World
Photos: Armenian Christians in Jerusalem’s Old City feel walls closing in
As Israel’s war on Gaza rages and Israeli attacks on people in the occupied West Bank continue, Armenian residents of the Old City of Jerusalem are fighting a different battle – quieter, they say, but no less existential.
One of the oldest communities in Jerusalem, the Armenians have lived in the Old City for more than 1,500 years, centred around the Armenian convent.
Now, the small Christian community has begun to fracture under pressure from forces they say threaten them and the multifaith character of the Old City – from Jewish settlers who jeer at clergymen on their way to prayer to a land deal threatening to turn a quarter of their land into a luxury hotel.
Chasms have emerged between the Armenian Patriarchate and the mainly secular community, whose members worry the church is not equipped to protect their dwindling population and embattled convent.
In the Armenian Quarter is Save the Arq’s headquarters, a structure with reinforced plywood walls hung with ancient maps inhabited by Armenians who are there to protest what they see as an illegal land grab by a real estate developer.
The land under threat is where the community holds events and also includes parts of the patriarchate itself.
After years of the patriarchate refusing to sell any of its land, Armenian priest Baret Yeretsian secretly “leased” the lot in 2021 for up to 98 years to Xana Capital, a company registered just before the agreement was signed.
Xana turned more than half the shares to a local businessman, George Warwar, who has been involved in various criminal offences.
Community members were outraged.
The priest fled the country and the patriarchate cancelled the deal in October, but Xana objected and the contract is now in mediation.
Xana has sent armed men to the lot, the activists say, attacking people, including clergy, with pepper spray and batons.
The activists say Warwar has the backing of a prominent settler organisation seeking to expand the Jewish presence in Jerusalem’s Old City.
The organisation, Ateret Cohanim, is behind several controversial land acquisitions in the Old City, and its leaders were photographed with Warwar and Xana Capital owner Danny Rothman, also known as Danny Rubinstein, in December 2023. Ateret Cohanim denied any connection to the land deal.
Activists filed suit against the patriarchate in February, seeking to have the deal declared void and the land to belong to the community in perpetuity.
The patriarchate refused, saying it owns the land.
Armenians began arriving in the Old City as early as the fourth century with a large wave arriving in the early 20th century, fleeing the Ottoman Empire. They have the same status as Palestinians in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem – residents but not citizens, effectively stateless.
Today, the newcomers are mainly boys who arrive from Armenia to live and study in the convent although many drop out. Clergy say that’s partially because attacks against Christians have increased, leaving the Armenians – whose convent is closest to the Jewish Quarter and is along a popular route to the Western Wall – vulnerable.
Father Aghan Gogchyan, the patriarchate’s chancellor, said he’s regularly attacked by groups of Jewish nationalists.
The Rossing Center, which tracks anti-Christian attacks in the Holy Land, documented about 20 attacks on Armenian people and property and church properties in 2023, many involving ultranationalist Jewish settlers spitting at Armenian clergy or graffiti reading “Death to Christians” scrawled on the quarter’s walls.
Published on •Updated
Belgium’s three regions announced on Friday that they would introduce a road tax next year that foreign drivers transiting the country would also have to pay.
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The country does not currently charge drivers to use its highways and the issue of introducing some form of payment has been debated for years.
“Everyone who uses our roads must contribute fairly to their maintenance,” said the transport minister for the southern Wallonia region, François Desquesnes.
Starting on 1 May 2027 drivers will need to register their vehicle and pay the road tax, with day passes available for drivers driving across the country.
An annual pass for a zero-emission car will cost €90 and up to €125 for higher polluting vehicles.
Road cameras that catch cars that haven’t paid for a pass will incur a fine of €70.
In Belgium, the individual regions are responsible for maintaining roads and motorways.
Currently, drivers can use almost all highways toll-free but the possibility of an introducing a charge has been under discussion for several years.
The revenue would be used for the operation and maintenance of the road network.
The proposed toll still needs final approval from the regions and European authorities.
According to the chairman of the liberal-conservative MR party, the government intends to offset the new toll by lowering other taxes for Belgians.
Additional sources • AFP
World
With US unleashing attacks, Iranian official threatens that the Islamic Republic will deliver a ‘hard slap’
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An Iranian official warned that the Islamic Republic will deliver a “hard slap” while another blatantly threatened the U.S. that “if you strike, you’ll get hit,” according to automatic translations from the two men’s Persian-language posts on X.
Ebrahim Rezaei, whose profile on the social media platform indicates that he is a representative in Iran’s Parliament and the spokesperson for the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, wrote in a post on X, “The martyred Khamenei taught us not to fear America and showed that ‘falsehood will perish.’ Await the hard slap from the Iranians.”
The speaker of Iran’s Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, warned, “America still hasn’t learned that bullying and breaking promises are no longer cost-free. Let me put it plainly: if you strike, you’ll get hit. Don’t flail around pointlessly, or you’ll sink even deeper: the Strait of Hormuz will only open with ‘Iranian arrangements,’ not American threats.”
Both of the men issued their posts on Wednesday after U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced more strikes against Iran.
“At the direction of the Commander in Chief, U.S. Central Command forces have started conducting additional strikes against Iran to further degrade their ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. The United States is holding Iran accountable for recent unjustified aggression against commercial shipping and civilian crews freely navigating a vital international waterway,” CENTCOM had noted in a post on X.
TRUMP SAYS IRAN CEASEFIRE DEAL IS ‘OVER’ AFTER NEW ROUND OF STRIKES
People gather at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla for a farewell ceremony for Iran’s late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on July 4, 2026, in Tehran, Iran. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)
The U.S. military later provided more information about the attacks.
“U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces completed an additional round of strikes against Iran, July 8, to further degrade Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping and innocent civilian mariners in the Strait of Hormuz,” CENTCOM noted on Wednesday night.
“U.S. forces struck approximately 90 Iranian military targets including air defense systems, coastal surveillance assets, missile and drone storage sites, naval capabilities, and military logistics infrastructure along Iran’s coastline. The latest strikes follow successful execution of offensive strikes in Iran the night before,” the announcement noted. “CENTCOM forces hit approximately 80 Iranian military targets July 7, including more than 60 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps small boats, to impose heavy costs for Iran violating the ceasefire by attacking three commercial vessels navigating the Strait of Hormuz.”
TRUMP DEMANDS END TO TRADE WITH KEY US ALLY, CALLS IT A ‘WASTED CAUSE’
President Donald Trump indicated on Wednesday that, as far as he was concerned, the U.S.-Iran Memorandum of Understanding ceasefire was “over.”
Kuwait and Bahrain have both reported coming under attack.
The Kuwait Army noted in a Thursday post on X, which was written in Arabic, “The Official Spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, Major General Saud Abdulaziz Al-Otaibi, stated that the armed forces detected, at dawn today, (3) ballistic missiles, (1) cruise missile, and (10) hostile drones within Kuwaiti airspace, which were successfully intercepted and dealt with.”
TRUMP SAYS ‘IRAN LIES AND CHEATS’ AS IRGC EMERGES AS DOMINANT FORCE IN NEGOTIATIONS WITH US
President Donald Trump speaks as he meets with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara, on July 8, 2026. (SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images)
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The Bahrain Defense Force noted in a post that was in Arabic, “The General Command clarifies that, with firm resolve and high combat readiness, the Bahrain Defense Force’s air defense systems confronted, intercepted, and destroyed several treacherous Iranian aerial attacks this morning, Thursday, July 9, 2026 CE.”
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