Berlin: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz voiced disgust on Wednesday at remarks by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that the German leader said diminished the importance of the Holocaust, while Israel accused Abbas of telling a “monstrous lie”.
Read MoreJewish Leaders in Australia Furious Over anti-Israel Motion at Top University
A vehemently anti-Israel resolution was passed on Monday by the student union of one of Australia’s top universities, sparking outrage among leaders of the local Jewish community.
The resolution, which accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing of Palestinians” and described it as an “apartheid colonialist state,” was passed by the student representative board of the University of Melbourne.
Read More‘Not fair that I had to hide who I am’: Jewish student in fear after anti-Israel motion
A Jewish student at the University of Melbourne says he is ashamed of his identity on campus and fears attending classes due to a series of anti-Israel motions passed by the student union.
Despite rescinding a motion earlier this year that condemned Zionism as a “racist colonial ideology” and urged the university to endorse an academic boycott, the University of Melbourne Student Union passed an almost identical motion on Monday.
Read MoreAnalysis | Why Didn’t Hamas Join Islamic Jihad Against Israel? Ideology
“Hamas is the backbone of the resistance, and we’re in an eternal pact against the enemy,” Islamic Jihad leader Ziad al-Nakhalah declared this week after the cease-fire with Israel. It doesn’t seem that such a declaration was necessary. It’s taken for granted that the two groups have been brothers in arms in recent years, but Hamas violated this alliance when it stayed out of the three days of fighting.
Read MoreUninvolved: These Are the 36 Palestinian Civilians Killed During Israel’s Gaza Op
Forty-nine Palestinians have been killed as a result of the latest military escalation between Israel and Islamic Jihad, which lasted three days. They include five girls, 11 boys and four women.
Thirty were killed during Israeli strikes. Of those, 17 were civilians, among them three girls, a boy and four women. Botched launches of Palestinian rockets killed 19 non-combatants, including 12 children.
Read MoreGaza: Cruelty Without Consequences
Israel is currently gloating over its recent operation in Gaza. It succeeded by all measures: Israel initiated the conflict, first by arresting an Islamic Jihad leader in the West Bank city of Jenin and dragging him out in humiliation, as he was bitten by a dog; then, anticipating a reaction by his organization, Israel proceeded to bombard Gaza “preemptively.”
Read MoreOnly two-state solution can end Israel-Palestinian violence: UN envoy
New York: The top UN Middle East envoy has warned that the ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants is “fragile” and the “cycles of violence” will only stop when an independent Palestinian state lives side-by-side with Israel.
Tor Wennesland called on Israeli and Palestinian leaders and the international community at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on the latest violence “to strengthen diplomatic efforts to return to meaningful negotiations towards a viable two-state solution”.
Read MoreIsrael reopens Gaza crossings as truce with Palestinians holds, after 44 people killed in Israeli air strikes
Israel has reopened border crossings into Gaza following an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire with the militant Islamic Jihad group that ended the bloodiest escalation of fighting around the volatile Palestinian enclave in more than a year.
Key points:
The Gaza Health Ministry said at least 44 people were killed and hundreds injured during the 56 hours of violence before the ceasefire
The opening of border crossings has allowed fuel trucks to supply Gaza’s only power plant which had decreased its output
There were no serious casualties on the Israeli side, thanks largely to the Iron Dome air defence s
Opinion | How Israel Attacked Gaza and Radicalized Yet More Palestinians
There is something catastrophically reckless, if not malevolent, about the timing and nature of Israel’s unprovoked attacks on Gaza, which began last Friday and ended with a ceasefire Sunday. The impact on internal Palestinian power dynamics will be long lasting – and it will cast a long shadow over the calm Israel purports to pursue in the south of the country.
Read MoreAnalysis | What Happens in Gaza Stays in Gaza, the World Says
Sometimes, tragedies and wars offer weird moments of comic relief. Take Russia, for example. On Friday, the first day of exchanges of fire between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, the Russian Foreign Ministry came out with a statement that would make George Orwell cringe.
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