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Israeli defence minister says he intends to close public radio station

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Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz. [SEBASTIAN SCHEINER/AFP via Getty Images]

Israel’s defence minister said on Wednesday he planned to close publicly funded Army Radio in what he described as an attempt to preserve the military’s nonpartisan character, but the decision was denounced by the station’s chief as a blow to press freedom.

The minister, Israel Katz, said in a statement he would soon submit a proposal to the country’s right-wing government to close the station, which is editorially independent, and he expected it to end its broadcasts by 1 March.

Army Radio’s chief, Tal Lev Ram, said the move was unexpected and not a professional process that prioritised the interests of soldiers.

“We see this as a real, regrettable, and dramatic blow to the people’s army, to Israeli society, and to freedom of the press in a democratic state,” he said in a statement.

“I intend to fight this grave decision by every means,” he said.

READ: White House dismisses report on alleged US military base on Gaza border

Army Radio is among two state-funded news outlets in Israel, the other being the public broadcaster KAN which operates a television news channel and several radio news stations.

Both are editorially independent of the government.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has been critical of Army Radio and KAN, sometimes accusing them of being biased against state institutions.

Katz said Army Radio had aired many opinions attacking the military and soldiers. The station is staffed by both soldiers and civilians and is widely popular among the Israeli public. A communications ministry spokesperson declined to comment.

The government has sought to privatise KAN, a move that some critics say is because KAN is critical of the government.

Israeli Opposition Leader Yair Lapid on X condemned the decision to close Army Radio, saying it was driven by “an anxious government that fears criticism”. He accused the government of trying to “change the rules of the game” ahead of next year’s election.

Israel’s journalist union said that it would fight to overturn Katz’s “harmful” decision.

It was not immediately clear when Katz would submit the proposal to the entire government.

Public opinion polls frequently show that Netanyahu’s coalition, the most right-wing in Israel’s history, would not win enough seats to form a government if an election were held today.

READ: Israeli military prepares target bank in West Bank ahead of possible escalation

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

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.
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.
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.
Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
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/O74hZCKKdpA

Continue ReadingIsraeli defence minister says he intends to close public radio station

UN Special Rapporteurs condemn Palestine Action ban

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/un-special-rapporteurs-condemn-palestine-action-ban

 A woman is detained by police officers as supporters of Palestine Action take part in a mass action in Parliament Square, Westminster, central London, August 9, 2025

FOUR UN special rapporteurs and an independent expert have sent a letter to the British government warning that the ban on Palestine Action is “not justified” and violates human rights.

The letter was originally sent on September 12, but its publication has been delayed for two months — the usual period given to allow the government time to respond.

Palestine Action, a direct action group which targeted Israeli arms firms, has been banned and designated a terrorist organisation since July 5.

The letter condemns the proscription as giving rise to “disproportionate restrictions” on the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, and warns that “mere property damage is not sufficient to constitute terrorism according to international standards.”

The UN special rapporteurs highlight that designating groups as terrorist when they are not genuinely so is more common in states that are “authoritarian and lack legal and political cultures of respect for human rights.”

They also raised concerns over mass arrests under the Terrorism Act for supporting Palestine Action.

…

continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/un-special-rapporteurs-condemn-palestine-action-ban

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.
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.
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.
Continue ReadingUN Special Rapporteurs condemn Palestine Action ban

Israeli data: Unprecedented rise in settler attacks in 2025

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

Illegal settlers, covering their faces with masks, attack Palestinian farmers, journalists and foreign activists with sticks and stones in Beita town of Nablus, West Bank on November 08, 2025. [Nedal Eshtayah – Anadolu Agency]

The West Bank has witnessed an unprecedented increase in violent attacks carried out by Israeli settlers against Palestinians, amid what observers describe as widespread leniency from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and its security agencies. Several Israeli sources have referred to these incidents as expanding “nationalist crimes”, fuelled by settler impunity and political protection from government ministers.

Official figures show that 2025 has recorded a sharp rise in settler assaults, with dozens of attacks reported in recent weeks alone. Data from Israel’s Ministry of Defence indicate a significant escalation in settler violence over the past three weeks, coinciding with the start of the olive harvest season, during which more than 68 terrorist attacks were documented.

According to official statistics, 2025 has so far been marked by a continued rise in such “nationalist crimes” against Palestinians across the West Bank. Since mid-October, around 50 assaults have been carried out by extremist settlers. Meanwhile, United Nations data, which cover a wider range of incidents, show that the total number of attacks in October alone reached 264 — the highest monthly figure recorded in a year.

READ: Israeli settlers launch coordinated attacks across West Bank under army protection

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.
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.
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.
Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
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/O74hZCKKdpA
Continue ReadingIsraeli data: Unprecedented rise in settler attacks in 2025

Morning Star Editorial: Starmer may fall, but the right’s grip on Labour won’t be broken from within

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/starmer-may-fall-rights-grip-labour-wont-be-broken-within

 Prime Minister Keir Starmer departs 10 Downing Street, London, to attend Prime Minister’s Questions at the Houses of Parliament, November 12, 2025

IF KEIR STARMER intended to stave off a leadership challenge by advertising his readiness to fight one, he has miscalculated.

All his intervention has done is placed the question of his leadership at the top of MPs’ minds.

Perhaps identifying Wes Streeting as a possible challenger was intended to frighten the left away from triggering a contest — since Streeting is even further right than Starmer.

In practice it simply showcases the Prime Minister’s insecurity and the toxic culture Streeting accurately describes in Downing Street — where the government briefs against its own, and a leadership that has always relied on bans and expulsions to maintain authority descends into a “circular firing squad,” to use the ever eloquent Barry Gardiner’s phrase. Unlike Starmer, MPs might reflect, Streeting has never pretended to be on the left and as a Blairite true believer might at least try to govern through persuasion rather than fear.

Nobody should fear challenging Starmer: his government is as inept as it is cruel and is paving the way for a far-right Reform UK regime.

But Streeting is no solution. The Health Secretary would be a cosmetic change, no more: he’s wedded to the same policies of privatisation and cuts that have wrecked our public services and national infrastructure. Starmer loyalists point to the long death agony of the last Tory government as evidence that switching leader doesn’t help — and it won’t, without dramatic changes in Labour policy.

And that’s a problem. Starmer’s leadership exists to prevent change, not deliver it: its whole mission has been the destruction of Corbynism and the threat of a socialist-led Labour Party. That project was endorsed by the overwhelming majority of Labour MPs even before last year’s election brought in cohorts of carefully vetted conformists.

…

Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/starmer-may-fall-rights-grip-labour-wont-be-broken-within

Keir Starmer refuses to be outcnuted by Nigel Farage's chasing the racist bigot vote.
Keir Starmer refuses to be outcnuted by Nigel Farage’s chasing the racist bigot vote.
Keir Starmer commits to play the caretaker role for Capitalism through the "hard times".
Keir Starmer commits to play the caretaker role for Capitalism through the “hard times”.
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership is intensely relaxed about assaulting those least able to defend themselves - the very poorest and most vulnerable.
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership is intensely relaxed about assaulting those least able to defend themselves – the very poorest and most vulnerable.
Continue ReadingMorning Star Editorial: Starmer may fall, but the right’s grip on Labour won’t be broken from within

White House dismisses report on alleged US military base on Gaza border

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

The White House logo is seen at the White House press briefing room on June 18, 2025, in Washington, DC. [Celal Güneş – Anadolu Agency ]

The White House on Wednesday dismissed a report that the US is considering building a temporary military base on the border of the Gaza Strip, Anadolu reports.

“This article was based on a single piece of paper, an inquiry that somebody in the Department of Navy made about an idea that may happen in the future, and this reporter deemed that as an official plan, and ran with a story that the United States is looking into it. I checked with the highest levels of the United States federal government.

“This is not something the United States is interested in being engaged in … it’s not something we are currently involved in right now,” spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

The Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, citing anonymous Israeli officials, said Washington seeks to establish a large military base in the Gaza border area, which would mark “a significant escalation of US activity in Israel.”

It said the project would be “the first large-scale American military installation on Israeli territory, underscoring a deepening US commitment to post-war stabilization efforts in Gaza.”

Leavitt said President Donald Trump has been “very clear he doesn’t want to see boots on the ground with respect to what’s happening in the Middle East.”

“We’ve made great peace, we’ve made great progress with the peace plan in Gaza and we want to continue to see that move forward,” she added.

READ: US plans to establish $500M military base near Gaza border: Israeli media

Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
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/O74hZCKKdpA
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 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.
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.

Continue ReadingWhite House dismisses report on alleged US military base on Gaza border