Shawn Mendes poses on the red carpet for the 2024 MTV Europe Music Awards at Manchester Co-op Live in Manchester, Britain, Nov. 10, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Mina Kim

Canadian singer Shawn Mendes said during his concert on Thursday night at the MEO Arena in Lisbon, Portugal, that the suffering Palestinians are facing in the Gaza Strip during the Israel-Hamas war is not an excuse for targeting Jews with hatred.

“What’s been happening in Gaza has been absolutely breaking my heart, and turning pain and suffering into hatred towards Jewish people as a whole is wrong,” the Grammy-nominated artist told the audience at his show. “Turning pain and suffering into hatred, period, is wrong and it’s not the way.”

“I really believe in our generation,” added Mendes, who is Portuguese. “I feel like it’s our generation’s job to learn from the wisdom of our parents and grandparents but also learn from the mistakes of those generations. The future is truly in our hands and I feel like it’s our responsibility to stop these cycles of pain and to choose love.”

 

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Mendes is not Jewish and this is seemingly the singer’s first time speaking out about antisemitism and the Israel-Hamas war.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas looks on as he visits the Istishari Cancer Center in Ramallah, in the West Bank, May 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohammed Torokman

The US is denying and revoking visas from members of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority ahead of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in September, the State Department said on Friday.

The department did not name the officials targeted. It was unclear whether Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who is planning to travel to New York to deliver an address to the late September gathering, was included in the restrictions.

The Palestinians’ ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, told reporters that they were checking exactly what the US move means “and how it applies to any of our delegation, and we will respond accordingly.”

Abbas’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The US restrictions follow the imposition of US sanctions on Palestinian Authority officials and members of the Palestine Liberation Organization in July, even as other Western powers move toward recognition of Palestinian statehood.

In a statement, the State Department said that “it is in our national security interests to hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace.”

Officials with the Palestinian Authority, which has limited self-rule in much of the West Bank, reject that they’ve undermined peace prospects.

Under the 1947 UN “headquarters agreement,” the US is generally required to allow access for foreign diplomats to the UN in New York. But Washington has said it can deny visas for security, terrorism, and foreign policy reasons.

The State Department said that the Palestinian Authority’s mission to the UN would not be included in the restrictions. It did not elaborate.

Close US allies Canada, Britain, Australia, and France in recent weeks announced or signaled their intention to recognize a Palestinian state during the UN General Assembly meeting.

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan speaks during a press conference following the inaugural meeting of the Balkans Peace Platform, a Turkish-led initiative aimed at fostering dialogue and cooperation across the Western Balkans, in Istanbul, Turkey, July 26, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Murad Seze

Turkey has decided to bar Israeli vessels from using its ports, forbid Turkish ships from using Israeli ports, and impose restrictions on planes entering Turkish airspace, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Friday.

He provided few details in comments to parliament which appeared to summarize steps that Turkey has already taken against Israel over the war in Gaza or has started to implement.

Turkey has fiercely criticized Israel’s offensive in Gaza and accuses it of committing genocide in the Palestinian enclave, a charge that Israel denies. Ankara has halted all trade with Israel, called for international measures against it, and urged world powers to stop supporting Israel.

Sources told Reuters last week that Turkish port authorities had also started informally requiring shipping agents to provide letters declaring that vessels are not linked to Israel and not carrying military or hazardous cargo bound for the country.

A source had also said that Turkish-flagged ships would be prohibited from calling at Israeli ports.

“We have totally cut our trade with Israel, we have closed off our ports to Israeli ships and we are not allowing Turkish vessels to go to Israel’s ports,” Fidan told an extraordinary parliamentary session on Israel’s attacks on Gaza.

“We are not allowing container ships carrying weapons and ammunition to Israel to enter our ports, and airplanes to go into our airspace,” he added, without giving details.

Fidan also said Turkey had presidential approval to carry out air drops of aid to Gaza.

“Our planes are ready, once Jordan gives its approval, we will be in a position to go,” he told lawmakers.

The Israeli government did not immediately comment on his remarks.