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Tel Aviv Demands Cut to Funding of European Groups Seeking Israel Boycott

High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission Josep Borrell. (Reuters)
High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission Josep Borrell. (Reuters)
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Tel Aviv Demands Cut to Funding of European Groups Seeking Israel Boycott

High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission Josep Borrell. (Reuters)
High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission Josep Borrell. (Reuters)

The Israeli Mission to the European Union submitted on Friday a request to cut funding for 60 organizations and movements active in the countries of the Union and which support the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.

“These organizations receive large funding from the EU to support human rights and combat racism, but their activities focus on supporting boycotts and incitement against Israel and the Jewish people, and on pursuing anti-Semitic plans,” the Mission said in its statement.

It added that these actions violate EU laws and contradict the interests of cooperation and partnership among the peoples of the world.

The European Union announced on Thursday that it had invited Tel Aviv to the first Association Council meeting on Monday.

The last Association Council meeting was held in 2012 and further gatherings were paused after Israeli authorities objected to the EU’s position regarding West Bank settlements.

Diplomatic sources in Tel Aviv and Brussels said the Europeans are keen on opening a new chapter in relations with Israel, after 12 years of strained relations under former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Last month, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission Josep Borrell warmly welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s support for a peace agreement based on two states for two peoples, as underlined in his speech at the UN General Assembly.

The EU said the discussion at the Association Council meeting will focus on issues such as trade, climate change, energy, science and technology, culture, the respect for human rights and democratic principles, freedom of religion as well as the fight against anti-Semitism.

The EU statement noted that the Israeli delegation will be represented by Lapid, in addition to Borrell who will head up the European side during the gathering.

As soon as the EU announced its plan to hold the Association Council meeting, the aforementioned 60 organizations issued a statement criticizing Israel’s return to the partnership with the EU despite not changing its settlement policy.

They sent a letter to the EU presidency and its 27-member countries demanding that the meeting be cancelled. They also called for suspending the ongoing talks between the EU and Tel Aviv to supply Europe with gas extracted from Israeli wells in the Mediterranean.

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World

France Working with Allies on Plan Should US Move on Greenland

Sermitsiaq mountain (Saddle mountain), a 1,210-meter tall landmark is seen behind Nuuk, Greenland, on March 10, 2025. (AFP)
Sermitsiaq mountain (Saddle mountain), a 1,210-meter tall landmark is seen behind Nuuk, Greenland, on March 10, 2025. (AFP)
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France Working with Allies on Plan Should US Move on Greenland

Sermitsiaq mountain (Saddle mountain), a 1,210-meter tall landmark is seen behind Nuuk, Greenland, on March 10, 2025. (AFP)
Sermitsiaq mountain (Saddle mountain), a 1,210-meter tall landmark is seen behind Nuuk, Greenland, on March 10, 2025. (AFP)

France is working with partners on a plan over how to respond should the United States act on its threat to take over Greenland, a minister said on Wednesday, as Europe sought ​to address US President Donald Trump's ambitions in the region.

A US military seizure of Greenland from a longtime ally, Denmark, would send shockwaves through the NATO alliance and deepen the divide between Trump and European leaders.

Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the subject would be raised at a meeting with the foreign ministers of Germany and Poland later in the day.

"We want to take action, but ‌we want to ‌do so together with our European partners," ‌he ⁠said ​on France ‌Inter radio.

Leaders from major European powers and Canada have rallied behind Greenland this week, saying the Arctic island belongs to its people, following a renewed threat by Trump to take over the territory.

TRUMP RENEWS GREENLAND AMBITIONS

Trump has in recent days repeated that he wants to gain control of Greenland, an idea first voiced in 2019 during his first presidency. He ⁠has argued it is key for the US military and that Denmark has not ‌done enough to protect it.

The White House ‍said on Tuesday that Trump ‍was discussing options for acquiring Greenland, including potential use of the US ‍military, in a revival of his ambition to control the strategic island, despite European objections.

Barrot suggested a US military operation had been ruled out by a top US official.

"I myself was on the phone yesterday with US ​Secretary of State Marco Rubio (...) who confirmed that this was not the approach taken ... he ruled out the possibility of ⁠an invasion (of Greenland)," he said.

A US military operation over the weekend that seized the leader of Venezuela had already rekindled concerns that Greenland might face a similar scenario. It has repeatedly said it does not want to be part of the United States.

The world's largest island but with a population of just 57,000 people, Greenland is not an independent member of NATO but is covered by Denmark's membership of the Western alliance.

The island is strategically located between Europe and North America, making it a critical site for the US ballistic missile defense system ‌for decades. Its mineral wealth also aligns with Washington's ambition to reduce reliance on China.

World

Iran Executes Man Accused of Spying for Israel

An anti-US and anti-Israeli billboard is displayed on a building in Tehran, Iran, January 4, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
An anti-US and anti-Israeli billboard is displayed on a building in Tehran, Iran, January 4, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
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Iran Executes Man Accused of Spying for Israel

An anti-US and anti-Israeli billboard is displayed on a building in Tehran, Iran, January 4, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
An anti-US and anti-Israeli billboard is displayed on a building in Tehran, Iran, January 4, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

​Iran executed a man accused of spying for Israel, the Iranian judiciary's media outlet Mizan reported on Wednesday, naming the defendant as ‌Ali Ardestani.

Entangled ‌in a ‌decades-long ⁠shadow ​war ‌with Israel, Iran has executed many people it has accused of having links with Israel's intelligence service and facilitating its operations ⁠in the country.

"The death sentence ‌of Ali Ardestani ‍for the ‍crime of espionage in favor ‍of the Mossad intelligence service by providing the country's sensitive information was carried ​out after approval by the Supreme Court and ⁠through legal procedures," Mizan said.

Executions of Iranians convicted of spying for Israel have significantly increased this year, following a direct confrontation between the two regional enemies in June, when Israeli and US forces ‌struck Iran's nuclear facilities.

World

China Bans Two Taiwan Ministers for Alleged ‘Independence Activities’, Angering Taipei

A man walks past a screen broadcasting news about military drills conducted by China around Taiwan, in Beijing, China, 30 December 2025. (EPA)
A man walks past a screen broadcasting news about military drills conducted by China around Taiwan, in Beijing, China, 30 December 2025. (EPA)
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China Bans Two Taiwan Ministers for Alleged ‘Independence Activities’, Angering Taipei

A man walks past a screen broadcasting news about military drills conducted by China around Taiwan, in Beijing, China, 30 December 2025. (EPA)
A man walks past a screen broadcasting news about military drills conducted by China around Taiwan, in Beijing, China, 30 December 2025. (EPA)

Beijing banned two Taiwanese ministers from entering ​China for alleged separatist activities related to "Taiwan independence" on Wednesday, prompting an angry response from Taipei, which said it would not bow to "threats and intimidation."

The office described Taiwanese Interior Minister Liu Shyh-fang and Education Minister Cheng Ying-yao as "die-hard Taiwan independence secessionists" and banned them as well as their relatives, from entry. The ban also extends to Hong Kong and Macau.

Beijing claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has not ruled out the use of force to take control of the island. Taipei strongly objects ‌to Beijing's sovereignty claims ‌and says only Taiwan's people can decide their ‌future.

Taiwan's ⁠Mainland ​Affairs Council ‌issued a strong protest, saying the move gravely undermined cross-strait relations and would only provoke anger among the public.

It accused Beijing of seeking to create a "chilling effect beyond the named individuals, to coerce Taiwanese people into abandoning their determination to uphold the status quo and their democratic freedoms."

China was also attempting to claim jurisdiction over Taiwan by treating such cases as "domestic criminal offences", the council said in a statement, calling the efforts clumsy and ineffective.

"Threats and ⁠intimidation will never shake the resolve of the Taiwanese people to uphold democracy and freedom," it said. "All serious ‌consequences arising from the Chinese Communist authorities' actions that provoke ‍instability in cross-strait relations must be borne ‍entirely by the Chinese side."

China has now listed 14 people as "secessionists", the ‍office's spokesperson Chen Binhua told reporters at a weekly news briefing, in an announcement that comes a week after the Chinese military carried out its most extensive ever war games around the island. The list already includes Taiwan Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim, head of the island's National Security Council ​Joseph Wu and Defense Minister Wellington Koo.

A third person, Chen Shu-Yi, a prosecutor from Taiwan's High Prosecutors Office, was accused of being an accomplice ⁠in alleged separatist activities and will be held "accountable for life".

The spokesperson called on the public to submit evidence and leads on the prosecutor's activities based on which China would impose "severe punishment", without specifying what those measures would be.

Chen said the purpose of the actions against a small number of "Taiwan independence die-hards" was to "fundamentally safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity", and that the moves were not aimed at Taiwanese citizens in general.

Taipei has complained about Beijing’s “long-arm jurisdiction” to pressure the Taiwanese people and said Chinese laws do not apply in Taiwan, which has its own judicial system.

China fired dozens of rockets towards Taiwan and deployed a large number of warships and aircraft near the island last week in massive war games around the ‌island, causing dozens of domestic flights in Taiwan to be cancelled and drawing concern from regional allies and the West.