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Former Hamas hostage visits Minnesota to raise awareness of captives still in Gaza: “It’s a moral issue”
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Keith Siegel was held hostage by Hamas for 484 days. And for every day since his release, he’s been advocating for the freedom of all those still held captive by the terrorist group.
“I am here. I’m alive. I’m standing on my two feet,” Siegel told WCCO News. “I’m advocating for the release of the hostages. And it’s proof that it can be done.”
Originally from North Carolina, Siegel moved to Israel in the 1980s and lived for decades in Kfar Azza, a tranquil community of roughly 900 just a few miles from Israel’s border with Gaza.
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led terrorists stormed Kfar Azza, along with dozens of other Israeli communities, killing more than 1,200 people and taking more than 250 captive. Siegel and his wife, Aviva, were among them.
“I was held against my will and I was held in horrific conditions,” Siegel said. “Living in constant threat, danger and uncertainty and being totally disconnected from my family, not knowing how they were doing.”
Though his wife was released in November 2023 as part of an early ceasefire deal, Siegel remained in Hamas’ hands for another year. According to Siegel, he was shuttled between homes, apartments and underground tunnels more than 30 times.
“Being a hostage, you have no control over anything other than what goes on in your mind,” he said. “They decided if I would get food or wouldn’t get food, I would get water or wouldn’t get water. They were going to curse me and spit on me and scream at me for no reason – or not. I want people to know the horrific atrocities that Hamas did on October the 7th by murdering and killing innocent people.”
This week’s trip to Minnesota is Siegel’s fifth to the United States since his release in February 2025, which have included stops in the Oval Office and meetings with President Trump.
“I support an agreement that will bring the hostages home and makes sure Hamas will never pose a threat to the security of Israel,” Siegel said. “On October the 7th, Muslims were kidnapped and murdered. Buddhists were kidnapped and murdered. It wasn’t only Jews. They attacked Israel, they targeted Israel, but they took hostage other people of different nationalities. It happened in Israel. It could happen here.”
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Jonah Kaplan
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UK treasury chief says ‘harsh global headwinds’ from wars and tariffs are harming the country’s economic outlook | Fortune
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Britain’s Treasury chief warned Monday that “harsh global headwinds” from wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs have worsened the U.K.’s economic outlook since the governing Labour Party won power last year.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves told Labour’s annual conference that her economic plans must be “fit for an uncertain world,” a hint she will raise taxes in her autumn budget on Nov. 26.
“In the last year the world has changed, and we are not immune to that change,” she told the BBC before the speech. “Whether it is wars in Europe and the Middle East, whether it is increased barriers to trade because of tariffs coming from the United States, whether it is the global cost of borrowing, we’re not immune to any of those things.”
Since ending 14 years of Conservative rule in July 2024, Labour has struggled to deliver the economic growth it promised. Inflation remains stubbornly high and the economic outlook subdued, frustrating efforts to repair tattered public services and ease the cost of living.
Labour pledged during the election not to raise taxes on working people, but has since hiked levies on employers.
Reeves told the BBC she was “determined not to increase those key taxes that working people pay,” stopping short of ruling out any hikes at all.
In her speech, interrupted by repeated standing ovations from hundreds of Labour members — and by a lone pro-Palestinian protester — Reeves leavened her sober assessment of the country’s finances with a touch of optimism. She outlined the government’s investments in defense, transport, energy and education, claiming they were making a difference to millions of people.
She pledged to end long-term youth unemployment, saying everyone under 25 who has been unemployed for 18 months will be offered guaranteed paid work. One in eight 16–24-year-olds in Britain — about 1 million people — is currently not in education, work, or training.
Reeves also said the government was working on an “ambitious agreement on youth mobility” with the 27-nation European Union. British citizens lost the right to move and work freely in the EU when the country left the bloc in 2020.
Thousands of Labour members are in Liverpool, northwest England, for the party conference -– a mix of policy forum and pep rally that this year is lacking in pizazz.
The hard right is a key concern
Labour lags behind Nigel Farage ’s hard-right Reform UK party in opinion polls, and some party members are losing faith in Prime Minister Keir Starmer, even though there may be four years until the next election.
Many are rallying around Andy Burnham, the ambitious Labour mayor of Manchester, who said Sunday that the party is in “peril” and needs to change direction.
Reeves took aim at those in Labour, such as Burnham, who argue the government should borrow more to spend more on public services. She cited former Conservative Prime Minister Liz Truss’ disastrous 2022 plan for unfunded tax cuts, which sent the value of the pound plunging and the cost of government borrowing soaring.
“When spending gets out of control, when market confidence is lost … it is felt immediately in the growing cost of essentials, and rising interest rates,” Reeves said.
The threat posed by Reform is top issue among Labour delegates at the four-day conference, which ends Wednesday. Farage’s party has only five lawmakers in the 650 seat House of Commons, and Labour has more than 400. Nonetheless, Starmer said Reform is now Labour’s chief opponent, not the main opposition Conservatives.
Starmer has described the fight between Labour and Reform as “a battle for the soul of this country.” On Sunday he accused Farage of sowing division with plans by Reform to deport immigrants who are in the U.K. legally. Starmer said such a policy would be “racist” and “immoral.”
The U.K. government has toughened its own language about immigration, though. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told the conference the government must question some of “the assumptions and legal constraints” around migration.
She said she plans to raise the bar immigrants must meet to gain permanent residency. Under the proposals, people will have to have a “high standard” of English, no criminal record and give back to their communities to get the right to settle in the U.K.
“Unless we have control of our borders, and until we can decide who comes in and who must leave, we will never be the open, tolerant and generous country that I know we all believe in,” she said.
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Jill Lawless, The Associated Press
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9/28: Sunday Morning
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Hosted by Jane Pauley. Featured: The friendship between the Unabomber’s brother and one of his victims; Jennifer Lopez on “Kiss of the Spider Woman”; Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter on Broadway in “Waiting for Godot”; Eli Sharabi, who was held hostage by Hamas terrorists for 491 days; the ‘60s British rock group The Zombies; and previews of arts and culture in the New Season.
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Airstrikes and gunfire kill at least 59 people in Gaza as pressure grows for ceasefire, hostage deal
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Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least 59 people across Gaza, health officials said Saturday, as international pressure grows for a ceasefire and hostage return deal while Israel’s leader remained defiant about continuing the war.Related video above: Palestinian president speaks by video at UNAmong the dead were those hit by two strikes in the Nuseirat refugee camp — nine from the same family in a house and, later, 15 in the same camp, including women and children, according to staff at al-Awda Hospital, where the bodies were brought. Five others were killed when a strike hit a tent for the displaced, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the dead.Israel’s army said it was not aware of anyone being killed by gunfire Saturday in southern Gaza, nor of a strike in the Nuseirat area during the time and at the location provided by the hospital.The director of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City told The Associated Press that medical teams there were concerned about Israeli “tanks approaching the vicinity of the hospital,” restricting access to the facility where 159 patients are being treated.“The bombardment has not stopped for a single moment,” Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya said.He added that 14 premature babies were treated in incubators in Helou Hospital, though the head of neonatal intensive care there, Dr. Nasser Bulbul, has said that the facility’s main gate was closed because of drones flying over the building. Netanyahu and Trump scheduled to meet as pressure growsThe attacks came hours after a defiant Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told fellow world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly Friday that his nation “must finish the job” against Hamas in Gaza.Netanyahu’s words, aimed as much at his increasingly divided domestic audience as the global one, began after dozens of delegates from multiple nations walked out of the U.N. General Assembly hall en masse Friday morning as he began speaking.International pressure on Israel to end the war is increasing, as is Israel’s isolation, with a growing list of countries, including the United Kingdom, France and Australia, deciding recently to recognize Palestinian statehood — something Israel rejects.A U.N. commission of inquiry recently determined that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.Countries have been lobbying U.S. President Donald Trump to press Israel for a ceasefire. On Friday, Trump told reporters on the White House lawn that he believes the U.S. is close to achieving a deal on easing fighting in Gaza that “will get the hostages back” and “end the war.”Trump and Netanyahu are scheduled to meet Monday, and Trump said on social media Friday that “very inspired and productive discussions” and “intense negotiations” about Gaza are ongoing with countries in the region.Yet, Israel is pressing ahead with another major ground operation in Gaza City, which experts say is experiencing famine. More than 300,000 people have fled, but up to 700,000 are still there, many because they can’t afford to relocate.Hospitals are short on supplies and targeted by airstrikesThe strikes Saturday morning demolished a house in Gaza City’s Tufah neighborhood, killing at least 11 people, more than half of them women and children, according to Al-Ahly Hospital, where the bodies were brought. Four other people were killed when an airstrike hit their homes in the Shati refugee camp, according to Shifa Hospital. Six other Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire while seeking aid in southern and central Gaza, according to the Nasser and Al Awda hospitals.Hospitals and health clinics in Gaza City are on the brink of collapse. Nearly two weeks into the offensive, two clinics have been destroyed by airstrikes, two hospitals shut down after being damaged and others are barely functioning, with medicine, equipment, food and fuel in short supply, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.Many patients and staff have been forced to flee hospitals, leaving behind only a few doctors and nurses to tend to children in incubators or other patients too ill to move.On Friday, aid group Doctors Without Borders said it was forced to suspend activities in Gaza City. The group said Israeli tanks were less than a kilometer (half a mile) from its facilities, creating an “unacceptable level of risk” for its staff.Meanwhile, the food situation in the north has also worsened, as Israel has halted aid deliveries through its crossing into northern Gaza since Sept. 12 and has increasingly rejected U.N. requests to bring supplies from southern Gaza into the north, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 65,000 people and wounded more than 167,000 others, Gaza’s Health Ministry said. It doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants, but says women and children make up around half the fatalities. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, but U.N. agencies and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.Israel’s campaign was triggered when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. Forty-eight captives remain in Gaza, around 20 of them believed by Israel to be alive, after most of the rest were freed in ceasefires or other deals. Magdy reported from Cairo, Egypt.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip —Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least 59 people across Gaza, health officials said Saturday, as international pressure grows for a ceasefire and hostage return deal while Israel’s leader remained defiant about continuing the war.
Related video above: Palestinian president speaks by video at UN
Among the dead were those hit by two strikes in the Nuseirat refugee camp — nine from the same family in a house and, later, 15 in the same camp, including women and children, according to staff at al-Awda Hospital, where the bodies were brought. Five others were killed when a strike hit a tent for the displaced, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the dead.
Israel’s army said it was not aware of anyone being killed by gunfire Saturday in southern Gaza, nor of a strike in the Nuseirat area during the time and at the location provided by the hospital.
The director of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City told The Associated Press that medical teams there were concerned about Israeli “tanks approaching the vicinity of the hospital,” restricting access to the facility where 159 patients are being treated.
“The bombardment has not stopped for a single moment,” Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya said.
He added that 14 premature babies were treated in incubators in Helou Hospital, though the head of neonatal intensive care there, Dr. Nasser Bulbul, has said that the facility’s main gate was closed because of drones flying over the building.
Netanyahu and Trump scheduled to meet as pressure grows
The attacks came hours after a defiant Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told fellow world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly Friday that his nation “must finish the job” against Hamas in Gaza.
Netanyahu’s words, aimed as much at his increasingly divided domestic audience as the global one, began after dozens of delegates from multiple nations walked out of the U.N. General Assembly hall en masse Friday morning as he began speaking.
International pressure on Israel to end the war is increasing, as is Israel’s isolation, with a growing list of countries, including the United Kingdom, France and Australia, deciding recently to recognize Palestinian statehood — something Israel rejects.
A U.N. commission of inquiry recently determined that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
Countries have been lobbying U.S. President Donald Trump to press Israel for a ceasefire. On Friday, Trump told reporters on the White House lawn that he believes the U.S. is close to achieving a deal on easing fighting in Gaza that “will get the hostages back” and “end the war.”
Trump and Netanyahu are scheduled to meet Monday, and Trump said on social media Friday that “very inspired and productive discussions” and “intense negotiations” about Gaza are ongoing with countries in the region.
Yet, Israel is pressing ahead with another major ground operation in Gaza City, which experts say is experiencing famine. More than 300,000 people have fled, but up to 700,000 are still there, many because they can’t afford to relocate.
Hospitals are short on supplies and targeted by airstrikes
The strikes Saturday morning demolished a house in Gaza City’s Tufah neighborhood, killing at least 11 people, more than half of them women and children, according to Al-Ahly Hospital, where the bodies were brought. Four other people were killed when an airstrike hit their homes in the Shati refugee camp, according to Shifa Hospital. Six other Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire while seeking aid in southern and central Gaza, according to the Nasser and Al Awda hospitals.
Hospitals and health clinics in Gaza City are on the brink of collapse. Nearly two weeks into the offensive, two clinics have been destroyed by airstrikes, two hospitals shut down after being damaged and others are barely functioning, with medicine, equipment, food and fuel in short supply, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Many patients and staff have been forced to flee hospitals, leaving behind only a few doctors and nurses to tend to children in incubators or other patients too ill to move.
On Friday, aid group Doctors Without Borders said it was forced to suspend activities in Gaza City. The group said Israeli tanks were less than a kilometer (half a mile) from its facilities, creating an “unacceptable level of risk” for its staff.
Meanwhile, the food situation in the north has also worsened, as Israel has halted aid deliveries through its crossing into northern Gaza since Sept. 12 and has increasingly rejected U.N. requests to bring supplies from southern Gaza into the north, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 65,000 people and wounded more than 167,000 others, Gaza’s Health Ministry said. It doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants, but says women and children make up around half the fatalities. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, but U.N. agencies and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.
Israel’s campaign was triggered when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. Forty-eight captives remain in Gaza, around 20 of them believed by Israel to be alive, after most of the rest were freed in ceasefires or other deals.
Magdy reported from Cairo, Egypt.
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Israel’s justification for Gaza hospital attack false, Reuters probe finds
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Israel’s justification for bombing a Khan Younis hospital in southern Gaza, claiming it targeted a Hamas camera, is false, according to an investigation by the news agency Reuters.
Israeli forces planned the August 25 attack on Nasser Hospital using drone footage that, a military official said, showed a Hamas camera that was the target of the strike. But a Reuters review of visual evidence and interviews with witnesses established that the camera in question actually belonged to the news agency and had long been used by one of its own journalists.
The “double-tap” attack killed 22 people, including five journalists – one of whom worked for Al Jazeera. Their deaths bring the number of journalists killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza to more than 200 since the genocidal war began nearly two years ago.
A day after the hospital strike, the army said troops had fired on a “suspicious” camera draped in cloth, claiming it was operated by Hamas. Drone footage later showed the device on a hospital stairwell, covered with a prayer rug belonging to Reuters journalist Hussam al-Masri – who was killed in the strike – not Hamas, Reuters found.
At least 35 times since May, al-Masri had positioned his camera on the same stairwell to record live broadcasts distributed worldwide. He often used the rug to shield it from heat and dust.
“The claim that Hamas was filming Israeli forces from Nasser Hospital is false and fabricated,” said Ismail al-Thawabta, head of Gaza’s Government Media Office. “Israel is trying to cover up a full-fledged war crime against the hospital, its patients and medical staff.”
Reuters said it reviewed more than 100 videos and photos from the scene and interviewed more than two dozen people to reconstruct the events of the attack.
Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem described the stairwell as “a makeshift newsroom” where journalists had gathered before the strike. Al-Masri’s live broadcast froze moments before the blast, which killed him along with several civil defence workers. A second explosion struck as rescuers rushed in.
“We were rescuing the martyrs and wounded … then a huge explosion among us,” said Reuters cameraman Hatem Khaled.
Israel has repeatedly targeted hospitals and other sites protected under international humanitarian law, including schools, shelters, mosques and churches. Its attacks have also killed journalists, medical staff, first responders and humanitarian workers. Despite repeated global calls for investigations, Israel continues to act with impunity while carrying out genocide in Gaza.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says Israel has never published the results of a formal investigation nor held anyone accountable for the killings of journalists.
“None of these incidents prompted a meaningful review of Israel’s rules of engagement, nor did international condemnation lead to any change in the pattern of attacks on journalists over the past two years,” said Sara Qudah, CPJ’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.
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Airstrikes and shooting kill at least 38 people in Gaza as calls for ceasefire grow
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Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least 38 people across Gaza, health officials said. International pressure for a ceasefire is growing, but Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu remained defiant about continuing the war during an address to the United Nations Friday afternoon.
Strikes in central and northern Gaza killed people in their homes in the early hours of Saturday morning, including nine from the same family in a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp, according to health staff at the Al-Awda hospital, where the bodies were brought.
The attacks came hours after Netanyahu told fellow world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly Friday that his nation “must finish the job” against Hamas in Gaza.
Netanyahu’s words, aimed as much at his increasingly divided domestic audience as the global one, came after dozens of delegates from multiple nations walked out of the U.N. General Assembly hall en masse Friday morning as he began speaking.
Abdel Kareem Hana / AP
International pressure on Israel to end the war is increasing, as is Israel’s isolation, with a growing list of countries deciding recently to recognize Palestinian statehood — something Israel rejects.
Countries have been lobbying U.S. President Donald Trump to press Israel for a ceasefire. On Friday, Trump told reporters on the White House lawn that he believes the U.S. is close to achieving a deal on easing fighting in Gaza that “will get the hostages back” and “end the war.”
Trump and Netanyahu are scheduled to meet Monday, and Trump said on social media Friday that “very inspired and productive discussions” and “intense negotiations” about Gaza are ongoing with countries in the region.
Israel is pressing ahead with another major ground operation in Gaza City, which experts say is experiencing famine. More than 300,000 people have fled, but up to 700,000 are still there, many because they can’t afford to relocate.
Abdel Kareem Hana / AP
The strikes Saturday morning demolished a house in Gaza City’s Tufah neighborhood, killing at least 11 people, more than half of them women and children, according to the Al-Ahly Hospital, where the bodies were brought. Four other people were killed when an airstrike hit their homes in the Shati refugee camp, according to Shifa hospital.
Six other Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire while seeking aid in southern and central Gaza, according to Nasser and Al Awda hospitals, where the bodies were brought.
Israel’s army did not immediately respond about the airstrikes or the gunfire.
Hospitals and health clinics in Gaza City are on the brink of collapse. Nearly two weeks into the offensive, two clinics have been destroyed by airstrikes, two hospitals shut down after being damaged and others are barely functioning, with medicine, equipment, food and fuel in short supply.
Many patients and staff have been forced to flee hospitals, leaving behind only a few doctors and nurses to tend to children in incubators or other patients too ill to move.
Leo Correa / AP
On Friday, aid group Doctors Without Borders said it was forced to suspend activities in Gaza City amid an intensified Israeli offensive. The group said Israeli tanks were less than half a mile from its health care facilities and the escalating attacks have created an “unacceptable level of risk” for its staff.
Meanwhile, the food situation in the north has also worsened, as Israel has halted aid deliveries through its crossing into northern Gaza since Sept. 12 and has increasingly rejected U.N. requests to bring supplies from southern Gaza into the north, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 65,000 people and wounded more than 167,000 others, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. It doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants, but says women and children make up around half the fatalities. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, but U.N. agencies and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.
Israel’s campaign was triggered when Hamas-led terrorists stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. Forty-eight captives remain in Gaza, around 20 of them believed by Israel to be alive, after most of the rest were freed in ceasefires or other deals.
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Doctors Without Borders suspends work in Gaza City, citing risk to staff
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MSF claimed that the Israeli offensive in Gaza City posed an elevated risk to staff, and that airstrikes and tanks were currently less than half a mile from the organization’s facilities.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) announced on Friday that it had suspended its work in Gaza City, citing risks to its healthcare workers.
MSF claimed that the Israeli offensive in Gaza City posed an elevated risk to staff, and that airstrikes and tanks were currently less than half a mile from the organization’s facilities.
“We have been left with no choice but to stop our activities as our clinics are encircled by Israeli forces,” Jacob Granger, MSF emergency coordinator in Gaza, confirmed.
“This is the last thing we wanted, as the needs in Gaza City are enormous, with the most vulnerable people—infants in neonatal care, those with severe injuries and life-threatening illnesses—unable to move and in grave danger.”
Despite Hamas’s presence in the city and the terror group admitting to holding hostages there, MSF was critical of Israel’s decision to proceed with military intervention in Gaza.
Members of MSF, Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), carry banners and flags during a protest demanding an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, at Martyrs’ Square, downtown Beirut, Lebanon, December 4, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/EMILIE MADI)
Availability of healthcare in the Gaza Strip
MSF noted that hundreds of thousands of Gazans had not yet abided by the IDF’s evacuation orders. Some, the organization claimed, were unable to leave and had no choice but to stay as the war in Gaza City is expected to intensify.
The organization then condemned the lack of medical facilities in the Gaza Strip – claiming there was not a single fully operational hospital. Severe staff shortages, a lack of supplies, and a lack of fuel are reportedly creating critical barriers in civilian healthcare.
MSF also claimed that there is not a single safe space in Gaza, despite the opening of humanitarian corridors in the enclave.
The announcement also stated that MSF intended to continue supporting the “key services” provided by the Hamas-run health ministry, including those at Al-Helou and Al-Shifa hospitals.
MSF claimed last week to have given 3,640 consultations in Gaza City and to have treated 1,655 patients suffering from malnutrition, severe trauma injuries, and burns, as well as pregnant women.
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Microsoft blocks Israel’s use of some services after review over mass surveillance of Palestinians
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Microsoft says it has stopped providing some of its cloud and AI services to Israel’s Ministry of Defense following a report in Britain’s Guardian newspaper, which alleged Israel used the services to conduct mass surveillance of Palestinians in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The Guardian report, published in August in conjunction with Israeli outlets +972 Magazine and Local Call, claimed Israel’s military surveillance agency — called Unit 8200 — used Microsoft‘s Azure cloud platform to store recordings of millions of cellphone calls made by Palestinians.
These calls could be played back by intelligence officers, and The Guardian cited three sources within Unit 8200 who said the database was used to help shape military operations in Gaza and the West Bank, and to prepare deadly airstrikes by helping with research and to identify bombing targets in Gaza.
One source told The Guardian that during the planning of an airstrike on an individual in a densely populated area of Gaza, officers would use the system to examine calls made by other people in the immediate vicinity.
Other sources told The Guardian that use of the data was initially focused on the West Bank, which Israel’s military controls.
“When they need to arrest someone and there isn’t a good enough reason to do so, that’s where they find the excuse,” one source told the British newspaper.
The Guardian reported that leaked Microsoft files suggested a large proportion of the sensitive data was potentially being stored in Microsoft data centers in Ireland and the Netherlands.
After the publication of its report, several sources told the newspaper that the repository of intercepted calls — as much as 8,000 terabytes of data — had been held in a Microsoft data center in the Netherlands, but within days of its report being published in early August, the data appeared to have been moved out of the country.
“We have found evidence that supports elements of The Guardian’s reporting. This evidence includes information relating to IMOD consumption of Azure storage capacity in the Netherlands and the use of AI services,” Microsoft said in a statement Thursday, without elaborating on what the evidence showed.
Microsoft said it had informed the Israeli Ministry of Defense that it would be halting and disabling its use of some specific subscriptions and services.
“We have reviewed this decision with IMOD and the steps we are taking to ensure compliance with our terms of service, focused on ensuring our services are not used for mass surveillance of civilians,” Microsoft said.
Intelligence sources told The Guardian that Unit 8200 planned to transfer the data from Microsoft’s servers to the Amazon Web Services cloud platform. Neither the Israel Defense Forces nor Amazon replied to The Guardian’s request for comment.
CBS News asked both the IDF and Amazon for comment on the report of a possible transfer of the data to Amazon’s servers but did not receive a reply by time of publication.
Microsoft said its current review is still ongoing.
It follows an initial review by the American tech giant, triggered by an earlier Guardian report about how the IDF’s use of Microsoft’s Azure and AI services surged during its Gaza offensive, in which the company said it had found “no evidence that Microsoft’s Azure and AI technologies, or any of our other software, have been used to harm people or that IMOD has failed to comply with our terms of service or our AI Code of Conduct.”
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Contributor: Allies are betraying the U.S. by recognizing a Palestinian state
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Four of America’s nominally closest allies — Britain, Australia, France and Canada — disgraced themselves this week by recognizing a so-called Palestinian state. In so doing, these nations didn’t merely betray their Western civilizational inheritance. They also rewarded terrorism, strengthened the genocidal ambitions of the global jihad and sent a chilling message: The path to international legitimacy runs not through the difficult work of building up a nation-state and engaging in diplomacy, but through mass murder, the weaponization of transnational institutions and the erasure of historical truth.
The Trump administration has already denounced this craven capitulation by our allies. There should be no recognition of an independent Palestinian state at this moment in history. Such a recognition is an abdication not only of basic human decency, but also of national interest and strategic sanity.
The global march toward recognition of an independent Palestinian state ignores decades of brutal facts on the ground as well as the specific tide of blood behind this latest surge. It was less than two years ago — Oct. 7, 2023 — that Hamas launched the most barbaric anti-Jewish pogrom since the Holocaust: 6,000 terrorists poured into Israel, massacring roughly 1,200 innocent people in acts of unconscionable depravity — systematic rape, torture, kidnapping of babies. The terrorists livestreamed their own atrocities and dragged more than 250 hostages back to Gaza’s sprawling subterranean terror dungeons, where dozens remain to this day.
Many gullible liberal elites wish to believe that the radical jihadists of Hamas do not represent the broader Palestinian-Arab population, but that is a lie. Polls consistently show — and anecdotal videos of large street crowds consistently demonstrate — that Hamas and like-minded jihadist groups maintain overwhelming popularity in both Gaza and Judea and Samaria (what the international community refers to as the West Bank). These groups deserve shame, scorn and diplomatic rebuke — not fawning sympathy and United Nations red carpets.
The “government” in Gaza is a theocratic, Iranian-backed terror entity whose founding charter drips with unrepentant Jew-hatred and whose leaders routinely celebrate the wanton slaughter of innocent Israelis as triumphs of “resistance.” Along with the kleptocratic Palestinian Authority dictatorship in Ramallah, this is who, and what, Group of 7 powers like Britain and France have decided to reward with an imprimatur of legitimate statehood.
There is no meaningful “peace partner,” and no “two-state” vision to be realized, amid this horrible reality. There is only a sick cult of violence, lavishly funded from Tehran and eager for widespread international recognition as a stepping stone toward the destruction of Israel — and the broader West for which Israel is a proxy.
For decades, Western leaders maintained a straightforward position: There can be no recognition of a Palestinian state outside of direct negotiations with Israel, full demilitarization and the unqualified acceptance of Israel’s right to exist in secure borders as a distinctly Jewish state. The move at the United Nations to recognize a Palestinian state torches that policy, declaring to the world that savagery and maximalist rejectionism are the currency of international legitimacy. By rewarding unilateralism and eschewing direct negotiation, these reckless Western governments have proved us international law skeptics right: The much-ballyhooed “peace process” agreements, such as the Oslo Accords of the 1990s, are not worth the paper they were written on.
In the wake of Oct. 7, these nations condemned the massacre, proclaimed solidarity with Israel and even briefly suspended funding for UNRWA, the U.N. aid group for the Palestinian territories, after agency employees were accused of participating in the attack. Yet, under the relentless drumbeat of anti-Israel activism and diplomatic cowardice, they have now chosen to rehabilitate the Palestinian-Arab nationalist cause — not after the leaders of the cause renounced terrorism, but while its most gruesome crimes remained unpunished, its hostages still languish in concentration camp-like squalor and its leaders still clamor for the annihilation of Israel.
Trump should clarify not only that America will not join in this dangerous, high-stakes charade, but also that there could very well be negative trade or diplomatic repercussions for countries that recognize an independent Palestinian terror state. The reason for such consequences would be simple: Undermining America’s strongest ally in the Middle East while simultaneously creating yet another new terror-friendly Islamist state directly harms the American national interest. There is no American national interest — none, zero — in the creation of a new Palestinian state in the heart of the Holy Land. On the contrary, as the Abraham Accords peace deals of 2020 proved, there is plenty of reason to embolden Israel. Contra liberal elites, it is this bolstering of Israel that fosters genuine regional peace.
The world must know: In the face of evil, America does not flinch, does not equivocate and does not reward those who murder our friends and threaten the Judeo-Christian West. As long as the Jewish state stands on the front lines of civilization, the United States must remain at its side, unwavering, unbowed and unashamed. Basic human decency and the American national interest both require nothing less.
Josh Hammer’s latest book is “Israel and Civilization: The Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Destiny of the West.” This article was produced in collaboration with Creators Syndicate. X: @josh_hammer
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Sinking ships and confiscating vessels: Israel’s plan to intercept Gaza flotillas revealed
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Those who refuse to board the ship, and be voluntarily deported, will be arrested.
Israel plans to intercept the vessels traveling to Gaza as part of the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) to deliver aid to the Palestinian enclave, according to a Channel 12 report published on Thursday.
The 45 vessels, currently traveling in Greek waters, is anticipated to reach Israeli territory in the coming days.
In the first phase, members of the Shayetet 13 unit will reportedly take over the ships.Those who refuse to board the ship, and be voluntarily deported, will be arrested, according to the report.
Crew members work aboard Spain’s warship ‘Furor’, a military vessel set to join in a supporting role the Global Sumud Flotilla seeking to deliver aid to Gaza after it was attacked by drones off Greece, at the port of Cartagena, Spain September 25, 2025. (credit: SUSANA VERA/REUTERS)
Following the transfer of activists, the boats will reportedly be confiscated or sunk.
Attempts to negotiate with the flotilla activists
The potential complex naval conflict has led Israel to try to directly negotiate with the activists, offering to deliver the aid the ships are alleged to be carrying to Gaza if they dock in Ashkelon. The activists rejected the offer and announced their intentions to continue the voyage to Gaza.
Since rejecting the offer, the activists have claimed that Israel has targeted the vessels with drones and multiple nations have launched warships to guard them on their journey.
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Gaza aid flotilla targeted by drones and explosions, activists say
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Organizers of the pro-Palestinian flotilla hoping to carry aid to Gaza said that Israel attacked them with “flash bombs, explosive flares, and suspected chemicals” as it approached the war-torn Palestinian territory.
“The Israeli occupation forces have launched at least 11 attacks on the Global Sumud Flotilla as it is 600 nautical miles [1,100 kilometres] from Gaza,” the CODEPINK organization said in a social media post early on Wednesday.
“Israel is threatening and terrorizing humanitarians carrying aid in international waters. Demand safe passage for the flotilla. Break the siege on Gaza now,” the group said, in comments also shared by the flotilla.
Global Sumud Flotilla published a video on its social media channels early on Wednesday showing what it said were “flashbangs… a non-lethal explosive device used mainly by police or military forces. It is designed to incapacitate people temporarily without causing permanent injury, making it useful in crowd control or hostage rescue operations.”
The activists said that “explosive flares” and “suspected chemicals” were deployed against the boats as well as “unidentified drones and communications jamming.”
“We are witnessing these psychological operations firsthand, right now, but we will not be intimidated,” the flotilla said in a Telegram post.
Earlier, Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, reposted one of the flotilla’s videos on her X page.
“9th attack reported on humanitarian boats in int’l waters (southwest of Crete) – in the middle of the night! Et voilà: genocidaire on land, maritime outlaw at sea,” she wrote in the social media thread.
The Global Sumud Flotilla, which set off from Barcelona in late August with hundreds of activists on board, is aiming to breach the Israeli sea blockade of the Gaza coast to deliver humanitarian aid to the population of the war-torn territory. “Sumud” means steadfastness in Arabic.
Israel has in the past thwarted a number of attempts to breach its sea blockade. Most recently, activists said two Global Sumud Flotilla vessels were attacked while in Tunisian waters over about 24 hours earlier in September.
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Trump in speech to UN says world body ‘not even coming close to living up’ to its potential
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President Donald Trump returned to the United Nations on Tuesday to boast of his second-term foreign policy achievements and lash out at the world body as a feckless institution, while warning Europe it would be ruined if it doesn’t turn away from a “double-tailed monster” of ill-conceived migration and green energy policies.His roughly hour-long speech was both grievance-filled and self-congratulatory as he used the platform to praise himself and lament that some of his fellow world leaders’ countries were “going to hell.”The address was also just the latest reminder for U.S. allies and foes that the United States — after a four-year interim under the more internationalist President Joe Biden — has returned to the unapologetically “America First” posture under Trump.“What is the purpose of the United Nations?” Trump said. “The U.N. has such tremendous potential. I’ve always said it. It has such tremendous, tremendous potential. But it’s not even coming close to living up to that potential.”World leaders listened closely to his remarks at the U.N. General Assembly as Trump has already moved quickly to diminish U.S. support for the world body in his first eight months in office. Even in his first term, he was no fan of the flavor of multilateralism that the United Nations espouses.After his latest inauguration, he issued a first-day executive order withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization. That was followed by his move to end U.S. participation in the U.N. Human Rights Council, and ordering up a review of U.S. membership in hundreds of intergovernmental organizations aimed at determining whether they align with the priorities of his “America First” agenda.Trump escalated that criticism on Tuesday, saying the international body’s “empty words don’t solve wars.”Trump offered a weave of jarring juxtapositions in his address to the assembly.He trumpeted himself as a peacemaker and enumerated successes of his administration’s efforts in several hotspots around the globe. At the same, Trump heralded his decisions to order the U.S. military to carry out strikes on Iran and more recently against alleged drug smugglers from Venezuela and argued that globalists are on the verge of destroying successful nations.The U.S. president’s speech is typically among the most anticipated moments of the annual assembly. This one comes at one of the most volatile moments in the world body’s 80-year-old history. Global leaders are being tested by intractable wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, uncertainty about the economic and social impact of emerging artificial intelligence technology, and anxiety about Trump’s antipathy for the global body.Trump has also raised new questions about the American use of military force in his return to the White House, after ordering U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June and a trio of strikes this month on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea.The latter strikes, including at least two fatal attacks on boats that originated from Venezuela, has raised speculation in Caracas that Trump is looking to set the stage for the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.Some U.S. lawmakers and human rights advocates say that Trump is effectively carrying out extrajudicial killings by using U.S. forces to lethally target alleged drug smugglers instead of interdicting the suspected vessels, seizing any drugs and prosecuting the suspects in U.S. courts.Warnings about ‘green scam’ and migrationTrump touted his administration’s policies allowing for expanded drilling for oil and natural gas in the United States, and aggressively cracking down on illegal immigration, implicitly suggesting more countries should follow suit.He sharply warned that European nations that have more welcoming migration policies and commit to expensive energy projects aimed at reducing their carbon footprint were causing irreparable harm to their economies and cultures.“I’m telling you that if you don’t get away from the ‘green energy’ scam, your country is going to fail,” Trump said. “If you don’t stop people that you’ve never seen before that you have nothing in common with your country is going to fail.”Trump added, “I love the people of Europe, and I hate to see it being devastated by energy and immigration. This double-tailed monster destroys everything in its wake, and they cannot let that happen any longer.”The passage of the wide-ranging address elicited some groans and uncomfortable laughter from delegates.Trump to hold one-on-one talks with world leadersTrump touted “the renewal of American strength around the world” and his efforts to help end several wars. He peppered his speech with criticism of global institutions doing too little to end war and solve the world’s biggest problems.General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock on Tuesday said that despite all the internal and external challenges facing the organization, it is not the time to walk away.“Sometimes we could’ve done more, but we cannot let this dishearten us. If we stop doing the right things, evil will prevail,” Baerbock said in her opening remarks.Following his speech, Trump met with Secretary-General António Guterres, telling the top U.N. official that the U.S. is behind the global body “100%” amid fears among members that he’s edging toward a full retreat.The White House says Trump will also meet on Tuesday with the leaders of Ukraine, Argentina and the European Union. He will also hold a group meeting with officials from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.He’ll return to Washington after hosting a reception Tuesday night with more than 100 invited world leaders.Gaza and Ukraine cast shadow over Trump speechTrump has struggled to deliver on his 2024 campaign promises to quickly end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. His response has been also relatively muted as some longtime American allies are using this year’s General Assembly to spotlight the growing international campaign for recognition of a Palestinian state, a move that the U.S. and Israel vehemently oppose.France became the latest nation to recognize Palestinian statehood on Monday at the start of a high-profile meeting at the U.N. aimed at galvanizing support for a two-state solution to the Mideast conflict. More nations are expected to follow.Trump sharply criticized the statehood recognition push.“The rewards would be too great for Hamas terrorists,” Trump said. “This would be a reward for these horrible atrocities, including Oct. 7.”Trump also addressed Russia’s war in Ukraine.It’s been more than a month since Trump’s Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and a White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and key European leaders. Following those meetings, Trump announced that he was arranging for direct talks between Putin and Zelenskyy. But Putin hasn’t shown any interest in meeting with Zelenskyy and Moscow has only intensified its bombardment of Ukraine since the Alaska summit.European leaders as well as American lawmakers, including some key Republican allies of Trump, have urged the president to dial up stronger sanctions on Russia. Trump, meanwhile, has pressed Europe to stop buying Russian oil, the engine feeding Putin’s war machine.Trump said a “very strong round of powerful tariffs” would “stop the bloodshed, I believe, very quickly.” He repeated his calls on Europe to “step it up” and stop buying Russian oil.Trump has Oslo dreamsDespite his struggles to end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, Trump has made clear that he wants to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, repeatedly making the spurious claim that he’s “ended seven wars” since he returned to office.“Everyone says that I should get the Nobel Prize — but for me, the real prize will be the sons and daughters who live to grow up because millions of people are no longer being killed in endless wars,” Trump offered.He again highlighted his administration’s efforts to end conflicts, including between Israel and Iran, India and Pakistan, Egypt and Sudan, Rwanda and the Democratic Congo, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Cambodia and Thailand.“It’s too bad that I had to do these things instead of the United Nations doing them,” Trump said. “Sadly, in all cases, the United Nations did not even try to help in any of them.”Although Trump helped mediate relations among many of these nations, experts say his impact isn’t as clear cut as he claims.___AP journalists Tracy Brown and Darlene Superville in Washington and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report.
UNITED NATIONS —President Donald Trump returned to the United Nations on Tuesday to boast of his second-term foreign policy achievements and lash out at the world body as a feckless institution, while warning Europe it would be ruined if it doesn’t turn away from a “double-tailed monster” of ill-conceived migration and green energy policies.
His roughly hour-long speech was both grievance-filled and self-congratulatory as he used the platform to praise himself and lament that some of his fellow world leaders’ countries were “going to hell.”
The address was also just the latest reminder for U.S. allies and foes that the United States — after a four-year interim under the more internationalist President Joe Biden — has returned to the unapologetically “America First” posture under Trump.
“What is the purpose of the United Nations?” Trump said. “The U.N. has such tremendous potential. I’ve always said it. It has such tremendous, tremendous potential. But it’s not even coming close to living up to that potential.”
World leaders listened closely to his remarks at the U.N. General Assembly as Trump has already moved quickly to diminish U.S. support for the world body in his first eight months in office. Even in his first term, he was no fan of the flavor of multilateralism that the United Nations espouses.
After his latest inauguration, he issued a first-day executive order withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization. That was followed by his move to end U.S. participation in the U.N. Human Rights Council, and ordering up a review of U.S. membership in hundreds of intergovernmental organizations aimed at determining whether they align with the priorities of his “America First” agenda.
Trump escalated that criticism on Tuesday, saying the international body’s “empty words don’t solve wars.”
Trump offered a weave of jarring juxtapositions in his address to the assembly.
He trumpeted himself as a peacemaker and enumerated successes of his administration’s efforts in several hotspots around the globe. At the same, Trump heralded his decisions to order the U.S. military to carry out strikes on Iran and more recently against alleged drug smugglers from Venezuela and argued that globalists are on the verge of destroying successful nations.
The U.S. president’s speech is typically among the most anticipated moments of the annual assembly. This one comes at one of the most volatile moments in the world body’s 80-year-old history. Global leaders are being tested by intractable wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, uncertainty about the economic and social impact of emerging artificial intelligence technology, and anxiety about Trump’s antipathy for the global body.
Trump has also raised new questions about the American use of military force in his return to the White House, after ordering U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June and a trio of strikes this month on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea.
The latter strikes, including at least two fatal attacks on boats that originated from Venezuela, has raised speculation in Caracas that Trump is looking to set the stage for the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Some U.S. lawmakers and human rights advocates say that Trump is effectively carrying out extrajudicial killings by using U.S. forces to lethally target alleged drug smugglers instead of interdicting the suspected vessels, seizing any drugs and prosecuting the suspects in U.S. courts.
Warnings about ‘green scam’ and migration
Trump touted his administration’s policies allowing for expanded drilling for oil and natural gas in the United States, and aggressively cracking down on illegal immigration, implicitly suggesting more countries should follow suit.
He sharply warned that European nations that have more welcoming migration policies and commit to expensive energy projects aimed at reducing their carbon footprint were causing irreparable harm to their economies and cultures.
“I’m telling you that if you don’t get away from the ‘green energy’ scam, your country is going to fail,” Trump said. “If you don’t stop people that you’ve never seen before that you have nothing in common with your country is going to fail.”
Trump added, “I love the people of Europe, and I hate to see it being devastated by energy and immigration. This double-tailed monster destroys everything in its wake, and they cannot let that happen any longer.”
The passage of the wide-ranging address elicited some groans and uncomfortable laughter from delegates.
Trump to hold one-on-one talks with world leaders
Trump touted “the renewal of American strength around the world” and his efforts to help end several wars. He peppered his speech with criticism of global institutions doing too little to end war and solve the world’s biggest problems.
General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock on Tuesday said that despite all the internal and external challenges facing the organization, it is not the time to walk away.
“Sometimes we could’ve done more, but we cannot let this dishearten us. If we stop doing the right things, evil will prevail,” Baerbock said in her opening remarks.
Following his speech, Trump met with Secretary-General António Guterres, telling the top U.N. official that the U.S. is behind the global body “100%” amid fears among members that he’s edging toward a full retreat.
The White House says Trump will also meet on Tuesday with the leaders of Ukraine, Argentina and the European Union. He will also hold a group meeting with officials from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.
He’ll return to Washington after hosting a reception Tuesday night with more than 100 invited world leaders.
Gaza and Ukraine cast shadow over Trump speech
Trump has struggled to deliver on his 2024 campaign promises to quickly end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. His response has been also relatively muted as some longtime American allies are using this year’s General Assembly to spotlight the growing international campaign for recognition of a Palestinian state, a move that the U.S. and Israel vehemently oppose.
France became the latest nation to recognize Palestinian statehood on Monday at the start of a high-profile meeting at the U.N. aimed at galvanizing support for a two-state solution to the Mideast conflict. More nations are expected to follow.
Trump sharply criticized the statehood recognition push.
“The rewards would be too great for Hamas terrorists,” Trump said. “This would be a reward for these horrible atrocities, including Oct. 7.”
Trump also addressed Russia’s war in Ukraine.
It’s been more than a month since Trump’s Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and a White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and key European leaders. Following those meetings, Trump announced that he was arranging for direct talks between Putin and Zelenskyy. But Putin hasn’t shown any interest in meeting with Zelenskyy and Moscow has only intensified its bombardment of Ukraine since the Alaska summit.
European leaders as well as American lawmakers, including some key Republican allies of Trump, have urged the president to dial up stronger sanctions on Russia. Trump, meanwhile, has pressed Europe to stop buying Russian oil, the engine feeding Putin’s war machine.
Trump said a “very strong round of powerful tariffs” would “stop the bloodshed, I believe, very quickly.” He repeated his calls on Europe to “step it up” and stop buying Russian oil.
Trump has Oslo dreams
Despite his struggles to end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, Trump has made clear that he wants to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, repeatedly making the spurious claim that he’s “ended seven wars” since he returned to office.
“Everyone says that I should get the Nobel Prize — but for me, the real prize will be the sons and daughters who live to grow up because millions of people are no longer being killed in endless wars,” Trump offered.
He again highlighted his administration’s efforts to end conflicts, including between Israel and Iran, India and Pakistan, Egypt and Sudan, Rwanda and the Democratic Congo, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Cambodia and Thailand.
“It’s too bad that I had to do these things instead of the United Nations doing them,” Trump said. “Sadly, in all cases, the United Nations did not even try to help in any of them.”
Although Trump helped mediate relations among many of these nations, experts say his impact isn’t as clear cut as he claims.
___
AP journalists Tracy Brown and Darlene Superville in Washington and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report.
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Trump to take aim at ‘globalist institutions,’ make case for his foreign policy record in UN speech
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Watched by the world, President Donald Trump returns to the United Nations on Tuesday to deliver a wide-ranging address on his second-term foreign policy achievements and lament that “globalist institutions have significantly decayed the world order,” according to the White House.Watch live video from the United Nations in the video player aboveWorld leaders will be listening closely to his remarks at the U.N. General Assembly as Trump has already moved quickly to diminish U.S. support for the world body in his first eight months in office. Even in his first term, he was no fan of the flavor of multilateralism that the United Nations espouses.After his latest inauguration, he issued a first-day executive order withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization. That was followed by his move to end U.S. participation in the U.N. Human Rights Council, and ordering up a review of U.S. membership in hundreds of intergovernmental organizations aimed at determining whether they align with the priorities of his “America First” agenda.“There are great hopes for it, but it’s not being well run, to be honest,” Trump said of the U.N. last week.The U.S. president’s speech is typically among the most anticipated moments of the annual assembly. This one comes at one of the most volatile moments in the world body’s 80-year-old history. Global leaders are being tested by intractable wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, uncertainty about the economic and social impact of emerging artificial intelligence technology, and anxiety about Trump’s antipathy for the global body.Trump has also raised new questions about the American use of military force in his return to the White House, after ordering U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June and a trio of strikes this month on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea.The latter strikes, including at least two fatal attacks on boats that originated from Venezuela, has raised speculation in Caracas that Trump is looking to set the stage for the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.Some U.S. lawmakers and human rights advocates say that Trump is effectively carrying out extrajudicial killings by using U.S. forces to lethally target alleged drug smugglers instead of interdicting the suspected vessels, seizing any drugs and prosecuting the suspects in U.S. courts.“This is by far the most stressed the U.N. system has ever been in its 80 years,” said Anjali K. Dayal, a professor of international politics at Fordham University in New York.Trump to hold one-on-one talks with world leadersWhite House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump would tout “the renewal of American strength around the world” and his efforts to help end several wars.“The president will also touch upon how globalist institutions have significantly decayed the world order, and he will articulate his straightforward and constructive vision for the world,” Leavitt said.Following his speech, Trump will hold one-on-one meetings with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres and the leaders of Ukraine, Argentina and the European Union. He will also hold a group meeting with officials from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.He’ll return to Washington after hosting a reception Tuesday night with more than 100 invited world leaders.Gaza and Ukraine cast shadow over Trump speechTrump has struggled to deliver on his 2024 campaign promises to quickly end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. His response has been also relatively muted as some longtime American allies are using this year’s General Assembly to spotlight the growing international campaign for recognition of a Palestinian state, a move that the U.S. and Israel vehemently oppose.France became the latest nation to recognize Palestinian statehood on Monday at the start of a high-profile meeting at the U.N. aimed at galvanizing support for a two-state solution to the Mideast conflict. More nations are expected to follow.Leavitt said Trump sees the push as “just more talk and not enough action from some of our friends and allies.”Trump, for his part, in the lead-up to Tuesday’s address has tried to keep focus on getting agreement on a ceasefire that leads Hamas to releasing its remaining 48 hostages, including 20 still believed be alive.“I’d like to see a diplomatic solution,” Trump told reporters Sunday evening. “There’s a lot of anger and a lot of hatred, you know that, and there has been for a lot of years … but hopefully we’ll get something done.”Leaders in the room will also be eager to hear what Trump has to say about Russia’s war in Ukraine.It’s been more than a month since Trump’s Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and a White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and key European leaders. Following those meetings, Trump announced that he was arranging for direct talks between Putin and Zelenskyy. But Putin hasn’t shown any interest in meeting with Zelenskyy and Moscow has only intensified its bombardment of Ukraine since the Alaska summit.European leaders as well as American lawmakers, including some key Republican allies of Trump, have urged the president to dial up stronger sanctions on Russia. Trump, meanwhile, has pressed Europe to stop buying Russian oil, the engine feeding Putin’s war machine.Trump has Oslo dreamsDespite his struggles to end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, Trump has made clear that he wants to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, repeatedly making the claim that he’s “ended seven wars” since he returned to office.He points to his administration’s efforts to end conflicts between Israel and Iran, India and Pakistan, Egypt and Sudan, Rwanda and the Democratic Congo, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Cambodia and Thailand.Although Trump helped mediate relations among many of these nations, experts say his impact isn’t as clear cut as he claims.Still, Trump’s Nobel ambitions could have impact on the tenor of his address, said Mark Montgomery, an analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington.“His speech is going to be driven by how much he really believes he has a chance of getting a Nobel Peace Prize,” Montgomery said. “If he thinks that’s still something he can do, then I think he knows you don’t go into the U.N. and drop a grenade down the tank hatch and shut it, right?”___AP journalists Tracy Brown and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.
NEW YORK —Watched by the world, President Donald Trump returns to the United Nations on Tuesday to deliver a wide-ranging address on his second-term foreign policy achievements and lament that “globalist institutions have significantly decayed the world order,” according to the White House.
Watch live video from the United Nations in the video player above
World leaders will be listening closely to his remarks at the U.N. General Assembly as Trump has already moved quickly to diminish U.S. support for the world body in his first eight months in office. Even in his first term, he was no fan of the flavor of multilateralism that the United Nations espouses.
After his latest inauguration, he issued a first-day executive order withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization. That was followed by his move to end U.S. participation in the U.N. Human Rights Council, and ordering up a review of U.S. membership in hundreds of intergovernmental organizations aimed at determining whether they align with the priorities of his “America First” agenda.
“There are great hopes for it, but it’s not being well run, to be honest,” Trump said of the U.N. last week.
The U.S. president’s speech is typically among the most anticipated moments of the annual assembly. This one comes at one of the most volatile moments in the world body’s 80-year-old history. Global leaders are being tested by intractable wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, uncertainty about the economic and social impact of emerging artificial intelligence technology, and anxiety about Trump’s antipathy for the global body.
Trump has also raised new questions about the American use of military force in his return to the White House, after ordering U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June and a trio of strikes this month on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea.
The latter strikes, including at least two fatal attacks on boats that originated from Venezuela, has raised speculation in Caracas that Trump is looking to set the stage for the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Some U.S. lawmakers and human rights advocates say that Trump is effectively carrying out extrajudicial killings by using U.S. forces to lethally target alleged drug smugglers instead of interdicting the suspected vessels, seizing any drugs and prosecuting the suspects in U.S. courts.
“This is by far the most stressed the U.N. system has ever been in its 80 years,” said Anjali K. Dayal, a professor of international politics at Fordham University in New York.
Trump to hold one-on-one talks with world leaders
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump would tout “the renewal of American strength around the world” and his efforts to help end several wars.
“The president will also touch upon how globalist institutions have significantly decayed the world order, and he will articulate his straightforward and constructive vision for the world,” Leavitt said.
Following his speech, Trump will hold one-on-one meetings with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres and the leaders of Ukraine, Argentina and the European Union. He will also hold a group meeting with officials from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.
He’ll return to Washington after hosting a reception Tuesday night with more than 100 invited world leaders.
Gaza and Ukraine cast shadow over Trump speech
Trump has struggled to deliver on his 2024 campaign promises to quickly end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. His response has been also relatively muted as some longtime American allies are using this year’s General Assembly to spotlight the growing international campaign for recognition of a Palestinian state, a move that the U.S. and Israel vehemently oppose.
France became the latest nation to recognize Palestinian statehood on Monday at the start of a high-profile meeting at the U.N. aimed at galvanizing support for a two-state solution to the Mideast conflict. More nations are expected to follow.
Leavitt said Trump sees the push as “just more talk and not enough action from some of our friends and allies.”
Trump, for his part, in the lead-up to Tuesday’s address has tried to keep focus on getting agreement on a ceasefire that leads Hamas to releasing its remaining 48 hostages, including 20 still believed be alive.
“I’d like to see a diplomatic solution,” Trump told reporters Sunday evening. “There’s a lot of anger and a lot of hatred, you know that, and there has been for a lot of years … but hopefully we’ll get something done.”
Leaders in the room will also be eager to hear what Trump has to say about Russia’s war in Ukraine.
It’s been more than a month since Trump’s Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and a White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and key European leaders. Following those meetings, Trump announced that he was arranging for direct talks between Putin and Zelenskyy. But Putin hasn’t shown any interest in meeting with Zelenskyy and Moscow has only intensified its bombardment of Ukraine since the Alaska summit.
European leaders as well as American lawmakers, including some key Republican allies of Trump, have urged the president to dial up stronger sanctions on Russia. Trump, meanwhile, has pressed Europe to stop buying Russian oil, the engine feeding Putin’s war machine.
Trump has Oslo dreams
Despite his struggles to end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, Trump has made clear that he wants to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, repeatedly making the claim that he’s “ended seven wars” since he returned to office.
He points to his administration’s efforts to end conflicts between Israel and Iran, India and Pakistan, Egypt and Sudan, Rwanda and the Democratic Congo, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Cambodia and Thailand.
Although Trump helped mediate relations among many of these nations, experts say his impact isn’t as clear cut as he claims.
Still, Trump’s Nobel ambitions could have impact on the tenor of his address, said Mark Montgomery, an analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington.
“His speech is going to be driven by how much he really believes he has a chance of getting a Nobel Peace Prize,” Montgomery said. “If he thinks that’s still something he can do, then I think he knows you don’t go into the U.N. and drop a grenade down the tank hatch and shut it, right?”
___
AP journalists Tracy Brown and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.
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Mexico’s Jewish president calls on Israel to end ‘genocide in Gaza’
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MEXICO CITY — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Monday called Israel’s siege on the Gaza Strip a “genocide,” marking a decisive shift in her government’s stance on the conflict — and putting it at odds with the United States.
Sheinbaum, who is one of a handful Jewish heads of state, has come under increasing pressure from members of her leftist coalition to more forcefully condemn Israel’s assault on the small Palestinian enclave, where at least 65,000 people have died and more than half a million are trapped in famine.
Speaking to journalists at her daily news conference, Sheinbaum said Mexico stands “with the international community to stop this genocide in Gaza.”
Claudia Sheinbaum, 63, is the first Jewish leader of Mexico, a nation that is overwhelmingly Catholic.
Her comments came amid a meeting in New York of the United Nations General Assembly, where several countries, including France, Britain, Canada and Australia, have formally recognized Palestine as a state. Mexico has formally supported Palestinian statehood for years.
Sheinbaum, 63, is the first Jewish leader of Mexico, a nation that is overwhelmingly Catholic. She grew up in a secular household and rarely talks about her Jewish identity.
Sheinbaum, who entered politics from the world of leftist activism, has long supported the Palestinian cause. In 2009, she wrote a letter to Mexican newspaper La Jornada fiercely condemning Israel’s actions in an earlier war with Gaza, where 13 Israelis and more than 1,000 Palestinian civilians and militants had been killed.
Sheinbaum evoked the Holocaust, saying “many of my relatives … were exterminated in concentration camps.”
“I can only watch with horror the images of the Israeli bombing of Gaza,” she wrote. “Nothing justifies the murder of Palestinian civilians. Nothing, nothing, nothing, can justify the murder of a child.”
The latest conflict broke out in 2023 after Hamas fighters broke through a border fence encircling Gaza and killed more than 1,000 Israelis, most of them civilians.
Israel responded with a punishing assault on Gaza from air, land and sea, displacing nearly all of the strip’s 2 million people and damaging or destroying 90% of homes.
Since taking office last year, Sheinbaum has repeatedly called for a cease-fire and reiterated Mexico’s support for a two-state solution in the region, but until Monday she had refrained from categorizing what is unfolding in Gaza as a genocide.
That was possibly to avert conflict with the United States, which has given more foreign assistance to Israel than any other country globally in the decades since World War II, and which has supported the war on Gaza with billions of dollars in weapons and other military aid.
Sheinbaum, whose nation’s economy depends heavily on trade with the U.S., has spent much of her first year in office seeking to appease President Trump on the issues of security and migration in order to avoid the worst of his threatened tariffs on Mexican imports.
Her comments on Gaza come amid growing global consensus that Israel is committing genocide.
The world’s leading association of genocide scholars has declared that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
The International Assn. of Genocide Scholars recently passed a resolution that says Israel’s conduct meets the legal definition as spelled out in the United Nations convention on genocide.
And this month, a U.N. commission of inquiry also found Israel has committed genocide.
An Israeli flag waves over debris in an area of the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel last month. Israel’s assault on the Palestinian enclave has killed at least 65,000 people.
(Maya Levin / Associated Press)
“Explicit statements by Israeli civilian and military authorities and the pattern of conduct of the Israeli security forces indicate that the genocidal acts were committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as a group,” the commission wrote.
It added that under the Genocide Convention, other nations have an obligation to “prevent and punish the crime of genocide.”
Israeli officials dismissed the report as “baseless.”
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Kate Linthicum
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Israeli strikes on Gaza City kill at least 14, Palestinian officials say
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Israeli strikes killed at least 14 people overnight in Gaza City, said Palestinian health officials, as Israel ramps up its offensive there and urges Palestinians to leave.
Dr. Rami Mhanna, the managing director of Shifa Hospital, where some of the bodies were brought, said the dead included six people from the same family after a strike hit their home early Saturday morning. They were relatives of the hospital’s director, Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya, he said.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said five other people were killed in another strike close to Shawa Square.
Israel’s military didn’t immediately respond to questions about the strikes.
In recent days, Israel has been urging hundreds of thousands of Palestinians sheltering in Gaza City to move south to what it calls a humanitarian zone.
Leo Correa / AP
Palestinians have streamed out of the city — some by car, others on foot. Israel opened another corridor south of Gaza City for two days this week to allow more people to evacuate. But many Palestinians in the famine-stricken city are unwilling to be uprooted again, too weak to leave or unable to afford the cost of moving.
Aid groups have warned that forcing thousands of people to evacuate will exacerbate the dire humanitarian crisis. They are urging for a ceasefire so aid can reach those who need it.
The latest Israeli operation, which started this week, likely pushes any ceasefire farther out of reach. The Israeli military, which says it wants to “destroy Hamas’ military infrastructure,” hasn’t given a timeline for the offensive, but there were indications it could take months.
The death count in Gaza has climbed over 65,100, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government, since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led terrorists stormed into southern Israel and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Over 250 people were also abducted as hostages. Forty-eight hostages remain in Gaza, with fewer than half believed to be alive.
Abdel Kareem Hana / AP
The Gaza Health Ministry does not say how many of the dead were civilians or militants. Its figures are seen as a reliable estimate by the U.N. and many independent experts. Israeli bombardment in the territory has also destroyed vast areas of the strip, displaced around 90% of the population and caused a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, with experts saying Gaza City is experiencing famine.
On Friday, UNICEF said lifesaving therapeutic food meant for thousands of children in Gaza was stolen from four of its trucks. The statement said armed individuals approached the trucks outside their compound in Gaza City, the drivers were held at gunpoint while the food was taken.
“They were intended to treat malnourished children in Gaza City where famine is declared … it was a life-saving shipment amid the severe restrictions on aid delivery to Gaza City,” said Ammar Ammar, a spokesperson for UNICEF.
In a statement Friday, Israel’s army blamed Hamas for stealing the food.
Abdel Kareem Hana / AP
Israel accuses Hamas of siphoning off aid and using it to fund its military activities, without providing evidence. The U.N. says there are mechanisms in place that prevent any significant diversion of aid.
The incidents come as Western countries plan to recognize Palestinian statehood at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City next week. The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Malta, Belgium, Portugal and Luxembourg are all expected to recognize Palestinian statehood in the coming days.
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