Immigration officials sparked outrage after they detained a British and Muslim commentator who frequently speaks out for Palestinian rights amid his speaking tour in the U.S. on Sunday. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) reports that Sami Hamdi was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at San Francisco International Airport on Sunday morning.
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
At the heart of the Gaza scene today, the features of daily life are changing dramatically. Instead of talking about job opportunities, investment, and growth, people are talking about water, bread, and sleeping safely.
It has moved from a production economy to what can be described as a ‘survival economy’. More than two million people are living in temporary tents, searching every morning for a way to survive another day that promises nothing.
This term accurately sums up the reality of Gaza today: an economy without factories, salaries, or banks, based on what humanitarian aid or bartering within the camps can provide. The only law of the market is the law of scarcity, and the only goal is to secure the bare minimum for survival.
In one of the displacement camps in the centre of Gaza City, Asaad Salama sits in front of his worn-out tent, contemplating the ruins of his home that was destroyed in the north. Before Israel’s genocide, he had a job that provided for his family, but today he lives on whatever bags of flour or bottles of water he can get his hands on. He said:
We used to live a simple but dignified life. Now we live day to day, waiting for a bag of flour or a litre of water. The tent does not protect us from the heat or the cold, and the children get sick without medicine.
From dawn, Asaad stands in line for water, and sometimes he does not have the strength to stand for long. Then he starts looking for firewood to cook what little he has. Even charging his phone has become a luxury in this fragile economy.
A few metres away, Sultan Sami lives with his family of seven after his home was destroyed. He said:
We search for water like people search for gold. Sometimes we wait a whole week for a single water tanker, and the aid is not enough for everyone.
He added:
Every tent has become a small market: one person sells bread, another charges phones, and a third exchanges oil for rice. This is our economy now, an economy of those who have nothing but patience.
Field reports show that Gaza’s economy has completely collapsed. Markets are closed, factories have shut down, and farms have dried up. More than 95% of the population suffer severe food insecurity, and nine out of ten people live below the poverty line.
Society has been transformed into one of forced consumption, with no production or investment, only limited exchange within a closed circle of need and deprivation.
In the absence of oversight, the black market has taken root as the main channel for securing goods, with essentials sold at double the price, which most people cannot afford.
People began selling or bartering the items they received from aid to meet their daily needs, while prices on the black market rose by more than 400% for some basic commodities.
This reality has produced a fragile, informal economic model based not on value or production, but on bartering and scarcity.
One trader said:
There is no longer a fixed price for any commodity; value is determined by scarcity. A kilo of flour may be equivalent to a box of medicine or a phone battery. No one deals in cash alone.
The lack of electricity and fuel has also disrupted refrigeration and transport networks, exacerbating the food crisis at a time when thousands of trucks are being prevented from entering through Israeli crossings.
From a humanitarian perspective, some 2.2 million people in Gaza are living under unprecedented pressure, in tents that lack the basic necessities of life. This is at the same time that psychological and health crises are on the rise, and education and employment are lacking.
Aid organisations warn that the continuation of this situation could turn the ‘economy of survival’ into a permanent way of life, meaning the loss of an entire generation of children and young people.
One Palestinian in Gaza said:
We don’t dream of a job or a salary, we just dream of electricity and water coming back, and of sleeping one night without fear of hunger or cold.
In Gaza today, every day is a new battle for survival, and every tent is a story of patience and human resilience in the face of collapse.
It is an economy without prospects, but it still retains one thing that has not yet been destroyed: the will to live.
Featured image via the Canary
By Alaa Shamali
This post was originally published on Canary.
The Biden administration dismissed and publicly contradicted an internal finding by a longtime military policeman that Israeli soldiers intentionally shot at and killed prominent Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in 2022, the former official has said in his first public interview. Col. Steve Gabavics was a top official in the U.S. Security Coordinator for Israel and the…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
In a scene that sums up an unprecedented humanitarian tragedy, Raafat Al-Majdalawi, director of the Return Health Association in Gaza, revealed shocking figures that illustrate the scale of the disaster affecting children in the Strip. After more than two years of war and siege, he confirmed that the humanitarian situation:
has reached a stage of complete collapse.
Al-Majdalawi pointed out that 154 children have died from malnutrition. More than 51,000 children are receiving treatment for diseases related to hunger and lack of essential nutrients in their diet. And, he told the Canary that food and medicine insecurity threatens the lives of tens of thousands every day.
He further explained that the Israeli aggression has caused indescribable family tragedies. Around 77 children per day have lost one of their parents since the start of the war. Around 16 miscarriages are recorded daily due to the lack of medical care and the destruction of hospitals. He also added that 1,015 infants under the age of six weeks have died since the start of the war, while 450 foetuses have been lost in their mothers’ wombs as a result of the siege and lack of health services, at a time when recorded miscarriages have exceeded 12,000 cases.
He also pointed out that more than 500,000 children have been deprived of education for the second consecutive school year, after most schools were destroyed or converted into shelters for displaced persons, warning that:
an entire generation is threatened with intellectual and psychological loss.
Al-Majdalawi explained that 40,000 children need milk every day and 107,000 children need alternative food, while the available quantities cover “a small portion that does not exceed 10% of the actual need.” He stressed that:
children today live on the crumbs of humanitarian aid that does not arrive regularly.
On another note, he warned of the escalation of psychological crises among children due to scenes of killing, destruction and loss of loved ones, calling for the urgent establishment of psychological support centres and safe shelters for affected families.
He revealed that around 5,200 wounded children need urgent medical evacuation to receive treatment outside Gaza, noting that ‘delaying their transfer means condemning them to a slow death.’
Al-Majdalawi concluded by emphasising that:
the children of Gaza are living on the brink of humanitarian annihilation, while the world stands by and watches a tragedy that is destroying childhood and killing hope for a secure future.
Featured image via the Canary
By Alaa Shamali
This post was originally published on Canary.
An investigative report by The Intercept, based on internal documents and emails, has revealed that Amazon Web Services (AWS) provided cloud computing services and advanced artificial intelligence technologies to two leading Israeli arms manufacturers: Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). Notably, it did so throughout Israel’s two-year war of extermination in 2024 and 2025, during periods of the genocidal state’s extensive air strikes on the Gaza Strip.
These transactions are part of a broader framework known as Project Nimbus, which connects cloud providers to the Israeli government and military.
Internal documents and emails showed Amazon’s direct dealings with Rafael and IAI. In particular, the investigation from The Intercept unearthed Amazon’s sale of software services and artificial intelligence packages in 2024 and 2025. This included providing access to advanced language models and machine learning tools available through the AWS platform. The investigation identified that Rafael purchased access to Anthropic’s ‘Claude’ language model, in addition to Amazon Bedrock tools and advanced processing and storage services.
The documents also refer to discounts and special pricing terms. Reports mention a discount of up to 35% for the Israeli Ministry of Defence. This reflected a privileged commercial relationship between Amazon and the Israeli military.
The investigation materials additionally showed that cloud services have reached other problematic Israeli institutions. This included facilities linked to Israel’s nuclear programme and West Bank administration offices. Of course, these are deeply enmeshed in Israel’s military occupation settler colonial practices, illegal under international law.
Arms experts’ reports show that companies such as Rafael and IAI have developed munitions and systems used in the bombing of civilian areas in Gaza. This has included guided missiles such as SPICE guidance kits, Spike missiles, drones (Heron and others), and targeting and intelligence technologies that contribute to the planning of military operations.
Cloud computing and artificial intelligence tools can accelerate image and satellite analysis, the compilation of geographic intelligence databases, and targeting information. Meanwhile, arms companies could use the testing of linguistic models or decision support algorithms to improve targeting accuracy.
The tech-military alliance here raises serious red flags about the link between the provision of digital infrastructure and Israel’s genocide on the ground.
Amazon, like other major technology companies, hold – if only nominally – human rights principles and guidelines.
However, The Intercept noted that the company declined to answer whether it had conducted human rights assessments of its contracts with Israeli arms companies or its provision of services to intelligence and military agencies. It refused to comment on a detailed list of questions.
Rafael, IAI, and the Israeli Ministry of Defence also did not respond to The Intercept’s requests for comment. Their silence exacerbates concerns about a regulatory and ethical vacuum around Israel’s genocide.
International law and human rights expert, and visiting professor at Harvard Law School Ioannis Kalpouzos told The Intercept that:
Amazon’s work with Israeli weapons makers could potentially create liability under international law depending on “whether it is foreseeable that it will lead to the commission of international crimes.”
According to Kalpouzos, it is not necessary for the supplier to have “intent” to “commit genocide” in order for a company to be held liable. It is sufficient that its supply of services could be expected to contribute to acts that constitute international crimes.
Of course, when arms companies are using technological products to improve targeting or surveillance capabilities that have already led to widespread civilian casualties, this exacerbates the problem.
The Israeli government, Google, and Amazon have ostensibly aimed the Nimbus project at modernising the Israel’s cloud infrastructure. However, according to the documents, it includes elements that support the military and intelligence branches and require or facilitate the sale of services to local arms suppliers.
The investigation raises fundamental questions for Amazon and other cloud infrastructure providers. Notably, how do technology companies regulate their relationships with government and military customers? How effective are due diligence mechanisms for protecting human rights?
Documentary evidence points to an actual commercial relationship between AWS and Israeli arms companies. Israel has used these arms firm’s products in military operations that have resulted in civilian casualties. It therefore raises ethical and legal issues that require independent investigation and effective accountability.
Featured image via the Canary
By Alaa Shamali
This post was originally published on Canary.
In a hospital in Israeli besieged Gaza, Turkish surgeon Taner Kamaci found himself facing the most difficult decision of his professional and humanitarian career. Two children were born suffering at the same moment. Both were in need of urgent surgery, one with liver damage and the other with a perforated intestine. However, the only operating theatre available could not save them both.
Kamaci, who volunteered to work in Gaza, told Anadolou Agency how he had to choose one child to save and leave the other to die. It was an experience he had never had before. He recounted:
I have never made a more difficult decision in my life.
He added:
Gaza is not only a wound on the body, but a wound on the human conscience.
During his two weeks of work in March 2024, Kamaci witnessed the tragic reality behind the casualty figures on the screens. Children and women were the main victims, while Israel bombed hospitals and rendered ambulances unable to transport the wounded. Many families were living in hospital corridors under makeshift covers or in tents made of cloth, without food or water.
Kamaci added that the lack of beds and equipment sometimes forced doctors to stitch wounds on the floor. He told the outlet harrowingly that:
Children who lose their limbs live in pain for months.
The Turkish surgeon described the situation as “a campaign that amounts to genocide”, noting that the international community has failed to protect civilians in Gaza.
It was why Kamaci was at the ‘Gaza Tribunal’ in Istanbul last week. The independent international initiative aims to document violations and achieve symbolic justice.
Former UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories Richard Falk presided over the four-day public hearings. On Sunday 26 October, the tribunal issued its unofficial, but vital moral verdict. It ruling condemned Israel’s genocide and war crimes in Gaza, including:
the mass destruction of residential properties, the deliberate denial of food to the civilian population, torture, and the targeting of journalists.
As Andalou Agency reported, Kamaci testified on his experience operating as a surgeon in Gaza.
At this, Kamaci emphasised that what appears on television screens:
is not even one percent of reality.
Witnessing the human suffering first-hand has left a deep mark on his conscience. War is not just numbers, but the faces and tears of children living a daily struggle between life and death, in a city suffocating under the weight of destruction and loss.
In the cramped hospital beds in Gaza, the cries of children mingled with the cries of pain, and the corridors became temporary shelters for bereaved families, while doctors stitched the wounded up on the floor due to a lack of equipment.
Here, Kamaci faced the most difficult decision of his life: choosing who would live and who would die. He saw with his own eyes the human devastation that television screens do not show. Gaza is not just a city: it is a constant cry to the world. Its grief is engraved in the heart of every doctor and every civilian soul living amid the rubble and suffering.
Featured image via TRT World/Youtube.
By Alaa Shamali
This post was originally published on Canary.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) have shot down an Israeli drone in Lebanon. Israel claimed that the drone was gathering “intelligence” and posted no threat. However, UNIFIL personnel said they’d engaged the drone with “necessary defence measures” near the town of Kfar Kila. After bringing down the first drone, another drone reportedly dropped a grenade on the same area:
Statement on grenade attack on peacekeepers:
This afternoon, at about 5:45 p.m., an Israeli drone came close to a UNIFIL patrol operating near Kfar Kila and dropped a grenade.— UNIFIL (@UNIFIL_) October 26, 2025
They explained that:
Moments later, an Israeli tank fired a shot towards the peacekeepers. Fortunately, no injury or damage was caused to the Unifil peacekeepers and assets.
And, they noted that:
These actions by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are in violation of Security Council resolution 1701 and Lebanon’s sovereignty, and show disregard for safety and security of the peacekeepers implementing Security Council-mandated tasks in southern Lebanon.
As the BBC stated:
Downing an Israeli drone is a rare action by Unifil.
In addition to Israel’s attack on the UN peacekeepers, Israel also struck more areas in south Lebanon. The Cradle reported on the damage Israel’s drone strikes are doing:
Israel kills 8 in Lebanon in just 48 hours
——
In the border region of southern Lebanon, and within the Bekaa Valley, Israeli military operations have continued despite a November 2024 “ceasefire” framework.The rapidly increasing pace of Israeli air raids and drone strikes has… pic.twitter.com/G5p83BonIO
— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) October 27, 2025
Drop Site News detailed exactly where the drones struck:
BREAKING: Israel Expands Strikes Across Lebanon, Deep Into Bekaa
Israel launched a string of drone strikes across Lebanon today, hitting both border and inland areas:
In Naqoura (Sour district), two missiles fired from an Israeli drone struck a car near the town’s northern… https://t.co/fwV1pchRIE pic.twitter.com/SwfBUaxwWC
— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) October 26, 2025
The French foreign ministry slammed Israel for it’s aggression in regards to the UNIFIL attack. They pointed out it was just the latest in a series of unacceptable acts by the IDF:
France condemns the Israeli fire that targeted a UNIFIL detachment on October 26, 2025. These incidents follow those observed on October 1, 2, and 11, when the Israeli army had already targeted UNIFIL positions.
France recalls that respect for the November 26, 2024 ceasefire is binding on all parties without exception, in order to guarantee the safety of civilian populations on both sides of the Blue Line, and calls on Israel to withdraw from the entirety of Lebanese territory.
Israel launched a major assault into Lebanon in October 2024. During this they attacked a UN outpost, “destroyed the position’s main gate and forcibly entered the position”. As the Israeli troops withdrew they fired some rounds which sickened UN troops despite them donning respirators.
Featured image via the Canary
By Joe Glenton
This post was originally published on Canary.
Israel has released more bodies of murdered Palestinians who show signs of torture. And, a shocking conversation between Al Jazeera and a forensic expert has revealed that every single body showed signs of torture – both before and after death.
Forensic specialist Sameh Hamad of the Body Management Committee told the broadcaster of the horrific condition of victims’ bodies released from Israeli prisons under the ‘ceasefire’ agreement in which Israel has bombed Palestinian civilians daily. Translated from the Al Jazeera Arabic website by the European Palestinian Youth Union, Hamad’s report lists:
evidence of torture, field executions and severe mutilation, as well as the challenges of identifying victims due to withheld data and lack of forensic resources.
And not a single victim’s body, of the 165 released so far, was free of evidence of torture – and all but 31 are so badly mutilated – often deliberately to prevent recognition – that identification has been impossible. Hamad explained that:
The bodies appeared with their eyes blindfolded and their hands tied behind their backs, others with ropes coiled around their necks, bodies with shattered bones and limbs, deep wounds in the head, abdomen, and neck, torn and burnt skin, and disfigured faces
When asked how many bodies they have received so far, Hamad answered that 165 martyrs had been returned. However:
According to what the International Committee of the Red Cross informed us, Israel is supposed to release 450 bodies under the deal and the ceasefire agreement.
Hamad explained that the bodies have been returned without identification:
The Red Cross was supposed to pressure (Israel) to hand over the personal data of the martyrs along with the bodies. Our martyrs are not numbers. The occupation was also supposed to hand over an instant DNA testing device to the International Committee of the Red Cross, but it renege on its commitment, and this device, which is unavailable in the Strip, has not reached us.
This means that many martyrs have not yet been identified. And, families are forced to search through images of the dead:
We have also allocated a hall in the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis to display photos of the bodies on a large screen for crowds of missing persons’ relatives, who are eager to know the fate of their sons. In case of diagnosis, matching marks, and identification, procedures are completed to hand over the body to its family for a dignified burial. Between 300 to 500 people, relatives of the missing, come to us daily to view the photos, hoping to calm their anxious hearts about the fate of their sons- whether they are martyrs to be buried or detainees with the occupation to pray for their freedom.
Hamad recounted one particular martyr which he remembered:
The martyr Bahaa El-Din Sadeq Al-Khatib, from Rafah city south of the Gaza Strip, aged 45. We received his body on October 18 of this month.
From examining his body, it is likely that he was subjected to field execution. About 60 of his relatives were in the viewing hall, which was filled with screams and cries, between confirming that the body was that of Al-Khatib and denying it due to the horror of the scene and the condition of the body. It was finally confirmed that it was the martyr Al-Khatib. He was a prisoner released in the ‘Wafa al-Ahrar’ deal, known as the ‘Shalit deal,’ and he had previously been subjected to an Israeli assassination attempt that left a mark on his body, in addition to traces of a surgical operation on his right leg. His wife confirmed his identity by recognizing his clothes.
And, the manner in which martyrs are returned is extremely undignified:
It is necessary to note here that the occupation hands over the bodies of the martyrs in plastic bags, in an insulting manner unbefitting the sanctity of the dead. These bags, due to weather factors, leave effects on the skin layer and obscure body features or some signs of torture. The most prominent signs and effects on the bodies of the martyrs can be noted as follows:
• Blindfolding of the eyes.
• Handcuffing of hands behind the back with plastic restraints, as well as shackling of legs.
• Stabbings with sharp tools in the face, chest, and neck.
• Severe redness, as if from burns.
• An incised wound in the abdominal area, possibly indicating organ theft or a surgical procedure that led to death. It is difficult for us to determine the cause precisely because the bodies are in a difficult state due to being frozen in refrigerators at -180 degrees Celsius.
• We have a body of a martyr with a tight rope around his neck, indicating he was subjected to strangulation and
hanging…
When asked why Israel returns martyrs in such unidentifiable states, Hamad explained:
The occupation persists in committing its crimes against Palestinians, both when they are alive and even after their martyrdom. It intentionally desecrates the dignity of the martyrs. It knows that by withholding data, it increases the calamities and torments of the missing persons’ relatives. It is aware that Gaza lacks any capabilities to deal with these bodies, examine them, and identify them, and consequently, they are buried in mass graves as we decided, without a farewell glance.
Israel is a terror state of unfathomable barbarity and depravity.
By Skwawkbox
This post was originally published on Canary.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) – the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organisation in the US, has demanded the immediate release of Sami Hamdi, the British Muslim journalist and political commentator. He was detained at San Francisco International Airport on Sunday morning, at the urging of a “notorious anti-Muslim, pro-Israel extremist”, for exposing and criticising Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
CAIR, based in Washington DC, said:
Abducting a prominent British Muslim journalist and political commentator on a speaking tour in the United States because he dared to criticize the Israeli government’s genocide is a blatant affront to free speech.
Our attorneys and partners are working to address this injustice. We call on ICE to immediately account for and release Mr. Hamdi, whose only ‘crime’ is criticizing a foreign government that committed genocide.
Our nation must stop abducting critics of the Israeli government at the behest of unhinged Israel First bigots. This is an Israel First policy, not an America First policy, and it must end.
Hamdi was on a speaking tour in the US, something he has done many times before, and had spoken CAIR Sacramento’s annual gala on Saturday evening; he was scheduled to speak at CAIR Florida’s gala on Sunday night.
Pro-Israel fanatic Laura Loomer, who has frequently posted anti-Muslim hate and a spew of racist comments, describes herself as a “proud Islamophobe” and predicted that New York City would suffer “another 9/11” because Muslim Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic party mayoral nomination there:
There will be another 9/11 in NYC and @ZohranKMamdani will be to blame.
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) June 25, 2025
And, she has publicly taken credit for his abduction, claiming that ICE acted in response to her demands and smearing Hamdi with various anti-Muslim conspiracy theories. She wrote on her social media account:
After Amy Mek’s @AmyMek investigation exposed Sami Hamdi (see report below) — a jihadi foreign national operating inside the United States and abroad with banned Muslim Brotherhood figures who are barred from entering our country — I demanded that federal authorities inside the Trump administration treat Hamdi as the major National security threat that he is and I reported Sami Hamdi to federal immigration authorities over his documented support for Islamic terrorism.
As a direct result of Amy’s report and my relentless pressure on the State Department and Department of Homeland Security, U.S. officials have now moved to take action against Hamdi’s visa status and his continued presence in this country.
She concluded the post with the inflammatory rejoinder:
SCALP
CAIR has previously called on Donald Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio to admit whether he spoke directly with anti-Muslim extremist Laura Loomer, as she claims, before banning Palestinian children injured by American weapons in Gaza from seeking medical care in the US. A day after Loomer posted videos on social media complaining about children from Gaza arriving in the U.S. for medical treatment and questioning how they obtained visas, the State Department said it was halting all visitor visas for people from Gaza pending a review.
In a tweet, Loomer thanked Rubio for halting the visas. The New York Times reported that Loomer claimed to have spoken with Rubio on Friday night to ‘alert’ him to the “jihadi’s” flights and what she called the threat of an “Islamic invasion”.
Featured image via CAIR
By Skwawkbox
This post was originally published on Canary.
The Telegraph journalist behind a hit-piece into pro-Palestine, anti-genocide activists has been caught harassing and doorstepping them – seemingly at the request of the Zionist lobby. Specifically, it seems Patrick Sawer obtained the home addresses of the individuals concerned from Zionist lobby group Stop The Hate UK.
In his Telegraph article, Sawer asserts that “Jewish community groups” have:
compiled a dossier of allegedly anti-Semitic behaviour by pro-Palestine activists after studying hours of video footage on social media and observing many of the past two years’ anti-Israel protests.
In several cases, action by police and prosecutors has been dropped or fallen through at an early stage.
They have now called on the Metropolitan Police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to come down harder on displays of anti-Semitism, which include the harassment of Jews, open death threats and vocal support for the Hamas terror group.
It goes without saying that:
The Telegraph article claims that some of the information came from Labour Against Antisemitism (not a community group, but a pressure group in Labour previously chaired by a non-Jewish person). However, we also know who at least one of the other groups is.
Sawer, like the incompetent right-wing Zionist hack that he is, gave the game away that it was Stop The Hate behind his article. This happened when he doorstepped independent journalist Ibrahim Abul-Essad:
View this post on Instagram
Sawer also doorstepped activist and independent journalist Anika Zahir (Ani.Says), as well as several others – some of whom are now not mentioned in the final article.
This type of targeted harassment is nothing new from Stop The Hate UK. As the Canary previously reported, Stop The Hate took a central role in the proscription of Palestine Action. The group bill themselves as the “largest Jewish-led direct action campaign group in the UK.” However, that ‘direct action’ regularly involves doxxing activists to the police. It has specifically run a targeted campaign against Dr Rahmeh Aladwan – to the point where its racism was revealed as it made cops arrest another brown doctor, thinking it was Aladwan.
Meanwhile, Labour Against Antisemitism’s Alex Hearn has a history of weaponising antisemitism on behalf of Israeli politicians against anti-Zionist Jews.
Moreover, Labour Against Antisemitism has a history of targeting innocent people with accusations of antisemitism for its own political agenda. Or rather, it targeted people for the political agendas of Keir Starmer and his now-chief of staff Morgan McSweeney.
As author of The Fraud Paul Holden wrote in an extract for the Canary:
In 2022, Al Jazeera reported on documents leaked from the Labour Party which showed that LAAS’ spokesperson and one of its most well-known activists, Euan Philipps, had created a fake persona called ‘David Gordstein’, which many readers would take to be a Jewish name.
Philipps is not Jewish.
Philipps admitted to Al Jazeera that he was David Gordstein but insisted that “he never claimed to be Jewish when doing so”…
The Gordstein persona was used to make hundreds of complaints of antisemitism to the Labour Party between 2017 and 2021. The reports are detailed, but perhaps the most important feature was the number of times the persona was used to accuse left-wing Jews of antisemitism.
The outrageous story of Gordstein’s complaint about the elderly Jewish party member Riva Joffe, which led to the party investigating her on her death bed… [is one of the worst].
Holden also noted that Labour Against Antisemitism also went after actor Miriam Margolyes. As Holden pointedly noted:
An invented Jewish-sounding persona (Gordstein), created by a non-Jew, charged a Jewish actress with antisemitism, because she had shared an article by a left-wing Jewish academic, which argued that non-Jews telling scare stories about antisemitism was itself a form of antisemitism.
This same non-Jewish activist would play a key role in amplifying the astroturf Stop Funding Fake News campaign, also led by non-Jews, that would implicitly accuse media outlets of being antisemitic for interviewing and recording the views of Jewish people who questioned aspects of the ‘antisemitism crisis’. That astroturf campaign was run by an organisation established by the Labour Together Project.
So, in his Telegraph article Sawer is relying on the evidence of a disgraced Labour-affiliated Zionist lobby group and a Zionist campaign group that gets innocent people arrested. Then, to make matters worse he gets multiple facts wrong – or, as it’s otherwise known, lies.
For example, Sawer claims “A Jewish lawyer was arrested after wearing a Star of David, with police alleging the symbol had “antagonised” pro-Palestine protesters”. This is not true. As the Canary previously reported, cops arrested the guy for repeatedly breaching Public Order Act conditions to try and get at anti-Zionist Jews.
Then, Sawer claims that “Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were also banned from Aston Villa’s Europa League match in Birmingham… with critics saying it exposes Britain’s inability to protect Jews”. Again, authorities in Birmingham did not ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans because they were Jewish (it’s an Israeli team, anyway). They banned them because they are known to be far-right, racist football hooligans.
Also, Sawer claims that:
In one particularly disturbing incident, a Jewish community centre in north London was targeted in October last year.
Pro-Palestine activists were filmed screaming “murderers” at elderly Jewish visitors as they tried to enter, reducing several to tears, including one 80-year-old woman.
Yet even the pro-Zionist Jewish News reported a bit of the truth on this one. It wrote of the JW3 protest:
150 protesters stood directly outside the Jewish community centre as Sunday’s Israel After October 7th conference, hosted by the respected Israeli media outlet Haaretz, begun on Sunday morning.
Ticket holders for Sunday’s sold-out event were forced to endure the hate-filled chants as they filled past police and security guards to make their way into the venue for a conference, which included speeches from Lord Michael Levy, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert; Haaretz Editor in Chief Aluf Benn, MK’s Naama Lazimi and Ayman Odeh, and a video address from Sir Tony Blair.
So, pro-Palestine protesters didn’t target a Jewish community centre. They targeted a pro-Israel conference (nothing to do with Judaism) that was being held there. And activists claim that regardless, the accusation around ‘reducing several to tears’ had nothing to do with them.
Sawer’s rap-sheet of lies in his Telegraph article almost makes it worthless. But then he debases even himself (yes, that is possible) by going after veteran women’s rights activist Cristel Amiss. He repeats the accusation that when she said “Now these people are terminally deranged and the sickness is Zionism and it is incurable so they just need to be put down perhaps” she was referring to Jewish people.
Amiss was blatantly referring to Zionists. She said that outside the residence of far-right Zionist and racist Israeli ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely – where anti-Zionist Jews staged weekly protests.
This is, of course, the point of the Stop the Hate UK-backed article by Sawer: to smear pro-Palestine protesters as somehow antisemitic when they’re actually anti-Zionists who aren’t huge fans of genocide and war crimes.
Exactly the same thing happened last year in the Times. It seems Sawer either seemingly lifted a lot of his information from, or read the same press release that Stop The Hate UK probably sent out. Concerningly though, it was off the back of this article that cops arrested multiple protesters. Yet they took no further action against them.
Anika Zahir (Ani.Says) (not a “mortgage advisor”) told the Canary:
First of all, in regards to Patrick Sawer, I feel a lot of alarm and distress because after I saw the evidence of him doorstepping other people, I made two separate videos where I told him that I did not feel comfortable with him coming to my home, that it would make me feel alarm and distress, and that I’m a woman that lives alone.
And yet he still came to my home, and that made me feel extremely violated and extremely unsafe.
In regards to Stop the Hate UK, this is an ongoing campaign that has been launched against activists, and if I talk about myself, not only have they launched an online campaign, I have dealt with verbal abuse from some of their members, like Niaq Ghorbani, they’re always encroaching in our spaces, they’re always turning up where we are, they never stay in their section, the police allow them to intermingle amongst us.
So now they’ve become so emboldened that they are now going ahead and targeting us, and I think it’s absolutely disgusting, especially if you look at Stop the Hate UK, a lot of its members aren’t even Jewish, they’re just Christian British pro-Israelis.
It’s very intimidating for me as a woman that lives on her own, a disabled woman, to be constantly targeted by a group that’s consisting of a lot of members, especially when I have been physically assaulted before in front of their members, I have been verbally assaulted before in front of them, for them now to possibly have my address makes me feel really unsafe.
It just feels horrible, it feels violating, it feels anti-Muslim, it feels racist, it feels like a witch hunt, like a McCarthy witch hunt, like they can just point their fingers and then the police come after us.
Sawer should be ashamed of himself. Not least should he be ashamed for lying. But he should also be ashamed of doorstepping and harassing innocent people. But this is a hack who works for the Telegraph. So, it’s unlikely that he does.
Evidently, Zionists feel further emboldened to weaponise Jewish identity in blanket support of Israel. To do so is a disgrace that sidelines the lived experiences of Jewish people who do not ally themselves with the genocidal state. Corporate media journalists like Sawer are able to handily dismiss any objections from Jewish people, whilst conveniently platforming only Zionists.
Ultimately, these pro-Zionist lobby groups and their supporters feel emboldened enough by the British state – in the midst of Israel’s genocide in Gaza – to go after activists exercising their right to protest on behalf of the Palestinian people. And the fact that it’s happening at one of the most well-known media outlets in the country shows how far the rot goes.
Featured image via the Canary
By Steve Topple
This post was originally published on Canary.
On July 22, in the Palestinian village of Ibziq, bright lights pierced through the tent at 12:30 a.m., jolting Baltimore, Maryland-native Nikki Morse and a fellow activist awake. The activists, both from the United States, were confronted by a masked young man who declared in accented English: “Your time is almost up.” Behind him, three others waited on an ATV. His shirt read “Artzeinu” — Hebrew for “our land.”
This encounter with Israeli settlers in Ibziq provides a glimpse into the daily reality for Palestinians under constant attack in the occupied West Bank. Since Oct. 7, 2023, B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization, says settler violence has reached “unprecedented levels,” with entire communities forcibly displaced, their homes demolished or confiscated, and Palestinians subjected to collective punishment, killings and torture.
The post International Activists Confront Israeli Impunity In The West Bank appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.
This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.
A large-scale Israeli military operation in Lebanon is imminent, according to European sources who spoke with Sky News Arabia on 24 October, describing it as “just a matter of time.”
The report came as the Israeli army announced a series of military drills carried out recently, aimed at simulating an attack on Lebanon and various defense-related scenarios that could come with such a decision.
According to the military, Israel’s 91st Division – the “Galilee Division” – has completed the largest exercise since the beginning of the genocide in Gaza, aimed at “enhancing operational readiness” for military offensives along the border “by way of air, sea, and land.”
Israel claimed these exercises are being carried out to prepare for a “range of scenarios,” including reserve mobilization and force buildup.
The post Large-Scale Israeli War On Lebanon ‘A Matter Of Time’ appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.
This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights warned of the continuing Israeli blockade and obstruction of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip – despite more than two weeks having passed since the ceasefire agreement came into effect – is exacerbating the humanitarian disaster and genocide and threatening the lives of millions.
The Centre called on the international community to intervene immediately and effectively to pressure the occupying authorities to open all crossings and allow the flow of aid without restrictions or selectivity, in order to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of the afflicted population.
The Centre welcomed the recent advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice, which called on Israel to agree to relief programmes in Gaza and facilitate their implementation, especially those carried out by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), emphasising that the decision reflects international consensus against any attempt to undermine the Agency’s vital role.
The centre noted that the occupation has allowed only about 1,000 aid trucks to enter since the ceasefire began on 10 October, while the sector needs at least 600 trucks per day to cover the basic needs of its population of about 2.1 million, 96% of whom suffer from acute food insecurity.
Thousands of trucks remain stuck at the crossings, including 6,000 UNRWA trucks carrying six months’ worth of food, as well as hundreds of thousands of tents and shelter supplies, with winter approaching.
The centre explained that the displaced are living in tragic conditions in tents and shelters that lack the basic necessities of life, after Israeli aggression forced them into displacement and destroyed residential neighbourhoods, leaving behind some 61 million tonnes of rubble and creating a vast human vacuum in the city.
They are also prevented from returning to their areas behind the so-called ‘yellow line,’ which swallows up more than half of the Gaza Strip, amid the collapse of water and sanitation services and the continuing destruction of infrastructure.
The Centre emphasised that Israeli control over the amount and type of aid is part of a systematic policy to subject Palestinians to harsh living conditions that amounts to genocide.
It holds the international community legally and morally responsible for ensuring the sustainable entry of humanitarian aid and enabling UNRWA to perform its humanitarian role to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of affected families in Gaza.
Featured image via the Canary
By Alaa Shamali
This post was originally published on Canary.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Observatory has confirmed that Israel continues, in an organised and institutionalised manner, to implement a systematic policy of covering up material evidence of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity committed over the past two years in the Gaza Strip, through field and administrative measures aimed at concealing the truth and obstructing any independent international investigation.
In a press statement, the Observatory explained that the Israeli authorities are working through an integrated system comprising government, judicial and security agencies to provide legal cover for policies of media blackouts and prevention of transparency.
It noted that the Israeli Supreme Court’s decision to grant the government an additional postponement to allow independent journalists to enter Gaza reflects this integration, as it gives legitimacy to government decisions that seek to protect perpetrators of crimes and obscure evidence on the ground.
The Observatory explained that preventing international journalists and investigators from entering Gaza is part of a consistent policy aimed at keeping crimes out of the international spotlight.
It clarified that Israel has imposed a media blackout on the Strip since the start of the aggression, allowing only limited tours under the supervision of its army, which makes coverage completely subject to military censorship. It noted that the killing of 254 Palestinian journalists and the prevention of international correspondents from entering the area embodies a policy aimed at monopolising the Israeli narrative and preventing the victims’ stories from being told.
The Observatory emphasised that Israel is also obstructing international justice efforts by preventing international investigation committees and forensic and criminal anthropology experts from entering, leading to the destruction of biological and criminal evidence proving the facts of mass killings and the use of prohibited weapons.
The authorities also continue to hold hundreds of bodies, including those of prisoners and detainees, and have handed over some 195 bodies without providing information about their identities or the circumstances of their deaths, in clear violation of the Geneva Conventions.
He added that Israeli forces have carried out operations to bulldoze and level destroyed land and areas in Gaza, leading to the removal of physical evidence and the erasure of crime scenes. They also control about 50% of the Strip militarily and have turned it into restricted access areas, preventing any independent field or humanitarian documentation.
The Observatory stressed that these practices constitute a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and the decisions of the International Court of Justice, which oblige Israel to preserve evidence and prevent its destruction.
It considered that preventing independent investigations and denying victims justice is an extension of the crime of genocide itself and an attempt to erase the collective memory of the Palestinian people.
At the end of its statement, the Observatory called on the international community and the United Nations to take urgent action to ensure that journalists and international teams are allowed to enter the Gaza Strip, secure crime scenes before evidence is lost, and to establish a field office for the International Criminal Court in Palestine to coordinate investigations and link reconstruction efforts with the preservation and documentation of evidence, stressing that preserving the truth in Gaza has become a legal and humanitarian obligation that cannot be delayed.
Featured image via the Canary
By Alaa Shamali
This post was originally published on Canary.
In a brief and poorly written article in the Telegraph, author Jake Wallis Simons has denied that Israel committed a genocide in Gaza.
If you’re wondering who Simons is, this is another one of his recent assertions:
If you needed any further evidence of how dangerously unhinged @JakeWSimons is and how gullible and racist the mainstream media believe their audience to be, then look no further. Shame on @BBCNewsnight @SkyNews and other outlets who platformed this modern day Julius Streicher. pic.twitter.com/2PsDF1w8Mo
— Fahad Ansari
(Stop the Gaza genocide) (@fahadansari) October 19, 2025
When we say the Telegraph article is poorly written, this is what we’re talking about:
The Gaza of reality remains largely eclipsed. But the hellscape of propaganda, which is as shallow as the false history upon which it is based, yet as profound as the worst human nightmare, is ubiquitous.
Honestly.
Poor phrasing aside, Gaza is unique for how well documented the genocide has been. At the same time, you could say the precise details ‘remain largely eclipsed’, and the reason for that is because:
As noted by the UN, the genocide has been the:
deadliest conflict ever for journalists.
More journalists have been killed in Gaza than both world wars, the Vietnam War, wars in Yugoslavia, and the war in Afghanistan combined, according to one research institute.
As Francesca mentioned, the U.N. number right now is 252, but that is, of course, likely to go up because every week we hear news of more killings.
In August alone, nine journalists were killed in three horrific bloody incidents, as you may remember.
Many of these 252 journalists have been targeted, by which we mean deliberately picked out and killed because of the work that they are doing to expose the atrocities, the crimes, the genocide on the ground.
Is this the “hellscape of propaganda”?
Or is it Simons who represents the “worst human nightmare”?
Getting to the denial, Simons writes:
OK. What about the “genocide”, which was officially confirmed by the UN in September (and made by the Syrians at the UN back in 1948)?
Aizenberg crunched the numbers. Taking the Hamas data at face value, setting aside natural deaths and those hit by their own side, about 33,000 civilians tragically died. According to mainstream estimates, about 25,000 combatants were killed.
This means that for every dead jihadi, fewer than 1.5 civilians lost their lives. According to the UN, the global average for warfare in populated areas – where there are no terror tunnels under hospitals, where the enemy does not generally deploy a strategy of human sacrifice – is nine civilians per combatant. Given that Israel has the firepower to wipe out everybody in Gaza in an afternoon, the evidence, again, speaks for itself.
While the writing here is less offensive, the content is significantly worse.
Firstly, estimates of the dead vary greatly, with the higher estimates standing at over half a million:
Gaza genocide death toll revised up – now over 680,000, including almost half a million children
Amid Israel’s destruction of Gaza, as many as 120,000 bodies remain unrecovered and therefore not included in the death toll, writes @skwawkbox https://t.co/io9QyY1W7D
— Canary (@TheCanaryUK) September 12, 2025
As noted, journalists haven’t been allowed in, and it will be difficult to count the dead until Gazans can return to their bombed homes:
Journalist Marwa Muslim was killed by Israel and her body left for 44 days
Marwa Muslim and her brothers’ remains were discovered when people could finally reach her house – yet her story is one of so many. Palestinian journalist Alaa Shamali reports:https://t.co/cxZfBWAyPk
— Canary (@TheCanaryUK) August 19, 2025
We’re note sure where Simons’ figures comes from, but they are at odds with even Israel’s. As reported by the Guardian:
As of May, 19 months into the war, Israeli intelligence officials listed 8,900 named fighters from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad as dead or “probably dead”, a joint investigation by the Guardian, the Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and the Hebrew-language outlet Local Call has found.
At that time 53,000 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli attacks, according to health authorities in Gaza, a toll that included combatants and civilians. Fighters named in the Israeli military intelligence database accounted for just 17% of the total, which indicates that 83% of the dead were civilians.
Simons claims the standard ratio in war is “nine civilians per combatant”, but this is a myth. In fact, it’s such a common myth that it has its own Wikipedia page.
Even if it wasn’t a myth, would a statistic have justified what Israel did?
Of course it wouldn’t.
But Simons would rather eclipse that reality.
Unsurprisingly, Simons doesn’t actually get into what the accusation of genocide encompasses. As the UN state in their verdict:
The Commission has been investigating the events on and since 7 October 2023 for the last two years, and concluded that Israeli authorities and Israeli security forces committed four of the five genocidal acts defined by the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
The four genocidal acts they observed are:
Their verdict is based on statements straight from the horse’s mouth:
Explicit statements by Israeli civilian and military authorities and the pattern of conduct of the Israeli security forces indicate that the genocidal acts were committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as a group.
And now you see why Simons’ article needed to be so brief and poorly worded.
Because if he wrote more, he’d eventually have to address the substantive accusations.
Benjamin Netanyahu is among those that the ICC has accused of war crimes – in part because of statements he made showing genocidal intent.
War Criminal Netanyahu has announced a plan to forcibly expel and ethnically cleanse the entire Palestinian population, flatten, and annex Gaza.
This comes after 64 days of blocking food and aid. This was always their plan.
The U.S. is an accomplice in this genocide. https://t.co/4FcxFI0VGr
— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) May 5, 2025
And guess what? Netanyahu also made the same ‘one afternoon’ comment as Simons:
Netanyahu said that Israel isn’t committing a genocide in Gaza because if “we had wanted to commit genocide, it would have taken exactly one afternoon.”
Follow: @AFpost pic.twitter.com/Y4JRjuHA5t
— AF Post (@AFpost) August 12, 2025
Once again we find ourselves forced to behold the hellscape of propaganda.
We’d say that publishing this article is a shameful act for the Telegraph, but let’s face it, the British media ran out of shame a long time ago.
Figures like Simons will continue to write dross like this, but the time when people took them seriously has passed.
Jake Wallis Simons is not a serious man; the Telegraph is not a serious outlet, and Britain is not a serious country – not as long as they continue to support the greatest atrocity of the 21st century they’re not.
While it’s sickening to see people showing such inhumanity, just remember: they’re only pushing so hard because they know they’ve lost.
Featured image via screengrab
By Willem Moore
This post was originally published on Canary.
British Airways have paused their sponsorship of the Louis Theroux podcast. According to them, a recent interview with Bob Vylan frontman Bobby Vylan breached their content policy of not sponsoring “politically sensitive or controversial subject matters”. Given that this is Louis Theroux we’re talking about, the internet has reacted with shock and awe:
Louis Theroux has interviewed literal paedophiles & neo-Nazis on video several times, but British Airways are claiming they didn’t know he had the potential to be “politically sensitive or controversial”?
Fuck the fuck off. The Israel lobby have such a disturbing amount of power pic.twitter.com/gg7aNt0Ym2
— Baxter (@Zutroy85) October 26, 2025
Theroux has interviewed many controversial figures across his career, including:
Not only are British Airways outing themselves as genocide supporters, they’re showing how ignorant & moronic they are.
Theroux interviews loads of people with polarising views. Are BA suggesting they endorse Nazis, Scientology, Westboro Baptist Church, apartheid, murderers, etc https://t.co/FdGZgCO7Qx pic.twitter.com/DIOrt0zCYr
— Joe (@JoeyL14) October 26, 2025
British Airways was fine sponsoring Louis Theroux’s podcast when he was interviewing genocide-supporting Israeli settler leader Daniella Weiss.
But he’s now apparently overstepped the mark by talking to a punk musician who made a mean chant about Israel’s genocidal army. pic.twitter.com/2UXlHYRovt
— Jonathan Cook (@Jonathan_K_Cook) October 26, 2025
Some suggested the pro-Zionist lobby have been gunning for Theroux since his recent documentary on illegal Israeli settlers moving into the Palestinian territory in the West Bank:
They’ve been gunning for Louis Theroux since The Settlers film, in which his great crime was letting the settlers speak for themselves. pic.twitter.com/rNu9Qjf4o9
— Barry Malone (@malonebarry) October 25, 2025
Louis Theroux’s “The Settlers” is deeply disturbing television. The horror – the daily horror – of what happens in the West Bank gets far too little mainstream coverage. It’s great to see someone with Theroux’s profile expose a new audience to this reality. Watch it, share it. pic.twitter.com/uG8gmndvCu
— Barry Malone (@malonebarry) April 28, 2025
And after the Bob Vylan interview, they’re gunning for him even more.
So why is Bob Vylan so controversial?
First, let’s explain that Zionism is the political movement for a Jewish ethno-state in the Middle East. While this ethno-state has always been colonialist in nature, it’s also become increasingly expansionist. The Israeli settlers in the West Bank are one example of this; the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) conducting a genocide in Gaza are another.
The reason Bob Vylan became controversial is this chant:
Punk duo Bob Vylan have their visas to the US revoked over “Death to the IDF” chant
A tidal wave of condemnation has poured in from Zionist Lobby groups & Western governments that supply the Israeli military with weapons.
Despite this, Bob Vylan continues to advocate for… pic.twitter.com/5sa2O7hdCs
— MintPress News (@MintPressNews) June 30, 2025
The people who got upset were those who implicitly or explicitly condone Israel’s genocide. At the end of the day, though, Bob Vylan has no army; has no missiles; Bob Vylan has no means of inflicting ‘death’ upon the IDF. You can get upset at them all you like, but if you’re mad at them and not the people carrying out the genocide, it’s all performative, isn’t it?
This is what Bobby Vylan said in the new Theroux interview:
Bobby Vylan says he is not regretful and stands by his famous chant “Death, Death to the IDF” that broadcasted LIVE to millions of people on the BBC.
He affirms that he’ll “do it again tomorrow, twice on Sundays”. pic.twitter.com/1zJNLJiZwL
— MintPress News (@MintPressNews) October 21, 2025
This is what he said in response to BA bailing on the Theroux sponsorship:
The lobby groups, the British government and media are determined to make an example of me, all because I dare to want an end to a genocidal occupying force guilty of war crimes.
— Bob Vylan (@BobbyVylan) October 26, 2025
At the Canary, we know better than most what happens when you dare to speak out against Israel. The problem Israel’s defenders have is that most people oppose what’s going on over there now, and the more they try to smear everyone, the less they can convince anyone – as their attacks on Bob Vylan (and now Louis Theroux) are showing.
Featured image Eluveitie (Wikimedia) / Louis Theroux (YouTube)
By Willem Moore
This post was originally published on Canary.
Khalil al-Hayya, a member of the political bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in Gaza, confirmed that the war with the Israeli occupation is over, pointing to Israel’s failure to achieve its objectives over the past two years. In an interview with Al Jazeera, he added that the movement will not give the occupation any excuse to resume its aggression, noting that Hamas handed over 20 Israeli prisoners within 72 hours of the ceasefire, along with 17 of the 28 bodies of Israeli prisoners, while the search for the remaining bodies continues.
Al-Hayya explained in televised statements to Al Jazeera that Hamas has no reservations about a national administration for Gaza and will hand over all administrative powers to the committee responsible, including security. He added that there is agreement with Fatah and other Palestinian factions on the deployment of international forces to monitor the ceasefire, and confirmed the UN’s role in reconstruction without interference in internal administration.
However, on the issue of elections, Al-Hayya confirmed that Hamas seeks to hold elections as a step toward reuniting the Palestinian national ranks, stressing that the Palestinian people want a single authority and government. He added that the movement had assured U.S. envoys Steve Whitcomb and Jared Kushner that Hamas supports stability, and that former U.S. President Donald Trump could play a role in deterring the Israeli occupation.
Regarding weapons, Al-Hayya affirmed that Hamas’ arms are tied to the occupation and aggression, and that once the occupation ends, they will come under the authority of the state. He explained that the issue of weapons remains under discussion with the factions and mediators, and that the movement will not take any position outside the framework of Palestinian national consensus.
On the humanitarian front, Al-Hayya stressed that Gaza needs 6,000 aid trucks daily, while only 600 currently enter, warning that the continued disruption in the delivery of basic materials could violate the agreement and worsen civilian suffering. He added that ongoing humanitarian violations affect daily life and hinder reconstruction efforts.
Al-Hayya also affirmed that Hamas accepts the presence of UN forces to monitor the ceasefire and separate the parties, and that the issue of prisoners is a national one par excellence, with efforts continuing to secure the release of all Palestinian detainees despite the occupation’s intransigence regarding some names.
He concluded by emphasising that Hamas seeks to maintain national stability in Gaza, and that any efforts to rebuild or administer the Strip must involve coordination with Palestinian factions and uphold national rights. He reiterated that the Palestinian people want a single authority and a unified government to ensure national unity.
By Alaa Shamali
This post was originally published on Canary.
A new law under discussion in the Israeli occupation’s Knesset has spread fear among Palestinian families and human rights organisations. On 28 September 2025, the Knesset’s National Security Committee approved draft legislation imposing the death penalty on any Palestinian who intentionally or negligently causes the death of an Israeli citizen “out of racial or ideological hatred, or with the aim of harming Israel.” The prisoner execution bill passed with 4–1 of the vote.
The prisoners’ execution bill is not new; it has been proposed repeatedly over the years. Most recently, in 2022, far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir — leader of the Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party and an illegal settler who is responsible for the systematic torture of Palestinian prisoners — reintroduced the bill with amendments.
The bill passed a preliminary reading in 2023, and was approved by the Knesset’s ‘National Security Committee’ on September 28, in preparation for its first reading. Though the law requires two further readings in the Knesset to pass, for Palestinians under occupation this announcement marks a clear escalation in a system long built around mass arrests, indefinite detention, and an apartheid justice system.
The bill’s advancement during Gaza’s ongoing genocide has raised alarm among Palestinian detainee organisations. Both the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society and the Palestinian Commission of Detainees Affairs warned that the law seeks to legitimise and institutionalise the continued killing of prisoners held in Israeli custody — effectively granting a formal licence for execution in a system that already differentiates between the rights afforded to Israeli and Palestinian detainees.
They denounced the law, calling it a codification of “systematic crimes”, and stated:
The occupation has reached unprecedented levels of brutality… Despite international law’s clear position criminalising the death penalty, the occupation’s ongoing efforts to legalise this crime and grant it a ‘legitimate’ status once again underscore that the occupying state acts above the law and beyond accountability… The occupation is now working to codify the crime of execution through specific legislation. This bill adds to a repressive legal system that has, for decades, targeted nearly every aspect of Palestinian life — particularly the rights and lives of prisoners and detainees.
The draft bill, as outlined in a detailed statement by the Palestinian human rights group Al Mezan, mandates the death penalty for any detainee “convicted of murder motivated by racism or hostility toward a particular public, and under circumstances where the act was committed with the intent to harm the State of Israel and the rebirth of the Jewish people in their homeland — mandatorily, not optionally or at the court’s discretion.”
The law removes the possibility of reducing a death sentence and makes it easier to impose one, allowing judges to order execution by simple majority rather than by unanimous decision.
Ben-Gvir’s rise in politics has been marked by aggressive language and direct threats targeting Palestinians. In June 2024, he publicly said that Palestinian prisoners should be “shot in the head”, and called for them to receive only minimal sustenance until a death-penalty statute is passed. In another provocative statement in April 2024, he argued that the “right solution” to overcrowding in Israeli occupation prisons is executing Palestinian “terrorists”.
Earlier this week, on 20 October 2025, Ben-Gvir also threatened to withhold his party’s support for coalition legislation unless the prisoners’ execution bill is brought to a vote within three weeks. His claim rests on a coalition agreement with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, which he says stipulates that a prisoner-execution law should be passed during the current Knesset term. He called on Netanyahu to “return to intense fighting, to conquer, to crush, to win.”
Now that the Israeli colonial settlers detained in Gaza have been returned, Ben-Gvir has again called — on Hebrew news channel TV 14 — for the genocide in Gaza to continue, saying:
“We must now stop everything (cancel the ceasefire). Now that we have received the (Israeli) captives from Gaza, we must return to war and open the gates of hell upon Gaza. The captives were the only reason we stopped the war. We must continue the war on Gaza, whether the Qataris and the Turks are there or not. Qatar and Turkey are our enemies.”
In Gaza and the West Bank, news of this bill is extremely worrying for the many families whose loved ones are already imprisoned under indefinite detention or military court systems, very often deprived of medical care and subjected to isolation and abuse. For them, the prisoners’ execution bill marks a profound shift — from fearing a long sentence or uncertain release to fearing execution.
Families of prisoners such as Marwan Barghouti, a popular Palestinian political leader held in Israeli occupation prisons since 2002 and serving multiple life sentences, are particularly alarmed. Barghouti has faced continued abuse, reportedly being beaten unconscious in September 2025 by eight prison guards during a transfer, suffering multiple broken ribs and days of incapacitation, according to his son. In August, Ben-Gvir visited Barghouti in prison and posted a video taunting him — an act widely interpreted as politicised intimidation.
This proposed execution law comes amid an ongoing genocide in Gaza and heightened repression in the West Bank. Thousands have been arrested since October 2023 and 80 detainees dying in custody — often amid allegations of medical neglect or abuse.
The bill is now set to go before the Knesset for its first reading. If passed, the law would convert what is already structural oppression into state‑sanctioned killing. For Palestinians, it would mark a huge shift — a future in which the cell does not just imprison, but kills.
By Charlie Jaay
This post was originally published on Canary.
At a time when bodies are piling up and homes are being demolished on top of their inhabitants, the women of Gaza remain a symbol of unbreakable resilience. After more than two years of Israel’s war on Gaza — mothers, wives, and daughters continue to endure a collective suffering.
Data shows that more than 12,500 women have been killed since the outbreak of the aggression, including over 9,000 mothers who were protecting their children from death — only to be killed themselves.
The war has left 21,200 widows, each carrying the burden of loss and the responsibility of rebuilding life after the war stole their support and breadwinner.
The harsh reality has left women with nothing but silent tears, as more than 12,000 miscarriages have been recorded due to hunger, lack of medicine, psychological stress, and the constant fear of bombing.
In the same context, 107,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women continue to resist death in silence — without medicine, food, or medical care — in a scene that epitomises the collapse of humanity in the 21st century.
With the onset of winter, the lives of displaced women become a daily tragedy.
Torn tents fail to keep out the rain, muddy ground turns into swamps, and children shiver from cold and hunger while mothers attempt the impossible — lighting a small fire to keep their bodies alive.
In these tents, stories of loss, hunger, and waiting are told — waiting for a humanitarian corridor, for help, or even for a milder winter.
Despite their wounds, the women of Gaza remain on the front line of survival.
They bake bread over wood fires, turn tents into small community kitchens, and organise efforts to care for children and support neighbours — all at a time when the state is absent and aid has dwindled.
Humanitarian organisations warn that current support meets only a fraction of the growing needs, leaving families already on the brink of starvation facing an even more uncertain future.
The women of Gaza are not just numbers in organisations’ reports, but faces that nurture life in a land where life is stolen from them every day.
In every tent and every destroyed home, a woman of Gaza writes a new story of resilience — a testament that humanity still endures despite everything.
Featured image via Wikimedia
By Alaa Shamali
This post was originally published on Canary.
A protest over Pine Gap’s claimed role in genocide has refocused attention on the secretive US satellite base near Alice Springs
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Straight and bare, Hatt Road runs south-west from Mparntwe-Alice Springs before it suddenly swings north through a narrow gap in the MacDonnell Ranges.
It is what lies beyond that draws protesters here time and time again.
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
Keir Starmer is a collaborator in genocide, according to a new report by UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) Francesca Albanese — and anyone who’s been paying attention, of course — and collaborated in far more than simply trying to locate Israeli ‘hostages’.
Albanese’s report notes that:
From its bases in Cyprus, the UK has enabled a crucial US supply line to Tel Aviv and flown over 600 surveillance missions over Gaza throughout the genocide, sharing intelligence with Israel.
She adds that flight numbers and durations logged for RAF flights from Cyprus show they often took place at the same time as major occupation attacks, suggesting close intelligence-sharing and cooperation in Israel’s slaughter of Palestinians — overwhelmingly civilians — and its wholesale destruction of Gaza
The report goes on to name Starmer as specifically responsible through his eagerness to excuse and endorse clear Israeli war crimes:
British opposition Leader Keir Starmer defended Israel’s right to cut off water and power to civilians. This environment fuelled a ferocious Israeli assault.
Labour not only refused to stop exporting parts for Israel’s F-35 strike jets that were bombing civilians daily, but increased arms sales to Israel to record levels during the genocide and did nothing more than slap a few Israeli extremists on the wrist for show, while continuing to equip and enable Israel’s crimes,
effectively condon[ing] the Israeli state system and structures as a whole,
and continuing to train Israeli military personnel in the UK throughout.
At a parliamentary level, Starmer’s government – like Rishi Sunak’s blue-Tory regime that preceded it – engaged in tactics of:
abstentions, delays, watered-down draft resolutions and a simplistic rhetoric of ‘balance’ [which] reinforced the diplomatic protection and political narrative Israel required to continue the genocide.
Albanese’s report concludes that Starmer’s tactics to support Israel, and those of other western states that participated, demonstrate a deliberate decision to collaborate in Israel’s war crimes and genocide, saying this his
actions, despite clear obligations and compounding concerns, indicate an intent to facilitate Israeli crimes.
Starmer and many who sit on his front benches belong in the Hague, not in Downing Street. Israel is a terror state and the UK its accomplice, both run by war criminals.
Featured image via the Canary
By Skwawkbox
This post was originally published on Canary.
The succession of U.S. officials arriving in Tel Aviv over the week has fueled consternation in Israeli political circles as Washington ups the pressure on Israel to stick to U.S. President Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan. Israeli political circles have bristled at having to bend to the American President’s will, as opposition use the opportunity to lambast Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for turning Israel into a “vassal” of the United States.
Virtually all of Trump’s inner circle has made the rounds in Tel Aviv throughout the past week, including U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, Vice President JD Vance, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The post Trump’s Push To Uphold Gaza Ceasefire Is Creating A Political Crisis In Israel appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.
This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.
At last, at last, Jews with powerful voices have gathered en masse — a critical mass, I would say — to condemn Israel and the savage spree of murder, starvation and terror it inflicts as we speak upon the Palestinians of Gaza and the Occupied Territories of the West Bank.
You may by now be aware of the open letter signed by 450–plus American, European and Israeli Jews and made public this week. In it, this sprawling group of distinguished personages denounces the criminality of the Zionist regime and asserts “the universality of justice and the fair and equal application of international law.” The signatories also call for the international community to impose immediate sanctions on apartheid Israel.
The post The Voices Of Many Jews appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.
This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.
Vice President JD Vance is in Israel, reportedly to see if he can salvage the ceasefire that began on October 10. Hamas has given Israel all 20 living hostages, and turned over the bodies of 13 of 28 dead ones. It says that retrieving the rest is going slowly because of the destruction it has to work around. Israeli forces have largely withdrawn to the negotiated yellow line, which means they still control 58% of Gaza by land area, and according to news reports, they are regularly killing Palestinians who get too close to that yellow line. The number of aid trucks that has entered Gaza since the ceasefire took effect is 85% lower than the negotiated cap, and Israel is still bombing Gaza, claiming it’s responding to lingering armed attacks.
The post A Tale Of Two Ceasefires: Gaza And DRC appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.
This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.
In proscribing Palestine Action as a terrorist organization, along with criminalizing many of those who have challenged this government policy decision, the British Government has opened itself up to criticism and ridicule. In the past few months alone, there have been over 2,000 politically motivated arrests, mostly of elderly people who have held up placards saying that they ‘Oppose Genocide’ and ‘Support Palestine Action’. Lawyers, journalists, and doctors caught up in this dragnet of invented criminality for expressing views in support of Palestine have faced arrests and interrogation under counterterrorism laws. Particularly absurd was the arrest of someone for wearing a T-shirt that read, ‘I support Plasticine Action’.
Freedom of thought, of speech, and political action is under attack in Britain. However, this suppression of free speech is selective and highly politicized. It is okay to publicly offer verbal support for Netanyahu and his genocidal regime as was recently demonstrated when a man, (clearly trying to emphasize this point), confronted the police by openly chanting; ‘I support Netanyahu and I support the genocide of Palestinians’. The individual concerned was told that he wouldn’t be arrested because ‘in Britain we have the right to free speech and free expression’. Those protesting the genocide alongside him could only smile, since arrests were taking place within their midst of people voicing opposition to genocide and expressing their support for movements that carry out direct action. The man in question admitted to his audience that he opposed genocide and acted in the manner he did to demonstrate the double standards of the actions of the police.
We are at a pivotal juncture in British society. Do we risk our own liberty by standing up for freedom of speech and supporting the rights of Palestinians to live in freedom and dignity? Do we stand up for our own rights to take a moral stance against the influence of a foreign hostile force, or do we ignore the capture of our State and allow ourselves to sink further into despotism?
What the British Government has done, through the misuse of the terrorism act, is to expose their disregard for the rights of the British people in favor of supporting a foreign power that is carrying out a genocide on the Palestinian population in Gaza. In this crackdown, people opposing a crime that should be abhorrent to anyone with a modicum of morality, the government and police have displayed an authoritarianism that is reminiscent of the crackdowns on free speech and protests that occurred during the beginning stages of Stalin’s Soviet State purges and 1930s/40s Nazi Germany.
Most dictatorships and tyrannical governments of the past have considered themselves legal in the narrow sense of the law. They have adopted tyranny above any recognition of justice, democracy, and blatantly ignored the ‘spirit of the law’, which relates to justice and honesty. What we are witnessing today in Britain is little different from the strategies used by past tyrannical regimes – the Kafkaesque secret courts, the enactment of new laws, and the proscribing of any group or movement that opposes them, as terrorists. Of particular concern is that these charges are applied with increasing severity for the benefit of a foreign state against those who oppose its Zionist aims in occupied Palestine. By using Parliament to enact these Zionist US/Israeli-inspired terrorist laws against domestic and foreign resistance movements, the British Government attempts to justify its criminalization of those who demonstrate support for the ‘proscribed’ resistance movements.
However, legal and law are not necessarily the same thing. Setting aside considerations of morality, under international law, there are legal obligations that place a responsibility on States and individuals to do everything within their power to resist unjust laws. Under international law, occupation and genocide are crimes. In fact, genocide is considered to be one of the most heinous crimes a state can commit. Taking action to frustrate the execution of genocide, even action that falls into what might otherwise be considered illegal, is justified.
The persistent mass of people gathering globally to demonstrate support for the rights of Palestinians to live without fear and starvation has sent a chilling message to the establishment that Israel has lost the narrative. The veil has been lifted on this racist, brutal, genocidal ideology underpinning Zionist aims. Israel’s claim of victimhood and of defending itself has collapsed. States that occupy other people do not have the right to defend themselves against those resisting their brutal occupation. Buying TikTok and paying $7,000 a post to influencers willing to put forward Israeli propaganda isn’t going to change this.
However, given the brevity of the crime, the imminent starvation and daily toll on Palestinian lives, the urgency of events persuaded many that it was time to go beyond marching and do whatever was within their power to prevent this genocide. Just as the suffragettes and other protest movements ultimately turned to direct action as a means of bringing about change rather than requesting change, Palestine Action chose to directly target the weapons manufacturers who were producing the armory that kills Palestinians.
In underestimating the support that direct action for Palestinians has in the U.K. and the abuse of the terrorism Act, the government has lost legitimacy and exposed how deeply entrenched they are in a hostile Zionist ideology.
The post How can the British Establishment maintain credibility in proscribing a non-violent direct action group as a terrorist organization? first appeared on Dissident Voice.This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.
Israel destroyed Iran’s press center in June.
Don’t be fooled by Trump’s words on “Gaza peace”, his peace gesture, and promises of international aid
It has been two years since the unequal war of the Zionist regime against the defenseless and resilient people of Gaza. We are now at the most sensitive and turning point in world history. The major media under the control of the Zionists and the United States are seeking to divert public attention towards US President Donald Trump’s alleged peace in Gaza, the disarmament of Hamas in Gaza, the exaggeration of sending humanitarian aid to the besieged Gaza region and international aid for the reconstruction of this war-torn region, and downplaying the great victory of the resistance and the people of Gaza.
Donald Trump administration has proposed a 21-point plan as the “final solution” for Gaza, but this plan, more than being a plan for peace, is a tactic or political trick for Trump to portray himself as the savior of the Middle East. Trump’s so-called peace plan ignores the main issues and roots of the crisis, especially the rights of the Palestinians. It does not create a lasting peace and is more in line with Trump’s own interests or the Zionist regime. It must also be emphasized that the restoration of the rights of the Palestinian people can only be achieved through resistance and an end to the occupation, not by encouraging criminals and their alleged plans.
The United States has given at least $21.7 billion in military aid to the Zionist regime during the two years of the Gaza war, when the Zionist regime has been engaged in genocide against the residents of the Gaza Strip. Even Trump himself has repeatedly acknowledged the issue, and this confession reveals the true face of the United States as the main party in the aggression against Gaza, not a mediator, and is conclusive evidence of Washington’s direct intervention in the massacre of Palestinians, especially women and children.
By publishing and producing mass news in the media under their control, the aggressors and criminals want to divert public attention to the fact that the war is over, but the war is not over, and that Gaza is still under siege, its cities are in ruins, and the oppressed and resistant people of Palestine are struggling with a lack of food, water, and medicine. The Zionist regime continues its crimes throughout occupied Palestine, including the West Bank, and every day we witness attacks and aggressions against Palestinian citizens, desecration of mosques and holy sites, attacks on gardens and farms, destruction of homes, and arrest of youth and children.
We warn:
Do not be fooled by Trump’s “peace” word. His so-called peace plan is a deception of public opinion. The nations and public opinion worldwide should remain vigilant about Trump’s plans and slogans, especially regarding the Middle East crises.
The word “peace” in Trump’s literature often does not mean lasting justice and stability, but rather a deception plan for short-term political goals or unilateral interests. Peace without justice is an illusion. Any agreement that ignores the main roots of the crisis, especially the occupation and the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, cannot be called peace. These plans only seek to establish a “temporary ceasefire” and the release of hostages, and do not provide a guarantee for the formation of an independent Palestinian state or an end to the occupation.
The goal of these peace maneuvers is not to end the bloodshed, but to gain political advantage from the parties involved and consolidate the interests of the great powers and their supporting regimes.
Two Years of Resistance, Endurance, and the Unbroken Spirit of Gaza – including the resistance groups and the people, which is exemplary in history, were the main factors in Trump’s intervention to end the war and impose a ceasefire to save Netanyahu. This ceasefire agreement is primarily seen as an opportunity to whitewash the Zionist regime, move away from accusations of genocide, reduce the growing international pressure against this regime to exit the crisis, and give a sense of “political victory” that Netanyahu had not been able to achieve through military force during two years of war, siege, and a policy of starvation and destruction.
The Zionist regime’s war has proven to the world the steadfastness and resistance of the people of Gaza. The wave of global hatred of the Zionists has increased during this time, and we have witnessed and are witnessing widespread demonstrations in most countries of the world in support of Gaza. If it weren’t for journalists in the Palestinian media, the efforts of media supporting the axis of resistance, and the awakening of other media outlets around the world, we might not have witnessed this large-scale global demonstration in solidarity with Gaza. This is the first time that the Right Front has won the war of narratives against the Front of Infidelity and Arrogance. Of course, 255 Palestinian journalists were martyred in Gaza along the way, and their names and memories will be honored.
And a final word…
If the world is truly seeking to achieve real peace in Gaza, the real peace will be established when the occupation ends and all Palestinians are free to play a role in shaping their future.
Trump’s so-called peace is a cover for discrimination and oppression against Palestinians and a neglect of the main issue, which is the liberation of the entire Palestinian land. Let us not fall into the quagmire of deception and let Trump’s “fake peace” divert the victims of the crisis from achieving full rights and justice. We must resolutely resist any attempt to normalize injustice under the guise of the deceptive word “peace”. The world’s view must remain focused on Palestine, and the people of the world must continue to support the Palestinians.
In the near future, the world will witness internal divisions and growing problems of the Zionists, and these deceptions cannot stop the downward spiral of the criminal Zionist regime. And in the end, the blood of the children, women, and men of Gaza will continue to engulf them and drag them to the abyss of destruction.
Now, it is expected that regional and international journalists will enter Gaza to further expose and document the Zionist regime’s crimes and genocide in Gaza, and this request should be a demand from international organizations.
Qods News Agency
The Qods News Agency (Qodsna) is the first specialized news agency in Iran, focusing on issues related to the Palestinian cause. The Qodsna publishes first-hand news and articles on Palestine in three languages (http://qodsna.com/en).
This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.
Ceasefire is a relief. After two years of surviving war, we can finally breathe — but that doesn’t mean our suffering is over. For many of us, it’s only just begun. The tents, and the people still living in them, stand as a heavy reminder that our struggles are far from over. After two years of immense destruction by the Israeli military, most families in Gaza are now living in tents — nylons and…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
On Wednesday, October 22, the Israeli occupation’s Parliament advanced a bill to annex and extend Israeli sovereignty over the occupied West Bank, in violation of international law and UN resolutions. Rights groups warn that West Bank annexation would constitute a grave breach of international law, entrenching apartheid and legitimising land theft on a massive scale.
The bill, titled ‘Application of Israeli Sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, 2025’, passed its preliminary reading, with the support of the Israeli occupation’s far right government and also the opposition parties. This was the first of four votes needed to pass it into law. It was introduced by extreme-right, homophobic Israeli politician, Avi Maoz, from the religious conservative Noam party.
The move — illegal under international law — will have serious consequences for Palestinians. It would not only make the creation of a viable Palestinian state impossible, but would entrench the occupation and legitimise ‘Israel’s’ ongoing crimes against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. According to Amnesty International, annexation would:
worsen human rights violations and enshrine the entrenched impunity that has fuelled decades of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other grave violations.
In a statement, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry in Ramallah condemned the vote, claiming that the Israeli occupation has “no authority over any part of Palestinian territory,” and said it would fight it through legal and political means.
Annexation — when a country takes control of a territory by force and declares its sovereignty over it — is illegal. In the case of the occupied West Bank, annexation would mean full control over the territory for the Israeli occupation. It would provide legal and political cover for its policies of institutionalised discrimination, mass human rights violations, dispossession, displacement and disenfranchisement, and would further entrench the conditions Palestinians already face.
Even without formal annexation, between 600,000 and 750,000 illegal colonial settlers live across 250 illegal settlements and outposts in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. They are armed and supported by the government. They are protected by Israeli occupation forces, while roads, walls, and checkpoints carve up stolen Palestinian land.
The vote exposed deep divisions in Israel’s governing coalition. Netanyahu and most of his Likud party abstained or voted against the bills, aware of possible consequences from the US. But annexation is viewed as the ultimate fulfilment of Zionist destiny andYuli Edelstein, a senior Likud member, broke ranks and cast the decisive vote.
Trump is now prioritising a Gaza ‘cease‑fire’ and normalisation with Arab partners, and any talk of annexation risks alienating Washington. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, while visiting ‘Israel’ during the vote, said about annexation of the West Bank:
The president’s made clear that’s not something we’d be supportive of right now, and we think it’s even threatening to the ‘peace deal’…At this time, we think it might be counter productive.
Rubio’s statements implied that annexation was bad timing rather than a moral red line, and raise questions about US motives. They also confirm that what is important to Trump are not Palestinian rights but only the stability of his fragile ‘Peace Plan’ and his ego.
In 2020, during his first term, Trump was encouraging Netanyahu’s annexation plan, through his ‘Deal of the Century’. Only after Arab states, particularly the UAE, made annexation suspension a condition for the Abraham Accords did Netanyahu back away from his plan.
Now, five years later, with Trump making himself out to be a global peacemaker, he has ruled out annexation, saying: “Israel’s not going to do anything with the West Bank”, claiming the US would withdraw all support for the Israel regime if annexation went ahead. He is insisting that he “gave his word to Arab countries” to avoid destabilising new normalisation deals. Trump’s shifting stance on annexation — endorsing, delaying, and denying it as headlines change — makes clear that his word carries no credibility.
In the same week, the Knesset also advanced a bill to authorise massive illegal construction in the E1 settlement corridor. If passed, this would revive the long‑delayed E1 project east of Jerusalem. Its aim is to link Ma’ale Adumim, one of the Israeli occupation’s largest illegal settlements, directly to Jerusalem via thousands of new housing units and highways.
The Israeli occupation government’s plan aims to connect Ma’ale Adumim — home to around 40,000 illegal settlers and one of the largest illegal settlements in the occupied territory — to Jerusalem through an estimated 3400-4000 housing units, new roads, commercial zones, hotels, and industrial areas. This project is part of Israel’s ‘Greater Jerusalem’ strategy, designed to expand the city’s boundaries to include major settlement blocs while cutting off Palestinian neighbourhoods from each other.
If built, the E1 development would have catastrophic consequences for Palestinians. It would cut the West Bank in half, isolate East Jerusalem, and divide Palestinian lands into isolated enclaves.
This would eliminate any possibility of a unified, viable Palestinian state. The plan forces Palestinians onto segregated bypass roads and tunnels between regions — a system designed to cement Israeli control over the heart of the West Bank.
In a statement after the vote, the Settlements Subcommittee of the Israeli occupation’s Civil Administration said:
This is a dramatic and important step to strengthen settlements, deepen Israel’s grip on the heart of the country, and make it clear to the whole world that Judea and Samaria are an integral part of the State of Israel.
Far right Security Minister, and illegal settler, Itamar Ben Gvir said of the votes successes:
The right-wing government is doing what is right for the residents of the State of Israel. And what is right for the residents of the State of Israel is sovereignty now.
In August 2025, Netanyahu formally reapproved the E1 plan after two decades of international delays. A move which Defense Minister Bezalel Smotrich called ‘the burial of the Palestinian state idea.’ Since early 2025, the Israeli occupation has rubber-stamped about 25,000 illegal settler homes — an all-time record.
The international community has a legal and moral duty to take immediate measures to ensure the Israeli occupation is unable to continue its apartheid and settler colonial land grabbing project in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which the International Court of Justice has ruled illegal.
Featured image via Wikimedia
By Charlie Jaay
This post was originally published on Canary.
United States top diplomat Marco Rubio says the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) “is not going to play any role” in aid delivery in Gaza, reports Al Jazeera.
He also rejected the possibility of Hamas being involved in any future governance of the besieged enclave.
Speaking during a news conference while on a visit to Israel yesterday, the US Secretary of State claimed UNRWA had become “a subsidiary of Hamas”, echoing an Israeli government line that has been discredited by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
In response, UNRWA insisted that its presence “remains vital to meeting urgent humanitarian needs” across the bombarded and starved enclave, where a deadly Israeli offensive has killed more than 68,000 Palestinians in two years.
In a statement posted on X, the agency also highlighted that the ICJ had recognised that “no organisation can replace the UNRWA’s role in supporting the people of Gaza”.
Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, also dismissed Rubio’s characterisation.
“You’ve already heard us talk about how UNRWA is not linked to Hamas,” he told reporters at the UN. “UNRWA is the backbone of our humanitarian operations in Gaza.”
Israel banned the agency from operating after accusing some of its staff of taking part in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack without providing evidence.
Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh said the proclamation by Rubio that UNRWA was a Hamas “subsidiary” was “quite shocking” and “devastating” for UNRWA and all who were involved in Gaza.
UNRWA exonerated by ICJ
UNRWA was not only exonerated by the ICJ and two separate commissions of inquiry, but also had the largest, most extensive aid mechanism in Gaza, Odeh said.
“It has thousands of employees, it has the data to distribute aid to Palestinians with dignity and in an orderly fashion,” she said.
“Nobody has that kind of infrastructure and history in Gaza.”
PRESS RELEASE: The #ICJ delivers its Advisory Opinion on the Obligations of Israel in relation to the Presence and Activities of the United Nations, Other International Organizations and Third States in and in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territory https://t.co/uMXJBTcJq6 pic.twitter.com/YuTGwDzPwP
— CIJ_ICJ (@CIJ_ICJ) October 22, 2025
Despite a US-mediated ceasefire that took effect earlier this month, Israel has continued launching attacks across Gaza. At least two people were killed in shelling east of Deir el-Balah in central Gaza yesterday, a source at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital told Al Jazeera Arabic.
Israel has also kept the Rafah crossing near Egypt sealed, blocking large-scale aid deliveries that were stipulated in the truce agreement.
In his remarks on Friday, Rubio voiced hope of soon putting together an international security force to police the ceasefire in Gaza and said Israel, which opposes including Turkiye, could veto participants.
In Suva, The Fiji Times reports that Israel says Fiji’s “neutral and highly skilled military” could play a valuable role in future peacekeeping efforts once negotiations on Gaza’s next phase were complete.
The indication came as Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel said discussions between Israel, the United States and Arab nations would determine the structure and participants of any peacekeeping arrangement.
“I have to say that we do trust the Fijian forces,” Haskel said during a joint press conference with Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka before she left for her controversial visit to New Zealand.
This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.
