Latest news with #BenjaminNetanyahu-led
&w=3840&q=100)
First Post
2 days ago
- Politics
- First Post
Explained: Is a genocide unfolding in Gaza?
Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip, triggered by the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack, has killed over 50,500 people, mostly civilians. While Israel maintains it has acted in 'self defence', rights groups, lawyers and some governments are describing the Benjamin Netanyahu-led country's actions as a 'genocide'. What is a genocide, and who can declare one? read more Palestinians gather to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, as the Israel-Gaza conflict continues, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, December 4, 2024. File image/Reuters Rights groups, lawyers and some governments are describing the Gaza war as 'genocide' and calling for a ceasefire but Israel, created in the aftermath of the Nazi Holocaust of Jews, vehemently rejects the explosive term. Israel says it is seeking to wipe out Gaza's Islamist rulers and free its hostages still held in the occupied Palestinian coastal strip since the Hamas militant attack in Israel on October 7, 2023. But Israel's devastating war on Gaza – largely populated by descendants of Palestinian refugees who were expelled from or fled what became Israeli land in 1948 – has killed tens of thousands of civilians and sparked growing global outrage. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The accusation against Israel of genocide has been made with increasing force from quarters ranging from 'Schindler's List' star Ralph Fiennes to Amnesty International and some Israeli historians. What does the legal term really mean and who can decide whether it applies? What is 'genocide'? The word genocide – derived from the Greek word 'genos', for race or tribe, and 'cide', from the Latin for 'to kill' – was coined in 1944 by Raphael Lemkin. Lemkin, a Polish Jew who had fled to the United States, used it to describe the crimes committed by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. It was used for the first time within a legal framework by an international military tribunal at Nuremberg to try Nazi leaders for their crimes in 1945. However, those accused were eventually convicted on charges of crimes against humanity. Jewish children were kept alive in Germany's Auschwitz for use in medical experiments. Image courtesy: It has been recognised within international law since 1948 and the advent of the UN Genocide Convention. That text defines genocide as any of five 'acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group'. These five acts include killing members of the group, causing them serious bodily or mental harm, imposing living conditions intended to destroy the group, preventing births and forcibly transferring children out of the group. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Regardless of the definition, the qualification of 'genocide' has been hugely sensitive over the decades. What is happening in Gaza? Israel's military offensive on Gaza since October 2023 has killed 54,510 people, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the occupied Palestinian territory. The United Nations said on May 30 that the territory's entire population of more than two million people was at risk of famine, even if Israel said earlier that month it was partially easing the complete blockade on aid it imposed on Gaza on March 2. Palestinian people with empty bowls wait for food at a donation point in Rafah. The widespread hunger and malnutrition in Gaza is catastrophic, UN has said. (Photo: NPR) Despite international calls for an end to the war, a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas remains elusive. The latest war started after Hamas fighters attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Of the 251 hostages seized, 57 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says, are dead. Who speaks of 'genocide' in Gaza? In December 2023, South Africa brought a case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the United Nations' highest judicial organ, alleging that Israel's Gaza offensive breached the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Israel denies the accusation. In rulings in January, March and May 2024, the ICJ told Israel to do everything possible to 'prevent' acts of genocide during its military operations in Gaza, including urgently to facilitate humanitarian aid to prevent famine. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD While no court has so far ruled that the ongoing conflict is a genocide, human rights groups and international law experts – including several who are Israeli – have used the term to describe it. Amnesty International has accused Israel of carrying out a 'live-streamed genocide' in Gaza, while Human Rights Watch has alleged it is responsible for 'acts of genocide'. Palestinians mourn their relatives who were killed in Israeli airstrikes on a medical center in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip, on Thursday, May 15, 2025. AP A UN committee in November found Israel's warfare in Gaza was 'consistent with the characteristics of genocide'. And a UN investigation concluded in March that Israel carried out 'genocidal acts' in Gaza through the destruction of the strip's main IVF clinic and other reproductive healthcare facilities. Omer Bartov, an Israeli scholar of the Holocaust, wrote in August last year that 'Israel was engaged in systematic war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocidal actions'. Fellow Israeli historians Amos Goldberg and Daniel Blatman, in January, co-wrote an article in which they said: 'Israel is indeed committing genocide in Gaza.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Western governments have largely refrained from using the word, with France's President Emmanuel Macron saying it was not up to a 'political leader to use to term but up to historians to do so when the time comes'. But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has used it, as has Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. What does Israel say? Israel alleges it is exercising its right to security and 'self defence', an argument echoed by its staunch ally, the United States. Israel has dismissed accusations of genocide as 'blatant lies' and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused the UN Human Rights Council of being 'an antisemitic, corrupt, terror-supporting and irrelevant body'. He has said UN experts should instead focus on 'crimes against humanity and the war crimes committed by the Hamas terrorist organisation in the worst massacre against the Jewish people since the Holocaust', referring to October 7. The International Criminal Court (ICC) in November issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant over allegations of crimes against humanity and war crimes in Israel's war in Gaza – including starvation as a method of warfare. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. File image/ Reuters It also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif over allegations of crimes against humanity and war crimes in the October 7 attack, but the case against him was dropped in February after confirmation of his death. ICC prosecutor Karim Khan also initially sought warrants against Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh but dropped those applications because they had been killed in Israeli attacks. Who decides and when? Thijs Bouwknegt, a genocide expert based in the Netherlands, said the Israeli policy in Gaza seemed to be 'designed to make a civilian population either perish or leave' but a court would have to decide if it was genocide. 'It bears the hallmarks of it, but we still have to wait and see whether it actually was,' he said. In the case of Rwanda, in which the United Nations said extremist Hutus killed some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 1994, it took a decade for an international tribunal to conclude genocide had happened. It was not until 2007 that the ICJ recognised as genocide the murder by Bosnian Serb forces of almost 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995 during the Bosnian war. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'The threshold for genocide is nearly impossible to meet,' Bouwknegt explained. 'You have to prove that there was an intent and that there was the only possible explanation for what happened.' Has there been an intent? French-Israeli lawyer Omer Shatz said, 'there is no doubt that war crimes, crimes against humanity are being committed' in Gaza. But he agreed intent was more difficult to prove. Israeli military patrols near the Al Shifa Hospital compound in Gaza City during ground operation against Hamas in the northern Gaza Strip on November 22, 2023. File Photo/ Reuters That is why, after the ICC issued an arrest warrant against Netanyahu and Gallant, he filed a report with the court in December arguing they were among eight Israeli officials responsible for 'incitement to genocide in Gaza'. 'If incitement is established, that establishes intent,' he told AFP. His 170-page report lists such alleged incitements, including Gallant at the start of the war saying Israel was fighting 'human animals' in Gaza and far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich urging 'total extermination' in the Palestinian territory. It cites President Isaac Herzog failing to differentiate between Palestinian militants and civilians when he spoke of 'an entire nation out there that is responsible' for the October 7 attack. Mathilde Philip-Gay, an international law expert, said it was ultimately up to a judge to decide on whether the genocide label applied. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD But, she warned: 'International law cannot stop a war.' 'The judiciary will intervene after the war. The qualification (of genocide) is very important for victims but it will come later,' she said. What now? The 1948 Genocide Convention says signatories can call on UN organs 'to take such action… for the prevention and suppression of acts of genocide'. But while it implies they should act to stop any such crime from occurring, it does not detail how. Activists have called for an arms embargo and sanctions against Israel. The European Union last month ordered a review of its cooperation deal with Israel and Britain halted trade talks with the government. But the United States and Germany, two major weapons suppliers, are not likely to want to review their relationship with Israel. With inputs from AFP
Time of India
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Big Gaza Ceasefire ANNOUNCEMENT By Trump? U.S. President's Huge Update, Israel 'AGREES' TO Truce
/ May 26, 2025, 07:09PM IST Has Donald Trump finally brokered a ceasefire in Israel? A Lebanese outlet has claimed that Tel Aviv has agreed to a proposal on ceasefire-hostage agreement. The outlet Al-Madayeen, affiliated with Hezbollah, claimed that Benjamin Netanyahu-led Israel has agreed to a 70-day ceasefire in Gaza. According to the draft proposal, the ceasefire includes release of 10 hostages, five alive and five deceased. A media report claimed that Trump is expected to announce a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza in coming days. However, another report claimed that Israel had rejected the proposal.
News18
20-05-2025
- Politics
- News18
UK Pauses Trade Talks With Israel, Summons Envoy Over Gaza Conflict
Last Updated: Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced his ministry was summoning the Israeli ambassador over the country's expansion of its military operations in Gaza The British government on Tuesday said it has paused free-trade agreement negotiations with Israel against its actions in Gaza. It said they have also slapped new sanctions on West Bank settlers over the conflict. Foreign Secretary David Lammy also announced his ministry was summoning the Israeli ambassador over Israel's expansion of its military operations in the occupied Palestinian territory, launched in the wake of the October 2023 attack by Hamas militants. Israel, however, said even before the UK government's announcement, the free-trade agreement negotiations were 'not being advanced". The Benjamin Netanyahu-led government said it will not bow to 'external pressure" when it comes to 'defending its existence and security against enemies". According to a statement by the Israeli foreign ministry, sanctions against the residents of Judea and Samaria are 'unjustified, and regrettable". It said the British government is willing to harm its own economy due to 'anti-Israel obsession and domestic political considerations". 'Following the UK's announcement that it will suspend free trade agreement negotiations with Israel and impose sanctions on settlers: Even prior to today's announcement, the free trade agreement negotiations were not being advanced at all by the current UK government. More than that, the agreement would serve the mutual benefit of both countries. If, due to anti-Israel obsession and domestic political considerations, the British government is willing to harm the British economy — that is its own prerogative," the statement said on X. 'The sanctions against residents of Judea and Samaria are unjustified, and regrettable, especially at a time when Israel is mourning yet another victim of Palestinian terror — Tzeela Gez, of blessed memory, who was murdered on her way to the delivery room. Doctors continue fighting for her newborn's life in hospital. The British Mandate ended exactly 77 years ago. External pressure will not divert Israel from its path in defending its existence and security against enemies who seek its destruction," it added. Watch India Pakistan Breaking News on CNN-News18. Get breaking news, in-depth analysis, and expert perspectives on everything from geopolitics to diplomacy and global trends. Stay informed with the latest world news only on News18. Download the News18 App to stay updated! First Published: May 20, 2025, 19:30 IST
Toronto Star
11-05-2025
- Politics
- Toronto Star
It's time for Canada to call on the Israeli government to respect international law
In early March, Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu-led government broke a ceasefire that it had agreed to with Hamas. The agreement had been endorsed by U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and it was negotiated with the previous Biden administration. The agreement was to lead to the release of the remaining 59 Israeli hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and an eventual withdrawal of Israeli troops and an end to the conflict. Instead, after Hamas rejected proposed new terms for the ceasefire, Israel imposed a complete siege on Gaza. It prevented the entry of any food, water and medicines into the Gaza Strip, home to some 2.1 million Palestinians. Israel also resumed low intensity but deadly attacks on Gaza by drone and rocket fire, killing hundreds of innocent men, women and children as well as a number of Hamas terrorists. These deaths bring the total to over 52,000, 70 per cent of whom are believed to be women and children. Opinion articles are based on the author's interpretations and judgments of facts, data and events. More details
Business Mayor
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Business Mayor
Houthi missile attack: How tech-savvy non-state actors are posing a major global security threat
On 4 May, the Houthis — Yemen's Iranian-backed rebel group — launched a hypersonic ballistic missile targeting Tel Aviv's Ben-Gurion International Airport, in a bid to demonstrate their ability to strike critical infrastructure. This once again marks a dramatic escalation in the capabilities and threats posed by the Houthis in particular and non-state actors in general in the modern security landscape. The Benjamin Netanyahu-led government has vowed a 'sevenfold retaliation' against the rebel group. Within hours of the announcement, Israeli forces launched airstrikes on Yemen's Hodeidah port—a vital lifeline for the country that handles the bulk of humanitarian and commercial supplies. Strategically located, Hodeidah is also widely believed to be a key conduit for Iranian arms shipments to the Houthis. Despite this swift response, the effectiveness of the Houthi missile strike cannot be overlooked. Their projectiles not only reached central Israel but also managed to evade some of the world's most advanced air defence systems, including Israel's Iron Dome and Arrow systems, as well as the US-deployed THAAD anti-missile batteries, raising serious questions about the evolving capabilities of non-state actors. The strike by the Houthis not only disrupted flight operations and brought Israel's Airport to a temporary standstill, but also triggered a wider aviation alarm, prompting several international airlines to re-route or suspend flights to and from Israel amid fears of further missile attacks. The incident underscored how a single, well-timed strike by a non-state actor can send shockwaves through global air travel networks, altering flight paths and insurance risk assessments almost instantaneously. Such long-distance precision strikes have raised serious concerns across regional and global security establishments. It underlines a grave new dimension wherein a non-state actor has demonstrated precision-strike capabilities over nearly 2,000 kilometres which is roughly the distance between Yemen and Israel's airspace. The Houthis' growing mastery of technological improvisation often optimised through their do-it-by-yourself (DIY) techniques and their access to state-of-the-art weaponry often beyond the reach of many conventional state militaries marks a remarkable and alarming evolution in the nature of asymmetric warfare. This shift demonstrates that non-state actors, once dismissed as guerrilla insurgents, can now deploy advanced systems such as hypersonic missiles, precision-guided drones, and naval strike assets with a level of coordination and effectiveness that challenges the monopoly of state power on high-end military capability. It also amplifies that battlefield is no longer defined by state boundaries or formal armies, but by networks, proxies, and technological adaptability. The Houthis, formally known as Ansar Allah, are a Zaydi Shia minority and Islamist political and military organisation which emerged from northern Yemen in the 1990s. They rose to prominence during the Arab Uprisings of 2010-2011 when the fragility of the Yemeni state was exposed by street protests against the regime. With significant support from former President Ali Abdullah Saleh who openly allied with them during May 2015 civil war, the Houthis steadily gained ground, but their alliance fractured in 2017. Saleh's subsequent killing by the Houthis only underscored their growing influence and capacity to eliminate even their former allies. Allegedly backed militarily, financially, and ideologically by Iran, the Houthis overthrew the internationally recognized Hadi government in 2014, taking control of Sanaa and prompting a Saudi-led coalition intervention. Since then, they have entrenched themselves in Yemen's political and military fabric, transforming from a local insurgency to a regional Middle Eastern threat. If left unchecked, days are not far when they will transform into a global threat. The first major global alert about Houthi capabilities came in September 2019, when they attacked Saudi Arabia's Abqaiq and Khurais oil processing facilities which served as the key nodes of Aramco's production infrastructure. These installations, guarded by advanced US-supplied Patriot missile systems and the French-supplied Thales radar networks, were penetrated using a combination of drones and low-flying cruise missiles. UN investigations and open-source intelligence pointed to Iranian origin of components and Chinese-supplied drones that had been reassembled and modified in Yemen. What alarmed defence analysts worldwide was the precision of the strike. As many as 17 critical points were hit with near-perfect accuracy, temporarily cutting Saudi oil production by half and causing a 5% spike in global oil prices. Following the Aramco strike, the Houthis targeted the UAE in early 2022, using drones and missiles to strike oil storage facilities near Abu Dhabi. These attacks shocked the Emirati leadership, which had until then considered itself relatively insulated from the Yemen conflict. Parallelly, the rebel group expanded their naval warfare capabilities, deploying anti-ship ballistic missiles, explosive-laden drone boats, and sea mines. In the aftermath of the Israel-Hamas war in 2023, they launched a de facto naval blockade in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, targeting Israel-bound and Israel-flagged commercial ships. The group even fired upon US and UK warships, prompting retaliatory strikes that failed to decisively neutralize their operations. Their use of water-borne improvised explosive devices (WBIEDs), advanced radar-guided missiles, and Iranian-provided Noor and Qader anti-ship systems elevated them from regional irritants to serious maritime threats. The recent strike on Israel reveals yet another leap in capabilities. This marks the first time a non-state actor has used such a platform against a modern air defense-protected airport. Hypersonic missiles, defined by their ability to travel at speeds exceeding Mach 5, have evasion and manoeuvrability features that even sophisticated systems like Israel's Iron Dome or Arrow-3 may struggle to intercept. The targeting of Israel's largest International Airport disrupted not just Israeli civilian life but also international travel routes. Airlines from India, the EU, and other nations cancelled flights to and from Israel for at least three days. The economic and strategic costs of such attacks are also considerably high and are felt far beyond immediate war zones. Iranian support to the Houthis—while officially denied—has further included smuggling networks for arms, missile blueprints, UAV components, and technical training. Several UN reports have confirmed the expanding inventory of the Houthis from Burkan and Quds missiles to Shahed drones. Moreover, US Navy seizures during 2022 and 2023 intercepted Iranian shipments including over 2,000 assault rifles, UAV parts, and missile guidance systems en route to Yemen, highlighting the scale of assistance and threat convergence. This trajectory demonstrates how a non-state actor can evolve into a technologically sophisticated proxy with regional and even global impact. The convergence of ideology, technological sophistication, and proxy geopolitics in the Houthi case should serve as a wake-up call. Their successful strikes have already targeted three of the region's most powerful countries—Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and now Israel—revealing systemic vulnerabilities in even the most advanced defence architectures. If these nations do not coordinate their efforts to contain the Houthis' growing capabilities, they risk further erosion of their regional security. More than ever, states must further invest cohesively in intelligence-sharing, maritime domain awareness, and missile defence integration. Beyond hardware, a coordinated and precise counter-terrorism approach is critical. Without such recalibration, states will continue to be consistently out-manoeuvred by such sophisticated technologically advanced proxies. More alarmingly, what is today a threat to regional actors could tomorrow be a global menace. The growing sophistication of non-state actors like the Houthis holds significant implications beyond the Middle East. India, too, must remain vigilant in the face of this evolving threat landscape. There is increasing evidence that insurgent tactics are being diffused across regions; for example, T he Resistance Front (TRF) operating in Kashmir has reportedly drawn operational cues from Hamas, adopting similar asymmetric and propaganda-based strategies. It is not implausible that such groups could seek logistical or ideological inspiration or even material support from actors like the Houthis in the future. As the boundaries between local insurgencies and global terror networks blur, India must also enhance its threat-mapping and counter-terrorism posture, particularly in tracking transnational linkages that may empower domestic adversaries. The challenge posed by technologically advanced non-state actors is no longer geographically confined; it requires early intelligence, regional coordination, and global policy alignment to prevent these groups from becoming emboldened and replicating the Houthi model elsewhere. There is a need of a strategic imperative to prevent the rise of non-state actors who, if left unchecked, could outpace traditional threats posed by state adversaries.
