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Yemen's Houthis threaten to escalate attacks on ships linked to companies dealing with Israel
Yemen's Houthis threaten to escalate attacks on ships linked to companies dealing with Israel

Washington Post

time2 days ago

  • Business
  • Washington Post

Yemen's Houthis threaten to escalate attacks on ships linked to companies dealing with Israel

ATHENS, Greece — The rebel Houthi group in Yemen has said it will target merchant ships belonging to any company that does business with Israeli ports, regardless of nationality, as part of what it described as the next phase of its operations against Israel. The Iran-backed Houthis launched a campaign targeting merchant vessels in response to the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip , saying they were doing so in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Their attacks over the past two years have upended shipping in the Red Sea , through which $1 trillion of goods usually passes each year.

The Sunday Independent's View: Children of Gaza need more than just empty gestures
The Sunday Independent's View: Children of Gaza need more than just empty gestures

Irish Independent

time3 days ago

  • Politics
  • Irish Independent

The Sunday Independent's View: Children of Gaza need more than just empty gestures

Trump's tariffs. The National Development Plan. The presidential election. All pale into insignificance next to the hell endured by innocent Palestinians caught up in the 21st century's most brutal conflict, with no respite or hope of escape. Israel suffered abominably in the October 7 massacre two years ago. Seeking to destroy Hamas was a legitimate response. The medieval cruelties being inflicted on Gaza with high-tech efficiency have, however, gone far beyond self-defence. To even call it a war any more is an abhorrent abuse of language and decency. Given the industrial scale of the horrors unfolding before the world's eyes, yesterday's announcement by the Tánaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister, Simon Harris, that the Government is open to holding a national day of solidarity for Gaza might seem like an irrelevant sideshow. There is already an International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, which has been observed annually on November 29 since it was instigated by the United Nations in 1977. Coming on foot of continuing efforts to pass the Occupied Territories Bill — which will inflict little economic damage on Israel, while leaving Ireland vulnerable to revenge by Washington — a national day of solidarity might even be said to conform to an unfortunate tendency in Irish life to make grand gestures that have little real-life benefits, but only serve to make us feel smugly virtuous, as if our being on the right side of history will be any consolation to the dead. Symbolic acts do matter, all the same, and more so if, as Harris hopes, 'many countries did it together'. He has promised to speak to colleagues 'on how to make this happen'. Will there even be a Palestine to recognise if Israel continues its campaign? For young people watching it play out in real time on the screens of their smartphones, the world must seem like a terrifying place right now. Last week, Ireland joined other countries in implementing strict new age verification rules aimed at preventing children seeing porn online, as well as other violent or harmful content. It is not before time. For too long, social media companies and others neglected the responsibility to police their platforms. They lost the right to self-regulate. Collective action was inevitable. Sparing children from the sight of other psychologically dangerous content on the internet will prove more difficult. How can they have the security young people need if they see their elders turning their backs on what is happening in Gaza? Present generations always wondered why the mass murders of the 20th century were allowed to happen on their forebears' watch. Future generations will ask the same question of us. It only brings home the surreal inanity of the diplomatic row that broke out in recent days after France pledged to become the first major western power to recognise the state of Palestine. The US and Israel both condemned the move as a 'surrender to terrorism'. The real question is whether there will soon be a Palestine to recognise if Israel continues its campaign. Piles of rubble and dead bodies do not make a viable state, no more than international days of solidarity have ever saved a single life.

Moment Trump aide is confronted with photos of Gaza's starving children
Moment Trump aide is confronted with photos of Gaza's starving children

The National

time6 days ago

  • Politics
  • The National

Moment Trump aide is confronted with photos of Gaza's starving children

An aide to Donald Trump was confronted with photos of starving children in Gaza during a meeting with Tunisia's President Kais Saied. Mr Saied told US envoy Massad Boulos, who is also the father-in-law of the US President's daughter Tiffany Trump, that 'it is time for humanity to wake up and put an end to these crimes against the Palestinian people'. 'I believe you know these images well,' Mr Saied was seen telling the envoy in footage released by the Tunisian presidency. He described one of the photos as showing 'a child crying, eating sand in occupied Palestine'. Mr Boulos stood silently, occasionally nodding, as Mr Saied called events in Gaza 'a crime against all of humanity' and 'absolutely unacceptable'. Lebanese-born Mr Boulos is a senior adviser to Mr Trump on Arab, Middle East and African affairs. His son, Michael Boulos, married Tiffany Trump in 2022. The US is Israel's main political and military backer and has vetoed UN resolutions calling for an end to the war in Gaza. However, Mr Trump has shown signs of thinning patience with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the toll of the 21-month war mounts. Some of Israel's usual allies, including Britain and France, issued stark criticism this week of what they called the 'drip feeding of aid', as starvation takes hold in Gaza. The head of its largest hospital said on Tuesday that 21 children had died from malnutrition and starvation in the previous three days. More than 100 aid organisations warned on Wednesday that 'mass starvation' was spreading across Gaza and that their own colleagues were suffering acutely from the shortages. Israel says some humanitarian supplies are being allowed into Gaza and accuses Hamas of stealing aid.

Tunisia leader shows Trump adviser images of starving Gaza children
Tunisia leader shows Trump adviser images of starving Gaza children

France 24

time7 days ago

  • Politics
  • France 24

Tunisia leader shows Trump adviser images of starving Gaza children

Saied told US envoy Massad Boulos, who is also the father-in-law of Trump's daughter Tiffany, that "it is time for all of humanity to wake up and put an end to these crimes against the Palestinian people". "I believe you know these images well," Saied was seen telling the envoy as he showed a photograph of what he described as "a child crying, eating sand in occupied Palestine". Saied showed Boulos several more images, saying that Palestinians in Gaza were subjected to crimes against humanity. Israel is facing mounting international pressure over the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory, where more than two million people have endured 21 months of devastating conflict. "It is absolutely unacceptable," Saied was heard saying as Boulos stood silently, occasionally nodding. "It is a crime against all of humanity." More than 100 aid organisations warned on Wednesday that "mass starvation" was spreading across the Gaza Strip and that their own colleagues were suffering acutely from the shortages. The head of Gaza's largest hospital said on Tuesday that 21 children had died from malnutrition and starvation in the Palestinian territory in the previous three days. Israel says humanitarian aid is being allowed into Gaza and accuses Hamas of exploiting civilian suffering, including by stealing food handouts to sell at inflated prices or shooting at those awaiting aid. Following his visit to Tunisia, Boulos flew on to the Libyan capital Tripoli on Wednesday, Tunisian media reported.

Israel continues to flout world court ruling on its occupation
Israel continues to flout world court ruling on its occupation

Arab News

time21-07-2025

  • Politics
  • Arab News

Israel continues to flout world court ruling on its occupation

One year ago on Saturday, the International Court of Justice issued a landmark advisory opinion. The world's highest interstate court determined on July 19, 2024, that Israel's occupation of the West Bank including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip was 'unlawful' and must be brought to an end. The key paragraph was crystal clear. It stated: 'The sustained abuse by Israel of its position as an occupying power, through annexation and an assertion of permanent control over the Occupied Palestinian Territory and continued frustration of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, violates fundamental principles of international law and renders Israel's presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory unlawful.' It also ruled that Israel's discriminatory legislation and measures are also in breach of international law. They constituted a breach of Article 3 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which prohibits racial segregation and apartheid. This was an authoritative determination on the state of the law on a specific issue. It was fortified by a UN General Assembly resolution last September endorsing the advisory opinion and demanding that the Israeli occupation ends by September 2025. There is more chance of Benjamin Netanyahu knocking on the doors of the International Criminal Court and saying, 'here I am, arrest me, I am guilty as charged,' than there is of that happening. Israel has to dismantle its settlements and evacuate settlers. It has to do so immediately. And its military presence also needs to be withdrawn. The court determined that Israel owes full reparation for all the damage done by its illegal acts since 1967. Working out the exact compensation due will be some process, but the end figure will have many digits. The court determined that Israel owes full reparation for all the damage done by its illegal acts since 1967 Chris Doyle Showing the sort of contempt that might be expected from a government perpetrating genocide in Gaza, Israel has simply doubled down on its occupation. Settlements are expanding faster than ever, with approval for the doomsday settlement of E1 east of Jerusalem going forward apace. Settler violence is off the charts, with more than 740 settler attacks in the first half of 2025, according to the UN. Demolitions are a daily event. Israel has forcibly displaced more than 40,000 Palestinians in the West Bank alone, as well as nearly the entire population of Gaza. Rather than end the occupation, the Israeli government is pushing relentlessly toward annexation. Occupation in and of itself is not illegal. It may even be necessary. But it is meant to be temporary and is governed by international law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949. At the time the court's opinion was issued, Israel's occupation had lasted a jaw-dropping 57 years and involved the insertion of 750,000 settlers into occupied territory. But the court also went further. It determined that Israel had violated the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which prohibits racial segregation and apartheid. It was the ultimate legal determination as to Israel's crimes and unlawful conduct across the whole of the Occupied Territories. There is no higher judicial body to make such a determination. Major powers are under an obligation to prevent and to punish genocide when other states are perpetrating such acts Chris Doyle But who refers to the occupation as unlawful? The US, of course, refuses, as it barely even acknowledges the occupation, a head-in-the-sand legal position. The UK government promised Parliament it would issue a formal response to this — a pledge repeated multiple times. But it seems that 365 days is insufficient time for the government to develop the courage to publish its response, as sources have told this author that a draft has been ready for months. Remarkably, the UK government has stated at the UN that it does not disagree with the central findings of the advisory opinion. The awkwardness of the double negative sums up the awkwardness of the position. Ministers cannot even outline what they consider to be the central findings. Has the media changed how it describes the Occupied Territories? Certainly not the BBC or CNN. This was barely mentioned. It is as if it is still treated as a disputed issue, as opposed to a settled matter of legal certainty. The lack of respect for the International Court of Justice is also exhibited in the abject refusal of Israel to adhere to the provisional measures the court ordered on three occasions under the Genocide Convention between January and May 2024. Major powers have not insisted Israel do so either, even though they are under an obligation to prevent and to punish genocide when other states are perpetrating such acts. Israel should have taken all measures to prevent genocidal acts and ensure the unhindered provision of humanitarian aid, including food, water, electricity, fuel, shelter, clothing, hygiene and sanitation requirements, and medical supplies. Instead, Israel has, as a matter of declared policy, blocked this. Many governments pay lip service to upholding international law when it comes to Israel. It is time for those who do care to expose this hypocrisy for what it is.

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