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

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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

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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

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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

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— 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

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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

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. ​

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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

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— 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

Defence secretary John Healey has claimed Russian submarines have been spying on UK underwater infrastructure. Healey held a special 9 April press conference to announce a month-long operation against UK underwater pipes and cables had been foiled. Without presenting any supporting evidence, he also claimed that too much focus on Iran was letting Russia’s president Vladimir Putin operate more freely.

Russia on the move (if you believe Labour)

Healey claimed the Russian mission had failed, but provided little firm detail on the location or nature of the operation – or the UK response.

I’m proud of our UK Armed Forces, who left these Russian vessels with no doubt.

Their movements were not covert as Putin planned.

Their attempted secret operations were exposed.

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And they have now retreated. https://t.co/8L3XkjbM0O

— John Healey (@JohnHealey_MP) April 9, 2026

The Guardian said:

Declining to reveal precisely where the operation took place, Healey said it did not happen in UK territorial waters but in the exclusive economic zone that extends up to 200 nautical miles from the UK coastline, or where it meets the boundary of other nations’ zones.

The Russians reportedly used three submarines:

The submarines were a Russian Akula class nuclear-powered vessel and two deep-sea submarines from Russia’s directorate for deep sea research (Gugi), he added.

The alleged Russian spy ship Yantar, a regular sight in UK waters, was also involved.

Healey also commented:

The Russian action took place “while the eyes of many were trained on the Middle East”, because of the US-Israeli attack on Iran.

He said no damage had been detected to UK pipes or cables, but the navy would check.

Undersea drones

The last incident involving the Yantar was reported on 19 November. On 20 November, Healey was at the opening of a new underwater drone warfare factory in Plymouth.

This was the new UK headquarters of Helsing, an AI arms firm. As the Canary reported at the time:

They’ll be making unmanned submersible ‘gliders’. Powered by AI, the SG-1 Fathom will “deliver persistent underwater surveillance, detecting enemy activity to protect our sea lanes and undersea critical national infrastructure”.

Healey told the BBC at the time:

As we look to defend ourselves, seas and protect our cables, the uncrewed submarines or underwater gliders have the potential for playing a big part in the future,

It allows us to extend the range of how we can detect, how we can deter and if necessary, deal with any aggression that we face.

A number of Helsing staff, as we reported, also have past associations with the global tech firm Palantir — as well as BAE and Airbus.

And, as Drone Wars told the Canary in early November 2025:

Helsing is a new AI-focused military corporation, funded by Spotify’s Daniel Ek, and keen to gain a slice of the UK government’s promised £5 billion spending on drones, AI and other emerging technology.

It is not clear if Helsing technology was deployed to deter the alleged Russian operation. For a man who called a major press conference, Healey was very stingy with specifics. However, what may be significant about this ‘operational update’ is his attempt to re-focus the press and public away from the UK’s role in the disastrous war in Iran. And back on the more comfortable terrain of a much-hyped but nebulous Russian threat.

Featured image via the Canary

Last year, the Canary reported how Daniel Harvey, activist and campaigner for disability justice, was denied access to Parliament on International Day of Persons with Disabilities, despite making all of the necessary arrangements.

Below, Daniel writes about his experiences and the lack of resolution, months later. In particular, he describes the lack of support offered by Scope, the charity for which he is an assembly member.

Approached for comment, James Taylor, executive director of strategy at Scope, said:

We are sorry for the experience Daniel had when he attended one of our events in Parliament last year and are grateful for his feedback. We have continued to engage with him since the event last December and with Parliament. We know there is more to do so that Parliament does not repeat the same mistakes. And we will look to improve our process for future events.

We are currently working to improve the experience our members have with Scope.

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Our members are hugely valued and important to us, and we are currently engaging with all members to understand how we can improve their experience.

Dear Scope

When giving up your time to support one of the UK’s biggest disability charities, you would expect a sense of co-production.

I am currently an elected assembly member for Scope. We are involved in influencing Scope and how they connect with its members and the general public. During my time, I have entered two meetings: one centred around an icebreaker; the other on disability awareness training. The vast majority of us were already familiar with the latter, due to lived experience.

So, technically speaking, I haven’t actually achieved anything.

When I was invited to Parliament for a Scope event, I was denied entry. This was despite having clearance and an official invitation. Due to a governmental error, my invite and clearance was hidden from view. I was told by police officers at the gate that I had to try and resolve this amongst the hustle and bustle of Metropolitan London.

I made the decision to leave after an hour of attempting to call every staff member I could from Scope.

Experts in the systems that hurt us

I’ve received no agreeable resolution. Instead, the expectation was for me to work for free by providing my knowledge and insight to strengthen the government’s accessibility policy.

I am personally fed up with hearing that age-old narrative where disabled people, who have experienced a barrier, are then expected to volunteer their expertise exploitatively. It’s an existential crisis that leaves a bitter taste to those of us who don’t have a choice in becoming experts in the systems that hurt us.

Our insights and experiences are extremely valuable, and to see this poor trend continue within a charity that I deeply respected has saddened me.

Silenced, not empowered

Scope has made multiple errors around supporting and safeguarding its assembly members. Staff members have left without reason. Changes have been made without our acknowledgement. Our current means of communication in WhatsApp has disappeared. Scope has now changed the platform without consulting us to Microsoft Teams, which is atrocious for accessibility amongst our community.

I am shocked by Scope’s approach and their lack of accountability. I’ve had informal meetings with various staff members, but it hasn’t gone anywhere. This isn’t the picture of inclusion I had in mind. Scope is meant to empower disabled people, but somehow I feel silenced.

The lack of communication from a disability charity that supposedly champions inclusion and accessibility has ironically created some very big barriers. There has been no paid staff member monitoring communications, which helps with safeguarding its members. We are also restricted when reaching out to the management team or board of trustees for support, due to a lack of engagement.

Undemocratic

Being an assembly member involves being able to share your perspective on any proposed changes. Instead, we are expected to legitimise the obstacles we are experiencing. That isn’t democracy.

I didn’t agree to sit in spaces where you feel unable to challenge. I am tired of being told to hold my tongue or be grateful when the very things we fight for daily are happening right in front of us. I will not be complicit with Scope if they cannot recognise the value of this assembly.

I spoke with another assembly member, Damian Bridgeman, for his perspective:

My relationship with Scope goes back to childhood. I re-engaged at a governance level where I went back onto the council as a volunteer. I gave up my skills freely.

Damian was later encouraged to become a trustee.

I went through the process despite inaccessible forms. Then I was told my skills didn’t fit the board’s matrix.

Still he remained…

‘Control dressed up as inclusion’

During his involvement with the council, Damian grew aware of proposed charity shop closures. He wrote a 13-page turnaround plan to help. However, he was told that his plan didn’t stack up.

In my career, I’ve developed assistive technology which is now being used by 250 million people globally. I knew I could deliver that turnaround.

Damian’s conclusion is extremely unambiguous:

We are being kept close enough to be visible, but not close enough to have real influence. That’s not inclusion. Instead, that is control dressed up as inclusion.

That last line in particular has hit me. For so many of us, we fight for change in a world where we come face-to-face with health battles, discrimination, physical and environmental barriers and economic exclusion.

Disabled people shouldn’t be expected to sit still with their feelings like it’s some performative act. We shouldn’t ever discourage anyone from the opportunity to engage and make change especially when it’s in reach.

Opportunities like being in the assembly were meant to be that for me. Unfortunately, it has turned out to be a story of deep disappointment.

Please do better.

Featured image via the Canary

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) government has said it wants compensation from Iran for Iran’s supposedly “unprovoked” attacks.

The UAE can whistle

In a statement, the UAE’s foreign ministry says that it also wants full assurances from Iran that the Strait of Hormuz will remain open and all hostilities will cease.

The foreign ministry even claims that it is “not a party” to the US-Israel war of aggression:

UAE Closely Following Ceasefire Announcement, Affirms Importance of Iran’s Adherence to Cessation of Terrorist Attacks, and Ensuring Freedom of Navigation ​

The United Arab Emirates is closely following the announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump regarding the two-week ceasefire between the United States and Iran, and is seeking further clarification on the agreement’s provisions to ensure Iran’s full commitment to an immediate cessation of all hostilities in the region and the complete and unconditional reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. ​

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In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) underscored that the unprovoked Iranian attacks targeting infrastructure, energy facilities, and civilian sites over the past 40 days -which included 2,819 ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as drones -and the resulting loss of life and property damage, necessitate a firm position, including ensuring that Iran is held accountable and fully liable for damages and reparations. ​

The Ministry emphasized the need for a comprehensive and sustained approach that addresses Iran’s full range of threats, including its nuclear capabilities, ballistic missiles, drones, military capabilities, and affiliated proxies and terrorist groups, while ending threats to freedom of navigation, as well as economic warfare and piracy in the Strait of Hormuz. ​ The Ministry expressed hope for achieving sustainable peace for all countries in the region. ​

The UAE reaffirmed that it is not a party to this war and had undertaken intensive diplomatic efforts to prevent its outbreak, including through bilateral channels and initiatives within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). ​ Furthermore, the UAE underscored that it has firmly safeguarded its sovereignty, security, and national achievements, and stressed the need for Iran’s full compliance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 2817 (2026), adopted on 11 March 2026, which condemned the Iranian attacks and demanded their immediate cessation.

The UAE hosts at least 5,000 US troops and the Al Dhafra US airbase, as well as allowing US warships to use its Jebel Ali port. The US has used Al Dhafra in its operations against Iran and has – or had – advanced missile warning radars stationed at the base. As well as attacking the US base and the port, Iran has struck hotels housing US military and CIA personnel moved there from its bases to hide – using other guests as ‘human shields’.

International law expert and foreign policy analyst Reza Nasri explained why the UAE has no grounds for complaint and has collaborated with the US and Israel – and why Iran has acted entirely within its legal rights:

The UAE now demands compensation for what it calls “unprovoked Iranian attacks” on its territory.

Iran stands ready to present clear, verifiable evidence — including precise targeting data, timelines, numbers of strikes, and the specific means and munitions employed — proving… pic.twitter.com/d6TgYJ10Ij

— Reza Nasri (@RezaNasri1) April 8, 2026

The UAE now demands compensation for what it calls “unprovoked Iranian attacks” on its territory.

Iran stands ready to present clear, verifiable evidence — including precise targeting data, timelines, numbers of strikes, and the specific means and munitions employed — proving UAE complicity in US-Israeli aggression.

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Iran exercised its inherent right to self-defense under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter in response to armed attacks originating from UAE territory.

By contrast, the UAE actively facilitated and collaborated with the aggressor. It knowingly permitted the United States to use UAE territory as a launchpad and staging ground for strikes against Iran, despite being fully aware that these operations constituted an act of aggression in flagrant violation of the UN Charter.

The United States had no valid claim of self-defense, no imminent armed attack to repel, and no authorization whatsoever from the UN Security Council.

Furthermore, the UAE demonstrated its unwillingness to take any measures to prevent or terminate the United States’ use of its territory once it became apparent that the US-Israeli campaign was predicated on the systematic commission of war crimes.

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The UAE’s complicity was publicly acknowledged and expressly thanked by President Trump.

How dare they speak of “unprovoked Iranian attacks”?

Regardless, the UAE is whistling in the wind. Iran has re-closed Hormuz and continues to retaliate after Israel immediately collapsed Donald Trump’s claimed ‘two-week ceasefire’ by perpetrating mass attacks on Lebanon, and the US justified the attacks by denying that peace for Lebanon was part of the agreed conditions.

France and India have responded to the “geopolitical risks” posed by Donald Trump’s aggression and instability by repatriating massive gold reserves from the US. In France’s case, it has taken back its entire US-held reserve – and made a huge profit in the process. The gold had been there since WWII.

Gold out of America

France used a ‘sell-rebuy’ manoeuvre to offload 129 tonnes of gold held at the US Federal Reserve in New York and used the funds to immediately buy new gold at a profit of almost €13bn. India, which had already started the process in 2025 has physically moved another 64 tonnes just since the beginning of 2026.

Although the French government claimed the repatriation was “technical”, the moves come against a background of a flailing Trump threatening to punish countries he feels have not been supportive enough of his disastrous and illegal war of aggression, alongside Israel, on Iran.

Other central banks are considering following suit, including Germany’s Bundesbank, which currently holds a huge 1,236 tonnes of gold in the US. It fears that Trump has his eyes on it and that even if he does not try to grab it directly his unpredictability and his international aggression make it unsafe. Michael Jäger, head of the German Taxpayers’ Federation, which represents wealthy and tax-averse members and would normally be aligned with Trump’s focus on the wealthy and corporations, said German gold is “no longer safe” under Trump:

Trump is unpredictable, and he does everything to generate revenue. That’s why our gold is no longer safe in the Fed’s vaults.

The withdrawal of gold reserves is a further blow to Trump, who has spent hundreds of billions attacking Iran only to be forced to concede most of Iran’s demands in his desperate search for an off-ramp from his and Israel’s illegal, losing war.

Featured image via the Canary