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  10.  <title>World court unanimously orders Israel to facilitate entry of food aid into Gaza</title>
  11.  <link>https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/international-court-orders-israel-facilitate-entry-food-gaza</link>
  12.  <description>
  13. &lt;span class="field field-title"&gt;World court unanimously orders Israel to facilitate entry of food aid into Gaza&lt;/span&gt;
  14.            &lt;div class="field field-field-subhead"&gt;The decision runs contrary to Israel's claim that it does not block aid deliveries to Gaza &lt;/div&gt;
  15.      
  16. &lt;span class="field field-uid"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/mee-staff" lang="" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/mee-staff" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang=""&gt;MEE staff&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  17.  
  18. &lt;span class="field field-created"&gt;&lt;time datetime="2024-03-28T18:36:32+00:00" title="28 March 2024 18:36 GMT"&gt;Thu, 03/28/2024 - 18:36&lt;/time&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  19.            &lt;div class="field field-field-main-image"&gt;    &lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/000_34MQ6QD.jpg.webp?itok=dsndrW-x 1x" type="image/webp" width="1400" height="788"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/000_34MQ6QD.jpg?itok=dsndrW-x 1x" type="image/jpeg" width="1400" height="788"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;img srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/000_34MQ6QD.jpg?itok=dsndrW-x 1x" width="1400" height="788" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/max_2600x2600/public/images-story/000_34MQ6QD.jpg?itok=onDb1tib" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" fetchpriority="high" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  20.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-cutline"&gt;A boy pushes a young girl in a wheelchair past a destroyed building in Gaza City, on 28 March 2024 (AFP)&lt;/div&gt;
  21.                  &lt;div class="field field-body clearfix"&gt;&lt;p&gt;On Thursday, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) announced additional provisional measures, unanimously mandating Israel to "ensure, without delay" that humanitarian aid is provided to Gaza, encompassing essentials such as food, water, electricity, and other fundamental necessities. &lt;/p&gt;
  22.  
  23. &lt;p&gt;The court said Israel must take "all necessary and effective measures to ensure, without delay, in full cooperation with the United Nations, the unhindered provision at scale by all concerned of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance”. &lt;/p&gt;
  24.  
  25. &lt;p&gt;The decision runs contrary to Israel's claim that it is not blocking aid deliveries to Gaza and orders Israel to do so by increasing the number of land crossings into Gaza and keeping them open for "as long as necessary". &lt;/p&gt;
  26.  
  27. &lt;p&gt;In the &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/CIJ_ICJ/status/1773376361362489490"&gt;letter&lt;/a&gt; from 28 March, the court said that since 26 January “the catastrophic living conditions of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have deteriorated further, in particular in view of the prolonged and widespread deprivation of food and other basic necessities to which the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been subjected".&lt;/p&gt;
  28.  
  29. &lt;p&gt;The letter says that Palestinians in Gaza are no longer facing only a risk of famine, "but that famine is setting in".&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"&gt;&lt;div&gt;
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  40. &lt;/div&gt;
  41.  
  42. &lt;p&gt;The court issued the provisional measures which include Israel taking all steps to provide basic humanitarian aid to Gaza, and ensuring with "immediate effect that its military does not commit acts which constitute a violation of any of the rights of the Palestinians in Gaza as a protected group under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide."&lt;/p&gt;
  43.  
  44. &lt;p&gt;The court also added that Israel must submit a report on all measures taken to give effect to this order, within one month from the date of the order.&lt;/p&gt;
  45.  
  46. &lt;h3&gt;'Man-made starvation'&lt;/h3&gt;
  47.  
  48. &lt;p&gt;This comes just two weeks after South Africa requested that the ICJ issue additional provisional measures against Israel in light of reports of widespread starvation.&lt;/p&gt;
  49.  
  50. &lt;p&gt;According to the document from South Africa on 6 March, the country wants the court to indicate further provisional measures and/or to modify its provisional measures to “ensure the safety and security of 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, including over a million children”.&lt;/p&gt;
  51.  
  52. &lt;div class="mee-readmore mee-readmore-article-story mee-readmore-type-image align-right"&gt;
  53.  &lt;a class="mee-readmore-img-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/icj-hearing-israel-occupation-palestine-advisory-opinion"&gt;&lt;img class="mee-readmore-image" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images-story/ICJ_PALESTINE_2024_AFP.jpg.webp?itok=KkxxJTdC" width="400" height="250" alt="" loading="lazy" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;div class="mee-readmore-description"&gt;Explained: ICJ begins historic hearings on Israel's occupation of Palestine&lt;/div&gt;
  54.    &lt;a class="mee-readmore-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/icj-hearing-israel-occupation-palestine-advisory-opinion"&gt;Read More »&lt;/a&gt;
  55. &lt;/div&gt;
  56.  
  57. &lt;p&gt;“Palestinians in Gaza are no longer at ‘immediate risk of death by starvation.’ At least 15 Palestinian children - including babies - in Gaza have already died of starvation in the past week alone, with the actual numbers believed to be much higher,” South Africa wrote.&lt;/p&gt;
  58.  
  59. &lt;p&gt;The country added that Palestinian children are starving to death as a direct result of the “deliberate acts and omissions of Israel - in violation of the Genocide Convention and of the Court’s Order”.&lt;/p&gt;
  60.  
  61. &lt;p&gt;“This includes Israel’s deliberate attempts to cripple the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (‘Unrwa’), on whom the vast majority of besieged, displaced and starving Palestinian men, women, children and babies depend for their survival."&lt;/p&gt;
  62.  
  63. &lt;p&gt;Last week, a coalition of aid groups warned that famine is imminent in Gaza, in what Unrwa &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/unlazzarini/status/1769711761136009310?t=ccWRJzS530FIzJwwxUAeMg" target="_blank"&gt;described&lt;/a&gt; as "man-made starvation".&lt;/p&gt;
  64.  
  65. &lt;p&gt;The latest &lt;a href="https://www.ipcinfo.org/ipcinfo-website/alerts-archive/issue-97/en/" target="_blank"&gt;food security report&lt;/a&gt; by a UN-backed initiative found that the entire population of Gaza, estimated to be around 2.3 million, is enduring "acute" food insecurity while half the population suffers from a greater level of food insecurity classified as "catastrophic".&lt;/p&gt;
  66.  
  67. &lt;p&gt;The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (&lt;a href="https://www.ipcinfo.org/ipcinfo-website/ipc-overview-and-classification-system/en/" target="_blank"&gt;IPC&lt;/a&gt;), a multi-partner initiative, concluded that the hunger level in Gaza is the "highest share of people facing high levels of acute food insecurity that the IPC initiative has ever classified for any given area or country".&lt;/p&gt;
  68.  
  69. &lt;p&gt;The UN and other aid agencies have warned that Gaza is on the brink of famine due to &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel" target="_blank"&gt;Israel&lt;/a&gt;'s prevention of the entry of life-saving aid through the enclave's land crossings.&lt;/p&gt;
  70. &lt;/div&gt;
  71.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-topic"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/israel-palestine-war" hreflang="en"&gt;Israel-Palestine war&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  82.      </description>
  83.  <pubDate>Thu, 28 Mar 2024 18:36:32 +0000</pubDate>
  84.    <dc:creator>MEE staff</dc:creator>
  85.    <guid isPermaLink="false">352846 at https://www.middleeasteye.net</guid>
  86.    </item>
  87. <item>
  88.  <title>US: Rutgers University to face congressional antisemitism investigation</title>
  89.  <link>https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-rutgers-university-face-congressional-antisemitism-investigation</link>
  90.  <description>
  91. &lt;span class="field field-title"&gt;US: Rutgers University to face congressional antisemitism investigation&lt;/span&gt;
  92.            &lt;div class="field field-field-subhead"&gt;Rutgers University joins several other universities under investigation for their alleged 'failure' to protect Jewish students on campus &lt;/div&gt;
  93.      
  94. &lt;span class="field field-uid"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/zainab-iqbal" lang="" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/zainab-iqbal" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang=""&gt;Zainab Iqbal&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  95.  
  96. &lt;span class="field field-created"&gt;&lt;time datetime="2024-03-28T16:02:10+00:00" title="28 March 2024 16:02 GMT"&gt;Thu, 03/28/2024 - 16:02&lt;/time&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  97.            &lt;div class="field field-field-main-image"&gt;    &lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/063_1481223086.jpg.webp?itok=ug43kAN6 1x" type="image/webp" width="1400" height="788"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/063_1481223086.jpg?itok=ug43kAN6 1x" type="image/jpeg" width="1400" height="788"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;img srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/063_1481223086.jpg?itok=ug43kAN6 1x" width="1400" height="788" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/max_2600x2600/public/images-story/063_1481223086.jpg?itok=auyADiNA" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" fetchpriority="high" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  98.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-cutline"&gt;Rutgers students wait for a bus in New Brunswick, New Jersey, on 10 April 2023 (Spencer Platt/AFP) &lt;/div&gt;
  99.                  &lt;div class="field field-body clearfix"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Rutgers University is the latest university under investigation for its handling of antisemitism and “failure to protect Jewish students” on campus, the US House Committee on Education and the Workforce announced on Wednesday. &lt;/p&gt;
  100.  
  101. &lt;p&gt;&lt;meta charset="UTF-8" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  102.  
  103. &lt;p&gt;“The Committee on Education and the Workforce is investigating Rutgers University’s response to antisemitism and its failure to protect Jewish students. I have grave concerns regarding the inadequacy of Rutgers’ response to antisemitism on its campuses,” the letter from the Congressional committee said.&lt;/p&gt;
  104.  
  105. &lt;p&gt;The letter lists incidents of antisemitism the committee says the school did not adequately address and requests information dating back to 2021 on antisemitic activity, what disciplinary actions were taken, and communications that occurred between university officials on the subject.  &lt;/p&gt;
  106.  
  107. &lt;p&gt;“Rutgers stands out for the intensity and pervasiveness of antisemitism on its campuses. Rutgers senior administrators, faculty, staff, academic departments and centers, and student organisations have contributed to the development of a pervasive climate of antisemitism,” the letter said.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"&gt;&lt;div&gt;
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  117. &lt;/div&gt;
  118. &lt;/div&gt;
  119.  
  120. &lt;p&gt;“Rutgers takes claims of antisemitism, and all forms of bias and intolerance, very seriously,” a university spokesperson said in a statement about the documents request.&lt;/p&gt;
  121.  
  122. &lt;p&gt;Rutgers University joins other universities under investigation, including Columbia University, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.&lt;/p&gt;
  123.  
  124. &lt;h3&gt;'False accusations'&lt;/h3&gt;
  125.  
  126. &lt;p&gt;Lawmakers from the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to the president of Rutgers University, requesting details on the financial support provided to the Rutgers Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSR), a research centre founded in 2018 which aims to advance the civil and human rights of Muslims, Arabs, and South Asians.&lt;/p&gt;
  127.  
  128. &lt;div class="mee-readmore mee-readmore-article-story mee-readmore-type-image align-right"&gt;
  129.  &lt;a class="mee-readmore-img-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/congress-committee-columbia-university-under-investigation-antisemitism"&gt;&lt;img class="mee-readmore-image" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images-story/000_34HH6CP.jpg.webp?itok=QO951UAD" width="400" height="250" alt="" loading="lazy" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;div class="mee-readmore-description"&gt;US: Congressional committee to investigate Columbia University for antisemitism&lt;/div&gt;
  130.    &lt;a class="mee-readmore-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/congress-committee-columbia-university-under-investigation-antisemitism"&gt;Read More »&lt;/a&gt;
  131. &lt;/div&gt;
  132.  
  133. &lt;p&gt;Citing anti-terrorism legislation, they inquired whether the university was aware of contentious events and speakers associated with the centre and questioned if it intends to maintain its backing for the centre.&lt;/p&gt;
  134.  
  135. &lt;p&gt;In a letter dated 6 February, committee members, which include US Senators Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz, accused the centre of organising events "featuring antisemitic speakers, individuals who justify violence against the State of Israel, terrorist sympathisers and advocates for domestic radicalism".&lt;/p&gt;
  136.  
  137. &lt;p&gt;Sahar Aziz, the executive director of the Rutgers centre, told Middle East Eye that she found it "troubling that the Education and Workforce Committee is attacking the first and only civil rights centre at an American law school whose mission is to combat Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism".&lt;/p&gt;
  138.  
  139. &lt;p&gt;"Notably, out of the more than 85 lectures we have hosted at CSR, the committee is highlighting only those where Palestinian professors and experts are the speakers," she said.&lt;/p&gt;
  140.  
  141. &lt;p&gt;"This causes me concern that they are more interested in quashing the free speech rights of Palestinians and violating the academic freedom rights of an academic centre combatting Islamophobia than they are about protecting the rights of Jewish students at Rutgers University."&lt;/p&gt;
  142.  
  143. &lt;p&gt;Aziz, who is also the author of the &lt;a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520382299/the-racial-muslim"&gt;book&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;em&gt;The Radical Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom&lt;/em&gt;, added that in neither letter - from last month or Wednesday - was there any evidence provided for what she called "false accusations".&lt;/p&gt;
  144.  
  145. &lt;p&gt;She said that all of the centre's lectures are available on YouTube for anyone to watch. Yet there was no citation to a specific statement or comment to support their accusations.&lt;/p&gt;
  146.  
  147. &lt;p&gt;"What appears to be their concern is a disagreement on the political analysis and legal analysis of the speakers, which is precisely what academic centres do, is provide analysis about current events related to the mission of the centre," she said.&lt;/p&gt;
  148.  
  149. &lt;p&gt;Aziz said that her overarching concern is that these types of inquiries are intended to "quash free speech and censor academics and students from open inquiry into political, legal and policy issues relevant to their studies".&lt;/p&gt;
  150.  
  151. &lt;p&gt;"Over time, such efforts will lead to the demise in the quality of higher education in the United States. Because freedom of speech and academic freedom are essential for training students to be critical thinkers on complex issues."&lt;/p&gt;
  152. &lt;/div&gt;
  153.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-topic"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/israel-palestine-war" hreflang="en"&gt;Israel-Palestine war&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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  163.              &lt;div class="field field-field-section"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/all" hreflang="en"&gt;News&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  164.      </description>
  165.  <pubDate>Thu, 28 Mar 2024 16:02:10 +0000</pubDate>
  166.    <dc:creator>Zainab Iqbal</dc:creator>
  167.    <guid isPermaLink="false">352811 at https://www.middleeasteye.net</guid>
  168.    </item>
  169. <item>
  170.  <title>Germany: State bank freezes account of Jewish peace activist group</title>
  171.  <link>https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/german-jewish-voice-peace-bank-account-blocked-berlin-bank</link>
  172.  <description>
  173. &lt;span class="field field-title"&gt;Germany: State bank freezes account of Jewish peace activist group&lt;/span&gt;
  174.            &lt;div class="field field-field-subhead"&gt;Berliner Sparkasse Bank demanded that Jewish Voice for Just Peace in the Middle East disclose list of members, including addresses&lt;/div&gt;
  175.      
  176. &lt;span class="field field-uid"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/pauline-ertel" lang="" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/pauline-ertel" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang=""&gt;Pauline Ertel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  177.  
  178. &lt;span class="field field-created"&gt;&lt;time datetime="2024-03-28T11:02:40+00:00" title="28 March 2024 11:02 GMT"&gt;Thu, 03/28/2024 - 11:02&lt;/time&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  179.            &lt;div class="field field-field-main-image"&gt;    &lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/unnamed%20%281%29.jpg.webp?itok=c9hU4nN4 1x" type="image/webp" width="1400" height="788"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/unnamed%20%281%29.jpg?itok=c9hU4nN4 1x" type="image/jpeg" width="1400" height="788"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;img srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/unnamed%20%281%29.jpg?itok=c9hU4nN4 1x" width="1400" height="788" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/max_2600x2600/public/images-story/unnamed%20%281%29.jpg?itok=hhGODsdy" alt="A rally on Nakba memorial day in May 2023 in Berlin, organised by Jewish Voice for Just Peace in the Middle East (photo provided by Jewish Voice)" typeof="foaf:Image" fetchpriority="high" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  180.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-cutline"&gt;A rally on Nakba memorial day in May 2023 in Berlin, organised by Jewish Voice for Just Peace in the Middle East (photo provided by Jewish Voice)&lt;/div&gt;
  181.                  &lt;div class="field field-body clearfix"&gt;&lt;p&gt;A state-owned bank in Germany has frozen the account of a Jewish anti-Zionist organisation and demanded the group disclose a list of all its members. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  182. Judische Stimme für gerechten Frieden in Nahost, or Jewish Voice for Just Peace in the Middle East, announced on Tuesday that its account with Berliner Sparkasse was frozen on 26 March with immediate effect. &lt;/p&gt;
  183.  
  184. &lt;p&gt;"In 2024, Jewish money is once again being confiscated by a German bank: Berliner Sparkasse freezes Jewish Voice account," Jewish Voice said in a statement on its &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/JSNahost/status/1772930994053493027"&gt;social media&lt;/a&gt; platforms.&lt;/p&gt;
  185.  
  186. &lt;p&gt;The group received a letter from the bank informing it that a full list of all members, including adresses, tax documentation, income statements and other internal documents, needed to be submitted to Berliner Sparkasse by 5 April to "update customer data".&lt;/p&gt;
  187.  
  188. &lt;p&gt;The letter, seen by Middle East Eye, further specifies that these measures are part of "regulatory provisions" that oblige Berliner Sparkasse to "check the data stored about our customers at regular intervals".&lt;/p&gt;
  189.  
  190. &lt;p&gt;"It's a very creepy letter. You'd think they are working together with the state criminal police bureau," Wieland Hoban, chairman of Jewish Voice, told MEE.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"&gt;&lt;div&gt;
  191.  &lt;div class="adsense responsive"&gt;
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  199. &lt;/script&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  200. &lt;/div&gt;
  201. &lt;/div&gt;
  202.  
  203. &lt;p&gt;Jewish Voice said it did not know whether there was government pressure behind the move, or if the decison was taken by the bank itself. &lt;/p&gt;
  204.  
  205. &lt;p&gt;The bank also threatened to terminate the contract and close the account if the required documents were not sent by the deadline. The freezing of the account was a "precautionary measure", the letter states.&lt;/p&gt;
  206.  
  207. &lt;p&gt;"As a public corporation, the bank is bound by public law and may therefore not arbitrarily freeze bank accounts without providing an explanation, which it did not,"  Jewish Voice said in its statement.&lt;/p&gt;
  208.  
  209. &lt;p&gt;The organisation hired a lawyer who has cofirmed that the blocking of the account is illegal and constitutes a breach of contract, Hoban said.&lt;/p&gt;
  210.  
  211. &lt;h3&gt;'Not in our name'&lt;/h3&gt;
  212.  
  213. &lt;p&gt;Jewish Voice was founded in Berlin in 2003 and was initiated as the German section of the umbrella organisation "European Jews for a Just Peace", established in Amsterdam in 2002. &lt;/p&gt;
  214.  
  215. &lt;p&gt;"We join with Jews in Europe and globally in asserting that the &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel"&gt;Israeli&lt;/a&gt; colonisation and occupation of &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine"&gt;Palestine&lt;/a&gt; and the oppression of Palestinian people is not carried out in the name and in the interest of Jews worldwide. Not in our name!", the website reads.&lt;/p&gt;
  216.  
  217. &lt;div class="mee-readmore mee-readmore-article-story mee-readmore-type-image align-right"&gt;
  218.  &lt;a class="mee-readmore-img-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/germany-new-citizenship-test-includes-questions-holocaust-founding-israel"&gt;&lt;img class="mee-readmore-image" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images-story/000_33TA4PJ.jpg.webp?itok=QJ1w4_an" width="400" height="250" alt="" loading="lazy" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;div class="mee-readmore-description"&gt;Germany: New citizenship test to include questions on Holocaust and Israel's founding&lt;/div&gt;
  219.    &lt;a class="mee-readmore-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/germany-new-citizenship-test-includes-questions-holocaust-founding-israel"&gt;Read More »&lt;/a&gt;
  220. &lt;/div&gt;
  221.  
  222. &lt;p&gt;Jewish Voice is one of the most prominent pro-Palestine associations in Germany and has in recent months helped organise protests, rallies, events and talks across various German cities. &lt;/p&gt;
  223.  
  224. &lt;p&gt;The organisation said the move comes amid backlash faced by the scheduled &lt;a href="https://palaestinakongress.de/" target="_blank"&gt;Palestine Congress&lt;/a&gt;, a three-day conference set to take place in April in Berlin. The event is financed by ticket sales and donations for which Jewish Voice has offered the use of its account. &lt;/p&gt;
  225.  
  226. &lt;p&gt;"By blocking our account, the state wants to deprive the congress of its funding," Hoban, who is set to be a keynote speaker at the event, told MEE.&lt;/p&gt;
  227.  
  228. &lt;p&gt;"What happened shows how much the state wants to obstruct and harass the German Palestine movement. Political harassment and intimidation is everywhere. We have the state against us, but we will not be intimidated."&lt;/p&gt;
  229.  
  230. &lt;p&gt;MEE reached out to Berliner Sparkasse for comment, but did not receive a reply by the time of publication.&lt;/p&gt;
  231.  
  232. &lt;p&gt;In response to the freezing of the account, activists and journalists &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/hahauenstein/status/1773030967675957394"&gt;revealed&lt;/a&gt; that Germany's ultra right-wing party Alternative fur Deutschland also has an account at Sparkasse Berlin. &lt;/p&gt;
  233.  
  234. &lt;h3&gt;Berlin's Palestine Congress&lt;/h3&gt;
  235.  
  236. &lt;p&gt;Berlin's Palestine Congress features a wide range of speakers, organises panels and workshops and provides a networking and organising space for the pro-Palestinian movement in Germany. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"&gt;&lt;div&gt;
  237.  &lt;div class="adsense responsive"&gt;
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  245. &lt;/script&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  246. &lt;/div&gt;
  247. &lt;/div&gt;
  248.  
  249. &lt;p&gt;"Together we will discuss the perspectives of our movement on the basis of a common resolution. Practical steps for actions in the workplace, university, school, art and culture will be discussed and decided upon," says the website of Palestine Congress.&lt;/p&gt;
  250.  
  251. &lt;blockquote&gt;
  252. &lt;p&gt;'What happened shows how much the state wants to obstruct and harass the German Palestine movement'&lt;/p&gt;
  253.  
  254. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;- Wieland Hoban, chairman of Jewish Voice &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  255. &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  256.  
  257. &lt;p&gt;Keynote speakers include former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, Palestinian journalist and founder of the news outlet Electronic Intifada Ali Abunimah, and Palestinian doctor Ghassan Abu Sitteh, who spent 43 days performing operations in hospitals in Gaza.&lt;/p&gt;
  258.  
  259. &lt;p&gt;Since its announcement, the event has come under heavy attack. Organisers have had their homes searched by police, and German media have called the conference an &lt;a href="https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/antisemiten-der-welt-wollen-sich-in-berlin-versammeln-behorden-prufen-verbot-des-israelhasser-kongresses-11381557.html"&gt;antisemitic "hate summit&lt;/a&gt;", a "&lt;a href="https://jungle.world/artikel/2024/13/berlin-israelfeindlicher-palaestina-kongress-der-israelhasser"&gt;congress of Jew haters&lt;/a&gt;" and a "&lt;a href="https://www.morgenpost.de/berlin/article241937032/Geplanter-Palaestina-Kongress-eine-Schande-fuer-Berlin.html"&gt;shame&lt;/a&gt;" for Berlin. &lt;/p&gt;
  260.  
  261. &lt;p&gt;High-ranking &lt;a href="https://www.morgenpost.de/berlin/article241937032/Geplanter-Palaestina-Kongress-eine-Schande-fuer-Berlin.html"&gt;Berlin politicians&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="https://www.zeit.de/news/2024-03/22/foerderkreis-holocaust-denkmal-palaestina-kongress-verbieten"&gt;members of the government&lt;/a&gt;, including the Berlin Senate, have been threatening to ban the event.&lt;/p&gt;
  262.  
  263. &lt;p&gt;The Berlin senate is currently collecting and evaluating data, German State Secretary of the Interior Christian Hochgrebe announced. &lt;/p&gt;
  264.  
  265. &lt;p&gt;Lea Rosh, director of the Holocaust memorial support group, said: "We have noted with indignation that a congress is being planned that obviously does not serve critical discourse, but rather the networking of anti-Israel and antisemitic groups. We are calling for the event to be banned." &lt;/p&gt;
  266.  
  267. &lt;p&gt;Organisers of the congress have, however, said there is is no legal basis for a potential ban.&lt;/p&gt;
  268. &lt;/div&gt;
  269.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-topic"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/israel-palestine-war" hreflang="en"&gt;Israel-Palestine war&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  270.            &lt;div class="field field-field-coauthor-location"&gt;
  271.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  272.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  273.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  274.          &lt;/div&gt;
  275.              &lt;div class="field field-field-article-location"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  276.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-landing-title"&gt;German state bank freezes account of Jewish peace activist group&lt;/div&gt;
  277.            &lt;div class="field field-field-comments"&gt;
  278.              &lt;div&gt;&lt;drupal-render-placeholder callback="Drupal\disqus\Element\Disqus::displayDisqusComments" arguments="0=Germany%3A%20State%20bank%20freezes%20account%20of%20Jewish%20peace%20activist%20group&amp;1=https%3A//www.middleeasteye.net/news/german-jewish-voice-peace-bank-account-blocked-berlin-bank&amp;2=node/352751&amp;3=a%3A0%3A%7B%7D" token="xlivS7fMgfj6ULRFcegGKKeqHolvd0KunmdeAHAnHA8"&gt;&lt;/drupal-render-placeholder&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  279.          &lt;/div&gt;
  280.              &lt;div class="field field-field-section"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/all" hreflang="en"&gt;News&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  281.      </description>
  282.  <pubDate>Thu, 28 Mar 2024 11:02:40 +0000</pubDate>
  283.    <dc:creator>Pauline Ertel</dc:creator>
  284.    <guid isPermaLink="false">352751 at https://www.middleeasteye.net</guid>
  285.    </item>
  286. <item>
  287.  <title>Beaten, tortured and buried alive: What happened to the woman on the Israeli truck</title>
  288.  <link>https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/war-gaza-palestinian-woman-israeli-truck-beaten-tortured-and-buried-alive</link>
  289.  <description>
  290. &lt;span class="field field-title"&gt;Beaten, tortured and buried alive: What happened to the woman on the Israeli truck&lt;/span&gt;
  291.            &lt;div class="field field-field-subhead"&gt;Hadeel al-Dahdouh was separated from her breastfeeding son for more than 50 days when she was thrown into the back of an Israeli truck. She tells MEE she was subjected to horrific torture&lt;/div&gt;
  292.      
  293. &lt;span class="field field-uid"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/maha-hussaini" lang="" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/maha-hussaini" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang=""&gt;Maha Hussaini&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  294.  
  295. &lt;span class="field field-created"&gt;&lt;time datetime="2024-03-28T11:07:01+00:00" title="28 March 2024 11:07 GMT"&gt;Thu, 03/28/2024 - 11:07&lt;/time&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  296.            &lt;div class="field field-field-main-image"&gt;    &lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/palestine-men-one-woman-back-open-top-israel-truck-gaza-08-dec-2023-reuters.jpg.webp?itok=x5Rg8Gi0 1x" type="image/webp" width="1400" height="788"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/palestine-men-one-woman-back-open-top-israel-truck-gaza-08-dec-2023-reuters.jpg?itok=x5Rg8Gi0 1x" type="image/jpeg" width="1400" height="788"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;img srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/palestine-men-one-woman-back-open-top-israel-truck-gaza-08-dec-2023-reuters.jpg?itok=x5Rg8Gi0 1x" width="1400" height="788" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/max_2600x2600/public/images-story/palestine-men-one-woman-back-open-top-israel-truck-gaza-08-dec-2023-reuters.jpg?itok=ozkaghrI" alt="Israeli soldiers stand by a truck packed with shirtless Palestinian men and one woman in the besieged Gaza Strip on 8 December 2023 (Reuters/Yossi Zeliger)" typeof="foaf:Image" fetchpriority="high" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  297.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-cutline"&gt;Israeli soldiers stand by a truck packed with shirtless Palestinian men and one woman in the besieged Gaza Strip on 8 December 2023 (Reuters/Yossi Zeliger)&lt;/div&gt;
  298.                  &lt;div class="field field-body clearfix"&gt;&lt;p&gt;It's an image that has provoked shock and outrage.&lt;/p&gt;
  299.  
  300. &lt;p&gt;Dozens of &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine" target="_blank"&gt;Palestinian&lt;/a&gt; men, bound, blindfolded and stripped to their underwear, crammed in an open-top Israeli truck in the &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/israel-palestine-war" target="_blank"&gt;besieged Gaza Strip&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
  301.  
  302. &lt;p&gt;The photo showed shellshocked Palestinians looking cold, hungry and traumatised amid the chilly and rainy December winter weather.&lt;/p&gt;
  303.  
  304. &lt;p&gt;But just to the right of the centre of the scene, one person stood out.&lt;/p&gt;
  305.  
  306. &lt;p&gt;Hadeel al-Dahdouh, a mother of two, is the only woman known to have been abducted by Israeli soldiers when they stormed the Zaytoun quarter of Gaza City late last year.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"&gt;&lt;div&gt;
  307.  &lt;div class="adsense responsive"&gt;
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  316. &lt;/div&gt;
  317. &lt;/div&gt;
  318.  
  319. &lt;p&gt;Speaking to Middle East Eye in Rafah after her lengthy detention, she said that she, along with her husband, in-laws and neighbours, were injected with unknown substances and subjected to prolonged and violent interrogations and even mock executions while in Israeli captivity.&lt;/p&gt;
  320.  
  321. &lt;p&gt;Choking back tears, Dahdouh, who is still wearing the same "prayer dress" from when she was first detained, is overcome with grief when recounting the degradation she endured.&lt;/p&gt;
  322.  
  323. &lt;p&gt;Her testimony, which is drawn from her detention in parts of occupied Gaza and Israel, appears consistent with that of other former detainees abducted by Israeli forces following the 7 October attacks.&lt;/p&gt;
  324.  
  325. &lt;p&gt;Israel's conduct of its war against Hamas in Gaza is already the subject of an International Court of Justice case in which it stands accused of genocide and an ongoing war crimes investigation by the International Criminal Court.&lt;/p&gt;
  326.  
  327. &lt;h3&gt;'If I moved, they would beat me'&lt;/h3&gt;
  328.  
  329. &lt;p&gt;Dahdouh told MEE that her harrowing ordeal began when Israeli forces laid siege to her area with tanks and other armoured vehicles, forcing her family - consisting of her husband, children, in-laws, and two members of the al-Mughrabi family - to seek shelter at their small home.&lt;/p&gt;
  330.  
  331. &lt;p&gt;"We were taking shelter in the basement when Israeli soldiers bombed one of the walls and entered. They took us all outside and separated the men from women," she said.&lt;/p&gt;
  332.  
  333. &lt;p&gt;"One of the officers called me and said: 'Come here, we're going to perform a test on you.' I asked him what kind of test - he then told me that it would be a small test on my hand and that I would be returned to my children.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"&gt;&lt;div&gt;
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  343. &lt;/div&gt;
  344. &lt;/div&gt;
  345.  
  346. &lt;p&gt;"I was terrified. I was scared for my children's safety."&lt;/p&gt;
  347.  
  348. &lt;p&gt;Dahdouh said that before she left her basement she handed her four-year-old son Muhammad and nine-month old son Zain to her mother-in-law as she feared the worst.&lt;/p&gt;
  349.  
  350. &lt;p&gt;"Israeli soldiers then took us to another home that was evacuated in the Zaytun neighbourhood. Once we entered the house, they immediately started beating and torturing us," she said.&lt;/p&gt;
  351.  
  352. &lt;p&gt;"They kept us there for a while before a soldier came and gave the men [some kind of] sedative injection in their lower backs. Shortly after, they started hallucinating and were not fully conscious. The soldiers did not tell us what they gave them, but I suspect it was a sedative because I previously underwent a caesarean operation and was given a sedative injection that also left me hallucinating."&lt;/p&gt;
  353.  
  354. &lt;p&gt;&lt;iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/udcFeKx-fxE?si=iNWhYKEO1F7THjjg" title="YouTube video player" width="560"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  355.  
  356. &lt;p&gt;One of the soldiers then forced Dahdouh into a stress position with her head placed on the floor and her arms tied behind her knees.&lt;/p&gt;
  357.  
  358. &lt;p&gt;She said that her back was uncovered and she was injected with a substance near her spinal cord.&lt;/p&gt;
  359.  
  360. &lt;p&gt;"For over an hour, I was forced to sit like this and was not allowed to move. If I moved, they would beat me so hard. I asked him what they were doing to me but they did not answer. They just started cursing me and saying: 'You are a Hamas bitch.'&lt;/p&gt;
  361.  
  362. &lt;p&gt;"I was crying, begging, and saying, 'I swear to God I am not, I am just a normal citizen like everyone else'," she said.&lt;/p&gt;
  363.  
  364. &lt;p&gt;"I don't know what they injected me with, but it was some kind of solution, and they also took something from my body, like a blood sample," she added.&lt;/p&gt;
  365.  
  366. &lt;p&gt;Dahdouh said Israeli soldiers then interrogated her and the other men about the 7 October attack, asking what they were doing when Hamas fighters stormed the barrier fence and attacked southern Israel.&lt;/p&gt;
  367.  
  368. &lt;p&gt;"[One of the Israeli soldiers] was asking me and hitting me hard on my back and legs. The plastic shackle on my hands was very tight and it was hurting me a lot, I told him: 'Please loosen it a little.' Instead, he tightened it even more. &lt;/p&gt;
  369.  
  370. &lt;p&gt;"We were kept in this house for one night. In the morning, they took us to another place that they said was the Sharia court. There were more than a hundred detainees there. They placed me among the men and started beating me and throwing things on my face to scare me."&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"&gt;&lt;div&gt;
  371.  &lt;div class="adsense responsive"&gt;
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  379. &lt;/script&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  380. &lt;/div&gt;
  381. &lt;/div&gt;
  382.  
  383. &lt;h3&gt;'I'II bury you alive'&lt;/h3&gt;
  384.  
  385. &lt;p&gt;On the third day, Dahdouh said Israeli forces dug what appeared to be a hole and hurled her and dozens of other men into it.&lt;/p&gt;
  386.  
  387. &lt;p&gt;"I started crying and screaming, saying 'What are you doing?'. An officer then told me: 'I'll bury you alive.' I told him: 'Shoot us directly, it's better than torturing us like this'," she said.&lt;/p&gt;
  388.  
  389. &lt;p&gt;"He started beating and cursing me, then he removed my headscarf, I was crying and I felt that I was falling. My feeling was indescribable.&lt;/p&gt;
  390.  
  391. &lt;p&gt;"I was blindfolded, but I could see a little through the bandage on my eyes. They took my husband and put him on the ground very close to a tank and pretended that they were going to run over him. I then heard two shots, then a soldier told me: 'I killed your husband'."&lt;/p&gt;
  392.  
  393. &lt;p&gt;Dahdouh said she was then made to believe her husband was dead.&lt;/p&gt;
  394.  
  395. &lt;p&gt;For the next 54 days, she says she thought she was a widow. Only upon her release did she realise that her husband was still alive and that the soldier had carried out a mock execution.&lt;/p&gt;
  396.  
  397. &lt;div class="mee-readmore mee-readmore-article-opinion mee-readmore-type-image align-right"&gt;
  398.  &lt;a class="mee-readmore-img-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/how-hold-israel-accountable-torturing-palestinians"&gt;&lt;img class="mee-readmore-image" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images-story/israel-palestine-detainees-gaza-november-2023-menahem-kahana-afp.jpg.webp?itok=yOung8wa" width="400" height="250" alt="" loading="lazy" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;div class="mee-readmore-description"&gt;How to hold Israel accountable for torturing Palestinians &lt;/div&gt;
  399.    &lt;a class="mee-readmore-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/how-hold-israel-accountable-torturing-palestinians"&gt;Read More »&lt;/a&gt;
  400. &lt;/div&gt;
  401.  
  402. &lt;p&gt;Dahdouh said the soldiers then buried her and some of the men under a blanket of sand. They kept them in the hole for some time before pulling them out and transferring them to a detention centre.&lt;/p&gt;
  403.  
  404. &lt;p&gt;"They were pouring sand on us and cursing us," she said. "We thought they were going to bury us."&lt;/p&gt;
  405.  
  406. &lt;p&gt;Shortly afterwards, she said, she was forced on to an Israeli military truck in the photo which has since gone viral. "I was the only woman among dozens of men," she said.&lt;/p&gt;
  407.  
  408. &lt;p&gt;"They took us to the border area where I saw three other women from the Abuzor family. For three days, we were left without any kind of food, I was in pain due to breast engorgement, because at that time I used to still breastfeed my child, and since I could not breastfeed him for days, my breasts were full with milk."&lt;/p&gt;
  409.  
  410. &lt;p&gt;Dahdouh says she was then transferred to another detention centre in Jerusalem, where she was strip-searched and her belongings confiscated. &lt;/p&gt;
  411.  
  412. &lt;p&gt;"They took all my money and gold which I was keeping in my socks and bra, as well as my ID and mobile phone," she said. "They then interrogated me again about the events of 7 October, asking me about the whereabouts of [Hamas leader] Yahya Sinwar.&lt;/p&gt;
  413.  
  414. &lt;p&gt;"I was crying and asking the officer to send me back home to my children because I didn't know anything about what he was saying. He told me, 'I will send you home only when our sons in Gaza are back home'.&lt;/p&gt;
  415.  
  416. &lt;p&gt;"We were then put in a cell that looked like an animal cage. Rain was falling on us and it was very cold. They were beating and torturing us every day, from around 4am until 10pm. &lt;/p&gt;
  417.  
  418. &lt;p&gt;"They would force us to sit in prostration position and wouldn't allow us to move or change our position."&lt;/p&gt;
  419.  
  420. &lt;h3&gt;'When I saw my children they were thin and malnourished'&lt;/h3&gt;
  421.  
  422. &lt;p&gt;Dahdouh says Israeli forces then moved her to another detention centre in Be'er Sheva, where she was beaten, tortured, and kicked directly on her caesarean wound.&lt;/p&gt;
  423.  
  424. &lt;p&gt;After she was injured during the beating, Dahdouh said she expected the Israeli army to send her back to Gaza. Instead, she says, she was transferred to Damon Prison in Israel, where she was tortured for six days, before being brought to the Karem Abu Salem Crossing along the barrier fence with Gaza.&lt;/p&gt;
  425.  
  426. &lt;p&gt;"They left us there and ordered us to run towards Gaza without turning our heads back," Dahdouh said.&lt;/p&gt;
  427.  
  428. &lt;p&gt;"We arrived at a UN facility in Rafah [in the southern Gaza Strip] where I learned that my husband was still alive and that he was released a few days earlier. But my children were still in Gaza City - one of them was with my mother, and the other was with my mother-in-law.&lt;/p&gt;
  429.  
  430. &lt;div class="mee-readmore mee-readmore-article-opinion mee-readmore-type-image align-right"&gt;
  431.  &lt;a class="mee-readmore-img-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/ramadan-gaza-food-scarce-grief-despair-plentiful"&gt;&lt;img class="mee-readmore-image" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images-story/A%20Palestinian%20woman%20prepares%20food%20during%20the%20Muslim%20holy%20fasting%20month%20of%20Ramadan%20in%20Rafah%20on%2013%20March%2C%202024%20%28Reuters%29_0.jpg.webp?itok=3HvbLsv5" width="400" height="250" alt="" loading="lazy" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;div class="mee-readmore-description"&gt;Ramadan in Gaza: Food is scarce, but grief and despair are plentiful&lt;/div&gt;
  432.    &lt;a class="mee-readmore-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/ramadan-gaza-food-scarce-grief-despair-plentiful"&gt;Read More »&lt;/a&gt;
  433. &lt;/div&gt;
  434.  
  435. &lt;p&gt;"Not only was I separated from my children during my detention period, because I couldn't go back to Gaza City after I was released, and my mother and mother-in-law could not come to the south because they are elderly and could not risk crossing the dangerous Rashid Street and through Israeli checkpoints."&lt;/p&gt;
  436.  
  437. &lt;p&gt;After days of waiting, she says she was finally reunited with her children after her sister-in-law made the brave decision to leave Gaza City and bring her children to her.&lt;/p&gt;
  438.  
  439. &lt;p&gt;"I was shocked when I saw my children. They were very thin and suffering from severe malnutrition.&lt;/p&gt;
  440.  
  441. &lt;p&gt;"To make matters worse, the army took all my money and gold and have left me with bad health. The wound from the caesarean was torn open and the area was infected. I cannot move or take care of my children."&lt;/p&gt;
  442.  
  443. &lt;p&gt;The war on Gaza, which is now approaching its sixth month, has left roughly half of the Palestinians in Gaza - about 1.1 million people - experiencing "catastrophic" hunger, aid agencies have warned.&lt;/p&gt;
  444.  
  445. &lt;p&gt;More than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed across the enclave, and thousands of bodies are uncounted for, lost in the rubble.&lt;/p&gt;
  446.  
  447. &lt;p&gt;With most of Gaza's hospitals forced to close, the few that are still partially functioning do not have enough medical supplies, doctors or staff to cope with the number of dead and wounded.&lt;/p&gt;
  448.  
  449. &lt;p&gt;MEE reached out to the Israeli army for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.&lt;/p&gt;
  450. &lt;/div&gt;
  451.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-topic"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/israel-palestine-war" hreflang="en"&gt;Israel-Palestine war&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  452.            &lt;div class="field field-field-coauthor-location"&gt;
  453.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  454.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  455.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  456.          &lt;/div&gt;
  457.              &lt;div class="field field-field-article-location"&gt;Gaza, occupied Palestine&lt;/div&gt;
  458.            &lt;div class="field field-field-comments"&gt;
  459.              &lt;div&gt;&lt;drupal-render-placeholder callback="Drupal\disqus\Element\Disqus::displayDisqusComments" arguments="0=Beaten%2C%20tortured%20and%20buried%20alive%3A%20What%20happened%20to%20the%20woman%20on%20the%20Israeli%20truck&amp;1=https%3A//www.middleeasteye.net/news/war-gaza-palestinian-woman-israeli-truck-beaten-tortured-and-buried-alive&amp;2=node/352746&amp;3=a%3A0%3A%7B%7D" token="cLfvQRT-jHNqez7Mj6R00Ckph1B-Y8fy522_eXc4J1g"&gt;&lt;/drupal-render-placeholder&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  460.          &lt;/div&gt;
  461.              &lt;div class="field field-field-section"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/all" hreflang="en"&gt;News&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  462.      </description>
  463.  <pubDate>Thu, 28 Mar 2024 11:07:01 +0000</pubDate>
  464.    <dc:creator>Maha Hussaini</dc:creator>
  465.    <guid isPermaLink="false">352746 at https://www.middleeasteye.net</guid>
  466.    </item>
  467. <item>
  468.  <title>In a West Bank settlement, Israelis tend red cows and plan the Third Temple</title>
  469.  <link>https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-west-bank-settlers-red-cows-third-temple</link>
  470.  <description>
  471. &lt;span class="field field-title"&gt;In a West Bank settlement, Israelis tend red cows and plan the Third Temple&lt;/span&gt;
  472.            &lt;div class="field field-field-subhead"&gt;Radical plans to slaughter the heifers have raised concern across the Arab world - and were even linked by Hamas to the 7 October attack&lt;/div&gt;
  473.      
  474. &lt;span class="field field-uid"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/daniel-hilton" lang="" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/daniel-hilton" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang=""&gt;Daniel Hilton&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  475.  
  476. &lt;span class="field field-created"&gt;&lt;time datetime="2024-03-28T12:59:00+00:00" title="28 March 2024 12:59 GMT"&gt;Thu, 03/28/2024 - 12:59&lt;/time&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  477.            &lt;div class="field field-field-main-image"&gt;    &lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/red%20heifer%20israel%202.jpg.webp?itok=MvttZ1bk 1x" type="image/webp" width="1400" height="788"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/red%20heifer%20israel%202.jpg?itok=MvttZ1bk 1x" type="image/jpeg" width="1400" height="788"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;img srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/red%20heifer%20israel%202.jpg?itok=MvttZ1bk 1x" width="1400" height="788" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/max_2600x2600/public/images-story/red%20heifer%20israel%202.jpg?itok=p6wn0VeD" alt="The red heifers are kept in a pen in an archaeological park in a West Bank settlement (MEE/Daniel Hilton)" typeof="foaf:Image" fetchpriority="high" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  478.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-cutline"&gt;The red heifers are kept in a pen in an archaeological park in a West Bank settlement (MEE/Daniel Hilton)&lt;/div&gt;
  479.                  &lt;div class="field field-body clearfix"&gt;&lt;p style="margin-bottom:16px"&gt;On the crest of a hill in the occupied West Bank, five Red Angus cows chomp sombrely on some straw. Around them, a group of &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel"&gt;Israelis&lt;/a&gt; look on in anticipation.&lt;/p&gt;
  480.  
  481. &lt;p&gt;If all goes to plan, these cows could herald the end of the world as we know it.&lt;/p&gt;
  482.  
  483. &lt;p&gt;According to &lt;a href="https://forward.com/culture/560201/red-heifer-third-temple-jerusalem/"&gt;Jewish tradition&lt;/a&gt;, the ashes of a perfectly red heifer cow are needed for the ritual purification that would allow a Third Temple to be built in Jerusalem.&lt;/p&gt;
  484.  
  485. &lt;p&gt;That temple, say radical Jewish groups, must be constructed on the raised plateau in Jerusalem’s Old City known as the Temple Mount, where Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock shrine stand today. Some believe this will herald the arrival of the messiah.&lt;/p&gt;
  486.  
  487. &lt;p&gt;On Wednesday, a few dozen Israelis gathered at a conference on the outskirts of Shilo, an illegal Israeli settlement near the &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine"&gt;Palestinian&lt;/a&gt; city of Nablus, to discuss the religious importance and imperative of the cows, and catch a glimpse of them too.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"&gt;&lt;div&gt;
  488.  &lt;div class="adsense responsive"&gt;
  489.    &lt;script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6114695881218027" crossorigin="anonymous"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;!-- responsive --&gt;&lt;ins class="adsbygoogle mee-auto-ad-wrapper " style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-6114695881218027" data-ad-slot="8690493793" data-ad-format="horizontal" data-full-width-responsive="true"&gt;&lt;/ins&gt;
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  496. &lt;/script&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  497. &lt;/div&gt;
  498. &lt;/div&gt;
  499.  
  500. &lt;p&gt;“This is a new moment for Jewish history,” Chaim, a 38-year-old Israeli settler, told Middle East Eye as he prepared to take his seat.&lt;/p&gt;
  501.  
  502. &lt;p&gt;For years, members of the Third Temple community, led by the Jerusalem-based Temple Institute, which organised the conference, have been searching for a red heifer that fits the description of those used for purification in the Torah.&lt;/p&gt;
  503.  
  504. &lt;p&gt;Perfect cows must not have a single blemish, not a stray white or black hair. They can never be placed under a yoke or put to work.&lt;/p&gt;
  505.  
  506. &lt;p&gt;“These cows were brought all the way from Texas and were reared in special conditions to maintain their purity,” said Yahuda Singer, a 71-year-old from the Mitzpe Yericho settlement and the translator of a pamphlet on red heifers.&lt;/p&gt;
  507.  
  508. &lt;p&gt;“The cows can’t even have someone lean on them,” said Singer’s wife Edna, 69. “You can make them impure by just placing your jacket on their back.”&lt;/p&gt;
  509.  
  510.  &lt;figure role="group" class="media-block"&gt;&lt;div class="group-inner"&gt;
  511.    &lt;div alt="The cattle are observed in Shilo (MEE/Daniel Hilton)" data-embed-button="file_browser" data-entity-embed-display="image:image" data-entity-embed-display-settings="{"image_style":"","image_link":"","image_loading":{"attribute":"lazy"}}" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="ff25fcf8-51c4-4a62-b933-a586f17d9fb2" data-langcode="en" title="The cattle are observed in Shilo (MEE/Daniel Hilton)" class="embedded-entity"&gt;  &lt;img loading="lazy" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/red%20heifer%20israelis.jpg" width="1920" height="1080" alt="The cattle are observed in Shilo (MEE/Daniel Hilton)" title="The cattle are observed in Shilo (MEE/Daniel Hilton)" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  512. &lt;figcaption&gt;The cattle are observed in Shilo (MEE/Daniel Hilton)&lt;/figcaption&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  513. &lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background:rgba(220,220,220,0.5);background-image:url(https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png);display:none;"&gt;&lt;img height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  514.  
  515. &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background:rgba(220,220,220,0.5);background-image:url(https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png);display:none;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  516.  
  517. &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background:rgba(220,220,220,0.5);background-image:url(https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png);display:none;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"&gt;&lt;div&gt;
  518.  &lt;div class="adsense responsive"&gt;
  519.    &lt;script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6114695881218027" crossorigin="anonymous"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;!-- responsive --&gt;&lt;ins class="adsbygoogle mee-auto-ad-wrapper " style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-6114695881218027" data-ad-slot="8690493793" data-ad-format="horizontal" data-full-width-responsive="true"&gt;&lt;/ins&gt;
  520. &lt;script&gt;
  521. //&lt;![CDATA[
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  523.     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
  524.  
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  526. &lt;/script&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  527. &lt;/div&gt;
  528. &lt;/div&gt;
  529.  
  530. &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background:rgba(220,220,220,0.5);background-image:url(https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png);display:none;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  531.  
  532. &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background: url("https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png") rgba(220, 220, 220, 0.5); top: -15px; left: 0px;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  533.  
  534. &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background:rgba(220,220,220,0.5);background-image:url(https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png);display:none;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  535.  
  536. &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background: url("https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png") rgba(220, 220, 220, 0.5); top: -15px; left: 0px;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;The perfect cow hasn’t been seen for 2,000 years. Not since the Romans destroyed the Second Jewish Temple - which is believed to have stood at the top of the Temple Mount - in AD 70 has the perfect red heifer been glimpsed.&lt;/p&gt;
  537.  
  538. &lt;p&gt;So some Jewish activists, alongside US evangelical Christians who believe the construction of the Third Temple will prompt the second coming of Jesus and &lt;a href="https://free.messianicbible.com/feature/the-red-heifer-and-the-third-temple-in-end-time-prophecy/"&gt;Armageddon&lt;/a&gt;, decided to breed their own.&lt;/p&gt;
  539.  
  540. &lt;p&gt;In 2022, five of these promising young cows, blessed with glossy ochre hides, &lt;a href="https://www.jpost.com/judaism/article-717650"&gt;arrived in Israel&lt;/a&gt; from a Texas ranch with much fanfare. Now you can find them in an archaeological park, separated from biblical ruins and flowering lavender bushes by a high steel pen.&lt;/p&gt;
  541.  
  542. &lt;h3&gt;'Hezbollah found out about this event'&lt;/h3&gt;
  543.  
  544. &lt;p&gt;In many ways, the red heifer conference was like any other. Rabbis and religious scholars delved into the details of the Torah. A couple of people in the crowd gently nodded off under the dimmed lights.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"&gt;&lt;div&gt;
  545.  &lt;div class="adsense responsive"&gt;
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  547. &lt;script&gt;
  548. //&lt;![CDATA[
  549.  
  550.     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
  551.  
  552. //]]&gt;
  553. &lt;/script&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  554. &lt;/div&gt;
  555. &lt;/div&gt;
  556.  
  557. &lt;p&gt;In other ways, it was unique. The first two speakers stood at the lectern with assault rifles slung around their shoulders.&lt;/p&gt;
  558.  
  559. &lt;p&gt;“&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/hezbollah"&gt;Hezbollah&lt;/a&gt; found out about this event and have been talking about it on Telegram,” Kobi Mamo, head of the ancient Shiloh archaeological site, said in his opening remarks.&lt;/p&gt;
  560.  
  561. &lt;p&gt;MEE was unable to unearth any of this kind of talk from the Lebanese armed movement, which fired a barrage of rockets into northern Israel earlier that day, but the conference nonetheless attracted a lot of attention on Arabic social media.&lt;/p&gt;
  562.  
  563. &lt;p&gt;One person in Libya joked that the red heifer found on the front of packets of Laughing Cow revealed that the spreadable cheese triangles are a Zionist conspiracy. “Have you ever asked yourself why the laughing cow is red!!??” &lt;a href="https://facebook.com/100088373490100/posts/379113491711098/?mibextid=WC7FNe&amp;rdid=uoZUMVeTsfDF9SHr"&gt;he asked&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
  564.  
  565. &lt;p&gt;Others more seriously suggested that there were plans to &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/abdallahmarouf/status/1772573574781358567?s=46&amp;t=KKTS78RZvAtbMEiz73977g"&gt;imminently slaughter&lt;/a&gt; a heifer on Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives, where land was bought up by Third Temple activists for this purpose.&lt;/p&gt;
  566.  
  567.  &lt;figure role="group" class="media-block"&gt;&lt;div class="group-inner"&gt;
  568.    &lt;div alt="An illustration depicting the slaughter of a red heifer on the Mount of Olives (social media)" data-embed-button="file_browser" data-entity-embed-display="image:image" data-entity-embed-display-settings="{"image_style":"","image_link":"","image_loading":{"attribute":"lazy"}}" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="1b7ac42c-2e10-43e2-8032-46ae69299b96" data-langcode="en" title="An illustration depicting the slaughter of a red heifer on the Mount of Olives (social media)" class="embedded-entity"&gt;  &lt;img loading="lazy" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/red%20heifer%20burnt%20mount%20olives.jpeg" width="1024" height="767" alt="An illustration depicting the slaughter of a red heifer on the Mount of Olives (social media)" title="An illustration depicting the slaughter of a red heifer on the Mount of Olives (social media)" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  569. &lt;figcaption&gt;An illustration depicting the slaughter of a red heifer on the Mount of Olives (social media)&lt;/figcaption&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  570. &lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background:rgba(220,220,220,0.5);background-image:url(https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png);display:none;"&gt;&lt;img height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  571.  
  572. &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background:rgba(220,220,220,0.5);background-image:url(https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png);display:none;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  573.  
  574. &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background: url("https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png") rgba(220, 220, 220, 0.5); top: -15px; left: 0px;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  575.  
  576. &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background: url("https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png") rgba(220, 220, 220, 0.5); top: -15px; left: 0px;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  577.  
  578. &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background: url("https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png") rgba(220, 220, 220, 0.5); top: -15px; left: 0px;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;Rabbi Yitzchak Mamo, from the Third Temple group Uvne Jerusalem, previously told the &lt;a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uzUf4oKmeo" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"&gt;Christian Broadcasting Network&lt;/a&gt; that a ceremony was planned for Passover this year, which comes in late April.&lt;/p&gt;
  579.  
  580. &lt;p&gt;Hamas, the Palestinian movement fighting &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/israel-palestine-war"&gt;Israel in Gaza&lt;/a&gt;, has raised concerns about the cattle.&lt;/p&gt;
  581.  
  582. &lt;p&gt;In November, a senior Palestinian source in contact with Hamas’ leadership &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-war-how-hamas-sees-gaza-conflict-unfolding"&gt;told MEE&lt;/a&gt; that the group had been closely monitoring efforts to secure a permanent Jewish presence in Al-Aqsa Mosque.&lt;/p&gt;
  583.  
  584. &lt;p&gt;“The only thing left is the slaughtering of the red heifers, which they imported from the US. If they did that, it’s the signal to rebuild the Third Temple,” said the source.&lt;/p&gt;
  585.  
  586. &lt;p&gt;In January, Abu Obaida, spokesperson for Hamas’ military wing, made a speech marking 100 days since the group’s 7 October attack on Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip.&lt;/p&gt;
  587.  
  588. &lt;p&gt;In it, he made a direct link between Hamas’ decision to attack Israel and Third Temple activists importing the cattle, which &lt;a href="https://www.palestinechronicle.com/resistance-strikes-will-increase-in-coming-days-abu-obeidas-speech-on-the-100th-day-of-war/"&gt;he said&lt;/a&gt; was an “aggression against the feelings of an entire nation”.&lt;/p&gt;
  589.  
  590. &lt;h3&gt;'All we want is a small altar'&lt;/h3&gt;
  591.  
  592. &lt;p&gt;Yaakov, a 19-year-old yeshiva student from Los Angeles who wished to be identified only by his first name, came to Shilo for the chance to see the cows for himself.&lt;/p&gt;
  593.  
  594. &lt;p&gt;“I’ve heard about red heifers and the First and Second Temple all my life, so I’m really excited about the opportunity to see one today,” he told MEE.&lt;/p&gt;
  595.  
  596. &lt;p&gt;Yaakov understands that the prospect of building a Third Temple on the site of Al-Aqsa is controversial, “but I don’t think it should be”.&lt;/p&gt;
  597.  
  598. &lt;blockquote&gt;
  599. &lt;p&gt;'These cows were brought all the way from Texas and were reared in special conditions to maintain their purity'&lt;/p&gt;
  600.  
  601. &lt;p&gt;- &lt;em&gt;Yahuda Singer, Israeli settler&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  602. &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  603.  
  604. &lt;p&gt;“There was once a church there, then a mosque. It was originally a Jewish temple, so it should be again,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be violent.”&lt;/p&gt;
  605.  
  606. &lt;p&gt;Boruch Fishman, a longstanding member of the Third Temple movement, told MEE there is a long way to go between slaughtering a red heifer and building a Third Temple.  &lt;/p&gt;
  607.  
  608. &lt;p&gt;He has identified 13 problems that need to be solved before construction can begin - including getting Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, to legalise such a plan. “That’s where I can help on the political side,” he said.&lt;/p&gt;
  609.  
  610. &lt;p&gt;Since Israel conquered and occupied East Jerusalem in 1967, the Israeli government has maintained strict Ottoman-era &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/aqsa-mosque-jewish-worship-controversial-why-explained"&gt;restrictions over Jewish prayer&lt;/a&gt; and presence in Al-Aqsa Mosque's courtyards.&lt;/p&gt;
  611.  
  612. &lt;p&gt;Entry to Al-Aqsa has also been banned by the Chief Rabbinate of Jerusalem since 1921, with an &lt;a href="https://www.jpost.com/jewish-world/jewish-news/chief-rabbis-reimpose-ban-on-jews-visiting-temple-mount-333741"&gt;edict&lt;/a&gt; ruling that Jews are forbidden to enter the site unless “ritually clean”, which is impossible without the ashes of a red heifer.&lt;/p&gt;
  613.  
  614. &lt;p&gt;Yet as Israeli politics and society has shifted towards the religious right, allowances have been made for some Jewish Israelis - almost always settlers - to regularly visit the site under armed guard.&lt;/p&gt;
  615.  
  616. &lt;p&gt;The Third Temple community hope the slaughter of Shilo’s red cows will allow Jewish people to be purified so they can perform rites and worship in the mosque’s courtyards. Research by a professor at Bar Ilan University &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/omrimaniv/status/1685375052634619904"&gt;estimated&lt;/a&gt; that the ashes of one cow could be made into enough cleansing water for 660 billion purifications.&lt;/p&gt;
  617.  
  618. &lt;p&gt;“One of the main issues is the Waqf,” says Fishman, referencing the Jordanian-run Islamic endowment that manages Al-Aqsa. “The Waqf gets a lot of money from Jordan and I don’t think they want to give that up.”&lt;/p&gt;
  619.  
  620. &lt;div class="mee-readmore mee-readmore-article-story mee-readmore-type-image align-right"&gt;
  621.  &lt;a class="mee-readmore-img-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/aqsa-mosque-jewish-worship-controversial-why-explained"&gt;&lt;img class="mee-readmore-image" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images-story/image%20%281%29_0.png.webp?itok=A2FiBzWC" width="400" height="250" alt="" loading="lazy" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;div class="mee-readmore-description"&gt;Explained: Why Jewish worship at Al-Aqsa Mosque is controversial&lt;/div&gt;
  622.    &lt;a class="mee-readmore-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/aqsa-mosque-jewish-worship-controversial-why-explained"&gt;Read More »&lt;/a&gt;
  623. &lt;/div&gt;
  624.  
  625. &lt;p&gt;According to Fishman, small steps need to be taken to secure a Jewish presence on the Temple Mount. “The Muslim community is hurting a lot right now, and we need to be sensitive,” he said. “All we want is a small altar.”&lt;/p&gt;
  626.  
  627. &lt;p&gt;Some Third Temple activists and rabbis have previously sought to&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/aqsa-israel-passover-settlers-push-government-allow-animal-sacrifice"&gt; perform ritual sacrifices&lt;/a&gt; in Al-Aqsa’s courtyards at Passover, only to be turned away by Israeli soldiers.&lt;/p&gt;
  628.  
  629. &lt;p&gt;“Perhaps the Waqf could be persuaded to help collect offerings and raise money that way,” Fishman said.&lt;/p&gt;
  630.  
  631. &lt;p&gt;“Of course, not everyone could come with something to sacrifice, it would be a bloodbath. But I believe there is a difference between what the Waqf says in public and private, and it could be convinced.”&lt;/p&gt;
  632.  
  633. &lt;p style="margin-bottom:16px"&gt;In response, Waqf spokesperson Firas al-Debs told MEE: “Let them say whatever they want in their conferences. The Waqf always emphasises in its statements its decisive opinion that Al-Aqsa Mosque is for Muslims only and that it doesn’t accept partnership or division.&lt;/p&gt;
  634.  
  635. &lt;p&gt;“There is no value in what is discussed in these conferences as long as they are not official," he added.&lt;/p&gt;
  636. &lt;/div&gt;
  637.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-topic"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/israel-palestine-war" hreflang="en"&gt;Israel-Palestine war&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  638.            &lt;div class="field field-field-coauthor-location"&gt;
  639.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  640.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  641.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  642.          &lt;/div&gt;
  643.              &lt;div class="field field-field-article-location"&gt;Shilo, occupied Palestine&lt;/div&gt;
  644.            &lt;div class="field field-field-comments"&gt;
  645.              &lt;div&gt;&lt;drupal-render-placeholder callback="Drupal\disqus\Element\Disqus::displayDisqusComments" arguments="0=In%20a%20West%20Bank%20settlement%2C%20Israelis%20tend%20red%20cows%20and%20plan%20the%20Third%20Temple&amp;1=https%3A//www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-west-bank-settlers-red-cows-third-temple&amp;2=node/352756&amp;3=a%3A0%3A%7B%7D" token="ZO3wF6y4DpX2ZeKGGIxYzPm7tV_gIH0IV8_4H2hHJMk"&gt;&lt;/drupal-render-placeholder&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  646.          &lt;/div&gt;
  647.              &lt;div class="field field-field-section"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/all" hreflang="en"&gt;News&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  648.      </description>
  649.  <pubDate>Thu, 28 Mar 2024 12:59:00 +0000</pubDate>
  650.    <dc:creator>Daniel Hilton</dc:creator>
  651.    <guid isPermaLink="false">352756 at https://www.middleeasteye.net</guid>
  652.    </item>
  653. <item>
  654.  <title>Israel may cut off Palestinian banks from global banking system next week</title>
  655.  <link>https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-may-cut-off-palestinian-banks-global-banking-system-next-week</link>
  656.  <description>
  657. &lt;span class="field field-title"&gt;Israel may cut off Palestinian banks from global banking system next week&lt;/span&gt;
  658.            &lt;div class="field field-field-subhead"&gt;The decision by Israel's finance minister to isolate PA banks would paralyse Palestinian economy&lt;/div&gt;
  659.      
  660. &lt;span class="field field-uid"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/mee-staff" lang="" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/mee-staff" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang=""&gt;MEE staff&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  661.  
  662. &lt;span class="field field-created"&gt;&lt;time datetime="2024-03-28T13:27:05+00:00" title="28 March 2024 13:27 GMT"&gt;Thu, 03/28/2024 - 13:27&lt;/time&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  663.            &lt;div class="field field-field-main-image"&gt;    &lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/Mahmoud-abbad-ankara-march-24-afp.jpg.webp?itok=PsxAwe0R 1x" type="image/webp" width="1400" height="877"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/Mahmoud-abbad-ankara-march-24-afp.jpg?itok=PsxAwe0R 1x" type="image/jpeg" width="1400" height="877"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;img srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/Mahmoud-abbad-ankara-march-24-afp.jpg?itok=PsxAwe0R 1x" width="1400" height="877" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/max_2600x2600/public/images-story/Mahmoud-abbad-ankara-march-24-afp.jpg?itok=QRmQV7b9" alt="Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas pictured in Ankara, Turkey, on 5 March 2024 (AFP)" typeof="foaf:Image" fetchpriority="high" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  664.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-cutline"&gt;Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, pictured in Ankara, Turkey, on 5 March 2024 (AFP)&lt;/div&gt;
  665.                  &lt;div class="field field-body clearfix"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine"&gt;Palestinian&lt;/a&gt; banks could be cut off from the &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel"&gt;Israeli&lt;/a&gt; banking system starting next week following a decision by Israel’s finance minister to cease dealings between the two financial institutions, according to a report on Thursday by Israeli newspaper &lt;a href="https://www.haaretz.co.il/news/2024-03-28/ty-article/.premium/0000018e-8100-d49b-a3bf-f51f14170000?utm_source=App_Share&amp;utm_medium=iOS_Native"&gt;Haaretz&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
  666.  
  667. &lt;p&gt;Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has two days to convene a cabinet meeting to discuss reversing plans by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to isolate Palestinian banks from both the Israeli and international banking systems.&lt;/p&gt;
  668.  
  669. &lt;p&gt;The Palestinian economy is based on the Israeli currency, the shekel, making it reliant on ties to Israel and its financial dealings with the rest of the world must go through the Bank of Israel and Israeli banks.&lt;/p&gt;
  670.  
  671. &lt;p&gt;Earlier this month, the far-right minister Smotrich threatened to paralyse the Palestinian Authority's economy in response to the &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/us"&gt;United States&lt;/a&gt; imposing sanctions on four West Bank extremist settlers accused of violence against Palestinians. &lt;/p&gt;
  672.  
  673. &lt;p&gt;Israeli banks have heeded the sanctions despite calls by Smotrich not to comply.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"&gt;&lt;div&gt;
  674.  &lt;div class="adsense responsive"&gt;
  675.    &lt;script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6114695881218027" crossorigin="anonymous"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;!-- responsive --&gt;&lt;ins class="adsbygoogle mee-auto-ad-wrapper " style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-6114695881218027" data-ad-slot="8690493793" data-ad-format="horizontal" data-full-width-responsive="true"&gt;&lt;/ins&gt;
  676. &lt;script&gt;
  677. //&lt;![CDATA[
  678.  
  679.     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
  680.  
  681. //]]&gt;
  682. &lt;/script&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  683. &lt;/div&gt;
  684. &lt;/div&gt;
  685.  
  686. &lt;p&gt;Two Israeli banks, Israel Discount Bank and Bank Hapoalim, currently maintain the connections of Palestinian banks with the banking system in Israel and globally. &lt;/p&gt;
  687.  
  688. &lt;p&gt;To protect them from lawsuits involving the Palestinian Authority for “transfering funds to terror groups”, the Israeli government has been issuing a waiver of protection for the two banks on an annual basis, signed by the finance minister. &lt;/p&gt;
  689.  
  690. &lt;div class="mee-readmore mee-readmore-article-story mee-readmore-type-image align-right"&gt;
  691.  &lt;a class="mee-readmore-img-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/rights-groups-israel-smotrich-us-visa-ban-history"&gt;&lt;img class="mee-readmore-image" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images-story/israel-smotrich-2021-afp_0.jpg.webp?itok=Z-9C07fD" width="400" height="250" alt="" loading="lazy" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;div class="mee-readmore-description"&gt;Activists cite long history of US visa bans to deny Smotrich entry&lt;/div&gt;
  692.    &lt;a class="mee-readmore-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/rights-groups-israel-smotrich-us-visa-ban-history"&gt;Read More »&lt;/a&gt;
  693. &lt;/div&gt;
  694.  
  695. &lt;p&gt;Smotrich is now refusing to renew the arrangement, which has been in place for years. &lt;/p&gt;
  696.  
  697. &lt;p&gt;Without this protection, the PA will be stripped of immunity and the Israeli banks will be exposed to lawsuits and are expected to cut ties with Palestinian banks.&lt;/p&gt;
  698.  
  699. &lt;p&gt;The consequences of isolating the PA from the financial world and Israel’s economy would significantly paralyse the Palestinian economy. &lt;/p&gt;
  700.  
  701. &lt;p&gt;Any Israeli company that has business relations with the PA will no longer be able to deposit Palestinian cheques or receive payments from Palestinian banks, according to Haaretz. &lt;/p&gt;
  702.  
  703. &lt;p&gt;Even Palestinian workers, who must only receive their wages in a bank deposit according to a 2022 agreement between Palestinian and Israeli authorities, will not be able to continue receiving wages in Israel, unless they are made in cash.&lt;/p&gt;
  704.  
  705. &lt;p&gt;Other areas that would be affected by Smotrich’s move include Palestinian export and import operations, which go through Israeli ports, and Palestinian tax funds, which are collected by Israel.&lt;/p&gt;
  706. &lt;/div&gt;
  707.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-topic"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/israel-palestine-war" hreflang="en"&gt;Israel-Palestine war&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  708.            &lt;div class="field field-field-coauthor-location"&gt;
  709.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  710.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  711.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  712.          &lt;/div&gt;
  713.              &lt;div class="field field-field-article-location"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  714.            &lt;div class="field field-field-comments"&gt;
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  716.          &lt;/div&gt;
  717.              &lt;div class="field field-field-section"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/all" hreflang="en"&gt;News&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  718.      </description>
  719.  <pubDate>Thu, 28 Mar 2024 13:27:05 +0000</pubDate>
  720.    <dc:creator>MEE staff</dc:creator>
  721.    <guid isPermaLink="false">352761 at https://www.middleeasteye.net</guid>
  722.    </item>
  723. <item>
  724.  <title>Mysterious airstrip built on strategic Yemeni island has ‘I Love UAE’ sign</title>
  725.  <link>https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/yemen-mysterious-airstrip-built-island-i-love-uae-satellite-photos</link>
  726.  <description>
  727. &lt;span class="field field-title"&gt;Mysterious airstrip built on strategic Yemeni island has ‘I Love UAE’ sign&lt;/span&gt;
  728.            &lt;div class="field field-field-subhead"&gt;Abu Dhabi has yet to confirm the building of the 3km runway, revealed by satellite imagery, which can accommodate various types of fighter and transport aircraft &lt;/div&gt;
  729.      
  730. &lt;span class="field field-uid"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/mee-staff" lang="" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/mee-staff" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang=""&gt;MEE staff&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  731.  
  732. &lt;span class="field field-created"&gt;&lt;time datetime="2024-03-28T10:34:21+00:00" title="28 March 2024 10:34 GMT"&gt;Thu, 03/28/2024 - 10:34&lt;/time&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  733.            &lt;div class="field field-field-main-image"&gt;    &lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/uae-troops-yemen-2020-afp.jpg.webp?itok=qu1MDXLM 1x" type="image/webp" width="1400" height="788"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/uae-troops-yemen-2020-afp.jpg?itok=qu1MDXLM 1x" type="image/jpeg" width="1400" height="788"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;img srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/uae-troops-yemen-2020-afp.jpg?itok=qu1MDXLM 1x" width="1400" height="788" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/max_2600x2600/public/images-story/uae-troops-yemen-2020-afp.jpg?itok=9FB7wZWg" alt="Emirati security forces form a guard of honour for members of the armed forces who fought in Yemen at Zayed Military City, Abu Dhabi, in February 2020 (AFP)" typeof="foaf:Image" fetchpriority="high" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  734.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-cutline"&gt;Emirati security forces form a guard of honour for members of the armed forces who fought in Yemen at Zayed Military City, Abu Dhabi, in February 2020 (AFP)&lt;/div&gt;
  735.                  &lt;div class="field field-body clearfix"&gt;&lt;p style="line-height:1.38"&gt;Satellite pictures released on Thursday show what appears to be a new airstrip being built on the strategic &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/yemen"&gt;Yemeni&lt;/a&gt; island of Abd al-Kuri.&lt;/p&gt;
  736.  
  737. &lt;p&gt;The images obtained by the &lt;a href="https://apnews.com/article/yemen-island-airstrip-houthis-israel-hamas-war-gaza-0ba77bb63497b3239151d4dbd7e78934?utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=share"&gt;Associated Press&lt;/a&gt; via Planet Labs from the past three days show a number of vehicles levelling the surface of the purported runway, which the news agency said measures around three kilometres (1.86 miles).&lt;/p&gt;
  738.  
  739. &lt;p&gt;“A runway of that length can accommodate attack, surveillance and transport aircraft, even some of the heaviest bombers,” the AP analysis said. &lt;/p&gt;
  740.  
  741. &lt;p&gt;One satellite image shows sand carvings with the sign "I love the &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/united-arab-emirates"&gt;UAE&lt;/a&gt;", although Abu Dhabi has yet to claim ownership of the construction works.   &lt;/p&gt;
  742.  
  743. &lt;p style="line-height:1.38"&gt;Abd al-Kuri is one of four islands in the Socotra Archipelago, a Unesco-listed area in the northwest Indian Ocean near the Gulf of Aden. It is the nearest to the Horn of Africa and is located at the entrance of the strategic maritime route of the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"&gt;&lt;div&gt;
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  752. &lt;/script&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  753. &lt;/div&gt;
  754. &lt;/div&gt;
  755.  
  756. &lt;p style="line-height:1.38"&gt;Although officially Yemeni territory, the islands have been largely &lt;a href="https://dawnmena.org/the-uaes-expansionist-agenda-in-yemen-is-playing-out-on-socotra/"&gt;controlled&lt;/a&gt; by the UAE and its allied southern Yemeni forces in the aftermath of the 2015 Saudi-led campaign against the Houthis in Yemen.&lt;/p&gt;
  757.  
  758. &lt;p style="line-height:1.38"&gt;The report comes as Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, who control the capital Sanaa, continue to attack ships in the Red Sea which they accused of being headed to Israel, in what they say is an act of solidarity with Palestinians under Israeli bombardment since 7 October.&lt;/p&gt;
  759.  
  760. &lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;
  761. &lt;p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en" xml:lang="en"&gt;An airstrip is being built on a &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Yemen?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;#Yemen&lt;/a&gt; island during the ongoing war, with 'I LOVE UAE' next to it &lt;a href="https://t.co/yTsKyupr2Y"&gt;https://t.co/yTsKyupr2Y&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  762. — Jon Gambrell | جون (@jongambrellAP) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/jongambrellAP/status/1773216216783396937?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;March 28, 2024&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;
  763. &lt;script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;p style="line-height:1.38"&gt;The Houthi attacks, launched since November, have severely disrupted maritime movement in the Red Sea, where some 12 percent of global trade passes, raising insurance costs significantly. The threat of Houthi attacks has forced ships to take the much longer and expensive route around Africa, dealing a blow to global supply chains. &lt;/p&gt;
  764.  
  765. &lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/us"&gt;United States&lt;/a&gt; and the &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/uk"&gt;United Kingdom&lt;/a&gt; have since January launched retaliatory strikes on the Houthis in Yemen but have so far failed to stop the attacks.&lt;/p&gt;
  766.  
  767. &lt;div class="mee-readmore mee-readmore-article-story mee-readmore-type-image align-right"&gt;
  768.  &lt;a class="mee-readmore-img-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/gaza-war-sky-news-arabia-general-manager-saudi-arabia-abu-dhabi"&gt;&lt;img class="mee-readmore-image" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images-story/Nadim%20Koteich.jpg.webp?itok=aUl6kl0O" width="400" height="250" alt="" loading="lazy" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;div class="mee-readmore-description"&gt;Sky News Arabia manager suggests Arabs must choose between Gaza and Abu Dhabi&lt;/div&gt;
  769.    &lt;a class="mee-readmore-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/gaza-war-sky-news-arabia-general-manager-saudi-arabia-abu-dhabi"&gt;Read More »&lt;/a&gt;
  770. &lt;/div&gt;
  771.  
  772. &lt;p&gt;The purpose and details of the new construction on the Yemeni island remain unclear, and no country has confirmed it was building an airstrip in the area.&lt;/p&gt;
  773.  
  774. &lt;p&gt;Abu Dhabi has yet to confirm the report. In a statement, it told the AP on Thursday that “any presence of the UAE on Socotra island is based on humanitarian grounds that is carried out in cooperation with the Yemeni government and local authorities”.&lt;/p&gt;
  775.  
  776. &lt;p&gt;“The UAE remains steadfast in its commitment to all international endeavours aimed at facilitating the resumption of the Yemeni political process, thereby advancing the security, stability, and prosperity sought by the Yemeni populace,” it added.&lt;/p&gt;
  777.  
  778. &lt;p&gt;AP reported that construction in the area began in January 2022, with images from Planet Labs showing what appeared to be a diagonal, shorter runway being carved out of the ground. There were other signs of construction of a longer north-south runway in July 2022, but work later halted, AP added.&lt;/p&gt;
  779. &lt;/div&gt;
  780.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-topic"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/yemen-war" hreflang="en"&gt;Yemen War&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  781.            &lt;div class="field field-field-coauthor-location"&gt;
  782.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  783.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  784.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  785.          &lt;/div&gt;
  786.              &lt;div class="field field-field-article-location"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  787.            &lt;div class="field field-field-comments"&gt;
  788.              &lt;div&gt;&lt;drupal-render-placeholder callback="Drupal\disqus\Element\Disqus::displayDisqusComments" arguments="0=Mysterious%20airstrip%20built%20on%20strategic%20Yemeni%20island%20has%20%E2%80%98I%20Love%20UAE%E2%80%99%20sign&amp;1=https%3A//www.middleeasteye.net/news/yemen-mysterious-airstrip-built-island-i-love-uae-satellite-photos&amp;2=node/352711&amp;3=a%3A0%3A%7B%7D" token="IHXQ8fdqNsDCuiHlmnQ7GTXY6C7FjnuwTNDgIrwJ8Pc"&gt;&lt;/drupal-render-placeholder&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  789.          &lt;/div&gt;
  790.              &lt;div class="field field-field-section"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/all" hreflang="en"&gt;News&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  791.      </description>
  792.  <pubDate>Thu, 28 Mar 2024 10:34:21 +0000</pubDate>
  793.    <dc:creator>MEE staff</dc:creator>
  794.    <guid isPermaLink="false">352711 at https://www.middleeasteye.net</guid>
  795.    </item>
  796. <item>
  797.  <title>Jordan: Thousands of protesters surround Israeli embassy for fourth consecutive day</title>
  798.  <link>https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/jordan-israel-embassy-protest-thousands-arrests</link>
  799.  <description>
  800. &lt;span class="field field-title"&gt;Jordan: Thousands of protesters surround Israeli embassy for fourth consecutive day&lt;/span&gt;
  801.            &lt;div class="field field-field-subhead"&gt;Jordanian security forces arrest around 200 activists, who say they will not stop their protest until the war in Gaza ends&lt;/div&gt;
  802.      
  803. &lt;span class="field field-uid"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/mohammad-ersan" lang="" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/mohammad-ersan" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang=""&gt;Mohammad Ersan&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  804.  
  805. &lt;span class="field field-created"&gt;&lt;time datetime="2024-03-28T11:53:45+00:00" title="28 March 2024 11:53 GMT"&gt;Thu, 03/28/2024 - 11:53&lt;/time&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  806.            &lt;div class="field field-field-main-image"&gt;    &lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/Jordan%20Protest%20MAIN.jpg.webp?itok=AiC7zCVR 1x" type="image/webp" width="1400" height="787"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/Jordan%20Protest%20MAIN.jpg?itok=AiC7zCVR 1x" type="image/jpeg" width="1400" height="787"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;img srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/Jordan%20Protest%20MAIN.jpg?itok=AiC7zCVR 1x" width="1400" height="787" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/max_2600x2600/public/images-story/Jordan%20Protest%20MAIN.jpg?itok=HoN5WCEw" alt="Jordanians protest outside the Israeli embassy complex on 27 March 2024 (MEE/Mohammad Ersan)" typeof="foaf:Image" fetchpriority="high" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  807.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-cutline"&gt;Jordanians protest outside the Israeli embassy complex on 27 March 2024 (MEE/Mohammad Ersan)&lt;/div&gt;
  808.                  &lt;div class="field field-body clearfix"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Mohammed al-Abssi is one of thousands of Jordanians who have been surrounding the Israeli embassy in Amman for the last four days. &lt;/p&gt;
  809.  
  810. &lt;p&gt;He is clear about their intentions. “Our protests will continue until the war on Gaza comes to an end,” he told Middle East Eye. “The protests are expanding to other cities and governorates. We will call for demonstrations in multiple locations.” &lt;/p&gt;
  811.  
  812. &lt;p&gt;Yesterday marked the fourth consecutive day that thousands of protesters have come out on to the streets of the Jordanian capital to surround the Israeli embassy, demanding its closure. Young demonstrators tried to breach the security cordon established around the complex by Jordanian security forces, resulting in the arrest of approximately 200 protesters. &lt;/p&gt;
  813.  
  814. &lt;p&gt;While the embassy is currently without a diplomatic mission, after Israel’s ambassador left Amman in October and Jordan recalled its ambassador in November in protest at the ongoing war in Gaza, al-Abssi said that protesters “have heard that the embassy has partially resumed operations”.&lt;/p&gt;
  815.  
  816. &lt;p&gt;Jordanian security forces and gendarmerie have forcefully prevented protesters from reaching the embassy compound in the Rabia neighbourhood of Amman. Demonstrators have gathered in the vicinity of the square next to Kalouti Mosque, approximately two kilometres from the embassy, and other areas close by.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"&gt;&lt;div&gt;
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  826. &lt;/div&gt;
  827. &lt;/div&gt;
  828.  
  829. &lt;p&gt;Protests have escalated significantly since the onset of Israel's war on Gaza. The National Forum for Supporting Resistance, a coalition of political parties and activists, has been one of the organisers.&lt;/p&gt;
  830.  
  831. &lt;p&gt;Al-Abssi, a participant in the protests and a member of the Ataharrak movement against normalisation with Israel, said the siege of the embassy is part of a series of Jordanian protests that have not ceased since 7 October.&lt;/p&gt;
  832.  
  833. &lt;p&gt;&lt;iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="742" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1QjnwcVBIYM" title="Israeli embassy in Jordan besieged by protesters" width="1123"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  834.  
  835. &lt;p&gt;“The siege of the embassy has intensified in response to the blockade of the Shifa complex and al-Aqsa Mosque,” he said.&lt;/p&gt;
  836.  
  837. &lt;p&gt;Israeli forces have been attacking and laying siege to the medical complex since 18 March, and have severely restricted Palestinian worshippers' access to the Jerusalem holy site.&lt;/p&gt;
  838.  
  839. &lt;p&gt;“Our demands include the complete closure of the Israeli embassy. We have heard that the embassy has partially resumed operations. Additionally, we call for the cessation of the land bridge,” al-Abssi said, referencing claims - denied by the Jordanian government - that Arab Gulf countries are circumventing the Houthi blockade on Israeli ships by trucking products to Israel via Jordan.&lt;/p&gt;
  840.  
  841. &lt;p&gt;“Israel targets Jordan just as it targets Palestine. The danger is one, and the Jordanian community recognises this,” al-Abssi told MEE. &lt;/p&gt;
  842.  
  843. &lt;blockquote&gt;
  844. &lt;p&gt;'Our demands include the complete closure of the Israeli embassy. We have heard that the embassy has partially resumed operations'&lt;/p&gt;
  845.  
  846. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;- Mohammed al-Abssi&lt;/em&gt;&lt;em&gt;, a participant in the protests&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  847. &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  848.  
  849. &lt;p&gt;The protesters, estimated to number around 10,000, condemned the genocide against Palestinians, chanting: “O cowardly Arab governments! On behalf of the voiceless, we shout against the land bridge. The land bridge is a betrayal. We, too, stand with Gaza. We are besieged.&lt;/p&gt;
  850.  
  851. &lt;p&gt;"Let the voice rise from Amman. We are part of the flood. Let every traitor and collaborator hear it. With Hamas for liberation.”&lt;/p&gt;
  852.  
  853. &lt;p&gt;Young protesters who spoke with MEE demanded the Jordanian government “stop normalisation with Israel, cancel the Wadi Araba and gas treaties, stop the land bridge that transports goods from Gulf countries towards Israel, and prevent the export of Jordanian vegetables” to Israel. &lt;/p&gt;
  854.  
  855. &lt;p&gt;The Jordan-Israel peace treaty of 1994, signed at the southern border crossing of Wadi Araba, is still deeply unpopular in Jordan. Jordanian protesters have previously denounced the kingdom’s import of Israeli gas as &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/black-day-hundreds-rally-jordan-over-treasonous-gas-deal-israel "&gt;“treasonous”&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
  856.  
  857. &lt;h3&gt;Protests resonate in Gaza &lt;/h3&gt;
  858.  
  859. &lt;p&gt;Khaled al-Juhani, a member of the National Forum Supporting Resistance, said that even though the Israeli embassy was closed, “this movement still sees it as a symbol of normalisation despite the ongoing genocide. The Jordanian people categorically reject normalisation and embrace resistance as an option”&lt;/p&gt;
  860.  
  861. &lt;p&gt;“Today, it is the duty of the Jordanian authorities to begin thinking and acting in a manner that aligns with the aspirations of its people and reconciles with their will,” al-Juhani told MEE.&lt;/p&gt;
  862.  
  863.  &lt;figure role="group" class="media-block"&gt;&lt;div class="group-inner"&gt;
  864.    &lt;div alt="Jordan embassy protest" data-embed-button="file_browser" data-entity-embed-display="image:image" data-entity-embed-display-settings="{"image_style":"","image_link":"","image_loading":{"attribute":"lazy"}}" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="c9fe9194-8e01-4a94-8340-33cfb08f53e8" data-langcode="en" class="embedded-entity"&gt;  &lt;img loading="lazy" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/Amman%202.jpg" width="1400" height="787" alt="Jordan embassy protest" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  865. &lt;figcaption&gt;Jordanian security forces can be seen on the left holding back protesters (MEE/ Mohammad Ersan)&lt;/figcaption&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  866. &lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background: url("https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png") rgba(220, 220, 220, 0.5); top: -15px; left: 0px;"&gt;&lt;img height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  867.  
  868. &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background:rgba(220,220,220,0.5);background-image:url(https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png);display:none;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  869.  
  870. &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background:rgba(220,220,220,0.5);background-image:url(https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png);display:none;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  871.  
  872. &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background: url("https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png") rgba(220, 220, 220, 0.5); top: -15px; left: 0px;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;This, he said, meant halting the land bridge and “immediately stopping the export of vegetables to the occupation. In return, efforts should be made to establish a humanitarian land bridge to northern Gaza, in cooperation with international bodies”. &lt;/p&gt;
  873.  
  874. &lt;p&gt;During protests, security forces arrested several young people who attempted to reach the Israeli embassy. Tear gas canisters were fired to disperse them. According to lawyer Abdul Qader al-Khatib, the number of detainees reached 200.&lt;/p&gt;
  875.  
  876. &lt;p&gt;“Although security agencies released a large number of protesters, the administrative governor re-arrested some of them despite their release by the judiciary,” al-Khatib said. Himam, a civil society alliance, has rejected the detention of protesters and called on the Jordanian government to ensure that security personnel adhere to a code of conduct.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"&gt;&lt;div&gt;
  877.  &lt;div class="adsense responsive"&gt;
  878.    &lt;script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6114695881218027" crossorigin="anonymous"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;!-- responsive --&gt;&lt;ins class="adsbygoogle mee-auto-ad-wrapper " style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-6114695881218027" data-ad-slot="8690493793" data-ad-format="horizontal" data-full-width-responsive="true"&gt;&lt;/ins&gt;
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  885. &lt;/script&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  886. &lt;/div&gt;
  887. &lt;/div&gt;
  888.  
  889. &lt;p&gt;The Jordanian protests have resonated in Gaza, with human rights activist Maysara Malas sharing tweets from Palestinians welcoming them.&lt;/p&gt;
  890.  
  891. &lt;p&gt;“To those sitting at home and not participating in constitutional peaceful activities to support Gaza, claiming that they do not benefit Gaza in any way - this is the heroic response of the people of Gaza to their claims,” Malas &lt;a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=7177567699008984&amp;set=pcb.7177567912342296 "&gt;said &lt;/a&gt;on social media.&lt;/p&gt;
  892. &lt;/div&gt;
  893.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-topic"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/israel-palestine-war" hreflang="en"&gt;Israel-Palestine war&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  894.            &lt;div class="field field-field-coauthor-location"&gt;
  895.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  896.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  897.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  898.          &lt;/div&gt;
  899.              &lt;div class="field field-field-article-location"&gt;Amman&lt;/div&gt;
  900.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-landing-title"&gt;Thousands of Jordanians surround Israeli embassy for fourth consecutive day&lt;/div&gt;
  901.            &lt;div class="field field-field-comments"&gt;
  902.              &lt;div&gt;&lt;drupal-render-placeholder callback="Drupal\disqus\Element\Disqus::displayDisqusComments" arguments="0=Jordan%3A%20Thousands%20of%20protesters%20surround%20Israeli%20embassy%20for%20fourth%20consecutive%20day&amp;1=https%3A//www.middleeasteye.net/news/jordan-israel-embassy-protest-thousands-arrests&amp;2=node/352731&amp;3=a%3A0%3A%7B%7D" token="uzog2fDn57kd26Yckg0UN1uwZIkMk8P0aBg1DvoS-90"&gt;&lt;/drupal-render-placeholder&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  903.          &lt;/div&gt;
  904.              &lt;div class="field field-field-section"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/all" hreflang="en"&gt;News&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  905.      </description>
  906.  <pubDate>Thu, 28 Mar 2024 11:53:45 +0000</pubDate>
  907.    <dc:creator>Mohammad Ersan</dc:creator>
  908.    <guid isPermaLink="false">352731 at https://www.middleeasteye.net</guid>
  909.    </item>
  910. <item>
  911.  <title>War on Gaza: We were lied into genocide. Al Jazeera has shown us how</title>
  912.  <link>https://www.middleeasteye.net/big-story/gaza-war-lies-genocide-al-jazeera-shown-how</link>
  913.  <description>
  914. &lt;span class="field field-title"&gt;War on Gaza: We were lied into genocide. Al Jazeera has shown us how&lt;/span&gt;
  915.            &lt;div class="field field-field-main-image"&gt;    &lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/A%20young%20girl%20injured%20in%20Israeli%20bombardment%2C%20reacts%20as%20he%20sits%20on%20the%20floor%20at%20the%20al-Najjar%20hospital%20in%20Rafah%20in%20the%20southern%20Gaza%20Strip%20on%20March%2024%2C%202024-afp_0.jpg.webp?itok=FMvXHdPP 1x" type="image/webp" width="1400" height="787"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/A%20young%20girl%20injured%20in%20Israeli%20bombardment%2C%20reacts%20as%20he%20sits%20on%20the%20floor%20at%20the%20al-Najjar%20hospital%20in%20Rafah%20in%20the%20southern%20Gaza%20Strip%20on%20March%2024%2C%202024-afp_0.jpg?itok=FMvXHdPP 1x" type="image/jpeg" width="1400" height="787"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;img srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/A%20young%20girl%20injured%20in%20Israeli%20bombardment%2C%20reacts%20as%20he%20sits%20on%20the%20floor%20at%20the%20al-Najjar%20hospital%20in%20Rafah%20in%20the%20southern%20Gaza%20Strip%20on%20March%2024%2C%202024-afp_0.jpg?itok=FMvXHdPP 1x" width="1400" height="787" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/max_2600x2600/public/images-story/A%20young%20girl%20injured%20in%20Israeli%20bombardment%2C%20reacts%20as%20he%20sits%20on%20the%20floor%20at%20the%20al-Najjar%20hospital%20in%20Rafah%20in%20the%20southern%20Gaza%20Strip%20on%20March%2024%2C%202024-afp_0.jpg?itok=vCMmchpx" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" fetchpriority="high" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  916.      
  917. &lt;span class="field field-uid"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/jonathan-cook" lang="" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/jonathan-cook" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang=""&gt;Jonathan Cook&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  918.  
  919. &lt;span class="field field-created"&gt;&lt;time datetime="2024-03-25T17:45:29+00:00" title="25 March 2024 17:45 GMT"&gt;Mon, 03/25/2024 - 17:45&lt;/time&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  920.            &lt;div class="field field-field-subhead"&gt;Myth-busting documentary finally breaks the stranglehold of Israel and its western media acolytes over the story of what happened on 7 October&lt;/div&gt;
  921.                  &lt;div class="field field-body clearfix"&gt;&lt;p&gt;For weeks, as &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/gaza-under-attack"&gt;Gaza&lt;/a&gt; was &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/israel-palestine-war"&gt;battered with bombs&lt;/a&gt; and the body count in the tiny enclave rose inexorably, western publics had little choice but to rely on &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel"&gt;Israel’s&lt;/a&gt; word for what happened on 7 October. Some 1,150 Israelis were killed during an unprecedented attack on Israeli communities and military posts next to Gaza.&lt;/p&gt;
  922.  
  923. &lt;p&gt;Beheaded babies, a pregnant woman with her womb cut open and the foetus stabbed, children put in ovens, hundreds of people burned alive, mutilation of corpses, a systematic campaign of indescribably savage rapes and acts of necrophilia.&lt;/p&gt;
  924.  
  925. &lt;p&gt;Western politicians and media &lt;a href="https://www.declassifieduk.org/beheaded-babies-how-uk-media-reported-israels-fake-news-as-fact/"&gt;lapped it up&lt;/a&gt;, repeating the allegations uncritically while ignoring Israel’s genocidal rhetoric and increasingly genocidal military operations these claims supported.&lt;/p&gt;
  926.  
  927. &lt;p&gt;Then, as the mountain of bodies in Gaza grew still higher, the supposed evidence was shared with a few, select western journalists and influencers. They were &lt;a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hFRo19afmU"&gt;invited to private screenings&lt;/a&gt; of footage carefully curated by Israeli officials to paint the worst possible picture of the Hamas operation. &lt;/p&gt;
  928.  
  929. &lt;p&gt;These new initiates offered few details but implied the footage confirmed many of the horrors. They readily repeated Israeli claims that Hamas was “worse than Isis”, the Islamic State group.&lt;/p&gt;
  930.  
  931. &lt;p&gt;The impression of unparalleled depravity from Hamas was reinforced by the willingness of the western media to allow &lt;a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzAcksFjTy8"&gt;Israeli spokespeople&lt;/a&gt;, Israel’s supporters and &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/Lowkey0nline/status/1713882472654455198"&gt;western politicians&lt;/a&gt; to continue spreading unchallenged the claim that Hamas had committed unspeakable, sadistic atrocities - from beheading and burning babies to carrying out a campaign of rapes.&lt;/p&gt;
  932.  
  933. &lt;p&gt;The only journalist in the British mainstream media to dissent &lt;a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc5iG3DX7ho&amp;ab_channel=OwenJones"&gt;was Owen Jones&lt;/a&gt;. Agreeing that Israel’s video showed terrible crimes committed against civilians, he noted that none of the barbarous acts listed above were included.&lt;/p&gt;
  934.  
  935. &lt;p&gt;What was shown instead were the kind of terrible crimes against civilians all too familiar in wars and uprisings. &lt;/p&gt;
  936.  
  937. &lt;h3&gt;Whitewashing genocide&lt;/h3&gt;
  938.  
  939. &lt;p&gt;Jones faced a &lt;a href="https://www.thejc.com/lets-talk/owen-jones-isnt-a-journalist-hes-a-propagandist-cxz8vm93"&gt;barrage of attacks&lt;/a&gt; from colleagues accusing him of being an atrocity apologist. His own newspaper, the Guardian, appears to &lt;a href="https://novaramedia.com/2024/03/12/how-the-guardians-editor-in-chief-caved-to-pro-israel-pressure/"&gt;have prevented him&lt;/a&gt; from writing about Gaza in its pages as a consequence.&lt;/p&gt;
  940.  
  941. &lt;p&gt;Now, after nearly six months, the exclusive narrative stranglehold on those events by Israel and its media acolytes has finally been broken.&lt;/p&gt;
  942.  
  943. &lt;hr /&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live/israel-palestine-war-gaza-truce-hamas-live" target="_blank"&gt;Follow Middle East Eye's live coverage for the latest on the Israel-Palestine war&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  944.  
  945. &lt;hr /&gt;&lt;p&gt;Last week, Al Jazeera aired &lt;a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0atzea-mPY"&gt;an hour-long documentary&lt;/a&gt;, called simply “October 7”, that lets western publics see for themselves what took place. It seems that Jones’ account was closest to the truth.&lt;/p&gt;
  946.  
  947. &lt;p&gt;Yet, Al Jazeera’s film goes further still, divulging for the first time to a wider audience facts that have been all over the Israeli media for months but have been carefully excluded from western coverage. The reason is clear: those facts would implicate Israel in some of the atrocities it has been ascribing to Hamas for months. &lt;/p&gt;
  948.  
  949. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/israel-palestine-war-media-ignoring-evidence-actions-7-october "&gt;Middle East Eye highlighted&lt;/a&gt; these glaring plot holes in the West’s media narrative way back in December. Nothing has been done to correct the record since.&lt;/p&gt;
  950.  
  951. &lt;blockquote&gt;
  952. &lt;p&gt;The establishment media has proved it is not to be trusted. For months it has credulously recited Israeli propaganda in support of a genocide&lt;/p&gt;
  953. &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  954.  
  955. &lt;p&gt;The establishment media has proved it is not to be trusted. For months it has credulously recited Israeli propaganda in support of a genocide.&lt;/p&gt;
  956.  
  957. &lt;p&gt;But that is only part of the indictment against it. Its continuing refusal to report on the mounting evidence of Israel’s perpetration of crimes against its own civilians and soldiers on 7 October suggests it has been intentionally whitewashing Israel’s slaughter in Gaza.&lt;/p&gt;
  958.  
  959. &lt;p&gt;Al Jazeera’s investigations unit has gathered many hundreds of hours of film from bodycams worn by Hamas fighters and Israeli soldiers, dashcams and CCTV to compile its myth-busting documentary.&lt;/p&gt;
  960.  
  961. &lt;p&gt;It demonstrates five things that upend the dominant narrative that has been imposed by Israel and the western media. &lt;/p&gt;
  962.  
  963. &lt;p&gt;First, the crimes Hamas committed against civilians in Israel on 7 October - and those it did not - have been used to overshadow the fact that it carried out a spectacularly sophisticated military operation on 7 October in breaking out of a long-besieged Gaza. &lt;/p&gt;
  964.  
  965. &lt;p&gt;The group knocked out Israel’s top-flight surveillance systems that had kept the enclave’s 2.3 million inhabitants imprisoned for decades. It smashed holes in Israel’s highly fortified barrier surrounding Gaza in at least 10 locations. And it caught unawares Israel’s many military camps next to the enclave that had been enforcing the occupation at arms’ length. &lt;/p&gt;
  966.  
  967. &lt;p&gt;More than 350 Israeli soldiers, armed police and guards were killed that day.&lt;/p&gt;
  968.  
  969. &lt;p&gt;Second, the documentary undermines the conspiracy theory that Israeli leaders allowed the Hamas attack to justify the &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/israel-palestine-mounting-evidence-israel-ready-cleanse-gaza"&gt;ethnic cleansing of Gaza&lt;/a&gt; - a plan Israel has been actively working on since at least 2007, when it appears to have received US approval.&lt;/p&gt;
  970.  
  971. &lt;p&gt;True, Israeli intelligence officials involved in the surveillance of Gaza had been warning that Hamas was preparing a major operation. But those warnings were discounted not because of a conspiracy. After all, none of the senior echelons in Israel stood to benefit from what unfolded on 7 October. &lt;/p&gt;
  972.  
  973. &lt;p&gt;Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is finished politically as a result of the Hamas attack, and will likely end up in jail after the current carnage in Gaza ends. &lt;/p&gt;
  974.  
  975. &lt;h3&gt;A colonial arrogance&lt;/h3&gt;
  976.  
  977. &lt;p&gt;Israel’s genocidal response to 7 October has made Israel’s brand so toxic internationally, and more so with Arab publics in the region, that Saudi Arabia has had to &lt;a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-says-there-will-be-no-diplomatic-relations-with-israel-without-an-2024-02-07/"&gt;break off plans&lt;/a&gt; for a &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/israel-normalisation-deals"&gt;normalisation agreement&lt;/a&gt;, which had been Israel and Washington’s ultimate hope.&lt;/p&gt;
  978.  
  979. &lt;p&gt;And the Hamas operation has crushed the worldwide reputation of the Israeli military for invincibility. It has inspired &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/tags/ansar-allah"&gt;Yemen's Ansar Allah&lt;/a&gt; (the Houthis) &lt;a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68490695"&gt;to attack vessels&lt;/a&gt; in the Red Sea. &lt;a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-11-03/ty-article/hezbollahs-nasrallah-praises-heroic-oct-7-hamas-attack-says-it-was-100-palestinian/0000018b-95a4-db71-a7df-fded25b30000"&gt;It is emboldening&lt;/a&gt; Israel’s arch-enemy, Hezbollah, in neighbouring Lebanon. It has reinvigorated the idea that resistance is possible across the much-oppressed Middle East. &lt;/p&gt;
  980.  
  981. &lt;div class="mee-readmore mee-readmore-article-opinion mee-readmore-type-image align-right"&gt;
  982.  &lt;a class="mee-readmore-img-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/israel-palestine-war-media-ignoring-evidence-actions-7-october"&gt;&lt;img class="mee-readmore-image" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images-story/An%20Israeli%20man%20whose%20cousin%20was%20taken%20hostage%20during%20the%207%20Ocobter%20attack%20visits%20family%20house%20in%20Kibbutx%20Nir%20Oz%20on%205%20December%2C%202023.jpg.webp?itok=LOziRKD0" width="400" height="250" alt="" loading="lazy" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;div class="mee-readmore-description"&gt;Israel-Palestine war: Why is the media ignoring evidence of Israel’s own actions on 7 October?&lt;/div&gt;
  983.    &lt;a class="mee-readmore-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/israel-palestine-war-media-ignoring-evidence-actions-7-october"&gt;Read More »&lt;/a&gt;
  984. &lt;/div&gt;
  985.  
  986. &lt;p&gt;No, it was not a conspiracy that opened the door to Hamas’ attack. It &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/war-gaza-israel-leftist-lost-compassion-palestinians"&gt;was colonial arrogance&lt;/a&gt;, based on a dehumanising view shared by the vast majority of Israelis that they were the masters and that the Palestinians - their slaves - were far too primitive to strike a meaningful blow. &lt;/p&gt;
  987.  
  988. &lt;p&gt;The attacks of 7 October should have forced Israelis to reassess their dismissive attitude towards the Palestinians and address the question of whether Israel’s decades-long regime of apartheid and brutal subjugation could - and should - continue indefinitely. &lt;/p&gt;
  989.  
  990. &lt;p&gt;Predictably, Israelis ignored the message of Hamas’ attack and dug deeper into their colonial mindset. &lt;/p&gt;
  991.  
  992. &lt;p&gt;The supposed primitivism that, it was assumed, made the Palestinians too feeble an opponent to take on Israel’s sophisticated military machine has now been reframed as proof of a Palestinian barbarousness that makes Gaza’s entire population so dangerous, so threatening, that they have to be wiped out. &lt;/p&gt;
  993.  
  994. &lt;p&gt;The Palestinians who, most Israelis had concluded, could be caged like battery chickens indefinitely, and in ever-shrinking pens, are now viewed as monsters that have to be culled. That impulse was the genesis of Israel’s current genocidal plan for Gaza.&lt;/p&gt;
  995.  
  996. &lt;h3&gt;Suicide mission&lt;/h3&gt;
  997.  
  998. &lt;p&gt;The third point the documentary clarifies is that Hamas’s wildly successful prison break undid the larger operation. &lt;/p&gt;
  999.  
  1000. &lt;p&gt;The group had worked so hard on the fearsome logistics of the breakout - and prepared for a rapid and savage response from Israel’s oppressive military machine - that it had no serious plan for dealing with a situation it could not conceive of: the freedom to scour Israel’s periphery, often undisturbed for many hours or days. &lt;/p&gt;
  1001.  
  1002. &lt;p&gt;Hamas fighters entering Israel had assumed that most were on a suicide mission. According to the documentary, the fighters’ own assumption was that between 80 and 90 per cent would not make it back.&lt;/p&gt;
  1003.  
  1004. &lt;div class="mee-readmore mee-readmore-article-opinion mee-readmore-type-image align-right"&gt;
  1005.  &lt;a class="mee-readmore-img-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/israel-palestine-war-palestinian-prisoners-hostages-too"&gt;&lt;img class="mee-readmore-image" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images-story/Newly%20released%20activist%20Ahed%20Tamimi%20stands%20following%20the%20release%20of%20Palestinian%20prisoners%20from%20Israeli%20jails%20in%20Ramallah%20in%20the%20occupied%20West%20Bank%20early%20on%2030%20November%2C%202023%20%20%28AFP%29.jpg.webp?itok=62yaRKZv" width="400" height="250" alt="" loading="lazy" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;div class="mee-readmore-description"&gt;Israel-Palestine war: In war, words matter. Palestinian 'prisoners' are hostages, too&lt;/div&gt;
  1006.    &lt;a class="mee-readmore-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/israel-palestine-war-palestinian-prisoners-hostages-too"&gt;Read More »&lt;/a&gt;
  1007. &lt;/div&gt;
  1008.  
  1009. &lt;p&gt;The aim was not to strike some kind of existential blow against Israel, as Israeli officials have asserted ever since in their determined rationalisation of genocide. It was to strike a blow against Israel’s reputation for invincibility by attacking its military bases and nearby communities, and dragging as many hostages as possible back into Gaza.&lt;/p&gt;
  1010.  
  1011. &lt;p&gt;They would then be exchanged for the thousands of Palestinian men, women and children held in Israel’s military incarceration system - &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/israel-palestine-war-palestinian-prisoners-hostages-too"&gt;hostages labelled “prisoners”&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;
  1012.  
  1013. &lt;p&gt;As Hamas spokesman Bassem Naim explained to Al Jazeera, the breakout was meant to thrust Gaza’s desperate plight back into the spotlight after many years in which international interest in ending Israel’s siege had waned. &lt;/p&gt;
  1014.  
  1015. &lt;p&gt;Of discussions in the group’s political bureau, he says the consensus was: “We have to take action. If we don’t do it, Palestine will be forgotten, totally deleted from the international map.”&lt;/p&gt;
  1016.  
  1017. &lt;p&gt;For 17 years, Gaza had gradually been strangled to death. Its population had tried peaceful protests at the militarised fence around their enclave and been picked off by Israeli snipers. The world had grown so used to Palestinian suffering, it had switched off. &lt;/p&gt;
  1018.  
  1019. &lt;p&gt;The 7 October attack was intended to change that, especially by re-inspiring solidarity with Gaza in the Arab world and by bolstering Hamas’ regional political position.&lt;/p&gt;
  1020.  
  1021. &lt;p&gt;&lt;iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="742" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kWwFD0Q_RJs" title="How Israel exported its occupation to the world | Antony Loewenstein | The Big Picture S3E2" width="1126"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1022.  
  1023. &lt;p&gt;It was intended to make it impossible for Saudi Arabia – the main Arab power broker in Washington – to normalise with Israel, completing the marginalisation of the Palestinian cause in the Arab world. &lt;/p&gt;
  1024.  
  1025. &lt;p&gt;Judged by these criteria, Hamas’s attack was a success. &lt;/p&gt;
  1026.  
  1027. &lt;h3&gt;Loss of focus&lt;/h3&gt;
  1028.  
  1029. &lt;p&gt;But for many long hours - with Israel caught entirely off-guard, and with its surveillance systems neutralised - Hamas did not face the military counter-strike it expected. &lt;/p&gt;
  1030.  
  1031. &lt;p&gt;Three factors seem to have led to a rapid erosion of discipline and purpose. &lt;/p&gt;
  1032.  
  1033. &lt;p&gt;With no meaningful enemy to confront or limit Hamas’ room for manoeuvre, the fighters lost focus. Footage shows them squabbling about what to do next as they freely wander around Israeli communities. &lt;/p&gt;
  1034.  
  1035. &lt;blockquote&gt;
  1036. &lt;p&gt;With no meaningful enemy to confront or limit Hamas’ room for manoeuvre, the fighters lost focus. Footage shows them squabbling about what to do next&lt;/p&gt;
  1037. &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  1038.  
  1039. &lt;p&gt;That was compounded by the influx of other armed Palestinians who piggybacked on Hamas’ successful breakout and the lack of an Israeli response. Many suddenly found themselves with the chance to loot or settle scores with Israel - by killing Israelis - for years of suffering in Gaza.&lt;/p&gt;
  1040.  
  1041. &lt;p&gt;And the third factor was Hamas stumbling into the Nova music festival, which had been relocated by the organisers at short notice close to the fence around Gaza.&lt;/p&gt;
  1042.  
  1043. &lt;p&gt;It quickly became the scene of some of the worst atrocities, though none resembling the savage excesses described by Israel and the western media. &lt;/p&gt;
  1044.  
  1045. &lt;p&gt;Footage shows, for example, Palestinian fighters throwing grenades into concrete shelters where many dozens of festivalgoers were sheltering from the Hamas attack. In one clip, a man who runs out is gunned down.&lt;/p&gt;
  1046.  
  1047. &lt;p&gt;Fourth, Al Jazeera was able to confirm that the most extreme, sadistic and depraved atrocities never took place. They were fabricated by Israeli soldiers, officials and emergency responders. &lt;/p&gt;
  1048.  
  1049. &lt;p&gt;One figure central to this deception was Yossi Landau, a leader of the Jewish religious emergency response organisation, Zaka. He and his staff concocted outlandish tales that were readily amplified not only by a credulous western press corps but by senior US officials too. &lt;/p&gt;
  1050.  
  1051. &lt;p&gt;&lt;iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="718" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oZFgg4IfEdc" title="David Hearst: How Gaza turned the tables on its gaolers" width="1126"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1052.  
  1053. &lt;p&gt;US Secretary of State Antony Blinken graphically told of a family of four being butchered at the breakfast table. The father’s eye was gouged out in front of his two children, aged eight and six. The mother’s breast was cut off. The girl’s foot was amputated, and the boy’s fingers cut off, before they were all executed. The executioners then sat down and had a meal next to their victims.&lt;/p&gt;
  1054.  
  1055. &lt;p&gt;Except the evidence shows none of that actually happened.&lt;/p&gt;
  1056.  
  1057. &lt;p&gt;Landau has also claimed that Hamas tied up dozens of children and burned them alive at Kibbutz Be’eri. Elsewhere, he has recalled a pregnant woman who was shot dead and her belly cut open and the foetus stabbed. &lt;/p&gt;
  1058.  
  1059. &lt;p&gt;Officials at the kibbutz deny any evidence for these atrocities. Landau’s accounts do not tally with any of the known facts. Only two babies died on 7 October, both killed unintentionally.&lt;/p&gt;
  1060.  
  1061. &lt;p&gt;When challenged, Landau offers to show Al Jazeera a photo on his phone of the stabbed foetus, but is filmed admitting he is unable to do so. &lt;/p&gt;
  1062.  
  1063. &lt;h3&gt;Fabricating atrocities &lt;/h3&gt;
  1064.  
  1065. &lt;p&gt;Similarly, Al Jazeera’s research finds no evidence of systematic or mass rape on 7 October. In fact, it is Israel that has been blocking efforts by international bodies to investigate any sexual violence that day. &lt;/p&gt;
  1066.  
  1067. &lt;p&gt;Respected outlets like the New York Times, the BBC and Guardian have repeatedly breathed credibility into the claims of systematic rape by Hamas, but only by unquestioningly repeating Israeli atrocity propaganda. &lt;/p&gt;
  1068.  
  1069. &lt;p&gt;Madeleine Rees, secretary general of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, told Al Jazeera: “A state has instrumentalised the horrific attacks on women in order, we believe, to justify an attack on Gaza, of which the majority suffering are other women.”&lt;/p&gt;
  1070.  
  1071. &lt;blockquote&gt;
  1072. &lt;p&gt;The question is why, when there were plenty of real atrocities by Hamas to report, did Israel feel the need to fabricate even worse ones?&lt;/p&gt;
  1073. &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  1074.  
  1075. &lt;p&gt;In other cases, Israel has blamed Hamas for mutilating the bodies of Israeli victims, including by driving over them, smashing their pelvises. In several cases, Al Jazeera’s investigation showed that the bodies were of Hamas fighters mutilated or driven over by Israeli soldiers. &lt;/p&gt;
  1076.  
  1077. &lt;p&gt;The documentary notes that reporting by the Israeli media - followed by the western media - “focuses not on the crimes they [Hamas] committed but on the crimes they did not”.&lt;/p&gt;
  1078.  
  1079. &lt;p&gt;The question is why, when there were plenty of real atrocities by Hamas to report, did Israel feel the need to fabricate even worse ones? And why, especially after the initial fabrication of beheaded babies was debunked, did the western media carry on credulously recycling improbable stories of Hamas savagery?&lt;/p&gt;
  1080.  
  1081. &lt;p&gt;The answer to the first question is that Israel needed to manufacture a favourable political climate that would excuse its genocide in Gaza as necessary. &lt;/p&gt;
  1082.  
  1083. &lt;p&gt;Netanyahu is shown congratulating Zaka’s leaders on their role in &lt;a href="https://www.gov.il/en/departments/news/event-zaka231123#:~:text=But%20we%20need%20to%20buy,a%20war%3B%20it%20will%20continue."&gt;influencing world opinion&lt;/a&gt;: “We need to buy time, which we gain by turning to world leaders and to public opinion. You have an important role in influencing public opinion, which also influences leaders.” &lt;/p&gt;
  1084.  
  1085. &lt;p&gt;The answer to the second is that western journalists’ racist preconceptions ensured they would be easily persuaded that brown people were capable of such barbarity.&lt;/p&gt;
  1086.  
  1087. &lt;h3&gt;'Hannibal directive'&lt;/h3&gt;
  1088.  
  1089. &lt;p&gt;Fifth, Al Jazeera documents months of Israeli media coverage demonstrating that some of the atrocities blamed on Hamas - particularly relating to the burning alive of Israelis - were &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/MiddleEastEye/status/1750074339750445165"&gt;actually Israel’s responsibility&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
  1090.  
  1091. &lt;p&gt;Deprived of functioning surveillance, an enraged Israeli military machine lashed out blindly. Video footage from Apache helicopters shows them firing wildly on cars and figures heading towards Gaza, unable to determine whether they are targeting fleeing Hamas fighters or Israelis taken hostage by Hamas. &lt;/p&gt;
  1092.  
  1093. &lt;p&gt;In at least one case, an Israeli tank fired a shell into a building in Kibbutz Be’eri, killing the 12 Israeli hostages inside. One, 12-year-old Liel Hetsroni, whose charred remains meant she could not be identified for weeks, &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/Israel/status/1728031404708032701"&gt;became the poster child&lt;/a&gt; for Israel’s campaign to tar Hamas as barbarians for burning her alive.&lt;/p&gt;
  1094.  
  1095.  &lt;figure role="group" class="media-block"&gt;&lt;div class="group-inner"&gt;
  1096.    &lt;div alt="A makeshift sign reading in Hebrew 'help, 3 hostages' using leftover food reportedly shown by Israeli hostages before being shot dead by Israeli soldiers, 17 December 2023 (AFP)" data-embed-button="file_browser" data-entity-embed-display="image:image" data-entity-embed-display-settings="{"image_style":"","image_link":"","image_loading":{"attribute":"lazy"}}" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="c6fa8a3c-b866-43c3-b3d3-72987f42a4e5" data-langcode="en" class="embedded-entity"&gt;  &lt;img loading="lazy" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/17%2C%202023%20reportedly%20shows%20a%20makeshift%20sign%20reading%20in%20Hebrew%20%2522help%2C%203%20hostages%2522%20using%20leftover%20food%20remains%20by%20by%20the%20three%20Israeli%20hostages%20who%20were%20mistakenly%20killed%20by%20Israeli%20forces.%20AFP.jpg" width="1024" height="682" alt="A makeshift sign reading in Hebrew 'help, 3 hostages' using leftover food reportedly shown by Israeli hostages before being shot dead by Israeli soldiers, 17 December 2023 (AFP)" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1097. &lt;figcaption&gt;A makeshift sign reading in Hebrew 'help, 3 hostages' using leftover food reportedly shown by Israeli hostages before being shot dead by Israeli soldiers, 17 December 2023 (AFP)&lt;/figcaption&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1098. &lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background:rgba(220,220,220,0.5);background-image:url(https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png);display:none;"&gt;&lt;img height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1099.  
  1100. &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background:rgba(220,220,220,0.5);background-image:url(https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png);display:none;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1101.  
  1102. &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background: url("https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png") rgba(220, 220, 220, 0.5); top: -15px; left: 0px;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1103.  
  1104. &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background:rgba(220,220,220,0.5);background-image:url(https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png);display:none;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1105.  
  1106. &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background:rgba(220,220,220,0.5);background-image:url(https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png);display:none;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1107.  
  1108. &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background:rgba(220,220,220,0.5);background-image:url(https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png);display:none;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1109.  
  1110. &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background: url("https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png") rgba(220, 220, 220, 0.5); top: -15px; left: 0px;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;The commander in charge of the rescue efforts at Be’eri, Colonel Golan Vach, is shown fabricating to the media a story about the house Israel itself had shelled. He claimed Hamas had executed and burned eight babies in the house. In fact, no babies were killed there - and those who did die in the house were killed by Israel.&lt;/p&gt;
  1111.  
  1112. &lt;p&gt;The widespread devastation in kibbutz communities - still blamed on Hamas - suggests that Israel’s shelling of this particular house was far from a one-off. It is impossible to determine how many more Israelis were killed by “friendly fire”.&lt;/p&gt;
  1113.  
  1114. &lt;p&gt;These deaths appear to have been related to the hurried invocation by Israel that day of its so-called “Hannibal directive” - a secretive military protocol to kill Israeli soldiers to prevent them from being taken hostage and becoming bargaining chips for the release of Palestinians held hostage in Israeli jails. &lt;/p&gt;
  1115.  
  1116. &lt;p&gt;In this case, the directive looks to have been repurposed and used against Israeli civilians too. Extraordinarily, though there has been furious debate inside Israel about the Hannibal directive’s use on 7 October, the western media has remained completely silent on the subject.&lt;/p&gt;
  1117.  
  1118. &lt;h3&gt;Woeful imbalance&lt;/h3&gt;
  1119.  
  1120. &lt;p&gt;The one issue largely overlooked by Al Jazeera is the astonishing failure of the western media across the board to cover 7 October seriously or investigate any of the atrocities independently of Israel’s own self-serving accounts.&lt;/p&gt;
  1121.  
  1122. &lt;p&gt;The question hanging over Al Jazeera’s documentary is this: how is it possible that no British or US media organisation has undertaken the task that Al Jazeera took on? And further, why is it that none of them appear ready to use Al Jazeera’s coverage as an opportunity to revisit the events of 7 October? &lt;/p&gt;
  1123.  
  1124. &lt;div class="mee-readmore mee-readmore-article-opinion mee-readmore-type-image align-right"&gt;
  1125.  &lt;a class="mee-readmore-img-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/gaza-war-corbyn-british-public-smeared"&gt;&lt;img class="mee-readmore-image" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images-story/A%20protester%20looks%20on%20as%20campaigners%20queue%20to%20lobby%20MPs%20ahead%20of%20a%20debate%20to%20hold%20a%20vote%20for%20a%20ceasefire%20in%20Gaza%20in%20London%2C%20on%2021%20February%2C%202024%20%28Reuters%29.jpg.webp?itok=19h_z2BX" width="400" height="250" alt="" loading="lazy" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;div class="mee-readmore-description"&gt;First it was Corbyn. Now the whole British public is being smeared over Gaza&lt;/div&gt;
  1126.    &lt;a class="mee-readmore-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/gaza-war-corbyn-british-public-smeared"&gt;Read More »&lt;/a&gt;
  1127. &lt;/div&gt;
  1128.  
  1129. &lt;p&gt;In part, that is because they themselves would be indicted by any reassessment of the past five months. Their coverage has been woefully unbalanced: wide-eyed acceptance of any Israeli claim of Hamas atrocities, and similar wide-eyed acceptance of any Israeli excuse for its slaughter and maiming of tens of thousands of Palestinian children in Gaza.&lt;/p&gt;
  1130.  
  1131. &lt;p&gt;But the problem runs deeper. &lt;/p&gt;
  1132.  
  1133. &lt;p&gt;This is not the first time that Al Jazeera has shamed the western press corps on a subject that has dominated headlines for months or years. &lt;/p&gt;
  1134.  
  1135. &lt;p&gt;Back in 2017, an Al Jazeera investigation &lt;a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzGHKb8i9vTzCgnbENCKuz7fqU12xNBce"&gt;called The Lobby&lt;/a&gt; showed that Israel was behind a campaign to smear Palestinian solidarity activists as antisemites in Britain, with Jeremy Corbyn the ultimate target.&lt;/p&gt;
  1136.  
  1137. &lt;p&gt;That smear campaign continued to be wildly successful even after the Al Jazeera series aired, not least because the investigation was uniformly ignored. British media outlets swallowed every piece of disinformation spread by Israeli lobbyists on the issue of antisemitism. &lt;/p&gt;
  1138.  
  1139. &lt;p&gt;A follow-up on a similar disinformation campaign waged by the pro-Israel lobby in the US was never broadcast, apparently after diplomatic threats from Washington to Qatar. The series &lt;a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lSjXhMUVKE&amp;ab_channel=TheElectronicIntifada"&gt;was eventually leaked&lt;/a&gt; to the Electronic Intifada website.&lt;/p&gt;
  1140.  
  1141.  &lt;figure role="group" class="media-block"&gt;&lt;div class="group-inner"&gt;
  1142.    &lt;div alt="Protesters gather outside the BBC Scotland building as people take part in a demonstration to show solidarity with the Palestinian People, in Glasgow on October 14, 2023, in support of "their right to resistance" data-embed-button="file_browser" data-entity-embed-display="image:image" data-entity-embed-display-settings="{"image_style":"","image_link":"","image_loading":{"attribute":"lazy"}}" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="a4ccd40d-1c99-42cd-857f-8b71a38fc499" data-langcode="en" class="embedded-entity"&gt;  &lt;img loading="lazy" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/images-story/rotesters%20gather%20outside%20the%20BBC%20Scotland%20building%20as%20people%20take%20part%20in%20a%20demonstration%20to%20show%20solidarity%20with%20the%20Palestinian%20People%2C%20in%20Glasgow%20on%20October%2014%2C%202023-afp.jpg" width="1820" height="1024" alt="Protesters gather outside the BBC Scotland building as people take part in a demonstration to show solidarity with the Palestinian People, in Glasgow on October 14, 2023, in support of "their right to resistance" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1143. &lt;figcaption&gt;Protesters gather outside the BBC Scotland building to show solidarity with the Palestinians, in Glasgow on 14 October 2023 (AFP)&lt;/figcaption&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1144. &lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background:rgba(220,220,220,0.5);background-image:url(https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png);display:none;"&gt;&lt;img height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1145.  
  1146. &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background:rgba(220,220,220,0.5);background-image:url(https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png);display:none;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1147.  
  1148. &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background: url("https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png") rgba(220, 220, 220, 0.5); top: -15px; left: 0px;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1149.  
  1150. &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background:rgba(220,220,220,0.5);background-image:url(https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png);display:none;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1151.  
  1152. &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background:rgba(220,220,220,0.5);background-image:url(https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png);display:none;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1153.  
  1154. &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background:rgba(220,220,220,0.5);background-image:url(https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png);display:none;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1155.  
  1156. &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background: url("https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png") rgba(220, 220, 220, 0.5); top: -15px; left: 0px;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;Then 18 months ago, Al Jazeera broadcast an investigation called &lt;a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elp18OvnNV0&amp;ab_channel=AlJazeeraEnglish"&gt;The Labour Files&lt;/a&gt;, showing how senior officials in Britain’s Labour Party, assisted by the UK media, waged a covert plot to stop Corbyn from ever becoming prime minister. Corbyn, Labour’s democratically elected leader, was an outspoken critic of Israel and supporter of justice for the Palestinian people.&lt;/p&gt;
  1157.  
  1158. &lt;blockquote&gt;
  1159. &lt;p&gt;Israel and its partisans have unfettered access to western establishments, where they fabricate claims and smears that are readily amplified by a credulous press corps&lt;/p&gt;
  1160. &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  1161.  
  1162. &lt;p&gt;Once again, the British media, which had played such a critical role in helping to destroy Corbyn, ignored the Al Jazeera investigation.&lt;/p&gt;
  1163.  
  1164. &lt;p&gt;There is a pattern here that can be ignored only through wilful blindness. &lt;/p&gt;
  1165.  
  1166. &lt;p&gt;Israel and its partisans have unfettered access to western establishments, where they fabricate claims and smears that are readily amplified by a credulous press corps. &lt;/p&gt;
  1167.  
  1168. &lt;p&gt;And those claims only ever work to Israel’s advantage, and harm the cause of ending decades of brutal subjugation of the Palestinian people by an Israeli apartheid regime now committing genocide.&lt;/p&gt;
  1169.  
  1170. &lt;p&gt;Al Jazeera has once again shown that, on matters that western establishments consider the most vital to their interests - such as support for a highly militarised client state promoting the West’s control over the oil-rich Middle East - the western press is not a watchdog on power but the establishment’s public relations arm.&lt;/p&gt;
  1171.  
  1172. &lt;p&gt;Al Jazeera’s investigation has not just revealed the lies Israel spread about 7 October to justify its genocide in Gaza. It reveals the utter complicity of western journalists in that genocide.&lt;/p&gt;
  1173.  
  1174. &lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1175. &lt;/div&gt;
  1176.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-topic"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/israel-palestine-war" hreflang="en"&gt;Israel-Palestine war&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1177.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-landing-title"&gt;We were lied into the Gaza genocide. Al Jazeera has shown us how&lt;/div&gt;
  1178.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-section"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/big-story/all" hreflang="en"&gt;The Big Story&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1179.        &lt;div class="field field-field-post-date-override"&gt;
  1180.    &lt;div&gt;Post Date Override&lt;/div&gt;
  1181.              &lt;div&gt;0&lt;/div&gt;
  1182.          &lt;/div&gt;
  1183.  &lt;div class="field field-field-update-date-override"&gt;
  1184.    &lt;div&gt;Update Date&lt;/div&gt;
  1185.              &lt;div&gt;&lt;time datetime="2020-05-04T21:28:40+01:00"&gt;Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:28&lt;/time&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1186.          &lt;/div&gt;
  1187.  &lt;div class="field field-field-update-date-check"&gt;
  1188.    &lt;div&gt;Update Date Override&lt;/div&gt;
  1189.              &lt;div&gt;0&lt;/div&gt;
  1190.          &lt;/div&gt;
  1191. </description>
  1192.  <pubDate>Mon, 25 Mar 2024 17:45:29 +0000</pubDate>
  1193.    <dc:creator>Jonathan Cook</dc:creator>
  1194.    <guid isPermaLink="false">351976 at https://www.middleeasteye.net</guid>
  1195.    </item>
  1196. <item>
  1197.  <title>US urges Israel to 'transparently investigate' Marwan Barghouti abuse allegations</title>
  1198.  <link>https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-urges-israel-investigate-marwan-barghouti-abuse-allegations</link>
  1199.  <description>
  1200. &lt;span class="field field-title"&gt;US urges Israel to 'transparently investigate' Marwan Barghouti abuse allegations&lt;/span&gt;
  1201.            &lt;div class="field field-field-subhead"&gt;Barghouti's family says he has been physically and psychologically mistreated in Israeli custody since 7 October &lt;/div&gt;
  1202.      
  1203. &lt;span class="field field-uid"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/mee-staff" lang="" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/mee-staff" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang=""&gt;MEE staff&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1204.  
  1205. &lt;span class="field field-created"&gt;&lt;time datetime="2024-03-27T20:12:48+00:00" title="27 March 2024 20:12 GMT"&gt;Wed, 03/27/2024 - 20:12&lt;/time&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1206.            &lt;div class="field field-field-main-image"&gt;    &lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/Israel-Barghouti-2012-AFP.jpg.webp?itok=5EyQUfaA 1x" type="image/webp" width="1400" height="788"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/Israel-Barghouti-2012-AFP.jpg?itok=5EyQUfaA 1x" type="image/jpeg" width="1400" height="788"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;img srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/Israel-Barghouti-2012-AFP.jpg?itok=5EyQUfaA 1x" width="1400" height="788" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/max_2600x2600/public/images-story/Israel-Barghouti-2012-AFP.jpg?itok=qdNzKSa0" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" fetchpriority="high" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1207.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-cutline"&gt;Palestinian Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti is escorted by Israeli police into Jerusalem's magistrate court, on 25 January 2012 (Marco Longari/AFP) &lt;/div&gt;
  1208.                  &lt;div class="field field-body clearfix"&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Biden administration has reportedly raised concerns about Israel’s treatment of imprisoned Palestinian leader, Marwan Barghouti.&lt;/p&gt;
  1209.  
  1210. &lt;p&gt;The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that the State Department raised allegations of Barghouti’s abuse with Israel, asking them to “thoroughly and transparently investigate credible allegations” and that Palestinian prisoners must be held in “dignified conditions and in accordance with international law”.&lt;/p&gt;
  1211.  
  1212. &lt;p&gt;Members of Barghouti's family allege that since the 7 October Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel and the subsequent war on Gaza, he has been subjected to physical and psychological mistreatment, including being placed in complete darkness in solitary confinement for 12 days. Barghouti's lawyers are cited in the Post story as saying that Barghouti had several bruises on his body. &lt;/p&gt;
  1213.  
  1214. &lt;p&gt;The Israeli Prison Service told the Post it has "no knowledge of these claims".&lt;/p&gt;
  1215.  
  1216. &lt;p&gt;The Washington Post story appeared three days after &lt;a href="https://arabi21.com/story/1584630/%D9%85%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%AF%D8%B1-%D9%84%D9%80-%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A8%D9%8A21-%D8%A3%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%83%D8%A7-%D8%AA%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%B6-%D8%A5%D8%B7%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%82-%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AD-%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%BA%D9%88%D8%AB%D9%8A"&gt;Arabi21&lt;/a&gt;, quoting unnamed sources, said that the US opposed Barghouti’s release from Israeli custody amid ongoing negotiations between Hamas and Israel to reach a hostage deal. The US has taken its position in response to Israel's request to keep him behind bars, according to Arabi21.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"&gt;&lt;div&gt;
  1217.  &lt;div class="adsense responsive"&gt;
  1218.    &lt;script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6114695881218027" crossorigin="anonymous"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;!-- responsive --&gt;&lt;ins class="adsbygoogle mee-auto-ad-wrapper " style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-6114695881218027" data-ad-slot="8690493793" data-ad-format="horizontal" data-full-width-responsive="true"&gt;&lt;/ins&gt;
  1219. &lt;script&gt;
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  1222.     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
  1223.  
  1224. //]]&gt;
  1225. &lt;/script&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1226. &lt;/div&gt;
  1227. &lt;/div&gt;
  1228.  
  1229. &lt;p&gt;Middle East Eye reached out multiple times to the White House and Department of State for comment on whether they opposed Barghouti’s release or the release of other Palestinian officials convicted in Israeli courts of killing Israelis, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.&lt;/p&gt;
  1230.  
  1231. &lt;p&gt;Two former senior US officials familiar with the Biden administration's thinking told MEE they were not aware the US was opposing Barghouti’s release in the hostage negotiations.&lt;/p&gt;
  1232.  
  1233. &lt;p&gt;Barghouti is one of the most popular political figures in the occupied West Bank and Gaza and has been &lt;a href="https://prospect.org/world/2023-10-20-barghouti-palestines-nelson-mandela/"&gt;described&lt;/a&gt; as Palestine’s Nelson Mandela. A former leader of Fatah’s armed wing, he was arrested by Israeli forces in 2002 and sentenced to five life terms in prison for five counts of murder, among other charges.&lt;/p&gt;
  1234.  
  1235. &lt;p&gt;Barghouti, a key leader of the Second Intifada, is serving his sentence at Israel’s Megiddo prison and maintains he is not connected to attacks on Israeli civilians.&lt;/p&gt;
  1236.  
  1237. &lt;p&gt;Analysts say Barghouti could be a unifying figure among Palestinians, bridging the divide between Islamist Hamas and Fatah, the secular, nationalist party of Yasser Arafat that he is a part of.&lt;/p&gt;
  1238.  
  1239. &lt;blockquote&gt;
  1240. &lt;p&gt;'Abbas has shut down any talk of Barghouti as a potential candidate'&lt;/p&gt;
  1241.  
  1242. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;- Diana Buttu, former Palestinian peace negotiator&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1243. &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  1244.  
  1245. &lt;p&gt;It’s an open secret among Middle East diplomats and western officials that Hamas wants to obtain Barghouti’s release as part of a hostage deal with Israel, current and former officials have told MEE.&lt;/p&gt;
  1246.  
  1247. &lt;p&gt;Israel believes roughly 130 hostages are still being held by Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza following the 7 October attacks that killed about 1,200 people and saw over 200 taken back to Gaza as hostages.&lt;/p&gt;
  1248.  
  1249. &lt;p&gt;Obtaining the release of Barghouti would be a coup for Hamas, analysts say, but would pose troubles for Israel’s long-standing policy of keeping Gaza and the occupied West Bank divided.&lt;/p&gt;
  1250.  
  1251. &lt;p&gt;Although Barghouti was a member of Fatah's armed wing, he has not directly opposed Israel's existence, calling in a rare court appearance in 2012 for the creation of a Palestinian state along the borders of the pre-1967 war. &lt;/p&gt;
  1252.  
  1253. &lt;p&gt;“No one in the Israeli cabinet wants to see a united Palestinian Authority governing the West Bank and Gaza Strip, especially with some remnant of Hamas,” Menachem Klein, a former advisor to Israel’s government during the Geneva peace talks, previously told MEE.&lt;/p&gt;
  1254.  
  1255. &lt;h3&gt;'Shut down'&lt;/h3&gt;
  1256.  
  1257. &lt;p&gt;Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his inner circle also view Barghouti as a threat to their power.&lt;/p&gt;
  1258.  
  1259. &lt;p&gt;“Abbas has shut down any talk of Barghouti as a potential candidate,” Diana Buttu, a former Palestinian peace negotiator, previously told MEE, referring to US appeals for the PA to reform itself and move past Abbas, an octogenarian leader who has clung to power in the occupied West Bank, ruling by decree since 2006.&lt;/p&gt;
  1260.  
  1261. &lt;div class="mee-readmore mee-readmore-article-story mee-readmore-type-image align-right"&gt;
  1262.  &lt;a class="mee-readmore-img-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/after-years-writing-them-us-dips-its-toes-back-sordid-world-palestinian-authority-politics"&gt;&lt;img class="mee-readmore-image" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images-story/Palestine-AbbasPLO-2018-AFP.jpg.webp?itok=65qYozMh" width="400" height="250" alt="" loading="lazy" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;div class="mee-readmore-description"&gt;The US dips its toes back into Palestinian politics, but has trouble finding its feet&lt;/div&gt;
  1263.    &lt;a class="mee-readmore-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/after-years-writing-them-us-dips-its-toes-back-sordid-world-palestinian-authority-politics"&gt;Read More »&lt;/a&gt;
  1264. &lt;/div&gt;
  1265.  
  1266. &lt;p&gt;The PA was borne out of the Oslo peace talks. Its leadership comes from the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, which waged a decades-long struggle against Israel and its occupation of Palestine. In return for limited self-government in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, the PLO recognised Israel’s right to exist and renounced armed resistance.&lt;/p&gt;
  1267.  
  1268. &lt;p&gt;The PA is dominated by Fatah, a secular nationalist party that has been an arch-rival to Hamas since 2006 when the latter won a majority in the Palestinian legislature and formed a cabinet. Shortly after, fighting broke out between the two. Hamas consolidated its hold in Gaza, and the PA, in the occupied West Bank.&lt;/p&gt;
  1269.  
  1270. &lt;p&gt;Earlier this month, a senior figure in the PLO said Barghouti was being exposed to "isolation, torture and attempts to coerce, humiliate and beat him, putting his life in danger". &lt;/p&gt;
  1271.  
  1272. &lt;p&gt;The head of the Palestinian Commission for Detainees and Ex-Prisoners’ Affairs also said Israel is targeting Barghouti, and endangering his life with punitive measures that include "severe beatings, insults, humiliation and confiscation of the Qur’an from cells". &lt;/p&gt;
  1273.  
  1274. &lt;p&gt;Barghouti is one of roughly 9,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli jails. Since 7 October, Israel has barred the Red Cross and family members from visiting the prisoners.&lt;/p&gt;
  1275.  
  1276. &lt;p&gt;Talks to reach a hostage deal and truce to the war in Gaza between Hamas and Israel are being brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the US, but have stalled. Since the war on Gaza broke out, more than 32,000 people have been killed, with them being mostly women and children. &lt;/p&gt;
  1277. &lt;/div&gt;
  1278.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-topic"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/israel-palestine-war" hreflang="en"&gt;Israel-Palestine war&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1279.            &lt;div class="field field-field-coauthor-location"&gt;
  1280.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  1281.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  1282.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  1283.          &lt;/div&gt;
  1284.              &lt;div class="field field-field-article-location"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  1285.            &lt;div class="field field-field-comments"&gt;
  1286.              &lt;div&gt;&lt;drupal-render-placeholder callback="Drupal\disqus\Element\Disqus::displayDisqusComments" arguments="0=US%20urges%20Israel%20to%20%27transparently%20investigate%27%20Marwan%20Barghouti%20abuse%20allegations&amp;1=https%3A//www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-urges-israel-investigate-marwan-barghouti-abuse-allegations&amp;2=node/352626&amp;3=a%3A0%3A%7B%7D" token="MWxFS9kRPCGppHSbhRE_WZproh_euPdNoh-iQRwlNk4"&gt;&lt;/drupal-render-placeholder&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1287.          &lt;/div&gt;
  1288.              &lt;div class="field field-field-section"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/all" hreflang="en"&gt;News&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1289.      </description>
  1290.  <pubDate>Wed, 27 Mar 2024 20:12:48 +0000</pubDate>
  1291.    <dc:creator>MEE staff</dc:creator>
  1292.    <guid isPermaLink="false">352626 at https://www.middleeasteye.net</guid>
  1293.    </item>
  1294. <item>
  1295.  <title>Majority of Americans disapprove of Israel's military action in Gaza, new poll shows</title>
  1296.  <link>https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/majority-americans-disapprove-israels-military-actions-gaza-war-new-poll</link>
  1297.  <description>
  1298. &lt;span class="field field-title"&gt;Majority of Americans disapprove of Israel's military action in Gaza, new poll shows&lt;/span&gt;
  1299.            &lt;div class="field field-field-subhead"&gt;According to Gallup, support for Israel's actions in Gaza has waned across all three major political groups in the US since November&lt;/div&gt;
  1300.      
  1301. &lt;span class="field field-uid"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/zainab-iqbal" lang="" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/zainab-iqbal" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang=""&gt;Zainab Iqbal&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1302.  
  1303. &lt;span class="field field-created"&gt;&lt;time datetime="2024-03-27T18:17:22+00:00" title="27 March 2024 18:17 GMT"&gt;Wed, 03/27/2024 - 18:17&lt;/time&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1304.            &lt;div class="field field-field-main-image"&gt;    &lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/000_34MK3H2.jpg.webp?itok=eX95uXXN 1x" type="image/webp" width="1400" height="788"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/000_34MK3H2.jpg?itok=eX95uXXN 1x" type="image/jpeg" width="1400" height="788"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;img srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/000_34MK3H2.jpg?itok=eX95uXXN 1x" width="1400" height="788" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/max_2600x2600/public/images-story/000_34MK3H2.jpg?itok=MDvU9dAE" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" fetchpriority="high" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1305.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-cutline"&gt;A boy rides a bicycle past heavily damaged buildings along a street in Gaza City, on 27 March 2024 (AFP)&lt;/div&gt;
  1306.                  &lt;div class="field field-body clearfix"&gt;&lt;p&gt;American sentiment has significantly shifted against Israel's conduct in the war on Gaza, with 55 percent disapproving of Israel's actions, compared to 36 percent who approve, a new poll shows. &lt;/p&gt;
  1307.  
  1308. &lt;p&gt;According to the Gallup &lt;a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/642695/majority-disapprove-israeli-action-gaza.aspx"&gt;poll&lt;/a&gt;, which shows the results from a survey done from 1 to 20 March, approval ratings have plummeted since November 2023. During that time, 50 percent of Americans approved of Israel's military actions in Gaza and 45 percent disapproved.&lt;/p&gt;
  1309.  
  1310. &lt;p&gt;&lt;meta charset="UTF-8" /&gt;Since the Hamas-led 7 October attack on southern Israel and the subsequent war on Gaza, more than 90 percent of Gaza's 2.3 million residents have been displaced and at least 32,000 have been killed, with them being mostly women and children.&lt;/p&gt;
  1311.  
  1312. &lt;p&gt;According to Gallup, 74 percent of Americans say they are following news of the Israel-Palestine war closely, similar to the 72 percent the company measured in November. &lt;/p&gt;
  1313.  
  1314. &lt;p&gt;From those who approved Israel's actions, 43 percent said they were following the news "very closely", while from those who disapproved of Israel's actions, 55 percent said they were following it "very closely".&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"&gt;&lt;div&gt;
  1315.  &lt;div class="adsense responsive"&gt;
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  1323. &lt;/script&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1324. &lt;/div&gt;
  1325. &lt;/div&gt;
  1326.  
  1327. &lt;p&gt;"As the Israel-Hamas war drags on, US support for its ally’s actions in the war is slipping," Gallup said. "Although Americans rate Biden's handling of the conflict poorly, his overall job approval rating is no lower now than before the conflict began."&lt;/p&gt;
  1328.  
  1329. &lt;p&gt;"It could hurt the president by dampening turnout among would-be Biden voters who care deeply about the issue and are upset with his handling of the situation."&lt;/p&gt;
  1330.  
  1331. &lt;p&gt;According to Gallup, support for Israel's actions in Gaza has waned across all three major political groups in the US since November, with Democrats and Independents each showing an 18 percentage point drop in approval, and Republicans experiencing a seven-point decrease.&lt;/p&gt;
  1332.  
  1333. &lt;p&gt;Previously split, Independents now largely oppose the Israeli military actions. Democrats, who were predominantly against it in November, have intensified their opposition, with approval falling to 18 percent and disapproval rising to 75 percent.&lt;/p&gt;
  1334.  
  1335. &lt;p&gt;Although Republicans continue to back Israel's military initiatives, their support has diminished, with approval decreasing to 64 percent from 71 percent, the poll shows.&lt;/p&gt;
  1336.  
  1337. &lt;p&gt;On Wednesday, a State Department official &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/war-on-gaza-state-department-official-resigns-over-us-support-israel"&gt;resigned&lt;/a&gt; in protest against the Biden administration’s support for Israel, saying it had made her job promoting human rights “almost impossible”.&lt;/p&gt;
  1338.  
  1339. &lt;p&gt;&lt;meta charset="UTF-8" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"&gt;&lt;div&gt;
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  1348. &lt;/script&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1349. &lt;/div&gt;
  1350. &lt;/div&gt;
  1351.  
  1352. &lt;p&gt;Annelle Sheline, 38, resigned midway through her two-year contract with the US Department of State as a foreign affairs officer in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.&lt;/p&gt;
  1353.  
  1354. &lt;p&gt;“My colleagues and I watched in horror as this administration delivered thousands of precision-guided munitions, bombs, small arms and other lethal aid to Israel….We are appalled by the administration’s flagrant disregard for American laws," Sheline said.&lt;/p&gt;
  1355.  
  1356. &lt;p&gt;&lt;meta charset="UTF-8" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1357.  
  1358. &lt;h3&gt;Ceasefire resolution&lt;/h3&gt;
  1359.  
  1360. &lt;h3&gt;&lt;meta charset="UTF-8" /&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;
  1361.  
  1362. &lt;p&gt;On Monday, the UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for an "immediate ceasefire" in &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/israel-palestine-war" target="_blank"&gt;Gaza&lt;/a&gt; for the remainder of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, after the &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/us" target="_blank"&gt;United States&lt;/a&gt; abstained from the vote and declined to veto it.&lt;/p&gt;
  1363.  
  1364. &lt;p&gt;The resolution also called for the release of all Israeli captives held in Gaza and "the urgent need to expand the flow" of aid into the besieged enclave.&lt;/p&gt;
  1365.  
  1366. &lt;p&gt;The US has been floating a Gaza ceasefire resolution since February as a way to pressure Israel, with Washington increasingly frustrated by what Biden has labelled Israel’s “indiscriminate bombing” of Gaza and failure to craft a post-war plan for the besieged enclave which the UN has warned is on the brink of famine.&lt;/p&gt;
  1367.  
  1368. &lt;p&gt;&lt;meta charset="UTF-8" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"&gt;&lt;div&gt;
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  1377. &lt;/script&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1378. &lt;/div&gt;
  1379. &lt;/div&gt;
  1380.  
  1381. &lt;p&gt;A recent UN-backed report warned that famine was imminent in northern Gaza, a crisis many have accused Israel of causing by &lt;a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/12/18/israel-starvation-used-weapon-war-gaza" target="_blank"&gt;using starvation&lt;/a&gt; as a weapon of war.&lt;/p&gt;
  1382.  
  1383. &lt;p&gt;&lt;meta charset="UTF-8" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1384. &lt;/div&gt;
  1385.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-topic"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/israel-palestine-war" hreflang="en"&gt;Israel-Palestine war&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1386.            &lt;div class="field field-field-coauthor-location"&gt;
  1387.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  1388.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
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  1390.          &lt;/div&gt;
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  1395.              &lt;div class="field field-field-section"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/all" hreflang="en"&gt;News&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1396.      </description>
  1397.  <pubDate>Wed, 27 Mar 2024 18:17:22 +0000</pubDate>
  1398.    <dc:creator>Zainab Iqbal</dc:creator>
  1399.    <guid isPermaLink="false">352611 at https://www.middleeasteye.net</guid>
  1400.    </item>
  1401. <item>
  1402.  <title>Candace Owens and the media war Israel has sparked among US conservatives</title>
  1403.  <link>https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/candace-owens-media-war-israel-us-conservatives</link>
  1404.  <description>
  1405. &lt;span class="field field-title"&gt;Candace Owens and the media war Israel has sparked among US conservatives&lt;/span&gt;
  1406.            &lt;div class="field field-field-subhead"&gt;Candace Owens' departure from The Daily Wire is emblematic of a deep split within conservative pundits on Israel's conduct during the war on Gaza&lt;/div&gt;
  1407.      
  1408. &lt;span class="field field-uid"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/zainab-iqbal" lang="" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/zainab-iqbal" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang=""&gt;Zainab Iqbal&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1409.  
  1410. &lt;span class="field field-created"&gt;&lt;time datetime="2024-03-27T17:01:36+00:00" title="27 March 2024 17:01 GMT"&gt;Wed, 03/27/2024 - 17:01&lt;/time&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1411.            &lt;div class="field field-field-main-image"&gt;    &lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/063_1333301243.jpg.webp?itok=jg5dHOKU 1x" type="image/webp" width="1400" height="788"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/063_1333301243.jpg?itok=jg5dHOKU 1x" type="image/jpeg" width="1400" height="788"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;img srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/063_1333301243.jpg?itok=jg5dHOKU 1x" width="1400" height="788" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/max_2600x2600/public/images-story/063_1333301243.jpg?itok=tjl05a1V" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" fetchpriority="high" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1412.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-cutline"&gt;Candace Owens hosts The Candace Owens show on 9 August 2021 in Nashville, Tennessee (Jason Kempin/AFP)&lt;/div&gt;
  1413.                  &lt;div class="field field-body clearfix"&gt;&lt;p&gt;American conservative political commentator Candace Owens has been making headlines after leaving The Daily Wire, a media outlet co-founded by conservative media personality Ben Shapiro and film director Jeremy Boreing, after heavily criticising Israel's conduct during the war in Gaza. &lt;/p&gt;
  1414.  
  1415. &lt;p&gt;“The rumours are true - I am finally free," Owens wrote on X. &lt;/p&gt;
  1416.  
  1417. &lt;p&gt;Owen's rise to prominence came primarily from her pro-Trump commentary in 2017, earning her a reputation as the "new face of black conservatism", as well as her critiques of the Black Lives Matter movement, identity politics, cancel culture and structural racism - among other topics that dot the culture wars.&lt;/p&gt;
  1418.  
  1419. &lt;p&gt;Recently she has been a vocal critic of Israel and characterised its actions in the war on Gaza as genocide, but the founders of the media outlet she worked for are unabashedly pro-Israel.&lt;/p&gt;
  1420.  
  1421. &lt;p&gt;Last November, Owens &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/RealCandaceO/status/1720511533136953699?lang=en"&gt;tweeted&lt;/a&gt; about the war in Gaza saying, "No government anywhere has a right to commit a genocide, ever. There is no justification for a genocide. I can’t believe this even needs to be said or is even considered the least bit controversial to state.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"&gt;&lt;div&gt;
  1422.  &lt;div class="adsense responsive"&gt;
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  1431. &lt;/div&gt;
  1432. &lt;/div&gt;
  1433.  
  1434. &lt;p&gt;Shapiro later posted a video saying Owens' opinions on Gaza were "disgraceful". &lt;/p&gt;
  1435.  
  1436. &lt;p&gt;Owens posted on X a quotation from the New Testament, &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/RealCandaceO/status/1724456541623886079"&gt;beginning&lt;/a&gt; with, "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven... You cannot serve both God and money."&lt;/p&gt;
  1437.  
  1438. &lt;p&gt;Shapiro responded to that and &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1724914588146155542?lang=en"&gt;wrote&lt;/a&gt;, "Candace, if you feel that taking money from The Daily Wire somehow comes between you and God, by all means quit."&lt;/p&gt;
  1439.  
  1440. &lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560"&gt;
  1441. &lt;p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en" xml:lang="en"&gt;Piers Morgan presses Ben Shapiro on Candace Owens' departure from The Daily Wire, but Ben refuses to respond.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  1442. "I'm not going to speak to this topic Piers."&lt;a href="https://twitter.com/piersmorgan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;@piersmorgan&lt;/a&gt; | &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;@benshapiro&lt;/a&gt; | &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/RealCandaceO?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;@RealCandaceO&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href="https://t.co/v80oMnUuLF"&gt;pic.twitter.com/v80oMnUuLF&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1443. — Censored Men (@CensoredMen) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/CensoredMen/status/1772736873661632536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;March 26, 2024&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;
  1444. &lt;script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;p&gt;On Tuesday on the YouTube channel, Piers Morgan Uncensored, media personality Piers Morgan pressed Shapiro on why Owens left. &lt;/p&gt;
  1445.  
  1446. &lt;p&gt;"Was she fired or did she leave at her own volition?" Morgan asked.&lt;/p&gt;
  1447.  
  1448. &lt;p&gt;"I am not going to speak to this topic, Piers," Shapiro answered, smiling. &lt;/p&gt;
  1449.  
  1450. &lt;p&gt;Morgan eventually says, "I'm only curious because I know what a staunch defender of free speech you are and it would surprise me if it had been someone's opinion that would make you want to part company with them however contentious."&lt;/p&gt;
  1451.  
  1452. &lt;p&gt;Shapiro answered that he is not in a hiring or firing position with The Daily Wire, as he is just a co-founder and not in management. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"&gt;&lt;div&gt;
  1453.  &lt;div class="adsense responsive"&gt;
  1454.    &lt;script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6114695881218027" crossorigin="anonymous"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;!-- responsive --&gt;&lt;ins class="adsbygoogle mee-auto-ad-wrapper " style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-6114695881218027" data-ad-slot="8690493793" data-ad-format="horizontal" data-full-width-responsive="true"&gt;&lt;/ins&gt;
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  1460. //]]&gt;
  1461. &lt;/script&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1462. &lt;/div&gt;
  1463. &lt;/div&gt;
  1464.  
  1465. &lt;p&gt;"As far as the free speech situation, what I will say is that no company has the obligation to literally pay anyone. The Daily Wire is a publisher; it is not a platform. I've never called for Candace or anyone else for that matter to be banned from YouTube, to be banned from X, to be banned from any platform," he said.&lt;/p&gt;
  1466.  
  1467. &lt;p&gt;Middle East Eye reached out to Owens for comment, but she did not respond by the time of publication.&lt;/p&gt;
  1468.  
  1469. &lt;h3&gt;Accusations of antisemitism &lt;/h3&gt;
  1470.  
  1471. &lt;p&gt;Owens has spoken about “political Jews” and a “very small ring of specific people who are using the fact that they are Jewish to shield themselves from any criticism".&lt;/p&gt;
  1472.  
  1473. &lt;p&gt;On Monday, she &lt;a data-link-name="in body link" href="https://www.mediaite.com/media/candace-owens-endorses-wild-anti-semitic-conspiracy-theory-about-jews-being-drunk-on-christian-blood/"&gt;liked&lt;/a&gt; a post in which a user asked right-wing Rabbi Shmuley Boteach if he was “drunk on Christian blood again”.&lt;/p&gt;
  1474.  
  1475. &lt;p&gt;Owens has been accused of antisemitism by the &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/progressive-organisations-urged-not-work-anti-defamation-league"&gt;Anti-Defamation League&lt;/a&gt;, which posted a report highlighting far-right activist Nick Fuentes commending Owens for initiating what he called a “full-fledged war against the Jews”.&lt;/p&gt;
  1476.  
  1477. &lt;p&gt;She denied antisemitism allegations and wrote on X, “Everyone can see what you guys are doing to me. Your pattern is well established and the world is waking up to it. My crime is having stood up for myself against your network of smears.”&lt;/p&gt;
  1478.  
  1479. &lt;p&gt;She then said that it seems her "crime" was not believing "that American taxpayers should have to pay for Israel’s wars or the wars of any other country”.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"&gt;&lt;div&gt;
  1480.  &lt;div class="adsense responsive"&gt;
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  1482. &lt;script&gt;
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  1487. //]]&gt;
  1488. &lt;/script&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1489. &lt;/div&gt;
  1490. &lt;/div&gt;
  1491.  
  1492. &lt;p&gt;She has spoken out about how the policies of the Democratic Party do more harm than good to the Black community, leading her and many others to shift their allegiance to the right. She is the co-founder of Blexit, a campaign that urges Black Americans to abandon the Democratic Party. &lt;/p&gt;
  1493.  
  1494. &lt;p&gt;In her book &lt;em&gt;Blackout&lt;/em&gt;, she argues that the Democratic Party has a deep-rooted history of racism, and highlights the principles that obstruct the Black community's potential to overcome poverty, lead independent and successful lives, and actively engage in the "American dream". &lt;/p&gt;
  1495.  
  1496. &lt;p&gt;It's one reason why conservatives adored her and the left did not. It's why they applauded her when she posed for a photo with Kanye West &lt;a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kanye-west-white-lives-matter-shirt-candace-owens-fashion-show-backlash/"&gt;wearing&lt;/a&gt; a "White Lives Matter" shirt.&lt;/p&gt;
  1497.  
  1498. &lt;p&gt;But the right wing, often, draws the line at Israel. And when Owens reached outside that fold, she found herself unemployed.&lt;/p&gt;
  1499.  
  1500. &lt;h3&gt;Right-wing infighting &lt;/h3&gt;
  1501.  
  1502. &lt;p&gt;Rabbi Shmuley Boteach is an American rabbi and television and radio host. He has accused Owens of being antisemitic. But Boteach is no stranger to controversy himself. Earlier this week, he posted a video &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/RabbiShmuley/status/1772035462934270080"&gt;dressed&lt;/a&gt; as a "Candace Owens Jew" for the Jewish holiday, Purim, while he pretended to sip on Christian blood. &lt;/p&gt;
  1503.  
  1504. &lt;p&gt;He was seen with a protruding fake nose, a T-shirt stained with fake blood and adorned with $100 bill prints, face tattoos resembling the flag of Israel, and the word “Filth” written across his forehead in black marker. His costume was condemned by Jews on X who called it embarrassing, damaging, and offensive.&lt;/p&gt;
  1505.  
  1506. &lt;p&gt;In another video, he can be seen &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/ShaykhSulaiman/status/1772009538574508228"&gt;dancing&lt;/a&gt; on the lap of a child. &lt;/p&gt;
  1507.  
  1508. &lt;p&gt;Alex Jones, a far-right radio host accused of being a conspiracy theorist, responded to the video, saying, "You have clearly had a nervous breakdown. You go around starting fights with people and then flip out when they respond. For the sake of your family seek help."&lt;/p&gt;
  1509.  
  1510. &lt;blockquote&gt;
  1511. &lt;p&gt;'Smearing people as racist, antisemitic, and crazy usually works for them. They don’t know how to handle the fact that the public isn’t biting this time'&lt;/p&gt;
  1512.  
  1513. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;- Candace Owens&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1514. &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  1515.  
  1516. &lt;p&gt;A user on X replied to that tweet agreeing with Jones, saying that Owens "doesn't have a microgram of hate in her towards any race or group of people or religion. The more they attack her the more support she will get. The gigs up."&lt;/p&gt;
  1517.  
  1518. &lt;p&gt;Owens responded, "It does indeed seem to be backfiring, but we have to remember we are dealing with an uncreative lot. Smearing people as racist, antisemitic, and crazy usually works for them. They don’t know how to handle the fact that the public isn’t biting this time."&lt;/p&gt;
  1519.  
  1520. &lt;p&gt;Like Owens, Jones has also labelled Israel's actions in Gaza as genocide, and he too has faced backlash for it. &lt;/p&gt;
  1521.  
  1522. &lt;p&gt;On 21 March, he wrote on X, "Israel has lost the high ground. This is not war. It is robotic mass genocide. Section 1091 of Title 18, United States Code, prohibits genocide whether committed in time of peace or time of war. Genocide is defined in 1091 and includes violent attacks with the specific intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.&lt;/p&gt;
  1523.  
  1524. &lt;p&gt;"If you support Israel, you should not support the random killing of civilians. Israel is committing suicide with actions like this."&lt;/p&gt;
  1525.  
  1526. &lt;p&gt;The following day, he called out the Israeli government, saying that the whole world turned on them.&lt;/p&gt;
  1527.  
  1528. &lt;p&gt;"You can’t bomb and slowly starve people on TV and not become the bad guys in the eyes of the world. Kill Hamas not children."&lt;/p&gt;
  1529.  
  1530. &lt;h3&gt;Rabbi Boteach vs Ben Shapiro&lt;/h3&gt;
  1531.  
  1532. &lt;p&gt;But perhaps, the more notable exchange on X has been between Boteach and Shapiro. &lt;/p&gt;
  1533.  
  1534. &lt;p&gt;On Tuesday, Boteach wrote on X, "Scared-stiff, Terrified Ben Shapiro continues to hide behind the revolting antisemitic retweets of his sycophants who attack me for finally forcing him to act against his cash cow, arch anti-semite Candace Owens, rather than agreeing to debate me as to whether it was moral for him to pocket millions of dollars off her Jew-hatred, for two full years, as the American Queen of antisemites Candace Owens, accused brave IDF soldiers of genocide, refused to condemn the savagery of October 7, all under Ben Shapiro’s watch,&lt;/p&gt;
  1535.  
  1536. &lt;p&gt;"Ben Schapiro is hiding in some cave in Boca as he pretends to be a defender of Israel while pockets money off the suffering of the Jewish people and the IDF."&lt;/p&gt;
  1537.  
  1538. &lt;div class="mee-readmore mee-readmore-article-story mee-readmore-type-image align-right"&gt;
  1539.  &lt;a class="mee-readmore-img-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/features/what-temple-mount-movement"&gt;&lt;img class="mee-readmore-image" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/Glick%20protest%20%28AFP%29.jpg.webp?itok=RUsY2gjJ" width="400" height="250" alt="" loading="lazy" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;div class="mee-readmore-description"&gt;What is the Temple Mount Movement?&lt;/div&gt;
  1540.    &lt;a class="mee-readmore-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/features/what-temple-mount-movement"&gt;Read More »&lt;/a&gt;
  1541. &lt;/div&gt;
  1542.  
  1543. &lt;p&gt;Shapiro made the news earlier this year when he launched his rap career with a track titled,&lt;em&gt; Facts,&lt;/em&gt; which ascended to the number 1 position in the iTunes Store.&lt;/p&gt;
  1544.  
  1545. &lt;p&gt;The track, resulting from a partnership between Shapiro and Canadian rapper Tom MacDonald, features verses that target critics, address cultural conflicts, critique the rap industry at large, and specifically mention the rap stars, Nicki Minaj and Lizzo.&lt;/p&gt;
  1546.  
  1547. &lt;p&gt;In 2022, Shapiro made the news again when he &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/ben-shapiro-performs-jewish-prayer-al-aqsa-complex"&gt;visited&lt;/a&gt; Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque and performed Talmudic rituals in its courtyard, a move often banned by Israeli forces.&lt;/p&gt;
  1548.  
  1549. &lt;p&gt;The Al-Aqsa Mosque is one of Islam's holiest sites and sits in occupied East Jerusalem, which Jews refer to as the Temple Mount.&lt;/p&gt;
  1550.  
  1551. &lt;p&gt;In 2021, the conservative media personality criticised a report by the Associated Press and said: "Muslims visit and pray on the Temple Mount every single day; the Temple Mount is sovereign Israeli territory. Jews are the only people restricted in any way. But it's somehow provocative for Jews to visit and pray."&lt;/p&gt;
  1552.  
  1553. &lt;p&gt;While Muslims are allowed to pray in the courtyards and prayer halls of the mosque, Jews are forbidden from praying there. But Israeli ultra-nationalists, often settlers, occasionally enter the area and attempt to pray there. They are stopped from doing so by representatives of the Islamic Waqf organisation that administers the site, and by the police.&lt;/p&gt;
  1554.  
  1555. &lt;p&gt;The infighting within American conservatives has also reached perhaps its most prominent personality: conservative commentator, Tucker Carlson.&lt;/p&gt;
  1556.  
  1557. &lt;p&gt;Contrary to many other Republicans, Carlson has questioned the wisdom behind the US's unconditional backing of Israel's war on Gaza. Like Owens, he has been critical of Israel's war and has even slammed Shapiro for his views, saying his comments could "destroy" the country.&lt;/p&gt;
  1558. &lt;/div&gt;
  1559.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-topic"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/media" hreflang="en"&gt;Media&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1560.            &lt;div class="field field-field-coauthor-location"&gt;
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  1570.      </description>
  1571.  <pubDate>Wed, 27 Mar 2024 17:01:36 +0000</pubDate>
  1572.    <dc:creator>Zainab Iqbal</dc:creator>
  1573.    <guid isPermaLink="false">352551 at https://www.middleeasteye.net</guid>
  1574.    </item>
  1575. <item>
  1576.  <title>War on Gaza: State Department official resigns over US support for Israel </title>
  1577.  <link>https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/war-on-gaza-state-department-official-resigns-over-us-support-israel</link>
  1578.  <description>
  1579. &lt;span class="field field-title"&gt;War on Gaza: State Department official resigns over US support for Israel &lt;/span&gt;
  1580.            &lt;div class="field field-field-subhead"&gt;Annelle Sheline said US support for Israel's war on Gaza made it 'almost impossible' to advance human rights&lt;/div&gt;
  1581.      
  1582. &lt;span class="field field-uid"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/mee-staff" lang="" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/mee-staff" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang=""&gt;MEE staff&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1583.  
  1584. &lt;span class="field field-created"&gt;&lt;time datetime="2024-03-27T18:42:55+00:00" title="27 March 2024 18:42 GMT"&gt;Wed, 03/27/2024 - 18:42&lt;/time&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1585.            &lt;div class="field field-field-main-image"&gt;    &lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/Blinken_statedepartment-July2022-AFP.jpg.webp?itok=MF0xaq46 1x" type="image/webp" width="1400" height="788"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/Blinken_statedepartment-July2022-AFP.jpg?itok=MF0xaq46 1x" type="image/jpeg" width="1400" height="788"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;img srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/Blinken_statedepartment-July2022-AFP.jpg?itok=MF0xaq46 1x" width="1400" height="788" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/max_2600x2600/public/images-story/Blinken_statedepartment-July2022-AFP.jpg?itok=FiBvKyW7" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" fetchpriority="high" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1586.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-cutline"&gt;US Secretary of State Antony Blinken talks to reporters in the press briefing room at the State Department's Harry S Truman building, on 17 July 2023 in Washington, DC (Chip Somodevilla/AFP)&lt;/div&gt;
  1587.                  &lt;div class="field field-body clearfix"&gt;&lt;p&gt;A State Department official resigned on Wednesday in protest against the Biden administration’s support for Israel, saying it had made her job promoting human rights “almost impossible”.&lt;/p&gt;
  1588.  
  1589. &lt;p&gt;Annelle Sheline, 38, resigned midway through her two-year contract with the US Department of State as a foreign affairs officer in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.&lt;/p&gt;
  1590.  
  1591. &lt;p&gt;Sheline &lt;a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/03/27/gaza-state-department-resignation-dissent/"&gt;said&lt;/a&gt; that given her position, she didn’t believe it mattered enough to announce her resignation publicly but was encouraged by other State Department staff opposed to US support for Israel’s war on Gaza.&lt;/p&gt;
  1592.  
  1593. &lt;p&gt;“The response I heard repeatedly was, 'please speak for us'.”&lt;/p&gt;
  1594.  
  1595. &lt;p&gt;“By resigning publicly, I am saddened by the knowledge that I likely foreclose a future at the State Department,” she wrote in an &lt;a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/27/opinions/gaza-israel-resigning-state-department-sheline/index.html"&gt;open letter&lt;/a&gt; on CNN.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"&gt;&lt;div&gt;
  1596.  &lt;div class="adsense responsive"&gt;
  1597.    &lt;script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6114695881218027" crossorigin="anonymous"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;!-- responsive --&gt;&lt;ins class="adsbygoogle mee-auto-ad-wrapper " style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-6114695881218027" data-ad-slot="8690493793" data-ad-format="horizontal" data-full-width-responsive="true"&gt;&lt;/ins&gt;
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  1604. &lt;/script&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1605. &lt;/div&gt;
  1606. &lt;/div&gt;
  1607.  
  1608. &lt;p&gt;Sheline, whose job focused on human rights promotion in the Middle East and North Africa, said she had tried to raise her concerns about US support for Israel in State Department dissent cables and at staff meetings, but that it was pointless “as long as the US continues to send a steady stream of weapons to Israel”.&lt;/p&gt;
  1609.  
  1610. &lt;p&gt;“My colleagues and I watched in horror as this administration delivered thousands of precision-guided munitions, bombs, small arms and other lethal aid to Israel….We are appalled by the administration’s flagrant disregard for American laws.”&lt;/p&gt;
  1611.  
  1612. &lt;p&gt;Sheline’s resignation is the most high-profile departure from the State Department since Josh Paul, a former director overseeing US arms transfers, resigned from his post just days after Israel’s war on Gaza began.&lt;/p&gt;
  1613.  
  1614. &lt;p&gt;"So proud of my former colleague Dr. Annelle Sheline for being the third US official to publicly resign over the absolute disaster that is the Biden Administration's continuing support for Israel's war crimes, bombings, and starvation of innocent civilians in Gaza,” Paul said in a post on LinkedIn in response to the news.&lt;/p&gt;
  1615.  
  1616. &lt;p&gt;Separately, Tariq Habash, a Palestinian American, resigned from his political appointment in January at the &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/us"&gt;US&lt;/a&gt; Department of Education.&lt;/p&gt;
  1617.  
  1618. &lt;p&gt;State Department officials opposed to US support for Israel have penned dissent cables accusing Israel of committing "war crimes" and accusing Biden of "spreading misinformation" on the war.&lt;/p&gt;
  1619.  
  1620. &lt;p&gt;MEE reported &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/war-gaza-staffers-internal-anger-with-biden-congress-reaches-boiling-point"&gt;previously&lt;/a&gt; that Biden’s position on the war had also sparked a backlash among staffers to Democratic lawmakers in Congress.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"&gt;&lt;div&gt;
  1621.  &lt;div class="adsense responsive"&gt;
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  1629. &lt;/script&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1630. &lt;/div&gt;
  1631. &lt;/div&gt;
  1632.  
  1633. &lt;p&gt;In February,  Aaron Bushnell, a 25-year-old US Air Force serviceman, self-immolated outside Israel's embassy in Washington DC as he screamed "Free Palestine," in protest against the Biden administration's Gaza policy. He later died of his injuries. &lt;/p&gt;
  1634.  
  1635. &lt;p&gt;However, public criticism within the Biden administration has mainly been confined to young staff members and low-ranking officials. &lt;/p&gt;
  1636.  
  1637. &lt;p&gt;Sheline herself said that there are “plenty of people [at the State Department] who wouldn’t agree with my point of view.”&lt;/p&gt;
  1638.  
  1639. &lt;p&gt;The bigger challenge to Biden’s support for Israel has emerged among key members of his electoral coalition in swing states, such as Arab Americans and progressives in Michigan and Pennsylvania, where Biden and former President Donald Trump are locked in tight races ahead of the November election.&lt;/p&gt;
  1640. &lt;/div&gt;
  1641.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-topic"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/israel-palestine-war" hreflang="en"&gt;Israel-Palestine war&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1642.            &lt;div class="field field-field-coauthor-location"&gt;
  1643.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  1644.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  1645.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  1646.          &lt;/div&gt;
  1647.              &lt;div class="field field-field-article-location"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  1648.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-landing-title"&gt;'Appalled': State Department official resigns over US support for Israel &lt;/div&gt;
  1649.            &lt;div class="field field-field-comments"&gt;
  1650.              &lt;div&gt;&lt;drupal-render-placeholder callback="Drupal\disqus\Element\Disqus::displayDisqusComments" arguments="0=War%20on%20Gaza%3A%20State%20Department%20official%20resigns%20over%20US%20support%20for%20Israel%20&amp;1=https%3A//www.middleeasteye.net/news/war-on-gaza-state-department-official-resigns-over-us-support-israel&amp;2=node/352596&amp;3=a%3A0%3A%7B%7D" token="tljNphuD8Peyd1TsCX9PF-h69nUrsEpsw1uln64MdSY"&gt;&lt;/drupal-render-placeholder&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1651.          &lt;/div&gt;
  1652.              &lt;div class="field field-field-section"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/all" hreflang="en"&gt;News&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1653.      </description>
  1654.  <pubDate>Wed, 27 Mar 2024 18:42:55 +0000</pubDate>
  1655.    <dc:creator>MEE staff</dc:creator>
  1656.    <guid isPermaLink="false">352596 at https://www.middleeasteye.net</guid>
  1657.    </item>
  1658. <item>
  1659.  <title>British-Palestinian war surgeon elected rector of University of Glasgow</title>
  1660.  <link>https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/british-palestinian-war-surgeon-elected-rector-university-glasgow</link>
  1661.  <description>
  1662. &lt;span class="field field-title"&gt;British-Palestinian war surgeon elected rector of University of Glasgow&lt;/span&gt;
  1663.            &lt;div class="field field-field-subhead"&gt;Ghassan Abu Sittah says university took principled stance on South African apartheid. Now, 'Palestine is the anti-apartheid struggle'&lt;/div&gt;
  1664.      
  1665. &lt;span class="field field-uid"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/mee-staff" lang="" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/mee-staff" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang=""&gt;MEE staff&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1666.  
  1667. &lt;span class="field field-created"&gt;&lt;time datetime="2024-03-27T17:17:12+00:00" title="27 March 2024 17:17 GMT"&gt;Wed, 03/27/2024 - 17:17&lt;/time&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1668.            &lt;div class="field field-field-main-image"&gt;    &lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/uk-ghassan-abu-sittah-november-2023-mee.jpg.webp?itok=gw5l6eG_ 1x" type="image/webp" width="1400" height="875"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/uk-ghassan-abu-sittah-november-2023-mee.jpg?itok=gw5l6eG_ 1x" type="image/jpeg" width="1400" height="875"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;img srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/uk-ghassan-abu-sittah-november-2023-mee.jpg?itok=gw5l6eG_ 1x" width="1400" height="875" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/max_2600x2600/public/images-story/uk-ghassan-abu-sittah-november-2023-mee.jpg?itok=e06uYHRD" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" fetchpriority="high" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1669.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-cutline"&gt;Ghassan Abu Sittah spent 43 days operating out of al-Shifa hospital and al-Ahli Baptist hospital in Gaza (MEE)&lt;/div&gt;
  1670.                  &lt;div class="field field-body clearfix"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ghassan Abu Sittah, a British-Palestinian doctor who spent more than a month last year in Gaza performing surgeries for wounded &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine"&gt;Palestinians&lt;/a&gt;, has been elected as the new rector of the University of Glasgow.&lt;/p&gt;
  1671.  
  1672. &lt;p&gt;Abu Sittah, a former student at the university, is a leading and renowned plastic and reconstructive surgeon with expertise in war zone medicine. He received 80 percent of the first-choice votes, and will now serve a three-year term as rector, the highest official position in a university.&lt;/p&gt;
  1673.  
  1674. &lt;p&gt;In an &lt;a href="https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/24213251.gaza-war-surgeon-elected-rector-university-glasgow/"&gt;interview&lt;/a&gt; with The Herald, a Scottish newspaper, he said his time as a student at the University of Glasgow helped shape his career choices, and led him to a career in conflict medicine.&lt;/p&gt;
  1675.  
  1676. &lt;p&gt;"The life choices that I made and the career choices that I made to pursue a parallel career in war surgery was built out of that experience and that side of Glasgow that is extremely internationalist," he told The Herald.&lt;/p&gt;
  1677.  
  1678. &lt;p&gt;He noted that while studying at the school, the university's rector was Winnie Mandela, wife of anti-apartheid activist and former South African president, Nelson Mandela.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"&gt;&lt;div&gt;
  1679.  &lt;div class="adsense responsive"&gt;
  1680.    &lt;script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6114695881218027" crossorigin="anonymous"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;!-- responsive --&gt;&lt;ins class="adsbygoogle mee-auto-ad-wrapper " style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-6114695881218027" data-ad-slot="8690493793" data-ad-format="horizontal" data-full-width-responsive="true"&gt;&lt;/ins&gt;
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  1686. //]]&gt;
  1687. &lt;/script&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1688. &lt;/div&gt;
  1689. &lt;/div&gt;
  1690.  
  1691. &lt;p&gt;"Glasgow University took a principled stand then, and I think for this new generation Palestine is the anti-apartheid struggle," he said.&lt;/p&gt;
  1692.  
  1693. &lt;p&gt;During that time, the university had also set up scholarships for the victims of the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacres, when a right-wing Lebanese militia killed hundreds in two adjoining refugee camps in southern Lebanon, as Israeli troops watched on.&lt;/p&gt;
  1694.  
  1695. &lt;p&gt;Abu Sittah was born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents who were forced to leave their land during Nakba in 1948. He has often worked in Gaza, providing plastic surgery to victims of the several wars that have taken place there in recent decades.&lt;/p&gt;
  1696.  
  1697. &lt;p&gt;He has also worked in Iraq, Yemen, Syria, and Lebanon. In Beirut, he set up a cleft care programme for refugee children.&lt;/p&gt;
  1698.  
  1699. &lt;h3&gt;Smelling 'death and decay'&lt;/h3&gt;
  1700.  
  1701. &lt;p&gt;After Israel began its war on Gaza, Abu Sittah made the quick decision to travel there to provide expertise for the enclave's civilian population which was facing daily bombings from Israeli warplanes. Just a few days after the war began, he was in Gaza.&lt;/p&gt;
  1702.  
  1703. &lt;p&gt;He went on to spend 43 days operating out of al-Shifa hospital and al-Ahli Baptist hospital in Gaza.&lt;/p&gt;
  1704.  
  1705. &lt;p&gt;In addition to providing life-saving support to numerous Palestinians, he also became a prominent source of news and information coming from Gaza.&lt;/p&gt;
  1706.  
  1707. &lt;div class="mee-readmore mee-readmore-article-video mee-readmore-type-video align-right"&gt;
  1708.  &lt;a class="mee-readmore-img-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/video/ghassan-abu-sittah-what-i-saw-gaza-part-1-real-talk#autoplay"&gt;&lt;img class="mee-readmore-image" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/video_thumbnails/K1w7RDWueiM.jpg?itok=uto8nLw1" width="400" height="250" alt="" loading="lazy" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;div class="mee-readmore-description"&gt;Ghassan Abu Sittah: ‘This is what I saw in Gaza’ (Part 1) | Real Talk&lt;/div&gt;
  1709.    &lt;a class="mee-readmore-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/video/ghassan-abu-sittah-what-i-saw-gaza-part-1-real-talk#autoplay"&gt;Read More »&lt;/a&gt;
  1710. &lt;/div&gt;
  1711.  
  1712. &lt;p&gt;Since Israel's war in Gaza began following the 7 October attacks led by Hamas, Israeli forces have killed more than 32,000 Palestinians, levelled entire residential neighbourhoods and targeted civilian infrastructure including UN shelters, schools, mosques, and hospitals.&lt;/p&gt;
  1713.  
  1714. &lt;p&gt;Abu Sittah detailed the desperate situation inside Gaza's hospitals, which were receiving far more patients than they could deal with, on top of facing bombardment and supply shortages.&lt;/p&gt;
  1715.  
  1716. &lt;p&gt;Abu Sittah, who worked at both al-Shifa and al-Ahli hospitals, noted that Gaza’s medical infrastructure had been targeted repeatedly by Israeli forces during its bombardment of the territory.&lt;/p&gt;
  1717.  
  1718. &lt;p&gt;"We saw the Israelis target solar panels on top of hospitals, buildings and even patients,” he said in a previous interview with Middle East Eye.&lt;/p&gt;
  1719.  
  1720. &lt;p&gt;"Every time you drove past a building, you could smell death and decay."&lt;/p&gt;
  1721.  
  1722. &lt;p&gt;He described his most recent time in Gaza as one of the most difficult times of his life, and spoke to MEE at length about what it was like to work there, including at times when they didn't have enough supplies to perform surgery.&lt;/p&gt;
  1723.  
  1724. &lt;p&gt;"If you can't operate on the wounded, then you just bandage them up and put them in the corner and hope for the best," he said.&lt;/p&gt;
  1725. &lt;/div&gt;
  1726.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-topic"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/israel-palestine-war" hreflang="en"&gt;Israel-Palestine war&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1727.            &lt;div class="field field-field-coauthor-location"&gt;
  1728.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  1729.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  1730.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  1731.          &lt;/div&gt;
  1732.              &lt;div class="field field-field-article-location"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  1733.            &lt;div class="field field-field-comments"&gt;
  1734.              &lt;div&gt;&lt;drupal-render-placeholder callback="Drupal\disqus\Element\Disqus::displayDisqusComments" arguments="0=British-Palestinian%20war%20surgeon%20elected%20rector%20of%20University%20of%20Glasgow&amp;1=https%3A//www.middleeasteye.net/news/british-palestinian-war-surgeon-elected-rector-university-glasgow&amp;2=node/352556&amp;3=a%3A0%3A%7B%7D" token="wml7KABanuvgrf0A1I-k_bPeAxBeRYTNWN_888yxPY8"&gt;&lt;/drupal-render-placeholder&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1735.          &lt;/div&gt;
  1736.              &lt;div class="field field-field-section"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/all" hreflang="en"&gt;News&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1737.      </description>
  1738.  <pubDate>Wed, 27 Mar 2024 17:17:12 +0000</pubDate>
  1739.    <dc:creator>MEE staff</dc:creator>
  1740.    <guid isPermaLink="false">352556 at https://www.middleeasteye.net</guid>
  1741.    </item>
  1742. <item>
  1743.  <title>Hundreds of New York University alumni refuse to donate to university over Palestine policy</title>
  1744.  <link>https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/hundreds-nyu-alumni-refuse-donate-university-over-palestine-policy</link>
  1745.  <description>
  1746. &lt;span class="field field-title"&gt;Hundreds of New York University alumni refuse to donate to university over Palestine policy&lt;/span&gt;
  1747.            &lt;div class="field field-field-subhead"&gt;Withheld donations could amount to a potential loss of $3m in contributions to the university&lt;/div&gt;
  1748.      
  1749. &lt;span class="field field-uid"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/azad-essa" lang="" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/azad-essa" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang=""&gt;Azad Essa&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1750.  
  1751. &lt;span class="field field-created"&gt;&lt;time datetime="2024-03-26T18:25:53+00:00" title="26 March 2024 18:25 GMT"&gt;Tue, 03/26/2024 - 18:25&lt;/time&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1752.            &lt;div class="field field-field-main-image"&gt;    &lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/nyu-zb.jpeg.webp?itok=GaqB4td0 1x" type="image/webp" width="1400" height="788"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/nyu-zb.jpeg?itok=GaqB4td0 1x" type="image/jpeg" width="1400" height="788"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;img srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/nyu-zb.jpeg?itok=GaqB4td0 1x" width="1400" height="788" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/max_2600x2600/public/images-story/nyu-zb.jpeg?itok=DN7EXuJY" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" fetchpriority="high" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1753.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-cutline"&gt;The New York University campus in the borough of Manhattan in New York City (Zainab Iqbal/MEE) &lt;/div&gt;
  1754.                  &lt;div class="field field-body clearfix"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hundreds of alumni from the prestigious New York University (NYU) in New York City will &lt;a href="https://www.nyualumniforpalestine.com/"&gt;withhold more than $3m worth&lt;/a&gt; of potential contributions from the institution's largest fundraising day on Wednesday over its suppression of students and faculty organising against what they call "genocide" in Gaza.&lt;/p&gt;
  1755.  
  1756. &lt;p&gt;NYU Alumni for Palestine, the group that mobilised to deter alumni from donating to the university, told Middle East Eye that the stifling of pro-Palestinian voices and its refusal to condemn Israel's killing of Palestinians in Gaza had compelled them to take action against their alma mater.&lt;/p&gt;
  1757.  
  1758. &lt;p&gt;The number of Palestinians killed is now upwards of 32,000 people since 7 October when the war broke out.&lt;/p&gt;
  1759.  
  1760. &lt;p&gt;The group cited an informal tracker created by NYU Faculty for Justice in Palestine, which documented retaliatory actions against an estimated 100 students as well as 25 staff and faculty over the past six months because of their comments or mobilising for Palestine.&lt;/p&gt;
  1761.  
  1762. &lt;p&gt;These retaliations, the spokesperson for the group said, included protracted investigations, verbal and written warnings, threats to scholarships and financial awards, withdrawals of scholarships and financial awards, suspensions, expulsions, as well as termination of employment.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"&gt;&lt;div&gt;
  1763.  &lt;div class="adsense responsive"&gt;
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  1771. &lt;/script&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1772. &lt;/div&gt;
  1773. &lt;/div&gt;
  1774.  
  1775. &lt;p&gt;"We launched this campaign as a signal to the administration to drop its repression on campus," a spokesperson for NYU Alumni for Palestine, told MEE.&lt;/p&gt;
  1776.  
  1777. &lt;p&gt;"We will hold [NYU President Linda Mills] accountable through public, financial, and other pressures until we see that all suppressions are dropped and all individuals who have been terminated or expelled are reinstated," the spokesperson said.&lt;/p&gt;
  1778.  
  1779. &lt;p&gt;New York University did not reply to Middle East Eyes's request for comment by the time of publication.&lt;/p&gt;
  1780.  
  1781. &lt;p&gt;According to an online petition signed by 342 people - 92 percent of whom are alumni - the university stands to lose upwards of $3.4m in contributions as a result of its sustained administration-led effort to stifle students and faculty from speaking on and organising for Palestinian human rights. &lt;/p&gt;
  1782.  
  1783. &lt;p&gt;"We will ramp up pressure on the administration in every peaceful route we can - through PR, financial pressure and boycott, and other means - until the administration meets the demands outlined in our letter and ends its complicity in the Israeli genocide in Gaza and the Israeli occupation of Palestine," the spokesperson added.&lt;/p&gt;
  1784.  
  1785. &lt;h3&gt;'One-Day' campaign&lt;/h3&gt;
  1786.  
  1787. &lt;p&gt;NYU's One Day campaign is considered one of the &lt;a href="https://www.nyu.edu/about/giving/nyu-one-day-fac-staff-hq.html"&gt;biggest fundraising &lt;/a&gt;events for NYU. According to the NYU website promoting the event, the One Day campaign is a "24-hour day of giving".&lt;/p&gt;
  1788.  
  1789. &lt;p&gt;"Show your support for academic excellence and help our students who dream of leading, creating, healing, serving and collaborating," the &lt;a href="https://nyuoneday.org/pages/nyu-one-day-save-the-date"&gt;site reads.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  1790.  
  1791. &lt;div class="mee-readmore mee-readmore-article-the-big-story mee-readmore-type-text align-right"&gt;
  1792.    &lt;div class="mee-readmore-description"&gt;At US universities, free speech isn't free for pro-Palestine activists&lt;/div&gt;
  1793.    &lt;a class="mee-readmore-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/big-story/israel-palestine-war-us-universities-free-speech"&gt;Read More »&lt;/a&gt;
  1794. &lt;/div&gt;
  1795.  
  1796. &lt;p&gt;But organisers say the university is being disingenuous when linking fundraising efforts with helping underprivileged and marginalised communities.&lt;/p&gt;
  1797.  
  1798. &lt;p&gt;"They are saying that they're fundraising to particularly support marginalised students and yet these are precisely the kinds of students they have been suppressing at the university," Maya Sikand, who graduated from NYU with a law degree in 2019, said.&lt;/p&gt;
  1799.  
  1800. &lt;p&gt;Sikand told MEE she was horrified by the administration's response to student and faculty efforts to organise for Palestine on campus.&lt;/p&gt;
  1801.  
  1802. &lt;p&gt;She said that she couldn't in good conscience donate to the university given how the institution has mistreated faculty and confronted students who were calling for a ceasefire and an end to genocide in Gaza.&lt;/p&gt;
  1803.  
  1804. &lt;p&gt;In January, two professors were suspended for their public comments on the Israeli assault on Gaza. First, Amin Husain, an adjunct professor at NYU, was &lt;a href="In https://nyunews.com/news/2024/01/29/pro-palestinian-professor-suspension/"&gt;suspended&lt;/a&gt; for criticising media coverage of Hamas.&lt;/p&gt;
  1805.  
  1806. &lt;p&gt;Husain was followed by the suspension of Steinhardt professor Tomasz Skiba over a series of social media posts, one in which he was seen refusing to condemn Hamas.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"&gt;&lt;div&gt;
  1807.  &lt;div class="adsense responsive"&gt;
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  1815. &lt;/script&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1816. &lt;/div&gt;
  1817. &lt;/div&gt;
  1818.  
  1819. &lt;p&gt;In another incident in January, administrators &lt;a href="https://nyunews.com/news/2024/01/26/pro-palestinian-bobst-poetry/"&gt;shut down a pro-Palestinian poetry &lt;/a&gt;reading in the lobby of the Elmer Holmes Bobst Library at NYU.&lt;/p&gt;
  1820.  
  1821. &lt;p&gt;Earlier, in December, a first-year student was &lt;a href="https://nyunews.com/news/2023/12/07/nyu-suspends-student/"&gt;suspended &lt;/a&gt;for pulling down posters of Israeli hostages that had been put up at the university.&lt;/p&gt;
  1822.  
  1823. &lt;p&gt;Lyra Monteiro, another graduate from NYU, described the series of incidents at the university as "embarrassing".  &lt;/p&gt;
  1824.  
  1825. &lt;p&gt;As someone who has been following the events at NYU over the past five months, Monteiro said the moment she saw that alumni were organising to withhold donations from the university over what is often described as the Palestine exception to free speech, she immediately got on board.&lt;/p&gt;
  1826.  
  1827. &lt;p&gt;"It's always been clear to me that alumni have a unique power to influence what a university does," Monteiro, who has donated to NYU in the past, told MEE.&lt;/p&gt;
  1828.  
  1829. &lt;p&gt;According to the NYU Alumni for Palestine, 30 percent of signatories to the petition are donors who have contributed to the university previously. &lt;/p&gt;
  1830.  
  1831. &lt;h3&gt;Stifling activism&lt;/h3&gt;
  1832.  
  1833. &lt;p&gt;For decades, American universities have been at the frontline of efforts to censor and stifle activism over Palestine.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"&gt;&lt;div&gt;
  1834.  &lt;div class="adsense responsive"&gt;
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  1839.     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
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  1841. //]]&gt;
  1842. &lt;/script&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1843. &lt;/div&gt;
  1844. &lt;/div&gt;
  1845.  
  1846. &lt;p&gt;Universities have also been incubators for smear tactics and intimidation targeting Palestinian voices in particular, as &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/big-story/israel-palestine-war-us-universities-free-speech"&gt;directed by pro-Israel lobbying&lt;/a&gt; groups.&lt;/p&gt;
  1847.  
  1848. &lt;p&gt;Several American universities have maintained deep ties with Israeli institutions of higher learning and continue to hold &lt;a href="https://truthout.org/articles/students-are-pushing-us-colleges-to-sever-ties-with-military-industrial-complex/"&gt;investments &lt;/a&gt;in weapons companies servicing Israel. &lt;/p&gt;
  1849.  
  1850. &lt;p&gt;In the case of NYU, the institution has a &lt;a href="https://nyunews.com/news/2023/10/26/nationwide-palestine-walkout/"&gt;study abroad programme&lt;/a&gt; in Tel Aviv.&lt;/p&gt;
  1851.  
  1852. &lt;p&gt;In 2020, NYU &lt;a href="https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/nyu-dept-of-education-settle-antisemitism-lawsuit-with-student-644315"&gt;adopted&lt;/a&gt; the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which human rights experts say &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/antisemitism-ihra-definition-what-controversial-why"&gt;conflates criticism&lt;/a&gt; of Israel with antisemitism.&lt;/p&gt;
  1853.  
  1854. &lt;p&gt;Since 7 October, students from several prestigious institutions of higher learning have faced off with university administrators who enjoy the &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/big-story/israel-palestine-war-us-universities-free-speech"&gt;backing&lt;/a&gt; of pro-Israel donors. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  1855. Students and faculty raising the banner of Palestine or calling for a ceasefire have been repeatedly slandered with accusations of antisemitism.&lt;/p&gt;
  1856.  
  1857. &lt;p&gt;Andrew Ross, a professor at NYU and a member of the NYU Faculty for Justice in Palestine, described the institution as having undermined the most basic of principles of academic freedom, in response to "the most spurious of allegations in order to crack down illegitimately on speech and action often from students who are working with organised outside groups to trigger those investigations".&lt;/p&gt;
  1858.  
  1859. &lt;p&gt;"This is happening all across the country. We have our own version at NYU. Every campus is different, but there are common patterns across the country," Ross said, adding that he welcomed the initiative from alumni.&lt;/p&gt;
  1860.  
  1861. &lt;p&gt;"I think at NYU it's an embryonic initiative. But it deserves a lot of attention," Ross added.&lt;/p&gt;
  1862.  
  1863. &lt;p&gt;Organisers of NYU for Palestine say the boycott of the fundraising event comes after more than &lt;a href="http://nyualumniforpalestine.com/letter"&gt;2,300 alumni&lt;/a&gt; signed an open letter in December, calling on NYU to change track on Palestine, including ending its "complicity" in the "genocide" unfolding in Gaza. &lt;/p&gt;
  1864.  
  1865. &lt;p&gt;"She [NYU President Mills] responded with an extremely dismissive letter and refused to even give us a meeting. Therefore, we launched the Boycott One Day campaign as a signal to the NYU administration that we will not be silent," the spokesperson of the cohort added.&lt;/p&gt;
  1866. &lt;/div&gt;
  1867.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-topic"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/israel-palestine-war" hreflang="en"&gt;Israel-Palestine war&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1868.            &lt;div class="field field-field-coauthor-location"&gt;
  1869.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  1870.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  1871.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  1872.          &lt;/div&gt;
  1873.              &lt;div class="field field-field-article-location"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  1874.            &lt;div class="field field-field-comments"&gt;
  1875.              &lt;div&gt;&lt;drupal-render-placeholder callback="Drupal\disqus\Element\Disqus::displayDisqusComments" arguments="0=Hundreds%20of%20New%20York%20University%20alumni%20refuse%20to%20donate%20to%20university%20over%20Palestine%20policy&amp;1=https%3A//www.middleeasteye.net/news/hundreds-nyu-alumni-refuse-donate-university-over-palestine-policy&amp;2=node/352296&amp;3=a%3A0%3A%7B%7D" token="QbTw-ST5fOpyeu-sdNOW03d0SdbJoQ6JPtuyxfAevwA"&gt;&lt;/drupal-render-placeholder&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1876.          &lt;/div&gt;
  1877.              &lt;div class="field field-field-section"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/all" hreflang="en"&gt;News&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1878.      </description>
  1879.  <pubDate>Tue, 26 Mar 2024 18:25:53 +0000</pubDate>
  1880.    <dc:creator>Azad Essa</dc:creator>
  1881.    <guid isPermaLink="false">352296 at https://www.middleeasteye.net</guid>
  1882.    </item>
  1883. <item>
  1884.  <title>Germany: New citizenship test to include questions on Holocaust and Israel's founding </title>
  1885.  <link>https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/germany-new-citizenship-test-includes-questions-holocaust-founding-israel</link>
  1886.  <description>
  1887. &lt;span class="field field-title"&gt;Germany: New citizenship test to include questions on Holocaust and Israel's founding &lt;/span&gt;
  1888.            &lt;div class="field field-field-subhead"&gt;Applicants must know how Holocaust denial is punished and explain special nature of German-Israeli relations&lt;/div&gt;
  1889.      
  1890. &lt;span class="field field-uid"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/pauline-ertel" lang="" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/pauline-ertel" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang=""&gt;Pauline Ertel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1891.  
  1892. &lt;span class="field field-created"&gt;&lt;time datetime="2024-03-27T10:38:51+00:00" title="27 March 2024 10:38 GMT"&gt;Wed, 03/27/2024 - 10:38&lt;/time&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1893.            &lt;div class="field field-field-main-image"&gt;    &lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/000_33TA4PJ.jpg.webp?itok=gAPpudFx 1x" type="image/webp" width="1400" height="788"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/000_33TA4PJ.jpg?itok=gAPpudFx 1x" type="image/jpeg" width="1400" height="788"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;img srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/000_33TA4PJ.jpg?itok=gAPpudFx 1x" width="1400" height="788" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/max_2600x2600/public/images-story/000_33TA4PJ.jpg?itok=tr_R1IC9" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" fetchpriority="high" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1894.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-cutline"&gt;German Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser considers the new list of questions in Germany's naturalisation test to be 'an important step' (AFP/John Macdougall) &lt;/div&gt;
  1895.                  &lt;div class="field field-body clearfix"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Questions around Jewish life in &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/germany"&gt;Germany&lt;/a&gt;, the Holocaust and Berlin's relationship with &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel"&gt;Israel&lt;/a&gt; will soon form part of Germany's naturalisation test, the country's Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said on Tuesday.&lt;/p&gt;
  1896.  
  1897. &lt;p&gt;"Antisemitism, racism and other forms of contempt for humankind preclude naturalisation. There is no tolerance whatsoever," Faeser told the German magazine &lt;a href="https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/holocaust-israel-judentum-diese-neuen-fragen-kommen-in-den-einbuergerungstest-a-d9298345-0bba-469d-b55f-ca8389c6b0b8"&gt;Der Spiegel&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
  1898.  
  1899. &lt;p&gt;"Anyone who does not share our values cannot obtain a German passport."&lt;/p&gt;
  1900.  
  1901. &lt;p&gt;Germany's citizenship test currently comprises 33 questions, and requires at least 17 correct answers for an applicant to pass.&lt;/p&gt;
  1902.  
  1903. &lt;p&gt;Nine new questions will be added to the revised test, including asking the participant what a Jewish prayer house is called, when Israel was founded and who is allowed to become a member of the German-Jewish sports club Makkabi.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"&gt;&lt;div&gt;
  1904.  &lt;div class="adsense responsive"&gt;
  1905.    &lt;script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6114695881218027" crossorigin="anonymous"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;!-- responsive --&gt;&lt;ins class="adsbygoogle mee-auto-ad-wrapper " style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-6114695881218027" data-ad-slot="8690493793" data-ad-format="horizontal" data-full-width-responsive="true"&gt;&lt;/ins&gt;
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  1911. //]]&gt;
  1912. &lt;/script&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1913. &lt;/div&gt;
  1914. &lt;/div&gt;
  1915.  
  1916. &lt;p&gt;The candidate is also required to know how Holocaust denial is punished in Germany and to list the reasons behind the country's "special relationship" with Israel.&lt;/p&gt;
  1917.  
  1918. &lt;p&gt;"Anyone who wishes to obtain German citizenship must know what that means and acknowledge Germany’s responsibility. This commitment must be 'clear and credible'," Faeser said, adding that the ministry is looking to change the regulation soon.&lt;/p&gt;
  1919.  
  1920. &lt;p&gt;The additional citizenship questions are part of a larger overhaul of the country's immigration law. In January, the Bundestag, the German parliament, passed a law to facilitate naturalisation by lowering the number of years that a person must have lived in Germany in order to obtain a passport, from eight to five years.&lt;/p&gt;
  1921.  
  1922. &lt;h3&gt;Immigration law overhaul&lt;/h3&gt;
  1923.  
  1924. &lt;p&gt;In December last year, the German state of Saxony-Anhalt mandated citizenship applicants to recognise Israel's right to exist in a written statement.&lt;/p&gt;
  1925.  
  1926. &lt;p&gt;The ruling was followed by discussions in parliament on whether this law should be extended to a federal level.  &lt;/p&gt;
  1927.  
  1928. &lt;div class="mee-readmore mee-readmore-article-opinion mee-readmore-type-image align-right"&gt;
  1929.  &lt;a class="mee-readmore-img-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/gaza-war-israel-cementing-occupation-north"&gt;&lt;img class="mee-readmore-image" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images-story/Israel-AFP-Gaza-March%2021%202024.jpg.webp?itok=4XsJ1O4E" width="400" height="250" alt="" loading="lazy" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;div class="mee-readmore-description"&gt;War on Gaza: While eyes are on Rafah, Israel is cementing control of northern Gaza&lt;/div&gt;
  1930.    &lt;a class="mee-readmore-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/gaza-war-israel-cementing-occupation-north"&gt;Read More »&lt;/a&gt;
  1931. &lt;/div&gt;
  1932.  
  1933. &lt;p&gt;The German government, however, refrained from requiring a written statement recognising Israel's right to exist as part of the revised citizenship test, Der Spiegel reported.&lt;/p&gt;
  1934.  
  1935. &lt;p&gt;The revised questions come at a time of increased crackdown on Palestinian and pro-Palestine voices in Germany following the Hamas-led attack in Israel on 7 October last year and amid Israel's ongoing assault on the Gaza Strip.&lt;/p&gt;
  1936.  
  1937. &lt;p&gt;The government says it has a special responsibility to tackle increased &lt;a href="https://apnews.com/article/germany-antisemitism-attacks-jews-israel-hamas-berlin-1000dd76d3a4c4fcc75ea28e4bae0b89"&gt;antisemitism &lt;/a&gt;and anti-Israel sentiment in the country.&lt;/p&gt;
  1938.  
  1939. &lt;p&gt;But rights and cultural groups are objecting to what they say is a disproportionate focus on Arab and Muslim citizens and the conflation of pro-Palestine activism with antisemitism.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  1940. In recent months, speeches by Palestinian academics and &lt;a href="https://www.ndr.de/kultur/buch/Verschobene-Preisverleihung-an-palaestinensische-Autorin-sorgt-fuer-Kritik,shibli100.html"&gt;writers&lt;/a&gt; have been &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/masha-gessen-receive-hannah-arendt-prize-backers-withdrawing"&gt;cancelled&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="https://mondoweiss.net/2023/12/pro-palestinian-speech-is-now-effectively-banned-in-german-universities/"&gt;protests banned &lt;/a&gt;and strict policies regarding &lt;a href="https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/europe/1699528989-berlin-criminalizes-slogan-from-the-river-to-the-sea-palestine-will-be-free#:~:text=The%20anti%2DSemitic%20slogan%20%E2%80%9CDeath,rallies%20in%20the%20capital%20city."&gt;speech&lt;/a&gt; at protests and events have been implemented.&lt;/p&gt;
  1941. &lt;/div&gt;
  1942.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-topic"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/israel-palestine-war" hreflang="en"&gt;Israel-Palestine war&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1943.            &lt;div class="field field-field-coauthor-location"&gt;
  1944.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  1945.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  1946.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  1947.          &lt;/div&gt;
  1948.              &lt;div class="field field-field-article-location"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  1949.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-landing-title"&gt;New German citizenship test to include questions on Holocaust and Israel's founding&lt;/div&gt;
  1950.            &lt;div class="field field-field-comments"&gt;
  1951.              &lt;div&gt;&lt;drupal-render-placeholder callback="Drupal\disqus\Element\Disqus::displayDisqusComments" arguments="0=Germany%3A%20New%20citizenship%20test%20to%20include%20questions%20on%20Holocaust%20and%20Israel%27s%20founding%20&amp;1=https%3A//www.middleeasteye.net/news/germany-new-citizenship-test-includes-questions-holocaust-founding-israel&amp;2=node/352476&amp;3=a%3A0%3A%7B%7D" token="R2r3dGLxARENhi9w82ls33-axUtCinQinJbgsSU9V7M"&gt;&lt;/drupal-render-placeholder&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1952.          &lt;/div&gt;
  1953.              &lt;div class="field field-field-section"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/all" hreflang="en"&gt;News&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1954.      </description>
  1955.  <pubDate>Wed, 27 Mar 2024 10:38:51 +0000</pubDate>
  1956.    <dc:creator>Pauline Ertel</dc:creator>
  1957.    <guid isPermaLink="false">352476 at https://www.middleeasteye.net</guid>
  1958.    </item>
  1959. <item>
  1960.  <title>Sky News Arabia manager suggests Arabs must choose between Gaza and Abu Dhabi</title>
  1961.  <link>https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/gaza-war-sky-news-arabia-general-manager-saudi-arabia-abu-dhabi</link>
  1962.  <description>
  1963. &lt;span class="field field-title"&gt;Sky News Arabia manager suggests Arabs must choose between Gaza and Abu Dhabi&lt;/span&gt;
  1964.            &lt;div class="field field-field-subhead"&gt;'On one side there is famine, on the other, investments in AI,' Nadim Koteich told viewers, as he contrasted Gaza turmoil with prosperity of Saudi Arabia and UAE&lt;/div&gt;
  1965.      
  1966. &lt;span class="field field-uid"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/mee-staff" lang="" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/mee-staff" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang=""&gt;MEE staff&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1967.  
  1968. &lt;span class="field field-created"&gt;&lt;time datetime="2024-03-27T14:01:33+00:00" title="27 March 2024 14:01 GMT"&gt;Wed, 03/27/2024 - 14:01&lt;/time&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  1969.            &lt;div class="field field-field-main-image"&gt;    &lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/Nadim%20Koteich.jpg.webp?itok=NXiXkvTS 1x" type="image/webp" width="1400" height="787"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/Nadim%20Koteich.jpg?itok=NXiXkvTS 1x" type="image/jpeg" width="1400" height="787"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;img loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/Nadim%20Koteich.jpg?itok=NXiXkvTS 1x" width="1400" height="787" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/max_2600x2600/public/images-story/Nadim%20Koteich.jpg?itok=9Qb1tOfQ" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1970.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-cutline"&gt;Nadim Koteich, a Lebanese-Emirati national, is the general manager of Sky News Arabia, which broadcasts from Abu Dhabi (X)&lt;/div&gt;
  1971.                  &lt;div class="field field-body clearfix"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Nadim Koteich, the Lebanese-Emirati general manager of Sky News Arabia, has sparked widespread condemnation after suggesting that Arabs must choose sides between Gaza and Abu Dhabi.&lt;/p&gt;
  1972.  
  1973. &lt;p&gt;In his &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="https://twitter.com/skynewsarabia/status/1772337892989485228"&gt;Tonight with Nadim &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;show, broadcast on the Abu Dhabi-based channel on Monday, Koteich drew a contrast between &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine"&gt;Palestine&lt;/a&gt; on the one hand and the &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/united-arab-emirates"&gt;United Arab Emirates&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/saudi-arabia"&gt;Saudi Arabia&lt;/a&gt; on the other, saying they represent “two Middle Easts”.&lt;/p&gt;
  1974.  
  1975. &lt;p&gt;“A million Palestinians in Gaza are on the brink of famine. Their biggest dream is a loaf of bread,” he said.&lt;/p&gt;
  1976.  
  1977. &lt;p&gt;“But three hours away by plane, in Abu Dhabi, an announcement was made that an IT investment company was established, focusing on AI [artificial intelligence] and semiconductors. It will sign deals worth more than $100 billion,” he added.&lt;/p&gt;
  1978.  
  1979. &lt;p&gt;“Saudi Arabia is also three hours away by plane from Gaza. It will also invest $40 billion in AI,” the presenter said.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"&gt;&lt;div&gt;
  1980.  &lt;div class="adsense responsive"&gt;
  1981.    &lt;script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6114695881218027" crossorigin="anonymous"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;!-- responsive --&gt;&lt;ins class="adsbygoogle mee-auto-ad-wrapper " style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-6114695881218027" data-ad-slot="8690493793" data-ad-format="horizontal" data-full-width-responsive="true"&gt;&lt;/ins&gt;
  1982. &lt;script&gt;
  1983. //&lt;![CDATA[
  1984.  
  1985.     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
  1986.  
  1987. //]]&gt;
  1988. &lt;/script&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  1989. &lt;/div&gt;
  1990. &lt;/div&gt;
  1991.  
  1992. &lt;p&gt;He then went on to compare the two models, claiming the UAE and Saudi models were more conducive to peace and success.&lt;/p&gt;
  1993.  
  1994. &lt;p&gt;“On one side there is famine, on the other, investments in AI. This is not one Middle East. These are two Middle Easts: one Middle East whose priority is resistance and its results are famine, and another whose priority is peace and the results are success. One Middle East is living in the past, and the other is creating the future. Which one do you support?”&lt;/p&gt;
  1995.  
  1996. &lt;div class="mee-readmore mee-readmore-article-the-big-story mee-readmore-type-image align-right"&gt;
  1997.  &lt;a class="mee-readmore-img-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/sudan-uae-war-arms-trade-rsf"&gt;&lt;img class="mee-readmore-image" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images-story/sudan-war-smoke-fire-khartoum-7-june-2023-afp.jpg.webp?itok=ND8lSwMa" width="400" height="250" alt="" loading="lazy" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;div class="mee-readmore-description"&gt;How the UAE kept the Sudan war raging&lt;/div&gt;
  1998.    &lt;a class="mee-readmore-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/sudan-uae-war-arms-trade-rsf"&gt;Read More »&lt;/a&gt;
  1999. &lt;/div&gt;
  2000.  
  2001. &lt;p&gt;In response to the video, many social media users rejected Koteich’s argument, and questioned whether the UAE is doing enough to prevent famine in Gaza, after more than five months of an &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel"&gt;Israeli&lt;/a&gt; siege and onslaught that have killed over 32,000 Palestinians. &lt;/p&gt;
  2002.  
  2003. &lt;p&gt;“If they had an ounce of honour and dignity, they would not have allowed famine to happen three hours away,” one X user &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/odaiabdelhadi/status/1772907228154011870"&gt;wrote&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
  2004.  
  2005. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://twitter.com/Nada_Ourir/status/1772832744638177589"&gt;Another&lt;/a&gt; wrote: “At first, I expected him to say: Shame on us for investing in artificial intelligence while our brothers in Gaza are dying of starvation. Whoever does not do good for his brothers in their time of distress will never do good.”&lt;/p&gt;
  2006.  
  2007. &lt;p&gt;A third X &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/albalushi81/status/1772929992185270399"&gt;user&lt;/a&gt; said the contrast was based on unsound logic.&lt;/p&gt;
  2008.  
  2009. &lt;p&gt;“Could the UAE have achieved these achievements if it had been under brutal occupation for 75 years? Please have some logic in your argument.”&lt;/p&gt;
  2010.  
  2011. &lt;p&gt;The UAE joined other Arab countries, including &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/bahrain" target="_blank"&gt;Bahrain&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/morocco" target="_blank"&gt;Morocco&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/sudan" target="_blank"&gt;Sudan&lt;/a&gt;, in establishing ties with Israel as part of US-brokered normalisation agreements in 2020. Palestinians denounced the deals as "&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/black-day-palestinians-to-mourn-normalisation-ceremony-israel-uae-bahrain"&gt;a stab in the back&lt;/a&gt;".&lt;/p&gt;
  2012. &lt;/div&gt;
  2013.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-topic"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/israel-palestine-war" hreflang="en"&gt;Israel-Palestine war&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  2014.            &lt;div class="field field-field-coauthor-location"&gt;
  2015.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  2016.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  2017.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  2018.          &lt;/div&gt;
  2019.              &lt;div class="field field-field-article-location"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  2020.            &lt;div class="field field-field-comments"&gt;
  2021.              &lt;div&gt;&lt;drupal-render-placeholder callback="Drupal\disqus\Element\Disqus::displayDisqusComments" arguments="0=Sky%20News%20Arabia%20manager%20suggests%20Arabs%20must%20choose%20between%20Gaza%20and%20Abu%20Dhabi&amp;1=https%3A//www.middleeasteye.net/news/gaza-war-sky-news-arabia-general-manager-saudi-arabia-abu-dhabi&amp;2=node/352496&amp;3=a%3A0%3A%7B%7D" token="mc_fzPNRnGl7awOv6IN-IwXfIM53MdW_6neeIKVnWwE"&gt;&lt;/drupal-render-placeholder&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  2022.          &lt;/div&gt;
  2023.              &lt;div class="field field-field-section"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/all" hreflang="en"&gt;News&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  2024.      </description>
  2025.  <pubDate>Wed, 27 Mar 2024 14:01:33 +0000</pubDate>
  2026.    <dc:creator>MEE staff</dc:creator>
  2027.    <guid isPermaLink="false">352496 at https://www.middleeasteye.net</guid>
  2028.    </item>
  2029. <item>
  2030.  <title>Salma al-Shehab: Leeds University urged to act in case of Saudi Arabian student jailed for tweets</title>
  2031.  <link>https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/saudi-arabia-uk-salma-al-shehab-leeds-university</link>
  2032.  <description>
  2033. &lt;span class="field field-title"&gt;Salma al-Shehab: Leeds University urged to act in case of Saudi Arabian student jailed for tweets&lt;/span&gt;
  2034.            &lt;div class="field field-field-subhead"&gt;Open letter calls on Leeds University to demand release of PhD student serving 27 years in Saudi prison for retweeting posts in support of women's rights&lt;/div&gt;
  2035.      
  2036. &lt;span class="field field-uid"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/oscar-rickett" lang="" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/oscar-rickett" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang=""&gt;Oscar Rickett&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  2037.  
  2038. &lt;span class="field field-created"&gt;&lt;time datetime="2024-03-27T13:00:05+00:00" title="27 March 2024 13:00 GMT"&gt;Wed, 03/27/2024 - 13:00&lt;/time&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  2039.            &lt;div class="field field-field-main-image"&gt;    &lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/Saudi%20student.jpg.webp?itok=wWZyZCxX 1x" type="image/webp" width="1400" height="787"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/Saudi%20student.jpg?itok=wWZyZCxX 1x" type="image/jpeg" width="1400" height="787"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;img srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/Saudi%20student.jpg?itok=wWZyZCxX 1x" width="1400" height="787" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/max_2600x2600/public/images-story/Saudi%20student.jpg?itok=8ccBAiIG" alt="" typeof="foaf:Image" fetchpriority="high" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  2040.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-cutline"&gt;Salma al-Shehab is serving a 27-year prison sentence in Saudi Arabia (Social media)&lt;/div&gt;
  2041.                  &lt;div class="field field-body clearfix"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hundreds of staff members and students at the University of Leeds have urged university leaders to call for the immediate release of &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/saudi-arabia"&gt;Saudi Arabian &lt;/a&gt;PhD student Salma al-Shehab, who is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence in the kingdom for retweeting posts in support of women’s rights.&lt;/p&gt;
  2042.  
  2043. &lt;p&gt;In an &lt;a href="https://www.leedsucu.org.uk/open-letter-calling-for-the-immediate-release-of-salma-al-shehab/"&gt;open letter &lt;/a&gt;co-ordinated by the Leeds branch of the University and College Union (UCU), 340 academics, students and employees urged Vice Chancellor Hai-Sui Yu and Pro-Chancellor Alastair Da Costa to publicly call on Saudi Arabia to release al-Shehab.&lt;/p&gt;
  2044.  
  2045. &lt;p&gt;Leeds University has not released a statement about its PhD student since August 2022, when it expressed its “deep concern” about her case. Campaigners believe that unambiguously calling for al-Shehab’s release would be an important step to build pressure for her release. &lt;/p&gt;
  2046.  
  2047. &lt;p&gt;"This latest action displays the immense level of concern about Salma’s fate among the University of Leeds community, who are desperate for their own university to do all it can to support her, and for the UK government to use its considerable leverage to push for her release,” Joshua Cooper, deputy director at Alqst, a UK-based rights group, told Middle East Eye.&lt;/p&gt;
  2048.  
  2049. &lt;p&gt;A 35-year-old dental hygienist and mother of two, al-Shehab is a PhD student at the University of Leeds. The Saudi citizen, who is part of the kingdom’s Shia minority, was living in the city in West Yorkshire, in the north of England, before her detention in Saudi Arabia.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"&gt;&lt;div&gt;
  2050.  &lt;div class="adsense responsive"&gt;
  2051.    &lt;script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6114695881218027" crossorigin="anonymous"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;!-- responsive --&gt;&lt;ins class="adsbygoogle mee-auto-ad-wrapper " style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-6114695881218027" data-ad-slot="8690493793" data-ad-format="horizontal" data-full-width-responsive="true"&gt;&lt;/ins&gt;
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  2058. &lt;/script&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  2059. &lt;/div&gt;
  2060. &lt;/div&gt;
  2061.  
  2062. &lt;p&gt;On 15 January 2021, while on holiday in Saudi Arabia, she was arrested and held in solitary confinement, after retweeting posts in support of allowing women to drive and calling for the release of activists including Loujain al-Hathloul, a leading women’s rights figure who served 1,001 days in detention and who lives under a travel ban.&lt;/p&gt;
  2063.  
  2064. &lt;blockquote&gt;
  2065. &lt;p&gt;'We note that Saudi Arabia’s authorities are actively seeking international partnerships, including with UK universities'&lt;/p&gt;
  2066.  
  2067. &lt;p&gt;- &lt;em&gt;Open letter to Leeds University leaders&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  2068. &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  2069.  
  2070. &lt;p&gt;For over nine months, al-Shehab was questioned by authorities before being brought to court, where she was originally sentenced to six years in prison. In August 2022, Saudi Arabia’s Specialised Criminal Court upped this sentence to 34 years, before reducing it to 27 years in prison with a 27-year travel ban.&lt;/p&gt;
  2071.  
  2072. &lt;p&gt;At the time, al-Shehab's initial sentence was the longest given in Saudi Arabia to a woman human rights defender, and it drew attention because she was not well-known and had few followers. &lt;/p&gt;
  2073.  
  2074. &lt;p&gt;But the PhD student’s sentence was the first in a series of cases, including those of Nourah al-Qahtani and Saad Almadi, in which Saudi authorities handed down lengthy prison sentences to people with similarly obscure social media profiles.&lt;/p&gt;
  2075.  
  2076. &lt;p&gt;A week after al-Shehab’s shock sentence, al-Qahtani was sentenced to 45 years in prison for “breaking the social fabric of the kingdom” and “violating the public order” over tweets from two anonymous accounts.&lt;/p&gt;
  2077.  
  2078. &lt;p&gt;During her time in detention, which has been ruled by UN experts to be arbitrary, al-Shehab’s physical and mental health has deteriorated.&lt;/p&gt;
  2079.  
  2080. &lt;p&gt;In March 2023, she and seven other detained Saudi women undertook a hunger strike, which al-Shehab ended after several weeks so she could take medication. &lt;/p&gt;
  2081.  
  2082. &lt;p&gt;Alqst believes the Leeds student’s case is emblematic of a crackdown on free speech taking place in Saudi Arabia.&lt;/p&gt;
  2083.  
  2084. &lt;p&gt;“Over the past two years the Saudi courts, notorious for their abuses and their disregard for legal safeguards, have handed down a series of decades-long prison sentences to peaceful activists and even private individuals, in an increasingly brazen and irrational manner,” the group said in a statement.&lt;/p&gt;
  2085.  
  2086. &lt;h3&gt;Strategic partnerships&lt;/h3&gt;
  2087.  
  2088. &lt;p&gt;The number of Saudi Arabians studying in the UK has shot up in recent years.&lt;/p&gt;
  2089.  
  2090. &lt;p&gt;A 2022 &lt;a href="https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/bc_environment_for_tne_partnerships_in_saudi_arabia_a4.pdf"&gt;British Council report&lt;/a&gt; examining the “opportunities for higher education and technical training collaboration between institutions in Saudi Arabia and the UK” noted that Britain was the second-most popular foreign destination for Saudi students. &lt;/p&gt;
  2091.  
  2092. &lt;p&gt;“Partnerships between Saudi and UK educational institutions are longstanding and await expansion,” the British Council said. &lt;/p&gt;
  2093.  
  2094. &lt;div class="mee-readmore mee-readmore-article-story mee-readmore-type-image align-right"&gt;
  2095.  &lt;a class="mee-readmore-img-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/do-you-think-we-should-all-go-home-how-saudi-arabia-ignited-golf-war-and-turned-spotlight"&gt;&lt;img class="mee-readmore-image" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images-story/UK-Golf-Mickelson-June-2022-Reuters.jpg.webp?itok=eLOoudp2" width="400" height="250" alt="" loading="lazy" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;div class="mee-readmore-description"&gt;PGA Tour vs LIV: How Saudi Arabian money ignited a golf war&lt;/div&gt;
  2096.    &lt;a class="mee-readmore-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/do-you-think-we-should-all-go-home-how-saudi-arabia-ignited-golf-war-and-turned-spotlight"&gt;Read More »&lt;/a&gt;
  2097. &lt;/div&gt;
  2098.  
  2099. &lt;p&gt;On 14 March, the University of Leeds released a statement celebrating Manar Samman, a Leeds graduate named the national winner at the British Council Study UK Alumni Awards in the science and sustainability category in Saudi Arabia.&lt;/p&gt;
  2100.  
  2101. &lt;p&gt;In December, British government officials and representatives from British universities met Saudi Education Minister Yousef al-Benyan in Riyadh.&lt;/p&gt;
  2102.  
  2103. &lt;p&gt;According to the &lt;a href="https://www.arabnews.com/node/2420991/saudi-arabia "&gt;Saudi press agency&lt;/a&gt;, the roundtable meetings included discussions aimed at “strengthening the ongoing strategic partnership between the two countries in the field of education, which began in 2018 when Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a partnership”. &lt;/p&gt;
  2104.  
  2105. &lt;p&gt;“We note that Saudi Arabia’s authorities are actively seeking international partnerships, including with UK universities,” the open letter from Leeds academics, students and employees reads. &lt;/p&gt;
  2106.  
  2107. &lt;p&gt;“Such engagements should not veil the dire human rights situation in Saudi Arabia but allow for positive change in the country. Saudi Arabia’s internationalisation strategy makes it susceptible to respecting all terms and obligations of its international engagements, and such calls can lead to human rights victories, such as the release of prisoners of conscience.”  &lt;/p&gt;
  2108.  
  2109. &lt;p&gt;Middle East Eye asked the University of Leeds if it intended to call for the immediate release of Salma al-Shehab. The university had not responded by the time of publication. &lt;/p&gt;
  2110. &lt;/div&gt;
  2111.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-topic"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/saudi-struggle" hreflang="en"&gt;Saudi Human Rights&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  2112.            &lt;div class="field field-field-coauthor-location"&gt;
  2113.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  2114.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  2115.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  2116.          &lt;/div&gt;
  2117.              &lt;div class="field field-field-article-location"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  2118.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-landing-title"&gt;British university urged to act in case of Saudi Arabian student jailed for tweets&lt;/div&gt;
  2119.            &lt;div class="field field-field-comments"&gt;
  2120.              &lt;div&gt;&lt;drupal-render-placeholder callback="Drupal\disqus\Element\Disqus::displayDisqusComments" arguments="0=Salma%20al-Shehab%3A%20Leeds%20University%20urged%20to%20act%20in%20case%20of%20Saudi%20Arabian%20student%20jailed%20for%20tweets&amp;1=https%3A//www.middleeasteye.net/news/saudi-arabia-uk-salma-al-shehab-leeds-university&amp;2=node/352506&amp;3=a%3A0%3A%7B%7D" token="DqO39yzvagn6elgpRrPGbYUcz7-groExL0NX8t6N-ag"&gt;&lt;/drupal-render-placeholder&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  2121.          &lt;/div&gt;
  2122.              &lt;div class="field field-field-section"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/all" hreflang="en"&gt;News&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  2123.      </description>
  2124.  <pubDate>Wed, 27 Mar 2024 13:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
  2125.    <dc:creator>Oscar Rickett</dc:creator>
  2126.    <guid isPermaLink="false">352506 at https://www.middleeasteye.net</guid>
  2127.    </item>
  2128. <item>
  2129.  <title>War on Gaza: Israeli army forces family to leave 94-year-old grandmother behind</title>
  2130.  <link>https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/war-gaza-israeli-army-forces-family-leave-94-year-old-grandmother-behind</link>
  2131.  <description>
  2132. &lt;span class="field field-title"&gt;War on Gaza: Israeli army forces family to leave 94-year-old grandmother behind&lt;/span&gt;
  2133.            &lt;div class="field field-field-subhead"&gt;The fate of Palestinian woman Naifa Rizq al-Sawada is currently unknown. Her daughter says she 'cannot move, eat, or drink alone'&lt;/div&gt;
  2134.      
  2135. &lt;span class="field field-uid"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/maha-hussaini" lang="" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/maha-hussaini" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang=""&gt;Maha Hussaini&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  2136.  
  2137. &lt;span class="field field-created"&gt;&lt;time datetime="2024-03-27T11:18:39+00:00" title="27 March 2024 11:18 GMT"&gt;Wed, 03/27/2024 - 11:18&lt;/time&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  2138.            &lt;div class="field field-field-main-image"&gt;    &lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/palestinian-grandmother-gaza-march-2024-supplied.jpg.webp?itok=jZmoQ7ea 1x" type="image/webp" width="1400" height="788"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/palestinian-grandmother-gaza-march-2024-supplied.jpg?itok=jZmoQ7ea 1x" type="image/jpeg" width="1400" height="788"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;img srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/palestinian-grandmother-gaza-march-2024-supplied.jpg?itok=jZmoQ7ea 1x" width="1400" height="788" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/max_2600x2600/public/images-story/palestinian-grandmother-gaza-march-2024-supplied.jpg?itok=JI40QIk_" alt="The fate of 94-year-old Naifa Rizq al-Sawada is currently unknown (Supplied)" typeof="foaf:Image" fetchpriority="high" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  2139.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-cutline"&gt;The fate of 94-year-old Naifa Rizq al-Sawada is currently unknown (Supplied)&lt;/div&gt;
  2140.                  &lt;div class="field field-body clearfix"&gt;&lt;p style="line-height:1.38; text-align:justify; margin-top:16px; margin-bottom:16px"&gt;The fate of a 94-year-old &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine"&gt;Palestinian&lt;/a&gt; woman in Gaza remains unknown after the &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel"&gt;Israeli&lt;/a&gt; army stormed her home and ordered her family to evacuate, leaving her behind.&lt;/p&gt;
  2141.  
  2142. &lt;p&gt;Naifa Rizq al-Sawada, who suffers from Alzheimer's and is unable to walk or speak, was in her home in the vicinity of the al-Shifa Medical Complex in the west of Gaza City on 21 March when the Israeli military invaded the area post-midnight and forcibly evicted its residents at gunpoint.&lt;/p&gt;
  2143.  
  2144. &lt;p&gt;Her family fears that she might be kept in the building before it is bombed or used as a human shield by the Israeli army inside the Shifa Hospital.&lt;/p&gt;
  2145.  
  2146. &lt;p&gt;Her daughter, Maha al-Nawati, recounted to Middle East Eye the events that took place on Thursday.&lt;/p&gt;
  2147.  
  2148. &lt;p&gt;“We all live in one building consisting of different apartments, and my mum had her own apartment. But during the [war], my brother, his wife, and his children moved to stay in her apartment with her,” Nawati, 69, said.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"&gt;&lt;div&gt;
  2149.  &lt;div class="adsense responsive"&gt;
  2150.    &lt;script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6114695881218027" crossorigin="anonymous"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;!-- responsive --&gt;&lt;ins class="adsbygoogle mee-auto-ad-wrapper " style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-6114695881218027" data-ad-slot="8690493793" data-ad-format="horizontal" data-full-width-responsive="true"&gt;&lt;/ins&gt;
  2151. &lt;script&gt;
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  2154.     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
  2155.  
  2156. //]]&gt;
  2157. &lt;/script&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  2158. &lt;/div&gt;
  2159. &lt;/div&gt;
  2160.  
  2161. &lt;p&gt;“They used to take her with them every time they had to evacuate. When the Israeli forces invaded the al-Shifa area, my brother and his family would take her and move to my sister’s home in the Tuffah neighbourhood [east of Gaza]; and when they invaded the Tuffah neighbourhood, they would all move along with my sister to the al-Shifa area.&lt;/p&gt;
  2162.  
  2163. &lt;p&gt;“But this invasion happened at around 2 am, they could not evacuate or move anywhere.”&lt;/p&gt;
  2164.  
  2165. &lt;p&gt;Nawati, who had evacuated Gaza during Israel’s ongoing war on the strip and is currently staying in &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/egypt"&gt;Egypt&lt;/a&gt;, says her brother and his wife told her that they were forced to leave her mother behind as they evacuated to the southern and eastern parts of the Gaza Strip.&lt;/p&gt;
  2166.  
  2167. &lt;blockquote&gt;
  2168. &lt;p&gt;'We just want to know whether the army has indeed taken her, or if she was left alone at home, we want to know anything about her'&lt;/p&gt;
  2169.  
  2170. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;- Maha al-Nawati, daughter&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  2171. &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  2172.  
  2173. &lt;p&gt;“The building was full of displaced people. The army stormed it and separated men from women. They took the men and kept them out of the building, then told the women to evacuate to the south.”&lt;/p&gt;
  2174.  
  2175. &lt;p&gt;After searching the men of the family, the army ordered them to evacuate to the eastern parts of Gaza City.&lt;/p&gt;
  2176.  
  2177. &lt;p&gt;“My brother’s wife told an Israeli officer, ‘This is my mother, I will take her with me.’ He told her, ‘No, leave now and we will take care of her,” she continued.&lt;/p&gt;
  2178.  
  2179. &lt;p&gt;“All of them left and my mother stayed there. We don’t know what happened next.”&lt;/p&gt;
  2180.  
  2181. &lt;p&gt;Since the beginning of its renewed military attack on the Shifa Medical Complex on Thursday, the Israeli army has been raiding neighbourhoods and residential buildings surrounding the hospital area and forcing their residents to evacuate to the southern parts of the strip, before bombing or&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/israeli-forces-set-fire-homes-near-al-shifa-hospital-report"&gt; setting fire&lt;/a&gt; to the majority of their homes in the area.&lt;/p&gt;
  2182.  
  2183. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/war-gaza-israeli-officers-order-army-set-fire-homes-gaza"&gt;According&lt;/a&gt; to a report by Haaretz, Israeli officers operating in the Gaza Strip have been instructing their troops to set fire to Palestinian homes without legal approval.&lt;/p&gt;
  2184.  
  2185.  &lt;figure role="group" class="align-center media-block"&gt;&lt;div class="group-inner"&gt;
  2186.    &lt;div alt="Israeli soldiers leaving Gaza on 12 March (AFP)" data-embed-button="file_browser" data-entity-embed-display="image:image" data-entity-embed-display-settings="{"image_style":"","image_link":"","image_loading":{"attribute":"lazy"}}" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="28fd1af2-912e-49ee-9672-ef97337235be" data-langcode="en" class="embedded-entity"&gt;  &lt;img loading="lazy" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/israel-soldiers-gaza-march-2024-afp.jpg" width="1024" height="682" alt="Israeli soldiers leaving Gaza on 12 March (AFP)" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  2187. &lt;figcaption&gt;Israeli soldiers walk after coming out from the Gaza Strip, near the border in southern Israel on 12 March 2024 (AFP)&lt;/figcaption&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  2188. &lt;/figure&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background:rgba(220,220,220,0.5);background-image:url(https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png);display:none;"&gt;&lt;img height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  2189.  
  2190. &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background: url("https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png") rgba(220, 220, 220, 0.5); top: -15px; left: 0px;"&gt;&lt;img alt="" height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  2191.  
  2192. &lt;p&gt;Residents and eyewitnesses told MEE that Israeli tanks and military vehicles are encircling the area and besieging the residents, who are not allowed to leave their homes without the army’s permission, while quadcopters open fire towards “anyone who looks out their windows”.&lt;/p&gt;
  2193.  
  2194. &lt;p&gt;This is the second invasion of the medical complex since the beginning of Israel’s large-scale military attack on the strip. The first one started on&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-war-shifa-hospital-stormed-civilians-trapped"&gt; 14 November&lt;/a&gt; and lasted for around 10 days.&lt;/p&gt;
  2195.  
  2196. &lt;blockquote&gt;
  2197. &lt;p&gt;'I don’t know what the army wants to do with her? She is an elderly woman who cannot do anything in life, why would they take her?'&lt;/p&gt;
  2198.  
  2199. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;- Maha al-Nawati, daughter&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  2200. &lt;/blockquote&gt;
  2201.  
  2202. &lt;p&gt;Inside the hospital, the Israeli army has killed, injured, and detained hundreds of Palestinians, including healthcare professionals, patients, and displaced people who were taking shelter in the hospital buildings and courtyard.&lt;/p&gt;
  2203.  
  2204. &lt;p&gt;Eyewitnesses reported that Israeli officers used some Palestinian civilians as human shields as they stormed and searched the hospital buildings.&lt;/p&gt;
  2205.  
  2206. &lt;p&gt;One of Sawada’s granddaughters told MEE that the army informed her family that they would take her grandmother to al-Shifa Hospital, but “there is no proof that she was taken there, as she was still kept at home when the family left".&lt;/p&gt;
  2207.  
  2208. &lt;p&gt;“Some people told us that they saw the army taking her out of the building towards al-Shifa Hospital, but we are not sure if this is true. People also told us that the army bombed the building [after the family was forcibly displaced],” Nawati said.&lt;/p&gt;
  2209.  
  2210. &lt;p&gt;“We are helpless, we cannot do anything for her. This pain weighs heavily in our hearts. We just want to know whether the army has indeed taken her, or if she was left alone at home. We want to know anything about her.”&lt;/p&gt;
  2211.  
  2212. &lt;h3&gt;‘She cannot do anything’&lt;/h3&gt;
  2213.  
  2214. &lt;p&gt;Due to her age and multiple illnesses, Sawada’s family says her physical and mental health have deteriorated over the past few years. She currently “cannot do anything on her own”.&lt;/p&gt;
  2215.  
  2216. &lt;p&gt;“My mum cannot move, eat, or drink alone. When she slept, we used to turn her on her left and right sides so that her body does not develop ulcers. She cannot go to the bathroom alone, we used to assist her. She even cannot speak now; if they ask her what her name is, she will not be able to answer,” Nawati explained.&lt;/p&gt;
  2217.  
  2218. &lt;div class="mee-readmore mee-readmore-article-story mee-readmore-type-image align-right"&gt;
  2219.  &lt;a class="mee-readmore-img-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-war-army-kills-elderly-taking-pr-photo-safe-corridor"&gt;&lt;img class="mee-readmore-image" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images-story/F-6ydw2XEAAWQP5.jpg.webp?itok=k8GvdPUA" width="400" height="250" alt="" loading="lazy" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;div class="mee-readmore-description"&gt;Israel-Palestine war: Israeli army kills elderly Palestinian after taking PR photo on 'safe corridor'&lt;/div&gt;
  2220.    &lt;a class="mee-readmore-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-war-army-kills-elderly-taking-pr-photo-safe-corridor"&gt;Read More »&lt;/a&gt;
  2221. &lt;/div&gt;
  2222.  
  2223. &lt;p&gt;“During this war and due to the food scarcity, my brother and his family used to secure food for her before anyone else.&lt;/p&gt;
  2224.  
  2225. &lt;p&gt;"My brother would make sure that they had enough food for her even before his children, because she is not aware of the situation and thus would not understand that there isn’t enough food available.”&lt;/p&gt;
  2226.  
  2227. &lt;p&gt;Following Israel’s forcible evacuation order to the residents of Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip on 13 October, the Israeli military has imposed a tight siege on the area, severely restricting the entry of international aid, and targeting residents who attempt to return to their homes from the southern parts.&lt;/p&gt;
  2228.  
  2229. &lt;p&gt;Elderly people in the coastal enclave have been bearing the brunt of the suffering, with many of them subjected to field execution.&lt;/p&gt;
  2230.  
  2231. &lt;p&gt;In November, the Israeli military released&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-war-army-kills-elderly-taking-pr-photo-safe-corridor"&gt; an image&lt;/a&gt; of one of its soldiers assisting an elderly Palestinian man, Bashir Hajji, 79, with a walking stick, purportedly to highlight a "safe corridor" for civilians escaping northern Gaza. However, shortly afterwards, the resident of Gaza City's Zaytoun neighbourhood was allegedly killed by Israeli soldiers.&lt;/p&gt;
  2232.  
  2233. &lt;p&gt;“I don’t know what the army wants to do with her? She is an elderly woman who cannot do anything in life, why would they take her? Why didn’t they let her leave with her son and his wife to evacuate to the south?” Nawati asked.&lt;/p&gt;
  2234.  
  2235. &lt;p&gt;Around&lt;a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/death-rate-elderly-people-northern-gaza-strip-soars-due-bombing-starvation-dehydration-and-lack-healthcare-enar"&gt; 7 percent&lt;/a&gt; of the nearly 33,000 Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip since 7 October are elderly people.&lt;/p&gt;
  2236. &lt;/div&gt;
  2237.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-topic"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/israel-palestine-war" hreflang="en"&gt;Israel-Palestine war&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  2238.            &lt;div class="field field-field-coauthor-location"&gt;
  2239.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  2240.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  2241.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  2242.          &lt;/div&gt;
  2243.              &lt;div class="field field-field-article-location"&gt;Gaza, occupied Palestine&lt;/div&gt;
  2244.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-landing-title"&gt;Israeli army forces family to leave sick 94-year-old grandmother behind&lt;/div&gt;
  2245.            &lt;div class="field field-field-comments"&gt;
  2246.              &lt;div&gt;&lt;drupal-render-placeholder callback="Drupal\disqus\Element\Disqus::displayDisqusComments" arguments="0=War%20on%20Gaza%3A%20Israeli%20army%20forces%20family%20to%20leave%2094-year-old%20grandmother%20behind&amp;1=https%3A//www.middleeasteye.net/news/war-gaza-israeli-army-forces-family-leave-94-year-old-grandmother-behind&amp;2=node/352441&amp;3=a%3A0%3A%7B%7D" token="0hqW3ZGAdCh-TEdXdMix7AUL0l5PvWwMVdjReeQVDyQ"&gt;&lt;/drupal-render-placeholder&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  2247.          &lt;/div&gt;
  2248.              &lt;div class="field field-field-section"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/all" hreflang="en"&gt;News&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  2249.      </description>
  2250.  <pubDate>Wed, 27 Mar 2024 11:18:39 +0000</pubDate>
  2251.    <dc:creator>Maha Hussaini</dc:creator>
  2252.    <guid isPermaLink="false">352441 at https://www.middleeasteye.net</guid>
  2253.    </item>
  2254. <item>
  2255.  <title>Tunisia sentences four people to death for assassination of politician Chokri Belaid</title>
  2256.  <link>https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/tunisia-sentences-four-people-death-assassination-politician-chokri-belaid</link>
  2257.  <description>
  2258. &lt;span class="field field-title"&gt;Tunisia sentences four people to death for assassination of politician Chokri Belaid&lt;/span&gt;
  2259.            &lt;div class="field field-field-subhead"&gt;Ennahda party says the rulings are 'conclusive evidence' of the innocence of its jailed leaders in the 2013 murder&lt;/div&gt;
  2260.      
  2261. &lt;span class="field field-uid"&gt;&lt;a title="View user profile." href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/mee-staff" lang="" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/mee-staff" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang=""&gt;MEE staff&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  2262.  
  2263. &lt;span class="field field-created"&gt;&lt;time datetime="2024-03-27T10:00:19+00:00" title="27 March 2024 10:00 GMT"&gt;Wed, 03/27/2024 - 10:00&lt;/time&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
  2264.            &lt;div class="field field-field-main-image"&gt;    &lt;picture&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/tunisia-protest-chokri-belaid-feb-2021-afp.jpg.webp?itok=CRZO4Ear 1x" type="image/webp" width="1400" height="788"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;source srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/tunisia-protest-chokri-belaid-feb-2021-afp.jpg?itok=CRZO4Ear 1x" type="image/jpeg" width="1400" height="788"&gt;&lt;/source&gt;&lt;img srcset="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/tunisia-protest-chokri-belaid-feb-2021-afp.jpg?itok=CRZO4Ear 1x" width="1400" height="788" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/max_2600x2600/public/images-story/tunisia-protest-chokri-belaid-feb-2021-afp.jpg?itok=FmLLxpNN" alt="A Tunisian protester lifts a placard demanding to know who assassinated prominent leftist opposition leader Chokri Belaid, during a demonstration against the government and police repression while marking the 8th anniversary of his death, in the capital Tunis on 6 February 2021 (AFP)" typeof="foaf:Image" fetchpriority="high" /&gt;&lt;/picture&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  2265.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-cutline"&gt;A protester in Tunis demands to know who assassinated leftist opposition leader Chokri Belaid  on the eighth anniversary of his death, 6 February 2021 (AFP)&lt;/div&gt;
  2266.                  &lt;div class="field field-body clearfix"&gt;&lt;p style="line-height:1.38"&gt;A Tunisian court sentenced four people to death and two to life imprisonment on Wednesday, after convicting them of participating in the 2013 assassination of opposition politician &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/tags/chokri-belaid"&gt;Chokri Belaid&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
  2267.  
  2268. &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/tunisia"&gt;Tunisia&lt;/a&gt; has a de facto moratorium on the death penalty, and the sentences are expected to be commuted to life imprisonment.&lt;/p&gt;
  2269.  
  2270. &lt;p&gt;Belaid, a left-wing politician, was shot dead in his car outside his home on 6 February 2013. Another left-wing opposition figure, Mohamed Brahmi, was killed in similar circumstances five months later. &lt;/p&gt;
  2271.  
  2272. &lt;p&gt;The assassinations triggered political turmoil in the North African country, disrupting a democratic transition that followed the 2011 revolution that ousted longtime president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. &lt;/p&gt;
  2273.  
  2274. &lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href="https://www.jawharafm.net/ar/article/%D9%82%D8%B6%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D8%BA%D8%AA%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D9%87%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D8%B4%D9%83%D8%B1%D9%8A-%D8%A8%D9%84%D8%B9%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D9%85%D9%8F%D9%84%D8%AE%D8%B5-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%B5%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AD-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D9%8F%D9%83%D9%85/105/255502"&gt;sentences&lt;/a&gt; have been handed down by the Court of First Instance and announced by the deputy public prosecutor of the counterterrorism judicial division. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"&gt;&lt;div&gt;
  2275.  &lt;div class="adsense responsive"&gt;
  2276.    &lt;script async="" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6114695881218027" crossorigin="anonymous"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;!-- responsive --&gt;&lt;ins class="adsbygoogle mee-auto-ad-wrapper " style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-6114695881218027" data-ad-slot="8690493793" data-ad-format="horizontal" data-full-width-responsive="true"&gt;&lt;/ins&gt;
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  2283. &lt;/script&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  2284. &lt;/div&gt;
  2285. &lt;/div&gt;
  2286.  
  2287. &lt;p&gt;Belaid served as the secretary-general of the Democratic Patriots' Unified Party and was a staunch critic of the then-ruling Ennahda party.&lt;/p&gt;
  2288.  
  2289. &lt;p&gt;His family and supporters accused Ennahda of responsibility for his death. The assassinations of Belaid and Brahmi were, however, claimed by an Islamic State-affiliated group. &lt;/p&gt;
  2290.  
  2291. &lt;p&gt;Tunisian security forces killed the alleged mastermind of the killings, Kamel Gadhgadhi, in 2014.&lt;/p&gt;
  2292.  
  2293. &lt;p&gt;Ennahda, which espouses a moderate political Islamic ideology, has condemned the assassinations and denied any links to them. &lt;/p&gt;
  2294.  
  2295. &lt;p&gt;It outlawed the Salafi movement Ansar al-Sharia as a terrorist organisation in the aftermath of the murders. &lt;/p&gt;
  2296.  
  2297. &lt;h3&gt;'Evidence of innocence'&lt;/h3&gt;
  2298.  
  2299. &lt;p&gt;Commenting on Wednesday’s ruling, Ennahda said the sentences are evidence both of its innocence and the false political accusations against its leaders over the past decade.&lt;/p&gt;
  2300.  
  2301. &lt;p&gt;“The details concluded by the judicial circles clearly show conclusive evidence of the innocence of Ennahda," the party said in a statement.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="block-adsense block-adsense-managed-ad-block"&gt;&lt;div&gt;
  2302.  &lt;div class="adsense responsive"&gt;
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  2310. &lt;/script&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  2311. &lt;/div&gt;
  2312. &lt;/div&gt;
  2313.  
  2314. &lt;p&gt;It added that the case has "shaken national public opinion, destabilised the ruling coalition, sowed doubt among the national parties, and deepened the rift between intellectual and political families.&lt;/p&gt;
  2315.  
  2316. &lt;div class="mee-readmore mee-readmore-article-mee-life mee-readmore-type-image align-right"&gt;
  2317.  &lt;a class="mee-readmore-img-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/discover/muslim-democracy-charting-evolution-rached-ghannouchis-political-and-theological-ideology"&gt;&lt;img class="mee-readmore-image" src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images-story/rached-ghannouchi-police-station-feb-2023-fethi-belaid-afp.jpg.webp?itok=KKsyiBCt" width="400" height="250" alt="" loading="lazy" typeof="foaf:Image" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;div class="mee-readmore-description"&gt;On Muslim Democracy: The evolution of Rached Ghannouchi’s political and theological ideas&lt;/div&gt;
  2318.    &lt;a class="mee-readmore-link" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/discover/muslim-democracy-charting-evolution-rached-ghannouchis-political-and-theological-ideology"&gt;Read More »&lt;/a&gt;
  2319. &lt;/div&gt;
  2320.  
  2321. &lt;p&gt;"The issuance of rulings in the assassination case should end the trading in the blood of the martyr and restore respect to those who have been subjected to false and deadly political accusations, especially the movement’s leader, Rached Ghannouchi," the &lt;a href="https://www.jawharafm.net/ar/article/%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%AD%D8%B1%D9%83%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D9%87%D8%B6%D8%A9-%D8%A5%D8%AB%D8%B1-%D8%B5%D8%AF%D9%88%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%AD%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%85-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%82%D8%B6%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D8%BA%D8%AA%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D9%87%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D8%B4%D9%83%D8%B1%D9%8A-%D8%A8%D9%84%D8%B9%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D9%82-%D9%88%D8%B2%D9%87%D9%82-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B7%D9%84/92/255503?fbclid=IwAR2kjLhGZhb1em27-icqZ5nCT1E4dC3Ump_bxb-La8Yn7jDRZhYERTGGPRg"&gt;statement&lt;/a&gt; added, calling for "turning a new page of major reconciliations".&lt;/p&gt;
  2322.  
  2323. &lt;p&gt;Ghannouchi, 82, began a &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/tunisia-jailed-opposition-leader-rached-ghannouchi-starts-hunger-strike"&gt;hunger strike&lt;/a&gt; last month to demand his immediate release, and in solidarity with other political prisoners. &lt;/p&gt;
  2324.  
  2325. &lt;p&gt;Ghannouchi, a fierce critic of President Kais Saied, was jailed last year on charges of incitement against police and plotting against state security.&lt;/p&gt;
  2326.  
  2327. &lt;p&gt;Saied was elected in 2019 following years of political turmoil. His rule has so far been marked by a crackdown on the opposition, with dozens of prominent opposition figures jailed or sentenced in absentia. &lt;/p&gt;
  2328.  
  2329. &lt;p&gt;Saied unilaterally suspended parliament and dissolved the government in July 2021, in a power grab first revealed by &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/tunisia-exclusive-top-secret-presidential-document-plan-constitutional-dictatorship"&gt;Middle East Eye&lt;/a&gt;. He then decided to rule by decree, a move his opponents and human rights groups decried as a "constitutional coup".&lt;/p&gt;
  2330.  
  2331. &lt;p&gt;The president also dismissed a number of judges in 2022, accusing them of obstructing investigations into Belaid and Brahmi’s killings.&lt;/p&gt;
  2332.  
  2333. &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;This article is available in French on &lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/fr/actu-et-enquetes/tunisie-quatre-personnes-condamnees-mort-pour-lassassinat-de-lhomme-politique"&gt;Middle East Eye French edition&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  2334. &lt;/div&gt;
  2335.                  &lt;div class="field field-field-topic"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/inside-tunisia" hreflang="en"&gt;Inside Tunisia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  2336.            &lt;div class="field field-field-coauthor-location"&gt;
  2337.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  2338.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  2339.              &lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
  2340.          &lt;/div&gt;
  2341.              &lt;div class="field field-field-article-location"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
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  2344.          &lt;/div&gt;
  2345.              &lt;div class="field field-field-section"&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/all" hreflang="en"&gt;News&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  2346.      </description>
  2347.  <pubDate>Wed, 27 Mar 2024 10:00:19 +0000</pubDate>
  2348.    <dc:creator>MEE staff</dc:creator>
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