Thursday, December 01, 2022

ANOTHER BAD IDEA
Austria Wants EU to Introduce UK & Denmark-Inspired Rwanda Plan for Refugees

November 30, 2022
© Viacheslav Dubrovin | Dreamstime.com


The Austrian Interior Minister, Gerhard Karner, has called for the EU to establish asylum procedures in safe third countries, similar to models that Denmark and the United Kingdom have agreed to operate.

A press release from Austria’s Interior Ministry, the request was made at the extraordinary Justice and Home Affairs Council last week, where ministers discussed the Commission’s new action plan for the countries in the central Mediterranean and applauded the readiness to establish a similar action plan for other routes such as the Western Balkans route, which is dealing with increasing numbers of illegal border crossings, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

The asylum procedures that both the United Kingdom and Denmark are following are intended to deport refugees to the African country of Rwanda, where their claims for asylum will be processed, but this plan hasn’t yet been operated.

In September, the European Council of Refugees and Exiles pointed out that in the case of Denmark, “the practical details and legal implications of implementing such outsourcing remain unclear.”

The first deportation flight from the UK to the African country was scheduled to depart in June, but it was cancelled due to legal challenges, as the plan is the subject of a court case to decide on its legality. However, so far, nobody has been sent from the UK to Rwanda.

The first time such an idea was presented to the world was in 2004 when Germany proposed for refugees to be sent to countries outside the EU, such as African countries, Turkey, or the Middle East, and such calls date back to at least 20 years ago.

The Austrian Minister also calls for EU funding for police operations, such as deployments of agents from Austria, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic in three countries of Hungary, North Macedonia, and Serbia, which are highly affected by illegal border crossings, with this route of illegal migration, also known as the Balkan route, being quite attacked by such illegalities in the recent months.

Karner’s list also aims for the adoption of a new law to allow prompt deportations, saying that, like Ukrainians have been granted protection under the Temporary Protection Directive, without an individual examination, people from “safe countries of origin” should not be subject to an individual examination of their situation.
13,000 Pelicans Die From Bird Flu Along Pacific Of Peru

At least 13,000 pelicans have died so far in November along the Pacific of Peru from bird flu, according to The National Forest and Wildlife Service (Serfor) on Tuesday.



UPDATED: 30 NOV 2022 
Peru Dead Birds | Photo: AP/Guadalupe Pardo

Dead pelicans lay on Santa Maria beach in Lima, Peru.

Municipal workers collect dead pelicans on Santa Maria beach in Lima, Peru.

Pelican footprints mark Santa Maria beach in Lima, Peru.


A pelican lies dead on Santa Maria beach in Lima, Peru.
A Peruvian Booby lies dead on Santa Maria beach in Lima, Peru.


Dead pelicans lay on Santa Maria beach in Lima, Peru.

A municipal worker pushes dead pelicans in a wheelbarrow on Santa Maria beach in Lima, Peru.
Dead pelicans lay on the beach, as another struggles to walk, on Santa Maria beach in Lima, Peru.
CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
Britain's financial watchdog fines Julius Baer $21.6 million
Logo of Swiss private bank Julius Baer is seen in Zurich

Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro
Wed, 30 November 2022 

(Reuters) -Britain's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said on Wednesday it had fined a UK subsidiary of Swiss private bank Julius Baer 18 million pounds ($21.59 million) for failing to conduct its business with integrity.

The FCA said it had also banned three former employees over finder's arrangements affecting one of its clients. The individuals are now appealing the decision.

Julius Baer International (JBI), which has not contested the FCA’s fine and has paid the sum, said in a statement that it apologised for the events leading up to the penalty.

Julius Baer previously disclosed the payment of the fine in its half-year results.

The FCA concluded that JBI had facilitated finder's arrangements between Bank Julius Baer and an employee at bankrupt Russian oil group Yukos Group, aimed at winning business from the Russian conglomerate.

In total, the employee was paid approximately $3 million as commission for facilitating business deals, including "uncommercial" foreign exchange transactions for Yukos, the FCA said.

Although concerns over potential fraud were raised internally in 2012, JBI did not inform the FCA until 2014, the regulator said.

"There were obvious signs that the relationships here were corrupt, which senior individuals saw and ignored. These weaknesses create the circumstances in which financial crime of the most serious kind can flourish," Mark Steward, FCA executive director of Enforcement and Market Oversight, said.

JBI said it had introduced additional safeguards on the back of the events, including no longer accepting any finder's business.

"We deeply regret the serious failings and apologise for the shortcomings that occurred at JBI between 2009 and 2014. We have taken full responsibility for these historical failings and made complete restitution to our client", JBI CEO David Durlacher said.

($1 = 0.8336 pounds)

(Reporting by Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro, editing by Huw Jones and Louise Heavens)
Black rhino populations are starting to thrive in Zimbabwe for the first time in decades, experts say

One orphaned calf is flourishing after being re-released into a preserve.

ByJulia Jacobo
November 30, 2022


Baby rhinos give hope to saving endangered species

As conservationists race to protect endangered rhinos, a group in South Africa has found hope through miracle baby calves...

Rhinoceros populations are beginning to rebound in the species' native home of Zimbabwe, a sign that efforts to preserve the species are working, according to animal conservationists.

The rhino population in Zimbabwe has surpassed more than 1,000 animals for the first time in more than 30 years, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature Species Survival Commission's African Rhino Specialist Group. This includes 614 black and 415 white rhinos, listed as critically endangered and near threatened on the IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species, respectively.

MORE: Rhino poaching in South Africa declines dramatically due to COVID-19 lockdown, officials say


Dedicated conservationists continue to persevere in protecting the country’s rhinos "with great success," despite soaring costs for food and fuel, according to the International Rhino Foundation, which was founded 31 years ago amid a poaching crisis.


In this undated file photo, black rhinos are show in Imire Game Park in Zimbabwe.
John Downer/Getty Images, FILE

The populations have thrived due to intensive protection, monitoring and management of these animals, Christpher Whitlatch, spokesperson for the International Rhino Foundation, told ABC News.


MORE: Last male Sumatran rhino in Malaysia dies, eliminating chance of saving the species in the country


Included in the population of black rhinos in Zimbabwe’s Bubye Valley Conservancy is Pumpkin, who was injured and orphaned by poachers and continues to flourish after she was re-released into the wild just months later.

During a routine patrol in July 2020, conservationists from the Lowveld Rhino Trust found Pumpkin's mother, who had been killed by poachers, Whitlatch said. Near her body, the conservationists noticed "little bloody footprints," to which they tracked down Pumpkin, who was still alive but had been shot in the torso by the poachers and was severely injured, Whitlatch said. She was just about 16 months at the time.

Pumpkin the black rhinoceros continues to thrive in the wild in Bubye Valley Conservancy in Zimbabwe.
International Rhino Foundation

Pumpkin's will to live was apparent from the get-go, as were her "spunk" and "charisma," Whitlatch said. She even took a bottle from her caregivers, a foreign concept to baby rhinos that gave them confidence that she would survive.

After some months of rehabilitation, Pumpkin was released back in October 2020 back into the protected land, home to most of the rhinos in Zimbabewe and where she continues to thrive today, Whitlatch said.

MORE: Critically endangered black rhino born in Michigan zoo


Pumpkin is monitored on a regular basis, and has even made the acquaintance of a young male black rhino of the same age named Rocky, giving conservationists hope that they will mate and reproduce, Whitlatch added.

Pumpkin the black rhinoceros continues to thrive in the wild in Bubye Valley Conservancy in Zimbabwe.
International Rhino Foundation

However, it has still been a difficult year for rhinos, according to the International Rhino Foundation. After a temporary lull in poaching due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, criminal networks have quickly adapted to the new challenges, and poaching rates and trade volume have begun increasing again this year, according to the IRF.


"Large, organized crime groups, who see wildlife trafficking as low-risk, high-reward crime, became even more involved in rhino horn trade during the pandemic, monopolizing key networks and moving higher volumes of horn," the conservation said in a statement.
Singapore’s new climate targets still ‘critically insufficient’, says research group

The critically insufficient rating is the worst of five ratings given. 

PHOTO: ST FILE

Cheryl Tan


SINGAPORE - Singapore’s climate targets are “critically insufficient”, said a global climate research consortium, despite the Republic’s efforts to implement a higher carbon tax and to cut its greenhouse gas emissions.

Singapore this year announced plans to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, and to cut its targeted carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 2030 to 60 million tonnes, down from 65 million tonnes previously.

The Republic will also be raising its carbon tax from $5 currently to $50 to $80 per tonne by 2030.


Despite these changes, Climate Action Tracker (CAT) still rated Singapore’s climate targets as critically insufficient - the same rating it gave to the country in September last year, before the new targets were announced.

The critically insufficient rating is the worst of five ratings given. The other four are highly insufficient, insufficient, almost sufficient, and 1.5 deg C Paris Agreement compatible.

If all governments were to put forth their targets and policies which have been rated critically insufficient, warming would exceed 4 deg C by the end of the century, said CAT.

The 1.5 deg C cap on the rise in temperature would help countries to avert the more catastrophic impacts of climate change. Already, the world has warmed by around 1.2 deg C.

CAT is a collaboration between two Germany-based research organisations: Climate Analytics and the New Climate Institute.

It analyses the climate pledges of 39 countries and the European Union, covering the biggest emitters as well as a representative sample of smaller emitters, which together contribute about 85 per cent of global emissions.

Iran, Russia, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam have been categorised as critically insufficient alongside Singapore, and none of the countries assessed have been rated 1.5 deg C Paris Agreement compatible.

In an assessment which was published on Nov 21, CAT said that while Singapore’s updated 2030 targets are stronger, they are only a “marginal improvement” over the last. The country’s emissions would still be far higher than what would be needed to get the world to 1.5 deg C of warming.

CAT also noted that Singapore has brought forward its peak emissions year from 2030 to before 2030. Peak emissions year refers to the year when the country’s total emissions will start declining.

Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu said in Parliament earlier this month that Singapore’s peak emissions would occur between 2025 and 2028. She added that it was too premature to announce a precise year as peaking emissions would require substantial transformation across industries, the economy and society.

2 in 3 say Singapore’s 2050 net-zero goal ‘not sufficiently ambitious’: Survey

As for Singapore’s long-term strategy to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, CAT said that the Republic does not “sufficiently provide” clear policy guidance on how the Government intends to reach net zero, and to what extent its policies and measures will contribute to the required emissions reductions.

However, the report acknowledged that Singapore has a small land area and high population density, with limited potential for renewable energy and an export-oriented economy that is largely dependent on the fossil fuel industry, such as oil refining, for example.

Ms Fu said in Parliament last year that CAT’s assessment framework at the time did not account for Singapore’s “unique challenges as a small, densely populated city state with limited access to alternative energy sources”.

When asked about the new assessment given, a spokesman for Singapore’s National Climate Change Secretariat said that it was “puzzling” that the enhanced targets and concrete plans have not translated to a better rating, and that it was seeking clarifications from CAT.

The spokesman also pointed out that CAT’s “fair share target” rating for Singapore may not have recognised the constraints that Singapore faces in transitioning to alternative energy sources.

The “fair share target” rating evaluates a government’s efforts in its targets or policies against what would be considered a fair share contribution to the global effort in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Singapore needs to front-load its climate spending

On its website, CAT noted that there are no agreed guidelines on what would constitute a fair level of contribution to the global effort of emissions reduction, beyond the general understanding that all countries have a common responsibility to address climate change based on their own capabilities. However, a country’s responsibility differs according to its level of emissions, financial position, and historical contribution to global warming.

Its assessment is based on a compilation of a wide range of literature - including more than 40 studies - on differing perspectives on what would be considered a “fair” contribution to greenhouse gas reduction.

CAT said that while the 2030 target will lead to lower emissions, it is still 87 per cent higher than its fair share contribution to reach the 1.5 deg C global target.

As for Singapore’s carbon tax rate, CAT noted that while there would be a gradual increase to $50 to $80 per tonne of CO2 in 2030, the carbon tax rate would be kept at $5 per tonne up till 2023, covering about 43 per cent of emissions by industries and the power sector.

This would unlikely generate the needed incentives for a large-scale switch to zero-carbon technologies in the medium term, it said.

Noting that the Government’s plans to achieve net-zero emissions are largely dependent on carbon capture and storage technology, as well as low-carbon hydrogen, CAT said that the high share of natural gas in the Republic’s energy mix and the lack of proper policy planning to phase it out remain critical issues for Singapore’s energy transition.

About 95 per cent of Singapore’s electricity is generated from natural gas.

However, given the importance of green hydrogen in helping the world cap warming to 1.5 deg C, coupled with Singapore’s strategic location, the country could potentially become a regional storage hub for the trading and transportation of green hydrogen, said CAT.

Qatar critics and their blind spots

We are in favour of human rights. But One Love armbands are self-righteous and ignore some fundamental issues. Stefan Buchen examines the debate surrounding the World Cup in Qatar

The desert is a place for powerful and lasting symbols. Moses descending from Mount Sinai, lugging the stone tablets with him, is one of the more common ones. It was captured not only in the original Bible story, but later, by painters in temperate latitudes where the prohibition on creating likenesses wasn’t taken so seriously. We know what was written on those tablets as "The Ten Commandments". And this, perhaps, is where the misunderstanding begins. The tablets were not engraved with instructions to do certain things; these were rousing exhortations to refrain from misdeeds that destroy communal life. Prohibitions such as "Thou shalt not kill".

The sense of negativity inherent in an enduring set of values has been forgotten. How else could a silly scrap of fabric become so loaded with positive meaning as a sign of goodness. But we’re just advocating for human rights. Who could possibly object to that? One Love! Our armbands!

The preacher-among-the-heathens gesture from the German national football team, and those of other European nations, cheered on by the chants of their enlightened supporters, was doomed to failure. This is not because the footballers ultimately shied away from making the gesture, adding another thin layer to the trash mountain of affluence with their unused armbands.

The German public has reacted to the climbdown on this issue with greater horror than when their team is defeated on the pitch. It is this reaction that leads us to the heart of the problem.


The DFB team in silent protest against the FIFA ban on One Love armbands at the match against Japan: "The complacency with which the One Love objective was presented initially blinded the spokespeople for this positive, joyful message to the fact that the counter-slogan, "No discrimination" – no matter who came up with it and whispered it in FIFA‘s ear – was not all that wrong," writes Stefan Buchen in his essay. "But worse still is the glossing-over of issues that comes with the armband gesture." He continues: "The very fact that you could still be prosecuted for homosexuality in Germany within the lifetimes of most Germans alive today, including the loudest critics of Qatar, might instil some modesty"


The armband gesture and what it ignores

The desert hosts of this World Cup needed to be taught something. We are progressive. We grant equal rights to women. We regard homosexuality and other sexual orientations as part and parcel of freedom and individual autonomy. We treat construction workers with respect. And if you don’t understand that, then your society is not free; it is backward, patriarchal, oppressive.

The complacency with which the One Love objective was presented initially blinded the spokespeople for this positive, joyful message to the fact that the counter-slogan, "No discrimination" – no matter who came up with it and whispered it in FIFA‘s ear – was not all that wrong. But worse still is the glossing-over of issues that comes with the armband gesture.

If you are going to enter hostile desert terrain as a wholehearted advocate of human rights, you should really check in advance what right you have to proclaim yourself the hero of such a scenario.

The very fact that you could still be prosecuted for homosexuality in Germany within the lifetimes of most Germans alive today, including the loudest critics of Qatar, might instil some modesty. Anyone complaining about Qatari women’s lack of rights might consider that until 1975, German mothers were not allowed to pass their citizenship down to their children. That was a privilege reserved for fathers.

Outsourcing the cost of Western prosperity

But what if we turn first to the situation on Europe’s outer borders? How is Europe doing when it comes to the ancient commandment not to kill, for instance? The increasing number of reports about pushback campaigns suggests a very casual approach to this particular prohibition. If it comes to the crunch, the extremists of the centre ground can now blame it on the post-fascist Meloni. And workers’ rights? The focus on the (in many cases fatal) exploitation of the workers who built the World Cup stadiums and other infrastructure in Qatar might make you think that Germany and the rest of Europe weren’t playing along in the international division of labour.

How many thousands of garment workers have died at work, sewing clothes for the West’s sprawling middle classes? How many miners who dug valuable metals out of pits in South Africa and elsewhere for the German automotive industry have fallen ill and wasted away?


Construction workers on a building site in Qatar: "The focus on the (in many cases fatal) exploitation of the workers who built the World Cup stadiums and other infrastructure in Qatar might make you think that Germany and the rest of Europe weren’t playing along in the international division of labour," writes Buchen. "How many thousands of garment workers have died at work, sewing clothes for the West’s sprawling middle classes? How many miners who dug valuable metals out of pits in South Africa and elsewhere for the German automotive industry have fallen ill and wasted away?"

How many Indonesian foresters have had to make way for palm oil plantations so that Europe’s drivers can mix a bit of biodiesel into their fuel to salve their ecological conscience?

We may suspect that the new German supply chain law will not bring any fundamental change to the international division of labour. The cost of Western prosperity is being outsourced. Is it clear to those who are noisily calling on Qatar to respect human rights that there are often tangible human costs involved? It seems too much to ask people to spell the word ‘externalisation’.

Sixty years ago, a philosopher harboured the suspicion that anyone who prized and called for pluralism was mainly trying to appease more essential social contradictions and sweep them under the carpet. The suspicion has been corroborated. Those criticising Qatar have set up a goal wall and painted it with cardboard comrades in dishdashas. And because they keep missing the target holes, they are hitting the cardboard comrades. The World Cup debate revolves around secondary contradictions.

"Debate revolves around secondary contradictions"

Those criticising Qatar do not need to set off across the desert on the somewhat arduous search for the cloud-draped Mount Sinai in order to arm themselves against the most banal and futile kind of positivism. A glance at Germany’s constitution, the Basic Law, will suffice. They will see that the modern German version of human rights is also couched in negative language. Human dignity shall be inviolable.

No physical harm shall be caused to the body. Freedom of the person shall be inviolableno person shall be favoured or disfavoured because of sex, parentage, race, language, homeland and origin, faith or religious or political opinions. These are rights that defend people from attack and abuse. No discrimination. It is regrettable that Germany’s Parliamentary Council didn’t warn against seeking cheap self-affirmation in desert regions and other far-flung places.

It seems to have escaped the critics of Qatar that the country’s ruling Al-Thani family, quite by contrast to their national team, have passed the ball very skilfully back onto the international field. In this World Cup, they have adopted and made use of the order by which the world is structured. They have played by the rules.

That begins with the advantages of the international division of labour. But it goes much further. A spectacle like this has to be apolitical, and so the ruling family has kept the protest against the regime in neighbouring Iran out of the World Cup stadiums. In any case, the Iranian side is not standing in solidarity with the anti-government protests in their homeland, contrary to what has been reported by many German media outlets.

 

Qatar is holding a mirror up to the world

Nothing must be allowed to disrupt commerce. Problems that really can’t be discussed away must be vertically integrated. As shareholders of Daimler and VW, the Qataris know how to put millions of diesel and petrol-driven vehicles on the roads worldwide and still flaunt your green credentials. They know that if you can declare switching to liquid gas (LNG), some of which Germany buys from Qatar, as part of your green energy revolution, then there are no limits to greenwashing.

No one will be troubled by the fact that even before the World Cup and the building of eight new stadiums, the Qataris were world champions in emissions-per-head of climate-damaging gases. The Al-Thani ruling family knows that to cushion the blow, they can just run adverts on Al-Jazeera and other channels declaring the World Cup to be sustainable and boasting that they have planted 5000 trees. After all, didn’t everyone travel to COP27 in Egypt by plane?

Qatar’s rulers know that the global middle classes who travel from one continent to another want theme parks that all look the same. And so they are getting one in Qatar, too. The Qataris are holding a mirror up to the world. And when the world finds itself ugly, it starts yelling and blaming whoever is holding the mirror.

Many of those criticising the whole principle of this event argue that large-scale events such as the FIFA World Cup, the Expo or the Olympic Games are not a good fit for the times we live in. Their criticism is certainly well-meant. But it is too constructive and thus falls victim to its own good intent. The World Cup in Qatar is a perfect fit for our times, like dancing around the golden calf. No one could have come up with a more fitting and accurate spectacle. Its success is already assured, many days before the final.

Stefan Buchen

© Qantara.de 2022

Translated from the German by Ruth Martin

LGBTQ Arabs fear backlash after World Cup 'spotlight'
Agence France-Presse
November 30, 2022

Captains of seven European World Cup teams had planned to wear rainbow-themed 'OneLove' armbands, but backed down ANDRE PAIN AFP/File

With rainbow flags and "OneLove" armbands, World Cup fans have protested against host Qatar's anti-LGBTQ policies, but many queer Arabs fear a Western solidarity push could do more harm than good.

Gestures in support of the local LGBTQ community have unleashed a torrent of homophobia, activists and community members say, creating new risks for people who have long relied on discretion to survive.

"It's not great to live in the shadow, but it's also not great to live under a spotlight," said a 32-year-old entrepreneur from neighboring Gulf nation Bahrain, who requested anonymity for safety concerns.

"The World Cup will end, FIFA will leave, and the hate will continue."

LGBTQ rights in Qatar -- where homosexuality is illegal -- and concerns over the use of the rainbow flag during the World Cup have been a simmering issue ahead of the international tournament that kicked off on November 20.

Captains of seven European football teams had planned to wear rainbow-themed "OneLove" armbands as part of a campaign to embrace diversity, but backed down after a threat of disciplinary action from FIFA.

The well-meaning drive for LGBTQ rights has caused distress for some, the Bahraini entrepreneur said.

"No one from the queer community here has ever been asked about their opinion of what they think the rainbow flag does," he said.

"I am worried about the future."

'Ruining a lot'


The clash playing out in Qatar is the latest example of the unintended backlash generated by Western LGBTQ initiatives in the Muslim majority region.

Earlier this year, US embassies in Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates raised the rainbow flag and posted solidarity messages on social media to mark Pride month.

For the Bahraini entrepreneur, it triggered a scathing response in a region where queer people, citizens and expats alike, prefer to stay under the radar.

"They're ruining a lot of things for people," he said, referring to the Western campaigns.

"I don't necessarily hide who I am and I also don't walk around flying a rainbow flag."

Over the summer, authorities across the Gulf zeroed-in on what they perceived as attempts to encourage homosexuality.

In Saudi Arabia, where same-sex relations are punishable by death, authorities cracked down on rainbow-colored toys and clothing.

In Bahrain, posters went up showing silhouettes of a family under an umbrella, taking shelter as a rainbow flag spilled over them like a downpour.

Meanwhile, Hollywood productions including Disney's "Lightyear" were banned from theaters in several Gulf countries for supposedly promoting same-sex relations.

'From bad to worse'

"Religion remains central in the Gulf, despite relaxing some laws and social restrictions," Saudi researcher Eman Alhussein told AFP.

And the LGBTQ cause "is probably not up for local debate anytime soon", she said.

Alhussein, a non-resident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, said growing Western criticism of anti-LGBTQ policies in the region "has failed to produce change, and is unlikely to do so at least for the short term".

"As many Gulf citizens remain conservative, maintaining some boundaries is seen as crucial to accommodate all segments of society."

Tarek Zeidan, executive director of Lebanon-based Helem -- the Arab world's first officially registered LGBTQ organization -- lamented a "missed opportunity" to bring positive change to the region.


"Obviously we need to have a conversation about human rights despite the efforts of those trying to prevent it," he told AFP.


But "if you care about human rights, lift up the voices of the people who are actually at the receiving end of violence", as opposed to the overwhelming attention on what he called "Western outrage".

Zeidan, who used to live in Qatar, noted a "hardening of positions" around the World Cup, which he said the LGBTQ community would ultimately pay for.

"It's going from bad to worse," said Zeidan.

"The backlash is probably going to be very, very harsh if not deadly," the activist said.


"The coming years are going to be extremely punishing for LGBTQ people in the region."
Qatar World Cup 2022: Palestine 1, Israel 0

Feras Abu Helal
30 November 2022 

The tournament has seen massive demonstrations of support for the Palestinian cause, highlighting the rejection among Arab publics of normalisation with Israel


A fan holds up a 'Free Palestine' scarf in the crowd after the Qatar 2022 World Cup Group D football match between Denmark and Tunisia at the Education City Stadium in Al-Rayyan, west of Doha on 22 November, 2022
(AFP)

During the 48th minute of the Tunisia-Australia match at the World Cup in Qatar last Saturday, Tunisian fans held up a huge flag bearing the words: “Free Palestine.” Moroccan fans did the same the next day during their team’s game against Belgium.

For Palestinians, 48 is a key number in the memory of their national catastrophe. It refers to 1948, the year of the Nakba, when their grandparents were killed and expelled from their homeland to create the state of Israel. Many Arabs use this number to express their love and support for Palestinians.

The shock expressed by Israeli journalists at their own reception ... has further exposed the facade that Israeli politicians have attempted to construct

The displays of Palestinian banners by Tunisian and Moroccan fans came as Israeli TV presenters complained that Arab fans have not welcomed them at the football tournament in Qatar. Numerous videos have shown Arab fans refusing to talk to Israeli channels and expressing their support for Palestinians.

Morocco was among several Arab countries that in 2020 signed US-brokered normalisation deals with Israel. But the news emerging from Doha shows that many Arab fans have given a red card to the so-called Abraham Accords, despite efforts from the UAE and Bahrain to portray the deals as popular.

Since the 2011 Arab Spring and the ensuing counter-revolution, social media has increasingly been policed by authoritarian regimes. Dissidents in Gulf states have been silenced and imprisoned, while troll armies have dictated the political discourse. The Abraham Accords came against a backdrop of unprecedented repression, enabling Gulf powers to portray an imaginary groundswell of support.
Space for expression

Yet, despite this attempt to control the national debate, a recent poll by the Washington Institute showed that an overwhelming majority of people in seven Arab countries - around 80 percent - view the Abraham Accords as “very negative” or “somewhat negative”.

Today, the World Cup in Qatar is providing an open space for Arab peoples - from Morocco in the west to Saudi Arabia in the east - to express themselves about the process of normalisation with Israel. People can say their piece in football bleachers and fan zones, and on the streets.

One viral video shows an Israeli reporter complaining that Arab fans were refusing to speak with him because of his Israeli nationality. Indeed, many videos from Doha’s fan zones have shown Arab attendees shouting at reporters when they realise they are working for Israeli channels.



After Morocco’s normalisation with Israel, the massive display of the Palestinian flag by Moroccan fans during Sunday’s game carried a particularly poignant political message. A video of Moroccan fans at the World Cup singing a powerful, emotional song dedicated to Palestine also gained traction on social media.

Such videos show the true reality of the Arab masses rejecting normalisation deals with Israel, which have been imposed by Arab regimes. The shock expressed by Israeli journalists at their own reception during the tournament has further exposed the facade that Israeli politicians have attempted to construct.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was re-elected earlier this month, built a significant part of his legacy on the claim of creating good relations with Arab countries, without solving the Palestinian conflict. Recently, Netanyahu wrote in Haaretz: “For the past 25 years, we were told repeatedly that peace with other Arab countries would come only after we resolved the conflict with the Palestinians.” Yet, he added, the “road to peace does not run through Ramallah, but rather around it”.
 
Western hypocrisy

Some American commentators and politicians have asserted that the Palestinian issue is no longer important for Arabs, suggesting that Israel can enjoy peace and normal relations with Arab states without solving the Palestinian issue. But recent footage from the World Cup in Qatar belies this claim, showing that while Arab regimes might be on board, the Arab masses are most decidedly not.

Beyond feelings of solidarity towards Palestinians, the close public alliance between Israeli politicians and corrupt Arab dictators has increased hostility towards the Israeli state among Arab publics. Many see the two sides working in tandem to suppress their ambitions and dreams for human rights, dignity, democracy and prosperity.

In a 2019-20 poll by the Arab Centre for Research and Policy Studies, 79 percent of Arab people said the Palestinian cause was an Arab issue, not just a Palestinian one. In the same poll, Israel was seen as the biggest threat to Arab countries, exceeding the US and Iran.


Qatar World Cup: White outrage, colonialism and a game of capitalist greed
Read More »

Yet, while the western media has largely ignored the outpouring of support for Palestinians at the World Cup, a tsunami of coverage has focused on the issues of workers’ rights and LGBTQ+ rights in Qatar. A number of European teams had planned to wear armbands promoting LGBTQ+ rights before Fifa warned that they would receive yellow cards for doing so.

Germany’s interior minister fuelled the debate by wearing an armband in the stands and publishing her picture on Twitter, while German players covered their mouths in protest against the Fifa restrictions in a team photo. But activists have condemned the hypocrisy of these moves when Germany has cracked down on Palestinian activism at home.

Arab football fans and players have a long history of expressing support for Palestine, from chanting supportive songs to displaying slogans in solidarity with Gaza, despite the penalties levied for political messaging. During the current World Cup, one viral video on Arab social media shows a Saudi YouTuber selling flags of different countries, and giving customers an extra Palestinian flag as a gift. Such stories rarely gain attention in the western media.

While Arab fans are often told not to mix sports with politics, European teams and fans have rightly taken the opportunity this year to show support for Ukraine in the wake of Russia’s invasion. Clearly, different standards are applied depending on the cause, highlighting the need for journalists to look beyond the western bubble.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.



Feras Abu Helal is the Editor-in-Chief of Arabi 21 news website.

Middle East Eye delivers independent and unrivalled coverage and analysis of the Middle East, North Africa and beyond. More about MEE can be found here.

Pakistan: Balochistan Suicide Blast Targeting Police Kills 3, Injures Over 20

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing in Pakistan's Balochistan province. The attack comes two days after TTP ended the ceasefire with Pakistani government.


Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) blew up a police truck
 in Balochistan's Quetta's Baleli area 
AP Photo/Arshad Butt

UPDATED: 30 NOV 2022

A suicide bombing in Pakistan's Balochistan province on Wednesday killed three people and injured 23 others, including 20 policemen.

A suicide bomber on Wednesday blew himself near a police truck in Balochistan's Quetta's Baleli area. The truck was carrying security personnel to protect polio workers at an ongoing vaccination drive.

The banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group claimed responsibility for the attack. The attack came just two days after the group announced the end of its ceasefire with Pakistan government and declared the launching of nationwide attacks. The TTP said the attack was in retaliation for the killing of Abdul Wali, also known as Omar Khalid Khurrassni. He was killed in Afghanistan in August.

Pakistan, along with neighbouring Afghanistan, is the only country in the world where polio is still prevalent, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Polio vaccination in Pakistan is often often opposed by religious hardliners. There have been earlier disruptions and attacks on polio workers in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Quetta Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIGP) Ghulam Azfar Mahesar confirmed the attack and said that 20 policemen were injured in the attack.

"Looking at the crime scene and given that the truck toppled, it is estimated that 25 kilograms of explosives were used," said Mahesar, adding that a total of three vehicles were hit in the blast.

Mahesar said that the explosion was a suicide attack as they have found the remains of a suicide bomber near the crime scene.

Preliminary police investigations showed that a rickshaw hit the police truck. Authorities have declared an emergency in the hospitals of Quetta to treat the victims.

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What's TTP, what are its goals?


The Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is a banned Islamist militant group in Pakistan. It's an umbrella organisation formed in 2007. It's often also called Pakistan Taliban.

The TTP's stated objectives are to take control of Pakistan's tribal areas from the Pakistani state and implement its strict interpretation of Islamic law there.

"TTP’s stated objectives are the expulsion of Islamabad’s influence in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and neighboring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province in Pakistan, the implementation of a strict interpretation of sharia throughout Pakistan...TTP leaders also publicly say that the group seeks to establish an Islamic caliphate in Pakistan that would require the overthrow of the Pakistani Government," says US Office of Director of National Intelligence's (DNI) National Counterterrorism Center on TTP.

Praise of polio workers, polio eradication pledge


Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the incident and directed the authorities to initiate an investigation into the attack. He expressed grief and sorrow over the loss of life, according to the state-run Radio Pakistan.

Sharif also said that polio workers across the country were fulfilling their responsibilities without caring for their lives.

"Eliminating polio virus from the country is amongst the top priorities of the government and we will not rest until polio is completely eradicated," said Sharif, asserting that "evil elements" would always fail to harm the anti-polio campaign in the country.

President Dr Arif Alvi also condemned the attack and prayed for the forgiveness of the deceased and the recovery of the injured. He said that children were Pakistan’s most valuable asset and the government was determined to protect them from diseases such as polio.

"The State will not allow anti-social elements to interfere in the mission of complete eradication of polio," he said.

Former Prime Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan also expressed deep grief on the attack and prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured people.

Rising attacks on polio workers

Attacks on workers of the anti-polio vaccination drives in Pakistan have increased in recent times.

In March this year, gunmen in northwestern Pakistan shot and killed a female polio worker as she was returning home after taking part in the country’s latest anti-polio campaign.

In January last year, armed gunmen shot dead a police officer guarding a team of polio vaccine handlers in northwestern Pakistan.

(With PTI inputs)

British classrooms are a battleground for Israeli propaganda

Farrah Koutteineh
30 Nov, 2022

As pro-Israel stances become tougher to sell, those hoping to silence Palestine solidarity have resorted to enforcing a false 'neutrality' on British schoolchildren, writes Farrah Koutteineh.

Students and pro-Palestinian demonstrators take part in a protest march through central London, calling for UK universities to divest from Israeli apartheid on 9 July 2021. [Getty]

Israel’s military assault on Gaza in May 2021, which killed over 260 Palestinians including 66 children, ignited unprecedented outrage all over the world, in a manner that Israel was not quite anticipating. The most unforeseen sites of outrage against Israel’s actions in Gaza were the classrooms and playgrounds of schools across the UK.

British school children from primary and secondary schools were coming out in huge numbers to express their solidarity with Palestine, be it through wearing keffiyehs, waving Palestine flags, holding protests on school grounds, and even making factsheets to educate fellow students on the reality of life under occupation.

This unprecedented solidarity was then met with an almost instant crackdown by school administrations and most notably the former Secretary of Education, Gavin Williamson. In response, school staff up and down the country came under national scrutiny and even legal action for their authoritarian crackdown on students expressing support for Palestine.

By restricting Palestine solidarity, school staff colluded with the national government in undermining these students' fundamental right to freedom of expression in a place that should be encouraging them to express their political opinions in a safe environment, free from intimidation and censorship.

"School staff colluded with the national government in undermining these students' fundamental right to freedom of expression in a place that should be encouraging them to express their political opinions in a safe environment, free from intimidation and censorship"

Staff across the UK were reported to have ripped up students' factsheets and posters, given students detentions, and even barring students from taking important exams, all because these students expressed their fundamental freedom of expression and stood with Palestine.

In a response to the outpouring of Palestine solidarity from British school children, Gavin Williamson, also a prominent member of Conservative Friends of Israel, wrote a letter to every headteacher in the country hypocritically reminding headteachers to maintain a ‘politically impartial’ environment within their own schools.

He then went on to reference three far from impartial organisations for school leaders to contact to broach the topic. All three organisations are staunchly pro-Israel, promote a line of thought that is not at all ‘impartial’, ignore Islamaphobia & anti-Palestinian rhetoric, and don’t have a single Palestinian staff member on any of the organisations’ boards.

One of the problematic organisations referenced was Solutions Not Sides (SNS), an organisation that promotes a ‘two-state solution’ and notions of ‘neutrality’, which are both inherently problematic when the realities on the ground for Palestinians are settler colonialism, occupation and apartheid, a reality void of two equal sides or a call for neutrality.

SNS, a registered charity in England and Wales, claim to offer a “critical approach to education on the Israeli & Palestinian conflict” for the small price of GBP 1000 for a 90 minute session for 20 students at a time, financed by the British taxpayer.

They also offer free resources on their website for teachers to use when addressing the topic of Palestine/Israel in class. This includes a handbook that encourages teachers to dismiss students claims like the claim that Israel is practicing apartheid by telling those students that they have a “simplistic and binary view of the issue”.

No acknowledgements is made that many reputable global human rights organisations like Human Rights Watch, B’Tselem and Amnesty International all have concluded that Israel is committing the crime of apartheid against Palestinians.

SNS resources also encourage teachers to adopt the problematic IHRA definition on anti-Semitism, which equates all criticism with Israel to anti-Semitism, and invites teachers to dismiss students references to Israeli colonialism as “misapplied within the context of Israel”.

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Indeed ‘Solutions Not Sides’ has been strategically designed and deployed to completely distort the reality on the ground in Palestine; it seeks to indoctrinate schoolchildren, often in areas of the UK with Muslim majorities, with the illusion that ‘both sides have suffered’ and it is a ‘conflict’ between two sides of equal standing.

Solutions Not Sides exists to deprive school children, who are as they quote in their own handbook “in their opinion forming years”, of not just an adequate education on what is happening in Palestine, but also of their right to form and express their own opinion.

Jenin, a 14-year-old Palestinian student from a secondary school in South London, recalls a SNS assembly to her class as being one of the most troubling experiences in her school life. Jenin was the only Palestinian student in the assembly and had to sit through racist Palestinian tropes spouted by an Israeli SNS speaker over Zoom, as an ‘icebreaker’ to the assembly.

The SNS speaker then proceeded to tell her classmates to not say ‘Free Palestine’ and to not take sides, but to be neutral. Jenin said she left the assembly feeling both upset and angry.
"But the reality that these organisations obscure is that there are no ‘two sides’ when it comes to apartheid, you can only choose justice"

“The Israeli speaker said she came from Europe to Israel and it’s her home now, but that’s at the cost of displacing Palestinians and stealing Palestinians homes, now I don’t have a home in Palestine, and that wasn’t mentioned, she completely invalidated what Palestinians go through on a daily basis by saying she, as someone who lives in Tel Aviv, goes through the same hardships as a Palestinian living in Gaza under military blockade, which is completely untrue.”

SNS is actually one programme of a far bigger organisation called One Voice. One Voice was founded in 2002 by billionaire Daniel Lubetzky, founder and CEO of the ‘KIND’ franchise, who has previously said the creation of One Voice was one of the best tools to undermine the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which aims to pressure Israel to comply with international law.

An investigation into One Voice revealed that at least 28 of its employees used to serve in the Israeli Occupation Forces, four of its employees simultaneously work in the Israeli government, and its funders include Friends of the IDF, the Conservative Party and The Righteous Person’s Foundation led by Steven Spielberg.

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As mentioned on their own website, SNS has 29 partner organisations it works in conjunction with to spread this disinformation in places of education across the UK. The prolific involvement of the Israeli government in One Voice makes it abundantly clear that there is a coordinated effort to indoctrinate, repress opinions, and enforce a two-state solution narrative upon British schoolchildren.

But the reality that these organisations obscure is that there are no ‘two sides’ when it comes to apartheid, you can only choose justice. Thorough education, compassion and a yearning for justice is what needs to be taught in British schools when it comes to Palestine.


Farrah Koutteineh is head of Public & Legal Relations at the London-based Palestinian Return Centre, and is also the founder of KEY48 - a voluntary collective calling for the immediate right of return of over 7.2 million Palestinian refugees. Koutteineh is also a political activist focusing on intersectional activism including, the Decolonise Palestine movement, indigenous peoples rights, anti-establishment movement, women’s rights and climate justice.

Follow her on Twitter and Instagram: @key48return

Have questions or comments? Email us at: editorial-english@newarab.com

Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff.