A Non-Coalition of the Unwilling

"We are not at war with anyone."

"[France's warship deployment's intent is to allow France] to respond to emergency situations [and evacuate French nationals if necessary."

"We stand by the side of our allies and our friends. There have been some interceptions that have continued in recent days."

French President Emmanuel Macron

Cargo ships and tankers are seen in the Strait of Hormuz on Feb. 25, 2026. (Giuseppe Cacace / AFP via Getty Images)

"We must be careful -- it's always a risky operation -- to make sure our warships are not targeted." 

"Because if they are attacked, we have to fire back."

Former French President Francois Hollande 

 

"It is not NATO's war. NATO is an alliance to defend the alliance area."

"[Berlin has taken note but] The United States did not consult us before this war, and so we believe this is not a matter for NATO or the German government."

Stefan Kornelious, spokesman for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz

 

"It's only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the strait [of Hormuz] will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there."

"If there's no response or if it's a negative response, I think it will be very bad for the future of NATO."

U.S. President Donald Trump

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks before signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House on Monday. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/The Associated Press)

 

The American President, during the U.S.-Israeli aerial strikes against the Islamic Republic of Iran and the consequential blockading by Iran of the Strait of Hormuz to the world's 1/5th most important shipping route, has asked his allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and others, that includes France, China, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom for their assistance in securing global shipping through the strait. Thus far there have been far more demurrals than offers of assistance. Appealing to China, in any event, would be a non-starter since it has allied itself with Iran and signed a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, in its thirst for Iranian oil. 

"From our perspective, it [the Strait of Hormuz] is open -- just not for the U.S., Israel and its allies."

"[There have been] delusional [claims that Iran is searching for a negotiated end to the war]."

"[Wrong, Iran seeks nether] truce nor talks." 

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi

Smoke can be seen in the distance from Dubai International Airport after a drone struck a fuel tank, forcing the temporary suspension of flights on Monday. (The Associated Press)

 

At the present time, cargo ships are stuck waiting in the Gulf, or have the alternative of a much longer detour around the southern tip of Africa. As the war in Iran continues, there will appear shortages and price increases on a widening range of goods, beyond soaring energy prices. The wider global supply chain beyond energy includes pharmaceuticals from India, semiconductors from Asia and Middle East-derived products such as fertilizers from oil byproducts. 

 

Foreign citizens from around the world work in the Middle East; more than any other country in Europe, France alone has over 400,000 of its citizens working there; with over 60,000 in the United Arab Emirates. Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Greece have deployed their frigates in the region. France has signed key defence agreements with several countries; Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates -- a permanent base in Abu Dhabi where French air and naval forces saw a doubling of Rafale fighter jets.

 

Typhoon and F-35 fighter jets, helicopters and air defence systems have been sent by the U.K. to assist in intercepting Iranian missiles and drones and to protect British troops stationed across the region, particularly in Cyprus and Qatar, along with Britain's other partners in the Middle East. France's Rafale jets have intercepted drones from Iran targeting the U.A.E. since the war's beginning. 

 

France's President Macon urged Iran to halt strikes against regional countries as the first Western leader to speak directly with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian since the war broke out. It will be remembered that President Macron was always the first, the second and the third to speak with Vladimir Putin about his invasion of Ukraine. According to Mr. Macron "a diplomatic solution" is required to put a stop to the escalation. As  a major peacemaker, Mr. Macron spoke as well with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump.

 

The war continues. 

 

Fire and smoke rise from Dubai’s international airport on Monday after a ‘drone-related incident’. Flights were disrupted. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

"The feeling is, this is not Europe’s war."

"Of course we are allies with America, but we don’t really understand their moves recently."

"We haven’t been consulted, and we don’t really understand, what are the objectives of this war."

"It is in our interest to keep the Strait of Hormuz open." 

Kaja Kallas, EU foreign policy chief 

When Speaking One's Mind Leads to a Prison Term

"If a trans-identified male is in  female-only space, he is committing a violent, abusive act."

"Make a scene, call the cops and if all else fails, punch  him in the balls." 

Irish writer Graham Linehan 'Father Ted sitcom creator'

Irish comedy writer Graham Linehan,  Reuters

 

"The Graham Linehan case is yet another example of the war on freedom in the U.K. Free speech is under assault, and I am urging the U.S.A. to be vigilant."

"[Britain is in a] really awful authoritarian situation. At what point did we become North Korea?" 

"Well I think the Irish comedy writer found that out two days ago at Heathrow Airport. This is a genuinely worrying, concerning and shocking situation."

Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK 

 

"It is routine for officers policing airports to carry firearms. These were not drawn or used at any point during the arrest."

"[The law needs changing; officers would now pursue social media posts only] where there is a clear risk of harm or disorder. Where there is ambiguity in terms of intent and harm, policing has been left between a rock and a hard place by successive governments who have given officers no choice but to record such incidents as crimes when they're reported."

"I don't believe we should be policing toxic culture war debates."

Metropolitan Police Chief Mark Rowley 

Protesters gather outside the Old Bailey, London, on August 22, where six people appeared over charges relating to a Palestine Action protest at Israeli-linked firm Elbit Systems.

Ben Whitley/PA/AP

 

In the United Kingdom, where posting social media statements can haunt people to the extent that they may be arrested and charged and imprisoned -- from housewives to teenagers incautious enough to post how they feel about controversial social issues in a Britain whose laws have been interpreted to the point where police are tasked with monitoring social media to isolate and 'catch' people believing they have a moral and ethical right as citizens of a free country to remark on issues they find fault with -- soon discover how wrong they've been.

 

Emmy award-winning comedy writer Graham Lineham revealed that he had been arrested by five armed police officers at Heathrow Airport on Monday over his social media posts. The Metropolitan Police issued their own statement that a man had been arrested on arriving on a flight from the United States, on suspicion of inciting violence through posts on the X platform.

 

Prime Minister Starmer handled this hot potato by relieving himself of any responsibility, speaking to Parliament several days later, that "we have a long history of free speech in this country ... we must ensure the police focus on the most serious issues". 

 

The arrest, pointed out Mr. Linehan, related to three of his messages on X. JK Rowling, the Harry Potter creator, spoke of the arrest as "utterly deplorable", a "totalitarian" response to an innocent series of posts. The issue gave X owner Elon Musk yet another opportunity to criticize the "police state" that Britain has become. Mr. Musk's frequent and incendiarily contemptful posts highlighting the British/Pakistani rape culture that has entrapped young British girls which the British government has failed to adequately and appropriately react to, has highlighted the plight of a Western country steeped in identity politics.

 

The government is clearly confused over which issues bedevilling its society require attention and which can be set aside. Its banning of the campaign group Palestine Action as a terrorist group following activists breaking into a U.K. airbase and damaging planes and the subsequent arrests of hundreds who agitate for the group and harass and threaten British Jews is in another category altogether, although government officials and police by extension have failed to make that distinction.

 

Issues relating to swarms of migrants entering the United Kingdom, crossing in small boats through the English Channel from France, leaving the government to put them up in hotels has created other distinct problems for both the populace and government agencies when the occasional migrant resident of those crammed hotels commits a criminal act -- usually of a sexually abusive nature, and often targeting underage girls, leading to massive protests against their presence. 

 

Last year a woman was sentenced to 31 months in prison for having written "set fire to all the ... hotels [housing asylum seekers] ... for all I care." She was accused and found guilty of inciting to violence, an interpretation of a passive expression of disgust and irritation that travelled far from its intention.

 

During a White House meeting with Starmer in February, U.S. Vice-President JD Vance raised the issue. 

For Nigel Farage, Linehan's arrest was "rather timely" in regard to his invitation to give evidence this week before the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee at a hearing on "European threats to free speech".

 

As for Mr. Linehan,  who has denied the charge that his posts represented "a call to violence" targeting trans women, he has been released on bail. But he is in no way in the clear, having appeared at London's Westminster Magistrates Court a day later, in an entirely different case, facing charges of harassment and criminal damage against a trans woman. The 57-year-old comic published a series of "abusive and vindictive" posts about Sophia Brooks, 18, the Court heard.

 

His posts included speaking of the complainant - whom he referred to as Tarquin - as a "deeply disturbed sociopath" and a "domestic terrorist". Linehan had posted that the activist was "behind countless episodes of harassment of women and gay men both online and off", and that "he is a deeply disturbed sociopath and I believe he had some involvement in an homophobic attack".

 

TV comedy producer Graham Linehan is shown on May 12 in London, wearing a T-shirt celebrating a recent U.K. Supreme Court ruling. (Lucy North/PA/The Associated Press)

 

Securing Justice

"I stand here not just as a mother but as a broken soul whose life changed forever the day my child's life was taken from me by another child."

"I ask myself what has happened to those two boys that has resulted in that terrible act of violence, and I cannot imagine how can they be so angry."

"What they did was horrific and I do not know what has led them to do this, and maybe I will never."

"At least my son is at peace, and those two kids are going to have a really tough time." 

"To the young people who carry knives, I beg you to stop before you raise that blade."

"Don't let a moment of anger steal your future. Don't let the streets raise you in a way your mother never would. There is no power in death, only loss."

Marie Bokassa, mother of murder victim, Kelyan Bokassa

 

"[The teenager looked around and out of the windows before taking his seat] giving every impression that he was concerned for his safety."

"Kelyan Bokassa had no time to reach for his own knife, which remained in his trousers, and instead tried in vain to protect himself with his school bag."

"Since Kelyan Bokassa was seated on the back seat, he was cornered, unable to escape as the defendants repeatedly thrust their knives towards him, smiling as they did so." 

"There were several other passengers on the top deck who fled in panic when they realized what was happening. They describe hearing intense screaming from the back of the bus and the victim shouting, 'Help. Help. I've been stabbed'."

Prosecutor Deanna Heer KC 

Ms Bokassa told the court her son had loved food, cooking and football, and brought her flowers on her birthday  Photo: Family handout

 

On January7, 2025, a 14-year-old aspiring rapper seated himself on the top deck of a London bus on his way to an appointment. Two minutes after Kelyan Bokassa boarded that bus, another two boys aged 16 and 15, who appeared to know that Kelyan would be on the bus, got on as well. They made their way over to where Kelyan  was seated. Kelyan had stuck a small kitchen knife under his belt for whatever reason. The two boys who confronted him on the top of the double-decker bus had boarded it with machetes concealed under their clothing.

 

As the prosecution described it: The pair walked towards Kelyan "with purpose" and without speaking a word to their victim, thrust their machetes at him 27 times while smiling. The attack lasted 14 seconds. The briefest of intervals in the lives of three boys, leaving one dead and the surviving two hunted by police. Kelyan was buried, his 15th birthday celebrated by his mother at the cemetery where he was buried. The  two boys were found and charged, to await their day in court.

 

When Kelyan was lethally assaulted, CCTV showed him stumbling through the aisle while other passengers, shocked and transfixed around him watched him bleeding and stumbling along, heading for the stairs. Another passenger moved to assist him. And Kelyan was overheard to have said:  “Take me to my mum’s. I want my mum,” before he collapsed, bleeding heavily from a wound to the leg. When the bus stopped the other two boys fled the bus.

A passing police car was flagged down by members of the public, and officers entering the bus found Kelyan had collapsed, his body limp. Attempts to save him failed and the boy died at the scene. The two boys with their machetes had slashed him no fewer than 27 times. At the time they stood trial, pleading guilty, which would have reduced the penalty they might expect at judgement, they were both 16, their identities shielded from the public under British law, as under-aged defendants. 

Metropolitan Police   The attack was captured on CCTV cameras

 

Judge Mark Lucraft KC told the court at the Old Bailey: "For any parent to lose a child is a tragedy. No sentence of a court can truly reflect the loss of a young life." When he sentenced the two teens to life in prison he explained that one boy was a "victim of child criminal exploitation who had faced "a history of trauma". The second boy, he went on, was also exploited by gangs from the age of 12, experiencing "undiagnosed developmental needs." 

 

"Life in prison" for these two cold-blooded young murderers will be reflected by a minimum term of 15 years. In all likelihood, both will serve considerably less time incarcerated, given the trend to exceptionalism when sentencing those committing serious crimes in society, including murder in the first degree, taking into account their 'deprived' past experiences with the focus on social justice for the malefactors, leaving the public aghast at the consequences of sympathetic justice for malefactors while their victims remain afterthoughts. 

"This case has been deeply troubling for all involved and our thoughts remain with Kelyan’s family and loved ones."

"The harsh reality in London is that violence disproportionately affects young black men and boys. The fact we’re seeing so many teenagers like Kelyan die should be at the forefront of the minds of every politician, every policy maker and everyone who wants better for children growing up in London. Without this collective effort, we won’t be able to tackle knife crime in its entirety."

"Finally, I would like to recognize the members of the public that comforted Kelyan in his final moments and the witnesses who entrusted my investigation team with their testimonies. It was your bravery that helped us secure justice. Thank you." 

Detective Chief Inspector Sarah Lee, Metropolitan London Police 

 

"My child had a name, it was Kelyan, a future, a heartbeat full of hope. That life was not theirs to take."

"That moment of violence may have lasted seconds, but the consequences are eternal. They didn’t just take a life; they shattered an entire world."

"They broke a family, they buried a future, and they left me, a mother dead inside with wounds no justice can ever heal."

Marie Bokassa 

Kelyan and Marie Bokassa, Still from video

 

 

 

 

 

Girding for Battle in Europe -- the U.K. on Alert

 Credit AP

"[The United Kingdom is set to become] a battle-ready, armour-clad nation. [Britain] cannot ignore the threat that Russia poses." 

"The threat we face is more serious, more immediate and more unpredictable than at any time since the Cold War."

"[Britain is prepared to build] at least six new munitions factories [which the government says will generate over 1,000 jobs and produce] thousands of new long-range weapons [supporting around 800 additional positions]."

"[We will create] an Army which is ten times more lethal by 2035 [through the integration of drones, destroyers, AI, and aircraft across all service branches. We will] end the hollowing out of our armed forces [while delivering] the biggest armed forces pay rise in 20 years."

Prime Minister Keir Starmer 

 

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech during a visit to BAE Systems' Govan facility on June 2, 2025, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Andy Buchanan - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

 A new "hybrid Navy" with Aukus submarines and autonomous vessels that can patrol the North Atlantic

• £15bn to be spent on new nuclear warheads
• Commitment to £1.5bn to build six new factories to enable an "always on" munitions production capacity
• Building up to 7,000 long-range weapons including missiles or drones in the UK, to be used by British forces
• Pledge to set up a "cyber and electromagnetic command" to boost the military's defensive and offensive capabilities in cyberspace
• Extra £1.5bn to 2029 to fund repairs to military housing
• £1bn on technology to speed up delivery of targeting information to soldiers

Strategic Defence Review (SDR) 

The defence secretary visited defence company BAE Systems in Glasgow with the prime minister earlier   PA Media

 

The plan calls for the United Kingdom to build new nuclear-powered attack submarines, to prepare its army for combat, envisioning a war in Europe. Britain's prime minister informed the public their country was in the process of seriously increasing military spending, a move publicized with the design to alert both Moscow and Washington. He pledged sweeping changes to British defences far in excess of anything undertaken since the collapse over 30 years ago of the Soviet Union.

 

Spurred by the charges levelled by American President Donald Trump that the U.S. would not defend any NATO member that failed to prioritize its military spending, NATO member-countries have been reassessing defence spending, taking into account the grim circumstances of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.  A strategic defence review undertaken at the behest of Mr. Starmer, led by a former U.K. defence secretary and NATO secretary-general, George Robertson, led to the U.K. government announcing these plans for the military.

 

In a Europe shaken and transformed by Russia's war in Ukraine and the re-election of U.S. President Donald Trump last year, the review lays out the vulnerability of Europe in the unsettling reality that a resurgent Russia under President Vladimir Putin in his goal of re-establishing Russia as a world power with the intention of returning to the days of the USSR and the capture of Russia's near-abroad neighbours in a new rendition of satellite dependents along with the abandonment of its most powerful ally now extending sympathy to Moscow's land claims in Ukraine, the prospect of a future of uncertainty and potential occupation and conflict has fed European paranoia. 

 

UK Ministry of Defence

 

 At the time of the previous major defence review, then-prime minister Boris Johnson stated his confidence that the era of "fighting big tank battles on European land mass" are over. His confidence was betrayed when three months later, Moscow sent its tanks into Ukraine. In a rapidly changing world, where certainties of territorial aggression have once again come to the fore, the current British government is prepared to accept all 62 recommendations in the current review. Its commitment to confront threats looming on land, air, sea and cyberspace is total.

 

Now measures such as increased production of submarines and weapons and "learning the lessons of Ukraine" which took the initiative in defending its sovereignty with a focus on producing its own advanced drone technology to counter Russian forces, to the extent of reaching out to strike targets deep within Russia has inspired other European countries and deepened the commitment of Britain, Germany, and Poland to back Ukraine even more strenuously in an effort to prop up Kyiv, left high and dry by the Trump administration.

 

The U.K. plans to establish a cyber command to counter daily Russia-linked attacks. There is an intention to build up to a dozen nuclear-powered conventionally armed submarines under the AUKUS partnership with Australia and the United States. As well, the government plans to invest 15 billion pounds in Britain's nuclear arsenal; missiles carried on a handful of submarines. Britain's conventional weapons stockpiles will link with six new munitions factories and some 7,000 U.K.-built long-range weapons. 

 

British soldiers from the 16 Air Assault Brigade training in North Macedonia. Pic: AP

 

"The Concept of Sex is Binary, a Person is Either a Woman or a Man"

"[The terms] woman [and] sex [in Britain's 2010 Equality Act which bans sex discrimination at work and in society], refer to a biological woman and biological sex."

"[It would make] no sense [for conduct under the Equality Act to be regulated] by reference to categories that can only be ascertained by knowledge of who possesses a [confidential] certificate."

"[The definition of a] woman] under Britain's gender equality law is based on a person's sex assigned at birth]."

"[The definition of sex] in the Equality Act makes clear that the concept of sex is binary, a person is either a woman or a man. [Provisions of the Act that refer to protections for women] necessarily exclude men". 

Supreme Court of the United Kingdom

 

"[The issue of legally defining sex] has been a battleground [and as a result the ruling will probably be seen as] very symbolic, very significant."

"But in some ways, it's quite a specific judgement turning on a particular point of statutory interpretation."

"We'll have to wait and see what the wider symbolic political ramifications [are]."

Colm O'Cinneide, professor of constitutional and human rights law, University College London

For Women Scotland's Susan Smith and Marion Calder celebrated outside court after their appeal was upheld.  Dan Kitwood/GettyImages

 

This was a unanimous ruling by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, announced on Wednesday. Commenting on the ruling's narrow but "important" implications, professor of constitutional and human rights law Colm O'Cinneide warned that it could affect transgender people's access to specific single-sex services and spaces in the country.

 

 The LGB Alliance advocates for rights of lesbians, bisexuals and gay men, an intervenor in the case as a third party, celebrated the ruling as "a watershed for women and, in particular, lesbians who have seen their rights and identities undermined over the last decade."

 

The advocacy group For Women Scotland responsible for filing the case, stated on social media that its members were "absolutely jubilant". Formed in 2018, in responding to plans by the government of Scotland to give ease to the legal change of one's gender identity through the elimination of a requirement for a medical diagnosis for dysphoria, the group has now seen its campaign through to fruition to their great satisfaction.

 

 Campaigners celebrate on Wednesday, after Britain's top court delivered unanimous judgement that the definition of a woman under equality law refers to "biological sex."

Henry Nicholls/AFP/Getty Images

Reading out the judgement, the five-member court's deputy president Patrick Hodge took care to counsel against the interpretation of the ruling "as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another" -- as, for example, challenging the rights of people assigned female at birth against those of transgender women. Transgender people see protection from discrimination under the Equality Act in other ways; the court's ruling was to prevent that statute from incoherent language undermining its purpose.

 

A complaint had been filed by For Women Scotland in 2022, challenging guidelines on the recognition of transgender people that the Scottish government issued ... which gave rise to For Women Scotland Ltd. v. The Scottish Ministers. A law requiring equal opportunities for women on public boards -- that people issued with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) identifying them as women -- led to the guidelines prompted by a successful legal challenge that the GRC identifies holders as women who should be considered so, for Equality Act purposes. 

These are official documents issued by the British government to a  transgender individual for legal recognition of their gender identity where a Gender Recognition Panel comprised of legal or medical experts evaluates applications. With a GRC people can update their British marriage or civil partnership certification. Only adults diagnosed with gender dysphoria or who have had gender-affirming surgery and lived that gender role for two years are eligible, with the intention of living in the gender for the rest of their lives.

 

The argument For Women Scotland fielded was that the Equality Act protections for women should apply to those whose assigned sex at birth is female, only. People who undergo gender-affirming surgery are provided with specific protections under the act. The group had no intention of altering those protections, but argued that "for women to have full rights and protection it is important that 'sex' is clarified as referring to biology".  

Women's rights activists hold placards outside the U.K. Supreme Court to challenge gender recognition laws, in London, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

 

"This ruling brings clarity and confidence, for women and service providers such as hospitals, refuges, and sports clubs."

"Single-sex spaces are protected in law and will always be protected by this government."

British government statement

Video Game Glorifying Terrorism

"Where are those who carry the explosive belts? Where are them [sic]? Come here, I want an explosive belt to blow up myself over the Zionists!!! It is a jihad, a jihad of victory or martyrdom!" 

"You became a martyr. Rejoice, O mother of the martyr. Rejoice! Prepare your son for his marriage [in paradise], tie the band on all your pain and spread his wedding handkerchief, spread your anger against the oppressor, his injustice must be stopped."

"Allahu akbar. From the river to the sea."

"Today is the Day of Avenge [sic]. I will make you taste the pain and burn you like rats! We are people who never surrender, we either win or become martyrs, and both are victory!"

Fursan al-Aqsa: The Knights of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, gameplay

"Fursan al-Aqsa is not a mere 'game', but a display in utter sadism."

"In glorifying the barbaric atrocities of October 7th, the creator is effectively contributing to the recruitment and radicalization of potential terrorists and inciting them to recreate and carry out such gruesome acts of violence."

"This may place both the creator of the game and the distributor Steam, and parent company, Valve, in direct violation of Canada's anti-terror legislation and Criminal Code."

Arson Ostrovsky, chief executive, International Legal Forum (ILF)

"This game does not promote 'terrorism', antisemitism, hate against Jews or any other group, this is a message of protest against the Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian lands. Fursan al-Aqsa is a video game about war like many other games here on Steam [Six days in Fallujah, Call of Duty and others]."

"All the Characters, Art and Storylines depicted in this game are purely the work of fiction. Any similarity to persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. The plot of this game is a fictional history inspired by real facts. Even the political and military groups depicted on the game are fictional. In this game, the player does not shoot Israeli civilians, women, children, elderly, only soldiers."

Steam disclaimer

Steam Website Advert

 

In late 2021, prior to the release of this game, Valve was warned by the International Legal Forum (ILF), a global network of lawyers organized to combat antisemitism, that distributing Fursan al-Aqsa could be a "direct violation of United States anti-terror laws and (be) subject to potential civil litigation". That warning doesn't appear to have impressed the distributor of the game, one whit. The video game glorifying the October attack on Israel remains available on the digital distribution service, Steam.

Originally released in 2022, following the Hamas invasion of southern Israel in 2023, an updated version invites players to recreate some atrocities like attacking an Israeli military base with the use of motorized paragliders, the very tactic Hamas engaged in on October 7. In the United Kingdom, the game was pulled from Steam when the country's digital counterterrorism unit contacted the company. The game remains accessible for Canadian users on Steam, and Black Friday sales saw it heavily discounted.

One of the world's largest online gaming marketplaces, Valve Corp., the parent company of Steam, is not interested in explaining itself. Gameplay footage shows militants chanting "Allahu akbar" and "From the river to the sea" on YouTube. Players can dress as kaffiyeh-uniformed terrorists wearing the Hamas-conventional green headbands. While Israeli forces in the game are identified with an inverted red triangle; the Hams symbol used in its propaganda videos designed to demonstrate by the triangle that whoever is identified with it, is ripe for death.

ILF chief executive Arsen Ostrovsky warned that the company's decision not to remove the game for its Canadian users, may lead his group to "consider pursuing immediate legal action". The game developer, Brazilian-Palestinian Nidal Nijim, claims that Fursan al-Aqsa doesn't encourage antisemitism; as a war-based shooter game, like many others, it merely offers a different perspective on  ongoing conflicts. His disingenuous claim that players do not "shoot Israeli civilians, women, children, elderly, only soldiers", essentially white-washes reality to make the game more palatable to players and immune from criticism.

Before its post-October 7 update, older footage shows opening credits featuring a Palestinian militant with a suicide vest. Abu Ubaida, the name of a recognizable Hamas spokesperson representing its al-Qassam Brigades 'military wing', is the game's narrator. Nijim in an interview with a YouTube game reviewer identifies his "father is a former Palestinian fighter as well" -- with the Yasser Arafat-led terror group Fatah.

"Authorities in Canada should follow the lead of their British counterparts, where police and counterterrorism authorities prohibited its sale across the U.K., due to concerns that such violent and extremist online material may be used as a tool to recruit potential terrorists and incite acts of violence."

Arsen Ostrovsky, ILF

Intimidation, Harassment = Fear

"There is a  high threat of terrorist attack globally affecting U.K. interests and British nationals, including from groups and individuals who view the U.K. and British nationals as targets. You should remain vigilant at all times."

"Terrorists are very likely to try to carry out attacks in Canada."

"Attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places visited by foreigners. You should remain aware of your surroundings, keep up to date with local media reports and follow the advice of local authorities."

British government travel advisory

A person draped in a Union Jack passes the British High Commission in Ottawa after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Photo by DAVE CHAN /Getty

"We are continuing to make sure that we are doing everything we possibly can to keep Canadians safe."

"We understand that these are trying times around the world right now, but the best thing we can do as Canadians is stay true to our values, be respectful of one another, feel each other's pain, and be there to support others through these very difficult times of a rise in hatred, including Islamophobia and antisemitism."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Protesters hold Palestinian flags outside the U.S. Consulate in Toronto on Saturday. (Kyaw Soe Oo/Reuters)

 

At a time when Hamas supporters marching under the guise of pro-Palestinian sentiments have been rampaging through the streets of Canada's cities, chanting phrases for the destruction of Israel, when Islamist thugs threaten pro-Israel counter-protesters, and Jewish community centres and synagogues are fire-bombed, Jewish parochial schools are found with bullet holes shot at their doors, and Jewish university students face harassment and threats and physical violence, while Jewish businesses are boycotted, Canada's prime minister, calling for calm and civility mentions 'Islamophobia' as a concern, before remembering to mention antisemitism.

All the more cynical -- and it would be amusing under less dire circumstances -- when it is Muslims and Islamophiles that are the source of threats to Jews. Perhaps less surprising than it might be in a recollection that this prime minister's father, Pierre Elliot Trudeau invited the UN representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization -- at a time when the PLO was officially designated as a terrorist organization -- to Canada, to speak in Parliament, in 1984.

And it is telling, somehow that the government of Britain views the threat level in Canada assessed by the United Kingdom's intelligence officials to be on the 'high' spectrum, in contrast to Canada's lack of concern. The U.K. government website posting a link to the web page for national terrorism threat levels for Canada where the current level seems to remain stuck at medium: "a violent act of terrorism could occur"; the middle of five levels.

One level up, "high" means a violent act of terrorism is likely, while the highest level, "critical", indicates a warning that an act is highly likely and could occur imminently. The British warning of "very likely" translates as attacks falling between the two highest levels. The current level listed on the Canadian website has been in place at "medium" for about ten years, dating back to October 2014.

During Question Period in the House of Commons the issue was addressed when Pierre Poilievre, the Conservative opposition leader, asked the prime minister whether he agreed with the assessment of the U.K. Foreign Office assessment."Terrorists", noted Mr. Poilievre, "are not interested in feeling other people's pain; they are interested in causing other people pain", inviting the prime minister to expound on the difference in threat level assessment.

 

A pro-Palestinian demonstrator uses a megaphone to address a crowd in Toronto. There were four pro-Palestinian rallies in the city on Friday. (Prasanjeet Choudhury/CBC)

 

"I cannot speak to how other countries make their determination on travel advisories, but I can say that the work is done daily in Canada to assess the threat level to Canadians and what can be communicated to keep them safe. We elevated the threat level to medium in 2014, and it has remained at that level since. Every single day, we re-evaluate and ensure that we are doing everything we can, privately and publicly to keep Canadians safe. We have top security agencies and officials who work daily to re-assess the threat levels to Canadians. They are working every single day to keep Canadians safe and they will continue to keep Canadians informed on the best ways to keep safe."

Statements that will offer no comfort whatever to the Jews in Canada whose children fear attending school because of being bullied by children of Arab or Muslim origins, Jewish students at institutes of higher learning who face harassment and threats from Arab/Muslim fellow students, shopkeepers whose premises see gatherings of protesters blocking access to customers, and Jewish homeowners removing mezuzahs from their door frames because they identify the houses as belonging to Jewish residents.

The threats and the violence and the fear are all real and they are happening on the streets of Canadian cities where confrontations take place that escalate dangerously as some in the pro-Palestinian crowds shout neighbourly blessings such as "gas them" or call for the destruction of Israel. These threats to peoples' safety and comfort living in a country which Jews have been part of since the 16th Century represent a level of implied terrorism, but this government that professes equality among all, has done nothing to quell the violence as a reassurance to Canadian Jews.

The fear of alienating Liberal followers at the ballot box is obviously far more compelling than the protection and reassurance geared toward a portion of the population smaller in number than their opponents. "It's not for the U.K. government to comment upon the Canadian government's assessment of the threat from terrorism", stated a spokesman for the British High Commission in Canada, whose own government has done precious little to reassure their own Jewish population much less protect them from the rabid attacks of U.K. Islamists.

A Pro-Palestinian rally at Queen's Park drew more than 500 people on Friday afternoon. (Prasanjeet Choudhury/CBC)

United Kingdom: Saving Lives, Saving Health Dollars

Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

"[My intention is to] stop teenagers taking up cigarettes n the first place."

"People take up cigarettes when they're  young. Four in five smokers have started by the time they're twenty. Later, the vast majority try to quit ... If we could break that cycle, if we could stop the start, then we would be on our way to ending the biggest cause of preventable death and disease in our country."

"No parent ever wants their child to start smoking. It is a deadly habit – killing tens of thousands of people and costing our NHS billions each year, while also being hugely detrimental to our productivity as a country."

"I want to build a better and brighter future for our children, so that’s why I want to stamp out smoking for good. These changes will mean our kids will never be able to buy a cigarette, preventing them getting hooked and protecting their health both now and in the future."  

British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak

"This government’s plan to introduce ‘smoke-free generation’ legislation could become its defining legacy, righting a century-old wrong, with tobacco products being the only legally available commodity that, if used as intended, will kill over half of its lifelong users."

Lion Shahab, Academic co-director, tobacco and alcohol research group, University College London

 

"Raising the age of sale on tobacco products is a critical step on the road to creating the first ever smoke-free generation."

"If implemented, the prime minister will deserve great credit for putting the health of UK citizens ahead of the interests of the tobacco lobby."

Michelle Mitchell, chief executive, Cancer Research UK

• Government to introduce historic new law to protect future generations of young people from the harms of smoking.

• Smoking is the UK’s biggest preventable killer – causing around 1 in 4 cancer deaths and 64,000 in England alone – costing the economy and wider society £17 billion each year.

• Move would be the most significant public health intervention in a generation, saving tens of thousands of lives and saving the NHS billions of pounds. 

• Further crackdown on youth vaping will see government consult on restricting disposable vapes and regulating flavours and packaging to reduce their appeal to children.

It won't be a first, but it is a far-reaching solution, however unpopular it will be, to the massive threat to  human health and longevity smoking represents. It is a radical preventive measure applicable only in England once the proposal is approved by Parliament. But as a health measure for the future, the legal change could not apply in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. It would be up to them to decide whether they too feel such a measure is worthwhile legislating. 

 

New Zealand thought it was, and became the first country to do what the UK is proposing, last year.

 

The UK's Rishi Sunak saw fit this week to propose raising the legal age of cigarette purchases by a year, in Britain. The idea is that after the first year the legal age of purchase would rise another year, year after year, until eventually it reaches the point where it will be illegal for the entire population to purchase tobacco products.The initial goal is to reach the point where it will become illegal for young people to buy tobacco.

The prime minister's proposal was presented at the Conservative Party's annual conference. A step up from the current legislation where it is illegal for anyone to sell cigarettes or tobacco products to anyone under 18 years of age throughout the United Kingdom. The prime minister's office clarified the intention of the incremental changes; to stop children turning 14 years old this year and those even younger, from ever being sold cigarettes legally in England.

There is no intention at this point to criminalize smoking. Anyone who can legally buy cigarettes at the present time, will not be prevented from  continuing to do so in future. The intention wasn't to criminalize smoking. Since the 1970s the number of people in the UK who smoke declined by two-thirds. About 13 percent of the population -- 6.4 million people -- still smoke.

 

 In 2007 the legal age of sale for tobacco was raised from 16 to 18, by the British government. A move that succeeded in reducing prevalence of smoking among 16 and 17-year-olds, by 30 percent. With this latest announcement, a plan to increase the legal smoking age steadily, year over year, the nation's health experts have applauded the plan.

In addition to his tobacco cessation stance, Mr. Sunak said as well that his government would introduce measures restricting the availability of vapes (e-cigarettes), to children. At the present time it is illegal to sell vapes to children in the UK under age 18. Nonetheless youth vaping has tripled in the past three years; more British children vape now, than smoke.

"[This is a] prohibitionist wheeze [that is] hideously illiberal and unconservative."

"[It] will create a two-tier society in which adults buy cigarettes informally from slightly older adults and will inflate the black market in general."

Christopher Snowdon, head of lifestyle economics, Institute of Economic Affairs

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says smoking costs Britain's health services $32.6 billion a year.  (Reuters: Toby Melville)

Justice Sought in the Downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752

Family members who lost loved ones on Flight PS752 almost two years ago conducted their own probe into the aircraft's destruction. (Social media video via Reuters)

"Today's legal action reflects our unwavering commitment to achieving transparency, justice and accountability for the families of the victims."

"[Canada, the U.K., Sweden and Ukraine argue that Iran] failed to conduct an impartial, transparent, and fair criminal investigation and prosecution consistent with international law."

"[Iran withheld or destroyed evidence, blamed other countries and low level Revolutionary Guard personnel], threatened and harassed the families of the victims seeking justice [and failed to report details of the incident to the International Civil Aviation Organization."

Joint statement, Canada, United Kingdom, Sweden, Ukraine

A case was launched against Iran at the highest court of the United Nations over the 2020 downing of an Ukrainian passenger jet causing the death of all 176 passengers and crew. The four countries involved now urge the International Court of Justice to rule that Iran shot down the Ukraine International Airlines plane illegally, and to order an apology from Tehran in addition to paying compensation to the families of the victims, many of them Iranian-Canadians.

Travelling from Tehran to Kyiv on January 8, 2020, Flight PS752 was shot down soon after takeoff from Tehran's international airport. There had been flights earlier in the day and none had experienced anything out of the ordinary. Everything appeared to be in order, the airport functioning as normal even though Tehran itself was on guard, awaiting a potential strike from the United States. Yet the skies were not shut down as a temporary caution and matters proceeded as normal.

 

For that matter, Russia has never been called to account for its role in shooting down a Malaysian passenger jet in 2014 while it was flying over eastern Ukraine. Ethnic Russian Ukrainians supported by the Russian military in the Donbas in a conflict with Ukraine. The Dutch-led team of investigators reported in 2016 that a Buk surface-to-air missile launched from separatist-controlled east Ukraine       originated from the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade of the Russian Federation, transported from Russia on the day of the crash, fired from a field in a rebel-controlled area and the launch system returned to Russia afterwards.

 

Tehran had denied responsibility for the mid-air explosion of the Ukraine Airlines flight for days, until indisputable evidence was presented forcing Iran to admit to having 'inadvertently' shot the plane down by two missiles, finally claiming its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard had thought the passenger jet was an incoming U.S. missile, though the directions were in complete opposition; the plane in flight away from Tehran, whereas a missile would be approaching Tehran from the opposite direction.

 

A total of 175 people lost their lives, among them 55 Canadian-Iranian citizens, another 30 were permanent residents of Canada, plus dozens of Iranian students travelling to Canada on student visas. In Iran, Iranian citizens reacted with fury at their government, mourning the loss of innocent lives. Protests were quickly put down by the government in Tehran. Iranian authorities' insistence that an air defence operator mistook the Boeing 737-800 for an American cruise missile was less than palatable.

This year an Iranian court sentenced an air defence commander they claim was responsible for the loss of so many lives, to 13 years' imprisonment. The four countries that filed the case with the world court in The Hague consider that prosecution nothing less than "a sham and opaque trial". Last week, Iran filed a case against Canada linked to the shooting down of the Ukraine passenger jet, where it accused Canada of flouting state immunity when it permitted relatives of terrorism victims to seek reparations from the Islamic Republic.

Iran is such a law-abiding country under its theocratic regime, which nurtures proxy terrorist groups that act on its behalf. But it is not itself above criminal acts, readily identifiable as when this week alone it attempted to seize two oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz, firing shots at one of the tankers. Iranian naval vessels backed off once the U.S. Navy intervened. It has, in the last two years, seized five commercial vessels in and around the Strait of Hormuz, which it claims is not international waters, but its sovereign territory.

A vigil  in Toronto, Canada, on the anniversary of the tragedy   Reuters

 

 

The Healing Arts

"[The hospital was] like so many others in the U.K. But unlike many other hospitals in the U.LK. and unlike many other neonatal units int he U.K., within the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital a poisoner was at work."

"Sometimes a baby who had been sick but then [had] been on the mend suddenly deteriorated for no apparent reason."

"We say that the collapses and deaths of the 17 children named in the indictment were not naturally occurring tragedies."

"They were all the work of the woman in the dock who, we say, was the constant, malevolent presence when things took a turn for the worse for these children."

"[Hospital consultants found] one common denominator [examining the pattern underlying the unexplained collapses and deaths]: the presence of one neonatal nurse. That nurse was lucy Letby."

"We allege that it is a hallmark of some of the cases in which Lucy Letby injected air into the circulations of some of these small babies."

Crown prosecutor Nick Johnson, KC, Birmingham, England

Neonatal nurse Lucy Letby, 32, is alleged to have murdered seven babies and attempted to kill 10 more. (Credit: SWNS)

 

A trial opened a day ago in Birmingham, United Kingdom, in the case of a 32-year-old neonatal nurse accused of murdering seven babies and of attempting to murder an additional ten infants at the Countess of Chester Hospital, in Chester, England. Accused of being a 'poisoner at work' in the neonatal unit, the nurse denies the charges against her. Between June 2015 and June 2016, babies began dying of mysterious causes.The first victim was a baby boy Nurse Letby is accused of injecting lethally with air.

Just shortly into her shift when the baby boy died, the nurse is accused of attempting to murder the baby boy's twin sister after a lapse of 28 hours. The twins were born prematurely, but both were in good health. The girl twin suddenly stopped breathing and Nurse Letby, standing beside the incubator, called for assistance. Resuscitated, the child recovered. An expert pediatrician who reviewed the case came to the conclusion that the tiny girl had been subjected to "some form of sabotage".

"Here  you can see we have a pair of twins who were born prematurely, but in pretty good condition", the pediatrician informed trial jurors. The jurors heard that some newborn infants were repeatedly targeted by the nurse. One baby suffered three failed attempts, until the forth killed him. She had, it was pointed out, an "unusual interest" in families whose children died or had fallen seriously ill, "tracked" them on social media, Manchester Crown Court heard.

"Babies who had not been unstable at all suddenly deteriorated", stated the prosecutor. Consultants were puzzled that babies who collapsed failed to respond when given the appropriate form of treatment or resuscitation. Babies who survived the immediate attempts to kill them "collapsed dramatically but then, equally dramatically, recovered", in contradiction of medical expectations.

And tellingly, many of the attacks took place during night shifts, but when the nurse moved on to day shifts, "the collapses and deaths moved to the day shifts". The methods used were various: insulin poisoned two babies; others had air injected into their bloodstream or fluid through a tube into their stomachs. "That can have a catastrophic effect on babies", stated Mr. Johnson. 

The Countess of Chester Hospital, where nurse Lucy Letby used to work in Chester, England. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)