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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (2nd R) meets with US President Donald Trump’s Special Representative for the Middle East Steve Witkoff (2nd L) and Trump’s son-in-law and former advisor Jared Kushner (L) in West Jerusalem on October 9, 2025. [Ma’ayan Toaf / GPO – Anadolu Agency]
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office announced early on Friday that the government had officially approved a proposal by US President Donald Trump to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of captives.
The PM office said the government had “approved the framework for the release of all hostages.”
Before the announcement, Netanyahu stated that his government continued to work towards achieving the goals of the war, with the main objective being the return of all those held captive.
Netanyahu added that “Israel is in the midst of a decisive development,” stressing that such progress would not have been possible without the “exceptional assistance” provided by President Donald Trump and his team.
He extended special thanks to Trump’s envoys to the region, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, noting that they had “worked tirelessly for many hours and did their utmost to make this happen.”
Netanyahu concluded that “these efforts serve the interests of Israel and the United States, as well as honourable people everywhere, with the aim of reuniting families with their loved ones.”
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Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that his active support and that of UK’s air force has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide.Vote Labour for Genocide.
Larry Ellison speaking at a conference. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
The pending purchase of TikTok, blessed by the Trump-Netanyahu duo, once again sets off alarm bells regarding the marriage of economic, geopolitical, and military interests.
Launched in 2017 by the private Chinese company ByteDance, TikTok quickly became one of the most important social networks on the planet. By early 2025, it had 1.6 billion active users, more than half of them outside China, of whom an estimated 170 million are North American; 1 in 5 people in the US get their news from this network, 4 in 10 among the 18-29 age group. Today, it is the fastest-growing platform among the younger segments of the global population.
The US government has waged a long battle to force ByteDance to sell the US branch of TikTok to a group of “domestic” capitalists, citing national security concerns and threatening to ban the platform in the US if the deal did not go through. On September 25, the White House announced through an Executive Order signed by Trump, “Save TikTok by Protecting National Security”, the terms under which the transaction would take place. According to the document, the app in the US “will be majority-owned and controlled by US persons and will no longer be controlled by any foreign adversary, as ByteDance Ltd. and its affiliates will own less than 20% of the entity, with the remainder held by certain investors.” Who are these mysterious “certain investors” that the Executive Order does not directly mention?
None other than a consortium led by the giant Texas-based company Oracle, which already stored TikTok data in the US. Its main shareholder is an 81-year-old American tycoon who, unlike Elon Musk, is relatively unknown to the public: Larry Ellison. Ellison, in addition to being the new owner, would also take on key roles in managing security, data, and algorithm auditing. In a nutshell, he will be the new boss of the vertical video platform in the United States, a company valued at USD 14 billion. But perhaps the most relevant aspect of the case is not the amount of the transaction, but its long-term implications for power. As a BBC article states, “Investors will control the algorithm that powers the US version of TikTok, and Americans will occupy six of the seven seats on the board of directors that will oversee it.”
Why is Larry Ellison’s role (geo)politically relevant, and what does Israel have to do with it?
What is admitted need not be proved, as the old adage goes. The day after the announcement, before an audience of podcasters and TikTokers at the Israeli consulate in New York, a blunt Benjamin Netanyahu declared: “Weapons change over time; the most important ones are social media,” adding that the purchase of TikTok “is the most important purchase being made right now.” A purchase that, incidentally, had been preceded a month earlier by the appointment of Erica Mindel, a US citizen and former Israeli military instructor, as the company’s new Director of Public Policy for Hate Speech. So did Israel buy TikTok? It depends on how you look at it. The key lies with Larry Ellison and his ties to the genocidal state. So who is this Ellison?
The owner of Oracle – cloud applications, databases, and servers, with 160,000 employees around the globe – is currently the second richest person on the planet (behind only Musk), with a fortune valued at USD 350 billion, according to Forbes. He lives on the Hawaiian island of Lanai, which he bought in 2012 for USD 300 million; he is a shareholder in X and Tesla; he owns almost 50% of the media giant Paramount-Skydance (including CBS), valued at USD 28 billion. An interesting fact provided by Forbes: “Ellison never finished college. He started out creating databases for the CIA.” His trusted business partner: Safra Catz, Oracle’s CEO since 2014, born in Israel and, like Ellison, a personal friend of … Netanyahu. According to a press release, “a few months before the start of the genocidal war in Gaza, Catz met with Netanyahu to discuss the expansion of Oracle’s projects in the Israeli-occupied territories.” But this is not an isolated incident. The close relationship between the new owner of TikTok and Israel goes back a long way, so much so that on one occasion Ellison even offered Netanyahu a seat on Oracle’s board of directors.
According to data provided by the BDS Movement, in 2019, Oracle leased an underground data center in Har Hotzvim, Jerusalem, to provide Israeli banks, health funds, and military forces with AI processing and information storage services; in 2021, it became the first multinational technology company to sell cloud services to Israel within the occupied territories; in 2022, it hosted soldiers and software developers from the Israeli army’s C41 Corp. to learn how to use Oracle’s cloud for military purposes…
It is no coincidence that Catz, Oracle’s all-powerful CEO, states that “for employees, it’s clear: if you’re not pro-US or pro-Israel, don’t work here”; nor is it surprising that some of her employees commented to The Intercept that “the atmosphere is horrible, people are terrified to even mention Palestine.” According to the same source, as soon as Israel’s military retaliation in Gaza began in October 2023, Catz demanded that the inscription “Oracle Stands with Israel” appear on all company screens in more than 180 countries. In the same context of the aggression against Palestinians in Gaza, Oracle developed the “Words of Iron” project, in collaboration with Israeli ministries, “to help the country elevate pro-Israel content and counter critical narratives on TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter.” In other words, a weapon at the service of propaganda, in that theater of operations that has now become fundamental, as Netanyahu himself knows: cognitive warfare. The Intercept also reports that a year ago, Oracle partnered with one of Israel’s largest defense companies, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, on an AI project to provide “fighters with rapid, actionable information on the battlefield.” In other words, war on the ground.
The relationship with Trump and his consolidation as media emperor
However close Ellison’s relations with the State of Israel and its army may be (he has also been a major donor to the US organization Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF), which channels millions of dollars to the soldiers of that country) it would have been very difficult for his company to win the approval of the Trump administration if its owner were not close to the president of the United States himself. After many years of donating to both parties but closer to the Democrats – an admirer of Clinton, disenchanted with Obama – Ellison’s balance began to shift toward the Republican side, especially its more radical wing. In 2016, he donated a significant sum to Marco Rubio in the Republican primaries and, according to Wired, later became a “reliable donor and fundraiser for the Republican Party during the 2020 and 2024 cycles,” which allowed him to become very close to Donald Trump. Although perhaps somewhat exaggerated, one of Trump’s advisers interviewed by that website referred to the Oracle owner as “the shadow president of the United States.”
In any case, what is certain is that Netanyahu and Trump’s personal friend will not be satisfied with his latest acquisition from the Chinese. The US media has been reporting in recent weeks that the Ellisons, Larry and his son/heir David, are going for more. They now have their sights set on the acquisition of Warner Brothers Discovery – which includes CNN. According to the national media watchdog organization FAIR, if the sale goes through, it would “create an unprecedented level of media consolidation” in the history of global media, including powerful news channels, film production companies, cable television … to which must be added control over TikTok. The danger of hyper-concentration of media power has been pointed out by various groups. Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren warned that regulatory agencies should block the potential merger “because it is a dangerous concentration of power.” Or, as professor of digital sociology Steven Buckley points out: “It is not a sign of a healthy democracy when billionaires buy up all the cultural consumption media.” For now, regardless of whether this latest move by the Ellison clan comes to fruition, his purchase of TikTok, blessed by the Trump-Netanyahu duo, once again sets off alarm bells regarding the marriage of economic, geopolitical, and military interests; just at a time when global awareness seems to be awakening to the urgent need to stop the war machines of Israel and the United States.
Miguel Ruíz is a Mexican-Ecuadorian sociologist. He holds a PhD in Latin American Studies (UNAM). He has been a professor and researcher at various universities in Mexico and Ecuador. He currently teaches at the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences and is a member of the Institute of Economic Research, both at the Central University of Ecuador.
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.
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Relatives and loved ones of Palestinians, who lost their lives in an Israeli attack ON Sabra neighborhood, mourn for their deceased ones at Al-Ahli Baptist hospital during their funeral procedures on October 03, 2025 in Gaza City, Gaza. [Hamza Z. H. Qraiqea – Anadolu Agency]
At least 67,139 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip since October 2023, the Health Ministry said on Sunday, Anadolu reports.
A ministry statement said that 65 bodies were brought to hospitals in the last 24 hours, while 153 people were injured, taking the number of injuries to 169,583 in the Israeli onslaught.
“Many victims are still trapped under the rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” it added.
It also noted that two Palestinians were killed and 30 others injured by Israeli army fire while trying to get humanitarian aid in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of Palestinians killed while seeking aid to 2,605, with over 19,124 others wounded since May 27.
The Israeli army resumed its attacks on the Gaza Strip on March 18 and has since killed 13,549 people and injured 57,542 others, shattering a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that took hold in January.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
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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.
Thousands gather for a march ahead of the second anniversary of the war in Gaza, on October 5, 2025, in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo by Ihsaan Haffejee/Anadolu via Getty Images)
US Rep. Ro Khanna demanded that Israel release American flotilla member David Adler, whose family has not heard from him since October 1.
US Congressman Ro Khanna on Sunday demanded the Israeli government’s release of David Adler, a US citizen who was one of the organizers intercepted by Israeli forces last week after they came close to breaking the country’s blockade on Gaza with the Global Sumud Flotilla.
As Marco Sermoneta, Israel’s consul general to the Pacific Northwest in the US, dismissed reports that humanitarians who were aboard the flotilla’s 50 boats are being deprived of food and water and mistreated in an Israeli detention center, Khanna (D-Calif.) called on the diplomat to confirm that Adler, a California resident, is a safe.
“I am most concerned about David Adler, a Californian and Jewish American, who is in the Ketziot prison,” said Khanna. “I spoke to his sister last night and their family is deeply anxious. Can you assure us he will be released and sent home safely?”
Khanna said Saturday that Adler’s family has not had contact with him since October 1, the day before a majority of the flotilla’s boats were stopped from reaching Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid.
The congressman said he plans to lead a delegation letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Leiter on Monday and expressed hope that “every colleague, particularly every California member, will sign.”
“Our government must stand up for an American citizen’s fair treatment and release,” said Khanna.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said Saturday that 137 of the rights advocates who were aboard the flotilla had been deported to Turkey; they were from the United Kingdom, Italy, and the United States.
More than 400 humanitarians, lawmakers, and lawyers were aboard the vessels, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, who told Swedish officials Saturday that she has been “subjected to harsh treatment in Israeli custody” in recent days.
The Guardian obtained correspondence from Sweden’s Foreign Ministry that described Israeli authorities taking photos of the climate campaigner “holding flags,” the identity of which was not reported.
“The embassy has been able to meet with Greta,” reads an email sent by the Foreign Ministry to people close to Thunberg and viewed by The Guardian. “She informed of dehydration. She has received insufficient amounts of both water and food. She also stated that she had developed rashes which she suspects were caused by bedbugs. She spoke of harsh treatment and said she had been sitting for long periods on hard surfaces.”
Turkish activist Ersin Çelik, who also participated in the Sumud flotilla, told Anadolu that Israeli authorities “dragged little Greta by her hair before our eyes, beat her, and forced her to kiss the Israeli flag. They did everything imaginable to her, as a warning to others.”
Another humanitarian told reporters that the Sumud flotilla campaigners had been “woken up at 3 in the morning with dogs and snipers walking into our rooms” and prevented from having medicine.
JUST IN: A Turkish activist from the Sumud Flotilla speaks out:
Israelis prevented us from having medicine, they only gave us water after 32 hours. We barely had any food.
We were woken up at 3 in the morning with dogs and snipers walking into our rooms, they woke us up every… pic.twitter.com/fDF8jI2gVh
“If Netanyahu’s government is treating Greta Thunberg this way, imagine how they are treating women and children in Gaza,” said Khanna on Sunday.
Talks on a peace plan between Israel and Hamas, proposed last week by US President Donald Trump, are scheduled to begin Monday in Egypt. Hamas has said it is willing to release the remaining hostages the group has been holding captive in Gaza since October 7, 2023 in exchange for the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinians detained by Israel.
On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of people across Europe marched in solidarity with the flotilla members and with Gaza, where more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel—with the backing of the US and a number of European governments—since October 2023.
Organizers in Rome said 1 million people turned out for the demonstration that was planned after Israel’s interception of the flotilla; police said 250,000 people marched. Spanish campaigners said hundreds of thousands of people rallied in every major city in the country, while smaller protests were reported in cities including Paris, Lisbon, Athens, and London.
Families attended a rally in Barcelona—whose former mayor, Ada Colau, was among the participants in the flotilla—and held signs with messages including, “Stop the Genocide,” and “Hands off the flotilla.”
Hundreds of thousands turn out at pro-Palestine marches across Europe, demanding immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the release of flotilla activists trying to get aid to enclave.
On Sunday, protests in support of the flotilla and Gaza continued in countries including South Africa and Amsterdam.
Aaron Bastani of Novara Mediasaid it was likely not “a coincidence that David Adler remains in prison, has not been in contact with his family, and has reputedly suffered significant ill treatment.”
“The biggest problem for [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and the Israeli right, long term,” said Bastani, “is anti-Zionist Jewish Americans.”
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.
[Insane Fascists] Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump agreed to a 20-point plan that involves a temporary Palestinian governing body for Gaza, overseen by a board including Tony Blair. (AP/Reuters)
…
Foreign billionaires could be installed on a board that governs all aspects of life in Gaza while Palestinians have little input, according to a draft plan seen by the ABC.
A leaked document has revealed a possible structure for the so-called “Gaza International Transitional Authority” (GITA) which could take temporary control of the strip once the war ends.
The proposal, seen by the ABC, was drafted by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, a thinktank led by the former British prime minister.
The working document has since been updated and has informed, at least in part, US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for the occupied Gaza Strip. The document details what might be in store for the people of Gaza and who could be controlling their lives in the near future.
Under the plan, GITA would have a hierarchical structure led by an international board that “exercises supreme strategic and political authority” and a chairman who leads the entire operation as “senior political executive”.
…
At least one Palestinian representative would be on the board provided they were “qualified”.
The document did not say what qualifications were needed but did say the Palestinian representative could “potentially” come from the business or security sector.
…
Plan ‘will fail’, critics say
Critics who have seen the draft plan say it does not put Palestinian people first.
John Na’em Snobar, a former diplomat in Egypt and Pakistan, and a Palestinian Christian, said “the people who are sitting around the table are motivated by capital interests”.
Mr Snobar said trade and investment in Gaza was a positive thing, but questioned: “Who is looking out for Palestinian interests in that scenario?”
He also criticised Trump’s 20-point plan saying: “No Palestinian leader I am aware of was consulted … in that sense the great lesson of the Abraham Accords was not learnt. You cannot have peace with Palestinians without Palestinians at the table.”
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.Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that his active support and that of UK’s air force has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide.Vote Labour for Genocide.
