World
Israel fires back at UK over suspended trade talks, rejects ‘external pressure’
Israel’s Foreign Ministry issued a fiery statement after the U.K. suspended free trade talks over Jerusalem’s handling of the war in Gaza. The U.K. simultaneously imposed new sanctions on the West Bank as it condemned the “persistent cycle of serious violence undertaken by extremist Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.”
The ministry claimed that talks for a new U.K.-Israel free trade agreement were already at a standstill before London’s announcement on Tuesday. Additionally, it accused the U.K. of harming its own citizens due to its “anti-Israel obsession and domestic political considerations.”
“Even prior to today’s announcement, the free trade agreement negotiations were not being advanced at all by the current UK government,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry wrote. “More than that, the agreement would serve the mutual benefit of both countries. If, due to anti-Israel obsession and domestic political considerations, the British government is willing to harm the British economy – that is its own prerogative.”
Israel also slammed the additional sanctions on the West Bank in light of the recent death of Tzeela Gez, an Israeli woman who was shot and killed in a terror attack while she was en route to the hospital to give birth. The Israeli Foreign Ministry noted that doctors are still “fighting for her newborn’s life.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer (Getty Images)
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The ministry dismissed the U.K.’s threats toward the end of the post, saying, “[T]he British Mandate ended exactly 77 years ago. External pressure will not divert Israel from its path in defending its existence and security against enemies who seek its destruction.”
Palestinians continue their daily lives amid the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza on Feb. 10, 2025. (Mahmoud ssa/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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U.K. Foreign Minister David Lammy announced the suspension of trade talks as he addressed British lawmakers, saying Israel’s latest offensive in Gaza, Operation Gideon’s Chariot, marked a “dark new phase in this conflict.” In his announcement, Lammy said “the Netanyahu government’s actions have made this necessary.”
Lammy reiterated U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s demand that Israel allow aid to flow into the Gaza Strip. In a joint statement from the U.K., France and Canada, the countries urged Israel to work with the United Nations to “ensure a return to delivery of aid in line with humanitarian principles.”
“If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response,” the statement read.
Israel stopped the flow of aid into the Gaza Strip 11 weeks ago, but has resumed allowing limited aid. Israeli U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon told Fox News that the NGOs that are being allowed to distribute aid have ensured that Hamas has not infiltrated their ranks or taken aid meant for civilians.
The U.K. is demanding that Israel allow more aid into the Gaza Strip. (Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu via Getty Images/File)
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While aid is being allowed to enter Gaza, Israel has faced backlash over the stringent restrictions, with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot saying it was “insufficient.”
Tom Fletcher, the U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator who recently accused Israel of committing genocide, described the aid as “a drop in the ocean of what is urgently needed” and called for “significantly more aid” to Gaza.
“We have been reassured that our work will be facilitated through existing, proven mechanisms. I am grateful for that reassurance, and Israel’s agreement to humanitarian notification measures that reduce the immense security threats of the operation. I am determined that our aid reach those in greatest need, and that the risk of theft by Hamas or other armed groups is minimized,” Fletcher said in a statement.
Efrat Lachter contributed to this report.
World
Amy Poehler Says ‘SNL’ Actors ‘All Played People We Should Not Have… I Misappropriated, I Appropriated’: Everything in Comedy Has an ‘Expiration Date’
Amy Poehler recently took accountability for her problematic “Saturday Night Live” characters while talking to former cast member Will Forte on her “Good Hang” podcast. Poehler said that every comedian who has appeared on “SNL” over the years has “played people that we should not have played” and “the part about getting older and being in comedy is you have to, like, figure out, ‘Oh, it’s like everything has an expiration date.’”
“There was even on [‘SNL50’], when they had that segment which was like, ‘Here’s all the ways we got things wrong,’ and they showed way inappropriate casting for people,” Poehler added. “We all played people that we should not have played. I misappropriated, I appropriated…I didn’t know.”
Poehler was referring to the “SNL50” sketch in which Tom Hanks introduced an In Memoriam segment calling out the many problematic jokes and sketches “SNL” has aired. The montage of poorly-aged bits includes jokes about sexual harassment and such infamous moments as Adrien Brody sporting dreadlocks and a Jamaican accent.
“Even though these characters, accents and … let’s just call them ‘ethnic’ wigs were unquestionably in poor taste, you all laughed at them,” Tom Hanks said in a winking moment at the audience. “So if anyone should be canceled, shouldn’t it be you, the audience? Something to think about.”
Speaking to Forte on her podcast, Poehler added: “The best thing you can do is make repairs, learn from your mistakes, do better. It’s all you can do.”
Watch Poehler and Forte’s full “Good Hang” conversation in the video below.
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If President Trump decides not to order a strike on Iran’s main underground enrichment site at Fordow, Israel has a number of options to destroy Iran’s nuclear enrichment facility buried deep under a mountain south of Tehran.
One option includes sending elite Israeli Air Force commandos from Unit 5101, known as Shaldag, which, in Hebrew, means kingfisher, a bird known to be patient and dive deep under water to find its prey.
In September, members of this elite unit surprised the world by entering an underground missile factory used by Iran in Syria.
“There was a site that similarly looked like Fordow,” former Israeli Military Intelligence Chief Amos Yadlin told Fox News in an exclusive interview. “Even though smaller, the Syrian facility produced advanced ballistic missiles, precise ballistic missiles using Iranian technology, as well as Iranian money.”
AMERICA’S IRAN DILEMMA: HOW TO STRIKE FORDOW WITHOUT LOSING SIGHT OF CHINA THREAT
“There was a site that similarly looked like Fordow,” former Israeli Military Intelligence Chief Amos Yadlin told Fox News in an exclusive interview. (Amos Yadlin)
Israel attacked the site from the air a few times but was not able to destroy the site.
Unit 5101 (Shaldag) used the cover of darkness and diversionary airstrikes to enter the secret site, plant explosives and destroy the complex. Like Iran’s Fordow mountain complex south of Tehran, it was 300 feet underground.
HOW BUNKER BUSTER BOMBS WORK AND HOW THEY COULD DESTROY IRAN’S FORDOW NUCLEAR SITE
“The Air Force took care of all the guards around the perimeter, and Shaldag got in, and the place is gone, destroyed,” Yadlin said with a slight smile.
It’s not the first time Israel has had to plan to take out a secret nuclear complex against the odds and alone. In 1981, Israel flew a daring mission to bomb Iraq’s nuclear reactor at Osirak.
Yadlin was one of eight young Israeli F-16 pilots who carried out the secret attack.
In 1981, Israel flew a daring mission to bomb Iraq’s nuclear reactor at Osirak. Yadlin was one of eight young Israeli F-16 pilots who carried out the secret attack. (Amos Yadlin)
“We didn’t have air refueling at that time. We didn’t have GPS. It was dumb bombs, smart pilot, but a very difficult operational mission when Iraq was in a war (with Iran). So, the state of alert was very, very high,” Yadlin recalled. He and the other pilots believed it might be a suicide mission, and they might not have enough fuel to return home.
More recently, retired Maj. Gen. Yadlin served as the head of Israel’s Military Intelligence in 2007, when Israel blew up a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor that the world did not know about. The White House at the time did not want to assist in the strike. Yadlin has seen history change after Israel has acted alone carrying out daring missions like the exploding pagers that killed most of the top commanders of Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah.
WHY US MUST DESTROY IRAN’S FORDOW NUCLEAR FACILITY NOW
In 2008, when it was determined that Israeli F-16s could not reach Iran’s nuclear sites, Yadlin ordered Mossad to come up with another way to take out Iran’s uranium enrichment at Natanz. Two years later, Israeli and American cyber warriors introduced Stuxnet, a malicious computer worm that caused thousands of Natanz centrifuges to spin out of control, setting back Iran’s nuclear enrichment.
More recently, retired Maj. Gen. Yadlin served as the head of Israel’s Military Intelligence in 2007, when Israel blew up a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor that the world did not know about. (Amos Yadlin)
The decision to strike Fordow, the crown jewel and heart of Iran’s nuclear program, is different, and Israel prefers the U.S. to use its B-2 stealth bombers and 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs.
“Anybody who wants the war to be over soon, to be finished quickly, have to find a way to deal with Fordow,” Yadlin said. “Those who think that attacking Fordow will escalate the war, in my judgment, it can de-escalate and terminate the war.”
And it could serve as a deterrent to China and Russia, who will see the power and capability of the U.S. military’s unique capability.
Another option would be to cut power to Fordow. Without power, the centrifuges enriching the uranium could become permanently disabled.
When asked if Israel could take out Fordow without American B-2 bombers, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox’s Bret Baier in an exclusive interview last Sunday, “We have quite a few startups too and quite a few rabbits up our sleeve. And I don’t think that I should get into that.”
How did MAGA become Trump’s biggest opponent of a US strike on Iran? The Republican base is split over Trump’s rhetoric about getting involved in another foreign war. Conservative stalwarts like Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon are pushing back. Could a US strike on Iran be a blow against Trump at home?
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