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SvennoJ on 24 October 2024
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Lebanon receives $1bn in pledges for aid and military support

The French are going to be pleased with that figure of $800m in money for immediate humanitarian aid in Lebanon and $200m towards the Lebanese army [during an aid conference in Paris for Lebanon] – which is very, very weak and very significantly underfunded.

It’s double what the French were looking for when they announced this conference on Lebanon itself. Lebanon’s government says it needs at least $250m a month to look after humanitarian needs in the country, not least those 1.3 million people internally displaced.

The UN Development Programme says the economic fallout, particularly from this fighting, could be worse than the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. Unemployment is going up. The Lebanese pound has lost 98 percent of its value.

So, there is significant need for this money. The French were also hoping to achieve some sort of diplomatic solution, perhaps looking for a ceasefire. That might have always been a long shot.

There were lower-level representatives here, but they will be pleased with that large amount of money they’ve been pledged.


France raising money to keep people alive, Germany doing the opposite...

Germany approves more than $100m in arms exports to Israel

Germany has authorised more than $100m in military exports to Israel in the last three months, Foreign Office data showed, coinciding with the latest legal challenge by human rights groups concerned about the potential use of these weapons in the Gaza war.

Berlin has approved 94,052,394 million euros ($101.61m) in arms exports to Israel since August 2024, according to a government response to a parliamentary inquiry by left-wing lawmaker Sevim Dagdelen.

The new permits followed a significant drop in arms exports to Israel in the first half of the year.

Separately, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) says it has filed an appeal at the Frankfurt Administrative Court on behalf of a Gaza resident, seeking to halt further arms exports.

The appeal says German weapons are contributing to civilian harm in Gaza. The plaintiff, a Gaza resident who lost his wife and daughter in Israeli air strikes, says continuing arms shipments place his life and the lives of others in danger, calling on Germany to stop facilitating these transfers.

 

US and UK ‘literally funding’ Israel’s wars on Gaza, Lebanon: Defence Priorities

Benjamin Friedman, policy director for the US-based group Defense Priorities, says the US and UK bear significant responsibility for Israel’s bloody wars in the Middle East because of unfettered military and financial support.

“The United States and the United Kingdom have really facilitated the Israeli escalation that they purportedly oppose. In fact, they’re literally funding it through the weapon shipments and money given to Israel,” Freidman told Al Jazeera.

“I wish I could say I’m surprised, but I’ve been in this country for a long time seeing with disappointment how closely we support Israel despite their regular refusals to listen to US presidents going back over decades.”



Writers’ group expresses ‘outrage’ at Israeli claims against Al Jazeera journalists

PEN International, an international association of writers that defends freedom of expression, condemned Israel’s allegations that six Al Jazeera journalists working in besieged northern Gaza are “terrorists”.

“We are outraged by [Israeli military] threats against six Palestinian journalists, labelling them as terrorists for reporting on Israel’s war crimes. We condemn the ongoing threats, impunity over their killings, and severe restrictions [on media in Gaza],” said the group.

Al Jazeera Media Network also denounced the “unfounded allegations” by the Israeli army, saying “these fabricated accusations” are “a blatant attempt to silence the few remaining journalists in the region, thereby obscuring the harsh realities of the war from audiences worldwide”.