Israel Attacks Lebanon to Sabotage US-Iran Agreement | Palestine Policy Roundup 6.16.26
Welcome to the Palestine Policy Roundup, a weekly publication of the IMEU Policy Project.
THE HUMAN COST OF WAR: BY THE NUMBERS:
🇵🇸 GAZA: 981 killed since the beginning of Trump's Gaza plan (Palestinian Ministry of Health); at least 3,201 Israeli violations of Trump's Gaza plan (Gaza Government Media Office); 73,008 killed during Israel's genocide (Palestinian Ministry of Health)
🇮🇷 IRAN: 3,468 killed (Iran Ministry of Health)
🇱🇧 LEBANON: 3,783 killed (Lebanon Ministry of Public Health); 1.1 million displaced (UN)
🇮🇱 ISRAEL: 26 killed (Israel Ministry of Health)
🇺🇲 US: 13 servicemembers killed (US Military)
🛑 US AND IRAN SIGN MOU, ISRAEL CONTINUES LEBANON ATTACKS
President Trump announced that US and Iranian officials have agreed to and electronically signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to end the illegal US-Israeli war on Iran. While negotiations for a final agreement covering nuclear issues and sanctions relief will continue over sixty days, Israel is continuing its attempts to sabotage the deal by attacking Lebanon in violation of the agreement.
LEBANON INCLUDED: According to Iranian officials and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who mediated the negotiations, the MOU includes the cessation of Israeli attacks on Lebanon.
Prior to the announcement of the deal, President Trump said publicly that Israel should not attack Lebanon so as not to derail progress toward the agreement, suggesting that the MOU also applies to Lebanon.
President Trump made these comments following an Israeli strike on an apartment building in the southern suburbs of Beirut that killed three people. He also reportedly privately fumed at Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu over the attack.
ISRAEL OCCUPIES, ATTACKS LEBANON: Following the announcement of the deal, Netanyahu and several Israeli ministers declared that Israel will not withdraw from Lebanese and Syrian territory that it occupies. Israel occupies more than 200 square miles of Lebanese territory, and Israeli ministers have repeatedly vowed to permanently displace 600,000 Lebanese people who live in southern Lebanon.
Israel also continued to attack Lebanon following the announcement. Israeli drone strikes killed a driver in southern Lebanon and injured a journalist who was reporting on attacks on Monday. Other Lebanese towns were also attacked following the announcement of the deal.
Israel also continued to destroy homes in southern Lebanon following the announcement.
Several Israeli ministers denounced the deal and suggested that Israel should continue its occupation of and attacks on Lebanon.
CONGRESSIONAL ACTION STILL NEEDED: Israel's actions on Monday highlight the sustained importance of Congressional action to end US support for Israel's bombardment and invasion of Lebanon. Israel's actions are being carried out with the permission and support of the US and with US-provided weapons and intelligence.
Members of Congress can stop US military involvement in Israel's bombing campaign and ground invasion of Lebanon by supporting H.Con.Res.108, which is an updated version of Rep. Rashida Tlaib's Lebanon War Powers Resolution that will ripen in July. 92 House members voted in favor of a similar resolution during the first week of June.
House Members can also signal their opposition to continued US complicity in Israel's atrocities in Lebanon, Gaza, and elsewhere by supporting H.R.3565, the Block the Bombs Act. This legislation would block the delivery of weapons to Israel that it has used in Lebanon, including white phosphorus munitions.
⚠️ ISRAEL MOU TALKS BEGIN AS NDAA ADVANCES WITH ISRAEL EMBED SECTION
The US and Israel have begun talks on a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that would greatly expand US taxpayer funding of Israeli weapons makers, according to a statement released by the Israeli Ministry of Defense. The statement confirms that Israel seeks to establish a co-development and co-production model in the MOU, which would further enmesh the US in Israel's oppression of Palestinians—all Israeli weapons makers profit from this oppression.
BAIT-AND-SWITCH: This new deal would still leave Americans on the hook for paying for the Pentagon to procure Israeli weapons, regardless of how the Trump administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attempt to spin it.
Instead of ending US funding for US weapons to Israel, this model would instead profit Israeli weapons makers receiving Pentagon procurement contracts, reducing Congressional oversight.
LAYING THE GROUNDWORK: As the Trump administration advances these negotiations, the House and Senate Armed Services Committees have both advanced the FY2027 NDAA, which contain provisions to systematically embed Israeli weapons makers in Pentagon procurement.
The United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative would establish a non-Senate-confirmed Pentagon Executive Agent (EA) to synchronize and accelerate the embedding of Israeli weapons manufacturers into Pentagon contracting.
This sets the stage for the co-development and co-production model described above by creating a framework that facilitates the funneling of US taxpayer money to Israeli weapons manufacturers.
📖 LEARN MORE about this provision and how it would enmesh Israel into the US military in our latest policy memo.
FIGHT'S NOT OVER: Despite the measure's inclusion in the committees' texts of the NDAA, members of Congress have vowed to continue efforts to strip the provision on the floor.
🔍 REPORTS: ISRAEL SUPPORTS SETTLER ATTACKS, ETHNIC CLEANSING
Two recent reports have documented the state-backed nature of Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians and how they contribute to Israel's goal of the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their homes and land. Once again, they highlight the centrality of the Israeli military and state in the displacement of Palestinians—a fact that should be considered when assessing and reacting to settler attacks against Palestinians and the displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank.
ISRAEL BACKS SETTLERS: A report by the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory found that Israeli authorities are directly involved in settler attacks that kill, injure, and forcibly displace Palestinians. It also noted that settler attacks function as a means of advancing Israel's theft of Palestinian land.
The report notes that Israeli soldiers operate alongside settlers in attacking Palestinians. This leads to what the report calls a "de facto collapse of the distinction between settlers and soldiers," which it says is fueled by increasing Israeli military support for settler militias.
The presence of Israeli soldiers who accompany gangs of settlers acts as a shield for violence. Palestinians are attacked for defending their homes and land by these soldiers.
The refusal of the Israeli police and judicial system to hold settlers accountable for their attacks is contributing to a culture of impunity that fuels more settler attacks against Palestinians.
STATE-BACKED ETHNIC CLEANSING: A report published by Amnesty International concluded that Israel is accelerating annexation of the West Bank by targeting Palestinian Bedouin communities for forced displacement, and that this campaign amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The report points out that this is driven in large part by Israeli funding and support for settlement expansion, which has increased dramatically since the beginning of Israel's genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
The report also notes that other Israeli policies, including discriminatory building regulations and restrictions on Palestinian access to land and water, are also contributing to this state-backed annexation and ethnic cleansing campaign.
It also details several decisions made by several members of the Israeli government that have encouraged and fueled this ethnic cleansing campaign, highlighting the broader state support for it beyond mischaracterizations that pin the blame on rogue settlers or individual ministers.
👀 ICYMI: MEMBERS OF CONGRESS SPEAK OUT
Sen. Bernie Sanders: "Only 16% of Americans support arming Israel without restrictions. So what is Congress doing? Burying a provision in the defense bill that would give Israel more military integration than any NATO ally. We must strip Section 224 from the Pentagon budget."
Sen. Chris Van Hollen: "Yesterday, the IDF seized 4 students from their homes in the West Bank, including 20-year-old American, Sama Safi. The Israeli govt didn't tell her family or the U.S. Embassy where or why she was being taken & is holding her without charges. America must secure her release NOW."
Rep. Thomas Massie: "Israel has used American-supplied munitions to kill tens of thousands of innocent civilians. America is morally obligated to end support of Israel's devastation of Gaza and its people. I'm cosponsoring the Block the Bombs Act to limit the transfer of offensive weapons to Israel."
Rep. Pramila Jayapal: "Trump promised his 'Board of Peace' would help rebuild Gaza. But Palestinians continue to be killed & there is ZERO transparency about the Board's finances. I introduced an amendment to get answers & require documentation of civilian harm at any BoP sites funded by taxpayers."
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, following the vote on her Lebanon War Powers Resolution: "This fight is not over. The Lebanese people continue to be subjected to violent forced displacement, illegal military occupation, and deadly U.S.-funded bombs. I look forward to House Democratic Leadership swiftly delivering on their promise to support H.Con.Res. 108, a new Lebanon War Powers Resolution, and reassert Congressional authority to put an end to U.S. participation in this unjust invasion. Lebanon can't wait."
Rep. Ayanna Pressley: "20-year-old Sama Safi is a U.S. citizen, honor student, & beloved by everyone who knows her. Two days ago, IDF soldiers raided her home, terrorized her family, & detained her without charges. The US must secure her release & demand accountability from the Israeli government."
Rep. Delia Ramirez: "I mourn the death of seven-month-old Sam Fahd Abu Haikal, who was shot in his mother's arms by Israeli soldiers. I refuse to accept that we must endure a world in which our children's lives are cut short by violence, whether it is in Chicago or Palestine. For Sam, Wadee, and all the children who have been the victims of this genocide, we must recognize that every child is OUR child. In Congress, we must take action and hold the Israeli government accountable, starting with my Block the Bombs Act."
Photo: mahdi313, via Shutterstock. Stock Photo ID: 2758582621