Best of 2025 … so far: Kahane's ghost: how a long-dead extremist rabbi continues to haunt Israel's politics
This week, from April: a violent fanatic and pioneer in bigotry, Meir Kahane died a political outcast 35 years ago. Today, his ideas influence the very highest levels of government
By Joshua Leifer. Read by Kerry Shale
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The Independent
4 minutes ago
- The Independent
Microsoft reviewing Israeli military's use of its tech amid worker protests
Worker-led protests erupted at Microsoft headquarters this week as the tech company promises an 'urgent' review of the Israeli military's use of its technology during the ongoing war in Gaza. A second day of protests at the Microsoft campus on Wednesday called for the tech giant to immediately cut its business ties with Israel. Microsoft late last week said it was tapping a law firm to investigate allegations reported by British newspaper The Guardian that the Israeli Defense Forces used Microsoft's Azure cloud computing platform to store phone call data obtained through the mass surveillance of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. 'Microsoft's standard terms of service prohibit this type of usage," the company said in a statement posted Friday, adding that the report raises 'precise allegations that merit a full and urgent review.' The company said it will share the findings after law firm Covington & Burling completes its review. The promised review was insufficient for the employee-led No Azure for Apartheid group, which for months has protested Microsoft's supplying the Israeli military with technology used for its war against Hamas in Gaza. In February, The Associated Press revealed previously unreported details about the American tech giant's close partnership with the Israeli Ministry of Defense, with military use of commercial AI products skyrocketing by nearly 200 times after the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack. The AP reported that the Israeli military uses Azure to transcribe, translate and process intelligence gathered through mass surveillance, which can then be cross-checked with Israel's in-house AI-enabled targeting systems. Following The AP's report, Microsoft acknowledged the military applications but said a review it commissioned found no evidence that its Azure platform and artificial intelligence technologies were used to target or harm people in Gaza. Microsoft did not share a copy of that review or say who conducted it. Microsoft in May fired an employee who interrupted a speech by CEO Satya Nadella to protest the contracts, and in April, fired two others who interrupted the company's 50th anniversary celebration.
BBC News
5 minutes ago
- BBC News
Israeli military says first stages of assault on Gaza City have begun
The Israeli military says it has begun the "preliminary actions" of a planned ground offensive to capture and occupy all of Gaza City and already has a hold on its outskirts.A military spokesman said troops were already operating in the Zeitoun and Jabalia areas to lay the groundwork for the offensive, which Defence Minister Israel Katz approved on Tuesday and which will be put to the security cabinet later this 60,000 reservists are being called up for the beginning of September to free up active-duty personnel for the of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza City are expected to be ordered to evacuate and head to shelters in southern Gaza. Many of Israel's allies have condemned the plan, with French President Emmanuel Macron warning on Wednesday that it "can only lead to disaster for both peoples and risks plunging the entire region into a cycle of permanent war".The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) meanwhile said further displacement and an intensification of hostilities "risk worsening an already catastrophic situation" for Gaza's 2.1 million government announced its intention to conquer the entire Gaza Strip after indirect talks with Hamas on a ceasefire and hostage release deal broke down last month. Speaking at a televised briefing on Wednesday, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Brigadier General Effie Defrin said Hamas was "battered and bruised" after 22 months of war."We will deepen the damage to Hamas in Gaza City, a stronghold of governmental and military terror for the terrorist organisation," he added. "We will deepen the damage to the terror infrastructure above and below the ground and sever the population's dependence on Hamas."But Defrin said the IDF was "not waiting" to begin the operation."We have begun the preliminary actions, and already now, IDF troops are holding the outskirts of Gaza City."Two brigades were operating on the ground in the Zeitoun neighbourhood, where in recent days they had located an underground tunnel that contained weapons, and a third brigade was operating in the Jabalia area, he order to "minimise harm to civilians," he said, Gaza City's civilian population would be warned to evacuate for their safety.A spokesman for Gaza's Hamas-run Civil Defence agency, Mahmoud Bassal, told AFP news agency on Tuesday that the situation was "very dangerous and unbearable" in the city's Zeitoun and Sabra agency reported that Israeli strikes and fire had killed 25 people across the territory on Wednesday. They included three children and their parents whose home in the Badr area of Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, was bombed, it also said the IDF was also doing everything possible to prevent harm to the 50 hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza, 20 of whom are believed to be alive. Their families have expressed fears that those in Gaza City could be endangered by a ground ICRC warned of a catastrophic situation for both Palestinian civilians and the hostages if military activity in Gaza intensified."After months of relentless hostilities and repeated displacement, the people in Gaza are utterly exhausted. What they need is not more pressure, but relief. Not more fear, but a chance to breathe. They must have access to the essentials to live in dignity: food, medical and hygiene supplies, clean water, and safe shelter," a statement said."Any further intensification of military operations will only deepen the suffering, tear more families apart, and threaten an irreversible humanitarian crisis. The lives of hostages may also be put at risk," it called for an immediate ceasefire and the rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian assistance across Qatar and Egypt are trying to secure a ceasefire deal and have presented a new proposal for a 60-day truce and the release of around half of the hostages, which Hamas said it had accepted on has not yet submitted a formal response, but Israeli officials insisted on Tuesday that they would no longer accept a partial deal and demanded a comprehensive one that would see all the hostages Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken least 62,122 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry. The ministry's figures are quoted by the UN and others as the most reliable source of statistics available on casualties.
The Sun
5 minutes ago
- The Sun
Israel begins invasion of Gaza City after calling up 60,000 troops to finally wipe out terror group Hamas
ISRAEL has begun its full invasion of Gaza City as it aims to fully wipe out Hamas, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Wednesday. IDF troops have now taken control of the outskirts of the city which is one of the terror group's last strongholds, Israeli military spokesperson Brig Gen Effie Defrin said. 3 3 3 .
