Anti-Israel lefties get a ‘big mugging by reality'
Sky News host James Morrow savagely mocks the Global March to Gaza, a group of activists who flew to Egypt and attempted to march into Gaza to open up the territory to humanitarian relief.
'I need to share with you just a little story about anti-Israel lefties getting a very big mugging by reality,' Mr Morrow said.
'Meet the geniuses behind something called the Global March to Gaza, yes, that's right, you heard correctly, who have decided that it would be a real swell idea and a high old time to fly to Egypt and try to march into the Gaza Strip to open up the territory to humanitarian relief.
'Of course, they forget that not long after the October 7 attacks, Egypt sealed its border with Gaza.'
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ABC News
25 minutes ago
- ABC News
Iran and Israel carry out more strikes as Trump says US involvement 'possible'
Israel and Iran have launched multiple waves of missile strikes at each other for the third successive day, as the conflict between the two sides escalates. It came as US President Donald Trump urged the two countries to "make a deal" and said it was "possible" for the United States to become militarily involved in the conflict. Both sides launched daytime strikes on each other on Sunday, with air raid sirens and booms heard in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv on Sunday evening local time. Local police confirmed an Iranian missile struck a settlement in the coastal city of Haifa. Israel also carried out widespread strikes across Iran, including on its nuclear facilities and on at least 80 sites across its capital Tehran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US news channel Fox News that Israel had destroyed the main Iranian nuclear enrichment facility, Natanz. He also strongly suggested to Fox News that Israel had killed Iran's intelligence chief Mohammad Kazemi, saying it had recently "got the chief intelligence officer and his deputy in Tehran" as its jets carried out raids over the capital. Iran's top diplomat Abbas Araghchi said Israel had "crossed a new red line in international law" by striking its nuclear facilities. Among the Israel Defense Forces' targets on Sunday was Mashhad Airport in Iran's east, which it claimed was being used by Iranian refuelling aircraft. Iranian state TV said there was no damage to the facility. Israel later announced further strikes against surface-to-surface missile installations in western Iran. Iranian media, citing the health ministry, said at least 128 people had been killed by Israeli attacks from Friday to Saturday, including women and children, with 900 more reported injured. With no end in sight to the exchanges, officials said mosques, metro stations and schools would be opened up as makeshift bomb shelters for civilians. The head of Tehran's traffic police, Ahmad Karami, told IRNA news agency "heavy traffic was reported at the capital's exit points". Local media also reported long queues at petrol stations. The latest exchanges came as Mr Netanyahu visited the site of a deadly Iranian missile strike on a residential building in the coastal city of Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv. At least 10 people, including children, were killed in a missile strike in the city, raising the two-day toll in Israel to 13. "Iran will pay a very heavy price for the premeditated murder of civilians, women and children," Mr Netanyahu said. He later told Fox News the ongoing conflict could result in regime change in Iran, which he accused of wanting to destroy Israel. That appeared to contradict comments by IDF spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Shoshani, who earlier on Sunday said the goal of Israel's operation "was not regime change". Mr Netanyahu also refused to comment on a Reuters report that Mr Trump had vetoed a plan to kill Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. "There's so many false reports of conversations that never happened, and I'm not going to get into that," Mr Netanyahu told host Bret Baier. "But I can tell you, I think that we do what we need to do, we'll do what we need to do. And I think the United States knows what is good for the United States." The escalating tensions came as US President Donald Trump warned Iran not to strike American facilities in the Middle East. Speaking to ABC America, Mr Trump said it was "possible" for the United States to become militarily involved in the conflict. He added that he was open to the idea of Russian President Vladimir Putin acting as a mediator between the two sides, after the two leaders held a phone conversation on Saturday. In a further post on his social media platform Truth Social, Mr Trump also urged Iran and Israel to "make a deal" to end the conflict. "We will have PEACE, soon, between Israel and Iran! Many calls and meetings now taking place," he wrote. Other world leaders, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, urged both sides to avoid further escalation. ABC/wires
ABC News
40 minutes ago
- ABC News
With Israel and Iran trading missiles, the global economy looks precarious once again
Three questions remain after Israel's attack on Iran during the past few days. First, with two parts: will Iran now accelerate its nuclear weapons program in response, and can Israel stop that from happening? Second, will Iran block the Straits of Hormuz, through which passes a quarter of the world's seaborne oil and a third of the gas? And third, will Israel take out Iran's oil production facilities on Kharg Island? The answers to the first are probably yes and no, and if either or both of the other two are "yes," it would be disastrous for the global economy. Israel's strike against Iran was inevitable as soon as the International Atomic Energy Agency reported on May 31 that Iran had enriched more than 400kg of uranium to 60 per cent. The report was embargoed until last Wednesday, June 11, although Mossad would already have known the contents. The Israeli government couldn't let it stand. It was also probably inevitable once Donald Trump, in May 2018, withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that Barack Obama had signed with Iran three years earlier, and then reimposed all sanctions. Trump's complaint, apart from the fact that Obama did it and not him, was that the agreement was not permanent, and IAEA inspectors didn't have full access to all sites. Both of which were true, but at least for a few years, Iran seemed to have stopped enriching uranium, or at least the IAEA couldn't find evidence that it hadn't. But in 2019, Iran's effort to become a nuclear-armed state was back to full steam ahead, and in the past few months, it went to a new level. In a footnote on page 8 of its May 31 verification report for United Nations resolution 2231 (with which the UN endorsed Obama's JCPOA), the IAEA noted that it had "verified all 432.3 kg of UF6 enriched up to 60 per cent U-235 that has been produced since 21 November, 2022". (UF6 is uranium hexafluoride gas used to enrich uranium with a centrifuge. U-235 is the unstable, or fissile, uranium isotope needed for a chain reaction bomb, and for that to work, the uranium must be enriched to 90 per cent U-235. There is no civilian use for 60 per cent enriched uranium — it has no purpose other than as a precursor to the 90 per cent enrichment needed for nuclear weapons.) In its February report, the IAEA said Iran's stockpile of 60 per cent enriched uranium was 265.7kg, in November it was 147.8kg, and in August it was 132.1kg. So, it has increased by 62 per cent in three months and tripled in nine months. Then, on Thursday last week, the day after the IAEA report became public, Iran announced it would launch a new enrichment facility in a "highly secure" place in response to the adoption of a "political" resolution against it by the IAEA, which accused Iran of "non-compliance" with its nuclear commitments. It was the final straw, and the last in a series of catastrophic mistakes by the Iranian leadership that left it vulnerable and friendless. On Friday, Israel attacked. us military parade Apart from pre-empting Iran's nuclear capability, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu also wanted to pre-empt the planned new talks between Iran and the United States that were due to get underway on the weekend to coincide with Trump's birthday military parade yesterday. Netanyahu would also have been keen to change the subject away from Gaza, with increasing, and increasingly credible descriptions of Israel's conduct there as genocide. The oil price surged more than 7 per cent on Friday after news of the attack hit commodity traders' screens, and any thought of the price staying below $US60 a barrel this year now seems dead. This latest conflict between Israel and Iran is very different from the skirmishes that took place in April and October last year, and which did nothing to disturb oil's slide from $US89 in early 2024 to $US58 at the end of April this year. Importantly, Israel did knock out a lot of Iran's air defences in October in response to some ineffective Iranian missiles, but decided not to "take the win" as president Joe Biden advised. This time, Israel, emboldened by its "success" in Gaza, now seems to think it can win against Iran and de-fang its nemesis entirely. The attack this time was not part of a sort of chess move-and-counter-move process; it was done without US help, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio has made clear, and it gave Iran's leaders no off-ramp to avoid an uncontrolled escalation. Yet, all-out conventional war, as in Ukraine, is unthinkable. Neither side can viably invade the other, so the conflict will be confined to missile strikes, drones, and targeted assassinations, which Netanyahu has vowed to keep going until the nuclear threat is removed. But as the two sides go at it, and with the Straits of Hormuz and Kharg Island at risk, the oil price, global inflation, and the world economy are once again in a very precarious spot. Donald Trump, for one, thinks it will all be fine. He told the Wall Street Journal in an interview: "I think ultimately, it … should be the greatest thing ever for the market. Iran won't have a nuclear weapon that was a great threat to humanity." That could be true eventually if Israel really could stop Iran from having a nuclear weapon, but short of regime change, that is questionable. This is the most telling Israeli attack since its 1981 destruction of Iraq's nuclear reactor near Baghdad, in Operation Opera, but Iran's enrichment facilities are deep underground in protected sites that would challenge even the most powerful conventional US-made bombs. Iran's nuclear program will suffer a setback, and as Israel's assassinations by agents on the ground have demonstrated, the generals and scientists running the program are more vulnerable and may be hard to replace. What happens next could depend on how effective Iran's direct retaliation is against Israel. Some strikes on Tel Aviv and Haifa have been getting through, but if Iran's leadership judges that they're not doing enough damage, they might be inclined to try something else, such as an attack on Saudi Arabian oil production or desalination, US military bases, or the Straits of Hormuz. Any of those things would be counter-productive for Iran and probably disastrous, both for Iran and the world economy. But Iran's leaders have left themselves with few options. Alan Kohler is finance presenter and columnist on ABC News and he also writes for Intelligent Investor.
The Advertiser
2 hours ago
- The Advertiser
Trump says calls 'taking place' for Iran-Israel peace
Iran and Israel will have peace "soon," US President Donald Trump says in a social media post, adding that there were many unspecified meetings happening and that the two countries should make a deal. Israel and Iran launched fresh attacks on each other overnight into Sunday, killing scores. "Iran and Israel should make a deal, and will make a deal," Trump said on Truth Social, adding that "we will have PEACE, soon". "Many calls and meetings now taking place," he said. Trump did not offer any details about the meetings or evidence of progress toward peace. His assertion contradicted comments by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said on Saturday that Israel's campaign against Iran would intensify. A White House spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how Trump and the White House were working to de-escalate the situation in the Middle East. Trump, who portrays himself as a peacemaker and has drawn criticism from many of his supporters for not being able to prevent the Israel-Iran conflict, cited other disputes that he took responsibility for solving, including between India and Pakistan, and lamented not getting more praise for doing so. "I do a lot, and never get credit for anything, but that's OK, the PEOPLE understand. MAKE THE MIDDLE EAST GREAT AGAIN!" he wrote. Israeli rescue teams combed through rubble of residential buildings destroyed by Iranian missiles on Sunday, using sniffer dogs and heavy excavators to look for survivors after at least 10 people, including children, were killed, raising the two-day toll to 13. Sirens rang out across Israel after 4pm in the first such daylight alert, and fresh explosions could be heard in Tel Aviv. In Iran, images from the capital Tehran showed the night sky lit up by a huge blaze at a fuel depot after Israel began strikes against Iran's oil and gas sector - raising the stakes for the global economy and the functioning of the Iranian state. Iranian authorities have not given a full death toll but said 78 people were killed on Friday and scores more have died since, including in a single attack that killed 60 on Saturday, half of them children, in a 14-storey apartment block flattened in Tehran. At least 14 Iranian nuclear scientists have been killed in Israeli attacks since Friday, including in car bombs, two sources in the Gulf said on Sunday. Israel launched "Operation Rising Lion" with a surprise attack on Friday morning that wiped out the top echelon of Iran's military command and damaged its nuclear sites, and says the campaign will continue to escalate in coming days. Iran has vowed to "open the gates of hell" in retaliation. The Israeli military warned Iranians living near weapons facilities to leave. "Iran will pay a heavy price for the murder of civilians, women and children," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said from a balcony overlooking blown-out apartments in the town of Bat Yam where six people were killed. An official said Israel still had a long list of targets in Iran and declined to say how long the offensive would continue. Those attacked on Saturday evening included two "dual-use" fuel sites that supported military and nuclear operations, he said. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran's responses will grow "more decisive and severe" if Israel's hostile actions continue. Two US officials told Reuters on Sunday Trump vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. "Have the Iranians killed an American yet? No. Until they do we're not even talking about going after the political leadership," said one of the sources, a senior US administration official. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said top US officials have been in constant communications with Israeli officials in the days since Israel launched its attack. They said Israeli officials reported that they had an opportunity to kill Khamenei but Trump waved them off of the plan. Iran and Israel will have peace "soon," US President Donald Trump says in a social media post, adding that there were many unspecified meetings happening and that the two countries should make a deal. Israel and Iran launched fresh attacks on each other overnight into Sunday, killing scores. "Iran and Israel should make a deal, and will make a deal," Trump said on Truth Social, adding that "we will have PEACE, soon". "Many calls and meetings now taking place," he said. Trump did not offer any details about the meetings or evidence of progress toward peace. His assertion contradicted comments by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said on Saturday that Israel's campaign against Iran would intensify. A White House spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how Trump and the White House were working to de-escalate the situation in the Middle East. Trump, who portrays himself as a peacemaker and has drawn criticism from many of his supporters for not being able to prevent the Israel-Iran conflict, cited other disputes that he took responsibility for solving, including between India and Pakistan, and lamented not getting more praise for doing so. "I do a lot, and never get credit for anything, but that's OK, the PEOPLE understand. MAKE THE MIDDLE EAST GREAT AGAIN!" he wrote. Israeli rescue teams combed through rubble of residential buildings destroyed by Iranian missiles on Sunday, using sniffer dogs and heavy excavators to look for survivors after at least 10 people, including children, were killed, raising the two-day toll to 13. Sirens rang out across Israel after 4pm in the first such daylight alert, and fresh explosions could be heard in Tel Aviv. In Iran, images from the capital Tehran showed the night sky lit up by a huge blaze at a fuel depot after Israel began strikes against Iran's oil and gas sector - raising the stakes for the global economy and the functioning of the Iranian state. Iranian authorities have not given a full death toll but said 78 people were killed on Friday and scores more have died since, including in a single attack that killed 60 on Saturday, half of them children, in a 14-storey apartment block flattened in Tehran. At least 14 Iranian nuclear scientists have been killed in Israeli attacks since Friday, including in car bombs, two sources in the Gulf said on Sunday. Israel launched "Operation Rising Lion" with a surprise attack on Friday morning that wiped out the top echelon of Iran's military command and damaged its nuclear sites, and says the campaign will continue to escalate in coming days. Iran has vowed to "open the gates of hell" in retaliation. The Israeli military warned Iranians living near weapons facilities to leave. "Iran will pay a heavy price for the murder of civilians, women and children," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said from a balcony overlooking blown-out apartments in the town of Bat Yam where six people were killed. An official said Israel still had a long list of targets in Iran and declined to say how long the offensive would continue. Those attacked on Saturday evening included two "dual-use" fuel sites that supported military and nuclear operations, he said. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran's responses will grow "more decisive and severe" if Israel's hostile actions continue. Two US officials told Reuters on Sunday Trump vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. "Have the Iranians killed an American yet? No. Until they do we're not even talking about going after the political leadership," said one of the sources, a senior US administration official. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said top US officials have been in constant communications with Israeli officials in the days since Israel launched its attack. They said Israeli officials reported that they had an opportunity to kill Khamenei but Trump waved them off of the plan. Iran and Israel will have peace "soon," US President Donald Trump says in a social media post, adding that there were many unspecified meetings happening and that the two countries should make a deal. Israel and Iran launched fresh attacks on each other overnight into Sunday, killing scores. "Iran and Israel should make a deal, and will make a deal," Trump said on Truth Social, adding that "we will have PEACE, soon". "Many calls and meetings now taking place," he said. Trump did not offer any details about the meetings or evidence of progress toward peace. His assertion contradicted comments by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said on Saturday that Israel's campaign against Iran would intensify. A White House spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how Trump and the White House were working to de-escalate the situation in the Middle East. Trump, who portrays himself as a peacemaker and has drawn criticism from many of his supporters for not being able to prevent the Israel-Iran conflict, cited other disputes that he took responsibility for solving, including between India and Pakistan, and lamented not getting more praise for doing so. "I do a lot, and never get credit for anything, but that's OK, the PEOPLE understand. MAKE THE MIDDLE EAST GREAT AGAIN!" he wrote. Israeli rescue teams combed through rubble of residential buildings destroyed by Iranian missiles on Sunday, using sniffer dogs and heavy excavators to look for survivors after at least 10 people, including children, were killed, raising the two-day toll to 13. Sirens rang out across Israel after 4pm in the first such daylight alert, and fresh explosions could be heard in Tel Aviv. In Iran, images from the capital Tehran showed the night sky lit up by a huge blaze at a fuel depot after Israel began strikes against Iran's oil and gas sector - raising the stakes for the global economy and the functioning of the Iranian state. Iranian authorities have not given a full death toll but said 78 people were killed on Friday and scores more have died since, including in a single attack that killed 60 on Saturday, half of them children, in a 14-storey apartment block flattened in Tehran. At least 14 Iranian nuclear scientists have been killed in Israeli attacks since Friday, including in car bombs, two sources in the Gulf said on Sunday. Israel launched "Operation Rising Lion" with a surprise attack on Friday morning that wiped out the top echelon of Iran's military command and damaged its nuclear sites, and says the campaign will continue to escalate in coming days. Iran has vowed to "open the gates of hell" in retaliation. The Israeli military warned Iranians living near weapons facilities to leave. "Iran will pay a heavy price for the murder of civilians, women and children," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said from a balcony overlooking blown-out apartments in the town of Bat Yam where six people were killed. An official said Israel still had a long list of targets in Iran and declined to say how long the offensive would continue. Those attacked on Saturday evening included two "dual-use" fuel sites that supported military and nuclear operations, he said. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran's responses will grow "more decisive and severe" if Israel's hostile actions continue. Two US officials told Reuters on Sunday Trump vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. "Have the Iranians killed an American yet? No. Until they do we're not even talking about going after the political leadership," said one of the sources, a senior US administration official. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said top US officials have been in constant communications with Israeli officials in the days since Israel launched its attack. They said Israeli officials reported that they had an opportunity to kill Khamenei but Trump waved them off of the plan. Iran and Israel will have peace "soon," US President Donald Trump says in a social media post, adding that there were many unspecified meetings happening and that the two countries should make a deal. Israel and Iran launched fresh attacks on each other overnight into Sunday, killing scores. "Iran and Israel should make a deal, and will make a deal," Trump said on Truth Social, adding that "we will have PEACE, soon". "Many calls and meetings now taking place," he said. Trump did not offer any details about the meetings or evidence of progress toward peace. His assertion contradicted comments by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said on Saturday that Israel's campaign against Iran would intensify. A White House spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how Trump and the White House were working to de-escalate the situation in the Middle East. Trump, who portrays himself as a peacemaker and has drawn criticism from many of his supporters for not being able to prevent the Israel-Iran conflict, cited other disputes that he took responsibility for solving, including between India and Pakistan, and lamented not getting more praise for doing so. "I do a lot, and never get credit for anything, but that's OK, the PEOPLE understand. MAKE THE MIDDLE EAST GREAT AGAIN!" he wrote. Israeli rescue teams combed through rubble of residential buildings destroyed by Iranian missiles on Sunday, using sniffer dogs and heavy excavators to look for survivors after at least 10 people, including children, were killed, raising the two-day toll to 13. Sirens rang out across Israel after 4pm in the first such daylight alert, and fresh explosions could be heard in Tel Aviv. In Iran, images from the capital Tehran showed the night sky lit up by a huge blaze at a fuel depot after Israel began strikes against Iran's oil and gas sector - raising the stakes for the global economy and the functioning of the Iranian state. Iranian authorities have not given a full death toll but said 78 people were killed on Friday and scores more have died since, including in a single attack that killed 60 on Saturday, half of them children, in a 14-storey apartment block flattened in Tehran. At least 14 Iranian nuclear scientists have been killed in Israeli attacks since Friday, including in car bombs, two sources in the Gulf said on Sunday. Israel launched "Operation Rising Lion" with a surprise attack on Friday morning that wiped out the top echelon of Iran's military command and damaged its nuclear sites, and says the campaign will continue to escalate in coming days. Iran has vowed to "open the gates of hell" in retaliation. The Israeli military warned Iranians living near weapons facilities to leave. "Iran will pay a heavy price for the murder of civilians, women and children," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said from a balcony overlooking blown-out apartments in the town of Bat Yam where six people were killed. An official said Israel still had a long list of targets in Iran and declined to say how long the offensive would continue. Those attacked on Saturday evening included two "dual-use" fuel sites that supported military and nuclear operations, he said. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran's responses will grow "more decisive and severe" if Israel's hostile actions continue. Two US officials told Reuters on Sunday Trump vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. "Have the Iranians killed an American yet? No. Until they do we're not even talking about going after the political leadership," said one of the sources, a senior US administration official. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said top US officials have been in constant communications with Israeli officials in the days since Israel launched its attack. They said Israeli officials reported that they had an opportunity to kill Khamenei but Trump waved them off of the plan.
