Turkey 'targets SDF commander' in Iraq strike for second time in months
Kurdish armed group denies its leader has been targeted following a drone attack in Sulaymaniyah

Mazloum Abdi gives a press conference near the northeastern Syrian Hassakeh province on 24 October 2019 (AFP)

By Levent Kemal in Istanbul, Turkey
Published date: 8 April 2023

A senior Kurdish military leader was reportedly targeted in a drone attack on Friday in Iraq's Sulaymaniyah, which Iraqi and Kurdish officials blamed on Turkey.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq said that an explosion occurred near the Sulaymaniyah airport in the afternoon but left no casualties or damages.

The target was a convoy which included Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and three US military personnel, Kurdish activists and US officials have said.

There were no casualties in the strike, which was confirmed by a spokesperson for US Central Command, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The KRG and the SDF denied the reports that Abdi was targeted.

Stay informed with MEE's newsletters
Sign up to get the latest alerts, insights and analysis, starting with Turkey Unpacked

Turkey has not commented on the strike.

Middle East Eye asked Turkish authorities for comment but did not receive a response at the time of publication.

Abdi on Saturday blamed Ankara for the attack but stopped short of confirming if he was in the targeted convoy.

Iraqi President Abdel Latif Rashid called on Turkey to apologise for the shelling and said in a statement that Ankara had no legal justification to "continue its approach of intimidating civilians under the pretext that forces hostile to it are present on Iraqi soil".

Iraq-Syria: Helicopter crash might have revealed a secret PKK air route 

Read More »

The city of Sulaymaniyah has come under the spotlight in recent weeks after the discovery of an apparent air corridor between Iraq and Syria allegedly carrying senior fighters of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) at the behest of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

The PUK is the second largest party in the semi-autonomous region and the dominant force in Sulaymaniyah, a city where Turkey has long carried out operations against PKK figures.

The PKK, a Kurdish separatist group, has been in conflict with the Turkish state since the 1980s, involving violence that has killed tens of thousands of people. It's designated as a terrorist group by Turkey, the US and the EU.

The SDF, a US-backed militia spearheaded by PKK-linked groups, said last month that nine of its members died in the Eurocopter AS350 helicopter crash en route to Sulaymaniyah.

The Turkish foreign ministry said last week that Turkish Airlines flights to Sulaymaniyah would be suspended until 3 July. It linked the decision to "the intensification" of the PKK's activities in Sulaymaniyah and its "penetration" of the airport, "thus threatening flight security".

'Hunt' for Abdi

The Friday drone attack was not the first to target Abdi.

The Turkish military launched a series of drone, artillery and air strikes in November against the SDF in northern Syria in the aftermath of the deadly Istanbul bombing.

One of the attacks targeted Abdi as he came out of a meeting with US military advisers, which was held at an SDF base in Hasakah province.

The US Central Command said at the time that there was "a risk to US troops and personnel" during the attack but did not mention the meeting.

Several members of Abdi's protection team were killed in the attack.

Turkish authorities, however, have not publicly confirmed that they were responsible for the Hasakah assassination attempt.

Turkish sources familiar with the strike told MEE that it took place during a drone reconnaissance flight. A group of SDF fighters were spotted and attacked.

The sources declined to comment on whether Abdi was directly targeted.

According to Turkish sources involved in the fight against the PKK and YPG, Ankara believes closer ties between the US-backed SDF and the PKK have become more evident amid the fragile security situation along the Syrian-Iraqi border.

Turkish sources said that increased meetings between Abdi, the PUK and the US were under constant surveillance, likening the situation to a "hunt".

Israeli forces fatally shoot Palestinian in northern West Bank

The 20-year-old was killed in the town of Azzoun in the Qalqilya Governorate, says Palestinian health ministry

Israeli soldiers take positions during clashes with Palestinians in the village of Azzoun on 30 April 2022 (AFP/File photo)
By MEE staff
Published date: 8 April 2023 

Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian youth during an incursion into the northern West Bank town of Azzoun, the Palestinian health ministry said on Saturday.

Ahed Salim, 20, was hit in the chest and belly by live fire just east of Qalqilya, the ministry said in a brief statement, without giving further details.

Since the beginning of 2023, Israeli forces have killed at least 93 Palestinians in what the Palestinian health ministry has described as the deadliest start to a year since 2000.

Palestinians have killed at least 16 Israelis in the same period.

Stay informed with MEE's newsletters
Sign up to get the latest alerts, insights and analysis, starting with Turkey Unpacked

Two Israeli women were killed and another left critically wounded in a shooting in the occupied West Bank's Jordan Valley on Friday.

Following Friday's shooting, Israel Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai called on licensed gun owners to start carrying their weapons.

"This is a murderous attack that reminds us how relevant the threat of hostile activity is," he said at the time.

Israel has bombarded both Gaza and Lebanon in recent days, exchanging rocket fire from Gaza. Late Saturday three rockets were fired at Israel from Syria.

Hundreds of Israelis raid Al-Aqsa as Palestinians blocked from site

Jordan condemns incursions and blames Israel for a potential escalation

Hundreds of Israelis stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem on 9 April 2023 (MEE/Latifeh Abdellatif)

By MEE staff
Published date: 9 April 2023 

Hundreds of Israeli settlers and ultranationalists stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem on Sunday, as Palestinians were blocked from accessing the site.

Protected by dozens of heavily-armed police officers, large groups of Israelis toured the courtyards of Al-Aqsa starting from 7:30am local time to mark the Jewish holiday of Passover.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces assaulted Palestinians trying to reach the site overnight to perform the dawn prayer and denied access to worshippers under the age of 40.

They also cleared the Old City, where Al-Aqsa Mosque is located, in preparation for the mass Israeli incursions.

Only 30,000 Palestinians managed to attend the Ramadan Taraweeh night prayer on Saturday, a drop from as many as 130,000 who attended previous nights this month, according to local estimates.

Stay informed with MEE's newsletters
Sign up to get the latest alerts, insights and analysis, starting with Turkey Unpacked

Hundreds of worshippers locked themselves in the Qibli prayer hall - the building with the silver dome - on Saturday night, to avoid Israeli attempts to remove them from the mosque.

It comes after Israeli forces repeatedly assaulted worshippers inside the Qibli mosque last week to remove them from the site, sparking international condemnation.

Jordan, the custodian of Islamic and Christian sites in Jerusalem, denounced the raids on Sunday and blamed Israel for the consequences.

"We condemn the massive incursions into the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque under the tight protection of the Israeli occupation police, which constitutes a breach of the existing historical and legal status quo agreements in Al-Aqsa and a violation of the sanctity of the holy places," the Jordanian foreign minister said in a statement.

"The Israeli government bears the responsibility for the escalation in Jerusalem and the occupied territories if it does not stop storming Al-Aqsa Mosque and restricting worshippers."

Palestinian women recite the Quran in the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque while Israeli police secure incursions by ultranationalists on 9 April 2023 (MEE/Latifeh Abdellatif)


Israeli forces regularly empty Al-Aqsa Mosque - known to Jews as the Temple Mount - of Palestinians outside the five Muslim prayer times, especially overnight and after the dawn prayer, to ensure a smooth incursion of Israeli settlers.

Temple Movement groups, which facilitate the incursions and advocate for the destruction of Al-Aqsa, have called for mass stormings throughout the week-long Passover holiday which started on Wednesday and ends on Thursday.

According to decades-long international agreements, known as the status quo, Al-Aqsa Mosque is an Islamic site where unsolicited visits, prayers and rituals by non-Muslims are forbidden.

Al-Aqsa Mosque: Israeli raids and incursions explained

Read More »

Israeli groups, in coordination with authorities, have long violated the delicate arrangement and facilitated daily raids of the site and performed prayers and religious rituals without permission from Palestinians or Jordan.

By allocating specific times for when Palestinians are allowed at Al-Aqsa Mosque, and opening the site for settlers to visit and pray, Palestinians fear the groundwork is being laid to divide the mosque between Muslims and Jews, similar to how the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron was divided in the 1990s.

Israel's control of East Jerusalem, including the Old City, violates several principles of international law, which stipulates that an occupying power has no sovereignty in the territory it occupies and cannot make any permanent changes there.

As hundreds stormed the site on Sunday, thousands gathered at the Western Wall below it to mark the biannual "Birkat Kohanim" ceremony, also known as the Priestly Blessing.
Increased tensions

Israeli police were noticeably largely restrained against Palestinians inside Al-Aqsa Mosque on Saturday and Sunday morning, though they have maintained a large presence at the site.

Their unusual conduct comes after their violent assaults on worshippers last week were filmed and widely shared online, sparking an uptick in violence.

Rockets were launched from Gaza and Lebanon towards Israel on Thursday in an apparent response to the Al-Aqsa attacks. At least two Israelis were wounded.

Shootings in the occupied West Bank also spiked, leaving two Israeli settlers killed and two soldiers wounded.

The Israeli military and police said they would bolster their forces amid the tensions, and extend West Bank closures until Wednesday.

Palestinians from the West Bank who have permits to work in Israel or reach Al-Aqsa Mosque will be barred from entering.

The Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant also ordered soldiers to be deployed inside Israel in the central district, to reinforce police work.

Al-Aqsa raid: How BBC coverage is enabling Israeli violence

Jonathan Cook
6 April 2023

Once again, the British state broadcaster is using a bogus ‘neutrality’ to trick its audience into siding with Israeli state oppression

Israeli police violently cracks down on peaceful Muslim worshippers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan on 5 April 2023 (AP)

The late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel laureate and tireless campaigner against South African apartheid, once observed: “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”

For decades, the BBC’s editorial policy in reporting on Israel and Palestine has consistently chosen the side of the oppressor - and all too often, not even by adopting the impartiality the corporation claims as the bedrock of its journalism.

Instead, the British state broadcaster regularly chooses language and terminology whose effect is to deceive its audience. And it compounds such journalistic malpractice by omitting vital pieces of context when that extra information would present Israel in a bad light.

BBC bias - which entails knee-jerk echoing of the British establishment’s support for Israel as a highly militarised ally projecting western interests into the oil-rich Middle East - was starkly on show once again this week as the broadcaster reported on the violence at Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Social media was full of videos showing heavily armed Israeli police storming the mosque complex during the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Police could be seen pushing peaceful Muslim worshippers, including elderly men, off their prayer mats and forcing them to leave the site. In other scenes, police were filmed beating worshippers inside a darkened Al-Aqsa, while women could be heard screaming in protest.

What is wrong with the British state broadcaster’s approach - and much of the rest of the western media’s - is distilled in one short BBC headline: “Clashes erupt at contested holy site.”

Into a sentence of just six words, the BBC manages to cram three bogusly “neutral” words, whose function is not to illuminate or even to report, but to trick the audience, as Tutu warned, into siding with the oppressor.
Furious backlash

Though video of the beatings was later included on the BBC’s website and the headline changed after a furious online backlash, none of the sense of unprovoked, brutal Israeli state violence, or its malevolent rationale, was captured by the BBC’s reporting.


To call al-Aqsa a 'contested holy site', as the BBC does, is simply to repeat a propaganda talking point from Israel, the oppressor state, and dress it up as neutral reporting

The “clashes” at al-Aqsa, in the BBC’s telling, presume a violent encounter between two groups: Palestinians, described by Israel and echoed by the BBC as “agitators”, on one side; and Israeli forces of law and order on the other.

That is the context, according to the BBC, for why unarmed Palestinians at worship need to be beaten. And that message is reinforced by the broadcaster’s description of the seizure of hundreds of Palestinians at worship as “arrests” - as though an unwelcome, occupying, belligerent security force present on another people’s land is neutrally and equitably upholding the law.

“Erupt” continues the theme. It suggests the “clashes” are a natural force, like an earthquake or volcano, over which Israeli police presumably have little, if any, control. They must simply deal with the eruption to bring it to an end.

And the reference to the “contested” holy site of Al-Aqsa provides a spurious context legitimising Israeli state violence: police need to be at Al-Aqsa because their job is to restore calm by keeping the two sides “contesting” the site from harming each other or damaging the holy site itself.

The BBC buttresses this idea by uncritically citing an Israeli police statement accusing Palestinians of being at Al-Aqsa to “disrupt public order and desecrate the mosque”. Palestinians are thus accused of desecrating their own holy site simply by worshipping there - rather than the desecration committed by Israeli police in storming al-Aqsa and violently disrupting worship.
Israeli provocateurs

The BBC’s framing should be obviously preposterous to any rookie journalist in Jerusalem. It assumes that Israeli police are arbiters or mediators at Al-Aqsa, dispassionately enforcing law and order at a Muslim place of worship, rather than the truth: that for decades, the job of Israeli police has been to act as provocateurs, dispatched by a self-declared Jewish state, to undermine the long-established status quo of Muslim control over Al-Aqsa.

Events were repeated for a second night this week when police again raided Al-Aqsa, firing rubber bullets and tear gas as thousands of Palestinians were at prayer. US statements calling for “calm” and “de-escalation” adopted the same bogus evenhandedness as the BBC.

The mosque site is not “contested”, except in the imagination of Jewish religious extremists, some of them in the Israeli government, and the most craven kind of journalists.


True, there are believed to be the remains of two long-destroyed Jewish temples somewhere underneath the raised mount where al-Aqsa is built. According to Jewish religious tradition, the Western Wall - credited with being a retaining wall for one of the disappeared temples - is a place of worship for Jews.

But under that same Jewish rabbinical tradition, the plaza where Al-Aqsa is sited is strictly off-limits to Jews. The idea of Al-Aqsa complex as being “contested” is purely an invention of the Israeli state - now backed by a few extremist settler rabbis - that exploits this supposed “dispute” as the pretext to assert Jewish sovereignty over a critically important piece of occupied Palestinian territory.

Israel’s goal - not Judaism’s - is to strip Palestinians of their most cherished national symbol, the foundation of their religious and emotional attachment to the land of their ancestors, and transfer that symbol to a state claiming to exclusively represent the Jewish people.

To call Al-Aqsa a “contested holy site”, as the BBC does, is simply to repeat a propaganda talking point from Israel, the oppressor state, and dress it up as neutral reporting.
‘Equal rights’ at Al-Aqsa

The reality is that there would have been no “clashes”, no “eruption” and no “contest” had Israeli police not chosen to storm Al-Aqsa while Palestinians were worshipping there during the holiest time of the year.


This is not a 'clash'. It is not a 'conflict'. Those supposedly 'neutral' terms conceal what is really happening: apartheid and ethnic cleansing

There would have been no “clashes” were Israeli police not aggressively enforcing a permanent occupation of Palestinian land in Jerusalem, which has encroached ever more firmly on Muslim access to, and control over, the mosque complex.

There would have been no “clashes” were Israeli police not taking orders from the latest - and most extreme - of a series of police ministers, Itamar Ben Gvir, who does not even bother to hide his view that Al-Aqsa must be under absolute Jewish sovereignty.

There would have been no “clashes” had Israeli police not been actively assisting Jewish religious settlers and bigots to create facts on the ground over many years - facts to bolster an evolving Israeli political agenda that seeks “equal rights” at Al-Aqsa for Jewish extremists, modelled on a similar takeover by settlers of the historic Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron.

And there would have been no “clashes” if Palestinians were not fully aware that, over many years, a tiny, fringe Jewish settler movement plotting to blow up Al-Aqsa Mosque to build a Third Temple in its place has steadily grown, flourishing under the sponsorship of Israeli politicians and ever more sympathetic Israeli media coverage.
Cover story for violence

Along with the Israeli army, the paramilitary Israeli police are the main vehicle for the violent subjugation of Palestinians, as the Israeli state and its settler emissaries dispossess Palestinians, driving them into ever smaller enclaves. This is not a “clash”. It is not a “conflict”. Those supposedly “neutral” terms conceal what is really happening: apartheid and ethnic cleansing.

Just as there is a consistent, discernible pattern to Israel’s crimes against Palestinians, there is a parallel, discernible pattern in the western media’s misleading reporting on Israel and Palestine.

Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are being systematically dispossessed by Israel of their homes and farmlands so they can be herded into overcrowded, resource-starved cities.

Palestinians in Gaza have been dispossessed of their access to the outside world, and even to other Palestinians, by an Israeli siege that encages them in an overcrowded, resourced-starved coastal enclave.

And in the Old City of Jerusalem, Palestinians are being progressively dispossessed by Israel of access to, and control over, their central religious resource: Al-Aqsa Mosque. Their strongest source of religious and emotional attachment to Jerusalem is being actively stolen from them.

To describe as “clashes” any of these violent state processes - carefully calibrated by Israel so they can be rationalised to outsiders as a “security response” - is to commit the very journalistic sin Tutu warned of. In fact, it is not just to side with the oppressor, but to intensify the oppression; to help provide the cover story for it.

That point was made this week by Francesca Albanese, the UN expert on Israel’s occupation. She noted in a tweet about the BBC’s reporting of the Al-Aqsa violence: “Misleading media coverage contributes to enabling Israel’s unchecked occupation & must also be condemned/accounted for.”
Bad journalism

There can be reasons for bad journalism. Reporters are human and make mistakes, and they can use language unthinkingly, especially when they are under pressure or events are unexpected.

It is an editorial choice that keeps the BBC skewing its reporting in the same direction: making Israel look like a judicious actor pursuing lawful, rational goals

But that is not the problem faced by those covering Israel and Palestine. Events can be fast-moving, but they are rarely new or unpredictable. The reporter’s task should be to explain and clarify the changing forms of the same, endlessly repeating central story: of Israel’s ongoing dispossession and oppression of Palestinians, and of Palestinian resistance.

The challenge is to make sense of Israel’s variations on a theme, whether it is dispossessing Palestinians through illegal settlement-building and expansion; army-backed settler attacks; building walls and cages for Palestinians; arbitrary arrests and night raids; the murder of Palestinians, including children and prominent figures; house demolitions; resource theft; humiliation; fostering a sense of hopelessness; or desecrating holy sites.

No one, least of all BBC reporters, should have been taken by surprise by this week’s events at Al-Aqsa.

The Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, when Al-Aqsa is at the heart of Islamic observance for Palestinians, coincided this year with the Jewish Passover holiday, as it did last year.

Passover is when Jewish religious extremists hope to storm Al-Aqsa Mosque complex to make animal sacrifices, recreating some imagined golden age in Judaism. Those extremists tried again this year, as they do every year - except this year, they had a police minister in Ben Gvir, leader of the fascist Jewish Power party, who is privately sympathetic to their cause.

Violent settler and army attacks on Palestinian farmers in the occupied West Bank, especially during the autumn olive harvest, are a staple of news reporting from the region, as is the intermittent bombing of Gaza or snipers shooting Palestinians protesting their mass incarceration by Israel. It is an endless series of repetitions that the BBC has had decades to make sense of and find better ways to report.

It is not journalistic error or failure that is the problem. It is an editorial choice that keeps the British state broadcaster skewing its reporting in the same direction: making Israel look like a judicious actor pursuing lawful, rational goals, while Palestinian resistance is presented as tantrum-like behaviour, driven by uncontrollable, unintelligible urges that reflect hostility towards Jews rather than towards an oppressor Israeli state.
Tail of a mouse

Tutu expanded on his point about siding with the oppressor. He added: “If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”

This week, a conversation between Ben Gvir, the far-right, virulently anti-Arab police minister, and his police chief, Kobi Shabtai, was leaked to Israel’s Channel 12 News. Shabtai reportedly told Ben Gvir about his theory of the “Arab mind”, noting: “They murder each other. It’s in their nature. That’s the mentality of the Arabs.”

The Holy Land And Us: BBC Nakba series obscures ethnic cleansing of Palestine

Read More »

This conclusion - convenient for a police force that has abjectly failed to solve crimes within Palestinian communities - implies that the Arab mind is so deranged, so bloodthirsty, that brutal repression of the kind seen at Al-Aqsa is all police can do to keep a bare minimum of control.

Ben Gvir, meanwhile, believes a new “national guard” - a private militia he was recently promised by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - can help him to crush Palestinian resistance. Settler street thugs, his political allies, will finally be able to put on uniforms and have official licence for their anti-Arab violence.

This is the real context - the one that cannot be acknowledged by the BBC or other western outlets - for the police storming of Al-Aqsa complex this week. It is the same context underpinning settlement expansion, night raids, checkpoints, the siege of Gaza, the murder of Palestinian journalists, and much, much more.

Jewish supremacism undergirds every Israeli state action towards Palestinians, tacitly approved by western states and their media in the service of advancing western colonialism in the oil-rich Middle East.

The BBC’s coverage this week, as in previous months and years, was not neutral, or even accurate. It was, as Tutu warned, a confidence trick - one meant to lull audiences into accepting Israeli violence as always justified, and Palestinian resistance as always abhorrent.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.

Jonathan Cook is the author of three books on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and a winner of the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. His website and blog can be found at www.jonathan-cook.net

US leaked documents allege Mossad urged protests against Netanyahu's reforms

Israel vehemently denies reports which suggest that Washington spied on its ally

Israel's Mossad chief David Barnea (C) attends an honour guard ceremony for Israel's incoming military chief, at the Israeli Defence Ministry in Tel Aviv, on 16 January 2023 (AFP)

By MEE staff
Published date: 9 April 2023 

Leaked US intelligence documents allege that the Israeli spy body Mossad secretly encouraged people to join protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's proposed judicial overhaul.

The documents, dating back to "early to mid-February", state that Mossad's leadership had "advocated for Mossad officials and Israeli citizens to protest the new Israeli government's proposed judicial reforms including several explicit calls to action that decried the Israeli government".

The intelligence memo does not state who made the order to encourage Mossad employees and civilians to join the protests but notes that the intelligence came from signals intelligence - meaning the US spied on its closest ally in the region.

These latest leaks are part of a series of US intelligence documents posted online and given to the Washington Post and other newspapers. The FBI is investigating who is behind the leak. The authenticity of the documents is thought to be generally credible, though the information they contain is not necessarily factual.

The Israeli prime minister's office on Sunday condemned the report on behalf of Mossad and described them as "mendacious and without any foundation whatsoever".

Stay informed with MEE's newsletters
Sign up to get the latest alerts, insights and analysis, starting with Turkey Unpacked

"The Mossad and its senior officials did not – and do not – encourage agency personnel to join the demonstrations against the government, political demonstrations or any political activity," the statement read.

"The Mossad and its serving senior personnel have not engaged in the issue of the demonstrations at all and are dedicated to the value of service to the state that has guided the Mossad since its founding."

The disclosure of these documents comes after pro-government Israelis accused the US of secretly orchestrating the protests against Netanyahu and supporting them.

Netanyahu has taken Israel to the abyss. What is his exit strategy?

Read More »

Last month, Netanyahu's son Yair, claimed the US State Department was "behind the protest in Israel, with the aim of overthrowing Netanyahu, apparently in order to conclude an agreement with the Iranians".

Washington denied these claims and said that any reports that it was "propping up or supporting these protests… is completely and demonstrably false".

Israel has been rocked by weeks-long protests and strikes since January against the judicial overhaul plan, which critics say will weaken the Supreme Court and remove checks on parliament.

Netanyahu paused the proposal last month to allow for dialogue with the opposition until late May before pressing on with the bills again.

The plan was publicly criticised by US President Joe Biden who urged Netanyahu to "walk away from it".

His remarks prompted criticism from Netanyahu and his partners, and exposed simmering tensions between the two administrations.

Israel: Protesters keep up pressure on Netanyahu despite policy pause

Around 258,000 people attended in Tel Aviv, say organisers, as other protests take place in central city of Kfar Saba, Haifa and Jerusalem

Protesters hold national flags amid ongoing demonstrations against the government's judicial reform bill, in Tel Aviv on 8 April (AFP)

By MEE and agencies
Published date: 8 April 2023 

Israeli demonstrators crowded Tel Aviv late Saturday for another protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plans to reform the judiciary, despite the process being put on hold.

Organisers said around 258,000 people attended, but police gave no figures of their own.

The demonstration came a day after an alleged car-ramming attack on the city's seafront killed an Italian visitor and injured seven other tourists.

Violence has surged since Israeli police stormed Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem on Wednesday after they said Palestinians barricaded themselves inside.

Israel bombarded both Gaza and Lebanon after rockets were fired from Lebanon's south into Israel on Thursday afternoon.

Stay informed with MEE's newsletters
Sign up to get the latest alerts, insights and analysis, starting with Turkey Unpacked

Protesters on Saturday brandished signs reading "Save democracy!", "Freedom for all!" and "Netanyahu is leading us to war".

Other, smaller, demonstrations took place in the central city of Kfar Saba, at Haifa in the north and in Jerusalem.

Thousands of protesters, sometimes tens of thousands, have been taking to the streets each week since the reform plans were announced in January by Netanyahu's government, which was formed in December.

On 27 March, he announced a "pause" to allow for dialogue on the reforms which were moving through parliament and split the nation.

Israelis want to stop their country becoming Poland. They may be too late

Read More »

Netanyahu last month had announced the firing of his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, who cited a threat to national security because "the growing social rift" had made its way into the army and security agencies.

The proposals would curtail the authority of the Supreme Court and give politicians greater powers over the selection of judges.

Opponents have raised fears for Israel's democracy but the government, a coalition between Netanyahu's Likud party and extreme-right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish allies, argues the changes are needed to rebalance powers between lawmakers and the judiciary.

Israel's attorney general had warned Netanyahu, just prior to the pause, against any intervention in changes to the judicial system because of conflicts of interest. The prime minister is on trial over charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, which he denies.

Israel was never a democratic state, from 1948 to now

Anton Shulhut
5 April 2023 

To fully understand the ongoing crisis, we must look at the failed attempts to create a democratic constitution after Israel was established

Protesters rally outside the Israeli consulate in New York on 27 March 2023 (AFP)

In the wake of the political crisis in Israel over the “judicial reforms” proposed by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, debate has emerged over how the state can avoid falling into total dysfunction.

Today, Israel is at best a deficient democracy, paralysed and handcuffed.

Many have warned that Israel’s “democratic” model is in danger under the new far-right government. The former president of Israel’s Supreme Court, Aharon Barak, has described the government’s planned judicial overhaul as a “coup without tanks” that could turn Israel into a “hollow democracy”.

Last month, amid a massive public outcry, Netanyahu agreed to put the plan on pause.

Digging deep into the roots of the Zionist doctrine upon which Israel was established, we can better understand what led to this point. Israel was founded in 1948 as a “Jewish state”, and deemed as such in the country’s Declaration of Independence. This principle was further enshrined in the 2018 Jewish nation-state law.

Stay informed with MEE's newsletters
Sign up to get the latest alerts, insights and analysis, starting with Turkey Unpacked

The 2018 law also stipulated that a “united Jerusalem” was the capital of Israel, and confirmed that Hebrew was the state language and the Hebrew calendar was the official state calendar.

Early decisions by Israel’s founding fathers included a failure to produce a constitution. Although the Declaration of Independence set out a timeframe for adopting a constitution by October 1948, elections to the Constituent Assembly did not take place until the following year, and the assembly held just four meetings.

In February 1949, the assembly approved a transitional law, transforming itself into the first Knesset - and the task of drawing up a constitution fell to parliamentarians.
Cross-party denial

Debate continued until June 1950, when the Knesset adopted a compromise resolution known as the Harari proposal, under which a parliamentary committee was designated to prepare the constitution.

The proposal noted: “The constitution will be made up of chapters, each of which will constitute a separate basic law. The chapters will be brought to the Knesset, as the Committee completes its work, and all the chapters together will constitute the constitution of the state.”

But this task was never finished, and the Knesset has passed only 13 basic laws since. In the meantime, what lessons can be drawn from these years of debate?

Israeli crisis: This is not about democracy, it's about liberal Zionist supremacy

Read More »

The first is that there is cross-party denial among Israeli Zionist political movements about the nature of the modern civil state. Many would argue that the state cannot be seen as an instrument of enforcement for a particular ethnicity, cultural group or religion. Such visions contradict the notion of the state as a sovereign system of government committed first and foremost to the safety and well-being of its citizens, regardless of their religion or ethnic affiliation.

Secondly, Israel is based on the rule of an ethnic majority, rather than a political majority. While in other countries such as the US, the political majority changes after elections, Israel is always devoted to serving the needs of its ethnic majority, regardless of electoral outcomes - a concept that is antithetical to democracy. The nation-state law only codified Israel’s preexisting oppressive and discriminatory practices.

Thirdly, as long as Israel is an occupying state, it cannot possess the legitimacy provided by the term “democratic system”, and it is acting in contravention of international laws and norms.

Finally, in a true democracy, the political system is generally constrained by a constitution or a political culture of restraint. Neither applies in the case of Israel.

The subject of the essence of Israeli democracy is beyond the scope of a single article, but an instructive example comes from the 2008 book of late Meretz leader Shulamit Aloni, titled Democracy in Shackles. Stressing the need to preserve Israel’s democratic character more than its Jewish character, Aloni cited various threats to this model, including the rise of far-right extremism.

The country’s veins have been corrupted by the poison of religious fundamentalists and settlers, she noted, highlighting how Israel has failed to grasp the true meaning of democracy. Today, this warning resounds more than ever.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.

Anton Shulhut is a researcher of Israeli affairs and a literary critic. He translated political and literary books from Hebrew and is the author of several books including; The Oslo Collar, 2018; Israeli security persecution as a political tool, 2017; and Benjamin Netanyahu: The No-solution Doctrine, 2015.

NOT A MOB BUT MUSLIM WORSHIPPERS
Israel claims Muslims barricaded in Al-Aqsa Mosque are 'dangerous mob' after Jordan warning
By Adam Schrader

Palestinian women cross the Qalandia checkpoint between the West Bank and Jerusalem, to attend the third Friday prayer of the holy month of Ramadan at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

 Photo by Alaa Badarne/HEPA-EFE


April 8 (UPI) -- Israel claimed without providing evidence Saturday that Muslims barricaded inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem are a "dangerous mob" after a warning from the Jordanian Foreign Ministry about breaching the sacred site and assaulting worshippers.

Tensions in the Middle East have been rising after Israeli police raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque and assaulting Palestinian worshippers celebrating the month of Ramadan, forcing them out to allow Israelis inside.

The Al-Aqsa Mosque is located at the Temple Mount, the highly contested holy site for Muslims, Jews and Christians. The site is under the management of the government of Jordan and Jewish religious law prevents visiting the site.

Jordan's Foreign Ministry released a statement Saturday warning Israeli officials that there are "disastrous consequences" for Israel's "continued violation" of the sanctity of the mosque and the right of Muslims to worship Ramadan as Israel plans to again remove worshippers from the holy site.

Israel strikes Gaza, Lebanon in escalation of conflict after Al-Aqsa mosque raid

The Israeli Foreign Ministry responded by alleging that everyone holed up inside the mosque are a "dangerous mob" who are "radicalized and incited by Hamas and other terrorist groups."

Israel holds Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, responsible for all actions from Gaza.

"We call on Jordan, through the Waqf guards, to immediately remove from the Al-Aqsa Mosque these extremists who are planning to riot tomorrow during Muslim prayers on the Temple Mount and the Priestly Blessing at the Western Wall," the Israeli Foreign Ministry said.

The United States and Israel are long-time allies and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called Yoav Gallant, his Israeli counterpart, on Saturday to underscore "his support for Israel's security against all threats," according to a readout from the U.S. Defense Department.

The news came as the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry said in a statement that Israeli forces shot dead a young Palestinian man in the West Bank.

The provocative scene at Al Aqsa mosque
07 Apr 2023



Israeli police carry off a Palestinian from the Al Aqsa Mosque compound following a raid of the site in Jerusalem’s Old City. APThe settled international norm is that only Muslims can worship in the Al Aqsa mosque, the third holiest Islamic shrine in the world, has been under siege as Israeli troops stormed into the mosque compound and earlier in the week fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse Palestinians gathered inside the mosque, and several of the Palestinians were seriously injured. The Palestinians wanted to stay overnight and offer the traditional night prayers but the Israeli authorities usually allow this only in the last 10 days of Ramadan. The Palestinians were also readying themselves as they were responding to the threat of some Jews who wanted to sacrifice an animal to mark the Jewish religious observance of the Feast of Passover in the mosque compound. This was a provocative act in the holy month of Ramadan, and the hardline groups from the Gaza Strip fired rockets into Israel, and it looked like that another vicious cycle of violence had begun. Both the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia condemned the Israeli troops entering the Al Aqsa. On the other hand, Israelis have been offering prayers at the Wailing Wall, the remaining part of the old Jewish temple attributed to the legendary Solomon, and this in violation of the international norm.

Meanwhile Israel has been bombing Syrian targets backed by the Iranians. And on Wednesday, rockets were fired from Lebanon into north Israel, and a Lebanese security official speaking on condition of anonymity said that it were Palestinian groups which were firing the rockets and not the Israel-backed anti-Israel group Hizbollah. The Hizbollah had already condemned Israeli troops storming the Al Aqsa. This statement if accepted would help avoid a wider conflagration. But tensions are rising mainly due to the provocative stance of the far-right parties in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu-led coalition government.

The United States had defended the aggressive stance of the Israeli government, both in Gaza and in Syria. Principal Deputy State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said, “Israel has legitimate security concerns and has every right to defend themselves.” But he was also careful enough to assert: “We emphasise the importance of upholding the historic status quo at the holy sites in Jerusalem and any unilateral action that jeopardises the status quo to us is unacceptable.” But the question is how much the aggressive elements in Netanyahu’s government would heed the American warnings, especially National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

The new Israeli government while facing massive unrest over its attempt to weaken the Israeli Supreme Court though legislation, but the government’s far-right elements are only too eager to provoke the Palestinians on the religious score, and it is this provocative attitude that could alienate Israel from its newly-made friends like UAE among the Gulf Arab states. And America is not in position to rein in the extreme elements in Israel’s coalition government. It would be unreasonable to demand that the Palestinians, who are hemmed in the crowded West Bank cities and towns that they should not be provoked by the Israelis. The tactic of the Israeli authorities is to humiliate the Palestinians by hurting their religious sentiments. That is an incendiary policy if there is one. Israel is overconfident that it can parry any military response from its Arab neighbourhood. But that could be changing fast enough with Russia and China entering the Middle Eastern checkerboard in terms of diplomatic and military intervention. Until now, it were the US and Israel which were able to dictate the Middle East security scenario. This is fast changing. The recent moves by Gulf Arab leaders to integrate Syria and its leader Bashar Al Assad into the Gulf Arab security architecture reveals the determination of the Gulf Arab states to pursue their own specific geo-strategic interests. Israel cannot hope to control the narrative with the help of the Americans.

After Days Of Violence, Jerusalem Prayers End Peacefully

April 9, 2023


Ramadan prayers and Jewish Passover visits at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound passed without incident on Sunday, after days of tension at the flashpoint Jerusalem site which led to cross-border exchanges of fire.

Small groups of Jewish visitors under heavy police guard walked through the mosque compound, known in Judaism as Temple Mount, as thousands of worshippers gathered for the Passover holiday’s special “Priestly Blessing” at the Western Wall below.

The Al-Aqsa compound – sacred to Muslims and Jews – has been at the centre of a security crisis set off last week when Israeli police raided the mosque to dislodge what they said were youths barricaded inside armed with rocks and fireworks.

Footage of the raid, showing police beating worshippers, triggered a furious reaction across the Arab world, sparking rocket attacks on Israel by Palestinian factions that were met with Israeli strikes on sites in Gaza, south Lebanon and Syria.

There were no reports of casualties.

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Lebanon’s armed Shi’ite movement Hezbollah, met with Palestinian Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Lebanon, the group said on Sunday, and discussed the Al-Aqsa events.

Israeli security experts have said that Iran-backed Hezbollah likely gave its permission to Islamist Hamas to fire the rockets from Lebanon.

“Our enemies were wrong when they thought that Israel’s citizens were not united in support for the IDF (Israel Defence Forces),” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – who is facing unprecedented protests at home against judicial changes – said in a statement.

In Gaza, Hazem Qassem, a Hamas spokesperson urged “all fronts to unite and confront the escalation by the arrogant (Israeli) occupation.”

HOLIDAY CLOSURE

The Israeli military said that in light of the security situation, it would extend a closure on the West Bank and Gaza until April 13, when Passover ends.

On Friday, two Israeli sisters from a settlement in the occupied West Bank were killed when their car came under fire by suspected Palestinian gunmen. Hours later, an Italian tourist was killed when a car driven by a man from an Arab city in Israel ploughed into a group in a shoreline park in Tel Aviv.

The funeral of the two sisters, who had dual Israeli and British nationality, is due to be held later on Sunday.

After a year of escalating Israeli-Palestinian violence, tensions are running especially high as Ramadan and Passover coincide, with a focus on the Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem’s walled Old City. Clashes there between police and worshippers helped spark a 10-day war Israel-Gaza war in 2021.

As in previous years, the government is expected to ban entry to the compound to non-Muslims for the last 10 days of Ramadan, which is expected to end on April 20 or 21, though far-right Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has called for the ban not to be imposed this year.

The post After Days Of Violence, Jerusalem Prayers End Peacefully appeared first on International Business Times.

Tensions build around Jerusalem shrine after Syria rockets


By Associated Press

Apr 9, 2023

Israeli warplanes and artillery have hit targets in Syria following rare rocket fire from the north-eastern neighbour, as Jewish-Muslim tensions reach a peak at a volatile Jerusalem shrine with simultaneous religious rituals.

Thousands of Jewish worshippers gathered at the city's Western Wall, the holiest place where Jews can pray, for a mass priestly benediction prayer service for the Passover holiday.

At the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, a walled esplanade above the Western Wall, hundreds of Palestinians performed prayers as part of observances during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Israeli police escort Jewish visitors marking the holiday of Passover to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount, in the Old City of Jerusalem, on Sunday. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean) (AP)

Hundreds of Jews also visited the Al-Aqsa compound under heavy police guard on Sunday, to whistles and religious chants from Palestinians protesting their presence.

Such tours by religious and nationalist Jews have increased in size and frequency over the years, and are viewed with suspicion by many Palestinians who fear that Israel plans one day to take over the site or partition it.

Israeli officials say they have no intention of changing long-standing arrangements that allow Jews to visit, but not pray in the Muslim-administered site.

However, the country is now governed by the most right-wing government in its history, with ultra-nationalists in senior positions.

Tensions have soared in the past week at the flashpoint shrine after an Israeli police raid on the mosque.

On several occasions, Palestinians have barricaded themselves inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque with stones and firecrackers, demanding the right to pray there overnight, something Israel has in the past only allowed during the last 10 days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Covered in prayer shawls, Jewish men of the Cohanim Priestly caste participate in a blessing during the holiday of Passover, in front of the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray, in Jerusalem's Old City. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg) (AP)

Police removed them by force, detaining hundreds and leaving dozens injured.

The violence at the shrine triggered rocket fire by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon, starting on Wednesday, and Israeli airstrikes targeted both areas.

Late on Saturday and early on Sunday, militants in Syria fired rockets in two salvos toward Israel and the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.

A Damascus-based Palestinian group loyal to the Syrian government claimed responsibility for the first round of rockets, saying it was retaliating for the Al-Aqsa raids. 

Israeli police escort Jewish visitors marking the holiday the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean) (AP)

In the first salvo, one rocket landed in a field in the Golan Heights. Fragments of another destroyed missile fell into Jordanian territory near the Syrian border, Jordan's military reported.

In the second round, two of the rockets crossed the border into Israel, with one being intercepted and the second landing in an open area, the Israeli military said.

Israel responded with artillery fire into the area in Syria from where the rockets were fired. Later, the military said Israeli fighter jets attacked Syrian army sites, including a compound of Syria's 4th Division and radar and artillery posts.

  Jewish men of the Cohanim Priestly caste participate in a blessing. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg) (AP)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the violence in a telephone call with Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog late Saturday, telling Herzog that Muslims could not remain silent about the "provocations and threats" against the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and said the hostilities that have spread to Gaza and Lebanon should not be allowed to escalate further.

In addition to the cross-border fighting, three people were killed over the weekend in Palestinian attacks in Israel and the occupied West Bank.

The funeral for two British-Israeli sisters, Maia and Rina Dee, who were killed in a shooting was scheduled for Sunday at a cemetery in the Jewish settlement of Kfar Etzion in the occupied West Bank.

'Fantastic' find under future Aldi site a colourful link to Roman times
View Gallery

An Italian tourist, Alessandro Parini, 35, a lawyer from Rome, had just arrived in the city a few hours earlier with some friends for a brief Easter holiday. He was killed Friday in a suspected car-ramming on Tel Aviv's beachside promenade.

Over 90 Palestinians and have been killed by Israeli fire so far this year, at least half of them affiliated with militant groups, according to a tally by The Associated Press. Palestinian attacks on Israelis have killed 19 people in that time. All but one were civilians.

People gather and lay flowers at the site where Alessandro Parini, an Italian tourist, was killed in a Palestinian attack, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, April 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) (AP)

Israeli army launches fresh strikes in Syria

Israeli strikes hit the vicinity of Damascus on Sunday. Photo has been used for illustrative purposes only.

Gulf Today Report

Israel launched artillery strikes on Syria on Sunday morning, the Israeli army announced, after several rockets were fired from there and landed in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

State media in Syria reported explosions in the vicinity of the capital Damascus as Israel said its forces continued to hit Syrian territory after six rockets were fired overnight towards the Golan Heights.

Israel said artillery and drone strikes hit the rocket launchers and were followed by airstrikes against a Syrian army compound, military radar systems and artillery posts.

"In response to the rockets fired from Syria at Israel earlier today, IDF Artillery is currently striking in Syrian territory," the military tweeted.

A drone was also "currently striking the launchers in Syria from which rockets were launched into Israeli territory".

Six rockets were launched towards Israel Saturday night, with two landing in the Golan Heights, the army said. At least one was intercepted by the Israeli air-defence system.

The 1,200 square kilometre (460 square mile) region — patrolled by Israeli soldiers and bordering Lebanon — was seized from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War. Israel later annexed it in a move that was never recognised by the international community.

Lebanon-Based Al Mayadeen TV said the rocket salvoes were claimed by Al Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Iranian-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement.

The 1,200-square kilometre Golan Heights was seized from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War.

On Thursday, more than 30 rockets were fired towards Israel from southern Lebanon, drawing cross-border counterstrikes from Israel on sites linked to the Hamas in Lebanon and Gaza.

Syrian state news agency SANA said the Israeli strikes took place around 5:00 am (0200 GMT).

Citing an unnamed military source, SANA said Syria's military had "intercepted the rockets... and brought down some of them".

The surge in violence and unrest comes as the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, Jewish Passover, and Christian Easter coincide.

On Wednesday, Israeli police stormed the prayer hall of Al-Aqsa mosque, Islam's third-holiest site, in a pre-dawn raid aimed at dislodging "law-breaking youths masked agitators" they said had barricaded themselves inside.

The next day, more than 30 rockets were fired from Lebanese soil into Israel, which the Israeli army blamed on Palestinian groups, saying it was most likely Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip.

Israel then bombarded Gaza and southern Lebanon, targeting "terror infrastructures" that it said belonged to Hamas.

It was the biggest salvo fired from Lebanon since Israel fought a devastating 34-day war with Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in 2006 and the first time Israel has confirmed an attack on Lebanese territory since April 2022.

Israel and Lebanon are technically in a state of war, and the ceasefire line is patrolled by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), deployed in the country's south.

On the Syrian side, Israel has recently intensified its raids targeting positions of pro-Iranian groups.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Art market attracts organized crime and terrorists, report finds

By Adam Schrader


April 8 (UPI) -- Criminal organizations and terrorist groups are attracted to the art market as a way to fund their activities and launder money, according to a recent report from an intergovernmental agency linked to the Group of Seven.

The Financial Action Task Force, an independent global agency created by the G7 in 1989 to address money laundering concerns, released the report in February which was first spotted by The Art Newspaper on Friday.

"The market has attracted criminals, organized crime groups and terrorists who seek to launder proceeds of crime and fund their activities," the report reads.

"The use of cash, third-party intermediaries, shell companies and other complex corporate structures in relevant transactions also represents relevant illicit finance vulnerabilities."

Analysts with the FATF found that art attracts criminal activities because it can attract high prices while retaining its value and is easy to discretely buy and sell. Criminals will also often create "fake sales" and "false auctions" of art to launder money.

The estimated global sales of art and antiquities in 2021 reached more than $65 billion in 2021, according to the report. UPI previously reported that the arts sector contributed more than $1 trillion to the U.S. economy in 2021.

"Terrorist financing is another risk for those working predominantly in the markets for cultural objects," according to the report.

FATF analysts noted that Islamic State terrorist group has "notoriously pillaged" archeological sites in Iraq and Syria for artifacts to sell in the art market. Other terrorist groups, such as Al-Qaeda, have also used "similar schemes" in the Middle East, North Africa and parts of Asia.

Law enforcement and anti-terrorism agencies face challenges in combating the use of the art market by criminal groups because there are "difficulties in tracing the origin," according to the report.

Other challenges include a low number of suspicious transaction reports filed with financial intelligence units worldwide and a lack of prioritization of their investigation.

"It is vital for jurisdictions and businesses to correctly identify and understand the specific risks associated with different cultural objects and market participants," the report reads.

"For example, cultural objects originating from areas where terrorist groups are active, or bordering jurisdictions, are specifically vulnerable to being used for terrorist financing."

However, some experts expressed criticism of the report's findings in comments to The Art Newspaper.

"Diligence and transparency are an important goal, and the art market often falls short," Nicholas O'Donnell, a partner at law firm Sullivan & Worcester, told the news outlet. "But, this report could as well have been an Indiana Jones script -- long on narrative drama, short on evidence."

In November, France's Culture Ministry issued a recommendation that museums tighten their policies after questions were raised about acquisitions by the Louvre Abu Dhabi and a crackdown on art racketeering.

Officials in the United States, as well as researchers in the art world, have been increasing their efforts to repatriate stolen artifacts in recent years.

Last month, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City announced that 15 sculptures linked to former art dealer Subhash Kapoor will be repatriated to India after learning that they were illegally removed from the country before being acquired by The Met.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$T STATE 

Peru ex-leader Toledo wins reprieve in extradition from US

OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ

April 7, 2023

1 of 2
ARCHIVO - Esta foto de registro difundida el lunes 18 de marzo de 2019 por la oficina del Sheriff del Condado de San Mateo, California, muestra al expresidente peruano Alejandro Toledo. (Oficina del Sheriff del Condado de San Mateo vía AP, Archivo)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo Manrique has been granted two more weeks to fight his extradition from the United States on corruption charges, halting extradition proceedings that had been set to start Friday.

Late Thursday, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ordered a 14-day stay on Toledo’s extradition to Peru. The stay allows the 77-year-old former leader time to ask a three-judge panel to reconsider its decision denying him a stay or petition the full court to review his appeal.

Toledo is accused of taking $20 million in bribes from Odebrecht, a giant Brazilian construction company that has admitted to U.S. authorities that it bribed officials to win contracts throughout Latin America for decades. Toledo is one of four of Peru’s ex-presidents implicated in the corruption scandal. He denies the charges.

The judge in the extradition case, Thomas Hixson, ordered Toledo to turn himself over to U.S. marshals Friday after a three-judge appeals court panel this week denied his appeal to stop his extradition. But Hixson reversed his order after Toledo’s last-ditch effort was granted.

Toledo showed up at the federal court accompanied by his wife, Eliane Karp, and an unidentified American friend. Video images captured outside the federal building by a reporter with Peruvian television station RPP showed Toledo walking down a ramp onto a sidewalk and carrying a plastic bag. His wife walked by his side as their friend tried to block the cellphone camera from recording the couple.

Why Toledo was at the court remained unclear, but Hixson reversed his order for Toledo to be taken into custody 30 minutes before the 9 a.m. deadline. Toledo lives in Menlo Park, California, about an hour drive from San Francisco. Mara Goldman, a federal public defender representing Toledo, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Toledo, who was Peru’s president from 2001 to 2006, was arrested in July 2019 at his home. He was initially held in solitary confinement at the Santa Rita Jail about 40 miles (60 kilometers) east of San Francisco but was released in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He has been under house arrest since then.

The Odebrecht corruption scandal has shaken Peru’s politics, with nearly every living former president now on trial or under investigation.

Former leader Alan García, in office from 2006 to 2011, fatally shot himself in the head in 2019 as police arrived at his home to arrest him.

Former President Ollanta Humala is standing trial on charges that he and his wife received over $3 million from Odebrecht for his presidential campaigns in 2006 and 2011. Both have denied any wrongdoing.

Ex-leader Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, who left office in 2018, is under house arrest for similar charges.