Connect with us

World

UK police arrest four people for pro-Palestine ‘Intifada’ calls

Published

on

UK police arrest four people for pro-Palestine ‘Intifada’ calls

Arrests made at protests supporting imprisoned Palestine Action hunger strikers, as Gaza death toll surpasses 70,000.

Advertisement

Police in the United Kingdom have made their first arrests since announcing their intent to crack down on people making public calls to “globalise the Intifada” after Australia’s Bondi Beach attack, speciously linking largely peaceful protests against Israel’s genocidal war with a deadly targeting of a Jewish festival.

London’s Metropolitan Police posted on X late on Wednesday that it had made four arrests at pro-Palestinian protests held outside the Ministry of Justice in Westminster, “all involving the alleged shouting or chanting of slogans involving calls for intifada”.

Recommended Stories

list of 3 itemsend of list

The arrests were made at a demonstration that had been called in support of eight imprisoned hunger strikers, whose lives are in peril. They were jailed over connections to the Palestine Action group, just hours after the Metropolitan (Met) and Greater Manchester Police (GMT) said they would be “more assertive” in policing pro-Palestine protests to counter alleged anti-Semitism.

UK Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips backed the Met’s action. “I cannot think of any interpretation other than that [it] is inciting people to violence, which has the terrible consequences,” she was cited as saying by The Times of London.

Advertisement

But Ben Jamal, from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, pointed out in a statement that the Arabic word “intifada” means “shaking off or uprising against injustice”.

In the Palestinian context, the word is understood to mean civil uprising against military occupation and illegal settlement expansion, with key historical instances in 1987-93 and 2000-05, drawing brutal responses from Israel that left thousands of people dead.

Jamal criticised the lack of consultation over the new police stance, saying on X that “forces across the political establishment” were using the “grotesque racist violence on Bondi beach” to delegitimise any protest against “open genocide”.

The police crackdown follows father-and-son gunmen killing 15 people Sunday at a Hanukkah festival on the Sydney beach and an October attack on a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.

“Violent acts have taken place, the context has changed – words have meaning and consequence. We will act decisively and make arrests,” said the commanders of the Met and GMP in a joint statement.

Advertisement

Jewish groups welcomed the announcement, with the UK’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis calling it “an important step towards challenging the hateful rhetoric we have seen on our streets, which has inspired acts of violence and terror”.

Groups like the Community Security Trust (CST), which works to provide security to protect British Jews, say anti-Semitic incidents have risen in the UK.

In the meantime, Islamophobia and attacks against Muslims in the UK, prompted by racist rhetoric in mainstream politics on the right of the political spectrum, most prevalently but not only by Nigel Farage’s Reform party and its supporters, have soared in recent years.

World

At least nine killed after Iranian strike on Israel’s Beit Shemesh

Published

on

At least nine killed after Iranian strike on Israel’s Beit Shemesh

BREAKING,

The Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency service says that 20 others were injured by the impact.

At least nine people have been killed after an Iranian missile strike on the central Israeli city of Beit Shemesh, as Tehran continued to launch retaliatory attacks a day after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in US-Israeli strikes.

Advertisement

The Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency service said on Sunday that nine people were killed and 20 other people were injured by the impact, including two in serious condition.

The Israeli military said in a statement that search and rescue teams, and a helicopter to evacuate those injured are currently operating in Beit Shemesh, with the army’s spokesperson adding that the circumstances of the impact from the Iranian ballistic missile are under review.

More to come …

Continue Reading

World

Sombr Altercation at Brit Awards Was Staged, Rep Confirms

Published

on

Sombr Altercation at Brit Awards Was Staged, Rep Confirms

Sombr was mid-performance at the Brit Awards when a random man bumrushed the stage and pushed the singer off the platform, leaving him stunned — only it was all planned, says his rep.

The singer-songwriter, who was nominated for international artist and international song, was at the end of his smash single “Undressed” when a man joined him on the podium and shoved him hard. Security guards aggressively removed the man from the stage, and Sombr returned to the microphone to segue into his next song.

Shortly after the performance came to a close, Sombr’s rep confirmed to Variety that the whole thing was part of the act. Fans were already split online over whether the incident was staged or real. Naysayers noticed that the offender was wearing a shirt that read “Sombr is a homewrecker” — a nod to his latest single “Homewrecker,” which some claimed was a dead giveaway. But others weren’t necessarily convinced it was a stunt, considering how hard he was pushed and how additional security guards came to his rescue.

Brits host Jack Whitehall remarked on the incident after Sombr’s performance concluded. “Such a shame we didn’t have the security ready,” he said.

The incident took place just days after Britain’s BAFTA Awards last Sunday, when John Davidson, the Scottish Tourette’s syndrome activist and real-life inspiration for the film “I Swear,” disrupted that ceremony with an outburst of racial slurs that occurred as “Sinners” stars Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were onstage. “I can’t begin to explain how upset and distraught I have been as the impact from Sunday sinks in,” Davidson told Variety earlier this week.

Advertisement

Whitehall made a joking reference to that incident — which was not bleeped from the initial BAFTA broadcast and was audible to viewers — at the top of the Brits, saying “We’ve got the best in the business on the bleep button.”

Sombr is coming off a red-hot year that saw his various singles “Undressed,” “Back to Friends” and “12 to 12” impact the charts. He recently performed at the Grammy Awards, where he was nominated for best new artist alongside Addison Rae, Alex Warren, the Marías, Leon Thomas, Lola Young, Katseye and Olivia Dean, who ended up taking home the award.

Continue Reading

World

Iran goes dark amid ‘regime paranoia’, blackout follows Israeli, US strikes on compound

Published

on

Iran goes dark amid ‘regime paranoia’, blackout follows Israeli, US strikes on compound

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Iran was plunged into an internet blackout Saturday after Israel and the U.S. launched military strikes around the country, according to a global internet monitor.

Within hours of the strikes — which officials said targeted infrastructure and killed dozens of senior regime figures at a compound in Tehran— NetBlocks CEO Alp Toker confirmed connectivity started “flatlining.”

“We’re tracking the ongoing blackout, but our assessment is that this is straight out of Iran’s wartime playbook and consistent both technically and strategically with what we saw during the 2025 Twelve-Day War with Israel,” Toker told Fox News Digital.

“Iran’s internet connectivity is now flatlining around the 1% level, so the original blackout the regime imposed during the morning has been consolidated,” he confirmed.

Advertisement

“The blackout was imposed just after 7:00 UTC, not long after the attack on the Iranian regime compound,” Toker clarified, adding that Iran had been largely offline for approximately 12 hours following the attack.

“At 06:10 UTC, there is the main compound strike; at 07:10 UTC, telecoms disruption starts; at 08:00 UTC, the blackout is largely in effect; and by 08:30 UTC, connectivity flatlines.”

“Wartime national blackouts are exceedingly rare around the world, and it’s something we’ve only really seen at this scale in Iran,” he said.

President Donald Trump monitors U.S. military operations in Iran following an Israeli strike in Tehran on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026.  (@WhiteHouse/X)

In the wake of the attack, dubbed Operation Epic Fury, President Donald Trump said on Truth Social that the “heavy and pinpoint” bombing in Iran “will continue uninterrupted throughout the week or as long as necessary to achieve our objective of PEACE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST AND, INDEED, THE WORLD!”

Advertisement

He claimed Iranian security forces and members of the regime’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were already seeking immunity. He urged them to “peacefully merge with the Iranian Patriots.”

“We are hearing that many of their IRGC, Military, and other Security and Police Forces no longer want to fight and are looking for Immunity from us,” Trump said in the post. “As I said last night, ‘Now they can have Immunity; later they only get Death!’”

Toker argued the timing of the blackout suggested it was imposed deliberately as the regime sought to secure communications amid fears of further targeting.

TRUMP TELLS IRANIANS THE ‘HOUR OF YOUR FREEDOM IS AT HAND’ AS US-ISRAEL LAUNCH STRIKES AGAINST IRAN

TEHRAN, IRAN – FEBRUARY 28: Smoke rises over the city center after an Israeli army launches 2nd wave of airstrikes on Iran on February 28, 2026. (Photo by Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images) (Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Advertisement

“The Iranian regime will have deployed this new blackout to counter potential cyberattacks during their own military operation, but also to avoid leaking the locations of senior regime figures through metadata and user-generated content,” he said.

“Communications would have been limited, and Iran’s leadership would have proceeded with the assumption that all communications, including satellite or whitelisted networks, carry risks,” he said before claiming that “paranoia would be well grounded at this point, with the blackout a belated but direct response to that.”

“Those participating directly would already know to avoid technology that could betray their whereabouts,” Toker said.

“However, the metadata may well have played a part in determining that the meeting of regime leaders was being held at the Tehran compound, who was in attendance, and at what time.”

DID THEY GET HIM? KHAMENEI’S FATE REMAINS UNKNOWN AFTER ISRAEL-US STRIKE LEVELS HIS COMPOUND

Advertisement

In this handout image provided by the Office of the Supreme Leader of Iran, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei addresses the nation in a state television broadcast on June 18, 2025 in Tehran, Iran.  (Office of the Supreme Leader of Iran via Getty Images)

Toker revealed that the broader network around the regime leaders and around the compound wouldn’t have had the same strict restrictions.

“This kind of adjacent ‘background noise’ can be correlated against other intelligence sources to build an understanding of activity on the ground,” he added.

“Smartphones are a readily available, almost ‘free’ source of intelligence, and even when locked down, they eventually connect to international online services and generate insights that can be used to pinpoint regime figures,” Toker said.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Advertisement

“In the aftermath of Saturday’s strike, this concern will have been high on the remaining Iranian leadership’s minds, especially if they didn’t have a clear and specific understanding of how the meeting was compromised.”

Iran has previously imposed sweeping internet shutdowns during periods of domestic unrest, including nationwide protests in January, which saw thousands killed, often seeking to curb the spread of information and restrict coordination.

Related Article

US joins Israel in preemptive strike on Iran as Trump confirms ‘major combat operations’
Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending