UN expert asks states to cut trade ties with Israel over Gaza situation
In a speech to the U.N. Human Rights Council presenting her latest report, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese accused Israel of being responsible for "one of the cruellest genocides in modern history".
Israel has rejected accusations of genocide in Gaza, citing its right to self-defence following the deadly October 7, 2023, Hamas attack.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
33 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Hamas responds 'positively' to 60-day Gaza ceasefire deal, says Palestinian official - in a huge step towards finally ending the 21-month conflict
Hamas has submitted its response to a US-brokered Gaza ceasefire proposal, a Palestinian official said, describing the response as a positive one that should 'facilitate reaching a deal.' US President Donald Trump earlier announced a 'final proposal' for a 60-day ceasefire in the nearly 21-month-old war between Israel and Hamas, stating he anticipated a reply from the parties in coming hours. 'We have handed the mediators, Qatar and Egypt, our response to the ceasefire proposal,' a Hamas official told Reuters on condition of anonymity on Friday. 'The Hamas response is positive and I think it should help and facilitate reaching a deal,' said the Palestinian official close to the talks. The proposal calls for the release of ten living Israeli hostages and 18 bodies in exchange for 1,000 Palestinian prisoners during a 60-day ceasefire, reports The Jerusalem Post. During that period, both sides are expected to hold talks aimed at ending the war. Trump said on Tuesday that Israel had agreed 'to the necessary conditions to finalise' a 60-day ceasefire, during which efforts would be made to end the US ally's war in the Palestinian enclave. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to comment on Trump's announcement and in their public statements, the two sides remain far apart. The proposal calls for the release of ten living Israeli hostages and 18 bodies in exchange for 1,000 Palestinian prisoners during a 60-day ceasefire Netanyahu has repeatedly said Hamas must be disarmed, a position the militant group, which is thought to be holding 20 living hostages, has so far refused to discuss. Netanyahu is due to meet Trump in Washington on Monday. Asked early on Friday US time if Hamas had agreed to the latest ceasefire deal framework, Trump said: 'We are going to know over the next 24 hours.' Trump has said he would be 'very firm' with Netanyahu on the need for a speedy Gaza ceasefire while noting that the Israeli leader wants one as well. 'We hope it's going to happen. And we're looking forward to it happening sometime next week,' he told reporters earlier this week. 'We want to get the hostages out.' Israeli attacks have reportedly killed at least 138 Palestinians in Gaza over the past 24 hours, local health officials said, though these numbers are yet to be officially confirmed. Health officials at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, said the Israeli military had carried out an airstrike on a tent encampment west of the city around 2am, killing 15 Palestinians displaced by nearly two years of war. The Israeli military said troops operating in the Khan Younis area had eliminated militants, confiscated weapons and dismantled Hamas outposts in the last 24 hours, while striking 100 targets across Gaza, including military structures, weapons storage facilities and launchers. Later on Friday, Palestinians gathered to perform funeral prayers before burying those killed overnight. 'There should have been a ceasefire long ago before I lost my brother,' said 13-year-old Mayar Al Farr. Her brother, Mahmoud, was shot dead in another incident, she said. 'He went to get aid, so he can get a bag of flour for us to eat. He got a bullet in his neck. It killed him on the spot,' she said. Adlar Mouamar said her nephew, Ashraf, was also killed in Gaza. 'Our hearts are broken. We ask the world, we don't want want them to end the bloodshed. We want them to stop this war.' In Tel Aviv, families and friends of hostages held in Gaza were among demonstrators who gathered outside a US Embassy building on US Independence Day, calling on Trump to secure a deal for all of the captives. Demonstrators set up a symbolic Sabbath dinner table, placing 50 empty chairs to represent those who are still held in Gaza. Banners hung nearby displaying a post by Trump from his Truth Social platform that read, 'MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!' The Sabbath, or Shabbat, observed from Friday evening to Saturday nightfall, is often marked by Jewish families with a traditional Friday night dinner. 'Only you can make the deal. We want one beautiful deal. One beautiful hostage deal,' said Gideon Rosenberg, 48, from Tel Aviv. In a first visit since the October 7, 2023 massacre 636 days ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara Netanyahu are seen at Kibbutz Nir Oz on July 4, 2025 Rosenberg was wearing a shirt with the image of hostage Avinatan Or, one of his employees who was abducted by Palestinian militants from the Nova musical festival on October 7, 2023. He is among the 20 hostages who are believed to be alive after more than 600 days of captivity. Ruby Chen, 55, the father of 19-year-old American-Israeli Itay, who is believed to have been killed after being taken captive, urged Netanyahu to return from meeting with Trump in Washington on Monday with a deal that brings back all hostages. 'Let this United States Independence Day mark the beginning of a lasting peace... one that secures the sacred value of human life and one that bestows dignity to the deceased hostages by ensuring their return to proper burial,' he said, also appealing to Trump. Itay Chen, also a German national, was serving as an Israeli soldier when Hamas carried out its surprise attack on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking another 251 hostage. Israel's retaliatory war against Hamas has devastated Gaza, which the militant group has ruled for almost two decades but now only controls in parts, displacing most of the population of more than two million and triggering widespread hunger. More than 57,000 Palestinians have been killed in nearly two years of fighting, most of them civilians, according to local health officials.
Leader Live
41 minutes ago
- Leader Live
What is a proscribed organisation?
On Thursday the House of Lords backed proscribing the group under the Terrorism Act 2000 without a vote. But what is proscription and what does it mean for an organisation to be proscribed? – What is a proscribed organisation? According to the Government website, under the Terrorism Act 2000, the Home Secretary may proscribe an organisation if they believe it is concerned in terrorism, and it is proportionate to do so. Under the law this means the organisation commits or takes part in acts of terrorism, prepares for terrorism, promotes or encourages terrorism (including the unlawful glorification of terrorism), or is otherwise concerned in terrorism. Once an organisation is proscribed it is illegal to join or show support for it. – What does terrorism mean when talking about proscription? As defined in the Act, terrorism means the use or threat of action which involves serious violence against a person, involves serious damage to property, endangers a person's life (other than that of the person committing the act), creates a serious risk to the health or safety of the public or section of the public or is designed seriously to interfere with or seriously to disrupt an electronic system. The definition also sets out that the use or threat of such action must be designed to influence the government or an international governmental organisation or to intimidate the public or a section of the public. Additionally, it must be undertaken for the purpose of advancing a political, religious, racial or ideological cause. – What factors are taken into consideration when determining whether proscription is proportionate? According to the Government website, the Home Secretary will take into account the nature and scale of an organisation's activities, the specific threat that it poses to the country, and the specific threat that it poses to British nationals overseas. The Home Secretary will also consider the extent of the organisation's presence in the UK, and the need to support other members of the international community in the global fight against terrorism. – Which other groups have been designated as proscribed organisations? There are currently 81 international terrorist groups proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000 and 14 organisations in Northern Ireland proscribed under previous legislation. The most recent proscription orders concerned Hamas, the Wagner Group, Hizb ut Tahrir and Terrorgram. Other organisations on the list include Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), and various aliases, and al Qaida. – Once an organisation is proscribed, what becomes illegal? It becomes a criminal offence to belong, or profess to belong, to a proscribed organisation in the UK or overseas, or invite support for a proscribed organisation. It is also illegal to express an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation, reckless as to whether a person to whom the expression is directed will be encouraged to support a proscribed organisation, express an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation, reckless as to whether a person to whom the expression is directed will be encouraged to support a proscribed organisation. Other offences include arranging, managing or assisting in arranging or managing a meeting in the knowledge that the meeting is to support or further the activities of a proscribed organisation. It is also an offence to wear clothing or carry or display articles in public in such circumstances as to arouse reasonable suspicion that the individual is a member or supporter of a proscribed organisation, or publish an image of an item of clothing or other article, such as a flag or logo, in the same circumstances. – Once proscribed, will an organisation remain banned forever? No. The Home Secretary will consider deproscription on application only. The law allows any organisation or any person affected by a proscription to submit a signed, written application to the Home Secretary requesting that they consider whether a specified organisation should be removed from the list of proscribed organisations.
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
I worked at the BBC for years and I know exactly why they let Bob Vylan's antisemitic rant on air – and how to fix it
ALL week, people have been asking why on Earth someone at the BBC didn't just pull the plug from the wall when that silly man at Glastonbury started chanting about how he wanted everyone in the Israeli Defence Force to be dead. It was a pretty amazing spectacle, if I'm honest, because all those Tarquins and Arabellas in the crowd joined in. Even though I'm willing to bet 90 per cent of them had absolutely no clue what the IDF is. 3 But what's even more amazing is that the footage remained on the BBC iPlayer for a full five hours after the event. Now I want to say from the outset that I don't really care about what people say at music festivals. It's been going on for years. From the anti-Vietnam War hippies in the Seventies through various anti- establishment punks and right up to the mass genuflecting at Glastonbury in 2017 when Jeremy Corbyn popped up on stage to talk about the 'commentariat'. This is all quite normal. The crowds at these festivals are young and idealistic and they chant and they weep . . . and then they grow up and buy a people carrier and no harm's done. But people watching at home are not young and idealistic. Or stoned. And they've already got the people carrier. So when the BBC broadcast a man saying he wanted to kill everyone in the IDF, it was a bit of a shock. You know it. And I know it. And yet somehow, the BBC didn't know it. Why? Alarm bells ringing We know, and they must know too, that these days you can go to prison for a long time for sending an offensive tweet. See Lucy Connolly for details about that. So you'd think that if a man on stage was calling for the death of 169,000 Jewish conscripts, it might set the alarm bells ringing in the BBC's well-manned operations centre. But it didn't. Fury as Glastonbury crowd chants 'death to the IDF' during Bob Vylan set aired live on BBC I think the problem is instinct. If someone had climbed on the stage and started chanting about death to immigrants, their natural reaction would have seen the feed cut in about one second. Same as it is when a streaker comes on the pitch at a football match. But Bob Vylan was chanting about the awfulness of the Israeli army. And to a BBC person, that doesn't trigger instinctive revulsion at all. I know, because I worked at the BBC for a really long time, that most of the people there are lefties. Soft lefties for sure but lefties nevertheless. So everyone they talk to at the water cooler, and everyone they meet at their agreeable Islington dinner parties, and everything the algorithm sends them on their lefty social media feeds, says the same thing. The Palestinians are right. And Israel is wrong. As a result, the plug stayed in the wall. And if they were reading the online backlash, they'd put it down to far-right, Zionist agitation. It's hard to know how this attitude can ever be changed. Director General, Tim Davie, who's a mate of mine, says he's going to get on it immediately — but what can he actually do? I have one idea which might help. For a long time, the BBC advertised in the Guardian to fill all the jobs that came up. Which is why the whole place is currently full of Guardian-reading lefties. So here's an idea. Next time a job comes along, run the advert for it in The Sun. DON'T CREDIT LOSERS ONE of the (many) mistakes George Bush made after the 9/11 attacks was describing the hijackers as 'terrorists'. This is something the British learned during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Never refer to the bombers as terrorists. It makes them sound important. It's better to refer to them as 'criminals'. Which makes them sound like shoplifters. We seem to have forgotten this simple thing now, though, because the group that strolled into Brize Norton air base last week and spray-painted those jets are about to be listed as a terrorist organisation. No it isn't. It's just a bunch of chinless losers with an aerosol can. And that's a long way from the Red Brigade. Heard the one about the Czech Republic being the funniest country in the world? 3 A NEW study has found that Brits are the 18th wittiest people in the world. We beat Germany (phew) but lag behind countries such as Greece, Portugal and, in the number one slot, the Czech Republic. Hmmm. I'm not sure about this because I've racked my brain and can't think of a single funny TV show to come from the Czechs, whereas we've given the world Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, The Office, The Thick Of It, The Vicar Of Dibley, Big Train, Armstrong And Miller, Dad's Army, Ripping Yarns, Smack The Pony, Nuts In May and about a thousand more besides. JAGUAR WOKE-UP CALL ALL week, people have been saying that sales of Jaguars have plummeted by a spectacular 97 per cent because of their wokey 'Bud Light' rebrand a few months ago. Well, sorry to spoil the story with a dollop of truth but the fact is that Jaguar has actually stopped making cars altogether as it prepares for the new range of electric motors that are coming along soon. Obviously, I'm sad Jaguar has decided to go down this path and you probably are too. But the fact is that in America, which is the company's biggest market, 75million people voted for the uber-woke Kamala Harris. That's an awful lot of people who think internal combustion is the devil's work. MPs NOT ALL BIRD BRAINS I HAD it in my mind that all Labour MPs are bitter and twisted class warriors whose sole aim in life is to make things miserable for people who want to work hard and have some fun afterwards. So this week, when the Labour MP for Bishop Auckland – a chap called Sam Rushworth – got to his feet during a debate on grouse shooting, I was expecting a load of communist codswallop. I was in for a surprise. The proposal for a ban had come from a group called Wild Justice, who had argued that the cost would be economically insignificant. But good old Sam said that if you work in the grouse shooting industry as a beater or gamekeeper or a caterer, that's your job. And to you, that's not economically insignificant at all. I'm delighted to say Wild Justice's petition was thrown out. THERE'S been a bit of a brouhaha over plans to replace the historical figures on our bank notes with people who are more representative of the times in which we live. Poetesses with penises. That sort of thing. Who cares? Cash is only used these days for buying and inhaling drugs. And frankly, I find it quite amusing to think that when Jane Austen has been axed from our tenners, the nation's coke enthusiasts will be snorting their fix through the curled up face of, I dunno, Diane Abbott.
