US and British flags hang along the Mall in London ahead of the state visit of Donald Trump, 16 September 2025. Photograph: Vuk Valcic/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
These are dark times, but those who seek to divide us will not win. The capital’s soul and spirit are as inclusive and optimistic as ever
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President Donald Trump and his coterie have perhaps done the most to fan the flames of divisive, far-right politics around the world in recent years. When he came to the UK on his first state visit, I highlighted how the president had deliberately used xenophobia, racism and “otherness” as an electoral tactic, introducing a travel ban on a number of Muslim-majority countries and praising white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Six years later, the tactics we see from today’s White House seem no different. Scapegoating minorities, illegally deporting US citizens, deploying the military to the streets of diverse cities. These actions aren’t just inconsistent with western values – they’re straight out of the autocrat’s playbook.
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The president and his supporters often talk about the importance of free speech, painting a picture of Britain as a dystopian society where repression means our rights are under threat. Nothing could be further from the truth. This week, I’m sure many Londoners will speak up to tell President Trump and his followers that we cannot be divided by those who seek to sow fear. That we are determined for our city to stand strong as a bastion against hate, and shine bright as a beacon of hope. That we see strength in our diversity, not weakness. And that we hold our progressive principles high with pride, rather than hiding them in shame.
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The Deir Yasin vessel from the Maghreb Sumud Convoy set sail from Sidi Bu Said port during night as the boats of the Global Sumud Flotilla continue to head towards Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid, in Tunis, Tunisia on September 16, 2025. [Mohammed Mdalla – Anadolu Agency]
Ships of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla will gather near Malta before sailing together across the Mediterranean toward the Israel-blockaded territory, organizers said on Tuesday, Anadolu reports.
“More than 50 ships of the Global Sumud Flotilla already set sail from several ports in Tunisia, Italy, Greece and Libya,” the International Committee to Break the Israeli Siege of Gaza said in a statement.
“The ships are scheduled to gather at a rendezvous point near Malta before sailing together toward the shores of Gaza,” it added, without specifying a date.
The committee said the flotilla ships carry relief supplies, medicines, baby formula, and hundreds of activists and supporters from more than 40 countries.
“Many Arab activists and supporters are on board, as well as dozens of public figures, parliamentarians, doctors, and community leaders from North African countries.”
The aid flotilla also includes dozens of participants from several other countries, including Türkiye and Malaysia.
“This flotilla, given its unprecedented size and diversity, is expected to represent a turning point in efforts to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza,” the committee said.
The current convoy is the largest of its kind, aiming to challenge the blockade and deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, where famine conditions have taken hold under Israel’s months-long closure of all crossings.
The Israeli army has killed almost 65,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, in Gaza since October 2023. The relentless bombardment has rendered the enclave uninhabitable, and led to starvation and spread of diseases.
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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/O74hZCKKdpAKeir 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 Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivers remarks during the AK Party Organization Academy Closing Event at Halic Congress Center in Istanbul, Turkiye on September 13, 2025. [Arif Hüdaverdi Yaman – Anadolu Agency]
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lambasted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday for Israel’s attack on the Hamas negotiation team in Qatar last week, saying, “Ideologically, Netanyahu is like a relative of Hitler,” Anadolu reports.
“Just as Hitler could not foresee the defeat that awaited him, Netanyahu will face the same ultimate fate,” he added while returning from Doha, where he attended an emergency Arab-Islamic summit following the Israeli airstrike.
Erdogan called the attack on the Hamas negotiation team “a blatant challenge to international order and international law” and said Israel’s leadership has “turned their radical mindset into nothing more than a murderous network built on fascist ideology.”
The Turkish president also addressed Western countries’ recognition of Palestine, saying it would put further pressure on Israel and pledging to raise the issue again at the United Nations.
He expressed hope that “the front of humanity will gain broader support” at the upcoming UN General Assembly.
Lastly, Erdogan also addressed Türkiye’s diplomacy in Libya, emphasizing the protection of the country’s sovereignty and unity. “We are committed to safeguarding Libya’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and political unity, and all our actions are guided by these objectives,” he said.
He noted that Türkiye has supported the legitimate Tripoli government from the outset, while recent policies have also sought to open diplomatic channels with eastern Libya. “This reflects Türkiye’s multidimensional diplomatic efforts, regional vision, and commitment to achieving peace,” Erdogan said.
He added that the Benghazi administration’s approval of the maritime jurisdiction agreement signed between Türkiye and Tripoli would be a “significant gain under international law.”
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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/O74hZCKKdpAKeir 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 Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Tanks and armored vehicles belonging to the Israeli army are seen mobilizing near the Gaza border, as Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip continue without pause, on September 15, 2025. [Tsafrir Abayov – Anadolu Agency]
Israel has killed more than 10 per cent of Gaza’s population since the start of the genocide in October 2023. The statistics, now reported by mainstream media as they come directly from an Israeli source – none other than former army commander Herzi Halevi who was chief of staff for the Israeli military for 17 months of Israel’s genocide – confirm the annihilation directly from the perpetrators.
There is no more talk about Hamas exaggerating the statistics, although the Guardian repeats the statement that is part of mainstream official narrative about Hamas not distinguishing between civilians and resistance fighters. The picture that emerges is that of mainstream media reporting admission of genocide from a source that is responsible and culpable, after spending almost two years of denying the Palestinian people the chance to articulate the same statement as lived experience.
“This isn’t a gentle war,” Halevi is reported saying. “We took the gloves off from the first minute. Sadly not earlier.” This rhetorical pondering of not having indulged in genocide earlier only illustrates the historical intent to eradicate all Palestinians from Palestine. This is also an admission of how Israel can secure its existence through the obliteration of the indigenous.
Halevi asserted that he was never restricted on how to carry out the genocide and stated that Israel’s military attorney general “had no power to restrict me.” However, Halevi also repeated the claim that the Israeli military “operates within the constraints of international law.”
According to a new UN report by the Independent Commission of Inquiry, Israel has committed four out of five acts of genocide as defined in the 1948 Geneva Convention.
Not one single international institution has taken genocide seriously. Gaza has been a major news focus, an area of research, an opportunity for rhetorical practice and futile debates, and a territory to test weapons and international parameters of human rights. That international institutions and world leaders are now catching up with what Palestinians have been saying since the start should read as an aberration of justice, not an upholding of it.
Even when quoting Israelis on genocide, the international community still finds space to debate the evidence instead of acting upon it. There have been other instances where Israeli officials clearly incited in favour of genocide and spoke openly of war crimes. Halevi’s comment, however, is statistical. Israel has killed over 10 per cent of Gaza’s population. What does that statistical data convey to the international community and what will be done about it?
The international community is not averse to statistics, but it certainly loathes interpreting them in ways that obliges action against Israel. The UN has published countless statistics on forced displacement, home demolitions, Palestinian prisoners, violence against Palestinian journalists, Palestinian minors in Israeli jails, depicting the severity of colonialism purely for embellishing the institution’s records. However, not one single statistical report has ever moved the UN to act against Israel. Maybe one should not even have that expectation because behind the veneer of human rights, the UN not only endorsed but also planned, Israel’s creation.
The international community is not helpless in the face of genocide; it is willing to see it through.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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/O74hZCKKdpAKeir 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 Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
Trump said the strike was carried out against ‘confirmed narco-terrorists’. Photograph: Truth Social/Donald Trump
President says three people killed in strike against vessel he said was transporting drugs ‘headed to the US’
Donald Trump said on Monday that the United States had carried out a strike on a second Venezuelan boat and killed three alleged terrorists he claimed were transporting drugs, expanding his administration’s war against drug cartels and the scope of lethal military force to stop them.
The US president gave few details about the strike, saying in a social media post that the action was on his orders and that it had happened earlier in the morning. The post was accompanied by a video clip showing the boat, which appeared to be stationary, erupting into a fireball.
“The strike occurred while these confirmed narco-terroists from Venezuela were in International Waters transporting illegal narcotics (A DEADLY WEAPON POISONING AMERICANS!) headed to the US,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump’s announcement of the strike appeared to be worded in a way to suggest there was a valid legal basis for the strike – an issue that became a source of heavy criticism in Washington after the operation against the first alleged Venezuelan drug boat earlier this month, which killed 11 people.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an insane, xenophobic Fascist.
