Knesset majority rejects unilateral recognition of Palestinian state
The Knesset has voted in favour of a measure to reject unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state, with a majority of 99. Nine members opposed it, according to Israel’s i24 News broadcaster.
The declaratory statement, regarding “international dictates regarding a permanent settlement with the Palestinians and the establishment of a Palestinian state”, was proposed on Sunday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Herzog slams Smotrich over comments on importance of Israeli abductees’ release
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog has criticised Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who had said that the return of the Israeli captives from Gaza “is not the most important thing”, according to the Israeli Army Radio.
“I call on elected officials to consider the feelings of the families of the abductees, one must know how to act with maximum sensitivity – there are things that should not be said in public,” Herzog said.
Most Israelis think ‘absolute victory’ in Gaza unlikely: Survey
An Israel Democracy Institute poll has found that 51 percent of Jewish respondents and 77.5 percent of Palestinian citizens of Israel believe that there is a low likelihood of the war ending with such a victory. The survey also found that 84 percent of those who identify with the left, 63 percent of centrist respondents and 55 percent of those on the right of the political spectrum agree that the likelihood of “absolute victory” is low.
The poll results follow Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s remarks earlier this month that Israel was “within touching distance of absolute victory”.
UK High Court rejects legal challenge to arms sales to Israel
The High Court of Justice in London rejected a petition filed by a group of legal advocacy groups calling for the suspension of British arms exports to Israel.
The group requested a judicial review in January as to whether the UK government was violating its own strategic licencing criteria, which states that weapons should not be sold to actors when there is a clear risk they could be used to violate international humanitarian law. The court ruled against the suspension of arms sales, but lawyers for the coalition, led by Palestinian rights group Al-Haq, have said they will appeal the decision.
World slams US ceasefire veto at UN Security Council
On Tuesday, the US again vetoed a draft UN Security Council resolution on Israel’s war in Gaza, prompting widespread criticism. The move was the third US veto of a UNSC resolution demanding a ceasefire in Gaza, and came a day after Washington circulated a resolution that would support a temporary ceasefire linked to the release of all Israeli captives from the Palestinian enclave.
- China said the move is “nothing different from giving the green light to the continued slaughter”.
- France’s UN envoy expressed regret that a UNSC ceasefire resolution could not be adopted.
- Hamas said that “President Joe Biden and his administration bear direct responsibility for derailing the resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza”.
- Cuba said the US’s veto made it complicit in Israel’s crimes against Palestinians.
Pro-Palestinian groups in Wales call for Israel boycott
Branches of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in Wales say in a statement: “It is time for people of conscience across the world to act” as Israel carries out the “genocide of the Palestinian people”.
“Throughout Wales, we urge a boycott of Israel, including goods, services, academic, cultural and sporting links; local authorities, universities and other investors to end investments in, and purchases from, any company or body complicit in the oppression of Palestinians; and consumer action against companies participating in Israel’s oppression of Palestinians,” the statement read. The movement also called on the Greater Gwent Council Pension Fund to divest from companies supplying weapons and military technology to Israel.
“The three demands are to end the colonisation and occupation of all Palestinian land, and dismantle the apartheid wall; to recognise the fundamental rights of Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and to respect, protect and promote the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties,” it added.
