Detained anti-whaling activist Paul Watson requests French nationality


Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson has applied for French nationality as he fights a Japanese attempt to have him extradited from Greenland, where the prominent anti-whaling activist was arrested in July. Watson has previously asked French President Emmanuel Macron to grant him political asylum.


Issued on: 24/10/2024 -
By: NEWS WIRES

Protesters call for the release of Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson at a rally in central Paris on October 24, 2024. © Grégoire Campione, AFP

Anti-whaling activist Paul Watson has requested French nationality, his lawyer Jean Tamalet told AFP on Thursday, as Paris pushes for his release from a Greenland jail where he is being held pending possible extradition to Japan.

Watson, who had been living in France until his July 21 arrest, filed the request on Wednesday, said Tamalet, who coordinates the 73-year-old's defence team.

The request "makes total sense when you realise that since 1977 he's been giving everything to protect the marine ecosystem, whereas France has the second-largest coastline in the world," Tamalet added.

Watson was arrested when his ship docked to refuel in Nuuk, the capital of the Danish Arctic territory, on its way to intercept a Japanese whaling vessel in the North Pacific, according to his foundation.


He is being held on a 2012 Japanese arrest warrant that accuses him of causing damage to a whaling ship in the Antarctic in 2010 and injuring a whaler.

Greenland extended the detention of Watson – a prominent marine wildlife conservation activist – on Wednesday.

06:42  PERSPECTIVE © FRANCE 24

Paris's Energy and Ecological Transition Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said Thursday that France would call for Paul Watson's release" by the Danish authorities.

"The allegations against him, from our point of view, do not justify detention," she told broadcaster FranceInfo.

Watson had previously written to French President Emmanuel Macron to ask for political asylum.

French officials have previously urged Copenhagen not to extradite him but have said that a person must be in France to file an asylum claim.

Watson, a master mariner, was one of the founding members of Greenpeace. He went on to create Sea Shepherd and then the Captain Paul Watson Foundation.

(AFP)

UN chief tells Putin Ukraine invasion violates international law

In his first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in two years, UN chief António Guterres told Putin on Thursday that Russia's invasion of Ukraine violates international law. Guterres, who has been involved in peace efforts between the two sides since the early weeks of the conflict, also vouched for "freedom of navigation" in the Black Sea.

Issued on: 24/10/2024 - 
By: FRANCE 24

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia on October 24, 2024. © Grigory Sysoyev, AP


Vladimir Putin met UN chief Antonio Guterres for the first time in over two years on Thursday, as the Russian president faced calls from his BRICS allies to end the conflict in Ukraine.

The meeting took place on the final day of the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan, a forum Moscow hopes will help forge a united front of emerging economies against the West.

The UN secretary-general met with Putin on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, after a speech in which Guterres called for a "just peace" in Ukraine.

He "reiterated his position that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was in violation of the United Nations Charter and international law," a readout from the UN chief's spokesperson said after their meeting, which had been criticized by Kyiv.


Guterres has repeatedly criticised Moscow's military offensive against Ukraine, saying it sets a "dangerous precedent" for the world.

Guterres also emphasized his commitment to "establishing freedom of navigation in the Black Sea," saying the move was vital for both Ukraine and Russia, as well as global "food and energy security."

"He fully supports the continuation of negotiations in this regard," the statement said, citing "deep appreciation" to Turkey's mediating efforts.

The Black Sea is a significant trade route for Ukraine, one of the largest exporters of grain in the world, but it has been mired since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022.

A UN-brokered agreement allowed Ukraine to export agricultural exports on the Black Sea, but Moscow withdrew from the deal in 2023.

Kyiv has nonetheless carved out a maritime corridor allowing trade to continue.

The two men last saw each other in the first weeks of the offensive when Guterres travelled to Moscow during Russia's siege of Mariupol in south Ukraine.

Guterres has since been involved in peace efforts between the two sides, helping to broker a deal that allowed Kyiv to safely export grain from its ports in 2022.

There has been little direct diplomatic contact between the two countries since, and Ukraine has strongly criticised the UN chief's decision to meet Putin.

There was also criticism from Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of slain Kremlin dissident Alexei Navalny, who labelled Putin a "murderer" in a post on X.

During the final day of the BRICS summit on Thursday, Putin said that the conflict in Ukraine was being used by Moscow's opponents to try and defeat it militarily but they would not succeed.

Russia's opponents "do not conceal their aim to deal our country a strategic defeat", Putin said. "I will say directly that these are illusory calculations, that can be made only by those who do not know Russia's history."

The Putin-Guterres talks come as Moscow's troops advance in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, edging closer to the key supply hub of Pokrovsk.

The United States has warned that thousands of North Korean soldiers have been sent to Russia, in what the West and Kyiv fear could develop into a major troop deployment to support Moscow.
'No place in modern world'

The United Nations has said that Guterres plans to meet Putin in Kazan, where he will also deliver a speech.

UN spokesman Farhan Haq said Guterres would use the meeting to "reaffirm his well-known positions on the war in Ukraine".

Haq said the UN chief is on standby to offer mediation, but is waiting for when "the conditions are right".

"Obviously he stands ready, when the parties are willing, to offer his services. He will continue to monitor and see when the situation is right."

Ukraine has slammed Guterres's Russia visit, with Kyiv's foreign ministry blasting him for planning to meet the "criminal Putin".

Guterres has criticised Moscow's annexation of Ukrainian territory, saying it has "no place in the modern world".

He has visited areas where the Russian army has been accused of atrocities in Ukraine, and repeatedly called for a "just peace".
North Korea

The meeting comes a day after the United States said it believed "thousands" of North Korean soldiers were being trained in Russia.

Read moreFrom isolation to battlefield: North Korean troops could face reality shock in Ukraine

"We don't know what their mission will be or if they'll go on to fight in Ukraine," a senior US official said.

Putin – who signed a mutual defence pact with North Korea on a trip to the reclusive state in June – has not yet commented on the reports.

Russia on Wednesday said to "ask Pyongyang" about troop movements, refusing to confirm or deny the allegations.

Several world leaders called for an end to the Ukraine conflict at the BRICS summit.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi – who has also tried to mediate between Moscow and Kyiv – said on Tuesday he wanted the conflict to be resolved "peacefully".

"We totally support efforts to quickly restore peace and stability," he said.

New Delhi has walked a delicate tightrope since Moscow launched its offensive, pledging humanitarian support for Kyiv while avoiding explicit condemnation of Moscow's actions.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has also urged an end to the conflict.

On Wednesday night, Saudi foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan also arrived in Kazan "as a state invited to join the (BRICS) group", his ministry said on social media platform X.

Turkey is determined to pursue its talks with the BRICS group of emerging market nations, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday after Ankara became the first NATO member seeking to join.

Erdogan joined the summit at Putin's invitation after asking last month to join the bloc, which incorporates Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

"We are determined to further our dialogue with the BRICS family, with whom we have developed close relations based on mutual respect and win-win," he told delegates at the BRICS forum in Kazan.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Host Putin faces calls to end Ukraine war at BRICS summit

Russian President Vladimir Putin faced direct calls to end the Ukraine conflict from some of his closest and most important partners on Wednesday as world leaders gathered in Russia for the second day of the largest diplomatic forum held by the country since it began its invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.

Issued on: 23/10/2024 - By: NEWS WIRES

Russian President Vladimir Putin hosts China's Xi Jinping and India's Narendra Modi at the BRICS Summit in Kazan on October 23, 2024. © Alexander Nemenov, AP

World leaders called for peace in the Middle East and Ukraine at the BRICS summit in Russia on Wednesday, as President Vladimir Putin told them he welcomed offers to mediate in the Ukraine conflict.

The Russian leader is casting the gathering as a sign that Western attempts to isolate Moscow have failed, but faced direct calls to end the Ukraine conflict from some of his closest and most important partners.

The meeting of around 20 world leaders in the central city of Kazan is the largest diplomatic forum in Russia since Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in 2022.

Starting in 2009 with four members – Brazil, Russia, India and China – BRICS has since expanded to include other emerging nations such as South Africa, Egypt and Iran.


Chinese President Xi Jinping told the summit there must be "no escalation of fighting" in Ukraine.

Putin said he saw relations between Beijing and China as a foundation of global 'stability'. © Alexander Zemlianichenko, POOL/AFP

"We must adhere to the three principles of 'no spillover from the battlefield, no escalation of fighting and no adding oil to the fire by relevant parties', so as to ease the situation as soon as possible," Xi said.

Russia and China signed a "no limits" strategic partnership days before Moscow ordered troops into Ukraine and Putin and Xi both hailed close ties in a bilateral meeting on Tuesday.

Without referring to any specific conflict, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also issued a call for peace.

"We support dialogue and diplomacy, not war," he said.

Mediation offers

On the Middle East, Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian urged BRICS members to "use all their collective and individual capacities to end the war in Gaza and Lebanon".

Xi repeated his call for a ceasefire, saying: "We need to... stop the killing and work tirelessly for a comprehensive, just and lasting settlement of the Palestinian issue."

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also called for escalation in both the Middle East and Ukraine to be avoided.

"As we face two wars that have the potential to become global, it is essential to restore our ability to work together toward common goals," he said in an address to the summit via video conference.

In private talks, Putin welcomed offers by several of the BRICS leaders to mediate in Ukraine, even as he told them his forces were advancing, his spokesman said Wednesday.

Many countries "expressed a desire to contribute more actively" to resolving the conflict, state media cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as telling reporters.

Read morePutin hails Russia-India 'strategic partnership' in talks with Modi at BRICS summit

Putin had also used the meetings to tout "the very positive dynamics on the front for the Russian armed forces," Peskov said.

Russia's troops have been slowly advancing in eastern Ukraine for much of 2024, though neither side has been able to make a decisive breakthrough and the conflict appears locked in an attritional phase.

"Avoiding escalation and initiating peace negotiations is also crucial in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia," Brazil's Lula said.
Multipolar order

Xi and Modi have previously touted their own peace initiatives for Ukraine, though there has appeared to be little progress.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, also at the summit, is another casting himself as a possible peacemaker.

He will hold direct talks with Putin later on Wednesday.

The BRICS summit is the largest diplomatic forum in Russia since it launched its full-scale military offensive on Ukraine. © Alexey Filippov, AFP

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was also at the summit, his first visit to Russia for more than two years. He will on Thursday hold talks with Putin over Ukraine.

Moscow promotes the BRICS platform as an alternative to Western-led international organisations like the G7.

"The process of forming a multipolar world order is underway, a dynamic and irreversible process," Putin said at the official opening of the summit.

He also blasted the West for hitting BRICS members, including Russia, with sanctions, saying they could trigger a global crisis.

"Significant crisis potential also remains. And it is not only about the ever-increasing geopolitical tensions, but also ... the practice of unilateral sanctions, protectionism and unfair competition is expanding," Putin said.

Putin also called on the leaders of emerging economies to explore alternative payments and trading platforms to reduce their reliance on Western infrastructure.

(AFP)

Georgia set for tense elections as voters choose between Russia and EU

Elections in Georgia on Saturday will pit pro-Western opposition forces against a ruling party that is increasingly under Russian influence. While polls indicate that opposition parties may be able to form a winning coalition, experts fear that the ruling party may attempt to cling to power.

Issued on: 25/10/2024 -
NEWS WIRES

People walk past election posters in Batumi, Georgia on October 16, 2024. © Irakli Gedenidze, Reuters

Georgians vote on Saturday in watershed elections, with a union of pro-Western opposition forces facing off against a ruling party accused of democratic backsliding and shifting towards Russia.

Brussels has warned the October 26 vote will be crucial for the fate of Georgia's fledgling democracy and its long-held aspiration for European Union membership.

Opinion polls indicate opposition parties could get enough votes to form a coalition government to supplant the ruling Georgian Dream party, controlled by powerful billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili.

The current government says it wants to win a supermajority in parliament to allow it to pass a constitutional ban on the pro-Western opposition.


"Georgia's traditionally fractured opposition forces have managed to forge an unprecedented united front against Georgian Dream," said analyst Gela Vasadze at Georgia's Strategic Analysis Centre.

"But if the ruling party attempts to stay in power regardless of the election outcome, then there is the risk of post-electoral turmoil."

In power since 2012, Georgian Dream initially pursued a liberal pro-Western policy agenda. But over the last two years the party has reversed course.

Its campaign has centred on a conspiracy theory about a "global war party" that controls Western institutions and is seeking to drag Georgia into the Russia-Ukraine war.

In a country where the scars of Russia's 2008 invasion remain unhealed, the party has offered voters bogeyman stories about an imminent threat of war, which only Georgian Dream could prevent.

In a recent TV interview, Ivanishvili painted a grotesque image of the West where "orgies are taking place right in the streets".
'Crucial test'

The party's passage of a controversial "foreign influence law" this spring, targeting civil society, sparked weeks of mass street protests and was criticised as a Kremlin-style measure to silence dissent.

The move prompted Brussels to freeze Georgia's EU accession process, while Washington imposed sanctions on dozens of Georgian officials.

Earlier this month, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell cautioned that Georgian Dream's actions "signal a shift towards authoritarianism".

He called the upcoming polls "a crucial test for democracy in Georgia and its European Union path".

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has vowed to lead Georgia towards EU membership, saying ties with the West will normalise once the Ukraine war ends.
Undecided voters

But the latest polls show that the opposition is poised to garner enough votes to form a coalition government.

The grouping includes Georgia's main opposition force, jailed ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili's United National Movement (UNM) and Akhali, a recently formed party headed by former UNM leaders.

Along with several smaller parties, they have signed up to a pro-European policy platform outlining far-reaching electoral, judicial and law enforcement reforms.

They have agreed to form an interim multi-party government to advance the reforms -- if they command enough seats in parliament -- before calling fresh elections.

The parties argue that the current electoral environment is not conducive to democratic elections, and that a fresh ballot held in a year's time -- after necessary reforms have been implemented -- would truly reflect the will of the voters.

Nestled between the Caucasus Mountains and the Black Sea, Georgia was once considered a rare example of a democracy among ex-Soviet nations.

But elections in the country of some four million regularly spark mass protests.

A poll conducted by US pollster Edison Research shortly before the elections showed 34 percent of decided voters would cast their ballots for Georgian Dream, while the four opposition alliances combined are set to garner 53 percent of the vote.

No other party is expected to clear the five-percent electoral threshold needed to secure seats in the 150-member legislature.

But the outcome of the vote is far from a foregone conclusion, as more than a quarter of respondents told the pollster they were either undecided or refused to name their preferred political force.

Voting will begin at 0400 GMT and end at 1600 GMT, with exit polls set to be released on closing.

The elections, held under a proportional party list system, will be monitored by international observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

(AFP)

European leaders meet to re-energise offshore wind power

Odense (Denmark) (AFP) – The countries bordering the North Sea meet in Denmark on Thursday to seal commitments to boost offshore wind power, a sector that is suffering from stiff competition from China.

Most of Odense port's surface area is devoted to wind power, and Vestas produces nacelles, masts and foundations © Jonathan NACKSTRAND / AFP

At the gathering, eight countries -- Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Norway and Ireland -- and the European Commission are expected to reach an agreement on the installation of some 20,000 wind turbines in the North Sea by 2050.

China currently accounts for 82 percent of orders for new wind power, according to analyst firm Wood Mackenzie.

"The EU cannot lose momentum, we need to ensure that we choose the right path," Danish energy minister Lars Aagaard told AFP.

In Denmark, which inaugurated its first wind power farm in 1991, more than 40 percent of electricity originates from wind power.

Soren Rask, the head of port security began his career as a blacksmith at the shipyard © Jonathan NACKSTRAND / AFP

In the port of Odense, where the discussions are being held, port director Carsten Aa told AFP turbines are produced for farms all over Europe, the US market and the Philippines.

In 2011, the first nacelle -- the casing that houses the components needed to operate the wind turbine, including the generator and transmission -- was produced by turbine maker Vestas at the Lindo shipyard, used by global shipping giant Maersk to build its vessels until 2009.

Since then, some 1,500 offshore wind turbines have been assembled at the site.

"We are world-leading at the moment, but the Chinese are knocking on our front door," Aa said.
'Political ambitions'

Most of the port's surface area is devoted to wind power, and Vestas produces nacelles, masts and foundations, among other things.

The parts are too bulky to be built elsewhere and transported by land before being loaded onto ships and installed at sea.

"If we shall fulfil all the political ambitions, we need to see even more production in European seaports," Aa insisted.

The expanding shipyard in Odense employed 2,700 people when it closed in 2009, and more than 3,200 are now working on the site © Jonathan NACKSTRAND / AFP

He hopes that Odense will lead the way in countering Chinese competition.

"We have changed from an outdated industry area to a top modern facility and production facility by using old shipyard workers... to produce windmills," the port director explained.

In France, Nantes Saint-Nazaire Port recently presented a project to develop a platform for the deployment of future offshore wind farms.

The port of Odense is also expanding. The shipyard employed 2,700 people when it closed in 2009, and more than 3,200 are now working on the site, which has grown by 18 percent in the last two years.

"What makes us unique is that the area is very large... we have the area around the old shipyard to be able to develop new products and new production halls," Soren Rask, the head of port security who began his career as a blacksmith at the shipyard, told AFP.

© 2024 AFP

East DR Congo grapples with Chinese gold mining firms

Kamituga (DR Congo) (AFP) – Italian priest Davide Marcheselli has been fighting for years against Chinese companies illegally mining gold in the town of Kitutu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Illegal gold mining has marred the town of Kitutu in South Kivu province, polluting rivers and destroying fields © Glody MURHABAZI / AFP

He says mining has spoilt the town which lies in South Kivu province, polluting rivers and destroying fields.

Hundreds of foreign companies, most of them Chinese-owned, mine gold in the mineral-rich province often without permits and without declaring profits, according to local authorities.

For a long time, civil society groups and members of the church in Kitutu, have been the only people taking a stand against the powerful mining businesses, who often have friends in high places.

In the town of Kamituga, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Kitutu, gold mining is in full throttle © Glody MURHABAZI / AFP

"From the deputies, to the village chief, everyone receives something (from the companies), money or shares (in businesses)," Marcheselli told AFP.
Advertising

In July, South Kivu governor Jean-Jacques Purusi suspended "illegal" mining activity in the province until companies could comply with Congolese mining laws.

Under the legislation, companies would have to renew their mining permits, some of which have been expired for decades.

Since the ban, firms, which normally operate in the shadows, have come in hordes to the governor's office in an attempt to get authorisation to resume business.

"In place of the 117 illegal companies we invited, 540 showed up here overnight", Purusi said.

- Access denied –

In the town of Kamituga, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Kitutu, gold mining is in full throttle.

In one site mined by Congolese cooperative Mwenga Force, around 400 people delve into vast open pits hoping to make a few dollars a day.

The president of an association for artisanal diggers, Felicien Mikalano, says local operators "don't have the same means" as Chinese firms, such as machinery and cash.

Artisanal mining refers to small-scale mining, carried out by individuals without big machinery and not employed by big businesses.

Artisanal mining is forbidden to foreigners by the country's mining code, but Chinese companies partner with local cooperatives to circumvent the ban © Glody MURHABAZI / AFP

The practice is forbidden to foreigners by the country's mining code, but Chinese companies use local cooperatives as "partners" to circumvent the ban.

Around half of the Congolese cooperatives in the province are partnered with Chinese companies, according to the bureau of scientific and technical study (BEST), a Congolese NGO specialising in mining governance.

A few kilometres from Kamituga, at the end of a dirt track, access to a mine operated by one of these cooperatives is controlled at three checkpoints.

AFP was not allowed to pass them.

Officials employed to control and inspect mining sites are also refused entry.

"It is difficult to monitor these companies," said inspector Ghislain Chivundu Mutalemba.

"These Chinese partners mine (and) the cooperatives sell the product over the counter. We don't know what percentage the Chinese take, or how much they produce", he said.

"All that I know is that the bosses take the gold and bring it to Bukavu, I don't dare ask questions," says gold buyer Siri Munga Walubinja.

"But I have never seen a Chinese person, it is uniquely the Congolese buying," he adds.

Gold bought in Kamituga is transported to South Kivu provincial capital Bukavu by "big traders", most of them Congolese.

The production of gold in the DRC has boomed from 42 kilograms (92 pounds) in 2022 to more than 5 tonnes (11,200 pounds) in 2023 © Glody MURHABAZI / AFP

Once they arrive in the provincial capital, some declare only a fraction of their merchandise and sell the rest illegally in DRC, which is then transported by smugglers to Rwanda, according to BEST.

In December 2022, the government granted a monopoly on gold exports from South Kivu to Congolese state-owned business Primera Gold.

The move aimed to "break the ore export routes to Rwanda", and "to target political opposition business", according to a note from the French Institute of International Relations published in February 2024.

Gold exports out of South Kivu have boomed from 42 kilograms (92 pounds) in 2022 to more than five tonnes (11,200 pounds) in 2023 -- about a sixth of the officially declared national production.

But Primera Gold now lacks the liquidity to buy the mineral and has failed to curb the black market, according to BEST.

The channels used by the Chinese companies, none of which responded to AFP's requests for comment, remain unknown to the authorities and NGOs.

Even Purusi is having trouble getting answers from businesses.

"Their representatives put you through to this general (telephone line) or a minister in Kinshasa on the phone, to tell you not to bother them," says the provincial governor.

© 2024 AFP

Picky protection rules hamper Swiss mushrooming craze

Les Mosses (Switzerland) (AFP) – After suffocating Covid-19 restrictions, many embraced the call of the wild and the joys of foraging, but tightening Swiss biodiversity protection measures are infuriating growing hordes of mushroom-picking enthusiasts.

Restrictions on mushroom foraging have infuriated many enthusiasts 

© Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP

The pandemic times "made people return to the forest", said Jean-Michel Froidevaux, chairman of the Swiss Association of Official Mushroom Control Bodies, which regularly organises training sessions for mushroom hunters and checks whether their foraged mushrooms are safe to eat.

"When you walk in the forest, there's not much to do apart from look around -- and then when you look down, you spot mushrooms."

During training courses and picked mushroom checking sessions, "we saw loads of people who knew nothing about them", he told AFP, during a five-day workshop in Leysin, high up in the Alps.

Faced with surging interest, the association has opened additional courses.

Many mushroom hunters undergo training sessions to help spot which fungi are safe to eat © Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP

"Since 2020, it has exploded. We hardly have enough trainers," said mushroom inspector Frederique Clerc, as she accompanied a dozen rain-soaked mushroom-lovers, or mycophiles, near Les Mosses, a village high in the mountain pastures near Montreux.

Jean-Paul Landraud, a retired pharmacist attending training courses with his wife, said interest in mushroom foraging was booming.

"I came before Covid and there were a few dozen of us. Now there are 120," he said.

"It has become popular: everyone goes mushroom picking."
Trampling on the soil

That enthusiasm has sparked fears though that all the foraging could have adverse impacts on biodiversity.

There is a burgeoning awareness of the importance of fungi, which, with their ability to decompose dead organic matter and to supply water and nutrients to trees, are considered guarantors of the forest ecosystem.

The vital role of fungis is due to be discussed during the United Nations Biodiversity Conference taking place in Colombia until November 1.

In Switzerland, several cantons had some restrictions pre-dating Covid on the number of days a year people could go picking and how much they could forage -- and now the rules are getting tighter.

The western Vaud canton, encompassing Les Mosses and nearby Leysin, introduced new measures in July aimed at giving nature a break.

Mushroom picking has boomed in Switzerland in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic © Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP

People can now forage no more than two kilogrammes of mushrooms per day, with picking prohibited in the first seven days of each month, and otherwise only allowed between 7:00 am and 8:00 pm.

Vaud's measures have triggered indignation on social networks, and some politicians have demanded they be withdrawn.

"Everyone finds it ridiculous... we are very frustrated," said Florence Wyss, a retiree who started taking mushroom-picking courses after undercooked foraged mushrooms landed her in hospital.

The Vaud biodiversity authorities insist that the measures are not about "stigmatising" mycophiles.

For mushroom expert Clerc, the restrictions are a step in the right direction to promote respect for nature.

But Froidevaux said the seven-day ban was "difficult to understand".

There are concerns about the impact of mushroom picking on biodiversity © Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP

He noted that a 30-year study by the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research showed that picking did not affect the amount or diversity of fungi.

The 2006 study did however show that trampling the ground had negative short-term effects, and suggested limiting the picking period.

Pro Natura, Switzerland's oldest nature preservation organisation, also warned the influx of people into the countryside "can have consequences for ecosystems", such as trampled vegetation, disturbed wildlife or overexploited resources like mushrooms.

But "we are more concerned about sports activities, when they require the creation of new infrastructure, such as specific tracks for mountain biking", the group's spokesman Nicolas Wuthrich told AFP.
Forest ecosystem

Mushrooms are not the only wild plants whetting appetites.

There are a growing number of courses on foraging wild edible plants -- a trend inspired by a number of top international chefs, including Denmark's Rene Redzepi and France's Marc Veyrat.

The Swiss branch of the Euro-Toques association, which represents European chefs and producers committed to quality local produce, organises plant seminars for its members.

Its president Thierry Brehonnet, head chef at restaurant Le 1209 in the small ski resort of Blonay, has even made wild herbs his speciality, going out to collect them in the gap between lunch and dinner sittings.

Foraged mushrooms have found their way into the kitchens of top chefs © Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP

"It's a philosophy," he told AFP, holding a sprig of sweet woodruff in his hand.

"After Covid, we realised that we had to use products growing close to home. We're returning to this side of nature, which we have to relearn how to master."

Brehonnet dismissed concerns that this trend would harm biodiversity, insisting there is far less public interest in foraging wild plants than mushrooms.

"We are not going to pick excessively," he said. "These plants will be preserved for a few more years."

© 2024 AFP

Puccini exhibit charts making of a modern music star

HIS OPERA'S WERE POP MUSIC FOR THE MASSES

Milan (Italy) (AFP) – Italy's Giacomo Puccini, famed for operas such as "Madame Butterfly", was panned by contemporary critics but harnessed then-novel technology such as records and cinema to become a global star, according to an exhibition that opened on Thursday.

A portrait of Giacomo Puccini at the Museo Teatrale alla Scala in Milan © GABRIEL BOUYS / AFP

A century after the death of Puccini (1858-1924), who also composed "La Boheme", "Tosca" and "Turandot", the exhibition at Milan's legendary La Scala opera house seeks to uncover the secret of his international success.

"Almost all the premiers of Puccini's operas were flops, disasters," and panned by critics, noted the outgoing director of La Scala, Dominique Meyer.

But despite this, "he very quickly became a superstar, because the public took over, and he became one of the most important composers in the history of opera", Meyer told AFP.

Where once opera was confined to grand theatres, the invention and spread of the gramophone brought the music into people's homes, noted curator Gabriele Dotto.


At the beginning of the 20th century there was a "commercial explosion", with a quadrupling in record sales, he said during a press preview.

Puccini and his publisher Ricordi took advantage of the changes to build a brand around the composer using modern marketing campaigns, including posters.

"In this exhibition, we discover aspects of Puccini's personality that we didn't know, such as his interest in marketing," Meyer said.
'Unfathomable complexity'

On show are many original documents from the Ricordi archive, owned by German media giant Bertelsmann.

They include drafts for the final duet of "Turandot", which Puccini left unfinished, notes of "unfathomable complexity" and "apparent chaos", Dotto said.

There is also a striking blue velvet tunic with a gold-embroidered train worn by Swedish soprano Birgit Nilsson for "Turandot" during La Scala's 1958-59 season.

Elsewhere, black and white photos trace Puccini's trips to Buenos Aires and New York, where he promoted his operas.

And the exhibit includes excerpts of silent films which used Puccini's music, notably "Madame Butterfly" from 1915.

"Puccini - Opera Meets New Media", which had its debut in Berlin earlier this year, runs in Milan until January 12.

© 2024 AFP

  

The Tyger

By William Blake

Tyger Tyger, burning bright, 

In the forests of the night; 

What immortal hand or eye, 

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies. 

Burnt the fire of thine eyes?

On what wings dare he aspire?

What the hand, dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art,

Could twist the sinews of thy heart?

And when thy heart began to beat.

What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain,

In what furnace was thy brain?

What the anvil? what dread grasp.

Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears 

And water'd heaven with their tears:

Did he smile his work to see?

Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger Tyger burning bright,

In the forests of the night:

What immortal hand or eye,

Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

Copyright Credit: Blake, William. "The Tyger." ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Songs of Experience. ​​​​​​​Facsimile reproduction of the 1794 illuminated manuscript, published by The William Blake Trust and the Tate Gallery, 2009, in ​​​​​​​William Blake: The Complete Illuminated Books.

  

SPACE/COSMOS

India approves $119m fund for space startups

Reuters Published October 24, 2024 

This handout screen grab taken and received from the live feed of Indian Space Research Organisation website on September 2, 2023, shows the Aditya-L1 spacecraft take off from Sriharikota, on a voyage to the centre of the Sun. — AFP

The Indian government on Thursday approved a 10 billion Indian rupee ($119 million) fund for its burgeoning space sector, with 40 startups expected to benefit as the country strives to win a significant share of the commercial space market by 2033.

With funding ranging from 100-600m Indian rupees depending on how mature each startup is, the fund will help generate employment, boost space technology development, fortify supply chains and support research and development, the Indian government said in a statement.

“Capital infusion [will] create a multiplier effect by attracting additional funding for later-stage developments,” it added.

The fund, first proposed in July, will be managed by the country’s space regulator, the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre.

India is among the top five space-faring nations in the world but only holds about a two per cent market share of the commercial space market.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has been pushing to change that, opening up the industry to foreign investment and targeting a five-fold increase in market share to $44bn by 2033.

The country currently has nearly 250 space startups, many of which are in the business of providing cost-effective services and hardware to sectors such as communications, agriculture and commodities, where high-quality data is a precious resource.

Others are building the country’s first private rockets.

Private equity investment in the industry has risen to $126m in 2023, a 7pc increase from the $118m raised in 2022 and an increase of 235pc from the $37.6m raised in 2021, according to Tracxn data.

What drove Hamas on Oct 7 and what drives them still?

A look into the group's origins and history may explain the violent nature of the ongoing conflict.

Mikail Ahmed Shaikh 

Published October 24, 2024

DAWN

The attacks of October 7, 2023, saw over 1,000 people killed in Israel, while over 250 were taken hostage by Hamas. Israel was caught off guard, as was the rest of the world. Nobody saw it coming, nor did anyone see the Israeli military’s retaliatory scorched-earth campaign in the Gaza Strip

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It’s been over a year since that day, during which time Gaza has borne witness to one of the bloodiest conflicts in the region in decades.

Over 42,000 people have been killed in Gaza, with Israel no closer to rescuing the hostages, although the Israeli military assassinated Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in July and his successor Yahya Sinwar in October, who was the alleged mastermind of the October 7 attacks.

Meanwhile, South Africa has filed a “genocide” case against Israel with the International Court of Justice, while the International Criminal Court has applied for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes.

A Palestinian boy sits as people search the rubble of the Harb family home destroyed in overnight Israeli strikes in the Al Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, on June 18, 2024. — AFP/File

Attempts at truce talks and mediation have thus far failed and with an extensive bombing spree in Lebanon having followed — which killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah — there is a very real fear of the conflict expanding into a regional conflagration.

So, it warrants asking why Hamas attacked Israelis in the first place. An attack that led to one of the most violent asymmetric conflicts of the 21st century.

According to a 2023 analysis by Joe Macaron for Qatari state-run broadcaster Al Jazeera, Hamas’ attack was triggered following “growing demands for a response” to far-right Israeli policy in the occupied West Bank, especially surrounding illegal settlements.

“The rising tensions in the West Bank caused by these policies necessitated the shift of Israeli forces away from the south and into the north to guard the settlements,” Macaron writes. “This gave Hamas both a justification and an opportunity to attack.”

Moreover, Macaron argues that the normalisation of Arab-Israeli relations was an additional motive for the attack since the process “further diminished the significance of the Palestinian issue for Arab leaders who became less keen on pressuring Israel on this matter”.

A view of a junction shows the aftermath of a mass infiltration by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip, in the Sderot area, southern Israel on October 7, 2023. — Reuters

On the other hand, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) a bipartisan, nonprofit policy research organisation, argues, “One of Hamas’s goals was simply to kill Israelis,” citing a report by The Washington Post which reported that attackers had written instructions to do so.

The CSIS piece also suggests that Hamas was driven by revenge for past Israeli violence and the illegal occupation of the West Bank.

Alternatively, a senior Hamas official told Al Jazeera in October 2023 that the group took hostages and expressed hope that the kidnappings would ensure the release of “all” Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

“We managed to kill and capture many Israeli soldiers,” said Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri. “Our detainees in [Israeli] prisons, their freedom is looming large. What we have in our hands will release all our prisoners. The longer fighting continues, the higher the number of prisoners will become.”

But the answer to why the attack was launched on Israel perhaps lies in the group’s past, in how Tel Aviv or the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood influenced the genesis of the group to control the Palestinian sphere of influence before it eventually became powerful enough to outgrow its creators.

October 7

Fighters from the Palestinian group Hamas attacked Israeli towns on Oct 7, 2023, killing and capturing scores of civilians and soldiers in a surprise assault.

The worst attack on Israel for decades unleashed a conflict that both sides vowed to escalate. According to the Rand Corporation, a US-based think tank, at least 1,200 Israelis were killed on October 7, with 250 others taken hostage and moved to the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, in retaliatory airstrikes that began the same day, Palestinian health officials reported that more than 230 people were killed and 1,600 were wounded in the Gaza Strip. That number has since ballooned to 42,847 fatalities as of October 24, 2024.

Tel Aviv was enraged as Israelis had been taken hostage, and the country’s self-proclaimed sovereignty was once again challenged. Israeli commanders and intelligence chiefs have since resigned over their failure to prevent the attack.

A man runs on a road as fire burns after rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, Israel October 7, 2023. — Reuters/Dawn

However, it must be noted that in the immediate aftermath, much of what was reported on October 7 had been exaggerated. For example, reports of mass rapes carried out by Hamas remain unsubstantiated or have been proven outright false.

Moreover, the most remote criticism of Israel’s conduct will have one branded as a Hamas sympathiser or, worse, antisemitic.

In his 2024 paper ‘Orientalism and the Discourse on Israel/Palestine’, Marcel Wegner argues that Israel portrays October 7 “as another chapter of endless Jewish suffering” and in doing so, is blurring the line between religion and state policy.

“If one argues this to be the case, it leaves no space for nuance in the discourse,” Wegner writes, adding that Israel’s narrative “creates a hegemonic discourse that is incontestable”.

What is Hamas?

A cursory glance at the group will lead you to believe that it is another in a long line of keffiyeh-wearing Palestinian freedom fighters, challenging the colonial oppressor. However, looking at the group’s origins shows that they were created to serve a different political interest.

The group was founded by Palestinian cleric Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in 1987 during the First Intifada (Arabic for uprising), according to Hamas themselves, to fight the Israeli forces that occupied Gaza at the time.

The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), an independent nonprofit organisation, states, “Hamas is a militant movement that has controlled the Gaza Strip for nearly two decades.”

Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Ismail Haniyeh in a file photo from 2003. — Reuters/File

Politically, Hamas’ main rival is the Fatah party, which dominates the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank. Since 2007, Hamas has been the de facto governing party in the Gaza Strip after they won the 2006 Legislative Elections. According to Al Jazeera, Fatah refused to recognise the vote and Hamas took over the enclave following a brief conflict.

To this day, reconciliations remain unfinalised, though both parties have come together as a result of the Israeli military offensive. It is noteworthy that Fatah has formally renounced the use of violence, unlike its rival.

Iran entered the picture after its Islamic Revolution in 1979 and according to the United States Institute for Peace (Usip) — a think tank founded by the US Congress — “Hamas and Iran both wanted to see Israel replaced by the Islamic state of Palestine.”

Despite hailing from different sects, both actors had shared interests, with Ayatollah Khomeini pledging $30 million annually to the group in financial support, Usip states. Israel and its allies allege Iranian backing for Hamas continues to this day.

Palestinian school girls returning home from classes pass a line of Arab men being frisked by Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip in this photo from 1986. — Reuters/File

According to a 2012 paper by Jean-Pierre Filiu, a professor of Middle East studies at Paris’ prestigious Sciences Po University, there are two “interpretations” of the origins of Hamas.

In the first, Hamas was created in December 1987, but its roots as an extension of the Muslim Brotherhood in Gaza date as far back as 1946.

Filiu argues that the second interpretation “basically depicts Hamas as a ‘golem,’ a creature in Jewish folklore fashioned from mud and made animate who ultimately escapes his master” — effectively saying that they are a creation of Israel.

Even the group’s name is rooted in both Hebrew and Arabic — in Arabic, it means “zeal” and is an acronym for the Islamic Resistance Movement, while in Hebrew, it translates to “violence”.

The offshoot

Yassin, who was killed in 2004 by an Israeli strike while leaving a mosque, had studied in Egypt and accepted the teachings of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s oldest and largest Islamic organisation, according to the BBC.

The Council on Foreign Relations states that Yassin established Hamas “as the Brotherhood’s political arm in Gaza” in 1987, adding that its “purpose was to engage in violence against Israelis as a means of restoring Palestinian backing for the Brotherhood.”

The group set out its principles in a charter in 1988, calling for the destruction of Israel. However in recent years, to moderate its image, it set out a new charter, which focused more on establishing a Palestinian state, though it does not recognise Israel.

“Palestine is a land that was seized by a racist, anti-human and colonial Zionist project that was founded on a false promise (the Balfour Declaration), on recognition of a usurping entity and on imposing a fait accompli by force,” Hamas’ 2017 ‘Document of General Principles and Policies’ reads.

Palestinian Hamas fighters take part in an anti-Israel military parade in Gaza City August 26, 2015. — Reuters/File

Looking at its “official” history, Hamas’ origins seem to reflect its contemporaries — a resistance organisation rising against an oppressive actor.

Its initial charter suggests that the group is much more reliant on violence compared to its contemporaries like Fatah.

Israeli officials insist that the group’s violent nature has influenced their response and hesitance (or outright refusal) to negotiate a peace deal. From the Israeli perspective, Hamas poses an existential threat to its security, especially given that it is receiving training, funding and other forms of aid from its arch-nemesis Iran.

Speaking on ‘The Ezra Klein Show’ on September 20, New Yorker editor David Remnick, said a great deal can be learned about Hamas by looking at their leader, Yahya Sinwar, who has since been killed in an Israeli military operation in Gaza.

A Pulitzer-prize-winning journalist, Remnick has performed “deep, long-form reporting from Israel for decades”, host Klein said on the episode, adding that Remnick has profiled high-profile figures including Yasser Arafat, Israeli PM Netanyahu and Sinwar himself.

Remnick described Sinwar as “the most powerful person in Gaza and a decider for Hamas”, adding that he went underground after October 7 2023.

“When he was a student at university … he attached himself to Sheikh Yassin,” Remnick said. “Sinwar found himself appointed … one of the leaders of the Majd” — Hamas’ morality police. … He was jailed in the 80s and remained in Israeli jails for a couple of decades.“

During his incarceration, Sinwar wrote a novel titled ‘The Thorn and the Carnation’. “If you want to know anything about Yahya Sinwar, it is very much worth reading,” Remnick said, saying that the book shows “the roots of his politics and fury”.

“There are long passages about Sinwar and his schoolmates being taken … to visit Israel … including a visit to Jerusalem,” Remnick said. “He asks at one point, rhetorically … who will be our great Saladin?”

In the book, Sinwar was referring to who would lead the Palestinian struggle, Remnick says, suggesting, “Clearly at some level, as I’m reading it, he’s positioning himself as that great leader.”

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar looks on as Hamas supporters take part in an anti-Israel rally over tension in Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque, in this file photo from October 2022. — Reuters

“Sinwar isn’t a figure of extraordinary mystery,” Remnick said. “He grew more aware during his time in prison that hostage-taking was effective,” which explains Hamas’ taking captives on October 7, 2023.

Remnick then talks about the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011. “Israeli society was obsessed with this case,” Remnick said, adding that he was “released for a thousand Palestinian prisoners. One of whom was Yahya Sinwar.”

Remnick’s observation suggests that Sinwar had an impact on Hamas’ modus operandi, especially considering that over 200 Israelis were taken captive during the attack.
The ‘Golem’

While Hamas was formed as an extension of the Muslim Brotherhood, there is evidence that it received substantial enough backing from Israel that it can be considered a “creation” of theirs — Filiu’s “Golem”.

Over time, Israeli officials have admitted the country’s role in propping up Hamas as a counterweight to Fatah and how that plan backfired, leading Hamas to resort to violence.

“Hamas, to my great regret, is Israel’s creation,” says retired Israeli official Avner Cohen in a 2009 interview with The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), terming Hamas an “enormous, stupid mistake”.

Cohen says that Israel “encouraged” Hamas as a counterweight to other nationalist factions, such as the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) and its dominant faction, Fatah.


Former Israeli Religious Affairs Official Avner Cohen in a photo from 2017. — Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey



The WSJ piece adds that Israel “often stood aside” when Hamas and their secular left-wing Palestinian rival Fatah battled, sometimes violently, for influence in both Gaza and the West Bank.

While some Israeli officials have viewed this as a catalyst for Hamas’ rise to power, others have attributed it to the alleged backing of Iran and other actors opposed to Israel.

“Hamas in Gaza was built by Iran as a foundation for power, and is backed through funding, through training and the provision of advanced weapons,” said then-Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert in 2009, according to WSJ.

The WSJ further adds that around Yassin’s arrest in 1984, Cohen sent a report to senior Israeli military and civilian officials in Gaza. He warned that Israel’s policy towards Hamas would allow them to develop into a dangerous force.

“I believe that by continuing to turn away our eyes, our lenient approach to Mujama (Hamas) will in the future harm us. I, therefore, suggest focusing our efforts on finding ways to break up this monster before this reality jumps in our face,” Cohen wrote.

A piece by Mehdi Hasan and Dina Sayedalahmed for The Intercept also cites Brigadier General Yitzhak Segev, who served as Gaza’s military governor in the early 1980s. Segev told a reporter for The New York Times, “The Israeli government gave me a budget… and the military government gives to the mosques.” Like Cohen, Segev stated that the aim was to prop Hamas as a counterweight to Fatah.

In a 2018 video for The Intercept, Hasan acknowledges Hamas’ creation as an arm of the Muslim Brotherhood but states that Egypt had repressed the group in Gaza before 1967. After 1967’s Six-Day War, Israel invaded and occupied the Gaza Strip and, according to Hasan, “they didn’t just turn a blind eye to the Islamists, they encouraged them.”






Hasan adds that Hamas has killed more Israeli civilians than any other group and that their leaders are “viciously anti-Israeli and even anti-semitic in their rhetoric”. He says that “the die was cast for blowback”.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said something similar in January 2024. “Yes, Hamas was financed by the government of Israel in an attempt to weaken the Palestinian Authority led by Fatah,” he said in a speech at the University of Valladolid in Spain, Reuters reported. However, he did not elaborate any further.

There is evidence that Israel has been sending funds to Hamas as late as 2018. In December 2023, Dawn published a report stating that Israel appro­ved the transfer of more than $1 billion from Qatar to Gaza, even though there were intelligence warnings that the group was planning large-scale attacks on Israel.

It is now clear that around the 1970s and 1980s, Hamas was patronised by Israel to divide and rule the occupied Palestinian territories and control the Palestinian sphere of influence.

Furthermore, The Times of Israel reported in 2023 that an Israeli ministry drafted a proposal to transfer Gaza’s 2.3 million people to Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, “drawing condemnation from Palestinians and worsening tensions with Cairo”.

Despite being a “concept paper”, putting it in the context of rhetoric from far-right Israeli government figures shows that vacating the Gaza Strip is one of Tel Aviv’s goals.

Israel’s more extreme elements, like National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, have displayed their contempt and prejudice against Palestinians on record numerous times. In July for example, Ben-Gvir said Palestinian prisoners “should be shot in the head instead of giving them more food”.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich recently called thwarting the creation of a Palestinian state “his life’s mission”. Israeli Ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely said on the UK’s Channel 4 that she has “no empathy” for Palestinians in Gaza.

A combination photo showing Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Israeli Ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely. — Dawn/Reuters

The Intercept states: “To be clear: First, the Israelis helped build up a militant strain of Palestinian political Islam, in the form of Hamas and its Muslim Brotherhood precursors; then, the Israelis switched tack and tried to bomb, besiege, and blockade it out of existence.”

Hamas reflects the fate of many other proxy groups — a state wanted an actor under its control to maintain its sphere of influence or to fight a hostile actor and disrupt theirs.

As with Afghanistan, this plan backfired and Frankenstein’s monster is trying to kill its creator. Thus, one can deduce that Israel’s impetus for prolonging the ongoing conflict is not just to eliminate a threat to its security, but also to rectify a grave error.
One year on

The nature of the October 7 attacks, and the subsequent fighting thereafter, fall in line with Hamas’ behaviour as an organisation. They are the most powerful Palestinian faction out of their contemporaries and have made the most of their regional alliances with Iran and other armed groups to further their goals.

Looking at their origins, it is clear that Israel’s patronage of Hamas contributed to the group’s actions since 1987, as well as why the present conflict is unparalleled in its violence. Their activity was enabled by Israel in the 1970s and 1980s, empowering them as a policy option against the more popular, secular Fatah.

A boy looks on at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people at Al-Aqsa hospital, where Palestinian Shaban al-Dalou was burnt to death, in Deir Al-Balah on October 15. — Reuters

However, this plan backfired, thanks to a lack of forward-thinking, the group’s innate antisemitism having been born during the first Intifada and the presence of a convenient proxy for Israel’s enemies.

Given the unprecedented nature of this conflict, Hamas may grow even more entrenched in its ideology and possibly return to the initial charter from the 1980s, which in turn would invite an even harsher response from Israel — a vicious cycle that will result in more innocents on both sides getting caught in the crossfire.
Mission accomplished?

Having observed the events of the past year, it can be argued that the aftermath of October 7 is something Hamas neither foresaw nor wanted. Their leadership is dead, the Gaza Strip is in ruins and over 42,000 people have been killed — more if one counts the bodies buried under rubble, or not in one piece. They knew Israel would react — it is doubtful they expected a retaliation to this extent.

The impact of the conflict — the spread of disease, famine and a lack of medical facilities — could act against the group, turning what’s left of their support base in Gaza against them.

On the other hand, if they aimed to destabilise or divide Israel, then they have arguably achieved that goal. Israeli politics are deeply divided, with opposition leaders incessantly calling for Netanyahu’s resignation. Israelis are out on the streets protesting the offensive, demanding the return of the hostages and an immediate ceasefire. A ceasefire, it seems, Netanyahu is unwilling to enact, lest he lose his seat at the head of government.

‘Grip on power’

Netanyahu was embroiled in a corruption scandal before the events of October 7. He was accused of receiving luxury goods and disrupting “investigative and judicial proceedings” and was formally indicted in 2019, according to The New York Times. The trial began in 2020.

According to The Times of Israel, Netanyahu’s corruption trial has been delayed until 2025, having been suspended in October 2023 after the attacks. “The prime minister faces charges of fraud and breach of trust in Case 1000 and Case 2000, and charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust in Case 4000,” The Times of Israel adds.

The Israeli Army’s former head of operations, Major General Israel Ziv said that the offensive has become a source of “political stability” for the Israeli PM. For Netanyahu and his government“.

A refusal to cease hostilities amid immense pressure both at home and from abroad, even from some of its staunch allies, is causing Tel Aviv to become a political pressure cooker. Something that works to Hamas’ benefit.