“We have settled accounts with those responsible for the murder of countless Israelis and many citizens of other countries, including hundreds of Americans and dozens of French,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last evening, releasing a video statement upon his return to Israel from the United States, following yesterday’s assassination of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah.

“Hassan Nasrallah was ‘the terrorist’, the central engine of Iran’s axis of evil. He and his men were the architects of the plan to destroy Israel. Not only was it activated by Iran, it also activated Iran many times,” Netanyahu added.

“I gave the directive and Nasrallah is no longer with us. His elimination promotes the return of our residents to their homes in the north, and it also promotes the return of our kidnapped people: the more Sinwar sees that Hezbollah will not come to rescue him, the greater the chances of the hostages’ return.”

“Citizens of Israel,” he continued, “we have great achievements, but the work is not yet complete. In the coming days we will face significant challenges,” the Israeli prime minister said.

Netanyahu, in his unusual statement at the end of Shabbat, explained that “earlier in the week he acknowledged that even the heavy attacks that Israel had inflicted on Hezbollah would not be enough and that eliminating Nasrallah was an essential condition for achieving the objectives: returning the northern residents safely to their homes and changing the balance of power in the region for years.” As long as Nasrallah was alive, “he would quickly rehabilitate Hezbollah’s capabilities,” he said.

The prime minister then turned to Iran: “Whoever hits us, we will hit. There is no place in Iran or the Middle East that the long arm of Israel cannot reach, and today you already know how true that is. We are determined to continue hitting our enemies,” he added.

Houthi rebels claim they fired a ballistic missile at Tel Aviv airport as Netanyahu was landing back in Israel. Air raid sirens sounded across central Israel on Saturday afternoon, including in Tel Aviv, and large explosions were heard after a missile was fired from Yemen and intercepted, the military said.

Repeated call for ceasefire after killing of Nasrallah

The UK Government has repeated its plea for calm in the Middle East following the assasination of Hezbollah’s leader in an Israeli air strike.

The Iran-backed group issued a statement on Saturday confirming the death of Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s leader since 1992, saying he had “joined his fellow martyrs”.

Nasrallah’s death in the strike on Beirut late on Friday has added to concerns that the conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah could escalate into a full-scale regional war.

Following news of his death, British officials reiterated the Foreign Secretary’s message to the UN earlier this week in which he called for a ceasefire and a political solution to the conflict.

David Lammy told the UN Security Council on Wednesday: “A full-blown war is not in the interests of the Israeli or Lebanese people.”

But pleas for a ceasefire from Western leaders including US President Joe Biden have so far proved unsuccessful, with both Israel and Hezbollah vowing to fight on.

In its statement confirming Nasrallah’s death, Hezbollah vowed to “continue the holy war against the enemy and in support of Palestine”, while Israeli chief of staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said the elimination of the militant leader was “not the end of our toolbox”, suggesting further action was planned.

The toll of Saturday’s Israeli attacks in Lebanon, according to the Beirut Health Ministry, was 33 people killed and 195 injured. The Lebanese government also announced that about one million Lebanese have been displaced due to the attacks, including hundreds of thousands since yesterday alone.

According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, “more than 1,000 people have been killed and more than 6,000 have been injured due to Israeli attacks in the last two weeks”.

Iran calls for emergency UN Security Council meeting

Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, has called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council following the Israeli attack that led to the killing of Hassan Nasrallah.

Al Jazeera reports that in a letter to the president, Iravani urged the body’s members “to condemn in the strongest possible terms Israel’s cowardly acts of aggression”. He also warned against “any attack on Iran’s diplomatic facilities and representatives”.

Netanyahu attacks UN as a ‘swamp of antisemitic bile‘

When Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu stood to address the 79th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Friday, tension was already palpable.

Dozens of delegates started walking out immediately after he was invited to give his address, leaving the once-fully packed Ban Ki-moon Centre in the heart of New York City partially deserted.

It was an awkward moment for organisers of the global event, but it was expected. Netanyahu was coming barely a week after Israel launched a massive attack on Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon, killing over 500 people and leaving at least 2000 injured.

The majority of UN member states condemned the attack and asked Israel to exercise caution and play within the rules of war adopted during the Geneva Convention of 1949.

Despite the walkout and apparent disapproval of whatever he was going to say, Netanyahu was unruffled. He was determined to “set the record straight”, and nothing was going to distract him from that goal.

After “setting the record straight” as he had promised, Netanyahu attacked the UN General Assembly with scathing words, accusing the UN of being a “swamp of antisemitic bile” that was “willing to demonise the Jewish state for anything”. He also called the organisation an “anti-Israel flat-earth society”.

“We see yet another profound moral confusion when self-described progressives march against the democracy of Israel,” he said. The visibly agitated Netanyahu further described the UN as “a house of darkness” determined to cover and protect Palestinians.

“The singling out of the one and only Jewish state continues to be a moral stain on the United Nations. It has made this once-respected institution contemptible in the eyes of decent people everywhere. But for the Palestinians, this UN house of darkness is home court,” added the PM.

The Israeli leader demanded fair treatment from the UN General Assembly, which he accused of making more condemnations against Israel than all the nations combined since 2004.

“In the last decade, there have been more resolutions passed against Israel in this hall, in the UN General Assembly, than against the entire world combined.

“Actually, more than twice as many. Since 2014, this body condemned Israel 174 times.

“It condemned all the other countries in the world 73 times. That’s more than 100 extra condemnations for the Jewish state. What hypocrisy! What a double standard! What a joke!” he charged.

He rubbished ceasefire appeals and maintained that Israel would deal with its enemies head-on until it triumphs.

The US and France started a ceasefire process last week in a bid to end the escalating unrest in Lebanon occasioned by the fight between Israel and Hezbollah.

Netanyahu’s defiant speech on Friday could be a clear indication the process might not yield the desired outcome.

Soon after his address, Israel launched attacks on Lebanon’s capital Beruit in an operation targeting Hezbollah leaders.

The first massive strike was reported on Monday, September 25, where over 700 people were killed and more than 3000 injured.

Pope pledges support for victims of sexual abuse during Belgium visit

Pope Francis promised on Saturday to “offer all the help we can” to aid victims of clergy sexual abuse heal after victims told him first-hand of the trauma that had shattered their lives and left many in poverty and mental misery.

The  Pope’s visit to Belgium has been dominated by the abuse scandal, with King Philippe, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and Benedict Lemley, the dean of Leuven’s theology faculty, all blasting the Catholic Church’s dreadful legacy of priests raping and molesting children and its decades-long cover-up of the crimes.

Francis met for more than two hours late Friday with 17 survivors who are seeking reparations from the church for the trauma they suffered and to pay for the therapy many need. They said they gave Francis a month to study their demands – a demand the Vatican said Francis was studying.

On Saturday, during a meeting with Belgian clergy and nuns at the Koekelberg Basilica, Francis acknowledged that abuse had created “atrocious suffering and wounds”, and undermined the faith.

“There is a need for a great deal of mercy to keep us from hardening our hearts before the suffering of victims so that we can help them feel our closeness and offer all the help we can,” he said. “We must learn from them … to be a church at the service of all without belittling anyone. Indeed, one of the roots of violence stems from the abuse of power when we use the positions we have to crush or manipulate others.”

Thuringia lawmakers pick CDU speaker, rejecting AfD

The parliament in the eastern German state of Thuringia elected Thadäus König of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) as its new speaker on Saturday.

König was competing for the speakership against a nominee from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), Wiebke Muhsal. König was able to secure a majority of 54 out of 88 total seats, which included members of center and far-left parties.

It comes after the AfD placed first in the September 1 regional election in Thuringia, garnering almost 33 per ce nt of the vote. The CDU, meanwhile, came in second in that election with almost 24 per cent of the vote.

Harris, Trump locked in tight race in Rust Belt

US Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are neck and neck in the Rust Belt, home to battleground states that could make or break the election for either candidate.

The latest Siena College and New York Times poll released Saturday, less than 40 days until the November 5 election, showed Harris with a small lead over Trump in Michigan, one point, and Wisconsin, two points, while the former president led his Democratic opponent by five points in Ohio.

The economy, abortion and immigration were the top three issues for voters in each state, and voters believed that Trump would do a better job of dealing with the economy and immigration, while Harris would do better with abortion.

King Charles warns of climate change dangers

King Charles has warned of the dangers of climate change as he marked the “important” 25th anniversary of the Scottish Parliament.

Charles addressed the chamber during a visit to Holyrood with Queen Camilla on Saturday, saying the parliament can “touch and improve the lives of so many individuals”.

He also mentioned that Scotland has a “uniquely special place” in the hearts of his family, saying Queen Elizabeth II “treasured the time spent at Balmoral”.

The King said the opening of the Scottish Parliament 25 years ago was “a turning point” and that Saturday’s anniversary “is an important milestone”.

He went on: “As we look ahead to the next quarter of a century and beyond, there remains much more to be done for Scotland, for the United Kingdom, and equally, in addressing the challenges we all share as inhabitants of a planet whose climate is changing dangerously, and whose biodiversity is being seriously depleted.”

Hurricane Helene: US death toll rises to 64

The death toll from Hurricane Helene in the southeastern United States has risen to 64, authorities have announced. According to local media, millions of people are without electrical power and many others have lost their homes. Helene has hit Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Virginia in particular. The phenomenon has manifested itself since last Thursday as a Category 4 hurricane with heavy rains and winds reaching 225 kilometers per hour.

Boris Johnson considered invading Netherlands to seize Covid vaccines

Boris Johnson considered launching an “aquatic raid” on a warehouse in the Netherlands to retrieve Covid vaccines amid a row with Europe, according to his upcoming memoir.

The former British prime minister says he convened a meeting of senior military officials in March 2021 to discuss the plans, which he admitted were “nuts”.

At the time, the AstraZeneca vaccine was at the heart of a cross-Channel row over exports, with the EU lagging behind the pace of the rollout in the UK.

An extract from his book, ‘Unleashed’, published in the Daily Mail, says the deputy chief of the defence staff (military strategy and operations), Lieutenant General Doug Chalmers, told the prime minister the plan was “certainly feasible”, using rigid inflatable boats to navigate Dutch canals.

But the senior officer said it would not be possible to do this undetected.

The former PM admitted: “Of course, I knew he was right, and I secretly agreed with what they all thought but did not want to say aloud: that the whole thing was nuts.”

He described the Halix plant as holding millions of doses of the vaccine which AstraZeneca was “trying, in vain” to export to the UK. He believed the EU was treating the UK “with malice and with spite” due to the European rollout being slower than in the UK.

“They wanted to stop us getting the five million doses, and yet they showed no real sign of wanting to use the AstraZeneca doses themselves,” Mr Johnson wrote.and India.

Photo: AFP / Charly Triballeau