Iran guts US drone fleet as Ireland shuts out Gaza students

Eli Gerzon The Electronic Intifada Podcast 25 August 2026

Gaza’s two million Palestinians are now concentrated in less than half of the Strip as Israel’s yellow line expands.

“I talk to my family, I talk to my friends, they’re living over each other,” Abed reported. “Places are packed. Hospitals are inundated.”

A longtime contributor to The Electronic Intifada, Abed is a journalist from the Deir al-Balah refugee camp in Gaza. He was evacuated from Gaza to Ireland as a student in April 2025.

While only one country has meaningfully stood up to the US and Israel, millions of individuals have organized in support of Palestine and millions more have shifted their views in Palestine’s favor.

He urged people to organize boycotts, protest, engage in direct action and pressure companies and politicians to stop supporting the genocide.

Also on the Livestream, contributing editor Jon Elmer reported on Iran as it continues to face down a military, economic and political assault from the United States and its allies.

“It’s an issue that is going to certainly mean that they lose this war with Iran, which has been known, I think, for a long time,” Elmer said.

Watch Elmer’s full report on YouTube.

Victory for anti-Zionism

Associate editor Asa Winstanley reported on a landmark legal victory: A top UK employment tribunal has established new protections for anti-Zionists. Bristol University professor David Miller was fired in 2021 after a decade-long campaign of harassment by pro-Israel groups.

Winstanley described the victory as far-reaching.

“It’s a massively important victory and it’s something that David has been working on for many years now,” Winstanley said.

Watch Winstanley’s full report on YouTube.

Gaza’s interior ministry condemned the massacre, stating, “International silence regarding the continuous targeting of the police force in Gaza, combined with the lack of effective action by mediators, has emboldened the occupation to commit further massacres against the police force.”

Watch Barrows-Friedman’s report and read her article, “Israel murders children, police in Gaza.”

Racism against Palestinians by Ireland’s government?

Abed was primarily on the Livestream to discuss his recent articles about this year’s spike in Irish government rejections of student visas from Gaza and efforts by people in Ireland to reverse the trend.

Last year, Ireland approved 90 percent of all student visa applications from Gaza. This year, it has approved less than half.

One application was rejected for providing “insufficient evidence” to account for gaps in education or employment history. Israel has destroyed Gaza’s education system.

Last year, “there was more flexibility” for students from Gaza applying for visas to Ireland, according to Abed.

Despite these conditions, many students in Gaza have secured private – not government-funded – scholarships and admission to Irish universities. It is the Irish government that is stopping them.

What has changed?

According to Eoghan McNeill of the Irish publication The Ditch, some officials, particularly Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan, want to appeal to imperialists, appear tough and push Ireland’s right wing further to the right.

Abed noted that Israelis can travel to Ireland without a visa, while Ukrainian refugees were welcomed into the country in 2022.

“What we’re seeing, in my opinion, and I’ve asked other people about it, is racism, blatant, outright racism,” Abed said.

Israeli elections: What will change?

At the end of the Livestream, the editors discussed October’s Israeli elections.

“The parties involved are trying to stake their claim to who could be the most genocidal,” Elmer said. He described the options available to voters as “various styles of genocide.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition face an opposition led by Gadi Eisenkot of the Yashar party.

Eisenkot is known as the architect of the Dahiya doctrine, Israel’s policy of bombing civilian areas.

The doctrine takes its name from the southern suburb of Beirut leveled by Israeli attacks in 2006.

“Oh, a new moderate, pragmatic, internationally-minded Israeli coalition is now in power, replacing mean, old, bad Netanyahu,” Abunimah said sarcastically.

He insisted that anyone who says Netanyahu is Israel’s only problem is not “trustworthy.”

Meaningful change requires major policy shifts in the US and Europe, according to Abunimah.

Israel relies on support from the US and Europe, “without which Israel could not be mass murdering people in Palestine and Lebanon,” Abunimah said.

You can watch the program on YouTube, Rumble or Twitter/X, or listen on your preferred podcast platform.

Tamara Nassar produced and directed the program. Michael F. Brown contributed preproduction assistance and this writer contributed postproduction assistance.

Past episodes of The Electronic Intifada Livestream can be viewed on our YouTube channel. https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/soundcloud%253Atracks%253A2385291513&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true