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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a speech in Jerusalem on October 16, 2025. [Alex KOLOMOISKY / POOL / AFP via Getty Images]
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday he has ordered the military to expand the occupation in southern Lebanon, vowing to continue attacks until Israel achieves its objectives, Anadolu reports.
Israel is “determined to fundamentally change the situation in the north,” Netanyahu said in a video statement released on the US social media platform X.
He said military operations in Lebanon would continue, adding that Israeli forces would act with force until their goals are met.
The Israeli army has pounded Lebanon with airstrikes and launched a ground offensive in southern Lebanon since a cross-border attack by Hezbollah on March 2.
The region has been on alert since the US and Israel launched an air offensive on Iran on Feb. 28, so far killing over 1,340 people, including then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Iran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel, along with Jordan, Iraq, and Gulf countries hosting US military assets, causing casualties and damage to infrastructure while disrupting global markets and aviation.
Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.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/
Timothy Crosland leaving the Old Bailey, central London, after his preliminary hearing, September 26 2025
A TRIAL date has been set for six people charged with allegedly organising mass gatherings against the ban on the group Palestine Action.
The charges related to plans for meetings in London, Cardiff and Manchester which were allegedly organised over Zoom in July, August and this month.
Former government lawyer Timothy Crosland, 55, from Southwark, south London; gardener Dawn Manners, 61, from Hackney, east London; David Nixon, 39, from Barnsley, South Yorkshire; student Patrick Friend, 26, of Grange, Edinburgh; Gwen Harrison, 48, from Kendal, Cumbria; and Melanie Griffith, 62, from Southwark, are accused of breaches of the Terrorism Act.
They are accused of allegedly arranging, managing or addressing meetings, knowing that the purpose was to support a proscribed organisation.
Each defendant spoke to confirm their names in the dock during a preliminary hearing at the Old Bailey today.
Nixon remained standing in the dock throughout the hearing with his eyes closed and holding a white banner with the words “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.”
The defendants are alleged to be members of a group called Defend Our Juries, or to work closely with it, which opposes the ban on Palestine Action.
Palestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine ‘Private Eye’.Keir “I support Zionism without Qualification” Starmer supporting 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.
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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.
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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.Vote Labour for Genocide.
Metropolitan Police officers observing a protest in central London in support of Palestine Action, organised by the Defend Our Juries group, July 5, 2025
COUNTER-TERRORISM police arrested key members of Defend Our Juries today in “an unprecedented assault on free speech” just hours before the group was due to hold a press conference on an upcoming mass protest against proscribing Palestine Action.
Despite the arrests, the group confirmed that the protest will go ahead on Saturday, having met its target of securing 1,000 pledges to attend.
The protesters will gather in Parliament Square holding signs reading: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” challenging the police’s ability to crack down on supporters of the proscribed group.
Defend Our Juries founder Tim Crosland and law student Paddy Friend, who were due to speak at the press conference, were among those arrested during dawn raids today.
They were arrested along with three others under section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which prohibits support for proscribed organisations.
…
A Defend Our Juries spokesperson said: “Locking up our key spokespeople just hours before they were due to hold a press conference announcing more peaceful Lift the Ban protests constitutes an unprecedented assault on free speech in our country.
“This level of political repression is not what we expect in a democracy — it’s the kind of tactic typically associated with authoritarian regimes around the world.
…
Chief Superintendent Helen Flanagan said: “There are serious consequences for those who are found guilty of an offence under the Terrorism Act, so I would urge anyone considering showing public support towards this proscribed group to reconsider.”
Kerry Moscogiuri, from Amnesty International UK, said: “Criminalising speech or protest is only permitted when it incites violence, hatred or discrimination.
“To be clear: expressing support for Palestine Action does not meet this threshold. In fact, arresting and prosecuting people in this context, is a violation of the UK’s obligations under human rights law.”
Palestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine ‘Private Eye’.Keir “I support Zionism without Qualification” Starmer supporting genocide.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/O74hZCKKdpA
Defend Our Juries calls on supporters to skip street bail at next protest against Palestine Action ban
DEFEND our Juries has urged protesters to skip the “charade“ of street bail and withhold their details from police at the next mass demonstration against the Palestine Action ban.
The tactic aims to shift processing from the streets to police stations.
The protest group says the move will make it “practically impossible“ for police to arrest everyone, and opened up sign-ups today for a demonstration in London on September 6. Defend Our Juries said that it would only go ahead if 1,000 people had signed up. Over 2,500 people had already expressed interest in joining before the sign-ups opened.
Demonstrators will hold signs saying “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” in protest against the group’s ban following its designation as a terrorist organisation last month.
Membership of or support for the group is now a criminal offence, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Some 522 people were arrested at the last mass protest on August 9.
Defend Our Juries argues that this was only possible due to the use of “street bail,” which denies people access to immediate and free legal advice.
Spokesperson Tim Crosland said that if hundreds insist on their right to legal advice at a police station, “the charade will be exposed,” and it will be harder for officers to arrest all those taking part.
“Any law that is so obviously wrong that it meets mass public opposition quickly becomes unenforceable, as it was with the poll tax in 1990, and the government will have to scrap it,” he said.
Palestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical publication ‘Private Eye’.Keir “I support Zionism without Qualification” Starmer supporting genocide.
Timothy Crosland leaving the Old Bailey, central London, after his preliminary hearing, September 26 2025
