6+ day, 4+ hour ago (806+ words) Embassy's employment of Gila Ben-Yakov Phillips is potentially violation of UK sanctions law, say experts The British embassy in Tel Aviv may have broken both UK sanctions law and UK government security policies by employing an Israeli citizen who owns a home in an illegal settlement in occupied Palestine, legal experts have said. The embassy's deputy head of corporate services and HR, Gila Ben-Yakov Phillips, moved to Kerem Reim in 2022. She listed a house she bought there as her home address on financial documents at the time. She later shared posts about the community on social media, including advertising youth programmes and subsidised housing for childcare workers. The settlement, north of Ramallah, was built by Amana, a construction company hit with sanctions last year for supporting, promoting and inciting violence against Palestinians. "Amana has overseen the establishment of illegal outposts…...

3+ week, 3+ day ago (357+ words) Majd is one of a handful of injured children from Gaza brought to the UK for urgent medical treatment. But why have there been so few? Nosheen Iqbal reportsOver the summer, the government promised to bring hundreds of desperately sick children from Gaza to the UK for life-saving treatment. But, so far, only five children have safely made it through on the government scheme. Meanwhile, four friends got together " and worked out a way to do it themselves.Omar Din is a co-founder of Project Pure Hope, which has, through fundraising, managed to bring over and treat children from Gaza. Din tells Nosheen Iqbal how difficult this process has been. Nosheen also meets Majd, who is in the UK for treatment after he was shot by IDF soldiers trying to get food for his family, and his mum and siblings....

3+ week, 2+ day ago (774+ words) Exclusive: British government adopted "least ambitious" option months before RSF"s massacres in El Fasher Britain rejected atrocity prevention plans for Sudan despite intelligence warnings that the city of El Fasher would fall amid a wave of ethnic cleansing and possible genocide, according to a report seen by the Guardian. Government officials turned down the plans six months into the 18-month siege of El Fasher in favour of the "least ambitious" option of four presented. The city was captured last month by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which immediately embarked on ethnically motivated mass killings and rapes. Thousands of the city"s residents are missing. An internal British government paper, prepared last year, detailed four options for increasing "the protection of civilians, including atrocity prevention" in Sudan. The options, evaluated by officials from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office…...

3+ day, 4+ hour ago (547+ words) Rahmeh Aladwan barred from practising for 15 months pending inquiry amid claims she "celebrated terrorist acts" An NHS doctor accused of antisemitism has been suspended for 15 months pending an investigation, the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) in the UK has ruled. The General Medical Council (GMC) is investigating Dr Rahmeh Aladwan over posts and comments made across various social media platforms after several complaints, including from the Jewish Medical Association UK and the Campaign Against Antisemitism. The GMC counsel Emma Gilsenan told the MPTS hearing that Aladwan"s posts included content that allegedly "justifies terrorism, denies sexual violence, includes antisemitic conspiracy theories, misuses Holocaust and Nazi imagery and expresses support for proscribed groups and terrorist acts. She added that Aladwan, a British Palestinian trainee in trauma and orthopaedics, had allegedly referred to the Royal Free hospital in London as a "Jewish…...

3+ week, 5+ day ago (921+ words) Rightwing politicians and pundits have called the soldiers accused of attack on Palestinian detainee "heroes" and military investigators traitors Police in Israel have arrested and detained the military"s top legal officer after she admitted leaking footage of soldiers allegedly attacking a Palestinian detainee and then in effect lying about her actions to Israel"s high court. The military advocate general, Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, said in a resignation letter last week that she had authorised publication of the video to defuse attacks on military investigators and prosecutors working on the case. Rightwing politicians and pundits championed soldiers detained over the case as "heroes, attacked military investigators as traitors, and called for the case against the soldiers to be dropped. Tomer-Yerushalmi has now been arrested on suspicion of fraud and breach of trust, abuse of office, obstruction of justice, and disclosure of…...

1+ day, 13+ hour ago (633+ words) Locked away in prison for decades, Marwan Barghouti is a longstanding advocate for a two-state solution A global campaign is being launched to secure the release of Marwan Barghouti, the Palestinian prisoner seen by many as the best hope of leading a future Palestinian state, as negotiations continue in the context of the current Gaza ceasefire. The campaign, being led by Barghouti's West Bank-based family with UK civil society support, is seeking to put the 66-year-old's fate at the centre of the next stage of the ceasefire. Successive opinion polls show he is the most popular Palestinian politician in Gaza and the West Bank. Murals with the words Free Marwan, coordinated by Calum Hall, the founder of Creative Debuts, a creative consultancy and art platform, have started to appear in London, and a huge public art installation appeared in the…...

1+ week, 5+ day ago (184+ words) Australia exports more arms and ammunition to the United Arab Emirates than it does to any other country in the world. And just this week Team Defence Australia holds a prime slice of real estate at a weapons fair in Dubai. But human rights advocates are calling on the government to suspend defence exports to the country over reports it's arming a militia responsible for mass killings in Sudan.Senior reporters Ben Doherty and Henry Belot tell Nour Haydar about Australia's growing role in the global weapons trade.Read more: Continue reading... Australia exports more arms and ammunition to the United Arab Emirates than it does to any other country in the world. And just this week Team Defence Australia holds a prime slice of real estate at a weapons fair in Dubai. But human rights advocates are calling on…...

3+ week, 2+ day ago (207+ words) What does the fall of El Fasher mean for the future of Sudan? Kaamil Ahmed reports By the time Mohamed Douda arrived in El Fasher, a city in the Darfur region of Sudan, the battle between the Sudanese armed forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) was already under way. Over the following months, as the RSF tightened their siege on the city, Douda, a community spokesperson and local activist, updated the Guardian journalist Kaamil Ahmed about the deteriorating situation. He said: "Our first struggle is the merciless hunger, and the second is the constant artillery shelling. Even the glow of a cigarette can alert the drones that fly overhead. So once we finish our meals, there is nothing to do but sit in silence." Ahmed tells Annie Kelly about Douda and his work, and what it was like to…...

2+ day, 7+ hour ago (588+ words) Far-right minister defends killing of two men in Jenin, saying "terrorists must die" Video of an Israeli military raid in Jenin shows soldiers summarily executing two Palestinians they had detained seconds earlier. The shooting on Thursday evening, which was also witnessed by journalists close to the scene, is under justice ministry review, but has already been defended by Israel"s far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who declared: "terrorists must die. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) issued a statement admitting two men were shot during a joint IDF operation with the Israeli border police around Jenin. It said the shooting "is under review by the commanders on the ground and will be transferred to the relevant professional bodies. The footage, which has circulated widely within Israeli and Arab media, shows Israeli soldiers surrounding what appears to be a storage facility in an…...

1+ week, 5+ day ago (849+ words) UN logs 260 attacks in October alone, its highest monthly tally, as settlers attack farmers and burn olive trees Violence has increased across the occupied West Bank as Palestinian farmers try to harvest their olive trees before the end of the season, in the face of a concerted campaign of harassment by groups of armed and aggressive Israeli settlers. Dozens of new incidents have occurred in recent days across much of the occupied territory as settlers step up a broader effort to intimidate and harm Palestinian communities. "It's really bad at the moment. The settlers are operating with total impunity," said Aviv Tatarsky, an Israeli activist who has worked in the West Bank for decades. Early on Sunday, settlers vandalised cars on the outskirts of the town of Sinjil and "raided" farmland near the village of Mughayyir, according to local reports....