World
Israel Hits Hamas Targets in Gaza in Response to Rocket Fire
Published
3 years agoon
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FNN NEWSJERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli aircraft struck a series of targets in the Gaza Strip early Monday in response to a series of rocket launches out of the Hamas-ruled territory. It was the third consecutive night of fighting between the enemies.
Tensions have been heightened following last week’s escape from an Israeli prison by six Palestinian inmates, as well as struggling efforts by Egypt to broker a long-term cease-fire in the wake of an 11-day war last May.
The Israeli military reported three separate rocket launches late Sunday and early Monday, saying at least two of them were intercepted by its rocket defenses.
In response, it said it attacked a number of Hamas targets. There were no reports of casualties on either side.
Over the weekend, Israel caught four of the six Palestinian inmates, who tunneled out of a maximum security prison on Sept. 6. Palestinian militants responded with rocket fire. Israel’s search for the last two prisoners is continuing.
Meanwhile, Egyptian-mediated efforts to deliver a long-term truce have struggled with the sides unable to agree on a system to renew Qatari payments to needy Gaza families. Israel has demanded guarantees that Hamas does not divert the money for military use.
Gaza is an impoverished territory whose population is overwhelmingly comprised of families who fled or were forced from properties in what is now Israel during the war surrounding Israel’s establishment in 1948.
Hamas is pushing for Israel to end a crippling blockade that has devastated Gaza’s economy, while Israel is demanding that Hamas free two captive Israeli civilians and return the remains of two dead Israeli soldiers.
Hamas has controlled Gaza since ousting the forces of the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority in 2007, a year after the Islamic militant group won Palestinian parliamentary elections.
Since then, Israel and Hamas have fought four wars and numerous smaller rounds of fighting.
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World
Caribbean Community Council of Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR) on the Escalating Middle East Conflict
Published
2 days agoon
April 15, 2024By
FNN NEWSThe Caribbean Community Council of Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR) views with grave concern the escalating violence in the Middle East, particularly the recent direct military engagements between Israel and Iran. These developments not only exacerbate the already tense situation but also pose significant threats to regional stability and international peace. The continued cycle of retaliation, including the recent attack on Israel by Hamas, Israel’s disproportionate response in Gaza, and the alarming new dimension of direct confrontations between Israel and Iran, leads to an untenable situation fraught with potential for greater regional conflict and global instability. The human toll of this conflict, highlighted by tragic incidents such as deaths and injuries to children, demand an immediate and empathetic response from the global community. It is imperative that there be no further escalation that can lead to more suffering and instability. In light of this critical situation, COFCOR urgently calls for:
As nations committed to the principles of justice and peace, the Caribbean Community stands ready to support efforts toward de-escalation and the establishment of a durable peace in the region. |
World
WHO: Disease Outbreak News Rabies – Timor-Leste
Published
1 week agoon
April 10, 2024By
FNN NEWSThe Timor-Leste government reported to the World Health Organization on 22 March 2024 its first confirmed fatal human case of rabies. The country is currently classified as rabies-free.
The case, from Pasabe Sub-Region, Oecusse, with a history of dog bite on 26 December 2023, went to a local health center on 20 March and died on 22 March 2024. As of 26 March, a total of 29 suspected rabies cases in humans, with exposure to dogs, were reported in Oecusse Municipality this year.
The public health response is ongoing and includes vaccination of dogs, risk communication, training of healthcare workers on case management, active surveillance, and ensuring the availability of rabies vaccines and human rabies immunoglobulin.
Based on the current available information, the WHO assesses the risk posed by this event as high at the national level and low at regional and global levels.
World
Israel’s high court says the government must stop funding seminaries. Could that topple Netanyahu?
Published
3 weeks agoon
March 30, 2024By
FNN NEWSJERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s Supreme Court ruling curtailing subsidies for ultra-Orthodox men has rattled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition and raised questions about its viability as the country presses on with the war in Gaza.
Netanyahu has until Monday to present the court with a plan to dismantle what the justices called a system that privileges the ultra-Orthodox at the expense of the secular Jewish public.
If that plan alienates the ultra-Orthodox lawmakers on whose support he depends, his coalition could disintegrate and the country could be forced to hold new elections.
Here’s a breakdown of the decision and what it might spell for the future of Israeli politics.
WHAT DOES THE DECISION SAY?
Most Jewish men are required to serve nearly three years in the military, followed by years of reserve duty. Jewish women serve two mandatory years.
This years-old system has bred widespread resentment among the broader public — a feeling that has deepened during nearly six months of war. More than 500 soldiers have been killed in fighting, and tens of thousands of Israelis have had their careers, studies and family lives disrupted because of reserve duty.
The Supreme Court ruled that the current system is discriminatory and gave the government until Monday to present a new plan, and until June 30 to pass one. Netanyahu asked the court Thursday for a 30-day extension to find a compromise.
The court did not immediately respond to his request. But it issued an interim order barring the government from funding the monthly subsidies for religious students of enlistment age who have not received a deferral from the army. Those funds will be frozen starting Monday.
HOW IS THE DECISION BEING RECEIVED?
Many Israelis are celebrating the court’s decision, believing it spells an end to a system that takes for granted their military service and economic contributions while advantaging the ultra-Orthodox, or “Haredim” as they are called in Israel.
The religious exemption dates back to Israel’s founding, a compromise that the country’s first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, made with ultra-orthodox leaders to allow some 400 yeshiva students to devote themselves fully to Torah study. But what was once a fringe Haredi population has grown precipitously, making the exemption a hugely divisive issue to Israeli society.
Many ultra-Orthodox continue to receive government stipends into adulthood, eschewing getting paying jobs to instead continue full-time religious studies. Economists have long warned the system is unsustainable.
“The next government will have to hold a long overdue conversation about the future of the Haredi relationship to the state,” commentator Anshel Pfeffer wrote in Israel’s left-leaning daily, Haaretz.
“Now, the Haredim will have no choice but to take part in it. It won’t be just about the national service of its young men, it will also have to address fundamental questions about education and employment,” he said.
Ultra-Orthodox leaders have reacted angrily.
Aryeh Deri, head of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, called the court’s decision “unprecedented bullying of Torah students in the Jewish state.”
The ultra-Orthodox say that integrating into the army will threaten their generations-old way of life, and that their devout lifestyle and dedication to upholding the Jewish commandments protect Israel as much as a strong army. Although a small number have opted to serve in the military, many have vowed to fight any attempt to compel Haredim to do so.
“Without the Torah, we have no right to exist,” said Yitzchak Goldknopf, leader of the ultra-Orthodox party United Torah Judaism. “We will fight in every way over the right of every Jew to study Torah and we won’t compromise on that.”
WHY DOES IT THREATEN NETANYAHU?
Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, is known as a master political survivor. But his room for maneuver is limited.
Vowing to press forward with a war that has harmed the Israeli economy and asked much of its soldiers and reservists, Netanyahu could lose the support of the more centrist elements of his fragile national unity government if he tries to preserve the exemptions for the ultra-Orthodox.
The two centrists in his fragile War Cabinet, both former generals, have insisted that all sectors of Israeli society contribute equally. One, Benny Gantz, has threatened to quit — a step that would destabilize a key decision-making body at a sensitive time in the war.
But the powerful bloc of ultra-Orthodox parties — longtime partners of Netanyahu — want draft exemptions to continue.
The ultra-Orthodox parties have not said what they will do if they lose their preferential status. But if they decide to leave the government, the coalition would almost certainly collapse and the country could be forced into new elections, with Netanyahu trailing significantly in the polls amid the war.
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Caribbean Community Council of Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR) on the Escalating Middle East Conflict