Global Pulse

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  • Klopp handed task of reviving Germany’s football fortunes

    Klopp handed task of reviving Germany’s football fortunes

    In a long-awaited move that has sent shockwaves through international football, the German Football Association (DFB) announced Friday that legendary former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp will take the reins as the new head coach of Germany’s men’s national team, tasking the 59-year-old with reviving the once-dominant program’s fading fortunes. The appointment comes on the heels of yet another early World Cup exit, and Klopp’s contract will run through the 2030 FIFA World Cup, co-hosted by Spain, Portugal, and Morocco.

    Speculation around Klopp’s appointment had circulated for weeks, and the move gained momentum after former manager Julian Nagelsmann stepped down earlier this July. Nagelsmann resigned following a devastating round-of-32 penalty defeat to Paraguay at this summer’s tournament, marking Germany’s third consecutive early World Cup exit after the program’s 2014 title win. DFB sources confirmed that Klopp, who had publicly expressed interest in the role, was the federation’s top-choice candidate, and his willingness to accept the position accelerated Nagelsmann’s departure.

    Speaking at an official press conference in Frankfurt announcing his hiring, Klopp framed the national team role as the crowning achievement of his decades-long professional career. “It’s a great honour for me to be sitting here today,” he said. “This is ideally the high point of my career, of my life, my professional life. I will give it everything I have.”

    DFB President Bernd Neuendorf clarified that Klopp’s contract will officially begin on August 15, running through the summer of 2030. Prior to accepting the national team post, Klopp had been serving as Red Bull’s “Head of Global Soccer” since 2025, overseeing football strategy for the brand’s affiliated clubs across Europe and North America, including RB Leipzig, Red Bull Salzburg, and the New York Red Bulls. Neuendorf thanked Red Bull for agreeing to an early termination of Klopp’s contract, noting that the new Germany head coach will need to dedicate his full attention to reversing the team’s recent slump.

    Germany is one of the most decorated men’s football programs in history, with four World Cup titles — tied for the most among European nations — and three European Championship trophies. But despite that historic success, the team has struggled to compete at the highest level in major tournaments over the last decade. Since reaching the Euro 2016 semi-finals, Germany has won only a single knockout match across three World Cups and two European Championships, making this turnaround project one of the highest-stakes jobs in international football.

    Klopp brings a proven track record of success to the role, having built his reputation as one of the world’s top managers through stints at Bundesliga clubs Mainz and Borussia Dortmund before his trophy-laden nine-year spell at Liverpool. When he stepped down from Liverpool in 2024, he had led the club to every major trophy available, ending a 30-year league title drought by claiming the Premier League in 2020 and lifting the club’s sixth Champions League trophy in 2019. The DFB had courted Klopp for the national team role for years, with the federation consistently naming him as the ideal candidate to restore Germany’s standing among the world’s elite teams.

  • UNESCO adds West Bank site and Lebanese castles to World Heritage List despite Israeli objections

    UNESCO adds West Bank site and Lebanese castles to World Heritage List despite Israeli objections

    At a UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting hosted in Busan, South Korea, global cultural heritage officials have voted to approve two contested site nominations for World Heritage designation, marking a high-stakes decision that comes against fierce opposition from the Israeli government. The two sites in question are the ancient archaeological settlement of Sebastia in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and a cluster of five medieval fortifications in Lebanon’s Mount Amel region. Both sites have simultaneously been added to the List of World Heritage in Danger following an emergency review pushed by their nominating parties.

    Sebastia, a hilltop outpost located roughly six miles northwest of the Palestinian city of Nablus, holds profound cross-cultural historical significance. Academic experts widely identify the site as the location of ancient Samaria, the original capital of the biblical Kingdom of Israel. Its layered archaeological ruins preserve evidence of continuous human settlement across the Iron Age, Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic eras, and shared Abrahamic tradition holds that John the Baptist is interred on the site, per UNESCO’s official background materials.

    The Palestinian Authority first submitted Sebastia for UNESCO consideration back in 2012. Its nomination argued that World Heritage status is critical to advancing long-term conservation of the site, noting that while Sebastia draws global tourism, much of the settlement remains unexcavated and under-resourced for preservation efforts under ongoing Israeli occupation. The designation comes at an especially tense moment: Israel does not recognize Palestinian statehood, and the Israeli government has recently moved forward with plans to expropriate large tracts of land surrounding the Sebastia site. The move also comes amid mounting international pressure on Israel to rein in escalating violent attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank.

    For the Lebanese nomination, the five Mount Amel castles were recognized for their unique layered architectural legacy, which blends design elements from Crusader, Ayyubid, Mamluk, and local Levantine building traditions. The cluster documents nearly 900 years of evolution in fortified defensive architecture, making it a site of global cultural significance. This was the second Lebanese site added to UNESCO’s global heritage framework during the Busan meeting; just days earlier, the committee added the ancient Phoenician port city of Tyre in southern Lebanon to the List of World Heritage in Danger.

    Israel had mounted a fierce public campaign ahead of the vote to block both nominations. In a formal statement issued earlier that week, the Israeli Foreign Ministry accused the Palestinian delegation of carrying out a “hostile, one-sided campaign” at UNESCO, claiming the nomination falsely framed Sebastia as facing an imminent conservation emergency. Israeli officials argue the effort is a politically motivated attempt to “erase the site’s profound, well-documented Jewish and Christian history.”

    Israel also extended its opposition to the Lebanese castle nomination, specifically raising objections to the inclusion of Beaufort Castle, one of the five fortifications in the Mount Amel cluster. The Israeli Foreign Ministry claimed that the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has repurposed the historic castle as a military outpost, constructing underground tunnels beneath the site and using the surrounding area to launch rocket attacks. Israeli officials accused UNESCO of ignoring these security and cultural preservation risks.

    Neither UNESCO leadership nor the Lebanese embassy in South Korea has issued a formal response to Israel’s claims regarding Hezbollah and Beaufort Castle. This conflict over the nominations is not an isolated diplomatic incident: Israel formally withdrew from UNESCO in 2019, citing longstanding claims that the organization is systemically biased against the country and downplays Jewish historical ties to the Holy Land. Ahead of Friday’s vote, Israel had called the nominations an example of “weaponization of cultural heritage” for political gain, framing the entire process as illegitimate.

  • A Russian ballistic strike kills 6 after Ukraine’s Zelenskyy hosts US company making Patriots

    A Russian ballistic strike kills 6 after Ukraine’s Zelenskyy hosts US company making Patriots

    Escalating cross-border attacks have sent new shockwaves through the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, just days after high-stakes diplomatic and industrial talks opened a potential new path for Ukraine to bolster its air defense capabilities. On Friday afternoon, a Russian ballistic missile strike targeted a location in Ukraine’s Kyiv Oblast, leaving at least six civilians and defense sector personnel dead and dozens more injured, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed. The strike came only 24 hours after Zelenskyy held face-to-face talks in Kyiv with senior leaders from U.S. defense giant Raytheon, the manufacturer of the Patriot air defense systems that Kyiv has long prioritized to counter Russia’s relentless ballistic missile campaign.

  • Messiah or papering over cracks? Klopp must sway doubters in Germany rebuild

    Messiah or papering over cracks? Klopp must sway doubters in Germany rebuild

    Three weeks after Germany’s shocking 2026 World Cup penalty shootout exit at the hands of Paraguay triggered the resignation of head coach Julian Nagelsmann and plunged German football into a full-blown identity crisis, legendary German manager Jurgen Klopp has stepped forward to take on the high-stakes role of national team head coach. The 59-year-old, who earned global acclaim and a reputation as a transformational leader during his trophy-laden tenure at Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund, has signed a four-year contract that will see him guide Germany through Euro 2028 and the 2030 FIFA World Cup.

    Klopp’s first match in charge of Die Mannschaft is scheduled for September 24 against long-time rivals the Netherlands, kicking off the team’s Nations League campaign. To build out his coaching staff, the new manager has tapped his former Liverpool assistants Pep Lijnders and Peter Krawietz, a move that has raised hopes among German fans that the trio can replicate the magic that turned Liverpool from a underperforming giant into a Champions League and Premier League title winner.

    In comments after the deal was finalized, Klopp emphasized the unique power of the national team to unify the German public. “The national team can unite us Germans like almost nothing else. That’s precisely what makes this task so special for me,” he said. German Football Association (DFB) president Bernd Neuendorf made clear that Klopp was the association’s undisputed top target from the moment Nagelsmann stepped down, with the DFB pursuing the manager relentlessly to secure his signature. Neuendorf argued Klopp “embodies passion, credibility, and the ability to inspire people” that German football desperately needs right now.

    Proponents of the appointment point to Klopp’s decades-long track record of building unified, high-energy teams that outperform expectations, as well as his natural ability to connect with supporters — two qualities that critics have repeatedly said the German national team has lacked in recent years. Germany has failed to advance past the round of 16 in the last three consecutive World Cups, leaving the program at its lowest ebb in decades, with widespread criticism of a persistent lack of winning mentality and fractured connection between the team and its fanbase.

    Klopp, who has long centered his coaching philosophy on building what he calls “mentality monsters” and became a cult favorite at every club he has led, looks on paper like the perfect fix for these problems. A recent poll conducted by leading German football outlet *Kicker* found that 80% of respondents believe Klopp is the right person for the job. Former Germany and Bayern Munich midfielder Stefan Effenberg has said he expects Klopp to inject a “new spirit of optimism” into the program, while Borussia Dortmund CEO Carsten Cramer argued the manager’s positive influence could extend beyond the pitch, saying “he embodies a lot of the things that our football and our country are missing right now.”

    Despite this broad public support, Klopp’s appointment has ignited fierce controversy across German football. The core point of contention stems from Klopp’s 2024 move to take on the role of head of global soccer for Red Bull, a decision many German fans view as a betrayal of the country’s long-standing football values. Red Bull’s multi-club ownership model has long been criticized in Germany for violating the 50+1 rule, a core regulation that guarantees majority supporter voting control and protects the fan-centric identity of German clubs. Recent reports that Klopp intends to retain his position as a Red Bull brand ambassador while serving as Germany’s head coach have sparked widespread outrage.

    Former DFB president Theo Zwanziger told the *Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung* that retaining ties to Red Bull would be “an absolute no-go”, arguing the company “want to win power inside the sport”. Prominent fan group Unsere Kurve has accused the DFB of “kowtowing to capital” by allowing the arrangement to move forward. Group spokesperson Thomas Kessen noted that Klopp has squandered significant goodwill among German fans, particularly supporters of Borussia Dortmund, through his ties to Red Bull. Even some prominent figures within German football have questioned the DFB’s decision to fast-track Klopp’s hiring without considering other candidates. 2014 World Cup winner Bastian Schweinsteiger, speaking as a pundit for broadcaster ARD, pointed out that the DFB’s rush to send a delegation to New York to finalize the deal felt unplanned and hectic, arguing Klopp may only serve as a “band-aid” for systemic problems that run far deeper than the head coaching position.

    Klopp himself has acknowledged that German football needs far more than just a new manager to return to glory. “I have said many times that it’s not just about the head coach,” he told broadcaster MagentaTV earlier this month. “German football as a whole is facing a turning point, we have to change some fundamental things.”

    In a fitting twist of fate, Klopp’s first major test as Germany manager will come at Euro 2028, co-hosted by the UK and Ireland. While his beloved former club Liverpool’s Anfield stadium will not serve as a host venue, Klopp could return to Merseyside for matches at Everton’s new Hill Dickinson Stadium. By the time that tournament kicks off, fans across Germany and the global football community will have a much clearer answer to the question hanging over this appointment: can the man who saved Liverpool work the same miracle for German football?

  • Rugby brain injury court case at risk of collapse

    Rugby brain injury court case at risk of collapse

    One of the most high-profile legal battles in sports history, a lawsuit brought by hundreds of former rugby players alleging long-term brain injury caused by inadequate safety protections from the sport’s global and national governing bodies, is currently on the edge of collapse after critical procedural failures from the claimants’ original legal team. The 561 claimants, a mix of retired professional and amateur athletes, have brought claims against five leading rugby organizations: World Rugby, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), England’s Rugby Football Union (RFU), the Rugby Football League, and the British Amateur Rugby League Association. The players allege these governing bodies breached their legal duty of care to protect athletes from avoidable head trauma, arguing the organizations knew or should have understood the risks of repeated concussions but failed to implement adequate protective policies or warn players of the long-term neurological dangers.

    The case has already dragged on for six years and cost millions of pounds in legal fees, but it now faces a devastating procedural hurdle: the presiding senior master at London’s High Court, Jeremy Cook, is currently weighing whether to dismiss 95% of the first batch of claimants over their failure to comply with a court order requiring full disclosure of all existing neurological test documentation. In his assessment of the situation, Cook clarified that the fault for the procedural failure lies entirely with the claimants’ former lead legal representative, Richard Boardman of law firm Rylands Garth, not with the former athletes themselves. Cook emphasized, “The only complaint in this case is against the way Mr Boardman has handled the material. No claimant in this case can be said in any way, shape or form to be responsible for the deficiencies in the way this case has been presented.”

    Following the procedural breakdown, the claimants voted unanimously to end their working relationship with Rylands Garth, and Boardman has formally notified the court of his intention to step down from the case. The claimants are now actively searching for new legal representation to take over the complex litigation, but it remains uncertain whether any firm will agree to take on the high-stakes, years-long case. Cook has openly expressed sympathy for the former athletes whose claims hang in the balance, drawing a parallel to the situation: “We have got three buses full of passengers going to the same destination. The first bus, the driver drives them off a cliff and the result is that they don’t get to the destination. The other two get to the destination. What of those on the first bus?”

    Many household names in British and Irish rugby are among the claimants, including England Rugby World Cup winners Steve Thompson, Mark Regan and Phil Vickery, and former Wales internationals Colin Charvis, Gavin Henson, Ryan Jones and Lee Byrne. One of the most prominent claimants is Alix Popham, a former Wales flanker who was diagnosed with probable chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in 2020 at the age of 40. CTE is a progressive, degenerative brain condition linked to repeated head impacts and concussion episodes, and many of the claimants report living with a range of neurological conditions including early-onset dementia and CTE-related cognitive decline. Popham defended the decision to replace legal representation, noting that the “scale and complexity” of the ground-breaking case required new leadership. He added, “We hope it will help provide the momentum required to move the proceedings forward as efficiently as possible”. All five named governing bodies have denied any wrongdoing and are actively defending themselves against the claims.

  • Chairman of South Korean tech giant SK ordered to pay $640 million in divorce case

    Chairman of South Korean tech giant SK ordered to pay $640 million in divorce case

    One of South Korea’s most closely watched and financially massive divorce cases reached a new milestone Friday, when the Seoul High Court ordered SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, one of the nation’s wealthiest business leaders, to transfer 944 billion won ($640 million) in assets to his ex-wife Roh So-yeong. The ruling, which local media has widely labeled the “divorce of the century”, comes after South Korea’s Supreme Court sent the case back to the appellate court for re-evaluation last year.

    Roh, who currently serves as a director of a prominent Seoul-based art museum, is the daughter of late former South Korean President Roh Tae-woo. The latest asset award is lower than the 1.38 trillion won ($940 million) the Seoul High Court initially ordered Chey to pay in 2023. The tycoon was also previously ordered to cover 2 billion won ($1.3 million) in spousal support payments.

    The revised valuation of the settlement is tied to recent changes in Chey’s overall asset base, which has grown alongside the global AI boom that has driven sharp gains in shares of SK Hynix, SK Group’s leading semiconductor subsidiary. The Supreme Court’s 2023 remand centered on a key point of disagreement in the original ruling: the lower court had anchored part of its settlement on a finding that Roh’s father provided SK Group with 30 billion won ($20.4 million) in undeclared slush funds during his presidency, a contribution that it ruled helped drive the conglomerate’s growth. But the Supreme Court rejected the argument that these unreported funds could be legally recognized as a contribution to SK’s expansion, requiring the lower court to recalculate the settlement.

    Chey and Roh first married in 1988 and share three children together. The case began in 2017, when Chey filed for divorce after publicly confirming he had entered a relationship with another woman and fathered a child with that partner. Neither Chey nor Roh appeared at Friday’s ruling session. Either party has the right to appeal the new ruling to South Korea’s Supreme Court, which would send the case back to the nation’s highest court for another review.

    Notably, Chey is currently part of a delegation of top South Korean business leaders accompanying President Lee Jae Myung on a visit to the United States. During his trip, Lee is scheduled to meet leading U.S. technology executives including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in San Francisco Friday. The trip’s core goal is to pitch foreign investment in South Korea’s expanding artificial intelligence and semiconductor sectors, two industries that are central to the nation’s economic growth strategy.

  • Fires in Europe: latest developments

    Fires in Europe: latest developments

    Across the European continent, rapidly spreading and destructive wildfires have triggered emergency responses, mass displacement of residents, and renewed warnings about the accelerating impacts of human-caused climate change. New satellite data collected by the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) confirms that 2024 has already seen the second-largest total area of burned land across European Union member states since systematic record-keeping began.

    A new analysis published this week by the international climate research group World Weather Attribution draws a direct line between the increasing frequency and intensity of European blazes and rising global temperatures driven by the combustion of fossil fuels including oil, coal, and gas. The study confirms that regional drought conditions across the continent have grown far more severe in recent decades, creating tinder-dry landscapes that enable wildfires to ignite and spread much faster than historical norms.

    France, one of the countries hardest hit by this year’s fire season, is facing what officials are calling the most destructive blaze of the current period. In southwestern France, a single massive wildfire in the Lege Cap-Ferret forest region has already burned through more than 10,000 hectares (approximately 25,000 acres) of land, forcing the evacuation of around 40,000 residents to safer areas. French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez confirmed in an interview with Agence France-Presse that the blaze has destroyed 80 residential structures, with roughly 50 of those homes reduced to complete ruin. As of the latest update, no casualties have been reported from the fire.

    Across the entire country, 32 separate wildfires of varying intensity are still actively burning as of Friday. Nunez noted that total burned area in France since the start of the year has surpassed 50,000 hectares, a figure that is nearly three times higher than the total recorded over the same period in 2023. As the main blaze advanced on the Cap Ferret peninsula on Friday, hundreds of residents and visitors were forced to evacuate the coastal area by boat, after the fire outpaced ground evacuation routes. By early Friday, the Cap Ferret blaze had already consumed an area nearly twice the size of Manhattan, according to on-site reports.

    Neighboring Spain is also grappling with out-of-control blazes that threaten populated areas. Two large uncontained wildfires are burning less than 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the Spanish capital of Madrid, and regional authorities warn that difficult weather conditions, particularly strong gusty winds, will hamper firefighting efforts through Friday. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has described the ongoing wildfire crisis as dramatic, noting that extreme fire conditions are impacting multiple provinces across Spain as well as regions in neighboring European countries. Sanchez confirmed that the national government has deployed every available resource to contain the blazes and protect affected communities.

  • Tech titan ordered to pay ex-wife $644m in divorce settlement

    Tech titan ordered to pay ex-wife $644m in divorce settlement

    One of South Korea’s most closely watched legal disputes, widely dubbed the “divorce of the century,” has concluded with a landmark ruling ordering SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won to hand over 944 billion won (equivalent to $644 million) to his ex-wife Roh Soh-yeong. The case, which has dominated headlines across the nation for years, marks a final chapter in a decades-long marriage and contentious asset battle that has been intertwined with South Korea’s political and economic history.

    The reduced settlement, which remains pending final formalization, is lower than the 1.38 trillion won award initially granted to Roh in a 2024 lower court ruling. The ex-couple, who were married for 35 years, first separated more than a decade ago after Chey admitted to fathering a child with another woman. Roh is the daughter of Roh Tae-woo, who served as South Korea’s president from 1988 to 1993, a connection that became a core point of legal contention throughout the proceedings.

    In the 2024 initial trial, Roh’s legal team successfully argued that Chey’s rise to leading South Korea’s second-largest chaebol was significantly buoyed by financial support from his former father-in-law. The lower court ruled that Roh Tae-woo had provided 30 billion won in illegal slush fund assets to Chey in 1991, a contribution that factored into the original 1.38 trillion won award. However, South Korea’s Supreme Court overturned that ruling last year, holding that illegally obtained slush funds could not be classified as shared marital assets eligible for division, sending the case back for re-evaluation.

    The high-stakes divorce has unfolded alongside a period of explosive growth for SK Group, a family-owned conglomerate that anchors much of South Korea’s modern economy. Founded as a small textile business in 1953, SK has expanded its footprint across virtually every key sector of the nation’s economy, from mobile telecommunications through SK Telecom to retail energy distribution. Today, it ranks as the country’s second-largest chaebol, trailing only Samsung Group in overall scale and influence.

    In recent years, the group has gained global spotlight thanks to its semiconductor subsidiary SK Hynix, a critical supplier of advanced chips to AI giant Nvidia that has become a central player in the global artificial intelligence boom. The chipmaker’s valuation crossed the $1 trillion threshold on South Korea’s domestic stock market in May 2025, and it pulled off a record-breaking $26.5 billion initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange last month — the largest listing ever for a foreign firm on U.S. exchanges. As SK Hynix’s value has surged, so too has Chey’s public standing: just last month, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung praised Chey and Samsung chairman JY Lee as “Heroes of Korean People” during the unveiling of a national AI infrastructure investment plan.

    In a statement following the latest ruling, Chey’s legal team acknowledged the public concern sparked by the drawn-out proceedings. “Chairman Chey Tae-won is deeply sorry in that [the divorce] proceedings so far have caused concern to many people,” the statement read. “We will share specific response to the verdict after we closely review the ruling.” The BBC has reached out to SK Group for additional comment on the ruling, as of this reporting no further statement has been released.

    The verdict is not only a major resolution to one of South Korea’s most sensational celebrity legal cases, but it also shines a renewed spotlight on the inner workings of the chaebol system, where family wealth, political connections, and corporate power have long been deeply intertwined. With the final settlement amount now set, attention will turn to how Chey will structure the payout, and what impact, if any, the asset division could have on the leadership and strategy of one of the world’s most important technology conglomerates.

  • Why have thousands taken to the streets? India’s ‘cockroach’ protest explained

    Why have thousands taken to the streets? India’s ‘cockroach’ protest explained

    Across India, tens of thousands of demonstrators have mobilized in public spaces in what has become one of the most significant grassroots protest movements the country has seen in recent years. What began as a localized outcry over unchecked corruption, bureaucratic negligence, and the exploitative practices of state-backed sand mining mafias in the southern state of Karnataka has quickly erupted into a nationwide movement that has captured public attention. The movement’s unconventional mascot – the humble cockroach – has become its most recognizable symbol, and its roots trace back to a controversial comment from a senior state politician. In a 2024 public address, Karnataka’s incumbent Chief Minister Siddaramaiah dismissively labeled opposition protestors who were criticizing his administration’s corruption as “cockroaches that need to be stamped out.” Instead of silencing critics, the insult backfired spectacularly: activists embraced the label, turning the disparaging comparison into a rallying cry. Protestors argue that just as cockroaches thrive in unhygienic, dark environments, systemic corruption festers in the hidden, unaccountable corners of state governance – framing themselves as the unwanted pests that will not be erased until the rot of corruption is rooted out. Demonstrations have stretched across major urban centers, from Bengaluru to New Delhi, with participants cutting across demographic lines: students, working-class laborers, civil society activists, and opposition party members have all joined the call for greater government accountability, an end to illegal resource extraction, and transparent policy making. While the movement began as a response to local grievances, it has tapped into a broader national frustration with persistent corruption across all levels of Indian politics, turning a regional dispute into a conversation about systemic change. The “cockroach” mascot has also spawned widespread viral engagement on social media, with users sharing memes, protest art, and calls to action that have expanded the movement’s reach far beyond Karnataka’s borders.

  • Eight Muslim countries condemn mass Israeli raid on Al-Aqsa

    Eight Muslim countries condemn mass Israeli raid on Al-Aqsa

    On Thursday, a coalition of eight foreign ministers from key Arab and Muslim-majority nations issued a harsh rebuke of recent large-scale incursions by Israeli ultranationalist settlers and officials into Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, labeling the provocative actions illegal and dangerous extremist acts. The joint statement, shared publicly via Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the social platform X, builds on widespread international outrage over a mass raid staged earlier that same day, which drew thousands of far-right Israeli participants and was openly led by sitting cabinet ministers and members of parliament from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition.

    Among the high-profile Israeli figures who took part in the incursion were Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel’s far-right national security minister; Yitzhak Wasserlauf, the minister in charge of the Negev, Galilee and national resilience portfolio; and Amit Halevi, a sitting lawmaker from Netanyahu’s Likud Party. Ahead of the raid, Israeli security forces imposed restrictions that blocked hundreds of Palestinian worshippers from accessing the mosque compound for traditional pre-dawn prayers, forcing many to hold prayer services in adjacent streets outside the holy site.

    The joint statement from the foreign ministers of Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Turkey, Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia emphasized that the storming of Al-Aqsa represents a blatant violation of international law, binding United Nations resolutions, and the long-standing historic and legal status quo that has governed the holy site in Occupied East Jerusalem for decades. The group issued its strongest possible condemnation not only of the incursions themselves, but also of the public incitement and mobilization calls that preceded the raid, as well as the ongoing violent provocations carried out by sitting Israeli government ministers and extremist nationalist groups.

    In their warning, the ministers stressed that repeated incursions and provocative actions at the sensitive holy site fuel religious animosity, embolden extremism across the region, and directly undermine ongoing diplomatic efforts to secure a just, lasting peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict built on the internationally supported two-state solution. The group also formally called for global recognition of Jordan’s long-standing historic custodianship over the entire Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, and rejected both Israel’s claims of sovereignty over Occupied East Jerusalem and its Islamic and Christian holy sites, as well as ongoing Israeli efforts to forcibly alter the area’s historical, legal, and demographic character.

    The decades-old status quo agreement for the Al-Aqsa compound, a arrangement forged after the 1967 Six-Day War, outlines a clear governing structure: the Jordanian-backed Islamic Waqf, an Islamic charitable trust, retains full authority over all internal religious and administrative affairs of the site, while Israel controls external security access to the compound. Under the terms of this agreement, non-Muslim visitors are permitted to tour the site during scheduled visiting hours, but are strictly prohibited from holding any form of non-Islamic prayer on the grounds. In recent years, however, the site has seen a sharp escalation in settler incursions, most of which are carried out with armed military escort from Israeli security forces.

    This latest diplomatic push comes amid previously unreported plans, first revealed by independent outlet Middle East Eye, that the U.S. and Israel are actively working to strip Jordan of its historic custodianship of the Al-Aqsa compound. According to sources familiar with the proposal, which is championed by former White House advisor Jared Kushner and current U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, the existing authority of the Jordanian-backed Islamic Waqf would be dissolved entirely, and a new Israeli-government appointed body would reclassify the Al-Aqsa Mosque as a multi-faith site, bringing management of the holy site fully in line with Israeli government interests. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has denied the existence of such a plan, but has declined to explicitly reaffirm U.S. recognition of Jordan’s long-standing custodianship over the site.