4 h. ago The Guardian view on the UN’s genocide finding: Britain – and the world – can no longer look away | Editorial

A UN commission has found Israel’s war in Gaza ranks among history’s greatest crimes. The UK government must stop hiding behind legal fictions and recognise the realityA United Nations commission of inquiry has now said what Israeli, Palestinian and international human rights organisations, as well as many genocide scholars, have already argued: that Israel’s war in Gaza amounts to genocide. The commission finds that mass killings, attacks on vital infrastructure, starvation, displacement and denial of medical care meet the legal definition of history’s gravest crime. It finds genocidal intent “the only reasonable inference” from both the statements of Israel’s leaders and the conduct of its forces in Gaza.Against this, Israel’s repeated assertions that it is acting in lawful self-defence ring hollow in the face of overwhelming evidence and a deliberate pattern of destruction. The UN’s conclusion imposes moral clarity. It also demands political action, especially from those, includi...

Politics

5 h. ago Spain first of Eurovision ‘big five’ to say it will boycott event if Israel participates

State broadcaster says it will withdraw from next year’s contest in Vienna unless Israel is excluded over Gaza warSpain has become the latest country to confirm it will not take part in next year’s Eurovision song contest if Israel participates, with the head of its state broadcaster saying “the genocide currently taking place make[s] it impossible for us to look the other way”.The majority decision by RTVE board members makes Spain the first of the “big five” Eurovision countries that contribute the most money to the event to take such action in response to Israel’s offensive in Gaza. Continue reading...

Politics

8 h. ago Trump says Russian oil purchases by EU and Nato countries must ‘stop immediately’ — Europe live

US president adds that ‘Zelenskyy will have to make a deal’ and that Ukraine ‘is in serious trouble’ as he departs for UK state visitEU commissioners will on Wednesday agree to impose new sanctions against Israel over its war in Gaza, a spokesperson for the commission said on Tuesday.“Tomorrow, commissioners will be adopting a package of measures on Israel,” spokesperson Paula Pinho said, as reported by Reuters.“Specifically, a proposal to suspend certain trade provisions in the agreements between the EU and Israel.” Continue reading...

Politics

10 h. ago Spain says it will withdraw from 2026 Eurovision song contest if Israel takes part — Europe live

Spain is the first of the ‘Big Five’ countries to threaten withdrawal from the competition following vote at state broadcaster RTVEEU commissioners will on Wednesday agree to impose new sanctions against Israel over its war in Gaza, a spokesperson for the commission said on Tuesday.“Tomorrow, commissioners will be adopting a package of measures on Israel,” spokesperson Paula Pinho said, as reported by Reuters.“Specifically, a proposal to suspend certain trade provisions in the agreements between the EU and Israel.” Continue reading...

Politics

11 h. ago Spain votes to withdraw from 2026 Eurovision song contest if Israel takes part — Europe live

Spain is the first of the ‘Big Five’ countries to threaten withdrawal from the competition following vote at state broadcaster RTVEEU commissioners will on Wednesday agree to impose new sanctions against Israel over its war in Gaza, a spokesperson for the commission said on Tuesday.“Tomorrow, commissioners will be adopting a package of measures on Israel,” spokesperson Paula Pinho said, as reported by Reuters.“Specifically, a proposal to suspend certain trade provisions in the agreements between the EU and Israel.” Continue reading...

Politics

12 h. ago Netanyahu claims trade boycotts over Gaza will force Israeli economy to become ‘super Sparta’

Israeli PM admits Israel is ‘in isolation’ amid growing alarm over its war in Gaza and humanitarian crisis

Politics

14 h. ago 'Gaza is burning... we will not back down' Israel defence minister declares as 'ground invasion of the city begins' and Trump warns Hamas 'ALL BETS ARE OFF'

Witnesses reported that tanks were rolling into the heart of the city in 'levels of war not seen in northern Gaza in possibly two years'.

Events

30 h. ago Israeli conductor calls for end to Gaza war in London concert: ‘What’s happening now is atrocious’

Israeli conductor calls for end to Gaza war in London concert: ‘What’s happening now is atrocious’  Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Politics

38 h. ago Australian PM blames ‘aggressive protesters’ for closure of local electorate office

Anthony Albanese says site next to church ‘became untenable’ after repeated protests against Gaza war in inner Sydney suburbThe Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has closed his inner-Sydney electorate office after almost 30 years, saying his hand had been forced by repeated protests outside the office.Albanese’s office in Marrickville, in his electorate of Grayndler, has long been a target of demonstrations, particularly over the war in Gaza, including a months-long sit-in outside the office in 2024. Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago Zohran Mamdani says as mayor he would arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if he traveled to New York

Mayoral candidate said he’d try to honor ICC warrant for Israeli prime minister’s arrest over war crimesIf he wins his fall election, Zohran Mamdani would order New York’s police department to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu in the event that the Israeli prime minister ever traveled there, the city’s leading mayoral candidate said in a recent interview.Mamdani – the Democratic nominee in the 4 November election – alleged to the New York Times on Thursday that Netanyahu was a war criminal who was committing genocide with Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, according to a report published by the outlet on Friday. He said he would honor an international criminal court (ICC) arrest warrant issued in November 2024 for Netanyahu’s arrest over alleged Gaza war crimes by having the Israeli leader taken into custody at the airport if he ever steps foot in New York and Mamdani is the mayor. Continue reading...

Events

6 d. ago Von der Leyen proposes bolder EU sanctions against Israel over the war in Gaza

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has announced plans to seek sanctions and a partial trade suspension against Israel over its military actions in Gaza

Politics

6 d. ago Ursula von der Leyen calls for suspension of EU trade with Israel

Commission president cites illegal West Bank settlement plans, Gaza and attempts to ‘undermine two-state solution’The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has called for a suspension of trade with Israel, as she spoke of Europe’s “painful” inability to respond to the war on Gaza and ensuring humanitarian disaster.In her most extended condemnation yet of the Israeli government, von der Leyen criticised plans for illegal settlements that would split the occupied West Bank in half, as well as incitement of violence by extremist Israeli ministers, as a “clear attempt to undermine the two-state solution”. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago Ursula von der Leyen calls for suspension of EU free trade with Israel

Commission president cites illegal West Bank settlement plans, Gaza and attempts to ‘undermine two-state solution’The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has called for a suspension of free trade with Israel, as she spoke of Europe’s “painful” inability to respond to the war on Gaza and ensuing humanitarian disaster.In her most extended condemnation yet of the Israeli government, von der Leyen criticised plans for illegal settlements that would split the occupied West Bank in half, as well as incitement of violence by extremist Israeli ministers, as a “clear attempt to undermine the two-state solution”. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago IDF targeted Hamas chief in Qatar because he objected to Gaza deal, President Herzog says

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed that the military had 'acted unilaterally', and said the strikes could 'open the door' to an end to the war in Gaza

Politics

6 d. ago Holding Liat review – powerful study of a family torn apart by Hamas’ 7 October attacks

Brandon Kramer’s documentary complicates any simple view of the Israel-Gaza war in its portrait of one family’s agonising divisionsAt the present moment, for pro-Palestinian campaigners, mention of the hostages and victims of Hamas’s 7 October attacks tends to be greeted with indifference, or even contempt. And yet this powerful and complex documentary, directed by Brandon Kramer (a distant relative of some of the people involved) and co-produced by Darren Aronofsky, is a reminder that the situation now can’t be understood without remembering the Hamas massacre – how it was calculated to provoke a rage-filled reaction that would discredit Israel internationally, what it meant and continues to mean within Israel and how the political and ideological connotations of the hostages have themselves evolved.At first, the hostages’ images were widely seen as a focus for outrage and a casus belli. Posters put up in cities showing the hostages were ripped down - to the fury of their families....

Events

6 d. ago ‘Arrest Herzog!’: Massive London Protests Erupt As Israeli President Visits UK Amid Gaza War

‘Arrest Herzog!’: Massive London Protests Erupt As Israeli President Visits UK Amid Gaza War  Times of India

Events

6 d. ago Keir Starmer will meet Israeli president Isaac Herzog as MPs express ‘grave concern’ at the visit – UK politics live

The visit is seen as highly contentious amid the war in Gaza and Israel’s bombing of Qatar in a targeted strike aimed at Hamas officialsPeter Mandelson, the British ambassador to the US, has spoken at length about how he regrets “very, very deeply indeed” his past friendship with the billionaire paedophile sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.After new evidence about the extent of that friendship came to light yesterday, Mandelson gave an interview to the Sun’s editor-at-large in the US, Harry Cole, accepting that the disclosures were “very embarrassing to see and to read”.I just feel two things now – one, I feel a tremendous sense, a profound sense of sympathy for those people, those women, who suffered as a result of his behaviour and his illegal criminal activities.Secondly, I regret very, very deeply indeed carrying on that association with him for far longer than I should have done I just would say this during all the time I was an associate of his, I never saw the wrongdoing. I neve...

Politics

6 d. ago EU leader calls for sanctions against Israel over the war in Gaza

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has announced plans to seek sanctions and a partial trade suspension against Israel over the war in Gaza

Politics

6 d. ago EU commission president seeks sanctions, partial trade suspension against Israel over war in Gaza

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says she plans to seek sanctions and a partial trade suspension against Israel over the war in Gaza

Politics

7 d. ago The terrorists who live in luxury: How Hamas billionaires live in marble

While conditions in the rubble-strewn Gaza Strip continue to deteriorate after more than 700 days of war, senior Hamas officials have been enjoying a life of luxury in Qatar.

Society