Ship carrying aid for Gaza attacked

A ship carrying humanitarian aid and activists for Gaza was bombed by drones in international waters off Malta early on Friday, its organizers said, alleging that Israel was to blame, reports Reuters.

The Israeli foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the allegation by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, an international non-governmental group.

The Maltese government said the vessel and its crew were secured in the early hours of the morning after a nearby tug assisted with firefighting operations, but the NGO and Swedish activist Greta Thunberg said the ship was still in danger.

Thunberg told Reuters she was in Malta and had been supposed to board the ship as part of the Freedom Flotilla's planned action in support of Gaza, which is under blockade and bombardment by Israel.

The NGO published video footage, filmed in darkness, showing a fire on one of its ships, the Conscience. The footage showed lights in the sky in front of the ship and the sound of explosions could be heard.

"Israeli ambassadors must be summoned and answer to violations of international law, including the ongoing blockade (of Gaza) and the bombing of our civilian vessel in international waters," it said.

The Maltese government said maritime authorities had received a mayday call shortly after midnight local time from a vessel outside of territorial waters, with 12 crew members and four civilians on board, reporting a fire.

It said a nearby tug headed to the scene and launched firefighting operations and a Maltese patrol vessel was dispatched. After several hours, the vessel and its crew were secure, it said, adding that crew had refused to board the tug.

But the Freedom Flotilla said in a statement on its website that the alleged drone strikes had caused "a substantial breach in the hull".

"The drone strike appears to have deliberately targeted the ship's generator, leaving the crew without power and placing the vessel at great risk of sinking," it said.

A spokeswoman for the group, Caoimhe Butterly, said the attack took place as the ship was preparing for activists to board from another vessel. A transfer at sea had been planned rather than the ship going to harbour, for bureaucratic reasons, she said.

Thunberg said that as far as she knew, the vessel was still at the location where it had been attacked and still in imminent danger.

"This attack caused an explosion and major damage to the vessel, which made it impossible to continue the mission," she said in a Zoom interview.

"I was part of the group who was supposed to board that boat today to continue the voyage towards Gaza, which is one of many attempts to open up a humanitarian corridor and to do our part to keep trying to break Israel's illegal siege on Gaza," she said.

Thunberg and the NGO said there were 30 people on board, not 16 as the Maltese government said.

The coalition said it had been organising a non-violent action under a media blackout in order to avoid any potential sabotage.

The Gaza war started after Hamas-led fighters killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages to Gaza in the October 7, 2023 attacks, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, Israel's offensive on the enclave killed more than 52,000, according to Palestinian health officials.

Since March 02, Israel has completely cut off all supplies to the 2.3 million residents of the enclave, and food stockpiled during a ceasefire at the start of the year has all but run out.

Another coalition ship on a similar mission to Gaza in 2010 was stopped and boarded by Israeli troops, and nine activists died. Other ships have similarly been stopped and boarded, without loss of life.

Hamas issued a statement about the incident off Malta, accusing Israel of "piracy" and "state terrorism".

 

 

Yemen issues warning to Britain

Lately, Britain bombarded Yemen, marking the first joint attack with the United States under the Trump administration. In response, the government in Sanaa warned, “British enemy must reckon with the consequences of its entanglement,” condemning the it’s involvement in the US-led campaign against Yemen.

According to an official statement from Sanaa, the attack is part of the ongoing efforts by the American and British enemies to support the Israeli enemy.

The aim, it underlined, is to suppress Yemen’s support for Palestine and allow the Zionist regime to intensify its massacres in Gaza.

The statement declared, “Sanaa would confront the evil trio, the US, Britain, and the Zionist regime, along with their allies, with all its might,” vowing that such attacks would not shake Yemen’s commitment to its core causes, particularly the Palestinians in Gaza.

The British military said it had joined the US Air Force in targeting what it claimed was “a military facility used by the Yemenis to manufacture drones used in attacks on ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.”

The recent airstrikes also come against the backdrop of Yemeni missiles targeting the US aircraft carrier Harry Truman. The carrier was forced to make a sharp evasive maneuver, causing an F-18 fighter jet to slip off the deck and sink into the Red Sea.

Yemeni forces ended a blockade on Israeli and Israeli-affiliated vessels transiting the Red Sea. They also stopped hypersonic ballistic missile attacks on “vital Israeli targets” as soon as a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza came into effect. 

Meanwhile, critics in the US have raised concerns about the high cost of the strikes on Yemen and questioned their effectiveness in weakening the country’s military capabilities.

 

Israeli reservists speak out against Gaza war

In recent weeks, thousands of Israeli reservists – from all branches of the military – have signed letters demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government stop the fighting and concentrate instead on reaching a deal to bring back the remaining 59 hostages being held by Hamas, reports BBC.

Eighteen months ago, few Israelis doubted the war's logic, to defeat Hamas and return the hostages.

For many, the January ceasefire and subsequent return of more than 30 hostages raised hopes that the war might soon end. But after Israel broke the ceasefire and returned to war in mid-March, those hopes were dashed.

"We came to the conclusion that Israel is going to a very bad place," Danny Yatom, a former head of the spy agency Mossad said.

"We understand that what mainly bothers Netanyahu is his own interests. And in the list of priorities, his interests and the interests of having the government stable are the first ones, and not the hostages."

Many of those signing recent letters are, like Yatom, long time critics of the prime minister. Some were involved in the antigovernmental protests that preceded the outbreak of war on 07 October 2023 following Hamas's attack on Israel. Yatom said that's not why he decided to speak out.

"I signed my name and I am participating in the demonstrations not because of any political reason, but because of a national reason," he said. "I am highly concerned that my country is going to lose its way."

The first open letter to be published, in early April, was signed by 1,000 air force reservists and retirees.

"The continuation of the war does not contribute to any of its declared goals," they wrote, "and will lead to the death of the hostages".

The signatories urged Israelis to follow their lead before time ran out on the estimated 24 hostages still thought to be alive in Gaza.

"Every day that passes is further risking their lives. Every moment of hesitation is a crying shame."

In the weeks since, similar letters have appeared from almost every branch of the military, including elite fighting and intelligence units, along with a number of decorated commanders.

After 07 October, hundreds of thousands of Israeli reservists answered the call, eager to serve. But now, more and more are refusing, with reports suggesting that reserve attendance has dropped to as little as 50-60%.

For a military that depends heavily on reservists to fight its wars, it's a looming crisis on a scale not seen since Israel's first Lebanon war in 1982.

The government's determination to keep fighting Hamas, while hostages risk death in the tunnels of Gaza was misplaced.

"We are very strong and we can beat Hamas, but it's not about beating Hamas," he said. "It's about losing our country."

But the longer the war goes on, critics say, the harder it is for Israel to claim, as government officials often do, that its military is the most moral army in the world.

In a recent column in the left of center newspaper Haaretz, the retired general Amiram Levin said it was time for soldiers – starting with senior commanders - to think about disobeying orders.

"The risk of being dragged into war crimes and suffering a fatal blow to the Israel Defense Forces and our social ethos," he wrote, "make it impossible to stand idly by".

Some of Israel's critics, including those who have brought cases before the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice, argue that such lines have already been crossed.

Netanyahu has lashed out at the protesters, dismissing their concerns as "propaganda lies", spread by "a small handful of fringe elements – loud, anarchist and disconnected pensioners, most of whom haven't served in years".

But polls suggest the protest letters reflect a growing public conviction: that the release of the remaining hostages should come before everything.

In Tel Aviv, where noisy anti-war demonstrations have been held for well over a year, images of the hostages are held aloft, while other protestors sit on the road, cradling pictures of Palestinian children killed during the war.

Amid the row generated by the letters, such emotive displays appear to have rattled the authorities.

On 20 April, the police briefly told protesters that "pictures of children or babies from Gaza" would not be permitted, along with posters displaying the words "genocide" or "ethnic cleansing".

Following expressions of outrage from the organizers, the police quickly backed down.

Meanwhile, the prime minister continues to speak of his determination to defeat Hamas.

Military pressure, Netanyahu continues to insist, is the only way to bring the hostages home.

British airstrikes on Yemen

Britain has launched air strikes against Yemen for the first time since Donald Trump re-entered the White House. Royal Air Force (RAF) Typhoon fighter jets, working with the US military, hit a "cluster of buildings".  The US and Britain have been attacking Yemen in response to strikes carried out on shipping in the Red Sea since November 2023. Yemen warned, Britain should "anticipate the consequences of its aggression".

These are the first RAF air strikes on Yemeni targets approved by British government and the first direct participation in US-led strikes since President Donald Trump came to power.

Defence Secretary John Healy said the strikes were successful and carried out to protect British and international shipping.

"A 55% drop in shipping through the Red Sea has already cost billions, fuelling regional instability and risking economic security for families in the UK," Healy said in a statement.

The MoD said the strikes were conducted after it identified a drone production facility located around 15 miles south of Yemeni capital Saana.

It said the attacks were carried out using "precision-guided bombs" after "very careful planning" to hit targets "with minimal risk to civilians or non-military infrastructure".

The strikes were carried out at night "when the likelihood of any civilians being in the area was reduced yet further", the MoD added.

The US military has been carrying out hundreds of attacks on Yemen in recent weeks - claiming to have killed thousands of fighters, as well as leaders of the group and commanders overseeing drone and missile production.

On Monday, Yemen reported at least 68 African migrants were killed in a US air strike in north-western Yemen.

Since November 2023, Houthis have targeted dozens of merchant vessels with missiles, drones and small boat attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. They have sunk two vessels, seized a third, and killed four crew members.

The Houthis are acting in support of the Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and have claimed that they are targeting ships only linked to Israel, the US and Britain.

The Houthis were not deterred by the deployment of Western warships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden to protect merchant vessels last year, or by multiple rounds of US strikes on military targets ordered by former President Joe Biden.

In response to the most recent strikes, the Houthi authorities said the UK-US attacks were in "support Israel's war and genocide in Gaza".

It added, "no matter the challenges" the group will resist the "trio of evil" — the US, Britain and Israel — and their allies.

In March, President Donald Trump ordered an intensification of the US bombing campaign last month in response to Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping and Israel linked to the Gaza war.

The Trump administration says it is stepping up its attacks on the Houthis. The US now has two aircraft carriers in the region.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth recently criticized European countries' response to Houthi attacks.

In a recent leaked Signal chat with other senior officials, and giving details of planned US strikes, Hegseth referred to Europe as "freeloaders" and called their response "pathetic".

Trump’s First 100 Days: Good, Bad, and Ugly

I posted my review of first 100 says of Donald Trump as President of United States. Many may have ignored it knowing that I am not a US citizen. Today, I am sharing excerpts from an article by *Christopher Calton. He has talked about Trump’s early actions on trade, education, immigration, and more, offering a clear-eyed analysis of what Americans can expect in the years ahead.

On the first day of his second term, Trump issued a record-breaking 26 executive orders, and in the weeks that followed, he added more than 100 additional orders alongside other memorandums and proclamations. Some have been entirely positive, while others have been downright eyeroll-inducing, such as renaming the Gulf of Mexico and declaring the day the order was signed a national holiday.

The trillion-dollar military budget seems consistent with Trump’s hawkish foreign policy. Both of Trump’s electoral victories reflected a mandate to finally stop subsidizing foreign conflicts and end America’s forever wars. Trump has, at least, withheld funding for Ukraine, though his approach seems more an effort to cater to Putin than to achieve peace.

Elsewhere, the president has doubled down on America’s support for Israel’s destruction of Gaza, has threatened war with Iran, and has commenced a horrible bombing campaign against Yemen. Just as in his first term, when he neglected to fulfill his promise to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, Trump is again proving to be a war-happy commander in chief.

President Trump’s second term threatens to be even more of a disaster than his first in many arenas, particularly trade and foreign policy. His immigration measures are consistent with his campaign promises, but his lack of concern for due process and rule of law should be concerning to even the most ardent supporters of border security.

Trump’s approach to spending seems an improvement over his first term, but is nonetheless disappointing after what appeared to be a promising start with DOGE.

The silver lining to Trump’s first 100 days is that he is providing a positive counterweight to the left’s growing radicalism in the culture wars, as demonstrated by his education policies. 

*Christopher J. Calton is the Research Fellow in Housing and Homelessness at the Independent Institute.

 

Humanitarian obligations to Palestinians

The UN's highest court, International Court of Justice (ICJ) has begun a week of hearings into Israel's obligation to "ensure and facilitate" humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians in the occupied territories and particularly in Gaza, reports Euronews.

The hearings come in response to a resolution passed last year by the UN General Assembly asking the ICJ to weigh in on Israel's legal responsibilities after the country blocked UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, from operating on its territory.

The hearings opened as the humanitarian aid system in Gaza is nearing collapse. The UN legal team was the first to address the court on Monday, followed by Palestinian representatives.

The World Food Program said last week its food stocks in Gaza have run out, ending a main source of sustenance for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.

Israel, which denies deliberately targeting civilians and aid staff as part of its war with Hamas, has blocked the entry of food, fuel, medicine and other supplies since 02 March, and renewed its military campaign on March 18, saying it aims to push Hamas to release more hostages.

The Palestinian Ambassador to the Netherlands Ammar Hijazi told the ICJ in The Hague, “Israel is starving, killing and displacing Palestinians while also targeting and blocking humanitarian organizations trying to save their lives", accusing it of breaching international law.

No Israeli representatives attended the hearing, which Foreign Minister Gideon Saar decried as part of a “systematic persecution and delegitimization” of his country. "It is abusing the international legal system and politicizing it," he added.

Israel's ban on UNRWA, which came into effect in January, stems from claims that the group has been infiltrated by Hamas. Israel presented its case against UNRWA on Monday, accusing it of failing to act before the war against evidence that Hamas had used its facilities.

Amir Weissbrod, a Foreign Ministry official, said UNRWA employed 1,400 Palestinians with militant ties, adding that some of those employees also took part in Hamas’ 07 October 2023 attacks. UNRWA said it fired nine staffers after an internal UN investigation.

In total, 40 states and four international organizations are scheduled to participate in the ICJ case. The US, which voted against the UN resolution, is scheduled to speak on Wednesday.

The court will likely take months to rule. But experts say that while any decision will not be legally binding, the outcome could profoundly impact international jurisprudence, international aid to Israel and public opinion.

Whether any ruling will have an effect on Israel is another matter. The Israeli government has long accused the UN of being unfairly biased against it and has ignored a 2004 advisory ruling by the ICJ that found its West Bank separation barrier illegal.

It also ignored last year's advisory ruling calling Israel to stop settlement activity in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling it a "decision of lies".

 

First 100 days of Donald Trump as US President

In the first 100 days of his second term (January 20–April 29, 2025), Donald Trump as President of the United States has implemented sweeping changes across domestic and foreign policy, marking a significant shift in US governance. This period is marked by aggressive executive action, political polarization, and early challenges in advancing his legislative agenda. He focused on fulfilling campaign promises, particularly on immigration, deregulation, and trade, but faced setbacks in healthcare reform and legislative coordination. Here's a brief review:

Domestic Policy

Government Overhaul
Trump established the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, to streamline federal operations. This initiative led to substantial staff reductions and a freeze on new regulations and hiring, excluding the military.

Immigration Policies
The administration intensified immigration policies by invoking the Alien Enemies Act for mass deportations and signing the Laken Riley Act, which mandates detention of undocumented immigrants accused of certain crimes. Additionally, plans were set to expand the Guantanamo Bay Migrant Operations Center to detain up to 30,000 individuals.

Pardons and Clemency
Approximately 1,500 individuals convicted in connection with the January 06 Capitol attack received pardons, including leaders of groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. Ross Ulbricht, founder of the Silk Road darknet market, was also granted clemency.

Education and Social Policies
Federal funding was cut for institutions promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Trump also challenged birthright citizenship and reinstated bans on transgender individuals serving in the military and participating in women's sports.

Energy and Environmental
Trump declared a National Energy Emergency, rescinded numerous environmental regulations, and withdrew the US from the Paris Climate Agreement for the second time. He also halted new federal leases for wind energy projects.

Foreign Policy

International Relations and Aid
Executive Order 14169 initiated a 90-day pause on foreign development aid, excluding emergency food assistance and military aid to Egypt and Israel. The administration also reinstated Cuba's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism and withdrew from the World Health Organization.

Conflict Resolution
Efforts to swiftly end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza faced setbacks. While initial diplomatic engagements showed promise, renewed hostilities impeded progress. A Kremlin-declared ceasefire in Ukraine offered some hope, but the Gaza ceasefire collapsed in March, exacerbating humanitarian concerns.

Trade and Alliances
Trump's aggressive tariff policies disrupted global markets and strained relationships with traditional allies. His administration's unilateral actions challenged longstanding international alliances and norms.

Domestic and Global Response

Domestically, public approval waned, with only 11% of Americans feeling better off since Trump's inauguration and 44% rating his performance as poor. Internationally, Amnesty International reported that Trump's policies contributed to a global decline in human rights, citing increased repression and erosion of international law.