Politics
Dianne Buswell And Joe Sugg Announce Birth Of Their First Child
Strictly Come Dancing professional Dianne Buswell has confirmed that she and her long-term partner Joe Sugg have welcomed their first child.
Dianne announced she was pregnant back in September, just weeks before the latest season of Strictly – on which she was paired with fellow Aussie, Neighbours actor Stefan Dennis – was due to get underway.
On Wednesday evening, Dianne and Joe shared a joint Instagram post confirming that the dancer had given birth to a son on Monday, who they have named Bowden Mark Richard Sugg.
“Never felt a love like it,” the two wrote in their post, alongside a beautiful photo of Bowden sleeping, as well as pictures of Dianne holding him in her hospital bed and Joe carrying him home.
Take a look at the couple’s post for yourself here.
Dianne and Joe met when the YouTube personality competed on Strictly during the 2019 season.
After being paired up by Strictly producers, the two made it all the way to the final, and announced days after the series ended that they had begun a relationship while working together.
Over the course of her time on the long-running BBC dance show, Dianne has also been paired with popstar-turned-minister Reverend Richard Coles, broadcaster Dev Griffin, The Wanted performer Max George, actor Robert Webb, presenter Tyler West and EastEnders star Bobby Brazier.
However, her most famous celebrity partner is probably comedian Chris McCausland, who made history as the show’s first ever blind contestant, and with whom Dianne eventually went on to lift the Glitterball Trophy back in 2024.
As well as their Strictly win, Dianne and Chris also scooped a TV Bafta in the Most Memorable TV Moment category for their emotional Waltz to You’ll Never Walk Alone.
Last year, she defended her decision to continue dancing on Strictly during her pregnancy, having previously explained: “I’m still doing everything I did before. Obviously, with lifts, there’s going to be a bit more caution. But my doctor has said everything is normal.
“He said, basically, if you’ve done it before, in terms of being a dancer, and you’ve done this, done that, then crack on and keep doing what you’re doing.”
FIFA has announced the list of referees who will officiate at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, following a meticulous, comprehensive selection process spanning three years.
The official refereeing team, ‘Team One’, comprises 52 referees, 88 assistant referees, and 30 video assistant referees, representing the six continental confederations and covering 50 national associations, forming the largest refereeing team in the tournament’s history.
The referees were selected based on the principle of “quality first”, taking into account consistency of performance in domestic and international matches, whether in FIFA tournaments or other official competitions, with candidates undergoing rigorous assessment over the past three years, alongside participation in training seminars and workshops.
According to a FIFA statement, a copy of which was received by the Canary, Pierluigi Collina, FIFA’s Chief Refereeing Officer and Chairman of the Referees’ Committee, said:
The referees selected are the best in the world. They have received comprehensive support from fitness and medical teams, including physiotherapists and mental health support, to ensure they arrive in Miami on 31 May in peak physical and mental condition.
Largest number of referees in World Cup history
Colina added:
The 2026 edition will feature 48 teams and 104 matches across the widest geographical scope in the tournament’s history. ‘Team One’ is larger than any previous squad, with 41 additional referees compared to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, whilst the representation of women continues to be strengthened through the appointment of six female referees.
The referees are undergoing daily training sessions involving local players, and are receiving detailed briefings from FIFA analysts to ensure they are fully prepared for every match. Technology will support refereeing decisions through goal-line technology, semi-automated offside technology and connected ball technology, whilst fans will, for the first time, be able to follow the action from the referee’s perspective on the pitch.
A structured development programme
Massimo Busacca, FIFA’s Head of Refereeing, explained: “We began preparations for the 2026 World Cup immediately after Qatar 2022, through a structured programme of seminars, workshops and close monitoring, to ensure referees meet the highest possible standards during the tournament.”
Miami will serve as the base for the refereeing team, where a ten-day preparatory seminar will begin, with the video referees subsequently moving to Dallas to complete their work at the International Broadcast Centre, whilst the match officials, assistants and support staff remain in Miami.
New measures aimed at improving the flow of matches and reducing time-wasting will also be implemented during the tournament, in line with the latest IFAB amendments, alongside three updated changes to the VAR protocol, with the use of AI-powered software to improve the quality of real-time footage, giving fans a clearer view from the referee’s perspective.
Controversial refereeing decision in the Champions League
The Champions League quarter-final match between Barcelona and Atlético Madrid at Camp Nou, which ended in a 2-0 win for Atlético, sparked widespread controversy over European refereeing, due to decisions made by Romanian referee Ștefan Covaci at crucial moments.
The most controversial incident occurred in the 54th minute, when an Atlético player handled the ball inside the penalty area, but the referee did not award a penalty to the Catalan side, nor did German VAR official Christian Dingert intervene. This incident angered refereeing experts, who considered it warranted a penalty, and perhaps a yellow card for the goalkeeper.
One rule, different rulings
The controversy intensifies when comparing this situation to a similar incident in last season’s Champions League, during the Club Brugge v Aston Villa match, where VAR intervened and the referee awarded a penalty following a handball by an Aston Villa player. A similar incident also occurred in Argentina three years ago.
This inconsistency raises a fundamental question: are the rules clear enough? Whilst football regulations stipulate that deliberate handballs inside the penalty area warrant a penalty, it appears that practical application varies between referees, depending on their assessment of intent and the angle from which they viewed the incident, which sometimes leads to differing outcomes in similar situations.
The variation in decisions highlights that whilst the laws are the same and the game is similar, application differs from referee to referee, despite the presence of video assistant technology designed to minimise errors. More importantly, such refereeing decisions can have a direct impact on the match result and a team’s progress in the tournament, which increases the pressure on referees and raises questions about the consistency of rule application at the highest European levels.
Expected sanctions – but not for the World Cup
In light of these events, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) is considering imposing a sanction on referee Kovač, and possibly excluding him from officiating this season’s Champions League semi-finals, despite the fact that he refereed last season’s final between Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan at the Allianz Arena.
Controversy remains over the ability of refereeing to deliver complete justice at decisive moments, despite the use of video technology, highlighting the variation in the interpretation of the rules among referees even at the highest European levels.
Featured image via the Canary
The Champions League football quarter-final between Barcelona and Atlético Madrid at the Camp Nou, which ended in a 2-0 victory for Atlético, sparked widespread controversy over European refereeing, due to decisions made by Romanian referee Ștefan Covaci at crucial moments.
The most controversial incident occurred in the 54th minute, when an Atlético player handled the ball inside the penalty area, but the referee did not award a penalty to the Catalan side, nor did the German Christian Dingert, in charge of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), intervene. This incident angered refereeing experts, who considered it warranted a penalty, and perhaps a yellow card for the goalkeeper.
One rule, different rulings in the Champions League
The controversy intensifies when comparing this situation to a similar incident in last season’s Champions League, during the Club Brugge v Aston Villa match, where VAR intervened, and the referee awarded a penalty following a handball by an Aston Villa player. A similar incident also occurred in Argentina three years ago.
This inconsistency raises a fundamental question: are the rules clear enough? Whilst football regulations stipulate that deliberate handballs inside the penalty area warrant a penalty, the practical application varies between referees, depending on their assessment of intent and the angle from which they view the incident, which sometimes leads to differing outcomes in similar situations.
The variation in decisions highlights that whilst the laws are the same and the game is similar, the application differs from referee to referee, despite the presence of video assistant technology designed to minimise errors. More importantly, such refereeing decisions can directly affect the match result and a team’s progress in the tournament, increasing pressure on referees and raising questions about the consistency of rule application at the highest European levels.
Expected sanctions
In light of these events, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) is considering imposing a sanction on referee Kovač, and possibly barring him from officiating this season’s Champions League semi-finals, despite the fact that he refereed last season’s final between Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan at the Allianz Arena.
Controversy remains over the ability of refereeing to deliver complete justice at decisive moments, despite the use of video technology, which highlights the disparity in the interpretation of the rules among referees even at the highest European levels.
Featured image via the Canary
A senior Iranian official has said the Keir Starmer’s claim that the UK only has a ‘defensive role’ in the US-Israeli attack on the country is “nonsense”. Iran’s deputy foreign minister Saeed Khatibzadeh called out the UK, saying US bombers flown from British bases had killed civilians and damaged civilian infrastructure.
ITV international editor Emma Murphy shared Khatibzadeh’s statement on 9 April:
Iran certainly doesn’t agree with the British government’s position that UK bases were only used by the US for defensive rather than offensive missions. Iran’s deputy foreign minister @SKhatibzadeh says some of the bombers which left from UK bases were on missions which led to… pic.twitter.com/paychYXf80
— Emma Murphy (@emmamurphyitv) April 9, 2026
He said:
The UK provided bases for B2 bomber to be used to kill Iranians, to kill kids, thousand of Iranian civilians and also civilian infrastructure.
It is nonsense that in a war the country says I am not part of this but I provide infrastructure to start offensive operations against another country. Then you are providing bases for that.
Adding:
And you know that B2 bomber [were] used to bomb hospitals, used to bomb schools, used to bomb, you know, the civilian infrastructure. It’s not some sort of propaganda from Iran, you can go and see one of the B2 bomber demolished four residential buildings.
Ten point plan and Iran
Iran also made clear that the original ten-point peace plans was the one they viewed as legitimate, despite US protests that it this was not the case.
Importantly, Iranian officials said an end to Israeli attacks in Lebanon were a non-negotiable part of the deal. Foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on 9 April:
⚡️”Talks to end the war are conditional on U.S. adherence to ceasefire commitments across all fronts, especially in Lebanon,” spokesperson for the Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs told reporters today.
▫️ Esmaeil Baghaei, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson, praised the “heroic… pic.twitter.com/ZdhfK0xZtc
— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) April 9, 2026
And Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian said on X:
The repeated aggression by the Zionist entity against Lebanon is a flagrant violation of the initial ceasefire agreement and a dangerous indicator of deceit and lack of commitment to potential accords. The continuation of these aggressions will render negotiations meaningless; our hands will remain on the trigger, and Iran will never abandon its Lebanese brothers and sisters.
إنّ اعتداء الكيان الصهيوني المتكرر على لبنان هو انتهاك صارخ لاتفاق وقف إطلاق النار الأولي ومؤشر خطير على الخداع وعدم الالتزام بالاتفاقات المحتملة. مواصلة هذه الاعتداءات سيجعل التفاوض بلا معنى؛ أيدينا ستبقى على الزناد، ولن تتخلّى إيران عن إخوتها وأخواتها اللبنانيين قطّ.
— Masoud Pezeshkian (@drpezeshkian) April 9, 2026
US-Israel attacked Iran first on 28 February without provocation. Iran was offering unprecedented concessions in negotiations at the time. The Pentagon has since stated there was no imminent threat from Iran. And the UN’s atomic watchdog, the IAEA, has said there is no evidence Iran was developing a nuclear weapon.
The US has achieved none of its original war aims. Iran predictably closed the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil channel, once attacked – creating a global energy crisis. Far from being defeated, Iran has said the war will continue until “the enemy’s inevitable and permanent humiliation, disgrace, regret, and surrender”. Trump came to power on an anti-war ‘America First’ ticket. He now faces worldwide humiliation.
Israel – and by extension the US – are already undermining the hard-won pause brokered by China and Pakistan. The US killed Iranians from UK bases. Starmer won’t own up, but the truth of the matter is evident to many.
Featured image via the Canary
PILGRIMAGE: The biggest names in politics are flying in from around the country to meet the Rev. Al Sharpton.
Governors Wes Moore from Maryland and JB Pritzker from Illinois and Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) spoke with him today. Yesterday was Pennsylvania’s Gov. Josh Shapiro. Still up is former Vice President Kamala Harris, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.).
These potential 2028 presidential hopefuls — in town for the 35th convention of Sharpton’s National Action Network — know that one thing that’s true in New York extends to the whole country.
“If you want to go somewhere in the City of New York, in anything, whatever your profession is, you’ve got to come to the Dr. Rev. Al Sharpton,” Harlem Assemblymember Jordan Wright said.
Sharpton is spending the week basking in that clout. Of course, it wasn’t always this way. Former mayors Ed Koch and Rudy Giuliani viewed him as a chaos agent and enemy. Now, the who’s-who of national and local politics are elbowing their way to see and be seen at his four-day convention.
“They’re showing up because he deserves the respect of everyone in this country,” Gov. Kathy Hochul told Playbook. “He’s been a close adviser a long time. I call him up. And in fact, I spoke to him the day I found out I was going to be governor, watching it on television. I called him up, and he said, ‘I’ll pray for you.’ I got down on my knees, and I prayed myself for wisdom and for justice.”
Sharpton’s influence, for instance, was on full display in New York last year when the field of mayoral candidates trekked to his House of Justice in Harlem — which will soon be relocated — to show deference as they aimed for City Hall. There, Sharpton spoke positively about Andrew Cuomo during the primary and even chided then-mayoral-candidate Zohran Mamdani for not endorsing former Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, a Black woman, in a high enough spot on his ranked-choice ballot.
“Somehow that politics ain’t progressive to me,” Sharpton said nine days before the primary.
Still, Mamdani chose to visit Sharpton at the House of Justice in his first public appearance after his win. That morning, Sharpton took Mamdani’s hand and raised it into the air, as if declaring him the winner by knockout in a boxing match.
Last week, Sharpton raised eyebrows when he told our colleagues in Washington he thinks Harris deserves a second look as a presidential candidate, attempting to thread the needle for Harris the same way he had for Adrienne Adams.
He clarified — and defended — those comments while speaking with us Wednesday night.
“I don’t know if she’s gonna run, but I see her [facing] a lot of sexism and racism,” Sharpton said. “Don’t dismiss her. Let her decide what she’s going to do. She got more votes than any presidential candidate in history, other than Donald Trump. She ought to be acknowledged for that.” — Jason Beeferman
From the Capitol
NOTHING IS OVER: State workers earned $1.6 billion in overtime in 2025, a 22.7 percent increase from the prior year, according to a report released Thursday morning by Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s office.
The findings come as unions are pressing to expand retirement benefits in the Tier 6 pension category — changes that would cost state and local governments up to $1.5 billion a year.
“State agencies need to carefully monitor overtime to ensure that its use is justified and that state services are provided safely and effectively,” the overtime report found. “The use of overtime can have a substantial impact on long-term pension costs.”
Read more from POLITICO Pro’s Nick Reisman.
PARTY RAIDS: Progressives in the Hudson Valley seem to have avoided the party raiding that’s been the norm in that corner of the state — but one candidate in Saratoga County is raising eyebrows.
It’s become increasingly common for allies of major party candidates to manipulate minor party nominations. Most prominently, a former Republican won the 2024 Working Families Party’s primary in Rep. Mike Lawler’s district after being supported by people who joined the WFP days before the deadline. That ensured the left would split its vote.
A comparable situation in area congressional or state legislative districts doesn’t appear to exist this year. The only candidate who submitted petitions to challenge Lawler on a minor line was the WFP-backed Democrat Effie Phillips-Staley.
Still, there was a curious registration in the Saratoga-area district held by Democratic Assemblymember Carrie Woerner.
The only candidate who submitted for the WFP line in that district was a Thomas Kenny. Attempts to figure out just who he is weren’t immediately successful — as of January, nobody with that name was registered to vote in that corner of the state. Woerner’s campaign believes he might have been a Conservative until recently, possibly living elsewhere.
There have been some electoral oddities in the county in the past. Dozens of individuals connected to the Saratoga Springs Police Department switched their registration from the Republican or Conservative Parties to the WFP in 2021, forcing a primary against the Democratic supervisor.
Saratoga GOP Chair Joe Suhrada said he didn’t know anything about the Kenny candidacy.
“I don’t know him and I’m not sure who he is,” Suhrada said. He theorized the candidate — unknown to Democrats and the WFP alike — might be a leftist. “There are so many people who decry the Democrats as supposedly not standing up to Trump enough … That could be the case here.” — Bill Mahoney
FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
CALLING IT QUITS: Just hours before tonight’s Democratic debate to take on Lawler in NY-17, tech executive and local government official Peter Chatzky ended his bid. Chatzky, who loaned himself a whopping $5 million, was set to take the stage with Army veteran Cait Conley, Rockland County Legislator Beth Davidson and Phillips-Staley.
In a statement, Chatzky criticized the “machinery of the Democratic party” and said that if he continued his campaign, “the party establishment and my competitors would need to spend significant effort and money to defeat me, resources that would be better used to defeat Mike Lawler.”
Chatzky had been vying to claim the progressive lane, which Working Families Party-backed Phillips-Staley is also pushing for. Last month, Phillips-Staley was the only candidate to call on Chatzky to drop out after reports of his bawdy online posts emerged. (Chatzky did not mention those incidents in his statement, though he has made the rounds in local media explaining his sense of humor.) Conley and Davidson are taking a more moderate approach to their candidacies.
Chatzky did not immediately endorse an opponent upon dropping out.
That leaves five candidates in the running for the Democratic nomination: Conley, Davidson and Phillips-Staley, along with former TV reporter Mike Sacks and Air Force veteran John Cappello. The latter two were not invited to participate in tonight’s debate and have largely flown under the radar. — Madison Fernandez
HOCHUL DOUBLES DOWN ON NY-21: Hochul isn’t backing down from her bet that Rep. Elise Stefanik’s deep-red seat could actually turn blue.
Speaking with reporters today at an unrelated event, Hochul said she’s spent time listening to New Yorkers of all stripes during her trips to the North Country and thinks Democrats could flip the district.
“Conservative, Republican farmers [are] telling me they are ‘had it’ with the tariffs, they are ‘had it’ with this ICE raids on their farms,” Hochul said. “I heard a lot of anger. I was reflecting on that as a place that people would not expect us to have an opportunity to win, where I believe we do. People are rejecting the policies that are driving up costs and making their lives miserable.”
Hochul told Young Democrats last month that she’s “so optimistic about our chances this year, I believe we can even take Elise Stefanik’s seat.”
Stefanik, who is not seeking reelection, won her seat in a general election by 24 points. Assemblymember Robert Smullen and Sticker Mule CEO Anthony Constantino are running as Republicans to replace her. Democrat Blake Gendebien is running for the seat. — Jason Beeferman
IN OTHER NEWS
— CHILLING EFFECT?: According to the Rent Guidelines Board, landlord costs rose by 5.3 percent over the last year, an increase that could undermine Mamdani’s efforts to freeze rents for the city’s rent-stabilized apartments. (POLITICO Pro)
— FULL-TIME TOTS: Mamdani announces full-day, year-round care for New York City’s 2-K program with the first 2,000 seats opening this fall with extended-hours. (New York Daily News)
— NOT BRAGG, BUT…: Housing groups are pushing for new tenant harassment protections in the state budget that would create criminal penalties for harassing rent-stabilized apartment dwellers. (amNY)
Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.
The head of Iran’s Jewish Community has said that the Israeli regime’s claims about defending Jews are a shameful lie after it bombed a synagogue in Tehran.
Head of Iranian Jewish Community on Rubbles of Israeli-Hit Synagogue:
“Shameful” “All the Israeli regime’s claims about defending Jews are nothing more than a shameful lie,” said Rabbi Younes Hamami Lalehzar, calling Israel’s attack on a synagogue in a residential area an… pic.twitter.com/vjB4q3s6nr
— Ounka (@OunkaOnX) April 8, 2026
The synagogue was one of the religious centres of Tehran’s Jews, dating back to the Pahlavi II era. Israel completely destroyed it in an airstrike.
Iran’s Students News Agency (ISNA) reported that:
the centuries-old Torahs were likely heavily damaged, and their fate is currently unknown.
Western media complicity
However, this attack has barely made the news, unlike every other attack on synagogues or jews across the world, which the mainstream media has rinsed for every second it can.
Remember the amount of coverage @LBC gave to 4 burned out ambulances? Do an hour on this @IainDale, @ShelaghFogarty, @NickFerrariLBC, get an Israeli spokesperson on and ask them tough questions on it. Why don’t you do the bare minimum & just mention it. https://t.co/BZvUvwM8Fe
— John Stealer (@JohnStealer) April 9, 2026
The IOF has claimed the synagogue was ‘collateral damage’. But can you imagine if Iran, or any resistance force, claimed the same thing?
Here is something that you WILL NOT SEE on the BBC. https://t.co/2UzG9XBQWm
— Mark Seddon (@MarkSeddon1962) April 8, 2026
Western media would have a field day.
The only Western news outlet that appears to have covered the attack is CNN. However, that coverage is minimal and comes nowhere close to even mentioning the hypocrisy of Israel bombing a synagogue.
Corporate media seems to collectively ignore the millions of jews globally who condemn Israel’s war crimes.
The British media including @BBCNews generally IGNORE the millions of Jews globally who condemn the actions of Israel
Not least @BBCr4today. Perhaps they will speak to THESE Jews in post BELOW? https://t.co/bxWJi8afYd
— Tom London (@TomLondon6) April 8, 2026
Places of worship – including Iran’s Jewish synagogues – bombed
From Mosques and churches in Gaza, to the Synagogue in Tehran – considering that Israel is supposedly ‘God’s chosen country’, it seems pretty hypocritical that it holds absolutely no regard for bombing places of worship.
Within the last 2 years, israel has destroyed mosques in Gaza, churches in Lebanon and now synagogues in Iran. https://t.co/k4XyBS7x7j
— Husam Kaid (@Husam_Khaled1) April 8, 2026
Additionally, international humanitarian law provides strong protection for places of worship.
According to Scientific Research:
The protection is included in the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the event of Armed Conflicts, Additional Protocol I and II to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), and the Statute of the International Criminal Court
Places of worship are recognised as protected places under the definition of “cultural properties”. This means no countries or armed groups should attack or destroy them.
This is a war crime.
Regardless of religion, bombing a civilian place of worship contravenes the Geneva Convention.
Same happening in Lebanon.
Gaza is a bomb site.
Will someone please take a stand on terrorism dressed up as “war”?
I’m done with old men ruining it for children. https://t.co/n7Pc1OG5ng— Jenn Knussen 💜 (@JKnussen) April 8, 2026
ANtiSeMiTiSM
You can imagine the antisemitism screams if resistance fighters took out a synagogue as ‘collateral damage’.
If a synagogue in Tel Aviv had been hit by an Iranian rocket it would be front page news across Western media with much wailing. Because Israeli is the perpetrator there’s 🦗🦗🦗 https://t.co/G8Ej8vcTk3
— Dr Sassenach (@Dr_Sassenach) April 8, 2026
Yet no one is condemning Israel.
Why is no one condemning Israel for this anti-Semitic attack on the Iranian Jewish community during Passover? https://t.co/5tCljndP0Y
— Wardāh Wilkinson 🇿🇦 (@WardahWilkinson) April 8, 2026
Israel is supposedly the ‘Jewish state’ – but is more than happy to bomb jews in another country.
Stop attacking other Jewish people and their synagogues. For a start. https://t.co/T9xcQRfQIB
— Barry Saturday 🇺🇸 (@Barry_Saturday) April 8, 2026
All you have to do is look at the thousands of people which police forces globally have arrested and chastised for ‘antisemitism’ – simply for standing up for Palestine.
Protesters for Palestinian lives/rights protest near a synagogue holding an event selling real estate in West Bank settlements: ANTISEMITIC ATTACK! JAIl/DEPORT THEM! BAN PROTEST!
Israel totally destroys a major synagogue in Tehran, burying the torahs in the rubble: meh. https://t.co/qVMGdX2rS5
— Lara Friedman (@LaraFriedmanDC) April 8, 2026
Meanwhile, Israel buries centuries-old Torahs with its missiles.
The reality is, Israel does not care if you are Jewish or not.
Israel does not care of you are Jewish or not. It’s really that simple. https://t.co/TYBU8doFvf
— Lee Gaze (@shinjukutheif1) April 8, 2026
Additionally, shattering historic temples and killing the inhabitants appears to be the exact opposite of ‘freeing the Iranian people’.
Iran’s Jewish community: attacked
Israel is weaponising Jewishness to hide its war crimes.
The hypocrisy is astounding. Attacking synagogues is antisemitic. Unless Israel is attacking them, and then it’s ‘collateral damage’. And the media is letting the genocidal terrorist state off the hook – unlike when the synagogues of white Jews are attacked in Europe.
Is it because Iranians are brown? Because ultimately, we know that the only lives that Israel and the majority of the West appear to care about are white people.
Feature image via Al Jazeera English/YouTube
Israeli military whistleblowers have given remarkable testimony about their work inside the settler-colonial state’s propaganda machine. Terms like Israeli ‘psy-op’ and ‘false flag’ are sorely overused, often as low-effort reflexive explanations that skip actual analysis or reporting. Working with investigative reporters from a Hebrew-language outlet named The Hottest Place in Hell, +972 Magazine has helped reveal what working inside what is more correctly called an ‘influence operation’ is actually like.
Inside an Israeli psy-op
Israeli intelligence operations are highly sophisticated and have been widely written about. Israeli media operations are less well reported in detail. Now, personnel from the Israeli military’s Spokesman’s Unit and Israeli journalists who cover the military have:
pointed to a systematic pattern: an obsessive drive to control the public discourse, preferential treatment for “convenient” journalists while sidelining and punishing critical ones, and, above all, an organizational culture of deception.
The Spokesman’s Unit is described as:
the public’s primary gateway to the military, mediated through the press. To obtain information, verify details, or interview military officials, journalists must go through the unit.
This status imbues it with:
a power that… is often abused to distort media coverage, and by extension, the Israeli public’s perception of the army.
NEW: Between October 2023 and December 2024, the Israeli army ran a covert psy-op aimed at shaping public opinion in Israel and abroad, originating from the “campaigns” division of the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, @ha_makom recently revealed. 🧵
— +972 Magazine (@972mag) April 9, 2026
The investigators also said:
During the first 14 months of Israel’s war in Gaza, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit also ran a covert psychological operations campaign aimed at shaping public opinion in Israel and abroad.
Adding:
In parallel to these influence efforts, the unit was tasked with processing and distributing footage from Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israeli communities near Gaza.
Weaponising a massacre
This last task – reformatting 7 October footage for propaganda – was a major operation of itself. It involved soldiers gathering:
large volumes of visual material — including footage filmed by Hamas militants — and reformatted it for rapid circulation on social media platforms.
This later became the basis for the major Israeli propaganda video titled ‘Bearing Witness to the October 7 Massacre’:
a 47-minute compilation of raw footage produced under the supervision of Major (res.) Yuval Horowitz, head of the campaigns division.
One military whistleblower said:
It was like the Wild West — there was no censorship.
The Israeli aim was to get the biggest shock value and a major propaganda win:
We were flooded with material and saw everything. I was in shock, but at the same time, there was pressure to distribute as much as possible — it was like in a social media [advertising campaign]: What works? What doesn’t? What gets attention?
Trust nobody
The same unit also worked on the current Israeli-US attack on Iran. Again their aim was to spin, deceive and lie to achieve the most powerful effect:
“The IDF Spokesperson lies,” one senior military correspondent told The Hottest Place in Hell. “Sometimes it’s about manipulating data, but ultimately the public is the one caught off guard.
A senior military correspondent-turned-whistleblower said:
At the beginning of ‘Operation Roaring Lion’ the IDF claimed it had destroyed 70 percent of Iran’s missile launchers.
Adding that the influence operation relied on public ignorance and journalistic failures as well as Israeli artifice:
We checked and quickly realized it wasn’t accurate — sometimes they hit tunnel entrances, not the launchers themselves, or the launchers kept firing despite being ‘destroyed.’ In major outlets, no one questions it. But when the war ends and rockets are still being fired, the public won’t understand how.
WhatsApp and YouTube ‘psy-ops’
In October and November 2023 – just two weeks apart – a WhatsApp group and YouTube channel both titled ‘Fact Check’ began posting. They were respectively framed as:
a non-profit organization working to provide students with information and facts regarding the ongoing war between Israel and the terrorist organization Hamas.
And a:
non-profit news organization.
In truth, the investigators claim, these accounts were all started by Israeli military propagandists. Between their launch and December 2024 the campaign:
produced and disseminated dozens of videos advancing Israeli military narratives without disclosing their origin.
Recruiting influencers
The channels were not a success. And the Israeli unit moved on to recruiting influencers with large followings:
the operation recruited dozens of Israeli and pro-Israeli international influencers to amplify messaging coordinated by the military, including Noa Tishby and Sarai Givaty, alongside other figures from Jewish communities abroad. Content was distributed across WhatsApp, YouTube, and Instagram, reaching millions of viewers.
The propaganda advanced pro-Israeli talking points:
These included claims that Jews cannot be considered colonizers in Palestine due to their historical ties to the biblical Kingdom of Judah, while “Arabs” are the true “colonizers of the land”; assertions that Israel’s actions in Gaza do not amount to genocide; and defenses against war crimes allegations against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
One soldier who worked on the influence operation said:
The channels [on YouTube, WhatsApp, and Instagram] targeted foreign audiences and presented themselves as objective and unaffiliated with Israel.
But everything was created within our unit and clearly promoted the Israeli narrative.
That whistleblower described the so-called ‘campaigns division’ as:
the most morally gray area within the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.
Adding:
At first, it felt urgent to show the world what we had gone through. But very quickly, that shifted. Gaza was being flattened, and the narrative that may have held in the early weeks began to unravel. By the time I was discharged, I felt a deep sense of revulsion at having been part of it.
The investigators their research:
suggests that this was not an isolated initiative, but part of a broader pattern of psychological operations conducted by the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.
Fully captured media?
The story also describes how a ‘correspondents cell’ dictates what stories get out, pitches ‘good stories’ to the press and even filters out journalists who are more critical of Israeli actions in favour of more obedient military reporters.
One Hareetz reporter named Yaniv Kubovich said:
The relationship between the IDF Spokesperson and the correspondents’ cell is absurd. The dependency is absolute.
It allows them to decide when we speak and with whom.
Kubovich said:
After October 7, with all the trauma it experienced, the IDF is doing everything it can to suppress reporting that exposes failures, ethical issues, or command shortcomings, instead of examining what actually happened.
+972 and The Hottest Place in Hell are noble exceptions. The state machine has captured the Israeli press. This is the kind of media a dictatorship would be proud to own. Now courageous whistleblowers have gone against the grain of the Israeli propaganda and psy-op machine and informed the public about the true (rather than imagined) extent of Israeli psychological operations.
Journalist and the public should heed their warnings.
Featured image via the Canary
Keir Starmer has insisted the UK cannot “go back to normal” after the Iran war despite its delicate ceasefire with the US.
Speaking from the Middle East, the prime minister warned Britain is too dependent on international energy markets right now.
He told ITV’s Robert Peston: “I firmly believe that when we had the global shock of the 2008 global financial crash, when we had the shock of Covid, the response was the wrong response.
“What I mean by that is there was a rush to get back to normal, to get back to the status quo. And never to change things fundamentally.
“And the normal and the status quo weren’t working for 20 years.
“They haven’t worked – living standards haven’t improved, public services have been decimated and people have felt more distant from politics.
“We can’t aspire or want to get back to the normal. We have to change that. We need to respond with strength in a number of important fields.”
The PM added that the consequences of this war are “going to be long felt” and Brits cannot “immunise ourselves from that”, pointing to the economic consequences the UK is already feeling from Iran’s closure of the major shipping lane, the Strait of Hormuz.
He said he wants to remove barriers to growth – including being closer to the EU.
He explained: “I’m fed up with the fact that families across the country see their bills go up and down on energy, businesses’ bills go up and down on energy because of the actions of Putin or Trump across the world and saying to families across the country, saying to businesses across the country: ‘We’ve just got to be, we’ve got to put up with being on the international market’.”
The PM also said Israel’s attacks on Lebanon should not have happened.
While he stopped short of calling Israel’s attacks on Iran a “breach” of the ceasefire – claiming he does not have access to all the details of the agreement – he did call the strikes “wrong”.
Starmer said: “That shouldn’t be happening. That should stop. That’s my strong view. And therefore the question isn’t a technical one of whether it’s a breach of the agreement or not.
“This one is actually a matter of principles as far as I’m concerned.
“In a sense, my argument would be it should be included in the ceasefire, and that’s the important part, the overall approach.”
He also countered Iran’s claims that a US bomber took off from a UK base and demolished four residential buildings, killing dozens of Iranians, saying British sites are only for collective self-defence use.
Starmer said: “I’m really clear about that divide – no offensive action, not joining in the war – collective self defence only and our bases will not be, and are not being, used for wider offensive and particular for offensives on civilians.”
The prime minister reiterated that the UK would not be “dragged” into the war, either.
Starmer said: “From the get go we’ve been monitoring this situation so I’m pretty clear on my own mind about what we’ve agreed and what the use of the bases are and that is a really important point of principle because we have to learn the lessons of Iraq.
“We need to be clear where we stand as a country and I’m the British Prime Minister, I make decisions on what’s in the British national interest and that is my focus. And notwithstanding for noise and the pressure and the rhetoric, that has been my firm focus throughout this.”
The prime minister also laid into the US president for his strong language against Tehran, after Trump threatened to wipe out Iranian civilisation unless it ended the war.
Starmer said: “Let me be really clear about this – they are not words I would use, ever use, because I come at this with our British values and principles.
“They’re not language I would use.
“Use those words, a language like that myself, very important that I’m clear that for the United Kingdom, we have our principles, we have our values. We will be guided by them in everything that we do.
“That’s why I’ve said, and obviously it’s caused a degree of criticism and pressure in the last few weeks. I’ve been saying we are not going to be dragged into this war because I say there must be a lawful basis that matters if you’re going to commit our service personnel to.”
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Democrats are, once again, punting on what to do about Israel.
DNC members on Thursday rejected a symbolic resolution to limit the influence of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and dark-money corporate groups in Democratic primaries — an unsurprising result that is nevertheless a blow to those within the party who have been infuriated by the pro-Israel group’s recent interventions.
They also punted on a pair of sweeping resolutions concerning conflicts in the Middle East that pushed the party to support conditioning military aid to Israel. The measures were referred to the party’s nascent Middle East Working Group, which is meeting for the fourth time this week and has been slow to coalesce around an agenda.
While the resolutions were not expected to pass, the outcomes reflect a party establishment still grappling with how to respond to the increasingly thorny politics around Israel and AIPAC — and their base’s sharp turn away from the longtime U.S. ally.
The AIPAC resolution called for the DNC to condemn “the growing influence of dark money” in Democratic elections, including from the pro-Israel group that has pumped tens of millions of dollars into recent primaries. Several members of the DNC’s resolutions committee said they voted it down because they had passed a resolution earlier in their meeting broadly condemning the influence of dark money in the midterms without calling out individual groups.
Florida Democrat Allison Minnerly, who introduced the AIPAC resolution, argued there’s “merit to calling out different PACs with intention.” She said that “Democrats overwhelmingly want a party that stands for human rights and against increased conflict in the Middle East.”
Iran’s UK embassy has taken to X to remind foreign secretary Yvette Cooper just who started the disastrous illegal US-Israel war. Just as well, as she seems to have forgotten.
Iran drags Cooper
In a statement welcoming this week’s (not-really) ‘temporary ceasefire’, Cooper said she welcomed the re-opening (oops) of the Strait of Hormuz. And as well as neglecting to mention who’s to blame, she also left out that the UK has been helping the US and Israel in their illegal attacks:
I welcome today’s announcement of a two week ceasefire between the US, Israel and Iran. This is a vital step towards establishing some security and stability in the region and getting international shipping and the global economy moving properly again. I also welcome the proposed talks between the US and Iran scheduled for later this week and thank Pakistan and all those involved for their continued work on the negotiations.
The UK has been working internationally to support the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and the self defence of Gulf countries, and to promote a swift resolution of this conflict. Last week, I led talks with more than 40 countries, where we discussed the urgent need to restore freedom of navigation for international shipping.
A swift resolution to this conflict is the best way to protect security, including for our citizens in the region, and crucially to help those feeling the impact on the cost of living here at home. The UK has been clear throughout that we need to deescalate and reopen the Strait. We will continue to work with the shipping, insurance and energy sectors to restore confidence in the route as quickly as possible. Iran must cease all mining, drone attacks, and other attempts to block commercial shipping in the Strait immediately.
It is vital that the proposed talks lead to a full end to the conflict and ensure that Iran does not continue to threaten the Strait or its neighbours. I also call for an urgent end to hostilities in Lebanon.
We will continue to work internationally to support this ceasefire, to promote progress on negotiations, and to restore and protect security and stability for the region, and freedom of navigation for the world.
So the embassy helpful chipped in to remind Cooper of who the aggressors are – and of her government’s own guilt:
We welcome your support for a ceasefire. By the way, don’t forget that the Strait of Hormuz was open before and the cost of living, both domestically and internationally, was normal.
The illegal aggression by the United States and the Israeli regime, which you did not condemn… https://t.co/RCqmXcjv93
— Iran (I.R.of) Embassy in UK (@Iran_in_UK) April 9, 2026
Which was very neighbourly of them, really.
Featured image via the Canary
The Eurovision Song Contest has been divisive for years. Initially this was a matter of taste. Some regarded it as a cavalcade of unlistenable cheese while others embraced it as a joyous celebration of cynicism-free good vibes.
Geopolitical much?
There was also always a body of opinion that felt the contest was little more than a forum for countries to act out their geopolitical loyalties or vendettas. The perpetual cliche sees countries with absolutely rotten songs getting full marks from nations under their thumb.
While, for example, shouting out “Greece!” before Cyprus announces its jury winner is a relatively harmless parlour game, there’s long been genuine disquiet over the role of Israel in Eurovision. Even though people have been saying “I didn’t know Israel was in Europe” every year, it’s been taking part since 1973. Under various names (currently Kan) the Israeli public broadcaster has been a member of the European Broadcasting Union since 1957.
In 2019, Israel hosted Eurovision. This was controversial, due to Israel’s ongoing abuses of the Palestinian people. Amid calls for viewers to boycott the show, many countries reported lower TV audiences.
Since Israel’s descent into full-blown genocide, the pressure has increased on Eurovision to kick Israel out. By May 2024, there were protests both outside the venue in Sweden and onstage from performers like Ireland’s Bambie Thug. Critics pointed out the inconsistency of Eurovision’s ban on Russia and embrace of Ukraine with its welcome for Israel and repression of Palestinian solidarity.
By 2025, Israel’s participation was turning in to a PR nightmare as the showrunners frantically edited out boos and some national broadcasters blanked Israel’s performance. It also emerged that Israel and its supporters were seemingly manipulating the public vote. This meant the Israeli entry nearly overtook Austria’s JJ. Eurovision has announced a raft of measures to counter vote rigging for the 2026 event.
However, Eurovision has failed to exclude Israel as a participant. As a result, Spain, Ireland, Slovenia, the Netherlands and Iceland have all withdrawn in protest.
The UK’s Eurovision entry
So far, the UK has shown no sign of following those countries. So the Palestine Solidarity Campaign has created a petition appealing directly to the UK’s contestant.
Sam Battle performs as Look Mum No Computer. He creates music using synths he’s built himself. Having contacted the UK Eurovision team to offer songwriting services, he was somewhat surprised to find himself as the UK entry.
The petition addresses Battle, beginning:
We, the undersigned, ask you to heed the Palestinian call to withdraw from Eurovision, to avoid being part of an event providing cover for Israel’s genocide, military occupation and apartheid against Palestinians.
In an email to supporters, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign explains the reasoning behind its call:
Whilst Palestinians are still facing Israel’s genocide against them, it’s obscene for events like Eurovision to include Israel, giving it a stage to conceal its atrocities.
Palestinians have called on us to boycott the Eurovision Song Contest over its inclusion of Israel.
Nicola, join us in calling on the UK contestant, Sam Battle, to heed the call from Palestinians and withdraw from the competition.
Just last week the Israeli government passed a hideous law introducing the possibility of the death penalty as a punishment for imprisoned Palestinians. In the West Bank, Israeli settlers continue to violently attack Palestinians, raiding villages and forcing them from their homes.
In this context, we are calling on Sam Battle to follow the lead of the five countries that have pulled out of Eurovision this year, and many thousands of artists, cultural workers and queer organisations who have called for a boycott.
It is now more than five months since the so-called ceasefire was declared, yet Israeli airstrikes are still killing Palestinians in Gaza. Just last week an airstrike on Khan Younis killed and injured dozens. Palestinians in Gaza are still facing starvation due to Israeli restrictions on access to aid.
Israel’s public broadcaster KAN, which participates in Eurovision, has repeatedly justified and incited this genocide on air, including by publishing a video of Israeli children singing “we will annihilate them all [Palestinians in Gaza].” This is who the European Broadcasting Union, and all the artists who perform in Eurovision, are choosing to stand alongside.
Palestinians are clear in their demands: we must boycott Eurovision until it stops being used to art- and pink-wash genocide.
We owe it to the thousands of incredible Palestinian musicians, artists and performers who have been injured, murdered, imprisoned and oppressed by Israel’s regime of apartheid and genocide. Join us to press the UK contestant to do the right thing and withdraw.
Featured image via the Canary
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Can the Middle East ceasefire hold?
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