Will Red Sea shark attack bite into Egypt’s tourism revival hopes?

The shark attack in Hurghada. (Reuters)
Short Url
Updated 13 June 2023
Follow

Will Red Sea shark attack bite into Egypt’s tourism revival hopes?

  • On June 8, footage of a 23-year-old Russian swimmer being attacked and killed went viral on social media
  • Egypt’s tourism sector has proved resilient in recent years, weathering terrorism, COVID-19 and shark attacks

RIYADH/CAIRO: Egypt, a land of ancient treasures and stunning beaches, has long been a magnet for tourists from around the world. However, in recent years, the country’s tourism sector has faced numerous challenges, including the impact of COVID-19, sporadic incidents of terrorism, and shark attacks. 

Unlike terrorism and the pandemic, however, shark attacks are relatively common. Last week’s fatal attack on a Russian tourist, captured in horrific detail in a viral video, has forced Egyptian authorities to address the constant threat posed by the sea’s 49 different known species of shark.

Indeed, the number of sharks occupying the Red Sea is thought to be rising, owing to migrations from the Indian Ocean driven by human activity and a changing climate, making contact with humans ever more likely.

The victim of the June 8 attack, near a beach in Hurghada on the Red Sea, has been named by the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Egypt as Vladimir Popov, a 23-year-old national.

According to Brig. Gen. Nader Allam, vice chairman of Sharm El-Sheikh City, measures have been taken to protect tourists in the wake of the attack.

“The city has decided to deploy rescue teams on all beaches and coordinate with all relevant authorities to ensure the security and safety of tourists, in addition to providing instructions for educating tourists while in the water, whether for diving or regular swimming,” he told Arab News.




A worker stands on one of the beaches that have been closed after a Russian citizen was killed in a shark attack near a beach at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Hurghada. (Reuters)

“Diving centers have emphasized the necessity of educating tourists, following the instructions of the diving instructor, and respecting the marine environment.”

Allam said diving centers are equipped with staff trained in marine first aid and maritime safety. They have navigational devices, life collars, life jackets, an air-conditioned cabin for transporting people, an intensive care room with essential medical equipment, and a concentrated oxygen system for emergencies.

Separately, Alaa Aqel, chairman of the Steering Committee of the Hotel Establishments Chamber of the Egyptian Federation of Tourist Chambers, told Arab News: “There (was) a periodic circular issued late last year and circulated to all hotel establishments in the Red Sea Governorate. It stipulates adherence to safety and security procedures and controls that are generally accepted and issued by the competent authorities regarding diving and snorkeling activities.”

Aqel highlighted instructions to ensure the safety of tourists, which includes not swimming in areas where sharks are found. In addition, the authorities should put up warning signs for tourists not to throw waste or leftover food into the water, and ensure there is first aid equipment on hotel beaches.

According to the Russian tour operator Tez Tour, which specializes in travel to Egypt, shark nets are available in some, though not all, hotels in Hurghada. Among them are the Albatros chain, Alf Leila Wa Leila by Neverland, Water Valley by Neverland, Dana Beach Resort, Desert Rose Resort Hurghada, and Rixos Premium Magawish.

A representative of Tez Tour said tourists who are currently on vacation in Hurghada have the option to change their hotel if they feel unsafe. To do this, they need to contact their hotel guide. “Each application will be considered individually. However, we must understand that all beaches and coasts, as well as exits to the sea, are identical, so changing the hotel will not provide tourists with qualitatively new conditions.”

Tez Tour also reported that it has not noticed a decline in sales for Egyptian destinations following the incident. “Cancellations are received in a single volume, which fully corresponds to daily norms. At the moment, the only request for resettlement has been received from tourists,” the representative told Arab News.

Last week’s attack, while tragic, is not an isolated incident for the popular resort towns of the Red Sea. 

In 2010, a series of shark attacks occurred in five days, unusually close to the shore of tourist hotspot Sharm El-Sheikh, that resulted in the death of one German and injury to four other foreign tourists. These have led to a significant drop in tourist numbers.

In 2015, another German tourist was killed by a shark off a Red Sea beach, while in 2018, a Czech tourist was fatally attacked in similar fashion. In 2022 there were two fatal attacks, on an Austrian and a Romanian, in Hurghada within days of each other.

Egyptian nationals themselves, of course, particularly fishermen, are not immune from attacks by sharks, judging by local media reports.

And it is not just sharks the industry has to contend with. Just days after the Russian tourist was killed, three British tourists died in a fire aboard an Egyptian scuba diving tour boat off the coast of the Red Sea resort town of Marsa Alam on Sunday morning. 

The recurrence of such incidents raises questions about the safety of Egypt’s waters and vulnerability of its already fragile tourism sector.

For several years, Egypt’s tourism sector had experienced steady growth, reporting its best performance in 2019, when the country welcomed a record-breaking 13.1 million visitors, generating revenues of around $13 billion. 

The upward trajectory came to a halt quite abruptly, however, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. International travel restrictions, lockdown measures, and fears of contracting the virus led to a significant decline in tourist arrivals. In 2020, tourist receipts plummeted to $4 billion, representing a 70 percent drop compared to the previous year.

“The Egyptian tourism sector is one of the most important sources of foreign currency, along with exports, revenues from the Suez Canal, remittances from Egyptians abroad, and net foreign direct investment flows,” Ihab El-Gamal, an Egyptian economics researcher, told Arab News. 

“Therefore, the decline in the tourism sector due to the pandemic was followed by a decrease in foreign currency reserves, accompanied by a slowdown in Egypt’s gross domestic product growth rates during the pandemic year.”




A man swims as beaches are closed after a Russian citizen was killed in a shark attack near a beach at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Hurghada, Egypt June 9, 2023. (Reuters)

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, the sector’s contribution to Egypt’s gross domestic product plummeted 55 percent from $32 billion in 2019 to $14.4 billion in 2020.

In 2021, revenues recovered to pre-pandemic levels, with tourists bringing in more than $13 billion, according to the Deputy Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Ghada Shalaby.

During the first quarter of the fiscal year 2022-2023, tourism revenues rose by 43.5 percent, to reach $4.1 billion from $2.8 billion a year earlier, according to the latest data by the Central Bank of Egypt.

The number of tourists coming to the country increased by 85.4 percent in the first half of 2022 to 4.9 million tourists, compared to 2.6 million during the first half of 2021.

From the beginning of 2023 until the month of April, Egypt’s tourist numbers increased 33 percent on a year-on-year basis, mainly buoyed by a weaker Egyptian pound and favorable market dynamics.

0 seconds of 1 minute, 16 secondsVolume 90%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
01:16
01:16
 

The country is targeting 15 million tourists in 2023 and 30 million in 2028, according to the Tourism Minister Ahmed Issa.

Amr El-Kady, CEO of the Egyptian Tourism Promotion Authority, pointed out that the biggest target market is Europe, led by Germany, adding that he also expects more Arabs to flock into the country with the launch of the five-year multiple-entry tourist visa.

Russia and Ukraine are also among the largest markets for Egypt, but tourist numbers have been severely curtailed by the ongoing conflict between the two nations.

Fitch Solutions expects Egypt’s tourism revenues to grow by 17.7 percent to hit $13.6 billion in 2023 and $17.9 billion by the end of 2026.

El-Gamal is confident the recent shark attack will not upset tourism’s upward trajectory and the industry’s recovery.

“As for the impact of the shark attack incident on the tourism sector, it is not expected to significantly affect tourism in Egypt, especially since such incidents can happen anywhere in the world,” he added.




A view of one of the beaches that have been closed after a Russian citizen was killed in a shark attack near a beach at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Hurghada. (Reuters)

Kirill Kuzishchin, professor of the department of ichthyology at Moscow State University, told Arab News that judging by its size, the predatory creature that killed Popov could have been a tiger shark that had migrated from the Indian Ocean.

Calling it a “targeted, cold-blooded attack on a human being,” he said there may be several more of these predators in the coastal zone of Hurghada. This is probably due to their seasonal migration from the Indian Ocean, and in their new habitat they become more aggressive once they do not find their usual food, he said.

According to Kuzishchin, there are no effective ways to protect swimmers from shark attacks. The market sells a lot of repellent bracelets, but when faced with a hungry and aggressive predator, these items are unlikely to be of any use, he said.

“Therefore, the surest way to protect yourself is to swim on safe beaches equipped with safety nets, do not swim behind buoys, stay away from fishing boats and do not ignore the warnings of rescuers when they ask (you) to get out of the water immediately.”

Shark attacks on people most often occur in the coastal waters of the US, New Zealand, Australia and African countries, according to Kuzishchin.

Despite the challenges faced by Egypt’s tourism industry, there are some optimistic signs pointing to a potential recovery.




A view of one of the beaches that have been closed after a Russian citizen was killed in a shark attack near a beach at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Hurghada, Egypt June 9, 2023. (Reuters)

To support the recovery and future growth of the tourism sector, Egypt is investing in infrastructure and adopting new visa rules. In January 2023, the Egyptian government allowed 180 nationalities to obtain tourist visas on arrival. This is only allowed if they have valid and used visas in their passports from either the UK, US, New Zealand, Japan, or the Schengen countries.

The Ministry of Transport also launched last September its first-ever online platform to regulate the entry of yachts into the country, as part of a newly developed strategy to leverage Egypt’s strategic geographical location and long coastlines.

Another notable effort is the focus on infrastructure development, including the expansion and modernization of airports to accommodate increased tourist arrivals.

Additionally, the Egyptian government has invested in upgrading road networks, improving connectivity between popular tourist destinations, and enhancing transportation services to facilitate travel for visitors.

Hosting COP27 has also played an important role in enhancing Egypt’s position as a leader in the Middle East and Africa in matters of climate change and sustainable development issues. Egypt used that opportunity to showcase its efforts and achievements in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, promoting renewable energy, and addressing environmental challenges, which can all have indirect positive impact on the country’s tourism.

Some analysts, however, suggest that Egypt should focus on diversifying its tourism offerings beyond the traditional historical sites and beach resorts. Investments in cultural tourism, eco-tourism, and adventure tourism can attract a broader range of visitors and mitigate the impact of external shocks.

The general consensus is that the June 8 shark attack, while a setback for Egypt’s tourism industry, does not spell the end of its revival hopes. The sector has shown resilience in the face of past adversity.

Given the ongoing efforts to diversify tourism offerings, and infrastructure development plans, Egypt clearly remains committed to rebuilding its tourism sector.

While caution and increased safety are imperative, the allure of Egypt’s rich history, compelling landscapes, and hospitality will continue to draw tourists. With the right strategies and a concerted effort from stakeholders, Egypt has the potential to bounce back and reclaim its position as a top global destination.


Israel leader meets visiting US homeland security secretary: PM’s office

Updated 26 May 2025
Follow

Israel leader meets visiting US homeland security secretary: PM’s office

  • The visit comes as Israel ramps up its offensive in the Gaza Strip

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with visiting US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Jerusalem on Sunday, his office said.
US and Israeli media reported that Trump had sent Noem to Jerusalem following the killing of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington last week.
Noem was accompanied at her meeting with Netanyahu by US Ambassador Mike Huckabee, Netanyahu’s office said in a brief statement Sunday night.
The office added that during the meeting Noem “expressed her unreserved support for the prime minister and the State of Israel.”
The visit comes as Israel ramps up its offensive in the Gaza Strip in what it says is a renewed effort to destroy Hamas.
Earlier in the evening, Noem and Huckabee had visited the city’s Western Wall, where early celebrations for Monday’s “Jerusalem Day” holiday were taking place.
The holiday commemorates what Israel considers Jerusalem’s reunification under its authority after the city’s eastern sector was captured by its forces in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.


’Death is sometimes kinder’: Relatives recount Gaza strike that devastated family

Updated 26 May 2025
Follow

’Death is sometimes kinder’: Relatives recount Gaza strike that devastated family

  • The paediatrician, with no means of transport, ran from the Nasser Hospital to the family house in the city of Khan Yunis, a relative told AFP, only to be met with every parent’s worst nightmare

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Alaa Al-Najjar was tending to wounded children at a hospital in the southern Gaza Strip when the news came through: the home where her own 10 children were staying had been bombed in an Israeli air strike.
The paediatrician, with no means of transport, ran from the Nasser Hospital to the family house in the city of Khan Yunis, a relative told AFP, only to be met with every parent’s worst nightmare.
“When she saw the charred bodies, she started screaming and crying,” said Ali Al-Najjar, the brother of Alaa’s husband.
Nine of her children were killed, their bodies burned beyond recognition, according to relatives.
The tenth, 10-year-old Adam, survived the strike but remains in critical condition, as does his father, Hamdi Al-Najjar, also a doctor, who was also at home when the strike hit.
Both are in intensive care at Nasser Hospital.
When the body of her daughter Nibal was pulled from the rubble, Alaa screamed her name, her brother-in-law recounted.
The following day, under a tent set up near the destroyed home, the well-respected paediatric specialist sat in stunned silence, still in shock.
Around her, women wept as the sounds of explosions echoed across the Palestinian territory, battered by more than a year and a half of war.

The air strike on Friday afternoon was carried out without warning, relatives said.
Asked about the incident, the Israeli military said it had “struck a number of suspects who were identified operating from a structure” near its troops, adding that claims of civilian harm were under review.
“I couldn’t recognize the children in the shrouds,” Alaa’s sister, Sahar Al-Najjar, said through tears. “Their features were gone.”
“It’s a huge loss. Alaa is broken,” said Mohammed, another close family member.
According to medical sources, Hamdi Al-Najjar underwent several operations at the Jordanian field hospital.
Doctors had to remove a large portion of his right lung and gave him 17 blood transfusions.
Adam had one hand amputated and suffers from severe burns across his body.
“I found my brother’s house like a broken biscuit, reduced to ruins, and my loved ones were underneath,” Ali Al-Najjar said, recalling how he dug through the rubble with his bare hands alongside paramedics to recover the children’s bodies.
Now, he dreads the moment his brother regains consciousness.
“I don’t know how to tell him. Should I tell him his children are dead? I buried them in two graves.”
“There is no safe place in Gaza,” he added with a weary sigh. “Death is sometimes kinder than this torture.”
 

 


Israel’s latest strikes in Gaza kill 38 people including a journalist and children

Updated 15 sec ago
Follow

Israel’s latest strikes in Gaza kill 38 people including a journalist and children

  • Local journalist and several family members were killed by an airstrike that hit his house earlier on Sunday
  • Latest deaths resulted from Israeli strikes in Khan Younis in the south, Jabalia in the north and Nuseirat in central Gaza Strip

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: Israeli strikes over the past 24 hours killed at least 38 people in Gaza, including children, a local journalist and a senior rescue service official, local health officials said Sunday.

The latest deaths in the Israeli campaign resulted from separate Israeli strikes in Khan Younis in the south, Jabalia in the north and Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, medics said.
In Jabalia, they said local journalist Hassan Majdi Abu Warda and several family members were killed by an airstrike that hit his house earlier on Sunday.
Another airstrike in Nuseirat killed Ashraf Abu Nar, a senior official in the territory’s civil emergency service, and his wife in their house, medics added.
There was no immediate comment by the Israeli military.

The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said that Abu Warda’s death raised the number of Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023, to 220.
In a separate statement, the media office said Israeli forces were in control of 77 percent of the Gaza Strip, either through ground forces or evacuation orders and bombardment that keeps residents away from their homes.

The armed wing of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad said in separate statements on Sunday that fighters carried out several ambushes and attacks using bombs and anti-tank rockets against Israeli forces operating in several areas across Gaza.
On Friday the Israeli military said it had conducted more strikes in Gaza overnight, hitting 75 targets including weapons storage facilities and rocket launchers.
Further details emerged of the Palestinian doctor who lost nine of her 10 children in an Israeli strike on Friday.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said 3,785 people have been killed since Israel ended a ceasefire in March.

Israel launched an air and ground war in Gaza after Hamas militants’ cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people by Israeli tallies with 251 hostages abducted into Gaza. Hamas has yet to release the 58 hostages it still holds.
The conflict has killed more than 53,900 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, and devastated the coastal strip. Aid groups say signs of severe malnutrition are widespread.
Israel also blocked all food, medicine and fuel from entering Gaza for 2 1/2 months before letting a trickle of aid enter last week, after experts’ warnings of famine and pressure from some of Israel’s top allies.
Israel is pursuing a new US-backed plan to control all aid to Gaza, but the American heading the effort unexpectedly resigned Sunday, saying it had become clear that his organization would not be allowed to operate independently.
The United Nations has rejected the plan. UN World Food Program executive director Cindy McCain told CBS she has not seen evidence to support Israel’s claims that Hamas is responsible for the looting of aid trucks. “These people are desperate, and they see a World Food Program truck coming in and they run for it,” she said.
COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing aid for Gaza, said 107 trucks of aid entered Sunday. The UN has called the rate far from enough. About 600 trucks a day entered during the ceasefire.
Israel also says it plans to seize full control of Gaza and facilitate what it describes as the voluntary migration of its over 2 million population, a plan rejected by Palestinians and much of the international community.
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited Israel on Sunday and met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.


Israel’s US ambassador called home over interview remarks

Updated 25 May 2025
Follow

Israel’s US ambassador called home over interview remarks

  • Ambassador Yechiel Leiter accuses opponents of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of levelling “blood libels” at the Israeli leader

JERUSALEM: Israel’s ambassador to Washington is being summoned home on the instructions of a government disciplinary body to discuss comments he made in a podcast interview, the foreign ministry said Sunday.
Ambassador Yechiel Leiter had made an appearance on a podcast run by the right-wing US online media platform PragerU, in which he accused opponents of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of levelling “blood libels” at the Israeli leader.
“The Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Eden Bar-Tal, will summon the ambassador in Washington, Dr. Yechiel Leiter, for a hearing regarding statements he made during a media interview,” a ministry spokesman said in a statement.
The spokesman said the summons was “in accordance with the instructions of the Discipline Department at the Civil Service Commission.”
Although the role of Israeli ambassador to the United States is a political appointment and Leiter was selected by Netanyahu, Israeli diplomats are typically expected to refrain from making political statements.
In the interview with PragerU, Leiter accused “extremists on the left” and the Israeli media of trying to topple Netanyahu’s government.
“It’s the extremists, and there is nothing they won’t do to bring Netanyahu down, and it’s a calumny that needs to be called out,” he said, accusing Netanyahu’s detractors of levelling “blood libels against your own PM.”
Leiter also dismissed as “insanity” claims that the premier was prolonging the war in Gaza to remain in power, adding: “How dare they say something as malicious as that?“
A poll published by Israel’s Channel 12 News on Saturday showed that 55 percent of the public believes Netanyahu is more interested in remaining in power than ending the war or freeing the hostages still held in Gaza.
A former adviser to Netanyahu, Leiter is originally from the United States and lived in a settlement in the occupied West Bank.
His son, Moshe Leiter, was killed in combat in November 2023 in the Gaza Strip.


Why fury over Israeli actions in Gaza and West Bank may lead to EU sanctions

Updated 26 May 2025
Follow

Why fury over Israeli actions in Gaza and West Bank may lead to EU sanctions

  • Calls rise for arms embargo, ICC referrals and greater aid access after Israeli military fire in Jenin forces foreign ministers to scatter
  • Trade deal with Israel under review amid alarm over Gaza famine warnings, West Bank settler violence, international law violations

LONDON: Watching the widely circulated footage of Israeli soldiers firing “warning shots” in the direction of a delegation of foreign diplomats visiting a refugee camp in the Palestinian city of Jenin on Wednesday, it was hard to resist the conclusion that the Israeli military had lost its collective mind.

Luckily, no one was injured in the incident. But in a manner of speaking, Israel shot itself in the foot.

The extraordinary provocation took place as Israel was already facing a rising wave of condemnation — internally and externally — and the threat of international sanctions for its actions in Gaza and the West Bank.

International support for Israel, so unified in the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian militant groups, in which 1,200 Israelis and others were killed and 251 more were taken hostage, has steadily crumbled in the face of outrage after outrage, which collectively have left more than 50,000 Palestinians dead and much of Gaza reduced to uninhabitable rubble.

0 seconds of 30 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:30
00:30
 

 

Last Tuesday, the day before the shooting incident in Jenin, the European Union announced that it was reviewing its political and economic relations with Israel – no hollow threat from a bloc that is Israel’s biggest trading partner.

“The situation in Gaza is catastrophic,” Kaja Kallas, high representative of the EU for foreign affairs and security policy and vice-president of the European Commission, said on Tuesday.

Earlier that same day, the UN had raised the specter of thousands of babies dying of starvation “in the next 48 hours” if Israel did not allow aid trucks to enter the territory immediately.

Israeli soldiers fired ‘warning shots’ in the direction of European diplomats visiting a Palestinian refugee camp in Jenin, in the West Bank, on May 21, forcing them to scatter and sparking diplomatic outrage. (AFP)

Israel, while rejecting the suggestion that mass starvation was imminent, responded by allowing what critics condemned as a wholly insufficient token amount of aid into Gaza.

“The aid that Israel has allowed in is of course welcomed, but it’s a drop in the ocean,” said Kallas. “Aid must flow immediately without obstruction and at scale.”

She had, she added, "made these points also with my talks with Israelis … and regional leaders as well. Pressure is necessary to change the situation.”

And pressure is building up. In an unprecedented move, the EU is now reviewing the EU-Israel Association Agreement, the legal basis for its trade relations with Israel, which entered into force in June 2000.

Illustration posted on the website of the European Coordination Committees and Associations for Palestine, along with a report saying 63 MEPs calling on EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement. 

Pressure for this review has been mounting since May 7, when Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp urged the EU to act, saying “the situation in Gaza compels us to take this step.”

Disturbed by the nightmarish scenes in Gaza and reports of increasing settler violence in the West Bank, his government, he said, “will draw a line in the sand.”

Losing European trade would be a massive blow to Israel’s economy. The EU is Israel’s biggest trading partner – in 2024 34.2 percent of Israel’s imports came from the EU while 28.8 percent of Israel’s exports went to the EU. The total value of the trade in goods between the two in 2024 was o 42.6 billion euros.

“The review will specifically assess Israel’s adherence to the human rights provisions within the deal,” said Caroline Rose, a director at the New Lines Institute focused on defense, security and geopolitical landscapes.

Palestinians transport their belongings as they flee the northern Gaza Strip toward the south, along the coastal al-Rashid road on May 25, 2025. (AFP)

The clause in the agreement that is now under legal scrutiny is Article 2. This states that “Relations between the Parties, as well as all the provisions of the Agreement itself, shall be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles, which guides their internal and international policy and constitutes an essential element of this Agreement.”

Other international measures are under consideration, said Rose, including “imposing a full arms embargo, referring Israel to the International Criminal Court (ICC), as advocated by Pakistan, enforcing a ceasefire and humanitarian aid access, sanctioning Israeli officials, supporting recognition of a Palestinian state, dismantling illegal settlements, reforming the UN Security Council veto system, and coordinating global reconstruction aid.”

Rose cautions that “internal divisions within the bloc could stall progress. While 17 member states support the review, countries such as Germany, Hungary, Austria and Italy reportedly oppose it. Germany and Austria, in particular, have resisted punitive measures despite issuing public condemnations.”

People move past destroyed buildings as smoke billows following an Israeli strike in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip on May 25, 2025. (AFP)

Germany, bearing the moral weight of the Holocaust, has been a staunch supporter of Israel since its creation in 1948. But now, under new conservative chancellor Friedrich Merz, even Berlin is wavering.

Last week, out of concern for the situation in Gaza and the West Bank, Merz despatched his foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, on a fact-finding mission. Wadephul was among the diplomats scattered by the warning shots fired by the Israeli military on Wednesday, as were senior delegates from countries including France, Belgium, the UK, Italy, Canada, Russia and China. 

All the countries involved have lodged complaints with Israel about the episode, which the Palestinian Authority condemned as a “heinous crime” a “deliberate and unlawful act” which “constitutes a blatant and grave breach of international law.”

Israeli soldiers fired ‘warning shots’ in the direction of European diplomats visiting a Palestinian refugee camp in Jenin, in the West Bank, on May 21, forcing them to scatter and sparking diplomatic outrage. (AFP)

The day after the shooting in Jenin, during a visit to Lithuania the German chancellor said “we are very concerned about the situation in the Gaza Strip and also about the intensification of the Israeli army’s military operations there.

“We are urging, above all, that humanitarian aid finally reaches the Gaza Strip without delay, and also reaches the people there, because, as we hear from the United Nations, there is now a real threat of famine.”

On May 13 a study by the Bertelsmann Foundation found that over the past four years Germans had developed an increasingly negative view of Israel. In 2021 46 percent of Germans had a positive view of the country, compared with only 36 percent today, with 38 percent now viewing it negatively. Germany has seen many mass protests since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza, which a majority of Germans oppose.

IN NUMBERS:

• 38% Germans who now view Israel negatively.

• 10% Drop in number of Germans who view Israel positively.

Source: Bertelsmann Foundation study

On May 19, two days before the Israeli military’s live-fire intimidation of international diplomats, the UK, France and Canada issued a joint statement condemning the situations in Gaza and the West Bank and strongly opposing the expansion of Israeli military operations in Gaza.

While also calling on Hamas to immediately release the remaining hostages, the statement denounced “the level of human suffering in Gaza” as “intolerable.”

The three nations added: “Yesterday’s announcement that Israel will allow a basic quantity of food into Gaza is wholly inadequate. We call on the Israeli Government to stop its military operations in Gaza and immediately allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.”

Palestinians wait to receive aid, in Gaza City, on May 25, 2025. (REUTERS)

Israel, warned the statement, “risks breaching international humanitarian law,” adding: “We condemn the abhorrent language used recently by members of the Israeli Government, threatening that, in their despair at the destruction of Gaza, civilians will start to relocate. Permanent forced displacement is a breach of international humanitarian law.”

Israel had a right to defend Israelis against terrorism, “but this escalation is wholly disproportionate.”

As a result, “We will not stand by while the Netanyahu government pursues these egregious actions. If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response.”

A fire blazes in an olive grove in the village of Salem, east of Nablus in the occupied West Bank on May 25, 2025, after Israeli settlers reportedly started a fire near the road to the Israeli settlement of Alon Moreh, according to eyewitnesses and the local village council. (AFP)

In the West Bank, Israel must also “halt settlements which are illegal and undermine the viability of a Palestinian state and the security of both Israelis and Palestinians.

“We will not hesitate to take further action, including targeted sanctions.”

On May 20, as the death toll from Israeli air strikes over the previous week reached 500, the UK summoned Israel’s ambassador to London, paused talks on a new free-trade agreement, and announced further sanctions against West Bank settlers.

Israel’s operation in Gaza was "incompatible with the principles that underpin our bilateral relationship,” David Lammy, the UK foreign minister, told parliament.

“It is extremism. It is dangerous. It is repellent. It is monstrous, and I condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”

Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy speaking to MPs during a statement on Israel and the war in Gaza in the House of Commons, in London, on May 20, 2025. (AFP)

All these moves “clearly reflect growing discomfort with Israeli military actions in Gaza but also in the West Bank,” Sir John Jenkins, who served as British ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Syria and as consul-general in Jerusalem, told Arab News.

“This has been crystallized by the issue of humanitarian aid. The UN has not handled this well itself. But it’s a real political problem for Western governments, with significant domestic implications, which is why the UK has also paused trade talks.”

However, he added, “none of this will affect the Israeli decision-making process in the short term, and Western governments will be very reluctant to do anything that helps Hamas.

“But they will be increasingly keen to see a proper plan for the endgame. The question is: How much does the Trump administration support them? The news last week of the shooting of the two Israeli diplomats in Washington will only complicate this calculation.”

 

 

Israel, increasingly isolated, nevertheless remains defiant. “The British Mandate ended exactly 77 years ago,” a spokesperson for its foreign ministry said in response to last week’s criticism from the UK. “External pressure will not divert Israel from its path in defending its existence and security against enemies who seek its destruction.”

Yet in Europe that external pressure is mounting. So much so that, after 20 years of campaigning virtually in the wilderness for “freedom, justice and equality” for Palestinians, the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement finally finds its much-criticised methods on the cusp of becoming mainstream.

Founded in 2005, for two decades the Palestinian-led BDS and those who support it have endured international censure, based on an unquestioning acceptance of Israel’s accusation that the organization’s aims are merely a manifestation of antisemitism.

Now, however, as governments in Europe, shocked by Israel’s latest actions and the seemingly deliberate starvation of two million people in Gaza, begin to adopt stances for which BDS has been calling for 20 years, as it marks its 20th anniversary the organisation and its work is being vindicated.

“For the first time ever, even the world’s most complicit governments are being forced – due to people power and moral outrage – to publicly consider accountability measures against Israel,” the BDS said in a statement.

Mourners react next to the body of a Palestinian killed in Israeli strikes, during a funeral at Nasser hospital, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 23, 2025. (REUTERS)

This was “another clear sign that our collective popular BDS pressure is working. The taboo is broken – sanctions are the way forward to end Israel’s atrocious crimes.”

Nevertheless, the organization continues to be critical of the UK, France and Canada, countries which had spent 19 months “enabling Israel’s genocide with intelligence gathering and other military means.” The statements by the three “are far too late and fall dangerously short of meeting these States’ legal obligations under international law, including the Genocide Convention and the Apartheid Convention.”

BDS says it is now stepping up its campaign to “transform tokenism and empty threats into tangible and effective accountability measures, starting with a two-way military embargo and full-scale trade and diplomatic sanctions.”

 

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, keenly aware as ever of his dependence upon the support of the right-wing extremists in his cabinet, went on the offensive last week.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, he said, were siding with “mass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers.” Astonishingly, he added, Starmer, Macron and Carney were “on the wrong side of humanity and … the wrong side of history.”

In fact, in the wake of the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7, 2023, all three countries came out in unequivocal support of Israel, and its right to defend itself.

 

 

What Netanyahu is refusing to acknowledge is that in the eyes of the world, the events of that day do not give Israel a carte blanche.

His apparent determination to continue the war seemingly in order to keep himself in power, and to support the Zionist extremists in his cabinet who want to see Palestine ethnically cleansed, is facing growing criticism within Israel itself.

One of the staunchest critics is Ehud Olmert, Israel’s prime minister from 2006 to 2009, who recently told the BBC that what Israel was doing in Gaza was “close to a war crime.”

Former Palestinian foreign minister Nasser Al-Kidwa appears on a screen as former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert holds a microphone on stage, during the It's Time People’s Peace Summit at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem on May 9, 2025. (AFP)

That earned him a rebuke from a current Israeli minister, but on Friday Olmert intensified his criticism. “A group of thugs … are running the state of Israel these days and the head of the gang is Netanyahu,” he told the BBC World Service.

He added: “Of course they are criticizing me, they are defaming me, I accept it, and it will not stop me from criticizing and opposing these atrocious policies.”

Speaking to Arab News, Ahron Bregman, a former Israeli soldier and a senior teaching fellow in King’s College London’s Institute of Middle Eastern Studies, said: “You don’t have to be an expert on international humanitarian law to conclude that what the Israelis are doing in the Gaza Strip is carrying out terrible war crimes.

“European governments can’t ignore this any longer, as their publics are furious, and, at last, they have started to react.”

 

 

Ideally, he said, “it would be the UN Security Council that instructs Israel to stop the industrial killing in Gaza and the starving of the Gazans, but the Israelis seem confident that US President Donald Trump will not let such a resolution pass.

“But who knows? Sometimes, in war, there are moments which are turning points, moments that push nations of the world over the edge and make them take action to stop wars.”

Bregman believes only two courses of action “would make the Israeli government rethink and change its criminal behaviour in Gaza.”

The first is that European countries should block trade relations with Israel — a step now being seriously considered in the European Union — and impose sanctions on the state.

“You don’t have to be an expert on international humanitarian law to conclude that what the Israelis are doing in the Gaza Strip is carrying out terrible war crimes.

Ahron Bregman, a former Israeli soldier and a senior teaching fellow in King’s College London’s Institute of Middle Eastern Studies

But his second suggestion, coming as it does from a man who served in the Israeli army for six years and took part in the 1982 Lebanon War, shows just how far the actions of the current Israeli government have strayed from what mainstream public opinion in the country now regards as acceptable.

“Young Israelis who fought in Gaza should be stopped when trying to cross into Europe,” he said.

“They should be investigated for their actions in Gaza and arrested if there’s any suspicion of war crimes.”

And, he added, “pilots, who caused most of the damage in Gaza, should be sent automatically for trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.”