Latest news with #genocide
The Independent
2 hours ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Starmer urged to sanction Israel over alleged attacks on Palestinian children
Labour MP Imran Hussain has urged Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in the Commons to impose sanctions on Israel. Mr Hussain accused Israel of committing "war crimes" and "genocide" in Gaza, citing the killing of Palestinian children. He drew a parallel with the thousands of sanctions imposed on Russia for its actions in Ukraine, urging similar measures against Israel. Sir Keir responded by stating he was "appalled" by scenes in Gaza and called for transparent investigations into reports of civilian deaths. Watch the video in full above.
BreakingNews.ie
3 hours ago
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
Taoiseach says €3.6m investment in Israel ‘not going to fund any war'
The Taoiseach has said a €3.6 million investment in Israel is 'not going to fund any war' in response to claims Ireland was funding a genocide in Gaza. Micheál Martin said the Government has no role in directing how public money should be invested and said it was not true to say Irish funds invested in Israel meant Ireland was funding a genocide in Gaza. Advertisement Social Democrats deputy leader Cian O'Callaghan said that at the end of 2023, the Irish Strategic Investment Fund (Isif) held €2.62 million in Israeli sovereign debt. By the end of 2024 that had increased to €3.62 million, he told the Dáil during Leaders' Questions. 'This wasn't a mistake or some kind of oversight. Someone made a deliberate decision to increase the level of public money spent on Israeli war bonds, and the Israeli government have not hidden what those bonds are for,' he said. 'These bonds are clearly being used to help finance their genocidal campaign. Taoiseach, this is utterly outrageous.' Advertisement He also said it was 'shameful' that nearly eight million euros of Irish public money was invested, directly or indirectly, in companies operating in occupied territories while the Government is trying to pass a bill banning the trade of goods with Israeli settlements in the same occupied territories. Mr Martin said he would 'follow through' on the issue raised with him on Wednesday, but pushed back against the suggestion that Ireland was funding a genocide. 'I take strong exception to your assertion that the Irish Government is funding genocide. It most certainly is not and never has,' he said. 'You know the Government does not get involved in investment decisions by any fund that is established, you know that is the case.' Advertisement He said Ireland was opposed to the war in Gaza and listed Ireland's position on matters relating to Gaza: that Ireland was the only country that has moved to pass legislation banning goods coming from the illegally occupied Palestinian territories and had pushed for the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. He said Ireland had intervened in South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and also sponsored UN resolutions in respect of decisions at the court. Mr O'Callaghan said the Government gives the Isif 'its strategic direction', and should direct it not to invest money in companies that contravene international law in the West Bank. 'There are much better places that our money should be spent: in affordable housing, in healthcare and disability services. Not a cent should be invested in companies operating in occupied Palestinian territories, in the West Bank.' Advertisement Mr Martin said: 'The Isif have confirmed that at the end of 2024 it had held 3.6 million in Israeli sovereign debt. 'That's not going to fund any war, deputy. So let's have a sense of perspective. 'You can argue it's not right, I take that point. 'But you said we funded genocide. That is an outrageous, exaggerated assertion. You lack credibility in putting a point like that, but you do it for political gain only.' Advertisement He said Isif held 5.2 million in Egyptian sovereign debt and 2.3 million in Jordanian sovereign debt, and added: 'I wouldn't approve of some of this either.' He called on Mr O'Callaghan to withdraw the claim that Ireland was funding genocide.
The Independent
4 hours ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Starmer pressed over UK sanctions against Israel for war crimes targeting Palestinian children
Sir Keir Starmer has been grilled by a Labour MP over whether the government will impose sanctions on Israel to 'stop the genocide'. Speaking to the prime minister from the Commons on Wednesday (16 July), Imran Hussain said that Israel is committing 'war crimes' by 'killing Palestinian children as they queue for food'. 'Our government quite rightly imposes thousands of sanctions on Russia for its war crimes in Ukraine. How many more horrors must be witnessed before the prime minister acts with the same scale of sanctions against Israel to stop this genocide?,' the Bradford MP said. Sir Keir responded by saying he is 'appalled' by scenes in Gaza and said investigations into reports of civilians being killed must be 'transparently' carried out.
Al Arabiya
11 hours ago
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
UN expert on Palestine says US sanctions ‘violation' of her immunity
The UN's unflinching expert on Palestinian affairs Francesca Albanese said Tuesday that Washington's sanctions following her criticism of the White House's stance on Gaza are a 'violation' of her immunity. The United Nations' Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories made the comments while visiting Bogota, nearly a week after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the sanctions, calling her work 'biased and malicious.' 'It's a very serious measure. It's unprecedented. And I take it very seriously,' Albanese told an audience in the Colombian capital. Albanese was in Bogota to attend an international summit initiated by leftist President Gustavo Petro to find solutions to the Gaza conflict. The Italian legal scholar and human rights expert has faced harsh criticism for her long-standing accusations that Israel is committing 'genocide' in Gaza. 'It's clear violation of the UN Convention on Privileges and Immunities that protect UN officials, including independent experts, from words and actions taken in the exercise of their functions,' Albanese said. Rubio on July 9 announced that Washington was sanctioning Albanese 'for her illegitimate and shameful efforts to prompt (ICC) action against US and Israeli officials, companies, and executives.' The sanctions are 'a warning to anyone who dares to defend international law and human rights, justice and freedom,' Albanese said. On Thursday, the UN urged the United States to reverse the sanctions against Albanese, along with sanctions against judges of the International Criminal Court, with UN chief Antonio Guterres's spokesman calling the move 'a dangerous precedent.' On Friday, the European Union also spoke out against the sanctions facing Albanese, adding that it 'strongly supports the United Nations human rights system.' Albanese, who assumed her mandate in 2022, released a damning report this month denouncing companies – many of them American – that she said 'profited from the Israeli economy of illegal occupation, apartheid, and now genocide' in the occupied Palestinian territories. The report provoked a furious Israeli response, while some of the companies also raised objections. Washington last month slapped sanctions on four ICC judges, in part over the court's arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, barring them from the United States. UN special rapporteurs like Albanese are independent experts who are appointed by the UN human rights council but do not speak on behalf of the United Nations. Israel has killed more than 58,479 Palestinians in Gaza, according to data from the Health Ministry in the territory, considered reliable by the UN. Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and violence has surged in the territory since October 2023.
Asharq Al-Awsat
12 hours ago
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
UN Rapporteur Calls for Global Action to Stop ‘Genocide' in Gaza
The United Nations' special rapporteur for Gaza and the West Bank said Tuesday that it's time for nations around the world to take concrete actions to stop what she called the 'genocide' in Gaza. Francesca Albanese spoke to delegates from 30 countries meeting in Colombia's capital to discuss the Israel-Hamas war and ways that nations can try to stop Israel's military offensive in the territory. Many of the participating nations have described the violence as genocide against the Palestinians. 'Each state must immediately review and suspend all ties with the State of Israel ... and ensure its private sector does the same,' Albanese said. 'The Israeli economy is structured to sustain the occupation that has now turned genocidal.' The two-day conference organized by the governments of Colombia and South Africa is being attended mostly by developing nations, although the governments of Spain, Ireland and China have also sent delegates. Israel, which was founded in the aftermath of the Holocaust, has adamantly rejected genocide allegations against it as an antisemitic 'blood libel.' Analysts say it's not clear whether the conference's participating countries have enough leverage over Israel to force it to change its policies in Gaza, where more than 58,000 people have been killed in Israeli military operations following a deadly Hamas attack on Israel in 2023. The death toll comes from the health ministry, which is under Gaza's Hamas government and does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. The UN and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties. 'The United States has so far failed to influence Israel's behavior ... so it is naive to think that this group of countries can have any influence over (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu's behavior or on the government of Israel,' said Sandra Borda, a professor of international relations at Bogota's Los Andes University. She said, however, that the conference will enable some nations of the Global South to clarify their position toward the conflict and have their voices heard. The conference is co-chaired by the governments of South Africa and Colombia, which last year suspended coal exports to Israeli power plants, and includes the participation of members of The Hague Group, a coalition of eight nations that earlier this year pledged to cut military ties with Israel and to comply with an International Criminal Court arrest warrant against Netanyahu. For decades, South Africa's ruling African National Congress party has compared Israel's policies in Gaza and the West Bank with its own history of oppression under the harsh apartheid regime of white minority rule, which restricted most Blacks to 'homelands' before ending in 1994. South Africa's current argument is rooted in the sentiment that Palestinians have been oppressed in their homeland as Black South Africans were under apartheid. The gathering comes as the European Union weighs various measures against Israel that include a ban on imports from Israeli settlements, an arms embargo and individual sanctions against Israeli officials, who are found to be blocking a peaceful solution to the conflict. Colombia's Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Mauricio Jaramillo said Monday that the nations participating in the Bogota meeting, which also include Qatar and Türkiye, will be discussing diplomatic and judicial measures that can be taken to put more pressure on Israel to cease its attacks. The Colombian official described Israel's conduct in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank as an affront to the international order. 'This is not just about Palestine' Jaramillo said in a press conference. 'It is about defending international law... and the right to self-determination.'
