Aer Lingus flight diverted to France after bomb threat
(JNS)—An Aer Lingus aircraft heading from Dublin to Rome was diverted to France on Nov. 5 due to a suspected bomb threat and escorted by military aircraft to Evreux-Fauville Airbase, according to the French government and Agence France-Presse.
The incident came two days after bomb threats targeted some 10 European flights, briefly closing Warsaw-Modlin Airport and prompting Italian fighter jets to escort a Dublin-to-Rome flight to to the latter’s Fiumicino Airport. No explosives were found in Tuesday’s aircraft searches.
Bulgarian authorities corrected initial reports that a flight from Israel was among those targeted on Nov. 3. Bulgaria’s BTA news agency had quoted an Interior Ministry official as saying such a flight was affected, but authorities subsequently said that was not the case, Reuters reported. The two affected flights to Sofia originated in Bergamo, Italy, and Dublin.
Separately, the Israel-bound cruise ship Crown Iris was cleared to resume its voyage to Haifa after searches at the Greek island port of Syros found no explosives late Nov. 3, Greek media reported.
An unidentified person had claimed that a device had been attached to the ship’s hull. The vessel was carrying 940 passengers and 597 crew members.
UKMTO: Tanker struck by unidentified projectiles in Persian Gulf
(JNS)—A tanker was struck by two unidentified projectiles in the Persian Gulf about 93 kilometers (50 nautical miles) north of Qatar, United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said on Nov. 5.
The condition of the crew, the extent of the damage and any environmental impact remain unclear, UKMTO said.
It urged vessels in the area to exercise caution and report suspicious activity as authorities investigate.
Ukraine thanks Israel for condemning deadly Russian strike
(JNS)—Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry on Nov. 4 thanked Israel for condemning a Russian strike that killed 40 people in Komyshuvakha, in southeastern Ukraine, on Nov. 1.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry expressed condolences to the victims’ families and condemned the strike, which hit a school being used as a distribution center for humanitarian aid.
“Your support and principled condemnation of attacks against innocent civilians mean a lot to us,” the Ukrainian ministry wrote on social media. “Standing together against terror.”
Report: England Greens leader reposted antisemitic users
(JNS)—Zack Polanski, leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, has repeatedly shared posts from accounts that have trafficked in antisemitism, a watchdog group said on Nov. 4.
Polanski, who is Jewish, did not write antisemitic content himself, but reposted content from users known for spreading it, according to the report by the Campaign Against Antisemitism.
Last month, the Board of Deputies of British Jews labeled the Greens a “racist party” over a party resolution calling Zionism a form of racism.
One user amplified by Polanski suggested that the March torching of ambulances belonging to a Jewish group in London was a “false flag.” The term is used to claim that Jews or Israel staged an attack to portray themselves as victims or to justify war. That user posts under the handle “Karl Marx.”
Another account Polanski amplified, under the name “Jeremy David Parker,” falsely claimed that Hamas mostly targeted soldiers in its Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in Israel, the Daily Mail reported, citing the report.
The Green Party did not respond to the Daily Mail’s request for comment.
Brick thrown through Brussels synagogue window
(JNS)—Unidentified individuals hurled a brick through a window of a synagogue in Brussels on Monday, shattering the glass in a suspected antisemitic attack, police said.
A police spokesperson told the SudInfo news site that the incident at the Orthodox Jewish community in Anderlecht is under investigation.
Rabbi Menachem Margolin, chairman of the Brussels-based European Jewish Association, wrote on social media: “We stand with the congregation and call on the authorities to establish what happened. Everyone should be able to enter a place of worship without fear.”
Unia, Belgium’s equality body, received 192 reports of antisemitism in 2025. That was down from 277 in 2024 but up from 121 in 2023. Annual tallies in the two years before that were below 100.
Belgium’s Jewish population fell from slightly more than 41,000 in 1980 to an estimated 28,900 in 2021, a drop of nearly 30%, according to a 2022 report by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research. The study found that Belgium had fewer Jews than it did in 1946, immediately after the Holocaust.
Can’t kill Hamas terrorists in press vests, UN ‘independent expert’ Albanese tells JNS
(JNS)—A terrorist wearing a press vest is not an acceptable military target, Francesca Albanese, a U.N. special rapporteur, told JNS in an extended exchange last week.
“If you don’t take part in active combat, if you are not a militant actively involved in combat, you cannot be shot at,” Albanese, whom the United Nations considers an “independent expert,” told JNS at a press briefing, during which she outlined her latest report, in which she accuses Israel of “mediacide.”
“Labeling everyone as ‘terrorists’ has paid off. Voila. The price is in the rubble. However, what I’m saying in order for—a journalist is a civilian,” she said. “In order to lose his or her civilian status, the journalist needs to take active part in combat.”
“So even assuming that Israel had a right to self-defense, and it doesn’t under international law. Israel doesn’t have and cannot claim the right to wage a war against Gaza,” she told JNS. “The reason why the international community is letting it happen is not even a mystery—is known and it’s very saddening, depressing in fact. But Israel could not be there shooting at everyone just because he claims that these people are terrorists.”
“All the more people who he, Israel, deems have been affiliated to a terrorist organization. Because again, if you don’t take part in active combat, if you’re not a militant actively involved in combat, you cannot be shot,” she said.
International law “makes clear that being affiliated or even sharing information that is seen as coming from a belligerent party” doesn’t suspend the protection “that is guaranteed by international law,” she told JNS.
“It’s only taking active part in combat while the person is hit that makes the person lose protected status,” Albanese told JNS.
JNS asked the office of Volker Türk, U.N. high commissioner for human rights, for a copy of its list of slain journalists, upon which Albanese said she relied in her report.
“We don’t release lists of verified fatalities. We release numbers and analysis of trends,” a spokesman for Türk told JNS. “Our methodologies are public and explained in detail in all of our reports.”
