76th Anniversary of Nakba

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) issued a statement on the 76th anniversary of the Nakba when Palestinians were violently expelled from their lands to make way for the formation of Israel.

The statement said the Nakba continues today through crimes of murder, destruction, forced displacement, and genocide as a result of the continuing Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people, Al Jazeera reported. 

“The OIC reaffirms the responsibility of the international community towards the necessity of putting an end to the Israeli occupation and activating international justice mechanisms to hold Israel, the occupying power, accountable for the crimes it has committed against humanity, and to rectify the historical injustice that continues to befall the Palestinian people,” the statement added. 

 

Israel to shutdown Al Jazeera operations

Israel's cabinet on Sunday unanimously voted to shut down the Qatari news outlet Al Jazeera's operations in Israel, nearly six months after first announcing its intentions to do so due to security concerns related to the Israel-Hamas war.

Israel's National Security Cabinet was scheduled to hold the vote on Thursday, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delayed it due to concern that the vote would not pass.

According to a spokesperson for Minister without portfolio MK Benny Gantz's National Unity party, this was because Mossad chief David Barnea requested that the government delay it for a few days, to avoid possible negative diplomatic ramifications relating to Qatar, a mediator between Israel and Hamas in negotiations for a deal to free Israeli hostages.

The decision required approval from either the government's National Security Cabinet (NSC) or the general cabinet, and Netanyahu chose to move forwards on Sunday in the general cabinet despite Barnea's request.

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi signed an executive order immediately after the vote passed, and it thus came into effect right away.

In a video statement, Karhi called Al Jazeera a "Hamas incitement organ." Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also posted on X, "The government under my leadership decided unanimously, The incitement channel Al Jazeera will be shut down in Israel."

National Unity's three ministers were not present at the meeting and did not take part in the vote. The party said in a statement that its ministers support closing Al Jazeera's broadcasts and even announced that they would support its closure in the recent (national security) cabinet meeting.

"Bringing the topic forward this morning for a vote in the government meeting is a correct decision but with terrible timing, that could undermine efforts to exhaust the (hostage deal) negotiations, and stems from political considerations."

The decision, which requires recertification every 45 days, includes shutting down Al Jazeera broadcasts in Arabic and English; shutting down Al Jazeera's offices in Israel; seizing equipment used for its broadcasts; and limiting access to its websites.

A spokesperson for the party said that its ministers supported the decision but called it a "political show" as it went against the Mossad chief's position.

The decision was based on a law that Israel's Knesset (parliament) passed on April 02, which expires on July 31. The legislation will therefore need to be extended if the government wishes to extend the decision beyond that date.

The law itself is also facing a constitutional challenge in the High Court of Justice by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) based on its violation of free speech, and the state has until May 15 to file its preliminary response to the court.

The government passed emergency executive measures at the start of the war that would have enabled it to shut down Al Jazeera temporarily. These were in effect from October 21, 2023 until January 20, 2024.

However, the government refrained from implementing these measures during that period, reportedly due to possible negative diplomatic ramifications relating to Qatar.

The legislation that passed in April was aimed at giving the cabinet firmer legal footing to move against Al Jazeera. In its decision on Sunday, the cabinet explained that it had classified opinions from the Shin Bet on April 09 deeming Al Jazeera a national security threat. The IDF and Mossad also provided classified opinions supporting limiting Al Jazeera's broadcasts in Israel.

According to the law, the decision must be brought before a regional chief justice or deputy chief justice within 24 hours, who then have three days to decide whether or not to change the decision or limit the length of the ban.

In its petition to the High Court of Justice against the law, argued that it unnecessarily limited free speech and was thus unconstitutional.

ACRI said that while there was no arguing the fact that Al Jazeera ran a "pro-Palestinian" narrative, this was not a sufficient reason to shut down the network.

In addition, the network provides content from Arab states and includes Israeli Arab perspectives that have been quoted numerously on mainstream Israeli media, indicating that its content was viewed as important, ACRI added.

The NGO acknowledged that Al-Jazeera had included content that incited against Israel. Still, the severity of this incitement was no worse than incitement against Palestinians on mainstream Israeli websites, ACRI argued.

ACRI filed a request on Thursday that the court issue a temporary order barring the government from deciding to shut down Al Jazeera until the case is heard. The court denied the request, and said it would consider a temporary order after receiving the state's preliminary position.

 

Israel is committing genocide

Al Jazeera  has released a list of countries which have welcomed the ICJ case that says Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

It is worth noting that both South Africa and Israel are signatories to the 1948 Genocide Convention which gives the ICJ the jurisdiction to rule on disputes over the treaty.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) based in The Hague will hold its first hearing in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel on Thursday, with several countries welcoming the move amid a global chorus for a ceasefire in Gaza.

South Africa filed the lawsuit end of December 2023, accusing Israel of genocide in its war on Gaza and seeking a halt to the brutal military assault that has killed more than 23,000 Palestinians, nearly 10,000 of them children.

The 84-page filing by South Africa says Israel violated the 1948 Genocide Convention, drawn up in the aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust.

All states that signed the convention are obliged to not commit genocide and also to prevent and punish it. The treaty defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”.

Here’s what we know about the countries backing South Africa in its case against Israel, and the countries that oppose the case at the world court.

Which countries have welcomed South Africa’s ICJ case against Israel?

The Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC), the 57-member bloc, which includes Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan and Morocco, voiced their support for the case on December 30.

Malaysia in a statement released on January 02, 2024 by the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the South African application. It reiterated a call for an independent Palestinian state “based on the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital”.

Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Oncu Keceli posted on X on January 03, 2024 welcoming South Africa’s move.

Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said on January 04, 2023 that Amman would back South Africa.

On Sunday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bolivia dubbed South Africa’s move as historic, becoming the first Latin American country to back the ICJ case against Israel.

Besides countries, many advocacy groups and civil society groups worldwide have also joined South Africa’s call. These include Terreiro Pindorama in Brazil, Asociacion Nacional de Amistad Italia-Cuba in Italy, and Collectif Judeo Arabe et Citoyen pour la Palestine in France, reported independent outlet Common Dreams.

Bolivia also pointed out it had earlier filed a request to International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan alongside South Africa, Bangladesh, Comoros, and Djibouti to investigate the situation in Palestine. Khan said he received the request on November 30, 2023.

The ICC and the ICJ are sometimes conflated with one another. Both the courts are located in The Hague, Netherlands. While the purpose of the ICJ is to resolve conflicts between states, the ICC prosecutes individuals for committing crimes, according to the University of Melbourne’s Pursuit platform. While states cannot be sued at the ICC, the prosecutor can open an investigation where crimes, including genocide, were likely committed.

The United States has voiced its opposition to the genocide case. National security spokesperson John Kirby called South Africa’s submission “meritless, counterproductive, and completely without any basis” during a White House press briefing on January 03, 2024.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday, “There is nothing more atrocious and preposterous” than the lawsuit. Herzog also thanked Blinken for Washington’s support of Israel.

 

United States condemns killing of journalist during Israeli military raid

The United States government on Wednesday condemned the killing of a journalist during an Israeli military raid in the West Bank and called for an immediate and thorough investigation to determine who is accountable. 

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the death of Shireen Abu Akleh represented “an affront to media freedom everywhere.”

White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre echoed Price’s comments, telling reporters aboard Air Force One that the administration strongly condemns the killing of the journalist. Jean-Pierre did not say whether President Joe Biden planned to call Abu Akleh’s family.   

Abu Akleh was shot and killed while covering an Israeli military raid in Jenin, a city administered by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

Israel has launched an investigation into Abu Akleh’s death and called for participation of the Palestinian Authority, which has refused. The Palestinian health ministry blamed the Israeli military for the journalist’s death.

Israeli Army Chief Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi said that the army could not yet determine whether Abu Akleh was hit by Israeli or Palestinian gunfire. The Associated Press reported, walking back an earlier statement from Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett that the journalist’s death likely came from gunfire from armed Palestinians. 

The Israeli Defense Forces said it was conducting counter terrorism operations in the West Bank city when tens of Palestinian gunmen fired at and hurled explosive devices toward the soldiers and soldiers responded with gunfire. There were no injuries among Israeli forces, according to the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

Abu Akleh, 51, was a veteran Middle East journalist who reported for Al Jazeera’s Arabic language channel. She was reportedly shot in the head.

Al Jazeera reported that another one of their journalists, Ali al-Samoudi, was wounded by a bullet in the back at the scene and is in stable condition.

Al-Samoudi told Al Jazeera that there were no Palestinian fighters present when the journalists were shot. 

“We were going to film the Israeli army operation and suddenly they shot us without asking us to leave or stop filming,” al-Samoudi told the Qatari-based news outlet. 

“The first bullet hit me and the second bullet hit Shireen … there was no Palestinian military resistance at all at the scene.”

Abu Akleh’s death comes amid an escalation in Israeli counterterrorism operations in response to a series of attacks made by Palestinians, with at least 18 Israelis and 30 Palestinians killed in recent weeks.

 

Iran notifies Tel Aviv aiming its missiles at strategic Israeli sites

An unnamed Iranian source revealed to Al Jazeera that Tehran has informed Tel Aviv that they know the locations of all of their nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons sites, and has warned them that, in the event of any aggression, Iran will strike the sensitive targets.

The cable was sent through European intermediaries and included a map showcasing where all these targets are located, according to The Cradle.co.

An informed IR Iranian source told Al-Jazeera that Tehran red flagged all chemical, biological and nuclear weapons storages and facilities of IL Israel and that they will be the first targets, in case Israel decides to start a war with Iran. 

The information was initially reported, without explanation as to the source of such revelations, by independent conflict analysis and news aggregate channel IntelSky on April 18, 2022.

“Iran has sent to Israel, through European intermediaries, pictures/locations of all its biological, chemical and nuclear weapons storages that will be struck at the first military clash,” IntelSky said on Twitter.

These news comes after Iranian President Sayed Ebrahim Raisi made a general warning on April, 18, 2022 saying that any Israeli aggression against the Islamic Republic will result in Iran striking into the heart of Israeli occupied lands and military bases.

“Just know that if the slightest move on your part occurs against our nation, our armed forces will target the center of the Zionist regime, and the power of our armed forces will not leave you at rest,” Raisi said as Iran marked Army Day.

During his speech, Raisi also said Iran’s military capabilities are internationally recognized.

“Today, our military industry is in the best condition,” he said.

After Raisi’s speech, a series of missiles, launch systems, and more than a dozen types of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were displayed.

Kabul airport reopens

Ariana Afghan Airlines resumed some flights in Afghanistan between Kabul and three major provincial cities on Saturday, the carrier said, after a technical team from Qatar reopened the capital's airport for aid and domestic services.

Flights between Kabul and the western city of Herat, Mazar-i Sharif in northern Afghanistan and Kandahar in the south have started, the airline said in a statement.

"Ariana Afghan Airlines is proud to resume its domestic flights," it said.

Earlier, Qatar's ambassador to Afghanistan said a technical team was able to reopen Kabul airport to receive aid, according to Qatar's Al Jazeera news channel.

The airport's runway has been repaired in cooperation with authorities in Afghanistan, the ambassador said, according to Al Jazeera, in a further small step towards a return to relative normality after the turmoil of the past three weeks.

Reopening the airport, a vital lifeline with both the outside world and across Afghanistan's mountainous territory has been a high priority for the Taliban as they seek to restore order after their lightning seizure of Kabul on 15^th August 2021.

Kabul airport had been closed since the end of the massive US-led airlift of its citizens, other Western nationals and Afghans who helped Western countries. The end of that evacuation of tens of thousands of people marked the withdrawal of the last US forces from Afghanistan after 20 years of war.

Thousands of people wanting to leave Afghanistan, fearful of life under Taliban rule, were left behind when the evacuation operation ended at the end of August.

The Taliban, the West's adversary in the two-decade war that followed the 11^th September 2001 attacks on the United States, have promised safe passage for those wanting to leave.

 

Israel destroys building housing media offices in Gaza

An Israeli air strike destroyed a high-rise building in Gaza City that housed offices of The Associated Press, Al Jazeera, Middle East Eye and other media outlets on Saturday. This could be termed an attempt to silence reporting from the territory amid its battle with Hamas.

Jawad Mehdi, the owner of the Jala Tower, said an Israeli intelligence officer warned him he had just one hour to ensure the evacuation of the building. In a phone call with the officer, AFP heard him beg for an extra 10 minutes to allow journalists to retrieve their equipment before leaving. "Give us ten extra minutes," he urged, but the officer on the other end of the line refused.

"The tower has come down," the anchorwoman said in the video. "Whenever you see journalists doing live updates from Gaza, they're usually standing on the roof of that building which has now been flattened by an air strike by the Israeli military," she added.

"This channel will not be silenced. Al Jazeera will not be silenced," the on-air anchorwoman said, her voice thick with emotion. "We can guarantee you that right now."

In a statement, Israel alleged its "fighter jets attacked a high-rise building which hosted military assets belonging to the military intelligence of the Hamas terror organization".

As strong reactions and condemnations started to surface following the attack by Israel, many, including US lawmaker Mike Siegel, pointed out that targeting journalist were a war crime.

Committee to Protect Journalists Executive Director Joel Simon said this attack "raises the specter that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is deliberately targeting media facilities in order to disrupt coverage of the human suffering in Gaza".

The Guardian columnist Owen Jones called for journalistic solidarity, saying if it means anything, "it should mean, at the bare minimum, unreservedly speaking out about Israel wiping out the building housing media organizations".

"If televised ethnic cleansing and press towers being blown up isn't worthy of European condemnation, Europe has no role in the coming century," said writer Fatima Bhutto.

"The only reason to deliberately attack a building housing international media is to try to obstruct the media from covering what’s happening," wrote journalist Rania Khalek, calling the bombing "intentional and premeditated".

Senior journalist Owais Tohid said the story of Gaza "cannot be silenced by Israeli attacks on media".

Bangladesh rejects Al Jazeera report

Reportedly, Bangladesh has dismissed Al Jazeera news channel’s Monday’s report titled “All the Prime Minister’s Men” calling it as “false and defamatory” and a desperate “smear campaign” instigated by extremists and their allies, working in London and elsewhere.

“The report is nothing more than a misleading series of innuendos and insinuations in what is apparently a politically motivated “smear campaign” by notorious individuals associated with the Jamaat-e-Islami extremist group,” a foreign ministry statement said here today.

The Jamaat-i-Islami extremist group has been opposing the progressive and secular principles of Bangladesh since its very birth as an independent nation in 1971, it added.

The foreign ministry said Dhaka regrets that Al Jazeera had allowed itself to become an instrument for their malicious political designs aimed at destabilizing the secular democratic government of Bangladesh with a proven track record of extraordinary socio-economic development and progress.

The statement noted that the main “source” of Al Jazeera’s allegations is an alleged international criminal claimed to be a “psychopath” by Al-Jazeera itself.

“There is not a shred of evidence linking the prime minister and other state institutions of Bangladesh to this particular individual, and it is highly irresponsible for an international news channel to draw conclusions on the basis of the words of a mentally unstable person,” said the statement.

Pointing that the report’s historical account failed to even mention the horrific genocide in 1971, in which Jamaat perpetrators killed millions of Bengali civilians and raped more than two hundred thousand Bengali women, the statement said, this is the reflection of the political bias in Al Jazeera’s coverage.

It also noticed that the principal commentator of the report David Bergman was convicted by International Crimes Tribunal Bangladesh for challenging the official death toll of 1971 Liberation War.

“It is also not surprising that the report aligns with the string of anti-Bangladesh propaganda habitually orchestrated by a few convicted absconding criminals and discredited individuals patronized by Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, which on certain occasions have conspired with international extremist groups and news media specially the Al Jazeera,” said the statement.