Israel’s Hasbara machine just got a 2,000% budget boost. In this MintPress exclusive, Alan MacLeod breaks down how the Israeli Foreign Ministry is funneling $150 million into Google and YouTube ads aimed squarely at European audiences—while Unit 8200 veterans quietly staff Silicon Valley giants.

🔍 What you’ll learn:
• How YouTube served 45 million Europeans in weeks
• Why Google terms-of-service violations are ignored
• The Unit 8200–Google pipeline (99+ confirmed hires)
• Starlink’s secret role in Iran ops
• MAGA influencers on paid Israel junkets

📰 Full investigation: https://www.mintpressnews.com/israel-europe-youtube-ad-campaign/290163/
📺 Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/vvYbhlQQldA

✨ Support independent watchdog journalism:
https://www.patreon.com/MintPressNews

Support the show

MintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram.

Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud.

Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey’s new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

Motaz Azaiza became a global icon for his fearless photojournalism during Israel’s assault on Gaza. In this exclusive MintCast interview, host Mnar Adley speaks with Azaiza about surviving the onslaught, becoming a voice for his people, and why documenting war crimes has never been more urgent.

Since October 2023, Israel has killed more than 200 journalists. Azaiza’s powerful images cut through the fog of war, inspiring millions and showing the world the human cost of Israel’s actions. He reflects on the emotional toll, the global response, and his mission to raise funds for UNRWA as Gaza starves under siege.

Subscribe to MintCast for more frontline voices and hard-hitting interviews. Support Palestinian journalists by donating to UNRWA or sharing this episode.

Support the show

MintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram.

Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud.

Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey’s new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

Israel thought it could strike Iran and walk away unscathed. It was wrong.

In this explosive episode of MintCast, Tehran-based professor Seyed Mohammad Marandi joins Mnar Adley from the heart of a city under Israeli bombardment to deliver a stark message: Israel is not in control—and the tide is turning fast.

Marandi says Israel’s attacks have only strengthened Iranian unity, while the Trump administration’s betrayal has shattered any future for diplomacy. “There is more solidarity now than at any point since Saddam’s invasion,” he explains. As the U.S. inches closer to full-scale war, public support at home is collapsing—60% of Americans oppose getting involved.

Marandi exposes the West’s wishful thinking, the media’s imperial spin, and why Israel may be walking into the biggest strategic mistake in its history.

🔊 Hear it straight from Tehran—where the war is real, and Israel is losing.

🎧 Guest: Prof. Seyed Mohammad Marandi, University of Tehran
 🎙 Host: Mnar Adley
 📍 Recorded during active Israeli strikes on Iran

▶️ Watch the original video: https://youtu.be/UNrXxCqBFzo

Support the show

MintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram.

Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud.

Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey’s new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

On this week’s edition of The MintCast, host Mnar Adley speaks with British-Iraqi trauma surgeon Dr. Mohammed Tahir about his harrowing months working in Gaza’s hospitals, the trauma he witnessed, and the global awakening to Israel’s atrocities. 

Dr. Tahir describes operating on a “sea of mangled people” under nonstop Israeli bombardment, and shares how his experience forged unbreakable bonds with fellow medics resisting death with every operation.

From Greta Thunberg’s “Freedom Flotilla” to Iraq’s steadfast solidarity with Palestine, Dr. Tahir explains why he believes the tide is turning against Zionist propaganda—and why Israel’s brutality has permanently changed how the world sees it.

Support the show

MintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram.

Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud.

Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey’s new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

In part two of our exclusive interview, American ICU nurse Willy Massay reveals a disturbing pattern of Israeli attacks on Gaza’s medical system and children. 

He says Israeli soldiers deliberately shot boys in the penis to prevent them from having families. Massay recounts treating patients with no anesthesia, no gauze, and no electricity—forced to manually keep children alive as bombs shattered hospital walls. 

With over 1,400 healthcare workers killed and nearly every hospital damaged or destroyed, his testimony is one of the clearest indictments yet of Israel’s genocidal assault.

Missed part one? Listen here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/284746/episodes/17104827

Watch the YouTube version: WAR CRIMES IN GAZA: Unfiltered Hospital Testimony from ICU Nurse Willy Massay

🎙️ Truth Has Enemies. We Have You.🎙️

For over a decade, MintPress News has been at the forefront of exposing Israeli apartheid, occupation, and war crimes, when few dared to. We've been censored, smeared, and blacklisted for telling the truth. But we haven’t stopped.

Independent journalism like this isn’t just important—it’s under attack. If you believe in reporting that defends the voiceless and challenges the powerful, we need your support.

👉 Support Us on Patreon

 👉 Or make a One-Time Donation

Support the show

MintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram.

Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud.

Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey’s new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

In this powerful and deeply emotional episode, MintPress News Director Mnar Adley sits down with American ICU nurse Willy Massay, who has just returned from Gaza after volunteering on the front lines of Israel’s war on the civilian population. Having worked in some of Gaza’s most devastated medical facilities—including Al-Aqsa, Nasser, and Indonesia hospitals—Massay offers a chilling firsthand account of the deliberate targeting of health workers, the systematic destruction of hospitals, and the devastating toll on Palestinian children.

Massay shares how Gaza’s hospitals function under siege: with no real shifts, medical professionals work 24/7 under the constant sound of crying children and explosions. According to Massay, the injuries he treated—many gunshot wounds to the head, chest, and groin of young boys—were too precise to be anything but intentional. “Their reproductive organs were completely dismantled and destroyed,” he tells Adley, calling it “ethnic cleansing at its worst.”

The interview also addresses the Israeli military’s targeting and imprisonment of doctors, including the death of Dr. Adnan al-Bursh under alleged torture in Israeli custody. Since October 7, 2023, over 1,150 health workers in Gaza have been killed, among them 165 doctors and 260 nurses. According to the World Health Organization, Israel has damaged or destroyed 33 out of Gaza’s 36 hospitals.

Massay’s reflections are not just professional—they’re personal. He speaks with anguish about the U.S. government’s unwavering support for Israel’s actions, including billions in aid and military assistance. "Looking into the eyes of a Palestinian child," he says, "it is a terrible feeling to know that my money and my taxes just killed you."

This exclusive interview is a rare and urgent testimony from someone who witnessed the atrocities firsthand. It challenges listeners to confront the human cost of political choices and the moral consequences of silence.

Trigger warning: This episode contains graphic descriptions of violence against civilians and children.

🎧 Don’t miss this searing account from Gaza’s medical front lines.

Support the show

MintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram.

Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud.

Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey’s new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

While the destruction in the Middle East has been fierce, the media war surrounding who controls the narrative of events has been no less intense. And MintPress News has been caught up in it. Our investigations into Israeli attempts to manipulate public understanding of the genocide in Gaza have drawn the ire of The Jerusalem Post, who recently attempted to cancel us, labeling MintPress as part of a network of Iranian, Russian and Syrian-backed extremist websites pushing antisemitism.

Alan MacLeod, senior staff writer and podcast producer at MintPress News, will join the MintCast host to discuss this. Alan’s investigations, which revealed a network of former Israeli spies and lobbyists working in newsrooms across America, went viral and were read by hundreds of thousands of people.

His report, entitled: “Revealed: The Israeli Spies Writing America’s News,” discussed how former agents from Israeli spying group Unit 8200 have found a home in some of the corporate media’s most prominent outlets, including Axios and CNN.

Unit 8200 is the centerpiece of Israel’s surveillance state and has been the source of many of the most controversial spying and hacking scandals of the last decade. Former Unit 8200 agents developed the Pegasus spyware, which was used to snoop on activists, journalists, world leaders and royals around the world.

His second investigation cataloged hundreds of ex-Israel lobbyists who went on to work in newsrooms across the country. One example of this is the NBCUniversal network. CNBC’s lead work report was, until 2011, a commander in the Israeli Defense Forces before moving back to America to work for the Friends of the IDF. This group raises money for supplies and support for Israeli soldiers, as well as encouraging Americans to enlist in the Israeli military. This pro-Israel bias goes straight to the top. MSNBC’s executive producer, Moshe Arenstein, is a former IDF intelligence commander.

The traction that these groundbreaking stories were receiving clearly put MintPress in the Jerusalem Post’s crosshairs, the Israeli newspaper publishing an attack against us.

Support the show

MintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram.

Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud.

Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey’s new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

2025 is promising to be a crucial year in the history of West Asia. Just weeks have passed since the ouster of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad and his replacement with pro-Western leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani. 

Syria was a key member of the so-called “Axis of Resistance” – a coalition of actors opposing Israel and its actions. What will Assad’s departure mean for the resistance against Israel, especially given Jolani’s overt friendliness with Tel Aviv? Given their new government, what is in store for Lebanon and Hezbollah now? And how about Iraq and Yemen?

To discuss all of this and more is returning guest, Ghadi Francis. Ghadi is an author, journalist, and war correspondent who has covered the situations in Syria and Palestine in great detail. Born in Lebanon, she is the author of the book “My pen and pain: One hundred days in Syria” (2012). 

Last month, Ghadi joined The MintCast to discuss the fallout of Israel’s attack on its neighbors. During the interview, she set her sights on the Erdoğan administration in Ankara, stating that “Türkiye is as expansionist as Israel – and it is not new!” 

We lived in a nation that was called ‘Greater Syria’ that was occupied by the Ottomans for around 300 years. And it stretched from Lebanon to Syria to Iraq. Nineveh, Aleppo, all of that was occupied by the Ottomans. We were part of the Ottoman Empire. We were ruled by them in a dictatorship and in an occupation.”

Francis recently returned from a trip to Iraq, where she was impressed by the rebirth of the country after decades of occupation. Unlike Yemen, she assessed, Iraq is not in a position to face down the might of either the U.S. or Israel. “If the Iraqis continue to resist on their own and they get attacked by the Israelis, nobody is going to protect them,” she said. “So if they refrain for a while from being in active resistance operations and, rather, being a good and strong community…this itself is a great achievement.”

Support the show

MintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram.

Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud.

Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey’s new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

It is the album the Israel lobby tried – and failed – to kill. “Soundtrack to the Struggle 3” by MintPress News’ Lowkey is released today.

It is the rapper’s first album in five years and is already receiving critical acclaim. Today on “The MintCast,” Mnar Adley sits down with Lowkey to discuss his new offering, the attempts to shut him down, and why good music is often political.

A tireless fighter for justice, Lowkey’s tracks have become anthems in the anti-war movement, particularly in the struggle for Palestine liberation. “Soundtrack to the Struggle 3” is no different and provides a political snapshot in time, taking on issues such as the genocide in Gaza, the persecution of WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange, and the pervasive surveillance power of our smartphones.

If the Israel lobby had its way, this album would never have seen the light of day. Last year, the pressure group, We Believe in Israel petitioned music giant Spotify to remove his songs from their platform, citing non-existent anti-Semitism concerns. We Believe in Israel works hand-in-hand with the Israeli government, which has been monitoring Lowkey closely for over a decade. The Jewish Chronicle newspaper once noted that the rapper’s skill and worldwide fan base constituted a “nightmare” for the government in Tel Aviv.

“Pro-Israel groups had me no-platformed at different shows; I’ve been canceled in at least four countries so far, thanks to their maneuvers,” Lowkey told MintPress, adding: “They have recorded meetings I have been at, taken pictures of me in public, and I am sure there is a lot more we do not know about…I’m sure this album will make them very angry and unhappy… They certainly won’t want people to listen to this album.”

“Soundtrack to the Struggle 3” is available to stream for free on major music platforms such as Spotify. You can also watch official music videos on YouTube. Lowkey is currently on tour in the United Kingdom and will be playing live shows in London, Birmingham and Manchester this November. The album is available in hard copy for purchase at his shows.

Support the show

MintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram.

Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud.

Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey’s new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.

The United States is socially, politically and economically in crisis. As an increasingly large number of people are priced out of the economy, fewer and fewer buy into the sham of electoral politics. On the world stage, too, the U.S. is suffering. Countries everywhere are beginning to drop the dollar as the standard unit of exchange, and Washington’s prestige has been severely shaken due to its relentless, unequivocal support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Ben Norton joins MintCast host Mnar Adley to discuss all this and more. Norton is an investigative journalist and founder of Geopolitical Economy Report, a news source dedicated to looking at the world and seeing the big picture. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Beijing, China.

“The dollar is – even more than the military – the strongest weapon the United States has,” Norton told Adley, explaining that, because of the exorbitant privilege it enjoys in printing the world’s reserve currency, the U.S. can simply export many of its economic problems. It also means that Washington can print more money to pay for its military misadventures around the world. Thus, the dollar system has allowed the U.S. to preserve its global empire and avoid inflation despite running a massive global trade deficit for decades.

“I hate when countries go off the dollar,” Donald Trump said recently, adding: “I would not allow countries to go off the dollar because when we lose that standard, that will be like losing a Revolutionary war. That would be a hit to our country, just like losing a war. And we can’t let that happen.”

And yet that is precisely what is coming to pass, as even U.S. allies in the Middle East, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have taken steps in that direction. Previously, if any country defied Washington’s orders, it would be sanctioned into oblivion. Indeed, U.S. sanctions are powerful enough to destroy the economies of relatively small countries, such as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Cuba, or Venezuela. However, as Norton noted, Russia, and especially China, are simply “too big to sanction.”

Join us for a fantastic conversation where Ben Norton stitches together the fabric of the world’s top political news stories, allowing us to see the big picture.

Support the show

MintPress News is a fiercely independent. You can support us by becoming a member on Patreon, bookmarking and whitelisting us, and by subscribing to our social media channels, including Twitch, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram.

Subscribe to MintCast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and SoundCloud.

Also, be sure to check out the new Behind the Headlines channel on YouTube and subscribe to rapper Lowkey’s new video interview/podcast series, The Watchdog.