CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Dark Offshore Money Threatens Democracy

Dark offshore money, stashed in tax havens and countries with favorable financial secrecy laws, makes it easier to support candidates surreptitiously and manipulate public opinion. Clamping down on these jurisdictions would strengthen tax collection in democracies and reduce the resources available to authoritarian regimes.

Getty Images

Jan 2, 2024

SIMON JOHNSON and DARON ACEMOGLU

WASHINGTON, DC/CAMBRIDGE – Democracies around the world face two major threats: a crisis of legitimacy, and increasingly aggressive authoritarian regimes. What links both and makes them much more dangerous is the pernicious effect of dark-money transfers, particularly those that pass through offshore tax havens and jurisdictions with excessive financial secrecy. Restricting these tax havens and requiring more transparency on cross-border financial flows should become a major policy priority for all G7 countries in 2024.

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The internal threat to democracy is an erosion of legitimacy. In industrial economies such as the United States and Europe, new technologies, rising cross-border capital flows, and lower barriers to trade increased average productivity and created economic growth over the last half-century, but the benefits of this growth were not widely shared. Inequality within these countries has increased dramatically since the mid-1970s, with millions of people now feeling they have been left behind.

Support for democracy is undermined by the belief that the economic game is “rigged,” with people who are already powerful and privileged gaining the most – sometimes at the expense of the rest. While this belief may be exaggerated, it accords with the reality of tax evasion.

Tax havens allow rich people not only to build their wealth essentially tax-free, but also to exercise economic and political power away from prying eyes and without any accountability. One list of tax havens includes among its top ten both small Caribbean states and widely-respected countries such as British overseas territories (British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, and the Cayman Islands), the Netherlands, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates.

The US and the United Kingdom are also complicit. Their financial secrecy rules allow an extraordinary amount of foreign (and illicit) money to find shelter (the US tops this Financial Secrecy Index).

A multibillion-dollar industry has emerged, employing some of the world’s brightest lawyers, accountants, and consultants, focused on helping the wealthy and the unscrupulous. Tax havens are particularly useful for people who have ill-begotten wealth derived from bribes, theft, and other forms of corruption. Being able to hide the identity of parties in any financial transaction is a key requirement to operating a successful haven.

This form of financial engineering corrupts democracy. Even worse, it exacerbates the second major threat we face: the strengthening of authoritarian regimes. Dark offshore money makes it easier to support candidates, manipulate public opinion, and persuade people to vote for a dictator.

The dark money of the Russian oligarchs has long been a mainstay of the country’s economy and political system. President Vladimir Putin’s close relationships with sources of dark money has been well documented.

Less widely appreciated is the way that non-transparent transactions have allowed the Chinese government to construct a vast global empire of influence. We are only now beginning to see how much low-income countries, especially in Africa, owe to various Chinese-backed entities. Relatedly, the Communist Party of China has reportedly “invested billions of dollars” in global disinformation around the world. This includes efforts focused on recent (and likely future) US elections.

It has also become painfully apparent that a large amount of money flows from Iran to organizations such as Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthi forces in Yemen that are now raining down missiles on commercial ships in the Red Sea. Almost all this Iranian funding moves through dark channels, including (according to US authorities) entities in Turkey and Yemen.

Shutting down these channels would be difficult, but the most effective way to fight dark money – and its financing of authoritarianism, criminality, and terrorism – would be to clamp down on the dozens of tax havens that exist around the world. Doing so would strengthen tax collection in democracies and reduce the resources available to authoritarian regimes.

Ironically, several of these tax havens are at risk from climate change and are demanding international assistance to deal with potential sea-level rise and more damaging storms. If these island states and other jurisdictions wish to participate in fair and reasonable adjustment mechanisms (such as climate-related finance or debt relief), funded in part by the G7, they need to comply with increased transparency requirements.

One key element must be an extension of “know your customer” rules to all these jurisdictions, backed up by appropriate criminal penalties. Specifically, there needs to be full disclosure to G7 tax authorities regarding who owns what assets and who makes which payments to whom.

Alas, some tax evasion is legal, owing solely to the lobbying power of the ultra-wealthy and powerful consultants and accountants, who will no doubt argue that productive businesses will move elsewhere if loopholes are closed. This should be countered with a simple principle that should be shared across the G7: business profits are taxed in proportion to where sales occur.

For example, if you move your headquarters (or ownership of intellectual property) to another country, you should still pay tax in the US based on your business activities in the US. The G7 agreement on a global minimum corporate tax was a step in the right direction here, but there is a lot more to be done.

In the age of artificial intelligence, we should expect many of the rich to become considerably richer. They will also presumably use AI tools to dodge taxes more effectively. Under current international arrangements, this will be easy to do. However, AI can also help uncover tax evasion and avoidance, as well as unusual money flows, which are often illicit.

For tech barons who continuously talk about using AI for good, here is a challenge: support the quick rollout of new AI-based tools for clamping down on tax evasion and tax havens.

SIMON JOHNSON
Writing for PS since 2007
Simon Johnson, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, is a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, a co-chair of the COVID-19 Policy Alliance, and a co-chair of the CFA Institute Systemic Risk Council. He is the co-author (with Daron Acemoglu) of Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity (PublicAffairs, 2023).

DARON ACEMOGLU
Writing for PS since 2012
Daron Acemoglu, Institute Professor of Economics at MIT, is a co-author (with James A. Robinson) of Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty (Profile, 2019) and a co-author (with Simon Johnson) of Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity (PublicAffairs, 2023).

 

How banned terror outfits TRF, Al-Qaeda & IS exploit secret internet forums

The Resistance Force (TRF) – an offshoot of Pakistan’s Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) which has been behind a spree of targeted killings and attacks in Kashmir – has shifted its digital operations to less regulated platforms and forums.

In an investigation, India Today’s Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) team found several groups and channels of al-Qaeda and the Islamic States (IS) spreading their propaganda and imparting training.

Aakash Sharma

Subham Tiwari

New Delhi,UPDATED: Jan 2, 2024 

Posted By: Vadapalli Nithin Kumar

Pushed to the margins on mainstream social media sites by repeated bans, The Resistance Force (TRF) – an offshoot of Pakistan’s Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) which has been behind a spree of targeted killings and attacks in Kashmir – has shifted its digital operations to less regulated platforms and forums.

But the TRF is not alone. In an investigation, India Today’s Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) team found several groups and channels of al-Qaeda and the Islamic States (IS) spreading their propaganda and imparting training.

These groups are active on platforms such as Rocket Chat and Matrix, which are decentralised in nature. This means their source code can be modified by any developer, and they can be hosted on a server chosen by the user. This common characteristic makes these apps an ideal digital destination for bad actors intending to execute their nefarious designs, disrupt peace, and challenge nation states.

Inside TRF’s secret digital space

India Today gained access to TRF’s secret chat rooms and groups on Matrix and monitored their conversations for several days. The TRF chat room has a total of 65 members and the conversations are regulated by two admins, who periodically post threats to the Indian state, government officials and vocal pro-India Kashmiris, issue statements, and release video clips and photos of the attacks they claim to have carried out in the Valley.

In a message on December 9, the group admin who goes by the name ‘Kashmir Fight’ claimed that terrorists belonging to the ‘Falcon Squad’ of their outfit had targeted a constable, Hafiz Mohammed Chad, in Srinagar’s Bemina. The user claimed that the police officer was “warned” by TRF terrorists in the past.

Since its inception in 2019, the TRF has claimed several attacks targeting Kashmiri Pandits, police officers, and security forces. In 2022, the group intensified its activities, primarily using small arms, causing concern among security agencies in Kashmir and aiming to expand its operations into the Pir Panjal region. In April, TRF terrorists ambushed an army truck in Poonch, killing five and gravely injuring another. The attack, which included setting the truck on fire, was later published on the Telegram messenger app.

TRF and other smaller groups had previously used Telegram extensively. However, as their attacks increased, they faced frequent bans, with new channels being barred within days or weeks of their creation.

Online terror training & Ghazwa-e-Hind plan

We also found the presence of al-Qaeda on Matrix with a channel of 59 members. Some of these members operate another channel named ‘Curriculum Book’ where “guidebooks” on different subjects for radicalising gullible Muslims, provoking their religious emotions, imparting training for attacks, and launching guerilla war are distributes frequently.

Some of the online guide books are titled ‘Physical exercise before jihad,’ ‘How to confront and deal with intelligence,’ ‘Military training for mujahid,’ and ‘Explosive engineering course.’

Some of them provide alarmingly sophisticated guidance on terrorist activities. One such PDF document reviewed by India Today gives details of highly-destructive explosives like TNT, cautions while handling them, step-by-step tutorial for making different types of bombs along with necessary safety measures during the process.

Another document extolled the role of the media in waging jihad, or the so-called sacred war – apparently to encourage the intended audience to exploit different digital mediums to spread IS propaganda.

Similarly, a channel affiliated with IS on Rocket chat, featured pro-IS material and calls for Ghazwa-e-Hind, a term used to refer to the armed struggle to establish an Islamic rule guided by the principle of Sharia.

The Rocket chat channel also carried a pro-IS web propaganda magazine with references against India.

Migration to less-regulated platforms

For a better part of this decade, terrorist outfits have managed to find loopholes to bypass checks put in place by large social media companies like Facebook, X (Twitter), Instagram, WhatsApp, and YouTube. However, their survival on these platforms became extremely difficult in face of mounting scrutiny and pressure from governments globally.

Though a 2020 report claimed the IS was still finding ways to evade detection on Facebook, the presence of terror outfits is believed to be nearly extinct on major sites, forcing them to explore safer options. Then Telegram emerged as their safe haven but it also launched a crackdown in 2018.

Though some of these outfits are still spotted on Telegram, the messaging app’s vigil and reporting mechanism, and resultant mass removals have made matters worse for terrorists. On December 27 alone, Telegram banned 390 terrorist bots and channels, taking such removals to 6361 this month. The app has banned more than 1.29 lakh bots and channels linked to the IS in 2023.

In a 2019 report, the European Union’s information center said terror groups are looking to migrate to decentralised platforms in search for a “stable base”. Decentralisation refers to a mechanism where control is not concentrated to a single authority which makes detection of illegal content difficult.

Unlike mainstream social media platforms that are operated by large

 corporations, apps like Matrix are open source and offer transparency and control. Their focus on strong encryption and minimal data collection provides secure space for extremist activity.

Published By:

Vadapalli Nithin Kumar

\Published On:

Jan 2, 2024

Amnesty International condemns Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus's conviction by Bangladesh court

The 83-year-old economist was on Monday sentenced to six months in jail by a court for violating the labour laws, which was termed as 'politically motivated' by his supporters ahead of the January 7 general elections

PTI Dhaka Published 02.01.2024

Dr Muhammad Yunus

Amnesty International has condemned the conviction of Bangladesh's Nobel laureate economist Dr Muhammad Yunus by a Dhaka labour court, calling it "emblematic of the beleaguered state of human rights" in the country where critics are "bulldozed" into submission.

The 83-year-old economist was on Monday sentenced to six months in jail by a court for violating the labour laws, which was termed as "politically motivated" by his supporters ahead of the January 7 general elections. He sought bail after the ruling, which he was granted immediately for a month in exchange for a Taka 5,000 (USD 45) bond.

Yunus and three of his colleagues in Grameen Telecom-- one of the firms he founded-- were accused of violating labour laws when they failed to create a workers' welfare fund in the company.

In a post on the social media platform X, Amnesty International's South Asia regional office said, "The conviction of Yunus is emblematic of the beleaguered state of human rights in Bangladesh, where the authorities have eroded freedoms and bulldozed critics into submission." The human rights organisation said that the unusual speed at which the trial against Yunus was completed starkly contrasts the "snail-paced progress" in other labour rights-related court cases in the country.

"The abuse of labour laws and misuse of the justice system to settle political vendettas is a violation of international human rights law," it said.

Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his anti-poverty campaign, earning Bangladesh the reputation of being the home of microcredit through his Grameen Bank, which he founded in 1983.

Dhaka's Third Labour Court on Monday ordered Yunus to serve six months of simple or non-rigorous imprisonment for violating the law as the Grameen Telecom chairman, along with three other executives of the social business company.

A Taka 25,000 fine (USD 227.82) was also slapped on each of them before they were granted bail upon submitting separate petitions.

Describing the judgment as "politically motivated", his supporters said the charges were filed to harass him.

The economist was on a protracted row with the incumbent government due to obscure reasons. The government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina launched a series of investigations against him after coming to power in 2008.

Many people believe that Hasina became enraged when Yunus announced he would form a political party in 2007 when the country was run by a military-backed government and she was in prison.

However, Yunus did not follow through on the plan but criticised politicians in the country, alleging they were only interested in making money.

The Nobel laureate is also facing a series of charges relating to labour law and misappropriation of money.

Bangladesh's tangles with Yunus, Nobel winner and microloan founder

 Bangladeshi Nobel peace laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus gestures in front of the court after being sentenced to six months of imprisonment and fined BDT 5,000 in a labour law violation case, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, January 1, 2024. 

REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain/File Photo

DHAKA - A Bangladesh court has sentenced the country's only Nobel laureate, Mohammad Yunus, to six months in jail over labour law violations, a crime he says he did not commit, days ahead of a Jan. 7 general election boycotted by the main opposition party.

Below is a summary of key facts in Yunus' tangles with the law in Bangladesh, with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina often criticising the 83-year-old, who won the peace prize in 2006 for his work in making microloans accessible to the impoverished:

* Yunus started a microfinance movement in late 1976, offering loans below $100 apiece to women in Bangladesh's port city of Chittagong to help them escape poverty and vulnerability to loan sharks.


* He and Grameen Bank, the rural-focused microfinance organization he founded, became Bangladesh's first Nobel winner for providing small loans to the poor, a practice that spread to more than 100 nations from the United States to Uganda.

* Yunus, a professor of economics who had been Grameen Bank's managing director since 2000, was removed as head of the bank in 2011 by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government on the grounds he had stayed on past the legal retirement age of 60.

* His popular image and fame came under fresh focus in 2007 as he attempted to form a political party, when the country was under a de-facto military government with a civilian outfit.

* Despite his microfinance's global success, there have been concerns such lenders charge excessive interest rates.

* A Norwegian documentary alleged in 2010 that Grameen bank was dodging taxes. The documentary sparked criticism in Bangladesh and abroad of Yunus, whose bank has provided about $10 billion in small loans to people, most of them women, to fund businesses and help them escape poverty.

* Lauded abroad by politicians and financiers, Yunus has been under attack from Hasina's government since the documentary alleged that Grameen Bank was dodging taxes. Hasina, in 2011, famously called Yunus a "blood-sucker of the poor" and sharply criticised Grameen Bank's microlending practices.

* Yunus has denied financial irregularities and his supporters say he is being discredited by the government because of a feud with Hasina dating back to 2007, when he tried to setup a rival political party.

* Yunus faces more than 100 cases in court, including two criminal charges over labour law violations and alleged corruption.

* In September, Amnesty International called on the Bangladesh government to "immediately end their harassment and intimidation of Yunus". The rights group called Monday's court verdict a blatant abuse of labour laws and political retaliation for his work.

* 190 global leaders, including former United States President Barack Obama and over 100 Nobel laureates, wrote an open letter in August to Hasina urging her to stop "continuous judicial harassment" of Yunus.

* Reacting to Yunus' conviction on Monday, Bangladesh's Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said no one was above the law.

 REUTERS

120,000 minors crossed Darien Gap last year in bid to reach U.S.

Agence France-Presse
January 2, 2024 

Migrants carrying children walk by the jungle near Bajo Chiquito village, the first border control of the Darien Province in Panama, on September 22, 2023

 (Luis ACOSTA/AFP)

Record numbers of migrants crossing the hostile Darien gap jungle in 2023 included 120,000 minors, the Panama government said Monday.

The year ended with 520,085 people recorded as traversing the lawless, thick rainforest that straddles Panama and Colombia, Panama's public security ministry wrote on Twitter.

Most of those braving the crossing, which can take up to six days, were fleeing economic misery in Venezuela, with more than 320,000 risking it all in the jungle this year.

Ecuadorans and Haitians were the next biggest groups, while over 25,000 Chinese citizens also took on the trek.

Vietnamese, Afghans and citizens of Cameroon or Burkina Faso were also recorded.

The number of migrants crossing the Darien Gap has more than doubled since 2022, when 248,000 passed through.

Panama authorities in September announced a series of measures to try and contain the surge in migration, such as an increase in deportations of people who enter the country illegally.

Migrants face rivers, wild animals, and violent criminal gangs in the jungle.

Upon arrival in Panama, they head to Costa Rica, and then Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico, before making their way to the United States border.

WHERE ARE THE MEDISHIPS
Wounded Gazan children treated on French warship Dixmude

The French military helicopter carrier Dixmude has been transformed into a hospital to treat wounded civilians from Gaza, many of them children, as Western countries look to ramp up efforts to aid the beseiged enclave.


Issued on: 02/01/2024 

Palestinian boy Maher's left leg was amputated and his right tibia fractured when his house near Rafah was bombed. He is aboard the French ship Dixmude, which is serving as a hospital as it docks at the Egyptian port of Al-Arish. 

AFP - KHALED DESOUKI

By: RFI

The warship has been anchored since 27 November in the Egyptian port of Al-Arich, some 50 kilometres from the Rafah crossing point between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.

The Dixmude, the first Western military ship to treat civilians from Gaza, has also been joined by an Italian ship.

"We are in discussion with a number of European countries, in particular our British, German and other partners, to see how we can continue this organisation," said French Armed Forces Minister Sebastien Lecornu, who was on board the ship on New Year's Eve.

Most of the injured have already received treatment in Gaza, where the health system has been badly affected by the war between Israel and Hamas.

Those wounded "have particularly serious complications", Lecornu added.

The French ship Dixmude docked at the Egyptian port of Al-Arish on 31 December, 2023. The helicopter carrier serves as a hospital for wounded Gaza civilians that have crossed into Egypt in recent weeks with special exit permits

. © AFP - Khaled Desouki

Military-civilian team

The Dixmude's medical capacities have been adapted to create a military-civilian medical force, notably in paediatrics, with two operating theatres and 40 beds, a treatment room for severe burns, scanners and analysis laboratories.

Seventy civilian and military doctors and nurses are treating some 100 people injured in the Israeli bombardment of Gaza.

Among them is 10-year-old Maher, who has the name of Paris-Saint-Germain striker Kylian Mbappé written in black on a plaster cast around his right leg.

Maher's left leg was amputated and his right tibia fractured when his house near Rafah was bombed.

His mother, Shaima El Hijazi, spoke to the French news agency AFP on the warship, where the wounded are bedded down in tents.

Shaima's husband died in the explosion. "I want to go to the United Arab Emirates so that my son can have an artificial limb," she said.

Near Maher, other children in wheelchairs are playing ball with carers in white coats in front of a group of injured mothers.
Children shellshocked

The children are shellshocked when they arrive on the Dixmude, says Pierre, a paediatrician.

"We're out of our usual comfort zone because we're dealing with war wounds, serious burns, children who are amputees, with severe fractures and external fixations and visible pins," Pierre explains.

"But we manage to offer them a bubble of serenity and comfort on this boat before they leave for an Egyptian hospital or an Arab country that will take care of them."

Wounded Gaza civiians are pictured onboard the French ship Dixmude on 31 December, 2023. 

© AFP - Khaled Desouki

Israeli operations in Gaza have left more than 21,600 people dead and more than 56,100 wounded, the majority of them women and children, according to Gaza rulers Hamas.

The group says only 1 percent of the wounded have been evacuated abroad from the Rafah crossing.

The Israeli army is carrying out air and ground operations in Gaza in retaliation for the 7 October attack by Hamas, which left around 1,140 people dead, most of them civilians.

Israel says 129 hostages are still being held.

(with AFP)

NAKBA2

Tony Blair denies report linking him role in resettling Gazans

"The Channel 12 report in Israel linking Tony Blair to a discussion about a ‘role’ in the ‘voluntary resettlement of Gazans’ in Arab and other countries is a lie," Blair said.

By JN REPORTERJanuary 2, 2024, 

Former prime minister Tony Blair (Photo credit: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire)

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair denied a recent report by Israeli TV alleging he would help “examine” the possibility of Western nations accepting Palestinian refugees. 

According to Channel 12, Blair was in Israel last week where he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz to discuss him possibly taking on the role as a mediator in efforts to bring Palestinians out of Gaza.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was quick to welcome the report, saying: “This is a morally just step to take, first and foremost for Gaza border residents, and for all of Israel.”

Blair is now denying the report, calling it a lie: “The Channel 12 report in Israel linking Tony Blair to a discussion about a ‘role’ in the ‘voluntary resettlement of Gazans’ in Arab and other countries is a lie.”

“The story was published without any contact with Tony Blair or his team. No such discussion has taken place. Nor would Tony Blair have such a discussion, the idea is wrong in principle. Gazans should be able to stay and live in Gaza.”

Far-right ministers in Netanyahu’s government are advocating for the transfer of millions of Palestinians from Gaza as well as rebuilding Israeli settlements.

“We will be in security control, and we will need there to be civil [control]. I’m for completely changing the reality in Gaza, having a conversation about settlements in the Gaza Strip… We’ll need to rule there for a long time… If we want to be there militarily, we need to be there in a civilian fashion,” Finance Minister Smotrich said on Sunday.

“We want to encourage wilful emigration, and we need to find countries willing to take them in. We need to encourage immigration from there. If there were 100,000-200,000 Arabs in the Strip and not two million, the whole conversation about the day after [the war] would be completely different. They want to leave. They have been living in a ghetto for 75 years and are in need,” Smotrich told Army Radio.

UK's Blair denies link to role in

'resettlement' of Gazans

London (AFP) – Britain's former prime minister Tony Blair has strongly denied an Israeli media report linking him to talks last week about the resettlement of Palestinians from Gaza in other countries.


Issued on: 02/01/2024 - 

The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change organisation called the Israeli report 'a lie' 

© Tolga AKMEN / AFP

Channel 12 claimed on Sunday that Blair, who left office in 2007 and served as a Middle East envoy charged with building up Palestinian institutions, was in Israel last week.

The news channel said he held meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and war cabinet member Benny Gantz about a mediation role after the war with Hamas.

He could also act as a go-between with moderate Arab states about the "voluntary resettlement" of Gazans, it added.

Expelling civilians during a conflict or creating unlivable conditions which force them to leave is a war crime.

The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, a non-profit organisation he set up in 2016, said the report was "a lie".

"The story was published without any contact with Tony Blair or his team. No such discussion has taken place," it said in a statement on Monday night.

"Nor would Tony Blair have such a discussion. The idea is wrong in principle. Gazans should be able to stay and live in Gaza."
'Unwelcome person'

The Palestinian presidency in Ramallah lashed out at the report.

The presidency said it would demand that the British government "not allow this meddling with the fate and future of the Palestinian people".

"We also consider Tony Blair to be an unwelcome person in the Palestinian territories," it said, according to official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The Channel 12 report came after two far-right Israeli government ministers called for Jewish settlers to return to the Gaza Strip after the war with Hamas, and said Palestinians should be encouraged to emigrate.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who heads the ultranationalist Religious Zionism party, told Israeli army radio: "To control the territory militarily for a long time, we need a civilian presence."

He said Israel should "encourage" Palestinians to leave.

And on Monday, Israel's firebrand National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said: "We must promote a solution to encourage the emigration of Gaza's residents."

UN chief Antonio Guterres and the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, are among those who have spoken out against the possible forced transfer of Gazans.

The Israeli ministers' comments drew condemnation from Hamas, the militant group whose October 7 attack from Gaza killed some 1,140 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

Israel's relentless military response has killed more than 22,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

UN agencies have voiced alarm over a spiralling humanitarian crisis facing Gaza's 2.4 million people, who remain under siege and bombardment, most of them displaced and huddling in shelters and tents, amid dire food shortages.

© 2024 AFP

As death toll in Gaza rises, Israeli officials fear possible genocide charges at ICJ

Julia Conley, Common Dreams
January 2, 2024

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

 (AFP Photo/Dan Balilty)

Top officials in the Israel Defense Forces and Israeli government have reportedly been warned by a top legal expert that the International Court of Justice could issue an injunction requiring the country to halt its bombardment of Gaza, following a motion filed by South Africa last week.

Haaretz reported that the Israeli "security establishment and the state attorney's office are concerned" that the court could soon take action to force a cease-fire to protect civilian lives.

IDF Chief of Staff Herzl Halevi is among those who have been warned that South Africa's petition could be successful, the outlet reported, and a hearing on how the government should deal with the matter was held Monday at the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

As Common Dreamsreported last week, South Africa said in its complaint to the ICJ that it is "gravely concerned with the plight of civilians caught in the present Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip due to the indiscriminate use of force and forcible removal of inhabitants," and called on the ICJ to take action to force Israel to "immediately cease" its attacks on Gaza's 2.3 million residents.

At least 21,978 Palestinians have been killed and 57,697 have been injured in Israeli air and ground attacks on Gaza since the IDF began its bombardment in retaliation for Hamas' assault on southern Israel on October 7, which killed 1,139 people.

Top officials in Israel have made numerous statements suggesting their overarching goal is to clear Gaza and the West Bank of all Palestinian residents, with National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir saying Monday that the fighting presents an "opportunity" for Gaza residents to leave and for Israel to expand its settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Previously, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the so-called "voluntary migration" of Palestinians is the goal, while President Isaac Herzog said all civilians in Gaza are "responsible" for Hamas' attack and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the military would collectively punish Palestinians in Gaza, whom he called "human animals," for the October 7 attack.

Professor Eliav Lieblich, an expert on international law at Tel Aviv University, told Haaretz that such statements could be viewed by the ICJ as evidence of intent to harm civilians in Gaza.

"Genocide is a violation, the proof of which in court requires two elements," Lieblich told the outlet. "First, you have to show intention of annihilation, and second—certain actions in the field that promote this intention. According to South Africa, the intention is proven by statements of senior Israeli figures and a public atmosphere of erasing or flattening Gaza, and the widespread harm to civilians and the hunger in Gaza show the factual element of the deed."

"In general, it's hard to prove an intention of genocide because no public statements to that effect are made during the fighting," Lieblich added. "But these irresponsible statements about erasing Gaza will require Israel to explain why they don't reflect such an intention."

Author and activist Naomi Klein pointed out that while Israel does not recognize the authority of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which investigates accusations of war crimes and prosecutes individuals, it is a party to the Genocide Convention, which allows the ICJ to deal with judicial disputes between countries, including when they are accused of genocide.

A determination by the ICJ that Israel has failed to stop a genocide by its military forces or has committed genocidal acts against Palestinian civilians wouldn't necessarily mean that an injunction "would be immediately enforced," Lieblich told Haaretz. "But if it determines in a ruling or even a temporary injunction that a suspicion exists that Israel is committing genocide, you have to think about what this would say for the historical narrative. For this reason, too, the proceeding must be taken seriously."

The ICJ is also considering a complaint made by Ukraine regarding Russia's invasion and a complaint against Myanmar about its persecution of the Rohingya minority group.

"South Africa's complaint is intended to add Israel to this very disreputable group, and thereby also embarrass the U.S. as its ally," Lieblich told Haaretz.

Despite the fact that a majority of Americans support the call for a cease-fire in Gaza, the U.S. government has continued providing Israel with military support and defending its actions.

Independent journalist Sam Husseini wrote Monday that a volunteer has compiled a list of international officials who cease-fire advocates can get in touch with directly to pressure other governments to back South Africa's petition.

World Beyond War and RootsAction have also launched actions to pressure other countries to support South Africa at the ICJ.

"If a majority of the world's nations call for a cease-fire, yet fail to press for prosecution of Israel—what is to stop Israel from ethnically cleansing all Palestinians?" reads World Beyond War's letter, which it urged supporters to send to governments that have been critical of Israel. "For that matter, what is to stop other nations from repeating a horror of this magnitude?"

From ‘Israel’s right to defend' against Hamas to sinking ships in Red Sea: US amps up presence in West Asian conflict

The conflict in Israel and Hamas has shifted global stance from 'right to defend' to 'need for aid', but no immediate ceasefire has been sought. . The US, Israel's biggest ally, supported Israel's right to defend itself and vetoed a UN resolution for a ceasefire.

Demonstrators shout slogans as they march through the streets of Yemen's Huthi-controlled capital Sanaa, to express solidarity with the people of Gaza on December 29, 2023, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Hamas movement. Yemen's Huthi rebel group, has recently launched repeated drone and missile attacks at Israel, which have been intercepted. It has also targeted ships in the Red Sea, disrupting international trade

 (Photo by MOHAMMED HUWAIS / AFP)

 02 Jan 2024, 

Sayantani Biswas

 (AFP)

The conflict in the West Asian nations of Israel and Hamas saw the world change stance from ‘right of one nation to defend itself’ to ‘need for aids to enter the attacked nation’, but none holding the power to has sought an ‘immediate ceasefire’.

The war inflated on 7 October, when Hamas fighters from Gaza launched a multi-pronged attack on Israel, killing at least 1,200 people. Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu retaliated by launching an airstrike campaign, most of which were ‘dumb bombs’. Netanyahu vowed to ‘eliminate’ Hamas fighters, but have killed over 20,000 people in the densely populated Gaza strip.

While Netanyahu showed no signs of stopping, its biggest ally, United States' Joe Biden-led government said that ‘Israel had the right to defend itself’, all the while refusing to condemn the war, despite Israel's intensified ground and aerial attack on Gaza.

While Palestinians in Gaza were displaced repeatedly on instructions of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), US continued supporting Israel, so much to to veto a UN resolution demanding ceasefire. US deputy ambassador Robert Wood called the resolution “imbalanced".

“Hamas has no desire to see a durable peace, to see a two-state solution," Wood said before the vote. “For that reason, while the United States strongly supports a durable peace, in which both Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace and security, we do not support calls for an immediate cease-fire."

While US President Joe Biden maintained his customary deterrent to Israel's Netanyahu ad asked the latter to be careful about Palestinian civilians in Gaza, last week the Biden administration surpassed the US Congress, and approve the transfer of nearly $150 million in military equipment to Israel amid the country’s war against Hamas.


This comes even as US expressed doubts into sending further aids to Ukraine, that went into war after Vladimir Putin launched an attack on its east European neighbour in 24 February 2022, citing need to "protect the people" of the Russian-controlled breakaway republics

Secretary of State Antony Blinken informed Congress that he has made an emergency determination to immediately approve the transfer of “155mm ancillary items including fuzes, charges, and primers that make 155mm shells functional," a State Department spokesperson said Friday.

“Given the urgency of Israel’s defensive needs, the secretary notified Congress that he had exercised his delegated authority to determine an emergency existed necessitating the immediate approval of the transfer," the spokesperson said.

The latest to incidence to portray US' increasing presence in the West Asian conflict, is the war at Red Sea. US military on Sunday said they shot down two anti-ship ballistic missiles fired toward a container ship by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in the Red Sea.


Hours later, four boats tried to attack the same ship, but US forces opened fire, killing several of the armed crews, the US Central Command said. No one was injured on the ship.

“This is the 23rd illegal attack by the Houthis on international shipping since November 19," CENTCOM said.

The US also released declassified intelligence that suggests Iran has been “deeply involved in planning the operations against commercial vessels in the Red Sea," National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson told CNN.

Tensions in the Red Sea Setting the Stage for WWIII

by Joziah Thayer

 Posted onJanuary 02, 2024

ANTIWAR.COM

Yemen, a Pawn or a Bishop?

In recent weeks, there have been 15 attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea as the Houthis of northern Yemen threatened to attack any vessel heading to the Israeli port city of Eilat.

These attacks caused imports to the port to drop 85% and prompted the formation of a 10-nation coalition led by the US to secure maritime trade. News reports surfaced that Spain and France pulled out of the naval task force, stating they would protect their ships and only accept orders from NATO, not CENTCOM.

On December 23, an Indian-flagged cargo ship was struck in the Arabian Sea 200 nautical miles from the Indian port city of Veraval, and less than an hour later, the Israeli and US governments were claiming they had intelligence the drone was fired from Iran.

The US, EU, and Israel have all accused Iran of having a command ship disguised as a cargo vessel anchored in the Red Sea off Yemen’s northwest coast named the MV Saviz that is identifying ships linked to Israel and handing that information off to the Houthis. In 2021, it was reported that Israeli commandos bombed the Saviz using limpet mines. Iran claims the Saviz is a logistical ship to help protect the region from piracy.

The USS Laboon, a guided missile Destroyer, patrolled the waters around Yemen as part of Operation Prosperity Guardian over the weekend. Meanwhile, the country exploded in a planned protest to show support for Gaza, where an estimated 2.2 million Yemenis marched through Sanaa.

Many people waved Palestinian flags and banners that read, “Your coalition does not intimidate us!” The Supreme Leader of the Sanaa government, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, addressed the crowd via a large screen and loudspeakers, stating that if the US or the UK interrupted their operations on Israeli-linked ships, they would directly target “American and British ships in the region.”

Hours later, CENTCOM announced that the USS Laboon shot down four drones fired from Houthi-controlled northern Yemen that were “inbound to the USS Laboon.” The USS Laboon reported no damage or injuries and continued its mission, guiding a US cargo ship through the Bel el Mandeb Strait to the Suez Canal. Reports then began to surface about a secret plan between the US and the UK to attack Houthi missile sites in northern Yemen with Reaper drones from Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti.

Red Sea Chess Games

It is common knowledge that the Red Sea is a vital waterway where 10% of all maritime global trade travels daily, including 10% of the world’s oil, 8% of the world’s liquid natural gas, and 20% of the global container traffic.

What is less known is the essential role East Africa plays in the region as global powers offer developmental and military aid in exchange for geostrategic positioning. Currently East African countries, excluding South Sudan, are part of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, a seven-country trade bloc with Djibouti, Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, Kenya, and Uganda.

The United States Agency for International Development and EuropeAid have been major funders and partners of the IGAD since 2012, which would explain why countries in East Africa have a vested interest in appeasing Western powers. The leverage the US and UK held over East Africa is dwindling, according to the Atlantic Council.

In recent years, the EU and US have focused more on counterterrorism efforts in the region. At the same time, China built a railway in Africa known as the Addis Ababa that opened in 2018, connecting South Africa to East Africa. The railway has 56,000 passengers daily, creating an economic boom in the region.

China, Germany, the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Italy, France, and Japan have a military presence in Djibouti. The US and the UK have a joint Reaper Drone squadron at Camp Lemonnier that they have used to launch drone attacks across Africa and the Middle East since 2001.

The US rents Camp Lemonnier from the government of Djibouti for 63 million dollars a year, which goes to a government led by a dictator. There are 29 US military bases across Africa, eleven in the Horn of Africa that hug the Red Sea and Bel el Mandeb Strait.

In April, Russia signed an agreement with Sudan to construct a naval base in an undisclosed Red Sea port city. The deal has not been ratified, and it is unclear whether any progress has been made because the quickest way to stop development in a country is to start a civil war.

Sudan is embroiled in a fierce battle for power that broke out in 2021 between General Abdel-Fattah, who commands the Sudan’s Armed forces, and General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, who commands a militant group known as the Rapid Support Forces.

China opened its first foreign military base in Djibouti in 2017, a mile from US Camp Lemonnier. The UAE accused Djibouti of illegally seizing their port earlier the same year as they sought legal action over the port in London. The US alleged the port was stolen from the UAE and given to China. Forty-six African nations have joined China’s trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative, and one million Chinese citizens live in Africa.

The US has maintained one steadfast talking point when it comes to Asia and the Middle East investing in Africa, claiming these countries are exploiting Africa and increasing their debt. On the contrary, every deal signed between Africa and nations from the East consists of a language that allows African states to relinquish 20 billion dollars in debts owed to the United States.

West vs. East in Africa and Why it Matters

Trade between the US and Africa is around 80 billion, trade between India is over 100 billion, and with Saudi Arabia, it is over 70 billion. Africa-China bilateral trade is over 250 billion, and trade between Russia picked up after the 2019 African Summit in Sochi, Russia, rising to 18 billion.

Africa imports 30% of its grain from Russia, which incentivizes African nations to make other deals with Russia; between 2016 and 2020, Africa accounted for 18% of Russia’s total arms exports, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Geopolitical talking heads claim that Africa is open to making economic and military deals with these nations over the US or EU because countries from the Middle East and Asia don’t care about human rights.

African leaders contend they prefer dealing with these countries because they don’t mingle in their internal affairs or make economic and developmental agreements based on political contingencies.

The US and UK pulled back developmental projects in Eastern Africa, focusing instead on building military bases, and mining natural resources. They prioritized counterterrorism and the pillaging of rare earth minerals over infrastructure projects that would improve the lives of all East Africans.

World War posturing in the Red Sea and exploiting East African countries is not new, as East Africa has been used as a launch pad for Western powers in World War I, World War II, throughout the Cold War, and the War on Terror.

In October of this year, India announced it would operate a massive military and naval base with Japan in Djibouti, meaning that every global superpower will soon have a military presence in the Red Sea.

Joziah Thayer is a researcher with the Pursuance Project. He founded WEDA in 2014 to combat mainstream media narratives. He is also an antiwar activist and the online organizer behind #OpYemen.Facebook

Israel's Supreme Court Overturns A Key Component Of Netanyahu's Polarising Judicial Overhaul

Monday's court decision could reignite those tensions, which sparked months of mass protests against the government and had rattled the cohesion of the powerful military.

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Israel's Supreme Court struck down a key component of Benjamin Netanyahu's contentious judicial overhaul AP

RAGHAD ABU SHAMMALAH
AP
 02 JAN 2024 

Israel's Supreme Court on Monday struck down a key component of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's contentious judicial overhaul, a decision that threatens to reopen the fissures in Israeli society that preceded the country's ongoing war against Hamas.

Those divisions were largely been put aside while the country focuses on the war, which was triggered by a bloody cross-border attack by Hamas. Monday's court decision could reignite those tensions, which sparked months of mass protests against the government and had rattled the cohesion of the powerful military.

There was no immediate reaction from Netanyahu. In Monday's 8-7 majority decision, the court narrowly voted to overturn a law passed in July that prevents judges from overturning government decisions they deem “unreasonable”.

Opponents had argued that Netanyahu's efforts to remove the standard of reasonability opens the door to corruption and improper appointments of unqualified cronies to important positions. The law was the first in the planned overhaul of the justice system.

The overhaul was put on hold after Hamas militants carried out their October 7 attack, killing some 1,200 people and kidnapping 240 others. Israel immediately declared war, and is pressing forward with an offensive that Palestinian health officials say has killed nearly 22,000 people in Gaza.