International
Bowen: UK move to recognise Palestinian state is a diplomatic crowbar to revive peace process
Bowen: UK move to recognise Palestinian state is a diplomatic crowbar to revive peace process
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s announcement that Britain will recognise Palestinian statehood is a major change in UK foreign policy.
He offered to postpone recognition if Israel took “substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza, agree to a ceasefire and commit to a long-term, sustainable peace, reviving the prospect of a two-state solution.”
Israel’s immediate rejection of his statement meant that Starmer’s speech writers can start work now on what he will say at the UN General Assembly in September. UK recognition of Palestine looks “irreversible,” according to a senior British official.
Starmer won’t be expecting Britain’s change of policy to produce an independent Palestinian state any time soon – from the perspective of many Israelis, the best time for it would be never – but the intention, diplomatic sources say, is to empower moderates on both sides, Israelis and Palestinians. The British hope they can jolt them into believing that peace might be possible.
It won’t be easy, not just because of the way Hamas killed around 1,200 people, including hundreds of Israeli civilians, and took hostages on 7 October 2023, followed by Israel’s vengeful response that has killed tens of thousands civilians and left Gaza in ruins.
It is also because every attempt to make peace has failed. Years of peace talks in the 1990s ended in bloodshed. Every attempt to revive them since then has collapsed.
Israel’s rejection came minutes after Keir Starmer finished speaking in Downing Street. Later in the evening, Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted a fiercely worded denunciation on social media.
“Starmer rewards Hamas’s monstrous terrorism and punishes its victims. A jihadist state on Israel’s border TODAY will threaten Britain TOMORROW.”
“Appeasement towards jihadist terrorists always fails. It will fail you too. It will not happen.”
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Netanyahu denies Israel has caused starvation and catastrophe in Gaza. Had he accepted Britain’s conditions for a postponement, his government would have disintegrated. He depends on the support of ultra nationalist extremists who want to annex the occupied territories and force Palestinians out, not grant them independence.
But Netanyahu is not their prisoner. He built a career opposing the two-state solution, the idea that peace can be built by creating an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. Earlier this month he said a Palestinian state would be a ‘launchpad’ for more 7 October style attempts to destroy Israel.
Netanyahu will be hoping for the strong backing of the US government. Its position is that recognising a Palestinian state now rewards Hamas terrorism.
Donald Trump told reporters as he flew back to the US after his golfing interlude in Scotland that he didn’t support Britain’s move.
The issue of Palestinian sovereignty could become another factor cracking apart transatlantic relations.
Until the last few weeks Keir Starmer was not convinced the time was right to recognise Palestine. But pictures of Palestinian children in Gaza starving to death were the last straw after so much killing and devastation.
Attitudes hardened in Downing Street and the Foreign Office, as well as in the Labour party and more widely in the UK.
Britain’s decision to join France in recognising Palestine is another sign of Israel’s increasing diplomatic isolation. Two of its major western allies, the UK and France, both permanent members of the UN Security Council, have dismissed Israel’s attempt to block their recognition of Palestine when the General Assembly meets in New York in September.
In New York just after Starmer’s statement, David Lammy, the UK foreign secretary, was given a big round of applause when he announced Britain’s decision at the UN’s conference on a two-state solution and recognition of a Palestinian state.
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His dismissed the accusation that Palestinian independence could be lethal for Israel.
“There is no contradiction between support for Israel’s security and support for Palestinian statehood. Indeed, the opposite is true.”
“Let me be clear: the Netanyahu government’s rejection of a two-state solution is wrong – it’s wrong morally and it’s wrong strategically.”
A British official said the atmosphere was electric as Lammy told the delegates that the UK’s announcement was being made “with the hand of history on our shoulders.” Lammy went on to delve into Britain’s imperial past in Palestine which is deeply intertwined with the roots of the conflict between Jews and Arabs for control of the land Britain once ruled.
Britain captured Jerusalem from the Ottoman Empire in 1917 and controlled Palestine until in 1948, exhausted and out of ideas to deal with what was then a full-scale war between Arabs and Jews, it handed over responsibility to the UN and left Palestine. Immediately, Israel’s first prime minister David Ben Gurion declared independence, and Israel defeated an invasion by Arab armies.
At the UN David Lammy recalled how Arthur Balfour, his predecessor as foreign secretary had in 1917 signed a typewritten letter promising to ‘view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.’
But the document, known as the Balfour Declaration, also stated “that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of non-Jewish communities in Palestine.” It did not use the word Arab, but that is what was meant.
Lammy said Britain can be proud of the way it helped lay Israel’s foundations, But the promise to Palestinians, Lammy said, was not kept, and that “is a historical injustice which continues to unfold.”
Britain’s conflicting promises fuelled and shaped the conflict. A time traveller going back a century to Palestine in the 1920s would find the tension and violence depressingly familiar.
The way the UK hopes to end the misery in Gaza, create peace in the Middle East and remedy the historical injustice Lammy described is to revive the two-state solution.
The conference in New York at which he was speaking was chaired by France and Saudi Arabia. It has produced a seven-page document aimed at creating a way ahead to revive the two-state solution, which includes condemnation by Arab states of Hamas and its 7 October attacks on Israel.
The window for peace through the two-state solution appeared to be locked shut after the collapse of the peace process that started with real hope in the 1990s.
Britain’s decision to recognise Palestine is a diplomatic crowbar to try to reopen it.
Bowen: UK move to recognise Palestinian state is a diplomatic crowbar to revive peace process
International
UK Court Hands Life Sentence to Nigerian Teen for Knife Attack Killing
UK Court Hands Life Sentence to Nigerian Teen for Knife Attack Killing
A Nigerian teenager residing in the UK, Jackson Uwagboe, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of 21-year-old Robert Robinson, following a brutal knife attack in Lewisham, London. The sentencing was delivered at the Old Bailey on Wednesday.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed that 19-year-old Uwagboe of Hamilton Street, Lewisham, was found guilty of murder on Tuesday, 10 February 2026, in a case stemming from a dispute over a stolen bicycle. The court ruled that Uwagboe must serve a minimum of 21 years before he can be considered for parole.
Uwagboe’s co-defendant, Eromosele Omoluogbe, 24, was earlier convicted of perverting the course of justice after assisting Uwagboe in attempting to flee to Nigeria via Heathrow Airport.
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Prior to this sentencing, two other men, Ryan Wedderburn, 18, and Kirk Harris, had already been convicted and handed life sentences in May 2025 for their roles in the same murder.
Detective Inspector Neil Tovey, who led the investigation, described the incident as a “brutal and sustained attack”. He said, “Robert was subjected to a brutal and sustained attack by a group of men armed with knives. He was unarmed, already wounded, and on the ground when Uwagboe attacked him. Today’s verdict brings justice for Robert Robinson and his family.”
The case has drawn attention to youth violence, knife crime, and gang-related activity in London, as well as the challenges faced by law enforcement in preventing violent disputes over seemingly minor disputes such as bicycle theft.
The sentencing underscores the UK judicial system’s approach to serious violent crimes, ensuring that perpetrators face long-term incarceration while providing a clear minimum term before parole consideration.
UK Court Hands Life Sentence to Nigerian Teen for Knife Attack Killing
International
UK-Based Nigerian Gets 13-Year Jail Term for Forcing Girlfriend to Abort Pregnancy
UK-Based Nigerian Gets 13-Year Jail Term for Forcing Girlfriend to Abort Pregnancy
A UK-based Nigerian man, Adeleke Adelani, has been sentenced to more than 13 years’ imprisonment for unlawfully aborting the pregnancy of his former partner after coercing her to take abortion medication on Valentine’s Day.
The offence occurred in 2020 when Adelani, then 28 years old, deceptively invited the woman — whose identity is legally protected — to his residence in Letterkenny under the guise of discussing the future of her pregnancy. Evidence before the court showed that the victim was nine weeks pregnant at the time of the incident.
Prosecutors told the court that upon her arrival, Adelani threatened the woman with violence and forced her to ingest five tablets of misoprostol, a drug used for medical abortions, thereby causing the unlawful termination of the pregnancy. The court heard that the defendant had researched the medication in advance and acted deliberately. The victim later contacted authorities, leading to Adelani’s arrest by Irish police.
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At the time of the sentencing, Adelani was already serving a separate seven-year prison sentence for an unrelated offence. He had initially been due to stand trial last year but pleaded guilty before jury selection began, accepting responsibility for the charges brought against him.
During the sentencing hearing at the Letterkenny Circuit Court, the victim delivered a powerful impact statement, explaining that although she had chosen to forgive Adelani, the consequences of his actions would remain with her for life.
“I have forgiven the defendant,” she told the court. “That forgiveness does not mean what he did was acceptable. It means I refuse to let what he did continue to control my heart and my life. When he wrongfully imprisoned me and caused the termination of my nine-week pregnancy, he took far more than my freedom. He took my child. He took my sense of safety. He took a future that I had already begun to plan and love.”
In a letter read aloud in court, Adelani apologised to the victim, accepted full responsibility for his actions, and expressed remorse for the pain and trauma he caused.
Delivering judgment, John Aylmer described the crime as deliberate, premeditated, and deeply traumatic, stressing that it involved coercion, abuse, and a serious violation of trust. The judge sentenced Adelani to 11 years in prison, with the final two years suspended, for causing the unlawful termination of a pregnancy, and an additional five years, with the last 12 months suspended, for assault causing harm.
The sentences are to run concurrently, adding to Adelani’s existing term and resulting in an overall prison sentence exceeding 13 years. The case has reignited debate in Ireland and internationally about reproductive coercion, domestic abuse, and violence against women, with legal observers describing it as one of the most serious cases of its kind in recent years.
UK-Based Nigerian Gets 13-Year Jail Term for Forcing Girlfriend to Abort Pregnancy
International
Epstein, Ex-Israeli PM Named in Alleged Profiteering From Boko Haram Crisis
Epstein, Ex-Israeli PM Named in Alleged Profiteering From Boko Haram Crisis
A new investigative report by Drop Site News has alleged that the late American financier Jeffrey Epstein and former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak leveraged Nigeria’s long-running Boko Haram insurgency to pursue commercial, security, and strategic interests in the country.
According to the investigation, emails released by the United States Department of Justice in 2018 show Epstein acting as a behind-the-scenes facilitator in discussions involving Jide Zeitlin, then chairman of Nigeria’s Sovereign Investment Authority, and Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, former chairman of DP World. The exchanges allegedly focused on attempts to secure control of key shipping terminals in Lagos and Badagry, following unsuccessful negotiations with successive Nigerian administrations dating back to 2005.
The report claims DP World was unwilling to invest in a proposed industrial zone in Nigeria without full or majority control of the adjoining port infrastructure, a demand that reportedly stalled the deal for years. Epstein, who died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial, is alleged to have helped revive talks by brokering introductions and strategic conversations.
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Drop Site News further reported that bin Sulayem resigned on February 13 after renewed scrutiny of his past links to Epstein resurfaced publicly, intensifying attention on the historical port negotiations and the role of foreign intermediaries in Nigeria’s maritime sector.
Beyond logistics and port infrastructure, investigators highlighted what they described as near-daily correspondence between Epstein and Barak after the former Israeli leader left public office. Barak, who served as Israel’s defence minister until 2013, allegedly sought to deepen Israeli-Nigerian security cooperation, using Nigeria’s counter-insurgency battle as an entry point for Israeli-linked security, energy, and technology investments.
The report said Barak later relied on security networks in Nigeria to promote Israeli defence and surveillance firms. In 2015, Barak and a partner invested $15 million in FST Biometrics, founded by former Israeli intelligence chief Aharon Ze’evi Farkash. The firm’s Basel biometric system, originally deployed at Israel-Gaza crossings, was subsequently marketed in Nigeria as a counter-terrorism solution.
According to the investigation, the biometric technology was introduced at Babcock University as protection against Boko Haram threats, while also being pitched to African governments for broader identity management and population-control applications.
The report further cited a 2020 World Bank-supported initiative involving Israel’s National Cyber Directorate and Toka Group, a cyber-intelligence company co-founded by Barak. The partnership was presented as contributing to Nigeria’s national cybersecurity framework, but Drop Site News argued it also deepened Israeli corporate access to sensitive security architecture.
In its conclusion, the investigation alleged that a network of security interventions, port negotiations, and technology investments enabled Epstein and Barak to profit from instability associated with the Boko Haram conflict, while simultaneously advancing Israeli commercial and strategic interests in Nigeria. The outlet stressed that these claims are based on document reviews and correspondence, framing them as allegations rather than established legal findings.
Epstein, Ex-Israeli PM Named in Alleged Profiteering From Boko Haram Crisis
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