LONDON: She has just turned 17, but already she is a media darling. With her mane of curly hair and defiant expression, Ahed Tamimi has reawakened the world to the plight of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation.
Tamimi is due to go on trial on Tuesday in an Israeli military court, accused of slapping and kicking an Israeli soldier. The incident, which happened on Dec.15, might have remained below the radar as one of many such altercations in the occupied territories had Tamimi’s mother, Nariman, not filmed it and posted footage on social media, where it went viral.
The case has created a global media storm, with many references to David and Goliath helping to revive interest in the broader Palestinian struggle.
Tamimi was arrested along with her mother and cousin Nour, and despite her youth (she was 16 at the time and, indeed, is still a minor now), she was denied bail and has been in custody since.
Her trial was set first for Jan. 31 — coincidentally, her 17th birthday — then Feb. 6 and now, Feb. 13.
She has been hailed a hero for bravely standing up to the occupying forces in Nabi Saleh, the West Bank village squeezed between an Israeli settlement and an Israeli military checkpoint which is home to the Tamimi family.
The UN office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has criticized Israeli authorities for their handling of the case, while the EU has expressed concern over the detention of minors. Tamimi is one of an estimated 300 underage inmates in Israeli detention — an often-forgotten statistic until her case was highlighted by the media.
More than 1.7 million people have signed an online petition demanding her release and Tamimi’s father, Bassem, said he has welcomed “hundreds” of observers and supporters from as far away as Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, Argentina and Colombia.
He tells his daughter’s story, explains the reality of living under occupation and states his own political views, which include his preference for a single, bi-national state with equal rights for Israelis and Palestinians.
But to suggest that Palestinians are exploiting Tamimi’s story would be wrong, said Rosemary Hollis, professor of Middle East Policy Studies at City University in London and former director of the Olive Tree Scholarship Programme for Palestinians.
“To be sell-able and grab attention on social media, there has to be an element of appeal above and beyond the plain story of conflict, But there is no proof that this (Tamimi’s case) is being manipulated in a propaganda effort,” she said.
“This is a story that has been going on since 1967. There is a perception that people are fed up with it, especially when there is Syria, where the suffering is of another order.
“The media needs a hook because it gives people access to the broader story, but that doesn’t make this a conspiracy.
“In the past two years, the situation for Palestinians has worsened. The Israelis require the Palestinian police force to prevent acts of violence by any Palestinian against all Israelis, but they don’t trust them to do the job. So the Israelis conduct their own security raids and Palestinians live in constant fear of them.”
It was in just such a middle-of-the-night raid at her home that Tamimi was arrested in December.
She is accused of assault and incitement — offenses that could see her jailed for years. Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, denies the high profile attained by the case will harm Israel.
“Those who are against Israel will be against it if she is brought to court or if she is not,” he said.
He also played down the findings of a recent Pew poll that indicated younger, liberal Americans are less supportive of Israel’s narrative than older generations. He portrayed young liberals as naive and said he expects their views to change as they get older, but added that Israel needs to work “very, very hard not to lose these people.”
However, the Israelis are sufficiently worried about this emerging new “poster girl” for the Palestinian cause that one official recently revealed that there had been a parliamentary investigation into whether Ahed and her equally fair-haired, blue-eyed Tamimi relatives were from a “real” Palestinian family.
Ahed’s gender is another factor. Hollis sees similarities with how Israel has regarded Palestinian women, particularly since the second intifada, when women began to take part in suicide bombings.
“The Israelis said the women must have shamed themselves in some way — had an affair or got pregnant, so that a martyr’s death was preferable. A woman could not be a fighter.”
Tamimi trial revives global interest in ‘David and Goliath’ narrative
Tamimi trial revives global interest in ‘David and Goliath’ narrative
Olympic rugby stars and fresh faces ready for sevens action in Dubai
- The HSBC SVNS 2025 from Nov. 30 to Dec. 1 is at The Sevens Stadium in Dubai
- South Africa men and Australia women look to extend their Emirates Dubai 7s title-winning streaks
DUBAI: After the record-breaking Olympic Games competitions, the wait is over for rugby sevens fans as the HSBC SVNS 2025 season kicks off with the Emirates Dubai 7s on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1.
With interest in rugby sevens on a high following Paris 2024, the many millions of fans who watched the Games can expect to see Olympic medallists on show in Dubai alongside debutants out to make their mark at the first round of a highly anticipated new HSBC SVNS campaign.
Men’s Olympic champions France will be looking to retain their SVNS champions crown after they defeated SVNS league winners Argentina to claim the inaugural men’s title in 2024. Meanwhile, Olympic bronze medallists South Africa will hope to continue their incredible form in Dubai during which they have won five consecutive titles and seven of the past eight tournaments.
New Zealand’s women won their second successive Olympic title in Paris and will be aiming to reclaim the SVNS champions title they lost to Australia in 2024. They will have to break Australia’s dominance in Dubai, which has resulted in four consecutive titles at The Sevens Stadium.
The Emirates Dubai 7s features the top 12 men’s and 12 women’s teams in the world competing over two days, and the 24 captains gathered by Old Dubai Creek on Wednesday to launch the latest edition of an event that has featured on the global rugby sevens calendar since its inception in 1999.
The competition format replicates the Olympic model, in which the top two teams from each pool, plus the best two third-placed teams, qualify for the quarter-finals from where it is knock-out rugby.
Following a successful inaugural year for World Rugby’s revamped and rebranded competition, HSBC SVNS 2025 will feature seven events over seven months at seven global destinations.
Six regular season events will be played in Dubai, Cape Town, Perth, Vancouver, Hong Kong and Singapore to decide the HSBC SVNS League winners, before the HSBC SVNS World Championship at Dignity Health Sports Park in Los Angeles, which will host the 2028 Olympic Games rugby sevens competitions.
The top eight teams based on cumulative series points after six events in Singapore will compete in the “winner takes all” World Championship, where the women’s and men’s SVNS champions will be crowned.
Los Angeles will also host the high stakes promotion and relegation play-off competition where teams ranked ninth to 12th will join the top four teams from the World Rugby Sevens Challenger, in a battle to secure their places in the next HSBC SVNS.
In a huge year for women’s rugby, World Rugby’s commitment to grow the women’s game is unwavering and at all HSBC SVNS events men’s and women’s teams will receive equal participation fees and share the platform equally on the biggest stages around the world. For the first time in history, there is an all-female panel of match officials for the women’s SVNS 2025.
World Rugby chief executive Alan Gilpin said: “Following a ground-breaking Olympic Games which captivated a huge new global audience, we can’t wait for HSBC SVNS 2025 to start and for these incredible athletes to showcase their awesome skills at seven iconic destinations around the world.
“Dubai has been a mainstay on the global rugby sevens circuit since 1999 and will no doubt provide the perfect lift-off for what promises to be an exciting campaign with seasoned Olympians inspiring audiences around the globe and new stars hoping to make their mark.”
Red Sea International Film Festival 2024: The award contenders — part one
DUBAI: The first half of our rundown of the films in competition at this year’s RSIFF, which begins Dec. 5
‘Saify’
Director: Wael Abumansour
Starring: Osama Alqess, Aixa Kay, Baraa Alem, Nour Alkhadra
It’s no surprise that the Kingdom’s sole directorial representative in competition at this year’s Red Sea International Film Festival (several of the other films are Saudi-backed, however) comes from the groundbreaking Telfaz11 studio, of which Abumansour is the head. “Saify” — his second feature, following “Carnival City,” which opened the festival in 2020 — is set in the year 2000, and is a satirical take on Saudi Arabia’s conservative clerics that centers on the forty-something title character, a “washed-up confidence trickster who owes money to everyone, including his ex-wife,” who runs a small cassette shop where he sells banned hard-line religious sermons. “When Saify finds a tape containing a scandalous recording of the influential Sheikh Assad, he thinks he’s finally in the money,” the synopsis states. “Saify” seems set to continue Telfaz11’s practice of pushing cultural boundaries.
‘Superboys of Malegaon’
Director: Reema Kagti
Starring: Adarsh Gourav, Vineet Kumar Singh, Shashank Arora
Hindi-language comedy drama inspired by a 2008 documentary about a group of DIY filmmakers in the titular Indian city who make spoofs of Bollywood movies as a form of escapism. This film spans a couple of decades from the late Nineties, and centers on photographer and videographer Nasir Sheikh who runs a failing cinema with his brother Nihal. When Nasir starts to make Bollywood parodies tweaked to fit Malegaon’s local culture, he becomes something of a local celebrity — a situation his ego is ill-equipped to deal with. Variety said it is “a moving ode to filmmaking,” adding that “few films have been as adept at capturing why people still go to the movies.”
‘Hanami’
Director: Denise Fernandes
Starring:
Fernandes’ beautifully shot debut feature is set in her ancestral home of Cape Verde and is a coming-of-age tale spanning three periods of the life of the title character Nana. First as a toddler, after her mother Nia leaves the island in search of a better life, then in a magical-realist sequence in which Nana journeys to the foot of a volcano in the hope of curing her sickness, then with Nana as a teenager, reflecting on the community of women who have raised her and a reunion with her birth mother.
‘To a Land Unknown’
Director: Mahdi Fleifel
Starring: Angeliki Papoulia, Mahmood Bakri, Mohammad Ghassan
“To a Land Unknown” might be Fleifel’s fiction debut, but its themes will be familiar to anyone who has seen his documentaries. Chatila and Reda are Palestinian refugees living in Athens, trying to save up for fake passports so they can move to Germany. But when Reda blows all their money on heroin, Chatila is drawn into a risky smuggling operation. Variety called it “a confident, angry, fully-realized drama which should see its makers afforded further opportunities to craft similarly vital work.”
‘Moon’
Director: Kurdwin Ayub
Starring: Florentina Holzinger, Celina Sarhan, Andria Tayeh, Nagham Abu Baker
The award-winning Iraqi-Austrian filmmakers third feature tells the story of Sarah, a former mixed martial artist from Austria who thinks she’s found her dream job when she is hired to train the three daughters of a wealthy Jordanian family. But despite the luxurious surroundings, Sarah is soon feeling unnerved as she quickly discovers that the sisters are under constant surveillance and have little interest in learning to box.
‘Songs of Adam’
Director: Oday Rasheed
Starring: Azzam Ahmed Ali, Abdul Jabber Hassan, Alaa Najm
The Baghdad-born Arab American director blends drama and magical realism in this tale of two brothers — Adam and Ali. When they are instructed to witness their grandfather’s corpse being washed before burial, Adam, then aged 12, announces that he has decided not to grow up. And as the years pass, he doesn’t. The villagers, including Ali, believe he has been cursed. Only his two friends Iman and Anki see Adam’s condition as an innocence-preserving gift.
‘Red Path’
Director: Lotfi Achour
Starring: Ali Hleli, Yassine Samouni, Wided Dabebi
Tunisian director Achour drew on real-life events for this disturbing drama about a harrowing attack on two young shepherds by a violent jihadist group, leaving one dead and the other — 14-year-old Achraf — to take the head of his dead cousin back home as a warning to their community. Ali Hleli has drawn plaudits for his portrayal of Achraf. His casting was reportedly the result of a year-long audition process for the three main roles. The International Cinephile Society said the film was “a strong portrait of the horrors of regional violence and how children are often the collateral damage of this vicious cycle.”
‘Snow White’
Director: Taghrid Abouelhassan
Starring: Mariam Sherif, Karim Fahmy, Mohamed Mamdouh
Iman’s search for true love is complicated by her size — she stands just 119 centimeters tall. Since an arranged marriage is off the table, Iman takes to the internet, where her outsize personality and sense of fun can shine. But offline, her condition is still a problem, even causing her sister’s marriage offer to fall through once the family meet Iman. Egyptian filmmaker Abouelhassan’s film has already picked up awards at the Cairo Film Festival.
Saudi Pro League and OneFootball team up on official video and editorial content
- Fans can access match clips, highlights, behind-the-scenes footage and viral moments
- Omar Mugharbel: ‘This collaboration is an important step in our commitment to increasing international engagement’
RIYADH: The Saudi Pro League and OneFootball have announced a new partnership aimed at expanding the global visibility of one of the world’s fastest-growing football leagues.
Through this collaboration, the SPL will publish and amplify official video and editorial content across OneFootball, bringing worldwide fans closer to the action than ever before.
As part of the partnership, OneFootball will feature video content on its platforms, including content from the SPL’s official social channels. Fans can look forward to match clips, highlights, behind-the-scenes footage and viral moments in vertical and horizontal formats. This initiative aims to enhance the fan experience by providing visual narratives throughout the season.
“We are delighted to partner with OneFootball to bring Saudi Pro League content to football fans across the globe,” said Omar Mugharbel, CEO of the Saudi Pro League. “This collaboration is an important step in our commitment to increasing international engagement and providing fans everywhere with a closer connection to the excitement and passion of Saudi football.”
In addition to video content, OneFootball will offer official editorial coverage from the SPL in English, ensuring that fans can access timely updates, in-depth analysis, and expert commentary throughout the season.
Patrick Fischer, CEO at OneFootball, said: “We are thrilled to partner with the Saudi Pro League to showcase the incredible talent and excitement of football in the region. This collaboration will elevate the league’s content and enhance the overall fan experience, bringing the vibrant world of Saudi football to a wider audience.”
To kick off the collaboration, representatives from OneFootball recently travelled to Saudi Arabia to cover the Saudi Pro League’s “Derby Week,” attending the “Sea Derby” in Jeddah between Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli, as well as the “Capital Derby” in Riyadh, featuring Al-Nassr and Al-Hilal. OneFootball’s content provided exclusive social media content, behind-the-scenes moments, and in-depth interviews with league representatives, managers and players.
OneFootball will be a primary outlet for publishing the SPL’s official text and video content for global audiences, with the aim of enhancing fan engagement and fostering a deeper connection between the league and its supporters.
Pakistani stocks breach 100,000 points first time in history, marking historic milestone
- Pakistan Stock Exchange has surged 150 percent from 40,000 points in just 17 months
- Analysts attribute the gain to new IMF program along with fiscal and monetary discipline
KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) reached an unprecedented milestone on Thursday, with the benchmark KSE-100 index surpassing 100,000 points for the first time in history.
The index stood at 100,334.91 after gaining 1,065.66 points by 10:48 AM after facing its biggest ever decline of 3,506 points, or 3.57 percent, earlier this week.
The market’s rally is attributed to a combination of positive economic developments, including Pakistan’s new $7 billion loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has bolstered investor confidence.
The IMF’s disbursement of the first tranche of approximately $1 billion in September, along with fiscal and monetary reforms, has improved market sentiment.
“A remarkable 150 percent return from 40k to 100k in just 17 months” Mohammad Sohail, CEO of Topline Securities, exclaimed in a social media post. “New IMF loan coupled with fiscal and monetary discipline [is] improving investor sentiment. Moreover, faster than expected, fall in inflation and interest rates [is] adding cash liquidity to the stock market.”
The PSX’s historic rise coincides with a steady decline in inflation and interest rates, which have provided liquidity to the market. Pakistan’s inflation dropped to 12.5 percent in October, from its peak of over 38 percent earlier this year, creating a more favorable environment for investors.
Additionally, the three-day state visit of Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko to Pakistan has contributed to optimism. The two nations signed multiple agreements aimed at boosting trade and investment, signaling Pakistan’s efforts to stabilize its economy and attract foreign investment.
The PSX’s growth trajectory reflects its resilience over time.
“From less than 1,000 points in the late 1990s to 100,000 today, market is up 100 times,” Sohail said, adding the milestone was a testament to the ups and downs, bull runs and bear runs, optimism and pessimism the market had endured over the last 25 years.”
He maintained the PSX’s performance underscored the resilience and potential of Pakistan’s financial sector, even amid ongoing economic and political challenges.
India’s parliament suspended temporarily after row over allegations against Adani group
- The problem is that India’s states are unprepared for the rapid rise in renewable generating capacity, lack adequate transmission infrastructure and storage
NEW DELHI: Both houses of Indian parliament were suspended temporarily on Thursday within minutes of opening as opposition lawmakers disrupted proceedings for the third day this week seeking a discussion on allegations against the Adani Group.
US authorities have accused Gautam Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani and managing director of Adani Green, Vneet S. Jaain, of being part of a scheme to pay bribes of $265 million to secure Indian solar power supply contracts, and misleading US investors during fund raises there.
“We want a discussion on this in parliament. It is going to be the third day that we are demanding a reply from the prime minister” on the Adani issue, Manickam Tagore, a lawmaker from the main opposition Congress party, which has been leading the protests against the business group, told news agency ANI.
Many of India’s opposition parties accuse Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of favoring Adani and blocking investigations against him in India, accusations both have denied.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who has been a vocal critic of Adani, said Gautam Adani, 62, should be arrested.
While the government has not made any comment on the indictment, Modi’s BJP has said it had no reason to defend Adani, adding that the party was not against industrialists and considered them partners in nation-building efforts.
“Let him defend himself,” BJP spokesperson Gopal Krishna Agarwal said on Tuesday, adding that the law would take its course.
