ANTI-WAR campaigners have called for the further removal of US militarism from Britain after the country’s bombers were withdrawn from RAF Fairford.
Downing Street insisted the site remains safe following the withdrawal, despite initial reports linking it to recent threats against the base.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio later downplayed the move, saying: “It’s not unusual to see movement of assets to different parts of the world based on exercises, redeployments, people changing out and new people coming in, new planes coming in and old planes going out.”
…
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament general secretary Sophie Bolt welcomed the removal of the B-1 bombers from the site, saying it was “something we have long campaigned for.”
“This also extends the extends to the removal of US nuclear weapons — now stationed at RAF Lakenheath — US fighter jets, personnel and US military control of RAF bases,” she said.
“It’s time to end the uncontrolled and unaccountable foreign military presence in this country.”
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A man in handcuffs after being arrested by police. [AI generated image]
Israeli prosecutors charged a Bar-Ilan University mathematics professor Monday with preparing a terrorist attack, blackmail and obstruction of justice for plotting to kill hundreds of Arab citizens and force thousands more to flee to Jordan, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli media.
The State Prosecutor’s Office said the suspect, whose identity remains under a gag order, developed a “thorough and detailed” plan over nearly three years and sought assistance from “subversive elements” in the Israeli Air Force, artillery and armored corps, The Times of Israel reported.
The suspect, around 60 years old, was arrested Sept. 17 and has admitted to the charges against him, according to prosecutors.
The indictment says he spent the past 18 months trying to recruit people for the plan and sought a “significant political figure” who could help enlist armed participants.
He eventually approached former Likud lawmaker Moshe Feiglin, whose Zehut faction has teamed up with extremist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party ahead of the Oct. 27 election, the newspaper said.
After Feiglin did not respond, the professor tried about a month ago to blackmail him into joining while using methods to conceal the plan and obstruct its discovery, prosecutors said.
Feiglin, his deputy Yitzhak Hai Zaga and Zehut executive director Shai Malka later handed police threatening letters they received from the suspect, according to a court filing.
The professor called the plan “Ayit,” Hebrew for “eagle,” also used as an acronym for a phrase meaning “the nation will carry out transfer,” referring to the expulsion of Palestinians.
He began working on the plan in February 2023 following the 2021 protests in mixed Arab-Jewish cities, the newspaper said.
As part of the preparations, the Israeli professor obtained numerous aerial photographs of the northern Bedouin town of Tuba-Zangariyye in northern Israel in March 2023 and visited the area several times to identify what he considered suitable access and attack routes.
He also prepared a 20-page document for recruits, which he kept at both his home and his Bar-Ilan University office.
The plan called for 72 armed Jewish attackers, divided into 12 groups of six, to simultaneously attack Arab population centers with firearms and axes, with support from sympathetic elements in the military.
It estimated that 600 to 700 people would be killed and stipulated that at least half of the attackers, including the professor, should hold gun licenses.
The document also called for women and children to be targeted and for the attacks to be broadcast on social media in real time to drive Arabs to flee Israel and the occupied West Bank.
It envisioned appeals for soldiers, police officers, Israeli occupiers, and criminals to join the attacks after they began.
The professor planned to gather 71 other participants at an event organized by a candidate in the 2026 election under the guise of a campaign gathering, with the attacks scheduled for the following day, the indictment said.
Around June, he asked his daughter to recruit acquaintances among the so-called “hilltop youth,” a term referring to extremist Israeli occupiers in the West Bank, but she refused.
The Central District Attorney’s Office filed the indictment at Lod District Court and asked that he remain in custody until the end of the proceedings.
Bar-Ilan University said it was “shocked” by the charges and suspended the professor pending the conclusion of the legal process.
Arab Israelis make up about 21% of Israel’s population of more than 10 million.
Ed Miliband says that he and the Labour Party are full of shit criminalising people holding signs as terrorists despite anything he says.UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister.
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Zack Polanski, UK Green Party leader. [Photo/AA]
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Sunday decided to bar British Green Party leader Zack Polanski from entering Israel, in response to his party adopting a resolution declaring Zionism a form of racism.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement on X that Sa’ar had decided “to declare Green Party leader Zack Polanski barred from entering Israel” after his party adopted the resolution, adding that the decision was made in coordination with the relevant Israeli authorities.
Earlier on Sunday, the Green Party adopted the resolution at its conference in Brighton, with 56 per cent voting in favour and 44 per cent against, describing Zionism as a “racist ideology”.
With the adoption of the motion, describing Zionism as a “racist movement” became part of the party’s official policy.
According to the BBC, the resolution calls for a single Palestinian state across all of historic Palestine, where everyone, including Jews, would have equal rights, with no reference to Israel continuing as a separate state or to a two-state solution.
“Today, the Green Party in Britain adopted a resolution equating Zionism with racism, legitimising armed struggle against Israel, and calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state “from the river to the sea” – meaning the destruction of the State of Israel,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said.
It also claimed that “the resolution constitutes a clear antisemitic text according to the IHRA definition, as it denies the Jewish people’s right to self-determination.”
Ed Miliband says that he and the Labour Party are full of shit criminalising people holding signs as terrorists despite anything he says.UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister.
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A Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) doctor takes care of patients at Nasser Hospital as patients face difficulties accessing care due to inadequate health services in Khan Yunis, Gaza on January 15, 2026. [Abed Rahim Khatib – Anadolu Agency]
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Monday that Israel was continuing its genocide in Gaza and was “progressively asphyxiating” the region, urging governments to take immediate action, Anadolu reports.
In a statement, MSF said the conditions for the people’s survival were being “systematically destroyed” through sustained violence, “deliberate” blockade of essential supplies and the destruction of healtcare as well as infrastructure.
“In the past year, the physical trapping of people in Gaza has been made increasingly definitive by the establishment of Israel’s Yellow Line,” the French medical charity said.
Recalling that it was originally presented as temporary, MSF noted that the line is now reinforced by military positions, berms and ongoing demolitions while it has continued to move west, “squeezing people into a smaller and smaller area.”
MSF said people risk being shot by Israeli forces when approaching the area, while its teams continue to treat those wounded by gunfire nearby.
“The Yellow Line cannot be treated simply as a line on a map,” said Amande Bazerolle, MSF head of emergency response in Gaza. “It has become a mechanism of encirclement and ethnic cleansing, while cutting communities off from the infrastructure, healthcare, water and other essentials they need to survive.”
MSF said violence was not only confined to the areas around the “Yellow Line,” reporting having treated over 1,200 cases of violent trauma across Gaza in June and July alone.
It recalled that MSF teams treated more than 200,000 trauma cases over the past three years while Israel’s military offensive killed over 74,000 people.
The organization said overcrowding and limited access to clean water, sanitation, shelter and healthcare are contributing to the spread of disease. Its teams also treated over 11,000 skin disease cases and 1,500 chickenpox cases in June and July.
It also pointed to the dramatic deterioration of access to healthcare over the past three years as hospitals run out of basic supplies and patients unable to access essential medicines and treatment.
“Restrictions on essential supplies, such as engine oil and spare parts, are also crippling the infrastructure needed to keep hospitals, ambulances and water systems running, with generators already breaking down and water-trucking operations reduced,” the statement said.
It added that the crisis is not limited to Gaza as violent occupier attacks, military operation and raids on homes, displacements as well as home demolitions escalated rapidly across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
“It will take generations to recover from the harm that has already been done over the past three years, and in the preceding decades, while the excruciating consequences of Israel’s ongoing genocide are still being felt every day,” Bazerolle said.
She warned that Israel carried out destruction, displacement and deprivation “with impunity” while such practices became “normalised.”
“Governments must act now to ensure Israel stops the destruction and killing, prevents ethnic cleansing, and stops denying Palestinians the means of survival,” Bazerolle added.
Ed Miliband says that he and the Labour Party are full of shit criminalising people holding signs as terrorists despite anything he says.UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister.
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The United States Capitol building is seen in Washington DC, United States on April 22, 2026, [Celal Güneş – Anadolu Agency]
Foreign policy is rarely the principal factor shaping how Americans vote in congressional primaries or midterm elections. The 2026 cycle, however, appears to be different, as crises abroad increasingly spill over into concerns at home. The issues emphasised by Republican and Democratic candidates, the results of the primaries and shifts in public opinion suggest that Iran and the Palestinian question have emerged as additional factors in the domestic political contest. Iran has entered the electoral calculus through the economic costs of the war and majority opposition to military action, while the Palestinian issue has gained salience amid a discernible shift in American attitudes towards Israel and the Palestinians. These developments could influence the outcome of November’s midterms, against a backdrop of falling approval of the administration’s foreign policy and a growing Democratic lead in congressional polling.
The war with Iran shows this most clearly. Its repercussions have spread beyond foreign policy into the economy and the cost of living, the issues that weigh most heavily on American voters. The effects of the US-Israeli war on Iran have fed through into energy prices, inflation and interest rates in the United States, while consumer confidence has fallen to its lowest level. Public opposition is also substantial: 60 per cent of voters opposed US military action against Iran in a Quinnipiac poll conducted in July, and only 29 per cent approved of Trump’s handling of Iran in a Reuters/Ipsos poll in June.
Attitudes towards Israelis and Palestinians point to a notable shift in American public opinion, one that is increasingly reflected in the positions of the candidates of both parties and in the electoral mood. For nearly two decades, Gallup polling showed a wide and persistent sympathy gap in favour of the Israelis, exceeding 40 percentage points in many years and averaging 43 points between 2001 and 2018.
That gap had begun to narrow even before 7 October 2023, particularly among Democrats and younger Americans. In February 2023, Gallup found that, for the first time, Democrats sympathised more with the Palestinians than with the Israelis. The war in Gaza, however, accelerated and deepened that trend. The change has not been confined to Democrats. Movement within the Republican electorate, historically the constituency most sympathetic to Israel, has also contributed to the broader evolution of American opinion. Republicans still sympathise overwhelmingly with the Israelis, but that advantage has begun to erode. Gallup found that Republican sympathy for the Israelis had fallen by 10 percentage points since 2024, to its lowest level. More striking still is the emerging generational divide: among Republicans under 30, Pew found favourable views of the Israeli and Palestinian peoples almost evenly matched, at 42 and 40 per cent respectively. The most consequential movement, however, has come among independents. In 2025, they sympathised more with the Israelis than with the Palestinians by 42 to 34 per cent; a year later, that balance had reversed to 41 per cent for the Palestinians and 30 for the Israelis, a swing Gallup identifies as the principal driver of the latest change in public opinion. The trajectory across the three political groups underscores how far this realignment broadened during the war.
Between 2023 and 2026, Gallup recorded an increase in sympathy for the Palestinians from 49 to 65 per cent among Democrats, from 32 to 41 per cent among independents and, more modestly, from 11 to 13 per cent among Republicans.
The scale of the movement varied considerably across the partisan spectrum, but its consistent direction suggests that the war marked an important inflection point in a process already under way. Taken together, these trends indicate that the latest change is neither sudden nor transitory, but part of a deeper and more gradual realignment in American public opinion attitudes. Against this backdrop, Gallup’s finding in February this year that 41 per cent of Americans sympathised more with the Palestinians, compared with 36 per cent who sympathised more with the Israelis, appears less an isolated polling result than the culmination of a longer-term trend cutting across the country’s partisan divide.
The change is not confined to sympathy. It is increasingly extending to the terms of the US relationship with Israel itself, and particularly to whether American military and financial support should remain as extensive and as largely unconditional as it has traditionally been. A Quinnipiac University poll conducted between 18 and 22 June found that 48 per cent of registered voters considered the United States too supportive of Israel, the highest proportion since the question was first asked in 2017. That sentiment has begun to find expression in Congress. In April, 40 of the 47 members of the Senate Democratic caucus voted to block a $295 million sale of bulldozers to Israel, while 36 opposed a $151.8 million sale of 1,000-pound bombs. The votes marked a significant expansion of Democratic support for placing limits on arms transfers to Israel and reflected a widening gap between the two parties over the terms of US support. Within the Republican coalition, the change is more limited, but potentially significant. Support for Israel remains dominant within the party, yet an increasingly visible America First current on the right has begun to question whether extensive US military commitments to Israel serve American interests.
Tucker Carlson has become one of the most prominent voices articulating that argument, accusing the Republican establishment of placing Israel’s security ahead of America’s. Such arguments remain far from commanding the Republican mainstream, but their growing visibility, particularly alongside weakening support for Israel among younger Republicans, suggests that a debate once concentrated largely within the Democratic Party is beginning to reach parts of the American right as well.
The 2026 congressional primaries offer an early indication of how these shifts may play out in November, both in the issues candidates chose to emphasise and in the results themselves. According to Ballotpedia, 2,497 candidates ran in congressional primaries covering 468 seats: all 435 in the House of Representatives and 33 in the Senate. With two special Senate elections in Ohio and Florida, 470 congressional seats are being contested this year. Of those running, 2,232 sought House seats, the highest number since 2014, while 265 competed for the Senate, the third-highest figure over the same period. The cycle also featured 547 competitive primaries: 272 Democratic, 209 Republican and 66 conducted under the “top-two” system, in which parties do not hold separate primaries. Instead, all candidates appear on a single ballot, and the two who receive the highest votes advance to the general election regardless of party affiliation.
In the 2024 congressional primaries, the MAGA wing accounted for 43 per cent of Republican winners, compared with 40 per cent for traditional conservatives and 11 per cent for moderates, according to Brookings. On the Democratic side, the mainstream wing, the party’s dominant force, accounted for 67 per cent of winners, while progressives made up 30 per cent and democratic socialists remained marginal.
With no comprehensive breakdown of the balance of forces within either party yet available following the primaries, concluded in mid-September 2026, Brookings offers partial results that allow for a comparison between the two cycles. Its analysis is confined to the most competitive contests in 33 House districts and 10 Senate races, covering a total of 300 candidates.
Among Republicans, MAGA candidates won only around 26.7 per cent of the competitive races, while more than 92 per cent of Trump-endorsed candidates prevailed. Around half of those endorsed by Trump, however, were incumbents, giving them an inherent advantage in seeking re-election. Even with that qualification, Trump-backed candidates recorded a markedly higher success rate than MAGA candidates across these swing races.
Among Democrats, progressives won only 17.8 per cent of competitive races, while democratic socialists remained marginal, broadly in line with their showing in 2024. Yet other analyses suggest that progressives’ success rates were close to those of previous cycles, and that more progressive candidates won. The wing also registered notable victories, among them those of candidates endorsed by Zohran Mamdani in New York. An important caveat is that the 2026 figures measure each faction’s success rate in competitive races, rather than its share of all winners, as the 2024 figures do. They therefore offer an indication of the broader direction of travel, not a definitive numerical comparison between the two cycles.
These results point to a pattern among Democratic winners whose campaigns centred on issues of particular concern to their constituencies, rather than necessarily signalling an ideological shift to the left. More broadly, across the most competitive districts and states in 2026, the outcomes in both parties show an advantage for their mainstream, less ideological wings, reflecting the premium placed on general-election viability and the ability to reach voters beyond each party’s ideological core.
The issues on which the winners of the latest primaries campaigned offer an important measure of each party’s voter priorities, as well as a guide to what may matter most in the coming midterms. Republican candidates were more supportive of Israel than their Democratic counterparts, and less so of military and economic assistance to Ukraine.
Among Republicans, immigration, security and the border featured more prominently. Only 23.5 per cent of those running in swing or contested states defended the administration’s record on the economy and the cost of living, while none acknowledged shortcomings in its handling of these issues. Healthcare went unaddressed by roughly half of the party’s candidates, and most of those who did discuss it focused on containing spending. In competitive races in swing states, success was associated with a combination of Trump’s endorsement, electability and the avoidance of ideological positions that might narrow a candidate’s broader electoral appeal.
Among Democrats, the economy and the cost of living came to the fore, with affordability emerging as the overriding economic concern. Around 56 per cent of Democratic candidates addressed inflation, most using it to criticise the Trump administration’s record, while 94 per cent made healthcare an issue in their campaigns. In competitive districts, no candidate embraced an “open borders” policy or called for defunding the police, and many steered clear of more divisive positions, including on transgender issues. On immigration, the small number who took more conservative stances performed well. In safe Democratic seats with competitive primaries, progressive candidates backed by Zohran Mamdani defeated their rivals with a more left-wing message centred on economic inequality, immigration, the Palestinian question and higher taxes on the wealthy. The results underscored how the issues that decide a party primary can vary with the electoral character of the district.
Trump’s endorsement emerged as a powerful factor in Republican candidates’ performance, while the economy, the cost of living and healthcare featured prominently in Democratic messaging. Across both parties, candidates in competitive races sought to balance the issues that mobilise their party base with the need to appeal to swing voters.
Pew polling in 2026 shows a clear divide between Republican and Democratic priorities on illegal immigration, security and crime. In a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted this month, 79 per cent of Republicans approved of Trump’s handling of immigration, revealing a marked gap between the Republican base and the public at large. Among Americans overall, only 36 per cent approved of his immigration policy and 55 per cent disapproved. Democratic priorities, according to Pew, are more heavily concentrated on the cost of living, healthcare, gun violence and climate, while only 17 per cent of Democrats regarded illegal immigration as a very big problem. Yet the economy, the cost of living and healthcare are concerns that extend well beyond Democratic voters. On healthcare policy, Democrats held a clear advantage over Republicans, 42 per cent to 28 per cent, and also led on climate, abortion and education, positions that broadly align with public opinion. Republicans, by contrast, led clearly on crime and more narrowly on immigration.
This alignment may help explain the broader electoral mood, which in recent months has tilted towards the Democratic Party ahead of the midterms. A Reuters/Ipsos poll in the middle of this month put Democrats at 44 per cent, against 37 per cent for Republicans. In 37 swing House districts, a Cook Political Report poll conducted in September found Democrats ahead by 49 per cent to 47 per cent. Trump had carried these districts collectively in 2024. In a separate poll, his approval rating fell to 32 per cent.
The seven Senate races rated Toss Up by the Cook Political Report are in Alaska, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire, Ohio and Texas, with Republicans currently holding five of those seats. The balance of the Senate stands at 53 Republicans and 45 Democrats, alongside two independents who caucus with the Democrats. This leaves Republicans defending more of the most competitive seats at a time when late-September polling shows Democrats ahead in several swing races. The battle for the Senate has therefore become more competitive, although current polling is not sufficient to determine which party will hold the chamber after the elections.
Domestic concerns nevertheless continue to carry greater electoral weight. Seventy per cent of voters said the cost of living was important to their vote in House elections, compared with 59 per cent for healthcare, 57 per cent for immigration and 41 per cent for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to a national Quinnipiac University poll released on 24 June 2026.
The polling therefore does not suggest that foreign policy has displaced the economy as a principal determinant of electoral outcomes. It does, however, show that Iran and the Palestinian question have become factors whose impact on these elections can no longer be overlooked.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.
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Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says he wishes someone would lock him up, small Orca speaks bluntly.
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone … unless he gets distracted or falls asleep.Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.
