Latest news with #Harel
Cosmopolitan
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
Revealed: Virgin Island sex experts on the key detail left out of the edit
Virgin Island is Channel 4's latest social experiment, which sees 12 adult virgins partaking in a unique, hands-on programme, to help them take their first steps towards sex and intimacy. The show launched on Monday 12th May, and was met with mixed reviews, with some arguing that the participants are "vulnerable" and could benefit from "body confidence classes" or "self-love" workshops instead. Speaking exclusively to Cosmopolitan UK, two of the show's experts Dr Danielle Harel and Celeste Hirschmam, MA, revealed that viewers could have missed a key detail from the show due to editing. "The whole time there's consent. The whole process. Like for any of the practices, people get to say whether they want to participate or not, how much they want to participate, whether they want to pull back and not do it. So, I think there was consent throughout the whole process," Harel explained. Hirscham added: "And as the experiences got more in depth, the consent was even more rigorous, like they would ask like three times. You might not see all that on camera, but that was absolutely happening. That was part of the duty of care." Following last week's launch, viewers of the show flocked to social media to share their thoughts on the show. "There's something creepy about the teachers/instructors.. #virginIsland," one wrote on X (formerly Twitter). "I think they all need a body confidence course and self love course more than this when they love themselves the sex will happen #virginIsland," another said. Asked whether therapy was considered as an option, Harel said: "I just feel that people have a little bit of segmentation on what is therapy. We find this process to be very therapeutic in the way that it's very empowering. "We have this idea that, 'Oh therapy means we need to sit and talk with people'. People go through a lot of healing and a lot of transformation and really kind of get in touch with who they are through this work. So it's not about the sexual act, it's about them owning who they are and learning consent is so empowering, feeling like I get to have boundaries, feeling like I get to have desires. Virgin Island airs on Channel 4 on Mondays and Tuesdays.
New York Times
06-04-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
What We Know About the Case of Gaza Aid Workers Killed by Israeli Gunfire
The Israeli military has acknowledged flaws in its initial accounts of its troops' involvement in the killing last month of 15 people in southern Gaza who the United Nations said were all paramedics and rescue workers. The admission came on Saturday, the day after a video obtained by The New York Times appeared to contradict a key part of the military's earlier version of events. While the military had said it fired on the vehicles after they 'advanced suspiciously,' the video showed clearly marked ambulances and a fire truck. The episode has drawn international scrutiny and condemnation. After the blatant inconsistencies in the Israeli account were revealed, the military seemed to move more quickly than usual to address the issue. Internal military inquiries into questionable deadly episodes can drag on for months, even years. Here's what we know so far: The Israeli military's version(s) In its initial statements after the bodies were discovered, the military insisted its troops had opened fire as a convoy approached them in the dark 'without headlights or emergency signals.' But the video — discovered on the cellphone of a paramedic who was found in a mass grave — shows that the ambulances and fire truck had emergency lights on as Israeli forces unleashed their barrage. The military now says the initial account from forces on the ground was 'mistaken.' Military officials had previously asserted that nine of those killed were operatives of Hamas or Islamic Jihad. They had named only one of the nine and provided no evidence for their claim. On Saturday, a military official who briefed reporters on the initial findings of an internal inquiry said at least six of the 15 were Hamas operatives but still did not provide evidence. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity under army rules. Before the encounter with the emergency vehicles, the official said, reserve forces from an infantry brigade had been lying in ambush along a road to the north of the Gazan city of Rafah before dawn on March 23. At 4 a.m., they killed what the official described as two Hamas security personnel and detained a third. Two hours later, as dawn was breaking, the emergency convoy approached the same spot. When the rescue workers began to leave their vehicles, the official said, the Israeli forces believed that they were Hamas operatives heading for them and opened fire from afar. Amos Harel, a military affairs analyst for the left-leaning newspaper Haaretz, said in an interview that the soldiers had 'good reason to be anxious' and that it would be wrong to assume immediately that the case was one of 'murder in cold blood,' citing Hamas fighters' frequent use of civilian infrastructure as cover. But the episode raises questions, Mr. Harel said, about the soldiers' conduct and the version of events they reported from the ground. The military official denied reports that some of the bodies were found bound and shot at close range. He said that the troops had buried the bodies to shield them from wild animals and used heavy equipment to move the disabled vehicles off the road, mangling them. What the aid groups say Palestine Red Crescent Society representatives said last week that ambulances had set out around 3:30 a.m. on March 23 to evacuate Palestinian civilians wounded by Israeli shelling. The Red Crescent said that an ambulance and its crew had been hit by Israeli forces and that several more ambulances and a fire truck headed to the scene over the next few hours to rescue them. A U.N. vehicle was also sent, the United Nations said. Seventeen people were dispatched in total, of whom 10 were Red Crescent workers, six were emergency responders from Gaza's civil defense service and one was a U.N. worker. It took days to negotiate access to retrieve the 15 bodies. The Red Crescent said that one medic was still missing and that one had been detained by Israeli forces and later released. The Red Crescent said Israel's 'targeting' of its medics should be 'considered a war crime' and demanded an investigation. It added that the latest killings brought to 27 the number of its members killed during the war, which started on Oct. 7, 2023, with a deadly Hamas-led attack on southern Israel. On Friday, the president of the Palestine Red Crescent Society, Dr. Younis Al-Khatib, told reporters that, based on autopsies and forensic evidence, the emergency workers had been 'targeted from a very close range.' Reaction in Israel so far The case has received broader coverage in Israel since the exposure of the video. Politicians have mostly remained silent, perhaps waiting for the military to complete its inquiry. Mr. Harel, the military affairs analyst, said the inquiry was a first test for the recently installed military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, regarding the military's international standing. And the larger question of accountability remains. Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights organization, found last year that of 573 cases of suspected war crimes in Gaza examined over the past decade by the army, only one led to prosecution.
Al Manar
11-02-2025
- Politics
- Al Manar
Gaza Under Siege: Aid Cut off as US President Trump's Remarks Threaten Ceasefire
As the drained Gaza Strip faces severe restrictions on humanitarian aid, including the blocking of vital fuel supplies, US President Donald Trump's recent statements add further tension to an already volatile situation. An article in the Israeli Haaretz newspaper describes Trump's recent statements and interventions as 'tempting fate', warning that they could derail the ceasefire agreement in Gaza and disrupt the prisoner exchange process. Zionist analyst Amos Harel, writing for Haaretz, refers to Trump as an 'unpredictable force' whose actions risk intensifying the crisis. Trump's call for the release of prisoners in a single batch, diverging from the previously agreed incremental approach, represents a radical shift in negotiations that could have dangerous consequences. While many in the Zionist entity, particularly those supporting the prisoner exchange deal, had placed their hopes on Trump, Harel notes that they now share the 'painful frustration' previously felt by critics, especially those from the right-wing factions. Trump threatens to withhold aid from Jordan and Egypt if they refuse his proposal to transform Gaza into a tourism hub, amid ongoing tensions over Palestinian relocation. — News Now (@NewsNowUS) February 11, 2025 The article further highlights how right-wing factions in the Zionist entity have embraced Trump's remarks, seeing them as an opening for Zionist Prime Minister Netanyahu to retract his commitments and take military action against Hamas. However, Harel cautions that such action could lead to the deaths of dozens of prisoners still held in Gaza. In conclusion, Harel dismisses the right-wing optimism surrounding Trump's intervention, stressing that military force is unlikely to change Hamas's stance, particularly as the group has nothing left to lose. He suggests that Trump's motivations may include securing a significant regional achievement, such as ending the Gaza conflict, facilitating normalization with the Israeli enemy's regional neighbors, or even securing a Nobel Peace Prize. Limited Aid and Severe Shortages In a blatant escalation of restrictions, Israeli occupation forces have blocked the entry of commercial fuel into Gaza, despite clear stipulations in the humanitarian protocol. Sources within Gaza confirmed to Al-Jazeera that the occupation has also halted the supply of fuel for essential services, including civil defense and municipal vehicles required for crucial road repairs and debris removal. Additionally, no commercial fuel has been allowed to enter the enclave, exacerbating the ongoing humanitarian crisis. The same sources revealed that only around 53,000 tents have been allowed into Gaza out of the agreed 200,000, and none of the 60,000 caravans required for shelter have been delivered. They also noted that only 4 heavy vehicles have been permitted to enter for debris removal and body retrieval, despite the sector's need for 500 such vehicles. In addition, the Israeli occupation has prevented the entry of construction materials needed for rebuilding hospitals and civil defense centers. Gaza's Rashid Street remains closed to vehicles, and crossing checks continue on Salah Al-Din Street following the expiration of the 22-day deadline. No power station equipment has been allowed to enter, hindering repairs and the restoration of the power grid.
