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Israel’s Growing Frustration over the War in Gaza Explodes in Nationwide Protests

Israeli police officers work to extinguish burning tires set on fire by protesters on the main road connecting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Israel, 17 August 2025. (EPA)
Israeli police officers work to extinguish burning tires set on fire by protesters on the main road connecting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Israel, 17 August 2025. (EPA)
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Israel’s Growing Frustration over the War in Gaza Explodes in Nationwide Protests

Israeli police officers work to extinguish burning tires set on fire by protesters on the main road connecting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Israel, 17 August 2025. (EPA)
Israeli police officers work to extinguish burning tires set on fire by protesters on the main road connecting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Israel, 17 August 2025. (EPA)

Israeli police blasted crowds with water cannons and made dozens of arrests on Sunday as thousands of protesters demanding a deal to free hostages in Gaza aimed to shut down the country with a one-day strike that blocked roads and closed businesses. 

Groups representing families of hostages organized the demonstrations as frustration grows in Israel over plans for a new military offensive in some of Gaza's most populated areas, which many fear could further endanger the remaining hostages. Fifty hostages remain, and 20 of them are believed to still be alive. 

"We don’t win a war over the bodies of hostages," protesters chanted in one of the largest and fiercest protests in 22 months of war. Even some former Israeli army and intelligence chiefs now call for a deal to end the fighting. 

Protesters gathered at dozens of places including outside politicians’ homes, military headquarters and on major highways. They blocked lanes and lit bonfires. Some restaurants and theaters closed in solidarity. Police said they arrested 38 people. 

"The only way to bring (hostages) back is through a deal, all at once, without games," former hostage Arbel Yehoud said at a demonstration in Tel Aviv. Her boyfriend Ariel Cunio is still being held by Hamas. 

One protester carried a photo of an emaciated Palestinian child from Gaza. Such images were once rare at Israeli demonstrations but now appear more often as outrage grows over conditions there for civilians after more than 250 malnutrition-related deaths. 

An end to the conflict does not seem near. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is balancing competing pressures including the potential for mutiny within his coalition. 

"Those who today call for an end to the war without defeating Hamas are not only hardening Hamas’ position and delaying the release of our hostages, they are also ensuring that the horrors of Oct. 7 will be repeated," Netanyahu said, referencing the Hamas-led attack in 2023 that killed some 1,200 people and sparked the war. 

The last time Israel agreed to a ceasefire that released hostages earlier this year, far-right members of his cabinet threatened to topple Netanyahu's government. 

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Sunday called the demonstrations "a bad and harmful campaign that plays into Hamas’ hands, buries the hostages in the tunnels and attempts to get Israel to surrender to its enemies and jeopardize its security and future." 

The new offensive would require the call-up of thousands of reservists, another concern for many Israelis. 

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World

US Charges Five Alleged Agents for Russia Over Assassination Plots

The seal of the US Justice Department is seen on the podium in the Department's headquarters briefing room in Washington, January 24, 2023. (Reuters)
The seal of the US Justice Department is seen on the podium in the Department's headquarters briefing room in Washington, January 24, 2023. (Reuters)
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US Charges Five Alleged Agents for Russia Over Assassination Plots

The seal of the US Justice Department is seen on the podium in the Department's headquarters briefing room in Washington, January 24, 2023. (Reuters)
The seal of the US Justice Department is seen on the podium in the Department's headquarters briefing room in Washington, January 24, 2023. (Reuters)

The US Department of Justice announced charges Tuesday against five alleged agents for Russian intelligence accused of conspiring to carry out attacks and murders around the world, including in the United States.

The group, which has been active since at least 2024, attempted to have a "prominent Russian dissident" believed to be living in the US murdered this summer, the department said in a statement, without naming the target.

Its members allegedly operated as part of "a global assassination network that reached into the United States," Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg said.

They attempted to recruit US citizens and foreigners to carry out killings on the Kremlin's orders, Eisenberg said.

According to the statement, the three main suspects are Yuri Khrameev, a 63-year-old former colonel in the Russian intelligence services, his son Kirill, 27, and Oemis Romagoza Durruthy, a 35-year-old Cuban.

The other two suspects, Yaidel Delgado Suarez of Cuba and Angel Eduardo Castro of Venezuela, were allegedly working as recruiting agents in the US.

All five suspects remain at large.

The attempted murder of the Russian dissident was the group's most recent operation, the statement said.

The plot fell apart after the man recruited to conduct surveillance on the target refused to carry out the murder, for which he had been offered $40,000.

Last year, a murder plot against a target in Lithuania who was "telling lies about Russia" failed for the same reason, according to the statement.

It also identified planned attacks on civilian and military infrastructure in European countries supporting Ukraine.

"It is our job to stop America's adversaries from unleashing violence and terror on American soil," Attorney General Todd Blanche said.

World

Von der Leyen Urge EU States to Join Forces Against 'Openly Hostile World'

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivers the State of the European Union address (SOTEU) to the European Parliament, in Strasbourg, France, September 16, 2026. REUTERS/Yves Herman
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivers the State of the European Union address (SOTEU) to the European Parliament, in Strasbourg, France, September 16, 2026. REUTERS/Yves Herman
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Von der Leyen Urge EU States to Join Forces Against 'Openly Hostile World'

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivers the State of the European Union address (SOTEU) to the European Parliament, in Strasbourg, France, September 16, 2026. REUTERS/Yves Herman
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivers the State of the European Union address (SOTEU) to the European Parliament, in Strasbourg, France, September 16, 2026. REUTERS/Yves Herman

The head of the European Commission called on Wednesday for EU states to work together and form a new partnership with Canada, to tackle climate change, competition from China and other major challenges.

The bloc was dealing with "an openly hostile world", Ursula von der Leyen said in her annual speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, setting out priorities for the 27-nation EU for the year ahead.

Solidarity among member states was the only possible solution, she said.

"Our path is clear. Building an independent Europe that has the power to act."

The 27-nation bloc faces war at its borders, with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. On ⁠trade and other ⁠issues, it is also facing stiff rivalry from Donald Trump's United States and from an increasingly assertive China.

The EU faces major headwinds at home as well, including the increasing popularity of a Eurosceptic far-right, seen in regional elections in Germany that have weakened Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Opinion polls see Marine Le Pen as the strongest contender in next year's presidential vote in France.

"The state of our Union is the strongest it has ever been. The state of our Union can also feel as ⁠precarious as it has ever been," von der Leyen said, according to Reuters.

Von der Leyen, now in her second five-year term at the helm of the EU executive arm, was also set to stress the need to maintain European independence in various sectors, including energy, raw materials and clean technologies.

To achieve that, EU countries will not only need to work together, but also have strong partners like Canada, whose Prime Minister Mark Carneyis in Strasbourg and was warmly applauded by EU lawmakers as he arrived to listen to von der Leyen's speech.

"We want to bring the relationship with Canada to the highest level possible," von der Leyen said. "So, I would like to work with you on opening the door for Canada to be the first associate member of the ⁠EU."

Von der Leyen walked ⁠up to and embraced Carney after mentioning the "associate membership" issue for Canada and Carney got a standing ovation from the chamber.

Turning to trade, von der Leyen said the EU will use every possible means to reduce its "unsustainable" trade deficit with China. She said that the imbalance, with a goods trade deficit of €1 billion ($1.15 billion) a day last year, had reached a tipping point.

"Let me be clear: we will use all the tools at our disposal to rebalance our relationship. Words are good. But deeds are better," she said.

Von der Leyen also said the bloc will need to stay its ambitious course on mitigating climate change but also step up efforts to adapt to it, drawing on experiences from the last three months when the continent was hit by unprecedented heat waves and wildfires.

World

House Votes for a Third Time to End the Iran War as Conflict Drags on

The US Capitol is seen from the Washington Monument, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP)
The US Capitol is seen from the Washington Monument, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP)
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House Votes for a Third Time to End the Iran War as Conflict Drags on

The US Capitol is seen from the Washington Monument, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP)
The US Capitol is seen from the Washington Monument, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP)

For a third time, the US House has voted to end the war in Iran, approving a war powers resolution that would halt President Donald Trump's ability to continue military action without congressional approval.

The roll call late Tuesday, 220-204, was similar to earlier efforts this summer, with a few more Republicans joining all Democrats voting to bring an end to the conflict. None of the resolutions have made it to the president's desk, where Trump would almost certainly veto the measure.

“Remember when Donald Trump said that this war would last just a few weeks?” said Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., who served as a Marine during the Iraq War and pushed the resolution forward.

He said it's time for Congress to “actually ask tough questions, as the Constitution directs us to do, rather than be subservient to another warmongering administration.”

Republican Rep. Brian Mast of Florida, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, questioned which military resources Democrats would want to remove from the region where he said Iran remains a threat.

Mast said Trump is against “forever wars, and that is what he is ending” — the decades of hostilities from Iran.

“They are a continuous ongoing threat to the United States," Mast said. “Enough is enough.”

Last war powers vote before the midterms

The action is likely the last House vote on the Iran war ahead of the midterm elections, where the conflict overseas is playing a substantial role in the political campaigns. The war that Trump launched Feb. 28 has dragged, with on-again, off-again deadly missile strikes being exchanged and causing havoc in the region for nearly seven months.

Lawmakers are heading home at the end of the week to campaign nearly full-time, with less than 50 days to go before the elections that will determine control of Congress as Democrats try to wrest power from Republicans.

Voters are confronting high prices, particularly for gas at the pumps, as the conflict disrupts the flow of oil resources through the vital Strait of Hormuz.

The Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday that the war has cost more than $38 billion, as of Aug. 1, and is projected to be costing between $2 billion and $3 billion monthly, depending on the intensity of the fighting. The budget office projected inflation will be 0.5 percentage points higher than expected heading into 2027 due to the war.

Trump himself had promised not to involve the US in foreign wars when he won a second term in the White House, and his actions against Iran are weighing on the Republican Party that controls the House and Senate. Most Americans say the war in Iran has not been worth fighting, according to an AP-NORC poll in July.

In the previous House actions, four Republicans voted to halt the war in Iran, but that number rose to seven in Tuesday’s war powers vote, including GOP lawmakers from battleground Iowa, Rep. Zachary Nunn and Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, and retiring Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina.

They joined GOP Reps. Tom Barrett of Michigan, Warren Davidson of Ohio, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky voting in favor of the war powers resolution, with all Democrats.

War powers being put to the test

Congress has tried repeatedly to alter the trajectory of the war against Iran, but efforts to limit the Trump administration's military action remain a longshot so long as the president is able to fend off or veto the measures.

The House first approved a war powers resolution in June, and followed up with another one in July, all seeking to halt US action in Iran. The Senate on its 10th try also approved a war powers resolution to end the conflict, but GOP senators quickly reversed course the next day after Trump berated them during a closed-door lunch.

While the Constitution gives Congress the authority to declare war, it also gives the president authority as the commander in chief to engage in some military actions. The War Powers Act, created in the aftermath of the Vietnam conflict, sought to put a more specific time limit on the president's power, requiring congressional approval for sustained military actions after 60 or 90 days.

House Speaker Mike Johnson acknowledged at a press conference Tuesday the need to bring gas prices down.

But the Republican speaker said he believes the Iran conflict is entering a “new phase” as allies step up to help stabilize the region. When that happens, he said, “you’re going to see, as the president said, anytime gas prices will go down again, the cost of groceries will as well.”

Johnson said Trump expects the shift after the election, and the speaker added, “I'd love it to happen today.”