Displaced Palestinians lineup to receive donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, July 23, 2026
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EIGHTY MPs and peers have written to new Prime Minister Andy Burnham urging decisive action to uphold Palestinian rights and impose comprehensive sanctions on Israel.
The cross-party group of politicians demanded in an open letter today that Britain recognise the UN’s findings on genocide and implement the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling in full.
They also called for the imposition of sanctions, including a full arms embargo and a ban on trade that supports Israel’s illegal settlements.
PSC deputy director Peter Leary said: “This timely letter from MPs and peers echoes the views of millions of people across Britain.
“For far too long the British government has wilfully ignored its responsibilities under the Genocide Convention and the findings of the International Court of Justice while actively supporting Israel’s atrocities against the Palestinian people.
“If Andy Burnham really intends to break from the toxic legacy of his predecessor, he must start by imposing wide-ranging sanctions against Israel, including a full arms embargo and a total ban on all trade that aids or assists Israel’s violations of international law.”
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.
At a Westminster event on Monday, Emily Thornberry spoke of her pride in Britain “always” realising the “importance of international law”. To this rage-bait statement she added: “But when it comes to our record on Palestine, I am afraid we have fallen well short and in doing so we have failed the Palestinian people.”
This is the same Thornberry who, while shadow attorney general, refused to say whether cutting off food, water and power to people in Gaza was against international law. Spoiler: it is. According to Thornberry, however, “Israel has a right to defend itself”.
Then, on Tuesday, former health secretary Wes Streeting told the Guardian he was “horrified by the war in Gaza”, claiming that he “did everything [he] could behind the scenes to get the government to act”, including sharing a dossier of eyewitness testimony from doctors on the ground with his cabinet colleagues.
While I really hate to sound cynical, I can’t help but wonder if there could possibly be some job openings at the very top of the party of government on the cards?
Remember that in 2023, Streeting rejected calls for a ceasefire and told those advocating for one that they needed to be “realistic”, while toeing the party line on pushing for the cowardly obfuscation of ‘humanitarian pauses’. Months later, he dubbed South Africa’s comprehensive genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) a “distraction”.
By July 2025, Streeting was privately recognising that “Israel is committing war crimes before our eyes”. But he never made a public statement, and didn’t resign his cabinet position over his government’s complicity in the genocide – in Israel’s unrelenting atrocities, the damage or destruction of every single hospital in Gaza, or the kids having their limbs amputated without anesthetic.
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South Africa’s application to the ICJ stated: “South Africa is also acutely aware of its own obligation – as a state party to the Genocide Convention – to prevent genocide.”
By contrast, the government and its senior cabinet ministers failed in every single legal obligation under treaty and international law. It has been complicit, and also – as Jeremy Corbyn’s Gaza tribunal found in March – an active participant in Israel’s live-streamed genocide.
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.Vote Labour for Genocide.
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A general view of the U.S. Capitol building as Democrats and their allies gather for “The People’s State of the Union” rally at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. United States, as U.S. President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address inside Congress on February 24, 2026. [Celal Güneş – Anadolu Agency]
The US Congress is quietly advancing a measure that would entrench Israel inside the American military-industrial complex, raising concerns that Washington is moving to lock itself into Tel Aviv’s future wars at a time when Israel is becoming a global pariah.
The House version of the 2027 National Defence Authorization Act (NDAA) includes a provision titled the “United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative”. Known as Section 224, it would require the US secretary of defence to designate an official responsible for coordinating defence technology cooperation between the US and Israel. The provision covers bilateral research, development, testing, evaluation, integration and industrial cooperation.
Responsible Statecraft reported that the clause would go far beyond the existing US-Israel military aid relationship. It would lay the groundwork for joint weapons development, co-production, licensing agreements, military-industrial joint ventures and deep cooperation in artificial intelligence, quantum technology, autonomous systems, directed energy, cyber, biotechnology and other advanced warfare sectors.
The report also warned that references to “network integration” and “data fusion” could mean US military data becoming increasingly accessible to Israel’s military establishment.
It’s claimed that in effect, Section 224 would shift US support for Israel from visible military aid into the far more opaque machinery of Pentagon procurement, weapons contracts, classified technology programmes and private defence industry partnerships.
Support for Israel would no longer be an annual aid package that can be debated, conditioned or cut. It would be dispersed across supply chains, research programmes, data systems, production lines and jobs in congressional districts.
The timing is seen as extremely significant. Israel’s genocide in Gaza and its widening wars across the Middle East have shattered the mythology of Israeli military self-sufficiency. For decades, Israel has presented itself as a regional superpower able to defeat its enemies alone. Yet the reality since October 2023 has shown the opposite: Israel cannot sustain major wars without US weapons, intelligence, air defence, diplomatic cover and emergency resupply.
The limits of Israeli military power were laid bare in a Washington Post report last week citing Pentagon assessments of US support for Israel during hostilities with Iran. The report found that the US military expended far more advanced missile-defence interceptors defending Israel than Israeli forces used themselves. One US administration official quoted in the report stated: “Israel is not capable of fighting and winning wars on its own, but nobody actually knows this, because they never see the back end.”
Israel’s global isolation has also intensified. The International Court of Justice is hearing South Africa’s genocide case against Israel, while the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. In much of the world, Israel is no longer seen as a normal ally, but as a pariah state accused of carrying out mass killing, forced displacement and starvation in Gaza.
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Global Sumud Flotilla member Meriem Hadjal speaks to the press after arriving at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris on May 22, 2026. (Photo by Firas Abdullah/Anadolu via Getty Images)
French nationals and people from dozens of countries who were abducted from the Global Sumud Flotilla say they were beaten, tortured, and sexually assaulted by their Israeli captors.
France’s government on Friday asked prosecutors to investigate Israel’s alleged mistreatment of French nationals aboard the last Global Sumud Flotilla, which was intercepted earlier this month in international waters while trying to break the illegal decadeslong Israeli blockade of Gaza.
“Based on a report I requested from our Consul General in Turkey—who informed me of sexual violence, exposure to the cold, beatings, and repeated humiliation of French nationals—all of these acts are likely to constitute criminal offenses,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said during an interview with France Inter, adding, “I decided yesterday to refer the matter to the public prosecutor.”
The move follows France’s indefinite ban from its territory of far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who posted a video on social media showing him joyfully humiliating detained activists, journalists, and others who were mostly kneeling with their hands tied behind their backs and their foreheads forced to the ground following the May 18 interception of flotilla vessels off the coast of Cyprus and the abduction of all aboard.
“We cannot tolerate that French nationals can be threatened, intimidated, or brutalized in this way—all the more so by a public official,” Barrot said last week.
People from around 40 countries—including 37 French nationals—were seized from dozens of flotilla vessels and held in harsh conditions on what many of them called a “torture boat.”
According to Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF): “Detained humanitarians, doctors, and journalists were processed one by one through a darkened shipping container. Inside, groups of three to five soldiers systematically brutalized each person who came through the door while those waiting outside listened to the screams.”
French medical professional Meriem Hadjal said she was “subjected to torture” in the container, where at least one Israeli soldier allegedly sexually assaulted her.
“We were treated like animals,” Hadjal added, accusing her Israeli captors of “sadism.”
Flotilla activist Meriem Hadjal described being sexually assaulted by Israeli forces. She said they stripped her of her clothes and continued groping her chest while striking her repeatedly in the head. pic.twitter.com/ae5CzcHThL
Numerous national governments condemned Israel’s treatment of the flotilla abductees, including the United States. US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said that Ben-Gvir “betrayed the dignity” of his nation, which receives billions of dollars in annual armed aid and diplomatic cover from the United States to carry out what many experts say is a genocidal war on Gaza.
Malaysia is reportedly preparing to initiate proceedings against Israel at the International Court of Justice over the abduction and alleged torture of its citizens, 29 of whom were aboard the flotilla. The ICJ is currently weighing a genocide case against Israel filed by South Africa and formally supported by nearly 20 nations.
“We will not remain silent, we will not stop. While the legal team gathers all documentation on violations of international law; they were kidnapped more than once, they were tortured,” Amirudin Shari, chief minister of the Malaysian state of Selangor, said during a homecoming ceremony for the flotilla members at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
Israeli troops have physically and psychologically tortured past flotilla abductees. Dozens of members of the previous Global Sumud mission required medical attention for broken ribs, noses, and other injuries inflicted by Israeli forces. In 2010, Israeli troops killed nine activists aboard one of the first-ever Gaza flotillas, including Turkish-American teenager Furkan Doğan.
As some countries pursue justice for flotilla members, others have declined to act. In the United Kingdom, Zarah Sultana, who represents Coventry South for the socialist Your Party in Parliament, is demanding “urgent action” in the wake of abuse allegations made by British flotilla abductees.
Following harrowing testimony from French nationals detained by Israel, France has now referred reports of sexual violence, beatings and humiliation against Global Sumud Flotilla activists to prosecutors.
“France is acting. Spain is showing leadership. Where is the UK government?” Sultana said Friday on X. “Nothing but a simp for Israel, a genocidal apartheid state.”
Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich takes part in the Jerusalem Day parade at the Damascus Gate in the old city of Jerusalem on May 14, 2026. (Photo by Erik Marmor/Getty Images)
The far-right finance minister announced that he’d respond to an arrest warrant request for his forced expulsion of Palestinians by ordering the evacuation of another West Bank village.
Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said on Tuesday that the International Criminal Court prosecutor had requested an arrest warrant against him, reportedly in response to his illegal forced expulsion of thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank.
He said he planned to “fight back” by issuing an order to forcibly evict hundreds more Palestinians from their homes in the West Bank.
During a news conference, Smotrich said he’d been informed Monday evening that the ICC prosecutor had secretly requested a warrant for his arrest in April. A formal warrant has not been announced by the court, and the official charges have not yet been publicized.
The Wall Street Journal reported last year that the prosecutor had been considering seeking an arrest warrant against Smotrich for his role in expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in July 2024 was a violation of the Geneva Conventions because it entailed the forced removal of residents in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The ICC prosecutor was also preparing to issue an arrest warrant against fellow far-right settler politician, Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, though there is not yet any reporting to suggest that this warrant has been issued.
In response to the reported warrant request for what the ICC considers a war crime, Smotrich celebrated the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from the West Bank. He boasted of creating “over 100 new settlements” in the occupied territory and “160 farming outposts,” which he said helped Israel to control 247,000 acres of land in the territory.
The United Nationsreported in March that over the previous year, more than 36,000 Palestinians in the West Bank had been forcibly displaced by settlement expansion and by violence committed by Israeli settlers.
Smotrich said the court’s issuing of arrest warrants against him and other Israeli leaders was a “declaration of war” and said that “we will respond with war.”
“From today, every economic or other target within my authority to strike—whether as Finance Minister or as a minister in the Defense Ministry—will be attacked. Not with words or gimmicks, but with actions,” he said.
“I announce here and now the first target that will be attacked: immediately after my remarks, we will sign an order for the evacuation of Khan al-Ahmar,” he added.
He was referring to a Palestinian Bedouin village of about 200 people on the eastern outskirts of Jerusalem, which has fought a yearslong legal battle against the Israeli government following orders by Ben-Gvir for it to be demolished to make room for a settlement.
The territory is especially significant because it would link two major settlements in East Jerusalem with the Jordan Valley as part of Israel’s ongoing E1 settlement project, which is aimed at constructing settlements so that they cut the Palestinian-controlled areas of the West Bank in two.
Smotrich, who has led the E1 project, declared last year that the proposal “buries the idea of a Palestinian state because there is nothing to recognize and no one to recognize.”
On Tuesday, Smotrich said his order for Palestinians to leave Khan al-Ahmar would be “only the beginning” of his response to the reported warrant request.
Jasper Nathaniel, an American journalist who reports from the West Bank, explained that “Smotrich just announced the official ethnic cleansing of a Palestinian village in response to the ICC warrant for his arrest.”
Observers pointed out the brazenness of Smotrich’s declaration in the face of an international tribunal.
Adil Haque, a professor of law at Rutgers University and the executive editor of Just Security, noted the remarkable irony: “The ICC office of the prosecutor reportedly requested an arrest warrant for his war crimes, so he announces a new one.”
Along with Ben-Gvir, Smotrich was sanctioned last year by five countries—Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom—which subjected them to travel bans and asset freezes.
Ori Goldberg, an Israeli expert on Middle Eastern studies, said international punishments against Smotrich needed to be even stronger after he announced “as stark a violation of international law as possible.”
“Make the warrants public. Sanction this man and everybody else who foots the bill. EU Leadership—stop making fools of yourselves as the world is torn asunder,” he said. “Show Israelis… the jig is up.”
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/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 …
Displaced Palestinians lineup to receive donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, July 23, 2026
