UN refuses to join Israel’s Gaza aid mechanism that ‘breaches humanitarian principles’
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The acting UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Sigrid Kaag, has said that the United Nations will not take part in any mechanism for delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza if it violates core humanitarian principles, especially neutrality and independence.
In her briefing to the UN Security Council yesterday, Kaag warned that civilians in the enclave are facing an unprecedented humanitarian disaster, stressing: “Israel must halt its devastating strikes on civilian life and infrastructure.”
She warned that the situation in Gaza requires urgent international action beyond statements and symbolic calls.
“Civilians in Gaza have lost hope. Instead of saying ‘goodbye’, Palestinians in Gaza now say, ‘see you in heaven’. Death is their companion. It’s not life, it’s not hope.” She added: “The people of Gaza deserve more than survival. They deserve a future full of dignity and hope.”
Kaag further cautioned that the current humanitarian aid is far from enough to meet the basic needs of over two million people who are on the brink of famine. She described this insufficient aid as a “lifeboat after the ship has sunk”.
She also expressed deep concern about rising tensions in the occupied West Bank, pointing to the accelerating pace of settlement expansion and land confiscation, as well as increasing settler violence. She warned that these developments are leading to “de facto annexation,” which “If not reversed, this will make the two-State solution physically impossible.”
READ: Israel announces new West Bank settlements
Irish conservatives block proposal by Sinn Féin to restrict Israeli “war bonds”
Original article by Ana Vračar republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.
On May 28, center-right lawmakers voted down a Sinn Féin proposal to limit the sale of Israeli bonds used to finance the genocide in Gaza
On May 28, representatives of conservative parties Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, part of the current Irish government, voted down a proposal brought forward by Sinn Féin that would have granted the Minister for Finance the authority to restrict the sale of Israeli bonds. The bill was defeated by a margin of 87 to 75, despite support from opposition parties and independent parliamentarians who vote with the government on other issues.
The debate took place in the context of a broader campaign challenging the role of the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) in facilitating the sale of Israeli bonds within European financial markets. Under EU law, such bonds cannot be circulated without approval from a central bank in the Union. Activists argue that the CBI’s approval of these bonds – which took place even after the beginning of Israel’s genocide in Gaza – makes Ireland complicit in violations of international law, despite statements by government officials expressing support for the Palestinian cause.
Read more: US and Israel hijack aid, massacre starving Palestinians
According to earlier reports, by the beginning of this year, Israel had raised nearly USD 19.5 billion through the sale of such bonds. Of this amount, close to USD 4.5 billion was raised with the help of major European players such as BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank, which helped coordinate and recommend bond sales to investors. Israeli officials have made no effort to conceal the planned usage of the funds that were collected. “Israel doesn’t hide the purpose of these bonds,” Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said ahead of the vote. “They emphasize, quote, ‘the crucial role of Israel bonds during this time of conflict and war.’ Israel openly invites people to invest in genocide.”
The actions of the government and the CBI greatly contrast with the will of the Irish public, which has demonstrated strong support for Palestine. “Allowing the Irish Central Bank to continue to deal in Israeli war bonds is an endorsement of genocide. It makes Ireland, in my view, complicit,” McDonald said in another statement. “It flies in the face of the ordinary people of Ireland who have marched, protested, campaigned and, with everything they have, stood up for the right of the Palestinians to live and live free.”
Read more: Activists urge Spanish government to implement on Israel arms embargo immediately
Widespread grassroots pressure and mass mobilizations has contributed to the country’s formal recognition of the State of Palestine in May 2024. Opposition parties argue that this public sentiment makes the gravity of the government’s inaction even worse.“There is something very perverse about saying to a people faced with genocide that you recognize them, that you stand with them, while at the same time playing a big part in funding the very weapons that are being used to slaughter their children,” McDonald noted.
Both the government and CBI leadership have argued that blocking the sale of Israeli bonds would be legally impossible. CBI head Gabriel Makhlouf defended the approval process, claiming that the bond prospectus in question met relevant criteria of “completeness, comprehensibility and consistency.” However, activists, including those from the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, have provided detailed evidence that Israel’s claims within the approval process obscure the bonds’ direct links to the genocide. The campaign also warned that CBI’s role in this matter represents a breach of both domestic and international law, including the Genocide Convention.
“Those who finance genocide under the mantra ‘it’s only business’ are complicit in genocide,” said David Landy of Jews for Palestine – Ireland. “By selling Israeli war bonds, the CBI is implicating all of us, all Irish people, in Israel’s war crimes.”
Original article by Ana Vračar republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.
Dua Lipa, Massive Attack, Gary Lineker, Primal Scream and Benedict Cumberbatch lead more than 300 figures urging Keir Starmer to “end UK complicity” in Gaza
Other signees include Danny Boyle, Annie Lennox, Tracey Emin and Holocaust survivor Stephen Kapos
Famous faces including Dua Lipa, Primal Scream and Benedict Cumberbatch are among the hundreds of people urging Prime Minister Keir Starmer to “end UK complicity” in Gaza.
The requests were put forward in an open letter to the PM, led by refugee charity Choose Love. As highlighted by Sky News, it demands all UK arms sales to Israel are immediately suspended, that there is immediate humanitarian access for experienced aid agencies, and that the government commit to seeking a ceasefire for “the children of Gaza”.
“We urge you to take immediate action to end the UK’s complicity in the horrors in Gaza,” it reads. It also outlines that children in Gaza are starving, while adequate medicine and food “sit just minutes away” – a reference to the 11-week blockade of supplies to Gaza by Israel, which was lifted last week.
Famous figures from the music world to have signed the letter include Dua Lipa, Primal Scream, Massive Attack, Paloma Faith and Annie Lennox. Names from the world of television and film include director Danny Boyle, Game Of Thrones star Lena Headey, Bridgerton’s Nicola Coughlan, Benedict Cumberbatch, Riz Ahmed, Maxine Peake, Tilda Swinton, Dermot O’Leary, Gary Lineker, Laura Whitmore and more.
Elsewhere, artist Tracey Emin has signed, as have model Lily Cole, activist Munroe Bergdorf and Holocaust survivor Stephen Kapos.
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Original article continues at https://www.nme.com/news/music/dua-lipa-massive-attack-gary-lineker-primal-scream-and-benedict-cumberbatch-lead-more-than-300-figures-urging-keir-starmer-to-end-uk-complicity-in-gaza-3865812