Netanyahu sparks outrage with comments on how war has impacted family
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sparked outrage by claiming he understands the personal cost of the war, citing his son's postponed wedding.
Netanyahu made the controversial remarks in front of a hospital in Beersheba, southern Israel, hours after it was hit by Iranian missiles, injuring at least 40 people.
His comments drew sharp criticism from political opponents and relatives of Israeli hostages, who highlighted the profound human suffering caused by the conflict.
The incident occurred amidst a week of escalating missile exchanges between Israel and Iran, and ongoing criticism of Netanyahu's leadership regarding the war in Gaza and his legal challenges.
This is the second time his son Avner's wedding has been cancelled due to missile threats, with anti-government protests previously planned for the event.
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The Guardian
30 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Australia urged to press US to ‘act responsibly' as threat of nuclear disaster rises amid Israel-Iran conflict
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (Ican) has described the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran as a 'terrifying reminder of how close the world remains to nuclear disaster', arguing Australia should condemn illegal military attacks and ratify the global treaty banning nuclear weapons. Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities violate international law, Ican has alleged, and could cause radioactive contamination with long-term consequences for human health and the environment. 'The prospect of radiation release, the erosion of non-proliferation norms, and the emboldening of nuclear-armed states to act without accountability – this is the deadly logic of nuclear deterrence playing out in real time,' said Gem Romuld, the Australian director of Ican, a Nobel prize-winning anti-nuclear group. 'We need urgent de-escalation and a return to diplomacy. Australia should press its allies, particularly the United States, to act responsibly and stop enabling this cycle of violence.' Israel, the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East, is widely believed to be modernising its arsenal. It remains outside the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT), but is estimated to have 90 nuclear warheads. Israel has never officially acknowledged that it possesses nuclear weapons. Israel has maintained its strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities are lawful and necessary to prevent Iran acquiring nuclear weapons and using them in the future. The attacks were 'pre-emptive and precise strikes' against military targets, the Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Brig Effie Defrin said. Iran, which had previously proposed a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East, is a state party to the NPT but has now threatened to withdraw. The Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, insisted Iran's nuclear programme was peaceful and that it sought an end to hostilities: 'Iran is ready to consider diplomacy once again – once the aggression is stopped and the aggressor is held accountable for the crimes committed.' Globally, the nuclear threat is growing. The decades-long trend of the number of dismantled warheads outstripping the deployment of new warheads – resulting in an overall year-on-year decrease in the global inventory of nuclear weapons – appears set to end: the pace of dismantlement is slowing, while the deployment of new nuclear weapons is accelerating. Figures released this week by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) show that of the 12,241 nuclear warheads globally, 9,614 remain in military stockpiles, and 3,912 are deployed on missiles and aircraft, with 2,100 kept on high operational alert. 'The era of reductions in the number of nuclear weapons in the world, which had lasted since the end of the cold war, is coming to an end,' said Hans M Kristensen, an associate senior fellow with SIPRI's Weapons of Mass Destruction Programme. 'Instead, we see a clear trend of growing nuclear arsenals, sharpened nuclear rhetoric and the abandonment of arms control agreements.' Since before winning office in 2022, Labor has committed to ratifying the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) in government, but it has not yet done so. The government has argued it is 'considering the TPNW systematically and methodically as part of our ambitious agenda to advance nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament'. Globally, 94 countries have signed the ban treaty, and 73 have ratified it. No nuclear weapons states are party to the treaty.
The Independent
32 minutes ago
- The Independent
Why allegations of BBC bias on Israel are becoming hard to reconcile
In April 2006 I was visited in my office by Gerald Ronson, a businessman perhaps best known at the time for spending a stretch in jail on assorted charges of conspiracy, false accounting and theft. He did not pause to take his overcoat off before launching into a diatribe: 'I've always said opinions are like arseholes, everyone's got one,' he pronounced, before adding: 'I am in favour of free speech but there is a line which can't be crossed and, as far as I am concerned, you've crossed it, and you must stop this!' Ronson was not protesting about our analysis of his chequered business career, but about our coverage of Israel. With him was the then-president of the Board of Deputies, which is sometimes presented as representing the view of British Jews. It is not clear why anyone thought that Ronson would be a persuasive advocate. Over time attempts to influence British media became more sophisticated. A number of 'media monitoring groups' with bland-sounding names were established with the explicit purpose of microscopically examining every word, every picture, every inch of footage – and duly pronouncing much coverage to be biased against Israel. In parallel, selected journalists would be invited on all-expenses-paid trips to Israel to be 'briefed.' Not so long ago I myself was asked by a popular columnist if I'd like to go on such a trip – and gradually became aware that a number of distinguished journalists appeared to have seized a similar opportunity without declaring the source of funding or acknowledging the arrangements behind the briefings. The BBC has been a particular target. It is close to an article of faith for some – maybe even many – that the BBC is biased. Biased against the right, biased against Brexit, biased against ordinary working people. And biased against Israel. But not only the BBC. Sky TV is, according to one David Collier, 'a pro-terrorist propaganda channel.' But then Mr Collier has a dystopian view of the future of British Jews, tweeting recently: 'Relax. We will all be gone soon. British Jews, Israeli business. chased out by an increasingly hostile UK. And when you all sit here in a 3rd world country with an Islamic flag over Downing St. you can let us know whether it was a good idea or not.' Now Mr Collier is a dogged researcher, recently shedding light on serious flaws in a BBC documentary on Gaza. For many years he worked in hospitality and tourism, but is now an investigative journalist. He told the Times of Israel recently: 'What [The BBC] have is an engine room full of activist journalists all desperately falling over each other trying to outdo each other in finding new ways to demonise Israel.' Another prominent critic of the BBC is an English / Israeli lawyer called Trevor Asserson, who recently garnered headlines in the UK press after commissioning a report, compiled by Israeli lawyers which claimed to identify a total of 1,553 breaches of the BBC's editorial guidelines in its coverage of Israel. The report was seized on by former BBC executive Danny Cohen, as demonstrating an 'institutional crisis' at the corporation. Cohen himself has founded, and chairs, the blandly-titled UK Media Research Counc il [UKMRC}, which employs a number of former Mail on Sunday and Telegraph journalists. According to Private Eye, which has been unable to establish who funds the body, it admits to 'focusing particularly on antisemitism and what they consider to be an anti-Israel narrative in the media.' Cohen himself collaborated with yet another blandly-named media monitoring outfit, Camera UK, to produce yet one more report highlighting alleged BBC bias against Israel. All this stuff is lapped up by those news organisations which instinctively rally to the Israeli cause or (an overlapping group) despise the BBC. So it was a little uncomfortable for some journalists this week when a 188-page report was published claiming to show that, far from being biased against Israel, the BBC was, in fact, biased towards Israel. The report, published on Monday, was endorsed by a number of prominent figures, including the admirable Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, former chair of the Conservative Party and the first Muslim woman to serve in a British Cabinet. She wrote: 'This is no cherry-picked critique. It is a comprehensive, evidence-based indictment that cannot be ignored.' But, of course, it was ignored. The findings included claims that the BBC humanises Israeli casualties and dehumanises Palestinian ones; that Palestinian deaths make fewer headlines; that there is an extreme imbalance in reporting fatalities; that the BBC doesn't treat Palestinian sympathisers fairly; and that the context and history of the conflict is underplayed. It argues that the BBC suppresses or minimises allegations of genocide and underreports attacks on press freedom. And so on. You may agree, or disagree, with any of the above. But it's unlikely you will be aware of it. As far as I can tell no mainstream news organisation thought it was worth so much as an inch of coverage. It sank without trace. The report was praised by the former Mail and Telegraph political columnist and now award-winning blogger, Peter Oborne, as 'an outstanding and thorough examination off BBC coverage.' This cut no ice with David Collier, who tweeted: 'It is, at best, a piece of risible, inaccurate junk.' In another post, he noted that the bland-sounding organisation which had published it , The Centre for Media Monitoring, was funded by the Muslim Council for Britain (MCB). 'What a pile of absolute garbage,' he scoffed. Some critiqued that the authors had used large language models [LLMs] to help their research. They were less bothered by Trevor Asserson's use of ChatGPT to help produce his own report. Now, it would be surprising if the MCB were to sponsor a report showing the BBC was anti-Israel. Equally, hell might have to freeze over before Messrs Collier, Asserson or Cohen would come to the conclusion that the BBC was institutionally biased towards Israel. But there is some worrying asymmetry involved here. The bland-sounding pro-Israel groups are simply more numerous and better-resourced than any bland-sounding pro-Palestinian group. They have more willing amplifiers in the mainstream media. Over the years narratives are constructed and take root. And when someone comes along with a counter-narrative they are ignored. It would be unkind to call it GroupThink but there is, at the very least, a lack of balance. Which, of course, is the accusation thrown at the BBC. It all makes one rather nostalgic for Gerald Ronson and his homilies about arseholes. You knew where you were.
The Guardian
33 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Israel-Iran war live: fresh attacks exchanged as Israel says it has set back Tehran's nuclear program by ‘at least two or three years'
Update: Date: 2025-06-21T05:30:17.000Z Title: Opening summary Content: Welcome to our continuing live coverage of the Israel-Iran war. The two countries exchanged fresh attacks early on Saturday, a day after Tehran said it would not negotiate over its nuclear programme while under threat and Europe tried to keep peace talks alive. Shortly after 2.30am in Israel the military warned of an incoming missile barrage from Iran, triggering air raid sirens across parts of central Israel including Tel Aviv, as well as in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Explosions echoed over Tel Aviv as Israel's air defence systems responded. At the same time, Israel launched a new wave of attacks against missile storage and launch infrastructure sites in Iran, the Israeli military said. An Israeli military official said Iran had fired five ballistic missiles and there were no immediate indications of any missile impacts or reports of casualties. The new attacks came as Israel's foreign minister said its strikes on Iran had delayed Tehran's potential to develop a nuclear weapon by 'at least two or three years'. Israel's offensive has produced 'very significant' results, Gideon Saar told German newspaper Bild in an interview published on Saturday. At the United Nations on Friday, Israeli ambassador Danny Danon vowed that his country would not stop its attacks on Iran until the country's nuclear threat was dismantled, while Iran said it would continue to defend itself against Israel. 'We will not stop,' Danon said during a UN security council session in New York. 'Not until Iran's nuclear threat is dismantled, not until its war machine is disarmed, not until our people and yours are safe.' Iran's UN ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani, urged the security council to take action, saying: 'Israel apparently declared that it will continue this strike for as many days as it takes. We are alarmed by credible report that the United States ... may be joining this war.' In other developments: The UN secretary general warned on Friday that expansion of the Israel-Iran conflict could 'ignite a fire no one can control'. António Guterres called on both sides to 'give peace a chance' and said the conflict must not be allowed to expand. Donald Trump said Europe would not be able to help much in the Iran-Israel war. 'Iran doesn't want to speak to Europe, they want to speak to us,' the US president said. 'Europe is not going to be able to help in this one.' European foreign ministers urged Iran on Friday to engage with Washington over its nuclear program after talks in Geneva aimed at opening negotiations for a new nuclear deal ended with little sign of progress. The head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency warned that attacks on nuclear facilities could result in 'radioactive releases with great consequences within and beyond boundaries' of the state attacked. Rafael Grossi also called for maximum restraint. Donald Trump said his director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, was wrong in suggesting there was no evidence Iran was building a nuclear weapon. Later on Friday Gabbard said on social media that the media had taken her words 'out of context' and that she agreed with the president. Israeli fire killed at least 44 Palestinians in Gaza on Friday, many who were seeking food aid, local officials said. At least 25 people awaiting aid trucks were killed by Israeli action south of Netzarim in central Gaza, the Hamas-run local health authority said. The Israeli military said troops fired warning shots at suspected militants who advanced in a crowd towards them and the Israeli aircraft then fired a missile and 'eliminated the suspects'. The UN's children's agency said the scarcity of drinking water in Gaza was at a crisis point and 'children will begin to die of thirst'. Unicef said a shortage of fuel to operate wells and desalination plants in the territory meant it 'is facing what would amount to a man-made drought'. The European Union has said 'there are indications' that Israel is in breach of human rights obligations over its conduct in Gaza, but stopped short of calling for immediate sanctions. The leaked document from the EU's foreign policy service, seen by the Guardian, represents a significant moment in Europe's relations towards a longstanding ally.
