UK sanctions 'godmother' of Israel's settler movement Daniella Weiss
In the sanctions sheet, she was described as having been involved in "threatening, perpetrating, promoting and supporting, acts of aggression and violence against Palestinian individuals".An Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson described the sanctions - which also target two other settlers, two illegal settler outposts, and two organisations - as "unjustified, and regrettable." Weiss was recently featured in Louis Theroux's documentary "The Settlers" - and has been active in the movement to rebuild settlements in Gaza. Speaking to BBC News last year, she said: "Gaza Arabs will not stay in the Gaza Strip. Who will stay? Jews.""The world is wide," she added. "Africa is big. Canada is big. The world will absorb the people of Gaza. How we do it? We encourage it. Palestinians in Gaza, the good ones, will be enabled. I'm not saying forced, I say enabled because they want to go."The UK also announced sanctions on two other settlers - Zohar Sabah and Harel David Libi, as well as the outposts Coco's Farm, and Neria's Farm, and the organisation Libi Construction and Infrastructure LTD.Outposts are settlements built without official Israeli authorisation."The Israeli government has a responsibility to intervene and halt these aggressive actions. Their consistent failure to act is putting Palestinian communities and the two-state solution in peril," Mr Lammy added.Additionally, the UK government announced it would pause free trade negotiations with Israel with immediate effect, saying "it is not possible to advance discussions" with "a Netanyahu government that is pursuing egregious policies in the West Bank and Gaza". An Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson responded: "If, due to anti-Israel obsession and domestic political considerations, the British government is willing to harm the British economy — that is its own prerogative." The move follows a strongly-worded joint-statement from the leaders of the UK, France and Canada on Monday which called on the Israeli government to "stop its military operations" and "immediately allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza".Israel has said it will allow a "basic amount of food" into Gaza, ending an 11-week blockade of the territory, which it said was aimed at pressuring Hamas to release remaining hostages.But United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher said the amount of aid was a "drop in the ocean of what is urgently needed".
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Daily Mail
12 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Top Dem senator posts 679-word salad excuse after she missed key vote to go on Stephen Colbert's doomed show
Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin posted a lengthy explanation for why she missed a vote on bills that would block arms sales to Israel to appear on Stephen Colbert 's canceled CBS talk show instead. Slotkin, a former CIA agent and considered a rising star in the Democrat Party, raised eyebrows when she posted a photo from backstage at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York to promote her appearance, writing: 'Tune in tonight!!' After missing the vote on the bill - which was rejected but saw a surprising majority of Democrats voting in favor - Slotkin attempted to explain herself in a 679-word long post to X. She claimed that she 'unfortunately missed' the vote but then offered that she would have joined 27 other Democrats in voting for the bill, pushed by socialist independent Bernie Sanders. 'I owe it to my state to make clear where I stand: Had I made it back for the vote yesterday, I would have voted yes to block offensive weapons to Israel based on my concerns over lack of food and medicine getting to civilians in Gaza,' she wrote. Slotkin, who is Jewish, added that she is a 'strong supporter of the Jewish State of Israel' but that she hears 'calls from Michiganders who have friends and family trying to survive in Gaza.' Michigan notably was a hotbed for the 'Uncommitted' movement, which refused to vote for Joe Biden and later Kamala Harris over the Democrats' support of Israel. At no point did Slotkin apologize for her absence, instead saying the proposal was ineffective. 'In general, I think these Disapproval votes are a bad way to do foreign policy. The Executive Branch, whether run by Democrats or now Republicans, has the responsibility to set U.S. foreign policy, and to lead negotiations with both allies and adversaries.' She finished writing: 'No one leader should so significantly threaten the long-term security of the state of Israel. I urge the Trump Administration and the Israeli Prime Minister to get aid in as soon as possible and save lives.' People of all political stars and stripes seemed baffled by the lengthy post, asking Slotkin to simply do her job. 'You skipped doing your job in order to appear on the Colbert show. Shame on you,' wrote one. Former Ohio State Senator Nina Turner added: 'You don't need to explain being against sending offensive weapons to Israel. This is what your constituents want. No essay needed.' AIPAC Tracker, an account that publishes money given to American politicians by the pro-Israel lobby, wrote: 'The essay is not necessary, Senator. The people simply want you to stand against genocide. Your obfuscation is telling.' The Senate rejected the effort Wednesday from Sanders to block the sale of U.S. bombs and firearms to Israel, though the vote showed a growing number of Democrats opposed to the arms sales amid widespread hunger and suffering in Gaza Sanders, an independent from Vermont, has repeatedly tried to block the sale of offensive weapons to Israel over the last year. The resolutions before the Senate on Tuesday would have stopped the sale of $675 million in bombs as well as shipments of 20,000 automatic assault rifles to Israel. They again failed to gain passage, but 27 Democrats - more than half the caucus - voted for the resolution that applied to assault rifles, and 24 voted for the resolution that applied to bomb sales. It was more than any of Sanders' previous efforts, which at a high mark in November last year gained 18 votes from Democrats. The vote tally showed how the images of starvation emerging from Gaza are creating a growing schism in what has traditionally been overwhelming support for Israel from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers. Sanders said Democrats are responding to 'a significant majority of the American people who are tired of spending billions and billions of dollars on an Israeli government which is currently starving children to death.' As the war approaches its second year, the leading international authority on food crises said this week that a 'worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip.' announce measures , including daily humanitarian pauses in fighting in parts of Gaza and airdrops. But the U.N. and Palestinians on the ground say little has changed, and desperate crowds continue to overwhelm delivery trucks. The Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, argued that Hamas was to blame both for the conflict and the current situation in Gaza. All Republican senators voted against Sanders' resolutions. 'They use the people of Gaza as human shields, and they steal the food that the people of Gaza need,' Risch said. 'It is in the interest of America and the world to see this terrorist group destroyed.' Known as joint resolutions of disapproval, the measures would have had to pass both houses of Congress and withstand any presidential veto to become binding. Congress has never succeeded in blocking arms sales with the joint resolutions. Democratic senators spent an hour on Wednesday evening with a series of floor speeches calling attention to the children who have starved to death in Gaza. They are also calling on the Trump Administration to recalibrate its approach to the conflict, including a large-scale expansion of aid into Gaza channeled through organizations experienced working in the area. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement following the vote that the Trump administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 'have a responsibility to urgently' surge food and other aid into Gaza. Still, he voted against the resolution. 'I have also long held that security assistance to Israel is not about any one government but about our support for the Israeli people,' said Schumer, a New York Democrat. Other senior Democrats were breaking from that standard. Sen. Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat who voted against similar resolutions from Sanders in the past, voted in support of the legislation this time. 'As a longtime friend and supporter of Israel, I am voting yes to send a message: the Netanyahu government cannot continue with this strategy,' she said in a statement. Another Democrat, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, said it was still 'painful' to support the resolution. 'For many of us who have devoted our congressional careers to supporting Israel, standing by them through difficult times, it is impossible to really explain or defend what is going on today,' Durbin said. 'Gaza is starving and dying because of the policies of Bibi Netanyahu.'
BBC News
12 minutes ago
- BBC News
Bowen: Why some Palestinians aren't convinced by Starmer's promise
One of the major reasons why Britain's prime minister Sir Keir Starmer - following France and then in turn followed by Canada - has a plan to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September is to turn the two-state solution into a real diplomatic plan again, instead of the empty slogan it has become since the Oslo peace process collapsed into bloodshed 25 years ago.A day driving around the West Bank is a salutary reminder of how facts created by Israel to stop that happening have been concreted into the rocky hills and valleys the Palestinians want for a success of the huge national project that Israel started days after it captured the territory in the 1967 Middle East war can be seen in Jewish settlements that now are home to more than 700,000 them there is a project that has taken almost 60 years, billions of dollars, and drawn condemnation from friends as well as enemies. It is a violation of international law for an occupier to settle its citizens on the land it has year, the International Court of Justice issued an advisory that said the entire occupation was the government of Benjamin Netanyahu is hungry for more settlements. At the end of May, the defence minister Israel Katz and the finance minister Bezalel Smotrich announced that 22 new settlements would be built in the West said the massive expansion, the biggest in decades, was making a "strategic move that prevents the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger Israel and serves as a buffer against our enemies" ."This is a Zionist, security, and national response - and a clear decision on the future of the country," he to Katz was the ultra-nationalist leader Bezalel Smotrich, who lives in a settlement in the West Bank and believes that the land was given to the Jews by God. He is finance minister but also is effectively the governor of the West Bank with sweeping powers over called the settlement expansion a "once-in-a-generation decision" and declared: "Next step sovereignty!"Everyone in Israel, and the Palestinians in the territories, know that when Smotrich and his allies say "sovereignty" they mean wants all the land for Jews and has openly discussed finding ways of removing Palestinians. 'We were very, very scared' On hilltop after hilltop in the West Bank are settlements at different stages of their development, from well-established small towns with mature gardens and schools, to outposts with handful of caravans and a militant population of young settlers who often mix religion with extreme Jewish nationalism, firearms and sometimes deadly aggression towards their Palestinian collected by the UN and peace campaigners show that violent settlers have increased attacks on their Palestinian neighbours since the 7 October attacks.I went to see how that has affected Taybeh, an entirely Christian village of around 1,500 is a quiet place that seems to have many more houses than residents. After nearly six hard decades of Israeli occupation, more Taybeh people have been forced to emigrate than now live in the nights before the visit, settlers entered the village when most people were in bed. They burned Kamal Tayea's car and tried unsuccessfully to get into his new house, part of a pleasant development overlooking acres of olive groves. They daubed the walls with graffiti in Hebrew sprayed with red a middle-aged man reassessing whether his decision to move his family to the edge of the village was wise, is installing a network of security cameras."We were very, very scared," Kamal said. "I have children and an old mum. Our lives were threatened, and it was terrifying."I asked him whether Britain's plan to recognise Palestine would make his life any easier."I don't think so. It's a big step to have a superpower like Britain support us, but on the ground, it does not change much. Israel is not compliant with any international resolutions or laws."It does not listen to any other country in the whole world." 'Our roots are here. We can't move' During the next night, Jewish settlers raided neighbouring Palestinian communities, burning cars and spraying graffiti. It is more than just settlers want the Palestinians out and, in some places in the occupied territories, have succeeded, forcing Palestinians in remote villages out of their farms and stealing their Greek Orthodox priest, 74-year-old David Khoury was born in Taybeh. In his church he told me that settlers who have threatened him and other residents are often armed."Yes, they have guns… they'll use them if we argue with them. They want us out, they want us to leave."The old priest was defiant."We are here, since Jesus Christ, 2,000 years. Our roots are here. We can't move. We will not move, even if we die here, we will not move from here… Palestine is inside our blood, how we can live without our blood?" 'If you really seek two states, recognise [both]' It was not many miles to Ramallah, the de facto Palestinian capital of the West Bank, but I wasn't able to get there in person. Israel's checkpoints can make driving back to Jerusalem slow and difficult, so I reached Husam Zomlot via Zoom. He is the head of the Palestinian delegation to the United Kingdom, effectively their ambassador in London. He is back home for the summer and was delighted by Britain's plan to recognise Palestine."It is a sign that the UK and with it, the rest of the international community are really serious about the two-state solution. We are no longer in the business of the lip service that has lost us three decades. Actually, if you really seek two states, recognise the two states.""We see the recognition as the starting gun to a sprint towards implementing and establishing the state of Palestine and fulfilling the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people."Zomlot was jubilant. It was, he said, a first step, and Britain's decision would make a real is one of the powerful drivers of this conflict. Britain, he added, was atoning at last for the wrongs it had done Palestinians when it was the imperial power here between 1917 and 1948. He was referring to the promises made in a short, typewritten letter, dated 2 November 1917, signed by the foreign secretary Arthur Balfour and addressed to Lord Rothschild, a leader of Britain's Jewish community. It was, the letter said, "a declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations".Britain would "view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people".It was followed by another promise: "Nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine."He meant the majority, Palestinian Arabs, though he didn't name them, a point that, 108 years later, still rankles ZomlotAt the UN in New York this week, Britain's foreign secretary David Lammy said the UK could be proud to have helped lay Israel's foundations after 1917. But breaking the promise to Palestinians in the Balfour Declaration had, he said, caused "a historical injustice which continues to unfold".At the Knesset, Israel's parliament, Simcha Rothman, an ultra-nationalist MP from the National Religious party also had Britain's imperial past in the Middle East on his mind. The British and French had tried to fix borders before, he said, when they took the Middle East from the dying Ottoman Empire during the First World War. Britain couldn't play the imperial power like Benjamin Netanyahu and Bezalel Smotrich, his party leader, Rothman said the plan to recognise Palestine rewarded Hamas terrorism. He rejected Starmer's offer to postpone recognition if Israel, among other conditions, agreed to a full ceasefire in Gaza and a revival of the two-state solution."He is threatening the state of Israel with punishment and thinks that's the way to bring peace to the Middle East. He is not in a position to punish us, and it definitely will not bring peace.""And it's against justice, history, religion, culture... he's giving a huge reward for Yahya Sinwar [the Hamas leader who led the 7 October attacks and was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza last year]."Wherever he is in hell today, he sees what Keir Starmer says - and says, 'good partner'."Back in Taybeh, I had asked a group of leading local citizens who were drinking coffee with the mayor in his office what they thought of the UK's recognition of them, a local businessman, said: "Thank you Britain. But it's too late." Top image: Getty Images BBC InDepth is the home on the website and app for the best analysis, with fresh perspectives that challenge assumptions and deep reporting on the biggest issues of the day. And we showcase thought-provoking content from across BBC Sounds and iPlayer too. You can send us your feedback on the InDepth section by clicking on the button below.
Times
42 minutes ago
- Times
Times letters: PM's backing for a third runway at Heathrow
Write to letters@ Sir, Your leading article ('Cleared for Takeoff', Aug 1) and the cogently argued business commentary by Alistair Osborne ('Heathrow runway is an expensive folly', Aug 1) both admit that Heathrow should not be there in the first place. Indeed, and if one is in a hole any sensible reaction would be to stop digging. We all know that the costs of £21 billion for the runway and £12 billion on top of that for another terminal will end up hugely inflated, and that the upgrades necessary for transportation to and from Heathrow will incur further enormous expenditure. Sooner or later there will be a catastrophe when an aircraft crashes on London, made all the more likely when power failures and control systems can cause such mayhem. Ministers' lip service to environmental considerations is further exposed as James Stevens CurlHolywood, Co Down Sir, You report that 'work is under way within the government to curb the ability of environmental groups and other campaigners to bring legal challenges against national infrastructure projects' ('M25 could be relocated 'overnight' to build a third Heathrow runway', Aug 1). One can only wonder what Labour would have said had the Conservatives tried to bring in such HartRickmansworth, Herts Sir, Old campaigners against a third runway at Heathrow will now have to dust off their posters and letters of protest: clearly we are all going to have to go through the old arguments again. Nothing appears to have happened to change the Department for Transport's own study. This suggested that if more airport capacity were really needed then on both economic and environmental grounds it should be at McLuskeyAshford, Middx Sir, Proposals for a third runway at Heathrow and another at Gatwick are misguided. The skies over southeast England are already overcrowded and new runways will simply increase the problem. The answer is to build a five-runway, state-of-the-art airport in the Thames Estuary, with fast rail links. This would serve our needs for the next century. Heathrow and Gatwick could then be closed down, freeing up land for much-needed PrattStorrington, W Sussex Sir, It astounds me that whenever the disruption and cost of expanding Heathrow is discussed there is never any mention of Birmingham airport. It is located in a relatively unpopulated area with a mainline rail station and good public access: it is next to motorway links and is about an hour from the capital by car or train. But of course, it's not London — silly JohnsonWolverhampton Sir, I wonder if my children will have retired by the time the third runway at Heathrow is operational? In China, or indeed France, the planning and construction would be rapidly accomplished. No one would expect that in the ValePewsey, Wilts Sir, Having seen the PM's plans for a third runway at Heathrow, perhaps Sir Humphrey should whisper in his ear: 'Remember HS2.'Martin WrightChinnor, Oxon Sir, Italians will be aware that most of the projects Edward Lucas praises in his article were actually initiated before 2022, the year Giorgia Meloni became prime minister ('Confident Italy shows us how to bounce back', comment, Jul 31). She inherited a €198 billion loan from the EU, which I suspect Rachel Reeves would welcome and do good things with. If Lucas were to come further south on holiday he would find unemployment in the eight provinces of southern Italy 10 per cent higher than the richer north that he visited. A total of 18.9 per cent of Italians live in poverty, and the figure is increasing. GDP per capita has not increased since Meloni became PM and government debt as a share of GDP has increased under her Gozi MEPFormer Italian secretary of state for European Affairs Sir, Edward Lucas's overenthusiastic assessment of Italy's thriving and booming economy overlooks the simple and very sad fact that Italy still offers very few opportunities for young people, even those with university degrees. They find it easier to find a job in a café in London than in Milan or Rome. It's still pretty impossible to get a position at an Italian university if one lacks a powerful backer. Bright scientists and academics instead flock to the US or the UK. Nasa, for example, has many Italians working there as do many Ivy League universities, as well as Oxford and Salvatore Santagati (PhD, LSE)London W1 Sir, Sydney Sweeney and Jacob Rees-Mogg may have better luck than my wife (TMS, Jul 31). A couple of years ago my wife was dropping off a bag for her brother at the Cavalry and Guards Club. The doorman took one look at the jeans she was wearing and before she could say a word politely pointed out that the RAF Club was next door.J Martin ScottShaftesbury, Dorset Sir, The fall in numbers of students studying modern languages is indeed dire (news, Jul 31; letter, Aug 1). I agree with Nick Hillman of the Higher Education Policy Institute that the withdrawal of the compulsory study of languages was 'probably the worst educational policy of this century'. A wider grasp of the heritage of Europe (and at degree level, training in cogently assembling a wide range of facts) is useful in many professions. Megan Bowler is right that a 'linguistic mindset fosters vital skills'. Indeed, many of my students leave university for successful careers in journalism and the law and are destined for the higher echelons of management and government. We will not re-establish meaningful relationships with our neighbours with the 'island mentality' that, at present, inhibits those in secondary education from an understanding of the cultural infrastructure and substratum of Bourne-TaylorAssociate professor of French, and fellow, Brasenose College, Oxford Sir, I have no doubt that AI has a part to play in making prisons safer ('AI predicts risk from violent inmates before jail attacks happen', Jul 31) but removing drugs from jails by using drug wands, sniffer boxes and DroneGuard, while disabling mobile phones and reducing overcrowding, will have a greater effect. Tasers will have an impact during riots and concerted acts of indiscipline but not on immediate acts of violence as they won't be to hand. The most effective way to reduce the risk of violence is by staff developing good relationships with prisoners. Inexperienced staff in overcrowded prisons are merely BerryRet'd prison governor, Countesthorpe, Leics Sir, Martin Samuel is right ('Rushing this Test series off stage has robbed it of the players we pay to see', Aug 1). Test matches — the pinnacle of the sport — are being wrecked by the thoughtless compression of scheduling and now we will have no cricket for a month, all to make room for a spectacle said to be crowd-pleasing and money-making, although it is curious that no other cricketing nation has shown the remotest interest in the Hundred. The ECB has done a fine job of destroying our national DykeLondon N21 Sir, I agree with David A De Saxe (letter, Aug 1) that modern bats improve batting. But surely the main reason batting has improved is the use of helmets, which enable batsmen to face fast bowling without risk of serious EvansTunbridge Wells, Kent Sir, Contrary to Raymond Gubbay's suggestion ('Albert Hall seats', letter, Jul 31), the National Lottery were on the ball. Like all seat holders, while I did gain from the lottery funding improvements I was obliged to pay a proportionate share of the GilbertMarlow, Bucks Sir, Aside from pay erosion, the incentives for resident doctors to change tack career-wise are well described (letters, Jul 28–31), but there is a new one. Why wouldn't a recently qualified doctor with a huge student debt and possibly a young family consider switching to one of the new physician assistant roles? The pay is considerably better, the post comes with job security and comprehensive senior medical supervision, and there is no need for regular exams or to move around the country every couple of years while working nights and weekends as a matter of routine. That is regardless of the intense work pressure endured by these young resident doctors daily, hundreds of whom are now finding that there are no NHS jobs for them anyway after their first two years of hospital practice (news, Jul 30). The only downside is that the NHS would soon run out of GPs and hospital RP ColeNHS consultant surgeon, Salisbury Sir, Katie Glass raises hopes for many in making a few quid from renting her home ('I'm sleeping in a caravan so I can put my cottage on Airbnb', Times2, Jul 28). Potential followers of her advice would be well advised to check with local planning requirements and their home insurance policy before proceeding. Such moves may be below the radar but not above the planning HoweRhossili, Gower Peninsula Sir, Every good wish to the new Archbishop of Wales ('Church elects gay, female archbishop', Jul 31). As well as being informed of her employment history and views on sexuality, I'm sure some of us would be glad to know whether she speaks CorkettBangor, Gwynedd Sir, My Uncle Charlie worked on the Cowes chain ferry in the 1950s and had an index and middle finger missing (letter, Aug 1). As he explained: 'I was trying to pick a stray fag packet out of the chains while we were crossing the river. I just thought I could do it, quick like.' I relayed this story to the newly promoted chain ferry master when I met him in the 1980s. 'Oh yes?', he said, holding up his three- digit right hand. 'You mean like this?'Suzie MarwoodLondon SW6 Sir, I can definitely support the theory of ditching a flashy car for a small hatchback to woo women (news, Jul 31). I owned an MG Midget in the 1960s and had no luck in attracting the right sort of woman, but on the day I swapped it for a Hillman Imp I met the woman who is now my wife. We are still happily married RussellHarpenden, Herts Write to letters@
