A US charity announced it will use an AI-software to monitor Gaza classrooms for ‘anti-Semitism’ and ‘hate speech’, while Israel airstrikes kill Palestinians across the strip.
Al Jazeera’s Marah Ryan has the latest.
Published On 9 Oct 20269 Oct 2026
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The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is set to spend $233 million to defeat candidates in this fall’s congressional midterm elections who speak out against the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, warned US Senator Bernie Sanders, Anadolu reports.
The top pro-Israel lobbying firm in the US “plans to spend $233 million to defeat candidates who dare to speak out against Netanyahu’s extremist government,” Sanders said on US social media platform X on Friday.
“They spent $33 million to defeat Abdul El-Sayed in the Michigan primary. They lost. They are going to keep losing,” he said.
El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate in this year’s senatorial race in the state of Michigan, strongly opposes unconditional US military aid for Israel and has criticized the Netanyahu government’s policies in both Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
READ: Former Israeli premier accuses Netanyahu of preparing ground for war that could delay elections
Sanders added: “NO MORE U.S. MILITARY AID FOR ISRAEL.”
In the Nov. 3 US congressional midterms, polls show Democrats broadly favored to win the House of Representatives and possibly the Senate.
As the US electorate’s view of Israel has soured, especially in light of the genocide in Gaza, many Democrats running for office this year have taken a harder line against the policies of the Netanyahu government and what many see as its efforts to displace Palestinians and frustrate any hope for peace in the Middle East.
READ: US senator urges Congress to cut off funding for Iran war
There is a “strong indication” that Iran played a role in Sunday’s suspected terror plot near Royal Air Force (RAF) Fairford base in South West England, the prime minister confirmed Wednesday, Anadolu reports.
“There is indeed a strong indication that Iran played a part,” Andy Burnham confirmed in an interview with Sky News.
However, he added: “This remains, though, a complex and very serious police investigation. So I can’t say any more at this stage.”
Five men from London, age between 23 and 25, were arrested on suspicion of explosives offences and terrorism.
The incident came after a farmer discovered three vans blocking a road near the RAF base in Gloucestershire at 1.30 am local time (0030GMT).
Later, it was understood that one of the suspects had contacted authorities around an hour before, a development first reported by The Times newspaper.
READ: UK foreign minister denounces Netanyahu government, vows tougher action over Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “is doing everything” to prevent the establishment of an official commission of inquiry into the events of Oct. 7, 2023, former military intelligence officer Barak Seri said, Anadolu reports.
In a Saturday post on the US social media company X, Seri said Netanyahu was “warned and alerted” ahead of the attacks, but that “he ignored it all.”
“This is why Netanyahu is personally blocking the establishment of an inquiry commission,” he said.
Earlier Saturday, Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Netanyahu received warnings about a possible Hamas attack ahead of Oct. 7, 2023, but did not convene a meeting to discuss them.
READ: Hamas slams Netanyahu’s UN speech: He should be in prison to face trial for crimes
Citing unnamed security officials, the outlet said Netanyahu did not share the warnings with the Shin Bet, Mossad or the Military Intelligence Directorate, known as Aman.
Meanwhile, US magazine The Atlantic reported that former Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel secretly visited Israel 11 days before the Oct. 7 events to alert Tel Aviv about a possible Hamas attack.
There has been no official Egyptian comment on the claim.
Following the Oct. 7 events, Israel launched a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip, killing nearly 74,000 people, injured around 175,000 others and turned the entire enclave into ruins.
Despite a ceasefire that took effect in October 2025, Israel has continued its daily attacks on Gaza, killing more than 1,400 Palestinians and injuring nearly 5,000 others, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
READ: Netanyahu failed to relay UAE warning of possible Hamas attack to security chiefs: NYT
Israeli daily Haaretz said on Friday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has driven Israel’s standing in the US to an “unprecedented low.”
“Anyone following the conduct of Israel and its relations with other countries, especially the United States, has for years warned of an unprecedented crisis in Israel’s strategic relations with its most important ally,” Haaretz said in an editorial. “It was clear that the damage caused by Benjamin Netanyahu and his government would bring relations with the United States to a new low.”
“He has ignored the many warnings regarding the damage he is causing to Israel-US relations,” the newspaper said.
The damage continued with his “blatant interference in American politics in favor of (President Donald) Trump and the Republican Party,” and that “Israel’s standing among Democrats collapsed.”
READ: Delegates walk out as Netanyahu defends Israel’s regional wars in UN address
The newspaper said, however, that the decline is no longer limited to Democrats. “In the past two years, the government of Netanyahu, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich has brought Israel’s standing in the GOP to a new nadir,” Haaretz wrote. “The war in Iran and the sharp rise in gas prices that followed, the violence against Palestinians by extremist settlers and the harm to Christian communities in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem have led even Israel’s most loyal supporters to express unprecedented criticism.”
US polls from recent months, the newspaper said, show a “sharp and unprecedented decline” in favorable attitudes toward Israel, especially among younger respondents, arguing that “No bombastic speech” by Netanyahu at the UN General Assembly can “paper over this bleak reality.”
It warned about the implications for ties between the two countries, saying: “Every Israeli needs to understand the extent to which Israel’s image has deteriorated in the eyes of the American public and the implications for the future of relations between the two countries.”
READ: Protesters outside UN’s New York headquarters demand Netanyahu face war crimes charges