Emily Damari was held captive by Hamas for more than 15 months and says decision ‘risks rewarding terror’
A British-Israeli woman who was held hostage by Hamas for more than 15 months has accused Keir Starmer of “moral failure” after he set the UK on course to recognise a Palestinian state.
Emily Damari, 29, who was released in January, said the prime minister was “not standing on the right side of history” and should be ashamed.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: As Keir Starmer announces caveated plans to recognise the Palestinian state, and UN-backed experts say the ‘worst-case scenario’ is under way, is opening the borders to allow aid in the only hope?
Good morning. Humanitarians are running out of words to describe the horrors taking place in Gaza. The small strip of land has been brutalised, with all institutions that sustain life – from hospitals to schools – either completely destroyed or barely functioning. Now, the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) warns that “the worst-case scenario of famine is now unfolding in the Gaza Strip.”
Thousands of children are malnourished and hunger-related deaths on the rise, particularly among the youngest. It is worth noting this is not a formal designation of famine in Gaza, and formal designations are incredibly rare and have only taken place a handful of times in the 21st century: in Somalia in 2011, in South Sudan in 2017 and 2020, and in Sudan in 2024.
Asia-Pacific | A powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake has triggered a series of tsunami warnings and evacuation orders across Japan, the US and parts of the Pacific, after the shallow quake hit near Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula.
Israel-Gaza war | A group of high-profile Israeli public figures, including academics, artists and public intellectuals, has called for “crippling sanctions” to be imposed by the international community on Israel, amid mounting horror over its starvation of Gaza.
Labour | Jeremy Corbyn has accused the Labour government of “appeasing” Reform UK by “scapegoating” migrants and minorities for its own domestic policy failures, saying his new leftwing political party would take on Nigel Farage instead.
Economy | Global growth will be stronger than previously expected this year after Donald Trump scaled back his most extreme tariff threats, the International Monetary Fund said as it upgraded the economic outlook for 2025.
UK news | Five women who were abused as children by Rotherham grooming gangs were also raped by police officers when they were as young as 12 years old, they have claimed.
Continue reading...From Balfour declaration to Tony Blair, UK has struggled to drive meaningful progress towards peace in Middle East
The former British prime minister Harold Macmillan once said there was no problem in the Middle East because a problem had a solution. Keir Starmer is the latest incumbent in No 10 to try to prove Macmillan wrong, with a plan that has been described by Downing Street as a “pathway to peace” for Gaza and the wider region. The record of Britain’s previous interventions do not augur well.
Continue reading...Cabinet agrees to support Middle East roadmap at emergency meeting called amid humanitarian crisis in Gaza
The UK will formally recognise the state of Palestine this September as a result of the “increasingly intolerable” situation on the ground in Gaza, unless Israel abides by a ceasefire and commits to a two-state solution in the Middle East.
Keir Starmer’s cabinet has agreed a roadmap for peace in the region after coming under intense domestic pressure over the mounting humanitarian crisis in the territory, and calls to follow France in acknowledging statehood.
Continue reading...The PM is to lead recognition of a Palestinian state – a good day for him, the UK and the starving people of Gaza
What a difference a week makes. Last Tuesday, Keir Starmer batted away all invitations to recognise the state of Palestine. It wasn’t happening. Keir was committed to being appalled by the situation in Gaza but not appalled enough to do anything about it.
He then received a letter from more than 250 MPs, including some cabinet ministers, later in the week begging him to recognise the state of Palestine. He still stonewalled. The time was not yet right.
Continue reading...Lawsuit alleges protesters made antisemitic threats with the ‘knowledge and acquiescence’ of university officials
The University of California, Los Angeles, will pay nearly $6.5m to settle a lawsuit by Jewish students and a professor who said the university allowed antisemitic discrimination to take place on campus during last year’s pro-Palestinian protests.
The lawsuit alleged that with the “knowledge and acquiescence” of university officials, protesters prevented Jewish students from accessing parts of campus, and made antisemitic threats. Under the settlement agreement announced on Tuesday, the university admitted it had “fallen short” and agreed to pay $2.33m to eight groups that support UCLA’s Jewish community, $320,000 to a campus initiative to fight antisemitism, and $50,000 to each plaintiff.
Continue reading...Longstanding ties between US conservatives and Israel face strain as war’s toll and internal rifts reshape the right
As the Israel-Gaza war nears its two-year mark, and as images of starving people and utter devastation flood social media, cracks seem to be emerging in the American right’s typically iron-clad support for Israel.
The US continues to support Israel diplomatically and militarily, and last Thursday pulled out of peace negotiations that it accused Hamas of sabotaging. And in the US Congress, only two Republicans voted for a recent amendment that would have pulled funding for missile defense systems for Israel. One of them, Marjorie Taylor Greene, on Monday became the first Republican to call Israel’s war a “genocide”.
Continue reading...Man said chants began when a cashier shouted ‘Free Palestine’ after noticing he and his son were wearing kippahs
A Jewish father and his six-year-old son were targeted by a mob on Sunday chanting “Free Palestine” and “murderers” at a service station near Milan, with the man eventually pushed to the floor and repeatedly kicked, in the latest of a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents across Europe.
According to the victim – a 52-year-old French Jew who lives in France and gave his name only as Elie– the incident began when a cashier shouted “Free Palestine”, upon noticing that he and his son were wearing kippahs.
Continue reading...Sydney-based group say weekend demonstration ‘must go ahead’ despite police knocking back application
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Organisers of a pro-Palestine protest have vowed to fight the New South Wales police in court after police decided to not facilitate a march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge this weekend.
On Tuesday afternoon, the deputy police commissioner, Peter McKenna, said police had rejected an application from the organisers proposing a route across the bridge to the US consulate, citing safety risks as the reason. But he said police were open to negotiating alternative routes.
Continue reading...Two countries open three-day conference at United Nations with goal as part of peaceful settlement to end war in Gaza
Saudi Arabia and France have opened a three-day conference at the United Nations with the goal of recognising Palestinian statehood as part of a peaceful settlement to end the war in Gaza.
The conference began on Monday, just days after the French president, Emmanuel Macron, said Paris would officially recognise the Palestinian government in September in an effort to reinvigorate peace talks around a two-state solution that have all but been written off since the deadly Hamas raid and ensuing Israeli military operation that began in 2023.
Continue reading...UK PM meets US president at his golf course in Turnberry, Scotland, where they discuss energy, Gaza and trade
In a column for the Daily Record, John Swinney, Scotland’s first minister, has said that, if the SNP get a majority in next year’s Holyrood elections, that will be a mandate for a second independence referendum. He said:
Over the next few months, the SNP will set out some radical policies that we know will transform Scotland – ambitious ideas that can be realised with the powers of independence.
For us to achieve that independence, the first step is to secure a legal referendum recognised by all. In 2011 we secured that reliable and dependable route when the SNP achieved a majority of seats at Holyrood.
Tariffs are very important for the Scottish economy and obviously scotch whisky is a unique product.
It can only be produced in Scotland. It’s not a product that can be produced in any other part of the world. So there’s a uniqueness about that, which I think means there is a case for it to be taken out of the tariffs arrangement that is now in place.
I think what’s important is that we focus on the solutions that are required now, and the absolutely immediate situation is a necessity for a ceasefire and for humanitarian aid to need to flow into Gaza so that the people of Gaza can be saved from the starvation that they face.
And I think President Trump is ideally positioned. In fact, he’s perhaps uniquely positioned to apply that pressure to Israel to ensure that there is safe passage for humanitarian aid to support the people of Gaza, who face an absolutely unbearable set of circumstances as a consequence of the conflict.
Continue reading...NSW Labor MP Anthony D’Adam rejects premier’s claim march would cause chaos and says it should take place in ‘two to three weeks’
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The Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore, has said a pro-Palestine protest involving a march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge would be a “powerful symbol” and should go ahead at some point “if the community sentiment is significant enough”.
A New South Wales Labor MP has also rejected the premier’s claim a march across the bridge would cause chaos and urged police to facilitate the demonstration “within two to three weeks”.
Continue reading...Prime minister expected to press Donald Trump to take tougher stance towards Israel when they meet in Scotland
Keir Starmer will recall his cabinet from their summer break for an emergency meeting on the Gaza crisis this week as cross-party MPs warned his talks with Donald Trump provided a critical juncture in helping to resolve the conflict.
Amid growing international horror over the situation on the ground in Gaza, he will urge the US president to take a tougher stance towards Israel and will push for ceasefire talks to resume, when they meet in Scotland on Monday.
Continue reading...PM will be hoping to convince Trump to push Netanyahu to revive peace talks when UK and US leaders meet on Monday
Moments after Air Force One touched down at Prestwick on Friday for a trip in which politics will take as big a billing as golf, Donald Trump was asked about his relationship with Keir Starmer.
“I like your prime minister. He’s slightly more liberal than I am, as you’ve probably heard. But he’s a good man,” the US president told reporters. At a time when the UK wants Trump’s ear on numerous weighty issues, his response to questions about the “special relationship” will have given Downing Street some reassurance.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Labor Friends of Palestine to move three ‘urgency resolutions’ at weekend conference, but PM maintains no immediate plans for the move
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Victorian Labor members will use this weekend’s state conference to demand the federal government “immediately” recognise a Palestinian state and impose sanctions on Israel – in what will be their strongest push to date on the issue.
It comes after Anthony Albanese on Sunday described civilian deaths in Gaza as “indefensible” but reiterated he had no immediate plans to recognise a Palestinian state and insisted further steps were needed to reach a two-state solution.
Continue reading...No 10 sources say PM is ‘horrified’ by crisis and hopes to convince US to help end ‘unspeakable suffering’
Keir Starmer will personally press Donald Trump to revive ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas when they meet on Monday amid growing international alarm over the starvation crisis in Gaza.
The prime minister is expected to ask the US president, who is on a four-day break in Scotland, to push for a resumption of peace talks after the US and Israel withdrew their negotiation teams from Qatar.
Continue reading...Officials in Tel Aviv are liaising with authorities and ‘stand ready to offer assistance’, Australian government spokesperson says
A boat carrying two Australians has been intercepted by Israeli troops, Israel’s foreign ministry has confirmed, as a pro-Palestinian activist group claims its crew have been subjected to “unlawful” detention while attempting to transport aid to Gaza.
The Handala, registry name Navaren, led by the activist group the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, was roughly 50km from the Egyptian coast and 100km west of Gaza when intercepted, an online tracking tool set up to plot the ship’s course showed.
Continue reading...‘Quite clearly it is a breach of international law to stop food being delivered,’ PM tells ABC’s Insiders
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Australia has no plans to imminently recognise a Palestinian state, Anthony Albanese says, cautioning further steps must be met for a two-state solution despite growing pressure inside the Labor party for the government to follow through on its long-held commitment.
The prime minister has also accused Israel of a breach of international law in blocking aid into Gaza, saying “you can’t hold innocent people responsible” for the actions of Hamas, and warning that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is “losing support” internationally.
Continue reading...Prime minister risks either provoking mutiny in his cabinet and party over Gaza or alienating White House
France’s decision to recognise Palestine at the next UN general assembly is an attempt to build momentum for change and make a break from the major western powers’ impassivity in the face of Israel’s mass killing of Palestinians in Gaza.
Emmanuel Macron’s declaration, announced in typically dramatic fashion on social media late on Thursday night, draws a line between the paths followed by the US and France over the Gaza war, and significantly raises the pressure on the UK, Germany and other G7 powers to pick a side.
Continue reading...Officials and ministers either deny that Palestinians are being affected by hunger or say it is not Israel’s fault
Israel is pursuing an extensive PR effort to remove itself from blame for the starvation and killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza in the face of overwhelming evidence that it is responsible.
As dozens of governments, UN organisations and other international figures have detailed Israel’s culpability, officials and ministers in Israel have attempted to suggest that there is no hunger in Gaza, that if hunger exists it is not Israel’s fault, or to blame Hamas or the UN and aid organisations for problems with distribution of aid.
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