Israel bombards Gaza’s Rafah as ground offensive looms
The Israeli military has launched air raids on Rafah in southern Gaza after warning of an imminent ground offensive in the border city where an estimated 1.4 million Palestinians have sought shelter since fleeing attacks across the enclave. More than four months of relentless attacks by land, air and sea have flattened much of the Gaza Strip, pushing its population of 2.3 million to the brink of famine, according to the United Nations. International concern has in recent weeks centred on Rafah, where a ground invasion could displace hundreds of thousands of Palestinians across the frontier with Egypt. The last city untouched by Israeli ground troops, Rafah also serves as the main entry point of humanitarian aid via neighbouring Egypt for desperately needed relief supplies. Israel has warned it will expand its ground operations into Rafah if Palestinian armed group Hamas does not free the remaining captives held in Gaza by the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in March. The Ministry of Health in Gaza said on Thursday that 99 people had been killed across the strip overnight, most of them women, children and elderly people. The death toll from Israel’s war on Gaza has increased to 29,410 since October 7, the ministry said, adding that at least 69,465 people have been wounded. Brett McGurk, the White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, was expected to arrive in Israel on Thursday – his second stop in the region after Egypt as part of efforts by the United States to advance a deal that would see the captives exchanged for Palestinian prisoners and to broker a truce. Matthew Miller, spokesperson of the US Department of State, said Washington was hoping for an “agreement that secures a temporary ceasefire where we can get the hostages out and get humanitarian assistance”, but declined to give details on the ongoing negotiations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted the army will keep fighting until it has destroyed Hamas and freed the remaining captives. Adblock test (Why?)
‘They could have done more’: Zimbabweans slam gov’t anti-cholera campaign
Harare, Zimbabwe – When Priscilla Moyo’s husband Brian returned home to Harare from Mvurwi, about 100km north of the capital on Sunday night, he seemed well. By 11pm, he was battling diarrhoea. When his situation was still the same on Tuesday morning, 39-year-old Moyo took him to a nearby clinic in Budiriro, the city suburb where they live. On arrival, she was told that her husband had cholera. “He is being treated right now in there,” she said dejectedly pointing in the direction of a grey tent, a makeshift treatment ward at the clinic. “He is on an intravenous drip and they say he might go home today.” Across Zimbabwe’s 10 provinces, a deluge of cases of cholera infections is crippling health facilities in the Southern African country. Some patients like Brian, have recovered. Others have not been as lucky. Jessica Muzambezi, a young mother in the same suburb, lost her two-year-old son to cholera. “A burst sewer in my area caused the death of my son. The authorities did not attend to the sewer for two weeks,” she told Al Jazeera. As of Tuesday, 25,780 cases of cholera have been recorded in Zimbabwe since the epidemic began last year. While the official government death toll stands at 470, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which is coordinating the mobilisation of resources for the anti-cholera campaign in conjunction with Zimbabwean authorities, put the number at 528. Children remain the most vulnerable, with a third of all cases affecting youngsters aged 15 and below. And many Zimbabweans say the government is to blame. A persistent problem Zimbabwe’s sewage system, part of its inherited colonial infrastructure, has been overwhelmed as the population grew from about 3.7 million in 1960 to 17 million today. And potable water remains unavailable in many parts of the country, as the struggling economy is yet to update that infrastructure. That, experts say, has made it easy for cholera, an infectious disease primarily transmitted through contaminated water or food, to spread rapidly. In 2008, as many as 4,000 people died from cholera in the country during what is regarded as one of the worst episodes of the epidemic on the continent. Then, like now, the public health crisis was caused by poor sanitation and a lack of clean water. It was worsened by a crumbling healthcare system that deteriorated as the world’s worst hyperinflation crisis – peaking at 79.6 billion percent on a month-to-month basis – surged in Zimbabwe, rendering the local currency useless. The government of then-president Robert Mugabe blamed Western governments for the disease outbreak. Senior officials in his administration said the cholera epidemic was the outcome of a “serious biological chemical war” and a “calculated racist terrorist attack” being waged against Zimbabweans. More than 15 years later, the city is facing another public health crisis, with the capital being the hot spot again. While infections are rising nationwide, Harare, the country’s most populous province, has the highest concentration of new cases, accounting for a third of the total. A quick drive around southern suburbs of the city like Budiriro, Glen View, and Highfield reveals dozens of tents donated by the World Health Organization (WHO) being manned by local health professionals. Zimbabwean authorities have also been distributing vaccines to minimise the impact of the epidemic. The country has received 97 per cent of the 2.3 million doses approved by the International Coordinating Group on Vaccine Provision( ICG) as of February 12, with more to come later in the month. According to UNICEF, 1.5 million people (67 percent of the target population) had received an oral cholera vaccine (OCV) dose as of February 14. In January, the health ministry launched Operation Chenesa Harare – a campaign named after the Shona word for “clean up” – after residents resorted to using undesignated dumping sites to cope with piling rubbish. Some say the garbage was left to pile up in the first place because not enough resources had been allocated on time. ‘It’s only fiction’ But there are fears that the mitigation efforts are coming too late and just as importantly, do not tackle the root of the problem. Some experts and activists also argue that the authorities have yet to learn lessons from the past. Joyleen Nyachuru, a resident of Glen View and a community water alliance leader, is one of them. She blames local and central governments for the latest epidemic. “They could have done more to minimise the impact of cholera on residents by coming together to contain raw sewer leaks and should have worked together to upgrade the old sewer infrastructure that continues to break down,” Nyachuru told Al Jazeera. “In Glen View, we have 12,800 houses and each house has four to five households. This means each house houses 15 to 20 people using the same house and the same toilet,” she said, adding that the authorities need to provide clean potable water to every resident of the city to curb cholera. For years, the city has not pumped water to many Harare households. Now, water flows through the taps once a week in most southern suburbs. Rubbish is still a common presence on street corners in the city despite government intervention. This, according to Nyachuru, has also compounded the cholera situation. Precious Shumba, director of the nonprofit Harare Residents’ Trust agrees. “The major problem is that underground water and sewerage pipes are aged and sand blocked, resulting in numerous leakages along the water and sewerage infrastructure network,” Shumba told Al Jazeera, adding that sewer bursts in industrial areas of the city also stay unfixed for long periods. But Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume said in addition to the vaccination programme, city authorities have intensified sewer repairs and are working on improving potable water supply to the city. Things would change for the better soon, he told Al Jazeera. “The numbers have gone down significantly and we are confident we will turn the cholera tide,” Mafume said. But his comments have not pacified most residents
Israeli siege turns Gaza’s Nasser Hospital into ‘a place of death’
Officials from the United Nations who conducted evacuation missions from Gaza’s Nasser Hospital have described “appalling” conditions at the enclave’s second-largest medical facility, saying an Israeli military operation there has transformed a “place of healing” into a “place of death”. The comments, in videos posted online on Wednesday, came amid growing concern for the dozens of patients and staff who remain trapped inside the hospital amid intensified Israeli bombardment of the area. The hospital, in Gaza’s Khan Younis city, stopped functioning last week after a week-long Israeli siege followed by a raid, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The global health agency, along with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS), has so far managed to evacuate some 32 critical patients, including injured children and those with paralysis. Jonathan Whittal, an OCHA official who took part in the evacuation missions on February 18 and 19, said patients at the hospital were in a “desperate situation” and were trapped without food, water and electricity. “The conditions are appalling. There are dead bodies in the corridors,” he said. “This has become a place of death, not a place of healing.” The rescue mission has previously said they had to navigate through pitch-black corridors with flashlights to find patients against a backdrop of gunfire. They had to arrive on foot because a deep, muddy ditch near the hospital has made roads near the site impassable. “You can think about the worst situation ever. You multiply that by 10 and this is the worst situation I have seen in my life,” said Julio Martinez, a WHO staff. “It’s the debris, it’s the light – working in the darkness. Patients everywhere.” According to Palestinian health authorities, at least eight patients have already died at the facility, mostly due to fuel a lack of fuel and oxygen. They say the lives of those remaining were directly threatened and accused Israeli forces of effectively converting the site into “military barracks”. Chris Black, a WHO communications officer, said the entire neighbourhood around the hospital has been “damaged and destroyed”. “The hospital itself has no electricity, has no food, has no water,” he added. The WHO said some 130 severely injured patients and 15 medics remain at the site. Despite the desperate situation, doctors and nurses at the hospital were pleading not for evacuation, but for the functions of the hospital to be restored, according to a former colleague of theirs. “The last week has been miserable. It’s been a nightmare [for workers in the hospital]. The things they’re seeing are traumatising and they’re asking for some sort of help,” said Dr Thaer Ahmad, a United States-based emergency physician who spent several weeks volunteering at the Nasser Hospital in January. “They’re asking, actually, not to be evacuated from the hospital but for the hospital to function. For the lights to be turned back on, for the medicine they need to treat the patients that remain,” he said. “I spoke to one of the last surgeons remaining there, who sent a message to a group of physicians here in the US, and he asked us to advocate for the patients who are there. He told us, ‘I’m staring at patients, and they need my help, they need my care, and there’s nothing that I can do’,” added Ahmad. The WHO said it was continuing efforts to evacuate further patients. The agency, in a statement earlier this week, described the dismantling and degradation of the Nasser Hospital – the latest medical facility to become a theatre of war in the conflict between Israel and Hamas – as a “massive blow” to Gaza’s health system. It said the remaining facilities in the south were “already operating well beyond maximum capacity” and barely able to receive additional patients. According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, at least 29,092 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed in Israeli assaults since October 7, when Hamas launched a surprise attack inside southern Israel. Some 1,139 people were killed in the Hamas attacks in Israel. Adblock test (Why?)
At least 23 dead after open-pit gold mine collapses in Venezuela
Rescuers retrieve 23 bodies after a wall of earth collapses upon workers at an illegally operated mine in Bolivar state. At least 23 people have died in central Venezuela after a wall of earth collapsed at an illegally operated gold mine while dozens of people were at work. Yorgi Arciniega, a local official, told the AFP news agency on Wednesday that about 23 bodies had been recovered from the open-pit mine known as Bulla Loca in the jungles of the state of Bolivar. The accident happened on Tuesday. Deputy Minister of Civil Protection Carlos Perez Ampueda published a video of the incident on X, and referred to “a massive” toll, though he provided no numbers. The video showed a wall of earth slowly collapsing upon people at work in the shallow waters of an open-pit mine. Some managed to flee while others were engulfed. Some 200 people were thought to have been working in the mine, which is a seven-hour boat ride from the nearest town, La Paragua, according to officials. #21Feb | Cumpliendo instrucciones del Vicepdte. Sectorial AJ. @ceballosichaso1 y en coordinación con el Gob. del Edo. Bolívar Ángel Marcano, funcionarios del SNGR junto a Organismos de Seguridad ciudadana y efectivos de la ZODI Bolívar, realizan Operaciones de Salvamento… pic.twitter.com/6FWE5SiE22 — cperezampueda (@cperezampueda) February 21, 2024 Edgar Colina Reyes, the Bolivar state’s secretary of citizen security, said the injured were being transported to a hospital in the regional capital Ciudad Bolivar, four hours from La Paragua, which lies 750 kilometres (460 miles) southeast of the capital Caracas. In La Paragua, desolate relatives waited on the shores for news of the miners. “My brother, my brother, my brother,” cried one as he saw a body being taken off a boat. “We ask that they support us with helicopters to remove the injured,” a woman waiting for news on her brother-in-law – a father of three – told AFP. Reyes said the military, firefighters and other organisations were “moving to the area by air” to evaluate the situation. Rescue teams were also being flown in from Caracas to aid in the search, he said. The Bolivar region is rich in gold, diamonds, iron, bauxite, quartz and coltan. Aside from state mines, there is also a booming industry of illegal extraction. “This was bound to happen,” resident Robinson Basanta told AFP of the unsafe working conditions of the miners, most of whom live in extreme poverty. “This mine has yielded a lot of gold … People go there out of necessity, to make ends meet,” he said. In December last year, at least 12 people were killed when a mine in the Indigenous community of Ikabaru, in the same region, collapsed. Adblock test (Why?)
US congressman Andy Ogles stirs outrage with Gaza comment: ‘Kill them all’
Muslims, Democrats and social media users expressed their displeasure on Wednesday with remarks made by Republican Representative Andy Ogles of Tennessee, who responded to an activist’s question about the deaths of Palestinian children in Gaza by asserting that “we should kill ‘em all”. In a statement released Wednesday, the American Muslim Advisory Council (AMAC) “unequivocally” denounced Ogles and wrote that his remarks were tantamount to advocating for “the extermination of the Palestinian people”. Noting an increase in anti-Muslim attacks across Tennessee since Israel began its indiscriminate bombing and blockade of Gaza in October, AMAC wrote: “Such rhetoric is not only abhorrent but also antithetical to our values as a state. It is such rhetoric that has continued to foster a political climate where extremist ideologies flourish, empowering neo-Nazis to openly parade through our streets and allowing genocidal sentiments to go unchallenged. This cannot be tolerated any longer. As citizens of Tennessee, we deserve better representation from those elected to office.” On the social media platform known as X, the opprobrium directed at Ogles was even worse, with one user writing Wednesday: “Name em and shame em! Say hi to Andrew ‘I think we should kill em all’ Ogles. This extraordinary piece of feces is a USA congressman.” Another user, posting as Saira Rao, wrote: “Andrew Ogles, a sitting member of Congress, says the quiet part out loud. ‘I think we should kill ‘em all.’ He states WE [America] are responsible for killing all Palestinians [genocide]. Congress + Biden + Entire Cabinet are ALL WAR CRIMINALS Palestine will be free.” Noting that Palestinians are also Semitic people, Susan Jones posted on X: “‘I think we should kill ‘em all.’ @AndrewOgles #SenatorofTennessee Has NO Shame in his admission of #USIsraeliINTENT to commit #USIsraeliGenocide of #IndigenousSEMITICPalestinians and the IRONY is completely lost on the ignorant that #KillingPalestiniansISANTISEMITISM!!!” Ogles’s comments were in response to a pro-Palestinian activist who peppered him with questions as the two walked through a corridor in the United States Capitol. “I’ve seen the footage of shredded children’s bodies,” the activist told Ogles. “That’s my taxpayer dollars that are going to bomb those kids.” Ogles responded bluntly: “You know what? So, I think we should kill ’em all if that makes you feel better. Hamas and the Palestinians have been attacking Israel for 20 years. It’s time to pay the piper.” Finally, Ogles turned towards a camera and uttered a final comment before walking away: “Death to Hamas!” In an email to the congressman’s hometown newspaper, The Tennessean, Ogles’s spokesperson Emma Settle wrote: “The Congressman was not referring to Palestinians, he was clearly referring to the Hamas terrorist group.” They cant even fake it anymore. #AndrewOgles you are a war criminal #SaveRafah https://t.co/Q4NW6koKwo — Lea (@LeaOrtizRivera) February 20, 2024 The exchange between Ogles and the activist occurred on February 15, but video footage of Ogles’s remarks was posted to social media hours after the administration of President Joe Biden vetoed a ceasefire resolution at the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday, representing the third time since Israel’s assault began that the US has voted against a suspension of hostilities in Gaza. A first-term congressman, Ogles represents Tennessee’s gerrymandered 5th district, which was created in 2022 to favour Republican candidates and includes a swath of the state capital of Nashville. Hours before the US exercised its veto, a spokesman for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned that Gaza is “poised to witness an explosion in preventable child deaths” as malnutrition and disease spread rapidly across the enclave. Israeli forces have killed more than 12,400 children in Gaza since October 7, according to Palestinian health authorities. More than 600,000 children are currently trapped in the city of Rafah on the Egyptian border, with Israeli forces preparing to invade. Additionally, officials with the charity organisation Save the Children say that nearly 10 Palestinian children in Gaza per day have lost one or both of their legs since October. “After four months of relentless violence, we are running out of words to describe what children and families in Gaza are going through, as well as the tools to respond in any adequate way,” Jason Lee, Save the Children’s country director for the occupied Palestinian territory, said in a statement Tuesday. “The scale of death and destruction is astronomical.” “Children are being failed by the adults who should be protecting them,” Lee added. “It’s beyond time for the adults in the room to step up their responsibilities and legal obligations to children caught up in a conflict they played no part in, who just want to be able to live.” A Nashville Metro Council member, Zulfat Suara, told The Tennessean that she learned about Ogles’s comments while at a council meeting Tuesday night. Coincidentally, on the agenda that evening was a resolution condemning the public display of Nazi symbols, chants and hate speech in downtown Nashville during a rally last weekend. Born in Nigeria, Suara, a Democrat, is the first Muslim person elected to the metropolitan government of Nashville and Davidson County. She said that rhetoric like Ogles’s encourages people “to march and preach hate”. She told The Tennessean: “In the conflict overseas, I have been very mindful of what I say and how I say it because I want to make sure that my Jewish friends are not hurt in what I say and to make sure that my Palestinian families are taken care of. But when legislators at the federal level and the state level continue to demonize people, continue to only look at one side and not the other, that’s the result that we see on the streets. And I hope that we will continue to do better. “This otherization, this demonization, this ‘Kill them all’ is only breaking us apart.” Adblock test (Why?)
Head of Boeing 737 MAX programme out amid safety concerns at planemaker
Ed Clark oversaw the Renton factory where the Alaska Airlines plane involved in blowout was completed. The head of Boeing’s troubled 737 MAX programme has left the planemaker, according to a company memo, amid scrutiny around production and safety measures following a mid-air blowout on a plane last month. The company also reshuffled its leadership team at the Commercial Airplanes division, according to the memo sent to staff by Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA) CEO Stan Deal and first reported by the Seattle Times on Wednesday. Ed Clark, an 18-year Boeing veteran who was vice president of the MAX programme, will leave the company, the memo said. The Seattle Times reported that he had been pushed out. Clark is being replaced by Katie Ringgold as vice president and general manager, according to the memo. Boeing has been scrambling to explain and strengthen its safety procedures after the January accident on a brand new Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9, in which a cabin panel became detached and flew off in midair. Clark was general manager at the company’s factory in Renton, Washington, where the plane involved in the accident was completed. In the memo, Deal said the leadership changes were intended to drive BCA’s “enhanced focus on ensuring that every airplane we deliver meets or exceeds all quality and safety requirements”, The Seattle Times reported. The leadership changes come in advance of Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun’s planned meeting with US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) Administrator Mike Whitaker next week after the regulator travelled to Renton to tour the Boeing 737 plant. The FAA grounded the MAX 9 for several weeks in January and has capped Boeing’s production of the MAX while it audits the planemaker’s manufacturing process. The door panel that flew off the jet appeared to be missing four key bolts, according to a preliminary report from the US National Safety Transportation Board in early February. According to the report, the door plug in question was removed to repair rivet damage, but the NTSB has not found evidence the bolts were re-installed. The panel is a plug on some 737 MAX 9s instead of an additional emergency exit. This is the second crisis involving Boeing in recent years, after two crashes of MAX planes that killed 346 people. Adblock test (Why?)
Zelenskyy invites Poland’s leaders to border to resolve farmers’ protests
Polish farmers have been protesting Ukrainian food imports, angry at what they say is unfair competition. Ukraine’s president has invited Polish leaders to meet him at their shared border to resolve a blockade by Polish farmers protesting Ukrainian food imports. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media on Wednesday that he hoped the proposed border meeting for him, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and a European Union representative could happen before the two-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Saturday, February 24. “This is national security,” Zelenskyy said. “I am ready to be at the border with our government.” “We have had enough misunderstanding. We should not humiliate each other; we should not humiliate either Ukrainian or Polish farmers. We need unity. We need solutions – between us, Ukraine and Poland, and at the level of the whole of Europe,” Zelenskyy said in a statement. There was no immediate reaction from the Polish government. Zelenskyy added that Ukraine could not accept the appearance of slogans supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin at the protests, after one such banner was displayed on Tuesday. Earlier, Polish authorities voiced concern over the slogans praising Putin and his war against Ukraine. Poland, a member of NATO and the European Union, has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion, accepting unlimited numbers of refugees and providing Ukraine with weaponry. Poles, with past oppression by Moscow rooted deeply in generational memory, are largely supportive of Ukraine. But tensions have been growing as Polish farmers blame imports of Ukrainian grain and other food for pushing down prices and harming their livelihoods. Polish farmers are among farmers across Europe who have been protesting competition from Ukraine as well as EU environmental policies, which they say will increase their production costs. On Tuesday they staged a major day of protest, blocking almost all traffic on the border with Ukraine, angering Kyiv, in an escalation from previous demonstrations. ‘Under the influence of Russian agents’ Earlier Wednesday, Poland’s Foreign Ministry said it believed that extreme groups were trying to take over the protest movement “perhaps under the influence of Russian agents”. It noted “with the greatest concern the appearance of anti-Ukrainian slogans and slogans praising Vladimir Putin and the war he is waging”. On Tuesday, a tractor at a protest in the southern Polish region of Silesia carried a Soviet flag and a banner that said: “Putin, put things in order with Ukraine, Brussels, and our rulers.” A photograph was published by the Gazeta Wyborcza daily. Poland’s Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski called the banner “scandalous” and said it was immediately secured by police, and prosecutors were investigating. “There will be no consent to such criminal activities,” he said. The public promotion of a totalitarian system can be punished with up to three years in prison under Polish law. The Foreign Ministry called on protest organisers “to identify and eliminate from their movement” the initiators, arguing it was necessary for Poland’s interest. “The current situation of Polish farmers is the result of Vladimir Putin’s aggression against Ukraine and the disruption of the global economy, not because Ukrainians are defending themselves against the aggression,” the ministry said. Polish farmers blocked eight major roads on Wednesday. Police said protests continued at border crossings to Ukraine in Medyka and Korczowa, but passenger traffic was smooth and some trucks were also being let through. Adblock test (Why?)
UK parliament speaker gives Labour Gaza ceasefire vote reprieve
The UK’s House of Commons has descended into chaos as the government and the Scottish National Party (SNP) condemned Speaker Lindsay Hoyle for his handling of a key vote on support for a ceasefire in Gaza. SNP members of parliament (MPs) and some Conservatives walked out of the chamber on Wednesday in an apparent protest at the speaker’s actions as the debate reached its conclusion. Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt claimed Hoyle had “hijacked” the debate and “undermined the confidence” of the House in its longstanding rules by allowing MPs to vote on a Labour amendment to an SNP motion calling for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza and Israel. The initial SNP motion also called for an end to the “collective punishment of the Palestinian people” by Israel. But Labour’s motion included language that caveated calls for a ceasefire by noting that “Israel cannot be expected to cease fighting if Hamas continues with violence”. It had been expected that Hoyle would prioritise a government amendment to the SNP motion, which sought an “immediate humanitarian pause” – and not a ceasefire – to Israel’s war on Gaza. However, by instead prioritising the opposition Labour Party’s rival motion, Hoyle was accused of breaking precedent. More importantly, the decision allowed Labour to avoid a potentially damaging split over the SNP motion, with some Labour MPs willing to support it, but party leadership telling its parliamentarians not to vote for it without the Labour amendment. The number of Labour MPs willing to vote against the directive from party leader Keir Starmer would likely have led to the biggest revolt against his leadership since he became leader of the opposition in 2020. Instead, by bringing the Labour motion forward, Hoyle gave potential rebels the opportunity to support their party leadership instead of the SNP, while still backing a ceasefire – even if the motion’s language was less blunt than the Scottish party’s. Israel’s assault on Gaza has led to a damaging split within Labour ahead of what many observers believe will be a return to power for the party in the next UK general elections, which must be held before the end of January next year. Much of the party’s traditional voter base, and previous leader Jeremy Corbyn, are vocal supporters of the Palestinian cause. But, with Starmer attempting to move away from Corbyn’s legacy, the man regarded as prime minister in waiting has avoided heavy criticism of Israel and has been accused of ignoring the plight of the Palestinians. This is an absolute disgrace. Labour and the government have managed to turn what should have been a solemn vote on ending the killing in Gaza into a spectacle. They should be completely ashamed. — Rohan Talbot (@rohantalbot) February 21, 2024 Speaker denies accusations SNP MPs were understood to have headed to the voting lobby after the walkout from the chamber. Ian Blackford, an SNP MP, told Al Jazeera that the day’s events in parliament had distracted from events in Gaza and made the eventual vote less impactful. “[The Labour Party] came up with this proposition that allowed them to have a vote, and the purpose of that – particularly when the government party [the Conservatives] wouldn’t participate in it – meant that our meaningful vote … wasn’t taken,” Blackford said. “I regret that tonight we’re having to discuss this, rather than discuss the need of protecting the people in Gaza that need that ceasefire to take place.” One Conservative MP, William Wragg, has brought forward a parliamentary motion expressing no confidence in the speaker, a sign of the anger of some parliamentarians at what is perceived to be a deviation from the speaker’s traditionally neutral role. Hoyle returned to the House of Commons later in the evening and apologised. “I have tried to do what I thought was the right thing for all sides of this House,” Hoyle said. “It is regrettable, and I apologise, that the decision didn’t end up in the place that I wished.” According to Al Jazeera’s Harry Fawcett, reporting from London, Hoyle denied favouring “one set of politicians over the other”. “It has ended in this real farce,” Fawcett added. “The Labour amendment [went] through because no Conservatives took part in the vote. The SNP motion, which began the whole story, was not voted on at all; the SNP and Conservatives are furious.” “Keir Starmer [and] his Labour Party have kind of gotten out of a sticky mess, but it leaves parliament looking extremely compromised. What was a serious debate about this crucial issue about civilian life in Gaza has ended in this procedural nightmare.” Adblock test (Why?)
Why has the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that embryos are ‘children’?
The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law, a decision that has drawn criticism from the White House and the top US infertility association. Here is more about last week’s ruling and its implications for fertility treatment in Alabama. What has the Alabama court ruled about embryos? Three couples filed a lawsuit against a fertility clinic after their frozen embryos for in vitro fertilisation (IVF) were destroyed. The embryos, stored in a cryogenic nursery, were destroyed by a patient who wandered into the nursery and accidentally dropped several of them on the floor. A lower court ruled the embryos could not be defined as people or children and dismissed the wrongful death claim. However, in a 7-2 ruling, the all-Republican Alabama Supreme Court disagreed. Citing Bible verses and an 1872 state law called the Wrongful Death of a Minor Act, Justice Jay Mitchell declared parents may sue over the death of a child regardless of whether the child is born or unborn. Mitchell said the court had previously ruled that fetuses killed while a woman is pregnant are covered under the same act and nothing excludes “extrauterine children from the act’s coverage”. What are frozen embryos? IVF is an assisted reproduction method in which eggs are removed from the ovaries and fertilised with sperm outside the body. The resulting embryos can be frozen through a process called cryopreservation and then saved for later use. The embryos can be placed in a woman’s uterus to cause pregnancy. This treatment method is used by couples who have been unable to conceive due to health issues in either the male or female partner. The 14th Amendment to the US Constitution says a person is a citizen when they are born. This implies an unborn fetus does not have the same rights as a citizen. In the 1970s, lawyers representing Texas in the landmark Roe v Wade abortion case before the US Supreme Court argued that a fetus is a person, entitled to the rights detailed under the 14th Amendment. In 1973, the court ruled that Texas was wrong and the constitution protected a right to abortion. However, when Roe v Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2022, many states quickly introduced laws to ban abortion. Not all these abortion laws establish fetal personhood or the idea that fetuses have the same rights as fully developed, born children. Many also do not specify if an embryo, which does not develop into a fetus until the end of the 10th week of pregnancy, is included in this. Now, it seems, Alabama has decided it should be. What are critics of the ruling saying? The Alabama ruling is “a cause of great concern for anyone that cares about people’s reproductive rights and abortion care”, said Dana Sussman, deputy executive director of Pregnancy Justice, an advocacy organisation for reproductive rights. She called the decision a “natural extension of the march toward fetal personhood”. The Medical Association of the State of Alabama warned in a brief to the court of the possible detrimental impact of the ruling on IVF treatment in Alabama. The ruling could possibly substantially increase the costs associated with IVF, it explained. The fear of being sued may result in Alabama’s fertility clinics closing and fertility specialists moving to other states, potentially making fertility treatments such as IVF inaccessible to people in Alabama. Could this ruling have an impact on reproductive healthcare in Alabama? The ruling could potentially impact fertility treatments and the freezing of embryos, which had previously been considered property by the courts. “This ruling is stating that a fertilised egg, which is a clump of cells, is now a person. It really puts into question the practice of IVF,” Barbara Collura, CEO of Resolve: The National Infertility Association, told The Associated Press. In a statement, Resolve described the decision as a “terrifying development for the 1-in-6 people impacted by infertility” who could be helped by in vitro fertilisation. As an immediate result of the ruling, at least one Alabama fertility clinic has been instructed by their affiliated hospital to pause IVF treatment, according to Sean Tipton, a spokesman for the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Dr Paula Amato, president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, said a decision to treat frozen fertilised eggs as the legal equivalent of a child or gestating fetus could limit the availability of modern health care. “No healthcare provider will be willing to provide treatments if those treatments may lead to civil or criminal charges,” Amato said. “Without IVF, I would have to probably go through several more miscarriages before I even had an option of having a baby that is my own,” said 26-year-old Gabby Goidel, who had been pursuing IVF treatment in Alabama. What is the ethical case? While some Americans believe that embryos are children, many researchers, scientists, doctors and academics do not agree. Ethics studies assert that what makes us human is our brain, which gives us consciousness. “The fertilised egg is a clump of cells with no brain,” wrote Michael S Gazzaniga, a cognitive neuroscience professor at Dartmouth College, in his book The Ethical Brain. Gazzaniga added that no sustainable or complex nervous system is in place until about six months of gestation. Jonathan Crane, a professor of bioethics and Jewish thought at the Center for Ethics at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, said in an interview with an Ohio publication in 2018 that embryos are not equivalent to humans and can develop into fetuses only inside the uterus. How have reproductive healthcare laws affected other states? After Roe v Wade was overturned, 24 US states had enacted laws designed to ban all or nearly all abortions by January 2023. In North Dakota and Wisconsin, abortion is not available at all, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a global research organisation for reproductive rights. While the overturning of Roe v Wade brought a storm of abortion bans across the US, it
Israeli parliament backs Netanyahu’s rejection of a Palestinian state
Lawmakers vote to support PM’s rejection of any ‘unilateral’ recognition of a Palestinian state. Israeli lawmakers have voted to back Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rejection of any “unilateral” recognition of a Palestinian state as international calls have grown for the revival of Palestinian statehood negotiations. Wednesday’s symbolic declaration, issued during Israel’s war on Gaza, also received backing from members of the opposition with 99 of 120 lawmakers voting in support, a Knesset spokesperson said. The Israeli position is that any permanent accord with the Palestinians must be reached through direct negotiations between the two sides and not by international dictates. That is despite Netanyahu openly stating his opposition to a Palestinian state, and presenting himself to the Israeli public as a bulwark against any such state. No talks on Palestinian statehood talks have been held since 2014, when Israel refused to accept a state encompassing all of the Palestinian territory illegally occupied by Israel. “The Knesset came together in an overwhelming majority against the attempt to impose on us the establishment of a Palestinian state, which would not only fail to bring peace but would endanger the state of Israel,” Netanyahu said. The vote was condemned by the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, which accused Israel of holding the rights of the Palestinian people hostage by occupation of territories where Palestinians seek to establish a state. “The ministry reaffirms that the State of Palestine’s full membership in the United Nations and its recognition by other nations does not require permission from Netanyahu,” it said in a statement. Willem Marx, reporting from occupied East Jerusalem, said that over the past few weeks, there have been calls from senior figures worldwide for Palestinian statehood to be recognised as part of any long-term agreement to bring the current bloodshed to an end. “What we saw just a few days ago from Israel’s cabinet was a vote that was symbolic, saying that they would reject the establishment, the recognition of a Palestinian state if it was forced upon Israel from outside of Israel,” Marx said, referring to the international pressure on Israel to end its illegal occupation of Palestinian territory and agree to a two-state solution. “In terms of the symbolism [regarding Wednesday’s parliamentary vote], this was designed as a message from Netanyahu, as he made clear, to send to the world that Israelis are united on this specific issue of Palestinian statehood being imposed upon them by external powers.” Little progress has been made towards achieving a two-state solution – establishing a Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank and in Gaza alongside Israel – since the signing of the interim Oslo Accords in the early 1990s. Among the obstacles impeding Palestinian statehood are expanding illegal Israeli settlements in territories Israel captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. The settlements, which in many areas cut Palestinian communities off from each other, are regarded as a violation of international law. The two-state solution has long been a core Western policy in the region. Since the outbreak in October of the latest Gaza war, the United States has been trying to promote steps towards the creation of a Palestinian state as part of a broader Middle East deal that would include Saudi Arabia and other Arab states officially normalising relations with Israel. However, many critics point out that Israel’s actions towards Palestinians – most notably the expansion of the settlements – has made any prospect of a sovereign Palestinian state impossible and a one-state future, whether that be a continuation of the occupation or a state with equal rights for all, more of a reality. Adblock test (Why?)