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The desecration of the Muslim holy book has reportedly once again taken place in Sweden

A woman professing to be a Christian activist has staged a Quran-burning in the Swedish capital, the Turkish news outlet A Haber reported on X (former Twitter) on Sunday.

According to the report, the incident took place on April 26 in Stockholm. In a video posted online by the outlet, a person identified as 48-year-old Jade Sandberg is seen torching the Muslim holy book while waving a Christian cross over it and screaming “Islam out of Sweden!” The protest is believed to have been sanctioned by the local authorities, as police officers on site do not appear to have attempted to stop it.

Sandberg also posted footage and photos from the demonstration on her own X account, where she claims to be a “priest, exorcist and demonologist,” as well as an “activist and crusader against the devil’s religion of Islam.” This week’s Quran-torching is at least her second this year.

There have been a slew of such protests across Sweden since 2023, when Danish right-wing politician Rasmus Paludan, who also holds Swedish citizenship, burned the Islamic text in front of the Turkish embassy in January 2023.

İSVEÇ’TE BİR ALÇAK EYLEM DAHA

İsveç’in başkenti Stockholm’de Jade Sandberg isimli İslam karşıtı bir kadın, polis korumasında Kur’an-ı Kerim yaktı. pic.twitter.com/XoIAKwYhT5

— A Haber (@ahaber) April 28, 2024

Swedish authorities have condemned such acts, but still largely allowed them to go ahead, citing the country’s laws guaranteeing the right to freedom of expression. Under the country’s Public Order Act, a person must apply for a permit from the police to stage a protest, but can only be refused on safety grounds.

Many Muslim-majority countries have condemned the burnings as Islamophobic, and Türkiye even told Sweden that it would block its NATO accession plans as long as it allowed the desecration of the Quran. Ankara later ratified the bid however, and the Nordic state was formally admitted to the US-led military bloc last month.

READ MORE: EU country bans Quran-burning

Stockholm said last year it planned to amend the Public Order Act in order to prevent Quran-burning incidents in the future. Swedish regulators are expected to finalize their review of the draft law by early summer.

Earlier this month, Swedish television channel SVT reported that police had received another request to hold a Quran-burning demonstration on May 3, the day before the start of the Eurovision song contest, which this year takes place in the southern Swedish city of Malmö.

The seizure of Moscow’s frozen assets by the US and EU would set “a dangerous precedent,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has warned 

Confiscating Russia’s frozen assets would undermine the trust of international investors in the Western financial system, which would be very difficult to restore, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov has said.  

The US and its allies have blocked around $300 billion in Russian central bank assets as part of the sanctions imposed on Moscow over the Ukraine conflict. Most of the funds are being held in the EU. Washington has been insisting for months that international law allows for the appropriation of the funds, but Germany and France have expressed concerns that such a move could have negative consequences for the Western financial system. 

Earlier this week, US President Joe Biden signed a bill permitting the seizure of some $6 billion in Russian state assets that are sitting in American banks.  

Peskov told the TV channel Russia 1 on Sunday that it is too early to speak about all $300 billion being confiscated by the US and EU. However, he offered the reminder that “Russia has Western money from various structures. Our country can take retaliatory steps.”  

Read more Russia assesses impact of possible US seizure of assets

But if Washington and European capitals do decide to seize Russian assets, “a dangerous precedent will be created; it will be a solid nail in the future coffin of the entire Western economic system of axes.”  

If this happens, foreign countries and investors who currently keep or are willing to keep their money in Western banks will start “thinking ten times” before entrusting their funds to those institutions, the spokesman warned.  

According to Peskov, the reliability of the Western financial systems will be destroyed. “Reliability can be lost overnight through one stupid, ill-considered decision, while restoring it takes decades or even longer,” he explained.  

The Russian authorities would also have ample grounds to challenge the seizure of its funds in international courts, the spokesman stressed. Moscow “will endlessly defend its interests” through legal means, he said.  

The head of the Bank of Russia, Elvira Nabiullina, said on Friday that the possible seizure of the assets by the US and the EU “will not have any impact on financial stability [in the country], as we have halted operations with them long ago, we do not use them.”  

READ MORE: US seizure of Russian assets would accelerate de-dollarization – ex-IMF official 

Moscow previously said that the confiscation of its funds would amount to theft and warned that it could downgrade diplomatic relations with Washington if it resorts to such an illegal move.

The UK will build its own Mach 5 missile, but the project will reportedly take six years

Britain aims to develop and field its first hypersonic cruise missile by 2030, The Telegraph reported on Saturday. However, the project is reportedly in its early stages, and even if London sticks to its schedule, the weapon will be deployed more than a decade after Russia’s first hypersonic missile entered service.

The British Defense Ministry aims to design and build a missile capable of reaching speeds of Mach 5 entirely domestically, and to have it enter service before the end of the decade, the newspaper reported, citing anonymous sources.

The project will be one of several funded by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s planned £75 billion ($95 billion) hike in military spending, which was announced earlier this week and will be implemented over the next six years, the sources said.

“Cutting-edge projects like this are only possible because of the massive new investment the government has made this week in defense innovation,” a ministry official told the newspaper, adding that “continuing this project would be impossible” if the Labour Party took power and “refused to match our investment.”

Read more Hypersonic weapons promised six years ago now in service – Putin

It is unclear whether the government revealed the project to The Telegraph to score political points against the Labour Party, or whether any concrete plans to develop the missile have been set in motion. According to the newspaper, the ministry has yet to decide whether it wants the missile to be launched from land, air, or sea, and sources involved in the project said that the weapon could be built from materials that do not yet exist.

The government has been soliciting bids from defense contractors since last December, according to a publicly viewable tender.

Both the UK and US are currently lagging behind Russia and China in the development of hypersonic weapons. Russia’s first hypersonic missile – the air-launched Kh-47 Kinzhal – entered service in 2017, while China’s DF-ZF was deployed two years later. Russia’s Avangard strategic range glide vehicles – which can fly at 25 times the speed of sound – have been fielded since 2019, and its Zircon anti-ship cruise missiles have been deployed since last year. Kinzhal and Zircon missiles have both been used in Ukraine, making Russia the only world power to use hypersonic missiles in combat.

Less than a month into the Ukraine conflict, US President Joe Biden admitted that Russia’s Kinzhal missiles are “almost impossible to stop.”

READ MORE: US cancels hypersonic missile test – Pentagon

The US carried out its first successful hypersonic missile test in 2017, but after a series of aborted tests and scrapped projects in the years since, has yet to actually field such a weapon. After several years of delays, the US Army plans to deploy a long-range hypersonic missile known as ‘Dark Eagle’ next year.

West Jerusalem will suspend the controversial operation if the militant group frees some hostages, the finance minister has said

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz has warned that an invasion of the city of Rafah will go ahead unless Hamas agrees to release some of the Israeli hostages still held in Gaza. Hamas is expected to comment on an Israeli truce proposal imminently.

Israeli officials have been threatening to launch a ground operation in Rafah for several months now, despite strong opposition from the US and UN. Located in southern Gaza near the Egyptian border, Rafah is currently home to around 1.4 million displaced Palestinians from the northern reaches of the enclave, and an invasion of the city would have “terrible consequences” for the civilians living there, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned earlier this month.

“If there is a deal, we will suspend the operation,” Katz told Israel’s Channel 12 on Saturday. “The release of the hostages is a deep priority for us,” he continued, adding: “If there is an option to make a deal, we will do it.”

Hamas captured around 250 hostages during its October 7 assault on Israel, of whom 130 are believed to still be held in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under intense pressure from the hostages’ families to cut a deal with the militants to release their loved ones, with weekly protests taking place in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

Read more Hamas releases new hostage video

In a proof-of-life video released by Hamas on Saturday, Israeli-American hostage Kieth Siegel urges Netanyahu to “be more flexible in negotiations to reach an exchange deal soon.”

Hamas presented Israel with ceasefire terms earlier this month, and received Israel’s counter-proposal on Friday, the group said in a statement on Saturday. Hamas said that it is studying the proposal, and Israeli officials anticipate a response by the end of the weekend, Channel 12 reported.

Israel and Hamas agreed to a week-long truce in November, during which 80 Israeli hostages were exchanged for 240 Palestinians held in Israeli jails. Despite the efforts of Egyptian and Qatari mediators, subsequent efforts to broker a ceasefire have failed, with Netanyahu refusing to consider Hamas’ demands that any ceasefire deal be permanent and include an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. 

Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel led a delegation to Israel on Friday to discuss an alternate deal that would see Hamas release some hostages in exchange for Israel freeing a significant number of Palestinian prisoners and allowing displaced Palestinians to return to their homes in northern Gaza “with minimal restrictions,” an anonymous Egyptian official told the Associated Press.

READ MORE: Netanyahu reacts to possible ICC arrest warrant

This deal has already been rejected by hardliners within Netanyahu’s cabinet. “Agreeing to the Egyptian deal is a humiliating surrender, and it grants victory to the Nazis on the backs of the hundreds of heroic [Israel Defense Forces] soldiers who fell in battle,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Sunday. “It imposes a death sentence on the hostages who are not included in the deal, and above all, it poses an immediate existential danger to the state of Israel.”

During the historic visit to the city on the lagoon, the pontiff met with 80 inmates at the Giudecca Women's Prison, 'a harsh reality, but a place of moral and material rebirth.' At the Holy See's pavillion for the 2024 Biennale 'With My Eyes', Francis addressed the artists, stressing the 'contribution of women'. He also said: 'There is joy and suffering that come together in a unique form in women.'

The Portuguese government has rejected the president’s call for reparations to be paid

Portugal will not pay reparations for atrocities committed during the transatlantic slave trade and the colonial era, the government said on Saturday.

The statement was in response to remarks made earlier in the week by Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who said his nation should “assume full responsibility” for the colonial-era and find a way to pay compensation.

Local media reported the statement as indicating there were no plans for a “process or program of specific actions” to provide restitution.

Portugal’s colonial era lasted more than five centuries. The decolonization of some African countries only occurred in 1974 after the ‘Carnation Revolution’ led to the fall of the authoritarian Estado Novo regime.

The territory of the Portuguese Empire in Africa included present-day Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau and the island nations of Cape Verde, and Sao Tome and Principe.

The country is widely thought to have been the first European state to play a major role in the African slave trade. Between the 15th and the 19th centuries, almost six million Africans were forcibly transported across the Atlantic by Portuguese vessels and sold into servitude. Most went to Brazil, which was a Portuguese colony until 1822.

READ MORE: EU state seeks to provide compensation for slavery

In September, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who is also a former Portuguese prime minister, urged former colonial states to consider financial reparations among measures to compensate for the enslavement of Africans. In a report, he said that up to 30 million people were violently uprooted from Africa over a span of more than 400 years.

“Under international human rights law, compensation for any economically assessable damage, as appropriate and proportional to the gravity of the violation and the circumstances of each case, may also constitute a form of reparations,” Guterres said.

In the Indian state of West Bengal, two PIME Fathers and two Sisters of the Immaculate accompany a Christian tribal community that is very poor but proud of its roots.

Israel will never accept attempts to undermine its right to self-defense, the prime minister has said

Arrest warrants or any other steps taken by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israeli officials will not affect the country’s military operation in Gaza, but will set “a dangerous precedent,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned.

Earlier this week, British journalist Douglas Murray published an article in the New York Post claiming that the ICC, which is investigating Hamas’ incursion into Israel on October 7 and the Jewish state’s response to it, is planning to bring individual war-crimes cases against Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and one of the country’s top military commanders, most likely the chief of the general staff.

On Friday, Netanyahu shared Murray’s article on X (formerly Twitter), insisting that as long as he is in power, “Israel will never accept any attempt by the ICC to undermine its inherent right of self-defense.”

“The threat to seize the soldiers and officials of the Middle East’s only democracy and the world’s only Jewish state is outrageous. We will not bow to it,” he said.

Read more Israel struck zones in Gaza it had declared ‘safe’ – NBC

Israel’s military operation in Gaza is a “just war against genocidal terrorists,” which will continue until victory is achieved, the prime minister insisted.

“While the ICC will not affect Israel’s actions, it would set a dangerous precedent that threatens the soldiers and officials of all democracies fighting savage terrorism and wanton aggression,” he warned.

According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, the death toll from Israel’s airstrikes and ground offensive in the Palestinian enclave has already reached 34,388 people, with 77,437 others wounded. The campaign was launched in response to an incursion into Israel by Palestinian armed group Hamas on October 7, in which at least 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage.

The ICC launched an investigation into alleged war crimes by the Israeli military and Palestinian armed groups in the occupied West Bank and Gaza back in 2021. The probe covers the events since 2014. The Hague-based court insists that violations committed during the Israeli-Palestinian escalation which followed the October 7 attack are also within the jurisdiction of its investigation.

Israel’s Channel 12 reported last week that Netanyahu’s government had known about the possible ICC warrants even before Murray’s article and held an “emergency discussion” on the issue at the prime minister’s office involving several ministers and legal experts.

READ MORE: Israel rejects US call to probe Gaza mass graves – Politico

Israel is not a member of the ICC and does not recognize its jurisdiction, but the Palestinians joined the organization in 2015. If warrants against Netanyahu and other Israeli officials are issued, the 124 ICC member-states would be obliged to arrest them if they set foot in their countries.

The French president has previously called to show that the EU is not a “vassal” of the US

France must open a debate on building up a pan-European defense capability, to include rethinking its own nuclear potential, French President Emmanuel Macron has said.

Speaking to a group of young people at the European School in Strasbourg on Friday, Macron stressed that while France is already protected by NATO, it “must now go further” to ensure its security and “build a credible European defense.”

He noted that guaranteeing that security “may mean deploying anti-missile shields” to be able to deter the use of nuclear weapons. “Being credible also means having long-range missiles that would deter the Russians,” he added.

Numerous Western leaders have insisted on boosting defense capabilities amid the Ukraine conflict, citing fears that Russia could attack NATO within a few years.

Read more ‘Our Europe’ could die – Macron

Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, has dismissed such speculation as “nonsense,” pointing to the fact that the US, NATO’s largest contributor, spends ten times more on defense than Moscow. He has also stated that current geopolitical tensions are largely due to NATO’s decision to ignore Russian security interests.

Explaining his stance on nuclear weapons, Macron went on to say that while France would use its arsenal only if its vital interests were threatened, those interests also have a wider dimension. This means that French nuclear doctrine should contribute to the credibility of the EU’s defense, he said.

“I am in favor of opening this debate, which must therefore include anti-missile defense, long-range weapon firing, nuclear weapons for those who have them or who have American nuclear weapons on their soil,” the president stated.

For several years, Macron has also advocated creating a “true, European army” to be able to independently strengthen continental security. This month, he also warned that “our Europe today is mortal and it can die” while calling for a “strategic autonomy” for the EU, particularly in terms of military production. The bloc “must show that it is never a vassal of the United States,” he said.

The idea of creating a joint EU army, however, has met strong pushback both in Brussels and in EU capitals. EU top diplomat Josep Borrell suggested last month that while the bloc should aspire to boost the military capabilities of its individual members, that does not mean it should create a common army.

Several EU states, including Denmark and Poland, have similarly signaled that they want their security guaranteed within the existing NATO framework.

The French president has previously called to show that the EU is not a “vassal” of the US

France must open a debate on building up a pan-European defense capability, to include rethinking its own nuclear potential, French President Emmanuel Macron has said.

Speaking to a group of young people at the European School in Strasbourg on Friday, Macron stressed that while France is already protected by NATO, it “must now go further” to ensure its security and “build a credible European defense.”

He noted that guaranteeing that security “may mean deploying anti-missile shields” to be able to deter the use of nuclear weapons. “Being credible also means having long-range missiles that would deter the Russians,” he added.

Numerous Western leaders have insisted on boosting defense capabilities amid the Ukraine conflict, citing fears that Russia could attack NATO within a few years.

Read more ‘Our Europe’ could die – Macron

Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, has dismissed such speculation as “nonsense,” pointing to the fact that the US, NATO’s largest contributor, spends ten times more on defense than Moscow. He has also stated that current geopolitical tensions are largely due to NATO’s decision to ignore Russian security interests.

Explaining his stance on nuclear weapons, Macron went on to say that while France would use its arsenal only if its vital interests were threatened, those interests also have a wider dimension. This means that French nuclear doctrine should contribute to the credibility of the EU’s defense, he said.

“I am in favor of opening this debate, which must therefore include anti-missile defense, long-range weapon firing, nuclear weapons for those who have them or who have American nuclear weapons on their soil,” the president stated.

For several years, Macron has also advocated creating a “true, European army” to be able to independently strengthen continental security. This month, he also warned that “our Europe today is mortal and it can die” while calling for a “strategic autonomy” for the EU, particularly in terms of military production. The bloc “must show that it is never a vassal of the United States,” he said.

The idea of creating a joint EU army, however, has met strong pushback both in Brussels and in EU capitals. EU top diplomat Josep Borrell suggested last month that while the bloc should aspire to boost the military capabilities of its individual members, that does not mean it should create a common army.

Several EU states, including Denmark and Poland, have similarly signaled that they want their security guaranteed within the existing NATO framework.

British forces would reportedly be tasked with driving aid trucks to the Palestinian enclave

The UK Defense Ministry is considering deploying forces to Gaza to assist the US in delivering humanitarian aid via a new sea route, state broadcaster BBC reported on Saturday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Earlier this week, US President Joe Biden announced that the US military had begun construction of a temporary pier off the coast of Gaza to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian enclave from Cyprus. The aid would be delivered on large ships before being transferred into trucks and other vehicles to be driven along a floating causeway onto the beach. The system is expected to be completed in early May and would enable up to 150 truckloads of international aid to enter the embattled region. 

At the time of the announcement, Biden stated that “no US boots will be on the ground of Gaza as part of the operation,” with a senior US military official saying the trucks would be driven by a “significant partner.” He also confirmed that the operation would be carried out by another nation, rather than a private military company. 

Read more Netanyahu should resign – ex-US House speaker

British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said on Friday that the UK will continue to take “a leading role in the delivery of support in coordination with the US and other international allies.”

According to the BBC, British troops would be tasked with driving trucks off landing craft onto the temporary causeway and delivering aid to a secure distribution area ashore. The BBC’s sources at Whitehall said the plan is in the preliminary stages, with no final decision being made at the moment. 

Since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war last October, 1.4 million people have been displaced in Gaza and live in dire conditions, with little or no access to basic supplies, according to UNICEF. The organization states that the delivery of aid is a matter of life and death for children living in the enclave. 

Earlier this month, Israel attacked a convoy of the World Central Kitchen humanitarian organization, which caused an uproar in the international community. While the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) described the strikes, which killed seven aid workers, as a tragic mistake, more than 30 US Congress members signed a letter urging Biden to halt weapons transfers to Israel. 

 

The militant group claims it retaliated to IDF strikes on southern Lebanon

Hezbollah militants reportedly targeted several Israeli military installations, including a critical air surveillance base, with a barrage of rockets and drones on Saturday, after a series of Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon earlier in the day.

Dozens of missiles struck Mount Meron, the highest peak in Israel outside the Golan Heights, late Saturday night, according to videos circulating online. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed that all of the rockets were “either intercepted or fell in open areas” with no damage or casualties reported, according to the Times of Israel and Jerusalem Post.

The Lebanese militant group claimed responsibility for the strike, saying in a statement early Sunday that “in response to the Israeli enemy’s attacks on the steadfast southern villages and civilian homes,” it targeted the “Meron settlement and the surrounding settlements with dozens of Katyusha rockets.”

⚡️⭕️#LEBANON, Hezbollah :

The Israeli Meron air base and its surroundings are being subjected to the strongest targeting operation so far.

Iron dome seems to be absent, rockets are landing and there are reports of precise targeting on the base (probably ATGMS). pic.twitter.com/EvnavJ6BZP

— Middle East Observer (@ME_Observer_) April 27, 2024

The group said it also “launched a complex attack using explosive drones and guided missiles on the headquarters of the Al Manara military command and a gathering of forces from the 51st Battalion of the Golani Brigade,” earlier on Saturday. The IDF said it intercepted the incoming projectiles and “struck the sources of fire” in the Lebanese border area.

⚡️⭕️ #LEBANON, Hezbollah:

Scenes from the operation targeting the command headquarters and the positioning of forces of the 51st Battalion of the Golani Brigade in the #Israeli enemy army in the Al-Manara settlement in northern occupied Palestine. pic.twitter.com/dpEOM66WEf

— Middle East Observer (@ME_Observer_) April 28, 2024

On Saturday, the Israeli Air Force conducted a series of strikes in the villages of Al-Quzah, Markaba, and Sarbin in southern Lebanon with airstrikes, reportedly targeting Hezbollah’s “terrorist and military infrastructure.” On Friday, the IDF also struck several structures in Kfarkela and Kfarchouba.

Read more Here’s why Iran decided not to attack Israel again

The Israeli strikes reportedly killed at least three people, including two Hezbollah fighters who the group mourned in separate statements on Saturday. Lebanese media reported that a further 11 people, including Syrian citizens, were injured in the attacks.

Hezbollah has repeatedly bombarded its southern neighbor since the military conflict between Israel and Hamas broke out last October.

The critical Israeli air surveillance base on Mount Meron also came under attacks on several occasions. The group has described the base as “the sole center for administration, monitoring, and air control in the north of the usurping entity [Israel],” without which Israel has “no viable alternative.”

Over 1,000 demonstrators took part in an event organized by a member of an “established extremist group,” police say

A large rally against Islamophobia was held in the northern German city of Hamburg on Saturday. According to the authorities, the event was organized by a person linked to an “established extremist group.” 

Around 1,100 demonstrators took part, according to police data published by the city authorities. Photos and videos shared on social media show a large crowd occupying a significant area along Steindamm Street in the city center. 

Participants were seen holding placards and posters reading: “Germany = dictatorship of values,” “Caliphate is the solution,” and “Palestine has won the information war.” The demonstrators chanted “Allahu Akbar” throughout the event.  

BREAKING:

Hundreds of Islamists are demonstrating in Hamburg, Germany.

They are demanding that a caliphate is established in the country.

The organization behind the protest is called Muslim Interaktiv, and is monitored by the authorities but not banned pic.twitter.com/RISFYJEKAY

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) April 27, 2024

According to the organizers, as cited by German media, the rally was organized to protest what they called Islamophobic policies and a media disinformation campaign against Muslims in Germany. Speakers accused politicians and journalists of “cheap lies” and “cowardly reporting” amid the conflict between Israel and Gaza-based militant group Hamas. 

People on social media also claimed that the speakers called for an Islamic caliphate to be established in Germany. Videos show one of the speakers calling a caliphate a “system that… provides security” but is “hated” and “demonized” in Germany. The crowd responds with chants of “Allahu Akbar.” 

The organizer of the rally was identified by the Hamburger Morgenpost as Joe Adade Boateng, 25, a German citizen and self-styled imam who spreads what the paper described as “Islamist propaganda” on social media, including TikTok. 

According to media reports, the man is also a member of Muslim Interaktiv – an organization officially designated by the domestic security service (BfV) as an “established extremist group.” 

Islamisten-Demo mitten in Hamburg. „Muslim Interaktiv“, vom Verfassungsschutz beobachtet, hat zur Demo aufgerufen - auf der offen ein Kalifat gefordert wird. Solche Fanatiker haben in Deutschland nichts verloren! #Islamismus pic.twitter.com/R9jdqIPl4u

— Paul Bressel (@bressel_paul) April 27, 2024

This status does not lead to an automatic ban in Germany, but allows security officials to target members with all available intelligence tools, including covert surveillance, confidential informants, and phone tapping. 

Read more ‘Too few’ German Muslims have condemned Hamas – vice chancellor

German police say they deployed large forces to the event, which ended “peacefully” without any incidents. No major police presence is seen in the videos shared on social media, however. 

The group also held an unannounced rally in October last year which ended in clashes with police. Demonstrators pelted officers with bottles and stones at the time, injuring three of them. Criminal proceedings were initiated against 20 rioters. 

In February 2023, Muslim Interaktiv also held a protest against Koran burning in Sweden, which was attended by 3,500 people, according to the media.

The development sparked concerns among some politicians. Kazim Abaci, a migration policy spokesman for the Social Democratic faction in the Hamburg parliament, called it “unbearable” that Islamists were allowed to freely march through the streets. According to the Hamburger Morgenpost, Herbert Reul, the interior minister of the neighboring German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, has called for a ban on Muslim Interaktiv “for a long time.”

Those who oppose a UN-led probe of the incident could “have a hidden agenda,” Chinese diplomat Geng Shuang has said

China’s deputy envoy to the UN has called for an international probe into the bombing of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, adding that Russia would be involved in such an investigation.

“With the situation standing where it is, one cannot help but suspect a hidden agenda behind the opposition to an international investigation, while lamenting the potential cover-up and loss of quantities of compelling evidence,” China’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Geng Shuang, said on Friday, according to the Xinhua news agency.

“We reiterate our call for the early launch of a UN-led international investigation to bring the truth to light for the international community,” Geng continued, adding that Western nations should “actively communicate and cooperate with Russia and jointly investigate the incident.”

Nord Stream 1 and 2 each comprised two separate pipelines, linking Russia and Germany. Three out of the four lines were destroyed in a series of explosions near the Danish island of Bornholm in September 2022, severing Germany’s energy ties to Russia and leaving its gas-dependent economy reliant on more expensive American liquefied natural gas.

Read more Insurers claim ‘government’ could have sabotaged Nord Stream – Kommersant

Germany, Sweden, and Denmark all opened investigations into the attack, but Sweden and Denmark closed their inquiries in February. Swedish investigators published no conclusions, while the Danish team concluded that “there was deliberate sabotage,” but declined to blame the attack on anyone. 

China and Russia have demanded an international investigation into the bombings since last year. However, the UN Security Council rejected a Russian request for such a probe last March, with Washington’s deputy envoy to the UN, Robert Wood, accusing Russia of trying to “discredit the work of ongoing national investigations.”

On Saturday, a spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry appeared to reject Geng’s proposal, telling Russia’s TASS news agency that an “investigation is already being conducted by the German Public Prosecutor General’s Office.”

Absent any official conclusions, two competing theories about the bombings have emerged. According to reports in the Western mainstream media, a team of Ukrainian commandos used a rented yacht to transport explosives to the blast sites, with the CIA and European intelligence agencies being made aware of the plot several months beforehand but ultimately failing to stop it.

Read more Russia demands West help find Moscow terror attack masterminds

American journalist Seymour Hersh has said that US President Joe Biden ordered the CIA to blow up the pipelines. Citing sources in the intelligence community, Hersh has claimed that CIA divers working with the Norwegian Navy planted remotely-triggered bombs on the lines in the summer of 2022, using a NATO exercise in the region as cover.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that he “fully agrees” with Hersh’s conclusions. Russian Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov, who is leading Moscow’s investigation into the blasts, said last month that “everyone knows perfectly well who did it,” and that “the tracks undoubtedly lead beyond the Atlantic,” – an apparent reference to the US. 

The footage was released as the militants consider an Israeli ceasefire proposal

Hamas has released a proof-of-life video of two Israeli hostages, including a US dual citizen. In the footage, the captives urge Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to strike a ceasefire deal with the Palestinian militants.

Published on Saturday, the undated video depicts Omri Miran, an Israeli, and Kieth Siegel, an Israeli-American dual citizen, speaking to a camera against a nondescript background. Miran says that he has been held for 202 days, indicating that the video was filmed on Friday. 

Miran describes “living in extremely tough conditions due to the intense bombardment,” while Siegel encourages Netanyahu to “be more flexible in negotiations to reach an exchange deal soon.”

“It’s about time to reach a deal that would bring us back home safe and alive,” Miran adds.

The video concludes with a message to the Israeli public from Hamas: “Your Nazi leaders don’t care about the fate of your imprisoned sons and their feelings. Realize this before it’s too late.”

BREAKING: HAMAS HOSTAGE VIDEO IN ENGLISH pic.twitter.com/VSq2x777qk

— Sulaiman Ahmed (@ShaykhSulaiman) April 27, 2024

While Miran and Siegel likely read their statements under duress, their sentiment is shared by organizations representing the roughly 130 hostages thought to remain in Hamas captivity in Gaza. These groups have organized weekly protests in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem demanding that Netanyahu reach a deal with Hamas to release their loved ones. 

At a rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday, Miran’s father called on Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar to “show some humanity” to his son, and implored Netanyahu to approve “any feasible deal” to bring him home.

Read more Hamas names terms for laying down arms

Saturday’s video was released three days after a similar clip showing injured Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin. “While you sit and have holiday meals with your families, think of us, the hostages, who are still here in hell,” Goldberg-Polin tells Netanyahu in the video, referring to this weekend’s Jewish holiday of Passover.

Netanyahu has vowed to continue waging war in Gaza until Israel achieves “total victory” over Hamas, and has thus far refused to consider the group’s demand that any ceasefire deal be permanent and include an Israeli withdrawal from the enclave. 

In a statement on Saturday, Hamas said that it was studying an Israeli ceasefire proposal delivered via Egyptian and Qatari mediators earlier this month. West Jerusalem anticipates an answer from Hamas within the next 48 hours, Israel’s Channel 12 news outlet reported later in the afternoon.

Israel and Hamas agreed to a week-long truce in November, during which 80 Israeli hostages were exchanged for 240 Palestinians held in Israeli jails. 

READ MORE: Israel rejects US call to probe Gaza mass graves – Politico

As Israel’s military campaign in Gaza approaches the eight-month mark, the UN warned on Friday that “famine thresholds in Gaza will be breached within the next six weeks” unless Israel allows “massive and consistent” deliveries of food to the besieged enclave. According to the latest data from Gaza’s health ministry, at least 34,388 people have been killed since the Israeli campaign began, most of them women and children.

It is “not anti-Semitic” to criticize the Israeli government’s policies, the US senator has insisted

US Senator Bernie Sanders has hit back at remarks made by the prime minister of Israel that pro-Palestinian protests at US universities are being overrun by anti-Semitism on a scale comparable to the rise of Nazism in Germany.

US police arrested more than 80 protesters on Wednesday in a crackdown on the pro-Palestine demonstrations taking place at dozens of universities across the country.

Students have been demanding that Washington cease all funding for the Israeli military and “stop giving them any more money to continue this genocide,” referring to the ongoing Israeli offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza.

In a video posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday, Sanders, the progressive senator from Vermont – who is Jewish – accused Netanyahu of insulting “the intelligence of the American people” by using anti-Semitism to distract attention from the policies of his “extremist and racist government” in the military offensive in Gaza.

Mr. Netanyahu, antisemitism is a vile and disgusting form of bigotry that has done unspeakable harm to millions.

Do not insult the intelligence of the American people by attempting to distract us from the immoral and illegal war policies of your extremist and racist government. pic.twitter.com/CnM6oOrHKd

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) April 25, 2024

“No, Mr Netanyahu, it is not antisemitic or pro-Hamas to point out that, in a little over six months, your extremist government has killed over 34,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 78,000,” Sanders said, stressing that 70% of these were women and children.

The senator further stated that it is “not antisemitic” to point out that Israeli bombing has completely destroyed more than 221,000 housing units in Gaza, leaving more than a million people homeless and obliterating Gaza’s civilian infrastructure.

Sanders added that Netanyahu’s government has unreasonably blocked humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza, causing “thousands of children [to] face malnutrition and famine.”

“Mr Netanyahu, antisemitism is a vile and disgusting form of bigotry that has done unspeakable harm to many millions of people,” Sanders said in the conclusion of his two-and-a-half-minute speech. “But please, do not insult the intelligence of the American people by attempting to distract us from the immoral and illegal policies of your extremist and racist government… It is not antisemitic to hold you accountable for your actions.”

Read more US campus protesters akin to 1930s Nazis – Netanyahu

Sanders’ comments came one day after a video statement released by Netanyahu in which he waded into the issue of protests sweeping American university campuses, claiming not enough was being done to combat the “horrific” rise in anti-Semitism.

“Anti-Semitic mobs have taken over leading universities,” Netanyahu claimed. “They call for the annihilation of Israel. They attack Jewish students. They attack Jewish faculty. This is reminiscent of what happened in German universities in the 1930s,” the prime minister stated, urging that “it has to be stopped.” 

A surge of demonstrations came in the wake of Israel’s relentless retaliatory bombardment of Gaza, following the October 7 attack by Hamas. The Israeli offensive has caused unprecedented destruction in the enclave and has left more than 34,000 dead, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Released detainees tell of suffering in indefinite detention, but their plight is unlikely to gain much traction in the West

For over six months, the world has watched the devastating Israeli campaign against Palestinians in Gaza, which has killed over 34,000 people so far (including over 16,000 children).

Fewer are aware, however, of the nearly 10,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, many of whom have been repeatedly arrested and held for prolonged, indefinite periods. These include children, university students, medics, doctors, and journalists, among others.

While these numbers have increased dramatically in just over half a year, media coverage is scant, with the exception of some reporting on Layan Naser, one of the Christian university students re-imprisoned earlier this month. She was taken by Israeli troops from her family’s home in the early morning, with her parents held at gunpoint. But this is not an isolated phenomenon, she’s just one of many Palestinian students similarly abducted, ostensibly in the name of security, for taking part in campus activism.

On April 7, the Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs condemned the latest kidnappings of Layan Kayed and Layan Naser, two young women who have previously been targeted and imprisoned, along with multiple others.

Justifying endless incarceration

The greater issue is that, as of April 17, which is Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, over 9,500 Palestinians are being held in Israeli prisons – roughly one third of whom are imprisoned under what is termed ”administrative detention” – a procedure that allows the Israeli military to hold people based on secret evidence, indefinitely and without trial. Israel justifies it with its Emergency Powers laws, under the constant state of emergency the country has been in since 1948.

Read more Israel struck zones in Gaza it had declared ‘safe’ – NBC

Some 3,000 Gazan Palestinians have been detained by Israel since the current war on Gaza started last October – a number revealed by an investigation by Palestinian NGO Al Mezan Center for Human Rights. According to Al Mezan, this includes “women, children, elderly people, as well as professionals such as doctors, nurses, teachers and journalists.”

Out of the estimated 3,000 detainees, 1,650 Gazans are held under the Unlawful Combatants Law – a law similar to administrative detention but specific to Gazan Palestinians. They are also imprisoned without charge or legal representation, suspected of being “unlawful combatants.” They are, Al Mezan notes, “held in total isolation from the outside world” and “are neither granted the status of prisoners of war under the Third Geneva Convention, nor afforded the protections of civilian detainees under the Fourth Geneva Convention.” Another 300 (including ten children) not currently detained under the Unlawful Combatants Law are being imprisoned pending investigation.

Meanwhile, in the West Bank, according to the Commission of Detainees Affairs, as of April 16 8,270 Palestinians have been arrested, including 275 women, 520 children, 66 journalists (with 45 still in custody, 23 of whom are in administrative detention).

Of these, 80 women (not including women from Gaza) and over 200 minors are imprisoned. The total number held under administrative detention is more than 3,660, including more than 40 children.

Since last October 7, 16 West Bank Palestinian captives have died in Israeli prison due to ”systematic measures of torture, medical crimes, the policy of starvation and many other violations and assaults conducted against male and female detainees, minors and elderly detainees,” according to a report by NGO the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports 27 Palestinians from Gaza have died since October 7: “The detainees died at the Sde Teiman and Anatot facilities or during questioning in Israeli territory.” The same article refers to a UNRWA report published by The New York Times recently, which states that detainees released to Gaza testified that they were beaten, robbed, stripped and sexually assaulted, and had access to doctors and lawyers denied.

Read more Israel rejects US call to probe Gaza mass graves – Politico

Israeli Guantanamos

Reports of torture of incarcerated Palestinians (including children) have been published over the years, with more emerging in recent months. Israeli rights group B’Tselem notes that “Every year, Israel arrests and detains hundreds of Palestinian minors, while routinely and systemically violating their rights: during the arrest [and] under interrogation.”

In March, the executive director of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) expressed extreme concern, stating that the nearly 10,000 imprisoned Palestinians is, “a 200% increase from any normal year” and that, since last October, at least 27 Palestinians have died in Israeli prison camps inside Gaza. Prisoners include children and the elderly, including an 82-year-old grandmother.

These detention camps, from what I saw in January 2009 in Gaza, are large areas bulldozed flat, without tents or shelter. Former inmates describe them as “open-air cages,” where prisoners are “handcuffed and blindfolded 24 hours a day.”

There are numerous new testimonies of Palestinians mistreated in Israeli detention. Examples include one elderly man from southern Gaza alleged to have been tortured so badly that his leg became infected and after seven days of medical negligence, had to be amputated. Another 60-year-old man is said to have been held for over 50 days, and beaten severely during that time. Human-rights groups continue to document such accounts and to speak out.

Already in February, organizations like Adalah, HaMoked, Physicians for Human Rights Israel, and the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, submitted a plea to the UN Special Rapporteur (SR) on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, “urging the SR to take immediate action to halt the systematic abuse, torture, and ill-treatment of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli prisons and detention facilities.”

Al Mezan reports visiting 40 Palestinian detainees in Ashkelon and Ofer prisons, whose testimonies include being brutally beaten and deliberately starved as a form of torture and collective punishment. One 19-year-old told Al Mezan that “three of his fingernails were removed with pliers during interrogation” and he was, “handcuffed and bound in stress positions for long periods – three times over three days of interrogation.”

Read more US won’t sanction IDF despite ‘gross human rights violations’ – media

Al Mezan reports all detainees “suffer from acute emaciation, fatigue and back curvature due to being forced to bend their backs and heads while walking,” and that the NGO’s lawyer who spoke with these prisoners stated he had never seen such poor prison conditions in 20 years of working with detainees.

More recently, Haaretz reported on a doctor’s treatment of Palestinians in a field hospital in Israel and of horrific conditions: “Just this week, two prisoners had their legs amputated due to handcuff injuries, which unfortunately is a routine event.” According to him, all patients have all four limbs cuffed and are blindfolded and fed through a straw, meaning “even young and healthy patients lose weight after a week or two of hospitalization.”

Now, compare this situation to cases when similar reports or claims come from a state targeted by Washington for regime change or designated as “rogue” or as an “adversary.” In such cases, the claims are often taken at face value, extrapolated, amplified and widely broadcast. For example, in 2017 Western media latched onto claims of a “slaughterhouse” in the town of Saydnaya, Syria, where there were supposed “mass hangings” by the Syrian government. These accusations were uncritically endorsed by legacy media, despite having numerous fallacies and not being based on primary sources.

As noted at the time, Amnesty International admits that since no photos, videos or concrete testimony exist of Saydnaya Prison, they were forced to devise “unique ways with interactive 3D models and digital technology, animations and audio software” and liaised with West-based NGOs that support efforts to overthrow the Syrian government to craft their report, which gained media traction because it supported the NATO narrative on Syria.

When it comes to Palestinian prisoners and their reports of being tortured, starved, and denied urgently-needed medical care while in Israeli detention or prisons, such level of effort and media coverage is nowhere to be seen – likely because of the political inconvenience this would cause to Washington and its allies.

University officials alleged that the demonstration was organized by “professional” agitators

Riot police have arrested more than 100 protesters at Northeastern University in Boston, amid a nationwide crackdown on anti-Israel activism. University authorities claim that the demonstrators were calling for the deaths of Jews.

Demonstrators set up tents on Northeastern’s campus earlier this week, following the lead of students at New York’s Columbia University and around 40 other educational institutions in the US and Canada.

Officers from the Boston Police Department, Massachusetts State Police, Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department, and the university’s own police force surrounded the encampment shortly after dawn on Saturday morning, before moving in and restraining around 100 demonstrators with zip ties, WBZ News reported.

Massachusetts State Police said that 102 people who refused to disperse were arrested and will be charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct. Northeastern University said that anyone who produced a student ID was released and would face disciplinary, but not legal, consequences.

BREAKING: Arrests are taking place at Northeastern University: pic.twitter.com/o6Oj5hrUm4

— Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) April 27, 2024

“What began as a student demonstration two days ago, was infiltrated by professional organizers with no affiliation to Northeastern,” the university claimed in a statement. “Last night, the use of virulent antisemitic slurs, including ‘Kill the Jews,’ crossed the line. We cannot tolerate this kind of hate on our campus.”

The Massachusetts chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), however, claimed that anti-Semitic chants were not started by the protesters, but by “pro-Israel counter-supporters” attempting to discredit the pro-Palestinian side. Video footage shared by the DSA on Saturday apparently shows protesters shouting down someone who tried to start a chant of “Kill the Jews.”

Two reporters at the scene “heard someone say the statement, but could not identify who said it,” the Huntington News, a student newspaper, wrote on social media. 

BREAKING: Police have started arresting protesters, placing them into zip ties and bringing them into Shillman Hall.

The protesters do not appear to be resisting. pic.twitter.com/iZNlLQlq0V

— The Huntington News (@HuntNewsNU) April 27, 2024

Protesters at campuses across the US have demanded that their universities “divest” from companies such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Lockheed Martin that have contracts with the Israeli government. They also want the US to stop giving money to Israel, citing its “genocide” of the Palestinians in Gaza.

Read more US lawmakers want to deploy ‘anti-Semitism monitors’ at colleges

The protest movement has drawn support from some progressive Democrats, but condemnation from establishment lawmakers in both parties. On Friday, New York Representatives Richie Torres and Mike Lawler introduced a bill that would appoint “anti-Semitism monitors” to federally funded college campuses and strip money from those that fail to sufficiently crack down on alleged hatred against Jews. 

The bill was introduced two days after police arrested hundreds of protesters in similar raids on 21 campuses nationwide. Hundreds more were detained on Thursday and Friday, including 118 at Boston’s Emerson College. 

A new bill would strip funding from universities that refuse to tackle anti-Israel protests on campus

Two US congressmen have introduced a bill that would appoint independent “anti-Semitism monitors” to federally funded college campuses across the country. The draft law comes amid a police crackdown on anti-Israel protests at dozens of US universities.

Introduced on Friday by New York Representatives Ritchie Torres, a Democrat, and Mike Lawler, a Republican, the COLUMBIA Act would task the Department of Education with sending a “third-party anti-Semitism monitor” to any college or university receiving federal money. 

The inspector would release a quarterly report on “the progress that a college or university has made toward combating antisemitism.” Schools that fail to sufficiently crack down on alleged hatred against Jews would then have their funding stripped.

“Rising antisemitism on our college campuses is a major concern and we must act to ensure the safety of students,” Lawler said in a statement. “Jewish students have told my office that they feel completely abandoned by their university administrators and they view Congress as the only avenue for accountability and safety,” Torres added.

Read more Soros funding US pro-Palestinian protests – media

The bill’s title – an acronym for the College Oversight and Legal Updates Mandating Bias Investigations and Accountability Act – refers to Columbia University, where pro-Palestinian rallies and protests have been taking place for nearly two weeks. Similar rallies have broken out at around 40 universities and colleges in the US and Canada, including Harvard, Yale and UC Berkeley. 

Protesters are demanding that their universities “divest” from companies such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Lockheed Martin that have contracts with the Israeli government. They also want the US to stop giving money to Israel, citing its “genocide” of the Palestinians in Gaza.

Jewish organizations claim that some of the demonstrators have openly praised Hamas, and that the protests have stoked a climate of fear among Jewish students. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu weighed in on Wednesday, claiming that “anti-Semitic mobs have taken over leading universities” in scenes “reminiscent of what happened in German universities in the 1930s.”

Police arrested hundreds of protesters on Wednesday in a crackdown targeting 21 universities across the country. In a raid at the University of Texas at Austin, Governor Greg Abbott ordered the deployment of heavily armed officers from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), who detained more than 30 people. Abbott – a Republican and professed free speech advocate – declared on social media that “these protesters belong in jail.” Hundreds more were arrested on Thursday and Friday.

READ MORE: WATCH police fire taser at pro-Palestinian protester at US college

While mainstream Democrats and Republicans have joined forces in condemning the protests and promising stiff penalties for those involved, members of the Democratic Party’s progressive wing have visited campuses to encourage the demonstrators. “Contrary to right-wing attacks, these students are joyfully protesting for peace and an end to the genocide taking place in Gaza,” Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar said after meeting protesters at Columbia on Thursday. “I’m in awe of their bravery and courage.”