| Highlights from yesterday |
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Israeli film on Gaza receives 25-minute ovation at Venice premiere
A film documenting Israel’s use of AI-powered systems to target Palestinians in Gaza has received a 25-minute standing ovation at its premiere at the Venice Film Festival.
The 80-minute film, NAZA, was directed by Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, who won an Oscar in 2025 for No Other Land, a documentary on Israeli settler pogroms in the occupied West Bank, made with Palestinian co-directors Basel Adra and Hamdan Ballal.
The result of a nearly three-year investigation, the film is built on testimony from Israeli military and intelligence sources who spoke on the condition that their identities be concealed. Their voices and faces were digitally altered, and they were filmed at night on Tel Aviv rooftops.
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Hind Rajab Foundation files complaint in Italy against Israeli environment minister
The Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF), a legal advocacy organization, says it has filed a criminal complaint in Italy against Israel’s Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman, accusing her of publicly inciting genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
The complaint follows Silman’s arrival in Italy on September 6 with her husband, according to a statement by the foundation on Thursday.
The group’s complaint cites a series of public statements it says Silman made over roughly two years, including a February 2025 remark that the only solution for Gaza was to “empty” it of its population, and a March 2025 radio interview in which she said Israel had halted humanitarian aid, calling its continuation “insane” given Israeli captives remained with Hamas.
HRF also pointed to statements in which Silman denied the existence of a Palestinian people and voiced support for extending Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank.
Natacha Bracq, HRF’s head of litigation, said Silman’s statements could not be viewed apart from conditions on the ground, arguing that when a government official “publicly advocates the elimination of a protected group, the question before the authorities is whether they can be held criminally accountable”.
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Under international law, "direct and public incitement to commit genocide" is a distinct and severe international crime explicitly prohibited by Article III(c) of the 1948 Genocide Convention.
International law dictates that direct and public incitement is an inchoate offense. This means the act of incitement is a standalone crime that is punishable even if no actual genocide takes place or if the speech fails to cause immediate violence. The legal standard requires proving two primary elements:
- The Objective Act (Actus Reus): The speech must be a "direct" appeal to destroy a protected group (in this case, Palestinians in Gaza) and delivered "publicly" (via mass media, press conferences, public speeches, or digital broadcasts). Vague or ambiguous expressions might not meet the strict legal bar, but dehumanizing language or calls to completely eradicate a population are routinely scrutinized.
- The Mental Intent (Mens Rea): The speaker must possess the "specific intent" (dolus specialis) to destroy that group in whole or in part
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Israeli pressure caused collapse of US-Iran MoU
Washington’s warnings about an Iranian nuclear weapon are a longstanding pretext, and Tehran never pursued one, according to Hossein Royvaran, a political science professor at Tehran University.
“There is a religious edict prohibiting the acquisition of nuclear weapons. If Iran had wanted to acquire such a weapon, it could have done so quickly, but there is no political decision to that effect,” he said.
He said Washington has invoked the nuclear issue for two decades to justify sanctions, war, and attacks on schools, sport centres, and, most recently, weddings.
“Therefore, I believe this is nothing new; it is the same rhetoric behind which America tries to hide and use to justify all its crimes.”
Regarding the collapsed nuclear negotiations, Royvaran said Iran had reached a preliminary understanding in Geneva, with a draft agreement expected to be signed within days under Omani mediation, committing Tehran not to militarize its nuclear program.
“Who went to war and derailed the agreement? Trump. If Trump becomes more dangerous in the coming days after the elections, Iran also has all the tools at its disposal. Iran can now sink all American naval vessels. It does not do so because there would be consequences.”
Royvaran said the memorandum’s collapse followed pressure from Israel, adding that “AIPAC controls the White House and controls many decisions.”
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"AIPAC controls the White House and controls many decisions"
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Netanyahu congratulates Trump on Iran blockade, says Iran ‘weaker than ever’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has congratulated US President Donald Trump on blockading and exerting economic pressure on Iran, which he called “the world’s greatest source of instability”.
In a post on X, Netanyahu said the US and Israel have achieved “historic progress” over the last year, helping to make Iran and its “evil axis… weaker than ever”.
“The people of Israel stand with the people of the United States and with President Trump in confronting the forces of terror,” said Netanyahu.
The US and Israel initiated the current conflict with Iran by attacking it on February 28, killing its supreme leader. The attack occurred days after negotiations, as diplomacy was still active.
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".. which he called “the world’s greatest source of instability”.
The Israelis have been a real source of instability since the introduction of the Menachem Begin doctrine in 1968.
Netanyahu has been the longest ruling instigator of instability in the region:
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