Britainupdated 1h ago3 min read
Sarah Helm Demands Keir Starmer and David Lammy Face Trial at The Hague
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Sarah Helm backed Keir Starmer being tried at The Hague. She defended Hamas and questioned the UN's mass-rape report.
Powell’s wife and Hague
Sarah Helm, the wife of Britain’s national security adviser Jonathan Powell, defended Hamas, questioned the UN investigation into mass rape by the terror group, blamed the 7/10 attacks on the creation of Israel in 1948, and compared Israel to the Nazis, according to The Spectator.
Helm reposted a tweet saying that "Zionism [is] racism," and she reposted another tweet attacking the 'Zionist Labour government under Andy Burnham,' which The Spectator says suggests she counts her husband in that government.
Helm reposted a demand for Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy to be put on trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, and The Spectator says she linked to a legal argument claiming that Israel has no right to exist as part of a case trying to get Hamas unbanned in the UK.
The Spectator says Helm was directly tweeting about her husband’s work in government, denying that he had any hand in the government’s decision to ban Palestine Action as a terror group and saying that he had not blocked sanctions against Israeli settlements.
The Spectator adds that No. 10 national security adviser is among the most sensitive government jobs and says people in such roles undergo developed vetting that scrutinises close family and friends for security risks and sometimes to give a picture of their judgment.
Ben-Gvir’s election momentum
Itamar Ben-Gvir celebrated his 50th birthday with a cake decorated with a noose, and Reuters reports he says he plans to surround jailed Palestinians with crocodiles. Reuters says Ben-Gvir, leader of the Jewish Power (Otzma Yehudit) party, is poised for election gains as polls show support reaching beyond its core of militant settlers in the occupied West Bank to younger, urban voters. Gavriel Marmon, an 18-year-old student and first-time voter from Beit Shemesh near Jerusalem, told Reuters, "I used to think he was a bit crazy, but then I actually looked at what he was saying, and it all made sense."
Odelia Kedmi, 41, told Reuters that Ben-Gvir’s policy to expand permits for Israelis to carry guns had "put air in my lungs," and she said, "It's almost like President Trump's peace through strength." Reuters says Israel's October 27 election is the first since the 2023 Hamas-led attacks, and it reports polls show Likud on course to lose around a third of its 32 seats in the 120-seat Knesset.
Netanyahu’s doctrine and critique
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented an upgrade to Israel’s national security doctrine in Jerusalem, and JNS.org says the document was published by the Prime Minister’s Office together with the National Security Council. Netanyahu’s doctrine, as translated in the JNS.org text, says the "October 7, 2023, attack compelled Israel to wage a fierce war" and describes a shift toward giving priority to prevention and offense over containment and defense, including launching preemptive strikes. The New Arab says Netanyahu’s security doctrine advocates pre-emptive military strikes and buffer zones along Israel's borders, and it reports the document was published on the Israeli government's website on Sunday.
The New Arab reports that opposition leaders dismissed the document as superficial and as an attempt to distract from Netanyahu's security failures ahead of the 27 October parliamentary elections, and it adds that an Israeli state comptroller's report last year criticised Netanyahu for failing to submit his national security doctrine for formal cabinet approval. The New Arab says Netanyahu displayed a geopolitical map during Sunday’s presentation, and it reports the map carried the logo of Germany's Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung foundation and identified Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan as the "Sunni Diamond".