LONDON: Israel has suspended spokesman Eylon Levy following a dispute with the UK government over comments he made on social media, Sky News reported on Wednesday.
Levy, who frequently appeared in the British media as a representative for the Israeli government following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, found himself in hot water after an alleged social media exchange with the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.
According to various Israeli outlets, this began on March 8 when UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron posted on X: “We continue to urge Israel to allow more trucks into Gaza as the fastest way to get aid to those who need it.”
It is claimed that Levy responded on social media that there were no issues with the capacity to get aid into Gaza.
This prompted the FCDO to inquire whether his statements reflected Israel’s official position on the subject.
The Israeli prime minister’s office confirmed to the Jewish Post that Levy has been suspended.
The FCDO refused to comment when questioned on the incident by Sky News.
Israel suspends spokesman over social media comments: Report
https://arab.news/mqnvc
Israel suspends spokesman over social media comments: Report
- Levy said on social media that there were no issues with the capacity to get aid into Gaza.
UAE’s summer midday work break to start June 15
- Midday break will start on June 15 and last until September 15
- Kuwait’s midday outdoor work ban meanwhile started June 1 and will continue for three months
DUBAI: The UAE’s midday break for outdoor workers during summer will start on June 15 and last until September 15, the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation has announced.
Outdoor are mandated to take a break from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. – with work performed under direct sunlight and in open-air areas across the UAE banned during those times – to protect them from occupational hazards and injuries related to the extreme summer heat, the ministry announcement said.
“Striving to ensure our workers’ safety, the Ministry urges companies to provide shaded areas during the Midday Break, adequate cooling devices, sufficient water, hydrating materials such as salts and other food items approved by the local authorities, first aid equipment on the job sites and other essential amenities,” the ministry posted on X.
For the 20th year in a row, the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MoHRE) will implement the Midday Break – banning work performed under direct sunlight and in open-air areas across the UAE – between 12:30 and 3:00 pm, from 15 June, until 15 September, 2024.… pic.twitter.com/1ZN1AQbmCW
— وزارة الموارد البشرية والتوطين (@MOHRE_UAE) May 31, 2024
Now in its 20th year, the annual noon break provides respite for outdoor workers during summer months where temperatures could reach 50°C or even higher. Companies are required to provide shaded areas and cooling equipment for workers during the three-hour break.
Companies face fines of up to Dh5,000 per worker and a maximum of Dh50,000 for multiple violations if they are found violating the regulation.
There are however exceptions to the midday break: works deemed necessary for technical reasons such as laying asphalt or pouring concrete on road works or to address emergencies affecting public welfare including infrastructure maintenance or utility repairs are allowed.
Kuwait’s midday outdoork work ban, first introduced in 2015, meanwhile started June 1 and will continue for three months with workers allowed to take a break from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m.
Netanyahu says Israeli Gaza proposal allows return of all hostages, elimination of Hamas
JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Office said on Friday that Israel had authorized negotiators to present a Gaza truce deal after US President Joe Biden revealed details of a three-phased ceasefire plan he said was proposed by Israel.
“The Israeli government is united in the desire to return our hostages as soon as possible and is working to achieve this goal,” the statement said.
“Therefore, the prime minister has authorized the negotiating team to present an outline for achieving this goal, while insisting that the war will not end until all of its goals are achieved, including the return of all our hostages and the destruction of Hamas’ military and governmental capabilities.”
Hamas says it ‘positively’ views Gaza Biden ceasefire proposal; EU chief also finds it to be ‘realistic'
- Hamas’ position signals a change in attitude from the group, which in recent months had accused the US obstructing attempts for a ceasefire
- Rifts between Biden and Netanyahu over red lines in Gaza has set up a potential showdown between the two leaders
GAZA: Hamas on Friday said it had a positive view of the contents of a three-phase ceasefire proposal announced by US President Joe Biden for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
“Hamas confirms its readiness to deal positively and in a constructive manner with any proposal that is based on the permanent ceasefire and the full withdrawal (of Israeli forces) from the Gaza Strip, the reconstruction (of Gaza), and the return of the displaced to their places, along with the fulfillment of a genuine prisoner swap deal if the occupation clearly announces commitment to such deal,” the group said in a statement.
Hamas’ position signals a change in attitude from the group, which in recent months had accused the US of siding with Israel and obstructing attempts for a ceasefire.
“Hamas sees Biden’s position now more focused on pressuring Israel to return to negotiations with a different attitude, or they (Israel) could risk clashing with the Americans,” a Palestinian official close to the mediation efforts told Reuters.
Rifts between Biden and Netanyahu over red lines in Gaza has set up a potential showdown between the two leaders, raising questions about whether the US might restrict military aid if Israel continues its offensive in the now-devastated enclave.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that Israel had authorized negotiators to present a Gaza truce deal after Biden revealed details of the ceasefire plan.
Palestinian health authorities estimate more than 36,280 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel attacked the enclave in response to an Oct. 7 Hamas assault in southern Israel. The Hamas attack killed around 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.
EU chimes in
European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen also welcomed the Israeli roadmap toward a ceasefire in Gaza announced by US President Joe Biden as a “significant opportunity” to bring the war to an end.
“I wholeheartedly agree with Biden that the latest proposal is a significant opportunity to move toward an end to war and civilian suffering in Gaza. This three-step approach is balanced and realistic. It now needs support from all parties,” the European Commission president said on social media.
UN demands full aid access in Sudan
- Aid workers continue to face systematic obstructions and deliberate denials of access, committee says
GENEVA: UN agency chiefs have demanded unimpeded humanitarian access to deliver aid throughout war-torn Sudan, saying time was running out to prevent widespread famine.
In a joint statement, the heads of multiple UN agencies urged all parties in the conflict to immediately stop denying and obstructing humanitarian actions.
“Let us be clear: If we are prevented from providing aid rapidly and at scale, more people will die,” the statement from the UN Inter-Agency Standing Committee said.
“Without an immediate and major step change, we will face a nightmare scenario: A famine will take hold in large parts of the country. More people will flee to neighboring countries in search of sustenance and safety. More children will succumb to disease and malnutrition.”
The joint statement was penned by the UN aid chief Martin Griffiths, along with the heads of the UN agencies for food, health, human rights, refugees, migration, agriculture and children, among others.
The committee is the highest-level humanitarian coordination forum in the UN system, bringing together the heads of 19 organizations, some of which are from outside the UN.
Fighting in Sudan broke out in April last year between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The conflict has killed thousands and sparked a humanitarian disaster.
The statement said 18 million people were acutely hungry, 3.6 million children were acutely malnourished and famine was closing in on millions of people.
Nearly 2 million people have escaped to neighboring countries while millions more are displaced within Sudan.
FASTFACT
The joint statement was penned by the UN aid chief Martin Griffiths, along with the heads of the UN agencies for food, health, human rights, refugees, migration, agriculture and children, among others.
“Despite the tremendous needs, aid workers continue to face systematic obstructions and deliberate denials of access by parties to the conflict,” said the statement from the UN Inter-Agency Standing Committee.
“Aid workers are being killed, injured and harassed, and humanitarian supplies are being looted.”
The statement said movement across conflict lines to parts of Khartoum, Darfur, Al-Jazira and Kordofan had been all but cut off since mid-December.
The UN agency chiefs made a series of demands, including an immediate ceasefire, protection for civilians and an end to human rights violations.
“Facilitate unimpeded humanitarian access through all possible crossline and cross-border routes to allow civilians to receive humanitarian aid. Immediately cease all acts denying, obstructing and interfering with, or politicizing, humanitarian action,” they said.
“Simplify and expedite administrative and bureaucratic procedures related to the delivery of humanitarian aid.”
Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, told a media briefing in Geneva that the conditions for aid delivery were “very, very poor, and it’s very, very dangerous.”
“We want these generals to find a way to solve their differences not by violence that kills, maims, rapes hundreds of thousands of people,” he said.
The UN also said it was concerned by limited donor support, having received only 16 percent of the $2.7 billion it needs for Sudan.
In conflict-torn Libya, artist’s family turns home into museum
TRIPOLI: A seemingly ordinary villa in the heart of Tripoli holds a lifetime of works by the late Libyan artist Ali Gana, whose family has turned his house into a unique museum.
In the North African country still grappling with divisions and conflict after the fall of Muammar Qaddafi in 2011, “art comes last,” said Hadia Gana, the youngest of the artist’s four children.
A decade in the making and with the help of volunteers, she had transformed the classic-style Tripolitan villa her father had built, before passing in 2006 at age 70, into “the first and only museum of modern art in Libya,” Gana said.
Bayt Ali Gana — “Ali Gana’s House” in Arabic — finally opened this year, and seeks to offer both retrospection and hope in a country constantly threatened by violence and where arts and culture stand largely neglected.
“It is seen as something superfluous,” Gana said, adding that galleries in the country often focus solely on selling pieces rather than making art more accessible.
Once past a lush garden, visitors reach the museum’s permanent exhibition of paintings, sculptures and sketches by the masterful Ali Gana.
Other rooms include temporary exhibitions, and offer space for seminars and themed workshops.
Set on a wall, an old shipping container houses an artist residency for “curators and museologists” whose skills are scarce in Libya, said Hadia Gana.
Libyan artists had long been subject to censorship and self-censorship under Qaddafi’s four-decade rule, and “we could not express ourselves on politics,” recalled Gana, 50, a ceramic artist.
Art “must not have barriers,” she said, proudly standing in the family-owned space for artistic freedom.
Bayt Ali Gana appears timeless, though the villa bears some signs of the unrest that followed the overthrow and death of Qaddafi.
A road sign riddled with bullets hangs from the gate that separates the museum from the private residence.
Mortar shells turned upside down sit among flowers in the garden, where visitors are offered cold drinks or Italian espressos in a setting that replicates Cafe Said, once owned by Ali Gana’s father in the old medina of Tripoli.
During the unrest that began in 2011, Hadia Gana said she feared “losing everything if a rocket hit the house.”
Then came the idea of creating a museum in the hopes of conserving her father’s precious works and archives.
Sporadic fighting, water or electricity cuts, and forced isolation due to the Covid pandemic have piled challenges on the family’s mission, while the Ganas steered clear of state funding or investors to maintain the independence of their nascent institution.
Gradually, the house morphed into a cultural center celebrating Ali Gana’s calling to “teach and educate through art,” said his daughter.
It “is not a mausoleum,” but a hub of creativity and education, she said.
Gana’s archives also document traditional crafts and trades, some of which have completely disappeared by now.
After taking power in a 1969 coup, Qaddafi had imposed a ban on all private enterprise, and “for 40 years, crafts became an outlawed activity,” said the late artist’s oldest son Mehdi, who now lives in the Netherlands.
He said that in his lifetime, Ali Gana took on a mission to “build archives in order to link Libya’s past to a possible future.”
It is “the nature of the family” to preserve and share knowledge, said matriarch Janine Rabiau-Gana, 84.
Hadia Gana lamented that while museums should be educational spaces, “here in Libya, we don’t have that notion yet.”
She said she wanted to avoid “making it a museum where everything is transfixed.”
Instead, “I wanted something lively, almost playful, and above all a place that arouses curiosity in all its beauty.”
