Global Pulse

博客

  • US Senator Graham offered military support for Israeli war on Lebanon, new footage shows

    US Senator Graham offered military support for Israeli war on Lebanon, new footage shows

    As Washington prepares to lay longtime Republican Senator Lindsey Graham to rest just 24 hours ahead of his scheduled funeral, explosive unpublished footage from a three-year documentary project has laid bare the South Carolina lawmaker’s unfiltered private enthusiasm for the US-backed Israeli war on Iran, including a shocking unilateral offer of direct American military intervention to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for an expanded conflict in Lebanon.

    The never-before-seen clips were captured by British documentary filmmaker Alex Holder, who embedded with Graham between 2021 and 2024 to produce a film examining Graham’s close political ties to former President Donald Trump and Netanyahu. According to a Monday report from *The Wall Street Journal*, Holder was granted extraordinary access to Graham’s closed-door staff meetings on Capitol Hill, as well as private conversations between the senator and global leaders, including Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

    In one of the earliest clips, filmed five days after the US-Israeli invasion of Iran was launched, Graham can be seen watching Trump’s press briefing with his Capitol Hill staff, visibly elated as he reacts to the start of the conflict. “I almost cried. How long have we been pushing this?” Graham asked his team. He went on to praise Trump’s handling of the war, noting that many within the former president’s own administration had pushed back against launching military action. “Trump loves blowing stuff up. There were a lot of people inside that didn’t want to do it, so I’ve had my challenges. When he gets into the zone, he listens, asks good questions, no tweeting… He’s been a great wartime president.” Graham went on to compare the Trump-Netanyahu partnership to the iconic World War II alliance of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, calling the pair “the right two guys to confront this evil.”

    A second, even more controversial clip captures Graham during a speakerphone call with Netanyahu in his Senate office, where he extended a unilateral offer of direct US military participation in a potential Israeli offensive against Lebanon, amid heightened cross-border escalation between Israel and Hezbollah that accompanied the Iranian invasion. “I’m just so impressed, glad to be your friend,” Graham opened the call. “I’m going to meet with the president this weekend at Doral, Trump’s golf club in Florida. I’m going to try to get him to join with y’all in Lebanon, maybe fly some missions with you. Would you like that?” Netanyahu declined the overture, responding that Israel’s immediate military focus remained fixed on Iran, warning that a full-scale attack on Hezbollah would force the militant group into an all-out confrontation that would not serve Israeli interests. Graham accepted the rejection, framing the proposal as merely an exploratory idea and thanking Netanyahu for his input.

    A third clip, recorded as Graham rode in a vehicle, captures him on a call with former White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan laying out a sweeping timeline for the collapse of Iranian resistance. “To be honest with you, I think in three to four weeks we should have them in a spot where they start losing control of some cities,” Graham said of Iranian government control. “What we’re trying to do is just get a few cities to fall in the next month. Get the Arabs more openly involved by the end of the week, and just have almost irreversible momentum.” Five months after that call was recorded, that anticipated momentum has still failed to materialize, the Journal noted.

    The report also detailed behind-the-scenes friction between Graham and other senior Trump administration officials, outlined in unreleased conversations. Graham repeatedly criticized Trump’s top negotiators—Middle East peace envoy Steve Witkoff and the former president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner—arguing the pair were unfit to lead talks on Gaza and Iran. “I can’t do it with Jared, and I can’t do it with Witkoff. They’re just too conflicted. It’s gotta be Rubio,” Graham is quoted as saying, referencing Florida Senator Marco Rubio.

    Holder told the Journal that Graham enjoyed closer personal and political ties to Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman than any other sitting US official, and that he was extended royal-level treatment every time he traveled to Israel to meet with Netanyahu and leadership of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad. Graham privately complained repeatedly that most of Trump’s inner circle opposed the war on Iran and pushed for a negotiated settlement, creating constant obstacles to his long-held policy goals. “Very few people are out selling this war from the administration. I’m shocked,” he reportedly told the filmmaker. At the same time, he reveled in the heightened media attention he received after the war— which he had advocated for decades—began, telling the crew, “We could do a media show every two seconds.”

    Graham, 71, died suddenly earlier this month from an acute aortic dissection, just over 22 years after he was first elected to the US Senate in 2002. Over his two-decade Senate career, he established himself as one of the most vocal proponents of interventionist US foreign policy in Washington, drawing intense international criticism for his unwavering pro-war stance and staunch support for Israeli expansion. He was a consistent leading advocate for increased US military aid to Israel, including backing funding for Israeli illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. Israeli leaders have publicly hailed Graham as one of the country’s closest friends in Washington, with President Isaac Herzog emphasizing that his support for Israel never wavered.

    Throughout Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza, which has been labeled genocidal by multiple international human rights bodies and legal scholars, Graham repeatedly defended Israeli military actions and blocked congressional efforts to restrict US military aid to the country. His public comments repeatedly drew fierce condemnation from Palestinian rights groups, human rights organizations, and Muslim civil rights groups. In a July 2024 social media post that sparked widespread outrage, Graham described Gaza’s Palestinian population as “the most radicalized population on the planet who are taught to hate Jews from birth.” The Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the comments as hateful, absurd, and a promotion of dangerous racist stereotypes against Palestinians. Graham also drew heavy criticism for suggesting Israel should consider using military tactics comparable to the US atomic bombings of Japan in World War II, a remark opponents decried as dangerously inflammatory.

    In a 2019 visit to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, Graham declared Israeli security and prosperity to be a core US national interest, and publicly called on the US to formally recognize Israeli sovereignty over the territory, which it seized from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War. Earlier this year, he publicly blamed Saudi Arabia for refusing to join the US-Israeli coalition against Iran, and warned of unspecified “consequences” for any nation that declined to back military action against Tehran.

  • Israeli election campaign billboards in Cyprus spark debate

    Israeli election campaign billboards in Cyprus spark debate

    A controversial campaign billboard for Israeli opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot placed near Larnaca Airport in Cyprus has ignited widespread outrage, stirring debates over foreign political influence and national sovereignty on the Mediterranean island. The out-of-home ad, printed entirely in Hebrew for the upcoming Israeli national elections, greets passengers exiting the airport with the message: “Israelis, enjoy! You deserve it!” alongside a portrait of Eisenkot. A second billboard, positioned for travelers heading to departures, reads: “Have fun? Now come back and win!”

    The incident was first brought to public attention by Cypriot Member of the European Parliament Fidias Panayiotou, who shared photos of the billboards on social media on July 26, 2026. “This photo was not taken in Israel, but in my country, Cyprus,” Panayiotou wrote in his post. “This is simply not right. We must defend Cyprus’s sovereignty.” In a follow-up TikTok video, Panayiotou described the move as “particularly concerning” and “unacceptable,” and has proposed new legislation that would ban non-European Union countries from running domestic election campaign advertisements on Cypriot soil.

    The controversy comes amid shifting demographic and economic trends that have already fueled local unease. Cyprus has long been a top vacation spot for Israeli travelers, who made up the island’s second-largest group of international visitors in 2025. Following Israel’s military campaigns in Gaza, Iran and Lebanon, the island has recorded a sharp rise in both Israeli tourism and permanent relocation, with a growing number of Israelis purchasing residential and commercial property across coastal regions including Limassol, Paphos and Larnaca. The spread of Hebrew-language real estate advertising across public spaces has already drawn quiet concern from local communities, and the political campaign billboard has pushed those anxieties into the public mainstream.

    Melanie Steliou, a Cypriot actress and political activist, framed the debate as a question of reciprocal norms. “At a time when concerns are growing over the large-scale purchase of land and property by Israelis in Limassol, Paphos and Larnaca, this image raises legitimate questions about the limits of foreign economic and political influence in the public space of the Republic of Cyprus,” she wrote. “Would anyone expect to see a campaign billboard for a Cypriot or Greek politician on a motorway in the UK, Germany, Spain or Ireland?”

    Critics of the billboards are not limited to Cypriot communities. The ad has also drawn pushback from Israeli social media users, many of whom have criticized Eisenkot for bringing Israeli domestic political campaigning onto foreign territory. One Hebrew-language post commented: “This sign is… only fueling the conspiracy that Israel is ‘conquering’ Cyprus. Take down the sign.”

    In a statement on the incident, Niche Advertising, the Cypriot company that owns and leases the billboard space, clarified that it does not endorse Eisenkot or his political party, noting that the booking was processed as a standard commercial transaction.

    For context, Eisenkot is a former chief of the Israeli Defense Forces and previously served as a cabinet minister in Benjamin Netanyahu’s government between 2023 and 2024. He is best known as the architect of the widely condemned Dahieh Doctrine, a military strategy that advocates for the use of disproportionate force against civilian populations and infrastructure in areas where armed groups are believed to operate. Eisenkot launched his campaign for prime minister in June 2026 as the leader of the new Yashar (Straight Ahead) party, running on a platform that criticizes the Netanyahu government’s handling of security after the October 7 2023 Hamas attacks, promises a formal public inquiry into the attacks, and calls for universal mandatory military service that would end longstanding exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jewish men and extend service requirements to Israeli Palestinian citizens.

    Recent polling has positioned Eisenkot as the frontrunner in the upcoming October elections: a Channel 12 survey found that 43 percent of Israeli voters view him as their preferred prime minister, compared to just 34 percent supporting incumbent Netanyahu. Forecasts project Yashar will take 23 seats in the 120-member Knesset, while Netanyahu’s Likud party is projected to win 22 seats. Last week, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the Netanyahu administration is exploring measures to restrict voting access for Israeli citizens residing abroad, over fears that this demographic will overwhelmingly back opposition parties. With the election race tightening, courting Israeli voters traveling or living abroad has become a key strategic battleground for both major factions.

    Cyprus and Israel have deepened bilateral political, security and economic ties in recent years. The two nations signed a trilateral military cooperation agreement with Greece earlier in 2026, and Cyprus grants the Israeli military access to its airspace for training exercises. The growing Israeli economic presence on the island, particularly in the real estate sector, has become an increasingly divisive issue among Cypriot voters in recent months.

    As of publication, Middle East Eye had not received a response to requests for comment from Eisenkot’s campaign or the Cypriot High Commission in London.

  • Bab al-Mandeb: US war on Iran gives Houthis new leverage over Saudi Arabia

    Bab al-Mandeb: US war on Iran gives Houthis new leverage over Saudi Arabia

    Tensions across the Arabian Peninsula have reignited sharply in recent weeks, after a series of tit-for-tat attacks between Yemen’s Houthi movement and Saudi Arabia pushed a key global energy shipping chokepoint to the brink of disruption. The current crisis traces its roots back to a decision by the Houthis, formally known as Ansar Allah, to restart direct commercial flights between Yemen’s capital Sanaa and Tehran — a move that would have marked the first such connection since a Saudi-led military coalition intervened in Yemen’s civil war in 2015.

    For Riyadh, the resumption of these flights crossed a critical red line. Saudi officials and analysts view expanded direct air links between the Houthis and Iran as evidence of growing Iranian influence in northern Yemen, including the potential for unimpeded weapons transfers to the Houthi movement. Two weeks ago, Saudi warplanes launched strikes on Sanaa International Airport in response to the announcement, triggering a rapid escalation that has now pulled the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, a narrow waterway connecting the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, into the expanding regional conflict tied to the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran.

    “Just as direct Sanaa-Iran flights were a red line for the Saudis and its allied Yemeni government, the attack on Sanaa international airport was a red line for the Houthis,” explained Hamish Kinnear, principal Middle East and North Africa analyst at global risk consulting firm Maplecroft, in an interview with Middle East Eye.

    In the days following the airport strike, the Houthis followed through on their threats of retaliation: the group launched missile attacks against two Saudi cities, Jazan and Yanbu, and claimed responsibility for strikes on two Saudi oil vessels operating in the Red Sea. Saudi officials have confirmed one of the vessel attacks took place in the region.

    The timing of this escalation could not be more consequential for global energy markets. Following Iranian restrictions on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz after the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran, Saudi Arabia has redirected more than 70 percent of its crude oil exports through the Red Sea to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, making the Bab al-Mandeb route the kingdom’s primary outlet for global oil sales. Houthi threats of a “maritime embargo” on Saudi ports have now put this alternative export corridor directly at risk.

    Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree has made clear the group is prepared to ramp up actions in the coming days, saying: “We will not hesitate to expand our movements and escalate our steps based on the developments of the situation in the coming hours and days.”

    The Bab al-Mandeb currently handles roughly 12 percent of the world’s seaborne oil trade and 8 percent of global liquefied natural gas shipments, though shipping has not yet come to a complete stop. Many crude tankers bound for Asia continue to transit the waterway, a sign Kinnear says indicates both sides remain open to de-escalation. “This indicates that the Houthis are open to negotiations with the Saudis and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government, which has also suggested that it does not want to expand the confrontation,” he noted.

    Even so, any prolonged disruption to Bab al-Mandeb would leave global energy markets facing two major blocked oil chokepoints at once, a scenario that would send shockwaves through crude prices and force costly reroutes for Asian refiners. If the Bab al-Mandeb is closed to shipping, tankers carrying Saudi crude from Yanbu would need to sail through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean, around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, and then back to Asia — a detour that adds weeks of transit time and millions of dollars in extra costs per voyage.

    Saudi political analyst Khaled Almaeena, former editor-in-chief of Arab News, described the sudden escalation as “totally unexpected,” noting the Yemeni front had remained quiet for months and Riyadh had exercised significant restraint in the face of Iranian provocations. The 60-day ceasefire agreed under the June 17 Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding was fragile from its start, and ultimately collapsed after the U.S. violated a core provision of the deal: the agreement required all new shipping arrangements through the Strait of Hormuz during the ceasefire to be negotiated with Iran and Oman, but Washington unilaterally created a new route through Omani waters without consulting Tehran.

    That U.S. breach of the agreement reshaped the Houthis’ strategic position. With the Strait of Hormuz already a contested flashpoint, controlling pressure on the Bab al-Mandeb gives the Houthi movement far greater leverage over both the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. To date, Riyadh has avoided direct participation in the war against Iran, but continued Houthi attacks could make that restraint politically unsustainable.

    “To be quiet might be misconstrued as a sign of weakness, which the Saudis are not — they have the firepower and the will to use it,” Almaeena said, though he added that the kingdom still prefers to avoid full-scale conflict: “If the Houthis would like to negotiate peace its up to them because the kingdom would like to avoid unnecessary bloodshed.”

    The Houthis have repeatedly proven they are a resilient opponent that cannot be defeated through air power alone. In 2025, former U.S. President Donald Trump ramped up U.S. bombing campaigns against the group, then announced a withdrawal from the campaign two months later claiming the Houthis had “capitulated” — a claim that proved entirely unfounded. Like Saudi Arabia before it, the U.S. learned that sustained bombing does not force the Houthis into submission or cut off their popular support.

    Kinnear argues that the Houthi threat to Bab al-Mandeb is closely aligned with broader Iranian goals to disrupt global energy markets and keep pressure on the U.S., though it is not a case of the Houthis simply acting on Tehran’s orders. Rather than seeking to close the strait entirely, the current escalation is a deliberate demonstration of power: the Houthis can raise the economic cost for Saudi Arabia at any time they choose.

    For the Houthis, a limited, controlled escalation carries significant strategic benefits. Iran has already used its control over the Strait of Hormuz to extract concessions to fund its postwar reconstruction, and the Houthis now hold a similarly valuable leverage point: the ability to threaten Saudi Arabia’s only remaining major oil export route to global markets.

  • UK Supreme Court says no state immunity for Bahrain in surveillance case

    UK Supreme Court says no state immunity for Bahrain in surveillance case

    In a landmark ruling that sets a critical precedent for holding foreign states accountable for transnational repression, the UK Supreme Court has dismissed a appeal by the government of Bahrain for state immunity in a hacking case brought by two exiled Bahraini pro-democracy dissidents. The 3-2 majority decision cleared the way for a full civil damages claim to proceed, a outcome that opposition campaigners have described as a watershed moment for activists targeted by authoritarian regimes outside their home borders.

    The two claimants, Saeed Shehabi and Moosa Mohammed, launched their legal battle at London’s High Court back in 2020. Both long-term exiles opposed to Bahrain’s ruling Al Khalifa royal family, they allege that Bahraini intelligence operatives planted malicious spyware on their personal laptops in 2011, while the devices were located on UK soil. The surveillance, they claim, allowed Manama to track not just their own activities in exile, but also collect information on other overseas critics of the Bahraini government. The pair are seeking financial compensation for deliberate psychiatric harm inflicted by the years of unlawful monitoring.

    Writing in a post-ruling statement, Shehabi, who has spent decades in exile for his pro-democracy advocacy, called the decision the end point of a grueling multi-year legal fight. “It has taken many long and difficult years to reach this moment. The hardest part of being targeted by state-sponsored hacking is the feeling that nowhere is safe,” he said. The veteran dissident framed the ruling as a victory that extends far beyond his own case, extending to every activist targeted by authoritarian governments operating beyond their official national boundaries. He dedicated the outcome to the people of Bahrain and the families of those killed during the kingdom’s post-2011 crackdown on dissent, who he said lost their lives under torture and repression solely for demanding justice and an end to authoritarian rule.

    The legal action comes against a long backdrop of sustained repression of opposition voices in Bahrain, which intensified after the 2011 Arab Spring pro-democracy uprisings that swept across the Middle East and North Africa. In the wake of those protests, Bahraini authorities launched a widespread crackdown that led to the arrest of thousands of pro-democracy campaigners and activists. The repression has not been limited to the kingdom’s borders: security services have repeatedly been documented targeting exiled dissidents who have built new lives in Europe, the UK, and North America.

    Mohammed, the second claimant, echoed Shehabi’s praise for the court’s decision, noting that he has been targeted by the Bahraini regime since he was a teenager, experiencing torture, imprisonment, and transnational pursuit. He dedicated the ruling to political detainees still held in Bahraini prisons, who continue to face abuse behind bars. “Today should give them hope that accountability is possible,” he said. Bahrain’s government has repeatedly and categorically denied all allegations of hacking and unlawful surveillance put forward by the two dissidents.

    Legal analysts note that the ruling marks a significant shift in how UK courts address transnational repression, confirming that acts of espionage and harm committed on UK soil by foreign states cannot be shielded by claims of state immunity. For pro-democracy campaigners, the outcome opens a new pathway for legal recourse for activists targeted by foreign governments on British territory.

  • Ahead of Israel’s elections, Bennett rejects two-state solution as Eisenkot surges in polls

    Ahead of Israel’s elections, Bennett rejects two-state solution as Eisenkot surges in polls

    As Israel prepares for one of the most consequential general elections in its modern history on October 27, opposition figure and former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has drawn a sharp line in his policy platform, stating he will block the creation of an independent Palestinian state even if it derails potential normalization agreements with Saudi Arabia. In an exclusive interview with Israeli Channel 12, Bennett doubled down on his long-held hardline stance, saying plainly, “I am not giving up territory, period.”

    The upcoming election is widely framed as a referendum that could end the decade-long tenure of incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing Likud Party, as shifting polling numbers show opposition factions gaining momentum ahead of the vote. A recent survey published by Israeli daily Maariv puts Netanyahu’s Likud in second place with a projected 20 seats in parliament, trailing former Israeli army chief Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar Party, which hit a record high of 23 projected seats. Bennett’s own Together party sits third in current polling with 17 projected seats, positioning him as a key power broker in any post-election coalition negotiations.

    Bennett used the interview to position himself as the only leader capable of sweeping institutional reform in Israel, declaring, “I am the most suitable person to lead the historical correction that needs to be made here in the State of Israel.” Beyond his foreign policy stances, Bennett outlined his top domestic priority: advancing sweeping reforms to integrate ultra-Orthodox Haredi communities into the national workforce and end their long-standing exemption from compulsory military service. The exemption has been one of the most contentious domestic political issues in Israel for decades, as successive governments have failed to reach a consensus on reform amid growing Haredi population growth. Netanyahu has consistently protected the exemption to preserve his political alliance with Haredi political parties, a position both Bennett and Eisenkot have publicly criticized.

    During the interview, Channel 12’s presenter repeatedly pressed Bennett on his refusal to answer questions about the Palestinian statehood issue and whether his 2021–2022 coalition government with centrist former Prime Minister Yair Lapid was a failure, accusing Bennett of dodging key questions. Bennett deflected the criticism, reiterating that his sole focus is overhauling Israeli leadership and advancing long-stalled domestic reforms that have not been addressed since the country’s founding.

    Bennett’s opposition to a two-state solution is consistent with his long political record: he has spent decades advocating for policies that block Palestinian statehood. In 2018, while serving in a previous government, he went as far as to say that if he held the defense minister post, he would implement a “shoot-to-kill” policy for all Palestinians attempting to cross the Gaza-Israel border. When pressed on whether that policy would extend to children, Bennett infamously replied, “They are not children. They are terrorists.”

    Unlike Bennett, who has held multiple senior cabinet positions including prime minister, defense minister, economy minister and education minister, Eisenkot hails from an exclusively military background, serving as the Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff from 2015 to 2019. Born to Moroccan immigrants, Eisenkot is best known as the architect of the controversial “Dahieh doctrine,” an Israeli military strategy that calls for the use of disproportionate force against civilian infrastructure in areas where armed groups are believed to operate. Eisenkot has gained widespread public sympathy across Israel after his son and two nephews were killed serving in the Israeli military during offensives in Gaza.

    On foreign policy, Eisenkot has broken with Bennett, publicly pushing for closer diplomatic and security ties with Saudi Arabia, which has not yet joined the U.S.-backed Abraham Accords normalization agreements between Israel and Arab states. A two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains a core requirement for any Saudi normalization with Israel, making Bennett’s hardline stance a potential major barrier to a future coalition that advances normalization talks. Eisenkot has said Israel is willing to share intelligence with Riyadh to counter what both parties frame as Iranian regional aggression.

    Eisenkot currently faces a critical political dilemma as he works to build a coalition majority. While he needs the parliamentary support of Israeli Arab parties to secure a governing majority, inviting those parties into a coalition would almost certainly alienate his centrist and right-wing base of voters. The shifting dynamics of the election leave Israel at a crossroads, with the outcome set to reshape both the country’s domestic policy and its regional diplomatic prospects for years to come.

  • Watch: Police officers free owl tangled in football net

    Watch: Police officers free owl tangled in football net

    A remarkable story of quick compassion and careful action unfolded recently in Avon, Ohio, when two local police officers stepped in to save a wild owl that had become dangerously entangled in a football net.

    The incident, which was captured on camera, shows the two law enforcement members approaching the distressed bird with deliberate calm, well aware that a sudden or clumsy move could worsen the animal’s injuries. Working slowly and with great focus, they used cutting tools to carefully snip away the netting that had wrapped around the owl’s body and wings, taking care not to nick the creature’s skin or damage its feathers.

    Once the last strands of netting were removed, the owl was gently released. To the relief of the officers and any onlookers present, the bird showed no visible signs of harm, and immediately stretched its wings and took flight back into the surrounding wild.

    This heartwarming rescue highlights the often unseen acts of care that public safety officials carry out beyond their regular law enforcement duties, extending their protection to vulnerable wildlife in the community.

  • How a bridge became a symbol of US-Canada tensions

    How a bridge became a symbol of US-Canada tensions

    After years of planning and construction, the Gordie Howe International Bridge, a infrastructure project designed to connect the United States and Canada across the Detroit River, has finally opened its lanes to commercial and passenger vehicle traffic. But what was meant to be a landmark celebration of cross-border collaboration has instead emerged as a stark symbol of the growing frictions between the two North American neighbors, opening against a backdrop of simmering trade tensions that have strained their longstanding economic partnership.

    For decades, the crossing has been hailed as a transformative project that would cut congestion at existing border checkpoints, slash transit times for commercial freight, and boost economic activity on both sides of the river. Spanning nearly 1.5 miles, the bridge connects Detroit, Michigan, in the US with Windsor, Ontario in Canada – two cities at the heart of the $700 billion annual cross-border trade relationship between the two countries. When the first motorists rolled across the new span this week, officials from both nations acknowledged the infrastructure milestone, but the festive mood was undercut by ongoing disagreements over trade policy that have raised tensions in recent months.

    The trade row that has overshadowed the opening centers on a range of lingering disputes, from US tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum implemented in previous years to disagreements over dairy market access and clean energy subsidy rules that have created frictions in the post-USMCA trade era. Analysts note that while the bridge itself is designed to facilitate smoother trade flows, its launch amid ongoing disagreements highlights how political tensions can overshadow even the most ambitious cross-border infrastructure projects. What was intended to stand as a monument to cooperation has instead become a talking point for critics on both sides, who point to the unresolved disputes as evidence of growing rifts in the bilateral relationship.

    Despite the tensions, many business leaders on both sides of the border still emphasize the long-term benefits of the bridge. They argue that once trade disputes are resolved, the new crossing will deliver significant economic gains, reducing supply chain delays that have cost businesses millions of dollars annually. For now, however, the Gordie Howe International Bridge carries a symbolic weight that extends far beyond its role as a transportation link: it serves as a reminder of how closely the economic fates of the US and Canada are tied, even as political disagreements continue to test their partnership.

  • US Secret Service agent among three charged over alleged violent fraternity hazing

    US Secret Service agent among three charged over alleged violent fraternity hazing

    A violent, abuse-driven hazing scandal at one of Florida’s most prominent higher education institutions has led to the arrest of three people, including an active-duty United States Secret Service agent, according to official court and law enforcement records. The accused are 29-year-old Marquez Pinder, the Secret Service agent named as the fraternity’s pledge oversight officer, 26-year-old Lamar James, and 29-year-old Elijah Delano Dyous. All three face severe felony charges: organized hazing, attempted manslaughter, and aggravated battery using a deadly weapon.

    Details laid out in an official arrest warrant acquired by major U.S. media outlets paint a brutal picture of the four-day hazing campaign, which unfolded across multiple off-campus residential properties near the University of Miami’s Coral Gables campus. Investigations from the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office confirm the hazing ritual included repeated, prolonged beatings carried out with wooden paddles and solid canes. The violence was triggered when prospective new members failed to answer questions about fraternity history and protocol correctly.

    Two student recruits were hospitalized as a result of the assault. One victim, a current law student, suffered acute kidney failure that required urgent, life-saving surgery. Court documents note that without prompt emergency medical intervention, the young man would have died from his injuries, and he continues to experience severe chronic pain months after the attack. Both injured students were going through the membership intake process for the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity chapter at the university, according to official records.

    In the aftermath of the arrest, Michael Townsend, head of the Secret Service’s Miami field office, confirmed that Pinder has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the criminal investigation. Townsend emphasized in an official statement that the agency “takes seriously any criminal allegations involving one of our employees” and is fully cooperating with local law enforcement and prosecutorial investigations. The BBC has reached out to Pinder’s legal representation for comment on the charges, but no statement has been released as of press time.

    Miami-Dade State Attorney Kathrine Fernandez Rundle released a public statement reaffirming the severity of hazing under Florida state law, noting that “hazing is abuse and it is a crime.” She added that harmful hazing rituals have too often resulted in severe lifelong injury or death for young recruits across the country. This arrest marks the latest in a string of high-profile hazing prosecutions across the United States; earlier this month, a Pennsylvania college football coach was among those charged in connection with a separate violent hazing incident at his institution.

  • ‘This is a Jewish state’: Arabic banned at work for Palestinian citizens of Israel

    ‘This is a Jewish state’: Arabic banned at work for Palestinian citizens of Israel

    For 19-year-old Salma, a Palestinian citizen of Israel working at a retail shop, a routine workplace message from her manager upended her sense of safety and belonging. The instruction was clear: all staff were banned from speaking Arabic while on the job. Salma and her predominantly Palestinian colleagues first dismissed the order as absurd, but a rapid, hostile escalation quickly changed their minds.

    When one coworker briefly spoke Arabic to announce she was moving a box to the storeroom – even inserting the Hebrew word for storeroom to clarify the work-related conversation – the manager exploded in anger. “She started shouting, kicking boxes and telling us we were forbidden to speak Arabic,” Salma recalled. The manager’s final rebuke encapsulated the prejudice driving the ban: “This is a Jewish state. Here we speak only Hebrew. Arabic stays at home.”

    Salma’s experience is far from an isolated incident. Over recent months, Palestinian workers across Israel have reported a growing wave of workplace Arabic-speaking bans, with complaints spanning retail outlets, pharmacies, and public hospitals. One of the highest-profile recent cases unfolded at a Good Pharm branch in the coastal city of Jaffa, where local media obtained WhatsApp messages showing a manager threatening workers caught speaking any language other than Hebrew. The manager justified the ban by claiming Arabic could upset customers traumatized by the October 7 attacks. In a statement, Good Pharm said it is committed to equality, employs people from all communities, and would address the manager’s behavior internally. But Palestinian workers say no meaningful changes have followed the public disclosure.

    In Salma’s case, the ban extended even beyond customer interactions: it remained in place when the shop was closed and no customers were present, with only Palestinian staff on site. When Salma and her colleagues protested the policy, the company responded by removing them from the work schedule for nearly two months, then offering transfers to distant branches that were practically unreachable. “Instead of removing the manager or holding her accountable, the company preferred to ask us to change our workplace,” Salma said. While the retail chain has publicly condemned racism and discrimination, the experience has left a lasting mark on Salma, who is preparing to begin university this year. She says she now feels deep anxiety about entering another majority-Jewish work or academic environment. “I had heard about racism before this, but I never understood the feeling until now,” she said. “It was the first time I understood what it means for someone to treat you badly simply because of your identity.”

    Palestinian citizens of Israel are the descendants of the native population of historic Palestine who remained in their lands after the 1948 Nakba, when Zionist militias displaced an estimated 750,000 Palestinians to establish the state of Israel. Today, the community makes up roughly 20 percent of Israel’s total population, numbering around two million people. Since the October 2023 outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war, Palestinian citizens have faced a sharp rise in arrests, professional disciplinary action, and job losses linked to their political expression regarding the conflict in Gaza.

    Legal advocates who represent Palestinian workers warn that the public cases that have emerged are only a small fraction of the total number of discriminatory incidents taking place across the country. What has shifted, they argue, is not the existence of anti-Palestinian discrimination in workplaces, but the open confidence with which employers now impose discriminatory policies. Alya Zoabi, an employment lawyer who specializes in representing Palestinian workers, told Middle East Eye that her office has seen a dramatic jump in racism-related workplace claims. “Most of the cases now reaching my office from Jewish workplaces involve racism,” she said. “There has been a significant increase.”

    Zoabi shared details of two extreme cases her office has handled recently: one involved a young Palestinian employee who suffered a full panic attack after months of ongoing discrimination from her manager. When an ambulance was called to the workplace, the employer forced the worker to go to the hospital alone. In a second case, a pregnant Palestinian employee was fired without obtaining the legally required authorization for dismissing a pregnant worker.

    The growing push to ban Arabic in workplaces builds on a 2018 controversial piece of Israeli legislation: the Nation-State Law, which enshrined Hebrew as the country’s only official language, downgrading Arabic from an official language to one with “special status.” While the law preserved the practical use of Arabic in government services, public signage, and education, Palestinian communities report that pressure to suppress public expressions of their cultural and linguistic identity has intensified steadily in the years since the law passed.

    From a legal perspective, the biggest barrier to holding discriminatory employers accountable is not the absence of rules against bias, but the difficulty of proving an employer’s discriminatory motive to meet Israel’s court standards. Israel’s Equal Employment Opportunities Law prohibits discrimination on the basis of nationality, race, and religion, but it does not explicitly guarantee the right to use any language in all workplace settings. Legal experts note that a full, blanket ban on Arabic – particularly for private conversations or in roles where Hebrew is not required for job duties – can qualify as unlawful discrimination, but enforcement of this standard remains deeply uneven.

    “But formal legal protection means little when enforcement is slow, costly and uncertain,” Zoabi explained. She added that since October 7, there has been a clear leniency toward employers in discrimination cases that cannot be ignored. Claims that would normally be worth tens of thousands of shekels in compensation often end in settlements that award workers only a small fraction of that amount. The high cost and low odds of success discourage both workers and their legal representatives from pursuing claims, even when discrimination is obvious. Both Salma and the Good Pharm employee ultimately abandoned their plans to file lawsuits after being advised the cases would drag on for years, cost more than they could afford, and have little chance of a ruling in their favor. As a Palestinian woman working within Israel’s legal system, Zoabi says she experiences the impact of this discrimination firsthand. “When I stand in court, I feel I am both the lawyer and the client,” she said. “As a Palestinian woman in Israel, I experience this racism too.”

    (Note: The source’s name has been changed to protect their identity, per the original reporting)

  • Wildfire now nine miles away from French city of Bordeaux, mayor warns

    Wildfire now nine miles away from French city of Bordeaux, mayor warns

    As Europe grapples with accelerating climate change that has pushed regional temperatures far above the global average, a catastrophic wave of wildfires has sparked national emergencies in two neighboring Western European nations, overwhelming emergency responders and forcing mass evacuations. The situation in France’s Gironde region, one of the worst-hit areas, has been described as “unprecedented” by top French officials, with a massive blaze that continues to defy containment efforts less than 15 kilometers from the major southwestern city of Bordeaux.

    Bordeaux Mayor Thomas Cazenave announced that municipal authorities are mobilizing emergency resources to prepare for every possible outcome, including large-scale additional evacuations. “We are putting plans in place to accommodate a surge of displaced residents if new evacuation orders are issued,” Cazenave stated. For his part, French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez emphasized that firefighters on the ground are confronting an out-of-control blaze with unpredictable behavior, noting that the active fire “has a life of its own.”

    Jerome Steffe, mayor of the Gironde town of Cestas located just south of Bordeaux, called the ongoing inferno “the fire of the century.” Just two days prior, rapid expansion of the blaze forced emergency crews to evacuate all 17,000 Cestas residents overnight. So far across the Gironde region, wildfires have charred more than 42,000 hectares of land and destroyed 240 residential structures. “In my city, the situation is truly catastrophic,” Steffe told reporters. While the fire’s forward spread has slowed in recent days, Steffe warned that first responders have only claimed a small victory, with persistent risks from flying embers and sudden wind shifts that could reignite active flames. “All of our resources are focused on building protective firebreaks,” Steffe explained, “but we are all scared facing this magnitude of disaster.”

    French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu confirmed that the country is experiencing its most extreme wildfire season on record. In a social media post on X from Monday, Lecornu reported that 116,085 hectares of land have burned across France since the start of January, with more than 13,500 separate fire outbreaks recorded. The prime minister added that nine out of every 10 wildfires in the country are linked to human activity, most starting from simple carelessness: an improperly discarded cigarette butt, an unattended outdoor barbecue, or unregulated outdoor work without fire safety precautions. Crucially, Lecornu also noted that not all blazes are accidental, confirming that some have been intentionally set. Since July 6 alone, French law enforcement has made 162 arrests related to arson in connection with the wildfires. To highlight national support for emergency crews, French President Emmanuel Macron is currently touring fire-ravaged areas of Gironde to meet with firefighters and response teams.

    Wildfires are not isolated to Gironde; active blazes are also burning across multiple other French regions, including Var, Landes, and Haute-Corse on the island of Corsica. To date, more than 220,000 people have been evacuated from high-risk areas across France.

    Across the border in neighboring Spain, the situation is equally dire, with the country entering its fifth day of a national state of emergency on Monday as uncontrolled wildfires burn west of the capital Madrid. Analysis of satellite imagery by BBC Verify confirms that the merged fire complex west of Madrid has already scorched more than 27,000 hectares, after separate blazes in the Almorox, Villa del Prado, and San Martín de Valdeiglesias areas combined into a single massive inferno. Images captured on July 24 and 26 show the rapid expansion of the burn scar over just 48 hours, with the blaze leaving behind a trail of destruction that has turned the village of Casavieja into what local observers describe as a “car cemetery” of burned-out vehicles. Local Spanish officials have called the outbreak the worst wildfire event in the region’s history, with more than 100,000 people evacuated across the country so far.

    A forecast new intense heatwave set to arrive in the region on Tuesday is expected to worsen conditions for firefighters, with higher temperatures, lower humidity, and potential shifting winds creating new risks for further fire expansion. Climate scientists have long warned that this type of extreme wildfire event is becoming more frequent as a result of human-caused climate change. According to data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service, Europe is warming twice as fast as the global average, a trend that has amplified the frequency and intensity of summer heatwaves, strained regional water supplies, and created ideal conditions for larger, more destructive wildfires across the continent.