Free Republic

Britain, Canada and Australia confirmed on Sunday that they now formally recognize Palestinian statehood, piling pressure on Israel to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and putting three major U.S. allies at odds with the Trump administration. The seemingly coordinated announcements came on the eve of the annual gathering of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, at which France and Portugal are also expected to vote for recognition of Palestinian statehood. ...

Hamas has declared victory after Sir Keir Starmer announced that the UK formally recognises Palestine as a state. The Prime Minister announced the decision in a video message on Sunday afternoon at the same time that Canada and Australia also recognised Palestinian statehood. He said: “Let’s be frank. Hamas is a brutal terror organisation. Our call for a genuine two-state solution is the exact opposite of their hateful vision. We are clear this solution is not a reward for Hamas, because it means Hamas can have no future, no role in government, no role in security.” The move means that...

David Lammy will tell MPs on Monday that the UK still intends to recognise a Palestinian state next month, with Israel having shown no sign of meeting the government’s demands. The foreign secretary will say in a Commons statement that government officials intend to carry out a formal assessment in the coming days of whether Israel has complied with the tests set out by the prime minister, Keir Starmer, last month. But with Benjamin Netanyahu’s government continuing to harden its position in respect to Gaza and the West Bank, the foreign secretary will confirm that Britain remains on the “pathway”...

Bernadette Spofforth lay in jail on a blue gym mattress in a daze, finding it difficult to move, even breathe. “I just closed down. But the other half of my brain went into Jack Reacher mode,” she said, referring to the fictional action hero. “Every single detail was in this very vivid, bright, sharp focus.” She remembers noticing that you can’t drown yourself in the toilet, because there’s no standing water in it and the flush button is too far to reach if your head were in the bowl. She’d end up being detained for 36 hours in July 2024....