Israel calls for report to be withdrawn and accuses human rights group of antisemitism
Amnesty International has joined other leading human rights groups in stating that Israel’s “system of oppression and domination” over the Palestinians amounts to the international definition of apartheid.
The report immediately prompted fury among Israeli politicians who called for it to be withdrawn.
Continue reading...Antony Blinken pressed to investigate West Bank death of 78-year-old who was handcuffed, gagged and left by soldiers last month
Israel’s military has said it is dismissing two officers and would reprimand a battalion commander over the death of a Palestinian-American at a West Bank checkpoint after he was stopped by Israeli troops.
The death of Omar Abdalmajeed As’ad, who had lived in Milwaukee before retiring to his native village of Jiljilya, resulted from “a moral failure and poor decision-making”, it added.
Continue reading...Sylvan Adams, co-owner of the Israel Start-Up Nation pro cycling team, says his sports initiatives look to build bonds of coexistence and understanding
Jonathan Liew’s decision to attack my support for sports projects in Israel as “sportswashing” is perhaps the most ringing endorsement of why such bridge-building efforts are needed (Sportswashing is associated with certain countries – why not Israel?, 24 January).
When our liberal and open country holds its massive annual Gay Pride parade – the largest (if not the only one) in the Middle East, Israel is accused of “pinkwashing”. When Israel leads in environmental issues and breakthroughs in climate change technologies, Israel is accused of “greenwashing”. When our generous and supremely capable NGOs like IsraAid or Save a Child’s Heart provide support to communities in need around the world, we are accused of “aidwashing”.
Continue reading...Omer Barlev denied claims that protesters’ phones had been hacked
Israel’s minister of public security has expressed his firm support for the country’s police force after allegations it used NSO Group’s controversial Pegasus software to spy on Israeli citizens.
In an interview with the Guardian on Wednesday, Omer Barlev, the cabinet minister with responsibility for policing, denied claims made this week by Hebrew-language financial daily Calcalist that the phones of people who led protests against former premier Benjamin Netanyahu had been hacked into or surveilled by police.
Continue reading...Family of 15 evicted in East Jerusalem neighbourhood that was a flashpoint for 2021 fighting
Israeli police have forcibly removed a Palestinian family from their home in Sheikh Jarrah, the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood where evictions helped trigger a round of fighting between Israel and Hamas last year.
About a dozen police officers arrived at the Salhiya family’s house in the early hours of Wednesday, dragging the 15 occupants outside before demolishing their home with a bulldozer. The eviction was the first to be successfully carried out in Sheikh Jarrah in nearly five years.
Continue reading...Investigation alleges Israeli police carried out phone intercepts without court supervision or monitoring of how data was used
The Israeli police allegedly conducted warrantless phone intercepts of Israeli citizens, including politicians and activists, using the NSO group’s controversial Pegasus spyware, according to an investigation by the Israeli business media site Calcalist.
Among those described as having been targets in the report were local mayors, leaders of political protests against the former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and former government employees.
Continue reading...Analysis: UK reportedly considering sending asylum seekers to Rwanda, which was involved in controversial scheme with Israel
Rwanda – one of two African countries to which the UK government is reportedly considering sending asylum seekers for resettlement and processing – was previously embroiled in a highly controversial migrant deportation scheme involving Israel.
Although few details have emerged after a report in the Times that migrants could be sent to Ghana and Rwanda, Rwanda’s previous involvement in receiving African deportees from Israel raises serious concerns over whether – even with UK funding – it has the resources or even willingness to host deportations.
Continue reading...Former Israeli PM understood to be in advanced talks with state attorney’s office over admitting to two counts of breach of trust
The former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly close to reaching a plea bargain in his corruption trial, a development that could mean an unexpectedly swift end to his turbulent political career and once again upend Israeli politics.
Israeli media were dominated on Sunday by the news that Netanyahu, the chair of the Likud party and leader of the opposition since being ousted last year from a 12-year-stint in government, has reached advanced talks with the state attorney’s office.
Continue reading...Susan Sarandon and Mark Ruffalo among signatories to letter supporting Harry Potter actor accused of antisemitism
Major figures from the world of film, including Susan Sarandon, Mark Ruffalo, Peter Capaldi and Charles Dance have issued a statement in support of Emma Watson and Palestinian solidarity.
Last week, Watson, best known for playing Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter franchise, was accused of antisemitism after she posted an image on Instagram showing a photograph of a pro-Palestinian protest with the banner “solidarity is a verb” written across it. It was accompanied with a quote about the meaning of solidarity from the intersectional feminist scholar Sara Ahmed.
Continue reading...At a summer camp for kids from conflict zones, I met my brave, funny friend Aseel. He was Palestinian. I was Israeli. When he was killed by police, my hope for our future died with him
On 11 May 2021, I was sitting with a small group in a cafe in southern Tel Aviv, studying Arabic. Our teacher, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, had been telling us that he and his pregnant Jewish wife kept getting turned down by landlords who would not rent their property to a “mixed” couple. We were almost at the end of the three-hour class when air raid sirens sounded. A few days earlier, missiles had been launched from Gaza into Israel, but this was the first time they had hit Tel Aviv. Beyond the fear of an airstrike, I had a sad, heavy feeling. I had recently returned to live in Israel after 15 years studying and working abroad. I remembered a time, in the mid-1990s, when I had believed that Israel was going to be different, more just and less violent. That belief now felt like a distant memory.
My faith in Israel’s future had been inspired by an experience I shared as a teenager with a group of extraordinary people. As we waited for the rocket fire to stop, I recalled one of those people in vivid detail, a person I have barely been able to talk about in my home country for more than 20 years. His name was Aseel Aslih.
Continue reading...Omar Abdalmajeed As’ad, described by family as US citizen, was apprehended after ‘resisting a check’
An 80-year-old Palestinian man, described by his family as a US citizen, has been found dead after being detained and handcuffed during an Israeli raid on a village in the occupied West Bank.
The body of Omar Abdalmajeed As’ad was found in Jiljilya in the early hours of Wednesday with a plastic zip-tie still around one wrist, villagers told Reuters.
Continue reading...Over 132,000 patients currently on US wards with Covid; Swedish measures include work from home mandate
Two of New Zealand’s most prominent Covid-19 experts have warned that the country is unprepared to prevent the health system from being overloaded by an Omicron outbreak, with likely fatal consequences.
Otago University’s Dr Nick Wilson and Dr Michael Baker also said it was only a “matter of weeks” before the highly transmissible variant seeped into the community due to border failures.
Continue reading...She has played the Queen and a gangster’s moll but her latest casting has sparked controversy
Nobody is quite what they seem. And actors? Well, for actors that’s the job. Dame Helen Mirren, as well as being herself for 76 years, has by now notably been Lady Macbeth, a London gangster’s moll, a thief’s wife, an alcoholic cop, an action hero, Prospero and also a British monarch at least four times. Now she takes on Golda Meir, the late prime minister of Israel, in a new biopic, and the casting has caused controversy.
The choice of a non-Jewish actor to star as a woman with such a prominent place in the history of Israel has prompted irritation on both sides of the argument. Another illustrious dame, Maureen Lipman, was first to raise the issue – or “blast” Mirren, according to some reports last week – and then Dame Esther Rantzen defended the director’s choice. It is the latest instance of a ‘Jewface’ row, a backlash to the assignment of a major Jewish role to someone not from that minority background.
Continue reading...Hisham Abu Hawash, who has been held without charge for more than a year, began refusing food in August
A Palestinian man on a hunger strike in protest against detention without charge has agreed to end his fast after a deal was struck for his release owing to fears of unrest if he died.
Hisham Abu Hawash, 40, a construction worker from Dura in the West Bank, had previously served time in an Israeli jail after pleading guilty to terrorism offences related to membership of Islamic Jihad. He was rearrested and has been held without charge or trial for more than a year, and began refusing food in August.
Continue reading...Israeli officials attack actor’s message, and are accused of ‘cynical weaponisation’ of term
Emma Watson has been accused of antisemitism by Israel’s former ambassador to the United Nations after she posted a message of support for the Palestinian cause.
Watson, best known for playing Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films, posted an image on Instagram showing a photograph of a pro-Palestinian protest with the banner “Solidarity is a Verb” written across it. It was accompanied with a quote about the meaning of solidarity from the intersectional feminist scholar Sara Ahmed.
Continue reading...There were 12,912 people in hospital in Italy; Israel PM says study shows safety of fourth dose and increase in antibodies a week after jab
Over to Europe and Germany is reporting another 30,561 new coronavirus cases and 356 deaths, according to recently released data from the Robert Koch Institute.
South Korea has just released its daily Covid report.
Continue reading...Latest updates: UK prime minister warns hospitals will be under ‘considerable’ pressure for the ‘next couple of weeks and maybe more’
Québec, Canada proceeded with the first of three planned closures of non-essential retail stores on Sunday as the provincial government attempts to curb a new Covid wave and strain on hospitals.
Québec premier Francois Legault announced last week that the majority of the province’s stores would be closed for the next three Sundays, with the exception of pharmacies, convenience stores and petrol stations.
The last thing businesses need during these difficult times is additional restrictions. We must leave the choice to businesses to open or close at the time that makes the most sense for them, their employees and their customers.
Continue reading...Covid expert hopeful for ‘relatively normal’ winter 2022 but prevalence limits celebrations across continent
Germany’s leading coronavirus expert has expressed optimism that his country could expect a “relatively normal” winter in 2022 as Europe prepared to ring in the new year in muted fashion, with many countries limiting celebrations.
As the highly transmissible Omicron variant fuels a record-breaking surge in Covid infections across the continent, many governments have curtailed mass public gatherings and either closed or imposed curfews on nightclubs.
Continue reading...Readers commemorate the late South African archbishop, and the causes of peace, equality and environmentalism that he championed
Your informative obituary of Archbishop Desmond Tutu (26 December) missed an important dimension – his warnings on the need to save the planet. In March 2004, he delivered a lecture entitled God’s Word and World Politics at the United Nations as part of Kofi Annan’s public lecture series on cutting-edge topics in the humanities, natural sciences, social sciences and the arts.
The archbishop said: “Ecological concerns are a deeply religious, spiritual matter. To pollute the environment, to be responsible for a disastrous warming, is not just wrong and should be a criminal offence; it is certainly morally wrong. It is a sin.”
Prof Abiodun Williams
Tufts University
Noam Huppert says he is subject to travel ban until the year 9999 because he owes £1.8m to ex-wife
An Australian national living in Israel has said he is subject to an 8,000-year travel ban unless he pays an outstanding £1.8m in child support payments.
Noam Huppert, a 44-year-old analytical chemist working for a pharmaceutical company, is not allowed to leave Israel until 31 December 9999 owing to a 2013 “stay of exit” order handed down after a family court case was brought by his ex-wife, according to news.com.au.
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