IRELAND
‘It's a war on the Palestinian people now’ – Micheál Martin condemns latest bombing that killed 40 in Gaza



Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli airstrike on a crowded tent camp housing Palestinians displaced by the war in Muwasi, Gaza Strip. Photo: AP


Conor FeehanToday at 04:16



Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin has condemned the latest bombing which has killed 40 people in Gaza, and said the level of violence there is the worst the UN Secretary General has ever seen.


Gaza's civil defence agency has said an Israeli strike on a humanitarian zone in the south of the Palestinian territory killed 40 and wounded over 60.

The Israeli army has claimed it had targeted a Hamas command centre in the Al-Mawasi area in Gaza's southern city of Khan Younis which was previously designated a safe zone by the Israeli military early in the war.

A civil defence spokesman has said entire families have disappeared in the attack which left craters three metres deep in the ground.

The Israeli military said in a statement it struck Hamas terrorists who were operating within a command-and-control centre embedded inside the Humanitarian Area in Khan Younis, and that terrorist organisations in the Gaza Strip are abusing civilian and humanitarian infrastructure to carry out terrorist activity against Israel.

“The war is simply going on far too long. It's a war on the Palestinian people now, and the people are suffering too much, and we need a ceasefire,” Mr Martin aid as he arrived for a Cabinet meeting this morning.


“I will be bringing forward a memorandum on the Middle East updating the Cabinet on developments in recent times. Obviously, Ireland's position is very strongly pushing for and urging for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages unconditionally, and huge a humanitarian surge of aid to go into Gaza.”

“I'm also identifying the implications of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) advisory opinion in respect of the illegal occupation of Palestinian territories and the obligations that that will place on member states of the UN and signatories to the ICJ in respect of doing anything that would support that illegal occupation,” he added.

The ICJ advisory opinion from July has said Israel's occupation of the Gaza strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is unlawful.

“All of humanitarian agencies that I speak to testify to the enormous suffering now that people in Gaza are witnessing, and of course the families of hostages in Israel are going through extraordinary suffering and anxiety as well. And there is no reason now why a ceasefire should not take place,” said Minister Martin.

Asked about Israel moving ammunition through Irish airspace, he said there are international air authorities, and the government expects people to agree with multilateral rules-based system that exists in the world.

“That means respecting the airspace of countries, and the Minister for Transport is examining that and he will come back to Cabinet in respect of next steps,” he said.

Taoiseach Simon Harris said he is conscious that the “horrific humanitarian catastrophe in the Middle East is continuing to unfold”, and that he will be traveling to the United Nations General Assembly this month.

“I will be continuing to advocate for the world to do more in terms of the levers at our disposal to help apply a ceasefire,” he said.

An Israeli strike on a Gaza humanitarian zone tent camp kills at least 40 people, Palestinians say

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli strike on a crowded tent camp housing Palestinians displaced by the war in Gaza killed at least 40 people and wounded 60 others early Tuesday, Palestinian officials said.

Wafaa Shurafa And Samy Magdy, The Associated Press

Trucks of humanitarian aids wait to cross the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Egypt, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli strike on a crowded tent camp housing Palestinians displaced by the war in Gaza killed at least 40 people and wounded 60 others early Tuesday, Palestinian officials said. Israel said it targeted “significant” Hamas militants, allegations denied by the militant group.

It was among the deadliest strikes yet in Mawasi, a sprawl of crowded tent camps along the Gaza coast that Israel designated as a humanitarian zone for hundreds of thousands of civilians to seek shelter from the Israel-Hamas war.

The Civil Defense, first responders operating under the Hamas-run government, said it recovered 40 bodies from the strike and was still looking for people. It said entire families were killed in their tents.

An Associated Press camera operator saw three large craters at the scene, where first responders and displaced people were sifting through the sand and rubble with garden tools and their bare hands by the light of mobile phones. They pulled body parts from the sand, including what appeared to be a human leg.

Attaf al-Shaar, who was displaced from the southern city of Rafah, said the strike happened just after midnight and caused a fire.

“The people were buried in the sand. They were retrieved as body parts," she told an Associated Press reporter at the scene.

Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, one of three hospitals to receive casualties, said around two dozen bodies were brought in from the strike.

The Israeli military said it had struck Hamas militants who were operating in a command-and-control center. It said its forces used precise munitions, aerial surveillance and other means to avoid civilian casualties.

Israel says it tries to avoid harming civilians throughout the war, which was ignited by Hamas' Oct. 7 attack. It blames Hamas for their deaths because the militants often operate in residential areas and are known to position tunnels, rocket launchers and other infrastructure near homes, schools and mosques.

Hamas released a statement denying any militants were in the area. Neither Israel nor Hamas provided evidence to substantiate their claims.

The war has caused vast destruction and displaced around 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, often multiple times. Israeli evacuation orders, which now cover around 90% of the territory, have pushed hundreds of thousands of people into Mawasi, a sprawling line of squalid tent camps along the coast.

Aid groups have struggled to provide even basic services in Mawasi, and Israel has occasionally struck targets there despite designating it as a humanitarian zone.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began. It does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count.

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in their Oct. 7 attack. They abducted another 250 people and are still holding around 100 after releasing most of the rest in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel during a weeklong cease-fire last November. Around a third of the remaining hostages are believed to be dead.

The United States, Egypt and Qatar have spent much of this year trying to broker an agreement for a cease-fire and the release of the hostages, but the talks have repeatedly bogged down as Israel and Hamas have accused each other of making new and unacceptable demands.

The war has plunged Gaza into a humanitarian crisis, and humanitarian groups have struggled to provide aid because of ongoing fighting, Israeli restrictions, and the breakdown of law and order. The international authority on the severity of hunger crises said in June that the territory is at high risk of famine.

The main United Nations agency providing aid to Palestinians said Israeli troops stopped a convoy taking part in a polio vaccination campaign for more than eight hours on Monday, despite it coordinating with the military. UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini said the staffers who were held had been taking part in the campaign in northern Gaza and Gaza City.

“The convoy was stopped at gun point just after the Wadi Gaza checkpoint with threats to detain UN staff,” he wrote on the social platform X. “Heavy damage was caused by bulldozers to the UN armoured vehicles.”

He said the staff and the convoy later returned to a U.N. base, but it was unclear if a polio vaccination campaign would take place Tuesday in northern Gaza.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The vaccination drive, launched after doctors discovered the first polio case in the Palestinian enclave in 25 years, aims to vaccinate 640,000 children during a war that has destroyed the health care system.

___

Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

Opinion

The third intifada is in its gestation period

September 10, 2024

A Palestinian demonstrator hurls a rock towards Israeli occupied forces near the Jewish settlement of Beit El near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on May 14, 2021

 [ABBAS MOMANI/AFP via Getty Images]

by Sayid Marcos Tenório
soupalestina


The occupied West Bank is on the verge of a major upheaval. The event most feared by the Zionist regime may be about to happen, due to the increasing number and effectiveness of actions by the Palestinian resistance. The third intifada — uprising — is in its gestation period, and if and when it breaks out it will become a crucial front alongside Gaza and the northern border of the occupation state. The Zionist occupation forces will find it very difficult to face, and even harder to overcome.

This will present a complex battlefront that Israel’s occupation army will have to deal with, and it is known that the Zionist entity does not have the military capabilities to face an urban guerrilla war against Palestinian resistance fighters. They are characterised by boldness, determination and organisation, as well as operational development that can paralyse the enemy. The recent actions in the neighbourhood of Gush Etzion, in the heart of Tel Aviv, in Hebron, Jenin and Nablus are examples of this.

Intifada is an Arabic word that literally means “revolt” and is used to describe the popular insurgency movement against the Israeli occupation, which has been reaffirmed as illegal by the International Court of Justice. The First Intifada broke out in Gaza on 8 December, 1987, and spread rapidly throughout the occupied Palestinian territories until 13 September, 1993. It became known as the “Stone Intifada” because one of the most powerful armies in the world had been challenged by children and young people with stones.


One image that ran across the world showed a Palestinian child facing up to a Zionist tank with stones in his hands.

The Second, or Al-Aqsa, Intifada exploded on 28 September, 2000, in the light of frustration with the developments of the Oslo Accords, signed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation, as well as the Zionist regime’s ongoing repressive and bellicose policies. The fuse was lit by Ariel Sharon who entered Al-Aqsa Mosque compound surrounded by a strong security detail. More than a thousand Palestinians present at the time viewed this as an unacceptable provocation. This intifada lasted until 8 February, 2005.




Is a Third Intifada possible? – Cartoon [Carlos Latuff/MiddleEastMonitor]The issue of a third intifada has been raised amid escalating tensions between Israel and Palestinian resistance in recent years, with periodic waves of violence and resistance, growing political polarisation within the Zionist camp, as well as the weakening of the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank.

READ: West Bank: armed Jewish settler attacks Palestinian children on first day back to school

While there has not yet been a formal declaration of a third intifada, some elements suggest that a new phase of the conflict is emerging. Increasing violence by the occupation forces in the West Bank, both regular troops and armed, fascist settlers, has intensified in various parts of Israel and the occupied territories. The resistance groups in the West Bank are responding to this violence to protect their families, their homes and their land. Will the Zionist regime be able to stop them?

If another intifada does break out, Israel will face major challenges in trying to contain it. The Palestinian resistance movement has undergone significant transformations since the first two uprisings. Technology and social media have enabled faster and more comprehensive mobilisation, which can make the movement less centralised and more difficult to contain. The movement has diversified, adopting tactics that allow fighters to operate in a decentralised way, making things more difficult for apartheid Israel.

It is likely that the Zionist state will discover that armed repression, arrests and assassinations will not be enough to stop a movement that involves both popular resistance and armed struggle. The resistance exists because of the illegal occupation, and is rooted in the legitimate struggle for Palestinian rights and self-determination.

The outbreak of an intifada in the West Bank will lead to the worsening of a situation in which Israel will fail to achieve the total victory promised by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is fighting for his political life. He has neither driven Hamas out of Gaza nor recovered the Israeli hostages. On the contrary, he has faced military, political and moral defeat in Gaza; the loss of the north of 1948-occupied Palestine and the destruction of its military bases; and the mass evacuation of Jewish settlers along the border zone.

The Zionist leaders know that there is no hope of absolute victory in Gaza.

And the situation is becoming worse in the north, where the Israeli army is seeing its military capabilities degraded with the destruction of surveillance equipment and numerous batteries of the Iron Dome air defence system.

Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip has failed and will not be able to achieve any of its aggressive goals, especially that of annihilating legitimate Palestinian resistance to the illegal occupation of Palestinian land. The actions of the occupation state in the West Bank, from the destruction of infrastructure to the killing and arrest of Palestinians men, women and children, will not stop the liberation of Palestine “from the river to the sea”.

Sickness Can Be ‘Death Sentence’ in Gaza as War Fuels Disease

A Palestinian woman reacts at the site following Israeli strikes on a tent camp sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, at the Al-Mawasi area in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, September 10, 2024. (Reuters)

-10 September 2024 AD ـ 07 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1446 AH

In Gaza, falling ill can be a death sentence. Cancer patients are waiting to die, polio has returned, and many of the doctors and nurses who might have offered help are dead while the hospitals they worked at have been reduced to rubble.

Doctors and health professionals say that even if the Israel-Hamas war were to stop tomorrow, it will take years to rebuild the healthcare sector and people will continue to die because preventable diseases are not being treated on time.

"People are dying on a daily basis because they cannot get the basic treatment they need," said Riham Jafari, advocacy and communications coordinator at rights group ActionAid Palestine.

Cancer patients "are waiting for their turn to die," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Last week, Israel and Hamas agreed on limited pauses in the fighting to allow children to be vaccinated against polio after a one-year-old baby boy was found to be partially paralyzed from the disease, the first case in the crowded strip in 25 years.

But even as crowds gathered in the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis for vaccinations on Sept. 5, bombs continued to fall in other areas with Gaza health officials saying an Israeli strike killed five people at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah.

"It will take long and so much effort in order to restore the level of care that we used to have in Gaza," said Mohammed Aghaalkurdi, medical program lead at Medical Aid for Palestinians.

Every day he sees around 180 children with skin diseases that he "just cannot treat," he said.

"Due to vaccination campaign interruptions, lack of supplies, lack of hygiene items and infection prevention control material, it (healthcare) is just deteriorating."

The conflict was triggered when Hamas-led fighters attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, more than 40,800 Palestinians have been killed by Israel's offensive in the enclave, according to the Gaza health ministry, with around 92,000 wounded.

But beyond the death toll from the fighting and airstrikes, people are also succumbing to illnesses that could be cured in normal circumstances.

As with the re-emergence of polio, children will bear the brunt of these long-term consequences, health experts say.

"We are talking about disabilities, we are talking about intellectual disabilities, mental health issues," said Aghaalkurdi.

"Things that will stick to the child until they die."

SPECIALISTS KILLED

At least 490 healthcare workers have been killed since the conflict erupted, according to Gaza's health ministry. A Reuters investigation found that 55 highly qualified specialist doctors were among those killed.

With each specialist killed, Gaza has lost a source of knowledge and human connections, a devastating blow on top of the destruction of most of the Strip's hospitals.

Many people have become weak from a lack of food, as prices of basic commodities have more than quadrupled since the conflict began. When they become ill, they are also too frightened to journey to the few remaining hospitals, Jafari said.

Eighty-two percent of children aged between 6 and 23 months have limited access to quality food, according to a report by the Global Network Against Food Crises, and more than 90% of children under 5-years-old suffer from infectious diseases.

Meanwhile, skin diseases are rampant because of a lack of cleaning supplies and hygiene products, Jafari said. In markets, a bottle of shampoo can cost around $50.

Israel has severely restricted the flow of food and aid into Gaza, and humanitarian agencies have warned of the risk of famine.

Jafari expects a reckoning after the war ends.

"There is delayed suffering, delayed sadness, there are diseases that are being delayed," she said. "There is an entire journey of suffering that is being delayed until the end of the war," she said.

CANCER 'DEATH SENTENCE'

Manal Ragheb Fakhri al-Masri, 42, is one of those facing that health reckoning.

Displaced seven times with her nine children, she has a heart condition and a benign tumor in her stomach and was supposed to leave Gaza for treatment earlier this year.

But then her husband was killed and she could not bear to leave her children.

Now, having also suffered several strokes, she is bedridden, unable to leave her tent by the sea in Al-Mawasi, which Israel had declared a safe zone. She has not had any medicine in five months and has not even been able to shower for two weeks.

"My husband used to take care of me and get medicine and feed his children," she said in a phone interview with the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "Now I do not know what do. We do not have the most basic things."

Her children try to help as much as they can and sometimes bring her seawater for her to wash with but the salty liquid offers no respite. Her children are also all suffering from red rashes but they have no creams to soothe their burning limbs.

Waseem Alzaanin, a general practitioner with the Palestine Red Crescent Society, said the lack of drugs, equipment and medical facilities is killing his cancer patients.

Gaza's only cancer center was destroyed earlier this year, he said, and many of his stage-one cancer patients are now classified as stage-four.

"The most basic requirements are not present. We cannot do anything except give them painkillers and make them comfortable with what life they have left," he said.

"It is like a death sentence," he added. "Let us not kid ourselves. We have no medical system."

Israel kills an American in West Bank. Now US trusts Israel to probe it

Calls for an independent investigation into the killing of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi grow as Washington's reliance on the Israeli probe draws flak.



AP

US relies on the probe of Israel which is the prime facie perpetrator of the crime. / Photo: AP

The United States has dismissed calls for an independent investigation into the killing of a Turkish-American dual citizen in the occupied West Bank, despite eyewitness accounts and evidence suggesting she was shot by an Israeli sniper.

Washington says it still does not “know with full certainty what transpired” into the killing of 26-year-old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, stressing that they were waiting for the findings of an Israeli investigation.

"Our understanding is that our partners in Israel are looking into the circumstances of what happened, and we expect them to make their findings public and expect that whatever those findings are, expect them to be thorough and transparent," US State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told a news briefing.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby later said Israel was understood to be "moving swiftly on this investigation" and was expected to present its findings and conclusions in the coming days.

Patel and Kirby did not provide further information on the circumstances of the killing and said Washington would withhold judgment until Israel presented its findings.

The US thus relies on the probe of Israel which is the prime facie perpetrator of the crime.

International Court of Justice has declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land unlawful in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, while also admitting accusations of genocide in Gaza against it.

The US rejection of a transparent independent probe and reliance on the "perpetrator" Israel to probe itself has drawn flak from around the world.

Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley took to X and wrote: "Aysenur Ezgi Eygi should be alive today. Instead, she was shot in the head and killed by the IDF while protesting Israel’s illegal occupation of the West Bank. She was an American citizen. There must be accountability and a thorough, independent investigation."

Cindy Corrie and her husband Craig Corrie, the parents of American activist Rachel Corrie, who was crushed to death by Israeli bulldozers in Palestine 20 years ago, have also demanded an independent investigation into the deaths of their daughter Rachel Corrie and of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi.

Another Pro-Palestine and anti-war activist took to Twitter and voiced rage over Israel investigating Aysenur's killing and quoting Rachel Corrie said: "Israel does not do investigations, they do coverups"

US expects 'transparent' disclosure from Israel on Turkish-American activist's death

WASHINGTON

The United States urged Israel on Monday to conduct a "swift, thorough, and transparent investigation" into the death of Turkish-American activist Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, who was killed in the occupied West Bank.

Haberin Devamı

September 10 2024 

The U.S. is calling for Israel to publicly release their findings regarding the incident.

“Our understanding is that our partners in Israel are looking into the circumstances of what happened, and we expect them to make their findings public, and whatever those findings are, (we) expect them to be thorough and transparent,” State Department Deputy Spokesman Vedant Patel stated.

Patel described the death of an American citizen as “heartbreaking,” “troubling,” and “tragic,” but refrained from condemning Israel, while noting that the situation in the West Bank “is still being determined and adjudicated.”

Eygi, 26, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Türkiye, was fatally shot by Israeli forces during a protest against illegal Israeli settlements in Beita, part of the Nablus district. Witnesses reported that Israeli soldiers used live fire on demonstrators protesting the illegal settlements on Mount Sbeih. Despite standing away from the main protest area, Eygi was shot, and although rushed to a hospital, she could not be saved.

The Israeli military acknowledged the firing, claiming it targeted a "main instigator of violent activity" perceived as a threat. This assertion has been disputed by both witnesses and the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), with which Eygi was volunteering to support Palestinian farmers.

The international community, including Türkiye and the United Nations, has condemned the killing, with the death sparking outrage and calls for accountability.

Eygi’s body is expected to be transported to Türkiye.

Originally from Antalya, Türkiye, Eygi graduated from the University of Washington in June, with studies in psychology and Middle Eastern languages and cultures. The activist arrived in the West Bank to volunteer with the ISM.

Eygi's family has called on the Biden administration for an independent investigation into her death. They released a statement emphasizing the need for accountability, stating, "A U.S. citizen, Ayşenur was peacefully standing for justice when she was killed by a bullet that video shows came from an Israeli military shooter. We welcome the White House's statement of condolences, but given the circumstances of Ayşenur's killing, an Israeli investigation is not adequate."

"We call on President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Secretary of State Blinken to order an independent investigation into the unlawful killing of a U.S. citizen and to ensure full accountability for the guilty parties."

When asked ny Anadolu Agency if the U.S. supports the family’s call for an independent investigation, Patel reiterated that "We expect Israel to make their findings public. We expect those findings to be shared transparently and as thoroughly and as soon as possible," noting that any additional steps would depend on the investigation's conclusions.

DUH,OH!

Humans not AI should control nuclear weapons: Seoul summit

Published: 10 Sep 2024 - 

A participant takes a selfie in front of the logo of the Responsible AI in the Military Domain (REAIM) summit before its closing session in Seoul on September 10, 2024. (Photo by Jung Yeon-je / AFP)


AFP

Seoul: Humans not artificial intelligence should make the key decisions on using nuclear weapons, a global summit on AI in the military domain agreed Tuesday, in a non-binding declaration.

Officials at the Responsible AI in the Military Domain (REAIM) summit in Seoul, which involved nearly 100 countries including the United States, China and Ukraine, adopted the "Blueprint for Action" after two days of talks.

The agreement -- which is not legally binding, and was not signed by China -- said it was essential to "maintain human control and involvement for all actions... concerning nuclear weapons employment".

It added that AI capabilities in the military domain "must be applied in accordance with applicable national and international law".

"AI applications should be ethical and human-centric."

The Chinese embassy in Seoul did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Militarily, AI is already used for reconnaissance, surveillance as well as analysis and in the future could be used to pick targets autonomously.

Russia was not invited to the summit due to its invasion of Ukraine.

The declaration did not outline what sanctions or other punishment would ensue in case of violations.

The declaration acknowledged there was a long way to go for states to keep pace with the development of AI in the military domain, noting they "need to engage in further discussions... for clear policies and procedures".

The Seoul summit, co-hosted by Britain, the Netherlands, Singapore, and Kenya, follows the inaugural event held in The Hague in February last year.

It bills itself as the "most comprehensive and inclusive platform for AI in the military domain"

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Non-State Armed Groups and Illicit Economies in West Africa: Anglophone separatists

A Joint ACLED and GI-TOC Report

10 September 2024

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• English

The third in a joint series of publications by ACLED and GITOC offers a contemporary analysis of the operations, the organization, the involvement in illicit economies and the financing of the Anglophone separatist armed groups in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon, as well as their relationships with civilian communities. Drawing on interviews and ACLED event data, the report provides an in-depth picture of the current organization of the Anglophone armed separatist movement, and its operations and use of violence. The report also offers new insights into the separatists’ financing, and specifically their engagement with illicit economies in Northwest and Southwest Cameroon.

Takaichi becomes 1st woman candidate in Japan's PM race

Erica Yokoyama and Alastair Gale | Bloomberg

TAKAICHI: Sanae Takaichi has announced her candidacy for Japan's Prime Minister race. Toru Hanai/Bloomberg

Japan’s ruling party leadership election will have at least one woman in the field after Sanae Takaichi entered the race on Monday.

The protégé of late Prime Minister Shinzō Abe and his aggressive monetary and fiscal policy views pledged to use public money to boost jobs and growth. Takaichi placed third in the 2021 LDP leadership election and is currently trailing Shinjiro Koizumi and Shigeru Ishiba in the latest race.

The leader of the LDP is all but assured of becoming prime minister because of the party’s dominance in parliament. The election will take place on Sept. 27.


Current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida surprised many by saying in August he wouldn’t run in the election, ending his term after nearly three years as premier.


Here’s a look at some of the contenders to replace Kishida.

Sanae Takaichi, 63

A former heavy metal drummer turned hard-line conservative, Takaichi has cited former U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as an inspiration. Currently minister for economic security, Takaichi is among the leading contenders according to recent public opinion polls. She is a frequent visitor to Yasukuni Shrine, a site regarded by Japan’s neighbors as a symbol of past militarism.

Key policies:Monetary: Support for ultra-loose monetary policy of stance of former premier Abe; doesn’t think price target has been stably met
Fiscal: Believes a strong economy would bring stable growth without raising tax rates; seeks strategic fiscal spending
Energy: Says Japan should target 100% energy self-sufficiency; Would invest in next-generation nuclear reactors in the latter half of 2020s, look to nuclear fusion in the 2030s

Shinjiro Koizumi, 43

The son of a former premier, Shinjiro Koizumi attracted attention in September 2023 for surfing off Fukushima to ease safety concerns following the release of treated wastewater from the wrecked nuclear plant. A former environment minister and proponent of renewable energy, Koizumi made headlines for becoming the first serving cabinet minister to take paternity leave. Koizumi is generally running first or second in polls asking voters who they would like to become prime minister. He formally declared on Sept. 6.

Key policies:Economy: While in principle continuing Kishida’s policies, he said he will also review firing restrictions as part of labor reforms, and completely allow ridesharing
Defense: Defense spending must be swiftly raised to 2% of GDP
Financial: Has said it’s not the time to discuss capital gains tax, given the recent moves from savings to investment
Energy: Restarting new nuclear reactors is an option; need to reduce the amount spent on fossil fuels

Shigeru Ishiba, 67

A former defense minister, Ishiba ranks high in voter surveys of popularity. In his last four tries at the top job, he has struggled to garner enough support from his fellow lawmakers to win the leadership race. In recent weeks, Ishiba has expressed support for the Bank of Japan’s normalization of monetary policy. He announced his candidacy on Aug. 24.

Key policies:Monetary: Has backed the BOJ’s July 31 decision to raise rates and criticized the government’s past long-term extraordinary easing policy
Economic: Looks to reinvigorate domestic demand to spur growth, rather than relying on foreign trade
Foreign: Has been a strong backer of democracy in Taiwan and building partnerships in the region as a way of deterrence against the likes of China

Kono Taro, 61

A former foreign and defense minister with a combative style, Kono lost to Kishida in the last leadership race due to a lack of backing from his parliamentary peers. Kono is in the middle of the pack in recent public opinion polls. Kono has softened his opposition to nuclear power in recent years. He asks that his name be written Japanese style, with his family name first. He declared on Aug. 26.


Key policies:Monetary: Supports BOJ policy normalization if inflation remains in line with expectations. Has also said the weak yen is a problem for Japan.
Fiscal: Says fiscal consolidation is a priority after large stimulus spending during the pandemic
Digital: Called for ending antiquated practices such as use of name stamps as he seeks wider reforms

Toshimitsu Motegi, 68


A party heavyweight who recently said the BOJ should more clearly show its intention to normalize monetary policy, Motegi is currently in the LDP’s No. 2 position. A former foreign minister, he’s also a Harvard graduate and has a tough guy image within the party. He announced his run on Sept. 4.

Key policies:Monetary: Has said BOJ should more clearly show its intention to normalize monetary policy to support the yen, as a weak currency might drive up prices
Fiscal: As party secretary-general, Motegi has been a backer of current fiscal policies and is likely to support the status quo. He has advocated returning some of Japan’s increased tax revenues to the people via direct tax cuts
Foreign: As foreign minister, Motegi showed support for peace in the Taiwan Strait, while also planning for contingencies

Takayuki Kobayashi, 49

Kobayashi is considered part of the younger generation of potential leaders. He is a long shot to take over in 2024, but by running now he is letting LDP members and voters know he has his eyes set on eventually becoming premier. He declared his candidacy on Aug. 19.

Key policies:Monetary: Has spoken about the difficulties of absorbing bonds domestically and the need for seeking overseas investors
Economy: Has said the economy takes precedence over finance, indicating that spending for growth is important
Trade: Expressed need for Japan to strengthen supply chains, including those for critical minerals like lithium and cobalt that are used in energy transition technologies

Yoshimasa Hayashi, 63

Hayashi is from the dovish wing of the ruling party and a trusted lieutenant of Kishida. He ran unsuccessfully in the LDP leadership race in 2012 and is considered by many political analysts to be an outsider in this year’s election. Hayashi studied at Harvard University and spent most of the Kishida administration as foreign minister. He announced his run on Sept. 3.

Key policies:Economy: Supports fiscal spending but says it’s important to keep confidence in Japanese government bonds
Foreign policy: Rejects criticism he’s pro-China and says he’s someone who prioritizes dialogue, including with China
Energy: In favor of restarting nuclear power plants if their safety is confirmed

Katsunobu Kato, 68

The former health minister could emerge as a compromise candidate. The seven-term lawmaker helped guide Japan through the Covid-19 pandemic when the country fared better than most of its Group of Seven peers. Kato has not ruffled a lot of feathers in the ruling party, while playing key roles under the last three premiers. He plans to hold a press conference to formally declare his candidacy on Sept. 10.

Key policies:Monetary policy: In a Bloomberg interview, he said Japan should continue to aim for a world where interest rates and prices keep moving
Economic policy: Aims for sustainable growth through major investment to boost productivity
Fiscal policy: Seeks a balanced approach to managing fiscal health and securing growth

Yoko Kamikawa, 71

Kamikawa is a Harvard graduate who ran her own consulting firm before entering politics. She is known for her efforts to promote women candidates, which is an uphill battle given that only about 12% of LDP lawmakers are female. Kamikawa has yet to declare.


Key Policies:Fiscal: She supported active fiscal spending ahead of the last LDP election in 2021 but has since flagged the need for fiscal discipline
Foreign: Has firmly backed trilateral security cooperation among Japan, South Korea and the U.S. and has pressed to advance human rights globally

Other names listed as possible candidates include lawmaker Seiko Noda, who previously came up short on her bid to become the country’s first female premier, and Ken Saito, the minister of economy, trade and industry.



With assistance from Isabel Reynolds, Yuki Hagiwara and Jon Herskovitz.

Social media is like sex – young people need education, not unrealistic bans

Banning children from social media isn’t going to fix the problem of online harms faced by young people – it’s only going to put the problem on pause

THE CONERSATION 
PTI Sydney Published 10.09.24


Representational image.Shutterstock

The federal government has committed to a national plan to ban children from social media.

Details are still scarce. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has acknowledged that “no government is going to be able to protect every child from every threat, but we have to do all we can”.

But banning children from social media isn’t going to fix the problem of online harms faced by young people – it’s only going to put the problem on pause. That’s because when children reach an age when they can use social media, they are still going to face many of the same issues.

The best way to help young people safely navigate social media is by improving their social media literacy.

What is social media literacy?

Social media literacy is about understanding and critically thinking about the content you see on social media – and why it’s there.

It’s about understanding that the images and videos which appear in your social media feed are not there by chance. They are there because of algorithms which use your personal data to better understand your interests and what kind of content you are more likely to engage with.

This is why everyone’s social media feeds are different.

We don’t know exactly how these algorithms work, because social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok keep them secret. However, some researchers are working to change this.

At the moment digital media literacy is sorely lacking around the world – even among younger generations who were born into the internet age and are prolific social media users.

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I have witnessed this lack of knowledge at first hand. I recently gave a talk about social media to around 300 university students in Australia. Most of them had never heard about the algorithms that decide what they see on social media.

A message of empowerment

The lack of social media literacy reflects the broad lack of education in this space.

The minimal social media literacy education that is offered now is also quite negative and defensive. When I talk to young people, they say adults tell them all of the things they’re not supposed to do. For example, “don’t spend too long on social media, turn off your phone”.

This is reminiscent of how young people were once taught about sex. But that has started to change, and now there is more of a focus on teaching young people how to have sex safely and with consent.

A similar, more positive approach is needed to help young people use social media safely, manage the risks it entails and experience the benefits it offers.

This approach must be free of any judgement. It must treat technology in a much more multifaceted way which acknowledges both its pros and cons. And it must be grounded in a commitment to empower young people with the skills they need to participate safely in a digital world and better understand what’s happening behind their social media feeds.

Dedicated classes for children and parents

There are some key steps schools can take to improve social media literacy among young people.

The complexity and size of the topic means specific classes should be dedicated to it. If it is integrated into the content of other subjects such as English or maths, it can easily get lost or be forgotten.

These classes should begin around the later primary school years, when most children are just about to get a phone. Their use of technology really changes around this period, and we need to train them up in social media literacy before they establish behaviours that will follow them into adulthood.

Alongside these classes for children, schools can also run social media literacy classes for parents, who often feel completely overwhelmed and disempowered when it comes to helping their children navigate social media.

Many schools already offer cyber safety talks for parents once a year. However, the content is quite repetitive and focused on the dangers of the internet. This is unhelpful for parents as well. When I speak to them, they tell me they often walk away from these classes feeling like the problem is too hard to fix.

Better educating parents about social media literacy and the positive uses of social media will help them help their children. Social media and the way we use it has many layers and therefore this education for parents needs to be informed by specialists from these many layers – such as data scientists, sociologists, marketers, videographers and human behaviour researchers.

But schools cannot do this important work alone. If the government really wants to do everything it can to keep kids safe online, it needs to do more than just ban them from social media.

It needs to help develop and fund better social media literacy programmes.


The Conversation

In Iraq, the personal is political: The raging debate on child marriage and what's really at stake

If the amendment to the Personal Status Code is passed, lowering the legal age for marriage to nine, Iraq will be thrust into the dark ages, says Zahra Ali.

Perspectives
Zahra Ali
10 Sep, 2024


Women’s rights and gender issues are at the heart of systems of power, a nexus through which power is asserted, deployed, or confiscated, writes Zahra Ali [photo credit: Getty Images]


In the past two months, heated debates have taken over Iraqi political and media scenes around a proposed amendment of the Personal Status Code submitted over the summer to Iraq's parliament.

Adopted in 1959, Law 188 of the Personal Status inscribed a set of laws, separate from the Civil Code, that gathers the rights and duties of Muslim citizens in matters of marriage, divorce, child custody, and inheritance.

The proposed amendment breaks the current code in Iraq that gathers Muslims under one regime of rights by allowing separate sets of laws based on Shia and Sunni jurisprudence. Marriages would be contracted according to the chosen jurisprudence, as opposed to abiding by the existing law.

The debates go as such: on one side, several Shia political parties in power since the US invasion of 2003 have advocated for the introduction of a sectarian code. They insist on the importance of aligning all laws to the “Sharia” and to the Jaafari jurisprudence for Shia Muslims.

They accuse their opponents of questioning fundamental religious and cultural values and being agents of the West. In the recent period, they also rejected an article of the Personal Status Code that grants child custody to the mother, arguing that it contradicts the Sharia that grants it to the father.

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Meanwhile, women and human rights advocacy groups, a network of intellectuals and media figures, and a wide range of political opposition have strongly mobilised against the proposal.

Organised around the coalition Alliance 188, women and human rights groups have argued that the amendment radically undermines a law that is considered fair and uniting for Shia and Sunni Muslims. The law in its current state guarantees fundamental rights for women such as the minimum age of marriage, the right to divorce, and the custody of their children.

They state that allowing for separate sectarian codes is divisive in a context marked by the dominance of sectarian tensions, and the rise in the past decades marked by war and militarisation of misogynistic and patriarchal norms, especially when political violence rules. Interpretations of the dominant Shia school in Iraq, the Jaafari jurisprudence, determine the age of maturity for girls as early as nine years old and allow for different types of precarious marriages with very few rights for women.

If adopted, the proposed amendment will provide a legal ground for child marriages, an already widespread phenomenon in the country, and for marriage unions that do not offer any legal protection for women. The coalition also pointed out the structural weakness of the parliament and the use of anti-democratic methods such as intimidation, threat of violence, and lack of transparency used by the Shia political groups to enforce the amendment.

These debates are often portrayed as the fight between religious forces trying to impose regressive and misogynistic Sharia laws, and secular forces opposing religion and defending women’s rights. But this is a caricature of the debate, and it does not allow us to understand what is truly at stake here.
A conflict between secular and religious forces in Iraq?

The Personal Status Code in Iraq is not a secular law, it does not place “personal matters” for all citizens of all religions and sects under the authority of the Civil Code.

It places Muslims under the authority of specific interpretations of Shia and Sunni jurisprudences that were negotiated by several actors, including ulemas — body of Islamic scholars — of both schools, over the decades preceding the establishment of the law 188 in 1959.

Put simply, these debates stand at the intersection between state-building and nation-building in the colonial and postcolonial eras, a process that involves various social and political groups competing for power and legitimacy, and that is deeply classed, raced, and gendered.
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The mobilisations around the Personal Status Code are not new. Similar proposals have been made by several Shia political parties almost every few years since the US-led invasion and occupation of 2003. The proposals are always met with strong opposition from feminists and progressive groups and widely rejected by Iraqis themselves, Shias and Sunnis alike.

The obsession with attacking the Personal Status Code started straight after the invasion, with Decree 137 the brainchild of Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, the leader of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, one of the main Shia political parties that came to power with the US-led invasion.


Decree 137 was an attempt to abolish the Personal Status Code altogether and replace it with sectarian codes. While this attempt failed partly due to feminist mobilisation, it was reintroduced in the form of article 41 of the Constitution adopted in 2005 which inscribed the freedom for Iraqis to choose their “personal status” based on their religious and sectarian beliefs. Article 41 was contested at the time by feminist groups, and it is often cited by the Shia political groups as a legal ground for their proposed amendment.

The dynamics of the 2003 US-led invasion had a lot in common with those of the establishment of the modern state during the colonial era. Like the British did in the 1920s, the Americans privileged a fragmented, sectarian, and tribalised version of citizenship, establishing a political system based on communal quotas — the muhasasa system — and allying themselves with the most reactionary forces.

In many ways, article 41 of the Iraqi constitution, drafted and voted in the context of a brutal occupation, and the repeated proposals to establish a sectarian personal status law constitute an ‘Americanised’ version of the Iraqi political system that Shia political parties in power have appropriated, along with its liberal argument of the “freedom of choice”.
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The proposal, if adopted, would mean a return to a legal system that dates back to the time of the monarchy and its religious, tribal, and sectarian courts, and the erasure of the legacy of the first Iraqi Republic.

The legacy of the first Iraqi republic was shaped by the anti-imperialist leftist culture of the 1950s that established the authority of the emergent state over various political groups, including colonial powers and religious authorities.

Furthermore, the establishment of the Personal Status Code marked the participation of women’s groups represented in 1959 by Naziha al-Dulaimi — a communist and leader of the Iraqi Women’s League and then Minister — in the negotiation of their rights. It was then considered one of the most progressive of its kind in the region.

At the time of its drafting, the slowly emerging Shia political groups contested the law seeing it as undermining their power. The main forces advocating for citizenship based on equality, rather than on a special set of laws based on gender and sect, were the leftist revolutionary forces. The most radical among them in the 1940s and 1950s demanded that “personal status” be placed under the Civil Code that grants equal rights for all citizens regardless of gender, sect, or religion. In many ways, one can argue that despite their visible opposition, the interest of religious and sectarian forces coincides with the ones of the colonial and neocolonial powers then and now in one fundamental point: undermining the progressive political forces that advocate for citizenship based on equality in a strong and sovereign state.

However, the Shia political groups that have been pushing for this amendment since 2003 are not the political minority they were under the British-backed-monarchy of last century. They have, since 2003, been at the centre of political power. One wonders what it means for them to assert their sectarian-religious identity when it is already hegemonic in the country.
The personal and the private

Since its inception, at every moment of crisis, at every turn of major political events, the Personal Status Code has been subject to reforms. The authoritarian Baath regime also used it as a political tool at various historical moments.

The dominant ideology and polity of the Shia political elite that was brought to power by the US-led invasion of 2003 have proven to be, particularly anti-democratic, brutal, self-serving, sectarian, misogynistic, and masculinist.


It has facilitated the fragmented ethnosectarian political system put in place by the US invasion and occupation and fueled through its various armed groups (many of which are allied with the Iranian regime) political violence that is both sectarian and gendered.

After decades of war and militarisation, violence is the language of masculinity and the language of power.

Very importantly, this political elite in Iraq has also facilitated the dismantlement of the state and its institutions, and all mechanisms of wealth redistribution, the privatisation of everything that sustains urban living from access to electricity, water, to health and education.
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In the past year, the dominant Shia political elite have launched repeated attacks on women’s rights and gender equality, from the passing of an anti-LGBTQ law to banning the use of the word gender.

They have used anti-Western conspiracy theories and “sexual morality” panics as a smoke screen to distract public opinion and as a tool to undermine the opposition and justify violent crackdowns on protests and dissent.

In many ways, these attacks can also be seen as an illustration of the gradual loss of popularity of these groups who are perceived as responsible for the dire social, political, and economic realities, and the generalised violence that dominates Iraqis’ everyday lives. Their strategy is also constitutive of the Shia-Shia power competition as each group is looking to assert itself over the other and of the hegemony of Iran in Iraq’s political affairs.

This debate also shows how power operates in Iraq and the contemporary world. Women’s rights and gender issues are at the heart of systems of power, a nexus through which power is asserted, deployed, or confiscated. These forces portray themselves as the bearers of the authentic local culture and as protectors of religion.

However, their strategy is a programmatic version of a classically masculinist, neofascist, far-right discourse that is found in the region, and in the world from Hungary and Japan to the US and France. Unsurprisingly, these forces also have in common the gutting of all social protections and public services and depriving poor and working-class people of access to essential resources and rights.
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The logic of privatisation of power, services, and resources, has been constitutive of the polity brutally led by the US invasion and carried out by these groups since 2003.

It is what the October 2019 uprising against the post-2003 regime in Iraq has powerfully denounced. It has demanded a democratic, sovereign, strong and functioning state that treats its citizens equally regardless of sect and gender, and redistributes the country’s rich resources to the benefit of the poor and the marginalised.


The systematic attack by the Shia political elite on legal and political mechanisms that grant rights and freedom to its citizens, especially women and marginalised groups, has the effect of keeping feminists and progressive activist groups in a defensive mode as they are forced to fight to preserve the limited existing rights instead of pushing for more rights.

Iraq's Personal Status Code is patriarchal, and as activists have argued in their campaign to adopt a law sanctioning domestic violence, women and marginalised groups need more rights and more protection. So far, the diligent efforts of Alliance 188 have managed to delay the parliamentary discussion of the proposed amendment and is working towards a withdrawal of the proposal altogether.

However, the mobilisations of women and a wide range of activists and intellectual forces in Iraq around these issues, instead of being inauthentic, have shown that the progressive legacy of the past century continues to reemerge against all odds.


Zahra Ali is Associate Professor of Sociology at Rutgers University-Newark and the founder of Critical Studies of Iraq. She is the author of Women and Gender in Iraq (Cambridge University Press, and co-editor of Decolonial Pluriversalism (Rowman & Littlefield).

Follow her on X: @ZahraSociology

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 its staff.

Trump Has Lost $4 Billion as Truth Social Value Plummets

ByChristopher Gomez
September 10, 2024

Truth Social App Icon. Credits: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Trump has lost $4 billion as Truth Social’s parent company, Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT), has dropped 70 percent in value.

Since Trump Media was first available to be publicly traded in March, the share price has dropped from $66.22 to just $18.04 a share. According to CNN, Trump’s 57 percent majority stake in Trump media was valued at $6.2 billion in May and has since fallen to $2.1 billion. This loss in share value has dented Donald Trump’s net worth so severely he has been bumped out of Bloomberg’s 500 richest people list.

The value of Trump Media has mainly depended on Trump’s performance in the 2024 election cycle, which defies standard stock market logic. DJT’s value halved when President Biden dropped out of the race, and Vice President Kamala Harris took his place. Other events, such as the assassination attempt on Trump, Trump’s conviction in the Hush Money case, and debate performance, have all influenced Trump Media’s stock value.

“If this wasn’t Trump, this thing would be trading at $1,” Matthew Tuttle, CEO of Tuttle Management, told CNN. “This stock is entirely a Trump-gets-elected play. If Trump wins, this could be a viable company. But if he loses, I don’t know how this is a going concern,” he added.

According to CNN, despite its recent woes, Trump Media has about $300 million in cash and equivalents that it could use for anything it needs. It will also likely generate revenue from its new conservative-leaning streaming platform, Truth+.

Will Trump sell Trump Media shares?

A lockup provision preventing the former president from selling his shares will expire in nine days. Although Trump’s shares have lost $4 billion in value since May, he would still see a significant profit should he sell his $2.1 billion stake in Trump Media since he initially invested a few million to start the publicly traded company.

The only issue would be that current shareholders in DJT would stand to lose even more money than they already have should Trump sell his shares recklessly on September 19. Trump selling all his shares at once at random would drop the value of the shares astronomically, negatively affecting all shareholders in the company.

However, there are ways Trump can safely sell his Trump Media shares. He can use them as collateral for a loan or even sell all the shares to a single investor and announce it beforehand. While this will still hurt the company’s value, it will drastically reduce the potential damage a Trump share sale could cause.

Mike Stegemoller, a finance professor at Baylor University, told the New York Times, “It’s a supply-and-demand story: If you flood the market with shares, you are just not going to find enough buyers. You don’t want to shock the market. I don’t think he is dumb in that regard. His self-interest may work to the advantage of the shareholders.”

There is no indication of Trump’s intention to sell or to keep his shares, but losing $4 billion in share value could play a critical role in his final decision.