‘World cannot afford Lebanon becoming another Gaza’: UN chief
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed increasing concern over the escalating war of words and deadly border clashes between Israel’s military and Lebanon’s Hezbollah fighters.
UN peacekeepers are working to calm the situation and prevent “miscalculation” after both sides heightened their rhetoric and raised the possibility of full-scale conflict, the secretary-general said on Friday.
“One rash move – one miscalculation – could trigger a catastrophe that goes far beyond the border and, frankly, beyond imagination,” Guterres told reporters. “Let’s be clear: The people of the region and the people of the world cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza.”
Far-right Israeli minister given more powers over Palestinians
Officials under Israel’s far-right settler minister, Bezalel Smotrich, have just been given more powers over the occupied West Bank and its Palestinian population.
Far-right Israeli minister sets out plan to prevent West Bank from becoming part of a Palestinian state
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has spoken about preventing the occupied West Bank from becoming a part of an independent Palestinian state, according to leaked audio of a speech he gave earlier this month.
Smotrich, a leading far right member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet, said the way to prevent a Palestinian state that would endanger the state of Israel was to develop Jewish settlements. “The goal is to change the DNA of the system for many, many years,” he told the gathering.
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In the audio, Smotrich said that a separate civilian system had been created for the occupied West Bank, even as the Defense Ministry remained in control of the area.
“We created a separate civilian system, there is an office within the Ministry of Defense. There is a minister there. There is an administration there, it’s like an office, there is a CEO for the administration, he is accepted as the CEO of a government office, there is a whole system within the administration,” Smotrich said.
As more countries call for an independent Palestinian state, Smotrich spoke about the extensive planning powers of the minister and administration and the prospect of developing mass transit and road systems in the West Bank over the next few years to encourage settlement there.
“This is a revolution: this is how you bring a million people to Judea and Samaria,” Smotrich said, using the term by which many Israelis describe the occupied territory.
In his half-hour speech, Smotrich said he was able “to convince the Prime Minister”, Benjamin Netanyahu, about creating a civilian administration in the West Bank.
What’s behind the historic pro-Israel spending in US House primary election?
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/6/21/whats-behind-the-historic-pro-israel-spending-in-a-new-york-house-primary
Representative Jamaal Bowman, one of the newest members of the progressive “squad” in the US Congress, is facing a fight for his political life.
On Tuesday, he defends his seat in the House of Representatives by competing in the Democratic primary for New York’s 16th congressional district. But while incumbents are rarely challenged, Bowman is facing one of the most costly contests in the history of House primaries.
Progressive groups and politicos say the battle is a direct result of Bowman’s vocal criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza, as groups like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) are spending big to unseat him.
Bowman is part of a small but growing number of voices in Congress questioning the US’s commitment to Israel, its “ironclad” ally. That, experts say, puts a bulls-eye on his back.
“I’m not so sure that there would be a primary if it wasn’t for the war in Gaza and the oversized influence AIPAC and outside forces have had in this race, trying to press this issue and trying to get rid of Congressman Bowman,” Doug Gordon, a Democratic consultant and co-CEO of UpShift Strategies, told Al Jazeera.
Jamaal Bowman
