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Middle East crisis live: Iran reportedly rejects US peace talks; Trump says marines took custody of an Iranian-flagged vessel

The British military has escalated its threat assessment for the strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf to “Critical,” the highest possible risk level. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) issued the warning on Sunday, citing a “high level of activity by naval forces in the region.” The agency cautioned that the current environment creates a severe “risk of attack or miscalculation” for all commercial shipping. The Iranian navy reimposed its restrictions on transit through the strait as the US military implemented a blockade on Iranian ports. The UKMTO also cited multiple attacks on Saturday by Iranian forces on vessels passing through the strait.

Civil resistance activists detained in Manchester over alleged plan to raid high-end stores

Seven people from an activist group calling for higher taxes on the super-rich have been arrested by police on suspicion of conspiracy to steal. Police confirmed that six women and one man were detained in Salford, Greater Manchester, on Sunday over what they said was a coordinated plan to steal from high-end stores. Take Back Power, a civil resistance activist group, confirmed its supporters had been arrested. All members of the group remained in police custody for questioning, it said. Police in Manchester said the group were believed to have been training for a mass shoplifting campaign, intending to steal from high-value stores and supermarkets and redistribute the stolen goods. “We are taking robust action to disrupt this type of organised criminality, and it will not be tolerated,” said Greater Manchester police’s assistant chief constable, Steph Parker. Take Back Power describes itself online as a “nonviolent civil resistance group” aiming “to put the 99% in charge” through citizen assemblies. The group is calling for the government to introduce a “house of the people” with powers to tax the super-rich. A spokesperson said: “The police are arresting people at generic training sessions that simply teach the history and principles of staying nonviolent. “Today’s raid continues the escalating repression being imposed on nonviolent campaigns. Police have so far shut down five nonviolence sessions held by Take Back Power, in some instances raiding places of worship.” In March, police in London said that they had arrested 15 people from Take Back Power over alleged plans for mass shoplifting. Nine members of that group were charged on Sunday with offences involving stunts at the Ritz hotel in central London last December, when manure was poured on the floor, and another incident at the Tower of London.

Intemperate Trump brings chaos and confusion to Iran talks

Donald Trump’s decision to send US officials to Islamabad for further talks on Monday with Iran just 24 hours after Iran once again closed the strait of Hormuz will signal to Tehran that the strategic waterway remains a bargaining asset beyond parallel. It will also confirm in Iran’s eyes that the US president’s chaotic approach to diplomacy doubles the need for Tehran to act calmly and strategically – two competencies it believes he totally lacks. Such is the distrust and fog surrounding relations between Iran and the US that no one can know whether Trump – after meetings in the Situation Room on Saturday – has once again decided to use diplomacy as a giant smokescreen prior to a further military attack on Iran once the ceasefire expires on Wednesday. At a minimum it is undeniable that the run-up to a proposed second round of talks in Islamabad has been far from propitious, partly because an impatient Trump repeatedly misunderstands the need to proceed sequentially or take account of the sensitivities on the Iranian side. Iranian state media reported on Sunday evening that Tehran had not yet decided whether to join. Iran’s three demands before entering another round of talks were a ceasefire in Lebanon, an end to the US blockade on Iranian ports and progress on Iranian asset releases. Iran and the mediators in Pakistan saw this as a traditional diplomatic step-by-step reciprocal process whereby one confidence-building measure from one side would lead to another on the other side. As a result, the imposition on Israel of the two-week ceasefire in Lebanon by Trump was regarded as significant by Iran, and was due to lead to a reciprocal partial lifting of the Iranian chokehold on the strait of Hormuz – a step announced somewhat clumsily by the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, in a tweet on Friday morning. In return it was expected that Trump would lift the US blockade of Iranian ports, and the momentum surrounding the virtuous circle would build. But in a series of tweets on Friday Trump kept the blockade in place, claimed Iran had completely lifted the restrictions on tanker traffic in the strait, and for good measure said Iran had agreed to hand over Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium to the US for safe keeping. In short, he gave the impression that Iran had surrendered. The backlash that followed in Tehran on Friday was inevitable, and whether there was a genuine split between the foreign ministry and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps leadership or simply misapprehension due to Trump’s mischaracterisation of what Araghchi had said is unclear. What matters is that clarifications were issued by the Iranian foreign ministry on Friday and the leader of Iran’s delegation to Islamabad, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, in a TV interview on Saturday. Ghalibaf accused Trump of telling lies, but said the door to diplomacy was not closed. Once it became clear Trump was not lifting the blockade, Iran said on Saturday that the strait was fully closed again and the brief conditional reopening had ended. Trump on Sunday could have responded by insisting no further negotiations with Iran were possible. He could have claimed Iran was shooting at European ships in total violation of the ceasefire. Instead, with the strait in effect closed, Trump clearly examined his array of bad options and decided to try diplomacy again. The sense of unbridled chaos inside the White House was only underlined by a flurry of conflicting reports as to whether the vice-president, JD Vance, was to attend, and the according implications for the Iranian delegation, including the presence of Ghalibaf. None of this brings either side closer to the solving the substantive problem of how to address Iran’s determination to maintain a right to enrich uranium on Iranian soil. Indeed, the solution to this conundrum may be to try not to solve it, but instead settle for a framework agreement that agrees to discuss these issues in the context of an absence of war, quite possibly at the forthcoming summit between Trump and China’s leader, Xi Jinping. By the end of the day, the Iranian Fars news agency reported that “the ministry of foreign affairs and the supreme national security council have decided to continue the policy of silence in the face of news-making by foreign media”. The sense that a similarly Quiet American in the White House may speed the path to peace was overwhelming.

Chief rabbi decries ‘sustained campaign of violence’ after attempted arson at London synagogue

The chief rabbi has said Jews in the UK are facing a “sustained campaign of violence and intimidation” after another attempted arson attack on a synagogue in London. The incident at Kenton united synagogue in Harrow, north-west London, on Saturday night caused minor smoke damage to an internal room but no injuries or significant structural damage, according to the Community Security Trust, which monitors antisemitism and provides protection for Jewish communities in the UK. The building is close to a school and children’s playground. Police were seen searching a black SUV nearby on Sunday morning. A large cordon was in place and a forensics officer, fire investigation dogs and several plainclothes officers were working at the scene. One marked and about five unmarked police cars were outside the synagogue. A senior counter-terrorism officer said the Met was looking into whether the series of arson attacks against Jewish sites were carried out by Iranian proxies. Ephraim Mirvis, the chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, said in a statement on X: “Last night yet another synagogue, this time in Kenton, was targeted in a cowardly arson attack. “It follows the attack in Finchley on Wednesday and the attempted attack on what was the Jewish Futures building in Hendon on Friday night, making three Jewish sites attacked in London in less than a week. “A sustained campaign of violence and intimidation against the Jewish community of the UK is gathering momentum. This sustained attack on our community’s ability to worship and live in safety is an attack on the values that bind us all together. “Thank God, no lives have been lost, but we cannot – and must not – wait for that to change before we understand just how dangerous this moment is for all of our society.” According to police, a man had been spotted approaching a row of shops in Hendon carrying a plastic bag later found to contain three bottles of fluid. He placed the bag by a building, before lighting the items inside and fleeing the scene when they failed to fully ignite. The former Jewish Futures building sustained minor damage to its shopfront, with no injuries reported. In a statement posted on X, Keir Starmer said: “I am appalled by recent attempted antisemitic arson attacks in north London. “This is abhorrent and it will not be tolerated. Attacks on our Jewish community are attacks on Britain. “We are increasing visible policing and those responsible will be found and brought to justice. We will not rest in the pursuit of perpetrators.” The president of the Kenton united synagogue has called on Starmer to declare “an epidemic of anti-Jewish hate” in the wake of a series of arson and attempted arson attacks on north-west London sites. Saul Taylor of the charity behind the Kenton united synagogue said: “The government and local police forces have responded well to the recent appalling attacks including Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation and Hatzola ambulances, but it is clear that more must be done to prevent these attacks occurring at all. “The prime minister should declare publicly what the Jewish community has known for some time: this is an epidemic of anti-Jewish hate.” The Metropolitan police had already deployed extra resources to parts of north-west London as it treated a separate attempted arson on Friday night as an antisemitic hate crime. Counter Terrorism Policing London were leading the investigation into the incident in Hendon, in the borough of Barnet, as well as those into other attacks, due to the “similar circumstances and online claims of responsibility”, the Met said. Speaking outside Kenton united synagogue, deputy assistant commissioner Vicki Evans, the senior national co-ordinator for counter terrorism, said: “The nature of the incidents has been similar – arson attacks targeting Israeli- and Jewish-linked premises in London. “Most have been claimed online by the group Ashab al-Yamin (Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right). “This same group has claimed several incidents over recent months at places of worship, business and financial institutions across Europe. These locations all appear to be linked to Jewish or Israeli interests.” She added: “I’ve spoken previously about the Iranian regime’s use of criminal proxies, and we’re considering whether this tactic is being used here in London. “This is recruiting violence as a service, and the people who conduct that violence often have little or no allegiance to the cause and are taking quick cash for their crimes.” On Wednesday, bottles, one thought to contain petrol, were placed near Finchley Reform Synagogue in Barnet, north London. Officers said two people wearing dark clothing and balaclavas were seen approaching the synagogue just after midnight. Neither of the bottles were ignited and the people fled the scene, the force added, with no damage or injuries reported. And four Jewish community ambulances were set on fire in Golders Green in the early hours of 23 March. A spokesperson for the charity Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “A synagogue in London was firebombed last night in what is now terrifyingly becoming a spate of daily arson attacks on the Jewish community. “It betrays a cataclysmic failure of the state – politicians, police chiefs and prosecutors – to tackle antisemitic extremism in this country, which has gone largely unchecked for two-and-a-half years. Britain is fundamentally a different country now. “Still the government refuses to proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an obvious first step to address foreign radicalisation and interference. It is shocking that concern for the sensitivities of a violent Iranian regime is more important to the government than the welfare of Jewish people in this country.”

‘It’s sacred to us’: register of Bounty mutineer’s descendants returns to South Pacific

It is a book that records the 19th-century descendants of some of the most notorious troublemakers in naval history: the sailors responsible for the mutiny on the Bounty. Now, the Pitcairn Register – a handwritten volume that registered the births, marriages and deaths of the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the mutineers and the Tahitian women they enslaved – is finally returning home to the South Pacific. After seizing control of HMS Bounty in 1789 and kidnapping some Polynesian women from Tahiti, nine of the mutineers arrived on the uninhabited Pitcairn Island in 1790 and decided to hide there from the Royal Navy. They brought along 12 Polynesian women, a 10-month-old Polynesian girl and six Polynesian men, who they forced into slavery. When the sailor George Hunn Nobbs visited the island nearly 40 years later, he found the offspring of the mutineers had formed a devout Christian community. n English shipwright, John Buffett, had joined them and was recording all their births, marriages and deaths in the register. Nobbs later took on the task himself. The register got wet in 1854, so Nobbs gave it away to an acquaintance in England, noting that the “dilapidated” handwritten manuscript might “amuse” his friend “over his after-dinner toast and water”. It was later donated to the National Maritime Museum, in London. Now, the museum is lending the register to the Norfolk Island Museum Trust (NIMT) so it can go on display on Norfolk Island, a remote island governed by Australia in the South Pacific Ocean, for the first time. More than 25% of the 2,188 people who live on Norfolk Island can trace their ancestry to the mutineers, and some descendants made a formal request and crowdfunded about A$26,000 (£13,700) to bring the register “home” for the island’s annual Bounty Day celebrations on 8 June. “It’s a foundational document of the Pitcairn and Norfolk Island people,” said the NIMT chair, Dr Pauline Reynolds. She is descended from six of the mutineers and their Polynesian spouses, including the mutiny instigator, Fletcher Christian, and his wife, Mauatua, and has researched the histories of the women on Pitcairn and Norfolk Islands. Historically, she said, “there’s been quite a male narrative about the Bounty. But the Pitcairn Register tells the story of us, the women, as well”. Without the skills of the Indigenous women, who knew how to make cloth, cultivate local crops and administer herbal medicines, the community would have struggled to survive. The mutineers treated the highly educated, landowning Tahitian men they had brought with them “like slaves”, she said, leading to conflict and murder: by 1794, the register shows all six of the Polynesian men and five of the mutineers were dead. “In amongst that, you’ve got mothers trying to protect their children. At one stage, according to the register, the women built a raft to escape, but of course it failed and fell apart.” By 1808, when a passing whaling ship made contact with the community after 18 years of isolation, only one mutineer was still alive, along with 10 Tahitian women and the first generation of children on the island. The register revealed how “extraordinarily resilient” and resourceful they were to survive, said Helen Mears, the head of curatorship at the National Maritime Museum, and it added to the complexity of stories about the mutiny on the Bounty. The experiences of Polynesian men and women had been erased from a narrative about an “iconic historical moment in British maritime history” that had previously been told “very much from a male, anglocentric lens” as a psychodrama between a European captain and his men, she said. “As institutions, we’re interested in history, but we’re also interested in the legacy of history,” she said. “I think the connection with Pauline and other members of the Norfolk Island and Pitcairn Island communities has really enriched our understanding of the register and its significance for descendants, as well as our understanding of this moment in [maritime] history and its legacy.” Mears said she had found working with Reynolds and other descendants inspiring and was lending the registry to NIMT for at least three years: “This loan, I hope, is the starting point for an ongoing collaboration.” Reynolds said: “There’s a lot of places in the world that will not work on these things, so to get the full support of the National Maritime Museum has been phenomenal.” She said she expected the arrival of the register would be a “very emotional” moment for her community. “It’s sacred to us,” she said. “It tells the beginning of our people. It contains who we are.”

Italian lawyers could win ‘wild west-style bounties’ if immigration clients go home

Italian lawyers will be paid bonuses if they successfully convince their immigrant clients to return home under a government plan that has been compared to a “wild west-style bounty”. The incentive is in the latest security bill from Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government and goes to the lower house of parliament for final approval this week. It was passed by the upper house after fiery debate. Meloni’s ruling coalition has earmarked €246,000 (£214,000) for the incentive this year, with funding almost doubling for 2027 and 2028. Lawyers who assist their foreign clients in accepting voluntary repatriation will receive a bonus, but only once the individual has returned to their country of origin. The bill does not stipulate the bonus amount but rough calculations by the Italian press equate it to about €615. The security bill also has a measure removing access to state-funded legal aid when challenging deportation orders. The bonus plan has provoked a fresh clash with Italian lawyers and magistrates a month after Meloni’s government was defeated in a referendum on a judicial overhaul. Italy’s national bar council said in a statement it was never informed about the measure and has urged parliament to scrap it. UCPI, which represents criminal lawyers, said the measure was “incompatible” with Italy’s constitution, adding that lawyers must not be paid to obtain an outcome desired by the state and must instead assist their clients “in full freedom and independence”. ANM, the magistrates’ union, said it was “dismayed” by the measure, warning that offering financial incentives linked to the outcome of migrant repatriation procedures risked undermining effective judicial protection. There has also been an angry response from the opposition. Riccardo Magi, leader of the leftwing Più Europa (More Europe) party, said the bonus was “basically a wild west-style bounty” in which “rights are trampled on and those who should protect the rights of foreign citizens are financially incentivised not to do so”. He described the security decree as “one step away from Trump’s ICE”, referring to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Debora Serracchiani of the Democratic party said the bonus, alongside the loss of legal aid for lawyers assisting clients in appealing against deportation orders, was a “disgraceful” regulation that “undermines the very dignity of professionals”. She added: “This is yet another decree that only serves to repress and strip away rights.” Valentina D’Orso, of the Five Star Movement, accused the government of trying to “exploit lawyers by using them as a means to implement its immigration policies”. The measure is the latest step by Meloni’s ruling coalition, which has been weakened by the referendum defeat, to clamp down on irregular immigration. In February, the government approved a bill authorising naval blockades to stop boats arriving in Italy during periods of “exceptional” pressure.

Bittersweet emotions as Lebanese return south to scenes of destruction

Mohammed Ashour was on the road at 5am, speeding towards his hometown of Shaqra. The Lebanese army, the Israel Defense Forces and Hezbollah had all told residents of south Lebanon not to return, that it was still dangerous despite a ceasefire. But the 60-year-old had been displaced for 44 days – he had counted each day – and he would not wait another hour before seeing his home. At 3pm, Ashour was still on the road. The normally two-hour drive turned into 10, as the line of cars returning south stretched for miles down the Lebanese coastal highway. The Lebanese army had worked through the night to repair the Qasmiyeh Bridge into Tyre, bombed by Israel hours before the ceasefire, and cars were inching over the ad-hoc crossing one by one. “They told me my house was destroyed. But I wanted to come and see it for myself,” said Ashour, still in his car. He had left his family in Beirut, wanting to shield them from the destruction that awaited them in their village. Ashour was one of thousands of Lebanese who rushed back to their villages in south Lebanon on Friday in the hours after the shaky 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon took effect. People returned to south Lebanon despite the rubble-strewn roads and collapsed bridges, crossing dirt roads and even driving through the Litani River, and despite a ceasefire that promised no permanent peace. “It’s our land. Whether the truce is short or long, even if it’s just for an hour, we will come back,” Ashour said, before driving off to see Shaqra. Families, packed two-to-a-seat, drove cars saddled with mattresses down the highway, accompanied by crowds waving Lebanese and Hezbollah flags, cheering on the returning residents. Some held up their fingers in a V sign for victory. But the festive atmosphere turned sombre when residents reached their villages. Hassan Najdi, a 28-year-old electrical engineer, returned to a heavily damaged home in the town of Srifa. He stood outside and looked at the remains of his backyard, strewn with rubble and the roof of his neighbour’s house – his own home scorched black by flames. The windows had been blown in and the metal bars bent from the force of a nearby airstrike. “Honestly, everything has changed a lot. The features of the place are completely different. When you first enter the village, you can’t even recognise that this is the Srifa it used to be,” said Najdi as he began to clean the entry way to his home. The 44 days of war had a heavy toll on Srifa. In the hours before the ceasefire was announced, the Israeli airforce carried out about a dozen airstrikes on the town. Three-quarters of the homes in Najdi’s neighbourhood had been flattened. Srifa had suffered many losses, some of the more than 2,100 people killed by Israel over the last six weeks of war in Lebanon. Najdi’s uncle, Dr Wadih Najdeh, a surgeon who had spent the war working in the governmental hospital in Tebnine, also returned to find his and his wife’s clinic damaged. The windows were all shattered and the surgical chair was covered in debris. Still, despite the damage, it was a relief to be home. Tebnine hospital had been damaged in two nearby Israeli strikes this week, blasts that injured 11 members of hospital staff. “Returning brings both joy and pain. The pain comes from losing young people – friends and companions – and also from seeing the destruction on the road and in the village, especially in Srifa, where the damage is very extensive,” Najdeh said. “But God willing, all this destruction can be repaired.” The return to their towns and villages was bittersweet, not only because of the damage, but also because residents were unsure how long they would be able to stay. The 10-day ceasefire came with warnings from both Israeli and Hezbollah officials that hostilities could resume at any time if either party violated the truce. The war that began on 2 March when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, causing an Israeli bombing campaign and invasion, was frozen, but only barely. The same issues that ignited the war – Hezbollah’s presence in the south and continued Israeli bombing of Lebanon – still remained. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a statement on Friday: “One way or another, we will restore security to the residents of the north,” adding: “One of our hands holds a weapon, our other hand is extended in peace.” Residents of south Lebanon were well aware that this ceasefire could just be a pause in the fighting, rather than a permanent peace, but had decided to exploit the truce, however brief, to get a glimpse of home. “We’ve come back during these 10 days to see what the situation is with this truce, whether there will actually be commitment from the Israeli side,” said Hassan Najdi. Other residents of the south could not even get a glimpse of their homes. Israeli troops maintained positions in border villages, and residents who approached were met with gunfire. Over their month-long occupation in south Lebanon, the Israeli military flattened entire villages along the border with controlled demolitions and bombings. In that sense, both Najdi and his uncle felt lucky to have seen their villages – even if damaged, even if they could not stay. “Of course, we in the south, we have a saying: We can live in tents, even if we don’t have houses,” Najdi said.

Israel had a bad week in Europe. Does it herald a wider shift in EU relations?

It was a bad week for Israel in Europe: the country lost its staunchest regional ally when Viktor Orbán was toppled from power in Hungary, and Italy suspended a key defence pact. The shifts are likely to pave the way for long-delayed sanctions against violent settlers in the occupied West Bank, and add to broader pressure for the EU to reconsider its relationship with Israel over its wars in Gaza and the wider region. “Hungary’s veto was the only thing preventing the package of sanctions against violent settlers,” said Maya Sion-Tzidkiyahu, the director of the Israel-Europe relations programme at the Mitvim thinktank and a lecturer at the European forum of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. “I expect once the [new] Tisza government is in place, that would be one of the first things the EU would like to push, and it should be easy for [Péter] Magyar to say yes. Netanyahu is on the wrong side of history from the perspective of many Europeans, and he is a symbol for Orbán.” EU officials expect to revive sanctions targeting a small number of extremist settlers once a new Hungarian government takes office next month. Ireland, Spain and Slovenia – among the staunchest supporters of the Palestinian cause in Europe – have called for a discussion of Israel’s human-rights obligations under its association agreement with the EU, when EU foreign ministers meet on Tuesday. “The European Union can no longer remain on the sidelines,” wrote the foreign ministers of the three countries in a letter to the EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, referencing “unbearable” conditions in Gaza and “escalating violence against Palestinians” in the West Bank. Although sanctions on settlers are seen as a mostly symbolic move against a small group with few ties to Europe, passing them could strengthen confidence to consider broader action, including suspending parts of the deal underpinning EU-Israeli ties. The EU is Israel’s top trading partner, most popular travel destination and a vital source of research funding through the multi-billion dollar Horizon programme, but it has never managed to turn that economic power into significant political influence inside Israel. “Now the discussion about leverage and pressure is back on the table,” said Martin Konečný, the director of the European Middle East Project, in Brussels. “If you take one step, and the situation doesn’t improve, then the pressure to take the next step actually rises very quickly again.” Last week more than 390 former EU ministers, ambassadors and top officials urged the EU to suspend the EU-Israel association agreement in whole or part. Signatories included the former EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell, the former Swedish foreign minister and UN weapons inspector Hans Blix, and the former European Commission vice-president Margot Wallström. A public petition making the same demand passed a million signatories from all 27 member states, making it the fastest growing petition of its kind, supporters say. Freezing all or part of the EU-Israel association agreement would require support from either Germany or Italy, because it must have the backing of a “qualified majority” of at least 15 member states representing 65% of the EU’s population. An attempt to halt trade provisions last September, in response to the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, never passed that threshold. After Trump brokered a ceasefire deal in October, the plans stalled. EU sources suggested forthcoming talks between Israel and Lebanon are likely to restrain any immediate EU action, because many European countries are wary of disrupting delicate negotiations. Italy’s abrupt political shift, signalled by the decision to suspend the defence cooperation deal, means a renewed proposal may have a greater chance of passing. Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, had been among Israel’s closest friends in Europe, one of several far-right leaders to cultivate a close personal relationship with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. She regularly defied public sentiment in a country that has had some of Europe’s largest protests against Israel’s wars, and a political climate where pro-Palestinian sentiment extends across the political spectrum, from the left to the centre right. That was based on a separation between foreign and domestic policy that is no longer sustainable, said Lorenzo Castellani, a political historian at Rome’s Luiss University. “For the first time since the second world war, foreign policy has become a central concern for Italian public opinion,” he said. “The reason is simple: this is a conflict with direct geopolitical and economic consequences for Italy and for Europe as a whole.” The suspension of the defence memorandum appears to be more symbolic than substantive, as it provided a framework for defence deals that will remain in place – but it served as a “clear warning” to Israel, one European diplomat said. Israel has been effective at using its closest bilateral relationships to block or blunt hostile EU policy, in an approach that Sion-Tzidkiyahu describes as “divide and thwart”. It can still count on support from longstanding allies, including the Czech Republic’s Andrej Babiš, and if Netanyahu loses power in elections due this year Magyar may build a closer relationship with his successor. But political ties with Israel are increasingly costly for European leaders. The impact of regional wars has been amplified by Netanyahu’s close alliance with the US president, Donald Trump, who regularly attacks Europe, derides its culture and values, undermines its economy and has even threatened to invade. Many Europeans calling for stronger action against Israel say core European values are at stake, and failure to act will undermine the international rule of law. “The absence of meaningful measures against Israel, contrasted with extensive sanctions imposed on Russia, has raised concerns about double standards and risks undermining the EU’s international credibility,” said Pasquale Ferrara, a former senior Italian diplomat and scholar. Concern about maintaining Israel’s European alliances may have contributed to an unusual public spat last week, in which Israel’s ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, denounced Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, for attacking the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz. After Smotrich posted a tirade referencing the Nazi regime, Prosor “unequivocally condemned” the comments, accusing the minister of eroding the memory of the Holocaust. Sion-Tzidkiyahu commented: “When Israel is dependent on so few countries, and Germany is the main one because Meloni has turned her back, you have to protect that relationship.” Since the war on Gaza, German public opinion, like in Italy, has diverged from the government’s staunch support of the Israeli government. Most voters are now critical of the Netanyahu administration, but Germany’s responsibility for the Holocaust means it would never lead criticism of Israel. Merz has criticised violence and settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank and largely avoided his predecessor, Angela Merkel’s, formulation that Israel’s security is a “Staatsräson” or “reason of state” for Germany. However, he said in an interview last year that Israel’s security remained at the core of German foreign policy. The loss of Orbán and Meloni’s distancing got limited attention in Israel, where wars in Iran and Lebanon and the relationship with the US dominate foreign policy discussion. Few Israelis appreciate the extent to which ties with Europe underpin their standard of living. Two-thirds of Israelis see the EU as an adversary, and only 14% as a friend, an August 2025 survey carried out by the Mitvim thinktank found. “All Israelis know that we are dependent on the US for security issues, but they don’t understand that we are dependent on the European Union for economic issues,” Sion-Tzidkiyahu said. “We have managed to diversify trade, but the EU is still the largest block we are exporting to and importing from.”