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)
Short Url
Updated 04 September 2024
Follow

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law by Israel as the occupying power were so obvious that there was a danger of UK complicity if the licenses were not withdrawn.”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.


How uproar over a Māori haka, beloved in New Zealand life, sowed chaos and gridlock in Parliament

Updated 9 sec ago
Follow

How uproar over a Māori haka, beloved in New Zealand life, sowed chaos and gridlock in Parliament

How uproar over a Māori haka, beloved in New Zealand life, sowed chaos and gridlock in Parliament
WELLINGTON: The haka, a chanting dance of challenge, is sacred to New Zealand’s Māori people but it’s become a beloved cultural institution among New Zealanders of all races. Spine-tingling performances at sports events, funerals and graduations often go viral online, a non-partisan point of pride for the country abroad.
But one haka performed in protest in New Zealand’s Parliament by three legislators last November has provoked fierce division among lawmakers about whether it was an act of peaceful dissent, or disruptive and even intimidating to their opponents.
A vote to approve unprecedented, lengthy bans from Parliament for the Māori party lawmakers who enacted the protest was unexpectedly suspended on Tuesday. Debate will resume in June, when it threatens to gridlock the legislative agenda until politicians from all parties reach consensus on what the punishment should be.
Hundreds of protesters against the sanctions waited outside Parliament’s front doors in New Zealand’s capital, Wellington, on Tuesday to greet the Māori party lawmakers with a haka when they emerged.
What is the haka?
The haka was once viewed as a war dance, but that understanding has changed in New Zealand as it has been embraced in a range of celebratory, somber and ceremonial settings. It’s an expression of Māori identity and while sacred, it can be performed by people of any race who are educated by Māori in the words, movements and cultural protocols.
Emotional haka have generated news headlines in the past year when performed by soldiers farewelling a New Zealander who died fighting in Ukraine, and in Paris by athletes from New Zealand’s Olympic team. While the best-known haka is “ka mate,” the chant often performed by the All Blacks rugby team before games, there are many variants.
Why was this one controversial?
Last November’s protest wasn’t the first time a haka has rung out in Parliament. Performances regularly follow the passage of laws important to Māori.
But some lawmakers decried this one for two reasons: because the legislators from Te Pāti Māori, the Māori Party, left their seats and strode across the floor toward government politicians while performing it, and because it disrupted the vote on a proposed law.
When asked how the Māori party would vote on a bill they said would dismantle Indigenous rights, Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke – New Zealand’s youngest parliamentarian, at 22 – tore up a copy of the law and began the haka, joined by two of her colleagues.
The law, an attempt to rewrite New Zealand’s founding treaty between Māori tribal leaders and the British crown, was widely unpopular and has since been defeated. But for six months, a committee of the lawmakers’ peers have fought furiously about how — or whether — their protest of it should be punished.
Why is debate about it still going?
Usually there’s agreement among parliamentarians about penalties for errant behavior. But this episode polarized the committee considering the lawmakers’ actions.
Its report recommended Maipi-Clarke, who the committee said showed contrition in a letter, be suspended for seven days and her colleagues for 21 days. That’s the harshest penalty ever assigned to New Zealand lawmakers; the previous record was three days.
Parliament Speaker Gerry Brownlee this month scheduled a rare, unlimited debate in Parliament until all parties could find consensus on the penalty, citing the severity of the proposed bans. But minutes after the debate began Tuesday, it was adjourned at the government’s behest after they allowed the Māori party lawmakers to stay until after Thursday’s budget was delivered.
It permitted the government their budget week agenda and meant the Māori lawmakers — opponents of the government — wouldn’t miss one of Parliament’s most significant dates. But the debate about the bans will then resume.
Opposition leader Chris Hipkins, the only opponent of the sanctions to speak before debate was suspended, cited episodes where lawmakers have brawled in Parliament and driven a tractor up the building’s steps, but were not suspended, as evidence that the bans weren’t fair.
But Judith Collins, the chair of the committee that produced the sanctions, said the penalties were “not about the haka.” Collins said the lawmakers’ behavior was the most egregious she’d ever witnessed.
What happens next?
The debate will resume on June 5, when it threatens to stall usual government business once more. The government said Tuesday that it would not back down from the punishments suggested and opposition parties said they couldn’t be swayed from disputing them.
Outside Parliament, activist Eru Kapa-Kingi told the assembled crowd that the haka was “a source of fear” in Parliament.
“Even though when the All Blacks do it it’s a good thing,” he added.

Gunmen kill seven in central Mexico

Gunmen kill seven in central Mexico
Updated 14 min 4 sec ago
Follow

Gunmen kill seven in central Mexico

Gunmen kill seven in central Mexico

CELAYA: Gunmen have shot dead seven people, including some minors, in Mexico’s most deadly state, where violence between warring drug cartels has triggered condemnation by the Catholic Church.
The attack in the central state of Guanajuato occurred at around 2:00 am Monday in a plaza in the city of San Felipe where local police found seven bodies, all male, and a damaged van after reports of gunfire, the local government said in a statement.
The officers also found two banners with messages alluding to the Santa Rosa de Lima gang, which operates in the area, the statement said.
Guanajuato is a thriving industrial hub and home to several popular tourist destinations, but it is also Mexico’s deadliest state, according to official homicide statistics.
The violent crime is linked to conflict between the Santa Rosa de Lima gang and the Jalisco New Generation cartel, one of the most powerful in the Latin American nation.
Mexican leaders of the Catholic Church condemned the shooting on Monday, calling it “an alarming sign of the weakening of the social fabric, impunity and the absence of peace in vast regions” of the country, which is majority Catholic.
“We cannot remain indifferent in the face of the spiral of violence that is wounding so many communities,” the Episcopal Conference of Mexico, an organization of Mexican bishops, added in a statement.
The shooting was “one more among so many that are repeated with painful frequency,” it said.
In December, the Church in Mexico called on warring cartels to declare a truce.
Guanajuato recorded the most homicides of any state in Mexico last year, with 3,151, 10.5 percent of murders nationwide, according to official figures.
Since 2006, when the military launched an anti-drug operation, Mexico has tallied about 480,000 violent deaths.


India arrests 11 accused of spying for Pakistan – reports

India arrests 11 accused of spying for Pakistan – reports
Updated 15 min 12 sec ago
Follow

India arrests 11 accused of spying for Pakistan – reports

India arrests 11 accused of spying for Pakistan – reports
  • Arrests come after the worst flare-up in violence between the nuclear-armed rivals since their last open conflict in 1999
  • Ceasefire was agreed after four days of missile, drone and artillery attacks that sparked fears of a full-blown war

NEW DELHI: Indian authorities have arrested nearly a dozen nationals for allegedly spying for Pakistan following their most serious conflict in decades, local media reported citing police.

At least 60 people died in fighting earlier this month triggered by an April 22 attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir that New Delhi accused Islamabad of backing, a charge Pakistan denies.

Muslim-majority Kashmir is claimed in full by both countries, which have fought multiple wars over the Himalayan territory since their 1947 independence from Britain.

Broadcaster NDTV reported Monday that authorities had arrested nine alleged “spies” in the northern states of Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

Punjab’s director general of police Gaurav Yadav said Monday that his team had arrested two people “involved in leaking sensitive military information.”

Police had received “credible intelligence inputs” the two men were involved “in sharing classified details” related to New Delhi’s strikes deep into Pakistan’s territory on the night of May 6-7.

A preliminary investigation showed they were in “direct contact” with handlers from Pakistan’s intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and “had transmitted critical information concerning the Indian Armed Forces,” Yadav added.

In Haryana, police arrested a travel blogger last week on similar charges.

Police say the accused woman traveled to Pakistan at least twice and had been in contact with an official from the country’s embassy, local media reported.

Others arrested include a student, a security guard and a businessman.

The India Today news outlet reported 11 such arrests. It said the accused were “lured into the spy network through social media, monetary incentives, false promises, messaging apps and personal visits to Pakistan.”

The arrests come after the worst flare-up in violence between the nuclear-armed rivals since their last open conflict in 1999.

A ceasefire was agreed after four days of missile, drone and artillery attacks that sparked fears of a descent into full-blown war.


North and central China hit by soaring heat

North and central China hit by soaring heat
Updated 31 min 48 sec ago
Follow

North and central China hit by soaring heat

North and central China hit by soaring heat

HONG KONG: Temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) scorched parts of northern and central China on Tuesday with authorities issuing heat warnings and offering aid to farmers to protect food production.
Temperatures in China’s northern Hebei province, Henan province, a key wheat-producing region known as China’s granary, and the eastern province of Shandong all reached 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) on Tuesday.
In Zhengzhou, Henan Province and Shahe, Hebei Province, the mercury soared to highs of between 41 C (105.8 F) and 42.9 C (109.22 F) on Monday, their highest ever for the month of May, authorities said.
The high temperatures are expected to continue until Wednesday, the country’s National Meteorological Center said.
China is facing hotter and longer heat waves and more frequent and unpredictable heavy rain as a result of climate change. The country is especially vulnerable to global warming, authorities have said, because of its huge population.
Chinese meteorological data show 2024 was the warmest year for the country since comparable records began over six decades ago, the second straight year in which milestones were broken.
Last year’s warmer weather was accompanied by stronger storms and higher rainfall and led to spikes in power consumption in China, the world’s second-largest economy.
The National Meteorological Center on Tuesday issued a yellow warning for high temperatures. The center has a three-tier, color warning system for high temperatures, with red being the most severe, followed by orange and yellow.
In Zhengzhou, Henan’s capital, large sprinkler trucks and sprinklers were used to cool down urban areas, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
In Lanling county, in the south of Shandong province, agricultural experts were instructing vegetable farmers to ventilate their plants using sheds and water spraying, CCTV said.
Cold air moving from west to east will cool much of China’s north on Thursday and Friday, with a drop of 6-12 C (11-22 F).
In China’s southern Jiangxi more than 100 mm (3.94 inches) of rainfall was recorded across much of the province.
Last weekend, heavy rains in China’s southern Guangdong and Guangxi provinces killed at least six people and disrupted trains and power supply, with alerts issued for severe flooding and geological disasters in parts of the country.


Starlink launches in Bangladesh to boost reliable Internet access

Starlink launches in Bangladesh to boost reliable Internet access
Updated 20 May 2025
Follow

Starlink launches in Bangladesh to boost reliable Internet access

Starlink launches in Bangladesh to boost reliable Internet access

DHAKA: Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk’s SpaceX-owned satellite Internet service Starlink launched in Bangladesh on Tuesday, as the South Asian nation steps up efforts to ensure reliable, uninterrupted access to the Internet.
Muhammad Yunus, who has led the government since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled Bangladesh following weeks of violent protest last year, has said the deal provided a service that could not be disrupted by any future political upheaval.
“Starlink’s high-speed, low-latency Internet is now available in Bangladesh,” the company posted on X.
Monthly packages start at 4,200 taka ($35) for the service now available nationwide, said Yunus aide Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb, with a one-time payment of 47,000 taka required for setup equipment.
“This has created a sustainable alternative for premium customers to get high-quality and high-speed Internet services,” he added in a Facebook post.
Nobel peace laureate Yunus took the helm of the interim government in August after Hasina fled to neighboring India. Authorities had suspended Internet and text messaging services as protests spread nationwide last July.
Starlink has expanded rapidly worldwide to operate in more than 70 countries, with a strong focus on further growth in emerging markets such as India. ($1=121.0000 taka)