It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Saturday, May 25, 2024
AMLO WAS AND IS A NEOLIBERAL
Mexico's poorest receiving less government funds under president who brought poor to the fore
People gather in the Zocalo to celebrate Mexico's newly sworn-in president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, in Mexico City, Dec. 1, 2018.
MEXICO CITY —
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador swept into office nearly six years ago with a simple motto laying out his administration's priorities: "For the good of all, first the poor."
His administration scrapped a host of existing social programs and installed their own, quickly increasing overall social spending to unprecedented heights for senior citizens, unemployed youth, students, farmers and people with disabilities.
But less noticed was that the new roster of social programs dramatically shifted who was getting that money. Suddenly, Mexico's poorest citizens were receiving a smaller portion of the spending and less money than under previous administrations.
Meanwhile, some of Mexico's wealthiest started getting money they didn't really need.
The shift owed largely to a massive "universal" pension benefit for seniors that López Obrador launched on a chilly January day outside Mexico City in 2019, just weeks after taking office. He announced he was more than doubling the existing federal pension — it has since doubled again — and expanding it regardless of income to people who previously didn't qualify, like those who received another pension from their former employer.
If much more money isn't poured into the system, "universal programs spread benefits more thinly over the whole population with the result that the people who were most in need get worse," said Robert Greenstein, a fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. "Poverty can go up. Inequality can be greater than it would be under a more targeted scheme."
But López Obrador's social programs have proven so popular that even the opposition candidates running to replace him in the June 2 election have promised to expand them. Some 28 million Mexicans will benefit from one of the programs this year. In Sunday night's final presidential debate, candidate Xóchitl Gálvez said she would lower the minimum pension age to 60 from 65.
The pension is the largest social program by budget in López Obrador's slate of handouts, far surpassing the also well known Youth Building the Future, which pays young adults who neither study nor work to apprentice, and Sowing Life, which pays farmers to plant fruit or lumber-producing trees on their land.
Combined with the elimination of predecessors' more targeted programs that had focused on Mexico's most in need, experts say the pension dramatically shifted the distribution of government funds.
Four months from the end of López Obrador's six-year term, several million people have escaped poverty. But factors beyond the social programs are involved, including López Obrador's nearly tripling of the minimum wage and Mexicans abroad continuing to send home record amounts of money to relatives.
Curiously, there are about 400,000 more Mexicans in extreme poverty than at the beginning of his term, according to government data.
A government report published every two years that divides Mexico's population into 10 segments by income says the very poorest segment in 2018 received about 19% of social spending. Just two years later, that poorest group was receiving only about 6%, said Manuel Martínez Espinoza, a researcher at Mexico's National Council of the Humanities, Sciences and Technologies. For reasons unknown the government has not published the 2022 report.
Cash to families, but with a catch
At a counter in a central Mexico City market, Arturo García leaned over a steaming bowl of tripe stew on a recent morning. The 73-year-old retired cab driver said he stopped taking fares during the pandemic.
Now the $362 (6,000 pesos) he receives from his universal pension every two months and some money he gets renting out a storage space in his home to street vendors are his only sources of income.
"You have money or you don't have money, they give it to you," García said of the pension. "The government is trying to make us all equal."
One of the programs López Obrador ended when he took office was called Prospera. It had targeted Mexico's poorest families for some two decades under various names with what were known as conditional cash transfers. Poor families received money, but it was restricted by income level and recipients had to meet some requirements to get it, like taking their children for medical checkups.
The president said the program was clientelist and suffered from systematic corruption, though instances of corruption have also been found in López Obrador's programs.
Targeted social programs like Prospera attempt to be more precise in steering public funds to specific segments of the population. For that reason they tend to be less expensive than universal programs.
Critics, however, say they stigmatize the poor; have less political support, which makes them vulnerable to being cut; require more administration to determine eligibility and fewer people enroll, said Greenstein, the fellow at the Brookings Institution, adding that those risks are not inherent in targeted programs.
Mexico's Welfare Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
Prospera's funding was redirected to López Obrador's programs, principally the universal pension, signaling an important shift from a means-tested program that largely benefitted poor children to one that provided cash to all senior citizens.
One of the more cynical criticisms of the shift is that children don't vote, but seniors do.
People who don't really need it are getting more
The other side of Mexico's poorest receiving a smaller proportion of social spending under this administration is that people who don't really need it are getting more.
One morning in late April, César Herrera brought his elderly mother to a branch of the Banco Bienestar, or Welfare Bank, in Mexico City to withdraw her pension payment. The bank was created by López Obrador as a vehicle to get payments from his administration's programs directly into the hands of Mexicans.
Herrera said he and his mother had driven by in February when the last pension deposit was made and saw the line stretching down the street. But unlike many seniors who live payment to payment, Herrera said his mother didn't need the money, so they left.
"However, it's there," he said when they returned a month and a half later. "Of course you have to take it."
The ninth out of 10 income strata, or the second highest, analyzed by the government went from receiving about $4.40 of every $100 in social spending in 2018 to getting about $10 in 2020, said Martínez, the researcher at the humanities, sciences and technologies council.
Martínez said his field work in Chiapas, Mexico's poorest state, found many people who were not receiving as much money as they had previously under Prospera, but who nevertheless fervently supported López Obrador.
"I've talked with a lot of people in my field work, they feel valued, they feel the president values them, which they didn't feel before," Martínez said.
Martínez hypothesizes that the growth in extreme poverty during this administration was due in part to the elimination of Prospera but also the fact that people in extreme poverty tend to work in the informal sector — which would not have benefited equally from the increased minimum wage. Another factor was the COVID-19 pandemic forced a lot of families to exhaust their limited savings on health care.
Much of the back-and-forth between López Obrador's anointed successor Claudia Sheinbaum and the opposition candidate Gálvez has been the president and Sheinbaum insisting that Gálvez will end the social programs if she wins — and Gálvez promising that she won't. Much of that debate is unnecessary since the pension is now enshrined in the constitution.
Martínez said that even at the current 65 minimum age the program is burning through public funds too rapidly.
"In the short term, it's a time bomb because it's going to generate problems because it isn't fiscally sustainable," he said
US MISSIONARIES KILLED BY HAITI GANGS
WILL THIS BE USED TO JUSTIFY INVASION?!
DW
A US missionary couple were among three people killed in gang violence in Haiti. Violence and political turmoil has gripped the country for months.
A Haitian gang killed three missionaries, including a married couple from the United States, in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti.
Missions in Haiti, an Oklahoma-based nonprofit founded in 2000, said Davy and Natalie Lloyd and the local director of the mission group, Jude Montis, were killed by armed men on Thursday evening.
Missouri State Senator's children among the dead
Natalie's father is Missouri State Senator Ben Baker , and Davy is the son of David and Alicia Lloyd, who started the organization Missions in Haiti in 2000.
"My heart is broken in a thousand pieces. I've never felt this kind of pain," Baker said in a Facebook post. He later posted that their bodies had been retrieved, and they are working to repatriate them to the US.
Missions in Haiti said the couple was leaving a church when they were ambushed by three trucks full of gang members. They took David to a house and assaulted and robbed him.
As people were helping untie Davy Lloyd, another group of gunmen showed up and "went into full attack mode."
The couple and Montis fled to a house connected to the mission. "They tried to take cover in there, but the gang shot up the house."
The missionary group later confirmed that all three were dead.
Security situation in Haiti
A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said it was "just another example of the violence that spares no one in Haiti."
Haiti has seen months of unrest and violence under an unstable political situation. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the country is close to becoming a failed state.
Haiti finally reopened its international airport in the capital, Port-au-Prince, after months of closure due to gang violence. But gangs are still in control of many parts of the country.
The gangs' biggest demand was the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who has since stepped down from his position. Haiti has not had a sitting president since the assassination of Jovenel Moise in 2021 and has no sitting parliament.
A transitional council has been appointed to hold elections, the country's first since 2016. Meanwhile, food scarcity, a collapse of the healthcare system and violence has forced thousands to flee their homes.
"The security situation in Haiti cannot wait," said a National Security Council spokesperson, stressing that President Joe Biden had pledged to support the "expedited deployment" of the force in talks with Kenya's president on Thursday.
A young couple from the U.S. were among 3 missionaries killed in Haiti violence
MAY 25, 2024 The Associated Press Davy and Natalie Lloyd were among three missionaries killed in Haiti after being ambushed at the Port-au-Prince, officials with the mission organization said Friday, May 24, 2024. The third victim was Jude Montis, who was the country's director of Missions In Haiti Inc.
Brad Searcy Photography/via AP
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — A U.S. missionary couple and a Haitian man who worked with them were shot and killed by gang members in Haiti's capital after they were attacked while leaving a youth group activity held at a local church, a family member said Friday.
The attack happened Thursday evening in the community of Lizon in northern Port-au-Prince, Lionel Lazarre, head of a Haitian police union, told The Associated Press.
The slayings occurred as the capital crumbles under the relentless assault of violent gangs that control 80% of Port-au-Prince while authorities await the arrival of a police force from Kenya as part of a U.N.-backed deployment aimed at quelling gang violence in the troubled Caribbean country.
Two of the victims were a young married couple, Davy and Natalie Lloyd, according to a Facebook posting from Natalie Lloyd's father, Missouri state Rep. Ben Baker. The third victim was Jude Montis, who was the country's director of Missions In Haiti Inc.
"My heart is broken in a thousand pieces," Baker wrote on Facebook on Thursday. "I've never felt this kind of pain. Most of you know my daughter and son-in-law Davy and Natalie Lloyd are full time missionaries in Haiti. They were attacked by gangs this evening and were both killed. They went to Heaven together."
Hannah Cornett, Davy Lloyd's sister, told the AP that her brother was 23 years old and Natalie Lloyd was 21. They were going to celebrate their two-year anniversary in June and his birthday in early July.
Cornett said her parents are full-time missionaries in Haiti, and that she and her two brothers grew up there.
"Davy spoke Creole before he spoke English. It was home," she said in a phone interview. "Haiti was all we knew."
Cornett, 22, said her parents run an orphanage, school and church in Haiti, and that she and her brothers grew up with the orphans: "It was just one big happy family there."
She said her older brother was outgoing, had built a garden and raised a lot of animals. While he went back to the U.S. for Bible college and then got married, he returned to Haiti with Natalie Lloyd to do more humanitarian work.
"They just had a lot of love for Haiti, and they just wanted to help the people there," Cornett said. "That's their calling."
Cornett noted that Montis worked with her parents for 20 years and left behind two children, ages 2 and 6. Sponsor Message
She said the night of the attack, three vehicles carrying gang members stopped the Lloyds and Montis as they crossed the street, hitting her brother in the head with the barrel of a gun. They forced him upstairs, stole their belongings and left him tied up. As people were helping untie Davy Lloyd, another group of armed gunmen showed up.
"Nobody knows what happened," she said.
An unidentified person got shot and the gunmen opened fire as the Lloyds and Montis fled to the house where her parents live, Cornett said.
"They tried to take cover in there, but the gang shot up the house," she said, adding that they were killed and their bodies set on fire.
Cornett said her mother flew back from Haiti about a month ago, and that her father and younger brother flew out Wednesday because things had been so calm in the neighborhood.
"Nobody expected this to happen," she said between tears.
On Friday afternoon, Baker posted on Facebook that the bodies of Davy and Natalie Lloyd were safely transported to the U.S. Embassy.
The couple worked for Missions In Haiti Inc. The Claremore, Oklahoma, organization was founded by David and Alicia Lloyd, Davy Lloyd's parents. Natalie Lloyd's Facebook page said the couple married on June 18, 2022, and she began working with the missionary organization in August 2022. She frequently posted photos of Haitian children on her page.
A Facebook posting on the Missions In Haiti page late Thursday read: "Around midnight: Davy and Natalie and Jude were shot and killed by the gang about 9 o'clock this evening. We all are devastated."
Alicia Lloyd, mother of Davy Lloyd, told the Oklahoma-based Claremore Daily Progress newspaper that her son "was one of these people who could do anything."
"I hope something good can come out of this. We don't see it now, but we don't want (their lives) to be in vain," she was quoted as saying.
U.S. Department of State spokesman Matthew Miller said the ambassador in Haiti was in touch with the families "who we know are experiencing unimaginable grief."
"Unfortunately, this serves as a reminder that the security situation in Haiti cannot wait – too many innocent lives are being lost," he said in a statement as he noted the U.S. government's commitment for a swift deployment of the Kenyan-led mission.
It wasn't immediately clear which gang or gangs were responsible for the fatal shootings.
However, a gang leader called Chyen Mechan, which means "mean dog" in Haitian Creole, controls the area where the shooting occurred. His real name is Claudy Célestin, and he is a dismissed civil servant from Haiti's Ministry of the Interior.
The leader of another gang known as General Jeff also controls territory near the neighborhood where the couple was killed. Both gangs are part of a coalition known as Viv Ansanm, which means "Live Together."
The coalition is responsible for launching large-scale attacks on key government infrastructure starting Feb. 29. Gunmen have attacked police stations, opened fire on the main international airport that remained closed for nearly three months before opening earlier this week and stormed Haiti's two biggest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates.
Gangs also are blamed for killing or injuring more than 2,500 people across Haiti from January to March, a 50% increase compared with the same period last year, according to the United Nations. In addition, more than 360,000 people have been forced to flee their homes by gangs who control 80% of Port-au-Prince.
Kidnappings also are rampant, with targets including U.S. missionaries.
In October 2021, gang members kidnapped 17 missionaries, the majority U.S. citizens. Many in the group, which included five children, were held captive for more than two months before escaping.
Then in July 2023, gangs kidnapped a U.S. nurse and her daughter from the campus of a Christian-run school near Port-au-Prince. They were released nearly two weeks later. Sponsor Message
The U.S. Department of State has long had a "do not travel" advisory for Haiti and urges any U.S. citizens in the country to depart as soon as possible.
On the Missions In Haiti website, the founders wrote that the organization was founded in 2000. It said it aimed to help with "the country's biggest need — its children."
A May 2023 newsletter posted on the mission website said Natalie "has been helping with the kids at the House of Compassion and assisting in our ACE school. Davy has been working on a lot of badly needed projects around our compound," including building a laundry room and repairing bathrooms.
Canadian school issues notice for pro-Palestinian protesters to pack, leave
Be out by 8 a.m. Monday or face ‘consequences … under the law,’ University of Toronto tells protesters
Barry Ellsworth |25.05.2024 -
TRENTON, Canada
A showdown may be in the works as pro-Palestinian protesters vowed Friday to ignore a University of Toronto trespass notice to pack and leave by 8 a.m. Monday.
If the protesters remain past the deadline, university officials said the trespassers will face “consequences under university policies and the law,” according to a statement posted online by the school.
Those who remain could face up to a five-year suspension or expulsion from the university. Dozens of faculty members and staff who have joined the pro-Palestinian encampment could face “disciplinary measures up to and including termination of employment,” said the school.
The university’s administration refused protesters’ demand to end partnerships with Israeli universities and cut ties with Israel and companies profiting from the onslaught in Gaza.
But it did offer students the chance to present their demands at a June 19 university board of governors meeting. As well, the administration said it would form a group to consider disclosure and investment terms.
The protesters were defiant in the face of the trespass notice.
“We’ll continue to be here, and we’ll continue to demand divestment,” said Erin Mackey, an encampment spokesperson, according to the National Post.
“That is an ultimatum,” encampment organizer and fourth-year student Kalliope Anvar McCall said at a news conference Friday, said CBC News. “They’re trying to force us to accept these outrageous terms by threatening to clear us out at the same time.”
But despite the trespass notice, a lone media outlet, the National Post, reported that an encampment organizer said the administration agreed to meet Sunday to continue negotiations.
The encampment at the university, the largest school in Canada with an enrollment of nearly 62,000 students, was set up May 2.
Encampments were also established at other major Canadian post-secondary schools, including the University of Ottawa, University of British Columbia and McGill University.
NAKBA 2.0 UPDATES
Israel strikes Palestinians in Rafah after top UN court orders it to halt offensive
A Palestinian boy stands amid the rubble of a destroyed house in central Gaza
Rafah – Israel bombed the Gaza Strip, including Rafah, on Saturday, a day after the top UN court ordered it to halt military operations in the southern city as efforts get underway in Paris to seek a ceasefire in the war sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) also demanded the immediate release of all hostages still held by Palestinian militants, hours after the Israeli military announced troops had recovered the bodies of three more of the captives from northern Gaza.
The Hague-based court, whose orders are legally binding but lack direct enforcement mechanisms, also ordered Israel to keep open the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza, which it closed earlier this month at the start of its assault on the city.
Israel gave no indication it was preparing to change course in Rafah, insisting that the court had got it wrong.
“Israel has not and will not carry out military operations in the Rafah area that create living conditions that could cause the destruction of the Palestinian civilian population, in whole or in part,” National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said in a joint statement with Israel’s foreign ministry spokesman.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, welcomed the ICJ ruling on Rafah but criticised its decision to exclude the rest of war-torn Gaza from the order.
– ‘Nothing left here’ –
Hours after the ICJ ruling, Israel carried out strikes on the Gaza Strip early Saturday while clashes between the Israeli army and the armed wing of Hamas continued.
Palestinian witnesses and AFP teams reported Israeli strikes in Rafah and the central city of Deir al-Balah.
“We hope that the court’s decision will put pressure on Israel to end this war of extermination, because there is nothing left here,” said Oum Mohammad Al-Ashqa, a Palestinian woman from Gaza City displaced to Deir al-Balah by the war.
“But Israel is a state that considers itself above the law. Therefore, I do not believe that the shooting or the war will stop other than by force,” said Mohammed Saleh, also met by AFP in the central Gaza Strip city.
In its keenly awaited ruling, the ICJ said Israel must “immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part”.
It ordered Israel to open the Rafah crossing for humanitarian aid and also called for the “immediate and unconditional release” of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
The Gaza war broke out after Hamas’s October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Militants also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 35,800 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
The Israeli military said the three hostages whose bodies were recovered in north Gaza on Friday — Israeli hostage Chanan Yablonka, Brazilian-Israeli Michel Nisenbaum and French-Mexican Orion Hernandez Radoux — were “murdered” during the October 7 attack and their bodies taken to Gaza.
– Paris meetings –
The court order comes ahead of separate meetings on the Gaza conflict in Paris between the CIA chief and Israeli representatives on one side and French President Emmanuel Macron and the foreign ministers of four key Arab states on the other.
Ceasefire talks involving US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators ended shortly after Israel launched the Rafah operation, though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office this week said the war cabinet had asked the Israeli delegation “to continue negotiations for the return of the hostages”.
CIA chief Bill Burns was expected to meet Israeli representatives in Paris in a bid to relaunch negotiations, a Western source close to the issue said.
Separately, French President Emmanuel Macron received the prime minister of Qatar and the Saudi, Egyptian and Jordanian foreign ministers on Friday “to press for a ceasefire”, according to Cairo.
The French presidency said they held talks on the Gaza war and ways to set up a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
The five countries discussed “the effective implementation of the two-state solution”, it added.
Top US diplomat Antony Blinken also spoke with Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz about new efforts to achieve a ceasefire and reopening of the Rafah border crossing as soon as possible, Washington said.
– ‘End this nightmare’ –
Israeli ground troops started moving into Rafah in early May, defying global opposition.
Troops took over the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, further slowing sporadic deliveries of aid for Gaza’s 2.4 million people.
But on Friday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi agreed in a call with his US counterpart Joe Biden to allow UN aid through the other entry point into southern Gaza, the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel, the White House said.
The US military has also installed a temporary jetty on the Gaza coast to receive aid by sea that a UN spokesman said had delivered 97 trucks of aid after “a rocky start” a week ago.
The security and humanitarian situation in the territory remains alarming, with a risk of famine, hospitals out of service, and around 800,000 people, according to the United Nations, having fled Rafah in the last two weeks.
UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said the situation had reached “a moment of clarity”.
“Aid workers and UN staff must be able to carry out their jobs in safety,” he posted on social media site X late Friday.
“At a time when the people of Gaza are staring down famine… it is more critical than ever to heed the calls made over the last seven months: Release the hostages. Agree a ceasefire. End this nightmare.”
Food bound for Gaza rots in the sun as Egypt's Rafah crossing stays shut
Heavy machinery is used to dispose of rotten eggs, part of aid packages for Gaza that had gone bad as Rafah crossing remains closed, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, Egypt on May 22, 2024. PHOTO: Reuters
MAY 24, 2024
AL-ARISH — Some of the food supplies waiting to enter the Gaza Strip from Egypt have begun to rot as the Rafah border crossing remains shut to aid deliveries for a third week and people inside the Palestinian territory face worsening hunger.
Rafah was a main entry point for humanitarian relief as well as some commercial supplies before Israel stepped up its military offensive on the Gazan side of the border on May 6 and took control of the crossing from the Palestinian side.
Egyptian officials and sources say humanitarian operations are at risk from military activity and that Israel needs to hand the crossing back to Palestinians before it starts operating again.
Egypt is also worried about the risk of Palestinians being displaced from Gaza.
On Friday (May 24), Egypt and the US agreed to send aid via Israel's nearby Kerem Shalom crossing until legal arrangements are made to open Rafah from the Palestinian side, the Egyptian presidency said.
That could ease the backlog of aid on the road between the Egyptian side of the crossing and the town of al-Arish, about 45 km (28 miles) west of Rafah and an arrival point for international aid donations, though too late to save some food supplies.
One truck driver, Mahmoud Hussein, said his goods had been loaded on his vehicle for a month, gradually spoiling in the sun. Some of the foodstuffs are being discarded, others sold of cheap.
"Apples, bananas, chicken and cheese, a lot of things have gone rotten, some stuff has been returned and is being sold for a quarter of its price," he said, crouching under his truck for shade.
"I'm sorry to say that the onions we're carrying will at best be eaten by animals because of the worms in them."
Aid deliveries for Gaza through Rafah began in late October, two weeks after the start of the war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The flow of relief has often been slowed by Israeli inspections and military activity inside Gaza, aid officials say.
Supplies have been stuck in al-Arish or on the road to Rafah, incurring transport and storage fees.
A global hunger monitor has warned of imminent famine in parts of Gaza, home to 2.3 million people. Rotten eggs
Since May 7, no trucks have crossed through Rafah and very few through Kerem Shalom, according to UN data.
Just over 900 truckloads have entered Gaza in total since that date, compared to at least 500 trucks daily that the UN says are required.
The amount of aid waiting in Egypt's northern Sinai was now very large, and some had been stuck for more than two months, said Khaled Zayed, head of the Egyptian Red Crescent in the area.
"Some aid packages require a certain temperature ... We coordinate on this with specialists who are highly trained in the storage of food and medical supplies," he said.
"We hope the border will reopen as soon as possible."
As of May 16, more than 2,000 UN and international NGO trucks were waiting to enter Gaza, including 1,574 carrying food supplies, according to a UN document seen by Reuters.
KSrelief, a Saudi-funded charity, has more than 350 trucks carrying items including food and medical supplies waiting, but has had to offload flour because of the risk of it rotting, the group's supervisor general Abdullah Al Rabeeah said.
"We pack and send but also we have to recheck. It is a big burden," he told Reuters.
Some food has been sold at cut price on the local market in northern Sinai, leading to the confiscation of stocks of rotten eggs, said local officials from Egypt's ministry of supply.
Inside Gaza, there have also been scares about the quality of delayed food deliveries that made it in before Rafah closed, or through other crossings.
Palestinian medical and police officials who used to check goods coming into Gaza had been unable to do so during Israel's offensive, said Ismail Al-Thawabta, director of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office.
"There is a big problem as many of the goods that enter the Gaza Strip are unfit for human use and are unhealthy," he said.
"Therefore, the health ministry issued the warning statement to raise public awareness that people should examine the goods before eating them or sharing them with their families."
Israeli activists battle over Gaza-bound aid convoys
5 hours ago Paul Adams,
Diplomatic correspondent
BBC
The war in Gaza is being fought on many fronts.
One of them is aid.
Months after some Israelis started to protest against aid lorries entering Gaza at the main Kerem Shalom crossing, the battle has moved to other key junctions, where rival groups of activists do their best to block or protect aid convoys.
In recent weeks, social media has been flooded with images of aid lorries being blocked and ransacked.
Right-wing activists, including Jewish settlers living in the occupied West Bank, have uploaded dozens of videos of crowds, including some very young children, hurling food onto the ground and stamping on boxes of aid.
“It’s important to stop the aid,” one activist says. “It’s the only way we’ll win. The only way we’ll get our hostages back.”
Many argue that Gazans should receive nothing while Israeli hostages remain in captivity, and that providing aid to Gaza merely serves to prolong the war.
In one video, a group of jubilant protesters dance and celebrate on top of a looted lorry.
In another, one of the stranded lorries is ablaze.
Other videos show Israeli vigilantes stopping lorries in Jerusalem and demanding that drivers show papers proving they are not transporting aid to Gaza. Their faces are uncovered and they appear to be acting with complete impunity.
In the West Bank, at least two drivers who were not carrying goods bound for Gaza were dragged from their cabs and beaten.
Palestinian lorry drivers say they’re traumatised.
“I’m terrified to reach the crossing point,” Adel Amro told the BBC.
“I fear for my life.”
Mr Amro was carrying commercially purchased goods from the West Bank to Gaza when he was set upon. Other targeted drivers are involved in transporting aid from Jordan, which has to cross the West Bank and Israel before it reaches Gaza.
“We’re now taking side roads, far from the main routes, because we fear the aggressiveness of the settlers,” he said.
AFP Aid bound for Gaza has been left strewn on roads after the attacks
But after a series of well-documented attacks, some Israelis are fighting back.
Peace activists have taken to tracking their opponents’ movements on social media and making sure they’re present at key crossing points.
At Tarqumiya checkpoint, where lorries enter Israel from the southern West Bank, members of the group Standing Together are now mounting regular vigils.
Tarqumiya was the scene of one of the most dramatic recent attacks.
“People in Gaza are starving and aid should get to Gaza,” said Suf Patishi, one of Standing Together’s founding members.
“Israeli society should say in a loud and clear voice that we are opposed to these acts,” he said of the recent attacks on convoys.
“It’s not a lot to ask, not to die from hunger, you know.”
Suf Patishi is the founder of Standing Together, a group that tries to protect aid convoys
The group brings together Jews and Arabs from all over Israel.
For Nasser Odat, an Israeli Arab from Haifa, coming to Tarqumiya provided a welcome opportunity to feel useful, after more than seven months of helplessly watching the war in Gaza.
“I feel very empowered,” he said. “Now, finally, I have something to do to help. To help these people that are starving.”
As the peace activists sheltered from the fierce sun under palm trees at the centre of a roundabout, passing lorry drivers waved and sounded their horns in gratitude.
A small group of right-wing demonstrators arrived but were heavily outnumbered by Mr Patishi’s volunteers.
The two sides debated their differing positions in discussions that became increasingly heated.
Police officers stood nearby, ready to keep the opposing camps apart if it came to blows.
The peace activists have accused the police, under the control of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, one of the most hardline members of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, of doing little to stop the attacks.
They say there’s evidence that settlers are receiving help from the authorities and point to text messages in which groups organising attacks on aid lorries solicit and receive help from the police and army.
Getty Images Other Israeli groups have meanwhile tried to block border crossings to prevent aid reaching Gaza
“A lot of times the police were in the areas when attacks occur, but they didn't have someone to push them to act,” Mr Patishi said.
“And it's very sad because the police should keep the law.”
As lorries drove by, two young women waved an Israeli flag but stopped short of trying to stop the traffic.
The two, who asked to be identified as Ariel and Shira (not their real names), explained why they felt it was important to be there.
“We would prefer that we don’t have to do the blockages, honestly,” Ariel said.
“I don’t like ransacking things. It’s not one of my favourite hobbies. But we prefer that to the death of our friends and family, which is what happens the longer this war drags on."
Both women recognised that there might be starvation in Gaza, but were convinced that Hamas was stealing and stockpiling aid rather than distributing it to people in need.
And they were not worried about what sort of image of Israel was being projected by the scenes of aid lorries being stopped, ransacked and set on fire.
“It’s time to stop caring what everybody else thinks,” Shira said, “and do what’s necessary to protect my life, to protect my family.”
As for the police, Ariel was dismissive.
“They aren’t going to interfere if they aren’t certain they’re able to shut it down,” she said. “They’re not going to start something they can’t finish.”
Three Injured in the U.S. Crew Offloading at Gaza Aid Pier
Benavidez in a May 17 photo offloading at the floating pier in Gaza (CENTCOM)
Three members of the crew working at the Gaza aid pier were injured in an unloading accident according to a report first on ABC News. U.S. Central Command confirmed the incident with “non-combat-related injuries” to ABC News without providing specific details.
According to various sources, ABC is reporting it was a forklift accident while the MV Roy P. Benavidez, a Ro/Ro cargo ship, part of MARAD’s Ready Reserve Fleet, was offloading on the dock. The report said all three individuals were transferred to an Israeli hospital as they required more care.
ABC is quoting Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, a CENTCOM deputy commander, saying that two of the individuals later returned to duty. The third individual is reported to be in critical condition and remains at the Israeli hospital. The ship is crewed by contracted merchant mariners, and it was unclear if it was this civilian crew or as ABC which referred to them as “service members.”
CENTCOM released a picture on May 18 which showed the Benavidez on the dock with large trucks carrying supplies ashore. According to the report 150 metric tons of supplies were delivered from the ship to the beach transport point on May 22. A further 185 metric tons was distributed from the transfer point to the U.N. warehouse.
Benavidez was delivered to the U.S. Navy in 2003 (Northrop Grumman photo)
Completed in 2003, the Benavidez was the last of seven strategic sealift ships built by Northrop Grumman Ship Systems for the U.S. Navy. The ship which had previously been deactivated, left Newport News, Virginia on March 21, 2024, as part of the Joint Logistics-Over-the-Shore, or JLOTS mission. The ship is a dry cargo surge sealift carrier capable of transporting up to 380,000 square feet of containerized cargo and rolling stock between developed ports.
Aid groups have been critical of the operation since it began saying that it had a limited capacity and was risky. CENTCOM with US AID however is emphasizing the contribution of the pier in its first week of operation. As of May 22, they reported a total of 820.5 metric tons was delivered by sea to the beach transfer point. A total of 506 metric tons they said has been distributed to the U.N. warehouse. The Republic of Cyprus along with the United Nations, is helping to coordinate the effort with CENTCOM emphasizing international donors, including the UAE, the United Kingdom, Romania, and the European Union.
Israel army: We warned Netanyahu before Hamas attack
May 24, 2024 Relatives of Israeli hostages in Gaza and their supporters demonstrate demanding the government sign a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement in front of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s house in Gaza, on May 13, 2024 [Saeed Qaq – Anadolu Agency]
The Israeli army’s Intelligence Division says it warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayahu prior to 7 October that an attack was to be carried out by the Palestinian resistance in Gaza.
The army revealed yesterday that it had sent four warning letters between March and July 2023 “concerning how Israel’s ‘enemies’ perceived the societal divides in the State of Israel and their effect on Israel and the IDF in particular,” the Jerusalem Post reported.
However the Prime Minister’s Office denied that the letters contained details of threats, saying: “Not only is there no warning in any of the documents about Hamas’s intentions to attack Israel from Gaza, but they actually contain completely opposite assessments.”
Adding that the second letter stated that “Hamas is not interested in escalation and seeks an agreement with Israel.”
Netanayhu has repeatedly said he had not received warning about any attack from security forces. But said in an interview this month that he holds himself responsible for the 7 October failure, adding: “I think we have to examine how it happened. What was the intelligence failure?”
Palestinian factions demand serious effort to execute top UN court's decisions on Israel
Rafah crossing must be completely opened, says National and Islamic Forces Committee
25/05/2024 Saturday AA
Palestinian factions on Saturday urged the prompt and genuine implementation of the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) decisions, stressing the need to avoid delays or obstructions that could absolve Israel of its responsibilities.
The National and Islamic Forces Committee, which represents the majority of Palestinian groups, issued a statement in support of the top UN court decision.
"The fascist aggression against the city of Rafah and all parts of the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Territory must be stopped, and the Nazi occupation army must withdraw completely,” the committee said.
It urged all parties to "seriously and genuinely work to implement the decisions of the International Court of Justice, without procrastination or delays that could absolve the occupation of its responsibilities under various pretexts."
It asked all parties to ensure “the complete withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Rafah crossing” and to reopen it as a “solely Palestinian-Egyptian crossing in accordance with the agreed-upon mechanisms.”
The committee cautioned "against any attempts to circumvent the decision of the International Court of Justice or legitimize the siege and occupation."
On Friday, the ICJ reaffirmed its previous orders and indicated further measures including an end to military operations in the southern city, maintaining the Rafah border crossing open and allowing access for investigators to the blockaded enclave.
ICJ President Nawaf Salam said the situation in Gaza had deteriorated since the court last ordered Israel to take steps to improve it.
Israel continued its brutal offensive on Gaza despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.
More than 35,800 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, the vast majority being women and children, and nearly 80,300 others injured since October following an attack by Hamas.
More than seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
EU faces 'difficult' choice between support to rule of law or support to Israel - Borrell
The EU must define its stance on the International Court of Justice's call on Israel to halt its Rafah offensive, Borrell said.
The European Union's foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, has said that the bloc faces a "difficult" choice between its support for the rule of law and its support for Israel, just minutes after the ICJ ruled Israeli forces should halt their offensive in Rafah.
Speaking during a European University Institute (EUI) event in Florence, Borrell said: "Let's see which is going to be the action of the European Union to the ruling of the International Court of Justice that has been issued today, which is going to be our position?"
"We will have to choose between our support to the international institutions and the rule of law, or our support to Israel, and both things is (sic) going to be quite difficult to make compatible," he added.
It came just minutes after the Hague-based top UN court called on Israel to "halt its military offensive in Rafah", citing that the Palestinian people were at an "immediate risk".
The UN estimates that some 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering from war in the southern Gazan town, which Israel claims is Hamas' last stronghold.
Borrell also acknowledged that the EU's decision-making when it came to its response to the war in Gaza had been too sluggish due to deep rifts between EU capitals' stance on the conflict.
He called for a change to the EU's decision-making processes on foreign policy, which requires the unanimous backing of all 27 leaders.
Hungary has notably blocked or delayed key EU initiatives in response to the war, including sanctions on violent Israeli settlers as well as a joint communication calling on Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to abandon plans to invade Rafah.
Borrell's opening speech was also interrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters who slammed the EU's response to the devastation and loss of life in Gaza, to whom the EU's top diplomat responded: "I understand perfectly the concern being expressed." Recognition of Palestine is 'contrary' to supporting terrorism
Reacting to the scathing Israeli criticism of Spain, Ireland and Norway's decision to recognise the State of Palestine, announced Wednesday, Borrell firmly rebuked foreign minister Israel Katz's accusation that the move would send a message that "terrorism pays."
"For me one thing is clear, recognition is not supporting Hamas," Borrell said. "And on that, I have to really contest the positions expressed by the Israeli government saying that recognition is a gift to Hamas, or supporting terrorism. Just on the contrary."
"It's unfounded, completely unfounded and unacceptable to say that recognition - be or not counter-productive - is a matter of giving gifts to Hamas or expressing anti-Semitism, nothing of that."
He affirmed that the recognition was designed to bolster the EU's support to the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, seen as a counter-movement to Hamas in the Palestinian territories.
He described the Palestinian Authority as the "nucleus of a future possible Palestinian state."
Borrell named Slovenia as one of a group of EU countries that could follow Spain and Ireland's path, but acknowledged that other member states believe that the recognition comes at a "counterproductive" moment.
UN rapporteur: "Israel" will not stop its madness until international community stops it
[25/May/2024]
NEW YORK May 25. 2024 (Saba) - The United Nations Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, stressed that Israel will not stop its madness in the Gaza Strip until the international community stops it.
Albanese said in a statement published on the X platform last night that the occupation entity intensified its attacks on the city of Rafah, after the International Court of Justice ordered it to stop its military operation.
The news she receives from people trapped in the southern Gaza Strip city is "horrific", she said. It called for imposing sanctions on this entity, banning the supply of weapons, and suspending diplomatic relations with it, until it complies with the decision of the International Court of Justice.
E.M
Israeli army arrests 180 displaced Palestinians from school used as shelter in Jabalia refugee camp Army began wide-scale military operation against camp May 12
25/05/2024 Saturday AA
The Israeli army arrested 180 displaced Palestinians from a school used as a shelter in the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, amid an ongoing military campaign in the camp, according to a prisoner group on Friday.
"The occupation forces arrested some 180 displaced from the Al-Harthani school in the northern Gaza Strip during ongoing aggression," the Prisoners Media Office NGO said in a statement.
The statement, however, did not provide details on how or which day the Palestinians were arrested.
Witnesses told Anadolu that the Israeli army targeted several shelters in the camp and arrested dozens of people.
On May 12, the army started a wide-scale military operation against the camp during which it destroyed homes and forced residents to flee areas in the camp.
Israel continued its brutal offensive on Gaza despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.
More than 35,850 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, the vast majority being women and children, and nearly 80,300 others injured since October following an attack by Hamas.
More than seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel is accused of “genocide” at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered Tel Aviv to ensure its forces do not commit acts of genocide and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
Italy to resume funding for UN agency for Palestinian refugees
Published: 25 May 2024 -
Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (front) welcomes her Palestinian Authority counterpart Mohammed Mustafa prior to their meeting at Palazzo Chigi in Rome on May 25 2024. (Photo by Filippo Monteforte / AFP)
AFP
Rome: Italy said Saturday it would resume funding for the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), as Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa made a visit to Rome.
"Italy has decided to resume financing specific projects intended for assistance to Palestinian refugees," Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said.
Mustafa met with Tajani and then with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on what was his first trip to Europe since being appointed by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in March.
Tajani said he had informed Mustafa that Rome had "arranged new funding for the Palestinian population, of a total of 35 million euros ($38 million)".
"Of this, five million will be allocated to UNRWA," he said.
The remaining 30 million euros will be allocated to Italy's "Food for Gaza" initiative in coordination with UN aid agencies.
U.N. chief ‘trusts’ Israel will comply with ICJ order to halt Rafah assault
Israeli officials indicated they would ignore the International Court of Justice’s ruling that Israel “immediately halt” its military operation in Rafah.
U.N. chief António Guterres “trusts” that Israel will comply with the ruling, his spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said Friday. Although Guterres “has no crystal ball,” Dujarric noted that U.N. member states have a duty under the body’s charter and the World Court’s statutes to abide by the decision.
Orders from the ICJ are legally binding but can be difficult to enforce. Israeli officials indicated that they would continue military operations in Rafah and said allegations by South Africa, which brought the case to the ICJ, that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza are “false, outrageous and disgusting.”
Immediately after the ruling, there were no signs of a pause in fighting, with Palestinians reporting strikes in Rafah while video and images emerged of smoke rising over the city. In a Saturday update, the Israel Defense Forces said “operational activity in specific areas of Rafah” continued on Friday, including “close-quarters combat.”
It is not clear how the ICJ ruling will impact the situation on the ground in Rafah. The court’s orders must be enforced by the U.N. Security Council, whose five permanent members, including the United States, can veto resolutions. And even among the 13 of the 15 judges who voted in favor of a provisional measure, there were some differences in opinion over how the ruling should be interpreted.
South African judge Dire Tladi wrote that the continuation of Israeli military operations in Rafah, with the exception of “legitimate defensive actions ... to repel specific attacks,” were not permitted under the order. However, Romanian judge Bogdan-Lucian Aurescu wrote that the order to halt Israel’s military offensive in Rafah only applied “to the extent that it ‘may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.’”
At one point, the majority of Gaza’s population had sought refuge in Rafah, but more than 800,000 have fled the southern city in the past few weeks, according to the U.N. humanitarian agency. Israel’s military operation in the city is taking place despite widespread global criticism.
The Biden administration has not formally responded to the ICJ ruling. The administration has straddled a delicate line on Israel’s military actions in Rafah, stressing its opposition to a full-scale offensive there while also stating that its “red line” has not been crossed — a position that has brought it criticism from lawmakers on both sides.
Friday’s ruling is part of a broader case brought by South Africa, that accuses Israel of violating the Genocide Convention. Israel has rejected the genocide charges and has said its military action is “in accordance with its right to defend its territory and its citizens” and does not breach international law.
South Africa welcomed Friday’s ruling. In a statement, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Palestinians are facing “collective punishment for something for which they have no individual responsibility.”
A spokesperson for Egypt’s Foreign Affairs Ministry called the decision a “positive step” toward safeguarding the rights of the Palestinian people.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, wrote on social media Saturday that ICJ orders are binding and must be “fully and effectively implemented.”
Here’s what else to know
Four U.S. Army vessels supporting the U.S.-built pier in Gaza were impacted by rough seas overnight, U.S. Central Command said Saturday. Two of the vessels are beached on the Israeli coast, while two others are anchored by the pier, according to Centcom. “No injuries have been reported and the pier remains fully functional,” Centcom added in its statement.
Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani agreed to reinstate funding to the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, Italian media reported Saturday, months after a number of countries suspended contributions over Israeli allegations that several of UNRWA staff members took part in the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7. According to Italian media, Tajani said after a meeting with the Palestinian Authority’s Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa that his government had approved 35 million euros ($38 million) in additional funding for Palestinians, including 5 million euros for UNRWA, which would be subject to “rigorous checks.”
Egypt agreed to temporarily lift its ban on aid passing through its territory that would enter Gaza via Israel, Cairo and Washington announced Friday. The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt has been the main thoroughfare for aid during the war, but that flow has virtually ceased since Israel took control of the Palestinian side earlier this month. Egypt responded by prohibiting international humanitarian aid from transiting its territory on its way to the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing, the only other entry point into southern Gaza.
The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees warned that the border crossing closures have already had a serious impact. “Certain laboratory and dental items and vaccines are out of stock,” with “antibiotics for children and anti-epileptic drugs” also affected, as disruptions at the crossings meant U.N. health centers received no medical supplies for 12 days straight, UNRWA said in a Friday update.
The U.N. Security Council on Friday adopted a resolution condemning rising attacks on humanitarian workers and agency personnel. The resolution, which did not name any country in particular, demands that “all parties” to a conflict comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law. It passed with 14 members voting in favor and Russia abstaining.
At least 35,903 people have been killed and 80,420 injured in Gaza since the war began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority of the dead are women and children. Israel estimates that about 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, including more than 300 soldiers, and says 282 soldiers have been killed since the launch of its military operation in Gaza. Cate Brown, Hazem Balousha, Jarrett Ley, Louisa Loveluck and Ellen Francis contributed to this report.
NZ Hunger striker sceptical after meeting with Foreign Affairs officials to discuss Gaza
23 May 2024
Will Alexander hasn't consumed any calories for six days. Photo: Supplied / Will Alexander
A former Shortland Street actor protesting New Zealand's response to the Gaza conflict says he is not convinced a meeting with government officials will change anything.
He wants the coalition to pull New Zealand troops from the Red Sea and maintain, then double, its contributions for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
Alexander met with two senior advisors to Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and a senior official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade on Thursday.
"We talked about these three demands and where the New Zealand government is at with those," Alexander said.
"We focused mainly on UNRWA and why we haven't funded UNRWA sooner when other countries like Japan, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland and most of the countries who withdrew their funding from UNRWA have actually reinstated it after a UN report saying that the allegations made by Israel against UNRWA were baseless."
Israel had accused at least 12 workers at UNRWA - the UN agency for Palestinian refugees - of being involved in the 7 October attack by Hamas.
"I was saying we need to bring that funding forward because UNRWA doesn't need it in June, or late June, they need it now," Alexander said.
"It's already having effects on the ground in Rafah. They've stopped distributing aid in Rafah because of a lack of supplies so they need our funding now."
Peters has not made a decision on whether New Zealand's next contribution to UNRWA will go ahead on 30 June.
"All that's standing in between us making that funding payment is Winston Peters assessing a report. It's an internal investigation, is what they've said, but really it's just a bureaucratic process that we need to fast track."
Alexander was not convinced Thursday's meeting made a difference.
"I feel as though they did a lot of nodding and smiling and writing things down, however, I don't know whether it will have made any difference or whether the message will have got through."
In a post on X, Peters said the meeting reflected his views that the right to protest was sacrosanct, the country benefited from the public being engaged in foreign policy and political leaders had a responsibility to listen to everyone's voice.
"This meeting was intended for Mr Alexander to express his views to representatives of the minister and for him to hear in return the New Zealand government's approach to the issues he has raised in recent days about the Middle East," the post read.
Alexander said his hunger strike would continue.
"I'll keep hunger striking. I'll carry on and hopefully we see it make a difference soon. I'm only six days in at the moment and hopefully when I'm quite unwell this will put more pressure on them."
