Students call on French government to help Palestine
France threatens new sanctions against Israeli settlers
President Emmanuel Macron’s office says France is considering extending sanctions on Israeli settlers behind violence against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank after the prime minister spoke with Jordan’s King Abdullah II.
The two leaders “firmly condemned recent Israeli announcements about settlements” in the occupied West Bank, “which are contrary to international law”, Macron’s office said in a statement.
On February 28, “extremist Israeli settlers” were banned from entering French territory. Last week, the EU imposed sanctions on four Israeli settlers and two settler organisations for violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem.
Since the start of the year, Israeli authorities have declared nearly 1,100 hectares (2,720 acres) of the West Bank to be “state land” – twice as much as in the previous record year in 1999, according to the settlement watchdog Peace Now.
Chef Jose Andres mourns WCK workers killed in Gaza
Celebrity Chef Jose Andres says the seven aid workers killed by Israeli forces in Gaza were “the best of humanity” during a memorial service at the Washington National Cathedral that was attended by hundreds.
The attack on an aid convoy for Andres’s charity, World Central Kitchen (WCK), earlier this month prompted worldwide condemnation.
At the service, Andres praised each of the workers – Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, John Chapman, Jacob Flickinger, Lalzawmi Frankcom, James Henderson, James Kirby, and Damian Sobol – during an emotional eulogy, his voice cracking repeatedly.
“The seven souls we mourn today were there so that hungry people could eat,” he said, referring to residents of Gaza. “They risked everything to feed people they did not know.
“They were the best of humanity. Their examples should inspire us to do better, to be better,” he said.
Andres said WCK continues to demand an investigation into the actions of the Israeli forces against its workers and that the official explanation was not good enough.
“There is no excuse for these killings. None,” he said.
