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Israel condemned over troops in occupied West Bank firing

Jenin, West Bank — Several nations that have backed Israel during its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip voiced outrage Wednesday after Israeli troops fired what they called “warning shots” as foreign diplomats visited the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Authority, which partially administers the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory, accused Israeli troops of “deliberately” shooting at the delegation near the flashpoint city of Jenin. The Israeli military, already under pressure over its tactics in the Gaza war, said it regretted the “inconvenience.”

AFP video from Jenin — a frequent target of Israeli military raids — showed the delegation and accompanying journalists running for cover as shots were heard on Wednesday.

A frame grab from AFPTV video shows members of a diplomatic delegation from the European Union and elsewhere reacting after shots were fired as they gathered at the eastern entrance of the Jenin camp, during a visit to the city of Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, May 21, 2025, amid an ongoing Israeli military offensive.

MOHAMMAD ATEEQ/AFPTV/AFP/Getty


A European diplomat said the envoys went to the area to see the destruction caused in the West Bank by Israeli military raids during the Gaza war, which was sparked by the Hamas-led, Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack.

The Israel Defense Forces said the diplomatic convoy had strayed from the approved route and entered a restricted zone, prompting troops to fire “warning shots” to steer the group away. The IDF added that no one was wounded and it expressed regret for the “inconvenience caused.”

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ spokesman called the incident “unacceptable.”

“Diplomats who are doing their work should never be shot at, attacked in any way, shape or form. Their safety, their viability, must be respected at all times,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters. “These diplomats, including U.N. personnel, were fired at, warning shots or whatever… which is unacceptable.”

Demands for explanation over Israel’s “unacceptable” actions

Several countries that had representatives in the group voiced outrage and demanded an investigation.

“We call on Israel to investigate this incident and also hold those accountable who are responsible for any threats to diplomats’ lives,” said European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.

Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Uruguay summoned Israel’s ambassadors or said they would raise the issue directly.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called the incident “totally unacceptable” and pressed for an “immediate explanation.”

Carney added that Canada’s Foreign Minister Anita Anand has summoned Israel’s ambassador to Ottawa.

Members of an international diplomatic delegation gather by a gate at the eastern entrance of the Jenin camp during a visit to the city of Jenin, May 21, 2025, amid an ongoing Israeli military offensive in the occupied West Bank.

MOHAMMAD MANSOUR/AFP/Getty


Egypt denounced the shooting as a breach of “all diplomatic norms,” while Turkey demanded an immediate investigation.

Turkey’s foreign ministry said: “This attack must be investigated without delay and the perpetrators must be held accountable.”

Ahmad al-Deek, political adviser for the Palestinian foreign ministry who accompanied the delegation, condemned what he called a “reckless act by the Israeli army.”

“It has given the diplomatic delegation an impression of the life the Palestinian people are living,” he said.

Palestinian news agency Wafa reported the delegation included diplomats from more than 20 countries including Britain, China, Egypt, France, Japan, Jordan, Turkey and Russia.

Britain’s minister for the Middle East and North Africa, Hamish Falconer, said Wednesday that he’d spoken directly with U.K. diplomats affected by the incident, and he called for an investigation.

“Today’s events in Jenin are unacceptable. I have spoken to our diplomats who were affected,” he said in a social media post. “Civilians must always be protected, and diplomats allowed to do their jobs. There must be a full investigation and those responsible should be held accountable.”

“The Japanese government has protested to the Israeli side and requested an explanation and the prevention of a recurrence,” government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi said in Tokyo, confirming that diplomatic staff from the country had taken part in the delegation.

Israel-Europe ties increasingly strained over Gaza, D.C. murders

The incident came as anger mounted over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where Palestinians are scrambling for basic supplies after weeks of near-total isolation. A two-month Israeli aid blockade on Gaza was partially eased this week, but not enough to alleviate the hunger crisis facing the enclave’s roughly 2 million inhabitants, according to the U.N. and humanitarian agencies.

Israel stepped up its military offensive over the weekend, vowing to defeat Gaza’s Hamas rulers, whose October 2023 attack on Israel triggered the war.

Israel has faced massive pressure, including from its allies, to halt its intensified offensive and allow aid into Gaza. European Union foreign ministers on Tuesday ordered a review of the EU cooperation accord with Israel.

Sweden said it would press the EU to impose sanctions on Israeli ministers, while Britain suspended free-trade negotiations with Israel and summoned the Israeli ambassador.

Pope Leo XIV described the situation in Gaza as “worrying and painful” and called for “the entry of sufficient humanitarian aid.”

Palestinians, struggling with hunger due to an Israeli blockade, wait in line to receive hot meals distributed by charity organizations in Jabalia Refugee Camp, in Gaza City, Gaza, May 17, 2025.

Mahmoud ssa/Anadolu/Getty


Israel’s ties with Europe were tested further on Thursday as Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar blamed what he called antisemitic and anti-Israel incitement “by leaders and officials of many countries and international organizations, especially from Europe,” for the murder of two Israel Embassy staff members in Washington D.C. the previous night.

A suspect identified as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez of Chicago was taken into custody, and heard shouting, “Free, free Palestine” as he was led away, after the attack outside the Jewish Museum in the U.S. capital.

Hamas’s 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Militants also took 251 hostages, 57 of whom remain in Gaza including 34 the military says are dead.

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said at least 3,509 people have been killed since Israel ended a ceasefire and resumed strikes on March 18, taking the war’s overall toll to 53,655.

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Brexit Betrayal: Starmer Accused of ‘Surrender’ to EU on Fishing

British Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer has hailed a “new era” with the European Union as he unveiled a post-Brexit “reset” deal on Monday. Yet opponents have accused the left-wing government of “surrendering” to Brussels on key areas, including granting the bloc access to UK fishing waters for over a decade.

In his third major deal this month, after inking agreements with India and the United States, Prime Minister Starmer boasted that he has “rolled up my sleeves to deliver for British people, British jobs, and British businesses.”

The wide-ranging EU deal unveiled by the anti-Brexit PM will see the UK align with European standards on animal welfare and food in exchange for reducing the punitive import checks on British food products sold in Europe. However, London also agreed to send British taxpayer money to the EU as part of the deal. While no specific figures were released, The Times reports that it will be “an appropriate financial contribution from the United Kingdom”.

Additionally, the Labour government was accused of selling out British fishermen by giving Europeans access to UK waters for the next 12 years. According to the British press, this was a last-minute demand from Brussels over the weekend after the government announced that an EU deal would be forthcoming, sparking accusations that Starmer bent to hardball tactics for the sake of political expediency to the detriment of a key British industry. The government has attempted to allay fears, by announcing a £360 million coastal investment fund.

However, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage lamented that the deal would “be the end of the fishing industry”. Farge’s deputy, MP Richard Tice, added: “Starmer has surrendered — lock, stock and barrel. He’s waved the white flag and kissed goodbye to UK fishing.

“And my constituents in Boston & Skegness will be raging mad this morning if this news is true. It’s unbelievable. The EU apparently asked for four or five years, and Starmer has surrendered about 12 years. Mind boggling.”

The deal will also likely see the UK sign back up to a form of the EU’s ‘Youth Mobility Scheme’, which would allow 18 to 30-year-old EU migrants to live and work in Britain for up to three years. While the deal essentially punted on the issue, as London is pushing for a hard cap on entries per year, critics have warned that it will further disadvantage native young people in Britain, despite Starmer’s vow to protect them from unfettered mass migration.

In turn, the EU has said that it will reduce border checks for British tourists and allow them to use “e-gates” to speed up passport checks like other European travellers after new biometric systems come into place later this year. However, while Brussels will lift the restriction, it remains to be seen if individual member states will follow suit.

The EU has also said that it will “deepen information sharing” on illegal migration with the UK. Yet, it remains to be seen if this will include Brussels’ biometric database on asylum seekers. There appears to be little progress on striking a deal for Britain to send illegal migrants back to the bloc, the majority of which cross the English Channel from the beaches of France.

Meanwhile, the two sides also agreed to greater alignment on defence, meaning that British troops could be deployed alongside their European counterparts. The issue has come to the fore amid efforts led by French President Emmanuel Macron and Starmer to deploy a “coalition of the willing” pan-European military force to Ukraine as a supposed peacekeeping force should an armistice be agreed to by Kyiv and Moscow. Critics have warned that this could be laying the groundwork for the formation of a fully fledged EU Army.

Hailing the deal, European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said: “We are now turning the page and opening a new chapter, a new chapter that is so important in these times because we see the rise of geopolitical tensions but we are like-minded, we share the same values.”

Prime Minister Starmer added: “In uncertain times and a new era for defence, security and trade we will do that by strengthening our relationships with allies around the world, including of course with Europe. That is what today is all about, moving on from stale old debates, looking forward, not backwards, focusing on what we can do together to deliver in the national interest.”

Former Conservative cabinet minister Sir Simon Clarke criticised the deal as a “a triumph of elite concerns – youth mobility, 5 minutes quicker through the airport in Tuscany in summer – over those of working class Britain.”

Sir Simon said that elites in London will not have to face the consequences of opening up the door to more EU migrant labour or the impact of “fishing grounds being hoovered up by French or Spanish super trawlers”. The former Conservative MP went on to warn that by essentially accepting EU standards and regulations, the deal would also lay the groundwork for future arguments for the UK to rejoin the bloc.

The deal and its ramifications will likely serve as a major campaign issue going forward, with Brexit leader Nigel Farage vowing to overturn the agreement if he is elected as the next prime minister.

“The Prime Minister thinks he’ll get away with it but he perhaps underestimates how strong Brexit feeling still is in the Red Wall,” Mr Farage said over the weekend. “The whole thing is an abject surrender from Starmer and politically, something he will come to regret.”

Follow Kurt Zindulka on X: or e-mail to: kzindulka@breitbart.com



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CBS News among U.S. outlets allowed into Russia for Victory Day parade as Trump thaws relations with Moscow

Moscow — Preparations were well underway Thursday in Moscow for the annual “Victory Day” parade. The huge celebrations mark the former Soviet Union’s role in defeating Nazi Germany in World War II, 80 years ago this year. 

Dozens of world leaders invited by President Vladimir Putin have gathered in Moscow for the events, and the fact that our CBS News team was allowed in to witness it all shows how much things have changed in just 100 days. U.S. relations with Russia under President Trump have thawed, and American media have been invited in to see the grand spectacle of the Victory Day commemorations.

Thursday brought a dress rehearsal for the main event, a lavish military parade set to take place on May 9, the day on which Russia celebrates its historic victory over the Nazis. Due to the time difference between Russia and the Western European nations where the German surrender was cemented, the U.S. and its European allies mark the Victory in Europe on May 8 every year — the day on which Adolf Hitler’s forces capitulated to the Allies in 1945, ending World War II on the continent.

Putin’s guest of honor this year, China’s President Xi Jinping, was already in town on Thursday. He’s the most powerful of several world leaders who have come to show that, despite international sanctions and widespread condemnation of Putin’s so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine, the Russian leader does have friends.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and China’s President Xi Jinping arrive for talks at the Kremlin in Moscow, May 8, 2025.

PAVEL BEDNYAKOV/POOL/AFP/Getty


According to China’s state-run media, the two leaders took advantage of Xi’s visit to sign more than 20 “bilateral cooperation documents,” covering issues including “global strategic stability, maintaining the authority of international law” and biosecurity. The two countries have emphasized their deepening ties for several years, with the Kremlin declaring in 2022 that Russia and China would strive to create a new “democratic world order.“

While the theme of the party in Moscow this week is an 80-year-old victory, fighting still rages in Ukraine, claiming Russian lives, and any victory in the contemporary conflict looks a long way off.

Ukrainians are dying, too — both soldiers and, this week, more civilians whom Ukrainian officials say were killed in a Russian drone and missile strike.

CBS News asked a group of Russian cheerleaders preparing for the events in Moscow what they hoped for at this stage in the Ukraine conflict, and in particular, about President Trump’s diplomatic push for a ceasefire, something their own president has thus far declined to agree to.

“I think it’s a great deal to stop the war,” said Mikael.

“I agree it’s important for everybody, for everyone — for our kids, young people,” said Elena.

Russian law enforcement officers patrol Red Square, which was closed ahead of celebrations for Victory Day, marking the 80th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, in central Moscow, May 8, 2025.

Maxim Shemetov/REUTERS


It’s one thing to want peace, however, and quite another to get it.

President Putin declared more than a week ago that Russia would observe a three-day ceasefire in Ukraine to mark Victory Day, starting on Thursday. But even if Russian attacks do stop over the weekend, people on both sides of the border know the fighting will start again on Monday.

Leigh Kiniry

contributed to this report.

Elizabeth Palmer


Elizabeth Palmer is CBS News’ senior foreign correspondent. She is based in the CBS News London Bureau, and reports on major events across Europe and the Middle East. Palmer was previously based in Tokyo, and before that in Moscow, for CBS News.

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EU hits Apple and Meta with hundreds of millions of dollars in new fines, enforcing digital competition rules

London — European Union watchdogs fined Apple and Meta hundreds of millions of euros Wednesday as they stepped up enforcement of the 27-nation bloc’s digital competition rules. The European Commission imposed a 500 million euro ($571 million) fine on Apple for preventing app makers from pointing users to cheaper options outside its App Store. The commission, which is the EU’s executive arm, also fined Meta Platforms 200 million euros ($228 million) because it forced Facebook and Instagram users to choose between seeing ads or paying to avoid them.

The punishments were smaller than the blockbuster multibillion-euro fines that the commission has previously slapped on Big Tech companies in antitrust cases.

Apple and Meta have to comply with the decisions within 60 days or risk unspecified “periodic penalty payments,” the commission said.

The decisions were expected to come in March, but officials apparently held off amid an escalating trans-Atlantic trade war with President Trump, who has repeatedly complained about regulations from Brussels affecting American companies.

The penalties were issued under the EU’s Digital Markets Act, also known as the DMA. It’s a sweeping rulebook that amounts to a set of do’s and don’ts designed to give consumers and businesses more choice and prevent Big Tech “gatekeepers” from cornering digital markets.

The DMA seeks to ensure “that citizens have full control over when and how their data is used online, and businesses can freely communicate with their own customers,” Henna Virkkunen, the commission’s executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, said in a statement.

EU Commission Vice-President for Technology Henna Virkkunen gives a speech during a press conference on secure and sustainable E-commerce communication, in Brussels, Belgium, Feb. 5, 2025.

Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu/Getty


“The decisions adopted today find that both Apple and Meta have taken away this free choice from their users and are required to change their behavior,” Virkkunen said.

Both companies indicated they would appeal.

“The European Commission is attempting to handicap successful American businesses while allowing Chinese and European companies to operate under different standards,” Meta Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan said in a statement provided by the U.S. tech giant. “This isn’t just about a fine; the Commission forcing us to change our business model effectively imposes a multi-billion-dollar tariff on Meta while requiring us to offer an inferior service. And by unfairly restricting personalized advertising the European Commission is also hurting European businesses and economies.” 

Apple accused the commission of “unfairly targeting” the iPhone maker, and said it “continues to move the goal posts” despite the company’s efforts to comply with the rules.

In the App Store case, the Commission had accused the iPhone maker of imposing unfair rules preventing app developers from freely steering consumers to other channels.

Among the DMA’s provisions are requirements to let developers inform customers of cheaper purchasing options and direct them to those offers.

The commission said it ordered Apple to remove technical and commercial restrictions that prevent developers from steering users to other channels, and to end “non-compliant” conduct.

Apple said it has “spent hundreds of thousands of engineering hours and made dozens of changes to comply with this law, none of which our users have asked for.”

“Despite countless meetings, the Commission continues to move the goal posts every step of the way,” the company said.

Apple has also faced a broad antitrust lawsuit in the U.S., where the Justice Department alleged that the California company illegally engaged in anti-competitive behavior in an effort to build a “moat around its smartphone monopoly” and maximize its profits at the expense of consumers. Fifteen states and the District of Columbia have joined the suit as plaintiffs.

The EU’s Meta investigation centered on the company’s strategy to comply with strict European data privacy rules by giving users the option of paying for ad-free versions of Facebook and Instagram.

Users could pay at least 10 euros ($11) a month to avoid being targeted by ads based on their personal data. The U.S. tech giant rolled out the option after the European Union’s top court ruled Meta must first get consent before showing ads to users, in a decision that threatened its business model of tailoring ads based on individual users’ online interests and digital activity.

Regulators took issue with Meta’s model, saying it doesn’t allow users to exercise their right to “freely consent” to allowing their personal data from its various services, which also include Facebook Marketplace, WhatsApp and Messenger, to be combined for personalized ads.

Meta rolled out a third option in November giving Facebook and Instagram users in Europe the option to see fewer personalized ads if they don’t want to pay for an ad-free subscription. The commission said it’s “currently assessing” this option and continues to hold talks with Meta, and has asked the company to provide evidence of the new option’s impact.

The European Commission has also slapped Google with antitrust penalties several times, including a record $5 billion fine levied in 2018 over the search engine’s abuse of the market dominance of its Android mobile phone operating system.

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Biden says “what the hell’s going on here?” about Trump’s Greenland, Canada comments

In former President Joe Biden‘s first interview since leaving office, he slammed President Trump’s foreign policy, describing Mr. Trump’s actions toward Russia as “modern-day appeasement” and saying “what the hell’s going on here?” about what he called Mr. Trump’s “confiscation” policy regarding Greenland, Canada, the Panama Canal and renaming the Gulf of Mexico. 

“What the hell’s going on here? What president ever talks like that? That’s not who we are,” Biden told CBS News partner network BBC News. “We’re about freedom, democracy, opportunity, not about confiscation.”

Mr. Trump met Tuesday with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, whose Liberal Party’s victory in the April elections appeared to be influenced by Mr. Trump’s stance. At Tuesday’s Oval Office meeting, Carney said Canada “won’t be for sale, ever,” while Mr. Trump mused, “never say never.” 

Mr. Trump has taken to referring to Canada as the 51st state, although he said in an interview last week that “I don’t see” using military force in Canada. 

But, he said in an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that “something could happen with Greenland, I’ll be honest,” adding that “we need that for national and international security.”

Even before Mr. Trump took office in January, he talked about acquiring the Panama Canal and Greenland, and he has ramped up his rhetoric on Greenland in recent weeks, declining to rule out military force. Greenland is a semi-autonomous state in the Kingdom of Denmark, although there is a U.S. military base, Mr. Trump’s comments have not been well received there.  

Biden spoke to BBC News ahead of the 80th anniversary of V-E Day, or the day that the Nazis surrendered in Europe. While in office, Biden had pledged support to help Ukraine after the Russian invasion, even linking World War II and Ukraine. 

But Mr. Trump has taken a different approach toward Russia in the conflict, and has blasted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as being ungrateful while also signing a deal with Ukraine for minerals.  

Biden called the Trump administration’s policy “modern-day appeasement” to Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

“Listen to what Putin said when he talked about going from Kyiv into Ukraine, and why he can’t stand the fact that the Russian dictatorship that he runs, that the Soviet Union has collapsed, and anybody thinks he’s going to stop is this foolish,” Biden said. 

Biden continued that he “found it sort of beneath America the way that took place,” as well as Mr. Trump’s actions renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. Mr. Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office to rename the Gulf, and has since blocked Associated Press reporters from covering certain Oval Office events for refusing to comply with that order.  

Mr. Trump has long been suspicious of the alliance with Europe formed after World War II, saying in March that the continent has been “very, very bad for us.” 

Biden said forming NATO is “one of the smartest things we did,” and called it a “grave concern” that the alliance could be ending. 

“I think it would change the modern history of the world that occurs,” Biden said. “Look, we are not the essential nation, but we’re the only nation in a position to have the capacity to bring people together, to lead the world, and otherwise you’re going to have China and the former Soviet Union, Russia stepping out.” 

In response to Biden’s comments, White House spokesman Steven Cheung posted on social media that Biden is a “complete disgrace to this country and the office he occupied.” 

Democrats have fumed and struggled to reorganize themselves after Mr. Trump’s victory, with much of the fury going toward Biden for staying in the 2024 race for too long. But Biden said Wednesday that he didn’t think it made a difference, adding that “we left at a time when we had a good candidate.” 

“Things moved so quickly that it made it difficult to walk away to get and it was a, it was a hard decision,” Biden said. 

But when asked if he had any regrets about dropping out of the race, Biden said it was the “right decision.” 

Biden had largely stayed out of public view after Mr. Trump’s inauguration, although he spoke at a Chicago conference in April and attended Pope Francis’ funeral last week. 

Caroline Linton

Caroline Linton is an associate managing editor on the political team for CBSNews.com. She has previously written for The Daily Beast, Newsweek and amNewYork.

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