OMNI
ISRAEL AND US v. IRAN ANTHOLOGY #6
From March 1 to March 4
March 4, 2026
Compiled by Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace, Justice, Ecology,
and Democracy
#1 https://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2025/06/omni-israel-and-iran-anthology-1-june.html
#2 https://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2025/06/omni-israel-and-iran-anthology-2-6-20-25.html
#3
https://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2025/06/omni-israel-and-iran-anthology-3-june.html
#4
https://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2026/02/omni-israel-and-us-v-iran-anthology-4.html
#5 https://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2026/03/omni-israel-and-us-v-iran-anthology-5.html
What’s at
Stake: Actions we can take to stop the Invasion.
CONTENTS
March 1
Craig Mokhiber. “Understanding the
U.S. and Israel’s illegal war on Iran.”
March 3
Jeffrey D. Sachs & Sybil Fares . “This Illegal
US-Israeli Attack on Iran Is Also an Assault on the United Nations.”
Jewish Voice for Peace: Four Actions You
Can Take.
War Resisters League.
Move to Amend. Big Money Behind the Invasion.
March 4
Adalah Justice Project.
Vote Yes to Stop the Invasion.
Common Cause. Vote No Against the War.
VFP/CND. From England: No War.
Caitlin Johnstone. “Iran Is Morally Superior To The United States.”
Three FOR Books.
Win Without War. Reign Trump In.
Leon Goldberg. How the War Spreads
Short of time? Read Mokhiber, Sachs, WRL, Johnstone,
Goldberg.
TEXTS
MARCH
1, 2026
[I am recording the
items in the order of their original publication, not on the date I received
them.]
“Understanding the U.S.
and Israel’s illegal war on Iran.” Editor. mronline.org
(3-4-26).
The illegal U.S.-Israeli war on Iran
continues a rampage that has devastated countries and international
institutions to eliminate all obstacles to U.S. hegemony. The U.S.-Israel Axis
has not succeeded yet, and it is up to the world to stop them.
Originally published: Mondoweiss on March 1, 2026 by Craig Mokhiber (more
by Mondoweiss) (Posted Mar
03, 2026).
WarAmericas, Iran, Israel, Middle East, United StatesNewswireIsraeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Donald Trump, U.S.-Israel Axis, War crimes
Once again, the U.S.-Israel Axis has launched an
unnecessary, unprovoked, and deeply immoral attack against
the sovereign nation of Iran.
But what is largely missing from Western corporate media
coverage of the attack is that it is also an entirely unlawful, indeed criminal act.
And that the armed Iranian response, as a matter of
international law, is both justified and entirely lawful.
Western
media audiences are being spoon-fed the usual false narrative, framed as it is
by the state perpetrators of the aggression, the war profiteers, and Zionist
proxies. War is peace. Peace is a threat. Aggression is self-defense.
Self-defense is aggression. The victim is the perpetrator. And the perpetrator
is the victim. . . . [Even though this
articles was published the day after the bombings began, it is impressively
comprehensive. –Dick]
Mondoweiss
– News & Opinion About Palestine, Israel
& the ...
Mondoweiss https://mondoweiss.net
|
Independent
news & analysis on Palestine, Israel, U.S. Politics and the global
movement for Palestinian rights. |
|
Illegal aggression in Iran I
depend on Mondoweiss, Chris Hedges, Jeremy Scahill, Scott ... |
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About Mondoweiss is an independent news organization that
informs ... |
MARCH
3, 2026
Jeffrey D. Sachs
& Sybil Fares . “This
Illegal US-Israeli Attack on Iran Is Also an Assault on the United Nations. “ Tue, 03 Mar 2026 15:15:36 GMT.
Let us be clear about what the United States and Israel are pursuing. The
US objective is not the security of the American people. The objective is
global hegemony. The attempt is to destroy the UN and the international rule of
law—an attempt that will fail.
On
February 16, 2026, one of us (Jeffrey Sachs) sent a letter to the UN
Security Council warning that the United States was on the verge of
tearing up the United Nations Charter. That warning has now come to
pass.
The
United States and Israel have launched an unprovoked war against Iran in flagrant
violation of Article 2(4) of the Charter, without authorization from the
Security Council, and without any legitimate claim of self-defense under
Article 51. They are trying to kill the UN Charter and the
international rule of law, but they will fail.
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Jewish
Opposition to the US/Israeli Invasion of Iran, JVP’ 4 Demands
Dear
Dick,
Last
weekend, the U.S. and Israel launched a disastrous and illegal war on Iran. In
the days since, a dozen countries have been pulled into the war and hundreds of
people have been killed across the region, including 165 people at a girls'
school in Iran bombed by the U.S.-Israeli coalition.
Emboldened
by their joint genocide in Gaza, Trump and Netanyahu are pulling the entire
region towards all-out war, with no concern for the lives of half a billion
people living in the region.
Meanwhile,
the Israeli government is using this opportunity to further its genocidal
and expansionist goals, shutting down all entry points into Gaza and the
West Bank and bombing and invading southern Lebanon.
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Here's
what you can do right now: |
1. Demand Congress take action to stop war with Iran
Congress will likely vote this week on a War Powers Resolution. Use this JVP Action tool to demand Congress reject Trump and Netanyahu’s illegal war of choice against Iran.
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2.
Gather and act at the Power-Half Hour. |
Every day at 3pm ET, join us as we discuss the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and across the region, and take action together to advance our demands: No War, No Genocide, Abolish ICE, Free Palestine.
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3.
Fight militarism everywhere: No war, no ICE! |
|
The
war on immigrants continues while Trump wages war abroad. Soon, the Senate
will vote on a bill that continues funding immigration enforcement and
detention. Use this JVP Action and DWN tool to demand they vote NO on ICE and
CBP funding. |
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Tell your Senators: No ICE funding |
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4.
Build JVP’s organizing power: vote for the JVP board today. |
|
Our
greatest strength is that we’re organized: moving together as JVP members, to
demand an end to U.S.-Israeli war and genocide and build a better future. But
the work to build our collective organization is always ongoing. Leveraging
our monumental growth to meet those challenges will by necessity include
nominating the best possible candidates for JVP's board. In
this crisis moment, collectively shaping JVP’s future is critical. Place your
vote in the JVP board elections, happening right now. |
|
The horrifying
impact of the U.S. and Israel’s imperialist warmaking, violence, and
crippling sanctions have devastated Iran and the region for decades. A
U.S.-Israeli war on Iran is already leading to death and violence across the
region — we must do everything we can to stop it from going any further. In
solidarity, Jason
Farbman, Digital Director |
|
Jewish
Voice for Peace is an independent, nonpartisan, 501(c)(4) national
membership organization inspired by Jewish tradition, organizing toward
Palestinian liberation and Judaism beyond Zionism. Become a JVP Member today.
Contributions
to JVP and JVP chapters are not tax-deductible. If you
wish to make a tax-deductible contribution, you can do so to our sibling
organization, the JVP Leadership & Culture Lab. View
or update your contributions at our our self-service portal.
Jewish Voice for Peace Action (JVP Action), our 501(c)(4) organization, is now
doing business as Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), while our 501(c)(3) work
continues through JVP Leadership and Culture Lab (JVP Lab). JVP is the largest
progressive Jewish anti-Zionist organization in the world.
Mailing address: 712 H Street NE STE 1363, Washington, DC
20002. Donations: PO Box 589, Berkeley, CA 94701
Countering the recruitment of youth into the armed forces,
supporting military resisters, and tax resistance.
“Iran and the Escalating Wars.”
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Take
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“The Financial Architecture Behind Iran Escalation.” Move to Amend. 3-3-26 Lives have already been
lost — American service members and civilians in the region — while military
operations move forward at accelerating speed. This conflict is
unfolding inside a political system shaped by Gulf sovereign wealth,
multi-billion-dollar arms deals, expanded U.S. military aid to Israel,
defense industry lobbying, and tens of millions in election spending. The Constitution is not
ambiguous. The power to declare war belongs to Congress — not the executive
branch, not private envoys, and certainly not networks of allied governments
with financial stakes in the outcome. Yet armed hostilities have advanced without
a formal congressional declaration of war. That is not a technical
oversight. When decisions that risk
widening war proceed without explicit congressional authorization — and
within a system saturated with financial influence — the structural
incentives behind those decisions deserve scrutiny. |
The Alliance Web — and the Money Behind It
[Gulf States]
The United States maintains deep security relationships with Saudi Arabia, the
United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, and Israel. These are not symbolic
alliances. They are reinforced by enormous financial ties.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund
committed $2 billion to Jared Kushner’s private equity firm. A UAE-linked investment group
announced plans to deploy up to $500 million into a
Trump-family-backed stablecoin — a move that could generate tens of millions
annually in revenue if fully implemented.
Qatar gifted a $400 million luxury Boeing 747-8 for
presidential use.
At the same time, these
same Gulf states remain among the largest purchasers of U.S. weapons
systems. A single major missile or air defense package can cost $3–10+
billion.
Oil price spikes triggered by instability can
produce billions more in additional revenue almost overnight. When tensions rise in oil-producing regions,
fossil fuel corporations frequently see price spikes and record profits. War
may devastate communities — but volatility can be lucrative. The industry doesn’t just benefit from
instability. It invests heavily in political influence — contributing
tens of millions to federal candidates and spending billions over the past
decade on lobbying and election activity. When conflict and political money
intersect, the public deserves scrutiny.
The Political Money Machine
Israel and U.S. Military
Aid
Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of
U.S. foreign military aid in history, receiving roughly $3.8 billion
annually — plus tens of billions in supplemental aid since 2023, including
at least $21+ billion in direct military assistance. In the 2024 election cycle, AIPAC’s PAC
and its affiliated super PAC reportedly spent between $95 million and
nearly $127 million combined on congressional races — including more
than $55 million in direct contributions and tens of millions more
in independent expenditures targeting key foreign policy seats. These are not isolated figures. They exist
within a broader structure in which foreign military aid, political spending,
and lobbying activity operate simultaneously.
The Web of Incentives
Taken together, this is a
system of:
Sovereign wealth flowing into U.S. political business ventures
Expanding arms sales during regional conflict
Energy revenues influenced by instability
Foreign military aid intertwined with domestic political spending
Billions in defense and fossil fuel lobbying
Negotiations conducted within networks connected to Gulf financial interests.
Under current Supreme
Court doctrine, corporate political spending is constitutionally protected, and
money is treated as speech. That
architecture allows massive financial flows to intersect with war-making
decisions under limited democratic oversight.
When billions move between
Gulf capitals and U.S. power networks — while American troops and civilians in
the region face the consequences — the structural distortion becomes difficult
to ignore.
The Constitutional Crisis
The framers placed war
powers in Congress precisely to prevent this — to ensure that no single branch
could move the country into war without public debate and recorded votes. Yet recent military actions involving Iran
have not gone through a formal declaration of war. When escalation advances without explicit
congressional authorization — and in a political system flooded with money —
the constitutional balance is not merely strained. It is distorted. And when financial incentives align with
military expansion, the risk of distortion increases.
The Structural Fix
Under current Supreme
Court doctrine, unlimited political spending is constitutionally shielded.
Defense contractors, super PACs, and wealthy interests — domestic and foreign —
are empowered to exert enormous influence over elections and policymaking.
That is
the architecture that shapes war.
The We the People Amendment
(H.J.Res. 54) would clarify:
Corporations are not people.
Money is not speech.
Political spending shall be democratically regulated.
War should never unfold inside a marketplace of influence.
The decision to risk lives
— American and foreign alike — should not be shaped by sovereign wealth flows,
defense contracts, oil windfalls, or political spending shielded as speech.
When financial power intersects with war-making authority, the result is not
accountability — it is distortion.
We do not have to accept a
system where money circulates more freely than responsibility. We do not have
to accept a political structure where armed conflict can advance while billions
move through influence networks beyond public control.
The question is not
whether the system is operating as originally intended.
The question is whether it
serves the people now.
Democracy is not fixed. It
is built — and rebuilt — by those willing to demand that power answer to human
life, not financial leverage.
If we want decisions about
war to reflect the will of the people rather than the weight of money, then we
must build a political system that makes that possible.
The people deserve better.
And we have the power to create it.
Move to Amend National Team
https://www.movetoamend.org/
March 4, 2026
URGENT: “Call Congress and tell them to vote YES to stop
war with Iran.” 
Sandra Tamari <info@adalahjusticeproject.org>
Adalah
Justice Project is a Palestinian-led advocacy organization based in the
U.S. that builds cross-movement coalitions to achieve collective liberation.
Our work is rooted in the conviction that drawing the linkages between US
policy abroad and repressive state practices at home is crucial to shifting the
balance of power.
“No Iran War.” Take Action (via Common Cause) causenet@commoncause.org . 12:14 PM (1
hour ago)
TAKE ACTION: Tell your
senators to do their jobs and rein in Trump’s illegal Iran war. Vote YES on a
War Powers Resolution >>
Dick, the Senate could vote as soon as
today to rein in Trump’s illegal war with Iran – and your action right now
could help decide the outcome. This
administration is marching us into war and trying to shut down criticism
instead of answering tough questions from the people they serve. That’s not
what we do in a democracy. American
servicemembers and Iranian civilians are getting killed in a conflict launched
without Congress, without debate, and without the authorization the
Constitution requires.We cannot allow our country to repeat the catastrophic
mistakes of Iraq and Vietnam. Congress has the power – and duty – to
stop this escalation and protect the American people from yet another drawn-out
and costly war. Take Action Now: Tell the
Senate to stop this escalation by passing a War Powers Resolution >>
[VFP-all] THURSDAY in England: “No war on Iran! No to
Nuclear Hypocrisy! – CND webinar, 5 March.”
Gerry Condon via uark.onmicrosoft.com [Too late and over an ocean for us, but]
Ann Wright will be one of the speakers at this Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
(UK) webinar. Thursday, March 5 2 pm ET, 11 am PT
No War on Iran! No to Nuclear
Hypocrisy! Should be a good one.
From: Campaign for
Nuclear Disarmament <pressoffice@cnduk.org>
Sent: Wednesday, March 4, 2026 9:08:26 AM
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“Iran Is Morally Superior To The
United States” BY
Caitlin Johnstone. March 4, 2026.
Iran
is better than the United States. The United States is worse than Iran. This is true not because Iran is especially
good, but because the United States is especially evil.
Iran
isn’t blanketing a major metropolis with military explosives, killing over a
thousand people including hundreds of children. The United States is doing this
with its partner in crime Israel. Iran
isn’t continuously bombing and invading countries around the world, toppling
governments, circling the globe with hundreds of military bases, targeting
civilian populations with siege warfare and brandishing nuclear weapons at its
enemies in the name of securing planetary domination. Only the United States is.
The US
empire is the single most murderous and tyrannical power structure on earth, by
an extremely massive margin. No one else comes anywhere remotely close. Not
Iran. Not anybody. Every government in the world is morally superior to the
most evil government, and the most evil government is the United States.
Whenever
I say this I get US empire apologists going “We’re only the ones fighting the
wars and dropping the bombs because we happen to be the ones with the power to
do so!” But that’s false. The US isn’t
the world’s most vicious government because it happens to be the most powerful,
it’s the most powerful government because it’s the most vicious. It’s the power
structure which was willing to do whatever it takes to rule the world, no
matter how profoundly evil. Genocides.
Starvation sanctions. Nuclear brinkmanship. Imperialist extraction. The
deliberate creation of failed states and humanitarian catastrophes. Policies
designed to keep entire regions in a continuous state of division and strife.
The United States and the globe-spanning empire structured around it have
inflicted depravities upon our species which cry out to the heavens for
vengeance. If you could truly comprehend the scale of the suffering it has
created over the years, even for a second, you would never stop screaming.
Another
objection I’ll encounter when I make these observations is “Well, I’d rather
live in the US than Iran!” And it says
so much about the western worldview that people think this is an argument. Sure
it’s probably nicer to live in the United States than Iran, especially now, and
certainly ever since the US has been deliberately strangling the Iranian economy with
the explicitly stated goal of making its citizenry so miserable they wage a
civil war against their government.
But
it’s so revealing that westerners see someone saying Iran is better than the
United States and think it’s a statement about where they personally would
prefer to live, because it shows how completely invisible US warmongering is in
their worldview. Washington’s acts of mass military slaughter simply do not
count as immoral or abusive behavior in their eyes, because they are being
inflicted on foreigners overseas. So they automatically assume the comparison
is asking which country would make your feelings feel nicer to live in as an
individual.
The
fact that the US government happens to export the majority of its abusiveness
to other countries outside its own borders doesn’t make it any less murderous
and tyrannical, it just means the people bearing the brunt of its savagery
happen to live in other places. Their lives don’t matter any less than American
lives, and only a warped, American supremacist worldview would feel otherwise.
The US
government is quantifiably morally inferior to the Iranian government. It is
quantifiably more tyrannical, more murderous, more destructive, and more
megalomaniacal. It is the very last power structure on earth that should have
any say in who leads Iran and how the Iranians ought to conduct their affairs.
It is not morally qualified to be making those decisions.
Caitlin’s Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts
and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Upgrade to paid The best way to make sure you see
everything I write is to get on my free mailing list.
“The Story Behind the
Story on Iran.”
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BEYOND THE
PROPAGANDA
Our books on Iran cut
through propaganda to offer clear-eyed perspectives—from Medea Benjamin’s Inside
Iran (available as a free e-Book for 36 hours)
to Behrooz Ghamari’s Remembering Akbar, set in Tehran’s Evin prison
after 1979, and a new title, The Long War on Iran, drawn from two
decades of analysis on US–Iran relations.
BEHROOZ GHAMARI. REMEMBERING AKBAR: INSIDE THE IRANIAN REVOLUTION.
“Ghamari's extraordinary memoir is
unlike anything I've read: he bears witness to the terrible suffering and the
loss of so many in Iran's infamous Evin Prison in the wake of the revolution;
but he does so with tenderness, humor and dignity. This book will change the
way you understand the world.” —Claire
Messud
“With his keen sensibility and rich personal experience Ghamari has crafted an
unforgettable book, charting a course through the bitterness of oppression and
survival into a resonant form of resistance.”
—Elias Khoury
INSIDE IRAN: THE REAL HISTORYAND POLITICS
OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN by MEDEA BENJAMIN. FREE E-BOOK FOR 36 HOURS
Medea
Benjamin exposes the roots of American antagonism and offers hope for a
different future.
THE LONG WAR ON IRAN:NEW EVENTS, OLD QUESTIONS by BEHROOZ GHAMARI. A timely and measured examination of how US–Iran relations reached their current impasse and what it will take to move beyond years of distrust.
Join our YouTube livestream this evening from 6 PM EST for
a conversation between Behrooz Ghamari and Narges Bajoghli to mark the launch
of The Long War on Iran.
“Trump’s “big wave” of violence in
Iran is one we can avoid.” 
Trump Threat Response 3-4-26
Unspeakable horrors are unfolding before our eyes, Dick:
hospitals and schools attacked, hundreds dead, including children, bombs
falling across 12 countries, six U.S. servicemembers who will never return home
to their families. All for a war of
choice — one without justification, congressional authorization, or support
from the people — that Trump has confirmed will only deepen.
Win Without War rejects the idea that this violence and
suffering are inevitable, which is why we are in an all-out sprint to stop this
war before more lives are lost, more families are shattered, and billions of
dollars more are spent on bombings in our name.
Already, we’ve mobilized tens of thousands of activists to
demand Congress use every tool available to rein Trump in. We’re briefing
lawmakers, movement leaders, and thousands of activists on how we mobilize our
anti-war majority. We’re raising the alarm in the media and gearing up to
launch bold ads and mobile billboards that cannot be ignored, and are all
united behind one urgent demand: No War!
As Trump warns of a “big wave” of violence yet to come, we
know our work is only beginning. But we can’t risk the chance that we burn
through our budget and fail to do the sustained work that’s necessary to stop
the violence.
If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately:
It’s increasingly clear that the administration has no
clear plans to de-escalate and is horrifyingly comfortable with the rising
casualty count. Just this week, Trump refused to rule out sending U.S.
troops into Iran.[1]
Congress’ failures to rein in Trump to this point have only
emboldened him to act like a king, but multiple legislative efforts are in play
that could quickly turn the tide.
It includes a Senate war powers resolution being voted on
as soon as today. It’ll be followed by a House vote later this
week — and that’s just the start of a marathon effort to stop, defund, and hold
people accountable for this criminal war.
We can’t afford to stay silent: We know lawmakers and other powerful decision-makers are already hearing from a lot of others — special interests, the White House, the weapons lobby, and so many others — who want to keep this war going. . . .
“How the War in Iran Spreads Beyond the Middle East.” Mark Leon Goldberg.
Global dispatches globaldispatches@substack.com
MarCH 4, 2026.
Iran is poised to join a series of interlocking conflicts across two continents and 800 million people.∙
At
some point, the United States will suspend its bombing campaign in Iran. That
moment may come sooner than we’d expect. Domestic political pressure to
continue the campaign may become too great as American casualties mount,
markets tumble, and splits in the MAGA coalition become more and more visible.
In a
way, Donald Trump has already set himself up to declare victory in Iran. The
shifting justifications for starting this war provide a host of rationales for
ending it, too. He could proclaim the regime has changed because the Ayatollah
is dead (even though it’s the same regime); or he could declare the ballistic
missile threat neutered (because it probably is); or—most recently—that Iran’s
(small) navy has been totally destroyed.
But if
and when Donald Trump declares victory and moves on, the dust won’t settle. The
conflict in Iran would just enter a different phase. Reporting from Alex Ward
of The Wall Street Journal (an excellent journalist with
well-placed sources) suggests that the Trump administration is looking for proxies on the ground to
take up the fight—potentially Kurdish militias. Other outlets have reported the
same.
From a
humanitarian perspective, the big fear is that a new kind of chaos may be
unleashed—one that engulfs not just the Middle East, but the Horn of Africa as
well. Most commentary I’ve seen has not taken into account the
fact that many of the key players currently defending themselves against Iran’s
relentless attacks are also, on the other side of the Red Sea, fighting each
other in a series of interlocking conflicts. That same dynamic may soon play
out in Iran.
If so,
a massive geography stretching from South Sudan to Iran may become enmeshed in
a web of conflict—devastating the lives and livelihoods of some 800 million
people. It’s a grim scenario, but one that may yet unfold in tandem with
conflict in Iran. Upgrade to paid
END US/ISRAEL INVASION OF IRAN 2026
