Israeli defense minister urges Palestinians against violence during Ramadan 

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz has urged the Palestinians to reject violence during Ramadan. (File/AFP)
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Updated 03 April 2022
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Israeli defense minister urges Palestinians against violence during Ramadan 

  • Gantz highlights gestures being offered to Palestinians during the holy month 
  • Economic solutions, freedom of movement are insufficient reforms, analyst tells Arab News 

RAMALLAH: Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz has urged the Palestinians to reject violence during Ramadan, telling them that Israel “cannot tolerate” a surge in terror attacks that it will oppose with “might and with determination.”

His message has been described as a “wise step” by an analyst, as Israeli political leaders warn against complacency in security measures, anticipating further violence during Ramadan.

Gantz sent a clear video message to the Palestinian people on the evening of the first day of Ramadan, April 2, in which he called on them to stop all violence to enable Israeli authorities to grant them economic facilities and freedom of movement during the holy month.

His remarks came as Israeli defense and security forces made redoubled efforts to combat what they called the escalating wave of violence from the Palestinians in the West Bank or those who hold Israeli citizenship and live inside Israel.

Gantz’s efforts also coincided with Israeli political leaders’ calls for fierce confrontation.

“We have recently made progress with a series of measures, in coordination with the Palestinian Authority, intended to improve the quality of life and the economy in the (West Bank) area and the Gaza Strip,” the minister said.

“As the month of Ramadan begins, I would like to wish Ramadan Karim to all the Palestinians of the (West Bank) area and the Gaza Strip.

“Unfortunately, we are experiencing a difficult time of terrorist attacks on Israeli citizens — a situation which we cannot tolerate, and which we are opposing with might and with determination.”

He added: “We are currently examining which measures we may take, as Ramadan gets underway, to enable you to celebrate the holiday better while the preservation of security remains our top priority.”

Politicians have vowed to use the utmost force to suppress those involved in violence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and even withdraw the permits of their family members, preventing them from entering Israel to work.

“We have recently made progress with a series of measures, in coordination with the Palestinian Authority, intended to improve the quality of life and the economy in the (West Bank) area and the Gaza Strip,” said Gantz.

“Our ability to advance those measures is now threatened by terrorism, and we will continue working on their promotion only if quiet returns and the security situation restabilises. We are eager for that to happen, and I am sure that most of the Palestinians desire it as well,” said the minister.

“In that spirit, I wish us all a tranquil time during the coming holy month and comfortable relaxation among our families.”

Israel Defense Forces reservist Col. David Hacham, a former advisor to several Israeli defense ministers for Arab affairs, saw Gantz’s message as “a wise step.”

Hacham — who has worked with Gantz for many years — told Arab News that he was “a moderate man who is concerned with the continuation of the security calm and is ready to provide essential economic facilities to the Palestinian citizens in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.”

Hacham explained that “while the IDF and intelligence services are working to take all necessary measures to prevent the escalation of violence, the minister of defense wants from the Palestinian public, restraint, the return of security stability, the calm on the ground, and the cessation of targeting the Israeli public are part of a pragmatic policy that it follows in parallel with the efforts of the Israeli security establishment to control the situation on the groun.”

Meanwhile, Palestinian political analyst Ghassan Al-Khatib told Arab News that Gantz, who comes from a military and security establishment — which is not looking for electoral votes in Israeli society — “believes that force and more force will not solve the problem and believes in granting various facilities.”

Al-Khatib added: “The economic solutions and freedom of movement facilities alone are not sufficient in the face of the difficult economic situation that the Palestinians are experiencing these days.” 

With the second day of Ramadan, the Palesinian Authority is not yet able to pay the salaries of its employees, he pointed out.

“This is in addition to the absence of a political horizon for the Palestinians and unleashing the settlers and settlements to disturb the lives of the Palestinians, which empties these facilities of any content and renders them useless,” said Al-Khatib.


EU condemns Israel over Gaza civilian deaths

Updated 7 sec ago
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EU condemns Israel over Gaza civilian deaths

  • Foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas says humanitarian aid must never be politicized after Israel seizes control of distribution in Gaza
  • Strongly-worded criticism comes amid groundswell of European political backlash in against Netanyahu government 

LONDON: EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas condemned Israel on Wednesday over the number of civilian deaths in Gaza and restrictions on humanitarian aid.

Her comments come as political pressure grows in Europe against Israel’s military campaign in the territory, which has killed almost 54,000 Palestinians since October 2023.

“Israel’s military operation in Gaza, the disproportionate use of force and the deaths of civilians cannot be tolerated,” Kallas said. “The continued targeting of civilian infrastructure is unacceptable.”

She called for a return to the ceasefire that broke down in March after less than two months, the release of all hostages and the permanent end to the conflict through negotiations.

Since ending the ceasefire, Israel has ramped up its operations, killing almost 4,000 people. Benjamin Netanyahu’s government this month ordered the military to take full control of the territory as it attempts to wipe out Hamas.

Israel has also taken over aid distribution after blockading supplies to Gaza for more than two months, leading to fears of a famine among the impoverished population.

EU High Representative and Vice-President for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas said Israel's targeting of civilian infrastructure is unacceptable. (AFP)



A new aid distribution system that bypasses the UN has been set up in southern Gaza and is being run in conjunction with a new American organization. The system started to operate this week but has been heavily criticized by Arab and European governments, along with aid agencies.

“Humanitarian aid must never be politicized or militarized,” Kallas said. “The EU reiterates its urgent call for the immediate, unimpeded and sustained resumption of aid at scale, according to the needs of the civilian population in Gaza.”

She called for the UN to resume its role in distributing humanitarian assistance.

While much of the focus has been on the decimation of Gaza, Israel has also ramped up operations in the occupied West Bank and has been accused of encouraging settler attacks on Palestinians.

Kallas said intimidation campaigns, attacks, and the destruction of Palestinian homes by settlers have displaced entire communities.

“Israel must immediately take decisive steps to address this issue and ensure that the perpetrators of these crimes are held accountable,” she said.

Her strong comments followed a rebuke of Israel on Tuesday from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, in what has been seen as a shift in Berlin’s support for Israel.

“What the Israeli Army is doing in the Gaza Strip, I no longer understand the goal,” he said. “To harm the civilian population in such a way, as has increasingly been the case in recent days, can no longer be justified as a fight against terrorism.”

Last week, the UK, France and Canada issued a joint statement demanding Israel halt its military actions and threatened “concrete actions” if the slaughter continued. 

On Wednesday, Italy’s right-wing government also demanded an end to Israel’s assault saying it had become “unacceptable.” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani warned against any attempt to forcibly remove the Palestinian population from Gaza — something Palestinians fear is underway after Netanyahu said he would offer “voluntary emigration” to other states for the territory’s population.

Netanyahu said last week that criticism from Western countries was “emboldening” Hamas, which led the October 2023 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and captured dozens of hostages.

The UK has suspended talks on a free-trade agreement with Israel and the EU has launched a review of its association agreement with the country. 

Kallas said on Wednesday that she aims to present options for the bloc’s next steps on June 23.


Iraq’s Jewish community saves a long-forgotten shrine

Updated 28 May 2025
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Iraq’s Jewish community saves a long-forgotten shrine

  • A few months ago, the tomb of Rabbi Isaac Gaon was filled with rubbish
  • “It was a garbage dump and we were not allowed to restore it,” said the head of Iraq’s Jewish community, Khalida Elyahu

BAGHDAD: In a vibrant Baghdad district, laborers are working tirelessly to repair the centuries-old shrine of a revered rabbi in an effort to revive the long-faded heritage of Iraq’s Jewish community.

A few months ago, the tomb of Rabbi Isaac Gaon was filled with rubbish. Its door was rusted, the windows shattered and the walls stained black from decades of neglect.

Today, marble tiling covers the once-small grave, and at its center stands a large tombstone inscribed with a verse, the rabbi’s name and the year he died: 688. A silver menorah hangs on the wall behind it.

“It was a garbage dump and we were not allowed to restore it,” said the head of Iraq’s Jewish community, Khalida Elyahu, 62.

The Jewish community in Iraq was once one of the largest in the Middle East, but now it has dwindled to just dozens.

Baghdad today has one synagogue left, but it has no rabbis. And many houses that once belonged to Jews are abandoned and dilapidated.

The Jewish community itself is funding the shrine’s restoration, at an estimated cost of $150,000.

The project will bring “a revival for our community, both within and outside Iraq,” Elyahu said.

With the backing of Iraqi officials, she said she hopes to restore more neglected sites.

Little information is available about Rabbi Isaac. But when Iraq’s National Security Adviser Qassem Al-Araji visited the tomb earlier this year, he said the rabbi had been a finance official.

Rabbi Isaac Gaon was prominent during the Gaonic period, also known as the era of Babylonian academies for rabbis.

The term “Gaon” is likely to refer to his position as the head of one such academy.

His name was mentioned in the 10th century by another rabbi, who told a tale that never appeared elsewhere, according to Professor Simcha Gross from the University of Pennsylvania.

“There is only one single story,” said Gross.

It goes that Rabbi Isaac led 90,000 Jews to meet Ali Ibn Abi Talib, the fourth Islamic caliph and a relation of the Prophet Muhammad, who is also revered by Shiites as the first Imam, during one of his conquests in central Iraq.

“We have no other evidence for this event, and there are reasons to be skeptical,” Gross said.

Nothing else is known about Rabbi Isaac, not even his religious opinions.

But the tale has origins that are not without context, said Gross.

In the 10th century, minorities — Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians — began to tell stories of how they greeted “Muslim conquerors” because “their privileges including taxes were dependent on whether or not they were believed to have welcomed the Muslims,” he said.

At that same time, Jewish shrines started to appear, even though Jewish roots in Iraq date back some 2,600 years.

According to biblical tradition, Jews arrived in Iraq in 586 BC as prisoners of Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II after he destroyed Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem.

In Iraq, they wrote the Babylonian Talmud.

Thousands of years later, in Ottoman-ruled Baghdad, Jews made up 40 percent of the population.

A turning point was the 1941 pogrom in Baghdad when more than 100 Jews were killed.

Like other Jewish communities in the Arab region, their history has changed since the Palestinian Nakba — “catastrophe” in Arabic — and Israel’s creation in 1948. Soon afterwards, almost all of Iraq’s 135,000 Jews went into exile.

Decades of conflict and instability — Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship, the 2003 US-led invasion and the ensuing violence — completed the community’s erosion.

Some who stayed on converted to other religions, or do not reveal their faith.

Today, 50 synagogues and Jewish sites remain, Elyahu said. Most are crumbling, and some have become warehouses.

Rabbi Isaac’s shrine once included a synagogue and a school, but has been reduced to the small room housing the grave, the restoration’s supervisor said.

“It took us two months to clean it of garbage,” said the supervisor, who asked to remain anonymous.

Now “we are receiving requests from outside Iraq to visit it.”

Decades ago people would come to pray and light candles, believing in the rabbi’s “healing powers.”

Mussa Hayawi, 64, lives nearby. He recounted stories from his childhood in a quarter which was, until the 1940s, one of several Jewish districts in Baghdad.

He said women used to soak themselves in water from the shrine’s well, hoping to conceive.

Rabbi Isaac “was a revered man.” People came “to pray for their sick, to ask for a baby, or the release of a prisoner,” Hayawi said.


Turkiye will fine airline passengers who unbuckle before the plane stops

Updated 28 May 2025
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Turkiye will fine airline passengers who unbuckle before the plane stops

  • The updated rules came into effect earlier this month
  • Turkish media reports have said fines of up to $70 will be imposed

ANKARA: Airline passengers in Turkiye who unbuckle their seat belts, access overhead compartments, or occupy the aisle before their plane has fully stopped now face fines under new regulations issued by the country’s civil aviation authority.

The updated rules, which aim to enhance safety and ensure a more orderly disembarkation, came into effect earlier this month. They were adopted following passenger complaints and flight inspections indicated a growing number of safety violations during taxiing after landing, according to the Turkish Directorate of Civil Aviation.

It is not unusual in Turkiye for passengers to stand up or move inside the cabin soon after the plane has landed, often leading to chaotic disembarkation.

Under the new regulations, commercial airlines operating flights in Turkiye are required to issue a revised version of the standard in-flight announcement to remain seated, warning that violations will be documented and reported, according to a circular issued by the aviation authority.

Passengers are also reminded to wait for those in front of them to exit first instead of rushing forward.

The circular does not say how much passengers who disregard the regulations could be fined, but Turkish media reports have said fines of up to $70 will be imposed.

“Despite announcements informing passengers of the rules, many are standing up before the
aircraft reaches its parking positions and before the seat belt sign is turned off,” the aviation authority noted.

“This behavior compromises the safety of passengers and baggage, disregards the satisfaction and exit priority of other travelers,” it said.

There have been no immediate reports confirming that the newly introduced fines are being enforced.

Turkiye is a popular travel destination, drawing millions of tourists every year.


UK sends trade envoy to Israel after suspending talks

Updated 28 May 2025
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UK sends trade envoy to Israel after suspending talks

  • Lord Ian Austin, who is the UK government’s trade envoy to Israel, was welcomed to Haifa, just days after Foreign Secretary David Lammy paused negotiations
  • Lord Austin: Trade with Israel provides many thousands of good jobs in the UK and brings people together in the great multicultural democracy that is Israel

LONDON: In a somewhat unlikely turn of events, a British trade envoy has visited Israel to “promote trade” between the two countries — a week after the UK suspended relevant talks.

Lord Ian Austin, who is the UK government’s trade envoy to Israel, was welcomed to Haifa on Monday, just days after Foreign Secretary David Lammy paused negotiations.

The British Embassy in Israel said that Lord Austin had visited a number of projects — such as the Customs Scanning Center, Haifa Bayport, and the Haifa-Nazareth Light Rail project — to “witness co-operation at every stop.”

“Trade with Israel provides many thousands of good jobs in the UK and brings people together in the great multicultural democracy that is Israel,” Lord Austin said.

Last Tuesday, the government confirmed it was suspending its trade negotiations with Israel in the wake of an accelerated military offensive in Gaza and the country’s decision to limit the amount of aid allowed into the Palestinian territory.

Mr Lammy told the Commons that Israel’s actions were “egregious” and amounted to a “dark new phase in this conflict.”

But despite the suspension of any new trade talks with Israel, No. 10 has insisted that the UK still has a trading relationship with the country.

A spokesperson for the prime minister said: “We have always had a trading relationship, but are pausing any new ones.”

The UK has sanctioned a number of individuals and groups in the West Bank, which it said have been linked with acts of violence against Palestinians — including Daniella Weiss, a leading settler activist who was the subject of Louis Theroux’s recent documentary, “The Settlers.”

Writing for Politics Home, Lord Austin said: “It is in our national interest, and the decision this week by the government to pause negotiations on a new Free Trade Agreement does not change that.

“The situation in Gaza is terrible, as it is in all wars, and the quickest way to get the aid in and save lives is for Hamas to stop fighting and release the hostages. That would end the conflict immediately.”

A government spokesperson said: “We suspended talks with Israel on a new FTA because it is not possible to advance discussions with a Netanyahu government pursuing such egregious policies in Gaza and the West Bank.

“Lord Austin is in Israel this week in his capacity as trade envoy to maintain our relationship with Israeli businesses.”


Netanyahu says Hamas Gaza chief Mohammed Sinwar has been killed

Hamas Gaza chief Mohammad Sinwar. (Screenshot)
Updated 7 min 31 sec ago
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Netanyahu says Hamas Gaza chief Mohammed Sinwar has been killed

  • Mohammad Sinwar was elevated to the top ranks of the Palestinian militant group last year after Israel killed his brother Yahya in combat

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Israel had killed Hamas Gaza chief Mohammad Sinwar, one of its most wanted targets and the younger brother of the deceased group’s leader, Yahya Sinwar.
Mohammad Sinwar had been the target of an Israeli strike on a hospital in southern Gaza earlier this month and Netanyahu said on May 21 that it was was likely he had been killed.
“We eliminated Mohammad Deif, (Ismail) Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Sinwar,” Netanyahu said, confirming the death to the Israeli parliament, known as the Knesset.
“In the last two days we have been in a dramatic turn toward a complete defeat of Hamas,” he said, adding that Israel was also “taking control of food distribution,” a reference to a new aid distribution system in Gaza managed by a US-backed group.
Hamas has yet to confirm his death Sinwar’s death.

Israeli military chief Eyal Zamir on May 26 said Hamas had lost many assets, including its command and control center.
Sinwar was elevated to the top ranks of the Palestinian militant group last year after Israel killed his brother Yahya in combat.
Yahya Sinwar masterminded the October 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war, now in its 20th month, and was later named the overall leader of the group after Israel killed his predecessor Ismail Haniyeh in Iran.