Middle East Eye

“The last thing this region needs is an additional flashpoint.” Speaking to reporters, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that Washington believes that the last thing Israel or the Middle East needs is for the occupied West Bank to become a “crisis”.

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“The external flights from Iran, probably more than 80 or 90% of them, got shut down. I'm not sure how the Iranian representatives at the UN are going to get home.” Speaking to Fox News on Wednesday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that he is not sure how Iranian representatives at the UN are going to return home, after which he said that the majority of international flights out of Iran have been stopped due to American sanctions.

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“There are nuclear bombs in Israel, yet inspectors are in Iran.” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday that Tehran will never “bow its head” to US threats but is open to diplomacy, a day after President Donald Trump threatened to “annihilate” the Islamic Republic. Addressing Trump directly, Pezeshkian said the US leader “must know that the resistance of the Iranian people will only increase in the face of sanctions, increased pressure, increased bullying. We will never bow our head[s] or bend at the knee”. Pezeshkian also accused the US and Israel of hypocrisy for trying to constrain Iran’s nuclear programme while allowing Israel to maintain a nuclear arsenal. Israel does not admit to having nuclear weapons, but it is widely believed to have them.

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French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the Palestinian elections scheduled for November “must absolutely be held” during a press briefing on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

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US President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, led the unveiling on Wednesday of a $2.45bn starter plan for rebuilding Gaza, as members of the "Board of Peace" gathered on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York City.

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The Trump administration has asked the US Supreme Court to overturn the decision to release Georgetown University scholar Badar Khan Suri, who was held in an immigration detention centre for two months last year because of his criticism of Israel.

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Arab and Muslim leaders once again focused heavily on the US-Israel war on Iran and the genocide in Gaza on the second day of the United Nations General Assembly.

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“There is talk of ‘Free Palestine’, but for Palestinians living in Gaza, they don’t need a slogan; they need a solution,” said former UK Prime Minister and founding member of US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, Tony Blair. Blair made the remarks at a gathering held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. “To be free, Gaza must live in peace with its neighbours and with itself,” Blair said, before adding: “And this cannot happen if it’s governed by those who use Gaza as a base for war against a neighbour it has no chance of defeating.”

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Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa insisted at the UN General Assembly in New York that the Golan Heights would remain Syrian, after Colombia last month recognised Israeli sovereignty over the strategically important territory. Al-Sharaa also condemned Israel’s continued attacks and incursions into Syria, saying they were “at odds with the orientation we’re seeing at global level”.

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Ms Rachel has used her latest appearance on the viral internet talk show SubwayTakes to speak out about the treatment of children in Gaza and US immigration detention facilities, while pushing back against critics who argue that children’s entertainers should stay out of politics.

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Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Israeli government is “squeezing” the UN agency for Palestinian refugees ahead of elections in an effort to boost its appeal to voters, Unrwa’s interim chief Christian Saunders said in an interview. “I think Israel just needs to be more flexible in what it allows in and how much it allows in,” Saunders added.

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Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa used his speech at the United Nations General Assembly to declare his country’s return to the international community and slam Israel's attacks as "at odds" with the international consensus on Damascus.

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The Green Party is taking a considerable risk in this contest. The Labour government's recent comprehensive sanctions on Israeli settlements have drawn praise from the left and Palestinian solidarity groups.

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"Britain can stop this," plead a Palestinian man in Sheikh Jarrah over the links between UK charity money and a yeshiva expansion project in East Jerusalem that would build on Palestinian land. Speaking to Mohamed Hashem on MEE Live, MEE's Oscar Rickett explained how Ohr Somayach has been granted permission to build an 11-storey building in Sheikh Jarrah. Watch the full episode on MEE's YouTube channel.

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Speaking at a presser on Tuesday, far-right Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir says he will seek the position of defence minister in the next government ahead of pivotal elections next month. Ben Gvir says one of his priority as defence minister would be to devise “a strategic plan to encourage voluntary emigration (of Palestinians) from both Gaza and Judea and Samaria".

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Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar announced the closure of Britain's consulate in East Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, giving diplomats 30 days to leave, a facility that has operated in the city since 1838, predating the State of Israel by over a century. The move came hours after UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced a ban on imports from Israeli West Bank settlements and accused Israel of turning a blind eye to what he called the "ethnic cleansing" of Palestinians. France and Canada joined the measure the same day, with nine more countries backing it. Sa'ar also banned 11 to 12 British MPs from entering Israel and ordered UK staff off the Gaza coordination mission within a week, as senior Israeli officials including President Isaac Herzog and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir publicly slammed the UK's decision.

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"The moment you say it’s a war, Israel has won the propaganda war.” Norman G. Finkelstein joins David Hearst to discuss his new book, Gaza’s Gravediggers, the evidence behind claims arising from 7 October, changing attitudes towards Israel among American Jews, Ed Miliband, international law—and why he argues that what happened in Gaza was not a war, but a genocide. The David Hearst Podcast latest episode is now out, watch it now on Middle East Eye’s YouTube channel. https://youtu.be/d03UK9jO1fw

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"France wants to preserve a significant role in Lebanon and genuinely wants to support the army, but countries with greater financial capacity remain reluctant" Two years after the 2024 cessation of hostilities between Lebanon and Israel, the Lebanese Armed Forces face a growing gap between the responsibilities they have been asked to assume and the international support provided to them.

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British Prime Minister Andy Burnham used his address to the United Nations General Assembly to warn that continued war on Gaza and Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank were pushing prospects for a two-state solution towards a "point of no return”. Burnham cited the planned E1 settlement project, saying it would sever East Jerusalem from the West Bank, and urged action to match long-standing international support for a Palestinian state.

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“We face a genocidal mindset that is insatiable in its killing.” During his address at the 81st United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned Israel’s “genocidal mindset” and criticised its actions in Gaza. Erdogan said that Gaza has become “the most inhuman and shameful concentration camp of our time”, calling it "the world’s largest graveyard for children".

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