Israels

Israel and Argentina have launched a direct flight starting in November as the two countries boost their ties under Argentina’s far-right President Javier Milei and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The twice-a-week flight comes as Israel is aggressively pushing to cement its geopolitical footprint in Latin America amid its growing international isolation and its entrenched image as an occupying power.

On May 7, Israel’s national carrier, El Al, opened bookings for a direct flight between Tel Aviv and Buenos Aires covering a distance of 12,000 kilometres (7,460 miles) – the longest route in the airline’s history.

However, the 16.5-hour journey is driven by political ambitions rather than mere commercial viability.

During a celebratory event in occupied East Jerusalem last month, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu welcomed Argentina’s Milei to hail the “first direct flight” between the two nations.

The event showcased a striking political alignment, further highlighted by the presence of US Ambassador Mike Huckabee, who jokingly promised to buy the first ticket and described the two leaders as US “President Donald Trump’s biggest friends”.

The route aims to translate the “Isaac Accords” – a Latin American framework inspired by the “Abraham Accords” – into tangible reality. Morocco and Sudan established diplomatic ties with Israel as part of the Abraham Accords signed under President Trump’s first term.

Championed behind the scenes by Rabbi Axel Wahnish, Argentina’s ambassador to Israel, the framework aims to establish strategic cooperation in security, counterterrorism, and artificial intelligence with Latin American nations, including Ecuador, Costa Rica and Paraguay.

Trading tech for legitimacy

Israel is acutely aware that its status as an occupying power, exacerbated by the genocidal war on Gaza, has severely damaged its international standing. To secure recognition and bypass boycotts, particularly from an increasingly critical Europe, Israel is leveraging its advanced military and surveillance technologies.

Ihab Jabarin, an analyst specialising in Israeli affairs, told Al Jazeera that Israel’s strategy has shifted.

“Israel’s moral image has completely eroded,” Jabarin said. “The logic now is: ‘you may not like us, but you need us.’ Israel is offering its expertise in cybersecurity, AI systems like Lavender, border management, and drones – technologies tested on Palestinian bodies and land – to countries grappling with internal conflicts and organised crime,” he told Al Jazeera.

Jabarin noted that Israel uses infrastructure – whether ports, underwater cables, or civilian aviation – as tools for national security and influence. “This flight is not just about transporting passengers; it is a permanent corridor for security and tech businessmen,” he explained.

This strategy of using technology and security to buy diplomatic loyalty mirrors Israel’s approach in Africa. It has forged close ties with Ethiopia, Kenya and Chad. Last December, Israel became the first country in the world to recognise Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia.

It has used smaller island states like Micronesia in the Asia Pacific to secure favourable votes at the United Nations and break its international isolation.

“Israel is trying to create a global network of interests that forces countries to weigh their relationship with Israel against their stance on the Palestinian cause,” Jabarin added. “It wants to make the world unable to live without it.”

The Milei-Netanyahu chemistry

The driving force behind this Latin American link is the ideological bond between Netanyahu and Milei. While left-wing leaders in the region, such as Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, have severed ties or strongly condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza, Milei has embraced the Israeli narrative unconditionally.

For Milei, who declared himself the most Zionist president in the world in March, the alliance offers rapid positioning in the Middle East, closer ties to Washington lobbies, and a stance against Latin America’s traditional left. For Netanyahu, Milei offers unconditional emotional and symbolic support that Israel has largely lost in Europe.

“Netanyahu understands the value of a symbolic ally,” Jabarin said. “He needs leaders who can be marketed as proof that Israel can still forge ideological alliances, not just pragmatic ones. Argentina, under Milei, has become Israel’s most important ‘island of influence’.”

A ‘safe haven’ from war crime probes

The direct flight also serves a highly practical security purpose for Israel. With mounting legal challenges and arrest warrants targeting Israeli soldiers and officials in Europe over alleged war crimes in Gaza, the Tel Aviv-Buenos Aires route offers a crucial bypass.

On Tuesday, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister ⁠Bezalel Smotrich said he was informed that the ⁠International Criminal ⁠Court (ICC) ⁠had ⁠requested a warrant for his arrest. Prime Minister Netanyahu is also sought by the ICC for war crimes committed in Gaza.

Currently, travellers between the two countries rely on 21 to 33-hour transit flights through European hubs like Madrid or Paris.

Diego Ruzzarin, a Brazilian writer and analyst, argued that the project aims to secure hassle-free travel for Israelis, particularly military personnel, sparing them from international security interrogations or the risk of arrest in Europe.

Jabarin echoed this assessment, noting that the fear of legal pursuit in Europe is a significant concern within the Israeli establishment.

“The direct flight bypasses any potential legal harassment in Europe,” he said. “Latin America is now appearing in Israeli calculations as a more politically flexible space compared to rights-focused Europe.”

Economic risks and domestic pushback

Despite its strategic value, the flight faces significant logistical and economic hurdles. Because Israeli planes are banned from the airspace of several African nations, including Libya, the flights must take a costly detour over the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.

To mitigate the economic risks of the long-haul route, the Israeli government has taken the unusual step of granting El Al a 20-million-shekel ($5.4m) subsidy, spread over three years.

The success of the route will heavily depend on Argentina’s Jewish community – the largest in Latin America, estimated at up to 300,000. According to Sabre data, roughly 55,300 people travelled between the two countries in 2025, a 37 percent increase from 2024, but still below the 71,200 recorded in 2019.

The project has sparked domestic criticism in both countries. In Israel, the transport ministry reportedly warned that pulling Boeing 787 Dreamliners from highly profitable US routes to service Buenos Aires could drive up ticket prices for Israelis travelling to North America.

In Argentina, left-wing congresswoman Myriam Bregman accused Milei’s government of dragging the country into an “imperialist war” without congressional approval, warning of a constitutional overreach.

Furthermore, the influx of Israeli tourists, many of whom are recently discharged soldiers, has caused friction in southern Argentina. Local residents and activists have blamed Israeli tourists for devastating fires in the Patagonia nature reserves due to negligence, the most recent being a massive blaze in January 2026 that destroyed 77,000 hectares (190,000 acres) and led to the arrest of an Israeli tourist.

For Israelis, however, an El Al flight to Buenos Aires carries profound historical symbolism. In May 1960, the Mossad used an official El Al flight to smuggle captured former Nazi official Adolf Eichmann out of Argentina to face trial and execution in Israel.

As criticism of Israel mounts over its wars on Gaza, Lebanon and Iran, along with the escalating settler violence in the occupied West Bank, the country is ramping up its PR offensive.

From a carefully managed appearance of Benjamin Netanyahu on CBS’s 60 Minutes to a major expansion of Israel’s Hasbara operation, the push includes pouring money into digital campaigns and media messaging.

The goal is to reverse the collapse of public support for Israel, especially in the US, but no amount of spin can make audiences unsee what they have watched in real time.

Contributors:
Miriyam Aouragh – Professor of digital anthropology, University of Westminster
Matt Lieb – Host, Bad Hasbara podcast
Emily Schrader – Journalist, ILTV News
Oren Ziv – Reporter, Local Call

On our radar

Israeli officials have dismissed a recent New York Times report on sexual violence against Palestinians as “blood libel”.

But while the government denounces the allegations, many of the claims in the report have been openly discussed in the Israeli media.

Nicholas Muirhead reports.

Zaragoza Data Farms

The generative AI boom is prompting a global race to build vast, energy-hungry data centres. In Spain’s Aragon region, authorities have welcomed tech giants and the jobs, investment and digital transformation they claim to bring.

But behind the glossy narrative lies a different reality – one in which enormous facilities consume natural resources and exploit legal loopholes, often at the expense of the communities that live alongside them.

Featuring:
Alonso Llorente – Journalist, Arainfo
Pablo Jimenez Arandia – Investigative reporter
Mar Vaquero – Vice president, Aragon Minister of Economy, Employment & Industry

Israel is moving to enhance the capabilities of its F-35I Adir fighter, funding a new external fuel tank upgrade that will boost the Israeli Air Force’s potential for conducting long-range strikes. The announcement comes after the jets saw extensive action striking targets in Iran during the campaigns this year and last. In the process, the fleet ran at a tempo of operations that raised questions about Israel’s ability to provide adequate refueling support. The new modification for the F-35I will help address that.

The Israeli Ministry of Defense confirmed today that the development and integration of the external fuel tanks on the F-35I will be carried out by Elbit Systems’ Cyclone subsidiary. Elbit says the deal is valued at over $34 million and will involve tanks based on an existing Cyclone design originally developed for the F-16.

“The new capability is expected to extend the aircraft’s operational range, reduce reliance on aerial refueling, and enhance operational flexibility across long-range missions,” the company added.

Based on the reference to the F-16, the announcement has been widely taken to refer to external drop tanks, but it remains possible, although improbable, that the F-35I is getting some kind of conformal, flush-mounted fuel tank. This could have a reduced impact on stealth and overall performance, but would likely also involve significant shape change and alterations to the airframe. Integrating and clearing tanks of this kind for operational service would be a complex and potentially very lengthy process, since they would disrupt the highly quantified low-observable moldline of the aircraft. However, Israel has experience in operating both F-15s and F-16s with conformal tanks.

Obviously, adding external fuel tanks of any kind to the stealthy F-35I will degrade its low-observable features. However, with the Israeli Air Force putting a premium on its ability to conduct long-range strikes, this is clearly seen as a worthwhile tradeoff. If the upgrade does involve drop tanks, they are also likely to be jettisonable, possibly together with their pylons, meaning they could be discarded before penetrating a hostile air defense system, for example. This would only be the case on extremely high-risk long-range missions, and could not be sustained for long campaigns. They could also be dropped when under threat, giving the F-35I back critical agility and providing a lower radar signature.

There are also means of mitigating the penalty that drop tanks impose on a stealth aircraft. This is best evidenced by the new fuel tanks for the U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor, which are seen as a critical addition to ensure that the fighter is able to better cover the vast distances involved in a potential future conflict in the Indo-Pacific.

The new faceted, low-drag tanks for the F-22, like the older ones, can be jettisoned from the jet to restore the full scope of its performance and further reduce its radar cross-section. However, Lockheed Martin says it expects the Raptor to go into direct combat, at least in some scenarios, with the tanks fitted.

There have also been steady signals that some kind of range extension was in the works for the Israeli F-35I.

Back in 2021, a cryptic announcement from Lockheed Martin confirmed that the company was working with an unnamed foreign buyer to develop a modification of the F-35 to the tune of tens of millions of dollars in engineering support work. An Israeli fuel-carriage enhancement was a possibility, as you can read more about this here.

Then, in 2022, separate reports emerged suggesting that Israel had developed an unspecified means of extending the range of its F-35Is, allegedly providing them with enough reach to hit targets in Iran without needing aerial refueling. The 2022 reports might have involved a prototype version of the tanks mentioned in the announcement today, some other kind of external fuel carriage, or they might have been erroneous.

More recently, just before the latest campaign against Iran, Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter provided what was likely the first official confirmation that range-extending fuel tanks for the F-35I are already in service. In an interview in mid-February, he stated: “We developed fuel tanks that extend the aircraft’s range without compromising stealth.” Exactly how this was achieved was not revealed, but even small internal tanks may be a possibility, while also presenting a serious engineering challenge.

In the United States, range-extending external fuel tanks for the F-35 also re-emerged in 2025 as part of the ongoing Block 4 modernization effort for those aircraft, years after a requirement for streamlined drop tanks was eliminated. The Pentagon confirmed it will explore the feasibility of all forms of external fuel tanks, including underwing tanks, for all three variants of the F-35.

Overall, the idea of integrating external fuel tanks on the F-35 is far from new. Back in 2019, TWZ reported on how Lockheed Martin was looking at adding two 600-gallon drop tanks under the F-35’s wings as part of a larger range-extension study. This would have increased total fuel capacity by around 40 percent. Prior to that, studies had looked at adding smaller 480- and 460-gallon tanks.

Of these, the original 480-gallon drop tank was abandoned after aerodynamic and stores separation issues emerged. The subsequent 460-gallon design was also not ultimately pursued, and it was found that additional drag also eroded the range increase.

It is notable that Aviation Week previously reported that Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Cyclone had worked on both a conformal tank design for the F-35I and the 600-gallon drop tank.

As an Israeli-specific version of the conventional takeoff and landing F-35A, the Adir already incorporates some significant Israeli-developed systems. Many of these have been tested on a specially outfitted one-off version of the aircraft, which arrived in the country in 2020. Israeli additions include electronic warfare systems and also weaponry. The F-35I fleet is expected to be armed with the Rafael SPICE precision-guided bomb, but may eventually include air-to-air missiles and other weapons, too.

At the same time, the F-35’s inboard stores hardpoints are still plumbed for the carriage of external fuel tanks, suggesting that introducing this capability, including on the Israeli-specific F-35I variant, might not be too complicated.

The Israeli requirement for the F-35I to be less reliant on aerial refueling is especially important. The Israeli Air Force currently operates a fleet of only around seven aging Boeing 707 tankers. The overreliance on these aging tankers for long-range missions has led to previous speculation that the Israeli Air Force has relied upon U.S. Air Force refueling support when it has gone into combat. The Pentagon denied this.

At the same time, a strike package that doesn’t require tanker support is in some ways more flexible and more survivable. Moreover, the survivability of traditional refueling jets in or near contested airspace is becoming a growing concern. Meanwhile, Israel is now starting to modernize its tanker fleet, with the first of its more modern KC-46s having begun flight trials earlier this month.

Israel has also previously shown that it is willing to degrade the stealth characteristics of the F-35I to increase its strike capacity. The type has been seen flying strike sorties with external ordnance, demonstrating the F-35’s so-called ‘beast mode,’ featuring loads on underwing pylons.

Israel has repeatedly used its F-35Is in strikes on targets both closer to Israel and much further afield. In 2018, it became the first operator to use the jet on offensive operations. Meanwhile, it has also recorded success in aerial combat against hostile drones.

Last year, the Adir was involved in strikes on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. There were reports that Israeli fighters often landed on fumes after their initial sorties during this conflict. With these jets operating to the edge of their endurance, fuel starvation was a serious threat, and it is perhaps surprising that none were lost. External drop tanks were also found in multiple locations in eastern Iraq, pointing to their use to maximize long-range sortie rates early in the conflict.

The F-35I also played an important role in striking Iranian targets during the joint U.S.-Israeli campaign launched at the end of February this year.

The Israeli effort against Iran, Operation Lion’s Roar, also saw an Israeli Adir claim the first aerial victory for any F-35 against a crewed aircraft. On March 4, in an incident that you can read more about here, an F-35I brought down an Iranian Yak-130 Mitten combat trainer over Tehran.

The importance of the F-35I to Israel has also been demonstrated by the country’s successively adding to its orders for the type.

Earlier this month, it was confirmed that the Israeli Air Force is set to receive a fourth F-35I squadron, bolstering its fighter inventory with another 25 of the aircraft.

In 2023, Israel opted to buy a third squadron of F-35Is, covering 25 more jets. This batch is scheduled to be delivered starting in 2028.

Once all four squadrons are stood up, Israel will have a total of 100 F-35Is.

Before long, we are likely to see at least some of these jets sporting the long-range upgrade announced today. At that point, the precise nature of these external fuel tanks will finally be revealed.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

Eurovision is heading towards its grand final, but organisers are bracing for more demonstrations after chants of ‘stop the genocide’ were heard during Israeli contestant Noah Bettan’s semi-final performance. Five countries have withdrawn from this year’s contest after Israel was permitted to compete.

BEIRUT — A dozen U.S. Democratic Senators have called for the U.S. Central Command to answer questions about American coordination with Israel in declaring broad “ evacuation zones ” in Lebanon and Iran, alleging that the practice may violate international law.

The letter underlines how the Democratic Party — both its leaders and the base — has grown increasingly critical of Israel.

Since the beginning of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran and the latest Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon, the Israeli military has regularly issued maps covering large areas of territory along with warnings telling all residents of the zones to flee. Israel had previously used a similar approach in Gaza.

The senators said the sweeping warnings have “been used to permanently displace people and destroy homes and towns” and that some civilians who refused to leave their homes in the areas have been killed by subsequent strikes.

The 12 senators led by Vermont Sen. Peter Welch, in a letter dated May. 4 to CENTCOM chief Adm. Brad Cooper that was provided to The Associated Press, state that Israel’s practice of unilaterally declaring mass evacuation warnings in Lebanon and Iran “likely contravene international laws the United States has helped develop around humane warfare.”

The other signatories include senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin.

The letter asked the CENTCOM chief whether U.S. forces have coordinated military targets with Israeli forces during the recent war with Iran, whether they provided assistance or intelligence helping Israel’s military to impose the evacuation zones in Lebanon and Iran, and whether CENTCOM signed off on U.S. military support for the targeting of people or infrastructure in the evacuation zones. It also asked whether the U.S. military has reviewed the legality of the practice.

The Israeli military declined to comment when asked about the letter. CENTCOM did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the past, Israel has said the evacuation maps aim to keep civilians out of harm’s way. It says Hezbollah has positioned fighters, tunnels and weapons in civilian areas across southern Lebanon, from which it has launched hundreds of drones and missiles — without warning — into northern Israel.

A shift in the party stance

Observers said the move is part of a larger shift in the stance of Democratic Party leaders on U.S. military assistance to Israel. Democrats have also been critical of the Trump administration’s entry into the war on Iran alongside Israel.

The letter came nearly three weeks after more than three dozen Democrats supported an effort by Sanders to block arms sales to Israel, signaling a growing discontent in the party with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the wars in Gaza and Iran.

The two resolutions to block U.S. sales of bulldozers and bombs to Israel were opposed by all Republicans and rejected 40-59 and 36-63.

Jon Finer, former deputy national security adviser under President Joe Biden, said the recent steps by Democratic senators reflect a “growing concern about Israeli conduct of various wars that cause civilian harm and U.S. complicity in that” across the spectrum within the Democratic Party.

Asked why the Democratic Party is taking these steps now and not at the time when the war in Gaza and the Israel-Hezbollah war broke out — when the Democratic Biden administration was in power — Finer said: “our operational integration with Israel appears to be growing, which is part of it, but the truth is the Democratic base has been moving in this direction for some time and Washington has been catching up.”

Andrew Miller, a former senior official on Israel and Palestinian Affairs at the State Department, said the letter “represents a shift among congressional Democrats moving from questions of the legality of Israeli military operations to concerns about the complicity of the U.S. military.”

“It demonstrates that Democrats are taking international law very seriously and that is a welcome development,” Miller said.

The evacuation zones

Israel has issued dozens of evacuation warnings in Lebanon since the latest Israel-Hezbollah war began on March 2. Over 1 million people in Lebanon have fled their homes during the war.

Israel has also issued similar warnings for Iranians, both during the 12-day Israel-Iran war last year and during the U.S.-Israeli war launched on Iran on Feb. 28. In one case last year they warned 300,000 people in Tehran, Iran’s capital, to evacuate.

On Wednesday, the Israel military’s Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee issued an evacuation warning to residents of 12 villages in southern Lebanon saying Hezbollah is using them to launch attacks. The warnings came despite a ceasefire that has been nominally in place since April 17, although Israel and Hezbollah have been carrying daily attacks since then.

The senators said the declaration of evacuation zones does not absolve Israeli and U.S. forces “from the absolute legal responsibility to determine that each individual person or civilian facility targeted by drones, jets, and gunfire is, in fact, a military target.” It said the use of the zones has been linked to “the deaths of thousands of civilians,” describing them as “kill zones.”

In response to questions by the AP last month, the Israeli military said it issues warnings by phone, text, radio broadcast, social media and leaflets dropped from the air, in accordance with the “principles of distinction, proportionality and feasible precautions” under international law.

Mroue writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Julia Frankel contributed to this report from Jerusalem.

Israel’s first Boeing KC-46A Pegasus tanker — now given the Hebrew name Gideon, after a biblical judge and military leader — has completed its first flight in the United States, with delivery expected soon. As we have discussed in the past, new tankers that can provide additional refueling capacity to support its operations are much in demand with the Israeli Air Force.

New imagery of the first flight of an Israeli KC-46 — with national markings yet to be applied — came just one day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted at plans to develop “groundbreaking Israeli-made aircraft,” as well as referencing the approval for two additional fighter squadrons. As you can read about here, these will be made up of F-15IA and F-35I Adir jets, providing an eventual total of four squadrons of F-35Is and two of F-15IAs.

Announcing the first flight of an IAF KC-46, the Israeli Ministry of Defense said the tanker would be delivered to Israel in “approximately one month.” It is the first of six examples on order as part of what the ministry describes as a “wide-scale force buildup program.”

Back in 2020, the U.S. State Department approved the potential sale of eight KC-46s to Israel, with the entire package having an estimated price tag of $2.4 billion.

In 2022, the U.S. Department of Defense awarded Boeing a $930-million contract for the first four KC-46s for Israel. At this time, it was said that deliveries were due before the end of 2026.

On the back of very heavy utilization of its aging Boeing 707 Re’em tanker fleet in operations against Iran, as well as for other long-range combat missions and domestic ones, Israel added two more KC-46s to its order last year.

The Israeli Ministry of Defense says that the KC-46 will be equipped with Israeli systems and adapted to the operational requirements of the IAF. It is unclear what systems will be added, but Israel has a long history of adapting foreign-made aircraft with locally made equipment, and its tankers have been no exception.

One strong possibility is that the KC-46s will be equipped to serve as a command-and-control station and communications node. The current 707 Re’em tanker carries a satellite communications suite to provide critical, secure beyond-line-of-sight communications with appropriately equipped tactical aircraft like the F-15 and F-16, and command centers far away. This is especially important for long-range strike operations.

Were Israel to order more KC-46s, this would not be entirely surprising.

Currently, the IAF is assessed to field no more than seven 707 tankers.

The 12-day war against Iran in 2025 had already led to questions about the IAF’s aerial refueling capacity, and the U.S. government was forced to deny — despite claims to the contrary — that it had provided additional tanker support for the operation.

U.S. Air Force tankers also arrived at Ben Gurion International Airport in Israel in significant numbers earlier this year, when the United States and Israel launched combined strikes against targets across Iran.

Bearing in mind the problems of various kinds that have beset the KC-46 program as far as the U.S. Air Force is concerned, the IAF will be happy that the first delivery is still on track for 2026, in line with the original schedule.

At the same time, it’s not entirely clear how the KC-46s will be outfitted.

In the past, it was expected that they would be delivered with the next-generation version of the critical Remote Vision System (RVS) that has proven so challenging to perfect. Ironically, the Israeli 707s that the KC-46 will replace have long used a locally developed RVS that has apparently proven very effective, and which you can read more about here. We have reached out to Boeing for more details on that feature.

With its existing tanker fleet (and with or without U.S. refueling support), the IAF has demonstrated that it can sustain a remarkably high tempo of operations, striking multiple targets across great distances, as well as supporting combat air patrols and multiple other requirements.

Now, with its first KC-46 Gideon set to arrive in the coming weeks, the Israeli Air Force will begin the start of a long-awaited modernization period for its aerial refueling capacity, ultimately allowing the withdrawal of the antiquated 707.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

Addressing the cameras following reports of spiralling youth violence, including the killing of the 21-year-old former Israeli soldier Yemanu Binyamin Zalka last week, Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was clear.

“This will be a total war,” he said, announcing a national operation to target a surge in youth violence. “We will restore security to the streets and calm to parents. Anyone who harms Israeli civilians will face the strong hand of the Israel Police and pay a heavy price.”

The response was sharp, aligned itself with the victim, and promised a solution.

That, critics say, is a sharp contrast to Ben-Gvir’s response – or lack of one – to the ongoing epidemic of violence in Israeli towns and villages populated by Palestinians, which has so far led to the deaths of almost 100 people and, according to Israel’s own finance ministry, costs the country up to $6.7bn a year.

Allegations of two-tier policing, to the detriment of what Israelis refer to as the “Arab sector”, have dogged Israel’s police for decades. But the situation has gotten worse under the current administration of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which has been in power since the end of 2022, and Ben-Gvir, a far-right politician who is in charge of the police.

The statistics since Ben-Gvir came into office back up the narrative that the crime wave in Palestinian communities has gotten significantly worse. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the murder rate in Israel’s Palestinian communities increased from 4.9 per 100,000 in 2020, to 11 per 100,000, on par with the murder rate in Sudan and Iraq.

In contrast, the murder rate in Israel’s Jewish society stood at approximately 0.6 per 100,000.

That increase can not totally be attributed to the current government – Netanyahu himself was prime minister in 2020, when the murder rate was lower. But critics argue that the introduction into government of figures like Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who they say are openly disdainful of Palestinians, has contributed to the sharp uptick in violence.

Analysts and experts who spoke to Al Jazeera had little doubt over the Netanyahu government’s culpability in the increased murder rate.

“They really don’t mind that Palestinians are killing each other, as they’ve been left to do for years,” lawmaker Aida Touma-Suleiman, a Palestinian member of the Hadash party and a longstanding critic of the lack of policing in Palestinian communities in Israel, said.

“It would never occur to the police that they should provide a service to Arab neighbourhoods,” she said of the lack of physical police presence within Palestinian communities. “It’s about enforcement. It’s hostile.”

While police stations are standard in Israel’s Jewish-majority areas, there are only about 10 in Palestinian-majority areas.

Among the decisions that have most angered Palestinian advocacy groups in Israel was the government’s December approval of a $68.5m cut to an economic development programme for Palestinian communities in Israel, in order to fund more policing in the communities.

Critics agreed that more funding was needed for the police, but bemoaned that the money was coming from a fund designed to address the root causes of criminality by addressing housing and economic development, areas where Palestinian communities are notoriously underfunded in comparison to Jewish ones.

Hardwired poverty

Palestinian citizens of Israel make up around 21 percent of the country’s population. Disadvantaged economically, they are the descendants of Palestinians who did not flee after the 1948 establishment of Israel – an event they know as the Nakba, when an estimated 750,000 Palestinians were ethnically cleansed and forced out.

Often concentrated in separate towns and villages from Israeli Jews, Palestinians frequently describe a reality of chronic underinvestment, with the presence of the state either limited or non-existent.

Joblessness has long been woven into their daily lives, analysts say, but the unemployment rate has worsened since Israel choked off access to the occupied West Bank, where many worked, after the Hamas-led October 7 attack on Israel and the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza in 2023.

The most recent official date, based on 2024 figures, shows that 37.6 percent of Palestinian households in Israel live below the poverty line.

Local criminal networks in Israel’s Palestinian towns and villages have grown in scale and influence in recent years, in some cases taking on the form of mafia-style organisations, untroubled, critics say, by the current government.

“There is a wide network of criminal gangs who exert control across Arab neighbourhoods,” said Daniel Bar-Tal, professor of social-political psychology at Tel Aviv University, adding that criminality and even murder were allowed to continue with the state’s own complicity.

“In part, the government just likes it. They get to say, ‘Look, this is Arab culture, this is Arab society. This is what they do.’ They also rely on the collaboration of the gangs to gather information on what’s going on in these communities,” he said, referring to numerous accounts of how friends who had reported criminal activity in their neighbourhoods were dismissed. “And lastly, it is because the police force is controlled by Ben-Gvir, a racist who actively enjoys dehumanising Arab society.”

Ben-Gvir has previously rejected accusations of racism and says he is only against those who harm Jews.

Policed by the enemy

From leveraging his position in government to urge on the genocide in Gaza, to defending officers under his charge filmed raping a Palestinian prisoner, Ben-Gvir’s actions have dismayed many of Israel’s self-styled liberals, just as they have shocked observers around the world.

However, following an uptick in crime in Israel, criticism of Ben-Gvir’s performance in his role as national security minister has begun to enter the domestic mainstream.

As well as more predictable opinion pieces in Israel’s liberal press, accusing the National Security Minister of being “busy on TikTok” while Zelka was killed, or concentrating his efforts on arresting professors wearing Palestinian flags on their kippahs while murder rates break records, there have also been criticisms from those closer to the establishment.

Earlier this month, Israel’s High Court intervened in a row between Ben-Gvir and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, ordering the two to reach an accommodation after Baharav-Miara called for his ousting following what she claimed was his attempts to make political interventions in the police’s work.

“Nobody cares if Ben-Gvir’s good at his job,” political scientist Ori Goldberg said. “He’s there to punish Palestinians, even those in Israel. They’re punished through a lack of security, just as they’re punished through hostile planning, and a lack of healthcare punishes them. This is how the apartheid Israel always works.”

Israel has provoked international condemnation for its interception of Gaza-bound aid boats in international waters and detention of hundreds onboard, including Al Jazeera journalists. World leaders, rights groups and media advocates are demanding Israel release the Global Sumud Flotilla detainees.

As the sun sets on Israel’s Memorial Day, 12 torches, together symbolising the spirit of the nation, are lit to mark the beginning of Independence Day, the anniversary of the country’s establishment in 1948 – which led to the ethnic cleansing of at least 750,000 Palestinians.

To be selected to light one of the torches over the resting place of Theodor Herzl, the man widely credited with the creation of modern Zionism, is regarded as one of the greatest honours in Israel.

This year, among those selected to light the torch on Tuesday evening is Avraham Zarbiv, a rabbi so controversial that even the Israeli military – an organisation that admits to having killed more than 70,000 Palestinians in Gaza – has publicly distanced itself from him. A military spokesperson said last week that Zarbiv “was not selected in coordination” with the military, and was not representing it at the ceremony, despite his being an army reservist.

Obliterate

Zarbiv first came to national prominence in Israel in the early months of 2024, when the 52-year-old rabbi and state rabbinical judge was filmed throwing grenades at Palestinians in Khan Younis during a firefight.

Since then, he has recorded himself gleefully demolishing Palestinian homes – his name even becoming a verb meaning to flatten or obliterate – and has delivered sermons from the ruins of Rafah promising “victory and settlement”. Zarbiv pairs it all with the traditional mannerisms of a religious leader, punctuating his threats and violence with footage of him blowing on a traditional ram’s horn, or shofar, as well as reciting prayers and parts of the Torah.

Zarbiv has also shared footage of himself taking part in the demolition of homes in southern Lebanon, where Israeli forces are accused of deploying the same scorched earth tactics as they did during Gaza’s genocide.

Speaking to Israel’s right-wing Channel 14 in January 2025, Zarbiv boasted of the destruction inflicted on Gaza.

“There are tens of thousands of dead. The dogs and the cats ate them because no one collected them,” he said. “Tens of thousands of families – they have not a piece of paper, no childhood photo, no IDs, they have nothing. No home, there is nothing. They come, they have no idea where their house is. It’s something unbelievable.”

While the army leadership itself might be seeking to distance itself from Zarbiv, the rabbi himself says that he represents his fellow soldiers.

“I am one soldier among many, I am a soldier of the Givati Brigade,” he said in an interview last week.

Illegal settlement

Last week, the Israeli organisation Kerem Navot, which monitors illegal settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, filed a complaint to Israel’s judicial watchdog after confirming that Zarbiv had built his home illegally on private Palestinian land in the Beit El settlement, accusing him of violating the ethics rules for both judges and rabbinic judges.

That had no bearing, however, on Transport Minister Miri Regev’s decision to nominate Zarbiv for the torch-bearing ceremony.

“Rabbi Zarbiv, a father of six, continues to serve in reserve duty and combines in his life in an inspiring way between the book and the sword – between Torah and the army, between study and action, and between spiritual leadership and security responsibility,” the right-wing minister said.

She continued, describing the man now accused of multiple war crimes as representative of a generation “that refuses to part with responsibility, that chooses to bear the burden and continue to build, out of great faith in the future”.

Nevertheless, in January 2025, The Hind Rajab Foundation, the Belgian-based NGO that seeks to prosecute Israeli soldiers on the basis of the video evidence they themselves frequently provide, filed an official complaint against Zarbiv with the International Criminal Court (ICC). According to the foundation’s lawyers, Zarbiv’s gleeful boast of destroying 50 buildings per week in Gaza, participating in the complete destruction of entire neighbourhoods, and having publicly incited violence and hatred through his appearances on Israeli media, were clear enough breaches of the Geneva Convention and Rome Statute to deserve prosecution.

Zarbiv was not a neutral public figure being honoured for civic virtue, Dyab Abou Jahjah, cofounder of The Hind Rajab Foundation, told Al Jazeera. Rather, “he is a notorious perpetrator of grave international crimes”, Abou Jahjah said.

“His selection [for the Independence Day ceremony] is therefore not incidental – it is revealing,” Abou Jahjah added. “When an individual implicated in acts that constitute genocide is elevated in this way, it reflects the underlying logic of a state project historically rooted in the dispossession and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. From that perspective, his selection is entirely consistent.”

B’tselem, the Israeli rights group, is also

among those objecting to Zarbiv’s selection.

“The government’s decision to laud Zarbiv as an ‘exemplary citizen’, after more than two years of genocide in Gaza and amid a reality of unprecedented state and settler violence in the West Bank, represents a state-level endorsement of the complete dehumanization of Palestinians and the systematic destruction of Palestinian life,” B’tselem said in a statement.

“This selection sends a clear message to the citizens of Israel and the entire world: In Israel, genocide, ethnic cleansing, and war crimes are the ‘spirit of the nation’,” the group added.

China has taken a firm stance against the Israeli escalation in Lebanon, strongly warning against the region becoming a second Gaza and considering the events a blatant violation of Lebanese sovereignty and international law. The most prominent features of the Chinese response up to April 2026 to this Israeli military escalation in southern Lebanon included condemning the targeting of civilians and emphasizing the protection of Lebanese sovereignty while rejecting Israeli violations aimed at destroying the infrastructure of southern Lebanon. The Chinese Foreign Ministry condemned the extensive Israeli raids targeting towns in southern Lebanon, stressing that Lebanon’s sovereignty and security are a red line that must not be crossed. China also emphasized the protection of Lebanese civilians, with Beijing unequivocally affirming that the protection of civilians and civilian objects in armed conflicts is a legal obligation and expressing its shock at the scale of casualties and destruction inflicted on southern villages and towns.

China’s position is based on a comprehensive vision linking the stability of southern Lebanon to a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Beijing believes that addressing the root causes of the conflict is the only way to prevent its spread throughout the Middle East. While condemning the destruction of Lebanese infrastructure and civilian areas, China’s Foreign Ministry denounced the Israeli airstrikes that killed hundreds of civilians and destroyed civilian infrastructure and property. Beijing categorically rejects any actions that lead to the destruction of infrastructure, considering them a violation of international law. China has consistently emphasized that Lebanon’s sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity are a red line that must not be crossed. Beijing has also declared its opposition to the Israeli ground incursion into southern Lebanon, warning that such actions exacerbate regional tensions. China has called for diplomatic solutions, urging all parties, especially Israel, to exercise maximum restraint and return to the path of political and diplomatic settlement, asserting that continued violence will not bring security to any party. China condemned the attacks targeting UNIFIL peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon, stressing the need to ensure the safety of UN peacekeepers.

In this context, China deliberately directed veiled criticism at Washington regarding Israeli violations in southern Lebanon. China believes that the failure to contain the escalation in southern Lebanon is partly due to the military and political support provided to Israel by external powers, a clear reference to the United States, which hinders efforts to de-escalate the situation. Simultaneously, China warned of a second Gaza in southern Lebanon. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi explicitly cautioned against a repeat of the Gaza tragedy in Lebanon, emphasizing that violence cannot replace right and justice. China is pressing in international forums, particularly the Security Council, for an immediate and permanent cessation of Israeli hostilities, warning against the region sliding into a full-scale war. This stance reflects China’s desire to bolster its role as a peacemaker in the Middle East and to rival American influence by adhering to political solutions and international law.

Here, China sharply criticized the American role in the Israeli war against southern Lebanon and its recent escalation in April 2026, arguing that Washington contributes to undermining regional stability through its military and political support for Israel. Beijing considered the military operations supported or participated in by the United States to be a flagrant violation of international law and the principles of national sovereignty. While warning against the militarization of the region, China criticized the expansion of the American military presence, describing it as irresponsible and warning that such steps exacerbate tensions rather than de-escalate them. Beijing believes that Washington’s approach to the international order reflects the values ​​of the law of the jungle and fuels chaos and instability in the Middle East. While criticizing the US for its double standards, China, through its Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, condemned the continued Israeli strikes on towns and villages in southern Lebanon despite ongoing efforts to de-escalate the situation. She emphasized that Lebanon’s sovereignty and security must not be violated.

China called on Israel to immediately withdraw from southern Lebanon, warning against a repeat of the Gaza scenario. Chinese President Xi Jinping issued direct warnings demanding the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon, cautioning that continued military operations could lead to a humanitarian catastrophe similar to what occurred in the Gaza Strip. He also called for an end to the Israeli escalation in southern Lebanon. China maintains that violence does not solve problems but rather exacerbates crises, urging maximum restraint to de-escalate the volatile regional situation. Chinese President Xi Jinping called for the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanese territory, asserting that their current military presence violates Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. President Xi explicitly warned against allowing southern Lebanon to become another Gaza, pointing to the risk of a widespread humanitarian catastrophe and the destruction of civilian infrastructure.

To halt the cycle of violence and armed conflict in southern Lebanon, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed a four-point peace initiative to bolster stability in the Middle East. This initiative includes a call for a multilateral peace conference under the auspices of the United Nations, the re-establishment of the border along the Blue Line between southern Lebanon and Israel, and a reaffirmation of China’s rejection of any violation of Lebanese sovereignty. The Chinese Foreign Ministry has repeatedly emphasized, most notably on April 9, 2026, that Lebanon’s sovereignty and security are a (red line) that must not be crossed. These Chinese moves position Beijing as an active diplomatic alternative in the region at a time of escalating international tensions between major powers and ongoing regional conflicts. China has begun diplomatic efforts by proposing several peace initiatives to halt the cycle of armed conflict in southern Lebanon. The most prominent of these is the call for a multilateral peace conference. Beijing proposed hosting an international peace conference aimed at stabilizing the region and reinforcing the border along the Blue Line separating Israel and Lebanon, under the auspices of the United Nations. China holds Israel fully responsible, considering the ongoing fighting in Gaza to be the root cause of the instability in the Middle East. Therefore, China called on the international community, particularly the major powers, to play a constructive role in achieving a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire in southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. China has also supported the UNIFIL peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, strongly condemning any attacks on UNIFIL forces as violations of UN Security Council Resolution 1701. Here, China used its influence in the UN Security Council and international forums to emphasize that any military operations outside the framework of the United Nations violate its Charter. It described the Israeli strikes on towns and villages in southern Lebanon as unauthorized actions.

Based on the preceding analysis, we understand the accuracy of China’s linking of the tensions in southern Lebanon to the war in Gaza. China called for restraint to prevent the conflict from spreading regionally, based on its principles of supporting sovereign states like Lebanon and non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries. China also called for a return to the diplomatic track to halt the cycle of violent armed conflict in southern Lebanon perpetrated by Israel. China condemned the extensive Israeli strikes, stressing that Lebanon’s sovereignty and security must not be violated. It emphasized the need to protect Lebanese civilians and civilian infrastructure during Israeli military operations and called for de-escalation and immediate steps to calm the situation and prevent further escalation of the conflict in southern Lebanon.

Israel’s ambassador to the US has held talks with his Lebanese counterpart. But as a pro-settler ‘activist’ and former soldier who took part in invading Lebanon, critics say Yechiel Leiter is a problematic negotiator.