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Netanyahu’s plane flies through Greek, Italian, French airspace en route to US despite ICC warrant
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Israel official government aircraft, Wing of Zion. [wikipedia]
The plane carrying Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the United States to attend the UN General Assembly again used the airspace of Greece, Italy, and France despite an arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court, Anadolu reports.
According to flight-tracking website Flightradar24, Netanyahu’s plane left Israel early Thursday for the United States to attend the 81st session of the UN General Assembly and crossed the airspace of European countries that are members of the International Criminal Court.
All three countries are parties to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, and are generally required to cooperate with the court’s requests to arrest and surrender wanted individuals found on their territory.
The treaty, however, does not explicitly require a member state to intercept or force down an aircraft merely because a person subject to an ICC arrest warrant is flying through its airspace.
Netanyahu’s plane followed a similar route during his trip to the US in July, also crossing the airspace of Greece, Italy and France.
When Netanyahu traveled to the United States in September 2025 to attend the previous UN General Assembly, his plane took a route over the Mediterranean Sea and through the Strait of Gibraltar, apparently to avoid the airspace his plane used this year.
On Nov. 21, 2024, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip.
READ: Mamdani renews call for Netanyahu’s ICC arrest warrant to be honoured ahead of New York visit
Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported Wednesday that Netanyahu would not land at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York due to concerns that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani might not allow the plane to remain on the tarmac.
His plane instead will land at a military airport in New Jersey — exclusively under the control of the federal government under the Trump administration — or at Newark Airport in the neighboring state of New Jersey, it added.
Netanyahu is scheduled to address the 81st session of the UN General Assembly at 2 pm New York time (1800GMT) Thursday.
His visit comes amid expectations of protests against Netanyahu in New York, in condemnation of Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip and attacks in the occupied West Bank.
Israel has been waging an extermination war in Gaza since Oct. 8, 2023, killing nearly 74,000 Palestinians and injuring over 175,000, most of them children and women.
In addition to the casualties, Israel has destroyed around 90% of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure, while the UN has estimated the cost of reconstruction at about $70 billion.
Alongside its genocidal war in Gaza, attacks by the Israeli army and occupiers against Palestinians and their property in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, have intensified, drawing rising international condemnation in recent months.
READ: Amnesty accuses France of ‘double standard’ over Netanyahu plane
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With Netanyahu ostracized, his US visit will be very short, with Trump unwilling to meet him: Israeli analysts
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United States President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hold a joint press conference in the East Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., United States on February 04, 2025. [Celal Güneş – Anadolu Agency]
Israeli analysts and figures criticized the global standing of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel as he visits New York this week to address the UN General Assembly, saying he will hold few meetings during his short stay, as he is now internationally shunned, Anadolu reports.
One analyst said US President Donald Trump – a longtime ally of the Israeli leader – would rather not meet with Netanyahu.
Barak Seri, an Israeli military intelligence analyst and former officer, said Netanyahu’s visit to New York was “very unusual, very short, and almost devoid of meetings.”
“Netanyahu is now ostracized, and Trump does not want to meet him,” Seri told local radio station 103 FM.
Eli Ohana, a former soccer star and former president of Israeli club Beitar Jerusalem, said the situation in Israel is “not ideal,” adding that he avoids revealing his nationality while on foreign soil.
“The situation in Israel is not ideal, and we did not reveal our Israeli identity outside our country. When I was on vacation in Greece, I hid my identity,” Ohana told the same radio station.
“Today, we are going through an abnormal period,” he added.
Dan Shapiro, the former US ambassador to Tel Aviv, said Israel’s standing is facing an “unprecedented decline” in the US and that Netanyahu “is not part of the solution.”
Israeli radio station Reshet Bet quoted Shapiro, who served as ambassador from 2011 to 2017, as saying: “There is an unprecedented decline in Israel’s standing in the United States.”
He added that the decline is “unprecedented even among Republicans” – members of Trump’s party, who also tend to be pro-Israel – and that “it is difficult to see Netanyahu as part of the solution to this situation.”
“Trump may also reach the conclusion that it would be easier to deal with another government in Israel,” Shapiro added, with the Oct. 27 Israeli elections currently too close to call.
READ: Mamdani renews call for Netanyahu’s ICC arrest warrant to be honoured ahead of New York visit
Netanyahu has headed the current government since late December 2022, a government described as the most right-wing in Israel’s history.
– Under a legal cloud
Netanyahu is scheduled to address the 81st session of the UN General Assembly at 2 pm New York time (1800GMT) Thursday.
Netanyahu’s current schedule in New York does not include a meeting with Trump, despite previous Israeli efforts to arrange a meeting between them, according to Israeli media reports.
The visit comes amid expectations of protests against Netanyahu in New York, in condemnation of Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip and attacks in the occupied West Bank.
Israel has been waging an extermination war in Gaza since Oct. 8, 2023, killing nearly 74,000 Palestinians and injuring over 175,000, most of them children and women.
In addition to the casualties, Israel has destroyed around 90% of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure, with the UN estimating the cost of reconstruction at about $70 billion.
Alongside its genocidal war in Gaza, attacks by the Israeli army and occupiers against Palestinians and their property in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, have intensified, drawing growing international condemnation.
Israel is scheduled to hold general elections on Oct. 27.
Netanyahu also faces charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust in three separate corruption cases. Critics in Israel and elsewhere say he has prolonged Israel’s military offensives to be able to continue delaying his court hearings.
Separately, in November 2024, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, accusing him of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
READ: Netanyahu won’t meet Trump during ‘brief’ UN visit: Israeli media
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Israel uproots 400 olive trees in occupied West Bank as harvest season approaches
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Israeli forces uproot 400 olive trees belonging to Palestinians and destroy 31 dunams of land with heavy machinery in the town of Beit Rima, northwest of Ramallah, in the West Bank, Palestine on September 24, 2026. [Issam Rimawi – Anadolu Agency]
The Israeli army uprooted 400 olive trees and bulldozed 31 dunams (3.1 hectares, 7.6 acres) of Palestinian-owned land Thursday in Beit Rima in northwestern Ramallah in the occupied West Bank as harvest season approaches, Anadolu reports.

Sources told Anadolu Agency that bulldozers cleared the land and uprooted the trees, two days after Israeli authorities issued a military order targeting two areas of land in the town.

They added that the military order demanded “removing wild vegetation and uprooting olive and other trees from the targeted areas.”

The Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission said Tuesday that Israeli authorities issued five military orders targeting the uprooting of trees and removal of wild vegetation from 533.5 dunams of Palestinian land in the Jenin, and Ramallah and Al-Bireh governorates in the northern and central West Bank.

Since the beginning of 2026 through Sept. 22, Israel has issued 51 orders to remove trees and vegetation in the occupied West Bank, targeting 2,093 dunams of land, according to data from the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission.

The uprooting operation comes as the olive harvest season approaches. Olive trees are a major source of income for thousands of Palestinian families. Bulldozing and uprooting operations cause losses to farmers and threaten their ability to access and cultivate their land.

Afrah Qadura, 65, from Beit Rima, told Anadolu Agency that residents learned of the military order two days ago and saw a map at the municipality building showing the areas targeted for the removal of olive trees.

READ: Israeli army detains more than 150 Palestinians in West Bank raids

He said landowners were given 12 hours to remove trees before the Israeli army would implement the order. “How can we remove trees planted by our fathers and uproot them with our own hands?” he asked rhetorically.

Qadura said the olive trees had been planted over decades, beginning in the late 1960s and continuing through the 1970s and 1980s, as well as trees planted in the 1990s.

He said some of the trees uprooted Thursday had become highly productive for years, adding that olive trees are a primary source of livelihood for residents.

Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are preparing for the olive harvest season, which usually begins in October.

Thousands of Palestinians rely on olive trees and their crops as a source of income, alongside their connection to the land and agricultural heritage passed down through generations.

“We are proud of those trees like our children,” said Qadura, noting the years he and his father spent cultivating the land, caring for the trees and watering them.

He added that he used to bring water from a well to water the saplings and follow their growth during the years. “My father worked hard planting the trees, and we also worked hard caring for them.”

He said his family continued to tend, clean and care for the trees until they became part of their lives. Losing them in this way was, for him, like losing one of his children.

Qadura said uprooting the trees would not force his family to abandon their land, stressing that he and his family intend to replant the trees uprooted by the Israeli army.

“We will continue planting trees like my father did, and our children will continue after us,” he said, citing his family’s connection to the land and its cultivation across generations.

Abdul Rahman al-Rimawi, mayor of Bani Zeid al-Gharbia, which includes Beit Rima and other towns, told Anadolu Agency that everybody was surprised Thursday when Israeli army bulldozers began uprooting mature olive trees in the town in an area of 31 dunams.

Rimawi said the trees “are hundreds of years old,” and that uprooting them not only destroys the trees, but also affects the livelihoods of Palestinian families that depend on them.

He said the operation comes as the olive harvest season approaches, describing it as part of “arbitrary Israeli practices against people, trees and stones.”

Rimawi said the residents of Beit Rima “are not isolated from this people” and what Palestinians are subjected to in terms of harassment, killings, displacement and the uprooting of olive trees.

He implored international institutions and relevant parties to work to halt the decision to uproot the trees, noting that there is ongoing communication with the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission to that end.

Rimawi said Israeli authorities had not, according to him, explained the grounds for implementing the decision, and that what is happening represents “Israeli practices against all members of the Palestinian people” in the occupied West Bank.

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Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says Sundown Syndrome is a dead givaway and he wishes someone would Lock Him Up
24 September 2026
Egypt urges ‘sustained’ humanitarian access to Gaza, start of early recovery
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Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Badr Abdelatty in El Alamein, Egypt, on August 13, 2026. [Turkish Foreign Ministry – Anadolu Agency]
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty urged “sustained and unhindered” humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip on Thursday and the start of early recovery efforts to provide livelihoods for Palestinians, according to a statement by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, Anadolu reports.
Abdelatty made the remarks while participating in a ministerial roundtable on humanitarian access and healthcare in Gaza.
The meeting was held in New York on the sidelines of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly and hosted by the UK in partnership with Jordan and Qatar to discuss humanitarian access and healthcare in Gaza.
UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Secretary Ed Miliband hosted the meeting, which was co-chaired by Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and Qatar, whose representative was not named in a statement.
Several foreign ministers, senior officials and representatives of international organizations and humanitarian agencies also attended.
Abdelatty outlined Egypt’s humanitarian efforts to support Palestinians and its continued contacts with parties aimed at improving humanitarian conditions in Gaza.
He stressed the importance of preserving the unity of Palestinian territory and maintaining geographic and political contiguity between Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
READ: Egypt rejects annexation, displacement, calls for Palestinian state
Abdelatty also emphasized the need to “support Palestinian institutions and enable them to fulfill their responsibilities while preserving the central role of UN agencies, particularly the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).”
“Such efforts would strengthen the resilience of Palestinians on their land and pave the way for early recovery and reconstruction as part of a credible political process leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state,” he said.
Participants discussed developments in the humanitarian, health and field situation in Gaza and ways to translate international efforts into practical measures to improve living conditions for Palestinians.
They also discussed completing the requirements of the first phase of US President Donald Trump’s plan and moving without delay to the second phase while ensuring that all parties fulfill their commitments and consolidate the ceasefire.
The meeting stressed the need to guarantee safe, full, sustained and unhindered access for humanitarian and medical aid, facilitate medical evacuations for patients and injured people, and allow the entry of supplies, medicines and equipment needed to operate hospitals and vital facilities.
Participants also discussed urgent preparations to meet humanitarian needs in Gaza as winter approaches.
The talks come as Gaza faces catastrophic humanitarian conditions amid Israel’s genocidal war since Oct. 8, 2023, which has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians and injured 174,000, while 90% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been destroyed.
READ: Iraq has important role in strengthening collective Arab security: Egyptian president
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says Sundown Syndrome is a dead givaway and he wishes someone would Lock Him Up
24 September 2026
US, Iran should return to dialogue to end war, Xi tells Trump at White House
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Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with US President Donald Trump in Washington, DC, United States on September 24, 2026. [Screengrab/ X@WhiteHouse]
During a closed-door meeting at the White House, Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday urged the US and Iran to return to dialogue to end their war.
China has “always believed that the sovereignty and security of all countries should be respected” and has played a constructive role in easing tensions, Xi told US President Donald Trump, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.
It has “encouraged relevant parties to stay committed to peaceful solutions and maintain the momentum of talks,” he said.
He expressed China’s support for the US and Iran returning to the framework deal they agreed to in June and voiced hope that both sides ultimately reach a comprehensive agreement covering the nuclear issue and other matters and achieve peace as soon as possible.
After the US and Israel launched the war against Iran on Feb. 28, Pakistan helped secure a ceasefire on April 8 and later hosted more than 20 hours of talks between American and Iranian officials in Islamabad.
READ: Iran says possible new war with US could expand to Indian Ocean
Following weeks of mediation, Pakistan and Qatar helped secure the June 18 deal, which provided the two sides with a framework and 60 days to negotiate a longer-term agreement aimed at ending the war.
However, the two sides soon resumed retaliatory strikes, with tensions continuing.
Xi also urged the US to “adhere to the correct position of opposing ‘Taiwan independence’” and handle the Taiwan question prudently to lay a solid foundation for bilateral strategic cooperation and relations.
Beijing’s position on safeguarding its national unity and territorial integrity is “crystal clear,” he said.
China considers Taiwan a breakaway province, while Taipei has maintained its self-rule since 1949.
Xi also said that building a constructive China-US relationship based on strategic stability is not an expedient measure nor something that can be achieved overnight, additionally calling for translating the new vision of a constructive bilateral relationship of strategic stability into action.
READ: Iranian president rejects Trump’s terrorism accusation, says Iran ‘victim of terrorism’
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says Sundown Syndrome is a dead givaway and he wishes someone would Lock Him Up
24 September 2026