‘Israel’ commits new massacre in Gaza’s Sheikh Radwan neighborhood
Al Mayadeen | September 6, 2025
At around noon today, a massacre was reported in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, where the occupation targeted the home of the Abu Tayeh family on al-Jalaa Street.
The airstrike resulted in the martyrdom of eight civilians and caused multiple injuries. Several victims remain trapped under the rubble, according to Al Mayadeen’s correspondent.
At least 30 Palestinians have been martyred since dawn today across the Gaza Strip, including a child, as the ongoing aggression by the Israeli occupation continues to target aid distribution points and areas where displaced people seek shelter.
Al Mayadeen’s correspondent in Gaza reported that four martyrs and several wounded individuals arrived at Nasser Medical Complex following an Israeli attack on Palestinians waiting for aid north of Rafah.
In a separate incident, a civilian was martyred after occupation military vehicles opened fire on tents housing displaced families in al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
Additionally, a child was martyred and others were injured in artillery shelling that struck a residential building near Sheikh Radwan Bridge in northwestern Gaza City.
Occupation issues evacuation orders for high-rises in Gaza City
The occupation has issued evacuation orders for several residential towers in Gaza City. Among them was al-Sousi Tower in the city center and the al-Ru’ya Building in Tal al-Hawa, near the al-Maliya junction, signaling plans to strike both.
Occupation warplanes subsequently bombed and destroyed al-Sousi residential tower, located opposite the United Nations headquarters on al-Sinaa Street in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood, southwest of Gaza City.
“Israel” is systematically destroying high-rises in Gaza City, as it did yesterday with the al-Mushtaha high-rise, as it moves forward with its plan to occupy Gaza City.
Gaza Health Ministry report
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza confirmed that 68 martyrs and 362 injuries were recorded in the last 24 hours. Among them, 8 were recovered from beneath the rubble, as occupation bombardments continue to leave victims trapped in inaccessible areas due to the inability of ambulance and civil defense crews to reach them.
This brings the total number of casualties since October 2023 to 64,368 martyrs and 162,367 wounded. Meanwhile, the number of casualties since “Israel” broke the ceasefire in March stands at 11,828 martyrs and 50,326 injuries.
“Israel” continues to massacre Palestinians as they wait for aid, as over the past 24 hours alone, 23 Palestinians seeking humanitarian aid were martyred, and 143 others were injured. This raises the total number of aid-related fatalities received at hospitals to 2,385, with over 17,577 injuries.
As for famine-related deaths, hospitals recorded six new deaths, including one child, in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of such fatalities to 382, among them 135 children. Since the IPC’s declaration of famine last month, 104 deaths from hunger have been recorded, including 20 children.
Utrecht University becomes first in West to boycott Israel over Gaza genocide
Press TV – September 3, 2025
The Netherlands’ Utrecht University has become the first Western academic institution to enact a full academic boycott of Israel in response to the regime’s genocide in Gaza, marking a historic step that shatters a long-standing taboo in Western academia.
The decision, confirmed in a statement from Rector Wilco Hazeleger, comes after sustained pressure from “demonstrating students and staff.”
The university has “effectively stopped or suspended all institutional collaborations with Israeli parties and will not start any new collaborations,” establishing a boycott that will remain “until further notice,” the statement said.
In his statement, Hazeleger described the move as a moral necessity. “The situation in the world, and in Gaza in particular, requires us to act with a moral compass. There is great human suffering,” he said.
While emphasizing the academy’s duty to foster open dialogue and research for peace, Hazeleger stated a clear red line had been crossed. “It is also clear when there is genocidal violence and a line has been crossed.”
The move aligns with the goals of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), which considers it the result of strategic, principled work by students and university staff.
The boycott comes amid increasing international condemnation of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and its decades-long occupation of Palestinian lands.
Across the world, academic communities and students have intensified their demands for institutions to divest and boycott all entities complicit in apartheid and war crimes.
Academic institutions have come under significant pressure from professors and students to sever ties with Israeli entities that play direct or indirect roles in normalizing apartheid, research for military purposes, or sustaining the occupation.
Israel launched a genocidal war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after Palestinian resistance fighters carried out the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against the regime in response to its decades-long campaign of death and destruction against Palestinians.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, at least 63,633 Palestinians have been killed and more than 160,914 injured since the beginning of the war.
Euro-Med: Israel escalates killing of civilians in Gaza’s so-called humanitarian zone
Palestinian Information Center – September 3, 2025
GAZA – The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) have escalated attacks on civilians in Gaza’s so-called “humanitarian zones,” turning areas meant for shelter into deadly traps, according to the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor. The Monitor warned in a statement on Wednesday that this is part of a systematic genocidal policy aimed at eradicating Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The IOF is reportedly firing directly at displaced persons inside their tents in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Yunis, using sniper rifles, drones, artillery, and airstrikes. These attacks have resulted in dozens of deaths and injuries, including children, women, and journalists, despite Israel labeling the area as “humanitarian.” Eyewitnesses reported instances where soldiers appeared to shoot at civilians for sport.
Among the victims documented recently are 26-year-old mother of two, Ahlam Raed Fayyad al-Shaer, shot while preparing tea for her children, and journalist Iman Ahmad al-Zamli, killed while fetching drinking water. The attacks have destroyed homes and personal belongings, leaving displaced families vulnerable.
Adding to the humanitarian disaster, UNRWA spokesperson Adnan Abu Hasna revealed that deaths from starvation and untreated disease are far higher than reported by Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
Many victims are buried near or inside their tents, with their deaths unrecorded. Over 43,000 children under five, along with tens of thousands of pregnant or breastfeeding women, suffer from severe malnutrition, while the collapse of Gaza’s health and sanitation systems accelerates the spread of deadly diseases such as meningitis and hepatitis.
The Euro-Mediterranean Monitor described the IOF’s deliberate targeting of civilians in displacement zones as a form of genocide, leaving Palestinians with two fatal options: immediate death from bombardment or slow death due to starvation and disease.
Thousands of families are living without adequate food, water, or medical care, while overcrowding and exposure to harsh conditions exacerbate the crisis.
The Monitor called on the UN General Assembly to invoke its emergency powers under Resolution 377 A(V) to deploy a peacekeeping force in Gaza, ensure unimpeded humanitarian access, protect healthcare facilities, lift the siege, and begin reconstruction. It urged the international community to act decisively to stop the ongoing genocide and uphold international law.
Gaza: Over one million people face relocation to overcrowded zone
Palestinian Information Center – September 2, 2025
GAZA – Gaza’s civil defense service has warned of Israeli efforts to evacuate tens of thousands of citizens from Gaza City and northern areas and force them to go to the central and southern parts of the territory.
Spokesman for the civil defense Mahmoud Basal told a news conference on Tuesday that the Israeli plan to forcibly relocate about one million people from their homes in Gaza City and northern Gaza would lead to a major catastrophe.
Basal said that the Israeli occupation army had already destroyed over 85 percent of the homes and infrastructure in Gaza City’s ash-Shuja’iya and al-Tuffah neighborhoods, and about 70 percent of the az-Zeitoun, al-Sabra, Jabalia an-Nazla and Jabalia al-Balad areas.
Basal pointed out that several reports issued by international and UN organization confirm that the so-called humanitarian zone, where the Israeli army plans to relocate the population, comprises no more than 12 percent of the total area of the Gaza Strip.
“This would mean forcing over two million Palestinians to live in a densely packed area lacking the minimum living means,” he said.
UN Assembly Moves to Geneva After U.S. Bars Palestinian Delegation
IMEMC | September 2, 2025
The United Nations General Assembly will convene its September session in Geneva instead of New York, following the United States’ refusal to grant entry visas to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and dozens of senior officials.
The relocation marks a rare institutional challenge to the host nation and reflects mounting global frustration over Washington’s obstruction of Palestinian participation amid Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza.
The U.S. State Department justified the visa denial on grounds of “national security,” accusing the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization of “undermining peace efforts” through legal appeals to the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice.
These appeals include formal charges of genocide and apartheid against Israel, claims the U.S. argues breach diplomatic norms and politicize international legal forums.
The decision affects approximately 80 Palestinian officials, although the Palestinian Mission to the UN in New York will continue operating under a limited waiver.
The move has drawn sharp criticism from legal experts and international diplomats, who say it violates the 1947 UN Headquarters Agreement, which obligates the host country to facilitate access for all accredited delegations.
In 1988, the UN relocated its session to Geneva after the U.S. denied a visa to Yasser Arafat, then head of the PLO. The current relocation is similarly aimed at ensuring full Palestinian participation, particularly in a scheduled September 22 segment dedicated to Palestinian rights.
European leaders have condemned the U.S. decision. Spain’s Prime Minister described the move as “unjust,” while France reaffirmed that UN platforms must remain accessible to all recognized delegations.
The Geneva session also coincides with growing momentum among several countries, including France, the United Kingdom, and Canada, to formally recognize Palestinian statehood, adding diplomatic weight to the proceedings.
Palestinian officials have denounced the U.S. action as a deliberate attempt to silence their voice at a time when Gaza faces mass displacement, starvation, and what UN experts have described as genocidal violence.
President Abbas is expected to address the Assembly in Geneva, where he will call for international protection, recognition of Palestinian sovereignty, and accountability for war crimes.
The Geneva session is expected to amplify calls for action under the “Uniting for Peace” resolution, which empowers the General Assembly to recommend collective measures when the Security Council is unable to act due to political obstruction or lack of consensus.
Advocacy groups are urging the UN to consider deploying international protection forces to Gaza and to suspend Israel’s privileges within the UN system until humanitarian access is restored.
Beyond its logistical implications, the relocation signals a deeper shift in global diplomacy, where procedural justice and international law are being reasserted against political obstruction.
The Geneva gathering is expected to draw high-level delegations, legal experts, and civil society leaders, all converging to confront the worsening crisis and to chart a path forward for Palestinian self-determination.
Cracks in ranks: No victory, no exit in ‘Israel’s Gaza predicament
Al Mayadeen | September 2, 2025
“Israel’s” military is mobilizing 60,000 additional reservists, adding to the 70,000 already under call-up orders, in preparation for a renewed ground incursion into Gaza City as part of the ongoing “Iron Swords” campaign.
The last major operation to occupy Gaza City came at a high cost. Now, according to Israeli military correspondent Avi Ashkenazi in a report published by Maariv, commanders are warning that the next stage could prove even more dangerous.
The dense urban terrain, vast tunnel networks, and high-rise buildings of Gaza City remain formidable battlegrounds. The report states that Hamas has had months to bolster its defenses, planting improvised explosive devices (IEDs), booby-trapping buildings and tunnels, and deploying snipers and anti-tank units across likely combat zones.
Two-stage strategy, high-stakes caution
According to Maariv, the Israeli military plans to execute the campaign in two phases:
- Encircle Gaza City to restrict movement and initiate the evacuation of remaining civilians
- Deploy ground divisions to enter and attempt to control key urban sectors
This operation is expected to last months, not weeks.
Mounting friction between the military and the government
The report by Avi Ashkenazi highlights growing tensions between military leaders and the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Senior Israeli officers reportedly urge continued negotiations, warning against launching another high-risk incursion without exhausting all diplomatic options.
Meanwhile, on the ground, reservists and active-duty soldiers have begun questioning the broader strategy. “What comes after Gaza City?” one soldier reportedly asked, reflecting the skepticism felt across the ranks.
Veterans of recent operations point to Rafah, Khan Younis, Jabalia, Beit Hanoun, and al-Zaytoun, all of which were invaded multiple times but failed to produce a lasting outcome.
An elusive ‘image of victory’
Even if the military succeeds in re-entering Gaza City, doubts persist over whether such an operation will alter the broader course of the war. As Ashkenazi notes, the symbolism of “battlefield achievements” has become increasingly hollow.
In December 2023, a Hanukkah menorah was lit in Gaza’s Palestine Square, a moment widely circulated in the occupation’s media as a symbol of control. Just days later, the Israeli occupation forces showcased their bombing of al-Shifa Hospital, parading it as another so-called milestone.
Yet, as noted by military correspondent Avi Ashkenazi in Maariv, such displays failed to produce the long-promised image of victory. The Israeli occupation continues, the Palestinian resistance endures, and international criticism mounts.
Now, with tens of thousands of reservists once again deployed and Gaza facing another wave of devastation, Ashkenazi and others raise the critical question: Where will “Israel” find its image of victory, and how many lives will it cost this time?
Israel blows up 80 booby-trapped robots in residential neighborhoods in Gaza City
Palestinian Information Center – August 31, 2025
GAZA – The Government Media Office (GMO) said that the Israeli occupation army detonated more than 80 booby-trapped robots in residential neighborhoods in Gaza City over the past three weeks, confirming that more than one million Palestinians in Gaza and the north refuse to be displaced to the south.
It added that the Israeli occupation army continues to commit systematic and grave crimes against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, in blatant violation of international law and international humanitarian law.
The statement pointed out that these crimes include the targeting of unarmed civilians, including children and women, and the forced displacement of residents in a crime of mass forced transfer that meets all elements of war crimes.
The GMO stressed that detonating robots is part of a criminal pattern that reflects a scorched-earth policy during Israel’s ground operations against residents and civilian neighborhoods, leading to large-scale destruction of homes and property and exposing civilians to grave dangers.
The occupation army also continues to commit the crime of starvation against more than 2.4 million people in the Gaza Strip, including over one million in Gaza City and the north, by deliberately preventing the entry of food and water, in clear violation of Article (54) of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions.
The statement noted that this starvation policy has already caused the deaths of more than 332 people, including 124 children, stressing that this is accompanied by systematic destruction of what remains of the healthcare system, and deliberate targeting of essential elements of civilian life, with the aim of eliminating any possibility of normal life continuing.
The GMO confirmed that more than one million Palestinians remain in Gaza City, refusing to succumb to forced displacement and ethnic cleansing, affirming their legendary steadfastness in the face of the Israeli war machine.
The statement saluted the resilience of the heroic Palestinian people, strongly condemned the Israeli occupation army’s ongoing crimes against civilians, and held Israel and the US administration fully responsible for the continuation of this genocide.
The GMO called on the international community, with all its institutions and bodies, to take a serious and effective stance to immediately stop these crimes, halt the ongoing genocide, protect civilians, and hold Israeli leaders accountable for their crimes before the competent international courts.
With traps and tactical ingenuity, Al-Qassam fighters outmaneuver invaders in Gaza
By Ivan Kesic | Press TV | August 30, 2025
In the smoke-filled streets of Gaza, a powerful message is being written these days in the language of resistance and fire by the Palestinian armed resistance groups.
As the Israeli military machine grinds forward with its brutal offensive, it is being met not with submission but with a fierce and strategic defiance from the Palestinian resistance, led by the fighters of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Gaza-based Hamas resistance movement.
From the dense urban labyrinths of Gaza City to the southern approaches of Khan Younis, every inch of Palestinian land is being contested in a series of devastating engagements that have exposed the fragility of the Israeli occupation’s so-called invincibility.
The Israeli regime’s latest assault, codenamed Gideon’s Chariots II, has been met with a humiliating and painful reception. Yesterday, as many as three “security incidents” were officially acknowledged, implying heavy casualties and possibly the deadliest day for the invaders in more than a year.
In the Al-Zaytoun and Al-Sabra neighborhoods of Gaza City, resistance fighters have pushed to the city’s edges, refusing to wait behind barricades and instead taking the fight directly to the advancing invaders in intense, close-quarter combat.
At least four regime soldiers have been missing since Friday, most likely captured by the resistance fighters or eliminated by the occupation forces to prevent them from being captured.
Their advanced night vision capabilities allowed them to detect and ambush Israeli units, triggering fierce clashes that forced the occupation army into a panicked deployment of reinforcements.
The resistance has entrenched itself in formidable defensive positions, turning entire districts into deadly traps where every alleyway holds the threat of a well-planned ambush.
Nowhere is the resistance’s effectiveness more starkly illustrated than east of Hamad City, where a brilliantly executed Al-Qassam Brigades’ ambush targeted the Israeli Kfir Brigade.
In a sophisticated joint operation with the Al-Quds Brigades, resistance fighters struck an Israeli Eitan armored personnel carrier with a Kornet guided missile, scoring a direct hit that necessitated a desperate helicopter evacuation for the crew.
This is not an isolated event; it is part of a sustained campaign of sophisticated warfare.
Israeli Merkava tanks, the pride of their armored corps, have been repeatedly destroyed by Al-Yassin 105 shells and powerful landmines in Jabalia, turning these multi-million dollar vehicles into smoldering monuments to Palestinian ingenuity and resolve.
Faced with this steadfast resistance, the Israeli regime has revealed its true nature: a desperate and criminal enterprise lashing out with indiscriminate force.
Its warplanes strike the Nuseirat refugee camp, its artillery pounds civilian neighborhoods, and its leadership enacts the horrific Hannibal Directive, a policy so barbaric that it involves killing its own soldiers and settlers to avoid capture.
Abu Obeida’s remarks
As Al-Qassam Brigades’ spokesperson Abu Obeida stated on Friday, Netanyahu and his ministers have effectively “decided to cut the number of living captives by half,” knowingly endangering them through their reckless military escalation in a cynical gambit to avoid future prisoner exchanges.
The Palestinian resistance, in stark contrast, operates with a principled transparency and honor that shames its oppressors. Abu Obeida’s pledge to announce the name and provide proof for any captive killed by Israeli strikes stands as a powerful testament to their moral high ground.
“The enemy’s criminal plans to occupy Gaza will be disastrous for its political and military leadership. The enemy’s army will pay the price in the blood of its soldiers, and the chances of capturing new soldiers will only increase,” the Al-Qassam Brigades spokesperson said.
“Our fighters are on full alert, ready and in high spirits. They will present exceptional examples of heroism and bravery, and they will teach the invaders harsh lessons, with God’s help,” he added.
His warning that the invasion of Gaza City will be “disastrous” for Israel’s political and military leadership is not mere rhetoric; it is a promise backed by the extraordinary heroism and high morale of Al-Qassam fighters, who are prepared to deliver harsh lessons to the invaders.
They fight as the guardians of a people who have been left with no other option but to resist a genocidal occupation, and through their bravery, they are not just defending Gaza; they are exposing the world’s greatest military powers as paper tigers and writing a new chapter of dignity in the Palestinian liberation struggle
Deadly summer continues
The summer of 2025 has proven to be a season of profound humiliation and strategic failure for the Israeli regime. Despite unleashing the full, brutal force of its military machine in a series of operations with biblical pretensions like “Gideon’s Chariots,” the occupation forces have been met with an unyielding and devastating response from the Palestinian resistance.
Far from being crushed, Hamas has adeptly shifted to a sophisticated war of attrition, leveraging its intimate knowledge of the rough terrain and unparalleled ingenuity to turn Gaza into a graveyard for Israeli ambitions and advanced weaponry.
The regime’s much-hyped “Operation Gideon’s Chariots,” which ran from May to early August, was a catastrophic endeavor despite its claims of territorial gain.
While the regime forces boasted of controlling 75 percent of the Strip, this “victory” was revealed as hollow and illusory. The operation failed in its core objectives: Hamas’s governance and military capabilities remain potent, and the goal of freeing all hostages was abandoned.
More damningly, it came at a staggering cost, with former Israeli army Chief of Staff Moshe Yaalon estimating a shocking 15,000 Israeli soldiers killed or wounded by March 2025—a number that has only swelled throughout this deadly summer. This is not the sign of a victorious army but of one being bled dry in a quagmire of its own making.
In response to this aggression, Hamas launched its own “Stones of David” counteroffensive, a masterclass in asymmetric warfare.
This campaign has seen resistance fighters move with audacious skill, refusing to cede the initiative. Instead of waiting behind barricades, Al-Qassam Brigades fighters have pushed to the edges of Gaza City, engaging invading forces in close-quarter combat and springing devastating ambushes.
Their tactics are a testament to their strategic acumen: operating in small, agile cells, they have exploited the extensive tunnel network not as a hiding place, but as a dynamic web for staging attacks, storing weapons, and moving undetected beneath the feet of a disoriented enemy.
The results of this resistance have been tangibly catastrophic for the Israeli war machine.
In a stunning display of effectiveness, the Al-Quds Brigades alone announced the destruction of over 52 military vehicles in the eastern neighborhoods of Gaza City—including Shuja’iyya, al-Tuffah, and al-Zaytoun—using a combination of pre-planted Thaqib and Zelzal explosive devices and reverse-engineered bombs crafted from Israeli munitions.
These are not random acts of violence but the outcome of meticulous preparation and battlefield intelligence. The Al-Qassam Brigades have consistently targeted the enemy’s nervous system, striking command and control centers, as with the attack on a site on Mansoura Street using machine guns and Rajum rockets.
Rushing to repeat mistakes
The launch of “Operation Gideon’s Chariots II” by the Israeli regime, aimed at seizing Gaza City, is not seen as a sign of strength but an admission of the first operation’s failure.
It is a move of sheer desperation, one that has been met with widespread international condemnation and deep fear for the fate of the remaining captives.
The regime’s response—calling up 60,000 more reservists to throw into the meat grinder—speaks to a leadership devoid of strategy, relying solely on overwhelming and indiscriminate force.
Through their bravery and strategic genius, the Palestinian resistance has exposed the fundamental weakness at the core of the Israeli military project.
They have turned the regime’s multi-billion-dollar Merkava tanks into smoldering wrecks and its much-vaunted technological superiority into an irrelevant talking point.
Each ambush, each destroyed vehicle, and each fallen soldier is a testament to the failure of the occupation and the unstoppable will of a people fighting for their freedom.
The resistance does not just endure; it prevails, teaching the Israeli regime and the world a harsh lesson in the power of a just cause.
Mass displacement from Gaza City’s northeast begins as Israeli attacks intensify
MEMO | August 30, 2025
The mass displacement of Palestinians from northeastern Gaza City began on Friday evening as Israeli forces escalated attacks from the north and south, bombarding entire neighbourhoods, Anadolu reports.
A Palestinian security source told Anadolu that the situation in the city’s eastern neighbourhoods is deteriorating “at a rapidly accelerating pace” due to Israel’s intensifying offensive.
The source said the Israeli army has increased demolitions in southern and northeastern Gaza City, using explosive-laden robots alongside artillery shelling and airstrikes.
Anadolu’s correspondent reported “mass displacement” of residents from the city’s northeastern districts toward western Gaza City or farther south in the enclave.
He also reported additional shelling in Gaza City’s southern al-Sabra neighbourhood.
Israel declared a “dangerous combat zone” on Friday and launched one of its most intense bombardments since the war began, striking by air, land, and sea, while nearly 1 million Palestinians are still trapped inside.
The offensive is part of an Israeli plan approved earlier this month to gradually reoccupy Gaza, beginning with the enclave’s largest urban centre, which houses roughly half of the population.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) warned that the assault could force up to 1 million people to evacuate their homes again.
Israel has killed over 63,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, which is facing famine.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
Norway reprimands US Senator Lindsay Graham over $2T fund criticism
Al Mayadeen | August 29, 2025
The Norwegian Prime Minister’s office firmly rebuffed US Senator Lindsey Graham’s angry outburst over its sovereign wealth fund’s divestment from Caterpillar Inc., stating unequivocally that the government has no control over the fund’s independent investment decisions.
A spokesperson for the prime minister’s office stated that Premier Jonas Gahr Store sent a text message to Graham, which included information about the fund’s mandate and how its oversight is set up, and received confirmation that it was received.
Norway’s $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund, which held roughly $2.1 billion in Caterpillar shares as of June 30, announced this week that it had divested its holdings in the company due to “Israel’s” use of its bulldozers to destroy Palestinian property in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Earlier this week, in two social media posts on X, the Republican Senator lashed out at the $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund, which is the world’s largest, threatening tariffs and visa denials because of its recent divestments from the Texas-based firm.
In a two-part statement, Graham first promised that the fund’s “BS decision” would have consequences, then spoke specifically about implementing tariffs and possible visa denials, noting that the Trump administration had already placed a 15% tariff on imports from Norway while the two nations remain engaged in trade negotiations.
The reaction from the US lawmaker came at a delicate time for the fund and for the Norwegian government, as Norway is set to hold parliamentary elections on Sept. 8 and the fund has been under pressure to divest from Israeli companies contributing to the war in Gaza.
In addition to its divestment from the heavy machinery company, the Norwegian fund announced it excluded five Israeli banking institutions which are: Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, Mizrahi Tefahot Bank, First International Bank of Israel, and FIBI Holdings.
The decision followed recommendations from the fund’s ethics watchdog, the Council on Ethics, which concluded that there was an unacceptable risk of these institutions and Caterpillar contributing to serious rights violations in situations of war and conflict.
The genocide in Gaza is now destabilising European politics: Dutch FM resigns, shaking his government apart
By Ricardo Martins – New Eastern Outlook – August 29, 2025
The resignation of the Dutch foreign minister over the Gaza genocide exposes Europe’s moral paralysis and highlights the power of conscience against complicity in genocide.
A Crack in Europe’s Wall of Silence and Inaction
On Friday, something extraordinary happened in Europe — something almost unthinkable within the European Commission or across the Atlantic. Caspar Veldkamp, the Dutch Foreign Minister, resigned from office rather than continue serving in a government that refused to sanction Israel for war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank.
Within hours, his entire party — the New Social Contract (NSC), including Deputy Prime Minister Eddy van Hijum, the Interior and Education ministers, the Health minister, and several state secretaries — followed him out of the fragile coalition.
This was no symbolic gesture. Veldkamp is not an unknown backbencher; he is a seasoned diplomat, a former ambassador to Israel itself. Few Europeans know Israel more intimately. He witnessed the apartheid system from inside, and now the genocide in Gaza, all while the international community remains paralysed in action, but with some strong words of condemnation. Confronted with a cabinet unwilling to act, he chose conscience over complicity.
Explaining his decision, Veldkamp told reporters:
“I felt resistance in the cabinet against more measures as a result of what is happening in Gaza City and the occupied West Bank… I saw efforts to meet me halfway, but in the end the concessions were insufficient… I have too little confidence that in the coming weeks and months I could act responsibly if I am restricted from pursuing the policy I deem necessary.”
A sitting European foreign minister walked away, saying he could no longer act “responsibly” while famine raged in Gaza. That is a political earthquake.
Why It Matters
Veldkamp’s resignation matters for three reasons.
First, it exposes what many in power have sought to hide: Western governments know what Israel is doing. They know it bluntly violates international law. And yet, they succumb to pressure and choose paralysis, or even false neutrality. Veldkamp’s break makes that complicity explicit.
Second, his career makes him a devastating witness. He was no enemy of Israel; he was its ambassador, its partner, its friend. If even he resigns, it signals the moral bankruptcy of Europe’s position.
And third, this was not just one man’s choice. It was an entire party withdrawing from government, destabilising an already weakened caretaker coalition. Gaza’s genocide is no longer just a humanitarian catastrophe abroad. It is shaking European politics at home.
The Immediate Trigger: Boycotts, Arms, and Famine
The resignation was sparked by a cabinet debate over boycotting goods from Israel’s illegal West Bank settlements. Veldkamp pushed hard, arguing the Netherlands could not condemn settlements while continuing to import their products. But coalition partners — the centre-right VVD and the populist Farmer-Citizen Movement — blocked him, insisting such a boycott should only be pursued “at the European level.” Others flatly opposed any new measures.
The day before, parliament had also voted down a motion to stop Israeli-linked arms sales to the Dutch military. Even in the face of genocide, even in the week that famine in Gaza was officially declared by UN-backed experts, Veldkamp’s government, led by Dick Schoof, refused to act. For him, that crossed a moral line.
This timing matters. His resignation coincided precisely with the famine declaration — one of only four famines officially recognised in two decades. Children skeletal, mothers unable to breastfeed, families clawing at crumbs. This famine is not a natural disaster. It is solely deliberately provoked by Israel.
When Veldkamp said he was “insufficiently able to take meaningful additional measures,” he was talking about famine and mass starvation. His cabinet refused to treat the deliberate starvation of Palestinians as reason enough to act. So he walked.
The Shadow of The Hague
There is a deeper hypocrisy here. The Netherlands hosts the International Criminal Court in The Hague. This is where global justice is supposed to be enforced. It is also the city where 150,000 Dutch citizens marched in June — the largest protest in two decades — demanding sanctions and accountability.
That contrast is brutal: a government in The Hague refusing to sanction genocide while its people fill the streets, while the world’s top tribunal sits only a few blocks away. The ICC investigates genocide elsewhere — Darfur, Myanmar, and South Sudan. But when genocide is committed by Israel, backed by the U.S., Germany, and other European partners, Europe paralyses itself.
Veldkamp’s resignation exposes that contradiction. The Dutch government now stands, with Berlin and Washington, on the wrong side of history — complicit in crimes against humanity while preaching international law.
Pressure From Below
The protests mattered. Veldkamp himself acknowledged that citizens’ demands for action influenced his decision. About 150,000 people marched in The Hague — the largest mobilisation since the Iraq War. That mattered. It showed politicians that silence is not free.
This is the lesson: protest cannot always stop bombs, but it can break walls of complicity. It can make ministers resign.
Europe’s Geopolitical Paralysis
Meanwhile, Europe as a whole remains paralysed. Ursula von der Leyen, previously Olaf Scholz, and now Friedrich Merz double down on “Israel’s right to defend itself,” even after more than 60,000 Palestinians are dead and famine is officially declared. Coalition partners in the Netherlands — VVD and BBB — blocked sanctions, refusing even a boycott of settlement goods.
This is not neutrality. It is an obstruction of an action against apartheid and genocide. And it is proof of Europe’s impotence. The EU, once a self-proclaimed “normative, moral power,” now reveals itself incapable of defending the very norms it enshrines in law.
Compare with America
Across the Atlantic, silence is even deeper. Congress continues to authorise billions in military aid to Israel, blocks ceasefire resolutions at the UN, and welcomes Netanyahu as an honoured guest. Donald Trump promises to go further, boasting he would let Israel “finish the job.”
No U.S. cabinet minister has resigned. No member of Congress has said what Veldkamp said: that they cannot act responsibly under such conditions. The silence in Washington is bipartisan and total.
Europe is no better — but cracks are now visible. And those cracks matter.
A Former Ambassador Breaks Ranks
Do not underestimate the symbolic power of this break. Veldkamp was once an ambassador to Israel. He knows its system intimately: the apartheid, the settlements, the 2018 supremacist law declaring Israel a “Jewish nation-state.” He cannot be dismissed as naïve or antisemitic.
When he resigns, he carries that credibility with him — leaving his government exposed, discredited, morally bankrupt, and aligned with genocide supporters. It also leaves Europe humiliated: the Netherlands, seat of the ICC, is now complicit in the very crimes its institutions were created to judge.
The Lesson of History
Resignations over Israel’s actions are almost unheard of in Europe. Condemnations, yes. Symbolic motions, yes. But ministers sacrificing office? Rarely. That is why this moment belongs in history.
Years from now, when Gaza’s famine is remembered, when historians count the dead, they will ask, Who spoke? Who resigned? Who refused complicity? Caspar Veldkamp’s name will be among the answers.
Conscience or Complicity?
This story is not just about Dutch politics. It is about the cracks forming in the West’s unconditional defence of Israel. It is about how famine and apartheid, once denied, are now destabilising European governments and credibility. It is about the power of protest to force moral lines.
Veldkamp said it plainly: Israel is violating international law. His government refused to act. So, he left.
The choice is now ours: conscience or complicity. What do we want our children, grandchildren, and students to read about us in the history books?
Borrell calls for European action in Gaza even though he did nothing as top diplomat
By Ahmed Adel | August 28, 2025
The former EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, laments the inaction of Brussels in the face of the ongoing “massacre” in Gaza and warns that its growing “discredit” will ultimately disqualify the bloc from implementing policies to defend human rights. However, the former diplomat, like the government of his home country, Spain, has only spoken out in support of Gaza and not taken any concrete actions.
“Someone would have to take legal action to make the European institutions do what they should do, and since it seems they don’t want to do it, there’s something called the courts of justice to take the case of inaction there,” Josep Borrell told the media at the August 25 opening of the Quo Vadis Europa course, which he directed at the Menéndez Pelayo International University (UIMP) in Santander, northern Spain.
Borrell, who headed EU diplomacy from 2019 to 2024, admitted that Brussels is doing “literally nothing” about the massacres perpetrated by the Israeli army and the induced famine.
“They say yes, maybe they’re going to make a proposal to establish some kind of sanction, but then they don’t do it,” he said.
The former diplomat also denounced the EU’s failure to fulfill its political and administrative obligations under the founding treaty of the bloc.
Borrell’s statements came in a context dominated by the resignation two days earlier of the Dutch ministers of Foreign Affairs, Interior, Education, and Health, along with four other secretaries of state, due to “resistance within the Cabinet” to taking action against Israel.
Led by Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp, ministers from the center-right NSC party had decided to ban the import of products from Israeli settlements in the West Bank. However, the other two parties in the governing coalition, the liberal VVD and the Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB), believe the measure goes “too far.”
It also raises questions about why Borrell would make these statements during a summer school year and not utilize the influence and connections he supposedly has to lead a campaign to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement. In fact, he should have made them during his term.
The first report by the UN Special Rapporteur, Francesca Albanese, was released in March 2024, while Borrell concluded his term in November of that year. The report was titled “Anatomy of a Genocide,” in which she convincingly documented that a genocide was being committed in Gaza.
In 2024, a series of European committees and associations defending Palestine submitted a report to Brussels, requesting the termination of the association agreement with Israel. The report argued that Article 2 of the agreement, which pertains to respect for human rights, was being violated. In other words, Borrell was obviously aware of the situation he is now denouncing.
On the same day Borrell spoke, Israeli forces attacked the Nasser Hospital in Gaza with a double bombing, killing at least 14 people, including four journalists and several rescue workers. Spain immediately condemned the attack, calling it a “flagrant and unacceptable violation of international humanitarian law.”
In his message of condemnation on X, Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares stated that the “war in Gaza” must end and that “Spain works every day to achieve this.”
The reaction is illustrative of the way the EU and its national governments conduct themselves – issuing condemnations and more condemnations on social media, but taking no action to impose sanctions on those responsible for the famine.
Borrell’s statements serve as a kind of facelift for the Spanish government, which is also distinguished by its tendency to issue statements but not take effective measures. In fact, the Hague Group meeting to take effective measures was held in Colombia in July. Spanish representatives were present, but they did not speak out.
It is also worth noting that, unlike the Dutch Cabinet ministers, no Spanish minister has considered resigning for similar reasons. Ministers from Sánchez’s governing partner, the Sumar coalition, did not even seriously threaten to leave the government, despite the arms sales contracts with Israel remaining in effect.
Meanwhile, Borrel’s words about the need for “judicial action” are at odds with reality. Legal initiatives are already underway. For starters, South Africa filed a complaint against Israel for genocide with the International Court of Justice. Spain is not an effective party to the complaint and is not undertaking many of the actions it could be taking. In this way, Madrid evidently behaves in the same way as Borrell, just using rhetoric but not taking any actual action.
Ahmed Adel is a Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher.
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From the Archives
MI5 plotted assassination of Irish PM in 1985 – Ulster Volunteer Force
RT | December 29, 2017
Former Irish Prime Minister Charles Haughey was warned by loyalist paramilitaries that they were once tasked with murdering him in an assassination plot purportedly dreamt up by the British secret service.
The sensational disclosure was sent in a letter to the Irish government, newly released under the Public Records Act, which requires documents of historical value to be published by the National Archives within 30 years.
Written on Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) signature paper, the warning claims the terrorist organization was asked by an MI5 operative about the prospect of carrying out an attack on Republic of Ireland leader Haughey in 1985.
At the time, Haughey would have been in opposition as head of political party Fianna Fáil, but details of the solicitation did not become known to Irish authorities until 1987.
“In 1985 we were approached by a M15 officer attached to the Northern Ireland Office and based in Lisburn, Alex Jones was his supposed name,” the letter reads, according to the Irish Times. “He asked us to execute you.”… continue
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