Author: Gulf News Week
From Sun City under apartheid to Woodstock during Vietnam, colonial and imperial regimes have always used leisure to mask brutality. Today, Israel’s pride parades, travel culture and trance festivals do the same.Some 4,000 miles (6,000km) away from Gaza, in the mangrove-thick hills of Goa, young Israelis stamp the earth to trance music. Here, you will not hear mothers wailing over white shrouds. The genocide is elsewhere, and that is the point.Across backpacker trails, from Andean valleys to Thai beaches, a similar scene plays out. Israelis call it “tarmila’ut”: a post-military “rite of passage” and a chance, as DJ Zirkin puts…
Ever wondered why the temperature is different from the “feels like” temperature on your weather app?Have you ever noticed that your weather forecast shows both the actual temperature and a “feels like” temperature?That’s because 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) when it’s breezy and dry feels very different from 30C (86F) when it’s stagnant and humid.In this visual explainer, we show the differences between air temperature and “feels like” temperature, and highlight the regions around the world where heat stress is highest.First, how is temperature measured?The temperature you see on the news or the weather app on your phone relies…
Fund said decision against Caterpillar and five Israeli banks due to their contribution ‘to serious violations of rights in situations of war and conflict’.Norway’s $2-trillion wealth fund, the largest in the world, has divested from US construction equipment giant Caterpillar over the firm’s purported involvement in rights violations perpetrated by Israel in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.The Norwegian central bank said on Monday that it had decided to exclude Caterpillar from the fund, which it manages, “due to an unacceptable risk that the companies contribute to serious violations of the rights of individuals in situations of war and conflict”.The…
Dr Mimi Syed on what an official famine declaration could mean for Palestinians starving in Gaza.Famine has been declared in Gaza City and surrounding areas, with more than half a million Palestinians facing “catastrophic conditions”, according to a UN-backed monitor. As Israel advances its plan to seize Gaza City, what scars will famine leave on Palestinians for generations to come?In this episode: Dr Mimi Syed (@Memers1st), doctor of emergency medicine Episode credits:This episode was produced by Amy Walters, Sonia Bhagat, Tracie Hunte, Julia Muldavin and Marcos Bartolomé, with Phillip Lanos, Spencer Cline, Melanie Marich, Kisaa Zehra, Farhan Rafid and our…
At least 21 Palestinians killed in ‘double-tap’ attack on Nasser Hospital, drawing widespread global condemnation.Israel has struck Nasser Hospital in the south of the Gaza Strip, killing at least 21 people, including five journalists, as well as medics and rescue workers, in the latest deliberate attack on civilians and the besieged enclave’s decimated health system.Monday’s attack, which killed journalists who worked for media, the Reuters and Associated Press (AP) news agencies, and others, was among the deadliest of a multitude of Israeli strikes that have targeted both hospitals and media workers over the course of the nearly two-year genocidal assault.It…
The senators urged for the protection of journalists in Gaza and international media access to the territory.A group of 17 US senators has written to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, condemning an Israeli attack last week that killed several media journalists, and urging the US to pressure Israel to grant foreign media access to Gaza and protect journalists there.The letter [pdf] published on Wednesday was led by Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz and signed by 16 other senators, including Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a registered independent who caucuses with the Democrats.It…
Israeli leader claims Australian prime minister’s legacy ‘tarnished’ by decision to recognise a Palestinian state.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stepped up his government’s bitter diplomatic dispute with Australia, claiming that Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s legacy has been irrevocably blackened by his “weakness” towards Hamas.In an interview with Sky News Australia scheduled to air on Thursday night, Netanyahu said Albanese’s record would “forever be tarnished” by his decision to recognise a Palestinian state.“When the worst terrorist organisation on earth, these savages who murdered women, raped them, beheaded men, burnt babies alive in front of their parents, took hundreds of…
Athletes train with salvaged equipment in a tent gym in al-Mawasi, desperately trying to maintain their physical strength during man-made famine conditions caused by Israel’s blockade of the Strip.Al-Mawasi, Gaza Strip – Sweat streams down Tareq Abu Youssef’s face as he struggles through his gym workout on makeshift bodybuilding equipment, each movement more laboured than it should be.The 23-year-old Palestinian deliberately keeps his training sessions minimal, a painful reduction from the intensive routines he once loved – but in a territory where nearly everyone is starving, maintaining muscle mass has become an act of survival and resistance.“I have dropped 14…
More than 700 entrepreneurs and acclaimed professionals call for arms embargo, sanctions and scrutiny as Gaza faces darkest days.London, United Kingdom – Hundreds of business leaders in the United Kingdom – including a former adviser to the king and a sustainability consultant descended from Holocaust survivors – are calling on the government to take action against Israel as the crisis in Gaza worsens.As of Thursday morning, 762 people had signed a statement calling on Britain to cease all arms trade with Israel, sanction those accused of violating international law – ostensibly including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he is wanted…
Attacks come as Israeli-induced famine grips the besieged Strip amid calls for Israel to accept a mediated truce.At least 81 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by Israeli attacks and forced starvation since dawn as the Israeli military said it had begun the first stages of its planned assault to seize the enclave’s largest urban centre, Gaza City, where close to a million people remain in perilous conditions.Three other Palestinians starved to death in the besieged enclave on Wednesday, bringing the total count of hunger-related deaths to 269, including 112 children.Israeli attacks included a strike on a tent housing displaced…