Archiv: Rechenschaftspflicht / Verantwortung / accountability / responsibility


20.11.2024 - 22:41 [ Middle East Eye ]

Francesca Albanese: ICC should seek more arrest warrants for Israeli leaders

„There should be more in the dock, in my view. And it‘s taking ages. This is because the political pressure on the international justice system is extreme.

„And we see pressure on the prosecutor, pressure on the judges. Israel is trying to obstruct it by moving exceptions against the independence of the judges. And the US is making pressure through open threats,“ she added.

According to Albanese, the failure to issue arrest warrants is putting international justice on the edge.

„We might lose what we have, what we have built. Multilateralism is on the edge, and international law is on a knife‘s edge.

„It‘s about us, all of us students, doctors, professors, journalists, ordinary people in the street to protect it if our elected government officials don‘t do that.“

20.11.2024 - 22:03 [ Middle East Eye / Youtube ]

‚International law is on a knife‘s edge‘ | Francesca Albanese | One on One

In this episode of One on One, journalist and news editor Sondos Asem is sitting down with Francesca Albanese, an outspoken international human rights lawyer and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967. She is the 8th person to hold that role, and the first woman.

She is a self-described “reluctant chronicler of Genocide”, as she has been one of the most vocal critics of Israel’s onslaught on Gaza since 7 October. Within the past year, she has submitted two reports to the UN human rights council, where she outlined her legal opinion on why the attacks on the Palestinian population constitute genocide.

Middle East Eye spoke to her on 13 November, during her visit to London, where she was invited to speak at several university campuses.

20.11.2024 - 17:51 [ ORF.at ]

USA blockieren erneut Resolution für Waffenruhe in Gaza

Der Text war von allen zehn nicht ständigen Mitgliedern des mächtigsten Gremiums der Vereinten Nationen eingereicht worden. Nach wochenlangen Verhandlungen und Änderungen auf Wunsch des Israel-Verbündeten USA blieb am Ende Uneinigkeit vor allem über eine Formulierung: Im Entwurf hieß es, der Sicherheitsrat „verlangt eine sofortige, bedingungslose und dauerhafte Waffenruhe, die von allen Parteien zu respektieren ist; bekräftigt ferner seine Forderung nach der sofortigen und bedingungslosen Freilassung aller Geiseln“.

20.11.2024 - 17:39 [ Middle East Eye ]

US vetoes another UN Security Council resolution seeking Gaza ceasefire

Unlike several previous resolutions regarding a ceasefire in Gaza, Wednesday‘s measure was brought forward by all 10 elected members of the Security Council.

20.11.2024 - 17:22 [ New York Times ]

U.S. Vetoes Gaza Cease-Fire Resolution at U.N. Security Council

The veto was the fourth time the United States blocked an effort by the Council to demand a cease-fire since the war began over a year ago when Hamas attacked Israel and took more than 200 people hostage. In the months since, more than 40,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the local health authorities.

20.11.2024 - 13:45 [ Middle East Eye ]

Israeli army death toll tops 800 with soldier killed in north Gaza combat

An Israeli soldier was killed and a battalion commander seriously wounded by Palestinian fire in the northern Gaza Strip, the Israeli military announced on Wednesday.

This brings the death toll in the army to 800 since the war started on 7 October 2023.

20.11.2024 - 13:24 [ Middle East Eye ]

Gaza death toll rises to 43,985

Gaza‘s health ministry said that 13 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks on the besieged enclave in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 43,985 since 7 October.

Additionally, 104,092 people have been wounded since the start of the war.

20.11.2024 - 01:23 [ KBS.co.kr ]

Seoul: Nordkorea empfindet offizielle Bestätigung seiner Truppenentsendung offenbar als Belastung

Obwohl es Tausende junge Soldaten in einen grundlosen Krieg geschickt habe und sie somit in Lebensgefahr bringe, habe Nordkorea dies bislang nicht einmal der eigenen Bevölkerung mitgeteilt, sagte der Beamte.

Die Behörden Südkoreas und der USA haben mittlerweile offiziell bestätigt, dass sich nach Russland entsandte nordkoreanische Soldaten bereits an Gefechten gegen die Ukraine beteiligen. Bis zum Donnerstagvormittag war in Nordkoreas Staatsmedien jedoch noch nicht davon berichtet worden.

20.11.2024 - 00:55 [ RT.com ]

Experts react to Russia‘s new nuclear doctrine

The new doctrine states that Moscow will have the right to consider the nuclear option if Russia or Belarus come under attackby conventional arms and if such aggression creates a „critical threat“ to their sovereignty or territorial integrity.

Additionally, any act of aggression by a non-nuclear state with the participation of a nuclear state against Russia will now be regarded as a joint attack and could also trigger the new doctrine.

20.11.2024 - 00:31 [ CNBC ]

Russia says Ukraine attacked it using U.S. long-range missiles, signals it’s ready for nuclear response

Moscow signaled to the West that it’s ready for a nuclear confrontation.
Ukrainian news outlets reported early Tuesday that missiles had been used to attack a Russian military facility in the Bryansk border region.
Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed the attack.
Mobile bomb shelters are going into mass production in Russia, a government ministry said.

19.11.2024 - 00:41 [ Pentagon ]

North Korean Troops Enter Kursk Where Ukrainians Are Fighting

(2 hours ago)

It is likely that about 11,000 North Korean troops have moved into Russia‘s Kursk region, said Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh, who spoke to the media today.

19.11.2024 - 00:39 [ Fox News ]

Trump allies warn Biden risking ‚World War III‘ by authorizing long-range missiles for Ukraine

„​​No one anticipated that Joe Biden would ESCALATE the war in Ukraine during the transition period. This is as if he is launching a whole new war,“ Ric Grenell, Trump’s former acting director of national intelligence, wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

„Everything has changed now – all previous calculations are null and void. And all for politics.“

„The Military Industrial Complex seems to want to make sure they get World War 3 going before my father has a chance to create peace and save lives. Gotta lock in those $Trillions. Life be damned!!! Imbeciles!“ Donald Trump Jr., the president-elect’s son, wrote on X.

19.11.2024 - 00:31 [ New York Times ]

Biden Allows Ukraine to Strike Russia With Long-Range U.S. Missiles

(November 17, 2024)

With two months left in office, the president for the first time authorized the Ukrainian military to use the system known as ATACMS to help defend its forces in the Kursk region of Russia.

19.11.2024 - 00:00 [ theNation.com ]

Yes, Antony Blinken Should Resign. But He’s Not the Only One.

(September 27, 2024)

The day is dark, the forces arrayed are tenacious, but as the late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote “No! This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

I urge you to stand with The Nation and donate today.

Onwards,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation

18.11.2024 - 23:41 [ Truthout.org ]

Tlaib: Blinken Must Resign Over Lies About Israel Blocking Humanitarian Aid

(November 16, 2024)

“Secretary Blinken has continued to lie to Congress and should resign,” she said. “U.S. law is very clear. No nation blocking U.S. humanitarian assistance can receive U.S. weapons. The Biden administration cannot pick and choose when they comply with our own laws.”

“Children are forced to eat pet food and bug infested flour,” she went on. “But Blinken says there is no need to change our own policy. Shameful.”

18.11.2024 - 20:45 [ Middle East Eye ]

Death toll in Gaza climbs to 43,922

The Gaza Health Ministry said the death toll in the Strip has now reached 43,922.

It added that at least 103,898 are injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October attacks.ztrze7i567uetzjha

18.11.2024 - 20:34 [ Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor ]

‚They killed them without them moving a muscle‘: Field executions, starvation, and forced displacement by Israeli army in northern Gaza

Palestinian Territory –Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor documented dozens of deliberate killings and new field executions carried out by Israeli occupation forces against numerous civilians in northern Gaza.

These actions are part of the ongoing escalation and the broader framework of genocide perpetrated against Palestinians for over 13 months.

18.11.2024 - 20:23 [ Ammon News ]

Gaza: 76 Deaths from Israeli Aggression Reported in One Day

The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip reported on Monday that Israeli occupation forces committed four massacres over the past 24 hours, resulting in 76 deaths and 158 injuries.

The casualties have been brought to hospitals, though many victims remain trapped under rubble or on roads, with ambulance and civil defense teams unable to reach them due to the ongoing aggression.

17.11.2024 - 11:12 [ Middle East Eye ]

Israeli air strike on multi-storey building in Beit Lahiya kills 72

An Israeli air strike on a multi-storey residential building in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza, left dozens of Palestinians killed and wounded on Sunday morning.

The government media office in Gaza put the number of those killed at 72. It said the strike hit a residential building that housed members of six families.

Earlier on Sunday, an Israeli air strike killed at least 10 people in al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, when a missile hit a house, medics said.

16.11.2024 - 12:34 [ International Federation for Human Rights ]

Suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement

Paris, 12 March 2024. Respect for human rights is an essential element of the EU’s association agreements with partner countries. Article 2 states that „relations between the Parties, as well as all the provisions of the Agreement itself, shall be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles, which guides their internal and international policy and constitutes an essential element of this Agreement“. Violation of the so-called „essential elements“ clauses allows the EU to denounce or suspend the agreements in whole or in part under Article 60 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. In the light of the deaths and suffering endured by the Palestinian people, the European Union has the duty and the means to act to prevent Israel’s crimes in Gaza and to reduce the extent of human suffering.

15.11.2024 - 15:13 [ Middle East Eye ]

Gaza death toll rises to 43,764

Gaza‘s health ministry said that 28 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks on the enclave in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 43,764 since 7 October, 2023.

Additionally, 103,490 people have been wounded since the start of the war.

15.11.2024 - 14:05 [ Palestine Chronicle ]

‘Unacceptable’ – British PM, Foreign Secretary Claim Israel Not Committing Genocide

Lammy recently alleged that the term genocide referred to “when millions of people lost their lives in crises like Rwanda, the Second World War in the Holocaust” and that using it to describe Gaza “now undermines (its) seriousness”.

(…)

“Will the Prime Minister share (Lammy’s) definition of genocide with this House?” the lawmaker asked Starmer.

The prime minister answered by saying that “it would be wise to start a question like that by reference to what happened in October of last year”.

“I’m well aware of the definition of genocide, and that is why I’ve never described this as and referred to it as genocide,” he added.

15.11.2024 - 13:50 [ theCradle.co ]

Nearly two percent of Gaza’s population killed by US-Israel war machine

(August 12, 2024)

The bureau said in a statement that Israel’s war on Gaza has killed more than 39,000 Palestinians. “This constitutes around 1.8 percent of the total population in the territory,” PCBS said.

According to the data, approximately 24 percent of those killed by Israel in Gaza are youths.

15.11.2024 - 13:32 [ Middle East Eye ]

UK urged to share Gaza spy planes footage with ICC war crimes probe

(October 30, 2024)

The defence ministry told Middle East Eye: “As a matter of principle, we only provide intelligence to our allies where we are satisfied that it will be used in accordance with International Humanitarian Law, and in this instance, only information relating to hostage rescue is passed to the Israeli authorities.”
(…)
Brendan O’Hara, the Scottish National Party’s spokesperson for the Middle East, told MEE it was “inconceivable”, given the scale of the destruction and death in Gaza, that the flights “do not contain footage which would be of significant interest to the investigators from the International Criminal Court”.
(…)
Labour MP Rachael Maskell told MEE: “It is crucial that any intelligence of breaches of international law are shared with the courts so they can assess the evidence and secure justice.”

“I trust that the UK government is working with the international courts to aid them in their work.”

15.11.2024 - 13:10 [ DeclassifiedUK.org/ ]

Revealed: UK military has flown 200 spy missions over Gaza in support of Israel

(May 8, 2024)

British spy planes have recorded up to 1,000 hours of footage over Gaza, including from the day Israel assassinated three UK aid workers.

14.11.2024 - 22:16 [ United Nations ]

Report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories

The present report contains information regarding the efforts of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories to implement its mandate and documents human rights concerns in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the occupied Syrian Golan from October 2023 to July 2024. The Special Committee was not able to conduct visits to the occupied territories, but did conduct its annual consultations in Geneva and undertook a visit to Amman, and met with government officials, United Nations organizations and mechanisms, representatives of civil society organizations, youth representatives, human rights defenders, and Palestinian families.

The report raises serious concerns of breaches of international humanitarian and human rights laws in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including starvation as a weapon of war, the possibility of genocide in Gaza and an apartheid system in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. It documents the impact of the conflict escalation since 7 October 2023 on Palestinians’ rights to food; to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment; to physical integrity, liberty and security of persons; as well as the disproportionate effects on the rights of women, children, and future generations more broadly. The report also highlights the ongoing attacks against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and refers to developments in the occupied Syrian Golan. The report provides recommendations to the General Assembly and Member States; to the State of Israel; and to businesses operating with Israel, that in any way contribute to maintaining Israel’s unlawful presence in the occupied territories.

(…)

IX. Conclusions

69. The developments in this report lead the Special Committee to conclude that the policies and practices of Israel during the reporting period are consistent with the characteristics of genocide. The targeting of Palestinians as a group; the life-threatening conditions imposed on Palestinians in Gaza through warfare and restrictions on humanitarian aid – resulting in physical destruction, increased miscarriages and stillbirths – and the killing of and serious bodily or mental harm caused to Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are violations under international law. Civilians have been indiscriminately and disproportionally killed en masse in Gaza, while in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Israeli colonial settlers, military and security personnel have continued to violate human rights and humanitarian law with impunity. Senior Israeli government and military officials must be held accountable, including for using dehumanizing language and inciting violence.

14.11.2024 - 22:04 [ Common Dreams ]

As US Keeps Arms Flowing, UN Panel Says Israeli Assault on Gaza ‚Consistent With Genocide‘

Less than 48 hours after the Biden administration said it does not believe Israel is unlawfully obstructing humanitarian assistance in Gaza, a United Nations special committee issued a report Thursday arguing that the Israeli military‘s actions in the Palestinian enclave bear „the characteristics of genocide.“

14.11.2024 - 21:01 [ Common Dreams ]

Global Fury After State Dept Claims Israel Not Violating US Law by Blocking Gaza Aid

(November 12, 2024)

Last month, the Biden administration—which has approved tens of billions of dollars in military aid for Israel and provided nearly unconditional diplomatic support since October 2023—sent a letter to the Israeli government threatening to cut off U.S. arms transfers if it failed to take „urgent and sustained actions“ to improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza within 30 days.

Asked during a Tuesday press conference if the Israeli government has met the letter‘s demands, State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said that „we have not made an assessment that they are in violation of U.S. law.“

14.11.2024 - 19:55 [ Human Rights Watch ]

“Hopeless, Starving, and Besieged”: Israel’s Forced Displacement of Palestinians in Gaza

To All Governments

– Publicly condemn Israel’s forced displacement of the civilian population in Gaza as a war crime and crime against humanity, as well as other violations of international humanitarian law, international human rights law, and international criminal law by Israeli authorities, and urge them to immediately halt those crimes and cooperate with international judicial bodies and investigative mechanisms.

– Increase public and private pressure on the Israeli government to stop violating international humanitarian law in the conduct of hostilities, to fully comply with its obligations and the binding orders and advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice, and to ensure the entry and safe distribution throughout Gaza of adequate aid and provision of basic services. Consider, in that regard, the review and possible suspension of bilateral agreements with Israel, such as the EU-Israel Association Agreement, as proposed by the governments of Spain and Ireland, and the US-Israel Free Trade Agreement.

– Suspend military assistance and arms sales to Israel so long as its forces commit violations of international humanitarian law with impunity.

– Enforce domestic legislation limiting the transfer of arms and military assistance for violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.

– Publicly support the International Criminal Court, uphold the court’s independence, and publicly condemn efforts to intimidate or interfere with its work, officials, and those cooperating with the institution.

– Urge the Government of Israel to grant access to independent, international monitors, including from the UN Special Procedures.

– Impose targeted sanctions, including travel bans and asset freezes, against Israeli officials credibly implicated in ongoing serious violations, for the purpose of ending these violations.

– Address long-standing impunity by Israeli authorities and Palestinian armed groups for serious crimes under international law, and support reparations for all victims of gross human rights abuses.

– Support the creation of a register of damages, caused by unlawful Israeli action to persons in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, for the purposes of calculating reparations.

(…)

To the Prosecutor of the International Crimin19al Court

– Investigate Israeli authorities’ forced displacement and prevention of the right to return as a crime against humanity.

14.11.2024 - 19:50 [ France24.com ]

Israel is committing ‘ethnic cleansing’ amid mass forced displacements in Gaza, HRW report says

Israel has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, including pursuing a deliberate policy of forcibly displacing people and denying them the right to return home, according to a Human Rights Watch report released Thursday. The report also labelled the likely permanent dispossession of Gazans in areas cleared by Israel to serve as buffer zones and security corridors as “ethnic cleansing”.

14.11.2024 - 19:41 [ Syrian Arab News Agency ]

43736 dead in Gaza strip since beginning the extermination war

Palestinian Health Ministry stated the Israeli enemy has perpetrated three massacres over the past 24 hours in Gaza strip, claiming lives of 24 Palestinians and injuring 112 others.

“Number of victims from the continuous Israeli aggression for the 405th consecutive day has risen to 43,736 martyrs, and 103,360 wounded.” the Ministry said in a statement on Thursday adding that there are numbers of bodies are still stuck under the rubble where Occupation forces prevent the ambulance and civil staff from reaching them.

14.11.2024 - 18:37 [ Middle East Eye ]

Israel raids villages across the occupied West Bank

Israel has launched raids across the occupied West Bank, storming the town of Beita, south of Nablus, and the town of Taybeh, west of Jenin.

13.11.2024 - 18:41 [ United Nations ]

Sudan: Allies of warring generals ‘enabling the slaughter,’ Security Council hears

Ms. DiCarlo condemned not only the RSF attacks but also the indiscriminate airstrikes by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in civilian-populated areas such as the capital Khartoum and El Fasher, a major city in North Darfur hosting thousands of internally displaced which has been besieged for months by the RSF.

“Both warring parties bear responsibility for this violence,” she stressed.

She added that as the rainy season nears its end, both sides continue to escalate their military operations, recruit new fighters and intensify their attacks, fuelled by “considerable” external support and a steady flow of arms.

“To put it bluntly, certain purported allies of the parties are enabling the slaughter in Sudan. This is unconscionable, it is illegal, and it must end.”

(…)

The situation in Sudan has been in a freefall since the war erupted last April.

It is now the world’s worst displacement crisis, with more than 11 million people driven from their homes – nearly three million among them into neighbouring countries as refugees, according to the UN relief coordinating office, OCHA.

The war has also unleashed a severe hunger crisis, affecting millions.

13.11.2024 - 17:09 [ Middle East Eye ]

Gaza death toll tops 43,700, with 47 killed in past day

Israeli forces have killed at least 47 Palestinians and wounded 182 in the last 24 hours across Gaza, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

This brings the death toll in the besieged enclave since 7 October 2023 to 43,712, with more than 103,258 wounded. At least 10,000 people are still missing, likely dead and buried under rubble.

13.11.2024 - 12:43 [ Middle East Eye ]

Video: Massive Israeli strike hits makeshift tents in ‚humanitarian zone‘

An Israeli air strike hit makeshift camps for displaced Palestinians in the so-called Israeli-designated „humanitarian zone“ in al-Mawasi near Khan Younis on Wednesday.

Footage posted on local media showed a massive explosion after the air strike.

13.11.2024 - 12:31 [ Middle East Eye ]

Israeli forces strike tents of displaced Palestinians in Deir al-Balah

No description has been added to this video.

13.11.2024 - 12:20 [ Middle East Eye ]

Israeli drones shooting children in Gaza deliberately ‚day after day‘, UK surgeon tells MPs

A retired NHS surgeon who recently returned from working at a hospital in Gaza said he treated children „day after day after day“ who had been deliberately targeted by Israeli drones following bomb attacks.

In harrowing testimony to British MPs on Tuesday, Nizam Mamode said of all the conflicts he had worked in, including the genocide in Rwanda, he and other experienced colleagues in Gaza had „never seen anything on this scale ever“.

He said at least once or twice daily, there were „mass casualty incidents,“ meaning that 10 to 20 people were killed and up to 40 seriously injured. He estimated that at least 60 percent of the people treated at these times were women and children.

12.11.2024 - 17:12 [ Middle East Eye ]

Death toll in Gaza rises to 43,665

At least 103,076 Palestinians have been wounded since the war began, the ministry added.

A total of 62 Palestinians were killed and 147 wounded over the past 24 hours.

12.11.2024 - 16:59 [ Middle East Eye ]

Israeli air strike kills at least 11 Palestinian civilians in Rafah

Several bodies are pictured after an Israeli air strike killed at least 11 Palestinians in Rafah, southern Gaza (MEE)

12.11.2024 - 16:54 [ Middle East Eye ]

Israeli forces kill Palestinian camper near Egypt border ‚without threat‘

The body of Yassin Abu Ruwais, 18, from the village of Bir Haddaj in the Negev region, was found by travellers passing through the area of the Halutza Sands southwest of Beersheba, according to Haaretz.

His father, Suleiman Abu Ruwais told news outlet Arab48 his son had gone on an overnight camping trip with his friends at a desert tourist spot, not far from his village.

„On Friday evening, news and rumours spread that the Israeli army had shot a young man from the village. A few minutes later, I received the news that he was my son Yassin and that he had been transferred by helicopter to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba,“ Suleiman said.

„I went to the hospital immediately and there I learnt that he had died.“

11.11.2024 - 13:51 [ Middle East Eye ]

Gaza death toll reaches 43,603

The Palestinian health ministry is reporting that at least 43,603 Palestinians have been killed and another 102,929 wounded in Gaza by Israeli forces since 7 October 2023.

It added that the latest figure includes 51 Palestinians who were killed and 164 who were wounded in the last 24 hours.

10.11.2024 - 14:44 [ Statista.com ]

1.25 Million Have ‚Top Secret‘ Access in the U.S.

(April 14, 2023)

Peo0le with clearance and access to „Top Secret“ U.S.federal government information, by employee type
Government 605.579
Contractor 472.576
Other 173.803
Total 1.251.958

As of Oct.1, 2019
Source: Office of the Director of National Intelligence via Federation of American Scientists

10.11.2024 - 14:30 [ Washington Post ]

TOP SECRET AMERICA: National Security Inc.

(July 20, 2010)

The Post investigation uncovered what amounts to an alternative geography of the United States, a Top Secret America created since 9/11 that is hidden from public view, lacking in thorough oversight and so unwieldy that its effectiveness is impossible to determine.

It is also a system in which contractors are playing an ever more important role. The Post estimates that out of 854,000 people with top-secret clearances, 265,000 are contractors. There is no better example of the government‘s dependency on them than at the CIA, the one place in government that exists to do things overseas that no other U.S. agency is allowed to do.

(…)

Contractors kill enemy fighters. They spy on foreign governments and eavesdrop on terrorist networks. They help craft war plans. They gather information on local factions in war zones. They are the historians, the architects, the recruiters in the nation‘s most secretive agencies. They staff watch centers across the Washington area. They are among the most trusted advisers to the four-star generals leading the nation‘s wars.