A child, excited by the simple things, and curious about the world around him.

Muhammad came home, messed around with some olives, and then went out again to play football. This time, the fourth-grader didn’t come back.

‘Muhammad was gone’
At the grocery store, Alia received a phone call.

“It was my uncle Ahmad calling, asking if there were any clashes [with Israeli forces] in our area,” she recounted. “I screamed unconsciously. ‘My son Muhammad, my son Muhammad!’ I don’t know why, but a mother’s instincts are always right.”

Muhammad’s eldest sister, 14-year-old Mais, heard the gunfire in the evening and rushed outside.

Both Mais and Alia were originally told their boy had been injured.

Alia headed for the local hospital and was told that her boy had been hit by a bullet.

“They said his condition was good and that they would remove the bullet,” Alia said. But then she started hearing whispers about his pulse stopping. She wanted to see Muhammad, but wasn’t allowed in the operating theatre, as surgeons desperately tried to save the boy’s life.
Then Alia heard the heart monitor give a long, piercing beep. Muhammad was dead, killed by Israeli forces operating in his village.

“Muhammad was gone,” Alia said. “And with him, everything good.”
Lethal force
Commenting on Muhammad’s killing by Israeli forces, the United Nations Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory said it was “appalled”. The UN office added that Muhammed was the 1,001st Palestinian to be killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the occupied West Bank since October 7, 2023, including 213 children.

The UN said that the youngest child killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank was two-year-old Laila Khatib, who was shot in her home in Jenin in January during an Israeli raid.

“International standards require Israel to ensure an independent and effective investigation of all incidents where individuals have been killed in violent or suspicious circumstances,” the UN office said. “The large numbers of Palestinians killed in this period, the prevalence of the unlawful use of force, the enabling and support for settler violence and the endemic impunity for crimes committed against Palestinians, all suggest that Israeli [forces] use lethal and potentially lethal force as a tool to control and repress Palestinians, rather than as the last resort to restore and maintain public order and civil life for the Palestinians.”

Muhammad and his friends are believed to have run when they saw Israeli military vehicles in their vicinity, before Israeli soldiers began shooting.

An initial statement from the Israeli military said that its forces were responding to suspects throwing rocks – although no local reports indicate that had happened, or that Muhammad and his friends were involved. Israeli media have since reported that a preliminary military investigation had found that the shooting “deviated from the rules of engagement”, and that there had been “improper use of weaponry”.

‘A huge void’
Israeli soldiers rarely face repercussions for carrying out killings of Palestinians in the West Bank, with towns and villages like al-Rihiya instead left to pick up the pieces after tragedies like Muhammad’s death.

He was the third of five siblings – aside from Mais, the eldest, there is Jaddi, who is 12, six-year-old Sila, and four-year-old Elias.

Muhammad’s absence is heartbreaking for them all.

The white robe he wore for Friday prayers still lies neatly folded beside his bed, next to a small bottle of perfume. His books are stacked where he left them.

“This is where Muhammad slept,” Alia said, as she pointed to the empty space. “They killed his childhood.”

His family are struggling to deal with Muhammad’s death in their own ways. Sila refuses to go back to school – her brother always walked alongside her.

Mais said that she collapsed when she heard that Muhammad had died.

“Muhammad wasn’t just a brother, he was my friend,” she said. “When he came home from school, he would ask me to tutor him, and if I got busy, he would get angry and say ‘teach me first’. I was afraid of sleeping in the dark, so he would stay with me until I fell asleep, then he would go to sleep.”

The bag Muhammad received on his final school day still hangs on a nail near his bed.

His father, Bahjat, finds himself walking by the bag and around the room, touching his bed, breathing in the scent of his clothes.

“His passing left a huge void,” said Bahjat. “I see him in every corner of the house: at the dining table, in his study and the play area.”

“I still can’t believe he’s gone,” Mais said. “I imagine him in heaven, playing, laughing, and having fun just like he used to. I still can’t believe he’s gone … and I never will.”The white robe he wore for Friday prayers still lies neatly folded beside his bed, next to a small bottle of perfume. His books are stacked where he left them.

“This is where Muhammad slept,” Alia said, as she pointed to the empty space. “They killed his childhood.”

His family are struggling to deal with Muhammad’s death in their own ways. Sila refuses to go back to school – her brother always walked alongside her.

Mais said that she collapsed when she heard that Muhammad had died.

“Muhammad wasn’t just a brother, he was my friend,” she said. “When he came home from school, he would ask me to tutor him, and if I got busy, he would get angry and say ‘teach me first’. I was afraid of sleeping in the dark, so he would stay with me until I fell asleep, then he would go to sleep.”

The bag Muhammad received on his final school day still hangs on a nail near his bed.

His father, Bahjat, finds himself walking by the bag and around the room, touching his bed, breathing in the scent of his clothes.

“His passing left a huge void,” said Bahjat. “I see him in every corner of the house: at the dining table, in his study and the play area.”

“I still can’t believe he’s gone,” Mais said. “I imagine him in heaven, playing, laughing, and having fun just like he used to. I still can’t believe he’s gone … and I never will.”
The white robe he wore for Friday prayers still lies neatly folded beside his bed, next to a small bottle of perfume. His books are stacked where he left them.

“This is where Muhammad slept,” Alia said, as she pointed to the empty space. “They killed his childhood.”

His family are struggling to deal with Muhammad’s death in their own ways. Sila refuses to go back to school – her brother always walked alongside her.

Mais said that she collapsed when she heard that Muhammad had died.

“Muhammad wasn’t just a brother, he was my friend,” she said. “When he came home from school, he would ask me to tutor him, and if I got busy, he would get angry and say ‘teach me first’. I was afraid of sleeping in the dark, so he would stay with me until I fell asleep, then he would go to sleep.”

The bag Muhammad received on his final school day still hangs on a nail near his bed.

His father, Bahjat, finds himself walking by the bag and around the room, touching his bed, breathing in the scent of his clothes.

“His passing left a huge void,” said Bahjat. “I see him in every corner of the house: at the dining table, in his study and the play area.”

“I still can’t believe he’s gone,” Mais said. “I imagine him in heaven, playing, laughing, and having fun just like he used to. I still can’t believe he’s gone … and I never will.”

The attack happened on Friday evening when a tank shell was fired by Israeli forces at a civilian vehicle carrying the Abu Shaaban family in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, according to Gaza’s civil defense.

Seven children and three women were among those killed when the Israeli military fired on the vehicle as the family attempted to reach their home to inspect it, civil defence spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said in a statement.

“They could have been warned or dealt with differently,” Basal said, adding that “what happened confirms that the occupation is still thirsty for blood, and insists on committing crimes against innocent civilians.”

The agency said in a separate statement that its teams have managed to recover the bodies of nine people so far, in coordination with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Meanwhile, the bodies of two children remain missing, as their remains were “scattered due to the intensity of the bombardment,” the group added.

Hamas condemned what it called a “massacre” and said the family was targeted without justification. The group called on United States President Donald Trump and mediators to pressure Israel to respect the ceasefire agreement.
In that attack, Israeli soldiers opened fire on people who crossed the so-called “yellow line”, the demarcation to which Israel’s military was supposed to pull back under the ceasefire terms.
Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from Gaza, said many Palestinians lack internet access and are unaware of where Israeli forces remain positioned along the so-called demarcation lines, putting families at risk.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has claimed that the yellow lines in Gaza will soon be marked out for clarity.

Israeli forces remain in control of approximately 53 percent of Gaza, Khoudary said.

As the exchange of captives for Palestinian prisoners under the provisions of the deal has continued, Israel has killed at least 38 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Media Office on Saturday, and heavily restricted the flow of desperately needed aid, including food and medical supplies.
Last week, Israeli forces killed five Palestinians in the Shujayea neighbourhood, also in Gaza City.

Israel has continued to seal the Rafah crossing with Egypt and blocked other key border crossings, preventing large-scale aid deliveries into the famine-stricken enclave.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Saturday that the Rafah crossing will remain closed until further notice, shortly after the Palestinian Embassy in Egypt announced that it would reopen on Monday.

“The crossing’s opening will be considered based on the manner in which Hamas fullfills its part in returning the deceased hostages and implementing the agreed-upon framework,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on Saturday.

The United Nations warned this week that aid convoys are struggling to reach famine-hit areas, with 49 percent of people accessing less than six litres of drinking water per day – well below emergency standards.

The World Food Programme said it has brought an average of 560 tonnes of food daily into Gaza since the ceasefire began, far below what is needed to address widespread malnutrition and prevent famine.

Hamas has said it remains committed to the ceasefire terms, including returning the remains of Israeli captives still under Gaza’s rubble.

The Israeli military said late on Saturday that the Red Cross has received two coffins of dead Israeli captives and they were handed over to Israeli forces for identification.

Hamas handed over the body of another captive on Friday evening, bringing the total to 10 since the truce began. Hamas has increased efforts to recover all the bodies of the captives despite little excavating machinery to fulfil the terms of the ceasefire.

Israel has not allowed those machines into the enclave – where the bodies of thousands of Palestinians are believed to remain trapped under the debris – and has not yet permitted the entry of international experts to help retrieve the captives’ remains.
Reporting from Gaza City, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said by blocking heavy equipment and machinery from entering, Israel is creating “a challenge for the residents of Gaza who are experienced and have the expertise to search and to dig out bodies from under the rubble” with that type of equipment.

Israel has also returned the bodies of 15 Palestinians whose identities remain unknown, bringing the total number of bodies received by Palestinian authorities under the terms of the ceasefire deal to 135.

Some of the returned bodies exhibit signs of torture, including hanging and rope marks, bound hands and feet, and gunfire at close range, according to health officials in Gaza.

By Al Jazeera Staff

Video of the incident circulating on social media showed Kirk speaking to a large outdoor crowd when a loud crack, a gunshot, rang out.

Kirk briefly clutched his neck before collapsing from his chair, sending attendees fleeing. He was 31 years old.

The suspected shooter remains at large but is thought to be college-aged, authorities said on Thursday.

A bolt-action rifle believed to have been used in the shooting was found in nearby woods. The rifle and three unfired rounds of ammunition inside it were engraved with expressions of transgender and antifascist ideology, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the investigation and an internal law enforcement bulletin.

“This is a dark day for our state. It’s a tragic day for our nation,” Utah Governor Spencer Cox said after the shooting.

“I want to be very clear that this is a political assassination.”

Here is what we know:

What happened?
Kirk was on a speaking tour, and his stop at UVU was the first of at least 15 scheduled events at universities around the country as part of his “American Comeback Tour”.

Six officers were working the event and there were more than 3,000 people in attendance, according to Jeff Long, chief of the UVU police.

Kirk also had a private security team with him.

Before the shooting, he was seated at his “Prove Me Wrong” debating table, taking questions from an audience outdoors.

Videos show that Kirk was going back and forth with a student about mass shootings and transgender people when he was shot.

“Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?” Kirk was asked.

“Too many,” Kirk responded as the crowd clapped.

“Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?” To which Kirk replied, “Counting or not counting gang violence?”

Seconds later, Kirk could be seen struck in the neck as he fell from his chair.

According to reports, Kirk was shot about 20 minutes after he began speaking at approximately 12:10pm (18:10 GMT).

Beau Mason, the head of the Utah Department of Public Safety, said one shot was fired.

In footage from the event, Kirk can be seen moving his hand towards his neck as he falls from his chair, sending the attendees running. In another clip, blood can be seen gushing from his neck immediately after he was shot.

No one else was shot during the event.

Kirk’s wife and children were present during the incident.

Where did the shooting happen?
The shooting took place in the UVU courtyard, about 64km (40 miles) south of Salt Lake City.

A spokeswoman for the university said Kirk was shot from the roof of the school’s Losee Center, a campus building 100-200 yards (roughly 90-180 metres) from the event area.

It was not clear whether the shot was fired from a rooftop or an open window.

Founded in 1941 as a vocational school for war production training, UVU enrolled more than 46,800 students in 2023.

Who was Charlie Kirk?
Kirk was one of the most prominent conservative activists and media personalities in the US, and a trusted ally of President Trump.

He cofounded Turning Point USA, a nonprofit conservative advocacy group, when he was just 18.

Kirk’s group grew into the country’s largest conservative youth movement, and over the years, he became a central player in a network of pro-Trump influencers, often described as the face of the “Make America Great Again” movement.

Trump often credited Kirk with bringing many young voters and voters of colour over to his side during the 2024 presidential campaign.

He was also a sharp critic of mainstream media and threw himself into culture-war battles over race, gender and immigration.

His provocative style won him a loyal support base but also fierce opposition.

Kirk became a close friend of the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, and the two travelled together to Greenland in January. He also emerged as an early supporter of Vice President JD Vance as Trump was deciding whether the senator would be his running mate.

Kirk had 5.5 million followers on the platform X and hosted The Charlie Kirk Show, a podcast and radio programme that reached more than 500,000 listeners each month. He made regular appearances on Fox News, including a recent guest cohosting slot on Fox & Friends.

According to a report by The New York Times, Kirk never pursued a role within the administration. His aim was to reshape the Republican Party and, more broadly, US politics.

“We want to transform the culture,” he told The New York Times Magazine in February.

Kirk also built a fortune through his popular podcast, frequent speaking engagements and books, including his 2020 bestseller, The MAGA Doctrine.

Gun laws
Kirk was a staunch supporter of the right to own guns in the United States. Speaking at an event in April 2023 at the Salt Lake City campus of Awaken Church in Utah, Kirk said a few gun deaths every year were an acceptable price to pay for the right to own guns.

“It’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year, so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights,” he said. The Second Amendment of the US Constitution grants Americans the right to bear arms.

“That is a prudent deal. No one talks about that,” Kirk added. He also said schools should be protected by armed guards to reduce school shootings, rather than by passing anti-gun laws.

Abortion
Kirk believed in “traditional” gender roles for women and was against abortion, even in exceptional circumstances. In a debate hosted by Jubilee Media in September 2024, Kirk said that in a hypothetical scenario, he would not allow a 10-year-old daughter who was pregnant from rape, to have an abortion.

What do we know about the shooter?
While a bolt-action rifle believed to have been used in the shooting was found on Thursday in nearby woodland, the shooter remains at large.

Investigators said they found three rounds of unfired ammunition engraved with expressions of transgender and antifascist ideology inside the rifle, according to a Thursday report by the Wall Street Journal, which quoted a person familiar with the investigation and an internal law enforcement bulletin.

On Wednesday, there was initial confusion about whether a suspect had been taken into custody in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.

A “person of interest” was reported to be in custody on Wednesday evening, Utah Governor Spencer Cox said, though no charges were immediately announced.

Later, Utah police said two people had been considered suspects, but they were released after officials found they had no links to the shooting.

Following new information on Thursday, Mason told a press conference that police were hunting a specific individual whose movements investigators have been able to track.

“We were able to track the movements of the shooter starting at 11:52 am, this subject arrived on campus shortly away from campus,” Mason said. “We have tracked his movements onto the campus, through the stairwells, up to the roof, across the roof, to a shooting location.

“After the shooting, we were able to track his movements as he moved to the other side of the building, jumped off of the building and fled, off of the campus and into a neighbourhood.”

Mason said investigators had “good” video footage of the individual. “That individual appears to be of college age,” he added.

Later on Thursday, the FBI released photos of a “person of interest’ in the shooting, but did not say if the image, showing a man in a black, long-sleeved shirt, hat and sunglasses, was of the suspected shooter.

What’s the latest on the ground?
Currently, the campus is closed, according to the university, and it will remain closed until September 14.

“On behalf of Utah Valley University, we are shocked and saddened by the tragic passing of Charlie Kirk, a guest to our campus. Our hearts go out to his family,” UVU said.

UVU said while an investigation is ongoing, there is no continuing threat to the campus.
How has Trump responded?
The US president described the killing as a “dark, dark, moment for America”. He ordered all American flags to be lowered to half-staff until Sunday evening, in honour of Kirk.

Trump also recorded a video from the White House that was both an ode to Kirk and an angry criticism of liberals, whose rhetoric he blamed for Kirk’s assassination.

“I am filled with grief and anger at the heinous assassination of Charlie Kirk on a college campus in Utah,” Trump said. “Charlie inspired millions, and tonight, all who knew him and loved him are united in shock and horror. Charlie was a patriot who devoted his life to open debate and the country he loved so much, the United States of America.”

Trump said it was “long past time for all Americans and the media to confront the fact that violence and murder are the tragic consequence of demonising those with whom you disagree day after day, year after year, in the most despicable way possible”.

He accused the “radical left” of comparing “wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals”.

“This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we are seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now.”

How have others responded?
Democrats and Republicans quickly denounced the shooting on social media and in Congress.

“There is no place” for this violence, former US President Joe Biden said on X.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris in a post on X, wrote: “I condemn this act, and we all must work together to ensure this does not lead to more violence.”

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, speaking to US troops on Wednesday, hailed Kirk as a “dear friend”.

First Lady Melania Trump also paid tribute to Kirk.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said in a Fox News interview that the shooter should face the death penalty.

“I’m very angry,” DeSantis said.

“Obviously, they’ve got to catch this guy. We need a very quick death penalty prosecution. I don’t want to see this take forever. We need justice for this,” he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had invited Kirk to Israel just two weeks earlier, describing the 31-year-old as a “lion-hearted friend of Israel”.

Kirill Dmitriev, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s investment envoy, posted on Telegram: “There was an attack on Charlie Kirk, one of the most ardent conservative leaders known for his positive statements about Russia and his calls for dialogue.”

Barack Obama, former US president, said “despicable violence has no place in our democracy”.

Former US President Bill Clinton said on X he was “saddened and angered” by the killing.

Bernie Sanders, former US presidential candidate and Vermont senator, said on X that “political violence has no place” in America.

George Bush, former US president, also condemned the killing in a post on X, saying: “Violence and vitriol must be purged from the public square.”

Turning Point also posted on X.

Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned what he called “political violence” and commiserated with Kirk’s family in a post on X.

American author Stephen King said Kirk’s assassination was “another example of American gun violence”.

Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of former Brazillian president Jair Bolsonaro, similarly denounced Kirk’s assassination in a series of X posts.

“I had the honor of accompanying him in his work and know the greatness of his mission. Another conservative victim of hate and intolerance,” Bolsonaro wrote.

Dean Withers, an American livestreamer and liberal political commentator, who was often seen on the opposite end of Kirk during debates on political YouTube channels, said in a TikTok video: “I’m sad, distraught. In fact, I just cried in front of my livestream in front of 250,000 people.”

“[Gun violence] is always disgusting, always vile and always abhorrent,” he added. “My thoughts and prayers go out to Charlie Kirk’s friends, family, children, loved ones, as well as every single person in attendance at his event today in Utah.”
Vice President JD Vance reacted:

On social media, he posted constantly, offering a right-wing perspective on a plethora of issues.

In response to the fatal, unprovoked stabbing of a white woman by a Black man, Kirk posted this on X on Tuesday:

What were some of Kirk’s most controversial positions?
Kirk made several controversial statements on issues including gun laws, Black Americans, Gaza and Islam.

Black Americans
He had, on some occasions, criticised the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Lives Matter movement, and aired his belief that whites are disproportionately attacked by Black people in the US.

On September 9, the day before he was killed, Kirk appeared on Fox News, accusing US Democrats of pushing a “false narrative” that Black Americans are under attack in the US, when in reality he said, white people were being targeted. He was speaking regarding the unprovoked murder of a Ukrainian woman last week by a Black man on a train in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“White individuals are actually more likely to be attacked, especially even per capita, by Black individuals in this country,” he said.

Islam
Kirk once compared Islam’s Prophet Muhammad with the child sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein, referring to the prophet’s marriage to Aisha at a young age. In an interview with GB News in May, he also said Islam was “at odds” with Western values. “Islam does not believe in freedom of speech, Islam does not believe in freedom of religion, and Islam does not believe in separation of mosque and state,” Kirk said.

Gaza
Kirk was a strong supporter of Israel and backed its war on Gaza. On one occasion, he questioned whether Palestine even exists. In May this year, while debating a pro-Palestinian student at Cambridge University, Kirk justified Israel’s two years of war on Gaza, saying: “When you declare war on Israel, expect a firestorm in reaction.”

There have been more than 4,500 documented amputations, and many thousands of cases of spinal and brain injuries, a disproportionate number afflicting children. A year ago, a World Health Organization analysis estimated that between 13,455 and 17,550 Palestinians in Gaza had suffered severe limb injuries, placing an unimaginable burden on near non-existent rehabilitation services.

In Israel’s genocide of Palestinians, the production of mass individual disability, and the institutional disablement of a once-functioning society in Gaza, are both critical elements in advancing Israel’s Zionist goal of eliminating Palestinians.

According to a report by UN Humanitarian Coordinator Sigrid Kaag, in less than a year, Israel had inflicted life-changing injuries on more than 22,500 people in Gaza – a figure that has undoubtedly risen dramatically.

Genocide is a process, developing over many years. It begins with practices of institutional dehumanization, ends in erasure, and throughout involves periodic massacres, practices of apartheid segregation, systematic weakening and social reorganization.

Genocide necessarily involves the prior and organized weakening of those to be eliminated. The process is attritional and includes state strategies of physical destruction through overcrowding, malnutrition, starvation, targeted disablement, epidemics, denial of healthcare, torture and rape; and state strategies of psychological destruction through humiliation, abuse, persistent violence, denial of basic rights, and the undermining of community solidarity through collective punishment and collaboration.

Evidence of both the physical and psychological components of Israel’s strategy to destroy Gaza has long been provided by human rights organizations. Systematic weakening is enabled through practices of segregation and apartheid, and is most potent once the target group has been physically and socially isolated.

Total siege
When Israel’s former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, on 9 October 2023 announced the complete siege of Gaza with "No electricity, no food, no water, no gas", Gaza’s infrastructure had already been weakened to a point that made daily life in the territory almost untenable.

For the disabled, newly injured and chronically ill, access to life-saving and life-enhancing treatments and assistive devices had been restricted for many years. Before the current annihilation phase of Israel’s genocide, Gaza had been placed under a brutally restrictive Israeli air, sea and land blockade, which the UN anticipated would make Gaza “uninhabitable” by 2020.

During the 16 years prior to 7 October, Israel exerted total control over the movement of goods and people into and out of the enclave. Access to essential items was severely constrained or simply prohibited, including certain medicines, batteries essential for assistive devices, water and sewage pipes, concrete and diesel fuel, which Israel claimed had "dual functions" and could potentially be used to support "terrorist infrastructure".

Israel’s prohibition on the import of carbon fibre elements (used to stabilize and treat limb injuries) and epoxy resins (used in the production of lightweight and comfortable prosthetics) has meant that people with injuries and amputations in Gaza were being denied assistive technologies that would allow for independence, mobility and a greater quality of life.

Israel had achieved an orchestrated humanitarian collapse long before 7 October. Its persistent refusal to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza following the Hamas attacks, and its calculated undermining and subsequent disabling of Unrwa, are all in keeping with its intention to pursue its genocidal goal – and a blatant manifestation of a plan to accelerate death-inducing famine and disease.

Decades of systematic and targeted attacks on Gaza’s health and rehabilitative structures – coupled with almost two decades of blockade and now, mass bombardment and a total siege – have ensured that the newly injured, the chronically ill and the disabled are denied adequate healthcare and rehabilitation resources, such that they remain in a state of injury rather than transitioning into a state of what Jasbir Puar calls “functioning disability”.

To be functionally disabled (as opposed to being in a state of injury) represents for Israel an act of Palestinian resistance, a resistance that must be suppressed. Any assertion of Palestinian resilience and recovery represents an existential threat to Israel’s identity. By disabling the capacity of Gaza to heal and rehabilitate the injured, to feed the starving, to educate the young, to house the dispossessed, Israel attempts to weaken resilience and the possibility of resistance.

Israel’s calculated, wholesale and relentless decimation of healthcare in Gaza represents something hitherto unseen in modern genocides. Sanitascide, derived from the Latin term sanitas, meaning health, is the term we have developed to describe this targeted and comprehensive destruction of healthcare.

Scholars such as Rashid Khalidi, Puar, Lena Obermaier, and Neve Gordon and Nicola Perugini have documented Israel’s long history of targeting Palestinian health infrastructure. By debilitating healthcare infrastructure, Israel has ensured that the injured are more likely to become “permanently wounded”, placing even greater strain on Gaza's health infrastructure, already disabled by the blockade.

Annihilation phase
But in the annihilation phase of genocide, in post-7-October Gaza, Israel has turned hospitals into killing fields. On 13 November 2023, the Israeli army posted – but later deleted – a tweet in which it called hospitals and ambulances “legitimate military targets”. As well as bombing hospital infrastructure, murdering patients, and destroying incubators, ambulances, medications and life-support systems, the Israeli army has tortured and assassinated hundreds of doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and paramedics.

In April 2024, Gaza's Ministry of Health announced that 496 medical sector staff had been murdered and 1,500 injured by Israel, with 155 health facilities damaged, and 32 hospitals and 53 health centers rendered non-functional. The ministry further reported that 309 medical staff, including hospital directors in Gaza, had been kidnapped and detained by Israeli forces.

In Puar’s Right to Maim, she argued that in Gaza, “the infrastructure that ought to sustain life is transformed into a system threatening life itself”. By creating a population that is heavily reliant on a healthcare system to survive, while simultaneously decimating this system, Israel was able to create much more damage than it caused with the initial injury event.

Causing an injury that makes one’s existence reliant on a certain medical device or treatment vital to their lives – sterile dressings, catheters, stoma bags, feeding tubes, medication, antibiotics, prosthetics, mobility aids – and then denying that resource, spreads the stigmata of injury and disability far further. In such a context, where the very structures designed to treat, assist and rehabilitate are themselves dismembered, the injured cannot transform into the functioning disabled.

Violently disabling large numbers of the group and disabling the very infrastructure that supports life in the Gaza Strip are central means by which Israel has advanced its organizational goal of imposing a Jewish ethnonationalist state in Palestine.

The consequences of using the Gaza Strip as a "weapons laboratory" have been profound. During the Second Intifada, for example, the deployment of high-velocity fragmented bullets – which left a “lead snowstorm” – resulted in multiple cases of disability.

'Deliberately shooting protesters'
Dr Adnan al-Bursh, before he was tortured to death, described what he witnessed working as a doctor, and the way in which Israel creates "a disabled generation by using destructive types of bullets and deliberately shooting protesters in their joints".

Ghassan Abu Sitta, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon who worked in al-Shifa hospital for 43 days, described in tweets the devastating impact of Israel’s deployment of quadcopter drones with sniper guns: "One night we had 30 injuries when they were sent to shoot at people trying to get to Al Ahli hospital."

Reham Shaeen, a humanity and inclusion rehabilitation expert, suggests that the types of weapons used in Gaza mean “70 to 80 percent of the people coming to hospital have been amputated or have spinal cord injuries”. These particular injuries require immediate intensive care and rehabilitation and equipment provision. Spinal cord injury rehabilitation in the UK requires a minimum three-month inpatient stay and the involvement of multiple different specialists.

As well as sniper and gunshot wounds, vast quantities of explosives have rained upon Gaza, all of which directly contribute to traumatic amputations, traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries and other serious internal injuries, often due to collapsing rubble. There have also been eyewitness reports of white phosphorus being used in densely populated areas of Gaza, which “poses a high risk of excruciating burns and lifelong suffering”.

According to Unicef, more than 1,000 children underwent limb amputations in the first three months alone of the genocide, and an estimated 10 children per day continue to lose one or more limbs through bombardments, crush or sniper injuries. As a consequence, “Gaza is home to the largest cohort of child amputees in modern history,” according to the UN.

A report published in the Lancet in July 2024 reported that up to 186,000, or even more, deaths are likely attributable to Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza. This shocking – yet, as acknowledged by the authors, conservative – calculation factors in the indirect and premature deaths caused by reproductive, communicable and non-communicable diseases that are the inevitable consequence of the total siege, mass bombardment, orchestrated starvation, mental and physical trauma, and mass deaths and injuries inflicted by Israel on the population of Gaza.

Increased susceptibility
Evidence of hepatitis and meningitis outbreaks have been reported by Gaza’s health ministry, and the highly infectious poliovirus has been detected in sewage outlets in Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah. Lack of access to sufficient food and water slowly disables a previously able population by causing vitamin deficiencies, muscle wasting, cognitive impairment and immune suppression, increasing susceptibility to infectious diseases.

While physical injuries and the consequences of starvation and illness in the context of genocide are so extensive as to be difficult to enumerate, the scale of mental health damage will impact every single Palestinian in Gaza.

The scale of mental trauma and its attendant pathologies of PTSD, depression, anomie and more is incalculable. Nonetheless, the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme anticipates that as the war continues, “every child will need mental health support”.

Haunting images of families impossibly pushing loved ones in antiquated wheelchairs through rubble and devastation as bombs explode behind them; the starving child with cerebral palsy, Yazan El Kafarneh, staring from a stretcher in Rafah’s Abu Youssef al-Najjar hospital; Nour al-Huda, an 11-year-old girl with cystic fibrosis admitted to Kamal Adwan hospital suffering from malnutrition, dehydration and a lung infection; deaf sisters Iman and Abir, who cannot hear the bombs or warnings of those around them; Muhammad Bhar, who could not understand the murderous intent of Israeli soldiers and their dog – these are the faces of disability in Israel’s genocide.

Evidence from other genocides suggests that some of the earliest and most damaging effects of genocide are likely to be felt by the disabled community.

Following 16 years of an illegal blockade, which systematically and comprehensively weakened the whole population of Gaza, disabled people were disproportionately impacted, having been long denied adequate access to liberating assistive devices, including power-assisted attachments for wheelchairs, crutches, latest development prostheses and hearing aids.

Extreme barriers
Gaza’s disabled population faces a host of extreme barriers as they experience the destruction of genocide through the lens of their own disability, in effect becoming doubly disabled. As Israeli bombs rain down on civilian homes, and in the wake of evacuation orders, the medical and physical assistive devices essential to their health, well-being and ultimately life are frequently lost, left behind or destroyed in the chaos of bombing, terror and flight.

The disabled become separated from their essential caregivers, a terrifying situation for people who rely on trained caregivers for their most basic daily needs. Without catheters and other continence essentials, adaptive toilet seats, wheelchairs, prostheses, walking frames and other mobility equipment, hearing and sight aids, as well as life-saving medications, disabled people become dangerously vulnerable. For those members of that population relying on total parenteral nutrition and other forms of medical tube feeding, the impact is immediately devastating.

Electric wheelchairs and other assistive devices require a constant source of power. The siege renders these devices unusable, and the consequences can be devastating. Without electricity, lifts do not function, rendering the many physically disabled people who live above the ground floor in Gaza’s high-rise apartment blocks, unable to evacuate.

In an orphanage in northern Gaza, evacuation was an impossibility given the high-need requirements of 12 of its disabled children. For those able to flee, leaving accessible homes and supportive devices for a future of certain inaccessibility imposed an added terror.

More than 90 percent of the population has been forced to flee their homes, sometimes multiple times, and the tents and shelters to which they have fled are inhospitable for those who require assistive devices, disabled toilets, medical mattresses and sterilized conditions. For the disabled whose mobility was impeded, death was often the consequence.

Israel’s mass annihilation solution for the Palestinians of Gaza has followed decades of state-orchestrated dehumanisation, apartheid, sporadic violence and systematic weakening. The disablement of the Gaza Strip through bombardment, ground invasion and siege mean that every single Palestinian trapped within its narrow confines has effectively been disabled.

The purposive lives they lived – the places where they loved, worked, socialized, maintained health and were educated – have vanished, as homes, schools, hospitals, universities and public offices have been obliterated.

Through wholesale sanitascide, Israel has ensured that death, rather than functional disability, now follows injury and trauma. By these means and the physical obliteration of Gaza’s social and economic infrastructure, Israel has attempted to destroy the Palestinian national identity.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.

Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) leader Yasser Arafat first declared an independent Palestine on 15 November 1988, including the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.

At once, scores of states, notably across the Middle East and Africa, began to recognize Palestine, often in collaboration with regional neighbors.

Now, amid ​Israel’s genocide in Gaza, more countries are formalizing recognition ahead of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York next month.

Full membership of the UN is an essential qualification for statehood. To be accepted, a country must gain a two-thirds majority from the 193-member UNGA – approximately 128 nations. Palestine currently has support from 147 members.

But it will first need approval from the majority of the UN Security Council (UNSC), including all five permanent members: the US, the UK, France, Russia and China.

Several countries, including the US, are still opposed. Others back a two-state solution but say that Palestine is not yet ready to be recognized. An even smaller number initially recognized statehood but have since withdrawn it, or else their position is unclear.

Below, Middle East Eye looks at how individual countries stand on the recognition of Palestine.

Palestine and the G20
The G20 is a forum of the world's 20 key economies from all continents, along with the European Union and the African Union. In relation to Palestine, it gives a snapshot of the thinking among the world's most powerful nations.

To date, 10 G20 members have recognized Palestinian statehood. Six did so in 1988, namely India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, as well as UNSC permanent members USSR (now Russia) and China.

They were joined in 1995 by South Africa, then led by Nelson Mandela, following the country's first apartheid-free elections the previous year. In 2010, Brazil and then Argentina recognized Palestine. Mexico did so in 2025.

At the time of writing, a further four of G20 nations have said they will recognize Palestinian statehood at the UN General Assembly in September.

On 24 July, France signaled its intent, becoming the first G7 nation to do so. Paris' announcement was followed on 29 July by one from the UK (albeit with conditions attached), then Canada on 30 July and Australia on 11 August.

But five G20 members have yet to offer recognition. Historically, the United States, as Israel’s biggest ally, has always blocked Palestinian statehood at the UN. Given that it also has the power of veto at the UNSC, such opposition presents a huge hurdle for Palestinian aspirations.

After Canada announced it could recognize Palestine, President Donald Trump said on Truth Social: “Wow! Canada has just announced that it is backing statehood for Palestine. That will make it very hard for us to make a Trade Deal with them.”

Germany, Israel’s biggest European ally, has criticized Israel's war on Gaza, including a ban on arms exports.

But on 26 August, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Germany would not back statehood at the UNGA, adding: “We do not currently consider the conditions for state recognition to be met in any way.”

In Italy, Prime Minister Georgia Meloni said in an interview with La Repubblica on 26 July that recognition would be “counterproductive” and added: “If something that doesn’t exist is recognised on paper, the problem could appear to be solved when it isn’t."

​South Korea regards the US as a major ally amid tension with North Korea, and is also still reeling from the attempted imposition of martial law in 2024. Foreign Minister Cho Hyun made a much-anticipated official visit to the US in July.

Asked about potential recognition from Seoul, Cho told the Washington Post on 3 August: “We feel that we are vulnerable in the changing situation in Northeast Asia, and frankly speaking, we do not have the luxury of looking at things that have been happening in other regions of the world.”

Japan has also pushed back on speculation about its imminent recognition of Palestine and believes the moment has yet to come. Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said on 30 July: “We will continue to thoroughly assess the suitable timing and measures for recognizing Palestine as a state.”

Palestine and MENA
Unsurprisingly, Arab nations in the Middle East and North Africa were among the first to recognize Palestine.

The very first was Algeria on the same day that Yasser Arafat, leader of the Palestinian government-in-exile in Algiers, declared the independence of the State of Palestine on behalf of the PLO.

Others included Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, UAE, Tunisia, Turkey, and Yemen. Iran followed in early 1989.

In 1989, Lebanon recognized the Palestinian Declaration of Independence by poet Mahmoud Darwish. But it did not establish formal diplomatic relations with Palestine until 2008, after the reopening of the PLO office in West Beirut, which had been destroyed during the Israeli occupation in 1982.

The move came during the tenure of Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, a key advocate of the Saudi-led Arab Peace Initiative, which aimed to normalize Arab states' relations with Israel in exchange for an Israeli military withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territories.

In 2011, Syria and South Sudan offered recognition. Damascus was much slower to do so than neighboring states: the PLO often had strained relations with the now-toppled al-Assad regime, which rejected the 1993 Oslo Accords.

Palestine and Europe
Support from Europe for Palestinian statehood has been slower compared to much of the rest of the world, in part due to the backing that the continent has given to Israel since it was founded in 1948.

In 1988, recognition came from eastern Europe, with Palestine recognized by the then-Communist states of Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Romania.

The USSR also recognized Palestine: when it dissolved in 1991, the successor states of Ukraine and Belarus subsequently retained Palestinian recognition. Serbia did likewise after the breakup of Yugoslavia.

Yet not all eastern European countries did similarly. Czechoslovakia, for example, recognized Palestine in 1988. The country was then divided into Slovakia and the Czech Republic in 1992, but while the former retained recognition, the latter did not.

Cyprus also recognized Palestine in 1988. It was joined by the newly independent states of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Georgia in 1992, and Montenegro in 2006.

What is 'Greater Israel'?
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In December 2011, Iceland became the first western European state to recognize Palestine after it had been admitted to Unesco. Foreign Minister Ossur Skarphedinsson said: “Iceland didn’t only talk the talk, we walked the walk.” In October 2014, Sweden's new centre-left government did likewise.

On 22 May 2025, Spain, Ireland and Norway jointly announced recognition. They were followed by Slovenia on 3 June.

The subsequent promise of recognition by France and the UK drew anger from Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on X: "Starmer rewards Hamas's monstrous terrorism & punishes its victims. A jihadist state on Israel's border TODAY will threaten Britain TOMORROW"

What about the rest of Europe?

Some countries, such as Malta, have also signaled intent to recognize within weeks. And in Belgium, Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said on X on 2 September: "Palestine will be recognized by Belgium at the UN session! And firm sanctions are being imposed against the Israeli government."

In Portugal, the government of Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said in a statement on 31 July that it needed to consult with the president and parliament. Debate is ongoing in Croatia, with President Zoran Milanovic in June urging recognition.

But others, while calling for a two-state solution, are less supportive.

Denmark currently holds the presidency of the EU Council and has backed a two-state solution. But Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said on 30 July that immediate recognition of Palestine would only be symbolic and change little on the ground, a stance criticized by Norway.

In the Netherlands, Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp on 30 July ruled out immediately recognizing Palestine: “At this moment, there is no process underway. Recognizing a Palestinian state now will not make much of a difference on the ground.”

During an official visit to Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories in July, Austria's Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger affirmed Austrian commitment to a two-state solution but went no further. Likewise, Switzerland stopped short of recognition.

In Finland, the recognition debate has split the coalition government. Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said on 9 August that recognition would come "when the time is right" and that the issue needed more discussion in government. President Alexander Stubb has previously signaled he is in favor.

The three Baltic states, which hosted a visit by Israeli President Isaac Herzog in early August, have also yet to offer recognition. Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal has said “there is currently no state to additionally recognize”. Likewise, Latvia says it has no plans, nor does Lithuania, where public support is weaker than in western Europe.

There has also been no recognition from Moldova, which said in 2019 it would move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, although it has yet to do so.

Many in Greece have opposed the genocide in Gaza. But while, in 2015, the Greek parliament approved recognition, the vote was non-binding, and the decision has yet to be implemented.

Hungary, which recognized Palestine in 1988, has become a staunch Israel supporter during the tenure of far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has held office since 2010. And while it has not officially rescinded recognition, its position is unclear.

In May 2024, for instance, Hungary was one of nine countries to vote against a non-binding UNGA resolution advocating Palestinian membership. It also issued a statement criticizing other states for unilaterally recognizing Palestine in 2025.

Palestine and Africa
In the decades after World War Two, many countries in Africa gained independence from their former colonial occupiers, and were thus quick in 1988 to recognize Palestinian statehood.

The list of nations is long: Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

They were joined in 1989 by Benin, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Rwanda and then Eswatini (1991), Malawi (1998), the Ivory Coast (2008), and Liberia (2011).

Several much smaller states – or micronations – including Pacific islands such as Palau, Nauru, Micronesia and Tuvalu, have yet to recognize Palestine. At the UN, where all members have equal voting rights when it comes to admitting new states, such micronations can exercise power disproportionate to their real-world influence.

Some observers have speculated that these countries are practicing “chequebook diplomacy”, where votes on contentious UN proposals are exchanged for foreign direct investment and aid.

In late 2017, for example, Israel gifted Nauru a sewage plant just two weeks before a key UN vote on the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Nauru was one of just nine countries to side with Israel.

Palestine and the Americas
Central and South America have been quicker to recognize Palestinian statehood than neighbors in North America, such as Canada and the US.

First 1988 were Cuba and Nicaragua, respectively ruled at the time by leftists Fidel Castro and Daniel Ortega.

Paraguay followed in 2005, although it has strengthened its ties with Israel in recent years, including opening a new embassy in Jerusalem in December 2024.

Costa Rica recognized Palestine in 2008 and the Dominican Republic and Venezuela in 2009, amid Israel's then-war on Gaza.

But the most significant acceptance of Palestine from a Latin American state came in December 2010, when Brazil gave official recognition following a request from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

By the end of that year, Brazil had been joined by Argentina, Bolivia, and Ecuador; and in 2011 by Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Chile (home to the largest number of Palestinians outside MENA), Dominica, El Salvador, Grenada, Honduras, Peru, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

In December 2011, Mercosur, the South American economic bloc, signed a free-trade agreement with Palestine. Since then, recognition has come from Guatemala and Haiti (2013), Saint Lucia (2015), Colombia (2018), and Saint Kitts and Nevis (2019).

Support has also continued to grow among the membership of Caricom, a political bloc which represents the interests of Caribbean states. Amid condemnation of Israel's policies in Gaza, Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and the Bahamas recognised Palestine in late April and early May 2024.

This leaves Panama as the only country in Central and South America not to recognize Palestine. It has been a long-standing ally of Israel since its creation in 1948, has had its police trained in Israel, and voted against Palestine having non-member “observer state” status at the UN in 2012.

It also wants to keep US onside over ownership of the Panama Canal, on which Washington has set its sights and which has been repeatedly highlighted by Trump.
Cameroon is one of only two African states yet to recognize Palestine (the other is Eritrea). The Guardian Post, the country's only English-language news site, attributes this to President Paul Biya, who has held power for more than four decades, during which he has strengthened ties with Israel, not least militarily.

Palestine and Asia-Pacific
In 1988, Palestine was recognized by Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Mongolia, Nepal, North Korea, Pakistan, Seychelles, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. The Philippines and Vanuatu did so the following year, with Thailand in 2012.

Following the collapse of the USSR in the early 1990s, newly independent countries in Central Asia likewise recognized Palestine.

These included Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan in 1992; Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in 1994; and Kyrgyzstan in 1995.

Armenia recognized Palestine in 2024: in recent years, it has had mixed relations with Israel, amid tension over Israel's support for Azerbaijan, the mistreatment of Armenians in Israel, and Israel's ambivalence towards recognition of the Armenian Genocide (which in August 2025 Netanyahu said he recognized).

New Zealand has yet to follow its neighbor, Australia and officially recognize Palestine. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said on 30 July that while it believed very strongly in a two-state solution, it wanted to focus more on aid relief. More recently, Luxon has been more critical of Netanyahu, saying: "I think he has lost the plot."

Fiji does not recognize Palestine, and has emerged as an ally of Israel: in 2024, it criticized the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) advisory opinion that Israel's long-standing occupation of Palestine was unlawful.

Singapore is also yet to officially recognize Palestine, although it said in November that it is "prepared in principle to do so". The city-state has also committed to launching two state-building initiatives with the Palestinian Authority from 2026, including training Palestinian civilian police.

Besides Singapore, Myanmar is the only south-east Asian state yet to recognize Palestine. Ruled by a military junta since 2021, it has been accused of state-led genocide against its Rohingya Muslim minority, and has announced no plans to strengthen diplomatic ties with Palestine.

Papua New Guinea has strong ties with Israel, and at the UN voted against a ceasefire in December 2023. In September 2023, the country moved its embassy to Jerusalem at an opening attended by Netanyahu.

Activists have long suspected that the administration of US President Donald Trump is gathering information from the Canary Mission website to target students and professors.

Heba Gowayed, a sociology professor at the City University of New York (CUNY), said the government’s reliance on an online blacklist that posts personal information to harm and intimidate activists is “absurd and fascist”.

“Canary Mission is a doxxing website that specifically targets people for language that they deem to be pro-Palestinian and therefore, they’ve decided, is anti-Semitic. Its sole purpose is to target and harass people,” Gowayed told Al Jazeera.

As demonstrations opposing the Israeli atrocities in Gaza swept college campuses last year, Israel’s advocates portrayed the protest movement as anti-Semitic and a threat to the safety of Jewish students.

While activists pushed back against the accusations, saying that the protests were aimed at combatting human rights abuses against Palestinians, conservative leaders called to crush the demonstrations and penalise the participants.

Shortly after returning to the White House in January, Trump himself signed a series of executive orders that laid the groundwork for targeting non-citizens who took part in the student protests for deportation.

In March, Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil — a permanent resident married to a US citizen — became the first prominent victim of Trump’s campaign.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio invoked a seldom-used provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act to order Khalil’s removal, on the basis that the Columbia student’s presence has “adverse” effects on American foreign policy.

After Khalil, many other students were detained by immigration authorities. Some left the country voluntarily to avoid imprisonment. Others, like Khalil, continue to fight their deportation.

Free speech advocates decried the campaign as a blatant violation of constitutionally protected freedoms.

The State Department did not respond to Al Jazeera’s query on the government’s use of Canary Mission. Instead, a department spokesperson referred to a statement by Secretary of State Rubio from May.

“The bottom line is, if you’re coming here to stir up trouble on our campuses, we will deny you a visa. And if you have a visa, and we find you, we will revoke it,” it said.

DHS did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

But the Trump administration may also be using more extreme sources than Canary Mission to deport students.

At Wednesday’s court hearing, Hatch was asked about other sources the government is using. He replied that there was one other website he could not recall.

The court asked Hatch if it might be Betar, a far-right, Islamophobic group with links to the violent Kahanist movement in Israel.

According to transcripts, Hatch replied, “That sounds right.”

Gowayed, the City University of New York professor, called the government’s approach an “egregious overstep and distortion of any kind of notion of justice or legality.