ReportWire

Tag: Israel War on Gaza

  • ‘War criminal’: Arab Americans rebuff Biden campaign outreach over Gaza

    ‘War criminal’: Arab Americans rebuff Biden campaign outreach over Gaza

    [ad_1]

    Arab Americans are angry.

    And they let United States President Joe Biden know it when they shunned his campaign manager as she visited Michigan to reach out to their communities this week.

    Many elected Arab-American officials, including municipal leaders and state legislators, declined to meet with Julie Chavez Rodriguez, arguing that as long as there are mass killings in Gaza, they will not discuss the elections.

    “It’s unfathomable at this point in time that we’re trying to talk about electoral politics with a genocide unfolding,” said Abdullah Hammoud, the mayor of Dearborn, a Detroit suburb.

    “This is not a time to talk about politics. This is a time for our humanity to be recognised, and for us to be sitting down with decision-makers and policymakers to talk about a change of course of what’s unfolding overseas. And it does not happen with campaign staff.”

    Arab-American local officials in Southeast Michigan told Al Jazeera that their constituents are furious and frustrated with Biden’s policies in Gaza – anger that could prove detrimental to the president’s reelection chances.

    Dearborn – home to large Palestinian, Lebanese, Yemeni and Iraqi communities – is known as the capital of Arab America. Hammoud noted that all four countries are being bombed by the US and its Israeli allies.

    The mayor added that Arab Americans and the broader community in Dearborn feel “betrayed” by Biden’s unwavering support for Israel.

    “I have residents who have had to dig their grandmothers up from under the rubble after Israeli fighter jets bombed their homes,” Hammoud told Al Jazeera.

    “We have residents who hail from Sheikh Jarrah in Jerusalem, which is being ethnically cleansed. What do I tell them? What is the message to them?”

    Abdullah Hammoud became Dearborn’s first Arab-American mayor in 2022 [Paul Sancya/AP]

    Michigan’s importance

    The meeting that was being organised between Arab-American leaders and Chavez Rodriguez was subsequently cancelled after pushback from the community, several officials told Al Jazeera.

    Arab Americans in Dearborn and other Michigan cities could play an outsized role in the US presidential elections, where the system is based on winning individual states.

    Michigan, home to more than 10 million people, is a key “swing state” – not guaranteed to vote Republican or Democrat – and it is often won by fine margins.

    In 2016, former President Donald Trump beat his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton in the Midwestern state by fewer than 11,000 votes. So the estimated hundreds of thousands of Arab Americans in Michigan could sway the outcome of the election.

    In recent election cycles, presidential candidates, particularly Democrats, started acknowledging the importance of the Arab vote: running ads in Arabic, meeting with community advocates and addressing Arab Americans’ specific concerns.

    In 2020, Biden released a platform for Arab-American communities, promising to recognise the equality of Palestinians and Israelis and protect civil rights at home. He also sent his wife Jill Biden and running mate Kamala Harris to Dearborn to reach out to the Arab community there.

    Despite grievances with his staunch support for Israel, Arab voters appeared to back Biden overwhelmingly. For example, in predominantly Arab polling locations in Dearborn, Biden won more than 80 percent of the votes, city data shows. That support helped him reclaim Michigan for the Democrats.

    But as we head to the 2024 elections in November, which will likely be a rematch between Biden and Trump, Biden’s popularity among Arab Americans is tanking. 

    An Arab American Institute poll in October showed Arab American support for Biden plummeted to 17 percent after the war and some activists suspect that it may have sunken even further since then.

    While Arab-American advocates stress their communities are not driven by a single issue, they say the scale of the carnage in Gaza and Biden’s uncompromising role in it makes it difficult – if not impossible – to support the 81-year-old president again.

    “Arab Americans will not vote for Joe Biden, no matter what. That’s it. They’re done with Biden,” Sam Baydoun, a Wayne County commissioner who also declined to meet with Chavez Rodriguez, told Al Jazeera.

    “That’s the bottom line. Joe Biden is not going to be able to regain the trust of the Arab-American community.”

    Biden’s support for Israel

    Biden has provided unconditional political and financial support to Israel since it started its war on Gaza on October 7. The president is requesting more than $14bn in additional aid for the US ally and the White House is still working with Congress to secure the funds.

    Moreover, Palestinian rights advocates have accused him of contributing to the dehumanisation of Palestinians. In October, Biden described the thousands of civilian deaths in Gaza as “the price of waging war”.

    In a statement marking the 100th day of the conflict earlier this month, the US president focused on Israeli captives in Gaza, failing to mention Palestinians altogether.

    The Biden administration has also vetoed two United Nations Security Council resolutions calling for de-escalation in Gaza where more than 26,000 Palestinians have been killed.

    This week, the Biden administration also suspended funding for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) based on unconfirmed Israeli allegations that some UNRWA workers participated in Hamas’s October 7 attack against Israel.

    At the same time, Washington has categorically ruled out halting or conditioning aid to Israel, even after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu openly defied Biden in rejecting the two-state solution.

    Still, the Biden administration argues that it is pushing Israel to minimise civilian casualties and trying to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza where the population is on the verge of famine according to rights groups.

    Abraham Aiyash, the majority leader of the Michigan House of Representatives, dismissed Washington’s claims that it is trying to help the people of Gaza.

    “‘Trying’ has led to nearly 30,000 dead, massive destruction of civilian infrastructure and a more emboldened far-right, fascist government in Israel. So if the United States is ‘trying’, I would be afraid of what it would look like if the US wasn’t trying,” Aiyash, who is of Yemeni descent, told Al Jazeera.

    The Biden campaign did not return Al Jazeera’s request for comment by the time of publication.

    ‘War criminal’

    Osama Siblani, the publisher of the Dearborn-based Arab American News, did meet with Chavez Rodriguez this week to deliver a scathing message to her face, he said.

    “Biden is telling Israel, ‘Here is the money; here’s ammunition; here’s the political power; here’s whatever you need, go and kill.’ That is a war criminal. That’s how we see it,” Siblani said he told the campaign manager.

    He added that he had received dozens of phone calls urging him to cancel the meeting but that he felt it was necessary to confront the Biden campaign.

    “I told her I wanted to meet with you, but I wanted to relay a very strong message: If this man wants our vote, he has to do more than Jesus Christ – bring a lot more dead back to life. Thousands of people’s blood is on his hands,” Siblani told Al Jazeera.

    Beyond the crisis in Gaza, Siblani said Biden has not lived up to his broader promises to the Arab community.

    In his 2020 platform, the US president said he would reopen a consulate for Palestinians in Jerusalem. That has not happened.

    He also promised to protect free speech despite his opposition to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. But his administration has done little to address the state-level crackdown on supporters of Palestinian rights.

    Siblani said Arab Americans were also promised a seat at the table but they have been largely sidelined by the administration. “This is exactly why people are angry. They’re angry because he did not respect our vote. He didn’t even care. He still doesn’t care.”

    Aiyash, who is one of the highest-ranking Arab and Muslim officials in the country, said neither the White House nor the Democratic Party has reached out to him for input since the war began.

    The lawmaker said the White House’s disregard for those calling for a ceasefire in Gaza is “ill-advised” and “disrespectful”.

    “It’s just shocking to me – given how significant Michigan is, and how much work the Arab and Muslim communities put in in 2020, to guarantee President Biden’s victory,” Aiyash told Al Jazeera.

    What about Trump?

    When asked about the Arab and Muslim vote, Biden and his aides have waved the prospect of Trump’s return to the White House, suggesting that the US president remains a far better option than his predecessor, who imposed a travel ban on several Arab and Muslim-majority countries. They have also argued that by November, Gaza may not be a leading issue.

    Biden outlined that rationale earlier this month, saying, “The former president wants to put a ban on Arabs coming into the country. We’ll make sure we understand who cares about the Arab population, number one. Number two, we got a long way to go in terms of settling the situation in Gaza.”

    Baydoun, the county commissioner, rejected both arguments. “We will not forget. This is a genocide,” he said. “We can no longer accept the lesser of two evils.”

    Mainstream Democrats, including liberal commentators, Congress members and governors, have been emphasising the need to vote for Biden to stop Trump, whom they argue is a threat to democracy.

    “Donald Trump is a threat to democracy,” Minnesota Governor Tim Walz told CNN earlier this month. “That’s why we need to re-elect Joe Biden, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do,” he added.

    However, Mayor Hammoud said the question about preserving democracy against Trump should be posed to the White House, not those who oppose the war on Gaza.

    “Some folks are asking, ‘How could the Arabs not vote for Biden? Trump is on the ticket’,” Hammoud said. “But my question is: If American democracy is under threat by the re-election of Trump, why is the US alignment with Benjamin Netanyahu worth threatening American democracy?”

    Aiyash echoed that argument, stressing that large segments of the Democratic base, including young voters and people who care about human rights – not just Arabs and Muslims – are frustrated with Biden’s position on Gaza.

    “If democracy is so important – and I believe it is – why is this administration allowing Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s extremist ideologies and genocidal military to take precedence over protecting democracy, over preserving the Republic?”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Reporter’s Notebook: Covering an anti-war protest in Israel

    Reporter’s Notebook: Covering an anti-war protest in Israel

    [ad_1]

    It’s a crisp sunny Saturday morning as our crew prepares the car for the drive from Jerusalem to Haifa to cover an anti-war rally. Spirits are high as I place my camera equipment in the boot of the car. Then we discuss footwear.

    Stefanie, our correspondent, has chosen to wear comfortable white trainers, expecting the likelihood of violence to be low. However, Luke, whom we’ve hired to provide security, and I have plumped for sturdy boots in case things get heated.

    This is the first anti-war protest to take place in Israel since it began its war on Gaza following the Hamas attacks of October 7.

    Since, it hasn’t been easy for the anti-war voice to make itself heard. The organisers of this rally, Hadash, a left-wing socialist party that supports a two-state solution, were initially banned from gathering and had to take their request to the Supreme Court.

    A protester shouts into a megaphone at the anti-war rally [Alasdair Brenard/Al Jazeera]

    For us, even finding the protest location proves difficult. As we near the square in Haifa, our GPS begins sending us in circles. We finally park at a mosque where a local explains that the Israeli army has scrambled the GPS signal in northern Israel due to security concerns.

    The authorities were likely keen to let the protest go ahead on a Saturday when there’s no public transport, which would make it more difficult for people to reach the square.

    As we make our way to the square, we pass a large contingent of police in blue uniforms as well as what looks like border guards in dark green. They seem to be having a last-minute pep talk before the protest.

    No doubt they have concerns as to what might be about to happen. They are armed with rifles and pistols, and they have utility vehicles, the notorious “skunk water truck” and officers on horseback.

    I’m starting to feel vindicated by my choice of footwear.

    Protesters gather at the first anti-war protest in Israel since October 7 [Alasdair Brenard/Al Jazeera]
    About 500 people showed up at the rally on Saturday [Alasdair Brenard/Al Jazeera]

    Around midday, we’re waiting for the rally to start. Police create a ring of steel around the area, erecting metal barricades and blocking the nearby road with trucks. They’ve also placed an armed spotter on a roof overlooking the square.

    A local photographer explains to me that the police are not happy the protest is going ahead, that the anti-war message is not one they are ready to hear.

    “They’re going to provoke violence from the demonstrators to prove that it shouldn’t have gone ahead,” he warns me solemnly.

    Our guard is now up. We start to survey the arriving protesters for signs of trouble or possible counter-protesters that may have been planted to try and whip up confrontations.

    Luke spots a man reaching into his inner jacket pocket in a very suspicious manner. The man glances around and pulls out… a packet of cigarettes. False alarm, but you can’t be too careful.

    More people start to show up – about 500, many of them young – and some aren’t wearing shoes. I can’t help but feel that the police may have overestimated the danger posed by this particular group of protesters.

    They’re banging drums, shouting slogans through loudspeakers and giving speeches on the importance of reconciliation and the failure of war to bring lasting security.

    Protesters gather at the first anti-war protest in Israel since October 7 [Alasdair Brenard/Al Jazeera]
    Protesters wave flags and beat drums [Alasdair Brenard/Al Jazeera]

    It’s refreshing to hear an alternative message in Israel and to see Israelis and Palestinian Israelis standing together in hope for a peaceful future.

    One of the speakers, Maoz Inon, whose parents were killed by Hamas fighters during Hamas’s attacks on October 7, speaks of forgiveness: “My father cultivated the land. He grew wheat and he also brought me up to believe in a good future.

    “My message to the world is don’t choose a side, Israeli or Palestine, but please choose humanity.”

    Meanwhile, police are becoming increasingly twitchy. They swoop in on the crowd and pluck a man from it, then lead him away to a nearby vehicle as the protesters, police and press surge back and forth in the confusion.

    Fortunately, the situation doesn’t escalate and things soon calm down.

    But there are other events. At one point, while I’m filming Stefanie talking to the camera, a Palestinian-Israeli man and his teenage daughter approach us. He apologises for interrupting us before telling us he’d been shoved in the back by a police officer while watching the rally. He’s upset and frustrated, and feels targeted for simply showing up at the rally.

    Near the end of the protest, the police make another move. This time, the source of their ire is a paper mâché fighter plane with cardboard bombs dangling beneath. It’s a brief battle before the model plane is snatched away.

    Despite the plane incident, the protesters remain upbeat.

    When the rally finishes and people begin to file off in different directions,  Stefanie stays a little longer to talk with Maoz. Meanwhile, a counter-protester films him and then tries to start arguments with the people that remain.

    For now, those protesting here today are in the minority. According to recent polls, the majority of Israelis still support the war in Gaza.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Palestinian-American teen one of hundreds killed by Israelis in West Bank

    Palestinian-American teen one of hundreds killed by Israelis in West Bank

    [ad_1]

    They are using US tax dollars to ‘kill our own children’, says father after Israeli soldiers and settlers opened fire, killing his 17-year-old son.

    Palestinian-American Tawfiq Ajaq, 17, is one of 369 people killed by Israeli troops and settlers in the occupied West Bank since October, including 95 children.

    Speaking at his son’s funeral on Saturday, Tawfiq’s father, Hafez Ajaq, implored Americans to “see with their own eyes” the ongoing violence in the occupied West Bank.

    “They are using our tax dollars in the US to support the weapons to kill our own children,” Hafez Ajaq said. “How many fathers and mothers have to say goodbye to their children? How many more?

    “They are killer machines,” Tawfiq’s father said of Israeli forces at the funeral.

    Born and raised in Gretna, Louisiana, near New Orleans, Tawfiq Ajaq’s parents brought him and his four siblings to the village of al-Mazra’a Asharqiya last year so they could reconnect with Palestinian culture.

    On Saturday, crowds of Palestinians filled village streets, following men who held aloft a stretcher with the teen’s body, wrapped in a Palestinian flag and covered in flowers.

    Another vigil held at the Masjid Omar mosque in Harvey, New Orleans was standing room only, according to the New Orleans news outlet NOLA.com.

    Circumstances unclear

    Ajaq’s relative, Joe Abdel Qaki, said Tawfiq and a friend were having a barbecue in a village field when he was shot, once in the head and once in the chest.

    Abdel Qaki said he arrived at the field shortly after the shooting and helped transport Tawfiq to an ambulance. He said Israeli forces briefly detained him and other Palestinians at the scene, asking for their identification cards before the men could get to Tawfiq.

    He said Tawfiq died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.

    “Tawfiq is an American child who was chased and shot at by an Israeli settler, then Israeli forces pulled up and continued shooting,” Miranda Cleland, an advocacy officer with Defense for Children Palestine, said in a post on X.

    “This is not the first time Defense for Children Palestine hasn’t been able to confirm whether a settler or soldier killed a child. One aids and abets the other,” Cleland said.

    The United States Office of Palestinian Affairs called for an “urgent investigation” into Ajaq’s death in a post on X.

    Various English spellings of the teen’s name have been used in reports.

    In its daily update for Friday, the United Nations humanitarian agency OCHA reported a “17-year-old Palestinian child was shot and killed” near al-Mazra’a Asharqiya village in Ramallah where Tawfiq Ajaq lived.

    “At the time of the incident, Israeli forces and settlers shot live ammunition towards a group of Palestinians who were reportedly throwing stones at Israeli vehicles driving on Road 60 near the village,” OCHA said.

    “It is not yet clear whether the boy was shot by Israeli forces or settlers,” OCHA said.

    According to OCHA’s latest figures, of 358 Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank since October 7, “348 were killed by Israeli forces, eight by Israeli settlers, and two by either Israeli forces or settlers”.

    Israeli police said they received a report on Friday regarding a “firearm discharge, ostensibly involving an off-duty law enforcement officer, a soldier and a civilian”.

    Police did not identify who fired the shot, though it said the shooting targeted people “purportedly engaged in rock-throwing activities along Highway 60″, the main north-south thoroughfare in the occupied West Bank.

    The ongoing violence in the occupied West Bank comes as the death toll from Israel’s war on Gaza approaches 25,000, with thousands more missing under the rubble.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Netanyahu rejects Palestinian statehood

    Netanyahu rejects Palestinian statehood

    [ad_1]

    NewsFeed

    During a press conference Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he objects to Palestinian statehood that does not guarantee Israel’s security after the Gaza war.

    Published On 19 Jan 2024

    [ad_2]
    Source link

  • Blackouts in Gaza must not be used as ‘weapons of war’: Rights group

    Blackouts in Gaza must not be used as ‘weapons of war’: Rights group

    [ad_1]

    Gaza is under a weeklong sustained telecoms outage, the longest since the onset of the war with Israel.

    A weeklong telecommunications blackout in the Gaza Strip has become a “matter of life and death” and should end immediately, digital civil rights group Access Now says during the longest continuous outage since Israel’s war began.

    “It is unconscionable to toy with connectivity amidst unprecedented violence and unfathomable human suffering,” Marwa Fatafta, the group’s policy and advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a statement on Thursday.

    “Internet shutdowns must not be used as weapons of war. Access Now continues to call for an immediate physical and digital ceasefire and for the full restoration of telecommunications services in the Gaza Strip.”

    Palestinian internet service provider Paltel announced the complete loss of all telecommunications services in Gaza “due to the ongoing aggression” on January 12. Cloudflare Radar’s data confirmed a drastic drop in traffic.

    The watchdog NetBlocks, which monitors cybersecurity and the governance of the internet, said on Thursday the incident had passed the 144-hour mark. “The disruption is the ninth and longest sustained telecoms outage since the onset of the present conflict with Israel,” it said on the social media platform X.

    Internet shutdowns have hampered the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza’s 2.3 million people, 85 percent of whom are internally displaced. The outages also have made it extremely challenging to document and share information about what is happening on the ground.

    Since the beginning of the war on October 7, internet traffic in the Gaza Strip has undergone multiple blackouts and shutdowns. Repair crews have had trouble reaching damaged sites during heavy Israeli bombardments and have at times taken significant personal risks to restore connections.

    Access Now said it found the outages across Gaza resulted from a combination of direct attacks on civilian telecommunications infrastructure, restrictions on access to electricity and technical disruptions to telecommunications services.

    The blackouts have occurred as Israel has carried out a devastating bombardment of Gaza, killing at least 24,620 people and wounding 61,830, according to Palestinian authorities.

    Access Now found air strikes by Israeli forces on October 9 destroyed a building containing both offices and infrastructure for Paltel and Jawwal, two of the main telecommunications providers in the Gaza Strip.

    Al-Watan Tower, another building that houses media offices and serves as a hub for internet service providers, has also been the target of Israeli air strikes.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief lands in Qatar for treatment

    Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief lands in Qatar for treatment

    [ad_1]

    NewsFeed

    Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief Wael Dahdouh has landed in Qatar to receive medical treatment after months of reporting on Israel’s war that has killed his wife, three children and a grandson.

    Published On 17 Jan 2024

    [ad_2]
    Source link

  • Protests distrupt Austrian Parliament

    Protests distrupt Austrian Parliament

    [ad_1]

    NewsFeed

    “Never again for anyone.” Dozens of protesters disrupted the Austrian Parliament calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. The ‘Not in Our Name Vienna’ group is at odds with Austria’s support for Israel and wants to see an end to the slaughter and occupation of Palestine.

    Published On 16 Jan 2024

    [ad_2]
    Source link

  • Any US attack on Yemen’s Houthis will ‘not go without response’

    Any US attack on Yemen’s Houthis will ‘not go without response’

    [ad_1]

    The Houthis’ leader says any US attack will trigger a greater response as the group steps up attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea in protest against Israel’s war in Gaza.

    Any attack on Yemen’s Houthis on the part of the United States will not go without a response, the group’s leader Abdel-Malik al-Houthi has said in a televised speech, as the Iranian-backed group stepped up attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea in protest against Israel’s war in Gaza.

    “Any American attack will not remain without a response. The response will be greater than the attack that was carried out with 20 drones and a number of missiles,” the Houthi leader said, referring to a strike on Wednesday, when Houthi drones and missiles targeted US and United Kingdom ships in the largest single attack yet on foreign vessels.

    “We are more determined to target ships linked to Israel, and we will not back down from that,” al-Houthi said.

    The comments come after the US and 11 allies published a joint statement last week calling for an end to Houthi attacks from Yemen on Red Sea shipping, sending out an implicit threat of force.

    Various shipping lines have suspended operations, instead taking the longer journey around Africa. The Cyprus Shipping Chamber (CSC), a key shipping industry group representing around 200 companies in Cyprus and abroad, said the attacks could have a “substantial” impact on economies and a knock-on effect on prices around the world.

    “Where countries heavily depend on raw materials, gas, grain, [and] pharmaceuticals, we will have to assume that it will have a substantial impact on day-to-day living, business operations, and this will have a multiplying effect,” CSC Director Thomas Kazakos said.

    The Houthi movement, an Iran-aligned group that controls much of Yemen after nearly a decade of war against a Western-backed and Saudi-led coalition, has emerged as a strong supporter of the Palestinian group Hamas in its war against Israel.

    The Houthis have attacked commercial ships they say are linked to Israel or bound for Israeli ports and have engaged directly with the US Navy in the Red Sea, firing ballistic missiles and deploying armed drones against US and UK warships.

    Human Rights Watch, among other organisations, said attacks targeting civilians and civilian objects, if carried out deliberately or recklessly, would be a war crime. The rights watchdog argued that on more than one occasion, the targeted vessels presented no direct links to Israel or evidence of military targets on board.

    The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday passed a resolution demanding the Houthis end attacks on ships in the Red Sea and free the Japanese-operated Galaxy Leader that was seized last year.

    US-allied Gulf and Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, have been pressing Washington for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, saying that is the only way to prevent the conflict from spreading beyond the Gaza Strip.

    In an interview with Reuters on Thursday, the chief negotiator for Yemen’s Houthis said the group’s attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea do not threaten its peace talks with Saudi Arabia, blaming Israel’s war on Gaza for dragging the Middle East into more regional conflict.

    “It has nothing to do with what is happening in the Gaza Strip, unless the Americans want to move other countries in the region to defend Israel which is another matter,” Mohammed Abdulsalam told Reuters.

    “The one who is dragging the region into a wider war is the one who allows the continuation of the aggression and the siege that continues for more than 100 days in the Gaza Strip.”

    The group is seeking to pressure the Israelis and Americans into a ceasefire, including lifting the siege on Gaza and moving towards peace and dialogue, Abdulsalam added.

    US forces have also been increasingly attacked in Iraq and Syria in the aftermath of Israel’s now three-month-old offensive into Gaza, launched in response to the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • South Africa takes Israel to the ICJ claiming genocide in Gaza

    South Africa takes Israel to the ICJ claiming genocide in Gaza

    [ad_1]

    NewsFeed

    South Africa is taking Israel to the International Court of Justice accusing it of crimes of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Al Jazeera’s Nabila Bana explains what’s behind South Africa’s case against Israel.

    Published On 10 Jan 2024

    [ad_2]
    Source link

  • Are Israel and Hezbollah on the brink of war?

    Are Israel and Hezbollah on the brink of war?

    [ad_1]

    NewsFeed

    An escalation in cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah is stoking fears the Israel-Gaza war could spread into new territory. Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr explains the Israeli strategy behind its recent strikes into Lebanon that have killed senior Hamas and Hezbollah members.

    Published On 9 Jan 2024

    [ad_2]
    Source link

  • Blinken says Palestinians displaced in Gaza must be able to return home

    Blinken says Palestinians displaced in Gaza must be able to return home

    [ad_1]

    US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that Palestinian civilians must be able to return home and rejected statements by Israeli officials calling for the mass displacement of Gaza residents.

    Speaking at a press conference in Doha on Sunday alongside Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, Blinken said the United Nations can play a crucial role in allowing displaced civilians in Gaza to return home as Israel moves to a “lower-intensity phase” of its military campaign.

    “They [Palestinian civilians] cannot – they must not – be pressed to leave Gaza,” he said.

    The top US diplomat condemned the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Hamza Dahdouh, the son of Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief and correspondent Wael Dahdouh, and called it an “unimaginable tragedy”.

    Hamza was killed along with fellow journalist Mustafa Thuraya in an Israeli attack on southern Gaza on Sunday.

    Israeli forces previously killed several members of Wael Dahdouh’s immediate family in an air raid.

    “I can’t begin to imagine the horror that he’s experienced – not once, but now twice,” Blinken said.

    “This is why we are pressing the need – the imperative – not only of making sure that humanitarian assistance can get to people who need it, but that people are protected from harm from this conflict in the first place.”

    Tamer Qarmout, assistant professor in public policy at the Doha Institute of Graduate Studies, told Al Jazeera that while Blinken has expressed sorrow over Dahdouh’s loss, the top US diplomat has not held Israel accountable for killing journalists in Gaza.

    The US Department of State has issued emergency declarations twice in recent weeks to deliver bombs to Israel without congressional oversight.

    At the press conference in Doha, Blinken said that all US weapons deliveries to any country, including Israel, are made with conditions that humanitarian law is respected.

    He said that while Israel has a right to target Hamas and ensure that the group can no longer launch attacks, it is “imperative” to protect civilians.

    “As operations phase down, that will certainly make it easier to ensure that civilians are not harmed and will also ensure that more assistance can get to people who need it,” he said.

    Qatar’s Al Thani said that the world is getting used to the images of civilian suffering in Gaza.

    “This is a big test for our humanity,” he said.

    At least 22,835 people have been killed – including 9,600 children – in Israel’s assault on Gaza since October 7, according to Palestinian officials. At least 1,140 people were killed in Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, according to Israeli authorities, and around 240 others taken captive.

    Al Thani said the killing of Hamas deputy political leader Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut has affected Qatar’s efforts to negotiate between the Palestinian group and Israel over freeing the captives.

    Qatar previously played a key role in mediating a seven-day truce between Israel and Hamas that saw more than 100 captives freed and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli jails.

    Al Thani said Doha continues to negotiate and that he and Blinken discussed efforts to reach a ceasefire and ensure the release of more captives.

    Blinken warns Houthis

    The top US diplomat was in Doha as a part of a week-long diplomacy tour in the Middle East, seeking to calm what he said is a “moment of profound tension” in the region amid Israel’s three-month-long war in Gaza.

    Since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah have frequently exchanged cross-border fire.

    Dozens of Lebanese civilians and more than 140 Hezbollah members have been killed in the fighting, leading to growing concern that the Gaza war could escalate into a regional conflagration.

    On a separate front, the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in Yemen have fired missiles at Israel and carried out several attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea in what they say are acts of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. The group, which controls much of Yemen, say they are targeting vessels which are destined for Israel.

    The attacks have led to many global shipping companies including Maersk to avoid the Red Sea shipping route, and the US has responded by setting up a multinational maritime force to protect shipping lanes in the region.

    Blinken noted how the Houthi attacks were “hurting people around the world”, with shipping costs increasing and goods deliveries taking longer. He stressed that Washington is keen to ensure the war does not spread.

    “Over a dozen countries have made clear that the Houthis will be held accountable for future attacks,” Blinken said, referring to the US-led coalition.

    Qarmout told Al Jazeera that it is clear that the Americans are sending a clear message from Doha to neighbouring Iran, who back the Houthis, that they [the US] doesn’t want to see an escalation of the war.

    “There is war fatigue … It is an elections year in the US as well. I think the Americans don’t have an appetite for this conflict to escalate and to involve other parties like Hezbollah and Iran,” Qarmout said.

    “So I think there is a sincere will by the Americans to engage in diplomacy and achieve some gains.”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • US led coalition warns Houthis of ‘consequences’ after Red Sea attacks

    US led coalition warns Houthis of ‘consequences’ after Red Sea attacks

    [ad_1]

    The Houthis have argued that their attacks on ship linked to Israel are an act of solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza.

    A group of countries led by the United States have warned Yemen’s Houthi rebels of “consequences” unless they stop their attacks on Red Sea shipping vessels.

    “Let our message now be clear: we call for the immediate end of these illegal attacks and release of unlawfully detained vessels and crews,” said the statement released by the White House on Wednesday.

    “The Houthis will bear the responsibility of the consequences should they continue to threaten lives, the global economy and free flow of commerce in the region’s critical waterways”.

    The United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Germany and Japan are among the 12 signatories.

    The only country in the Middle East to sign the statement was Bahrain, which has a strained relationship with Iran, which is aligned with the Houthis.

    The statement comes after several reports that US President Joe Biden’s administration is considering direct strikes on the rebels if the attacks continue.

    The Houthis have said that their attacks in the busy waterway are an act of solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza and that they are targeting ships with links to Israel.

    The US has sent an aircraft carrier, the USS Dwight D Eisenhower, to the area and earlier announced a coalition of countries to protect movement in the Red Sea, through which 12 percent of global trade passes.

    Shipping prices

    Earlier on Wednesday, the Houthis claimed responsibility for a previous attack on a merchant vessel in the Red Sea.

    “The naval forces of the Yemeni armed forces carried out an operation targeting the ship CMA CGM TAGE which was travelling towards the ports of occupied Palestine,” the Houthis said on X.

    The French operator CMA CGM said that its container ship was unharmed and suffered “no incident”.

    A CMA CGM spokesperson said the ship was headed for Egypt.

    The Houthi attacks in recent weeks have mainly been concentrated on the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

    On Tuesday, Danish shipping giant Maersk extended a suspension of services through the waterway and the Gulf of Aden, south Yemen, “until further notice”.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Israeli army launches attacks on targets in Syria and Lebanon

    Israeli army launches attacks on targets in Syria and Lebanon

    [ad_1]

    As war in Gaza rages, Israel is continuing its campaign against Syrian military and Hezbollah targets, sparking fears of regional spillover.

    Israel has launched attacks on positions in Syria and Lebanon, as part of its ongoing campaign against opposing militaries and armed forces in the Middle East.

    “The [Israeli army] struck military infrastructure belonging to the Syrian Army,” the Israeli military said in a post on the social media platform X on Tuesday.

    “[Israeli military] fighter jets also struck Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in Lebanon,” it added, promising it would “continue to operate against any threat to Israel’s sovereignty”.

    Israel’s military has been engaged in cross-border fighting with Hezbollah and has launched repeated air raids on Syria since its war on Gaza began on October 7, raising fears of the conflict spilling over into the wider region.

    The latest attacks, which occurred between Monday and Tuesday, marked a spike in tensions between Israel and neighbours it has said have links to its enemy, Iran.

    Earlier on Tuesday, Syrian state news agency SANA said pre-dawn Israeli attacks came from the direction of the Golan Heights.

    The air raids targeted “a number of sites in the Damascus countryside”, SANA reported, citing an unnamed military source as saying only “material damage” had been caused.

    Britain-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that one position targeted near the town of Kanaker housed members from Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the AFP news agency reported.

    Parts of the southern Lebanese city of Yaroun also came under fire, the Israeli military said on Tuesday, after Hezbollah announced it had fired on Israeli units near the northern Israeli village of Sarit.

    “What Israel is facing at the moment is fighters in various countries in the region that are mostly backed by Iran,” said Al Jazeera’s Sara Khairat, reporting from Tel Aviv on Tuesday.

    Syria and Iran are regional allies, with President Bashar al-Assad having received staunch support from Tehran during the war in Syria. Since its formation in 1982, Iran-backed Hezbollah has grown into a powerful “state within a state” in Lebanon, and has also backed Hamas in Gaza.

    “Of course the biggest threat so far has been from the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah in Lebanon that has been firing every single day,” Khairat said. “This is just showing that despite [Israel’s] continued war in Gaza, these attacks are going to continue.

    “Certainly there has been a call amongst those in the [Israeli] military to start to look to redirect their efforts especially along that northern border, with Israel itself saying that if diplomatic efforts don’t work then it wouldn’t be afraid to consider other military action against Lebanon,” our correspondent added.

    Tuesday’s attacks follow closely on the heels of an Israeli air raid near Aleppo at the end of December, which caused some material damage, according to the Syrian Ministry of Defence.

    Since the Syrian war began, Israel has launched hundreds of air raids on Syrian territory, both on Syrian military and Hezbollah targets. Israel has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran to expand its presence in Syria.

    In December, an Israeli air raid outside Damascus killed Razi Moussavi, a senior adviser in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) responsible for coordinating the military alliance between Syria and Iran.

    Reports from Iran’s news agency INRA said that Mousavi had been part of an entourage accompanying IRGC General Qassem Soleimani at Baghdad airport when he was killed by a US drone attack almost exactly four years ago.

    [ad_2]

    Source link