Several times each week we distribute by e-mail a timely “IHR News and Comment” roundup of news, analysis and commentary items. To subscribe, enter your email below:
Timely and Relevant: More Than Ever
More than ever, it’s important to raise awareness about the powerful forces that promote war, injustice and oppression, and which put self-serving, partisan interests ahead of what’s best for America and humanity.
What we accomplish – through online outreach, podcasts, interviews, social media, lectures, meetings, and publication and distribution of books, discs, and flyers – depends on the generous support of men and women who appreciate our work and understand what’s at stake.
IHR News & Views

Historian Mark Weber and host Fróði Midjord provide informed “big picture” perspective on current events, highlighting the broader trends and crucial factors behind the headlines.
-
Was Hiroshima Necessary?
Mark Weber
America’s leaders understood Japan’s desperate position: the Japanese were willing to end the war on any terms, as long as the Emperor was not molested. If the US leadership had not insisted on unconditional surrender — that is, if they had made clear a willingness to permit the Emperor to remain in place — the Japanese very likely would have surrendered immediately, thus saving many thousands of lives … General Curtis LeMay, who had pioneered precision bombing of Germany and Japan (and who later headed the Strategic Air Command and served as Air Force chief of staff), put it most succinctly: “The atomic bomb had nothing to do with the end of the war.”
-
Liberating America From Israel
Paul Findley
Nine-Eleven would not have occurred if the U.S. government had refused to help Israel humiliate and destroy Palestinian society. Few express this conclusion publicly, but many believe it is the truth. I believe the 9/11 catastrophe could have been prevented if any U.S. president in recent decades had had the courage and wisdom to suspend all U.S. aid until Israel withdrew from the Arab land seized in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. The U.S. lobby for Israel is powerful and intimidating, but any determined president could prevail and win overwhelming public support for the suspension of aid by laying these facts before the American people.
-
Straight Talk About Zionism
Mark Weber
… A Zionist Jew, by definition, owes his primary loyalty to the Jewish community and to Israel. Zionism is not compatible with patriotism to any country or entity other than Israel and the world Jewish community … Zionist Jews and their non-Jewish supporters embrace a blatant double standard. Jewish-Zionist organizations, along with their non-Jewish allies, support one social-political ideology for Israel and the world Jewish community, and a completely different one for the United States and other non-Jewish countries. They insist that ethnic nationalism is evil and bad for non-Jews, while at the same time they vigorously support ethnic nationalism — that is, Zionism — for Jews.
-
The Forced War: When Peaceful Revision Failed
David L. Hoggan
Completely reset, expanded and reformatted new IHR edition! In this important, detailed study of the origins of the Second World War, Dr. Hoggan explains why Hitler decided to attack Poland in 1939, and examines the short-sighted policies that made war all but inevitable. The author dismantles the often-repeated charge of sole German responsibility for the war, which for many years has been a centerpiece of the prevailing narrative of twentieth century history. The eminent American historian Harry E. Barnes called this “the first thorough study of the responsibility for the causes of the Second World War in any language … likely to remain the definitive revisionist work on this subject for many years.” With an introduction by Mark Weber, dust jacket, detailed index, source notes, extensive bibliography, map, and 30 photographs. Also available in softcover edition.
-
… With the aid of the civilian population, mass graves had been discovered, in which thousands of corpses had been buried. These graves were to be opened and the commission was to establish whom the [Soviet] NKVD had murdered … The exhumations in Vinnytsia began on May 25, 1943, and were carried on in three places. The [local] population was of the opinion that there were around 20,000 victims in the war years … I had been a soldier in the Ukrainian army during the First World War and had seen many men killed in battle, but what I had then seen can in no way be compared with what I witnessed in that park … The horror of Vinnytsia I shall never forget, and it is doubtful whether ever a Dante would be able to portray the agony that had taken place.
-
Abraham Lincoln and the Issue of Race
Robert Morgan
Many Americans think of Abraham Lincoln, above all, as the president who freed the slaves. Immortalized as the “Great Emancipator,” he is widely regarded as a champion of black freedom who supported social equality of the races, and who fought the American Civil War to free the slaves. While it is true that Lincoln regarded slavery as an evil and harmful institution, it also true, as this paper will show, that he shared the conviction of most Americans of his time, and of many prominent statesmen before and after him, that blacks could not be assimilated into white society. He rejected the notion of social equality of the races, and held to the view that blacks should be resettled abroad.
-
Suggested Reading: A Study Guide
Mark Weber
In an age when vast amounts of information from a wide range of sources are instantly available online, it can be difficult to sort out what’s reliable, useful, and trustworthy. In response to many inquiries over the years, here are recommended books on five important historical topics: The Second World War, American History, International Relations, Communism, Marxism and the Soviet Union, and, Zionism, US-Israel Relations, and the ‘Jewish Question.’ This listing is neither exhaustive nor final. Additional subject categories and titles are planned, and descriptions may be revised or updated.
-
Our Job in a Time of Crisis
Institute for Historical Review
Mark Weber explains why the work of the IHR in countering the forces of historical deceit, bigotry and cultural distortion is vitally important. An awareness of factual history is essential to an understanding of ourselves and the great issues of our age, says the IHR director in this five-minute video presentation. Unless and until the interests that have gripped our nation are clearly identified and discredited, he says, there will be no change in basic policies or direction.
-
The Spanish Inquisition and the Jewish Question
Brian Chalmers
It is nearly impossible to dig into any chapter of Jewish history without uncovering lessons for our own age. Spain during the 15th and 16th centuries is a particularly striking example. Even today, our view of this period, and particularly of the Spanish Inquisition, colors our attitudes regarding relations between Jews and non-Jews. The Inquisition is considered one of Jewish history’s darkest chapters — and one of Christian history’s most shameful.
-
Why Germany Attacked the Soviet Union
Institute for Historical Review
As dawn was breaking on Sunday morning, June 22, 1941, military forces of Germany, Finland and Romania suddenly struck against the Soviet Union. The stunning news of this attack was announced to the world by German radio at 5:30 that Sunday morning, when Reich Minister Joseph Goebbels broadcast the text of a proclamation by Adolf Hitler to the German people that laid out his reasons for the historic offensive. Following that was the broadcast of Germany’s declaration of war against the Soviet Union. This was in the form of a diplomatic note to the Soviet government. Because Hitler’s proclamation and the German Foreign Office declaration explain at some length the reasons and motives for the fateful decision to strike against the USSR, these are documents of historic importance. With a foreword by Mark Weber.
-
The Origins of the Second World War: A Review
Murray N. Rothbard
It is not often that one is privileged to review a book of monumental import, a truly significant “breakthrough” from obscurantism to historical knowledge and insight. But such a book is the magnificent work by A.J .P. Taylor, The Origins of the Second World War … The central theme of Taylor is simply this: Germany and Hitler were not uniquely guilty of launching World War II (indeed they were scarcely guilty at all) … Basically, Hitler has no “master plan”; he was a German intent, like all Germans, on revising the intolerable and stupid Versailles-diktat, and on doing so by peaceful means, and in collaboration with the British and French … Not only did Hitler do this with insight, he did it with patience, as Taylor excellently shows …
-
Zionism’s Violent Legacy
Donald Neff
… The Irgun was not the only Jewish terrorist group but it was the most active in causing indiscriminate terror in pre-Israel Palestine. Up to the time of the Jaffa attack, its most spectacular feat had been the July 22, 1946, blowing up of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, with the killing of 91 people – 41 Arabs, 28 Britons and 17 Jews. The other major Jewish terrorist group operating in Palestine in the 1940s was the Lohamei Herut Israel – “Fighters for the Freedom of Israel,” Lehi in the Hebrew acronym – also known as the Stern Gang after its fanatical founder Avraham Stern.
-
Zionism and the Third Reich
Mark Weber
A little-known chapter of history is the wide-ranging collaboration between Zionism and Hitler’s Third Reich. During the 1930s, Jewish Zionists and German National Socialists shared similar views on how to deal with the “Jewish Question.” They agreed that Jews and Germans were distinctly different nationalities, and that Jews did not belong in Germany. During the 1930s no nation did more to substantively further Jewish-Zionist goals than Hitler’s Germany.
-
Over the centuries, rage and hostility against Jews has repeatedly erupted in terrible violence. Again and again, Jews have been driven out of countries where they’d been living. Why does anti-Semitism exist? And why has furious hostility toward Jews broken out, again and again, in the most varied nations, eras and cultures? … Anti-Semitism is not a mysterious “disease.” As Herzl and Weizmann suggested, and as history shows, what is often called anti-Semitism is the natural and understandable attitude of people toward a minority with particularist loyalties that wields greatly disproportionate power for its own interests, rather than for the common good.
-
How accurate is this hallowed portrayal of America’s role in World War II? As we shall see, it does not hold up under close examination … The three Allied leaders accomplished what they accused the Axis leaders of Germany, Italy and Japan of conspiring to achieve: world domination … Presidential deception to justify war did not start with George W. Bush. Americans who express admiration for the US role in World War II, and for Franklin Roosevelt’s presidential leadership, have little moral right to complain when presidents follow his example and lead the country into war by breaking the law, subverting the Constitution, and lying to the people.
-
The Civil War Concentration Camps
Mark Weber
No aspect of the American Civil War left behind a greater legacy of bitterness and acrimony than the treatment of prisoners of war. “Andersonville” still conjures up images of horror unmatched in American History. And although Northern partisans still invoke the infamous Southern camp to defame the Confederacy, the Union had its share of equally horrific camps. Prison camps on both sides produced scenes of wretched, disease-ridden and emaciated prisoners as repulsive as any to come out of the Second World War … In addition to camps for captured soldiers, the North also established concentration camps for civilian populations considered hostile to the Federal government.
-
Machinations of the Anti-Defamation League
Paul N. (Pete) McCloskey, Jr.
I was in politics for fifteen years, and I think you should start with the assumption: never trust a politician … When people finally learn the truth, they turn against those who have been lying to them. And I think that if the movement of which you people are the cutting edge can retain dispassion in the face of outrages, setbacks and humiliations, the truth can ultimately prevail. You are doing something worse than criticizing the government of the United States; you’re threatening the security of the state of Israel. And the Jewish community is dedicated to preserve that state, and to destroy those who speak against it. Good luck!
-
The Ethics of War: Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Gregory P. Pavlik
Since the last “good war,” a debate has ensued over the moral legitimacy of the use of nuclear weapons, particularly against civilians. The critics hold that it is a crime to incinerate civilians en masse; defenders commonly claim that the bombing was necessary to bring the war to a close, thereby saving countless American lives. Most of those who make this claim do so in earnest. The problem is that this defense is both historically false, and taken to its logical conclusion, extremely dangerous … The U.S. War Department and related agencies that specialized in producing hate propaganda and lies developed specifically racialist attacks on the Japanese.
-
… Judaism is not just “another religion.” It’s unique among the world’s major religions. The core values and ethos of Judaism are markedly unlike those of Christianity, Islam, and the other great faiths … A core message of the Hebrew scriptures is that Jews are a divinely “chosen” people — a unique community distinct from the rest of humanity … The seemingly intractable Middle East conflict is more than just a problem of Zionism or politics, or a dispute over land. Israel’s often arrogant policies, and especially its inhumane treatment of non-Jews, have roots in centuries-old attitudes that are laid out in ancient Jewish religious writings.
-
No figure of modern French history is as honored as Charles de Gaulle … In 1940 he refused to accept his country’s defeat by Germany, and from London he founded and led the pro-Allied “Free French” force during World War II. From 1944 to 1946 he headed the provisional government of France. In 1958 he was called from retirement by popular acclaim to resolve the seemingly unsolvable crisis over Algeria … During the years that he dominated his country’s political life – 1958-1969 – he charted an independent foreign policy, tied neither to the US nor the USSR, and strove to make France the preeminent nation in Europe … It’s impossible to read any lengthy biography of this man without admiration for his audacious self-confidence, courage, determination, and cunning.
-
The Boer War Remembered
Mark Weber
The Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 was more than the first major military clash of the 20th century. Pitting as it did the might of the globe-girdling British Empire, backed by international finance, against a small pioneering nation of independent-minded farmers, ranchers and merchants in southern Africa who lived by the Bible and the rifle, its legacy continues to resonate today. The Boers’ recourse to irregular warfare, and Britain’s response in herding a hundred thousand women and children into concentration camps foreshadowed the horrors of guerilla warfare and mass detention of innocents that have become emblematic of the 20th century.
-
Several months before Japan’s Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt secretly authorized devastating American bombing raids against Japanese cities. A top-secret document declassified in 1970 shows that in July 1941 Roosevelt and his top military advisers approved a daring plan to use American pilots and U.S. war planes – deceitfully flying under the Chinese flag – to bomb Japan’s major cities … An air strike force of 500 Lockheed Hudson bombers was to be organized as “The Second American Volunteer Group” under Chennault’s command. Its mission would be the “pre-emptive” bombing of Japan. The strategic objective of JB 355 was the “destruction of Japanese factories in order to cripple munitions and essential articles for maintenance of economic structure in Japan.”
-
What Christians Don’t Know About Israel
Grace Halsell
American Jews sympathetic to Israel dominate key positions in all areas of our government where decisions are made regarding the Middle East. This being the case, is there any hope of ever changing U.S. policy? … The answer to achieving an even-handed Middle East policy might lie elsewhere — among those who support Israel but don’t really know why. This group is the vast majority of Americans. They are well-meaning, fair-minded Christians who feel bonded to Israel – and Zionism – often from atavistic feelings, in some cases dating from childhood.
-
Tactics of Organized Jewry in Suppressing Free Speech
Prof. Tony Martin – Institute for Historical Review
… I’m going to try to extract from my experience certain basic sort of tactics that I think the Jewish lobby has used over the years pertaining to my particular situation … The first and major tactic that I discovered in their attack on me was their reliance on lies — just straight-up lies. There’s no other way to describe it, just telling lies. Many of the categories that I will enumerate overlap, and many of them could also come under this general rubric of telling lies. But I think that if one had to isolate a single tactic, it was a tactic of telling lies. I think they’ve elevated telling lies to a very high artistic form.
-
… While it’s an artistic achievement and grand entertainment, “Darkest Hour” is badly flawed history … “Darkest Hour” reinforces the widespread belief that Churchill’s speeches played a crucial role in sustaining British morale. A scholar who has carefully looked into the matter has found that this view is largely a myth … “Darkest Hour” reinforces the widely held impression, which Churchill himself encouraged, that an honorable or lasting peace with Hitler was simply not possible. But as he himself later acknowledged, that’s simply not true … The British leader’s famous “We shall never surrender” speech was little more than “sublime nonsense,” says British historian John Charmley.
-
Why I Survived the A-Bomb
Akira Kohchi
Hiroshima native Kohchi was a 16-year-old schoolboy when his city was devastated by the first nuclear attack in history. He tells the dramatic, personal story of how he experienced and survived the bombing, and provides a moving account of his search for his family through the burning rubble of the doomed city. Then Kohchi recalls how, years later, he forced himself to come to grips with his past and uncover the facts about the bombing and the history the led up to it. The author’s frankness and humane spirit make this a first-hand Japanese account of a war crime that dwarfs almost all others. A unique revisionist classic. Praised by the Japan Times newspaper as a “noteworthy” and “authentic” personal account, and by Bookwatch newsletter as a “moving, gripping account.” With full color dust jacket, photos and notes
-
Stalin's War Against His Own Troops
Yuri Teplyakov
… In August 1941 Hitler permitted a Red Cross delegation to visit the camp for Soviet POWs in Hammerstadt. It is these contacts that resulted in an appeal to the Soviet government, requesting that it should send food parcels for our officers and men. We are prepared to fulfill and comply with the norms of the Geneva convention, Moscow said in its reply, but sending food in the given situation and under fascist control is the same as making presents to the enemy … How great was Stalin’s hatred for those who had found themselves behind enemy lines. It made no difference: who, where, how and why? Even the dead were considered to be criminals.
-
Collusion: Franklin Roosevelt, British Intelligence, and the Secret Campaign to Push the US Into War
Mark Weber
Secretive and unlawful collusion by an American leader with a foreign power that subverts the US political process is not new. The most far-reaching and flagrant case was by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1940-41. In the months before the US formally entered the war in the wake of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt did everything he could to get America into the global conflict without actually declaring war. The cooperation with British intelligence by the President and other high-ranking US officials during that period was quite illegal. Such collusion by the nominally neutral US to further the war aims of a foreign government was contrary to both US law and universally accepted international norms.
-
The Past Marches On
George Morgenstern (1953)
… Add to these the operations of an organized propaganda capable, apparently, of doping Americans into belief in any myth, and there is formidable reason why public opinion should be so stupefied and stultified that the nation can be led from war to war in pursuit of ever retreating goals. Yet, despite the general numbness, Americans, surveying the results of half a century of intermeddling, dimly perceive that all is not well.
-
In a remarkable but under-reported address, one of America’s most prominent and influential political figures has acknowledged the “immense” and “outsized” Jewish role in the US mass media and cultural life. Joe Biden – now President of the U.S. – said that this has been the single most important factor in shaping American attitudes over the past century, and in driving major cultural-political changes. “Jewish heritage has shaped who we are – all of us – as much or more than any other factor in the last 223 years. And that’s a fact,” Joe Biden told a gathering of Jewish leaders in Washington, DC … “Behind of all that, I bet you 85 percent of those [major social-political] changes, whether it’s in Hollywood or social media, are a consequence of Jewish leaders in the industry. The influence is immense … And, I might add, it is all to the good,” he went on.
-
A Straight Look at the Jewish Lobby
Mark Weber
… Jews wield immense power and influence in the United States. The “Jewish lobby” is a decisive factor in US support for Israel. Jewish-Zionist interests are not identical to American interests. In fact, they often conflict. As long as the “very powerful” Jewish lobby remains entrenched, there will be no end to the Jewish-Zionist grip on the US political system and the American media, the Zionist oppression of Palestinians, and the Israeli threat to peace.
-
More than once I have come across the view that if British lads of the 1940s could have foreseen the state of their country today, they would never have bothered to fight the Second World War. Few of those who have heard that view may realize that there is empirical evidence to support it … The prevailing tone of their letters is one of bitterness over what had become of the county they once cherished. Of the four or five most often voiced complaints, the most common is over mass migration from other countries and continents, and how that has drastically changed British life, culture and society … “The men who offered their lives have been betrayed and gave their lives in vain. Most of the older people say thank goodness we are ending our lives. It is no longer the Britain that we fought for.”
-
How Hitler Tackled Unemployment
Mark Weber
To deal with the massive unemployment and economic paralysis of the Great Depression, both the US and German governments launched innovative and ambitious programs. Although President Franklin Roosevelt’s “New Deal” measures helped only marginally, the Third Reich’s much more focused and comprehensive policies proved remarkably effective. Within three years unemployment was banished and Germany’s economy was flourishing. And while Roosevelt’s record in dealing with the Depression is pretty well known, the remarkable story of how Hitler tackled the crisis is not widely understood or appreciated.
-
On the Importance of Revisionism For Our Time
Murray Rothbard
Revisionism as applied to World War II and its origins (as also for previous wars) has the general function of bringing historical truth to an American and a world public that had been drugged by wartime lies and propaganda … Revisionism brings to the artificial frenzy of daily events and day-to-day propaganda, the cool but in the last analysis glorious light of historical truth. Such truth is almost desperately needed in today’s world.
-
In years when so many politicians and foreign policy experts waxed poetically about their vision of a “rules-based international order” of enduring global harmony, John Mearsheimer persistently warned against the delusions and dangers of this outlook. For years he has been a leading voice for a realist foreign policy, an outlook impressively laid out in his most important work, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics … a hard-nosed examination of international politics rooted not in sentiment or presumed idealism, but in the immutable realities of power politics … While liberals speak of economic interdependence and international norms, and neoconservatives push regime change in the name of “democracy,” Mearsheimer contends that material power, not ideology, drives the foreign policy decision-making of government leaders.
-
YouTube Censors 'Restrict' IHR Videos
Institute for Historical Review
In line with a recent crackdown policy, YouTube has “restricted” a number of independently produced videos of IHR talks and presentations. To watch a “restricted” video, the viewer must first click through a warning screen. Also, comments on the video are not allowed, and the number of views is not given. Even worse, YouTube will never “suggest” a “restricted” video to viewers, which is how many people find our videos. While YouTube claims that its “restriction” policy is aimed at videos with “inflammatory religious or supremacist content,” applying it to IHR videos is absurd. YouTube restricts our voice not because we have violated any objective standards, or because we have done anything wrong or illegal — but because it doesn’t like what we say.
News & Comment
US Support For Israel Comes at a Staggering, Multifaceted Price
Brian McGlinchey
… Propelled by Israel’s powerful US-based lobby, by Israel-pandering legislators, and by a revolving cast of Israel-favoring presidents, cabinet members, and national security officials, the United States has consistently pursued policies in the Middle East that place top priority on securing Israel’s regional supremacy … In one of several observations about Israel that led to him being relieved of his position leading the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Levant and Egypt branch in June, Army Colonel Nathan McCormack summed up the relationship this way: “[Israel is] our worst ‘ally.’ We get literally nothing out of the ‘partnership’ other than the enmity of millions of people in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.” Bit by bit, that realization is spreading throughout American society …
Why Donald Trump Could Learn From Vietnam
Rainer Zitelmann
… Vietnam, once the poorest country in the world, reduced the proportion of people living in poverty from 80 percent at the beginning of the 1990s to 3 percent today. In the early 1990s, the gross national product per capita in Vietnam was just $98 a year, even lower than that of Somalia or Sierra Leone. Today, Vietnam is one of the most economically dynamic countries in the world. And although Vietnam still calls itself “socialist”, its recipe for success is based on distinctly capitalist principles. In the late 1980s, Vietnam launched a program of economic reforms known as Doi Moi, meaning “renewal” or “renovation”. These reforms introduced private property rights, opened the economy up to foreign investment, and implemented market-oriented reforms across numerous sectors.
Iran, Israel, and America: The 12-Day War, and What It Means
Mark Weber - American Free Press
In this interview, Mark Weber reviews the recent twelve-day war between Israel and Iran, which the US also joined. He also looks at the ongoing conflict and tensions in the Middle East and the US role in the region, and explains what it all mean for Americans. This interview by James Edwards is published in a July 2025 issue of American Free Press newspaper. What Americans are told about Iran and its government, says Weber, is often distorted and misleading. President Trump, along with the mainstream US media, parrot the Israeli government’s deliberately misleading “talking points” about Iran, Palestinians, and the Middle East – in spite of Israeli prime minister Netanyahu’s well-documented record of lying to the American public. Weber has made three visits to Iran, and has written and lectured on Iran and US-Iran relations.
Tucker Carlson Calls for Stripping Citizenship From Americans Who Served in the Israeli Army
Forward
Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host and a leader in the Republican Party’s isolationist wing, said that Americans who previously served in the Israel Defense Forces should have their U.S. citizenship revoked over concerns of dual loyalty. At the same time, he also criticized the Trump administration for trying to deport pro-Palestinian students who engaged in anti-Israel activity on campus. “There are a lot of Americans who’ve served in the IDF — they should lose their citizenship,” Carlson said in a 45-minute speech on Saturday at the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit in Tampa, Florida. “You can’t fight for another country and remain an American, period.”
We Didn’t Win the War: Ten Myths About Britain and World War II
Peter Hitchens - Mail (Britain)
… The uncomfortable truth is that from the very beginning, it was Britain which sought a conflict with Germany, not Germany with Britain … The sad truth is that this country deliberately sought a war in the vain hope of preserving a Great Power status our rulers knew in their hearts it had already lost. The resulting war turned us into a second-rate power … The general impression is that the end of hostilities brought a new sunlit era of optimism in a ravaged continent. Yet victory led swiftly to an appeasement of Stalin at least as bad as our appeasement of Hitler in 1938, with nations handed over bound and gagged to the Kremlin’s secret police regime. And the following months and years brought death on a colossal scale, of which we nowadays know almost nothing.
You Don’t Realize How `Liberal’ You Are: Review of `Against Liberalism’
Jeff Costello
… For Mr. Benoist, the real problem with modern civilization is liberalism, whether espoused by Left or Right … [In his book, Against Liberalism ] Mr. Benoist describes a liberal society as one “dominated by the primacy of the individual, the ideology of progress, the rights-of-man ideology, an obsession with growth, a disproportionate emphasis on mercantile values, the subjection of the symbolic imagination to the axioms of self-interest, and so on.” … For liberalism, the intrinsic worth of the individual is bound up with his ability to claim various “rights,” a crucial concept … Liberalism cannot advance a conception of the “common good” because it conceives society as an agglomeration of individuals each of whom is pursuing his own voluntarily chosen goods.
The Jewish State Is Building a Ghetto
Gideon Levy – Haaretz (Israel)
… The Jewish state is erecting a ghetto. What a horrifying sentence. It’s bad enough the plan was presented as if it could be in any way legitimate – who is for a concentration camp and who is against it? – but from there the path may be shortened to an even more horrific idea: someone might suggest next an extermination camp for those who do not get through the screening process at the ghetto’s entrance. Israel is killing Gaza’s residents en masse anyway, so why not streamline the process and spare the lives of our precious soldiers? Someone might also suggest a compact crematorium on the ruins of Khan Yunis, to which admittance, like the nearby ghetto in Rafah, will be purely voluntary. Of course, voluntary, like in the “humanitarian city.” Only leaving the two camps will no longer be voluntary. That is what the minister proposed.
Concentration Camp, Illegal Orders and War Crimes: Israel’s Madmen Have a Grim New Plan
Haaretz (Israel)
Israel’s recently unveiled plan – to force 600,000 displaced Palestinians into a ‘humanitarian city’ to be established on a strip of land where Rafah once stood – raises critical, and chilling, questions about the Netanyahu government’s intentions for Gaza / What do you need to know about Israel’s plan to herd 600,000 Palestinians into a special camp at Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, which the Netanyahu government calls a “humanitarian city”? … The only natural response, based on international law and human decency, is “no.” The plan, announced by Defense Minister Israel Katz last week, would force 600,000 people into a strip of land where Rafah once stood, then lock them in or allow one-way emigration abroad, with more Gazans to follow. It’s forced displacement on pain of death or starvation, as a prelude to expulsion.
Christian Leaders Condemn Attacks on Holy Sites by Israeli Settlers
Reuters
Christian leaders on Monday condemned a series of violent attacks by Israeli [Jewish] settlers targeting sacred sites in the occupied West Bank, warning that the escalating hostility is prompting some Christians to consider leaving the region. Speaking in the Christian town of Taybeh, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III said settlers had ignited a fire last week near a local cemetery and the ruins of a 5th-century church. “These actions pose a direct and deliberate threat not only to our local community but also to our historical and religious heritage,” Theophilos said at a press briefing alongside fellow Jerusalem-based church leaders, diplomats, and journalists. He further alleged that settlers had attacked homes in the area and criticised Israeli authorities for their inaction.
This Is Israel’s War – Not Our War
Rep. John J. Duncan, Jr.
… This is Israel’s war. It is not our war … Donald Trump was elected as president in 2016 primarily because of his opposition to the war in Iraq, and because he promised to put America First. The overwhelming majority of Americans – both Democrats and Republicans – do not want this country stuck in another war in the Middle East … Netanyahu claimed many times that Iran was the main purveyor of terrorist violence around the world. Actually, it has been Israel that has spread violence throughout the Middle East … Today, almost every member of the U.S. Congress is afraid to criticize Israel’s bombing, killing, and starving of many thousands of little children because of the Israel Lobby’s power and ability to direct massive campaign contributions for them or against them.
Why Trump Should Stay Out of Israel’s War on Iran
Eldar Mamedov -- The American Conservative
President Donald Trump’s admission last week that Iran had refused to abandon uranium enrichment — even after U.S.–Israeli strikes in June — exposes the harsh reality of Mideast power politics … Trump now faces a pivotal choice: statesmanship in pursuit of U.S. interests or subservience to Israel’s radical government … Far from surrendering, Tehran has struck notes of defiance, and the Iranian people have rallied around the flag, with public opinion now favoring weaponization as the ultimate deterrent against future attacks — a marginal stance before the strikes. In other words, the hoped-for benefits failed to materialize, though the predictable costs came to pass … This is why Netanyahu needs to entangle Trump in his war: Israel cannot fight Iran without the support of its superpower patron. Trump must avoid this trap.
Iran Tells US to Choose War or Peace
Newsweek
Iran has challenged the United States to make a pivotal decision following the recent war with Israel, urging Washington to return to diplomacy or risk further escalation. In a sharply worded op-ed published in the Financial Times, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posed a stark question to President Donald Trump’s administration: “Will the US finally choose diplomacy? Or will it remain ensnared in someone else’s war?” … Araghchi’s statement underscores the fragility of the region’s balance and raise the stakes for future dialogue on nuclear disarmament and regional stability.
Babylonian Text Missing for 1,000 Years Deciphered With AI
Popular Science
A team of ancient literature experts have deciphered a Mesopotamian text that was missing for over 1,000 years. Etched on clay tablets, the Hymn to Babylon describes the ancient megacity in “all of its majesty,” and gives new insights into the everyday lives of those who resided there … Founded in Mesopotamia around 2,000 BCE, Babylon was once the largest city in the world. Babylon’s ruins are … about 52 miles outside of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. At its height, the city was a cultural hub that inspired written works that still form part of our global heritage today … The Code of Hammurabi is one of the oldest surviving legal frameworks, and includes the concept of “innocent until proven guilty.”. Babylonian texts were primarily composed of an ancient writing system called cuneiform on clay tablets.
Confederacy Group Sues Stone Mountain Park for Planned Exhibit on Slavery, Segregation
Associated Press
The Georgia chapter of a Confederacy group filed a lawsuit Tuesday against a state park with the largest Confederate monument in the country, arguing officials broke state law by planning an exhibit on ties to slavery, segregation and white supremacy. Stone Mountain’s massive carving depicts Confederate President Jefferson Davis, Gen. Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson on horseback … State law protects the carving from any changes … Sons of the Confederate Veterans members have defended the carvings as honoring Confederate soldiers. The new exhibit would “completely repurpose the Stone Mountain Memorial Park” and “utterly ignore the purpose of the Georgia legislature in creating and maintaining” the park, the lawsuit says.
Sympathy for Israelis Drops Among Republican and Democratic Voters, Poll Finds
JTA
Sympathy for Israelis dropped 14% among Republicans over the last year, underscoring waning support for Israel as the country’s ongoing offensive in Gaza wages on, according to a new poll released Wednesday by Quinnipiac University. Among Republicans, the new poll found that 64% said their sympathies lay with the Israelis, while 7% said it was with Palestinians. In a May 2024 Quinnipiac poll, Republicans sympathy for Israel was at 78%. The poll also found dwindling support for Israel among Democrats, who had already sharply trailed Republicans in saying they viewed Israel favorably … Among American voters writ large, the poll reflected an all-time high for sympathy with Palestinians and an all-time low for sympathy with Israelis among American voters since the Quinnipiac University Poll began asking the question in 2001.
The Dangerous Consequences of the US Attack on Iran
Ted Snider
On June 21, the United States committed an act of war, attacking a sovereign nation that had neither attacked nor threatened it without the approval of the Security Council. Iran’s nuclear facilities were severely damaged. But that is not all that was damaged. The aggression has potentially left international law in ruins. America’s consistent appeals to the rules-based order instead of international law has long left the impression in much of the world that the U.S. selectively applies the rules when it suits them and exempts itself from the rules when it does not. That impression will be strengthened by the inconsistency of simultaneously condemning Russia for violating Ukrainian sovereignty by an act of war while the U.S. violates Iran’s sovereignty by dropping some of the largest bombs in the world on Iran’s civilian nuclear facilities.
American Beaten to Death by Israeli Settlers in the West Bank
NBC News
A 20-year-old American from Florida was beaten to death by Israeli settlers on Friday while visiting relatives in the occupied West Bank, according to his family and the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Sayfollah Musallet, known as Saif, was “brutally beaten to death” in the town of al-Mazra’a ash-Sharquiya, north of Ramallah, the family said in a statement on social media and confirmed to NBC News … Hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers live in developments built in Palestinian territories that are widely considered illegal by the international community. Since October 2023 … violence perpetrated by settlers in the West Bank has surged, often aided or abetted by Israeli security forces. Settler attacks include raids on villages, arson targeting homes and farmland, and physical assaults on residents that have regularly turned deadly.
Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene Moves to Cut Aid to ‘Nuclear-Armed Israel’
Responsible Statecraft
As Israel’s war on Gaza slogs on, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R- Ga.) wants to cut U.S. military aid to Tel Aviv. Indeed, Greene submitted an amendment to the 2026 Department of Defense Appropriations Act, which provides annual funding for DoD operations, that would strike $500 million in proposed additional military assistance for Israel … Greene explained on X. “Nuclear armed Israel seems to have their defense and debt under control, so the American taxpayers should not be required to give Nuclear armed Israel another $500 million in our U.S. defense bill.” Greene told Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast that the U.S. already gives Israel billions each year for its defense systems. “This is not a helpless country, and we already give them $3.4 billion every single year …,” she said.
Israeli Plan for Forced Transfer of Gaza’s Population ‘a Blueprint for Crimes Against Humanity’
The Guardian
Israel’s defence minister has laid out plans to force all Palestinians in Gaza into a camp on the ruins of Rafah, in a scheme that legal experts and academics described as a blueprint for crimes against humanity. Israel Katz said he has ordered Israel’s military to prepare for establishing a camp, which he called a “humanitarian city”, on the ruins of the city of Rafah, Haaretz newspaper reported. Palestinians would go through “security screening” before entering, and once inside would not be allowed to leave, Katz said at a briefing for Israeli journalists. Israeli forces would control the perimeter of the site and initially “move” 600,000 Palestinians into the area – mostly people currently displaced in the al-Mawasi area. Eventually the entire population of Gaza would be housed there, and Israel aims to implement “the emigration plan, which will happen” …
Israel Rushes to ‘Depopulate’ Northern Gaza Before Possible Ceasefire
Anadolu
Israel is racing against time to “depopulate” northern Gaza ahead of a possible ceasefire agreement, a Palestinian source said on Sunday. Israel is “trying to take advantage of the few remaining days before any anticipated truce to expand the scope of destruction and annihilate cities,” a source close to Palestinian factions told Anadolu. “Israel seeks to destroy what remains of life-sustaining infrastructure in northern Gaza, eliminating any chance for Palestinians to return in the future.” In May, the Israeli army launched Operation Gideon’s Chariots, which included the full evacuation of Palestinians from combat zones in northern Gaza. The plan targets confining the Palestinians to three narrow coastal areas … The areas where displaced Palestinians are now crammed do not exceed 15% of the total area of the Gaza Strip.
US Support For Israel Comes at a Staggering, Multifaceted Price
Brian McGlinchey
… Propelled by Israel’s powerful US-based lobby, by Israel-pandering legislators, and by a revolving cast of Israel-favoring presidents, cabinet members, and national security officials, the United States has consistently pursued policies in the Middle East that place top priority on securing Israel’s regional supremacy … In one of several observations about Israel that led to him being relieved of his position leading the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Levant and Egypt branch in June, Army Colonel Nathan McCormack summed up the relationship this way: “[Israel is] our worst ‘ally.’ We get literally nothing out of the ‘partnership’ other than the enmity of millions of people in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.” Bit by bit, that realization is spreading throughout American society …
Why Donald Trump Could Learn From Vietnam
Rainer Zitelmann
… Vietnam, once the poorest country in the world, reduced the proportion of people living in poverty from 80 percent at the beginning of the 1990s to 3 percent today. In the early 1990s, the gross national product per capita in Vietnam was just $98 a year, even lower than that of Somalia or Sierra Leone. Today, Vietnam is one of the most economically dynamic countries in the world. And although Vietnam still calls itself “socialist”, its recipe for success is based on distinctly capitalist principles. In the late 1980s, Vietnam launched a program of economic reforms known as Doi Moi, meaning “renewal” or “renovation”. These reforms introduced private property rights, opened the economy up to foreign investment, and implemented market-oriented reforms across numerous sectors.
Iran, Israel, and America: The 12-Day War, and What It Means
Mark Weber - American Free Press
In this interview, Mark Weber reviews the recent twelve-day war between Israel and Iran, which the US also joined. He also looks at the ongoing conflict and tensions in the Middle East and the US role in the region, and explains what it all mean for Americans. This interview by James Edwards is published in a July 2025 issue of American Free Press newspaper. What Americans are told about Iran and its government, says Weber, is often distorted and misleading. President Trump, along with the mainstream US media, parrot the Israeli government’s deliberately misleading “talking points” about Iran, Palestinians, and the Middle East – in spite of Israeli prime minister Netanyahu’s well-documented record of lying to the American public. Weber has made three visits to Iran, and has written and lectured on Iran and US-Iran relations.
Tucker Carlson Calls for Stripping Citizenship From Americans Who Served in the Israeli Army
Forward
Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host and a leader in the Republican Party’s isolationist wing, said that Americans who previously served in the Israel Defense Forces should have their U.S. citizenship revoked over concerns of dual loyalty. At the same time, he also criticized the Trump administration for trying to deport pro-Palestinian students who engaged in anti-Israel activity on campus. “There are a lot of Americans who’ve served in the IDF — they should lose their citizenship,” Carlson said in a 45-minute speech on Saturday at the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit in Tampa, Florida. “You can’t fight for another country and remain an American, period.”