genocide

Global Sumud Flotilla continues journey toward Gaza

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A fleet of dozens of boats prepares to depart from the Port of Barcelona as part of the Global Sumud Flotilla mission to break the blockade on Gaza, in Barcelona, Spain on April 12, 2026. [Burak Akbulut – Anadolu Agency]

The Global Sumud Flotilla continued its journey toward Gaza on Friday, after setting sail from Barcelona, Anadolu reports.

The flotilla was created to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza, deliver humanitarian aid and draw international attention to the situation in the enclave.

The mission includes around 70 vessels and nearly 1,000 participants from 70 countries, making it significantly larger than a previous mission in September 2025, which included 42 boats and 462 participants.

READ: Global Sumud Flotilla sets sail again from Barcelona to Gaza with double participation

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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/
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/
Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Straight of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don't need people to join wars after they've already won. He's challenged with the claim that he lies as much as the IDF.
Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Straight of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don’t need people to join wars after they’ve already won. He’s challenged with the claim that he lies as much as the IDF.
Orcas discuss rotting brain. Front Orca says "Wish someone would lock him up".
Orcas discuss rotting brain. Front Orca says “Wish someone would lock him up”.

Continue ReadingGlobal Sumud Flotilla continues journey toward Gaza

Senate Democrats vote to block arms for Israel as base turns pro-Palestine

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Demonstrators gather outside Google’s Chicago headquarters on April 15, 2026. [Jacek Boczarski – Anadolu Agency]

An overwhelming majority of Senate Democrats voted yesterday to block new US arms sales to Israel, in a significant sign of how far the party has moved away from its once near-unquestioned support for arming Israel. 

Two resolutions introduced by Senator Bernie Sanders seeking to halt the sale of bulldozers and 1,000-pound bombs were defeated, but they won the backing of most Democrats in the chamber. The Senate voted 40-59 against blocking the bulldozer sale and 36-63 against blocking the sale of bombs.

The measures targeted roughly $446.8 million in military sales, including $295 million in armoured bulldozers and $151.8 million in 1,000-pound bombs. Sanders said the weapons had been used in Gaza, Lebanon and the occupied Palestinian territories and argued that the sales raised serious concerns under US law, including the Foreign Assistance Act and the Arms Export Control Act.

The vote was notable for the split among the rank of Democrat lawmakers. Forty of the Senate’s 47 Democrats voted to stop supplying bulldozers to the Israeli military, while 36 voted against supplying bombs. That means around 85 per cent of Senate Democrats backed at least measures to stop Israel continue its ethnic cleansing through the demolition of Palestinian homes. 

Key Democratic figures including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand and John Fetterman voted against blocking the sales, alongside all or nearly all Republicans.

The vote fits a broader political realignment inside the Democratic Party. A Pew poll published this month found that 80 per cent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents now hold an unfavourable view of Israel, up from 69 per cent last year and 53 per cent in 2022.

READ: Poll finds most Americans hold unfavourable views of Israel

That shift has been increasingly visible on Capitol Hill. Yesterday’s vote is seen as further evidence of “growing dissatisfaction” among Democrats with US military backing for Israel. Once a fringe view in Congress, ending US support for the apartheid state is the mainstream position of Democrats.

Pressure is also growing on Schumer, who remains out of step with much of his party’s base on Israel. In the days before the vote, nearly 100 protesters were arrested in New York after demanding that Schumer and Gillibrand support Sanders’s resolutions. 

After Schumer voted against the resolution, Representative Ro Khanna publicly told him to “step aside”, saying he was “out of touch with our base and the nation.”

Even though Sanders’s resolutions failed, the scale of Democratic support marked a new high-water mark for congressional opposition to arming Israel. Reuters said the votes showed “growing unease among Democrats” over US military support for Israel, while the Guardian described the result as evidence of noticeable momentum within the party for greater scrutiny of arms sales amid the devastation in Gaza and wider regional escalation.

For Democratic leaders who have continued to back military aid, the political warning is becoming harder to ignore. The party’s voters are moving sharply towards the Palestinians, and Wednesday’s vote showed that most Senate Democrats are now moving with them.

READ: J Street backs ending US military aid to Israel in sign of widening Democratic shift

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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/
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/
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 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 how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.

Continue ReadingSenate Democrats vote to block arms for Israel as base turns pro-Palestine

8 more Gazans killed by Israeli fire despite ceasefire, death toll nears 72,350

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Palestinians who lost their relatives in an Israeli attack grieve during the funeral held outside their homes at Rimal neighborhood in Gaza City, Gaza, Palestine on April 15, 2026. [Abdalhkem Abu Riash – Anadolu Agency]

Eight Palestinians were killed by Israeli army fire in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, in the latest violation of a ceasefire agreement in effect since last October, the Health Ministry said Wednesday, Anadolu reports.

Hospitals in Gaza also received 29 wounded in attacks by Israeli forces, the ministry added in a statement.

The ministry did not give details on the circumstances of the casualties, but said Israel continues daily strikes despite the Oct. 10 ceasefire.

According to the ministry, the death toll from Israeli attacks since Oct. 8, 2023 rose to 72,344, while 172,242 people have been injured.

Since the ceasefire began, a total of 765 Palestinians have been killed, 2,140 injured and 760 bodies recovered, the ministry said.

Many victims remain trapped under rubble or on the streets, as ambulance and civil defense crews are still unable to reach them, the ministry said.

The ceasefire agreement was meant to end a two-year Israeli offensive on Gaza, which has destroyed 90% of the civilian infrastructure in the enclave. The UN estimates reconstruction costs at around $70 billion.

READ: Israeli strike on police vehicle in Gaza kills 4, including child

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

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/
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/
Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Straight of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don't need people to join wars after they've already won. He's challenged with the claim that he lies as much as the IDF.
Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Straight of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don’t need people to join wars after they’ve already won. He’s challenged with the claim that he lies as much as the IDF.
Orcas discuss rotting brain. Front Orca says "Wish someone would lock him up".
Orcas discuss rotting brain. Front Orca says “Wish someone would lock him up”.

Continue Reading8 more Gazans killed by Israeli fire despite ceasefire, death toll nears 72,350

Morning Star Editorial: Suppressing protest won’t save the government or Labour Party

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/suppressing-protest-wont-save-government-or-labour-party

 People take part in a march organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, from Russell Square to Whitehall in central London, June 21, 2025

…

We live in a country now where the police round up hundreds at peaceful sit-ins for the slogans on their placards, where they inspect the books and flyers on political stalls, where peace movement leaders get convicted of public order offences for leading a march to lay flowers on the road in memory of dead children.

Suppressing these movements does nothing to address their grievances and Labour’s support is in freefall. Arrests such as those at Lakenheath air base, protesting at the US using British territory as a launchpad to bomb Iran, are not even made to shield our government but a Donald Trump regime that humiliates and undermines it at every turn, while dragging our country into illegal wars.

Wales First Minister Eluned Morgan, demanding an end to military co-operation with the United States on a military radar project in Pembrokeshire, sees how toxic and dangerous the US alliance has become.

There is little Labour can do to turn things around by May: doing so at all will require a complete overhaul of government policy, and the ejection of Starmer himself.

But Morgan’s intervention does point to an immediate step needed to show Labour intends to change: dump Trump, and Netanyahu. Stop arresting people to shield them.

Stop the slide into repression and war.

See the original article at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/suppressing-protest-wont-save-government-or-labour-party

Palestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine 'Private Eye'.
Palestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine ‘Private Eye’.
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 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/
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/

Continue ReadingMorning Star Editorial: Suppressing protest won’t save the government or Labour Party

Cracks in Europe’s support for colonial violence and genocide

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Special police units on the roof to remove the demonstrators from Peacefully Against Genocide staging a protest at the Berlin premises of Rheinmetall, a major German defense and automotive technology company specializing in military vehicles, weapons systems, and ammunition on March 25, 2026. [İlkin Eskipehlivan – Anadolu Agency]

Spain was recently targeted by Israel’s antisemitism narrative after an effigy of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was blown up in El Burgo, during the Burning of Judas festival. “The appalling antisemitic hatred on display here is a direct result of the @sanchezcastejon government’s systematic incitement,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry stated on X, while noting that the Spanish ambassador to Israel was summoned for a reprimand.

However, the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s statement illustrates that the problem is not the burning of Netanyahu’s effigy, but rather the Spanish government’s current stance against Israel’s genocide in Gaza and its wars in Lebanon and Iran.

After decades of European blind adherence to Israel’s ethnic cleansing and colonial expansion, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has illustrated that stepping away from diplomatic normalisation of colonialism and genocide is possible. At least temporarily, Israel’s European safety net has been fractured.

The seven metre effigy of Netanyahu was filled with 14 kilogrammes of gunpowder. Burning it represented opposition to war and genocide, El Burgo’s Mayor Maria Dolores Narvaez stated.

READ: Varying degrees of silence over colonialism and annexation

There is nothing antisemitic about opposition to war and genocide. The truth is that Israel exploits the Holocaust narrative to justify Zionist colonial expansion and genocide, but it can no longer do so completely unchallenged. Netanyahu represents genocide and is wanted by the International Criminal Court. That is not an antisemitic narrative; it is based on facts.

Politically, Spain’s stance is also impacting the prior cohesion over Israel’s colonial violence and genocide, to the point that Netanyahu barred the country from participating in the Civil Military Coordination Centre in Kiryat Gat that oversees the ceasefire. Spain, according to Netanyahu, has defamed Israel and the IDF. Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar described Spain as having an “obsessive anti-Israel bias under Sanchez’s leadership”.

An anti-Israel stance, however, is not an obsession. It is a reality that opposes colonialism and genocide. At the very least, it opposes military occupation and genocide. What Spain has achieved so far in its stance sets an example for the rest of Europe to emulate. It is politically viable to take a stance against Israeli colonialism, military occupation and genocide.

In other unexpected turns, less powerful that Spain but nonetheless worth noting, Germany criticised Israel’s death penalty bill for Palestinians. “The government is also concerned that such a law would likely apply exclusively to Palestinians in the Palestinian territories,” Stefan Kornelius, spokesperson to the German government, declared. “It therefore regrets the Knesset’s decision and cannot endorse it.”

READ: In Israel’s colonial ethnic cleansing, the world fails stand for decolonisation

Also, following German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s criticism over Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich reverted to Holocaust history to obfuscate the present colonial settlement expansion, warning that Germany cannot dictate where Jews should live. The comments prompted Israel’s ambassador to Germany Ron Prosor to oppose Smotrich, reminding that Germany is “our number one friend” in Europe.

Spain has certainly ignited an alternative way, and one that is exposing rifts even within Israeli politics. Whining about antisemitism over the burning of Netanyahu’s effigy may be temporarily amplified, but Spain’s stance is not about a symbolic effigy. A single, constant opposition to Israel’s genocide in Gaza had the power to expose the instability of Israel’s political reasoning, as well as the threats directed at any country opposing its actions.

If Spain can manage that stance on its own, and if Germany can coherently oppose the death penalty for Palestinians, a political stance towards decolonisation as Israel escalates its aggression against anyone opposing it is more than possible. It is imperative.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

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/
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/
Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Straight of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don't need people to join wars after they've already won. He's challenged with the claim that he lies as much as the IDF.
Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Straight of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don’t need people to join wars after they’ve already won. He’s challenged with the claim that he lies as much as the IDF.
Donald Trump warns against following the Onaquietday.org blog, says that he's heard that she's a which with a black cat and a dangerous kitchen.
Donald Trump warns against following the Onaquietday.org blog, says that he’s heard that she’s a which with a black cat and a dangerous kitchen.
Continue ReadingCracks in Europe’s support for colonial violence and genocide