Israel-Hamas war: David Cameron calls for lasting peace piling more pressure on Netanyahu
David Cameron has called for a “sustainable ceasefire” in the escalating Gaza conflict – adding to growing global pressure on Israel.
The home secretary’s intervention saw him warn that “too many civilians have been killed”.
It sees the UK follow Joe Biden’s White House in expressing unease about the failure of Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration to reduce civilian casualties and its plans for the future of Gaza.
Writing in the Sunday Times in a joint article with German foreign affairs minister Annalena Baerbock, Lord Cameron said: “Our goal cannot simply be an end to fighting today.
Israel-Gaza war latest: Netanyahu responds to Israeli hostage deaths
“It must be peace lasting for days, years, generations. We therefore support a ceasefire, but only if it is sustainable.”
But both Lord Cameron and his German counterpart stopped short of calling for an immediate ceasefire, something that has been a recurring demand by pro-Palestinian campaigners as the death count in Gaza continues to grow.
Analysis:
Israel’s objective is not limited to ‘solving the Hamas problem’
“We know many in the region and beyond have been calling for an immediate ceasefire,” the article said. “We recognise what motivates these heartfelt calls.
“It is an understandable reaction to such intense suffering, and we share the view that this conflict cannot drag on and on.
“That is why we supported the recent humanitarian pauses.”
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Israel’s objective is not limited to ‘solving the Hamas problem’ – analysis
The offensive, triggered by the unprecedented 7 October Hamas attack on Israel, has flattened much of northern Gaza and driven 85% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million from their homes.
In a warning to Israel, the two foreign ministers said: “Israel has the right to defend itself but, in doing so, it must abide by international humanitarian law.
“Israel will not win this war if its operations destroy the prospect of peaceful co-existence with Palestinians. They have a right to eliminate the threat posed by Hamas.
“But too many civilians have been killed. The Israeli government should do more to discriminate sufficiently between terrorists and civilians, ensuring its campaign targets Hamas leaders and operatives.”
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Gaza: ‘There’s death all day long’
Eyewitness:
‘We don’t want them back in bags’: Israelis urge government to ‘act now’ over hostages
Earlier in the week, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the government’s “long standing position remains that a two-state solution is the right outcome”.
He added: “No one wants this conflict to go on for longer than necessary. Of course Israel has a right to defend itself from an appalling terrorist attack that it suffered.
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PM says UK wants two-state solution
“But as I said to Prime Minister Netanyahu just last week Israel muist take every available precaution to protect innocent civilian lives.
“We are doing a lot in the UK about getting more aid into Gaza – we’ve been a leader in that.
“We are continuing to press for more access to get more support to the people who need it and we continue to support calls for a sustainable ceasefire…”
It comes as Mr Netanyahu faces public anger after it emerged that the three hostages who were mistakenly shot by Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip had been waving a white flag and were shirtless when they were killed.
In a nationwide address on Saturday, the Israeli prime minister said the killings “broke my heart, broke the entire nation’s heart,” but he indicated no change in the country’s military campaign.
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“We are as committed as ever to continue until the end, until we dismantle Hamas, until we return all our hostages,” he said.
On Saturday, Mr Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan, urged Israel to scale down its Gaza campaign and transition to more narrowly targeted operations against Hamas leaders.
Representatives of the Bitcoin Policy Institute (BPI), a nonprofit Bitcoin advocacy organization, warned that US lawmakers have not included a de minimis tax exemption for Bitcoin transactions below a certain threshold.
“De Minimis tax legislation may be limited to only stablecoins, leaving everyday Bitcoin transactions without an exemption,” Conner Brown, BPI’s head of strategy, said on X, adding that the decision to exclude Bitcoin (BTC) is a “severe mistake.”
In July, Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis introduced a bill proposing a de minimis tax exemption for crypto transactions of $300 or less, with a $5,000 annual limit on tax-free transactions and sales.
The bill proposal also included tax exemptions for digital assets used for charitable donations and tax deferment for crypto earned through mining proof-of-work (PoW) protocols or staking to secure blockchain networks.
Allowing a tax exemption for small Bitcoin transactions would increase its use as a medium of exchange rather than just as a store of value asset, allowing a new financial system built on a Bitcoin standard, BTC advocates say.
The discussion around de minimis tax exemptions has also raised questions about whether such relief should apply to stablecoins, which are designed to maintain a stable value.
“Why would you even need a De Minimis tax exemption for stablecoins,” Marty Bent, founder of media company Truth for The Commoner (TFTC), wrote on X. “They don’t change in value. This is nonsensical.”
Cointelegraph reached out to BPI about the proposed legislation, but had not received a response at time of publication.
Related: Japan’s new crypto tax could wake ‘sleeping giant’ of retail investors
Bitcoin is gaining value, but it isn’t being used as peer-to-peer electronic cash
The Bitcoin white paper, authored by its pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto in 2019, describes Bitcoin as a “peer-to-peer electronic cash system.”
However, relatively high transaction fees, average block times of about 10 minutes, and capital gains taxes on Bitcoin stifle BTC’s use as a payment method for goods and services.
Many Bitcoin investors choose to hold BTC for the long term, sometimes borrowing fiat currency against their BTC holdings to pay expenses and fund everyday purchases.
The Bitcoin Lightning Network is a second-layer protocol designed for BTC payments, which works by locking a specific amount of BTC in a payment channel between two or more people.
Users connected through a payment channel can conduct multiple transactions offchain, with only the final net balance recorded on the Bitcoin ledger for settlement once the channel is closed.
This makes Bitcoin transactions faster and cheaper, as the users in the payment channel do not have to wait for new blocks to be mined or pay a network fee for each transaction between parties in the channel.
Magazine: The one thing these 6 global crypto hubs all have in common…
A US court is once again being asked to weigh in on maximal extractable value practices after a judge allowed new evidence to be added to a class-action lawsuit tied to a memecoin platform.
The judge granted a motion to amend and refile to include new evidence a class-action lawsuit against memecoin launch platform Pump.fun, the maximal extractable value (MEV) infrastructure company Jito Labs, the Solana Foundation, which is the nonprofit organization behind the Solana ecosystem, and others.
The motion said over 5,000 pieces of evidence in the form of internal chat logs were submitted by a “confidential informant” in September that were previously unavailable. The filing said:
“Plaintiffs assert that the logs contain contemporaneous discussions among Pump.fun, Solana Labs, Jito Labs, and others concerning the alleged scheme, and that they materially clarify the enterprise’s management, coordination, and communications.”
The lawsuit, originally filed in July, alleges that the Pump.fun platform deliberately misled retail investors by marketing memecoin launches as “fair,” but engaged in a scheme with Solana validators to front-run retail participants through maximal extractable value (MEV).
Maximal extractable value is a technique that involves reordering transactions within a block to maximize profit for MEV arbitrageurs and validators.
The plaintiffs allege that Pump.fun used MEV techniques to give insiders preferential access to new tokens at a low value, which were then pumped and dumped onto retail participants, who were used as exit liquidity by insiders.
Cointelegraph reached out to Burwick Law, the legal firm representing the plaintiffs, as well as Pump.fun, Jito Labs and the Solana Foundation, but did not receive any responses by the time of publication.
The lawsuit could set a precedent for MEV cases in the United States, as the ethics of the practice continue to be debated within the crypto industry and legal bodies struggle to define proper regulations about the highly technical subject.
Related: Pump.fun co-founder denies $436M cash out, claims it was ‘treasury management’
The MEV bot trial leaves questions unanswered
Anton and James Peraire-Bueno, the brothers accused of using a MEV trading bot to make millions of dollars in profit, went to trial in November in the US.
Prosecutors argued that the brothers tricked victims out of their funds, but defense attorneys said that they were executing a legitimate trading strategy and did not do anything illegal.
The jury struggled to reach a verdict in the case, and several jurors requested additional information to clarify the complexities surrounding the technical specifics of blockchain technology.
The case ended in a mistrial after the jury was deadlocked and failed to reach a verdict, highlighting the complexity of adjudicating legal disputes surrounding the application of nascent financial technology.
Magazine: Meet the onchain crypto detectives fighting crime better than the cops
Reports a female MSP had a secret recording device planted in her office by a member of her own staff are “completely and utterly unacceptable”, SNP leader John Swinney has said.
Scottish parliament officials are investigating the alleged bugging incident by a man, which is said to have taken place in 2023 at Holyrood.
The Scotsman newspaper reported the staffer is still involved with the SNP and moved on to work with a male MP after the issue came to light.
Sky News has yet to independently verify the details, but one senior party source with knowledge of events has said it is “100% true”.
The source alleges “the SNP did nothing; indeed he simply got moved and continued to be promoted by very senior members of executive”.
It is suggested the female MSP, who has not been publicly named, is liked, rated and respected by her colleagues.
The Scottish parliament building in Edinburgh. Pic: PA
First Minister Mr Swinney was stopped by reporters in Edinburgh on Thursday where he said he was “not familiar with all of the details… but that type of conduct is completely and utterly unacceptable”.
“Individuals are entitled to operate in an open and transparent environment that shouldn’t be subjected to that kind of behaviour,” he concluded.
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MPs and MSPs employ staff directly, rather than the political party.
Sky sources confirmed the victims of the incident had to get counselling in the aftermath before suggesting the SNP “definitely has a woman problem”.
The source claims it is “not a one-off incident”, adding: “Women are habitually treated differently.”
An SNP spokesperson said: “The SNP has no involvement in the employment processes of parliamentarians. That is a confidential matter between elected members, employees, and Scottish parliament authorities.
“The reports outline a very traumatic situation for those involved and nobody should ever have to experience fear or harassment for doing their job.”
Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: “These jaw-dropping revelations pose serious questions for the SNP top brass.
“It appears a grave breach of privacy and potentially criminal behaviour has been swept under the carpet by the SNP.
“Once again it looks like the SNP chose to close ranks and protect their own, rather than dealing with serious misconduct head-on.”
A spokesperson for the Scottish parliament said: “Each MSP is an employer in their own right and is responsible for managing staff welfare issues and employment disputes.
“Complaints about staff conduct are investigated by an independent adviser, and it is for the member to act on their findings accordingly.
“As a matter of standard practice, we do not comment upon or confirm any individual cases.”
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