An Israeli strike on a residential building in Gaza killed the director of the Indonesian Hospital, Marwan al-Sultan, along with members of his family. Al-Sultan had repeatedly called for the international community to help keep medical workers safe.
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Video from a Palestinian defence volunteer shows the rescue of a woman from rubble and flames in Gaza City following an Israeli bombing of a building in Al-Zeitoun neighbourhood. The post says the woman is alive and in the hospital under medical supervision.
Published On 2 Jul 20252 Jul 2025
Al Jazeera Mubasher’s Omar Faiad recounts life aboard the Madleen aid ship headed to Gaza.
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WASHINGTON — The Trump administration will hold back delivering to Ukraine some air defense missiles, precision-guided artillery and other weapons as part of its announced pause to some arms shipments amid U.S. concerns that its own stockpiles have declined too much, officials said.
The details on the weapons in some of the paused deliveries were confirmed by a U.S. official and former national security official familiar with the matter. They both requested anonymity to discuss what is are being held up as the Pentagon has yet to provide details.
The pause includes some shipments of Patriot missiles, precision-guided GMLRS, Hellfire missiles and Howitzer rounds.
Elbridge Colby, Defense Department undersecretary for policy, said the decision to halt some weapons comes as Pentagon officials have aimed to provide Trump “with robust options to continue military aid to Ukraine, consistent with his goal of bringing this tragic war to an end.”
“At the same time, the department is rigorously examining and adapting its approach to achieving this objective while also preserving U.S. forces’ readiness for administration defense priorities,” Colby added in a statement.
Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), co-chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus, blasted the move that came just days after Russians forces launched one of the biggest air assaults on Ukraine since it started the war more than three years ago.
“U.S.-made air defense systems, including the Patriot platform, are the centerpiece of Ukraine’s defenses against Russian strikes. They work. They save lives every day,” Kaptur said. “But there are no parallel defensive alternatives for Ukraine if the U.S. stops supplying these vital munitions.”
One of the officials said other weaponry being held up includes the AIM-7 Sparrow — a medium-range radar homing air-to-air missile — as well as shorter-range Stinger missiles and AT-4 grenade launchers.
The Pentagon review that determined that stocks were too low on some weapons previously pledged comes just over a week after Trump helped forge a ceasefire between Israel and Iran to end their 12-day conflict. The U.S. has provided air defense support to Israel, Qatar and other Mideast neighbors. It’s unclear if that conflict had any impact on Trump’s move in Ukraine.
The U.S. deployed air defenses systems as it knocked down an Iranian ballistic missile assault last month launched on the Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar. The retaliatory strike from Tehran against the U.S. military installation came days after Trump ordered a barrage of strikes on three key Iranian nuclear sites.
Mascaro and Madhani write for the Associated Press.
Abu Shabab is the leader of the Popular Forces, a criminal group in southern Gaza thought to be backed by Israel.
A Hamas-run court in Gaza has ordered Yasser Abu Shabab, the leader of a criminal group allegedly backed by Israel, to surrender himself for trial.
The Revolutionary Court of the Military Judiciary Authority in Gaza gave the 35-year-old head of the Popular Forces group, which stands accused of collaborating with Israel to loot humanitarian aid, 10 days to turn himself in.
Abu Shabab faces charges of treason, collaborating with hostile entities, forming an armed gang and armed rebellion, the court said on Wednesday, adding that he would be tried in absentia if he fails to surrender.
The Popular Forces posted a response on a Facebook page that usually carries its announcements, describing the court’s order as a “sitcom that doesn’t frighten us, nor does it frighten any free man who loves his homeland and its dignity”.
The group and its leader were thrust into the limelight last month when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government had “activated” powerful local clans in Gaza on the advice of “security officials”.
Israeli and Palestinian media named the group as the Popular Forces, a well-armed Bedouin clan led by Abu Shabab, reportedly consisting of about 100 armed men.
The group later said online that its members were involved in guarding aid shipments sent to distribution centres run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which Israel contracted to distribute aid in the enclave.
Mass killings of aid seekers near the US-backed GHF distribution centres, which replaced existing distribution networks run by the United Nations and other experienced aid groups, have become a routine occurrence.
The European Council on Foreign Relations think tank has described Abu Shabab as the leader of a “criminal gang operating in the Rafah area that is widely accused of looting aid trucks”.
It said he was thought to have been previously imprisoned by Hamas for drug trafficking.
The court urged Palestinians to inform Hamas security officials about the whereabouts of Abu Shabab, who has so far remained beyond their reach in the Rafah area of southern Gaza held by Israeli troops.
It said anyone who knows of Abu Shabab’s location and fails to report him would be considered to have concealed a fugitive from justice.
Palestinians in Gaza have been using the viral ‘turmeric trend’ to talk about their hunger and Israel’s genocide in Gaza
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The United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) has released a new report mapping the corporations aiding Israel in the displacement of Palestinians and its genocidal war on Gaza, in breach of international law.
Francesca Albanese’s latest report, which is scheduled to be presented at a news conference in Geneva on Thursday, names 48 corporate actors, including United States tech giants Microsoft, Alphabet Inc. – Google’s parent company – and Amazon. A database of more than 1000 corporate entities was also put together as part of the investigation.
“[Israel’s] forever-occupation has become the ideal testing ground for arms manufacturers and Big Tech – providing significant supply and demand, little oversight, and zero accountability – while investors and private and public institutions profit freely,” the report said.
“Companies are no longer merely implicated in occupation – they may be embedded in an economy of genocide,” it said, in a reference to Israel’s ongoing assault on the Gaza Strip. In an expert opinion last year, Albanese said there were “reasonable grounds” to believe Israel was committing genocide in the besieged Palestinian enclave.
The report stated that its findings illustrate “why Israel’s genocide continues”.
“Because it is lucrative for many,” it said.
Israel’s procurement of F-35 fighter jets is part of the world’s largest arms procurement programme, relying on at least 1,600 companies across eight nations. It is led by US-based Lockheed Martin, but F-35 components are constructed globally.
Italian manufacturer Leonardo S.p.A is listed as a main contributor in the military sector, while Japan’s FANUC Corporation provides robotic machinery for weapons production lines.
The tech sector, meanwhile, has enabled the collection, storage and governmental use of biometric data on Palestinians, “supporting Israel’s discriminatory permit regime”, the report said. Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon grant Israel “virtually government-wide access to their cloud and AI technologies”, enhancing its data processing and surveillance capacities.
The US tech company IBM has also been responsible for training military and intelligence personnel, as well as managing the central database of Israel’s Population, Immigration and Borders Authority (PIBA) that stores the biometric data of Palestinians, the report said.
It found US software platform Palantir Technologies expanded its support to the Israeli military since the start of the war on Gaza in October 2023. The report said there were “reasonable grounds” to believe the company provided automatic predictive policing technology used for automated decision-making in the battlefield, to process data and generate lists of targets including through artificial intelligence systems like “Lavender”, “Gospel” and “Where’s Daddy?”
The report also lists several companies developing civilian technologies that serve as “dual-use tools” for Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory.
These include Caterpillar, Leonardo-owned Rada Electronic Industries, South Korea’s HD Hyundai and Sweden’s Volvo Group, which provide heavy machinery for home demolitions and the development of illegal settlements in the West Bank.
Rental platforms Booking and Airbnb also aid illegal settlements by listing properties and hotel rooms in Israeli-occupied territory.
The report named the US’s Drummond Company and Switzerland’s Glencore as the primary suppliers of coal for electricity to Israel, originating primarily from Colombia.
In the agriculture sector, Chinese Bright Dairy & Food is a majority owner of Tnuva, Israel’s largest food conglomerate, which benefits from land seized from Palestinians in Israel’s illegal outposts. Netafim, a company providing drip irrigation technology that is 80-percent owned by Mexico’s Orbia Advance Corporation, provides infrastructure to exploit water resources in the occupied West Bank.
Treasury bonds have also played a critical role in funding the ongoing war on Gaza, according to the report, with some of the world’s largest banks, including France’s BNP Paribas and the UK’s Barclays, listed as having stepped in to allow Israel to contain the interest rate premium despite a credit downgrade.
The report identified US multinational investment companies BlackRock and Vanguard as the main investors behind several listed companies.
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, is listed as the second largest institutional investor in Palantir (8.6 percent), Microsoft (7.8 percent), Amazon (6.6 percent), Alphabet (6.6 percent) and IBM (8.6 per cent), and the third largest in Lockheed Martin (7.2 percent) and Caterpillar (7.5 percent).
Vanguard, the world’s second-largest asset manager, is the largest institutional investor in Caterpillar (9.8 percent), Chevron (8.9 percent) and Palantir (9.1 percent), and the second largest in Lockheed Martin (9.2 percent) and Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems (2 percent).
The report states that “colonial endeavours and their associated genocides have historically been driven and enabled by the corporate sector.” Israel’s expansion on Palestinian land is one example of “colonial racial capitalism”, where corporate entities profit from an illegal occupation.
Since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023, “entities that previously enabled and profited from Palestinian elimination and erasure within the economy of occupation, instead of disengaging are now involved in the economy of genocide,” the report said.
For foreign arms companies, the war has been a lucrative venture. Israel’s military spending from 2023 to 2024 surged 65 percent, amounting to $46.5bn – one of the highest per capita worldwide.
Several entities listed on the exchange market – particularly in the arms, tech and infrastructure sectors – have seen their profits rise since October 2023. The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange also rose an unprecedented 179 percent, adding $157.9bn in market value.
Global insurance companies, including Allianz and AXA, invested large sums in shares and bonds linked to Israel’s occupation, the report said, partly as capital reserves but primarily to generate returns.
Booking and Airbnb also continue to profit from rentals in Israeli-occupied land. Airbnb briefly delisted properties on illegal settlements in 2018 but later reverted to donating profits from such listings to humanitarian causes, a practice the report referred to as “humanitarian-washing”.
According to Albanese’s report, yes. Corporate entities are under an obligation to avoid violating human rights through direct action or in their business partnerships.
States have the primary responsibility to ensure that corporate entities respect human rights and must prevent, investigate and punish abuses by private actors. However, corporations must respect human rights even if the state where they operate does not.
A company must therefore assess whether activities or relationships throughout its supply chain risk causing human rights violations or contributing to them, according to the report.
The failure to act in line with international law may result in criminal liability. Individual executives can be held criminally liable, including before international courts.
The report called on companies to divest from all activities linked to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory, which is illegal under international law.
In July 2024, the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion ruling that Israel’s continued presence in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem should come to an end “as rapidly as possible”. In light of this advisory opinion, the UN General Assembly demanded that Israel bring to an end its unlawful presence in the occupied Palestinian territory by September 2025.
Albanese’s report said the ICJ’s ruling “effectively qualifies the occupation as an act of aggression … Consequently, any dealings that support or sustain the occupation and its associated apparatus may amount to complicity in an international crime under the Rome Statute.
“States must not provide aid or assistance or enter into economic or trade dealings, and must take steps to prevent trade or investment relations that would assist in maintaining the illegal situation created by Israel in the oPt.”
Israeli forces have killed at least 109 Palestinians in attacks across the Gaza Strip, medical sources told Al Jazeera, even as United States President Donald Trump claimed that Israel had agreed to “the necessary conditions” to finalise a 60-day ceasefire.
Trump wrote on his Truth Social site on Tuesday that the US would work “with all parties” to end the war on Gaza during the ceasefire, and called on Hamas to agree to the deal.
Trump’s comments came after a particularly bloody day in Gaza, as Israeli attacks destroyed clusters of homes in the north and south of the enclave, amid fears of yet another looming ground invasion.
The attacks come ahead of a planned visit next week by Netanyahu to Washington, DC. Trump said on Tuesday that the Israeli prime minister wanted to end the war on Gaza, even as his forces ramp up attacks in Gaza.
Among the Palestinians killed were 16 hungry aid seekers who died when Israeli soldiers attacked crowds at aid distribution hubs run by the controversial US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), according to medical sources.
They are the latest victims in a wave of daily killings at these sites, which have killed nearly 600 Palestinians since GHF took over limited aid deliveries in Gaza in late May amid a crippling Israeli blockade.
More than 170 major international charities and nongovernmental organisations have called for an immediate end to GHF, which rights groups say is operating in violation of international principles.
“Palestinians in Gaza face an impossible choice: starve or risk being shot while trying desperately to reach food to feed their families,” a joint statement read.
GHF brings “nothing but starvation and gunfire to the people of Gaza,” it added.
Israeli forces also attacked Gaza City in the north, where it recently issued forced evacuation orders for residents of the area, which has already been bombarded into rubble. At least five people were killed when an Israeli quadcopter struck a gathering of people, local news agency Wafa reported.
At least 82 percent of Gaza is now an Israeli-militarised zone or under forced displacement threats, according to the United Nations, warning people have nowhere to go.
Ismail, a resident of the Sheikh Radwan suburb of Gaza City, said that newly displaced families were setting up tents in the road, after fleeing from areas north and east of the city and finding no other ground available.
“We don’t sleep because of the sounds of explosions from tanks and planes. The occupation is destroying homes east of Gaza, in Jabalia and other places around us,” he said.
In Khan Younis and its al-Mawasi area in the south, at least 12 Palestinians were killed when a home belonging to the al-Zanati family was targeted. Separately, a child was killed and several others wounded when an Israeli air strike struck a displacement camp.
Several more were killed in an Israeli attack west of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, according to sources at al-Awda Hospital, while two others were killed and several wounded in a separate attack on a UN-run school sheltering displaced families in the al-Maghazi refugee camp.
In a statement, the Israeli army said it attacked Gaza more than 140 times in the past 24 hours, claiming all those hit were “terror targets” and “militants”.
The attacks come as hospitals in the devastated enclave struggle to cope with the influx of people amid a severe shortage of medical supplies and much-needed fuel.
Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City, said critical services at the al-Shifa Hospital – which has come under attack and besieged several times throughout Israel’s assault on Gaza – will soon come to a halt.
“Critical services at al-Shifa Hospital have either stopped or will stop in the coming hours as backup generators are running out of fuel,” Mahmoud said.
“This hospital was once the largest healthcare facility in Gaza, but has slowly turned into a waiting room for death, not just because of the war wounds, but because of a lack of fuel that keeps everything running,” he said.
The desperate situation in Gaza is increasing the pressure on world leaders to secure a deal that would end the war.
Trump continues to maintain that a ceasefire deal is close, and that he hopes one will be secured “sometime next week”, during Netanyahu’s White House visit.
Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a close Netanyahu ally, is in Washington this week for talks with senior officials on a Gaza ceasefire, Iran and other matters.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said pressure by Trump on Israel would be key to any breakthrough in stalled ceasefire efforts.
“We call upon the US administration to atone for its sin towards Gaza by declaring an end to the war,” he said.
Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut, reporting from Amman, said there is “cautious optimism” in Israel regarding a ceasefire.
“But there are still a lot of concerns, especially among family members of Israeli captives who have been calling for a deal,” Salhut said, adding that Netanyahu “has never signalled he wants to end the war”.
But Hamas has insisted it would not agree to any deal that does not include a full Israeli withdrawal from the Strip and a permanent halt to the war, which has so far killed more than 56,000 Palestinians since it began in October 2023.
Meanwhile, key mediator Qatar has reportedly sent an updated proposal to Hamas and Israel. According to Axios, the proposal includes a 60-day truce and the release of 10 captives, and would serve as the basis for negotiations aimed at a permanent end to the war and new governance for Gaza.
In the predawn darkness of June 13, Israel launched a “preemptive” attack on Iran. Explosions rocked various parts of the country. Among the targets were nuclear sites at Natanz and Fordo, military bases, research labs, and senior military residences. By the end of the operation, Israel had killed at least 974 people while Iranian missile strikes in retaliation had killed 28 people in Israel.
Israel described its actions as anticipatory self-defence, claiming Iran was mere weeks away from producing a functional nuclear weapon. Yet intelligence assessment, including by Israeli ally, the United States, and reports by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) showed no evidence of Tehran pursuing a nuclear weapon. At the same time, Iranian diplomats were in talks with US counterparts for a possible new nuclear deal.
But beyond the military and geopolitical analysis, a serious ethical question looms: is it morally justifiable to launch such a devastating strike based not on what a state has done, but on what it might do in the future? What precedent does this set for the rest of the world? And who gets to decide when fear is enough to justify war?
Ethicists and international lawyers draw a critical line between preemptive and preventive war. Pre-emption responds to an imminent threat – an immediate assault. Preventive war strikes against a possible future threat.
Only the former meets moral criteria rooted in the philosophical works of thinkers like Augustine and Aquinas, and reaffirmed by modern theorists like Michael Walzer — echoing the so-called Caroline formula, which permits preemptive force only when a threat is “instant, overwhelming, and leaving no choice of means, and no moment for deliberation”.
Israel’s raid, however, fails this test. Iran’s nuclear capability was not weeks from completion. Diplomacy had not been exhausted. And the devastation risked — including radioactive fallout from centrifuge halls — far exceeded military necessity.
The law mirrors moral constraints. The UN Charter Article 2(4) bans the use of force, with the sole exception in Article 51, which permits self-defence after an armed attack. Israel’s invocation of anticipatory self-defence relies on contested legal custom, not accepted treaty law. UN experts have called Israel’s strike “a blatant act of aggression” violating jus cogens norms.
Such costly exceptions risk fracturing the international legal order. If one state can credibly claim pre-emption, others will too — from China reacting to patrols near Taiwan, to Pakistan reacting to perceived Indian posturing — undermining global stability.
Israel’s defenders respond that existential threats justify drastic action. Iran’s leaders have a history of hostile rhetoric towards Israel and have consistently backed armed groups like Hezbollah and Hamas. Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently argued that when a state’s existence is under threat, international law struggles to provide clear, actionable answers.
The historical scars are real. But philosophers warn that words, however hateful, do not equate to act. Rhetoric stands apart from action. If speech alone justified war, any nation could wage preemptive war based on hateful rhetoric. We risk entering a global “state of nature”, where every tense moment becomes cause for war.
Technology tightens the squeeze on moral caution. The drones and F‑35s used in Rising Lion combined to paralyse Iran’s defences within minutes. Nations once could rely on time to debate, persuade, and document. Hypersonic missiles and AI-powered drones have eroded that window — delivering a stark choice: act fast or lose your chance.
These systems don’t just shorten decision time — they dissolve the traditional boundary between wartime and peacetime. As drone surveillance and autonomous systems become embedded in everyday geopolitics, war risks becoming the default condition, and peace the exception.
We begin to live not in a world of temporary crisis, but in what philosopher Giorgio Agamben calls a permanent state of exception — a condition where emergency justifies the suspension of norms, not occasionally but perpetually.
In such a world, the very idea that states must publicly justify acts of violence begins to erode. Tactical advantage, coined as “relative superiority”, leverages this compressed timeframe — but gains ground at a cost.
In an era where classified intelligence triggers near-instant reaction, ethical scrutiny retreats. Future first-move doctrines will reward speed over law, and surprise over proportion. If we lose the distinction between peace and war, we risk losing the principle that violence must always be justified — not assumed.
Without immediate course correction, the world risks a new norm: war before reason, fear before fact. The UN Charter depends on mutual trust that force remains exceptional. Every televised strike chips away at that trust, leading to arms races and reflexive attacks. To prevent this cascade of fear-driven conflict, several steps are essential.
There has to be transparent verification: Claims of “imminent threat” must be assessed by impartial entities — IAEA monitors, independent inquiry commissions — not buried inside secret dossiers.
Diplomacy must take precedence: Talks, backchannels, sabotage, sanctions — all must be demonstrably exhausted pre-strike. Not optionally, not retroactively.
There must be public assessment of civilian risk: Environmental and health experts must weigh in before military planners pull the trigger.
The media, academia, and public must insist that these thresholds are met — and keep governments accountable.
Preemptive war may, in rare cases, be morally justified — for instance, missiles poised on launchpads, fleets crossing redlines. But that bar is high by design. Israel’s strike on Iran wasn’t preventive, it was launched not against an unfolding attack but against a feared possibility. Institutionalising that fear as grounds for war is an invitation to perpetual conflict.
If we abandon caution in the name of fear, we abandon the shared moral and legal boundaries that hold humanity together. Just war tradition demands we never view those who may harm us as mere threats — but rather as human beings, each worthy of careful consideration.
The Iran–Israel war is more than military drama. It is a test: will the world still hold the line between justified self-defence and unbridled aggression? If the answer is no, then fear will not just kill soldiers. It will kill the fragile hope that restraint can keep us alive.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
Iran has taken an unequivocal stance against the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), with the country’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi summarily dismissing its chief Rafael Grossi’s request to visit nuclear facilities bombed by Israel and the United States during a 12-day conflict earlier this month.
“Grossi’s insistence on visiting the bombed sites under the pretext of safeguards is meaningless and possibly even malign in intent,” said Araghchi on X on Monday. “Iran reserves the right to take any steps in defence of its interests, its people and its sovereignty.”
In tandem, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron that Tehran had halted cooperation with the IAEA due to what he called Grossi’s “destructive” behaviour towards Iran, his office said.
“The action taken by parliament members … is a natural response to the unjustified, unconstructive, and destructive conduct of the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency,” Pezeshkian told Macron in a phone call, according to a presidency statement.
Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar, reporting from Tehran, said the Iranian leadership is making it clear that the IAEA is an “international body with defined responsibilities and these responsibilities are not political but technical”. But, he added, Tehran views the nuclear agency as an international body “under immense [political] pressure from Israel and the United States”.
Iranian lawmakers on Wednesday voted in favour of a bill to suspend cooperation with the IAEA, citing Israel’s June 13 attack on Iran and later strikes by the US on nuclear facilities.
A ceasefire between Iran and Israel took hold on June 24.
Since the start of the conflict, Iranian officials have sharply criticised the IAEA not only for failing to condemn the Israeli and US strikes, but also for passing a resolution on June 12 accusing Tehran of non-compliance with its nuclear obligations, the day before Israel attacked.
In the meantime, France, Germany and Britain have decried “threats” made against Grossi.
“France, Germany and the United Kingdom condemn threats against the director general of the IAEA Rafael Grossi and reiterate our full support to the agency,” Foreign Ministers Jean-Noel Barrot, Johann Wadephul and David Lammy said in a joint statement.
“We call on Iranian authorities to refrain from any steps to cease cooperation with the IAEA,” they added. “We urge Iran to immediately resume full cooperation in line with its legally binding obligations, and to take all necessary steps to ensure the safety and security of IAEA personnel.”
While none specified which threats they were referring to, Iran’s ultra-conservative Kayhan newspaper recently claimed documents showed Grossi was an Israeli spy and should be executed.
Iran has insisted no threats were posed against Grossi or the agency’s inspectors.
On Monday during his weekly press conference, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the Iranian parliament’s decision to halt cooperation with the IAEA reflected the “concern and anger of the Iranian public opinion”.
He further criticised US and European powers for maintaining what he described as a “political approach” towards Iran’s nuclear programme.
At least 935 people were killed during the recent conflict with Israel, Iran’s judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir said, citing the latest forensic data. The deceased included 132 women and 38 children, Jahangir added.
Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven nations said later on Monday they supported the ceasefire between Israel and Iran, and urged that negotiations resume for a deal to address Iran’s nuclear program, according to a joint statement.
“We reaffirm that Iran can never have nuclear weapons, and urge Iran to refrain from reconstituting its unjustified enrichment activities,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, a Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman has said the country is involved in efforts to reach an agreement on the Iranian nuclear issue and a guarantee against a return to escalation by all parties.
Pezeshkian issued an official apology to the Qatari people in a phone call to Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani after the targeting of Al Udeid Air Base, the biggest US military base in the Middle East, he added.
British police have announced that the weekend performances by rap-punk duo Bob Vylan and the Irish-language band Kneecap at the Glastonbury Festival are subject to a criminal investigation after they led crowds in chants calling for “death” to the Israeli military and a “free Palestine”.
Police on Monday said the performances at the United Kingdom’s largest summer music festival “have been recorded as a public order incident”.
Rapper Bobby Vylan, who until the weekend was relatively unknown, led crowds in chants of “free, free Palestine” and “death, death” to the Israeli military.
The BBC said it regretted livestreaming the performance and it should have pulled it off the air.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and other UK politicians condemned the chants, saying there was no excuse for such “appalling hate speech”. Starmer added that the BBC must explain “how these scenes came to be broadcast”.
Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator, said it was “very concerned” about the BBC livestream and said the broadcaster “clearly has questions to answer”.
Meanwhile, the United States Department of State said it has revoked the visas for Bob Vylan to perform in the US after its “hateful tirade at Glastonbury”.
“Foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country,” US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said in a social media post.
Israel’s genocidal assault in Gaza has inflamed tensions around the world, triggering pro-Palestinian protests in many capitals and on college campuses. Israel and some of its supporters have described the protests as anti-Semitic while critics said Israel uses such descriptions to silence its opponents.
While maintaining a crippling siege on the bombarded enclave, Israeli forces have killed at least 56,531 people and wounded 133,642, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
Bob Vylan, known for mixing grime and punk rock, tackles a range of issues in its lyrics, including racism, homophobia and the class divide, and has previously voiced support for Palestinians.
Its lead vocalist, who goes by the stage name Bobby Vylan, appeared to refer to the weekend performance in a post on Instagram, writing: “I said what I said.”
“Teaching our children to speak up for the change they want and need is the only way that we make this world a better place,” he added.
The duo played Saturday afternoon right before Kneecap, whose set was not livestreamed by the BBC but still found a huge online audience via TikTok. It is another band that has drawn controversy previously over its strongly pro-Palestine stance.
Kneecap led a crowd of tens of thousands in chants of “Free Palestine” at the festival. It also aimed an expletive-laden chant at Starmer, who had said he didn’t think it was “appropriate” for Kneecap to play Glastonbury after one of its members was charged under the Terrorism Act.
Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who is also known as Liam O’Hanna and performs under the stage name Mo Chara, was charged with supporting a proscribed organisation for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London last year.
Israel has faced sustained international opprobrium for the conduct of its war in Gaza. Weekly protests draw thousands of people around Europe and across the world in support of Palestinians.
Public pressure, in part, seemed to prompt the Israeli allies France, Canada and the UK to issue a sharply worded statement in May calling for Israel to stop its “egregious” military actions in Gaza and criticising Israel’s actions in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli settlers targeted Israeli soldiers in an occupied West Bank riot.
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Pro-Palestine activists rallied outside Wimbledon on the first day of the tennis championships in London to protest tournament sponsorship by Barclays Bank, who they say helps to finance Israel’s war on Gaza. Barclays says it is not a ‘shareholder’ or ‘investor’ in defence companies supplying Israel.
Published On 30 Jun 202530 Jun 2025
Israeli forces have bombarded multiple areas across the besieged Gaza Strip, killing at least 85 Palestinians, including aid seekers and families sheltering in schools, and wounding many more in attacks that have also targeted a crowded hospital.
In the relentless attacks on Monday, 62 of the victims were in Gaza City and the north of the territory. The Israeli navy struck a port in Gaza City, where the military has stepped up its heavy strikes, killing at least 21 and wounding 30, many of them women and children.
Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City, said the attack was in the heart of a displacement centre near the Gaza seaport.
“This area serves as a refuge for many traumatised and displaced people, offering some relief from the oppressive heat of the tents,” he said.
Also on Monday, Israeli forces targeted the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah, where thousands of families had sought shelter.
Videos circulating online and verified by Al Jazeera showed chaos at the hospital, with people fleeing for safety as tents sheltering displaced families appeared damaged by the attack.
Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from the scene of the hospital attack, said the army did not issue “any warnings” before the “huge explosion”.
“The site of the attack is about 10 metres [33ft] from our broadcast point. This is not the first time the hospital’s courtyard has been attacked. At least 10 times, this facility has been squarely targeted by Israeli forces,” Abu Azzoum said. “It’s a staggering concentration of attacks on medical facilities, adding further burden on barely functioning hospitals.”
In a statement, Gaza’s Government Media Office decried the attack by Israel, calling it a “systematic crime” against the Palestinian enclave’s health system.
“Its warplanes bombed a tent for the displaced inside the walls of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, resulting in injuries at the site of the bombing, material damage, and directly threatening the lives of dozens of patients,” it said.
Israel has repeatedly targeted dozens of hospitals during its 22-month war on Gaza. Human rights groups and United Nations-backed experts have accused Israel of systematically destroying the enclave’s healthcare system.
Also in the south, at least 15 aid seekers looking for food at aid distribution hubs run by the controversial United States- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) were killed by an Israeli air strike in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, according to sources at Nasser Medical Complex. Fifty people were also wounded in the attack.
They are the latest victims in a wave of daily carnage at these sites that have killed nearly 600 Palestinians since GHF took over limited aid deliveries in Gaza in late May amid a crippling Israeli blockade.
The Israeli military acknowledged on Monday that Palestinian civilians were harmed at the aid distribution centres, saying that instructions had been issued to forces following “lessons learned” and firing incidents were under review.
This follows the Israeli news outlet, Haaretz, reporting that soldiers operating near the aid sites in Gaza have been deliberately firing upon Palestinians. According to the Haaretz report, which quoted unnamed Israeli soldiers, troops were told to fire at the crowds of Palestinians and use unnecessary lethal force against people who appeared to pose no threat.
Israeli forces are also carrying out home demolitions in Khan Younis, raising fears of a new ground invasion.
The Israeli military, meanwhile, has issued more forced evacuation threats to Palestinians in large districts in the northern Gaza Strip, where Israeli forces had operated before and left behind wide-scale destruction, forcing a new wave of displacement.
“Explosions never stopped; they bombed schools and homes. It felt like earthquakes,” said Salah, 60, a father of five children, from Gaza City. “In the news, we hear a ceasefire is near. On the ground, we see death and we hear explosions.”
Israeli tanks pushed into the eastern areas of Zeitoun suburb in Gaza City and shelled several areas in the north, while aircraft bombed at least four schools after ordering hundreds of families sheltering inside to leave, residents said.
Gaza’s health authorities said at least 10 people were killed in attacks on Zeitoun and at least 13 were killed southwest of Gaza City.
More than 80 percent of Gaza is now an Israeli-militarised zone or under forced displacement orders, according to the United Nations.
The attacks come as Israeli officials, including Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, were due in Washington, DC for a new ceasefire push by the administration of US President Donald Trump.
Key mediator Qatar has confirmed that there are serious US intentions to push for a return to negotiations, but there are complications, according to a Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman.
The spokesman said that it has become difficult to accept the continued human losses in the Gaza Strip, warning that the continued link between the humanitarian and military aspects in Gaza cannot be accepted.
The talks in the White House are also expected to cover Iran, and possible wider regional diplomatic deals.
In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet was expected to convene to discuss the next steps in Gaza.
On Friday, Israel’s military chief said the present ground operation was close to having achieved its goals, and on Sunday, Netanyahu claimed new opportunities had opened up for recovering the captives, 20 of whom are believed to still be alive.
Palestinian and Egyptian sources with knowledge of the latest ceasefire efforts also said that mediators Qatar and Egypt have stepped up their contacts with the two sides, but that no date has been set yet for a new round of truce talks.
Israel issued evacuation orders for parts of northern Gaza, as the army intensifies its assault.
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Britain’s High Court has ruled that the government’s decision to allow the export of Lockheed Martin F-35 jet parts to Israel is lawful despite accepting that they could be used in breach of international humanitarian law.
In a 72-page ruling on Monday, Judges Stephen Males and Karen Steyn said the case was about a “much more focused issue” than just the jet parts.
“That issue is whether it is open to the court to rule that the UK must withdraw from a specific multilateral defence collaboration … because of the prospect that some UK-manufactured components will or may ultimately be supplied to Israel, and may be used in the commission of a serious violation of international humanitarian law in the conflict in Gaza,” the ruling said.
“Under our constitution, that acutely sensitive and political issue is a matter for the executive, which is democratically accountable to Parliament and ultimately to the electorate, not for the courts,” it added.
Currently, the United Kingdom contributes components for F-35s to an international defence programme that produces the bombers.
But Palestinian human rights organisation Al-Haq, based in the occupied West Bank, took legal action in January against the UK’s Department for Business and Trade (DBT) over its decision to exempt the parts when it suspended some export licences in September last year.
During a hearing in May, Al-Haq said the government’s decision to send the jet parts was unlawful as it “gives rise to a significant risk of facilitating crime”.
The same month, Defence Secretary John Healey said suspending it would affect the “whole F-35 programme” and have a “profound impact on international peace and security”.
After Monday’s ruling, Shawan Jabarin, the chief of Al-Haq, said, “Despite the outcome of today, this case has centred the voice of the Palestinian people and has rallied significant public support, and it is just the start.”
“By exposing serious government failings in facilitating international crimes against Palestinians through its arms exports, civil society and human rights organisations have achieved a crucial breakthrough, and we will continue to persevere in the UK and beyond until governments are held accountable, Israel’s impunity is challenged and justice for the Palestinian people is realised,” he added.
Reporting from London, Al Jazeera’s Milena Veselinovic said the building of an F-35 fighter jet is part of a “global programme” where many nations build different parts, and they are all manufactured in different countries.
“Britain makes about 15 percent of each F-35 jet, however, it doesn’t make those parts specifically for Israel,” Veselinovic explained.
“So, what the UK was arguing is that if they stop those parts from being exported that could have a knock on effect on the entire international programme, it would impact the supply chain, it would impact on their NATO allies, even on the ability, they said, for Ukraine to defend itself from Russia’s invasion,” she said.
However, Al-Haq has argued that by building the parts for the global pool, the UK was in breach of international law, including the Geneva Convention, due to the use of the weapons in Gaza.
“But the High Court sided with the government rejecting that and did accept the UK’s argument that this was a strategic objective despite acknowledging that it could mean that the UK is also in breach of international law,” Veselinovic added.
In September last year, Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced that the government was suspending about 30 of 350 export licences of items used during Israel’s war in Gaza after a review of its compliance with international humanitarian law.
However, according to global advocacy organisation Oxfam International, which joined Al-Haq’s case against the DBT, the partial ban did not include British-made F-35 parts, including refuelling probes, laser targeting systems, tyres and ejector seats.
Moreover, a report by pro-Palestine activist groups found in May that despite the suspension, military items have continued to be exported to Israel.
Since the war began in October 2023, Israeli attacks have killed at least 56,500 people and wounded 133,419 others.
Former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter says Iran learned from its latest conflict with Israel
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Norway’s largest pension fund, KLP, has said that it will no longer do business with two companies that sell equipment to the Israeli military because the equipment is possibly being used in the war in Gaza.
The two companies are the Oshkosh Corporation, a United States company mostly focused on trucks and military vehicles, and ThyssenKrupp, a German industrial firm that makes a broad selection of products, ranging from elevators and industrial machinery to warships.
“In June 2024, KLP learned of reports from the UN that several named companies were supplying weapons or equipment to the [Israeli army] and that these weapons are being used in Gaza,” Kiran Aziz, the head of responsible investments at KLP Kapitalforvaltning, said in a statement provided to Al Jazeera.
“Our conclusion is that the companies Oshkosh and ThyssenKrupp are contravening our responsible investment guidelines,” the statement said.
“We have therefore decided to exclude them from our investment universe.”
According to the pension fund, it had investments worth $1.8m in Oshkosh and almost $1m in ThyssenKrupp until June 2025.
KLP, founded in 1949 and the country’s largest pension fund, oversees a fund worth about $114bn. It is a public pension fund owned by municipalities and businesses in the public sector, and has a pension scheme that covers about 900,000 people, mostly municipal workers, according to its website.
KLP said that it had been in touch with both companies before it made its decision and that Oshkosh “confirmed that it has sold, and continues to sell, equipment that is used by the [Israeli army] in Gaza”, mostly vehicles and parts for vehicles.
ThyssenKrupp told KLP that “it has a long-term relationship with [the Israeli army]” and that it had delivered four warships of the type Sa’ar 6 to the Israeli Navy in the period November 2020 to May 2021.
The German company also said it had plans to deliver a submarine to the Israeli Navy later this year.
When asked by KLP what checks and balances were made when it came to the use of the equipment the companies delivered, KLP said both Oshkosh and ThyssenKrupp “failed to document the necessary due diligence in relation to their potential complicity in violations of humanitarian law”.
“Companies have an independent duty to exercise due diligence in order to avoid complicity in violations of fundamental human rights and humanitarian law,” said Aziz.
This is not the first time that the pension fund has divested from companies linked to possible human rights abuses.
In 2021, KLP divested from 16 companies, including telecom giant Motorola, that it concluded were linked to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The pension fund said there was an “unacceptable risk that the excluded companies are contributing to the abuse of human rights in situations of war and conflict through their links with the Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank”.
That same year, KLP also said it was divesting from the Indian port and logistics group Adani Ports because of its links to the Myanmar military government.
Last summer, KLP also divested from US firm Caterpillar. In an opinion piece for Al Jazeera, the KLP’s Aziz wrote that Caterpillar’s bulldozers undergo adjustments in Israel by the military and local companies, and are subsequently used in the occupied Palestinian territory.
“The constant use of these weaponised bulldozers in the occupied Palestinian territory has led to a series of human rights warnings from United Nations agencies, and nongovernmental organisations over the last two decades about the company’s involvement in the demolition of Palestinian homes and infrastructure,” she wrote.
“It is therefore impossible to assert that the company has implemented adequate measures to avoid becoming involved in future norm violations.”
The latest move builds on a series of similar decisions among several large investment funds in Europe that have cut ties with Israeli companies for their involvement in either the war in Gaza or because of links to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
In May, Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the largest in the world, said it would divest from Israel’s Paz Retail and Energy because of the company’s involvement in supplying infrastructure and fuel to illegal Israeli settlements.
This came after an earlier decision in December last year to sell all shares it had in another Israeli company, Bezeq, for its services provided to the illegal settlements.
Other pension funds as well as wealth funds have also, in recent years, distanced themselves from companies accused of enabling or cooperating with Israel’s illegal occupation of the West Bank or its war on Gaza.
In February 2024, Denmark’s largest pension fund divested from several Israeli banks and companies as the fund feared its investments could be used to fund the settlements in the West Bank.
Six months later, the United Kingdom’s largest pension fund, the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), said it would sell off all its investments linked to Israel because of its war on Gaza. The fund, which totals about $79bn, said it would sell its $101m worth of investments after pressure from its members.
Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip have killed dozens of Palestinians, including people seeking food at aid distribution hubs, as the already catastrophic humanitarian situation in the besieged enclave deteriorates by the day.
Medical sources told Al Jazeera on Sunday that at least 72 people were killed since dawn in Israeli strikes targeting multiple locations across Gaza, including at least 47 in Gaza City and the north of the territory.
Al Jazeera’s Moath al-Kahlout, reporting from Gaza City, described “catastrophic” scenes at the al-Ahli Hospital in the northern city as dozens of wounded civilians sought help following Israeli strikes on the Zeitoun and Sabra neighbourhoods, as well as al-Zawiya market.
“There are too many wounded civilians here, including children. Many are lying on the ground because there are not enough beds or medical supplies to treat them. This facility is struggling to cope due to severe shortages,” he said.
“The Israeli military has dropped leaflets in eastern Gaza City, ordering civilians to move south. These leaflets are often followed by intense and repeated attacks, resulting in the large number of casualties we are witnessing now.”
The victims on Sunday also included at least five Palestinian aid seekers killed near food distribution centres run by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) north of Rafah, according to medics.
Since the United States- and Israel-backed GHF took over limited aid deliveries in Gaza in late May amid a punishing Israeli blockade, Israeli soldiers have regularly shot at Palestinians near distribution centres, killing more than 580 people, and wounding more than 4,000, according to the Gaza Government Media Office.
A recent report by Israel’s Haaretz newspaper quoted unnamed Israeli soldiers as saying they had received orders to fire at crowds of unarmed aid seekers to disperse them.
Geoffrey Nice, a human rights lawyer, told Al Jazeera that the killings going on around the GHF are “inexplicable”.
“What is absolutely astonishing to outsiders is that it is in the business of apparently providing aid where it is desperately needed, and those providing aid with you end up shooting dead hundreds of people,” said Nice, who also took part in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis in the Strip is worsening, with babies and toddlers dying due to a lack of nutrients.
Christy Black, an Australian nurse volunteering in Gaza City, said the hospital she’s based in is short of medical supplies, including formula for pregnant women who require nasogastric feeding. That leaves many without the nutrients needed to lactate – as well as baby formula, she said.
“Our most vulnerable are dying,” Black told Al Jazeera. “We’ve seen a couple of babies die over the last couple of days in Gaza City. It’s really desperate here.”
Malnourishment also makes it difficult to heal from wounds, she said, adding that there is a significant uptick in respiratory illnesses due to the number of bombs being dropped on Gaza.
“We’re seeing children going through the rubbish trying to find something to eat … Children who might be nine or 10 years old that look like two-year-olds,” she added.
With Israeli bombardment of the besieged enclave relentless, there are indications of a fresh impetus to end the war in the wake of the US and Israeli bombings of Iran’s nuclear facilities and the ensuing ceasefire between Israel and Iran.
On Sunday, US President Donald Trump seemed determined to seal a truce. “MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!” he said in a Social Truth post. His comments came after he said he believed a ceasefire could be reached within a week. “I think it’s close. I just spoke to some of the people involved,” Trump said on Saturday.
While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not comment on the push for a truce, he said in the past week that behind-the-scenes talks have been taking place to try and secure a 60-day pause in fighting.
Negotiations revolve around a proposal put forward by the US back in March to extend phase one of a ceasefire that Israel violated by resuming its bombing of Gaza.
Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut, reporting from Amman, Jordan, said, “Netanyahu is under a lot of pressure as Trump has been quite outspoken for some time that he wants to see a ceasefire in Gaza.”
“And prior to Israel’s attacks on Iran, just about two weeks ago, there was a lot of pressure from European allies because of the Israeli military’s conduct in the Gaza Strip,” she said.
In the meantime, the Jerusalem District Court cancelled this week’s hearings in Netanyahu’s long-running corruption trial, accepting a request that the Israeli leader made, citing classified diplomatic and security grounds.
It was unclear whether a social media post by Trump – one suggesting the trial could interfere with Netanyahu’s ability to join negotiations with Hamas and Iran – influenced the court’s decision.
The ruling, seen by Reuters, said that new reasons provided by Netanyahu, the head of Israel’s spy agency Mossad and the military intelligence chief justified cancelling the hearings.
Netanyahu was indicted in 2019 on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust – all of which he denies. He has cast the trial against him as an orchestrated left-wing witch-hunt meant to topple a democratically elected right-wing leader.
On Friday, the court rejected a request by Netanyahu to delay his testimony for the next two weeks because of diplomatic and security matters following the 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran, which ended last Tuesday.
He was due to take the stand on Monday for cross-examination.
“It is INSANITY doing what the out-of-control prosecutors are doing to Bibi Netanyahu,” Trump said in a Truth Social post. He said Washington, having given billions of dollars worth of aid to Israel, was not going to “stand for this”.
A spokesperson for the Israeli prosecution declined to comment on Trump’s post. Netanyahu reposted Trump’s comments on X and added: “Thank you again, @realDonaldTrump. Together, we will make the Middle East Great Again!”
Trump said Netanyahu was “right now” negotiating a deal with Hamas, though neither leader provided details, and though officials from both sides have voiced scepticism over prospects for a ceasefire soon.
NEW YORK — In choosing Zohran Mamdani as their candidate for mayor, Democrats in America’s most Jewish city have nominated an outspoken critic of Israel, alarming some in New York’s Jewish community and signaling a sea change in the priorities of one of the party’s most loyal voting groups.
The 33-year-old democratic socialist’s surprisingly strong performance against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo makes clear that taking a stance against Israel is no longer disqualifying in a Democratic primary. The state Assembly member has declined to support the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state, refused to denounce the term “global intifada” and supports an organized effort to put economic pressure on Israel through boycotts and other tactics.
Yet he excelled in the city with the largest Jewish population outside of Israel, and with the support of many Jewish voters.
Mamdani’s success reflects the ideological realignment of many American Jews since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel that led to Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip. Many Democratic voters, including Jews, have grown dismayed by Israel’s conduct in the war and are deeply critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. That is especially true among younger, more progressive voters, many of whom have rejected the once-broadly accepted notion that anti-Israel sentiment is inherently antisemitic.
For others, Mamdani’s showing has spurred new fears about safety and the waning influence of Jewish voters in a city where anti-Jewish hate crime has surged. Last year, Jews were the target of more than half of the hate crimes in the city.
“Definitely people are concerned,” said Rabbi Shimon Hecht, of Congregation B’nai Jacob in Brooklyn, who said he has heard from congregants in recent days who hope Mamdani will be defeated in the November general election, where he will face Mayor Eric Adams, who is running as an independent, Republican Curtis Sliwa, and possibly Cuomo if he stays in the race.
“I think like every upsetting election, it’s a wake-up call for people,” Hecht said. “I strongly believe that he will not be elected as our next mayor, but it’s going to take a lot of uniting among the Jewish people and others who are concerned about these issues. We have to unify.”
Veteran New York Democratic political strategist Hank Sheinkopf put it more bluntly, predicting a hasty exodus of religious Jews from the city and a decline in long-standing Jewish influence that would be replicated elsewhere.
“It’s the end of Jewish New York as we know it,” he said, adding: “New York is a petri dish for national Democratic politics. And what happened here is what will likely happen in cities across the country.”
Mamdani’s top Democratic rival, the former governor, had called antisemitism and support for Israel “the most important issue” of the campaign.
Mamdani’s backers repeatedly accused Cuomo of trying to weaponize the issue. Many drew parallels to the way President Trump has cast any criticism of Israel’s actions as antisemitic, claiming Jews who vote for Democrats “hate Israel” and their own religion.
For some Mamdani supporters, the election results signaled a rejection by voters of one of Cuomo’s arguments: that an upstart socialist with pro-Palestinian views posed a threat to New York’s Jewish community.
Many were focused on issues such as affordability in a notoriously expensive city, or were flat-out opposed to Cuomo, who was forced to resign amid sexual harassment allegations.
Aiyana Leong Knauer, a 35-year-old Brooklyn bartender who is Jewish and backed Mamdani, said the vote represented “New Yorkers, many of them Jewish, saying we care more about having an affordable city than sowing division.”
“Many of us take really deep offense to our history being weaponized against us,” she said. “Jewish people all over the world have well-founded fears for their safety, but Jews in New York are safe overall.”
Others agreed with Mamdani’s views on Israel.
Beth Miller, political director of Jewish Voice for Peace Action, a progressive anti-Zionist group that worked on Mamdani’s behalf, said the candidate “was actually pretty popular among a lot of Jewish voters.”
“That is not in spite of his support for Palestinian rights. That is because of his support for Palestinian rights,” she said. “There has been a massive rupture within the Jewish community, and more and more Jews of all generations, but especially younger generations,” now refuse to be tied to what they see as a rogue government committing atrocities against civilians, she said.
Polls show support for Israel has declined since the war began. Overall, a slight majority of Americans now express a “somewhat” or “very” unfavorable opinion of Israel, according to a March Pew Research Center poll, compared with 42% in 2022. Democrats’ views are particularly negative, with nearly 70% holding an unfavorable opinion versus less than 40% of Republicans.
Mamdani’s wasn’t the only race where Israel was on voters’ minds.
In Brooklyn, City Councilwoman Shahana Hanif, who represents Park Slope and surrounding areas, drew criticism for her Palestinian advocacy. Some said she had failed to respond forcefully to antisemitic incidents in the district.
Yet Hanif, the first Muslim woman elected to the City Council, easily beat her top challenger, Maya Kornberg, who is Jewish, despite an influx of money from wealthy pro-Israel groups and donors.
That outcome dismayed Ramon Maislen, a developer who launched Brooklyn BridgeBuilders to oppose Hanif’s reelection and said antisemitism did not seem to resonate with voters.
“We were very disappointed with our neighbors’ response,” he said.
While campaigning against Hanif, he said he was routinely screamed at by residents and accused of supporting genocide.
“I think that those of us in the Jewish community that are attuned to that are cognizant that there’s been some kind of cultural sea change that’s occurring,” he said. “What we’re seeing is a legitimatization of hatred that isn’t happening in any other liberal or progressive space.”
Mamdani has repeatedly pledged to fight antisemitism, including during an appearance on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” where he was asked about his stance. He was joined on the show by city comptroller and fellow candidate Brad Lander, the city’s highest-ranking Jewish official, who had cross-endorsed him. He has also said he would increase funding for anti-hate crime programming by 800%.
But many of his comments have angered Jewish groups and officials, most notably his refusal to disavow the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which has been used as a slogan in recent protests. Many Jews see it as a call to violence against Israeli civilians. In a podcast interview, Mamdani said the phrase captured a “a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights.”
Given another opportunity to condemn the phrase, Mamdani on Sunday told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that it was not his role to police speech and pledged to be a mayor who “protects Jewish New Yorkers and lives up to that commitment through the work that I do.”
Mamdani also supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which aims to pressure governments, schools and other institutions to boycott Israeli products, divest from companies that support the country, and impose sanctions. The Anti-Defamation League calls it antisemitic and part of a broader campaign to “delegitimize and isolate the state of Israel.”
Mamdani has also said that, as mayor, he would have Netanyahu arrested if the Israeli leader tried to enter the city.
The ADL in a statement Thursday warned candidates and their supporters not to use “language playing into dangerous antisemitic canards that time and time again have been used to incite hatred and violence against Jews.”
In his victory speech, Mamdani alluded to the criticism he’d received and said he would not abandon his beliefs. But he also said he would “reach further to understand the perspectives of those with whom I disagree and to wrestle deeply with those disagreements.”
Colvin writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Jake Offenhartz contributed to this report.