分类： politics

A prominent Egyptian-Palestinian human rights defender and long-time political activist is facing expulsion from France, after French authorities labeled his pro-Palestinian advocacy a ‘serious threat to domestic public order’, escalating a wider crackdown on pro-ceasefire speech in the country that has alarmed rights campaigners.

Ramy Shaath, a key organizing figure in the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings and former coordinator of the Egyptian branch of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, was released from arbitrary political detention in Egypt in January 2022 after direct intervention from French President Emmanuel Macron. At the time of his release, Paris framed his freedom as a victory for human rights, welcoming Shaath to reunite with his French wife on French soil.

Now, just over two years later, the French government is moving to deport him. Shaath is scheduled to appear before a national deportation committee on May 21, and his attorney Damia Taharraoui confirmed that local prefecture officials could issue an immediate enforceable deportation order as soon as the hearing concludes.

A copy of the deportation notice from Nanterre Prefecture, reviewed by Agence France-Presse, explicitly cites Shaath’s public pro-Palestinian activism and commentary as the justification for the expulsion. The activist confirmed to AFP that he has participated in multiple peaceful demonstrations calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, an end to what he describes as Israeli genocide in the enclave, the imposition of economic sanctions and arms embargoes on Israel, and urgent multilateral international intervention to protect Palestinian civilians.

“My stance has never changed since the time France worked to secure my release from Egyptian prisons where I was a political prisoner… but today, it seems they want to silence me,” Shaath told reporters.

French authorities have specifically called out Shaath’s public descriptions of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza as a criminal occupation, and his references to Israeli forces as “terrorists” for targeting residential homes and civilian healthcare facilities. His legal team has argued that deportation is not a viable option in this case: Shaath no longer holds Egyptian citizenship, and cannot be sent to the Palestinian territories due to the active, large-scale conflict that has devastated Gaza since October 2023.

In response to the expulsion order, Shaath’s family, friends and supporters launched a national campaign on Sunday to block the deportation, using the hashtag #FreeRamyShaath2 – a reference to his 2019 to 2022 imprisonment in Egyptian jails.

In an official statement, the campaign condemned France’s abrupt reversal of position: “When he arrived in France, Ramy Shaath was welcomed as a prisoner of conscience, finally freed. President Macron himself publicly welcomed his release and his reunification with his French wife. France congratulated itself then on having helped wrest a human rights defender from the prisons of the Egyptian dictatorship. Today, that same State is turning against him with scandalous brutality by trying to portray him as a threat to public order. After claiming to denounce Egyptian arbitrariness, it is reproducing its logic: turning a Palestinian political voice into a security file.”

Supporters added that even if the deportation attempt is blocked, French authorities have prepared alternative punitive measures, including imposing house arrest, seizing Shaath’s passport, and requiring mandatory daily check-ins with local police.

Shaath’s case is not an isolated incident. Since the start of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza in October 2023, French student groups, teacher unions, and civil society organizations have repeatedly warned of growing systemic pressure against individuals who voice public support for Palestinian rights. Peaceful actions including demonstrations, public statements, and campus occupations have been increasingly criminalized, leading to disciplinary action, administrative fines, formal legal prosecution, and in multiple cases, permanent criminal records.

Just last month, a controversial new bill tabled in the French National Assembly would codify new penalties for public criticism of Israel, including criminal sanctions for those who deny Israel’s right to exist or compare Israel’s actions to Nazi Germany. The draft legislation also expands the definition of terrorism-linked offenses to include so-called “implicit” incitement, broadening the scope for legal action against pro-Palestinian speakers.

Context on the Egyptian political landscape further highlights the risks of deportation: the country ranks just 18 out of 100 on Freedom House’s 2024 Freedom in the World index, where lower scores reflect stricter restrictions on political rights and civil liberties. Independent human rights groups estimate that more than 60,000 political prisoners are currently detained in Egyptian facilities, and Human Rights Watch has documented that the Egyptian government engages in widespread, systematic repression of peaceful dissent, arbitrarily detaining and punishing critics and activists.

Middle East Eye, which first reported on this case, reached out to the French Interior Ministry for comment and clarification on the government’s planned deportation destination for Shaath, but had not received a response as of the publication of this report.

A New York Times investigation has uncovered explosive new details about unacknowledged Israeli military bases operating in Iraq’s western desert, linking the discovery of one facility to the fatal shooting of a local Iraqi shepherd who stumbled across the site by accident. The revelations have reignited deep tensions across Iraq, strained already fragile alliances in the region, and raised serious questions about alleged United States complicity in keeping the covert operations hidden from the Iraqi government.

The disclosure of the secret outposts builds on reporting published last week by The Wall Street Journal, which first revealed that Israel established an initial covert presence in the remote western Iraqi desert amid its ongoing open conflict with Iran. According to initial accounts, the first installation was constructed in the weeks immediately before the outbreak of full-scale war in February, with the facility purpose-built to support Israeli air operations and house elite special forces detachments. In March, Israeli forces launched an airstrike against Iraqi troops that had nearly exposed the hidden outpost, using the site to coordinate the attack, the original report confirmed.

Israeli outlet Maariv later added further context, reporting that the forward operating base also served as a staging point for Israeli rescue and commando units, whose core mission would be to extract downed Israeli aircrew from Iranian territory if any pilots were shot down during combat missions.

The NYT investigation adds a previously unreported development: confirmation of a second secret Israeli base located in the same remote desert region. Unlike the first outpost, this facility was established before the 2025 full-scale war between Israel, the U.S. and Iran, and was actively used throughout the June 2025 conflict, unnamed officials told the NYT.

The fatal incident that exposed the presence of the bases unfolded when 52-year-old Awad al-Shammari, a local Bedouin shepherd, accidentally came across one of the hidden installations while traveling through the desert to pick up groceries. Local witnesses told the NYT that after Shammari discovered the outpost, an Israeli helicopter opened fire on his pickup truck, killing him instantly.

Shammari’s family spent two full days searching for him before they were able to confirm his death, with local residents too afraid of the sensitive site to approach the area immediately. “We were told that a burned-up pickup truck matching Awad’s was out there, but no one dared to go there,” his cousin Amir al-Shammari told the NYT. “When we got there, we found the car and his body burned beyond recognition.”

The reports of uninvited Israeli military presence on Iraqi soil, and the killing of an unarmed civilian, have triggered widespread public anger across Iraq. The country has never maintained diplomatic relations with Israel, and public sentiment toward the Israeli government is overwhelmingly hostile. Iraqi citizens and political leaders are now increasingly demanding that the interim Iraqi government launch a full public investigation, disclose what officials knew about the bases, and hold all parties responsible for Shammari’s death accountable.

One of the most damaging revelations to emerge from the NYT investigation is that U.S. officials have been aware of the existence of the base Shammari discovered since at least June 2025. Despite the United States’ formal security alliance with Iraq, which includes commitments to respect Iraqi territorial sovereignty, U.S. officials never shared information about the covert Israeli outpost with the Iraqi government, the NYT reported.

Senior Iraqi political figures have already responded with sharp condemnation of both Israel and the United States. Raed al-Maliki, a prominent Iraqi member of parliament, accused the U.S. of effectively ceding control of Iraqi airspace and territory to Israel during the 2025 war. “The United States handed Iraqi airspace to the [Israeli] entity during the war and ordered radar systems to be shut down,” al-Maliki said in a statement responding to the reports. “Now it has become clear that Iraqi territory was also used to establish a secret intelligence centre or base for the Zionist entity.”

As of press time, the Iraqi government has not issued any official public comment or response to the published reports. The revelations come at an already volatile moment for regional security, as the 2025 Iran-Israel war has left border regions across the Middle East unstable and fueled widespread anti-government sentiment in Iraq over perceived failures to protect territorial integrity.

On May 15, 2026, US President Donald Trump concluded his two-day visit to China, wrapping up a high-stakes summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping that drew global scrutiny for signals about the future of the world’s most consequential bilateral relationship. Trump praised the meetings as “incredible,” while Xi framed the talks as a milestone that opened the door to a “new bilateral relationship.” Yet independent analysts struck a more cautious tone, pointing out that the highly anticipated gathering of the leaders of the globe’s two most powerful nations produced no major tangible breakthroughs.

Yan Bennett, a leading scholar of US-China relations and author of *American Policy Discourses on China*, breaks down her three core observations from the historic summit in this analysis.

### Taiwan: Firm Rhetoric, Unchanged Status Quo
Few observers predicted any major shifts on the Taiwan issue, over which mainland China asserts sovereignty, even as Beijing has long pushed for a clearer US commitment opposing the island’s formal independence and explicitly supporting eventual reunification. What emerged from the summit aligned with expectations: Beijing reaffirmed that Taiwan remains its non-negotiable core priority. Xi emphasized on the first day of talks that the Taiwan “question” is the single most critical issue in US-China ties, warning that any mismanagement could spark “clashes and even conflict.”

This firm rhetoric served two key audiences. First, it addressed domestic political expectations: for decades, Taiwan has held a central place in Chinese political messaging, and the 100 million members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) widely expected Xi to take a strong stance on the issue. Second, it delivered a clear warning to Washington against backing Taiwanese independence — a message that did not upend existing US policy. The 2025 US National Security Strategy already explicitly opposes unilateral changes to the status quo from “either side,” signaling to Beijing that Washington also opposes a formal Taiwanese declaration of independence.

Trump did raise the topic of US arms sales to Taiwan during the talks, but long-standing US policy — dating back to the Reagan administration — has barred foreign interference in Washington’s decisions on what defensive weapons it sells to the island. This policy remained entirely unchanged, as did the US’s 1979 commitment to provide Taiwan with sufficient defensive capabilities to maintain its self-defense capacity.

Ultimately, both sides have a shared interest in preserving the status quo on Taiwan, with no party poised to benefit from an immediate shift. That said, Xi’s push to modernize the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has stirred uncertainty in Washington. Xi has set military modernization milestones that include having the capacity to invade Taiwan by 2027, a timeline that has fueled misinterpretation in the US under the “Davidson window” framework, which claims China intends to launch an invasion by that date.

In reality, China currently lacks the capacity to carry out a successful full-scale invasion of Taiwan. The PLA does not yet possess a blue-water navy capable of sustained independent operations far from Chinese ports, and Taiwan’s rugged geography — with only two suitable landing zones accessible at limited times of year — makes an amphibious invasion extraordinarily challenging. Taiwan has also steadily built up its defensive capabilities, drawing lessons from Ukraine’s resistance to Russia to develop a strategy that would make any occupation cost-prohibitive for Beijing.

Xi’s broader military modernization goal targets turning the PLA into a “world-class military” on par with the US by 2049. Still, the fact that China spends more on domestic internal security than on national defense indicates the CCP’s core priority remains maintaining domestic control, not expanding external military capability.

### Trade: Modest Progress, Tamed Expectations
For years, the US and China have worked to repair and re-stabilize bilateral economic ties, which were once deeply integrated but have grown strained in recent years. Both sides bring clear priorities to the table: Beijing aims to regain the large access to the American market it enjoyed in the 1990s and early 2000s, reversing the fragmentation that followed the 2018 US-China trade war. Since his first term in office, Trump has framed Chinese control of key supply chains and the bilateral trade imbalance as pressing national security concerns, while Washington has also pushed to end unfair trade practices such as requirements that foreign companies share proprietary blueprints, trade secrets, customer data and marketing strategies to operate in the Chinese market.

What tangible outcomes came from the summit? On the surface, results were limited. Small progress was made on allowing US beef exports to resume, and Trump announced that Beijing would purchase 200 Boeing aircraft — a figure far lower than the 500-plane deal that had been rumored in pre-summit media reports. Several Chinese firms also agreed to purchase microchips from US semiconductor giant Nvidia, a continuation of a trade arrangement that launched in late 2025.

Notably, Trump himself tempered pre-summit expectations, avoiding the bold, sweeping promises that have marked his past trade announcements. The most meaningful outcome was a structural agreement: Xi and Trump committed to establishing a new bilateral Board of Trade and Board of Investment, designed to create a structured framework for advancing trade liberalization in coming months.

Semiconductor trade has emerged as a central point of focus in bilateral tech ties. China currently trails the US by roughly 18 months in advanced microchip development, and some US policymakers have raised questions about selling chips to Beijing, warning that China could steal intellectual property and adapt high-end chips for military use. Current US policy restricts chip sales to prevent Chinese telecom firm Huawei from dominating the Chinese chip market, only allowing exports of Nvidia chips that Washington deems appropriate for non-military use.

### Military Ties: Washington Pushes for Open Communication Lines
During the Cold War, the US and Soviet Union maintained permanent open lines of military communication to prevent accidental escalation and catastrophic miscalculation. No such reliable channel has existed between Beijing and Washington, a gap that led to dangerous standoffs during the 2001 EP-3 spy plane collision and the 2023 Chinese spy balloon incident.

At the 2026 summit, Washington prioritized establishing a formal military communication channel, a goal that explains the unusual presence of US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in Beijing for the talks — a rare attendance for a defense secretary at a head-of-state summit. While Trump has publicly downplayed the need for Chinese cooperation on military matters, stating as much ahead of the summit, the inclusion of Hegseth signals the US’s commitment to building this critical guardrail against conflict.

The summit also produced little public news on cooperation around the ongoing Iran conflict. While Beijing has publicly criticized US policy amid the war, it has privately pressured Tehran to halt airstrikes on neighboring Gulf states. Contrary to commentary that claims China benefits from the US being bogged down in the Middle East, Xi prioritizes reaching a diplomatic resolution to prevent economic fallout from spiking oil prices. China’s current stockpile of discounted Iranian oil will only last a few more weeks, leaving the country exposed to sharp price increases that would damage its domestic economy.

*Yan Bennett is a Professorial Lecturer at American University and holds a contract position at the US Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute, where she trains US diplomats on transnational issues. Her views are her own and do not represent the official position of the US government. This article is republished under a Creative Commons license from The Conversation.*