Hamas Is Humiliating Trump's 'Board of Peace'

Hamas Is Humiliating The 'Board of Peace'

KHALED ABU TOAMEH

Six months after US President Donald J. Trump unveiled his ambitious ceasefire and reconstruction plan for the Gaza Strip, the Iran-backed Hamas terrorist group remains more armed, entrenched, and openly defiant than ever. 

Far from disarming, the Islamist group now controls roughly half the Gaza Strip and much of its population, while making a mockery of Trump's "Board of Peace" initiative and the international mediators sponsoring it.

It is now clear that the Trump administration's strategy was based on a misguided assumption that Hamas (a theocratic terror regime like Iran's) could somehow be persuaded through negotiations, incentives, and diplomatic pressure to voluntarily surrender its weapons and abandon its jihadist ideology.

The exact opposite has happened. Hamas not only rejected disarmament, but also used the ceasefire periods to solidify control, regroup politically and militarily, and humiliate the people negotiating with them.

According to Palestinian and Israeli sources, talks between Hamas and representatives of the "Board of Peace," headed by former United Nations official Nickolay Mladenov, recently reached a dead end in Cairo after Hamas again rejected the central demand of Trump's 20-point plan: total disarmament.

"No one was surprised six months ago, and no one is surprised today that Hamas refuses to disarm," an Israeli source familiar with the negotiations told i24 News.

Indeed, no one should be surprised.

Expecting Hamas to disarm voluntarily is like expecting ISIS or Al-Qaeda to renounce jihad (holy war) and become peaceful political movements.

Hamas's weapons are not merely military tools; they are the foundation of its ideology, identity, and power. Asking Hamas to hand over its weapons is essentially asking the group to sign its own death warrant.

Hamas leaders themselves are not hiding their position. Recently, an unnamed Hamas official declared bluntly that his group "will not accept disarmament." Another insisted that the issue of weapons could only be discussed within the framework of a future Palestinian state and broader political arrangements.

Hamas, in other words, is clearly saying: no disarmament now, no disarmament later, no disarmament ever.

Yet, despite these repeated rejections, the "Board of Peace" continues its embarrassing efforts to negotiate with Hamas over the surrender of its weapons. The entire spectacle has become surreal. Instead of confronting Hamas with meaningful consequences, the international mediators appear to be pleading with the terrorist group to cooperate.

What happened to all the deadlines, ultimatums and threats issued by Trump and his administration over the past year? What happened to the repeated warnings that Hamas would face devastating consequences if it refused to disarm?

So far, Hamas has paid no meaningful price for its defiance.

Europe Wants To Ban VPN Privacy

Europe Wants To Ban VPN Privacy

Martin Armstrong

The European Union is now openly discussing restricting VPN access as part of its expanding online age-verification system, which demonstrates precisely where the entire digital agenda has been heading from the beginning. They always introduce these systems under emotionally untouchable justifications such as child safety or combating terrorism, but once the infrastructure is in place, the scope inevitably expands.

According to a new European Parliament briefing, officials are concerned that users are bypassing online age-verification requirements via VPNs, and the report notes a surge in VPN usage in countries implementing stricter digital controls. The proposal being discussed is to potentially restrict VPN access itself to those above a so-called “digital age of majority.” In other words, they are now targeting the very tools people use to protect their privacy online.

For readers who may not use these services personally, a VPN simply encrypts your internet traffic and masks your location, preventing internet providers, corporations, and governments from monitoring everything you do online. Businesses use them constantly, financial institutions rely on them, journalists use them, and ordinary people use them simply to avoid being tracked across the internet.

The problem from the government’s perspective is that VPNs interfere with surveillance. Europe’s Digital Services Act has already pushed platforms toward mandatory age-verification systems that increasingly require identification documents, facial scans, or biometric verification simply to access online content. Once users began using VPNs to avoid those systems, regulators immediately shifted toward framing the VPN itself as the threat. This is how these systems always evolve, because the objective is never merely regulation, it is compliance and visibility.

What they are building is effectively a digital identity system where access to information requires permission. People fail to understand how dangerous this becomes once connected to the broader European agenda involving CBDCs, centralized digital IDs, online speech regulation, and financial monitoring. These are not isolated policies appearing randomly at the same time. They are interconnected components of a single structural transition toward centralized digital control.

First they regulate speech under the justification of misinformation. Then they regulate platforms under the justification of safety. Then they require identity verification under the justification of protecting children. Finally they target anonymity itself by restricting the tools people use to avoid surveillance.

This fits perfectly within the broader cycle unfolding in Europe, where declining economic confidence and political instability lead governments toward greater centralization and control. Historically, governments facing crisis do not voluntarily reduce authority, they expand surveillance, tighten restrictions, and attempt to maintain control over information and capital flows.

Once anonymity disappears online, everything becomes traceable, every search, every communication, every financial transaction, and eventually every movement through the digital economy itself. That is where this leads, regardless of the language used to justify it today.

The public is being told this is about protecting children, but history has demonstrated repeatedly that emergency measures and surveillance systems never remain confined to their original purpose. Once established, they become permanent infrastructure, expanding quietly until the entire framework of society changes around them.

The UK government’s plans for 15-minute cities forge ahead – starting in Bristol

The UK government’s plans for 15-minute cities forge ahead – starting in Bristol

Rhoda Wilson

The UK government is yet again obeying the UN’s directions by making moves to house “individuals” in “human settlements.”

As one of 7 “new towns,” construction is underway near Bristol that will, ultimately, have 25,000 homes.  The problem is not the building of new homes; it is that they are being designed as 15-minute cities.

Brabazon is a major mixed-use development and potential new town located in South Gloucestershire, on the northern fringe of Bristol near the border with Gloucestershire. 

Situated on the historic former Filton Airfield, the site is being developed by YTL Developments.  While the core Brabazon development has planning permission for 6,500 homes, it is part of the broader West Innovation Arc corridor, which the UK government has proposed could accommodate hundreds of thousands of homes as part of a project to develop 7 “new towns.” 

These “new towns” are purposefully being constructed with 15-minute cities or 15-minute neighbourhoods in mind. 

Related: Huge new town on old airfield near Gloucestershire will be ’15-minute neighbourhood’ of 6,500 new homes, Gloucestershire Live, 17 January 2025

In a March 2026 article, the BBC said, “The government’s new towns, according to Housing Secretary Steve Reed, will be ‘whole communities with homes, jobs, transport links and green spaces designed together’.”

“The Government’s aim for each ‘new town’ is to have at least 10,000 homes … But according to the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), ‘most’ of the government’s new towns are not actually new. ‘They are largely large-scale urban extensions – for existing settlements,’ a spokesman said.”

“Settlements” is terminology that comes straight out of the United Nations’ playbook, i.e. it is Globalese propaganda. 

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is the UN agency mandated to promote “socially and environmentally sustainable” towns and cities.  UN-Habitat works in over 90 countries, and its work supports the UN’s Agenda 2030, Sustainable Development Goal 11 (Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements), and the implementation of the New Urban Agenda. UN-Habitat is not only targeting our towns and cities; it is also targeting rural areas.

Which words are used does matter.  Just as the use of “individual” to describe a person is being used to de-humanise us, the word ”settlement” is being used to remove the personal nature and culture of our towns and cities – as if we are merely cattle to be herded towards their goals.

If you are not yet familiar with the UN’s agenda, please read the following, as it will help to put the alarming nature of Brabazon and its sister projects in context :

In 2024, South Gloucestershire Council passed a resolution to grant planning approval for the masterplan for Brabazon. At the time, South Gloucestershire Newsroom (“SGN”) described it as“the most exciting new city district.”

“If we are to tackle the climate crisis, we need to build more sustainable homes in the right places,” Seb Loyn, Planning & Development Director for YTL Developments, told SGN.

“The development will help reduce reliance on car travel with metrobus and local buses serving the area along with the train station which already has secured planning permission. A community hub and health care facility will also be provided, along with parks, lakes and open spaces, with over 3,500 trees planted on the site,” Councillor Chris Willmore, Cabinet member responsible for planning at South Gloucestershire Council, said.

Brabazon has the scope to go further than the currently planned 6,500 homes, ultimately delivering “up to 25,000 homes” according to a statement issued by YTL. 

In a September 2025 article, Gloucestershire Live reported that construction was already underway, with hundreds of homes completed and occupied. The site is recognised as one of the country’s largest brownfield redevelopments, focusing on sustainable transport, including Metrobus links and cycling infrastructure, UK Property Forums said.

Make no mistake about it, the UK government and our local governments have planned 15-minute cities and are moving ahead with building them.

US, Iranian naval forces clash as Washington awaits Tehran’s response to latest proposal

US, Iranian naval forces clash as Washington awaits Tehran’s response to latest proposal

Jacob Magid

Lazar Berman

Fresh “sporadic clashes” broke out Friday between Iranian and US naval forces in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iranian state media, marking the latest flare-up despite a monthlong ceasefire between Washington and Tehran.

The fighting came as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington expected a response from Tehran on Friday to its latest proposal.

“For the last hour, sporadic clashes have taken place between the Iranian armed forces and American vessels in the Strait of Hormuz,” the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

Fox News, citing a senior US official, said the American military on Friday struck several empty Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC) that allegedly attempted to violate the blockade on the Strait of Hormuz.

CENTCOM later confirmed US forces hit two empty Iranian-flagged oil tankers and disabled a third vessel on Wednesday.

“All three vessels are no longer transiting to Iran,” CENTCOM said in a post on X.

The command also said more than 70 tankers were being prevented from entering or leaving Iranian ports.

“These commercial ships have the capacity to transport over 166 million barrels of Iranian oil worth an estimated $13 billion-plus,” CENTCOM said.

Additionally, Iran announced it seized what it called a US-sanctioned oil tanker carrying Iranian crude in the Sea of Oman, which reports said is Chinese-owned.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran’s navy, through a specially planned operation in the Sea of Oman, seized the offending tanker Ocean Koi,” the Iranian army said in a statement carried by state television, adding that the vessel had sought “to damage and disrupt Iran’s oil exports.”

Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates said Iran fired two ballistic missiles and three drones at the country since midnight Friday, moderately wounding three people.

According to the Emirati Defense Ministry, 13 people have been killed and 230 wounded in the UAE since the US-Israel war with Iran began on February 28.

The incidents on Friday came a day after the United States and Iran exchanged fire, in the most serious test yet of the fragile truce reached after the US-Israeli war against the Iranian regime began in late February.

US Central Command confirmed overnight that it carried out “self-defense” strikes in Iran in response to “unprovoked Iranian attacks” against US Navy missile destroyers that transited the Strait of Hormuz to the Gulf of Oman, which Tehran claimed violated international law and the ceasefire.

Despite the fighting, Trump told ABC on Thursday the truce was still “in effect.” But in a social media post, he threatened Iran with further strikes if it did not agree to a deal with the US.

Speaking Friday while visiting Rome, Rubio said Washington expected an imminent response from Tehran to its latest offer.

“We’ll see what the response entails. The hope is it’s something that can put us into a serious process of negotiation,” Rubio told reporters.

More...

Massive Oil Slick Spotted Off Iran's Kharg Island, Cause Unknown

Massive Oil Slick Spotted Off Iran's Kharg Island, Cause Unknown

TYLER DURDEN

An apparent large oil spill spanning dozens of square miles of sea has been spotted off of Iran's main oil hub of Kharg Island, according to open source satellite imagery and reporting in both the NY Times and Reuters on Friday.

The reports cite images from Copernicus's Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2, and Sentinel-3 satellites taken from monitoring May 6 through 8 which show a huge grey-and-white slick extending out to the west of Kharg Island.

"The slick appears visually consistent with oil," said Leon Moreland, a researcher at the Conflict and Environment Observatory, to Reuters. He believes it to be covering an area of approximately 45 square km (or nearly 18 sq miles).

While it's unclear what may have caused it, or the extent of possible damage to Kharg Island infrastructure or possibly docked tankers, the island has been attacked by US aerial forces in the recent post.

One regional source provides the following commentary:

It could be the result of a leak. Other claims have suggested oil was pumped into the sea because storage space had run out due to the blockade. In newer images, the oil slick appeared to be moving south.

Social media users expressed concern over what appeared to be an oil spill in the satellite images.

“This must be dealt with quickly before the oil reaches the coasts of other Gulf states,” a Saudi influencer wrote on X, where he has more than 750,000 followers.

And separately a regional monitor and expert explains the following:

Synthetic aperture radar imagery shows a large surface slick emanating from the waters around Kharg Island, Iran's primary crude oil export terminal responsible for roughly 90% of the country's oil exports. 

At the time of detection, multiple tankers were simultaneously loading at the Kharg Island terminal. It is not yet clear whether the spill originated from a loading operation, a vessel, subsea infrastructure, or the terminal itself.

Satellite monitoring spotted the apparent spillage...

🚨Satellites have detected a massive oil spill spreading across a vast area of the Persian Gulf around Iran's Kharg Island.

Synthetic aperture radar imagery shows a large surface slick emanating from the waters around Kharg Island, Iran's primary crude oil export terminal… pic.twitter.com/OcxVKCAYkQ

Earlier on Friday Iran's Fars reported sporadic clashes between Iranian Armed Forces and US vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. Amid the fog of war, nothing in the way of details emerged. By evening these clashes appeared to have ceased. 

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei has condemned US "aggression and adventurism" but has also confirmed that Tehran is still reviewing the US proposal and is still going to respond soon.