Hindu-Owned Stalls Marked With Saffron Flags To Segregate Muslims, Against The Decision Of A Karnataka Temple To Allow Muslim Vendors At Dussehra Festival

New Age Islam News Bureau

19 October 2023

 

Saffron flags hung on stalls owned by Hindu vendors in Mangalore.

Sourced by the Telegraph

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India

·         Grand Mufti of India, Sheikh Abubakr Ahmad, Writes to PM Modi Expressing Concern of the Palestinian People

·         Abdul Rashid Hafiz, Kashmir’s Sufi Singer,  Faces Accusations Of Exposing Sufism To 'Vulgar' And 'Pop' Music

·         Over 30 Muslim Religious Groups In Kashmir Condemn Gaza Hospital Attack

·         BRS or Congress: The Dilemma Facing Telangana’s Muslim Voters

·         Karnataka VHP leader launches campaign to boycott Muslim traders at Hindu temple fairs, booked

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Europe

·         Western Leaders Risk Complicity In Israeli War Crimes, British MP Tells Arab News

·         UK’s Sunak visits Israel, will warn against Gaza war escalation

·         German arms exports to favour Israel over Ukraine – media

·         UK special forces preparing to aid Israel in efforts to rescue Hamas hostages

·         British foreign minister to travel to Middle East, including Egypt

·         Several Germans killed by Hamas: Berlin

·         IHRC says refers attacks by European states on Palestinian supporters to UN

·         French airports evacuated after ‘threats of attack’

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Pakistan

·         At OIC meeting: Pakistan demands end to Israeli terror campaign

·         Pakistan calls for establishing urgent humanitarian corridors for relief supplies to Gaza

·         Pakistan calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza

·         Pakistan tests Ababeel Weapon System

·         Verdict reserved on Nawaz’s plea seeking suspension of arrest warrant in Toshakhana case

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North America

·         Biden gives clean chit to Israel over Gaza hospital strike

·         CAIR-NJ, AMP-NJ to Hold Joint Press Conference Calling on New Jersey Officials to Support Ceasefire in Gaza

·         CAIR Maryland Office to Host Virtual Teach-In on Palestine Advocacy for Students

·         CAIR Calls U.S. Veto of UN Resolution Calling for Humanitarian Ceasefire ‘Indefensible’

·         US votes UNSC resolution demanding humanitarian pause in Gaza

·         Rep. Rashida Tlaib to Biden: As A Muslim Palestinian American, "I'm Not Going To Forget This"

·         Biden claims Hamas attack worse than 9/11

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South Asia

·         Islamic Emirate Says Blast at Gaza Hospital a 'Crime Against Humanity'

·         Indian NSA Urges Inclusive Afghan Govt And Counterterrorism

·         Muslim Ummah’s United Efforts Can Solve Palestine Crisis, Says, Bangladesh Prime Minister

·         UN Experts Urge Pakistan to Cancel Refugees’ Repatriation Plan

·         Islamic Emirate Begins Building Houses in Quake-Affected Areas

·         IEA Condemned the Bombardment of the Al-Mamadani Hospital in Gaza

·         Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Condemns Attack On Gaza Hospital

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Mideast

·         Every Drop Of Palestinian Blood Brings Israel Closer To Downfall: Iran President

·         Muslim World Will Never Tolerate Israel's War Crimes Against Gaza Children, Women: Iran Foreign Minister

·         Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement rejects Israeli claim it struck Gaza hospital

·         Fatalities As Israel Strikes Mosque In Central Gaza: Medical Source

·         Why Egypt and other Arab countries are unwilling to take in Palestinian refugees from Gaza

·         Israel evacuates staff from embassy in Egypt

·         Islamic Jihad rejects Israel's 'downright lies' over Gaza hospital missile strike

·         OIC condemns Israeli attack on Gaza hospital as 'organized state terrorism'

·         UN puts Gaza humanitarian aid need at 100 trucks per day

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Southeast Asia

·         Malaysia Will Spare No Effort To Prevent Further Massacre Of Civilians In Gaza- PM

·         PM Anwar: Malaysia Looking At Diplomatic Channels To Prevent Further Massacre In Gaza

·         Syahredzan files motion to refer PAS' PengkalanChepa MP to Rights and Privileges Committee over 'kafir' remarks

·         Singapore Workers’ Party calls for Israel to cease all military operations in Gaza Strip, Hamas to release Israeli hostages

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Africa

·         Fraudsters Use Artificial Intelligence To Impersonate African Union Chief Moussa Faki

·         The UN worries about a risk of “direct confrontation” between DRC and Rwanda

·         Israel-Hamas war: South Africa considers humanitarian aid

·         Chad sex tape scandal leads to government resignations

·         Gaza Hospital Attack: Palestinian Ambassador in Nigeria calls for independent probe

·         FCTA extends deadline for mosques, churches on revocation order

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Arab World

·         Yemenis Say Israel Should Be Dealt With Militarily

·         Saudi Arabia Participates in Conclusion of UNESCO Executive Council

·         Saudi embassy in Beirut calls on Saudi citizens in Lebanon to leave immediately

·         Japan, Saudi Arabia hold telephone summit on Mideast crisis

·         Saudi FM discusses military escalation in Gaza with Iranian, Lebanese counterparts

Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau

URL:   https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/-dussehra-temple-muslim-vendor-saffron/d/130935

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Hindu-Owned Stalls Marked With Saffron Flags To Segregate Muslims, Against The Decision Of A Karnataka Temple To Allow Muslim Vendors At Dussehra Festival

 

Saffron flags hung on stalls owned by Hindu vendors in Mangalore.

Sourced by the Telegraph

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19.10.23

K.M. Rakesh

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad and a pro-Hindu traders' body opposed to the decision of a Karnataka temple to allow Muslim vendors at the ongoing Dussehra festival have strung saffron flags on Hindu-owned stalls to single out the others in a virtual boycott call.

The VHP and the recently formed Sanatana Hindu Vyparasthara Sangha (Sanatana Hindu traders' association), which claims to have the support of about 250 vendors from the majority community in Mangalore, have called on Hindus to patronise only stalls owned by the community.

This follows the government-run Mangaladevi temple administration auctioning a fresh set of temporary stalls, of which 11 were awarded to Muslim vendors.

The auction held on Saturday followed protests by the Dakshina Kannada and Udupi Districts Religious Fair Businessmen’s Coordination Committee over the temple administration's decision not to allow Muslims to pitch for any stall in an earlier auction.

As is the practice, temples in Karnataka auction temporary stalls that sell religious items, refreshments and trinkets during fairs and festivals. Muslims have been given a raw deal since last year when Sangh Parivar outfits enforced a near-total ban on vendors from the minority community after the hijab issue flared up and Muslim groups forced a shutdown in Mangalore.

VHP provincial secretary SharanPumpwell claimed they were only following rules. “We are not against Muslim vendors, who are free to do their business elsewhere. Our objection is based on the rules that disallow non-Muslims from setting up shops anywhere near Hindu temples,” he said, citing the Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Rules framed in 2002.

Told that the rules bar non-Hindus from setting up shops only on the temple premises and that the Mangaladevi temple administration had allotted stalls to the Muslim vendors along a public road, Sharan said the road used to be part of the shrine.

“The deity is taken around in a religious procession on the same road,” Sharan said.

While the temple has earmarked 115 stalls, only 70 have been auctioned until Wednesday. More are likely to be auctioned on Thursday.

B.K. Imthiyaz, convener of the Businessmen’s Coordination Committee, pointed out that vendors from all communities had done business until last year. “All this began happening only from last year after the hijab issue,” he said, referring to the controversy over the ban on the headscarf in educational institutions.

“If their argument is against permitting non-Hindu vendors, what do they have to say about the presence of a church, non-vegetarian restaurants and non-Hindus living in apartments on the same road? This is only being done to target Muslim vendors,” Imthiyaz said.

But Sharan argued that it’s not their concern if Muslims live in the area or do other business.“

This is not about faith, but about rules and regulations. The endowment rules that govern temples clearly mandate only Hindus should be allowed to set up shops at temples,” he said.

Delegates from the Dakshina Kannada Jathyatheetha Pakshagalu, SanghatanegalaJanti Vedike (joint forum of Dakshina Kannada secular parties and organisations) on Tuesday met health and family welfare minister Dinesh GunduRao, who is in charge of the Dakshina Kannada district of Mangalore, to address their woes.

“We met the minister and apprised him of the difficulties Muslim traders are facing in the district and how they are being boycotted at temple fairs. He gave a patient hearing and promised to take suitable corrective steps,” Imthiyaz said.

The memorandum signed by Muneer Katipalla, the organisation’s general secretary and state CPM youth wing DYFI, urged the Karnataka government to ensure Muslims are not discriminated against at temple fairs since it’s a matter of their livelihood.

The letter urged the government to take “strict measures to rein in hate politics and to uphold unity and harmony”.

Source: telegraphindia.com

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https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/karnataka-at-Dussehra-festival-hindu-owned-stalls-marked-with-saffron-flags-to-segregate-muslims/cid/1974228

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Pashto-Speaking Hindu Pathans From Pakistan-Afghan Border Keep Dussehra Legacy Alive

 

Agency Photo: The Times of India

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Oct 19, 2023

NAGPUR: Pashto-speaking Yograj Sahni unfailingly prefixes "Hindu" to any conversation about his Pathan ancestry. "We are Pathans, but mind you, we are Hindu Pathans," he declares, seeking to pre-empt the question he possibly gets asked often.

This year's Dussehra ritual of Ravan Dahan will be his 72nd since he, his family and scores of other battle-weary natives of Thal and Bannu towns in Kohat district of Pakistan's "wild west" - the North-West Frontier Province - migrated to India. Yograj, 84, was barely eight then. "Our home was close to the Afghanistan border, and the salt mounds were just some distance away," he reminisces, rolling out a map of undivided India. "Our kin traded in the commodity," his nephew Milan interjects.

Hindu Pathans migrated to central India around 1947

Seated in the living room of his home in Nagpur's Kadbi Chowk, Yograj points to a sepia-toned portrait of hardy, turbaned men standing on craggy terrain with cartridge-stuffed bandoliers strapped across their chests. The mustachioed gent in the portrait is Yograj's granddad Maniram, standing next to a gun-wielding figure he identifies as Jairam.

These are people who migrated to central India just before and after Partition, carrying with them all the derring-do of their danger-fraught native land along with the dogmas of the Sanatan Dharma they were born into.

Three of the men in the picture died defending their village in Bannu from warring Afghan tribesmen. "Guns were intrinsic to the culture in NWFP, and both Hindus and Muslims stashed ammunition in their homes," says Yograj, lapsing into Pashto. "Men couldn't find brides if they didn't possess guns."

From then to now, what remains unchanged is the minuscule Hindu Pathan community's enthusiasm for Dussehra rituals. "We would throng Ram Leelas and burn the effigy of Ravan," says Yograj. "Hindu Pathans were a micro minority, but we treated Muslims as our brethren. A temple and a mosque in Kohat shared a common wall. Sounds of azan and temple bells mingled with each other."

After Yograj's family arrived in India in April 1947, they spent a few years in Haridwar and then in Faridabad before choosing to settle in Nagpur.

It was the Hindu Pathans who established the Sanatan Dharm Yuvak Sanstha in India, later opening a branch in Nagpur with Yograj as its chief patron. There are currently 200 Hindu Pathan families from Kohat living in Nagpur.

As in previous years, the Sahnis, Soomros, Talwars and Sehgals look forward to next week's Ravan Dahan in Nagpur, an event that draws thousands to the city's Kasturchand Park Ground. Politicians like Union minister Nitin Gadkari, Maharashtra deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat are regular invitees.

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com

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https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/hindu-pathans-from-pakistan-afghan-border-keep-dussehra-legacy-alive/articleshow/104537019.cms

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UK Immigration Minister Likens BBC’s Gaza Coverage To ‘Blood Libel’

 

Supporters of Israel protest outside the headquarters of the BBC in London, October 16, 2023. ©  Daniel Leal / AFP

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19 Oct, 2023

British Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick likened BBC’s coverage of the Hamas-Israel conflict to an anti-Semitic “blood libel” on Wednesday. The public broadcaster came under fire from several UK officials over its reporting on the deadly attack on the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City that took place on October 17, for which Israel and the Palestinian officials have blamed each other.

“The reporting of the tragic explosion at the Al-Ahli hospital by the BBC and others was like a 21st century blood libel,” Jenrick wrote on X (formerly Twitter). Historically, blood libels were false accusations that Jews were killing Christian babies for ritual purposes.

In his post, Jenrick was commenting on the question MP Stephen Crabb posed earlier to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. During a parliamentary debate, Crabb complained that “sections of the British media” had reported the strike on the hospital relying on the information from “officials in terrorist-controlled Gaza.”

“The headlines have since been rewritten, but the outpouring of Jew hate on social media overnight was vile,” Crabb said. He went on to ask that Sunak make a warning that “any information coming from Hamas must be treated with a degree of scrutiny and cross-examination.”

The PM agreed that “we should not rush to judgment before we have all the facts” about the tragedy.

“It is incumbent on all of those in positions of responsibility in this House and outside in the media to recognize that the words we say will have an impact, and we should be careful with them,” Sunak said, adding that the government was “working with our allies to establish the truth of what has happened.”

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly echoed this sentiment, arguing that on Tuesday “too many jumped to conclusions around the tragic loss of life at Al-Ahli Hospital.” He urged everyone to “wait for the facts," and “report them clearly and accurately.”

Israel also accused UK media of bias in relation to the hospital blast. IDF spokesman Jonathan Conricus criticized the BBC for “double standards” and argued that a Sky News anchor had opened a recent interview with him with a “very unfair” question that implied that Israel should be held responsible for the hospital deaths.

The broadcaster confirmed earlier this week that it was investigating several of its staffers for alleged anti-Israel bias and supporting the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The BBC has also been criticized by the pro-Palestinian camp. On Monday, the broadcaster apologized for its “misleading description” of demonstrations in support for Palestine in the UK as rallies of Hamas supporters. The group Palestine Action covered the entrance to BBC’s office in London with red paint over the weekend, claiming that the news corporation was spreading Israeli “lies.”

The BBC, meanwhile, insisted that it was upholding the principle of impartiality. “The BBC gets particular attention, partly because we’ve got strong critics in politics and in the press, and partly because we’re rightly held to an especially high standard. But part of keeping to that high standard is to be as objective as it's possible to be,” John Simpson, the broadcaster’s world affairs editor, said last week.

Source: rt.com

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https://www.rt.com/news/585307-bbc-israel-blood-libel/

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Arab Countries, Pakistan Next Targets Of Israel: Jamaat-i-Islami Chief Siraj ul Haq

 

Jamaat-e-Islami chief Sirajul Haq while delivering a speech during a workers convention held at the Markaz-e-Islami, Chitral on October 18, 2023. — Facebook/Siraj ul Haq

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October 19, 2023

CHITRAL: Jamaat-i-Islami chief Sirajul Haq has castigated the government for its silence over the Palestine issue, saying the next targets of Israel are Arab countries and Pakistan.

Addressing a workers convention here on Wednesday, he said that Israel crossed all limits of barbarism and brutality in Gaza with the full support of America.

He said that no Muslim country came forward boldly to side with the Palestinian freedom fighters.

“Are the Shaheen, Ghori, Hataf and Ghaznavi missiles are meant to be kept in a museum or they should be used against the deadliest enemy of Islam at this time of urgency in Palestine,” he questioned.

JI chief flays rulers for their silence over Palestine issue

Mr Haq said that the world would not have seen the burning of Palestine and suffering of its people if Jamaat-i-Islami was in power. He said that Palestinians were without food, water and medicines as their land was turned into Karbala.

He asked political leadership of the country to unite against Zionists.

He said that JI had constituted ‘National Palestine Council’ consisting of mainstream political parties including PML-N, PTI, PPP, JUI-F and ANP. He said that the council should be extended to district level.

The JI chief appealed to people to contribute to the fund raising campaign being launched on the upcoming Friday to help their Palestine brethren, who were in dire need of finances.

“All the major political parties have come to power time and again but each time they have disappointed people. Let JI be put to test by giving it a chance to prove its mettle,” he said. He added that by giving donations, people showed their trust in JI due and its honest leadership so they should also vote for the party as well.

On the occasion, scores of people associated with different political parties including PTI, PPP, PML-N, JUIF and ANP in different villages of the district announced to join JI.

Mr Haq welcomed and garlanded the newcomers and hoped that they would play their role in strengthening the party in the district.

Earlier, the convention was addressed by former district Nazim Maghfirat Shah, former MNA from Chitral Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali, JI district emir Maulana Jamshed Ahmed and provincial deputy secretary Maulana Hedayatullah.

Source: dawn.com

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https://www.dawn.com/news/1781915/arab-countries-pakistan-next-targets-of-israel-siraj

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Biden Tells Netanyahu US ‘Fully In Support’ Of Israeli Ground Invasion Of Gaza: Report

 

US President Joe Biden (R) is welcomed by Israeli prime minster Benjamin Netanyahu, as he visits Tel Aviv amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza, October 18, 2023. (Photo by Reuters)

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19 October 2023

US President Joe Biden has reportedly told Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Washington is “fully in support” of Tel Aviv’s plans to launch a ground invasion of the besieged Gaza Strip.

Biden visited Tel Aviv on Wednesday amid an intensified Israeli campaign of airstrikes on Gaza, the most densely-populated strip of land in the world, which has killed at least 3,500 Palestinians and injured over 13,000.

“In our meeting today we agreed on a set of actions and steps that make sure we can continue the war,” Netanyahu said in a statement Wednesday after meeting Biden.

“We agreed on cooperation that will change the equation on all the fronts and will help us achieve our goals in the war,” he added.

The Times of London reported that Biden offered Netanyahu his “private backing” to press ahead with a plan to send troops for a ground invasion of Gaza, according to accounts of their private meeting.

The US president promised to ask Congress for an “unprecedented” military aid package for Israel to assist its ongoing war on Gaza.

Reports indicated that Biden was considering a supplemental request of about $10 billion for Israel. He is expected to deliver an address from the Oval Office on Thursday evening to make the case for new funding for aid to the Israeli regime as well as Ukraine.

During his meeting with Netanyahu and in subsequent discussions with members of Israel's war cabinet, Biden expressed concern about the intensifying tensions between Israel and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah resistance movement.

Israeli army has struck Southern Lebanon with white phosphorus munitions, killing four people, a report says.

The war in Gaza between the occupying regime and Hamas has raised fears that the conflict could spill over into Lebanon and turn into a broader war with Hezbollah, engulfing the whole region.

“Biden was particularly concerned that Iran-backed Hezbollah would decide to join the war, increasing the odds of a broader conflict in the Middle East,” Axios reported.

While offering US support, Biden told the Israeli war cabinet that he understood the war in Gaza against Hamas would take time. Benny Gantz, a member of the war cabinet and former minister of military affairs, responded by saying that the incursion into Gaza “could take years.”

Israeli and US officials told Axios that Biden did not object, but said Israel would need to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza to “maintain international support.”

Shortages of food, water and medicine due to a complete siege threaten lives of people in Gaza while hospitals are overwhelmed amid incessant Israeli bombings.

The US vetoes a UNSC resolution demanding humanitarian pauses in the Israeli regime’s war on Gaza.

The US president’s trip to the occupied territories was overshadowed by a horrifying Israeli airstrike on a hospital in central Gaza that left at least 500 Palestinians dead, mostly women and children.

Israeli authorities have blamed the attack, which has sparked an uproar of condemnations and protests across the region and beyond, on a misfiring Palestinian rocket.

Biden was quick to echo the Israeli narrative, declaring - in poor choice of words - that “the other team” was responsible for the strike. The White House and the Pentagon offered the same assessment, without providing any evidence.

Protests rage on across the world after Israel

While Biden was still in Tel Aviv, more American warships and forces were heading toward the region, and about 2,000 troops in the United States were preparing to deploy if called on, to assist Israeli forces.

Currently, one US aircraft carrier and its accompanying strike group are already positioned in the Eastern Mediterranean.

A second aircraft carrier strike group has been dispatched from the US and is en route to the region. Three Marine warships are also on the move and scores of aircraft have been deployed to US military bases around the Middle East.

Source: presstv.ir

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https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2023/10/19/713007/US-fully-support%E2%80%99-of-ground-invasion-of-Gaza

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India

Grand Mufti of India, Sheikh Abubakr Ahmad, Writes to PM Modi Expressing Concern of the Palestinian People

October 19, 2023

The Grand Mufti of India, Sheikh Abubakr Ahmad on Wednesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the concerns of the Palestinian people.

In his letter Ahmad said that India, which has always stood with the Palestinian people, must mediate the problems currently experienced by the Middle East and intervene for a lasting solution.

His letter came soon after a phone conversation with the Palestinian Mufti, Sheikh Muhammad Hussain. The Grand Mufti emphasised on India’s dedication to the principles of justice, fairness, non-alignment and global unity, as recently reiterated during India’s G20 presidency with the theme of ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’, making it a natural candidate to facilitate peace negotiations.

He said that India, throughout its history, has stood as a beacon of peace, tolerance, and harmony. “Our nation’s rich tradition of embracing diversity and fostering communal unity has served as a guiding light to the world. The Jerusalem Grand Mufti himself conveyed his profound appreciation for the empathetic understanding that India has demonstrated towards Palestinian concerns and their rights throughout history. In light of this legacy, India can play a pivotal role in helping end the crisis in the West Asian region,” said the Grand Mufti.

The Grand Mufti also demanded that there should be a permanent solution to the Palestinian-Israeli crisis to create a peaceful common future. A message from the Mufti of Palestine was also handed over to Modi, thanking India for its historic stand on the Palestine-Israel issue. — IANS

Source: muslimmirror.com

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https://muslimmirror.com/eng/grand-mufti-of-india-writes-to-pm-modi-expressing-concern-of-the-palestinian-people/

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Abdul Rashid Hafiz, Kashmir’s Sufi Singer,  Faces Accusations Of Exposing Sufism To 'Vulgar' And 'Pop' Music

19.10.23

Muzaffar Raina

Abdul Rashid Hafiz, one of Kashmir’s foremost Sufi singers, is facing accusations of corrupting Sufism through his maiden foray into a new-age music platform.

Hafiz and Bollywood playback singer Asees Kaur feature in Salim-Sulaiman and Mithoon’s Bhoomi 2023 duet Meri Jaan. The song, released on Tuesday, has taken the Internet by storm but seems to have angered many of Hafiz’s ardent fans back home.

The singer is facing accusations of exposing Sufism, a foremost religious tradition representing Islamic mysticism, in Kashmir to “vulgar” and “pop” music. Some called it an insult to Sufism.

Hafiz is a household name in Kashmir and has played a key role in popularising Sufi music in the Valley.

In Bhoomi, a fusion of traditional and modern music, he has sung the famed composition of poet Abdul Ahad Nazim, “YaTuliKhanjarMaaray, Nati Sani Shab a Rozay (Either He will draw the dagger and go for the kill or stay a night with us)”.

“Rashid Hazif, Khuda Hafiz (Rashid Hafiz, goodbye),” wrote journalist Hilal Mir on social media. “On a serious note, I don’t think a one-off event can diminish his stature.”

Politician and former Srinagar mayor Salman Sagar wrote he has been an ardent fan of Hafiz, having spent nights listening to his live performances, but the new song was “not a good idea”.

“This should not have come from legendary artists like him. Still lot of respect & appreciation for his music & unique style. Nevertheless waiting for his next song with all ingredients of simplicity, purity, Sufism &Kashmirayat,” he wrote.

Former broadcast journalist AbdalMahjoor, son of leading Kashmiri poet Mahjoor, said people know Hafiz as a heritage singer and “heritage is to be protected, not adultered”.

Following a barrage of criticism, many prominent voices have stepped in to defend Hafiz.

Faruq Masoodi, former head of Kashmir University’s Media Education and Research Department and also a known media personality, said “every artist has the right to experiment and try new forms, styles, settings and compositions”.

Source: telegraphindia.com

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https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/one-of-kashmirs-foremost-sufi-singers-abdul-rashid-hafiz-faces-accusations-of-corrupting-sufism-through-maiden-foray-into-new-age-music-platform/cid/1974233

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Over 30 Muslim religious groups in Kashmir condemn Gaza hospital attack

October 19, 2023

As many as 30 Muslim bodies under the banner of Muttahida Majlis-e-Ulema (MMU), headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, on October 18, condemned the bombing of a hospital in Palestine’s Gaza “in an Israeli air strike”. The National Conference (NC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) also expressed their concern. 

A spokesman of the MMU, in a joint statement, said the religious groups express “shock and outrage” at the bombing of a hospital in Gaza”, which left around 500 Palestinians, including children, dead.

Gaza’s doctors struggle to save hospital attack survivors as West Asia rage grows

“People of Jammu & Kashmir are deeply saddened as well as pained by this unfolding tragedy and stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine. The massacre of Palestinians at the hospital is a blatant war crime under United Nations Charter and the Geneva Conventions,” the spokesman said.

The MMU urged the United Nations and the world powers “to move beyond blame game and partisanship”. “They need to see what is happening in Gaza, for what it is, a humanitarian crisis . The war against hapless Palestinian citizens should be stopped and a resolution to this long-term conflict immediately sought, which restores the rights of Palestinian people to their life and land,” it said.

Joining the condemnation, former J&K chief minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, in a post on X, said, “A tragic reminder of what must have happened during the Holocaust. Perhaps the only difference is that the very community that the victims belonged to are now the oppressors and gas chambers have been replaced by bombs. Half of the world’s terrorism is a reaction to the unresolved issue of Palestine. Will the powers that be continue being mute bystanders or wake up to the grim reality so that innocents aren’t killed anymore?”

Former Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister and NC president Dr. Farooq Abdullah expressed concern over India’s “meek stand”. “India since (former Prime Minister) Jawaharlal Nehru’s time supported Palestine and stood against oppression of Palestinians. It’s unfortunate the same voices do not come forward to Palestine’s support in India anymore. History stands witness that Jews took over the land of Palestinians in Palestine and expanded their territory,” Dr. Abdullah said.

Source: thehindu.com

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https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/over-30-muslim-religious-groups-in-kashmir-condemn-gaza-hospital-attack/article67434128.ece

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BRS or Congress: The Dilemma Facing Telangana’s Muslim Voters

Oct 19, 2023

In August this year, Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR) inaugurated, in the sprawling B.R. Ambedkar Secretariat complex, a tastefully designed mosque. For many, this move marked the possible dousing of a controversy in an election year. For, it was in 2020 that the Telangana government razed, along with the old secretariat buildings, two mosques (and a temple) that existed within the complex. While there were murmurs of a possible demolition of the old secretariat, the flattening of the mosques was unexpected. This sent shockwaves within the Muslim community and thus followed sporadic low-key demonstrations.

The reconstruction of these mosques, given that the state goes to the polls, appears an attempt to mollify the Muslim community – which constitutes 12.68% of the state’s population of 3.51 crore. At the event, Rao was flanked by Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, and the Muslim clergy, including Mufti Khaleel Ahmed who heads the Jamia Nizamia, an influential seminary founded in 1872. Muftis (qualified clerics) at the Jamia’s Darul Ifta (Fatwa Centre) have been issuing fatwas (jurisprudential opinions), which is why the mufti’s presence was significant at the event.

“Not one, but I saw four muftis there (at the inauguration). When muftis prayed there, the question (of validity of prayers) does not arise,” Owaisi told the media, hours after the inauguration, giving validity to the event by invoking Mufti Khaleel’s “service of six decades” to the faith. Owaisi also compared KCR’s Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government with that of the Congress, and pointed out that the former had reconstructed the mosque after demolishing it, a promise that the Congress failed to keep after the Babri Masjid was razed. It is a comparison he continues to reiterate.

AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi. Photo: Twitter/@asadowaisi

Even as the elections, slated for November 30, inch closer, Owaisi and his younger brother Akbaruddin Owaisi have been launching salvos, primarily against the Congress, all the while defending KCR. This is symptomatic of the dilemma a section of the Muslim community finds itself in – whether to support the BRS for a third term, despite having certain reservations, or voting to bring the Congress back in power.

“There were meetings and consultations about what the BRS government did, and didn’t do for the Muslims. A document called ‘Muslim Declaration 2023’ was released,” said Hyderabad-based social activist Khalida Parveen. Figuring at the top of the list was the BRS’s unkept promise of 12% reservations for Muslims.

It was in 2014 that the BRS [then TRS] supremo, near Shadnagar, a town about 40 km from Hyderabad, had pledged to accord 12% reservations for Muslims. This unkept promise has remained a key talking point with those who question the BRS.

“In our meetings, we saw Muslims from across the state were unhappy with KCR. Of course, the 12% reservation promise was not kept. Other issues like low representation of Muslims in the assembly are there,” claimed Parveen. While the state has 119 assembly constituencies, the BRS’s candidates list has only three Muslims.

Interestingly, it was the BRS government that constituted a Commission of Inquiry to study the socio-economic conditions of the Muslim community. Comprising development economist Amir Ullah Khan, academician Abdul Shaban, and headed by former civil servant G. Sudhir, the commission’s report – which was released in 2016 – made a case for reservations to Muslims. But before making this recommendation, the Commission noted that in the Telangana government’s 23 departments, the share of Muslim employees was about 7.36%. This was not in proportion to the state’s Muslim population of 12.36%. It also underscored the low representation of Muslims in the bureaucracy.

Making a case for reservations, the Commission stated:

“It has also been found that under–representation of Muslims is acute in departments where there are large numbers of employees, or the departments which are strategic in nature. For instance, administrative service, Home, Education and Welfare Departments. These four sectors/departments are crucial for include development and have relatively high under-representation of Muslims.”

Some activists and the public in general on several occasions have expressed their displeasure, and cite this as an example of how the BRS has taken the Muslim community for granted.

Clarifying the party’s position during an assembly session, CM KCR reiterated that the assembly had passed a resolution in the house for the reservations. It was the Union government that kept it pending. Another resolution was also passed and sent, in case the Union government keeps the issue hanging further.

S.Q. Masood, an activist who was not a part of the ‘Muslim Declaration 2023’, said that the BRS was “dangling a carrot” in front of the community. “In 2019, KCR spoke about redoing the resolution exercise. Does this mean the BRS doesn’t have a solid legal strategy? But, the 12% reservation is one of many issues. A win for the KCR government is that they have kept law and order in check, and no major communal issue has taken place,” he said.

The upholding of communal amity, and keeping a check on possibilities of communal conflagration, according to many, is crucial and works in favour of the BRS government. The fact that T. Raja Singh, the controversial BJP legislator currently under suspension, was arrested under the Preventive Detention Act for his derogatory comments about Prophet Muhammad is a case in point. The move was lauded as the BRS’s policy of zero tolerance for communalism.

An analyst, requesting anonymity, said, “While there is an effort to convince the Muslims of Telangana to vote for the Congress in the November elections, one has to understand that there were many communal riots in the 1980s and 1990s in Hyderabad when that party was in power. There have been no major riots with BRS in power. Communities were keeping count of how many people were killed in which community [earlier].” The keeping of count later came to be known as the “communal scoreboard”. The last major riot was in 2010, when clashes erupted in Moosabowli, a neighbourhood of Hyderabad’s Old City, after disagreements arose between two communities over the removal of religious buntings, he said.

Fragmentation may benefit BJP

What worries a section of Muslims is the fragmentation of the community’s vote. This vote, split between the Congress and the BRS, could potentially be devastating. An office bearer of an influential socio-religious organisation who did not wish to be identified said that while the Congress may be in a “slightly better” position in Telangana given the party’s win in Karnataka and a feeling of anti-incumbency against the BRS, there was no Congress wave. “The Congress in Telangana is an unproven entity, and appears weak at the grassroots,” he said. “On the other hand, the BRS may be facing anti-incumbency, but the party is strong at the grassroots. If the Muslim vote is divided between the BRS and Congress, it would lead to problems in constituencies in the composite Nizamabad, and Adilabad districts, where their vote is important, and benefit the BJP.”

While there may be an impression that the BJP is weakened, this is likely not the case, the analyst said. The BJP vote bank will continue to hold its own. “G. Kishan Reddy is the new BJP president, but (former BJP president) Bandi Sanjay continues to enjoy popularity, especially among the youth. The party is likely to add a few more seats in the upcoming elections,” he said.

Professor Afroz Alam, who heads the Department of Political Science at the Maulana Azad National Urdu University and has been studying the election climate with his team, said that the Congress versus BRS narrative in Telangana is largely class-based.

“There appears to be a clear divide. Elite Muslims are tilting towards the Congress. Among rural Muslims who are beneficiaries of government schemes, there is a preference for KCR,” Alam said. He opined that Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra and the recent win of the Congress in Karnataka have had a bearing on the “elites’” opinion.

“There is little or no anti-incumbency against BRS, but there is discontent with some MLAs. In Karnataka, everybody wanted to defeat the BJP. In Telangana, that situation does not apply,” Alam added.

Source: thewire.in

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https://thewire.in/politics/telangana-muslim-voters-dilemma-congress-brs

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Karnataka VHP leader launches campaign to boycott Muslim traders at Hindu temple fairs, booked

Updated: October 19, 2023

Dakshina Kannada district Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) joint secretary SharanPumpwellDakshina Kannada district Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) joint secretary SharanPumpwell (Photo via his Facebook page)

Mangaluru city police have booked Dakshina Kannada district Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) joint secretary SharanPumpwell after he and his followers planted saffron flags calling for a boycott of Muslim traders during festivals in Hindu temples in Karnataka.

Mangaluru city police commissioner Anupam Agarwal said Wednesday a case has been registered against Pumpwell and others under section 153 (a) (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Agarwal said, “Pumpwell along with his followers planted saffron flags on the shops owned by members of the Hindu community in the vicinity of Sri Mangaladevi Temple. He also gave a statement there urging Hindus to purchase their items of necessity only from shops owned and run by members of the Hindu community”.

“This statement and act of his create enmity on grounds of religion. Based upon the complaint of PSI (L&O) Mangaluru South Police Station Manohar Prasad, a case was registered at Mangaluru South Police Station against SharanPumpwell and others,” added the police commissioner.

With temple fairs season starting in coastal Karnataka, the VHP and Sanathana Hindu Vyaparasthara Sangha have been opposing allowing non-Hindus to participate in business at the fairs.

Last week, SharanPumpwell and his followers tied “bhagwadhwaja” on the stalls owned by Hindu traders at Mangaladevi temple in Mangaluru city. It was seen as a message to devotees to buy things only at stalls owned by the Hindus.

Pumpwell told reporters he or his organisation was not against Muslims carrying out business but against those who put up stalls near temples during Hindu festivities. He said, “If someone doesn’t believe in idol worship why should they be allowed to carry out business near temples?”

Dakshina Kannada Street Vendors Welfare Association honorary president B K Imthiyaz said since they have been unable to stop the non-Hindus from taking part in the auctioning of the stalls, they have engaged in such cheap politics by tying the saffron flag. “This is not the first time and the business won’t be affected by it,” he added.

The controversy started last year in the coastal Karnataka area and later spread to other parts with campaigns launched to prevent Muslims from participating in Hindu temple fairs.

Source: indianexpress.com

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https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/bangalore/karnataka-vhp-leader-campaign-boycott-muslim-traders-at-hindu-temple-fairs-8990026/

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Europe

 

Western leaders risk complicity in Israeli war crimes, British MP tells Arab News

October 18, 2023

CHICAGO: Western leaders risk being complicit in war crimes if they continue to support Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip, an MP from the UK’s governing Conservative Party told Arab News.

Crispin Blunt is co-director of the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians, which announced a notice of intention last week to prosecute UK government officials for “aiding and abetting war crimes in Gaza.”

Speaking on the “Ray Hanania Radio Show,” Blunt said the purpose of the notice of intent is “to try and get the Israelis to pause, have her allies saying, asking her, to think again about the consequences of the scale of the action that they might be contemplating against Gaza.”

He added: “The Palestinians have been on the wrong end of history for about 100 years. You can’t go on like this.

“In the end, there has to be a measure of justice if both sides are to have security, and it’s only if we can find a route for justice for the Palestinians that the Israelis can find security along with the Palestinians.”

Blunt said he is urging “restraint” to prevent the killing of more innocent civilians.

“What we’re trying to do is actually to avert what would undoubtedly be a disaster, which is the crime from Hamas of the appalling assault on Israel and the killing of so many utterly innocent Israelis being responded to with another crime. That’s a path we should avoid going down,” he said.

Blunt added that although US President Joe Biden’s rhetoric might be milder than that of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the American government would not be immune from legal action.

Israel must “stay within the law,” and while it may be “tiresome,” the country has many “substantial advantages” that can be employed to target those responsible for the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, Blunt said.

“Heads of state don’t enjoy any immunity from action, for fairly obvious reasons in taking decisions that put them in the frame for complicity with these kinds of crimes, or indeed committing the crimes themselves.”

Source: arabnews.com

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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2393676/world

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UK’s Sunak visits Israel, will warn against Gaza war escalation

October 19, 2023

BEN-GURION AIRPORT: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak landed in Israel on Thursday, beginning a visit in which he will meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog before traveling on to other regional capitals.

Sunak will share his condolences for the loss of life in Israel and Gaza as a result of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Gaza-based Palestinian Hamas gunmen, his office said, and warn against further escalation of conflict in the region.

“Every civilian death is a tragedy. And too many lives have been lost following Hamas’ horrific act of terror,” Sunak said in a statement ahead of his visit.

He said a deadly blast at a Gaza hospital on Tuesday which killed hundreds of Palestinians should be “a watershed moment for leaders in the region and across the world to come together to avoid further dangerous escalation of conflict,” pledging Britain would be at “the forefront of this effort.”

Sunak will also urge the opening up of a route to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza from Egypt as soon as possible, and to enable British nationals trapped in Gaza to leave.

At least seven British nationals have been killed and at least nine are missing since the attack on Israel, Sunak’s spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Alongside Sunak’s visit, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, who visited Israel last week, will travel to Egypt, Turkiye and Qatar over the next three days to discuss the conflict and seek a peaceful resolution, his office said.

Britain said the three countries were “vital to international efforts to uphold regional stability, free hostages and allow humanitarian access to Gaza.”

Cleverly will meet with senior leaders there to discuss efforts to prevent the conflict spreading, the urgent need to open the Rafah crossing with Egypt to let aid reach those who need it and for Hamas to release hostages, Britain said.

Source: arabnews.com

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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2393821/middle-east

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German arms exports to favor Israel over Ukraine – media

18 Oct, 2023

The German government wants to prioritize weapons deliveries to Israel amid its conflict with Hamas, the DPA news agency reported on Wednesday, citing sources.

According to unnamed government officials interviewed by the outlet, “commercial applications from companies for arms exports will be processed and approved with priority given the current situation” in the Middle East. However, the agency did not provide further details on the new policy.

The report comes after Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed support for Israel in its conflict with Hamas, saying that “there is only one place for Germany — that place is at Israel’s side.”

“Our own history, our responsibility arising from the Holocaust, makes it a perpetual task for us to stand up for the security of the state of Israel,” he said last week.

In line with this approach, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said last week that Berlin had returned two Heron combat drones that had been leased by the German military back to Israel, adding that talks were now underway about providing German ammunition to Israeli warships.

Israel has also asked Germany to provide it with protective vests, while Berlin has announced that it would provide medical aid to Israeli service members and examine other assistance requests. Finally, Scholz promised that his country’s authorities would “issue a ban on Hamas activities in Germany.”

On Tuesday, the German chancellor arrived in Tel Aviv in a show of solidarity. During the visit, his delegation had to be evacuated to a bomb shelter due to incoming rockets from the Gaza Strip, according to several media reports.

Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on October 7, resulting in thousands of dead and injured. According to UN data, as of Tuesday, a total of 4,200 people have been killed in the region due to the hostilities.

Berlin’s push to support Israel comes as it remains a key backer of Ukraine in its conflict with Russia, having supplied Kiev with billions of dollars worth of military equipment, including Leopard tanks, armored fighting vehicles, and air defense systems. Moscow has repeatedly condemned Western arms deliveries to Kiev, saying they will only prolong the conflict.

Source: rt.com

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https://www.rt.com/news/585263-germany-arms-exports-israel-ukraine/

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UK special forces preparing to aid Israel in efforts to rescue Hamas hostages

October 19, 2023

LONDON: The UK’s Special Air Squad is preparing to aid Israel in any potential attempt to rescue up to 10 British civilians being held by Hamas in Gaza, Britain’s i newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Several military sources told the newspaper that SAS personnel were working with members of the elite Israeli SayeretMatkal force and US Delta Force on potential attempts to rescue more than 200 hostages of various nationalities believed to be held by Hamas in hideouts and tunnels.

“It is understood that events in southern Israel have triggered a change in the readiness of UK special forces,” one source told the i.

“An SAS squadron on a training operation had last week finished its detachment several days early as part of unspecified deployment plans,” the source added.

UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly confirmed on Monday that the government believed as many as 10 British nationals were being held hostage in Gaza.

Only three hostage-rescue missions are believed to have been carried out by UK special forces since 2011, the i reported. They took place in Kenya, Nigeria and Yemen. Six intelligence-gathering deployments took place over the same period of time, including one in Ukraine prior to Russia’s invasion last year.

“The way that Hamas is holding the hostages looks like they’ve scattered them over the territory of Gaza very widely,” Justin Crump, a military veteran and chief executive of security and intelligence group Sibylline, told the newspaper.

He added that Hamas wants to keep the hostages alive and will be giving them food and water, and taking care of their medical needs, because they are considered “bargaining chips” in any negotiations with Israel.

Source: arabnews.com

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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2393826/world

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British foreign minister to travel to Middle East, including Egypt

October 18, 2023

LONDON: British foreign minister James Cleverly told parliament he would travel to the Middle East on Wednesday, outlining a diplomatic push which a British source said would include a visit to Egypt and possibly Qatar and Turkiye.

Britain has called for “cool heads” following a blast at a hospital in Gaza that killed huge numbers of Palestinians and repeatedly said the Israel-Hamas conflict must not escalate to the wider region.

“I have traveled to Israel, I’ve engaged with G7 allies, regional partners, and will be visiting the region again later on today, because we recognize that this will require intensive efforts,” he told parliament.

Cleverly visited Israel last week following attacks by Palestinian militant group Hamas. He did not set out details of the itinerary of his latest trip.

In Egypt, he is expected to discuss the opening of a border crossing between Gaza and Egypt to allow humanitarian aid in and citizens to leave, the source said.

Source: arabnews.com

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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2393521/world

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Several Germans killed by Hamas: Berlin

October 18, 2023

FRANKFURT, Germany: Several German citizens have been killed after the major attack launched by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel earlier this month, the German foreign ministry said Wednesday.

A single-digit number of German nationals are believed to have “fallen victim to Hamas terror,” ministry spokesman Christian Wagner told a regular press briefing, without giving further details.

He added that Berlin would officially confirm the deaths only once relatives had been informed.

The foreign ministry previously said there were eight known cases of German hostages being abducted by Hamas and taken into the Gaza Strip.

Wagner said Wednesday that the cases involved a “low double-digit number of people,” without elaborating.

Scores of foreigners were killed, wounded or taken hostage after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.

The worst attack in Israel’s 75-year history killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, inside the country, according to Israeli officials.

Israel has responded with bombardments that have killed more than 3,000 people in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, according to authorities in the Hamas-controlled territory.

Source: arabnews.com

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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2393496/world

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IHRC says refers attacks by European states on Palestinian supporters to UN

18 October 2023

The Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) says it has referred some European countries to the United Nations over their recent attacks on Palestinian supporters amid Israeli bombardment in the besieged Gaza Strip.

The London-based organization said in a statement on Wednesday that due to the “deteriorating climate for human rights activists in Europe supporting Palestine”, it had written a letter to the world body regarding recent attacks on Palestinian supporters in the United Kingdom, France and Germany.

The non-profit organization added that along with the letter it also submitted a detailed report highlighting official abuses in these countries against Palestinian supporters, who only express solidarity with inhabitants of Gaza, and sought the UN’s “intervention to protect fundamental human rights.”

“It is the first step in a procedure that seeks to engage the international body with the aim of applying pressure on the aforementioned governments to halt their assault on pro-Palestine activism,” the statement stressed.

Since October 7, when Israel’s ceaseless airstrikes on the densely-populated coastal enclave began, Palestinian supporters staged rallies in cities across the UK, France and Germany but have faced attacks on freedom of speech by these European countries.

British Home Secretary SuellaBraverman has directed police chiefs to consider whether carrying a Palestinian flag or chanting certain slogans could be classified as support for what she called terrorism under the UK’s draconian anti-terrorism legislation.

Paris reacted with alarming alacrity to shut down protests and ban pro-Palestine organizations with French Interior Minister GéraldDarmanin requesting France’s prefects to ban all “pro-Palestinian demonstrations, because they can generate disturbances to public order.”

The French government also began the process of dissolving two pro-Palestine civil society groups, the “Party of the Indigenous of the Republic” and “Palestine will conquer.”

France’s minister of justice has stated that any form of public support for resistance against the Israeli regime is a criminal offense.

As for Germany, Berlin announced that it would ban the pro-Palestinian group Samidoun. This is while many German cities, including Berlin, Frankfurt, Mannheim and Munich have all banned planned pro-Palestinian protest rallies and where they have staged authorities moved to arrest the demonstrators.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that his government “will ban all activities and organizations supporting Hamas”, a Gaza-based Palestinian resistance group that launched waves of attacks on the Israeli-occupied territories on October 7.

“The pattern of conflating Hamas with all Palestinians and their right of self-defense, self-determination and to resist illegal occupation is a cynical ploy employed by many countries to delegitimize the Palestinian cause and represents a flagrant violation of peoples’ right to express themselves freely without state interference. Governments are using the events in Palestine as a pretext to take a cudgel to the right of freedom of expression,” IHRC’s letter to the UN further read.

Last week, IHRC was one of 10 civil society organizations in the UK to write to the government warning it that any attempt to ban the Palestine flag will be met with an immediate challenge in the courts, it said in its statement.

Nearly 3,500 people have been killed in more than 10 days of Israeli airstrikes and shelling against Gaza, a coastal enclave with a population of 2.3 million people on the Mediterranean Sea.

The Israeli attacks on Gaza began on October 7 after Hamas began its attacks on the Israeli-occupied territories, killing 1,400 settlers and military forces.

Source: presstv.ir

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https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2023/10/18/712987/Palestine-Israel-Hamas-IHRC-UN-protest-Germany-UK-France

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French airports evacuated after ‘threats of attack’

October 19, 2023

PARIS: Airports across France were evacuated on Wednesday after emailed “threats of attack”, a police source said, the latest in a series of similar alerts.

The evacuations at Lille, Lyon, Nantes, Nice, Toulouse and Beauvais airport near Paris would allow authorities to “clear up any doubts” whether the threats are real, the source said.

A spokeswoman for Strasbourg airport in eastern France also said the site was being evacuated after a “threatening email”.

The Palace of Versailles, a major tourist attraction outside Paris, was evacuated for the third time since Saturday for bomb disposal teams to check the site.

France is on high alert following the Israeli aggression against Palestinians and Friday’s fatal stabbing of a teacher in the northern city of Arras. A second police source said that Nice, Lyon and Lille airports had resumed normal activity around midday.

A spokesman for France’s DGAC aviation authority confirmed evacuations over bomb warnings only at Lille, Lyon, Toulouse and Beauvais, and was unable to give further details immediately. The DGAC’s online dashboard showed significant delays at Lille, Lyon and Toulouse.

A post on Nice airport’s X (formerly Twitter) account said that “following an abandoned baggage item… a security perimeter was set up to allow the usual checks”.

“The situation has now returned to normal,” it added. Airport authorities at Lyon’s Bron airport also said the all-clear had been given. In Lille, an airport spokeswoman said three flights had been diverted, while a post on its X account said security forces were on the scene.

Some passengers posting on social media were apparently in the dark about why they were being ushered out of airports.

Source: dawn.com

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Pakistan

 

At OIC meeting: Pakistan demands end to Israeli terror campaign

October 19, 2023

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Wednesday demanded that Israel must bring an immediate end to its terror campaign with an instant ceasefire and lift the siege to Gaza.

Caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani, who led the Pakistan delegation to the urgent open-ended Ministerial Meeting of the Executive Committee of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held in Jeddah, also condemned Tuesday’s massacre of innocent civilians in vicious Israeli attack on a hospital in Gaza.

The meeting was co-convened by Pakistan and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to discuss the crisis in Gaza and the humanitarian situation of besieged civilians there.

In his statement, Foreign Minister Jilani strongly denounced the Israeli aggression and inhumane blockade of Gaza that resulted in death, destruction and displacement. He underscored that the Israeli occupation forces were committing a clear violation of international humanitarian and human rights law. Their indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force amounted to war crimes and crimes against humanity, he added.

The foreign minister called on the international community to hold Israel accountable for its crimes.

Jilani emphasised that Israel must rescind forced evacuation of Palestinians from their homes. He also underlined the urgency of humanitarian corridors for rapid, secure and unrestricted humanitarian and relief supplies to Gaza.

The foreign minister underlined that the root-cause of the recent conflagration lay in the non-implementation of the two-state solution. He reaffirmed Pakistan’s solidarity and support for the Palestinian people. He called for an early establishment of a viable, secure, contiguous and sovereign state of Palestine on the basis of the pre-June 1967 borders and with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the Executive Committee adopted a Joint Communiqué outlining the collective stance of the Muslim Ummah on the situation in Gaza.

On the sidelines, the foreign minister also held meetings with the foreign ministers of Gambia, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye.

Source: thenews.com.pk

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https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1120667-at-oic-meeting-pakistan-demands-end-to-israeli-terror-campaign

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Pakistan calls for establishing urgent humanitarian corridors for relief supplies to Gaza

October 18, 2023

Pakistan has called for establishing urgent humanitarian corridors for rapid, secure and unrestricted humanitarian and relief supplies to Gaza.

The urgency of the corridors was highlighted by caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani who led Pakistan's delegation at the urgent Ministerial Meeting of the Executive Committee of Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Jeddah today.

The meeting was co-convened by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to discuss the crisis in Gaza and the humanitarian situation of the besieged civilians there.

The Foreign Minister demanded an immediate ceasefire and end to Israel's campaign of terror, Gaza's siege and forced evacuation of Palestinians from their homes.

He strongly denounced the Israeli aggression and inhumane blockade of Gaza and the massacre of innocent civilians in the vicious Israeli attack on a hospital in Gaza yesterday.

Jalil Abbas Jillani underscored that Israeli occupation forces were in clear violation of international laws and their indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force amounted to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

He called on the international community to hold Israel accountable for its crimes.

The Foreign Minister underlined that the root cause of the recent conflagration lied in the non-implementation of the two-state solution.

He reaffirmed Pakistan's solidarity and support for the Palestinian people and their right to self-determination and called for an early establishment of a viable, secure and sovereign state of Palestine as per pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.

The OIC meeting adopted a Joint Communiqué outlining the collective stance of Muslim Ummah on the situation in Gaza.

On the sidelines of the meeting, the Foreign Minister met with his counterparts from Gambia, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye.

Source: radio.gov.pk

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https://www.radio.gov.pk/18-10-2023/pakistan-calls-for-establishing-urgent-humanitarian-corridors-for-relief-supplies-to-gaza

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Pakistan calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza

October 19, 2023

Pakistan has decided to immediately dispatch humanitarian relief assistance to Gaza, to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinians.

This was announced by Permanent Representative of Pakistan Ambassador Munir Akram while delivering the statement on the sixth committee agenda item titled "The rule of law at the national and international levels" at the United Nations.

He said we are coordinating with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, relevant UN agencies, and the Egyptian Government. He further endorsed the call for the opening of humanitarian corridors to ensure food, water and medicines, fuel and other essential supplies to the Palestinians in Gaza.

He expressed regret over the inability of the Security Council to issue a call for a ceasefire due to the opposition and insufficient support for the resolution proposed by the Russian Federation.

Munir Akram said we strongly and unequivocally condemn Israel's cowardly and criminal attack on the Al-Ahley Al-Mamadany hospital, resulting in killing of hundreds of mostly sick and wounded Palestinian children, women and men.

Justifying the freedom struggle of innocent Palestinians against the Israel, he underlined the struggle of peoples under foreign and alien occupation for self-determination and national liberation is legitimate under international law and they have the right to use all possible means in this struggle to achieve their freedom.

The Ambassador further urged any response to the current conflict must be based on securing Israel's respect for international law, including UN resolutions that recognize the inalienable right to self-determination of the Palestinian people and the elimination of Israel's Illegal occupation of Palestinian Territories including East Jerusalem (Al Quds Al Sharif).

Source: radio.gov.pk

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https://www.radio.gov.pk/18-10-2023/pakistan-calls-for-an-immediate-ceasefire-in-gaza

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Verdict reserved on Nawaz’s plea seeking suspension of arrest warrant in Toshakhana case

October 19, 2023

ArfaFerozZake

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court in Islamabad on Thursday reserved its verdict on Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif’s plea seeking suspension of an arrest warrant in the Toshakhana case.

Nawaz’s counsel Qazi Misbah implored accountability court Judge Muhammad Bashir to suspend the arrest of his client in the case as he was returning to the country and wanted to appear before the court.

Nawaz, the three-time former premier, is set to return to the country on Saturday ending four-year self-imposed exile in London.

Before his arrival to the country, his legal team approached the Islamabad High Court (IHC) and the accountability court for protective bail to avert his arrest on return to the country.

During the hearing today, Nawaz’s counsel informed the court that the former PM wanted to appear before the court on the next case hearing fixed for October 24.

Responding to the judge’s query as to why Nawaz did not appear in court, lawyer Misbab said his client was unwell and added that his medical report had been submitted along with the petition.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor, who filed the Toshakhana reference against the ex-PM, requested the court to suspend the accused’s arrest warrant if he wanted to surrender before the court till October 24.

The prosecutor said the objective of an arrest warrant is to ensure compliance with the law.

Judge Bashir also inquired about the status of other accused including former president Asif Ali Zardari. To which, the lawyers told the court that no arrest has been made so far in connection with the case.

A day earlier, the IHC issued a notice to NAB on Nawaz's petitions seeking protective bail in Al-Azizia and Avenfiled references.

Convictions and court orders

It is pertinent to note that an accountability court sentenced the three-time prime minister in Avenfield and Al-Azizia Steel Mills references in 2018.

The sentence was challenged in the high court which had suspended the accountability court's sentence.

Appeal proceedings — for the petition challenging the sentences — were under proceedings when Nawaz travelled abroad for medical treatment and didn't return to pursue the case.

The PML-N supremo was allowed by the Lahore High Court (LHC) to go abroad for four weeks after his brother and party president Shehbaz Sharif submitted an undertaking in the court assuring Nawaz's return once his health improves.

The IHC — in the absence of the PML-N supremo — threw out the appeals on account of "non-prosecution" instead of adjourning the proceedings for an indefinite period.

The court, while declaring Nawaz as a proclaimed offender, noted that the appeals were rejected on technical grounds and not on the merits of the arguments.

The applicant can once again file an appeal against the sentence upon his return, the court added.

Source: thenews.com.pk

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https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1120688-decision-reserved-on-nawazs-plea-seeking-suspension-of-arrest-warrant-in-toshakhana-case

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North America

 

Biden gives clean chit to Israel over Gaza hospital strike

October 19, 2023

TEL AVIV: US President Joe Biden on a visit to Israel Wednesday backed his ally’s stance blaming Palestinian militants for a rocket strike on a hospital that killed hundreds in war-torn Gaza and has inflamed anger across the Middle East.

Arab countries blamed Israel, which has rained bombs on Gaza since the bloody October 7 attack by Hamas, and protests erupted in Muslim countries from Egypt to Pakistan while Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah vowed a “day of rage”.

But Biden, on a solidarity visit to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, voiced support for Israel’s position that a misfired Islamic Jihad rocket caused the deadly carnage at Gaza’s Christian-run Ahli Arab Hospital.

“I was deeply saddened and outraged by the explosion at the hospital in Gaza yesterday,” Biden said about the strike that killed 471 people according to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry.

“And, based on what I’ve seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you,” said the US president, referring to the armed movements Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which Washington designates “terrorist” groups.

“But there’s a lot of people out there not sure, so we have to overcome a lot of things,” Biden added, as protests also erupted against Israel and the United States in the occupied West Bank and Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.

Asked later by reporters what made him sure that Israel was not responsible for the strike, Biden replied: “The data I was shown by my defense department.”

Biden has expressed “iron-clad” US support for top regional ally Israel and its military campaign -- retaliation for the killing of 1,400 people in the shock cross-border attacks launched by Hamas.

“We will continue to have your back,” Biden said after meeting Netanyahu’s war cabinet in Tel Aviv. “As you work to defend your people, we will continue to work with you and partners across the region to prevent more tragedy for innocent civilians.”

Biden cautioned Israelis not to be blinded by rage after suffering their deadliest-ever attack, warning that the United States made mistakes after September 11. “I caution this while you feel that rage, don’t be consumed by it. After 9/11, we were enraged in the United States. While we sought justice and got justice we also made mistakes,” Biden said.

The US president said he was encouraging Netanyahu to ensure “life-saving capacity to help the Palestinians who are innocent and caught in the middle of this”. The US president said an agreement had been reached with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to open the Rafah crossing to allow about 20 trucks carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, Biden said aid access to Gaza will likely begin on Friday because Egypt needs to “patch the road” to the crossing.

Biden and Sisi held a call following the trip, according to the White House. Sisi had previously denied that Egypt had closed the Rafah border. Biden praised the Egyptian leader: “Sisi deserves some real credit because he was accommodating”. On the other hand, UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths estimated that about 100 trucks per day were needed to meet demand in Gaza.

Following Biden’s meeting, Israel announced not to block aid sent to Gaza from Egypt. The prime minister’s office underlined it will “not allow any humanitarian aid from its territory to the Gaza Strip as long as our hostages are not returned.”

The United Nations Security Council rejected a resolution condemning “the heinous terrorist attacks by Hamas” on Israel. Twelve out of 15 Council members voted in favour of the resolution put forward by Brazil, while Russia and the United Kingdom abstained. The United States voted against which was enough to reject the measure.

Israel’s military campaign to destroy Hamas, which is holding 199 hostages in the besieged territory, has now claimed the lives of 3,478 people, according to health officials. Arab countries have almost universally blamed Israel for the hospital strike, either directly or through state media -- including Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, which are among the region’s few countries which have diplomatic relations with Israel.

Regarding the attack on the hospital, Archbishop HosamNaoum, speaking alongside the Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem, said that the al-Ahli Arab Hospital had received warnings by phone to evacuate on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. He would not state who had made those warnings.

In besieged Gaza, the hospital blast brought new horrors after 12 days of sustained bombardment that Israel says targets Hamas and which has destroyed entire city blocks. More than a million people have been displaced ahead of an anticipated Israeli ground offensive, according to the UN. Overnight, after the explosion, scores of bodies cloaked in blood-stained sheets and white plastic lined the floors at the nearby Al-Shifa hospital, where bereaved relatives tried to identify loved ones.

“As I entered the hospital, I heard the explosion. I saw a massive fire,” said Gaza resident Adnan al-Naqa. “The entire square was on fire. There were bodies everywhere, children, women and elderly people.” The Palestine Red Crescent Society said hundreds died including “internally displaced people seeking safe shelter”.

Entire Gaza neighbourhoods have been razed and survivors are left with dwindling supplies of food, water and fuel, unable to flee the 40-kilometre long strip blockaded by Israel and Egypt since 2007. “The situation in Gaza is spiralling out of control,” World Health Organization chief TedrosAdhanomGhebreyesus wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “We need violence on all sides to stop.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” and warned Israel against “the collective punishment of the Palestinian people”.

The UN coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, said the longer the war in Gaza goes on, the likelier it is for an incident to occur that could trigger a “very dangerous” situation leading to a wider escalation. “I must say one of those incidents was the hospital bombing in Gaza yesterday,” he told Al Jazeera.

Inside Gaza, hundreds of Palestinians who hold US or other foreign passports have desperately hoped to escape through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, the only way in or out of Gaza not controlled by Israel. The Rafah crossing has remained closed during the war as Israel has struck the Palestinian side, preventing the delivery of aid piled up in long convoys of trucks waiting in Egypt.

Sisi, in a joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, denied Egypt was keeping the border closed and warned against any potential Israeli plan to permanently drive Palestinians out of Gaza. Such a “forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza into Egypt” would set a precedent for also pushing West Bank Palestinians into Jordan, Sisi said. The effect, the Egyptian president warned, would be “eradicating the Palestinian cause” and making a future Palestinian state “impossible”.

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation denounced Israel’s backers for granting the country “impunity” in its war in Gaza.

The 57-member bloc of Muslim-majority countries “deplore the international positions that back the brutal aggression against the Palestinian people, and grant Israel impunity, taking advantage of the double standards that provide cover for the occupying power”, said an OIC statement published after an emergency meeting of foreign ministers. It also blamed Israel for a rocket strike on Gaza´s Christian-run Ahli Arab Hospital that killed 471 people.

The OIC called on the international community “to hold the Israeli occupation accountable for these heinous war crimes against the Palestinian people”. It also condemned the United Nations Security Council for failing to stop the violence. “Everyone who gave Israel carte blanche to wage this deadly war provided it with weapons, and even sent military reinforcements to support it in committing this heinous crime, colluded with this crime,” Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki said in his remarks.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said Israel was acting “with the full support of the United States and some Western countries”. Earlier, he told reporters in Jeddah that Islamic countries with diplomatic ties with Israel should expel their ambassadors and “stop exporting oil to this regime”, though the OIC statement did not mention such steps.

Source: thenews.com.pk

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https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1120606-biden-assures-iron-clad-support-for-israel

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CAIR-NJ, AMP-NJ to Hold Joint Press Conference Calling on New Jersey Officials to Support Ceasefire in Gaza

Ismail Allison

October 18, 2023

(NEWARK, NJ, 10/18/2023) – On Thursday, Oct. 19, the Council on American Islamic Relations New Jersey (CAIR-NJ) and the American Muslims for Palestine New Jersey will hold a press conference to call on New Jersey elected officials to support Rep. Cori Bush’s resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza strip.

WHERE: Rep. Bill Pascrell’s office, 200 Federal Plaza, Paterson, NJ 07505

WHEN: Thursday, October 18, 2023 at 1 p.m. 

LIVESTREAM: CAIR-NJ Facebook Live  

CONTACT: CAIR-NJ Communications Manager Dina Sayedahmed, 908-668-5900 ext. 103, dsayedahmed@cair.com; AMP-NJ Chair WassimKanaan, 973-856-0180  

Rep. Bush introduced the Ceasefire Now Resolution on Monday, urging President Biden to push for and facilitate a cease-fire and de-escalation of Israel’s war on Gaza and to “promptly send and facilitate the entry of humanitarian assistance into Gaza.”

Joining Rep. Bush as co-sponsors are Democratic Reps. Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), Jamaal Bowman (N.Y.), Bonnie Watson Coleman (N.J.), Jesús “Chuy” García (Ill.), Jonathan Jackson (Ill.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Ayanna Pressley (Mass.) and Nydia Velázquez (N.Y.).

Aside from issuing a statement on October 7 in support of Israel, Rep. Bill Pascrell has remained silent in the wake of Israel’s war on Gaza, even as Israel launched an airstrike on a hospital in Gaza, killing over 500 Palestinians, bringing the overall death toll in Gaza from the past week to over 1,000. The congressman represents a sizeable Palestinian and Muslim constituency.   

CAIR-NJ and AMP-NJ continue to mourn Israel’s massacre of Palestinians stand firmly in unwavering solidarity with Palestinians and their right to freedom. The two groups continue to call on New Jersey elected officials to respond to Palestinian civil society and Palestinian American’s calls to action as the Palestinian death toll in Gaza rapidly climbs. 

Source: cair.com

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https://www.cair.com/press_releases/cair-nj-amp-nj-to-hold-joint-press-conference-calling-on-new-jersey-officials-to-support-ceasefire-in-gaza/

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CAIR Maryland Office to Host Virtual Teach-In on Palestine Advocacy for Students

Ibrahim Hooper

October 18, 2023

(BALTIMORE, MD, 10/18/2023) – On Monday, October 23 at 8 p.m., the Maryland office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) plans to hold a virtual teach-in on Palestine advocacy for high school and college/university students.

WHO: High school and college/university students

WHAT: Virtual Teach-In on Palestine Advocacy (Student Edition)

WHEN: Monday, October 23, 8 p.m. EST

WHERE: Online https://bit.ly/oct23palestine

CONTACT: CAIR Maryland Outreach Coordinator Hamza Ewing, hewing@cair.com

Topics covered in the teach-in will include addressing hate/bias and discrimination, responding to one-sided statements by school officials and university administration, how to protect yourself from doxxing and how to respond if you’re doxxed, organizing actions and guidance on developing messaging.

Washington, D.C., based CAIR issued guidance to students being targeted for advocating on behalf of Palestinian rights or because of their Muslim faith. Today’s guidance focuses on speech rights in educational settings and addressing any bullying that may result.

CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.

Source: cair.com

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https://www.cair.com/press_releases/cair-maryland-office-to-host-virtual-teach-in-on-palestine-advocacy-for-students/

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CAIR Calls U.S. Veto of UN Resolution Calling for Humanitarian Ceasefire ‘Indefensible’

Ibrahim Hooper

October 18, 2023

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/18/23) – The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization in the nation, today condemned as “indefensible” a United States veto of a U.N. resolution that would have condemned violence against all civilians in the current Middle East conflict and would have urged humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

The Security Council vote on the resolution was 12 votes in favor, the United States against, and Russia and the United Kingdom abstaining.

In a statement, CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said:

“We are deeply disturbed and disappointed by the United States’ indefensible decision to stand alone and veto the UN Security Council’s Gaza ceasefire resolution, which shows shocking indifference to the Israeli government’s attacks on civilians. Allowing Netanyahu to continue wreaking death and destruction in Gaza risks a wider conflict and disregards the concerns of American Muslims and Palestinian Americans and others. We call on the Biden administration to change course and demand an immediate ceasefire before more innocent people suffer.”

More than 30,000 Americans have used CAIR’s action alert to contact their members of Congress and call for an end to the violence and the renewal of U.S.-led efforts to end the occupation.

SEE: Urge Your Members of Congress to Address Root Cause of Mideast Violence (cair.com)

CAIR, along with over 70 other American Muslim, Arab American, South Asian American, African American, and various faith-based and civil rights organizations, sent an urgent letter to the White House calling on President Joe Biden to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the pursuit of a just and lasting peace during his visit to Israel.

CLICK HERE: READ THE LETTER

CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.               

La misión de CAIR esproteger las libertadesciviles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a losmusulmanesenlosEstadosUnidos.

Source: cair.com

Please click the following URL to read the full text of the original              

https://www.cair.com/press_releases/cair-calls-u-s-veto-of-un-resolution-calling-for-humanitarian-ceasefire-indefensible/

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US votes UNSC resolution demanding humanitarian pause in Gaza

18 October 2023

The United States has blocked a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution that would have established humanitarian pauses in the ongoing Israeli war on the blockaded Palestinian Gaza Strip.

The US on Wednesday vetoed the resolution that had been drafted by Brazil and had sought to broker aid access to Gaza amid the incessant Israeli airstrikes and shelling against people in the tiny strip of land.

Representatives of 12 countries in the 15-member UNSC voted in favor of the resolution while Britain and Russia abstained. A UNSC resolution needs the approval of all five veto-wielding members of the body, including the US, to pass. Besides, for the resolution to pass, no permanent member should cast a veto.

US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield justified her country’s veto, saying “this resolution did not mention Israel’s right of self-defense.”

Washington’s rejection of the resolution came a day after at least 500 people, many of them women and children, were killed in a bombing attack on a hospital in Gaza. The Palestinians have blamed the Israeli regime for the brazen attack while the regime has denied responsibility.

Nearly 3,500 people have been killed in more than 11 days of Israeli attacks on Gaza. The brutal campaign began after the Gaza-based Hamas resistance movement launched attacks on Israeli settlers and military forces to retaliate months of violence against the Palestinians and their sanctities.

The US has always been a staunch supporter of Israel. Washington has been supporting the regime by blocking international efforts to hold the regime accountable for its acts.

The UNSC resolution vetoed by the US on Wednesday had called for the cancelation of an order for civilians in northern Gaza to evacuate to south of the coastal sliver in anticipation of major ground offensive by Israel.

More than a million have become homeless inside Gaza as a result of Israeli bombardment and shelling. The regime has also maintained a crippling siege on the small territory by cutting water, electricity and food supplies to more than 2.3 million people living there.

The action on the Brazilian-led draft resolution follows the failure on Monday of a Russian-drafted resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.

The Russian-drafted resolution failed to get the minimum nine votes needed as the US and the UK voted against the draft resolution, while five, including China, Russia and the UAE, voted in favor and there were six abstentions.

Source: presstv.ir

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https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2023/10/18/712975/US-veto-UN-resolution-Israel-war-Gaza

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Rep. Rashida Tlaib to Biden: As A Muslim Palestinian American, "I'm Not Going To Forget This"

October 18, 2023

Ian Schwartz

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MN) was in tears At a Free Palestine event on Wednesday and denounced President Biden for expressing his support for Israel in the current conflict with Hamas.

"To my president, to our president ... I want him to know, as a Palestinian American and somebody in Muslim faith, I'm not going to forget this. And I think a lot of people are not going to forget this," Tlaib said.

Source: realclearpolitics.com

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https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2023/10/18/rep_rashida_tlaib_to_biden_as_a_muslim_palestinian_american_im_not_going_to_forget_this.html

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Biden claims Hamas attack worse than 9/11

18 Oct, 2023

US President Joe Biden on Wednesday argued that the Hamas attack on Israel was worse than the 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, and vowed that America would “forever” stand with the Jewish state.

At least 31 Americans were among “more than 1,300 innocent Israelis” killed by Hamas on October 7, Biden told the audience in Tel Aviv, from the music festival near the Gaza border to the nearby villages and kibbutzes.

“Children slaughtered. Babies slaughtered. Entire families massacred. Rape, beheadings, bodies burned alive,” Biden recited, comparing Hamas to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) and their atrocities to “pure unadulterated evil” that cannot be rationalized or excused.

“Since this terrorist attack took place, we have seen it described as Israel’s 9/11. But for a nation the size of Israel, it was like fifteen 9/11s,” Biden said. “The scale may be different, but I’m sure those horrors have tapped into some kind of primal feeling in Israel, just like it did and felt in the US.”

The US leader urged Israelis to not get “consumed” by the “all-consuming rage” they surely feel, noting that the Americans were also enraged after 9/11, “and while we sought justice and got justice, we also made mistakes.”

Biden noted that Hamas “does not represent the Palestinian people,” who are “suffering greatly as well.” The people of Gaza “need food, water, medicine, shelter,” and the US has asked Israel to agree to humanitarian deliveries from Egypt to the Palestinian territory – so long as they are inspected and do not go to Hamas.

The US has pledged $100 million in new humanitarian assistance to both Gaza and the West Bank, to support more than a million displaced and conflict-affected Palestinians, Biden announced.

According to Biden, peace will only come with a “two-state solution” and the recent attacks have only strengthened his “commitment and determination” to get that done.

“You are not alone. As long as the United States stands – and we will stand forever – we will not let you ever be alone,” Biden told the Israeli audience, concluding, “Israel will be a safe, secure, Jewish, and Democratic state today, tomorrow, and forever.”

Source: rt.com

Please click the following URL to read the full text of the original

https://www.rt.com/news/585281-biden-hamas-911-israel/

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South Asia

 

Islamic Emirate Says Blast at Gaza Hospital a 'Crime Against Humanity'

 Zabihullah Sarir

October 18, 2023

A blast at a hospital in Gaza Strip that killed over 500 people has triggered international reactions including that of the Islamic Emirate.

The foreign ministry of the Islamic Emirate in a statement condemned the blast at the hospital in Gaza and termed it as act against humanity.

Russia, China, UN, and other countries have called the attack as genocide and horrific.

In the meantime, health officials at Gaza say that most of the victims of the attack are women and children.

"On the morning of the second day, the head of hospital Doctor Maher Ayyad received a phone call from Israeli army, to tell him that we warned you yesterday by firing two strikes. The only place in the world where you get warned of being hit by strikes is the Gaza strip,” said Yousef Abu Al-Rish, Undersecretary of the Health Ministry in Gaza.

"What happened tonight is a huge tragedy and war ugly massacre that cannot be tolerated or allowed to pass without accountability. Tonight Israel airstrike Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza city," said Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian President.

"On the hospital (in Gaza), the tragedy that occurred there is a terrible event. Hundreds of dead and hundreds of wounded. This is, of course, a catastrophe," said Vladimir Putin, the Russian president.

"There is no excuse for hitting a hospital full of civilians. All facts need to be established and those responsible must be held accountable. In this tragic hour, we must all redouble our efforts to protect civilians from the fury of this war," said Ursula Von Der Leyen, EU commission president.

The world reactions come as the Israeli army has denied responsibility for the attack.

The accident of the hospital in Gaza occurs as US president Joe Biden has visited Israeli Prime Minister and is in Tel Aviv where he has reiterated US support for Israel.

Source: tolonews.com

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https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-185603

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Indian NSA urges inclusive Afghan Govt and counterterrorism

Fidel Rahmati

October 18, 2023

 Ajit Doval, India’s National Security Advisor, has emphasized the importance of cooperation in Afghanistan for the establishment of an inclusive government, the eradication of terrorism, and the promotion of women’s and all Afghan rights.

On Tuesday, Mr Doval, during the continuation of the National Security Advisors’ meeting between India and Central Asia in Kazakhstan, emphasized that the current crisis in Afghanistan and its ongoing nature will lead to instability in both the country and the region.

He stressed the need for concerted efforts to address the situation comprehensively, highlighting that resolving the Afghanistan crisis requires collaborative actions to establish stability, promote peace, and ensure the rights of all Afghan citizens.

Ajit Doval, India’s National Security Advisor, referring to financial support from an Indian company named “Amul” to the Afghan cricket team participating in the Cricket World Cup being held in Afghanistan, stated, “India will continue its assistance to Afghanistan, as it always has.”

The absence of an inclusive government in Afghanistan, the growth of terrorism, and the erosion of women’s rights are among the significant concerns that have hindered the recognition of the Taliban’s authority.

Terrorism and suspicions related to the extensive presence of terrorist groups in Afghanistan, which are regrouping, have apprehensive regional countries, especially Central Asian countries.

Meanwhile, following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, they enforced numerous stringent restrictions on women’s rights, including access to education and employment. They imposed bans on their participation in public life.

Despite facing widespread condemnation, the group persisted in intensifying their oppressive policies against women and continued to curtail their fundamental rights.

Source: khaama.com

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https://www.khaama.com/indian-nsa-urges-inclusive-afghan-govt-and-counterterrorism/

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Muslim Ummah’s United Efforts Can Solve Palestine Crisis, Says, Bangladesh Prime Minister

Oct 19, 2023

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said the solution to the Palestine crisis lies in the united efforts of the Muslim Ummah.

"If the Muslim Ummah works in a united way, it will be possible to solve the Palestine crisis," she said while the envoys of 14 OIC member states called on her at the GonoBhaban yesterday.

Ambassador of Palestine Yousef SY Ramadan led the delegation.

Prime Minister's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed reporters after the meeting.

Envoys of Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Morocco, Qatar, Libya, Turkey, Iran, Brunei, the UAE, Iraq, Oman, Indonesia and Egypt were present at the meeting.

HASINA CONDEMNS ATTACK

Speaking at a programme at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre, Hasina yesterday denounced the attack on a hospital in Gaza that killed innocent people, including children.

She reiterated her call to global leaders to stop the war and arms race for the wellbeing of mankind.

"We saw the killing of people and children by bombing on a hospital [in Gaza ] and bloodstained faces of the children yesterday [Tuesday]. I'm urging the world leaders to stop the war and arms race," she said.

The programme was organised to mark Sheikh Russel Day-2023, distribution of Sheikh Russel Padak-2023 and Smart Bangladesh Padak-2023.

Hasina said war and arms race never brought welfare for mankind, and that women and children are the worst sufferers of such conflicts.

"We want peace as it gives prosperity while war brings destruction. So, we don't want war.... We always work for establishing peace."

She said people, including children, are being killed both in Palestine and Israel.

Children are becoming orphans and parents are losing their children in the war, the premier said.

"We know their pain as we two sisters had become orphans in 1975," she said.

The PM said she and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana were in forced exile for about six years.

"Spending time as refugees, without knowing when we could return to our country, was the most painful. So, we don't want war; rather peace," she said.

'HOLD ISRAEL ACCOUNTABLE'

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen yesterday urged United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to hold Israel accountable for charges of war crimes over its ongoing attacks on Palestinian civilians, UN aid workers and health personnel.

Momen, now in Jeddah to join an open-ended extraordinary meeting of the OIC Executive Committee over the ongoing Israeli atrocities in Gaza, asked the OIC to take a lead to arrange a special UN General Assembly meeting on the issue.

"We strongly condemn the barbaric bombing on the Gaza hospital which is totally unacceptable," he said.

Momen also supported a Gambian proposal for convening an international peace conference on this issue.

Source: thedailystar.net

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https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/palestine-crisis-muslim-ummahs-united-efforts-can-solve-it-3447111

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UN Experts Urge Pakistan to Cancel Refugees’ Repatriation Plan

Nazir Shinwari,

October 18, 2023

UN experts have asked Pakistan’s caretaker government to abort its program of expelling over one million Afghan refugees.

The experts including UN special rapporteur for Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, in a statement urged Pakistan’s government to protect Afghan refugees’ rights in accordance with international standards.

“We are also concerned by reports that Afghans living in Pakistan have been subjected to arrests, exploitation and undignified treatment, including since Pakistan announced its repatriation plans,” reads part of the statement.

“Pakistan’s government should reverse its decision of expelling illegal refugees, I suggest a joint commission of both countries to be established so that the problem of expelling Afghan refugees is resolved through diplomatic channels,” said Muhammad Khan TalibiMuhammadzai, a refugee rights’ activist.

In the meantime, Pakistan-based Afghan refugees complain about the ill-treatment of Pakistan’s police.

“About eighty percent of Afghan refugees living in Pakistan do not have visas, even those who hold visas cannot walk around cities freely,” said Seeros Azizi, a Pakistan-based Afghan refugee.

The Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation has also asked Pakistan’s government to stop arresting Afghan refugees and act in accordance with international laws.

“We ask them [Pakistan’s government] to stop such behavior and act with Afghan refugees in accordance with international laws. Those Afghan refugees who do not have documents should be returned based on a mechanism and voluntarily," said Abdul Mutalib Haqqani, spokesman for the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation.

It comes as Pakistan’s caretaker government has given illegal refugees including Afghans an ultimatum to leave by October's end or face forced repatriation.

Source: tolonews.com

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https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-185611

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Islamic Emirate Begins Building Houses in Quake-Affected Areas

October 18, 2023

Engineers have begun building houses in the recent earthquake-stricken Zinda Jan district of western Herat province.

The initial plan is to build 2,146 modern houses in 20 affected villages in the province.

Maps for the houses have been finalized and are planned to be implemented soon.

“We hope that these houses will be ready by the time the harsh winter arrives, they will be returned to their houses and will be settled,” said Ahmadullah Muttaqi, director of Information and Culture of Herat.

Jan Aqa, who is living in tents in the camp built by the UNCR in Herat province, is one of thousands facing a similar destiny.

He has lost four members of his family due to the earthquakes and his wife is injured.

“The weather has got cold, and it is difficult to live in tents, we want houses, we cannot spend our lives in tents,” said Jan Aqa, a quake-affected citizen.

“It is not possible to live in winter in these tents, we ask for houses to be built for us,” said Negar, a quake-affected citizen.

The quake-affected people in Herat province say that the cold weather of winter will make it impossible for them to live in tents.

They ask for their houses to be built by the winter.

“The winter is approaching, all the people and children wandering and living in tents is not possible, we ask residences to be built soon,” said Abdul Satar, a quake-affected citizen.

“In winter, no one can tolerate the cold weather, we have lost everything of our houses, we had prepared clothes and blankets for winter but now they are under rubble,” said Maryam, a quake-affected citizen.

The recent earthquakes have destroyed tens of villages in Herat’s Zinda Jan, Enjeel, and KeskRobatSangi districts.

The quakes have also affected hundreds of houses in other parts of Herat province.

Source: tolonews.com

Please click the following URL to read the full text of the original

https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-185606

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IEA Condemned the Bombardment of the Al-Mamadani Hospital in Gaza

2023-10-18

KABUL (BNA) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan condemns in the strongest terms the bombardment of the Al-Mamadani Hospital in Gaza by the Zionist forces and deems this act barbaric and a crime against humanity.

The IEA calls on the people and governments of the world, so-called human rights bodies, the United Nations, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to prevent the continuation of Israeli atrocities immediately and not suffice with mere condemnations.

We underscore that if this brutality and horror are not stopped urgently, the situation in the region may become even more volatile, paving the way to reactions spiraling out of control and ending up adversely affecting the region and beyond.

The open support of some countries for the Israeli atrocities and the silence of others have spurred the Zionist regime to continue its brutality.

We stand in solidarity with the Palestinians, and with countries and organizations calling for the immediate end of the ongoing genocide and bringing its perpetrators to justice, the Ministry said in its statement.

Source: bakhtarnews.af

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https://bakhtarnews.af/en/iea-condemned-the-bombardment-of-the-al-mamadani-hospital-in-gaza/

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Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Condemns Attack On Gaza Hospital

 Oct 18, 2023

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today denounced the attack on a hospital in Gaza that killed innocent people including children, reiterating her call to global leaders to stop the war and arms race for the wellbeing of mankind.

"We saw killing of people and children by bombing on a hospital [in Gaza ] and bloodstained faces of the children yesterday. I am urging the world leaders to stop the war and arms race," she said.

The prime minister was addressing a programme marking Sheikh Russel Day-2023, distribution of Sheikh Russel Padak-2023 and Smart Bangladesh Padak-2023 coinciding with the 60th birth anniversary of Sheikh Russel, the youngest son of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Sheikh Russel JatiyoShishu Kishore Parishad and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Division jointly organised the programme at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC).

The prime minister said war and arms race never brought welfare for mankind, only destruction and that women and children are the worst sufferers of such conflicts.

"We want peace as it gives prosperity while war brings destruction. So, we don't want war; rather peace. We always work for establishing peace," she said.People and children are being killed both in the Palestine and Israel, the premier said.

Children are becoming orphans and parents are losing their children in the war, she said.

"We know their pain as we two sisters had become orphans in 1975," she said.

The prime minister said they had seen the dreadfulness of war for themselves during the War of Liberation in 1971.

"I had seen by my own eyes the bodies lying on different roads of Dhaka city," she said.

She said she and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana were in forced exile abroad six years.

"Spending time as refugees, without knowing when we could return to our country, was the most painful. So, we don't want war; rather peace," she said.

Source: thedailystar.net

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Mideast

 

Every drop of Palestinian blood brings Israel closer to downfall: Iran president

 18 October 2023

Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi says the Israeli regime is only accelerating its demise by killing innocent Palestinian women and children in besieged Gaza.

“Every drop of Palestinian blood brings the Zionists closer to downfall, and the Zionist regime cannot compensate for its defeats with these atrocities,” the president declared on Wednesday while addressing a massive gathering of people in Tehran.

“Which human being accepts this heinous crime? Killing women and children, attacking hospitals—this marks the beginning of the end for the Zionist regime,” he added.

President Raeisi noted that in addition to a military defeat, the Israelis have recently suffered “security and intelligence setbacks” at the hands of the resistance front.

Raeisi also emphasized the rising global resentment towards the Israeli regime and its principal supporter, the United States.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi addresses a massive gathering of people in the capital Tehran on October 18, 2023. (Photo by president.ir)

“Look at the global public's hatred towards the Zionist regime and the Americans and how people worldwide have expressed their abhorrence for their crimes,” he said.

“Today, all conscientious individuals detest these horrific crimes, and this is a defeat for the Zionist regime and America. Today, a global consensus has been formed, and the (global) society condemns the occupying regime, which has committed so many crimes against women and children."

The president pointed to international organizations and countries that merely sufficed to condemn the Israeli crimes, and asked, “Is condemning enough? Are nations satisfied with just condemnation? Is expressing outrage sufficient? Therefore, today, Muslim nations are waiting for effective actions.”

Raeisi maintained that the international community should take concrete and meaningful actions to hold the Israeli regime accountable for its crimes against humanity.

Israel has killed an average of 100 children every day in its relentless bombing campaign on the besieged Gaza Strip, a Geneva-based rights group says.

Israel has been raining bombs on the Gaza Strip for the past 12 days since Gaza-based resistance movement Hamas launched Operation al-Aqsa Storm against Israel in response to the regime's campaign of aggression, violation and bloodshed against Palestinians.

The health ministry in Gaza now says a total of 3,478 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli air raids while over 12,000 others have sustained injuries. 

The indiscriminate bombing by Israel, particularly the attack on a hospital in the coastal region, has sparked outrage and widespread condemnation around the world.

On Tuesday, more than 500 people, including women and children, lost their lives in an Israeli airstrike on al-Ahli Baptist Hospital. Thousands of Palestinians were present at the hospital when the attack took place.

Source: presstv.ir

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Muslim world will never tolerate Israel's war crimes against Gaza chidren, women : Iran foreign minister

 19 October 2023

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian says the Muslim world will never tolerate the Zionists' war crimes against women and children in the Gaza Strip.

Amir-Abdollahian made the remark in a post on his X account on Thursday at the end of his visit to Saudi Arabia where he delivered a speech at an emergency meeting of the Executive Committee of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in the city of Jeddah.

The participants at the meeting discussed the escalating Israeli-Palestinian conflict after an Israeli attack on the Anglican-run al-Ahli al-Arab Hospital, also known as the Baptist Hospital, in central Gaza that killed at least 500 people and wounded hundreds of others.

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian Hamas resistance group waged a surprise attack, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, against the occupying entity.

The death toll from Israel's brutal aggression on Gaza Strip tops 3,500.

According to NGOs, the death toll of Palestinian children has exceeded 1,000 since Israel unleashed its deadly air strikes on Gaza on 7 October, meaning a Palestinian child is killed approximately every 15 minutes.

This comes as surviving children are suffering physical and emotional consequences as a result of Israeli bombardment and internal displacement.

Scores of women have also been killed in the brutal raids. A total of at least 13,000 others have been injured as well.

Amir-Abdollahian said in his post that he held talks with foreign ministers of Turkey, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Mauritania, Tunisia, Lebanon, Kuwait, Azerbaijan and the OIC secretary general as well as Qatar's minister of state on the sidelines of the Jeddah meeting.

In his meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister HakanFidan, Amir-Abdollahian discussed with his counterpart the ongoing developments in Palestine, particularly the tragic situation in Gaza, and ways to put an end to Israel's brutal killing of the Palestinian people.

The top Iranian and Turkish diplomats also exchanged views about issues of common interest and regional developments.

Iranian President Raeisi says the Israeli regime is only accelerating its demise by killing innocent Palestinian women and children in besieged Gaza.

In another meeting, Amir-Abdollahian and Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan JeyhunBayramov slammed the ongoing crimes committed by the child-killing Israeli regime in Gaza, especially the savage attack on Baptist Hospital.

They said the Israeli regime' actions are clear example of genocide and crime against humanity.

The Iranian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers urged Muslim countries to send a united and strong message to the Tel Aviv regime and its supporters to stop their criminal acts.

Bayramov said Azerbaijan is concerned about the ongoing developments in Gaza and called on all parties to stop killing and bloodshed in the Strip.

The two foreign ministers also exchanged views about issues of common interest, including the latest developments in the Caucasus region, and the development of economic and trade cooperation.

They stressed the need to accelerate the implementation of the agreements already signed between the two countries to develop transit and transportation cooperation.

In a Thursday phone conversation, Amir-Abdollahian and his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi stressed the importance of taking an immediate and effective action to stop the Israeli regime's war crimes against the defenseless people of Gaza, especially women and children.

The top Iranian and Jordanian diplomats also called for lifting the blockade on Gaza, delivering urgent international aid to the besieged area, and preventing the forced displacement of the Palestinian people.

Source: presstv.ir

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https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2023/10/19/713009/Iran-Amir-Abdollahian-OIC-Saudi-Arabia-emergency-meeting-Palestine-Israel-Operation-Al-Aqsa-Storm-Turkey-Hakan-Fidan-Azerbaijan-Jeyhun-Bayramov-Jordan-Ayman-Safadi

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Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement rejects Israeli claim it struck Gaza hospital

 18/10/2023

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement has rejected Israeli allegations that it struck the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza on Tuesday with a misfired rocket, which killed hundreds of people.

The group in a statement on Wednesday said Israel's attempts to point fingers at it were baseless, stressing that it does not make use of public facilities, particularly hospitals, for military purposes.

The statement said that the movement, along with other resistance groups in Gaza, is “committed to not using places of worship, public facilities, particularly hospitals, military centers, or weapon storage,” and considers “Israeli accusations as a serious attempt to evade responsibility for such crimes and the targeting of other hospitals.”

It said Israel made similar allegations and tried to distance itself from the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in May 2022.

More than 500 people were killed in the Israeli airstrike on Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital on Tuesday, according to Palestinian officials in the besieged enclave. Israel, however, has denied responsibility for the air raid.

The conflict in Gaza, under Israeli bombardment and blockade since Oct. 7, began when Hamas initiated Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, a multi-pronged surprise attack that included a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel by land, sea, and air. It said the incursion was in retaliation for the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and growing violence by Israeli settlers.

The Israeli military then launched Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.

Gaza is experiencing a dire humanitarian crisis with no electricity, while water, food, fuel, and medical supplies are running out.

UN chief Antonio Guterres has called for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” to ease the “epic human suffering.”

At least 3,300 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza, while the figure stands at more than 1,400 people in Israel.

Source: yenisafak.com

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https://www.yenisafak.com/en/news/palestinian-islamic-jihad-movement-rejects-israeli-claim-it-struck-gaza-hospital-3672132

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Fatalities as Israel strikes mosque in central Gaza: Medical source

19/10/2023

An Israeli airstrike targeted a mosque in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza on Wednesday, killing and injuring “a number of Palestinians,” a medical source said.

“A number of Palestinians were killed and injured in the strike on Al-Aqsa Martyrs Mosque,” the source told Anadolu, without giving an exact figure.

The strike has caused “widespread destruction” in the area, the source said.

The conflict in Gaza, under Israeli bombardment and blockade since Oct. 7, began when Hamas initiated Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, a multi-pronged surprise attack that included a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel by land, sea, and air. It said the incursion was in retaliation for the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and growing violence by Israeli settlers.

The Israeli military then launched Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.

Gaza is experiencing a dire humanitarian crisis with no electricity, while water, food, fuel, and medical supplies are running out.

UN chief Antonio Guterres has called for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” to ease the “epic human suffering.”

At least 3,478 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza, while the figure stands at more than 1,400 people in Israel.

Source: yenisafak.com

Please click the following URL to read the full text of the original

https://www.yenisafak.com/en/news/fatalities-as-israel-strikes-mosque-in-central-gaza-medical-source-3672150

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Why Egypt and other Arab countries are unwilling to take in Palestinian refugees from Gaza

October 19, 2023

CAIRO: As desperate Palestinians in sealed-off Gaza try to find refuge under Israel’s relentless bombardment in retaliation for Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7 attack, some ask why neighboring Egypt and Jordan don’t take them in.

The two countries, which flank Israel on opposite sides and share borders with Gaza and the occupied West Bank, respectively, have replied with a staunch refusal. Jordan already has a large Palestinian population.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi made his toughest remarks yet on Wednesday, saying the current war was not just aimed at fighting Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, “but also an attempt to push the civilian inhabitants to ... migrate to Egypt.” He warned this could wreck peace in the region.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II gave a similar message a day earlier, saying, “No refugees in Jordan, no refugees in Egypt.”

Their refusal is rooted in fear that Israel wants to force a permanent expulsion of Palestinians into their countries and nullify Palestinian demands for statehood. El-Sisi also said a mass exodus would risk bringing militants into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, from where they might launch attacks on Israel, endangering the two countries’ 40-year-old peace treaty.

Here is a look at what is motivating Egypt’s and Jordan’s stances.

A history of displacement

Displacement has been a major theme of Palestinian history. In the 1948 war around Israel’s creation, an estimated 700,000 Palestinians were expelled or fled from what is now Israel. Palestinians refer to the event as the Nakba, Arabic for “catastrophe.”

In the 1967 Mideast war, when Israel seized the West Bank and Gaza Strip, 300,000 more Palestinians fled, mostly into Jordan.

The refugees and their descendants now number nearly 6 million, most living in camps and communities in the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. The diaspora has spread further, with many refugees building lives in Gulf Arab countries or the West.

After fighting stopped in the 1948 war, Israel refused to allow refugees to return to their homes. Since then, Israel has rejected Palestinian demands for a return of refugees as part of a peace deal, arguing that it would threaten the country’s Jewish majority.

Egypt fears history will repeat itself and a large Palestinian refugee population from Gaza will end up staying for good.

No guarantee of return

That’s in part because there’s no clear scenario for how this war will end.

Israel says it intends to destroy Hamas for its bloody rampage in its southern towns. But it has given no indication of what might happen afterward and who would govern Gaza. That has raised concerns that it will reoccupy the territory for a period, fueling further conflict.

The Israeli military said Palestinians who followed its order to flee northern Gaza to the strip’s southern half would be allowed back to their homes after the war ends.

Egypt is not reassured.

El-Sisi said fighting could last for years if Israel argues it hasn’t sufficiently crushed militants. He proposed that Israel house Palestinians in its Negev Desert, which neighbors the Gaza Strip, until it ends its military operations.

“Israel’s lack of clarity regarding its intentions in Gaza and the evacuation of the population is in itself problematic,” said Riccardo Fabiani, Crisis Group International’s North Africa Project Director. “This confusion fuels fears in the neighborhood.”

Egypt has pushed for Israel to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, and Israel said Wednesday that it would, though it didn’t say when. According to United Nations, Egypt, which is dealing with a spiraling economic crisis, already hosts some 9 million refugees and migrants, including roughly 300,000 Sudanese who arrived this year after fleeing their country’s war.

But Arab countries and many Palestinians also suspect Israel might use this opportunity to force permanent demographic changes to wreck Palestinian demands for statehood in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem, which was also captured by Israel in 1967.

El-Sisi repeated warnings Wednesday that an exodus from Gaza was intended to “eliminate the Palestinian cause … the most important cause of our region.” He argued that if a demilitarized Palestinian state had been created long ago in negotiations, there would not be war now.

“All historical precedent points to the fact that when Palestinians are forced to leave Palestinian territory, they are not allowed to return back,” said H.A. Hellyer, a senior associate fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “Egypt doesn’t want to be complicit in ethnic cleansing in Gaza.”

Arab countries’ fears have only been stoked by the rise under Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of hard-right parties that talk in positive terms about removing Palestinians. Since the Hamas attack, the rhetoric has become less restrained, with some right-wing politicians and media commentators calling for the military to raze Gaza and drive out its inhabitants. One lawmaker said Israel should carry out a “new Nakba” on Gaza.

Worries over Hamas

At the same time, Egypt says a mass exodus from Gaza would bring Hamas or other Palestinian militants onto its soil. That might be destabilizing in Sinai, where Egypt’s military fought for years against Islamic militants and at one point accused Hamas of backing them.

Egypt has backed Israel’s blockade of Gaza since Hamas took over in the territory in 2007, tightly controlling the entry of materials and the passage of civilians back and forth. It also destroyed the network of tunnels under the border that Hamas and other Palestinians used to smuggle goods into Gaza.

With the Sinai insurgency largely put down, “Cairo does not want to have a new security problem on its hands in this problematic region,” Fabiani said.

El-Sisi warned of an even more destabilizing scenario: the wrecking of Egypt and Israel’s 1979 peace deal. He said that with the presence of Palestinian militants, Sinai “would become a base for attacks on Israel. Israel would have the right to defend itself ... and would strike Egyptian territory.”

“The peace which we have achieved would vanish from our hands,” he said, “all for the sake of the idea of eliminating the Palestinian cause.”

Source: arabnews.com

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Israel evacuates staff from embassy in Egypt

October 19, 2023

AMMAN: The Israeli Foreign Ministry on Wednesday evacuated staff from the country’s embassy in Cairo amid mass demonstrations in the city against the Israeli bombardment and siege of Gaza, the Petra News Agency reported.

Citing reports in Israeli newspaper YediothAhronoth, the agency said the operation took place after Israeli authorities declared a state of maximum alert in all of the nation’s embassies. The evacuation in Cairo followed reports that embassy staff were evacuated from Amman, Jordan, on Oct 8.

Jordanian police on Wednesday said several anti-riot officers were injured during clashes with rioting protesters near the Israeli embassy. Authorities had deployed riot police to disperse thousands of demonstrators who were planning to march on the heavily fortified mission to protest against the Israeli military assault on Gaza.

Source: arabnews.com

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Islamic Jihad rejects Israel's 'downright lies' over Gaza hospital missile strike

 18 October 2023

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad resistance movement has roundly dismissed the Israeli military’s allegations that the Gaza-based group was responsible for a strike on a packed hospital compound in central Gaza, rejecting the claims as “downright lies.”

“The Zionist enemy is trying hard to evade its responsibility for the brutal massacre it committed by bombing the Anglican-run al-Ahli al-Arab Hospital, also known as the Baptist Hospital, in Gaza through fabrication of lies and pinning the blame on the Islamic Jihad movement,” it said in a statement on Wednesday.

“We, therefore, affirm that the accusations put forward by the enemy are false and baseless,” the resistance movement stressed.

According to the statement, the hospital had been ordered to evacuate by the Tel Aviv regime under threat of bombardment, and it was a bomb dropped by an Israeli warplane that caused the tragedy.

It said the hospital had “received public notice of evacuation under threat of bombing.”

Thousands of Iranian protesters have gathered in front of the French and British embassies in the capital Tehran to voice their outrage over the Israeli regime

On Tuesday night, an Israeli air raid on Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza killed at least 500 people, according to Palestinians, in one of the worst attacks since the violence began on October 7.

Gaza’s Health Ministry spokesperson, Ashraf al-Qudra, said on Wednesday that hundreds were killed and rescue workers were still removing bodies from the rubble.

The bombardment of the hospital in Gaza triggered a wave of anger and protests across the Middle East, with protesters taking to the streets to condemn the deadly attack.

Pro-Palestinian protests were also staged at Israeli embassies in Jordan as well as Turkey and near the US embassy in Lebanon.

Hamas: Israel bears full responsibility for Gaza hospital carnage

Meanwhile, Hamas resistance movement said in a statement that the occupying Israeli regime bears complete responsibility for the strike on the Gaza hospital, and its blatant lies will fail to deceive people.

The movement said in a statement that the Tel Aviv regime is putting out a false front and pushing it with overt propaganda in an attempt to avoid responsibility for the massacre.

“Baptist Hospital and 22 other hospitals and medical facilities, housing medical staff, patients, and injured people, were all under threat from the fascist and occupying Israeli regime. Israel has bombed 23 ambulances and killed more than 25 doctors and members of their families so far,” Hamas pointed out.

It continued, “They (Israeli forces) are the ones who killed more than 3,000 Palestinian civilians, 70% of whom were children and women, by destroying entire residential neighborhoods and 120,000 housing units.”

“This horrible massacre was caused directly by the fascist Israeli regime, which provided multiple accounts of the events starting within the first hour of the carnage,” Hamas concluded.

Source: presstv.ir

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OIC condemns Israeli attack on Gaza hospital as 'organized state terrorism'

18 October 2023

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has condemned Israel's brutal attack on a hospital in central Gaza as an act of "organized state terrorism" and a "war crime."

Speaking at the OIC’s emergency ministerial meeting discussing Israeli aggression on Gaza, Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Hussein Ibrahim Taha on Wednesday said the latest incident represented a war crime.

He added that it was incompatible with all human values and emphasized that organized state terrorism deserved accountability and punishment.

In his speech at the extraordinary open-ended meeting of the executive committee at the OIC’s headquarters in Jeddah, Taha stressed the need for combined efforts to stop such unprecedented Israeli aggression and to ensure the opening of humanitarian corridors to facilitate the arrival of medicine, food, and essential items to the Gaza Strip.

He stressed that the OIC had warned that there had also been a lack of respect for the rule of international law and that Israel’s actions had not been punished.

“The occupation is free from accountability and punishment for its policies based on settlement, forced displacement, ethnic cleansing, murder, organized terrorism, attacks on sanctities, and other practices against the Palestinian people,” he said.

Taha further stressed that the ongoing aggression on the Gaza Strip had violated all rightful principles and values through the killing and wounding of thousands of Palestinians, including children, women, and the elderly.

He added that the forced displacement of families and the indiscriminate destruction of residential, educational, health, and media facilities, including those of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, and civilian infrastructure flagrantly violated international law.

“I hope this meeting will succeed in taking effective measures in order to stop this Israeli aggression, protect the Palestinian people, and provide them with assistance in this ordeal,”  the OIC chief said on Wednesday.

“We stress that there will be no peace or stability in the region without finding a just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian issue, ending the Israeli colonial occupation, and embodying the right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent, sovereign state on the 1967 borders with East al-Quds as its capital, in accordance with the relevant UN resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative.”

In an earlier written statement on Tuesday night, the OIC said it "strongly condemns the brutal Israeli massacre in the Baptist Hospital in the Gaza Strip and considers it organized state terrorism and a war crime."

The statement by the 57-member organization further said it "strongly condemns the brutal Israeli massacre in on the al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in the Gaza Strip and considers it organized state terrorism and a war crime."

The Muslim bloc held the “Israeli occupation accountable for the consequences of its crimes, terrorist practices and brutal attacks against the Palestinian people, which contradict all human values and constitute a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.”

Elsewhere in the statement, the OIC called on the international community, and especially the UN Security Council (UNSC), to "urgently intervene to stop the war crimes committed by the Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip and provide international protection for the Palestinian people."

The Gaza Health Ministry in Gaza says hundreds of victims are trapped under the rubble of the Ahli Arab Hospital after up to 500 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday.

Photos from the hospital showed fire engulfing the hospital halls, shattered glass and body parts scattered across the area.

Iran’s parliament speaker has denounced the devastating Israeli military onslaught against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Soon after the strike on the hospital in Gaza, an advisor to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted in a social media post that the regime’s air force was responsible for the attack.

In his post on X, Israeli military propagandist Hananya Naftali claimed that the Israeli air force had struck a Hamas base inside the hospital. He said multiple members of the resistance movement were killed as a result. Hours later, however, he deleted the post, though screenshots of it went viral on social media platforms.

Islamic Jihad rejects Israeli lies that the group was responsible for a strike on a packed hospital in the Gaza Strip.

The media office of the Hamas resistance movement described the attack as a "war crime."

The attack is the deadliest Israeli airstrike since 2008, the Palestinian Civil Defense said.

“The massacre at the al-Ahli Arab Hospital is unprecedented in our history. While we’ve witnessed tragedies in past wars and days, but what took place tonight is tantamount to genocide,” spokesman Mahmoud Basal said.

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas declared three days of mourning following the Israeli air strike. The president has condemned the deadly hospital strike as a hideous war massacre that cannot be tolerated.

Abbas said Israel has crossed all red lines. He further said it is unacceptable to talk about anything other than stopping the Israeli war on Gaza.

The Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations also denounced Israel for carrying out the carnage in Gaza.  Riyad Mansour was speaking at a press conference at the United Nations.

He urged the UN Security Council to live up to its responsibilities and urgently intervene to stop Israel’s war on Gaza.

Head of the World Health Organization (WHO) TedrosAdhanomGhebreyesus warned on Wednesday that the situation in the Gaza Strip was spiraling out of control. 

UN chief Antonio Guterres has also condemned the hospital attack in Gaza, and called for a humanitarian ceasefire in the blockaded territory.

Thousands rallied across the Arab and Muslim world on Wednesday to protest the deaths of hundreds of people in the strike on the Gaza hospital.

Thousands of Iranian protesters have gathered in front of the French and British embassies in the capital Tehran to voice their outrage over the Israeli regime

Israel's military campaign had already left at least 3,000 dead inside Gaza before the hospital was destroyed.

Entire Gaza neighborhoods have been razed and survivors are left with dwindling supplies of food, water and fuel, unable to flee the 40-kilometer long strip that has been blockaded since 2007 by Israel and Egypt.

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian Hamas resistance group waged a surprise attack, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, against the occupying entity.

So far, 3,500 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli air raids, including more than 1,000 children and 1,000 women.

Source: presstv.ir

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UN puts Gaza humanitarian aid need at 100 trucks per day

19 Oct 2023

GENEVA, Oct 19 — Gaza, reeling under Israel’s massive response to Hamas’ October 7 bloody border incursion, needs huge amounts of humanitarian aid, around 100 trucks per day, UN sources said Wednesday.

“We need to start with a serious number of trucks going in and we need to build up to 100 trucks a day,” the UN’s Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths told CNN Europe.

“That used to be the case of the aid programme going into Gaza,” he added, even before the past two weeks of heightened unrest following the Hamas attack which killed some 1,400 people in Israel and the Israeli riposte which has left some 3,500 dead in Gaza.

“We’ve been in incredibly detailed negotiations with the parties to make an understanding and an agreement on exactly what an aid programme would look like going into southern Gaza,” said Griffiths.

“So number one, we need to be able to have the assurance that we can go in at scale every day, deliberately, repetitively and reliably,” said Griffiths, speaking hours after US President Joe Biden said he had received Israeli assurances that aid would come in through the Rafah border crossing on the Gaza–Egypt border at the southern end of the Gaza Strip.

“Secondly, we have to be able to do so to reach people safely. International humanitarian law is there for a reason. It requires people to make their own choices about where to be safely, and it requires us and indeed, all of us to ensure that safety, and the humanitarian community to provide aid to people in the places they choose to be safe.”

He said he hoped that within the next couple of days the “essential programme of aid” could start, said Griffiths, noting the UN, including its Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) development agency, has some 14,000 staff in the strip to aid with distribution.

Taking also into account colleagues from the Red Crescent aid organisation, Griffiths, in Cairo negotiating with Egyptian authorities, said, “We have the resources to do this.”

Tons of aid remain for the time being blocked in the Sinai desert with the Rafah crossing on the Palestinian side closed following four bombardments this week.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier said Israel would not prevent humanitarian aid coming in via Egypt in the form of food, water and medicine.

Griffiths stressed the aid would go to the civilian population and not to Hamas, which controls Gaza, home to 2.4 million people. — AFP

Source: malaymail.com

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Southeast Asia

 

Malaysia will spare no effort to prevent further massacre of civilians in Gaza- PM

Nuqman Adam, Aliza Shah

October 19, 2023

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will spare no diplomatic effort in working with its partners to prevent the further massacre of civilians in Gaza.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said it was hard to believe in the sanctity of rules that govern the interatctions between states when some nations have a tenacious commitment to the iron fist of the occupation forces.

"Malaysia believes in upholding international law. In fact, our security and prosperity is predicated on the primacy of the rules that govern the interactions between states.

"But it is hard to believe in its sanctity when some nations have such a tenacious commitment to the iron fist of the occupation forces — brutal in their instincts, genocidal in their purpose, nefarious in their ends.

"This is why Malaysia will spare no diplomatic effort in working with our partners to prevent the further massacre of civilians in Gaza.

"There should be no doubt, no question of our commitment in this regard.

"In closing, let us embrace the spirit of collaboration, knowing that when we pool our resources, ideas and talents, we create a force capable of overcoming any hurdle.

"The time for action is now. Together, we can shape a legacy that will be celebrated for generations to come," he said at the 14th Asean Law Association (ALA) General Assembly and The Asean Law Conference 2023.

Anwar also took a swipe at countries that chose to turn a blind eye when it cames to the Israeli's brutal occupation.

He stressed that Malaysia believes in upholding international laws.

"What does this have to do with the law? Everything and nothing.

"It has everything to do with the law because that is what we all ought to be standing for at this moment of grave danger.

"And that should be especially so for those countries of the world that are always quick to claim that they support a rules-based international order.

"But it also has nothing to do with the law because these very same countries are quick to suspend such talk when it comes to Israel, its brutal occupation of the Palestinians and its flagrant disregard for the rules-based international order," he said.

Source: nst.com.my

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PM Anwar: Malaysia looking at diplomatic channels to prevent further massacre in Gaza

By ShathanaKasinathan

19 Oct 2023

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 19 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today said that Malaysia is committed to upholding international law and is dedicated to working diplomatically with other countries to prevent the rising death toll in Gaza.

He said that the issue at hand caused by Israeli retaliation for the attacks by the Palestinian militant group Hamas has both everything and nothing to do with international laws.

“Malaysia believes in upholding international law. In fact, our security and prosperity are predicated on the primacy of the rules that govern the interactions between states.

“It's about the law because it's crucial to stand up for it during dangerous times, especially for countries that claim to support international rules,” he said during his speech at the 2023 Asean Law Association General Assembly and Asean Law Conference here.

He also highlighted how some nations claim that it has "nothing to do with the law", and how despite their advocating for a rules-based international order, tend to suspend such principles when it comes to Israel.

Anwar expressed concerns over Israel's brutal occupation of the Palestinian territories and its flagrant disregard for the rules-based international order, highlighting the inconsistency in certain countries' stances.

He added that maintaining faith in the sanctity of these laws becomes challenging when some nations exhibit an unwavering commitment to the iron-fisted tactics of occupation forces, characterised by brutality, genocidal intentions, and nefarious ends.

Yesterday, Anwar joined the worldwide condemnation of the bombing of a hospital in Gaza which killed 500 Palestinians, said to be from an Israeli air strike.

He reiterated the need to end the Israel-Hamas war, highlighting that women and children will bear the brunt of the violence.

United Nations said that Gaza has seen 3,500 dead from Israel’s disproportionate response to Hamas’ October 7 bloody border incursion, and needs huge amounts of humanitarian aid of around 100 trucks per day.

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation also denounced Israel’s backers for granting the country “impunity” in its war in Gaza, as US President Joe Biden conducted a solidarity visit.

The 57-member bloc of Muslim-majority countries “deplores the international positions that back the brutal aggression against the Palestinian people, and grant Israel impunity, taking advantage of the double standards that provide cover for the occupying power”.

Source: malaymail.com

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https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2023/10/19/pm-anwar-malaysia-looking-at-diplomatic-channels-to-prevent-further-massacre-in-gaza/97135

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Syahredzan files motion to refer PAS' PengkalanChepa MP to Rights and Privileges Committee over 'kafir' remarks

By AnisZalani

 19 Oct 2023

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 19 — Bangi MP Syahredzan Johan said today he has filed a motion to refer PAS' PengkalanChepa MP Datuk Ahmad MarzukShaary to the rights and privileges committee for his remark in the Dewan Rakyat.

Syahredzan said the PerikatanNasional (PN) remark referring to non-Muslim MPs as “kafir”, or “infidels”, can be deemed as an insult to the lawmakers and Muslims like himself.

“I would like to raise a matter concerning rule 36(12) regarding a motion that I filed yesterday for PengkalanChepa to be referred to the Rights and Privileges Committee in which he said DAP is 'kafir'.

“I filed this motion because this statement insults the Dewan Rakyat, and I believe that we, as members of the Dewan Rakyat must put an end to such statements, especially when they are directed at me as I am a Muslim MP,” the DAP said.

Syahredzan was referring Standing Order 36(12), which said “any member who represents statements to mislead the Dewan Rakyat is deemed to be in contempt of the House and may be referred to the Committee of Privileges for the offence”.

Ahmad Marzuk immediately stood up to interject, accusing Syahredzan of attempting to mislead the Dewan Rakyat.

Syahredzan also sought guidance from the Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul regarding the term “Zionist” used by PAS' Pendang MP Datuk Awang Hashim, which he said was seemingly directed at DAP's Kota Melaka MP KhooPoayTiong.

“I have written a letter to the Dewan Rakyat Speaker and requesting a response from the Speaker regarding a statement from Pendang to Kota Melaka, calling [the latter[ a Zionist.

“I also want to know the status of my letter,” he said.

Deputy Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk RamliMohd Noor then said that the matter is under the consideration of Johari and is being expedited.

Yesterday, Ramli declared there was no element of malicious intent by the PAS MP which labelled a fellow lawmaker as “kafir” or “infidel”.

He said the remarks by Ahmad Marzuky during the Supply Bill 2024 debate were “academic” and did not violate Standing Order 36(6) — which handles “imputing improper motives” to other MPs.

The remark stemmed from initial mentions of the issue of the alleged misinterpretation of a Quranic verse made by the Ipoh Timur MP last month.

It later devolved into Ahmad Marzuk discussing whether non-Muslim MPs can be categorised as “kafir dhimmi”, which refers to peaceful infidels who should receive protection in an Islamic state, or “kafirharbi”, belligerent infidels who are regarded as enemies of Islam.

Source: malaymail.com

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https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2023/10/19/syahredzan-files-motion-to-refer-pas-pengkalan-chepa-mp-to-rights-and-privileges-committee-over-kafir-remarks/97158

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Singapore Workers’ Party calls for Israel to cease all military operations in Gaza Strip, Hamas to release Israeli hostages

19 Oct 2023

SINGAPORE, Oct 19 — The Workers’ Party (WP) has called on Israel to “reject the collective punishment of innocent civilians”, cease all military operations in the Gaza Strip and allow for the transit of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

In a media statement posted on the opposition party’s Facebook page on Wednesday, it also “called for the immediate return of all Israeli hostages captured” by Hamas during its attacks on Israel on Oct 7.

“De-escalation by all parties must be followed by a withdrawal of Israel from the occupied territories, followed by serious negotiations to achieve a lasting peace in the Holy Land,” added WP.

“A peace that legitimises the existence of the state of Israel, and establishes a viable Palestinian state.”

Palestinian militant group launched a highly coordinated attack on various parts of Israel on Oct 7, killing some 1,300 people and taking about 200 more as hostages into Gaza.

It is reported to be the worst attack in Israel’s 75-year history and prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to declare war on Hamas the next day.

Israel has cut off all power, water, food, fuel and medicine supplies into Gaza since the Hamas attack and its air strikes on the Palestinian enclave have resulted in the deaths of at least 3,000 people.

WP said that it received “many emails” and feedback from Singaporeans calling for an immediate end to hostilities and the delivery of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

It added that past military action by Israel in the Gaza Strip in response to militant actions including by Hamas has been “marked by overwhelming disproportionality”.

“We fear this reality will repeat itself in the coming days, weeks and months.

“The flagrant disregard of the Geneva Convention, the United Nations (UN) Charter and other international legal instruments, including the occupation of land taken in war by any sovereign nation — is not in Singapore’s national interests.”

The Geneva Conventions are international treaties establishing rules to protect non-combatants’ rights and well-being during armed conflicts.

“The killing of non-combatants, women and children by any country or organisation, in the name of war, deserves no less than absolute condemnation,” said WP.

It added that it supports Singapore’s long-held position that a two-state solution consistent with UN Security Council (UNSC) resolutions is the only viable path to a durable, just and comprehensive resolution to the long-standing conflict between Israel and Palestine.

“In particular, UNSC Resolution 242, which is supported by Singapore, calls for the withdrawal of Israel from Palestinian territories occupied since the 1967 war in exchange for a lasting peace with its neighbours.”

The WP also said that the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict is likely to increase attacks against Jews and Muslims elsewhere and also raises the prospect of radicalisation far beyond the Middle East.

This will make the world more unsafe and dangerous for all countries, particularly where multi-racial and multi-cultural communities live in peace and harmony.

“All Singaporeans should be aware and mindful of this possibility, and play an active part to prevent it from happening on our shores,” said WP. — TODAY

Source: malaymail.com

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https://www.malaymail.com/news/singapore/2023/10/19/singapore-workers-party-calls-for-israel-to-cease-all-military-operations-in-gaza-strip-hamas-to-release-israeli-hostages/97110

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Africa

 

Fraudsters Use Artificial Intelligence To Impersonate African Union Chief Moussa Faki

October 18, 2023

The African Union Commission has fallen victim to cybercrime after fraudsters deployed artificial intelligence tools to impersonate the continental body’s head Moussa Faki.

Mr Faki who is the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, the secretariat of the African Union routinely writes to global leaders whenever he needs to place a call.

Such a letter is formally known as note verbale and is the standard procedure for scheduling meetings between the African Union leadership and representatives of other countries or international organisations.

Fraudsters faked his voice and placed several video calls to European capitals, ostensibly seeking to arrange meetings.

AU Commission has revealed that the cybercriminals used fake email addresses, too, pretending to be the organisation’s deputy chief of staff, seeking to arrange calls between foreign leaders and Mr Faki.

EbbaKalondo, Mr Faki’s spokesperson confirmed that the pranksters then went ahead to hold video calls with several European leaders, while using deep fake video alterations to impersonate the chairperson.

In a statement on Friday, AUC said it “regrets these incidents,” reiterating the commission only uses official diplomatic channels to communicate with foreign governments, through their embassies in Addis Ababa.

“The African Union Commission reiterates its strict adherence to diplomatic protocol and exclusive usage of Note Verbale for high-level engagement requests,” Ms Kalondo said in a tweet.

It is not yet clear what the intentions of the imposters were, but the AU statement termed their fake emails “phishing,” an indication that they might have intended to steal digital identities to gain access to privileged information.

Deep fakes, the technology used by cybercriminals, are increasingly becoming popular and are sometimes used by certain entities to spread misinformation and propaganda.

They involve using artificial intelligence tools to develop someone’s image, voice and traits into a video of them doing or saying something they haven’t actually done.

Source: africanews.com

Please click the following URL to read the full text of the original

https://www.africanews.com/2023/10/18/fraudsters-use-ai-to-impersonate-african-union-chief-moussa-faki/

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The UN worries about a risk of “direct confrontation” between DRC and Rwanda

October 18, 2023

The UN expressed concern on Tuesday about a risk of “direct confrontation” between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, at loggerheads since the reappearance at the end of 2021 in eastern Congo of the M23 rebellion.

This risk was mentioned by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a recent report on the situation in the DRC and highlighted Tuesday by his special envoy to the region, Huang Xia, during a Security Council meeting devoted to the region. troubled Great Lakes.

“The risk of a direct confrontation between the DRC and Rwanda, who continue to accuse each other of supporting armed groups (...) is very real ,” declared Mr. Xia, noting that during the last six months , the situation, on the security or humanitarian levels, “has not improved at all, on the contrary”.

M23 rebels seized swathes of territory last year that they continue to occupy in North Kivu province . Kinshasa criticizes Kigali for its support for this predominantly Tutsi rebellion, Kigali in return accusing Kinshasa of collusion with the FDLR, an armed group of Rwandan Hutu origin.

After six months of precarious calm, fighting resumed at the beginning of October, notably involving militiamen presented as "patriots" fighting against the M23.

“The military reinforcement” of the DRC and Rwanda , “the absence of a direct high-level dialogue and the persistence of hate speech are all worrying signals that we cannot ignore ,” declared Huang Xia.

Representatives of Security Council member countries took turns calling for restraint, dialogue and a political solution.

At the end of the meeting, those from Rwanda and the DRC denounced one "the lack of political will" of Kinshasa, the other the "aggression" of Kigali, while reaffirming their wish to find "a solution peaceful . ”

The east of the DRC has been plagued for nearly 30 years by violence by numerous armed groups, many inherited from the regional conflicts of the 1990s-2000s.

Since 1999, the United Nations has had a force in the country (MONUSCO) still comprising some 14,000 soldiers, of which Kinshasa, which accuses them of inefficiency, is requesting their departure from next December.

In a statement Monday from its rotating presidency - held by Brazil in October - the Security Council said it was "ready to decide, by the end of 2023, the future of MONUSCO, its gradual withdrawal, responsible and sustainable and concrete and realistic measures to be taken as a priority to implement this withdrawal .

Source: africanews.com

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https://www.africanews.com/2023/10/18/the-un-worries-about-a-risk-of-direct-confrontation-between-drc-and-rwanda/

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Israel-Hamas war: South Africa considers humanitarian aid

October 18, 2023

South Africa's foreign minister confirmed a phone call with the Hamas leader on Tuesday to discuss the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza but denounced allegations of support for Hamas fighters' surprise attack on Israel.

NalediPandor said he received a call request from Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. “The minister and the Hamas leader discussed how to deliver the necessary humanitarian aid to Gaza and other parts of the Palestinian territories,” the Ministry of International Relations said in a statement.

On the other hand, reports in the local press suggesting that the minister supported the attack that Hamas called Operation " Al-Aqsa Flood" are "false" and "aim to discredit the minister and the southern government -Africa" , denounces the ministry.

"During the call, and in line with the government's position, Minister Pandor reiterated her solidarity and support for the people of Palestine and expressed sadness and regret for the loss of innocent lives, both Palestinians and among Israelis,” the statement added.

Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya clarified in a tweet: "We do not have bilateral relations with Hamas. We have bilateral ties with the Palestinian Authority. Support for the Palestinian struggle against "Occupation does not amount to support for Hamas."

President Cyril Ramaphosa , surrounded by dozens of senior officials of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), appeared on Saturday dressed in black and draped with a keffiyeh around his neck, a small Palestinian flag in hand, in front of the press at the outcome of a political meeting.

“As a people and an organization that fought against an oppressive system, apartheid, we are committed to standing in solidarity with the Palestinians,” Mr. Ramaphosa said.

“We are deeply concerned by the atrocities committed in the Middle East,” he added, recalling having conveyed his condolences “to the people of Israel, just as we convey them to the people of Palestine. ”

Several demonstrations around the conflict, mainly pro-Palestinian, have taken place in recent days in major South African cities.

Source: africanews.com

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https://www.africanews.com/2023/10/18/israel-hamas-war-south-africa-considers-humanitarian-aid/

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Chad sex tape scandal leads to government resignations

18 Oct, 2023

Chadian Prime Minister Saleh Kebzabo has accepted the resignations of Defense Minister Daoud Yaya Brahim and the government’s general secretary, HalikiChouaMahamat. Both men decided to stand down amid a major scandal that broke out when separate videos purportedly showing each of them engaging in intimate acts with other people surfaced online.

Both resignations were confirmed by the prime minister’s office spokesperson, who did not provide any further details on the issue. The defense minister has not commented on the incident.

Mahamat told local media outlet Tchadinfos that he had decided to step down to “preserve the integrity” of his position and show respect to the government and the Chadian people. He also pointed to the importance of respecting people’s privacy in the “digital age.” The official then called for “respect for all parties involved.” According to Tchadinfos, the leaked video featured the general secretary and his wife.

According to some local news outlets, Brahim initially sought to cover up the scandal. Some outlets claimed that the general might have had a hand in the recent disappearance of two young women that were linked to the incident, while others suggest both women were detained by Chad’s National Security Agency (ANS). So far, there has been no official confirmation of these reports.

The clips in question were published on social media on Sunday and Monday and have been widely circulated since then, according to the media reports. Chad is a predominantly Muslim nation with conservative social norms. Similar scandals have been rare in the African country, Reuters said.

Source: rt.com

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https://www.rt.com/africa/585298-chad-sex-tape-scandal-resignations/

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Gaza Hospital Attack: Palestinian Ambassador in Nigeria calls for independent probe

 October 18, 2023

The Palestinian Ambassador in Nigeria, Abu Shawesh, has called on the United Nations and African Union to set up an independent commission of enquiry on Tuesday’s attack on a hospital in Gaza.

“I call for a humanitarian court to be set up by an independent body such as the United Nations and African Union aside from the west,” Mr Shawesh said.

The envoy made the call on Wednesday in Abuja while addressing journalists on the attack.

“Many Western media outlets are waging a dirty war against the Palestinian people by broadcasting and distributing dozens of false and fake news,” he added

He said that women and children were mostly killed when Israeli Air Force jets allegedly struck the Baptist Hospital in Gaza. Israel has denied being responsible for the attack.

Mr Shawesh said that the hospital, which was located side by side with the Baptist Church, had served as a safe haven for families displaced by the ongoing war.

He also said that calls by the Israeli authorities for people to evacuate the hospital was rejected by medical personnel of the hospital, who said doing so would amount to slow killing of sick and injured patients receiving health services.

He allegedly said that “before the end of Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. (Jerusalem time), Israeli occupation war aircrafts bombed the Baptist Hospital in Gaza.

“The displaced families believed that this hospital was completely immune from military attacks, in accordance with international law.

“The death toll of the Palestinians in this massacre has so far reached about 900 people; the majority of them are women and children, in addition to several hundreds wounded.

“Since 7 October, the death toll on the Palestinian side is more than 3,000, of which two to three are children and women and more than a thousand are still missing under the rubbles,” he said.

Source: premiumtimesng.com

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https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/more-news/635054-gaza-hospital-attack-palestinian-ambassador-in-nigeria-calls-for-independent-probe.html

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FCTA extends deadline for mosques, churches on revocation order

19 October 2023 

AzimaziMomohJimoh, Abuja

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has extended the ‘develop or revoke’ order issued to religious organisations, as the FCT Minister, NyesomWike, yesterday, exempted them from the three months ultimatum earlier issued to owners of undeveloped plots.

Wike said the administration would extend the ultimatum for religious groups since they largely depend on free will donations for sustenance. The minister gave the extension when he received the Board of the National Mosque, led by its Chairman, AlhajiYahayaAbubakar.

The board was at the FCTA to seek clarification on the status of the plots where it was directed to halt development during the construction of the Outer Southern Expressway.

Abubakar said work was due to start on the plot located opposite the Yar’Adua Centre before a stop-work notification was issued to the management of the mosque.

The board also used the opportunity to seek support to complete the ongoing renovation of the FCT National Mosque, which was carried out by the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) before the inauguration of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

He said the National Mosque was recognised as a national monument by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who initiated a fund-raising for the renovation of the edifice.

Meanwhile, in his response, the FCT minister said the revocation order issued to owners of abandoned projects and plots was not targeted at any individual or groups, but rather to change the landscape of the territory and to discourage criminals from hibernating in them.

He added that no government would hesitate to support the renovation of a national monument, be it mosque or a church. He added that whatever assistance had been in place for the National Mosque will be sustained, if not improved upon.

Wike also used the opportunity to clarify the controversies surrounding the alleged demolition of a mosque in Rivers State while he served as governor of the state. He said the allegation was a political move spread by his opponents as no mosque was demolished during his tenure as governor.

Source: guardian.ng

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https://guardian.ng/news/fcta-extends-deadline-for-mosques-churches-on-revocation-order/

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Arab World

 

Yemenis say Israel should be dealt with militarily

19 October 2023

Hundreds of thousands of Yemenis have hit the streets of the capital, Sana’a to condemn what they call Israel’s genocide of Palestinians.

Crowds of Yemenis filled the streets of the capital to voice their anger against the Israeli bombing of a hospital in Gaza, which claimed the lives of over 500 innocent civilians.

Protesters burned the US and Israeli flags while chanting slogans of anger directed at Israel and its Western partners.

Source: presstv.ir

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https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2023/10/19/713000/Yemenis-say-Israel-should-be-dealt-with-militarily

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Saudi Arabia Participates in Conclusion of UNESCO Executive Council

18 Oct, 2023

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, represented by its permanent delegation to The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in collaboration with the National Commission for Education, Culture, and Science, along with various involved national entities, took part in the proceedings of the 217th session of the UNESCO Executive Council, which concluded today at the organization's headquarters in the French capital.

 Heading the Saudi delegation at the UNESCO Executive Council was the Saudi Ambassador to the French Republic and the Principality of Monaco and the Kingdom's Permanent Representative to UNESCO, Fahd Al-Ruwaili.

 The Saudi delegation participated in several agenda items outlined by the council, emphasizing the Kingdom's commitment to leading in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) for the benefit of humanity. It was pointed out that Saudi Arabia was among the first countries to adopt UNESCO's ethics for AI and one of the pioneering member states advocating for their adoption, thereby ensuring the achievement of sustainable development goals in return.

 Under the digital learning agenda, the delegation engaged in discussions regarding the current developments in the Saudi education system.

 It underscored the Kingdom's pioneering role in digital education within the Arab region and reiterated Saudi Arabia's dedication to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4, particularly in vocational and applied education.

 The delegation highlighted UNESCO's efforts in supporting the creative economy, which contributes to achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) and the global economy.

 It mentioned the Kingdom's collaboration with the Islamic World Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) in launching the World Islamic Culture Indicator initiative, which aims to enhance international efforts in this field and promote the participation of Islamic countries in global cultural activities.

 Additionally, the Kingdom reiterated its eagerness to host the UNESCO World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development (MONDIACULT) in 2025. It expressed gratitude for UNESCO's diligent efforts in enhancing culture as a universal global asset.

 Saudi Arabia also endorsed the collaborative methodology and comprehensive representation of all member states to safeguard each country's right to formulate and implement its domestic cultural policies.

Source: alriyadhdaily.com

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http://alriyadhdaily.com/article/422de56aca4b40fab7af35c3467674eb

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Saudi embassy in Beirut calls on Saudi citizens in Lebanon to leave immediately

October 18, 2023

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Beirut on Wednesday called on its citizens in Lebanon to leave the country immediately.

“The Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the Republic of Lebanon is closely following the developments of the current events in the southern Lebanon region, calling on all citizens to adhere to the travel ban and to leave Lebanese territory immediately for those who are currently in Lebanon,” the embassy posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

An Israeli air strike on Tuesday killed hundreds of Palestinians at a Gaza City hospital crammed with patients and displaced people.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said Wednesday that 3,478 Palestinians have been killed and more than 12,000 injured in the past 11 days.

Hezbollah fighters exchanged fire at the Lebanese border with Israeli forces on Wednesday in violence fuelled by the war between Hamas and Israel.

Source: arabnews.com

Please click the following URL to read the full text of the original

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2393601/saudi-arabia

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Japan, Saudi Arabia hold telephone summit on Mideast crisis

October 18, 2023

DUBAI: Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman held a telephone meeting on Oct. 18 to discuss recent developments in Israel and Palestine.

Kishida said that he is paying close attention to the situation in Israel and Palestine, including Gaza, and views the situation with deep concern.

Additionally, the prime minister expressed “indignation” over the deaths of innocent civilians caused by the attack on Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, and said he is seeking to coordinate to secure civilians’ safety and calm the situation as soon as possible.

Kishida said that Japan is providing humanitarian aid to Gaza worth 1.5 billion yen ($10 million) through international organizations, and is seeking cooperation with other parties involved to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

In response, the crown prince explained Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the situation, adding that he has been in close contact with the concerned parties, and that the Gulf Cooperation Council is seeking to strengthen its humanitarian assistance.

“The two leaders concurred on maintaining close cooperation between the two countries, and working on improving the humanitarian situation and calming down the situation,” Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Source: arabnews.com

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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2393581/saudi-arabia

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Saudi FM discusses military escalation in Gaza with Iranian, Lebanese counterparts

October 18, 2023

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan discussed the current military escalation in Gaza and its surroundings with his Iranian counterpart in Jeddah on Wednesday.

In a meeting with Hossein Amirabdollahian on the sidelines of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s emergency session on the situation in Gaza, Prince Faisal said the Kingdom is making efforts to communicate with all international and regional parties to stop the ongoing escalation. He also stressed the Kingdom’s position of rejecting the targeting of civilians.

The foreign minister reaffirmed that Saudi Arabia remains steadfast in its commitment to the Palestinian cause and supporting efforts aimed at achieving a comprehensive peace plan that guarantees the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.

Prince Faisal met with Lebanese and Turkish counterparts Abdallah Bou Habib and HakanFidan on Wednesday and they also discussed the military escalation in Gaza.

Source: arabnews.com

Please click the following URL to read the full text of the original

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2393571/saudi-arabia

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