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U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance gives a speech in West Jerusalem, on October 22, 2025. [POOL / Marc Israel Sellem – Anadolu Agency]
US Vice President JD Vance on Thursday ruled out Israel’s annexation of the West Bank, calling a Knesset vote for annexing the occupied territory “a stupid political stunt,” Anadolu reports.
“If it was a political stunt, it was a very stupid political stunt, and I personally take some insult to it. The West Bank is not going to be annexed by Israel,” Vance told reporters in Tel Aviv.
“The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel. That will continue to be our policy,” he added.
Vance said that he was told that the Knesset voting was “a symbolic vote.”
“If people want to take symbolic votes, they can do that. But we certainly weren’t happy about it,” he added.
On Wednesday, the Knesset approved in a preliminary reading two bills to annex the West Bank and the Ma’ale Adumim settlement bloc. Both drafts still must pass three additional readings to become law.
Annexing the West Bank would effectively end the possibility of implementing a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as outlined in UN resolutions.
In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Regarding the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip under US President Donald Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan, Vance said some parts of the enclave with no Hamas presence can be rebuilt “quickly.”
“We can actually have tens of thousands of Gazans moving into southern Gaza, where you have the Hamas free zone, in the next couple of months,” he said.
“I think the hope is to rebuild Rafah over the next two to three years. And theoretically, you can have half a million people live in a rebuilt Rafah,” the vice president added.
Vance said “a lot of progress” was made regarding the understandings of the composition of an international task force in Gaza.
“No American troops on the ground,” he said, but rather they will be “supervising and mediating the peace.”
The vice president arrived in Israel on Tuesday for a three-day visit to oversee the implementation of the truce that came into force on Oct. 10 in Gaza and discuss the second phase of Trump’s plan with senior Israeli officials.
Phase one included the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. The plan also envisages the rebuilding of Gaza and the establishment of a new governing mechanism without Hamas.
Since October 2023, the Israeli genocidal war has killed over 68,200 people and injured more than 170,300, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
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Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAOrcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
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US President Donald Trump during a meeting with Mark Rutte, secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), not pictured, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025.[Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images]
US President Donald Trump said he would decide whether to push for the release of imprisoned Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti, a figure many see as capable of uniting Palestinians behind a two-state solution, Anadolu reports.
“I am literally being confronted with that question about 15 minutes before you called … That was my question of the day,” Trump told Time magazine in an interview published Thursday. “So, I’ll be making a decision.”
The comments came as Trump discussed Palestinian leadership, saying Palestinians “don’t have a leader right now, at least a visible leader.”
When asked about Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s potential role in post-war Gaza governance, Trump said, “I’ve always gotten along with him. I’ve always found him reasonable, but he’s probably not.”
Barghouti is a prominent Fatah leader often called the “Palestinian Mandela” for his influence and leadership qualities.
He was arrested by Israel in 2002 and sentenced to five life terms plus 40 years for allegedly directing deadly attacks against Israelis.
Barghouti tops most polls among Palestinians for whom they would vote for in a presidential election, making him a potentially unifying figure for a two-state solution.
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Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAOrcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
A US Navy missile destroyer docks at the Amador International Cruise Terminal in Panama City, Panama on September 2, 2025 amid a broader US military buildup in the Caribbean. (Photo by Daniel Gonzalez/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“The long history of external interventions in Latin America must not be repeated.”
A group of United Nations experts on Tuesday condemned US President Donald Trump’s recent threats to wage war on Venezuela and said his decision to bomb at least seven boats in international waters—killing dozens of people accused without evidence of drug trafficking—amounted to “extrajudicial executions.”
Trump’s repeated threats against Venezuela “violate the fundamental international obligations not to intervene in the domestic affairs or threaten to use armed force against another country,” said the trio of experts, warning that the US president’s belligerence represents “an extremely dangerous escalation with grave implications for peace and security in the Caribbean region.”
Even if the Trump administration had substantiated its drug trafficking claims, the experts continued, “the use of lethal force in international waters without proper legal basis violates the international law of the sea.”
The statement from the UN’s special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, and special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism came amid growing alarm over Trump’s actions and posturing against Venezuela.
Earlier this month, Trump authorized covert CIA operations in the country and declined to answer when asked whether the move amounted to a green light for the agency to assassinate the nation’s president, Nicolás Maduro.
The Trump administration has also amassed an “unusually large force” in the Caribbean consisting of thousands of troops, at least eight warships, and a squadron of jets.
“Trump has said nothing to dispel concerns that the United States could launch a full-scale military operation,” The Washington Postreported Tuesday.
In their statement, the UN experts called Trump’s warmongering against Venezuela a violation of the UN Charter, which they note “prohibits the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.”
“The long history of external interventions in Latin America must not be repeated,” the experts said. “The lessons from history must be learned and not repeated. The international community must stand firm in defending the rule of law, dialogue, and the peaceful settlement of disputes.”
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Federal agents wrestle an individual to the ground during a raid on the Canal Street area of New York City on Tuesday, October 21, 2025. (Image: Screengrab/FreedomNews.TV)
“Once again, the Trump administration chooses authoritarian theatrics that create fear, not safety,” said NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.
More scenes of chaos and community anger erupted Tuesday night in downtown New York City as federal agents under the orders of President Donald Trump targeted a popular area for street vendors, many of them immigrants struggling to get by, and shoppers looking for more affordable bags, clothing, and other accessories than what’s available in retail stores.
Illegal street vending is a well-known practice in the Canal Street area of Chinatown. Still, the arrival of masked agents and military-style vehicles on Tuesday devolved into another episode of violence in Trump’s America, with frightened vendors running for their lives and passersby expressing outrage over the violence being used against the unlicensed retailers.
NewsCopter 7 showed arrests taking place between Lafayette and Center streets in Chinatown, an area typically busy with merchants selling T-shirts, handbags, perfumes, and designer knockoffs, as New Yorkers faced off against federal agents.
The scene grew chaotic as vendors packed up their tables and attempted to flee, with several people seen running and falling as authorities from multiple agencies, including Homeland Security, ICE, DEA and the FBI, pursued them.
As agents tried to detain individuals, crowds of New Yorkers gathered, shouting and pushing in an attempt to intervene. Some bystanders were heard cursing at officers, one officer was seen pointing his taser at the angry crowd, and several arrests were made.
Footage from Canal Street posted online showed agents tackling vendors and the angry response from the crowds witnessing the heavy-handed raid:
Trump's Nazi ICE Gestapo has come to Canal Street in New York City to kidnap residents — and New Yorkers are having none of it. 😳👇 pic.twitter.com/olGgtLvjli
“Trump’s Nazi ICE Gestapo has come to Canal Street in New York City to kidnap residents—and New Yorkers are having none of it,” saidsocial justice activist Bill Madded in a social media post, pointing to the footage.
New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani also condemned the raid.
“Federal agents from ICE and HSI—some in military fatigues and masks—descended on Chinatown today in an aggressive and reckless raid on immigrant street vendors,” Mamdani said in a statement. “Once again, the Trump administration chooses authoritarian theatrics that create fear, not safety. It must stop.”
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for DHS, told the New York Times that the operation was led by ICE and others, including the FBI and Border Patrol, but did not, the newspaper reported, “immediately indicate the number of people arrested or disclose their immigration status.” Witnesses said agents were demanding proof of immigration status from those detained.
don't let anybody tell you ICE is underfunded, they're conducting an armed military raid on the Canal Street vendors right now and they brought a bearcat to combat the knockoff hermes bags pic.twitter.com/eHIbPPd7vo
The surprise raid, noted many observers, came just days after right-wing political commentator Savanah Hernandez, a Trump loyalist, posted a video of herself on Canal Street documenting the street vending scene and denigrating many of the immigrants who find work there.
“A few days ago, this far-right poverty tourist and provocateur discovered Canal Street,” noted Justin Brannan, a member of the New York City Council, referencing Hernandez’s recent video segment. “Today, Trump’s ICE cowboys marched in. They’re not hiding it. They’re telegraphing it now.”
As masked federal agents target street vendors on Canal Street, THE CITY watched one street vendor being detained.
As the operation carried on, agents were confronted with a spontaneous crowd of protesters.
While members of the New York community denounced the raid, Hernandez, who is not from New York City, took a bow for what she accepted as her role in instigating it.
“Illegal immigration and the crime tied to it have been plaguing your city,” Hernandez said with pride. “I make no apologies for reporting on what real New Yorkers have to deal with every single day.”
A statement from the office of New York’s Democratic Governor, Katherine Hochul, described Hernandez as “a bigot” and denounced the operation in the city.
This bigot @sav_says_ posts a video about Canal Street and less than 48 hours later, Trump sends in ICE.
Who this administration chooses to uplift and who they choose to attack says it all. pic.twitter.com/N10vR4Kua4
The afternoon raid sparked an impromptu protest in lower Manhattan outside federal buildings that lasted late into the evening, with residents denouncing Trump and the behavior of the agencies operating in the city.
“I am so angry. What are they doing to our city? It’s terrible,” Nicole Parcher, a New York City resident who attended the protest, told WABC.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Jonathan Glazer accepts the Best International Feature Film award for “The Zone of Interest” at the 96th Annual Oscars held at Dolby Theatre on March 10, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Glazer is among several prominent Jewish people who signed an open letter demanding international sanctions on Israel. (Photo by Rich Polk/Variety via Getty Images)
The United Nations and member states must “use relevant leverage, including targeted sanctions on governmental bodies and individuals responsible for violations of international law,” reads a new letter.
With the Palestinian news agency in Gazareporting that Israel has violated the 12-day-old ceasefire agreement with Hamas at least 80 times and killed at least 80 people in the exclave, more than 460 prominent Jewish artists, writers, rights advocates, and policymakers on Wednesday called on world leaders—including at the United Nations—to intensify the international pressure that helped push Israel to sign the fragile truce deal.
“It was international pressure that helped to secure this ceasefire, and it must be sustained to guarantee that it endures,” reads a letter organized by Jews Demand Action. “The ceasefire must be the beginning, not the end. The risk of reverting to a political reality of indifference to occupation and permanent conflict is too great. This same pressure must be continued to deliver a new era of peace and justice for all—Palestinians and Israelis alike.”
The letter was initiated by former Israeli Knesset Member Avrum Burg, former Israeli peace negotiator Daniel Levy, Israeli-American activist Libby Lenkinski, Belgian former Member of European Parliament Simone Susskind, US columnist and journalist Peter Beinart, and UK activist Em Hilton.
The signatories said that they “deplore the fact that Israeli leaders have repeatedly taken to the world stage to declare” that their bombardment of Gaza—which has killed more than 68,000 Palestinians and decimated nearly all housing units across the exclave along with hospitals, schools, and other civilian infrastructure—has been “committed in the name of the Jewish people.”
“As Jews and as human beings, we declare: Not in our name,” reads the letter, which was also signed by actor and writer Wallace Shawn, British filmmaker Jonathan Glazer, Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, and actor Hannah Einbinder. “Not in the name of our heritage, our faith, or our moral tradition. The monumental scale of the killing and destruction, the forced displacement, the deliberate withholding of life-sustaining necessities, and the ongoing criminal actions in the West Bank must end and never be repeated.”
“It is time to do everything possible to definitively end the Israeli government’s collective punishment of the Palestinians and to pursue peace for the sake of both peoples.”
Among the letter’s demands is one calling on UN Secretary-General António Guterres and other world leaders to “refute false accusations of antisemitism that abusively deploy our collective history to tarnish those with whom we stand together in the pursuit of peace and justice.”
Calls to destroy Palestinian life “are not Jewish values nor are they guided by the lessons we draw from our peoples’ history,” they wrote. “Instead we see in many of those standing up for Palestinian rights a reflection of the people who stood with Jews in our times of need. Our solidarity with Palestinians is not a betrayal of Judaism, then, but a fulfillment of it. When our sages taught that to destroy one life is to destroy an entire world, they did not carve exceptions for Palestinians.”
The group called on other Jewish people to sign the letter.
The letter notes that the ceasefire signed on October 10 “makes no reference to the West Bank,” where more than 3,200 Palestinians have been injured in attacks, including by Israeli settlers, this year. Israeli leaders have promoted the creation of the E1 settlement, which would cut off East Jerusalem from the rest of the illegally occupied territory and make it impossible for Palestinians to establish a state with the city as its capital.
Masked settlers in recent days attacked Palestinians civilians who were harvesting olives in the town of Turmus Ayya, with one clubbing a 55-year-old woman named Umm Saleh Abu Alia, who had to be hospitalized.
The letter was addressed to Guterres and other world leaders and representatives of UN member states as the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel must provide for the “basic needs” of Palestinians in Gaza and allow aid into the exclave. In 2024 the ICJ issued a nonbinding opinion saying the occupation was illegal—in keeping with long-established international law—and calling on settlers to leave the West Bank.
The signatories affirmed their “belief in the universality of justice and the fair and equal application of international law,” writing: “We have not forgotten that so many of the laws, charters, and conventions established to safeguard and protect all human life were created in response to the Holocaust. Those safeguards have been relentlessly violated by Israel.”
“Accountability for the Israeli leadership’s grievous violations of international law is necessary,” they wrote. “It is time to do everything possible to definitively end the Israeli government’s collective punishment of the Palestinians and to pursue peace for the sake of both peoples.”
The European Union’s foreign ministers pausedsanctions against Israel in response to the ceasefire agreement, a decision that was criticized by rights advocates this week.
“That is the last thing that we should be doing, because this is exactly the moment when you need to keep the pressure on. Because we all know that it’s certainly not a foregone conclusion that this plan will be implemented,” Nathalie Tocci, a former adviser to two EU foreign policy officials, toldThe Guardian. “I fear that… European governments and institutions will be… reverting back to the sort of old, familiar patterns.”
The letter sent on Wednesday called on the UN and member states to:
Respect and abide by the decisions of the International Court of Justice, apply arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court, and resist efforts to unduly pressure and influence and prevent the workings of both courts;
To refuse any complicity in continued crimes and violations of international law against Palestinians by Israel, including by ending the provision of arms and other relevant goods and services, and to use relevant leverage, including targeted sanctions on governmental bodies and individuals responsible for violations of international law; and
To ensure that humanitarian assistance reaches all Palestinians in Gaza at the scale that is commensurate to their vital need, that the blockade is lifted and materials for reconstruction enter, and that there is a full Israeli military withdrawal.
Al Jazeera reported on Wednesday that Palestinians in Gaza “are still going hungry” despite the ceasefire. In August, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) declaredfamine in parts of the exclave, and more than 450 people have starved to death as a result of the near-total blockade Israel began imposing in October 2023.
There is now only one entry point open for aid trucks at the Karem Abu Salem crossing, reported Al Jazeera.
“When it comes to the northern part of Gaza, none of the crossings have been opened. For more than 50 days now, the Israeli military has imposed a complete blockade on these crossings, and none of the trucks are coming to this area,” wrote Hani Mahmoud, a correspondent in Gaza City. “It continues to be very difficult for people here, particularly those returning to their homes in Gaza City and the northern areas. Apart from the fact that they are lacking access to water, there’s no access to proper food.
”Whatever is available is from business owners, the traders, who have been given permits from the Israeli military to get commercial items into the Gaza Strip,“ Mahmoud reported. ”Despite the illusion that aid is ‘pouring’ into Gaza, the reality on the ground is different, and people are still going hungry, unable to access food and water.“
Levy said that ”Israel’s actions against Palestinians are antithetical to the Jewish heritage we hold dear.“
”We must end this shame and reclaim a better future for Jews and Palestinians alike,“ he said. ”We are calling on world leaders to reject complicity in the status quo of occupation, apartheid, and Israel’s genocidal doom-loop towards the Palestinians, and ensure respect for international law and an end to impunity. That is the only path towards hope and sustainable peace.“
The signatories added that despite the ceasefire, they ”shall not rest“ until the agreement ”carries forward into an end of occupation and apartheid.“
”We write in the hope that this initiative further emboldens a moment of renewed Jewish commitment to act with conscience and compassion,“ they wrote. ”We vow to work urgently to achieve equality, justice, and freedom for Palestinians and Israelis.“
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.Vote Labour for Genocide.
