The Tea Brief: The Press Under Siege, $730M in Hasbara, anti Muslim hate and the ICC Takedown
By Myriam François
Hi all,
We started this network with a clear mission: to tackle the critical stories being ignored or sanitized by legacy media, and to expose the why behind headlines that pass for mere oddities. We all deserve better from our information ecosystem and that’s what we are here to serve.
This week, the thread connecting every headline is the weaponization of state power to silence scrutiny and its consequences on the marginalised groups from the White House assault on press freedom, to $730M Israeli PR budgets to try and sanitize a genocide, and the unprecedented political takedown of an ICC Prosecutor - we over here are wide wake. So let’s get into it.
Here is what you need to know this week.
Trump’s assault on the fifth pillar of democracy - a free press - continues
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Lawyers say threats to press freedom are growing—as are costs to defend reporters”
In brief: The White House is combining multi-billion-dollar defamation suits, DOJ subpoenas, and administrative lockouts to financially drain newsrooms and punish critical reporting.
The signs of the White House’s hostility to the press have been evident for some time. Anyone who has watched recent briefings will have noticed the barely concealed disdain with which Karoline Leavitt addresses reporters, but that disdain is actually now a privilege granted only to those select journalists still afforded access to the White House briefing.
You may recall that in early 2025, the Trump administration barred Associated Press journalists and photographers from restricted spaces such as the Oval Office and Air Force One. This “punishment” was explicitly triggered by the AP’s editorial decision to retain the historical name “Gulf of Mexico” in its style guide, rather than adopt President Trump’s executive decree renaming it the “Gulf of America.”
After a federal judge ruled that targeting the AP on the basis of its editorial stance was unconstitutional, the White House shifted tactics. Instead of restoring access, it moved to strip control of the press pool away from journalists altogether. The longstanding, permanent press pool slots held by wire services were dismantled, with AP, Reuters, and Bloomberg folded into a single rotating pool, drastically curtailing the level of daily access these global news agencies have maintained for decades.
For those outside the industry, wire services are the backbone of journalism the raw material upon which much of the world’s news is built. Restricting their access does not just impact a handful of outlets; it disrupts the flow of information to millions globally.
But it did not stop there. The White House Press Office announced it would take full control over who is admitted into the presidential reporting pool a role historically managed independently by the White House Correspondents’ Association. In doing so, it replaced established outlets such as Reuters and HuffPost with right-leaning or administration-friendly media figures. The message was unmistakable: comply, or risk being shut out from the lifeblood of your profession, aka informatiom.
The punitive climate extends beyond access. Media figures who have crossed the line of challenging authority from comedians like Jimmy Kimmel to journalists such as Mehdi Hasan have faced removal, marginalisation, or cancellation. Others come to mind: Marc Lamont Hill at CNN, Briahna Joy Gray at The Hill, Sangita Myska at LBC, Steve Bell at The Guardian. Even Ayman Mohyeldin, who appeared to have weathered the storm, has now seen his solo weekend programme cancelled….
Meanwhile, during Pentagon briefings on the Iran conflict, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth openly called for an “actual, patriotic press.” For those paying attention, the direction of travel is clear: as Trump signals his intention to pursue an unconstitutional third term in 2028, the question is whether a press capable of holding power to account will still meaningfully exist.
Recent developments mark a further escalation a multi-pronged strategy involving the weaponisation of legal and state apparatus to systematically target critical journalism. This includes aggressive defamation suits and Department of Justice subpoenas that drain newsrooms financially, deployed against both legacy outlets and independent media alike. This is not incidental; it is coordinated. The aim is to control the narrative by restricting access and criminalising dissent.
You will recall the “Antifa” dragnet weeks ago, in which broad executive powers were used to designate not a formal organisation, but a loosely defined anti-fascist ideology as now “terrorist” (you can also track similar developments here in the UK with the designation of direct action group Palestine Action as ‘terrorist’). That move created a legal pretext for sweeping crackdowns on left-wing activism and now, increasingly, on those who report on it.
Under this anti=terrorist framework, independent journalists, activist media, and left-leaning outlets risk being accused of providing “material support” to terrorism simply for documenting or platforming dissenting voices. Routine editorial decisions, such as giving a voice to one of the targeted groups, are reframed as disloyalty to the state. Coverage of protest movements is recast as incitement or subversion with serious consequences not only for journalists, but for the public’s access to information itself. Overall it makes independent journalists who may closely follow, report on, or quote certain under-reported on groups, vulnerable to this new legislation.
But it isn’t just them. It’s now top journalists at major broadsheets - one journalist at the NYT had federal agents turn up at his door to serve him a subpoena, for daring to write about security concerns involving a jet gifted to the U.S. by the Qatari government that was being used as Air Force One. Although the Justice Department later agreed to withdraw the subpoena, it said its national security investigation would continue. Trump has himself sued multiple press outlets for defamation including CBS and CNN.
Whether through multi-million-dollar libel suits targeting institutions like The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, or through the spectre of terrorism charges against independent reporters, the pattern is clear: financially exhaust newsrooms and criminalise scrutiny of power.
These are the unmistakable signs of a press under siege. The noose is tightening. And as the president clearly prepares NOT to step down from power in 2028, the danger in the shrinking space to confront him should alarm us all.
The next story I want to share connects to a similar growing assault on reality waged by highly funded propaganda from Israel, just as major legislative measures have expanded U.S.–Israel intelligence and military integration advanced through Congress. The Intelligence Authorization Act and the annual defense spending bill are now expanding intelligence sharing and defense-technology integration between the U.S. and Israel, placing legal limits - get this, on when that intelligence flow can be reduced (not limits on its increase - but on its decrease!). Human Rights Watch and analysts have warned that these provisions embed Israeli technology directly into U.S. weapons and data systems, creating institutional integration that bypasses standard annual congressional review. Strap in guys, this is about to get bumpy….
Israel dramatically increases its budget for propaganda
Israel has dramatically increased its public diplomacy and hasbara (propaganda) budget to roughly $730 million for the 2026 fiscal year, that’s nearly five times last year’s allocation, and a staggering leap from pre-2023 spending (typically around $7 million to $15 million per year ). This positions information warfare as a core national security priority for Israel, designed of course at least in part to try to reverse the stain of genocide, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing.
Will it work? Well it is a vast amount of money. And our reliance on tech based platforms for information means it does become easier to target disinformation so…. Drop Site news have already reported that Israel is paying millions to train AI chatbots how to talk about Gaza, with former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale overseeing an operation posting hundreds of blog posts on behalf of Israel, with the goal of infiltrating artificial intelligence and skewing the answers we all receive. It’s beyond dystopian.
My prediction is we can expect a huge pro Israel campaign which will come in many forms, some more subtle than others eg: “The problem os Netenyahu, not Israel,” a renewed emphasis on a two state solution despite the reality on the ground belying that option and a huge push of ‘oh look how cool Israel is’ (good luck with that), but mostly it will be used where we don’t see it - like in the LLM training model above and other algorithmic steering.
The unprecedented expenditure comes as survey after survey points to declining support for Israel in the United States, its most important economic and political ally. Its political sugar daddy if you will. A Pew Research Center poll released earlier this month found that 60 percent of Americans now view Israel unfavorably, up seven points in a single year, with only 37 percent holding a favorable view. Perhaps most striking, for a country long accustomed to bipartisan American support, is that 57 percent of Republicans under 50 now hold negative views of Israel. Support has also dropped sharply among the religiously unaffiliated, Black Protestants, and Catholics. Even among American Jews, support has fallen below two-thirds. This money will go in hard on trying to reverse that.
Read more here: “Israel just quintupled its PR budget to $730 million”
Islamophobia spiking in the uk
Perhaps not entirely disconnected from the story above given the long-standing tendency of Israeli propaganda to cast Muslims as an existential threat to the so-called Western civilisation it claims to defend, the UK is now witnessing a troubling surge in anti-Muslim hate. As a Muslim living in the UK, this fear is palpable and widespread and has mirrored growing attacks which largely go unreported. A reminder that the same day a mentally ill man attacked two jewish men in north London in April this year, he had also attacked a Muslim earlier in the day, a fact which was widely overlooked.
New data from the government’s own monitoring partner on anti-Muslim hatred reveals that one mosque is attacked every five days in Britain. Over the past year alone, more than 70 mosques have been targeted through intimidation, violence, property damage, harassment, hate speech, online abuse, and vandalism.
The Muslim Council of Britain has warned that the momentum behind these attacks is building, calling for an urgent government response. In London alone, nine mosques have been attacked, while one mosque in Birmingham has faced three separate incidents within the past 12 months. Graffiti, desecration of muslim graves, ‘isolated’ attacks on visibly muslim women and now men - the intensity of these attacks is deeply worrying, as remains the largely muted response to them.
While the government has announced £53 million in funding through its Protective Security for Mosques Scheme, many communities report waiting up to 18 months for basic measures such as CCTV or security personnel. These delays are leaving mosques and the communities they serve—exposed and vulnerable. But most clearly, the lack of attention to these incidents sends a message which profoundly damages social cohesion - about who matters, about who is deserving of protection and places the onus on communities to protect themselves from thugs who consistently and explicitly as seeking to incite civil war. Make no mistake, the far right are working to actively ignite a fire - and Muslims should not be left alone to put it out.
Read more here: One UK mosque attacked ‘every five days’, says British Muslim Trust
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jul/23/uk-mosque-attacks-british-muslim-trust
4. The ICC Takedown: Karim Khan Ousted
My final story relates to one we have covered on the Tea - the suspension of ICC Chief prosecutor Karim Khan who has now been removed from office in an unprecedented move, following sexual misconduct allegations . This marks the first time an ICC Chief Prosecutor has ever been removed from office.
Some of you may have seen the interview we conducted a few months ago with Karim Khan, in which we asked him about the context of these allegations that emerged shortly after he issued arrest warrants for Israeli leaders for their role in the genocide in Gaza.
Khan had already been suspended in June pending a vote by the Court’s oversight body after accusations were made by a female aide. Yet notably, he was cleared of wrongdoing not once, but twice: first by an independent UN investigation, and then by a panel of three judicial experts.
In November 2024, the ICC’s governing body commissioned the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) to conduct an external inquiry to ensure neutrality. After a year-long investigation spanning over 5,000 pages of evidence and testimony, UN investigators found no factual basis for the allegations. That report was subsequently reviewed by a panel of three independent judges appointed by the ICC’s Assembly of States Parties. In March 2026, they unanimously concluded that the evidence did not establish misconduct or any breach of duty.
Despite this, the Court’s political body chose to disregard those findings and proceeded with his removal. In a highly unusual and unprecedented vote, neither Khan nor his legal counsel were permitted to be present to respond to the allegations.
All of this unfolds against a backdrop of mounting political pressure. Khan’s removal comes as the Trump administration openly threatens to dismantle the ICC.
Some of you may recall Fatou Bensouda, Khan’s predecessor, who opened a preliminary examination into Palestine and, in March 2021, formally launched a full investigation into alleged war crimes by both Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups. In 2020, the Trump administration sanctioned her freezing her US assets and banning her from entering the country. The Guardian later revealed that Israel’s intelligence chief, Yossi Cohen, allegedly led a years-long covert campaign to pressure Bensouda, including surveillance, intimidation, and threats aimed at derailing the Palestine inquiry.
Ahead of his removal, Khan himself warned publicly that he, his family, and ICC judges were facing an unprecedented campaign of intimidation directly linked to the Court’s work on Palestine.
That pressure intensified in April 2024, when Marco Rubio and 11 US senators sent a stark letter warning Khan that pursuing arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others would trigger retaliation. The letter threatened sanctions, visa bans, and the withdrawal of US support, ending with the words: “You have been warned.”
When the ICC proceeded regardless, Rubio by then US Secretary of State followed through, spearheading a campaign to dismantle the Court “brick by brick” and the US imposed sanctions, travel bans, and financial restrictions on Khan, his team, and several ICC judges. The sanctions on Karim Khan and his family remain fully in place to this day.
So what are we witnessing here? A genuine reckoning in the spirit of #MeToo or a politically charged takedown of an institution already under siege?
You decide.