Drop Site News

Investigative journalists Jeremy Scahill and Ryan Grim are joined by Palestinian journalist Abubaker Abed to discuss the devastating events unfolding in Gaza since the resumption of Israel’s genocide. With a focus on the toll this crisis is taking on children and families, they unpack the situation on the ground, the humanitarian emergency, and the role of the media in shaping public perception. G...

Since taking power on January 20, the Trump administration has engaged in an all-out assault on First Amendment rights and due process. It is attacking judges in the U.S. that have issued rulings that cite serious constitutional concerns. It has embarked on a sweeping campaign to force colleges and universities to hand over private records of students that have engaged in protests against the U.S....

Israel's genocidal war on Gaza resumed in full force on March 18 with a full scale aerial and ground assault killing over 1,000 Palestinians, including hundreds of children, while its total siege and reimposed policy of forced starvation is close to entering its second month. In one of the most horrific attacks, Israeli troops executed fifteen medics and emergency workers conducting rescue operati...

This month, the Trump administration’s crackdown on free speech related to Israel-Palestine dramatically escalated when Department of Homeland Security agents arrested Columbia University student organizer Mahmoud Khalil . Khalil is currently detained in an ICE jail in Louisiana, facing potential deportation. Khalil’s arrest is part of a broader crackdown now unfolding, with more arrests by the Tr...

It has been 11 days since Department of Homeland Security agents working under the direction of the Trump White House detained Columbia University graduate and Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, handcuffing him in the lobby of his apartment building. Khalil is a legal U.S. permanent resident and green card holder, and his wife, who is eight months pregnant, is a U.S. citizen. DHS quickly shipped...

Mercenary groups were a major part of premodern history, before being largely replaced by standing national armies. But in the past few decades, armed mercenary companies have again become major players in conflicts around the world. The U.S. employed Blackwater mercenaries to carry out operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. And the United Arab Emirates used paid mercenaries to carry out assassinatio...

As Mahmoud Khalil is being held at a notorious ICE detention facility in Louisiana, we learned of another attack on the free speech of a pro-Palestine activist and scholar at another elite American institution. Yale University, whose federal funding is also under threat, has suspended the international law scholar and outspoken defender of Palestinian rights Dr. Helyeh Doutaghi. She served as the...

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump’s Special Envoy to Middle East Steve Witkoff arrived in Doha, Qatar for negotiations on extending the Gaza “ceasefire” and exchange of captives deal between Hamas and Israel. These talks come in the midst of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and as Israel has continued to violate the terms of the original agreement signed on January 19. This weekend Israel cut o...

With Phase 1 of the Gaza ceasefire deal set to expire Saturday with no agreement (yet) for its continuation, Jeremy Scahill and Sharif Abdel Kouddous discuss the recent developments with the negotiations, as well as Egypt’s role in possible Gaza reconstruction and governance paths. A forthcoming Arab League summit is expected to be centered around presenting an alternative plan to Trump’s threats...

It has been three years since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, killing hundreds of thousands of people and destroying huge portions of the country. Now, the Trump administration has signaled that it wants to end the war in Ukraine, but there are significant questions and deep concerns about Trump’s plans for how to end the fighting. The Trump administration has signaled it wants Ukraine to pay back...

On Thursday morning in Gaza, Palestinian resistance factions handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross the bodies of four Israeli captives. According to Hamas, all four of the Israeli citizens were killed in Israeli airstrikes. As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has continued his efforts to sabotage the Gaza ceasefire and exchange of captives deal, Hamas has begun putti...

This week, during a press briefing alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Donald Trump floated an idea for the U.S. to take ownership of the Gaza Strip, while expelling the surviving Palestinian population from the territory. While outlandish, Trump’s statement emboldened many on the Israeli right who continue to dream of eliminating the Palestinian population of the land t...

The official death toll in Gaza continues to rise every day with Israel engaging in sporadic attacks on Palestinians in Gaza, killing dozens since the “ceasefire” agreement came into effect on January 19. The death toll also climbs every day for two other reasons: bodies retrieved from the rubble, and people who die of their wounds. The health ministry puts the number of confirmed dead at over 47,...

Israeli prime minister and international fugitive Benjamin Netanyahu is the first foreign leader to be hosted in Washington, D.C., by President Donald Trump. They are meeting in the wake of a barrage of chaotic and conflicting messages by Trump on what he believes should happen in Gaza and the West Bank. Without a doubt, Trump wants to preside over a normalization agreement between Saudi Arabia an...

In a wide-ranging interview, Mustafa Barghouti, the general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, speaks with Drop Site News journalists Jeremy Scahill and Sharif Abdel Kouddous about the latest developments in the Gaza “ceasefire” deal, Israel’s large-scale military operation in the West Bank, national unity talks between Palestinian political factions, President Trump’s plans to pers...

Although the Trump allies have repeatedly vowed to pivot away from involvement in the Middle East, a major crisis still looms on the horizon with Iran. In his first term, President Donald Trump tore up the Iran Nuclear Deal, also known as the JCPOA, setting the stage for a renewed campaign of sanctions, sabotage, and assassination targeting Iran. Iran responded by vastly ramping up its nuclear enr...

In this special breaking news episode, senior Hamas official Basem Naim speaks to Drop Site’s Jeremy Scahill about the Gaza “ceasefire” that went into effect Sunday. Naim said that Hamas intends to uphold its side of the deal—despite claims by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he received assurances from both President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump that Israel can resume...

An agreement on a deal that will halt — at least temporarily — Israel’s 15-month long genocidal assault on Gaza was announced on Wednesday to scenes of celebration by Palestinians in Gaza. At the time of writing, Israel has not yet officially announced it has agreed to the deal. The terms of the agreement being negotiated are nearly identical to what was on the table last May when outgoing Preside...

After his victory in the 2024 election, Donald Trump made clear that he wants a deal to release Israeli and international captives held in Gaza prior to his inauguration on January 20. Trump’s public posture has added urgency to what had become a diplomatic process surviving on the weakest of life support systems. The president-elect’s position on the Gaza war is largely in sync with that of Biden...

Joe Biden has just weeks left in his presidency. Israel’s genocidal war against Gaza is continuing at full force. In Lebanon, the so-called ceasefire was one-sided by U.S. design, meant to require only Hezbollah to cease its fire. A UN peacekeeping force official told CNN Tuesday that Israel had committed roughly 100 violations of the ceasefire, including gradually intensifying military strikes in...

Israeli Prime Minister and international fugitive Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a speech Tuesday encouraging his ministers to accept a ceasefire deal with Lebanon. The truce with Lebanon, Netanyahu said, would allow Israel to rearm itself and focus on the war against Hamas and Iran. He also claimed that the U.S. had assured Israel that it would be permitted to resume its military attacks on Lebanon...

With just two months remaining in his presidency, President Joe Biden is moving forward with an aggressive U.S. posture toward the war in Ukraine. On Monday, the administration greenlit the use of U.S. made long-range missiles to hit targets in Russia, a move President Vladimir Putin has stated is a red line for Moscow. Ukraine then proceeded to use the missiles the next day. Israel is continuing...

Barely 72 hours after his victory, Donald Trump’s team is already taking shape. Our latest reporting reveals that Brian Hook―known from Trump’s first term to be a major Iran hawk―is being tapped to run the transition at the State Department. In a follow-up report, we exposed a lobbying campaign by neoconservatives to bring war hawk Mike Pompeo, who plotted to assassinate Julian Assange during the...

In this final episode, Loewenstein examines the fallout of October 7, exploring the devastating aftermath in Gaza, Israel’s live-testing of AI-enabled weapons, and the West’s support of Israel’s military expansion. Featuring eyewitness accounts from Gaza, he asks: what does a post-October 7 world look like for Palestine and Israel? The Palestine laboratory isn’t inevitable.  Guests: Gideon Levy, D...

In the wake of 9/11, Israel’s defense industry boomed, positioning itself as a key beneficiary of the "war on terror." Loewenstein explores how private Israeli companies market their surveillance technology—tested first on Palestinians—across the globe, claiming to have the answers to address ‘global insecurity.’ In reality, it results in tighter borders, greater monitoring of refugees, and increa...