US Senate leader calls for new elections in Israel
NewsFeed US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says that Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu is ‘an obstacle to peace’ and calls for Israel to hold new elections. Published On 14 Mar 202414 Mar 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
A Two-State Solution?
It’s been called the war on Gaza but all of the occupied territories are at war, in one way or another. Hopes were once high that the West Bank might one day form part of a sovereign Palestinian state. But is a two-state solution even possible today? And where would you even start? Adblock test (Why?)
Palestinian family breaks fast in destroyed Gaza home
NewsFeed Mahmoud Ahmed is one of thousands of Palestinians spending the month of Ramadan in a bombed out home, with few ingredients to prepare meals to break the day’s fast. Published On 14 Mar 202414 Mar 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Japan’s bid to cancel residency of foreigners who dodge taxes stirs unease
Tokyo, Japan – For foreigners in Japan, permanent residency has long been a much sought-after assurance of security in a country that has historically shunned mass immigration. But proposals by Tokyo to cancel the permanent residence status for those who fail to pay their taxes and social insurance contributions are now calling that security into question, stirring unease among some longtime foreign residents. Ben Shearon, a British native who has lived in Japan for almost 24 years, is among those questioning the rationale behind the proposed changes to immigration law. A permanent resident, Shearon retired in 2022 and now spends most of his time working on his website RetireJapan, where he offers coaching and financial advice to Japan’s expatriate population. “I am not worried about my own status in Japan. I have paid all my taxes and I have also been paying into the national health insurance and public pension in Japan since I arrived,” Shearon told Al Jazeera. “My main issue at the moment is that the headlines seem to feed a narrative that foreign residents, especially permanent residents, are not paying their fair share.” Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has raised the alarm about his country’s declining population [File: Eugene Hoshiko/AFP] Under the standard process for obtaining permanent residency, applicants must have lived in Japan for at least 10 years and held a work visa for five of those years. But since 2017, foreign residents have been able to fast-track the process to as little as one year if they score highly on a points-based assessment that looks at work experience, salary, academic qualifications, age and Japanese language proficiency. The law also states that a foreigner’s permanent residence must be in the best interests of Japan, which includes paying taxes, pension contributions and health insurance premiums. At present, the government can only revoke an individual’s permanent residence in a narrow set of circumstances, including being sentenced to more than one year in prison. Under the proposals, authorities would be able to cancel residents’ visas over the non-payment of taxes and prison sentences of less than one year. ‘Small minority’ Shearon, like other foreign-born residents, is concerned that the proposals single out non-Japanese citizens for special scrutiny. “I’m also not a fan of creating new penalties that only apply to foreigners when we already have laws and consequences for not paying tax that apply to everyone in Japan equally,” he said. “If not paying health insurance or pension is a significant problem in Japan, then surely the way to address it is to strengthen enforcement for everyone, not just focus on a small number of a small minority.” Permanent resident visa holders currently number about 880,000 in Japan, less than one percent of the population. Since the announcement of the proposals last month, foreign residents reacting to the plans have generally fallen into one of two camps. While some see Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s administration stoking xenophobia, others have scoffed at the suggestion foreigners are being singled out, arguing that tax evaders should be punished and only those seeking to game the system have anything to fear. “What are these gaijin even complaining about? If you already pay your taxes, congratulations. You have nothing to worry about,” Oliver Jia, a Kyoto-based researcher and writer, said on X in response to a post decrying the proposals as discriminatory. “Do these people realize that permanent residence by default means you have less rights than citizens? That’s how virtually every country on earth functions,” Jia added. “Japan isn’t going to bend over backwards for you, especially because you’ve decided you don’t want to pay taxes. Unhinged.” Austin Smith, public policy manager at GR Japan, a politically neutral government relations and advisory firm, said the proposed amendment would water down permanent residence status, but only to an extent. “PR visa revocation will likely still be a rarity, but it will be more common than under the current system,” Smith told Al Jazeera. “Still, even a slight increase in the likelihood of having one’s PR status revoked is bound to worry foreign residents, many of whom have built their lives around Japan.” Smith said he believed the measures would most likely only be applied to those who knowingly committed tax evasion or crimes resulting in imprisonment. “There are concerns, however, that this could affect those unable to pay taxes due to job loss or other factors,” Smith said. “Or that it could be expanded in the future to enable revocations for crimes resulting in fines.” Japan’s workforce is shrinking rapidly due to its low birth rate [File: Eugene Hoshiko/AP] The move comes despite a push by Japan to attract more immigrants as it faces rapid population decline. In recent years, municipalities throughout Japan have simplified the pathway for obtaining visas for startup owners and business managers. Later this month, Tokyo is set to launch a new digital nomad visa, targeting remote workers from 49 countries who earn more than 10 million yen a year. Japan’s foreign trainee programme, which has often been maligned as a cover for importing cheap labour since its introduction in 1993, is undergoing a sweeping overhaul to make it easier to transition to being a skilled work visa holder, and, eventually, permanent resident. In late February, the government also eased visa regulations to allow more foreign students to find jobs in Japan after they’ve completed their studies. According to official forecasts, Japan’s population is on track to shrink from about 125 million to fewer than 80 million by 2070. Policymakers see higher levels of immigration as one way to replenish the workforce and avoid a further slowdown in the country’s already meagre economic growth rate. Smith said he is sympathetic to the need for more immigrants, but does not see the proposed changes to the permanent residency rules as necessarily in conflict with Japan’s turn towards pro-immigration policies. “The goal here for lawmakers seems to be aligning PR visa revocation conditions with the guidelines for securing PR status,” he said.
US Senate leader Chuck Schumer calls for new Israel elections amid Gaza war
The top legislator in the United States Senate, Chuck Schumer, has offered his most strident criticism of Israel since the war in Gaza began, calling for a leadership shake-up in the country. On Thursday, Schumer, a Jewish-American Democrat, took direct aim at Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a speech from the US Senate floor, saying the Israeli leader has been “too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza”. Schumer pushed Israel to hold elections to replace Netanyahu and said the prime minister had “lost his way” in his pursuit of “political survival”. “There needs to be a fresh debate about the future of Israel after October 7,” Schumer said, referring to the date when the Palestinian group Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel, spurring the present-day war. “As a democracy, Israel has the right to choose its own leaders, and we should let the chips fall where they may,” Schumer continued. “But the important thing is that Israelis are given a choice.” Schumer, the Senate majority leader, did not suggest a timeline for any eventual vote, though. More than 31,341 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, many of them children. The spiralling death toll has prompted widespread condemnation and fears of genocide in the territory. But President Joe Biden and other prominent US leaders have largely been circumspect in their criticism of Israel’s military campaign. The US is a longtime ally of Israel, and it contributes approximately $3.8bn in aid to the country every year. Still, Schumer’s words — and more vocal criticisms from Biden himself — have signalled a shift in the approach Democratic leadership is taking towards Israel, amid mounting public pressure to seek a permanent ceasefire. “We should not let the complexities of this conflict stop us from stating the plain truth: Palestinian civilians do not deserve to suffer for the sins of Hamas, and Israel has a moral obligation to do better,” Schumer said in his speech. “The United States has an obligation to do better.” Schumer added that Netanyahu was one of several “major obstacles” to a two-state solution that might eventually resolve the conflict. Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected the notion of a two-state solution, despite the Biden administration insisting it should be a cornerstone of any post-war plans. Given the Israeli government’s refusal so far to change course, Schumer hinted that the US may be forced to “play a more active role in shaping Israeli policy by using leverage”. Response to Schumer’s speech The speech marks one of the most direct and biting speeches given by a high-ranking US political leader during the war’s first five months. And it quickly prompted a response, both from the Israeli government and the Biden administration. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, US Department of State spokesperson Matthew Miller said Schumer’s comments were his own and did not represent the stance of the administration. “There are a number of things we wanted to see Israel do differently,” Miller acknowledged nevertheless. Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich weighed in as well, condemning Schumer’s remarks. “We expect the largest democracy in the world to respect Israeli democracy,” Smotrich said. US Republicans, for their part, used the speech to blast the Democratic leadership. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, for instance, described Schumer’s call for new elections in Israel “grotesque and hypocritical”. “The Jewish state of Israel deserves an ally that acts like one,” McConnell said. Critics push for action Schumer attempted to preemptively fend off such criticism during his speech, underscoring his pro-Israel bona fides. As the highest-ranking Jewish person in US government, he also drew on his family’s history with the Holocaust to underscore his sympathy for the Israeli plight. “If the events of the last few months have made anything clear, it is that Israel is surrounded by vicious enemies, and there are many people around the world who excuse and even support their aims to expel and kill Jews living in their hard-won land of refuge,” Schumer said. But while Schumer and other top Democratic leaders have remained stalwart in their support of Israel, their rhetoric has shifted in recent weeks to be increasingly critical of its military campaign. Biden, for instance, has warned Israel about pursuing a ground operation in the southern city of Rafah, calling it a “red line“. Officials have also denounced Israeli impediments to the distribution of aid in Gaza. Still, critics of the administration have said such words are empty without more material action. Earlier this week, for instance, eight US senators — including Vermont’s Bernie Sanders — issued a letter to the president calling on him to premise aid to Israel on the condition that access to humanitarian aid in Gaza be expanded — and any impediments removed. Settler sanctions Schumer’s speech on Thursday also came as the US announced more sanctions on Israeli settlers and illegal outposts in the occupied West Bank — one area the Biden administration has shown more willingness to act. The US Department of State said the outposts known as Moshes Farm and Zvis Farm had been bases for violence against Palestinians. Thursday’s sanctions also targeted three illegal Israeli settlers. The administration in February imposed sanctions on four Israeli men it accused of being involved in settler violence in the occupied West Bank, which has surged since October 7. “It is critical that Israel take additional action to stop settler violence and hold accountable those responsible for it, not just for the sake of the victims of this violence, but for Israel’s own security and standing in the world,” Miller, the State Department spokesman, told reporters. Adblock test (Why?)
Palestinian President Abbas appoints Mohammed Mustafa as prime minister
The move comes as the Palestinian Authority faces pressure to reform from the US amid Israel’s war on Gaza. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has appointed his longtime economic adviser Mohammed Mustafa to be the next prime minister in the face of US pressure to reform the Palestinian Authority as part of Washington’s post-war vision for Gaza. Mustafa, a US-educated economist and political independent, now faces the task of forming a new government for the PA, which has limited powers in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. In a statement announcing the appointment on Thursday, Abbas asked Mustafa to put together plans to re-unify administration in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, lead reforms in the government, security services and economy and fight corruption. Mustafa replaces former Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh who, along with his government, resigned in February citing the need for change amid Israel’s war on Gaza and escalating violence in the occupied West Bank. The internationally recognised PA, which is dominated by the Fatah party, exercises limited self-rule in the occupied West Bank, but lost control of Gaza to Hamas in 2007. Aims to reunify governance of Palestinian lands after face major obstacles, including strong opposition from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and a devastating war that is still grinding on with no end in sight. Fatah and Hamas are expected to meet in Moscow this week for talks. Mustafa, 69, has held senior positions at the World Bank and previously served as deputy prime minister and economy minister. In 2015, Abbas appointed Mustafa as the chairman of the Palestine Investment Fund (PIF), which has nearly $1bn in assets and funds projects across the occupied Palestinian territory. He served as a deputy prime minister responsible for economic affairs from 2013 to 2014, when he led a committee tasked with rebuilding Gaza after the seven-week war in which more than 2,100 Palestinians were killed. Speaking at Davos in January, Mustafa said the “catastrophe and humanitarian impact” of Israel’s continuing war on Gaza was much greater than a decade ago. At least 31,341 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 7, most of its 2.3 million population have been displaced and are in desperate need of aid, and swaths of the enclave now lie in rubble. Biden administration officials have urged Abbas to bring new blood, including technocrats and economic specialists, into a revamped PA to help govern post-war Gaza. But it is unclear whether the appointment of a new cabinet led by a close Abbas ally would be sufficient to meet US demands for reform, as the 88-year-old president would remain in overall control. Israel, meanwhile, has said it will never cooperate with any Palestinian government that refuses to reject Hamas and its October 7 attack on southern Israel. Mustafa, in his Davos remarks, described the October 7 attack as “unfortunate for everybody”. “But it’s also a symptom of a bigger problem … that the Palestinian people have been suffering for 75 years non-stop,” he said. “Until today, we still believe that statehood for Palestinians is the way forward, so we hope that this time around we will be able to achieve that, so that all people in the region can live in security and peace.” Adblock test (Why?)
What is the history of foreign interventions in Haiti?
The proposal initially sparked an uproar. In October 2022, then-Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry and 18 top officials called on the international community to send a “specialised armed force” to help combat the spread of gang violence in Haiti. But Haiti has struggled with a long, fraught history of foreign involvement — and the prospect of a new wave of outside interference was met with scepticism. Now, experts say that public opinion is shifting in Haiti, as the violence continues to fester and Haiti’s already tenuous government is on the verge of yet another shake-up. “In October 2022, most Haitians were against an international force,” said Pierre Esperance, executive director of Haiti’s National Human Rights Defense Network (RNDDH). “But today most Haitians will support it because the situation is worse, and they feel there are no other options.” Still, the history of international involvement in Haiti casts such a long shadow that it continues to be a divisive subject — both among the Haitian people and the outside forces that would potentially be involved. A new level of crisis The instability in Haiti entered a new chapter this week when Prime Minister Henry — an unelected official who has been serving as de facto president — announced that he planned to resign. The announcement came after mounting international pressure, as well as threats from the gangs themselves. One of the country’s most notorious gang leaders, Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, told reporters that a “civil war” would erupt if the deeply unpopular Henry did not step down. The calls for an international force to intervene arise from the acute nature of the situation, Esperance and other experts told Al Jazeera. Gang violence has forced more than 362,000 Haitians from their home, largely in and around the capital of Port-au-Prince. The United Nations estimates that at least 34,000 of those have been displaced since the start of the year. Armed groups have also taken control of roadways and other vital arteries around the country, limiting the flow of supplies. With high rates of poverty already driving malnutrition, the UN has warned the country is at risk of famine. “The gangs control more than 95 percent of Port-au-Prince,” Esperance said. “Hospitals don’t have materials, there’s not enough drinking water, the supermarkets are almost empty. People are staying at home because it’s very dangerous.” Will Kenya take the lead? With gang violence at crisis levels and Haiti’s government in shambles, some Haitians are increasingly looking abroad for assistance. An August poll released by the business alliance AGERCA and the consultancy DDG found that about 63 percent of Haitians supported the deployment of an “international force” to combat the gangs. An even higher portion — 75 percent — said the Haitian police needed international support to reestablish order. But countries like the United States and Canada have baulked at the prospect of helming such a force themselves, though they have offered to back other governments that might lead one. In July 2023, Kenya announced it would be willing to deploy forces to Haiti and potentially lead a multinational security mission. The UN Security Council threw its support behind the initiative, approving the Kenya-led mission. But the effort has since stalled, amid court challenges and other slowdowns. In January, a Kenyan court ruled that deploying forces in Haiti would be “illegal and invalid”. And just last Tuesday, Kenyan officials said they would pause any deployment to Haiti until a new government was in place. Jonathan Katz, the author of the book The Big Truck That Went By: How the World Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind a Disaster, told Al Jazeera that the international community’s hesitation to lead a mission to Haiti is a testament to the poor track record of past foreign interventions. “These countries are saying, ‘We need to do this because we can’t think of any other solution,’” said Katz. “But nobody wants to do it themselves because every single one of these interventions throughout Haiti’s history have ended with significant egg on the face for everyone involved.” ‘A direct colonial occupation’ Since the early 1900s, there have been at least three direct interventions in Haiti, including a decades-long occupation by US forces. That occupation lasted from 1915 to 1934 and was carried out in the name of restoring political stability after the assassination of then-President Vilbrun Guillaume Sam. But during their time in Haiti, US forces oversaw widespread human rights abuses and the implementation of a “corvée”, a system of forced labour sometimes likened to slavery. “Slavery it was — though temporary,” said US civil rights leader James Weldon Johnson, writing for The Nation magazine in 1920. “By day or by night, from the bosom of their families, from their little farms or while trudging peacefully on the country roads, Haitians were seized and forcibly taken to toil for months in far sections of the country.” US soldiers even removed substantial funds from the Haitian National Bank, carting them off to New York. “This was a direct colonial occupation that began under US President Woodrow Wilson and lasted for five administrations, both Republican and Democrat,” Katz said of that period. “Later occupations were carried out with varying degrees of directness and indirectness.” A hand in Haiti’s politics For instance, the US would intervene again in Haitian politics during the Cold War, as it propped up governments friendly to its interests in the name of anti-Communism. Positioning himself as an anti-Communist leader upon his election in 1957, Haitian President Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier actively courted US support, even as he led a brutal campaign of state violence against his own people. Despite misgivings about Duvalier, the US offered him aid: US Ambassador Robert Newbegin, for instance, arrived in Port-au-Prince prepared to give Duvalier’s administration approximately $12.5m in 1960 alone. One estimate puts the total US support given to Haiti under Duvalier and his son, Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, at $900m. Meanwhile, the Duvaliers faced accusations of murder, torture and other violations. The US
Survivors of rescued Mediterranean ship say dozens died during the voyage
At least 60 people died as the boat spent about a week lost at sea after leaving Libya, survivors tell rescuers. Survivors from a deflating rubber dinghy rescued in the central Mediterranean Sea reported that at least 60 people who departed Libya with them a week ago died during the journey, a charity rescue group has said. SOS Mediterranee said on Thursday that it had rescued 25 people in a “very weak” condition in coordination with the Italian coastguard a day earlier. Two unconscious people were also flown to Sicily by helicopter but later died. “The survivors departed from Zawiya, Libya, seven days before they were rescued,” SOS Mediterranee said on X. “Their engine broke after three days, leaving their boat lost (and) adrift without water and food for days. Survivors report that at least 60 people perished on the way, including women and at least one child,” it added. The rescue group’s spokesman Francesco Creazzo said the survivors were all male, 12 of them minors. They were from Senegal, Mali and The Gambia. Survivors are rescued by a ship run by SOS Mediterranee [Johanna De Tessieres/Sos Mediterranee/Handout via Reuters] According to testimonies the group gathered, the boat spent about a week lost at sea, with survivors saying many people perished and many others are missing. There was no immediate comment from the Italian Coast Guard. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said it was “deeply troubled” by the incident. “Urgent action is needed to strengthen maritime patrols and prevent further tragedies,” the agency said on X. After yesterday’s rescue of 25 people in very weak health condition, a medical evacuation took place in cooperation with the Italian Coast Guards. Two unconscious people our teams weren’t able to rouse were flown to Sicily by helicopter. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/zmBPBSyilN — SOS MEDITERRANEE (@SOSMedIntl) March 14, 2024 SOS Mediterranee said the central Mediterranean route, which the migrants were attempting to cross, is one of the world’s most dangerous sea migration routes. According to the IOM, almost 2,500 migrants died or went missing on the route last year, with the number for this year at 226 so far. Italy and other European Union governments are trying to quell the number of migrants crossing from North Africa, providing money and resources to Libya and Tunisia to help stop the departures from their shores. According to the Italian Interior Ministry, 5,968 migrants have arrived by sea so far this year, down from 19,937 at the same stage in 2023. Adblock test (Why?)
NATO allies must do more as Ukraine runs out of ammunition: Stoltenberg
NATO’s secretary-general calls on members to show the political will to offer more support for Kyiv against Russia. Ukraine is running out of ammunition and NATO members are not doing enough to help Kyiv, the alliance’s secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, has said, in unusually blunt comments about the state of the war. “Unprecedented aid from NATO allies has helped Ukraine survive as an independent nation. But Ukraine needs even more support and they need it now,” Stoltenberg told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Thursday. “The Ukrainians are not running out of courage, they are running out of ammunition,” he said. More than two years after Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine’s military has recently been grappling with significantly reduced weapons supplies from the West. “NATO allies are not providing Ukraine with enough ammunition and that has consequences on the battlefield every day,” Stoltenberg said. “It is one of the reasons why the Russians have been able to make some advance on the battlefield over the last weeks and months. “It is an urgent need for allies to make the decisions necessary to step and provide more ammunition to Ukraine. That’s my message to all capitals. “We have the capacity, the economies, to be able to provide Ukraine what they need. This is a question of political will. To take the decisions and to prioritise support for Ukraine.” Stoltenberg presents the 2023 NATO annual report [Virginia Mayo/AP Photo] The US on Tuesday announced a new $300m weapons package for Ukraine, but a further $60bn in funding remains stalled by Republicans in Congress. On Wednesday, European Union countries agreed to provide five billion euros ($5.48bn) for military aid to Ukraine as part of a revamp of an EU-run assistance fund. However, the bloc is well behind schedule in its promise, made last year, to send a million artillery shells to Ukraine by this month. The Czech Republic has led an 18-nation coalition buying artillery shells from outside Europe, and this month Prague announced that the first of 300,000 shells could reach Kyiv within weeks. EU leaders will meet at a Brussels summit next week to discuss initiatives aimed at boosting Europe’s weapons industry. Meanwhile, Russia has ramped up its domestic arms production by putting its economy on a war footing and has received major deliveries of weapons from Iran and North Korea. Adblock test (Why?)
The never-ending war on truth
On March 9, 2015, five men driving a white truck with a concealed number plate abducted Itai Dzamara, a Zimbabwean journalist and activist, from a barbershop in the Zimbabwean capital Harare. Within seconds, he was bundled into the unmarked car and driven to an unknown location. Dzamara has not been seen ever since. Eight days before his enforced disappearance, he had called on Zimbabweans to demonstrate against the tough and deteriorating socioeconomic conditions in their country. And he had called on then-President Robert Mugabe to resign. His forced disappearance was not an extraordinary event in a country where journalists were (and still are) routinely harassed and detained by authorities for publishing stories deemed to be “politically sensitive” or damaging to those in positions of power. Sixteen years earlier, in January 1999, two journalists, Mark Chavunduka and Ray Choto, who worked for the Standard newspaper, were forcibly disappeared for 10 days. While under illegal detention, they suffered electric shocks to their hands, feet, and genitals and their heads were submerged in drums of water. When they eventually appeared in court, they both had burn marks on their bodies. Their alleged crime was to publish a story about 23 army officers being arrested for plotting a coup against President Mugabe. In 2008, Jestina Mukoko, a prominent former TV journalist, who also runs an NGO, was abducted from her home in the middle of the night, detained incommunicado for days and tortured by alleged state agents, for her alleged involvement in planning anti-government protests. She thankfully survived her horrific ordeal, and returned to her family and advocacy work. But Dzamara has not been as lucky. He has never returned home to his wife and two young children. Every year on the anniversary of his disappearance, Zimbabweans take to social media to remember him and to vent their frustrations about Zimbabwe’s seemingly never-ending war on journalists, and truth. Despite efforts by civil society and the main opposition party, the state appears extremely reluctant to solve Dzamara’s case and finally deliver justice to his long-suffering family. Mugabe has been out of power since 2017, and Zimbabwe is supposedly a changed country, but to date, the Zimbabwean government has not even bothered to launch a high-level investigation into Dzamara’s violent abduction. This speaks volumes about Harare’s unrelenting contempt for the truth, and war on those who dare to speak truth to power. Whoever disappeared Dzamara clearly intended to instil a great deal of fear in media practitioners and kill journalism in the small southern African country. To some extent, they have succeeded. As recently as this February, a local paper, the NewsHawks, was forced to abandon its investigations into the Zimbabwe National Army after subtle threats from senior army officials. Journalists who dare to investigate military and government corruption in Zimbabwe still expect to be harassed, unlawfully arrested, tortured or worse to this day. Regrettably, Zimbabwe is not an outlier. This proclivity to threaten or kill the messenger to conceal bitter truths appears to be endemic across Africa and around the globe. Joao Chamusse – a veteran Mozambican journalist, and the co-owner and editor of online newspaper Ponto por Ponto – was found dead in the backyard of his house in KaTembe, Maputo City, on December 14, 2023. His neighbours said they heard him scream for help before falling silent. His horrendous murder came on the back of a wave of intimidation against journalists and media outlets in the run-up to this year’s general election. In Lesotho’s capital Maseru, Ralikonelo “Leqhashasha” Joki, who was a prominent reporter for Ts’enolo FM radio station, was shot at least 13 times by unknown assailants as he left the studio after a show in May 2023. Joki was highly critical of state officials, and his death appears related to his endeavours to expose the truth and hold government officials accountable for their actions. It would be amiss to speak of the war on truth tellers without paying homage to the Palestinian journalists killed in Israel’s war on Gaza. At least 88 Palestinian media workers have been killed as they braved shelling to expose Israel’s genocidal violence. Israel’s war on journalists who expose the injustice of its occupation and its abuse of Palestinians did not begin with this latest war, either. Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist and correspondent for Al Jazeera, was shot dead in May 2022 while reporting on an Israel raid in the Jenin refugee camp. And Israel had killed dozens of media workers before her. I despair at the loss of Abu Akleh, and all the other brave, admirable Palestinian journalists who had been silenced by Israeli bombs and bullets. I mourn for Leqhashasha, Chamusse and all the others who have been slain for exposing corruption or speaking truth to power. My heart bleeds for the family of Dzamara, and those of other “disappeared” journalists across the globe, who will likely never learn what actually happened to their loved ones. I feel the deepest pain, however, for those journalists who I fear will meet similar fates in the coming months and years. Indeed, in the absence of strong legal repercussions, there is every chance that other journalists will go missing or be killed by “unknown” people in Zimbabwe. The same is true for those working in Lesotho, Mozambique and elsewhere. And we know Israeli bombs continue to fall on Palestinian journalists as I write these lines. When a journalist is killed or disappeared, people are quick to express sympathy and voice condemnation. Following such news, our social media timelines always fill with messages honouring their lives and achievements. Governments, NGOs, and international institutions issue statements, and vow to hold those responsible to account. Words of empathy and condemnation are of course commendable, but what is needed above all is simple: justice. In the case of Zimbabwe, the African Union and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have to stop paying lip service to press freedom and demand answers from President Emmerson Mnangagwa. And they should take