Former Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said Israel has “lost the war on social media,” describing the online space as the most dangerous and complex arena shaping global public opinion, especially among younger generations.
Speaking at the annual conference of the Jewish Federations of North America in Washington, DC, Hagari urged the creation of a powerful new propaganda apparatus modelled on the capabilities and structure of Unit 8200, Israel’s elite cyber intelligence division. He argued that Israel must now fight “a battle of images, videos, and statistics—not lengthy texts.”
Hagari proposed establishing a unit capable of monitoring anti-Israel content across platforms, in real time and in multiple languages, supplying rapid-response messaging and data to government and media outlets. His plan also calls for the systematic creation of fake online identities, automated bot networks, and the use of unofficial bloggers—“preferably mostly young women”—to shape global perceptions.
He warned that the decisive phase of this battle will unfold a decade from now, when students using artificial intelligence tools search for information on the events of October 7 and encounter “two completely contradictory narratives.”
Hagari, a former navy officer who served in sensitive military roles, became Israel’s top military spokesperson in 2023 before being dismissed from the position earlier this year.
Watch: Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood says UK must restore “order and control” over borders
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has defended sweeping changes to the UK’s asylum system, telling MPs the current situation is “out of control and unfair”.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Mahmood said: “If we fail to deal with this crisis, we will draw more people down a path that starts with anger and ends in hatred.”
Under the plans, refugee status will become temporary, guaranteed housing support for asylum seekers will end and new capped “safe and legal routes” into the UK will be created.
Some Labour MPs expressed concerns, with Nadia Whittome calling the plans “dystopian” and “shameful”, but the Conservatives gave the measures a cautious welcome.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said the proposals were “positive baby steps”. However, she warned that unless the UK left the European Convention on Human Rights, Mahmood’s efforts would be “doomed to fail”.
Badenoch urged the home secretary to work with the Conservatives, saying she may find their votes would “come in handy” if Labour backbenchers did not support the changes.
Over the past year, the government has been forced to backtrack on some of its policies – including cuts to welfare and the winter fuel payment – after objections from its own MPs.
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Max Wilkinson welcomed the introduction of new safe and legal routes – but accused the home secretary of “stoking division by using immoderate language”.
Mahmood hit back angrily, telling the MP: “I wish I had the privilege of walking around this country and not seeing the division that the issue of migration and the asylum system is creating across this country.”
She said she regularly faced racist abuse – using the racial slur she said is used against her – as well as being told to “go back home”.
So far, around 20 Labour MPs have criticised the plans. Whittome, the MP for Nottingham East, accused the government of “ripping up the rights and protections of people who’ve endured imaginable trauma”.
Folkestone and Hythe MP, and immigration lawyer, Tony Vaughan said making refugee status temporary would create a “situation of perpetual limbo and alienation”.
Richard Burgon said the measures were “morally wrong” and would “push away Labour voters”.
“Why not recognise that now rather than in another few months and have to make a U-turn,” the MP for Leeds East said.
Other Labour MPs expressed support for Mahmood. Chris Murray told BBC Radio 5 Live the system had to be fair “otherwise it’ll collapse, and there’s nothing progressive about letting that happen”.
MP for Blackley and Middleton South, Graham Stringer, said the home secretary was “going down the right track”.
He said she would reach a “compromise” with Labour MPs but added: “It might all be for naught if we don’t get out of the European Convention on Human Rights.”
Speaking to the BBC later, Mahmood said changing the system was a “moral mission” for her.
“If we don’t win this argument… we will lose public support for having an asylum system at all and therefore we’ll lose something brilliant about this country.
“I’m not willing to put public support for having an asylum system at risk.”
She acknowledged that some Labour MPs had concerns but insisted “the vast majority of my colleagues agree with me”.
Home secretary says she been called racial slurs
So far this year 111,800 people have claimed asylum in the UK – 39% arrived in a small boat, while 37% arrived by legal means before claiming asylum.
The government says its plans are aimed at reducing the number of people coming to the UK and increasing removals of people who do not have a legal right to be in the country.
The Home Office published the changes in a 30-page document and a few hours later Mahmood presented them to the House of Commons.
Under the proposals, people granted refugee status will only be allowed to stay in the country temporarily, with their status reviewed every 30 months – half the current time period.
People could be returned to their home country, when it is deemed safe to do so.
The amount of time refugees will have to be in the UK before being allowed to apply for permanent residence will be quadrupled from five years to 20.
Families with children who have been refused asylum will be offered incentives to leave but could be forcibly removed if they refuse to go voluntarily.
Asylum seekers with income or assets would have to contribute to the cost of their stay in the UK.
Mahmood told MPs this would “end the absurdity where an asylum seeker receiving £800 a month from his family and an Audi was receiving free housing at the taxpayer’s expense and the courts judged we could do nothing about it”.
Home Office sources have pushed back against suggestions asylum seekers could have items of sentimental value, such as wedding rings, confiscated to pay for their accommodation.
In order to make it easier to remove failed asylum seekers, the government intends to change the way the European Convention of Human Rights and Modern Slavery Act is applied.
Mahmood also threatened to stop granting visas to people from three African countries – Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Namibia – unless those governments improved co-operation on deportations.
Setting out her plans for capped safe and legal routes, Mahmood said voluntary and community organisations would be given “greater involvement” in receiving and supporting new arrivals.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage praised Mahmood’s “strong language” and suggested she was auditioning to join his party.
However, he said he had “serious doubts” her plans would survive objections from Labour backbenchers or the European Court of Human Rights.
Zack Polanski, the Green Party leader of England and Wales, told BBC Newsnight: “Every single Labour MP needs to look to their conscience.
“This is extreme, this is inhumane and this is a government of cowards.
“They went for pensioners, they went for the disabled and now they are going for people fleeing war and conflict.”
Enver Solomon of the Refugee Council charity said tightening the system would not deter people “fleeing for their lives”.
He said people were not coming to the UK because of the asylum rules but because they spoke English or had familial ties or community connections in the country.
“We have those communities because of our historical links and our past history as a big colonial nation,” he added.
British Lord High Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice Shabana Mahmood arrives for a cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street in London, Britain, in September. EPA/ANDY RAIN
Nov. 16 (UPI) — Britain’s home secretary Shabana Mahmood plans to unveil plans to overhaul the country’s asylum policy Monday after declaring that illegal immigration is “tearing the country apart.”
The new measures will include a two-decade long wait period after people who are granted asylum are allowed to settle in the country permanently, the BBC reported.
The new plans will also require that people who are granted asylum will have their refugee status reviewed regularly, and those whose countries are deemed safe will be required to return. Mahmood said Sunday that she sees reforming Britain’s immigration system as a “moral mission.”
Conservatives would deport undocumented migrants “within a week,” while Liberal Democratic Party leaders have called for asylum seekers to have the right to work.
Mahmood said the changes are designed to make the country less attractive to illegal immigrants, and lead to fewer dangerous small boat crossings across the often turbulent English Channel, and asylum claims.
She said the new plans will also end visas for people from Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo if those countries do not quickly improve their cooperation on removing people from Britain.
These countries have been selected “for their unacceptable low co-operation and obstructive return processes,” the BBC reported.
Enver Soloman, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said the 20-year wait period for permanent residency would “leave people in limbo for many, many years.
“We need a system that is controlled and fair, and the way you do that is you make decisions fairly, in a timely fashion, and if someone is found to be a refugee they go on and they contribute to our communities and they pay back,” he said Sunday on BBC Breakfast.
At least 109,343 people claimed asylum in Britain in the last 12 months, a 17% increase over the year before, according to government figures. At least 1,069 migrants have arrived in the country in the last 7 days, the data show.
Mahmood is set to unveil her plans in the House of Commons on Monday.
The plans, inspired by Denmark’s approach, aim to slash irregular immigration and counter the UK’s far right.
Published On 16 Nov 202516 Nov 2025
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The United Kingdom has announced a drastic reduction in the protections for asylum seekers and refugees under a new plan aimed at slashing irregular immigration and countering the far right.
The measures, modelled on Denmark’s strict asylum system, were announced late on Saturday as Prime Minister Keir Starmer comes under pressure from surging popularity for the anti-immigrant Reform UK party.
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“I’ll end UK’s golden ticket for asylum seekers,” Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood declared in a statement, with the Home Office, as her ministry is known, calling the new proposals the “largest overhaul of asylum policy in modern times”.
Mahmood is due to lay out the policy in parliament on Monday.
Meanwhile, the head of the UK’s Refugee Council warned the government that the measures would not deter people from trying to reach the country and urged a rethink.
“They should ensure that refugees who work hard and contribute to Britain can build secure, settled lives and give back to their communities,” Enver Solomon said.
Currently, people get refugee status for five years, after which they can apply for indefinite leave to remain and eventually, citizenship.
Mahmood’s ministry says it would cut the length of refugee status to 30 months. That protection will be “regularly reviewed”, and refugees will be forced to return to their home countries once they are deemed safe, it added.
The ministry also said it intended to make those refugees who were granted asylum wait 20 years before applying to be allowed to live in the UK long-term.
Asylum claims record high
Asylum claims in Britain are at a record high. Polls suggest immigration has overtaken the economy as voters’ top concern.
Some 109,343 people claimed asylum in the UK in the year ending March 2025, a 17 percent rise on the previous year and 6 percent above the 2002 peak of 103,081.
The Home Office said the reforms would make it less attractive for irregular migrants and refugees to come to the UK and make it easier to remove those already in the country.
A statutory legal duty to provide support to asylum seekers, introduced in a 2005 law, would also be revoked, the ministry said. That means housing and weekly financial allowances would no longer be guaranteed for asylum seekers.
It would be “discretionary”, meaning the government could deny assistance to any asylum seeker who could work or support themselves, or those who committed crimes.
Starmer, elected last year, is under pressure to stop migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats from France, something that also troubled his Conservative predecessors.
More than 39,000 people, many fleeing conflict, have arrived this year following such dangerous journeys – more than for the whole of 2024 but lower than the record set in 2022.
The crossings are helping raise the popularity of Reform, led by firebrand Nigel Farage, which has led Labour by double-digit margins in opinion polls for most of this year.
More than 100 British charities wrote to Mahmood, urging her to “end the scapegoating of migrants and performative policies that only cause harm”, saying such steps are prompting racism and violence.
Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistan has codified the most ambitious restructure of its military and judiciary in decades after President Asif Ali Zardari signed his assent to ratify the country’s 27th Constitutional Amendment on Thursday.
The amendment, which passed in both houses of parliament earlier in the week amid opposition protests and criticism from a range of civil society activists and sitting judges, makes major changes to Pakistan’s higher judiciary.
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But many analysts believe that its most consequential feature is a sweeping overhaul of Article 243, the constitutional clause defining the relationship between Pakistan’s civilian government and the military.
The changes grant lifetime immunity from criminal prosecution to the country’s top military leaders, significantly reshape the military’s command structure, and further tilt the balance of the tri-services – the army, navy and air force – heavily in the army’s favour.
Analysts warn that this contentious reform risks colliding with entrenched institutional cultures and could rock the country’s fragile civilian–military equilibrium.
Al Jazeera has sought comment from the military’s media wing on the changes and the debate over them, but has received no response.
A new command structure
The revised Article 243 establishes a new post, the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), to be held concurrently by the Chief of Army Staff (COAS). This effectively gives the army chief command authority over the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and Pakistan Navy (PN).
Munir became only the second Pakistani military officer – after Field Marshal Ayub Khan in the 1960s – to receive the five-star designation. The air force and navy have never had a five-star official so far.
The amendment also abolishes the office of Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) at the end of this month. The role is currently held by four-star General Sahir Shamshad Mirza, who retires on November 27. Another major change is the creation of the Commander of the National Strategic Command (CNSC), a post overseeing Pakistan’s nuclear command. The position will be limited to only an army officer, appointed in consultation with the CDF, with a three-year term extendable by another three years.
The amendment effectively transforms five-star titles from what were honorary recognitions into constitutionally recognised offices with expansive privileges.
Under the new arrangement, five-star officers will enjoy lifetime immunity from criminal prosecution and will “retain rank, privileges and remain in uniform for life.”
Removing a five-star officer will require a two-thirds parliamentary majority, whereas an elected government can be dismissed by a simple majority.
“While government spokespersons refer to these titles as ‘honorary’, given to ‘national heroes’ to celebrate their services,” Reema Omer, a constitutional law expert, said, the amendment “implies actual power, not just honorary significance”.
Omer told Al Jazeera that lifelong immunity from criminal proceedings was “concerning from a rule of law perspective”.
A former three-star general, speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged that the changes appeared to be “meant to consolidate” the army chief’s power.
Hours after the president’s ratification on Thursday evening, Pakistan’s government brought amendments to the laws governing the three services.
Under the revised Army Act, the clock on the tenure of the army chief will now restart from the date of his notification as CDF.
Last year, parliament had increased the tenure of the service chiefs from three to five years, which meant Munir’s term would run until 2027. Following the new changes, it will now extend even further. Once the revised rules take effect at the end of this month, Munir will hold both posts – COAS and CDF – at least until November 2030.
President Asif Ali Zardari, centre, and Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, right, jointly conferred the baton of Field Marshal upon Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, left, during a special investiture ceremony at the Presidency in Islamabad in May this year [Handout/Government of Pakistan]
Military dominance – and the role of the India conflict
Since independence in 1947, Pakistan’s military, especially the army, has been the most powerful institution in national life.
Four coups and decades of direct rule have been accompanied by significant influence, even when civilian governments have been in power. The army chief has long been widely viewed as the country’s most powerful figure.
No prime minister has ever completed a full five-year term, while three of four military rulers have governed for more than nine years each.
General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Munir’s predecessor, acknowledged this history in his farewell address in November 2022, conceding that the military had interfered in politics for decades, and promising to break with that legacy.
But three years later, rights groups and opposition parties allege that little has changed, and some claim that the military has further strengthened its grip over state institutions.
The military restructure under the 27th Amendment also comes six months after Pakistan’s brief conflict with India in May, raising questions over whether the reforms were linked to that fight.
Aqil Shah, professor of international affairs at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, argued that the confrontation with India created the opening for this “unprecedented role expansion” for the army chief.
The changes “formalise the army’s de facto hegemony over the other two wings of armed forces in the guise of the ‘unity of command’ as a necessity for war fighting,” Shah told Al Jazeera.
But supporters of the amendment disagree. Aqeel Malik, state minister for law and justice, said that the amendment aims to “plug holes” in Pakistan’s national security architecture.
“The amendment granted constitutional cover to defence integration and improved coordination. We have also provided a constitutional cover to the honour bestowed upon our national heroes and have addressed a long overdue cohesive and better coordination within the forces for a swift response,” Malik said.
Ahmed Saeed, a former vice admiral, similarly described the reform as a “forward-looking institutional change”.
He said the conflict with India exposed that Pakistan’s command model was rooted in a 1970s framework, unsuitable for “multi-domain, hybrid warfare of the 21st century”.
“The amendment is not about ‘fixing what is broken’ but about modernising what is functioning to ensure sustained effectiveness in future contingencies,” Saeed told Al Jazeera.
Fears of imbalance
Other critics, including former senior officials and security analysts, believe the amendment is less about modernisation and more about institutional consolidation.
They argue that creating the CDF post cements the army’s dominance over the other branches.
Many question why the command structure should be overhauled when, by the government’s own narrative, the existing system delivered what Pakistan claims was an “outright victory” against India.
A retired three-star general who served in senior roles before retiring in 2019 said the abolished CJCSC role, despite being largely symbolic, provided a mechanism for balancing perspectives across the army, navy and air force.
“The PAF and PN may lose autonomy in strategic planning and most probably senior promotions, which has the potential to breed resentment,” he said.
“These risks institutional imbalance, undermining the very cohesion the amendment claims to enhance,” the former general added.
The CJCSC – a four-star post and the principal military adviser to the prime minister – can theoretically be filled by any service, but the last non-army officer to hold the position was Air Chief Marshal Feroz Khan in 1997.
Security analyst Majid Nizami said that while the amendment aims to codify five-star ranks, it may create challenges for “cohesion and synergy” among the services.
If the goal was to modernise warfare strategy, he argued, there should have been a dedicated officer focused solely on integration, not the army chief assuming dual authority.
“There is a lack of clarity on rules and terms of reference for the CDF,” Nizami said.
Shah, the Georgetown academic and author of The Army and Democracy, said the amendment “formalises the de facto power” of the COAS over the other branches.
Saeed, the former navy official who retired in 2022, however, disagreed with critics, arguing that the amendment simply clarifies the CDF’s strategic coordination role.
“The amendment retains the PAF and PN’s distinct command structures within their domains of responsibility, and the CDF’s function is limited to integration at the strategic level, not administrative control or operational interference,” he said.
He added that claims of “army dominance” stem from “legacy perceptions, not from constitutional reality.”
Control of nuclear command
The amendment also codifies the army’s control of Pakistan’s nuclear programme, including research, development and deployment, responsibilities that fall under the strategic command structure.
The former three-star general who spoke to Al Jazeera said the new system’s operational details remain unclear. Under the current model, the Strategic Plans Division (SPD) manages Pakistan’s ballistic and cruise missile programmes and nuclear assets.
Nizami said that although the CJCSC nominally oversaw the SPD, operational authority has long rested with the army. The amendment now formalises this reality.
Saeed, however, countered by arguing that in effect, even with the changes, “the entire nuclear enterprise operates under civilian-led oversight with constitutional clarity”.
Political fallout
Critics have described the amendment as a “constitutional surrender” by political parties to the military, and an attempt to institutionalise the “supremacy of the uniform over the ballot”.
US President Donald Trump, left, met with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, second from left, and Field Marshal Asim Munir, second right, in Washington, DC, in September [Handout/The White House]
It also comes at a time when Field Marshal Munir’s public profile has risen significantly. He has undertaken multiple foreign trips, including several to the United States, and has been described by President Donald Trump as his “favourite field marshal”.
Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Imran Khan, jailed for the past two years, accuses Munir of orchestrating the crackdown on him and his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), since their ouster in 2022 through a no-confidence vote – a charge that the military has rejected outright.
In Pakistan’s February 2024 election, the PTI was barred from contesting as a party. But its candidates, contesting independently, secured the most seats even though they failed to secure a majority. Instead, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif formed the government with allies. The government and military rejected widespread accusations of election rigging.
Shah argued that the political class supported the amendment out of necessity.
“Lacking democratic legitimacy and faced with the political challenge posed by the PTI and Khan, the ruling PML-N government sees Munir as the key guarantor of their power and political interests,” he said.
Nizami, the Lahore-based analyst, meanwhile, said that separate appointments to the posts of the CDF and the army chief would have made more sense if the intent was to strengthen the military structure and balance. The amendment, he warned, could lead to “institutional imbalance instead of institutional synergy”.
In a prior warning to passengers, they have advised that no trains from the south and east of the city will run into Manchester Piccadilly.
This will last for nine days over February half term (Saturday 14 – Sunday 22).
Some trains from across the north will also be impacted as well as direct connections to Manchester Airport station.
Services normally running to and from Manchester Piccadilly will terminate at other stations, including Stockport.
Platforms 1-12 will be closed but the concourse will remain open to the public.
There will be a limited service westbound from platforms 13 and 14.
More detailed information about alternate travel plans are to follow in due course.
Julien Dehornoy, Network Rail’s North West & Central deputy regional managing director, said: “We’re investing £7.9m in renewing the Piccadilly corridor, a stretch of track critical to the journeys of around 400,000 trains into Manchester every year.
“This work is going to significantly reduce disruption for the many passengers who regularly use this route.
“Once the job is done, we will have a better, more reliable railway.
“The major overhaul over six railway lines can only take place during a full railway closure and we are working closely with train operators, TfGM and Manchester City Council on alternative travel plans to keep people on the move.
“The full details on which will be published in mid-November.”
Network Rail has warned passengers that Manchester Piccadilly is set to close for nine daysCredit: Network Rail
![President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif jointly conferred the baton of Field Marshal upon Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir during a special investiture ceremony at Aiwan-e-Sadr in Islamabad. [Handout/Government of Pakistan]](https://i0.wp.com/www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/credit-government-of-pakistan-1762792614.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)
