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Israel to sue New York Times for article describing its rape of Palestinians

A bitter legal clash is brewing between the state of Israel and one of the world’s most prominent newspapers, after The New York Times stood by a high-profile opinion column that documented allegations of systemic sexual assault and rape against Palestinian detainees held in Israeli custody.

The confrontation moved forward this week after the paper reaffirmed its support for the reporting of veteran columnist Nicholas Kristof, prompting Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to announce it would move forward with a defamation lawsuit against the outlet, the agency confirmed in a post on the social platform X Thursday.

Kristof’s deeply researched investigative opinion piece opens with a unifying call for readers: regardless of where they stand on the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict, all people should be able to join in condemning sexual violence as a human rights abuse. The column centers on harrowing, first-hand testimonies from Palestinian survivors of assault by Israeli security personnel, including accounts of assault using military dogs, vegetables, and batons that left serious internal injury.

One detailed account comes from 46-year-old Palestinian journalist Sami al-Sai, who told Kristof he was sexually assaulted by both male and female Israeli soldiers while they filmed the attack, describing being violently grabbed in his genitals until he begged for the assault to stop.

In a statement defending the column, a New York Times spokesperson emphasized that Kristof’s work was the product of rigorous, in-depth reporting. But Israeli officials and public figures have pushed back fiercely, dismissing the allegations as a modern iteration of the medieval ‘blood libel’ – a centuries-old antisemitic falsehood that was used to justify mass violence against Jewish communities across Europe for hundreds of years.

Following the paper’s decision to uphold the reporting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar have formally ordered the MFA to launch the defamation proceeding against The New York Times. In an official statement, the MFA called Kristof’s piece one of the most ‘hideous and distorted lies’ ever published against the Israeli state by a major modern media outlet.

This is not the first time such allegations have come to light: independent outlet Middle East Eye published a similar report last month, based on investigation from the West Bank Protection Consortium. The coalition of human rights groups documented a minimum of 16 separate cases of sexual violence perpetrated by Israeli soldiers and settlers in the occupied West Bank, in a report focused on how gender-based violence is used to force Palestinian displacement from the region.

Kristof’s reporting draws on corroborating evidence from multiple independent human rights organizations that have documented sexual violence by Israeli personnel, including Euro-Med Monitor, Save the Children, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and leading Israeli human rights group B’Tselem. The columnist also interviewed Israeli legal professionals who confirmed that the sexual abuse of Palestinian detainees is a widespread, underreported problem.

In his column, Kristof argued that decades of systemic dehumanization of Palestinians by Israeli institutions has created conditions that enable these abuses to continue with impunity. He added that the true scale of violence is almost certainly far higher than documented, because sexual assault is deeply stigmatized in conservative Palestinian society, leaving most survivors unwilling to come forward publicly. Very few of the survivors he interviewed agreed to be named, but Kristof noted overlapping patterns in their testimonies that point to a systemic, institutional problem rather than isolated incidents.

Kristof also drew direct connection to United States policy, noting that American taxpayer funding subsidizes the Israeli security establishment, making the U.S. complicit in the sexual violence documented in the piece.

14 5 月, 2026
Netanyahu’s boast of secret visit to UAE sparks awkward denial from Abu Dhabi

In a dramatic development that has thrown the already fragile normalization alliance between Israel and the United Arab Emirates into the global spotlight, conflicting official claims over an alleged secret summit between the two nations’ leaders emerged on May 13, 2026, deep amid Israel’s ongoing war against Iran. The stark disagreement between Jerusalem and Abu Dhabi has also drawn sharp condemnation from Tehran, which has directly accused the Gulf state of complicity in the military campaign against it.

The chain of events began when Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office made an unprecedented public announcement confirming that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had traveled secretly to the UAE for a closed-door meeting with UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, held weeks into Israel’s Operation Roaring Lion, the official codename for its military offensive against Iran. The Israeli statement framed the unpublicized meeting as a historic breakthrough in bilateral relations between the two signatories of the 2020 Abraham Accords, the first normalization deal between Israel and a Gulf Arab state.

Within hours, however, the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a categorical rebuttal of the Israeli claim. In an official statement posted to social media, the Emirati foreign ministry denied all reports of a Netanyahu visit, as well as claims of any Israeli military delegation being hosted on UAE territory. The statement emphasized that all formal relations between the UAE and Israel are conducted openly under the framework of the officially declared Abraham Accords, with no place for non-transparent or off-the-books arrangements. It added that any claims of unannounced visits or undisclosed agreements are completely baseless unless confirmed via an official statement from Emirati authorities, and called on international media outlets to uphold professional standards of accuracy and avoid spreading unvetted information or misleading political narratives.

Despite the UAE’s full denial, multiple independent sources and evidence have backed the core of the Israeli claim. Unnamed Israeli and Arab sources cited by Middle East Eye place the meeting on March 26, held in the oasis city of Al-Ain, located near the UAE-Oman border. Independent open-source intelligence checks corroborate this timeline: on March 27, one day after the alleged meeting, Haaretz national security and open-source editor Avi Scharf posted to social media noting that two Israeli business jets, regularly used for very important person (VVIP) special travel, had landed in Al-Ain on March 26 and returned to Israel just four hours later that same evening. Subsequent independent flight tracking data confirmed that two jets departed Tel Aviv for Al-Ain on the afternoon of March 26 and returned to Israel overnight. Risk advisory firm Basha Report further identified the two aircraft as a Bombardier Global Express XRS registered in the Isle of Man and a Bombardier Global 6000 business jet. Additional unconfirmed reporting even claims that Mohammed bin Zayed personally drove Netanyahu from the airport to the meeting palace in his own private vehicle.

This is not the first reported high-level Israeli-Emirati contact during the war: The Wall Street Journal has previously reported that Mossad Director David Barnea has made at least two trips to the UAE since the outbreak of hostilities for war coordination purposes. Middle East Eye attempted to request additional clarification from the UAE foreign ministry on its denial but received no response by the time of publication.

The disagreement over the meeting comes against a decades-long backdrop of quiet cooperation between the UAE and Israel that predates their 2020 formal normalization. As the first Gulf state to normalize ties with Israel, the UAE has developed extensive joint military and intelligence partnerships with Israel and the United States, including a shared intelligence-sharing platform codenamed Crystal Ball designed to boost regional intelligence capabilities. Even before formal diplomatic relations were established, Israeli military and intelligence officials helped the UAE construct a network of security outposts across islands in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, operating under the radar for years.

Alon Pinkas, a veteran Israeli diplomat who served as an advisor to four Israeli foreign ministers, noted that the long-running quiet cooperation predating formal normalization means the current public disagreement over the meeting is unlikely to cause permanent, irreversible damage to bilateral ties — particularly given widespread expectations that Netanyahu will leave office before the end of 2026. That said, Pinkas acknowledged that the ongoing war on Iran has already strained the relationship, as the UAE and much of the region now view Israel as an aggressive force driving regional destabilization.

The economic and security costs of the war have fallen disproportionately heavily on the UAE, a reality acknowledged even by senior U.S. officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Iran has targeted Gulf states it views as sympathetic to Israel and the U.S. in retaliation for the offensive, and the UAE has absorbed more missile attack damage than Israel itself since the war began in late February. While Israel deployed Iron Dome air defense batteries and operating personnel to the UAE to help defend against Iranian strikes — deepening practical security cooperation — the war has still hit the UAE’s core economic interests hard: its vital tourism sector has suffered sharp declines, and capital flight has hit the major financial hubs of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, even as the country maintains an alternative oil export route bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.

On Thursday, the diplomatic fallout expanded when Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi used a BRICS summit meeting in New Delhi to directly accuse the UAE of being complicit in the war against Iran. Araghchi noted that he had previously avoided naming the UAE publicly to preserve regional unity, but confirmed that the UAE was directly involved in the aggression against Tehran, and failed to issue any condemnation of the offensive when it first launched.

Despite the public dispute and war-related strains, regional analysts expect the bilateral relationship between Israel and the UAE to continue deepening in the long term. Jalel Harchaoui, a leading expert on regional political economy, told Middle East Eye that the UAE remains committed to the core strategic logic of the Abraham Accords it adopted in 2020, even amid the heavy costs it has incurred since the outbreak of the war. Harchaoui argues that the damage the UAE has sustained will not shift its overall strategic course, and that the country will likely double down on its normalization partnership with Israel moving forward.

14 5 月, 2026
Emails show FBI Director Kash Patel’s Hawaii trip included ‘VIP snorkel’ at a Pearl Harbor memorial

Controversy has engulfed FBI Director Kash Patel after an undisclosed exclusive snorkeling excursion at the hallowed USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, was uncovered through government emails obtained by the Associated Press, adding to a growing pattern of scrutiny over his blend of official work and personal leisure during taxpayer-funded travel.

Last August, Patel made a planned stop in Hawaii to tour the FBI’s Honolulu field office and meet with local law enforcement on his way to official engagements in Australia and New Zealand. What the FBI did not disclose in its public statements was that after concluding his business in Oceania, Patel returned to Hawaii for two additional days, during which he took part in the coordinated military VIP snorkeling trip around the sunken USS Arizona, a military cemetery that holds the remains of more than 900 U.S. sailors and Marines killed in the 1941 Japanese attack that drew the United States into World War II.

Snorkeling and recreational diving are almost universally prohibited at the site, which is managed jointly by the U.S. Navy and the National Park Service. Only a small number of authorized groups are permitted access: marine archaeologists and National Park Service crews conducting routine condition surveys, and divers facilitating the interment of USS Arizona survivors who choose to be buried alongside their former shipmates. Since at least the Obama administration, a tiny, select group of high-ranking dignitaries with direct oversight responsibility for the memorial have been quietly granted exceptions, though neither the Navy nor the Park Service has released details on how often these excursions occur or who receives approval.

Interviews with former officials and individuals familiar with the site’s protocols confirm that no FBI director dating back to at least 1990 has ever requested or received permission to snorkel at the memorial. One anonymous former government diver told the AP that granting access to a non-memorial official like Patel is highly unusual, as the activity poses unique physical risks, and creates unnecessary security, safety, and logistical burdens at one of the nation’s most sensitive historic sites.

The revelation of the undisclosed trip has reignited criticism of Patel’s leadership, which has been dogged for more than a year by questions over his inappropriate use of government resources. Most recently, in February, Patel faced backlash after video emerged of him partying in a locker room with the U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team following their gold medal win at the Milan Winter Olympics. Patel has defended that appearance, claiming it was tied to a pre-planned cybercrime investigation with Italian law enforcement.

Stacey Young, founder of Justice Connection — a coalition of former federal prosecutors and agents that advocates for the Department of Justice’s institutional independence — condemned the excursion. “It fits a pattern of Director Patel getting tangled up in unseemly distractions — this time at a site commemorating the second deadliest attack in U.S. history — instead of staying laser-focused on keeping Americans safe,” Young said.

The Navy confirmed the outing in a statement to the AP, though it was unable to identify who originally approved or arranged the trip. Navy spokesperson Captain Jodie Cornell noted that all participants were instructed not to make contact with the sunken wreckage and received a full briefing on the site’s status as a sacred cemetery. The service called Patel’s excursion “not an anomaly” but declined to share details on how frequently similar VIP trips are organized. The National Park Service, for its part, said it was not involved in coordinating the trip and declined all further comment.

Reactions to the excursion have been split among veterans and family members of the USS Arizona’s fallen crew. Hack Albertson, a Marine veteran who participates in annual authorized dives to survey the wreck on behalf of the Paralyzed Veterans of America, called the trip inappropriate. “It’s like having a bachelor party at a church. It’s hallowed ground,” Albertson said. “It needs to be treated with the solemnity it deserves.”

By contrast, some leaders of groups representing survivors’ families said they did not object to rare official excursions, though many expressed frustration that family members of fallen crew members are routinely denied the same access. Deidre Kelley, national president of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors, noted that no original survivors of the attack remain alive, writing, “I have not heard of anyone who would object to these visits as they are very rare.”

Former acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, for whom Patel served as chief of staff during the final months of the Trump administration, confirmed he had snorkeled at the site during an official visit years ago, describing the trip as a “somber and meaningful historical tour” rather than a recreational activity. Miller added that Patel did not join him on that earlier excursion.

Flight tracking data shows the FBI director’s official Gulfstream G550 jet remained in Hawaii for two nights after Patel’s official business concluded, before flying onward to Las Vegas, where Patel maintains his permanent residence. The FBI has defended the overall Hawaii trip as part of Patel’s official national security engagements, noting that top military commanders at Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam routinely host senior U.S. officials on official travel. The bureau has declined to answer specific questions about the snorkeling excursion or what other activities Patel conducted during his two extra days on the island.

This is not the first controversy to arise from Patel’s August trip to Oceania. After opening the FBI’s first standalone office in Wellington, New Zealand, Patel faced criticism when it was revealed he had gifted local police and intelligence leaders 3D-printed replica pistols that are illegal to possess under New Zealand’s gun control laws.

The Associated Press’s investigative team obtained records of the excursion through a public records request, with additional reporting contributed from correspondents in Honolulu and New York.

14 5 月, 2026
Israel closes Al-Aqsa for Muslims amid mass settler raids and ‘Flag March’

On Thursday, ahead of the annual and highly controversial ‘Flag March’ through Jerusalem’s Old City, Israeli security forces enacted sweeping restrictions that barred the vast majority of Palestinian Muslim worshippers from accessing the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, while providing heavy armed protection for large-scale incursions by ultranationalist Israeli groups into the holy site.

The entire Old City, located in Israel-occupied East Jerusalem, was placed under a near-complete lockdown to make way for the planned marches and incursions. Palestinian-owned commercial establishments across the area were forced to close their doors, and local Palestinian residents were ordered to remain confined to their homes.

In an anonymous interview with Middle East Eye, a staff member from the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf — the Jordanian-administered body that oversees Al-Aqsa Mosque under longstanding regional arrangements — noted that security barriers and entry restrictions were stricter than at any point in recent memory. From the moment of pre-dawn morning prayers, Israeli authorities implemented harsh control measures at every entry gate to the compound, one of the most sacred sites in Islam.

Israeli forces conducted invasive searches of all worshippers attempting to reach the mosque, confiscated identification documents from many, and enforced sweeping age-based bans: all Palestinian men under the age of 60 and all Palestinian women under the age of 50 were barred entry entirely. Local sources confirmed to Middle East Eye that worshippers were physically assaulted, shoved, and beaten by security personnel at multiple mosque gates. By the time pre-dawn prayers concluded, the vast majority of Palestinians had been cleared from the compound, leaving only a small contingent of Waqf staff on site.

Shortly after the clearance, large groups of ultranationalist Israelis entered the compound under full police protection. By mid-morning, at least 800 Israelis had carried out incursions into the site, with additional groups scheduled to enter throughout the day. During the incursions, multiple participants performed openly Jewish religious rituals and prayers, and raised Israeli flags across the mosque’s central courtyard.

The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound sits on a plateau known to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif and to Israelis as the Temple Mount. For Muslims, Al-Aqsa is the third-holiest site in Islam, while Jewish tradition holds the plateau was the location of the ancient First and Second Temples. A centuries-old status quo agreement, formally recognized by the international community, designates the entire compound as an exclusively Muslim place of worship, with full administrative authority over access, prayer, and maintenance granted to the Islamic Waqf.

In recent years, however, the Israeli government has steadily eroded this long-standing arrangement. It has permitted near-daily incursions by ultranationalist settler groups and allowed public Jewish prayer on the compound, while systematically sidelining the Waqf’s governing authority. Thursday’s incursions included several high-profile Israeli political figures: Ariel Kallner, a sitting member of parliament from the ruling Likud party, and Yitzhak Wasserlauf, Israel’s current minister for peripheral development from the far-right Otzma Yehudit party led by Itamar Ben Gvir. Speaking after his entry to the compound, Wasserlauf claimed that ‘Jews no longer walk around the Temple Mount like thieves and no longer need to hide.’

The large-scale incursions come as Israel marks ‘Jerusalem Day,’ a national holiday commemorating Israel’s 1967 occupation of East Jerusalem and its subsequent annexation of the territory. Alongside the raids on Al-Aqsa, the day’s events include the polarizing Flag March, which travels through the Old City, including through Palestinian-majority neighborhoods. The march has a well-documented history of racist, anti-Muslim chants, physical assaults on Palestinian residents, and vandalism of Palestinian property.

This year’s Jerusalem Day celebrations run from sunset Thursday through nightfall Friday, an unusually timed schedule that sees the events overlap with Nakba Day — the Palestinian commemoration of the 1948 ethnic cleansing of more than 750,000 Palestinians by Zionist militias during the establishment of the state of Israel. The overlap also falls on a Friday, the holiest day of the week for Muslim prayer, when Israeli authorities have historically suspended incursions into Al-Aqsa to allow for weekly communal prayers.

Despite this long-standing practice, a group of senior ministers and members of parliament from Israel’s ruling coalition have submitted an official appeal to the national police commissioner demanding that Israeli groups be allowed to enter the compound’s yards on Friday. In a joint letter signed by top officials including Justice Minister Yariv Levin, Defense Minister Israel Katz, and Energy Minister Eli Cohen, the politicians argued that ‘it is unacceptable that on the day marking the liberation of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, Jews will be completely denied access to the holiest site for the Jewish people.’

A Palestinian Jerusalem resident, speaking anonymously to Middle East Eye, expressed widespread fear among local communities that the raids will proceed on Friday, further cementing Israeli control over the contested holy site. Ir Amim, an Israeli human rights organization focused on protecting equality and accessibility in Jerusalem, has issued a strong condemnation of what it describes as growing official government backing for the Temple movement, a coalition of ultranationalist groups that organizes daily incursions into Al-Aqsa and openly calls for the destruction of the existing mosque to make way for a Jewish Third Temple.

‘Against the backdrop of the sweeping government support they now enjoy, Temple activists may in the coming days attempt to forcibly enter the complex, damage Muslim holy sites, or carry out attacks against Palestinians in and around the area,’ Ir Amim warned earlier this week. ‘When the police – who are meant to uphold public order – openly declare their support for the Temple movement, there is little left to restrain those groups from acting in such a manner.’

14 5 月, 2026
Canada weighs buying Turkish drones it sanctioned in 2019

Seven years ago, Canada triggered a major shakeup in Turkey’s defense manufacturing sector when it imposed a full arms sales ban on the country, a response to Ankara’s cross-border military incursion into northern Syria. Two of Turkey’s most prominent drone developers, industry leaders Baykar and Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), bore the brunt of the trade restriction, as both firms relied entirely on specialized electro-optical (EO) and infrared (IR) surveillance cameras built by Canadian defense manufacturer Wescam for their unmanned aerial vehicles.

Cut off from their primary supply source, Turkish defense contractors were forced to rapidly pivot, launching aggressive campaigns to source alternative components from both global and domestic producers. Today, that forced self-sufficiency has paid off: Turkey now boasts a robust cohort of local manufacturers capable of producing the same high-end EO/IR cameras once imported exclusively from Canada.

Now, in a striking reversal of policy, the same Western nation that cut off Turkey’s drone component supply is now in preliminary discussions to purchase Turkish-made military drones, multiple insiders have confirmed to Middle East Eye. An anonymous official familiar with the negotiations noted that Canada is specifically seeking medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) drones to boost its national surveillance capabilities.

While the source emphasized that talks remain in their earliest stages and may never result in a finalized deal, the shift in diplomatic and policy tone under Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is impossible to miss. Middle East Eye has reached out to the Canadian embassy in Ankara for official comment on the negotiations, with no response issued as of publication.

The policy shift was echoed publicly by senior Canadian officials in recent weeks. During a panel discussion held in Istanbul last week, Canadian Secretary of State for Defence Procurement Stephen Fuhr announced that Ottawa was eager to expand bilateral defense collaboration with Turkey in sectors where Ankara has built globally recognized competitive advantages. In a subsequent interview with Defense News, Fuhr specifically named drone technology, counter-drone systems, and ammunition production as priority areas for new partnership.

Fuhr added that Canada is open to structured co-development projects rather than simple off-the-shelf purchases, a model that would allow Canada to accelerate its defense capability growth without investing years of time and billions of dollars in building a domestic drone program from the ground up.

Ankara has a long track record of embracing this collaborative framework: Turkish defense firms have already established similar localized co-production drone partnerships with the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Ukraine in recent years.

One official familiar with Canada’s strategic calculations told Middle East Eye that the shift can be traced back to shifting reliance on U.S. defense cooperation, with the change in posture indirectly tied to former U.S. President Donald Trump’s reshaping of transatlantic security arrangements. The official noted that Carney’s government no longer has full confidence in the long-term security guarantee provided by Washington, pushing Ottawa to diversify its defense supply chains. “Canadians don’t want to rely on American weapons anymore; they would like to diversify,” the source explained.

Fuhr echoed this sentiment during his Istanbul appearance, noting that the United States, Canada’s southern neighbor, has moved away from the long-standing defense trade norms that Ottawa relied on for decades. That shift has forced Canada to speed up efforts to strengthen its own independent defense capabilities, he added. Currently, Ottawa is already rolling out billions in new defense spending to meet NATO’s requirement that member states allocate 2% of annual GDP to defense. It also recently announced plans to launch a national drone innovation hub at the country’s National Research Council, backed by a $105 million investment over three years.

Diplomatic momentum for deeper bilateral defense ties is building quickly. Carney is already scheduled to travel to Turkey for the NATO summit set to take place in Ankara this July, but multiple officials confirmed that the prime minister is also planning a standalone formal bilateral visit to the country in October. During that October visit, multiple defense cooperation initiatives are expected to be officially launched, including the drone development and procurement projects currently under discussion.

“You will see our prime minister coming here a couple of times in the near future to demonstrate how interested we are and how committed we are to working more bilaterally with Turkey moving forward,” Fuhr told the Istanbul panel.

Fuhr also outlined the core urgency driving Canada’s push for rapid collaboration: the growing mismatch between shrinking defense technology cycles and the slow pace of traditional domestic procurement. “One of the military’s biggest frustrations with the defence industry was how long it takes to develop new capabilities, especially as technology cycles continue to shrink while procurement cycles grow longer,” he said. “You end up with something that is slow and irrelevant. So we are very motivated to move quickly, and I see signs that our partners are working quickly as well, and I’m seeing tangible results from that.”

14 5 月, 2026
Israel increasing use of solitary confinement for Palestinians, including for minors

Freshly released official data obtained via a freedom of information request has laid bare a dramatic and unprecedented rise in the use of solitary confinement against Palestinian detainees held in Israeli jails, with a particularly sharp uptick recorded against child prisoners following the launch of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza in October 2023.

The data, published this week by the Israeli-based human rights and medical advocacy group Physicians for Human Rights, paints a stark picture of rapidly deteriorating conditions inside Israeli detention facilities. It tracks a surge in solitary placements that has grown exponentially over the past three years: just one minor was placed in isolation in 2022, a figure that climbed to 50 in 2023 before skyrocketing to 290 in the first months of 2024.

The escalation is not limited to child detainees. Official counts show the number of adult Palestinians held in solitary confinement has nearly tripled year-over-year in 2024, hitting a total of 4,493 placements. For female Palestinian detainees, the increase is equally stark: only two were held in isolation in 2022, a figure that has jumped to 25 by 2024.

Israeli prison authorities operate two distinct frameworks for solitary confinement: punitive isolation, capped at 14 days per placement, and deterrent isolation, which can last up to six months and be renewed indefinitely by official order. Rights groups confirm the vast majority of Palestinian detainees held in isolation fall under the short-term punitive category.

Human rights organizations have for decades categorized prolonged or routine solitary confinement as a cruel and inhumane practice, meeting the international definition of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Multiple peer-reviewed studies have linked the practice to severe long-term health harms, including chronic mental health conditions, permanent memory impairment, hallucinations, and a range of chronic physical illnesses.

Conditions for all Palestinian detainees have deteriorated sharply across the board since the Gaza campaign began, with multiple detainees and advocacy reports documenting systemic food shortages, uncontrolled spread of infectious diseases inside overcrowded facilities, and frequent incidents of violence carried out by Israeli prison guards against detainees.

“What was once reserved as an exceptional punishment for rare infractions has become a routine practice now, even applied to minors and women,” explained Oneg Ben-Dror, a representative of Physicians for Human Rights. She added that the sudden, dramatic rise in the use of solitary confinement has triggered urgent alarms about widespread violations of Palestinian detainees’ basic human rights, as well as their immediate and long-term physical and mental well-being.

In a response to Israeli outlet Haaretz, the Israel Prison Service defended its practices, arguing that the jurisdiction has seen a “dramatic increase” in the total number of security detainees in recent years, which includes a growing population of minor detainees. The service claimed that comparisons of prison conditions before and after October 2023 “distort reality,” stating that it operates under a policy of “custodial governance” that adheres to legal protocols when responding to breaches of institutional order or discipline.

As of the most recent count from last month, more than 9,600 Palestinians are currently being held in Israeli jails. Of that population, at least 3,532 are being held under administrative detention, a controversial Israeli policy that allows military authorities to detain individuals indefinitely without filing formal charges or conducting a public trial, with six-month detention extensions that can be renewed repeatedly. The current prison population includes 342 minor children, 84 adult women, and 119 detainees serving life sentences.

The total number of Palestinian detainees has nearly doubled since the launch of the Gaza campaign; pre-October 2023 counts put the prison population at roughly 5,250 Palestinians held in Israeli custody. The escalating restrictions on detainees come amid a broader shift in Israeli policy toward Palestinian prisoners: in March, Israel’s legislative body, the Knesset, approved a controversial bill permitting the execution of prisoners by a 62-48 vote, despite widespread international condemnation and calls to scrap the legislation.

The text of the new law frames the death penalty as a punishment for anyone who “intentionally causes the death of another person with the intent to harm an Israeli citizen or resident, or to threaten the existence of the State of Israel.” Legal analysts and rights groups have highlighted that the wording of the law disproportionately targets Palestinian detainees, as Jewish Israelis who commit lethal violence against Palestinians face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of execution under the same legislation.

14 5 月, 2026
Giant new dinosaur identified from fossils in Thailand

A groundbreaking paleontological discovery from northeastern Thailand has introduced the world to an entirely new species of giant long-necked dinosaur, one that ranks as the largest prehistoric reptile ever uncovered in Southeast Asia. Dubbed *Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis*, the massive herbivore walked the Earth between 100 and 120 million years ago—roughly 40 million years before Tyrannosaurus rex, and nearly twice the size of the iconic apex predator. The new find is detailed in a recent paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Scientific Reports, led by an international collaboration of researchers from University College London (UCL) in the United Kingdom and Mahasarakham University in Thailand.

The fossilized remains of *Nagatitan* were first unearthed a decade ago along the banks of a rural pond in Thailand’s Chaiyaphum Province. Experts calculate the dinosaur reached an extraordinary 27 meters (88 feet) in total length—surpassing the famous long-necked *Diplodocus* in size—and tipped the scales at 27 tonnes, equal to the combined weight of nine fully grown adult Asian elephants. Like other giant long-necked plant-eating dinosaurs, it belongs to the sauropod family, a group that includes the largest terrestrial animals to ever walk the planet.

The species’ name carries deep cultural and geographic context: “Naga” references the mythical serpent figure central to Southeast Asian folklore, “Titan” draws from the giant deities of Greek mythology, and the specific epithet “chaiyaphumensis” honors the province where the fossils were recovered. Lead study author Thitiwoot Sethapanichsakul, a Thai doctoral candidate at UCL who has been fascinated by dinosaurs since childhood, calls *Nagatitan* Thailand’s “last titan.” The fossil was recovered from the youngest dinosaur-bearing rock formation in the country; after this geological period, the region was submerged by a shallow sea, making future finds of large dinosaur remains highly unlikely. As Sethapanichsakul explains, this means *Nagatitan* is very likely the most recent large sauropod that paleontologists will ever discover in Southeast Asia. For the lead author, the project also fulfilled a lifelong dream: naming a new dinosaur species, a goal he set as a child.

Beyond its impressive size, the discovery carries major implications for understanding sauropod evolution and the impact of ancient climate change on dinosaur development. When *Nagatitan* roamed what is now Thailand, global temperatures were elevated and atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were rising. Study co-author Professor Paul Upchurch of UCL notes that the success of giant sauropods during this warm period poses an interesting evolutionary puzzle: large-bodied animals retain more body heat, making them more vulnerable to overheating in high temperatures. Upchurch suggests rising temperatures likely altered the abundance and distribution of plant life that the massive herbivores relied on, creating conditions that allowed sauropods to evolve to their extraordinary sizes.

Thailand has emerged as a critical hub for dinosaur paleontology in Asia, with *Nagatitan* marking the 14th unique dinosaur species identified from the country’s fossil deposits. Dr. Sita Manitkoon, a paleontologist at Mahasarakham University and co-author of the study, explains that Thailand hosts an unusually high diversity of dinosaur remains, and ranks as the third most fossil-rich country for dinosaur remains in all of Asia. This new find adds to a growing body of research that is reshaping scientific understanding of Cretaceous dinosaur life in Southeast Asia, a region that has historically been understudied compared to other major fossil-bearing regions of the world.

14 5 月, 2026
Israel’s Smotrich leads settler raid into Joseph’s Tomb in the occupied West Bank

In a provocative move that escalates tensions over territorial and religious claims in the occupied West Bank, hundreds of Israeli settlers, led by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, forced their way into the Joseph’s Tomb compound in the heart of Nablus early Wednesday, protected by heavy Israeli military deployment.

Israeli troops launched pre-emptive raids on residential areas of the Palestinian city and closed all major entry checkpoints to clear the path for the visit, which included organized morning prayers for the settler group. Official Israeli estimates place the total number of Israelis who entered the compound overnight at approximately 5,000.

During the visit, Smotrich — who also holds a senior role in Israel’s defense ministry overseeing the civil administration of the occupied West Bank — doubled down on his longstanding goal of cementing permanent Israeli control over the religious site, which falls under the administrative jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority. Smotrich framed the incursion as a symbolic and political milestone, stating, “Our presence here at Joseph’s Tomb, in broad daylight, is a clear statement: the people of Israel are returning home to all parts of their land. Joseph’s Tomb is living testimony to the inseparable connection between the people of Israel and their land.”

The far-right minister went on to pledge to formally transfer full administrative control of the compound to the Israeli government, calling the incursion “another step in a historic correction and in strengthening our hold on Samaria” — the Israeli term for the northern West Bank. “We are acting, and will continue to act, so that the Jewish presence here becomes permanent,” he said, before issuing a formal call to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz to expand Israeli sovereignty over the site, adding that the move “is the most fitting Zionist response to our enemies – deepening our roots in our land.”

Wednesday’s incursion is the latest in a years-long pattern of accelerating de facto annexation of the West Bank led by Smotrich, who took office as part of Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition government in December 2022. Under his leadership, Israel has overseen one of the largest waves of land seizure in the occupied territory in decades, alongside a sharp rise in incursions into contested religious and heritage sites across the region. These include the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron and the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem, both flashpoints for religious and political conflict.

A recent investigation published by Israeli daily Haaretz this week revealed that Smotrich has prioritized settlement expansion in the West Bank over his core duties as finance minister over the past two years. Between 2024 and 2025, the report found, Smotrich held more than 65 private meetings with Yehuda Eliyahu, his close political ally who until recently led the Settlement Administration within the defense ministry. Eliyahu was appointed last week to head the Israel Land Authority, the state body responsible for managing and allocating public land in both Israel and the occupied West Bank, a move that analysts say will further enable Smotrich’s annexation agenda. By comparison, Haaretz recorded that Smotrich met with senior Finance Ministry officials only around 30 times in the same two-year period.

The Joseph’s Tomb site itself has been a source of repeated conflict for decades. While many Jewish worshippers revere the site as the burial place of the biblical Prophet Joseph, Palestinians identify it as the tomb of Sheikh Yusuf Dweikat, a local 19th-century Islamic cleric, and it sits within a densely populated Palestinian city. Israeli military-backed settler visits to the site began in the early 1980s after Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967, and these incursions have consistently sparked widespread Palestinian resistance. Israel withdrew its permanent military garrison from the compound in 2000, but has continued to organize monthly escorted visits for settlers. Since the October 2023 Hamas attack, these incursions have grown dramatically in size and frequency, with far-right politicians and activists repeatedly calling for a full reoccupation of the site and the re-establishment of permanent Jewish presence.

Multiple senior far-right Israeli figures joined Smotrich on Wednesday’s visit, doubling down on calls for annexation. Tzvi Sukkot, a member of parliament from Smotrich’s own Religious Zionist Party and chair of the Knesset’s Education, Culture and Sports Committee, entered the compound alongside the group. Sukkot has long pushed for full Israeli control of the site, and introduced parliamentary legislation in July 2025 to formally annex Joseph’s Tomb to Israel, a proposal that has not yet moved forward. “From here, we send one demand: restore the Jewish presence,” Sukkot said Wednesday.

Wednesday’s authorized prayer visit followed a December 2024 order from Defense Minister Israel Katz that formally permitted Jewish worshippers to hold prayer services at the site during the early morning hours. A similar large-scale settler prayer visit was organized at the compound in January 2025, which participants described as “historic.”

Yossi Dagan, head of the Shomron Regional Council that governs Israeli settlements in the northern West Bank, called Wednesday’s incursion “a historic morning marking another step toward the full return of the State of Israel to this sacred compound.” Dagan argued that the status quo of limited, military-escorted monthly visits could not continue, stating that the end goal is “the full and permanent return of the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva to its natural place, and for the Israeli flag to fly over Joseph’s Tomb.” The religious yeshiva was first established at the site in the 1980s, but was evacuated alongside the Israeli military post in the early 2000s. Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira, the current head of the yeshiva, echoed Dagan’s call Wednesday, saying he hoped to “return and establish a permanent presence at Joseph’s Tomb” and urging supporters not to “forsake the city of the covenant.”

The incursion comes amid growing international concern over Israel’s accelerating settlement expansion and de facto annexation of the West Bank, which violates multiple UN Security Council resolutions and international law rulings that deem all Israeli settlements in the 1967 occupied territories illegal.

14 5 月, 2026
As Trump targets offshore wind, a look at the global industry by the numbers

As the global offshore wind industry hits new milestones of rapid growth, a sudden policy shift from the Donald Trump administration has put the emerging U.S. offshore wind sector on uncertain footing. Just as the American industry was positioned for explosive expansion after years of incremental progress, Trump has moved aggressively to curtail development, prioritizing expanded fossil fuel production over clean energy transition goals that most major economies have embraced.

Offshore wind holds enormous untapped potential for the United States, with abundant consistent wind resources along the country’s long coastlines capable of delivering massive volumes of carbon-free electricity to population centers. Currently, six projects are at varying stages of operation: three are already fully online, while three more have begun delivering partial power as they wrap up construction and final pre-operational testing. More than 40 federal offshore wind leases have already been awarded to developers, but the Trump administration has moved to buy back a number of these leases, offering financial payouts to energy companies that agree to abandon their offshore wind projects. Beyond lease buybacks, the administration has put in place a series of additional regulatory and administrative roadblocks to slow the industry’s growth, as it doubles down on supporting fossil fuel production.

This policy direction stands in stark contrast to global trends, where dozens of nations are rapidly scaling up offshore wind to meet rising electricity demand while cutting greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change. Notably, China — the host of the international summit Trump is attending this week — is the undisputed global leader in offshore wind development, accounting for more than half of all new capacity forecast to come online globally over the next five years.

Unlike coal, oil, and natural gas, which release heat-trapping greenhouse gases when burned, wind turbines generate electricity without contributing to global warming. Data from the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) outlines the stark gap between the U.S. policy shift and global progress: as of 2025, 19 national markets across the world have operational offshore wind capacity, led by China, followed by the United Kingdom and Germany in cumulative installed capacity and project count. Beyond the top three, the Netherlands, Taiwan, Denmark, Belgium, France, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, Sweden, the U.S., Norway, Finland, Italy, Portugal, Ireland, and Spain are all either operating or actively developing projects.

Last year alone, China added 6.6 gigawatts of new offshore wind capacity, pushing its total installed capacity to 48.4 gigawatts by the end of 2025. Globally, 2025 saw 9.3 gigawatts of new offshore wind connected to grids — a 16% increase from 2024, enough to power 10.2 million homes. Cumulative global offshore wind capacity now stands at a level capable of powering the equivalent of 102 million homes worldwide. Looking ahead to 2026–2030, GWEC forecasts that China will account for 56% of all new global offshore wind capacity additions, while the European Union will contribute 29% and the United States is projected to add just 5% — a share that could shrink further following Trump’s recent restrictions.

For the U.S., the current operational fleet includes three completed projects: the nation’s first offshore wind farm, Block Island Wind Farm off the coast of Rhode Island; Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind pilot project, the first located in federal waters; and South Fork Wind, the first large-scale U.S. offshore wind farm delivering power to New York. Three additional projects are in late-stage development: Massachusetts’ Vineyard Wind, Rhode Island’s Revolution Wind, and the full-scale Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project adjacent to the existing pilot off Virginia Beach. Of these three, Vineyard Wind is the furthest along and is expected to reach full commercial operations in the coming months, and has already become the first project completed during the Trump administration.

In December, the Trump administration issued a stop-work order for all five under-construction East Coast offshore wind projects, pausing work on the three late-stage projects plus New York’s Empire Wind and Sunrise Wind, citing unproven national security concerns. Developers and affected states immediately filed legal challenges, and federal courts ultimately ruled in favor of the projects, allowing all five to resume construction after finding the administration had failed to demonstrate an imminent national security risk that justified halting work.

Beyond clean climate benefits, the U.S. offshore wind industry already delivers tangible economic and consumer benefits that are at risk under the new restrictions. According to the American Clean Power Association, the sector currently supports 18,000 domestic jobs across the country. The full-scale Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, the largest operational wind farm in the U.S. to date, already started delivering power to the grid in March and will eventually provide enough electricity for 660,000 homes across the state, which hosts critical U.S. military infrastructure and a major global data center hub. For Massachusetts, the Vineyard Wind project is projected to save electricity customers a total of $1.4 billion over 20 years, and already undercut competing energy sources on wholesale markets to lower rates for consumers during last winter. The 800-megawatt project can power 400,000 Massachusetts homes with clean energy.

Industry data shows that offshore wind development has already spurred $25.5 billion in domestic investment across U.S. ports, steel production, transmission infrastructure upgrades, shipbuilding, workforce training, and research and development, according to the Oceantic Network, a non-profit advancing offshore energy development. The domestic supply chain for the sector already includes more than 1,000 American companies across at least 40 states. Oceantic’s analysis finds that canceling just one 1-gigawatt offshore wind project in the Northeast would result in nearly $10 billion in lost economic activity from foregone jobs and investments, while also eliminating long-term energy savings for local ratepayers.

Internationally, the sector continues to break records: the world’s largest currently operational offshore wind farm, the UK’s Hornsea 2 located in the North Sea 55 miles off Yorkshire’s coast, features 165 turbines and can power more than 1.4 million U.K. homes across its 178-square-mile footprint. An even larger UK project is currently under construction that will surpass Hornsea 2’s capacity.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental reporting receives financial support from multiple private foundations, with the AP retaining full editorial control over all content. More information on the AP’s philanthropic partnership standards, supporter list, and funded coverage areas is available at AP.org.

14 5 月, 2026
Inside the rise of the Haftar family’s Dubai-based ‘money man’

As international powers push to unify Libya’s fragmented political and military factions, a 46-year-old Libyan businessman has emerged at the center of explosive allegations linking him to a sprawling network of illicit finance, war profiteering, and smuggling that props up Khalifa Haftar’s eastern Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF).

Ahmed Gadalla, also known by the alias Ahmed Alushibe, has built a globe-spanning business empire spanning four countries, with a luxury lifestyle that matches his high-stakes commercial portfolio: he resides in Dubai, holds a citizenship-by-investment passport from Saint Kitts and Nevis, wears half-a-million-dollar luxury watches, travels exclusively on private jets, and stays at five-star central London hotels when visiting the UK. His assets include at least eight residential properties in the UAE, a $3.7 million luxury apartment in Toronto (where he maintains permanent Canadian residency and donates to elite private health institutions), and a web of controlled assets ranging from Libyan state-owned enterprises to commercial banks, oil refineries, shipping firms, and private holding companies registered in the UAE, Malta, and the United Kingdom.

Gadalla’s rise to prominence began long before his current high-profile business dealings. A Benghazi native who earned an engineering master’s degree in the United States, he moved to Dubai as a resident in 2008, and worked selling automotive and household goods for an American firm during the 2011 uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi. After Gaddafi’s fall, he leveraged growing connections to Emirati business and political circles to expand his operations, making his first major international trade trip to Guangzhou, China, in 2012. Today, he openly leads the Alushibe Group, a loose collection of Dubai-based firms he controls, and holds prominent positions including chairman of a major Libyan state-owned steel company, owner of Dubai-based UDS Shipping Services LLC and Malta’s International Seaport Holdings, and director of a central London-based IT firm. UK corporate records even list him as a former co-owner of a retail off-licence in Birmingham between 2019 and 2021, listing his nationality as Kittitian and residence as the UAE. In 2023, he also acquired Benghazi’s notorious Libyan Cement Company, previously linked to fugitive Austrian executive and suspected Russian spy Jan Marsalek, whose ties to the collapse of Germany’s Wirecard remain under global investigation.

But new, detailed reports from the United Nations Panel of Experts on Libya and U.S.-based investigative non-profit The Sentry pull back the curtain on Gadalla’s operations, alleging that his legitimate business portfolio is a front for a kleptocratic network that funnels billions in stolen Libyan public wealth to Haftar’s LAAF, which has controlled eastern Libya since 2014 with military backing from the UAE and Egypt.

According to the reports, Gadalla climbed the ranks of eastern Libya’s political and economic system over the past decade with direct backing from Saddam Haftar, son of Khalifa Haftar, and sits at the core of a transnational network accused of money laundering, fraudulent letters of credit, fuel smuggling, and arms trafficking. Investigators allege that Gadalla used his control of multiple Libyan banks, including Wahda Bank and the Bank of Commerce & Development, to fraudulently secure hundreds of millions in letters of credit from Libya’s Central Bank with the backing of LAAF armed groups. One Benghazi-based bank controlled by Gadalla even actively blocked official investigations into the fraudulent credit schemes, the UN report found. The Sentry also claims that Gadalla’s banks helped circulate counterfeit Russian-printed Libyan dinars, destabilizing the country’s already fragile economy.

The most serious allegations tie Gadalla directly to Haftar’s disastrous 2019–2020 offensive on Tripoli, the UN-backed national capital, which killed thousands of people and displaced hundreds of thousands. Investigators say that in 2018, ahead of the planned invasion, Haftar’s network tapped Gadalla to manage offshore financing for the operation, which drew the bulk of its funding from the UAE and smaller contributions from Saudi Arabia. In 2019, Al Masraf bank, chaired by a Haftar family economic adviser, issued $300 million in loans to three obscure Dubai-based front companies controlled by Gadalla. The funds left the accounts almost immediately, with investigators confirming they directly funded LAAF’s military operations and most likely paid for the deployment of Russian Wagner Group mercenaries, who played a key combat role in the offensive. After the offensive collapsed, the $300 million in loans were never repaid, leaving the Libyan public to shoulder the entire loss while Gadalla avoided any accountability, The Sentry reported.

Gadalla is also linked to ongoing illicit smuggling operations stretching across the Sahel and North Africa. The UN Panel of Experts found that Gadalla purchases diverted fuel from armed groups in both eastern and western Libya, then uses his shipping network to illicitly export the fuel to the UAE for resale at massive profit. In July 2025, EU Operation Irini, the mission enforcing the UN arms embargo on Libya, intercepted the Aya 1—a container ship owned by Gadalla’s UDS Shipping, named after his daughter—en route from the UAE to Benghazi. An inspection found 12 militarized vehicles hidden among the ship’s cargo, which the UN confirmed was destined for the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the Sudanese paramilitary currently fighting a brutal civil war in Khartoum. Gadalla is also accused of facilitating arms shipments that have been diverted to gold trafficking networks linked to the Islamic State in Niger, though he is not personally tied to that specific diversion.

Gadalla has forcefully denied all allegations against him. In an interview with Middle East Eye, he rejected every claim made in both the UN and The Sentry reports, insisting he has always conducted business lawfully and transparently. He denied owning or controlling multiple Libyan banks, committing letter of credit fraud, financing the LAAF or the Wagner Group, engaging in fuel or arms smuggling, or owning the intercepted Aya 1 container ship. He noted that third-party investigations by global accounting firm Deloitte and Libya’s Attorney General Investigation Unit have already cleared the bank records in question, and said his legal team is formally challenging the allegations made by The Sentry, while he continues to engage with the UN Panel of Experts.

The exposure of Gadalla’s alleged network comes at a pivotal moment for Libya, where the United States and its Western and regional allies are pushing to unify the Tripoli-based UN-backed government and Haftar’s eastern Benghazi administration after more than a decade of division. In April 2026, Libya’s rival legislative bodies approved a unified national budget for the first time since 2014, a move welcomed by all major global and regional powers including the US, EU states, the UAE, Egypt, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia. A week later, U.S. Africa Command held joint Flintlock military training exercises in Sirte, bringing together troops from both eastern and western Libya for the first time, as part of Washington’s push to reduce Russian influence in North Africa and unify Libyan security institutions.

But investigators warn that networks like the one allegedly led by Gadalla continue to fuel a war economy that siphons off billions in public wealth, undermining efforts to build a stable, unified Libyan state. As diplomatic efforts for unification move forward, the case of Ahmed Gadalla lays bare how deeply entrenched kleptocratic and militia-linked networks have become in Libya’s post-revolution economic and political landscape.

14 5 月, 2026