Tag: Joe Biden

Prospects dim for truce as Israel rejects calls to spare Rafah

Posted on September 18, 2024 by admin

Israel’s army pressed on Sunday with its campaign in southern Gaza to destroy Hamas as prospects dimmed for a ceasefire in the more than four-month-old war.

A total of 127 people died in 24 hours, Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry said, as the main battlefront edged closer to far-southern Rafah, where 1.4 million Palestinians live in crowded shelters and tent camps.

Israel’s top ally the United States signalled it would veto the latest push for a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, as Washington instead favours a temporary truce and hostage release deal.

And mediator Qatar acknowledged that separate ceasefire talks had also hit an impasse after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected some Hamas demands as “ludicrous”.

Israel has concentrated its military operations in Khan Yunis, the hometown of Hamas’s Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar, whom it accuses of masterminding the October 7 attack.

Netanyahu has rejected calls to spare Rafah, arguing that failing to launch the operation would mean to “lose the war”, while the military says it is working to move civilians from the area to minimise casualties.

Israel’s government unanimously adopted a declaration rejecting the recognition of a Palestinian state.

“After the terrible massacre of October 7, there can be no greater reward for terrorism than that and it will prevent any future peace settlement,” Netanyahu said.

The latest strikes and fighting killed at least 10 people in Rafah and in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah overnight, said the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

At the morgue of a Rafah hospital, mourners bent down to give a final kiss to a loved one wrapped in a white body bag.

“That’s my cousin — he was martyred in Al-Mawasi, in the ‘safe area’,” said Ahmad Mohammed Aburizq. “And my mother was martyred the day before.

“There’s no safe place. Even the hospital is not safe.”

– ‘Moment of truth’ –

The Gaza war began with Hamas’s October 7 attack which resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Militants also took about 250 hostages, 130 of whom are still in Gaza, including 30 who are presumed dead, according to Israeli figures.

Israel’s retaliatory bombardment and ground offensive in Gaza have killed at least 28,985 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva accused Israel Sunday of committing “genocide” in Gaza and compared its actions to Adolf Hitler’s campaign to exterminate Jews — comments that sparked a strong Israeli protest.

Netanyahu accused Lula of having “disgraced the memory of the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis and demonised the Jewish state like the most virulent anti-Semite”.

He said the Brazilian leader “should be ashamed of himself” and that his government had called in Brasilia’s ambassador in protest.

Hamas however praised Lula, saying his remarks were “an accurate description” of what the people in Gaza are facing.

On Sunday the military said it had killed around 35 militants and struck a “weapons storage facility”, while an air strike in central Gaza killed “over 10” militants.

In Tel Aviv, thousands took to the streets Saturday against Netanyahu’s government, accusing it of abandoning the hostages and calling for immediate elections.

“This is the moment of truth. There won’t be many more like it if the Cairo initiative collapses,” demanded Nissan Calderon, brother of hostage Ofer Calderon.

– ‘Not very promising’ –

Next week’s possible Security Council vote appears unlikely to advance the ceasefire effort, with Washington already voicing opposition.

“The United States does not support action on this draft resolution,” said Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Washington’s ambassador to the United Nations. “Should it come up for a vote as drafted, it will not be adopted.”

Algeria’s draft resolution seeks an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, but Thomas-Greenfield said the United States instead supports a truce-for-hostages deal that would pause fighting for six weeks.

US President Joe Biden had “multiple calls” with Netanyahu as well as Egyptian and Qatari leaders this week “to push this deal forward”, she said.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani called those talks “not very promising”.

He said the efforts had been complicated by the insistence of “a lot of countries” that any new truce involve further releases of hostages.

Hamas has threatened to suspend its involvement in the talks unless relief supplies reach Gaza’s north, where aid agencies have warned of looming famine.

– ‘Horror movie’ –

“Negotiations cannot be held while hunger is ravaging the Palestinian people,” a senior source in the Palestinian militant group told AFP.

Sunday morning, dozens of Israelis blocked aid trucks bound for Gaza from entering through the Nitzana crossing between Israel and Egypt, AFP reporters and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said.

One of the protesters, Nili Naouri, said it was “immoral” to send aid “to people who support Hamas… We are at war”.

Israel’s military said troops in Khan Yunis were on Sunday still operating “in the Nasser Hospital” and adjacent to it where they “located additional weapons”.

Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said Israeli troops had turned Nasser Hospital “into a military barracks”.

He said seven patients had died since Friday due to a lack of oxygen because of power outages.

Dr Ahmad Moghrabi, head of plastic and reconstructive surgery at the hospital, told AFP Israeli forces had forced people out of the facility during the Thursday raid, accusing the forces of beating and stripping staff down.

“Nothing remains in Khan Yunis… it is like a horror movie. No streets, no buildings… only dead bodies all around,” he said.

Israeli army spokesman Richard Hecht said diesel and oxygen supplies were delivered Saturday to the facility and a temporary generator was operating.

In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces killed two Palestinian men, aged 19 and 36, during a raid in a refugee camp on Sunday, the Palestinian health ministry said.

Palestinian Authority’s financial plight threatens US plans for post-war Gaza

Posted on September 18, 2024 by admin

The Biden administration is looking to financially prop up the Palestinian Authority amid warnings from officials in Ramallah that it is close to running out of money, potentially jeopardising US hopes that the organisation will be able to govern Gaza when Israel’s war with Hamas is over.

The administration is trying to work around a law that prevents it from contributing directly to the Palestinian Authority, while also nudging allies to give more to the organisation, US officials said. Palestinian officials have warned that they could run out of the money needed to pay salaries and provide essential government services as soon as late February, the US officials said.

Early in the war in Gaza, the US opted to rely on a revitalised Palestinian Authority as the best, if not only, option for what it has described as “the day after” the war ends. US officials said they are concerned that without a revenue boost, the organisation won’t be stable enough to maintain its hold on power in the West Bank, let alone be in a position to take on an expanded role.

The organisation’s financial plight also limits its ability to implement overhauls the US says are needed to secure support from Israel and from the Palestinian public. The Palestinian Authority has been dogged by accusations of corruption and ties to extremists that led to the cut-off of US funds in the first place.

Benjamin Netanyahu threatens ‘dramatic confrontation’ with Joe Biden

Posted on September 18, 2024 by admin

Benjamin Netanyahu has reacted furiously to a US intelligence assessment that warns the Israeli Prime Minister’s hold on office “may be in jeopardy” warning of a “public and dramatic” confrontation with US President Joe Biden.

The report, which also warned Israel would fail to eliminate Hamas, has left Mr Netanyahu “fuming,” according to Israel’s Channel 12. The broadcaster reported that the Prime Minister had “decided to embark upon on strong, public and dramatic confrontation with the president of the United States.”

A senior official – described by Channel 12 as “the most senior Israeli political source you can imagine” said in a statement: “Those who elect the prime minister of Israel are the citizens of Israel and no one else.

“Israel is not a protectorate of the US but rather an independent and democratic country whose citizens are the ones who elect the government. We expect our friends to work to bring down the terror regimen of Hamas and not the elected government in Israel.”

The intelligence assessment, part of a 40-page report on global threats from Gaza and Ukraine to terrorism and cyberspace that was released on Monday (Tuesday AEDT), warned: “Netanyahu’s viability as leader as well as his governing coalition of far-right and ultraorthodox parties that pursued hard-line policies on Palestinian and security issues may be in jeopardy”

“Distrust of Netanyahu’s ability to rule has deepened and broadened across the public from its already high levels before the war, and we expect large protests demanding his resignation and new elections,” it continued. “A different, more moderate government is a possibility.”
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Mr. Biden and Mr. Netanyahu have been increasingly locked in a war of words over Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, with the US president warning against an Israeli attack on the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Mr. Netanyahu appeared to dismiss those concerns in an interview with Politico on Sunday.

He is also under pressure from within Israel’s three-member war cabinet, which includes his two major rivals, Benny Gantz, leader of the National Unity Party, and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. If elections were held now, polls say Mr Gantz would easily defeat Mr Netanyahu’s Likud.

Mr Gantz directly defied Mr Netanyahu in recent weeks, travelling to the US and UK to meet Mr Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak without authorisation from Mr Netanyahu who responded furiously, telling Mr Gantz: “There is only one Prime Minister.”

Israeli media also reported that when the British Foreign Office contacted the Israeli Foreign Ministry seeking help with making Mr Gantz’s trip an official visit, the Israeli ministry cut all contact with the FO.

Meanwhile US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has denied the White House is considering withholding aid to Israel if it moves forward with a major ground assault on Rafah.

“We’re not going to engage in hypotheticals about what comes down the line and the reports that purport to describe the president’s thinking are uninformed speculation,” Mr Sullivan told reporters.

He reiterated, however, that the US would not support a ground incursion on Rafah without
a plan to evacuate the over one million Palestinians currently sheltering in the city.

Last month, Mr Biden described the war with Hamas as “over the top,” one of his sharpest rebukes since the conflict began, and in his State of the Union speech announced the building of a port in Gaza in order for aid to reach the enclave. Last week, an aid ship left Virginia in a further message to Israel that the US is willing to bypass Jerusalem’s controls over how aid reaches Gaza.

But Dave Harden, a former mission director at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in the West Bank and Gaza, told the BBC that Mr Netanyahu didn’t appear to be listening to Mr Biden’s warnings.

“He almost treats Biden as some kind of inconsequential second secretary of a low-ranked European power … the gap between Israel and the US just deepens,” said Mr Harden.

Liberal MP Julian Leeser accuses human rights body of going ‘AWOL’ on Israel

Posted on September 18, 2024 by admin

Liberal MP Julian Leeser has accused the human rights commission of turning a blind eye to anti-Semitism and committing an “aberration of duty” in failing to condemn the October 7 attacks, declaring that it had gone “AWOL” since Israel’s war on Hamas began.

One of parliament’s most senior Jewish MPs, Mr Leeser launched a scathing attack on the Australian Human Rights Commission for declining to publish any material specifically condemning anti-Semitism following the Hamas terror attack, questioning why it existed if it failed to take a stand against “racism and prejudice”.

Mr Leeser criticised the body for being “frozen by political paralysis” in the face of an alarming rise in anti-Semitic attacks on Jewish Australians, decrying an AHRC statement following a pro-Palestine rally at the Sydney Opera House, which raised concerns the rights of protesters were being infringed.

His remarks came as Foreign Minister Penny Wong warned Israel would continue to lose support from its allies if it did not change course in the Gaza conflict, with many people “horrified at the loss of innocent life”.

In a speech he will deliver at the Cook Society on Wednesday warning against the threat of “21st century Nazism”, Mr Leeser is calling for the AHRC to be put on notice, arguing taxpayers should not be funding a government agency that turned a blind eye to “racism or prejudice”.

“I want to be clear, if an institution charged with protecting Australians from racism and hate is not fulfilling its mandate, then Australians should question why it exists in the first place and whether it is doing the job it should be doing as it is currently constituted,” he said.

“To that end, we should put the AHRC on notice. I believe Australians will not tolerate the continued funding of government agencies and programs charged with building social cohesion, turning a blind eye to racism or prejudice.”

Mr Leeser described the AHRC’s response as the “most complete aberration of duty” in the wake of the October 7 attack, arguing it was a well-resourced institution with 200 staff and $43m in funding a year.

“Since the pogrom on October 7 and the resultant 738 per cent increase in anti-Semitic attacks on Jewish Australians detailed in a report by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, the human rights commission has become frozen by political paralysis that has made the commission fearful of acknowledging and engaging with the anti-Semitism that Jewish Australians are facing,” he said, adding: “The AHRC has gone AWOL.”

Mr Leeser, who resigned from the opposition frontbench over his support for an Indigenous voice to parliament, said the government had been projecting a “false equivalence” between Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.

He raised concern that the Albanese government had donated $50m in funding to be split between Jewish and Islamic groups for security measures, with the Muslim community instead spending their funds on “fighting Islamophobia”.

Mr Leeser argued that 70 per cent of 145 prejudice-based crimes reported to Victoria Police had been anti-Semitic, while only 8 per cent had been Islamophobic.

“The government has stopped being unequivocal about anti-Semitism – always having to add the word Islamophobia as if they are embarrassed about defending Jewish Australians, or as if there is an invisible ledger needing to be balanced,” he said.

“Instead of moral clarity, we are getting perverse outcomes.”

Mr Leeser also blasted those on the left, including the Greens, for imposing a “false standard” on Jewish Australians to condemn the Israeli government’s war on Hamas – a standard he said had not been applied to any other group.

He debunked the belief that Jewish people were privileged, arguing that his people had been “refugees throughout the entire world just two generations ago”.

Mr Leeser said Hamas had used Palestinians in Gaza as a “human shield” and its members were now seeking to escape by blending in with refugees, calling on the government to ensure Australia’s borders were not infiltrated. “Australia can’t get this wrong,” he said.

Customers claim they were lured into foreign exchange trading and lost hundreds of thousands of dollars

Posted on January 13, 2023January 22, 2023 by admin

Customers claim they were lured into foreign exchange trading and lost hundreds of thousands of dollars

7.30

/ By Michael Atkin (Australian ABC, 9/1/2023)

Posted Mon 9 Jan 2023 at 11:03amMonday 9 Jan 2023 at 11:03am, updated Mon 9 Jan 2023 at 5:12pmMonday 9 Jan 2023 at 5:12pm

( https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-09/customers-claim-lured-into-foreign-exchange-trading-tradefred/101755610 )

Former customers of an Australian company claim they were lured into the high-risk world of foreign exchange trading under false pretences and subjected to high-pressure sales tactics which contributed to them losing huge sums.

Two men have spoken exclusively to ABC’s 7.30 about the alleged conduct of TradeFred, which operated a foreign exchange trading platform.

Sales representatives allegedly told the men, who don’t know each other, to download remote access software so they could control their computers and direct the trades they made.

7.30 has obtained recordings of phone calls between TradeFred sales representatives and the men, which they say expose unacceptable conduct.

At the time they had no idea the Australian operation had outsourced its sales and marketing to sales reps working for a company based in Israel and which had other business conducted from Cyprus.

The men believe Australia’s corporate regulator ASIC was too slow to intervene to stop TradeFred, and fear they’re unlikely to get their money back after the Australian operations went bust.

Do you know more about this story?

Email michaelatkin@protonmail.com or contact him via the Signal secure messaging app +61 447 279 901.

ASIC is suing TradeFred in the Federal Court, alleging the company engaged in unconscionable conduct towards its clients, with the case listed for trial this year.

As part of the proceedings, it is attempting to have the net deposits of clients refunded.

‘A devastating effect’

The regulator alleges TradeFred was taking the opposite position on trades to more than 95 per cent of its customers, so the company was making money when its customers were losing and was therefore incentivised to have them keep losing.

Former TradeFred customer Geoff Moodie was very concerned to find out the company could have been betting against him.

“I’m losing all my money and someone is winning on my loss? That, to me, hurts,” he said.

Mr Moodie is a retired grandfather who lives in Ipswich, Queensland.

He says had he known TradeFred could have been making money when he was losing, he never would have signed up.

Mr Moodie’s retirement plans have changed forever.

He’s lodged a claim for losses he estimates are over $140,000.

“It’s had a huge impact. I think losing that sort of money in anybody’s life would impact them,” he said.

“I’m not a millionaire, I’m just the average Joe on the street, and that sort of money has had a devastating effect on the family both emotionally [and] physically.”

The liquidator for TradeFred has told 7.30 there are over $10.5 million in claims for losses.

However, the Australian operation had over 2,000 customers and so far only a small number have submitted claims.

From Bitcoin to foreign exchange

In early 2019, Adrian Goddard was scrolling through social media and saw an advertisement for trading the cryptocurrency Bitcoin.

The ad, which was endorsed by a celebrity, said you could start trading with just $US250, and Mr Goddard decided to try it out.

The recordings reveal that on the first call with TradeFred the sales consultant said to Mr Goddard, “I understand you’re looking to extend your income, maybe thinking about the future, retirement, stuff like that?”

“I can tell you you’ve definitely come to the right place.”

The consultant began discussing automatic trading software for Bitcoin, which would be supported by a TradeFred senior account manager, and then a trading account for Mr Goddard was established.

ASIC alleges that TradeFred was mischaracterising the nature of its services by claiming to customers it had an automatic trading platform for Bitcoin, when it was not a service it offered.

During the phone call, the consultant then quickly shifted the conversation away from Bitcoin to making money trading foreign currencies.

TradeFred offered its customers access to the high-risk world of margin foreign exchange.

Mr Goddard said he made it clear to TradeFred that he didn’t understand currency trading and they directed him on exactly how to trade.

“They would basically tell me what to do, tell me what to trade on, and I kept saying to them, ‘Look, I’ve got no idea what I’m doing here, I don’t understand the markets,'” Mr Goddard said.

“They had promised to teach me … but that never really came about.”

‘I was very naive’

Geoff Moodie also signed up after seeing what he believes could be the same social media ad Mr Goddard saw.

On his first call with TradeFred, Mr Moodie made it clear he had no understanding of financial markets and was a complete novice who needed education.

The consultant responded, “Wonderful, most of the clients, and I tell you honest [sic], 90 per cent of them, don’t have any previous experience at all. This is the reason I still have a job.”

He also promised they offer far more than Bitcoin trading.

“We are not just the cryptocurrency software … we are many other things,” the consultant said.

The consultant then talked about how it’s possible to make 10 to 20 per cent on a monthly basis with a “low-risk market”, by trading in the foreign exchange, also known as the forex market.

Mr Moodie said in hindsight the sales pitch was very slick and he believes he was misled.

“They were able to change my thought pattern from Bitcoin to forex, as they call it, without me realising it, or questioning. I thought maybe the Bitcoin would come at a later date, so, you know, I was very naive at that stage,” he said.

Both Mr Goddard and Mr Moodie said TradeFred instructed them to install remote access software on their computers so the sales reps could monitor what was happening on their screens and direct their trades.

This type of software is usually used to fix tech issues from an external site, but is open to abuse.

ASIC alleges TradeFred account managers were using the software to find out how much money customers had available for transferring to trading accounts, and would show the customers what trades they should place.

According to Mr Goddard, sales reps would make sure he was logged in to the software before showing him exactly what to trade on his screen.

“The two main software items that we were using was AnyDesk and TeamViewer, which allows them to get access, obviously, to your computer and therefore they will be able to scroll around with their mouse and show you what they generally wanted … you to do in regards to trading,” he said.

Trader was ‘absolutely panicked’ at losses

While he was prepared to accept some risk, Mr Goddard became increasingly concerned about the extent of those risks and made that clear on a recorded phone call.

Mr Goddard said to the sales consultant, “What I’m saying, I’m not an expert in trades.”

The consultant replied, “No, no you don’t have to be, that’s the beautiful thing.

“That’s for anyone.”

Mr Goddard replied, “I’d rather learn slowly rather than being thrown into what I’m looking at now.”

The consultant persisted and Mr Goddard was pushed to keep trading.

Mr Goddard was trading in a high-risk area known as contracts for difference, where you speculate on movements in foreign exchange rates.

The loss or gain depends on the price when the contract starts and ends, and if the price moves against you it can result in heavy losses.

He estimates having spent more than $130,000 with TradeFred and mounting losses made him feel out of control.

“[It was] devastating, [I was] absolutely panicked about what was going on,” he said.

Mr Goddard’s trading put him in a tough situation where he was suddenly struggling to pay his bills.

Mr Moodie claims that after suffering losses he was then encouraged by sales reps to trade back into the black.

He now believes these were high-pressure sales tactics used on him when he was vulnerable.

“These guys were well trained … and the pressure was, ‘Well, we can get around this, if you put more money in, we can trade this way, and we can trade out of the situation you’re in,'” he said.

“Again, [it was] still new to me, [I was] still learning and I listened to what I thought I was being guided [to do].”

Links to controversial company Union Standard

According to ASIC, TradeFred was aware of customer complaints and made “aware of misconduct that USG (Union Standard) had identified during its reviews of telephone calls”, but the company took inadequate steps to stop the misconduct.

TradeFred was acting as an authorised representative of a controversial Australian company which ran a global foreign exchange empire called Union Standard International Group.

Union Standard is under investigation by liquidators after it collapsed with hundreds of millions of dollars owing to overseas investors and the liquidators have serious doubts about the true identity of a Burmese man, Soe Hein Minn, believed to be its ultimate owner.

Jason Ward is an analyst with the Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research.

He’s looked at the company structures of TradeFred and Union Standard and believes there is a concerning lack of transparency over who ultimately benefits, especially with Union Standard.

“The links between TradeFred and Union Standard seem to run pretty deep. TradeFred was operating under a financial services license of Union Standard. For one, they share a common director [John Carlton Martin],” Mr Ward said.

“We don’t know who is behind Union Standard. On paper, there’s a Burmese individual, we don’t know if this person truly exists … and who is benefiting from this.”

Mr Ward argues there is an urgent need for a beneficial ownership register, something currently being considered by the Albanese government.

“Australia’s far behind global standards in terms of public beneficial ownership information,” he said.

Call centres outsourced

The TradeFred sales calls to customers were outsourced to a company based in Israel.

The company Capital Unit Media operated from an office block in Tel Aviv, however its website is no longer active and when 7.30 went to the office the building appeared empty.

7.30 attempted to contact Alex Mishiev, the man who is listed on the Israel company documents for Capital Unit. He did not respond to an interview request or reply to a list of questions.

Mr Mishiev is also linked to a United Kingdom company which owned TradeFred’s Australian operations as its sole shareholder.

He is listed as one of three directors and the person with significant control of TradeFred Holdings Limited.

Another director is Fred Done, the co-founder of gambling giant BetFred. Mr Done declined to comment on the allegations against the Australian operation, saying via a spokesperson: “I do not want to prejudice an ongoing legal claim so cannot comment at this stage.”

7.30 does not suggest that Fred Done had any involvement in the Australian TradeFred business.

The liquidator of TradeFred is Glenn Livingstone from WLP Restructuring.

He is continuing to investigate millions of dollars in payments by the Australian company to two related UK companies which could constitute a practice known as transfer pricing.

Analyst Jason Ward said transfer pricing is a concerning practice.

“There’s … alleged transfer pricing issues and transfer pricing is used to avoid paying tax on money earned in Australia by multinationals and companies,” he said.

“That reduces taxable income in Australia and reduces revenue to pay for public services here in Australia.”

7.30 sought an interview with John Carlton Martin, the sole director of the Australian TradeFred operation, and sent him a list of questions but he did not respond.

ASIC banned Mr Martin from providing financial services for 10 years and from managing corporations for five years.

It found his “lack of understanding or regard for compliance was so serious it justified the making of significant banning and disqualification orders”.

It also said he had failed to address misconduct by TradeFred.

According to the liquidator, Mr Martin advised him he was “responsible for compliance, dealing with customer complaints and monitoring of telephone calls”.

However, he said it appears Mr Martin was not a signatory to the company’s bank accounts.

Third party offers to recover funds

For TradeFred’s customers, the nightmare didn’t end when it collapsed.

Geoff Moodie says he received a phone call and emails from a company called Funds Recovery which said it would help him get his money back from TradeFred.

It proposed charging him more than $6,000 upfront and 10 per cent of any funds recovered, but Mr Moodie decided against going ahead.

He maintains he did not provide his contact details to Funds Recovery.

“[I am] very concerned that they knew about me, they knew about my trading, they knew basically everything about me, which surprised and annoyed me and worried me,” he said.

Liquidator Glenn Livingstone told 7.30 in a statement they had “been made aware from numerous sources that there are third parties approaching customers directly offering to provide refunds or assist in the recovery of money on their behalf.

“Any creditor who is contacted by these parties is advised not to provide any information and to immediately report this to the liquidator.”

‘I feel I’ve let myself down’

After Adrian Goddard made repeated complaints, his TradeFred losses were refunded.

But in about April 2020 he claims he received an unsolicited call from another company called EverFx.

According to Mr Goddard the sales rep claimed that EverFx was taking over from TradeFred.

EverFx, which is now trading under the name Axiance, disputes this, saying it has no association with TradeFred and Mr Goddard must have started trading after seeing its marketing material.

According to his financial counsellor Rachna Bowman, he would eventually lose more than $51,000 with EverFx.

Ms Bowman said she was alarmed by what had happened to Mr Goddard.

“Where was the role of the regulator … to step in and put a stop on things that were happening?” she said.

“It just continued on and on and on, till there was no money left in the pot.

“I’m absolutely appalled that something like this could happen.”

In a statement, Axiance said Mr Goddard was warned about the high risk on the EverFx website and an internal review of his trading did not find any evidence of misconduct.

It also states that EverFx offered Mr Goddard a lump-sum payment which he rejected.

Mr Goddard says he rejected the offer because it was far short of his losses.

Mr Goddard says he regrets ever getting involved in trading foreign currencies.

“It’s not a game you want to play … it’s not worth it,” he said.

His modest dream of buying a small property has been crushed.

“For me, the money meant an opportunity … I’d buy a house for myself and have something to leave for my kids in the future,” he said.

“I feel I’ve let myself down and I feel I’ve let my daughters down.”

Do you know more about this story? Get in touch with 7.30 here.

Posted 9 Jan 20239 Jan 2023, updated 9 Jan 2023

Peril of ignoring the Middle-East

Posted on January 13, 2023January 22, 2023 by admin

The peril of ignoring the Middle East

Walter Russell Mead

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
7:26PM JANUARY 10, 2023
26 COMMENTS

( https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/the-wall-street-journal/the-peril-of-ignoring-the-middle-east/news-story/77bc73490fd722a9a2cdfd3fcf612584 )

As White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan prepares to visit Israel this month, he will encounter unexpected areas of strategic convergence between Israeli and American concerns. With Tehran’s utter rejection of Biden administration efforts for conciliation and its wholehearted embrace of Moscow, US and Israeli views of Iran have become more aligned.

But even as the strategic gap has narrowed, the moral gap is widening. The new Israeli government’s positions — on settlements, the Palestinian Authority, secularism, amending the Law of Return and changing the balance of power between the Israeli Supreme Court and the Knesset — all run counter to Biden administration policy preferences as well as the deeply held social and cultural beliefs of many American liberals and Jews.

Already one Israeli minister has visited the holy site known to Muslims as the Haram Al-Sharif and to Jews as the Temple Mount. The new government has restricted the display of Palestinian flags on public land, withheld revenue from the Palestinian Authority, blocked Palestinian construction activity, and cut the travel privileges of Palestinian dignitaries. As tensions rise on the West Bank, Biden officials resent what they see as gratuitous Israeli actions that could set off another round of conflict.

Meanwhile, the entire Middle East is in flux. Higher energy prices have sent floods of cash into the region, boosting the confidence of local rulers. China is working to raise its economic and political profile in a region essential to its future. The United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Russia are looking to thwart US policy in Syria, perhaps leading to the consolidation of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

The diplomatic balance is changing in other ways. The long European romance with Iran is cooling as the regime’s brutality at home and its collusion with Russian aggression in Ukraine sour European hopes for profitable and peaceful relations with the mullahs. A massive scandal over alleged Qatari influence-peddling in the European Parliament has stunned the Brussels establishment and at least temporarily dented the ability of Qatari diplomats to lobby against Israel, against Israel’s conservative Arab allies, and for a policy of conciliation toward Iran.

Mr Sullivan’s visit comes after a 15-year decline in America’s regional influence. Israelis, Arabs, Iranians and Turks all have less respect for American power — and therefore less regard for US wishes — than they did in 2008. President Barack Obama’s waffling and President Donald Trump’s incoherence left regional powers deeply sceptical about American wisdom and stability.

The Biden administration faces a real dilemma. Feeling overstretched against Russian aggression in Ukraine and Chinese ambition in the Indo-Pacific, the White House wants to minimise its exposure to the Middle East. Yet the region is too important to ignore — and the more the US withdraws, the more influence it sheds. As America becomes less relevant, regional actors feel free to make more decisions that Washington dislikes, effectively undermining U.S. influence around the globe.

Ironically, after progressives in the US spent decades denouncing America’s pro-Israel bias and its anti-democratic alliances with authoritarian regimes across the region, it’s precisely the Palestinians and human-rights campaigners who are the biggest losers from the American withdrawal. Weaker than the Israelis, the Palestinians desperately need outside mediators to coax concessions from Jerusalem that the Palestinians can’t extract on their own. The Americans, for all their faults from a Palestinian viewpoint, have a stronger commitment to Palestinian statehood — and the Palestinian Authority — than most Arab rulers do. And human-rights and democracy activists get more space when Arab governments either fear American displeasure or hope to win Washington’s support.

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For now it is Saudi Arabia and the UAE, not the US, that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thinks about most as he struggles to balance the demands of his radical coalition partners with Israel’s national interests. Mr Netanyahu wants to extend the Abraham Accords, not break them, and he needs to take Arab concerns on board as he crafts his policies on settlements and the Haram al-Sharif.

If Mr Biden wants to restore American influence in the region, he can still do so. The price, however, is what it has been for the past 15 years. A resolute and effective US policy to disrupt Iran’s ability to threaten its Arab neighbours — if combined with measures to ensure that Israel and its friends can, if all else fails, take military action to block Tehran’s nuclear program — would put the US back at the centre of Middle Eastern order.

The cost of influence is high, but impotence is more expensive in the long run. If Mr Sullivan’s message to Jerusalem is that Mr Biden is ready for serious engagement along these lines, the response in Israel and beyond will be greater attentiveness to American concerns. Otherwise, Israel and its neighbours will continue to make decisions with less concern for American interests — and the Biden administration will struggle to manage the consequences.

The Wall Street Journal

Analysis | In Mideast Trip, Biden Uncoupled Israel From the Palestinians

Posted on July 20, 2022July 30, 2022 by admin

WASHINGTON – “As my father always said, never crucify yourself on a small cross.” That was a commonly used aphorism employed by then-Vice President Joe Biden, according to former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren’s memoir.

During his four-day whirlwind visit to Israel, the West Bank and Saudi Arabia, the U.S. president all but declared the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a small cross, effectively shelving any efforts at actively pursuing a two-state solution for the duration of his presidency.

In Jerusalem, Biden Signs the Palestinians’ Death Certificate

Posted on July 19, 2022July 30, 2022 by admin

At Augusta Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem, of all places, U.S. President Joe Biden signed a death certificate. The two-state solution died a long time ago, and now so has the Palestinians’ strategic choice of relying on the West in their struggle for their national rights.

This hope drew its last breath at Augusta Victoria. In his speech Biden mused at great length about his and his family’s time in the hospital; he remembered the intensive care ward. A flat line on the monitor meant death, he learned there. About an hour later, in Bethlehem, the monitor flatlined. The path the Palestinians embarked on 50 years ago has come to an end. They have reached a dead end.

Biden Defends Tel Aviv against Fellow Democrats: Israel is Not Apartheid State

Posted on July 17, 2022July 30, 2022 by admin

US President Joe Biden has disputed charges that Israel is an “apartheid” nation, instead calling it a “democracy” and a “friend” while touting billions in additional military support.

Speaking to Israel’s N12 News just before embarking on a trip to the Middle East on Wednesday, Biden was asked about “voices in the Democratic Party” which consider Israel an apartheid state and urge for an end to unconditional US aid.

Biden Commits to Two-state Solution Based on 1967 Borders for First Time as President

Posted on July 17, 2022July 30, 2022 by admin

JEDDAH – U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday publicly committed to a two-state solution based on 1967 borders with mutually agreed land swaps — a return to the Obama administration’s positions after Donald Trump all but abandoned these principles.

Biden’s remarks, given alongside Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, are his most public commitment and detailed vision of a solution to the regional conflict. However, during the Israel leg of his trip Biden said that conditions on the ground were not ripe for such efforts.