Biden advisers in Saudi Arabia for secret oil, Israel normalisation talks: report

White House Middle East coordinator Brett McGurk and State Department energy envoy Amos Hochstein reportedly arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for talks on energy and the potential normalisation of Riyadh's ties with Israel.

The New Arab Staff
25 May, 2022

The Biden administration has softened its approach to relations with Saudi Arabia [Getty-archive]

Two of US President Joe Biden's senior advisers have reportedly paid a secret visit to Saudi Arabia for talks on energy and potential normalisation of Riyadh's ties with Israel.

White House Middle East coordinator Brett McGurk and State Department energy envoy Amos Hochstein arrived in Riyadh on Tuesday for talks with senior Saudi officials, American news outlet Axios reported, citing three current and former US officials as sources.

The meeting is a precursor to a potential visit to Saudi Arabia by Biden himself late next month, Axios said.

Relations between the US and Saudi Arabia have been strained since Biden took office in January 2021.

While running for president, Biden called Saudi Arabia a "pariah" for its alleged role in the death of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered in 2018 at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Saudi Arabia has denied it played any role in Khashoggi's murder.

The US has pressed oil-producing nations to step up production since energy-rich Russia invaded Ukraine in February, to provide countries dependent on energy exports with options other than Moscow an suffocate the Russian economy.

Saudi Arabia has been reluctant to increase its production and aggravate Russia, a key OPEC co-member.

The Biden administration has been quietly mediating between Egypt, Israel and Saudi Arabia to encourage Riyadh to normalise its ties with Tel Aviv, Axios said.

RELATED

US 'brokering deal' between Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel

MENA

The New Arab Staff

While on a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan did not rule out full diplomatic ties with Israel in the future.

"We have always seen normalization as the end result for a path. Normalisation between the region and Israel will bring benefits but we won’t be able to reap those benefits unless we are able to address the issue of Palestine," bin Farhan said.

Biden's softening in his stance towards Saudi Arabia has angered some Democrats, who have said Riyadh's poor human rights record and close ties with China and Russia are of concern.

Four Arab states - Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan and the UAE - signed the Abraham Accords brokered by former US president Donald Trump in 2020.

Other Arab nations have in recent weeks discussed legislation that could make normalisation of ties with Israel illegal.

Report: U.S. secretly mediating deal between Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Egypt

Citing five U.S. and Israeli sources, Axios says deal would see Egypt transfer to Saudi Arabia two Red Sea islands located at a sea passage leading to Israel's port of Eilat; U.S. wants to reach deal during Biden's Mideast trip in June

i24NEWS,Ynet|

Published: 05.24.22, 

The U.S. administration is secretly negotiating a deal between Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Egypt that might lead to a normalization of relations between the Saudi kingdom and the Jewish State, the Axios news outlet reported on Monday.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter

Citing five U.S. and Israeli sources, the report said the U.S. took the leading role in solving the issue of transferring two strategic islands in the Red Sea, Tiran and Sanafir, from Egypt to Saudi Arabia.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House

(Photo: EPA)

In 1950, Saudi Arabia handed over the control of the islands to Egypt, however, they became demilitarized as part of the 1979 Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty, the daily reported. Today, the two islands in the Red Sea control the Straits of Tiran – a strategic sea passage to the ports of Aqaba in Jordan and Eilat in Israel.

The negotiations among the different parties continues, and no agreement has yet been signed. One of the key issues is the question of a multinational force of observers, the sources told Axios.

Saudia Arabia agreed to keep the islands demilitarized and maintain full freedom of navigation for all ships, however, it wanted to end the presence of multinational observers. Additionally, Israeli officials agreed on ending the observers' presence but required similar security arrangements as seen today.

The flags of the United States, Israel, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain projected in Jerusalem's in honor of the Abraham Accords

(Photo: Reuters)

Please Advise! Big Games in Alberta and Florida, No?

Indeed, we’re on the eve of desperate showdowns. There’s also some hockey being played.

Steve Burgess

17 May 2022

TheTyee.ca
Steve Burgess writes about politics and culture for The Tyee. 

Read his previous articles.

Let the battles begin! Who can withstand this onslaught of belaboured hockey metaphors? 

Photo via Wikimedia.


[Editor’s note: Steve Burgess is an accredited spin doctor with a PhD in Centrifugal Rhetoric from the University of SASE, situated on the lovely campus of PO Box 7650, Cayman Islands. In this space he dispenses PR advice to politicians, the rich and famous, the troubled and well-heeled, the wealthy and gullible.]

Dear Dr. Steve,

Finalists are named for Canada’s prestigious National Magazine Awards and Digital Publishing Awards.

The Battle of Alberta is about to begin, as is the Battle of Florida. Can you offer a preview?

Signed

Old Sport


Dear Sporty,

That depends. The Battle of Alberta, pitting Edmonton against Calgary, will be hard-fought and closely scrutinized by professional referees who will ensure the rules are respected and fairness results. But that’s just if you mean hockey. Otherwise the Battle of Alberta will be like a prison fight with homemade knuckle dusters and shivs made of sharpened toothbrushes. A hockey game is a pillow fight by comparison.

Representing Calgary in this true Battle of Alberta is Premier Jason Kenney who faces a UCP leadership review on Wednesday. Votes are in the mail but already a video review is in the works.

Elections Alberta has received a complaint of bulk ballot-buying, with over 4,600 UCP memberships being purchased using only eight credit cards. However this is not unusual, if you are a seahorse. Seahorses can give birth to as many as 2,000 offspring at a time and whether they are picking up a quick snack at Gilly’s Krill Grill or buying UCP memberships, it’s Mom and Dad who foot the bill. (Some will point out that you don’t see many seahorses in Alberta, to which a seahorse might answer, “Yes, and at these aquarium prices you won’t see many more.”) Anyway, enough quibbling about who is bulk-buying from whom. The real issue is creeping socialism.

To belabour the hockey metaphor — and that’s what we do here — Wednesday’s vote isn’t really the equivalent of the Flames–Oilers face-off. That’s still to come with Rachel Notley suiting up for Edmonton in the next provincial election. Wednesday is more about whether to fire the coach. Unlike the Flames, Kenney won’t be able to claim a narrow victory with a thrilling overtime goal either. If the result is not lopsided, he could find himself facing a player’s strike. Some of his team could even end up playing for Buffalo — that is, the newly formed Buffalo Party of Alberta. The, umm, chips are down.

Hockey-wise it’s been an interesting season. The Calgary Flames just won a tough series against the Dallas Stars, which had to be difficult for Premier Kenney. Surely his loyalties must have been torn — Kenney has got to be a secret Texan. He probably downloaded the Gov. Greg Abbott filter on Instagram. It’s traditional for political leaders to make a friendly bet on the outcome of such contests, with the loser agreeing to wear the winner’s team jersey or something.

Kenney probably wanted to swap jobs instead. How the Alberta premier must sigh as he contemplates running a state where the governor can first pose like a defiant Spartan on the Mexican border, and then fight the greedy migrant babies stealing milk from the mouths of helpless American children. Paradise.

Then there’s the Battle of Florida, which on the ice means the Florida Panthers against the Tampa Bay Lightning, and off the ice means Gov. Ron DeSantis against Mickey Mouse — or for that matter Gov. DeSantis vs. 21st century concepts of human dignity.



So Kenney Just Noticed He Has Too Many ‘Kooky People’ in His Party

READ MORE

Ron DeSantis is like a cat who has figured out how to work door knobs and realizes that everything is now possible. In the penumbra of the Trump era, DeSantis has come to understand that there are no depths too low for Republican voters. Today he fights Disney for refusing to countenance homophobia; tomorrow perhaps for failing to segregate drinking fountains. Who knows? For Florida Republicans it appears there is no bottom (except the one you have to kiss at Mar-a-Lago).

In such times playoff hockey comes as a blessed relief. It’s wonderful to relax into that familiar world where the home team’s goals are announced like the discovery of insulin and the opposition’s like the disclaimers at the end of prescription drug commercials, a world where transgressions have consequences and the numbers on the scoreboard actually mean something. Not to mention a world where you can find ice in Florida — proof, as Gov. DeSantis might say, that climate change is just another liberal myth. Close the drapes and enjoy the game.

Canadian ice hockey star responds to racist and Islamophobic abuse after win

Nazem Kadri said the 'hurtful' attacks against his family needed to stop

A St Louis Blues fan can be seen sticking out his middle finger at Nazem Kadri 

at a game between the Blues and Colorado Avalanche (AFP)

By MEE staff
Published date: 25 May 2022 

Canadian ice hockey star Nazem Kadri has received death threats and Islamophobic abuse on social media following an accidental collision with another player in the second round playoffs of the Stanley Cup.

Kadri, who plays for Colorado Avalanche, received a deluge of abuse on Saturday after he was involved in a collision in Game Three which led to the injury of St Louis Blues starting goalkeeper Jordan Binnington.

Following the collision, for which he was not penalised, Kadri received a flood of abuse on social media which his wife shared on her Instagram page following Game Four, on Monday.

"Great game tonight, very proud of Nazem. But I want to shine light on what the last 48 hours has looked like for us as a family," Kadri's wife wrote on top of screengrabs of messages from apparent Blues fans. The messages included death threats and derogatory comments about Kadri's Muslim faith.

"This behavior doesn't belong in sports, or anywhere. If you are not condemning racism, then you are tolerating it," she wrote.

Kadri was booed every time he touched the puck in Game Four at St. Louis, where there was a heightened police presence due to the situation.

The NHL told the Associated Press news agency that it was working with the St Louis Police Department to implement enhanced security measures at the arena and in the team hotel.

Killing of Muslim family shows Canada is not a multicultural haven, experts say

Read More »

"For those who hate, that was for them," Kadri said after Game Four - which saw him score a hat trick in a 6-3 win. That victory put Avalanche just one win away from the Western Conference finals. Game Five is scheduled for later on Wednesday.

"I know what was said isn’t a reflection on every single fan in St Louis. I understand that, and I want to make that clear," Kadri said in a post-game press conference. "But for those that wasted their time sending messages like that, I feel sorry for them.

"People need to be aware that this stuff still happens and it's hurtful. It's hurtful," he said. "At the end of the day I'm a good hockey player and I just try to provide for my team and try to put all of that aside. I just worry about some people that maybe aren't as mentally tough as I am and have to go through that scrutiny and that criticism. So I want to do the best I can to help."

Avalanche coach Jared Bednar was full of praise for Kadri, calling him "a big boy, a tough guy, and a resilient guy".

"We're proud of him as a group and we have a task that we're trying to complete, and Naz understands that - and it's unfortunate he has to deal with it and he knows that we're all with him and that’s what we care about."

Muslim communities across Canada are facing a rising wave of anti-Islam sentiment, with a spate of break-ins and vandalism targeting mosques across the country.

Four members of a Muslim family were killed in a "premeditated" attack in July, when Nathaniel Veltman mounted the curb and ploughed his truck into the Afzaal family.

In 2020, a report submitted to the UN special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief showed that more than half of Canadians believed Muslims could not be trusted, while 47 percent supported banning headscarves in public - compared with 30 percent of Americans - and 51 percent supported government surveillance of mosques, compared with 46 percent of Americans.

The study also found that 46 percent of Canadians believed the discrimination faced by Muslims was their own fault.

Muslims number slightly more than 1 million, or 3.2 percent of Canada's population, according to the country's last census, more than double any other visible minority.

ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY

Egypt issued highest number of death sentences worldwide in 2021

Middle East and North African countries carried out most global executions last year, Amnesty International said

People take part in a demonstration against death penalties in Egypt in front of the Egyptian consulate in Istanbul in March 2019 (AFP)

By MEE staff
Published date: 25 May 2022

Egypt sentenced at least 356 people to death in 2021, becoming the world’s top issuer of death sentences, Amnesty International said in its annual report.

The British rights group documented 520 executions in seven countries in the Middle East and North Africa, out of a total 579 recorded globally, with an increase of 19 percent compared to 2020.

China is believed to have carried out the most known executions in the world last year, followed by Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Syria.

The data does not include executions carried out in China, believed to have carried out hundreds, or from North Korea and Vietnam, as these countries do not release data on the death penalty, Amnesty said.

The death sentences in the Middle East were mostly issued following proceedings that lacked due process, Amnesty said.

Iran executed the highest number of women globally (14) followed by Egypt (8) Saudi Arabia (1) and the US (1).

Iran executed at least 314 people (up from at least 246 in 2020), its highest number of executions since 2017, the report added. In Saudi Arabia, recorded executions increased from 27 to 65.

By the end of 2021, more than two thirds of the world’s countries had abolished the death penalty in law or practice, Amnesty said.

Iran's execution rate is followed by Egypt (at least 83) and Saudi Arabia (65) – accounting for 80 percent of executions worldwide.

Iran used the death penalty disproportionately against minorities, for charges such as “enmity against God” and “as a tool of political repression,” Amnesty said.

The death penalty in Egypt continued to be imposed on the basis of testimonies extracted after torture, the report said.

Israel arrested 1,228 Palestinians in April: report

Qassam Muaddi
West Bank

24 May, 2022

Around 4,650 Palestinians are held in Israeli jails,

 including 170 minors and 32 women according to

 human rights groups. 

[Qassam Muaddi/TNA]


Israeli forces arrested 1,228 Palestinians in April, including 156 minors and 11 women, Palestinian prisoners' support organizations said in a joint statement on Monday.

The month of April witnessed the highest rate of arrests by Israeli forces since the beginning of the year, the statement released by the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, Addameer Association for Prisoners' Support, the Palestinian Higher Commission for Prisoners Affairs and the Wadi Hilweh Information Centre in Jerusalem said.

The statement specified that during the same period, Israeli forces issued 68 new administrative detention orders and 86 renewal orders of current administrative detentions.

"This can be explained by the escalation of events in April, especially in Jenin and Jerusalem," Ayah Shreiteh, the spokesperson for the Palestinian Prisoners' Club told The New Arab.

"The number includes the hundreds of Palestinians arrested during the Israeli settlers' storming of the Al-Aqsa compound in the holy month of Ramadan," Shreiteh noted.

Israeli police arrested 781 Palestinians during the month of Ramadan at the Al-Aqsa compound, according to figures released by the Israeli Knesset earlier in May.

The Palestinian detainees' Families' Committee in Jerusalem had previously told The New Arab that over half of the detainees at Al-Aqsa during Ramadan have been released.

On Monday, the Israeli army announced that it had arrested 11 Palestinians during several raids across the West Bank. Palestinian sources also documented 11 injuries.

"Two youngsters were injured in their backs by rubber bullets," Mahdi Hamdan, a local resident of the village of Jifna, north of Ramallah, told The New Arab.

"The Israeli army also confiscated several security cameras but did not arrest anyone in the village, but continued their way to Birzeit [1km away] and arrested a university student," Hamdan added.

Abdallah Allolu, an undergraduate student at Birzeit University, was among the detainees, the Prisoners' Club affirmed.

Israeli forces also arrested two Palestinians in their twenties in the villages of Rummanah and Zababdeh near Jenin, after confrontations with local youth, in which one Palestinian was injured.

Further arrests were carried out in the Balata refugee camp in Nablus, in the village of Taqwa, near Bethlehem, and in southern Hebron.

Over one million Palestinians have been arrested by Israeli forces since 1967. Currently, around 4,650 Palestinians remain in Israeli jails, including 170 minors, 32 women and 600 administrative detainees, held without charges, according to human rights groups.

Joint Statement - Justice for Salah Hamouri

On the morning of March 7th, 2022, the Israeli army penetrated the home of French-Palestinian lawyer Salah Hamouri and placed him under administrative detention.


Click to expand Image
Salah Hamouri. © Elsa Lefort

May 24, 2022 

For the past 20 years, Salah Hamouri has been persistently harassed by the Israeli authorities, suffering multiple detentions, restrictions on his freedom of movement and separation from his wife and children.

Today, he is held without charge and faces forcible deportation from his homeland.

Amnesty International France, ACAT-France, the FIDH, Human Rights Watch and many other civil society organisations, call upon the French authorities to join them in defending this French citizen.

We must act to terminate his administrative detention.

We must act to prevent his deportation from Jerusalem, his city of birth and residence.

We must act to enable his wife, banned from entering Israeli territory until 2025, to visit her husband and communicate with him.

We must act to ensure that the Israeli Ministry of Interior examines their family reunification request, submitted repeatedly, to allow this family to live together.

And finally, at the start of a new presidential term, we must act to demonstrate France’s attachment to human rights.

The harassment of Salah Hamouri and his family must end! We count on the French authorities to ensure that the rights of this French citizen, lawyer, and human rights defender, are no longer violated.

Signatories : ACAT, Amnesty International France, CFDT, CGT, Confédération paysanne, FIDH, Fédération Syndicale Unitaire (FSU), Human Rights Watch, Plateforme des ONG Françaises pour la Palestine, Solidaires, Syndicat des avocats de France (SAF), Union nationale des étudiants de France (UNEF)

West Bank: Israeli forces kill Palestinian teenager in Nablus amid rising settler violence

ASSISSINATED BY IDF SNIPER WITH KILL SHOT

The Palestinian health ministry says Gaith Yamin, 

16, died of a bullet to the head

Gaith Yamin, 16, was fatally shot in the head by Israeli forces on 25 May 2022

 (Twitter)

By MEE staff
Published date: 25 May 2022

Israeli forces shot and killed a 16-year-old Palestinian on Wednesday in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, the Palestinian health ministry said.

The ministry identified the teen as Gaith Yamin, who it said was shot in the head in the vicinity of Joseph's Tomb.

Israeli settlers, protected by soldiers, arrived at the tomb early on Wednesday and were confronted by Palestinian residents who object to their presence in the city.

The Israeli army violently dispersed the Palestinian crowds, firing live ammunition, rubber-coated steel bullets and teargas.

At least 80 Palestinians were wounded, according to Palestinian medics. Most of the injuries were caused by rubber-coated steel bullets.


The Israeli army said it responded with live fire to hundreds of Palestinians who hurled rocks and petrol bombs at soldiers while they escorted settlers to Joseph's Tomb.

The shrine, revered by Muslims and Jews, is a regular flashpoint between Palestinians and Israelis.

The Palestinian education ministry condemned the killing in a statement and stressed the need "to deter the occupation and hold it accountable for its heinous crimes".

Israeli forces have killed more than 50 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank this year, including many teenagers and prominent journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

On Saturday, Amjad al-Fayed, 17, was killed by Israeli forces during a raid in Jenin.
Settler attacks

The killing of Yamin comes amid a wave of settler violence against Palestinians in Nablus, located in the northern region of the West Bank.

On Tuesday night, several attacks on Palestinian civilians and properties were reported by local media in the towns of Huwara, Burqa, Urif and Burin.

At least six people were injured and damage was recorded to vehicles and shops, according to the Palestinian news website Arab48.

Rising settler violence against Palestinians in Burqa reignites struggle over landRead More »

Settler violence across the West Bank has seen an “alarming” rise since 2021, according to United Nations experts.

Some 370 settler attacks that led to damage to property were recorded in 2021 and a further 126 assaults caused casualties.

Violence carried out by settlers includes the use of live fire, physical assaults, arson attacks and uprooting of olive trees.

This year, more than 541 injuries to Palestinians caused by settlers were documented so far, of which 217 were in Nablus alone.

Around 16 of those injuries were caused by live ammunition. At least one Palestinian was killed by an Israeli settler this year.

There are more than 600,000 settlers who live in over 200 settlements across the West Bank and East Jerusalem, in breach of international law.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Americans Must Demand an Independent Investigation of Shireen Abu Akleh’s Killing

BY PHYLLIS BENNIS – RICHARD FALK

 MAY 26, 2022
Facebook

TwitterRedditEmail

Shireen Abu Akleh was a seasoned al-Jazeera correspondent for the past 25 years. She was known and respected throughout the Arab world for her brave, honest reporting of the Palestinian struggle.

On May 11, she was shot and killed while covering an Israeli raid on the Palestinian refugee camp outside Jenin.

Abu Akleh’s killing in the Israeli-occupied West Bank was shocking, but hardly unusual. According to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, she was the 86th journalist to be killed while covering Israeli oppression since Israel first occupied the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem in 1967.

But her killing is part of a longer pattern of Israeli violence and collective punishment — not just against journalists but against all Palestinians — committed with impunity and rationalized by trumped up “security” concerns.

The depth of this abuse was again made shockingly visible after the killing itself, when Israeli police attacked the funeral procession carrying Shireen’s body to the church. They threw Palestinian flags to the ground and violently beat mourners — including the pallbearers, who nearly dropped the casket.

The killing of Shireen and the assault on the funeral procession demonstrated once again the structural nature of Israeli racism and violence against Palestinians. As Amnesty International describes it, Israel’s “regular violations of Palestinians’ rights are not accidental repetitions of offenses, but part of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination.”

There’s no serious question that Abu Akleh was deliberately killed by an Israeli sniper. She was wearing a helmet and a blue protective vest marked “PRESS” and surrounded by other journalists when the group was fired on. She was shot in the head and killed. Another Palestinian journalist was shot and seriously injured.

As so often happens, Israeli officials immediately tried to blame the Palestinians. Israeli officials from Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on down made unconvincing claims that Palestinian gunmen were responsible for the killing. Within hours, fieldworkers for the Israeli human rights organization B’tselem easily refuted the Israeli claims.

By the time Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with his Israeli counterpart Benny Gantz on May 17, Tel Aviv had largely pulled back from its claims of Palestinian culpability. The Israeli press claimed that Gantz had indicated Israel welcomed an investigation of Shireen’s killing.

But that claim (unmentioned in the Pentagon’s read-out of the meeting) flew in the face of reports that Israel had already decidedit would not investigate, because questioning Israeli soldiers as potential suspects “would provoke opposition and controversy within the IDF and in Israeli society in general.”

Such a pattern of denial is but one aspect of a broader pattern of oppression that is much more pervasive.

Israel itself makes no secret of this. The country’s own Basic Law of 2018 explicitly gives only Jewish citizens of Israel, not Palestinian citizens, the right of self-determination.

Amnesty and Human Rights Watch, along with B’tselem, have concluded that this pattern constitutes the crime of apartheid. This international crime, and its associated human rights violations and war crimes, has continued for decades while political, diplomatic, economic, and military support from the United States goes forward unconditionally.

Washington sends more than $3.8 billion every year directly to the Israeli military, most of it used to purchase U.S.-made weapons systems, ammunition, and more. This makes the U.S. complicit in Israel’s criminal wrongdoing.

So what needs to happen now?

International engagement is crucial. The International Criminal Court has the authority to add the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh and attacks on Palestinian journalists to its existing investigations of alleged Israeli crimes. A variety of UN bodies could also respond by issuing reports that offer policy recommendations.

Calls for an independent, credible investigation need to include a focus on United States responsibility.

Biden administration officials and some members of Congress have called for an investigation of Abu Akleh’s killing. That’s welcome, but hardly sufficient. Israel has a long history of conducting its own investigations, and virtually all result in impunity for Israeli military forces. High-ranking military officials and political decision makers are never even scrutinized.

We in the United States should insist on more.

Why? Above all, because our own tax dollars pay for 20 percent of Israel’s entire military budget. The bullet or the gun used to kill Shireen could have even been purchased from U.S. weapons manufacturers with our own money.

If that’s the case, we need to know — because U.S. laws prohibit it.

The Leahy Law’s restrictions on military aid is unequivocal: “No assistance shall be furnished,” it says, “to any unit of the security forces of a foreign country if the Secretary of State has credible information that such unit has committed a gross violation of human rights.”

Credible information, including from Israel’s leading human rights organization and five respected journalists standing with Shireen Abu Akleh when she was killed, indicates she was shot in cold blood. If that isn’t sufficient, the State Department should propose an independent, UN-based fact-finding team to prepare a report.

Militarism is on the rise, both in the U.S. and around the world. Maybe the brutal killing of Shireen Abu Akleh, a U.S. citizen as well as a proud Palestinian born in Jerusalem — and the police attack on mourners grieving her death — will provide an impetus toward rethinking Washington’s unconditional support of Israeli lawlessness.

Phyllis Bennis directs the New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies and serves on the national board of Jewish Voice for Peace. She’s the author of Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Primer.

Richard Falk is the Albert G. Milbank Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University and a former UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. He lives in Santa Barbara.

SEE

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for Shireen Abu Akleh 

Shireen Abu Akleh's killing: A culture of impunity is the norm in Israel's occupation


In-depth: The decision not to investigate the Palestinian journalist's killing reflects a culture of impunity for the systemic violence required to maintain Israel's military occupation.

Ali Adam
23 May, 2022

The killing of veteran journalist Shireen Abu Akleh shocked Palestinians and led to an outpouring of grief, but the subsequent whitewashing of Israel’s accountability for her killing held few surprises.

Faced with widespread condemnation after her death, Israel initially resorted to blaming Palestinians for her killing by circulating video footage showing gunmen firing indiscriminately in Jenin.

Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem quickly debunked the Israeli army’s narrative, proving that the video was in a location far from where Abu Akleh was killed, forcing Israeli authorities to backtrack on their claim.

"It was never an understatement to say that international impunity for Israel is the backbone of the occupation"

Senior Israeli army officers then switched to a different but familiar narrative; that a soldier from an elite IDF unit may have ‘accidentally’ shot her, suggesting that there were armed Palestinians in the vicinity of Abu Akleh when soldiers opened fire.

Palestinian eyewitnesses and journalists at the scene reject this. They say that Shireen and her colleagues were clearly identifiable as journalists and were wearing flak jackets and helmets marked PRESS. There were no clashes in the area at the time, they said.

Recent video footage of the last few seconds prior to the incident confirms this. The video shows relative calm in the area, with the Al-Jazeera team, among other people, casually walking around and talking when they were targeted.

RELATED

Shireen Abu Akleh and Israel's disinformation playbook

Analysis

Marc Owen Jones

In the end, last week Israel’s military announced that it was not planning an investigation into Abu Akleh’s killing on the grounds that there is no suspicion of a criminal act. Case closed.

“Israeli investigations into its own crimes have always been little more than public relations stunts staged for damage control following a crime that caused a massive blow to Israel’s standing among its Western allies, but with no real intentions to enforce accountability,” Muhammad Shehada, from the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, told The New Arab.

“But what Israel has found over the years, and especially the past few years, is that no matter how much it escalates its illegal and criminal actions against the Palestinians, Western, and especially American, support remains the same,” he added.

Israeli human rights group Yesh Din condemned Israel’s response, saying the army’s own law enforcement mechanisms are no longer even pretending to give the appearance of investigating.

“Israel didn’t even bother to stage the usual stunt of a full investigation into the killing of Shireen. You only need PR stunts when you have conditional support from your allies,” Shehada added.

“It was never an understatement to say that international impunity for Israel is the backbone of the occupation.”

The decision not to investigate Shireen Abu Akleh’s killing is consistent with Israel’s record over the decades. [Getty]

A history of impunity

For Palestinians, the decision by Israel not to investigate Shireen Abu Akleh’s killing is consistent with Israel’s record over the decades, whether with journalists or civilians.

In April 2018, journalist Yasser Murtaja was shot by an Israeli sniper as he covered Gaza’s borders protests. He was also wearing a press jacket when he was shot.

Faced with outrage over his murder, the Israeli government alleged that Murtaja was a member of Hamas’ military wing, a charge that didn’t hold given that a month before his killing he was offered a grant by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) which said that its vetting process found no ties to militant activities.

Ultimately, no one was brought to justice.

"Israel sees the brutal force it exacts against Palestinians as a necessity to maintain its military occupation regime over millions of Palestinians"

Similarly, Fadel Shanaa, a Palestinian cameraman for Reuters, was killed in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza in 2008, when an Israeli tank opened fire on him and his crew. Shanaa was also wearing body armour that identified him as a journalist. Israel conducted an investigation and exonerated its troops.

But it’s not only journalists. Palestinian medic Razan Najjar was killed by the Israeli army while she was trying to evacuate the wounded during Gaza’s border protests in 2018.

She held up her hands as she approached the injured near the border fence and was clearly wearing a white medical vest. Israeli soldiers shot her in the chest.

Israel’s military subsequently tried to insinuate that she was being used as a ‘human shield’ by Hamas. Again, no Israeli soldier was held accountable.

RELATED

The human cost of Israel's war on Gaza

In-depth

Khuloud Rabah Sulaiman

Perhaps the most high-profile incident in recent years was the killing of Abdul Fatah al-Sharif, 21, in Hebron by Israeli soldier Elor Azaria. Caught on camera shooting the injured man in the head from close range, the incident provoked widespread condemnation.

However, after serving nine months in military jail he was pardoned and released, going on to become a hero for many in Israel’s right-wing circles and a local celebrity.

During the Second Intifada the killing of Rachel Corrie also garnered international attention. The American peace activist was crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer while protesting the demolition of a Palestinian home in Gaza.

After years of campaigning by her family and high-profile hearings, Israel’s Supreme Court in 2015 upheld a decision which invoked the ‘combat activities exception’, which exempts the Israeli military from liability during ‘wartime activity’.

"Only 0.7% of complaints against Israeli soldiers filed by Palestinians lead to indictments. Over 80% of cases are closed without a criminal investigation ever taking place"

Palestinians are more than aware that these well-known cases of impunity are the norm. Data collected by Israeli rights group Yesh Din shows that only 0.7% of complaints against Israeli soldiers filed by Palestinians lead to indictments.

Over 80% of cases are closed without a criminal investigation ever taking place.

Citing the failure of Israel’s army in bringing soldiers to justice, Israeli human rights group B’Tselem announced in 2016 that it would stop filing complaints of abuse altogether, as they cause more harm than good to Palestinian plaintiffs.

“Israel’s history of conducting investigations into its army’s crimes shows that they are not meant to seek accountability, but rather to grant blanket impunity to its soldiers,” Shehada said.

“These criminal actions are not outliers, they’re an everyday reality for the Palestinians, and everyday practices of the Israeli military occupation. And they’re not individuals’ behaviour, they’re meticulously designed state behaviour,” he added.

“Israel sees the brutal force it exacts against Palestinians as a necessity to maintain its military occupation regime over millions of Palestinians.”

Ali Adam is a journalist and researcher whose work focuses on issues linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Follow him on Twitter @_AliAdam_

Shireen Abu Akleh's killing is just the tip of the iceberg in Israel's war on journalism

While the assassination of Shireen Abu Akleh shocked the world, it was far from an aberration in Israel's fight to contain the truth and control the narrative about its human rights abuses, writes Lowkey.

Lowkey
25 May, 2022

Demonstrators gather in Paris as part of worldwide protests against the assassination of Shireen Abu Akleh by Israeli forces. Abu Akleh was the 55th journalists to be killed since 2000. [Getty]

The violent spectacle of Shireen Abu Akleh’s killing at the hands of Israeli occupation forces has exposed Israel’s multi-faceted war against journalism, and its fight to prevent the truth about its crimes from being exposed. As often is the case, it starts with the Palestinians but doesn’t end there.

The shockwaves from the 5.56 mm bullet that hit the exposed part of Shireen’s head under her press helmet continue to reverberate around the world. Her killing must not be decontextualised and separated from Israel’s wider machine targeting courageous journalists pursuing truth, whether in Palestine or elsewhere.

The morbid truth is that in the tortured logic of apartheid PR, Shireen Abu Akleh is more dangerous to the Zionist project dead than alive. It is rare that Israel is actually forced to battle the ghosts of its crimes, but Shireen will be one such ghost.

Her name is now known by millions who can’t speak the language she so diligently reported in for almost 30 years, but it must not be exceptionalised. The name Shireen Abu Akleh stands on a proud list of martyrs, who despite clothing publicly identifying them as press, were killed by Israeli occupation forces.

"The name Shireen Abu Akleh stands on a proud list of martyrs, who despite clothing publicly identifying them as press, were killed by Israeli occupation forces"

Systematic targeting of journalists

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate documented 870 violations by the occupation against journalists in 2021, but Israel’s targeting of journalists goes back decades. According to the Palestinian Journalists’ Union, 55 Palestinian journalists have been killed by Israel over the since the turn of the century.

The name of Shireen Abu Akleh must be held high along others like Yasser Murtaja who was killed covering the Great March of Return from Gaza by an Israeli sniper, as well as Nazih Darwazeh, Basil Farraj, Ahmed Abu Hussein, Fadel Shana, Issam Tillawi, Khaled Reyadh Hamad, Mahmoud al-Kumi and James Miller, all killed by Israeli forces despite being clearly identified as press by their clothing.

Reporters Without Borders asserts that at least 144 Palestinian journalists have been seriously injured by Israeli forces since 2018, with methods of repression ranging from live ammunition to rubber coated steel bullets, to batons, stun grenades and teargas.

Another disturbing way in which Israel suppresses journalism is through the prosecuting of Palestinian journalists with the claim that their work is tantamount to incitement. Between 2015 and 2018, almost 500 Palestinians were arrested by occupation forces on charges of incitement merely for things they posted on social media. Many of them were journalists and some were even children.

It is believed there are 15 Palestinian journalists currently in occupation jails for supposed incitement. Several of these journalists are being held in administrative detention, which has no fixed period and can last as long as a year and six months. Lawyers have claimed that the sentences of imprisonment for social media posts can be affected by how well received they are online, and in some cases the more likes a post attracts the longer the prison sentence is.

Controlling the narrative beyond Palestine

According to the International Middle East Media Centre, any foreign journalist who attempts to report from occupied Palestine is “required to register with the Israeli military.” It is also asserted that “any footage they film is required to go through the Israeli Military Censor’s office” before it can be used outside. But the fluidity of the internet has provided ways around this totalitarian arrangement.

The NSO Group, which gave birth to the Pegasus Spyware, is described by the Jerusalem Post as an “informal arm of the Israeli government.” It was founded by IDF Military Intelligence Unit 8200 alumni and has exported its spyware to many different states across the world. This spyware has been used to target thousands of journalists from major newspapers and channels.

RELATED

Shireen Abu Akleh and the silencing of Palestine resistance

Voices

Randa Abdel-Fattah

The question that remains in contention is to what extent the NSO Group has access to the information obtained when other states use Pegasus to invade the privacy of journalists and human rights activists. Court documents reveal that Cherie Blair, a supposed human rights lawyer who sits on the Advisory Board of the NSO Group, was made aware by the company that the ruler of Dubai had hacked his ex-wife’s phone through use of Pegasus, and then passed on this information to the target.

If NSO has no access to the information Pegasus is used to obtain by other governments, how exactly would Blair be made aware of this? If NSO does, in fact, have access to the data procured using its spyware, that means an arm of the Israeli government was present in the phones of at least 50,000 people, including thousands of journalists, worldwide.

A key part of Israel’s war against journalism operations in the UK is the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM), which is bankrolled by a scion of arms manufacturing family, Poju Zublodawicz. His father founded Soltam Systems, which went on to be subsumed into Israel’s largest arms giant, Elbit Systems.

Protesters hold press vests with names of journalists killed by Israeli forces during a demonstration against the murder of Shireen Abu Akleh outside the BBC office in London on May 14, 2022. [Getty]

The organisation is headed by a current reserve in the IDF and previous employee of the Israeli PM office Richard Pater. BICOM is focused on inserting a pro-Israel narrative into media coverage in Britain. It employs numerous politicians and journalists to advocate for its interests in the public sphere. It has worked extensively with US lobby group AIPAC on “developing grassroots networks” and has coordinated with the Israeli Embassy on anti-BDS campaigns in Britain.

One journalist who works closely with BICOM is the City Editor of the Daily Mail, Alex Brummer, who can factually be described as an Israel lobbyist. Simultaneous to his role at the Daily Mail, he chairs an organisation called the Abraham Initiatives, which is funded by the Israeli Ministry of Justice.

According to the Abraham Initiatives Trustees Report, it exists to "advance synergy between Israeli bodies & respective agencies & institutions in the UK." In addition to his role there, Brummer is also a Vice-President of the Board of Deputies, which also asserts in its 2020 Trustees Report that it has a “close working relationship with the Israeli Embassy in the UK and strengthened links with the Ministry of Strategic Affairs and the IDF.”

"This is the lesson from history: there is no justice possible in this malignant system, only a careful management of injustice and the arrogantly curated containment of righteous indignation"

Lessons from history

The treatment of mourners at Shireen Abu Akleh’s funeral, which so deeply shocked the insufferable pro-Israel liberals across English language media, while a horrific spectacle, was not an aberration for Israeli occupation forces (IOF). Lina Abu Akleh, the niece of Shireen, told me in my interview with her this week that she was “threatened personally” by the IOF with physical attack at the funeral.

Less than a year before Shireen’s killing, the IOF shot and killed Shawkat Khalil Awad at the funeral of a 12 year-old child, Mohammad al-Alaama, they had shot dead just the day before. None of this violence is new, it just appears more shorn of its pretensions than ever before.

Another lesson from history, which may be particularly harsh, is the killing of the US citizen, Rachel Corrie, in Gaza by an IOF driven bulldozer in 2003. As it did with Shireen, who was also a US citizen, the US government proceeded in the aftermath to whisper sweet nothings in hopes of containing the pulsations of rage from those mourning and demanding justice.]

The company that manufactured the bulldozer, Caterpillar, then hired the private intelligence company C2i to infiltrate the campaign and spy on Rachel's parents as they struggled for justice.

This is the lesson from history: there is no justice possible in this malignant system, only a careful management of injustice and the arrogantly curated containment of righteous indignation. Israel’s war against journalism will only escalate from here.

Lowkey is a British-Iraqi hip hop artist, academic and political campaigner. He is a patron of Stop The War Coalition, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Racial Justice Network and The Peace and Justice Project founded by Jeremy Corbyn. His latest album Soundtrack To The Struggle 2 featured Noam Chomsky, Frankie Boyle and Ken Loach and has been streamed millions of times.

Follow him on Twitter: @Lowkey0nline

Have questions or comments? Email us at: editorial-english@alaraby.co.uk

Opinions expressed here are the author's own, and do not necessarily reflect those of their employer, or of The New Arab and its editorial board or staff.

SEE

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for Shireen Abu Akleh