UN experts condemn ‘disturbing’ attacks on journalists in Gaza
Officials suggest the targeting of journalists may be a ‘deliberate strategy by Israeli forces’ to silence reporting. United Nations experts have condemned the deadly attacks on journalists and media workers in Gaza, calling on Israel to allow journalists to enter the besieged territory and to ensure their protection. In a statement released on Thursday, the experts described the war on Gaza as the “most dangerous conflict for journalists in recent history”. “We have received disturbing reports that, despite being clearly identifiable in jackets and helmets marked ‘press’ or travelling in well-marked press vehicles, journalists have come under attack, which would seem to indicate that the killings, injury, and detention are a deliberate strategy by Israeli forces to obstruct the media and silence critical reporting,” they said. The experts included Irene Khan, UN rapporteur on free expression; Francesca Albanese, UN rapporteur on Palestine; and Morris Tidball-Binz, UN rapporteur on extrajudicial killings. Citing UN reports, the statement said more than 122 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza since the outbreak of the war. Four Israeli journalists were killed during the October 7 attack, and three Lebanese journalists have been killed in Israeli shelling. “We pay special tribute to the courage and resilience of journalists and media workers in Gaza who continue to put their own lives on the line every day in the course of duty, while also enduring enormous hardship and tragic loss of colleagues, friends and families in one of the bloodiest, most ruthless conflicts of our times,” the experts said. The UN officials underscored the case of Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief Wael Dahdouh, whose wife Amna, son Mahmoud, daughter Sham and grandson Adam were killed in an Israeli air raid in October. Dahdouh was later wounded in an Israeli drone attack that killed his colleague, Al Jazeera cameraman Samer Abudaqa. Last month, his eldest son, Hamza – a journalist who worked with Al Jazeera – was killed in an Israeli attack alongside fellow journalist Mustafa Thuraya. “Journalists are entitled to protection as civilians under international humanitarian law. Targeted attacks and killings of journalists are war crimes,” the UN experts said. They called for impartial investigations into the killing of journalists. Press freedom groups have warned about the apparent targeting of journalists in Gaza. Beyond the killing of journalists, media workers across the occupied Palestinian territories have been subject to increased attacks and crackdowns by Israel over the past few months. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based watchdog, 25 journalists have been arrested in Israel and the Palestinian territories since October 7. Others suffered “assaults, threats, cyberattacks and censorship”, the group says. Attacks on journalists in Gaza come amid the broader violence against the Palestinian territory. UN officials and aid groups have said that the conflict has been one of the most destructive in modern times. Israel has killed more than 27,000 Palestinians since October 7, flattening much of the territory as it pushes on with its military offensive. “The wholesale destruction of Gaza and the number of civilian casualties in such a short period are totally unprecedented during my mandate,” UN chief Antonio Guterres said last month. Adblock test (Why?)
UN rights chief decries death of 50 people in Mali attacks
The UN official said he was ‘appalled’ by the killings in central Mali. The UN rights chief on Thursday said he was “appalled” by alleged summary executions of 25 people by Mali’s army and “foreign military personnel” last week in a region plagued by violence from armed groups. Volker Turk also expressed alarm at the killing of approximately 30 others in attacks over the weekend in central Mali, a particular hotbed of violence. “I am appalled by credible allegations that Malian armed forces accompanied by foreign military personnel summarily executed at least 25 people in Welingara village, in the central Nara region on 26 January,” Turk said in a statement. “I am also alarmed by reports that about 30 civilians were killed in attacks by yet unidentified gunmen on two other villages – Ogota and Oimbe – in the Bandiagara region over this past weekend,” he added. Gathering and verifying information in Mali is made difficult by the country’s vast geography, deteriorating communications infrastructure and security concerns. Rebel violence that started in northern Mali in 2012 spread to the centre of the country in 2015, when Katiba Macina – an al-Qaeda-affiliated group – was established, led by the Fulani hardline preacher Amadou Kouffa. West Africa recorded more than 1,800 attacks in the first six months of 2023, resulting in nearly 4,600 deaths and creating dire humanitarian consequences. According to an ECOWAS top regional official, this was just “a snippet of the horrendous impact of insecurity”. Mali is currently led by a military government that seized power in 2020 and turned away from former colonial power France, before pushing the UN peacekeeping mission MINUSMA to leave at the end of 2023. The government has chosen instead to pivot towards Russia, both politically and militarily. This January, it announced its withdrawal from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), alongside Burkina Faso and Niger, which are also led by their militaries. The regional bloc has been central in condemning and imposing sanctions on the trio after the takeovers. France once had a strong presence across the Sahel, but announced the withdrawal of its troops from the three countries after the coups. Many observers have claimed Mali has enlisted the services of Russian mercenaries, despite frequent Malian denials. The UN and local sources have regularly accused the Malian army and its allies of abuses against civilians, which Mali has also categorically denied. UN rights investigators and groups like Human Rights Watch said that Malian troops and foreign forces – presumed to be Wagner – were behind the massacre of at least 500 people in the central Malian town of Moura in March 2022. “It is essential that all allegations of arbitrary deprivations of life, including summary executions, are fully and impartially investigated and those found responsible brought to justice in trials observing international standards,” the UN rights chief said Thursday. To date, none of the investigations launched in Mali into abuses by the military has been successful. Adblock test (Why?)
Is South Africa’s foreign policy contradictory or a balancing act?
Cape Town, South Africa – The South African foreign service has had a hectic year of navigating several tricky diplomatic endeavours. It began with South Africa doing joint naval drills with Russia and China in February 2023. By March, authorities in Pretoria were saddled with a dilemma: execute the International Criminal Court’s warrant for the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin over alleged war crimes related to the war in Ukraine when he attended the BRICS Summit that August, or risk being seen as noncommittal to the rule of law. Ultimately Putin’s withdrawal from the summit – after an awkward trip by a few African leaders led by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to Ukraine and Russia – saved Pretoria from having to decide. Within months, the US ambassador to South Africa accused it of sending weapons to Russia via the ship Lady R. Not long after, South Africa’s Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor had a call with the chairperson of Hamas’s political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, followed by a visit to Iran to strengthen relations with it. By December, South Africa had hauled Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing it of genocide in its war in Gaza. Then this January, Ramaphosa drew criticism when he hosted the leader of the Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), General Mohamed Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, who has been accused of human rights abuses in Sudan, where a war is raging between the RSF and the army. Critics of Ramaphosa’s government say all of this is proof of Pretoria’s inconsistent foreign policy, arguing that it is quick to scrutinise the human rights records of some countries but appears to turn a blind eye to that of others. They argue that hosting RSF commander Hemedti and being reluctant to criticise Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have punctured Pretoria’s stated commitment to values of justice and equality in the post-apartheid era. “South Africa has no principled approach towards these global conflicts,” wrote Greg Mills and Ray Hartley, analysts at Johannesburg-based think-tank the Brenthurst Foundation, in a recent op-ed in local paper the Daily Maverick. “It professes to want to mediate, but it picks and chooses when and which of its principles apply. It is a matter of time before another indiscretion undermines the spin doctoring.” A complex balancing act? However, some analysts say such criticisms are steeped in naivety about the country’s foreign policy, which they say is focused first on Africa, and then to ensure a world where no country exerts too much global influence. They argue that any apparent inconsistencies are due to a complex balancing act between these objectives. Oscar van Heerden, an international relations scholar and author of ‘Consistent or Confused: An Analysis of Post-Apartheid South Africa’s Foreign Policy, is one of them. He says a “complex range of factors”, including historical alliances and economic interests, influence the country’s foreign policy. “The country is in fact very consistent in its foreign policy in Africa and the world. Our founding father, Nelson Mandela, also reminded the world that your enemies are not my enemies, and I think the country has stayed true to that,” van Heerden told Al Jazeera. Zwelethu Jolobe, an associate professor of politics at the University of Cape Town, agrees with the seemingly zigzag approach, saying the country is “trying to promote an alternative world order”, due to its enduring belief in a “multipolar society”. “South Africa knows the world is a complex place … and in order for us to have world peace, multilateral diplomacy is the best way to have international relations and that is at the core of its foreign policy doctrine,” he told Al Jazeera. Hemedti’s visit in particular has proved to be a thorny issue as fighting between the army and the RSF continues to wreck Sudan. Rights groups including Human Rights Watch have said the “RSF has committed a wide range of horrific abuses including the forced displacement of entire communities and amongst the most egregious abuses against civilians were torture, extrajudicial killings, and mass rapes.” Against this backdrop, the South African presidency said in a statement that it “welcomed the briefing by Dagalo and the mediation efforts between the RSF and the Sudan Armed Forces in finding lasting peace”. Dagalo, who has also visited to Kenya and Ethiopia, told the media that he had briefed Ramaphosa on the “efforts taken to end this war”. In response, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the chief of the Sudanese army, criticised Ramaphosa and other leaders for hosting Hemedti. Still, some say the controversial visit is only the latest case of South Africa getting involved in peace talks on the continent as a nonaligned actor. For years, South Africa has been active in various peacekeeping missions across the continent including the ongoing United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO), to which it has the sixth largest contingent of 62 countries involved. It is also often involved in various mediation efforts including the successful ones in South Sudan and most recently between Ethiopia and rebels in its Tigray region. Former presidents Mandela and Thabo Mbeki were also respected as continental statesmen who helped bring opposing sides to dialogue over the years. The former helped resolve a dispute between Libya, the United States, and United Kingdom, while his successor was a negotiator during the first civil war in Ivory Coast. And now, van Heerden says South Africa is once again determined to “play both sides” as the precedents show that it “does not see things in black and white”. “You can only bring people together in one room when you have built trust over a period,” he said. Van Heerden also dismissed the view that the country is siding with autocrats. “The world is changing and the world needs to adapt and change,” he said. “We cannot put our eggs in the Western basket; there are new important players like India, China, and Brazil.” ‘The complex nature of foreign policy’ Since the beginning of
Tunisia’s Saied wants to make the central bank fill the budget deficit
Tunisian President Kais Saied is preparing to seek direct financing for the government’s budget from the Central Bank of Tunisia in a move analysts say could worsen the financial difficulties the country has been experiencing since before its 2011 revolution. Shortfalls in the budget have already resulted in the absence of state-subsidised goods like flour, rice and coffee from supermarket shelves as inflation pushes the prices of other goods beyond the reach of many households. With gaps in last year’s budget as well as a 10.6-billion-dinar (about $3.4bn) shortfall in the current year, the state is looking to compel the Central Bank to purchase government bonds as a way to raise direct funding. Government proposals were discussed by the parliament’s finance committee on Wednesday with what are understood to be instructions to fast-track its passage to parliament next week, where it can be voted upon during its plenary session. “Tunisia has run out of credit,” Hamza Meddeb of the Carnegie Middle East Center said. “Its negotiations for a further loan with the International Monetary Fund [IMF] appear stalled. There are no new payments coming from the European Union for its part in helping curb the flow of irregular migrants and no sign of financial help coming from elsewhere. Tunisians demonstrate against Saied during Tunisian Republic Day in Tunis on July 25, 2023. The sign in Arabic reads: ‘Freedom for all political prisoners’ [Hassene Dridi/AP Photo] “Tunisia needs cash immediately. It can’t wait,” he said. The legislation – if passed, as looks likely – would threaten the bank’s independence and, by devaluing its own currency, risks triggering a wave of inflation that its outgoing governor, Marouan Abassi, previously likened to that of Venezuela, where percentile increases in the cost of goods and services are now measured in the hundreds. The Central Bank authorised a brief raid on its reserves in 2020 and released 2.8 billion dinars (roughly $900m) under exceptional legislation to help combat the spread of COVID-19. At the time, international bodies, including the IMF were happy to waive the implications of the move, given circumstances that were, by any measure, unprecedented. The Central Bank has remained a respected pillar of the Tunisian state, retaining broad control over interest rates, helping mitigate the worst effects of the country’s economic decline and proving vital in maintaining the confidence of international financial backers, such as the IMF and World Bank. “Central banks … rely upon their independence,” economist, Aram Belhaj from the University of Carthage said. In addition to their critical role in helping control inflation by setting interest rates, they also tie the hands of politicians, Belhaj explained. “If you have politicians with unrestricted powers, they will use the central bank to finance expenditures, possibly funding electoral objectives. Therefore, the independence of the central bank is crucial. It effectively limits political pressure,” he said. Tunisian health workers protest during a general strike organised by labour unions demanding pay raises and more government support in Tunis on June 18, 2020, as unemployment and poverty rise [File: Hassene Dridi/AP Photo] While the current legislation does not explicitly mark the end of the bank’s independence, it does undermine a 2016 law that separates the state from the central bank and is the subject of sporadic presidential criticism. “The new legislation is not part of a broader approach that would allow the Central Bank to integrate [with the economy] or become more involved in growth and development issues,” Belhaj said. “It’s just a modification that allows the government to obtain an advance of 7 billion Tunisian dinars [$2.24bn] – which is an incredibly large amount – to finance the budget deficit,” he said. Tunisia had been in negotiations with the IMF for a further $1.9bn bailout. However, what looked to have been a finalised deal was rejected by Tunisia in April when Saied rejected the body’s “foreign diktats” intended to curb spending on subsidies and government salaries – said to be, per capita, among the highest in the world. “This speaks as much about desperation as anything else. It tells us that the state didn’t have any other options. They needed capital, and they needed it immediately. All other options would have required negotiations and time,” Meddeb said. “Moreover, we don’t even know which funds the government is drawing upon, and that’s critical. If it seeks to access the bank’s foreign reserves, it risks Tunisia’s devaluation of the dinar. If it accesses our domestic reserves, we’re essentially printing our own money to pay our bills. “Neither makes Tunisia a particularly attractive option to investors or backers.” [embedded content] Adblock test (Why?)
Mother of 6-year-old missing in Gaza recounts last phone calls
NewsFeed The mother of missing 6-year-old Hind Hamadeh from Gaza has told Al Jazeera about the last phone calls she had with her daughter. Hind’s sister Layan and other family members are believed to have been killed by an Israeli attack while they were on an emergency call. Published On 1 Feb 20241 Feb 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Journalists, activists targeted in Jordan with Israeli-made Pegasus spyware
The mobile phones of more than 30 people in Jordan, including journalists, lawyers and activists, were hacked with the Israeli-made Pegasus spyware over several years, a new investigation has found. The joint investigation, conducted by the Access Now internet advocacy group, the Citizen Lab rights group and other partners, highlighted on Thursday at least 35 cases of people who were targeted with the software, which is made by Israel’s NSO Group. Most of the cases dated from 2020 to late 2023. “We believe this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the use of Pegasus spyware in Jordan, and that the true number of victims is likely much higher,” Access Now said. While its report refrained from accusing Jordan’s government of deploying the spyware, it signalled that its use coincided with a dialling up of repression of “citizens’ rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly”. The Jordanian government had no immediate comment on the report. ‘Pegasus much more intrusive’ Pegasus, which can seize control of a phone’s microphone and camera and access documents, made headlines when a 2021 leak suggested there were about 50,000 potential victims of the malware around the world, many of them dissidents, journalists and activists. Those targeted in Jordan include two Human Rights Watch employees: Adam Coogle, deputy director for Middle East and North Africa, and Hiba Zayadin, senior researcher for Jordan and Syria. Both had received threat notifications from Apple in August that state-sponsored attackers had attempted to compromise their iPhones. Access Now said Coogle’s phone was hacked in October 2022, just two weeks after the publication of a report documenting the persecution of citizens organising peaceful political dissent. According to the report, many of those targeted had either worked on or covered a monthlong teachers’ strike in 2019, which prompted the authorities to arrest hundreds of teachers and dissolve their union. Public schools’ teachers take part in a protest as part of their strike in Amman, Jordan October 3, 2019 [Muhammad Hamed/Reuters] The report also said about half of those found to have been targeted – 16 in all – were journalists or media workers. Among them was Daoud Kuttab, a Palestinian-American journalist, who had his phone hacked three times in 2022 and 2023 and faced a further seven failed attempts. He said most journalists working in the Middle East expect their phones to be tapped, adding he had learned not to click on links in messages purporting to be from legitimate contacts. “In the past, it was only people overhearing what you say, but Pegasus is much more intrusive,” he was quoted as saying by The Associated Press news agency, expressing fears that bad actors could get access to his contacts. “I don’t want to burn my contacts, I don’t want to hurt them,” he said. Global market NSO Group faces multiple lawsuits from Apple and others, but it continues to sell its products to governments around the world, claiming that it sells the spyware only to vetted intelligence and law enforcement agencies in the interests of peace. But cybersecurity researchers who have tracked its use in 45 countries have documented dozens of cases of politically motivated abuse of the spyware – from Mexico to Thailand and Poland to Saudi Arabia. In 2021, the United States blacklisted NSO Group, accusing it of developing and supplying the spyware to foreign governments “that used these tools to maliciously” target a range of actors, including journalists and activists. Access Now’s regional policy director Marwa Fatafta said there was generally no oversight of companies offering such spying software, allowing the surveillance sector to continue its “secretive and shady” manner of business. “Governments are feverishly purchasing their technologies to spy on their citizens and to crack down on civil society,” Fatafta said. The NGO reiterated its call for an outright ban on any spyware that enables rights abuses. Adblock test (Why?)
Hindu prayers begin inside India’s Mughal-era mosque after court order
Hindu worshippers have begun praying inside a 17th-century mosque in the Indian city of Varanasi, hours after a court order gave them the go-ahead at the disputed site. The Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi is one of several Muslim places of worship that right-wing Hindu groups, backed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), have sought for decades to reclaim. Varanasi is Modi’s parliamentary constituency in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, also governed by the BJP. On Wednesday, a local court ruled that Hindu worshippers could pray in the building’s basement and ordered the authorities to “make proper arrangements” for worshippers within a week. Indian media reports said the family members of Hindu priests started praying in the mosque’s basement in the early hours of Thursday. #WATCH | A priest offers prayers at ‘Vyas Ji ka Tehkhana’ inside Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, after District court order. Visuals confirmed by Vishnu Shankar Jain, the lawyer for the Hindu side in the Gyanvapi case pic.twitter.com/mUB6TMGpET — ANI (@ANI) February 1, 2024 Akhlaq Ahmad, the lawyer representing Muslim petitioners, said the court order would be appealed. The Gyanvapi Mosque was built during the Mughal Empire in a city where Hindus from across the country cremate relatives by the Ganges river. Hindu worshippers claim the mosque replaced a temple to the Hindu deity Shiva. Last month, the Archaeological Survey of India said a survey of the site appeared to corroborate the belief that it was originally home to a temple. Emboldened right-wing Hindu groups have laid claim to several Muslim sites of worship they say were built atop ancient temples during Mughal rule. Centuries-old mosque razed in Indian capital Meanwhile, bulldozers have knocked down a centuries-old mosque in India’s capital, a member of the building’s managing committee said. The Masjid Akhonji in New Delhi, which its caretakers say is about 600 years old, was home to 22 students enrolled in an Islamic boarding school. It was torn down on Tuesday in a forest of Mehrauli, an affluent neighbourhood dotted with centuries-old ruins from settlements predating modern Delhi. In Mehrauli, Delhi, the Delhi Development Authority carried out an arbitrary demolition of a 600-year-old mosque on Tuesday. Imam Zakir Hussain stated that Masjid Akhonji, which housed Madrasa Bahrul Uloom and the graves of revered figures, was completely razed. pic.twitter.com/tjEWowUfQN — Maktoob (@MaktoobMedia) January 31, 2024 Mohammad Zaffar, a member of the mosque’s managing committee, told the Agence France-Presse news agency it did not receive any prior notice before a demolition was carried out “in the dark of the night”. He said many graves in the mosque compound were also desecrated and no one was allowed to take out copies of the Quran or other materials from inside the mosque before it was razed. “Many of our revered figures and my own ancestors were buried there. There is no trace of the graves now,” Zaffar told AFP. “The rubble from the mosque and the graves has been removed and dumped somewhere else.” The officials said the demolition was part of a drive to remove “illegal” structures from a forest reserve. Calls for India to enshrine Hindu supremacy have grown rapidly louder since Modi took office in 2014, making its roughly 200-million-strong Muslim minority – the world’s third-largest Muslim population – increasingly anxious about its future. Last week, Modi presided over a grand inauguration ceremony in the nearby city of Ayodhya for a Hindu temple built on the former grounds of another Mughal-era mosque. Hindu zealots had torn down the Babri Mosque in 1992 in a campaign spearheaded by members of Modi’s party, sparking sectarian riots that killed 2,000 people nationwide, most of them Muslims. A decades-long court battle that ensued over the future of the Babri site ended in 2019 when India’s top court permitted the construction of a temple to the deity Ram, who, according to Hindu scripture, was born in the city. The consecration of the Ram temple by Modi fulfilled a 35-year-old pledge of the BJP and has been portrayed by the party and its affiliates as a Hindu reawakening. It also came months ahead of national elections due by May and is expected to boost Modi’s chances of winning a third term. Critics accuse Modi of pushing a pro-Hindu agenda and promoting discrimination against Muslims, but he says his government does not do so. Last week, a senior leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the BJP’s far-right ideological mentor, questioned whether Gyanvapi Mosque and three others, including the razed one in Ayodhya, were mosques at all. “Whether we should consider them mosques or not, the people of the country and the world should think about it. They should stand with the truth, or they should stand with the wrong?” Indresh Kumar told Reuters news agency in an interview. “Accept the truth. Hold dialogues and let the judiciary decide.” Adblock test (Why?)
Chicago becomes latest US city to seek ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza
City councillors narrowly approve nonbinding resolution that also includes call for humanitarian aid and release of captives. Chicago has become the latest city in the United States to call for a permanent ceasefire as Israel’s war on Gaza nears its four-month mark, placing more pressure on President Joe Biden before November’s election to help end the fighting. After weeks of rowdy public meetings, councillors in the US’s third largest city on Wednesday narrowly approved the nonbinding resolution 24-23. The tie-breaking vote was cast by Mayor Brandon Johnson, who also had to temporarily clear the council chambers during the heated session. The symbolic declaration includes a call for humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip and the release of all captives held in the enclave. “Do I believe that the words that we speak today, how we vote today influences directly international policy? I don’t. I don’t have those illusions,” said Alderman Daniel La Spata, one of the resolution’s sponsors. “But we vote with hope. We vote with solidarity. We vote to help people feel heard in a world of silence.” The ordinance remained largely unchanged over the past few months despite urging from the council’s sole Jewish member, Alderwoman Debra Silverstein, who sought more support for Israel and criticism of Hamas. “We all want an end to the bloodshed and an end to the war. But it is vital to understand what caused the conflict, and we should pass a resolution that addresses the issue responsibly,” she said during the meeting. “We should not pass a resolution unless it makes clear that Hamas cannot and should not attack again.” Israeli attacks have devastated the Gaza Strip since Hamas fighters launched surprise attacks inside Israel on October 7 that killed about 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli officials. Israel retaliated with a relentless air and ground offensive that has killed nearly 27,000 people, about 70 percent of them children, women and the elderly, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. The US under both Democratic and Republican presidents has been giving Israel $3.8bn in military aid annually, ranging from fighter jets to powerful bombs. But in recent months, Israel’s relentless military campaign on Gaza has exposed deep divisions in the US amid growing anger over the Biden administration’s foreign policy. The passing of the resolution means that Chicago has now followed cities such as Atlanta, Detroit and San Francisco to be calling for a ceasefire. An analysis of city data by Reuters news agency this week showed that at least 48 US cities have adopted symbolic resolutions calling for a halt to Israel’s Gaza bombardment, with six others passing resolutions advocating more broadly for peace. At least 20 have passed resolutions condemning Hamas’s October 7 attacks. Most of the ceasefire resolutions have passed in Democratic states like California, though at least 14 have passed in swing states like Michigan that could be decisive in Biden’s re-election bid, most likely against Republican former President Donald Trump. Many of the ceasefire calls are modelled after Missouri Congresswoman Cori Bush’s “Ceasefire Now” resolution, which also urges the release of captives and an increase of aid into Gaza. At least nine of the ceasefire calls were in Michigan, where Arab Americans account for 5 percent of the vote and Biden’s 2020 margin of victory over Trump was less than 3 percent. An October poll showed Biden’s support among Arab Americans had plunged to 17 percent from 59 percent in 2020. “Arab Americans will not vote for Joe Biden, no matter what. That’s it. They’re done with Biden,” Sam Baydoun, a Wayne County commissioner, told Al Jazeera this week. “That’s the bottom line. Joe Biden is not going to be able to regain the trust of the Arab-American community,” he said, reflecting the frustration of many members of the Arab-American community over Biden’s unwavering support for Israel. Douglas Wilson, a Democratic strategist in the swing state of North Carolina, said the war “is something that’s going to be on voters’ minds” in the upcoming election. “It’s gonna be an issue here and in all the swing states because of the Muslim populations in these states, the Jewish populations in these states and the Black and brown population [in] these states,” Wilson told Reuters. Adblock test (Why?)
Israel’s war on Gaza: List of key events, day 118
EXPLAINER Hospitals in Khan Younis remain under siege as Red Sea tensions rise. Here’s how things stand on Thursday, February 1, 2024: Latest on human impact and fighting: The Israeli army on Wednesday stormed the courtyard of al-Amal Hospital affiliated with the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) in the city of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip following a 10-day siege. Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis also remains under siege as it faces a fuel shortage. Bombardment in Gaza continues, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum reported that several Palestinians were killed after Israel bombed a civilian car on the main road that links Khan Younis and Rafah. On Thursday, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) released a statement saying US forces conducted strikes against Houthi unmanned aerial vehicles and the group’s ground control station in “self-defence”. Late on Wednesday, CENTCOM announced that the USS Carney shot down an antiship ballistic missile fired by the Houthis in the Gulf of Aden. No damages or injuries were reported. The European Union plans to launch a naval mission in the Red Sea within three weeks to help defend cargo ships against Houthi attacks, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Wednesday. About 184,000 people have registered for humanitarian assistance on the western outskirts of Khan Younis in recent days, the United Nations humanitarian agency OCHA said in its daily update. Diplomacy A civil case accusing US President Joe Biden and other senior officials of being complicit in Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza has been dismissed by a US federal court judge on jurisdiction grounds. On Wednesday, the Chicago City Council passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire. Some 70 US cities have passed resolutions on Israel’s war on Gaza, most of them calling for a ceasefire. South Africa’s Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said on Wednesday that Israel has ignored the interim ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) last week by killing hundreds more civilians in a matter of days in Gaza. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters on Wednesday that the US response to the attack on Jordan’s Tower 22 that killed three American soldiers “will not be escalatory”. He added that the US does not believe it is in the interest of any country in the region, including Iran, to see the conflict escalate. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met UN humanitarian coordinator Sigrid Kaag on Wednesday. Blinken said the US government is “working closely” with Kaag to “maximise aid getting into Gaza”. Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut reported citing Israeli media that Mossad spy chief David Bernea briefed Israel’s war cabinet about the captives’ release plan. The current plan suggests a 35-day pause in fighting and the release of 35 captives. The number of Palestinian prisoners released was not discussed. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh is expected in Cairo on Thursday amid talks of a truce proposal. Settler attacks in West Bank Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that armed Israeli settlers injured two Palestinian children late on Wednesday near the village of Susya, to the south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, according to local sources. Wafa also reported that armed Israeli settlers assaulted an elderly man in the Masafer Yatta region, located south of the West Bank city of Hebron, on Wednesday, according to local sources. On Wednesday, an Israeli settler ran over a herd of sheep in al-Ma’rajat area, west of Jericho, Wafa reported. Adblock test (Why?)
Thailand deports dissident Russian rockers to Israel
Human rights advocates warned against sending Bi-2 to Russia where they could be persecuted for opposing Ukraine war. Thailand has deported members of a dissident Russian-Belarusian rock band critical of Moscow’s war in Ukraine to Israel after they were detained for performing without a permit. Members of Bi-2 left “safely” for Tel Aviv on Wednesday night, they said on their Facebook page. Human rights advocates had warned the group would face severe persecution for speaking out against Russia’s war in Ukraine if they were sent back to Russia. Thai authorities had detained the members of Bi-2 for working at the resort island of Phuket without a permit. The fate of the band provoked an international outcry, leading Thai immigration officials to give the band the choice of being deported to another destination if they felt unsafe to return to Russia. Thailand’s National Security Council, chaired by Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, took charge of the case on Wednesday. Several members of the self-exiled group, which had been based in Israel in the 1990s, have dual nationalities, including Israeli and Australian. Deputy Police Chief Surachate Hakparn confirmed the band had requested to be deported to Israel. Under pressure The band was detained last week after they played a gig on Phuket, a southern island popular with Russian holidaymakers. Thai officials said they were held for performing without the correct work permits and transferred to an immigration detention centre in Bangkok. VPI Event, the organisers of the band’s Thailand concerts – which also included a show in Pattaya – said all the necessary permits were obtained, but the band had been issued tourist visas in error. VPI accused the Russian consulate of having waged a campaign to cancel the concerts since December and said they had faced “unprecedented pressure” as they sought the band’s release. War criticism Bi-2, which was founded in Minsk, Belarus, is popular in Russia. Russia’s Ministry of Justice labelled lead singer Yegor Bortnick a “foreign agent” after he criticised President Vladimir Putin online last year. Alexandr Uman of the alternative rock band Bi-2 performs in Portugal, July 6, 2023 [Horacio Villalobos/Corbis via Getty Images] One of the band’s founders has openly denounced the Putin government, saying it makes him feel “only disgust” and accusing the long-serving leader of having “destroyed” Russia. Several of their concerts were cancelled in 2022 after they refused to play at a venue with banners supporting the war in Ukraine, after which they left Russia. Human rights “Even though they [are] all safe, we still want Thai authorities to respect arrest procedures strictly,” human rights lawyer Pornpen Khongkachonkiet told the AFP news agency. “It could [have] happened to me, you, and others without international attention as this case got.” Phil Robertson, the deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), said Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had recognised “the importance of upholding human rights principles” by not sending the band to “face persecution” in Russia. Very good news that all band members of the Russian-Belorussian rock band Bi-2 were able to leave #Thailand, & go safely to #Israel. Appreciate that @MFAThai recognized the importance of upholding human rights principles, & didn’t send them to face persecution & worse in #Russia. pic.twitter.com/JONpMmCRMX — Phil Robertson (@Reaproy) February 1, 2024 Robertson said that while “Thailand is vulnerable to effective manipulation by larger states pursuing transnational repression”, international pressure – and global economic concerns – had played a significant role. “Thailand realised that they didn’t need to make a lot of enemies by doing Russia’s bidding in this case.” Adblock test (Why?)