Politics
The Epstein scandal is taking down Europe’s political class. In the US, they’re getting a pass.
Across the Atlantic, heads are rolling over the Jeffrey Epstein revelations.
In Norway, one prominent diplomat has already been suspended and a police investigation has been opened into a former prime minister. In the U.K., the former ambassador to the U.S. has been fired; on Tuesday, he resigned from the House of Lords. Police are reviewing reports he shared market-sensitive information with Epstein.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, was stripped of his royal titles and residence. A charity founded by his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, the former Duchess of York, will shut down indefinitely following the release of emails where she called Epstein a “legend” and “the brother I have always wished for.”
But as Europe’s political class moves to clean up its mess and address its shame concerning ties with the convicted sex offender, it’s inadvertently highlighting something else — the comparative lack of accountability in the U.S.
No prominent politicians have taken a fall. Consequences have been limited. Wagons have been circled around the most prominent political figures whose names have surfaced in the legal document dumps.
In the U.K., former ambassador to the U.S. Peter Mandelson — who has said he was wrong to believe Epstein following his conviction and to continue his association with him afterwards — has emerged as a millstone around British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s neck. While Starmer never actually met Epstein, some are calling for his resignation over his appointment of Mandelson. The prime minister publicly apologized Thursday to Epstein’s victims.
“I am sorry,” Starmer said. “Sorry for what was done to you, sorry that so many people with power failed you, sorry for having believed Mandelson’s lies and appointed him and sorry that even now you’re forced to watch this story unfold in public once again.”
It’s a different story in the U.S. Donald Trump’s Republican Party has largely averted its eyes or rallied to the president’s defense despite his documented ties to Epstein and the unverified additional allegations against the president that appeared last week.
Trump has denied wrongdoing in relation to the Epstein allegations, and no evidence has suggested that he took part in Epstein’s trafficking operation. The president also has maintained that he and Epstein had a falling out years ago.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick remains unscathed in his Cabinet post. Lutnick said on a podcast last year that he was so disgusted by his neighbor Epstein in 2005 that he vowed to never be in the same room with him again. But when the Justice Department released more than three million pages of materials related to the late American financier last Friday, emails surfaced suggesting a closer relationship and that Lutnick had actually seen Epstein some years later on a trip to Epstein’s Caribbean island. A spokesperson said the Commerce secretary “had limited interactions with Mr. Epstein in the presence of his wife and has never been accused of wrongdoing.” So far, there are no signs it affected his standing in the Trump Cabinet.
Likewise, Goldman Sachs and its CEO David Solomon have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the company’s general counsel Kathryn Ruemmler as she’s faced brutal headlines for months for her associations with Epstein, which include gifts of a $9,400 Hermes bag and a spa treatment at the Four Seasons Hotel in D.C. Solomon told the Wall Street Journal several weeks ago that Ruemmler, a former White House counsel to Barack Obama, “is widely respected and admired at the firm.”
Ruemmler has said she regrets “ever knowing him, and I have enormous sympathy for the victims of Epstein’s crimes.”
Even Dr. Peter Attia, the author and influential longevity researcher who is a contributor to CBS News, remains on the job despite his appearance in numerous emails with Epstein, where they discussed female genitalia and how Epstein’s life was “so outrageous.” In an email that he posted on X, Attia apologized and said he was not involved in any criminal activity, his interactions with Epstein had nothing to do with his sexual abuse or exploitation of anyone and that he was never on his plane or island, and never present at any sex parties.
Some see the relatively limited fallout — in a public arena where infidelity or even smoking marijuana were once enough to sink a career — as a reflection of the diminished standards of the Trump era, when the president’s own indiscretions and extreme polarization has led to a greater tolerance of the scent of scandal. They point to the Cabinet nominations of former Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, both of whom would have been unthinkable in the past given allegations about their involvement in sex crimes that both men have denied.
“Some of that has to do with the general chaos on this side of the pond where it’s a never ending stream of scandal emanating from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and Trump has set a tone of defiance on refusal to accept and feel any shame,” said Norm Eisen, a former U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic who is now a top Trump critic and the founder of Democracy Defenders Action, a bipartisan group that tracks what it calls “autocratic” behavior by the administration. “Those who should feel shame are hunkering down instead.”
It’s true that several American figures linked to Epstein have been forced to step away from public life. They include former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who has said he is “deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they have caused,” and Paul Weiss chairman Brad Karp, who resigned as the law firm’s chair on Wednesday saying it’s in the best interest of the firm. David Ross, former director of the Whitney Museum of American Art, stepped down this week from his position at a Manhattan art school and said in a statement that he felt ashamed for falling for Epstein’s lies. But for many of the best-known elites who were in contact with the late convicted sex offender — including former Trump aide Steve Bannon and billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk — the only consequence has been the reputational hit.
“What matters is not release of some subset of the Epstein files, but rather the prosecution of those who committed heinous crimes with Epstein,” Musk wrote on X. “When there is at least one arrest, some justice will have been done. If not, this is all performative. Nothing but a distraction.”
Bannon has said little publicly about their relationship, but he did previously call for an independent investigation into the files.
Bannon, a frequent visitor to Epstein’s New York house, was planning a documentary to help revive Epstein’s image and even was texting documentary scheduling questions with Epstein the day he was arrested in 2019. Even so, there are few outward signs that the scandal has touched him: Bannon still does his “War Room” show on Rumble and his political musings are widely covered in the press.
It’s an approach in keeping with Trump’s own never-concede-an-inch style.
“We as Americans need to be looking at ourselves in the mirror. Why are we not having that same reaction [as Europe]?” said Rufus Gifford, a former Obama-appointed ambassador to Denmark. “Without a doubt how Trump has acted has filtered down to broader society. But I think the question that we have to ask is whether or not this existed before Trump, and Trump is just a symptom of that larger problem.”
Politics
FIFA hypocrisy after Israel murder over 400 Palestinian footballers
The Board of Peace and FIFA have announced plans to build 55 football pitches, an academy, and a national stadium in Gaza. Meanwhile, Israel has murdered over 400 footballers, destroyed every football pitch in the country, and made millions of Palestinians homeless.
Yet now, a board of rich, old, and (all but one) white men is deciding Gaza’s fate. This is after supplying weapons and supporting Israel’s genocide for over two years.
The hypocrisy is off the charts.
🚨🇵🇸 WATCH: FIFA and the Board of Peace have announced they are building 55 football pitches, a FIFA academy and a national stadium in Gaza pic.twitter.com/G1cB5NVSe1
— Politics Global (@PolitlcsGlobal) February 26, 2026
Follow for the very latest political news!
The proposals include:
– 50 FIFA Arena Mini Pitches ($50,000 per pitch)
– 5 Full Sized Pitches ($1 million per pitch)
– A FIFA Academy ($15 million)
– A National Stadium ($50 million)— Politics Global (@PolitlcsGlobal) February 26, 2026
Since October 2023, Israel has murdered at least 437 Palestinian footballers — and that figure could actually be far higher.
At least 437 registered Palestinian footballers murdered by Israel since 7 October with half of them being children and FIFA continues to allow Israeli domestic and international teams to play in their competitions and tournaments https://t.co/ubzxvkKH0R
— Cllr Martin Abrams (@Martin_Abrams) February 26, 2026
Over half of these were children.
Built on child’s corpses.
— Antifa HR Director (@berniehoe2) February 26, 2026
Israel destroyed all 51 football clubs, along with 9 stadiums and the communities that came with both.
51 clubs and 9 stadiums destroyed in Gaza. Many of them date back to before 1948. At least ten football academies were erased.
FIFA’s plan is to build only one stadium and 50 mini-pitches as well as 1 academy.
This is colonialism but packaged as sports reconstruction. https://t.co/gDjx74LrU5
— Abubaker Abed (@AbubakerAbedW) February 27, 2026
Turning pitches into graveyards
At one point, Israel bombed a football pitch at a Palestinian refugee camp in Southern Lebanon, whilst 13 children were playing on it.
Israel then claimed it struck a ‘Hamas training compound’.
Of course, FIFA has turned a blind eye for over two years as Israel has murdered innocent people.
FIFA quickly suspended Russia from international tournaments after it illegally invaded Ukraine. But of course, it did not take the same action when Israel launched its full-scale genocide on Palestine.
As the Canary previously reported:
FIFA has ignored restrictions on the movement of Palestinian players and the targeting of stadiums and sports facilities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the imposition of Israeli clubs in settlements at the expense of Palestinian federations.
Now, FIFA is using a Trump-esque AI video. Could they create something more fucked up if they tried?
an AI generated video of a fifa stadium erupting out of the leveled ruins of gazan neighborhoods is the most disturbing and dehumanizing thing i’ve seen on this godless app, no one involved in this will be seeing heaven i can make that guarantee
— ℑℭ𝓔𝔅𝔒𝔜 (@exsdys) February 27, 2026
Anyway, in what world is this Gaza:
This looks more like the UAE than Gaza.The men’s attire shown above is primarily associated with Gulf states. The racist AI video generator clearly cannot distinguish between different Arab populations — and FIFA apparently didn’t bother checking what its own use of AI produced before publishing it.
Orientalism at its finest.
FIFA enabling ethnic cleansing
As if it was not bad enough that FIFA has been allowing Israel to compete internationally. Now, it is an active participant in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
This is as disgusting as the Trump Gaza AI video…
FIFA is participating in the ethnic cleansing of Gaza directly with the Board of Peace.
BOYCOTT FIFA. BOYCOTT THE CRIMINALS. https://t.co/5J8ZvkjeL5
— YourFavoriteGuy (@guychristensen_) February 27, 2026
Israel has murdered tens of thousands of Palestinians, and the West collectively ignored it. Now they’re going to jump on the graves of children to expand their capitalist empires as if Palestine has not suffered enough for the last 70 years.
I want to fucking cry, tens of thousands of innocent people slaughtered without a care in a world, just so that the capitalists can expand their empire further, all on top of the body of a nation that suffered for the last 70 years. You cant hate these people enough. https://t.co/LDOv34XQv9
— Radya🇵🇸 (@radishart_) February 27, 2026
We can only presume that this is some sort of soft launch for a future tournament in Israel. Of course, the powers that be – who happen to be mainly friends-of-nonces- will have no intention of including Palestine in said tournament. That’s if there are even any footballers left to invite because Israel has murdered them all.
Fifa are testing the waters and soft launching a tournament in Israel https://t.co/pRrloFVMx9
— Лайк! 🔻 (@_Ventfull_) February 26, 2026
sportswashing a genocide by building football pitches on the bodies of dead Gazans? using AI garbage to depict fast-tracked construction around the rubble? truly, truly sick. they’re paying $70m to put the FIFA stamp on ethnic cleansing. may these depraved ghouls never know peace https://t.co/YoIfR65Ire
— amadí (@amadoit__) February 27, 2026
If the board of peace, Israel, or FIFA think that a few new stadiums will make the world collectively forget the brutality of the last two years, they have another thing coming.
And who’s to say Israel would not bomb new stadiums as soon as Palestinians set foot in them? The rest of the world watches on as Israel labels whatever the hell they like Hamas targets and gets away with cold-blooded murder.
Neither a sporting governing body nor a ‘board’ made up of rich old men should be allowed any part in building on the graves of children.
Politics
Churchill statue branded ‘zionist war criminal’ in Whitehall
Conservatives and fascists got two absolute spankings last night. First, their man lost in the Gorton and Denton by-election. Then an activist graffitied Churchill’s statue in Whitehall — and not for the first time. That’s a tough 24hrs for people who think they’re living in the movie Zulu because they once saw an Asian person in Big Asda.
Here’s the Canary’s news report on the incident.
You can see the ‘damage’ — I mean, it does just wash off — below:
⚡️Churchill statue in London defaced with “Zionist war criminal” graffiti pic.twitter.com/SlCkWCAGUs
— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) February 27, 2026
Poor Winston got called a ‘Zionist war criminal’. Another part of the graffiti said ‘stop the genocide’. Thing is… Churchill was a proud Zionist and a key architect of several British imperial genocides. So while it is a bit naughty to spray that stuff on his statue… what was said isn’t technically inaccurate. The graffiti also said ‘free Palestine’, which doubtless added to the right-wing meltdown.
Met Police said a man was arrested at the scene at 4am on 27 February. It’s striking that he was detained for “racially aggravated criminal damage”:
Overnight, the Winston Churchill statue in Parliament Square was graffitied with red paint.
Officers were on scene within two minutes of being alerted shortly after 4am.
A 38-yr-old man is in custody having been arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated criminal damage.
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) February 27, 2026
Proud Zionist
Churchill was a racist, Zionist and imperialist to his core. In fact to be fair to him he never said he wasn’t. He held these views proudly and loudly. The only people who have an issue with this basic fact are his weird cultists. Who, perversely, are often also racists.
Left-wing writer Tariq Ali wrote a (bloody good) book about the cult of Churchill and the reality of the man’s views. He told Current Affairs in May 2022:
He was a supporter of the Spanish fascist dictator Francisco Franco. He supported Franco like Hitler and Mussolini did in the Spanish Civil War.
Churchill was also “a terribly open admirer” of Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini:
He said, what a great role Mussolini was playing in Italy. [“I could not help being charmed by his gentle, simple bearing,” Churchill said of Mussolini.
Then we have the 1943 Bengal famine, which may have killed 3mn people. A British-manufactured horror which:
Churchill refused, explicitly, to intervene to stop that famine.
And don’t forget Churchill’s 1944 crushing of the Greek resistance in favour of fascism:
the order given to the British commander, who the resistance had allowed to enter Athens, that if the resistance doesn’t do as we say, treat Athens as a colonial city. And the bloodbath that occurred in Greece as General Scobie tried to crush the Greek resistance.
Churchill’s views, as you can imagine, on Palestine flow quite naturally from these.
Churchill and Israel
Churchill, like so many imperialists in his day and ours, was both a supporter of Zionism AND an antisemite.
He supported the Balfour Declaration (the colonialist Middle East carve-up which helped get us where we are today) as British colonial secretary:
I am in full sympathy with the historical traditional aspirations of the Jews.
And said:
Jerusalem must be the only ultimate goal. When it will be achieved it is vain to prophesy; but that it will some day be achieved is one of the few certainties of the future.
Yet he wrote in 1940 that Jews
have been partly responsible for the antagonism from which they suffer.
And that:
there are times when one feels instinctively that all this is only another manifestation of the difference, the separateness of the Jew.
Of the Palestinians and their claim on their homeland, he had absolute contempt:
I do not admit that the dog in the manger has the final right to the manger even though he may have lain there for a very long time.
He also denied that:
a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America, or the Black people of Australia.
Churchill said such people had just been replaced with “a higher grade race.”
Nice bloke…
Now vandalising public monuments these days is going to get you in trouble — whether the politics are agreeable or not. In this case it seems to have been Dutch pro-Palestine activists. But if we’re talking about the graffiti itself, the claims made aren’t inaccurate. So maybe it’s time butthurt Churchill fans stop pretending and own their hero’s legacy as a racist and bigot.
Featured image via the Canary
Politics
Pakistan declares ‘open war’ as fighting with Afghanistan rages
Fighting on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border has intensified. One Pakistani minister has described it as a state of “open war”. And Pakistan has hit the Afghan capital Kabul with airstrikes.
Afghan forces launched attacks across the British-created Durand line on 26 February. And Pakistan has called the Taliban regime — which replaced the US-led occupation in 2021 — illegitimate and accused it of harbouring militants.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on 27 February:
Afghan soil is not being used; but, the Afghan Taliban regime is fully aligned with these terrorists and is completely backing these terrorists.
Al Jazeera reported on 27 February:
Pakistan launched air strikes on Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, as well as on Kandahar and Paktia, early on Friday. The attacks targeted Taliban military installations as Islamabad declared “open war” on the group’s government, in the most serious military confrontation between the two neighbours in years.
One Kabul resident described her terror:
Then we heard gunfire. When we looked out of our apartment window, we saw bullet-like flames going up in the sky.
Al Jazeera said the airstrikes:
came hours after Afghan forces launched coordinated cross-border attacks on Pakistani military positions in six border provinces late on Thursday. Kabul claimed 55 Pakistani soldiers were killed and 19 outposts captured.
Border war
Border fighting broke out in October 2025. A subsequent Turkey and Qatar-brokered ceasefire has now broken down.
The origins of the fighting are complicated. Ahram Online reported:
Islamabad argues that the authorities in Kabul, led by the Taliban, have failed to curb the activities of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, a separate but ideologically aligned group that has intensified attacks inside Pakistan since 2021.
The Taliban deny this is the case. Kabul-based political analyst Obaidullah Baheer said:
Pakistan claimed that it was doing that in response to TTP attacks based on the bogus claim that the Taliban are supporting the TTP, an insurgent group operating within Pakistan.
Drop Site News posted a timeline of the breakdown in diplomatic relations since January 2026:
Lead-up: January – Mid-February 2026
▪️Early January: Pakistan warns that Afghanistan is becoming a hub for foreign militants.
▪️February 6: A suicide bombing at a Shia mosque in Islamabad kills 31–36 worshippers. The attack is claimed by ISKP, but Pakistan blames the Afghan…
— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) February 27, 2026
The Pakistan has also banned personal drones after Afghan forces used unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in their attack:
The ban is effective nationwide immediately and will remain in place until further directives are issued. All provincial governments and chief secretaries have been asked to ensure strict enforcement of the directive.
Vast US arsenal
A vast arsenal of US military equipment and weaponry was left behind in 2021. Those weapons are now fuelling the war. As the Canary reported on 4 February:
those weapons have flooded neighbouring Pakistan
The Foundation for Economic Education broke down some of the numbers involved. They said the giant arsenal included:
includes up to 22,174 Humvee vehicles, nearly 1,000 armored vehicles, 64,363 machine guns, and 42,000 pick-up trucks and SUVs.
There were mind-boggling amounts of small arms — and even artillery:
the list of allegedly abandoned weaponry includes up to 358,530 assault rifles, 126,295 pistols, and nearly 200 artillery units.
CNN reported that the border region holds vast quantities of copper and other minerals and metals which the US craves:
Pakistan says there is much more wealth beneath its soil –– an estimated $8 trillion in copper, lithium, cobalt, gold, antimony and other critical minerals.
This reality has:
oiled an unlikely friendship with US President Donald Trump, who has put mineral acquisition at the heart of US foreign policy
Pakistan and Afghanistan’s colonial underpinnings
The colonial nature of the conflict zone can’t be ignored either. National Geographic describes the Durand Line as:
part of a long history of colonizing countries establishing borders that serve their own political purposes while ignoring the cultures and ethnicities of the people living there.
As Ahram Online explained:
The roots of the crisis trace back to 1893, when British diplomat Sir Mortimer Durand signed an agreement with Afghan ruler Abdur Rahman Khan to demarcate a frontier between British India and Afghanistan. That line split Pashtun tribal lands between two political entities.
After independence in 1947, Pakistan:
inherited the Durand Line as an international boundary under the principle of state succession. Successive Afghan governments, however, avoided formally recognizing it as a permanent border. The dispute has simmered for decades, occasionally flaring but rarely disappearing.
The neighbours view the border very differently:
Pakistan views the border as legally settled and central to its territorial integrity. Afghanistan’s position has historically been more ambiguous, shaped by ethnic ties, nationalist sentiment, and resistance to what many Afghans see as a colonial imposition.
This explosive combination of competing territorial visions and competition for vast mineral resources is compounded by colonial history and the presence on both sides of the border of vast arsenals of lost American weapons. And ordinary people of the region aren’t without agency, yet to some degree they remain hostage to imperialisms both old and new.
Featured image via the Canary
Politics
Brit Awards 2026: What Geese Star Max Bassin Said In His Censored Speech
It’s fair to say that the censors had plenty to keep them busy during this year’s Brit Awards.
Saturday night’s Brits broadcast saw the sound being pulled on numerous occasions due to a variety of comments that were made over the course of the event.
One such moment came during musician Max Bassin’s acceptance speech, after he accepted the International Group Of The Year prize on behalf of his band Geese.
Choosing to keep things short, he began his speech by stating simply: “What’s up, ‘the Brits’? I just want to say, free Palestine…”
However, after Max said the word “free”, the audio was pulled, resulting in the rest of what he had to say being cut from broadcast.
It later emerged that Max concluded his speech: “Fuck ICE, go Geese.”
Many Brits viewers were quick to voice their upset at what appeared to be ITV censoring Max’s politically-charged speech right as the drummer was about to speak out in solidarity with Palestine.
However, in response to this backlash, the broadcaster has indicated to HuffPost UK that Max’s speech was censored due to his language after his pro-Palestine message – in other words, his use of the word “fuck” – rather than because of his political statements.
Earlier in the night, the Brits also pulled the sound when Jack Whitehall made a seemingly unscripted joke about Peter Mandelson, after spotting Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and Labour minister Lisa Nandy in the awards show’s audience.
“I wonder who else is here,” he quipped. “I think I saw Peter Mandelson on the list. Oh wait, that was another list…”
Politics
US citizens’ support for Israel plummets, new data confirms
Israel’s Gaza genocide and constant demands for money and military support have caused its popularity to nosedive among US citizens. A new Gallup poll shows a dramatic about-turn in the colony’s standing across the board, especially among Democrats and unaligned voters, but reaching even to the Republican party.
The change is even more dramatic considering how stubbornly Americans held onto their support for Israel through decades of its abuses and slaughter of Palestinians. Almost two and a half years of ongoing genocide have finally shifted things in a healthier direction and the change has Israel and its lobby flailing.
Before 7 October 2023, more than half of Americans favoured Israel over Palestine, while less than a third felt the opposite. Now, 41% say their sympathies are with the Palestinians and support for Israel is barely over a third:
US support for Israel plummets
The fall has been accelerating. In May 2025, Gallup found that support for Israel among Americans was 46%, a figure that was already significantly down. Since then, Israel has lost almost a quarter of the support it still had at that point.
However, Gallup’s data show that the change was already underway before the 7 October 2023 raid into southern Israel, though it accelerated markedly after that. This is almost certainly indicative of the US right’s growing dissatisfaction with what it perceives as an “Israel first” approach of US government and many politicians. Even the late right-wing icon Charlie Kirk had disavowed his support for the colony and rejected its money before he was publicly murdered in September 2025, though the Israel lobby moved quickly to try to hide it after his death.
The fall has been sharpest among registered supporters of the US Democratic party. Ten years ago, half of Democrats supported Israel; now, that has fallen to just 17%:
In a sane world, or even a genuine democracy, such a shift in support would have a profound effect on US foreign policy. That the US continues to pursue war on Israel’s behalf — with Democrat lawmakers scarcely less supportive than Republicans — shows just how diseased, bought and corrupted US politics is under the Israel lobby, like its counterpart in the UK.
Featured image via the author
Politics
Campaign Against Antisemitism wrist slapped for ‘mismanagement’
The Charity Commission has found what it described as “mismanagement” by the misnamed ‘Campaign Against Antisemitism’ (CAA) for political activities at odds with its status as a ‘charity’. The CAA claims to combat antisemitism, but is in fact an Israel-funded lobby group that specialises in “defaming Palestine solidarity campaigners.”
CAA has been under scrutiny since September 2024, when it attacked as “obscene” the Starmer government for daring to make even a phantom reduction in arms licences to Israel. A further complaint was lodged with the Commission by human rights group CAGE in 2025. CAGE describes CAA, along with its fellow lobby group ‘UK Lawyers for Israel,’ as “Britain’s apartheid lobby” for their vexatious attacks on support for the Palestinian people against occupation, oppression and genocide.
However, the Commission’s announcement falls far short of the appropriate step of stripping a political lobbying group of its charitable status. This is hardly surprising: the Commission has been investigating CAA since at least 2018 without effective action.
Campaign Against Antisemitism guilty of mismanagement
The Charity Commission criticised CAA’s ‘failure’ to retain records relating to its 2024 political attack as “mismanagement”, said it had doubts that CAA’s statement “furthered the charity’s [supposed] objectives” and said it had issued the CAA with a “remedial Action Plan”. This treats CAA as if its conduct were merely shoddy and in need of improvement, rather than in line with its real, Israel-supporting goals — even though the Commission admitted it had received other complaints about its behaviour.
The Commission views failing to retain records relating to this decision making as mismanagement in the administration of this charity.
Further complaints have also been raised about CAA’s attack on the UK’s judicial system because a jury had dared to declare the Starmer regime’s ‘terror’ ban on anti-genocide group Palestine Action unlawful. CAA has boasted of its role in securing the ban.
CAA boss Gideon Falter is one of the central figures in the Israel lobby’s attacks on the Labour left during the Corbyn era. In 2024, as hundreds of thousands protested peacefully against Israel’s genocide in Gaza, he tried to claim that police had prevented him from ‘crossing a road’ because of the threat posed by a ‘hateful’ anti-genocide march. In fact, he had turned up with a security detail — not to ‘cross’ the road but to try to barge through the demo in the opposite direction.
Jewish anti-genocide group JVL lodged a 2020 complaint that CAA is a “highly politically partisan organisation which does not deserve charitable status”. JVL welcomed the Commission’s action against CAA as “not before time”. However, in reality it amounts to nothing more than a light slap on the wrist for one of the Israel lobby’s worst offenders. It evidences once again how spineless UK institutions are against the genocide lobby.
Featured image via the Canary
Politics
Arrested At The SOTU… For Standing
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Politics
Netanyahu reportedly abandons Israelis
War criminal Benjamin Netanyahu has fled and flown to Greece – like he did in last year’s ’12-day war’ – as retaliatory Iranian missiles batter Israel.
What else would the butcher of Gaza, Netanyahu, do but display his wide yellow streak, turn tail and run – leaving ‘his’ country and its occupying population to burn behind him.
Genocidal Netanyahu is a coward
And how it showed. While Netanyahu ran away, Iran’s missiles skipped past Israel’s defences as easily as they did in June 2025 and wrought havoc. There were scenes of utter panic at Israeli ports and shelters:
This is not even Iran’s full response yet. Whereas last year it used swarms of drones and missiles to overwhelm Israel’s defences, now it apparently needed just thirty:
🇮🇷🇮🇱Israel Army Radio: Nearly 30 missiles were used in the latest attack; this is the largest and most organized attack by Iran since this morning‼️ pic.twitter.com/RIrApw9rpl
— Dr.Sam Youssef Ph.D.,M.Sc.,DPT. (@drhossamsamy65) February 28, 2026
US news station NBC broadcast one major strike:
A Mossad-run call centre was hit, according to not yet confirmed reports:
🚨🇮🇷 BREAKING
Iranian missiles have struck Israel’s Mossad-run call centers employing Indian workers near the Al Jumeirah Hotel in Dubai.
These call centers were reportedly responsible for large-scale scams targeting Americans and Europeans. pic.twitter.com/LvBITWKK2C
— Zard si Gana (@ZardSi) February 28, 2026
Israeli TV was broadcasting live as a missile struck:
Footage showed other missiles breaching Israel’s ‘dome’:
Iranian missiles hitting central Israel just now. pic.twitter.com/Q1VU2khQQT
— Irves (@Irves_Watch) February 28, 2026
Some of the missiles, though not all, were ballistic – though not yet apparently Iran’s most effective hypersonic types:
🚨⚡️BREAKING: Missile alerts are sounding across Israel as footage emerges appearing to show multiple ballistic missiles launched earlier from inside Iran pic.twitter.com/uWRCk7aS4Z
— Segun (@segungideon10) February 28, 2026
Israeli propaganda account ‘Stand With Us’ has just reported ‘red’ warnings across Israel, showing the scale of danger and panic:
And new footage posted by an ABN News producer shows that the attack continues to intensify:
Another footage of interceptors launched from Patriot air defence batteries defending Qatar’s Al Udeid Air Base against Iranian missiles.
One interceptor missile appears to have failed.#Qatar #Iran #Israel
pic.twitter.com/dmawZ4fDfh— Syed Askar Ali Shah (@syedaskar451) February 28, 2026
Locally-shot footage showed devastation where the missiles struck:
The coward Netanyahu and his colony love to bomb and murder children and the defenceless. They run away when a victim can strike back.
Featured image via the Canary
Politics
Brit Awards 2027: All The Must-See Moments You Might Have Missed
The biggest night in British music was an especially big one this year.
On Saturday night, the 2026 Brit Awards took place in Manchester for the first time, in a night that delivered glittering performance, a few surprise wins and plenty of moments that kept ITV’s censors busy.
If you missed this year’s broadcast and want to catch up (or, indeed, if you were only half-watching, and you’re wondering if there were any bits that completely passed you by), then you’re in luck, because we’ve rounded up X of the top must-see moments from the 2026 Brit Awards…
Before the ceremony was even underway, Harry Styles made us smile on the red carpet with this business suit/ballet pumps combo

Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock
Rosalía got her night off to a suitably dramatic start with this complete serve

Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock
And it was a strong showing all-round from some of our fave celeb couples, including Jade and Jordan Stephens…


Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock
…and darts icon Luke Littler and his long-term girlfriend Faith Millar

Comedian Jack Whitehall kicked off his sixth time hosting the Brits with a skit paying homage to his love of Harry Styles
The man himself then opened the show properly with a performance of Aperture, complete with a lot of hand-ography and bum-wiggling
Jack Whitehall pulled absolutely no punches with his introductory Brits monologue, coming for everyone from Alex Warren (‘what you get if you order Ed Sheeran on Temu’), Lily Allen (‘her album was launched into the charts like a torpedo – only this torpedo didn’t sink a ship, it destroyed a Harbour’), Robbie Williams (‘he’s had more comebacks than his hairline’) and Noel Gallagher (‘Songwriter Of The Year… 1996’)
Oh, and he also delivered this jibe at the expense of the BBC
The voices of Huntr/x brought the joy with a performance – a pre-recorded one, we should add – of their hit Golden
And Olivia Dean’s rendition of Man I Need was similarly just… absolutely lovely, to be honest
Raye’s vocals on her renditions of Where Is My Husband! and Nightingale Lane were truly jaw-dropping
…and they were similarly quick to censor an introduction by Angry Ginge, to (he was jokingly calling London a ‘shithole’ if you’re interested)

Jack Whitehall then told us we were about to have ‘our minds blown by the incomparable Rosalía’ and he was absolutely not wrong
Oh and yes, Rosalía actually managed to get Björk back performing at the Brits for the first time in more than 30 years

The sound was pulled once again after Geese musician Max Bassin declared ‘free Palestine, fuck ICE’ during his International Group Of The Year speech
Jack Whitehall’s exchange with Shaun Ryder and Bez started off chaotic and only ventured into increasingly surreal territory
Alex Warren’s performance included a surprise guest spot from James Blunt because hey why not?

Noel Gallagher kicked off his Songwriter Of The Year speech by thanking his brother and Oasis bandmate Liam
Mark Ronson’s Outstanding Contribution performance featured some lovely tributes to Amy Winehouse…
…as well as a surprise(-ish) appearance from Dua Lipa

Rosalía’s special night just kept getting better as she was crowned International Artist Of The Year, beating some seriously stiff competition including Taylor Swift, Chappell Roan, Bad Bunny, Bruno Mars, Sabrina Carpenter and Lady Gaga

And CMAT had some fun with the cameras at losing out in this category for the second time

The night’s top winner Olivia Dean was visibly elated to pick up the Brits’ top honour, Album Of The Year

And finally, following a speech by Sharon Osbourne and her daughter Kelly, Robbie Williams was absolutely spot-on with his musical tribute to Ozzy Osbourne, which closed the show
Politics
Tel Aviv gets a taste of its own medicine
In maybe the only good news of the year so far, Iranian ballistic missiles have struck both Tel Aviv – including Mossad HQ – causing major damage.
JUST IN: 🇮🇱🇮🇷 Major damage in Tel Aviv, Israel following Iranian ballistic missile strike.
— BRICS News (@BRICSinfo) February 28, 2026
Mossad HQ and Israeli military intelligence HQ in Tel Aviv hit by Iran.
— Richard Medhurst (@richimedhurst) February 28, 2026
Of course, white Jewish Israelis will be running to their cosy little bomb shelters. Meanwhile, as we have seen previously, the illegal settlers exclude minorities.
Nothing to see here.
Just Israelis hiding in bunkers. Dancing and cheering as bombs rain on schoolgirls in Iran.
And as American soldiers are sent to die for Israel’s war.
CNN and BBC won’t show you this.pic.twitter.com/ZpXv2ImU3T
— sarah (@sahouraxo) February 28, 2026
And Netanyahu? The dickhead responsible for the chaos across the entirety of the Middle East flew out of Tel Aviv quicker than Donald Trump can post to Truth Social when new Epstein files drop.
🇮🇱✈️ Netanyahu’s plane just left Israel. Circled for hours. Now over Greece.
The man who started the war. Who promised victory. Who declared Khamenei dead.
Now flying away while his country burns.
They’ll call it a trip. They’ll call it strategy. They’ll call it anything… pic.twitter.com/89OtANR4qF
— New Direction AFRICA (@Its_ereko) February 28, 2026
IsNOTrael is getting a taste of its own medicine.
BOOM BOOM #Telaviv, please #Iran make them feel what they have done to #Gaza https://t.co/8HXtdxInnV
— kandang puyang (@KandangPuyang) February 28, 2026
If you play with fire you can get burned. God save the Middle East. https://t.co/UX9uspqsyr
— Neil Nevim (@NeilNevim) February 28, 2026
And I’m guessing all media broadcasts will be banned from Israel in 3, 2, 1…
Tel Aviv is in tatters right now. Israelis are banned by military order from filming the damage (one of their many democratic values).
— Richard Medhurst (@richimedhurst) February 28, 2026
Israel is finally getting an iota of what it deserves for murdering thousands of Palestinians.
Netanyahu and Trump bomb civilian areas, killing children in the process, and then run, hide or party. They give zero fucks about the lives they are taking.
Anyone who has chosen to stay in Israel after watching Netanyahu and his terrorist government wage war on Palestinians for the last two and a half years needs to give their head a shake. And quite frankly, I have zero sympathy that they now have bombs falling on them.
Featured image via the Canary
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