Latest news with #hostageTaking
Telegraph
26-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Recognising Palestine would reward Oct 7 murderers, Starmer told
Sir Keir Starmer will 'reward' the Oct 7 terrorists if he recognises a Palestinian state, Israel's ambassador to the UK has said. Tzipi Hotovely has described proposals for recognising a Palestine state as 'nothing less than a reward for terrorism'. The ambassador, writing for The Telegraph, said that 'Palestinian recognition would be a reward for hostage-taking, for rape, for murder, for burning innocent people alive'. Ms Hotovely added that recognition would also be a 'significant departure from the policy of the US administration ', risking a damaging rift with the White House. She said: 'Terrorists are watching intently and the signal that they are receiving is that their violent tactics yield positive results for them in the UK and the West.' Her intervention came as Jewish faith leaders in Britain told the Prime Minister that recognition 'cannot improve the situation' and would be 'gesture politics'. Jewish faith leaders at the Board of Deputies, Britain's largest Jewish community organisation, have also told Sir Keir not to recognise a Palestinian state. Phil Rosenberg, the board's president, said that Hamas 'will claim recognition of Palestine as a vindication of their murderous rampages and hostage-taking'. Mr Rosenberg, writing for The Telegraph, said 'unilateral recognition cannot be a substitute for the difficult negotiations and concessions needed to realise an enduring peace'. Sir Keir has come under increasing pressure from his own party to recognise a Palestinian state. This week, 131 Labour MPs penned a letter urging their leader to follow Emmanuel Macron, the French president, and announce a plan to recognise a state. Sir Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, and Anas Sarwar, the leader of Scottish Labour, have also told the Prime Minister to act immediately. The Labour-led foreign affairs committee also recommended immediate recognition this week, describing it as 'inalienable right'. Cabinet ministers have also reportedly urged the Prime Minister to act on the issue. The setting up of a new Left-wing party under Jeremy Corbyn, pledging to support 'a free and independent Palestine', is also likely to put electoral pressure on Sir Keir. On Saturday, the Prime Minister rejected calls from his party and Mr Macron to recognise a Palestinian state within the next few months. He said that while he was 'unequivocal' about recognising a Palestinian state as part of a peace process, this should come after a ceasefire and the return of Israeli hostages. Sir Keir said recognition 'must be part of a wider plan which ultimately results in a two-state solution and lasting security for Palestinians and Israelis'. The issue is set to dominate Donald Trump's four-day visit to the UK, with Sir Keir due to meet the US president at the latter's Turnberry golf course in Scotland on Monday. He is attempting to finalise a UK-US trade deal with Mr Trump, the general terms of which were set out in May. There are fears within the Government that a disagreement with the president over Palestine recognition, which Mr Trump opposes, could derail the trade deal. Ms Hotovely described recognition as 'an act of grandstanding and virtue-signalling' and accused Mr Macron of 'Napoleonic cosplaying'. She claimed that after any recognition by Western powers, 'a Palestinian state would have all the ingredients of a would-be failed state'.
The Independent
22-06-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Iran accused of abducting journalist's family over Israel war coverage
Iranian authorities have reportedly detained family members of a journalist working for the London-based Iran International news channel, in what the broadcaster describes as an "appalling act of hostage-taking" aimed at coercing her resignation. The detention, which reportedly took place on Saturday, is explicitly linked to the channel's coverage of the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel. According to Iran International, the family members are being held with the explicit threat that they will not be released until the journalist resigns from her position. The London-based Farsi news channel issued a strong condemnation of the incident, stating it "strongly condemns the abduction of its journalist's family, calling it 'an appalling act of hostage-taking aimed at coercing our colleague into resigning from their post.'" "This deeply reprehensible tactic marks a dangerous escalation in the regime's ruthless campaign to silence dissent and suppress independent journalism," the news channel said. The detainment marks the latest example of Iran's longstanding effort to crack down not only on Iranian journalists inside the country but also those abroad who still have family and friends living in Iran. The Islamic Republic is one of the world's top jailer of journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, and in the best of times, reporters face strict restrictions. The broadcaster said that Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guards took the presenter's mother, father and younger brother to an unidentified location. The journalist, whose name the outlet did not disclose, then received a phone call from her father early Saturday, urging her to resign from her role, according to Iran International. The voices of security agents could be heard in the background telling her father what to say. "I've told you a thousand times to resign. What other consequences do you expect?" Iran International said her father told her. "You have to resign." Farsi-language broadcasters like Iran International and BBC Persia have long been targets for the Islamic Republic, given the fact that they broadcast in the native language and many Iranians, both domestically and abroad, rely on them for news, especially of the most recent Iran-Israel war amid an official internet blackout. Iran International in particular has become a target of Tehran in recent years over its programming that is critical of the theocratic government in Tehran. The Iranian government has called the news outlet a terrorist organization. One of its journalists was stabbed in 2024 in an attack suspected to have been carried out by Iran, while men were arrested in a suspected plot to target others at the channel.
Free Malaysia Today
07-06-2025
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
US citizen leaves Russia after detention in psychiatric hospital
Russia has arrested several US citizens in recent years – bringing accusations from Washington of 'hostage-taking' for use in prisoner exchanges. (AP pic) MOSCOW : American Joseph Tater has left Russia after nearly a year in detention, including in a psychiatric hospital, state news agency TASS reported on Friday. Tater, 46, was arrested in Moscow in August and accused of abusing staff at a hotel, and later, attacking a police officer. In April, a court found him unfit for trial and sent him for 'forcible measures of a medical nature' – meaning compulsory psychiatric treatment. He had already been moved from pre-trial detention to a psychiatric ward after a medical commission said he showed 'tension, impulsiveness (and) delusional ideas and attitudes', TASS reported at the time. According to the Russian state news agency, Tater said at a court hearing in September that he wanted to renounce his US citizenship and that the CIA was targeting him. On Friday, TASS said Tater had been discharged and left the country. 'The American citizen Tater, who had been interned in a psychiatric hospital by court order, was authorised to leave a clinic in Moscow and has left the territory of the Russian Federation,' it reported, citing law enforcement. Russia has arrested several US citizens in recent years on charges ranging from espionage and criticising the Russian army to petty theft and family disputes – bringing accusations from Washington of 'hostage-taking' for use in prisoner exchanges. In April, US-Russian dual national Ksenia Karelina was freed after being sentenced to 12 years in a penal colony for donating around US$50 to a pro-Ukraine charity. In return, Washington released Arthur Petrov, a Russian-German national accused of illegally exporting US-made electronics to manufacturers supplying the Russian military.
