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View of the FIFA logo on December 01, 2022 in Doha, Qatar [Catherine Ivill/Getty Images]
The UN experts on Monday called on FIFA and UEFA to suspend Israel’s national football team from international competitions, saying it is a “necessary response to address the ongoing genocide in the occupied Palestinian territory,” Anadolu reports.
“The conclusion of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel, that Israel is committing genocide is the latest in a growing number of international bodies affirming that genocide is being committed,” the experts said. They recalled that the International Court of Justice’s interim order of Jan. 26, 2024, reminded every country of its legal duty to act against genocide.
“Sports must reject the perception that it is business as usual,” they said. “Sporting bodies must not turn a blind eye to grave human rights violations, especially when their platforms are used to normalize injustices.”
The experts clarified that the call targets the state of Israel and not individual players, saying: “We have always maintained that individuals cannot bear the consequences of the decisions their government makes.”
They further urged FIFA to “stop legitimizing the situation arising from Israel’s unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” stressing: “There is a legal and moral imperative to take every measure possible to end the genocide in Gaza now.”
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.Vote Labour for Genocide.
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Israeli army continues its operation that it launched four days ago against the Jenin Refugee Camp in Jenin, West Bank on August 31, 2024. [Issam Rimawi – Anadolu Agency]
Dozens of Western countries have called on Israel to reopen the medical corridor between Gaza and the occupied West Bank. They expressed their readiness to provide financial support, medical teams, and equipment to help treat patients from Gaza.
Countries including Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and members of the European Union signed a joint statement urging Israel to allow patients from Gaza to reach the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, for urgent medical treatment.
“We strongly appeal to Israel to restore the medical corridor to the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, so medical evacuations from Gaza can be resumed and patients can get the treatment that they so urgently need on Palestinian territory,” the statement read.
Meanwhile, since 7 October 2023, Israeli forces – with support from the United States and other Western nations – have continued a devastating military campaign in Gaza. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, around 232,000 Palestinians have been killed or injured so far. Additionally, 442 people, including 147 children, have reportedly died due to starvation.
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.Vote Labour for Genocide.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
People gather to stage a demonstration at Breitscheid Square in support of Palestinians and to protest Israel’s attacks on Gaza, in Berlin, Germany on September 06, 2025. [Halil Sağırkaya/Anadolu Agency]
A new survey released on Tuesday showed 62% of German voters believe Israeli actions in Gaza constitute genocide, putting increasing pressure on Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government to reassess its stance toward Israel, Anadolu reports.
The representative poll conducted by YouGov showed that the sentiment crosses political lines, with 60% of voters from Merz’s conservative CDU/CSU bloc viewing Israel’s military campaign as genocide against Palestinians. Among voters of coalition partner Social Democratic Party (SPD), the figure was even higher at 71%.
While Chancellor Merz and Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul have recently sharpened their criticism of Israel’s military offensive and blockade of humanitarian aid to Gaza, they have so far avoided using the term “genocide,” referring instead to “disproportionate” use of force by the Israeli military.
According to the survey, two-thirds (67%) of Germans now hold a negative or somewhat negative opinion of Israel. Only about one in five respondents (19%) express a positive or somewhat positive view, indicating a significant decline in public perception of Israel in recent months.
The representative survey also revealed a significant gap between German government policy and public opinion on Palestinian statehood. Despite the Merz government’s opposition to recognizing a Palestinian state, 44% of German voters supported such recognition, up from 41% in May 2025 and 40% in June 2024. Only 23% opposed recognition, while 33% remained undecided.
Germany found itself internationally isolated this week as its close allies France, the UK, and several other European partners, including Belgium, Portugal and Malta, announced their recognition of Palestinian statehood, while Berlin maintained its opposition to immediate recognition.
Last week, Chancellor Merz argued that while Berlin supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it believes Palestinian statehood recognition should be an outcome of diplomatic negotiations rather than a prerequisite to the peace process.
Merz has repeatedly emphasized Germany’s historical responsibility for Israel due to the country’s Nazi past, and also opposed proposed EU sanctions against the Netanyahu government designed to pressure Tel Aviv to end its brutal military campaign in Gaza that has claimed the lives of more than 65,000 Palestinians since October 2023.
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.Vote Labour for Genocide.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Al-Aqsa Mosque and its courtyard in the Old City of East Jerusalem are observed to be empty following Israeli army launched preventive, precise, and coordinated strikes targeting Iran’s nuclear program, on June 13, 2025, in Jerusalem. [Mostafa Alkharouf – Anadolu Agency]
Scores of illegal Israeli settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem on Sunday and held prayers for US right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, who was killed earlier this month, Anadolu reports.
The Hebrew-language site Srugim reported that the ritual was led by far-right Rabbi and former Knesset member Yehuda Glick, a prominent advocate of expanding Jewish access to the site.
Kirk, a conservative activist known for supporting US President Donald Trump and Israel, was fatally shot in the neck while delivering a speech at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10.
The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said illegal settlers entered the mosque in groups, performing rituals, singing and dancing inside the courtyards as preparations for the Jewish New Year gathered pace.
Wafa added that right-wing settler groups are mobilizing to bring larger numbers of illegal settlers into the flashpoint site during the holiday period.
On Saturday, the Israeli army said it would send reinforcements to the occupied West Bank amid heightened alert ahead of the holidays.
According to Jerusalem’s Islamic Endowments Directorate, violations at Al-Aqsa have escalated sharply since far-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir became Israel’s national security minister in late 2022.
Al-Aqsa Mosque is the world’s third-holiest site for Muslims. Jews call the area Temple Mount, claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community.
Palestinians see the settler incursions into Al-Aqsa as part of efforts to Judaize East Jerusalem and erase its Arab and Islamic identity. They insist East Jerusalem is the capital of a future Palestinian state, in line with international resolutions rejecting Israel’s 1967 occupation and its 1980 annexation of the city.
Since October 2023, at least 1,042 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank by Israeli forces and illegal settlers, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
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.Vote Labour for Genocide.
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Israeli forces raid the el-Amari Refugee Camp, located south of the city of Ramallah in the West Bank on September 14, 2025. [Issam Rimawi – Anadolu Agency]
While the genocide and destruction in Gaza have reached unprecedented levels, Israel now appears to be moving towards its next bold step — a West Bank version of the Gaza endgame scenario. Tension is mounting regionally and globally over a possible imminent Israeli declaration to annex the occupied West Bank. If it happens, the move would mark a major turning point in the timeline of the Arab-Israeli conflict over the land of Palestine. “There are serious and real concerns that Israel may, in the coming days, announce the annexation of the West Bank. The annexation of the West Bank to Israel is a central part of the political project of two main parties allied with Likud in this extremist government led by Netanyahu,” said Qadura Fares, the former Palestinian minister and member of the Legislative Council, in a phone conversation from Ramallah in the West Bank.
At the same time, we are witnessing a historic shift as Western nations long supportive of Israel begin to take a different stance, recognising the State of Palestine one after another. These strong Western voices are also warning Israel, in real time, against any unilateral annexation of the West Bank in response to this global wave of recognition.
“This government in Israel has two options now on the table. It can either respond diplomatically to each of the countries recognising Palestine, or it can declare the annexation of the West Bank as a collective punishment against those nations,” Ambassador Alon Liel, retired senior Israeli diplomat, told me in a short conversation.
For many Israelis, this is seen as the moment to change realities on the ground — taking advantage of Western recognition of Palestine as a pretext to move deeper into the West Bank. While everything they have done in Gaza so far has been approved by the Trump administration, they foresee that this golden era in Washington will not return anytime soon. With the unprecedented support President Trump is granting Israel, taking full sovereignty of the land is exactly what the Israeli far right needs now. As Jason Shvili wrote in the far-right Israeli newspaper Israel HaYom: “No other US administration, Democrat or Republican, has been more receptive to the idea of Israel extending its sovereignty to Judea and Samaria, so annexation must happen as soon as possible.”
Retired Israeli ambassador and senior diplomat Alon Liel agrees that the chances are high the USA will back Israel in such a step. But he adds: “The real fear inside the government now is the threat annexation may pose to the Abraham Accords. The achievement of the Accords and relations with the UAE and Bahrain are attributed to PM Netanyahu. Taking over the West Bank may threaten the future of these agreements. These accords are seen as Netanyahu’s biggest diplomatic achievement.”
Annexing the West Bank has long been a central vision for the future of the Jewish state according to the Israeli agenda, but timing is critical. As we see day by day on the ground in Gaza, Israel has pushed much of Gaza’s population southward, concentrating residents into a narrow strip of land and effectively emptying large areas of Palestinians. These actions appear aimed at displacement, potentially forcing Gaza’s Palestinians to leave for Egypt as part of a broader strategy for a Greater Israel, another vision repeatedly mentioned in the narrative of several ministers in the coalition currently running Israel and leading the ongoing war we are witnessing right now.
Bringing the West Bank formally under Israeli sovereignty would therefore complete the picture — unifying the lands of historic Palestine under the authority of the self-styled Jewish state “The annexation of the West Bank is linked to other plan in the Israeli agenda, linked to the displacement of the Palestinians, the transfer of the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Jerusalem into Jordan” said former Palestinian minister and member of the Legislative Council, Qadura Fares “This harms the Jordanian sovereignty, a decisive stance must be taken by all Arab countries to respond to Israel,” Mr. Fares added.
Israeli opposition, represented by Yair Lapid, the leader of the Yesh Atid party, expressed its disapproval of the possible move to annex the West Bank. Lapid’s concern was not a fundamental objection to the idea of annexation itself, but rather the timing and the heavy diplomatic cost.
“What are they trying to do? Further damage our international relations? All we’ll get out of this is more serious international backlash for something that has no viability,” Lapid said earlier this month. He described calls for taking over the West Bank as “another provocation toward a world that is already turning its back on us.”
Former ambassador Alon Liel believes the opinion of the other segment of Israeli society is completely different. “The religious part of the population in Israel does not care about the world — if we lose the support of the world or not, they see the world as antisemitic anyhow. Israel is sharply divided,” Liel said.
Former Palestinian minister Qadura Fares emphasized that the West Bank is occupied — and will remain so regardless of any possible annexation order. Palestinians therefore have the right to resist the occupation, and any annexation would be illegal, adding yet another entry to a long list of Israeli actions deemed violations under international law.
Both the measures Israel is taking in Gaza — pushing the population outward and crushing resistance — and its actions in the West Bank, from the destruction of refugee camps like Nour Shams and Jenin to expanding illegal settlements and cutting the region’s geographical integrity, follow a single prescription. They make a Palestinian state on the land occupied in 1967 impossible. They kill all chances of a two-state solution and pave the way for uprooting the Palestinian people entirely, leaving the land to the Jewish state.
Israel is seizing what it sees as the best use of the remaining three years of the current US administration. In this window, the impossible becomes possible — a season unlikely to return under any future administration. But the true end of eight-decade Palestinian struggle will take far longer than these three years.
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.Vote Labour for Genocide.
