‘An insult’: Irish president slams Israel over request to relocate UNIFIL
Ireland’s President Higgins has slammed Israel for demanding and threatening the relocation of a UN peacekeeping force, UNIFIL, from southern Lebanon.
“It is outrageous that the [Israeli army] have threatened this peacekeeping force and sought to have them evacuate the villages they are defending. Indeed, Israel is demanding that the entire UNIFIL operating under UN mandates walk away,” Higgins said in a statement.
“This is not only an insult to the most important global institution to which 193 members are committed, but it is also an insult to the soldiers and their families who have taken risks so we might all live in peace and protect the most vulnerable,” he added.
His comments came after the Israeli military asked UN peacekeepers earlier this week to prepare to relocate more than five kilometres (three miles) from the Blue Line – the border between Israel and Lebanon.
Ireland’s contingent of 347 is part of an allocation of 10,000 UNIFIL soldiers from 50 countries.
The UN mission has been in the troubled southern region since 2006 as part of a UN Security Council’s mandate ruling that the Lebanese army and UNIFIL would have been the exclusive armed presence south between the Blue Line and Lebanon’s Litani River.
As Israeli war nears one year, thousands protest around the world
Thousands of protesters took to the streets in several major cities around the world to demand an end to Israel’s war in Gaza, which is fast approaching its first anniversary.
About 40,000 pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched through central London while thousands also gathered in Paris, Rome, Manila and Cape Town.
In London, pro-Israel supporters waved flags as pro-Palestinian marchers walked by.
In Rome, police fired tear gas and water cannon after clashes broke out. Approximately 6,000 protesters defied a ban to march in the city centre before the October 7 anniversary.
In Berlin, a demonstration drew about 1,000 demonstrators, who bore Palestinian flags and chanted “One Year of Genocide”. The demonstrators also criticised police violence against pro-Palestinian protesters in Germany.
In Manila, activists clashed with anti-riot police after they were blocked from holding a demonstration in front of the US embassy in the Philippine capital to protest against the United States supplying Israel with weapons.
People attend a protest in support of Palestinians and Lebanon, in Sofia, Bulgaria, October 5
Pro-Palestine protest in Rome turns violent
Police fired tear gas at protesters in Rome, Italy, as thousands of pro-Palestine demonstrators took to the streets defying a previously imposed ban by the government.
At least 34 people have been wounded, most of whom were police officers, state-run agency ANSA reported.
According to the report, rioters wearing black hoods infiltrated the protests.
Chants of “Free Palestine”, “Criminal Israel” and “Now Intifada” rang out in Piazzale Ostiense where the protesters convened for the march, it added.
