Latest news with #TheTimesofIsrael
Hans India
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Hans India
Netherlands imposes entry ban on Israel's far-right ministers Smotrich, Ben Gvir over Gaza
Jerusalem: As part of measures to place pressure on Israel over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the Netherlands has banned far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir from entering the country, as per reports. In a letter to Netherlands lawmakers, the Netherlands' Foreign Minister Caspar Valdekamp said the decision that has been taken against Smotrich and Ben Gvir "is because they have repeatedly incited violence by settlers against the Palestinian population and… called for ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip", The Times of Israel reported, citing local newspaper Algemeen Dagblad. Reacting to the decision, Ben Gvir, in a post on X, said: "Even if I'm banned from all of Europe, I'll keep working for our country and demanding that we topple Hamas and back our fighters. Our enemies are violent, murderous rapists. But in Europe… the one who goes on the offensive is guilty. In a place where terrorism is tolerated and terrorists are welcome, a Jewish minister from Israel is unwelcome. Terrorists are free and Jews are boycotted." The decision to ban Ben Gvir and Smotrich from entering the Netherlands comes a day after the Netherlands' Prime Minister Dick Schoof said that his government was 'considering taking national measures' against Israel, apart from supporting a European Union proposal to partially suspend funding for Israeli researchers. Last week, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) announced that the military will carry out a "local tactical pause of military activity" in densely populated areas of the Gaza Strip, starting from 10 a.m. (local time) to 8 p.m. (local time). The military said that the "pause" will be implemented "every day until further notice" in areas where the IDF is not currently carrying out operations with ground troops, including Deir al-Balah, al-Mawasi and Gaza City. According to the military, the decision has been taken "in accordance with directives from the political echelon, and as part of the IDF's ongoing effort, led by COGAT, to increase the scope of humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip". The Israeli military said that the decision was coordinated with the UN and international organisations following discussions regarding the matter. In addition, the IDF said "secure routes" will be designated from 6 a.m. (local time) to 11 p.m. (local time) to enable the safe passage of United Nations and humanitarian aid organisation convoys delivering and distributing food and medicine among the people in the Gaza Strip.
Hindustan Times
a day ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Israel's big warning to Ali Khamenei: ‘Will reach Iran and you personally'
Israel defense minister Israel Katz threatened Iran, saying that the country can reach Tehran once again, and would target Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei 'personally'. This is not the first time Katz has issued a threat to Khamenei's life. (AP) Katz made the remarks during a visit to Israeli Air Force's Ramon Air Base on Sunday. 'I want to convey a clear message to Khamenei the dictator - If you continue to threaten Israel, our long arm will again reach Tehran and with even greater force — and this time to you personally," Katz said, according to The Times of Israel. He further warned Iran against threatening Israel. 'Do not threaten, lest you be harmed,' Katz said. Katz also praised the jet fighter crews at the air base, in the presence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He thanked the military personnel for their 'incredible work' during Operation Rising Lion. "..You opened the skies to Tehran, struck repeatedly at the head of the Iranian octopus, and removed threats of annihilation," Katz said. The term 'Iranian Octopus' comes from former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett's doctrine, wherein he described Iran's Axis of Resistance as an octopus with tentacles which reached across the region. This is not the first time Katz has issued a threat to Khamenei's life. The Israeli defense minister had, on June 17, threatened Khamenei saying he could be killed like former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, The Jerusalem Post reported. Khamenei had, earlier this month, called Israel the United States' 'dog on a leash'. The Supreme Leader said that Iran was capable of delivering a bigger blow to its rivals than seen in its war with Israel. He also said that Iran was prepared to respond to any renewed attack. The war between Iran and Israel ended last month with a ceasefire understanding. The conflict began with Israel's attack on June 13 to stop the Iranian nuclear programme from progressing. During the 12-day conflict, the Israeli military killed Iran's senior military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians, with the total death toll currently at 1,060, as per Iranian officials. Iran retaliated with drone and missile strikes which killed at least 28 people in Israel.
Roya News
a day ago
- Politics
- Roya News
'I'm afraid to go home': Website exposes Canadians serving in 'Israeli' military
A website, has ignited a heated controversy in Canada by compiling and publishing publicly available information on Canadians who have served in the 'Israeli' military. This project defines 'Canadian' as someone who is a Canadian citizen, and/or has lived in Canada for a significant amount of time, and/or currently lives in Canada. Launched on February 24, 2024, by The Maple, an online publication with a pro-Palestinian and anti-'Israel' stance, the site claims its purpose is to help readers understand the motivations of Canadians joining the 'Israeli' military by aggregating details from public sources . Davide Mastracci, The Maple's opinion editor, has publicly accused 'Israel' of planned genocide in Gaza. However, the initiative has been met with strong accusations of "doxxing" from those listed and their families, who view the compilation as an act of intimidation. Globally, there's a growing trend of legal complaints targeting 'Israeli' soldiers based heavily on open-source material, leading the 'Israeli' military to reportedly no longer allow soldiers to be identified by name. Legal Ambiguity of "Doxxing" A key point of contention is Canada's legal landscape. "Doxxing" itself is not a defined criminal offense in Canada . While the act of publishing private information for harassment is widely condemned, legal experts note that proving intent to harm is an "uphill battle" for potential lawsuits. Mastracci asserts that every profile is "based entirely on public information gathered through simple Google searches from news articles, social media profiles, newsletters, websites, public directories and other sources," with each claim hyperlinked to its original public source. He emphasizes that the information's origin lies with the soldiers themselves, their family members, or media outlets where they "willingly shared their status as a soldier". The project, he suggests, implicitly challenges why such information was made public in the first place. "I'm afraid to go home" "I'm afraid to go home," one Canadian reservist expressed, while another, Nati Hubberman, a dual Canadian-'Israeli' citizen, recounted asking, "Is it safe for me to fly to Canada?" after seeing his name on the site, in statements made to 'The Times of Israel'. Canadians in Foreign Militaries and RCMP Scrutiny Serving in foreign militaries, including the 'Israeli' military, is generally legal for Canadian citizens. The 1937 Foreign Enlistment Act primarily prohibits recruitment within Canada, not service abroad . The RCMP previously closed an investigation into alleged illegal 'Israeli' recruitment in Canada without charges in June 2023 . However, a separate, ongoing RCMP probe into "core international crimes" related to the 'Israeli' aggression on Gaza, launched in early 2024, has added a new layer of anxiety. While not a criminal investigation at this stage, the RCMP is collecting information and has not ruled out future prosecution if a perpetrator with a "nexus to Canada" is identified.
IOL News
2 days ago
- Politics
- IOL News
Employment, not politics, must be our priority in South Africa
Letter to the Editor Image: File 80 years later, we need to follow France International anti-Israeli sentiment is understandable but misplaced. It's like being anti-American because of Donald Trump. The sitting Israeli Knesset is the elephant in the room, not the Israeli people per se. The mayhem in Gaza is driven by a rightwing-led government with a mere 3% majority. The Times of Israel reports that a recent poll indicates that 70% of Israelis don't trust their government. When the dust settles and the destruction of Gaza ceases, the existing Knesset will go up in smoke and blow away in the wind. The new Knesset will accept that the only way forward isn't the destruction of Hamas, but talks resulting in the formation of the State of Palestine alongside the State of Israel .Those calling for the destruction of Israel are wasting their efforts. An attack on Israel would be like throwing stones at Table Mountain. They need to live with that – that's just the way it is. French President Emmanuel Macron breaking ranks with Western allies by recognising the State of Palestine is a milestone, which, hopefully, others will follow – it is after all almost 80 years overdue! | Colin Bosman Newlands Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Racism will never end unless confronted Why is it so hard for people to stand up to, or act against, racism, discrimination, violent crime, social injustice, and rampant corruption in their local communities and /or countries of birth or countries they have migrated to?Does it inconvenience them or cost them anything to do so? In America for instance, it is said that among white people, solidarity involves an unspoken agreement to protect their advantages and avoid discomfort by not confronting racist behaviour. Correspondingly, for people of colour in the US, seeing racism happening in real time also leans to silence out of fear of reprisal. In both these cases of white and black Americans it is generally acknowledged that these dynamics create critical barriers to bringing about change to racist and socially oppressive systems. | Eric Palm Gympie, Australia We sit on a powder keg of unemployment Our embattled nation is hurtling from crisis to crisis as we wage a losing battle to contain a vast amount of poverty. Corruption land has reached epidemic proportions and is so pervasive that it is destroying the future of this and the next generation. The corruption epidemic is evident in the general climate of unethical leadership and bad governance throughout the political spectrum. After 30 years of democracy, our rich country remains a land of peasants, and increasingly of landless urbanised populations living on the margins of squalid squatter camps that are bursting at the seams – political dynamite waiting to explode in a seismic eruption. Our silent emergency comes in the form of pernicious killers: Poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy and massive unemployment. Statistics do not capture the extent of human suffering and lost opportunities. When democracy dawned in 1994, many hoped for liberty, prosperity and a fresh new start, but were cruelly disappointed. This is unacceptable and untenable. South Africa is a powder keg, waiting to explode and vision, foresight and courage is urgently required to forestall cataclysmic events | FAROUK ARAIE Benoni Employment must be our top priority Last Monday (July 21), Independent Newspapers reported on the horrific reality of youth unemployment. The report reflected that more than a million young South Africans had applied for the police service learning programme. Even more shocking was that over three hundred thousand of those graduates had NQF Level 6 or higher qualifications. The situation is now so bad that six in 10 of our youth are unemployed. These numbers are not just statistics. They are basically almost every family. Despite these stark figures we still have the government putting enormous restrictions on job creation. We constantly see how small businesses are blocked from their very survival because of regulations and harsh restrictions. The labour ministry seems hell bent on trying to control who can be employed and where. We have archaic regulations controlling the employment of people with certain skin pigmentation. We also have legislation telling employers how much they must pay for certain jobs. If the employer can't afford that they are told to apply for an exemption. These are almost impossible to obtain and the few that do get exemptions from the minimum wage in certain categories, that exemption is for only a short period of time and only in very limited circumstances. Even the few exemptions that are obtained don't go far enough, despite the fact that the individuals would rather earn a lower amount than no salary. These individuals are not entitled to agree to take the lower amount. Their only other alternative is to resort to crime, drugs, or nothing but despair. Such circumstances tend to lead to some employers breaking the law and to many employees being complicit in breaching the rules and regulations. In many circumstances in my daily dealing with trade unions even they are willing to overlook these breaches. In my travels across South Africa, I speak to shop stewards who tell me they would rather have their members employed than to strictly enforce the minimum wage. Unfortunately, when an employer breaches one piece of legislation, we invariably see that this leads to other unlawful behaviour. For instance, if an employer is forced to ignore the minimum wage legislation they then feel complete indifference to health and safety regulations. This one wrong leads to many others. To top all of this, we have too few inspectors and the ones that we do have are not properly resourced. When we read about an inspection blitz this normally targets larger businesses in city centres and never reaches informal businesses. Of course, this also leads to businesses rather employing foreign nationals who have no papers at all. Because of the precarious situation that these foreigners find themselves in, we see silence from those individuals who are earning a pittance. This situation in turn leads to xenophobic reaction from South Africans who can't find jobs. Xenophobia is encouraged by community leaders and to a large degree some of the political parties. Instead of the government going all out to tackle unemployment they often find various ministries using foreign labour as the scapegoat. There is, however, light at the end of the tunnel. We are seeing fantastic news come out of our Home Affairs Department where they are encouraging and targeting certain industries to create jobs. Specific visas and a helping hand in the film industry is one such example. Another is where Minister Dean Macpherson has entered into agreements across the board including with foreign governments to engender job creation in the building industry. We've seen the Department of Agriculture doing everything necessary to ensure that our fresh produce is exported to other jurisdictions, despite the American tariffs. It is also extremely pleasing to see enormous efforts being driven in the Western Cape in the call centre industry including all types of beneficiation of our local goods. The Government of National Unity, although under threat, has at least given our economy a boost. Foreigners have been pouring money into various industries around the country. Organisations, such as the Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa, have stepped forward and applauded the introduction of two new visa categories. Our conferences and exhibitions sector are growing at an amazing pace. Our people are innovative and for the first time in many years I'm noticing small manufacturing businesses opening up. As the world stage becomes more and more complicated, our consumers are once again turning to home grown manufacture. All of us can play a part in buying South African-made goods and supporting local industry. It is always refreshing to see labels on goods stating, 'Made in South Africa!' | MICHAEL BAGRAIM Cape Town DAILY NEWS
Int'l Business Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Int'l Business Times
UN Slams Gaza Airdrop Aid as 'Inefficient and a Distraction' Amid Starvation Crisis
The UNRWA commissioner condemned Israel and Western leaders for opting to airdrop aid into Gaza rather than pressuring Israel to allow the 6,000 truckloads of aid currently stalled in Jordan and Egypt to enter as dozens of Palestinians, mostly children, die from starvation-related causes. The commissioner of a United Nations agency criticized Western leaders' initiative to airdrop aid into the besieged Gaza enclave as "inefficient and a distraction," as the Israeli-driven starvation crisis deepens, claiming the lives of at least 122 Palestinians, 83 of whom were babies and children. On Friday, Israel announced it would soon permit Jordan and the United Arab Emirates to coordinate with the UK, France, and Germany to conduct humanitarian airdrops over Gaza, The Times of Israel reported. The news came as more than 2.2 million Palestinians remain trapped in the besieged enclave, facing a worsening humanitarian catastrophe. "#Gaza: airdrops will not reverse the deepening starvation," Philippe Lazzarini, the Swiss Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNWRA), wrote in an X post shared Saturday. "They are expensive, inefficient & can even kill starving civilians. It is a distraction & screensmoke [sic]." Since March 2, Israel has blocked nearly all humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, creating conditions that aid agencies warn amount to deliberate starvation, a practice considered a war crime under international law. The ongoing siege has made food, clean water, and medical supplies nearly inaccessible. In an attempt to ease the crisis, Israel and the United States opened four Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid distribution sites at the end of May. However, these efforts have been marred by violence as more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and American mercenaries while trying to retrieve the aid. In November 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The court alleges both are "responsible for the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare" beginning Oct. 8, 2023. "A manmade hunger can only be addressed by political will," Lazzarini continued. "Lift the siege, open the gates & guarantee safe movements + dignified access to people in need. Allow the U.N. including @UNRWA & our partners to operate at scale & without bureaucratic or political hurdles." Lazzarini added that UNRWA has 6,000 trucks in Jordan and Egypt "waiting for the green light to get into Gaza." "Driving aid through is much easier, more effective, faster, cheaper & safer. It's more dignified for the people of #Gaza," he added. #Gaza: airdrops will not reverse the deepening starvation. They are expensive, inefficient & can even kill starving is a distraction & screensmoke.A manmade hunger can only be addressed by political will. Lift the siege, open the gates & guarantee safe movements… — Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) July 26, 2025 In a follow-up post, Lazzarini described the dire conditions Palestinians in Gaza are enduring, quoting a colleague who said, "'People in Gaza are neither dead nor alive, they are walking corpses.'" He added that UNRWA found that 1 in every 5 children in Gaza City is malnourished, a figure that increases daily. "When child malnutrition surges, coping mechanisms fail, access to food & care disappears, famine silently begins to unfold. Most children our teams are seeing are emaciated, weak & at high risk of dying if they don't get the treatment they urgently need," he wrote, adding that frontline health workers, currently surviving on one small meal a day, are also fainting from hunger. "When caretakers cannot find enough to eat, the entire humanitarian system is collapsing. Parents are too hungry to care for their children," the UNWRA commissioner wrote. "Those who reach UNRWA clinics don't have the energy, food, or means to follow medical advice." "Families are no longer coping, they are breaking down, unable to survive. Their existence is threatened," he added, before stressing that UNRWA must be permitted to distribute food and medical supplies from the 6,000 aid trucks currently stalled in Jordan and Egypt. 'People in Gaza are neither dead nor alive, they are walking corpses': a colleague in #Gaza told me this morning. Meanwhile, according to @UNRWA latest findings: one in every five children is malnourished in Gaza City as cases increase every day. When child malnutrition… — Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) July 24, 2025 Since October 2023, nearly 60,000 Palestinians have died, either directly from Israeli military actions or indirectly as a result of Israeli policies. During the same period, around 1,600 Israelis have been killed, with 1,200 of those deaths occurring on Oct. 7, 2023. Originally published on Latin Times © Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
