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Spain and Italy Have Just Gone to War Against Israel — Really

Cycling – Vuelta a Espana – Stage 21 – Alalpardo to Madrid – Madrid, Spain – Sept. 14, 2025: Barriers are smashed by anti-Israel protesters during Stage 21. Photo: REUTERS/Ana Beltran

Spain and Italy have announced they are dispatching naval warships to assist in breaking Israel’s legal — and life saving — weapons blockade around the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

Specifically, the countries have announced their navies will escort and protect the “humanitarian flotilla,” which includes Greta Thunberg.

The flotilla’s declared mission, according to organizers, is only secondarily to deliver aid. Its primary purpose is to break Israel’s legal weapons blockade: a technical act of war.

Accordingly, these two European countries and NATO allies have actually (even if unintentionally) committed their navies to a dangerous act of war against Israel, a legal “casus belli,” (an act permitting a military response), and an overt act of military cooperation with the Hamas terror organization.

Israel is not only permitted, but required to stop all attempts to break the Gaza blockade.

As we have previously explored in depth, Israel’s blockade on the Gaza Strip is both legal and also an essential life saving barrier against Hamas’ access to weapons.

The San Remo Manual on International Law (Sections 67 and 95) requires that Israel enforce its blockade universally and without exception, and for good reason: in the past, at least one “humanitarian flotilla” was found to be carrying large quantities of weapons.

Israel is absolutely permitted to stop the flotilla in international waters.

A common misconception is that international law provides total impunity for any act as long as it’s done in international waters. Anyone who follows the history of naval battles (which are almost always on the “high seas”) knows this is incorrect.

This is basic common sense: if a country couldn’t strike an invading navy until the warships reached its shores, then international law would have effectively outlawed self defense.

Indeed, according to Section 10 of San Remo, even being en route to commit an act of war (such as breaching a legal blockade) opens the invading vessel to legitimate attack, which is considered self defense.

There is already a widely used method for safely and legally delivering humanitarian aid.

Israel has, and continues to, deliver record amounts of humanitarian aid into Gaza — far more than most countries have ever delivered in any modern conflict, especially into enemy territory.

We explored this topic in detail, in partnership with Ambassador Michael Oren’s publication, “Clarity.”

Not coincidentally, according to independent data, Gaza has one of the fastest growing populations in the world, a fact inconsistent with claims of deprivation. The current methods for delivering aid include life saving inspections for weapons, which would not occur if a flotilla were to successfully breach the blockade.

Israel has offered the flotilla organizers the opportunity to dock at the Israeli port of Ashkelon, where they would be permitted to unload their cargo for inspection against weapons smuggling, and then transfer to Gaza. The organizers refused, confirming that their primary mission is not aid at all, but breaching Israel’s legal weapons blockade.

Indeed, the flotilla is carrying only a minimal amount of actual aid — its organizers claim to be transporting 250 tons: roughly the average amount of aid that Israel transfers into Gaza every two hours (according to an independent, internationally peer reviewed academic study, as well as data from Israel’s COGAT office.)

For now, one can only hope that some sort of diplomatic process will prevent the Spanish and Italian warships from approaching Israel’s shores. However, if that fails, Israel will be obligated under both international law and basic morality to physically stop the approach of both the flotilla and its accompanying warships (San Remo Sections 67 and 98).

While a civilian ship can usually be disabled and boarded without damage, stopping a warship could require an actual, kinetic naval battle.

It’s not about aiding Gaza, it’s about aiding Hamas.

A widely ignored report by Israel’s Diaspora and Antisemitism Ministry indicates that this particular “humanitarian flotilla” was organized by fronts for the Hamas terror organization and the Muslim Brotherhood, and that Hamas affiliates are on board. If true, Spain and Italy are not only engaging in an act of war against Israel, but they may even be providing direct combat support to a Hamas controlled military operation.

It should go without saying, but it (tragically) needs to be repeated: October 7, 2023 was the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Modeled on Muhammad’s 7th century “Khaybar Massacre,” the October 7 atrocities included mass rape, ritual beheadings, horrific torture, and more. Now, over 700 days later, the internationally designated Hamas terror organization continues to hold Israelis hostage, under horrifying conditions.

To give the benefit of the doubt, it is possible that Spain and Italy are actually naive enough to believe they are on a humanitarian mission. Yet if their warships leave port, the countries will (knowingly or not) become the first Western powers and NATO allies to provide direct, military combat support to the perpetrators of the October 7 massacre.

Spain and Italy will also become the first European powers since the Holocaust to engage in what is effectively a military attack on the Jewish people.

It is reasonable to assume that no one actually wants to spark a kinetic war between Israel and Europe. Yet we are approaching a delicate situation that is reminiscent of the Cold War: when any mistake can trigger severe and unwanted consequences.

The only way this ends well is if Italy and Spain come to their senses, and reverse their misguided and dangerous decision.

Daniel Pomerantz is the CEO of RealityCheck, an organization dedicated to deepening public conversation through robust research studies and public speaking.

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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War

Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.

Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.

“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”

GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’

Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.

“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.

“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.

“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.

After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”

RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL

Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”

Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.

“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”

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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests

A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco

Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.

People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.

“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”

Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.

On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.

Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.

On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.

“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.

Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.

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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan

Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.

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