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  • UN General Assembly 2026: Walkout during Netanyahu’s speech, and Middle East wars in spotlight

    UN General Assembly 2026: Walkout during Netanyahu’s speech, and Middle East wars in spotlight

    As the United Nations General Assembly entered its fourth day of deliberations, the fallout from the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran and the long-running Israel-Palestine conflict remained the centerpiece of global debate, with leaders from across regions and blocs laying out starkly diverging positions on the crises and their far-reaching global impacts.

    For vulnerable economies already grappling with years of internal instability, the ripple effects of the current conflicts have proven devastating, Somalia’s President Mohamed Hassan Sheikh Mohamud told the assembly. The East African nation, which depends almost entirely on imports of food and fuel from the Middle East and relies heavily on customs revenue to fund state operations, has seen steep price hikes for essential goods and a 40 percent collapse in customs collections since the conflict escalated, Mohamud said. Disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global chokepoint for energy trade, have triggered disproportionate harm to developing nations like his own, he added, stressing that unimpeded, free navigation through the waterway is non-negotiable to protect the world’s most vulnerable economies. Turning to the Israel-Palestine conflict, Mohamud emphasized that a just, negotiated resolution to the Palestinian question remains a foundational requirement for lasting peace across the Middle East and the wider world, affirming that Somalia stands in unwavering solidarity with the Palestinian people and their internationally recognized right to self-determination and sovereign statehood.

    European Union Council President Antonio Costa opened his address by reaffirming the bloc’s unshakeable commitment to multilateralism, arguing that no single nation can deliver durable peace in an increasingly interconnected world. While he did not explicitly name the United States’ repeated attacks on the International Criminal Court, Costa issued a clear warning against the spread of double standards in the application of international law, and pledged the EU’s full, unwavering support for both the ICC and the International Court of Justice. “We support these courts firmly, and we will defend their independence, integrity and ability to fully carry out their mandate,” he stated, condemning ongoing targeting of the court. The United States has already imposed sweeping sanctions on multiple senior ICC officials, including court president Tomoko Akane and senior trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye, who were sanctioned in August. Former chief prosecutor Karim Khan was the first to be targeted last February, followed by two deputy prosecutors and nine judges leading investigations into alleged atrocities in Palestine and Afghanistan. Multiple reports this week have confirmed Washington is preparing to roll out even broader sanctions against the court in the coming weeks.

    Costa also indirectly pushed back against former U.S. President Donald Trump’s claims of having achieved a lasting peace deal for Gaza, noting that Israeli military operations in the enclave have continued despite a 2025 ceasefire agreement. Stating that the EU regrets the ongoing stalemate in Gaza and across the occupied Palestinian territories, Costa reaffirmed the bloc’s longstanding position that a two-state solution remains the only viable path to durable peace in the Middle East. Unlike many critics of the current conflict, Costa did not condemn the US-Israeli campaign against Iran, instead saying the EU supports diplomatic efforts to find a negotiated resolution to the standoff. He reiterated the EU’s longstanding policy that Iran must never be permitted to acquire nuclear weapons, and expressed hope that the Iranian people will one day live in conditions of peace, security and full freedom. Costa also joined global calls for unconditional, unhindered freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.

    Yemen’s Vice President Abdullah Abdulkader al-Alimi-Bawzer used his address to condemn the Houthi militia and urge the global community to unite against the group, which he accused of advancing Iran’s geopolitical agenda at the expense of regional and global security. Alimi-Bawzer noted that the Yemeni people have endured 12 years of crisis since the Houthi coup against the internationally recognized government, adding that Yemeni authorities have repeatedly supported a Saudi- and Omani-backed peace initiative that the Houthis have rejected. Instead of engaging in negotiations, the militia has escalated attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb, he said, turning one of the world’s most critical maritime trade routes into a bargaining chip for Iran’s global confrontation. “The Houthi militia’s use of the safety of navigation as a tool for blackmail threatens not only Yemen. It is taking hostage the entire global economy,” al-Alimi-Bawzer said. He argued that long-term maritime security in the Red Sea, Bab el-Mandeb and the Gulf of Aden cannot be achieved as long as an armed non-state militia controls critical Yemeni coastline, stressing that restoring the sovereign Yemeni state and securing the Bab el-Mandeb waterway are inseparable goals.

    Kuwait’s Crown Prince Sabah Al Khaled used his address to the UN Security Council to condemn what he called illegal Iranian aggression against his country, describing the attacks as a blatant violation of core principles of international law. “These brutal attacks have systematically and repeatedly targeted civilian objects and critical infrastructure… revealing a hostile approach aimed at disrupting the foundations of life,” he said. Al Khaled noted that the security and stability of the Arabian Gulf region is a core pillar of global security, as the ongoing conflict and its spillover have clearly demonstrated. Kuwait has been among the Gulf states hardest hit by Iranian retaliation for the US-Israeli campaign against the Islamic Republic: as host to tens of thousands of U.S. troops and multiple major U.S. military bases, both American facilities and key civilian infrastructure including Kuwait International Airport and national energy sites have been targeted in recent attacks. The country is also exceptionally vulnerable to Iranian disruptions of Strait of Hormuz shipping, as nearly 100 percent of Kuwait’s oil exports are transported via tanker through the waterway. Turning to Palestine, the crown prince reaffirmed Kuwait’s firm, principled position condemning ongoing violations by Israeli occupation forces against the Palestinian people, noting that Palestinians continue to endure brutal living conditions under Israeli policies of displacement, mass arrest and expanding settlement construction. He also praised France and the United Kingdom for their recent decision to impose new sanctions on trade with Israeli goods produced in illegal West Bank settlements. Al Khaled also joined growing global calls for reform of the UN Security Council, arguing that the body must adapt to shifting global power dynamics to remain effective. “There is an urgent need for the council to become more representative, effective and transparent in carrying out its responsibilities,” he said.

    The day’s most dramatic confrontation came during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pugnacious address to the General Assembly, where the Israeli leader launched aggressive attacks on critics ranging from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Western European leaders, as he works to counter growing international isolation for Israel and his government. When Netanyahu took the podium, the assembly hall erupted in loud boos, and a majority of delegates walked out of the chamber in protest. Undeterred, Netanyahu struck a defiant tone, challenging remaining critics to leave. “If there are any other moral cowards who haven’t left this hall, please do so now,” he said with a smile before beginning his prepared remarks.

    Netanyahu devoted a large portion of his address to attacking Mayor Mamdani, accusing the New York leader of capitulating to what he called antisemitic protests. “Mr Mamdani, since you were elected mayor of this city, many Jews no longer feel safe in New York,” Netanyahu shouted. “Mr Mamdani, you tried to stop me from coming here. You tried to silence me. Well, you can’t silence me. You can’t silence the truth.” Outside the UN headquarters, hundreds of protesters gathered ahead of Netanyahu’s arrival and continued demonstrations throughout his speech, echoing widespread global anger at Israel’s ongoing military campaigns across the Middle East. Analysts noted that Netanyahu’s combative address was largely targeted at a domestic American audience and Jewish diaspora voters, coming ahead of Israel’s national elections scheduled for October. Netanyahu’s speech underscored the deepening rift between Israel and much of the international community even as the country expands its military campaigns against multiple neighbors, including Lebanon, Syria, Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

  • Netanyahu paints Israel’s critics as ‘antisemites’ in angry UN speech to near-empty hall

    Netanyahu paints Israel’s critics as ‘antisemites’ in angry UN speech to near-empty hall

    When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stepped up to the podium at the United Nations General Assembly this week, he was met with a cascade of boos and a mass walkout of delegates, a striking public demonstration of Israel’s deepening international isolation over its ongoing military campaign in Gaza and occupation of Palestinian territory. Undeterred by the protest, Netanyahu opened his address with a sharp jab at the departing delegates, quipping, “If there are any other moral cowards who haven’t left this hall, please do so now,” as General Assembly President repeatedly called for order to quiet the disruptive chamber.

    The pugnacious speech saw Netanyahu target a wide range of critics, from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and major European powers, framing his aggressive tone as a defense of Israel’s right to exist amid mounting global condemnation. A large share of his opening criticism was reserved for Mamdani, whom he accused of capitulating to what he called “antisemitic mobs” and eroding safety for Jewish New Yorkers. Netanyahu also pushed back against Mamdani’s efforts to block his UN appearance, declaring “You can’t silence me. You can’t silence the truth.” Even before Netanyahu entered the UN compound, hundreds of anti-Israel, pro-Palestine protesters gathered outside the building, continuing their demonstration through the duration of his address.

    Political analysts have noted that much of the speech was tailored to two key audiences: American voters and domestic Israeli constituents ahead of the country’s scheduled October national elections, with Netanyahu leaning into partisan rhetoric targeting progressive American politics and courting pro-Israel conservative supporters.

    On foreign policy, Netanyahu framed the recent joint US-Israeli military strikes against Iranian targets as a clear victory, claiming credit for devastating Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. He defended his decision to greenlight the attacks, saying “Devastating Iran’s nuclear facilities was hard. It was very hard to do. But for me, it was one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever had to make as prime minister.” He added that he had made a public promise to block Iran’s Islamist government from developing nuclear weapons that he claimed would target Israel and threaten global security. In a provocative symbolic gesture, Netanyahu held up a Starlink satellite internet receiver during the address, announcing he would leave the device for Iran’s UN delegation. Western intelligence sources have confirmed that the US and Israel have worked to supply Starlink terminals to Iranian anti-government dissidents to help them evade state internet censorship during anti-regime protests, and Netanyahu stated the device would allow dissidents to “freely tell their story on social media” if they flee the country. As of yet, the joint strikes have failed to topple the Iranian government, and Iran has responded by reasserting its military control over the strategic Strait of Hormuz, while its allied Houthi movement in Yemen has consolidated control over key territory along the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

    Netanyahu opened his address on the ongoing Gaza conflict by reaffirming his condemnation of the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack that killed roughly 1,200 people in southern Israel, which he called the darkest day in Israeli history. However, he repeated multiple graphic accusations about the attack that have been repeatedly debunked by independent investigators, academic researchers, and even Israeli eyewitnesses. In his remarks, he claimed Hamas “slaughtered Holocaust survivors, they burned babies alive in front of their parents. They beheaded our men, they brutally raped our women, and then they murdered them.”

    In response to the October 7 attack, Israel launched a large-scale military invasion and bombardment of Gaza that has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians to date, the vast majority of them civilians, and injured nearly 175,000 more. The United Nations and dozens of leading global human rights organizations have formally designated Israel’s military campaign in Gaza as a genocide, and the International Criminal Court has issued active arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

    Netanyahu described Israel as fighting a “seven-front war” across the region, praising Israeli soldiers as fighting “like lions,” and pushed back against the countries whose delegates walked out, claiming many of their leaders privately thank Israel for its strikes on Iranian nuclear targets. He doubled down on criticism of European powers that have imposed new trade sanctions on goods from the Israeli-occupied West Bank, calling out Britain and France for what he labeled hypocrisy over colonialism. “They accuse Israel, tiny Israel, of colonialism – some colonialism. And who’s accusing us? Among them are people in Britain and in France. For God’s sake, they invented the term,” he said. Later, he revised his count upward to an “eight-front war,” adding critical global media coverage of Israel’s actions to his list of active adversaries.

    The Israeli leader went after a string of regional leaders, responding to recent comments by Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa condemning Israel’s illegal occupation of the Golan Heights by claiming “Jews have been on the Golan Heights since the days of Moses.” He also launched a blistering attack on Qatar and the Al Jazeera media network, and labeled Turkey a “super-spreader of antisemitic lies,” calling Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “a tyrant” who “calls for Israel’s destruction almost every single day.”

    The only foreign leader Netanyahu singled out for praise during his address was former US President Donald Trump, declaring “We have no greater partner than President Trump. I thank him.”

    On the issue of growing violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank, Netanyahu dismissed the scale of the unrest, downplaying attacks that have drawn widespread global condemnation. Earlier this week, Jordanian King Abdullah II accused Israel of carrying out de facto annexation of the West Bank and committing war crimes against Palestinian civilians there. In response, Netanyahu claimed only “a handful of young juvenile delinquents, about 150 in number, who throw stones, who chop down olive trees” were responsible for unrest in the territory. He also rebranded the West Bank by its biblical name Judea and Samaria, and claimed Hamas maintains a strong active presence there, in remarks widely interpreted as laying political groundwork for future large-scale military escalation in the occupied territory.

  • Senate edges closer to vote on Israeli accountability for US citizens killed in West Bank, Democrat says

    Senate edges closer to vote on Israeli accountability for US citizens killed in West Bank, Democrat says

    A push to compel accountability from Israel over the deaths of nine American citizens and the detention of three additional U.S. nationals in the occupied West Bank is set to reach a Senate vote as early as next week, according to Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, who announced the timeline Thursday.

    A longstanding advocate for Palestinian human rights and stricter oversight of U.S. military assistance to Israel, Van Hollen introduced Senate Resolution 852 earlier this month. The resolution is rooted in Section 502(b) of the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act, a little-used provision that grants congressional lawmakers the right to formally request the State Department produce human rights compliance reports for nations that receive American foreign aid.

    Israel currently holds the status of the largest single recipient of U.S. foreign assistance, with a planned $3.3 billion in aid allocated for 2025.

    Speaking during a virtual discussion hosted by the IMEU Policy Project this Thursday, Van Hollen expressed cautious optimism about the resolution’s path, noting that 24 Senate Democrats have already co-sponsored the measure.

    “These are Democratic senators who have put their names on the resolution, which is definitely progress from where we were two years ago when fighting for human rights for Palestinians, whether in Gaza or the West Bank, [it] was a lonely effort,” he told attendees of the session.

    As a privileged resolution, the measure bypasses standard Senate scheduling queues after a set period following introduction, allowing it to be brought directly to a floor vote due to its urgent nature for public accountability. If the vote fails to proceed next week, however, it will be pushed to the post-election legislative session following the November 3 midterm contests, Van Hollen confirmed. He has called on American constituents to contact their senators immediately in a final push to secure additional support ahead of the vote.

    “We’re at a moment where we see growing recognition throughout the public that is slowly filtering up and slowly having an impact on the bubble that is the United States Congress, and so I think that this is a moment where we can use the fact that American citizens are not getting accountability and justice to shine the light on the fact that Palestinian children and others in the West Bank are subjected to these kinds of abuses every single day,” Van Hollen said.

    The biggest barrier to passage, Van Hollen noted, is the complete lack of Republican backing: not a single one of the Senate’s 53 Republican members has agreed to support the resolution calling for accountability. The chamber is currently split 53-47 in favor of Republicans, and a tied vote would be broken by Republican Vice President JD Vance, who is widely expected to oppose the measure.

    The resolution comes one month after 45 Senate Democrats signed an open letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, urging him to take personal, direct action to protect U.S. citizens and their families operating in the occupied West Bank. The letter highlighted a sharp recent surge in bilateral violence that has prompted large-scale Israeli security deployments, mass Palestinian arrests, and multiple reported attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinian religious sites and communities.

    “We urge you to take measures to prevent and intercede in this violence, establish a credible mechanism to investigate violations of law, and to make clear that the Government of Israel will not tolerate violence by its people, just as it does not tolerate violence against its people,” the letter stated, adding that Israel must launch full, transparent investigations into the deaths of the nine U.S. citizens.

    To date, high-profile deaths of U.S. nationals in the West Bank have only been investigated internally by the Israeli military, with no independent probe ever demanded by the U.S. government. Notable cases include 2022 killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot in the head by Israeli forces while on assignment; the 2024 death of activist Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, killed by Israeli fire during a protest against illegal Israeli settlement expansion near Nablus; and the 2025 killing of Sayfollah Musallet, an ice cream shop worker beaten to death by Israeli settlers.

    Data compiled from regional monitors shows that Israeli operations and attacks by both military forces and settler groups have killed more than 1,100 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank over the past three years.

    This report draws on original independent reporting from Middle East Eye, which provides unrivaled, independent coverage of the Middle East, North Africa and surrounding regions.

  • Iranian-American group sues Trump for ‘unconstitutional’ war on Iran

    Iranian-American group sues Trump for ‘unconstitutional’ war on Iran

    A Washington-based Iranian-American civic advocacy organization has initiated a landmark constitutional lawsuit against former U.S. President Donald Trump, demanding a federal court invalidate his ongoing military campaign against Iran as an unconstitutional overreach of executive power that bypassed required congressional authorization. The National Iranian American Council (NIAC) Action, the group’s advocacy arm, filed the 16-page complaint for declaratory judgment on Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, represented by prominent constitutional scholars and attorneys Alan Morrison and Bruce Fein.

    Lead counsel Morrison told reporters gathered at the National Press Club for the official announcement that the legal team would pursue the case through every available appellate level, regardless of early procedural hurdles. Morrison acknowledged that the U.S. Supreme Court has avoided ruling on core war powers questions throughout the nation’s 236-year history, but argued that the current circumstances present an unprecedented opportunity for judicial intervention. Notably, both the Republican-controlled Senate and Democratic-led House of Representatives already passed a bipartisan War Powers Resolution in June seeking to curb Trump’s authority to continue military operations against Iran, shifting the political landscape that has historically discouraged courts from taking up such cases. “This changed dynamic makes the court far more likely to accept our case and issue a binding ruling on the constitutionality of this war,” Morrison added.

    In response to the June congressional War Powers Resolution, the Trump White House issued a formal statement claiming that no active hostilities were ongoing, asserting that all combat operations launched February 28, 2026 were formally terminated by a presidential ceasefire order issued April 7 the same year. Despite that official ceasefire declaration, fragile truce has broken down repeatedly, with the U.S. conducting sustained multi-day bombing campaigns across Iran’s southern coastal region earlier this month. One of those strikes hit a civilian wedding venue, killing and wounding dozens of non-combatant civilians.

    NIAC President Jamal Abdi emphasized that Trump’s unauthorized war has exposed critical gaps in long-assumed checks and balances on executive war power, revealing that long-held guardrails were merely informal gentlemen’s agreements rather than enforceable constitutional limits. “This moment is not just about ending this ongoing catastrophe. It is about setting a binding precedent for the future, so no single president can drag our nation into war without explicit congressional approval,” Abdi told reporters. “This is a matter of life and death for innocent people on both sides, and it is long past time this fundamental constitutional question is settled once and for all.”

    At the heart of the legal challenge is the Constitution’s explicit Declare War Clause, which grants sole authority to initiate war to the legislative branch, not the executive. NIAC legal team argues that Trump’s months-long bombing campaign directly violates this core constitutional separation of powers. For decades, however, the constitutional requirement for congressional war declaration has fallen into disuse: the U.S. now routinely conducts large-scale military operations, including targeted extrajudicial killings, across multiple sovereign nations without formal declarations. The 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), passed days after the September 11 terrorist attacks, has been repeatedly stretched by successive administrations of both parties to justify open-ended military campaigns across the globe, many of which never deploy large ground combat forces. The executive branch has also gradually accumulated broad deference on foreign policy matters from both Congress and the courts over the past century.

    Co-counsel Bruce Fein noted that the dispute over executive war authority requires judicial resolution: “The president claims he has unilateral authority to wage this war, and every other branch and most constitutional scholars disagree. That is exactly why we are in court—there is no other body that can settle this constitutional question definitively.” In recent weeks, the Trump administration has launched a coordinated messaging push led by Vice President JD Vance, ordering reporters to avoid labeling the military campaign a “war,” and instead refer to it as sporadic “hostilities” or “skirmishes.” Morrison pushed back sharply on this rhetoric: “If you have been bombing another country continuously for seven months, that is a war. If you enforce a full blockade and kill hundreds of civilians, that is a war. When you have already spent $44 billion on military operations, that is unequivocally a war.”

    The lawsuit names eight Iranian-American plaintiffs who have suffered direct, personal harm from Trump’s bombing campaign, connecting their individual injuries to the legal challenge to establish standing for the court to hear the case. Kowsar Gowhari, one of the plaintiffs who spoke at Thursday’s press conference, lost four immediate family members in a U.S. strike, including a 70-year-old elderly cousin and a two-month-old infant. “I have an absolute responsibility as an American citizen to make sure their deaths are not forgotten and their loss does not go unanswered,” Gowhari said. “This is my country, I built my life here, and I cannot stand idle as my nation perpetuates this violence in violation of its own founding values. This war must end here, and it must end now.”

    Another plaintiff, Nima Dilmaghani, reported that his cousin was severely injured when the commercial warehouse where she worked was destroyed in a U.S. bombing. The woman suffered a fractured leg, permanent eardrum damage, and the amputation and unsuccessful reattachment of her index finger, which has permanently lost all function. Ten of her coworkers were killed in the same strike. U.S. Army veteran Alan Band, another Iranian-American plaintiff, shared that his family living in northern Tehran has endured repeated nearby explosions that shook their home’s foundations, cut off access to clean water and electricity for weeks at a time, and left the entire family traumatized. Parveen Esmaeilzadeh’s in-laws remain at constant risk of new strikes, suffer from severe post-traumatic stress disorder, and face catastrophic economic hardship. Her mother-in-law’s apartment building has sustained structural cracks from repeated blasts, and her nieces and nephews have not been able to attend a single day of school since the U.S.-Israeli joint campaign began February 28.

    Abdi closed by framing the lawsuit as a test of core constitutional principles: “This lawsuit asks one fundamental question that goes to the heart of our democracy: can a single person, acting alone, decide to keep an entire nation at war without the consent of the people’s elected representatives?”

  • UN General Assembly 2026: ‘Do not allow another Nakba’, Mahmoud Abbas warns

    UN General Assembly 2026: ‘Do not allow another Nakba’, Mahmoud Abbas warns

    In a pre-recorded address to the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas issued a stark, urgent warning: the Palestinian people stand on the edge of a second Nakba unless the international community follows through on its repeated promises to support Palestinian self-determination. For the second year in a row, Abbas was unable to address the assembly in person, blocked by a visa ban imposed by the Trump administration on Palestinian officials and civil society groups that engage with UN-affiliated international judicial bodies, including the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.

    Opening his remarks, the 90-year-old leader rejected the unlawful punitive measures targeting the PA, pushing back against the justifications used to impose them. “We affirm that we have fulfilled our obligations, carried out a comprehensive national reform programme and upheld our commitment to international law, to shunning violence and terrorism, and to the two-state solution and to peace on the basis of resolutions of international legitimacy,” Abbas stated. He emphasized that neither the Palestinian people nor their leadership deserve punishment for demanding an end to occupation and turning to legitimate international institutions to uphold their rights.

    While the Trump administration has effectively abandoned long-stated international support for a two-state solution, several key Western allies including Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and Spain formally recognized the State of Palestine last year and opened diplomatic missions for the PA. Abbas, however, slammed the gap between global rhetoric and tangible action: despite public statements of support and pledges of aid for PA security infrastructure and humanitarian work in Gaza, the international community has applied no meaningful pressure on Israel to halt its expansion of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, end escalating settler attacks on Palestinian communities, or stop ongoing air strikes in Gaza that have killed a dozen children in just the past month.

    Abbas warned that the threat facing Palestinians extends far beyond the erosion of the two-state solution. “The danger is no longer limited to undermining the two-state solution and preventing the realisation of the Palestinian state. It has now come to threaten the very life and existence of the Palestinian people on their homeland,” he said. He framed ongoing violence and displacement across Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem not as isolated incidents, but as a deliberate colonial project designed to make life unlivable for Palestinians and force them out of their historic homeland.

    The dire humanitarian reality on the ground underscores Abbas’ warning. Two million Palestinians trapped in Gaza are currently crowded into just one-third of the small enclave, most sheltering in flimsy tents with no adequate supplies to withstand winter weather. Since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on southern Israel and the subsequent Israeli military campaign in Gaza, nearly 74,000 Palestinian bodies have been recovered, a figure officials expect to surpass 100,000 as search and clearance of rubble continues. More than 1,400 of these deaths have occurred since a nominal ceasefire was declared in October 2025. UN Secretary-General António Guterres recently described repeated short-term ceasefires as futile, calling them merely “lesser fires” that do nothing to end the underlying conflict.

    In the occupied West Bank, where Israeli security crackdowns have intensified parallel to the assault on Gaza, more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed so far this year, according to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.

    Abbas expressed deep regret that the PA’s commitment to a peaceful, institutional path to secure Palestinian rights – including its willingness to engage with Trump’s controversial 20-point Gaza reconstruction plan – has failed to deliver any tangible improvement for his people. “This was to halt the aggression against our people and their humanitarian suffering, and secure the withdrawal of the occupation forces from the Gaza Strip, and begin rebuilding the Gaza Strip. However, regretfully, we have not seen any of this materialise on the ground,” he said. Israeli attacks and killing of Palestinian civilians, including women and children, continue unabated in Gaza nearly a year after the UN adopted Resolution 2803 and established the Board of Peace, the transitional body tasked with overseeing Gaza’s reconstruction and governance. Only one year remains in the designated transition period, which is scheduled to conclude by the end of 2027.

    Last week, Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and the lead figure coordinating the reconstruction effort, acknowledged that the Board of Peace has faced significant “delays” in the 11 months since its formation. International aid agencies warned last month that the body is not just delayed, but actively failing the people of Gaza, saying it has only functioned “to further entrench Israel’s unlawful presence” in the territory.

    Abbas pushed the international community to answer a critical question: “What is the international community waiting for in order to protect the Palestinian people, ensure their continued presence on their land, end the Israeli occupation, and implement the two-state solution on the basis of international legitimacy?” He stressed that the transitional period cannot be allowed to become an open-ended, permanent status quo with no clear, time-bound path to Palestinian statehood.

    The PA President reaffirmed that the Palestinian Authority has met all its commitments to domestic political reform, including strengthening institutional governance, improving public financial management, increasing transparency and accountability, enacting anti-corruption measures, and upholding the rule of law. To cement these reforms, Abbas confirmed that long-delayed Palestinian legislative elections are still scheduled for November 28, followed by a presidential election. This will be the first general Palestinian election held in two decades; Abbas has held the presidency since 2005.

  • Russia ties Black Sea grain deal with Ukraine to halt in oil refinery strikes

    Russia ties Black Sea grain deal with Ukraine to halt in oil refinery strikes

    A months-long wave of targeted attacks on commercial shipping in the Black Sea has spurred Turkey to put forward a new proposal for a moratorium on hostile actions against vessels transiting the strategic waterway, with both Russia and Ukraine signaling initial positive reception, but Kyiv warns a breakthrough remains out of reach in the near term due to Moscow’s unrelated additional demands. Multiple regional diplomats with direct knowledge of the negotiations shared this assessment with Middle East Eye in recent briefings.

    Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan first confirmed the proposal’s existence to local media over the weekend, acknowledging that the stark divergence between Moscow and Kyiv’s core positions on Black Sea security makes any immediate compromise a heavy lift. A senior Turkish official who spoke on background to MEE revealed that between the start of January and the first week of September alone, at least 72 commercial vessels have come under attack in the region, most of them hit by unmanned aerial drone strikes. Of those targeted vessels, nearly 70% have direct links to Turkey: they are either Turkish-owned, operated by Turkish management firms, or captained by Turkish nationals. Three Turkish citizens have been killed and another 18 wounded in these shipping attacks, which unfold in a waterway that shares borders with Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, Romania, Georgia and Bulgaria. Just weeks ago, Ankara summoned Ukraine’s top envoy to Turkey to formally protest what it called Ukrainian strikes on emergency response vessels that were conducting search-and-rescue operations for stranded sailors and rendering aid to damaged ships.

    The core framework of Turkey’s new proposal builds on the temporary Ukrainian shipping corridor that already operates along the coastlines of Romania and Bulgaria, the Turkish official told Agence France-Presse. Under the plan, a separate dedicated route for Russian commercial vessels would be established along the coasts of Georgia and Turkey, contingent on formal approval from all relevant coastal states to participate in the arrangement. The Turkish official also warned MEE that ongoing disruptions to Black Sea shipping have already created critical food security ramifications, with 13 African nations that rely on grain and fertilizer exports from both Ukraine and Russia already facing supply disruptions and rising commodity prices. Notably, earlier this month Turkey signed a bilateral agreement with Moscow to secure steady supplies of mineral fertilizers, strengthening Ankara’s access to key agricultural raw materials amid ongoing market volatility.

    For its part, Ukraine has indicated it is open to a deal structured along the lines of the 2022–2023 Black Sea Grain Initiative, the landmark agreement that allowed safe agricultural exports from both nations for nearly a year before Russia pulled out of the pact in 2023. Under a new modeled agreement, specific port areas in both Ukraine and Russia would be designated exclusively for grain and fertilizer exports, and a joint coordination center would monitor all transiting vessels and share real-time navigation data with both parties, a senior Ukrainian official told MEE. But the same official stressed that reaching a final agreement with Moscow remains extremely challenging, noting that it was Russia – not Ukraine – that walked away from the prior grain pact. “The problem with Russia is that they always ask for more,” the official said. “There are always additional demands in areas which aren’t connected to the grain whatsoever.” As a key example, the official explained that Moscow is currently conditioning any new shipping agreement on Ukraine halting all long-range strikes on Russian oil refineries – a demand that has nothing to do with commercial shipping or food security, making it an irrelevant and unacceptable precondition for Kyiv.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has struck a more optimistic tone, however, after holding bilateral talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this Wednesday. Zelensky noted that if Moscow agrees to halt all strikes on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, Kyiv would reciprocate by pausing its own long-range attacks on Russian targets, opening a path for negotiation. During a concurrent press conference held the same day, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that the current cycle of attacks sees Ukraine targeting Russian oil infrastructure, while Russia strikes Ukraine’s national electricity grid and disrupts basic daily life for Ukrainian civilians, echoing the view that reaching a lasting solution to the Black Sea shipping crisis will be an uphill battle.

  • Canada, France, Italy and Greece allow Netanyahu’s overflight despite ICC warrant

    Canada, France, Italy and Greece allow Netanyahu’s overflight despite ICC warrant

    On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled through the airspace of four ICC member states — Greece, Italy, France, and Canada — en route to New York to address the United Nations General Assembly, a journey that has reignited fierce global debate over compliance with an active International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued against him. The ICC issued the warrant for Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in November 2024, after judges confirmed reasonable grounds to hold the pair accountable for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza starting from October 2023, including the deliberate use of starvation as a weapon of war.

    As a non-member of the International Criminal Court, the United States faces no legal obligation to enforce the warrant, but the issue has still sparked domestic friction. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani clarified in a July video address, following former U.S. President Donald Trump’s statement that Netanyahu would not face arrest during his visit, that local authorities lack independent legal jurisdiction to execute the ICC warrant. Despite this lack of power, Mamdani has publicly urged the federal government to acknowledge the warrant’s legitimacy and take action to enforce it.

    Unlike the U.S., all four transited countries — as well as every European Union member state — are formal ICC parties bound by the Rome Statute to cooperate with the court’s arrest requests. This has left the four nations facing widespread criticism for repeatedly granting Netanyahu’s aircraft airspace access since the warrant was issued. Public flight trackers confirmed on Thursday that Netanyahu’s official aircraft, the Wing of Zion, successfully crossed all three EU nations before entering Canadian airspace, prompting fresh allegations that ICC member states are violating their binding international legal obligations.

    Ahead of the flight, Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand announced that officials had launched a review of the submitted flight route, but she declined to directly answer questions on whether Ottawa recognizes Netanyahu as a war criminal. Anand only stated that Canada remains committed to respecting decisions of international courts, acknowledging the widespread suffering in Gaza, Palestine, and the West Bank, and upholding accountability for crimes against humanity. This marks a shift from Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s clear statement last year that Netanyahu would be arrested if he entered Canadian territory.

    Parallel to Netanyahu’s visit, the U.S. has once again drawn condemnation for denying entry visas to a high-level Palestinian delegation led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, marking the second consecutive year Washington has blocked Abbas from attending the General Assembly in person. The Biden administration cited Palestinian efforts to pursue legal cases against Israel at both the ICC and the International Court of Justice as a core reason for the visa ban. In response, the General Assembly passed a vote allowing Abbas to deliver his address to the body remotely via video. Palestinian UN representatives have since called on all diplomatic missions to stage a coordinated walkout during Netanyahu’s speech, in protest of Israel’s military and governance actions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

    This week’s overflight controversy is not the first time ICC member states have faced scrutiny over their handling of Netanyahu’s travel. Last year, Netanyahu avoided French airspace on his trip to the General Assembly even after Paris granted permission, but his plane has since been allowed to cross French territory multiple times, including December 2025, February 2026, July 2026, and again this week. Canada, Greece, and Italy have also regularly appeared on Netanyahu’s flight routes to the U.S.

    A clear precedent for the standoff emerged in 2025, when Hungary hosted Netanyahu for an official visit from April 3 to 6. ICC judges later ruled that Hungary had failed to meet its legal obligation to cooperate with the court and referred the non-compliance case to the ICC’s Assembly of States Parties. In response, Hungary initiated a full withdrawal from the court, but the process was reversed by the country’s new government before it could take legal effect.

    Legal experts remain divided on the specifics of how the Rome Statute applies to overflights. The statute explicitly requires all member states to cooperate with arrest and surrender requests for ICC suspects, but it does not directly address the scenario of a suspect’s aircraft passing through a state’s airspace without landing. France has long taken the narrow legal position that it has no obligation under the Rome Statute to bar a state aircraft carrying an ICC suspect from crossing its airspace.

    However, this interpretation has been widely challenged by independent legal experts. UN Special Rapporteur Ben Saul has argued that existing international law creates a clear path for enforcement. Under the 1963 Tokyo Convention, states are generally barred from interfering with in-flight aircraft to exercise criminal jurisdiction, but the treaty includes an explicit exception for cases where such intervention is necessary to uphold a state’s obligations under a multilateral international agreement. Saul notes that the Rome Statute qualifies as such an agreement, allowing ICC member states to compel an overflying aircraft carrying a wanted suspect to land for arrest. He further emphasizes that under general international law and the Convention on International Civil Aviation — which all four states in question have ratified — a state’s territorial airspace is considered full sovereign territory, just like its land or territorial sea, giving authorities full legal power to grant or deny access.

    Other legal analysts have echoed this position, noting that even if there is debate over the obligation to force a landing, member states retain the clear right to refuse entry to their airspace for an aircraft carrying an ICC suspect. The ongoing controversy surrounding this week’s flight underscores deep divisions between international legal obligations and political realities, as major ICC member states balance their formal commitments to the court against geopolitical priorities tied to their relationships with Israel and the United States.

  • Italy ministers agree to ban burqa and niqab in school and cap foreigners in class

    Italy ministers agree to ban burqa and niqab in school and cap foreigners in class

    Italy’s conservative-led government has greenlit two divisive new education policies: a ban on full-face Islamic veils in all school settings, and a legal cap on the share of students with limited Italian language proficiency in any single classroom. The new rules, which were formally approved during a cabinet meeting on Thursday, impose a 30% maximum limit for students with poor Italian language skills or non-Italian citizenship in the first year of primary, middle, and high school respectively.

    Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni framed these measures as common-sense policies designed to facilitate integration rather than divide communities. In an announcement Sunday, Meloni emphasized that students must attend school with their faces fully visible, arguing that no person should mandate that a young woman hide her identity in the name of cultural or religious tradition. The ban specifically targets burqas, which are full-body veils that cover the entire face with only a mesh screen for vision, and niqabs, which are face veils that leave only the area around the eyes exposed. The regulation does not extend to hijabs, which leave the face uncovered.

    Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara has defended the 30% cap, clarifying that it is rooted in linguistic need rather than a ban on citizenship, while framing the full-face veil ban as a step forward for gender equality. According to Valditara, the cap is intended to prevent the formation of so-called “ghetto classes” where students with limited Italian are concentrated in a small number of classrooms, slowing their language acquisition and social integration. Local education authorities will be required to redistribute students with limited Italian evenly across neighboring schools; when redistribution is not feasible, exemptions will be granted alongside additional targeted Italian language instruction. The new decree also requires schools to report cases where persistent language barriers among parents hinder a child’s integration to social services, who will then offer free Italian language courses to parents.

    Data from research institute Fondazione ISMU shows that non-Italian citizens currently make up around 11.6% of Italy’s total student population. The 30% cap applies differently across education levels: for primary school, it covers non-citizen students not born in Italy or those who have not completed at least two years of nursery school in Italy. For lower and upper secondary school, the cap applies to non-citizen students who have not successfully completed at least three years of the Italian education system.

    This policy is not entirely new ground for Italy. A 2010 ministerial guidance introduced during the tenure of former Education Minister Mariastella Gelmini already set a 30% “rule of thumb” cap for non-Italian citizen students. What this new decree does is codify that existing guidance into binding law, and expand the scope to include the veil ban. As a decree law, the measures take effect immediately, but they must receive formal ratification from the Italian parliament within 60 days to remain in force.

    Opposition parties have harshly criticized the new policies, arguing that the government is prioritizing political gain over student welfare, and accusing Meloni of pandering to hard-right factions ahead of next year’s general election. Critics specifically point to the hard-right party Futuro Nazionale, led by retired military general Roberto Vannacci, who has positioned himself as a more extreme alternative to the current ruling coalition from the right. Elly Schlein, leader of the centre-left Democratic Party, has dismissed the plan as nothing more than political propaganda that is impossible to implement. Anna Ascani, deputy leader of the Democratic Party and vice-president of the lower chamber of parliament, went further, accusing the government of spreading propaganda at the expense of Italian schoolchildren.

    Valditara rejected these accusations during a video press conference from New York, telling reporters “We are not chasing Vannacci; if anything, he is chasing us.” Vannacci himself has stated that he supports the measures, but argues they should have been implemented years ago. Matteo Salvini, leader of the League party which is part of the ruling coalition, recently introduced a separate package of policies targeting what he calls “political Islam,” and has accused Vannacci of consistently voting against the current government. Salvini also stated that he hopes Futuro Nazionale will support his party’s new proposals, adding another layer of tension to intra-coalition politics on the Italian right.

  • Israel displaces hundreds of Palestinians amid wave of demolitions in West Bank

    Israel displaces hundreds of Palestinians amid wave of demolitions in West Bank

    On Wednesday, Israeli military forces launched a large-scale demolition operation targeting residential and infrastructure in the village of Janba, located in the Masafer Yatta region of the occupied southern West Bank, leaving more than 170 Palestinians homeless, including 85 children.

    According to documentation from leading Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, military personnel and armored bulldozers entered the village before dawn on September 23, 2026. By the end of the operation, crews had destroyed 24 residential buildings, 16 agricultural outbuildings, 16 residential solar energy units, and 14 communal and residential water storage tanks. Beyond destroying standing structures, forces also sealed off natural caves that local residents had used for generations to store supplies, shelter livestock, and even as permanent family homes.

    For residents like Najah Jabarin, the operation erased nearly every asset her family relied on. “We lost our home; we lost three rooms – the kitchen, the sheep shed and the bread oven,” Jabarin told Middle East Eye in an on-site interview. “We have nothing left.” Like dozens of other displaced families in Janba, Jabarin’s 11-member household currently has no alternative permanent housing, but she says the family remains committed to rebuilding on their ancestral land and refusing to leave the area.

    This latest demolition is part of a sharp upward trend in forced displacement and home destruction across Masafer Yatta that has accelerated dramatically since October 2023. Just weeks earlier, Israeli forces carried out two large-scale demolition operations in neighboring communities in the region. On September 2, the military demolished almost the entire hamlet of Khirbet al-Taban, leveling 12 homes that held 70 residents, 28 of whom were children. One week after that, all five homes in Khirbet al-Fakhit were destroyed, displacing 32 additional people, alongside the loss of all local livestock pens, water access infrastructure, and off-grid solar energy systems that sustained the community.

    Janba resident Nu’man Jabarin, a 57-year-old who was born in the village and has lived in the same cave compound his family has occupied for three generations, described the operation as a total erasure of his life’s holdings. “Today, they wiped out everything I owned,” he said. “I have no bathroom, no kitchen, no room and no cave left.”

    In the days since the demolition, Jabarin’s two-month-old grandson has been forced to sleep in the open, with no shelter to protect him from the elements. “If you came to us at midnight, you would find our children out in the open, with no shelter,” he added. When Jabarin attempted to present Israeli military crews with official documents proving his family’s ownership of the land, he said soldiers dismissed the papers, declaring the entire area a closed military training zone. Soldiers explicitly ordered him to relocate elsewhere after destroying his home, but the lifelong resident says he has no intention of complying. “There is no alternative; this is my land. I was born here, and my father was born here. I have the documents and proof to show for it,” Jabarin said. “They don’t care about Palestinians anywhere. They want to displace us to Jordan, but I will not leave. I will die with my children in my village.”

    Another Janba local, Nidal Jabarin, argues that the escalating demolitions are a deliberate strategy to make daily life unbearable for Palestinian residents, with the ultimate goal of forcing mass out-migration. He noted that these campaigns often intensify ahead of Israeli national elections, when the lives and rights of Palestinians become political collateral. Israeli political parties across the spectrum, he claimed, are competing to demonstrate increasingly harsh repression against Palestinians to win voter support. “They race to make people’s lives extremely difficult, to harm and destroy them, and to ruin everything in this village,” he said, adding that the demolitions target not just current residents, but the centuries-long historical and geographic connection Palestinians have to the land.

    Janba is one of 13 small Palestinian communities that fall within the boundaries of “Firing Zone 918,” a 30,000-hectare area Israel designated as an exclusive military training zone back in the 1980s. This designation placed all Palestinian structures in the entire area under permanent demolition orders, leaving residents with no legal protection for their homes or infrastructure. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that roughly 1,200 Palestinians currently live in these 13 isolated communities. In May 2022, Israel’s Supreme Court upheld the military’s authority over the zone, removing the last legal barrier to large-scale demolitions and mass displacement of the area’s Palestinian population.

    Nasr Nawajaa, a local human rights activist based in Masafer Yatta, called the Janba demolitions a clear case of ethnic cleansing. He emphasized that the current wave of destruction is timed ahead of Israel’s national election scheduled for October 27, with the military ramping up pressure on Palestinians through road blocks, infrastructure destruction, and home demolitions to appeal to right-wing voters. “The entire goal is displacement; dozens of homes have been demolished or damaged, and more than 180 Palestinians have been displaced, all for the sake of election campaigning,” Nawajaa said. “Even without the elections, the village is being subjected to ethnic cleansing.”

    B’Tselem echoed this assessment, stating that the latest demolitions are part of what the group terms an “Elimination Project” Israel is implementing across the occupied West Bank to remove Palestinian presence from strategic areas. The organization reports that since October 2023 alone, Israeli forces and Jewish settlers have violently expelled more than 4,800 Palestinians from their home communities across the West Bank. “The demolitions and the expulsion of communities are part of a mechanism of ethnic cleansing and territorial takeover that Israel is using to dismantle the conditions that enable Palestinians to continue living on their land, while clearing the way for expanding Jewish-Israeli presence and control,” the group said in a statement.

    Official data bears out the scale of the ongoing displacement crisis. Data collected by the Commission Against the Wall and Settlements shows that between January and August 2026 alone, Israeli forces carried out 492 separate demolition operations across the West Bank, destroying a total of 1,060 Palestinian structures. As of September 23, UN data confirms that more than 1,600 Palestinians have been displaced by these demolition operations across the occupied territory this year.

  • Priest killed and four injured in knife attack at Polish abbey

    Priest killed and four injured in knife attack at Polish abbey

    A brutal knife attack at a Catholic abbey in the southeastern Polish town of Jarosław has left one priest dead and four other people wounded, according to Polish law enforcement and government officials. A 31-year-old Ukrainian national has been taken into police custody following Thursday morning’s stabbing incident on the abbey grounds, authorities confirmed.

    Local law enforcement agencies have sealed off the perimeter of the abbey to preserve evidence for the ongoing investigation. Initial reports from Polish media outline that the attacker first stabbed a priest at a nearby cafe before moving into the abbey compound and attacking four additional people. Police have confirmed that the victims of the attack include four men and one woman, though the name of the deceased priest has not been made public to protect the privacy of his family.

    The attack has drawn swift condemnation and response from senior officials on both sides of the Poland-Ukraine border. Polish President Karol Nawrocki released a statement Thursday noting that the violence “has shaken us all and demands a firm response from the state.” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk added that the perpetrator “will be punished with the full severity of Polish law,” while Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński announced that psychological support services have been activated for all people impacted by the traumatic incident.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also released a statement expressing his country’s shock at the violence, saying “we are shocked by this evil.” He echoed Polish officials in calling for full legal accountability, adding that “the perpetrator of this evil must bear full responsibility according to the law” and that Ukraine is anticipating “a quick and thorough investigation of all circumstances.” The Ukrainian Embassy in Warsaw also issued a formal condemnation of the attack, noting in a statement: “In such difficult moments, it is especially important to support each other, remain steadfast in respect for human life, and not allow pain to escalate into hatred or new violence. Responsibility for a crime must be based solely on the law.”

    At present, Polish law enforcement is still working to establish a clear motive for the attack. The incident comes amid a period of increased tension between Polish citizens and the more than one million Ukrainian refugees who have settled in Poland following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Over recent months, Poland has recorded multiple violent incidents involving locals and Ukrainian refugees, prompting officials on both sides to call for calm and due process in the wake of this latest attack.