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Netanyahu says Israel not bound by ‘despicable’ U.N. vote

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Israel condemned and the Palestinians welcomed on Saturday a United Nations General Assembly vote asking the International Court of Justice to provide an opinion on legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories, Reuters reported.

The Friday vote presents a challenge for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who this week took office at the head of a government which has set settlement expansion as a priority and which includes parties who want to annex West Bank land on which they are built.

“The Jewish people are not occupiers in their own land nor occupiers in our eternal capital Jerusalem and no U.N. resolution can distort that historical truth,” Netanyahu said in a video message, adding that Israel was not bound by the “despicable decision.”

Along with Gaza and East Jerusalem, the Palestinians seek the occupied West Bank for a state. Most countries consider Israel’s settlements there illegal, a view Israel disputes citing historical and Biblical ties to the land, read the report.

The Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ) also known as the World Court, is the top U.N. court dealing with disputes between states. Its rulings are binding, though the ICJ has no power to enforce them.

The U.N. General Assembly asked the ICJ to give an advisory opinion on the legal consequences of Israel’s “occupation, settlement and annexation … including measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem.”

Members of Netanyahu’s new government have pledged to bolster settlements with development plans, budgets and authorisation of dozens of outposts built without permits.

The cabinet includes newly created posts and restructured roles that grant some of those powers to pro-settler coalition partners, who ultimately aim to extend Israeli sovereignty to the West Bank.

Netanyahu, however, has given no indication of any imminent steps to annex the settlements, a move that would likely shake up its relations with Western and Arab allies alike.

The Palestinians welcomed the U.N. vote in which 87 members voted in favour of adopting the request; Israel, the United States and 24 other members voted against; and 53 abstained, Reuters reported.

“The time has come for Israel to be a state subject to law, and to be held accountable for its ongoing crimes against our people,” said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose Palestinian Authority has limited self-rule in the West Bank.

Basem Naim, an official with Hamas, the Islamist militant group that controls Gaza, said it was “an important step toward confining and isolating the state of occupation (Israel).”

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Zelenskiy says Ukraine has ‘low chance’ of survival without US backing

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Ukraine has little chance of surviving Russia’s assault without U.S. support, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday after phone calls this week by U.S. President Donald Trump with Zelenskiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Probably it will be very, very, very difficult. And of course, in all the difficult situations, you have a chance. But we will have low chance – low chance to survive without support of the United States,” Zelenskiy said in an interview on the NBC News program “Meet the Press.”

An excerpt was released on Friday from the interview, which will be broadcast on Sunday. Reuters reported.

Trump discussed the war on Wednesday in separate calls with Putin and Zelenskiy, in the U.S. president’s first big step toward diplomacy in a conflict he has promised to end quickly.

Trump later said he did not think it was practical for Kyiv to join NATO and that it was unlikely Ukraine would get back all its land. Russia, which annexed Crimea in 2014, launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Ukraine demands Russia withdraw from captured territory and says it must receive NATO membership or equivalent security guarantees to prevent Moscow from attacking again.

Zelenskiy said in the interview that Putin wanted to come to the negotiating table not to end the war but to get a ceasefire deal to lift some global sanctions on Russia and allow Moscow’s military to regroup.

“This is really what he wants. He wants pause, prepare, train, take off some sanctions, because of ceasefire,” Zelenskiy said.

Trump said his call with Putin was a good conversation that lasted over an hour, while the Kremlin said it lasted nearly an hour and a half. Zelenskiy’s office said Trump and Zelenskiy spoke for about an hour. Trump said the call “went very well.”

 

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US VP Vance threatens sanctions, military action to push Putin into Ukraine deal

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U.S. Vice President JD Vance said the U.S. could hit Moscow with sanctions and potential military action if Russian President Vladimir Putin does not agree to a peace deal with Ukraine that guarantees Kyiv’s long-term independence, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

“There are economic tools of leverage, there are of course military tools of leverage” the U.S. could use against Putin, Vance said in an interview with the newspaper, according to Reuters.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday discussed the war with Russian President Vladimir Putin and separately with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and told U.S. officials to begin talks on ending the nearly three-year-long conflict.

The phone calls came shortly after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Ukraine’s military allies in Brussels that a return to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders – before Russia annexed Crimea – was unrealistic and that the U.S. does not see NATO membership for Kyiv as part of a solution.

Ukrainians on Thursday worried that Trump was preparing to sell out their country following his phone call Putin.

However, Trump on Thursday said that Ukraine would be involved in peace talks with Russia. He told reporters at the White House that Ukraine would have a seat at the table during any peace negotiations with Russia over ending the war.

Kyiv said it would be premature to speak with Moscow at a security conference on Friday.

“I think there is a deal that is going to come out of this that’s going to shock a lot of people,” the newspaper quoted Vance as saying.

“The president is not going to go in this with blinders on,” Vance said. “He’s going to say, ‘Everything is on the table, let’s make a deal.’”

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US Navy jet crashed off San Diego coast, crew members safe

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A U.S. Navy jet crashed off the coast of San Diego on Wednesday but both crew members were safely recovered, a U.S. official said.

The official, who was speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the EA-18G Growler, used for electronic warfare, was based out of Washington State, Reuters reported.

The reason for the crash was unclear, but the Coast Guard had rescued both the pilots from the two-seater jet.

U.S. military aviation safety has been in focus after an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with a passenger jet in Washington D.C. last month.

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