Gaza genocide sparks wave of boycotts at major European music festivals over KKR’s Israel links

Musicians across Europe are boycotting festivals owned by private equity firm KKR due to its investments in Israel’s defence industry and illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The protest has spread from major events in Spain and the United Kingdom to the Netherlands, where popular bands and DJs are now pulling out of performances.

Al Jazeera’s Step Vaessen reports from IJzendijke, the Netherlands:

Houthis threaten to attack ships linked to firms dealing with Israeli ports

The Yemeni group says it will target any ships belonging to companies that do business with Israeli ports, regardless of their nationalities, as part of what they call the fourth phase of their military operations against Israel.

The Houthis have been carrying out attacks on commercial and military ships, as well as on Israel itself, which they say are in sympathy with Palestinians enduring Israel’s assault in Gaza.

In a televised statement, the group’s military spokesperson warned that ships would be attacked if companies ignored their warnings, regardless of their destination.

Main events on July 27th

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had been “forced” to allow some aid into Gaza amid growing international pressure over the spread of starvation in the Strip due to Israel’s near-total blockade on assistance.
• Humanitarian groups welcomed steps to ease restrictions but said aid entering Gaza remains a tiny portion of what is needed.
• At least 63 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza, including 34 who were killed while waiting for aid.
• Israel continues to detain 11 of the 21 foreign activists on board the Freedom Flotilla’s Handala ship, seizing it yesterday as the vessel attempted to break the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip.
• The World Health Organization (WHO) warned that nearly one in five children under the age of five in Gaza City is now suffering from acute malnutrition, a figure that has tripled since June.

Crew of aid ship Handala interrogated by Israeli security

The Israeli Broadcasting Authority reports that the crew members of the Handala have been interrogated by Israeli authorities and will be transferred to the police. Israeli forces detained the crew members around midnight last night.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry previously stated that efforts to break Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip — which has caused widespread starvation in Gaza — are dangerous, illegal, and undermine humanitarian relief efforts.

Human rights defender Huwaida Arraf said she was released by Israeli authorities after refusing to sign a pledge not to return again, and called for continued focus on lifting the siege on Gaza.

Israeli authorities continue to detain 11 other activists who were aboard the ship, who have reportedly gone on a hunger strike.

Bob Geldof demands immediate end to Gaza suffering and says infants are being used as weapons of war

In an emotionally charged interview with Trevor Phillips on Sky News, musician and humanitarian Bob Geldof condemned the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza, delivering sharp criticism of both the Israeli government and the broader international response. He accused Israeli authorities of "dangling food in front of starving, panicked, exhausted mothers," only for them to be "wantonly shot."

Geldof described the actions of the Israeli government and the IDF as a “disgrace,” branding Prime Minister Netanyahu and the military leadership as “liars.” He also criticised the UK government’s response saying it is inadequate and dismissed the focus on recognising a Palestinian state as a distraction from the immediate crisis. In his view, political gestures could wait, what matters now is ending the starvation and violence without delay.

Israel Just Lost Its Smartest Minds—Thanks to Its Own Stupidity

BDS has given Israel a kick in the proverbials once more, only this latest blow goes straight to the heart of their legitimacy.

Israel has long relied on its universities as much as its diplomats to project an image of respectability. Its academic institutions, particularly Technion, Tel Aviv University, and the Weizmann Institute of Science – have been celebrated as proof that Israel is a thriving liberal democracy at the cutting edge of science and technology, distinct from its neighbours in the Middle East. These universities have played a vital role in building Israel’s brand as the “Start-Up Nation,” securing lucrative research partnerships and collaborations across Europe and North America.

But all of that narrative is now increasingly under threat and Israel only has itself to blame. Across the world, universities are reassessing or severing their ties with Israeli institutions, citing their complicity in the occupation of Palestine and the war on Gaza. The University of Florence’s decision this month to cut multiple partnerships with Israeli institutions has become emblematic of this shift, for once one of these educational BDS stories getting some media attention, so often such news is being supressed.

Academic boycotts, despite the lack of coverage are a central and highly effective component of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, second only in terms of effect to financial boycotts. They are undermining Israel’s carefully cultivated global narratives, eroding its soft power, and creating a long-term generational shift that threatens its international legitimacy and as such, Israel is in a bit of a flap over it.

The University of Florence’s decision to join the global academic boycott against Israel marks another turning point in Europe’s intellectual climate, it follow on nicely from another video I’ve just made showing this also happening in Europe right now from a legal standpoint. Earlier this month, five of its departments—Mathematics and Computer Science, Engineering, Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Architecture, and Political and Social Sciences—voted to sever existing partnerships with Israeli academic institutions.

Israel uses its academic institutions like Technion and Tel Aviv University to build a positive image, but this is now under threat. Universities are reassessing ties, citing complicity in the occupation of Palestine and academic boycotts are undermining Israel's global narratives. This erodes its soft power and threatens its international legitimacy.


And that's why Aipac and Trump are cracking down on student protests in the USA, changing the definition of anti-semitism to outlaw anit-genocide / pro-Palestine protests.

Has the US cancelled free speech?

Several groups of professors in the United States are suing the Trump administration over its policy of arresting, detaining, cancelling the visas of, and deporting students who participate in pro-Palestinian advocacy.

The crackdown on free speech is creating a chilling effect across US academia, argues Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, which is one of the organisations that brought the lawsuit.

Jaffer tells host Steve Clemons that the issue is much wider than the rights of non-citizens in the country. The government’s actions have the effect of “stifling a political viewpoint that the government doesn’t like”.

Israeli forces kill 10 Palestinians in southern Gaza

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting that Israeli forces have launched attacks on a residential building and tents housing displaced people in the al-Yabani and al-Mawasi areas of Khan Younis.

Hospital sources said the attacks killed at least 10 and wounded 40 others.

The Israeli military designated al-Mawasi as a “safe zone”, but regularly launches deadly attacks there.

Casualties as Israeli forces shoot at aid seekers in Gaza

We are getting reports that Israeli forces have opened fire on Palestinians waiting for food aid near the Netzarim Corridor in northern Gaza.

‘The planes are insulting for us’

As we’ve been reporting, Jordan and the UAE have airdropped food aid over northern Gaza as pressure mounts on Israel to address the famine in Gaza.

A Jordanian official told Reuters that the two countries parachuted some 25 tonnes of aid into north Gaza on Sunday.

We are getting reports that dozens of Palestinians gathered in Beit Lahiya yesterday in the hopes of receiving those supplies, but many, including Mahmoud Soukar, did not get anything.

“Two planes carrying aid went into the air … I didn’t get anything out of them. I followed the planes where they dropped [the aid]. They dropped [the aid] about 3km from where people gathered, and I didn’t get aid,” he said. “This is a very difficult situation.”

Massad Ghaban said he did not receive any aid from either the trucks that entered Gaza or the planes.

“We didn’t get aid from the trucks. After that, they said planes would airdrop aid, so we waited for that as well, we waited as well for the planes,” the young man told Reuters. “The planes are insulting for us; we are a people who deserve dignity.”

Meanwhile, the Government Media Office in Gaza said there were three airdrops of aid on Sunday that dropped an amount equivalent to two truckloads. Much of the cargo fell in Israeli militarised zones where civilians cannot enter, it said.

“What is happening is a farce in which the international community is complicit through false promises or misleading information,” it added.

_{A plane drops aid over Gaza as seen from northern Gaza, July 27}

Attack on residential building in Gaza City kills 3

A source at al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City has reported that three Palestinians were killed and several others injured in an Israeli bombardment on an apartment block in the east of Gaza City.

Israeli forces kill 41 people across Gaza since dawn

Sources in Gaza hospitals tell Al Jazeera that 41 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks across Gaza since dawn today, including eight civilians who were targeted while waiting for humanitarian aid.

Netanyahu denies reports of Israeli attacks on Christians

The Israeli PM has addressed an audience of evangelical Christians in Jerusalem, in a speech heavily focused on what he said were “bold-faced” lies about Israel.

Netanyahu focused on solidarity between Christians and Jews in his speech, claiming Christians are protected in Israel “as nowhere else in the Middle East”, a “truth”, he said, “is being reversed, put on its head by a campaign of lies”.

His comments come amid wide condemnation of Israeli attacks on Christians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Most recently, an Israeli attack on the Holy Family Church in Gaza City on July 17 killed at least three people.

Speaking at the event hosted by evangelical TV network Daystar, with White House faith adviser Paula White, Netanyahu said, “I can think of no one who can carry this battle alongside us. We have fought this battle together; we shall win it together.”

Netanyahu also accused the UN of lying in his 10-minute speech, saying, “Stop lying. Stop finding excuses … There is no starvation in Gaza, no policy of starvation in Gaza.”

But Church leaders in Jerusalem, who visited Gaza last week, have condemned the situation in Gaza as “morally unacceptable”. The Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, told reporters that people were starving in Gaza and that “humanitarian aid is not only necessary; it is a matter of life and death”.

What does Christianity say about lying? The Ninth Commandment, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor"...
Proverbs 6:17 says lying is an abomination to the Lord.
Proverbs 12:22 tells us, “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord; but they that deal truly are His delight.”

As well as Judaism
The Torah teaches bluntly in the civil code, “From a lying word stay far away” (Exodus/Sh'mot 23:7).

Preaching lies to evangelical Christians, good move... Netanyahu's gaslighting days are over, he's the one putting the truth on its head with a campaign full of lies. It's all projection, everything that comes out of Netanyahu's mouth.

Although maybe that's still too good to attribute 'projection' to someone like Netanyahu as that implies he still has some shame. "A defense mechanism where individuals unconsciously attribute their own unacceptable thoughts, feelings, or behaviors to others" He's doing it deliberately to sow enough doubt in the gullible to keep supporting Israel despite the clear evidence of genocide and mass man-made starvation.

Israeli settlers attack Palestinian Christian village in West Bank, PA says

A group of Israeli settlers have attacked the Palestinian town of Taybeh – home to 1,300 people, mostly Christians – in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Authority (PA).

The settlers set Palestinian vehicles ablaze and spray-painted “racist threats in Hebrew on homes and property”, the Ramallah-based PA wrote on X.

A Taybeh resident told the AFP news agency the attack took place about 2am (23:00 GMT on Sunday) and at least two vehicles were burned.

The PA’s Foreign Ministry condemned the attack, calling it “settler terrorism”.

Germany’s ambassador to Israel, Steffen Seibert, also condemned it, writing on X: “These extremist settlers may claim that God gave them the land. But they are nothing but criminals abhorrent to any faith.”

🚨 Israeli colonial settlers launched a terror attack tonight on the Christian Palestinian village of Taybeh (Ramallah), setting fire to Palestinian vehicles and spray-painting racist threats in Hebrew on homes and property. #WestBank #Taybeh pic.twitter.com/u0YTDG3Xbe

— Government Communication Center (@pal_gcc_en) July 28, 2025

Israel approves major settlement expansion in West Bank

Israeli authorities have approved three large-scale settlement expansion projects in Maale Adumim, an illegal Israeli settlement built on occupied Palestinian land east of Jerusalem, according to the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, a Palestinian government body, cited by the International Middle East Media Centre.

The plans could see the construction of more than 3,100 new housing units and aim to create full geographical continuity between Maale Adumim and the nearby industrial zone of Mishor Adumim. Both areas are located in the occupied West Bank between Jerusalem, Jericho, and the Jordan Valley.

Moayyad Shaaban, head of the commission and a Palestinian government minister, said the approvals represent a “race against time”.

He warned that the settlement expansion will intensify the isolation of surrounding Palestinian communities and is part of a wider strategy to entrench Israeli control on the West Bank.

Obama slams ‘travesty’ of starvation deaths in Gaza

Former US President Barack Obama has taken to social media to call for immediate action to prevent innocent civilians from starving to death in Gaza.

In a post on X, he said that a “lasting resolution to the crisis in Gaza must involve a return of all hostages and a cessation of Israel’s military operations”. But recent reports of the hunger crisis in the Palestinian enclave “underscore the immediate need for action to… prevent the travesty of innocent people dying of preventable starvation”, he said.

“Aid must be permitted to reach people in Gaza. There is no justification for keeping food and water away from civilian families,” he added.

While a lasting resolution to the crisis in Gaza must involve a return of all hostages and a cessation of Israel’s military operations, these articles underscore the immediate need for action to be taken to prevent the travesty of innocent people dying of preventable starvation.…

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) July 27, 2025

Countries that don’t pressure Israel ‘may be complicit’ in Gaza carnage, UN rights chief says

Volker Turk, the UN human rights chief, is urging participants in an upcoming conference on Palestinian statehood in New York to ramp up pressure on Israel to end the “carnage” in Gaza.

“Every day, we are watching the unspeakable tragedy in Gaza and the West Bank with horror and frustration,” Turk said in a video statement.

"I urge governments to use the opportunity of this conference for concrete action that puts all possible pressure on the Israeli government to end the carnage in Gaza permanently,” he said.

“Countries that fail to use their leverage may be complicit in international crimes,” he added.

The conference, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, will begin in New York on Monday and continue until Wednesday.

Ahead of tomorrow’s High-Level Conference on Palestine—I urge all parties to put all possible pressure on #Israel to end the carnage in #Gaza & work towards tangible progress on a two-State solution

The world will judge this Conference on what it delivershttps://t.co/mnVRKCAwIg pic.twitter.com/b3uYjZNM2g

— Volker Türk (@volker_turk) July 27, 2025

Australian legislator urges government to recognise Palestinian statehood

Ed Husic, a federal member of parliament from the governing Labour Party, has urged the Australian government to recognise the state of Palestine.

In an op-ed published in the Guardian Australia, Husic hailed France’s plan to recognise Palestinian statehood and wrote: “This is the moment for our nation to take a similar stand.”

“The fact that only over the weekend the Netanyahu government is allowing ‘minimal’ aid into the territory demonstrates that the actions of the French government mattered, they made a difference,” added the lawmaker, who was until recently a minister in the Australian Labor government.

Husic’s article comes after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia is not planning to “imminently” recognise Palestinian statehood, even as he acknowledged that Israel is “quite clearly” breaching international law by stopping food from reaching Gaza.


_{Protesters called for an end to Israel’s invasion of Gaza, in Sydney, Australia, on Sunday}


Trump expects a Thank you for supporting militarizing aid for ethic cleansing purposes with daily massacres of aid seekers.

Trump says he expected ‘thank you’ for donations to GHF

In response to a question from a reporter on whether Israel should be doing more to allow food into Gaza, Trump said: “We gave $60m two weeks ago for food for Gaza, and nobody acknowledged it.”

“You know, you really at least want to have somebody say thank you. No other country gave anything,” he said. “None of the European countries, by the way, gave. I mean, nobody gave but us.”

Trump appears to have been referring to US donations to the US- and Israel-backed GHF.

The controversial agency has been heavily criticised by the UN and other humanitarian organisations for failing to provide enough aid and for the dire security situation at and around its aid points. Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians as they were trying to access food in Gaza since the GHF began operations at the end of May.

France to urge countries at UN to join ‘ambitious’ push for Palestinian state

Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot says France will use the international conference at the UN starting today to urge other countries to join it in recognising a Palestinian state.

In an interview published in La Tribune Dimanche, Barrot said France intends to formally recognise a Palestinian state in September, during the annual UN General Assembly in New York – a move President Emmanuel Macron announced last week.

“We will launch an appeal in New York so that other countries join us to initiate an even more ambitious and demanding dynamic that will culminate on September 21,” Barrot said.

He added that he expects Arab nations to condemn the Palestinian group Hamas and call for its disarmament by then.

The long-awaited conference, postponed after Israel launched attacks on Iran, is co-hosted by France and Saudi Arabia.

On Monday, at the UN headquarters in New York, it will aim to lay out a roadmap towards a two-state solution, including parameters for Palestinian statehood and guarantees for Israel’s security.

US, Israel will boycott conference on Israel-Palestine

The US and Israel will not participate in a conference hosted by France and Saudi Arabia on Israel and Palestine, set to begin in New York today.

A US State Department spokesperson described the conference as “a gift to Hamas, which continues to reject ceasefire proposals accepted by Israel that would lead to the release of hostages and bring calm in Gaza”, according to Reuters.

The spokesperson added that Washington voted against the UN General Assembly last year, calling for the conference and would “not support actions that jeopardise the prospect for a long-term, peaceful resolution to the conflict”.

Israel is also not taking part in the conference, “which doesn’t first urgently address the issue of condemning Hamas and returning all of the remaining hostages”, said Jonathan Harounoff, spokesperson at Israel’s UN mission.

Israel’s defence minister threatens to unleash ‘gates of hell’ in Gaza if captives not returned

Defence Minister Israel Katz says the government must soon make tough decisions about the war effort and has threatened escalation if Hamas does not free the captives.

“This is a complex war, beyond anything we’ve done in the past. We are approaching stages where decisions must be made,” Katz said in comments carried by Israel’s Ynet news site.

“If Hamas does not release the hostages, the gates of hell will open in Gaza.”

The hostages would have been long home if you had not broken the ceasefire in March... But you would have found different excuses to keep beating the war drums. Lebanon and Syria don't have any hostages and keep getting bombed...

UN chief says world must reject ‘hunger as weapon of war’

Speaking via video at a UN conference in Ethiopia, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warns of conflict-driven hunger spreading “from Gaza to Sudan and beyond”.

“Hunger fuels instability and undermines peace. We must never accept hunger as a weapon of war,” the UN chief said.

_{Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen in Gaza City on July 26}

Lawyers meet some Handala crew members detained by Israel

Lawyers from the Israeli legal rights centre Adalah had met 17 of the 21 detained activists from the Handala aid vessel as of Sunday evening, finding them in a “relatively stable condition”, the Freedom Flotilla said in a post on social media.

“Israel is treating them as if they entered illegally, despite abducting them from international waters,” the statement said.

“Detainees were told to either accept ‘voluntary deportation’ or remain detained and appear before a tribunal,” the statement added.

Two US-Israel dual nationals were interrogated and released, while three were being deported, and 12 others were still detained, the group said.

Adalah was yet to meet activist Ange Sahuquet, retired international law professor Frank Romano, and journalists Mohamed El Bakkali and Waad Aal Musa, as of 8pm Jerusalem time (17:00 GMT) on Sunday.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DMoKrhnss_8

Keir Starmer to recall cabinet over Israel’s war on Gaza

The British PM has called an emergency meeting on Israel’s war on Gaza, as pressure mounts at home and abroad to push for a ceasefire.

Sources told The Guardian the government would call ministers back from their summer holidays, setting out the next steps to help resolve the crisis in Gaza.

It comes as Keir Starmer is set to meet Trump in Scotland on Monday, where he will urge the US to take a tougher stance on Israel and help restart stalled ceasefire negotiations.

Starmer will reportedly press Trump at his Turnberry golf resort in Ayrshire to use US influence over the Israeli government to push for renewed peace talks.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy is also expected to attend a UN conference in New York this week focused on a two-state solution, where the issue of formally recognising a Palestinian state will be discussed.

British media have reported that the UK’s recognition of Palestinian statehood is now considered a question of “when, not if”, as reports emerge of dissent within the government over the UK’s failure to act over Gaza.

Gaza needs 250,000 cans of baby formula per month

The Government Media Office says Gaza needs 600 trucks of aid per day and 250,000 cans of baby formula per month to meet the minimum needs of its starving population.

It said in a statement on Telegram that the “radical and urgent solution” was to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza and open the crossings unconditionally.