Flydubai pilot speaks to Indian Prime Minister Modi after cockpit attack

Indian pilot Smit Machchhar has spoken publicly for the first time since being stabbed by his co-pilot during a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv.
Speaking to Prime Minister Narendra Modi from hospital in Abu Dhabi, Machchhar described how he continued fighting despite being seriously wounded because he feared the safety of his passengers.

“I was trying to save myself,” he said, “but I also knew that I can't let anyone die".

Machchhar eventually opened the cockpit door, allowing people on board to enter and overpower the attacker as the plane was nose-diving. The aircraft was later diverted to Tabuk in Saudi Arabia, where it made an emergency landing. 

Modi praised Machchhar’s courage during the call, telling him prayers and chants were being offered in temples across India.

Is the arms trade builds weapons that make killing easier? | Andrew Feinstein | UNAPOLOGETIC

"Why can we get better images on our phones than these drone operators are getting? And I would suggest as a simple answer, it's easier to kill."

From drones that play the sound of a crying baby to draw families into the open, to AI targeting that marks people for sharing a taxi service or a gym, Andrew Feinstein lays out how the world's biggest tech companies are reshaping war in Gaza.

@AndrewFeinstein spoke to @ashfaaqC about the technology of killing, and why the West could stop it within a week.

Full episode on Middle East Eye YouTube channel
https://youtu.be/u3I8cF2pNqI

In this first episode of Middle East Eye's The Gaza Podcast, Palestinian doctor Maryam Youssef says that foreign doctors who come to work in Gaza quickly adapt to the mindset of local healthcare workers, changing so profoundly after just two weeks that "they are not the same" when they leave.

Speaking to host Hussam Tannera, she explains that visiting medical professionals constantly feel a desperate urge to return because Gaza feels real and true compared to a world that treats the war as "collateral damage" or "political talks".

Watch the full episode on MEE's YouTube channel now.

Palestinian doctor: We're not just numbers | The Gaza Podcast

In this first episode of Middle East Eye’s The Gaza Podcast, Palestinian doctor Maryam Youssef says that Palestinians are much more than what the media shows, insisting, "we’re not just numbers" but "human beings with a complete life".
Speaking to host Hussam Tannera, she urges people consuming the news not to treat the crisis as something distant or unrelatable, arguing that having to explain one's basic humanity to another person is "the most unjust part about it".

Tony Blair, Iraq and the JP Morgan millions | Andrew Feinstein | UNAPOLOGETIC

"Who was he representing in 10 Downing Street? The people of Britain? Or the executives at JP Morgan Bank?"

After leaving office, Tony Blair was paid millions a year by JP Morgan. Andrew Feinstein traces that relationship back to the invasion of Iraq, and the contract to rebuild its banking system.

Andrew Feinstein spoke to Ashfaaq Carim about Blair, Iraq and the revolving door between politics and profit.

Full episode on our YouTube channel
https://youtu.be/u3I8cF2pNqI

Palestinian mourns mother and grandmother killed in Israeli strike on Gaza home

Fouad al-Najjar spoke about the loss of his mother, Maria Hafez Najjar, and his grandmother, Maysa Khader Abu Daoud, who were killed while they slept when an Israeli strike hit their ground-floor apartment in the al-Asala building, west of Gaza City.

He said the loss of his mother and grandmother had come as a profound shock to the family, leaving deep pain among relatives and members of Gaza’s Christian community.

Gaza’s Greek Orthodox Church mourned Maysa Abu Daoud and her daughter Maria Najjar, whose bodies were laid to rest at a funeral attended by family members and members of the Christian community.

Green Party recognises Zionism as a form of racism and backs single Palestinian state

The Green Party of England and Wales has voted to declare Zionism a form of racism in an unprecedented move at its party conference in Brighton, Middle East Eye has learnt.

The vote by party members on Sunday makes it the first major party in the UK to recognise Zionism as a form of racism - and to back a single democratic Palestinian state with equal rights for all ethnic and religious groups, rather than a two-state solution.

1,022 members voted for the motion while 813 voted against it.

Canadian journalist documents Israeli settlers intimidation in Palestinian town

In footage posted to his social media, Canadian journalist Fin de Pencier documents armed Israeli settlers trespassing on Palestinian land in the town of Duma as part of daily settler intimidation and attacks in the occupied West Bank.

De Pencier is heard telling one of the settlers to stop pointing his gun at him.

The UK's Green Party declares 'Zionism is racism'

The UK’s Green Party declared that ‘Zionism is racism’ at its party conference in Brighton yesterday, passing the motion by 1,022 votes to 813. It has caused a media frenzy online. So what does the motion actually mean and is it useful for Palestinians?

Kieran Andrieu, a Palestinian member of the Green party and a vocal supporter of the motion, says it is “vital”.

“There's always enormous pushback against calling a spade a spade when the particular spade in question creates so much jeopardy and there's such high stakes involved” he says.

Trump says Iran taking LA or San Diego a ‘small price to pay’ for global safety

Speaking at a rally in Grand Island, Nebraska on Monday evening, US President Donald Trump said high gas prices were a “small price to pay for keeping the world safe”, suggesting that he would let Iran “take” US cities like Los Angeles and San Diego. 

“Let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego. That’s a very small price to pay, and it’s going to be over with very soon,” he said.