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‘A stain on our city’: UK urged to ban Israeli property fair selling stolen Palestinian land

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Israeli heavy duty machines carry out excavation work, damaging Palestinian-owned lands to build an illegal Jewish settlement in the Jabal Juheihan area of Hebron, West Bank on October 27, 2025.[ Wisam Hashlamoun – Anadolu Agency]

UK ministers are under mounting pressure to ban a London real estate event accused of marketing land in illegal Israeli settlements, after several MPs challenged the government in Parliament and Green Party leader Zack Polanski warned that allowing it to proceed would be a “stain” on the capital.

The Great Israeli Real Estate Event 2026 is scheduled to take place in London on Sunday 14 June. Its website says attendees will be able to meet consultants on Aliyah, higher education, finances, taxation, mortgages, transferring funds and home management, and invites them to “explore the best Anglo neighbourhoods to find your dream home”. It lists areas including Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Ramat Beit Shemesh, Netanya, Raanana, Modiin, Herzliya, Haifa, Ashdod, Beersheva and Ashkelon, while offering “special deals exclusive to event participants”.

The event promotes property in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including Gush Etzion, alongside homes inside Israel. During a debate in Parliament on Tuesday, Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Calum Miller described the event  as “Palestinian land being advertised, bartered and sold on the streets of our capital.”

Addressing the Commons, Richard Burgon, the Labour MP for Leeds East, urged Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper to stop the event, drawing a direct comparison with Russia’s occupation of Ukraine.

“Let us just imagine that, this weekend in our capital city, there was a ‘great Russian real estate event’ selling off Ukrainian land. Quite rightly and without hesitation, the Government would move to ban such an illegal event. This weekend in London, there is the Great Israeli Real Estate Event, openly advertising the illegal sale of land in the illegally occupied Palestinian territories. Given that the Government rightly recognised the state of Palestine, surely we should now move to ban this event, which is selling off land illegally in Palestine.”

READ: 140 Labour MPs urge UK to ban trade with illegal Israeli settlements

Cooper did not commit to banning the event, but said the government was looking into it. “We are pursuing that particular event. If we find any cases where there are breaches of UK law, we will also pursue them,” she told MPs. “The wider issue is that nobody in the UK should be advertising illegal settlements. Nobody should be pursuing illegal settlements. No businesses or organisations should be getting involved in them.”

Polanski, leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, also wrote to Cooper and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan demanding urgent intervention, describing the planned event as “deeply disturbing”.

“This is obscene,” Polanski wrote on X. “I’ve called on @MayorofLondon and @YvetteCooperMP to stop the event and for this govt to take real action on illegal settlements.”

In his letter, Polanski said the event is due to come to London “to auction stolen Palestinian land to the highest bidder” and “proudly promotes the sale of land in settlements like ‘Gush Etzion’ in the occupied West Bank, marked as illegal under international law”.

Polanski warned that “many Londoners are rightfully concerned that an event promoting land confiscation and the destruction of homes is set to take place in our city.”

Addressing Khan, Polanski said: “Sadiq, you have previously stood with campaigners and Londoners of conscience in condemning the DSEI arms fair, and I welcomed your leadership on that issue. I ask that you now take the same principled stance against this proposed land sale, which would be a stain on our city if allowed to proceed.”

READ: 6 nations impose sanctions on networks financing, enabling occupiers’ attacks in West Bank

Polanski also called on Cooper to move beyond statements of concern. “Your government has a moral and legal responsibility to take action against illegal settlements,” he wrote. “This must include banning the import of settlement goods and imposing further sanctions on all Israeli Government officials responsible for authorising illegal settlements. Empty condemnation is not enough — we need to see action.”

The Green Party leader also highlighted Bank Leumi’s sponsorship of the event, saying the Israeli bank had been identified by Human Rights Watch for directly supporting settlement expansion through mortgage loans and work with construction companies building on stolen Palestinian land, including in Gush Etzion.

Cooper used the wider debate to announce new sanctions against organisations accused of supporting illegal settlements and settler violence, and said the government had strengthened business guidance to make clear that British citizens and businesses should not conduct economic or financial activity in illegal settlements.

“The expansion of the illegal settlements is not only deeply wrong, because Palestinians are being forced from their own land, sometimes in the most brutal of circumstances, but deliberately designed to try to make it impossible to ever get to a two-state solution,” Cooper told MPs. “That is the purpose for some of those involved, and we should be very clear on that and call it out for what it is.”

However, Cooper stopped short of backing a formal trade ban. She said the government wanted to target illegal settlements and activity linked to them, while avoiding an impact on what she described as “long-standing, legitimate trade” with Israel.

READ: Israel allocates $51M to build 69 illegal settlements in occupied West Bank, watchdog says

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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 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/
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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.
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Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says Sundown Syndrome is a dead givaway and he wishes someone would Lock Him Up

Continue Reading‘A stain on our city’: UK urged to ban Israeli property fair selling stolen Palestinian land

More than 1,000 Tel Aviv homes left uninhabitable by Iran war: Mayor

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A view of the destruction after a missile debris from Iran’s retaliation attack hits Ramat Gan, Israel on April 06, 2026. [ Gideon Markowicz – Anadolu Agency]

More than 1,000 homes in Tel Aviv have been left uninhabitable by the recent war with Iran, the city’s mayor said Saturday, Anadolu reports.

Israeli Channel 12 quoted Ron Huldai, who said that “more than 1,000 apartments in Tel Aviv are no longer fit for living” because of damage caused by Iranian missiles and drones.

During the US-Israeli war on Iran, which began Feb. 28, Tehran launched repeated missile and drone attacks on major Israeli cities in response to large-scale strikes on Iranian territory.

Some missiles and shrapnel from interception attempts struck buildings in Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan and Bnei Brak, killing and injuring dozens, and causing extensive damage to homes, vehicles and infrastructure.

Channel 12 reported earlier this week that Israeli officials estimate the cost of 40 days of war with Iran and Lebanon at around $17.5 billion.

The figure does not include reconstruction costs or losses from the partial shutdown of the Israeli economy during the fighting.

Israel preparing to strike energy facilities if Iran truce collapses: Report

According to Israeli media, nearly 30,000 Israelis have filed claims with the Israeli Tax Authority’s compensation fund for direct property damage, including 18,408 claims related to buildings, 2,594 to equipment and 6,617 to vehicles.

The Israeli economic website, Calcalist, reported last week that the 12-day war against Iran last June cost around 3 billion shekels ($1 billion) in compensation for businesses.

The Finance Ministry estimates that compensation costs from the war fought between Feb. 28 and April 8 will reach 6.5 billion shekels.

The ceasefire took effect April 8 after talks between the US and Iran, hosted in the Pakistani capital, failed to produce a final agreement to end the war.

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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.
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/
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 ...
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone …

Continue ReadingMore than 1,000 Tel Aviv homes left uninhabitable by Iran war: Mayor

Thousands of Israelis stage nationwide protests to demand release of hostages in Gaza: Report

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Protesters gather in Tel Aviv on June 28, 2025. [Mostafa Alkharouf – Anadolu Agency]

Tens of thousands of people rallied across Israel on Saturday, calling for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, according to local media reports, Anadolu reported.

Demonstrations were held in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and other cities, according to the Haaretz newspaper.

Protests followed a 12‑day conflict between Israel and Iran, which erupted June 13 when Tel Aviv launched airstrikes on Iranian military, nuclear and civilian sites, killing at least 606 victims and injuring 5,332, according to the Iranian Health Ministry.

Tehran launched retaliatory missile and drone strikes, killing at least 29 people and wounding more than 3,400 in Israel, according to figures released by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The conflict came to a halt under a US-sponsored ceasefire that took effect June 24.

On the heels of getting Tel Aviv and Tehran to sing a deal, US President Donald Trump said Friday that a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will be reached soon.

“I think it’s close,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked how close his administration is to a deal on a Gaza ceasefire.

READ: Trump says he thinks Gaza ceasefire to be reached ‘within the next week’

Israeli officials expressed surprise Saturday at those remarks, affirming there are no indications of any change in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s positions, according to the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

Hamas has repeatedly affirmed its readiness to release Israeli hostages “all at once” in exchange for an end to Israel’s genocidal war, the withdrawal of the Israeli army from Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners.

But Netanyahu, who is wanted by international justice officials, insists on partial deals and evades signing a deal by imposing new conditions, including the disarmament of Palestinian factions.

According to the Israeli opposition, Netanyahu currently insists on reoccupying Gaza to serve his political interests, particularly maintaining his hold on power.

Israeli officials estimate that Trump seeks to leverage the momentum following the end of the Israel-Iran confrontation to achieve an additional political accomplishment.

In May, the US president’s special envoy Steve Witkoff presented a proposal to Hamas that included the release of half of the living Israeli hostages and half of those killed within seven days of the start of a potential agreement, in exchange for a 60-day ceasefire.

Tel Aviv estimates that there are 50 Israeli hostages in Gaza, including 20 alive. There are more than 10,400 Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons, suffering from torture, starvation and medical neglect, which has resulted in many deaths, according to Palestinian and Israeli human rights and media reports.

Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive against Gaza since October 2023, killing more than 56,400 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

READ: Nearly 100,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza amid Israeli war: Haaretz

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Continue ReadingThousands of Israelis stage nationwide protests to demand release of hostages in Gaza: Report

Microsoft’s Role in Gaza Goes Way Beyond the ICC Email Lockout

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Original article by Robert Inlakesh republished from MPN under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License.

Last week, headlines lit up with a staggering development: Microsoft locked the world’s top war crimes prosecutor out of his email. Karim Khan, chief of the International Criminal Court (ICC), had dared to go after Israeli officials for war crimes and was instantly digitally silenced. His accounts were frozen. His name smeared. His power stripped.

It looked like petty revenge. But it wasn’t just that. It was the latest move in a coordinated campaign, backed by Washington, Tel Aviv, and Silicon Valley, to destroy the one court willing to challenge Israeli impunity.

And Microsoft is at the center of it.

While the press obsessed over the email lockout, few paid attention to what came before: a U.S.-Israeli information war against the ICC.

After the court announced arrest warrants against both Hamas and Israeli officials for war crimes in Gaza, U.S. officials went into overdrive. Biden called the decision “outrageous.” Lawmakers threatened sanctions. Netanyahu smeared the court as “antisemitic.”

Despite the outrage, the warrants reflected a 3-to-2 ratio: Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh, and Mohammed al-Deif of Hamas; Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Prime Minister Netanyahu.

All three Palestinian leaders have since been killed. The Israeli officials remain untouched.

Then came the kicker: the U.S. government sanctioned Khan himself. His bank accounts were frozen, and his allies were warned: help him and face criminal charges.

It wasn’t the first time, either. In 2002, Congress passed the American Service-Members’ Protection Act, better known as the Hague Invasion Act. It authorizes the president to send troops into the Netherlands if any American or allied official is detained by the court.

But while the U.S. handled the threats and the muscle, Microsoft played a more subtle role. According to Khan, the company blocked him from his official ICC email account just as he was formalizing charges against top Israeli leaders. The timing, to many, wasn’t a coincidence—it was a message.

Following October 7, Microsoft signed $10 million in new contracts with the Israeli military. Through a secretive program called “Project Azure,” the company provided infrastructure for Israeli intelligence and air force units, including Unit 8200 and Unit 81. These are the same units compiling “kill lists” in Gaza.

The company stayed quiet until recently, when it admitted to providing “emergency support” to Israel. But insisted that there was “no evidence” its tech harmed civilians.

That’s not all. Microsoft previously poured $78 million into the Israeli surveillance firm AnyVision, whose facial recognition tech was deployed across the West Bank. It also powered an app developed by the Israeli military—“Al Munaseq”—which spies on Palestinian permit-holders. Its cloud systems processed their private phone data.

Worse still, Microsoft has been stacking its upper ranks with veterans of Israel’s Unit 8200, effectively embedding a foreign intelligence agency into the core of one of America’s most powerful corporations and building its next data centers in Israel.

While the ICC is being sabotaged from the top, resistance is brewing from within. On April 4, two Microsoft employees, one a whistleblower, disrupted the company’s 50th anniversary celebration, accusing it of complicity in genocide. Both were fired.

Then, at the Build 2025 conference, Palestinian engineer Joe Lopez interrupted CEO Satya Nadella mid-speech: “My people are suffering!” Security dragged him out. A day later, another protester shouted down a separate keynote: “No Azure for Apartheid!” Protesters outside waved Palestinian flags and demanded answers.

These demonstrations were organized by the group No Azure for Apartheid, which has been documenting how Microsoft’s tools are helping Israel wage war. Inside the company, those who speak out face retaliation.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu is gloating. “The prosecutor should be worried about his status,” he said after the warrants were announced. That threat has aged well.

Many critics of Microsoft’s outsized role in Israel’s war argue that when a foreign state and its allies in Silicon Valley can paralyze an international court with the click of a button, it’s not just Gaza under siege, it’s in our institutions, our tech, and our sovereignty.

Feature photo | An Israeli officer wears Microsoft’s HoloLens headset during military testing in Ramat Gan, Israel. Stefanie J’rkel | AP

Original article by Robert Inlakesh republished from MPN under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License.

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Continue ReadingMicrosoft’s Role in Gaza Goes Way Beyond the ICC Email Lockout

Hostage Families in Tel Aviv: ‘Starting Tomorrow, the Country Will Tremble’

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Original article by Common Dreams Staff republished from Common Dreams under a CC licence.

Israeli people, holding Israeli flags and banners, stage a demonstration demanding hostage swap deal and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to sign a ceasefire in Gaza, on August 31, 2024, in Tel Aviv, Israel. (Photo by Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images.

‘Starting tomorrow, the country will tremble. We call on the public to prepare. The country will grind to a halt. The abandonment is over.’

Tens of thousands rallied across Israel on Saturday night, demanding a hostage deal and against the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In Tel Aviv, tens of thousands of demonstrators, including relatives of those held hostage in Gaza, gathered at the Hostages Square for a rally demanding their loved ones’ return and pled with the prime minister and negotiating team to reach an agreement before time runs out. Roving groups of right-wing activists cursed and spat on the demonstrators.

Along with the mass demonstration in Tel Aviv, large protests were held in cities nationwide, drawing thousands of demonstrators.

Later Saturday night, the Israeli Defense Force announced it had located several bodies in the Gaza Strip, which might be the remains of Israeli hostages. “At this stage, the forces are still operating in the area and carrying out a process to extract and identify the bodies, which will last several hours,” the military says.

After the IDF says it has found bodies in Gaza that possibly are of hostages, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum issued a statement calling on the public to prepare to hold sweeping protests tomorrow.

“Netanyahu abandoned the hostages. It is now a fact. Starting tomorrow, the country will tremble. We call on the public to prepare. The country will grind to a halt. The abandonment is over.”

The Forum says it will provide further details tomorrow morning.

Original article by Common Dreams Staff republished from Common Dreams under a CC licence.

Continue ReadingHostage Families in Tel Aviv: ‘Starting Tomorrow, the Country Will Tremble’