THE UK is hosting and training soldiers from the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) despite allegations that the military is engaged in genocide in Palestine, the Labour Government has admitted.

The news came in response to a written question at Westminster, put in by Labour MP for York Central Rachael Maskell.

Maskell asked “when the last time was that a member of the Israel Defense Forces was trained by the UK armed forces”.

In a response published on Wednesday, Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard admitted that the UK was “currently” training IDF soldiers in the UK.

Pollard said: “As part of routine defence engagement with Israel, the UK is currently training a limited number of Israel Defense Forces personnel on UK-based training courses.”

The news comes despite the Labour Government sanctioning two Israeli ministers – Itamar Ben-Gvir, the security minister, and Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister.

The UK Government has also continued to send military equipment to Israel, and has declined to block exports of parts for F-35 fighter jets despite evidence that they have been used in Gaza.

Further, the UK has continued sending spy plane flights over Gaza in missions they say are run to provide Israel with information that could help to recover hostages held by Hamas.

Maskell also brought up the flights with the UK Government. She asked: “When the last time was that his Department provided the (a) Israeli government and (b) Israel Defense Forces with surveillance data of Gaza from Royal Air Force planes.”

Pollard in his response referred only to previous answers in which he said: “The UK controls what information is passed to Israeli authorities.

“Surveillance information of Gaza is passed to the relevant Israeli authorities only where it relates to hostage rescue and where we are satisfied that it will be used in accordance with international humanitarian law.

“I am unable to comment further on detailed intelligence matters.”

Israel is credibly accused of committing genocide in Palestine with its now 19-month assault on Gaza.

On Thursday, the Gaza Health Ministry said the number of Palestinians killed by Israel had passed 55,000.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is wanted for arrest for alleged war crimes (Image: PA) The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but has said that women and children make up more than half the dead.

The ministry says 55,104 people have been killed since the start of the war and 127,394 wounded. Many more are believed to be buried under the rubble or in areas that are inaccessible to local medics.

Israeli forces have destroyed vast areas of Gaza, displaced about 90% of its population and in recent weeks have transformed more than half of the coastal territory into a military buffer zone that includes the now mostly uninhabited southern city of Rafah.

A two-and-a-half-month blockade imposed by Israel when it ended a ceasefire with Hamas raised fears of famine and was slightly eased in May.

The launch of a new Israeli and US-backed aid system has been marred by chaos and violence, and the UN says it has struggled to bring in food because of Israeli restrictions, a breakdown of law and order, and widespread looting.

Israel accuses Hamas of siphoning off aid, but the UN and aid groups deny there is any systematic diversion of aid to militants

1 hour ago Sakshi Venkatraman

A former CIA analyst who leaked classified documents about Israel's plans to strike Iran has been sentenced to 37 months in prison.

Asif William Rahman, 34, pleaded guilty in January to two counts of willful retention and transmission of national defence information under the Espionage Act.

Authorities say that, using his high-level security clearance, Rahman printed, photographed and sent out top secret documents. They later ended up being circulated on social media.

Israel carried out air strikes on Iran last October, targeting military sites in several regions, in response to the barrage of missiles launched by Tehran weeks earlier.

"For months, this defendant betrayed the American people and the oaths he took upon entering his office by leaking some of our Nation's most closely held secrets," John Eisenberg, assistant attorney general for national security, said in a press release.

In October 2024, documents appearing to be from a Department of Defense agency were published on an Iranian-aligned Telegram account.

The documents, bearing a top-secret mark, were viewable between the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, made up of the US, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

The leaked documents are also said to have contained the US' assessment of Israeli plans ahead of the strike on Iran and the movements of military assets in preparation.

One referred to Israel's nuclear capabilities, which have never been officially acknowledged.

When asked about the leak, former President Joe Biden said he was "deeply concerned".

Israel ended up carrying out those air strikes later in the month, targeting military sites in several regions in response to missiles fired by Tehran weeks prior.

Rahman, who worked abroad, was arrested by the FBI in Cambodia and brought to the US territory of Guam to face charges.

Israel

CIA

Iran

Police injured, houses burned in second night of riots in Northern Ireland

Rioters said to target ‘foreigners’ in Northern Ireland town following alleged sexual assault of local teenage girl.

Hundreds of masked rioters have attacked police and set homes and cars on fire in Northern Ireland’s Ballymena in the second night of disorder described as “racially motivated” by police following a protest over an alleged sexual assault in the town.

Police said they were dealing with “serious disorder” on Tuesday night in the town, located about 45km (30 miles) from the capital Belfast, and urged people to avoid the area.

Officers in riot gear and driving armoured vehicles responded with water cannon and firing plastic baton rounds after being attacked with Molotov cocktails, steel scaffolding poles and rocks that rioters gathered by knocking down nearby walls, the Reuters news agency reports.

One house was burned out and rioters attempted to set a second home alight, according to reports, while several cars were set on fire.

The Belfast Telegraph newspaper said that some residents in Ballymena have started to mark their front doors to indicate their nationality to avoid attack, while Irish media outlets report that a call has gone out for protests to be held in other towns and cities in Northern Ireland, currently part of the United Kingdom.

🖼️ Police vehicles are parked as flames rise during a second night of riots, in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, on June 10, 2025 [Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters]

During earlier violence on Monday, four houses were damaged by fire and windows and doors were smashed in other homes and businesses, in what police said they are investigating as racially-motivated hate attacks.

“The terrible scenes of civil disorder we have witnessed in Ballymena again this evening have no place in Northern Ireland,” the UK’s Northern Ireland minister, Hilary Been, said in a post on social media.

“There is absolutely no justification for attacks on PSNI [Police Service of Northern Ireland] officers or for vandalism directed at people’s homes or property,” he said.

Unrest first erupted on Monday night after a vigil in a neighbourhood of Ballymena where an alleged sexual assault occurred on Saturday. The trouble began when people in masks “broke away from the vigil and began to build barricades, stockpiling missiles and attacking properties”, police said.

Two teenage boys, charged by police with the attemptedremoved of a teenage girl, had appeared in court earlier in the day, where they had asked for a Romanian interpreter, local media reports said.

Tensions in the town, which has a large migrant population, remained high throughout Tuesday, with residents describing the scenes as “terrifying” and telling reporters that those involved were targeting “foreigners”.

“This violence was clearly racially motivated and targeted at our minority ethnic community and police,” Northern Ireland Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson said.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said it was investigating “hate attacks” on homes and businesses and that 15 officers were injured in the rioting on Monday, including some who required hospital treatment.

Cornelia Albu, 52, a Romanian migrant and mother-of-two who lives opposite a house targeted in the attacks, said her family has been “very scared”.

“Last night, it was crazy, because too many people came here and tried to put the house on fire,” Albu, who works in a factory, told the AFP news agency.

She said she would now have to move, but was worried she would not find another place to live because she was Romanian.

Former Chicago Cop Eric Tabb Pleads Guilty to Aggravated Battery

María Inés Zamudio

This article was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with the Invisible Institute and co-published with the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ. Sign up for Dispatches to get stories like this one as soon as they are published.

A former Chicago police officer pleaded guilty on Tuesday to felony charges in connection with two incidents of sexual misconduct involving female colleagues — one that occurred while at the police training academy and one at a police precinct.

The case against Eric Tabb was highlighted in an Invisible Institute-ProPublica investigation that found that Chicago police officials have frequently failed to vigorously investigate allegations of sexual misconduct made against city officers.

Tabb, 35, pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated battery in a public place, a Class 3 felony, and was sentenced to 30 months of probation. As part of a plea agreement, Tabb’s charges were reduced and he was required to enroll in a sex offender program.

Tabb, who was arrested in December 2023 and fired, is one of 14 officers accused of sexual assault in the past decade who we found had been accused at least once before of sexual misconduct. Investigative files show that five of 17 women in his academy class have given similar accounts of inappropriate sexual contact involving Tabb.

A team of Invisible Institute reporters reviewed more than 300 sexual misconduct and assault complaints against Chicago officers. The complaints were often downplayed or ignored, sometimes allowing officers to abuse again and again. The Chicago Police Department said in a statement for that story that it “takes all allegations of sexual assault seriously, including allegations against CPD members.”

During a hearing before Cook County Judge James B. Novy, Tabb’s two victims, both of whom are police officers, read impact statements in court.

“The women I speak for today, including myself, were women that trusted Eric Tabb, spending eight months with him forming that trust in a police academy. As of today, there is hope that all us women affected can put this in the past,” one of the officers read from a prepared statement.

The judge said he agreed to the plea deal to allow the women to put the cases behind them.

“The only reason I went along with this deal is because of the victims,” said Novy, who warned Tabb that he will send him to prison if he doesn’t follow the terms of his probation. “Everyone wants closure. They want to put this behind them. I’m going to keep a close eye on this.”

The charges stemmed from two incidents. At a birthday party in August 2023 at a Wrigleyville bar, Tabb allegedly approached a fellow female recruit on the dance floor, whispered to her that he wanted to have sex with her, touched her breast, buttock and crotch, and then grabbed her face and tried to kiss her. Tabb was charged with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse from that incident.

The second incident took place after roll call inside a police precinct in December 2023. Tabb allegedly touched a fellow probationary police officer’s crotch several times when she stood up to adjust her duty belt, according to court records. She had attended the training academy with him.

At an earlier hearing, prosecutors had asked Novy to include two additional incidents that were not charged but were described as part of a pattern of behavior by Tabb. Tabb attended a “star party,” an unofficial celebration for graduating recruits receiving their badge number. At the party, a witness told investigators he saw Tabb grabbing another female recruit’s crotch. That same night, Tabb touched a second recruit’s buttocks, according to interviews with police investigators and court records.

Alexus Byrd-Maxey was the first recruit to report Tabb a few months after she and Tabb started at the academy, but her accusation never became part of the prosecution’s case. According to Byrd-Maxey, she was leaning over a classmate’s computer in March 2023 when Tabb walked behind her. She said she felt his hands on her waist and his body pressed up against her.

Byrd-Maxey tried to report Tabb several times but was unsuccessful. Investigative files obtained by the Invisible Institute and ProPublica show that Tabb told other recruits that Byrd-Maxey overreacted and that he had only tapped her on the shoulder to get to his seat. Other recruits supported his story. Almost three weeks later, there was a confrontation in class in which she allegedly told Tabb to “shut your bitch ass up” and supposedly used gang-related language. Byrd-Maxey denied those allegations but was fired.

Tabb and his attorney, Dan Herbert, declined to comment, but Herbert had previously said Tabb was innocent and blamed Byrd-Maxey for the claims by the other women.

While Byrd-Maxey couldn’t attend the hearing, her mom, Jauntaunne Byrd-Horne, was in the courtroom and later told her daughter about the plea agreement. Byrd-Maxey said she was disappointed.

“He’s been given grace, time and time again. They let him be a free man,” she said. “I feel like it’s still not being taken seriously, again.”

Sebastián Hidalgo contributed reporting.

Jonathan Joss shooting: Police reverse claim of 'no evidence' of hate crime

Taijuan Moorman

San Antonio police are backing off their original claim that there is "no evidence" of a hate crime in the shooting death of Jonathan Joss, at least for now.

In a press conference on June 5, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said that the department's earlier statement saying there was "no evidence" Joss' murder was "related to his sexual orientation" was "way premature" and "before we had any real information."

McManus said San Antonio homicide detectives and San Antonio Fire Department arson investigators are actively investigating the murder of Joss, best known as the voice actor of John Redcorn on "King of the Hill," as well as a January fire that burned down Joss and husband Tristan Kern de Gonzales' home, which could be related.

The police chief also noted a high volume of calls between Joss and neighbors, amounting to nearly 70 calls to and from Joss' phone, "involving various neighborhood-type disturbances."

San Antonio police confirmed to USA TODAY that officers were dispatched to the location of a shooting in progress on June 1, and found Joss, 59, near a roadway upon arrival. The officers "attempted life saving measures" until EMS arrived and pronounced him dead.

A suspect, 56-year-old Sigfredo Alvarez Ceja, was detained and booked for murder, police said.

In a post on Facebook, Joss' husband, Tristan Kern de Gonzales, said that the shooting occurred while they were checking the mail at the site of their former home. The home had previously burned down "after over two years of threats from people in the area who repeatedly told us they would set it on fire," de Gonzales alleged.

McManus acknowledged the anxiety members of San Antonio's LGBTQ+ community are feeling in the aftermath of Joss' death and police's immediate dismissal of the possibility that the murder was a hate crime, saying that they "shouldn't have done it."

McManus clarified that in the state of Texas, hate crimes are not filed as separate charges but can be used to increase sentencing, such as charges elevated from a second-degree to a first-degree felony.

In addition to his role on "King of the Hill," Joss also played Ken Hotate on the NBC sitcom "Parks and Recreation," starring opposite Amy Poehler.

Contributing: Brendan Morrow