Magazine

Support for Israel creates a sense that it can do what it wants: Analysis

Thursday, Oct 3, 2024
Richard Dalton, a former UK ambassador to Iran, says support for Israel from the West is working against de-escalating the conflict.

"It’s working against establishing a peaceful settlement across the region, whether within Palestine or beyond because it is creating this sense that Israel can do what it wants," he told Al Jazeera.

"They can humiliate the United States. They can bank the military support from the United Kingdom and Israel’s European partners and not do anything to respond to the requirements of those countries that there should be progress towards Palestinian statehood as a prerequisite for peace," he added.

Dalton said that public opinion in the West is turning against Israel due to how it has been fighting its wars.

"I believe that opinion has turned against Israel because of Israel’s action, because of Israel’s denial of basic human rights, because Israel’s denial that rights which it claims for itself should be accorded to others," he said.

Investigating war crimes in Gaza I Al Jazeera Investigations

Thursday, Oct 3, 2024  
This feature length investigation by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit exposes Israeli war crimes in the Gaza Strip through the medium of photos and videos posted online by Israeli soldiers themselves during the year long conflict.

The I-Unit has built up a database of thousands of videos, photos and social media posts. Where possible it has identified the posters and those who appear.

The material reveals a range of illegal activities, from wanton destruction and looting to the demolition of entire neighbourhoods and murder.

The film also tells the story of the war through the eyes of Palestinian journalists, human rights workers and ordinary residents of the Gaza Strip. And it exposes the complicity of Western governments – in particular the use of RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus as a base for British surveillance flights over Gaza.

"The west cannot hide, they cannot claim ignorance. Nobody can say they didn’t know," says Palestinian writer, Susan Abulhawa.This is "the first livestream genocide in history … If people are ignorant they are wilfully ignorant," she says.

Nobody benefits from such a war: Former Israeli official

Thursday, Oct 3, 2024  
At least seven people have been killed and eight wounded in Israeli air strikes targeting central Beirut overnight.

It hit a building in the area of Bachoura - just one kilometre from Lebanon's Parliament and the Prime Minister's office.

Meanwhile, more Israeli strikes have targeted Dahiyeh, the southern suburb of Beirut where Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed last week.

Israel has hit the area several times in the past two weeks, saying it was targeting Hezbollah sites.

And in Gaza, an overnight Israeli strike has killed at least one Palestinian and injured another in Deir el-Balah, in the central part of the strip.

An Israeli helicopter gunship struck a tent housing displaced people in a school compound.

Alon Liel is a former director general at Israel's Foreign Ministry. He was also a former ambassador to South Africa.
 
He says Israel has been weakened from nearly a year of war in Gaza and the prospect of a protracted conflict in the region has its population worried.

US ceasefire talk means nothing while sending Israel weapons: Analysis

Sunday, Sep 29, 2024  #US #JoeBiden #Lebanon
US President Joe Biden has issued a statement on the killing of Nasrallah, calling it "a measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis, and Lebanese civilians".

Biden said the US "fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself against Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and any other Iranian-supported terrorist groups".

Biden added that his government was enhancing "the defense posture of U.S. military forces in the Middle East region to deter aggression and reduce the risk of a broader regional war".

Al Jazeera’s Shihab Rattansi has more on the US reaction from Washington, DC.

Phyllis Bennis is a fellow with the Institute for Policy Studies. She says the Biden administration's efforts to secure a ceasefire are undermined by their continual supply of weapons to Israel.

Tumultuous history of Hezbollah will the party survive the death of powerful leader?

Sunday, Sep 29, 2024  #HassanNasrallah #Hezbollah #MiddleEastConflict
Israel’s assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has sent shockwaves through the Shia militant organization. Seen as one of the most critical blows to Hezbollah, the killing comes after decades of clashes between the Iran-backed group and Israel.

Al Jazeera’s Mohamed Vall reports.

31 people killed in Russian attack on Ukraine, children's hospital also attacked

Monday, 8 July 2024

31 people have died and more than 150 have been injured in Russia's latest attacks on Ukraine. 17 people have been killed in the capital Kiev alone. Of these 17 deaths, two have died in a children's hospital. 11 deaths have occurred in several attacks in Dnipropetrovsk. Nothing is known about where the rest of the people were killed.

Ohmetidiyat Hospital has also come under the Russian attack. At the time of the attack, 20 children were being treated in the children's ward of the hospital.

Heavy damage can be seen in the pictures of the children's hospital.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is on a visit to Poland. Where he is likely to sign security agreements. Zelensky said that 40 missiles were fired at several cities, including Kiev and Sloviansk.

Residential buildings, buildings and children's hospitals have been damaged in these attacks. Smoke can be seen all over the city of Kiev.

At the same time, the damage caused to the Ohmetidiyat hospital by the attack can be seen in several videos posted on social media.

Zelensky said in a social media post that people were trapped under the rubble of the hospital. At present, doctors, nurses and common people are also trying to remove the rubble.

In India, Nitish government of Bihar has released the caste survey data today. Data related to religion was also collected during the survey and information about this has also been given.

The largest population in Bihar is of those who follow Hindu religion. After them are the number of people following Muslim religion. However, there is a huge gap between the populations of followers of both the religions.

The caste survey conducted in Bihar has revealed that out of about 13 crore people of the state, there are 2146 people who do not have any religion.

How many people of which religion are there in Bihar?

Hindu: 81.99 percent

Muslims: 17.70 percent

Christians: 0.057 percent

Sikh: 0.0113 percent

Buddhist: 0.085 percent

Jain: 0.009 percent

Bihar government in India has released the caste census data. According to the census, the backward class population is 27.13 percent. The population of extremely backward class is more than 36.01 percent.

Whereas the general category population is 15.52 percent.

Additional Secretary of Bihar Government, Vivek Kumar Singh has given this information in a press conference.

According to the caste survey, the population of Bihar is 13 crore 7 lakh 25 thousand 10.

Vivek Kumar Singh said that the population of backward class is 27.13 percent, population of extremely backward class is 36.01 percent and population of general class is 15.52 percent.

He told that the Scheduled Caste population is 19.65 percent.

The population of Yadavs among the backward classes is 14 percent. The population of Musahar caste is 3 percent. Kurmi population is 2.87 percent.

Additional Secretary of Bihar Government, Vivek Kumar Singh said that Bihar Legislature had passed the proposal to conduct caste based census (survey) in Bihar on 18 February 2019.

He said, "After this, on June 2, 2022, the Bihar Council of Ministers decided to conduct caste-based census. It was to be done in two phases. In the first phase, it was to be done through houses."

"Under this, house numbering was done and list was made from January 7, 2023 to January 31, 2023. In the second phase, the work of census of all the persons of Bihar was started on April 15, 2023."

"In this, different responsibilities were given to the district level officials and this work was completed on a war footing. On August 5, 2023, all the data was prepared and submitted through the mobile app.''

"The total number of survey families in Bihar is 2 crore 83 lakh 44 thousand 107 and the total population in it is 13 crore 7 lakh 25 thousand 10."

"In this, there are 53 lakh 72 thousand 22 people in temporary migrant status."

According to the caste survey of Bihar, what is the population of which caste there?

Total population of general category – 15.52 percent

Brahmin: 3.66 percent

Bhumihar: 2.86 percent

Rajput: 3.45 percent

Backward population: 27.13 percent

Yadav: 14 percent

Kurmi: 2.87 percent

Extremely backward population: 36.01 percent

Scheduled Caste population – 19.65 percent

Scheduled Tribe population – 1.68 percent

The ongoing G20 summit in New Delhi concluded on Sunday, 10 September 2023. In this summit hosted by India, India is being praised for getting the consensus of all the countries on the New Delhi Declaration.

Especially in this, getting everyone to agree on the language used regarding Ukraine-Russia war is being considered as India's achievement. India gave the slogan of ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’ in the summit.

On the completion of this summit, India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that we worked to bring forward new ideas, bridge differences and kept the entire focus of G20 on the Global South.

He wrote on Twitter: "The G20 summit and its bilateral meetings were held in New Delhi. The New Delhi Declaration shows that our presidency was able to put forward ideas, shape global issues, bridge divides and build consensus. We maintained our focus on the Global South. We launched landmark initiatives like the Global Biofuels Alliance and the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC)."

He mentioned five important decisions that emerged from this meeting.

- Green Development Pact

- Action Plan on Sustainable Development

- High level principles on anti-corruption

- Support for digital infrastructure

- Reform of multilateral development banks

Unlike the annual UN conferences on climate change, the G-20 meetings generally do not see serious disagreements between developed and developing countries on actions to be taken to address this problem.

But this time in the G-20 conference, the picture regarding this looks different. In the meeting of environment ministers of G-20 countries, no consensus seems to be reached on achieving the goals like gradually reducing the use of fossil fuels, increasing the targets of renewable energy and reducing greenhouse emissions.

Whereas G-20 countries are responsible for 75% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. At the G-20 conference, Russia, China, Saudi Arabia and India have opposed the goal of developed countries to triple the capacity of renewable energy by 2030.

News agency Reuters, quoting official sources, has said that in the Sherpa level meeting on September 6, 2023, these countries disagreed with the goal of developed countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60 percent by 2035.

China has rejected media reports that it had obstructed the consensus on steps to be taken to control climate change at the G-20 environment ministers' meeting held in July 2023.

China had appealed to developed countries to work according to their capacity, responsibilities and duties to eliminate the problem of climate change.

Fast-growing economies like China and India say that developed countries should fulfill their historical responsibility to reduce carbon emissions.

Whereas developing countries say that this task is difficult without the major economies coming together. The countries on both sides of the G-20 are adamant. This gives an indication of what is going to happen at COP 28, the annual UN conference on climate change.