Welcome to the Palestine Policy Roundup, a weekly publication of the IMEU Policy Project.

🔍 CONGRESS VOTES ON TRUMP’S ILLEGAL IRAN WAR

Last week, a handful of pro-Israel Democrats joined nearly all House and Senate Republicans to block war powers resolutions aimed at stopping President Trump’s illegal and unconstitutional war with Iran–which the US waged explicitly for Israel.

A WAR FOR ISRAEL: Several officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and House Speaker Mike Johnson, stated that Israel’s choice to launch strikes on Iran effectively dragged the US into following suit.

The New York Times reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for his role in war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against Palestinians in Gaza, lobbied President Trump against negotiations with Iran during his recent visits to Washington and Mar a Lago.

It’s important to note that while Israel dragged the US into this particular round of attacks, this war also fits into the long history of US assaults on Iran from the CIA-supported coup of Prime Minister Mohammed Mosaddegh in 1953 to crippling sanctions that have harmed the lives of Iranians and denied them access to basic needs.

[AN COPY ONLY] 📣 TAKE ACTION: Go to nowarforisrael.org to speak out against Israel goading the US into this illegal war and to tell President Trump to immediately end it.

MONEY FOR WAR, CAN’T HELP THE UNHOUSED: A new report found that President Trump’s illegal war on Iran has already cost US taxpayers more than $5 billion in its first few days.

That figure is more than annual spending on Homeless Assistance Grants, which provide funding for emergency shelters, rapid rehousing, and other housing programs. The federal government spends $4.05 billion on this program per year.

US taxpayers are paying billions for this US-Israeli war on Iran–even after the Trump and Biden administrations spent more than $30 billion in taxpayer funds to fuel Israel’s genocidal violence in Gaza.

🎯 US, ISRAEL DEPLOY GAZA PLAYBOOK IN IRAN, LEBANON

The US and Israel are waging their illegal war on Iran by attacking schools, sports centers, hospitals and other civilian sites. These are likely war crimes and crimes against humanity, and they follow the genocidal playbook that Israel has used against Palestinians in Gaza.

LIKELY US STRIKE ON GIRLS SCHOOL: Multiple reports released over the past week are making it increasingly clear that the US carried out an airstrike on the Shajareh Tayyiba girls’ elementary school in Minab, Iran during the opening salvo of its illegal war. At least 165 Iranians were killed in this strike–nearly all of whom were children who were enrolled there.

Analyses by CNN, The New York Times, and The Washington Post have all concluded that the US carried out this strike. CNN and The New York Times concluded that this strike was carried out using precision munitions, meaning that this attack was targeted.

US military investigators also reportedly believe that it is likely that the US attacked the school.

Eyewitnesses reported that the US carried out a double tap strike–which is used to maximize the casualties of an attack by striking a target a second time several minutes after an initial attack. Teachers reportedly moved students to the school’s prayer hall when the second strike hit the school.

🔑 KEY TAKEAWAY: Seyyed Ibrahim Mirkhayali, whose daughter was killed in the apparent US strike, said to Drop Site News: “How long are we going to live like this? Why can’t the United States and Israel reach an agreement with Iran and end this war? What happened is a crime…I had a great dream for my daughter. She was hardworking and outstanding, and she had memorized the book of God. Her participation in the competition was a source of pride for all of us. My dream died with her.”

SAME TACTICS: Israel has repeatedly attacked schools in Gaza, killed hundreds of displaced Palestinians who were sheltering in them, and damaged or destroyed nearly all schools there. Human Rights Watch found that many of these strikes were unlawfully indiscriminate and were carried out using US-provided weapons.

But the comparisons don’t stop there: According to the World Health Organization (WHO), at least 13 hospitals and medical facilities have been attacked during the US-Israeli assault on Iran. At least four medical workers have been killed.

Destroying medical infrastructure has been a central part of Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. A double tap strike on Nasser Hospital is one of dozens of attacks that international legal experts say may constitute war crimes.

Just as Israel has done in Gaza, US-Israeli strikes have killed dozens of Iranians in indiscriminate attacks, including on a gym and Golestan Palace–a UNESCO world heritage site. During the first six months of Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, it destroyed more than 200 heritage and cultural sites there.

SAME WEAPONS AND TECH: The US and Israel are also using the same weapons and tech that the latter has used to carry out its genocidal assault on Gaza. According to reporting from Bellingcat, both the US and Israel are using MK-80 series bombs, BLU-109 bunker buster bombs, and Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) kits. The majority of Israel’s MK-80 series bombs and nearly all of the other two weapons are supplied by the US using taxpayer funds.

Israel has used these weapons in several possible war crimes that have killed and injured countless Palestinians in Gaza, including in strikes on hospitals and religious sites.

The delivery of all of these weapons and more would be blocked by the Block the Bombs Act, which would block weapons that Israel has used extensively in its genocidal crimes in Gaza. Israel is very clearly using these likely US-provided weapons to carry out death and destruction across the region, making it even more clear why Congress should block their delivery.

The US military is using the AI tool Claude in conjunction with data provided by Palantir to identify and carry out attacks in Iran. Similarly, in Gaza, Israel is using AI programs with names such as “Lavender” and “Where’s Daddy” to identify and obliterate Palestinians based on little more than social connections.

[AN COPY ONLY] 📣 TAKE ACTION: Write to your Representative and ask them to cosponsor H.R.3565, the Block the Bombs Act.

MORE FORCED DISPLACEMENT: Just as it did in Gaza, Israel issued a displacement order for more than 500,000 Lebanese who live in the southern Beirut suburbs. More than 300,000 Lebanese have already been displaced by Israel’s airstrikes and displacement orders in southern Lebanon.

⚖️ SENATORS DEMAND PROBE INTO ISRAELI SETTLER KILLING OF US CITIZEN

Last Thursday, more than 30 Senators, led by Senator Chirs Van Hollen, called on Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Attorney General Pam Bondi to conduct an independent investigation into the killing of Nasrallah Abu Siyam. Nasrallah was a Palestinian-American US citizen who was killed by Israeli settlers during an attack on his town in the West Bank.

HOLD SETTLERS ACCOUNTABLE: This letter is an important step in achieving justice for Nasrallah. The letter also notes that Nasrallah is the third US citizen to be killed by Israeli settlers in less than a year.

The others were Sayfollah Musallet, who was beaten to death by Israeli settlers as he was defending his family’s land from attack, and Khamis Ayyad, who died from smoke inhalation following an arson attack carried out by Israeli settlers.

The letter also demands that the Trump administration provide updates on the killings of other US citizens by Israel in the West Bank. The Israeli military has killed six US citizens in the West Bank since 2022: Ayşenur Eygi, Mohammad Khdour, Tawfiq Ajaq, Amer Rabee, Shireen Abu Akleh, and Omar Asad.

INCREASED SETTLER ATTACKS: It is imperative that the US hold accountable the Israeli settlers who killed Nasrallah, especially at this time. Under the cover of the illegal US-Israeli strikes on Iran, Israeli settlers are escalating their attacks on Palestinians.

According to the Israeli NGO Yesh Din, settlers attacked 37 different Palestinian communities during the first four days of the US-Israeli strikes on Iran.

Yesh Din also notes that settlers were supported by the military in nearly every attack.

As settlers escalate their attacks, more Palestinians–including Palestinian-Americans like Nasrallah–will be put in harm’s way unless Israeli settlers and soldiers are held accountable for their actions.

⛓️ ONE YEAR OF SILENCING STUDENT PALESTINE ADVOCACY

Yesterday marked one year of the abduction of Mahmoud Khalil by ICE, which kickstarted the Trump administration’s crackdown on speech and activism in support of Palestinian rights. The last year has been marked by several important victories and setbacks which have highlighted the continued importance of speaking out against this suppression of speech.

MAHMOUD STILL FIGHTS: One year after his abduction, Mahmoud Khalil is still being targeted for deportation by the Trump administration. Last Tuesday, Mahmoud appealed a ruling by a federal appeals court that severely restricted his ability to challenge the Trump administration’s targeting of him and raised the prospect of him being re-detained.

This appeals court ruling overturned a New Jersey federal district court’s ruling that ordered Mahmoud’s release. The same court also found that the grounds which ICE used to detain Mahmoud were likely unconstitutional.

Under the appeals court ruling, Mahmoud would be forced to pursue his case through the Trump-controlled immigration courts before he could challenge his detention in independent federal courts.

This would facilitate the Trump administration’s racist agenda of mass deportations by allowing ICE to swiftly deport any noncitizen to avoid a legal challenge.

KEY WINS: While the Trump administration continues to target Mahmoud, there have also been several key victories against the Trump administration’s crackdown. These victories demonstrate why it’s so important to continue to speak out for students abducted by ICE who advocated for Palestinian rights.

Removal proceedings against Mohsen Mahdawi and Dr. Rümeysa Öztürk were recently terminated, providing a key protection against deportation for both individuals.

Last September, a federal court ruled that the Trump administration’s targeting of students and others who speak in support of Palestinian rights is unconstitutional. The same court later unsealed State Department and Department of Homeland Security documents which proved that the arrests of Mahmoud, Mohsen, and Rümeysa were motivated by their speech in support of Palestinian rights.

FREE LEQAA KORDIA: This week also marks the first anniversary of the abduction of Leqaa Kordia by ICE. Leqaa is the final protester arrested during Columbia University’s encampment who is still detained by ICE.

Leqaa is being held more than one thousand miles away from her New Jersey home in the Prairieland Detention Facility in Alvarado, Texas. Last month, Leqaa was hospitalized following a seizure. ICE kept her family and attorneys in the dark about her conditions and whereabouts for three days.

Last Tuesday, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani asked President Trump to drop the case against Leqaa and those against Mahmoud Khalil, Mohsen Mahdawi, and Yunseo Chung.

LAWMAKERS SPEAK OUT: Last Monday, 12 Members of Congress, led by Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Ed Markey, Chris Van Hollen, and Rep. Ayanna Pressley, rebuked Sec. of State Marco Rubio for abusing his power in order to carry out the Trump administration’s targeting of students for their speech and activism in support of Palestinian rights.

Last Friday, Rep. Rashida Tlaib visited Leqaa at the Prairieland Detention Facility and recounted the inhumane conditions to which she and other detainees are being subjected.

🏛️ WHAT CONGRESS CAN DO: Members of Congress should continue demanding that the Trump administration immediately release Leqaa.

🍎 ISRAEL CONTINUES TO OBSTRUCT AID DELIVERY TO GAZA

Last week, Israel reportedly opened the Kerem Shalom border crossing after closing all crossings following the beginning of its joint strikes with the US on Iran. However, Israel is only allowing a trickle of humanitarian aid to be delivered to Gaza.

Israel’s closure of border crossings halted the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza and the flow of Palestinian medical evacuees across the border crossing–both of which violate Israel’s commitments to Trump’s October 2025 Gaza plan.

Multiple humanitarian aid workers told Reuters that Palestinians in Gaza only have a few days worth of supplies remaining. Israel’s closure of the crossings has exacerbated the shortages of fuel and food that are the product of Israel’s continued obstruction of the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Additionally, the WHO warned last Friday that the supplies of medicines, trauma and surgical supplies, along with fuel needed to operate medical equipment, remain critically low as a result of Israel’s obstruction of aid.

Israel’s ongoing denial of humanitarian aid to Palestinians survivors of its genocide in Gaza violates Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act, which must result in the immediate cut off of all weapons to Israel.

👀 ICYMI: MEMBERS OF CONGRESS SPEAK OUT

Rep. Delia Ramirez: “Trump and Netanyahu are an unaccountable duo. As they violate the ceasefire, they continue to move forward with the annexation of the West Bank—putting Palestinian lives at grave risk. We must hold Trump and Netanyahu accountable for their violations of international law and end all settler expansion, annexation, and occupation. We cannot continue to turn a blind eye. Oversight is needed and that starts with Block the Bombs Act.”

Rep. Mark Pocan, in response to Israel closing crossings into Gaza: “Israel must reopen access to aid groups. If not, Netanyahu must be arrested immediately. He continues war crimes.”

Rep. Rashida Tlaib: “Today I conducted an oversight visit to see Leqaa Kordia in Texas, who has been detained by ICE for the past year after being targeted by Trump for advocating for Palestinian rights. She is the last Columbia protester still in ICE custody. This is unimaginable cruelty carried out by the Trump Administration. I am demanding her immediate release. Free Leqaa.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders: “The United States gave Netanyahu over $24 billion in taxpayer dollars to fund his horrific war in Gaza. That wasn’t enough. Netanyahu wanted war with Iran. Trump gave him one. The American people — not Netanyahu’s right-wing government — should determine U.S. foreign policy.”

Rep. Pramila Jayapal: “So, instead of demanding that Israel not bomb Iran, we let Israel force us into a forever war with grave consequences to American lives and taxpayers? Netanyahu has tried to convince every American president to attack Iran, but Trump is the only one naive enough to do it.”

Rep. Sara Jacobs: “Secretary Rubio says the quiet part out loud: this is an unnecessary war of choice. Israel forced our hand – there was no imminent threat to the United States. And instead of talking Israel out of going to war, President Trump went along with it and put U.S. lives at risk.”

Photo: Sunshine Seeds, via Shutterstock. Stock Photo ID: 2650748251