Ex-FM was aware UK risked complicity in Israeli war crimes

Ex-FM was aware UK risked complicity in Israeli war crimes
Former UK Foreign Minister David Cameron was advised by Foreign Office officials Tel Aviv was in clear breach of international humanitarian law. (AFP)
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Updated 04 September 2024
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Ex-FM was aware UK risked complicity in Israeli war crimes

Ex-FM was aware UK risked complicity in Israeli war crimes
  • David Cameron received similar advice to new Labour govt, which banned 30 arms licenses this week
  • Ex-Foreign Office source: ‘The tragedy has to be considered: How many lives might have been saved?’

LONDON: Former UK Foreign Minister David Cameron was aware that Britain risked complicity in Israeli breaches of international law but refused to suspend weapons transfers to the country, The Guardian reported.

Cameron, who served as foreign minister in the previous Conservative government, was advised by Foreign Office officials in Israel and London that Tel Aviv was in clear breach of international humanitarian law, a former Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office adviser said.

It follows news that the UK’s new Labour government this week banned 30 of about 350 arms export licenses to Israel.

The government made the decision based on a memorandum released on Monday warning that British arms may have been used by Israel to breach international law.

But the FCDO source told The Guardian that the same advice was given to the previous government as early as February.

“The tragedy has to be considered: How many lives might have been saved if the arms export licenses had been stopped then and not in September, and what the potential ripple effect might have been on how other countries would have reacted in ceasing trade,” they said.

“The advice being sent through to the Foreign Office was clear that the breaches of international humanitarian law by Israel as the occupying power were so obvious that there was a danger of UK complicity if the licenses were not withdrawn.”

The FCDO source added: “Israel highlights vital lessons globally for arms companies and countries which grant export licenses as part of elaborate trade deals.

“The reality is that none of these licenses are granted in isolation of other business and political interests, and are enmeshed with other forms of trade technology exchanges and security equity.”

They said: “Companies also bear a responsibility to respect international humanitarian and criminal law, as do governments.

“Internally, the Foreign Office does not seem very cohesive, with disputes between humanitarian, legal and political teams, as well as with sections of the Ministry of Defence.”

A member of the previous Conservative government told The Guardian that though the legal advice it received was “in some respects similar” to that published by Labour, it never “said explicitly” that ministers must suspend arms sales.


Kremlin: Details of a possible Trump-Putin meeting have yet to be worked out

Kremlin: Details of a possible Trump-Putin meeting have yet to be worked out
Updated 7 sec ago
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Kremlin: Details of a possible Trump-Putin meeting have yet to be worked out

Kremlin: Details of a possible Trump-Putin meeting have yet to be worked out
  • Mutual understanding about the need for a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin
MOSCOW: The Kremlin said on Friday that there was a mutual understanding about the need for a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, but that the details of such an encounter had yet to be worked out.

France to deploy police at schools for spot bag searches: minister

France to deploy police at schools for spot bag searches: minister
Updated 13 min 29 sec ago
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France to deploy police at schools for spot bag searches: minister

France to deploy police at schools for spot bag searches: minister
  • The new policy was prompted by stabbings becoming more common

PARIS: French police will start random searches for knives and other weapons concealed in bags at and around schools in a bid to fight an increase in violent attacks, the education minister said Friday.
The spot searches will begin in the spring, Elisabeth Borne told the BFMTV/RMC broadcaster.
“I want us to be able to organize, together with the prefect, the prosecutor and the representative of the education system, regular bag searches at the entrance of schools,” she said.
These would be carried out by police, she said, as teachers and school staff are not authorized to search pupils.
The new policy was prompted by stabbings becoming “much more common,” Borne said.
The minister said she would also seek a rule change by which any pupil found with a bladed weapon at school would automatically have to appear before a disciplinary council. Any such case would also trigger a notification of prosecutors, without exception.
Currently such a procedure is at the discretion of heads of schools.
At the start of the month, a 17-year-old high school student was seriously wounded in a stabbing at his school in Bagneux, a southwestern suburb of Paris.
Seine-Saint-Denis, a region north of the capital with above-average crime rates, this month placed around 20 middle and high schools under police surveillance, with some 100 police deployed.
The move was to help “prevent a repetition of violent acts” after a series of incidents, the authorities said.


EU official says Lebanon funding outlay depends on banking restructure, IMF deal

EU official says Lebanon funding outlay depends on banking restructure, IMF deal
Updated 31 min 25 sec ago
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EU official says Lebanon funding outlay depends on banking restructure, IMF deal

EU official says Lebanon funding outlay depends on banking restructure, IMF deal
  • IMF said it was open to a new loan agreement with Lebanon following discussions with its recently appointed finance minister
  • European Union announced one billion dollars in aid for Lebanon to help stem irregular migration to the bloc

BEIRUT: A visiting EU official said Friday that disbursing half a billion euros in funding to Lebanon was conditional on a banking sector restructure and reaching an agreement with the International Monetary Fund.
In May last year, the European Union announced one billion euros ($1 billion) in aid for Lebanon to help stem irregular migration to the bloc, with the assistance designed to strengthen basic services including education and health amid a severe economic crisis.
The EU Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Suica on Friday said that of the allocated funds, “500 million (euros) was already adopted in August last year, and another 500 million will come soon, but there are some conditions.”
“The main precondition is the restructure of the banking sector... and a good agreement with the International Monetary Fund,” she told a press conference after meeting with President Joseph Aoun.
“Once these conditions will be fulfilled we will continue of course with disbursing” the funds, she added.
The international community has long demanded Lebanon enact reforms to unlock billions of dollars to boost the economy after a financial crisis widely blamed on mismanagement and corruption took hold in 2019.
Lebanon last month elected a new president after a more than two-year vacuum. This month it formed a government, replacing the previous administration that had been operating in a caretaker capacity.
This week, the IMF said it was open to a new loan agreement with Lebanon following discussions with its recently appointed finance minister.
Suica also said she discussed with Aoun a “new pact for the Mediterranean” which means “we will start bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership agreements with countries including Lebanon,” without providing details.
She and Aoun also discussed issues including a ceasefire in the recent war between Israel and Hezbollah, as well as Lebanon’s army and the Syria crisis, she added.
Suica was scheduled to meet with other senior officials including Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and parliament speaker Nabih Berri during the visit, according to an EU statement.
The EU is desperate for stability in the Middle East and the Mediterranean region as it hopes to avoid major flows of migrants to Europe.
Lebanon says it hosts some two million Syrians, the world’s highest number of refugees per capita, and has also been a launchpad for Europe-bound migrants.


With formal education banned, Afghan sisters find empowerment in art

With formal education banned, Afghan sisters find empowerment in art
Updated 53 min 20 sec ago
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With formal education banned, Afghan sisters find empowerment in art

With formal education banned, Afghan sisters find empowerment in art
  • Aria and Aida Sediqy could not pursue studies after a Taliban ban on girls’ education
  • Last year, they opened a home-based workshop in Kabul specializing in latticework

KABUL: After Afghanistan’s new rulers barred females from higher education, Aria and Aida Sediqy sought other ways to learn a profession. When those options were closed off too, they turned to art — a form of expression that soon also became a path to self-sufficiency.

Aria, 21, graduated from high school in 2020 and passed national university entry exams. She studied economics at a university in Kabul but that did not last long.

The rights of Afghan females have been curtailed since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021.

Women and girls have been gradually barred from attending secondary school and university, undertaking most forms of paid employment, traveling without a male family member, and accessing public spaces.

Aria managed to complete one semester, but like thousands of other girls had nowhere to return after the ban took force. She chose instead to learn midwifery and together with her younger sister enrolled in a course at a private medical institute. Last year, classes for women at those institutes were banned too. “After studying midwifery for a year, the Taliban closed medical colleges as well. For the past three years, I have looked everywhere to study, but all doors were shut for us, one after another,” she told Arab News.

She then tried to rekindle her childhood interest in crafts and spent months training to produce latticework from wood under the guidance of a woman teacher who graduated in fine arts from Kabul University.

When she felt ready, her parents supported her in opening a small workshop at home. Last year, the little studio, Aria Art Gallery, opened an online shop, which Aria is now running with her sister.

Each month, their workshop earns about $100.

Works of Aria and Aida Sediqy are on display at their home studio in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Aria Sediqy)

“The income is not a lot, but I am happy that I can do something for myself. It’s a very good occupation for young girls and women,” she said.

Three girls have started learning craft from Aria. Two of them are her cousins, and the third is her younger sister, Aida, for whom the home gallery has also become a refuge when most opportunities for self-fulfillment are no more.

“We are left with a world of unfulfilled wishes, but I am happy to be able to learn art from my sister and run the gallery with her from our home,” Aida said.

“With the doors to education closed for all of us, we turn to art.”


With formal education banned, Afghan sisters find empowerment in art

With formal education banned, Afghan sisters find empowerment in art
Updated 21 February 2025
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With formal education banned, Afghan sisters find empowerment in art

With formal education banned, Afghan sisters find empowerment in art
  • Aria and Aida Sediqy could not pursue studies after a Taliban ban on girls’ education
  • Last year, they opened a home-based workshop in Kabul specializing in latticework

KABUL: After Afghanistan’s new rulers barred girls from higher education, Aria and Aida Sediqy sought other ways to start a profession. When those options were closed off too, they turned to art, which soon also became a path to self-sufficiency.

Aria, 21, graduated from high school in 2020 and passed national university entry exams. She studied economics at a university in Kabul but that did not last long.

The rights of Afghan women have been curtailed since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021. Women and girls have been gradually barred from attending secondary school and university, undertaking most forms of paid employment, traveling without a male family member, and accessing public spaces.

Aria managed to complete one semester, but like thousands of other girls had nowhere to return after the ban took force. She chose instead to learn midwifery and together with her younger sister enrolled in a course at a private medical institute. Last year, classes for women at those institutes were banned too.

“After studying midwifery for a year, the Taliban closed medical colleges as well. For the past three years, I have looked everywhere to study, but all doors were shut for us, one after another,” she told Arab News.

She then tried to rekindle her childhood interest in craft and spent months training latticework in wood under the guidance of a female teacher who graduated in fine arts from Kabul University.

When she felt ready, her parents supported her in opening a small workshop at home. Last year, the little studio, Aria Art Gallery, started an online shop, which Aria is now running with her sister.

Each month, their workshop earns about $100.

“The income is not a lot, but I am happy that I can do something for myself. It’s a very good occupation for young girls and women,” she said.

Three girls have started learning craft from Aria. Two of them are her cousins, and the third is her younger sister, Aida, for whom the home gallery has also become a refuge when most opportunities for self-fulfillment are no more.

“We are left with a world of unfulfilled wishes, but I am happy to be able to learn art from my sister and run the gallery with her from our home,” Aida said.

“With the doors to education closed for all of us, we turn to art.”