Our Wednesday News Analysis | From Palestine to Iran: This is Not a Religious War — It is a War on Religion

Palestinians return to the mosque to pray on the ruins of the Farouk Mosque. (Photo: Mahmoud Ajjour, The Palestine Chronicle)

A religious war suggests opposing camps driven by competing theologies, each claiming God as its exclusive mandate. That is not what is taking place. Palestinians, Lebanese, and Iranians, whether Muslim or Christian, Sunni or Shia, are not mobilized in some grand sectarian crusade. They are resisting siege, occupation, bombardment, humiliation, and erasure.

What we are witnessing instead is something darker: a war on religion itself.

This war manifests in many forms. It appears in the destruction of mosques in Gaza, in the tightening grip over Al-Aqsa Mosque, in the harassment of Palestinian Christians in Jerusalem, in attacks on churches and shrines, in the mockery of sacred language, and in the growing contempt shown toward spiritual symbols and religious authority across the region. It is not theology that unites these acts, but power. It is domination stripped of restraint.

In Gaza, the Israeli part of this war is by now undeniable.

The destruction has not only been military. It has been civilizational. It has targeted the social, historical, and spiritual architecture of Palestinian life.

Gaza’s government media office said 835 mosques had been completely destroyed and 180 more partially damaged. Churches had also been struck, and 40 of Gaza’s 60 cemeteries had been destroyed.

This is not merely a matter of damaged buildings. A mosque is not reducible to stone, concrete, or minaret. A church is not only an old wall or a fragile roof. These are repositories of memory. They hold grief, continuity, ritual, and belonging. To destroy them on this scale is to assault not only a people’s present, but also their ancestry and their future.

In Gaza, where people now pray amid rubble and in bombed-out structures, religion itself has been forced into survival mode. Even worship has been made to kneel before annihilation.

Yet the Israeli war on Palestinian religion did not begin in Gaza, and it will not end there.

For decades, Jerusalem has served as a laboratory for this assault...

Read more: From Palestine to Iran: This is Not a Religious War — It is a War on Religion

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NOT EVERY JEWISH CRITIC OF ISRAEL IS A SELF-HATING 'DIASPORA JEW' – SOMETIMES THEY'RE JUST RIGHT

Source: Haaretz
https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2026-04-12/ty-article-opinion/.premium/not-every-jewish-critic-of-israel-self-hating-sometimes-theyre-just-right/0000019d-7de3-da4e-a5df-7fff23d70000

By Gideon Levy
Published April 12, 2026

Israelis, quick to call Americans 'selfish' while crying about their own victimhood, are not willing to admit that most Jews feel ashamed of Israel. They are, however, willing to throw out antisemitic dogwhistles of 'diaspora mentality' to discredit those who threaten Israelis' right to complain.'

Israeli youth of Masada scout movement light a fire in the shape of the Star of David during a Memorial Day ceremony, 2011. Credit: AFP

It's doubtful that most Israelis realize the extent of the campaign of ostracization and defamation now being waged against their country across the world. If two strangers show up anywhere in the world now, an Iranian and an Israeli, the latter will be much more reviled than the former. Many people currently believe that Iran is less of a danger to world peace than Israel is. It's not (just) antisemitism, stupid. Israel, of its own doing, is making itself reviled.

Millions of dispossessed people are now wandering across the Middle East because of Israel; it cannot avoid being blamed for this. Most Iranians are not being blamed for their regime's crimes – they oppose the regime. In contrast, every Jewish Israeli is justifiably perceived as an accomplice of the regime. The absolute majority of Israelis support every war and barbaric attack, with no opposition. The result: hatred.

One day, when the people responsible for Israel's rock-bottom status are held to account, the opposition will play a major role. Yair Lapid, by erecting a "hasbara" war room, is telling the world that the war is waged in the name of all of us. We all support it. We are all for a war against Iran, for bombing Lebanon and for the war of annihilation in Gaza. Opposition can only be found in Iran. This is how Lapid and his ilk are stoking the hatred. Because of them, the whole world knows that all of Israel is to blame. If the world knew that there was a large peace camp supporting human rights here, it would find it harder to blame us...

Read more: Not Every Jewish Critic of Israel Is a Self-hating 'Diaspora Jew' – Sometimes They're Just Right

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WHAT CONNECTS THE WORLD TO PALESTINE

Source: Palestine Deep Dive
https://www.palestinedeepdive.com/p/what-connects-the-world-to-palestine

By Taqwa Ahmed Alwawi
Published April 19, 2026

From London to New York, people with no direct ties are stepping into the streets to speak out. Their reasons reveal how empathy, history, and conscience transcend borders.

Thousands of protesters in Madrid, Spain. Photo: Barcex (CC BY-SA 4.0)

I often wonder why people who have never been to Gaza—who may not know its geography or history—feel compelled to march, to chant, and to carry its flag in cities oceans away. What drives them? What meaning does Palestine hold for them personally?

To understand, I reached out to individuals across the world—from Spain to England and the United States—who have joined pro-Palestine demonstrations. I wanted to listen, to ask, and to understand what connects them to a place they have never seen.

Ester Garcia, a 27-year-old Spanish teacher, recalls her first vivid memory of demonstrations for Palestine: “I remember it was last year when our president, Pedro Sánchez, recognised the State of Palestine in May 2024.”

When asked what motivated her to participate, Ester explains, “Most of my students are from Palestine. They talk a lot about their country. I also watch and read the news regularly, and the situation in Palestine deeply moves me.”

Although Ester has never visited Gaza or the West Bank, she feels a strong personal connection to the Palestinian cause. “My students show me the wounds inflicted by the Israeli army and share videos of their neighbourhoods, whether occupied or destroyed. I feel empathy. I put myself in their shoes, and it breaks my heart,” she says.

Ester follows the news closely: “I get information through my country’s digital newspapers, like El País or El Diario, or on television, and to a lesser extent, social media.” She trusts firsthand accounts from her students and their families the most, then balances that with official news, carefully considering the ideologies behind each source.

Looking forward, she hopes to visit Palestine one day. “I would like to visit the cities of my students, Ramallah and Nablus, because they have spoken to me with so much love for their country. I would also love to try authentic Palestinian falafel and learn to dance dabke,” she says.

When asked about her long-term plans for activism, Ester concludes, “I hope I don’t have to keep going to protests. That would mean Palestine is free.”...

Read more: What Connects the World to Palestine