Al Jazeera condemns killing of journalist in Israeli strike on Gaza

LONDON: Rights groups and diplomats have condemned the killing of Palestinian activist and journalist Awda Al-Hathaleen, who contributed to the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land,” as calls grow for accountability over increasing settler violence in the occupied West Bank.

Al-Hathaleen was shot in the chest on Monday during a raid by Israel settlers in Umm Al-Khair village in the South Hebron Hills. One of the settlers involved in the attack was identified as Yinon Levi, who has been sanctioned by the UK and the EU, while US President Donald Trump rescinded restrictions at the beginning of his presidency this year.

In a statement on Wednesday, Amnesty International condemned the killing as a “cold-blooded” act and “a brutal reminder of the relentless violence faced by Palestinian communities.”

The organization’s senior director for research, advocacy, policy and campaigns, Erika Guevara Rosas, urged an independent international investigation into his death and growing settler violence in the territory.

Describing the situation in the West Bank as state impunity for Israeli settler violence, Rosas called out Israeli authorities for what she described as a “deliberate failure” to investigate settler attacks.

She said an international inquiry “must address the role of Israeli authorities” in fueling settler violence against Palestinians, pointing to the recurrent failure to ensure justice and protect Palestinians’ lives.

Israel authorities said Levi was arrested in relation to his alleged responsibility for the killing, but after a court hearing he was released to house arrest as investigations continue.

Amensty International’s Rosas said Al-Hathaleen, who had recently briefed UK politicians on threats to his life, “was entitled to protection. His killing is the cruel consequence of Israel’s sustained policy of forcibly expulsing Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank, including Masafer Yatta,” Rosas added.

“Awda Al-Hathaleen’s killing is not the first, but it must be the last.”

Al-Hathaleen, a father of three and prominent human rights defender from the Masafer Yatta region, was a central voice in the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land,” which documented the ongoing displacement and harassment of Palestinian communities in the West Bank.

His death comes during a sharp incease in settler-led assaults and Palestinian casualties in the West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza. At least 1,009 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank since October 2023.

Rights groups have repeatedly said that Israeli settlers, often accompanied by the army, have escalated attacks and land seizures in recent months with little or no accountability.

Israeli human rights organization, Rabbis for Human Rights, called Al-Hathaleen’s murder “the outcome of decades of unchecked settler violence and a system that grants total impunity to those who carry it out.”

In a tribute, the organization said Al-Hathaleen “stood at the forefront of the struggle against home demolitions and settler violence.”

“He often welcomed delegations of rabbis, giving them tours of the village and sharing its history with deep generosity and courage. He was a longtime partner in our humanitarian aid work and worked closely with Rabbis for Human Rights for many years. His steadfast presence and leadership were a source of strength to all of us.”

The rights group vowed to “stand with the people of Umm al-Kheir as they resist a system that seeks to erase them - as they fight to stay on their land, to live, and to thrive.”

The French foreign ministry released a statement on Tuesday calling settler violence “acts of terrorism,” and warning of increasing sanctions against Israeli government officials if such attacks continue.

It condemned the rising settler attacks and urged Israeli authorities to “uphold their responsibilities and immediately punish the perpetrators of such violence, which is continuing with impunity, and protect Palestinian civilians.”

The ministry reiterated France’s stance against the expansion of illegal settlements “which is contrary to international law, as the International Court of Justice concluded in its advisory opinion of July 19, 2024.”

In February last year, France sanctioned extremist Israeli settlers guilty of violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank. There are 28 individuals who face an administrative ban on entering the country.

SYDNEY: Australia said on Wednesday it will include Alphabet-owned YouTube in its world-first ban on social media for teenagers, reversing an earlier decision to exempt the video-sharing platform.

Australia’s Internet watchdog last month urged the government to overturn the proposed exemption for YouTube after its research found 37 percent of children aged 10 to 15 reported seeing harmful content on the platform, the most of any social media site.

Other social media companies such as Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok had argued an exemption for YouTube would be unfair.

“Social media has a social responsibility and there is no doubt that Australian kids are being negatively impacted by online platforms so I’m calling time on it,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement.

“Social media is doing social harm to our children, and I want Australian parents to know that we have their backs.”

Social media firms will be fined up to A$49.5 million ($32.2 million) from December if they break the law, which passed through parliament in November.

A YouTube spokesperson said the company would consider next steps and would continue to engage with the government.

“We share the government’s goal of addressing and reducing online harms. Our position remains clear: YouTube is a video sharing platform with a library of free, high-quality content, increasingly viewed on TV screens. It’s not social media,” the spokesperson said by email.

Online gaming, messaging apps, and health and education sites will be excluded from the center-left government’s minimum age rules as they pose fewer social media harms to teens under 16, or are regulated under different laws, Communications Minister Anika Wells said.

“The rules are not a set and forget, they are a set and support,” Wells said.