There’s no “off” switch on the genocide machine.
The reality of compounding catastrophe
Last week, Israeli PM Netanyahu announced plans for the Israeli military to increase its control of Gaza’s territory to 70%, telling a conference, “Let’s start with that. We’re pressing them from all sides…” This is ethnic cleansing in action — and of course, it’s in violation of the supposed “ceasefire” agreement signed last year. But there is no real ceasefire in Gaza.
Instead, Palestinians in Gaza are living through a genocide by another name. The vast majority of the population can’t return home — their homes might have been destroyed in years of Israeli bombings, or located in the majority of Gaza’s territory occupied by Israel, beyond the so-called “yellow line.” Either way, they can’t rebuild — the Israeli government is blocking all reconstruction materials from entering Gaza, along with a wide range of medical supplies, fuel, and shelter.
As a result, at least 88% of Palestinians in Gaza are living in tents and makeshift shelters, crowded into less than 40% of Gaza’s landmass. Within these camps, Israel’s restriction of critical aid and destruction of infrastructure has created a medical and environmental crisis. Pests and infections, from rats and bedbugs to scabies and lice, are rampant, with sewage and waste unable to be disposed of.
Each layer of crisis compounds, as it did for Eman Abu Jame’s family. Her son and husband became ill after resettling in a crowded, insect-infested tent camp in Khan Younis last October. Their conditions worsened as food prices skyrocketed — “we were completely unable to buy food and water,” Eman told +972. Doctors couldn’t diagnose them, but guessed that the infection originated from a rodent bite in the infested camp. They couldn’t be evacuated for treatment — Israel had closed the border. A medication helped their condition, but like 47% of essential medicines and 59% of medical supplies in Gaza, it was soon out of stock. Both father and son died early this year.
Israeli airstrikes haven’t stopped, either: More than 920 Palestinians have been killed since the “ceasefire” deal last year. At a protest in Khan Younis against cuts in critical food aid, a man spoke to Drop Site: “I have two daughters—from where are we supposed to get food? Or is that it? Have you all conspired against us? I ask for what any Arab country or European country lives with: dignity and peace of mind.”
Palestinian lives are controlled by the Israeli state, lurching ever farther to the right
As Netanyahu’s recent comments once again made clear, the Israeli government has no intention of truly ending its genocide in Gaza. In fact, when Netanyahu announced his intention to illegally occupy 70% of Gaza, the crowd yelled back to take 100%.
Within a far-right Israel, there is no off-ramp from the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza — even as Netanyahu himself is facing a growing political crisis within Israel as result of its unending, expanding wars throughout the region.
For the last few years, Netanyahu has consistently sought to shore up his own political power within Israel by intensifying the mass murder and displacement of Palestinians and launching new fronts of Israel’s “forever war” in Iran and Lebanon.
Meanwhile, the endless war and occupation has brought the Israeli military to the limits of its personnel. Despite a draft that mandates service for most Israelis of 24-32 months, Israeli military forces are running short on people to carry out all their plans. In this context, long-simmering resentments over exemptions from military service for ultra-Orthodox Israelis have come to a boiling point.
As lawmakers have considered changing the exemptions to boost the military, it has triggered a fury from the ultra-Orthodox parties holding together Netanyahu’s ruling coalition. That fracturing has triggered new elections for the fall. What this has done, more than anything else, is to re-incentivize Netanyahu to move even farther to the right, to appease the forces he needs to retain power.
It’s obvious that the Israeli government and military are acting with little concern that they’ll be held accountable for their actions. On the heels of an international scandal about the sexual assault of Palestinian prisoners, accounts of Israeli forces sexually abusing members of an international aid flotilla to Gaza went public. Last week, the United Nations placed Israel “on a blacklist of countries suspected of committing sexual violence against civilians.”
It might be hard to imagine that the genocidal Israeli government could move even an inch further to the right. But we’re watching the Israeli state’s pariah status intensify in real time — and we know its abuses cannot be allowed to continue even one minute more.
JVP is part of a movement fighting for Palestinian freedom.
When we respond to the call of our Palestinian partners, our work is many-fold: a fight to stop suffering, murder, and bloodshed; and ultimately, a world in which Palestinians have the freedom and resources to determine the course of their own lives.
Across the country, the Palestine movement is continuing the fight to end U.S. complicity in Israeli apartheid and genocide.
No tax breaks for war crimes
The Not on Our Dime! Act was just reintroduced in the New York State legislature — a bill that would end New York state tax breaks for organizations funding violations of international law in the West Bank and Gaza.
For decades, New York-based organizations have been sending tens of millions to fund Israeli military operations and violent settler expansion — and claiming “non-profit status” while doing so, effectively getting a tax break to fund war crimes.
When Mayor Zohran Mamdani first introduced this bill as an assemblymember, pundits called it political suicide. JVP backed the legislation then — and we’re still backing the bill now, in a powerful coalition alongside movement partners. If you live in New York, you can act now to back this critical push.
A Pro-Palestine candidate won in Philadelphia…
In Philadelphia, Chris Rabb just won his Congressional primary with support from a broad multi-racial coalition including anti-Zionist Jews. Rabb was the only candidate in the race willing to call Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide. He won on an unapologetic message of justice and a better world for all:
“If we can’t say genocide, if we can’t say white supremacy, if we can’t say patriarchy or oligarchy, if we can’t say the words, how are you going to entrust somebody to do the work when it matters most?”
… and in New Jersey…
On Tuesday night, Dr. Adam Hamawy, a pro-Palestine candidate for Congress in New Jersey, decisively won his Congressional primary as well. Dr. Hamawy went to Gaza in 2024, where he treated patients who had been hit by Israeli bombs and shot by Israeli snipers during the genocide. He returned as an even stronger champion for Palestine — and now, he’s going to Congress.
… and divestment won in Maryland.
Last week, the Maryland Break the Bonds campaign announced a major win in their fight for divestment from Israel Bonds. After more than a year of community campaigning, in a coalition that included JVP, the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System (MSRPS) has divested 85% of the Israeli bonds that it held less than 12 months ago — that’s $63 million in divestment from Israeli genocide.
If you’re in the Maryland area, join the victory rally on June 17 and hear about the path to full divestment from Israeli bonds.
Act now: End the war on Lebanon.
Today, Representatives Rashida Tlaib and Delia Ramirez are forcing a vote to end U.S. participation in the Israeli invasion and war on Lebanon, which has already killed more than 3,000 people and displaced over 1.2 million.
Tell Congress now: No U.S. support for Israel’s war on Lebanon.
What we’re reading.
A new piece in the Intercept reveals that the New York State comptroller’s trip to Israel last year, sponsored by a group with financial ties to Israel Bonds, raised concerns with the state ethics board. This revelation was obtained through research and document requests by JVP-NY, organizing with Break the Bonds-NY State to demand the NY State’s divestment from its hundreds of millions of dollars in Israel bonds holdings.
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