Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya. Source: EuroMed Human Rights Monitor
Israeli authorities are reportedly pursuing another extension of the imprisonment of Palestinian pediatrician Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya.
Israeli authorities are reportedly pursuing another six-month extension to the imprisonment of Palestinian pediatrician Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, taken by Israeli occupation forces from Kamal Adwan Hospital over two years ago, ahead of a hearing announced for Tuesday, April 28. Dr. Abu Safiya has been held in administrative detention – a status that allows Israeli authorities to imprison Palestinians for an undefined amount of time without charge or trial – ever since he was taken captive in December 2024.
Over the past months, family members, health workers, and UN experts have raised the alarm over Dr. Abu Safiya’s condition, warning of torture and deteriorating health. “Dr. Abu Safiya’s lawyer has not been allowed to meet him for more than two months, ever since his transfer to Ketziot Prison and despite reports of violence, significant weight loss and medical neglect,” Physicians for Human Rights Israel recently wrote.
Ahead of the hearing date, the pediatrician’s family appealed again for the international community to mobilize and secure Dr. Abu Safiya’s release. “We cannot understand how a man who saves children can be tortured and imprisoned in a place where children are killed,” his son, Ilyas Abu Safiya said. “We cannot understand how a doctor who dedicated his life to protecting and healing them, can be locked away in a place known for injustice, violence and the death of children.”
“The fear for my father’s fate grows inside us every day,” Ilyas Abu Safiya stated, adding that the feeling is shared by families of all Palestinian political prisoners. The fears have only grown worse, various sources document, since the Israeli Knesset adopted death penalty legislation that foresees death by hanging for Palestinians.
According to information published by Healthcare Workers Watch on April 17, Dr. Abu Safiya is among 83 health workers confirmed to be still imprisoned by Israel. The network documented nearly 446 cases of doctors, nurses, paramedics, and other health workers being seized by the occupation since October 7, 2023, of which 323 have apparently been released. Healthcare Workers Watch noted that of the health workers still held, 75 were from Gaza: including 27 senior, 41 mid-level, and 7 junior staff. Sixty among these health workers were kidnapped from inside health facilities.
On average, each of the Gazan health workers “has so far spent 670 days in detention,” Healthcare Workers Watch wrote, with some held for over 880 days. “The currently detained healthcare workers have spent collectively over 152 years in Israeli detention,” the network emphasized.
People’s Health Dispatch is a fortnightly bulletin published by thePeople’s Health Movement and Peoples Dispatch. For more articles and to subscribe to People’s Health Dispatch, clickhere.
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/Nigel Farage 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.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.
A protestor was carried away by police awaiting their arrest during the Lift The Ban on Palestine Action protest in London’s Trafalgar Square on 11 April 2026. Loredana Sangiuliano / SOPA Images via Reuters Connect
‘We oppose genocide.’
More than 1,000 people, including Irish author Sally Rooney and climate activist Greta Thunberg, have signed a letter in defiance of the ban on Palestine Action, to be delivered to the Court of Appeal as the government attempts to uphold its controversial proscription of the direct action group.
The letter simply states: “We oppose genocide, we support Palestine Action.” It is expected to be hand-delivered to the court on Tuesday 28 April, when the government delivers its arguments appealing against the landmark high court ruling that found the proscription of Palestine Action to be unlawful in February.
The letter is the first time that acclaimed writers, scholars and creatives have come together to defy the ban. Signatories include distinguished professor Judith Butler, musician Brian Eno, Israeli professors Ilan Pappé and Avi Shlaim, author and anti-apartheid campaigner Andrew Feinstein, and Massive Attack frontman Robert Del Naja.
Also adding their names are hundreds of members of the public from all walks of life, including trade union officials, retired prison officers, nurses, architects, teachers, carers and members of the clergy. All signatories risk arrest under UK terror law.
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The ban on Palestine Action – a direct action group which aims to end global participation in Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime in the Occupied Palestinian Territories – remains in force until the government’s appeal is complete, despite it being ruled unlawful. This means anyone showing support for the group can still be punished by up to 14 years in prison under counter-terror legislation.
A spokesperson for Defend Our Juries (DOJ), which has coordinated high-profile demonstrations across the country to protest the ban, told Novara Media: “It takes something out of the ordinary for so many eminent professors, including professors of law, to risk arrest under the Terrorism Act. But when you brand as terrorists your political opponents, who are obviously not terrorists, a red line towards authoritarianism has been crossed.
Palestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine ‘Private Eye’.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.Nigel Farage 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.
Apologies, I have withdrawn this article because I consider that it was misleading. It referred to a YouGov poll of 3 March 2026 [ed: 2nd March] instead of a more recent one.
Nigel Farage explains the politics of Reform UK: Racism, Fake anti-establishmentism, Deregulation, Corporatism, Climate Change Denial, Mysogyny and Transphobia.Nigel Farage reminds you that he’s the man that brought you Brexit and asks what could possibly go wrong.Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
US President Donald Trump exits Air Force One on March 29, 2026 at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. (Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images)
“NATO is a defensive alliance,” said one UK military analyst as the president demanded help in his unprovoked war on Iran. “It’s not been clear what the legal justification for the war is.”
President Donald Trump on Tuesday lashed out at European countries over the message leaders have been clear about since the US joined Israel in waging an unprovoked war against Iran—an assault that swiftly led Iran to retaliate by closing the Strait of Hormuz, sending global oil prices skyrocketing.
The war, Europe has said, is not one the United States’ longtime allies have started or that they’ll be “dragged into,” and the worldwide economic consequences are the responsibility of the countries that chose to attack Iran.
Reports that France over the weekend barred US military planes headed for Israel from flying over its territory appeared to particularly send Trump into a rage, prompting him to call the French government “VERY UNHELPFUL” on his social media platform, Truth Social.
“The U.S.A. will REMEMBER!!” said the president Tuesday morning.
He then took aim at countries across Europe, writing, “Go get your own oil!” in a separate missive.
Trump repeated previous suggestions that US allies are “cowards” for not offering their assistance in the unprovoked war, demanding that they “build up some delayed courage, go to the Strait, and just TAKE” the oil by force.
“You’ll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the U.S.A. won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us,” he added.
France denied the reports that it had prevented US planes from flying over its airspace, but it is one of a number of longtime US allies that have reportedly taken action to avoid complicity in the US-Israeli war, which experts say is a clear violation of international law, including the United Nations Charter, and which has killed nearly 2,000 Iranians and over 1,000 people across the Middle East as the conflict has widened.
Italian officials have denied the US military the use of an airbase in Sicily, saying the Trump administration had not gone through the required authorization procedure. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has been most vocal about refusing to help the US war effort, saying Trump had embarked on an “illegal war” as his administration announced the US military would be barred from Spanish airspace after an earlier statement that the US could not use Spain’s military bases for operations involving the Iran war.
One senior European government official told Politico last week that Trump’s demands for help have been “absurdly incoherent to put it mildly,” considering the White House has also demanded that countries in Europe step up their efforts to defend Ukraine without relying on the US.
“The big picture is: The US has asked us to take care of and defend our own countries, take care of supporting Ukraine… and now [the] Middle East and global supply chains,” the official said.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday reiterated Trump’s message, saying that “there are countries around the world who ought to be prepared to step up on this critical waterway as well.”
“It’s not just the United States Navy,” said Hegseth, who has attempted to rebrand the Department of Defense as the Department of War. “Last time I checked, there was supposed to be a big, bad Royal Navy that could be prepared to do things like that as well.”
Hegseth: "The president was clear this morning in his Truth that there are countries around the world who ought to be prepared to step up on this critical waterway as well. Last time I checked there was supposed to be a big bad Royal Navy that could be prepared to do things like… pic.twitter.com/WTVurKV2jQ
On Sky News in the UK on Tuesday, military analyst Sean Bell issued a reminder after Hegseth’s and Trump’s comments that “it’s not a [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] war.”
“NATO is a defensive alliance,” said Bell. “It’s not been clear what the legal justification for the war is.”
Iran’s closing of the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20% of the worldwide oil supply flows, has sent oil prices soaring in the US and around the world. In the US, gas prices hit an average of $4 per gallon on Tuesday, and Europe has seen prices go up by about 70% since the war began.
European leaders on Tuesday were meeting to discuss the growing energy crisis, with the European Commission urging governments to consider a public call for people to reduce their use of energy, particularly in the transport sector.
As the global community faces the economic consequences of the war, Trump’s comments on Tuesday bolstered the previous day’s reporting by The Wall Street Journal that the president is “willing to end the US military campaign against Iran even if the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed, administration officials said, likely extending Tehran’s firm grip on the waterway and leaving a complex operation to reopen it for a later date.”
At Drop Site News, journalist Murtaza Hussain joined co-founder Ryan Grim for a discussion on Tuesday about Trump’s latest comments.
While noting that Trump has “engaged in deception” and could actually “be gearing up to launch some operation intended to open the strait” by force, Hussain said that the suggestion that the US will no longer ensure global shipping routes are flowing could be a a “fall of the Berlin Wall moment.”
“The entire basis of the American empire is that it’s a maritime empire,” said Hussain. “So if now, very perfunctorily, the US is saying, ‘We’re not going to defend one of the most important shipping lanes on the entire planet,’ where 20% of the world’s energy comes out of… It’s kind of like the Suez crisis, which put the nail in the coffin of the British empire.”
Grim added that despite Hegseth’s claim that the US has “set the conditions for success” in the Strait of Hormuz, the Trump administration actually “took an open strait, made it closed, and are now going to walk away.”
The end result of the US and Israel’s decision to attack Iran could be the further isolation of the two countries, said Grim.
“If the US decides it doesn’t have the military capacity or willingness to open the strait violently, the idea that France is going to do it is preposterous,” he said. “What France would more likely do is call up Iran and say, ‘What’s the price?’… If you’re Israel and you’re calling Iran, you’re probably not going to get the same deal… You would imagine Iran would say, ‘Here’s what it costs, and it gets a little cheaper if you cut ties with Israel…’ All of a sudden, they’re a global player now, because they have this leverage.”
Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Straight of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don’t need people to join wars after they’ve already won. He’s challenged with the claim that he lies as much as the IDF.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/
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone …
Zack Polanski has said he wants the Green party to replace Labour and is already building links with trade unions. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA
Leader understood to have spoken to 10 trade unions after party claimed working class voters are turning to them
Zack Polanski has kicked off a charm offensive designed to convince trade unions to stop funding Labour and throw their weight behind the Green party, as he delivered the first in a series of speeches to union conferences.
The Green leader has had “good conversations” with 10 trade unions, including some affiliated to Labour, according to party sources, and is due to address the University and College Union and the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union, not affiliated with Labour, in the coming months.
The UK’s largest unions – Unite and Unison – were among those that denied negotiating with Polanski and said they remained affiliated to the Labour party. However, Unite is holding internal discussions about its future relationship with Labour before a special conference in 2027 at which it could potentially decide to disaffiliate.
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The Greens have enjoyed a huge boost in polling since their first national byelection victory in Gorton and Denton, and the party’s membership has tripled in England and Wales since last September to about 200,000.
A Green party source said: “When Zack became Green party leader he said his goal was to replace Labour – and building strong links with trade unions is a central part of that plan.
“Working class people are increasingly looking to the Greens as the only party which will tackle the cost of living crisis and stand up for their rights. Zack’s first priority is to push unions to stop funding the Labour party – a party which in opposition made huge promises to workers and is now watering down and U-turning on those promises.”
