US Press
Washington reads Israeli generals, Iranian mines and a Greek arms deal
Graphic: Times of Palestine
Original Reporting
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What the American papers and Washington's institutes put in front of their readers over the past day, and what it means here.
The West Bank, told by Israeli officers#
The New York Times leads its Middle East file with retired Israeli generals, former Mossad and Shin Bet directors and two former prime ministers who now describe settler violence in the occupied West Bank as ethnic cleansing conducted with government backing.
The paper reports the June letter more than two hundred of them signed, and the numbers behind it: thousands of settler attacks since October 2023, over 3,200 Palestinians displaced in 2024, more than 1,100 Palestinians killed in the West Bank in that period. Times of Palestine reports the piece separately today.
Ra'am, read from New York#
The same paper covers Mansour Abbas recruiting Yoav Segalovitz to Ra'am's slate under a headline that asks whether a Jewish former lawmaker best known for cutting crime in Arab towns can win Abbas a seat in the next government. The framing is worth noting: the American press reads the move as a bid for a place in a coalition, which is a question no Israeli party currently answers yes to.
The war that is not over#
The Times reports the United States and Iran exchanging strikes on Sunday after a month of calm, an American attack on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz, and a possible new Iranian naval mine as the stated reason.
Oil reached ninety dollars a barrel on Monday and American pump prices are 37 per cent higher than when the war began. For Palestinians, that is the price of the diesel that runs a Gaza generator and a West Bank water pump.
Arms and antisemitism#
The Times also reports a $3.5 billion Israeli-Greek defence deal, evidence that Israel's arms industry keeps its customers while its government's diplomatic isolation deepens.
And it covers Vice President JD Vance telling the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas, behind closed doors, why he engages with influencers accused of antisemitism, and urging the audience to make the case that a strong relationship with Israel serves American interests.
Ynet's report on the same speech quotes attendees who found his position on Israel ambivalent, and one supporter who warned that continuing down the Tucker Carlson road "will be a problem."
That argument — how far Washington's consensus on Israel can be reopened, and by whom — is the one this desk watches. It is now being had at a party fundraiser, in the vice president's own words.
