[ad_1]
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
[ad_2]
Tag: Palestinians
-
What to expect from Biden and Trump’s competing border trips
What to expect from Biden and Trump’s competing border trips – CBS News
-
Wounded Gaza boy who survived Israeli airstrike undergoes surgery in U.S.
[ad_1]
Wounded Gaza boy who survived Israeli airstrike undergoes surgery in U.S. – CBS News
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
[ad_2]
-
Netanyahu rejects Hamas’ Gaza cease-fire demands, says troops will push into Rafah
[ad_1]
Tel Aviv, Israel — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected Hamas demands for a cease-fire and vowed to press ahead with Israel’s military offensive in Gaza until achieving what he called “absolute victory.” He also said — despite myriad warnings from humanitarian agencies of possible dire consequences — that he had ordered the Israel Defense Forces to prepare to push into the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
Most of the roughly 1.5 million Palestinians displaced from their homes by the war in Gaza have packed into the southern town near the border with Egypt. Many are living in squalid tent camps and overflowing U.N.-run shelters.
Netanyahu made the comments Wednesday shortly after meeting visiting U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has been traveling the region in hopes of securing a cease-fire agreement.
GPO/Handout/Anadolu/Getty
The U.S. has been pushing Israel to adjust its tactics in Gaza amid soaring deaths. Officials in the Hamas-run enclave say the death toll is nearing 28,000. Many of those casualties have been women and children, but Hamas officials do not differentiate between combatants and civilians in their statistics.
“We are on the way to an absolute victory,” Netanyahu said, adding that the IDF’s operation in Gaza would last months, not years.
“There is no other solution,” the Israeli leader said, adding that agreeing to the terms proposed by Hamas, which has long been designated as a terror organization by Israel, Hamas and the European Union, would “invite another massacre.”
Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7 terror attack on southern Israel, which saw the militants kill about 1,200 people and take more than 200 others hostage, sparked the current war in the densely-populated Gaza Strip, which Hamas has controlled for almost two decades.
He ruled out any arrangement that leaves Hamas in full or partial control of Gaza, which the group’s latest proposal would effectively have done, according to full details of it published by a media outlet closely associated with the group’s Lebanese allies, Hezbollah.
Netanyahu also said Israel was the “only power” capable of guaranteeing security in the long term.
The Israeli premier also called for the replacement of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
Blinken was scheduled to give a news conference later Wednesday.
[ad_2]
Source link -
Top U.N. court won’t dismiss Israel genocide case but stops short of ordering Gaza cease-fire
[ad_1]
In an interim judgment, the United Nations’ International Court of Justice on Friday ruled that Israel must take measures to prevent genocide in Gaza, but it stopped short of ordering an immediate cease-fire in Israel’s war with Hamas. The ICJ ruled that it has jurisdiction to consider the landmark case brought by South Africa against Israel, and it rejected Israel’s request for the case to be dismissed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a statement issued quickly after the court’s ruling, slammed the genocide allegation against his country as “not only false, it’s outrageous.”
South Africa alleges that “acts and omissions” committed by Israel as part of its offensive in Gaza “are genocidal in character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group.”
The court’s president Joan E. Donoghue said Friday in the court at The Hague, Netherlands, that, based on an initial assessment of Israel’s actions and remarks from Israeli leaders, it would not accept Israel’s request to dismiss the case as there were plausible claims of possible genocidal acts. The ICJ did not order an immediate cease-fire, but it did order Israel to take some provisional measures.
First, the court said Israel must “take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts within the scope of Article II of the (Genocide) convention” and “ensure with immediate effect that its military does not commit any acts described” in the above measure. It said Israel must do everything it can to ensure the preservation of evidence related to allegations of genocide.
The court also said Israel must “take all measures within its power to prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to commit genocide in relation to members of the Palestinian group in the Gaza strip,” and “take immediate and effective measures to ensure the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions” facing Palestinians in Gaza.
Finally, the court ordered Israel to submit a report to it “on all measures taken to give effect to this order” within a month.
South Africa filed its case at the ICJ in December, seeking an interim order by the court for Israel to immediately halt its military operations in Gaza.
Such an order would have been surprising, however, according to Cathy Powell, a professor of public law at the University of Cape Town, “because no one has denied we are dealing with an armed conflict,” and the lopsided nature of that conflict between a nation and a widely-recognized terror group.
She said South Africa’s legal team had done an “excellent job making their case,” but “what it didn’t do was look at the relationship between two parties in armed conflict, where you tie one party’s hands, who are signed to the genocide convention, when you have no say over the other, non-signatory party, Hamas.”
The ICJ is the U.N.’s top court and its rulings are binding, but it has no power to enforce them.
Israel reacts to the ICJ ruling
Israel has staunchly rejected the accusation of genocide and earlier this month it formally sought the case’s dismissal.
Israeli leaders have insisted since the beginning of the war that the country is acting within its right to self-defense. Netanyahu previously accused South Africa of “brazen gall” in bringing the case, which he dismissed as a “false and baseless” defense of Hamas.
“Israel’s commitment to international law is unwavering. Equally unwavering is our sacred commitment to continue to defend our country and defend our people,” Prime Minister Netanyahu said Friday in response to the interim ruling.
“The charge of genocide leveled against Israel is not only false, it’s outrageous, and decent people everywhere should reject it,” Netanyahu said. “Our war is against Hamas terrorists, not against Palestinian civilians. We will continue to facilitate humanitarian assistance, and to do our utmost to keep civilians out of harm’s way, even as Hamas uses civilians as human shields. We will continue to do what is necessary to defend our country and defend our people.”
Israel has said its military takes a number of measures to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza, including dropping flyers warning of upcoming attacks, calling civilians on the phone to urge them to leave buildings that will be targeted, and canceling some strikes if civilians are in the way.
Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant said in a statement that Israel “does not need to be lectured on morality in order to distinguish between terrorists and the civilian population in Gaza,” adding that “those who seek justice, will not find it on the leather chairs of the court chambers in The Hague.”
“The IDF and security agencies will continue operating to dismantle the military and governing capabilities of the Hamas terrorist organization, and to return the hostages to their homes,” Gallant said.
The Palestinians and South Africa react
“ICJ judges assessed the facts and the law, ruled in favor of humanity and international law,” Riyad Al-Maliki, the Foreign Minister for the Palestinian Authority, said in response to the interim ruling, according to the Reuters news agency.
South Africa’s Minister of International Relations Naledi Pandor said, despite the lack of a cease-fire order, that the interim ruling would necessitate a pause in fighting in Gaza.
“How do you provide aid and water without a cease-fire? If you read the order, by implication a cease-fire must happen,” Pandor said outside the court.
The Israel-Hamas war
Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping about 240 others. Israel immediately launched a counter-offensive against the group in Gaza, with the stated goal of destroying it. That offensive has killed over 26,000 people, mostly women and children, according to the Ministry of Health in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory. Hamas, long designated a terrorist organization by Israel, the U.S. and the European Union, has ruled over Gaza since the 1990s.
In its ruling on Friday, the ICJ said it was “gravely concerned about the fate of the hostages abducted during the attack in Israel on 7 October 2023 and held since then by Hamas and other armed groups, and calls for their immediate and unconditional release.”
In its application to the court, South Africa accuses Israel of “killing Palestinians in Gaza, causing them serious bodily and mental harm, and inflicting on them conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction.” It also says Israel “is continuing to violate its other fundamental obligations under the Genocide Convention, including by failing to prevent or punish the direct and public incitement to genocide by senior Israeli officials and others.”
The ICJ and the crime of genocide
The United Nations adopted the Genocide Convention in 1948 after the Holocaust. In it, “genocide” is defined as any one of a series of acts, “committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.” Those acts include:
- Killing members of the group
- Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
- Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part
- Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group
- Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group
The ICJ is a civil court and generally rules on disputes between U.N. member states. Though its decisions are binding, the fact that it has no means to enforce its rulings means countries can get away with ignoring them, such as in the case of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
In 2022, the ICJ ruled that Russia must “immediately suspend the military operations that it commenced on 24 February 2022 in the territory of Ukraine,” after the Ukrainian government brought a case alleging that Russia’s military was also committing genocide. The fighting in Ukraine is ongoing.
Michal Ben-Gal in Tel Aviv, Anhelina Shamlii in London, and Pamela Falk at the United Nations contributed to this report.
[ad_2]
-
Netanyahu pressed on 2-state solution for Israel-Hamas war as southern Gaza hit with relentless shelling
[ad_1]
Editor’s note: This article includes an image of a dead child which some readers may find disturbing.
Gaza Strip — Gazans sheltered Monday from intense bombing and shooting in the city of Khan Younis, as pressure built on Israel for an eventual two-state solution involving statehood long sought by Palestinians. Witnesses reported deadly strikes and fierce fighting between Israeli soldiers and Hamas militants overnight in the southern city which has become the latest epicenter of the war.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza reported on Monday that more than 120 people had been killed in the previous 24 hours.
“Artillery shelling has not stopped since 5:00 am,” said Yunis Abdel Razek, 52, sheltering with his family at the city’s Al-Aqsa University.
STAFF/REUTERS
Mahdi Antar, 21, had sought refuge at Al-Nasser hospital in Khan Younis. “The situation is terrifying. Tonight and today are very difficult, bombing and shooting. I do not know what to do. I think they will storm the hospital,” he said.
Victims of the latest Israeli strikes were brought to the hospital, at least one on a hand-pulled cart.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said Israeli forces were “besieging” their ambulance center “and targeting anyone attempting to move in the area.”
At one building that had been hit, men walked over broken concrete with only flashlights casting a dusty light to help them search in the darkness for survivors.
Netanyahu defies U.S., rejects 2-state solution
The strikes came as European Union foreign ministers held meetings in Brussels with top diplomats from Israel, the Palestinian Authority and key Arab states. The 27 EU ministers first met Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz before sitting down separately with the Palestinian Authority’s top diplomat, Riyad al-Maliki.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told Israel “peace and stability cannot be built only by military means.”
“Which are the other solutions they have in mind? To make all the Palestinians leave? To kill off them?” Borrell said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has drawn condemnation from the United Nations and defied the United States, which provides Israel with billions of dollars in military aid, by rejecting calls to enter negotiations on the creation of a Palestinian state. The U.S. government has long advocated the elusive two-state solution as the only way to defuse the long-standing conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
The Israeli leader reaffirmed and defended his rejection of the concept in a video statement broadcast Sunday evening, saying his “insistence is what has prevented, over the years, the establishment of a Palestinian state that would have constituted an existential danger to Israel. As long as I am prime minister, I will continue to strongly insist on this.”
On Monday, Maliki demanded the EU call for an immediate cease-fire and urged the bloc to consider sanctions against Netanyahu for “destroying the chances for a two-state solution.”
Jehad Alshrafi/Anadolu/Getty
Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said “the whole world” sees a two-state solution as “the only way out of this misery.”
Katz told reporters he was in Brussels to discuss the need “to bring back our hostages and restore security for the citizens of Israel.”
Hamas calls its terror attack a “defensive act”
The talks came a day after Hamas issued a 16-page report, in Arabic and English, explaining the background to the group’s unprecedented Oct. 7 terror attack on southern Israel, which sparked the current war.
Hamas, long designated a terrorist organization by Israel, the U.S. and the European Union, called the attacks a “defensive act” and “necessary step” against Israeli occupation, “reclaiming the Palestinian rights and on the way for liberation and independence like all peoples.”
Israeli officials say Hamas militants killed some 1,200 people in southern Israel, mostly civilians, and seized about 240 others as hostages. About half have been freed, but some 132 people are still believed to be held captive in Gaza by Hamas or other groups.
In response, Israel has carried out a relentless offensive that has killed at least 25,295 people in Gaza, around 70% of them women and children, according to the latest toll issued by Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Hostage families storm Israeli government meeting
U.S. intelligence agencies estimate that the Israeli offensive has killed 20% to 30% of the Hamas fighters in Gaza, and is still far from its stated goal of destroying the group entirely, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.
In a video statement issued after the Hamas report, Netanyahu said Israel’s soldiers would “have fallen in vain” and security would not be guaranteed if his government were to accept Hamas’ demands for the release of the remaining hostages. Those include ending the war immediately, withdrawing Israeli forces from Gaza, releasing Palestinian prisoners and guaranteeing that Hamas remains in power, Netanyahu said.
The Israeli leader is under intense pressure to return the captives and account for security failings surrounding the Oct. 7 attacks.
Relatives and supporters of the captives have held regular rallies and on Monday upped the pressure by storming a parliamentary finance committee meeting, where they shouted and brandished signs.
“Shame on you!” shouted one of the protesters at the Israel lawmakers. “They are your brothers as well. Get up!”
Reuters/Knesset Channel
“Yesterday the prime minister comes up and says there won’t be a deal? On the back of whom will there not be a deal? What right does he have not to negotiate a deal?” demanded another.
In a bid to secure a new hostage exchange deal, U.S. officials confirmed to CBS News that White House coordinator for the Middle East Brett McGurk was traveling to the region Monday to meet top officials in Cairo, followed by a trip to Qatar. The three countries helped broker a one-week truce in late November that saw 80 hostages freed in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners in Israel.
Rising tensions and violence across the Middle East i—nvolving Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen – have stoked fears of a wider conflagration.
[ad_2]
-
UK police arrest Palestine Action activists allegedly planning London Stock Exchange damage—possibly 'part of a planned week of action'
[ad_1]
UK police said they arrested six people over a plot to target the London Stock Exchange.
Activists from the Palestine Action group were allegedly planning to cause damage to the LSE and to prevent the building from opening for trading Monday morning, the Met said in a statement. They arrested a 31-year-old man in Liverpool early Sunday, with another five people believed to be part of the plot nabbed later that day.
The Met began investigations after receiving information from the Daily Express newspaper Friday, according to the statement. Palestine Action didn’t immediately respond to a request seeking comment. The London Stock Exchange Group declined to comment.
The UK has seen widespread protests against the war in Gaza since it began in October. Another rally was held this weekend, with thousands taking to the streets of London calling for an immediate cease-fire, the Press Association reported.
The Met said that it’s taking further precautions given the “suggestion” that the plot against the LSE was “one part of a planned week of action.”
Subscribe to the new Fortune CEO Weekly Europe newsletter to get corner office insights on the biggest business stories in Europe. Sign up for free.[ad_2]
Shiyin Chen, Bloomberg
Source link -
'We're still San Francisco:' Board of Supervisors votes in favor of cease-fire resolution in Gaza
[ad_1]
San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors on Tuesday joined a number of California cities and municipalities in voting in favor of a resolution calling for a cease-fire to the hostilities in the Gaza Strip.
The resolution, approved on an 8-3 vote, calls for a “sustained ceasefire in Gaza, humanitarian aid, release of hostages, and condemning antisemitic, anti-Palestinian, and Islamophobic rhetoric and attacks.”
Board President Aaron Peskin and Supervisors Connie Chan, Joel Engardio, Myrna Melgar, Dean Preston, Hillary Ronen, Ahsha Safai and Shamann Walton voted in favor. Supervisors Matt Dorsey, Rafael Mandelman and Catherine Stefani were opposed.
“I know this resolution, some people think it’s not going to do anything,” Safai said. “It will allow some people in our communities to feel heard and seen for the very first time … in our city.”
The resolution calls for an end to “the targeting of civilians” and estimates that about 1.7 million Palestinians have been displaced while hundreds of thousands more “are at imminent risk in Gaza” without a cease-fire. The resolution also acknowledges the danger for the roughly 137 Israelis kept hostage by the militant group Hamas.
Hamas launched an attack Oct. 7 that killed roughly 1,200 people and led to the kidnapping of more than 200. Israel’s response, backed by U.S. funding and weapons, is believed to be responsible for at least 22,000 Palestinian deaths so far.
San Francisco joins fellow Northern California cities Richmond and Oakland in passing resolutions calling for a cease-fire. Richmond is believed to have been the first U.S. city to call for a cessation of fighting, on Oct. 25, while Oakland took action on Nov. 27.
Much smaller Cudahy was the first Southern California city to call for a cease-fire, on Nov. 7.
Leaders in other cities listened to spirited debates but ultimately declined to pass similar resolutions, as was the case in Santa Ana on Dec. 5.
Cudahy’s resolution said Palestinians had “lived under violent and dehumanizing conditions.” Richmond’s resolution accused the state of Israel of “ethnic cleansing” and the war crime of “collective punishment.”
San Francisco’s resolution pointed to the United States government’s role in conflict as it “provides substantial military funding to Israel.”
It also called on “the Biden Administration and Congress to call for a ceasefire, humanitarian aid, and the release of all hostages.”
“We’re going to start something here today that’s going to take off across cities all over the United States,” supervisor Ronen said. “And if enough of us speak out, President Biden will have to listen.”
No public comment period for the resolution was held Tuesday. Instead, nearly 200 people spoke at Monday’s Rules Committee meeting, and nearly 400 attended the meeting in person during a public comment period Dec. 5, with all but one speaker voicing support for a cease-fire.
“We’ve never seen this level of engagement and passion and so many people coming forward to share their views on this,” said Preston, the resolution’s author. “And it’s not just about people coming in and speaking, it is about people sharing such intensely personal and emotional experiences.”
On Tuesday, chanting, booing and yelling could be heard inside the supervisors’ chambers from a small audience there and a much larger one outside.
Dorsey, who opposed the measure and unsuccessfully attempted to amend the resolution in committee on Monday, was booed the loudest. At one point, the supervisors’ chamber was nearly cleared due to the disruptions.
Dorsey said he could not vote for the resolution because it failed to condemn Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. Its adoption would “send a dangerous and unthinkable message that terrorism works,” Dorsey said.
Similarly, Stefani said she “won’t stay silent about the threat” of Hamas, which she suggested employed sexual assault against women during its Oct. 7 raid.
“I will stand up for women and girls every time, no matter what threats may come my way,” she said. “You cannot call for a cease-fire without calling for the surrender and removal of Hamas and the return of all the hostages.”
After an hour of discussion, applause rang out from the crowd as the board voted in favor of the resolution.
“We stood up even when it was hard, even when we were threatened with political repercussions, which we all have been,” Ronen said. “I just have to say that today is one of those days where it feels like San Francisco is still here. We’re still San Francisco.”
[ad_2]
Andrew J. Campa
Source link -
Senior Far-Right Israeli Official Admits Gaza Is A ‘Ghetto’ For Palestinians
[ad_1]
A senior Israeli official from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government admitted on Saturday that the Gaza Strip is a “ghetto” and that Israel must reduce the enclave’s Palestinian population ― the latest example of Israeli authorities plainly stating their goals for the future of Gaza and Palestinians.
In an interview with Israeli Army Radio, ultranationalist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that his “demand” was for Gaza to stop being a “hotbed where 2 million people grow up on hatred and aspire to destroy the State of Israel.” He did not specify why Palestinian civilians in Gaza would aspire to destroy Israel.
According to a translation by Haaretz, the Religious Zionism party chairman also said that Israel must occupy and resettle Gaza in order to regain security.
“If we act strategically, they will emigrate and we will live there. We won’t let 2 million stay. With 100,000 or 200,000 Arabs in Gaza, the ‘day after’ debate will be different,” Smotrich said, as translated by an Israel analyst with the nonprofit Crisis Group. “They want to leave, they’ve been living in a ghetto for 75 years.”
Comparing the plight of Palestinians to the suffering of European Jews during the Nazi regime has been a taboo subject, though human rights organizations and scholars have drawn similarities between the two struggles, particularly after Oct. 7. Just days ago, South Africa launched a case at the top United Nations court accusing Israel of carrying out the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
Earlier this month, prominent Russian American journalist and writer Masha Gessen was almost not awarded the prestigious Hannah Arendt prize in Germany after they published an essay in The New Yorker comparing Gaza to the Jewish ghettos of Nazi-occupied Europe.
“For the last seventeen years, Gaza has been a hyperdensely populated, impoverished, walled-in compound where only a small fraction of the population had the right to leave for even a short amount of time ― in other words, a ghetto,” they wrote in their Dec. 9 essay. “Not like the Jewish ghetto in Venice or an inner-city ghetto in America but like a Jewish ghetto in an Eastern European country occupied by Nazi Germany.”
“Presumably, the more fitting term ‘ghetto’ would have drawn fire for comparing the predicament of besieged Gazans to that of ghettoized Jews,” they continued. “It also would have given us the language to describe what is happening in Gaza now. The ghetto is being liquidated.”
In this April 19, 1943, photo, Jews are forced from the Warsaw Ghetto by German soldiers. This is not the first time Smotrich has spoken offensively of Palestinians. In March, the minister delivered a speech in Paris claiming that there is no Palestinian “nation,” “history” or “language.” In February, he called for a Palestinian town in the occupied West Bank to be “erased” after Jewish settlers rampaged through it in response to a shooting attack that killed two Israelis. Immediately after the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, he reportedly told fellow Cabinet members that “it’s time to be cruel,” even if it means killing hostages in Gaza in the process.
But Smotrich is not the only Israeli official saying the quiet part out loud about Gaza. Several of the country’s lawmakers have made comments appearing to support a second Nakba (when Palestinians were expelled from their homes and land en masse 75 years ago) in Gaza in order to feel a sense of security after the war.
Last week, lawmaker Danny Danon told Kan Bet radio that it would be humane for Israel to “make it easier for Gazans to leave for other countries.” Intelligence Minister Gila Gamiliel published an op-ed in The Jerusalem Post last month suggesting that Western nations should take in Palestinians from Gaza as an act of “voluntary resettlement.”
Netanyahu himself has made similar comments, telling members of his right-wing Likud coalition at a meeting last week that the mass expulsion of Palestinians out of Gaza would be a positive outcome of the bombardment.
Nihad Awad, the national executive director for the Muslim rights group CAIR, released a statement on Sunday demanding that the Biden administration condemn the “latest open call for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza.”
“Our nation’s leaders must finally acknowledge what has long been known and demonstrated daily by Israel’s genocidal actions,” Awad said. “That Israel’s racist government seeks to ethnically cleanse Gaza by slaughtering tens of thousands of civilians and making it unlivable for those it does not kill.”
[ad_2]
-
Zara sparks boycott calls over new ad
[ad_1]
Fast fashion retailer Zara has come under fire for a new campaign that some say is insensitive to people in Gaza.
There are calls for a boycott of the Spanish brand after a photoshoot for its 2024 Atelier range showed mannequins wrapped in white fabric and models standing amid rubbish from freight boxes, which some said resembled war rubble and coffins. One controversial image in particular showed a model with one of the mannequins balanced on her shoulder.
Some have claimed the campaign is inspired by the war in Gaza, where thousands have been killed since October 7, because the images look similar. Piles of bodies wrapped in white sheets have become a familiar sight in the conflict.
In the main image, a model poses with a mannequin wrapped in fabric for a new fashion campaign by retailer, Zara, set against a separate photo of Gaza in the background. Zara has come under fire for the main image, with some saying it is insensitive to people in Gaza.
Getty Images/Zara/Amir Levy
Israeli forces have killed more than 17,700 people in Gaza since Hamas launched a surprise attack last month, according to Associated Press. Hamas killed 1,200 people in Israel in the original attack and took about 240 hostages back to Gaza.
Following the backlash, some of the images appeared to be deleted from Zara’s social media, but remained on its website. Newsweek contacted Inditex, Zara’s parent company, by email for comment.
“@ZARA’s new marketing campaign uses designs inspired by the ongoing genocide in Gaza to promote a new collection. coffins, destruction, corpses, and glorifying killing. Zara faced boycott calls a year ago after its hosted their local agent the Israeli leader with a thirst for killing Palestinians and Arabs, Itamar Ben Gvir, at an election event,” one person wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Another added: “ZARA recent campaign exploiting a genocide & commodifying Palestine pain for profit is disgusting Shame on you brand @ZARA for stooping so low prioritizing greed over humanity & pretending it was harmless Deleting posts afterward magnifies awareness of harm.”
1 of 2
A woman cradles her son, eight-month-old Muhammad Bilal Abu Salah, as residents collect the bodies of Palestinians killed in reported Israeli air strikes on October 28, 2023, in Khan Yunis, Gaza. The sight of bodies draped in sheets in Gaza has become very common.
Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images
A woman cradles her son, eight-month-old Muhammad Bilal Abu Salah, as residents collect the bodies of Palestinians killed in reported Israeli air strikes on October 28, 2023, in Khan Yunis, Gaza. The sight of bodies draped in sheets in Gaza has become very common.
Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images
A mannequin wrapped in fabric as part of Zara’s latest fashion campaign.
Zara
And a third wrote: “Shameful act@ZARA #BoycottZara is not just a call for action; it’s a plea for basic human decency. There seems to be a void of humanity in these actions, and it’s crucial to stand united against such exploitation.”
It is not the first time Zara has come under fire for issues relating to Israel and Palestinians.
Zara also faced calls for a boycott in 2021 when it was revealed one of its head designers had sent a Palestinian model an anti-Palestinian message via DM on Instagram.
Model Qaher Harhash said Vanessa Perilman, Zara’s head designer for the women’s range sent him the message after his pro-Palestinian stance on Instagram.
“Maybe if your people were educated, then they wouldn’t blow up hospitals and schools that Israel helped to pay for in Gaza,” a screenshot of the alleged message read.
“Also I think it’s funny that [you’re] a model because in reality that is against what the Muslim faith believes in and if you were to come out of the closet in any Muslim country you would be stoned to death.”
Harhash then posted those messages online, leading to a call for a boycott of Zara, and he later claimed Perilman sent him more messages apologizing out of fear of losing her job and her children’s safety.
The model also said Zara had asked him to share Perilman’s apology publicly, but he refused.
“If Zara wants to make a statement with me, they also need to address Islamophobia. When certain fashion designers said anti-Semitic things, they were fired from their jobs,” he wrote on Instagram.
“So far, Vanessa Perilman hasn’t been fired.”
Harhash added: “For me an apology means to fully acknowledge the pain or suffering you caused someone. She came into my DM’s wrote hateful comments, why should I accept a half assed apology?”
More recently Zara was slammed after the owner of its Israeli franchise hosted the country’s hardline right-wing national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, at a campaign event.
Joey Schwebel, a Canadian-Israeli dual national and chairman of Zara Israel, hosted Ben Gvir at his home in Ra’anana, according to the Times of Israel.
Following the event, Palestinians were seen burning clothes from Zara and calling for a boycott of the brand on social media.
Ben Gvir is the head of the far-right nationalist party Otzma Yehudit, which translates to Jewish Power. He has been indicted 53 times for violations that included racial incitement, violent acts and supporting a terrorist organization. He was also convicted of eight criminal offenses that included such violations.
Shortly before Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated, Ben Gvir stole the emblem of Rabin’s car, presented it to TV cameras, and said: “Just like we got to this symbol, we can get to Rabin.”
Yigal Amir, a right-wing extremist, assassinated Rabin on November 4, 1995.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
[ad_2]
-
Israel faces mounting calls for new cease-fire in war with Hamas from U.N. and Israeli hostage families
[ad_1]
Tel Aviv — Israel’s military says it is in the third phase of its ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops have encircled and entered the key southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, where they suspect senior Hamas commanders behind the group’s bloody Oct. 7 terror attack are hiding.
The intensity of the IDF’s air and ground war in Gaza, however, has drawn mounting calls for another cease-fire from United Nations officials, humanitarian aid agencies — and even the families of some of the 138 Israeli hostages still believed to be held in Gaza.
MARCO LONGARI/AFP/Getty
Some of those desperate families took their concerns directly to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet on Tuesday, but they’ve told CBS News they were met by a government determined to press ahead with its stated mission to destroy Hamas.
Israel’s offensive against the Palestinian militant group, which has run Gaza for almost two decades despite being designated a terror organization by the U.S., Israel and may other nations, was focused on Khan Younis. The IDF said Tuesday that forces had entered the heart of the city.
Hundreds of thousands of civilians are trapped in the middle of the war. The U.N. estimates that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants have been forced to flee their homes, first driven out — on Israel’s orders — of the northern half of the Palestinian enclave to the south, to places including Khan Younis, but now ordered to evacuate that city “immediately.”
Getty/iStockphoto
Aid agencies have pleaded with Israel to stop or at least pause its assault, as it did for one week under a temporary cease-fire agreement with Hamas that enabled the release of dozens of hostages in exchange for Israel freeing more than 200 Palestinian prisoners. It also enabled more humanitarian aid to enter Gaza from Egypt – but the agencies doing that work have been clear that it wasn’t nearly enough, and the flow has slowed to a trickle again since the truce collapsed on Dec. 1.
The European Union’s head of foreign policy, Josep Borrell, said in a social media post on Wednesday that he’d received a “worrying call” from the United Nations humanitarian relief chief Martin Griffiths, to inform him that, “due to the bombing in the south of Gaza — with many victims and massive destruction — the UN won’t be able to continue operating unless there is an immediate ceasefire.”
“As requested by the U.N., the fighting must stop,” said Borrell.
As Israeli forces push deeper into southern Gaza, aid organizations say Palestinian civilians are running out of places to escape the onslaught.
U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk said staff from the global body’s various aid agencies had “described the situation as apocalyptic,” warning that in “these circumstances, there is a heightened risk of atrocity crimes.”
The U.N.’s World Food Program also issued a statement calling urgently for a new humanitarian cease-fire, saying the previous one enabled it to provide aid to some 250,000 people, “but the distribution of aid is now almost impossible and endangers the lives of humanitarian workers. Above all, it is a disaster for the civilian population of Gaza.”
Also pleading for a break in fighting on Tuesday were the desperate loved ones of the remaining hostages, who came to confront Netanyahu and his top aides in person on Tuesday evening.
Among the friends and family members was Jennifer Master, whose boyfriend Andrey was among those kidnapped during the Hamas rampage on Oct. 7 that Israel says saw the group kill some 1,200 people.
She and the other families heard horrifying testimony from some of the hostages released by Hamas during the pause in hostilities.
Reuters
Carmit Katzir’s 77-year-old mother was among those freed, but her brother Elad is still thought to be among the captives in Gaza. She said the released hostages described being “actually very close” to being killed by Israeli airstrikes.
Asked what she and the other families told their country’s leader, Master said: “I want the fighting to stop!”
Katzir told CBS News on Wednesday that her mother’s health deteriorated badly during her captivity. She developed heart problems from the harsh conditions and starvation, and only learned when she was released that her husband was murdered on the morning she was seized.
Katzir’s family came under attack at the same kibbutz from which Lior and Noam Peri’s 79-year-old father Chaim was abducted by Hamas.
Reuters
They’re scared, but they did get some good news from the freed hostages:
“They told us he’s alive,” Lior told CBS News, referring to her father. “But we then have the conditions, and the physical and the emotional state… it’s unbearable.”
Some of the family members said the meeting with Netanyahu and his war cabinet on Tuesday broke down into yelling, shouting and chaos, and there has been no indication that Israel’s government is prepared to ease up its operations in Gaza.
[ad_2]
-
Israeli forces move into Gaza city of Khan Younis
[ad_1]
Israeli forces move into Gaza city of Khan Younis – CBS News
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
[ad_2]
-
Airline Investigating Alleged Pro-Palestinian Sweatshirt Incident
[ad_1]
The airline said it was “reaching out to learn more” amid complaints over the matter.
[ad_2]
-
Man pleads not guilty to shooting Palestinian students
[ad_1]
Man pleads not guilty to shooting Palestinian students – CBS News
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
[ad_2]
-
Israel-Hamas Truce Will Reportedly Be Extended For Two More Days
[ad_1]
The temporary Israel-Hamas truce will be extended for another two days, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday.
The announcement comes on the final day of a four-day truce between the warring sides. The Israeli military said Monday evening that 11 hostages were handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza and were on their way to Israeli territory, marking the start of the fourth swap under the original truce.
The release came hours after Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said Israel and Hamas have agreed to extend their truce.
RELATED: Detroit Becomes Largest U.S. City Calling For Ceasefire As Israel And Hamas Agree To Temporarily Halt Fighting
Israel has said it would extend the ceasefire by one day for every ten additional hostages released. After the announcement by Qatar — a key mediator in the conflict, along with the United States and Egypt — Hamas confirmed it had agreed to a two-day extension “under the same terms.”
Results Of The Israel-Hamas Truce So Far & What’s Next
Of the roughly 240 hostages captured by Hamas in its Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel that ignited the war, 62 have been released. Israeli forces freed one, and two were found dead inside Gaza.
Israel is set to release 33 Palestinian prisoners later Monday.
With the truce deal has come increased shipments of fuel and supplies into Gaza — although aid groups say it’s still barely enough to dent the needs of the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza who have endured weeks of Israeli siege and bombardment.
RELATED: Police And Protesters Clash Outside Democratic HQ Following A Candlelight Vigil Calling For Ceasefire In Israel-Hamas Conflict
More than 13,300 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, roughly two-thirds of them women and minors, according to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will press ahead with the war after the ceasefire expires. Some 1,200 people have been killed in Israel, mainly during the initial incursion by Hamas. At least 77 soldiers have been killed in Israel’s ground offensive.
Israel Claims Aid Has Entered Gaza Amid Truce
Additionally, Israeli officials reportedly said around 200 container trucks brought humanitarian aid into Gaza on Monday after being inspected by Israel. Some resources included “a small amount of fuel,” per the Israeli military body that handles civilian affairs.
“Four containers carrying diesel fuel and four containers carrying cooking gas were transferred from Egypt to U.N. humanitarian aid organizations in the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing,” COGAT said in a statement.
The aid trucks brought “food, water, shelter equipment, and medical supplies,” the statement said.
Associated Press’ live updates here contributed to this report in addition to TSR Staff.
[ad_2]
Cassandra S
Source link -
Israel-Hamas cease-fire extended 2 days, Qatar says, amid joyous reunions for freed hostages, Palestinian prisoners
[ad_1]
Petah Tivka, Israel — A humanitarian pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas will be extended by two days, Qatar said Monday before the initial four-day truce in Gaza was set to expire.
“The State of Qatar announces that, as part of the ongoing mediation, an agreement has been reached to extend the humanitarian truce for an additional two days in the Gaza Strip,” Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari said on social media.
John Kirby, spokesperson for the National Security Council at the White House, also confirmed the two-day extension during a news briefing Monday, saying Hamas has agreed to release 20 additional hostages over the next two days. Kirby said they are working to further extend the cease-fire as well.
The announcement came after dozens of Israeli hostages and more than 100 Palestinian prisoners returned home over the weekend, including the first American to be released by Hamas in Gaza, 4-year-old Abigail Mor Edan. Another group of hostages was still expected to be released Monday, along with another group of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
The pause in fighting was originally scheduled to end at 7 a.m. Tuesday morning local time, which is midnight Eastern, but Israel had said it was willing to extend the agreement by one extra day for every 10 additional hostages released by Hamas. A Hamas representative also said earlier Monday that the group wanted to extend the truce.
Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty
The extension will be welcome news for dozens of Israeli families still longing to get their loved ones back after Hamas’ bloody Oct. 7 terror rampage across southern Israel.
Israeli news outlets said Hamas had provided officials with a list of the 11 hostages it planned to release Monday. The group — long designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., Israel and many other nations — started freeing women, children and elderly hostages on Friday. The latest group handed back to Israeli authorities was 17 people released on Sunday, including 13 Israelis and four foreign nationals.
Four-year-old U.S.-Israeli dual national Abigail Mor Edan was among them. She was recovering in a hospital Monday after spending more than 50 days in captivity — including her fourth birthday on Friday.
Both of Abigail’s parents were killed in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, when gunmen stormed into her family’s small farming community. Abigail managed to run to a neighbor’s house but was kidnapped.
Batia Holin, a neighbor of Abigail’s family, told CBS News that her granddaughter and Abigail were best friends.
“We don’t know whether she knows her parents are gone,” Holin said Monday.
The temporary cease-fire agreed to by Israel and Hamas has held since early Friday morning. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited troops in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, where Palestinians were taking stock of the destruction wreaked by his military’s relentless airstrikes and ground operations.
Israel has held up its end of the hostage deal, releasing 117 Palestinian prisoners so far, many of them teenagers. There were celebrations on the streets of the West Bank to welcome them home, where some people waved the green flag of Hamas.
FADEL SENNA/AFP/Getty
In Israel, nine-year-old Emily Hand, initially thought to have been killed, was among the child hostages returned to their parents over the weekend.
It was a joyous reunion also for Ohad Munder, who spotted his eager father waiting to greet him.
Shira Havron’s family got six of its members back on Saturday, including her aunt and three cousins.
“There’s no words, I think, invented to explain this feeling,” she told CBS News, calling it “such an uplifting moment and so emotional… It was a miracle.”
Yaffa Adar, 85, was among the first hostages released on Friday night. She was last seen being paraded through the streets of Gaza on a golf cart stolen from her kibbutz.
“They say a lot of jokes about the Jewish grandma… but there isn’t a tougher material in the world,” declared Yifat Zailer, who, like the rest of Israel, was glued to her television watching the hostage releases with excitement and relief over the weekend. But for her, like many others, there were mixed emotions.
“I’m really jealous,” she told CBS News.
Zailer was still waiting Monday for her cousin Shiri and Shiri’s two children, Ariel, 4, and 10-month-old Kfir, to be released. They were kidnapped by Hamas militants from Kibbutz Nir Oz.
“It’s torture,” she said of the way the hostages have been released in groups, without much prior notice of who will be next. She wasn’t optimistic that her youngest would be home very soon.
“It’s obvious they’re keeping the baby to the end,” Zailer told CBS News.
“Those little redhead babies became kind of a symbol,” she said, “and Hamas knows that. They can ask for a bigger price, they can ask for… whatever they want… They know how much we want that baby back.”
[ad_2]
-
Pope Francis’ Israel Remarks Spark Fury
[ad_1]
Pope Francis has triggered a backlash from Jewish groups who see his comments over the Israeli-Palestinian war as accusing both Hamas and Israel of “terrorism.”
The pontiff met Jewish families with relatives held hostage by Hamas, and Palestinians with families still in the Gaza Strip. He told an audience in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican City that he recognized suffering on both sides, saying: “This is what wars do. But here we have gone beyond wars. This is not war. This is terrorism.”
At a news conference on Wednesday, representatives of Palestinians who met with Francis quoted him as using the word “genocide” to describe the situation. But Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni denied this and said in a statement: “I am not aware that he used such a word.”
Pope Francis meets Palestinians in the Vatican City on November 22. His comments on the Israeli-Palestinian war have led to backlash from some Jewish groups.
Vatican Media/Vatican Pool/Getty Images
On Monday 20 November, U.S. officials addressed claims of a genocide committed by Israel. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said: “Israel is not trying to wipe the Palestinian people off the map. Israel is not trying to wipe Gaza off the map. Israel is trying to defend itself against a genocidal terrorist threat.”
The American Jewish Committee (AJC) asked the Vatican to “clarify” what Pope Francis said.
In a statement on X, the AJC wrote it was “grateful” to Francis for meeting with hostage families but added: “Later in the day, he described the Israel-Hamas war as ‘beyond war,’ as ‘terrorism.’ Hamas’ butchering and kidnapping of civilians is terrorism. Israel’s self-defense is not. Vatican, please clarify.”
A statement from the Council of the Assembly of Italian Rabbis seemed to accuse Francis of “publicly accusing both sides of terrorism.”
It said unnamed “Church leaders” did not condemn the Hamas attack and said they were “putting the aggressor and the attacked on the same plane in the name of a supposed impartiality.”
U.S.-based Jewish human rights organization, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, wrote on its website: “It is important for one of the world’s primary faith leaders, for whom people of all faiths look to spiritual and moral guidance, not to forget that all those who came to speak and seek solace from him, all their suffering, all their loss, are on the hands of the Hamas terrorists who, on October 7th, inflicted in the most brutal way, the worst mass murder of Jews since the defeat of Nazi Germany and World War II.”
Newsweek has reached out to representatives of Pope Francis to offer a response to the comments.
Pope Francis addresses a delegation in the Vatican City on November 22. Jewish groups have accused him of describing Israeli actions in Gaza as “terrorism.”
Vatican Media/Vatican Pool/Getty Images
A surprise attack from Hamas gunmen who crossed the border into Israel on October 7 killed 1,200 and led to around 240 people being taken hostage, according to Israeli figures.
Reuters figures quote tallies from health authorities in Hamas-ruled Gaza that claim more than 14,000 people have been killed there as a result of Israeli military action.
A four-day pause in fighting has been agreed to start today (November 24) in a deal that will see 50 Israeli hostages and 150 Palestinian prisoners released. Both sides say the pause is temporary.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
[ad_2]
-
Israel-Hamas war rages with cease-fire delayed, Israeli hostage and Palestinian prisoner families left to hope
[ad_1]
Jerusalem — Israel’s military continued pummeling the Gaza Strip on Thursday after a four-day cease-fire intended to see the militant group Hamas free dozens of Israeli hostages in exchange for the release of some 150 Palestinian prisoners was delayed at least until Friday. About 10 U.S. citizens remain unaccounted for after Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7 terror attack, and some of them are thought to be hostages, including 3-year-old Abigail Mor Edan.
With Israeli-American families such as Abigail’s hoping on Thanksgiving that their loved ones might soon be free, the government of Qatar — which helped broker the hostage deal — said the pause in fighting will begin on Friday at 7 a.m. local time (midnight EST), and the first batch of 13 hostages will be released at 4 p.m. — all of them women and children. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office confirmed to CBS News that it’s received a preliminary list of names.
Under the agreement reached in Qatar this week, at least 50 hostages, many of them children, will be released, in return for at least 150 Palestinian prisoners, and a four-day temporary cease-fire. Hundreds of trucks carrying desperately needed aid, including cooking oil and fuel, will cross into the Gaza Strip.
Hamas is incentivized to release more of the 236 captives Israel accuses it of seizing during its rampage across southern Israel, which saw the U.S.-designated terror group kill some 1,200 people. Every 10 additional hostages freed by Hamas will see Israel extend the temporary cease-fire by one day. More Palestinian prisoners would also be released if the deal is extended, at a ratio of three prisoners for every hostage handed over.
President Biden, who is spending Thanksgiving in Massachusetts, told reporters on Thursday that he is “not prepared to give you an update until it’s done.” He said he hoped he could say more on Friday.
In Israel, six weeks of anxious waiting could soon be over for some of the hostages’ families.
Hadas Calderon told CBS News that her life ended and her “family was broken” the moment Hamas gunmen stormed through their small farming community of Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7 and abducted her daughter Sahar, 16, and her son Erez, 12.
Asked what she thought her children have been through since that day, Calderon said: “Hell! Hell is what they’re going through… I just want them to come back and [to] heal them.”
As other American families prepared tables for Thanksgiving dinner, in central Tel Aviv, a dining table was set with a seat for every one of the 236 hostages that Israel says are being held in Gaza.
Palestinians demand end to Gaza war, release of all prisoners
But with Israel’s military still carrying out regular airstrikes and ground operations in Gaza — all of which it says target the Palestinian territory’s longtime Hamas rulers or other extremist groups — and the death toll said to be over 13,000, besieged residents have told CBS News that a four-day pause in the fighting isn’t enough.
“We’ve lost thousands of people,” said one girl at a protest in Ramallah, the biggest city in the other Palestinian territory, the Israeli-occupied West Bank. “If the war continues, we’ll lose everyone.”
Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty
The demonstrators want to see an end to the war completely, and they want Israel to release all Palestinian prisoners. According to Palestinian prisoners’ rights groups, there are more than 200 Palestinian children in Israeli prisons, and around 75 women.
Dozens of people have been arrested over the past few weeks alone, bringing the total number of Palestinians currently held in Israeli jails to over 7,000 according to prisoner rights advocates.
“Ultimately, I want freedom and I want for liberation,” Palestinian journalist and activist Joharah Baker, who is based in Jerusalem, told CBS News. “Palestinians deserve to be free.”
Samaher Aouwad’s daughter Norhan is on Israel’s list of those who could be released from prison this week. She was arrested at the age of 15 for the attempted stabbing of an Israeli soldier. She has always denied the charge, but she’s spent nine years in prison for it.
“The Israeli occupation stole her childhood, and that’s what I feel sad about,” Aouwad told CBS News. “No one can replace her childhood.”
Israel has used the release of Palestinian prisoners for decades as leverage in its negotiations with various Palestinian leaders.
In 2011, Hamas agreed to free kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for the release of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.
Gershon Baskin, an Israeli hostage negotiator who helped secure that agreement, told CBS News the fact that the militants are getting just three prisoners in exchange for each hostage they release this time is an indication that Hamas is eager to hand back women, children and elderly hostages it’s holding.
Heidi Levine/The Washington Post/Getty
“They were a burden” on the Palestinian militant group, he said. “Once they have the soldiers and only the soldiers, they will then begin demanding what they really want, which is the release of all Palestinian prisoners in Israel.”
Hamas has yet to iterate such a demand, and while Israel has not provided a breakdown of how many of the hostages are civilians and how many are soldiers, the extremist group has never had the kind of leverage it does now.
In the meantime, with less than 24 hours until the expected pause in the fighting, Israel is continuing with its stated mission: To “destroy Hamas.”
Asked Thursday if Israeli forces were trying to avoid complicating the plan for a short cease-fire by reducing their aerial assault on densely-populated areas in Gaza, military spokesperson Lt. Col. Richard Hecht told reporters it was “business as usual,” adding that due to the possibility of operations pausing soon, they could, in the interim, “even intensify.”
[ad_2]
-
Black Friday boycott calls intensify
[ad_1]
Calls to boycott Black Friday as part of protests over the Israeli-Palestinian war are growing on social media.
Protesters on platforms including X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram have argued that people should not take part in the discount day on November 24 because the pause in fighting agreed between Israeli officials and Hamas is not enough.
The deal will see Hamas release at least 50 hostages over a four-day period, with a temporary stop in fighting, more humanitarian aid into Gaza and 150 Palestinian women and teenagers held in Israeli jails released.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators in New York City on October 9, 2023. Some activists are now calling for a Black Friday boycott as part of a protest over the Israeli-Palestinian war.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
But the reaction from some pro-Palestinian accounts on social media demanded a total stop to the war and called for the Black Friday boycott to take place in protest.
One post that was seen more than 60,000 times on X said the pause in fighting was so shoppers can “spend guilt free” and urged consumers to “hit them in their pockets” by not taking part.
Another reached more than 177,000 people and asked: “Are you ready to disrupt business as usual? No celebrating in peace while genocide takes place. This Black Friday, November 24, people around the world will boycott, disrupt, and rally at commercial centers as we continue to #ShutItDown4Palestine.”
Following the October 7 assault, during which thousands of Hamas fighters launched a surprise attack from Gaza into southern Israel and killed 1,200 Israelis, predominantly civilians, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until the Israeli goal of the elimination of Hamas and the return of hostages is achieved.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said of accusations of genocide: “Israel is not trying to wipe the Palestinian people off the map. Israel is not trying to wipe Gaza off the map. Israel is trying to defend itself against a genocidal terrorist threat. So if we’re going to start using that word, fine. Let’s use it appropriately.”
Black Friday shoppers walk through a mall in Colorado on November 26, 2021. The commercial discount event is set to be boycotted by some protesters this year.
Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images
The Party for Socialism and Liberation 2024 campaign of Claudia De La Cruz for President & Karina Garcia for VP has also backed the Black Friday boycott.
In a statement, it wrote: “This holiday season also presents a crucial opportunity for us to take a stand for the Palestinian people. We call on everyone to join the Shut it Down for Palestine movement: disrupt, march, rally and take other creative actions at commercial centers this Friday.
“Tens of thousands across the country will be shutting down business-as-usual on Black Friday, the most profitable day of the year for major retail corporations—join us!”
The protest groups’ demands include a permanent ceasefire, the end of all U.S. aid to Israel and the release of all Palestinian prisoners in Israel.
But despite people vowing to boycott, it is unlikely to have an impact on Black Friday and data from the National Retail Federation (NRF) reported by Forbes predicts that more people than ever are set to make a purchase as part of the upcoming annual event and surrounding sales.
An estimated 182 million people are planning to shop in-store and online from Thanksgiving Day through to Cyber Monday, according to the federation’s survey. This is the highest estimate since they began tracking the data in 2017.
Newsweek has contacted the NRF and The Party for Socialism and Liberation via email for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
[ad_2]
-
Mia Khalifa lashes out at Joe Biden
[ad_1]
Mia Khalifa hit out at Joe Biden on social media, with a post criticizing the president’s age and Israel policy.
Biden celebrated his 81st birthday on Monday, spending the day pardoning turkeys at the White House and poking fun at himself on Instagram.
“Turns out on your 146th birthday, you run out of space for candles!” he wrote, alongside a photo with his candle-covered birthday cake on November 20.
Mia Khalifa at Paris Fashion Week on September 26, 2023, in Paris, France, and Joe Biden during a White House press conference on June 8, 2023. She has criticized his Israel policy.
Marc Piasecki/Pool/WireImage/Getty Images News
The snap led to a flurry of jokes and memes, with one social media user asking: “Is there cake under that fire?”
Khalifa also reposted Biden’s birthday photo to X—the social network formerly known as Twitter—along with the caption: “This geriatric f*** can’t ceasefire anything.”
Newsweek has reached out to Mia Khalifa for comment via Instagram and the White House via email.
Since being shared on November 21, Khalifa’s post has received over 1.6 million views. The Lebanese former adult film star is a vocal supporter of Palestinians. However, her comments on the Israel-Hamas war have caused controversy.
Hamas launched a huge surprise attack on southern Israel on October 7, leading to more than 1,200 deaths and taking more than 200 hostages back to the Gaza Strip. Israel responded by declaring war on Hamas, launching airstrikes and a ground invasion. More than 14,000 people have since been killed in Gaza, with many more injured and hundreds of thousands displaced, according to the Associated Press.
After news of Hamas’ initial attacks broke, Khalifa was slammed for referring to the group as “freedom fighters” on social media.
“I just want to make it clear that this statement in no way shape or form is [inciting] spread of violence,” Khalifa said in response to the backlash. “I specifically said freedom fighters because that’s what the Palestinian citizens are… fighting for freedom every day.”
Mia Khalifa attends Paris Fashion Week on June 21, 2023. Khalifa’s comments on the Israel-Hamas war cost her brand partnerships.
Edward Berthelot/Getty Images Entertainment
However, her original post led to Playboy ending her podcasting deal, while magic mushroom producer and distributor Red Light Holland dropped her as an adviser.
The 30-year-old has continued to post in support of Palestinians, while taking aim at a number of public figures for their pro-Israel remarks, including Jewish American comedian Amy Schumer and Israeli actress Gal Gadot.
Biden’s approach to the Israel-Hamas conflict has drawn criticism, with the president accused of being biased towards Israel at the expense of Palestinians. During his visit to Israel on October 23, Biden described himself as a “Zionist”—someone who believes in the development and defense of a Jewish state.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) greets Joe Biden upon his arrival at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport on October 18, 2023. Biden is being urged to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP
Biden has been called upon to use America’s close relationship with Israel to encourage a ceasefire. During a White House press call on Tuesday, John Kirby, the National Security Council’s strategic communications coordinator, told reporters that the U.S. would not support further action against Hamas in southern Gaza without assurances that civilians will be protected.
The president, referred to by Khalifa as “geriatric,” has also been receiving increased scrutiny over his age, as he prepares to run for a second term.
A recent poll conducted by Redfield & Wilton Strategies on behalf of Newsweek found that the “majority” of Democrats were concerned about Biden’s advancing years.
Surveying 1,500 likely voters, 75 percent of Democrats said they were either “very concerned,” “fairly concerned” or “slightly concerned” about the president’s age, with 44 percent worried that it may impact his ability to do the job.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
[ad_2]
-
Gov. Kathy Hochul outlines steps New York will take to combat threats of violence and radicalization
[ad_1]
NEW YORK — With officials concerned about New York facing looming threats of violence, Gov. Kathy Hochul on Tuesday morning announced new steps she’ll be taking to beef up security and deal with online threats and radicalization.
The governor outlined several initiatives to stop hate speech online from becoming hate crimes in the state.
Stopping online hate speech
Included in the plan is $3 million to ensure every college campus has a threat assessment and management team on site to identify threats, targeted ads offering help for parents to identify if their child is involved in hate speech online, and media literacy tools for all public school students to make them smarter about identifying misinformation online.
The announcement came after CBS News obtained a new threat assessment which points to “an increasing terror threat to New York state.”
The intelligence center warns that the spread of antisemitic and anti-Palestinian rhetoric on social media is fueling an increase in hate crimes targeting Jews, Muslims and Arabs.
The report says, “The expansion of Israeli operations against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and increase in civilian casualties raises the likelihood that violent extremist threat actors will seek to conduct attacks against targets in the West, with New York state being a focus. Terrorist messaging has placed focus on attacking ‘soft targets’ such as protests, group gatherings, and other public events.”
Hochul spoke Tuesday about how the online threat assessment teams will work.
“They’re not looking at your Instagram sunset posts or your tweets about your favorite football team, and they’re not here to penalize anyone for their political views. They have a simple goal, to find out what’s driving hateful behavior and intervene early before harm is done,” the governor said.
Watch Jessica Moore’s report
She also said she reached out to social media companies to criticize them for not better monitoring hate online.
“They say they’re monitoring for hate speech and I’d say there are instances where you’re not successful. So, ramp up the number of people who are in charge of monitoring, because if my state police can find it, if college students can find it, the people you hire to find it should be able to do so and take it down immediately,” Hochul said.
The governor said hate crimes against Jews, Muslims and Arabs have increased by more than 400% since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7.
Stepped-up security at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
In light of the report, the Hochul said the NYPD and state police have stepped up security around Thursday’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
“Are we living in a heightened threat environment? Absolutely. Are we seeing an increase in calls for violence? Absolutely. Those calls are coming from outside the country and inside, but there are no credible threats to the parade or to New York at this time,” said Jackie Bay, commissioner of the Department of Homeland Security’s New York State Division. “Everyone should feel absolutely safe going out there and enjoying the holiday.”
The governor pointed to the success of this month’s marathon as proof that her team is remaining vigilant about securing all large scale events happening in the city.
She is reminding all New Yorkers to be vigilant as well.
The NYPD says there are no credible threats to any New York event or to the city in general, but police are seeing increased calls to violence online, and the head of NYPD Intelligence and Counterterrorism told CBS New York’s Ali Bauman her office is monitoring that activity online and overseas to inform how their resources will be deployed for large events like the parade.
“Our heavy weapons teams, our blocker trucks, officers deployed throughout the route,” Deputy Commissioner Rebecca Weiner said.
The department is stepping up security for this year’s parade in part due to an assessment from the New York State Intelligence Center, obtained by CBS News, which points to an “increasing terrorist threat to New York State” since the war in Gaza began.
“What are you seeing and how are you monitoring all of it?” Bauman asked.
“Extremist and terrorist organizations across the spectrum, making statements, generalized calls to action, online rhetoric, real vitriolic rhetoric, some bias incidents, hate crimes,” Weiner said.
The state assessment warns terrorist messaging has placed focus on attacking “soft targets” such as protests and group gatherings.
This, of course, comes days after Mayor Eric Adams cut 5% of the NYPD’s budget and Tuesday said the department could face another round of cuts in January.
“You have the parade you’re preparing for, you have heightened tensions and online rhetoric, you have protests popping up every other day throughout the city and on top of that are budget cuts the NYPD is dealing with. Is the department stretched too thin right now?” Bauman asked.
“We will not compromise on public safety, absolutely not. Not in this environment, not when there’s so much going on, so we want to reassure everyone we’re there to protect your safety day in day out and we’ll continue to do so,” Weiner said.
Weiner also told said the NYPD has an officer deployed in Tel Aviv giving her real time updates on the security situation there.
She says this ramped-up police security will last as long as needed based on the threat assessment overseas.
[ad_2]
