Israeli police break up ultra-Orthodox Jews’ military service protest
NewsFeed Israeli police moved in to break up a protest by ultra-Orthodox Jews who want their exemption from compulsory military service to be extended. Published On 27 Feb 202427 Feb 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Biden says Israel-Hamas ‘ceasefire’ imminent: What could a deal look like?
On Monday, US President Joe Biden told reporters that he hopes for a ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza by Monday, March 4. “My national security adviser tells me that we’re close. We’re close. We’re not done yet. My hope is by next Monday we’ll have a ceasefire,” said Biden amid talks mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States since January. How are the Gaza truce talks progressing? Israeli officials met mediators from Qatar, Egypt and the US in Paris on Friday. Hamas, the Palestinian armed group, was not represented in those talks. The talks resulted in a framework for a potential truce along with captive-prisoner exchanges which Israel agreed to, sources have told Al Jazeera. US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said Israel and the mediators “came to an understanding” on the basic terms of a deal. An Israeli military delegation is expected to fly to Qatar for more intensive talks in the coming days. Qatar has been at the forefront of mediation efforts including Israel, Hamas, and other nations — including the US — to help secure more aid for Gaza amid the war, and to bring about a ceasefire. What’s at stake? Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared plans to launch a military assault on Rafah, the southernmost urban area of the strip, where 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering and on the brink of famine. Most of them are internally displaced, having fled their homes to escape Israel’s bombardment and ground invasions throughout the rest of Gaza. While a ground incursion on Rafah looms, air strikes began on February 8 and have hit residential areas, killing civilians in the city that shares a border with Egypt. On February 21, al-Faruq mosque in Rafah was flattened by Israeli air strikes. Israeli attacks have killed roughly 3,523 Palestinians in Gaza in the past month, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Nearly 30,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began on October 7 last year, with thousands more buried under the rubble and presumed dead. Humanitarian agencies and Western allies of Israel are pressing Israel to hold back on a full-blown invasion of Rafah for fear of a humanitarian catastrophe. Israel is facing further pressure from two legal cases mounted at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). One of these, filed by South Africa, directly accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, while the other is seeking legal clarification on the status of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories. South Africa’s genocide case against Israel resulted in the ICJ issuing a set of provisional measures last month, including orders for Israel to cease all genocidal acts and to take all possible actions to ensure no genocidal acts are committed. Human Rights Watch released a statement on Monday saying Israel is not complying with the measures, however. Ramadan, the holy month during which Muslims observe fast during the day, will likely begin on March 10. Arab countries have voiced fears that a continuation of fighting during Ramadan will lead to further conflict in the region. “Ramadan’s coming up, and there’s been an agreement by the Israelis that they would not engage in activities during Ramadan as well, in order to give us time to get all the hostages out,” said Biden. What is each side demanding? Hamas wants all displaced Palestinians to be able to return to their homes across Gaza. Additionally, Hamas wants more humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza alongside a reconstruction plan to build or repair infrastructure destroyed or damaged by the Israeli bombardment. A source told Al Jazeera that Israel has said it will allow the gradual return of displaced people to the northern Gaza Strip, with the exception of “those of military service age”. Israel has also accepted Hamas’s request that more aid be allowed into the strip. Israel is demanding the total demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip. This means Hamas would have to disarm itself, a condition the group would be highly unlikely to accept. Would an agreement entail a full ceasefire? Israel and Hamas fundamentally disagree on the conditions required for a ceasefire. Hamas wants a permanent ceasefire under which Israel will withdraw its forces from Gaza. However, Netanyahu has stated that he does not want to end Israel’s military campaign until a “total victory” has been secured over Hamas to which an invasion of Rafah is deemed key. The Israeli prime minister is demanding that Israel maintain an open-ended control over Gaza’s security and civilian affairs after the war. He also wants to hand-pick Palestinian officials to govern the Strip. Palestinian officials have rejected Netanyahu’s post-war vision for Gaza. Unlike Hamas, which wants a permanent ceasefire, Israel is ready to accept a “temporary halt” to fighting during a captive-prisoner swap. Israeli media have quoted officials talking about a six-week truce during Ramadan. What about another captive-prisoner swap? Israel has offered to release 400 Palestinian prisoners, including a number of those with lengthy sentences, in exchange for the release of 40 Israeli captives. Hamas had initially demanded a large-scale release of Palestinian prisoners. About 130 captives, taken by Hamas on October 7 during its assault on southern Israel, remain in Gaza. What happened during the truce in November? A truce deal in November led to a weeklong pause in fighting during which Hamas released 105 captives and Israel released 240 Palestinian prisoners. While the agreement was originally for a four-day pause, it was extended twice. The UN humanitarian office, OCHA, reported that despite the pause in fighting at that time, Israeli forces shot at Palestinians in northern Gaza on November 29, killing two people. They also shelled people in Gaza City and towards the Gaza shore in the south on November 30. As soon as the truce ended on December 1, Israel resumed air strikes on Gaza and ordered the residents of Khan Younis in central Gaza to evacuate further south. Adblock test (Why?)
Gaza faces starvation as Israel continues to block aid
Two human rights groups have accused Israel of further limiting humanitarian aid to Gaza despite an order from the United Nations’ top court. Exactly one month ago, The International Court of Justice in The Hague said Israel must do everything to prevent genocidal acts in the besieged territory. Tel Aviv must also take “immediate and effective measures” for aid provision, the ICJ added. But Israeli authorities have “failed to take even the bare minimum steps to comply” with the ICJ ruling issued on January 26, Amnesty International has claimed. Both Amnesty and Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Monday that the number of aid trucks entering Gaza had actually decreased by roughly one-third since the ruling, which came in a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of breaching the UN Genocide Convention. “The Israeli government is starving” Gaza’s 2.4 million Palestinians, “putting them in even more peril than before the World Court’s binding order,” said Omar Shakir, HRW’s Israel and Palestine director. “The Israeli government has simply ignored the court’s ruling, and in some ways even intensified its repression, including further blocking lifesaving aid.” ICJ rulings are legally binding but the court has no enforcement mechanism. The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said there was a “50 percent reduction” in humanitarian aid entering Gaza during February compared with January. The comments from the NGOs came as Israel prepares for a ground invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza, which UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday would “put the final nail in the coffin” of aid operations. The war in Gaza began after Hamas fighters staged an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7. Israel’s retaliatory military offensive in Gaza has killed almost 30,000 people, most of them women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Israel dismissed the case brought by South Africa as a “grossly distorted story” and said that if any genocidal acts had been carried out, they had been executed against Israel during the October 7 Hamas attack. In a separate, non-binding, case, the UN has asked the ICJ to hand down an “advisory opinion” on the “legal consequences arising from the policies and practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem”. Adblock test (Why?)
Israel’s war on Gaza: List of key events, day 144
As the war rages in Gaza, US President Joe Biden says he hopes a ceasefire can take effect by early next week. Here’s how things stand on Tuesday, February 27, 2024: Fighting and humanitarian crisis The Israeli military shot dead three Palestinian men in raids on the city of Tubas and the nearby al-Far’a camp in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reported. Footage authenticated by Al Jazeera’s Sanad verification unit shows a large crowd of hungry and desperate Palestinians in Gaza City scrambling for bags of flour. The Royal Jordanian Air Force carried out airdrops of aid off the coast of the Gaza Strip – the biggest airdrop operation so far to deliver much-needed aid to millions of Palestinians amid restrictions by Israeli authorities on aid entering the territory by road. The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) has reported that newborn babies are dying in Gaza because their mothers are unable to access appropriate care. The Palestinian prime minister announced the resignation of his government on Monday, paving the way for a shake-up in the Palestinian Authority, which the United States hopes will eventually take on a role in post-war Gaza. President Joe Biden said he hopes a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that would pause hostilities and allow for remaining captives to be released can take effect by early next week. Regional tensions and diplomacy The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Monday held the last of a set of hearings examining the legal consequences of Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian lands. Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Monday the Israeli government failed to comply with at least one measure in the legally binding order from the ICJ in South Africa’s genocide case. HRW said Israel “continues to obstruct the provision of basic services and the entry and distribution within Gaza of fuel and lifesaving aid, acts of collective punishment that amount to war crimes and include the use of starvation of civilians as a weapon of war”. In the UN, the US Mission circulated a draft resolution to members of the UN Security Council that expresses support for diplomatic efforts to “urgently” reach a “temporary ceasefire” agreement, according to a copy seen by Al Jazeera’s Rami Ayari. The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said its forces destroyed three unmanned surface vessels, two mobile antiship cruise missiles as well as an attack drone over the Red Sea and in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen on Monday. Violence in the occupied West Bank Al Jazeera Arabic and local media are reporting that Israeli forces have raided the Far’a camp, south of Tubas in the occupied West Bank, resulting in intense fighting with Palestinian resistance groups including explosions. Raids and arrests have been reported elsewhere in the occupied West Bank. Adblock test (Why?)
Ahead of India election, tension brews in Kashmir over tribal caste quotas
Tral, Indian-administered Kashmir – Like many people from his nomadic tribal community, Bashir Ahmed Gujjar, a 70-year-old shepherd, never went to school. Poor and often on the move, formal education was not an option. Things changed for the Gujjars, his community, after the government introduced quotas for what are known in India as Scheduled Tribes (STs), in state-run educational institutions and government jobs in 1991 as part of an affirmative action programme for historically marginalised groups. Gujjars were included in the beneficiaries. Families decided to send their children to school and college. “My children, my nieces and nephews have all been fortunate enough to have received education because of the ST status bestowed on us by the government,” Bashir told Al Jazeera at his home in the region’s Pulwama district. He said his niece now works as a teacher in a government school in Tral because of the job quotas that Gujjars can avail. Now, he fears the next generation of his community could lose out on those gains of the past three decades. Earlier this month on February 6, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government passed a legal amendment to include another community, the Paharis, within the list of STs. At the time, federal Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda said the law would not erode the education and job quotas currently available for existing tribes — but would add additional quotas for new communities. But the government is yet to explain how it plans to do that, leading to fears among the Gujjars and Bakarwals, two major tribal communities originally covered by the affirmative action, that they will now need to split their benefits with the Paharis who have historically been seen as better off. “We have no hope for the future. The government is giving our share of guarantees to others,” Bashir said. The government move has sparked a wave of protests by Gujjar and Bakerwal community groups, demanding that the amendment be repealed. The move has also spawned caste divisions in a region already on the edge over other controversial moves by the Modi government in recent years. The decision to add Paharis to the list of STs could affect the national elections, expected to be held between March and May. ‘Using reservation to sway Paharis’ The Paharis consist of Hindus and Sikhs – who mostly migrated from what is now Pakistan when the subcontinent was carved up during partition in 1947 – and a significant number of Muslims. Constituting about 8 percent of the region’s 16 million people, nearly two-thirds of Paharis live in the Jammu area towards the south of Indian-administered Kashmir, while a few reside in forests in the north. The current tensions are rooted in the events of 2019 when, in a sudden move, Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government abolished the special status of the region and brought it under New Delhi’s direct rule. Since then, the Gujjars and Bakarwals allege that the BJP has been trying to induct the Paharis into the ST category. India’s affirmative action to uplift its historically marginalised groups – mainly underprivileged castes and Indigenous tribes – also includes a provision to reserve seats for them in legislative assemblies. In Indian-administered Kashmir, also referred to as Jammu and Kashmir in official documents, state assembly seats for the Gujjar and Bakarwal communities were reserved in 2004. Members of these two communities – who form about 10 percent of the region’s population – now allege that the BJP is trying to patronise the Paharis community for political benefits ahead of the general election. A Gujjar settlement with houses made of mud and stones in Tral [Tarushi Aswani/Al Jazeera] More than 200km (124 miles) away from Tral, in Jammu, Javid Chohan, another Gujjar, said the government was trying to curb protests through a heightened police presence and internet blackouts. “The BJP is using reservation to sway the region’s Pahari-speaking population to strengthen its Hindu vote bank in Jammu,” he told Al Jazeera. Unlike the Paharis, the Gujjars and Bakarwals of the region are predominantly Muslim. Pro-India political parties also allege that the BJP is using the community to peddle its politics, like it did with its promise in its 2014 and 2019 election manifestos to resettle thousands of Kashmiri Hindus, called Pandits, displaced by the rise of an anti-India rebel movement in the late 1980s. “First, they used Kashmiri Pandits to win the 2019 election. This time, the Paharis are being politicised. The BJP is pitting communities who have lived in harmony for centuries against each other,” Waheed Ur Rehman Para of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), told Al Jazeera. “They are stealing from one’s plate to feed the other.” Naik Alam, an elected representative of the Gutroo village in Tral, said the BJP was “simply misusing” law to show that Hindus can also get a reservation in a Muslim-majority region. A tribal Gujjar woman sits with her child outside their house in Tral [Tarushi Aswani/Al Jazeera] What’s the BJP’s election game plan? In the 90-member legislative assembly in Indian-administered Kashmir, the BJP, which predominantly relies on Hindu votes, has traditionally done well in the Jammu region, where Hindus are in the majority. But it has struggled to make political inroads in the Kashmir region, where Muslims are in majority. Spanning Jammu and Kashmir are nine seats in the legislature that are reserved for STs. Critics of the BJP argue that winning these could help it secure an overall majority in the legislature: The state assembly elections are also expected to be held later this year. In 2020, the federal government granted 4 percent reservation, as a linguistic minority, to the Paharis, who form the majority in at least 10 constituencies. If given the ST status, the group could contest the seats reserved for STs in the legislature and challenge the traditional dominance of Gujjars and Bakarwals in these sets. Gujjars and Bakarwals are predominantly Muslims, who rarely vote for the BJP. Gujjar activist Guftar Ahmed Choudhary said the BJP’s
US claims ‘preemptive’ strikes against Houthi targets
Military says it destroyed vessels and missiles in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen that were aimed at the Red Sea. The United States claims to have conducted fresh strikes against Houthi targets, destroying missiles, unmanned vessels and a drone. The US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) announced the attacks late on Monday. It reported that it had struck three unmanned surface vessels and two antiship cruise missiles that were in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, preparing to launch towards the Red Sea. The drone, an “unmanned aerial vehicle”, was targeted over the water. CENTCOM claimed that the attacks were launched in self-defence, “to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for US Navy and merchant vessels”. Feb. 26 Red Sea Update On Feb. 26, between the hours of 4:45 p.m. and 11:45a p.m. (Sanaa time), U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces destroyed three unmanned surface vessels (USV), two mobile anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCM), and a one-way attack unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)… pic.twitter.com/UtH2eJuMke — U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) February 27, 2024 The Iran-aligned Houthis, who control the most populous parts of Yemen, have carried out dozens of attacks on vessels with commercial ties to the US, the United Kingdom and Israel in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November. The group says the attacks are a response to Israel’s military operations in Gaza. Despite US-UK retaliatory strikes, it has promised to continue its campaign in solidarity with Palestinians until Israel stops its war on Gaza. The campaign has disrupted international commerce along a route that accounts for about 15 percent of the world’s shipping traffic. Several shipping companies have redirected their vessels around the southern tip of Africa, adding up to two weeks to a journey and between 3,000 and 6,000 extra nautical miles (between 5,556 and 11,112km). In January, the US re-designated the Houthis as “Specially Designated Global Terrorists” (SDGTs), a status attributed to those who are considered to “threaten the security of the US”. On Saturday, the US and the UK said they had hit 18 Houthi sites across eight locations in Yemen, including attacks on underground weapons and missile storage facilities, air defence systems, radars and a helicopter. Responding to the attacks, Yahya Saree, a spokesman for the group, pledged that the Houthis would “confront the American-British escalation with more qualitative military operations against all hostile targets in the Red and Arab Seas”. Adblock test (Why?)
Biden hopes for a Gaza ceasefire by Monday
NewsFeed US president Joe Biden says he hopes a Gaza ceasefire deal can be agreed between Israel and Hamas by Monday, as he took questions from reporters while on a visit to an ice cream shop in New York. Published On 27 Feb 202427 Feb 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
US Supreme Court casts doubt on GOP efforts to tackle alleged Big Tech bias
Conservative justices express concerns about Florida and Texas laws that curb platforms’ content moderation policies. The United States Supreme Court has cast doubt on a conservative push to crack down on the alleged liberal bias of social media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube. In arguments at the top court on Monday, several justices expressed reservations about laws in Republican-led states that aim to curb Big Tech’s alleged censorship of right-wing viewpoints. The tech industry’s biggest lobby groups are suing Florida and Texas over the laws in a case that cuts to the heart of the fraught issue of regulating speech in the digital era. President Joe Biden’s administration has backed tech companies’ bid to challenge the laws, arguing they violate the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which upholds freedom of speech. In remarks that appeared to be sympathetic to the tech companies, Chief Justice John G Roberts Jr, a conservative, expressed concern about government regulation of the internet. “I wonder since we’re talking about the First Amendment whether our first concern should be with the state regulating what we have called the modern public square,” Roberts said. “The First Amendment restricts what the government can do,” Roberts added. “What the government’s doing here is saying ‘You must do this, you must carry these people.’” Fellow conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett also questioned why tech platforms should not enjoy the same discretion as newspapers to publish or not publish content. “If you have an algorithm to do it, is it not speech?” she said. Justice Elena Kagan, a liberal, voiced similar concerns, asking why it would not be a “classic First Amendment violation” to tell private companies that they cannot enforce their own content moderation policies. In an exchange with a Biden administration lawyer, conservative Justice Samuel Alito appeared to side with Florida and Texas, asking whether content moderation is “anything more than a euphemism for censorship”. Although six of nine Supreme Court justices were appointed by Republicans, the reservations expressed by several conservative justices on Monday suggest the Florida and Texas laws are unlikely to stay on the books unchanged. Florida and Texas passed the laws after Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter, banned former US President Donald Trump over his posts about the January 6, 2021 storming of the US Capitol by his supporters. Both laws are on hold pending the Supreme Court’s decision, which is expected by the end of June. Adblock test (Why?)
New Zealand moves to abolish Maori health authority despite protests
Centre-right government says health agency set up to improve access for Maori people will be abolished by end of June. New Zealand’s conservative government has introduced a new bill to dismantle an agency set up to improve health outcomes for the Pacific nation’s Maori people. Health Minister Shane Reti said on Tuesday the Maori Health Authority will be shut down by the end of June and that its functions will be absorbed by the national health system. The legislation heralds the “start of a new vision for Maori health”, he said. The Maori Health Authority, or Te Aka Whai Ora, was established in 2022 to improve the health outcomes of Maori, who make up 17 percent of New Zealand’s population and have higher levels of deprivation and imprisonment and worse health outcomes than the broader population. The move was recommended by a permanent commission, known as the Waitangi Tribunal, which has been hearing claims from Maori since the 1970s and suggesting redress where necessary. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s centre-right coalition, which took office in October, has promised to undo policies of the previous Labour government, particularly those promoting the official use of the Maori language and seeking to enhance Indigenous living standards and rights. Luxon says his policies are aimed at giving all New Zealanders equal rights. Reti, the health minister, said transferring the Maori Health Authority’s roles into the public health system means the health system keeps the expertise it needs to improve health outcomes for all New Zealanders including Maori. “The narrow focus on disestablishment doesn’t mean an end to our focus on Maori health for those who need it,” he said, pledging to work with Maori health groups to “chart a new direction for Maori health”. Indigenous groups, however, say the dismantling of the Maori Health Authority undermines their rights. Jacqui Harema, chief executive of the largest Maori public health entity Hapa to Hauora, said Maori knew better how to look after their own people and to improve their outcomes and for the Maori Health Authority to be disestablished was alarming. “Maori know what is best for them. They need to be able to be funded to be able to resource solutions that are grounded in our own world view for our own people,” she said. For example, when Maori heath providers were funded to deliver COVID-19 vaccines they were more successful at reaching their population, she said. That was because they worked with families and had vaccine providers who were known in communities. The government’s decision came despite nationwide protests and legal action. A claim has been lodged with the Waitangi Tribunal over the plan to close the Maori Health Authority but the closure will be official before the tribunal hears the claim. Adblock test (Why?)
Canada unveils law to force tech firms to remove ‘harmful’ content online
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says web giants have failed to keep kids safe online. Canada has unveiled draft legislation that would force tech platforms to quickly remove online content deemed harmful, including material that sexualises children and foments hate. The Online Harms Act, introduced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government on Monday, would make tech companies responsible for tackling seven categories of harmful content and increase criminal penalties for spreading hate online. Under the legislation, Canadians would be able to request the removal of content within 24 hours, subject to a review process, and file complaints against people spreading hateful speech at a human rights tribunal. The seven categories of harm defined in the bill are intimate content communicated without consent; content that foments hatred; content that incites violent extremism or terrorism; content that incites violence; content used to bully a child; and content that induces a child to harm themselves. The legislation would establish a new digital safety commission to enforce the standards, which also include requiring platforms to introduce features to protect children such as parental controls and safe search settings. Trudeau said the legislation would hold tech companies accountable for harmful content they host and make online spaces safer. “For too long, web giants have failed to keep kids safe online,” he said. “Far too often, this has had devastating consequences.” In a statement, the government said it respected Canadians’ freedom of expression but everyone should be able to access an online environment “where they can express themselves freely, without fearing for their safety or their life”. There was also an “urgent need for better safeguards for social media users, particularly children”, it said. The bill will be examined by a parliamentary committee and then go to the Senate for possible revisions before it can become law. The government’s proposals have generated fierce opposition from conservatives. Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, who has accused Trudeau of being “woke” and “authoritarian”, said last week that the government’s plans would infringe on Canadians’ freedom of expression. “What does Justin Trudeau mean when he says… the word hate speech?” Poilievre said in remarks aired by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. “He means speech he hates.” Canada’s proposals follow similar legislation in other Western countries, including the United Kingdom’s Online Safety Law, the European Union’s Digital Services Act and content moderation laws in the United States states of Florida and Texas. Adblock test (Why?)