Hamas says it’s ready to free Israeli hostages under Donald Trump’s ceasefire proposal
Despite agreeing, Trump and Israel will reject this.
This is being done on purpose so that Netanyahu and Trump can both pretend to have offered up a place deal that Hamas can’t agree to so that Israel can continue with their genocide.
The point now is to exterminate the Palestinian people and drive them out of Gaza forever.
For this of us watching sickened from afar, the next steps are crucial.
It’s time to sanction Israel.
Those sanctions need to go beyond just the economic, it has to be all cultural and sporting connections now and it’s the future as a pariah that Israel is preparing itself for…
As support from friends bleeds away, Netanyahu urges his people to embrace a new reality
Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s Finance Minister, recently called for annexing all but 18% of the occupied West Bank, leaving its six cities as isolated Palestinian islands.
Such a move would kill off the two-state solution, precisely what Britain’s recognition of Palestine is meant to revive.
On Tuesday, Yvette Cooper, the Foreign Secretary, warned Israel against further encroachment.
European displeasure has not cowed Israeli hawks, but they are more sensitive to unease among Arab partners.
In 2020, during Trump’s first term as United States President, Israel normalised relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan under the Abraham Accords, which have become central to its regional security.
The UAE relationship is crucial, both to counter Iran and for trade. Bilateral commerce has surged from £150 million ($346m) in 2020 to £2.2 billion last year.
This month, however, the UAE warned that any annexation in the West Bank would be a “red line” ending regional integration, widely seen as a threat to suspend the accords.
Israel’s standing in the Gulf has already been shaken, first by its war with Iran that some in the region saw as unnecessarily reckless and then by its air strikes on Qatar on September 9, a failed attempt to kill Hamas’ political leadership.
The operation convinced many Gulf states that Netanyahu’s ambitions pose a significant security threat to the region, eclipsing the danger from a now-weakened Iran.
Israel’s transformation “from David to Goliath”, has left regional leaders increasingly seeing it as “the enemy”, said Mohammed Baharoon, director-general of B’huth, a Dubai-based think-tank that advises the Emirati government.
“If you look at it through the friend and foe prism, you can see that Iran has turned from a foe to a friend and Israel from a friend to a foe,” he said.
The UAE’s warning has reportedly prompted a rethink within Netanyahu’s Cabinet, with annexation talks temporarily halted, the Financial Times reported.
Western relations are also deteriorating. So far, European measures have been limited: Palestinian recognition aside, they have mostly involved arms restrictions.
As the world’s eighth-biggest arms exporter and a close ally of the US, Israel has options. Yet Europe still has leverage.
Nearly a third of Israel’s imports come from the European Union. A full ban on military supplies would therefore bite.
Germany provides much of Israel’s ammunition and tank engines, Britain spare parts for its F35 partners and Italy supplies helicopters.
It is therefore a “complete fantasy” for Netanyahu to suggest that Israel could sunder itself from European supply chains and achieve self-sufficiency, says Helit Barel, a former director of Israel’s National Security Council.
“We don’t have the raw materials these kinds of industries need at home,” she said.
“Components needed for weapons system and the whole process of putting them together is not necessarily done in Israel.
“This vision of being able to do it all yourself, and this vision that takes the EU out of the picture is completely non-realistic.”
Sanctions on dual-use goods – components that can be used in both military and civilian systems – would strike even harder at Israel’s technology sector, which accounts for a fifth of GDP.
The economy is already straining.
Military spending, proportionally the world’s second highest since the Gaza war began two years ago, has driven up debt and triggered multiple credit downgrades.
Growth has plunged from 6.5% in 2022 to 0.9% last year. Recession looms.
Beyond economics, Israel is sliding into cultural isolation.
…Israel’s economy is in free-fall because war crimes aren’t cheap, but we need to increase the pressure with all sporting and cultural boycott as well…
A UN commission of inquiry last week accused it of genocide in Gaza, deepening its pariah status.
Israelis are increasingly excluded from festivals and academic events, while tourists face growing abuse abroad.
Eric Cantona, the former footballer, has called for a sporting boycott reminiscent of the one imposed on apartheid South Africa.
“Clubs everywhere must refuse to play Israeli teams. Current players everywhere must refuse to play against Israeli teams,” he said.
For now, US backing insulates Israel from the world consequences. Trump has been more loyal to Netanyahu than any predecessor.
But public opinion in the US is shifting. Polls show more than half of American adults now view Israel negatively, with disenchantment rising among both Democrats and Republicans.
…Israel must be banned from the Eurovision song quest – how can you sing when gencoide is in. your mouth?
EBU Set to Vote on Israel’s Controversial Spot in 2026 Eurovision
Members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) will vote in November on whether Israel can participate in the Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna next year.
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Sporting and cultural boycotts sting-the Israeli troll farms went ballistic several years back when Lorde became educated on Palestine and cancelled her show-one show…
The fat, sweaty, stubbled zionists could not handle it, they were more used to aging rockers playing Israel for big paydays-shame on you Iggy and Paul McCartney!
Widespread cultural shaming and isolation will have an effect on the Apartheid state many do not realise yet.
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