A plane taking off from Heathrow Airport A plane taking off from Heathrow Airport
ANTI-HEATHROW expansion activists slammed Rachel Reeves for “mis-selling” the third runway to the Treasury as she prepares to leave No 11 when Andy Burnham becomes PM in just over a week.
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No 3rd Runway Coalition chair Paul McGuinness accused Ms Reeves of using data commissioned by Heathrow Airport to “coax” her Labour colleagues into supporting the expansion.
Mr McGuinness said: “It seems astonishing that, rather doing the due diligence of instructing the Treasury — her own department — to conduct an impartial assessment of the economic case for Heathrow expansion, Rachel Reeves chose to pluck panglossian figures from a report that had been commissioned and financed by Heathrow airport to coax her government colleagues and Parliamentary Labour Party into backing Heathrow expansion.
“And that even after her department’s own objective calculations had shown that Heathrow expansion could offer no economic benefit to the UK, she continued to cite figures that are derived entirely from Heathrow’s own sales puff.
HEAVY HANDED: A police officer detains Reverend Sue Parfitt who declared her support for Palestine Action
… The strongest sign of a new direction on Palestine would be to end the repression.
Reverse the outrageous ban on Palestine Action as a “terrorist” group. Stop the legislation placing further restrictions on protests. Apologise to the thousands rounded up by police for sitting down holding placards. Burnham mentions none of this.
On genocide, he hints it’s for the courts to decide. So address Britain’s appeal to the International Court of Justice to refuse to hear the genocide charges against Israel brought by South Africa, and state that we will no longer obstruct these cases. Call out the US bids to undermine international courts for daring to hold Israel accountable, and its sanctions on UN rapporteur Francesca Albanese.
Burnham rightly observes that Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu seeks to make a two-state solution impossible. But pretending that Netanyahu’s excesses have nothing to do with what went before will not wash.
The occupation and colonisation of Palestinian land has proceeded over decades and a fundamental break with Tel Aviv on this, tied to sanctions and a total ban on arms sales, is urgent.
Ultimately that means a fundamental break with Washington. Burnham will hardly say so, but our movement must raise the stakes.
Britain supports the illegal occupation of Palestine because we are tied into a wider network of imperialist alliances led by the United States.
It is inconsistent to demand justice for Palestine while backing Trump’s rearmament drive and remaining a junior military and intelligence partner to the United States. We need an independent foreign policy.
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.Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/Genocide denying UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspending 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government’s support for Israel’s Gaza genocide and the UK government and military’s active participation in genocide.
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Smoke rises from the town of Kfar Tebnit and the Ali al-Tahir hill area in the Nabatieh Governorate of southern Lebanon following Israeli airstrikes on June 19, 2026. [Ramiz Dallah – Anadolu Agency]
The Israeli military on Saturday launched a fresh wave of airstrikes in southern Lebanon despite a US-brokered framework agreement between Beirut and Tel Aviv, Lebanese state media reported.
Three airstrikes targeted the al-Mashaa neighborhood in the town of al-Mansouri in the southern Tyre district, according to the National News Agency (NNA).
Israeli forces also blew up homes in the town of Houla in the southern Nabatieh district, the agency said.
A separate Israeli drone strike targeted the town of Kfar Tebnit, according to the NNA.
The attacks came despite Lebanon and Israel signing a US-sponsored framework agreement last month that provides for a phased Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory.
Since March 2, more than 4,300 people have been killed and over 12,000 injured in Israeli attacks on Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
Israeli forces continue to occupy parts of southern Lebanon, including areas held for decades and others seized during the 2023–2024 war. In the latest offensive, Israeli troops advanced more than 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) into Lebanese territory.
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Israeli security forces take measures along the road as Israeli settlers, protected by Israeli forces, block roads leading to Palestinian farmers’ lands in the town of Izna, near Hebron in the West Bank, Palestine on July 10, 2026. [Wisam Hashlamoun – Anadolu Agency]
Israeli occupiers on Saturday attacked municipal workers south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank and destroyed a farm northwest of the city in the latest attacks across the occupied Palestinian territory, Anadolu reports.
The occupiers attacked municipal workers from Qabalan while they were installing an electricity line in the Ain al-Qasab area, forcing them to suspend the work, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported, citing local sources.
In a separate incident northwest of Nablus, occupiers attacked a farm in the al-Masoudieh area, on land belonging to Burqa town, destroying its contents, including an agricultural structure, according to Diab Haji, head of the al-Masoudieh Land Defense Committee.
In the northern West Bank governorate of Jenin, local sources told Wafa that occupiers attacked Khirbet Masoud near the town of Ya’bad on Saturday morning and released their livestock onto agricultural land, damaging crops and trees.
Khirbet Masoud and its surrounding areas have been subjected to repeated attacks by occupiers and the Israeli army, including raids on homes and grazing areas, as well as assaults on residents and their property, the agency added.
In the central West Bank governorate of Ramallah and Al-Bireh, occupiers also damaged crops in the Al-Khalayel area of Al-Mughayyir village, east of Ramallah, after grazing their livestock on Palestinian-owned farmland.
Since October 2023, the occupied West Bank has witnessed intensified Israeli military raids and occupier attacks that have killed at least 1,175 Palestinians, injured 12,919 others, and led to the arrest of around 24,000 people, according to official Palestinian figures.
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German Foreign Minister Johann David Wadephul gives a speech in Berlin, Germany, on May 18, 2026. [Murat Gök – Anadolu Agency]
Germany on Friday criticized Israel’s continued expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank but stopped short of backing calls from EU partners for tougher measures, including a trade ban on goods from these settlements, Anadolu reports.
Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told a news conference in Berlin that Germany’s long-held position on illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories remains unchanged, and that it continues to remind Israel of its obligations under international law.
“All German governments to date — and we ourselves — have consistently issued statements to this effect,” Wadephul said, adding that he reiterated Germany’s expectations during his visit to Israel on Tuesday, when he discussed the latest developments with his Israeli counterpart.
“International law is the guiding principle here, and there must be no unilateral de facto annexation,” he said. “In particular, any form of settler violence is unacceptable. We expect the Israeli government to take decisive action against it.” He added that he had received assurances on the matter from his Israeli counterpart.
Wadephul stopped short of saying whether Germany would back proposals to ban or restrict imports from Israeli settlements in the West Bank at Monday’s meeting of EU foreign ministers. Instead, he stressed the need to keep dialogue channels open with Israel.
“We have previously made decisions to impose sanctions on radical settler organizations prone to violence. We are ready to review the situation again at any time,” he said.
Wadephul argued that the immediate priority should be fostering conditions for progress on other urgent fronts.
“Overall, we must now foster a climate that guarantees, firstly, the success of the fruitful talks Israel is holding with Lebanon aimed at reaching an agreement. That is of historic importance,” he said. “And secondly, it is crucial that we finally make progress regarding the Gaza Strip. A solution there has been pending for far too long.”
He reiterated that Israel should not impose restrictions on humanitarian access to Gaza and must allow more aid into the Palestinian territory. He also called for accelerating efforts to dismantle Hamas’s power structure.
“We must finally reach a point where responsibility for the Gaza Strip is gradually handed over to the Palestinian administration that is to be formed,” Wadephul said. “I believe we should focus on these questions now. And that will also be my key contribution at the EU foreign ministers’ meeting on Monday.”
A plane taking off from Heathrow Airport A plane taking off from Heathrow Airport
