of respondents under 30 years old) hold a negative view of the country. When asked, a large plurality says that Israel holds too much sway over American politics and politicians. A 2025 study found that half of American voters believe Israel is carrying out a genocide against its neighbors in West Asia. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant, among others, on charges of crimes against humanity. The United States, however, has refused to accept the ICC’s actions, attempted to shut down proceedings, and imposed sanctions on the court. ICC prosecutor Karim Khan stated that Senior U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham – one of Netanyahu’s closest allies in Washington – told him that his court is only “for African thugs like [Russian president Vladimir] Putin. It is not for democracies like Israel and the United States of America.” The response from the governments of Israel and the United States to the increasing opposition to the genocide has been to crack down on dissent and to censor social media. As Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of pro-Israel pressure group, the Anti-Defamation League stated, “We really have a TikTok problem, a Gen Z problem.” The Trump administration forced through the sale of TikTok to the family of Larry Ellison, a passionately pro-Israel tech billionaire who is the largest private funder of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). Ellison, no doubt, will support Section 224. Yet the effective merger between the U.S. military and the IDF will have profound consequences for the future of America, and should provoke stiff opposition nationwide. Whether it passes will depend largely on the nature and scale of that opposition. Alan MacLeod is Senior Staff Writer for MintPress News. He completed his PhD in 2017 and has since authored two acclaimed books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent, as well as a number of academic articles. He has also contributed to FAIR.org, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, and Common Dreams. Follow Alan on Twitter for more of his work and commentary: @AlanRMacLeod. The post NDAA: New U.S. Bill Will Fuse Israel and U.S. Militaries Into One appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Daily Digest, Foreign Affairs, Front Page: Foreign Affairs, Front Page: National, Nation, National, News, Top Story, AI, Israel, National Defense Authorization Act, NDAA, US military]

— Revealed: USAID, NED & Open Society Quietly Bankroll Cuba’s “Independent” Media In Push for Regime Change

 

at 5/15/26 11:59am

Amid escalating U.S. aggression towards the Cuban island through a maximum pressure campaign and the threat of military intervention, the United States government has been covertly funding a huge network of Cuban media outlets that claim to be independent in a push for regime change against the independent socialist government.  These outlets present themselves as unbiased investigative journalism, but are quietly being financed by Washington through USAID, the National Endowment for Democracy and the Open Society Foundation in order to sow discontent across the Caribbean nation, softening it up for a potentially “imminent” invasion by the Trump administration.  Cuba faces some of its worst energy blackouts in its history, thanks to the U.S. blockade, which is attempting to strange the island into submission. As a Communist state defying U.S. orders, Cuba has, since 1959, been in the crosshairs of Washington, who are attempting to overthrow the government. MintPress sheds light on this shady regime change nexus.   Independent Journalism, Brought To You By The State Department CubaNet is one of the most influential and well-established news outlets covering affairs on the Caribbean island. Founded by anti-government activists in 1994, the site has become the go-to source of information for corporate media, who regularly cite it, and present it as an objective and unbiased independent media (e.g., The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, and The Los Angeles Times). CubaNet reporters have written op-eds in major U.S. newspapers such as USA Today, calling for an immediate change in government on the island.  But CubaNet is not as independent as it seems. The outlet is bankrolled by the U.S. national security state. CubaNet has received millions of dollars in funding from USAID and the National Endowment for Democracy, as well as the Open Society Foundation.  One currently active $500,000 USAID grant, for instance, was awarded to CubaNet to “engage on-island young Cubans through objective and uncensored multimedia journalism.” While ostensibly a laudable goal, even the grant’s own one-sentence description hints that its purpose is to undermine and attack the Cuban government. It states that it will (emphasis added) “increase the free flow of information to and from Cuba in order to offset the regime’s disinformation campaigns.” Another news organization receiving huge sums of money from Washington is ADN Cuba. Literally meaning “Cuba’s DNA,” the outlet has amassed a significant following online, boasting over 100,000 subscribers on YouTube, over 200,000 on Instagram, and over 1.3 million on Facebook. It describes itself as “an independent media outlet committed to freedom and democracy in Cuba.” Yet it is actually based in Spain. And it does not seem particularly committed to transparency about its funding.  What is clear, however, is that ADN Cuba has received millions of dollars from the U.S. national security state. In September 2024, USAID approved a $1.1 million grant to ADN Cuba – a gigantic amount of money for an organization that publishes barely one story per day on its website. This was on top of a $1.5 million allocation for the 2022-2024 period. Indeed, since 2020, ADN Cuba has received in excess of $3 million from USAID alone. This relationship is not disclosed to readers– even in stories directly covering USAID funding Cuban media– and is relegated to the footnotes of obscure U.S. government funding databases.  Diario de Cuba is another Spanish-based news outlet that publishes a wide variety of stories, all with one thing in common: a deep aversion to the Cuban government. The BBC describes it and CubaNet as key sources for impartial news, run by journalists who “report without censorship and to paint a broader picture on the countrys reality.” And just like CubaNet, Diario de Cuba has received seven-figure funding from Washington. Between 2016 and 2020, Diario de Cuba received $1.3 million in USAID cash – almost as much as CubaNet over the same period. This generous funding has allowed it to reach a global audience, with over 600,000 followers on Facebook alone.  Regime Change Networks The Central Intelligence Agency used to directly (and secretly) sponsor hundreds of media outlets across the world. However, after a series of scandals and more information about its nefarious activities came to public attention, Washington decided to outsource many of its most controversial foreign operations to organizations such as the National Endowment for Democracy and the U.S. Agency for International Development.  “It would be terrible for democratic groups around the world to be seen as subsidized by the CIA,” Carl Gershman, the NED’s longtime president, said, explaining the 1983 decision to create his organization. NED co-founder Allen Weinstein agreed: “A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA,” he told The Washington Post. Under the guise of democracy promotion and human rights, the U.S. government channels money to political and social groups across the world in order to maximize its strategic goals, including regime change.  In recent years, the U.S. has used the twin organizations of the NED and USAID to bankroll anti-government protests in Hong Kong, to attempt a color revolution in Belarus, to overthrow the government of Ukraine in 2014, and to organize riots across Iran earlier this year.  In Cuba, the NED and USAID played a critical role in organizing a (failed) uprising against the government in 2021. USAID in particular spent millions of dollars funding, organizing and promoting the San Isidro Movement – a collective of musicians, artists, and journalists– to lead a counter-revolution on the island.  San Isidro members were at the forefront of a wave of nationwide protests that July. The demonstrations were immediately signal boosted by Western corporate media, top celebrities, and U.S. politicians, including President Biden. Neitzens were flooded with the astroturfed “SOS Cuba” campaign, that trended across the Internet for days.  In the end, however, the coordinated efforts of the U.S. failed to convince ordinary Cubans to take to the streets, and the movement quickly petered out.  Esteban Rodríguez, a key member of the San Isidro movement, is a producer at ADN Cuba. When U.S. Money Is Paused, “Independent” Media Immediately Collapse The importance of U.S. government money to the survival and operations of these outlets was underlined early last year when the Trump administration chose to freeze funding to USAID and the NED. Announcing the decision, Elon Musk, then head of the Department of Government Efficiency, described USAID in particular as a “vipers nest of radical-left Marxists who hate America.”  The effect on Cuban media was immediate. As soon as the money stopped flowing, dozens of organizations faced immediate liquidation. CubaNet published an emergency editorial asking readers to make up the shortfall. “We are facing an unexpected challenge: the suspension of key funding that sustained part of our work.” they wrote; “If you value our work and believe in keeping the truth alive, we ask for your support.” “Without [USAID] funds, it will be extremely difficult to continue,” CubaNet director Roberto Hechavarría Pilia added. Diario de Cuba was in similarly dire straits. Its director, Pablo Díaz Espí, noted that “aid to independent journalism from the government of the United States has been suspended, which makes our work more difficult,” asking readers to donate.   Musk’s decision accidentally revealed a sprawling network of over 6,200 reporters and nearly 1,000 outlets worldwide that were quietly being trained, supported, and bankrolled by the CIA front, all under the banner of promoting “independent” media and freedom of information. Another supposedly independent Cuban outlet plunged into crisis was El Toque (The Touch). Founded in 2014 and receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars from the NED, El Toque publishes in Spanish and English, and attempts to manipulate the exchange rates in Cuba.  The funding cut hit them badly, with editors announcing that they would immediately have to lay off half their staff (15 people) and stop working with dozens of freelancers, while looking for alternative funding sources.  El Estornudo (The Sneeze), is also generously financed by NED. In 2021 alone, the endowment awarded the investigative journalism outlet $180,000. It also receives copious support from the Open Society Foundation, although it insists that none of this U.S. money comes with any strings attached or affects its output.  While Western media often portray the Cuban media landscape as a David-and-Goliath fight between plucky independent media facing repression, and a sprawling state-sponsored propaganda apparatus, the gigantic sums handed out to these “underdogs” make them by far and away the best funded outlets on the island.  A 2023 Guardian article, for instance, profiled 24-year-old photojournalist Pedro Sosa, who worked for both El Toque and El Estornudo. It presented the pair as “offer[ing] real reporting over stodgy state media” and journalists as poor and vulnerable truth tellers standing up for “freedom,” and facing a “crackdown” from the state.  But it also let slip that working for U.S.-backed media is not as bad a career move as portrayed, and is, in fact, an extremely lucrative profession. It casually mentions that salaries at tiny El Toque are ten times that of even the most senior journalists working in Cuban state media. In reality, then, these oppressed free speech warriors are actually some of the richest individuals on the entire island, thanks to the power of the U.S. dollar, which pays them handsomely to produce a constant stream of anti-government news.  In the end, the U.S.-backed outlets need not have worried, and NED and USAID funding resumed after some restructuring. Jobs For the Boys All this, however, pales in comparison to the resources the U.S. has dedicated to Radio and TV Martí. Founded in 1985 by the Reagan administration, the Miami-based network boasts dozens of full-time employees and receives tens of millions of dollars from Washington annually.  Unlike the rest of the journalism industry, workers at Radio and TV Martí enjoy strong job security and six-figure wages, despite the fact that the Cuban government is able to jam and block many of their broadcasts from reaching Cuba, meaning precious few people consume its content.  Since its creation, Washington has spent at least $800 million on Radio and TV Martí. The outlets profiled make up only a small portion of the network of anti-government media being funded by the United States. Most of the recipients of American money remain anonymous – a decision taken in part to hide their identities and preserve their credibility inside Cuba.  The National Endowment for Democracy considers Cuba a “long-standing priority,” and is currently officially funding 32 separate projects on the island.  Media related grants include one $80,000 project titled “Strengthening Access to Information,” which promises to:  “[E]nhance access to information and promote critical thinking, the organization will produce daily reporting and analysis across various formats, providing independent perspectives on issues affecting citizens daily lives, including freedom of expression, public safety, human rights, and other pressing social concerns.” Another $115,000 grant, titled “Expanding Access to Uncensored Media” notes that it will:  “[P]romote independent information, the organization will provide narrative journalism on censored topics, conduct investigations, and produce in-depth articles, photo essays, and opinion pieces while strengthening the medias operational capacity.” Thirty-one of the thirty-two projects hide the recipient’s name and identification, meaning that those groups working with the CIA cutout organization are generally only ever identified if they advertise this relationship, or, like when U.S. money was temporarily halted in 2025, they call for help.  Anti-government media are only a small portion of the huge array of groups Washington secretly funds and supports. From musicians and academics, to civil society, educational, and religious groups, to think tanks, charities and NGOs, there exists a vast nexus of organizations receiving vast sums of money from the U.S. government.  Two of these bodies include The Observatorio Cubano de Derechos Humanos (Cuban Observatory of Human Rights, or OCDH) and lawyers’ group, Cubalex.  Both groups produce reports denouncing the Cuban government, and are regularly cited as impartial authorities on human rights on the island in Western outlets, such as The New York Times, CNN, and The Washington Post. But what readers are not told is that both organizations are bankrolled by the U.S. national security state.  Records show that USAID has given almost $1.5 million to the OCDH. NED support, meanwhile, was crucial to Cubalex’s inception in 2010, and Washington continues to pay its staff wages to this day. As the company’s executive director, Laritza Diversent said last year,  “Without the support of National Endowment for Democracy, Cubalex would not have existed; to do the work we do requires resources. For 14 years, NED has been supporting us. Last October, after trying a lot of times, we [also] achieved a state Department grant.  Thus, there is barely a corner of the anti-government Cuban opposition that has not been reached by U.S. money, either through government organizations such as the NED or USAID, or through institutions such as the Ford Foundation and Open Societies Foundation, which have historically performed a similar role in promoting American interests abroad.  Many of these groups are headquartered in South Florida, where U.S. government money is helping to subsidize thousands of jobs for the Cuban-American community. It is therefore no exaggeration to say that a significant part of Miami economy is propped by taxpayer money funding counter-revolutionary forces. Ironic, considering that conservative Cubans often vehemently object to government welfare programs in both the U.S. and Cuba. Digital Bombardment  In 2010, a new social media and messaging app, Zunzuneo, took Cuba by storm. From nowhere, it went viral, picking up tens of thousands of users – a very large number for the time on such an internet-sparse island.  None of its users, however, were aware that the platform had been secretly created by USAID in order to promote regime change. Their plan was to first provide an excellent service that would capture the market, then to slowly drip feed Cubans anti-government messaging, and finally to direct them to join “smart mobs”, aimed at triggering a color revolution. In an effort to hide its ownership of the project, the U.S. government held a secret meeting with Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, aimed at getting him to invest in the project. It is unclear to what extent, if any, Dorsey helped, as he has declined to speak on the matter. Zunzuneo was abruptly shut down in 2012, perhaps because the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (which oversees TV and Radio Marti) had already created a new program called Piramideo.  Piramideo marketed itself as an app that allowed Cubans to receive world news for free, and without censorship. Almost immediately, however, locals reported being deluged with fake news about anti-government protests that never happened. Piramideo was shut down in 2015, after reporting on U.S. government meddling in Cuba caused a scandal and diplomatic embarrassment.  Today, however, with Cubans increasingly using American social media apps, this kind of subterfuge is largely unnecessary, as it can be done out in the open. During the 2021 San Isidro protests, apps such as Instagram and Twitter were openly participating in the attempt to overthrow the government, taking no action against a massive boom of clearly fake bot accounts parroting the exact same messages (down to the typos) and using the same astroturfed hashtag. Twitter’s editorial team even placed the protests – which drew barely a few thousand people into the streets nationwide – at the top of its “What’s Happening” for over 24 hours, meaning that every user worldwide would be notified. The failed putsch has come to be known as the “Bay of Tweets.” Unending War on Cuba In October, for the 33rd consecutive year, the United Nations voted overwhelmingly (165-7) to call for an end to the American blockade against Cuba. This economic war was established by the Eisenhower administration, in response to the Cuban Revolution of 1959, which overthrew the U.S.-backed dictator, Fulgencio Batista. These illegal unilateral coercive measures, which an internal U.S. government memo states are designed to “decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government,” cost Cuba billions every year, and severely impede its development.  The U.S. attempted to invade Cuba in 1961, and brought the world to the brink of annihilation during the subsequent Cuban missile crisis. It reportedly attempted to kill its leader Fidel Castro hundreds of times, and carried out waves of terror attacks against the country, including using biological weapons on the island. Successive administrations continued the economic war against Cuba, which was ramped up after the fall of the Soviet Union. But the Trump State Department, run by Cuban-American Marco Rubio, has taken it to a new level, declaring the island to be one of its top priorities. Trump himself has declared that Cuba is “next” on the list of countries being targeted for regime change. “We may stop by Cuba after were finished” with Iran he said last month. In response, Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel said his country was ready to repel any U.S. invasion, as it did during the Bay of Pigs, stating:   “The moment is extremely challenging and calls upon us once again, as on April 16, 1961, to be ready to confront serious threats, including military aggression. We do not want it, but it is our duty to prepare to avoid it and, if it becomes inevitable, to defeat it.” It is in this context that the U.S. government’s funding of a vast array of media outlets targeting Cuba should be seen; the media attack is just one facet of Washington’s multipronged approach to regime change. Many of the organizations profiled here publish in English, and nearly all are used as supposedly credible sources of information on Cuba for Western corporate media, meaning that U.S. State Department narratives are laundered into the public consciousness through this network. Many Cubans and Americans are completely unaware that their news about the island comes largely through a matrix of shady outlets quietly funded by the U.S. national security state via the NED and USAID. Their purpose is to keep up the flow of negative stories in order to soften the public up into accepting regime change on the island. After all, in war, truth is always the first casualty.   Alan MacLeod is Senior Staff Writer for MintPress News. He completed his PhD in 2017 and has since authored two acclaimed books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent, as well as a number of academic articles. He has also contributed to FAIR.org, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, and Common Dreams. Follow Alan on Twitter for more of his work and commentary: @AlanRMacLeod. The post Revealed: USAID, NED & Open Society Quietly Bankroll Cuba’s Independent” Media In Push for Regime Change appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Foreign Affairs, Front Page: Foreign Affairs, Investigations, News, Top Story, Cuba, National Endowment for Democracy, NED, Open Society, Regime Change, socialism, USAID]

— As Evidence Mounts of Dogs Raping Palestinian Prisoners in Israeli Prisons, NYT’s Isabel Kershner Revives Unverified October 7 Rape Narrative

 

at 5/15/26 9:53am

Isabel Kershner, a longtime correspondent for The New York Times whose sons have reportedly served in the Israeli military, is facing growing scrutiny over her latest reporting on alleged October 7 sexual violence claims — particularly as renewed attention falls on documented abuse and sexual violence agaisnt Palestinians inside Israeli detention facilities. Public scrutiny intensified following a recent report by Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times detailing allegations of severe abuse against Palestinian detainees at Sde Teiman prison, including claims involving sexual violence and the use of dogs against prisoners, including minors. Kristof’s report helped push allegations long documented by human rights organizations into mainstream American discourse. Yet as renewed attention focused on Palestinian detainees, Kershner published new reporting reviving disputed and unverified October 7 rape allegations attributed to Hamas. Critics argue the timing reflects a recurring media pattern: whenever scrutiny intensifies around Israeli abuses against Palestinians, major Western outlets redirect attention toward unverified claims against Hamas to justify Israel’s genocide in Gaza. At the center of Kershner’s latest reporting is Cochav Elkayam-Levy, one of the most heavily promoted sources behind claims of Hamas sexual violence. Elkayam-Levy and her organization became central to Western media coverage after October 7, with outlets and political leaders worldwide presenting her as a leading authority on the allegations. However, Israeli media later reported accusations that Elkayam-Levy and her commission had misled donors, exaggerated evidence collection efforts, and spread misinformation related to October 7 claims. The controversy surfaced shortly after she received the prestigious Israel Prize. Despite repeated disclaimers acknowledging that rape allegations could not be independently verified, outlets including CNN, BBC, Associated Press, and The New York Times amplified the narratives globally. The allegations quickly became central to political messaging used to justify Israel’s assault on Gaza. Kershner’s own role has fueled further debate about conflicts of interest in Western reporting on Israel and Palestine. Years earlier, she publicly acknowledged that her children had served in the Israeli military, prompting criticism from media watchdogs who argued that major outlets often blur the line between reporting and national alignment in coverage of Israel and Palestine.  Verified: Israel’s decades long history of sexual violence against Palestinians  While Nicholas Kristof’s report detailing raping Palestinian hostages (prisoners) and children with dogs inside Israeli prisons shocked many Western readers, the allegations themselves are not new.  International human rights organizations, Palestinian legal groups, former detainees, and Israeli whistleblowers have documented abuse inside Israeli prisons for decades before October 7. Reports from groups including Human Rights Watch, B’Tselem, Defense for Children International-Palestine, and UN experts have repeatedly accused Israeli authorities of torture, sexual humiliation, rape, beatings, stress positions, denial of medical care, and the use of dogs during raids, interrogations, and detention operations involving Palestinians — including children. More recently, former Israeli soldier and whistleblower Shaiel Ben-Ephraim publicly discussed the issue during an interview with Piers Morgan, describing the abuse as widely known inside the Israeli system. “A lot of people in these prisons, both members of the prison service and IDF officers… are completely aware of the use of dogs,” Ben-Ephraim stated. He further confirmed that dogs had been used to carry out acts of sexual violence against Palestinian detainees, intensifying calls for independent international investigations into Israeli detention practices. In 2023, additional scrutiny emerged after a former U.S. State Department official, Josh Paul, involved in overseeing arms transfers to Israel stated publicly that Washington was aware Palestinians — including minors — were being subjected to abuse and sexual violence inside Israeli detention facilities.  The comments added to growing criticism that American officials continued military support despite knowledge of alleged human rights violations. The post As Evidence Mounts of Dogs Raping Palestinian Prisoners in Israeli Prisons, NYT’s Isabel Kershner Revives Unverified October 7 Rape Narrative appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Foreign Affairs, Front Page: Foreign Affairs, Opinion & Analysis, Top Story, Isabel Kershner, Israel, israeli military, New York Times, Nicholas Kristof, Palestine, Palestinian prisoners, Sde Teiman prison, sexual abuse]

As of 8/9/26 12:21pm. Last new 8/6/26 9:49pm.