CovertAction Bulletin

Israeli Minister of National Security and supporter of extremist, far-right policies Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the United States in late April. From the time he got off his plane in Florida and throughout events in New Haven, CT, New York City and Washington, DC, he was met with opposition, protest and resistance. Even some Zionist groups opposed his visit, which included stops at Trump’s Mar-A-Lago, a Jewish society tied to Yale university, the halls of Congress, and a fundraiser in New York. Ben-Gvir is a Kahanist, a follower of the rabbi Meir Kahane who supported and encouraged and was convicted of acts of terrorism in both Israel and the United States. He famously has a portrait of Baruch Goldstein in his living room, who killed 29 Palestinians in Hebron in 1994, and he repeats the calls of Goldstein and Kahane to expel all Palestinians from their homeland. And following in those ideological footsteps, Israel’s government announced this week that it plans to seize Gaza entirely for the first time since it was forced to withdraw in 2005. Support the show [https://www.patreon.com/CovertActionMagazine]

April 20th marked the fifteenth anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the largest oil spill in U.S. history, which killed 11 workers and spilled 134 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. For those who rely on fishing and related industries off the Gulf Coast, as well as for those who were involved in the recovery and cleanup efforts, real relief is still yet to come. The AP reports that “all but a handful of roughly 4,800 lawsuits seeking compensation for health problems linked to the spill have been dismissed and only one has been settled,” noting that in 2012 BP paid $67 million - about $1,300 each for nearly 80% of those seeking compensation. BP has since been forced to pay billions of dollars in fines. Meanwhile, the Trump administration plans to extend fossil fuel drilling and fracking even more than the Biden administration did. The nearly $1-trillion Pentagon budget is also a hotbed of climate- and life-destroying wastes of money, as the US prepares for great-power conflict with China. This episode was recorded on Earth Day, Tuesday, April 22nd, and we get into the lasting legacy of the Deepwater Horizon spill and much more. Support the show [https://www.patreon.com/CovertActionMagazine]

Mahmoud Khalil, likely days away from the birth of his first child, is still being held in Louisiana as his lawyers fight for his freedom after a judge ordered that he can be deported. Just Monday, Columbia student Moshen Mahdawi was detained by ICE during a regular interview as part of the citizenship process. Hundreds of students from more than 90 institutions across the country have had their student visas revoked. And the Trump Administration is doubling down on the disappearance of hundreds to CECOT, the maximum-security prison in El Salvador. With Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele by his side on Monday in the White House, Trump suggested that US citizens could be sent to the notorious prison, saying “Homegrowns are next. The homegrowns. You gotta build about five more places. It’s not big enough.” At the same meeting, Bukele said he would not return Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, who fled his home 14 years ago to escape gang violence and had an order granting him the right to stay in the United States. Garcia is married with three children and works as a first-year apprentice with SMART Local 100, the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers union. The Trump administration is ignoring multiple courts who have said the deportation of Garcia must be overturned, including the Supreme Court. Is a Constitutional crisis around the corner? Is it here? And what should we make of the threats to continue these deportations and disappearances and expand them to US citizens?  Support the show [https://www.patreon.com/CovertActionMagazine]

Talks are set to begin on April 12th in Oman between the United States and Iran about Iran’s nuclear program. The announcement was made as Benjamin Netanyahu left the White House after his second visit to DC in as many months. In a short video posted after the meeting in Hebrew with English subtitles, Netanyahu praised Donald Trump and said, “We agree that Iran will not have nuclear weapons,” adding that any such agreement coming out of these meetings would need to be “Libyan style” - where Iran destroys its nuclear program and submits to a foreign verification regime run by the United States. The announcement of talks comes after diplomatic letters were exchanged between Trump and Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the US sent multiple B-2 bombers to the Diego Garcia base located in the Indian Ocean, within clear striking distance of Iran. What do Netanyahu and Trump seek to get out of these talks? We get into how their approaches may differ, but they have the same goal. And then, we discuss mass protests that happened over the weekend in DC and across the country. Support the show [https://www.patreon.com/CovertActionMagazine]

After breaking the ceasefire deal, Israel is continuing its ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and beyond, and threatening to further ignite wider conflict by bombing Syria and Lebanon. In just one 48-hour period after the end of the ceasefire, a combination of bombings from the air and a ground invasion killed over 500 Palestinians in just 48 hours. Though both countries are increasingly isolated in public opinion and on the world stage, the U.S. government continues to provide full financial, political, diplomatic, material and military support to its genocidal client regime. The movement in the United States against genocide has been met first with contempt, mockery and dismissal, and then with outright attacks. The disappearances and government kidnappings of student leaders like Mahmoud Khalil, Rumeysa Ozturk, Badar Khan Suri, and too many others come with promises of more from the Trump administration, which has revoked the student visas of at least 300 international students for exercising the right to free speech and for taking a stand against genocide. Rather than be silenced and deterred, the movement is continuing on and strengthening. A Gallup poll released last month shows that support among Americans for Israel is at its lowest point in 25 years, with just 46% saying their “sympathies in the Middle East situation” are with Israelis rather than Palestinians. That poll was taken in early February, before Israel broke the ceasefire and before Mahmoud Khalil was taken by the government. The work of the Palestine solidarity movement has taken on many flavors. From rallies and protests to blockades and disruptions of politicians, art shows and benefit concerts to boycotts and encampments and so much more, we are at an historic point in the struggle for justice, against genocide and for Palestinian liberation. Last week, the film The Encampments [https://the-encampments.com] opened in New York City to packed theaters and rave reviews. Featuring Mahmoud Khalil and others, The Encampments blows away the mainstream narratives of what started on Columbia’s campus in April 2024 and spread across the country and the world. It exposes the University administration and New York government for their treatment of people calling for an end to genocide, showing exclusive footage taken in the encampment. The film is currently or soon will be showing in about a dozen states across the country, with more to come. And on Saturday, April 5th, a mass march on Washington [https://marchforpalestine.org] will demand a permanent ceasefire, an arms embargo against Israel and an end to repression of anti-genocide activists. Buses are headed to DC from as far away as New Hampshire, Michigan and Tampa, Florida for the event organized by a broad coalition that includes the Palestinian Youth Movement, The People’s Forum, ANSWER Coalition, DSA, Jewish Voice for Peace, American Muslims for Palestine and many more. Support the show [https://www.patreon.com/CovertActionMagazine]