US to Revoke Visas for Bob Vylan Over Anti-Israel Chant
A Bob Vylan member led the chants, saying, "death, death to the IDF," which referred to the Israel Defence Forces, who are involved in the ongoing genocide in Gaza, which has led to the death of over 56,500 Palestinians.
The Bob Vylan member also chanted, "free, free Palestine" during the group's performance.
US' Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau wrote on X, "Foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country."
The BBC is also facing backlash for broadcasting Bob Vylan's performance at the Glastonbury Festival live on Saturday, June 29. The public broadcaster had issued a warning on screen before showing the performance, but it said on Monday that they should have taken further steps.
The topic of the genocide is Gaza was a hot topic at the Glastonbury festival because at least eight artists mentioned Palestine during their live performances and many Palestinians flags were being waved during various performances.
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The National
7 hours ago
- The National
Donald Trump optimistic Gaza ceasefire may come 'some time next week'
US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he will push for a Gaza ceasefire next week and be 'very firm' with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the need to end the 20-month war. Mr Trump said he will discuss the situations in Gaza and Iran in a White House meeting with Mr Netanyahu next week. A senior Israeli official, Ron Dermer, has been in Washington holding talks before the meeting as the US, Egypt and Qatar push for a truce. 'We hope it's going to happen. And we're looking forward to it happening sometime next week,' Mr Trump told reporters as he departed the White House for a trip to Florida. 'We want to get the hostages out.' Later, during a tour of a migrant detention centre in Florida, Mr Trump was asked how tough he would be with Mr Netanyahu on ending the war. 'Very firm,' he replied. 'But he wants it too ... he wants to end it too.' Hamas officials have said the group is engaging positively with mediators, but that the fate of a Gaza ceasefire lies in talks between the US and Israel. 'What matters to us is stopping the aggression and the massacres. We hope something positive will happen on this front,' a Hamas official based in Beirut said. 'The problem lies with Netanyahu and his government, which does not respond to the mediators' calls to halt the aggression, release the prisoners, allow aid into Gaza, and withdraw.' A second Hamas official said 'the Israelis and Americans are discussing matters among themselves. We are waiting for what will come out of those discussions'. 'There are positive signals from the Israelis and Americans, but there is no reliance on Mr Trump given his historical positions on Hamas, which are far from promising,' he added. In Washington, Mr Trump is expected to tell Mr Netanyahu that the war, which is now more than 20 months old, can no longer continue, sources in the US said on Monday. Mr Trump this week said a deal could be reached within a week. 'Make the deal in Gaza, get the hostages back,' he later wrote on Truth Social, his social media platform. Mr Netanyahu said new opportunities had opened up to recover the hostages held in Gaza. However, Israel and Hamas remain far apart on the terms of a possible truce and hostage deal in Gaza, further sources said on Tuesday. Mr Trump's upbeat comments on the prospect of an agreement were premature, they said. 'The mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the US don't see that a deal can be reached any time soon,' one of the sources said. 'You only need to listen to Hamas and Israeli negotiators talking about their conditions to realise that there's no way a deal will be reached within in a week.' Contact between Hamas and Israel on one side and mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the US on the other has increased over the past week in Cairo, with the objective of finding enough common ground to hold another round of talks, said the sources. They said Israel, with US backing, has rigidly stood by its long-standing demands that Hamas surrender its arms and dismantle its military capabilities, including its network of underground tunnels and hardware manufacturing sites. Hamas has categorically refused to give up its arms but signalled it was open to discussing laying down its weapons and not being part of the postwar government or reconstruction of the enclave. It has also suggested it was prepared to agree to a demand that its leaders leave Gaza to live in exile abroad but only on condition that Israel does not pursue them. Israel, said the sources, has meanwhile been threatening to pursue Hamas leaders in Gaza if the group does not accept a temporary ceasefire during which it releases the remaining hostages. 'Israel and the US have made it clear they don't want another Lebanon in Gaza,' said another source, alluding to decades of the Iran-backed Hezbollah operating in that country as a 'resistance' group outside state authority. 'Hamas is in a tenuous position. It has lost much in this war, with its top-tier military and political leaders eliminated. Yet it continues to try to maintain a presence in Gaza as a resistance group fighting an illegal occupation.' Under discussion is a 60-day truce during which Hamas is expected to release 10 living hostages and half the remains of others who died in captivity. In return, Israel is expected to free hundreds of Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons. Of the estimated 50 hostages Hamas still holds, only 20 are believed to be alive, according to Israel's military. The proposal also includes the resumption of humanitarian assistance into Gaza and the start of Hamas-Israel negotiations on an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and an end to the war. Hamas wants the US to guarantee that these negotiations will continue until Israel pulls out and ends the hostilities. The war in Gaza started after a Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, that killed about 1,200 people, according to Israeli figures. Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed more than 56,600 Palestinians in Gaza and reduced most of the coastal strip to rubble. food aid and supplies.
Middle East Eye
9 hours ago
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Turkish magazine condemned for allegedly depicting caricatures of Prophet Muhammad
A Turkish satirical magazine has sparked backlash across the country this week after publishing a controversial cartoon that many have interpreted as depicting the prophets Muhammad and Moses. In its 26 June issue, Leman Magazine published an illustration showing two angelic figures hovering above a bombed city, presumably over Gaza. One figure says, 'Salamun Aleykum,' while the other replies, 'Aleyhem Shalom.' Social media users and commentators widely identified the figures as representations of Muhammad and Musa (Moses), prompting widespread outrage across the country. Many public and government figures, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, condemned the magazine, saying, 'This is an open provocation hidden under the guise of humour. It is a heinous provocation.' An investigation was launched into the magazine for "publicly insulting religious values", and the editor-in-chief, the manager, the cartoonist, and the director of drawings were detained. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced on X that police had detained the cartoonist behind the controversial image, along with Leman Magazine's graphic designer. 'The person named DP who made this vile drawing has been caught and taken into custody,' he said, adding: 'These shameless individuals will be held accountable before the law.' In his tweet, Yerlikaya also shared a video of the moment when the cartoonist was violently detained. The magazine has denied that it was a depiction of the Prophet Muhammad, as stated in a lengthy thread shared on its social media account. Parts of the thread read, 'More than 200 million people in the Islamic world are named Muhammad. The artwork contains no direct reference to the Prophet Muhammad. The cartoonist intended to portray a Muslim individual killed by Israel, aiming to highlight the just cause of the oppressed Muslim population. There was absolutely no intention to insult or demean religious values. We reject the accusation directed at us, as there is no depiction of the Prophet Muhammad in the illustration.' The magazine's editor-in-chief, Tuncay Akgun, told AFP by phone from Paris that the image had been deliberately misinterpreted and was "not a caricature of Prophet Mohammed". "We would never take such a risk," he added. Some people are defending the cartoon, saying it should be only a crime to depict the prophet in an Islamic state, and Turkey is a secular state. Zaman dik durma zamanı, 19 Mart ne kadar niyetli ve organize ise bu işler de o kadar organize, hesaplı ve yapay. Türkiye'de kimsenin dine hakaret derdi yok, birileri sineğin yağından çıkarıp darbeye dayanak etmek istiyor. Dini kisvede siyasal darbe yaprak dindar seküler herkesin… — Murat Somer (@murat_somer) July 1, 2025 Translation: No one in Turkey is interested in insulting religion; some are trying to extract meaning from nothing and use it as a pretext for a coup. Under the guise of religion, they aim to carry out a political coup and establish a regime where both devout and secular citizens are made subservient to others. However, many people have disagreed and view the cartoon as an insult to Islam and Muslims. Peygamberimiz Hz. Muhammed'e hakaret eden Leman isimli paçavranın kapısına kilit vurup yazanın, çizenin, basanın hayatını karartacak bir adalet istiyorum. — Marginale (@themarginale) June 30, 2025 Translation: I want the kind of justice that will shut down the disgraceful publication named Leman, which insulted our Prophet Muhammad, and ruin the lives of those who wrote, drew, and published it. Protests Many people angry at the cartoon took to the streets on Monday to protest against it, calling for the magazine to be shut down. Many met in front of the Leman Magazine building and prayed there as an act of protest. Some people marched at Taksim Square in downtown Istanbul, shouting, 'down with secularism', 'long live Sharia', which also created backlash online, as the Turkish government has long banned protests there, specifically including Feminist Night Marches, pride marches and May Day celebrations. Pride için yürüyüş yapcaklar diye bir aydır taksim kapalı yasak var genel diyolar?? Ama şeriatçi militan olunca bi anda açılmış taksim — luctuosa (@Iuctuosa) July 1, 2025 Translation: They've kept Taksim closed for a month, saying there's a general ban because of the Pride march. But suddenly, it's wide open when religious hardliners are gathering. An AFP correspondent reported that an Istanbul bar, a venue often frequented by Leman Magazine staff, was attacked by several dozen enraged protesters. This sparked angry scuffles with police, which quickly escalated into clashes involving 250 to 300 individuals. In April, Amnesty International said that the 'Turkish authorities must lift all restrictions on a planned May Day solidarity demonstration in Istanbul's Taksim Square and allow people to gather peacefully in accordance with a ruling by Türkiye's Constitutional Court.' Meanwhile, Ozgur Ozel, the leader of the Turkish opposition party, said, "I won't allow any disrespect toward the Prophet Muhammad, but I also won't stand by while people are targeted and vilified over something that wasn't disrespectful to begin with." With politicians getting involved and individuals being arrested, the impact of the issue has grown in the country, becoming increasingly viral on social media. The controversy over Leman's cartoon has once again brought to the surface the enduring tension between secular and religious worldviews in Turkey, a divide that has shaped the country's politics for decades. Since the early days of the Republic, secularism has been enshrined as a foundational principle, while conservative and religious movements have steadily gained ground, particularly under the rule of the Justice and Development Party since 2002. Analysts have long pointed to what they describe as a deepening culture war over religion, press freedom and national identity.
The National
10 hours ago
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Marco Rubio defends USAID closure as uncertainty surrounds future help to poorer countries
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has defended the closure of the US Agency for International Development, which officially shut its doors on Tuesday after more than six decades of assistance to poorer countries. Five months after Elon Musk called USAID a 'criminal organisation' and said he had fed it into a 'wood chipper', the agency started by president John F Kennedy and credited with saving millions of lives around the globe no longer exists. Its remaining functions have been absorbed into the State Department, which will oversee a new 'America First' approach to international aid. In a statement, Mr Rubio gave parts of the Middle East and North Africa as examples of places that have received US aid but held a negative view of America. Since 1991, 'more than $89 billion invested in the Middle East and North Africa left the US with lower favourability ratings than China in every nation but Morocco", Mr Rubio said. 'The agency's expenditure of $9.3 billion in Gaza and the West Bank since 1991, whose beneficiaries included allies of Hamas, has produced grievances rather than gratitude towards the United States.' Beyond creating a globe-spanning 'NGO industrial complex' at taxpayer expense, USAID has little to show since the end of the Cold War, he said. 'Development objectives have rarely been met, instability has often worsened and anti-American sentiment has only grown.' Mr Rubio said Americans should not pay taxes to fund failed governments far from the US. 'Moving forward, our assistance will be targeted and time-limited.' USAID was known globally for providing life-saving help to poorer countries, including medicine to combat HIV and Aids. Its termination comes amid several new reports projecting that cuts to US aid could lead to millions of preventable deaths. The Lancet, which analysed data from 133 low and middle-income countries from 2001 to 2023, estimates that USAID-funded programmes helped to prevent more than 91 million deaths over the past two decades, including 30 million among children. If the cuts continue, researchers project 1.8 million excess deaths in 2025 alone, with a total of 14 million by 2030 – including 4.5 million children under the age of five. 'US aid cuts, along with the probable ripple effects on other international donors, threaten to abruptly halt and reverse one of the most important periods of progress in human development,' the study said. Mr Rubio said USAID had marketed its programmes as a charity, rather than instruments of American foreign policy intended to advance US interests Former presidents Barack Obama and George W Bush, and Irish singer Bono, on Tuesday questioned the Trump administration's closure of USAID, including funding cuts to a popular Aids and HIV programme known as Pepfar (the President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief). Mr Obama called the dismantling of USAID 'inexplicable' and 'a colossal mistake.' Washington has been the world's largest humanitarian aid donor, amounting to at least 38 per cent of all contributions recorded by the UN. It disbursed $61 billion in foreign assistance last year, just over half of that through USAID, according to government data. The State Department denied criticism, saying countries want investment opportunities, not handouts. 'We think that the best thing we can do, from a moral perspective, to lead to development and a betterment of life all around the world, is to invest in the peace and prosperity of those countries,' a senior State Department official told reporters. 'Which means trade, investment, sort of growing our bilateral connection that way so that's the administration's view at least.' The official also said reports that Pepfar funding will not continue are inaccurate. 'The Secretary said, many, many times, Pepfar will continue, will become more efficient and we believe, more impactful,' the official said.
