World
Israel accepts bilateral meeting with EU, but with conditions
The EU’s top diplomat had called for an Association Council to address Israel’s compliance with human rights
Israel has accepted in principle to attend a key council on its bilateral relations with the European Union, but has dismissed top diplomat Josep Borrell’s suggestion the meeting should be convened specifically to address the situation in Gaza, an Israeli official told Euronews.
However, the official reply letter by Israel to the EU seen by Euronews, does not refer to any specific agenda discussions nor a period or a date of when the association could take place.
Borrell announced in late May he would convene Israel “as soon as possible” to discuss “the situation in Gaza” and the “respect of human rights” to which Israel is bound under the so-called Association Agreement of 2000, which lays out the legal basis for trade and cooperation between the EU and Israel.
He also said the meeting would provide the opportunity to confront Netanyahu’s government about its compliance with the recent ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which ordered Israel to halt its intended military offensive in the southern city of Rafah. On June 5, Borrell officially extended the invitation to Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz.
Israel replied on 20 June with a letter by the Israeli ambassador to the EU and NATO Haim Regev, according to the document seen by Euronews, saying that “there exists both a need and an opportunity to convene a full, regular meeting of the Association Council”.
However, “the agenda for this meeting should be mutually agreed upon by both parties. Foreign Minister Katz proposes that the discussion on the content and timing of the Association Council will be initiated through the established diplomatic channels,” the document states.
The letter makes no reference to a possible date or point of agenda discussion.
An Israeli official however told Euronews that although the country has agreed in principle to attend such a meeting, it rejects Borrell’s notionthat the Council should be an “ad hoc” one in response to the humanitarian crisis gripping Gaza.
The source said that any Association Council must be a “normal one” in line with previous occurrences, and that this format would allow parties to discuss the war in Gaza and compliance with human rights.
Israel has rejected any attempts to use the Council as “leverage” to bring the long-standing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians to the table as they say the Association Council would not be the right forum.
Bloc struggles to up pressure on Israel
It comes days after Israel Katz – the outspoken foreign minister – claimed on social media platform X he had struck an agreement with his Hungarian counterpart Péter Szijjártó to hold the Association Council during Budapest’s six-month rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, which kicks off in July.
But the Council presidency has no power to define the date of the Council and a limited role in the discussions as the EU delegation would be represented by the bloc’s top diplomat, a post currently held by Josep Borrell.
An EU official criticised what he described as a “huge misunderstanding in some quarters of the Israeli government” about what an Association Council is and by whom it is chaired, insisting that it is only the High Representative at the table and that it’s “completely irrelevant” who holds the rotating presidency.
Hungary is one of Israel’s staunchest European allies and has consistently held back EU decisions in response to the war in Gaza – including sanctions on violent Israeli settlers and an appeal on Israel not to strike Rafah – by wielding its veto power.
Katz has also previously got himself into hot diplomatic waters with his provocative responses to the decision taken by a handful of EU countries to recognise the state of Palestine.
The decision to convene the Council came months after Ireland and Spain first pressed on the EU executive to renegotiate its Association Agreement with Israel.
Article 2 of that agreement, struck in 2000, stipulates that the deal is “based on respect for human rights and democratic principles.”
The EU is Israel’s main trading partner, accounting for just under a third of all commerce, meaning the Agreement is seen as a powerful tool for the bloc to exert pressure on Netanyahu’s war cabinet to refrain from its offensive in the war-torn Gaza Strip.
new video loaded: Toronto Police Officers Charged in Drug and Corruption Investigation
transcript
transcript
Toronto Police Officers Charged in Drug and Corruption Investigation
Eight Toronto police officers were charged in an investigation, which began after a prison manager was targeted by three hit men. The investigation unraveled a crime network and and revealed a connection to the police officers who have been accused of participating in organized criminal activity and drug trafficking.
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“The allegations of criminal corruption include bribery, obstruction of justice, drug trafficking, theft of personal property, breach of trust, and the unauthorized access and distribution of confidential information. Our belief is that member was doing his job effectively, was ethical and had complete integrity in his position, and that those actions, his commitment to integrity in his position, was what spawned the criminal actions against him. We are alleging that some police officers who were collecting personal and private information unlawfully and distributing it to members of organized crime, which ultimately resulted in serious harm in our communities.” “This is a painful and unsettling moment. Organized crime is corrosive. That it infected our service is unacceptable.” “The investigators involved held a mirror to the face of the criminal justice system, and to our policing institution to uncover the truth.”
By Meg Felling
February 5, 2026
World
Britain drags feet on IRGC terror designation as Iran-linked center allegedly sells extremist merchandise
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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government is facing intense criticism over its failure to swiftly outlaw Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The development comes as a London-based Islamic center has been accused of selling merchandise supporting terrorism.
Potkin Azarmehr, a British-Iranian expert on Iran who has written extensively on Iran’s influence operations in the United Kingdom, told Fox News Digital the “Islamic Centre of England is a regime outpost.
“The head of the center is directly appointed by Iran’s supreme leader. The letter of the appointment is publicly read during the inauguration ceremony. There is not a shred of doubt that the center is used to peddle the influence of Iran’s political Islam. It is also used to recruit disgruntled British individuals who are sent to Iran for training.”
The Daily Telegraph reported in late January that U.K. authorities were investigating the Islamic Centre of England for allegedly selling Hezbollah phone cases and pro-Iranian regime key rings. Britain has sanctioned the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist movement, Hezbollah.
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A Google Maps photo showing the Islamic Centre of England in London. (Google Maps)
The pro-Hezbollah and pro–Islamic Republic goods were reportedly sold at a bazaar Dec. 14, 2025, according to the paper. One key ring displayed the words, “With the kindness of God, Seyyed Ali [Khamenei] is our leader.” The Islamic Republic of Iran’s supreme leader, Khamenei, would order the murder of thousands of Iranian demonstrators just weeks later.
The bazaar also allegedly had stickers of late IRGC global terrorist Qassem Soleimani, who was responsible for the murders of over 600 military personnel, according to the Trump administration. President Trump ordered a drone strike in January 2020 that killed Soleimani in Iraq.
Emma Schubart, a research fellow at Britain’s Henry Jackson Society, told Fox News Digital, “The Islamic Centre of England is not an isolated religious institution; it is part of a wider ecosystem of Iranian state-linked influence operating openly in the U.K., and at the center of that ecosystem sits the IRGC.
“The U.K. Government is dragging its feet over designating the IRGC. By delaying action, ministers are allowing hostile Iranian networks to continue operating under the cover of civil society and religious life. This is a dangerous blind spot in Britain’s national security.”
The Islamic Centre of England is a registered charity. When asked about reports of the Islamic Center’s role in selling pro-terrorist merchandise, a spokesperson for the U.K.’s Charity Commission told Fox News Digital, “As part of our ongoing statutory inquiry into (the) Islamic Centre of England, we have raised concerns with the trustees about material sold by third parties at a recent event hosted at the charity’s premises. We take very seriously any alleged links between a charity and extremism or terrorism. Such links are abhorrent and corrosive to the trust on which the charitable sector depends.”
A British Union flag flies from a souvenir stall near the Houses of Parliament in London Oct. 27, 2025. (Jason Alden/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Azarmehr, however, countered, “The U.K. Charity Commission, the regulatory body, has been ‘investigating’ the center for five years with no decisions and no updates other than appointing an interim director, but the center carries on business as usual.
“The only tangible result is that every time you make a complaint to the charity about the center, they reply by saying that because they are investigating the center, they cannot comment.
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“The first head of the center, Ayatollah Mohsen Araki, is now a member of Iran’s powerful Assembly of Experts and a key figure in propagating Iran’s soft power abroad. Araki’s family have U.K. citizenship. The previous U.K. government, in which Alicia Kearns was part of its administration, even paid the center in excess of £100,000 in COVID-19 furlough.”
In this photo released Jan. 6, 2020, by the official website of the Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, fourth from left, leads a prayer over the coffins of Gen. Qassem Soleimani and his comrades who were killed in Iraq in a U.S. drone strike at the Tehran University campus, in Tehran, Iran. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)
Kearns, who is the shadow minister for home affairs for the opposition Conservative party, is now demanding that the Islamic Center be shuttered.
“These latest revelations of terrorist tat being sold by the Islamic Centre of England are yet more evidence of why the center must be closed and those responsible for propagating terrorist propaganda face the law,” she told the Telegraph.
“The figures being idealized are responsible for the cold-blooded murder of tens of thousands of young Iranian protesters, adding to the many regional and international crimes of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
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A spokesperson for the Islamic Centre of England told Fox News Digital, “The trustees take all concerns about the center very seriously. We are currently reviewing matters pertaining to the Dec. 14 event and, in light of this, are unable to comment further at this time.”
The EU announced last week that it has classified the IRGC a terrorist entity. The U.S., Canada and Australia have previously designated the IRGC a foreign terrorist organization. The IRGC played a key role in the massacre of Iranian demonstrators last month.
Iranians gather while blocking a street during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 9, 2026. (MAHSA/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
The proliferation of pro-Iran activism unfolded last weekend in London. Nigel Farage, leader of the Reform Party in the United Kingdom, posted on X, “When people in Britain are chanting support for the thuggish regime in Iran, we are in serious trouble as a nation.”
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Video footage embedded in Farage’s post and other clips on social media shows a mix of pro-Palestinian and pro-Iran regime messaging at the protests.
Multiple Fox News Digital inquiries to the British prime minister’s office went unanswered.
The head of Europe’s leading human rights organisation, the Council of Europe, told Euronews that European countries need to provide the budgetary resources and political will to ensure accountability for Russian war crimes committed in Ukraine.
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