Skip to content

… on a quiet day, I can hear her breathing

Home
About

Tag: despite anything he says

Detained Gaza hospital director Abu Safiya nominated for European Parliament human rights prize
Spread the love
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Activists gather to stage a protest demanding the release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, in Tel Aviv, Israel on July 06, 2026. [Saeed Qaq – Anadolu Agency]
Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the detained director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, has been nominated for the European Parliament’s 2026 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, the parliament announced Thursday, Anadolu reports.
Abu Safiya was nominated by the Greens and The Left political groups as one of six candidates for the annual award, which recognizes individuals and organizations defending human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Abu Safiya, a Palestinian pediatrician and former director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, has been held in Israeli custody since his detention by Israeli forces in December 2024.
He has been detained without charge or trial, with Israel alleging that Abu Safiya is affiliated with Hamas, an allegation his lawyers and family have denied.
Rights groups have also raised concerns about his health and treatment in custody.
The parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Development committees are due to vote on a shortlist of three nominees on Oct. 19 in Strasbourg, while the laureate is scheduled to be selected on Oct. 22.
The other 2026 Sakharov Prize nominees are El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, nominated by the Europe of Sovereign Nations group; the International Criminal Court and its officials, nominated by the Socialists and Democrats; and Tanzanian opposition figure Tundu Lissu, nominated by the European People’s Party and European Conservatives and Reformists.
The remaining nominees are Iranian activists Taraneh and Romina Rahimi, nominated by Patriots for Europe, and Standing Together, an Israeli Jewish-Palestinian grassroots movement, nominated by Renew Europe.
READ: Israeli army attacks NAZA film, distances itself from Gaza crimes
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
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.
1 October 2026
Trump declines to endorse Netanyahu ahead of Israeli elections
Spread the love
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
United States President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hold a joint press conference in the East Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., United States on February 04, 2025. [Celal Güneş – Anadolu Agency]
US President Donald Trump declined to endorse Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for another term in office ahead of upcoming elections, avoiding direct backing of his long-time ally in an interview published on Thursday, Anadolu reports.
“Well, I can only say that I’m not involved in politics anymore, except that we’re popular—,” Trump told TIME magazine when asked whether the premier should be given another term in Oct. 27 elections.
Pressed again, he responded: “No, my primary thing—I do want to help them defend Israel,” pivoting away from an explicit endorsement in the interview conducted on Monday.
Trump pointed instead to his personal standing among the Israeli public, claiming his popularity reaches “like 99%” due to past policies.
Asked whether Washington could work more effectively with opposition contender and former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, Trump said he did not “hear bad things about him,” but cautioned against dismissing Netanyahu.
“People have written off Bibi (Netanyahu) many, many times, just like they’ve written off me many, many times,” Trump said. “I wouldn’t underestimate Bibi.”
Trump’s relationship with Netanyahu is said to have become more strained in recent months due to the war in Iran, and Israel’s continued attacks in Lebanon and Gaza.
READ: Protesters outside UN’s New York headquarters demand Netanyahu face war crimes charges
Trump also cast doubt on reports that Netanyahu received advance intelligence warnings ahead of the Oct. 7 attacks, arguing that Israeli forces would have been placed on alert. “I don’t think so. I think … if he would have known, he would have done something about it,” he said.
Expanded Iran war and maritime control
Addressing the Iran war, now into its seventh month, Trump said he deliberately broadened military operations to dismantle Tehran’s armed and nuclear infrastructure after initial estimates projected a four- to eight-week campaign.
“Only because I wanted to go further,” Trump said, explaining why strikes continued past early targets. “I could have stopped there, and I felt it was just inappropriate.”
Trump acknowledged Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz “worked for a little while” but claimed the US later took control of the strategic waterway through which a fifth of global oil consumption flowed before the war on Feb. 28.
The US president also confirmed rejecting an Iranian truce offer that proposed reopening the strait, dismissing the terms as “not good enough.” Asked whether Washington plans to intensify air strikes following the upcoming US congressional midterm elections, Trump first said it is “possible” before quickly changing course. “I can’t tell you that.”
READ: Iran’s Rezaei says Tehran has told US its conditions, accuses Trump of being unable to decide
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
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.
1 October 2026
UK government urged to end ban on Palestine Action group
Spread the love
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Metropolitan Police officers detain a pro-Palestine demonstrator outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, United Kingdom on June 15, 2026. [Raşid Necati Aslım – Anadolu Agency]
Scottish Greens on Thursday urged the British government to reverse the ban on the Palestine Action group after Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said “we hear” the millions of people who have been moved and outraged by the plight of the Palestinian people, Anadolu reports.
“The people who have marched, organised and spoken out against Israel’s genocide have helped force Palestine onto the political agenda. They deserve to be heard and their rights respected,” Maggie Chapman, Scottish Greens spokesperson, was quoted by Scottish daily The National as saying.
Her comment came after Miliband said earlier this week that they hear the millions of people in this country and indeed elsewhere who have been moved and outraged by the plight of the Palestinian people.
“You were right. And under (Prime Minister) Andy’s (Burnham) leadership, we have reset our approach.”
Chapman said Miliband is right to acknowledge the outrage felt by millions of people who have watched the devastation of Gaza and demanded that their government act.
However, she underlined that the UK government needs to reverse the ban on the Palestine Action group if it is “serious” about the change in its political stance on Palestine.
READ: UK’s ‘double lock’ on arms exports to Israel has led to no new licence suspensions, CAAT says
“That acknowledgement will ring hollow as long as Labour maintains a ban that has criminalised hundreds of people for calling out genocide and other war crimes, waving banners and wearing t-shirts.”
She added: “If the Labour Government is remotely serious about changing course, it must end the proscription of Palestine Action and defend our fundamental rights to freedom of expression and peaceful protest.”
Chapman called on the UK government to ban all arms sales to Israel and ensure that the UK is “no longer complicit in the oppression of the Palestinian people.”
The decision to ban Palestine Action has led to thousands of arrests of people accused of supporting the direct-action protest group.
Palestine Action was banned on July 5, 2025 under the Terrorism Act after members of the group entered a Royal Air Force base and spray-painted two aircraft, causing £7 million ($9.4 million) in damage, according to police.
The High Court ruled in February that the ban was disproportionate and unlawful, but its decision was overturned last month by the Court of Appeal.
In July, however, the UK’s highest court granted permission for Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori to challenge a Court of Appeal ruling upholding the ban on the group.
Human rights groups, along with UN experts, have criticized the escalating crackdown on peaceful protests in the UK, urging the government to lift its designation of Palestine Action as a terrorist group.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
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.
1 October 2026

… on a quiet day, I can hear her breathing

A UK Socialist's blog

Blog
About
FAQs
Authors

Events
Shop
Patterns
Themes

Twenty Twenty-Five

Designed with WordPress