Washington air disaster: Witness testimony and expert insight on fatal collision
Guests:
Ash Alexander Cooper - Former specialist military unit commander and combat helicopter pilot
Matthew Cappucci - Meteorologist who witnessed the collision
Dan Meridor - Former Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Intelligence
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Al Arabiya
3 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Macron says Israel's offensive in Gaza will lead to ‘disaster'
French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday that Israel's 'military offensive' to conquer Gaza City 'can only lead to a complete disaster for both peoples,' after Israel's defense minister authorized the call-up of around 60,000 reservists. Israel's plan 'will drag the region into a permanent war,' the French president posted on social media, reiterating his call for an 'international stabilization mission.'
Arab News
5 hours ago
- Arab News
Police disperse pro-Palestinian protests at Microsoft HQ in Washington
WASHINGTON: Police dismantled a protest encampment set up by current and former Microsoft employees at the tech giant's headquarters in Redmond, Washington, over the company's cloud services being used by the Israeli military for surveillance operations against Palestinians. Members of the worker-led campaign group, No Azure for Apartheid, occupied Microsoft's East Campus in Redmond on Tuesday, demanding the company end its ties with Israel. The group accused Microsoft of complicity in war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank through its support of Israeli military and intelligence operations. 'In establishing the Liberated Zone, we are liberating our workplace and reclaiming our labor by refusing to do any work that could contribute to genocide and other crimes against humanity in Palestine,' said Microsoft worker Julius Shan in a letter to the company on Tuesday. 'We choose to take this step to escalate against Microsoft's active role in powering 22 months of genocide in Palestine,' he added. The protests follow a recent investigation by The Guardian with the Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and Hebrew-language outlet Local Call, which revealed that Microsoft's Azure cloud services were being used by Israeli authorities to facilitate mass surveillance of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. The system reportedly enabled the storage of millions of daily mobile phone call recordings made by Palestinians and assisted in identifying bombing targets in Gaza. On Friday, Microsoft said it launched an 'urgent' external inquiry into the allegations as executives denied their knowledge of the nature of Israel's use of Azure technology. In a statement, Microsoft said 'using Azure for the storage of data files of phone calls obtained through broad or mass surveillance of civilians in Gaza and the West Bank' would be prohibited by its terms of service. Responding to the announcement, the 'No Azure for Apartheid' group described the inquiry as 'yet another tactic to delay' meeting its demands. The group demanded that Microsoft ends sales, deals and services to all Israeli entities, call for a ceasefire and an end to the starvation in Gaza, pay reparations to the Palestinians, and end discrimination against pro-Palestinian workers. Hossam Nasr, one of the group's organizers, told Arab News that Tuesday's encampment aimed to be reminiscent of the US student-led protests at prominent universities last year. However, police officers interrupted the protests after two hours, saying the demonstrators trespassed private property and therefore were subject to arrest. The demonstrators left to a nearby public sidewalk as police officers and Microsoft security dismantled the encampment activities. In the company's plaza, demonstrators paid artistic tributes to the Palestinian victims in Gaza and held placards that read 'Join The Worker Intifada – No Labor for Genocide' targeted at Microsoft. They set up tents and a negotiation table with a large banner that read 'Microsoft Execs, Come to the Table.' The space was also filled with shrouds symbolizing the dead in Gaza, and a large plate reading, 'Stop Starving Gaza.' The protests come amid growing pressure on the US tech giant from Microsoft employees and investors over its ties to the Israeli military and the role its technologies have played in the 22-month war on Gaza. Earlier in April during Microsoft's 50th anniversary celebration, an employee interrupted a panel between CEO Satya Nadella, former CEO Steve Ballmer and founder Bill Gates. Another disrupted an address from AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman. Both employees were fired. Nasr, and another organizer, Abdo Mohamed, told Arab News they were terminated for organizing what the tech giant called an 'unauthorized' vigil at Microsoft's Redmond headquarters for Palestinians killed during the war in Gaza. In response to the mounting criticism, Microsoft launched a investigation earlier this year. In May, the company said it had 'found no evidence to date' the Israeli military had failed to comply with its terms of service or used Azure 'to target or harm people' in Gaza. It said it provides Israel's Ministry of Defense with software, professional services, Azure cloud services, and Azure AI services such as language translation, as well as cybersecurity support, but denied these technologies are used to target civilians. However, the company acknowledged its limited visibility into how its technology is deployed on private or on-premises systems. Arab News has contacted Microsoft for comment.
Saudi Gazette
6 hours ago
- Saudi Gazette
Israel calls up 60,000 reservists ahead of planned Gaza City offensive
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says it is calling up about 60,000 reservists ahead of a planned ground offensive to capture and occupy all of Gaza City. A military official said the reservists would report for duty in September and that most of the troops mobilised for the offensive would be active-duty personnel. They added that troops were already operating in the Zeitoun and Jabalia areas as part of the preparations for the plan, which Defence Minister Israel Katz approved on Tuesday and will be put to the security cabinet later this week. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza City are expected to be ordered to evacuate and head to shelters in southern Gaza. Many of Israel's allies have condemned the plan, while the UN and non-governmental organisations have warned that another offensive and further mass displacement will have a "horrific humanitarian impact" after 22 months of war. Israel's government announced its intention to conquer the entire Gaza Strip after indirect talks with Hamas on a ceasefire and hostage release deal broke down last month. Regional mediators are trying to secure an agreement before the offensive begins and have presented a new proposal for a 60-day truce and the release of around half of the 50 hostages still held in Gaza, which Hamas said it had accepted on Monday. Israel has not yet submitted a formal response, but Israeli officials insisted on Tuesday that they would no longer accept a partial deal and demanded a comprehensive one that would see all the hostages released. Only 20 of the hostages are believed to be alive. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that orders calling up 60,000 reservists were issued on Wednesday as part of the preparations for "the next phase of Operation Gideon's Chariots" - the offensive that it launched in May. In addition, 20,000 reservists who had already been called up would receive a notice extending their current orders, it added. The Israeli military official said senior commanders had approved the plan for a "gradual" and "precise" operation in and around Gaza City, and that the chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, was expected to finalise them in the coming days. Five divisions are expected to take part in the offensive, according to the official. The Haaretz newspaper quoted Defence Minister Katz as saying on Tuesday: "Once the operation is completed, Gaza will change its face and will no longer look as it did in the past." He also reportedly approved a plan to "accommodate" Gaza City residents in the south of the territory, including the coastal al-Mawasi area, where the military has begun establishing additional food distribution points and field hospitals. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the military's objectives are to secure the release of all the hostages held by Hamas and "complete the defeat" of the Palestinian armed group. The IDF also announced on Wednesday that the Givati Brigade had resumed operations in the northern town of Jabalia and on the outskirts of Gaza City, where it said they were "are dismantling military infrastructures above and below ground, eliminating terrorists, and consolidating operational control". It said civilians were being told to move south for their safety "to mitigate the risk of harm". A spokesman for Gaza's Hamas-run Civil Defence agency, Mahmoud Bassal, told AFP news agency on Tuesday that the situation was "very dangerous and unbearable" in the city's Zeitoun and Sabra neighbourhoods, where he said "shelling continues intermittently". The agency said Israeli strikes and fire had killed 21 people across Gaza on Wednesday. Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that three children and their parents were killed when a house in the Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, was bombed. UN agencies and NGOs have warned of the humanitarian impact of a new offensive. "The Israeli plan to intensify military operations in Gaza City will have a horrific humanitarian impact on people already exhausted, malnourished, bereaved, displaced, and deprived of basics needed for survival," they said in a joint statement on Monday. "Forcing hundreds of thousands to move south is a recipe for further disaster and could amount to forcible transfer." They also said the areas of the south where displaced residents were expected to move were "overcrowded and ill-equipped to sustain human survival at scale". "Southern hospitals are operating at several times their capacity, and taking on patients from the north would have life-threatening consequences." The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. At least 62,122 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. Most of Gaza's population has also been displaced multiple times; more than 90% of homes are estimated to be damaged or destroyed; the healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed; and UN-backed global food security experts have warned that the "worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out" due to food shortages. - BBC
