Pally Hunger Strike: Greta Thunberg Arrested

Greta Thunberg has been arrested in central London at a protest supporting jailed Palestine Action protesters on a hunger strike.

Footage shows the 22-year-old activist holding a sign saying 'I support Palestine Action prisoners, I oppose genocide' outside the headquarters of an insurance firm. 

A City of London Police officer can be seen taking away the placard before asking Ms Thunberg to stand. 

The Prisoners for Palestine protest group said it targeted Aspen Insurance because it provides services to Israeli-linked defence firm Elbit Systems.

Two activists sprayed red paint over the front of the building before police arrived and made arrests. 

The group launched its campaign as eight Palestine Action protesters began an open-ended hunger strike while on remand in prison. 

After nearly two months, three of them have stopped, one is eating intermittently and four are said to still be taking part.  

Relatives of one of the protesters, Teuta Hoxha, 29, have warned she could die within days. She was arrested for her alleged role in an attack on the Ebit systems factory in Bristol. 

Palestine Action was banned by the Government as a terrorist group in July after activists damaged RAF planes and hundreds of its supporters have been arrested. 

Footage shows the 22-year-old climate activist holding a sign saying 'I support Palestine Action prisoners, I oppose genocide'

A police officer speaking to Ms Thunberg after taking away her sign 

Ms Thunberg was previously arrested in London at a 2023 for 'refusing to move' when told to by police officers during a protest against an oil and gas conference. 

The Swede has spoken out previously about the hunger strikers, who are in prison awaiting trial for alleged break-ins or criminal damage on behalf of Palestine Action before the group was banned under terrorism legislation. 

She described the activists as 'political prisoners' in a video posted on her Instagram on Monday, adding the Government should meet their demands to be released from custody and for charges to be dropped.

The protest comes after several imprisoned Palestine Action activists, including one who has refused to eat for 52 days, have been taken to hospital in recent days.

Since the hunger strike began on November 2, a total of seven prisoners have been taken to hospital.

Kamran Ahmed, 28, who was being held at Pentonville Prison in London, and Amu Gib, 30, who was being held at HMP Bronzefield in Surrey, have both been admitted to hospital in the last week after refusing food.

Prisoners for Palestine previously said Gib's health has 'deteriorated rapidly' since joining the hunger strike on November 2, and the activist now needs to use a wheelchair.

Gib was taken to hospital on Saturday.

A legal firm representing the hunger strikers has said it submitted a pre-action letter on Monday against the Justice Secretary David Lammy.

The letter calls for a response within 24 hours, saying the issue is a 'matter of urgency', as 'our clients' health continues to deteriorate, such that the risk of their dying increases every day'.

It says: 'They request an urgent meeting with the proposed defendant to discuss the deterioration of our clients' health and to discuss attempts to resolve the situation.'

The Prisoners for Palestine protest group said the climate activist was later arrested

Ms Thunberg pictured in the back of a police van this morning 

Ms Thunberg was previously arrested in London at a 2023 for 'refusing to move' when told to by police officers during a protest against an oil and gas conference 

Last Thursday, emergency physician Dr James Smith told journalists some of the activists 'are dying' and need specialist medical help.

The prisoners all face charges relating to alleged break-ins or criminal damage on behalf of Palestine Action before the group was banned under terrorism legislation.

Gib is charged with breaking into RAF Brize Norton and spray painting two RAF Voyager planes in support of Palestine Action.

Ahmed, who is on day 43 of his strike, is accused of breaking into the UK site of an Israel-based defence firm near Patchway, Bristol, with sledgehammers in August 2024, causing £1 million of damage.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has previously said the 'rules and procedures' are being followed, after facing questions in the Commons about why his ministers had refused to meet with representatives of those striking.

Prisons minister Lord Timpson has previously said the service is 'very experienced' at dealing with hunger strikes and has 'robust and working' systems in place and the Prison Service 'will not be meeting' any prisoners or their representatives.

Relatives of one of the protesters, Teuta Hoxha, 29, have warned she could die within days. She was arrested for her role in an attack on the Ebit systems factory in Bristol 

A City of London Police spokesperson said today: 'At around 7am this morning hammers and red paint were used to damage a building on Fenchurch Street.

'A man and a woman have been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage. They glued themselves nearby and specialist officers are working to release them, and bring them into police custody.

'A little while later, a 22-year-old woman also attended the scene. 

'She has been arrested for displaying an item (in this case a placard) in support of a proscribed organisation (in this case Palestine Action) contrary to Section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15408855/Greta-Thunberg-arrested-London-demonstration-supporting-Palestine-Action-protesters-hunger-strike.html

Greta Thunberg called the Italian government 'f****** fascist' in a foul-mouthed tirade as part of a pro-Palestine protest in Rome 

A fourth Palestine Action hunger striker, Amy Gardiner-Gibson, pictured, has given up the protest after more than 50 days - as three others maintain their fast

They are in prison after they broke into RAF Brize Norton and damaged two military planes

Qesser Zuhrah, pictured, ended her strike on Monday after 48 days amid protests outside the prison

The prisoners still striking are Heba Muraisi, pictured left, Teuta Hoxha, centre, and Kamran Ahmad, right, who have been refusing food for 50, 44, and 43 days respectively

Taxpayers Funding Leftist Art

Art in the service of Antisemitism

Madalyn Drewno, commissioned to paint a portrait of Denver’s Vietnamese immigrant community decided, instead, to paint a mural with anti-Israel and anti-Jewish themes, and a few Vietnamese-Americans thrown in. Why should taxpayers fund that?

It’s not against the law to paint an antisemitic mural.

But that doesn’t mean that a museum is required to display it-especially when that museum is funded by taxpayers.

The museum in question is the History Colorado Center, a state institution, which commissioned a local artist named Madalyn Drewno to paint a portrait of Denver’s Vietnamese immigrant community.

Drewno decided, instead, to paint a mural showcasing anti-Israel and anti-Jewish themes, with a few Vietnamese-Americans thrown in. The history center objected, and now Drewno and the American Civil Liberties Union are accusing the museum of suppressing her right to free artistic expression.

Several scenes in the mural indulge in Holocaust-inversion, by falsely accusing Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza. One charges U.S. Senator Michael Bennet (D-Col.) with “funding genocide,” because he supports enabling Israel to defend itself against the mass murderers and gang-rapists of Hamas.

It should be noted that comparing Israeli actions to those of the Nazis-which is what the genocide slur means-is antisemitic, according to the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which the Obama administration began using more than fifteen years ago.

Several of Drewno’s images depict Jewish money controlling American politicians, which is one of the oldest antisemitic canards in the book.

In one, U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper (D-Col.) has dollar signs instead of eyes. In case anybody misses her meaning, Drewno helpfully explained to the New York Times this week that she was referring to Hickenlooper receiving donations from “pro-Israel lobbyists.”

The mural also has an image of a protester holding a sign that reads, “Congress is Not For Sale,” calling to mind the infamous claim by Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) that her colleagues support Israel because they are bribed by the Jews. “It’s all about the Benjamins,” Omar declared.

There are quite a few scenes involving protesters in Drewno’s mural. Some show them waving the official flag of the PLO, a longtime symbol of the campaign to destroy Israel and replace it with “Palestine.” No fewer than thirteen PLO flags appear in the painting.

The most ironic aspect of the mural is its image of someone holding a sign that reads “Sudan Stands with Palestine.” The Biden administration labeled the ongoing slaughter in Sudan as “genocide” because “Arab militias” there “have systematically murdered men and boys-even infants-on an ethnic basis, and deliberately targeted women and girls from certain ethnic groups for rape and other forms of brutal sexual violence.” That sounds a lot like October 7.

In Sudan, Arabs are massacring non-Arabs. In southern Israel two years ago, Arabs massacred 1,200 non-Arabs. That’s why both the Arab militias of Sudan and Hamas are guilty of genocide.

Thus the sign Drewno painted should say “Sudan Stands with Israel,” alluding to the natural kinship of victims of genocide.

Instead, in her mural, perpetrators of genocide in effect “stand” with other perpetrators of genocide, and Drewno cheers them on. The slogan “Sudan Stands with Palestine” will be remembered for its painful, unintended irony.

In its reporting this week on the Drewno controversy, the New York Times noted that the Colorado town of Vail last year canceled the artist residency of Danielle SeeWalker because, as the Times put it, she “posted a piece on social media that reflects her views on the war in Gaza.”

The problem was not that Vail objected to artists expressing their “views” on Gaza. The problem was that the piece in question promoted the same Holocaust-inverting lie as Drewno’s mural-that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

SeeWalker titled her painting “G is for Genocide,” and wrote this accompanying text: “Some days I have overwhelming grief & guilt for walking around privileged while people in Gaza are suffering.” Instead of expressing her grief by, say, donating her salary to Gazans, SeeWalker opted to invert the Holocaust and sue Vail when it objected.

The town of Vail decided to settle SeeWalker’s suit out of court. It remains to be seen whether Drewno will sue the History Colorado Center.

It’s difficult to imagine that Drewno has any legal grounds to force the taxpayer-funded history center to display her antisemitic mural. But leaving legal technicalities aside, let’s consider the moral angle.

What if the History Colorado Center commissioned an artist to create a mural about the state’s African-American community, and the artist produced a painting that justified lynching and apartheid, and glorified white supremacists marching through black neighborhoods waving racist flags?

Would that qualify as artistic free expression that the public must support and display? Would civil libertarians leap to the artist’s defense? Or would the bigoted mural be shunned?

In the United States, racist and antisemitic artists are free to paint whatever they choose. But that does not mean the public must embrace or fund them.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/419714

Israel Approves 19 New Settlements

Israel grants legal status to 19 West Bank settlements, including two vacated in 2005 disengagement

The move follows government approval for the construction of 764 housing units across three settlements in the West Bank.

      Ma'aleh Adumim

In a move originally proposed by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Israel Katz, Israel's cabinet has decided to give legal status to 19 settlements in the West Bank.

The 19 settlements include two that Israel withdrew from in 2005, evacuated under the disengagement plan overseen by former prime minister Ariel Sharon, which also led to the dismantlement of the Gush Katif settlement in the Gaza Strip. 

The Palestinian Authority condemned the move. PA Minister Mu’ayyad Sha’ban called the announcement another step to erase Palestinian geography.

      A construction site of a new residential neighborhood

Smotrich approves hundreds of housing units in multiple West Bank settlements

This comes after Israel gave final approval for 764 housing units to be built in three settlements in the West Bank, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionist Party) said. The move is part of an ongoing initiative to expand housing in the area, he said.

Hashmonaim, in the Binyamin region of the West Bank near the country's center, will receive 478 housing units.

The haredi (ultra-Orthodox) settlement of Betar Illit in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc, south of Jerusalem, will receive 230 housing units.

Givat Ze’ev, also in the Binyamin region of the West Bank, northwest of Jerusalem, will receive 56 housing units.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-880465

Smotrich says the move aims to thwart a Palestinian State.

      Esh Kodesh, an Israeli outpost.

About half of the outposts are located deep inside the West Bank, while the others are dispersed more or less evenly along the Green Line that separates the territory from Israel.

"After 20 years, we are righting a painful injustice and returning Ganim and Kadim to the settlement map, alongside other important settlements throughout Judea and Samaria,” said Smotrich.

“We are stopping the establishment of a Palestinian terrorist state on the ground. We will continue to develop, build and settle in the land of our ancestors, with faith in the righteousness of the path.” 

Israel conquered the area in the 1967 Six Day War, and cites historic ties to the region and a security imperative in holding on to it.

     Smotrich

Smotrich has included in the state budget, approved by the cabinet last week, a plan to spend about NIS 2.7 billion ($841 million) over five years on the expansion of settlements and legalization of outposts that were built without government permits. 

The government has approved for construction or retroactively legalized 69 new settlements since it took office at the end of 2022, Smotrich said.

Before that, virtually no new settlements had been approved or outposts legalized since the late 1990s.

The approval increases the number of settlements in the West Bank by nearly 50 percent from 141 in 2022 to 210.

The expansion of settlements in the West Bank is at its highest rate since at least 2017.

In 2025, “plans for nearly 47,390 housing units were advanced, approved, or tendered, compared with some 26,170 in 2024.” 

https://www.timesofisrael.com/government-announces-19-new-west-bank-settlements-and-legalized-outposts/

Smotrich hailed the move for “promoting de facto sovereignty in Judea and Samaria”.

Settlement groups congratulated Smotrich on the move to legalize the 19 outposts, and especially the two that were vacated in 2005.

“We congratulate Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister and minister in the Defense Ministry, for the impressive achievement of approving 19 new settlements,” said settlement advocacy group Nachala, expressing “particular joy at the decision to return to Ganim and Kadim in northern Samaria… redressing a great injustice.”

Samaria Regional Council chief Yossi Dagan also said he was “thankful to Minister Bezalel Smotrich for leading the government decision, and excited with all the people of Israel and residents of Samaria about the return home 20 years later.”

Dagan vowed to keep building for Jews until there were “a million settlers” in the West Bank, roughly double the number of settlers there today, according to the Yesha Council, a settlement umbrella group. 

https://www.timesofisrael.com/cabinet-legalizes-19-west-bank-outposts-including-two-vacated-in-2005-disengagement/

Trump Launches Massive Wave of Airstrikes Against ISIS in Syria

Trump launches massive air strike on 70 terror targets in Syria: Defence secretary brands it 'a declaration of vengeance' as US vows to keep bombing

The US launched the air strike after two soldiers were killed in an IS attack. They have been identified as Sgt Edgar Brian Torres Tovar, 25, and Sgt William Nathaniel Howard, 29

US forces unleashed a wave of airstrikes against ISIS in Syria on Friday.

American forces struck over 70 targets in the country linked to ISIS.

The bombardment is being carried out by US Airforce F-15E Strike Eagles and A-10C Thunderbolts alongside Army helicopters and artillery rocket systems. 

Numerous terrorists were killed.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth called it 'Operation Hawkeye Strike,' and labeled the actions as a 'declaration of vengeance.' 

Military aircraft and artillery were used to level arms storage sites and other facilities associated with the group.

Islamic State terrorist pictured waving a flag while standing on captured government fighter jet in Raqqa, Syria

'Today, we hunted and we killed our enemies. Lots of them. And we will continue,' Hegseth added.

Across Syria, social media accounts on X first reported explosions across the country, heard from Palmyra to Deir Ezzor.

Strikes were also reported in the Eastern Raqqa desert.

The targets included weapons storage locations and ISIS infrastructure.

Jordanian and Syrian Armed forces are helping out the US Air-Force and army in the strikes.

The airstrikes built on ground raids in Iraq and Syria earlier in the week that captured or killed two dozen suspected ISIS-linked operatives. 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15400797/Trump-strikes-ISIS-targets-Syria-Epstein-files-drop-home.html

The US vowed to continue attacks on the terror group.

Among the sites hit were IS terrorist compounds, weapon dumps and other infrastructure, with Jordanian fighter jets supporting what was dubbed Operation Hawkeye Strike.

Jordan has its own reasons for joining the attack. In 2015, one of its Air Force pilots was executed in public and King Abdullah II pledged that ‘his blood will not be shed in vain’.

Security sources say the US operation was conducted over central and north-eastern areas of Syria’s vast Badia desert while the Jordanians hit southern areas.

The Syrian government was not directly involved, but officials said the attack had its full support.

A statement from the Syrian foreign ministry reiterated its ‘steadfast commitment to fighting IS and ensuring that it has no safe havens on Syrian territory’.

About 1,000 US troops are stationed in Syria as part of a long-running operation to remove IS. The group has controlled no territory in the country since 2018 but carries out sporadic attacks.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15402705/Donald-Trump-launches-massive-air-strike-70-terror-targets-Syria-Defence-secretary-brands-declaration-vengence-US-vows-bombing.html