Latest news with #LouisTheroux
The Guardian
an hour ago
- General
- The Guardian
I told the truth about the West Bank and was threatened and assaulted. Now I'm relying on you to act
Each of the 22 illegal settlements approved by Israel last week is another nail in the coffin of the peace process, hammered in by the complicity of western governments and corporations. Israeli settlements are not benign civilian neighbourhoods – they are primary instruments of dispossession, control and apartheid. Settlements are closed militarised zones on Palestinians' stolen land, cutting off our access to our resources, our farms, our schools, our jobs and each other. Palestinian lands rapidly shrink, our livelihoods are devastated, our rights are systematically violated and our identity is undermined. Western lawmakers look on, expressing commitment to peace through a two-state solution but choosing to do nothing to achieve this goal. Instead, their policies and inaction enable yet further settlement activity. In the West Bank we live in an obvious two-tier system, yet most lawmakers continue to shun the word 'apartheid' despite Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights organisations concurring on its accuracy and the international court of justice (ICJ) reaffirming it last July. The Settlers, the BBC documentary by Louis Theroux, helped expose this reality, showing me being prevented from even walking on the same streets as Israelis in the neighbourhood of Hebron, where I was born. In response to the documentary, Israeli settlers and soldiers broke into my yard, vandalised it and assaulted me. Soldiers made no arrests but instead threatened to arrest me if I filed a complaint. Then one morning at 4am, young settlers made a bonfire on private Palestinian land outside my home and chanted that they hoped to see me killed. One individual showed up right in front of my house in army fatigues and with a semi-automatic rifle to intimidate me. Settlers then stole my pan-African flag, given to me by Black Lives Matter, and burned it among a pile of Palestinian flags. It is the same story in nearby Masafer Yatta, featured not only in The Settlers but also in the Oscar-winning film No Other Land. Directors Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham called for interventions last week to help stop its destruction, and co-director Hamdan Ballal was detained and beaten in reprisal for its production. The ICJ found Israel responsible for the crime of apartheid, yet western leaders bite their tongues. It found that not only Israel's settlements but also its whole occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip are unlawful, and that the international community is obliged to help dismantle the settlements, evacuate the settlers and end the occupation as quickly as possible. Why are western leaders inert? It seems that western governments would rather undermine the international justice system than hold Israel to account. Even when there are some stronger criticisms of Israel, it continues with its war crimes, as Nesrine Malik wrote last week, regardless. Governments must urgently, as required by the ICJ, take steps to halt trade relations which help sustain the illegal occupation, starting with a ban on all trade with and investment in settlement businesses. Not only individual settlers but also the senior officials responsible for illegal settlements and apartheid must be sanctioned and brought to justice for these war crimes. Not just some but all arms transfers to Israel must be halted. And you, dear reader of conscience, must not only read and watch what is happening but also use your voice and take action. We are relying on you to keep highlighting Gaza and the West Bank, and to hold your parliamentarians, governments and corporations to account. Change your bank or pension fund if it invests in companies involved in the illegal settlements or supplying genocidal and apartheid Israel with arms. Without concrete actions now, we will be erased across the West Bank as well as in Gaza. Forty thousand Palestinian refugees have been expelled from their West Bank homes since January. Twenty Palestinian communities have been expelled from their West Bank lands after attacks from settlers and the occupying army employing bulldozers. Last week the last remaining 30 families of Maghayir al-Deir, near Ramallah, were forced to flee after months of escalating state-backed settler violence. Despite these extraordinarily dark times, I write this with a great sense of hope in my heart inspired by the many people of conscience in the world who stand with us. This is a test for global leadership. Not just of policy, but of principle. We Palestinians need protection and justice now, before it is too late. Issa Amro is a Palestinian human rights defender and co-founder of Youth Against Settlements Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Irish Independent
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Singer and songwriter BABA: ‘I love Louis Theroux, his awkward humour, the way he disarms his guests and how effortlessly he gets people to talk'
BOOK: A Pocketful of Happiness I love a memoir, and I adore a love story – so Richard E Grant's A Pocketful of Happiness really spoke to me. It's heartbreaking but so full of love. He shares diary entries from the time he lost his wife, Joan, to cancer and writes so honestly about their life together. Before she died she told him to try and find a pocketful of happiness in each day, and that thread runs beautifully through the book. My favourite line is: 'Grief is love with nowhere to go.' I think it's so important to normalise talking about your grief. STREAMING: Severance I've just finished Season 2 of Severance and I miss it already. I absolutely loved everything about it. The premise is brilliant – full of twists and turns – and the cast, and their acting, is outstanding. I've been a huge Adam Scott fan since Parks and Recreation. But what really stood out for me was the way it was shot: the symmetry of the Lumon offices, the attention to detail, and how they make something so stark and bleak look oddly beautiful. The whole thing was an unsettling joy to watch. I can't wait for Season 3. PODCAST: Louis Theroux I'm a huge fan of Louis Theroux, and I'm so excited his podcast is back, the aptly named The Louis Theroux Podcast. I've only listened to the Bella Ramsey episode so far, but honestly, he could talk to a wall and I'd still tune in. I just love everything about him; his awkward humour, the way he disarms his guests, and how effortlessly he gets people to talk. He recently released a very important documentary called The Settlers, which everyone should watch. FESTIVAL: Culture Night I love Culture Night in Dublin each September – there's such a buzz, and it really brings the city to life. My favourite part is wandering between free events, discovering new artists and chatting to creatives from all disciplines. I always finish the night with a pint and a toasted sambo in Grogan's – it's my little tradition.
Belfast Telegraph
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Belfast Telegraph
Met Police are setting an unaffordable precedent for the PSNI - who will cough up the cash?
Hypocritical of UK police forces to charge over Hezbollah flag but not UVF or UDA Let's Recap. After all the outrage over the 'kill your local MP' comment 18 months ago, police in London have decided that their biggest issue with Kneecap is...a fleg. Back home however, the issue is not the flag… it's the gig. Today's LucidTalk poll shows half of people in Northern Ireland want to see Kneecap booted off the Boucher Road bill. Maybe those who think that Kneecap should be banned from performing at a sold-out gig at Belfast Vital would be better off spending the 60 or so minutes they'll be on stage watching a documentary about what's going on in the Middle East and re-evaluating their priorities. I recommend Louis Theroux's The Settlers.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
As Israel faces diplomatic 'tsunami', Trump is staying quiet
A headline in Israel's liberal daily Ha'aretz this week put it starkly: "Diplomatic tsunami nears," it warned, "as Europe begins to act against Israel's 'complete madness' in Gaza." This week's diplomatic assault has taken many forms, not all of them foreseen. From concerted international condemnation of Israel's actions in Gaza, to the shocking murder of two young Israeli embassy staff members in Washington, this has been, to put it mildly, a tumultuous week for the Jewish state. The waves started crashing on Israel's shores on Monday evening, when Britain, France and Canada issued a joint statement condemning its "egregious" actions in Gaza. All three warned of the possibility of "further concrete actions" if Israel continued its renewed military offensive and failed to lift restrictions on humanitarian aid. They also threatened "targeted sanctions" in response to Israel's settlement activity in the occupied West Bank. A statement from 24 donor nations followed, condemning a new, Israeli-backed aid delivery model for Gaza. But that was just the start. On Tuesday, Britain suspended trade talks with Israel and said a 2023 road map for future cooperation was being reviewed. A fresh round of sanctions was imposed on Jewish settlers, including Daniela Weiss, a prominent figure who featured in Louis Theroux's recent documentary, The Settlers. Israel's ambassador in London, Tzipi Hotovely, was summoned to the Foreign Office, a move generally reserved for the representatives of countries like Russia and Iran. To make matters worse for Israel, the EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said a "strong majority" of the bloc's members favoured reviewing the 25-year-old Association Agreement with Israel. The reasons for this flurry of diplomatic condemnation seemed clear enough. Evidence that Gaza was closer to mass starvation than at any time since the war began, following Hamas's attack in October 2023, was sending ripples of horror across the world. Israel's military offensive, and the rhetoric surrounding it, suggested that conditions in the stricken territory were about to deteriorate once more. Addressing MPs on Tuesday, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy singled out the words of Israel's hardline Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who had spoken of "cleansing" Gaza, "destroying what's left" and relocating the civilian population to third countries. "We must call this what it is," Lammy said. "It's extremism. It is dangerous. It is repellent. It is monstrous. And I condemn it in the strongest possible terms." Smotrich is not a decision-maker when it comes to conduct of the war in Gaza. Before now, his incendiary remarks might have been set to one side. But those days appear to be over. Rightly or wrongly, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seen as in thrall to his far-right colleagues. Critics accuse him of relentlessly pursuing a war, without regard for the lives of Palestinian civilians or the remaining Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza. Countries that have long supported Israel's right to defend itself are beginning to say "enough is enough." This week was clearly a significant moment for Britain's Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, a staunch defender of Israel (he once said "I support Zionism without qualification") who faced strong criticism from within the Labour Party for his reluctance last year to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. On Tuesday, Sir Keir said the suffering of innocent children in Gaza was "utterly intolerable". In the face of this unusually concerted action from some of his country's strongest allies, Netanyahu reacted furiously, suggesting Britain, France and Canada were guilty of supporting Hamas. "When mass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers thank you, you're on the wrong side of justice," he posted on X. "You're on the wrong side of humanity and you're on the wrong side of history." Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar went further, suggesting there was a "direct line" between Israel's critics, including Starmer, and Wednesday night's killing of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, the two Israeli embassy employees gunned down outside the Jewish Museum in Washington. But despite the outpourings of sympathy following the shooting, the Israeli government seems increasingly isolated, with western allies and prominent members of the Jewish diaspora all voicing anger – and anguish – over the war in Gaza. Lord Levy, former Middle East envoy and advisor to Tony Blair, said he endorsed the current government's criticisms, even suggesting they might have come "a little late". "There has to be a stand, not just from us in this country but internationally, against what is going on in Gaza," he told BBC Radio 4's The World at One, describing himself as "a very proud Jew…who passionately cares for Israel". But silent, throughout all this, is the one man who could, if he wanted, stop the war. At the end of his recent tour of the Gulf, Donald Trump said "a lot of people are starving". White House officials indicated the US president was frustrated with the war and wanted the Israeli government to "wrap it up". But while other western leaders release expressions of outrage, Trump is saying almost nothing.
Telegraph
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Only the hair necessities for Louis
BBC documentary maker Louis Theroux, 54, has turned down his wife Nancy's suggestion that he wear a wig to disguise his hair loss (he has been documenting his experience of alopecia on social media). He told her: 'If you think I'm the kind of guy who wears a wig, we don't know each other!' Wig-wearing was the preserve of people like Terry Wogan or Paul Daniels, he told the Adam Buxton podcast. 'I would wear a wig as a gimmick or a joke. But if you're wearing a wig in the spirit of like, 'This is my hair'? I'm a journalist, people rely on me to try and tell the truth about things. I'd be like 'I uncovered a story…' and it'd be like, 'His hair isn't even telling the truth, I can't trust anything he says'.' The Grim Reaper's Westminster reprieve No former member of the House of Commons has died since Dafydd Elis-Thomas on February 7, Nick Comfort, who pens The Daily Telegraph's political obituaries, tells me. That's over three months ago. 'As, actuarially, at least 30 should be dying each year and so far there have been just three, this is probably the greatest rallying of politicians' collective longevity since records began,' he says. It must be all that clean living. Streeting's poison Health Secretary Wes Streeting thinks people in his position should not smoke. But drinking is a different matter. He told Matt Forde's The Political Party podcast this week: 'Alcohol is my vice, I'm afraid.' Shots are out now ('I've only got one kidney because I had cancer,' he said), so he prefers a gin and slimline tonic or a pint of beer. And he adds: 'I've always got the chief medical officer to point to. He gives out public health advice, and I say, 'Do as he says, not as I do'.' Summer with Monica Saied Dai, whose Parliament-commissioned portrait of an austere-looking Theresa May raised eyebrows 18 months ago, has had enough of the National Portrait Gallery saying that he 'can hardly bring myself to visit'. Dai's 2014 portrait of former Royal Ballet artistic director Dame Monica Mason has not been seen since 2018. Its absence has not gone unnoticed by Dame Monica, 83, herself. 'I am now locked away in the vaults,' she said at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters' annual exhibition. 'Maybe they are waiting until I'm no longer here to bring me out again?' Not so fast, Dame Monica. The Gallery tells me Dai's portrait is now 'due to be displayed at a national partner's venue from next month, as part of a touring exhibition'. Cowell's got politics Britain's Got Talent judge Simon Cowell has some advice for Sir Keir Starmer as he prepares to unveil his Brexit reset after a summit with EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Monday: another referendum. 'If it was to happen again, I believe that we would vote to stay with Europe – so let's have a referendum,' he told the How To Fail podcast. 'I would do a show called 'You the Jury' [with] no politicians. I would get really smart people on the show who don't want to be in Europe, and do want to be in Europe, and then understand why it is a good idea or a bad idea.' It might need a golden buzzer to put us out of our misery. Monkey business Jonathan Brash, who was elected Labour MP for Hartlepool last year, cut his political teeth serving in the cabinet of his town's local mayor, who ran for office as H'Angus the Monkey – which is also the local football team's mascot. H'Angus was named after the monkey supposedly washed up on Hartlepool's beach during the Napoleonic Wars and hanged in the belief that it was a French spy. Brash told me on GB News's Chopper's Political Podcast that his 'good friend' Stuart Drummond ran to be mayor 'dressed as the monkey' but that 'he took the monkey suit off when he became mayor. He's a very nice man. He endorsed me to be the MP.' Drummond initially won power as H'Angus by offering free bananas to children. It might catch on. Chip off the old block
