Latest news with #ethniccleansing
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
The Druze under attack
While the usual pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched through London on Saturday preaching hatred of Israel, another group was staging a less prominent gathering in the capital. Dozens of Syrians from minority communities took part in a rally calling for action to protect the Druze in their Sweida heartland in the south of the country, where sectarian violence has killed hundreds. Around 80 protesters chanted 'Stop supporting Jolani.' This was a reference to the nom de guerre of the Syrian interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa. His Islamist group, Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), took over in Damascus late last year after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime. Yet despite pledges to abandon the hard-line fundamentalism previously espoused by Islamic State and other bodies, the new government is showing it is every bit as Druze minority are not the first to be targeted but their experience is especially grim. They fear their small community is being set up for ethnic cleansing and other minorities will suffer the same fate. Israel, which harbours some Druze communities in the Golan, have become involved, bombing Syrian positions while the US fears the violence will wreck its efforts to bring peace to the region. Several attempts to impose a ceasefire have so far failed. Western nations, including the UK, have invested a great deal of political and diplomatic capital in propping up the new regime in Damascus and will be reluctant to admit this might be a mistake. HTS was founded as an affiliate of al-Qaeda and continues to espouse its Salafi-jihadist ideology. Their efforts to present a secular, non-threatening front to the rest of the world is in danger of falling apart amid the bloodshed of Sweida.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Israel's decisive Syria strikes highlight need for intervention in preventing genocides
For many Jews, the images of Druze men having their mustaches forcibly shaved conjure up memories of the Holocaust. Israel's decision to take decisive action in Syria in an effort to deter attacks on the Druze community has shown that it is possible for countries to work to preempt massacres or genocide. In the wake of the fall of the Assad regime, Israel has been vocal about protecting the Druze in Syria. The IDF has acted several times when clashes in Syria between armed groups and Druze fighters led to the killings of Druze. The attacks in Damascus on Wednesday included high-profile airstrikes near the presidential palace and targeting a military headquarters. In addition, Israel carried out strikes near Suwayda against Syrian government forces and others who were involved in killing Druze. It was not known yet how effective this campaign has been. Nevertheless, it clearly resulted in the Syrian government taking a step back to consider a ceasefire and also hinting it might withdraw from parts of Suwayda. There is a lesson here. Countries can do more than just make statements when it comes to genocide and ethnic cleansing. This means other genocides could have been prevented if countries were willing to take action. In 2014, the Yazidi minority in Iraq was subjected to a brutal genocide by ISIS. ISIS terrorists massacred Yazidis in the northern Iraqi area of Sinjar. After conquering many Yazidi towns and villages in August 2014, the ISIS terrorists separated the Yazidi men, women, and children. They massacred thousands of men and sold the women into slavery. This was done while the international community largely looked on and made statements but didn't do much to prevent the killings. The US did intervene to fight ISIS and eventually built a large coalition against the group. But it was too late to save many of the Yazidis. Instead, the Yazidis were saved by Kurdish forces linked to the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), who helped them flee. The massacre of Yazidis didn't take place suddenly. ISIS had invaded large parts of Iraq in June 2014. It had captured Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city in June 2014. ISIS had expelled Christians and minorities from Mosul. It also captured more than 1,000 Shi'ite Iraqi military cadets at Camp Speicher in June 2014 and then proceeded to massacre them. It did this publicly, and many of the images made their way around the world. ISIS supporters celebrated on social media. ISIS planned the massacre of Yazidis between June and August. There was time to prevent the genocide. As it was ongoing, there was time to do more. But many countries preferred to wait and watch. Druze among small minority groups in the Middle East The Druze are one of many small minority groups in the region. Like Yazidis, Kurds, Christians, and other groups, they have faced persecution and have sought to protect themselves in their areas. The attacks on the Druze in Syria are not new. During the Syrian civil war, there were also attacks on Druze by some extremist factions of the Syrian rebellion. The Druze were accused of being close to the Assad regime, and they were attacked for religious reasons. In Syria, this has become a pattern since the fall of the Assad regime. While the new government of Ahmed al-Sharaa seeks to unify the country, there are many supporters of Sharaa who are willing to use violence to achieve this goal. Over the past six months, some of these supporters have persecuted minorities. They have massacred Alawites in Lattakia, for example. Israel's support of the Druze is important, because it shows Israel is willing to act onbehalf of a minority group. This doesn't come in a vacuum. Druze in Israel serve in the army and are considered to be part of a 'blood covenant' alongside Jewish Israelis. Joint service in the army creates close bonds. That is why Israeli political leaders across the spectrum support the Druze and action to protect them in Syria. Now is the real test to see whether this policy has worked to protect them. The major lesson is that action is demanded more than words when people are being massacred. For many Jews, the images of Druze men having their mustaches forcibly shaved conjures up memories of the Holocaust and the abuse of Jews at the hands of Nazis. It is natural, therefore, that Israel should feel a kinship for this minority group. Solve the daily Crossword
Al Mayadeen
15-07-2025
- Business
- Al Mayadeen
BCG built Gaza 'relocation' model in secretive 'Aurora' project: FT
Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is facing mounting scrutiny following a Financial Times investigation that revealed the firm's involvement in a controversial and secretive effort to model the forced 'relocation' of Palestinians from Gaza. The plan, developed in coordination with Israeli and US officials, also included BCG's participation in a militarized humanitarian "aid initiative" now widely condemned by humanitarian agencies. Though BCG has attempted to distance itself from the project, insiders told The Financial Times that the firm's involvement spanned more than seven months and included over $4 million in contracted work. The initiative, codenamed 'Aurora', featured detailed cost estimates for relocating hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and laid out a blueprint for a postwar economic restructuring of Gaza. Human rights organizations have warned that the project's core proposals may violate international law and amount to a blueprint for ethnic cleansing. According to the FT report, BCG consultants, including senior staff from the firm's Washington defense and security division, developed a financial model projecting that over 500,000 Palestinians could be offered 'relocation packages' valued at $9,000 each, totaling $5 billion. The relocation scenario was framed as voluntary, with additional incentives such as subsidized housing and food assistance. However, BCG now claims the exercise was conducted without executive approval and in direct violation of internal directives. 'The lead partner was categorically told no, and he violated this directive. We disavow this work,' the company stated, confirming that it has terminated the two partners responsible. BCG initially joined the project on a pro bono basis in October 2024, helping to establish the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an Israeli- and US-supported initiative aimed at distributing aid in Gaza. The project was also backed by Safe Reach Solutions (SRS), a private military contractor founded by former CIA officer Phil Reilly. Aid centers under the GHF banner, guarded by Israeli forces and staffed with US contractors, have been the site of harrowing massacres. Since its launch in May, more than 400 Palestinians have reportedly been killed attempting to access food aid, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza. The United Nations has condemned the initiative as a 'fig leaf' for military occupation, and major international NGOs have refused to cooperate with it. US President Donald Trump reportedly committed $30 million in funding to the GHF, amid broader speculation that his administration supports long-term depopulation of Gaza. Trump has previously referred to Gaza as the potential 'Riviera of the Middle East,' a remark critics widely interpreted as endorsing ethnic cleansing. The financial modeling of mass displacement appears to have triggered an internal crisis at BCG. When staff became aware of the full scope of the project in late May, concerns were raised over ethical violations and reputational risk. Documents obtained by the FT show that the project, initially framed as charitable, transitioned into a paid contract with fees covered by McNally Capital, a private equity firm that owns SRS' parent company, Orbis. Two senior BCG consultants, Matt Schlueter and Ryan Ordway, both US military veterans, led the Aurora project and maintained ties with the Israeli think tank Tachlith Institute. Internal reports flagged both the scope and intensity of the work, with consultants in BCG's Tel Aviv office logging over 70-hour weeks, triggering a 'Red Zone' warning, a corporate signal for ethical risk and overextension. Despite the project's growing notoriety, BCG continued advising SRS on procurement, logistics, and direct food delivery after NGOs pulled out. One BCG employee who questioned SRS's capacity to manage food aid logistics was removed from the project, according to FT sources. The situation came to a head following GHF's public launch in May, which coincided with its approval by the Israeli cabinet. On May 25, BCG's leadership ordered an immediate shutdown of the project and began withdrawing its consultants. That same day, GHF CEO Jake Wood resigned, citing a breakdown in humanitarian neutrality. Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a US firm hired to help design and run the business operations of the #Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), has withdrawn its team operating on the ground in "Israel" from the controversial aid initiative backed by the United States and "Israel."A… May 28, BCG global leadership confronted Schlueter and Ordway at a partner meeting in Vienna. Days later, both were placed on administrative leave and asked to resign. On June 4, BCG brought in law firm WilmerHale to conduct an independent investigation into what CEO Christoph Schweizer called 'serious process failures.'
Al Mayadeen
15-07-2025
- Business
- Al Mayadeen
UK probes US firm over Gaza ethnic cleansing charges
A prominent US consulting firm is under formal investigation by a UK parliamentary committee over its involvement in planning efforts that human rights advocates say amount to the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza. Boston Consulting Group (BCG), one of the world's most influential management firms, has been asked to explain its role in a controversial "postwar reconstruction plan" for Gaza, which reportedly included financial modeling for the mass displacement of Palestinians. Liam Byrne MP, chair of the Business and Trade Select Committee, has sent a formal request to BCG seeking 'clarification and information' regarding its activities, particularly its collaboration with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US- and Israeli-backed group criticized for disguising forced displacement as humanitarian relief. A report by the Financial Times revealed that BCG was hired to provide financial analysis for a postwar development plan. As part of the assignment, BCG reportedly calculated the cost of 'voluntarily' relocating hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, a proposal widely denounced by legal experts and human rights organizations as a euphemism for ethnic cleansing. The investigation has also drawn in the Tony Blair Institute (TBI), whose staff reportedly took part in early discussions about the Gaza plan. Internal documents suggest that TBI shared a postwar scenario paper with BCG during the preliminary phase of the project. Although the institute has denied authoring or endorsing the proposal, its involvement has triggered public outrage, particularly given Tony Blair's contentious role in the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. BCG has since disavowed the project, stating that the work was 'unauthorized' and that two senior partners involved have been dismissed. Nevertheless, Byrne has made it clear that the firm's explanations thus far are 'not sufficient". He has demanded a detailed timeline of BCG's engagement, identification of all clients and collaborators, and full disclosure of any UK-based entities, including companies, NGOs, or think tanks, that may have been involved. 'Who commissioned or requested this work?' Byrne asked. 'Which individuals or entities did BCG engage with in this context? Is any such work ongoing or active in any form?' BCG's ties to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation are now facing parallel scrutiny in the US. Senator Elizabeth Warren has requested a formal investigation by the State Department into GHF's funding sources, as well as into the transparency of BCG's internal review. While BCG has not denied that some of its employees contributed to the financial framework of the plan, CEO Christoph Schweizer acknowledged in an internal message that the firm's involvement is 'deeply troubling and reputationally very damaging.' The UK parliamentary committee has given BCG until 22 July to respond. In a short statement, the firm said, 'We are aware of the request from the House of Commons Business & Trade Committee. We are reviewing the request and are committed to responding.'
Al Mayadeen
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Mayadeen
Israeli Rafah plan is ethnic cleansing disguised as aid: Ex-PM Olmert
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, in an interview with The Guardian on Monday, said that "Israel's" proposed "humanitarian city" in Rafah is tantamount to ethnic cleansing and would operate as a concentration camp if realized. He warned that the plan, supported by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Security Minister Israel Katz, represents a dangerous intensification of "Israel's" ongoing violations against the Palestinian people. "It is a concentration camp. I am sorry," Olmert said, responding to Katz's directive for the military to prepare a blueprint to house 600,000 Palestinians in the southern Gaza Strip. Under this plan, Palestinians would be forbidden from leaving the area except to other countries, a restriction Olmert described as an unmistakable form of forced displacement. "If they [Palestinians] will be deported into the new 'humanitarian city', then you can say that this is part of an ethnic cleansing. It hasn't yet happened," he noted, warning that the only logical interpretation of the strategy is one of forcible expulsion. According to the UN and multiple humanitarian agencies, nearly 800 Palestinians have been killed in recent weeks while attempting to access aid, as Israeli strikes have repeatedly targeted so-called aid distribution zones. Olmert's remarks come amid growing condemnation of "Israel's" ongoing operations. A July 13 report from Reuters detailed how at least eight children collecting water in al-Nuseirat were killed in an Israeli missile strike, with Israeli forces later blaming a "technical malfunction." Human rights groups argue such incidents are not anomalies but part of a systemic pattern of violence targeting civilians under the guise of humanitarian management. On the ground, the toll is staggering, with over 58,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza since the war began, and more than 1.7 million displaced. Nearly 70% of the territory's infrastructure has been destroyed. Hospitals and health facilities have been bombed into dysfunction, over 900 damaged or flattened, while entire residential neighborhoods have been reduced to rubble. The humanitarian situation is compounded by the collapse of clean water systems, widespread disease, and near-total food insecurity. Critics argue these conditions render any official language of "humanitarianism" void of meaning. Read more: Gaza aid line targeted: Dozens killed, UN confirms 798 dead at sites Olmert said the humanitarian city plan cannot be separated from increasingly extreme rhetoric by cabinet ministers who have openly called to "cleanse" Gaza and pursue settlement expansion. "When they build a camp where they [plan to] 'clean' more than half of Gaza, then the inevitable understanding of the strategy of this [is that] it is not to save [Palestinians]. It is to deport them, to push them, and to throw them away. There is no other understanding that I have, at least," he said. Prominent Israeli legal experts and rights advocates have echoed these concerns, warning that under specific conditions, the policy could amount to genocide. Beyond Gaza, Olmert issued a denunciation of the current government's handling of settler violence in the occupied West Bank, calling the 'Hilltop Youth' militias a grave internal threat for committing daily war crimes against Palestinians under the protection of the government. In remarks for Israeli broadcaster Channel 13 and elaborated further in a column for Haaretz, Olmert characterized the settler groups as organized terrorist militias carrying out a government-enabled campaign of violence, displacement, and land theft against Palestinians. "War crimes are occurring daily. Jews are murdering Palestinians. Burning them," Olmert said on live television, adding that "The IDF doesn't do what it's supposed to do. The police shut their eyes." Known as the "Hilltop Youth," these settler militias consist mostly of radicalized young men entrenched in illegal outposts across the occupied West Bank. Their attacks, according to Olmert, are not the actions of a rogue minority, as often claimed by Israeli officials, but part of a deliberate policy backed by political forces within the Israeli government. 'These militias are not a gang of savages,' he wrote in Haaretz, 'but the vanguard of everyone who encourages and inspires them – and covers for them.' Olmert explicitly linked their actions to senior far-right figures, naming ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir, Bezalel Smotrich, Tzvi Succot, and others as part of the political ecosystem that enables settler violence. "There are people in power who will protect them, as long as they don't relent," he warned, adding that "Palestinians are assaulted and run off their lands. Their fields are burned. Their homes are burned. Yesterday, an American citizen was beaten on the head with a club and killed." Read more: Israeli 'humanitarian city' plan jeopardizes Gaza ceasefire deal talks
