Rupert Lowe attends a farmers protest in Whitehall, London, March 4, 2025
REFORM UK and Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain are in a race to the far right, out-bidding each other in racist provocation and authoritarian menace.
This week, Lowe may be ahead. He crossed a further line with his pledge, in the wake of the attack in Belfast, to imprison politicians who, he claimed, had facilitated mass immigration.
This is what he wrote on X: “I want people finally held to account for what has been done to our country. Civil servants, judges, politicians. If they have knowingly placed unvetted dangerous third world savages in our communities, near our children, then a Restore Britain government will aim to prosecute them. If that includes Reform’s Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman, then so be it.
“I want to send a very clear message to officials planning to place more of these men in communities across Britain — near schools, nurseries, families. When Restore Britain wins the next election, we will pursue you with the full power of the state. That will apply retrospectively.”
Let us be clear what Lowe is proposing. Officials or politicians who took decisions which were entirely lawful at the time can be prosecuted and imprisoned retrospectively, negating a basic principle of justice.
This is the language of fascism. It is, of course, unlikely that Lowe will be in a position to implement his programme, which includes the widespread use of the death penalty for non-white offenders.
However, the Restore leader has been pushing the boundaries of the politically acceptable, and others on the right have been following, including through violence on the streets.
It is time for the labour movement to call this out for what it is – the beginnings of a move to far-right dictatorship. All democrats must unite to resist Lowe and his ilk.
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Pope Leo XIV said the war being waged by the United States and Israel against Iran is not a “just war,” arguing that the centuries-old theory no longer reflects the realities of modern warfare, Anadolu reports.
Speaking to journalists aboard his flight from Rome to Madrid during the fourth foreign trip of his pontificate, the pope was asked whether the conflict in Iran could be considered a just war after US Vice President JD Vance invoked the concept while defending Washington’s military actions against Tehran.
“There is no just war there,” Pope Leo said.
“The problem is that the just war theory comes from centuries ago, from a time when people could not imagine the weapons and destructive capacities that exist today,” he added.
The pontiff’s remarks come amid previously reported tensions with US President Donald Trump over the conflict in Iran.
Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Strait 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 Sundown Syndrome is a dead givaway and he wishes someone would Lock Him Up
Article by republished form Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
US service members conduct an Armed Forces Full Honors Arrival Ceremony for the outgoing head of the Israeli military, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, in Conmy Hall at Fort Myer, Virginia on February 18, 2025. (Photo by Sgt. Nathan Winter/US Army)
“At a time when Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza… Congress should be cutting off military support—not integrating the US military and Israeli defense sector,” said one critic.
A US congressional committee on Thursday rejected an amendment to strip a provision from next year’s Pentagon funding bill aimed at deepening integration of the US and Israeli militaries under the guise of reducing aid.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) introduced an amendment to strike Section 224—which would establish a formal “United States–Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative”—from the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act. The proposed NDAA authorizes $1.15 trillion in baseline military spending, while the Trump administration’s full defense request seeks an unprecedented, debt-exploding $1.5 trillion in armed forces and related funding for the coming fiscal year.
Section 224 would require the US defense secretary to designate a Pentagon executive agent responsible for coordinating and expanding US-Israel defense technology cooperation.
In Thursday’s voice vote, members of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) from both parties rejected the amendment to remove Section 2024 from the NDAA, with only Khanna and Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) backing the measure.
The House voted today on a new measure to fuse elements of the Israeli and US militaries, particularly on the cyberweapons front. Section 224, as its known, is included in the National Defense Authorization Act. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., introduced an amendment to strip it from… https://t.co/xWAiZQ03BCpic.twitter.com/rLUViMeKLv
While proponents of Section 224 contend that the measure would reduce US taxpayer funding for Israel, Khanna argued that the provision amounts to a blank check for a country that most Americans oppose sending more aid to.
“The American people are tired of the arrogance and insolence of Prime Minister Netanyahu telling America what we should do,” the congressman said Thursday while promoting his amendment. “The entire country of Israel has a GDP that is less than a single town in my district, yet somehow Netanyahu thinks he could tell the American people what we should do.”
“I am for Team America,” Khanna added. “I am for the interests of this country, and I believe that’s what [President] Donald Trump ran on. That includes American interests against any foreign country. We should have American sovereignty and make it clear that we strike 224. If we want to give aid to Israel, if we want to sell them weapons, that should be a vote for the entire Congress.”
This is a simple question. Do we do more for Israel now or less? I introduced an amendment to strike 224 because I am for the American people calling the shots, not Netanyahu. I am for Team America. pic.twitter.com/FTWToXOl2T
In a letter to Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.)—who is not on the HASC—Netanyahu said he is “heartened” by Section 224’s plan to “develop a new Memorandum of Understanding with the United States government” that will reduce “US financial military assistance over the next decade” and replace it with “a new framework of joint defense cooperation, codevelopment, coproduction, and mutual investment.”
The US has provided more than $20 billion in armed aid to Israel during the Biden and Trump administrations since Netanyahu launched the genocidal war on Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023. The current 10-year Memorandum of Understanding between the US and Israel, signed in 2016 during former President Barack Obama’s tenure, provided Israel with $38 billion in US military aid and expires in 2028.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.)—who has partnered with Khanna on introducing or supporting war powers resolutions aimed at curbing Trump’s ability to wage unconstitutional wars in countries including Yemen, Venezuela, and Iran—said last month that if Section 224 made it out of committee, he would work with Khanna to “offer an amendment to strip it from the bill on the floor.”
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is urging Americans to contact their members of Congress to tell them to reject Section 224.
U.S. tax dollars have bene funding Israel’s war crimes. Section 224 would make that funding automatic, classified, and permanent.
Demand congress to reject section 224!
📢 TAKE ACTION: 👉 Send a letter to your representative: [https://t.co/R00bzrtYrZ] 👉 Call the House Armed…
“This is not ‘America First.’ It is Israel First,” ADC argues on its website. “The resolution languageattached to this proposal gives it away: it expresses support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s initiative to transition the US–Israel relationship toward mutual defense cooperation and joint economic investment. This language turns Congress into a vehicle for advancing Netanyahu’s agenda and asks the American people to treat it as their own national security policy.”
“Section 224 would move US support for Israel away from the more transparent foreign aid framework and into a maze of Pentagon procurement, licensing, data-sharing, and backdoor deals that are harder for Congress, taxpayers, and future administrations to monitor, cap, condition, or unwind,” the group continued. “Concerns of undefined ‘network integration’ and ‘data fusion’ should alarm every American who cares about sovereignty, privacy, civil liberties, and democratic oversight.”
“At a time when Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, exporting surveillance technologies used against activists and journalists around the world, marketing military technology tested on Palestinians, and carrying out terrorist attacks as seen in the cell phone [bombings] in Lebanon, Congress should be cutting off military support—not integrating the US military and Israeli defense sector and making accountability harder than ever,” ADC added.
In an opinion piece published this week by Common Dreams, Ben Freeman, director of the Democratizing Foreign Policy Program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, wrote that “lawmakers should reject Section 224 from the NDAA to avoid deep integration with Israel’s military at a time when a growing number of Americans oppose Israel’s actions in the region.”
“This unprecedented level of US-Israeli military integration stands in stark contrast to the traditional aid model of defense cooperation, in which Israel already stood out as the top recipient of US military assistance,” Freeman said.
Article by republished form Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
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.Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone …Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says Sundown Syndrome is a dead givaway and he wishes someone would Lock Him Up
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Speaker of the Iranian Parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf in Tehran, Iran on April 16, 2026. [Iranian Parliament Speaker Office – Anadolu Agency]
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf told his Lebanese counterpart Nabih Berri during a phone call that Tehran is determined to secure a ceasefire across all of Lebanon, including the south.
During the call, Ghalibaf said: “If the crimes continue, we will stop the negotiations.”
He added: “The bond between Iran and Lebanon is inseparable, and our lives and your lives are one.”
Ghalibaf said that if an agreement is reached to end the war between Iran and the United States, it would include a halt to attacks on all fronts, particularly Lebanon.
He stressed that “if the crimes continue, we will not only stop the negotiations, but we will also stand against the Zionist entity.”
For his part, Berri said: “Lebanon will never forget Iran’s positive positions during this critical period.”
Earlier, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that the Iranian negotiating team had suspended the exchange of messages with the United States through mediators following Israeli attacks on Lebanon.
Citing sources, the agency said: “Given the continued crimes of the Zionist entity in Lebanon, and because Lebanon was one of the preconditions for a ceasefire, and since that ceasefire has now been violated on all fronts, including Lebanon, the Iranian negotiating team is suspending dialogues and the exchange of messages through mediators.”
The developments come amid rising tensions between Iran, the United States and Israel, as Tehran seeks to ensure that any ceasefire covers all regional fronts, including Lebanon, while clashes between Israel and Hezbollah continue to escalate.
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A group of Palestinian prisoners released by Israeli forces arrive in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, Palestine, through the International Committee of the Red Cross, on May 27, 2026. [Khalil Ramzi Alkahlut – Anadolu Agency]
Dozens of Palestinians gathered on Monday outside the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza City to express solidarity with Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons and to protest conditions inside detention facilities.
According to Anadolu Agency, the rally was organized by the Prisoners’ Committee of the National and Islamic Forces and was attended by former prisoners, representatives of Palestinian factions, activists, and relatives of detainees.
Participants carried photographs of prisoners and banners calling on the international community to intervene and address conditions inside Israeli prisons.
Demonstrators also raised Palestinian flags and chanted slogans calling for the release of prisoners. Participants stressed that the prisoners’ issue remains a central concern despite the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
Former prisoner Abdel-Moati Abdel-Rabbu told Anadolu Agency that Palestinians continue to hold weekly solidarity gatherings every Monday outside the Red Cross headquarters in support of prisoners.
According to Abdel-Rabbu, prisoners are facing what he described as an unprecedented campaign inside Israeli prisons. He said that female prisoners are subjected to “humiliating strip searches,” sleep deprivation, and restrictions affecting food and medical care.
Abdel-Rabbu stated that “every prisoner, male and female, has a heartbreaking story of suffering.”
Rupert Lowe attends a farmers protest in Whitehall, London, March 4, 2025
