CARBON CAPTURE IS GREENWASHING

Carbon capture key to net-zero electricity, but federal timelines too tight: report

Amanda Stephenson, The Canadian Press

Carbon capture and storage is key to greening Canada's electricity grid, but meeting the proposed time frame laid out by the federal government will be extremely difficult based on the current state of the technology, according to a new report. 

The report also warns that if federal clean electricity regulations are too stringent, it could scare companies away from investing in emissions-reducing carbon capture altogether.

Carbon capture and storage is a term that describes the use of technology to capture harmful greenhouse gas emissions from industrial processes and store them safely underground, preventing them from entering the atmosphere.

Experts say the large-scale deployment of carbon capture and storage in hard-to-abate sectors like oil and gas production and cement manufacturing will be required if Canada is to have a shot at meeting its climate targets.

Carbon capture and storage units will also need to be installed on natural gas and coal-fired power plants in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia — provinces that don't have significant hydroelectric capacity and as such are still heavily reliant on fossil fuels — if the country is to meet Ottawa's goal of obtaining a net-zero electricity grid by 2035.

But Thursday's report from the Regina-based International CCUS Knowledge Centre urges the federal government to rethink the emissions intensity limits for carbon capture-abated power plants laid out in its draft clean electricity regulations.

The draft regulations currently state that after 2035, fossil fuel-driven power plants will have to meet an emissions performance standard of no more than 30 tonnes of carbon dioxide per gigawatt of electricity produced per year. 

That means to be compliant, natural gas-fired power plants would need to achieve a nearly 95 per cent CO2 capture rate, said Beth Valiaho, the CCUS Knowledge Centre’s vice-president of policy, regulatory and stakeholder relations.

She added no carbon capture facility in the world is currently achieving that level of performance. SaskPower's Boundary Dam, for example — the only large-scale carbon capture facility currently installed on a power plant in Canada — has a capture rate of 65 to 70 per cent.

That facility was designed to have a 90 per cent emissions capture rate, but has been plagued by technical issues and equipment failures.

"It doesn't mean it can't be done," Valiaho said, adding many carbon capture technology vendors believe a 95 per cent capture rate is technically achievable.

"I think there is a future state where this works at that kind of high level, but, you know, there's not one operating continuously in the world right now with that type of performance."

Valiaho said many of the problems that have been encountered at Boundary Dam can be avoided at future carbon capture facilities by employing some of the lessons learned at that site.

But she said if the federal requirements are too strict, and power generators have doubt about whether the standards are achievable, they may choose not to invest in carbon capture at all. 

Overly stringent regulations could also put operators who installed carbon capture technology in good faith in the position of being non-compliant with the law. Valiaho said under the current draft regulations, Boundary Dam would have to shut down, even though the facility has captured more than four million tonnes of harmful CO2 since operations began in 2014.

"We want to see CCUS go forward. We don't want it to fail because of unachievable standards," she said. 

Scott MacDougall, an electricity program director at the Pembina Institute, said carbon capture and storage is an extremely important technology when it comes to reducing emissions from the electricity sector, especially in Saskatchewan and Alberta.

He said he's hopeful the federal government will hear the feedback from industry and build more leniency into the regulations.

"The (clean electricity regulations) should incent the use of CCUS technology and not penalize it," MacDougall said.

"Hopefully they'll take some advice on board about this and make some adjustments down the road."

Canadian firms hit with 25 cyberattacks on average over past year: EY survey

The Canadian Press

A survey by EY shows 81 per cent Canadian companies experienced at least 25 cybersecurity incidents over the past year, compared to 73 per cent of respondents globally.

The EY 2023 Global Cybersecurity Leadership Insights study also shows the global median cost of a breach jumped 12 per cent to US$2.5 million this year.

In Canada, 44 per cent of businesses reported they collectively spent US$50 million annually on cybersecurity.

Yogen Appalraju, a cybersecurity leader at EY Canada, says the country is now starting to experience more costly and high-profile breaches, in line with a trend south of the border.

The study suggests despite higher spending by companies, detection and response times appear to be slow, with more than half of respondents saying their business took an average of six months or longer to detect a breach.

The survey shows almost half of respondents find it difficult to balance security and innovation, and view cloud and internet of things technologies as big risks in the next five years.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 19, 2023.

 

St. Lawrence Seaway workers issue strike notice, could walk as of midnight Saturday

The Canadian Press

Unifor says workers at the St. Lawrence Seaway Corp. are ready to strike as of midnight Saturday.

It says it has issued a 72-hour strike notice to the employer and will bargain through Thursday in an attempt to reach a deal. 

The union says a strike would effectively shut down transit through the seaway.

Negotiations began on June 19 and 20 with the help of a conciliator.

The two sides held additional talks in September and resumed bargaining on Oct. 17. 

Unifor president Lana Payne says in a press release that workers are demanding a "serious wage offer." 

UCP SHOULD QUIT WHINING

Wave of billion-dollar oilpatch deals a sign of bullish Canadian energy sector

Amanda Stephenson, The Canadian Press

A wave of high-profile mergers and acquisitions in the Canadian oilpatch is a sign of an industry that is flush with cash and increasingly confident in the short- and medium-term outlook for fossil fuels, experts say.

Since the start of the year, there have been a number of billion-dollar-plus deals struck in the Canadian energy sector, including Crescent Point Energy Corp.'s $1.7-billion purchase of Spartan Delta Corp.'s Montney oilfield assets, ConocoPhillips' approximately $4-billion purchase of TotalEnergies' Surmont oilsands project, and Suncor Energy Inc.'s $1.47-billion acquisition of Total's stake in the Fort Hills oilsands mine.

The latest headline-grabbing deal was announced Monday, when Tourmaline Oil Corp. — Canada's largest natural gas producer — said it would purchase privately held Bonavista Energy Corp. for $1.45 billion.

Strathcona Resources Ltd. also recently merged with Pipestone Energy Corp. in an all-stock deal, with the merged company expected to be the fifth largest oil producer in the country.

According to figures from Calgary-based Sayer Energy Advisors, M&A activity in the Canadian energy sector has totalled $12.7 billion since the start of 2023. While that's less than the $15.2 billion and $17.9 billion the sector saw in 2022 and 2021, respectively, it is occurring at a time when the Canadian oilpatch has now benefited from two years of strong commodity prices. Many companies are flush with cash and have rapidly been paying down debt, giving them a strong enough balance sheet to pursue growth through acquisitions.

"I think you'll still see some more consolidation, for sure. I think there's still going to be some more transactions," said Tom Pavic, president of Sayer Energy Advisors. 

"A number of companies have the capital to pursue these transactions — they've been generating quite a bit of cash flow."

Heather Exner-Pirot, director of energy, natural resources and environment for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, said the Canadian oilpatch saw a significant amount of consolidation in 2021 as the country began to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. But she said the deals that are happening now are very different.

"Immediately post-COVID it was a sign of weakness. There were some companies that just weren't going to make it and were vulnerable, and were ripe for the picking by those that were still strong enough to do it," she said.

"Now what I think we're seeing are signs of strength. These companies have excellent balance sheets and the capacity to go and acquire and strengthen their empires."

South of the border, U.S. multinational oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. announced last week it will acquire Pioneer Natural Resources in a US$59.5 billion mega-deal.

That merger has been interpreted by many industry watchers as Exxon demonstrating its confidence in fossil fuels, even as the world continues to seek to transition to lower-carbon energy sources in order to slow the pace of climate change.

Exner-Pirot said she agrees with that assessment, and added that the global energy crisis sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine has brought investors flooding back to the industry on the assumption that fossil fuels will still be in high demand in at least the short and medium term.

"(Oil and gas) is the best-performing sector, and I think investors are looking for ways to get back into energy," she said. 

"Definitely, people are feeling bullish."

Still, Exner-Pirot pointed out that Canada's energy sector has far fewer players now than it did prior to the oil price crash of 2015, an industry-shaking event that drove another major wave of consolidation. She said the fact that so much consolidation has already occurred naturally limits the amount of deal-making that can take place now.

"Where Exxon and Pioneer made sense is that so much of their land overlapped. So you really could get efficiencies by combining them — you really could produce a cheaper barrel," she said.

"And I think the extent to which that's possible in the Canadian oilpatch is starting to diminish, only because there have been so many acquisitions. I don't think we're going to see a whole tsunami of new deals."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2023.

El Nino to continue into mid-2024, threatening agriculture

Boats and houseboats are seen stranded at David's Marina, as the water level at a major river port in Brazil's Amazon rainforest hit its lowest point in at least 121 years on Monday, at the Rio Negro river in Manaus, Brazil on Oct 16, 2023.

PHOTO: Reuters

OCTOBER 20, 2023 

AsiaOne has launched EarthOne, a new section dedicated to environmental issues — because we love the planet and we believe science. Find articles like this there.

SANTIAGO - The El Nino weather phenomenon will last at least through the first half of 2024, according to the latest United Nations forecasts, with abnormal rainfall due across Latin America raising fears for the agricultural sector.

Pacific sea surface temperatures soared in recent months, "with stronger warming along the South American coast," said the report from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) accessed by Reuters on Thursday.


Forecasts for the first quarter of 2024 show more rain than usual in southern cone countries such as Peru and Ecuador, as well as Mexico, alongside ongoing dry conditions in Brazil, Guyana and Suriname.

The current dry spell in Central America however is set to last only until the end of this year.

The report also stresses that agriculture, which includes crops, livestock, forests and fishing, is particularly vulnerable given the sector can absorb 26 per cent of economic losses during extreme weather conditions and up to 82 per cent during drought.

Key fish species like anchovies and tuna on the northern coast of Peru and southern Ecuador are particularly at risk, it said.

Ecuadorian fishermen reported a 30 per cent decrease in tuna catching since February, it said.


'80% chance of El Nino occuring': How prepared is Singapore if a major El Nino hits?

The El Nino and its opposing La Nina weather patterns have impacted the production of key crops such as wheat, rice and corn in Latin America, which are highly dependent on raw materials.

Extreme conditions brought by El Nino is hitting the region but it is also simultaneously facing climate change effects such as heat waves, said the report.

The FAO said it has launched a plan to mobilize financial resources for vulnerable communities in several countries affected by the extreme weather.

Source: Reuters

4-day work week boosts workers' health, Spain's pilot programme shows

The Four Towers business district skyline is seen at sunset in Madrid, Spain

OCTOBER 20, 2023 10:47 PM

MADRID - Four-day work weeks improved Spanish workers' health such as by lowering stress while reducing fuel emissions and benefiting children, a pilot programme showed on Tuesday (Oct 17).

The coastal city of Valencia - Spain's third-largest with more than 800,000 inhabitants - scheduled local holidays to fall on four consecutive Mondays between April 10 and May 7 this year. The project affected 360,000 workers.

Many participants used the long weekends to develop healthier habits such as practicing sport, resting and eating homemade food, according to an independent commission of health and social science experts that evaluated the programme.


The data showed an improvement in self-perceived health status, lower stress levels and better feelings regarding tiredness, happiness, mood and personal satisfaction, it added.

A drop in the use of motor vehicles led to better air quality on the four Mondays during the programme's period, as less nitrogen dioxide was emitted, according to the city's daily emissions measurements.

However, smokers and drinkers increased their overall use of tobacco and alcohol, it added.

A high percentage of those surveyed said they were more likely to read, study, watch films and pursue hobbies like photography, music or painting, the commission said. It did not specify the percentage.


Is Singapore ready for a 4-day work week?

Children benefited the most, thanks to improved work-life balance enjoyed by their parents, the commission found.

While the hospitality and tourism sectors served more customers during extended weekends, retailers reported a decrease in sales and emergency medical services may have been overextended as more healthcare workers took time off, the report said.

The project was designed by the left-wing Compromis coalition of progressive, green and regionalist parties, which ruled the city at the time.

Last year, the Spanish government launched a similar two-year project focused on small and medium-sized industrial companies nationwide.

Source: Reuters

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Amnesty Probe Finds 'Damning Evidence of War Crimes' by Israel in Gaza

"Our entire family has been destroyed," said one survivor of an Israeli bombing in the besieged Palestinian territory.


A Palestinian woman reacts as family members and hospital staff stand around the bodies of seven children from the Bakri, Omran, and Abu Naja families, killed in Israeli airstrikes on Khan Yunis and Rafah, Gaza on October 19, 2023.

(Photo: Ahmed Abed/AFP via Getty Images)

BRETT WILKINS
Oct 20, 2023

As Israel's assault on Gaza continued Friday with 4,100 Palestinians—including over 1,600 children—killed and at least 13,000 others wounded by relentless bombardment that's destroyed or damaged nearly a third of the besieged strip's homes, Amnesty International shared "damning evidence of war crimes as Israeli attacks wipe out entire families."

Amnesty interviewed survivors and eyewitnesses, analyzed satellite imagery, and verified photos and videos to investigate the Israeli aerial bombardments of Gaza, documenting "unlawful Israeli attacks, including indiscriminate attacks, which caused mass civilian casualties and must be investigated as war crimes."

Agnès Callamard, Amnesty's secretary-general, said in a statement: "In their stated intent to use all means to destroy Hamas, Israeli forces have shown a shocking disregard for civilian lives. They have pulverized street after street of residential buildings killing civilians on a mass scale and destroying essential infrastructure, while new restrictions mean Gaza is fast running out of water, medicine, fuel, and electricity."

"Testimonies from eyewitnesses and survivors highlighted, again and again, how Israeli attacks decimated Palestinian families, causing such destruction that surviving relatives have little but rubble to remember their loved ones by," she added.



Amnesty's report focused on five specific incidents the group said amount to war crimes, including the October 7 bombing of a three-story residential building in the al-Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City that killed 15 members of the al-Dos family, including seven children.

"Two bombs fell suddenly on top of the building and destroyed it," said Mohammad al-Dos, whose 5-year-old son Rakan was killed in the attack. "My wife and I were lucky to survive because we were staying on the top floor. She was nine months pregnant and gave birth at al-Shifa Hospital a day after the attack. Our entire family has been destroyed."

The report also details an airstrike on the Gaza City home of the Hijazi family that killed 12 relatives, including three children, as well as four neighbors. Amnesty found no evidence of any military targets in the area at the time of the attack.



According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, more than 50 entire families have been removed from the civil registry after most or all of their members were killed in Israeli attacks.

"The five cases presented barely scratch the surface of the horror that Amnesty has documented and illustrate the devastating impact that Israel's aerial bombardments are having on people in Gaza," Callamard said. "For 16 years, Israel's illegal blockade has made Gaza the world's biggest open-air prison—the international community must act now to prevent it becoming a giant graveyard."

"We are calling on Israeli forces to immediately end unlawful attacks in Gaza and ensure that they take all feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilians and damage to civilian objects," she added. "Israel's allies must immediately impose a comprehensive arms embargo given that serious violations under international law are being committed."

Other possible war crimes perpetrated by Israeli forces not specifically covered in the Amnesty report include but are not limited to collective punishment; an order to evacuate more than 1.1 million people from northern Gaza ahead of an expected ground invasion; Israel's stated focus on "damage and not accuracy" in its war on Hamas; bombing a civilian convoy heeding the evacuation order that killed around 70 people on a route Israeli authorities said was "safe"; use of white phosphorus munitions in a densely populated area; bombing schools and civilian shelters; and deadly attacks by Israeli settlers and soldiers on West Bank Palestinians.



Amnesty also said that Hamas and other Palestinian militants have committed war crimes including the deliberate killing of 1,400 Israelis—most of them civilians—during last week's surprise attack on Israel, the taking of around 200 Israeli and international hostages during the incursion, and the indiscriminate firing of rockets at civilian targets.

"Amnesty International is calling on Hamas and other armed groups to urgently release all civilian hostages, and to immediately stop firing indiscriminate rockets," said Callamard. "There can be no justification for the deliberate killing of civilians under any circumstances."

The Amnesty analysis came amid reports of possible fresh Israeli war crimes, including an airstrike on the Church of Saint Porphyrius, an 873-year-old Christian Orthodox house of worship crowded with people seeking shelter from the bombing. Officials said at least 18 people were killed in the attack, including numerous children.



The Palestinian Health Ministry also said Friday that at least 13 people including seven children were killed during a Thursday raid by around 200 Israeli troops on the Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarem in the northern part of the illegally occupied West Bank.

Many Palestinians have compared the mass killing and displacement they're experiencing today with the Nakba, the ethnic cleansing of over 750,000 Arabs—often by massacre or threat thereof—from Palestine during the establishment of the modern state of Israel 75 years ago.

Others—including hundreds of international legal scholars—have signed a public statement arguing that the Israeli military may be committing genocidal acts against Palestinians. Raz Segal, an Israeli Holocaust scholar, said earlier this week that Israel is committing "a textbook case of genocide" in Gaza.

Numerous Israeli leaders and U.S. supporters of Israel have been accused of using genocidal language while advocating for the destruction of Gaza and its people.



"We are sounding the alarm: There is an ongoing campaign by Israel resulting in crimes against humanity in Gaza," a group of United Nations humanitarian experts said on Thursday. "Considering statements made by Israeli political leaders and their allies, accompanied by military action in Gaza and escalation of arrests and killing in the West Bank, there is also a risk of genocide against the Palestinian people."

Earlier this week, lawyers with the U.S.-based Center for Constitutional Rights warned that the Biden administration is rendering itself complicit in possible genocide against Palestinians by providing weapons, political support, and diplomatic cover for Israel's war.

On Wednesday, the U.S. vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning violence against civilians in Israel and Gaza and calling for "humanitarian pauses" to allow aid to enter the enclave.



At least 18 progressive U.S. lawmakers, meanwhile, have endorsed a congressional resolution urging President Joe Biden to push Israel to pursue a cease-fire in Gaza.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres on Wednesday demanded an "immediate humanitarian cease-fire" to allow aid into Gaza. A U.S.-brokered deal to allow 20 truckloads of humanitarian aid into Gaza from Egypt was announced late Wednesday, but the aid remains stranded at the Egyptian border.

In Israel’s Call For Mass Evacuation, Palestinians Recall ‘Nakba’ Horrors Of 1948

As Israel warns of a potential ground offensive, Palestinians fear that the most painful moment in their history is repeating itself. Although the military has said those who leave can return when hostilities end, many Palestinians remain cautious and concerned. 

Nakba 1948 Palestine - Jaramana Refugee Camp, Damascus, Syria 

Wikimedia commons

Outlook Web Desk

 21 OCT 2023 

As Israel intensifies its campaign in the Gaza Strip that began after Hamas attacks on October 7, many Palestinians recall with horror their trauma of 1948, when an estimated 700,000 of them, a majority of the pre-war population, were forcefully displaced from their homes from what is now Israel in the months before and during the war surrounding its establishment as a state. For many Palestinians, this period was the Nakba, or catastrophe.

Over a week ago, Israel’s military ordered some 1 million people to evacuate to the southern part of the besieged territory of Gaza ahead of an expected ground invasion in retaliation for the attack by the ruling Hamas militant group. The United Nations (UN) warned that evacuating almost half of crowded Gaza’s population would be calamitous, and it urged Israel to reverse the unprecedented directive. As airstrikes hammered the territory throughout the day, families in cars, trucks and donkey carts packed with possessions streamed down a main road out of Gaza City, trying to find shelter in the conflict-ridden territory.

What was the Nakba

Seventy-five years ago, an exodus on a larger scale left around 15,000 Palestinians dead. Israeli military forces expelled at least 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and lands and captured 78 per cent of historic Palestine. The remaining 22 per cent was divided into what are now the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip.

Some 530 villages in major Palestinian cities were destroyed and more than 110 men, women and children were killed by members of the pre-Israeli-state Irgun and Stern Gang Zionist militias, in one of the worst massacres the region has witnessed. The fighting continued until January 1949 when an armistice agreement was forged between Israel and Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria and Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. However, according to a report by Al Jazeera, the newly founded Israeli army committed a number of additional massacres and campaigns of forced displacement even after 1949.

Palestinians became refugees in their countries – Gaza strip and other Arab countries. They were left with almost nothing – from their homes to political leadership. Only a minority of them moved abroad and many were left stateless. Amnesty International documented testimonies of many Palestinian refugees who live in Lebanon and Jordan. One of them, Sara Abu Shaker, 14, chose to pursue her dream of studying medicine even though as a Palestinian, she could never practise as a doctor in Lebanon – discriminatory laws in these countries bar Palestinians from practising over 30 professions including medicine, dentistry, law, architecture and engineering, driving them into abject poverty.

Further, without political representation, they became virtually invisible to the world. Palestinians refer to this calamity as Nakba, which means catastrophe in Arabic. The Nakba remains a deeply traumatic event in their collective memory and continues to shape their struggle for justice and for their right to return to their homes.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) estimates that there are today 6 million Palestinian refugees living in congested refugee camps in the Gaza Strip, in the Occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and East Jerusalem and rely on UNRWA medical, education facilities, and humanitarian relief to this day, 75 years later. 

The right to return

According to the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194 in 1948, as well as the UN Resolution 3236 in 1974, and the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees, Palestinians who are considered Palestinian refugees have the "right of return".

However, Israel has not recognised the "right of return" for Palestinians under international law, arguing that it would threaten the country’s Jewish majority. Israel has also denied responsibility for the displacement of Palestinians, pointing out that between 1948 and 1972 around 800,000 Jews were expelled or had to flee from Arab countries like Morocco, Iraq, Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen.

Palestinians today

Palestinians continue to face discrimination today in Israel. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, some 1 million Palestinians have been arrested by Israel since 1948.

Israel has also criminalised the act of commemorating Nakba, which Palestinians across the world mark by holding protests, marches, and events of remembrance to mourn the trauma of their ancestors every year on May 15. The “Nakba Law” authorises Israel’s finance minister to revoke funding from institutions that reject Israel’s character as a 'Jewish state' or mark the country’s Independence Day as a day of mourning.

As Israel gives warnings of a potential ground offensive, Palestinians fear that the most painful moment in their history is repeating itself. Although the military has said those who leave can return when hostilities end, many Palestinians remain cautious and concerned.

'Horror of the highest magnitude': Jewish professor on Israel's Gaza hospital attack

'Outward appearance of US not surprising. What surprised me is how aggressively Joe Biden supported Israel,' says Norman Finkelstein.



AP ARCHIVE

Political scientist Norman Finkelstein said earlier Hamas's attack on Israel is akin to a slave revolt against colonial masters. / Photo: AP Archive

Famed Jewish professor in the US, Norman Finkelstein, described Israel's attack on the Al Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza as "a horror of the highest magnitude" and said, "Israel always denies responsibility".

The political scientist spoke to Anadolu about the attack on the hospital and developments in the region since October 7, when Hamas initiated Operation Al Aqsa Flood – a multi-pronged attack that included a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel by land, sea and air.

Finkelstein said there are two possible reactions to Israel's hospital attack: "emotional" and "intellectual".

On the emotional level, he said, "It was obviously a horror of the highest magnitude, and there is not much to say at that level. If you follow these events for 20 years, you will eventually become indifferent, desensitised, or exposed to the brutality that follows, and I have spent most of my adult life documenting a series of atrocities against the people of Gaza, only in small details".

On the intellectual level, he said he tends to ignore Israel's denial of attacks because "Israel always denies responsibility".

Finkelstein said weapons experts need to investigate what happened in the attack and warned that "there is always a possibility, I don't know, I'm waiting to hear what the official sources will say. What I know is, don't trust what the US government says, don't trust what the British government says, and of course, it goes without saying, don't trust what Israel says".

'Judgment cannot be made yet'

Finkelstein pointed out that the attack by Hamas's armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, had "technical", "factual", and "moral" dimensions.

He noted the attack by Hamas was a surprising feat from a technical standpoint, despite Gaza being the most heavily monitored area on the planet.

The professor emphasised that Gaza is monitored by satellite and communication technologies, as well as a large "spy network" from different parties on the ground.

"Despite these facts, they managed to hide this. According to Hamas, they had been working on this for two years and they managed to hide it from the Israelis, Americans, Egyptians, and even their own people. Apparently, many Hamas leaders were not even aware of it," he said.

Finkelstein said Hamas also carried out significant attacks after crossing the border, but it is not known how much was planned and how much was spontaneous, and that may never be known.

He noted political structures are making statements that serve their agendas.

"There is a broad picture of what happened, but a judgment cannot be made yet. For example, Hamas is an organisation, and there are still some aspects that are dark and will probably remain dark forever," he said.

SOURCE: AA

Blinken writes to State Dept staff amid 'mutiny' over Gaza war handling

Antony Blinken tries to reassure his staff amid media reports of frustrations within the department over Biden administration's approach to Israel's war on blockaded Gaza.



REUTERS

At least one State Department official has quit over the Biden administration's approach to the war. / Photo: Reuters

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has acknowledged the emotional toll that the Israeli war on besieged Gaza has taken on US diplomats amid media reports of internal dissent over Washington's handling of the war.

Blinken sent a letter to all State Department employees on Thursday night noting the "challenging" circumstances affecting the US diplomatic corps, some of whom feel the "ripples of fear and bigotry" the conflict has generated.

US leaders, including President Joe Biden and Blinken, have pledged unwavering support for Israel, publicly blessing the country's reprisals for Hamas' shock operation from besieged Gaza on October 7, which have included a relentless bombing campaign of the crowded enclave.

At least one State Department official has quit over the Biden administration's approach to the war.

The official, Josh Paul, said on LinkedIn he left over "policy disagreement concerning our continued lethal assistance to Israel."

Blinken's letter was not a response to the reports of frustrations within the department, a source familiar with the matter said.

'Mutiny'

In his letter, Blinken described his recent trip to the Middle East, which saw him bounce between Israel and several Arab countries, visiting some several times.

"I know that, for many of you, this time has not only been challenging professionally, but personally," he wrote in the letter, which AFP news agency obtained.

The United States, he said, mourns the loss of "every innocent life in this conflict."

"That is why President Biden has made clear ... that while we fully support Israel's right to defend itself, how it does so matters," he added, referring to the need to respect "the rule of law and international humanitarian standards."

"Let us also be sure to sustain and expand the space for debate and dissent that makes our policies and our institution better," Blinken wrote.

"We have a difficult stretch ahead. The risk of greater turmoil and strife is real."

This week, the Huffington Post claimed that State Department employees were unhappy with US policy towards the war, with one telling the publication that there was "a mutiny" in the works.