Palestinian Islamic Jihad loses contact with group holding Israeli soldier
PIJ said it does not know the fate of Rom Braslavski or those who were assigned to keep him alive.
Fighting factions in Gaza, including Hamas, have often lost contact with one another and their own teams as they turn to more primitive communication methods to avoid detection and surveillance.
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Middle East Eye
27 minutes ago
- Middle East Eye
Columbia University suspends or expels almost 80 students for pro-Palestine protest
Columbia University announced new sanctions against student activists on Tuesday, suspending or expelling dozens of students for their participation in pro-Palestine protests. The suspensions will last between one and three years and will require students to write an apology letter if they wish to return to the university. The disciplinary proceedings primarily targeted students involved in the takeover of Butler Library to host a teach-in honouring the Palestinian writer Basel al-Araj, who was killed by Israeli forces in 2017. Protesters renamed the library 'the Basel al-Araj Popular University'. 'The sanctions issued on July 21 by the University Judicial Board were determined by a UJB panel of professors and administrators who worked diligently over the summer to offer an outcome for each individual based on the findings of their case and prior disciplinary outcomes,' Columbia wrote in a statement. Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) said in a statement: 'Once Barnard joins Columbia in announcing charges, these will be the most suspensions for a single political protest in Columbia campus history and hugely exceed sentencing precedent for teach-ins or non-Palestine-related building occupations.' Barnard is a Columbia University affiliate. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters CUAD alleged that Columbia president Claire Shipman modified disciplinary proceedings to crack down on student protesters. '[Shipman] illegally restructured the University Judicial Board (UJB) and removed student members and faculty oversight to pursue exceptionally harsh sanctions against its own students,' CUAD said in a statement. Pro-Palestine protests at Columbia and other universities have come to the forefront since the beginning of Israel's war on Gaza, which several countries, as well as many international rights groups and experts, now say qualify as an act of genocide. More than 100 Palestinians in Gaza, including at least 80 children, have starved to death as a result of Israel's siege, and more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed at aid distribution sites since March. Police on campus Students have condemned Columbia's collaboration with the New York Police Department (NYPD) and Trump administration officials. During the takeover of Butler Library, Columbia invited NYPD officials on to campus, who ultimately arrested 78 demonstrators. Columbia claimed the NYPD's presence was necessary to 'assist in securing the building and the safety of our community'. Georgetown University professor placed on leave over misrepresented X post Read More » But four students were hospitalised with concussions due to NYPD brutality during the protest, according to CUAD. One of the arrested students reported being 'choked and going in and out of consciousness after the arrest. One of [the police officers] kept trying to gouge my eyes. They slammed my head into the floor multiple times.' CUAD alleged that the disciplinary sanctions were a result of talks between Columbia and the Trump administration to restore $400 million in cancelled federal funding. They listed Columbia's adoption of a definition of antisemitism that considers Zionism a protected class and a new partnership with the pro-Israel Anti-Defamation League as similar concessions. Columbia's press office did not respond to a request for clarification. Student activists say they will continue to organise undeterred by disciplinary proceedings. According to one student quoted on CUAD's Substack, 'if this hearing was meant to isolate or shame, it has done the opposite. It has made us more clear: no sanction handed down here can expel principle. Basel al-Araj wrote: 'Join them, and don't betray the question.' We have joined, and we will not betray the question."
Middle East Eye
an hour ago
- Middle East Eye
US contractor recounts gruesome details of Gaza aid delivery
A US mercenary unloaded an entire can of pepper spray into the face of a Palestinian man picking noodles off the ground, and other contractors shot into crowds of starving people trying to collect food in Gaza, a US security contractor told Israeli media. Those are just some of the harrowing details that a 25-year-old contractor who recently worked for a security firm guarding distribution sites for the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) shared with Israel's Channel 12 news in an interview aired on Tuesday. The man, whose face was blurred and voice distorted to protect his identity, said he was a US military veteran who had deployed 12 times to four different war zones, but never saw such violence carried out against unarmed civilians as that by Israeli soldiers and US mercenaries in Gaza. 'I have never in my entire military career... have I been a part of, allowed, or bystander to the use of force against unarmed innocent civilians. Ever. And I'm not going to do it now,' he said. 'There is no fixing this,' he said. 'Put an end to it.' New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces while trying to access food in Gaza since the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began operations, the United Nations said on Tuesday. GHF distribution sites are guarded by two US security firms: Safe Reach Solutions (SRS) and UG Solutions. SRS is run by a former high-ranking CIA officer and tied to a US private equity firm in Chicago, Middle East Eye has reported. Both companies have come under scrutiny for the violence unfolding at aid sites where starving Palestinians are trying to collect food. The Associated Press reported earlier this month that American contractors guarding the sites are using live ammunition and stun grenades against Palestinians. The GHF told MEE on Thursday that while some of its aid workers had been attacked and injured en route to the sites, there have been "no incidents or fatalities at or in the immediate vicinity" of any of the sites. The spy, private equity baron and ghost of a Trump donor: The revolving door behind a Gaza mercenary firm Read More » The former contractor interviewed by Channel 12 recounted similar atrocities. 'There was a man who was on the ground. He was on his hands and knees and he was picking up individual noodles,' he said. 'This guy wasn't armed. He wasn't a threat. This UG contractor sprayed an entire can of pepper spray on to this guy's face. That's lethal.' In another case, the contractor recounted standing next to a Palestinian woman hit by a stun grenade: 'She collapsed, fell to the ground. That was the moment I knew I couldn't continue.' The man also said that US contractors were firing live rounds at starving Palestinians. Job adverts for US mercenaries going to Gaza have called for applicants with weapons training and experience in 'warfare tactics'. 'As the Palestinians were finishing getting the aid that was on the site, the UG Solutions personnel began shooting in their direction, shooting at them, shooting at their feet,' he said. Israeli troops have admitted to deliberately shooting and killing unarmed Palestinians waiting for aid in the Gaza Strip, following direct orders from their superiors. The US and Israeli-backed GHF was established to supplant the UN in distributing aid in Gaza. Only a trickle of food has entered the enclave, and some Palestinians, including children, are dying of hunger. The contractor said Israeli engineers who planned the GHF sites did not appear to consider humanitarian factors or accessibility. 'If the UN method had the amount of support and security and coordination that GHF is getting, the UN process would be very successful,' he said.
Gulf Today
2 hours ago
- Gulf Today
Arab League Council rejects changes to Ibrahimi Mosque status
The Arab League Council has reaffirmed its complete rejection of any attempts to alter the current status of the Ibrahimi Mosque and its surroundings in the Old City of Hebron, including efforts to restrict access, silence the call to prayer, desecrate the site, alter its features, or separate it from its Palestinian context. The council held Israeli forces fully responsible for these violations. The council stressed the importance of upholding full Palestinian sovereignty over the mosque and its vicinity, describing it as an Islamic endowment administered by the Palestinian Ministry of Islamic Endowments. It warned that Israeli attempts to Judaise the site are part of broader efforts to impose control, calling on the international community to uphold and implement its resolutions. This came in a statement on the Israeli government plans to revoke Hebron municipality's authority over the Ibrahimi Mosque and its surroundings in the Old City, issued at the conclusion of an extraordinary session of the council at the level of permanent representatives. The meeting was chaired by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, at the request of the State of Palestine and with the support of member states. Ambassador Hossam Zaki, Assistant Secretary-General of the Arab League, and permanent ambassadors of member states were present. The council reaffirmed the 2017 UNESCO decision to include the Ibrahimi Mosque and the Old City of Hebron on the list of World Heritage in Danger, stating that current developments constitute a clear violation of this ruling. The council reiterated that Israel holds no sovereignty over Palestinian land and heritage sites. It warned that the illegal Israeli plan marks an unprecedented escalation aimed at altering the original identity of the site, erasing the authentic heritage of the Palestinian people, and undermining their exclusive sovereignty. It stressed that such actions would have grave consequences for all religious sanctities and regional stability. The council also called for compliance with the 1997 agreement signed between the Palestine Liberation Organisation and Israel, which stipulates that the administration of the Ibrahimi Mosque remains under the authority of Hebron Municipality. It condemned all Israeli practices aimed at exerting full control over large parts of Hebron and the Ibrahimi Mosque, implementing colonial changes to the historical and legal reality, and preventing Palestinian residents from accessing the site. It urged the United Nations Secretary-General to take effective measures to protect civilians in Hebron. The council emphasised the need to dispatch an urgent monitoring mission to the city in line with previous decisions of the World Heritage Committee, to assess the severity of these developments. It also called for renewed diplomatic efforts to monitor and document Israeli violations in Hebron, particularly at the Ibrahimi Mosque. Furthermore, the council urged the UN Special Rapporteurs on freedom of religion and human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories to document these violations. It also requested Arab League missions and councils of Arab ambassadors to convey the contents of the resolution to their host capitals. WAM
