In Iran, Trump Echoes Israeli Genocide Incitement | Palestine Policy Roundup 4.8.26
Welcome to the Palestine Policy Roundup, a weekly publication of the IMEU Policy Project.
THE HUMAN COST OF WAR: BY THE NUMBERS:
🇵🇸 GAZA: 723 killed since the beginning of Trump’s Gaza plan (Palestinian Ministry of Health); 2,073 Israeli violations of Trump’s Gaza plan (Gaza Government Media Office); 72,312 killed during Israel’s genocide (Palestinian Ministry of Health)
🇮🇷 IRAN: 2,076 killed (Iran Ministry of Health)🇱🇧 LEBANON: 1,497 killed (Lebanon Ministry of Health); 1.1 million displaced (UN)
🇮🇱 ISRAEL: 26 killed (Israel Ministry of Health)
🇺🇲 US: 13 servicemembers killed (US Military)
🚨 TRUMP THREATENS ISRAEL’S GAZA PLAYBOOK IN IRAN
After a profanity-laced Easter Sunday post, President Trump once again threatened to destroy Iranian infrastructure and obliterate Iranian civilization, prior to last night’s announcement of a two-week ceasefire.
GENOCIDAL RHETORIC: Threats by President Trump and other members of his administration to destroy bridges and energy infrastructure in Iran echo statements made by Israeli ministers that were cited as examples of incitement to genocide in South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
On Monday, President Trump doubled down on his comments by justifying the attacks in the same way that former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant justified Israel’s complete siege on Gaza in the opening days of Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. Gallant and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are both wanted by the International Criminal Court for their culpability in Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
Statements by President Trump and administration officials that advocate for the complete destruction of Iranian infrastructure are reminiscent of statements by several Israeli leaders, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, that encouraged the targeting of all Palestinians in Gaza.
THREATENING WAR CRIMES: As President Trump threatened to deliberately attack civilian infrastructure and obliterate Iranian civilization, Israel and the US had already begun targeting bridges and Israel had threatened trains and railway lines. Israeli attacks also destroyed a synagogue in Tehran.
International law experts and former Judge Advocate General officers say that US attacks on bridges and energy infrastructure could constitute war crimes because of their impact on Iranians.
Like Israel’s cutting off of electricity to Gaza in the beginning of its genocide there, these attacks would deprive Iranaians of several essential needs,including medical care and access to clean water.
⚠️ ISRAEL THREATENS OCCUPATION, ETHNIC CLEANSING IN LEBANON
Last Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed an Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon as the Israeli military continues its illegal war on the country. Israel previously occupied southern Lebanon from 1982-2000..
DEPLOYING GAZA PLAYBOOK: Katz explicitly invoked Israel’s genocidal campaign against Palestinians in Gaza as an example of what Israel plans for southern Lebanon. This raises significant concerns that Israel will flatten southern Lebanon just as it did in Gaza.
Katz’s announcement specifically mentioned destroying all homes near Israel’s border with southern Lebanon.
According to a report by The New York Times, Israel is already flattening Lebanese towns in the southern part of the country.
600,000 people would be indefinitely forcibly displaced by Israel’s occupation of the area, which would extend from Lebanon’s southern border to the Litani river. That’s approximately 15% of the entire country.
Israel is still implementing this strategy in Gaza: Palestinians are still displaced from their homes behind the Israeli redeployment line, also known as the yellow line. Between the beginning of the Trump plan for Gaza and January 2026, Israel destroyed 2,500 structures in Gaza.
The Israeli military is also treating the yellow line as a border, including by building several new outposts along the line, suggesting the possibility of a permanent military occupation within more than half of Gaza.
💡 POLICY ASK: Members of Congress should object to Israel’s forced displacement campaigns in Lebanon Gaza, the West Bank, and Syria by voting for JRDs to block weapons to Israel.
📖 LEARN MORE: Check out IMEU Policy Project’s latest policy memoon Israel’s use of bulldozers in widespread destruction of Palestinian, Lebanese, and Syrian homes.
PROMOTING ETHNIC CLEANSING: Following Katz’s announcement, reports emerged that Israel is pressuring leaders of Christian and Sunni majority towns in southern Lebanon not to shelter Shia Lebanese civilians who are being displaced by Israeli attacks.
Just as Israel forcibly displaced as many as 90% of all Palestinians in Gaza from their homes with the goal of ethnically cleansing Palestinians from the area, it is looking to do the same in Lebanon.
⚡ ETHNIC CLEANSING: FROM DEIR YASSIN TO SETTLER ATTACKS
This Thursday, April 9 marks the 78th anniversary of the Deir Yassin massacre, which was carried out by Zionist militias just over a month before the Nakba. More than 100 Palestinians, including women, children, and the elderly, were massacred by members of the Irgun and Stern Gang. The precursor of the Israeli military also provided supporting mortar fire in the attack and disposed of the bodies.
WHY IT MATTERS: This massacre was an integral part of Israel’s campaign for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their homeland, which was a fundamental part of the establishment of the state of Israel. This massacre triggered a mass flight of Palestinians from their homes and land.
Menachem Begin, who became a prime minister of Israel and who was commander of the Irgun militia, wrote in his 1952 memoirs that this massacre was essentialto the foundation of Israel.
THE NAKBA CONTINUES: The logic of the Deir Yassin massacre continues to play out in the illegally occupied West Bank today, where Israeli settlers attack Palestinians in an effort to drive them off of their land. They do so with the support of the Israeli military and state in the service of completing the ethnic cleansing campaign begun during the Nakba.
Just as the perpetrators of the Deir Yassin massacre were never held accountable, Israel promotes a culture of impunity in response to attacks carried out by Israeli settlers. That’s because, as a recent analysis by +972 Magazine points out, these attacks are state policy.
📖 LEARN MORE: Check out an explainer on the Deir Yassin massacre published by our sister organization, the Institute for Middle East Understanding.
📖 LEARN MORE: Check out IMEU Policy Project’s recent policy memo on the Israeli military and state’s complicity in settler attacks against Palestinians.
👀 ICYMI: MEMBERS OF CONGRESS SPEAK OUT
Rep. Valerie Foushee, in response to the reuniting of Palestinian children with their parents: “I am grateful to see the @UN taking steps to reunite families affected by this conflict. The United States cannot continue to affirm the continued actions of Netanyahu’s government that has led to this—we must stop arms sales to Israel immediately.”
Rep. Becca Balint: “Netanyahu's far-right government continues codifying discrimination of Palestinians into law. Mandating the death penalty for Palestinians but not Israelis for the same crime undermines basic human rights and reinforces systems of violence. The U.S. cannot continue supporting a regime that is committing genocidal acts.”
Rep. Summer Lee: “This is apartheid, plain and simple. Palestinian prisoners already experience injustice in Israeli military courts, torture in Israeli prisons, and now executions legalized by the Israeli government. No more genocide and no more ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.”
Rep. Delia Ramirez: “The death penalty has always been inhumane. And in a system that has been weaponized against Palestinians, the Israeli government will utilize capital punishment to further a genocide under the guise of legality. It is despicable. Congress can assert its authority and end its complicity in these horrors. Not one more dollar. Not one more excuse. Let's Block the Bombs.”
Sen. Chris Van Hollen: “Just yesterday the Netanyahu govt adopted a law to hang Palestinians who commit certain crimes in the West Bank but not Israeli settlers who commit the same crimes. Why are we sending a blank check of billions of $ to a govt that pursues these & other blatantly racist policies?”
Rep. Mark Pocan: “Over the past year, ICE has waged a campaign of fear and terror in this country. Just last week, they took Salah Sarsour, President of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, for apparently no reason other than his speaking out against Israel’s unjust war in Gaza and fighting for Palestinian rights. But a week later, we still don’t have any answers from ICE as to why. He’s been a fixture in his community for years and a leader in Milwaukee. It’s long past time for ICE to release him and stop this unjust crusade.”
Rep. Rashida Tlaib: “After bombing a school and massacring young girls, the war criminal in the White House is threatening genocide. It's time to invoke the 25th Amendment. This maniac should be removed from office.”
Photo: Hassen Mrad, via Shutterstock. Stock Photo ID: 2742718869