Replies to post #457798 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

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South Africa files genocide case against Israel at World Court

"The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: The Danger of ‘No Solution’ Messaging
"Never forget -- Shimon Peres and the legacy of the Oslo Accords
"75 years of Israel: A 'Jewish state' to a full theocracy?
"Service to Israel Tugs at Identity of Arab Citizens
"Grading Biden on the Israel-Hamas War"""""

By Wendell Roelf and Toby Sterling
December 30, 20236:18 AM GMT+11Updated an hour ago


[1/2]A flare falls over Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, as seen from southern Israel, December 29, 2023. REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura Acquire Licensing Rights

AMSTERDAM/CAPE TOWN, Dec 29 (Reuters) - South Africa asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Friday for an urgent order declaring that Israel was in breach of its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention in its crackdown .. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-tanks-missiles-strike-gaza-offensive-against-hamas-2023-12-28/ .. against the Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza.

The ICJ, sometimes known as the World Court, is the United Nations venue for resolving disputes between states. Israel's foreign ministry said in a reaction the suit was "baseless."

South Africa's filing alleged Israel was violating its obligations under the treaty, drafted in the wake of the Holocaust, which makes it a crime to attempt to destroy a people in whole or in part.

It asked the court to issue provisional, or short-term, measures ordering Israel to stop its military campaign in Gaza, which it said were "necessary in this case to protect against further, severe and irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people".

No date has been set for a hearing.

While the ICJ in The Hague is considered the U.N.'s highest court, its rulings are sometimes ignored. In March 2022 the court ordered Russia .. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/world-court-rule-emergency-measures-ukraine-vs-russia-case-2022-03-16/ .. to immediately halt its military campaign in Ukraine.

ISRAEL REJECTS FILING

War began on Oct. 7 when militants of the Islamist group Hamas killed 1,200 people in a cross-border attack and seized 240 hostages by Israel's count. Israel responded with an assault on Hamas-ruled Gaza, killing more than 21,000 people, Palestinian health officials say.
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In a first response to South Africa's suit, Israel's foreign ministry blamed Hamas for the suffering of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip by using them as human shields and stealing humanitarian aid from them, accusations Hamas denies.

"Israel has made it clear that the residents of the Gaza Strip are not the enemy, and is making every effort to limit harm to the non-involved and to allow humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip," the ministry statement said.

The court application is the latest move by South Africa, a vociferous critic of Israel's war, to ratchet up pressure after its lawmakers last month voted in favour of closing down the Israeli embassy .. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/safrican-lawmakers-vote-suspend-diplomatic-ties-with-israel-shut-embassy-2023-11-21/ .. in Pretoria and suspending all diplomatic relations until a ceasefire was reached in the war.

In a statement from South Africa's Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), the government said the application against Israel was filed on Friday.

"Israel, since 7 October 2023 in particular, has failed to prevent genocide and has failed to prosecute the direct and public incitement to genocide," DIRCO said in a statement.

South Africa has backed the Palestinian cause for statehood in Israeli-occupied territories for decades, likening the plight of Palestinians to those of the Black majority in South Africa during the repressive apartheid-era, a comparison Israel vehemently denies.

Reporting by Toby Sterling in Amsterdam and Wendell Roelf in Cape Town; Additional reporting by Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem; Editing by Susan Fenton and Howard Goller

https://www.reuters.com/world/south-africa-seeks-international-court-justice-genocide-order-against-israel-2023-12-29/

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Haaretz | Israel News - 'Unproven Allegations': U.K.'s Channel 4 Slams Israel's Charge Against UNRWA

"The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: The Danger of ‘No Solution’ Messaging
"Never forget -- Shimon Peres and the legacy of the Oslo Accords
"75 years of Israel: A 'Jewish state' to a full theocracy?
"Service to Israel Tugs at Identity of Arab Citizens
"Grading Biden on the Israel-Hamas War"""""

Related: UK Channel 4


https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/channel-4-news-uk/

The allegations against the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees were presented in an Israeli intelligence brief, originally reported on in the Wall Street Journal. U.K.'s Channel 4 claims it 'contains no evidence' for Israel's allegations against UNRWA's workers


UN and Red Crescent workers prepare the aid for distribution to Palestinians at UNRWA warehouse in the Gaza Strip, last year.
Credit: Hassan Eslaiah /AP

Rachel Fink Feb 7, 2024

British news outlet Channel 4 broadcast a story on Monday examining Israel's allegations against UNRWA, the UN relief agency that provides humanitarian aid to Palestinian refugees living across the Middle East.

The story was presented by Channel 4's Lindsey Hilsum who then posted it to her X account, formerly Twitter, along with the caption "We got hold of Israel's dossier against UNRWA .. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-01-28/ty-article/.premium/unrwa-is-riddled-with-hamas-but-israel-has-no-alternative/0000018d-5122-d3ab-a5cf-53bf4b370000 – why did the donors including the U.K. withdraw funding on such flimsy unproven allegations before an investigation?"

* Israel's beef isn't with UNRWA. It's with Palestinian refugees' right of return

* What is UNRWA? And why are countries freezing their funding?

* How UNRWA became the second-most influential organization in Gaza after Hamas

The allegations .. https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/2024-01-26/ty-article/u-s-pauses-unrwa-funding-after-claims-12-workers-involved-in-oct-7-attack-on-israel/0000018d-463e-dc44-a5bf-cebe1b080000 , which were detailed in a confidential Israeli intelligence brief originally reported on in the Wall Street Journal .. https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/2024-01-29/ty-article/wsj-about-10-percent-of-unrwa-employees-in-gaza-have-ties-to-hamas-islamic-jihad/0000018d-5565-d8cc-a1fd-576f89eb0000 , involve 12 UNRWA employees who Israel claims were involved in the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israeli Gaza border communities on October 7.

We got hold of Israel’s dossier against UNRWA - why did the donors including the UK withdraw funding on such flimsy unproven allegations before an investigation?https://t.co/9ssCrIbfPK

— Lindsey Hilsum (@lindseyhilsum) February 5, 2024

According to Channel 4, the intelligence report "contains no evidence to support Israel's explosive new claim other than stating, 'From intelligence information, documents, and identity cards seized during the course of the fighting, it is now possible to flag around 190 Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist operatives who serve as UNRWA employees. More than 10 UNRWA staffers took part in the events of October 7 .. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-12-21/ty-article-timeline/.premium/a-day-that-changed-israel-key-haaretz-stories-on-the-unimaginable-reality-of-october-7/0000018c-8cb2-da81-a1bc-ceb678f50000 .'"


Palestinians protest against the suspension of funds from several donor countries to
UNRWA, in front of the Agency's offices in the West Bank city of Beitunia,
on Wednesday. Credit: Nasser Nasser /AP

UNRWA provides education, health and social services, and, in times of war, life-saving aid and shelter to over 5 million Palestinians living in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. It is the primary humanitarian aid .. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-10-16/ty-article/.premium/israel-allows-water-into-gaza-strip-via-the-rafah-crossing-but-no-fuel-nor-food/0000018b-3809-dd09-a1bf-3aa96cd70000 .. organization operating in the Gaza Strip, where it employs over 13,000 Gazans and serves a population of two million Palestinians.

According to Juliette Touma, UNRWA's director of communications, who was interviewed by Channel 4, employees and contractors are placed on a list that is given to Israel every year for approval. As recently as last May, according to Channel 4, all UNRWA workers had been vetted and approved by Israel.


The Khan Yunis refugee camp in the south of the Gaza Strip. Credit: Bloomberg/Ahmad Salem

Touma added that she assumes the 12 employees now being investigated appeared on the list and, therefore, the allegations leveled by Israel have "come as a shock" to the agency's leadership.

Touma was also asked about UNRWA's decision to fire, rather than suspend pending investigation, nine of the employees named in Israel's report (two have died, according to a UN report). When asked whether this was made based on evidence that has not yet been made public, she replied, "The commissioner general of UNRWA .. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-02-03/ty-article/israeli-military-surprised-by-leak-of-unwra-accusations-report-says/0000018d-7089-d971-a38f-71bb73470000 (Philippe Lazzarini) did this in the best interest of the agency due to the huge risks both to the reputation of the agency and also the largest humanitarian operation in response to the war in Gaza."

Channel 4 reported that Israel gave the dossier to major UNRWA donor countries just after the ICJ made their interim ruling .. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-01-26/ty-article/.premium/icj-fires-israel-a-warning-shot-over-genocide-case-this-is-why-netanyahu-should-worry/0000018d-4625-dc44-a5bf-ceb7d5cf0000 .. regarding South Africa's charge of genocide against Israel.


UNRWA aid, on Sunday in Rafah, the Gaza Strip last year. Credit: AFP

A New York Times investigation .. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-02-03/ty-article/israeli-military-surprised-by-leak-of-unwra-accusations-report-says/0000018d-7089-d971-a38f-71bb73470000 .. published on January 18 contradicts this claim, reporting that Israeli senior military officials, surprised that the United States had become aware of information regarding their accusations, ordered an investigation into how it had been leaked to the American government. According to the NYT, the investigation named UNRWA itself as the source of the leak.

Last Friday, Lazzarini announced that UNRWA would be conducting an investigation into the allegations laid out in the Israeli intelligence briefing. According to Touma, the investigation is being conducted by the highest U.N. investigative office and is still ongoing.

As a result of the allegations and UNRWA's subsequent announcement of both the employees' terminations and the U.N. investigation, 15 western countries have paused their funding to the agency.

According to Touma, the sum total of funds currently being withheld makes up about half of UNRWA's entire operational budget, which could result in needing to suspend operations in Gaza in late February or early March if the funding does not resume.

"We are going to be forced to make very tough decisions that humanitarian aid workers are not supposed to be forced to make," she said.

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-02-07/ty-article/unproven-allegations-u-k-channel-4-slams-israels-charge-against-unrwa/0000018d-837c-d636-adef-cffe76790000

I hope the UN investigation is speedy. And that the aid recommences as soon as possible regardless of the investigation result. Or even before the investigation is completed. I mean if Israel have vetted the employees then surely the organization cannot be corrupt, as some are painting them.