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Israel wants the release of hostages, but will not “surrender” to the Palestinian militant group, the prime minister said

Israel is willing to pause its military offensive in Gaza if Hamas releases all the surviving hostages kidnapped last October, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday, while rejecting calls for a withdrawal of IDF forces. 

“Israel will not agree to Hamas’s demands, which mean surrender, and will continue the fighting until all its goals are achieved,” the prime minister said.

Netanyahu added that Israel is “not ready to accept a situation” in which Hamas retains its military capability and remains control over Gaza, reiterating a position he has stuck to since the war began seven months ago.

During last year’s attack on Israeli territories near Gaza, Hamas militants killed some 1,200 people and took another 250 hostage. Since then, a number of the captives have been released but around 130 are still being held in the Palestinian enclave.

Last week, Israel officially sent Hamas a ceasefire proposal which suggests a temporary cessation of hostilities to facilitate an exchange of several dozen hostages, with Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails.

The proposal has been described as “extraordinarily generous” by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has urged Hamas to “decide quickly” and “make the right decision.”

Hamas, meanwhile, has demanded a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of all Israeli troops from the besieged Palestinian enclave. In a statement on Sunday, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh accused Netanyahu of “aggression and expansion of the circle of conflict,” and accused the Israeli prime minister of “sabotaging the efforts made through the mediators and various parties.”

As Netanyahu and Haniyeh released duelling statements, American, Egyptian, and Qatari officials met in Cairo on Sunday to discuss the stalled ceasefire talks. Israel did not send a delegation to the negotiations.

Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Israel will send troops into the Gazan city of Rafah, regardless of whether it reaches a ceasefire and hostage-release deal with Hamas.

Situated at Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, Rafah is currently home to an estimated 1.4 million Palestinians who have fled the northern part of the enclave. Since October, Israel has carried out regular missile strikes on Rafah against what it claims are Hamas targets, and Netanyahu has threatened for months to launch a ground invasion of the city, despite objections from the US and UN.

PCR On Target with Larry Sparano
How the’ve Grabbed your Money
The Great Dispossession Part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hGGUPkVJ_4

Congress Betrays the Constitution

https://www.globalresearch.ca/antisemitism-law-critics-israeli-genocide/5856331

The American Media Is a Laughing Stock and the Servant of Evil
https://www.unz.com/article/of-journalists-students-and-power/

In “The Unconscious Civilization” (House of Anansi, 1995; Free Press, 1997) John Ralston Saul, the Canadian scholar and writer, was early in identifying the disconnection between language, as used in our public discourse, and reality. The expansion of knowledge has not produced an expansion of consciousness, Saul observed. It has instead caused us to take refuge in a universe of illusions wherein clear language becomes a kind of transgression. We render ourselves unconscious. Ideologies substitute for thought.

The clarity of language used by students protesting the genocide of Palestine violates the requirement that language be used to obscure reality. Thus the protesters are hated.

China laughs at America. According to this source ( https://www.unz.com ) a reporter on China’s CCTV said “Jews represent a mere 3% of the US population but control more than 70% of its wealth and is US’ most influential minority. Six or seven Jews control 200+ of US’ most influential companies.”

Is this true? We will never know, because if it is true it is anti-semitic and with the bill just passed by Congress carries a prison sentence.

Criminalizing speech alleged to be anti-semitic is just the beginning. We are already headed into an educational system where stepping outside what is permissible to think and to speak is punishable.

The potential redeployment of Moscow’s military assets would threaten not only Kiev’s neighbors, but France itself, the president has said

A total Russian victory over Ukraine in which the entire country is defeated would be detrimental to European and NATO security, as it could allow Moscow to place missiles at the EU’s doorstep, French President Emmanuel Macron has said.

In an interview with the French daily La Tribune on Saturday, Macron, who has famously refused to rule out sending Western troops to Ukraine, once again advocated a policy of “strategic ambiguity” towards Russia, arguing that the key idea behind such an approach is to project strength while “not giving too many details.”

Describing Russia as “an adversary,” the French president stressed that establishing “a priori limits” would be interpreted as weakness. “We must remove all visibility from it, because that is what creates the ability to deter,” he argued.

Macron further noted that Ukraine is crucial to France’s security because it is located only 1,500 kilometers from its borders. “If Russia wins, the next second, there is no longer any security possible in Romania, in Poland, in Lithuania and not in our country either. The capability and range of Russian ballistic missiles expose us all,” he said.

The president’s comments come after he suggested last month that Western nations “would legitimately have to ask [them]selves” whether they should send troops to Ukraine “If the Russians were to break through the front lines, [and] if there were a Ukrainian request.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded by calling Macron’s statement “very important and very dangerous,” adding that it was further testament to Paris’ direct involvement in the conflict. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has also warned that “nothing will remain” of NATO forces if they are sent to the front line in Ukraine.

Some Western nations have spoken out against sending troops to Ukraine, including the UK, one of Kiev’s staunchest supporters. British Foreign Secretary David Cameron insisted on Friday that while London would continue to support Ukraine, NATO soldiers in the country “could be a dangerous escalation.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, has repeatedly dismissed speculation that Moscow could attack NATO as “nonsense,” saying that his country had no interest whatsoever in doing so.

The US company has warned investors it will not be able to deliver the planned number of Dreamliner jets this year, according to the paper

Boeing is experiencing problems with the production of its 787 Dreamliner wide-body airliners due to the lack of a key component caused by US sanctions on Russia, the Wall Street Journal has reported.

Heat exchangers, which are used in the plane’s environmental control system and also regulate the temperature of its electronics, had been made by a joint venture between American company RTX’s Collins Aerospace and Moscow-based firm HS-Nauka, the outlet said in an article on Friday.

However, in March 2022, just weeks after the fighting between Russia and Ukraine broke out, the joint venture was shut down as part of restrictions against Moscow over the conflict, the report said.

The manufacturing of temperature-regulating parts was moved to RTX’s new factory lines in the US and UK. They were initially able to keep up with Boeing’s demands due to the company making relatively few planes at the time. But there is now a shortage of heat exchangers, as the US plane-maker is trying to increase the production of Dreamliners, according to the WSJ.

"When the invasion happened, it got moved, and the capacity of that supplier has not kept pace with us,” Boeing’s Chief Executive Dave Calhoun said in April.

Last week, Boeing told investors that due to the lack of heat exchangers and a shortage of cabin seating – which is another problem faced by the company – it will not be able to deliver as many Dreamliner jets as had been planned this year.

The company said production will slow down in the coming months, but stressed that it expects to return to making five planes per month by the end of 2024. It delivered 13 Dreamliners in the first quarter of this year, the WSJ said.

Monthly production of the Boeing 737 MAX has also fallen to single digits, as the company tries to iron out manufacturing issues after a door plug blew out mid-flight on an Alaska Airlines plane in January, Reuters reported last month.

The 737 MAX has had a history of accidents, including two crashes in 2018 and 2019 that resulted in more than 340 deaths.

READ MORE: Boeing output plummets as safety fears linger – Reuters

Earlier this week, Joshua Dean, a former employee of one of Boeing’s suppliers, who raised the alarm over lax standards in the production of the 737 MAX jet, died following a sudden and severe illness. In March, former Boeing quality manager John Barnett was found dead with a gunshot wound days before he was due to give evidence in a whistleblower lawsuit against the aerospace giant.

Officers in Perth shot and killed an assailant following a stabbing

Police in Western Australia say they have fatally shot a 16-year-old who allegedly stabbed a member of the public in a car park on Saturday.

The incident took place at around 10 am in Willetton, a southern suburb of Perth. When police arrived at the scene, the teen reportedly refused to put down the knife, and charged at the officers. 

“There are indications he had been radicalized online,” Western Australia Premier Roger Cook said at a news conference on Sunday. He added that “it appears he acted solely and alone.”

Western Australian Police Commissioner Col Blanch told reporters that the suspect was “a Caucasian male” who had converted to Islam. He reportedly called the police himself, warning that he was about to commit an unspecified “act of violence.”

Shortly afterwards, police received another call, saying a “male with a knife was running around the car park.”

The assailant stabbed a man in his 30s in the back before the officers arrived. The victim has been hospitalized and is in a stable condition.

According to Blanch, the attacker had mental health issues and was undergoing a police deradicalization course. The police chief added that the authorities were alerted by the local Muslim community shortly before the incident. 

“[The attacker] posted something online to make them concerned but we believe he sent relevant messages to some of those members who immediately responded by calling the police,” Blanch said.

“My thoughts are with those who have been affected by the incident in the Perth suburb of Willetton overnight,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wrote on X (formerly Twitter). He thanked the police “for acting swiftly to contain the incident.”

“We are a peace-loving nation and there is no place for violent extremism in Australia,” Albanese wrote.

The incident in Perth occurred less than a month after a man suffering from mental health problems went on a stabbing rampage inside a shopping mall in Sydney, killing six people and injuring 12.

Also in April, a 16-year-old armed with a knife attacked a Christian church in Wakeley, a suburb of Sydney, injuring its bishop and two worshippers. 

The results of Thursday’s local elections are “disappointing,” the prime minister said

The UK Conservative Party has suffered its worst local election defeat in decades, losing more than half of its council seats during this week’s vote in England and Wales. 

The opposition Labour party saw strong gains, including in key battlegrounds needed to secure victory at the general election, expected to be held later this year.

With almost all authorities declared as of Saturday night, the Tories had conceded 473 of their 985 councillors, while Labour had gained 185 council seats to reach a total of 1,140. 

The Liberal Democrats also made a strong showing, and now have 521 councillors, putting them ahead of the Conservatives for the first time since 1996. 

“It appears to be the worst local elections for the Conservatives since the final years of the era of Margaret Thatcher and John Major,” said Robert Hayward, a polling expert and a member of the House of Lords, as quoted by the New York Times.

Also this week, Labour politician Chris Webb won the Blackpool South by-election, beating Conservative David Jones. “This seismic win in Blackpool South is the most important result today,” Labour leader Keir Starmer told reporters, adding that the win “shows that we are firmly back in the service of working people.”

Further good news for Labour came from London, where Mayor Sadiq Khan was re-elected for a third term. “Londoners voted to give their city a fairer, safer, greener future,” Khan wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

The campaigning was centered on inflation and the cost-of-living crisis, as well local issues, such as housing and the worsening state of the NHS. 

Sunak acknowledged on Friday that it is “disappointing to lose good hardworking Conservative councillors.” He insisted that he remains “focused completely on the job at hand – that’s delivering for people across the country.”

Despite the upset, prime minister said he is hopeful that the voters “are going to stick with us” in the general election.

The IDF plans to enter Rafah and destroy Hamas battalions there regardless of hostage negotiations, according to Israeli source

The release of Israeli hostages being held captive by Hamas militants will have no effect on the IDF’s plans in Gaza, according to journalist Suleiman Maswadeh, who on Saturday cited an anonymous “political source” within the Israeli government.

During last year’s October 7 attack on Israeli territories near Gaza, Hamas militants killed some 1,200 people and took another 250 hostage. Since then, a number of the captives have been released but around 130 are still being held in the Palestinian enclave.

Writing on his X account, Maswadeh cited his source as stating that “contrary to publications, Israel will under no circumstances agree to the end of the war as part of an agreement to release our abductees.”

Furthermore, the unnamed official claimed that the Jewish state’s “political echelon” has decided that “the IDF will enter Rafah and destroy the remaining Hamas battalions there – whether or not there will be a temporary respite for the release of our hostage.”

The city of Rafah, located in southern Gaza near the border with Egypt, is currently home to an estimated 1.4 million Palestinians who have fled the northern reaches of the enclave. Aside from carrying out repeated airstrikes against what Israel claims are Hamas targets within the city, the Israeli government has also threatened to launch a ground invasion of the area, despite objections from the US and UN.

Maswadeh’s reporting coincides with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statements earlier this week, when he stated that IDF troops will enter Rafah regardless of whether a ceasefire and hostage-release deal with Hamas is achieved.

“The idea that we will stop the war before achieving all of its goals is out of the question,” Netanyahu said in a statement from his office. “We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate Hamas’ battalions there – with or without a deal, to achieve total victory.”

Meanwhile, Netanyahu’s political rival and war cabinet minister Benny Gantz, has urged “official sources and all other decision-makers” to “act with restraint” and to wait for official updates, and “not to become hysterical due to political reasons.”

At the same time, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz had previously promised to “suspend the operation” in exchange for the release of the captives.

Last week, Israel officially sent Hamas a ceasefire proposal which suggests a temporary cessation of hostilities to facilitate an exchange of several dozen hostages for Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails.

The proposal has been described as “extraordinarily generous” by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has urged Hamas to “decide quickly” and “make the right decision.”

Hamas, meanwhile, has demanded a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of all Israeli troops from the besieged Palestinian enclave.

The French president had previously laid out conditions for sending Western troops to aid Kiev

Emmanuel Macron’s statements about the possibility of sending Western forces into Ukraine have only escalated tensions and do not serve any other purpose, Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said on Saturday.

His comments come after the French President stated in an interview with The Economist this week that his country could consider sending its troops to help Kiev “if the Russians were to break through the front lines” and if there was a “Ukrainian request” for such assistance. Macron also outlined his “strategic objective” of making sure Russia does not win in Ukraine, claiming such a development would threaten European security.

Speaking to the newspaper Corriere della Sera, Crosetto claimed that while he personally can’t judge the president of a “friendly country like France,” at the same time, he can’t understand “the purpose and usefulness of these declarations, which objectively raise tension.”

The minister also ruled out the possibility that Italy would ever send its forces to intervene directly in the Ukraine conflict. “Unlike others, we have in our system an explicit prohibition on direct military interventions, outside of what is provided by the laws and the constitution,” Crosetto explained. “We can only envisage armed interventions following an international mandate, for example in the implementation of a UN resolution.”

He further noted that aside from it being impossible to send Italian troops to Ukraine, doing so “would trigger a further spiraling of the conflict, which would not be of benefit above all to the Ukrainians themselves.”

“In short, the conditions for our direct involvement do not exist,” Crosetto said.

Macron’s latest hints at direct Western involvement on the ground in Ukraine have also been dismissed by other NATO countries, notably Hungary and Slovakia.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto condemned the French president’s remarks, explaining that if a NATO member “commits ground troops, it will be a direct NATO-Russia confrontation and it will then be World War Three.”

Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico has also stressed that NATO has no justification to send troops to Ukraine because the country is not a member state and vowed that “no Slovak soldier will set foot beyond the Slovak-Ukrainian border.”

Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron has stated that while London plans to continue supplying Ukraine with weapons, which he said Kiev has the right to use against targets in Russia, actually sending any NATO soldiers to the country would constitute a “dangerous escalation.”

Moscow has repeatedly warned the West against sending its troops to Ukraine, stressing that it would be forced to attack them if they directly took part in the conflict. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Telegram on Friday that “nothing will remain” of NATO forces if they are sent to the front line in Ukraine.

A power-sharing deal could be agreed in exchange for a normalization of ties with Saudi Arabia, West Jerusalem officials have told the paper

Israel could offer to share control over Gaza, after the war currently devastating the Palestinian enclave ends, with the US and a coalition of Arab nations, the New York Times has reported, citing officials.

In a report on Friday, the paper cited anonymous sources who claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is avoiding detailed public discussions about Gaza’s post-war future, but that behind the scenes officials have been developing an “expansive plan.”

Three Israeli officials, and five people who have discussed the proposal with the Israeli government, told the NYT that the Jewish state would offer to share oversight of Gaza with the US and three Arab countries – Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

According to the sources, Israel would do so in exchange for a normalization of ties with Saudi Arabia.

Under the plan, local leaders in Gaza, who would be tasked with rebuilding the territory, reforming its education system and maintaining order, would to be appointed by Israel and the Arab nations in cooperation with Washington.

After seven to ten years, people in the enclave would be allowed to vote on whether to be absorbed into a united Palestinian administration that would control both the West Bank and Gaza, according to the proposal.

The NYT stressed that the plan does not specify whether this united administration would constitute a sovereign Palestinian state. Netanyahu has publicly rejected a two-state solution, despite such a path being supported by many world powers, including Israel’s key ally, the US.

The proposal also states the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) can continue to operate inside Gaza after the conflict with Palestinian armed group Hamas concludes, the officials said.

The NYT report comes amid intensified international efforts to persuade the sides to reach a ceasefire, which could pave the way for a permanent truce in Gaza.

READ MORE: Israeli troops killed by ‘friendly fire’ in Gaza – IDF

Israel launched its military operation in the Palestinian enclave in response to the October 7 cross-border incursion by Hamas, in which at least 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage. According to Gaza’s health ministry, more than 34,622 Palestinians have so far been killed and 77,867 others wounded in the IDF’s airstrikes and ground offensive.

Denmark will also permit pregnancies to be terminated as late as 18 weeks after conception

The Danish government announced on Friday that it will permit women to have their pregnancies terminated until 18 weeks after conception instead of 12. The new legislation marks the first time the Nordic country has eased its abortion rules in 50 years.

Additionally, girls over age 15 will get the right to have an abortion without parental approval. The government lowered the age requirement to keep it in line with the country’s age of consent.

“Choosing whether to have an abortion is a difficult situation, and I hope that the young women can find support from their parents. But if there is disagreement, it must ultimately be the young woman’s own decision whether she wants to be a mother,” Marie Bjerre, Minister for Digitization and Gender Equality, said. 

Currently women under age 18 are allowed to get abortions, but only with parental consent.

The amended Health Act will enter into force on June 1 next year.

Denmark was among the first countries in Western Europe to offer abortions free of charge in 1973, but only permitted them until 12 weeks after conception. Now women will be able to terminate their pregnancies without paying for a longer period of time in Denmark than nearly anywhere else in Europe.

According to the Danish Health Data Authority, the number of terminated pregnancies in the country has not been increasing lately. In 2022 there were 14,700 medical abortions, compared to 14,500 in 2017. The number peaked in 1975, when they were first legalized, at 27,900.

MP Mette Thiesen, from the populist Danish People’s Party, lamented the changes, saying “a terrible day. It’s a terrible new law.” Addressing the Danish broadcaster DR, she explained there is a “very fine balance between the woman’s right to her own body, but also the right to life of the little life that lies in the mother’s womb.”

READ MORE: Macron leads the way to Western civilization’s suicide

In March, France became the first nation in the world to constitutionally guarantee that its women can terminate their pregnancies, making the ‘right to abortion’ in France ‘irreversible’.

The former US president has repeatedly criticized many member countries for not paying enough in light of threats from Russia and China

Donald Trump is eyeing plans to push the NATO members to ramp up defense spending from 2% to 3% of GDP if he is re-elected in November, The Telegraph reported on Friday, citing sources close to the former US President.

Trump has reportedly been considering an increase for some time but was further persuaded by the arguments of Polish President Andrzej Duda, a source close to the ex-president told the media. The two met for talks in New York last month.

Duda has repeatedly called for a boost in defense spending across the alliance, arguing that 3% is needed to defend against “growing threats,” including from Russia.

Trump’s is “evolving towards 3%, especially after speaking to Duda” and that’s “not including money for Ukraine,” the anonymous source said.

Trump’s encounter with Duda also reportedly played a role in convincing him to lift his opposition to a long-delayed aid package which included $60 billion for Kiev.

In February, Trump came under fire from the White House and top Western officials for suggesting he would not defend NATO allies who had failed to spend enough on defense and would even encourage Russia to attack them. In March, US intelligence agencies warned that America was facing a “fragile world order” amid Russian and Chinese threats.

NATO’s 32 members have agreed on a target of spending at least 2% of GDP on defense. Last year’s NATO estimates have shown that only 11 are spending that much, including its largest contributor, the US, as well as the UK, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Greece, Hungary, Finland, Latvia, Slovakia and Denmark.

Belgium and Spain spent 1.2%, while Luxembourg, which has the smallest budget for defense compared to its GDP, spent just 1%. Only Poland, the US and Greece spent more than 3%.

On Tuesday, Timo Pesonen, the EU’s top defense official, said “while the NATO allies are increasing their budget to at least 1% of GDP,” some member states “speak about 3% already.” His remarks came days after NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said allies “must go further” than 2%.

A source close to Trump, quoted by The Telegraph, said he also has a detailed plan for how to end the war peacefully which won’t be made public before the election. 

Republican presidential nominee previously said he will be able to negotiate peace because he knows the leaders of both countries, but hasn’t elaborated. “There is a plan, but he’s not going to debate it with cable news networks because then you lose all leverage,” the source said.

The presence of Western combat personnel would lead to further escalation, Foreign Secretary David Cameron has said

The UK foreign secretary has spoken out against sending soldiers from NATO countries to Ukraine to fight against the Russian army. He made the comments amid calls from some EU leaders for more direct involvement in the conflict. 

Speaking to Sky News on Friday, David Cameron said the UK would keep supplying weapons to Kiev and focus on replenishing its own stocks “as a national priority.” 

“But I wouldn’t have NATO soldiers in the country because I think that could be a dangerous escalation,” he added. “We’ve trained – I think – almost 60,000 Ukrainian soldiers.”

This week, French President Emmanuel Macron once again refused to rule out a potential deployment in Ukraine. “We mustn’t rule anything out because our objective is that Russia must never be able to win in Ukraine,” he told the Economist.

Macron argued that the question of NATO boots on the ground could arise “if the Russians were to break through the front lines” and if Kiev were to request help. 

Other high-ranking European officials have floated the idea of troop deployments, with some suggesting that the US-led military alliance could send demining squads and other non-combat personnel. “The presence of NATO forces in Ukraine is not unthinkable,” Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told reporters in March.

However, other NATO countries, notably Hungary and Slovakia, have spoken out against any further escalation.

“If a NATO member commits ground troops, it will be a direct NATO-Russia confrontation and it will then be World War III,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told French broadcaster LCI on Thursday.

Moscow has repeatedly warned that it would be forced to attack Western troops if they take part in the conflict. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Telegram on Friday that “nothing will remain” of NATO forces if they are sent to the front line in Ukraine.

Kiev has sounded the alarm over the delays in Western military aid in recent months, blaming ammunition shortages for losses on the battlefield.

In an interview published in The Economist on Thursday, Vadim Skibitsky, the deputy head of Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence agency, said Ukraine’s defenses could crumble even with the recently approved additional aid packages from the US and UK. 

The presence of Western combat personnel would lead to further escalation, Foreign Secretary David Cameron has said

The UK foreign secretary has spoken out against sending soldiers from NATO countries to Ukraine to fight against the Russian army. He made the comments amid calls from some EU leaders for more direct involvement in the conflict. 

Speaking to Sky News on Friday, David Cameron said the UK would keep supplying weapons to Kiev and focus on replenishing its own stocks “as a national priority.” 

“But I wouldn’t have NATO soldiers in the country because I think that could be a dangerous escalation,” he added. “We’ve trained – I think – almost 60,000 Ukrainian soldiers.”

This week, French President Emmanuel Macron once again refused to rule out a potential deployment in Ukraine. “We mustn’t rule anything out because our objective is that Russia must never be able to win in Ukraine,” he told the Economist.

Macron argued that the question of NATO boots on the ground could arise “if the Russians were to break through the front lines” and if Kiev were to request help. 

Other high-ranking European officials have floated the idea of troop deployments, with some suggesting that the US-led military alliance could send demining squads and other non-combat personnel. “The presence of NATO forces in Ukraine is not unthinkable,” Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told reporters in March.

However, other NATO countries, notably Hungary and Slovakia, have spoken out against any further escalation.

“If a NATO member commits ground troops, it will be a direct NATO-Russia confrontation and it will then be World War III,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told French broadcaster LCI on Thursday.

Moscow has repeatedly warned that it would be forced to attack Western troops if they take part in the conflict. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Telegram on Friday that “nothing will remain” of NATO forces if they are sent to the front line in Ukraine.

Kiev has sounded the alarm over the delays in Western military aid in recent months, blaming ammunition shortages for losses on the battlefield.

In an interview published in The Economist on Thursday, Vadim Skibitsky, the deputy head of Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence agency, said Ukraine’s defenses could crumble even with the recently approved additional aid packages from the US and UK. 

The former US president had been sanctioned for his public comments about his hush money trial

Former US President Donald Trump has paid a $9,000 fine for violating a gag order imposed during his hush money trial in New York, news outlets reported on Thursday, citing a court official.

Judge Juan Merchant fined Trump on Tuesday for violating the gag order nine times and instructed him to take down seven “offending posts” from Truth Social and two more posts from his campaign website.

Trump is being accused of falsifying business records in an effort to conceal his sexual relationship with former adult film star Stormy Daniels. Trump has denied any wrongdoing and insisted he never had an affair with Daniels. He further slammed the gag order as “unconstitutional,” and argued that the trial is a plot to derail his re-election campaign.

During the 11th day of hearings on Friday, the jurors heard the testimony of Hope Hicks, Trump’s former campaign press secretary and White House communications director.

Describing her former boss’s reaction to a Wall Street Journal story about Trump’s alleged affairs with Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, she told the court that Trump was “concerned how it would be viewed by his wife and he wanted me to make sure that the newspapers weren’t delivered to their residence that morning.”

Trump and President Joe Biden are neck-and-neck in most polls, with just six months left until election day. Trump continued to insist on his innocence during a rally in Waukesha, Wisconsin on Wednesday. “There is no crime. I have a crooked judge,” the former president told supporters.

According to an NPR/PBS NewHours/Marist poll released on Wednesday, 55% of Americans say that they are not closely watching the hush money trial or not watching it at all. At the same time, 54% of Americans said they believe the investigations into Trump are fair, while 45% view them as unfair. 

A “confession” message purportedly by the perpetrators claims their action is linked to Rheinmetall’s deliveries to Kiev

A garden house belonging to Armin Papperger, the CEO of one of Germany’s leading arms manufacturers, has been targetted by arsonists, multiple media outlets reported on Wednesday. “Left-wing extremists” claiming responsibility for the attack linked it to Rheinmetall’s weapons deliveries to Ukraine, according to a post on the Indymedia platform.

Bild says the incident took place in the early hours of Monday morning in the village of Hermannsburg in Lower Saxony and that federal police have taken over the investigation

Since the start of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia in February 2022, Rheinmetall has provided Kiev with military hardware including Leopard-type tanks. Last month, the German government placed an order with the manufacturer for an additional 20 Marder infantry fighting vehicles for the Ukrainian military. 

A message purportedly from the perpetrators was posted some hours after the attack on the Indymedia platform, according to reports. German media descibes the portal as one favored by left-wing extremists. The authors of the message claimed that the arms manufacturer was hoarding various types of tanks “that can now be sold to Ukraine along with munitions at a hefty profit.” The anonymous statement added that “Rheinmetall plans, produces and murders, not only domestically.”

According to the media outlet, which cited local authorities, the alleged arson attack did not endanger human life. Police have launched an investigation and are checking the authenticity of the message by the supposed perpetrators. 

Back in 2020, left-wing protesters staged a protest outside Papperger’s property, denouncing Rheinmetall’s business.

The ex-president has grown more critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since leaving office

Former US President Donald Trump has refused to rule out withholding military aid to Israel to force an end to the war in Gaza if he is reelected. Once a stalwart defender of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump has argued that the Israeli leader and his military have bungled the war with Hamas.

In an interview with Time magazine published on Tuesday, Trump stood by his insistence last month that Israel should “finish up [its] war” before it loses any more international support.

“I think that Israel has done one thing very badly: public relations,” Trump told the outlet, adding that he thinks the Israeli military shouldn’t “be sending out pictures every night of buildings falling down and being bombed.”

Asked whether he would rule out withholding or applying conditions to US military aid to Israel in order to bring the war to a conclusion, Trump replied “no,” before launching into a scathing critique of Netanyahu.

“I had a bad experience with Bibi,” he said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname. Trump recalled how Netanyahu allegedly promised to take part in the US airstrike that killed Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in January 2020, before pulling out at the last minute.

“That was something I never forgot,” Trump told Time, adding that the incident “showed me something.”

Netanayhu, he said, “rightfully has been criticized for what took place on October 7,” referring to Hamas’ attack on Israel. “And I think it’s had a profound impact on him, despite everything. Because people said that shouldn’t have happened. 

Israel has “the most sophisticated equipment,” he continued. “Everything was there to stop that. And a lot of people knew about it, you know, thousands and thousands of people knew about it, but Israel didn’t know about it, and I think he’s being blamed for that very strongly.”

Trump is not the first person to allege that the Israeli military and government failed to respond to warnings of an impending attack by Hamas. According to Israeli media reports, multiple military and intelligence personnel tried to warn their superiors that an attack was in the works, while Egyptian officials told the Associated Press that they passed on warnings to their Israeli counterparts in the weeks leading up to October 7.

READ MORE: Trump tells Israel it made ‘big mistake’

Trump was a close ally of Netanyahu during his term in the White House, and described himself as “history’s most pro-Israel US president.” He imposed sanctions on Iran at Netanyahu’s request, moved the US embassy in Israel to West Jerusalem, and brokered the Abraham Accords, which saw Israel normalize relations with Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, and Sudan.

Asked whether he could work better with Netanyahu’s main political rival, Benny Gantz, if he were to return to the White House after the November presidential election, Trump did not give a straight answer. However, he remarked that “Gantz is good,” and that there are “some very good people I’ve gotten to know in Israel that could do a good job.”

Media reports suggest the court could charge the Israeli prime minister with war crimes

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked US President Joe Biden to stop the International Criminal Court (ICC) from pursuing him and several other top-ranking Israeli officials, news publisher Axios has claimed. Several media outlets reported last week that the court could charge the Israeli leadership with war crimes over the ongoing military campaign against Hamas in Gaza.

Israel launched its massive offensive following the deadly October 7 incursion by the radical group’s militants, which claimed the lives of an estimated 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians.

In recent months, the severe response by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in the densely populated Palestinian enclave have come under increasing scrutiny and have been broadly criticized – even by the country’s US and European allies.

According to Gaza authorities, Israeli strikes have killed more than 34,000 people, mostly civilians. In January, the United Nation’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a ruling, saying it was “plausible” that Israeli forces had committed acts of genocide in the enclave.

In its article on Monday, Axios, citing two anonymous Israeli officials, claimed that Netanyahu had phoned Biden on Sunday, asking him to wield Washington’s clout and prevent the ICC from issuing arrest warrants.

NBC News, citing an unnamed Israeli official, also claimed on Monday that the ICC could charge Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and unnamed senior military officers, along with the prime minister.

The US network quoted its source as saying that “Israel is working through diplomatic channels to try to stop the warrants being issued.” The ICC did not confirm or deny the report, telling reporters that it “has an ongoing independent investigation in relation to the situation in the State of Palestine.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu insisted on Friday that 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 wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

Launched in 2021, the ICC’s investigation focuses on alleged war crimes committed by the Israeli military and Palestinian militant groups in the West Bank and Gaza since 2014, when Israel fought a month-long war against Hamas.

Israel is not a party to the Rome Statute and does not recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction. However, should a warrant in Netanyahu’s name be issued, his travel could be restricted, as the 124 countries that recognize the court may consider themselves obliged to arrest him.