Frank Sherman and Hana Yun-Stevens outside Birmingham crown court. (Photos: John McEvoy / Declassified UK)
Jury mulls case of four protesters who raided Wolverhampton arms factory said to produce “military aircraft parts for Israel”
A jury at Birmingham crown court is deliberating whether four pro-Palestine activists committed criminal damage at an arms factory in Wolverhampton.
Defendants Iain Evans, Hisham Alkhamesi, Frank Sherman, and Hana Yun-Stevens believed the factory, used by arms firm Moog, supplied weaponry to Israel.
They climbed onto the roof in August 2025, smashed equipment and unveiled a banner saying “Free Palestine” while wearing T-shirts with the names of Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes.
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Jurors were unable to reach a verdict this week and have been discharged until Tuesday.
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Sherman, 23, told the jury they would always believe disrupting the factory was “not criminal” and that any repercussions they may face could not “compare to how I would feel if I had not taken action”.
Lawyers for the other defendants reminded the jury of its powers – referencing the Magna Carta and the Bushell case, a landmark ruling from 1670 which established the independence of juries.
They also mentioned how the suffragettes “did a bit of smashing themselves”.
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/
A DeSmog collage of Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and the party’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf. Credit: Reform UK / YouTube (Farage), Yusuf (Z979)
Reform has been chasing even closer ties to Trump’s allies.
Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf is set to speak tomorrow at the Heritage Foundation, the group behind the “extreme” ‘Project 2025’ playbook for Donald Trump’s second term.
Yusuf, Reform’s home affairs spokesperson, is jetting to Washington, D.C., for an event with Nile Gardiner, director of the Heritage Foundation’s ‘Thatcher Center’.
The event description states that the pair will be discussing “key transatlantic priorities, including mass migration, border security, deportation policy, and the broader challenge of safeguarding Western institutions and values.”
The Heritage Foundation organised Project 2025, the 900-page document which proposed a series of radical, ultra-conservative policies that have served as a blueprint for Trump’s second-term agenda.
The dossier recommended banning abortion pills, restricting access to contraceptives, and removing federal funding for groups providing abortion services. “Conservatives in the states and in Washington, including in the next conservative administration, should push as hard as possible to protect the unborn in every jurisdiction in America,” it stated.
It also proposed bulldozing U.S. climate policies – slashing restrictions on fossil fuel extraction, scrapping state investment in renewable energy, and gutting the Environmental Protection Agency.
The Heritage Foundation said that the federal government should “eradicate climate change references from absolutely everywhere” – a policy carried out by Trump, who has called climate science a “hoax”.
A core recommendation of Project 2025 was to “dismantle the administrative state” by centralising power with the president, slashing government funding, and replacing career civil servants with ideological loyalists. Russell Vought, a Heritage Foundation alumni and one of the main co-authors of Project 2025, now serves as Trump’s director of Office of Management and Budget – wielding significant power in restructuring the federal government.
Much of this agenda is shared by Reform and its leader Nigel Farage. After years of silence on abortion, Farage recently called for the UK’s abortion limit to be reduced, labelling the current 24-week limit “utterly ludicrous”. The Reform leader has been forging alliances with U.S. anti-abortion groups, while appointing anti-abortion figures to key positions in the party – including its head of policy James Orr, who doesn’t think abortion should be allowed at any stage of foetal development, even in pregnancies resulting from rape.
“Zia Yusuf should be ashamed to share a platform with the Heritage Foundation,” said Abortion Rights chair Kerry Abel. “The architects of Project 2025 are a global threat to abortion rights, climate action and democracy.
“You cannot flirt with the far right in Washington and pretend it has no consequences here. Anyone giving credibility to this extreme agenda must be called out.”
Reform is a pro-oil party that calls for the UK’s climate targets to be scrapped. Farage has said it’s “nuts” for CO2 to be considered a pollutant. The party has also launched a ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ (DOGE) to identify public spending cuts in local authorities – mirroring Trump’s agency with the same name, which has overseen billions in cuts to vital public services.
“Advocates of this brand of right-wing politics, championed by Donald Trump and embraced by Reform UK politicians, are aiming to spread their divisive rhetoric and regressive policies, from opposing abortion to actively undoing climate progress,” said Cary Mitchell, executive director of operations at Best for Britain, which campaigns against populism. “Brits have been clear that they don’t trust Trump – and a knock-off version of his authoritarian approach here in the UK would only risk all our rights.”
Farage has received £52,000 in speaking fees and £12,500 in flights and accommodation for addressing pro-Trump, MAGA events since being elected to Parliament in July 2024.
In recent days, Farage announced that he would be making a keynote address to CPAC GB, a pro-Trump conference being held in London in July. The British spin-off is being organised by disgraced former Conservative prime minister Liz Truss, and Farage initially indicated that he would be “steering well clear” of the event, only to now reverse his decision.
A version of this article was published by The New World.
Farage, a longstanding Trump supporter, has recently been attempting to put some distance between his party and the U.S. government, following the president’s unpopular war in Iran, which Farage has supported.
However, Yusuf’s appearance at the Heritage Foundation – and Farage’s at CPAC GB – underscores Reform’s MAGA loyalty. According to The Spectator, key figures behind Project 2025 have been “shuttling between London and Washington” to bestow their wisdom on Farage, while Gardiner has reportedly been acting as a bridge between the White House and Reform.
Reform politician Matthew Goodwin and its economic spokesperson Robert Jenrick have also made speeches to the Heritage Foundation in recent years.
Gardiner and the Heritage Foundation have regularly been given a platform on the right-wing media channel GB News, Farage’s largest income source since becoming an MP in July 2024.
Gardiner, who served as a foreign policy researcher and aide to former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, has made dozens of appearances on GB News. During those appearances, he has called for the UK to reintroduce the death penalty, labelled the UK government “a bunch of cowardly appeasers” for not supporting Trump’s military intervention in Iran, and called for pro-Palestine protestors to be deported if they have been arrested and are foreign nationals.
Reform has been forging close ties to a number of pro-Trump groups for a number of years. In December 2024, Farage helped to launch the Heartland Institute, a co-author of Project 2025, in the UK and is now being advised by the climate science denial group.
As reported by DeSmog, two thirds of the party’s funding has come from those with financial interests in fossil fuels.
“Reform make out like they’re your mate down the pub, standing up for everyday people. But they’re actually working closely with the establishment think tanks that helped put Trump into power, and raking in millions in donations from billionaires,” said Green Party peer Natalie Bennett. “We can see who’s pulling the strings and who they’re really working for.”
Reform and the Heritage Foundation were approached for comment.
Nigel Farage explains the politics of Reform UK: Racism, Fake anti-establishmentism, Deregulation, Corporatism, Climate Change Denial, Mysogyny and Transphobia.Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.Nigel Farage 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.
US President Donald Trump speaks during a signing ceremony for the “Secure America Act” in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on June 10, 2026. (Photo by Ken Cedeno/AFP via Getty Images)
Senior officials have warned that an invasion of Iran’s Kharg Island could cause many American casualties. But Trump said the US would “make a fortune.”
While promising more strikes against Iran on Thursday, President Donald Trump suggested that the US would soon be “taking” Kharg Island in an imperialist bid to seize “total control” of the country’s oil and gas market, an operation that would likely require ground troops.
“The United States will be hitting Iran (Whose Navy, Air Force, Radar, Anti Aircraft, and all other forms of Defense, together with most of its offensive capability, are GONE!), VERY HARD TONIGHT,” the president wrote in a Truth Social post, following days of strikes that hit military infrastructure and also damaged a pair of reservoirs that left around 20,000 people without drinking water.
“At some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets, much like we have with Venezuela, which is working out brilliantly for both Venezuela and the United States of America,” he added.
It’s not the first time Trump has threatened to take the island, which handles about 90% of Iran’s crude oil exports and is of paramount importance, as Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for the US-Israeli war has sent oil prices skyrocketing and resulted in the most severe inflation the US has seen in over three years.
Like in Venezuela, where Trump said the point of the US operation to overthrow President Nicolás Maduro was to “get the oil flowing” to US corporations, the president said his objective in taking Kharg Island was explicitly about enriching the US by using raw force to commandeer Iran’s natural resources.
Trump: "My preference has always been to take Kharg Island. I don't know that America has the stomach for it, to be honest with it. You'd make a fortune." pic.twitter.com/5ub1HK4WMH
“My preference has always been to take Kharg Island,” he said on a phone interview with Fox News on Thursday morning. “I don’t know that America has the stomach for it, to be honest with you. You’d make a fortune…”
“We did it with Venezuela,” he continued. “Venezuela’s worked out great for everybody. We’ve taken millions and millions of barrels of oil out of Venezuela. We’ve brought them to Houston and various other places, Louisiana. Refineries that we have that are incredible, they’ve gone 24 hours a day. Making a fortune.”
However, he said he wasn’t sure that the country, which is strongly opposed to strikes against Iran according to recent polls, “has the appetite” for it.
As senior CNN political correspondent Aaron Blake explained, “it’s widely assumed that taking and keeping Kharg Island would require ground troops,” an idea that just 18% of Americans said they supported in a May survey from the Institute for Global Affairs. Even Republicans were more likely to oppose boots on the ground than to support them, according to that poll.
The Trump administration has had plans drawn up to invade the island as far back as March, but they were reportedly shelved as US officials feared large numbers of American casualties, especially as Iran had prepared for an invasion by laying anti-personnel and armor mines.
Despite being aware of the plan’s unpopularity with the American public, Trump said on Thursday that taking Kharg Island would be “a guarantee if I want to do it.”
President Trump is now publicly claiming that the United States will SEIZE KHARG ISLAND. What are the advantages to doing so, what are the disadvantages, and is this a viable strategy?
Let’s start with the disadvantages first, because… it’s grim. And stupid.
Brett Erickson, a sanctions and geopolitical-risk expert who serves as managing principal of Obsidian Risk Advisors, said the idea was “grim and stupid.”
“Their exports [from the island] are not even close to what they were prior to the war, or even throughout March and the first half of April,” he explained. “In the last five weeks, Iran has loaded a whopping one vessel at Kharg Island.”
He added that since the island is a “fixed position,” it “would constantly come under fire from drones and missile barrages.”
“We would likely, in the absolute best case, lose hundreds of lives,” he said. Worst case? Well into the thousands. Would it change anything about the war? No. It literally would not matter.“
The only thing to be gained, he added, would be “a lot of Americans dying for an oil export hub that is not being used, and that is blockaded anyway.”
Asked by reporters on Capitol Hill about Trump’s threats to invade the island, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) hardly seemed bullish on the idea. He said he believed Trump was “communicating directly with our adversaries over there,” adding, “I would not put too much stock in the details of that right now.”
But the idea does have its cheerleaders. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who is credited with helping Israel persuade Trump to launch the war in the first place.
The notorious war hawk, who previously compared taking Kharg Island favorably to the World War II Battle of Iwo Jima, where the US suffered 26,000 casualties, said on Thursday that Trump was “right to put on the table the taking of Kharg Island” and thanked the president for “going the extra mile to obtain a diplomatic solution to the Iranian conflict.”
US Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) argued that invading the island without approval from Congress “would be brazenly unconstitutional.”
“American troops would die during the invasion,” he said. “And then every day Iran would try to kill more American troops on Kharg Island.”
Four Republicans joined every Democrat last week to pass a war powers resolution meant to halt Trump’s ability to wage war against Iran without approval from Congress.
In the wake of Trump’s threats to invade the Island, Lieu said the “Senate must pass the House’s war powers resolution.”
A water facility is seen in Bemani, Iran after an attack that a New York Times analysis showed was likely a US precision strike on June 10, 2026. Deliberately attacking civilian infrastructure is a war crime under international law. (Photo by Rokna News Agency)
“Destroying a drinking water facility is not an attack on a target of war, but a mafia-style operation designed to harm the Iranian people,” said one academic.
As temperatures in the village of Bemani, Iran, near the Strait of Hormuz, reached above 100°F this week, two water facilities were struck by bombs, cutting off the drinking water supply for 20,000 people in the area.
An analysis by The New York Times late Wednesday indicated that the attack on the drinking-water storage facilities appeared to be a precision strike by the US, raising questions about whether the Trump administration intentionally attacked civilian infrastructure, which would constitute a war crime under international law.
As the provincial water authority in the area reported that two storage tanks had been destroyed in an attack early Wednesday, US Central Command said on social media that the US Air Force and Navy had used “precision munitions” to strike “Iranian air defense, ground control stations, and surveillance radar sites near the Strait of Hormuz.”
Esmaeil Baqaei, a spokesperson for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, posted a video of damage to one of the facilities, whose light blue pipes were consistent with water infrastructure.
“As part of its aggression against Iran, the US military has deliberately struck vital civilian water infrastructure in Sirik, Hormozgan, destroying two reservoirs with a combined capacity of 2,500 cubic meters,” said Baqaei. “These facilities supplied drinking water to more than 20,000 residents across ten villages. This is not collateral damage—it is a calculated war crime and a flagrant violation of human rights and international humanitarian law. The US must be held accountable for committing such systematic brutal attacks on civilian life-sustaining infrastructure.”
Water is the pulse of life — and the U.S. is deliberately targetting the lifeblood of the Iranian people.
As part of its aggression against Iran, the U.S. military has deliberately struck vital civilian water infrastructure in Sirik, Hormozgan, destroying two reservoirs with a… pic.twitter.com/mvdYGvnSyq
The analysis of the strikes came as the US waged more attacks Wednesday night and early Thursday, including on an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman and against Iranian radars and air defenses.
In its analysis, the Times said commercial satellite imagery showed two water facilities in Bemani whose descriptions matched those given by Abdolhamid Hamzehpour, the chief executive of the province’s water authority, on Wednesday, when he reported the structures had been damaged by missiles.
Hamzehpour said in a statement that the high temperatures in the area were “unbearable” for residents without drinking water, and said that mobile water tanks had been deployed to nearby villages.
The roof of one of the facilities collapsed, according to videos released by Iranian state media, and the center of the roof of the other structure appeared to have been struck by a bomb.
The Times noted that both buildings were remotely located, with no other infrastructure located in the immediate vicinity, suggesting a likely precision strike.
Tasnim, a semiofficial news agency in Iran, released photos of bomb fragments that it said were recovered from the site. Researchers with the Open Source Munitions Portal identified the fragments as parts of a GBU-39 bomb, which is used by the US Air Force.
The precision-guided bomb was “consistent with the damage shown in the footage of the damaged building: a clean hole punched through the building’s roof and limited blast damage around it,” reported the Times.
Alleged U.S. airstrikes overnight hit two water storage reservoirs in Iran's Sirik County, Hormozgan Province, reportedly leaving many without water.Images of remnants posted by Iranian media show the remains of a U.S.-made GBU-39 air-delivered bomb.osmp.ngo/osmp2336/
The bombing came as President Donald Trump complained that Tehran was taking too long to finalize a peace deal. The US and Iran have each carried out attacks this week, raising doubts about a ceasefire deal that was reached in April following Trump’s threats to wipe out Iran’s civilization.
“Trump is so angry that Iran will not give him a deal that he is telling the US military to commit war crimes,” said Phillips P. O’Brien, a professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews. “Destroying a drinking water facility is not an attack on a target of war, but a mafia-style operation designed to harm the Iranian people.”
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Hundreds of demonstrators waved Palestinian flags and held signs calling for a boycott of Israel during a rally organized by the EuroPalestine collective in Paris, France on 27 September 2025. [Ümit Dönmez – Anadolu Agency]
Israel has become the country most exposed to boycotts worldwide, facing a sweeping wave of international sanctions targeting government officials, occupiers and official institutions, the daily Yedioth Ahronoth said Thursday.
Under the headline “How Israel became the most boycotted nation in the world,” the newspaper said Israel has faced “a tsunami of international sanctions targeting Israeli government officials, occupiers and institutions, escalating pressure from multiple countries and long-standing pro-BDS organizations.”
It said France recently barred Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich from entering the country, after previously imposing a similar ban on National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
According to the newspaper, the French move came in response to the two ministers’ “active promotion of West Bank annexation, new settlements and policies perceived as undermining the Palestinian Authority.”
The United Nations considers the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, occupied Palestinian territory, and its annexation to Israel would effectively eliminate the possibility of establishing an independent Palestinian state envisioned in international resolutions.
Yedioth Ahronoth said until Oct. 7, 2023, Israel had managed to limit the impact of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaigns.
“Economic sanctions had little effect because Israel’s strong economy discouraged divestment, while academic and cultural boycotts were largely symbolic,” it added.
However, the phenomenon has intensified, with BDS achieving successes in multiple fields,” the daily said.
“The movement has damaged Israel’s reputation internationally, evident in public opinion surveys showing growing negative perceptions.”
The report cited several examples, including artists refusing to perform in Israel, authors refusing Hebrew translations of their work and campaigns removing Israel from events like Eurovision or FIFA competitions.
It also pointed to growing efforts to withdraw foreign investments, “including the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund divesting from Israeli companies.”
“The UN Human Rights Council blacklist targets Israeli and international companies operating beyond the Green Line,” the paper said, referring to illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
“Reports and videos from the West Bank showing occupiers engaging in violent behavior against Palestinians and property damage have further fueled the sanctions,” the report said.
“Public statements and actions by ministers, especially Ben-Gvir’s widely circulated video humiliating flotilla participants bound for Gaza, drew condemnation from multiple countries as crossing a red line.”
Referring to France’s decision to bar Smotrich and Ben-Gvir, the newspaper said Paris had joined Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway in restricting entry for Israeli ministers.
“France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway—have coordinated sanctions against occupiers and organizations promoting violence in the West Bank,” it said.
France has also restricted the entry of four illegal settlement leaders and 21 occupiers, according to the report.
The UK launched “a plan of action” targeting networks that finance and support occupiers’ attacks, “urging businesses to avoid operations in West Bank settlements.”
“Canada imposed entry bans and financial restrictions on two citizens and five organizations, while Australia sanctioned three citizens and six outposts,” the newspaper said.
New Zealand also barred three Israelis, adding them to a blacklist of 35 individuals that includes Ben-Gvir, Smotrich and illegal settlement figures such as Daniela Weiss, Ze’ev Haber, Elisha Yered, Noam Federman, Baruch Marzel and Bentzi Gopstein.
“In addition to sanctions, France has opened investigations into alleged torture and war crimes linked to the flotilla incident and Italy announced an inquiry into Ben-Gvir for humiliating Italian civilians,” the report added.
“EU discussions are ongoing regarding personal sanctions against Israeli ministers,” the paper said.
“Germany reportedly opposes measures against Smotrich but may support restrictions on Ben-Gvir, though a Czech veto could prevent action,” it added.
Analysts cited by the newspaper said broad economic sanctions against Israel “are unlikely in the short term, but personal sanctions against ministers are expected to remain under consideration.”
They argued that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has failed to effectively respond to these developments, mobilize friendly countries or engage with global Jewish communities in confronting the boycott movement.
Netanyahu has been wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) since 2024 on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against Palestinians in Gaza, where nearly 73,000 people have been killed and over 173,000 others in a genocidal war since October 2023.
Israel is also facing a case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) brought by South Africa and supported by several countries, accusing it of committing genocide in the Palestinian enclave.
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