Fires flare in Israeli prisons amid manhunt for 6 escapees

Supporters of Islamic Jihad movement distribute sweets to celebrate the escape of six Palestinians from an Israeli prison, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday. (AFP)
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Updated 08 September 2021
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Fires flare in Israeli prisons amid manhunt for 6 escapees

  • Fires were reported at several prisons amid efforts to try to move inmates as a precautionary measure
  • Recriminations reportedly rippled through Israel's prison system in the wake of the country's largest jailbreak

TEL AVIV, Israel: Pressure built around Israel’s prison system Wednesday after fires broke out at several facilities and the government hunted for six Palestinian escapees who have been on the run since they tunneled out two days earlier.
Fires were reported at several prisons amid efforts to try to move inmates as a precautionary measure. An umbrella group representing prisoners from all Palestinian factions called on prisoners to resist being relocated to other facilities and to start fires in their cells if guards try to move them by force. The prisoners group also threatened a widespread hunger strike.
The Israel Prison Service said through a spokesperson that a fire broke out in two cells in different wings of Ramon Prison and that the blaze was brought under control. The Palestinian prisoners group reported fires in Ketziot Prison, and there were media reports of more unrest.
Recriminations reportedly rippled through Israel’s prison system, meanwhile, in the wake of the country’s largest jailbreak of its kind in decades. The six men who escaped, between 26 and 49 years old, apparently dug a tunnel out of Gilboa prison near the occupied West Bank and escaped early Monday.
The massive manhunt through Israel’s north and the occupied West Bank continued Wednesday as the new coalition government sought to maintain calm and Jews celebrated Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year.
The most well-known among the escapees is Zakaria Zubeidi, 46, who was a prominent leader in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an armed group affiliated with Fatah, during the second intifada from 2000-2005. He was later granted amnesty along with other Fatah-affiliated militants, but was arrested again in 2019 on what Israeli authorities said were new terror suspicions.
As a child, Zubeidi had been part of a children’s theater troupe in Jenin established by Arna Mer-Khamis, an Israeli rights activist, that was the subject of a 2004 documentary.
The other five prisoners were members of the Islamic Jihad militant group, and the prisoners’ group said four were serving life sentences.
Inside the prisons, Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other factions each have an organized presence and appear to be acting together in the wake of the escape.
The jailbreak poses a potential dilemma for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose security forces coordinate with Israel. His Fatah party has praised the prison escape, but he has not commented on it.
Palestinians view prisoners held by Israel as heroes of their national cause, and have celebrated the prison break. If the escapees are apprehended in the occupied West Bank, many Palestinians are likely to blame the Palestinian Authority, which is already facing a popular backlash after the death of an activist in PA custody in June.


Fashion and family: Amir Adnan heiress takes father’s legacy forward with sustainable vision

Updated 3 min 32 sec ago
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Fashion and family: Amir Adnan heiress takes father’s legacy forward with sustainable vision

  • Parishae Adnan, 30, celebrates taking over as CEO with debut collection Nakhlistan, which means oasis 
  • Aims to take her father’s iconic brand into future rooted in climate sustainability, cultural integrity

KARACHI: The name Amir Adnan has been synonymous with menswear in Pakistan for over 35 years. 

Adnan launched the eponymous men’s fashion wear brand in 1990 and several sub-brands since, and is widely credited for glamorizing the long-sleeved sherwani outer coat in modern times.

Now, it’s time for his daughter Parishae Adnan to take the helm of Adnan’s fashion empire as CEO and transition the company, Shapar Private Limited, into a future rooted in climate sustainability and cultural integrity.

Last week, Parishae, a 30-year-old managerial economics graduate, launched the company’s summer collection, Nakhlistan, which means oasis, a show she has conceptualized and that she exhibited as a formal celebration of her appointment as CEO in May 2024. 

“It absolutely feels incredible, I feel a lot of gratitude, taking the legacy forward,” Parishae told Arab News in an interview last week.

Adnan said it was always clear that his children would take over the business. 

“My children were raised while we were working in the workshops, and they’ve been seeing this all along. My eldest daughter, Parishae, she worked with me for three years and now she’s become the CEO of the company,” he told Arab News.

“It’s not common, especially in this industry that we are working in, the fashion industry, to see legacy go on from one generation to another.”

And Parishae has plans for her father’s company, with her major aim being to introduce and integrate environmentally conscious practices into its operations.

“We need to do anything, even if it’s a little small step,” said Parishae, who explored fields like acting, hospitality, IT, and supply chain before finally embracing fashion designing.

“One of the first things I did was I changed our packaging material, making it recyclable.” 

In 2021, she launched the ‘House of Parishae,’ a collection grounded in sustainable couture, with her debut show featuring 35 pieces created entirely from upcycled clothing, extending the life cycle of garments and promoting conscious consumption.

“The idea that couture, high end couture luxury can come out of upcycling or recycling, it’s not an idea that was digestible to the public in Pakistan,” the designer said, pointing to inspirations like Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen. 

“People here usually don’t go for that concept for their event wear. They don’t want to spend so much money if it’s going to be recycled or upcycled.”

But Parishae is resolved to take her vision forward — all the while staying true to what she has in common with her father: a deep connection to Pakistan’s cultural identity. 

The designs of Adnan, who was born in Lahore to a bureaucratic father and a mother from the royal family of Dhaka, often draw inspiration from the sartorial heritage and timeless attire of South Asian nobles.

“If I go back in time and I look at my forefathers, photographs or paintings, they actually wore what I’m making right now, literally,” Adnan said.

Parishae too sees cultural identity as central to her vision, especially in an increasingly globalized and digitally connected world.

“As globalization is on a rise, it is even more important in this day and age to understand where your roots are coming from and it’s even more important to keep an identity, a cultural identity, in order for you to realize who you are and where you belong to,” she said.

“I wanted to be a pioneer for change, not in the West because they already have that. It’s actually trying to help us here because you never know, there might be a next generation that looks at this story and gets inspired by it and says, ‘Let’s go, it’s been done before, we can do it better’.”

And her father is proud. 

“For every parent, whether you’re a father or a mother, it’s always your dream to see your children outdo you,” Adnan said. 

“For me to see my daughter excel in my lifetime ... is one of the best gifts I could have asked from Allah.”


Philippine president calls for all Cabinet secretaries to resign after election setbacks

Updated 27 min 15 sec ago
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Philippine president calls for all Cabinet secretaries to resign after election setbacks

  • At least 21 Cabinet secretaries either immediately submitted their resignations or expressed their readiness to do so
  • Ferdinand Marcos Jr.: ‘This is not about personalities – it’s about performance, alignment and urgency’

MANILA: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. asked all of his Cabinet secretaries to submit resignations on Thursday in a “bold reset” of his administration following last week’s mid-term elections, which saw more opposition candidates win crucial Senate seats.
Marcos, the 67-year-old son of a late Philippine dictator overthrown in 1986, won the presidency in the deeply divided Southeast Asian country by a landslide in 2022 in a stunning political comeback as he made a steadfast call for national unity. But his equally popular vice presidential running mate, Sara Duterte, later broke from him in a falling out that has sparked intense political discord.
With support from treaty ally the United States and other friendly countries, Marcos emerged as the most vocal critic of China ‘s growing aggression in the disputed South China Sea while contending with an array of longstanding domestic issues, including inflation — and delayed fulfillment of a campaign promise to bring down the price of rice — as well as many reports of kidnappings and other crimes.
“This is not business as usual,” Marcos was cited as saying in a government statement. “The people have spoken and they expect results — not politics, not excuses. We hear them and we will act.”
Marcos called for the “courtesy resignation of all Cabinet secretaries in a decisive move to recalibrate his administration following the results of the recent elections,” the government statement said.
“The request for courtesy resignations is aimed at giving the president the elbow room to evaluate the performance of each department and determine who will continue to serve in line with his administration’s recalibrated priorities,” the government said.
At least 21 Cabinet secretaries led by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin either immediately submitted their resignations or expressed their readiness to do so.
“This is not about personalities — it’s about performance, alignment and urgency,” Marcos said. “Those who have delivered and continue to deliver will be recognized. But we cannot afford to be complacent. The time for comfort zones is over.”
Government services will remain uninterrupted during the transition, the government said, adding that “with this bold reset, the Marcos administration signals a new phase — sharper, faster and fully focused on the people’s most pressing needs.”
Five out of the 12 Senate seats contested in the mid-term elections were won by allies of Sara Duterte or her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, who has been arrested and detained by the International Criminal Court in The Hague in the Netherlands. The elder Duterte, a staunch critic of Marcos, was accused of committing crimes against humanity over a brutal anti-drugs crackdown he launched that left thousands of mostly poor suspects dead.
Marcos-endorsed senatorial candidates won five Senate seats while two other seats were unexpectedly won by two liberal democrats associated with the late former President Benigno Aquino III, whose family has long been at odds with the Marcoses.
Voting for half of the 24-member Senate is crucial because the government body will hold an impeachment trial for Sara Duterte in July over an array of criminal allegations, including corruption and a public threat to assassinate Marcos, his wife and House Speaker Martin Romualdez. She made those threats in an online news conference in November but later issued a vague denial that she wanted the president killed.
Sara Duterte is facing a separate criminal complaint for her threats against the Marcoses and Romualdez.
Most of the seats in the House were won by candidates allied with Marcos and his cousin, Romualdez, in the May 12 elections, which many saw as a preview to the presidential elections scheduled for 2028.


Israeli opposition leader Yair Golan’s critique of Gaza war toll on Palestinians sparks outcry

Updated 27 min 56 sec ago
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Israeli opposition leader Yair Golan’s critique of Gaza war toll on Palestinians sparks outcry

  • Yair Golan’s comments are some of the harshest language against Israel’s wartime conduct in Gaza
  • It is not uncommon for politicians to criticize Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war strategy

TEL AVIV, Israel: Killing babies “as a hobby.” “Expelling a population.” “Fighting against civilians.”
It is some of the harshest language against Israel’s wartime conduct in Gaza and it came this week from a prominent Israeli politician, sparking a domestic uproar as the country faces heavy international criticism.
It is not uncommon for politicians to criticize Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war strategy, especially his failure to free all the hostages held by Hamas. What made the comments by center-left opposition party leader Yair Golan rare – and jarring to officials across the political spectrum – was their focus on the plight of Palestinians.
The ensuing controversy underscored how little the war’s toll on Gaza’s civilians has figured into the public discourse in Israel – in stark contrast to the rest of the world.
Speaking to the Israeli public radio station Reshet Bet, Golan – a former general – said Israel was becoming a pariah state and cautioned that “a sane country doesn’t engage in fighting against civilians, doesn’t kill babies as a hobby and doesn’t set for itself the goals of expelling a population.”
After the outcry, he said he was referring to the conduct of Israel’s far-right government in his remarks, not of its soldiers.
A rare focus on the plight of Palestinian civilians
Golan’s words were a shock to the system because, outside of the country’s politically marginalized left, criticism focused on Palestinian civilian suffering and deaths has rarely been spoken publicly in Israel.
The reasons for this include: the trauma Israelis still feel over Hamas’ deadly attack on Oct. 7. 2023, Jewish citizens’ deep faith in the righteousness of the military, dozens of hostages remain in Gaza and soldiers are dying to rescue them.
Criticism of the war has focused overwhelmingly on Netanyahu. His opponents believe his own political motives have dictated war strategy and his failure to reach a deal with Hamas to release all the hostages – an accusation he denies.
“Part of the Israeli public and media outlets are still trapped in an obsession over the initial shock that started this war,” said Ehud Olmert, a former prime minister and fierce critic of the current government. “But this is changing and it’s just a matter of time.”
Public opinion polls show that most Israelis support ending the war in exchange for the release of the remaining 58 hostages held by Hamas, around a third of whom are said to be alive.
Opponents of the war have tended to focus on concerns over the fate of the remaining hostages and the risk of soldier casualties in a campaign that many feel has run its course.
While Olmert disputed Golan’s choice of words, he said the essence of his remarks “reflects what many people think.”
Israelis are still traumatized by Hamas’ attack
After Hamas’ 2023 attack, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage, Israelis rallied behind the military. They saw the war as a just response to the deadliest attack in Israel’s history. Many Israelis cannot imagine a future where Hamas remains intact.
Israel’s retaliatory war in Gaza has killed more than 53,000 people, mostly women and children, according to local health authorities, whose count doesn’t differentiate between combatants and civilians. The fighting has displaced 90 percent of the territory’s roughly 2 million population, sparked a hunger crisis and obliterated vast swaths of Gaza’s urban landscape.
While international media coverage has largely focused on the war in Gaza and its toll on civilians there, in Israel the media still devotes heavy attention to the Oct. 7 attack itself and the hostage crisis. Photos of those still held captive line the streets.
Stories about the plight of Palestinian civilians are less prominent, and largely avoid the harshest images emanating from Gaza. Most outlets repeat the official line that Hamas is solely to blame for the civilian toll.
For many Jewish Israelis, it is hard to fathom that their own children, most of whom must enlist in Israel’s military, could be committing the crimes that Golan described.
All that has helped solidify a national narrative that views the war as an existential struggle.
“When you fight a war of existence, you don’t much think about the suffering of the enemy,” said Shmuel Rosner, a senior fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute, a Jerusalem think tank.
Golan’s words have sparked outcry before
A former deputy chief of staff of the military, Golan’s words have sparked outcry in the past. The most notable occasion was a 2016 speech marking Israel’s Holocaust remembrance day, when he compared what he said was an increasingly illiberal atmosphere in Israel to that of Nazi-era Germany.
On Oct. 7, Golan donned his uniform and grabbed a gun to help battle militants during Israel’s flailing first response to Hamas’ assault. Olmert called him “one of Israel’s greatest warriors.”
Golan is not the first public figure to have made such remarks about Israel’s conduct in Gaza.
Former defense minister and military chief of staff Moshe Yaalon accused Israel of ethnic cleansing during a major operation last year. Zehava Galon, a former leader of a dovish political party, highlighted the deaths of thousands of children at a recent protest in Tel Aviv.
But unlike them, Golan has his political future at stake, lending more weight to his words.
Pictures of dead Palestinian children
Netanyahu said Golan’s words “echoed disgraceful antisemitic blood libels.” Benny Gantz, an opposition leader, said Golan’s remarks were extreme and false and called on him to recant and apologize, which he did not do. Yair Lapid, another opposition leader, said Golan’s words were “a gift to our enemies.”
Rosner said Golan’s wording was “uncareful” and that instead of triggering introspection, they prompted a media debate over Golan himself and the damage his remarks might cause to Israel.
But they could resonate among the steadfast anti-war protest movement, said Alma Beck, an activist who is part of a small contingent of demonstrators who have been holding up pictures of Palestinian children killed in Gaza ever since Israel ended a ceasefire in March. She said the group began as 20 people and has grown to 600, still just a fraction of the thousands attending the broader anti-government protests.
Beck said the protest movement has been receptive to messages that focus on the Palestinian toll, and more signs with that message have been held up by demonstrators in recent weeks. Their main criticism remains that Netanyahu is continuing the war to appease his governing partners and ensure his own political survival.
“I think there is a shift. I think people are starting to connect the dots,” she said, while noting that the bulk of Israeli society hasn’t changed. “I hope that it will only grow.”


Trump says settled Pakistan-India standoff through trade deals

Updated 46 min 55 sec ago
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Trump says settled Pakistan-India standoff through trade deals

  • Trump has repeatedly said he offered to help both nations with trade if they agreed to de-escalate
  • India has previously rejected that trade concessions were discussed in ceasefire discussions

ISLAMABAD: President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he had used US trade ties to persuade nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan to back off from their worst military confrontation in decades earlier this month, a claim New Delhi has previously rejected. 

Following a May 10 understanding reached between India and Pakistan in what was a US-mediated ceasefire to stop military action on land, in the air and at sea, Trump has repeatedly said he had offered to help both the nations with trade if they agreed to de-escalate.

Pakistan has not commented specifically on the trade-related claim though it has repeatedly thanked Trump for his role in the de-escalation efforts. The Indian government has, however, said trade concessions did not come up in discussions to secure the ceasefire. 

“If you take a look at what we just did with Pakistan and India, we settled that whole thing, and I think I settled it through trade,” Trump said in televised comments during a meeting at the White House with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. 

“We’re doing a big deal with India. We’re doing a big deal with Pakistan,” the US president added, without giving details of what agreements he was referring to. 

Before the ceasefire, the militaries of India and Pakistan were engaged in one of their most serious confrontations in decades since May 7, when India struck targets inside Pakistan it said were affiliated with militants responsible for the killing of 26 tourists last month in Indian-administered Kashmir.

After India’s strikes in Pakistan, both sides exchanged heavy fire along their de facto border, followed by missile and drone strikes into each other’s territories, mainly targeting military installations and air bases.

The escalating hostilities threatened regional peace, leading to calls by world leaders to cool down tempers.

Trump has said he not only helped mediate the ceasefire but also offered mediation over the simmering dispute in Kashmir, a Himalayan region that both India and Pakistan claim in entirety but govern in part. The two nations have fought two wars over Kashmir, which has long been described as the regional nuclear flashpoint.

New Delhi has rejected Trump’s offer for mediation, saying Kashmir was a bilateral issue, while Pakistan has welcomed the offer. 

With inputs from AP


Two Israeli embassy staffers killed in Washington shooting, suspect held

Updated 46 min 32 sec ago
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Two Israeli embassy staffers killed in Washington shooting, suspect held

  • Staff members were shot ‘at close range’ while attending a Jewish event at the museum
  • US President Donald Trump condemns the ‘horrible’ killings

Two Israeli embassy staff were killed in a shooting outside an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, on Wednesday night, and a suspect is in custody, according to officials and media reports.

WASHINGTON: A man and a woman were shot and killed in the area of 3rd and F streets in Northwest which is near the museum, an FBI field office and the US attorney’s office, according to the reports.

Washington police chief Pamela Smith said a single suspect who was seen pacing outside the museum before the event was in custody. The suspect chanted “Free Palestine, Free Palestine,” in custody, she said.

Tal Naim Cohen, a spokesperson for the Israeli embassy in Washington, said two of its staff members were shot “at close range” while attending a Jewish event at the museum.

The Israeli embassy did not immediately respond to questions about the shooter, the victims or the motive for the attack.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed two Israeli embassy staff members were killed.

“We are actively investigating and working to get more information to share,” Noem wrote in a post on X.

“We will bring this depraved perpetrator to justice.”

Trump condemns ‘horrible D.C. killings’ based on ‘antisemitism’

US President Donald Trump condemned on Thursday the “horrible” killings of two Israeli embassy staffers outside a Jewish museum in Washington.

“These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW!” he posted on his Truth Social platform.

“Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA.”

FBI Director Kash Patel said he and his team had been briefed on the shooting.

“While we’re working with [Metropolitan Police Department] to respond and learn more, in the immediate, please pray for the victims and their families,” he wrote on X.

Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, called the shooting “a depraved act of anti-Semitic terrorism.”

“Harming diplomats and the Jewish community is crossing a red line,” Danon said in a post on X. “We are confident that the US authorities will take strong action against those responsible for this criminal act.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi and US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro were on the scene of the shooting.

The Metropolitan Police Department declined to comment, saying a press conference would be held shortly.