Israel vs UNRWA: Deflection and deception
Israeli intelligence accuses a UN refugee agency of collusion with Hamas – and the media take it at face value. Israel has for years been claiming that the United Nations refugee agency (UNRWA) is in cahoots with Hamas. The latest allegations – which coincided with the International Court of Justice’s order for Israel to prevent genocide – bear the hallmarks of a distraction tactic. So far, the media have taken the bait. Contributors:Diana Buttu – Palestinian lawyerTal Mimran – Former Israeli government adviserAbdaljawad Omar – Academic, Birzeit UniversityKenneth Roth – Former executive director, Human Rights Watch On our radar Last month, a New York Times investigation carried Israeli allegations of sexual violence by Hamas during its October 7 attacks. Meenakshi Ravi explains why that story is being called into question. Germany’s ‘Palestine exception’ to free speech Historical guilt and the stifling of pro-Palestinian dissent in Germany. Contributors:Hebh Jamal – Palestinian journalistHanno Hauenstein – Journalist and former editor, Berliner ZeitungWieland Hoban – Chair, Jewish Voice for Peace Adblock test (Why?)
Myanmar’s rebels see unity as key to victory over weakened military rulers
Karen State, Myanmar – A young fighter looks out from the upper floor in a concrete skeleton of a church that villagers have been building for two years in this small pocket of southeast Myanmar. The construction work has been a slow undertaking, said 21-year-old Zayar, a member of Myanmar’s Muslim community who moved from the country’s biggest city, Yangon, to this rebel camp near the Thai border to fight against his country’s military rulers. Air strikes by military warplanes are a constant threat in this hamlet in Karen State – also known as Kayin – where jobs are scarce and money is tight. But, little by little, the ethnic Karen here were able to build their church. “Before, we thought the Karen people were dacoits [bandits],” said Zayar, who joined the rebellion against Myanmar’s military just last year. “Now people understand the real situation,” he told Al Jazeera. Zayar’s opinion of the Karen – one of Myanmar’s largest minorities – was shaped by disparaging depictions and stereotypes circulated under the country’s military generals, who primarily hail from the ethnic Bamar majority and have violently suppressed the aspirations of Myanmar’s diverse ethnic groups for decades. Zayar, a fighter with the KTLA in Karen State, Myanmar, in December 2023 [Lorcan Lovett/Al Jazeera] The Myanmar military’s attempts to pressure the country’s minorities into submission – stretching as far back as the 1940s – fuelled one of the longest-running conflicts in the world. Now as military leaders mark their third year since seizing power in Myanmar, an uprising that melds the decades-old ethnic struggles for self-determination with the more recent armed fight to restore democracy has enveloped much of the nation. In October, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), based in the Mandarin-speaking region of Kokang on the border with China, along with two other powerful ethnic armed groups, as well as Bamar fighters, launched their offensive against the military. The collaboration – known as the Three Brotherhood Alliance – has scored unprecedented victories against Myanmar’s military, which toppled Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government in February 2021. Resistance to the country’s military rulers is now a broad church and confidence in the movement and its campaign has been massively boosted by the participation of a growing number of armed actors. However, the alliance’s common cause of removing the military from power remains set against a complex history of rivalries and suspicions between a multitude of ethnic armed groups – divisions which the military has successfully exploited to its benefit in the past. As the alliance’s offensive moves from the countryside to urban areas in the west, north and east of Myanmar, the military is struggling to find a way back, and some fear the collaboration among the rebels will not hold together. Unity of purpose Zayar slings his rifle around his shoulder and takes the path past corn and peanut crops to his camp. His role in the revolution embodies much of the dreams and contradictions that have come to define the struggle in Myanmar. On a friend’s recommendation, Zayar joined the Kawthoolei Army (KTLA), a fringe splinter group formed by General Ner Dah Bo Mya, who stormed out of the established Karen National Union (KNU) armed movement after refusing to participate in an investigation into the killing of a group of men allegedly carried out by his fighters in 2021. An anti-coup activist undergoes basic military training with the Karen National Union (KNU) in Karen State in 2021 [AFP] Ner Dah Bo Mya has not denied the killings were carried out by his fighters, claiming the 25 unarmed men were military spies. He has also cultivated a firebrand image for his KTLA unit that has attracted young people itching to take up weapons to overthrow the military dictatorship. Though both are fighting the military, the KTLA has also clashed with the KNU in southern Myanmar. On other occasions, KTLA fighters and soldiers under KNU command have worked together on operations. KTLA fighters stand to attention at their base in Karen State, Myanmar, in December [Lorcan Lovett/Al Jazeera] Unity, says Myanmar political analyst Kim Jolliffe, stands as the overriding factor in the success of the current armed revolt. Being unified is not only necessary for military success, said Jolliffe, but also for laying the foundation of a post-military Myanmar. Unity, he said, will be key to moving the country away from a “highly coercive centralised state” that “creates perpetual conflict” to one where “all ethnic groups are equal in a genuine power-sharing mechanism”. “The central problem that the revolution must solve is how to create a system that enhances the diversity and create a power balance so that no single group positions themselves as overarching chauvinist controllers,” Jolliffee told Al Jazeera. “We will likely continue to see localised conflicts and tensions among resistance groups in some areas. But there is little to suggest that it will have a fundamental impact on the overall direction of the revolution,” he added. While some ethnic forces have aligned with the military or have remained neutral, most of the country’s formidable ethnic armed groups have poured their resources and troops into the current campaign against the generals. Zayar said he has risked everything for the revolution. “Living under the dictatorship is worse than death,” he says. “I will fight back until I die.” For Zayar, he is fighting for equality. Being of the Muslim faith in predominately Buddhist Myanmar, some have called him a “kalar” – a term used as a slur against Muslims or anyone of South Asian origin in Myanmar. His official Myanmar national identity card also marks him out as a “Muslim”, not only as his religion but also as an ethnic identity, he says. “When the government put me as that, I felt discriminated,” he told Al Jazeera. “I was born and raised in Myanmar. Of course, I’m Myanmar.” Two KTLA fighters dressed in clothing donated by supporters perform a comedy dance routine to the amusement of their comrades at their base camp [Lorcan Lovett/Al Jazeera] Zayar joined the revolution relatively late – in April 2023 – more than two years after the military’s chief commander Min Aung Hlaing seized power from Aung San Suu Kyi. On the military’s side, people are
Carl Weathers, star of Predator and Rocky films, dies at 76
Co-stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone pay tribute to NFL linebacker-turned-actor. Carl Weathers, who starred as nemesis-turned-friend Apollo Creed in the Rocky film franchise, has died. He was 76. “Carl was an exceptional human being who lived an extraordinary life,” Weathers’s family said in a statement on Friday. “Through his contributions to film, television, the arts and sports, he has left an indelible mark and is recognised worldwide and across generations.” Carl Weathers, a former NFL linebacker who became a Hollywood action star, was perhaps best known for playing Rocky Balboa’s rival-turned-ally in the film Rocky and its three sequels opposite Sylvester Stallone. Rocky, released in 1976 and starring the largely unknown Stallone, became an unexpected commercial and critical hit, nabbing the Oscar for best picture and catapulting both actors to prominence. Weathers also had memorable roles as the brash Colonel Al Dillon in the 1987 film Predator, starring alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger, and as one-handed golf coach Chubbs Peterson in the Adam Sandler-led comedy, Happy Gilmore. Most recently, Weathers starred in the Star Wars spin-off series, The Mandalorian, a role for which he received an Emmy nomination. Stallone on Friday paid tribute to Weathers, saying the Rocky films’ success would not have been possible without his co-star. “When he walked into that room, and I saw him for the first time, I saw greatness,” Stallone said in a video posted on Instagram. “I never could have accomplished what we did with Rocky without him. He was absolutely brilliant. His voice, his size, his power, his athletic ability, but more importantly, his heart, his soul.” Schwarzenegger described his co-start as a “legend”. “An extraordinary athlete, a fantastic actor and a great person … We couldn’t have made Predator without him,” Schwarzenegger said in a message on Instagram. “And we certainly wouldn’t have had such a wonderful time making it. Every minute with him – on set and off – was pure joy.” Born in New Orleans, Weathers played American football at San Diego State University and with the Oakland Raiders before retiring from the game in 1974 to pursue a career in acting. He appeared in more than 75 films and TV shows during a career in Hollywood spanning more than 50 years, according to Deadline. Weathers, who was married and divorced three times, is survived by two sons. “He was a beloved brother, father, grandfather, partner and friend,” his family said in their statement. Adblock test (Why?)
US launches strikes in response to attack that killed troops in Jordan
The US warned it would strike back against Iran-linked targets after three US soldiers were killed on Sunday. The United States military has launched dozens of airstrikes against targets in Syria and Iraq in the first retaliation for a drone attack that killed three soldiers at a remote US base in Jordan. “This afternoon, at my direction, US military forces struck targets at facilities in Iraq and Syria that the IRGC and affiliated militia use to attack US forces,” US President Joe Biden said in a statement on Friday, referring to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). “Our response began today. It will continue at times and places of our choosing,” he added. US Central Command (CENTCOM) said its military forces struck more than 85 targets in the two countries “with numerous aircraft to include long-range bombers flown from United States”. “The airstrikes employed more than 125 precision munitions,” it added in a statement. CENTCOM said the facilities that were struck included command and control operations centres, intelligence centres, weapons storage sites and logistics and munition supply chain facilities of groups linked to attacks against US forces. CENTCOM Statement on U.S. Strikes in Iraq and Syria At 4:00 p.m. (EST) Feb. 02, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and affiliated militia groups. U.S. military forces… pic.twitter.com/HeLMFDx9zY — U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) February 2, 2024 Three US soldiers were killed and about 40 others injured in a drone attack on the military base known as Tower 22 near the Jordan-Syria border on Sunday. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a coalition of Iran-linked groups, claimed responsibility for the drone attack. “The US had said since the moment that attack happened that there would be a military response and US officials like Joe Biden and Lloyd Austin said the response would come in multiple fashions. So this could very well be the first phase, but those retaliatory US airstrikes have now begun,” said Al Jazeera’s Rosiland Jordan, reporting from the Pentagon. “This is the first step, I don’t think that it will be the last one,” she added. On Friday, Syrian state media said that an “American aggression” on number of sites on Syria’s desert areas and the Syrian and Iraqi border resulted in a number of casualties and injuries. Iraqi security sources told Al Jazeera that six air strikes targeted a number of locations in the country. ‘Dignified transfer’ of bodies While the US strikes did not target any locations inside Iran, they are likely to increase concern about tensions in the Middle East spiralling from Israel’s more than three-month-old war on Gaza. The strikes come hours after President Biden met with the families of the three troops who were killed on Sunday – identified as William Jerome Rivers, Kennedy Sanders and Breonna Moffett – as the service members’ remains arrived in the US. Biden and his wife Jill visited the Dover air base in the US state of Delaware on Friday to honour the soldiers during the “dignified transfer” of their bodies. US Secretary of Defence, Lloyd Austin, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, CQ Brown, also attended – their presence highlighting the importance, as well as relative rarity, of returning dead service members in the wake of US exits from major foreign conflicts. On Friday, Biden’s statement said the US “does not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world”. But the US president added: “Let all those who might seek to do us harm know this: If you harm an American, we will respond.” Earlier this week, when Biden was asked whether he holds Iran responsible for the drone attack, he said, “I do hold them responsible, in the sense that they’re supplying the weapons to the people who did it.” US Republicans have been calling for a powerful response, including directly against Iran. The Biden administration has suggested that the US response to the drone attack would be prolonged, not a single strike. White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said on Thursday that it “will be a multi-tiered approach” over a period of time. “The first thing you see will not be the last thing you see,” he told reporters. Adblock test (Why?)
On Groundhog Day, Punxsutawney Phil predicts early spring in the US
More than 40,000 people gathered to see the Pennsylvania prognosticator as part of a tradition dating back to 1887. Pennsylvania’s primo prognosticator Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow during annual Groundhog Day celebrations on Friday, meaning that, according to legend, there will be an early spring. The US state’s tradition of using a large rodent to predict the seasons dates back to the Pennsylvania Dutch belief that if a groundhog left its burrow and saw its shadow, it would scurry back inside and winter would go on for six more weeks. Groundhog Day is now a major yearly event in Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, complete with top-hatted comperes, cheering crowds and a full-court press. Phil and his predecessors, also called Phil, have been forecasting since 1887, and this year more than 40,000 people camped out in a festival atmosphere to wait for sunrise and the groundhog’s emergence. “Another winter slumber paused so I could meet the crowd, it’s hard to sleep anyway when the party is this loud,” said Dan McGinley, vice president of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, reading from a scroll “selected” by the groundhog. A crowd watches the festivities while waiting for Punxsutawney Phil, the weather prognosticating groundhog, to come out and make his prediction [Barry Reeger/AP Photo] McGinley even raised the prospect of voters writing in Punxsutawney Phil’s name on ballots as the US enters a presidential election year. In the past 10 years, Phil has been accurate only 30 percent of the time, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In 2023, Phil saw his shadow but temperatures that February were above average and in March only slightly below, leading the NOAA to declare that the furry forecaster had got it wrong. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro took the stage before Phil to urge people around the world watching the festivities to come to Punxsutawney next year. Shapiro also announced the famed groundhog is the new official meteorologist for Pennsylvania. “Punxsutawney is the centre of the universe right now and I love that you’re all here,” Shapiro said. Eager to cash in on the craze of animal forecasters, other states have adopted their own meteorological soothsayers, including Wisconsin’s Sun Prairie Jimmy, Woody the Woodchuck in Michigan, and Scramble the Duck in Connecticut. Businesses did not miss a trick, with potato chip maker Frito Lay preparing to air advertisements showing actor Stephen Tobolowsky enduring a scenario similar to the plot of the popular movie, Groundhog Day. The cult 1993 film, in which Tobolowsky played a relentlessly upbeat salesman, saw leading man Bill Murray stuck in a never-ending 24-hour loop after Punxsutawney Phil predicted six more weeks of winter. Adblock test (Why?)
South Korea pull off heist to beat Australia 2-1 in Asian Cup 2023
The Taegeuk Warriors stage another late comeback to beat the Socceroos and keep their Asian Cup title hopes alive. Al Wakrah, Qatar – South Korea have made it a habit of leaving it until the dying moments of stoppage time to make a comeback in their knockout games and progress to the next round at the AFC Asian Cup 2023 in Qatar. They pulled off another heist to break Australian hearts and produce a stunning 2-1 comeback win in the quarterfinal at Al Janoub Stadium on Friday night. It prompted Jurgen Klinsmann, the Koreans’ German coach, to joke that perhaps his team should start all matches with a 0-1 score. “It’s not great to wait 120 minutes for a result, so maybe if we start a goal down we can get [a win] earlier,” Klinsmann told bemused reporters after the match. It took South Korea 96 minutes to find a goal – scored by Hee-Chan Hwang from the penalty spot – that kept them alive in the tournament and another 15 to give their talismanic captain Heung-Min Son a chance to score a scintillating winner and stun Australia. The Socceroos took the lead in the 42nd minute as Craig Goodwin latched onto a loose ball in front of the Korean goal to break the deadlock in a tight first half. Once in the lead, the Australians put up a strong defensive display to keep the Taegeuk Warriors at bay deep into the second half. As the night wore on, the temperature in Al Wakrah dropped to a chilly 14 degrees Celsius but the action on the field heated up as South Korea began attacking the Australian goal. It was similar to their late assault against Saudi Arabia that eventually produced an equaliser and gave them a win in a penalty shootout. This time, the penalty came in the sixth minute of added time and brought them level. Once into extra time, the Koreans were controlling the game and Australia were barely able to keep up. When South Korea won a free-kick on the edge of the Australian box in the 103rd minute, Son bent it into the corner to complete another stunning comeback. The crowd, who had been chanting his name all night long, went into a wild celebration of relief, joy and disbelief. Many of these fans arrived in Doha after a 10-hour overnight flight from Seoul and said it was too much to take for a second game in a row. “They [the team] need to stop doing this to us now,” Kim Hyeseong, a South Korean fan, told Al Jazeera moments after the win was sealed. “They pull off miracles because they never give up,” he said. Klinsmann said he is aware of the expectations his team faces from the fans in the stadium and those back home. “Sometimes the pressure blocks the players [mentally] in the beginning – but when we go down, we know we can only go forward from there,” the former World Cup winner said. For fans like Leo Chan, it is more a case of having belief in the team. But he said they say make it hard for themselves and their supporters. “I was about to leave the stadium moments before the penalty was awarded, but now I’m staying all the way until the final because these players are miracle-makers and will win it [the championship].” (Al Jazeera) Adblock test (Why?)
US to hit back against Middle East attacks: Who and where will it strike?
The United States has approved plans for strikes in Iraq and Syria against multiple targets, including Iranian personnel and facilities, CBS News reported on Thursday, quoting US officials. President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that he had decided how to respond to a drone attack in northeastern Jordan near the Syrian border last Sunday, which killed three US service members and wounded more than 40. Sunday’s attack was the first to result in the loss of American lives during the Israel-Hamas war. Here is what’s known about the US plans: Where is the US planning to strike? The US plans to retaliate against the drone attack on the US Tower 22 base near the border between Syria and Jordan by targeting Iranian personnel and facilities inside both countries. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, believed to comprise multiple groups armed, funded and trained by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, has claimed responsibility for Sunday’s strike on the base. But on Wednesday, Kataib Hezbollah, the most powerful element in the force, announced the suspension of hostile operations against US troops. Iran itself has denied any role in the attack. Nevertheless, according to US officials quoted in the CBS report, the US plans to press ahead with strikes of its own over several days. The timing of their launch is likely to be influenced by weather conditions. US officials were quoted saying that “the US has the capability to carry out strikes in bad weather but prefers to have better visibility of selected targets as a safeguard against inadvertently hitting civilians who might stray into the area at the last moment”. Hawkish Republican officials in the US have called for direct strikes on Iran, but this latest plan appears to avoid any direct attack inside the country. Houthi supporters protest against the United States-led airstrikes on Friday, Jan 12, 2024, in Sanaa, Yemen [AP Photo] What has the US defence secretary said? Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters on Thursday that the US will not tolerate attacks on American troops. This was Austin’s first news conference after undergoing prostate cancer surgery. During the news conference, he apologised for not disclosing his hospitalisation. Health-related questions dominated the session, during which he said he had also apologised to President Biden for not informing him about his diagnosis. But Austin also focused on the conflict in the Middle East. Starting with the drone attack, he said the group behind the attack will be held responsible. “I don’t think the adversaries are of a one-and-done mindset, and so they have a lot of capability, I have a lot more,” he said. “We’re going to do what’s necessary to protect our troops.” “This is a dangerous moment in the Middle East,” Austin added. “We will continue to work to avoid a wider conflict in the region, but we will take all necessary actions to defend the United States, our interests and our people, and we will respond when we choose, where we choose and how we choose.” Although Iran has denied involvement, Austin said that “how much Iran knew or didn’t know, we don’t know. But it really doesn’t matter because Iran sponsors these groups”. Since the onset of the Israel-Gaza war, the Pentagon has been ramping up its military presence in the region. In mid-December, the US reportedly had 19 US warships in the region. Austin gave orders for the Ford – the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier – and its strike group to sail to the eastern Mediterranean on October 8, a day after the attack by Hamas that set off the war. The Ford was sent back to the US on January 17, as the US “re-evaluate[d] its global force requirements,” the US Navy’s sixth fleet announced in a statement. With the Ford’s departure, the USS Eisenhower is the US aircraft carrier in the region. Austin also addressed the actions of the Houthis, who say they are targeting Israel-linked ships in the Red Sea in protest over Israel’s offensive in Gaza. The Houthi attacks on shipping have disrupted international commerce along a route that accounts for about 15 percent of the world’s shipping traffic and 12 percent of global trade. Austin said: “[They] continue to do some things that are very irresponsible and illegal and so our goal is to make sure that we continue to take away capability from the Houthis to do what they’ve been doing.” When asked by Al Jazeera if he had done enough to pressure Israel to avoid killing civilians in Gaza, where the death toll has surpassed 27,000 since October, Austin said: “We talked to them [Israel] about that weeks ago, and they said they were going to do that, and they are doing that, but I will continue to emphasise – and I know Secretary Blinken and President Biden will continue to emphasise – the importance of addressing the issue of the Palestinian people. “It’s critical and you know, we’re doing more, but we’re not doing enough,” he added. How did tensions reach this point? Since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out on October 7, Iranian-backed groups have struck US bases in Iraq and Syria at least 166 times with rockets, missiles and one-way attack drones, drawing about half a dozen US counterstrikes on group facilities in both countries. The Houthis first launched missiles and drones at southern Israel – also in protest over the war on Gaza – in October and, as Tel Aviv continued to resist international calls for a ceasefire, they significantly ramped up their strikes. The US military also has also carried out air strikes targeting Houthi rebels in Yemen. However, while Tehran has said it supports the Houthis politically, it denies sending the group weapons. “The [Houthi] resistance has its own tools… and acts in accordance with its own decisions and capabilities,” Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri said in December. For the past few days, the US has hinted that strikes against Iranian targets are imminent. The threat of retaliation for Sunday’s drone
‘Who’s next?’: Modi government raids, arrests rivals before India election
New Delhi, India – Indian investigators have raided multiple premises linked with a prominent rights activist in the national capital – a move that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s critics say is part of a pattern that has seen his government targeting political opponents two months before general elections. Officials of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday morning raided the residence of former bureaucrat Harsh Mander and the office of a think tank, the Centre for Equity Studies (CES) in New Delhi, linked to him, alleging financial irregularities under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act. Mander served as an Indian Administrative Service officer for 22 years before he resigned in 2002 in the wake of the riots in Gujarat state when Modi was its chief minister. More than 1,000 people died in the violence, most of them Muslims, according to the state government. A journalist photographs the office of Centre for Equity Studies after CBI raid in New Delhi [Arun Sankar/AFP] Mander has been a fierce critic of the Modi government’s Hindu supremacist agenda since the prime minister’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014. But he is only the latest in a series of critics and opponents who have faced raids or arrests from federal agencies in recent weeks — including four state chief ministers belonging to opposition parties. On Wednesday, India’s financial crimes agency, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), arrested Hemant Soren hours after he resigned as the chief minister of Jharkhand state. Soren is accused of corruption, a charge his party has denied. Hemant Soren, seen with folded hands, being produced before the Enforcement Directorate in Ranchi [AFP] Other opposition leaders, including Tejashwi Yadav, the former deputy chief minister of neighbouring Bihar state, and Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi, have also been raided by federal agencies in recent months. Kejriwal’s deputy and one of his party’s parliamentarians are already in jail. In the central Chhattisgarh state, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and his associates were picked up by the ED officials right before elections in November last year. The BJP accused them of multiple scams, including an illegal coal mining deal, and used the charges as a major plank to win the state polls. ‘It is paralysing’ Apoorvanand, professor of Hindi literature at the University of Delhi and one of Mander’s close acquaintances, said he woke up to the “upsetting news” of Friday’s raids. “Mander and the civil society members have been relentlessly hounded by the investigative agencies,” he told Al Jazeera. “It is not only about Harsh [Mander], it is a pattern that we see. Civil society in India has been defunded and several have been jailed. It is paralysing,” he said. “It is also a signal to civil society: you can talk on water conversation or solar panels in villages but do not speak for human rights or rights of minorities.” The government has alleged Mander accepted foreign contributions amounting to nearly $14,000 between 2011 and 2018 in the FCRA account of his association, violating the law. Recently, the government suspended FCRA licences of several think tanks and close to 6,000 NGOs, including Oxfam India and Amnesty India. “These raids or allegations of financial irregularities seem to have become a norm for the authorities to silence peaceful criticism,” Meenakshi Ganguly, the deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division, told Al Jazeera. Several activists are currently facing charges, some under draconian terror laws. “When independent state agencies are seen to act in a partisan manner, with politically motivated targeting of dissent, it undermines India’s image as a country that upholds the rule of law,” Ganguly said. ‘Agencies work for BJP’ Sushil Sunny Agrawal, a 39-year-old former minister in Baghel’s cabinet, was among the politicians the ED raided before the state elections last year. “They mentally tortured us. The ED officials told me: ‘What’s in there to stay with the Congress? Join BJP, that’s where the future is,’” Agrawal told Al Jazeera. “These agencies have become liaisons for the BJP. They deal on their behalf: If you go with Modi, you will be cleared from all this and stand a chance at a bright future.” The upcoming general elections are keeping Agrawal on edge. “The BJP knows no limits. And they are in a full-on attacking mode, weaponising the central agencies to completely curb the opposition,” he said. Agrawal said he looked to India’s judiciary to address the escalating crackdown on opposition parties. In March 2023, a group of opposition parties petitioned India’s top court, stating “a clear pattern of using investigative agencies … to target, debilitate and in fact crush the entire political opposition and other vocal citizens”. The petition noted that since 2014, when Modi came to power, 95 percent of the cases taken up by the CBI and the ED have been against politicians from the opposition – a 60 percent and 54 percent rise, respectively, from the days of the previous Congress-led government. However, the Supreme Court refused to rule on the petition, noting that politicians could not be placed on a pedestal higher than citizens, could not seek special treatment under the law, or immunity from arrest. “When [political parties] argue that there is a chilling effect on the opposition because of CBI/ED cases against opposition political leaders, the answer lies in the political space and not in courts,” said the court. Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan said, “Like the politicians, the civil society or anybody who is a critic of this government is being targeted.” “This is the rise of a fascist state under Modi and unfortunately, the judiciary is doing very little or hardly anything to protect the rights and liberties of the citizens. Its independence appears to have collapsed.” Agrawal said the Modi government is “hijacking” the forthcoming vote by targeting opposition leaders and activists. “Democracy has completely ended in India,” he said. Apoorvanand concurred. The crackdown by the government was an attempt to establish a one-party rule in India, he told Al Jazeera. “When
Palestinians detained in Gaza accuse Israelis of torture
NewsFeed Palestinians who were detained in Gaza and taken to Israel for questioning say they were beaten, tortured and humiliated while in the custody of Israeli forces. Published On 2 Feb 20242 Feb 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
ICJ rules that it will hear part of Ukraine-Russia genocide case
UN’s top court will not address aspects of case accusing Russia of violating Genocide Convention by falsely alleging genocide. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled that parts of Ukraine’s case against Russia arguing that Moscow baselessly accused Kyiv of genocide to justify the 2022 invasion can move forward. However, the ICJ ruled on Friday that it will not address whether Russia violated the 1948 Genocide Convention by using what Ukraine says were trumped-up genocide charges as a pretext for the war, even if the invasion may have violated international law broadly. Instead, the case will proceed to assess whether Ukraine committed genocide in the eastern parts of the country, as Russia claims – a matter where judges ruled that they have jurisdiction. When Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion on February 24, 2022, part of his argument was that pro-Russian people in eastern Ukraine had been “subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kyiv regime”. Ukraine filed a suit at the ICJ, “emphatically denying” this and arguing that Russia’s use of “genocide” as a pretext for invasion went against the Genocide Convention. “In the present case, even if the Russian Federation had, in bad faith, alleged that Ukraine committed genocide and taken certain measures against it under such a pretext, which the respondent [Ukraine] contends, this would not in itself constitute a violation of obligations” under the genocide convention, the ICJ said in the ruling read out by its president, Joan Donoghue on Friday. The ICJ, known as the World Court, said it did not have jurisdiction to rule on whether Russia’s invasion violated the Genocide Convention, or on whether Moscow’s recognition of Donetsk and Luhansk, two breakaway republics in eastern Ukraine, amounted to a breach of the convention. But the judges said they would allow Ukraine’s request for the court to rule that there was no “credible evidence that Ukraine is committing genocide in violation of the Genocide Convention” in eastern Ukraine. Kyiv is seeking a declaration from the ICJ that it did not commit genocide. A final, legally binding decision is likely still years away. Enforcement Before Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Ukraine had been battling Russian-backed separatist forces in the east of the country since 2014. But Kyiv insists that there was no risk of genocide there. As well as citing an alleged “genocide” against the Russian-speaking residents of Donetsk and Luhansk to justify its invasion, Moscow also invoked NATO’s eastward expansion as one of the reasons behind the conflict. Triestino Mariniello, a law professor at Liverpool John Moores University, said Friday’s ruling is important because it moves the case to the merits stage. “It has confirmed that there is a dispute between Russia and Ukraine in relation to the application, interpretation and fulfilment of the Genocide Convention, and that the court has jurisdiction in particular in establishing in the merits case that Ukraine has not committed genocide in this specific areas of Luhansk and Donetsk in Ukrainian territory,” Mariniello told Al Jazeera. Last month, the ICJ dismissed large parts of a Ukraine petition accusing Russia of “terrorism”. In March 2022, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, the UN’s top court ordered Moscow to halt its military offensive. But while the court’s decisions are legally binding, it lacks an enforcement mechanism. “It’s upon individual states – in this case Russia – or international organisations like the [UN] Security Council to implement such decisions or judgements,” Mariniello said. Adblock test (Why?)