Author: Gulf News Week

Israeli PM accuses French president of stirring anti-Semitism, and claims Australian PM has abandoned Australian Jews.A diplomatic row between Israel and Paris has broken out after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused French President Emmanuel Macron of fuelling “the anti-Semitic fire” in France by planning to recognise Palestinian statehood.Netanyahu’s accusation against the French leader was contained in a letter, seen by the AFP news agency on Tuesday, which claimed that anti-Semitism had “surged” in France since President Macron’s recent announcement that he will recognise Palestine as a state at a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly next month.The French…

Israel bombards Gaza City, where many are trapped, as ceasefire deal Hamas has accepted hangs in balance.At least 18,885 children are among the more than 62,000 Palestinians killed by Israel since the start of its genocidal war in Gaza nearly two years ago, Gaza’s Government Media Office has said.The staggering, grim toll comes as the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said on Tuesday that no place is safe for children in the enclave, where Israeli-induced starvation is rife due to Israel’s blockading of desperately-needed aid and medical supplies.UN-run schools have become shelters for “hundreds of thousands of people”…

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says in Yerevan that ‘governance in the Caucasus region must remain Caucasian’.Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has told Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian that a planned corridor linking Azerbaijan with its exclave would be under Armenian control, days after Iran said it would block the project included in a United States-brokered peace accord that puts a potential Washington presence on its doorstep.“Roads passing through Armenia will be under the exclusive jurisdiction of Armenia, and security will be provided by Armenia, not by any third country,” Pashinyan said at a meeting with Pezeshkian in the Armenian capital Yerevan…

Lebanese army discovered a factory in the eastern Bekaa Valley with large amounts of the addictive stimulant inside.Iraqi and Lebanese intelligence agencies have coordinated to discover and destroy one of Lebanon’s largest drug factories making the highly addictive amphetamine Captagon, Iraq’s Ministry of Interior says.The announcement late on Monday showcased rare security operation between the two countries and comes a month after the Lebanese army issued a statement about the discovery of a factory with large amounts of drugs in Yammoune village in the eastern Bekaa Valley.Iraq’s Interior Ministry said the Lebanese operation in Yammoune in mid-July came after Iraqi…

Forced expulsion is looming and we know this time we may never see our homes again.To those who still care, this may be the last letter I write from Gaza City.We are expecting Israel to officially issue its “evacuation orders” any time now. My beloved city, Gaza, stands on the brink of a full military occupation by the Israeli army. Their plan is to force us all to leave our homes and move into tents in the southern part of the Strip. We do not know what will happen to those who resist. We may be living our last days in…

Israel is ethnically cleansing the central neighborhood of Zeitoun in Gaza by bombing homes and displacement centres.Since announcing plans to invade northern Gaza and expel Palestinians again to the south, Israel has attacked displacement shelters in the Gaza City neighbourhood of Zeitoun, according to an investigation by Sanad, media’s verification unit.Since August 13, Sanad has found that Israel stepped up the bombardment and shelling of Zeitoun, and often directly hit displacement shelters.The siege and ongoing violence have compelled thousands of Palestinians to close their tents in the camps and flee further south, according to satellite imagery obtained by Sanad.Israel is…

The highest number of attacks on aid workers was in Palestinian territory, followed by Sudan, the UN says.United Nations humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher has issued a “shameful indictment of international inaction and apathy” as he has shared statistics on the killing of 383 aid workers last year worldwide, nearly half in Gaza.Marking World Humanitarian Day on Tuesday, Fletcher said the killings rose by 31 percent from the year before, “driven by the relentless conflicts in Gaza, where 181 humanitarian workers were killed, and in Sudan, where 60 lost their lives”.“Even one attack against a humanitarian colleague is an attack on…

Israel is intensifying attacks on Gaza City, the territory’s largest urban centre, as it plans to seize it.More than 62,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel in its nearly two-year genocidal war on Gaza, with the population suffering relentless bombardment with nowhere safe in the besieged enclave, Israeli-induced starvation and the daily killing of people desperately seeking food for their families.Israel is intensifying strikes on Gaza City, the territory’s largest – and now destroyed – urban centre, as it plans to seize it and forcibly displace tens of thousands of people to concentration zones in the south. At least 30…

Iran rejects ‘Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity’ (TRIPP), says the presence of American companies in the region would be ‘worrying’.Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is visiting Armenia for talks on a planned corridor linking Azerbaijan near the border with his country, days after Iran said it would block the project included in a United States-brokered peace accord that puts a potential Washington presence on Iran’s doorstep.The land corridor, dubbed the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity” (TRIPP), is part of a deal signed earlier this month in Washington between former foes Armenia and Azerbaijan.US President Donald Trump said…

British PM’s office says it is a crime to fund a proscribed group after award-winning author promises to back the pro-Palestine group.The government of the United Kingdom has warned Irish novelist Sally Rooney against funding Palestine Action after she pledged support to the campaign group banned by the Labour-led government as a “terrorist” group last month.The prime minister’s office said on Monday that “support for a proscribed organisation is an offence under the Terrorism Act” and warned against backing such organisations.“There is a difference between showing support for a proscribed organisation, which is an offence under the Terrorism Act, and…