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Tom's Guide
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Tom's Guide
How to watch 'Gaza: Doctors Under Attack' online — stream Palestine doc free from anywhere
"Gaza: Doctors Under Attack" is billed as a "forensic investigation" into Israeli military attacks on hospitals in Gaza. The 65 minute film aims to reveal – in visceral detail – what life is like in the war-torn strip as Israel and Palestine continue to clash. Here's how to watch "Gaza: Doctors Under Attack" online from anywhere with a VPN — and potentially for FREE. "Gaza: Doctors Under Attack" premiered on July 2 2025 in the U.K. (international date TBC)• WATCH FREE — Channel 4 (U.K.) • Watch anywhere — try NordVPN 100% risk free We've see a slew of docs about the Middle East conflict lately. There was Louis Theroux's "The Settlers", then "Life and Death in Gaza" and the "How to Survive a Warzone," which was ultimately dropped by the BBC. The latest doc – "Gaza: Doctors Under Attack" (formerly known as "Gaza: Medics Under Fire") – is described as a "crucial film" that "the BBC refused to air" in The Guardian's five-star review, published July 3. Directed by Bafta-nominated freelance producer/director Karim Shah, it aims to reveal the 'targeting, detainment and torture of medics in Gaza'. Whatever your thoughts on the Middle East are, if you want to see it for yourself, read on. Here's where to watch "Gaza: Doctors Under Attack" online and from anywhere in the world. "Gaza: Doctors Under Attack" is FREE on the U.K.'s Channel 4 streaming platform. Outside the U.K? You can unblock Channel 4 and watch "Gaza: Doctors Under Attack" from anywhere when you download a VPN, just as if you were back home in the U.K.. Away from home at the moment and blocked from watching "Gaza: Doctors Under Attack" on your usual service? You can still watch the show thanks to the wonders of a VPN (Virtual Private Network). The software allows your devices to appear to be back in your home country regardless of where in the world you are. So ideal for viewers away on vacation or on business. Our favorite is NordVPN. It's the best VPN on the market. NordVPN deal: FREE $50 / £50 Amazon gift card Boasting lightning fast speeds, great features, streaming power, and class-leading security, NordVPN is our #1 VPN. ✅ FREE Amazon gift card worth up to $50/£50✅ 4 months extra FREE!✅ 76% off usual price Use Nord to unblock Channel 4 and watch "Gaza: Doctors Under Attack" (2025) live online with our exclusive deal. Using a VPN is incredibly simple: 1. Install the VPN of your choice. As we've said, NordVPN is our favorite. 2. Choose the location you wish to connect to in the VPN app. For instance, if you're a Brit abroad and want to view the Channel 4 stream, you'd select a U.K. server from the location list. 3. Sit back and enjoy the show. Head to Channel 4 and stream "Gaza: Doctors Under Attack" online just as you would at home. "Gaza: Doctors Under Attack" is available on Zeteo. If you're a U.K. viewer traveling abroad, however, there's still a way to connect to Channel 4 from anywhere and stream hit shows like "Gaza: Doctors Under Attack" (2025) online no matter where you are. All you need is a VPN such as NordVPN (try it RISK-FREE) — full instructions above. "Gaza: Doctors Under Attack" is available on Zeteo. If you're from the U.K. and currently travelling in Canada, you'll need to download a VPN and stream it on Channel 4. "Gaza: Doctors Under Attack" is available on Zeteo. Down Under and still want to watch it? Brits abroad can use NordVPN to help unlock their home streaming services like Channel 4. If you're visiting New Zealand you can watch "Gaza: Doctors Under Attack" free on Channel 4 by using a VPN such as NordVPN. We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.
Scoop
06-07-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
The Fanatic's Gaze: Louis Theroux And The West Bank Settlers
He has made it his bread and butter for years: finding society's kooky representatives, the marginal, the crazed and the touched. But what makes Louis Theroux's The Settlers troubling is its examination of a seemingly inexorable process in the West Bank, one that has, at its core, a religious, nationalist goal of cleansing and violent purification. The documentary captures Israel's modern colonial project in real time, and it is one most ugly. The target of the cleansing and eradication – the Palestinians in the West Bank – is awesomely horrific, rationalised by suffocating checkpoints, brooding military posts and endless harassing points of invigilation. Having already made The Ultra Zionists, a documentary on the same subject in 2011, Theroux finds, notably after the attacks by Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023, a missionary project of hardened purpose. The edge on the 'ultra' has been taken off. The fringe has moved to the centre. Sanitised areas (the language of ethnic scrubbing) pullulate with armed settlers holding forth with pious defiance in outposts of a land seen as promised to them. One figure interviewed, the gun-toting Texas-born settler Ari Abramowitz, sees the Bible as supplying Jews 'a land deed to the West Bank.' Palestinian shopfronts remain closed for security reasons, and Palestinians barred from visiting designated areas without appropriate approval. Theroux's guide and local peace activist Issa Amro is unable to accompany him to areas in Hebron where settlers are offered continuous military protection. When Theroux and his guides visit a ruined Palestinian home in Tuwuni in the night, an IDF patrol with laser sights is not far behind. At one checkpoint, Theroux is accosted by a balaclava-wearing Israeli soldier, provoking him to bark 'Don't touch me'. They are solid reminders to Palestinians living in the West Bank that they are living on borrowed time, a measure that diminishes with each day. Daniella Weiss emerges as a central character, a figure who has led the Israeli settler movement for half a century. She reveals being clandestinely escorted by the sympathetic soldiers of the Israeli Defense Forces into Gaza to scout for possible future settlements. (800 families, goes the proud claim, await moving into them.) She grins, mocks and scorns, but does, at some point, demonstrate to Theroux her view about settler violence. For her, it does not exist. In that familiar pattern, even if it did exist, it would be justifiable because of Palestinian violence. When Theroux says he had seen a video of a Palestinian being shot, Weiss retorts that the Israel shooter was merely retaliating. She proceeds to shove him, hoping he returns the serve. He considers the display sociopathic. Yet sociopathy and the limitless well of self-defence are firm friends for Weiss and any number of IDF personnel and lawyers who see their cause as worthy. All are incapable of violence, incapable of genocide. Critics have taken issue with the lens of the documentary, suggesting that the camera can deceive because of its sharp focus. The sampling of settlers shows them as almost comically villainous, their fanaticism icy and cruelty assured. The British-Palestinian writer and activist John Aziz was frustrated by the 'selection of nasty extremists who lurched between denying the existence of Palestinians and expressing the desire to conquer more land and drive out the Arab inhabitants.' He even takes issue with the keen interest in Weiss, curious given that any program about Israeli settlements would look bare without her starring role. Aziz misses the point in his demand for an elusive nuance. People once seen as marginalised pioneers seeking land in the West Bank have become the spear of the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. After October 7, 2023, it has become modish to entertain notions of expulsion, dispossession and seizure, to finally bury Palestinian notions of self-determination. National security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, leader of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party and follower of the teachings of Meir Kahane, a Brooklyn rabbi who, after moving to Israel, declared 'the idea of a democratic Jewish state [a] nonsense', is symptomatic of this shift. Convicted on eight charges, among them supporting a terrorist organisation and incitement to racism, Ben-Gvir regularly advocates ethnic cleansing of both the West Bank and Gaza. In May this year, the Israeli Security Cabinet initiated the land registration process in Area C in the West Bank, a process which determines final ownership of land and extinguishes other claims. The Ministry of Defense was unequivocal about the goal of this move in a statement: 'to strengthen, consolidate, and expand Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria.' While the Israeli settlers seem to fail to see the Palestinians as human beings with valid territorial claims, international law has little time for the legality of the settlements. They are structures of a colonising project, and one regarded as unlawful. In its advisory opinion from July 2024, the International Court of Justice found that Israel's continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory was 'a wrongful act of a continuing character which has been brought about by Israel's violations, through its policies and practices, of the prohibition on the acquisition of territory by force and the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people.' The settler project can also count on abundant support from the private sector. In her report to the UN Human Rights Council From economy of occupation to economy of genocide Francesca Albanese, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, lashes 'corporate entities' international and local who have been enriched by 'the Israeli economy of illegal occupation, apartheid and now genocide.' This includes heavy investments in the West Bank colonising enterprise, be it through supplying logistics, construction equipment and building materials. With the Israeli settlers being the shock troops of the Israeli State, Weiss's boast captured by Theroux is being realised: 'We do for governments what they can't do for themselves.'
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The Settlers With Their Sights on Gaza
The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. As a chronicler of American subcultures, Louis Theroux is used to being in uncomfortable situations. But when he started to research his latest documentary—about Israeli settlers in the West Bank—what surprised him most was how open everyone was about their project, which violates international law. 'It was just shocking and strange,' Theroux told me, 'because most times, activity that feels really predatory or immoral takes place in the dark.' Some of the outposts depicted in The Settlers are illegal even under Israeli law, Theroux says—although the country's government just approved 22 additional settlements in the West Bank, in some cases retrospectively legalizing ones already established. Achieving such expansions has been the life's work of Theroux's main subject, Daniella Weiss, who is widely described as the 'godmother' of the settler movement and boasts on camera about having senior politicians on speed dial. When Theroux tells the 79-year-old that moving a civilian population into a conquered territory is considered a war crime, Weiss laughs. 'It's a light felony,' she replies. Her next target is the Gaza Strip. To Weiss, the timing seems perfect. Israel's war on Hamas has displaced a majority of the population in Gaza at least once, according to the United Nations, and Donald Trump has spoken of turning the area into the 'Riviera of the Middle East.' In America, this idea of Mar-a-Gaza has become a late-night-show punch line, but to the most hard-core Israeli settlers, retaking the Strip would be the fulfillment of a longtime dream. [Read: Nobody wants Gaz-a-Lago] The Settlers was broadcast in Britain, where I live, in late April. Within hours, bootlegged versions were circulating on X, where they racked up millions of views. This shouldn't be surprising, because many online outlets, from The Joe Rogan Experience to the start-up Zeteo, have taken a more skeptical line on Israel's war objectives than the major U.S. television networks, reflecting the views of their audiences. Theroux, who is British-American, described himself to me as 'not terrifically political,' but he has nonetheless created a damning portrait of a group of religious extremists who believe that their claim to the West Bank comes from a higher authority than any mere UN directive or international treaty. Like many of the settlers Theroux interviews in the film, Weiss believes that the Jewish homeland is her birthright. 'She embodied this emboldened settler movement, both in her outlook, the fact of how long she'd been doing it, her level of influence, the passion she projects, and her kind-of completely uninhibited quality,' he told me. Toward the end of the film, Weiss even shoves him to make a point. Were he to respond in kind, she says, people could present that clip out of context and accuse him of physically abusing a woman. The implication is that what Theroux calls 'settler violence' is merely self-defense—a natural response to Palestinian provocation. [Read: The right-wing Israeli campaign to resettle Gaza] The documentary, which recently became officially available to watch in the United States on the streaming service BBC Select, also features a number of Americans who have moved to the region to pursue what they see as a more meaningful life. One of them, Ari Abramowitz, was born in Texas and came to live in the land he calls 'Judea and Samaria' after visiting as a teenager. He now runs a farm and vacation retreat in the West Bank. 'I'm so uncomfortable using the word Palestinian,' he tells Theroux of a local Arab village, 'because I don't think it exists.' Another, a man from New York who now lives in Hebron, tells Theroux: 'Our right to be in this land is the Torah, is the godly promise. Where we don't settle, terror grows.' Both men are armed with rifles when Theroux meets them. Theroux has tackled the settlers once already, in a 2011 documentary called The Ultra Zionists, which showed a more rounded picture—both the zeal of the West Bank arrivals and the backlash they face from displaced Palestinians. (When traveling with one settler convoy, Theroux's car was pelted with rocks; a settler house he visited was later firebombed.) This new documentary feels more polemic, focusing on the demeaning daily restrictions on Palestinian life and the intensity of the Israeli military occupation. 'The architecture and infrastructure of power and domination is really interesting,' Theroux told me. 'As much as the why of the psychology, or the political outlook, is fascinating—actually, if you strip that out, there's also this extraordinary process that takes place involving walls, gates, guard towers, specially built roads. And I very much wanted to do justice to that as well.' I'm not shocked that this documentary was made by the BBC, rather than an American network. To a degree that surprises me, many Americans treat pro-Palestinian activism as a fringe leftist pursuit, irredeemably tainted by disruptive and anti-Semitic protests on college campuses. But disillusionment and anger with Israel are widespread, among both ordinary voters and ruling politicians, in Europe and other places that are otherwise friendly to America and its allies. In a December 2023 filing in the International Court of Justice, South Africa accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. By October 2024, eight other countries, including Ireland and Turkey, had joined the case. In the latest YouGov sentiment tracker of six Western European countries, 'only 13–21% in any country have a favourable opinion of Israel, compared to 63–70% who have an unfavourable view.' [Listen: Mossad's former chief calls the war in Gaza 'useless'] Although only a small minority of the surveyed Europeans believed the October 7 attacks were justified, less than a quarter of respondents agreed that Israel's ongoing response is proportionate. These figures make uncomfortable reading for British Jews who abhor the actions of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government but also recognize the existence of anti-Semitism within some parts of pro-Palestinian activism. My friend Hadley Freeman, for instance, wrote an agonized column reflecting on how the 'existence of anti-Jew hatred does not change the fact that thousands of people are dying on the Gaza strip.' In April, 36 members of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, a group whose perspective is broadly pro-Israel, published an open letter condemning the war. 'Israel's soul is being ripped out,' they wrote. One inevitable criticism of The Settlers is that Theroux has unfairly focused on a fringe minority of Israelis in order to demonize the entire country, which is taking military action to respond to the October 7 attacks, rescue its remaining hostages, and protect itself from future terror plots. 'What could have possessed the BBC to make a documentary about the very worst Jews they could find?' Jake Wallis Simons, the former editor of the Jewish Chronicle, wrote after the initial broadcast on the BBC. By focusing on the 'freak show' of the viciously contested town of Hebron and demonstrating a lack of curiosity about Palestinian violence, Wallis Simons argued, the documentary showed a 'patrician, sneering perspective that in the eyes of the BBC passes for impartiality.' Theroux has indeed made a career out of interviewing extremists, weirdos, and people living marginal lifestyles. His previous subjects include swingers, porn actors, and the Westboro Baptist Church. By focusing on the hard-core settlers, is he being unfair? Theroux counters that some of Netanyahu's most powerful cabinet members, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, share Weiss's outlook. Smotrich, who oversees the civilian administration of the West Bank, has repeatedly threatened to leave the ruling coalition if Israel agrees to a cease-fire in Gaza. Ben-Gvir is perhaps the most unpopular member, outside Israel, of Netanyahu's cabinet—a man who joked at a recent appearance in the U.S. about how little food Palestinian prisoners were given. In the film, Ben-Gvir appears at a settler rally where the annexation of Gaza is openly discussed, and he urges attendees to 'rebuild, settle, encourage Palestinian emigration and win.' [Read: The two extremists driving Israel's policy] Here in the U.K., the documentary aired just as elite opinion soured decisively on Israel's war in Gaza. Because Britain's most important ally, the United States, strongly supports Israel, Prime Minister Keir Starmer's left-wing Labour Party has struggled to find a position that reconciles its supporters' distaste for Netanyahu and the demands of realpolitik. (The toxic legacy of the previous Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who was kicked out for denying the extent of anti-Semitism that flourished among party members on his watch, has also complicated Starmer's response.) On May 19, however, Starmer released a joint statement with Emmanuel Macron of France and Mark Carney of Canada condemning Israel's actions, and calling for more aid to Gaza and an end to settlement expansion in the West Bank. 'Israel suffered a heinous attack on October 7,' the three leaders wrote. 'We have always supported Israel's right to defend Israelis against terrorism. But this escalation is wholly disproportionate.' The next day—less than a month after The Settlers appeared on the BBC—the British government sanctioned Weiss, declaring that she was involved in 'threatening, perpetrating, promoting and supporting acts of aggression and violence against Palestinian individuals.' (The Israeli government characterized this move, which prohibits Weiss from traveling to Britain and freezes any assets she might have in banks there, as 'unjustified and regrettable.') Theroux doesn't know if his documentary affected this decision, but 'it seems coincidental, doesn't it?' He doubts the sanctions will make much difference to Weiss. On June 10, Ben-Gvir and Smotrich were also sanctioned by Britain—as well as by Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Norway—for what Foreign Secretary David Lammy described as their 'horrendous extremist language.' In response, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that America 'stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel.' Like the majority of my fellow Britons, I don't believe that Israel is currently fighting a proportionate war. Launching a new armed campaign against Iran strikes me as reckless. Netanyahu is taking advantage of the Trump presidency to prolong the Gaza conflict, keeping his extremist coalition partners in the fold and himself in power. In doing so, he is being cheered on by Ben-Gvir, Weiss, and others in the settler movement who believe that they have an uncompromisable right to disputed land, backed by God's will and military might. No single film can do justice to the complexity and tragedy of the Middle East. But even if Theroux has settled upon the 'very worst' interviewees he could find, it's troubling that they have support at the highest levels of Israel's government. Article originally published at The Atlantic
Atlantic
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Atlantic
The Settlers With Their Sights on Gaza
As a chronicler of American subcultures, Louis Theroux is used to being in uncomfortable situations. But when he started to research his latest documentary—about Israeli settlers in the West Bank—what surprised him most was how open everyone was about their project, which violates international law. 'It was just shocking and strange,' Theroux told me, 'because most times, activity that feels really predatory or immoral takes place in the dark.' Some of the outposts depicted in The Settlers are illegal even under Israeli law, Theroux says—although the country's government just approved 22 additional settlements in the West Bank, in some cases retrospectively legalizing ones already established. Achieving such expansions has been the life's work of Theroux's main subject, Daniella Weiss, who is widely described as the 'godmother' of the settler movement and boasts on camera about having senior politicians on speed dial. When Theroux tells the 79-year-old that moving a civilian population into a conquered territory is considered a war crime, Weiss laughs. 'It's a light felony,' she replies. Her next target is the Gaza Strip. To Weiss, the timing seems perfect. Israel's war on Hamas has displaced a majority of the population in Gaza at least once, according to the United Nations, and Donald Trump has spoken of turning the area into the ' Riviera of the Middle East.' In America, this idea of Mar-a-Gaza has become a late-night-show punch line, but to the most hard-core Israeli settlers, retaking the Strip would be the fulfillment of a longtime dream. The Settlers was broadcast in Britain, where I live, in late April. Within hours, bootlegged versions were circulating on X, where they racked up millions of views. This shouldn't be surprising, because many online outlets, from The Joe Rogan Experience to the start-up Zeteo, have taken a more skeptical line on Israel's war objectives than the major U.S. television networks, reflecting the views of their audiences. Theroux, who is British-American, described himself to me as 'not terrifically political,' but he has nonetheless created a damning portrait of a group of religious extremists who believe that their claim to the West Bank comes from a higher authority than any mere UN directive or international treaty. Like many of the settlers Theroux interviews in the film, Weiss believes that the Jewish homeland is her birthright. 'She embodied this emboldened settler movement, both in her outlook, the fact of how long she'd been doing it, her level of influence, the passion she projects, and her kind-of completely uninhibited quality,' he told me. Toward the end of the film, Weiss even shoves him to make a point. Were he to respond in kind, she says, people could present that clip out of context and accuse him of physically abusing a woman. The implication is that what Theroux calls 'settler violence' is merely self-defense—a natural response to Palestinian provocation. The documentary, which recently became officially available to watch in the United States on the streaming service BBC Select, also features a number of Americans who have moved to the region to pursue what they see as a more meaningful life. One of them, Ari Abramowitz, was born in Texas and came to live in the land he calls 'Judea and Samaria' after visiting as a teenager. He now runs a farm and vacation retreat in the West Bank. 'I'm so uncomfortable using the word Palestinian,' he tells Theroux of a local Arab village, 'because I don't think it exists.' Another, a man from New York who now lives in Hebron, tells Theroux: 'Our right to be in this land is the Torah, is the godly promise. Where we don't settle, terror grows.' Both men are armed with rifles when Theroux meets them. Theroux has tackled the settlers once already, in a 2011 documentary called The Ultra Zionists, which showed a more rounded picture—both the zeal of the West Bank arrivals and the backlash they face from displaced Palestinians. (When traveling with one settler convoy, Theroux's car was pelted with rocks; a settler house he visited was later firebombed.) This new documentary feels more polemic, focusing on the demeaning daily restrictions on Palestinian life and the intensity of the Israeli military occupation. 'The architecture and infrastructure of power and domination is really interesting,' Theroux told me. 'As much as the why of the psychology, or the political outlook, is fascinating—actually, if you strip that out, there's also this extraordinary process that takes place involving walls, gates, guard towers, specially built roads. And I very much wanted to do justice to that as well.' I'm not shocked that this documentary was made by the BBC, rather than an American network. To a degree that surprises me, many Americans treat pro-Palestinian activism as a fringe leftist pursuit, irredeemably tainted by disruptive and anti-Semitic protests on college campuses. But disillusionment and anger with Israel are widespread, among both ordinary voters and ruling politicians, in Europe and other places that are otherwise friendly to America and its allies. In a December 2023 filing in the International Court of Justice, South Africa accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. By October 2024, eight other countries, including Ireland and Turkey, had joined the case. In the latest YouGov sentiment tracker of six Western European countries, 'only 13–21% in any country have a favourable opinion of Israel, compared to 63–70% who have an unfavourable view.' Listen: Mossad's former chief calls the war in Gaza 'useless' Although only a small minority of the surveyed Europeans believed the October 7 attacks were justified, less than a quarter of respondents agreed that Israel's ongoing response is proportionate. These figures make uncomfortable reading for British Jews who abhor the actions of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government but also recognize the existence of anti-Semitism within some parts of pro-Palestinian activism. My friend Hadley Freeman, for instance, wrote an agonized column reflecting on how the 'existence of anti-Jew hatred does not change the fact that thousands of people are dying on the Gaza strip.' In April, 36 members of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, a group whose perspective is broadly pro-Israel, published an open letter condemning the war. 'Israel's soul is being ripped out,' they wrote. One inevitable criticism of The Settlers is that Theroux has unfairly focused on a fringe minority of Israelis in order to demonize the entire country, which is taking military action to respond to the October 7 attacks, rescue its remaining hostages, and protect itself from future terror plots. 'What could have possessed the BBC to make a documentary about the very worst Jews they could find?' Jake Wallis Simons, the former editor of the Jewish Chronicle, wrote after the initial broadcast on the BBC. By focusing on the 'freak show' of the viciously contested town of Hebron and demonstrating a lack of curiosity about Palestinian violence, Wallis Simons argued, the documentary showed a 'patrician, sneering perspective that in the eyes of the BBC passes for impartiality.' Theroux has indeed made a career out of interviewing extremists, weirdos, and people living marginal lifestyles. His previous subjects include swingers, porn actors, and the Westboro Baptist Church. By focusing on the hard-core settlers, is he being unfair? Theroux counters that some of Netanyahu's most powerful cabinet members, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, share Weiss's outlook. Smotrich, who oversees the civilian administration of the West Bank, has repeatedly threatened to leave the ruling coalition if Israel agrees to a cease-fire in Gaza. Ben-Gvir is perhaps the most unpopular member, outside Israel, of Netanyahu's cabinet—a man who joked at a recent appearance in the U.S. about how little food Palestinian prisoners were given. In the film, Ben-Gvir appears at a settler rally where the annexation of Gaza is openly discussed, and he urges attendees to 'rebuild, settle, encourage Palestinian emigration and win.' Here in the U.K., the documentary aired just as elite opinion soured decisively on Israel's war in Gaza. Because Britain's most important ally, the United States, strongly supports Israel, Prime Minister Keir Starmer's left-wing Labour Party has struggled to find a position that reconciles its supporters' distaste for Netanyahu and the demands of realpolitik. (The toxic legacy of the previous Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who was kicked out for denying the extent of anti-Semitism that flourished among party members on his watch, has also complicated Starmer's response.) On May 19, however, Starmer released a joint statement with Emmanuel Macron of France and Mark Carney of Canada condemning Israel's actions, and calling for more aid to Gaza and an end to settlement expansion in the West Bank. 'Israel suffered a heinous attack on October 7,' the three leaders wrote. 'We have always supported Israel's right to defend Israelis against terrorism. But this escalation is wholly disproportionate.' The next day—less than a month after The Settlers appeared on the BBC—the British government sanctioned Weiss, declaring that she was involved in 'threatening, perpetrating, promoting and supporting acts of aggression and violence against Palestinian individuals.' (The Israeli government characterized this move, which prohibits Weiss from traveling to Britain and freezes any assets she might have in banks there, as 'unjustified and regrettable.') Theroux doesn't know if his documentary affected this decision, but 'it seems coincidental, doesn't it?' He doubts the sanctions will make much difference to Weiss. On June 10, Ben-Gvir and Smotrich were also sanctioned by Britain—as well as by Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Norway—for what Foreign Secretary David Lammy described as their 'horrendous extremist language.' In response, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that America 'stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel.' Like the majority of my fellow Britons, I don't believe that Israel is currently fighting a proportionate war. Launching a new armed campaign against Iran strikes me as reckless. Netanyahu is taking advantage of the Trump presidency to prolong the Gaza conflict, keeping his extremist coalition partners in the fold and himself in power. In doing so, he is being cheered on by Ben-Gvir, Weiss, and others in the settler movement who believe that they have an uncompromisable right to disputed land, backed by God's will and military might. No single film can do justice to the complexity and tragedy of the Middle East. But even if Theroux has settled upon the 'very worst' interviewees he could find, it's troubling that they have support at the highest levels of Israel's government.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
UK trade representative visits Israel after Britain suspends talks
A British trade envoy has visited Israel to "promote trade" between the two countries - a week after the UK suspended talks. Lord Ian Austin, who is the UK government's trade envoy to Israel, was welcomed to Haifa on Monday, just days after Foreign Secretary David Lammy paused negotiations. The British Embassy in Israel said Lord Austin had visited a number of projects - such as the Customs Scanning Centre, Haifa Bayport, and the Haifa-Nazareth Light Rail project - to "witness co-operation at every stop".The independent peer said he was visiting Israel to "meet businesses and officials to promote trade with the UK". "Trade with Israel provides many thousands of good jobs in the UK and brings people together in the great multi-cultural democracy that is Israel," he said. Last Tuesday, the government confirmed it was suspending its trade negotiations with Israel in the wake of an accelerated military offensive in Gaza and the country's decision to limit the amount of aid allowed into the territory. Mr Lammy told the Commons that Israel's actions were "egregious" and amounted to a "dark new phase in this conflict". But despite the suspension of any new trade talks with Israel, Number 10 has insisted that the UK still has a trading relationship with the country. A spokesperson for the prime minister said: "We have always had a trading relationship, but are pausing any new ones." The UK has sanctioned a number of individuals and groups in the West Bank which it said have been linked with acts of violence against Palestinians - including Daniella Weiss, a leading settler activist who was the subject of Louis Theroux's recent documentary The Settlers. Israel criticised the UK government action as "regrettable" and said the free trade agreement talks, which ministers have now backed out of, were "not being advanced at all by the UK government". Lord Austin has previously stressed the importance of the UK's trading relationship with Israel, claiming it is "worth billions and brings massive benefits to Britain". Writing for e, he said: "It is in our national interest, and the decision this week by the government to pause negotiations on a new Free Trade Agreement does not change that. "The situation in Gaza is terrible, as it is in all wars, and the quickest way to get the aid in and save lives is for Hamas to stop fighting and release the hostages. That would end the conflict immediately."
