It has been a week since the U.S. and Israel launched an illegal, unjustified, and unprovoked war on Iran. Throughout this time, the Israeli government has taken advantage of the world being distracted to escalate its genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people.

Over the last week alone, Israel has: 

• • Prevented Palestinians from entering and praying at Masjid Al-Aqsa, imposing sweeping restrictions on worshippers, cancelling Friday prayer on the third Friday of the holy month of Ramadan, and turning one of Islam’s holiest sites into a militarized zone. 

• Allowed a surge of violent settler attacks across the occupied West Bank: 

• • • On March 2, 2026, two Palestinian brothers, Muhammad and Fahim Taha Muammar, were shot and killed by settlers in the village of Qaryut near Nablus during a confrontation over an Israeli bulldozer illegally paving a road through Palestinian olive groves. This comes after yet another Palestinian American, Nasrallah Siyam, was murdered by settlers just a week before.
    • In the first four days of March, there were at least 50 separate incidents of Israeli settler violence documented across the West Bank.  
    • Masked settlers have been reported raiding villages, attacking homes, and destroying olive groves that families rely on for their livelihoods.

• Closed and tightly restricted border crossings in Gaza further obstruct an already insufficient flow of aid entry, which is pushing the population deeper into famine and mass suffering.

This is Israel’s long-standing strategy: escalate repression on Palestinians whenever the world’s attention is being pulled elsewhere. While headlines focus on regional war, Israel continues to entrench its control, expand settlements, and collectively punish an entire population under occupation.

And for nearly three years now, the U.S. government has armed, funded, and politically shielded Israel as it carries out the devastation of Gaza. Even as Israel blocks aid, expands settlements, and allows settlers to terrorize Palestinian communities, Washington continues to ship weapons and provide diplomatic cover.

U.S. law very clearly prohibits military assistance to governments engaged in gross human rights violations, and international law bars collective punishment and the targeting of civilians. Yet the weapons continue to flow.

Instead of restraining its ally, Trump is once again choosing escalation and inserting itself our country as an equal partner in this war; expanding confrontation with Iran, and reviving the same regime-change fantasies that have devastated the Middle East for decades.

The result is a region pushed closer to catastrophe and wider war. The genocide in Gaza continues unabated. The West Bank is under military rule and is under the threat of complete annexation. Lebanon faces renewed, relentless bombardment. And now Iran is dragged into a widening war as U.S. and Israeli airstrikes pound targets across the country. The war is being imposed on much of the region as Iran retaliates against American bases and facilities within it.

None of this is about security or regime change. Both U.S. and Israeli leaders have been saying the quiet part out loud. What Israel and the United States are executing is imposing militarism, colonial expansion, and imperial overreach on the broader Middle East. 

If there is to be any hope of stopping this spiral, the Trump administration must be held accountable for its role. As long as Washington continues to bankroll and shield Israel’s actions, the violence will not stop.