Author: Sharon Zhang

  • This story was originally published on Truthout on Dec. 09, 2025. It is shared here under a  Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.

    The 2026 military funding bill released this week would require the U.S. to assess Israel’s weapons arsenal and suggest ways to undo any “gaps” that may be caused by arms embargoes imposed by other countries protesting Israel’s violence.

    A provision in the “must-pass” National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) bill for 2026, released by lawmakers on Monday, requires the Secretary of Defense to “conduct a continual assessment of” the “impact on Israel’s defense capabilities” from arms embargoes and other restrictions placed on arms exports to Israel.

    The department must then report on “resulting gaps or vulnerabilities in Israel’s security posture” against “adversaries” like Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah, the bill text says.

    Then, officials must conduct an assessment to identify any of Israel’s military “needs” and actions that the U.S. could take to “mitigate such gaps in defensive capabilities.” Such actions could include “addressing barriers” to arms deliveries, expanding cooperation with Israel to develop military technology, and sending weapons directly.

    The Defense Secretary, along with the Secretary of State and Director of National Intelligence, must ensure that the report on the subject is updated at least once every 180 days, the bill says.

    The remarkable measure comes as a response to at least two dozen countries that have restricted or ended weapons transfers to Israel since its genocide began on October 7, 2023. It also comes after countless experts, including watchdogs within the State Department, have said that continuing to send weapons is illegal under domestic and international law.

    Many of these arms embargoes have had little difference on Israel’s ability to carry out its genocide in Gaza and its multi-front aggression otherwise; research has shown that the U.S. provides Israel with 66 percent of its foreign weapons supply, while Germany provides 33 percent and Italy provides 1 percent. Some suspensions, however, may be affecting Israel’s capabilities, like the U.K.’s ban on certain F-35 parts.

    The bill is expected to come to a vote on Wednesday and will likely pass with widespread bipartisan support. It also establishes a “U.S.-Israel Defense Industrial Base Working Group” with the goal of incorporating Israel in the U.S.’s technology and industrial bases.

    Republican leadership for the House Armed Services Committee boasts that the budget “provides unprecedented levels of support for the security of Israel,” and says that its measure to oppose arms embargoes “combats antisemitism.”

    “These measures are not in America’s interest and would not be supported by the typical American voter if they were walked through them,” Josh Paul, a former arms transfer expert who resigned from the State Department over the genocide in Gaza, told Politico.

    Indeed, new polling out on Monday found widespread support for barring some or all weapons transfers to Israel. According to Yale’s Youth Poll, strong majorities of voters ages 18 to 34 support a full or partial weapons embargo on Israel, with roughly 7 in 10 supporting the proposal among those under 30, and 56 percent support among those aged 30 to 34. A plurality of voters within the 18 to 34 age range supported a full embargo, with 46 percent of those under 30 saying they think the U.S. should stop all military aid to Israel.

    This post was originally published on The Real News Network.

  • A group of genocide prevention experts has accused former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of “outright genocide denial” after she baselessly claimed that “made up” social media content is to blame for young people’s opposition to Israel’s genocide in Gaza. In a statement Monday, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security said that Clinton sought to sweep aside young…

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  • A new investigation has revealed that grocery delivery service Instacart is using a covert, AI-powered dynamic pricing scheme to charge customers different prices for the same items — potentially costing households over $1,000 more a year. Groundwork Collaborative, Consumer Reports, and More Perfect Union collaborated on an experiment with 437 shoppers across four U.S. locations…

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    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • The 2026 military funding bill released this week would require the U.S. to assess Israel’s weapons arsenal and suggest ways to undo any “gaps” that may be caused by arms embargoes imposed by other countries protesting Israel’s violence. A provision in the “must-pass” National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) bill for 2026, released by lawmakers on Monday, requires the Secretary of Defense to…

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    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Israeli authorities are reportedly conducting widespread surveillance and recording in a U.S. base set up in southern Israel in October to monitor the Gaza ceasefire. The Guardian reports that foreign diplomats and other visitors to the base like humanitarian officials are sometimes told to avoid sharing sensitive information for fear that it will be exploited by Israel…

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    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Ultranationalist Israeli politicians, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, wore golden noose-shaped lapel pins to a meeting on Monday in order to show their “commitment” to advancing a widely condemned bill to mandate the death penalty for “terrorists” who kill Israelis. The pins resemble the yellow ribbon pins that Israeli leaders have worn throughout their genocide to to…

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  • Sudanese paramilitary forces bombed a kindergarten and the hospital where victims were brought for treatment in southern Sudan on Thursday, killing at least 50 people, including 33 children. Rapid Support Forces (RSF) carried out three drone strikes in the town of Kalogi, in South Kordofan, officials say. The paramilitary reportedly struck the school twice, the second time to kill civilians…

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  • Four countries have announced that they are boycotting the Eurovision Song Contest in 2026 because of the organizers’ much-criticized decision to allow Israel to continue participating in the competition, despite its genocide. Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and the Netherlands are pulling out of the competition for next year, after the body behind the competition, the European Broadcasting Union…

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  • Israel’s killing of two young Palestinian boys in Gaza for supposedly crossing the Israeli military’s ever-shifting yellow line last week is “horrific” and must be investigated, the UN has said. “It’s hard to see how two boys, eight and 10, can be considered a threat. And there needs to be an investigation and accountability into what happened,” said Stéphane Dujarric…

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  • Israeli settler attacks in the occupied West Bank have injured over a thousand Palestinians so far this year, the UN reports — nearly more than the tally for the past two years combined. As of November 24, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) for the occupied Palestinian territories had recorded 733 Palestinians confirmed injured by Israeli settlers…

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  • Footage of the U.S.’s “double tap” boat strike in the Caribbean on September 2 is extremely disturbing, says a lawmaker who was shown the video in a closed door briefing by top military officials on Thursday. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Dan Caine and Special Operations Command head Frank Bradley visited Capitol Hill on Thursday. During that visit, officers briefed the top Republicans and…

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  • Just weeks after the Trump administration’s likely illegal boat strike campaign began, the military official tasked with overseeing the operation was ousted by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who was apparently incensed with the admiral for raising concerns about the strikes and other egregious demands made of him, new reporting finds. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that…

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  • Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has claimed that the ignorance of young people and their consumption of content on social media is responsible for their opposition to Israel and its genocide in Gaza, blaming “made up” propaganda on Tuesday while speaking at a conference held by a far right Israeli publication. In remarks on Tuesday, Clinton said that the sentiments among young…

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  • The family of a Colombian man believed to be killed by a strike on a boat in September has filed a human rights complaint against the United States, saying that the attack was “murder” and that he was denied the right to due process. The family believes that Colombian citizen Alejandro Carranza Medina, who was 42 years old, was killed on September 15, 2025, in the second of the publicly…

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  • The Trump administration is expanding its immigration raids targeting Somalis in Minneapolis this week, with reports of detentions already made as President Donald Trump spews vitriolic, racist hate against the population of several hundred thousand people in the U.S. Major outlets, including The New York Times and Associated Press, reported Tuesday that U.S. officials are preparing the raid…

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  • Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday that he witnessed the initial strike in the U.S. military’s “double tap” attack on a boat in the Caribbean Sea in September, but had left the room before the second one because he was “busy.” In a cabinet meeting, Hegseth doubled down on his defense of the “double tap” boat strike on September 2 — while still distancing himself from direct…

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  • A Republican senator has introduced a bill to ban Americans from holding dual citizenship, in the latest attempt by the right to attack immigrants and tighten the rules around what is permissible with regards to American citizenship. Sen. Bernie Moreno, a Republican from Ohio, introduced the legislation, entitled the “Exclusive Citizenship Act,” on Tuesday. The bill makes the sweeping…

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  • Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is facing heat from a wide range of figures, including a Canadian children’s book publisher, after revelations regarding his orders in the Trump administration’s murderous boat strike campaign. On Sunday, Hegseth posted a picture that appeared to be AI generated on X, showing the cover of a fake children’s book entitled Franklin Targets Narco Terrorists.

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  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has requested that President Isaac Herzog pardon him of corruption charges in his five-year-long case, citing U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent request for the favor and saying that it’s necessary to advance the two leaders’ joint interests as they ravage the Middle East. The prime minister made the request on Sunday, framing the trial as a “witch…

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  • Members of Congress have launched a bicameral, bipartisan effort to sharpen oversight of the Pentagon after a report on an alleged order by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “kill everybody” in the military’s boat strike campaign spurred widespread condemnation over the weekend. The Republican-led Armed Services Committees in both the House and the Senate have announced that they are…

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  • An Iranian professor for the University of Oklahoma was released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Monday after spending three days in detention for what the agency has deemed “standard questioning.” Vahid Abedini is an assistant professor of Iranian Studies for the university. On Saturday, he was on his way to the Middle East Studies Association’s annual meeting, in Washington…

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  • White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed on Monday that “all orders” by President Donald Trump should be “presumed” legal by the military, as she defended comments he made last week threatening Democratic lawmakers with “DEATH.” Speaking to reporters outside of the White House on Monday, Leavitt claimed that Democrats were trying to create “chaos” within the military by reminding…

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  • Israel’s genocide has destroyed nearly 90 percent of Gaza’s economy, causing the worst economic collapse ever recorded, according to the UN. In 2024 alone, Israel caused Gaza’s GDP to decline by 83 percent, according to data reported Tuesday by the UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) agency. Now, Gaza’s economy stands at just 13 percent of its 2022 levels, UN experts say.

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  • Israel killed at least two children a day in Gaza in the first six weeks of the current ceasefire deal, the UN reports. Last week, UNICEF reported that Israeli forces have killed 67 children since October 11, when the deal went into effect. Gaza health officials have said that Israel has killed 342 Palestinians total amid the ceasefire and injured over 700 others. “Yesterday morning…

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  • Senate Republican Ron Johnson (Wisconsin) has said that the U.S. “can’t afford” to implement Donald Trump’s proposal to send out $2,000 checks to supposedly offset costs of tariffs — just days after the president wined and dined some of the richest people on the planet at an extravagant black tie dinner in the White House. “Look, we can’t afford it. I wish we were in a position to return the…

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    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • The vast majority of Americans say that the Trump administration hasn’t given proper explanation for potential military action in Venezuela and oppose the idea of strikes in the country, new polling finds as the U.S. builds up its military presence in the region. New CBS/YouGov polling conducted late last week shows that 70 percent of Americans say that they would oppose the U.S.

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  • Ahead of a visit by democratic socialist and New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani to the White House on Friday, House lawmakers overwhelmingly passed a resolution condemning socialism, with dozens of Democrats joining Republicans in their McCarthyist fervor. The resolution “denouncing the horrors of socialism” passed 285 to 98 on Friday morning, with 86 Democrats joining 199 Republicans…

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  • On Thursday, Senate Republican Joni Ernst (Iowa) blocked an attempt to pass a bill aimed at using U.S.’s leverage to bring an end to the genocide in Sudan by suspending arms shipments to the United Arab Emirates. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) called for unanimous consent on his bill, the Stand Up for Sudan Act, to bar the U.S. from selling or issuing a license for weapons until the White…

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  • President Donald Trump’s ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, reportedly welcomed a man convicted of spying on the Navy for Israel into the U.S.’s Jerusalem embassy for a “friendly” meeting this summer. The New York Times reports that Huckabee met with the spy, Jonathan J. Pollard, in July. Three U.S. officials discussed the incident with the Times, as well as Pollard himself, who said “it…

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  • Israeli forces have committed thousands of violations of Lebanese air and land space over the past year since the implementation of Israel’s ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah, according to UN peacekeepers. According to the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, Israeli forces are responsible for over 7,500 air violations and nearly 2,500 ground violations in the past year.

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    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.