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No question of surrendering weapons; proposal only covers heavy weapons storage: Hamas representative

Press TV – August 2, 2026

A Hamas official says the newly announced agreement to end Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza does not signify abandoning resistance, but outlines a conditional, Palestinian-led process contingent on the Tel Aviv regime fulfilling its obligations under the agreement.

Speaking to the Press TV website, Khaled Qaddoumi, the representative of Hamas in the Islamic Republic of Iran, expounded on how the Palestinian resistance movement views the newly announced agreement, which has been widely portrayed in media reports as a “Hamas disarmament” deal.

“There is no question of surrendering or relinquishing weapons. What we specifically offered was to discuss the gathering or storage of heavy weapons under a Palestinian administrative authority – from Palestinian factions to a Palestinian authority. No authority other than a Palestinian one has any role in this matter,” he stated.

The remarks came after Hamas announced it had agreed to a phased deal intended to bring Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza to a complete end.

The proposal, announced by US President Donald Trump after mediators from Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the United States finalized a roadmap for the next phase of the ceasefire, outlines a mechanism under which heavy weapons would be inventoried and stored under a Palestinian National Committee while Israeli occupation forces gradually withdraw from Gaza.

Israel has not publicly endorsed the proposal, while Hamas has maintained that no provisions related to its weapons can be implemented unless Israel first fulfills its own obligations under the agreement.

Addressing concerns among Palestinians that any discussion of weapons could undermine Gaza’s future ability to defend itself from external aggression, Qaddoumi rejected media portrayals of the proposal as a disarmament deal.

“It is not a relinquishment of weapons. It is not an isolated step. It is not a withdrawal from, or retreat from, the concept of resistance,” he told the Press TV website.

Resistance inherent right of Palestinians

The Hamas representative noted that resistance, in all its forms and by all its means, “is an inherent right of any nation living under occupation – especially the Palestinian people, who have lived under occupation for nearly a century.”

“They have the right to defend themselves in whatever way they consider appropriate, including armed resistance,” he stated.

According to Qaddoumi, even that discussion would depend entirely on the Israeli regime implementing the broader agreement.

“Moreover, this step is conditional upon Israel fulfilling and implementing the other parts of the agreement, including the withdrawal of its forces, the opening of the border crossings, the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, and the complete cessation of the genocide,” he said.

He further noted that Israel would have to allow the Palestinian National Committee to enter Gaza to administer civilian affairs, oversee reconstruction and prepare for “a political electoral process that will ultimately lead to an independent Palestinian state.”

“Only within that framework and according to those benchmarks can any discussion regarding weapons take place. Beyond that, there is no such thing as the resistance relinquishing its weapons,” he remarked.

“Our strength comes from our faith, our people, and our just cause. We will continue until this occupation ends and until our nation achieves independence, peace, and prosperity.”

The proposed roadmap envisages a phased process in which heavy weaponry, military production sites, weapons depots and tunnel infrastructure would be inventoried and stored under Palestinian oversight while Israeli troops withdraw in stages.

Hamas has repeatedly said those steps cannot proceed independently of Israel’s commitments regarding withdrawal, humanitarian access and reconstruction.

The genocidal onslaught on the besieged Gaza Strip has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians and injured over 174,000 others since October 23, 2023, most of them women and children, and caused widespread destruction affecting 90% of civilian infrastructure.

The UN estimates reconstruction costs at approximately $70 billion.

‘No trust’ in US, Israel

Asked whether Hamas trusted Washington and Israel to uphold any agreement, Qaddoumi said experience had left little room for confidence.

“There is no such thing as trust or confidence. Historical experience has not been positive when dealing with the Americans or the Israelis,” he told the Press TV website, pointing to failures to implement previous commitments. “On the one hand, President Trump, before the whole world, proposed this ceasefire agreement, saying that the genocide would stop. It did not stop.”

Since the ceasefire came into effect, he noted that more than 1,200 innocent civilians lost their lives, killed in cold blood by the Israeli occupation forces in the refugee camps.

Qaddoumi also noted that border crossings remain closed, humanitarian aid has yet to enter Gaza, reconstruction materials continue to be blocked, and the Palestinian National Committee formed in Egypt has not been allowed into the territory.

“That’s why we’re skeptical,” he said. “We have every right to be.”

Even so, he added that Hamas has continued participating in negotiations in coordination with other Palestinian factions.

“On the other hand, we are still moving toward improving the lives of our people because we have carried this responsibility in consensus with the other Palestinian factions,” he stated.

“With an open mind and a good heart, we entered these negotiations to prevent the genocide from resuming. We sought to achieve a fair political solution for our people.”

Palestine has nothing more to give

The Hamas official said Palestinians have already fulfilled their part of the process.

“At this point, nobody should ask the Palestinians to give anything more, because the Palestinian side has already given everything that was asked of it. There is nothing more to give,” he told the Press TV website.

Instead, he said, responsibility now rests with international guarantors. “Now it is time for the guarantors. It is time for the President of the United States to put sufficient pressure on Israel to abide by its commitments.”

Qaddoumi said statements by members of Israeli regime prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition have further reinforced Hamas’s doubts about the implementation of the deal.

“The presence of extreme figures in Netanyahu’s cabinet, such as Ben-Gvir, gives us little reason for optimism because they openly say that these proposals do not meet Israel’s demands; but what are Israel’s demands? What we see today is that Israelis are obsessed either by personal agenda or ideological extremist agenda,” he said.

“Netanyahu wants to remain in power, while ideological fanatic elements like Ben-Gvir are driven by the belief that Palestinians have no right to live in Gaza. They believe Palestinians should leave Gaza and that Israelis should replace them and build settlements there. With such a mentality, hope is very scarce.”

Nevertheless, he said Hamas would continue urging international actors to ensure implementation of the agreement to end the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza.

“We will continue to call on the international community to fulfill its responsibility by guaranteeing the implementation of the agreement and creating mechanisms to move the process forward, rather than allowing the genocide to resume,” he stressed.

“The world must compel and pressure the Israeli forces to withdraw from Gaza, allow the Palestinian National Committee to enter Gaza, permit the entry of food, water, and reconstruction materials, and reopen the border crossings.”

Palestinian consensus

On coordination among Palestinian resistance factions, Qaddoumi said the latest proposal reflects a unified Palestinian position.

“The latest statement announcing a positive step toward strengthening the ceasefire stems from Palestinian consensus. Our brothers in Islamic Jihad and the other Palestinian factions were with us in Egypt, and we discussed it together,” he noted.

He emphasized that discussions about weapons should not be confused with surrendering resistance.

“By the way, the term ‘disarmament’ must be clearly understood,” Qaddoumi said. “When we talk about heavy weapons, we have conditioned any discussion on the implementation of the first stage of the agreement, and the political solution to a Palestinian independent state”

He reiterated that those conditions included humanitarian measures, Israeli military withdrawal, reconstruction, reopening crossings, allowing the Palestinian National Committee into Gaza and progress toward an independent Palestinian state.

“Only then can any political solution and any step toward disarmament–or, as we have said, gathering or storing the weapons, whatever term is used–be addressed,” he said.

“First, this is a matter of national Palestinian consensus; second, it is an entirely Palestinian issue that concerns the future shape of Palestine, its political life, and how Palestinians choose to address these matters.”

Qaddoumi said the Hamas resistance movement views the sacrifices of its martyred leaders, including Haniyeh, as part of a broader struggle for Palestinian self-determination.

“Those great people gave their lives for a noble cause,” he said. “Martyr Haniyeh himself said that there is a price for this cause and this responsibility.”

Haniyeh’s assassination came a day after he attended the inauguration ceremony of President Masoud Pezeshkian.

“We carry this responsibility knowing that the price will be heavy and that our lives are at stake — for the sake of our people, for the sake of our noble cause, and for the sake of our homeland,” Qaddoumi said.

He concluded by recalling remarks delivered by Hamas’s newly-elected leader Khalil al-Hayya at Haniyeh’s funeral in Tehran one day after the assassination.

“The enemy is deluded if they think that we will be diverted from our path or from the path of those great leaders and martyrs. On the contrary, we will insist on continuing our road toward independence because those people who offered their lives for the sake of their people did so for a reason. That reason is to live in peace and prosperity and to give our children a better life. Martyrdom is a school that teaches us how to live,” he said.

“Martyrdom is the art of those great people who gave their lives to grant future generations a prosperous, peaceful, and dignified life. Today, we are strong enough to carry the flag of those great people and move forward toward the development of our people and our nation.”

August 2, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , , | Comments Off on No question of surrendering weapons; proposal only covers heavy weapons storage: Hamas representative

‘Israel’ kills 17 Palestinians in Gaza on day 279 of the ‘ceasefire’

Al Mayadeen | August 2, 2026

The Israeli occupation continued its violations of the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip for the 297th consecutive day, killing 17 Palestinians and injuring dozens over the past 24 hours, according to reports.

The Israeli attacks killed 10 Palestinians and wounded others during a series of overnight attacks that continued across the Gaza Strip until dawn on Sunday.

Among those killed was Sheikh Kamal Abu Ma’ili, who was deliberately targeted alongside his wife after the Israeli occupation struck their home in the al-Mashaila area west of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. The strike also injured four Palestinians who were transferred to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

In the same city, Palestinian civilian Saber Mohammad Khalil Rabee was killed, and another person was injured after the Israeli occupation targeted their home in the al-Mahatta area.

‘Israel’ targets liberated Palestinian prisoner

In northern Gaza, the Israeli occupation carried out demolitions of civilian homes in Beit Lahia at dawn on Sunday.

In Gaza City and its governorate, three Palestinians were killed after an Israeli airstrike targeted an apartment in al-Sousi Tower west of the city.

The attacks also killed liberated prisoner Mohammad Abdul Ahmad Abu Ras, who was targeted while among a group of civilians on Omar al-Mukhtar Street, only one week after his release from Israeli occupation prisons.

Meanwhile, young Palestinian Ahmad Wael al-Khudari succumbed to injuries sustained several days earlier in an Israeli strike on al-Jalaa Street.

In another attack, an Israeli unmanned aircraft targeted a group of civilians near al-Ghazali intersection in Gaza City, killing Hassan Ibrahim Qahman and Alaa Imad al-Taramisi and injuring two others.

The Israeli occupation also targeted the roof of a home in the al-Sinaa area of Tal al-Hawa neighborhood southwest of Gaza City, killing Kamal Alaa Aliwa and Zakaria Ahmad Zaidiya and injuring others.

The Palestinian Red Crescent transported the body of Hassan Hisham al-Khudari, 38, after he was killed in an Israeli strike on al-Thalathini Street in southern Gaza City.

Israeli attacks continue across southern Gaza

In Khan Younis in southern Gaza, three Palestinians, including a child, were killed after an Israeli strike targeted an apartment belonging to the al-Hams family in al-Mawasi, northwest of al-Qarara town.

Palestinian civilian Salem Abu Labda also died from injuries sustained in an Israeli airstrike that targeted him on Saturday afternoon in the same al-Mawasi area.

Earlier on Saturday, seven Palestinians were killed and around 10 others injured in different areas across the Gaza Strip as a result of Israeli ceasefire violations.

August 2, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Comments Off on ‘Israel’ kills 17 Palestinians in Gaza on day 279 of the ‘ceasefire’

Brazil approaches NATO and Israel to modernize its armed forces

By Raphael Machado | Strategic Culture Foundation | August 2, 2026

In an unusual statement given the turbulent relations of recent years, Brazilian President Lula defended the rearmament and modernization of Brazil’s Armed Forces. According to him, Brazil must have strong armed forces, even if it does not intend to use them, but as deterrent forces to prevent direct interference from foreign powers in the country.

The statement took place at an event organized under the auspices of Avibras Aeroco, an important strategic company in the Brazilian defense sector. Avibras is best known for producing the Astros anti-aircraft systems, which are operated by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq, Bahrain, Angola, Indonesia, Malaysia and, naturally, Brazil itself. In addition to the Astros, Avibras also produces various types of armored personnel carriers and some other anti-aircraft equipment such as the SKYFIRE and the EDT-FILA. The company is also developing an anti-ship missile, a laser-guided missile, a fiber-optic guided missile, an air-to-air missile and an upgrade to the Astros.

Such a high level of activity on Avibras’s part is notable because the company only resumed its operations in May-June 2026, after more than 4 years of total operational standstill. Avibras’s problems began during the pandemic era (which leads us to reflect once again on the role of health crisis management in the deindustrialization of numerous countries and the destruction of their middle classes). While most relevant defense industry companies worldwide are subsidized or receive some type of government support, Brazil had been treating its companies in this sector as private enterprises like any other for decades. Thus, with reduced orders and the impossibility of travel, Avibras gradually became unable to pay its debts, salaries and cover its operational costs. In 2022, all activities are halted and a strike begins over more than 1 year of overdue wages.

Meanwhile, foreign companies (especially from Australia, Saudi Arabia and China) showed interest in acquiring Avibras, which could result in an uncomfortable and uninteresting situation, especially if Avibras were acquired by Australia.

A mobilization of patriotic sectors of Brazilian society, however, throughout this entire period, managed to exert enough pressure on the government to convince it of Avibras’s importance, leading to new contracts with the Armed Forces, a bankruptcy protection agreement and the end of the workers’ strike.

The Avibras case – which points to a renewal of interest in military affairs on the part of the Brazilian State – is not isolated, however.

Brazil’s military spending rose about 13% in 2025, but the country remained in 21st place globally – a ridiculous level given the country’s size and its international leadership aspirations. For 2026, a 6% increase was forecast, and at the end of 2025, approximately 6 billion extra dollars were also approved, due to budgetary limits for specific modernization projects.

The modernization projects in question fall within the logic of the Transformation Policy, a document built from observation of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine and recent conflicts in the Middle East. Based on this document, Brazil’s Armed Forces defined as part of their objectives the expansion of military drone use, the development of anti-drone systems, the national-level integration of sensor and radar systems and the expansion of cyber warfare capabilities.

Specifically, the project aimed at integrating and connecting military sensors, radars, satellites, aircraft and electronic systems is SISFRON (Integrated Border Monitoring System), which is set to receive approximately 600 million dollars. The drones used in this system will be from Israel’s Elbit.

Another program receiving historic attention from Brazil is Prosub, aimed at developing conventional submarines and nuclear-powered submarines, the result of a partnership with France dating back to 2008. Needless to say, for 14 years of cooperation this Brazil-France partnership has little to show so far, but there are promises that this year and next summer will see the delivery and launching of submarines.

The Brazilian Navy also expanded its fleet through the incorporation of a new frigate – to NATO standards – developed jointly by Brazil’s Embraer and Germany’s ThyssenKrupp.

The Air Force’s focus, in turn, is the Gripen Program, the result of a long-standing cooperation between Brazil and Sweden, which is only now yielding results. The Gripen fighters are assembled in Brazilian factories, and Brazil recently set aside a budget of approximately 400 million dollars for this program, which eventually envisions a fleet of 56 modern fighters.

There is also the recent formalization of a contract with the Italian CIO consortium for the acquisition of Centauro II armored vehicles, for use on Brazil’s borders, with a budget of approximately 1 billion dollars to acquire approximately 100 combat vehicles.

It is important to note that the fact that Brazil has understood the need to improve its Armed Forces is reassuring, and we imagine that the U.S. attack on Venezuela was one of the elements that reinforced this conviction and facilitated the acceleration of plans and the expansion of budgets.

It is also noteworthy that few of the projects and plans under development involve the U.S., which is peculiar considering the umbilical ties that exist between the U.S. Armed Forces and Brazil’s Armed Forces since World War II. Recently, the Commander of the Brazilian Navy, Marcos Olsen, reaffirmed the commitment to a doctrinal alignment of Brazil’s Armed Forces with the U.S. in an interview with CNN. But now, Brazil is preferring not to acquire its equipment or develop joint projects with the U.S., with the exception of the recent plan to acquire outdated (and used) Black Hawk helicopters.

It should also be noted that most of these partnerships developed by Brazil involve technology transfer, which is always of interest to Brazil and has guided Brasília’s international cooperation decisions. Agreements with the U.S. rarely involve technology transfer.

At the same time, however, it is striking that all the projects involve cooperation with NATO countries or their close allies, such as the State of Israel. Even with technology transfer, cooperation with countries like France and Israel raises concerns.

France is a country already notorious for handing over Argentine military secrets to its British allies during the Falklands War. Meanwhile, Israel has a history of placing backdoors in all electronic systems sold to foreign countries since the PROMIS case of the 1980s.

This is, then, clearly a crossroads situation in which the Brazilian government’s stance of not taking a geopolitical position and maintaining a certain “neutrality” facilitates the strengthening of ties with countries that are very clearly involved in international conflicts on the globalist and Atlanticist side of the equation.

August 2, 2026 Posted by | Militarism | , , , , | Comments Off on Brazil approaches NATO and Israel to modernize its armed forces

US punished Colombia’s outgoing leader for calling Gaza war ‘genocide’ – FM

RT | August 2, 2026

Israel is at the heart of Washington’s long-running tensions with Colombia and its outgoing President Gustavo Petro, Foreign Minister Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio has told RT.

In an exclusive interview aired on Sunday, Villavicencio insisted that the decisive factor behind US sanctions on Petro was not his alleged failure to combat drug trafficking but rather his outspoken support for Palestine and repeated accusations that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza.

Relations between Bogota and Washington – Colombia’s largest trading partner – steadily deteriorated during Petro’s presidency over US policy in Latin America, particularly toward Venezuela and Cuba, regional anti-drug efforts, and broader geopolitical differences, most notably Petro’s outspoken support for Palestine and criticism of Israel. This culminated in Washington sanctioning Petro last year, accusing him of “allowing drug cartels to flourish” and “refusing to stop” narcotics trafficking.

US President Donald Trump called Petro an “illegal drug leader,” and openly backed right-wing presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella, who campaigned on restoring closer ties with Washington, over Petro ally and left-wing Senator Ivan Cepeda in the election earlier this year.

Villavicencio rejected Washington’s justification for sanctioning Petro, arguing that his administration had delivered record results in combating drug trafficking.

“We are talking about record-breaking seizures of cocaine, exceeding the figures achieved by any previous administration,” she said, adding that authorities had dismantled cocaine laboratories, extradited suspects, confiscated criminal assets, and kept the US informed of those efforts.

“President [Petro’s] inclusion on the OFAC list [is] in no way related to drug trafficking. These measures were taken against the president because of his firm and principled stance when he openly described what is happening in Palestine as genocide,” Villavicencio declared. “That was the real reason.”

Petro severed diplomatic ties with Israel in 2024 over its military campaign in Gaza, repeatedly accusing West Jerusalem of committing genocide and becoming one of Israel’s fiercest critics in Latin America.

He also suspended all Israeli arms purchases, ending Colombia’s long-standing reliance on Israeli military technology, banned coal exports to Israel, and later expelled Israel’s remaining diplomats after an aid flotilla carrying Colombian activists was intercepted by Israeli forces. Colombia also formally joined South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Petro is due to hand power to President-elect de la Espriella on August 7. He has said he will not attend the inauguration, challenged the legitimacy of the election, and alleged that Israel manipulated Colombia’s presidential vote by hacking election servers. Apart from aligning Colombia more closely with Washington, de la Espriella has pledged to restore full diplomatic ties with Israel, effectively reversing nearly every major foreign-policy decision of the Petro administration.

Meanwhile, the Gaza conflict remains unresolved despite recent political developments. Earlier this week, Hamas said it had accepted Trump’s Board of Peace proposal for phased disarmament, provided Israel fulfills its commitments, including a phased military withdrawal, humanitarian access, and progress on reconstruction.

Israel has yet to formally endorse the proposal, however, insisting that any withdrawal can only begin after Hamas fully disarms, leaving the process deadlocked. Israeli forces have meanwhile continued operations across Gaza, with Palestinian officials reporting at least one person killed and several others wounded in strikes on Friday. … Video interview

August 2, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Video, Wars for Israel | , , , , , | Comments Off on US punished Colombia’s outgoing leader for calling Gaza war ‘genocide’ – FM

Claims of Iran agreeing to reopen Hormuz Strait are false: Report

Press TV – August 2, 2026

Media reports claiming that the Islamic Republic of Iran has agreed to a plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz are false, and no change has been made to the country’s policy regarding the strategic waterway, according to a report.

Foreign media outlets, citing Israeli journalist Barak Ravid, have claimed earlier that Iran had accepted a proposal under which ships would enter the Persian Gulf through Iranian territorial waters and leave through Omani territorial waters.

Fars News Agency, citing a source close to Iran’s nuclear negotiating team, rejected those claims, with the source saying, “The Islamic Republic of Iran has reached no agreement on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and the reports published in this regard are false.”

According to Fars, a military source also dismissed the claims, saying they were entirely unfounded.

“As long as the hostile actions and acts of malice by the United States continue, the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed,” the military source was quoted as saying.

“Passage will only be possible through the designated route, in coordination with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Navy and after obtaining permission to transit the Strait of Hormuz. Otherwise, other routes are unsafe, and vessels attempting to use them will certainly encounter incidents.”

The source further emphasized that reports claiming that Iran had agreed to any plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz were “baseless” and that no decision or policy change had been made regarding the strategic waterway.

It came after US President Donald Trump said he had canceled declared attacks on Iran, following warnings from Tehran that any new US or Israeli aggression would face strong retaliation.

In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, Trump claimed that the US was “locked and loaded” and prepared to launch a military assault against Iran, describing the potential aggression as involving levels of military power “not seen since World War II.”

The latest round of war against Iran began on February 28, when US and Israeli forces launched large-scale strikes on Iranian territory.

Iran responded with daily waves of missiles and drones targeting US and Israeli assets across the region, while closing the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran and the US later signed the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on June 17 in an effort to end the war across all fronts.

However, renewed US military aggression against Iran in recent weeks has prompted Tehran to resume missile and drone strikes against US assets in the region and close the Strait of Hormuz once again.

August 2, 2026 Posted by | Deception, Fake News, Mainstream Media, Warmongering, Wars for Israel | , , | Comments Off on Claims of Iran agreeing to reopen Hormuz Strait are false: Report

Seyed M. Marandi: Morocco Invades Spain?

Glenn Diesen | August 1, 2026

Prof. Seyed Mohammad Marandi is a former advisor to Iran’s nuclear negotiation team. Prof. Marandi discusses the 60,000 Moroccans storming into Spain and the possible encouragement from the US and Israel to reward Morocco and punish Spain.

August 1, 2026 Posted by | Video, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Seyed M. Marandi: Morocco Invades Spain?

Singapore police open probe over Palestinian flag displayed at Massive Attack concert

The Cradle | July 31, 2026

Singaporean police are investigating an incident involving the display of a Palestinian flag during a concert by the British band Massive Attack, which ended its performance in the country by raising the flag on stage, according to a police statement issued on 31 July.

Police and media stated that investigations are ongoing concerning what was described as “a possible breach of license conditions.”

Under Singaporean law, no foreign national emblem may be shown in public without a permit or an exemption.

The Palestinian flag carries particular sensitivity given Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and the country’s sizable Muslim population.

The home affairs ministry issued a public advisory in 2023 against displaying or wearing items connected to events in Palestine and Israel.

“The ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict is an emotive issue. We would like to advise against the public display and wearing of articles in relation to the conflict, given the heightened sensitivities,” the ministry said.

The case of Massive Attack is far from the first display of solidarity with Palestine to draw legal action.

Since the start of the Gaza genocide in October 2023, efforts to support Palestine have faced some of the broadest and most diverse crackdowns on public protests.

In the US, authorities and universities have responded to Gaza solidarity demonstrations with mass arrests, suspensions, and criminal charges against students and faculty, while federal officials have threatened funding cuts and investigations targeting pro‑Palestinian activism.

The UK government has used anti‑terror legislation and public‑order powers to ban groups, impose strict conditions on rallies and detain thousands of protesters, activists and academics for expressing support for Palestine.

In France, interior‑ministry directives have led to repeated nationwide bans on pro‑Palestinian demonstrations, with police deploying tear gas, water cannon and mass fines to disperse gatherings and prosecutors pursuing criminal cases against organizers and participants.

In Germany, one of Israel’s staunchest allies, state authorities have treated common pro‑Palestinian slogans as criminal offenses, imposed protest bans, carried out hundreds of arrests and fines, and pursued deportations and other immigration measures against foreign activists involved in solidarity actions.

August 1, 2026 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , , , | Comments Off on Singapore police open probe over Palestinian flag displayed at Massive Attack concert

Saudi Arabia’s militarization of Red Sea will not safeguard shipping in waterway: Yemen

Press TV – August 1, 2026

Saudi Arabia’s decision to build an international coalition and militarize the Red Sea will not protect its vessels in the waterway, says a prominent member of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council, warning that such move will mount regional tensions and complicate the security landscape.

Abdulaziz bin Habtour, in a statement issued on Friday, called the proposed Saudi maritime coalition a facade for persisting with the aggression and blockade against Yemen.

He stated that the Bab al-Mandab Strait continues to be accessible for international navigation, emphasizing that Yemen’s maritime measures target only Saudi vessels, calling them a reaction to the blockade placed on Yemen.

Bin Habtour said that earlier warnings to the US-led “Prosperity Guardian” coalition underscored that the Red Sea crisis couldn’t be resolved through military force, but by terminating Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza and removing the blockade.

He noted that removal of the Saudi blockade and cessation of the military campaign against Yemen, instead of militarizing the Bab al-Mandab Strait, is the sole method to ease regional tensions.

Reuters quoted people familiar with the deliberations that Saudi Arabia seeks to form an international coalition against Yemen in the Red Sea.

The coalition’s composition has not been finalized and discussions are ongoing with numerous countries, the sources were quoted as saying.

On July 20, the Sana’a government declared a maritime blockade against Saudi Arabia, stating that its authorities have enforced “an unjust and oppressive siege” on Yemen for almost 12 years, “looting our resources and enforcing a total blockade.”

Since then, the Yemeni Armed Forces said they have launched attacks on Saudi vessels in the Red Sea.

Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched the blockade on Yemen as part of a full-scale war since March 2015, with military, political, and logistical support from the United States and other Western states.

The war has killed tens of thousands of Yemenis, while consistently falling short of its main objective of restoring power to Yemen’s former Riyadh-friendly regime.

Following a fragile UN-brokered ceasefire in 2022, the United States, Britain, and the Israeli regime waged many rounds of aggression against Yemen. The attacks sought to cripple Sana’a’s capability to stage solidarity strikes against Israeli targets in response to Tel Aviv’s war of genocide on the Gaza Strip.

August 1, 2026 Posted by | Wars for Israel | , , , , , | Comments Off on Saudi Arabia’s militarization of Red Sea will not safeguard shipping in waterway: Yemen

Lobbying for Zionism reviewed by David Miller

By David Miller | July 30, 2026

Did Zionism begin as a Christian project which was only later a Jewish movement?

This is what Ilan Pappé says in the book Lobbying for Zionism.

In my review of the book, I show this is wrong.

Here is an excerpt:

The contribution of the first section of the book is to unearth the hidden history of the Christian Zionist movement. This is a fascinating and useful account of the contribution of a certain ­ fraction of practical British imperialism to the idea of the construction of a Jewish state in the historic territory of Palestine.

In the conclusion, Pappé mentions that ‘Christian fundamentalists, who, as I’ve shown, were the first Zionists in the modern era’. He also states that ‘Zionism began as a Christian project, and thus the early lobbyists were what we would call Christian Zionists today.’ He goes on to criticise Mearsheimer and Walt, saying they ‘described this Christian lobby as a junior partner in the overall lobbying effort in the USA. This appeared to be the case in 2007 — but the picture was very different nearly a decade later during the Trump era.’

But of course, the picture was not very different either during Trump’s first or second presidency. Christian Zionists do have greater numbers of foot soldiers than do Jewish Zionists, but they have only a handful of representatives at the top of the Trump power matrix (for example, Pence and Pompeo in the first period, and Hegseth and Huckabee in the second). As reporting in the Forward, or JFeed, shows, it is Jews that dominate in terms of power players and finance.

Pappé’s conclusion is predicated on his analysis at the start. The opening words of the book are: ‘Zionism began as an evangelical Christian concept and later an active project.’

The main progenitors of the idea were, according to Pappé, Lord Shaftesbury, Colonel Henry Churchill, and Sir George Gawler from the 1830s onward. Though Jewish Zionists of the time are mentioned, such as Sir Moses Montefiore, this all predates the moment when, as Pappé writes, ‘the first settlers arrived [in Palestine] on 6 July 1882’, a group of 14 Russian Jews who arrived at Jaffa Port.

But, as Pappé surely knows, Jewish settlement in Palestine long pre-dates 1882 (see below). Except for Montefiore, none of these figures are mentioned in Pappé’s index and Pappé does not mention Montefiore’s numerous visits to Palestine, or his role in financing Jewish settlement.

In the end, then, the book appears to be advancing a case which is not supported either by the known facts on Jewish settlement in Palestine or by empirically grounded research on the activities of the Zionist movement.

Read the full review via The Column, the new magazine from @ukcolumn .

August 1, 2026 Posted by | Book Review, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , | Comments Off on Lobbying for Zionism reviewed by David Miller

With Karim Khan’s dismissal, the elimination of the war crimes court is near-complete

By Jonathan Cook | July 30, 2026

The most important question we should be asking after Karim Khan’s dismissal last week as chief prosecutor of the ICC – the international war crimes court in The Hague – is not whether he is guilty of “sexual misconduct” against another staff member, identified as “Sarah”.

That can only be decided through a legal process – one, let us note, that has already taken place. A fact-finding body carried out a lengthy investigation of Sarah’s allegations over more than a year; its thousands of pages of evidence were then evaluated in detail by three senior judges.

Though you would not know it from the media coverage, they concluded that there was no evidence to suggest any kind of misconduct by Khan, sexual or otherwise.

Strangely, that determination was largely confirmed by an extraordinarily deferential “exclusive” CNN interview with Sarah, aired earlier this month.

She declined to give any meaningful details of what Khan had allegedly subjected her to, and celebrity interviewer Christiane Amanpour delicately avoided pressing her for any clarification.

No matter. The purpose of the CNN interview was never about excavating facts. It was designed to offer face-saving cover as an entirely political body called the Assembly of States Parties, comprising diplomatic representatives of the 125 states signed up to the ICC, entirely ignored the legal findings and dismissed Khan.

Paradoxically, it was the Assembly of States Parties that appointed the judges who had concluded that there was no evidence of misconduct or breach of duty by Khan. That inconvenient judgment was simply reversed, despite the Assembly members being in no position to weigh the evidence themselves.

We should not forget that many of these states have an investment in weakening the only international court that can bring their own senior officials to trial for war crimes.

In May 2024 – shortly before Sarah made her allegations – the ICC demonstrated that it was finally ready to prosecute western leaders for war crimes, not just those from the Global South or from the West’s official enemies, such as Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

Khan issued an arrest warrant for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant. Both are accused of crimes against humanity for starving the people of Gaza through a prolonged blockade of food, water and power.

Were Netanyahu ever to face trial – and found guilty, as he almost certainly would be – a lot of other leaders would have good reason to fear they might be found culpable next, not least for their complicity in Israel’s mass slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza.

The question that needs answering now is not whether Khan is guilty of misconduct – that has been decided at a political level, not a legal one. No, we need an answer to an equally political, and far more troubling, question.

“Cui bono?” Or “Who benefits?”

The evidence is hiding in plain sight. The evidence is revealed both in the deeply politicised process that led to Khan’s downfall, and in what that process means for the future of the court.

Covert war

Khan is not the first ICC chief prosecutor to face extreme pressures – and, as with Khan, those pressures surfaced at the very moment Khan’s predecessor tried to take on Israel over its war crimes.

Fatou Bensouda faced a “covert war” waged against her by Israel for the best part of a decade, according to an investigation by the Guardian in May 2024, just as Khan issued his arrest warrant for Netanyahu.

The Guardian’s report, published nearly three years after Bensouda had completed her nine-year term at the ICC, revealed that, during that time, she had faced threats to herself and her family, the monitoring of her communications, and an intimidating visit to her home.

More recently, Bensouda has confirmed these accounts in an interview with Al Jazeera. Bensouda notes that she repeatedly reported Israel’s campaign of intimidation to the Dutch authorities, but they did nothing to investigate the threats or protect her.

She also says certain “authorities” – she does not name them – warned her that she was going too far in investigating Israeli crimes and that “you could be harmed or you could be killed, or family members could be harmed in some way.”

The campaign of threats – instigated by Yossi Cohen, then the director of Israel’s spy agency, Mossad – intensified as Bensouda considered whether to open a formal investigation into Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity in the illegally occupied Palestinian territories.

Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people, we should remember, predate – by decades – Hamas’ attack on 7 October 2023. In fact, though no one is supposed to mention it, Israel’s sustained crimes of occupation are the self-evident cause of that Hamas attack.

An Israeli source told the Guardian that “the Mossad’s objective was to compromise the prosecutor or enlist her as someone who would cooperate with Israel’s demands”– that is, scrap the ICC’s investigation into Israeli crimes. Another source admitted that Cohen was acting on Netanyahu’s instructions.

During one contact, Cohen reportedly issued a Mafia-style threat to Bensouda: “You don’t want to be getting into things that could compromise your security or that of your family.”

The Guardian reported that the Mossad “took a keen interest in Bensouda’s family members and obtained transcripts of secret recordings of her husband, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the situation. Israeli officials then attempted to use the material to discredit the prosecutor”.

The paper also noted that there were fears among senior ICC officials that “Israel had cultivated sources within the court’s prosecution division” – the division Khan would inherit from Bensouda.

Cohen was described as “stalking” Bensouda, and personally “ambushed” her in a hotel room in New York in 2018. Afterwards he repeatedly phoned her, in a threatening manner that was said to have escalated over time. When Bensouda asked Cohen how he had obtained her phone number, he reportedly replied: “Did you forget what I do for a living?”

According to the Guardian :

On one occasion, Cohen is said to have shown Bensouda copies of photographs of her husband, which were taken covertly when the couple were visiting London. On another, according to sources, Cohen suggested to the prosecutor that a decision to open a full investigation would be detrimental to her career.

Between 2019 and 2020, the Mossad had been actively seeking compromising information on the prosecutor and took an interest in her family members.

The spy agency obtained a cache of material, including transcripts of an apparent sting operation against her husband.

Israel used the materials to mount a “smear campaign” against her, but one that ultimately proved unsuccessful.

Concerted backlash

When Khan took up the role of ICC chief prosecutor in June 2021, he proved reluctant to pick up where Bensouda had left off on the Palestine case. Presumably, he was only too aware of the retaliation from Israel against her.

Bensouda had announced in December 2019 that she had grounds to open a full criminal investigation into allegations of war crimes in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

However, in the face of a concerted backlash from western states, she delayed opening the investigation. She first sought a ruling from a pre-trial chamber of ICC judges – presumably in the hope it would serve as some kind of insurance policy – on whether the court had jurisdiction over the occupied Palestinian territories.

By February 2021 the judges confirmed what was already self-evident. The court did have such jurisdiction because Palestine had been signed up to the court since 2015.

Bensouda stepped down a few months later.

The door was now open for Khan to prosecute Israeli officials for war crimes. However, the new chief prosecutor gave every appearance – perhaps understandably – of preferring to sit on his hands.

It was not just Israel that had been fearsomely opposed to its officials being tried for war crimes. Washington was equally incensed at the prospect – sometimes, it seemed, more so than over the possibility that US officials might also face arrest warrants for crimes committed by the US military in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Between 2019 and 2020, during Trump’s first presidency, the US imposed severe visa restrictions and financial sanctions on Bensouda. Mike Pompeo, then US secretary of state, linked the sanctions to the Palestine case: “It’s clear the ICC is only putting Israel in [its] crosshairs for nakedly political purposes.”

Khan might well have avoided pursuing Israel indefinitely had it not been for the events that followed 7 October 2023.

Israel’s mass slaughter of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, its devastation of the enclave’s homes and infrastructure, and its starvation of the entire population were actions so criminally abhorrent that UN agencies, major human rights groups and Holocaust scholars were soon all in agreement that they amounted to genocide.

In May 2024, Khan announced arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant, as well as three Hamas leaders subsequently killed by Israel.

Tsunami of threats

Shortly before Khan made that announcement, 12 senior US Senators had sent a threatening letter to the ICC: “Target Israel and we will target you.” The letter ended: “You have been warned.”

Describing Israeli and US sovereignty as inseparable, the senators reminded Khan that Washington had demonstrated “the lengths to which we will go to protect [our] sovereignty.”

A 2002 law, popularly known as “The Hague Invasion Act”, authorises the US president “to use all means necessary and appropriate” to bring about the release US persons and any allies imprisoned or detained by the ICC. Those allies, it goes without saying, include Israeli leaders.

Such threats, it should be noted, are a violation of Article 70 of the Rome Statute.

Following the issuing of the arrest warrants, there followed a tsunami of similar threats – and presumably more that have yet to become public – against Khan and the ICC.

A British-Israeli lawyer within the ICC – one known to have ties to Netanyahu’s legal adviser – warned Khan “they will destroy you and they will destroy the court” if the warrants were not rescinded. He urged Khan to “climb down the tree” and drop the case.

The UK’s foreign secretary of the time, David Cameron, phoned Khan to tell him Britain would defund the court and withdraw from the Rome Statute that founded the ICC if Khan did not back down.

Cameron warned Khan that he was “on the brink of making a huge mistake” and urged him to “take a step back and consider things”. He added that applying for arrest warrants for Israeli officials was tantamount to “dropping a hydrogen bomb”.

Meanwhile, Trump issued an executive order imposing aggressive financial sanctions against Khan and other ICC officials, including several of its judges.

Khan himself received warnings that Israel’s Mossad was continuing its operations in The Hague, where the ICC is located, to monitor and compromise the court’s investigators as they compiled evidence on Israel – just as it had done earlier under Bensouda.

Khan publicly stated that retaliatory threats and intimidation were explicitly targeting members of his own family.

Untouchable criminals

What conclusions should we draw from all of this?

Quite aside from the matter of whether Sarah’s allegations of “sexual misconduct” are true or not, it is clear that Israel and the US have been digging for dirt – and apparently ready to fabricate such dirt – on any chief prosecutor who tries to hold them to account for their crimes.

Both have indicated that they are ready to manipulate legal and political processes to ensure the outcome they desire: that they remain untouchable.

We have a template for how this plays out. Julian Assange, founder of the whistle-blowing site Wikileaks, published details in 2010 of US and British war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq. Almost immediately he found himself entangled in accusations of sexual misdemeanours – in his case in Sweden – that were similarly amplified by an uncritical western media.

Assange faced years in various forms of confinement while the US and UK pressured Sweden to keep alive an investigation against him Swedish prosecutors at least twice sought to drop for lack of credible evidence.

In fact, the US and UK never wanted the evidence tested – they were quite happy with a permanent, unresolved “investigation” – precisely because they knew it would have been unlikely to withstand judicial scrutiny.

The point was simply to generate constant headlines about “rape”, turning Assange into a pariah, justifying his effective disappearance from public life, severely weakening Wikileaks as a whistleblowing platform, deflecting attention from the all-too-real crimes committed by the US and Britain, and paving the way to a political show trial to extradite him to the US on entirely confected “espionage” charges.

This has been repeated in the case of Khan and the ICC. In Khan’s case, the evidence was tested and found inadequate. So the legal process has been replaced by a flagrantly political one.

Khan has been turned into a legal pariah, even stripped of his right to work as a lawyer in the UK by the British Bar Association.

The ICC has been further weakened, just as Israel and the US have expressly stated they wanted it to be. Marco Rubio, Trump’s secretary of state, has recently launched an official campaign to dismantle the ICC “brick by brick”.

He says: “Now they [the ICC] are going to see the consequences”. Consequences of what? Of seeking to enforce international law against a key US client state.

Meanwhile, accountability for the all-too-real crimes being committed by Israel in Gaza, Lebanon and the West Bank – and actively supported by western states like the US, Germany and Britain – recedes yet further into the background

As each brick protecting the ICC is dismantled, a brick is added to the wall of protection around Netanyahu and Israel’s genocidal war machine.

Israel, meanwhile, is barely concealing that it has been masterminding the effort to destroy the ICC.

According to Guy Azriel, the diplomatic correspondent for i24 News, Israeli foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar “oversaw a dedicated task force and employed intensive diplomatic efforts aimed at securing Khan’s removal from office”.

Hillel Neuer, director of the Israel apologist group United Nations Watch, cheered what he called “our campaign to remove” Khan, and warned Francesca Albanese, the UN’s legal expert on the occupied Palestinian territories, “you’re next”.

Like Khan, Albanese has been searching for practical, legal ways – not just rhetoric – to hold Israel and its western allies to account for the crimes in Gaza.

Predatory states

The ICC claims its work will not be affected by Khan’s removal and that the arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant will still be pursued under new stewardship. That seems doubtful.

Israel and the US are cranking up the intimidation of the ICC, which has no tools – beyond the support of members states – to enforce its rulings or protect itself from the hostility of a rogue superpower.

Currently the court appears paralysed, allowing Israel to muddy the waters with interminable, and vexatious, appeals against the arrest warrants.

Any lawyer who takes up the post of ICC chief prosecutor will be only too aware of the fate that befell Khan and the campaign of intimidation against Bensouda as soon as each tried to enforce accountability on Israel and its western patrons.

It will take a very brave individual indeed to renew that task. Khan’s successor will understand that, in any further confrontation with Israel and Washington, the US will not hesitate to crush the ICC and, with it, remove the only effective restraint on criminality by powerful states.

More likely, however, the Assembly of States Parties – the political body that ousted Khan – will privately require from his successor reassurances that the new chief prosecutor reliably defer to the principle of Israeli and western impunity. Only someone less willing to ruffle feathers stands any chance of being appointed.

That was the clearest of messages sent by the Assembly when a majority of member states voted to be rid of Khan. The short-lived experiment in creating a mechanism for enforcing international law is over. We are back to the law of the jungle.

Hundred of thousands of people around the world – more likely millions – will now find themselves even more exposed to the criminal actions of predatory states. Unlike Khan’s accuser, they are unlikely to ever get their day in court.

July 31, 2026 Posted by | Deception, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Timeless or most popular, Video, War Crimes | , , , | Comments Off on With Karim Khan’s dismissal, the elimination of the war crimes court is near-complete

UK charges over 1,500 people over signs opposing Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza

The Cradle | July 31, 2026

British authorities listed the cases of 1,579 people at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 30 July, holding cardboard signs opposing Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, according to the campaign group Defend Our Juries.

The group said the hearing had been pushed back to October, but that hundreds of defendants were never told, leaving them unsure whether they were required to appear, pointing to the confusion as evidence of a crisis the courts cannot absorb.

One court notice seen by Middle East Eye told the recipient they must attend on 30 July, then instructed them in the same letter not to come to court.

Defendants who arrived were handed a further letter addressed to whomever it may concern, adjourning all cases to 26 October.

The chaos came on the same day the Supreme Court ruled that Palestine Action can challenge its proscription.

Over 3,500 arrests have been made under Section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000 of people holding cardboard signs reading, “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action,” Defend Our Juries said.

Those cases are tried summarily and carry a maximum of six months in prison, and include senior citizens, faith leaders, and first-time protesters.

In the past two months, 96 people have filmed videos inviting support for Palestine Action, with many also declaring membership.

The declaration of membership exposes them to Sections 11 and 12 of the same act, which are heard before juries and carry sentences of up to 14 years.

Eight of those who filmed have been arrested, seven in dawn raids on people’s homes, with another 14 detained outside New Scotland Yard on 5 July.

Home Office figures cited by the group show 92 percent of terrorism arrests in the year to March 2026 were linked to alleged support for Palestine Action, with the average demographic profile of the suspect being a 59-year-old white British woman.

A spokesperson for Defend Our Juries said UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham had inherited the crisis, asking “does he really want to be seen locking up pensioners, priests and 84-year-old Reverend Sue Parfitt while people convicted of violent offenses are released early?”

On 15 June 2026, the Court of Appeal ruled the government’s classification of Palestine Action as a terrorist entity was lawful, overturning the February 2026 High Court judgment that had called it unlawful and disproportionate.

July 31, 2026 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance, War Crimes | , , , , | Comments Off on UK charges over 1,500 people over signs opposing Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza

Islamic Jihad says reported deal between Palestinian factions, Israel ‘inaccurate’

MEMO | July 31, 2026

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement said Friday that the announced agreement between Palestinian factions and Israel was “inaccurate,” adding that it has reservations over the deal in its current form, Anadolu reports.

In a statement, the movement’s spokesperson said: “What has been announced regarding an agreement between the Palestinian factions and the enemy (Israel) is inaccurate, and we have reservations about it in its currently circulated form.”

The Palestinian group’s statement came after US President Donald Trump announced that an agreement had been reached for the complete disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza, with Israeli forces set to withdraw in phases as the process moves forward.

Trump also credited Egypt, Qatar, and Turkiye for helping broker what he described as a “historic breakthrough,” saying the agreement would be implemented gradually, with an International Stabilization Force working alongside a new Palestinian police force to assume responsibility for security in Gaza.

Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians and injured over 174,000 others, most of them women and children, while destroying about 90% of the enclave’s infrastructure.

The ceasefire was brokered under Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza, which is being overseen by the Board of Peace, which he chairs.

Despite the ceasefire, which took effect on Oct. 10, 2025, Israel has continued daily attacks across Gaza, killing 1,214 Palestinians and injuring 3,977 others, most of them women and children, while causing widespread destruction.

July 31, 2026 Posted by | Deception, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , | Comments Off on Islamic Jihad says reported deal between Palestinian factions, Israel ‘inaccurate’

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