Humanitarian vessel on aid mission to Gaza rescues 4 migrants at sea; dozens returned to Libya
MILAN — A ship carrying activists , including Greta Thunberg, to Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid rescued four migrants on Thursday after they had jumped into the sea from another vessel to avoid being picked up by Libyan authorities.
The vessel Madleen, which is operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, was alerted by the European Union's Frontex border control agency and arrived at the location in the Mediterranean where it found 30-40 people on a 'boat that was rapidly deflating.' As the Madleen launched its own inflatable rescue boat, a Libyan coast guard vessel approached at high speed, the coalition said.
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Associated Press
12 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Lebanon aims to lure back wealthy Gulf tourists to jumpstart its war-torn economy
BEIRUT (AP) — Fireworks lit up the night sky over Beirut's famous St. Georges Hotel as hit songs from the 1960s and 70s filled the air in a courtyard overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The retro-themed event was hosted last month by Lebanon's Tourism Ministry to promote the upcoming summer season and perhaps recapture some of the good vibes from an era viewed as a golden one for the country. In the years before a civil war began in 1975, Lebanon was the go-to destination for wealthy tourists from neighboring Gulf countries seeking beaches in summer, snow-capped mountains in winter and urban nightlife year-round. In the decade after the war, tourists from Gulf countries – and crucially, Saudi Arabia – came back, and so did Lebanon's economy. But by the early 2000s, as the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah gained power, Lebanon's relations with Gulf countries began to sour. Tourism gradually dried up, starving its economy of billions of dollars in annual spending. Now, after last year's bruising war with Israel, Hezbollah is much weaker and Lebanon's new political leaders sense an opportunity to revitalize the economy once again with help from wealthy neighbors. They aim to disarm Hezbollah and rekindle ties with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, which in recent years have prohibited their citizens from visiting Lebanon or importing its products. 'Tourism is a big catalyst, and so it's very important that the bans get lifted,' said Laura Khazen Lahoud, the country's tourism minister. On the highway leading to the Beirut airport, once-ubiquitous banners touting Hezbollah's leadership have been replaced with commercial billboards and posters that read 'a new era for Lebanon.' In the center of Beirut, and especially in neighborhoods that hope to attract tourists, political posters are coming down, and police and army patrols are on the rise. There are signs of thawing relations with some Gulf neighbors. The United Arab Emirates and Kuwait have lifted yearslong travel bans. All eyes are now on Saudi Arabia, a regional political and economic powerhouse, to see if it will follow suit, according to Lahoud and other Lebanese officials. A key sticking point is security, these officials say. Although a ceasefire with Israel has been in place since November, near-daily airstrikes have continued in southern and eastern Lebanon, where Hezbollah over the years had built its political base and powerful military arsenal. Tourism as a diplomatic and economic bridge As vital as tourism is — it accounted for almost 20% of Lebanon's economy before it tanked in 2019 — the country's leaders say it is just one piece of a larger puzzle they are trying to put back together. Lebanon's agricultural and industrial sectors are in shambles, suffering a major blow in 2021, when Saudi Arabia banned their exports after accusing Hezbollah of smuggling drugs into Riyadh. Years of economic dysfunction have left the country's once-thriving middle class in a state of desperation. The World Bank says poverty nearly tripled in Lebanon over the past decade, affecting close to half its population of nearly 6 million. To make matters worse, inflation is soaring, with the Lebanese pound losing 90% of its value, and many families lost their savings when banks collapsed. Tourism is seen by Lebanon's leaders as the best way to kickstart the reconciliation needed with Gulf countries -- and only then can they move on to exports and other economic growth opportunities. 'It's the thing that makes most sense, because that's all Lebanon can sell now,' said Sami Zoughaib, research manager at The Policy Initiative, a Beirut-based think tank. With summer still weeks away, flights to Lebanon are already packed with expats and locals from countries that overturned their travel bans, and hotels say bookings have been brisk. At the event hosted last month by the tourism ministry, the owner of the St. Georges Hotel, Fady El-Khoury, beamed. The hotel, owned by his father in its heyday, has acutely felt Lebanon's ups and downs over the decades, closing and reopening multiple times because of wars. 'I have a feeling that the country is coming back after 50 years,' he said. On a recent weekend, as people crammed the beaches of the northern city of Batroun, and jet skis whizzed along the Mediterranean, local business people sounded optimistic that the country was on the right path. 'We are happy, and everyone here is happy,' said Jad Nasr, co-owner of a private beach club. 'After years of being boycotted by the Arabs and our brothers in the Gulf, we expect this year for us to always be full.' Still, tourism is not a panacea for Lebanon's economy, which for decades has suffered from rampant corruption and waste. Lebanon has been in talks with the International Monetary Fund for years over a recovery plan that would include billions in loans and require the country to combat corruption, restructure its banks, and bring improvements to a range of public services, including electricity and water. Without those and other reforms, Lebanon's wealthy neighbors will lack confidence to invest there, experts said. A tourism boom alone would serve as a 'morphine shot that would only temporarily ease the pain' rather than stop the deepening poverty in Lebanon, Zoughaib said. The tourism minister, Lahoud, agreed, saying a long-term process has only just begun. 'But we're talking about subjects we never talked about before,' she said. 'And I think the whole country has realized that war doesn't serve anyone, and that we really need our economy to be back and flourish again.'
Washington Post
3 hours ago
- Washington Post
Boston Consulting Group CEO apologizes for Israel-backed Gaza aid project
The chief executive of one of the world's top consulting firms apologized to staff and admitted 'process failures' in the company's decision to help design and run a controversial Israel-backed group that supplanted the work of the United Nations to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip, according to an email obtained by The Washington Post.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Greta Thunberg's Gaza flotilla could reach Israeli waters over the weekend: What you need to know
Greta Thunberg's Gaza Freedom Flotilla is edging closer to Israeli waters, but will they actually make it? Five days after climate activist Greta Thunberg set sail Sunday afternoon along with 11 other activists on a ship carrying aid to Gaza, the group could soon near Israeli waters. Israeli officials have vowed not to allow the ship, called the Madleen, to dock. The country's navy is reportedly preparing to rebuff the ship and, if necessary, arrest its passengers. The group is carrying supplies for Gazan Palestinians and protesting what they say is 'Israel's 'illegal, decades-long blockade, and ongoing genocide' in the enclave. Their voyage is operated by the pro-Palestinian nonprofit Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which has staged other naval efforts to reach Gaza by sea over the last 15 years. The latest trip, which departed from Sicily and detoured to pick up Sudanese refugees, comes as the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza turns 20 months old and includes Thunberg, one of the most prominent progressive activists in the world. Here's what you need to know in advance of a possible showdown on the high seas. The trip comes amid widespread criticism of Israel's handling of aid to Gaza, where 2 million Palestinians live and where Israel has been fighting Hamas, the governing authority, since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked southern Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered 'basic aid' to enter Gaza last month amid growing concerns about starvation following Israel's months-long aid blockade. Since Netanyahu's announcement, aid distribution in Gaza has since faced multiple setbacks, including deadly shootings at aid distribution sites. According to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the Madleen is carrying baby formula, flour, rice, diapers, women's sanitary products, water desalination kits, medical supplies, crutches and children's prosthetics. 'We are doing this because, no matter what odds we are against, we have to keep trying,' Thunberg said during a press conference ahead of the voyage. 'Because the moment we stop trying is when we lose our humanity,' she continued. 'And no matter how dangerous this mission is, it's not even near as dangerous as the silence of the entire world in the face of the live-streamed genocide.' London has so far rejected requests by Israel to deter the Madleen, which is flying under a UK flag, from approaching Israeli waters, according to the Times of Israel. Last month, the leaders of France and the United Kingdom issued statements condemning Israel's blockade on aid to Gaza and continued offensive and vowing to take 'concrete actions' if they continue. The group has drawn support from pro-Palestinian advocates around the world. The human rights group Amnesty International, for example, called the voyage 'an important solidarity initiative that will help to keep the spotlight on Israel's illegal and suffocating blockade of the occupied Gaza Strip amidst its ongoing genocide.' But critics of the group have pilloried them for engaging in performative activism that is unlikely to achieve any results for Palestinian civilians. An Israeli official reportedly referred to the Madleen as the 'selfie flotilla,' for example. It has also added to concerns over whether Thunberg's increasing focus on Israel is distracting from her leadership on climate change. Thunberg has sparred with her critics. After Sen. Lindsay Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, tweeted, 'Hope Greta and her friends can swim!' Thunberg said on the progressive radio show Democracy Now, 'We can swim very well.' Following two successful independent voyages that reached Gaza in 2008, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition was founded in 2010 to protest Israel's blockade of Gaza. It operates a small fleet of ships that have tried — but rarely if ever succeeded — to bring aid and supplies by sea to the Gaza Strip. In the group's first mission, in 2010, a Turkish flotilla ship called the Mavi Marmara was raided by the Israeli military during an aid mission, and nine people on board were killed. Subsequent efforts in past years were intercepted, and their passengers were detained and deported. Last month, one of the ships in the group's fleet, the Conscience, was hit by two alleged drones just outside of Malta's territorial waters. The group accused Israel of perpetrating the attacks. Israel has declined to comment. An Israeli cargo aircraft reportedly flew at a relatively low altitude over eastern Malta several hours before the reported attack, according to flight data reviewed by CNN. The IDF declined to comment to CNN about the flight data. Thunberg told USA Today that she was supposed to be on the Conscience voyage but had stayed behind. Including Thunberg, there are 12 activists and journalists on board the Madleen, which is named for what the group says is Gaza's only female professional fisherwoman. Among them is Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament. Hassan is of Palestinian descent and was barred from entering Israel in February due to her active opposition to the conflict in Gaza and support for the BDS movement. Others on board the Madleen come from at least half a dozen countries, according to a press release from the FFC. They include: Yasemin Acar, a German pro-Palestinian activist. Baptiste Andre, a physician from France. Thiago Avila, an activist from Brazil. Omar Faiad, an Al Jazeera correspondent. Pascal Maurieras, a French activist. Yanis Mhamdi, a journalist-director at Blast, a French independent media outlet. Şuayb Ordu, a Turkish activist. Reva Viard, an activist from France. Sergio Toribio, a crew member from Spain. Marco Van Rennes, a crew member from the Netherlands. 'Game of Thrones' actor Liam Cunningham was among the crowd of spectators who gathered in solidarity with the crew of the Madleen to bid them farewell in Catania, Sicily. 'Governments are not standing up for what their legal obligations are under international law, so it takes a disparate group like this to try and achieve it,' said Cunningham in a post on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla's Instagram account. 'Anybody who was fearful of using the word genocide, that's gone now.' If it is not intercepted, the Madleen could reach Gaza sometime over the weekend, according to a post on X early Friday morning by the International Committee to Break the Siege, which was reposted by FFC. 'We're on our way to Gaza — expected to arrive in about 48 hours,' the post read. 'These next hours are critical. Your voice is our protection. Let apartheid Israel know: the world is watching. Your silence gives them cover. Don't stay silent.' But the IDF has said it does not intend to allow the ship to dock. The Jerusalem Post reported that military officials said the ship will be warned not to enter the area, and if they defy orders, the IDF may take over the ship and arrest them. The protesters would then be transferred to the Ashdod port and deported, according to officials. The 'IDF is prepared to operate on all fronts, including in the maritime arena,' a spokesman, Effie Defrin, said this week. He added, 'We will act accordingly.'
