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  • Vietnam’s president arrives in Guangxi by high-speed train

    Vietnam’s president arrives in Guangxi by high-speed train

    In a continuation of his official visit to China, Vietnam’s top leader To Lam, who holds both the positions of President of Vietnam and General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee, has arrived in South China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region following a cross-country high-speed train trip.

    To Lam departed from Beijing on Thursday, according to official updates from China Daily. The journey spanned approximately 2,400 kilometers and took nearly 10 hours before the train pulled into Nanning East Railway Station, the main high-speed rail hub serving Guangxi’s capital city Nanning. A photo from China Daily photojournalist Zou Hong documents the arrival.

    This leg of To Lam’s trip comes after earlier engagements in Beijing, and Guangxi holds unique strategic importance for China-Vietnam relations as a major border province that shares a long land and maritime boundary with Vietnam. The high-speed rail journey itself also highlights the connected transportation infrastructure that supports growing people-to-people and economic ties between the two neighboring countries.

  • US says it will pursue ships in Pacific Ocean supporting Iran

    US says it will pursue ships in Pacific Ocean supporting Iran

    In a sweeping announcement from the Pentagon Thursday, the top U.S. military official outlined a new, expanded policy that will see American forces intercept any vessel suspected of carrying material support to Iran — a mission that extends beyond the Middle East to the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

    Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine confirmed that the order targets all ships carrying prohibited supplies, regardless of flag, including the unregulated “dark fleet” tankers that have become Iran’s primary transport for crude oil and petroleum products amid longstanding U.S. sanctions. “The Joint Force, through operations and activities in other areas of responsibility, like the Pacific… will actively pursue any Iranian-flagged vessel, or any vessel, attempting to provide material support to Iran,” Caine told reporters.

    The announcement comes days after the U.S. launched a formal maritime blockade of Iran, a move that followed Tehran’s recent imposition of new transit rules in the Strait of Hormuz, the strategically critical waterway connecting the Persian Gulf to global markets. Under Iran’s new system, the country has prioritized passage for its own vessels exiting the Gulf while blocking most ships heading to neighboring Arab states. Tehran is also moving forward with a plan to implement a new toll system for transit, which could charge commercial vessels as much as $2 million for passage through the strait.

    Caine pushed back on characterizations that the U.S. action blocks access to the Strait of Hormuz itself, clarifying that enforcement operations will target areas along Iran’s coastline and territorial seas, as well as adjacent international waters. “This is a blockade of Iran’s ports and coastline, not a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz,” Caine said.

    The decision to extend interception operations into the Pacific has already stoked geopolitical concern, particularly given China’s extensive economic and strategic ties to Iran, analysts told Middle East Eye. While Beijing has repeatedly avoided direct military confrontation with Washington, analysts note that China holds major stakes in the region and in trade routes that could be significantly disrupted by the expanded U.S. policy.

    Under the weight of crippling U.S. economic sanctions, Iran has built up a shadow network of unregistered oil tankers disconnected from Western insurance and financial systems, commonly referred to as the “dark fleet.” The vast majority of these ships carry Iranian oil and petroleum products to Chinese refineries, which are the Islamic Republic’s largest remaining customer for energy exports. Maritime experts have previously noted that while multiple vessels carrying Iranian cargo have transited the Strait of Hormuz in recent days, none have exited into the Gulf of Oman, where the U.S. Navy maintains a large deployed presence.

    The expanded blockade has drawn renewed attention to Sino-U.S. friction over Iran policy, with widespread speculation about whether U.S. forces will attempt to board and search Chinese-flagged vessels carrying cargo to or from Iran. Earlier this week, unconfirmed remarks attributed to China’s defense minister circulated on social media, claiming Beijing would refuse to comply with the U.S. blockade. But Yun Sun, director of the China program at the Washington-based Stimson Center, confirmed to Middle East Eye that the remarks have never been authenticated by the Chinese government and have been disavowed by Chinese state media.

    In official diplomatic engagement this week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Aragchi on Wednesday. In a public readout of the call released by Beijing, Wang called on all parties to respect the “sovereignty, security and legitimate rights and interests of Iran as a country bordering the Strait of Hormuz,” while also adding that “the freedom and security of navigation in the internationally accessible strait should also be guaranteed.”

    Sun noted that Beijing has little incentive to challenge U.S. naval dominance in the Strait of Hormuz, which sits thousands of miles from China’s core territorial claims. At the same time, China has actively positioned itself as a leading strategic power in the Pacific, creating a potential flashpoint if U.S. interception operations target Chinese vessels in the region.

    Beyond energy trade, the expanded U.S. blockade also casts a spotlight on ongoing military cooperation between Beijing and Tehran. Multiple recent reports have confirmed Chinese military exports to Iran: Chinese firms have already shipped sodium perchlorate — a key chemical used to produce solid propellant for ballistic missiles — to Iran via maritime transport. Middle East Eye previously reported that China supplied air defense systems to Iran following the June 2025 attacks on the country, and has since delivered unmanned aerial vehicles. The New York Times also reported Saturday that Beijing may have shipped shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles to Iran, though the exact route of those shipments remains unclear.

  • Trump says Israel agrees to 10-day Lebanon ceasefire

    Trump says Israel agrees to 10-day Lebanon ceasefire

    In a surprise announcement posted to his Truth Social platform Wednesday, former US President Donald Trump confirmed that Israel and Lebanon have reached an agreement for a 10-day ceasefire set to enter into force at 10pm local time Thursday, or 5pm EST. The announcement came after Trump held separate calls with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

    Trump wrote in his post that both leaders had agreed to implement the temporary truce to open a path toward long-term peace between their two nations, and he extended an invitation to both leaders to attend high-level peace talks at the White House. These talks would mark the first substantive negotiations between Israel and Lebanon since 1993, and the first planned White House meeting of its kind since 1993, Trump added, noting that both sides have expressed a desire for lasting peace and that he expects rapid progress.

    The announcement caps days of behind-the-scenes US diplomatic efforts to arrange the first direct highest-level contact between the Lebanese and Israeli heads of state in decades. However, senior Lebanese government sources have pushed back on the narrative of coordinated direct talks, revealing that President Aoun refused to hold a direct call with Netanyahu before a ceasefire was formally put in place.

    This diplomatic friction comes just two days after Washington hosted a first round of direct ambassador-level talks between Israeli and Lebanese envoys, the first such official direct engagement between the two nations since 1993. The senior Lebanese official explained that Lebanon had already demonstrated goodwill by participating in the Washington talks, but would not take an additional step that would grant Netanyahu a symbolic political victory he failed to achieve through military force on Lebanese soil. The official added that a pre-ceasefire call between Aoun and Netanyahu would carry severe domestic political consequences for Lebanon, warning it could trigger widespread internal unrest that would destabilize the already fragile country.

    The current crisis erupted after US-Israeli strikes on Iran killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on March 2, prompting Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah to launch a retaliatory cross-border rocket strike against Israel. In response, Israel launched a sustained, large-scale military campaign across Lebanon. A truce agreement was reached to pause US-Israeli military operations against Iran starting April 8 that was meant to include Lebanon, but Israel continued its offensive, leveling entire towns and villages across southern Lebanon. Despite the ongoing fighting, Iranian officials have continued to prioritize a ceasefire in Lebanon as part of ongoing diplomatic negotiations with the US to end the broader regional conflict.

    Even as news of the impending ceasefire broke Thursday morning, Israeli forces continued their military campaign. After Israeli media reported that a direct call between Aoun and Netanyahu would happen imminently, Israeli warplanes targeted and destroyed the Qasmiyeh bridge, the last remaining crossing connecting southern Lebanon to the rest of the country. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency confirmed that enemy aircraft carried out two consecutive strikes on the structure, which connected the Sour and Saida regions, leaving it completely destroyed.

    The Qasmiyeh strike is part of a broader Israeli campaign to sever transportation links across southern Lebanon. Last month, the Israel Defense Forces announced it would target all bridges and crossings along the Litani River, which cuts across southern Lebanon from east to west, a move designed to isolate large swathes of the territory from the rest of the country. In recent weeks, the military has carried out that plan, damaging or destroying at least nine spans across the river. The Qasmiyeh bridge had already been hit in late March, suffering major damage, but Lebanese military engineers had partially repaired it and reopened it to traffic just last week. According to Lebanese outlet L’Orient Today, Lebanese soldiers stationed near the bridge preemptively closed access roads ahead of Thursday’s strike, but the attack still completely shattered the crossing, leaving it irreparable, a Lebanese security official told Reuters.

    The ongoing Israeli strikes have continued to claim civilian lives across the country. On Thursday alone, at least 11 people including women and children were killed in multiple Israeli strikes across southern Lebanon, while one additional person was killed in a strike targeting a vehicle on the highway connecting Beirut to Damascus, the capital of neighboring Syria. Official Lebanese government data puts the total death toll from Israeli attacks in Lebanon since March 2 at more than 2,190 people.

    The violence has disproportionately targeted medical and humanitarian personnel. On Wednesday, Lebanese paramedic organizations confirmed that the Israeli military killed four rescue workers and wounded six more in three sequential targeted strikes on the southern village of Mayfadoun. The strikes deliberately targeted medical teams in waves: the first wave hit medics responding to a call for wounded civilians, the second struck responders who arrived to assist the first team, and a third hit medics rushing to support both groups. The Lebanese Ministry of Health reports that 91 healthcare workers have been killed by Israeli forces in the past six weeks alone.

    Israel has not carried out large-scale strikes on Beirut since April 8, when the military conducted roughly 100 simultaneous strikes across Lebanon in a 10-minute window that killed more than 350 people. But deadly strikes against civilian and infrastructure targets across southern Lebanon have continued unabated, as Israeli ground forces push forward with their incremental ground invasion into the southern part of the country. Notably, the US announcement of the ceasefire deal made no mention of Hezbollah, the political and military movement that controls much of southern Lebanon and has been Israel’s primary opponent in the ongoing fighting.

  • Zionist militia frequently contacted Nazi Germany, Israeli documents reveal

    Zionist militia frequently contacted Nazi Germany, Israeli documents reveal

    Long-sealed documents pulled from Israeli state archives have recently brought a long-rumored chapter of Zionist paramilitary history into sharp, new clarity, detailing repeated efforts by the radical Zionist Stern Gang to forge a strategic partnership with Nazi Germany during the 1930s and 1940s, when British forces held the Mandate of Palestine. First reported by leading Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the declassified files trace these secret outreach attempts directly to Avraham Stern, founder of the extremist armed group that split from the larger Irgun Zionist militia to continue anti-British resistance through World War II. The core ideological foundation for the proposed alliance, records show, was shared opposition to British rule in Palestine – the territory the wider Zionist movement targeted as the site of a future independent Jewish state.

    The documents lay out how the Stern Gang dispatched member Naftali Lubenchik to meet secretly with German officials on the group’s behalf. A 1951 archival account notes that Lubenchik held the false belief that Nazi Germany did not aim for the total physical annihilation of European Jewry, but only sought to expel Jewish populations from the continent and concentrate them in a single territory. This misreading of Nazi intentions laid the groundwork for the militia’s diplomatic overtures.

    Long before these contacts became public, the mainstream Zionist paramilitary Haganah – the dominant armed Zionist organization in Mandatory Palestine – was already aware of the Stern Gang’s actions. A 1941 Haganah intelligence document, titled “Contacts with the Axis” (a reference to the Nazi Germany-Fascist Italy alliance), contains previously unreported remarks from Eliyahu Golomb, the Haganah’s de facto commander at the time. Speaking to a small, closed circle of associates, Golomb acknowledged he had received intelligence that a high-profile Jewish militant codenamed “S” had been in contact with German enemy forces. The newly released records confirm the “S” in question was Avraham Stern.

    A Polish immigrant who settled in Palestine in the 1920s, Stern held radical views: he pushed for unrestricted Jewish immigration to the region and demanded the full expulsion of what he called the “foreign” British presence from land he deemed inherently Jewish. His animosity toward British rule ran so deep that he was willing to set aside ideological differences with the Nazi regime to achieve his goal of a Jewish state, a stance that put him sharply at odds with the other major Zionist factions of the era. While the Irgun and Haganah had agreed to a moratorium on anti-British attacks for the duration of the war against Nazi Germany, the Stern Gang continued to launch assaults on British targets and even rival Jewish groups throughout the conflict.

    Historical records compiled by Haaretz confirm multiple separate outreach attempts to German leadership. One formal proposal even outlined terms for “active partnership” with Nazi Germany in the war, framing the alignment as rooted in “shared interests between German policy and Jewish national aspirations” and calling for a formal post-war alliance between a newly established Jewish state and the German Reich. As late as 1943, Stern Gang member Natan Friedman – who later changed his name to Natan Yellin-Mor and went on to serve as a member of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset – wrote that “Germany has not yet been defeated and may still become our ally.”

    Ultimately, the Stern Gang’s efforts to secure a Nazi alliance never came to fruition, but the Haganah closely monitored every step of the outreach, per Haaretz’s reporting. By 1942, after a string of deadly bank robberies and violent shootouts between the militia and British mandatory authorities, British forces tracked down Stern, killing him at the age of 34. At the time, Stern’s collaboration overtures were a major source of embarrassment for the mainstream Zionist movement, and the Haganah even joined British efforts to crack down on the Stern Gang, hunting down its members.

    The newly declassified files also lay bare the full extent of Stern’s core worldview at the time. One document records his conviction that Britain had “betrayed the Jewish people and will never allow the establishment of a Jewish state.” In contrast, he argued, “Germany has no special interest in Palestine, and since the Nazis want to cleanse Europe of Jews, nothing is simpler than transferring them to their own state.” Stern firmly believed a practical agreement with the Nazis was achievable, writing, “negotiations should be opened, and Jews of Europe should be recruited into a special army that would fight its way to Palestine and conquer it from the British.” Additional files confirm Stern sought to “seize control of all of Eretz Yisrael [Greater Israel] by force with the help of a foreign power” – a foreign power explicitly identified as Nazi Germany.

    For his part, Yair Stern, son of Avraham Stern, has pushed back on the framing of his father’s actions in an interview with Middle East Eye for a documentary focused on the militia founder. He downplays the Nazi overtures as a minor, context-specific episode intended to rescue European Jews from persecution, arguing his father could not have known the full scope of the Nazis’ planned Holocaust – which was not formalized until shortly before Avraham Stern’s death in 1942. He also dismisses confessions from former Stern Gang members about the collaboration efforts, claiming the statements were extracted under duress during Haganah interrogations and cannot be considered credible.

  • US military fully withdraws from Syria after 10 years

    US military fully withdraws from Syria after 10 years

    After a decade-long deployment focused on countering the Islamic State group, the last remaining U.S. military forces have exited their final base in Syria’s northeastern Hasakah province, marking the end of Washington’s active military presence in the war-torn country, Syrian officials confirmed to Middle East Eye.

    Within hours of the U.S. pullout, Syrian government forces entered the Qasrak base, a strategic site that includes an operational airstrip, with local officials confirming the full completion of the withdrawal process.

    Leading Syria analyst Charles Lister clarified in a public social media post that the unit tasked with securing the former U.S. base is the 60th Division of the Syrian national army, a formation mostly made up of Kurdish fighters previously aligned with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)—a militia that served as Washington’s primary on-the-ground partner for 10 years. Lister added that U.S. troops and their military equipment exited Syria through neighboring Jordan, a route chosen to evade potential attacks by Iranian-aligned paramilitary groups operating in Iraq.

    In an official statement released Thursday, Syria’s foreign ministry welcomed the full transfer of all former U.S. military sites to the sovereign Syrian government. The ministry emphasized that the handover demonstrates the successful integration of the SDF into Syrian national institutional structures, and confirms the Syrian state’s right and full responsibility to lead counterterrorism efforts and address all regional security threats within its own borders.

    The full U.S. withdrawal comes in the wake of a major political shift in Syria: new President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s defeat of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, which ended more than 14 years of civil war. Washington has thrown its support behind Sharaa’s new transitional government, and had maintained roughly 1,000 troops in Syria through most of its deployment.

    Earlier in 2025, the U.S. already withdrew from two other major military bases in Syria: the al-Tanf outpost in southern Syria and the al-Shaddadi base in the country’s northeast. The withdrawal also followed a U.S.-brokered deal between the SDF and Damascus reached earlier this year, under which the Syrian government agreed to take primary responsibility for rooting out remaining Islamic State cells and other militant factions across the country.

    U.S. military presence in Syria first launched in 2015, built on a long-standing partnership with the SDF that repeatedly frayed U.S.-Turkey relations. Ankara has long viewed the SDF as a front for the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the Syrian affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)—a group labeled a terrorist organization by the U.S., European Union, and Turkey, which has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state for 40 years.

    Over the past two years, however, peace negotiations between Ankara and the PKK created new space for the Damascus government to reach a formal agreement with the SDF, which had long sought regional autonomy in northeastern Syria. A brief, limited offensive by Syrian government forces, paired with mediation from U.S. envoy Tom Barrack, ultimately paved the way for a deal that stabilized the northeastern region. Under that agreement, the SDF ceded control of large stretches of territory, including the former Islamic State capital Raqqa and the key eastern province of Deir Ezzor, back to Syrian national authorities.

  • Former China Mobile Internet chief under investigation

    Former China Mobile Internet chief under investigation

    China’s top anti-graft oversight body announced Thursday that Hong Xiaoqin, the former chairman and general manager of China Mobile Internet Co., Ltd., has been placed under investigation over allegations of severe violations of Communist Party of China discipline and national legislation.

    The inquiry is being carried out jointly by two teams of investigators: a disciplinary inspection team dispatched to the China Mobile group by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), the Party’s top anti-corruption agency, and supervisory officials from the Ordos Supervision Commission, based in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. As of the latest public update, no additional details surrounding the specific allegations or the scope of the probe have been released to the public.

    Publicly available official career records outline Hong’s decades-long tenure within the China Mobile ecosystem. Born in 1964, Hong is a senior engineering professional who held a series of key leadership positions across the state-owned telecommunications giant’s regional branches before taking the top role at the internet subsidiary. His previous appointments include deputy general manager of China Mobile’s Guangdong branch and general manager of the firm’s Inner Mongolia branch.

    Founded in 2015 in Guangzhou, the capital of south China’s Guangdong Province, China Mobile Internet Co. operates as a dedicated subsidiary of China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile network operator by subscriber count. The unit focuses exclusively on the group’s internet-centric business operations, and was previously structured as the China Mobile Internet Base before its formal incorporation as a standalone subsidiary.

  • Taiwan forum hears calls for protection of resistance war history

    Taiwan forum hears calls for protection of resistance war history

    On Thursday, attendees of the seventh annual forum for social groups of Taiwan compatriots gathered in Beijing, where a resonant call emerged to preserve the historical memory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression for future generations. Organized by the All-China Federation of Taiwan Compatriots, the event brought together participants from across global Taiwanese communities, who kicked off their forum schedule with a visit to the Museum of the War of Chinese People’s Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in the Chinese capital.

    Among the attendees was Cheng Tung-ping, honorary president of the World Federation of Taiwan Chambers of Commerce and a Taiwanese businessman based in Germany. Following his tour of the museum, he emphasized that every person of Chinese descent, regardless of where they reside, has a responsibility to understand the immense suffering and unyielding spirit of the Chinese people during the 14-year resistance against Japanese aggression, which ran from 1931 to 1945. This chapter of national history, he stressed, can never be erased or forgotten.

    Cheng praised the Chinese mainland’s meticulous work in safeguarding historical sites, archives and memorials related to the resistance war, noting that these well-preserved resources create a tangible space for the legacy of the era to be passed down to younger generations. He extended a call to young Chinese people from all regions, including Taiwan, to visit the museum in person, engage directly with the historical artifacts and firsthand accounts on display, and carry forward the collective memory of the nation.

  • Vance criticised for ‘inaccurate’ claim that Gaza aid is highest in five years

    Vance criticised for ‘inaccurate’ claim that Gaza aid is highest in five years

    Gaza’s de facto administration has publicly pushed back against recent inaccurate comments from U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who falsely claimed that more humanitarian aid is currently entering the Gaza Strip than at any point in the past five years, crediting the U.S. for what he called a prioritized approach to the crisis.

    Vance made the contested claim during an appearance at a Turning Point USA event held on Tuesday, asserting that the improved aid flow was a direct result of the U.S. administration taking the humanitarian situation in Gaza seriously. The very next day, Gaza’s Government Media Office issued a formal condemnation of the remarks, rejecting them as disconnected from on-the-ground reality and directly contradictory to independently verified field data.

    The context for the ongoing dispute traces back to an October 2023 ceasefire brokered by the U.S., designed to end a year-long armed conflict that has left Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinian residents trapped under a tightened Israeli blockade that has cut off access to basic necessities, while daily Israeli bombardment has devastated the coastal enclave. The conflict has already killed more than 72,000 people and injured over 170,000, according to local counts, and parts of Gaza were formally declared to be in famine earlier this year, with dozens of recorded deaths from starvation and malnutrition linked to the blockade.

    Under the terms of the October ceasefire agreement, Israel was mandated to lift longstanding restrictions on aid entry and allow up to 600 trucks of essential supplies—including food, fuel, medicine, shelter materials and commercial goods—to enter Gaza daily. To date, Israel has failed to meet this requirement, maintaining strict limits on aid deliveries that have left the territory’s catastrophic humanitarian crisis largely unaddressed.

    Gaza’s Government Media Office laid out clear data contradicting Vance’s claim, noting that the average number of trucks entering Gaza per day since the ceasefire took effect is just 227—only 37 percent of the agreed-upon daily target. As a recent example, the office pointed out that only 207 trucks entered the enclave on April 9, and fewer than 80 of those carried humanitarian aid.

    The office emphasized that ignoring these verified facts amounts to dangerous misinformation that obscures the systemic reality of restricted aid access and deliberate deprivation imposed by Israeli occupation, which has consistently failed to meet its legally mandated humanitarian obligations. It added that distorting facts to present a false picture of the situation will neither reduce the severity of Gaza’s ongoing humanitarian catastrophe nor absolve any involved party of its legal and moral responsibilities for the crisis.

    Official United Nations data further backs up the refutation of Vance’s claim. In the period between 2021 and early 2023, before the current large-scale conflict began, up to 12,000 trucks of goods entered Gaza per month—an average of roughly 400 trucks per day, most carrying commercial supplies. That number dropped dramatically after former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who is currently wanted by the International Criminal Court on war crime charges, announced a total blockade of Gaza, stating that “no electricity, no food, no fuel” would be allowed to enter.

    During the height of active conflict, some months saw total aid entry drop to just 600 trucks for the entire month, an average of only 20 trucks per day. The highest monthly volume recorded during the conflict was 5,670 trucks, equal to roughly 190 trucks per day—still less than half of the ceasefire agreement’s target and well below pre-conflict averages. Even weeks after the ceasefire took hold in November, total truck entry hit just 4,282 for the month, an average of only 142 trucks per day, per UN data.

    That downward trend has continued into 2024: 3,513 trucks entered in January, 2,660 in February, 2,032 in March, and only 586 had entered as of mid-April. As aid volumes continue to fall, Gaza officials and residents have issued repeated warnings in recent weeks that stockpiles of food, fuel, medicine and shelter materials are once again reaching critically depleted levels.

    Just last week, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) released a statement confirming that Israel continues to deliberately obstruct aid access, even as living conditions across Gaza remain catastrophic. MSF noted that this intentional obstruction is leading to widespread preventable deaths across the enclave, adding that even though the intensity of active bombardment has decreased since the ceasefire, the humanitarian situation remains catastrophic for residents.

    Sabreen Abu Ouda, a 45-year-old Gaza City resident, told Middle East Eye earlier this week that many Gaza residents are growing increasingly terrified that the enclave is heading back toward widespread famine. Abu Ouda and other residents reported that severe shortages of bread and other essential supplies, including staple foods and cooking fuel, have worsened dramatically in recent weeks. Vegetable prices have skyrocketed due to widespread scarcity, while eggs, chicken and other proteins have all but disappeared from local markets, leaving millions of residents unable to access adequate nutrition.

  • UK: Soas student leaders win legal settlement after dismissal over pro-Palestine activism

    UK: Soas student leaders win legal settlement after dismissal over pro-Palestine activism

    A high-profile dispute over free speech, student democracy and pro-Palestine activism at one of the United Kingdom’s most politically engaged universities has concluded with an out-of-court settlement, drawing renewed attention to escalating tensions over the Israel-Gaza conflict on British higher education campuses.

    Two recently elected former student leaders at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), Alexander Cachinero-Gorman and Abel Harvie-Clark, have settled their wrongful dismissal claims against the SOAS Students’ Union (SU) and university administration. The pair were removed from their elected full-time sabbatical positions in June 2024, just months after winning student votes, before they could even take up their posts.

    The election results, held in March 2024, saw Gorman win the race for vice president of welfare and campaigns, while Harvie-Clark secured the role of vice president of democracy and education. Both won clear mandates from the student body, but the SU trustee board voted to dismiss the pair over stated concerns around their conduct and public criticism of SU leadership. The activists have long maintained their removal was driven entirely by their openly anti-Zionist beliefs and longstanding pro-Palestine organizing work on campus.

    Tensions between the student activists and SOAS leadership had been building for months before the election, rooted in widespread pro-Palestine protests that swept the campus following Israel’s October 2023 military bombardment of Gaza. These actions included mass rallies, a months-long pro-Palestine encampment that was one of the longest-running in the UK, and a demonstration opposing the inclusion of the Union of Jewish Students in the university’s freshers’ fair. Prior to this case, SOAS had already drawn controversy for expelling Haya Adam, president of the SOAS Palestine Society, over her pro-Palestine activism in August 2024, in a move critics framed as an attack on free speech.

    After the pair launched legal action and tribunal proceedings got underway, both sides reached a confidential settlement that brought the case to a close without a full public hearing. While the undisclosed financial settlement marks a resolution to the legal dispute, the activists have framed the outcome as a partial win that exposes deeper systemic issues at the institution.

    Gorman described the outcome as a “bittersweet victory” that acknowledged the wrongdoing done to him and Harvie-Clark, but emphasized it does not resolve the entrenched hostility toward anti-Zionist students and staff at SOAS. “By dismissing us before we even took office, they tried to send a warning that they can unilaterally forge relationships with Zionist organisations, invite speakers with genocidal views to our campus, and attack trade unionists without pushback,” Gorman said in an interview with Middle East Eye.

    Harvie-Clark echoed these concerns, noting that the pair had spent years in legal limbo over the dispute. He argued the SU’s actions sent a clear message that student democracy and activism are only permitted if they align with institutional leadership’s views. “They are attempting to bypass liberal norms around free speech in higher education in order to transform the university into an authoritarian space where academic freedom and workers’ rights are gifts they can withdraw at will,” he said.

    The students’ legal representative, Franck Magennis, argued the settlement amounts to a de facto recognition that the SU and SOAS have systematically suppressed anti-Zionist speech and pro-Palestine organizing on campus. “This important legal victory further demonstrates what has been clear for at least two and a half years of genocide: Zionist positions are collapsing everywhere and are now incapable of defence, whether inside or outside court,” Magennis said. He is now supporting his clients in filing a complaint with the UK Charity Commission, which oversees the regulation of students’ unions as charitable bodies, to push for further accountability, and is calling on the SU to issue a public apology and launch a full investigation into institutional anti-Palestinian racism.

    The SOAS case is part of a broader wave of conflict on UK campuses over the Gaza war. While SOAS has publicly cut research ties with arms companies working on Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, it has faced sustained criticism from pro-Palestine activists for its existing research partnerships with the UK Ministry of Defence and Israeli universities, as well as its financial investments in Barclays, a bank accused of financing Israel’s military operations. In October 2024, the University of London, which owns the SOAS campus, secured a High Court injunction banning all unsanctioned protests on university premises, a move that mirrored similar restrictions implemented by other leading UK institutions including the University of Cambridge and the University of Bristol. Even with the settlement of this legal case, the dispute underscores the deepening divides over free speech, institutional accountability and pro-Palestine activism across British higher education.

  • Apple TV accused of whitewashing genocide after announcing new Israeli series

    Apple TV accused of whitewashing genocide after announcing new Israeli series

    Technology giant Apple has ignited widespread public condemnation after its streaming platform Apple TV+ began promoting a new Israeli drama series, with critics accusing the company of whitewashing Israel’s ongoing military campaigns and alleged genocide in the Gaza Strip. The controversy erupted this week following the release of the official trailer for *Unconditional*, an eight-part thriller series. The opening shot of the trailer introduces lead character Gali, a 23-year-old played by Talia Lynne Ronn, in full Israeli military uniform, who is detained in Moscow on charges of drug smuggling. The plot follows Gali’s mother Orna, portrayed by Liraz Chamami, as she investigates her daughter’s alleged entanglement in a operation described on screen as “something critical for Israeli National Security.”

    Critics have zeroed in on the series’ framing of an Israeli soldier as a sympathetic victim, a narrative that has drawn particular fury amid more than two and a half years of deadly Israeli military operations in Gaza that United Nations officials and leading international genocide experts have formally classified as an act of genocide. As of recent counts, more than 72,000 people in Gaza have been killed since October 2023, according to local health authorities.

    “So, two and a half years into an ongoing genocide carried out by Israel, Apple TV is releasing a show depicting an Israeli soldier (who, for some reason, is wearing a uniform in a Russian airport) as a victim,” one social media user posted on platform X, summing up widespread anger. “The fucking audacity.”

    Many critics have characterized the series as a deliberate propaganda push to sanitize Israel’s global image at a time when its actions in Gaza have drawn global condemnation. “Rome deaf [sic] and reprehensible genocide washing. SHAME ON YOU!!” one commenter wrote in response to Apple’s *Unconditional* announcement, while another rejected the project outright: “Save your Zionist propaganda. We say no thanks.”

    Prominent Palestinian-American author Susan Abulhawa joined the criticism, framing the series as a calculated effort to shift public perception in the wake of widespread global outrage over Israel’s violence in Gaza. “This series is nothing more than a manipulation of public imagination and collective conscience in the wake of nearly three years of all of us seeing Israelis commit unspeakable carnage,” Abulhawa wrote. “They are working to literally engineer your thoughts in direct opposition to what you’ve seen in real life with your own eyes.”

    Media analyst Sana Saeed questioned the strategic logic of Apple’s investment, noting that Israel has become an increasingly divisive cultural and political taboo among younger generations of Americans, a key demographic for long-term streaming growth. “To be investing in anything Israeli – in any industry where you need to condition the young consumer as a long term, loyal and committed consumer – is an explicit and political choice not rooted in market research and brand growth, but in something transparently insidious,” Saeed wrote.

    The conflict extends far beyond Gaza, too: since February 2025, the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran has killed at least 3,600 Iranians, according to U.S.-based human rights organization HRANA, while an additional 2,100 people have been killed in Lebanon over the same period.

    Within hours of the trailer’s launch, critics uncovered a 2015 Instagram post from lead actor Talia Lynne Ronn captioned: “Whoever messes with us gets tear-gassed.” The post shows Ronn posing with a group of armed women, and additional photos from the same year appear to confirm Ronn served in the Israeli military during that period. One social media user labeled Ronn “the Israeli actress playing an IDF terrorist in the new Apple TV series” who “was of course an IDF terrorist in real life as well.”

    Middle East Eye has reached out to both Ronn and Apple TV+ to request a response to the criticism. The backlash has already translated into consumer action, with multiple users announcing they are canceling their Apple TV+ subscriptions and boycotting Apple products entirely. “I just canceled Apple TV. I will never purchase another Apple product. Thoroughly disgusted by this genocide propaganda,” one user posted.

    Additional scrutiny has been drawn by the series’ creative origins: *Unconditional* is produced by the same team behind *Homeland*, the long-running Showtime drama that was adapted from an original Israeli series and ran from 2011 to 2020. Throughout its run, *Homeland* faced persistent accusations of Islamophobia and harmful, inaccurate depictions of Middle Eastern cities and Muslim communities.

    Critics have pointed to multiple past examples of *Homeland*’s misleading framing: “I remember in the Homeland series they showed Islamabad as some slum city when in reality it is one of the most beautiful capitals on earth,” one commenter wrote. Another added, “Homeland once depicted Hamra Street in Beirut as some back alley shithole and funny enough they did the filming for that in Tel Aviv. Unsurprising that the writers are making Israeli slop now.” Back in 2012, then-Lebanese Tourism Minister Faddy Abboud even threatened legal action against the *Homeland* production team over the show’s negative and inaccurate depiction of Beirut.