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A Russian governor was accused by critics on Sunday of “discrediting Russia’s armed forces” after telling residents in her region that the country had “no need” for its war in Ukraine.

"Blocking the entry of all food, water, medicines and cutting off electricity – as appears to be happening in Gaza – will disproportionately affect civilians, foreseeably leading to their starvation.," says Robert Goldman Professor of Law at the American University Washington College of Law.

"No matter how horrific the actions of Hamas, IHL does not permit an aggrieved party to respond in kind," he adds. Violation of the law by one party cannot, in principle, justify or sanction actions by the other that violate established prohibitions in international humanitarian law.

Everywhere you look, there are calls for revenge, and those calls are coming from the top,” Green said, referring to the rightwing extremists in the prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s hardline national security minister, last week ordered 10,000 assault rifles to be distributed among occupied West Bank settlements and to Jews living in cities with mixed Israeli and Palestinian populations, including 4,000 that were distributed immediately.

“There are crazy religious people who actively want to open new fronts in these dangerous times. They are trying to inflame the entire region,” one citizen said.

Police arrest four men in connection with a video appearing to show anti-Semitic abuse shouted from a car.

Suzanne Somers died on Oct. 15 at 76. The actress was best known for her roles on 'Three's Company' and 'Step by Step.'

Cross-posted from: https://feddit.it/post/2614883

Original link: https://www.adk.de/de/news/?we_objectID=65559

More than 60% of Australians voted "No" in the landmark referendum on Saturday that asked whether to alter the constitution to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people with an Indigenous advisory body, the "Voice to Parliament", that would have advised parliament on matters concerning the community.

"This is a bitter irony," the Indigenous leaders said in a statement. "That people who have only been on this continent for 235 years would refuse to recognise those whose home this land has been for 60,000 and more years is beyond reason."

The Military Manpower Administration (MMA) has been considering expanding military conscription to orphans and North Korean defectors to compensate for armed forces personnel shortages and the low birthrate, an opposition lawmaker said Saturday.

Etgar Keret is one of the most successful authors in Israel where he has been living his entire life. Currently he resides in Tel Aviv.

The following text is an English translation of a recent interview in German. It is an automated translations that has been edited for brevity and clarity. The original version in German is behind a paywall here: https://www.stern.de/politik/ausland/isrealischer-autor-etgar-keret-ueber-nahost-konflikt---die-hamas-ist-nicht-das-palaestinensische-volk---33910462.html

QUOTE

[...] Mr Keret, you have always lived in Tel Aviv, how is the atmosphere there? The streets are half empty, sometimes you see soldiers running, you feel the tension everywhere. But what is really impressive is this energy.

Can you describe this energy? When the attacks started last Saturday, we were doomed to be tied to the TV in the living room. There we saw people calling the stations and asking our government for help. Many people simply got into the car and drove into the battle zone to save people.

You mean, where the government failed, civil society intervened? Moreover, there have been mass protests in Israel for months against Netanyahu’s judicial reform. The infrastructure of these protests was immediately used to do what the government was unable to offer.

Do you have an example? On the first day of the fighting, the reservists were ordered to their unit in the morning. They arrived at the station at 9 o'clock, but were told that there would be a train at 5 o'clock in the afternoon. They were supposed to wait 8 hours for trains while people were being tortured. Only because the transport minister was somewhere in Mexico and didn’t send special trains. So all the soldiers who had previously linked up to the protests against Netanyahu’s judicial reform organized cars and personally drove the reservists to action. [...] It was all the organized opponents of judicial reform who prepared food for the soldiers and injured. Or take Yair Golan, a member of the left-wing "Meretz" party, one of the biggest hate figures in the Netanyahu camp. When he heard about the attacks, he called two friends, they got into a car, drove off and saved 16 people. The government disappoints us, but we experience so much optimism and drive from the people around us. [...] This country is far from united, but all those who have protested against Netanyahu’s authoritarianism have simply joined in. And those who really cared about the problems were the members of the opposition. [...] Netanyahu says, "Our enemy will suffer for generations." But what about all our sacrifices? What about all the people who died because so many soldiers were withdrawn from the Gaza Strip to the border with Jordan? People who do not vote for Netanyahu were simply neglected. [...] Now everyone is talking about unity. And meanwhile, the legal counsel of Netanyahu’s Likud party says that this war is a result of the left-liberal cancer. That’s what he says four hours after Netanyahu summoned our unity, and not even the Likud Party cares what their leader Netanyahu says. And the man who was in power when the greatest number of Jews since the Second World War were massacred did not even go on television, did not give an interview, did not answer a single question, did not say a thoughtful word. When I heard Biden’s speech, I felt like an orphan who sees someone who has a father. And I said to myself, "I want someone to take care of me. And who doesn’t just think about the next parliamentary term and tries to avoid a prison sentence. I want someone to look after me and see that I am hurt and confused, but that will never be Netanyahu." [...] Since Netanyahu came to power, he has had a very simple theory: "I don’t want a Palestinian state. And the only way to avoid a Palestinian state is to strengthen Hamas." He said that openly in a government meeting. And Bezalel Smotrich, his fascist coalition partner, said: "We need a stronger Hamas and a weaker Palestinian Authority." During all these last years we have gone through a ritual of human sacrifice. Every few years, Israel has undertaken a military operation in which Israelis and Palestinians died, while Netanyahu assured us, "The thing is under control. I have a deal with the devil, some people will die, but that’s the price." In this attempt to block the possibility of a Palestinian state - which would be the only normal and morally acceptable solution to our conflicts - there was an invisible pact between Netanyahu and Hamas. [...] When Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in 1995, Netanyahu had no chance of winning. Because normally your party won’t win an election if you kill a prime minister. Then, from one day to the next, Hamas began its deadly suicide attacks. And people said, "Shimon Perez won’t be able to fix this," so they voted for Netanyahu. And as soon as Netanyahu was in power, Hamas stopped its terrorist attacks, because they no longer needed terror. Because neither Hamas nor Netanyahu want a Palestinian state, Hamas is not the Palestinian people. And Netanyahu is not Israel. [...] We need a fresh start, we need a whole new situation, without Hamas and without Netanyahu. [...] It took Netanyahu five days to allow the opposition to join a war cabinet. The opposition people said, "All we ask is that the fascist who is agitating against the Arabs is not part of the war cabinet. Remove him from the government for this crisis and you can use him again after the war." And Netanyahu replied, "That would be a good solution for now, but in three months I will be in a bad political situation." The country is struggling to survive, and all Netanyahu has in mind is its political future, which has nothing to do with leadership. He’s the guy who’s been dragging this country through the dirt for years, thinking it’s all good to save him from prison. We will win this war despite Netanyahu, but certainly not thanks to him. [...] Will Netanyahu survive this time politically? [...] True leaders would jump into the car, drive off and help. One would like the government to say, "Our job is not to insult all our domestic opponents as anarchists. But our job is to run this country, and to deal with this emergency." But nothing like that happens. [...] And what do you wish for the Palestinians? That they get a leadership that really acts in their interest. Hamas did not think of Palestinian interests when it attacked Israel, but of Iranian interests. Of course, Iran wants Israel to attack Hamas and bomb Gaza instead of Tehran, which is a proxy war. The Palestinians deserve a leadership that really cares about their interests, just like Israel.

They have long advocated a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Do they still think reconciliation is possible? Yeah, I do, because I live here, and I think what’s happening here should be a wake-up call. People from both sides of the conflict should say, "Okay, we tried extremist violence for 23 years, it didn’t work." So we should draw a line and say, "This time is behind us." Now, both sides should seek leadership that promises us a future that is optimistic and not about destroying your neighbor.

House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY) called on the president of her alma mater, Harvard University, to resign Friday after the academic again declined to condemn or punish students who blamed Israel for last week’s Hamas terrorist attacks.

Human Rights Watch reviewed the video and verified that it was taken in Gaza City’s port and in locations near the Israel-Lebanon border, and identified that the munitions used in the strikes were airburst 155mm white phosphorus artillery projectiles.

The use of white phosphorus in populated areas poses grave risks to civilians, the NGO says. Upon contact, white phosphorus can burn people, thermally and chemically, down to the bone as it is highly soluble in fat and therefore in human flesh. White phosphorus fragments can exacerbate wounds even after treatment and can enter the bloodstream and cause multiple organ failure. Already dressed wounds can reignite when dressings are removed and the wounds are re-exposed to oxygen. Even relatively minor burns are often fatal. For survivors, extensive scarring tightens muscle tissue and creates physical disabilities. The trauma of the attack, the painful treatment that follows, and appearance-changing scars lead to psychological harm and social exclusion.

"There is no justification for violence that indiscriminately targets innocent civilians, whether by Hamas or Israeli forces. This is absolutely prohibited under international law and amounts to a war crime,” the experts said.

Israel’s use of white phosphorus in military operations in Gaza and Lebanon puts civilians at risk of serious and long-term injuries, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing a question and answer document on white phosphorus.

Russia’s Olympic Committee has been suspended for violating the Olympic charter after it incorporated sports bodies from four territories annexed from Ukraine

Talks bitterly broke off between Hollywood actors and studios late Wednesday

Federal prosecutors added the new criminal charge against the New Jersey Democrat and his wife.

In a series of interviews conducted over several years, 14 women from east Africa and the Philippines recounted their experiences with recruitment agencies hiring for the United Arab Emirates, including alleging they were denied food, held captive and treated violently.

Health secretary voices concern at sweet-like marketing of e-cigarettes, as ministers plan curbs in England

UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps says the BBC's position is "verging on disgraceful".

"Consider a continent that has 1.3 billion people, has a GDP of $US3.4 trillion and by 2050 will have the youngest working population in the world,” says Wamkele Mene, Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area, during a visit in Australia.

Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian physician, says he gets calls from people in Gaza constantly, "patients who have kidney problems, in need for kidney dialysis, who could die in two, three days because they cannot get it, patients with cancer who lost treatment, and other sick people who are in very deep situation."

Barghouti, who is also an activist and politician who serves as general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, also argues that a ground operation in Gaza would constitute a campaign of ethnic cleansing, and condemns Israeli occupation and settlement under far-right Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as having destroyed any “prospective for a two-state solution.”

Barghouti accuses Israel having "turned back to using what was prohibited, which is white phosphorus," saying "it is a prohibited kind of weapon, but [Israel] uses it openly and frankly."

Barghouti also discusses President Biden’s abnegation of responsibility toward Palestinian Americans, Egypt’s role in the conflict and the relationship within Palestine between the “totally marginalized” Palestinian Authority and groups like Hamas.

The boy killed Sonic employee Matthew Davis in May in Keene, Tex., after the 12-year-old’s uncle got into a fight over urinating at the chain’s parking lot, police said.

Prices are also going up for Magic Key annual passes, parking and Genie+ cut-the-line benefits.