US groups urge Biden to halt arms to Israel immediately following letter to Netanyahu

The executive director for DAWN said that the Biden Administration needed to enforce US law and prohibit aid to Israel.

The New Arab Staff
17 October, 2024

Protests have been ongoing in the US to pressure the US government to cease military aid to Israel [Getty]

A letter to from the Biden administration to Israel calling on the country to boost aid to Gaza within 30 days or risk having humanitarian aid cut off has been criticised by some organisations, who've said that north Gaza needs aid now.

Sarah Leah Whitson, the executive director for Democracy in the Arab World Now (DAWN) said that the letter was "an important and unprecedented signal that Israel has crossed even the Biden administration's permissive red lines."

"We now need the Biden administration to show action, not just words, in enforcing US laws, which prohibit aid to Israel given not only its relentless obstruction of humanitarian relief but deliberate starvation and incessant bombardment of Gaza's civilians," she added.

Raed Jarrar, DAWN's advocacy director, added that the US should begin enforcing these demands rather than "issuing vague deadlines".

The letter, which was leaked by Axios on Tuesday, is addressed to both Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and calls for Israel to scale up aid to Gaza following a plummet of aid entry due to Israel's renewed offensive in the north.

The letter gives Israel 30 days to surge humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza, including allowing at least 350 trucks to enter daily through all border crossings.

It also adds that Israel must allow commercial and Jordanian corridors to function at full capacity and end the isolation of northern Gaza.

Signed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, the letter also calls on the Israeli government to stop the Israeli Knesset's attempts to ostracise UNRWA over fears it could collapse aid distribution in Gaza.

"Failure to demonstrate a sustained commitment to implementing and maintaining these measures may have implications for US policy under NSM-20 and relevant US Law" the letter reads.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations national executive director Nihad Awad said that while the letter was welcome it was "unacceptable" to wait 30 days while US law was already being violated.

"The Palestinian people cannot wait another month for the Biden administration to uphold the law and end its complicity in the Israeli government's campaign of slaughter and starvation."

The Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project also called on the US immediately halt arming Israel rather than waiting 30 days, saying that multiple US agencies had made the recommendations months ago.

Israel's war on Gaza has killed 42,409 people and injured a further 99,153 other. It's relentless bombardment has destroyed much of Gaza's infrastructure, including medical infrastructure, with limitations on aid entry causing a what many aid agencies have described as a humanitarian catastrophe.

NAKBA 2.0

Israel leaders take steps toward return of Jewish settlements to Gaza

Israeli Likud leaders are holding a controversial conference next week to promote the re-establishment of settlements in Gaza, backed by right-wing ministers.

The New Arab Staff & Agencies
17 October, 2024

Despite Netanyahu's previous denials of returning to Gaza settlements, key ministers and lawmakers from the right-wing party are backing the initiative [Getty]

Leaders of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing Likud Party are set to hold a controversial conference next week aimed at promoting the re-establishment of Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip.

Despite Netanyahu's previous denials of returning to Gaza settlements, key ministers and lawmakers from the right-wing party are backing the initiative.

The event, scheduled for next Monday near the Gaza border, carries the Likud Party's slogan along with the 'Gaza is Ours, Forever' message and is centered on preparing for settlement efforts in the territory under the title 'Preparing to Resettle Gaza', which Israel evacuated in 2005.

Among the key organisers is Social Equality Minister May Golan as well as the Nachala movement, known for establishing illegal outposts in the occupied Wes Bank.

The Nachala extremist group stated that "the event is not just a theoretical conference, but a practical exercise and preparation for renewed settlement in Gaza."

The group added that "the return to settlement in Gaza is no longer just an idea but a process that is already in advanced stages, with government and public support."

According to the movement's announcement, far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Bezalel Smotrich, Amichai Eliyahu, and Yitzhak Wasserlauf are also expected to attend.

MKs Tally Gotliv, Osher Shkalim, and Hanoch Milwidsky confirmed to Haaretz they will attend the event, while six other Likud MKs are expected to take part.

In January, hundreds of Israeli settlers convened in Jerusalem calling for the building of settlements in Gaza and the northern part of the occupied West Bank.

The conference at the time, titled 'Settlement Brings Security' was also organised by the Nachala group and backed by Israel's hard-right ministers.

Videos from the conference showed a huge crowd erupting in provocative chants calling for the building of Jewish settlements in Gaza, a move deemed illegal under international law.

Israel withdrew its military and settlers from Gaza in 2005 after a 38-year occupation that was followed by a siege on the heavily populated strip in 2007.

Since October last year, Israel's war on the enclave has killed over 42,000 people - most of whom were civilians - and destroyed much of the enclave.

What is the ‘Generals’ Plan’? Israel’s ongoing ethnic cleansing of northern Gaza, explained

The ethnic cleansing of northern Gaza as part of the so-called "Generals' Plan" isn't new, but the only thing standing in its way is the will of 200,000 Palestinians to stay in the north and refuse displacement.

By Qassam Muaddi

October 15, 2024 

MONDOWEISS

Displaced Palestinians in Gaza City struggle with power outages due to Israeli attacks that destroyed the infrastructure in the City, October 13, 2024.

 (Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images)

It has been 11 days since Israel started its latest offensive against the northern part of the Gaza Strip, which includes a complete siege of the towns of Jabalia, Beit Lahia, and Beit Hanoun just north of Gaza City. These were the first areas that the Israeli forces first entered at the beginning of the ground invasion almost a year ago, and they are also the first areas where the Israeli army declared “full operational control” after it had claimed to have destroyed all the fighting units of the Palestinian resistance factions.

The ongoing Israeli assault includes a ground invasion of the town of Jabalia and its refugee camp for the third time in a year. For 11 days, Israeli forces have imposed a siege on Jabalia and pounded it with intensive artillery shelling and airstrikes, destroying its remaining standing residential blocks and cutting the population off from Gaza City directly to the south. Israeli forces have also clashed with Palestinian fighters from different resistance factions. Last week, the armed wing of Hamas, the al-Qassam Brigades, released video footage showing an ambush in which its fighters targeted a group of Israeli jeeps and armored vehicles with IEDs and anti-armor projectiles, showcasing their organization, planning, and fighting capacities a year after Israel declared that it has destroyed all resistance in the city.

According to the Palestinian Civil Defense, at least 350 Palestinians have been killed in northern Gaza since the beginning of the ongoing offensive. But beyond the direct victims of bombings and shelling, the Israeli offensive on the north is strangling an estimated 200,000 Palestinians who remain in their homes in the area. Testimonies from survivors in Jabalia told Mondoweiss that they are surviving on canned food and whatever remains of vegetables or meat that entered through humanitarian aid before the start of the siege. What little food remains, locals say, is now being sold for ten times its normal price.

Israel’s current offensive on northern Gaza is being reported in the media as the apparent implementation of what has come to be known as “the Generals’ Plan.” The plan is based on a vision laid out in two separate articles by retired Israeli general Giora Eiland in the early months of the war. Eiland’s vision is that Israel should impose unlivable conditions on the inhabitants of northern Gaza by starving them out and forcing them to leave the south. Whoever remains, Eiland said, would be considered a Hamas member or sympathizer, and thus a legitimate target. The idea is to drain northern Gaza of its population and thus isolate Hamas from its social base, forcing it to capitulate or die.

While Israel has not saved a single inch of the Gaza Strip from attack over the past year, its focus on the north of Gaza, and Jabalia in particular, is twofold. Northern Gaza, particularly Gaza City, is the most populous area of the Gaza Strip, containing more than 50% of the Strip’s population. Jabalia has traditionally been a stronghold of support for Hamas, and has proven to be a place where the resistance has been able to recoup despite massive hits since last October. By tightening the noose around northern Gaza and squeezing out what little life is left, Israel will be able to further its goal of ethnic cleansing and annexation.

Last September, several Israeli generals endorsed Eiland’s vision and proposed it to the government. Netanyahu then told Israeli lawmakers that he was considering the “Generals’ Plan,” which was recently reported on by AP. Two weeks later, the siege on the north and the ground invasion of Jabalia began.

Despite the media attention that the plan has received as an Israeli strategic innovation in the war, there is nothing new about it. In essence, it is an enhanced version of the same Israeli anti-insurgency strategy that it has practiced since it first started fighting guerilla resistance groups shortly after its founding. This strategy was formalized in the 2006 Second Lebanon War under the “Dahiya Doctrine,” named after the mass destruction Israel caused in Beirut’s southern suburb and formulated by the Israeli army’s former Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkott. The Dahiya Doctrine is essentially a strategy of mass collective punishment, designed to cause “disproportionate” damage to civilian infrastructure under the assumption that either the population will turn on the resistance or the resistance will give up.

The hidden agenda: resettlement

However, Giora Eiland’s vision has another component not encompassed in the Dahiya Doctrine: the forcible transfer of the population through constant bombardment and starvation, forcing them to leave or die.

This isn’t the first time Israel has tried to carry out this vision throughout the Gaza genocide. Since October of last year, Israel forced around a million Gazans to leave northern Gaza and Gaza City to flee south of Wadi Gaza, the river that separates Gaza City from central and southern Gaza. Israel also created a military zone around Wadi Gaza called the Netzarim corridor, making it impossible for Palestinians to return to their homes in the north. Israel has insisted on preventing their return and has been one of the main sticking points in ceasefire talks. Israel maintains this position, ironically as it wages a second war on Lebanon with the stated objective of returning Israelis to the north, which has largely been evacuated since the start of the war due to the “support front” launched by Hezbollah on October 8, 2023.

The unspoken component of the Generals’ Plan in northern Gaza, however, relates to Israel’s desire to resettle Gaza — in other words, to replace the Palestinian population with an Israeli settler population, which would mean the eventual annexation of northern Gaza to Israel proper.

In January, a group of Israeli settler organizations celebrated a conference in Jerusalem attended by thousands of settlers to voice their demands to be allowed to move to Gaza. In the conference, Daniela Weiss, a leading figure of the hardline settler movement, said in a speech that “neither Hamas nor the PLO nor the UN nor UNRWA, but only Jews can rule Gaza.” In an interview with Israeli media, Weiss called for erasing Gaza and letting Israelis move there “so that they can see the sea.” The conference was attended by Israel’s National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, one of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s key allies, who endorsed Weiss and the demands of the settlers.
The essence of the Israeli experiment

Even this implicit aspect of the Generals’ plan is not particularly novel. The depopulation of Palestinian land with the object of replacing the native population with settlers has been the essence of the Zionist project since its inception. What Israeli is trying to do in Jabalia and northern Gaza is a continuation of what the Zionist movement did in 1948 and has continued to do more gradually ever since.

The Generals’ Plan is a condensation of century-long colonial policy. Haifa, Yafa, Askalan, Tyberias, and West Jerusalem all used to be northern Gaza. Today, the southern Hebron hills and the Jordan Valley, where Palestinians are not allowed to build or graze and are attacked by Israeli settlers, are a less intense version of northern Gaza. The Bedouin villages in the Naqab, which are unrecognized by the state of Israel and live under the constant threat of demolition, are yet another version of northern Gaza.

The inaction of world governments, especially the U.S., to stop the realization of the Generals’ Plan in Jabalia, Beit Hanoun, and Beit Lahia suggests that these governments endorse the plan and its larger strategy of genocidal ethnic cleansing.

The only thing standing in the way of the Generals’ Plan is the decision of more than 200,000 Palestinians to stay in the north and refuse displacement, despite the bombs, drone attacks, hunger, and brutal siege. The clash of these two wills is the essence of the war for Palestine since 1948.

Opinion

From Appalachia to Palestine, our future is connected

The devastation from Hurricane Helene and Israel’s escalation in the Middle East may not seem connected but they are linked through the United States’s commitment to mass militarization and refusal to work toward a just global future.

By Robert Clines 

 October 16, 2024 
MONDOWEISS

US-70 in Burke County, North Carolina following Hurricane Helene, on September 27, 2024. (Photo: North Carolina Department of Transportation/Flickr)

On Thursday, September 26, Hurricane Helene made landfall along the Florida Gulf Coast. Before making landfall, rain had already begun in Southern Appalachia, a tortuous and mountainous region full of streams, rivers, and dammed reservoirs. Flooding began that evening. By late Friday, over a foot of rain fell across the Blue Ridge Mountains. Rivers overflowed, inundating low-lying areas. The Swannanoa River, which flows past my home in Asheville, NC, crested at 26.10 feet, 6 feet above the all-time record and 16 feet above flood stage. The town of Chimney Rock, NC, was almost completely wiped out. Electricity, cell phone service, and access to clean drinking water and food are only now returning to pre-storm levels. Interstates 26 and 40 were damaged and stretches of them still remain closed. While the flood waters have receded, cleanup has begun, and aid is arriving, it will take months to pick up the pieces.

There was no way to predict this level of devastation in Southern Appalachia. Helene has been called a 1-in-1000-year event. At over 2,100 feet above sea level and nearly 300 miles inland, Asheville, NC, is not exactly what one would call hurricane country. While the region is used to remnants of storms and the rain and flooding that come with them, this is abnormal. Asheville has even been called a climate change haven. But that is becoming increasingly less true.

While residents in Appalachia are suffering the worst aspects of our climate future, on the other side of the world, the United States continues to provide military and financial aid to Israel as it wages bombing campaigns on Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen. The devastation from Hurricane Helene and Israel’s escalation in the Middle East may not seem connected. But they are linked through the United States’s commitment to mass militarization, imperial arrogance, exacerbation of climate change, and refusal to work toward a just global future.

In August, the United States agreed to send Israel $3.5 billion to spend on weapons; in September, this aid package was upped to $8.7 billion. This is on top of the billions of dollars in aid Israel receives annually from the United States, to say nothing of the intelligence and military aid it receives from other allies. There are tens of thousands of Palestinians dead, and now thousands of Lebanese killed. Nearly 2 million Gazans and over 1 million Lebanese citizens, nearly 1/5 of the country’s population, have been displaced. While Israel and the United States submit that their targets are Hamas and Hezbollah and they are carrying out strategic strikes, such claims given the civilian causality toll and physical destruction of whole city blocks are an insult to basic human intelligence.

Likewise, ghastly for a country that claims to stand up for the rights of its own citizens, the United States has remained silent as Israel targets Americans. In addition to Palestinian-Americans killed or stranded in Palestine, such as Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, the American Embassy in Beirut announced on September 27 that it was not evacuating U.S. Nationals and that they should seek their own way out. U.S. citizens are stranded in Beirut amid airstrikes unless they can afford inflated ticket prices.

The United States putting its imperial interests and those of Israel above the welfare of its own citizens is nothing new. In 2022, an IDF sniper killed Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American Al-Jazeera Reporter in Jenin, in the West Bank; and in 2003, Rachel Corrie, an American peace activist, was crushed by an Israeli bulldozer as she protested the demolition of Palestinian homes in Gaza. In both cases, no one was held liable. We can go back as far as 1967, when, during the Six-Day War, Israel shelled the USS Liberty, killing 34 U.S. service members; in the aftermath, the event was covered up by Israel and the United States.

The United States’s commitment to Israel’s wars is likewise a climate disaster that facilitates intensified storms like Hurricane Helene. Israel’s bombing campaign will be one of the largest emitters of carbon dioxide in 2024. Nearly half of its emissions come from arms supply flights from the United States. Similarly, the U.S. military emits more carbon than many industrialized nations. Beyond the catastrophic damage to civilian infrastructure and farmland in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and elsewhere victim to America’s “War on Terror,” U.S. militarism and Israel’s wars will have severe impacts on the planet’s climate, especially as it appears that they show no signs of slowing; if anything, they will only intensify.

Also at issue is the United States’s commitment to war over the welfare of its residents. Beyond the lack of universal healthcare, education, paid parental leave, and the like, the country’s infrastructure has been in a dire state for decades, which only exacerbates how climate change rocks communities in Southern Appalachia and beyond. According to the 2017 Infrastructure Report Card, the country’s infrastructure was rated as a D+. The same agency estimated, seven years ago, that we must increase annual infrastructure investment by 2.5% to 3.5% of U.S. GDP by 2025. While the estimated $1.2 trillion tied to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is a step in the right direction, it falls far short and is rather unimpressive when we consider that the Pentagon’s budget is $849.8 billion for the 2025 fiscal year alone. Such exorbitant spending on the military, which hasn’t passed an audit in six years, compared to what we invest in the country’s physical plant is as breathtaking as it is reckless.

We are also seeing militarization and the U.S.’s relationship with Israel turn inward. Since the late 1970s, police budgets in the U.S. have increased by a staggering 189%. Relatedly, the IDF trains U.S. police officers; and the Israeli defense firm Elbit Systems has plans to use Artificial Intelligence along the U.S.-Mexican border. The rollout of Cop Cities across the United States also speaks to a commitment to increased domestic policing. And these Cop Cities are also ecological disasters; the Cop City near Atlanta requires the destruction of 171 acres of forestland in Georgia, trees that pump oxygen into the air and absorb rainwater. Like in Appalachia, Atlanta saw widespread flooding from Helene. Deforestation will only make matters worse.

As the climate warms, human populations will continue to see their environments deteriorate, which fuels migration and will drive further crackdowns from armed forces and militarized police agencies at home and along borders. Climate change likewise exacerbates income and wealth inequality. Beyond migration, the border crisis, and the militarization of police, the U.S. military is one of the single largest beneficiaries of inequality. Because there is no draft, the United States relies on voluntary enlistment. While military recruitment is currently at all-time lows due to minimal confidence in the military’s aims and objectives, nearly half of all servicemembers come from poor areas of the rural South. And rural schools partner with the military to recruit poor students. One truly wonders what voluntary enlistment means in such a context. As an educator in Western North Carolina, I teach a lot of veterans, who are often some of the hardest working and most dedicated students; but the refrain is often the same: the military was an escape from poverty or how to pay for college. Sadly, this does not always work out, as veterans experience lower college graduation rates, and higher homelessness and suicide rates than the general population. As the U.S. feels compelled to send more troops to the Middle East, this cycle will only continue.

The United States is committed to policing the world and supporting Israel while those who live within its borders grapple with rampant inequality. This speaks to an imperial arrogance that lives on futurity. It promises us democracy, prosperity, and security for all in a distant golden age that will come one day. Eventually, America will save the world, one one-ton bomb at a time.

But such an empire has no future. With the planet warming at record rates, Israel’s U.S.-backed bellicosity destabilizing the Middle East, and the lack of a collective will to fix the problems that we face, the dream of American empire is at a dead end. For the moment, we are running toward catastrophe and those with the ability to stop it seem hellbent on accelerating it. Our only hope is that we realize soon that our only future is the one we build together.

Robert Clines (he/him) is Associate Professor of History and Affiliate Faculty in Global Black Studies and International Studies at Western Carolina University, in Cullowhee, NC. He has published widely on antisemitism, anti-Blackness, and Islamophobia in the premodern Mediterranean.

‘No one else is going to deliver the truth from Gaza’: An interview with the Palestinian Journalist Syndicate

Israel’s slaughter of media workers in Gaza has been the most systemic attack on the press in world history. Shuruq As’ad of the Palestinian Journalist Syndicate shares the conditions Palestinian reporters are facing while reporting on the genocide.

By New York War Crimes 

 October 17, 2024 
MODNDOWEISS

Mourners and colleagues surround the bodies of Al-Jazeera Arabic journalist Ismail al-Ghoul and cameraman Rami al-Refee, killed in an Israeli strike during their coverage of Gaza’s Al-Shati refugee camp, on July 31, 2024. (Photo: Hadi Daoud/APA Images)

LONG READ

Editor’s Note: This interview was originally published in The New York War Crimes’ anniversary edition “One Year Since Al-Aqsa Flood: Revolution Until Victory.”

Since the publication of this interview in the October 7th edition of The New York War Crimes, the Israeli Occupation Forces killed Omar Al-Balaawi and Mohammed Al-Tanani, two journalists who were reporting from northern Gaza. Occupation forces also critically injured Al-Jazeera cameramen Ali Al-Attar and Fadi Al-Wahidi. Shrapnel from an Israeli bomb hit Al-Attar in the head, causing severe brain damage; a sniper shot Al-Wahidi in the neck. Fadi is now a paraplegic. His colleagues Anas Al-Sharif and Hossam Shabat are calling for his evacuation from Gaza to receive emergency medical care.

On October 2, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) published a report titled Silencing Voices: The Plight of Palestinian Journalists Detained by Israeli Occupation During Ongoing Israeli Aggression. The document’s 26 pages include testimonies from more than a dozen Palestinian journalists from Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and East Jerusalem who were kidnapped by the Israeli occupation and held without due process after October 7, 2023 while on the job.

“They speak of beatings with sharp objects, prolonged hanging, forced stripping, attempted rape of both male and female prisoners, and death threats,” said PJS President Nasser Abu Bakr of the testimonies. “It is slow torture, carried out over hours, days, and sometimes months…We ask the conscience of humanity—where are you in all of this?”

Israel’s mass slaughter of media workers constitutes the largest and most systemic attack on the press in world history. Authors of the PJS report counted over 165 Palestinian journalist martyrs in Gaza since the start of the genocide and 107 media worker detentions throughout Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and East Jerusalem. Some remain behind bars; others are unaccounted for.

We sat down with Shuruq As’ad of the PJS to discuss the findings of the report and conditions that Palestinian reporters continue to face while reporting on the Israeli occupation.

NEW YORK WAR CRIMES: What was the impetus behind the report and why did the PJS decide to release it now?

Shuruq As’ad: I want to start by saying that this is nothing new. It’s not like the occupation was very nice to journalists and then after October 7 they started being violent. What we are experiencing is a systematic attack that has been escalating year after year.

We decided to launch this particular report because for a long time, we were focused on documenting the journalists being killed. Then we started to notice an escalation in home invasions, in journalists being violently taken from their families and held in prisons without any rights, without any international condemnation, without any due process. We couldn’t even visit them. We didn’t know where they were.

We knocked on the doors of international human rights organizations, but they didn’t have any answers. So our colleagues were left alone to face this military rule, this administrative detention, which is illegal under international law. We felt that we had to shed light on what was happening, not just so people understand what’s going on but so we can stop this. We want journalists in Palestine to have the same protections as journalists anywhere else.

NYWC: The report emphasizes the occupation’s use of administrative detention to intimidate and silence the Palestinian press. Can you talk about what this tactic constitutes and why the PJS is focusing on it?

SA: Administrative detention is an emergency military law that was used by the British during the mandate period. When the Israeli occupation took root in Palestine, they inherited this law, which gives them the right to come into your home at any time, to drag you to prison without saying why, without taking you to court, and without telling you when this arrest will end. They can renew your detention every three or six months simply because there’s supposedly a secret security file on you.

Israel uses this law when it has no legal case against people it wants to arrest. If they don’t like what you write, if they feel you may be going to demonstrations, if they sense that you are educating your students about Palestine, they can put you behind bars. So many people in Palestinian society — parents, teachers, doctors, activists, journalists — are in prison. Of the more than 10,700 Palestinians arrested since October 7, about 8,800 of them are administrative detainees. It’s not a small number.

NYWC: Let’s discuss the main findings of the report. What did you learn over the course of your interviews and research?

SA: The main finding is that Israel is waging a campaign of terror against Palestinian journalists. There is a sense that if a journalist simply does their job, they could pay a high price for it; they could be arrested, tortured. Everyone getting out of Israeli prison is 20 pounds lighter, even after only a month behind bars. They get out and they say, “I survived.” All of them appear traumatized, full of fear.

The stories are terrifying. They hang you until you are suspended only a few inches from the floor. Or they put your head in a bag that smells like human feces for hours. They beat you continuously. We heard of women who got their periods and were denied pads. They were shut in cells and not allowed to shower for days, and if they did shower, it was only a few seconds under the water. We heard of women who weren’t allowed to change their clothes for six months. Then there’s the humiliations, situations where they would, for example, order people to get down on their knees and howl, or lick food off the floor and say they love Israel. Some people contracted illnesses, skin conditions that they can’t name. Of course, they’re not given medication or allowed visitation. There’s also rape in the prisons. It didn’t happen to any of our colleagues, but it happened to many people from Gaza, according to people we spoke with who spent time inside.

NYWC: How did you collect testimonies of the journalists who were imprisoned after October 7?

SA: Our members in Gaza collected testimonies from their colleagues who were released, and we heard from a lot of families — mothers and sisters and such — many of whom gave us testimonies of what they heard from their relatives who were released. And in the West Bank, we met up with the journalists who were released and collected their testimonies in person. We also collected data and information from the official prisoner agencies and organizations like the Palestinian Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Club. We also met up with lawyers. Some of them were afraid to talk as well because they could be prevented from visiting their clients. And the ones who were visiting were only doing so once a month, imagine that.

NYWC: What kind of response and support have you gotten from international organizations?

SA: Organizations like the CPJ [Committee to Protect Journalists], all they do is publish reports saying the Israelis arrested this many journalists and broke this many cameras. They publish report after report after report after report — and then? They want more documentation, ok, and then? How are we going to get journalists to work safely, to film safely?

We went to the Red Cross’s office in Ramallah after one of our colleagues, Ibrahim Muhareb, was hit by Israeli shrapnel in Khan Younis and bled out for an entire day. The journalists he was with at the time called the Red Cross and asked them to come rescue him, but no one came and he died. When we asked the organization why they did not send anyone to save Ibrahim, or why they didn’t even issue a statement calling for his rescue or condemning his killing, they told us this is not their strategy, that they prefer to work through diplomacy. And I thought, ah, OK, if it was the war between Russia and Ukraine, then would it be your strategy? We didn’t even get a press release from the Red Cross.

NYWC: Whatever their strategy is, it does not appear to be doing anything.

SA: There needs to be a call from the UN and from all international humanitarian organizations to protect journalistic freedom in Palestine. We need to work together to apply real pressure on Israel, not just to put out press releases and documentation. Diplomats and foreign aid workers and NGOs need to take this documentation back to their governments and do lobbying, do something. They have a role to play. In the end, we are just a local syndicate working under occupation. We do what we can, but we don’t have any kind of authority.

NYWC: We’ve heard about the conditions of journalists in Gaza reporting while displaced, while deprived of food and water, and in the aftermath of their loved ones’ martyrdoms. We know less about the conditions of reporters in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Can you give us a sense of their experience on the job?

SA: My colleagues recently sent me a video, a snippet from Al Jazeera International. They were in Qabatiya, in a location far away from the action, far from the tanks and the military. The moment they came out of their cars — all of which were television production vans with TV stickers — and started putting on their vests, they immediately got showered with tear gas for absolutely no reason. Every time journalists have gone out to cover the Israeli raids on Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nablus, they have been chased by the occupation forces and, in some cases, injured.

Jerusalem is, of course, completely isolated. None of the reporters in the West Bank can get there. For us reporters from Jerusalem, when we go out, we’re faced with about 550 army checkpoints in addition to the wall. It should take half an hour for me to get from Ramallah to Jerusalem, but instead it takes three. And the moment you get to the front of the line and tell them you’re a journalist, they become aggressive. When they see you carrying a camera, showing your press cards, doing an interview, you’re opening yourself up to being attacked, not just by the army, but also by settlers.

So it’s really scary to go from place to place, and that is intentional. They want you to remain stuck in a small place, unable to leave and report elsewhere. They don’t want any narrative other than their own getting out.

NYWC: Despite all these risks, Palestinian journalists keep reporting. Can you explain the choice to carry on in spite of all the odds?

SA: I think about this question a lot. I can try to answer it from my own perspective. I covered invasions, I covered the [2006] war on the Lebanese border, and I kept functioning, even when we were besieged and scared, because in that situation you’re not just covering a story, you’re covering yourself. You’re covering your life, your country, your children, your friends, your hospitals, your schools, your streets, your future. It’s not just a story for you. And journalists in Gaza really feel like this is their role, like they have a responsibility to their people, especially because no one else is going to deliver the truth from Gaza. Some become frustrated because no matter how much they deliver, nothing changes, but they keep going because it gives them a little hope that they can contribute something.

For them, I think, it’s not just a job. They are witnesses more than they are reporters. They are witnesses to genocide, to massacres, to displacement. And they witness all this while they themselves are displaced. Some days, I think that if they stop reporting, they will be too devastated. It keeps them going. Yesterday I was telling a journalist I am working with, “Sorry, I know that you were just displaced from your tent, so if you don’t have time to do this today, don’t worry about it.” And she told me no, it’s the opposite. When I work, I feel like I’m getting out of the catastrophic conditions that I’m in. Instead of feeling like there’s no meaning, I have a purpose. When I do nothing, I just sit around and think about death and loss. I feel devastated.

I believe that they have taught a lot, the journalists of Gaza. We learned from them how to be really dedicated to what you do, how to work in the midst of a crisis, a crisis that you are a part of, a crisis in which you are an even bigger target than the people around you. They go through so much to capture a photo; They work so hard to find a little food, and then they give it to their families. Imagine, without these local journalists, we would have never known what happened in Gaza. Their patience is unbelievable. Each one of them is a story. Each one of them is a story.

Uyghur Rights Leader Urges Labour Government To "Honour Their Promises" To Condemn China

Rahima Mahmut has gathered evidence of human rights abuses from Uyghur camp survivors (Alamy)

Zoe Crowther
@zoenora6

A leading Uyghur human rights campaigner has called on the Government to fulfil its promises to condemn and take action against China's persecution of Uyghur Muslims, as reports emerge that ministers have softened their stance.

Earlier this year before the UK General Election, Rahima Mahmut told PoliticsHome she was calling on all the major UK political parties to recognise the persecution of Uyghur Muslims by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as 'genocide' and include legislation to ban the import of goods connected with forced Uyghur labour in their party manifestos.

Only the Liberal Democrats did include the recognition of Uyghur 'genocide' in their manifesto, but Labour’s then-Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy used the term himself and said he would push to find legal routes to recognise the treatment of Uyghurs as genocide.

Labour, with Lammy as Foreign Secretary, has now backtracked on these plans, according to The Guardian. Lammy is expected to travel to Beijing and Shanghai this weekend for high-level talks, hoping to build closer economic ties with China. As part of this shift, the Government has reportedly dropped its tough stance towards China over its treatment of the Uyghur community.

Mahmut, the UK director of World Uyghur Congress and executive director of the charity Stop Uyghur Genocide, told PoliticsHome that the first 100 days of the Labour government had created a "very mixed feeling" among human rights activists.

“When we spoke last time, I was really hopeful that if Labour came to power, that might be different, because the Conservative government stance on the Uyghur situation was very loud in condemning, but very little action," Mahmut said.

"After two, three months, you will have some kind of idea whether the government will really take tangible action or not. At the moment, it's a very mixed feeling and that worries me a lot. We really need to work hard to make sure that those promises are delivered, especially on forced labour goods and the human rights abusing tech that the US government already blacklisted.

"We have tons of evidence against these technologies that played very important role enabling the high tech surveillance and the high tech genocide of the Uyghurs, enabling [the CCP] to intern millions of people."Foreign Secretary David Lammy (Alamy)

She said that while Labour was in opposition, her organisations had the "full support from Labour MPs from top to bottom" – but felt the Government has now gone quiet on the issue now it has the power to make a difference.

“Generally, we really need the government to act and really honour the words, the statements, the promises from when they were in a shadow position," she added.

"Those ministers who criticised the Conservative government, now they have the power, and they have the opportunity to really act.”

While Mahmut said she understood that domestic issues and other conflicts had dominated the new administration's priorities, she was "disappointed" to not hear more from the Government on condemning China.

"For the last two years because of Ukraine and especially since October 7 last year, the Uyghur issues have been completely sidelined," she said.

“It's been an extremely difficult battle for people like myself, who's been cut off from my own family, my sisters and brothers and my friends for more than seven years now, and the Chinese government has been really investing so much more money and power on this information campaign, covering up and making the region [Xinjiang] a tourist attraction, beautifying the surface where there are these dark secrets – millions, suffering families like mine, they cannot call me and speak to me, and we know the evidence of the slave labour is so overwhelming.”

Blair McDougall, the new Labour MP for East Renfrewshire, ​​is hoping to chair the Uyghur All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) of crossbench MPs. He told PoliticsHome that while the economic power of China was a "fact of life", it also gave an opportunity to find "new levers" to condemn the Chinese state's actions.

"They're deeply integrated into the world economy, and that gives us opportunities to find new levers, like for example, saying that we don't think it's right that goods come from Xinjiang into the UK economy while there's such widespread evidence of slave labour and other kind of egregious human rights issues in that part of the world," he said.

“It's too early to judge the new government on that, but that's certainly something that I'm going to be sort of exploring, because I think it would be right for the UK to follow the United States lead on that.”

The Foreign Office (FCDO) is taking the position that any judgment as to whether crimes against humanity or genocide have occurred is a matter for a national or international court, and is carrying out a review on how to tackle forced labour in private and public supply chains.

Mahmut said she welcomed the fact that a review was taking place, but questioned what it would involve: "What kind of process will they take and what evidence will they rely on, and whether they will really include people like me and many other experts and survivors?" she said.

"We know that it is impossible for [the UK government] to go to the region to investigate, but we have scholars, experts, leaked documents and the report by the UN, Amnesty, International Human Rights Watch…"

An FCDO spokesperson told PoliticsHome: “This Government stands firm on human rights, including in Xinjiang, where China continues to persecute and arbitrarily detain Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities.

“This includes raising our concerns at the highest levels of the Chinese government and coordinating efforts with our international partners to hold China to account for human rights violations."

PoliticsHome

GUESS THJS MEANS 'NO'

UK foreign minister to visit China to rebuild damaged ties

October 17, 2024
By Reuters

Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy walks on Downing Street in London, Sept. 17, 2024.

London/Beijing —

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy will visit China on a two-day visit starting on Friday in a bid to improve relations between the two countries after years of tensions over security concerns and alleged human rights abuses.

Lammy will hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing before visiting Shanghai to meet British businesses operating in China, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Thursday.

"It's all about bringing a consistent, long-term and strategic approach to managing the U.K.'s position on China," the spokesperson told reporters, adding that Britain was prepared to challenge China where needed but also identify areas for co-operation.

Mao Ning, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, said the talks would focus on improving cooperation in various fields.

It will be only the second visit by a British foreign minister in six years after Lammy's Conservative predecessor James Cleverly’s trip last year. Before that, there had been a five-year gap in a visit to China by a British foreign minister.

Labour, who won a landslide election victory in July, is seeking to stabilize relations with Beijing after clashes over human rights, Hong Kong, and allegations of Chinese espionage.

Starmer told President Xi Jinping in the first conversation between the two in August that he wanted Britain and China to pursue closer economic ties while being free to talk frankly about their disagreements.

China's Vice Premier He Lifeng and British finance minister Rachel Reeves last month discussed how they can work together to boost economic growth.

Following the exchange, Beijing said it was willing to resume the UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue - an annual forum for talks on trade, investment and other economic issues, which had not taken place since 2019.

Under the previous Conservative government, Britain expressed concern about China’s curbing of civil freedoms in Hong Kong, which was under British control until 1997, and its treatment of people in its western Xinjiang region.

Britain and China also traded accusations over perceived spying.

China is Britain's sixth-largest trading partner, accounting for 5% of total trade, British government figures show.

Man born with three penises discovered by student researchers

Dan Thompson

Wed 16 October 2024

A man with three penises has been discovered by a student research team - in only the second ever recorded case of the rare birth defect.

Researchers from the University of Birmingham Medical School stumbled across the “serendipitous discovery” while dissecting the donated body of a 78-year-old man. The man may have gone his whole life without realising he had the remarkably rare condition, the team wrote, though it could have caused him some issues or dysfunctions.

Diphallia, or double penis, is a rare anomaly, which according to the British Medical Journal, affects one in five million males across the world. Triphallia, or triple penis, meanwhile, has only once before been reported, the researchers wrote in the Journal of Medical Case Reports this month.

They added: “These penile morphological abnormalities may not have been identified during his life. However, he may have lived with functional deficits due to the abnormal anatomy of the region, which may include urinary tract infections, erectile dysfunction or fertility issues.”

The first ever case of triphallia, documented in 2020, was in a newborn baby. This new discovery represents the first time the internal anatomy of the birth defect has been described in detail through post-mortem dissection.

The patient, a white male around 6 feet tall and of a medium–large build, appeared to have normal genitalia on external examination. However, dissection revealed “two small supernumerary penises … concealed within the scrotal sac”.

The primary and secondary penis shared a urethra, which ‘coursed through the secondary penis prior to its passage through the primary penis’.

“A urethra-like structure was absent from the smallest supernumerary penis,” the authors wrote.

The team also noted that polyphallia - having multiple penises - may be more common than realised.

They added: “As the inferior two penises were concealed within the scrotal sac, external genitalia appeared normal. This may explain why the abnormality was not observed until post mortem exploration.

“Without any symptoms and additional medical needs, concealed internal penises may not present themselves, preventing diagnosis. Hence, polyphallia may be more prevalent than currently understood.

“It is of clinical importance for healthcare providers to be aware of polyphallia for the diagnosis of patients presenting with urological symptoms and for healthcare interventions, such as simple catheter insertion, urological imaging, and surgery.”

 

Neolithic human settlement site discovered in north China

Xinhua
17 Oct 2024, 

© Provided by Xinhua

An aerial drone photo taken on Oct. 10, 2024 shows a view of Nanpanshi relic site in Lincheng County of north China's Hebei Province. (Photo by Chen Lei/Xinhua)

SHIJIAZHUANG, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- A Neolithic human settlement site dating back approximately 6,000 years was found in north China's Hebei Province, offering fresh evidence for archaeologists to have a deeper understanding of the cultural development and changes in the early Neolithic Age of China.

The Nanpanshi relic site is located in Hebei's Lincheng County and its excavation began in August. Archaeologists from the Hebei Normal University, Hebei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology as well as local authorities in charge of cultural relics protection have excavated about 300 square meters of the site, with the fieldwork expected to be completed by the end of October.

Bone wares, pottery and stone tools have been unearthed from the site, along with house foundations, tombs, urn burial sites and ash pits, according to He Xiangdong, a postgraduate student at the College of History and Culture at Hebei Normal University.

Suo Lixia, from the Lincheng cultural relics protection and management authority, explained that during the Neolithic period, urn burials were used for children who had died young, with their bodies placed in covered pottery vessels and buried near houses or indoors.

"The relics may offer insights into the living conditions and productivity of people from that time," said Liu Zhenhua, an official in charge of culture and tourism in Lincheng, adding that plans are underway to develop an archaeological relics park at the site.

Researchers discover hidden tomb beneath Petra's Treasury World Heritage Site

Story by Science X staff

 • 1d 

First vision of Al Khazneh, when exiting the Siq, the narrow and dim gorge leading to Petra. Credit: Azurfrog, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Adiscovery of a secret tomb at one of the new seven wonders of the world has been made by a team of researchers, including academics from the University of St Andrews.

Professor Richard Bates, from the St Andrews School of Earth and Environmental Science, was part of a collaboration carrying out research at Al-Khazneh, the Treasury Building, at the World Heritage Site of Petra, Jordan.

The team found a long-buried tomb with the remains of 12 ancient skeletons beneath the iconic building where more than a million visitors a year come to visit.

The unexpected discovery now features in a new Discovery Channel documentary. The historic excavation is revealed in "Excavation Unknown," a two-part program airing this month with adventurer Josh Gates.

The Treasury sits as the center of an entire city carved by hand into the walls of a desert canyon by the people of the Nabatean Kingdom, 2,000 years ago. Famous as the cinematic resting place of the Holy Grail in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the true purpose of the Treasury remains a mystery.

The team received permission to conduct a remote sensing scan and then dig beneath the Treasury. The non-invasive remote sensing was conducted with electromagnetic conductivity and ground penetrating radar.

Professor Bates said, "The main purpose of the survey was to assess the condition of the areas around the Treasury, its courtyard, the plaza, the exit of the Siq and the wadi into which they all feed, in advance of potential future works to divert and better control flood waters."

When the survey found probable underground chambers in and around the Treasury, an excavation plan was designed and carried out by a team from the Department of Antiquities and ACOR. This revealed the presence of a tomb, with burials still in their ancient locations.

Professor Bates said, "The discovery is of international significance, as very few complete burials from the early Nabataeans have ever been recovered from Petra before. The burials, their goods, and the human remains can all be expected to help fill the gaps in our knowledge of how Petra came to be and who the Nabataeans were."

Dr. Tim Kinnaird from the University of St Andrews School of Earth and Environmental Sciences was brought in to sample and date the sediment surrounding the burials and also to sample material from the tomb enclosure. This information provided crucial dates for construction of the walls within the tomb from the mid-first century BC to the early second century AD.

Dr. Kinnaird said, "The tomb was most likely built as a mausoleum and crypt in the Nabatean Kingdom at the beginning of the first century AD for Aretas IV Philopatris. Like many tombs in the valley, few remains have ever been found in the tombs due to their subsequent use and reuse over the last two millennia.

"It's fantastic that we now have the pottery, ecofacts and sediments to date when the Treasury was constructed. Previously we've worked on assumptions and conjectures—to 

One skeleton in the chamber was found clutching a ceramic vessel.

Adventurer and presenter Josh Gates said, "When we spotted what looked like a chalice, all of us just froze. It looked nearly identical to the Holy Grail featured in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, set in the ancient building directly above the tomb. It was the ultimate moment of life imitating art."

Detailed examination of the vessel reveals it to be the top part of a broken jug, likely dating to the first century BC.

Professor Bates said, "It was an incredible privilege to be able to survey at such an iconic site and to have the geophysics verified with an excavation so soon is a rare opportunity. The extent of the discovery was so unexpected but will likely shed light on not only the Treasury building but also on the whole of the Nabatean society."

Archaeologist Pearce Paul Creasman, Executive Director of ACOR, said, "There is so much that we have yet to learn about the Treasury. When was this remarkable structure built, and why? Little did we know that this dig might completely change what we know about The Treasury and help solve the mysteries of the Nabataean people. With the support of the Jordanian government, this excavation is bringing us closer than ever to answers."

Provided by University of St AndrewsT

his story was originally published on Phys.org. 

Europe-wide train links marred by steep costs, construction

Jonas Martiny / DW

Delays, steep costs and construction work are undermining the dream of a Europe-wide high-speed rail network, with night trains especially susceptible to disruptions.

The Nightjet train from Berlin to Brussels and Paris began again in 2023

Image: Micha Korb/pressefoto_korb/picture alliance

Hopes were high as the Nightjet train took its inaugural journey from Berlin to Paris last December — the first to connect the two cities by night in almost a decade. "This is a highlight for Europe and for the environment," cheered Clement Beaune, the French transport minister at the time. He had traveled to the German capital to celebrate the opening of the new route, which takes around 14 hours and runs three times a week.

"Today is a good day for all travelers and commuters," exclaimed his German counterpart Volker Wissing.

"This is the future of mobility," predicted Austrian Transport Minister Leonore Gewessler. He went as far as proclaiming that "short and medium-haul routes in Europe belong to trains."

Yet one year later, such grand visions have yet to pan out. Although several new routes have been introduced, there are still plenty of hurdles when it comes to expanding Europe's night train network. The Nightjet, for example, hasn't been running since August 12 between the German and French capitals due to extensive construction work in both countries.

The mini cabins on ÖBB night trains are ideal for solo travelersImage: Guiseppe Lami/ANSA/picture alliance

Train operators face a range of challenges, including high track access fees on cross-border journeys. Operational difficulties also come into play, such as lack of construction work coordination in Germany in France.

Then there's the profitability aspect — Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB), which operates the connection between Berlin and Paris, reported that the night trains have yet to make a profit.

Others in the industry don't exactly see a sparkling future for night trains in Europe. "There is no real night train renaissance," says Juri Maier, chairman of Back on Track Germany, an NGO that campaigns for the expansion of the night train network. "Yes, there are a lot of speeches being made. But development is actually going in the opposite direction."

The former state railroad companies are still the major decision makers when it comes to policies concerning rail travel. "Everyone is cooking in their own soup," says Maier. "And you can't create a shared market this way."

Meet the German teen who lives on trains 01:10

Night trains over flights

Indeed, many had pinned their hopes on having more night trains in operation around Europe, including organizations campaigning for the environment.

Train routes of around 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) could become real alternatives to climate-damaging flights in the future say some groups. A study by Back on Track calculated that if 32% of flight passengers shifted from air to night trains, 3% of Europe's total greenhouse gas emissions would be cut. But in order to do so, the study found, an additional 2,500 more night trains would be needed.

Perhaps help is on the way? The EU Commission announced it aims to double high-speed rail traffic by 2030 and triple it by 2050 as part of a plan to boost long-distance and cross-border passenger rail services.

"We need to shift a substantial proportion of flight passengers to trains," says Jacob Rohm, expert on climate-neutral mobility at the environmental and development NGO Germanwatch.

Otherwise, the EU's current climate targets won't be reached. Night trains could certainly help, but Rohm points out that "relying on the market alone will not solve this problem. We need stronger European coordination and reliable funding — especially for expanding the rail network." While the night train trend has received plenty of media hype, it hasn't exactly translated into practice.

Construction work and other issues have caused the Nighttrain to suspend its service from Berlin to ParisImage: James Arthur Gekiere/Belga/picture alliance

There is a lack of couchette and sleeping cars

Firstly, there's a lack of night trains. "New sleeper or couchette carriages can be expensive and companies don't want to make that kind of an investment," says Jon Worth, a railway commentator and author.

Some companies, however, have come up with creative solutions to the problem. Railroad company European Sleeper, founded in 2021, for example, uses decades-old couchette and sleeping cars on the route between Brussels and Berlin, although they aren't the most comfortable.

"It's quite difficult to travel by night train in Europe," says Worth. He points out that old train cars, frequent construction work, canceled connections and delays affect passengers on night trains even more than those traveling during the day, since they have fewer alternatives if their ride doesn't go as planned. "If you're unlucky, you have to sit around all night. But if things go well, it's a great way to travel," says the train expert.

Travel blogger Sebastian Wilken agrees. He travels exclusively by train as a way to be more environmentally friendly — and simply because he likes it.

He has completed close to 100 night train trips and knows the ins and outs of what's on offer around Europe. The differences between train companies in the EU can be significant, Wilken says.

On domestic trains in France, for example, there are no sleeping cars, only simple couchette cars. In the UK, on the other hand, you can travel on two extremely comfortable night trains, the Night Riviera Sleeper between London and Scotland and the Caledonian Sleeper between London and Cornwall.

By train through Vietnam  42:37

Not as comfortable as a bed

"I've had consistently positive experiences so far," says Wilken. "It's almost always been comfortable." However, he doesn't expect to sleep as well as he would in his own bed and says others shouldn't either.

While traveling he meets people who opt for the train in order to be climate-conscious, as well as those who are afraid to fly, or simply don't want to deal with all the hassle at the airport. "Recently, I've been meeting more and more people who are trying night trains for the first time," he says.

Meanwhile, Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) is under no illusions. The demand for night train connections is undoubtedly there, says company spokesman Bernhard Rieder, "but it will remain a niche service."

Short and medium-haul flights in Europe — especially those on budget airlines — won't be entirely replaced by night trains any time soon.

But there's good news for Berliners and Parisians itching for the Nightjet experience. The train service is set to resume at the end of October.

This article was originally written in German.

Edited by: Elizabeth Grenier

Jonas Martiny Reporter, correspondent

 

700 enterprises closed, 270,000 jobs at risk: Ireland's SMEs demand government action

Khalid Umar Malik
17 Oct 2024,

• Hundreds of hospitality, tourism, retail, childcare, and other small business owners and workers protested in Dublin over rising costs, which they claim is a lack of government assistance.
• The protestors gathered near Merrion Square before marching past Government Buildings and the Department of Finance to Leinster House.
• Business people and workers from all over Ireland traveled to Dublin to take part.

DUBLIN, Ireland - Hundreds of hospitality, tourism, retail, childcare, and other small business owners and workers protested in Dublin over rising costs, which they claim is a lack of government assistance.

The protestors gathered near Merrion Square before marching past Government Buildings and the Department of Finance to Leinster House.

Business people and workers from all over Ireland traveled to Dublin to take part.

The protestors carried placards with slogans such as "Hospitality SMEs left out in the cold" and "270,000 hospitality livelihoods under threat."

They chanted, "Keep Ireland open."

Paul Lenehan, President of the Restaurants Association of Ireland, told the audience that the cost of doing business had spun out of control, and the government had refused to take serious action to solve the situation.

According to Lenehan, firms have no choice but to protest.

He stated that the government has not yet listened to the industry, but the upcoming general election would be critical because all 270,000 individuals in the sector will vote.

If they want our support, something must change, he added.

Tnaiste Mchel Martin previously stated that the government should consider the cost basis for the hospitality industry.

On his way into a Cabinet meeting, Martin said he recognized the challenges small businesses face in retail and hospitality, particularly in light of recent hikes in minimum wage and energy expenses.

"They are feeling the pressure, mainly due to rising costs in various areas.

"I believe the government should consider the cost base of hospitality. The quick increase in the minimum wage over the previous two years has impacted retail and hospitality.

"There are concerns to work on in terms of supporting a better environment, both on the regulatory front and in terms of cost front for hospitality and energy."

Protesters complained about unsustainable prices and a lack of significant support from the government in the budget.

The protest was organized by the Restaurants Association of Ireland (RAI) and the Vintners' Federation of Ireland (VFI), with assistance from the Irish Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Association (ISME).

According to the groups, many expenditures are driven by government policy initiatives, including hikes in the National Minimum Wage and paid statutory sick days.

"Restaurateurs, small coffee shop owners, and others in the hospitality industry are hardworking people operating in an extremely challenging business environment," said Adrian Cummins, RAI's CEO.

"They would much rather be serving delicious meals and welcoming guests from across the country and the world than traveling to Dublin to protest."

"Unfortunately, the lack of assistance for hospitality and small businesses in Budget 2025 made this protest inevitable."

On RT's Morning Ireland, he stated: "Nearly 700 enterprises have closed in the last 13 months since the VAT rate was raised to 13.5%.