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It has long been considered offensive and antisemitic to draw comparisons between Nazi Germany and Israel, but on the specific question of Israel’s genocide in Gaza and its wars of expansion, including the war on Iran, the dam has broken.

Norman Finkelstein, the eminent American Jewish scholar and son of Holocaust survivors, drew the direct comparison between Hitler’s war in the east and the war launched by Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu on Iran on 28 February in a recent Middle East Eye interview.

I have long thought the comparison is merited, for a number of reasons, beginning in 2023 with the start of the war on Gaza.

Like Hitler's Germany, Israel's leaders made the fatal error of not knowing when to stop, and opening up several fronts - seven at one point. Each tactical victory - against Hamas, then Hezbollah, encouraged further audacious attacks. Having waged a genocidal campaign in Gaza, colonial expansion in the West Bank, and relentless attacks on Lebanon, Syria and Yemen, Prime Minister Netanyahu turned to Iran in 2025.

Why? A messianic ideology of Jewish supremacy that drives the prime minister and the settler politicians on whom he depends. The politics of ethnonationalism, territorial expansion and hyper militarism are similar, if not identical, to the ideology of the Second World War fascist axis led by Nazi Germany. And this ideology of ethnic supremacy leads to overreach.

Trump, as a white nationalist who believes in US exceptionalism, shares the same inflated belief in unlimited US power, but is less unequivocally bent on permanent war. (Trump bears some comparison with Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, whose record of failed imperial adventures more closely resembles Trump's.)

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Soldiers and officers described widespread, routine theft of belongings, including motorbikes, televisions, paintings, sofas and carpets.

Despite being aware of the practice, both senior and junior commanders have largely failed to take disciplinary action to curb it, according to testimonies.

As Israeli troops leave Lebanon, they openly load stolen goods onto their vehicles without attempting to conceal them.

“It’s on a crazy scale,” one soldier said. “Anyone who takes something – televisions, cigarettes, tools, whatever – immediately puts it in their vehicle or leaves it to the side. It’s not hidden. Everyone sees it and understands.”

“In our unit, they don’t even comment or get angry. The battalion and brigade commanders know everything,” one person said.

Another described a case in which a commander shouted at soldiers carrying looted items in a jeep and ordered them to discard them, but no further action was taken.

“Commanders speak against it and say it’s serious, but they don’t do anything,” another soldier said.

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Iran flaunted its tightened grip over the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday with a video of commandos in a speedboat storming a huge cargo ship, after the collapse of peace talks that Washington had hoped would open one of the world’s most important shipping corridors.

U.S. President Donald Trump dismissed the threat posed by Iran’s “little wise-guy ships” and told reporters that he believed Tehran wanted to make a deal but that its leadership was in turmoil. Trump added that he was in no hurry for a deal, but if Iran did not want one, “I’ll finish it up militarily.”

Iranian state television broadcast video overnight of masked troops pulling up in a grey speedboat alongside the MSC Francesca, climbing a rope ladder to a door in the hull and jumping through, brandishing rifles.

The video, presented with an action-movie-style soundtrack and no commentary, included views of another ship, the Epaminondas. Iran said it had captured both on Wednesday, accusing them of trying to cross the strait without permits.

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Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei on Wednesday said his country has not decided whether to join another round of negotiations with the U.S., after President Donald Trump extended the ceasefire between the two countries indefinitely.

Baghaei blamed the Trump administration, saying "Washington keeps changing its stance hour by hour and lacks consistency and a unified approach in its decisions," according to Iranian state television.

Iranian and U.S. officials were expected to begin a second round of peace talks on Wednesday, but the trip was delayed as Iran had not agreed to participate. Trump then announced that he was extending the ceasefire until Iran's leaders can "come up with a unified proposal."

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President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he would extend the ceasefire with Iran until the country submitted a peace proposal and "discussions are concluded, one way or the other."

"We have been asked to hold our Attack on the Country of Iran until such time as their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal," Trump said in a post on Truth Social, calling Iran's government "seriously fractured" and saying the requests came from top Pakistani officials.

The president made the announcement as the chances for talks between the two sides were growing increasingly dim. Trump also confirmed he would continue the naval blockade of Iranian ports, a move that Iran's leaders have called "an act of war."

Vice President JD Vance was expected to leave for Islamabad, Pakistan, on Tuesday morning to lead a U.S. delegation in talks with Iran. But the trip was called off as U.S. officials await a plan from the Iranians. Tehran, meanwhile, expressed frustration with American leaders and said it hadn't decided whether it would send diplomats to Pakistan at all.

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10-day pause in hostilities in Lebanon began on Thursday last week. 

But since then, Israeli army commanders have told Haaretz that systematic destruction of civilian buildings in southern villages was continuing to take place. 

The commanders said civilian engineering tools had been brought into the area, including excavators, and were being operated by paid Israeli civilian contractors. 

Some of these contractors were receiving a daily wage, while others were paid based on the scope of work and the number of buildings they destroyed.

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