Report: Kushner-Netanyahu Meeting Ends with Agreement That Israel Will Keep Bombing Gaza

by Dave DeCamp | August 17, 2026

https://news.antiwar.com/2026/08/17/report-kushner-netanyahu-meeting-ends-with-agreement-that-israel-will-keep-bombing-gaza/

A meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, a long-time family friend of the Israeli leader, ended with an agreement that Israel will continue so-called “targeted strikes” in Gaza, Haaretz reported on Monday.

The reported agreement to allow Israel to continue attacks in Gaza comes despite Kushner holding a meeting a day earlier with Hamas officials, who said they were committed to the disarmament plan announced by President Trump and the so-called “Board of Peace.”

Later in the day, Kushner told Fox News that the US wouldn’t “restrict Israel’s right to defend itself” and that one purpose of the meeting was to “clarify what that means.” He also described the disarmament deal as a “win-win” for Israel because either Hamas disarms, or Hamas doesn’t “follow through” and then Israel would have “a lot more support from the US and others to go and finish the job.”

Also on Monday, President Trump said that Israel should “stop striking Gaza” because Hamas agreed to “lay down their weapons,” comments that Hamas welcomed, though the results of the Kushner-Netanyahu meeting suggest Trump isn’t serious about putting pressure on Israel to halt all of its attacks.

Kushner and Netanyahu were joined by the Board of Peace’s top Gaza envoy, Bulgarian politician Nikolay Mladenov, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.

The Haaretz report said the officials agreed to allow work to begin in Gaza on sanitation infrastructure to prevent disease outbreaks and contamination of groundwater and coastal waters, but broader reconstruction will still not be allowed.

They also discussed a preliminary plan that would involve Hamas handing over its weapons to a force led by Jasper Jeffires, a US Army general who’s been designated as the commander of the “International Stabilization Force,” which is supposed to deploy to Gaza under President Trump’s plan.

But the Haaretz report said Israeli officials expressed skepticism about the disarmament plan, and Netanyahu and other Israeli officials have repeatedly rejected the overall proposal. An Israeli official told The Guardian that there had been no breakthrough in the meeting and that Israel would continue to carry out operations in Gaza.

Israel’s attacks in Gaza since the so-called ceasefire deal was signed in October 2025 have killed at least 1,265 Palestinians and wounded 4,198, according to the latest numbers released by Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry said that over the previous 48 hours, Israeli attacks have killed at least two Palestinians and injured 15.

 

Solidarity Is Not Enough: Why the World Must Force Accountability in Gaza Now

by Ramzy Baroud

Aug 17, 2026

https://original.antiwar.com/ramzy-baroud/2026/08/16/solidarity-is-not-enough-why-the-world-must-force-accountability-on-gaza-now/

It is now official: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has flatly rejected the core conditions of the Board of Peace framework, explicitly stating that Israel will neither adhere to a ceasefire nor withdraw its forces from Gaza.

During a cabinet meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu stated with unambiguous language: “Israel rejects the 15-point document published by the Board of Peace for Gaza”.

In a previous conversation with lead envoy Nickolay Mladenov, Netanyahu set conditions – such as demanding unilateral operational freedom for the Israeli military to strike inside Gaza at will – that render a genuine peace agreement structurally impossible.

The Israeli army leadership, under Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, reinforced this posture by outlining three uncompromising “red lines” to the political establishment: complete operational freedom to eliminate perceived threats anywhere in the Strip, strict control over all weapons entering or exiting Gaza, and zero military withdrawal unless Hamas is completely disarmed.

One can fault Netanyahu for many things, including ongoing genocide. But in recent years, he has been remarkably straightforward about his intentions; therefore, no one can claim that Netanyahu has fooled anyone.

Earlier this year, while speaking at a conference in an occupied West Bank settlement, Netanyahu explicitly boasted that he had instructed the Israeli military to expand its physical footprint and permanently occupy at least 70 percent of the Gaza Strip – a massive expansion far beyond the temporary administrative demarcation lines established in previous truce outlines.

Meanwhile, his far-right ministers have pushed the government’s rejectionist stance even further. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Missions Minister Orit Strock issued a joint demand for an emergency cabinet meeting to roll back authorization for the deployment of the International Stabilization Force (ISF).

The ISF, designed under the Board of Peace framework as a transitional peacekeeping body, was meant to oversee humanitarian security, starting with pilot recovery zones in Rafah.

Yet Smotrich and Strock claimed the security cabinet was “misled” into approving the force, arguing that allowing international personnel into Gaza endangers Israeli operational freedom and directly contradicts their explicit war aims.

These latest moves, along with the military’s strict “red lines,” confirm what recent months of relentless bombardment have made clear: the Israeli government has no intention of ending its genocide in Gaza or relinquishing control over the besieged and devastated territory.

But highlighting such positions will make no difference, aside from once more accentuating Israel’s total lack of desire for peace and its intention to perpetuate conflict.

While true, such realization on its own is worthless considering that what is taking place in Gaza and the West Bank is beyond horrific, and that the daily killing of Palestinians makes the term “ceasefire” a cruel joke.

While diplomats debate frameworks, Israeli strikes continue to claim civilian lives daily – bringing the post-truce death toll to over 1,250 and the total killed since October 2023 to more than 73,000.

Therefore, action is needed, and urgently so. Indeed, Israel’s official position leaves the international community with no choice but to take direct, coordinated action across five key fronts:

First, Arab, Muslim, and allied governments must leverage every available international platform, starting with the UN General Assembly and Security Council, to formally condemn Israel’s violation of the Gaza peace framework and expose its bad-faith negotiations.

States must move beyond symbolic statements and invoke mechanisms like the ‘Uniting for Peace’ resolution to bypass Western vetoes, push for binding sanctions, and implement a universal arms embargo against Israel.

Second, a renewed global campaign must recenter Gaza and the West Bank, exposing Israel’s broader territorial objectives – specifically the systematic ethnic cleansing of Gaza and the quiet, administrative annexation of the West Bank.

Civil society, trade unions, and grassroots organizations worldwide must pressure their respective national governments to sever diplomatic, economic, and military ties with Israel until it complies with international law.

Third, International legal bodies must accelerate their proceedings. Pressure must be renewed on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to execute arrest warrants for senior Israeli leadership, while the International Court of Justice (ICJ) must enforce provisional measures and issue definitive rulings regarding Israel’s violations of the Genocide Convention.

Legal compliance must be treated as a non-negotiable prerequisite for international relations.

Fourth, a unified international media push is necessary to counter state-sponsored propaganda, keeping public focus fixed on Israel’s long-term strategic plans: the permanent displacement of Gaza’s population and the formal takeover of Palestinian land.

Independent media outlets, journalists, and cultural institutions must challenge official narratives that frame Israeli aggression as self-defense, centering the lived realities and testimonies of Palestinians under siege instead.

Fifth, the international community must bypass Israeli obstruction to ensure massive quantities of food, medical supplies, and shelter materials enter Gaza immediately to prevent widespread starvation and winter exposure.

International aid agencies must establish protected humanitarian corridors by global mandate, refusing to allow Israel to use manufactured famine and humanitarian denial as weapons of war.

With Israel’s intentions fully unmasked, the global community must shift from passive mediation to active enforcement.

Israel wants to normalize genocide, just as it normalized the illegal siege on Gaza before that, the military occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza before that, and the ongoing displacement of Palestinians since 1948.

We must resolutely reject the premise that the slaughter of the innocent can ever become an accepted routine.

Knowledge of the atrocity is not enough. Expressing solidarity in words alone is not enough. Concrete, decisive action is required today – and holding the perpetrators accountable remains entirely within our power if the world finds the political courage to act.

US has lost roughly 25 percent of its Reaper drones in Iran war: Report

The US has depleted critical standoff munitions and interceptors as it wages war on Iran

MEE staff

Published date: 14 August 2026

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-has-lost-roughly-25-percent-its-reaper-drones-iran-war-report

The US-Israeli war on Iran has depleted or destroyed more than $1.3bn worth of the US's MQ-9 Reaper drones, roughly translating to 25 percent of the country's pre-war fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles, according to a report by The Washington Post published on Friday.

The report underscores how Iran's air defences have continued to be operational despite claims by President Donald Trump and his aides that they have been obliterated. 

The Washington Post story reveals a slightly higher number of MQ-9 Reaper drones destroyed compared to a Bloomberg report published in May, which put the figure at 20 percent of the pre-war inventory. 

The MQ-9 Reaper drone is valued between $30m and $50m, depending on its sensor, radar, and ordnance configuration. The unmanned aerial vehicle serves as a high-altitude platform for surveillance, reconnaissance, and targeted precision strikes, as documented by the US Air Force. 

It is capable of carrying Hellfire missiles or Joint Direct Attack Munition guided bombs. 

The drone flies slowly, at low altitude, making the MQ-9 Reaper a simple target for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its regional allies in Yemen and Iraq. 

The aircraft is frequently used near the Strait of Hormuz, where the US and Iran are battling for control.

Trump says he has enforced a “wall of steel” naval blockade on the waterway. 

The MQ-9 Reaper is one of a burgeoning list of American weapons and munitions that have experienced stock depletion during the war on Iran.

The Pentagon is phasing out the General Atomics-produced Reaper and foresees a replacement fleet of cheaper armed surveillance drones capable of swarming their targets. 

The US has depleted its stockpile of sophisticated standoff munitions. 

The US has fired more than 850 Tomahawk cruise missiles and more than 1,000 Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missiles. 

The Trump administration has denied reports that US weapons stockpiles are facing shortages as a result of the war. 

The Trump administration has requested from Congress more than $ 67bn in supplementary funding to address operational costs incurred by the Department of War during Operation Epic Fury and to replenish weapons supplies.

On 6 August, Trump confronted Secretary of War Pete Hegseth at a Cabinet meeting over Washington's critical shortage of munitions, saying that it is one of the reasons behind his administration’s decision to pause large-scale strikes against Iran.

Netanyahu brands Britain an ‘Islamic republic’ as it prepares Israel sanctions

The Israeli prime minister attacks London despite years of British arms sales, intelligence sharing and diplomatic protection

Elis Gjevori

Published date: 14 August 2026

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/netanyahu-brands-britain-islamic-republic-despite-prepares-israel-sanctions

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has branded Britain an "Islamic republic", attacking a country whose governments have armed, protected and assisted Israel throughout its genocide in Gaza and wider regional wars.

During an interview broadcast by Army Radio, Netanyahu complained that the favourable British coverage Israel received during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war had disappeared.

The 1967 war began with Israel’s surprise attack on Egypt and ended with Israeli forces seizing the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and Syria’s Golan Heights.

“Try to find that now in Britain, which you could call the Islamic republic of Britain,” Netanyahu said.

When the host responded, “Isn’t all of Europe like that?”, Netanyahu replied: “Yes, but you know, someone said the first Islamic republic with nuclear weapons will be the Islamic republic of Britain.”

Netanyahu's Islamophobic remarks came as London is poised to announce a raft of new policies in September, multiple sources told Middle East Eye, including a ban on goods from illegal Israeli settlements.

Sources said the Foreign Office is looking at imposing new sanctions on individuals and organisations involved in the Israeli settler movement in the occupied West Bank.

UK support for Israel

But Netanyahu’s rhetoric clashes with Britain’s record as one of Israel’s most dependable European supporters.

Under former Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the Labour government proscribed the Palestine Action group as a terrorist organisation in July 2025. The group had targeted factories and facilities connected to companies supplying weapons to Israel.

The ban made membership and expressions of support punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Police have since arrested more than 3,000 people and charged more than 1,200 under terrorism legislation.

London also conducted surveillance flights over Gaza during the genocide and shared intelligence with Israel. The Ministry of Defence trained Israeli military personnel on British courses, only pausing future participation late in 2025.

Britain’s arms policy exposes the same contradiction. Labour suspended 29 export licences to Israel in September 2024 after identifying a “clear risk” that equipment could facilitate violations of international humanitarian law. Then-Foreign Secretary David Lammy stressed that the decision was “not an arms embargo”.

By February 2026, Israel appeared on 395 non-suspended export licences. Of those, 203 covered military goods, while non-F-35 military licences carried a maximum value of £130m.

British support also extended to the war on Iran, with Starmer authorising US forces to use British bases for strikes in March 2026.

His successor, Andy Burnham, continued that access in July, helping Washington sustain a war Netanyahu had pushed the United States to fight.

Why the Trump administration will have to accept a Hormuz toll

It wouldn't be unprecedented, and Gulf countries are already seeking alternatives to the strait, which means its importance will eventually diminish

Dan DePetris

Aug 10, 2026

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/straight-of-hormuz-toll/

In the weeks since the U.S.-Iran Memorandum of Understanding collapsed, Washington and Tehran have used the time to strengthen their respective positions in the event negotiations resume.

For the United States, this has largely taken the form of overt threats by President Donald Trump himself and hints that an even more comprehensive U.S. bombing campaign against Iranian strategic targets is on the table. For Iran, the strategy is familiar: ensure maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is kept to an absolute minimum.

U.S. and Iranian officials continue to give conflicting accounts of where negotiations stand. Despite Trump’s repeated declarations that Tehran is begging for a deal, the Iranians stress no talks are occurring with the United States. Still, both sides seem to agree that any pending agreement will center on the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has proved capable of shutting down at will.

Various schemes have been proposed between Iran and Oman, the two countries on either end of the strait. While a deal is not finalized, Iran will most certainly retain more power over the strait’s traffic than it did before the war began in February.

The question now is whether tolls or fees will accompany any arrangement worked out between Tehran and Muscat. The Trump administration is dead set against acceding to any fee structure because it would provide the Iranian government with additional revenue and represent visible proof that Trump’s preventive war was a strategic mistake. Referring to the Strait of Hormuz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated the U.S. position in July: "If we create a precedent in the Middle East where a nation-state can decide that they are going to control an international waterway, charge a toll…we have created a very dangerous precedent which will repeat itself in other parts of the world.”

Of course, permitting an Iranian toll or fee structure isn’t ideal. Before the war, such a hypothetical would have been difficult to imagine. The strait at that time was free and open, and roughly 120 to 150 ships relied on the route each day to get their products to customers worldwide.

The United States wants Iran to return to this status quo. Yet Iran has no intention of doing so — and to expect otherwise is to be completely ignorant of how events have played out since.

Trump’s war handed Iran the perfect excuse to leverage its geography, and the Iranians didn’t hesitate to do so. Originally, Tehran’s shuttering of the strait aimed to increase the cost on Washington and eventually convince U.S. partners in the region to pressure Trump into ending the war. But over time, the Strait of Hormuz, in addition to Iran’s more aggressive posture toward its neighbors writ-large, has become something far more valuable: a strategic card Iran can play whenever Trump threatens to accelerate military operations.

Re-opening the strait is now as important to the United States as containing Iran’s nuclear program, if not more so. The question is how to do it.

Trump originally tried to pursue this objective through military force, hoping U.S. strikes could degrade Iran’s military capacity to such an extent that the IRGC would have to stop shooting at ships. The strategy overestimated the U.S. military’s power to force a change in Tehran’s strategic calculus and underestimated Iran’s ability to manufacture and launch cheap drones and missiles at scale. Every U.S. strike merely reaffirmed the Iranian government’s belief that the war was existential for them. Instead of capitulating, Iran fought back, targeting vessels that used the southerly route near Oman’s coast and making it clear that heavier U.S. bombing would compel more Iranian attacks on Gulf energy infrastructure.

U.S. military attempts to bring the strait back to its pre-February state have failed and will likely continue to fail. If the Trump administration seeks to extricate itself from a war without end, its best option is to accept a toll or fee structure in the regional chokepoint. Hawks on Capitol Hill would no doubt scream bloody murder, and some of Trump’s own political allies will have a difficult time explaining how such a scheme is appealing. But if the choice is between swallowing fees or endless conflict, then the former is the better option. The Trump administration may not like paying for the privilege of using the strait, but its decision to go to war in the first place created the situation the United States is now in. Bad policies have unintended consequences.

Fortunately, fees in the strait would not be the end of the world.

This wouldn’t be the first time a country located next to a critical trade chokepoint received some form of compensation. The most obvious case is the Strait of Malacca in Southeast Asia, where shipowners contribute to a voluntary fund, administered by Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, for navigational assistance, maritime safety, environmental protection and search and rescue. A similar arrangement in the Strait of Hormuz would thus not set a precedent. In fact, shipping companies and the insurance carriers that underwrite them might even view these voluntary payments as in their own interest if it helps prevent even costlier disasters or accidents.

There’s no use brushing the obvious under the rug: U.S. acceptance of Iranian tolls or fees would be an embarrassing acknowledgment that Iran is now a principal arbiter of the strait. Moreover, depending on how high the fees are — Tehran is reportedly demanding 7% of the value of a ship’s cargo — the Iranians would be collecting revenue they wouldn’t have had prior to the war.

But even this scenario is not as dire as many assume. In practice, Iran’s leverage dissipates with every month that passes by. The Gulf Arab states are not sitting still and watching the new status quo helplessly. Rather, Tehran’s neighbors are increasingly adapting to Iran’s machinations by tapping into pipelines that bypass the strait altogether and exploring future projects that make their energy infrastructure more durable and less vulnerable to a single chokepoint.

Saudi Arabia is using its cross-country east-west pipeline to export more crude oil through the Red Sea. While this alternative route remains vulnerable to strikes by the Iran-aligned Houthis and doesn’t fully compensate for the loss of normal traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, it has still allowed the kingdom to avoid shutting down production entirely. Ditto the United Arab Emirates, which is sending more crude through its Fujairah export terminal, located outside the strait. Fujairah’s share of UAE exports increased to 66% in July from 51% a month earlier. Iran’s actions during the war will only reinforce Persian Gulf oil producers’ desire to diversify their routes, reducing Tehran’s ability to obstruct energy flows in the future.

Negotiations on reopening the Strait of Hormuz continue. If there comes a point where fees for passage are unavoidable, then U.S. policymakers should keep a cool head. Ceding the point would be the most efficient way for the United States to remove itself from a foolish conflict at minimal cost.

West Bank approaching 'point of no return': Russia

Russian envoy says Israeli creeping expansion in occupied Palestinian territories driving crisis

Elena Teslova

12 August 2026

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/world/west-bank-approaching-point-of-no-return-russia/4025598

MOSCOW

Russia warned on Wednesday that the West Bank was approaching a “point of no return,” and that further escalation could destabilize the wider Middle East.

Russian UN Amb. Vassily Nebenzya attributed the trend to Israel’s “creeping expansion” in occupied Palestinian territories.

“The West Bank is approaching a point of no return, with risks of deep destabilization of the military and political situation throughout the region,” he said at a UN Security Council meeting on the Middle East, including the Palestinian question/

He urged Israel to refrain from unilateral steps, including settlement activity, that could undermine prospects for a two-state solution.

The diplomat also urged Israel to take effective measures to curb settler violence and return to implementing relevant UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions.

Nebenzya also voiced concern about the situation in the Gaza Strip, saying implementation of the US peace plan for the enclave had effectively stalled.

He welcomed the role of mediators in helping halt large-scale fighting in Gaza but said the ceasefire continued to be violated, primarily by Israel.

Citing casualty figures, Nebenzya said nearly 1,300 Palestinians had been killed in less than a year since the ceasefire formally took effect, including almost 300 children, according to UNICEF reports.

The Russian envoy said the success of any peace initiative in the Middle East should ultimately be measured by whether it leads to the establishment of an independent and contiguous Palestinian state comprising the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

“The Palestinian question, as well as the entire complex of Middle Eastern issues, cannot be resolved in one stroke or through situational, closed-door schemes,” he said, arguing that sustainable stability required coordinated international and regional efforts.

Nebenzya also criticized attempts by "individual countries" to assume the role of the sole mediator in the conflict, particularly when the mediator "openly favors one side."

He said a lasting settlement should be based on the existing international legal framework and the principle of “two states for two peoples.”

Why is Latin America becoming a breeding ground for 'fanatics of Israel'?

Joseph Bouchard

7 August 2026 

Propelled by disinformation, arms deals and surveillance tech, right-wing governments have helped to increase Netanyahu's reach, undermining the region's historical alliance with Palestine.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/why-is-latin-america-a-breeding-ground-for-israel

A split is happening across Latin America. Poll after poll shows the region’s publics turning against Israel, whose three-year assault on Gaza is widely considered a genocide by leading scholars and human rights groups.

Yet a wave of new right-wing governments - in El Salvador, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Honduras, Costa Rica and now Colombia - signals a shift in the opposite direction, deepening the region’s security, diplomatic and technological ties with Israel, while denying Palestinians the most basic right to self-determination.

The clearest illustration came last month in Colombia. Gustavo Petro, the former guerrilla and outgoing leftist president who addressed a pro-Palestine rally in New York last year before Washington revoked his visa, lost power to Abelardo de la Espriella, a lawyer who has defended paramilitary groups and has ties to military dictatorships and US President Donald Trump. 

Petro has accused the Israeli cyber-intelligence firm BlackCore of deploying half a million bot accounts to flood Colombian voters with disinformation ahead of the June run-off, which De la Espriella won by less than a single percentage point. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu didn’t wait for that dispute to settle before celebrating online, congratulating the president-elect and declaring that “Israel’s friends continue to win”. The region is home to some 700,000 Palestinians and 500,000 Jews.

De la Espriella has already signalled that he will suspend plans for Colombia’s embassy to Palestine, and pledged to restore relations with Israel, including by moving Colombia’s mission to Jerusalem, thus stripping Bogota of its role as one of the more forceful voices behind South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

Colombia is just the latest domino to fall. Bolivia, the first Latin American country to sever ties with Israel after the 7 October 2023 attacks, restored full diplomatic relations in December under new centre-right President Rodrigo Paz, a rapprochement Netanyahu personally sealed by phone shortly after Paz’s election.

Washington's puppet in Caracas

Venezuela’s nominally socialist government - under sustained American pressure, and effectively operating as a US-backed colonial regime - has hosted American congressional delegations, while keeping Israeli humanitarian and diplomatic channels open, and it recently announced plans to leave the International Criminal Court. Caracas has become a de facto puppet of Washington’s interests in the region, tilting ever-further right.

Cuba, destroyed by decades of US suffocation and now pursuing American-promoted economic reforms (met with even more sanctions), may not be far behind.

Mossad once operated out of Havana, helping the CIA track leftists and Soviet operatives across the region during the Cold War - a legacy of Israeli entanglement in Latin America that long predates Gaza.

Underpinning all of this is a security relationship in which Latin American electorates don’t get a say. Pegasus, the intrusive Israeli spyware sold to governments across the region, has repeatedly been used to target journalists and opposition figures, rather than terrorists and criminals. 

Brazilian police, among the most lethal in the region, use a plethora of Israeli weapons in the favelas. Police violence across the country results in thousands of deaths annually. And in recent years, Israeli intelligence operatives have worked alongside Brazilian authorities to investigate an alleged Hezbollah presence in the country.

Israeli tourists in the region have become a flashpoint in their own right: blamed by Argentine officials for wildfires in Patagonia, detained by Brazilian police after violence against pro-Palestine protesters, and courted at tourism fairs in Sao Paulo that marketed occupied Palestinian land as Israeli destinations. 

Crucial test ahead

There is a clear test ahead with Brazil’s October election. Flavio Bolsonaro, son of the convicted former president, launched his campaign against incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva with a video endorsement from Netanyahu and fiery support from Argentinian leader Javier Milei, who has called himself a “fanatic of Israel” and plans to move Argentina’s embassy to Jerusalem. Every right-wing candidate in the race has competed over being more pro-Israel and anti "terrorist" than the next.

Lula, the sitting president, remains by contrast one of the last major heads of state in Latin America still willing to call Israel’s campaign in Gaza a genocide. He has even compared it to the Holocaust, drawing public outrage in some quarters. 

Both Brazil and Mexico, the latter now governed by a leftist president of Jewish heritage, Claudia Sheinbaum, face mounting pressure from Washington over their posture - including economic warfare, threats of strikes, sanctions, and terrorist designations that open the door to incursions.

Ironically, Nayib Bukele, El Salvador’s Maga darling dictator, is himself of Palestinian descent - but he has nonetheless built his repressive security state partly on Israeli weapons and surveillance equipment, now turbo-charging repression across Latin America. 

The new president of Honduras, Nasry Asfura, who was pushed to power with Trump’s intervention, is also a deep ally of Israel, despite being of Palestinian descent. He has visited Israel and met Netanyahu.

Leaked audio recordings dubbed “Hondurasgate” allegedly captured former president Juan Orlando Hernandez, Asfura and Milei discussing plans to use Honduras as a staging ground to target leftist governments across the region - a plot that reportedly involved Netanyahu’s assistance in securing Hernandez a pardon from Trump after a drug trafficking conviction. 

These new right-wing, mostly populist governments have helped to increase Israel’s reach, propelled by surveillance firms, arms deals and disinformation campaigns, despite the region’s populace growing increasingly wary of Israel. 

This issue has become another front for elite-citizen divides in the region. The Brazilian election may help bridge, or deepen, that rift.