King cobra: New species endemic in Philippines – study

Story by Morexette Marie B. Erram

 • 1d • CEBU NEWS

King cobra: New species endemic in Philippines – study

CEBU CITY, Philippines — A study identified a new species of king cobra that’s endemic only in the Philippines.

The European Journal of Taxonomy on Wednesday, October 16, published the latest research on the taxonomy of king cobra, considered the world’s longest venomous snake.

It presented a taxonomic revision of the king cobra species, with scientific name Ophiophagus hannah (O. hannah), as well as the discovery of two new species.

READ MORE:

Understanding king cobras: Why we should not kill them

TIMELINE: The unprecedented sightings of king cobras in Cebu

IN THE KNOW: The king cobra

The researchers are composed of Indraneil Das, P. Gowri Shankar, Priyanka Swamy, Rhiannon C. Williams, Hmar Tlawmte Lalremsanga, P. Prashanth, Gunanidhi Sahoo, S.P. Vijayakumar, Jacob Höglund, Kartik Shanker, Sushil K. Dutta, S.R. Ganesh, and Wolfgang Wüster.

According to the research, one of the newly identified species of king cobra can only be found in Luzon, Philippines.

The researchers gave it the scientific name Ophiophagus salvatana, with Luzon king cobra as its common name.

“The range of the species is restricted to the Luzon islands in the northern Philippines,” they said.


Related video: How to Survive a King Cobra Attack (Secret History)

Based on their research, the Luzon king cobra exhibited several distinct features that differentiate it from the other species in the O. hannah complex.

These included the absence of pale bands among adults, angular body bands in juveniles, higher number of body bands in juveniles, and lower Pterygoid tooth count.

READ MORE: Cobra recovered below a bookshelf in Tayabas City school

Poor taxonomy

The king cobras are common reptiles in Asia.

However, researchers pointed out that different taxon descriptions and type designations had ‘complicated the taxonomy of this species group.’

Taxonomy is the branch of science concerned in the describing, classifying and naming all living organisms.


“Despite being undoubtedly one of the most iconic snakes in the world, O. hannah had remained under-studied for close to a century,” they said.

In turn, they decided to conduct further studies into the king cobra species complex.

“Our nomenclatural and taxonomic decisions have extensive implications for the content, diversity and distribution of members of this genus, as well as the management of snakebite, species conservation and prospects for future research,” they said.
4 distinct species

Traditionally considered a single species, the authors used morphological data from 153 specimens and a recent molecular phylogenetic analysis to recognize four distinct species within the king cobra species or O. hannah complex.

“This revision has shown that the king cobras consist of four distinct species, each requiring separate consideration,” the researchers pointed out.

In the study, they found out that the O. hannah is found only within eastern Pakistan, northern and eastern India, the Andaman Islands, Indo-Burma and Indo-china, and south to central Thailand.

“We restrict the concept of Ophiophagus hannah s. str. to populations from eastern Pakistan, northern and eastern India, the Andaman Islands, Indo-Burma and Indo-China, south to central Thailand,” they explained.

They also said that the population of king cobra inhabitang the Sunda Shelf area, including the Malay Peninsula, the Greater Sunda Islands and parts of the southern Philippines are the Sunda king cobra (Ophiophagus bungarus).

Researchers hoped that their findings will contribute to the conservation of the king cobra species group, which the International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed as vulnerable already due to widespread threats of their habitats.

“Besides their conservation implications, our findings may also have implications for toxinology and snakebite treatment,” they added.

Tesla self-driving crash reports prompt NHTSA investigation

Some 2.4 million Tesla vehicles will be evaluated.

ByAyesha Ali
October 18, 2024

Close-up of Tesla logo on a red wall at Tesla showroom, Santana Row, San Jose, California, August 3, 2024.
Smith Collection/gado/Gado via Getty Images

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened an investigation into Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) feature after receiving reports of four crashes, one of which caused a pedestrian fatality.

According to NHTSA, the FSD system's engineering controls failed to "react appropriately to reduced roadway visibility conditions." NHTSA states that the crashes occurred in "reduced roadway visibility" that "arose from conditions such as sun glare, fog, or airborne dust" while the vehicles' FSD mode was engaged.

"In one of the crashes, the Tesla vehicle fatally struck a pedestrian," according to the report, while "one additional crash in these conditions involved a reported injury."

NHTSA will examine an estimated 2.4 million Teslas, including 2016-2024 Models S and X vehicles, 2017-2024 Model 3 vehicles, 2020-2024 Model Y vehicles, and 2023-2024 model year Cybertrucks equipped with the FSD system.

MORE: Tesla recalls 2 million vehicles over autopilot safety issue, government agency says

The NHTSA preliminary examination of the FSD system will assess its ability to "detect and respond appropriately to reduced roadway visibility conditions." The agency will also investigate "whether any other similar FSD crashes have occurred in reduced roadway visibility conditions and, if so, the contributing circumstances for those crashes," as well as if there were any updates to Tesla's FSD system "that may affect the performance of FSD in reduced roadway visibility conditions."

According to Tesla's website, "The currently enabled Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (Supervised) features require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous."

Tesla did not immediately respond to an ABC News request for comment.

The NHTSA investigation follows Tesla's recall of around two million vehicles last December over issues with its autopilot system. The company addressed the issue with a software update for the affected models.

"We at Tesla believe that we have a moral obligation to continue improving our already best-in-class safety systems," the company said at the time. "At the same time, we also believe it is morally indefensible not to make these systems available to a wider set of consumers, given the incontrovertible data that shows it is saving lives and preventing injury."

Insight: In Modi's Delhi, Indian Muslims segregate to seek security

HINDUTVA APARTHEID

By Charlotte Greenfield and Aftab AhmedOctober 18, 2024

A view of Zakir Nagar, a Muslim neighbourhood in New Delhi, India, September 18, 2024. REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis

Summary

Muslims in Delhi increasingly congregate in enclaves after 2020 riots

Popular enclave of Jamia Nagar is overflowing, residents and real-estate agents say

Experts link rising segregation to Islamophobia under BJP, which says it doesn't discriminate

Muslim enclaves often have poor economic and educational infrastructure

NEW DELHI, Oct 18 (Reuters) - In February 2020, Nasreen and her husband Tofik were living in Shiv Vihar, an upcoming neighbourhood in northeast New Delhi. But that month, riots erupted targeting Muslims like them and Tofik was pushed by a mob from the second floor of the building where they lived, according to a police report he filed days later from hospital.
He survived, but has a permanent limp and was only able to return to work selling clothes on the street after spending nearly 3 years recuperating.
Advertisement · Scroll to continue

Soon after the riots the couple moved to Loni, a more remote area with poorer infrastructure and job prospects - but with a sizable Muslim population.
"I will not go back to that area. I feel safer among Muslims," Tofik, who like his wife goes by one name, told Reuters.
Reuters interviewed about two dozen people, who described how Muslims in the Indian capital have been congregating in enclaves away from the nation's Hindu majority, seeking safety in numbers following the deadly 2020 riot and an increase in anti-Muslim hate speech. Details about this phenomenon, which has led a major Muslim neighbourhood in Delhi to effectively run out of space, have not previously been reported.

There is no official data on segregation in India, whose long-delayed census also means that there are few reliable figures on how much Muslim enclaves have grown in the past decade. Muslims comprise about 14% of India's 1.4 billion people.
Ground zero in Delhi is the central neighbourhood of Jamia Nagar, which has long been a temporary sanctuary for Muslims when communal riots break out.

A map showing Muslim-majority enclaves in Delhi

With ever more Muslims flocking in, the neighbourhood is overflowing, despite a boom in construction, according to 10 local leaders, including politicians, activists and clergy, as well as five real-estate agents.

"No matter how brave a Muslim might be, they feel they have to move because if a mob comes, how brave can you really be?" said Raes Khan, a real estate agent in South Delhi who said Muslim clients now almost exclusively demand homes in Muslim-majority areas like Jamia Nagar.
Segregation nationally has increased significantly in the past decade, said London School of Economics political anthropologist Raphael Susewind, who has overseen long-term field-work on India's Muslim population.

Rising Islamophobia under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which came into power in 2014, is a "key driver" of the trend, he said.

Six Muslim community leaders said significant anecdotal evidence supported Susewind's assertion that segregation has increased. Jamia Nagar clergyman Md Sahil said the number of attendees at his mosque's early morning prayers had more than doubled to over 450 in the past four to five years, and that it reflected the overall rise in population there.

In response to Reuters' questions, Jamal Siddiqui, a senior BJP official for minority affairs, suggested that poorer Muslims might choose to live in segregated areas because such neighbourhoods tend to be more affordable. "Educated Muslims leave the area and settle in developed areas with mixed population," he said.

However, Syed Sayeed Hasan, a Congress party worker in Jamia Nagar, said a big push factor for sectarian cloistering in Delhi was the 2020 riot. More than 200 were injured and at least 53 people, mostly Muslim, were killed in protests after Modi's Hindu nationalist government moved to introduce a law that made it easier for many non-Muslims to become citizens.

A 2020 Delhi government report blamed the riots on BJP leaders who made speeches that called for violence against protesters. At the time, the party said the allegations were baseless and that law enforcement had said there was no proof one of the leaders blamed in the report was responsible.

The Delhi government, controlled by the opposition Aam Aadmi Party, did not respond to requests for comment.

RISE IN HATE SPEECH
India's National Crime Records Bureau, a government agency that collects and analyses crime data, doesn't keep records on targeted violence against communities. It said the average number of annual riots with communal origins had fallen about 9% between 2014 and 2022 as compared to the previous nine years, when the Congress party ran India.

But independent experts, opens new tab at the Center for the Study of Organized Hate, a Washington-based think-tank, have documented a significant increase in anti-Muslim hate speech, from 255 incidents in first half of 2023 to 413 in the second half of 2023. BJP politicians and affiliate groups were key to the trend, the think-tank said.

Reuters has previously reported about how right-wing "cow vigilantes," some of whom have ties to the BJP, have led lynch mobs against Muslims.

Modi, while campaigning in April for a third term as premier, attacked Muslims as "infiltrators" who had "more children," implying they were a threat to India's Hindu majority.

The BJP's Siddiqui added that Modi was referring to undocumented immigrants like Rohingya Muslims whom he alleged "are living in India and are also weakening India."
When previously asked about alleged anti-Muslim bias, the BJP government has said it does not discriminate and that many of its anti-poverty programs have benefited Muslims, who are among the poorest groups in India.

The BJP could only form a fragile coalition government after national election results were announced in June. In the immediate aftermath, at least eight anti-Muslim lynching incidents were reported, the non-governmental Association for Protection of Civil Rights said on July 5.

SAFETY IN NUMBERS

Jamia Nagar is a bustling cluster of alleyways behind Jamia Millia Islamia, a Muslim university that was an epicentre of the 2020 protests. It anchors an area of southeast Delhi that has many Muslim neighbourhoods and a population of about 150,000, according to state election data.

When Reuters visited the cramped alleyways of the enclave on a sweltering summer day, they were framed by five-storey buildings. Developers had added three storeys to what were many two storey buildings to cater to the increase in demand, two real estate agents said. In a sign of booming growth, there were also dozens of newly-built kindergartens set up in the narrow lanes of the area.

Most Muslim enclaves are not as well-developed. A 2023 study, opens new tab from British, American and Indian economists that analysed 1.5 million Indian areas found that public services like water and schools were comparatively rare in neighbourhoods popular with Muslims and that children in such areas often face educational disadvantages.

After Tofik and Nasreen moved to Loni following Tofik's assault, their income halved, with Tofik only able to work reduced hours.

Nasreen's 16-year-old daughter, Muskan, suffered. The school in the outskirts of Delhi was under-resourced, Muskan said, and she missed her classmates. After feeling that the new school wasn't for her, she dropped out.

But Nasreen doesn't regret the move. "I will never go back. I have lost faith in them," she said, of the neighbours who she said formed part of the mob that pushed her husband.
Reuters could not independently verify her claim but Sam Sundar, a 44-year-old Hindu resident of Nasreen's old neighbourhood, said both Hindus and Muslims suffered during the riots, which he blamed on outside perpetrators.

But he acknowledged that Muslims bore the brunt: "Very few Muslims now live in the area. This is not a good thing."

Nasreen's neighbour Malika also moved to the outskirts after her husband was killed in the 2020 riots. But she was unable to find a job and now also lives part-time at a small room in another neighbourhood with more Hindu residents, where she is close to construction sites where she does odd jobs.

"Here I am afflicted with poverty, there I'm afflicted with insecurity," she said.
Enclaves have also drawn upper middle class Muslim families, who used to be more comfortable living in mixed areas, said Raes, the real-estate agent.

"People feel it is better to live in separate areas rather than having a constant threat to life and property from members of the other community," said Mujaheed Nafees, a Muslim leader from Modi's home state of Gujarat, which hosts India's largest Muslim enclave of some 400,000.

($1 = 83.9625 Indian rupees)

Death of Sinwar Won’t End Israel’s War While U.S. Gives Netanyahu Free Rein in Gaza

By Gidon Levy, Amy Goodman 

October 19, 2024

Source: Democracy now!

Israel announced Thursday it had killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza, releasing a video allegedly showing Sinwar’s final moments before his death after Israeli forces in Rafah attacked the building he was in. After the announcement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared “this is not the end of the war in Gaza.” In Tel Aviv, Israeli families called for Netanyahu to refocus efforts on negotiating a deal to free the hostages. “They are torn because they are clever enough to understand that the killing of Sinwar does not mean the release of their loved ones,” says Gideon Levy, award-winning Israeli journalist and author, who says Netanyahu will continue to act through sheer force as he sets his sights on Iran with the full support of the United States.

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz is reporting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is meeting today with ministers and heads of security agencies at the military headquarters in Tel Aviv.

For more, we go to Tel Aviv, where we’re joined by Gideon Levy, award-winning Israeli journalist and author, columnist for the newspaper Haaretz, where he’s also a member of the editorial board.

Gideon, welcome back to Democracy Now! Can you talk about the response in Israel to Israel’s killing of the Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar?

GIDEON LEVY: As you can imagine, Amy, there is a lot of sense of joy and pride. The media is encouraging it, obviously. The main headline of the most popular newspaper in Israel, Yedioth Ahronoth, says, “The Satan was assassinated.” The mood is of big content and of really feeling that justice prevailed and this Hitler was assassinated. Nobody asks what will be the day after. Nobody asks what did Israel benefit out of it. We are all celebrating the killing of the Satan.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about what the families of hostages are saying, where you are, in the city of Tel Aviv? It seems like there wasn’t — they didn’t skip a beat yesterday in their protest of Netanyahu as they demanded a ceasefire.

GIDEON LEVY: Yeah, they are torn, because they are clever enough to understand that the killing of Sinwar does not mean the release of their beloved ones. On the contrary, it might even postpone it or maybe even miss it totally, because as long as Sinwar was alive, there was a partner. Now with whom will Israel deal about any kind of hostage deal, if Israel is at all interested in?

The feeling is that Netanyahu, now he’s boosted by much more support in Israel after this success, this military success of assassinating Sinwar. For him, the hostages were and still are not the first priority. And why would it now happen after it didn’t happen for a whole year? I doubt it. Why would Hamas go for it now? When it’s so beaten and there is so little to lose, why would they now care about releasing the hostages, almost their last asset? So, I understand that the families — they don’t speak in one voice, and it shouldn’t be one voice. But at least part of them are really in anxiety that maybe the last chance for releasing their beloved one was missed.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about what we understand of how Yahya Sinwar was killed? He was not in the tunnels. The video that Israel is putting out of him sitting in a chair, he was in Rafah. Who the forces were who moved into that place, and the significance of that, Gideon Levy?

GIDEON LEVY: First of all, it was totally incidental. I must praise the Israeli information system of propaganda, or hasbara, as they call it. At least they admitted that it was not planned. They didn’t try to show it as if it was a very planned operation. It wasn’t. And he was killed. First they bombed this house where he was, and then a drone got into the house and showed him in his last moments. Quite pathetic video. And then they shot him in his head, as we saw, twice at least, because there are two holes in his head. And they killed him. He was masked, as you saw, trying to hide from being recognized.

But in any case, it doesn’t matter much. The fact is that Israeli intelligence couldn’t find him for one year. The fact is that Israeli intelligence couldn’t find the hostages for one year in a very small piece of land, Gaza Strip, where Israel is controlling now for one year. And finally, they found him. I mean, it was so expected. How couldn’t he be found finally, when Israel is searching after him for so long and really destructing every building and every street in Gaza? So, finally, they succeeded, obviously. It’s not a hell of a success, but in Israel they are quite happy about it. And I can understand the sentiment.

AMY GOODMAN: So, where does what Israel plans to do with Iran fit into this story?

GIDEON LEVY: I hope it doesn’t fit. And I’m very afraid that it does fit, because Netanyahu now feels much more secure. Those last so-called, or not so-called, military successes and achievements started with the beepers and the pagers and continued with the assassinations of all the leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah. All those things just give him a boost to continue the same way that he believes in, the only way he believes in, namely, doing everything by force, doing everything throughout aggressive attacks on the rival, on the enemy.

And he might think the same now about Iran, because Iran is the next object. When the United States is so passive, so passive, really in a shameful way, he feels he has a free carte blanche to continue. And he has a carte blanche to continue, because the United States never stopped him, even not for a moment. He totally ignored the advices of the American administration, rightly so. Why would he bother about presidential advices if the arms continue to flow and the ammunition continues to flow? So, I’m very afraid that this will encourage him also to go to all kind of [inaudible] operations, grand operations also in Iran. And then it can be really frightening, because the outcome might be really catastrophe. And maybe he will succeed. Who knows? I mean, until now, we were all scared of invading Rafah. And look, he invaded Rafah, and nothing happened.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to turn to Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris praising the assassination of Sinwar as progress toward the elimination of Hamas. She spoke in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she was campaigning Thursday.


VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: Hamas is decimated, and its leadership is eliminated. This moment gives us an opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza. And it must end such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination. And it is time for the day after to begin.

AMY GOODMAN: As we wrap up, Gideon Levy, if you can talk about this? I mean, in a letter, apparently, from Biden saying that they will end arms sales or limit them after 30 days — a top former State Department official said, “Where is it in the law to say if they are starving Gaza, stopping humanitarian aid to Gaza, that you wait 30 days?”

GIDEON LEVY: Even before the 30 days, whatever Vice President Kamala Harris said are wonderful words. I could sign on each word and word that she said. This is really a noble idea to stop this war, to let the Palestinians have dignity and freedom and security, and to let Israel’s security — it’s wonderful. The question is: What did the American administration do to promote those things in the recent year or years? And the answer is nothing, because whatever the administration said was in total contradiction to its deeds. When you continue to supply in an unconditioned way arms and ammunition to Israel, it means you want it to use it. And what is the use of it? Killing 17,000 children in Gaza. That’s the use of the American ammunition. So —

AMY GOODMAN: Gideon Levy, we’re going to have to leave it there. I thank you so much for being with us, award-winning Israeli journalist and author, columnist with Haaretz and on its editorial board.

No Signal In Northern Gaza Amid Massive Israeli Offensives

 
October 19, 2024
in News, Gaza



DayofPal– The Israeli forces have severed communication and internet services in northern Gaza since Friday, intensifying a two-week-long onslaught characterized by devastation and efforts of ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian population.

Local sources said that the Israeli army “has severed communication and internet services in northern Gaza” and prevented journalists from covering the current atrocities being committed against Jabalia people.

Medical sources report that Israeli artillery and airstrikes persist in striking multiple locations within the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, resulting in numerous casualties and injuries.

For 15 consecutive days, the Israeli army has relentlessly pursued its offensive, focusing on Jabalia and the surrounding areas.

The region remains under a crushing siege, subjected to unceasing bombardment, with homes collapsing atop their inhabitants.

In a series of Israeli airstrikes late Friday, at least 33 Palestinians were killed and over 70 injured in an assault on homes in Jabalia refugee camp. Most casualties were women and children.

Health officials described bodies scattered across the streets of the refugee camp, as relentless airstrikes make it impossible to retrieve the dead and injured.

This marks the Israeli army’s third ground offensive in Jabalia Camp since the war in Gaza erupted last October, with more than 400 Palestinians have been killed in only 14 days.

Following a cross-border attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023, Israel has unleashed a relentless assault on Gaza, disregarding a UN Security Council resolution that called for an immediate ceasefire.

Health Ministry in Gaza reported that approximately 42,500 Palestinians have lost their lives—many of them women and children—with over 99,500 others injured.

IDF soldier investigated for war crimes in Belgium

Probe launched after Palestinian journalists' investigative report into elite IDF unit, claiming civilians were executed; Belgian Justice minister says Israel has the right to self-defence but that

IDF soldier investigated for war crimes in Belgium

Probe launched after Palestinian journalists' investigative report into elite IDF unit, claiming civilians were executed; Belgian Justice minister says Israel has the right to self-defense but that does not excuse it from following international law

Belgium prosecution was investigating a man with dual Israeli-Belgium citizenship who fought in Gaza, for war crimes. 
Israeli officials said an investigation was launched after Palestinian groups lodged a criminal complaint, but no proceedings have been put into place.
 
IDF troops operating in Gaza
(Photo: IDF)

According to Belgium's prosecution, the investigation centers around a 22-year-old citizen of the country who served as a sharpshooter in an elite unit of the IDF.
It followed an investigative report by Palestinian journalist Younis Tirawi who accused the unit of "the brutal execution of unarmed civilians."

Tirawi said he received his information from an American who also serves in the unit and who provided evidence that civilians were being targeted although they posed no danger. The unit which was operating in Gaza since October, is made up of 21 soldiers, among them three American nationals, two Frenchmen, a German, an Italian and a citizen of Belgium who is now being investigated.


IDF troops operating in Gaza
(Photo: IDF)

Belgium's Justice Minister Paul Van Tigchelt said on Friday that the investigation hoped to uncover whether the report was true. "Israel has a right for self-defense but that does not excuse its duty to respect international humanitarian law," he said. does not excuse it from following international law

South African activist protests German ambassador at conference because of Berlin’s support for Israel

‘Sir, have you no shame. You’re one of the largest arms suppliers to the state of Israel. You are not welcomed in our midst,’ Zackie Achmat tells Andreas Peschke

Anadolu staff |19.10.2024 

6th Social Justice Summit was held in Cape Town, South Africa, organized by Stellenbosch University

JOHANNESBURG

A South African civil society activist protested the presence and inclusion of Germany’s ambassador to Pretoria because of Berlin’s support for Israel.

Zackie Achmat criticized Andreas Peschke who was included as a panelist Thursday at the 6th International Social Justice Conference at Stellenbosch University’s Centre for Social Justice.

“Sir, have you no shame. You’re one of the largest arms suppliers to the state of Israel. You are not welcomed in our midst,” Achmat told Peschke, according to a TikTok video that was posted by the Cape Argus news outlet.

South African news website, IOL, said Achmat is reported to have approached the stage where Peschke was seated and accused Germany of contributing arms to Israel.

Achmat asked the audience, who supports the people of Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq and Iran to join him in leaving the venue.

“Mr Achmat shouted at my country. I listened. When I answered, he did not listen. This is unfortunate. If we don‘t listen to each other, we will not solve a single problem,” Peschke later wrote on X.

The South African government openly supports the Palestinian cause and condemns Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, said Thursday his country’s support for the Palestinian cause was “irrevocable.”

Pretoria also condemns the Palestine resistance group, Hamas, for attacking and kidnapping Israeli civilians.

It has demanded the release of hostages taken in an attack on Israel last October and appealed for humanitarian assistance to get through to the people of Gaza.

South Africa filed a case at the International Court of Justice based in The Hague in late 2023, accusing Israel, which has bombed Gaza since last October, of failing to uphold its commitments under the 1948 Genocide Convention.

Several countries including Türkiye, Nicaragua, Palestine, Spain, Mexico, Libya and Colombia, have joined the case which began public hearings in January.

The top UN court in May ordered Israel to halt its offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. It was the third time the 15-judge panel issued preliminary orders seeking to rein in the death toll and alleviate suffering in the blockaded enclave, where the casualty count has surpassed 42,400.

Freedom of expression on Israel's Gaza war crushed harshly: UN

The UN special rapporteur also pointed to the silencing and sidelining of dissenting voices in academia and the arts even in some of the best academic institutions in the world.


Social media platforms have been a lifeline for communications to and from Gaza./ Photo: AP


Freedom of expression has been threatened more seriously in Gaza than in any recent conflict, with journalists targeted in the war-torn territory and Palestinian supporters targeted in many countries, a United Nations expert has said.


"No conflict in recent times has threatened freedom of expression so far beyond its borders as the war in Gaza", an expert appointed by the UN Human Rights Council said on Friday in New York.


Irene Khan, the UN independent investigator on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, pointed to attacks on the media and the targeted killings and arbitrary detention of dozens of journalists in Gaza.


While taking on Israel for imposing blanket bans on media like Al Jazeera and attacks on journalists she said:


"These actions seem to indicate a strategy of Israeli authorities to silence critical journalism and obstruct documentation of possible international crimes."


Khan also sharply criticised the “discrimination and double standards” that have seen restrictions and suppression of pro-Palestinian protests and speech.

She cited bans in Germany and other European countries, protests that were “crushed harshly” on US college campuses, and Palestinian national symbols and slogans prohibited and even criminalised in some countries.


"Public display of Palestinian national symbols like the flag or the keffiyeh, as well as certain slogans, have also been prohibited and even criminalized in some countries," she said.


The UN special rapporteur also pointed to “the silencing and sidelining of dissenting voices in academia and the arts,” with some of the best academic institutions in the world failing to protect all members of their community.


While social media platforms have been a lifeline for communications to and from Gaza, Khan said, they have seen an upsurge in disinformation, misinformation and hate speech — with Arabs, Jews, Israelis and Palestinians all targeted online.


She stressed that Israel’s military actions in Gaza and its decades of occupation of Palestinian territories are matters of public interest, scrutiny and criticism.

'Champions of the media'

She said attacks on the media “are an attack on the right to information of people around the world who want to know what is happening there.”

Khan said she has called on the UN General Assembly and Security Council to take measures to strengthen the protection of journalists “as essential civilian workers.”

“Journalism should be seen as essential as humanitarian work,” she said.


The information industry has changed, Khan said, and the issue of access to conflict situations by international media representatives — who have been banned from Gaza by Israel — must also be affirmed.

“It has to be clarified that it is not okay to just deny access to international media,” she said.

Without naming any countries, Khan asked why nations that pride themselves as champions of the media have been silent in the face of unprecedented attacks on journalists in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.


“My main message is that what is happening in Gaza is sending signals around the world that it is okay to do these things because it’s happening in Gaza and Israel is enjoying absolute impunity — and others around the world will believe that there will be absolute impunity, too,” Khan said.

As Middle East Crisis Escalates, Hopes For Diplomatic Solution Dim

A man looks at destroyed buildings hit by Israeli air strikes in Beirut on the anniversary of the deadly October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

Israel's two-front war in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, as well as the threat of escalation with Iran, have put the Middle East crisis on boil.

But despite the risk of all-out war involving regional powers Israel and Iran, experts say there is little appetite for a diplomatic solution.
SEE ALSO:
Hamas Leader's Death Makes Israeli 'Hit List' Shorter But Might Not Alter Gaza War

This is largely because the main obstacles to peace are immovable without incentive and persuasion, and the only actors capable of changing the situation are either reluctant to act or are in a position to benefit from escalation, analysts say.

"There are diplomatic solutions to this crisis, but they have to center on the de-occupation of Palestine, since that is the root cause of the conflict," said Trita Parsi, co-founder of the Washington-based Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.

The main obstacle to such an outcome, Parsi said, "is Washington's refusal to sincerely push Israel to end its occupation." If the United States "fundamentally changes its approach, these diplomatic solutions will become politically viable."

The United States is a key ally of Israel, a major recipient of U.S. arms and aid. But Israel has charted its own course, despite some U.S. pressure, and it is unclear if other players would scale down their military activities in response to Israeli de-escalation.

Expanding War

Israel is currently involved in a two-front war against Iran-backed armed groups -- the U.S.-designated terrorist organizations Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Israel launched its war in Gaza a year ago in retaliation for Hamas's deadly assault on its territory. More recently, the war expanded into Israel's aerial bombardment and ground invasion of Lebanon intended to cripple Hezbollah and its ability to strike Israel with rockets and missiles.

Hezbollah is both an armed group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon. The EU has not blacklisted its political wing, which has seats in the Lebanese parliament.

Iran, which helped establish Hezbollah four decades ago to serve as its lead proxy in its shadow war against archenemy Israel, has also engaged in tit-for-tat attacks with Israel in recent months, leading to fears of a broader war involving the two regional heavyweights.

Israel has pounded southern Lebanon with air strikes and launched a ground invasion in recent weeks.

Of the two fronts, analysts told RFE/RL, Israel is more inclined to engage in diplomatic efforts with Hamas because it is interested in securing the release of scores of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas in the October 7, 2023, assault.

Recent polls have shown that Israeli public opinion considers the release of the hostages as the top objective of the war in Gaza.

Israel's killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the alleged mastermind of the October 7 attack and considered by Washington to be a "massive obstacle to peace," is also seen as a potential breakthrough.

The State Department characterized Sinwar's October 17 death as an opportunity to end the conflict in Gaza and secure the release of Israeli hostages. President Joe Biden said it was now "time to move on" and secure a cease-fire.

Hezbollah Seeks Relief

In Lebanon, only Hezbollah and its key backer Iran want a cease-fire because the militant group has "taken such very heavy blows," according to Middle East expert Kenneth Katzman, a senior adviser for the New York-based Soufan Group intelligence consultancy.

"I don't think Israel necessarily wants a lot of diplomacy," he said.

Israel has pounded southern Lebanon with aerial strikes and launched a ground invasion in recent weeks.

Iran, meanwhile, has recently made the rounds among Arab Gulf States in an effort to persuade them to help deter Israel from attacking key targets in Iran. Fears of Israeli attacks against Iranian oil and even nuclear facilities have risen since Iran fired around 180 ballistic missiles on Israel on October 1.

But while some Gulf states have normalized relations with both Iran and Israel, and helped blunt Iran's missile and drone attack on Israel in April, experts are skeptical of their influence in this diplomatic arena.

"The Arab states have very little sway over Israel, but they have some sway with Washington," Parsi said in written comments.

Staying On The Sidelines

The Gulf states, as well as Washington, also have their own incentives to stand aside because they want to see Hezbollah weakened, experts said.

The government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as Hamas and some Arab Gulf states, have reasons not to seek a cease-fire, according to experts.

Thanassis Cambanis, director of the U.S.-based Century Foundation think tank, said that Saudi Arabia and most of the Gulf states "are tacitly willing to tolerate or even support" the war against Hezbollah because it provides them an advantage in "their own regional contest for power with Iran."

What Is THAAD And Why Is The U.S. Deploying It To Israel?

In Gaza, Cambanis said, "there is a real perverse lack of incentive" for either Hamas or the Israeli government to work out a cease-fire because extending the conflict helps each of them hold onto power.

Cambanis said that a diplomatic process that involved serious U.S. leverage "could very quickly and very easily end the conflict as it stands now."

But he said that diplomacy cannot currently resolve the underlying causes of the war.

"I don't think it's reasonable to expect diplomacy to come up with a long-term solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Nor do I expect diplomacy to urgently come to a long-term resolution of the boundary disputes between Lebanon and Israel," Cambanis said.

With Gaza at war, rights in Egypt are ignored

Jennifer Holleis

DW

TODAY

With Egypt working to mediate the Israel-Hamas war, other governments have been willing to forgive the country's dismal human rights record. That has been a boon to Cairo's coffers — and very bad for domestic dissidents.

Egypt's financial and geopolitical situation has much improved since Oct 7 2023, however, at the cost of human rights and political freedom

Image: Egyptian President Office/Zuma/picture alliance

Until late 2023, Egypt's focus had been on its tremendous economic problems and fending off scrutiny of its dire human rights record, as well as criticism for its failure to implement democratic structures and political reforms.

In particular, President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi has been widely seen as autocratic ruler who secured himself a third term in December's presidential election by cracking down on opposition candidates and silencing dissent.

International human rights organization have meanwhile put the number of political prisoners in Egyptian prisons at more than 70,000.

"Cairo has successfully leveraged the Mideast crises that was set off by the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, to advance its financial interests and geopolitical significance," Timothy E. Kaldas, deputy director of the Washington-based Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, told DW.

US Secretary of State Blinken has stopped criticizing Egypt for its dire rights recordImage: Amr Nabil/AP Photo/picture alliance

Political rewards

Since the onset of Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza, US, Qatari and Egyptian diplomats have frequently met in Cairo to negotiate an elusive cease-fire in Gaza and a release of the remaining hostages.

"While Qatar seems to be playing a much more important role here, it still means that Egypt is at least perceived as an influential country again," Christian Achrainer, a researcher at Denmark's Roskilde University, who has extensively published on Egypt, told DW.

Achrainer said Egypt's new prominence in the Middle East and North Africa had silenced external comment on human rights violations, emboldening el-Sissi to continue imprisoning people.

While Egyptians are largely in favor of the Palestinians in Gaza, harsh criticism on Egypt's peace treaty with Israel, which was signed in 1979, or on the collaboration with Israel or the US, remains throttled by Egypt's security apparatus.

"Criticism is by and large nonexistent these days," Achrainer said.

A humanitarian partner?

Egypt's Rafah crossing in Gaza's south is the only land border that doesn't lead into Israel and has thus become the main entrance gate for humanitarian goods into Gaza.

"Egypt has earned additional support from Washington by cooperating with the Israelis on permission surrounding goods moving into Gaza," Kaldas said.

Kaldas said Egypt was being generously rewarded for its efforts.

The White House granted the full $1.3 billion (€1.2 billion) in military assistance this year. "Whereas in the past, they would at least withhold the portion that was conditioned on human rights," Kaldas said.

He said US officials had prioritized Egypt's cooperation with Israel and the United States over the rights and freedoms of Egyptians.

"Secretary of State Antony Blinken just recently, baselessly and completely unconvincingly certified that Egypt is making progress on the file of political prisoners and rights and freedoms in Egypt, when in fact Egypt is actually doing significantly worse on this front," Kaldas said.

Prices of staples have sharply risen in recent years, contributing to economic woesImage: Amr Abdallah Dalsh/REUTERS

Observers agree that more people are being detained than released.

"President el-Sissi has taken advantage of the crisis created by Israel's wars in Gaza and Lebanon to position itself as an essential mediator in the conflict and really just to distract from Egypt's own disastrous human rights crisis and very deep state corruption," Sarah Whitson, executive director of the Washington-based human rights organization DAWN, told DW.

One of the country's most famous prisoners, the 42-year-old British-Egyptian writer and activist Abd El-Fattah remains in prison despite being sentenced to five years in late September 2019.

A thin ray of hope for El-Fattah and thousands other imprisoned journalists, politicians and dissidents might be the upcoming UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

In January 2025, Egypt has to prove in what way it has undertaken efforts to promote and protect human rights.

Ongoing economic woes

Meanwhile, little to none of the more than $57 billion invested in and granted to Egypt by the World Bank, European Union and Gulf countries this year has trickled down to the largely impoverished population.

Inflation remains at a high of around 26%, and prices of staple foods have skyrocketed by more than 70%.

This is particularly hard for the roughly one-third of Egypt's 113 million people who are at or below the poverty line after years of economic crises.

Economic relief, however, may be on the horizon with help from regional powers. In October, high-ranking officials from multiple countries have made visits to Egypt.

On Tuesday, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met el-Sissi in Cairo to discuss future investments and trade agreements.

Two years ago, heavily indebted Egypt was still hoping for Saudi grants to avert a financial collapse.

On Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi landed in the Egyptian capital for "important talks" with his counterpart, Badr Abdelatty. The last meeting between Iranian and Egyptian foreign ministers had been in 2013.

Fleeing War in Gaza — for a new life in Egypt?  28:29

Jennifer Holleis Editor and political analyst specializing in the Middle East and North Africa.