Free Republic

A man accused of being “a Hamas operative” based in London is a key figure behind Greta Thunberg’s Gaza-bound aid boat, it emerged on Monday. Zaher Birawi, who was described in Parliament as a person with links to Hamas, called himself a “founding member” of the Freedom Flotilla International Coalition, which arranged the voyage by the aid boat Madleen. Israeli forces boarded and seized the boat on Sunday, detaining the 12 pro-Palestinian activists it was carrying, including Ms Thunberg, as it attempted to bring a “symbolic” amount of aid to Gaza in defiance of an Israeli naval blockade. Mr Birawi,...

The EU has warned Donald Trump it is ready to retaliate against “hurtful” tariffs as the US president kick-started a global trade war. European leaders including Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, warned that the EU had “its own courses of action” after the new president said the bloc had treated the US “terribly” and would be next in line for tariffs after Canada, China and Mexico. It comes as Sir Keir Starmer is set to be the UK’s first Prime Minister to attend an EU summit since Brexit, when he travels to Brussels on Monday as part of a “reset”...

Sir Keir Starmer has told the new leaders of Syria that they must renounce terrorism and violence following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Speaking as he arrived in the Gulf for trade talks, the Prime Minister said it was “very early days” when asked whether his Government would engage with the Syrian rebel group that has overthrown Assad. He welcomed the fall of Assad’s “barbaric regime”, and said: “We do need a political solution, and that’s what we are talking to regional allies about. It is a good thing that Assad has gone, a very good thing for the...