Global Pulse

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  • Flydubai attack feeds Netanyahu’s ‘protector’ line as polls near

    Flydubai attack feeds Netanyahu’s ‘protector’ line as polls near

    A near-disaster on a Flydubai flight carrying 170 passengers, most of whom held Israeli citizenship, has reignited long-simmering national anxieties about persistent terror threats just weeks ahead of Israel’s October 27 general election. What could have become one of the deadliest civilian aviation terror attacks in recent history was averted only by the quick, brave action of the flight’s chief pilot and passengers who intervened to stop the attacker.

    The incident came mere hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu published a public video address warning of coordinated plots to target Israeli citizens ahead of the vote. Initially, opposition leaders dismissed the warning as a blatant political stunt. They argued Netanyahu was intentionally shifting public conversation away from his personal responsibility for the catastrophic intelligence and security failures that allowed the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks to unfold. But in the wake of the foiled hijacking attempt, Netanyahu has seized the opportunity to frame his pre-warning as prescient, doubling down on his decades-long political brand as the ultimate “protector of Israel.”

    Moving quickly to weaponize the incident for his campaign, Netanyahu posted a viral social media clip and photo set showing him embracing a passenger who stormed the cockpit to stop the attacker — a self-identified Netanyahu supporter, whose shirt still bore bloodstains from the confrontation.

    Netanyahu has faced mounting, cross-partisan public anger over his handling of the October 7 attacks, in which Hamas militants killed nearly 1,200 Israelis, abducted 250 more, and carried out widespread sexual violence and destruction of Israeli communities. Despite widespread public outcry demanding accountability, Netanyahu has refused to accept any blame for the failure to prevent the assault. He has blocked the formation of an independent judicial commission of inquiry into the events leading up to the attack, while failing to push through a partisan alternative investigative body stacked with allies who would clear his administration of wrongdoing.

    Netanyahu has repeatedly attempted to shift blame to security officials, claiming he was never properly warned of the impending attack, and that “if they had woken me up” earlier on the morning of October 7, “things would have been very different.”

    But emerging reporting and new investigations paint a starkly different picture. Multiple independent media outlets have confirmed that both Israel’s top security agencies and Netanyahu personally received explicit, detailed warnings of a large-scale impending attack from senior regional leaders days before the 2023 assault. These warnings came from Egypt’s top intelligence minister and United Arab Emirates leader Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. A new book further claims that Netanyahu received a direct warning from Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’ top leader and the mastermind of the October 7 plot.

    Rather than recognizing the threat, Netanyahu and his senior security team misinterpreted explicit warnings of an impending “earthquake” — Sinwar’s own description of the coming attack — as a demand for economic concessions for Palestinian civilians in Gaza. This misjudgment grew out of what Israelis call a *conceptzia*: a deeply entrenched set of assumptions about an enemy’s intentions and capabilities, a term first coined to describe the catastrophic Israeli intelligence failure ahead of the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.

    In 2023, Netanyahu’s *conceptzia* — which was widely shared by senior security officials who were misled by Sinwar — held that funneling Qatari financial aid into Gaza would “buy quiet” on the border, as critics of the policy have phrased it. From 2018 onward, Netanyahu approved the transfer of millions of dollars in Qatari funds to Gaza. Israeli intelligence has since concluded that most of this funding did not reach vulnerable Palestinian civilians, and instead went toward expanding Hamas’ military capabilities and building underground terror infrastructure across the enclave.

    For the upcoming election, Netanyahu faces a unified opposition bloc called “ABBA,” short for “Anyone But Bibi Again” — a reference to the Israeli prime minister’s widely used nickname. His main challenger is the *Yashar!* (Straightforward) Party, led by former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, who lost his son in the post-October 7 Gaza war. Eisenkot has publicly labeled Netanyahu a “pathological liar” who has prolonged the “forever war” in Gaza solely to maintain his grip on political power.

    Pre-election polling has consistently projected that *Yashar!* will emerge as the largest single party in the Knesset after the vote. But forming a stable governing coalition remains an enormous hurdle for the anti-Netanyahu bloc, which is a loose coalition of right, left, and centrist parties that share little policy common ground beyond their shared goal of removing Netanyahu from office. A similar broad anti-Netanyahu coalition, led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, collapsed in acrimony within just a year of taking power in 2022.

    Complicating matters further, many Zionist parties have stated they will refuse to join any coalition that includes Ra’am, an Arab Islamic party. Ra’am was the critical missing piece that allowed the Bennett-Lapid government to form after four consecutive deadlocked elections in 2019 and 2020. Without Ra’am’s support, the ABBA bloc may lack the seats needed to reach a governing majority. The outcome is also made unpredictable by the fate of small fringe parties, which must clear a minimum vote threshold to earn seats in the Knesset. If large numbers of votes for either bloc are “wasted” on small parties that fail to cross the threshold, the final seat distribution can shift dramatically.

    Until recent weeks, polling consistently pointed to a high likelihood of a change in government. But polls have tightened considerably in the final stretch of the campaign, in large part because they do not account for support for small unaligned factions including the center-right Hendel/Zelekha party, whose odds of clearing the threshold remain uncertain.

    The shadow of October 7 hangs over every aspect of the 2026 election campaign. A few days before Israelis head to the polls, the nation will hold a somber commemoration of the third anniversary of the 2023 attacks. In the Gaza war that followed the attacks, more than 70,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gazan health officials, vast swathes of the densely populated enclave have been reduced to rubble, and an estimated 1.2 million Palestinians have been displaced from their homes.

    October 7 has reshaped the entire election landscape. An unprecedented number of candidates running in this cycle are family members of October 7 victims or soldiers injured in the war. Polling of young first-time voters, who make up a large share of the electorate this cycle, shows the October 7 attacks have shifted their political views sharply to the right.

    For many Israeli voters, the biggest fear is that the election will once again end in parliamentary deadlock. The nation is facing growing international criticism over its conduct of the Gaza war, a rising global wave of antisemitism, and persistent terror threats targeting Israeli citizens at home and abroad — all of which create an urgent need for a stable government that can address these challenges. Netanyahu is positioning himself as the only leader strong enough to tackle these threats, but his opposition rivals are making the same case to an electorate hungry for accountability and stability.

  • Will Spain’s housing crisis lead to a snap election?

    Will Spain’s housing crisis lead to a snap election?

    Spain’s simmering housing crisis has taken a sharp new political turn, with the country’s national Congress voting down a slate of emergency policy measures designed to address skyrocketing rents and widespread affordable housing shortages. The legislative defeat has thrown the ruling government into chaos, fueling immediate speculation that a premature national election could be called months ahead of the scheduled 2027 vote.

    Public anger over the ongoing housing emergency has been boiling over for years, as rental prices in major urban centers including Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia have surged far beyond the average household’s ability to pay. Many young and low-income Spaniards now report being locked out of homeownership entirely, with stagnant wages failing to keep pace with the double-digit growth in housing costs seen across much of the country. In response to the latest legislative setback, organizers have rolled out a schedule of coordinated mass marches in cities nationwide to demand urgent action from political leaders.

    The BBC’s international correspondent Guy Hedgecoe is on the ground in the Spanish capital, Madrid, reporting on the unfolding political and social fallout from the Congress vote. Political analysts note that the rejection of the housing reforms exposed deep rifts within the governing coalition, leaving Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez with few options to pass meaningful legislation before his current term ends. If the government is unable to form a new majority or advance an alternative policy package, a snap election will become increasingly likely, reshaping Spain’s political landscape for years to come.

  • Protesters across Spain demand action over housing crisis

    Protesters across Spain demand action over housing crisis

    A wave of mass demonstrations has spread across Spain this weekend, as thousands of frustrated citizens take to the streets demanding sweeping tenant protections, just days after Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s minority leftist coalition government saw its emergency housing legislation defeated in Congress.

    The current housing crisis, which has sent rents skyrocketing and pushed thousands of vulnerable households into risk of eviction, reached a breaking point last month with the forced eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal from her Madrid home after she could not cover a sharp rent hike. That incident ignited immediate public outrage and nationwide protests, pushing Sánchez’s government — a partnership between his Socialist Party and the left-wing Sumar alliance — to rush two emergency decree bills to parliament in a bid to address widespread anger.

    The proposed legislation carried a series of key reforms to ease pressure on renters: the first bill would have suspended evictions for vulnerable tenants through 2030, extended expiring rental leases for two years until 2028, raised taxes on tourist-focused short-term apartment rentals, and restricted residential property purchases by the government-labeled “vulture funds” that have bought up large swathes of Spanish housing stock. The second bill enshrined automatic renewal of rental contracts, a top longstanding demand from tenant advocacy groups and left-wing political actors.

    Despite the government’s last-minute push, both bills failed to secure enough support to pass. The first was defeated by a vote of 178 against to 172 in favor, while the second was rejected 184 to 166. The conservative opposition People’s Party (PP) and far-right Vox had already pledged to block both measures from the start. Already lacking a parliamentary majority, Sánchez’s coalition relied on backing from small nationalist parties from Catalonia and the Basque Country to pass the bills — but the centre-right pro-independence Together for Catalonia (JxCat) announced its opposition just ahead of the vote, condemning the legislation to defeat.

    In response to the parliamentary defeat, tenant unions across the country organized roughly 50 coordinated marches for Saturday in major population centers including Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia, one of the first cities to see large-scale mobilizations earlier this month. Clashes erupted in the eastern coastal city of Valencia near the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, which was hosting an industry real estate summit. Spanish media reports confirm that dozens of protesters pushed past security barriers and threw projectiles at police officers, who responded by firing rubber bullets to disperse the crowd. A spokesperson for the Valencia Tenants’ Union described widespread public anger boiling over into the streets, confirming the demonstration had kicked off earlier Saturday morning.

    The largest demonstration is projected to take place in the capital Madrid, where pro-housing reform activists have maintained a continuous encampment at the iconic central Puerta del Sol square for multiple days leading up to Saturday’s mobilization. “We’re not here for pleasure or comfort. We’re here out of conviction,” protester David told Spanish public broadcaster RTVE ahead of the march. Madrid’s Tenants’ Union released a statement Friday night arguing that while the government’s proposed reforms fell far short of what was needed, the outright rejection of the legislation has dramatically worsened a housing crisis that is already devastating working-class communities across the country. The union has now called for a general strike to demand urgent action on the country’s deepening housing shortage.

    While the property management company that owns Abascal’s apartment later negotiated her return to the home at a reduced rent following the public backlash, protests have continued to gain momentum as broader systemic issues drive unrest. Official data underscores the severity of the crisis: the Bank of Spain estimates a national shortage of 700,000 affordable homes, driven by a persistent gap between growing housing demand and stagnant new construction. National statistics institute INE reports that overall house prices rose 12.2% over the past year as of the second quarter of 2026, while real estate firm Idealista data shows average national rents climbed 8.5% in 2025 alone. Madrid saw average rents jump 9.7% last year, making it one of the country’s most expensive rental markets alongside Barcelona, where average rent hits €23.80 per square meter compared to Madrid’s €22.70 per square meter.

    The parliamentary defeat of the housing bills has also intensified political speculation, with analysts now suggesting Sánchez could be forced to call an early general election. The next scheduled national vote is not set to take place until summer 2027, but the minority government’s repeated struggles to pass legislation amid shifting parliamentary alliances have raised questions about its ability to govern through to the end of its term.

  • Flydubai co-pilot attacked captain with axe, UAE official says

    Flydubai co-pilot attacked captain with axe, UAE official says

    A dramatic mid-flight crisis unfolded on a Flydubai commercial flight traveling from Dubai to Tel Aviv earlier this week, when the aircraft’s co-pilot launched a sudden, violent attack on the captain in an attempt to seize control of the plane carrying more than 170 passengers and crew. The United Arab Emirates’ top prosecutor confirmed the attacker used a standard emergency crash axe stored in the cockpit to assault the flight’s commander, Captain Smit Machchhar, an Indian national.

    Roughly two and a half hours into the scheduled journey, the assault sent the plane into a terrifying 17,000-foot nosedive, triggering emergency transponder codes: first the general emergency signal 7700, followed by 7500, the international code for unlawful interference or hijacking. Despite suffering multiple stab wounds and being left lying on the cockpit floor injured, Captain Machchhar refused to surrender control of the downing aircraft. In a first-hand account of the incident, he recalled, “I told myself to go for one last push to open the door from inside,” a critical action that allowed passengers and backup pilots to reach the cockpit and intervene.

    Israeli President Isaac Herzog detailed how the alarm was first raised by Tali Manes, an Israeli passenger who heard the chaotic struggle coming from the locked cockpit. Once Captain Machchhar managed to pry the door open, Manes’ husband Zvika, alongside three other Israeli passengers — Yaniv Hayun, Dr. Shota Musayev and Asaf Rajuan — rushed into the cockpit to subdue the attacker. Hayun, in an official video released by the Israeli Prime Minister’s office, explained that the attacker was actively attempting to destroy cockpit instruments to disable the plane. Hayun grabbed the attacker in a chokehold, dragged him out of the cockpit, and other passengers assisted in restraining him, using the attacker’s own zip ties and in-flight multimedia headphone cables to secure him. Hayun also adjusted the plane’s controls to steady its descent before two off-duty reserve pilots on board took over full control of the aircraft and diverted it to a safe landing in Saudi Arabia.

    One passenger, Almog Itali, described the terrifying experience to the BBC, comparing the rapid descent to a rollercoaster drop. “Suddenly the aeroplane started to, like a rollercoaster, to drop down with a massive G-force. It was falling down for 20 or 30 seconds, rapidly, and then balanced, and then started once again to fall down,” he said.

    According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the attacker is an Omani national. After he was subdued, Netanyahu told Fox News the attacker repeatedly shouted “Kill me, kill me!” to the crew, leading Netanyahu to conclude “it’s clear that he was suicidal… It looks very likely that he was going to down the plane.” Netanyahu also added that the attacker “underwent Islamist radical indoctrination.” The UAE’s state news agency confirmed that authorities have launched an investigation to determine whether the incident was linked to any terrorist organization or extremist activity, with the country’s attorney general noting that investigations are still ongoing to establish the full circumstances and underlying motives of the attack.

    Following the successful landing, Captain Machchhar was first transported to a nearby medical facility for urgent treatment, then airlifted to Abu Dhabi for further care. The Indian Embassy in the UAE released a statement Thursday confirming the captain is in stable condition, and that he is “in good health and recovering well.” In his own public comment on the incident, Machchhar expressed confidence in his recovery, saying “I am confident that the recovery will be there and I will become fit and healthy again.”

    The Indian government has publicly commended Captain Machchhar for his extraordinary bravery in the face of danger, praising his “immense courage” that saved the lives of everyone on board. Netanyahu echoed that praise Wednesday during an interview with CNN, saying the injured captain, quick-thinking passengers, and backup crew had “managed to prevent a 9/11 disaster.”

  • Russia strikes second major bridge in Kyiv, mayor says

    Russia strikes second major bridge in Kyiv, mayor says

    Fresh Russian strikes have targeted a second critical infrastructure bridge in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, marking a sharp escalation in Moscow’s campaign against key city facilities, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko.

    The latest attack damaged the road surface and overhead power lines for trolleybus transit on the Northern Bridge, Klitschko confirmed in a statement posted to Telegram on Saturday. Following the strike, all traffic traveling from the left bank to the right bank of the Dnieper River on the bridge has been temporarily blocked, with emergency response teams already deployed to the site to assess damage and begin repairs.

    This assault on the Northern Bridge comes just days after repeated Russian drone strikes targeted Kyiv’s Southern Bridge (known locally as Pivdennyi Bridge) starting last Thursday. In that initial attack, one Russian drone struck critical power cables on the Southern Bridge, disrupting transit operations.

    Before this string of attacks that began Thursday, neither of the two major bridges connecting the eastern and western districts of Kyiv had been hit by Russian forces. Analysts and Ukrainian officials say this new targeting of key capital transit links signals a clear shift into a new phase of Russian offensive operations against Kyiv’s core infrastructure.

    In the wake of the first attacks on the Southern Bridge, Kyiv’s Defense Council held an emergency crisis meeting on Friday. During that session, Klitschko issued a stark warning that the stepped-up pace of Russian drone and missile strikes was putting intense strain on the capital. He described the current situation facing Kyiv as “very dramatic,” noting that Russian forces are systematically targeting critical infrastructure, logistics networks, residential housing, and other essential facilities that keep the city functioning.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin has defended the recent wave of strikes, claiming they are carried out in retaliation for Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy infrastructure. This claim comes despite historical records showing that Moscow first launched large-scale strikes targeting Ukrainian energy and critical infrastructure early in the full-scale invasion.

  • US sends additional Patriot batteries to Saudi Arabia and Qatar: Report

    US sends additional Patriot batteries to Saudi Arabia and Qatar: Report

    As former U.S. President Donald Trump confirms he is actively considering new military strikes against Iran, the United States has moved to bolster defenses across the Arabian Peninsula by deploying additional Patriot air defense batteries to two key Gulf energy producers, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, multiple sources familiar with the deployment confirm.

    Axios first reported the deployment details Thursday, noting that one extra Patriot battery has been positioned in Saudi Arabia to shield a critical oil processing facility, while a second battery has been sent to Qatar to protect a major natural gas infrastructure site. What makes this troop movement particularly noteworthy is the global shortage of these highly sought-after air defense systems: the U.S. maintains only a limited stock of operational Patriot batteries globally. Data from the nonpartisan Missile Defence Alliance shows that just 33 batteries are currently stationed for domestic defense within the United States, while another 27 are deployed across all overseas U.S. military missions.

    While major U.S. allies in the Gulf Cooperation Council—including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates—already operate their own fleet of Patriot batteries, regional partners have increasingly turned to Washington for supplementary defensive support. Gulf states have faced the full force of Iranian retaliatory actions targeting Western and Israeli interests in the region, leaving their critical infrastructure vulnerable to attack.

    Saudi Arabia faces the most acute security risks among Gulf states, with both major urban centers and core energy infrastructure facing repeated attacks. Yemeni Houthi fighters have launched regular strikes on Saudi targets, while Iran-aligned Shia militias operating out of Iraq have also carried out attacks against the kingdom. Riyadh has formally blamed Shia militias for a recent strike on its strategic East-West Pipeline, even as Houthi forces have launched their own attacks on Yanbu, Saudi Arabia’s primary oil export terminal on the Red Sea.

    The decision to reinforce Gulf defenses comes at a moment of heightened tensions, after regional allies raised sharp criticism of U.S. security commitments earlier this year. When Gulf states faced a wave of intense Iranian missile and drone strikes in response to the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran, many regional leaders said they felt sidelined by Washington. This backlash has thrown renewed scrutiny on the decades-old U.S. security umbrella that has anchored Washington’s relationships with the energy-rich Gulf states, with many allies questioning the reliability of American protection amid escalating regional conflict.

    In public comments Thursday, Trump confirmed he is weighing a dramatic escalation of conflict, saying new strikes against Iran remain a clear possibility. “Now I have to make a decision; they’ll either sign a very fair deal, or they won’t exist any longer,” Trump stated, repeating his extreme threat to completely dismantle the Islamic Republic of Iran.

    The Patriot deployments are just one part of a broader U.S. military buildup in the Middle East. The Pentagon is also moving thousands of additional troops and a third full aircraft carrier strike group to the region. The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt departed its home port of San Diego Sunday, while the USS Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group—made up of three large amphibious vessels carrying roughly 10,000 U.S. Marines—set sail a day later on Monday. The U.S. already has two other carrier strike groups, the USS George HW Bush and USS George Washington, operating in the Middle East. Once the Theodore Roosevelt arrives, the U.S. will have three aircraft carriers positioned in the region, the largest concentration of American naval air power there since April 2026.

  • Pakistan sent four planeloads of weapons to Saudi-backed government in Yemen: Report

    Pakistan sent four planeloads of weapons to Saudi-backed government in Yemen: Report

    As Saudi Arabia races to reverse rapid territorial gains made by Houthi forces across Yemen, new details have emerged of Pakistan’s deepening involvement in the conflict, with four planeloads of military hardware dispatched to the internationally recognized Yemeni government in September.

    The arms shipment, which arrived at the strategic port city of Aden, was first reported by Reuters on Friday, marking a clear shift away from Pakistan’s earlier neutral stance as Houthi fighters advanced. Citing a senior Pakistani government official, Reuters confirmed the cargo included critical military assets: air defense systems, light artillery pieces, surveillance drones, and specialized anti-drone technology designed to counter Houthi aerial attacks. Beyond weapons supplies, Pakistani military advisors are already operating on the ground alongside Saudi coalition forces to train and assist Yemeni government troops, according to the report.

    Multiple Western and Arab diplomatic sources confirmed to Middle East Eye that Saudi Arabia is currently gearing up for a large-scale, high-intensity military campaign to push back the Houthi offensive that has already given the group full control over Yemen’s entire Red Sea coastline. In recent days, heavy clashes have intensified around the strategically vital city of Taiz, where Houthi fighters scored a key tactical victory this week by destroying a critical bridge connecting government-held areas surrounding Taiz to the southern port of Aden.

    If Houthi forces succeed in seizing full control of Taiz from Yemeni government forces, they will effectively cut off Aden from northern government-held territories, severing the government’s primary overland supply routes and putting the seat of the Yemeni administration under increased strategic pressure.

    In response to the rapid advance, Saudi Arabia has dramatically scaled up its air campaign against Houthi positions across the country. Houthi spokespersons reported Thursday that the Saudi-led coalition launched 94 separate air strikes within a 24-hour period. For its part, the Saudi military confirmed it carried out a targeted high-value operation in the Houthi-held capital Sanaa, struck 11 military sites in the Houthi stronghold of Saada, and conducted 27 air raids against what it described as an integrated Houthi military network in Taiz.

    The fighting has spilled across the border into Saudi territory, with Houthi forces repeatedly targeting Saudi civilian infrastructure, including a recent attack on Riyadh’s international airport. On Thursday, Saudi authorities accused the group of launching a drone strike on an electricity distribution station in the holy city of Medina, which supplies power to the Prophet’s Mosque, one of Islam’s holiest sites. The Houthis have denied any involvement in the attack on the station.

    Pakistan’s decision to step up military support for Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni government comes as the first major test of the Mecca Pact, a joint defense agreement signed by Pakistan, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia back in August. For weeks after the pact was signed, both Pakistan and Turkey remained on the sidelines as Houthi fighters swept along the Red Sea coast and imposed a shipping blockade on Saudi vessels transiting the vital waterway.

    Regional security analysts note that both nations face a delicate balancing act, as they seek to maintain strong alliance ties with Saudi Arabia while managing their own distinct security priorities. Pakistan shares a long border with Iran, the key regional backer of the Houthi movement that has provided the group with arms, intelligence, and military advisory support for years.

    While the United States remains Saudi Arabia’s most critical security partner, the Trump administration has so far avoided taking a public role in the latest campaign against the Houthis, even as it joins Pakistan in deploying military advisors and supplying advanced weapons systems to the coalition.

    In a separate move to shore up its regional alliances ahead of the anticipated offensive, Saudi Arabia moved this week to repair strained relations with the United Arab Emirates, a fellow Gulf Cooperation Council member with which it had clashed over Yemen policy amid the UAE’s support for southern Yemeni secessionist movements. On Tuesday, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman welcomed UAE Vice President Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan for high-level talks in Riyadh, a public signal of mended ties ahead of the planned military push.

  • LA Times ad promoting Israeli tourism erases occupied Palestinian territories

    LA Times ad promoting Israeli tourism erases occupied Palestinian territories

    A controversial multi-page advertising campaign published by Israel’s Ministry of Tourism on the Los Angeles Times website has sparked scrutiny over its deliberate cartographic erasure of occupied Palestinian territories, while marketing the country as a tranquil, inviting destination for U.S. travelers. Titled *Israel: Land of Creation*, the campaign centers on an interactive nine-day travel itinerary that lets users click through Israeli cities to access information about local history and cultural landmarks. The map included in the ad depicts all territory stretching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea as part of Israel, with no acknowledgment whatsoever of Palestinian-populated areas. Notable omissions include the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip – territories the United Nations formally recognizes as occupied under international law, and which are widely framed as the core territory for a future independent Palestinian state under the two-state solution. Beyond cartographic erasure, the ad also fails to mention that many of the advertised Israeli cities were constructed on the land of destroyed and displaced Palestinian villages and towns. The ad paints a deliberately idyllic picture of travel across Israel, with vivid descriptions of Tel Aviv’s popular coastal lifestyle: “Start by getting oriented. Rothschild Boulevard, the White City’s Bauhaus architecture, the pull west toward the Mediterranean. The beaches here are central to daily life rather than an amenity. You’ll notice people swimming before work, playing matkot on the sand, and treating the shoreline as an extension of their neighbourhood. Plan to walk south toward Jaffa before sundown on the first evening.” For the route between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, the ad notes the trip takes roughly 40 minutes by car, framing it as a seamless journey across time. What it does not mention, however, is that for Palestinian residents, the same trip requires navigating Israeli military checkpoints and segregated road networks, stretching the travel time to two hours or more. The ad further integrates unambiguously occupied lands into its tourism branding: it refers to the Old City, located in occupied East Jerusalem, as integral Israeli territory, and promotes wine tourism in the occupied Golan Heights – a territory seized by Israel from Syria in 1967, which the post-war Syrian government still claims as its own, and which former U.S. President Donald Trump controversially recognized as Israeli in an unrivaled unilateral move. In the country’s north, the ad describes encounters with “Jesus’ mysticism” and a “thriving artists’ community”, making no mention of the ongoing conflict and instability that shapes daily life across the broader region. This carefully curated image of peace and normalcy stands in stark contrast to the current reality: Israel is currently engaged in active conflict across at least seven regional fronts, carrying out near-daily airstrikes on Gaza, ramping up restrictive measures and raids in the occupied West Bank, and conducting cross-border military strikes in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Iran, and Lebanon. The marketing push also comes amid a heated domestic Israeli political context, just weeks ahead of the 27 October national election. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spent much of his current campaign leaning into a narrative of existential national threat to mobilize his base, making the campaign’s depiction of a calm, tourist-friendly Israel a notable dissonance. This $6.5 million tourism campaign, dubbed “I am Israel”, was first announced in June by the Israeli Ministry of Tourism, with an explicit focus on attracting travelers from North America. At the time of its launch, the *Jerusalem Post* reported that the campaign’s core goal was to “reconnect the country to people’s hearts and make it clear that tourist sites are safe and open”.

  • The South African men trying to end violence against women: ‘Every man needs to play a part’

    The South African men trying to end violence against women: ‘Every man needs to play a part’

    In the cramped, winding pathways of Organic Market, an informal settlement tucked near Johannesburg’s Alexandra township, a small group of men gather on a dusty street outside a local tavern. Chairs are dragged into a rough circle, and as some sip cold bottled beer, the men turn their conversation to a crisis that has gripped South Africa for decades: the epidemic of violence against women and femicide.

    This gathering is organized by Father A Nation (FAN), a non-profit organization working to reframe masculinity across the country, targeting men and boys to encourage accountability and end gender-based harm. For 30-year-old Kgomotso Mathekga, attending his first meeting is a vulnerable act of confronting his own past. Speaking openly to the group, he admits he once physically assaulted his girlfriend during an argument, grabbing and slapping her. The relationship ended, he says, and he has been cut off from his child ever since. “Now I feel pain,” Mathekga shares. “I feel like I’ve contributed to the problems in South Africa, instead of being the gentleman that I know I am.” He adds that growing up without positive male role models has left a void that many local men fill with harmful, violent behavior, a trend he has witnessed repeatedly in his neighborhood, especially when alcohol is involved. “I see men hitting women all the time, especially when they are both drunk,” he says.

    Leading the meeting is Itumeleng Stephen Tamaga, known to locals as Bra Steve, FAN’s on-the-ground organizer in Organic Market. Raising his fist, he opens the session with a rallying cry: “We are men!” The group responds with cheers and applause. “We must stand together to fight against gender-based violence and femicide,” Bra Steve tells the gathered men. For him, the solution starts with rebuilding a sense of dignity among local men, many of whom grew up without fathers or positive male guidance. “We are a lost generation,” he says. “We must restore dignity to the men around here.”

    This grassroots push comes at a moment of renewed national fury over gender-based violence in South Africa. Over three months earlier this year, the bodies of 12 women were discovered in Ekurhuleni, a metropolitan area just east of Johannesburg. The discovery has reignited long-simmering questions about the scale of the crisis, which activists and survivors have long labeled a national emergency. Police have not confirmed a serial killer is behind the deaths, though they have not ruled out connections between some cases, and suspects in several deaths have already appeared in court. But the string of killings has pushed the issue back to the top of the national agenda, forcing both government and community leaders to confront the staggering statistics behind the violence.

    Official data underscores the severity of the crisis. Between April and June 2026 alone, South Africa recorded 5,427 murders – one of the highest quarterly homicide rates in the world. Of those, 569 were women, an average of six women killed every day, according to the South African Human Rights Commission. A further 1,052 women survived murder attempts in that same period. A 2022 study from the Human Sciences Research Council found that more than 35% of South African women will face physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, most often at the hands of an intimate partner.

    President Cyril Ramaphosa has acknowledged the government’s failure to adequately address the crisis, recently announcing a new package of measures aimed at improving women’s safety, including expanded street lighting in high-risk areas and a review of thousands of unsolved gender-based violence cases. But for FAN project coordinator Zizipho Mtwesi, these steps are too little, too late. “When I think about all of these recent murders in Johannesburg, I get angry,” Mtwesi says. “Why do we have to wait for this to happen for us to act?” FAN’s approach, he explains, is to intervene before violence occurs, reaching out to men to change their attitudes before harm is done.

    Craig Wilkinson, FAN’s founder, outlines the organization’s two-pronged approach. “We get men to talk, to process their feelings,” he explains, standing at the center of the circle of men in Organic Market. “And as they do, this healing takes place. The second phase is teaching and training positive masculinity.” He tells the gathered men that they hold the power to end the crisis: “You as a man are a powerful force for good. You choose what kind of man you want to be. Women need to be safe.” Today, FAN operates across the country, running healthy masculinity training programs in dozens of South African schools and colleges, with the ultimate goal of eliminating gender-based violence entirely.

    For women in Organic Market, the recent string of killings has only deepened a constant state of fear. As Linkie, a local resident, cleans clothes in a large metal bucket outside her shack, she says the anxiety never leaves. “We are not safe when we are outside our place,” she says. “We are afraid when we see a car behind us when we walk. We feel afraid. What if this guy’s going to kidnap me or do something to me?” Providence Maseko, a salon worker in the settlement, shares that feeling of distrust. “Safety here is very bad,” she tells Bra Steve when he stops to invite her to a community conversation. “Maybe you are the serial killer. How do I know who to trust?” Maseko says she now only uses e-hailing taxis for all trips, even short ones, in a desperate bid to stay safe. Bra Steve responds by inviting her to join future community meetings, saying open conversation between men and women is the only path to rebuilding trust.

    As the men’s meeting wraps up on the dusty street outside the tavern, Mtwesi leaves the group with a clear message: every man has a role to play in ending violence. “If they wouldn’t allow these things to happen to their own daughters or own mothers, they mustn’t allow it to be done to someone else’s daughter, which is their wives or their girlfriends,” he says.

    For Mathekga, the meeting has reinforced a new mission: to become the role model he never had growing up. “Many of our fathers and uncles are in prison,” he says. “We no longer have role models, so we must now become the role models ourselves and help make this country better.”

  • Cornell frat house rape accuser ‘under siege’ online, says lawyer

    Cornell frat house rape accuser ‘under siege’ online, says lawyer

    A sexual assault allegation against seven Cornell University students has ignited widespread national debate and triggered a major shakeup in how the case is being investigated, after the accuser revealed she is facing overwhelming online harassment from internet users attempting to publicly identify her. The 20-year-old woman, referred to in legal filings only as Jane Doe, alleges she was gang-raped by seven men at a Cornell fraternity house in Ithaca, New York back in 2024. She claims she was completely incapacitated by intoxication and pressured to take ketamine before the attack, leaving her unable to give legal consent to any sexual activity. No criminal charges were brought against the accused men in the immediate aftermath of the incident, but the case has been reopened after Doe filed a civil lawsuit against her alleged attackers. The lawsuit has pushed the allegations into the national spotlight, renewing speculation that criminal charges could eventually be filed. In recent media interviews, Doe’s attorney Thomas Giuffra shared that his client is struggling deeply amid the relentless online harassment she has endured. “She is not doing well. She is under siege on social media where people are trying to identify her,” Giuffra told CNN. He added that misleading, false postings on public court forums have attempted to out Doe, and have even incorrectly misidentified unrelated women as the accuser, putting innocent people in the line of fire. The growing controversy surrounding the case prompted New York Governor Kathy Hochul to announce Friday that she was removing local county prosecutors from the investigation and appointing state Attorney General Letitia James, the state’s top law enforcement official, to lead the probe moving forward. Hochul told reporters she had lost all confidence that the local prosecutor’s office could fairly and effectively oversee the investigation. “This young woman had already endured something that is utterly unspeakable, and then at every turn she was failed by people and institutions with an obligation to protect her,” Hochul said during the press conference. Beyond the investigation shakeup, the governor also pledged to close a long-criticized loophole in New York state law that currently makes it far harder to prosecute rape cases when the alleged victim voluntarily consumed alcohol or drugs before the assault. As harassment of the accuser has intensified online, a wave of solidarity has erupted across social media platforms, with hundreds of women posting self-recorded videos tagged “I am Jane Doe” to protect the accuser’s anonymity. The campaign is designed to clog internet searches for the accuser’s name and make it harder for online sleuths to track her down. Many participants have also shared their own personal experiences of sexual assault in their videos, turning the movement into a broader call for accountability for campus sexual violence. The push to unmask Doe gained traction after a conservative political commentator publicly pledged to reveal her identity, arguing that it is unfair for the accuser to remain anonymous while the seven men she has accused are publicly identified, even though they have never been criminally charged. Online attempts to dox both the accuser and the accused have already led to multiple cases of dangerous mistaken identity. According to local reporting from the Free Press, an active-duty U.S. Marine Corps sergeant who shares the same name as one of the accused men was incorrectly served with Doe’s civil lawsuit, and has since been flooded with online abuse and violent threats. Campus activists and Cornell students have repeatedly expressed public frustration over how the original inquiry into the allegations was handled, with many calling for greater transparency and accountability from both the university and local law enforcement. The case has already reignited long-simmering national conversations about campus sexual assault, survivor privacy, and gaps in state sexual violence laws that critics say leave many survivors without paths to justice.