It’s hard to convey the horrors that’s unfolding across Palestine.
I recently visited Israel, Palestine and the Balkans, researching for my next book which will be released in late 2027, and what I witnessed was shocking.
Many Jewish Israelis backing the scorched earth campaign in Gaza including the deliberate slaughter of children. Palestinians in the West Bank fearful of what their future holds with a Gaza-style destruction campaign increasingly underway in the besieged area. “The Jewish Ku Klux Klan has a calculated plan for the Palestinians”, recently wrote the fine Haaretz journalist, Amira Hass.
I’ll have way more to say and show from these trips in due course but in the meantime my monthly column for the UK outlet, Middle East Eye, gave a preview of what’s coming:
One day, I met the Makhmari family in the southern West Bank, with famed journalist Gideon Levy and photographer Alex Levac. The community of al-Mirkaz is incredibly remote, and it took us an hour to reach it by car on a rocky, hilly track from at-Tuwani in the area of Masafer Yatta.
Four farming families, about 40 residents, live there in caves, and they experience daily attacks and harassment from Israeli settlers who reside in nearby illegal outposts. I saw some of these long-haired extremists up close as they drove up to us, smiled, laughed and sped away.
The Palestinian residents recounted, as we sipped piping hot tea, how settlers routinely come to beat their sheep, destroy property and warn them to leave. This violence started before 7 October 2023, but it has intensified dramatically since then.
One of their dogs was recently beaten by a settler, the abuse captured on a video that went viral in Israel - and as a result, there was rare Israeli concern towards the dog (but not the Palestinians). The Makhmari family was both pleased and mystified. They knew that their existence didn’t register in the mainstream Israeli consciousness.
The landscape is dry and arid, and water has to be trucked in at a substantial cost, often getting stopped by settlers. It was eerily peaceful when we arrived, guided by field researchers from the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem. Families here have set up cameras to alert them when settlers strike, but they are essentially unprotected and highly vulnerable.
Like so many Palestinian villagers in the last few years, they’re unlikely to be able to withstand extensive settler assaults, and may eventually be forced to leave.
This is happening across the occupied West Bank: a committed strategy to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from their land. The stakes couldn’t be higher in this accelerating catastrophe.
Will there be any Palestinians left in Palestine in the coming decades?
I’m an independent journalist without any institutional backing. If you’re able to support me financially, by donating money to continue this work, I’d hugely appreciate it. You can find donating options in the menu bar at the top of my website, via Substack and here.
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The Antony Loewenstein Podcast is my weekly space to discuss the issues of the day, from Palestine to mainstream racism, and I’ve been pleased with how many people tell me they’re seeing clips on social media and engaging with the content. Many of these clips go viral on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter/X.
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In the coming while, I’ll continue to tackle the subjects that many others refuse to cover from Sudan to the fascist media pipeline including with insightful guests.
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Here’s some of the recent episodes:
The global far-right movement and how to fight it:
Inside Israel’s booming arms industry:
Gaza is being forgotten:
My recent interview on Inside Story, the Al Jazeera English program, on Israel’s stated goal to become more self-sufficient (hint: be highly skeptical) even while its defence sector is booming:
My recent interviews with various outlets including TRT World, the US-based Computer Says Maybe podcast and UK outlet Double Down News:
I’m excited to announce that my film series from last year, The Palestine Laboratory, was recently awarded at the prestigious Telly Awards in New York. More details below:
I’ll be speaking at the legendary Frontline Club in London on 8 July, in person!, and all details are below:
At Declassified Australia, we continue to publish essential journalism that nobody else is. Here’s our latest:
I’m glad to have recently endorsed the fine new book by the Irish journalist, Sally Hayden. Details below:
You can follow me on Instagram and Twitter for constantly updated content. My website has information about all my work, books and documentary films stretching back to 2003.
I’m an independent journalist without any institutional backing. If you’re able to support me financially, by donating money to continue this work, I’d hugely appreciate it. You can find donating options in the menu bar at the top of my website, via Substack and here.
Thanks very much for reading.
Take care.
Antony