One martyred in Israeli drone strike on South Lebanon vehicle

Al Mayadeen | May 6, 2025
Al Mayadeen’s correspondent in southern Lebanon reported that an Israeli drone strike targeted a civilian vehicle in the university district of Kfar Rumman, located in Nabatieh Governorate. The attack resulted in the martyrdom of one individual.
The assassination occurred against a backdrop of intensifying Israeli aggression across Lebanon and Syria. Last night, Israeli warplanes conducted coordinated strikes targeting displacement shelters in Tayr Harfa, residential areas in Srifa, and border regions near Syria’s Serghaya.
These attacks follow Saturday’s disturbing incidents where Israeli drones dropped grenades near Marjayoun while others broadcast threats to farmers working in Wadi Khansa’s agricultural lands.
Local monitoring groups note an alarming trend in “Israel’s” violation patterns since the November 2025 ceasefire. Their latest data shows over 3,000 breaches, with a particular focus on southern Lebanon, where vehicle-targeted strikes have increased by 73%.
The cumulative toll now stands at 149 martyrs and 346 wounded, predominantly civilians caught in what human rights organizations describe as “a campaign of collective punishment.”
Shelter in your bunkers or leave our region: President of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council to Israelis
Al Mayadeen | May 6, 2025
President of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council, Mahdi al-Mashat, vowed on Tuesday that Sanaa’s response to Israeli and US aggression would be “devastating and painful,” and beyond what either party could withstand.
His remarks followed Israeli airstrikes targeting civilian infrastructure in Sanaa, including the airport, power stations, and factories.
“From now on, take shelter in your bunkers or leave our region immediately,” al-Mashat warned the Israeli occupation. “Your failed government can no longer protect you.”
He reaffirmed Yemen’s firm stance in supporting Gaza, stressing, “Our strikes are effective, and they will continue. We will not be deterred from our rightful stance in supporting our brothers in Palestine until the aggression ends and the siege on Gaza is lifted.”
Trump says aggression on Yemen suspended
The remarks came shortly after US President Donald Trump declared a halt to American airstrikes on Yemen, claiming Sanaa had promised to end Red Sea attacks on ships.
However, Ansar Allah leaders denied any formal commitment, with senior official Mohammed al-Bukhaiti stating that operations against US warships might pause if American strikes ceased, but vowed that military actions in support of Gaza and against the Israeli occupation would continue unabated.
Al-Mashat: Escalation will endanger Trump during his visits to the region
Later, al-Mashat said that authorities in Sanaa indirectly informed Washington that the continued escalation in the region will only affect the visits of “the criminal Trump” to the region. He said that Yemen did not inform the US of anything else.
“If the criminal Trump wants to stop his aggression and compensate [for the destruction] he left behind, that is up to him,” al-Mashat emphasized.
Oman’s Foreign Ministry confirmed it had brokered a ceasefire agreement aimed at de-escalation between the US and the authorities in Sanaa, with both parties agreeing not to target each other moving forward.
Yet the US State Department later clarified that the agreement applies strictly to maritime operations in the Red Sea. “If the Houthis [Ansar Allah] commit to not targeting ships, we will also reciprocate,” a spokesperson said.
‘Israel’ bewildered by Trump announcement
Meanwhile, the announcement from Trump sent shockwaves through the Israeli political establishment. According to Channel 14, the Israeli occupation leadership was blindsided by both Trump’s remarks on Yemen and his promise of a “major announcement” during his upcoming Middle East tour. The channel described the political mood as one of “confusion and disbelief.”
Amit Segal of Channel 12 described Trump’s message as a regional signal: “If I were Iranian, I would understand it as: hit ‘Israel’ and leave us alone.”
Tsvi Yehezkeli, Arab affairs analyst for Channel 13, speculated that the US may be pursuing a quiet agreement with Yemen. “I don’t see another explanation for this declaration,” he said, warning that the US disengagement puts “Israel” in a difficult position, effectively leaving it alone to face Yemeni retaliation. “This is no longer just about Red Sea shipping; it’s now about direct fire on Israel,” he added.
However, despite Trump’s claims of a breakthrough, Ansar Allah denied that any such concession had been made. In an interview with Bloomberg, Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the group’s Political Council, affirmed that military operations in the Red Sea and against “Israel” would continue until the aggression on Gaza ends and the siege on its people is lifted.
Trump’s remarks on Gaza aid meant to justify Israeli policy of starvation: Hamas
Press TV – May 6, 2025
Hamas has rejected the accusation by US President Donald Trump that the Palestinian resistance group makes it impossible for aid to reach Palestinians in Gaza, saying the remarks are meant to justify Israel’s policy of starvation in the besieged territory.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Hamas said the remarks by Trump were “nothing more than a surprising parroting of the lies propagated by Netanyahu’s terrorist regime, which seeks to justify the systematic starvation it is inflicting upon innocent civilians.”
President Trump said on Monday that the US would help provide some food to the people of Gaza, where famine is currently being observed. He accused Hamas of taking all the aid that is brought into the besieged territory.
“We’re gonna help the people of Gaza get some food. People are starving, and we’re gonna help them get some food,” Trump said.
Hamas said the remarks by the US president contradict testimonies from humanitarian organizations operating in Gaza.
“These accusations blatantly contradict United Nations reports, testimonies from humanitarian organizations operating in the Strip, and all on-the-ground evidence, while aligning perfectly with the occupation’s policy of using starvation as a weapon, in clear violation of international law and humanitarian norms.”
The Palestinian movement also urged the Trump administration “to correct its position, cease providing cover for the genocide and starvation policies pursued by the occupation in the Gaza Strip.”
Hamas said it was not enough for Trump to ask Netanyahu to “send some food.”
It also called on the US to pressure Israel to “halt its aggression and open the crossings to allow the entry of all essential life-saving supplies.”
“What is required is a responsible stance that respects international humanitarian law, demands the immediate opening of crossings, ensures the uninterrupted flow of aid and relief, and puts an end to the use of food as a tool of blackmail and pressure in this war.”
Separately, Hamas said Israel’s plans to expand the operation in Gaza meant sacrificing Israeli captives and repeating past failures.
Hamas said the plan showed that the Israeli prime minister was determined to commit further war crimes against civilians in Gaza.
The Palestinian group urged the international community to intensify popular pressure to end the war against Gaza.
In March, after two months of ceasefire, Israel resumed its brutal military offensive in Gaza.
Furthermore, the regime imposed a blockade on all aid supplies, refusing to allow even a single truck carrying humanitarian or commercial goods to enter.
Israeli Forces Carry Out Large-Scale Demolitions Across West Bank

IMEMC | May 6, 2025
Israeli occupation forces have demolished an entire Palestinian village, Khirbet Khallet ad-Dabe’ in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, in the occupied West Bank, in addition to demolishing many homes and structures in villages near Ramallah, Qalqilia, and the northern Jordan Valley.
The demolitions, carried out under the pretext of “unauthorized construction,” mark one of the largest waves of destruction in recent months.
Mass Displacement in Masafer Yatta
In Khirbet Khallet ad-Dabe’, Israeli soldiers razed 25 structures, including homes, water wells, caves, agricultural rooms, livestock pens, and solar panels, most of which belonged to the Dababsa family.
Residents were forcibly evicted, prevented from retrieving their belongings, and left without shelter.
The village, home to 120 Palestinians, has been under constant threat of displacement since 2022, as Israel seeks to seize the land for colonial expansion by designating it a military firing zone.
Local activist Osama Makhamra stated that Israeli forces forced residents to evacuate at gunpoint, leaving them stranded in harsh conditions. He noted that only a school and two homes remain standing after the demolitions.
Expanding Colonial Control
The destruction in Masafer Yatta is part of a broader Israeli policy aimed at erasing Palestinian communities and replacing them with Jewish colonizers.
According to Nidal Younis, head of the local village council, Israel’s actions reflect a long-standing strategy of forced displacement, involving land confiscation, demolitions, and expansion of illegal Israeli colonies, built in direct violation of international law.
“Nearly 90% of the homes in Khirbet Khallet ad-Dabe’ have been destroyed, leaving families and livestock without shelter. This is a deliberate effort to wipe out Palestinian presence in the area,” Younis said.
Younis warned that all villages in Masafer Yatta are under threat, with Israel systematically declaring Palestinian lands as closed military zones to facilitate colonial expansion.
Over the past two years, Israel has established eight new colonies in the area, alongside colonizer-run livestock farms that encroach on Palestinian land.
Widespread Demolitions Across the West Bank
Israeli forces also demolished homes and structures in multiple locations, including:
– Al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah – A 150-square-meter home housing five people was destroyed, with another home marked for demolition.
– Al-Funduq, east of Qalqilya – A 200-square-meter home belonging to Firas Bleyya was razed.
– Northern Jordan Valley – Several residential structures and livestock pens were demolished in Khirbet al-Deir.
– Jisr al-Zarqa, near Haifa – A Palestinian home, occupied for three decades, was destroyed under the pretext of unauthorized construction.
Colonizers’ Attacks and Illegal Land Seizures
Israeli paramilitary colonizers have intensified attacks on Palestinian communities, including:
– Al-Mughayyir – Colonizers cut down 200 olive trees belonging to Mohammad and Samir Hamayel.
– Al-Mu’arrajat, northwest of Jericho – Colonizers attempted to burn a Palestinian home and set fire to a tractor, while Israeli forces stood by without intervention.
Escalating Demolition and Colonial Expansion
A recent report by the Wall & Colonization Resistance Commission documented 1,693 Israeli violations in April 2025, including:
– 152 demolitions, affecting 96 homes and 34 agricultural structures.
– 46 demolition orders issued.
– 54 dunams of Palestinian land seized.
– 1,168 olive trees uprooted.
– Plans for 10 new colonial outposts, mostly agricultural and pastoral.
– 27 expansion projects for illegal colonies are under review to seize more Palestinian land.
New PCHR Report Reveals Israeli Destruction of Gaza’s Agricultural Sector and Food Systems
IMEMC | May 6, 2025
In a new report issued Monday, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) confirms that the ongoing Israeli military assault on the Gaza Strip, which began in October 2023, has deliberately and extensively targeted Gaza’s agricultural sector and food production systems. This assault has resulted in the near-total collapse of a sector essential for the survival of the population. PCHR reveals that this destruction is part of a longstanding and systematic strategy by the IOF to exterminate the Palestinian people and uproot their existence. This objective has become a central policy of the current Israeli government, which uses destruction and starvation as weapons of war within the broader framework of the crime of genocide—seeking to eliminate Palestinians and strip them of the basic means of survival.
The report, titled “We Will Leave Them Nothing: The Israeli Systematic Destruction of the Agricultural Sector and Food Production Systems in Gaza”, meticulously documents the deliberate and large-scale destruction by the IOF of Gaza’s agricultural infrastructure. Nearly 75% of farmlands and orchards have been bulldozed and obliterated. The vast majority of agricultural facilities—including greenhouses, storage warehouses, farming equipment, irrigation systems, and power supplies—have been destroyed. In addition, livestock and fishery facilities, which are vital pillars of Gaza’s food security system, have also been decimated.
The report highlights that IOF has seized more than 130 km² of land across Gaza, much of it agricultural, and converted it into military buffer zones. This has deprived Palestinians of vast areas essential for food production—an explicit violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention’s protections for civilian property during wartime and the prohibition against seizing the land of occupied populations. The report also stresses that these unprecedented attacks on Gaza’s food sources have been compounded by an intensified blockade, the denial of humanitarian aid and food supplies, and the systematic use of starvation as a weapon of war. These acts have had catastrophic consequences for food security, triggering a severe hunger crisis and soaring levels of malnutrition.
PCHR warns that the destruction of Gaza’s food systems not only threatens the current survival of the population but also constitutes an assault on the future of Palestinian existence in the Strip. It entrenches a devastating reality of hunger and dependency by eliminating the foundations of recovery and forcing Gaza’s population into total reliance on external aid. This reflects Israel’s long-term colonial objective: to depopulate the land, seize control of its resources, and suppress any possibility of Palestinian self-sufficiency or resilience. Such conduct, the report asserts, directly violates Article II of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which criminalizes the imposition of living conditions calculated to destroy a group physically and psychologically.
The report further affirms that these acts constitute grave violations of international law, particularly the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, especially Article 11, which guarantees the right to adequate food and a dignified life. It also violates Article 54 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, which prohibits targeting “objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population.” According to Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, these acts constitute a full-fledged war crime.
In its recommendations, PCHR calls on the international community to break its silence and to uphold its legal and moral responsibilities in confronting these crimes against Palestinian civilians and their sources of sustenance. It urges effective measures to hold Israel accountable, stop the ongoing genocide in Gaza, and ensure urgent international support for the rehabilitation of the agricultural sector. PCHR also emphasizes the necessity of restoring Palestinian sovereignty over their food systems and land, and demands an end to the culture of impunity that enables the repetition of Israeli crimes and undermines the foundations of international justice.
Do Trump’s Slick Comments Put Iran Talks in Jeopardy?
By Ted Snider | The Libertarian Institute | May 6, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump’s unexpected answer on Sunday to an interviewer’s question has thrown his administration’s nuclear negotiations with Iran into confusion.
Trump has consistently said that negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program are limited to preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon: “You know, it’s not a complicated formula. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.” But in an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, when the interviewer asked Trump, “Is the goal of these talks limiting Iran’s nuclear program or total dismantlement?” Trump answered, “Total disarmament.”
There has been disagreement in the Trump team over, not just the goal of negotiations with Iran, but, more fundamentally, over negotiating with Iran. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz advocated for a military path, while Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Vice President J.D. Vance advocated for caution. Vance urged fully exploring talks before settling for a military solution. Trump sided with the diplomacy camp, believing that “we can make a deal without the attack.”
According to reporting by The Washington Post, Trump fired Waltz as National Security Advisor because he opposed Trump and “wanted to take U.S. policy in a direction Trump wasn’t comfortable with because the U.S. hadn’t attempted a diplomatic solution.” Waltz maintained that “the time was ripe to strike Iran.”
Having agreed on the diplomatic path, there appeared to be confusion over the goal of diplomacy. Waltz said that the U.S. is demanding “full dismantlement,” and Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said that “a Trump deal” means “Iran must stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment and weaponization program.” But these statements had been at odds with Trump’s more limited stated goal. Until Sunday.
If there was a lack of clarity in America’s goals in negotiating, there was no ambiguity in Iran’s. Iran wanted a deal that the United States couldn’t walk away from, as they walked away from the previous 2015 JCPOA nuclear agreement, and they wanted negotiations to lead to three things.
The first is that negotiations have to lead to a cessation of U.S. threats of a military solution. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had made it clear that “the language of threats and coercion is absolutely unacceptable… It is unacceptable for someone to come along and say, ‘Don’t do this, don’t do that, or else.’ I won’t come to negotiate with you.”
The second is that negotiations have to lead to the complete lifting of sanctions.
The third is that, while Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has fully empowered his team to negotiate, he has placed the firm limit that Iran will not negotiate “the full dismantling of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.”
The American-Iranian talks were showing signs of success. Iran called the first round “constructive” and “respectful.” The U.S. called it “constructive” and “positive.” The first round led to a second, which led to an agreement to begin work on a framework for a potential deal and a third round of talks.
Then a flurry of confusing and contradictory statements made by U.S. officials in the past few days began to derail the talks.
First, Pete Hegseth returned to the language of threats. Referring to Yemen’s Houthi attacking vessels in the Red Sea, Hegseth “warned” Iran, “You know very well what the U.S. Military is capable of… You will pay the CONSEQUENCE at the time and place of our choosing.” From Iran’s perspective, what is the point in negotiating limits on your civilian nuclear program to avoid American bombs if the United States is going to bomb you anyway for another purpose?
Then Trump returned to the threat of sanctions, posting that “Any Country or person who buys ANY AMOUNT of OIL or PETROCHEMICALS from Iran will be subject to, immediately, Secondary Sanctions. They will not be allowed to do business with the United States of America in any way, shape, or form.”
Following those two statements, the fourth round of scheduled talks between the United States and Iran were postponed. They were allegedly postponed “[f]or logistical reasons.” However, a senior Iranian official said that “U.S. sanctions on Iran during the nuclear talks are not helping the sides to resolve the nuclear dispute through diplomacy” and that “[d]epending on the U.S. approach, the date of the next round of talks will be announced.”
Then came the unexpected threat to future talks. Trump told Meet the Press that the talks are not negotiating what the Iranians thought they were negotiating. The United States he said, is not negotiating verifiable limits on Iran’s civilian nuclear program, it is demanding “total dismantlement” of Iran’s nuclear program.
“That’s all you’ll accept?” the interviewer clarified. “Yeah, that’s all I’d accept,” Trump confirmed.
The interviewer then, wrongly, suggested that Trump’s statement was inconsistent with Marco Rubio, his Secretary of State’s, suggestion that the U.S. “would accept… a peaceful, civilian nuclear program.”
Trump’s statement is not inconsistent with Rubio’s, though, because Rubio’s statement that Iran can have a civilian nuclear program by importing uranium enriched up to 3.67% but no longer by enriching their own, is consistent with Trump’s statement that Iran would have to dismantle its enrichment capability.
Though Trump’s statement may not be inconsistent with Rubio’s, it did, at this point, become a little confused with itself. Trump suggested that Iran has no need of a civilian nuclear program “to make electricity” because “they have so much oil, what do they need it for.” Trump then, confusingly repeated his earlier formulation, saying, “The only thing they can’t have is a nuclear weapon.” He said, “I think that I would be open to hearing” about a civilian nuclear program to generate energy before seemingly shutting it down again with the observation that “civilian energy often leads to military wars.”
The recent return by Washington to military threats and sanctions are not helping negotiations that seemed to be on a path to possible success. Trump’s latest remark that Iran has to fully dismantle its civilian nuclear program and stop all enrichment appears to take away any motivation for Iran to negotiate. Since Trump has said that “If they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing,” it is imperative to clarify the confusion and the positions and get the fourth round of talks back on schedule.
UCLA Gaza protesters sue over police violence, rubber bullet injuries
Al Mayadeen | May 5, 2025
A new lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court accuses law enforcement of police brutality during a violent crackdown on pro-Palestine protesters at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in spring 2024.
At the height of nationwide demonstrations against “Israel’s” war on Gaza, the UCLA encampment became a central site of student-led protest. On April 30, a pro-“Israel” mob attacked the encampment for more than four hours. Protesters say that police stood by as counter-demonstrators launched fireworks, sprayed chemical agents, and engaged in harassment and sexual assault, according to The Intercept.
The following day, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, UCLA officials, and multiple law enforcement agencies coordinated plans to dismantle the encampment. On May 1, the encampment was forcibly cleared.
On February 12, 2025, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Graduate Students for Justice in Palestine (GSJP) were placed on interim suspension.
Police response: coordination and forceful dispersal
More than 700 police officers descended on campus, including members of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), California Highway Patrol (CHP), Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, University of California Police Department, and private security forces.
During the raid, law enforcement fired over 50 rounds of rubber bullets into the crowd, striking multiple protesters in the head. Several individuals were hospitalized, including one who sustained internal bleeding and another whose hand bones were shattered, requiring surgery and extensive rehabilitation.
Protesters are now suing both the state of California, which oversees CHP, and the city of Los Angeles, which oversees LAPD. The suit argues that the use of rubber bullets by LAPD and CHP amounted to excessive force and violated protesters’ constitutional rights.
Legal violations: restricted rubber bullets and protesters’ rights
Following mass protests in 2020 against the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, California lawmakers passed a law limiting the use of kinetic impact projectiles, commonly known as rubber bullets. The legislation bans their use at protests unless there is an objective and immediate threat to life or serious injury.
The lawsuit states that officers’ actions at the UCLA encampment violated this law. Attorney Becca Brown, representing the plaintiffs, emphasized that the indiscriminate firing of such projectiles is both illegal and dangerous.
“They cannot be used simply because someone is non-compliant,” she explained.
Despite UCLA’s revised protocols following 2020 to minimize reliance on external police forces, CHP, typically less involved in protest response, played a prominent role in the May 1 raid.
An LAPD after-action report later attempted to justify the force used, citing incidents like a protester throwing a traffic cone or removing a police helmet. However, the report admitted communication breakdowns among agencies and recommended improved command clarity.
Chilling effect: trauma, criminalization, and fear of future protest
The lawsuit includes plaintiffs such as a UCLA Ph.D. candidate, an undergraduate student, another student from a different university, and an architectural designer. All were struck with rubber bullets, several in the head. Beyond physical injuries, the plaintiffs say the crackdown has severely impacted their willingness to participate in future demonstrations.
“The encampment clearance by means of violence, excessive force, and kinetic energy projectiles traumatized Plaintiffs,” the complaint reads. “It justifiably made them less willing to engage in any further Palestine-related protest activity.”
One plaintiff, Abdullah Puckett, now fears future retaliation if he returns to protest. The complaint states that he is “more hesitant and afraid,” and has had to reevaluate the extent of his participation in pro-Palestine demonstrations.
Broader implications: political accountability and state repression
More than 200 people were arrested during the UCLA encampment clearance. LAPD later requested over $500,000 in reimbursement for the operation, which included 2,400 overtime hours, according to the Daily Bruin. The arrests resulted in criminal records for many students.
Lawyers say those records are now being used by the Trump administration to conduct background checks on international students and potentially flag them for deportation.
“For international students that may have been arrested at any of these encampments, that got flagged and could be subject to deportation under Trump’s fascist policies,” said Ricci Sergienko, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs.
Sergienko criticized Democratic leaders such as Governor Gavin Newsom and Mayor Bass, arguing that their actions laid the groundwork for broader state repression. “These attacks also happened in Democratic-run cities and blue states,” he said.
He also warned of mounting censorship in academia, pointing to a proposed bill in California that targets ethnic studies programs under the pretext of combating antisemitism. “That’s another attack on speech coming from the blue state, the liberal paradise of California,” he said.
During a recent screening of the documentary The Encampments at UCLA, police were once again called in. LAPD officers arrested three students.
Hind Rajab’s killers identified

MEMO | May 5, 2025
A human rights organisation has revealed the identity of the Israeli officer directly responsible for the killing of Palestinian child Hind Rajab, her family, and the two medics who tried to save her in the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood, Gaza City, on 29 January 2024.
In a statement released on Saturday, the Hind Rajab Foundation, an independent NGO based in Brussels, said: “We now publicly name the commander responsible for killing Hind:
Lieutenant Colonel Beni Aharon
Commander of the 401st Armoured Brigade of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) at the time of the killing.”
The organisation said the identification followed a more than year-long investigation. It also confirmed it had identified the brigade’s soldiers, field commanders, and operations officers who took part in the attack under Aharon’s command.
The foundation asserted that it “has filed a war crimes complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague” to issue an arrest warrant for Lt. Col. Beni Aharon, adding, “we are preparing additional legal complaints against the battalion’s officers.”
The Hind Rajab Foundation is a legal and human rights branch of the March 30 Movement. It was established in memory of Hind Rajab and focuses on bringing Israeli soldiers accused of war crimes against Palestinians to justice.
Israeli military operations in Gaza, fully backed by the United States, have continued by land, sea, and air since 7 October 2023. More than 170,000 Palestinians have been killed or injured so far, with many still trapped under the rubble.
Trump pushes for ‘total dismantlement’ of Iran’s nuclear program
RT | May 5, 2025
US President Donald Trump has said he wants Iran to completely scrap its nuclear program, as negotiations between the two countries have been postponed.
The president was asked by Kristen Welker on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday whether he was aiming to limit or completely abolish Iran’s nuclear program.
“Total dismantlement. Yes, that is all I would accept,” Trump said. He questioned the necessity of the Islamic Republic having nuclear technology for electricity generation.
“They have so much oil – why do they need it? … Civilian [nuclear] energy often leads to military wars. And we don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon. It’s a very simple deal,” he said.
“I just don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon because the world will be destroyed,” Trump added.
He made his remarks after Omani Foreign Minister Badr Al-Busaidi announced that the fourth round of indirect, mediated US-Iran talks, planned for Saturday, had been postponed indefinitely “for logistical reasons.”
The negotiations, previously described by both sides as constructive, have been overshadowed by tensions in Yemen, where the US and Britain have ramped up airstrikes against the Houthi militants.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retaliate after a Houthi ballistic missile landed near Ben Gurion Airport outside Tel Aviv on Sunday, injuring eight people.
The Houthis said they were aiming for a “comprehensive air blockade” of Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza. Iran denied directing the attacks, calling such claims “misleading.”
Trump withdrew the US from the 2015 UN-backed deal on Iran’s nuclear program during his first term in office, accusing the Islamic Republic of secretly violating the agreement. Tehran has denied any wrongdoing but has since rolled back its own commitments under the deal and increased its stockpile of enriched uranium.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned last month that the country would resist any “pressure and threat” from the US.
Did the Israeli Embassy Order My Arrest?
Richard Medhurst | May 3, 2025
Emails show Israeli foreign influence in UK’s legal system: the Attorney General’s Office provided the Israeli Deputy Ambassador with contact information of UK prosecutors and counterterrorism police, in the same period that journalist Richard Medhurst and other British reporters and activists were arrested by CT police in a government crackdown. This raises questions about the impartiality of the Crown Prosecution Service and the degree of foreign meddling in the UK’s judiciary.
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Richard Thomas Medhurst (1992) is an independent journalist, political commentator, and analyst from the United Kingdom with a focus on international affairs, US politics, and the Middle East. Medhurst is known for his coverage of the Julian Assange extradition case in London, as one of the only journalists to report on the trial of the WikiLeaks founder from inside the court.
He has also covered the Iran nuclear deal talks on the ground in Vienna. Medhurst was born in Damascus, Syria.
His father is English and mother is Syrian. Both his parents served in United Nations Peacekeeping and Observer missions and were among the UN Peacekeepers awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1988. Owing to his parents’ professional mobility, he has lived in Syria, Pakistan, Switzerland, and Austria. He speaks four languages fluently: English, Arabic, French, and German.
As an independent journalist, Medhurst regularly hosts live broadcasts and video reports on his YouTube channel. Previous guests include the Foreign Minister of Venezuela, the Dep Foreign Minister of Iran; the Palestinian, Russian and Cuban ambassadors to the United Nations in Vienna; the former British Ambassador to Syria; and various UN officials, journalists, and more. Medhurst’s reports and analysis on Yemen, Ukraine, Syria, Niger, Lebanon, Iran, the Israeli occupation in Palestine and its genocide in Gaza have gone viral countless times, racking up millions of views.
Richard Medhurst has a combined following of roughly one million people online, and appears regularly on international news outlets including Al Jazeera, WikiLeaks, Black Agenda Report, Al Mayadeen, The Times, LBC, and others.
‘Israeli pride’ – Celebrating rape in the Zionist entity

By David Miller | Al Mayadeen | May 4, 2025
Shoshana Strook, the daughter of far-right Israeli settlements minister Orit Strook who has accused both of her parents and one of her brothers of raping her as a child, has published a video alleging that they filmed her rape for use as child pornography and that criminals have threatened her with the publication of the video for accusing them. Ms Strook travelled to Italy to disclose her allegations but has now returned to “Israel”, where she asks Israeli police to protect her from her parents and from the blackmailers.
Settler, genocidal racist, abuser?
But who is Orit Strook?
Orit Strook helped to spread the totally false fabricated claims that the Palestinian Resistance committed sexual assaults during Al-Aqsa Flood. She, of course, has stated there is ‘no such thing’ as a Palestinian people. Strook is part of the fascist Jewish Power party (led by Itamar Ben-Gvir) and sits in the Knesset as part of the National Religious Party–Religious Zionism.
In 2007, Orit Strook’s son, Zviki Strook and his friends had entered a Palestinian neighbourhood, captured a 15-year-old boy, handcuffed and beat him, stripped him, and allegedly hit him with an ATV (all-terrain vehicle) before leaving him tied up in a field. The victim escaped hours later, suffering from severe injuries.
Zviki was also reported to have killed a newborn goat at the scene by kicking it to death. He was convicted on charges related to the attack and served 30 months in an Israeli prison.
But the Strook family is not the only one in the Zionist colony seemingly addicted to abuse. And nor is abuse confined to the far right, the settler movement, or ultra-orthodox Haredi sects. There is a sickness which permeates the whole settler society.
Most Israeli men say forced sex with acquaintance is not rape, as reported in an academic survey. Six out of 10 men said forced sex was not rape – and so did four out of 10 women. The results illustrated, the author said, the Israeli public’s “tolerant attitude to rape by an acquaintance”.
System failure
The Association of Rape Crisis Centers in “Israel” reports that police responses to sexual offences exhibit ‘Systematic failure’: Most complaints are not investigated by police – over 80% of sex offense cases in “Israel” are closed without action.
Gang rapes are a common feature of Israeli life. In one particularly awful case in Eilat in 2020 a 16 year old was raped by 30 men who reportedly stood in line waiting for their turn.
Amid a rise in high-profile gang rape cases in schools, The report found that most victims (63%) of reported gang rapes in 2018 were girls between the ages of 12 and 18.
In one case in the southern town of Netivot of the settler colony in 2019, a 13-year-old girl reported that she was repeatedly raped by four boys who were three or four years above her at the school. In another case in the North the same year, eight suspects between 14 and 16 were investigated for multiple rapes of an eleven year old girl.
If anything rape is seen as a sort of right for the Jewish supremacists who run the colony.
Who can forget the heroes’ welcome for a gang of Jewish rapists returning from Cyprus after their crimes had been revealed back in 2019. Haaretz ran the headline “Sex-party Boys Cleared of Rape in Cyprus Get Heroes’ Welcome in Israel.” There were shouts of ‘Israeli pride!’ from friends and family at Ben-Gurion Airport, “then they opened a bottle of Champagne”.
Of course, in that particular case, the victim was effectively bullied into recanting her testimony and was then convicted of lying about the events in Cyprus. It took years before the legal system admitted that it was wrong, by which time the perpetrators were long gone.
Meanwhile yet another case of young Jewish rapists occurred in Cyprus in 2023. As The Times reported, “On September 3, 2023, a week after arriving at the party hotspot popular with British teenagers, she was allegedly abducted, pinned down and raped by five Israeli men after being dragged from a pool party into their hotel room.” But they got off, “judges returned a not guilty verdict and the five defendants were free to return home to the northern Israeli town of Majd al-Krum, about 11 miles from the Lebanon border.”
In April this year, however, the Cypriot Attorney General appealed the acquittal.
Zionists love rape
Zionists, in other words, love rape. They don’t have any real concept that it is abuse, or if they do, they glory in their ability – their right – to commit abuse. Even the former President of “Israel”, Moshe Katsav, has been convicted of rape.
Zionist entity haven for child rapists
Many accused American pedophiles have reportedly fled to “Israel”, taking advantage of the Law of Return, which grants automatic citizenship to Jews, with minimal barriers.
Jewish Community Watch (JCW), an American organization tracking these paedophiles, reports over 60 suspects fleeing from the US to “Israel”, though the actual number is certainly higher due to limited resources and knowledge.
The Matzof Association, which monitors paedophilia in “Israel”, estimates that tens of thousands of offenders operate each year, affecting around 100,000 victims annually.
It’s even been suggested by some Zionists that the regime is attempting to legislate to make the rape of children easier.
According to the government of the Zionist entity, there was “a 24 percent increase in children and teenagers treated by authorities after being sexually abused from 2019 to 2020, according to Welfare Ministry figures released Tuesday.”
According to the data, “10% of the victims were aged 3-6, 44% were 7-12 and 46% were 13-17.” About “half the cases of abuse were allegedly committed by family members. Some victims were abused by several people. Actual abuse numbers are thought to be much higher as many cases go unreported, according to experts.”
Paedophiles appear to be liberally spread throughout the global zionist movement. A former leader of the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the World Jewish Congress, as well as a long-time Labour MP, Greville Janner was alleged by more than thirty complainants to be a serial paedophile, but the police failed to properly investigate.
Strikingly, his three children all defended him, claiming that the allegations were all invented for nefarious purposes. His daughter, Laura Janner Klausner, is a Rabbi, and not just any old Rabbi. She is the former senior rabbi of Reform Judaism.
Reform Judaism – or to give it its full name, ‘The Movement for Reform Judaism‘ – is the notionally reform-minded sect within Judaism, which, however, remains, in its own words, ‘unequivocally Zionist’. It is closely allied with Liberal or Progressive Judaism in the World Union for Progressive Judaism (which is also Zionist) and has had its own case of an abusive Rabbi.
In other words, we should be clear that the alleged practice of paedophilia (and denial of it) is not confined to the ultra-orthodox, but also manifested among mainstream Zionists (the United Synagogue, also Zionist, to which Janner senior adhered) and on the liberal end of the spectrum.
What is true for their own children and for their women in general is, of course, magnified when it comes to non-Jews and in particular Palestinians: Women, Children, and men too.
The testimony of Ibrahim Salim revealed that sexual torture is routine, including the rape of children. He reported: ”For sexual torture they used to call out prisoners individually. When we were at Sde [Teiman] we heard that they raped someone. We went crazy when we heard that… When we heard that they actually raped him. They even raped children. I swear to God, there was a young guy from Zeitoun who was raped. Not a young man, a child. He was 15 years old.”
In the rape and torture camp at Sde Teiman, even the Western media have reported the mass rape of Palestinian hostages. And when video evidence was released there was a virtual insurrection to prevent the rapists being arrested or prosecuted.
“Israel” appears to be the only place in the world where there are actual demonstrations defending rapists as national heroes precisely because of their crimes.
So, of course, the Western media has been full of allegations about sexual crimes by the Palestinian Resistance for the past 18 months. All of these have been proven to be false, many of them actually invented and spread by the rescue group Zaka. The founder of Zaka, Yehuda Meshi Zahav, who died in 2022, attempted suicide in 2021, after accusations of rape and pedophilia emerged in the daily Haaretz. Several people “testified that they were sexually assaulted by him days after he received the Israel Prize for his contribution to Israeli society. He then refused the prize because of the charges against him.”
Every Zionist accusation is a confession.
