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SvennoJ 4 hours ago
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EU foreign policy chief condemns Israel’s violence in Gaza, Lebanon, occupied West Bank

We reported earlier that EU foreign ministers will discuss a proposal to suspend political dialogue with Israel and ban imports to Europe from illegal Israeli settlements. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell announced the proposed move on Friday.

Here are some extracts from Borrell’s lengthy statement lambasting Israel’s war on Gaza and attacks on Lebanon and Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank.

  • As we run out of words to describe the ever-worsening situation in Gaza, people there are running out of everything. In many parts of the Gaza Strip, there is almost nothing that could sustain organised human life.
  • What we see of the tragedy of Gaza is, however, only the tip of the iceberg since the Strip has been sealed. There are hardly any journalists or international observers entering Gaza since more than one year. It is the longest information blackout ever imposed by a democratic state.
  • This pattern at play for too long in Gaza, is now being replicated elsewhere. In South Lebanon, some 30 villages have been obliterated – not as a result of heavy combat, but in a controlled way, posted on social media.
  • In the West Bank, extremist settlers’ violence is forcing many Palestinian farmers and herders off their land  … Israeli air strikes in Jenin and Tulkarem, the first in more than two decades, have added to the destruction of civilian infrastructure.
  • Based on this assessment, I will propose to EU Member States to suspend the political dialogue with Israel. After a year of unheeded pleas, we cannot continue with business as usual.


Horrors of Gaza now playing out in Lebanon, says UNICEF

“I don’t know whether to scream or to cry,” says UNICEF spokesperson James Elder in an impassioned plea for the war on children in Gaza and now Lebanon to stop.

Reflecting on the horrors that he witnessed in Gaza, where so many children have been killed and maimed by Israeli attacks, Elder says he is now witnessing that same horror in Lebanon.

“We have to ask ourselves, are those with power, those with influence to stop this, really going to watch in silence again? While these horrors play out again?” Elder says.


Incoming US Middle East envoy raises questions about neutrality on Gaza war

Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara has highlighted the incoming US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff’s apparent admiration for Netanyahu.

He suggests that such open reverence for Netanyahu raises questions about the envoy’s ability to maintain neutrality, objectivity, and credibility in shaping the US policy on the Israel-Palestine issue.


Police suppress pro-Palestine protest against Hillary Clinton in Belfast

Irish police pushed back pro-Palestine students and academics who held a protest inside the campus of Queen’s University in Belfast, denouncing the visit of former US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Palestine supporters protested Clinton’s visit, accusing her of supporting the Israeli war on Gaza and Lebanon. The protest, which featured Palestinian flags and people drenched in fake blood, was met by police.

Police arrested several protesters leading dozens to demonstrate in Belfast for their release. The former US secretary of state’s visit to Belfast was to participate in the Global Innovation Summit.