Musk announces Dubai Loop and Captain America protests revive
Elon Musk and his Boring Company have signed an initial deal to bring an underground road system to Dubai. Marvel's latest Captain America film is experiencing a new wave of protests over its inclusion of an Israeli character, originally a Mossad agent in the Marvel comics. Friday marks the 20th anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri.
On today's episode of Trending Middle East:
Dubai Loop: Elon Musk looks to build Las Vegas-style underground road network
Inside the reshoots and retooling of Captain America: Brave New World – 'We've made a damn good movie'
This episode features Technology Reporter Dana Al Omar and William Mullally, Arts & Culture Editor.
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Lord Michael Levy, a Labour peer who was former prime minister Tony Blair's Middle East adviser and envoy, has thrown his support behind the UK government's move to suspend trade talks with the Israeli government. On Tuesday, Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced that the UK is summoning the Israeli ambassador in London and suspending its free trade agreement with Israel. He also condemned "this Israeli government's egregious actions and rhetoric". Now Lord Levy, a prominent figure in Britain's political scene, has endorsed Britain's move in a significant intervention. "I absolutely do support the stand - perhaps it's even a little late," he told BBC Radio 4, describing himself as "a very proud Jew, deeply involved in our community and someone who passionately cares for Israel". New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Levy said of Israeli far-right ministers Bezalal Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir that "really, they were terrorists". The peer is the cousin of Emily Damari, who was taken captive in the Hamas-led 7 October attack on southern Israel and held for more than 15 months before her release in January. 'Strong possibility' of sanctions Levy told the BBC: "There has to be a stand, not just from us in this country, but internationally, against what is going on in Gaza. "It is so difficult to watch the news and see what's going on in Gaza, to the civilian population, to innocent children and the total destruction - and then to listen to the words of some of the far-right ministers – Smotrich, Ben Gvir – and what they are saying. That, to me, is not the way I was brought up as a Jew." The peer added that there is a "strong possibility" that Britain could place sanctions on Israel. UK charity supporting disabled Israeli soldiers hit by £1m fraud Read More » He said trade talks had broken down but added that "it could go deeper than that, in terms of stopping any form of arms sales, and sanctions against Israel. "I don't want that to happen, but it may have to happen, with other countries involved, because what is going on is absolutely intolerable." However, Levy refused to accuse Israel of committing war crimes in Gaza. Pressed by BBC presenter Sarah Montague on the issue, he said: "That's for the courts to decide." Levy, who had a home in Tel Aviv, raised millions of pounds for the Labour Party before Blair became prime minister, and was then appointed Blair's personal envoy to the Middle East in 2000. He has often drawn controversy, famously walking out of a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2003, which many believed led to the envoy being sidelined. Levy also brokered talks between Palestinian Liberation Organisation chairman Yasser Arafat and the Israeli government and was credited with having convinced Arafat, whom he descibed as "very personable" but "difficult to read", to appoint a Palestinian prime minister. In October 2024, Levy declared that "I don't think there's any hope for peace with Netanyahu in power".
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Thousands of Palestinians protested against home demolitions and forcible expulsion in southern Israel
Thousands of Palestinians protested against Israel's policy of home demolitions and colonial expansion in the Negev in southern Israel on Thursday, Wafa news agency reported. Thousands took to the streets in front of the Israeli government offices in Beersheba, carrying placards calling for the end of home demolitions and forced expulsion of Palestinians, as well as for the resignation of former Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli's plans to forcibly displace Palestinians from the Negev.
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Posturing or potential strikes? Iran tensions ramp up ahead of nuclear talks
US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that an Israeli strike on Iran "may very well happen', as he confirmed that the US was evacuating some US officials and their families from the region. The US is evacuating non-essential US embassy staff and their dependents from the embassy in Baghdad, Iraq. Other reports said the US was evacuating some staff from embassies in Bahrain and Kuwait, but the embassy in Bahrain denied a change in its posture on Thursday. Trump on Thursday said the risk of "massive conflict" led the US to draw down staff in the region. CBS News reported on Thursday that Israel is prepared to launch an attack on Iran's nuclear sites, and that US officials have been discussing how the US could assist Israel without taking a direct role. The report said options could include aerial refuelling or intelligence-sharing. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters The steady drumbeat of leaks raises questions about whether a strike could take place in the future, or if the Trump administration is trying to put pressure on Iran ahead of a sixth round of nuclear talks scheduled to be held in Oman on Sunday. A US diplomat at one of the embassies restricting travel said the orders they have received were not out of the ordinary during flare-ups in local tensions. 'These steps don't necessarily mean military action is imminent. Still time for talks, it takes time to move people out. But these are steps that it would make sense to take as part of preparations, and to show seriousness. Provides important leverage in nuclear talks,' Danial Shapiro, a former US ambassador to Israel, said on X on Wednesday. 'Might help, could blow it' Trump himself toys publicly with the idea that the threat of an Israeli strike may help the US's negotiating position. "I don't want them going in, because I think it would blow it,' Trump said, referring to Israel, before quickly adding, "Might help it actually, but it also could blow it." In some ways, the reports that Israel is "poised" to strike Iran are redundant. By Trump's own admission, Israel has been lobbying him for months to bomb Iran. One senior US official recently told Middle East Eye on the condition of anonymity that the Trump administration has been impressed by plans Israel shared with it that lay out unilateral strikes against Iran's nuclear programme without direct American involvement. The plans were discussed in April and May with CIA director John Ratcliffe, MEE reported. 'The Israelis have pinpointed everything they can take out that supports Iran's nuclear sites down to the water supply and power generation, etcetera,' the US official told MEE, referring to a process called Target Systems Analysis, by which militaries assess specific nodes to attack that support a bigger main target. Trump says Iran's proposal 'unacceptable' as Tehran touts intel on Israeli nukes Read More » Israel has also discussed combining cyberattacks and precision military strikes. Iran's nuclear facilities are buried deep in fortified bunkers in the Natanz desert and inside a mountain called Fordow. Analysts say Netanyahu has refrained from attacking Iran in defiance of Trump because he wants to share political responsibility if the strikes go wrong and preserve an American backstop in the likely case of Iranian retaliation. On Thursday, Axios reported that Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, told some Republican Senators that the administration fears Iran could retaliate against an Israeli strike with ballistic missiles, causing a 'mass casualty event". The article did not mention that Israel is widely understood to have its own arsenal of nuclear weapons. The Iranians have kept pace with Trump and upped their own rhetoric. During past flare-ups, Iranian officials have sent signals that they could shut down the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf, where 30 percent of the world's oil transits, and have leaked that they could bomb US bases in Gulf states if attacked. Iran has now clearly stated that threat. "All its [the United States] bases are within our reach, we have access to them, and without hesitation we will target all of them in the host countries," Defence Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh said on Wednesday. "God willing, things won't reach that point, and the talks will succeed," the minister added. Israel and Iran had two unprecedented exchanges of fire in October and April 2024. The US came to Israel's defence, shooting down missiles and drones in an attack Iran had carefully telegraphed beforehand. IAEA tensions Ahead of the talks on Sunday, tensions have also been rising with the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Diplomats said the IAEA's board of governors adopted a resolution condemning Iran's "non-compliance" with its nuclear obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The resolution was carried by 19 votes in favour out of 35. The resolution could lay the groundwork for European countries to invoke a "snapback" mechanism, which expires in October. This mechanism would reinstate UN sanctions eased under a 2015 nuclear deal negotiated by then-US president Barack Obama. Iran's nuclear chief, Mohammad Eslami, said the resolution was "extremist" and blamed Israeli influence. In response to the resolution, he said Iran would launch a new enrichment centre in a secure location. The issue of whether Iran will be able to enrich uranium on its territory has become the main roadblock to nuclear talks with the US. Trump has insisted Iran will not be allowed to enrich any uranium.
