Muslim, Palestinian leaders urge Arab Americans in Michigan to "abandon Biden"
New Age Islam News Bureau
10 November 2023
“We
are fully aware that we may be dealing with a situation that might be worse
than Biden,” said Imam Imran Salha, “But there’s nothing worse than genocide.”
---------------
North America
·
Protesters stage sit-in at New York Times headquarters
to call for cease-fire in Gaza
·
US Muslim group reports sharp rise in anti-Muslim bias
incidents following Israel-Palestine conflict
·
US conducts airstrike in eastern Syria on facility
used by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard: White House
·
US defends Israel’s war in Gaza and blames Hamas for
all civilian casualties
·
Artists’ posters of hostages held by Hamas, started as
public reminder, become flashpoint themselves
-----
Southeast Asia
·
Washington ‘risks losing the street’ in Muslim S-E
Asia as Gaza war stirs anti-US sentiments
·
Watermelon emojis flood social media in Indonesia,
Malaysia in show of support for Palestinians
·
Taekwondo instructor in Shah Alam charged with
sexually assaulting five girls
·
UN: Northern Myanmar fighting displaces almost 50,000
civilians
·
Unrecorded Deepavali leave for Hindu federal civil
servants in S’wak
·
PM performs Friday prayer at Serdang Hospital
·
Fahmi meets TikTok, Meta on complaints about removal
of Palestine-related content
·
GSPP planning solidarity activities in support of
Palestinians
-----
India
·
Deoband clarifies claims of sheltering Palestinian
orphans
·
India files appeal against death to 8 ex-Navy
personnel in Qatar
·
In a first in Karnataka, minor boy and father booked
for ‘converting’ classmate to Islam
·
How Modi’s BJP seeks Muslim vote in India’s 2024
election
·
Family devastated as Telangana student dies in US,
days after being stabbed at gym
·
BSF head constable killed in Pakistani firing along
international border in Jammu and Kashmir’s Samba district
------
Arab World
·
Saudi hosts Gaza summits, Iran president
·
Yemen vows to continue confronting Israel war on Gaza
·
Mossad, CIA chiefs hold prisoner talks in Qatar
·
Bahraini Ambassador participates in preparatory
meeting of 8th Extraordinary Islamic Summit
·
Foreign Minister Renews Call for Immediate Ceasefire
in Gaza Military Operations
·
Saudi and Somali foreign ministers meet ahead of Arab
summit on Gaza
·
Saudi crown prince, Polish PM discuss bilateral ties
during call
·
Internet collapses in war-torn Yemen after recent
attacks by Houthi rebels targeting Israel, U.S.
-----
Europe
·
British minister condemned for remarks over
pro-Palestinian rallies
·
Brazil angry as Israel touts foiling of ‘Hezbollah
cell’
·
Emmanuel Macron opens Gaza aid session with appeal for
Israel to protect civilians
·
U.K. Home Secretary Braverman accuses police of bias
for refusing to ban pro-Palestine march
·
Rishi Sunak Faces Pressure To Fire Minister Over
Remarks On Palestine Rally
·
German president meets Jewish and Muslim community
leaders
·
‘No offence,’ say police after ‘curse the infidels’
speech at London mosque
·
UK accused of whitewashing death of Chevening scholar
in Gaza
·
France arrests influencer for mocking Israeli baby's
death
·
Transgender People Can Be Baptised in Catholic Church,
Be Godparents, Says Vatican
----
Mideast
·
Gaza officials say hospitals come under new Israeli
attacks
·
Street combat rages in Gaza as Biden rules out
ceasefire
·
Iran: Expansion of scope of Gaza war inevitable due to
heightened Israeli aggression
·
Gaza population lacks food, faces malnutrition, UN
food programme official says
·
Turkish president calls on Economic Cooperation
Organization to raise voice against Israel’s
·
Iraq is at a crossroads. Will it choose its Shia
militias or relations with the US?
·
In Gaza, hospital procedures without anaesthetics
prompted screams, prayers
·
Islamic Jihad releases two videos of hostages; Israel
calls it 'psychological terror'
------
South Asia
·
Pakistan Should Not Blame Afghanistan for Insecurity:
Mujahid
·
Iran and Tajikistan reiterate call for inclusive
Government in Afghanistan
·
Baradar Urges Iran to Ease Afghan Access to Chabahar
Port
·
Afghanistan’s absence at 16th ECO Summit in Tashkent
·
Khalil Rahman Haqqani Visits Refugees from Iran in
Nimroz
·
Haqqani slams Pakistan’s treatment of migrants as
‘unfair’
·
Preparations made to address migrants’ needs in Balkh:
official
------
Africa
·
Boko Haram commanders, weapons now military’s main
target – DHQ
·
'Daesh broke us': Displaced Malians find refuge in
Kidal after fleeing jihadist attacks
·
Children are dying of hunger in the Eastern Cape –
declare a disaster, urges Human Rights Commission
·
Kogi Guber Election: I Won’t Be Muslim, Christian
Governor – Melaye
·
Muslim group partners with UNHCR to raise N500 million
for IDPs
·
Katsina gov condemns terrorists’ killings
-----
Pakistan
·
Pakistani PM urges ECO countries to push for ceasefire
in Gaza
·
Nawaz, Imran should get justice before polls: Javed
·
Siraj arrives in Turkey to lead Palestine solidarity
march
·
Three more to testify against Imran, Qureshi
·
Balochistan repatriated 80,000 illegal aliens
·
JUI-F leader joins PTI
·
‘Unified’ Friday sermons: PUC spearheads
anti-terrorism drive
Compiled by
New Age Islam News Bureau
URL:
---------------
Muslim,
Palestinian leaders urge Arab Americans in Michigan to "abandon
Biden"
November
9, 2023
“We are
fully aware that we may be dealing with a situation that might be worse than
Biden,” said Imam Imran Salha, “But there’s nothing worse than genocide.”
-------------
Some
Muslim and Palestinian leaders in Michigan are calling on Arab-Americans not to
vote for President Joe Biden in 2024.
They
gathered in front of the federal building in Detroit Thursday carrying signs
saying "Abandon Biden."
Imam
Imran Salha said they are angry with Biden for supporting Israel as it wages a
war against Hamas in Gaza.
“We are
fully aware that we may be dealing with a situation that might be worse than
Biden,” said Salha, “But there’s nothing worse than genocide.”
Salha
echoed concerns from international organizations, including a group of United
Nations experts, who a week ago warned that "time is running out to
prevent genocide and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza."
Speakers
said there is nothing Biden can do to convince them to support him in the 2024
presidential election.
Several
speakers acknowledged that former President Donald Trump, who’s the leading
candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, would likely be worse for
the Palestinian cause.
But to
Huwaida Arraf, a Palestinian Christian and a delegate to the 2020 Democratic
National Convention, this is not a question of politics. She said she won't
vote for Biden next year.
"Not
me. not my family. Not my community. Not anyone who cares about freedom, human
rights, and the life of every single person," said Arraf.
Arab
Americans make up a small but potentially significant percentage of Michigan
voters, which could be critical in next year’s presidential election.
The
group said it may expand its focus to other politicians who have expressed
support for Israel.
Israel
declared war on Hamas after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.
Source: michiganradio.org
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https://www.michiganradio.org/politics-government/2023-11-09/muslim-palestinian-leaders-urge-arab-americans-in-michigan-to-abdanon-biden
------
The grim
reality of war: One child dead every 10 minutes in Gaza
November
10, 2023
Palestinian
girl Orheen Al-Dayah, who was injured in her forehead in an Israeli strike has
her wounds stitched without anaesthesia, at Al Shifa hospital in Gaza City,
November 8, 2023. -REUTERS/Doaa Rouqa
----------
KUALA
LUMPUR: In the war-torn region of Gaza, a grim reality persists: with every 600
ticking seconds, a Palestinian child loses their life, transforming the once
vibrant land into a haunting graveyard for countless innocent lives.
Almost
every child in Gaza has been exposed to deeply distressing events and trauma by
the widespread destruction, relentless attacks, displacement and severe shortages
of essential necessities such as food, water, and medicine.
Over
4,000 innocent children have become casualties to airstrikes and bombardments
by the Israeli warforce.
The
total number of children reported killed in Gaza in just three weeks has
already exceeded the annual number of children killed in conflict zones
worldwide for three years since 2019, according to non-governmental
organisation (NGO), Save the Children.
However,
it is unknown as to how much white shroud is needed to wrap children's bodies
as some are still trapped underneath rubble from the aftermath of persistent
attacks through air and ground missiles.
According
to the last three annual reports by the United Nations Secretary-General on
Children and Armed Conflict, a total of 2,985 children were killed in 24
countries in 2022, 2,515 in 2021, and 2,674 in 2020 in 22 countries. In 2019,
4,019 children were killed.
Since
Oct 7, more than 4,324 children have been reported killed with at least 6,360
children in Gaza have also been injured.
They
also said children make up more than 40 per cent of those killed in Gaza, with
an additional 1,000 children reported missing in Gaza, presumed to be trapped
under rubble, indicating that the death toll may be even higher.
Those
who survive suffer from trauma, diseases, food and water shortages, and some
are forced to drink saltwater or water from contaminated sources due to the
disruption of drinking water facilities.
Children
whose hands have their names written on- should they be the next casualty- had
also issued a poignant plea to the world, begging for protection at a recent
press conference at Al-Shifa Hospital.
"We
come now to shout (speak out) and we invite you to protect us… We want to live,
we want peace.
"We
want medicine, food and education and we want to live as other children
live," pleaded one boy to the world.
While
other newborn babies are able to sleep in comfortable, cushioned cribs with a
roof above their heads, 380 newborns in Gaza are calling the United Nations
Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) shelter
their first home where the sounds of airstrikes serve as an unsettling backdrop
to their earliest days of life.
Citing
the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), UNRWA said there were 50,000 pregnant women in
the Gaza Strip and more than 180 were giving birth every day.
The
Al-Rantisi Hospital for Children in western Gaza went out of service on
Thursday after running out of fuel for its generators, leaving 38 Palestinian
children who are suffering from kidney failure in grave danger.
"Thirty-eight
children suffering from kidney failure are deprived of dialysis after the
Al-Rantisi Hospital, the only hospital specialised for children in the Gaza
Strip, stopped running as it ran out of fuel," said Ashraf Al-Qudra, the
spokesman for the Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip.
The
collapse of the health system in the Gaza Strip on Oct 24 had also left all the
wounded, including children, women and the elderly losing treatment services.
This
also puts hundreds of premature babies in danger without having any chance to
live in a war-free country.
At least
10,812 Palestinians have been killed with more than 26,000 people injured in
Israeli air and ground attacks in the Gaza Strip since Oct 7.
Source: nst.com.my
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https://www.nst.com.my/world/world/2023/11/977054/grim-reality-war-one-child-dead-every-10-minutes-gaza
--------
Top US
and Indian diplomats and defense chiefs discuss Indo-Pacific issues and
Israel-Hamas war
10th November 2023
U.S.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, from left, Secretary of State Antony Blinken,
India's Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam
Jaishankar in Delhi (AP)
---------------
NEW
DELHI: The diplomats and defense chiefs of India and the United States met
Friday focusing on security issues involving the Indo-Pacific, China and the
Israel-Hamas war.
U.S.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. and India have a strong
partnership and they would discuss matters with implications for the future.
"The
future is now," he told reporters.
"We
are promoting a free and open and prosperous Asia-Pacific, including by
strengthening our partnership in the Quad with Japan and Australia,"
Blinken said in his remarks at the start of the meeting.
He also
said that the United States and India are bolstering their partnership in international
peace and strengthening a rule-based order.
Blinken
also said defense cooperation was a key pillar in ties between the countries.
India's
External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said the situation in the
Middle East was a big concern.
While
India has condemned the Hamas attack on Israel, it has tried to balance its
position by saying that "India has always advocated the resumption of
direct negotiations towards establishing a sovereign, independent and viable
State of Palestine living within secure and recognized borders, side-by-side at
peace with Israel."
"While
the wars in Gaza and Ukraine are urgent issues, the more abiding challenge for
both the U.S. and India relates to China and its revisionist orientation,"
said C. Uday Bhaskar, a retired navy officer.
The
recent intimidation of the Philippines by China is a matter of considerable
relevance to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as well as the four
Quad nations — the U.S., Japan, India and Australia, he said.
China
and the Philippines have had several recent confrontations in the South China
Sea, where several governments have overlapping claims.
Blinken
is in Asia engaging in intense diplomacy with regional partners to show unity
over Russia's war in Ukraine and other major issues and prevent existing
differences on Gaza from deepening.
India
and the U.S. have held the two-plus-two talks between India's external affairs
and defense minister and the U.S. secretaries of state and defense since 2018
to discuss issues of concern and strengthen bilateral ties.
U.S.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and his Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh will
discuss a roadmap for defense industrial cooperation that will fast-track
technology cooperation and co-production in intelligence, surveillance,
munitions and other areas, the defense department said in a statement.
Washington
expects India to be a leading security provider in the Indo-Pacific region.
During
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the United States in June, the
two sides adopted a policy guide for defense industries to enable them to
produce advanced defense systems together and collaborate on research and
testing of prototypes.
Source: newindianexpress.com
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https://www.newindianexpress.com/world/2023/nov/10/top-us-and-indian-diplomats-and-defense-chiefs-discuss-indo-pacific-issues-and-israel-hamas-war-2631853.html
-------
First
Saudi Relief Plane Departs to Assist Palestinian People in Gaza
09 Nov,
2023
Riyadh –
SPA
-------------
The
first Saudi relief plane today left King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh
to El Arish International Airport in Egypt prior to sending its content to
affected people in the Gaza Strip. The plane carries various relief and shelter
items with a total weight of 35 tons as part of the Saudi campaign to help the
Palestinian people in Gaza, which was launched under directives of Custodian of
the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and His Royal Highness
Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince and Prime Minister.
In a press statement to the Saudi Press
Agency, Advisor at the Royal Court and Supervisor General of King Salman
Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al
Rabeeah stressed that this humanitarian assistance to the Gaza Strip reflects
what the government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and HRH the Crown
Prince, enjoys of a noble sense of humanity and great keenness to help other
countries.
Dr. Al Rabeeah noted that this airlift will
continue over the coming days, where the centre is currently considering the
possibility of operating a sealift according to the need to ensure the speed of
delivery, stressing the humanitarian role played by the Kingdom in helping
other countries during various crises. He added that this gesture reflects the
depth of brotherly relations and strong ties between the Kingdom and Palestine.
The supervisor general also praised the
efforts of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and HRH the Crown Prince in
helping brotherly and friendly countries.
Source: alriyadhdaily.com
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http://alriyadhdaily.com/article/d6c375694de845f4853d0d87e6d4fa59
------
Germany
criticised at UN over Gaza stance
November
10, 2023
“Israel’s
security and right to exist are not negotiable for Germany,” said Luise
Amtsberg, Germany’s commissioner for human rights policy and humanitarian
assistance and head of its delegation at UN UPR. — X/UN_HRC
-------------
GENEVA:
The Gaza crisis loomed over a regular UN review of Germany’s human rights
record on Thursday with numerous mainly Muslim countries decrying its support
for Israel and bans on pro-Palestinian protests.
Germany
received broad praise for its robust human rights record during the review at
the United Nations in Geneva but faced unusual levels of criticism, especially
on its position on the Israeli atrocities in Gaza.
Egypt’s
representative Ahmed Moharam said Cairo “deeply regrets the unfavourable
positions taken by Germany vis-a-vis the rights of the Palestinian people”,
while Jordan’s representative slammed the country’s “unbalanced positions”.
Turkiye
urged Berlin to “halt the provision of any military material or equipment to
Israel that may be used in the commission of war crimes and crimes against
humanity”.
During
Thursday’s so-called Universal Periodic Review (UPR) — which all 193 UN
countries must undergo every four years — Germany reiterated Israel’s ‘‘right
to defend itself.’’
“Israel’s
security and right to exist are not negotiable for Germany,” said Luise
Amtsberg, the commissioner for human rights policy and humanitarian assistance
and head of its delegation.
The
review was taking place on the 85th anniversary of the Nazi Kristallnacht
pogrom, which foreshadowed the Nazi slaughter of six million European Jews
during World War II.
“The
protection of Jewish life and our commitment to ‘never again’ is
non-negotiable,” Amtsberg said, voicing concern over swelling anti-Semitic acts
in the past month.
“Jews no
longer feel safe,” she told the gathering. “We cannot accept this.” She
stressed that “people in Germany are also justifiably worried about the
civilian population in Gaza and the Palestinian territories”.
Source: dawn.com
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https://www.dawn.com/news/1788022/germany-criticised-at-un-over-gaza-stance
-----
Israel
must protect Palestinians in West Bank - UN rights chief
November
10, 2023
AMMAN:
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Friday that Israel must take
immediate measures to protect Palestinians in the occupied West Bank as they
find themselves targeted by more violence since the Israeli-Hamas war erupted
last month.
Volker
Turk said at least 176 Palestinians, including 43 children and one woman, had
been killed in incidents involving Israeli security forces since the beginning
of October. At least eight Palestinians had been killed by Israeli settlers.
Before
the start of the Gaza war between Israel and the Islamist group Hamas on Oct.
7, it was already the deadliest year on record for Palestinians in the
Israeli-occupied West Bank, with about 200 killed.
“I
...appeal as a matter of urgency for Israeli authorities to take immediate measures,
to take steps to ensure the protection of Palestinians in the West Bank, who
are being on a daily basis subjected to violence from Israeli forces and
settlers, ill treatment, arrests, evictions, intimidation and humiliation,”
Turk told reporters in Jordan’s capital Amman.
The
worsening violence in the West Bank has fueled concerns that the Palestinian
territory could become a third front in a wider war, in addition to Israel’s
northern border where clashes with Lebanese Hezbollah forces have taken place.
“It is
Israel’s duty to ensure that all incidents of violence are promptly and
effectively investigated, and that victims are provided with effective
remedies,” Turk said.
“Continued
widespread impunity for such violations is unacceptable, dangerous, and it is
in clear violation of Israel’s obligation under international human rights
law.”
Israel
has vowed to destroy Hamas and said it has also been conducting
counter-terrorism operations against militants from the group and other
Palestinian armed factions in the West Bank.
Over the
past 18 months, Israeli troops have killed hundreds of Palestinians — hardened
militant fighters, stone-throwing youths and uninvolved civilians — and made
thousands of arrests across the West Bank. In the same period, dozens of
Israelis have been killed in attacks by Palestinians.
Source: arabnews.com
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2406471/middle-east
-----
Sharia
Council seeks collective approach to tackling insecurity
November
10, 2023
The
leaders of the Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria have called for an
interactive approach and collective approach to fighting the menace of
insecurity in the country.
The
leader of the team, Dr Bashir Umar, made the call when the group paid a
courtesy call on the Chief of Defence Staff ( CDS), Gen. Christopher Musa, at
the Defence Headquarters on Thursday in Abuja.
This is
contained in a statement by the Acting Director of Defence Information,
Brig.-Gen. Tukut Gusau, on Thursday in Abuja.
Umar
called for a re-examination of the existing process of securing the nation,
adding that there could never be peace without justice.
He said
the visit was to seek first-hand information on the general efforts of the Armed
Forces of Nigeria (AFN) in addressing security challenges confronting the
country.
According
to him, these leaders are actively involved in appealing to the common
Nigerians through their daily contact.
The
Islamic leaders took turn to commend the CDS for his uncommon leadership
qualities and neutrality in the discharge of his responsibilities.
They
also called for teamwork and the use of modern technology to fight insecurity.
In his
response, the CDS, Gen. Musa expressed optimism that the security challenges
facing the nation were surmountable.
He said
the composition of the council membership and their open-mindedness for truth,
showed the seriousness in their efforts to address the scourge.
The
defence chief added that armed forces had remained professional in their
conducts during operations, adding that there are few bad eggs among the
troops, which he promises would be filtered out.
He
recalled that about 75,000 members of the Boko Haram terrorists and their
family members surrendered to troops during his tenure as the theatre Commander
in the North East.
He added
that the numbers had risen above 100,00, assuring the clerics of his readiness
to partner with religious organisations to
resolve security challenges.
The CDS
pledged for improvement in military operations, while calling for new
innovation to arrest insecurity in Nigeria.
Source: vanguardngr.com
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https://www.vanguardngr.com/2023/11/sharia-council-seeks-collective-approach-to-tackling-insecurity/
-------
North America
Protesters
stage sit-in at New York Times headquarters to call for cease-fire in Gaza
10th
November 2023
NEW
YORK: Pro-Palestinian demonstrators occupied the lobby of The New York Times on
Thursday, demanding an immediate cease-fire in Gaza while accusing the media of
showing a bias toward Israel in its coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.
The
latest in a series of near-nightly demonstrations since the start of the war
saw thousands march through Midtown Manhattan to protest Israel's attacks on
Gaza. At around 5 p.m., a small group of demonstrators led by media workers
calling themselves “Writers Bloc” entered the atrium of the Times building
carrying a banner calling for a cease-fire.
They
remained for over an hour, reading off the names of thousands of Palestinians
killed in Gaza, including at least 36 journalists whose deaths have been
confirmed since the war began. They scattered editions of a mock newspaper —
“The New York War Crimes” — that charged the media with “complicity in
laundering genocide” and called on The Times’ editorial board to publicly back
a cease-fire.
Photos
showed the word “Lies” painted across the doors of the Times headquarters. It
wasn’t immediately clear if anyone was arrested during the sit-in.
An email
sent to New York Times staffers by the publication’s head of corporate security
described the protest as “peaceful,” noting that “no entrances are blocked.”
The
action came hours after students across New York City walked out of classrooms
in support of Palestinians. Some remained in the streets for a protest that
snarled traffic in Manhattan during rush hour and grew unruly at times.
The
demonstration at The Times was the latest in a series of actions at
high-profile locations in New York intended to bring attention to the growing
death toll in Gaza.
On
Tuesday, activists with the group Jewish Voice for Peace briefly took over the
Statue of Liberty. The week prior, hundreds of people packed into Grand Central
Terminal, shutting down the commuting hub during rush hour while hoisting
banners that read “Ceasefire Now.”
More
than 10,800 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry
in the Hamas-run territory, since the Oct. 7th massacre by Hamas, which took
the lives of at least 1,400 people in Israel.
Source: newindianexpress.com
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https://www.newindianexpress.com/world/2023/nov/10/protesters-stage-sit-in-at-new-york-times-headquarters-to-call-for-cease-fire-in-gaza-2631849.html
-------
US
Muslim group reports sharp rise in anti-Muslim bias incidents following
Israel-Palestine conflict
09.11.2023
The
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) released data Thursday that
indicated an "unprecedented" surge in reported cases of anti-Muslim
and anti-Arab bias following the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
Between
Oct. 7 and Nov. 4, the Muslim advocacy group said in a statement that its
national office and chapters received 1,283 requests "for help and reports
of bias, which is a 216 percent increase over the previous year."
During a
typical 29-day span in 2022, CAIR averaged 406 such complaints, according to
the statement. People reaching out for support include a wide variety of
Americans, including public school and college students, doctors and other
workers, protestors and mosques.
CAIR
Research and Advocacy Director Corey Saylor said Islamophobia and anti-Arab
racism are out of control in ways we have not seen in almost 10 years.
"The
Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian rhetoric that have been used to both justify
violence against Palestinians in Gaza and silence supporters of Palestinian
human rights here in America has contributed to this unprecedented surge in
bigotry," said Saylor.
Saylor
noted that American Muslims are facing the largest wave of Islamophobic bias
that the Muslim group has documented since then-candidate Donald Trump’s Muslim
Ban announcement in December 2015.
"Political
leaders, corporations, media outlets, civic organizations and others all have a
role to play in ending this surge in bigotry," he added.
Israel
has launched relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since a
cross-border attack by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas. on Oct. 7.
At least
10,569 Palestinians, including 4,324 children and 2,823 women, have been
killed. The Israeli death toll, meanwhile, is nearly 1,600, according to
official figures.
Basic
supplies are running low for Gaza’s 2.3 million residents due to an Israeli
siege, in addition to a large number of casualties, massive displacements and
thousands of buildings destroyed.
Source: aa.com.tr
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https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/us-muslim-group-reports-sharp-rise-in-anti-muslim-bias-incidents-following-israel-palestine-conflict/3048986
-----
US
conducts airstrike in eastern Syria on facility used by Iran's Islamic
Revolutionary Guard: White House
10.11.23
The
United States has conducted a self-defense airstrike in eastern Syria against a
facility used by the Iran Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and affiliated
groups, the White House said Thursday.
The
precision strike was conducted in response to the recent attacks directed by
the IRGC and affiliated groups against US and Coalition bases in Iraq and
Syria, White House Deputy Press Secretary Olivia Dalton told reporters aboard
the Air Force One.
"Yesterday,
President (Joe) Biden directed the U.S. military to carry out a self-defense
airstrike in eastern Syria against a facility used by the Iran Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps and affiliated groups," Dalton said.
She said
the US conducted the strike to disrupt and degrade the freedom of action and
capabilities of these groups directly responsible for attacking US forces who
are in Iraq and Syria as part of the mission to defeat the ISIS.
"We
are making it clear that these attacks are unacceptable and cannot continue.
President Biden and the United States government are fully prepared to take
further necessary measures to protect our people and our facilities. And we
want to be clear that we continue to urge against any escalation," Dalton
said.
Deputy
Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters at a separate news
conference that these actions were taken in response to ongoing threats and
attacks directed at US bases in both Syria and Iraq by the IRGC and related
groups.
"The
target was identified as a single-weapon storage facility used by the IRGC and
the -- and its related groups. U.S. Central Command conducted the strike with
two F-15s. We are still conducting the assessment of the strike, but initial
analysis indicated multiple secondary explosions after the strike, as we had
expected," she said.
Singh
said this action was aimed at disrupting and degrading the capabilities of
groups directly responsible for attacking US forces in the region.
By
specifically targeting these associated facilities, the US seeks to convey a
clear message to Iran that it will be held accountable for the attacks on U.S.
forces, she said. The US expects Iran to take measures to direct its proxies to
stop, she said.
"Our
military actions do not signal a change in our approach to the Israel-Hamas
conflict and we have no intentions of escalating this conflict in the region.
Our commitment to self-defense and the protection of U.S. personnel remains the
same,” Singh said.
"Between
October 17th and November 9th, US and coalition forces have been attacked at
least 46 times to date, 24 separate times in Iraq and 22 separate times in
Syria by a mix of one-way attack drones and rockets," she said.
"In
the last 24 hours, we've had three additional minor injuries, but all have
returned to duty. In total, there have been 56 people injured. Their injuries
are a combination of TBI (traumatic brain injury) and other minor
injuries," she said.
Source: telegraphindia.com
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US
defends Israel’s war in Gaza and blames Hamas for all civilian casualties
November
10, 2023
CHICAGO:
David Satterfield, the recently appointed US special envoy for Middle East
humanitarian issues, on Thursday blamed Hamas for all civilian casualties
during the current conflict in Gaza.
He also
acknowledged that humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians in the
territory is currently far below “the bare minimum” needed for survival.
During a
briefing attended by Arab News, Satterfield said about 100 aid trucks are now
entering Gaza each day but this falls well short of the 150 a day that would
constitute the minimum required to address the growing humanitarian crisis
there.
He
declined to answer questions about reports of escalating violence by Israeli
forces in the West Bank, but reiterated that Washington supports Israel’s
military campaign to root out Hamas in Gaza.
“Our
focus has been on moving humanitarian assistance to meet, as much as we can
under the present circumstances, the needs of Palestinian civilians in south
and central Gaza on as sustained and sustainable a basis as possible,”
Satterfield said.
“I want
to note here that we started just two-and-one-half, three weeks ago at zero. We
have moved the level of assistance up now to around 100 trucks a day. We are
looking at a higher level of assistance to move the proper, according to UN
agencies, needed basic humanitarian assistance into south Gaza.
“Three
weeks ago we had no fuel accessible to the UN implementers in the south. Fuel
is now available from within Gaza for their use for desalination plants, for
provision to hospitals in the south and center, and for the movements of the UN
implementers themselves.
“And we
are working to make certain that there will be further fuel available for the
UN, UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East),
the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross), World Food Program, as
this moves ahead.
Describing
the current humanitarian assistance provided to Palestinians as “just a start,”
Satterfield added: “We understand even 150 trucks a day just meets the bare
minimum to provide basic survival humanitarian assistance. Much more is needed
beyond that.”
Asked
about the growing number of Palestinians killed during more than four weeks of
the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, Satterfield said that civilian deaths are the
result of 15 years of Hamas militancy in the territory and declined to address
the specific issue of Israeli military operations.
More
than 10,000 Palestinians have been killed in the past month by the Israeli
bombardment of Gaza, including as many as 4,000 children, according to health
authorities in Gaza, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said this week
that the territory “is becoming a graveyard for children.”
Satterfield
said US President Joe Biden is working closely with Israeli authorities “to
impress the need to conduct the campaign in a manner which minimizes civilian
casualties to the maximum extent possible, which allows clearly recognized
deconflicted humanitarian sites to be spared from attack. “But, I have to say,
for 15, for 16 years, Hamas has deliberately embedded itself in, around and
under many of those humanitarian sites. It increases the complexity of any
campaign of this kind enormously.”
He
added: “We wish to see Israel able to achieve a goal which is not just its
right but is its responsibility: to end the threat which this terrorist group
(Hamas) poses to Israelis, to end the threat that they have posed to the
civilians of Gaza, for whose welfare they care not a whit.
“But how
it is done makes all the difference in the world. And humanitarian assistance
is a vital, vital requirement throughout.”
Satterfield
said the US aid effort is focused on providing support to civilians in central
and southern Gaza who have fled the Israeli military operations in the north.
Washington does not support Palestinians being forced to leave Gaza, he added.
“The
future of Gazans is in Gaza and not in any other place,” he said. “We do not,
as a matter of fundamental principle, support or wish to see displacement of
Gaza’s population.
“Those
now in the south must have every opportunity to return to the north when it is
safe to do.”
Satterfield
said the US envisions that the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank will
ultimately assume authority over Gaza, and that the Biden administration
continues to support a two-state solution, the details and process for which
“will have to be worked out.”
He
reiterated Biden’s support for Israel and said the country “has a
responsibility to its own people to end the threat posed by Hamas.”
He
added: “We are standing strongly with Israel as it works to achieve that goal.
But we have been equally clear … that how the campaign is conducted matters.
And it must be conducted in a way that minimizes, to the maximum extent
possible, civilian casualties.
“We
believe as well, and have made clear, the maximum degree of humanitarian
assistance needs to be made available, in as safe and as secure a fashion as
can be done, to as many people in Gaza as is possible.
“These
are difficult things to achieve, given the nature of what Hamas has done in
Gaza over the past 15 years. But they have to be dealt with together, the
campaign done in a manner that minimizes civilian casualties and maximum
provision of humanitarian assistance."
Reports
suggest that more than 1.5 million Palestinians have fled their homes in the face
of the Israeli military barrage. Satterfield acknowledged a four-to-five-hour
daily humanitarian pause in hostilities that was announced by the US and Israel
earlier on Thursday and said he hoped it would allow more humanitarian aid to
enter the territory and reach Palestinians in south and central Gaza who have
fled the violence in the north.
He
declined to comment on the threat of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah
escalating along the border between the countries, other than to say that Hezbollah
and Tehran “understand the president’s very blunt message, which was, for those
in the region contemplating a potential spread of this conflict: don’t, don’t,
don’t.”
Source: arabnews.com
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2406361/middle-east
-------
Artists’
posters of hostages held by Hamas, started as public reminder, become
flashpoint themselves
November
09, 2023
NEW
YORK: Making the posters, they said, came out of a desire to feel connected, to
do something.
Artists
Nitzan Mintz and Dede Bandaid would normally have been at home in Tel Aviv with
family and friends, but were instead in New York City to take part in an art
program when Hamas fighters massacred more than 1,400 people in Israel on Oct
7.
They
channeled their anguish into creating posters bearing the names and faces of
the more than 200 people taken hostage during the attack, each page blaring
“KIDNAPPED” across the top. The goal was to invoke public pressure in hopes of bringing
the abducted home. Fliers and posters based on their template have since
appeared in cities around the world.
While
they were intended to inspire outrage at Hamas and sympathy for the abducted,
the posters have also become a flashpoint, angering people critical of Israel’s
actions in the conflict with Palestinians, who see the posters as propaganda.
Pro-Palestinian
activists in many cities have torn them down. Videos and photos of people
ripping down the posters have, in turn, been circulated by pro-Israel activists
on social media, who say the act is antisemitic.
Arguments
over the posters led to the arrest of a woman at Columbia University, who was
charged with assaulting another student. Another woman was arrested in Brooklyn
last Saturday, accused of pepper spraying a Jewish man after he confronted her
about tearing down posters. News stories and social media posts have identified
people ripping down posters, with the aim of trying to get people fired or
thrown out of their schools.
“When we
see the amount of hate that we get,” Bandaid said, the two artists remember
that “we put the posters there because we want to do something good.”
They
worked with designers Tal Huber and Shira Gershoni in Israel to create the
posters. They said that when they initially put the designs online for people
to print out themselves, they included a suggestion that anyone putting one up
not engage with anyone who opposed the fliers. But the nature of the response
from some caught them off guard.
“Our
campaign is not to run down Palestinians,” Mintz said. “It is just to take care
of one aspect out of this entire mess.”
Rafael
Shimunov, a Jewish activist who has spoken out for Palestinians, said he
thought the posters were mostly being torn down to oppose a long history of
violence against Palestinians. “Like everything in this world, there’s always
portions of people who are motivated by antisemitism. But from what I’ve seen,
overwhelmingly it’s people who just don’t want more war and more excuses for
bombing civilians,” he said.
He said
he wished the posters didn’t just focus on the Israelis “who were horribly,
horribly brutalized and victimized.”
Since
the hostages were taken, Israel’s retaliatory military strikes on the Gaza
Strip have killed more than 10,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run
Health Ministry.
A lack
of water, electricity, food and medical supplies have created dire conditions
throughout the besieged enclave.
Of the
more than 200 hostages taken by Hamas, five have been freed. The fate of most
of the others is unknown.
Mintz is
determined to hold onto the idea that they can all come back to their families.
“With
the hostages, there is hope,” she said. “We hope that all of them are alive. We
are sure that some of them are alive. It has to be that.”
“All the
families that we’re talking to, they share this hope until someone will tell
them otherwise,” Bandaid said.
The
artists put up many of their posters in New York City themselves. In some ways,
the posters are an echo of the fliers put up in the city by desperate family
members after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
Before
the death toll of that day became clear, the signs asking for any information
about missing loved ones were a way to keep the possibility alive that they
could still come home, said Kevin Jones, communications professor at George Fox
University in Newberg, Oregon, who has written about them.
He said
the posters describing people as kidnapped covers similar ground, implying the
possibility for a safe return. “It creates hope,” Jones said.
Holocaust
survivors are some of those who have connected with the images. They were
brought together Wednesday at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in an effort
spearheaded by the Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation. They each were
photographed holding one of the posters, to be used in a larger composite group
photo.
Jack
Simony, director general of the foundation who came up with the idea for the
photo, called them the “living embodiment of strength and resilience.”
“I felt
that they would make exactly the right people to hold the pictures of the
hostages,” he said, “to give a message to the hostages of courage, to give a
message to the families of the hostages of hope.”
Source: arabnews.com
Please click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2406126/world
------
Southeast Asia
Washington
‘risks losing the street’ in Muslim S-E Asia as Gaza war stirs anti-US
sentiments
2023-11-10
KUALA
LUMPUR/JAKARTA/WASHINGTON - The prolonged conflict in Gaza is deepening
antipathy in South-east Asia, especially among its Muslim populations, towards
the United States over Washington’s unflinching support for Israel.
This
raises questions as to whether governments in the region, particularly in Malaysia
and Indonesia which have Muslim majorities, will be under pressure to play to
the gallery and make a show of slowing down efforts to forge closer ties with
the US, said analysts.
While
countries in the region court stronger economic ties with China, they have also
sought closer relations with the US to balance the Asian powerhouse’s influence
in the region, particularly at a time when Beijing has been increasingly
assertive in its disputes in the South China Sea with several Asean nations.
However,
the US “has never been an unequivocally welcomed power in our region”, said
Professor Joseph Liow, dean of the College of Humanities, Arts and Social
Sciences at Nanyang Technological University.
This is
a hangover of things that happened 20 years ago, he said, pointing to America’s
war on Afghanistan and Iraq in the aftermath of the Sept 11 terrorist attacks
in the US in 2001.
This is
“very fresh in the minds of many Malaysians and Indonesians, and I think that
script is going to play out again, and that is going to create difficulties for
the leaders of these countries”, he said at a lecture on Nov 1.
What is
more, “the domestic political configuration today is far more brutal than it
was 20 years ago, so that will be particularly tricky”, he added.
Indeed,
in Malaysia, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who in his first year in office is
battling to reverse waning support from the Malay Muslim majority, is finding
he has had to up the rhetoric on the Gaza conflict.
“American
troops are all over the Middle East... giving easy passage to Israel. This has
reached the level of insanity to allow people to be butchered. This is the
height of barbarism,” he said at an Oct 24 rally in Kuala Lumpur in support of
Palestinians.
Still,
so far, it has been just talk.
While taking
a hardline stance, the Malaysian government has also sought to explain to
foreign governments that this is due to pressure from the Malay Muslim
nationalist opposition, official sources told The Straits Times.
“‘Cut me
some slack’ is the gist of it,” a top diplomat said.
While
Jakarta also stands with the Palestinians – and like Kuala Lumpur, points to
Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories as the root cause of the conflict
– it has used less confrontational language. Indonesian President Joko Widodo
has called for a resolution along “United Nations parameters”.
There
are no significant policy changes so far, as the conflict in Gaza enters its
second month and the Palestinian death toll now reaches well above 10,000,
since Hamas’ unprecedented Oct 7 attack on Israel, killing 1,400 Israelis,
mostly civilians, and taking more than 200 hostages.
This
lack of government action has led to consumers in Malaysia and Indonesia
organising boycotts against companies and products, mostly of American origins,
deemed – sometimes mistakenly – to have ties to Israel.
There
has been strong organic support for boycotts in both countries, with some
Starbucks and McDonald’s outlets around Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta seeing a
marked drop in footfall. There have even been protests outside American
restaurant chains.
But the
Indonesian government has distanced itself from these initiatives.
“Our
priority has always been carrying out policies that support the productivity
and competitiveness of our industry,” the Industry Ministry’s most senior
bureaucrat, secretary-general Putu Juli Ardika, said on Nov 2, adding that the
government is neither in support of nor in opposition to such boycotts.
However,
both Datuk Seri Anwar and Mr Widodo are expected to raise the Gaza issue at the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders’ Week 2023 taking place in
the US from Saturday.
Mr
Widodo, who has secured a bilateral meeting with US President Joe Biden, is
widely expected to push his counterpart to secure a ceasefire between Israel
and Hamas.
While
the Biden administration remains firmly supportive of Israel, there are
divisions within Congress and in the State Department over that position. Some
State Department staff have critiqued the administration’s handling of the war
in an internal dissent memo, with a Politico report stating that they argued,
among other things, that the US should be willing to publicly criticise Israel.
This
comes as pressure grows in Muslim societies, within and beyond the US, to rein
in Israel.
Dr Prashanth
Parameswaran, a fellow at the Wilson Centre, a Washington think-tank – and
founder of the Asean Wonk newsletter – told The Straits Times that “if the
Biden administration doesn’t carefully thread the needle between its support
for Israel and addressing the Palestinian plight, Washington risks losing the
street in Muslim South-east Asia which could, in turn, complicate public
aspects of its cooperation with governments”.
Despite
differences over the war, strategically, the US’ relations with countries in
South-east Asia are unlikely to suffer long-term derailment, said the Centre
for Strategic and International Studies’ South-east Asia programme director
Gregory Poling.
“It’s
inevitable that this will create some backlash and resentment towards the US,
particularly in Malaysia and in parts of Indonesia,” he said. “But what’s not
clear yet is how deep and long-lasting that will be.
“It’s
pretty clear that elites in both countries, but especially in Indonesia, want
to maintain positive relations with the US, while they have to maintain a
balance on the Israel-Palestine question.”
Former
transport minister and Malaysian Chinese Association president Ong Tee Keat,
who now heads the Belt and Road Initiative Caucus for Asia-Pacific, told ST
that “any political leader will be aware of sentiment on the ground, but
foreign policy changes are a matter of a variety of factors, although it can
become unpredictable when politics comes into it”.
What
some fear is that the refusal of Muslim leaders in the region to condemn Hamas
could spur militancy, with hundreds having previously joined the Islamic State
in Iraq and Syria, and Syria’s uprising against the Bashar al-Assad regime.
Professor
Zachary Abuza, an expert on South-east Asian security at the National War College
in Washington, warned of a “revitalisation of terror networks, renewed terror
attacks, radicalisation and fund-raising for militant groups” as the war in
Gaza continues, serving as “a catalyst for... disparate jihadist groups in
South-east Asia that are seeking both a cause and charismatic leader to rally
around”.
In part,
the Hamas International Financing Prevention Bill to impose sanctions with
respect to foreign support for Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which
was passed by the House of Representatives, is the US’ attempt to stifle such a
development.
Although
it still needs to be given the green light by the Senate as well as President
Biden, concerns are already growing in Malaysia, where Mr Anwar has insisted
that such unilateral sanctions will not be recognised.
Nonetheless,
he acknowledged that it could impact trade and, more importantly, investment
ties with the US, which contributed more than half of the RM75 billion (S$21.7
billion) net foreign direct investment inflow in 2022.
Ms Ariel
Tan, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies and
coordinator of the Malaysia programme, told ST, however, that even if the Bill
becomes law, the impact would depend on what constitutes “support”, for what
activities, what specific US assistance to Malaysia would be at stake, and if
the US would seek a waiver for Malaysia due to considerations of national
security interests.
“Malaysia,
like many Muslim-majority countries, is a significant source of private
fund-raising for humanitarian and development purposes in the Palestinian
territories. It is almost impossible to account for all the sources and
destinations of these funds. While PM Anwar is unlikely to withdraw his
political and moral support for Hamas for now, his government would have to
consider how it relates to Hamas, and provide support for the Palestinians
under changed circumstances in Gaza as well as US law,” she said.
Former
foreign minister Saifuddin Abdullah, who is now an opposition lawmaker, has
openly said Malaysia hosts a cultural society organisation belonging to Hamas
and “we are not apologetic about it”.
Mr
Anwar’s preparedness to face the music might also be down to warming ties with
China, with two visits in six months yielding hundreds of billions in deals.
But what
is clear is his need to keep Malaysia’s distance from the US, at least
publicly, to assuage public sentiments at a time when he needs to keep
Muslim-majority voters onside in order to see out his first term and perhaps
win a second.
Datuk
Seri Saifuddin told ST: “Anwar seems to have to do extra work to dispel the
image that he is pro-US. But in foreign policy, we have to be very measured in
our choice of words and language. Since he became prime minister, he seems to
be very loose.”
Source: straitstimes.com
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-----
Watermelon
emojis flood social media in Indonesia, Malaysia in show of support for
Palestinians
2023-11-10
JAKARTA
- A wave of sliced watermelon emojis is overwhelming the social media landscape
in Indonesia and Malaysia in a show of support for Palestinians, causing at
least one company to disable the comments section of its account as it tries to
manage its public messaging while the Israel-Hamas war rages on.
A sliced
watermelon has four colours: the fruit’s flesh is red, the seeds are black, the
outer shell is green and the inner shell white. These are the same colours as
the Palestinian flag.
The
emoji had flooded social media pages after claims by those posting it that
overt Palestinian symbols are restricted by United States-headquartered social
media platforms such as Instagram and X, formerly known as Twitter.
KFC
Indonesia has disabled the comments section of its Instagram account following
harsh words and insults thrown at the American restaurant chain. The company
has not issued a statement on the issue.
This is
as it and other American restaurant chains and products are also facing
boycotts in the two South-east Asian countries with Muslim majorities as anger
rises over US support for Israel and its war on Gaza.
While
the Palestinian flag emoji is widely used on social media postings as a show of
support, others use the watermelon slice as their profile pictures or in
postings about the Gaza war.
One X
user Bang SiPoel posted the emoji and a report from a Western media outlet
explaining why the watermelon emoji is being used, and shared photos of the
ongoing Israel-Hamas war that is entering its second month.
Mr Guruh
Riyanto, 36, a resident of Bekasi, West Java province, a Catholic devotee who
uses a picture of a sliced watermelon as his profile photo, told The Straits
Times: “It is a sign of solidarity (with) the Palestinians in Gaza and a
reminder that a lot of people are suffering there, because of an aggression, a
war crime.”
A
non-American company that got tangled in the flurry of boycott calls was Grab,
the regional food deliveries, mobility and e-wallets giant. This followed viral
postings in social media showing Ms Chloe Tong, the wife of company co-founder
Anthony Tan, saying she was “heartbroken”, and that she had fallen “completely
in love with Israel” after two recent visits.
Pictures
and videos on TikTok and other social media platforms showed users uninstalling
the superapp from their phones, and one Grab worker removing a Grab food bag
from his motorcycle.
X
platform user BagindO KOpi said: “Yes that is your business (to love Israel).
My business is to uninstall Grab from my Android, that is all.”
The
episode, while involving a personal comment by an individual not directly
linked to the company, underscores the depth of feelings over the conflict, and
compelled the company to issue a statement.
Grab
last Friday referred to “a social media post that has been circulating”, saying
it was “on the side of humanity and hopes for peace and a ceasefire”.
“We do
not support any form of violence and as a participant of the United Nations
Global Compact, we are aligned with its principles and respect the protection
of human rights,” it said.
Meanwhile,
sales at many branches of Starbucks and KFC in Indonesia, which has the world’s
largest Muslim population, have recently slumped following boycott calls, as
consumers became upset after reading on social media these companies’ alleged
support for Israel.
Similar
boycotts are happening in Malaysia involving many American fast-food
franchises, after photos of Israeli troops posing with these brands’ fried
chicken, burgers and coffee cups were posted online. There have also been news
reports that some franchises have been giving free food to Israeli soldiers.
In
Indonesia, among those affected is Mr Rudy Syamsuddin, a Starbucks franchisee
with an outlet in Makassar, South Sulawesi, who said daily sales had dropped to
around 12 million rupiah (S$1,000) since last Friday, from 25 million rupiah
normally.
“We are
feeling how powerful the effect of social media is on the community, on the
real world,” Mr Rudy told The Straits Times by telephone on Wednesday.
Indonesian
netizens voiced protests against Starbucks after the US company criticised its
workers’ union for sharing a social media post that read “Solidarity with
Palestine!” and argued the post reflected the union’s support for violence
perpetrated by Hamas.
Indonesian
consumers have also shunned McDonald’s and KFC outlets, accusing the restaurant
chains of supporting the Israel Defence Forces. KFC was the first Western
restaurant chain to enter Indonesia in 1978 and has been the most popular here.
Starbucks
Indonesia’s Instagram posts have been filled with netizens calling for a
boycott of the brand, but some were against it.
“I used to love your green tea latte, but now
I think it’s OK not to buy any more because I stand with the Palestinian
people,” said Ms Ira Hapsari, a digital designer with Jakarta-based Langitmerah
Production, in a post.
Another
post by Indonesian resident Yongki Andreade a week ago says: “Can’t stand
genocide.”
Consumers
who own prepaid Starbucks’ cards have been asking to withdraw their funds.
Instagram user Silvia Dewi Kamaludin posted last week: “How do we transfer,
withdraw our balance on our Starbucks prepaid card? I have quite a lot on my
balance.”
There
were also voices of support, including that of account user rnkasbln, who said
in his post four days ago: “Whatever happened we are still Starbucks
lovers.”
Observers
including Mr Riza Widyarsa, who teaches international relations at
Jakarta-based Paramadina University, said the boycott movement of the products
made by companies deemed as supporters of Israel would likely last only several
months.
Mr I.
Made Anom Wiranata of the University of Udayana in Bali agrees, pointing out
that most of these restaurant chains’ outlets across Indonesian cities have
continued to operate normally, stressing that only some have been affected.
Mr Riza
said the boycott movement is not effective because it is directed at the
products of American companies, not Israeli.
He noted
that Israeli products are used predominantly by the government rather than
ordinary consumers, adding that these products, including military drones, are
imported in small quantities. “Indonesia-Israel bilateral trade is very small,”
he told The Straits Times.
Source: straitstimes.com
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------
Taekwondo
instructor in Shah Alam charged with sexually assaulting five girls
10 Nov
2023
SHAH
ALAM, 10 Nov — A taekwondo instructor pleaded not guilty in the Sessions Court
here today to five counts of physical sexual assault on five girls between
September and October this year.
Ahmad
Munir Zainuddin, 20, was charged with committing the offence against five
girls, aged seven to 11, at a hall in Section 24 here between September and
October 28.
The
charges were framed under Section 14(a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children
Act 2017, which provides for imprisonment of up to 20 years and whipping, if
convicted.
Judge
Rasyihah Ghazali allowed the accused bail of RM6,000 with one surety for each
charge and ordered him to surrender his passport to the court, report to the
nearest police station every month and not disturb the victims.
The
court fixed Dec 14 for mention of the case.
The
prosecution was conducted by deputy public prosecutor Syairah Aqilah Khalil,
while the accused was represented by lawyer ‘Adil Safwan Ahmad Shaffie. —
Bernama
Source: malaymail.com
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------
UN:
Northern Myanmar fighting displaces almost 50,000 civilians
10 Nov
2023
YANGON,
Nov 10 — Almost 50,000 people have been displaced by fighting in northern
Myanmar after an alliance of ethnic armed groups launched an offensive against
the military two weeks ago, the United Nations said today.
Fighting
has raged for two weeks across northern Shan state near the Chinese border, in
what analysts say poses the biggest military challenge to the junta since it
seized power in 2021.
The
Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), Ta’ang National Liberation
Army (TNLA) and Arakan Army (AA) say they have seized dozens of military
outposts and blocked vital trade routes to China.
“As of 9
November, almost 50,000 people in northern Shan were forced into displacement,”
the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA)
said in an update.
Outside
Shan state’s Lashio township — home to the military’s northeastern command —
internet and phone services were disrupted, hindering humanitarian responses to
the fighting, UNOCHA said.
Restrictions
on transport and availability of cash were hindering efforts by local
humanitarian groups to give out aid, it said.
A
further 40,000 people have been displaced by clashes between the military and
its opponents in neighbouring Sagaing region and Kachin state since early
November, UNOCHA said.
The
military has made little comment on the surprise offensive but earlier this
week the junta-appointed president warned the country could end up “split into
various parts” if the military was unable to “manage” the fighting.
The
remoteness of the rugged, jungle-clad region — home to pipelines that supply
oil and gas to China — and patchy communications make it difficult to verify casualty
numbers.
Beijing,
a major junta ally and arms supplier, on Tuesday confirmed there had been
Chinese casualties as a result of the clashes in Myanmar.
A
foreign ministry spokesperson did not say whether the Chinese were killed or
wounded, nor where precisely the incident had taken place.
Communications
blackout
Myanmar’s
borderlands are home to more than a dozen ethnic armed groups, some of which
have fought the military for decades over autonomy and control of lucrative
resources.
Some
have trained and equipped newer “People’s Defence Forces” (PDF) that have
sprung up since the coup to fight the military’s bloody crackdown on dissent.
Earlier
this week, several PDF groups claimed to have seized the town of Kawlin in
Sagaing region, home to mostly ethnic-majority Bamar and a traditional
recruiting ground for the military.
AFP was
unable to reach residents in the area, where internet and phone lines are
largely cut.
Sagaing,
which borders Shan and Kachin states, has become a hotspot of resistance to junta
rule.
Dozens
of PDF groups are active across Sagaing, where the military is accused of
burning villages and massacring inhabitants. — AFP
Source: malaymail.com
Please click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.malaymail.com/news/world/2023/11/10/un-northern-myanmar-fighting-displaces-almost-50000-civilians/101359
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Unrecorded
Deepavali leave for Hindu federal civil servants in S’wak
10 Nov
2023
PUTRAJAYA
– The government has agreed to grant unrecorded leave (CTR) in conjunction with
the Deepavali festival to federal civil servants of Hindu faith serving in
Sarawak with effect from November 9.
The
matter was stated in a circular dated November 9, signed by Public Services
Department (PSD) director-general Datuk Dr Zulkapli Mohamed.
It was
uploaded on the official PSD Facebook page.
According
to the circular, if Deepavali falls on a working day, officers can apply for
CTR on that day.
If
Deepavali falls on a Sunday, officers can apply for CTR on the following
working day.
“In that
regard, as Deepavali in 2023 falls on Sunday, then officers who are of Hindu
faith can apply for CTR on Monday to celebrate Deepavali,” according to the
circular.
The
aforementioned CTR has also been extended to all heads of statutory bodies of
Sarawak.
Previously,
the government agreed that the CTR set for November 13 will be brought to
November 14 for public service officers of the Hindu faith in states whose
weekly holiday is Sunday.
Deepavali
itself falls on Sunday. – Bernama, November 10, 2023
Source: thevibes.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.thevibes.com/articles/news/99897/unrecorded-deepavali-leave-for-hindu-federal-civil-servants-in-swak
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PM
performs Friday prayer at Serdang Hospital
10-11-
2023
SERDANG:
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today joined some 500 congregants
performed Friday prayer at Musolla Asy Syafi at the Sultan Idris Shah Hospital
Quarters, here.
He
arrived at about 1.05pm and was greeted by Minister in the Prime Minister's
Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Dr Mohd Na'im Mokhtar and Selangor Health
director Datuk Dr Sha'ari Ngadiman.
The
Friday sermon was delivered by the Religious Administration Officer of the
Sepang District Islamic Religious Office, Mohamad Nazri Sobirin.
The
Friday prayer was performed at Musolla Asy Syafi for the first time and it was
led by the Imam of the Raja Haji Fi Sabilillah Mosque in Cyberjaya, Muhammad
Ali Mohd Yunus.
At the
end of the prayer, the congregation said “Ameen” to “Qunut Nazilah” to pray for
the well-being and safety of the Muslims in Palestine.
(Qunut
Nazilah is a supplication for Allah's protection from harm that is offered in
prayers at times of calamity).
After
that, the prime minister joined the congregation for lunch held in the compound
of the musolla. –Bernama
Source: thesun.my
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://thesun.my/local/pm-performs-friday-prayer-at-serdang-hospital-KE11736286
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Fahmi
meets TikTok, Meta on complaints about removal of Palestine-related content
09-11-
2023
KUALA
LUMPUR: Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil today met
representatives of social media platform provider TikTok and Meta company to
discuss issues involving regulation of content.
Fahmi,
in a Facebook post, said among the matters discussed was the issue of
Palestine-related content being removed from TikTok, online gambling and the
coordinated inauthentic behaviour (CIB) strategy on the platform.
“In the
discussion, I raised several complaints and major issues involving the two
platforms and asked TikTok and Meta to take immediate action.
“TikTok
and Meta have given a commitment to extend closer cooperation to resolve the
issues raised,” he said.
Earlier,
Fahmi had revealed that there were evidence and consumer complaints that TikTok
had systematically removed content from Malaysia related to the
Palestine-Israel conflict.
Following
that, he directed the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC)
to issue a strong caution to TikTok and Meta as well as to arrange a meeting
with the social media platform providers to discuss the issue. – Bernama
Source: thesun.my
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://thesun.my/local/fahmi-meets-tiktok-meta-on-complaints-about-removal-of-palestine-related-content-ME11734109
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GSPP
planning solidarity activities in support of Palestinians
09-11-
2023
KUALA
LUMPUR: “Gabungan Solidariti Pembebasan Palestin” (GSPP) is planning numerous solidarity
activities to encourage people to play a part in reclaiming the rights and
sovereignty of Palestine.
GSPP
director Muhammad Fauzi Asmuni said the activities are in collaboration with
local non-governmental organisations (NGOs), communities, mosques, universities
as well as government and private bodies.
“The
activities planned include Palestine Liberation Solidarity Convoy, Palestine
Liberation Solidarity Tour, Palestine discourse, 1 House 1 Fund 1 Flag
Campaign, Palestinian Flag Campaign, and social media campaigns.
“GSPP
also invites Malaysians to continue supporting the resilience of the Gazans to
stay put in Gaza and to provide financial support so they can live a normal
life there,” he said.
He was
speaking during the third special GSSP press conference on their proposals to
the government at Anjung Melayu here today, which was also attended by a
representative of the Aman Palestin NGO.
Muhammad
Fauzi said aid such as blankets, mattresses, winter jackets, food parcels,
ready-to-eat food and medicines are the priority now.
“It will
be winter in Palestine soon, which will make their misery and hardship worse in
the midst of this war,” he said.
Muhammad
Fauzi also announced that Aman Palestin has donated RM500,000 to the people of
Gaza and is in the process of channelling RM2.5 million to the al-Shifa
Hospital to provide medical equipment and financial aid to victims of the
Israel regime’s violence. – Bernama
Source: thesun.my
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://thesun.my/local/gspp-planning-solidarity-activities-in-support-of-palestinians-JE11733965
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India
Deoband
clarifies claims of sheltering Palestinian orphans
November
9, 2023
Saharanpur
: The management of Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband on Thursday dismissed
claims that it has sheltered children orphaned in Palestine and termed these as
“false rumours.”
The
media-in-charge of the institute Ashraf Usmani said, “For the past few days,
rumours have been circulated on social media that some orphaned children from
Palestine have come to Darul Uloom Deoband and are being handed over to those
who want to adopt them.”
“We
initially overlooked these rumours but now people have started making inquiries
about adoption. So we want to clarify that there is no truth in these rumours.
Orphan children from Palestine have not come here and there is no question of
giving them up for adoption,” Usmani added.
Usmani
further appealed that people should not believe these rumours and also inform
their close ones about them. ( With PTI inputs )
Source: muslimmirror.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://muslimmirror.com/eng/deoband-clarifies-claims-of-sheltering-palestinian-orphans/
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India
files appeal against death to 8 ex-Navy personnel in Qatar
November
10, 2023
Divya A
Two
weeks after eight former Indian Navy personnel, arrested in an alleged case of
espionage, were sentenced to death by a court in Qatar, the Ministry of
External Affairs (MEA) said an appeal has been filed in the case. Meanwhile,
India got another round of consular access to the detainees on November 7.
“The
judgment is confidential. There is a court of first instance that gave the
judgment, which was shared with the legal team. Considering all legal options,
an appeal has been filed. We are in touch with the Qatari authorities,” MEA
spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said on Thursday.
“We got
another round of consular access with the eight Indians on November 7. We are
in touch with the family members,” he said, adding that India will continue to
extend all legal and consular support in the case.
The
Indian nationals, all employees of Doha-based Dahra Global, were taken into
custody in August 2022. The charges against them were not made public by Qatari
authorities. According to a report in the Financial Times, they were charged
with spying for Israel.
There
was no official word from India on the charges against them. But sources said
the former Navy personnel had been working in their private capacity with Dahra
Global to oversee the induction of Italian small stealth submarines U2I2.
The
eight have been identified as Captain Navtej Singh Gill, Captain Birendra Kumar
Verma, Captain Saurabh Vasisht, Commander Amit Nagpal, Commander Purnendu
Tiwari, Commander Sugunakar Pakala, Commander Sanjeev Gupta and Sailor Ragesh.
Days
after they were handed the death sentence, External Affairs Minister S
Jaishankar had met their family members and assured them that the government
attaches “the highest importance” to the case.
Saying
that he “fully shares the concerns and pain of the families”, Jaishankar had
said the government would make all efforts to secure their release.
India
had described the October 27 ruling as “deeply shocking”, and said it was
exploring all legal options.
The
charges against the eight men were filed on March 25 this year, and the trial
began on March 29. In May, Dahra Global closed its operations in Doha and all
former employees (primarily Indians) have since returned home.
In
addition to the Indian government’s efforts, the families of the former Navy
personnel have also filed a mercy plea to the Emir of Qatar.
Source: indianexpress.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/qatar-verdict-navy-men-appeal-filed-9020458/
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In a
first in Karnataka, minor boy and father booked for ‘converting’ classmate to
Islam
November
9, 2023
In a
first, a minor boy has been booked under the Karnataka Protection of Right to
Freedom of Religion Act 2022, popularly known as the anti-conversion law, for
allegedly converting his classmate to Islam.
The
minor was booked along with his father in Parashurampura in Chitradurga
district, 236 km from Bengaluru, on a complaint lodged on October 29 by the
father of a minor boy who belongs to the Kuruba community. Both the boys are 17
years old.
According
to the complainant, he got suspicious about the behaviour of his son, a
pre-university college student in Challakere taluk, after he stopped performing
pooja and worshipping Hindu deities. The boy recently refused to participate in
the Dasara celebrations, the complaint further said.
“Upon
checking his bag, I found photos of my son performing namaz as well as skull
caps in it. When I inquired, I found that the minor and his father had taken my
son to mosques in various towns of Chitradurga district and converted him to
Islam without permission. Also, when I checked his bag, I got some written materials
pertaining to Islam. When I checked his mobile phone, I found some
conversations related to drugs and ganja,” the father said in his complaint.
A police
officer said the accused minor boy’s father owns a cycle repair shop and was
friends with the other family. No one has been arrested in the case but
statements have been collected from both sides, the officer added.
The case
has been registered under the 2022 Act’s section 5 (prohibition of conversion
from one religion to another religion by misrepresentation, force, fraud, undue
influence, coercion, allurement or by promise of marriage).
Chitradurga
SP Dharmendra Kumar Meena told reporters, “We are collecting details both from
the victim and accused as part of the investigation.”
Source: indianexpress.com
Please click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/bangalore/in-a-first-in-karnataka-minor-boy-and-father-booked-for-converting-classmate-to-islam-9020305/
------
How
Modi’s BJP seeks Muslim vote in India’s 2024 election
November
10, 2023
NEW
DELHI: Nafis Ansari, a school principal who is Muslim, was enlisted this year
by the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as a “Modi Mitr”,
or friend of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The
resident of the central state of Madhya Pradesh promotes the party to
neighbours and relatives at events such as weddings and tea sessions at
friends’ homes. He speaks about how the BJP’s welfare policies benefit all
communities, and talks up India’s status as a rising global power under Modi.
Ansari
is one of more than 25,000 Muslims who is volunteering to help Modi win a third
term in elections due by May, BJP officials told Reuters. The party looks for
community leaders like educators, entrepreneurs, clerics and retired government
employees willing to “objectively” assess Modi, said Jamal Siddiqui, head of
the BJP’s minorities unit.
Top US
officials Blinken, Austin to visit India for Indo-Pacific talks
Reuters
interviewed five Modi Mitrs and six BJP officials responsible for election
strategy, who said the party hopes to use its economic record and its plans to
introduce religion-agnostic laws on inheritance and gender rights to win over
underprivileged Muslim voters, including women, in 65 key seats.
Specifics
of the BJP’s Muslim outreach strategy, such as the messaging it is using to
target voters in these seats, have not been previously reported.
The
campaign is part of a larger push to woo India’s 200 million Muslims, with whom
the BJP and Modi have a long and fraught history.
Muslims
and rights groups allege some BJP members and affiliates have promoted
anti-Islamic hate speech and violent vigilantism, targeted non-profits run by
other religions with regulatory action, and demolished Muslim-owned properties.
Modi
denies religious discrimination exists in India. Violence between Muslims and
the Hindu majority is “deep-rooted” but only makes headlines now because
political rivals use it to target the party when it holds power, said senior
BJP leader Syed Zafar Islam, who is Muslim.
The
prime minister leads in the polls, but a newly unified opposition alliance and
a recent loss in a key state election have left party leaders worried about an
anti-incumbent vote and fearful the BJP has maximised support in its Hindu
nationalist base, analysts and opposition leaders said.
At least
five killed in Hindu-Muslim clashes in India’s Haryana state
“Until
you know us, you won’t recognise us. Until you recognise us, (we) won’t become
friends,” said Siddiqui of the party’s Muslim outreach.
Economy-first
and Muslim voters
The
BJP’s website states that secularism in India has become “minority appeasement
at the cost of majority”. Some analysts say the party has politicised
faultlines between Hindus and Muslims to such an extent that Modi’s cabinet
doesn’t have a single Muslim minister.
The
party sporadically sought Muslim support in past regional polls, but this
national campaign is the first and most widespread of its kind, according to
Siddiqui and Hilal Ahmed, an expert on Muslim politics at the Centre for the
Study of Developing Societies, a Delhi-based think tank.
The BJP,
which won about 9% of the Muslim vote in the past two national elections, is
targeting between 16% and 17% next year, said Yasser Jilani, spokesperson for
its minorities unit.
Two
officials told Reuters the BJP is focused on 65 seats in the 543-member lower
house of parliament that have a Muslim voter population of at least 30%,
roughly double their share of the national population. They shared details of
internal party strategy on condition of anonymity.
The BJP
currently holds about two dozen of the seats, according to party officials, who
declined to provide specific details on the exact seats being targeted.
Ram
temple built on site of Babri mosque in India to open in January
Modi
Mitr outreach focuses on spreading the BJP’s economic message especially to
“Pasmanda” Muslims, an Urdu term for marginalised members that make up a
majority of that religious community.
Ansari,
who is Pasmanda, talks to Muslim friends and neighbours at gatherings about new
programmes such as a 1,250 rupee ($15) monthly handout for underprivileged
women from BJP-run state authorities and a 150,000 rupee housing subsidy
launched by the central government.
“BJP’s welfare
schemes are helping everyone, including Muslims,” he said.
Ujir
Hossain, a Modi Mitr businessman in West Bengal, also spreads an
economy-focused message when he visits his neighbour Mohammed Qasim’s grocery
shop. Hossain said he was attracted to the BJP because there is a “sky and
earth difference” between Modi’s accomplishments and those of the previous
centre-left government.
“Of
course, Muslims don’t like Modi’s party but Hossain Dada tells us at least we
should listen to what BJP has to offer too,” said Qasim, using a Bengali
honorific for “elder brother”.
“The BJP
has never respected and addressed the concerns of this section of society and
instead marginalized them systematically,” said K.C. Venugopal, a senior
lawmaker with the opposition Congress party that held power immediately before
Modi.
Asked
about the allegations of minority appeasement, he said that Congress doesn’t
pursue a strategy of divide and rule: “Elections should be fought on economic
and development issues not on the basis of religion and identity.”
BJP
leaders such as Islam, a former India head of Deutsche bank, said the
opposition has taken Muslim votes for granted and neglected their welfare.
“We have
a long way to go, the gap is too steep but it’s getting bridged,” he said.
Among
Muslim women, the BJP promotes its pledge to reform personal laws. Supporters
of the plan, including some Muslim women’s rights groups, say it will end
religious practices on marriage age, polygamy and inheritance that are
discriminatory toward women.
“You can
criticise BJP for a lot of other things but I don’t think anyone apart from
this government has the willingness to reform personal laws,” said Amana Begam
Ansari, a female Pasmanda writer and political analyst, who is not related to
Nafis Ansari.
‘Extremists
everywhere’
Violent
clashes between Hindus and Muslims have become less frequent since the BJP took
power, according to government data, but tensions remain high. In government,
the BJP has frequently used enforcement powers to try and prevent
inter-communal tensions from spilling into outright violence due to concerns
about its law-and-order message and India’s international reputation, some
analysts say.
Many
Muslims say they live in fear of Hindu activists emboldened by the BJP’s
politics of cultural nationalism, according to community leaders and foreign
researchers. Critics consider such nationalism a euphemism for Hindu supremacy.
Opposition
leaders and analysts such as Ahmed, the politics expert, said the BJP is likely
to make gains with Muslims next year unless it is countered by the opposition.
The BJP
has a dual strategy of “demonising Muslims” for its hardline base and wooing
sections of the Muslim population, said Ahmed.
“The
demonisation of Muslim men will continue but a soft corner will be shown to
Muslim women,” he said. “Similarly … (there will be) some positivity shown to
Pasmandas.”
Ghanshyam
Tiwari, spokesperson of the opposition Samajwadi Party, which has a large
Muslim base, said the BJP’s position as the ruling party gives it the ability
to make policies that can win over some Muslims.
“But no
matter what BJP does, it doesn’t change its core colours, core elements, which
remain an anti-Muslim, anti-minority approach,” Tiwari said.
Ansari,
the Modi Mitr educator, said the BJP should control extremist activists who
“ruin” its image but still backs the party.
“There
are extremists everywhere,” he said.
Source: brecorder.com
Please click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.brecorder.com/news/40272585/how-modis-bjp-seeks-muslim-vote-in-indias-2024-election
-------
Family
devastated as Telangana student dies in US, days after being stabbed at gym
November
10, 2023
Sreenivas
Janyala
The
family of 24-year-old Varun Raj Pucha from Telangana, who died in the US on
Wednesday after being stabbed days earlier, said they were struggling to
understand why he was attacked, and described the incident as “beyond
imagination”.
Varun,
who is from Khammam, had gone to the US state of Indiana last August after
joining a Master’s programme in Computer Science at Valparaiso University. He
was stabbed in the head at a gym on October 29 by a man identified as
24-year-old Jordan Andrade. Local authorities are still investigating the motive
behind the attack.
On
Wednesday, Valparaiso University said in a statement that Varun had died.
Speaking
to The Indian Express, Varun’s father Rama Murthy said: “I struggled a lot to
provide a good education to Varun and his sister. He was very hardworking and
sincere. I sent him to the US hoping that a Master’s degree will help him get a
good job. I struggled all my life, but I wanted to give him a better life. What
has happened to him is beyond imagination. We are heartbroken and devastated.”
Murthy worked
as a school teacher at Dornakal in Mahabubabad district. Varun, he said, had
done his B.Tech from Guru Nanak College in Hyderabad.
Describing
his son as fun loving and sociable, Murthy said the family was struggling to
understand why he was attacked.
“At
first, we could not even comprehend what had happened. He is a very peaceful,
fun loving and social person. He would not say anything bad or harm anyone. We
cannot understand why he was attacked like that. It is so horrifying for the
family,” Murthy said.
Varun’s
assailant was arrested after the stabbing, and is facing charges of aggravated
battery with a deadly weapon and attempted murder.
On
Wednesday, in a statement posted on X, Valparaiso University said: “It is with
heavy hearts that we share the passing of Varun Raj Pucha. Our campus community
has lost one of its own, and our thoughts and prayers go out to Varun’s family
and friends as we mourn this devastating loss.”
The
university said it was in touch with the grieving family, and said it would “continue
to offer assistance and support wherever possible as they navigate this
extremely difficult time”.
A
service of remembrance and memorial for Varun is being planned on campus for
November 16, the university said.
A friend
of the family, Kumar Swamy, said the local police in Indiana and the university
were keeping the family constantly updated on Varun’s condition since his
stabbing.
“His
condition deteriorated over the last few days, and he was left paralysed,”’
Swamy said. He said the family was told that Varun was stabbed at his gym by
another gym member.
Varun’s
father said the Telugu Association of North America and the Telangana
government were arranging to bring the body back, and that it was likely to
arrive by next Wednesday.
Source: indianexpress.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/family-devastated-telangana-student-dies-in-us-9020466/
-------
BSF head
constable killed in Pakistani firing along international border in Jammu and
Kashmir’s Samba district
10.11.23
Muzaffar
Raina
A BSF
head constable was killed in Pakistani firing along the international border in
Jammu and Kashmir’s Samba district on Wednesday night, the first casualty in a
ceasefire violation since the two countries renewed the agreement in 2021.
The BSF
said head constable Lal Fam Kima, 50, a resident of Aizwal in Mizoram, was
critically injured in unprovoked firing at the Ramgarh sector of Samba. He
later succumbed to his injuries.
“Director
General & all ranks of Border Security Force salute the supreme sacrifice
of HC/GD Lal Fam Kima of 148 Bn who succumbed to injuries during unprovoked
Cross Border Firing incident along the Jammu Border. Prahari Parivar stands by
his family in this trying time,” the BSF posted on X.
Director-general
of police Nitin Agarwal said they had given a befitting response to the
Pakistani side and there were reports of heavy loss to the other side. He said
this was yet to be confirmed.
“These
(ceasefire violations) are going on for the last two weeks. We do not know the
reasons. Talks are going on. When we know it (reasons), the future course of
action will be decided accordingly,” he said. “We don’t initiate such things
but when they happen, we give a befitting reply.”
There
have been multiple ceasefire violations on the international border and the LoC
in Jammu and Kashmir in the past one month, raising fears of an escalation.
Several jawans and civilians have been injured in the Pakistani shelling.
Two BSF
men and some civilians were injured in Pakistani shelling on October 27.
Source: telegraphindia.com
Please click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/bsf-head-constable-killed-in-pakistani-firing-along-international-border-in-jammu-and-kashmirs-samba-district/cid/1978885
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Arab World
Saudi
hosts Gaza summits, Iran president
2023-11-10
RIYADH:
Saudi Arabia is hosting Arab leaders and Iran’s president for two summits this
weekend on the ongoing war in Gaza, which is raising fears of a regional
escalation.
The
emergency meetings of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic
Cooperation come after over one month of Israeli bombardment has killed more
than 10,000 people in Gaza, many of them children, according to the Hamas-run
health ministry.
Israel’s
campaign to destroy the Palestinian militant group has come in response to the
bloody October 7 attack by Hamas militants that Israeli officials say left more
than 1,400 people dead and around 240 taken hostage.
With
Israel’s leaders rebuffing talk of a ceasefire until the captives are freed,
anger in Saudi Arabia over the Palestinian death toll comes amid worries the
war could destabilise the wider region and fears this could thwart the
kingdom’s attempts to transition the economy away from oil.
The
world’s biggest oil exporter and its neighbours are “united in fearing one
thing in particular, which is a broader escalation”, said Elham Fakhro of
Chatham House.
Two Gulf
countries — the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain — normalised relations with
Israel in 2020, while Saudi Arabia has considered doing so, and all three
cooperate with Israel’s staunch ally the United States on security matters.
“They’re
very worried that they’re going to be targeted by Iranian proxy groups who are
seeking retaliation against Israel and the United States,” Fakhro told a panel
organised by the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.
As Arab
League foreign ministers held a preparatory meeting in Riyadh on Thursday,
Hossam Zaki, the bloc’s assistant secretary general, said Saturday’s summit
would demonstrate “how the Arabs will move on the international scene to stop
the aggression, support Palestine and its people, condemn the Israeli
occupation, and hold it accountable for its crimes”.
Saudi
analysts said the Arab League would do well to go beyond statements condemning
attacks on Gaza’s civilians, though it was unclear how the bloc might shape
events on the ground.
“This
(Arab League) meeting will be a success if it leads to any framework to
pressure Israel to stop the war. Otherwise it will not be a success,” said
Saudi analyst Sulaiman al-Oqaily.
“The
urgent need now is to stop the war.”
Saudi
Arabia, home to the holiest sites in Islam, has voiced support for the
Palestinian cause while denouncing incidents like the Israeli bombing last week
of Gaza’s largest refugee camp which killed dozens of people.
Source: brecorder.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.brecorder.com/news/40272566/saudi-hosts-gaza-summits-iran-president
------
Yemen
vows to continue confronting Israel war on Gaza
10
November 2023
The
prime minister of Yemen’s National Salvation Government has vowed that his
country will proceed with its anti-Israel operations until the Israeli regime
stops its atrocities against Palestinians, even if that causes a setback in the
peace talks with the Saudi-led coalition.
Speaking
in an interview with Press TV, Abdulaziz bin Habtour said defending the
Palestinian people and fighting Israel is “a sacred duty for every Muslim and
Arab.”
He noted
that Sana’a is ready to defend Palestinians against US-backed Israeli
atrocities, even if that would hamper peace talks with the Saudi-led coalition
that waged a war on Yemen in 2015.
“We are
fully aware that any position we take has consequences, but our people in
Palestine and their interests, and their defense are the top concerns for the
Republic of Yemen, Sana’a. If they want an Arab-Arab or Arab peace with the US,
we have declared it clearly, some time ago, that we are ready,” Abdulaziz bin
Habtour said.
“But
today a brutal aggression is being launched against our people in Gaza with the
assistance of the US. And it’s not just assistance, they (Americans)
participate in the operations room that manages the genocide in Gaza, and they
bring their ships, submarines, and planes and all the mercenaries; now they have
brought mercenaries from Kiev, Ukraine, to the occupied Palestine.”
The
premier further said that the Western alliance is led by the Zionist movement,
adding that this kind of alliance is ”openly against us”.
“If
peace talks between us and the Saudi and Emirati governments fail, then dozens
of other steps will fail,” he said.
He also
noted that Yemen’s involvement in the war is "modest”. Still, he stressed
“We will continue to support the resistance in Palestine with all our strength
and all our capabilities and we will not stop until the Zionist killing machine
stops in Gaza and the West Bank.”
The
senior official noted that Yemen’s involvement in the war is backed by the
Yemeni people, referring to millions-strong pro-Palestine marches that took
place in Sana’a and other Yemeni cities.
He added
that all political forces in Sana’a have also thrown their weight behind the
leader of Yemen’s Ansarullah movement, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi.
Commenting
on US, and Israeli threats to Yemen, he said “The power that some believe the
US possesses is not real. This belief comes from the failure of some regimes
that don’t have the courage to oppose the American tyranny. If every country
said no and stopped dealing with the US, America would know its degraded
place.”
The Yemeni
official decried the position of some Arab nations that have normalized ties
with Tel Aviv on the Israeli aggression on Gaza as “weak” and “shameful.”
He also
urged Arab nations to support the resistance in Palestine “with all strength
and capabilities” in their possession.
Israel
launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement
Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity
in response to the Israeli regime's decades-long campaign of bloodletting and
devastation against Palestinians.
Tel Aviv
has also blocked water, food, and electricity to Gaza, plunging the coastal
strip into a humanitarian crisis.
According
to the Gaza-based health ministry, more than 40,000 Palestinians have been
killed and injured in the Israeli strikes, most of them women and children.
Since
the start of the Israeli aggression, Yemeni Armed Forces have targeted Israel
with drones and missiles in a show of support for Palestinian people in the
besieged Gaza Strip.
Source: presstv.ir
Please click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2023/11/10/714345/Yemen-continue-confronting-Israel-war-Gaza
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Mossad,
CIA chiefs hold prisoner talks in Qatar
November
10, 2023
DOHA: The
CIA and Mossad chiefs met with the Qatari prime minister in Doha on Thursday to
discuss the parameters of a deal for prisoner releases and a pause in Israeli
aggression in the Gaza Strip, a source briefed on the meeting.
According
to Reuters, the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad announced that they are ready
to release two Israeli prisoners, a woman and a boy, for humanitarian and
medical reasons, a spokesperson for the Al Quds Brigades said in a recorded
message. He added that the initiative would take place once appropriate
measures are met.
David
Barnea, head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service, CIA Director William
Burns and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani held
the meeting after Qatari mediators met officials from the Hamas political
office on Wednesday night and discussed potential parameters of a deal.
The
advantage of the trilateral meeting was to bring all three parties together at
one table in real-time to speed up the process, the source said.
The
talks also included a discussion about allowing humanitarian imports of fuel
into Gaza, so far refused by Israel lest.
A source
said on Wednesday the talks touched on a release of 10-15 prisoners in exchange
for a one- to two-day humanitarian pause in the unrest that is devastating
Gaza.
Qatar’s
Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani later on Thursday arrived in the United
Arab Emirates capital, Abu Dhabi, where he met Emirati President Sheikh Mohamed
bin Zayed Al Nahyan, according to a statement by the Emiri Diwan.
Sheikh
Tamim was accompanied by the Qatari prime minister.
The
statement said the purpose of the visit was to discuss the situation in Gaza.
Unlike Qatar, the UAE has had diplomatic relations with Israel since a
US-brokered normalisation agreement in 2020.
In addition,
President Tayyip Erdogan told his Iranian counterpart Ibrahim Raisi that Ankara
was ready to assume guarantor role to resolve ongoing crisis, Turkish
presidency said on Thursday.
Erdogan
and Raisi met on the sidelines of a summit of Economic Cooperation Organisation
in Uzbekistan’s capital Tashkent, according to a statement of the Turkish
presidency.
Meanwhile,
Indonesian leader Joko Widodo said he would convey to United States President
Joe Biden in their meeting on Monday that the ongoing unrest in the Middle East
should be stopped. “I will be delegated to tell President Joe Biden that the
Hamas-Israel war should immediately be stopped,” he said, declining to provide
further details.
Indonesia
has joined many countries in calling for an immediate ceasefire and has sent
humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Source:
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.dawn.com/news/1788018/mossad-cia-chiefs-hold-prisoner-talks-in-qatar
-----
Bahraini
Ambassador participates in preparatory meeting of 8th Extraordinary Islamic
Summit
10 Nov 2023
Riyadh,
Nov. 9 (BNA): Shaikh Ali bin Abdulrahman bin Ali Al Khalifa, Bahrain’s
Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, and its Representative to the Organisation of
Islamic Cooperation (OIC), participated in the Preparatory Senior Officials
Meeting of the eighth Extraordinary Islamic Summit, set to take place in Riyadh
on Saturday.
The participants discussed a number of topics,
including the draft final statement to be submitted to the Extraordinary
Islamic Summit regarding the situation in the Gaza Strip and the developments
in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Source: bna.bh
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https://www.bna.bh/en/news?cms=q8FmFJgiscL2fwIzON1%2bDv6W7G8%2f9CdTp8GibR8bW%2b0%3d
------
Foreign
Minister Renews Call for Immediate Ceasefire in Gaza Military Operations
09 Nov,
2023
Saudi
Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan chaired the Arab foreign
ministers preparatory meeting for the extraordinary session of the Arab Summit
to discuss Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.
Highnesses, Excellencies, and the
representatives of sisterly nations attended the preparatory meeting.
At the beginning of the meeting, the Saudi
Foreign Minister delivered a speech, affirming that the upcoming summit hosted
by the Kingdom on Saturday, November 11 is a response to the critical situation
in the Gaza Strip.
He called on the international community,
including the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), to shoulder its
responsibilities, take deterrent action to put an end to this tragedy, and work
towards issuing a resolution aimed at an immediate cessation of military
operations, providing protections for civilians, releasing hostages and
prisoners, and halting the forced displacement of the Palestinian people in
compliance with international norms, laws, and shared humanitarian principles.
He called for lifting the blockade on the Gaza
Strip, enabling the delivery of urgent humanitarian aid and medical supplies
without restrictions and in a sustainable manner. This, he indicated, is aimed
at alleviating the humanitarian catastrophe that claimed the lives of innocent
people, more than half of whom are children and women. He noted that such a
situation warns of serious consequences for security and stability in the
region and the world.
"Within the framework of the Kingdom's
awareness of its international responsibility and in line with the principles
of humanitarian solidarity, the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center
(KSrelief) has launched a public donation campaign through the 'Sahm' platform
to provide relief to the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. The Kingdom will
spare no effort to alleviate the humanitarian suffering of our Palestinian
brothers and provide them with a dignified life," Prince Faisal bin Farhan
said.
He emphasized that the goal of achieving a
just, comprehensive, and lasting peace “should not be absent from our minds,”
in accordance with international legitimacy decisions.
Moreover, he reiterated the call for the
establishment of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders with East
Al-Quds (Jerusalem) as its capital, reaffirming the Kingdom's strategic
commitment to peace.
He stressed the Kingdom's keenness, since the
outbreak of the crisis, to consult and coordinate with its brothers and
partners in the international community to find a solution.
The minister also expressed hope that the Arab
Summit would contribute to stimulating decisive action by the international
community to stop the bloodshed and create favorable conditions for working
towards peace.
The Kingdom's delegation attending the meeting
included the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Eng. Waleed bin Abdulkarim
Al-Khuraiji; the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for
International Multilateral Affairs, Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Rassi; the Kingdom's
Permanent Representative to the Arab League (AL), Abdulaziz Al-Matar; and the
Director General of Foreign Minister's Office, Abdulrahman Al-Dawood.
Source: alriyadhdaily.com
Please click the following URL to read the full text of the original
http://alriyadhdaily.com/article/0e4e5abbee5c4b33a3c012ab844aa17c
-------
Saudi
and Somali foreign ministers meet ahead of Arab summit on Gaza
November
09, 2023
RIYADH:
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan held talks with his Somali
counterpart, Abshir Omar Huruse, on Thursday.
They met
on the sidelines of a preparatory meeting of Arab foreign ministers ahead of an
Arab summit on the Israeli war on Gaza that is due to take place on Saturday in
Riyadh.
They
reviewed the relationship between their countries and ways in which it might be
strengthened in various fields, along with other issues of mutual interest, the
Saudi Press Agency reported. The ministers also signed a cooperation agreement.
Waleed
Al-Khuraiji, the Saudi deputy foreign minister, and Abdulrahman Al-Daoud, the
director general of the foreign minister’s office, also attended the meeting.
Source: arabnews.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2406236/saudi-arabia
------
Saudi
crown prince, Polish PM discuss bilateral ties during call
November
09, 2023
RIYADH:
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke with Polish Prime
Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on the telephone, Saudi Press Agency reported on
Thursday.
During
the phone call, the two leaders discussed relations between their countries as
well as ways to boost cooperation in various fields.
They
also reviewed regional and international developments and a number of issues of
mutual interest.
Source: arabnews.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2406096/saudi-arabia
--------
Internet
collapses in war-torn Yemen after recent attacks by Houthi rebels targeting
Israel, U.S.
November
10, 2023
“Internet
access across the war-torn nation of Yemen collapsed on November 10 without
explanation,” web monitors said.
The
outage began early on November 10 around 0000 GMT and saw all traffic halt at
YemenNet, the country's main provider to some 10 million users which is now
controlled by Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.
Both
NetBlocks, a group tracking internet outages, and the internet services company
CloudFlare reported the outage. The two did not offer a cause for the outage.
“Data shows that the issue has impacted connectivity at a national level as
well,” CloudFlare said.
The
Houthis and Yemen telecommunication officials did not immediately acknowledge
the outage. A previous outage occurred in January 2022 when the Saudi-led
coalition battling the Houthis in Yemen bombed a telecommunications building in
the Red City port city of Hodeida. There was no immediate word of a similar
attack.
The
undersea FALCON cable carries internet into Yemen through the Hodeida port
along the Red Sea for TeleYemen. The FALCON cable has another landing in
Yemen’s far eastern port of Ghaydah as well, but the majority of Yemen’s
population lives in its west along the Red Sea.
GCX, the
company that operates the cable, did not immediately respond to a request for
comment on Friday.
The
outage came after a series of recent drone and missile attacks by the Houthis
targeting Israel amid its campaign of airstrikes and a ground offensive
targeting Hamas in the Gaza Strip. That includes a claimed strike on Thursday
again targeting the Israeli port city Eilat on the Red Sea. Meanwhile, the
Houthis also shot down an American MQ-9 Reaper drone this week as well with a
surface-to-air missile, part of a wide series of attacks in the Mideast raising
concerns about a regional war breaking out.
Yemen’s
conflict began in 2014 when the Houthis seized Sanaa and much of the country’s
north. The internationally recognised government fled to the south and then
into exile in Saudi Arabia.
The
Houthi takeover prompted a Saudi-led coalition to intervene months later and
the conflict turned into a regional proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran,
with the U.S. long involved on the periphery, providing intelligence assistance
to the kingdom.
The long
road to finding true peace in Yemen
However,
international criticism over Saudi airstrikes killing civilians saw the U.S.
pull back its support. But the U.S. is suspected of still carrying out drone
strikes targeting suspected members of Yemen’s local al-Qaida branch.
The war
has killed more than 1,50,000 people, including fighters and civilians, and
created one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters, killing tens of
thousands more. A cease-fire that expired last October largely has held in the
time since, though the Houthis are believed to be slowly stepping up their
attacks as a permanent peace has yet to be reached.
Source: thehindu.com
Please click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/internet-collapses-in-war-torn-yemen-after-recent-attacks-by-houthi-rebels-targeting-israel-us/article67520197.ece
------
Europe
British
minister condemned for remarks over pro-Palestinian rallies
November 10, 2023
LONDON:
UK interior minister Suella Braverman’s position looked increasingly
precarious on Thursday after she criticised policing of pro-Palestinian marches
in comments made without Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s approval.
Sunak
was facing mounting calls to sack his home secretary after she suggested
officers “play favourites” when policing protests and claimed they largely
ignored “pro-Palestinian mobs” during recent demonstrations against Israeli
aggression.
The
comments, seen as red meat to the right wing of the governing Conservative
party, come after she described the rallies calling for a ceasefire in Gaza as
“hate marches”, days after claiming some people were homeless as a “lifestyle
choice”.
Downing
Street insisted it had full confidence in Braverman but said it was
investigating how her comments in an opinion piece in The Times were published
without its consent, as required by the ministerial code.
“The
content was not agreed with Number 10,” a spokesman for Sunak told reporters,
referring to his Downing Street residence.
According
to people familiar with the matter, the speech was sent to Sunak’s office,
which requested changes that were not made.
Sunak
has described a planned march in London on Saturday — Armistice Day, when Britain
honours its war dead — as “provocative and disrespectful” and suggested
London’s Metropolitan Police ban it.
Police
have said the march in support of Palestinians does not meet the legal
threshold for requesting a government order to stop it going ahead.
Tensions
between London’s Met Police and Sunak appeared to ease on Wednesday after an
emergency meeting at which the force’s chief, Mark Rowley, confirmed the march
would not clash with remembrance events. But Braverman’s article was scathing
about the Met’s policing.
Tom
Winsor, a former police watchdog chief, said the home secretary’s claim that
the police were softer on left-wing groups went too far and were contrary to
the principle of police independence. “By applying pressure to the commissioner
of the Met in this way, I think that crosses the line,” Winsor told BBC radio.
The main
opposition Labour party’s home affairs spokeswoman, Yvette Cooper, said
Braverman was “out of control” and “encouraging extremists on all sides.”
Braverman’s
fondness for stoking culture wars may prove useful to the Tories as they try to
overhaul huge deficits to Labour in opinion polls before an election that must
be held by January 2025.
Braverman,
whose Indian-origin parents emigrated to Britain in the 1960s, recently
described multiculturalism as a “misguided dogma”.
Source: dawn.com
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https://www.dawn.com/news/1788024/british-minister-condemned-for-remarks-over-pro-palestinian-rallies
--------
Brazil
angry as Israel touts foiling of ‘Hezbollah cell’
10 Nov
2023
RIO DE
JANEIRO, Nov 10 — Brazil sent a pointed message yesterday to stay out of its
business after Israel said it had helped Brazilian police foil a “terrorist
attack” allegedly planned by militant group Hezbollah in the South American
country.
Tension
between Brazilian and Israeli authorities erupted after Brazilian police said
Wednesday they had arrested two suspects in Sao Paulo for plotting attacks in
the country — without giving further details on the targets or motives.
Israel’s
Mossad spy agency and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office were quick to
expand on the story, saying the alleged plot was planned by Iran-backed
Hezbollah, targeted “Israeli and Jewish targets in Brazil”, and was foiled with
Israel’s help.
“No
foreign government representative should get ahead of an ongoing federal police
investigation,” Brazilian Justice Minister Flavio Dino wrote on X, formerly
Twitter.
“We
reject the notion that any foreign authority could direct Brazilian police
agencies, or use our investigations for propaganda furthering their own
political interests,” added Dino, a key figure in President Luiz Inacio Lula da
Silva’s administration.
The
Israeli statement placed the operation in the context of the current
Israel-Hamas conflict, saying that “given the backdrop of the war... Hezbollah
and the Iranian regime are continuing to operate around the world in order to
attack Israeli, Jewish and Western targets.”
But Dino
said the Brazilian investigation “began BEFORE the current tragedies” in the
Middle East.
Brazilian
police said they “reject the statements by foreign authorities” on the
operation.
“Such
statements violate good practice on international cooperation and could damage
other such operations in the future,” they said in a statement.
Israel’s
ambassador to Brazil also drew criticism for his comments after the arrests.
“If
Hezbollah chose Brazil, it’s because there are people helping them,” he told
newspaper O Globo.
Federal
Police Chief Andrei Passos Rodrigues told news site G1 the remarks were an
“unpleasant surprise” and made him “deeply uncomfortable”.
Brazilian
media reports Thursday said one person questioned by police in the
investigation had admitted being recruited by a group linked to Hezbollah. —
AFP
Source: malaymail.com
Please click the following URL to read
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https://www.malaymail.com/news/world/2023/11/10/brazil-angry-as-israel-touts-foiling-of-hezbollah-cell/101318
-------
Emmanuel
Macron opens Gaza aid session with appeal for Israel to protect civilians
10.11.23
French
President Emmanuel Macron opened a Gaza aid conference on Thursday with an
appeal for Israel to protect civilians as it fights Hamas, saying “all lives
have equal worth” and that fighting terrorism “can never be carried out without
rules”.
The
gathering in Paris brought together officials from western and Arab nations,
the United Nations and nongovernmental organisations, with the aim of providing
urgent aid to civilians in the Gaza Strip that is being pounded by Israel in
its war against Hamas. Israeli authorities weren’t participating in the talks,
Macron’s office said.
Macron
reiterated calls for a humanitarian pause in Israel’s operations. He said that
by attacking Israel on October 7, Hamas “shouldered the responsibility for
exposing Palestinians to terrible consequences”, and he again defended Israel’s
right to defend itself.
But
Macron also stressed that civilians must be protected. “It’s absolutely
essential. It is non-negotiable,” he said.
“All
lives have equal worth and there are no double standards for those of us with
universal and humanist values,” he said.
“Fighting
terrorism can never be carried out without rules. Israel knows that. The trap
of terrorism is for all of us the same: giving in to violence and renouncing
our values,” he added.
More
than 1.5 million people — or about 70 per cent of Gaza’s population — have fled
their homes, and an estimated $1.2 billion is needed to respond to the crisis
in Palestinian areas.
Cyprus
President Nikos Christodoulides was to present his plan for a humanitarian sea
corridor to Gaza which he has said aims for a “sustained, secure high-volume
flow of humanitarian assistance to Gaza in the immediate, medium and long
term”. Ships would deliver the aid from Cyprus’s main port of Limassol, about
410km away.
French
officials said they were also considering evacuating injured people to hospital
ships in the Mediterranean off the Gaza coast. Paris sent a helicopter carrier
off the Cyprus coast and is preparing another with medical capacities on board
for that purpose.
Thursday’s
discussions will also include financial support and other ways to help Gaza’s
civilians. Over 50 nations were expected to attend, including several European
countries, the US and regional powers such as Jordan, Egypt and the Gulf
countries, the French presidency said.
Source: telegraphindia.com
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https://www.telegraphindia.com/world/french-president-emmanuel-macron-opens-gaza-aid-session-with-appeal-for-israel-to-protect-civilians/cid/1978907
-----
U.K.
Home Secretary Braverman accuses police of bias for refusing to ban
pro-Palestine march
November
09, 2023
Sriram
Lakshman
U.K.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman has accused the Metropolitan Police of bias
following its refusal to ban a pro-Palestine march in London this Saturday. Ms.
Braverman also referred to protestors as “hate marchers”.
he
protests have been held weekly since Israel’s retaliatory strikes on Gaza began
last month but will coincide with Armistice Day ceremonies in London on
November 11, prompting the government to object to them. Prime Minister Rishi
Sunak has been urged by several lawmakers to sack Ms. Braverman over her language.
Mr. Sunak had “full confidence” in Ms. Braverman, a Downing Street spokesperson
told The Hindu on Thursday.
“Unfortunately,
there is a perception that senior police officers play favourites when it comes
to protesters,” Ms. Braverman wrote in her op-ed in The Times, arguing that
during COVID, Black Lives Matter demonstrators were “enabled” and “allowed to
break rules”.
“I do not believe that these marches are
merely a cry for help for Gaza,” she wrote, as she compared them to marches in
Northern Ireland to assert the primacy of “certain groups - particularly
Islamists”.
Ms.
Braverman accused the police of a “double standard”, arguing right-wing
nationalist protestors are “rightly met with a stern response”. No. 10 Downing
Street had not cleared Ms. Braverman’s article, the spokesperson said, and was
“looking into what happened in this instance”.
Mr.
Sunak had said on Wednesday that holding protests as Britain commemorates the
end of World War I was “disrespectful”. Short of asking the police to ban the pro-Palestine
march, Mr. Sunak had summoned Met Chief Mark Rowley and had said that he would
hold the police “ accountable “ for safeguarding Saturday’s remembrance
services for Britain’s war dead.
Mr.
Rowley had said the Met was determined to keep commemorative services safe but
could not ban the protest as it did not have the absolute power to do so. The
conditions under which a protest could be banned had not been met in this
instance, Mr. Rowley argued, noting that the protest organisers had agreed to stay
away from commemoration service locations.
Labour’s
Shadow Business Secretary called Ms. Braverman’s language “divisive” and
“inflammatory”.
Among
those calling for Ms. Braverman’s ousting was Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey,
who said the Home Secretary had put the police in harm’s way.
“Rishi
Sunak must finally act with integrity by sacking his out-of-control Home
Secretary,” he wrote on X. “He’s got a Home Secretary who is out of control,”
said Labour leader Keir Starmer said, as he accused Mr. Sunak of being “too
weak to do anything about it”.
Source: thehindu.com
Please click the following URL to read the full text of the original
https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/uk-home-secretary-braverman-accuses-police-of-bias-for-refusing-to-ban-pro-palestine-march/article67517177.ece
--------
Rishi
Sunak Faces Pressure To Fire Minister Over Remarks On Palestine Rally
November
10, 2023
London:
UK interior minister Suella Braverman's job was hanging in the balance Thursday
after she criticised policing of pro-Palestinian marches in comments made
without Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's approval.
Sunak is
facing mounting calls to sack Braverman after she suggested officers "play
favourites" when policing protests and claimed they largely ignored
"pro-Palestinian mobs" during recent demonstrations against the
Israel-Hamas war.
The
comments, seen as red meat to the right wing of the governing Conservative
party, come after she described the rallies calling for a ceasefire in Gaza as
"hate marches", days after claiming some people were homeless as a
"lifestyle choice".
Downing
Street insisted it had full confidence in Braverman but said it was
investigating how her comments in an opinion piece in The Times were published
without its consent, as required by the ministerial code.
"The
content was not agreed with Number 10," a spokesman for Sunak told
reporters, referring to the Prime Minister's Downing Street office.
According
to people familiar with the matter, the speech was sent to Sunak's office,
which requested changes that were not made.
Braverman's
words have heightened speculation she is positioning herself for a future Tory
leadership contest or that they are a deliberate ploy by Sunak's party to
appeal to right-wingers before the next general election.
Sunak
has described a planned pro-Palestinian march in London on Saturday --
Armistice Day, when Britain honours its war dead -- as "provocative and
disrespectful" and suggested London's Metropolitan Police ban it.
Police
have said the march does not meet the legal threshold for requesting a
government order to stop it.
Scathing
Tensions
between London's Met Police and Sunak appeared to ease on Wednesday after an
emergency meeting at which the force's chief, Mark Rowley, confirmed the march
would not clash with remembrance events for the country's war dead.
But
Braverman's article was scathing about the Met's policing.
"Right-wing
and nationalist protesters who engage in aggression are rightly met with a
stern response yet pro-Palestinian mobs displaying almost identical behaviour
are largely ignored, even when clearly breaking the law," she wrote.
The
outspoken Braverman added she did not believe the protests were "merely a
cry for help for Gaza" but were more an "assertion of primacy by
certain groups -- particularly Islamists".
Tom
Winsor, a former police watchdog chief, said the home secretary's claim that
the police were softer on left-wing groups went too far and were contrary to
the principle of police independence.
'Crosses
the line'
"By
applying pressure to the commissioner of the Met in this way, I think that
crosses the line," Winsor told BBC radio.
Opposition
MPs called on Sunak to immediately replace Braverman, but a spokeswoman for the
PM told reporters that there was no "timescale" on the inquiry.
The
leader of the main opposition Labour Party, Keir Starmer, said Braverman was
"out of control" and Sunak was "too weak to do anything about
it".
London
has seen large demonstrations on four successive weekends since the Hamas
attacks in southern Israel on October 7, which Israel says left 1,400 people
dead, mostly civilians. They also took 240 hostages.
Since
then, Israel has relentlessly bombarded Gaza and sent in ground troops. The
Palestinian territory's Hamas-run health ministry says more than 10,000 people
have been killed.
The Met
police have made almost 200 arrests since the Hamas attacks, either for hate
crimes or incidents linked to the protests, while anti-Semitism cases have
surged.
Braverman's
fondness for stoking culture wars may prove useful to the Tories as they try to
overhaul huge deficits to Labour in opinion polls before an election that must
be held by January 2025.
Braverman,
whose Indian-origin parents emigrated to Britain in the 1960s, recently
described multiculturalism as a "misguided dogma".
She has
attacked the United Nations Refugee Convention and warned that Britain faces a
"hurricane" of immigration, and once called liberals
"tofu-eating wokerati".
Source: ndtv.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/rishi-sunak-faces-calls-to-fire-minister-over-remarks-on-palestine-rally-4562935#pfrom=home-ndtvworld_topstory
-------
German
president meets Jewish and Muslim community leaders
November
10, 2023
In his
speech before opening the floor to his guests, German President Frank-Walter
Steinmeier made some clear statements. Addressing the "Jewish community in
Germany," he said: "I … want to assure you that this country will not
rest while you have to fear for your safety and the safety of your children. We
will not tolerate antisemitism in our country."
Then he
addressed the "Palestinian and Arab community in our country" and
told them: "Nor will we allow anti-Muslim racism or a blanket veil of
suspicion against Muslims." Later, he added: "Don't let yourselves be
instrumentalized by Hamas! Speak up for yourselves! Say no to terror!"
Germany
is currently experiencing heated debates about the war in the Middle East.
Since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel and Israel's subsequent operations
in Gaza, there has been an alarming rise in antisemitic violence in Germany,
according to experts.
There
have been several pro-Palestinian demonstrations around the country, some of
which have featured antisemitic signs and chants, and all of which have been
accompanied by a significant police presence.
Riot
police and one man with his mouth coveredRiot police and one man with his mouth
covered
Many
Jews have said they do not dare leave the house and fear for the safety of
their children.
Many
Muslim associations say that there is a general suspicion of migrants and
increasing ostracization.
Steinmeier
invited 12 people to Bellevue Palace, the president's official residence, for a
roundtable discussion on "War in the Middle East — preserving peaceful
coexistence in Germany!" Half of the group was Jewish, the other half
Muslim, but all represented groups working on Jewish-Muslim cooperation.
Deep
rift in society
What
they reported was depressing. They said there was a deep rift in society and
that, although not new, it had worsened since October 7. They said emotions
were running high.
Michael
Fürst, the Chairman of the Association of Jewish Communities in Lower Saxony,
who has been advocating for dialogue between Jews and Palestinians for years,
said that many of the members of the community had told him this project was
"for show." He said that the Hamas attack on Israel had been "a
watershed — the biggest murder of Jews since the Holocaust" and that many
Jews had since withdrawn into their community. Though dialogue was important,
he added, it was becoming more difficult.
Dervis
Hizarci, the son of Turkish immigrants and chairman of the board of the
Berlin-based Kreuzberg Initiative against Antisemitism, talked of similar
experiences. His project tries to raise awareness and counter prejudice and
hatred.
"In
recent weeks, we have received 500 appeals from teachers who want to know how
to talk to their students about the conflict," he told Steinmeier.
He said
that in many schools, the atmosphere was heated and that the children of Muslim
migrants felt suspicion directed at them by the majority of German society. He
said that schools were unable to deal with the topic of antisemitism, warning,
"If we stigmatize these children and young people, if we do not manage to
involve them, they will break with Germany."
'Germany
is an open, diverse country'
Steinmeier
refrained from taking part in the discussion except to pose questions. He asked
Margot Friedländer, a 102-year-old Holocaust survivor, what she would say to
those Jewish people who are currently asking whether it is possible to live in
Germany today. He asked other participants how their projects were currently
faring.
At
times, he called for empathy and praised the initiatives for their work and
courage. He repeatedly tried to reassure all the participants and their
communities that they were part of the country, encouraging them and providing
moral support.
"Today's
Germany is an open, diverse country," he insisted. "We are a country
with a migration background in which people with very different roots, with
differing experiences and religions, live."
The
guests seemed to appreciate his words, but it was clear to all that the current
reality was devastating.
Earlier
this week, several German associations and academics painted a bleak picture of
antisemitism in Germany. At a joint press conference held by Federal
Commissioner for Jewish Life and the Fight against Antisemitism Felix Klein and
the director of the House of the Wannsee Conference, Nikolas Lelle from the
Amadeu Antonio Foundation, presented the findings from the anti-racism NGO's
latest report on antisemitism in Germany.
The
social psychologist Beate Küpper warned against setting the focus on people
with Muslim origins, with regard to the current situation in the Middle East.
"This [calling out Muslims] is right and important," she said,
"but it should not distract from the fact that antisemitism is largely
found on the right of the political center." She pointed out that the
Alternative for Germany party was a far-right party that was responsible for
the cracks in Germany's culture of remembrance.
Appeal
for a March of Silence
What can
be done in the fight against antisemitism and Islamophobia? Though many
different suggestions were voiced at the president's roundtable discussion,
there was consensus on one point in particular: The fact that there can be no
progress without education. But the participants had a clear message for
Germany's politicians, saying that the issues had not been taken seriously
enough for years.
"If
we do not take €100 billion (ca. $107 billion) now and invest immediately in
education, then we will not be able to contain all of this," warned Dervis
Hizarci. "These cracks in society are as existential as the climate
crisis!"
"Mr
Steinmeier," he said in an appeal at the end of the debate. "Let's
call for a 'March of Silence.' Let us go out onto the streets and express our
pain together."
The
president thanked him but did not say "yes" to the idea.
Source: dw.com
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-------
‘No
offence,’ say police after ‘curse the infidels’ speech at London mosque
November
9, 2023
MICHELLE ROSENBERG
The
Metropolitan Police and Crown Prosecution Service have said no offences were
committed following accusations of hate speech and incitement at a Greenwich
mosque.
Concerns
were publicly raised following a sermon preached by Imam Muhammad Abdullah
Shakir on 20 October, at the Greenwich Islamic Centre in London, 13 days after
the 7 October attacks in Israel by Hamas terrorists.
At the
centre, a registered charity, Shakir prayed that Allah would grant “victory
over the enemy,” asked his congregation to “curse the infidels”, “destroy their
homes” and “purify Al Aqsa” of Jews.
In a
statement today on Twitter/X, the police stated: “On 26 October we were made
aware of a video on social media of a sermon read at a local mosque. Officers
& @CPSUK undertook a detailed assessment of the video and concluded no
offences were committed.”
The
Greenwich Islamic Centre issued a statement, also on Twitter/X, on 27 October,
condemning “hate speech, equating antisemitism with Islamophobia. We uphold
interfaith collaboration, and are addressing concerns raised in media reports
seriously, and are conducting a thorough investigation.”
Royal
Borough of Greenwich council leader Anthony Okereke and borough opposition
leader Cllr Matt Hartley also made a formal statement, condemning Shakir’s
sermon.
They
said they stood together “with sadness and disgust to denounce, in the
strongest possible terms, the recent comments made by Imam Muhammad Abdullah
Shakir. We are aware that the incident has been raised with the appropriate
authorities and we hope that they will launch an immediate investigation into
the matter.
“Without
a doubt it is our differences and how we celebrate them that makes us the
strong, united borough we are today. Every person of every faith is welcome in
our borough. To say, our Jewish friends are not welcome here belies the
integral contribution they have made to the community we have shared for
centuries.
“Instead
we say to them, you are valued. You are our neighbours and our friends. We will
stand up against hate and as a community, we will refuse to let anyone make you
feel unsafe or unwelcome. It comes as no surprise to us that members of our
Muslim community have also condemned Imam Shakir’s words and we are glad to
stand in solidarity with them against hatred in all its forms. The Royal
Borough of Greenwich has and always will be strongest together. We will not
stand for any attempt to threaten this and call upon everyone to remain united
against hate.”
Source: jewishnews.co.uk
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------
UK
accused of whitewashing death of Chevening scholar in Gaza
November
09, 2023
LONDON:
A Palestinian doctor who recently graduated from the UK’s prestigious Chevening
Scholarship is believed to have been killed along with several members of his
family in an Israeli airstrike.
Dr.
Maisara Al Rayyes was photographed in September with UK Foreign Secretary James
Cleverly and other graduates of the scheme, which is funded by the Foreign,
Commonwealth and Development Office, the BBC reported.
Al
Rayyes, who was awarded funding to study for a master’s degree in health at
King’s College London, was trapped beneath the rubble of a six-story apartment
building in occupied Gaza on Sunday night.
The BBC
on Wednesday morning tried to contact his younger brother, Moayed, who
witnessed the strike from a neighboring house. But Moayed and his older sibling,
Mohammed, were themselves killed in a separate Israeli airstrike on Wednesday
afternoon while searching for their missing brother.
Video
footage showed the bodies of the siblings lying among the rubble. A local
journalist who was photographing their rescue efforts was also injured.
Friends
said Al Rayyes’ parents and a nephew were found dead in the rubble of their
family home on Monday, but the body of the 30-year-old doctor had yet to be
recovered.
The
Israeli military declined to respond to the BBC’s questions about the blast.
The UK
Foreign Office said on X on Wednesday that it was “devastated” and offered its
condolences to Al Rayyes’ family and the “Chevening Alumni community” but did
not make any reference to the airstrike.
The
tweet sparked outrage from some of the doctor’s former colleagues who accused
the UK of trying to avoid any criticism of Israel. According to accounts of
events described to the BBC, the handling of the incident had sparked “huge
amounts of discontent” among some UK officials who felt the death announcement
was not contextualized.
Hala
Hanini, a Chevening graduate and close friend of Al Rayyes, accused the Foreign
Office of whitewashing his death.
She told
the BBC it was “disgusting, disappointing and outrageous” that the government
did not raise any questions over how he was killed.
“It’s as
if he just died of normal things,” she said. “(UK ministers) claim that Israel
has the right to self-defense but … it actually has responsibilities over the
occupied people to provide them with safety, security … (but) they are
committing genocide and calling it falsely self-defense.”
Hanini
also accused the UK of failing to uphold international law.
When
asked about the concerns raised, the FCDO declined to comment, telling the BBC
it “wouldn’t have anything to add beyond the tweet” about Al Rayyes.
The BBC
report said it is believed that some staff counselors at the UK Foreign Office
have spoken to senior officials about their concerns regarding the government’s
position on the war in Gaza.
These
include its passive stance toward Israel “breaching international humanitarian
law” given the unprecedented scale of civilian deaths in Gaza, and that this
could harm wider foreign policy, such as highlighting Russia’s violations of
the global rules-based order in Ukraine.
A group
of Chevening graduates in 28 countries wrote to Cleverly on Monday, pleading
with him to protect their colleagues and “focus on the needs and safety of
Chevening Alumni” in Gaza and “work toward an immediate ceasefire.”
Since
the start of Israel’s attacks 32 days ago, more than 10,300 Palestinians have
been killed, including over 4,100 children, according to the Gazan Health
Ministry. The Israeli siege of the territory has denied its 2.2 million
residents access to basic items such as food, water, fuel and electricity.
Many
Palestinians accuse Israel of intentionally targeting civilians. Israel said it
would not agree to a ceasefire until all of the hostages had been released.
The UK
government has previously given its “unequivocal” support to Israel, saying it
had a “right to defend itself” following the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7. The UK
has also urged Israel to uphold international humanitarian law.
Source: arabnews.com
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2406286/world
------
France
arrests influencer for mocking Israeli baby's death
November
09, 2023
PARIS: A
social media influencer was arrested in France on Thursday for making light of
the reported killing of an Israel baby by Hamas attackers, prosecutors told
AFP.
In a
video, the woman — identified by media as Warda Anwar, a model — commented on a
report by an Israeli first responder who said Hamas attackers had burned a baby
alive in an oven during their assault on October 7.
The
report has not been confirmed by Israeli authorities.
“I
wonder whether they added salt and pepper first, did they add thyme?” Anwar
said in the video. “What was the side dish?“
Following
strong reactions on social media to the video last week, Interior Minister
Gerald Darmanin said Friday he had filed a criminal complaint against Anwar.
Prosecutors
said she was being investigated for “glorifying terrorism” and was taken into
custody in Paris early Thursday. The Israeli embassy in France called Anwar’s
remarks “disgusting.”
Posting
on X, formerly Twitter, the embassy said: “the unspeakable remarks must not
remain unpunished,” and called for her social media accounts to be blocked.
French media say her video was carried on Instagram, but her account was not
available Thursday.
Source: arabnews.com
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2406041/world
------
Transgender
People Can Be Baptised in Catholic Church, Be Godparents, Says Vatican
November
10, 2023
Transgender
people can be baptised in the Catholic Church as long as doing so does not
cause scandal or “confusion”, the Vatican announced yesterday.
The
Church’s doctrinal office also said trans people could be godparents at a baptism
and witnesses at a wedding.
The move
followed attempts by Pope Francis to make the Church more welcoming to LGBT
people.
According
to the BBC, the Pope told one trans person in July that “even if we are
sinners, he (God) draws near to help us”.
The
Vatican’s updated stance came after Brazilian Bishop José Negri wrote to the
Church’s Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith with six questions regarding
LGBT people and their participation in baptism and matrimony.
On
Wednesday the department posted on its website three pages in response, which
was signed by the dicastery’s head – Argentine Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández
– and with the approval of Pope Francis.
It
stated that a transgender person – including those who have undergone hormonal
treatment and gender reassignment surgery – could receive baptism under the
same conditions as other believers “if there are no situations in which there
is a risk of generating public scandal or disorientation among the faithful.”
The
document also explored Bishop Negri’s other questions, including whether trans
people can be a godparent. It said that where an adult has undergone hormone
treatment and gender reassignment surgery they may be a godfather or godmother.
But it
goes on to state that priests have the discretion to refuse such a request if
“there is a danger of scandal, undue legitimisation or disorientation in the
educational sphere of the church community”.
American
Jesuit priest Fr James Martin, who is a supporter of LGBT rights, posted on X
(formerly Twitter): “This is an important step forward in the Church seeing
transgender people not only as people (in a Church where some say they don’t
really exist) but as Catholics.”
While
the document seemed to set out clearly what the Church thinks in terms of trans
people being baptised or acting as godparents, it was more nuanced on the other
issues raised by Bishop Negri.
On the
question of whether same-sex parents who adopt or use a surrogate mother could
have a child baptised in the Church, the Vatican said a priest’s decision would
have to be based on the, “well-founded hope that he or she would be educated in
the Catholic religion.”
There
was a similarly nuanced response to a question whether a person in a same-sex
relationship could be a godparent at a Church baptism. It said the person had
to “lead a life that conforms to the faith”.
The
updated guidance to Catholic clergy followed a suggestion by the Pope last
month that same-sex couples could receive a blessing from a priest – saying
such a request should be treated with “pastoral charity”.
Source: thisdaylive.com
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https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2023/11/10/transgender-people-can-be-baptised-in-catholic-church-be-godparents-says-vatican
-----
Mideast
Gaza
officials say hospitals come under new Israeli attacks
2023-11-10
GAZA/WASHINGTON:
Gaza officials said Israel launched air strikes on or near at least three
hospitals on Friday, further endangering a health system swamped with thousands
of casualties and people displaced by Israel’s war against Hamas in the
Palestinian enclave.
“The
Israeli occupation launched simultaneous strikes on a number of hospitals
during the past hours,” Gaza Ministry of Health spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra told
Al Jazeera television.
Qidra
said Israel targeted the courtyard of Al Shifa, the biggest hospital in Gaza
City, and there were casualties, but he did not provide details.
Israel
said Hamas has hidden command centres and tunnels beneath Al Shifa, allegations
Hamas denies. Israel’s military did not immediately comment on Qidra’s
statement, which Reuters could not independently verify.
The
month-old Israeli military aggression to wipe out Hamas has left Gaza’s
hospitals struggling to cope, as medical supplies, clean water and fuel to
power generators have been running out.
Israel
to begin four-hour pauses in northern Gaza: White House
Gaza’s
health ministry has said 18 of Gaza’s 35 hospitals and 40 other health centres
were out of service either due to damage from bombardment or lack of fuel.
Palestinian
media published video footage on Friday of Al Shifa, which Reuters was unable
to authenticate immediately, that it said showed the aftermath of an Israeli
attack on a parking lot where displaced Palestinians were sheltered and
journalists were observing.
A pool
of blood could be seen next to the body of a man being placed on a stretcher.
“With
ongoing strikes and fighting nearby (Al Shifa), we are gravely concerned about
the well-being of thousands of civilians there, many children among them,
seeking medical care and shelter,” Human Rights Watch said on social media site
X.
Qidra
said Al-Rantisi Pediatric Hospital and Al-Nasr Children’s Hospital “have been
witnessing a series of direct attacks and bombardments” on Friday. He said
strikes on the hospital grounds at Al-Rantisi set vehicles on fire but they had
been partly extinguished.
Indonesia’s
foreign ministry said on Friday there were explosions near the Indonesian
Hospital overnight, which damaged parts of the hospital, located at the
northern end of the narrow coastal enclave.
It did
not say who was responsible for the explosion and it did not report any deaths
or injuries.
“Indonesia
once again condemns the savage attacks on civilians and civilian objects,
especially humanitarian facilities in Gaza,” the ministry said in a statement.
US says
Israel agrees to pauses
Israel
says 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were killed and about 240 taken hostage by
Hamas in the Oct.7 raid that triggered the Israeli assault.
Israel
says it has lost 35 soldiers in Gaza. Palestinian officials said 10,812 Gaza
residents had been killed as of Thursday, about 40% of them children, in air
and artillery strikes.
Poverty
soars in conflict-hit Gaza, West Bank: UN
A
humanitarian catastrophe has unfolded as basic supplies like food and water run
out and shelling displaces civilians from their homes.
Israel’s
military has said it has evidence that Hamas uses Al Shifa and other hospitals
such as the Indonesian Hospital to hide command posts and entry points to an
extensive tunnel network under Gaza.
It says
it does not target civilians, and it has allowed some wounded Palestinian
civilians to cross into Egypt for treatment.
But
Israel’s military advance on central Gaza City, which brought tanks within
about 1.2 kilometre (3/4 mile) of Al Shifa, according to residents, has raised
questions about how Israel will interpret international laws on protecting
medical centres and displaced people sheltering there.
Deadly
air strikes on refugee camps, a medical convoy and near hospitals have already
prompted fierce arguments among some of Israel’s Western allies over its military’s
adherence to international law.
US
President Joe Biden said in a post on X on Thursday that Israel has “an
obligation to distinguish between terrorists and civilians and fully comply
with international law.”
The
White House said on Thursday that Israel agreed to pause military operations in
parts of north Gaza for four hours a day, but there was no sign of a let-up in
the fighting.
The
pauses, which would allow people to flee along two humanitarian corridors and
could be used for the release of hostages, were significant first steps, White
House national security spokesperson John Kirby said.
But
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested any pauses would be
scattered, and there was no official confirmation of a plan for recurring
breaks.
Asked if
there would be a “stoppage” in fighting, Netanyahu sa
id on
the Fox News Channel: “No. The fighting continues against the Hamas enemy, the
Hamas terrorists, but in specific locations for a given period of a few hours
here or a few hours there, we want to facilitate the safe passage of civilians
away from the zone of fight and we’re doing that.”
On the
ground in northern Gaza, there were no reports of a lull in fighting.
Each
side reported inflicting heavy casualties on the other in intense street battles.
Source: brecorder.com
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------
Street
combat rages in Gaza as Biden rules out ceasefire
November
10, 2023
GAZA
STRIP: Israeli troops and Hamas were locked in heavy, close-quarters fighting
in Gaza City on Thursday, including a 10-hour battle that, Israel claimed,
toppled a stronghold of the Palestinian fighters.
Hamas
fighters, armed with rocket-propelled grenade launchers and assault rifles,
clashed with Israeli soldiers backed by armoured vehicles in the ruins of the
besieged territory’s north.
Meanwhile,
Israel agreed to daily four-hour ‘military pauses’ in northern Gaza for humanitarian
purposes, the White House said on Thursday.
Spokesman
John Kirby said the pauses were “significant steps forward”. “Israel will begin
to implement four-hour pauses in areas of northern Gaza each day, with an
announcement to be made three hours beforehand,” Kirby told reporters.
In
Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron urged nations to “work towards a
ceasefire”, as he opened a conference in Paris on Gaza aid.
Israel
is not attending the meeting, which aims to mobilise the main players involved
in humanitarian response in the Palestinian territory.
But US
President Joe Biden once again ruled out a ceasefire on Thursday.
“None.
No possibility,” he said in reply to a reporter’s question in Washington about
prospects for a halt to the fighting in Gaza Strip.
Thousands
of Palestinians fled the northern part of Gaza Strip for the south on Thursday
while some 50,000 people did so the previous day.
In
Gaza’s north, eyewitnesses saw broken palm trees, mangled road signs and
twisted lampposts strewn over what was once a vital highway.
The
utter devastation is the result of over a month of Israeli bombardment, sparked
by the Oct 7 Hamas raid on Israel.
Vowing
to destroy Hamas, Israel has resorted to relentless aerial bombing and ground
invasion, which the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza Strip says, has killed
more than 10,800 people.
Over
4,400 children are among the dead, while another 26,905 people have been
wounded.
Oda
Bikhet, a witness to the consequences of the latest bombardment in Deir Al
Balah in central Gaza, recounted the human toll.
“All of
a sudden, an air strike hit the area, and we went out to check only to find
children injured,” he said. “One child lost his arm, another lost an eye.
Another old person was injured.”
Stronghold
and tunnels
The
Israeli military said its forces had secured a Hamas ‘‘military stronghold” in
western Jabalia, adding the troops had “finished securing the compound after 10
hours of combat”.
The
battle raged above and below ground, it said, and “revealed some of Hamas’s
extensive network of tunnel and subterranean bases”, which form a significant
element of the Palestinian group’s capacity to fight.
Israel
said 34 of its soldiers had died in the ground invasion.
The
intense combat and the densely populated coastal territory being effectively
sealed off have led to increasingly dire conditions for civilians.
Tom
Potokar, chief surgeon at the International Committee of the Red Cross,
described the scene at the European hospital in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, as
“catastrophic”.
“In the
last 24 hours, I’ve seen three patients with maggots in their wounds,” Potokar
said.
Exodus
continues
The
Israeli army said 50,000 people had left their homes in the main battle zone of
northern Gaza on Wednesday, a sharp increase in numbers from earlier this week,
adding to the more than 1.5 million people already seeking safety in the south
of the coastal strip.
The UN
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs confirmed the figure and
warned hundreds of thousands of civilians remained in battle zones north of the
central Wadi Gaza district.
An
Israeli military official insisted Gaza was not in a humanitarian crisis, even
as he acknowledged the Palestinian territory faces several challenges amid the
ongoing fighting.
“We know
the civil situation in Gaza Strip is not an easy one,” said Colonel Moshe
Tetro, head of coordination and liaison at COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry
body handling civil affairs in Gaza.
Yet as
he spoke, the climbing death toll meant that Palestinians were having to inter
their dead in makeshift cemeteries.
“We bury
the dead in football fields and other vacant lots because the proper burial
grounds are full,” said Shihteh Nasser, 48, as he helped in the burials.
Bodies
have piled up outside hospitals, on roads and in parks, in refrigerated trucks
and even in a repurposed ice-cream van.
Hamas
chief Ismail Haniyeh arrived in Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials.
Hamas
said in a statement that its delegation had met Egypt’s intelligence chief
Abbas Kamel “for discussions on the current situation in the Gaza Strip”.
Gaza’s
future
Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected a ceasefire unless
the 239 prisoners Hamas currently holds in Gaza are released.
According
to a source close to Hamas, talks are underway for the release of 12 prisoners,
including six Americans, in return for a three-day ceasefire.
The
United States has backed Israel’s rejection of a ceasefire, and G7 foreign
ministers in Japan said on Wednesday they supported “humanitarian pauses and
corridors”.
As the
situation deteriorates, discussions on the possible future of Gaza have also
grown. Netanyahu said this week Israel would assume “overall security” of the
territory.
US
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said it was plausible that “for
at least some period of time” Israeli forces would remain in Gaza “to manage
the immediate aftermath and security situation”.
Israel
captured Gaza in the 1967 war and withdrew in 2005. Two years later, Hamas took
control and Israel imposed a crippling blockade.
In the
longer term, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has suggested the Palestinian
Authority _ which exercises limited autonomy only in parts of the occupied West
Bank _ should retake control of Gaza.
“It must
include Palestinian-led governance and Gaza unified with the West Bank under
the Palestinian Authority,” Blinken said on Wednesday, repeating the
long-standing US call for a two-state solution.
West
Bank not spared
Bloodshed
has now spread to the occupied West Bank, where 10 Palestinians were killed
during an Israeli army raid in the northern city of Jenin on Thursday.
Eyewitnesses
said they saw black smoke rising over Jenin and heard multiple explosions and
gunfire.
The
Israeli army said its forces were operating in the northern West Bank city, but
did not provide further details.
At least
170 Palestinians have been killed across the occupied West Bank since Oct 7, 20
of them in Jenin alone. The town is home to a large refugee camp housing tens
of thousands of Palestinians.
Source: dawn.com
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-------
Iran:
Expansion of scope of Gaza war inevitable due to heightened Israeli aggression
09
November 2023
Iran has
warned about the repercussions of the intensification of Israeli atrocities against
Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, which the Zionist regime has been
bombing relentlessly since October 7.
"Due
to the expansion of the intensity of the war against Gaza's civilian residents,
expansion of the scope of the war has become inevitable," Iranian Foreign
Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in a telephone conversation with his
Qatari counterpart Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on Thursday.
The war
started after the territory's resistance movements waged a surprise attack against
the occupying entity, dubbed Operation al-Aqsa Storm, in response to its
decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.
Most
recently, Gaza's health ministry said the Palestinian death toll from Israeli
attacks had climbed to 10,812. The victims include 4,412 children, 2,918 women
and 676 elders, while more than 26,000 people have been injured, ministry
spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra told a press conference in Gaza City.
Ever
since the onset of the war, the Israeli regime has also conducted sporadic
attacks on southern Lebanon, which have sparked a firefight between the regime
and Lebanon's Hezbollah resistance movement.
Elsewhere
across the region, Yemen's Armed Forces have conducted several rounds of drone
and ballistic missile attacks against targets lying inside the occupied
territories in response to the Israeli regime's unbridled aggression against
Gaza.
The
Iranian and Qatari officials vehemently condemned the Israeli regime's attacks
on Gaza's civilians and voiced deep concern regarding the humanitarian
situation in the coastal sliver.
The
officials exchanged opinions concerning the available means of cessation of the
Israeli regime's savage aggression, immediate implementation of a ceasefire,
and continuous transfer of humanitarian supplies to Gaza's war-hit and besieged
civilians.
They
also addressed some of the initiatives that had been proposed so far concerning
the manner of implementation of such a ceasefire.
Source: presstv.ir
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https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2023/11/09/714326/Iran-Palestine-Israel-war-Gaza-Qatar
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Gaza
population lacks food, faces malnutrition, UN food programme official says
10 Nov
2023
BRUSSELS,
Nov 10 — All of Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants lack sufficient food and face
malnutrition a month into Israel’s devastating siege of the Palestinian
enclave, a World Food Programme official said on Thursday.
Humanitarian
aid has only trickled into Gaza since Israel began bombarding the densely
populated enclave in response to Hamas’ raid on southern Israel that killed
some 1,400 people on October 7. United Nations officials say the supplies
coming into Gaza are nowhere near enough to meet the population’s needs.
“Before
October 7, 33 per cent of the population were food insecure,” said Kyung-nan
Park, director of emergencies for the United Nations World Food Programme
(WFP). “We can safely say that 100 per cent are food insecure at this moment.”
She said
WFP needed US$112 million to be able to reach 1.1 million people in Gaza in the
next 90 days. “They are facing the risk of malnutrition,” she said.
In
addition to funding, WFP also needs regular entry into Gaza and safe access
once inside to be able to reach the people in need, she added.
Since
re-opening of the Rafah crossing on the Gaza border with Egypt for humanitarian
cargo on October 21, the daily average number of trucks that have crossed into
Gaza has been less than 19 per cent of what it had been before the conflict,
according to the UN humanitarian office.
“Right
now we’re entering 40 to 50 trucks,” Kyung-nan said of WFP. “For just WFP food
assistance, we would need 100 trucks a day to be able to provide any meaningful
humanitarian food to the people in Gaza.”
Kyung-nan
said WFP staff members in Gaza themselves did not have enough to eat. WFP used
to work with more than 23 bakeries in the densely populated enclave but only
one is still functioning due to the lack of fuel and supplies, she said.
“There
are stories of people going there, being in line for ten days and leaving empty
handed,” she said. “It’s quite serious.” — Reuters
Source: malaymail.com
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https://www.malaymail.com/news/world/2023/11/10/gaza-population-lacks-food-faces-malnutrition-un-food-programme-official-says/101324
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Turkish
president calls on Economic Cooperation Organization to raise voice against
Israel’s attack on Gaza
November
9, 2023
ISTANBUL
: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday called on the Economic
Cooperation Organization to speak out against Israel’s attack on Gaza.
“If we,
as the Economic Cooperation Organization, do not raise our voices together as
Muslims today, when will we raise them?,” Erdogan told the 16th summit of the
economic grouping in Uzbekistan’s capital Tashkent.
“Israel
continues to bomb schools, mosques, churches, hospitals, and crushing all
humanitarian values,” the Turkish leader said.
Some 73%
of nearly 11,000 people brutally killed by Israel in Gaza are women, children,
Erdogan said, criticizing the US and West for remaining silent about Israel’s
attacks on Gaza.
On
humanitarian aid for the besieged Gaza enclave, Erdogan said Türkiye has so far
sent 10 planes carrying 230 tons of humanitarian aid to Egypt’s El Arish
airport with help of Cairo.
Israel
launched relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since a
cross-border attack by the Palestine group Hamas on Oct. 7.
At least
10,569 Palestinians, including 4,324 children and 2,823 women, have been
killed, according to Palestinian figures.
The
Israeli death toll nears 1,600, latest official figures say. — AA
Source: muslimmirror.com
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Iraq is
at a crossroads. Will it choose its Shia militias or relations with the US?
2023-11-10
Shafaq
News/ In the heart of the tumultuous Middle East, Iraq finds itself at a
crossroads, grappling with the complex dynamics of the Hamas-Israel conflict
while trying to navigate the intricate relationships between its Shia militias
and the United States. As history demonstrates, geopolitics and domestic
considerations converge, with Iraq facing a high-stakes balancing act that
carries profound implications for its relations with the United States and
regional stability.
Iraq
stands out as the sole Arab state that has steadfastly refused to sign an
armistice agreement with Israel since the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Technically,
Iraq remains in a state of war with Israel—a historical enmity that
significantly influences its stance in the present conflict. Iraq not only refuses
to recognize Israel as a state but has also passed laws criminalizing any ties
with the country. This long-standing antagonism forms the backdrop against
which Iraq’s current position on the Hamas-Israel conflict is crafted.
Amid the
surprising attack by Hamas on October 7, Iraq faced conflicting positions. The
official stance of the Iraqi government is centered on diplomatic efforts to
end the conflict, advocating for Palestinian statehood in the long term, and
creating open humanitarian corridors for Gazans. Parliament Speaker Mohamed
Al-Halbousi called for an Arab parliament summit in Baghdad, highlighting
Iraq’s proactive approach to addressing regional conflicts.
On the
day of Hamas’s attack, the Iraqi government issued a statement reaffirming
Baghdad’s unwavering commitment to the Palestinian cause. It blamed Israel for
the consequences of the attack as “a natural result of the systematic
oppression they have been subjected to since ancient times at the hands of the
Zionist [Israel] occupation authority.” It emphasized that Iraq stands with the
Palestinian people in their pursuit of legitimate rights and unequivocally
condemned any injustices and usurpations that obstruct the path to Palestinian
statehood.
Furthermore,
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani engaged in a significant
diplomatic move by initiating a phone call with Arab and regional leaders. He
also received a call from US President Joe Biden on October 16, reflecting the
United States’ realization of the Gaza conflict’s impact on the entire region
and Iraq’s role. Their discussion primarily revolved around the situation in
Gaza, with Sudani urging President Biden to support opening a humanitarian
corridor in Gaza and emphasizing the need for international intervention in the
face of escalating hostilities.
Challenges
in Iraq-US relations
The
United States has a history of tensions and confrontations with several Iraqi
Shia armed groups that are integral to the Iraqi political process while
operating independently from its military apparatus. These militias—many of
them aligned with Iran—have been involved in multiple attacks on US interests
in Iraq and Syria over the last seven years. However, since the inauguration of
Prime Minister Sudani in October 2022, tensions between the United States and
these groups in Iraq have significantly decreased. This reduction can be
attributed partly to the majority of these armed groups aligning with Sudani’s
coalition to form a government, necessitating a temporary truce with the United
States.
However,
the conflict in Gaza adds complexity to Iraq’s relationship with the United
States, especially as various armed groups and political figures have already
resumed rocket and drone attacks on US interests in Iraq since October 7. This
threat is poised to intensify as long as the Hamas-Israel conflict continues.
Several pro-Iranian Iraqi militia commanders, including prominent figures like
Hadi al-Amiri of the Badr Brigade and groups like Kataib Hezbollah, have issued
belligerent statements praising Hamas’s attack and made threats against US
interests in Iraq should the United States intervene on Israel’s behalf.
Additionally,
Muqtada al-Sadr, an influential Shia cleric and a significant political voice
within Iraq, called on the Iraqi government to formally end the US mission in
Iraq and close the embassy. However, he rejected violent methods to target US
diplomats but warned that he would consider taking other measures if the Iraqi
government did not respond to his request. This is partly related to the intra-Shia
rivalry between Pro-Iranian camps and the Sadr bloc. However, the Palestinian
issue remains a sensitive and popular topic in Iraq, garnering support from
most Iraqi political figures.
Moreover,
the US remains a crucial partner for Iraq in the fight against the Islamic
State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). Iraq’s economy also highly depends on its
relations with the United States and Iraq’s central bank heavily relies on US
Federal Reserve policies and access to its $100 billion foreign currency reserve.
Another element to consider is how, despite US sanctions on Iran, the United
States granted Iraq certain sanctions waivers—such as for electricity—to
conduct business with Tehran. These examples all highlight the importance of
the US-Iraq relationship.
Iraq’s
stability at stake
US
Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s November 5 visit to Baghdad holds immense
significance given that Iraq is and will continue to be impacted by the Gaza
war. Iraq stands out as the only country in the region that accommodates
thousands of US forces and historically anti-US, pro-Iranian armed groups,
underscoring Iraq’s exceptional and precarious role in the broader geopolitical
landscape. Consequently, Prime Minister Sudani faces an exceptionally
challenging predicament: he must maintain a delicate balance between the
interests of the United States and the armed groups that serve as partners
within his government while having significant political leverage over it.
Therefore,
inaction by Sudani to meet the demands of various actors within Iraq is not an
option. That may lead to him being removed from office, causing political and
security instability in the country and further complicating the fragile
situation. This poses a risk to US-Iraq relations and the broader Middle East,
as it becomes increasingly complex for the prime minister to balance the
demands of influential militias while maintaining the relationship with the
United States. This nuanced situation underscores the critical importance of
Secretary Blinken’s visit in navigating these complex dynamics and promoting
stability in the region.
Prime
Minister Sudani knows the value of US ties and has shown support for continuous
US troop presence in Iraq. However, as the Gaza war escalates, the prime
minister may lose control and come under massive pressure from within his
coalition and his rivals like Sadr. In this precarious environment, a peaceful
diplomatic solution remains the most prudent method to avoid further
instability and spillover of the conflict to the wider region.
Source: shafaq.com
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In Gaza,
hospital procedures without anaesthetics prompted screams, prayers
November
10, 2023
GAZA:
The little girl was weeping in pain and screaming “Mummy, Mummy” while the
nurse stitched up her head wound without using any anaesthetic, because none
was available at the time at Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
That was
one of the worst moments nurse Abu Emad Hassanein could recall as he described
the struggle to deal with an unprecedented influx of wounded people and a
dearth of pain relief medication since the war in Gaza started a month ago.
“Sometimes
we give some of them sterile gauze (to bite on) to reduce the pain,” said
Hassanein.
“We know
that the pain they feel is more than someone would imagine, beyond what someone
their age would stand,” he said, referring to children like the girl with the
head wound.
Arriving
at Al Shifa to have the dressing changed and disinfectant applied to a wound on
his back caused by an air strike, Nemer Abu Thair, a middle-aged man, said that
he was given no pain relief when the wound was originally stitched up.
“I kept
reciting the Qur’an until they finished,” he said.
The war
started on Oct. 7 when Hamas gunmen burst through the Gaza Strip’s border fence
with southern Israel. Israel says Hamas killed 1,400 people and abducted 240,
in the worst day of carnage in Israel’s history.
Israel
responded with an air, sea and ground assault on the densely populated,
Hamas-controlled enclave, which health officials in Gaza say has killed more
than 10,800 Palestinians.
Mohammad
Abu Selmeyah, the director of Al Shifa Hospital, said that when very large
numbers of injured people have been brought in at the same time, there has been
no choice but to deal with them on the floor, without adequate pain relief.
He gave
as an example the immediate aftermath of an explosion at the Al Ahli Arab
Hospital on Oct. 17, when he said some 250 injured people arrived at Al Shifa,
which has only 12 operating theaters.
“If we
had waited to operate on them one by one, we would have lost many of the
wounded,” said Abu Selmeyah.
“We were
forced to operate on the ground and without anaesthesia, or using simple
anaesthesia or weak pain killers to save lives,” he said.
Procedures
that have been performed by staff at Al Shifa under such circumstances have
included amputating limbs and fingers, stitching up serious wounds, and
treating serious burns, said Abu Selmeyah, without elaborating.
PAIN OR
DEATH
“It is
painful for the medical team. It is not simple. It is either the patient
suffers pain or loses his life,” he said.
Israel
said the blast at the Al Ahli Arab Hospital was caused by a failed rocket
launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group. Palestinian Islamic
Jihad and Hamas blamed an Israeli air strike.
Israel’s
ally the United States said its own intelligence assessment supported Israel’s
explanation.
At
Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip, director Dr.
Mohammad Zaqout said there had been a period early on in the war when
anaesthetic supplies ran out completely until aid trucks were allowed in.
“Some
procedures were carried out without anaesthesia, including Caesarian sections
on women, and we were also forced to operate on some burns that way too,” said
Zaqout.
He said
that staff did their best to alleviate patients’ pain with other, weaker
medications, but this was inadequate.
“This is
not the ideal solution for a patient inside an operating theater, who we want
to operate on with full anaesthesia,” he said.
For the
first 12 days of the war, no aid was allowed into Gaza. On Oct. 21, a first
convoy of aid trucks came in through the Rafah Crossing on the strip’s border
with Egypt. Since then, several convoys have entered, but the United Nations
and international aid groups say the aid provided is nowhere near the scale
needed to mitigate a humanitarian catastrophe.
Zaqout
added that while the shortage of anaesthesia had been eased at his own hospital
thanks to aid deliveries, there were still severe shortages at Al Shifa and at
the Indonesian Hospital, both of which are in the heavily bombarded north of
the strip.
Source: arabnews.com
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2406461/middle-east
------
Islamic
Jihad releases two videos of hostages; Israel calls it 'psychological terror'
November
10, 2023
The Palestinian
Islamic Jihad (PIJ) has released the video of two Israeli hostages - a
70-year-old woman and a 13-year-old boy - abducted during the October 7
attacks, which shows them accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of
causing the ongoing situation.
The
videos come as Mossad chief David Barnea and CIA director William Burns meet Qatar Prime Minister Sheikh
Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani to discuss the hostage crisis. Though Hamas
has earlier released videos of hostages, it is the first time that Islamic
Jihad is posting footage of hostages it is holding.
While
one clip shows an elderly woman, identified as Hannah Katzir, in a wheelchair,
the next shows 13-year-old Yagil Yaakov. Both, kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz,
speak in Hebrew in the 3-minute-long clip.
The
Islamic Jihad said it was prepared to release them for humanitarian and medical
reasons, but only if "appropriate measures" were met.
Israel
described the videos as an important sign of life but declined to say whether
they would be released. That would play into the captors' "psychological
terror", it said.
IDF
spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the military "was not passing up
any opportunity and we will not pass up any opportunity to bring the hostages
home." He also urged the families of the captives and the public not to
listen to media reports and rumours about hostage releases or rescues and said
the IDF would update the families with any real news.
Meanwhile,
Mossad chief David Barnea and CIA director William Burns met with Qatari Prime
Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani on Thursday. Their meeting
happened after the Qatari mediators met with Hamas officials on Wednesday night
and discussed potential parameters of a deal, reported Reuters.
The
advantage of the meeting was to bring all three parties together at one table
in real-time to speed up the process, Reuters quoted a source. Besides, the spy
chiefs also discussed allowing humanitarian imports of fuel into Gaza. The
talks also touched on a release of 10-15 hostages in exchange for a one- to
two-day humanitarian pause in the war that is devastating Gaza, the report
added.
Burns
was in Israel earlier this week for the first time since the outbreak of war,.
The CIA director also visited UAE and Egypt during his regional tour.
Meanwhile,
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said there was "no real proposal that is
viable from Hamas’s side" on the table for the release of hostages.
"Whilst there are many, many people who are third parties who are sending
optimistic messages to the newsreels, I’m saying outright: According to my
knowledge, up to now, there is no real substantial information that is showing
any real offer of any process on the table," he told NBC News in an
interview.
Source: theweek.in
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South Asia
Pakistan
Should Not Blame Afghanistan for Insecurity: Mujahid
Naweed
Samadi
November
9, 2023
The
spokesman of the Islamic Emirate, Zabihullah Mujahid, in response to the
remarks of the caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan, said that Islamabad should
not blame its failure to provide security on others.
Mujahid
said: “We must say that just as the Islamic Emirate wants peace and stability
in Afghanistan, it also wants peace in Pakistan.”
“As the
security of Afghanistan is important to us, we want that Pakistan be secure
too. We are not in favor of war in Pakistan. Secondly, the issue that there is
insecurity in Pakistan, they [Pakistan] should ensure its security, and they
should not blame Afghanistan for it,” Mujahid noted.
Earlier,
Pakistan's interim prime minister called the Islamic Emirate's remarks about
the deportation of refugees from the country "threatening."
Anwaar
ul Haq Kakar said that Kabul and Islamabad must work to expand their relations.
According
to the spokesman, the weapons of the American forces are in safe places and
will not pose any threat to the neighboring countries.
“Weapons
are safe in Afghanistan, they are not stolen, arms smuggling is prohibited and
all illegal activities are prevented,” Mujahid said in a statement.
Meanwhile,
the acting Minister of Interior, Sirajuddin Haqqani, during his visit to
Torkham crossing, said that Pakistan should have been a good host for Afghan
immigrants as in the past four decades.
“Due to
the problems, our immigrants went to the Muslim and brotherly country and they
gave a lot of respect to Afghans at that time, good and bad times passed,”
Haqqani noted.
Some
analysts have different views regarding the future relations between Kabul and
Islamabad.
“There
are different parties in Pakistan that do not agree with the government of
Pakistan and the law of Pakistan, they oppose their government,” said Sayed
Ishaq Gailani, the leader of the Afghan People's Solidarity Movement.
“Afghan
immigrants have been there for 44 years, since the year 1979, and it has been
10-15 years since instability rose and continues there [Pakistan], and they
want to hide their failure,” said Mohammad Ajmal Zurmati, a political analyst.
Pakistan
announced in early October that it would expel an estimated 1.7 million
undocumented immigrants including Afghan immigrants who remained in the country
after November 1.
Pakistan
on November 1 began rounding up undocumented foreigners, the vast majority of
them Afghans, and so far nearly fifty-five thousand Afghan immigrants have
entered Afghanistan through Torkham crossing.
Source: tolonews.com
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https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-185954
------
Iran and
Tajikistan reiterate call for inclusive Government in Afghanistan
Fidel
Rahmati
November
9, 2023
Iranian
President Ebrahim Raisi, in a joint press conference with Tajikistan’s
President Imam Ali Rahman, expressed their shared concerns about Afghanistan.
Tehran and Dushanbe share common apprehensions regarding the situation in
Afghanistan, Raisi stated.
Iranian
media have reported that on Wednesday, during a meeting President Imam Ali
Rahman of Tajikistan attended, Ebrahim Raisi once again emphasized the need to
establish an inclusive government in Afghanistan.
According
to reports from foreign media, both sides discussed bilateral issues and the
situation in Afghanistan during this meeting. It is worth mentioning that Iran
and Tajikistan have emphasized that the current situation and issues related to
Afghanistan are a common concern for both countries.
These
remarks come as Iran and Tajikistan have consistently insisted on the
establishment of an inclusive government in Afghanistan. However, the Taliban
administration has repeatedly accused neighbouring countries and regional
powers of interfering in Afghanistan’s internal affairs and has claimed that
Afghanistan currently has an inclusive government.
During
this meeting, the continuation and enhancement of cooperation between Tehran
and Dushanbe were also emphasized, and several “new” agreements on economic,
trade, transportation, cultural, scientific, educational, and sports
cooperation between the two countries were signed.
This
joint press conference between Ebrahim Raisi and Imam Ali Rahman takes place.
At the same time, Mullah Abdul Ghani brother, the acting Minister of Economy of
the Taliban administration, has also travelled to Iran and discussed many
economic issues with Iranian authorities.
Source: khaama.com
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https://www.khaama.com/iran-and-tajikistan-reiterate-call-for-inclusive-government-in-afghanistan/
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Baradar
Urges Iran to Ease Afghan Access to Chabahar Port
Fidel
Rahmati
November
9, 2023
During
his official visit to Iran, Acting Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar called upon the Iranian authorities to ease
Afghanistan’s access to the Chabahar port.
He
emphasized boosting Afghan imports and exports through this crucial seaport.
Baradar personally visited Chabahar port as part of his trip, underlining the
significance of this request.
In
meetings with Chabahar port officials, Baradar stressed the need for
Afghanistan to enhance its trade activities by utilizing this strategic port.
According to media outlets, he urged Iranian authorities to facilitate
Afghanistan’s access to Chabahar, enabling the country to send its exports to
the international market efficiently.
Iranian
officials responded positively to Baradar’s request, pledging support and
collaboration with technical teams to expedite increased trade through Chabahar
Port, potentially allowing imports and exports to commence as early as
tomorrow.
Chabahar
Port is pivotal for Afghanistan’s access to critical markets in India, China,
Europe, and the Middle East, bolstering trade and global ties. It holds
particular economic importance for Central Asia, offering a shorter,
cost-effective route compared to Bandar Abbas and Karachi, positioning it as a
crucial trade and transit hub, facilitating swift access to international
markets for Afghanistan.
In a
meeting with Iran’s Supreme National Security Council head, Abdul Ghani Baradar
discussed enhancing political and economic relations, improving border
coordination, water management, transit, and boosting Afghan exports and
imports through Iran.
Source: khaama.com
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------
Afghanistan’s
absence at 16th ECO Summit in Tashkent
Fidel
Rahmati
November
9, 2023
The 16h
summit of the leaders of the member countries of the Economic Cooperation
Organization (ECO) took place in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. However, Afghanistan’s
seat at this summit remained vacant, with no representative from Kabul being
invited to attend.
On
Thursday, leaders from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey,
Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan gathered for this meeting.
The
focal point of this meeting revolves around discussions on economic
cooperation, investment, and transportation in the region.
Shirzad
Asadov, the head of the Office of the President of Uzbekistan, told the media
in his country that Afghanistan is a member of the ECO organization but has yet
to be invited to this meeting due to political developments in 2021.
The ECO
organization was established in 1984 to promote economic cooperation in the
region by Turkey, Pakistan, and Iran.
The head
of the Office of the President of Uzbekistan added that the Taliban’s
participation will be practical if there is consensus among the members of this
organization and the current administration of Afghanistan is recognized by the
international community.
This
summit underscores the importance of regional economic collaboration and the
evolving political landscape in the region, particularly regarding
Afghanistan’s role in regional organizations like ECO.
Source: khaama.com
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https://www.khaama.com/afghanistans-absence-at-16th-eco-summit-in-tashkent/
------
Khalil
Rahman Haqqani Visits Refugees from Iran in Nimroz
November
9, 2023
The
acting Minister of Refugees and Repatriation, who traveled to Nimroz to
investigate the situation of refugees returning from Iran, criticized the
mistreatment of Afghan refugees by Iranian forces.
Khalil
Rahman Haqqani added that the caretaker government is trying to prevent illegal
immigration to neighbors and other countries by providing work opportunities in
the country.
A number
of newly returned refugees complained about the mistreatment of the Iranian
forces.
Abdul
Ghafar Azizi said in his report that thousands of Afghan refugees enter the
country via Pul-e Abrishum every day. The acting Minister of Refugees and
Repatriation, who traveled to this province to investigate the situation of
refugees, criticized the mistreatment of Afghan refugees by Iranian forces.
“Unfortunately,
the Afghan refugees that I saw here they have lots of problems and challenges,
they complain of the mistreatment of Iranian militaries,” said Khalil Rahman
Haqqani, the acting Minister of Refugees and Repatriation.
He added
that the Islamic Emirate has started efforts to provide employment
opportunities inside the country, so that these young people do not have to
leave the country.
"We
want to provide work opportunities for them inside the country so these young
people do not have to leave the country and can also continue their studies,”
Haqqani said.
However,
a number of refugees who were recently expelled from Iran spoke of the
mistreatment of the police in that country.
“We lost
everything, every base that we went to, they took our money and beat us,
Afghans have no value there,” said Besmellah, a returnee.
“They
arrest us, take our money and beat us, we cannot find work in our country, we
leave our families and go to Iran,” said Mahiuddin, a returnee.
Based on
the information of Nimroz local officials, in the last six months, around 500
bodies of Afghan refugees who died in that country due to various causes have
been repatriated.
Source: tolonews.com
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https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-185958
------
Haqqani
slams Pakistan’s treatment of migrants as ‘unfair’
November
9, 2023
Sirajuddin
Haqqani, Acting Minister of Interior Affairs, said during a trip to Nangarhar
province on Wednesday, to meet returning refugees from Pakistan, that
Islamabad’s treatment of the migrants was unfair, and that he was offended by
their actions.
“The
whole nation and the whole system are sad for you; in other words, we are also
annoyed with our neighbors; we wish they didn’t have such weak morals; it
wasn’t suitable for them and these problems come upon all of us; and life with
respect and dignity, that I like for myself, I also want for others.
“We
fought in Afghanistan for honor. Today, if there is hunger and if there are
problems, I am with honor,” Haqqani said.
While
appreciating the efforts of the various departments to establish camps and
provide services to the returning refugees, he assured the migrants that the
Islamic Emirate will provide more facilities for them.
Haqqani
said: “Today you are safe from many problems, no one will dishonor you in an
illegitimate manner.” He also called on other migrants to return home.
“In
appearance you returned to the country with many problems, but you were
accepted in your homeland with great respect,” said Haqqani.
According
to Mr. Haqqani, providing services for returning migrants is one of the
priorities of the Islamic Emirate.
“The
leadership of the Islamic Emirate is committed to addressing all your needs
within the framework of law, Islam and patriotism,” said Haqqani.
He also
thanked businessmen in the country for helping the returning migrants.
Also,
during his visit to Nangarhar, local businessmen together with the Haqqani
announced that they have given 20 million Afghanis to help the returnees.
At the
same time, a number of returnees thanked the IEA for their efforts to ease their
return.
Since
the beginning of the forced deportation of immigrants from Pakistan, more than
50,000 families have returned to the country through Torkham crossing, local
officials said. According to them, the process of transferring migrants to
their provinces of origin has also been accelerated.
A number
of immigrants who have been deported from Pakistan want the government to
provide them with permanent shelter.
Source: ariananews.af
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https://www.ariananews.af/haqqani-slams-pakistans-treatment-of-migrants-as-unfair/
------
Preparations
made to address migrants’ needs in Balkh: official
November
10, 2023
Local
officials in Balkh province say preparations are made to support and address
the issues of immigrants who have been recently evicted from Pakistan.
The
deputy governor of Balkh Noorul Hadi Abu Idris said that the establishment of a
camp with tents, the provision of health services, and the provision of food
items are among the most important preparations of the local government for
Afghan returnees.
Abu
Idris stated that this temporary camp includes tents, food, clothing, health
services, and other necessities to deal with the problems of the migrants in a
timely manner.
“The gate
that is in Mazar-e-Sharif city, we created a camp there; we identify there;
there is a computer; everything is ready there. For everyone who wants to move
there, there are tents, clothes, and blankets,” said Idris.
“The
authorities are ready for the emigrants; a committee has been established for
this issue in Balkh, and large meetings have been held. We have held meetings
with traders, money changers, national and international institutions, and
NGOs, and they have given us assurance,” said Asadullah Wafa, head of Balkh
migrants.
According
to statistics, after the forced deportation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan,
about 1,000 families have come to Balkh province.
Some
families have expressed their satisfaction with the opportunities provided by
the Islamic Emirate.
It
should be mentioned that since the last month, more than 3,000 families have
returned to Balkh from Pakistan, and their problems have been addressed by the
relevant authorities.
Source: ariananews.af
Please click the following URL to read the
full text of the original
https://www.ariananews.af/preparations-made-to-address-migrants-needs-in-balkh-official/
------
Africa
Boko
Haram commanders, weapons now military’s main target – DHQ
10th
November 2023
The
Defence Headquarters says the anti-terror fight is now focused on eliminating
commanders of terror groups and bandits.
The DHQ
also said the infrastructure of these terrorist and bandit groups and their
foot soldiers would not be spared across the various theatres of operations.
Speaking
during the bi-weekly briefing on the activities of the military across the
country on Thursday in Abuja, the Director, Defence Media Operations, Maj.
Gen. Edward Buba, said the
terrorists and bandits were already counting their loss.
He
said, “There is no doubt that these
groups must be defeated and are indeed being defeated. It is for this reason we
are inflicting severe damage on the terrorist, insurgents, and violent
extremists through our operations across the country.
“Accordingly,
we are targeting their leadership, infrastructure, and foot soldiers. The
coordination between the air and ground forces is like never seen before and is
yielding amazing results and achievements. “
Buba
said no fewer than 113 terrorists were killed and 300 arrested in the last
week.
He said,
“The operations of the last one week resulted in 113 neutralised terrorists
with 300 of them arrested. Troops also arrested 25 perpetrators of oil theft
and rescued 91 kidnapped hostages. In the SS, troops denied oil theft of the
estimated sum of N571,793,350.00 only.”
Buba
added that troops recovered 129 assorted weapons and 717 assorted ammunition.
Buba, however,
warned troops on the frontline against human rights violations.
He
said, “It is important to highlight that
the AFN is a disciplined well-trained force that conducts its operation within
the ambit of laws governing human rights and that of armed conflict. We have
rules of engagement that are followed in the course of our actions.
Nevertheless, there are standing court martials to put on trial any erring
personnel that is found wanting during operations.”
Source: punchng.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://punchng.com/boko-haram-commanders-weapons-now-militarys-main-target-dhq/#:~:text=The%20Defence%20Headquarters%20says%20the,the%20various%20theatres%20of%20operations.
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'Daesh
broke us': Displaced Malians find refuge in Kidal after fleeing jihadist
attacks
10th
November 2023
In the
aftermath of jihadist violence in the Talataye region of north-east Mali, a
group of displaced people has sought refuge in the town of Kidal, where they
face the harsh reality of starting anew with minimal possessions. The displaced
individuals, having fled the brutality of Daesh (ISIS), share their stories of
loss and resilience.
Mahamad
Almghtar Ag Lahsan, an internally displaced person, describes the devastating
impact of Daesh on their lives: "Daesh broke us. They didn't leave us any
livestock or household goods; they even took our blankets. They took away
everything that was essential to our lives, and they killed many people."
Inawelane
Ag Akli, another displaced person, expresses a longing for their own place,
where they own and tend to their livestock, emphasizing the significant connection
they have with their original homes: "We prefer our own place because we
own and tend our livestock, and we have our whole lives there. As for this
place, no one owns an animal or anything; we live solely on the mercy of God
and the hospitality of the people of Kidal."
The
displaced individuals have found shelter in a camp adjacent to the town of
Kidal, where they have erected a few basic tents to call home. Their
possessions are minimal, enough to survive in their new reality. The journey to
Kidal was not easy, as many of them walked for several days through the
unforgiving desert to reach a place of relative safety.
Mabrouk
Ag Tawad, the coordinator of the humanitarian commission in Kidal, sheds light
on the efforts being made to support the displaced individuals: "So we've
undertaken a number of actions to help them settle in, and we've done a lot of
advocacy to get humanitarian actors to step in and help them." Despite the
challenges they face, there is a collective effort to provide assistance and
support to those who have been displaced by the ongoing conflict.
The camp
in Kidal serves as a temporary haven, where these individuals hope to find
solace and support as they navigate the challenges of displacement and work
towards rebuilding their futures.
Source: africanews.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.africanews.com/2023/11/09/daesh-broke-us-displaced-malians-find-refuge-in-kidal-after-fleeing-jihadist-attacks/
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Children
are dying of hunger in the Eastern Cape – declare a disaster, urges Human
Rights Commission
09 Nov
2023
Between
August 2022 and September 2023, 1,722 cases of severe acute malnutrition in
children were diagnosed in the Eastern Cape. Of these, 101 died, as did another
13 who were diagnosed with moderate to severe acute malnutrition.
Thousands
more presented with symptoms but were sent to other facilities for treatment.
The
provincial health department only keeps statistics for children under five.
On
Thursday 9 November, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) found,
following an in-depth investigation, that child hunger in the Eastern Cape
qualifies as a disaster and should be declared as such under the Disaster
Management Act.
The
SAHRC has said this might ensure a more coordinated response to the crisis by
the provincial government.
The
Eastern Cape head of the SAHRC, Dr Eileen Carter, said the data provided to
them in August 2022 showed that, from 2021 to 2022, more than 1,000 children
were diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition in the province and almost 120 of
them had died.
It also
showed that 25% of the province’s children are stunted – that’s one in four
children.
“But
this condition is underreported,” she said. “It is a much bigger issue than
what the data is showing,” Carter said.
The
SAHRC has advised of remedial steps to be taken by both the national government
and the provincial government and has set reporting deadlines for this between
three and six months.
After
the Eastern Cape Department of Health reported an increase in infant mortality
due to malnutrition, the Department of Social Development initiated an
intervention programme targeting 800 women with children under five who were
diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition.
Read
more in Daily Maverick: Cruelty to Children: What are we doing to our kids?
The
Children’s Institute at the University of Cape Town also found that eight
million children in South Africa live in food poverty, meaning they lack
sufficient food to meet their basic nutritional needs.
The food
poverty line in South Africa, representing the minimum amount needed to spend
every month on food for basic nutrition, is R624 per month per person – higher
than the child support grant of R480 per month per child.
This
discrepancy means many children in South Africa cannot afford enough food to
meet their nutritional needs.
According
to the SAHRC report, “distressing circumstances” were reported by Red Cross
volunteers about the living conditions of children in the province.
These
included severe food shortages, mismanagement of childcare grants, and dire living
conditions without proper sanitation, clothing, blankets and mattresses for
children.
“The
submission expressed deep concern regarding the prevailing levels of poverty
and hunger, expected to worsen due to high unemployment rates, rising food and
fuel costs, increased vulnerability to crime, substance abuse, rising HIV
rates, teenage pregnancy, and inadequate government pensions and grants,” the
report continued.
“The Red
Cross furthermore underscored the issue of food insecurity and malnutrition
among children, highlighting basic rights such as access to food, nutrition,
healthcare, schooling and shelter.”
Their
services included childcare grants, school feeding schemes and assistance for
vulnerable children affected by HIV/Aids. They emphasised the need for
collaborative efforts with civil society to develop self-sustainable
communities and break the cycle of dependence on government and donors.
The
Children’s Institute highlighted the worrying prevalence of food poverty in the
Eastern Cape, a province where nearly one in every five food-poor children in
the country call home.
“It also
examined the concept of poverty lines and the calculation of the food poverty
line, which is based on the consumption habits of impoverished individuals. The
submission included a reference food basket for these poverty lines,
encompassing various food items such as grain products, fish, meat, poultry,
fruits and vegetables, dairy products, oils and fats, beverages, and
miscellaneous items.
“The
report emphasised the stark disparity between wealthier and poorer households
regarding their ability to afford nutritious foods.
“The
widening gap between the child support grant value and the food poverty line
was identified as a critical concern, limiting its effectiveness in reducing
poverty.
“The
submission recommended several actions to address child poverty and improve
access to basic nutrition. These included increasing the child support grant
amount to at least match the food poverty line, prioritising younger children
for the increase, ensuring children without birth certificates can receive the
grant, and prioritising birth registration of unregistered children.”
Unicef
also submitted a comprehensive report to the inquiry, highlighting that 2.5
million children in South Africa are experiencing poor growth due to a lack of
nutritious food. DM
Source: dailymaverick.co.za
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-11-09-children-are-dying-of-hunger-in-the-eastern-cape-declare-a-disaster-urges-human-rights-commission/
--------
Kogi
Guber Election: I Won’t Be Muslim, Christian Governor – Melaye
10
November 2023
Olugbenga
Ige
The
candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the November 11 Kogi
governorship election, Senator Dino Melaye, has promised not to govern the
state by religion or ethnicity.
Speaking
at the governorship campaign’s grand finale at the state party secretariat in
Lokoja, the state capital, on Thursday, Melaye said that if elected, he would
govern the state with the fear of God.
Addressing
party supporters, Melaye vowed to industrialise and explore the vast mineral
resources available in the state and improve the internally generated revenue
through tourism which he said would attract investors.
Melaye
asserted that out of the 18 contestants jostling to be the governor of the
state, he was the most qualified, experienced, educated and exposed.
He said,
“I will not be a Muslim governor, I will not be a Christian governor, I will
not be an Egbira governor, I will not be an Okun governor, but I will govern
with the fear of God.”
Speaking
further, Melaye promised that those sacked by the present government during the
screening exercise would be recalled within six months, and their arrears would
be paid in full.
He
added: “Don’t vote for the small parties that have no keyholders, without
anything to offer; this is your opportunity to free yourselves from the grip of
tyranny.”
Source: naijanews.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.naijanews.com/2023/11/10/kogi-guber-election-i-wont-be-muslim-christian-governor-melaye/
------
Muslim
group partners with UNHCR to raise N500 million for IDPs
Owede
Agbajileke, Abuja
10
November 2023
A
non-governmental organisation, Al-Habibiyyah Islamic Society (Zakat
Foundation), has partnered with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees
(UNHCR) to raise N500 million for Internally-Displaced Persons (IDPs) in
Nigeria.
This is
even as the UN body has called for legal protection for the over three million
IDPs in the country.
Deputy
Regional Manager, UNHCR, Shadi Ghrawi, who disclosed this during a workshop for
members of the Foundation in Abuja, yesterday, tasked the Federal Government
and the international community on swift and stronger response to the plight of
displaced people following violence and insurgent attacks in some parts of the
country.
He said
the workshop was organised to strengthen retention and fundraising efforts of
the Foundation through the application of personalised donor stewardship plans.
“In
Nigeria, there are more than three million IDPs. And UNHCR is working with
different partners to provide them with humanitarian support,” he said.
Also
speaking, Chief Imam, Al-Habibiyyah Islamic Society, Fuad Adeyemi, said the
organisation was the first to benefit from the international agency’s
partnership with NGOs in raising funds for IDPs, noting that participants were
drawn from all parts of the country.
Source: guardian.ng
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://guardian.ng/news/muslim-group-partners-with-unhcr-to-raise-n500-million-for-idps/
------
Katsina
gov condemns terrorists’ killings
10
November 2023
Katsina
State Governor, Dikko Radda, has condemned the recent attacks and killing of
innocent souls in some parts of the state by suspected bandits.
He said
the recent killings of dozens of persons and the abduction of several others in
parts of the state were reprisal attacks by marauding terrorists.
In a
statement by the state’s Commissioner for Information and Culture, Dr Bala
Salisu-Zango Radda, who vowed to make the state a living hell for bandits and
banditry activities, gave the condemnation and vow while on a condolence visit
to Musawa where about 17 persons were killed by the bandits during a Maulud
procession.
According
to him, the governor has vehemently condemned the killings, especially in
Musawa, Danmusa, Matazu and Faskari local councils of the state.
The
governor, while reiterating his administration’s determination to chase and
defeat the bandits to their enclaves, also commiserated with the people of the
affected communities who lost their loved ones.
He said:
“I am profoundly shocked by the killing of innocent people by wicked and
heartless bandits in some of our communities.
“Let me
express my sympathy to the people of these communities, the family members of
the victims, and the people of Katsina State at large for the losses.”
He
further said that no stone would be left unturned in his government’s
commitment to fighting banditry and restoring peace and stability.
MEANWHILE,
the Kaduna State chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has said
that the Christian community in the state spent N250 million as ransom to
rescue 121 students of Baptist High School, who were kidnapped by terrorists in
July 2021.
Chairman
of CAN, Kaduna State, Revd Joseph John Hayab, who disclosed this when led the
parents and family members of Treasure Ayuba, the last Bethel student who
escaped from captivity about a week ago, on a courtesy visit to Governor Uba
Sani, said there is need to clear the air on the erroneous information being
circulated that it was the student that opted to remain with the bandits.
He said:
“There was nothing like that as the boy does not look like someone who would
take such decision.”
According
to Hayab, the bandits took several measures for Treasure not to be released,
including twice snatching of those that took ransom money to them.”
“A total
sum of N250 million was paid as ransom to rescue the 121 students. Today, we
gather here with a mix of feelings – relief, joy, and gratitude. We are here to
welcome back Treasure Ayuba, the last of the kidnapped students of Bethel
Baptist High School, Kaduna, that were matched out while in their sleep in the
school hostel and kidnapped on the night of July 5, 2021 by bandits.”
“To the
knowledge of CAN, over N250 million was paid as ransom to get the 121 kidnapped
children out from their captors, but for Treasure, his story became a
heart-breaking one.
“For the
avoidance of doubts, CAN is aware of the firm efforts made by the boy’s family,
relations, and well-wishers to get him back home.
“Treasure’s
abduction, along with his fellow schoolchildren, remains a painful reminder of
the challenges we face as a nation. The kidnapping of school children and
students from a school facility is a stark harsh reality of the threats to our
educational institutions and the safety of our young ones,” he added.
Source: guardian.ng
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://guardian.ng/news/katsina-gov-condemns-terrorists-killings/
------
Pakistan
Pakistani
PM urges ECO countries to push for ceasefire in Gaza
November
09, 2023
Caretaker
Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar has stressed for making Economic Cooperation
Organization more vibrant and efficient through accelerated reforms to realize
its full potential.
Addressing
the 16th ECO Summit in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, he said a well-connected region
can bring colossal economic and peace dividends for people.
The
Prime Minister termed the corridor based approach adopted by the ECO to
maximize potential a step in the right direction.
He said
the corridor projects will facilitate an enabling environment for the private
sector to widen business and investment opportunities.
Terming
operationalization of Istanbul-Tehran-Islamabad corridor a significant
development, he said Pakistan is upgrading its rail and road infrastructure to
facilitate trade with the neighbors and beyond.
He
said it is imperative that more border
crossing points in the ECO regional are notified so that trade operations are
facilitated.
Anwaar ul
Haq Kakar said Afghanistan has a critical role in regional connectivity.
He said
Projects such as CASA 1000, Trans Afghan railways, TAPI and others are
strategic investments in shared future.
He said
Pakistan looks forward to working closely with other ECO countries towards the
shared goal of building a peaceful, prosperous and interconnected Afghanistan.
The
Prime Minister pointed out that the ECO trade agreement quota is a landmark
preferential trade arrangement.
Highlighting
the latest development in the investment landscape of Pakistan, he said the
government has established a Special Investment Facilitation Council that will
serve as single window platform for cooperation in five key sectors including
agriculture, defense production, IT, energy and mining.
Denouncing
Israeli atrocities in Gaza, the Prime Minister said this issue needs to be
addressed in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.
He urged
the ECO member countries to push for a ceasefire in Gaza and support the call
for provision of humanitarian assistance.
Highlighting
the Indian atrocities in illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Anwaar ul Haq
Kakar said Pakistan continues to rely on its fraternal ECO countries to support
the exercise of right to self-determination by the people of Kashmir in the
light of relevant UNSC resolutions.
The
Prime Minister underscored the importance of regional cooperation amongst the
member states for promotion of trade, investment, connectivity, development of
transport and communications infrastructure, and sustainable economic
development.
He also
invited international attention on the growing intolerance, xenophobia and
Islamophobia and called for building political and legal deterrence against the
abhorrent rise of Islamophobia while fostering mutual respect, interfaith
harmony and peaceful coexistence.
Source: radio.gov.pk
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.radio.gov.pk/09-11-2023/caretaker-pm-calls-for-making-eco-more-vibrant-efficient
------
Nawaz,
Imran should get justice before polls: Javed
November
10, 2023
LAHORE:
PMLN leader and former federal minister Javed Latif has said Nawaz Sharif and
Imran Khan should get justice before elections.
Addressing
a press conference at the Lahore Press Club here on Thursday, he said if anyone
was guilty, he should be punished. What happened on May 9 cannot be forgiven,
the plant of democracy should be nurtured, but nurturing the plant of May 9
will be wrong and there should be no forgiveness for the May 9 mastermind.
“When we talk about the Constitution, it is said there is no due process,” he
said, adding that President Arif Alvi should have written a letter of shame on
the attack on the PTV. Today it is being said there was not a level-playing field.
The president is giving speeches, but the level-playing field was that a date
should be fixed for the pending cases of Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan and they
should get justice before elections.
He said
the impression was being given that Nawaz Sharif was going to form a national
government. “We will form a national government to pull Pakistan out of the
vortex,” he said and added that even today facilitation was being done for the
PTI chairman.
Source: thenews.com.pk
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1127615-nawaz-imran-should-get-justice-before-polls-javed
------
Siraj
arrives in Turkey to lead Palestine solidarity march
November
10, 2023
Muhammad
Anis
ISLAMABAD:
Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Ameer Sirajul Haq on the second leg of his visit to Middle
East countries arrived in Turkey from Iran on Thursday.
The
spokesman of JI on Thursday said that Sirajul Haq will lead ‘Palestine
Solidarity March’ to be taken out from Al Fateh Masjid of Istanbul after Juma
prayers along with other Muslim leaders on Friday (today). He will also address
participants of the march expected to attend by record number of protestors to
denounce Israel’s aggression on people of Palestine.
The JI
spokesman said that leaders of Islamic movements coming from different
countries will also gather in Istanbul to reach on a common strategy on
different issues facing the Muslim Ummah with particular reference to plight of
Palestinians.
It is
expected that the meeting would also release a joint declaration. “Sirajul Haq
will present point and stance of his party and people of Pakistan on different
issues,” the JI spokesman said.
He said
that on the third leg, the JI top leader will also visit Qatar to meet top
leaders of Palestine.
Source: thenews.com.pk
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1127610-siraj-arrives-in-turkey-to-lead-palestine-solidarity-march
-----
Three
more to testify against Imran, Qureshi
November
10, 2023
RAWALPINDI:The
special court recently formed to hear cases registered under the Official
Secrets Act, 1923 on Friday (today) will record testimonies of three more
witnesses against PTI Chairman Imran Khan and his fellow party leader Shah
Mahmood Qureshi in the diplomatic cipher case in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail.
Judge
Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain of the special court will hear the matter. Imran and
Qureshi will appear before the court.
The
defence lawyers will cross-examine the state witnesses.
There
are a total of 28 official witnesses in the case. After the testimonies of
three more witnesses are recorded, 22 will be left.
The
cipher case pertains to a document waved by Imran, the then prime minister, at
a public rally in March last year, terming it as evidence of a foreign
conspiracy behind the no-confidence motion he faced at the time. The motion was
carried a few weeks later, leading to the toppling of Imran's government.
Imran
was accused of violating the prime minister's oath by revealing the cipher at the
public rally and in the national and international media while Qureshi, who was
the foreign minister at the time, was accused of assisting Imran in delivering
a speech during the rally.
Both the
PTI leaders were indicted in the case last month.
On Tuesday,
the court recorded the statements of three witnesses who belonged to the
foreign affairs ministry.
The
in-camera hearing of the case took place at the special court set up in Adiala
Jail. Imran and Qureshi were present in the courtroom during the proceedings.
Before
the witnesses recorded their testimonies, the two PTI leaders were allowed to
meet their lawyers.
After
the hearing, PTI chairman’s lawyer Salman Safdar said the proceedings started
in the morning and ended at around 4pm, adding that apparently there was
pressure on the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to finish the case quickly.
He
continued that the three official witnesses had arrived from the Foreign Office
even though the plaintiff in the case was the interior ministry.
Safdar maintained
that during cross-examination of the witnesses, the PTI’s legal team had not
seen them “free”.
He added
that the PTI had also filed an appeal in the Supreme Court for a post-arrest
bail and against the indictment by the special court.
The
lawyer said he had met with Imran twice on Tuesday, adding that the PTI’s legal
team had received great assistance from Qureshi in understanding the matter.
He
claimed that the government and political opponents were left with no option
but the cipher case.
Safdar
said the proceedings of the case were taking place under the Official Secrets
Act, but they were nowhere near a secret.
“The
witness responded to every question that it was a secret and they won’t say
anything,” he continued.
Barrister
Umair Niazi, Imran’s focal person on legal affairs, said the PTI chief had
reiterated that PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif could never play without his
“umpires” and he was looking at them again.
Source: tribune.com.pk
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2445747/three-more-to-testify-against-imran-qureshi
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Balochistan
repatriated 80,000 illegal aliens
November
10, 2023
KARACHI:Balochistan
Caretaker Information Minister Jan Achakzai on Thursday said that with 80,000
illegal Afghan immigrants sent back to Afghanistan from Balochistan so far, the
process of deportation would be accelerated in coming days.
Talking
to the media at the Karachi Press Club, Achakzai said the terrorists were using
the Afghan soil to target “our security forces and that is why we have decided
to send illegal immigrants to their home countries”.
He said
all the six terrorists killed in Zhob last week, “were Afghan nationals.” With
the new government set-up taking charge in Afghanistan two years ago, the
incidents of terrorism in Pakistan had increased.
Minister
Achakzai said it was the decision of a sovereign state to repatriate all
illegal immigrants, 92 percent of them were Afghan nationals, to their home
countries.
To a
question, he said the provincial government had got some 100,000 fake
Computerised National Identity Cards (CNICs) blocked in two districts. Action
would be taken against the officials found responsible for the issuance of fake
CNICs to the illegal immigrants, he added.
Similarly,
he said, some 20,000 fake CNICs had reportedly been blocked in Sindh. He
thanked the National Database Registration Authority in helping the Balochistan
government tracing the illegal immigrants and blocking their CNICs.
He said
the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) was fully collaborating with provincial
in tracing out the whereabouts of the illegal immigrants. Jan Achakzai said
operation against terrorists would be continuing till the elimination of last
one from the country.
Caretaker
Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar on Wednesday spoke openly about
non-cooperation of the Afghan Taliban regime in stemming the recent spike of
terrorist incidents in the country, particularly the activities of the
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Addressing
a news conference in Islamabad before his departure for Tashkent to attend the
16th Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Summit, Kakar linked the increase
in terror incidents in Pakistan to the Afghanistan Taliban’s return to power in
2021.
He
stressed that the move to expel hundreds of thousands of undocumented Afghans
was a response to the unwillingness of the Taliban-led administration to act
against terrorists using their soil to carry out attacks in Pakistan.
He said
Pakistan had continuously conveyed concerns about militant safe havens in
Afghanistan but, despite repeated assurances, the Taliban-led administration
had not taken any action, adding that 15 suicide bombings in recent months had
been carried out by Afghans.
The
Afghan Taliban returned to power in August 2021 after the US drawdown following
two decades of war.
Source: tribune.com.pk
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2445731/balochistan-repatriated-80000-illegal-aliens
------
JUI-F
leader joins PTI
2023-11-10
ISLAMABAD:
Daud Khattak, a former district nazim of Nowshera, parted ways with Jamiat
Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) on Thursday and joined Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
(PTI).
Speaking
at a presser along with Sher Afzal Khan Marwat, the counsel for PTI chairman
Imran Khan, he said that he decided to join PTI after being inspired by the
ideology of incarcerated party chief Imran Khan.
He said
that whatever sacrifices Imran Khan has rendered to get the country freed from
the clutches of slavery inspired him the most, adding Khan is the only leader
who is facing jail without committing any crime just to break the shackles of
slavery.
He said
that he would contest election against Pervez Khattak, the former PTI leader
who has now formed his own party, and give him a humiliating defeat which he
would remember for the rest of his life.
He
continued that people who betrayed a leader like Imran Khan would find no place
to hide their faces as the sole purpose why Khan is facing all the hardships is
nothing but to steer the country out of the prevailing crisis.
He said
that the status quo mafia and the two families which rule the country for the
last several years is set to die a natural death given the awareness Imran Khan
has created amongst the youth of the country.
"The
day is not far when Khan will be out and the mafias who think the PTI is over
will get to see how the tsunami of PTI will wipe them out forever," he declared.
Source: brecorder.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.brecorder.com/news/40272549/jui-f-leader-joins-pti
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‘Unified’
Friday sermons: PUC spearheads anti-terrorism drive
2023-11-10
ISLAMABAD:
On the appeal of the Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC) and its allied parties, Ulema
and Mashaykh are set to deliver impactful Friday sermons under the banner of
Paigham-e-Pakistan.
PUC
Chairman Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi, along with prominent figures
Allama Ziaullah Shah Bukhari, Pir Naqib-ur-Rahman, Maulana Muhammad Khan
Laghari, Allama Aarif Wahidi, and others, had called upon religious scholars
and leaders from all schools of thought to vehemently condemn extremism and
terrorism in their Friday Sermons.
Ashrafi
who is also the Special Representative to the Prime Minister on Religious
Harmony and the Pakistani Diaspora in Middle East and Islamic Countries, urged
Ulema and Mashaykh to articulate a unified message against extremism and
terrorism, issuing a collective statement and presenting consensus religious
decrees (Fatwas) during their Friday Sermons.
He also
encouraged educating the general public about the importance and benefits of
this united stance.
Expressing
his commitment to societal reform and the eradication of terrorism, he asked
the religious scholars and leaders to play a substantial role from the pulpit
and arch of their respective mosques. He vowed to collaborate closely with
state institutions to achieve the common goal of putting an end to extremism
and terrorism.
Rejecting
any tolerance for terrorism within Islam, Ashrafi emphasized “Those who attack
the state of Pakistan, its armed forces, security institutions, and the general
public are acting against Islamic teachings and are considered enemies of the
country.” He asserted that the state and the Pakistan Army had the right to
take action against elements posing a threat to the stability and security of
the country and targeting its people and institutions.
Source: brecorder.com
Please click the following URL to read
the full text of the original
https://www.brecorder.com/news/40272559/unified-friday-sermons-puc-spearheads-anti-terrorism-drive
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URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/muslim-palestinian-arab-americans/d/131088