Bondi library returns book How to Sell a Genocide to shelves after State Library ‘outlines the law’

Book was removed for review earlier this month following complaint but reinstated after petition and State Library letter to Waverley council

A Sydney library has returned to its borrowing shelves a book critical of Israel called How to Sell a Genocide following a public campaign and an intervention from the State Library of New South Wales.

Waverley library removed the book “for review” earlier this month after the Jewish news outlet JWire reported it had approached the council.

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Burnham to face pressure at Labour conference to recognise Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide

Grassroots groups to urge PM to break with Starmer policy and impose full arms embargo on Israel

Grassroots Labour groups are gearing up for a conference showdown with Andy Burnham over Gaza, as the party’s members seek to force the prime minister to recognise Israel’s actions as a genocide and impose a full arms embargo.

Momentum, Labour & Palestine, the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy and Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) plan to ramp up pressure on Burnham before his first Labour conference as prime minister next month.

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Former British and French diplomats urge action over Israel’s ‘erasure’ of Palestine

In letter to Macron and Burnham, more than 100 senior figures accuse Israel of ethnic cleansing and call for measures including trade ban

More than 100 French and British former diplomats have said Palestine is being erased in front of the world’s eyes and called for urgent action including trade and arms sales bans to press Israel to accept a Palestinian state.

An unprecedented joint letter dispenses with diplomatic language by accusing Israel of ethnic cleansing and warning that the world no longer sees Israel as a genuine democracy.

Uphold the decisions of the international court of justice and the international criminal court.

Suspend the EU-Israel association agreement and the UK-Israel trade and partnership agreement for breach of human rights provisions.

Suspend arms transfers to and from Israel and all bilateral military cooperation.

Insist on unrestricted aid access to Gaza, led by the UN Relief and Works Agency, other UN agencies and international NGOs, with consequences for non-compliance, and access too for journalists, diplomats and parliamentarians.

Ban all trade with settlements, including goods, investment, insurance and other financial services.

Warn potential bidders for the “red line” E1 settlement or other settlement financing/construction that their interests in and with the UK and France will suffer.

Make it an offence for British and French citizens to buy property on stolen Palestinian land and remove charitable status from “charities” funding settlements.

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Former British and French diplomats urge action over Israel’s ‘erasure’ of Palestine

In letter to Macron and Burnham, more than 100 senior figures accuse Israel of ethnic cleansing and call for measures including trade ban

More than 100 French and British former diplomats have said Palestine is being erased in front of the world’s eyes and called for urgent action including trade and arms sales bans to press Israel to accept a Palestinian state.

An unprecedented joint letter dispenses with diplomatic language by accusing Israel of ethnic cleansing and warning that the world no longer sees Israel as a genuine democracy.

Uphold the decisions of the international court of justice and the international criminal court.

Suspend the EU-Israel association agreement and the UK-Israel trade and partnership agreement for breach of human rights provisions.

Suspend arms transfers to and from Israel and all bilateral military cooperation.

Insist on unrestricted aid access to Gaza, led by the UN Relief and Works Agency, other UN agencies and international NGOs, with consequences for non-compliance, and access too for journalists, diplomats and parliamentarians.

Ban all trade with settlements, including goods, investment, insurance and other financial services.

Warn potential bidders for the “red line” E1 settlement or other settlement financing/construction that their interests in and with the UK and France will suffer.

Make it an offence for British and French citizens to buy property on stolen Palestinian land and remove charitable status from “charities” funding settlements.

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‘Shameful’: UK, Australia and Canada criticise Israel over Gaza aid convoy killings decision

Joint statement issued after IDF said it will not pursue criminal investigations into April 2024 strike that killed seven humanitarian workers

Britain, Australia and Canada have called the decision of the Israeli military authorities not to open a criminal investigation into the April 2024 airstrikes that hit a convoy of aid vehicles in Gaza “shameful”. The strikes killed seven humanitarian workers from the US-based World Central Kitchen (WCK) organisation.

WCK staff from the three countries were among the casualties of the attack, which prompted global outrage.

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Israeli settler attacks shift focus to West Bank areas under direct Palestinian rule

Report says violence is moving from Israeli-controlled areas to those earmarked for a future Palestinian state

Violent Israeli settler attacks in the two areas of the occupied West Bank under direct Palestinian rule have almost doubled since 2025, as settlers pursue a self-proclaimed “great settlement revolution” in the very heart of the territory earmarked for a Palestinian state.

According to a report by the Israeli human rights organisation Yesh Din, shared with the Guardian, data shows that almost two-thirds of incidents of settler violence so far in 2026 have taken place in the so-called Areas A and B – placed under Palestinian Authority governance in the 1995 Oslo accords.

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Israel admits its soldiers fired at car in which Hind Rajab was killed

Military orders criminal investigation into deaths of five-year-old and six family members in Gaza in 2024

The Israeli military admitted on Wednesday its troops had opened fire on a car carrying five-year-old Hind Rajab and six family members in Gaza in 2024, saying it had ordered a criminal investigation into the killing.

The killing of Hind and her family was one of the most high profile of a series of incidents involving civilian casualties during the first months of the Gaza conflict which prompted international outrage.

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Bondi library removes book How to Sell a Genocide from shelves after complaint

Author Adam Johnson criticises Waverley council saying ‘reality is often upsetting’ while Palestinian group says libraries should hold ‘challenging’ books

A Sydney library has removed a book critical of Israel called How to Sell a Genocide, following a complaint reportedly from a survivor of the Bondi beach terror attack.

Waverley library at Bondi Junction is in the same council area as Bondi beach.

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Bondi library removes book How to Sell a Genocide from shelves after complaint

Author Adam Johnson criticises Waverley council saying ‘reality is often upsetting’ while Palestinian group says libraries should hold ‘challenging’ books

A Sydney library has removed a book critical of Israel called How to Sell a Genocide, following a complaint reportedly from a survivor of the Bondi beach terror attack.

Waverley library at Bondi Junction is in the same council area as Bondi beach.

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Netanyahu and Kushner talks make no breakthrough on stalled Gaza deal

Israeli PM again insists troops will not withdraw from strip until Hamas first disarms, but calls meeting constructive

Benjamin Netanyahu has told Donald Trump’s son-in-law and envoy Jared Kushner there can be no progress on the stalled Gaza ceasefire deal or an Israeli withdrawal from the coastal strip until Hamas first disarms.

An Israeli official said there had been no breakthrough in ‌the meeting between the pair, saying Netanyahu had made it clear the IDF would not withdraw and would continue to carry out operations in Gaza.

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Netanyahu and Kushner talks make no breakthrough on stalled Gaza deal

Israeli PM again insists troops will not withdraw from strip until Hamas first disarms, but calls meeting constructive

Benjamin Netanyahu has told Donald Trump’s son-in-law and envoy Jared Kushner there can be no progress on the stalled Gaza ceasefire deal or an Israeli withdrawal from the coastal strip until Hamas first disarms.

An Israeli official said there had been no breakthrough in ‌the meeting between the pair, saying Netanyahu had made it clear the IDF would not withdraw and would continue to carry out operations in Gaza.

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Hamas calls for Trump’s Board of Peace to ‘compel’ Israel over Gaza peace plan – Middle East crisis live

Jared Kushner set to meet Netanyahu following talks with Hamas

Welcome to our live coverage of the latest in the continuing conflicts in the Middle East.

Donald Trump’s envoys met with Egyptian, Qatari and Turkish mediators in Cairo on Sunday, a diplomatic source said, aiming to advance the US president’s Gaza peace plan, even as Israel pressed on with airstrikes ⁠in the territory.

Israel resumed its airstrikes on Gaza in the past few days ‌after scaling back the attacks earlier this month. One of those wounded in the Khan Younis strike died from their wounds, medics at Nasser hospital said later. A separate airstrike, which the Israeli military said targeted another militant, hit an apartment in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, wounding several people, medics said.

A senior Israeli official said on Sunday that Israel was concerned about Washington’s demand to end targeted assassinations of Hamas militants in Gaza as the group rebuilds its forces, Reuters reported. Trump’s peace ⁠plan calls for the immediate cessation of military operations in Gaza and foresees Hamas disarming as Israeli troops withdraw from the territory and Gaza is rebuilt.

Several regional powers including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on Sunday condemned Israel’s rejection of the peace road map, saying the country is obstructing peace efforts.

The top US military commander in the Middle East visited the USS Lincoln in the Arabian Sea amid reports of mental health and supply issues onboard. Adm Brad Cooper praised the leadership of the long-deployed aircraft carrier.

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Jared Kushner meets with Hamas ahead of talks with Netanyahu on Gaza

Trump’s son-in-law and envoy held rare meeting with Hamas chief in Egypt in push for progress on ceasefire

Donald Trump’s son-in-law and envoy, Jared Kushner, held a rare meeting with Hamas’s political chief on Sunday in Egypt, in a new diplomatic effort to make progress in the stalled Gaza ceasefire. Kushner will meet on Monday with Benjamin Netanyahu, who is under pressure after rejecting the new 15-point, US-backed road map.

The talks aim to salvage the plan for Hamas to disarm and Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian territory shattered by war.

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Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon kill 11 in worst toll since June truce

Rescue services search for survivors and bodies after airstrikes hit homes in Ansar and Deir al-Zahrani

Eleven people have been killed, including three children, and 19 injured in two Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon, the worst toll since deals in June brought a lull in hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.

Israeli warplanes bombed a home on the outskirts of the village of Ansar, killing seven people and flattening the building early on Saturday morning. Rescue services were working at the site to try to find survivors and locate bodies.

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Israeli military plans to transfer law enforcement in occupied West Bank to police

Palestine’s vice-president calls plan ‘flagrant violation of international law’ and a step towards full Israeli annexation

Israel’s defence minister wants to transfer law enforcement powers for Israelis in the occupied West Bank over to the police, a plan that Palestine’s vice-president described as a “flagrant violation of international law” and step towards full Israeli annexation.

Israel Katz announced that he had ordered the military to draw up plans for the handover of responsibility for policing Israeli settlers amid domestic and international criticism of the army’s failure to tackle militants besieging three Palestinian families.

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Israeli troops force families from homes amid settler terror campaign in West Bank

Former PM of Israel calls events ‘concerted and meticulous attempt at ethnic cleansing’ against Palestinians

Israeli troops have forced two Palestinian families to leave their besieged West Bank homes, the day after a top Israeli commander personally promised he would end a violent settler campaign to drive them out.

Israeli soldiers also took over eight other homes in Qusra early on Thursday, telling the village’s mayor, Abdul Azim Wadi, that the buildings were needed for a days-long operation to remove the settlers. They later relinquished six. Settlers still roam the village.

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Israeli militants besiege two Palestinian families in their West Bank homes

Settlers and soldiers cut off water and electricity to homes, and block medical care in campaign of terror

Israeli militants have besieged two Palestinian families in their homes since the weekend, aiming to take over their properties in the West Bank village of Qusra through a campaign of terror.

A group of settlers and soldiers set up a tent outside the home of Yousef Hassan’s family on Sunday afternoon, trapping him inside with his wife and two young daughters.

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Israel deliberately starting wildfires in southern Lebanon, firefighters say

Emergency services, residents and environmental groups say military dropping flares to destroy forests and crops

Firefighters and residents of south Lebanon have accused the Israeli military of lighting wildfires in the region, as forested areas burned down in blazes sparked by Israeli bombing.

Environmental groups said the fires in recent weeks were part of a longstanding Israeli practice of targeting Lebanon’s natural environment.

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Human rights groups sue Trump administration over ‘crippling’ ICC sanctions

Lawsuit challenges executive order targeting international criminal court for investigating Israeli crimes in Palestine

Four prominent US human rights organizations have accused the Trump administration of using its “crippling” sanctions regime against the international criminal court (ICC) to undermine global efforts to prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In a lawsuit filed in federal court on Tuesday, the groups – the American Friends Service Committee, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Human Rights Watch and the Open Society Institute – argued that the administration’s targeting of the ICC, as well as of groups and individuals affiliated with it or assisting its work, amounts to a “blatantly illegal attack on international justice”, the groups said.

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Flip-flopping Netanyahu rejects Gaza plan but cannot placate all his allies

Israeli prime minister faces incompatible demands from his far-right government ministers and from Donald Trump

Benjamin Netanyahu’s public rejection of a US-backed deal for Gaza drew scepticism in Israel, amid reports he was personally hammering out details of a pilot military withdrawal days earlier.

The Israeli prime minister is struggling to balance incompatible demands on Gaza policy from his key domestic and international allies.

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