Welcome to the Palestine Policy Roundup, a weekly publication of the IMEU Policy Project.
THE HUMAN COST OF WAR: BY THE NUMBERS:
🇵🇸 GAZA: 1,522 killed since the beginning of Trump's Gaza plan (Palestinian Ministry of Health); at least 5,474 Israeli violations of Trump's Gaza plan (Gaza Government Media Office); 74,480 killed during Israel's genocide (Palestinian Ministry of Health)
🇮🇷 IRAN: 3,468 killed (Iran Ministry of Health)
🇱🇧 LEBANON: 4,389 killed (Lebanon Ministry of Public Health)
🇮🇱 ISRAEL: 26 killed (Israel Ministry of Health)
🇺🇲 US: 23 service members killed; 861 service members injured
⚠️ ISRAELI SETTLERS ATTACK AMERICAN PHOTOJOURNALIST
Last Friday, violent Israeli settlers attacked and beat Palestinians and foreign journalists—including Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine—as Palestinians were attempting to harvest olives from their farmland near the Palestinian town of Abu Falah in the West Bank.
WAPO PHOTOJOURNALIST INJURED: The Israeli settlers left Heidi with a nearly detached finger, a broken rib, and multiple broken vertebrae. Witnesses to the attack describe a group of five settlers mobbing Levine as they threw her to the ground and began beating her with clubs.
MILITARY ENABLES ATTACK: The Israeli military reportedly refused to intervene as the mob began its attack on Palestinians while in full view of their vehicles, but later chose to deploy tear gas against Palestinians who attempted to defend themselves.
A BROADER PATTERN: This attack was just one of hundreds committed by violent Israeli settlers against Palestinians since the annual olive harvest season began earlier this autumn. The olive harvest season is historically a dangerous time for Palestinians who are routinely attacked by settlers as they attempt to reach their land.
There were nearly 250 settler attacks against Palestinians in just two weeks at the beginning of the olive harvest, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Five Palestinians have been killed and nearly 250 have been injured in these attacks.
The day after the attack on Levine and Palestinians, Israeli settlers attacked European diplomats who were visiting the Palestinian town of Taybeh. A French official was assaulted and the vehicle of a Belgian delegation was damaged.
Earlier this month, Israeli settlers set fire to Palestinian olive groves and uprooted more than 50 olive trees near the Palestinian town of Qusra. Last week, settlers torched a mosque in the Palestinian town of Mukhmas.
🗳️ TRUMP ENDORSES NETANYAHU AS ISRAEL PREPARES FOR ELECTIONS
President Donald Trump endorsed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the weekend as Israel prepares for its elections next week. Polls show a close race between coalitions led by Netanyahu and Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the Israeli political party Yashar. However, Palestinians expect little change as Israel's genocide in Gaza and apartheid policies are ingrained in state policy.
WHO IS GADI EISENKOT? Gadi Eisenkot is an Israeli general who was the Israeli military's Chief of Staff from 2015 to 2019 and was a member of Netanyahu's government during the first eight months of Israel's genocide in Gaza. Like Netanyahu, he has a track record of violence against Palestinians:
He articulated the Israeli military's "Dahiya Doctrine," which calls for the use of massive, disproportionate force and the targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure following Israel's 2006 assault on Lebanon.
In 2018, while he was the Israeli military's Chief of Staff, Israeli snipers killed nearly 200 Palestinians in Gaza who were protesting in support of their right to return to their ancestral lands. An independent UN panel found that the Israeli military "implemented an open-fire policy" against the protesters.
NOT JUST NETANYAHU: Eisenkot, Netanyahu and other candidates want Israel to keep controlling Palestinian lives, indefinitely:
Like Netanyahu, Eiseknot supports the continued expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Eisenkot opposes Palestinian self-determination and prefers to keep the status quo of Israel's domination of Palestinians in place. Eisenkot has even attacked Netanyahu for supposedly supporting the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The Together Party, led by Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett, also reject Palestinian self-determination and both staunchly support Israel's illegal settlement enterprise.
Ministers in Netanyahu's government, who lead far-right parties in the Knesset, have promised to flatten the West Bank while invoking Israel's genocidal atrocities in Gaza. They've proposed the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza as well.
💰 IRAN WAR COSTS GROW AS NETANYAHU SEEKS ESCALATION
The US-Israel war in Iran has cost the average American household $2,000 so far this year, according to a new estimate by Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody Analytics. That amounts to $265 billion for all consumers nationwide.
WHAT'S DRIVING COSTS? More than half of the burden is driven by rising energy costs, amounting to more than $1,000 per household. And as the war continues, that burden is growing by $50 a week as the war drags on.
Zandi also noted that higher interest rates have cost the average American household $540 since the beginning of the war. Last month, the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate in a decision influenced by the rising costs of the war.
NETANYAHU SEEKS ESCALATION: As Americans continue to bear the burden of this illegal war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly lobbied President Trump to continue attacks on Iran before the upcoming Israeli elections and US midterms.
This lobbying effort was prior to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth's surprise visit to meet Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz. The secretary reportedly discussed Iran with the Israeli officials.
👀 ICYMI: MEMBERS OF CONGRESS SPEAK OUT
Sen. Chris Van Hollen: "New @nytimes reporting shows US Embassy officials in Israel are blocking info from Congress on the killings of Americans in the West Bank. I'm calling on @SenatorRisch & the Foreign Relations Committee to hold a hearing into this coverup. The American people deserve the truth."
Sen. Ruben Gallego, in response to the attack on photojournalist Heidi Levine: "The Israel government knows the names of these terrorists. They actively choose not to arrest and prosecute them. We should do everything to sanction these terrorists, any bank or business that employs them should be shut out of the US system."
Sen. Peter Welch: "Three years ago, Vermonter and journalist Dylan Collins was attacked and wounded by the Israel Defense Forces despite being clearly marked as press. Dylan and every other journalist attacked or killed by the IDF deserve justice. We must protect freedom of the press and defend the safety of journalists."
Rep. Greg Casar: "Heidi Levine was covering the West Bank olive harvest when masked settlers viciously attacked her. More than 1,600 Israeli settler attacks have occurred so far this year — nearly all of them targeting Palestinians. Enough. Congress must pass the Stop the Settlements Act to sanction violent settlers and sanction the government officials enabling them."
Rep. Joaquin Castro: "Today's violent attack is an example of why Congress should take up my bill, the Stop the Settlements Act, which would impose sanctions on anyone looking to take Palestinian land. Dozens of Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian villagers during an olive harvest in the West Bank. Washington Post journalist Heidi Levine was brutally attacked. This must be a wakeup call. Attacks like this one pave the way for the violent land grabs taking place throughout the West Bank and push us further away from peace."
Rep. Chuy Garcia: "For years, the Israeli government has systematically destroyed the health system in Palestine, murdering at least 1,700 Palestinian doctors, nurses, paramedics, and other healthcare workers and destroying dozens of hospitals. Proud to join my colleagues in demanding the immediate release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya and all other arbitrarily detained healthcare workers and Palestinian prisoners."
Rep. Delia Ramirez: "The attack on Heidi, an American journalist, by extremist settlers is a reminder that our government and Israel's continue to enable settler violence in the West Bank. Every perpetrator must be held accountable and Congress must act to protect Palestinians lives. Let's start by passing my Block the Bombs Act!"
Rep. Rashida Tlaib: "'Why would you need courage to speak the truth?' Nobel Peace Prize winner Navi Pillay led the UN commission that found Israel guilty of genocide in Gaza. Governments must finally follow the commission's recommendations and impose an arms embargo and prosecute all perpetrators."
Photo: Edward Crawford, via Shutterstock. Stock Photo ID: 1112086073