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Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel’s national security minister, during a news conference at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, on, 05 February , 2024 [Kobi Wolf/Bloomberg via Getty Images]
Israel’s far-right Otzma Yehudit party, led by the extremist National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, is continuing to push a new bill that targets the Islamic call to prayer in mosques by imposing strict restrictions and tough enforcement measures.
The party described the proposal as a “dramatic change” in how the authorities deal with what it called “noise coming from mosques”.
In a statement, Ben Gvir said: “The unreasonable noise of the muezzin harms quality of life.”
MK Zvika Fogel said the issue “is not religious but health-related”, calling for firm and clear legislation to address what he described as “systematic legal violations”.
Fogel, who chairs the Knesset’s National Security Committee, submitted the proposal. It is based on the principle of a “general ban with a special permit”, meaning loudspeakers would not be allowed in any mosque unless an official permit is granted. The permit would take into account factors such as volume levels, the mosque’s location, and how close it is to residential areas.
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UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspeding 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government’s support for Israel’s Gaza genocide and the UK government and military’s active participation in 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.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accompanied by US President Donald Trump speaks during a dinner in the Blue Room of the White House on July 7, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Amid a growing rift between Israel and the White House, one foreign policy analyst says the meeting “will signal whether Washington is prepared to continue underwriting open-ended escalation.”
As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heads to Mar-a-Lago to meet with US President Donald Trump on Monday, amid a growing rift with the president and his advisers, reports say he’ll seek to push the US back toward war with Iran.
Last week, NBC Newsreported that at the meeting, “Netanyahu is expected to make the case to Trump that Iran’s expansion of its ballistic missile program poses a threat that could necessitate swift action” and that “the Israeli leader is expected to present Trump with options for the US to join or assist in any new military operations.”
“Netanyahu plans to press Donald Trump for US backing for another round of war with Iran, now framed around Iran’s ballistic missile program,” said Sina Toossi, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy. “Netanyahu’s pivot to missiles should therefore be read not as the discovery of a new threat, but as an effort to manufacture a replacement casus belli after the nuclear argument collapsed.”
He noted criticisms levied against Netanyahu by Yair Golan, chair of the Democrats, a center-left party in Israel, earlier this week: “How is it possible that last June, at the end of the war with Iran, Benjamin Netanyahu solemnly declared that ‘Israel had eliminated Iran’s nuclear threat and severely damaged its missile array’; and that this was a ‘historic victory’—and today, less than six months later, he is running to the president of the United States to beg for permission to attack Iran again?” Golan said.
Iran is just one of several areas the two will likely discuss on Monday. According to Israeli officials who spoke to the WashingtonPost, Netanyahu also reportedly wants Trump to “take a tougher stance on Gaza and require that Hamas disarm before Israeli troops further withdraw as part of the second phase of Trump’s 20-point peace plan.”
The chief of Israel’s armed forces suggested earlier this week that its occupation of more than half of Gaza would be permanent, but walked those comments back after reported behind-the-scenes outrage in the White House. Meanwhile, Trump—invested in his image as a peacemaker—has reportedly balked at Israel’s routine violations of the ceasefire agreement he helped to broker in October.
Near-daily strikes have resulted in the death of at least 418 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Media Office. Meanwhile, Israel’s continued blockade of humanitarian aid has left hundreds of thousands of people—displaced from homes destroyed by Israeli bombing—to languish in the cold without tents. Desperately needed fuel, food, and medicine have entered the strip at far lower numbers than the ceasefire agreement required.
As Axiosreported on Friday, Trump’s advisers increasingly fear that Netanyahu is intentionally slow-walking and undermining the peace process in hopes of resuming the war.
Netanyahu also seeks Trump’s continued backing of Israel’s territorial expansion in Syria. Earlier this month, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) pushed through a UN-monitored demilitarized zone between Israeli and Syrian-held positions in the Golan Heights, which Israel illegally occupies.
This push into southern Syria went against the wishes of the Trump administration, which feared it could destabilize the Western-backed government that rules in Damascus following the ouster of former President Bashar al-Assad.
Israel has also routinely struck Lebanon in violation of the US-brokered ceasefire it signed with Hezbollah in late 2024, with bombings becoming a near-daily occurrence in December. Last month, the UN reported that at least 127 civilians, including children, had been killed in Israeli strikes since the ceasefire began.
“Netanyahu’s visit unfolds against a backdrop of unresolved fronts, with widening disputes with Washington over the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire, including postwar governance, reconstruction, and Turkish involvement,” Toossi said. “At the same time, Israel is seeking greater latitude to escalate again against Hezbollah in Lebanon, an end to US accommodation of Syria’s new leadership, and firm assurances on expanded military aid.”
“Taken together, Netanyahu’s visit is less about resolving any single crisis than about postponing strategic reckoning,” he continued. “The outcome will signal whether Washington is prepared to continue underwriting open-ended escalation, or whether this meeting marks the beginning of clearer limits on Israel’s regional strategy.”
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A view of Al Qunaitra, where, over the past year since the fall of the Assad regime, the Israeli army has detained more than 40 people, established nine military bases in and around civilian settlements and strategic hills, and took over approximately 12,000 acres of land in the province in southern Syria on December 17, 2025. [Bakr Al Kasem – Anadolu Agency]
Tensions are rising between Israel and Turkey over the Turkish presence in Syria. Two Western intelligence sources told i24NEWS on Thursday that Turkey has been working in recent weeks to deploy radar systems inside Syrian territory.
The move is expected to significantly limit Israel’s freedom of movement in Syrian airspace. It could also affect Israel’s ability to use Syrian airspace to carry out operations in other areas, including Iran.
According to foreign reports, the deployment of Turkish radars in Syria would allow Turkey to track the movement of Israeli aircraft in Syrian skies, even while they are passing through on their way to missions in Iraq and Iran. This capability could place major restrictions on the operational freedom of the Israeli air force.
An Israeli security source told the website that the possibility of Turkey establishing a military base in Syria represents a “potential threat”. The source added: “If a Turkish air base is established, this would harm Israel’s freedom of action in Syria.”
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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.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
Original article by republished form Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
Healthcare workers and allies rally to demand the release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya and all Palestinian healthcare workers held in Israeli jails, in New York City, on January 6, 2025. (Photo by Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“We won’t forget him nor the 360+ health workers Israel has abducted from Gaza since October 2023,” said CodePink.
Ahead of Saturday’s one-year anniversary of Israel abducting Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya from the Gaza hospital he ran, advocates demanded the release the scores of health workers still imprisoned by Israeli occupation forces.
“One year ago, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya was abducted by the Israeli military along with dozens of other medical staff during a horrific raid on the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza,” Dr. Yipeng Ge, a member of Doctors Against Genocide, said Friday on social media. “Free Hussam Abu Safiya. Free them all.”
Activist Petra Schurenhofer said on X: “It’s been a year since Israel abducted and illegally detained Dr Hussam Abu Safiya. And since then he has been languishing in an Israeli jail, being subjected to cruel and inhumane treatment. Don’t forget him. And don’t stop calling for his release.”
Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya was abducted by the IOF from Kamal Adwan Hospital one year ago this week.Israel has detained & tortured Dr. Abu Safiya for one whole year.We won't forget him nor the 360+ health workers Israel has abducted from Gaza since October 2023.
Abu Safiya, the 52-year-old director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, was seized on December 27, 2024 as Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops continued their yearlong siege and raids on the facility in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza. The IDF claimed without evidence that Kamal Adwan—the last major functioning hospital in northern Gaza at the time—was a Hamas command center.
During a previous Israeli attack on Kamal Adwan, Abu Safiya’s 15-year-old son was killed in a drone strike. Abu Safiya was seriously wounded in a separate drone attack that left six pieces of shrapnel in his leg.
After his capture, Abu Safiya was first jailed at the notorious Sde Teiman prison in Israel’s Negev Desert—where dozens of detainees have died and where torture, rape, and other abuses have been reported—and then Ofer Prison in the illegally occupied West Bank.
Abu Safiya said he has endured torture by his captors—including beatings with batons and electric shocks—and suffered severe weight loss, broken ribs, and other injuries, for which he was allegedly denied adequate medical care.
A year has passed since the detention of my father, In this white coat, he walked alone amidst death, destruction, and in front of tanks—not because he was fearless, but because his oath and his humanity were greater than any fear. He refused to abandon the children and the… pic.twitter.com/8NtuIGBeYf
— Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya د.حسام أبو صفية (@HussamAbuSafiya) December 26, 2025
Israeli authorities deny these accusations. However, there have been many documented and otherwise credible reports of health and medical workers being tortured by Israeli forces—sometimes fatally, as in the case of Dr. Adnan al-Bursh, who headed the orthopedic department at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
Abu Safiya remains in Israeli custody, despite having not been charged with any crimes. Israeli courts have extended his detention multiple times under so-called “unlawful combatant” legal provisions.
In January, Abu Safiya’s mother died of a heart attack that MedGlobal, the Illinois-based nonprofit for which Abu Safiya worked as lead Gaza physician, attributed to “severe sadness” over her son’s plight.
According to United Nations agencies and other experts, Israeli forces have destroyed or damaged nearly all of Gaza’s hospitals in hundreds of attacks since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. More than 1,500 Palestinian health workers have been killed.
Last year, an independent United Nations commission found that “Israel has perpetrated a concerted policy to destroy Gaza’s healthcare system as part of a broader assault on Gaza, committing war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination with relentless and deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities.”
Albina Abu Safiya, the imprisoned doctor’s wife, pleaded last week: “Save my husband before it is too late. His only ‘crime’ was saving the wounded and tending to the wounds of children.”
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.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/O74hZCKKdpAOrcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
Greta Thunberg at protest against Aspen Insurance complicity in genocide. Source: Defend Our Juries
Palestine solidarity hunger strikers in Britain face mounting health risks as Starmer government continues to refuse engagement with their demands.
More Palestine solidarity hunger strikers in Britain have been hospitalized over the past week, as half of those taking part in the protest pass more than 50 days without food. While Keir Starmer’s administration continues to refuse engagement with the activists’ demands, health workers and family members warn of serious risks of death. Testimonies from the strikers themselves describe harsh physical decline. “I don’t think people realize how serious this is, as on day 35 you risk brain damage, organ failure and heart attack,” Rahma Hoxha, sister of hunger striker Teuta Hoxha, said on December 18.
Eight activists – Amu Gib, Qesser Zuhrah, Jon Cink, Heba Muraisi, Teuta Hoxha, Kamran Ahmed, Lewie Chiaramello, and Umer Khalid – have joined the hunger strike on a rolling basis since early November. Since then, three strikers have ended their action. Many of the strikers have been imprisoned for over a year while awaiting trial for taking part in direct action in solidarity with Palestine. Their demands include an end to censorship in prison, including the withholding of calls and books; immediate bail for all Palestine Action prisoners; the deproscription of Palestine Action; the right to a fair trial; and the shutdown of all Elbit Systems sites in Britain.
Over the past week, incidents have been reported in which prison authorities failed to respond adequately to the strikers’ medical needs – needs that health workers emphasize grow more complex and dangerous with each passing day. Instead of being provided care, some activists were left waiting more than 12 hours for help and were hospitalized only after protests outside the prison.
“From 2 am, in freezing temperatures, we were forced to protest for more than 12 hours before an ambulance was finally dispatched to HMP Bronzefield so that Qesser Zuhrah could receive the urgent medical care she needs,” MP Zarah Sultana wrote on December 18. “Just as Keir Starmer’s Labour government has enabled genocide in Gaza, it is now enabling the deaths of Palestine solidarity strikers inside UK prisons.”
Health workers warn that the hunger strikers may already have crossed a point beyond which recovery is uncertain. “It is not possible to predict how long it takes to suffer irreversible organ damage or death,” Dr. Frank Arnold wrote in Medact’s guidance for hunger strikers. “The shortest time to death that I know of was 21 days. The longest survival without any food, but with careful fluid management, 70 days. That patient made a recovery but has lasting neurological damage.”
Mainstream British media have been remarkably silent even as it has become apparent that the government might be prepared to watch young people die in custody. At the same time, solidarity actions have expanded.
Education trade unionists, including executive figures from the National Education Union (NEU) and the University and College Union (UCU), have joined calls for immediate government intervention. In an open letter, they not only demanded action to protect the hunger strikers’ lives and address their demands, but also linked their current treatment to a wider crackdown on students and education workers expressing solidarity with Palestine. “We call on our trade unions, the wider Palestine solidarity movement and civil society to work together to protect the lives of the hunger strikers, defend the right to protest and end Britain’s shameful role in enabling Israel’s crimes of apartheid, occupation and genocide,” the letter states.
Health workers and artists have also mobilized in large numbers. More than 800 health professionals have signed an open letter warning British authorities of the dangers faced by the hunger strikers. Hundreds of Irish artists issued another appeal, endorsed by musicians KNEECAP and Fontaines D.C., as well as writer Sally Rooney. “Their decision to place their bodies on the line is a profound act of resistance – one that echoes the long histories of both Irish and Palestinian political prisoners who have used hunger strike as a non-violent act of sacrifice to assert their dignity in the face of state violence and repression,” the artists wrote.
Meanwhile, institutional repression against the Palestine solidarity movement in Britain continues to grow. On December 23, Prisoners for Palestine and Defend Our Juries reported new arrests during a lock-in protest in London addressing Aspen Insurance’s complicity in genocide. One of those arrested was climate and solidarity activist Greta Thunberg, who sat on the ground holding a sign reading: “I support the Palestine Action prisoners. I oppose genocide.”
“It’s not clear if the Met Police have made another one of their mistakes in interpreting the crazy ban on Palestine Action or whether the state has now turned anyone expressing support for prisoners locked up beyond the legal time limit for taking action to stop a genocide into alleged terrorists,” a Defend Our Juries spokesperson said. “If it is the former then we look forward to seeing Greta released without charge immediately. If it is the latter, it is yet another dark day for Keir Starmer’s genocide-supporting government. In calling people terrorists who are not terrorists they are not acting to protect the public, they are acting to protect the companies profiting from genocide and the genocidal state of Israel itself.”
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.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.UK Labour Party Foreign Secretary David Lammy repeatedly heckled at a speech to the Fabian Society over his and the Labour Party’s support for and complicity in Israel’s genocide of Gaza.
