Why the US and Israel are pushing to privatize aid to Gaza
The United States and Israel are backing a new aid initiative in Gaza that critics say sidelines the United Nations and violates humanitarian principles. With biometrics and military ties, is it really about help, or control?
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Al Jazeera
39 minutes ago
- Al Jazeera
‘Premeditated genocide': Brazil's Lula slams Israel over Gaza war
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva accused Israel of carrying out 'premeditated genocide' in Gaza during a visit to Paris, as it emerged the military had killed at least 52 people in its latest onslaught in the besieged coastal enclave where a crippling blockade is fuelling starvation. 'What is happening in Gaza is not a war. It's a genocide being carried out by a highly prepared army against women and children,' said Lula at a joint news conference in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday. '[It is] a premeditated genocide from a far-right government that is waging a war, including against the interests of its own people,' he said of Israel's 20-month offensive, which has killed at least 54,607 Palestinians so far, according to the enclave's Health Ministry. At least 52 people were killed on Thursday, including women and children, according to medical sources, who spoke to Al Jazeera, amid growing concern about deadly incidents at aid distribution sites run by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation since last week. While Lula has previously used the term 'genocide' to characterise Israel's actions in Gaza, Macron has reserved judgement, saying last month that it was not for a 'political leader to use the term, but up to historians to do so when the time comes'. The Brazilian leader's condemnation of Israel's offensive came as German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told his visiting Israeli counterpart, Gideon Saar, to allow more humanitarian aid into the enclave in accordance with 'prevailing international law'. Last week, Wadephul had said Germany was assessing 'whether what is happening in Gaza is in line with international law' and that arms sales to Israel would be evaluated on this basis. Wadephul also said he was 'concerned about the extremely tense situation in the West Bank', decrying the Israeli government's announcement that it would allow 22 more settlements in the occupied territory, saying it threatened the two-state solution further. On Thursday, King Abdullah of Jordan praised Spain for recognising Palestine and calling for an end to the war in Gaza during a meeting with King Felipe in Madrid. He said work was underway to gain European support. Jordan's state news agency Petra cited him as saying work was under way to harness European support for an Arab plan to rebuild Gaza without displacing its residents, as threatened by US President Donald Trump this year.
Al Jazeera
an hour ago
- Al Jazeera
Why did the US block a resolution demanding an end to Israel's war on Gaza?
The United States has blocked another United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. It's the fifth time Washington has used its veto power since Israel's war began in October 2023. The US says it will continue to support its close ally while Israel says it will continue the war in Gaza until Hamas is defeated. So do the veto powers of the permanent Security Council members undermine the body itself? Even when resolutions are passed, does the UN have the capability to enact them? Presenter: Mohammed Jamjoom Guests: Stephen Zunes – professor of politics at the University of San Francisco Luigi Daniele – associate professor of international law at Molise University in Italy Firas El Echi – journalist and host of the Here's Why podcast
Al Jazeera
an hour ago
- Al Jazeera
Supreme Court strikes down Mexico's lawsuit against US gun manufacturers
The United States Supreme Court has rejected a lawsuit from the government of Mexico that argued American gun manufacturers like Smith & Wesson failed to prevent illegal firearm sales to cartels and criminal organisations. In one of a slew of decisions handed down on Thursday, the top court decided that the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act shielded the gun manufacturers from Mexico's suit. The court's decision was unanimous. Writing for the nine-member bench, Justice Elena Kagan explained that even 'indifference' to the trafficking of firearms does not amount to willfully assisting a criminal enterprise. 'Mexico's complaint does not plausibly allege that the defendant manufacturers aided and abetted gun dealers' unlawful sales of firearms to Mexican traffickers,' Kagan wrote (PDF). 'We have little doubt that, as the complaint asserts, some such sales take place — and that the manufacturers know they do. But still, Mexico has not adequately pleaded what it needs to: that the manufacturers 'participate in' those sales.' The Mexican government's complaint, she added, 'does not pinpoint, as most aiding-and-abetting claims do, any specific criminal transactions that the defendants (allegedly) assisted'. The case stems from a complaint filed in August 2021 in a federal court in Boston, Massachusetts. In that initial complaint, the Mexican government — then led by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador — argued that the sheer volume of firearms illegally smuggled into its country amounted to negligence on the part of gun manufacturers. Those firearms, it said, had exacted a devastating toll on Mexican society. The country has some of the highest homicide rates in the world, with the United Nations estimating in 2023 that nearly 25 intentional killings happen for every 100,000 people. Much of that crime has been credited to the presence of cartels and other criminal enterprises operating in Mexico. The Igarape Institute, a Brazil-based think tank, estimated that Mexico's crime cost the country nearly 1.92 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) from 2010 to 2014. The US is the largest arms manufacturer in the world — and also the largest source of illegally sourced firearms. The stream of firearms that pour into Mexico and the broader Latin America region, for instance, has been dubbed the 'iron river'. Nearly 70 percent of the illegal guns seized in Mexico from 2014 to 2018, for instance, were traced to origins in the US, according to the Department of Justice. That has led countries like Mexico to demand action from the US to limit the number of firearms trafficked abroad. In its lawsuit, Mexico targeted some of the biggest names in gun manufacturing in the US: not just Smith & Wesson, but also companies like Beretta USA, Glock Inc and Colt's Manufacturing LLC. But the firearm companies pushed back against the lawsuit, arguing they could not be held responsible for the actions of criminals in another country. The Supreme Court itself cast doubt on some of Mexico's arguments, including the idea that the gun manufacturers designed and marketed their products specifically for cartel buyers. 'Mexico focuses on production of 'military style' assault weapons, but these products are widely legal and purchased by ordinary consumers. Manufacturers cannot be charged with assisting criminal acts simply because Mexican cartel members also prefer these guns,' Justice Kagan wrote. 'The same applies to firearms with Spanish language names or graphics alluding to Mexican history,' she added. 'While they may be 'coveted by the cartels,' they also may appeal to 'millions of law-abiding Hispanic Americans.'' On Thursday, an industry trade group, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), celebrated the Supreme Court's decision as a 'tremendous victory' against an unfair charge. It had filed an amicus brief in support of the defendants in the case. 'For too long, gun control activists have attempted to twist basic tort law to malign the highly-regulated U.S. firearm industry with the criminal actions of violent organized crime, both here in the United States and abroad,' the group's senior vice president, Lawrence G Keane, said in a statement. Keane added that he and others in the firearm industry felt 'sympathetic to plight of those in Mexico who are victims of rampant and uncontrolled violence at the hands of narco-terrorist drug cartels'. But he said the issue was about 'responsible firearm ownership', not the actions of gun manufacturers.
