Israeli soldiers fire near diplomats on visit to Jenin
The Israeli military said that it fired near a diplomatic delegation which had "deviated" from an approved route in the occupied West Bank. Video: Reuters
Israeli attacks on Jabalia overnight have resulted in multiple fatalities and numerous injuries, mainly to children, according to reports.
Caoimhe Ní Ghormáin, an expert in medieval Irish manuscripts, and John Gillis, who led the conservation, talk about the Book of Leinster. Video: Ronan McGreevy
Gordon Manning speaks to members of the Dublin Senior Camogie squad ahead of this week's Camogie Association vote on the wearing of shorts. Video: Bryan O'Brien
Conor Gallagher reports on Pravfond, set up by Putin, that intelligence agencies say does more than its stated goal of protecting the rights of Russians abroad
14-year-old Cara Darmody started a 50-hour disability rights protest outside Leinster House to highlight delays in children getting an assessment of needs.
CCTV footage of a tractor being driven by 16 year old completely crushing a car in Graiguenamanagh.
Amateur video footage captures the moment a sailing tallship crashed into New York's Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday, killing two people and injuring 17 others.
Austria have won the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 in the country's first victory since bearded drag queen Conchita Wurst won in 2014.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
19 minutes ago
- Irish Times
Israeli foreign minister finds shifting moods as he visits Berlin
Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa'ar was greeted by protest chants of 'blood on your hands' during a tense Berlin visit on Thursday. Amid a shifting political and public mood in Germany on Gaza , Mr Sa'ar held talks and laid a wreath at Berlin's Holocaust memorial alongside his German counterpart Johann Wadephul. In recent days the new German foreign minister has sent mixed signals, saying at the weekend that further German arms exports to Israel would be conditional on a review of their compliance with international law, indicating this could reduce deliveries. 'We have changed our tone and will likely change our political actions next,' said Mr Wadephul, echoing a more critical tone from chancellor Friedrich Merz . On Wednesday, Mr Wadephul appeared to shift again, promising further arms deliveries and telling the Bundestag that 'Germany must know where it stands: at Israel's side'. READ MORE The value of German arms exports to Israel spiked in 2023 to €326.5 million, then dropped by half last year amid rising pressure and public disquiet. At their joint press conference on Thursday, Mr Wadephul flagged ongoing attacks on Israel from its neighbours and said Germany would continue to support Israel's right to defend itself. But he criticised Israel's new Gaza aid distribution programme , saying it forced people to walk long distances often to 'come back empty-handed or, in the worst case, they don't come back at all because they've been killed'. Israel's permission for 22 new West Bank settlements, according to Mr Wadephul, was 'contrary to international law ... and a literal block to a two-state solution'. [ Gaza aid group halts distribution due to civilian safety concerns after dozens killed seeking aid Opens in new window ] Mr Sa'ar thanked Germany for standing at Israel's side on the international stage and asked for more time for a new aid distribution push by the US-backed Israeli foundation to establish itself. 'This effort has the potential to free the Palestinian population from Hamas ' stranglehold and end this war,' he said. Mr Sa'ar denounced growing international calls to halt arms deliveries to his country, saying that would leave 'Israel, the most attacked and threatened country in the world, deprived of its right to self-defence'. Participants display Palestinian flags and flash the victory sign during a demonstration in support of Palestinians outside the foreign office in Berlin, during a visit by Israel's foreign minister Gideon Sa'ar to the German capital. Photograph: Odd Andersen/AFP via Getty Images Outside Berlin's foreign ministry, protesters accused the Israeli visitor of 'co-responsibility for crimes against humanity and genocide'. They demanded an end to German arms exports to Israel, 'not as a pipe dream but as a legal obligation'. 'This visit legitimises aggression and gives political cover for a people's extinction,' said one German speaker. An Israeli speaker said Mr Sa'ar was in Berlin 'to buy more time for Israel because he knows the tide is turning'. The German public mood towards Israel and its war in Gaza has cooled in recent weeks, according to a public television poll, with almost two thirds (63 per cent) saying that Israel's military response in Gaza has gone too far. [ Trinity College Dublin board votes to cut ties with Israeli universities and companies Opens in new window ] Almost three quarters (73 per cent) did not consider the military action against Hamas justified if the Palestinian civilian population suffers. Meanwhile, 77 per cent of respondents approved of the more critical tone from Berlin towards Israel, which just 16 per cent viewed as a trusted partner of Germany. During his visit, Mr Sa'ar expressed concern about a study logging more than 8,627 anti-Semitic incidents in Germany last year, the equivalent of one an hour. The numbers mark a 76 per cent rise on 2023, the report said, and a 341 per cent increase since 2020. Among the documented cases was a swastika drawn on the wall outside the apartment of a Jewish couple in Hamburg; a Jewish schoolchild held down by two men and called a 'dirty Jew'; and a sign at a Düsseldorf protest reading: 'Yesterday Holocaust Victims. Today Perpetrators in Gaza.' The fallout from the October 7th, 2023, attacks by Hamas on Israel has supercharged anti-Semitism in Germany, the report found, with 68 per cent of cases categorised as 'Israel-related anti-Semitism'. Two per cent of the cases related to extreme violence or attacks, while 87 per cent were categorised as 'injurious behaviour'. [ Israeli military recovers bodies of two hostages held by Hamas, says Netanyahu Opens in new window ] 'The risk of being persecuted as a Jew in Germany has increased since October 7th, 2023,' said Benjamin Steinitz, co-author of the report from the Federal Research and Information Point for Antisemitism (RIAS). 'But debates about what counts as an expression of anti-Semitism seem to take up more space than empathy for the victims.' He was responding to a critical report arguing that the RIAS methodology equated criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism. 'RIAS statistics and publications indicate a bias in favour of the Israeli right, reinforced by opaque methods,' wrote Itay Mashiach, an Israeli journalist, in the report by the international Diaspora Alliance titled Biased. He said RIAS's 'flawed approach and resulting alarmist reporting have significant repercussions, including the stigmatisation of migrant communities, the restriction of political expression and the suppression of human rights activists'. Back at Berlin's Holocaust memorial, a school group waited to visit after the foreign ministers departed. Benjamin, an 18-year-old student from Hanover, said he followed the Middle East closely – in particular the aid blockade and resulting outcry. 'I understand that Israel doesn't want aid to go in that feeds Hamas fighters first and civilians second,' he said. 'But I don't agree with what looks like an effort to smoke out the Palestinians from Gaza.'
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
Almost 400 Irish writers sign statement calling for immediate ceasefire in Israel-Palestine conflict
Almost 400 writers in Ireland have signed an Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann statement calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Palestine conflict , the release of all hostages and the protection of the lives and human rights of writers, journalists and all innocent people affected by the ongoing conflict. Since October 7th, 2023, at least 181 journalists, 120 academics and 23 writers have been killed. According to PEN International, this has now been the deadliest war for writers since the second World War. Signatories include well-known figures such as Roddy Doyle , Marian Keyes , Colum McCann , Donal Ryan , Lisa McInerney , Kevin Barry , Mary Costello , Paul Lynch , Sinéad Gleeson , Jan Carson, Glenn Patterson, Paula Meehan, Carlo Gébler, Theo Dorgan and Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin among a total of 388 writers. More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the conflict. READ MORE Arundhati Roy stated in last year's PEN Pinter Prize speech: 'Not all the power and money, not all the weapons and propaganda on earth, can any longer hide the wound that is Palestine. The wound through which the whole world, including Israel, bleeds.' The PEN community has repeatedly called for an 'immediate end of all hostilities, the protection of civilians, and a just resolution to the conflict', and urged the United Nations and its member states 'to take all necessary steps to broker an immediate ceasefire'. 'Together with colleagues from across the globe,' the letter went on, 'Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann calls for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and the protection of lives and human rights of writers, journalists, and all innocent people affected by the ongoing conflict in Palestine.' It quotes Amnesty International , which has stated: 'Israel must immediately end its devastating siege on the occupied Gaza Strip which constitutes a genocidal act, a blatant form of unlawful collective punishment, and the war crime of using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare.' The letter pledged that alongside amplifying the voices of writers of Palestine , 'we must also do all we can to help bring an end to the unimaginably difficult situation they are facing on the ground daily'. [ 'So much gratitude in West Bank for Irish solidarity': How Nobel Prize-winners are raising Palestinians' plight Opens in new window ] 'As in the PEN Charter, literature knows no frontiers and must remain common currency among people in spite of political or international upheavals; PEN stands for the principle of unhampered transmission of thought within each nation and between all nations, and members pledge themselves to oppose any form of suppression of freedom of expression, condemning any racist, antisemitic, or Islamophobic commentary that has been used in relation to the conflict. 'We stand in solidarity with Palestinian, Jewish, and Israeli people who are opposing the genocide perpetuated by the current Israeli government. 'We ask that the international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law, be respected at all times. And we ask all nations to join our call for the immediate distribution of food and medical aid in Gaza by the UN and an immediate ceasefire guaranteeing safety for all Palestinians, Israeli hostages, and Palestinians arbitrarily held in Israeli jails.'
Irish Times
9 hours ago
- Irish Times
American group distributing aid in Gaza delays reopening sites
A controversial private company distributing aid in Gaza , backed by the US and Israel , had yet to reopen its distribution sites in the enclave by midmorning on Thursday, a day after shutting them following a series of deadly shootings close to its operations. The US-based Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) had said on Wednesday that its sites would not reopen at their usual time due to maintenance and repair work. It did not say when the locations would reopen. A Palestinian father of four in Gaza's Khan Younis, who asked not to be identified over safety concerns, told Reuters the GHF site in nearby Rafah had not reopened by mid morning. GHF did not immediately respond to a request for comment. – Reuters
