US envoy Huckabee claims Israel has ‘biblical right’ to conquer all West Asia
The Cradle | February 21, 2026
During a recent interview with Tucker Carlson, US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee claimed Israel has a biblical right to take over “all” of West Asia.
“It would be fine if they took it all,” Huckabee said when asked whether a passage from the Book of Genesis can be interpreted as granting Israel the right to steal all the land between the Nile River in Egypt and the Euphrates in Syria.
Huckabee was appointed by President Donald Trump as Ambassador to Israel in 2025. He is a former Arkansas governor and Southern Baptist minister.
Carlson and Huckabee discussed interpretations of Old Testament (Torah) scripture used by Christian Zionists to justify Israel’s killing and expulsion of native Christians and Muslims from the Holy Land.
Carlson asked Huckabee about a biblical verse in which God promises Abraham that his descendants will receive land “from the wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates – the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”
“Israel is a land that God gave, through Abraham, to a people that he chose. It was a people, a place, and a purpose,” Huckabee claimed.
Carlson responded, saying this would include “like, basically the entire Middle East.”
“The Levant … Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon – it’d also be big parts of Saudi Arabia and Iraq,” Carlson said.
“I’m not sure it would go that far, but it would be a big piece of land,” Huckabee answered.
Since 7 October 2023, Israel has launched wars to occupy land in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria, including to establish settlements for Israeli Jews. Israel has also escalated its efforts to steal and annex Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.
Israel has killed at least 72,000 Palestinians during its effort to conquer Gaza, the majority of whom were women and children. Tens, if not hundreds, of thousands more may die from the indirect effects of Israel’s destruction of the strip.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to justify the eradication of Palestinians in Gaza at the start of the war, calling them “Amalek,” a reference to the Biblical account of a people exterminated by ancient Israelites.
Israeli Finance Minister and settler leader, Bezalel Smotrich, has stated that Israel would expand “little by little” and eventually encompass all Palestinian territories as well as Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia.
“It is written that the future of Jerusalem is to expand to Damascus,” he said, referencing the “Greater Israel” ideology.
Carlson also pressed Huckabee about Israel’s role in pushing the US to go to war against Iraq in 2003, which led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and thousands of US soldiers.
“How many Americans put their boots on the ground for Israel?” the US ambassador asked.
“Everybody who served in Iraq,” Carlson responded, adding that the intelligence falsely claiming that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction had come from Israel.
As Gary Vogler has detailed, neoconservatives inside the government of George W. Bush worked secretly with the Israeli lobby and government to launch the invasion of Iraq to satisfy Israel’s energy needs.
Since the start of the genocide in Gaza, members of Trump’s so-called “America First” political movement have become increasingly critical of Israel’s dominant influence in the US government, in particular at the expense of US citizens.
President Trump has currently amassed an “armada” of US forces in West Asia to prepare for a possible attack on Iran, long a key priority for Israel and Netanyahu, which would lead to the deaths of additional US citizens for Israel’s sake.
Russian fuel tanker to test US sanctions amid Cuba crisis
Al Mayadeen | February 21, 2026
A tanker believed to be carrying Russian fuels is heading toward Cuba, putting US sanctions on Cuba to the test as President Donald Trump intensifies pressure on the island amid a worsening energy crisis.
The vessel Sea Horse is expected to arrive in early March carrying urgently needed fuel supplies, according to Bloomberg, which cited maritime intelligence firm Kpler Ltd.
Cuba is facing acute shortages of fuels essential for cooking, transportation, and power generation, and authorities are struggling to maintain electricity supply. Available power output has declined sharply since the start of the year, with satellite imagery indicating that nighttime light levels across the island have fallen by as much as 50%.
The Sea Horse loaded its cargo through a ship-to-ship transfer off the coast of Cyprus. Kpler’s lead oil analyst Matt Smith estimates the tanker is transporting nearly 200,000 barrels of Russian gasoil, according to Bloomberg.
Gasoil, a diesel-type fuel widely used in transportation and electricity generation, has become particularly critical as both sectors operate under mounting strain in Cuba’s deepening energy crisis.
Whether the vessel will ultimately be able to complete its delivery remains uncertain. US enforcement measures have already resulted in the seizure of at least nine ships accused of participating in the transport of oil unilaterally sanctioned by Washington, underscoring the risks surrounding the current shipment.
US sanctions on Cuba intensify under Trump administration
Pressure on Havana has been mounting since late last year, when US forces seized a ship carrying Venezuelan crude bound for Cuba. After the subsequent abduction of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, the Trump administration applied further pressure on Caracas to halt shipments to Cuba.
Trump threatened tariffs on any nation that supplies Cuba with fuel. In January, the White House formalized the measure through an executive action authorizing steep tariffs on countries that export oil to Cuba. The move effectively pressured third states to scale back deliveries or risk penalties in their trade with the United States.
As a result, Mexico, previously a steady supplier, cut off shipments.
Cuba, which does not produce significant quantities of oil, depends heavily on imported crude and refined fuels to run its refineries and sustain electricity generation. In January, the island did not receive any oil for the first time in a decade.
US military presence in the Caribbean disrupts shipment
The US’ military presence in the Caribbean has choked off much of Cuba’s oil supply.
Earlier this month, the tanker Ocean Mariner, frequently used to ship fuels to Cuba, diverted and is now signaling the Bahamas as its final destination, according to vessel tracking data. The ship was carrying 30,000 barrels of diesel loaded at the Colombian port of Barranquilla, according to a shipping report.
The tightening supply situation has intensified fuel scarcity across Cuba, contributing to rolling blackouts, transportation slowdowns, and mounting strain on municipal infrastructure. Garbage collection and water pumping systems in Havana have reportedly been affected, while energy shortages have weighed on tourism and small business activity.
Lawyers ask police to investigate Elbit Systems UK for alleged war crimes complicity
MEMO | February 20, 2026
A London-based law firm has urged the Metropolitan Police to investigate the potential complicity of Elbit Systems UK directors in atrocities in the Gaza Strip, Anadolu reports.
The Public Interest Law Centre (PILC), with the support of Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), submitted a detailed complaint Thursday to the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command.
The complaint said they asked the division to open a criminal investigation into four current and former British directors of Elbit Systems UK for “possible complicity in war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Gaza.”
The complaint is brought on behalf of a Palestinian national living in the UK whose close family members remain in Gaza.
It asked the War Crimes Unit to investigate whether decisions taken by Elbit Systems UK and its UK-based subsidiaries, including the export of drone engines, targeting equipment and other military systems to Israel, may amount to aiding, abetting or otherwise assisting grave breaches of international humanitarian law.
CAAT has long documented Elbit’s role in Israeli military operations and its UK-based subsidiaries.
“Our client has watched from the UK as her community in Gaza was destroyed. She has witnessed her loved ones and countless others subjected to mass killings, displacement, starvation, and devastation on an unimaginable scale,” said PILC.
In the statement, CAAT said Israel’s genocide in Gaza “would not be possible without Elbit Systems.”
“Elbit Systems is Israel’s largest arms producer, and Israel is the single largest market for Elbit’s products. It provides 85% of the combat drones used by the Israeli military,” it noted.
Macron: French citizens fighting for Israel cannot be labeled ‘genociders’
Press TV – February 18, 2026
President Emmanuel Macron has insisted that French citizens fighting for Israel cannot be labeled “genociders,” as French judges pursue legal action against nationals also holding Israeli passports who are accused of aiding Israel’s aggression on Gaza.
Speaking to Radio J, Macron said that the French who also hold Israeli passports are “children of France” who must never be accused of genocide.
“We cannot accept, we must never accept that any of our children, that any French person, be accused of being genocidal,” he stressed, adding, “That is impossible, and it represents a reversal of values to which we must not yield.”
Amid mounting legal scrutiny, Macron further claimed that “some people who sometimes played an active role in the anti-racist struggle, people who defended causes, have used, distorted what is happening internationally to try to dehumanize, essentialize” fellow French citizens who also hold Israeli passports.
On February 3, French authorities issued warrants requiring two French women who also hold Israeli passports to appear before an investigating magistrate for “complicity in genocide” over allegations they attempted to block humanitarian aid from entering the besieged Gaza Strip during Israel’s ongoing genocidal aggression.
The warrants, however, do not order their arrest.
The women, born in France and now living in the occupied Palestinian territories, are Nili Kupfer-Naouri, head of the group “Israel Is Forever”, and Rachel Touitou, an activist linked to Tsav 9, which is a far-right group formed by the families of Israeli settlers who were taken captive in Gaza.
Complaints were filed by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, Al-Haq and Al-Mezan over direct obstructing of life-saving aid between 2023 and 2025.
Back in June 2024, the US Department of State designated Tsav 9 a “violent extremist Israeli group that has been blocking, harassing and damaging convoys carrying lifesaving humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians in Gaza.”
Additional legal action has targeted two French soldiers fighting for Israel, Sasha A and Gabriel B H, who are accused in a July NGO complaint of “war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide” for killing dozens of unarmed Palestinian civilians outside combat zones in 2023 and 2024, according to Le Monde.
Although Israeli law exempts nationals that hold other passports and live abroad from mandatory service, Israeli military data indicates that more than 6,100 French nationals voluntarily served in the army during the genocide.
Meanwhile, Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur for occupied Palestinian territory, rebuked Macron, writing, “We do not label someone a criminal or a genocidaire based on their nationality: it is up to the courts to decide.”
She also stressed that anyone serving in a military suspected of crimes may face investigation, prosecution and conviction if evidence warrants.
Trump eyes 350-acre US military base housing 5,000 troops in Gaza
Al Mayadeen | February 19, 2026
The Trump administration is preparing plans to construct a military base in Gaza capable of housing 5,000 personnel and covering more than 350 acres, according to “Board of Peace” contracting documents reviewed by The Guardian.
The proposed installation is designed to serve as an operational headquarters for a future “International Stabilization Force” (ISF), envisioned as a multinational military contingent made up of pledged troops. The ISF falls under the authority of the newly established “Board of Peace,” which is intended to govern Gaza. The Board is chaired by US President Donald Trump and partially led by his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
Documents reviewed by The Guardian outline a phased construction process for a fortified compound measuring approximately 1,400 meters by 1,100 meters. The base would include 26 trailer-mounted armored watchtowers, a small-arms firing range, protective bunkers, and a warehouse for operational equipment. Barbed wire fencing would surround the entire facility.
The site is planned for a barren stretch of land in southern Gaza, marked by saltbush and white broom shrubs and scattered debris from years of Israeli bombardment. The Guardian has examined video footage of the location.
A source familiar with the planning told The Guardian that a select group of international construction firms experienced in operating in war zones has already visited the area.
‘International Stabilization Force’ and Indonesian involvement
Indonesia has reportedly offered to contribute up to 8,000 troops to the force. The Indonesian president was scheduled to attend the inaugural “Board of Peace” meeting in Washington, D.C., alongside three other Southeast Asian leaders.
The UN Security Council authorized the “Board of Peace” to establish the temporary ISF in Gaza. According to the UN mandate, the force would secure Gaza’s borders, maintain internal peace, protect civilians, and assist in training and supporting “vetted Palestinian police forces.”
However, uncertainty remains regarding the ISF’s rules of engagement in the event of renewed Israeli assaults. It is also unclear whether the force would “play a role in disarming Hamas,” an Israeli precondition for reconstruction efforts in Gaza.
Governance concerns and international skepticism
While more than 20 countries have joined the “Board of Peace,” many governments have declined participation. Although the organization was created with UN approval, its charter appears to grant Trump permanent leadership authority.
Adil Haque, a law professor at Rutgers University, criticized the structure of the body. “The Board of Peace is a kind of legal fiction, nominally with its own international legal personality separate from both the UN and the United States, but in reality it’s just an empty shell for the United States to use as it sees fit,” he stressed.
Observers have raised concerns about the Board’s funding and governance transparency. Several contractors told The Guardian that discussions with US officials frequently occur over Signal rather than official government email channels.
A source familiar with the contracting process said the military base document was issued by the Board of Peace with assistance from US contracting officials.
Infrastructure and security measures
The plans detail a network of reinforced bunkers measuring six meters by four meters and 2.5 meters in height, equipped with advanced ventilation systems for troop protection.
“The Contractor,” the document states, “shall conduct a geophysical survey of the site to identify any subterranean voids, tunnels, or large cavities per phase.” The clause appears to reference what it termed “Hamas’s extensive underground tunnel network in Gaza.”
Another section outlines a “Human Remains Protocol.” “If suspected human remains or cultural artifacts are discovered, all work in the immediate area must cease immediately, the area must be secured, and the Contracting Officer must be notified immediately for direction,” the document says. Gaza’s civil defense agency estimates that around 10,000 Palestinian bodies remain buried beneath the rubble.
Legal and political questions
Ownership of the land designated for the base remains unclear, though much of southern Gaza is currently under Israeli occupation. The UN estimates that at least 1.9 million Palestinians have been forcibly displaced during the war.
Diana Buttu, a Palestinian-Canadian lawyer and former peace negotiator, condemned the project. “Whose permission did they get to build that military base?” she asked, describing it as an act of occupation if undertaken without Palestinian governmental consent.
US Central Command declined to comment, directing inquiries to the “Board of Peace”, as per the report.
A Trump administration official also refused to discuss the contract, stating, “As the President has said, no US boots will be on the ground. We’re not going to discuss leaked documents.”
Epstein files may contain ‘crimes against humanity’ – UN
RT | February 18, 2026
Abuses carried out by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein could meet the definition of crimes against humanity, the UN has claimed, while demanding accountability for the suspected perpetrators.
The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) released a statement in response to the millions of files released by the US government related to criminal investigations into the late financier.
The files reveal instances of “sexual slavery, reproductive violence, enforced disappearance, torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, and femicide,” reads the document penned by a group of independent experts and published on Monday.
“So grave is the scale, nature, systematic character, and transnational reach of these atrocities… that a number of them may reasonably meet the legal threshold of crimes against humanity,” it states.
Epstein, who according to the authorities died by suicide in jail in 2019, moved in circles that included figures from politics, entertainment, and business. He faced criminal investigations in the US over allegations that he operated a system to recruit and sexually exploit young girls.
While Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted, “questions persist regarding the potential involvement of additional individuals” and financial structures linked to the alleged criminal enterprise, the UN wrote in a press release on Tuesday.
The UNHRC has urged the US and other countries to prosecute those implicated in the scandal, stating that “resignations alone” are not enough.
“It is imperative that governments act decisively to hold perpetrators accountable. No one is too wealthy or too powerful to be above the law,” they state.
The release of the Epstein files, totaling over 3.5 million pages, has triggered a wave of resignations across several countries. In the UK, the political fallout has been most severe, with three senior officials in Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government stepping down, and the brother of King Charles, Andrew, losing his titles.
In the US, a top Wall Street law firm chairman and a prominent New York arts school chair have resigned. In Europe, national security advisers in Slovakia and Norway have stepped down, along with the president of the Swedish UNHCR and a former French culture minister.
Putin aide urges retaliation to ‘Western piracy’
RT | February 17, 2026
Russia’s response to “Western piracy” targeting its maritime trade should be forceful and not limited to diplomatic means, an aide to President Vladimir Putin has said.
Nikolay Patrushev, a veteran national security official who heads a naval policymaking body, called for stronger action against Western moves targeting vessels described as part of an alleged Russian ‘shadow fleet’.
Attempts to paralyze Russian foreign trade will only intensify, Patrushev warned in an interview with Argumenty i Fakty published on Tuesday.
“Unless we push back forcefully, soon the English, the French, and even the Balts will get brazen enough to try and block our nation’s access to at least the Atlantic,” he said.
“The Europeans are in essence making steps to impose a naval blockade, deliberately pushing towards a military escalation, testing the limits of our patience and provoking our retaliation. If the situation is not resolved peacefully, the Navy will be breaking and lifting the blockade,” Patrushev said.
“Let’s not forget that plenty of vessels sail the seas under European flags. We may get curious about what they are shipping and where,” he added.
Patrushev expressed skepticism that tensions could ease, saying “there is little hope that the West has an ounce of respect for diplomacy and the law.” He argued that “the old practice of ‘gunboat diplomacy’ is being revived,” citing US operations targeting Venezuela and Iran.
Washington has used warships to target suspected drug smuggling boats off Venezuela and intercept outgoing oil tankers, including one sailing under a Russian flag. The Pentagon is now concentrating assets in the Middle East as President Donald Trump pressures Iran to accept restrictions on its missile deterrence against Israel.
In today’s world, the Russian Navy is “a geopolitical tool that combines might with flexibility and is suitable for both peacetime and armed conflicts,” Patrushev said. Its strength is needed to protect Russia’s “ability to export oil, grain and fertilizers, and the normal functioning of the state.”
‘Israel’ threatens to genocide Gaza if Hamas refuses disarmament
Al Mayadeen | February 16, 2026
Senior Israeli officials have threatened to renew the genocide in Gaza if Hamas does not disarm within a proposed 60-day period, although the Israeli occupation continues its attacks on the Strip daily, never adhering to the ceasefire agreement.
Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said that the occupation government intends to give Hamas two months to relinquish its arms. If it does not comply, the Israeli military would “complete the mission” in Gaza, he threatened.
The warnings came against the backdrop of the US-led “Board of Peace”, under which Washington dictated the 60-day deadline.
According to Fuchs, Hamas would be required to surrender all weapons, including small arms such as AK-47 rifles. He emphasized that the Israeli regime would evaluate the outcome at the end of the period.
Netanyahu also reiterated that disarmament must include small arms, claiming that such weapons were used during the October 7 operation. Israeli officials allege that tens of thousands of rifles remain in Gaza.
Reports in The New York Times suggested that a draft proposal discussed by US mediators could initially allow Hamas to retain some small arms while surrendering weapons deemed capable of striking “Israel”. The document is reportedly expected to be shared with the Palestinian Resistance in the coming weeks.
Devastation and aggression despite ceasefire
Despite the ceasefire agreement, officially effective as of October 11, 2025, the Israeli regime has maintained its occupation of vast areas across the Gaza Strip, and continues to attack the Palestinian territory’s infrastructure and civilians.
Since then, over 591 Palestinians, including women and children, have been killed, and more than 1,598 others have been injured.
Since October 7, 2023, more than 72,051 Palestinians have been killed, and over 171,706 have been injured, making the war on Gaza one of the most brutal in modern history. Many victims are still in dire need of treatment. However, hospitals across Gaza have been systematically targeted over the past three years, forcing operations to minimal function, sometimes to a halt.
US seizes oil tanker for ‘defying Trump’s quarantine’
RT | February 16, 2026
US military forces intercepted and boarded a tanker that was sanctioned for carrying Venezuelan oil in the Indian Ocean overnight on Sunday, the Pentagon has announced.
The US launched a military operation to kidnap Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in early January, and claims to have seized control of the country’s oil exports. Earlier this year, US President Donald Trump said Washington plans to “control Venezuela’s oil resources indefinitely.”
In a statement on X, the US War Department said the vessel, named Veronica III, was tracked from the Caribbean Sea into the Indian Ocean before being stopped and inspected in what it described as a “right‑of‑visit, maritime interdiction and boarding.”
“The vessel tried to defy President Trump’s quarantine – hoping to slip away,” the Pentagon wrote. “We tracked it from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean, closed the distance, and shut it down.”
Ship-tracking and maritime data platforms list the Veronica III as a Panama-flagged oil tanker. The action follows a similar boarding last week of another sanctioned vessel.
Trump ordered what he described as a “total and complete blockade” on all US‑sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela in December.
The blockade has continued as part of Washington’s push to redirect Venezuelan oil toward new international buyers. Last week, Israel received its first crude oil shipment from the South American nation, according to Bloomberg.
Reuters also reported last week, citing trade sources, that India’s two state-owned refiners had purchased 2 million barrels of Venezuelan crude for delivery in the second half of April. The agency also said that, according to shipping schedules, 2 million barrels of Venezuelan crude were sent to refineries operated by Spanish oil company Repsol.
At the same time, China, once a top importer of Venezuelan oil, has reportedly turned to discounted Iranian heavy grades to make up for shipments that have stalled under the US blockade, as independent Chinese refiners seek alternatives to Venezuelan supplies.
Moscow has condemned US actions against Caracas, with Russian officials saying Washington’s moves violate international norms. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said last week that the US is trying to take control of all international energy supply routes in an attempt to attain global economic dominance.
Israeli army closes dozens of cases involving killing of Palestinians inside torture camps
The Cradle | February 13, 2026
The Israeli military has closed dozens of war-crimes investigations into its soldiers arising from the first two years of its genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, the Jerusalem Post reported on 8 February.
Publication of the details of the case closures was delayed by fears that doing so would ease the way for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to pursue war crimes charges against the soldiers.
Many of the closed cases relate to the deaths of as many as 98 Palestinian detainees from Gaza held in military detention facilities.
Torture and rape are common in Israeli detention centers, including Sde Teiman, where a 2024 leaked video showed the gang rape of a Palestinian detainee.
The arrest of the soldiers who carried out the rape was widely condemned by Israeli politicians and media commentators, who argued that rape was justified.
According to the Jerusalem Post, cases involving the deaths of detainees in custody constitute a “significant number” of about 100 criminal probes that the military’s legal division has opened into soldiers’ conduct.
However, the 100 cases where a probe has been opened make up just a “small proportion” of the roughly 3,000 cases of alleged war crimes for which a preliminary review took place.
Additional indictments may be filed in the Sdei Teiman cases, the Jerusalem Post added.
That Israel has closed many cases with no prosecutions undermines its argument that the ICC has no jurisdiction to prosecute its soldiers and politicians for war crimes.
Israel claims that it has a “robust, independent, and functioning” legal system capable of investigating any alleged wrongdoing. Therefore, according to the Complementary Principle, the ICC has no jurisdiction over its actions, Israel argues.
The Complementary Principle asserts that the ICC should complement national criminal systems, not replace them.
In November 2024, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant on war crimes charges, including using starvation as a weapon of war.
Israel and the US responded by issuing threats and imposing unilateral economic sanctions on the court’s judges.
Israel is also facing charges at a separate international court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), that it is in breach of the Genocide Convention.
In March 2024, the ICJ issued a preliminary ruling requiring that Israel must take provisional measures to stop the possibility of perpetrating a genocide, including halting the military assault it was carrying out on the city of Rafah, allowing humanitarian aid to enter unhindered, and permitting a fact-finding team to enter the strip.
In December 2023, South Africa filed a case at the ICJ alleging Israel is carrying out a genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel’s response to the South Africa case, due on March 12, is still being prepared by its legal team. It will reportedly include a 1,000-page legal brief, along with 4,000 or more pages of exhibits.
The South African case covers Israel’s actions in Gaza between 2023 and 2024. Pretoria has not yet submitted a detailed attack on the Israeli military’s conduct in 2025. It is expected to do so this spring or summer.
Israel will likely be required to respond by the spring of 2027.
“There are concerns among Israeli lawyers about the genocide charges, not only due to exaggerated public statements made by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, but also resulting from statements made near the start of the war by more authoritative defense figures,” the Jerusalem Post reports.
Prime Minister Netanyahu, Defense Minister Gallant, Smotrich, Ben Gvir, and many other Israeli politicians have made multiple public statements urging the army to commit genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
According to the UN, genocide means any of the following acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group:
Killing members of the group; Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
French FM under fire over ‘false’ claims about UN rapporteur
RT | February 13, 2026
A lawyers association has filed a legal complaint against French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot over his accusations against UN Palestinian rights rapporteur Francesca Albanese regarding alleged remarks she made about Israel.
Barrot this week accused Albanese of labeling Israel a “common enemy of humanity” and called for her removal from the UN Human Rights Council. Albanese has rejected the allegations as “shameful and defamatory,” insisting that in her remarks made recently in Doha she was referring to “the system” enabling genocide in Palestine and not to the Israeli people or state.
On Thursday, the Association of Lawyers for the Respect of International Law (JURDI) filed a legal complaint against Barrot, saying that his statements represent “the dissemination of false information,” undermine the independence of UN mechanisms, and could constitute a criminal offence under French law.
Barrot’s calls for Albanese to step down were later echoed by German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul and Czech Foreign Minister Petr Macinka.
Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard defended Albanese’s “vital work,” cautioning against political pressure on independent UN experts.
The UN human rights office has also voiced concern. Spokesperson Marta Hurtado warned that judicial officials and rapporteurs are increasingly subjected to personal attacks and misinformation that distract from investigating serious human rights violations.
Albanese has previously labeled Israel’s war in Gaza a “genocide,” and called for a full arms embargo and suspension of trade agreements with the country. She has been sanctioned by the US and has faced mounting accusations of bias and anti-Semitism, which she denies.
Her mandate runs until 2028, and she is due to brief the Geneva-based council next month. While there is no precedent for removing a special rapporteur mid-term, some diplomats cited by Reuters say a motion could theoretically be proposed, though strong support for Palestinian rights within the body makes it unlikely to succeed.
Russian Soldiers Tortured in Secret Ukrainian Prisons
Sputnik – 12.02.2026
MOSCOW – Russian soldiers are tortured in secret prisons of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, being kept in cages, beaten, and denied food and water, Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador-at-Large on the Ukrainian regime’s crimes Rodion Miroshnik told Sputnik.
“The greatest amount of abuse and torture occurs in secret prisons – dungeons, basements, concrete boxes, often in cages. And it’s there, when no one knows about them, when they are not included in prisoner-of-war lists, when international organizations know nothing about them, that the worst abuse begins,” Miroshnik said.
He said the Ukrainian Armed Forces are trying to extract military information from them in these torture chambers.
“This is a conveyor belt that involves beatings at the entrance, a marathon of torture for these people – electric chairs, psychological pressure, coercion, denial of food and water. Meanwhile, representatives of the security services arrive to try to break people. Representatives of the SBU [Security Service of Ukraine] and GUR [Main Directorate of Intelligence] come, including for staged videos where people are beaten and subjected to severe psychological pressure,” the ambassador said.
Russia has been conducting its special military operation since February 24, 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the operation aims to “protect people subjected to genocide by the Kiev regime.” According to the president, the ultimate goal of the operation is to completely liberate Donbas and create conditions that guarantee Russia’s security: Ukraine must undergo demilitarization and denazification.
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Press TV – April 13, 2016
Fifteen of the 9/11 “hijackers” from Saudi Arabia were CIA agents working for the United States government, which was seeking to destroy the Middle East for Israel and to double the American military budget, says Dr. Kevin Barrett, an American academic who has been studying the events of 9/11 since late 2003…. continue
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