UNITED NATIONS: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres accused Israel on Monday of spreading misinformation about him during the more than eight-month-long war between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
“I’ve heard the same source many times saying that I never attacked Hamas, that I never condemned Hamas, that I am a supporters of Hamas,” Guterres told a news conference on information integrity, without naming Israel.
“I have condemned Hamas 102 times, 51 of them in formal speeches, the others in different social platforms,” he said. “The truth, in the end, always wins.”
Israel’s UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan said the condemnations by Guterres were “empty words when compared to his actions.”
“His sole aim has been to help Hamas survive this war. We find it despicable that the secretary-general refuses to abide by the UN’s standards and paints a distorted picture of events on the ground,” Erdan said. “Antonio Guterres is an accomplice to terror and should resign today.”
Relations between the UN and Israel have long been fraught and have only worsened during the Israel-Hamas war.
Israel accused the UN of being biased against it and has accused UN staff of working with Hamas and other militants. The UN is investigating some of the allegations, but has said in many cases it is yet to received evidence from Israel.
Without naming names, UN chief accuses Israel of misinformation
https://arab.news/m5q3q
Without naming names, UN chief accuses Israel of misinformation
- “The truth, in the end, always wins," Guterres says
Trump returns to Pennsylvania for a rally at the site of assassination attempt
- The Trump campaign predicted tens of thousands of people would the event, billed as a “tribute to the American spirit”
- Area hotels, motels and inns were said to be full and some rallygoers arrived Friday
BUTLER, Pennsylvania: Donald Trump plans to return Saturday to the site where a gunman tried to assassinate him in July, as the former president sets aside what are now near-constant worries for his physical safety in order to fulfill a promise — “really an obligation,” he said recently — to the people of Butler, Pennsylvania.
“I’ll probably start off by saying, ‘As I was saying ...’” the Republican presidential nominee has joked, in a bit of black humor about a speech cut short when a bullet struck Trump’s ear, and he was whisked off stage — fist aloft — with blood dripping across his face.
Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, also will be on hand at the Butler Farm Show grounds, and billionaire Elon Musk said he will be speaking as the campaign elevates the headline-generating potential of his return with just 30 days to go in their tight campaign against Democratics Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. A billboard on the way into the rally said, “IN MUSK WE TRUST,” and showed his photo.
The Trump campaign predicted tens of thousands of people would the event, billed as a “tribute to the American spirit.” Area hotels, motels and inns were said to be full and some rallygoers arrived Friday.
Hundreds of people were lined up as the sun rose Saturday. A memorial for firefighter Corey Comperatore, who died as he shielded family members from gunfire, was set up in the bleachers, his fireman’s jacket set up on display surrounded by flowers. There was a very visible heightened security presence, with armed law enforcers in camouflage uniforms on roofs.
“President Trump looks forward to returning to Butler, Pennsylvania to honor the victims from that tragic day,” said Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt. “The willingness of Pennsylvanians to join President Trump in his return to Butler represents the strength and resiliency of the American people.”
Trump planned to use the 5 p.m. Eastern time event to remember Comperatore, a volunteer firefighter struck and killed at the July 13 rally, and to recognize the two other rallygoers injured, David Dutch and James Copenhaver. They and Trump were struck when 20-year-old shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, opened fire from an unsecured rooftop nearby before he was fatally shot by sharpshooters.
The building from which Crooks fired was completely obscured by tractor trailers, a large grassy perimeter and a fence. Most bleachers were now at the sides, rather than behind Trump.
How Crooks managed to outmaneuver law enforcement that day and scramble on top of a building within easy shooting distance of the ex-president is among many questions that remain unanswered about the worst Secret Service security failure in decades. Another is his motive.
Butler County District Attorney Rich Goldinger told WPXI-TV this week that “everyone is doubling down on their efforts to make sure this is done safely and correctly.”
Mike Slupe, the county sheriff, told the station he estimates the Secret Service, was deploying ”quadruple the assets” it did in July. The agency has undergone a painful reckoning over its handling of two attempts on Trump’s life.
Butler County, on the western edge of a coveted presidential swing state, is a Trump stronghold. He won the county with about 66 percent of the vote in both 2016 and 2020. About 57 percent of the county’s 139,000 registered voters are Republicans, compared with about 29 percent who are Democrats and 14 percent something else.
Chris Harpster, 30, of Tyrone, Pennsylvania, was accompanied by his girlfriend on Saturday as he returned to the scene. Of July 13, he said, “I was afraid” — as were his parents, watching at home, who texted him immediately after the shots rang out.
Heightened security measures were making him feel better now, as well as the presence of his girlfriend, a first-time rallygoer. Harpster said he will be a third-time Trump voter in November, based on the Republican nominee’s stances on immigration, guns, abortion and energy. Harpster said he hopes Pennsylvania will go Republican, particularly out of concern over gas and oil industry jobs.
Other townspeople were divided over the value of Trump’s return. Heidi Priest, a Butler resident who started a Facebook group supporting Harris, said Trump’s last visit fanned political tensions in the city.
“Whenever you see people supporting him and getting excited about him being here, it scares the people who don’t want to see him reelected,” she said.
Terri Palmquist came from Bakersfield, California, and said her 18-year old daughter tried to dissuade her. “I just figure we need to not let fear control us. That’s what the other side wants is fear. If fear controls us, we lose,” she said.
She said she was not worried about her own safety.
“Honesty, I believe God’s got Trump, for some reason. I do. So we’re rooting for him.”
But Trump needs to drive up voter turnout in conservative strongholds like Butler County, an overwhelmingly white, rural-suburban community, if he wants to win Pennsylvania in November. Harris, too, has targeted her campaign efforts at Pennsylvania, rallying there repeatedly as part of her aggressive outreach in critical swing states. ___
Associated Press writer Adriana Gomez Licon in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, contributed to this report.
Immigration is not a ‘bad’ thing, France’s Macron says
- “Is immigration bad? The answer is no. It depends,” Macron told broadcaster France Inter
- Macron hosted dozens of leaders of French-speaking countries for the “Francophonie” summit, the first time the event has been held in France for 33 years
PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron said Saturday that immigration was not necessarily a “bad” thing, in a thinly veiled riposte to the country’s hard-line interior minister who has vowed to crack down on migration.
“Is immigration bad? The answer is no. It depends,” Macron told broadcaster France Inter.
“Is immigration from Africa bad in general? In truth, not totally,” Macron said in remarks recorded earlier this week and broadcast on Saturday.
On Friday and Saturday, Macron hosted dozens of leaders of French-speaking countries for the “Francophonie” summit, the first time the event has been held in France for 33 years. He hopes the gathering will help boost French influence in a world beset by crises, in particular Africa.
The African continent receives more from immigrants in Europe sending remittances home than from European public development aid, Macron said. “Shame on us,” he said.
“All this is much more complex than people want to admit,” Macron added, pointing to the “ethical and political tension” on the issue.
Macron also said foreign-born French people helped make France stronger.
“There are millions of dual nationals in our country. There are at least as many French people of immigrant origin,” Macron added.
“This is our wealth. And it is a strength,” he added.
“The difficulty at the moment is how we manage to fight against human traffickers, these illegal immigration networks,” he said.
France’s new right-wing government has pledged to clamp down on immigration and fight people traffickers.
A two-year-old child was crushed to death and several adult migrants died in two separate tragedies overnight Friday to Saturday when their overcrowded boats tried to cross the Channel to Britain, French officials said.
France’s new interior minister, Bruno Retailleau, has vowed new immigration rules to “protect the French,” adding that he did not think that immigration presented “an opportunity” for France.
Retailleau also said that “the rule of law is neither intangible nor sacred.”
His appointment is emblematic of the rightward shift of the government under new Prime Minister Michel Barnier following this summer’s legislative elections that resulted in a hung parliament.
UN failing to stop wars amid Security Council ‘paralysis’ — but progressing on strengthening member states
- Brian Katulis, Ephrem Kossaify discuss mixed outcomes of 79th UN General Assembly and the need for urgent reforms to safeguard the world body’s future
CHICAGO/LONDON: The 79th Session of the UN General Assembly, which concluded this week, highlighted the UN’s inability to prevent escalating wars, particularly in the Middle East. However, progress was made on other global issues, such as climate change and poverty.
Founded on Oct. 24, 1945, after the Second World War, the UN was created to maintain international peace, prevent conflict and promote friendly relations among countries. Yet, 79 years later, experts acknowledge that the UN remains hampered in achieving its core mandate, particularly due to the disproportionate power wielded by the five permanent members of the Security Council: The US, Russia, China, France and the UK.
Brian Katulis, senior fellow for US foreign policy at the Middle East Institute, highlighted this imbalance during an interview on “The Ray Hanania Radio Show,” pointing out that while the UN is often blamed for failing to stop conflicts, major global powers have also fallen short in “arresting the spiral down into conflict and a regional war” that is breaking out in the Middle East.
“It’s fine to point a finger to the UN, but the US has not done that great of a job in stopping this,” said Katulis. “And I would also argue a lot of the regional powers and also other global powers like Russia and China haven’t been so good, and it’s for one reason: It’s that the combatants in these conflicts in the Middle East see fit to actually use force, military force, power in that way, in some cases terrorism and terror strikes, to advance their interests. And that’s the unfortunate consequence of the era we live in right now.”
Despite these challenges, the UN continues to make strides in other areas, Katulis said, highlighting how the organization still plays a critical role in addressing societal issues, particularly through its humanitarian work with refugees and efforts in global health.
“They’re doing a lot at a popular level, if you ask Palestinian refugees that live in Jordan and Lebanon, and Gaza and other places,” said Katulis, who this week released his most recent analysis, “Strategic Drift: An Assessment of the Biden Administration’s Middle East Approach,” available from the Middle East Institute.
“Of course, there’s been justifiable criticisms of the quality of that education and what’s being taught, but there’s certain things that we, here in America, because we have such a great system and great economy, just take for granted.”
He argued that while the UN provides “a lot stopgaps, it does save lives.”
Most recently, the UN launched a campaign to vaccinate 640,000 children against polio in Gaza, following the enclave’s first confirmed case in 25 years.
To achieve this, the World Health Organization, the UN agency founded in 1948 to promote global health and safety, coordinated efforts using localized ceasefires between Israeli forces and Hamas fighters.
Despite the UN’s benign longstanding mission and its membership of 193 states, the body’s relationship with Israel has grown increasingly strained. This tension peaked earlier this week when Israel declared UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres persona non grata.
In recent years, experts have questioned the efficacy of the UN, a body originally designed to reflect postwar power structures. These concerns have intensified amid mounting conflict in the Middle East, and are reflected in a loss of confidence in the organization’s ability to mediate effectively.
However, despite rising tensions and an agenda dominated by wars in Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine, the UN General Assembly continued to push forward with its broader objectives. It focused on promoting reforms and advocating for greater equality between member states and the powerful Security Council.
“Even though Gaza and the war in Sudan and the war in Ukraine have again dominated the 79th session of the General Assembly, there still have been some positive headlines, or so the UN likes to say,” Ephrem Kossaify, Arab News’ UN correspondent, told “The Ray Hanania Radio Show.”
Kossaify highlighted the adoption of key agreements at the session, including the Pact for the Future, which aims to revitalize the UN’s multilateral system. The General Assembly also adopted other significant declarations, such as one enhancing the role of youth in public decision-making and another addressing global governance of artificial intelligence.
“There’s been a pact that was adopted as well, a political declaration on antimicrobial resistance, which, as Dr. Hanan Balkhy, a Saudi regional chief of the WHO, told Arab News, is the ‘silent epidemic.’ So, at least if you want to see the glass half-full, you can look at these agreements. Even though it took very long, with intense weeks and months of negotiations led by Germany and Namibia, member states have finally been able to come together to sign these three big declarations,” Kossaify said.
Yet for many, including former UN special envoy for Yemen and UN under-secretary-general Jamal Benomar, the declarations are seen as “rehashed and recycled wording from previously agreed UN documents,” filled with “vague and aspirational language” lacking concrete, actionable steps.
A major obstacle remains: The Security Council’s veto power.
Kossaify highlighted the “paralysis” within the UN, highlighting the disconnect between the overpowered permanent members of the Security Council and the increasingly assertive General Assembly, which has amplified its support for Palestine in the face of Israeli violence against civilians in Gaza. Despite growing calls for a ceasefire, the US — one of the five permanent members — has repeatedly vetoed such proposals.
“Out of the 80 vetoes that the US has cast over the past decades, at least 40 of them have been cast to prevent any action against Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and to prevent any action on the ground,” said Kossaify, adding that five of those vetoes have been cast within the past year alone.
“As we saw, the US has vetoed every ceasefire resolution. And even when the Security Council adopted the three resolutions, one having to do with humanitarian relief for the people in Gaza, the US abstained to let it pass, but also undermined it further by saying that Security Council resolutions are non-binding.”
Kossaify said that this created a “huge controversy,” and that the Security Council “is supposed to have the force of international law behind it.
“It is even allowed to use chapter seven to use force in order to implement its resolution. But it has been paralyzed because these five big powers have the prerogative of the veto. They can block any action that doesn’t suit their geopolitical position.”
Kossaify highlighted his interview with Kuwait’s ambassador to the UN, who said that “one or two countries cannot be allowed anymore to block the path of peace when the whole, when so many — the majority of member states want the path to peace.”
Highlighting Arab unity in demanding an end to the Israeli aggression in Gaza and the conflict’s expansion, Kossaify added: “On Gaza, it’s not just the humanitarian suffering that we’re seeing and how it’s really weighing on the conscience of the world. It’s also the ways in which Gaza has shown the real weaknesses of the UN system with its Security Council, the dangers of keeping this veto power without any challenge, and the dysfunction, basically, that it is causing in this multilateral institution, the only one we have in the world.
“Yet despite all the challenges and disagreements and geopolitical divisions, the General Assembly was able to adopt the Pact for the Future, a declaration on the role of youth and a commitment to reform the Security Council, even if it’s just in words.”
Katulis and Kossaify made their comments during tapings of “The Ray Hanania Radio Show,” which is broadcast Thursday on the US Arab Radio Network and sponsored by Arab News.
The show is broadcast live on WNZK AM 690 Radio in Michigan Thursday at 5 p.m. EST, and again the following Monday at 5 p.m. It is available by podcast at ArabNews.com/rayradioshow or at Facebook.com/ArabNews.
Toddler crushed to death in migrant Channel crossing
- The child was found in an overloaded dinghy when migrants issued a call for assistance on Saturday morning
- The boat was carrying nearly 90 people and suffered engine failure off the coast of Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France
CALAIS, France: A two-year-old child was crushed to death and several adult migrants died in two separate tragedies overnight when their overcrowded boats tried to cross the Channel to Britain, French officials said Saturday.
The child was found in an overloaded dinghy when migrants issued a call for assistance on Saturday morning. The boat was carrying nearly 90 people and suffered engine failure off the coast of Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France.
Citing initial information, regional prosecutor Guirec Le Bras said the child was “crushed” to death.
Fourteen other migrants were picked up by French authorities including a 17-year-old teenager who had to be hospitalized with burns to his legs, officials said. The other passengers continued their journey.
French authorities say they seek to stop people taking to the water but do not intervene once they are afloat except for rescue purposes, citing safety concerns.
Another boat overcrowded with migrants also suffered engine failure off the coast of Calais, leading to panic. Some migrants fell into the sea and were rescued.
Three people — two men and a woman aged around 30 — were then discovered unconscious at the bottom of the boat, Pas-de-Calais regional prefect Jacques Billant told reporters.
The three were “probably crushed, suffocated and drowned” in the water at the bottom of the boat, added the prefect.
The interior ministers of France and Britain condemned the “appalling” tragedies.
“A child was trampled to death in a boat,” France’s hard-line interior minister, Bruno Retailleau, said on X, adding that several other people had died in the “appalling tragedy.”
“The smugglers have the blood of these people on their hands and our government will intensify the fight against these gangs who enrich themselves by organizing these deadly crossings,” Retailleau added.
British Interior Minister Yvette Cooper struck a similar note.
“It is appalling that more lives have been lost in the Channel today, including a young child, as criminal smuggler gangs continue to organize these dangerous boat crossings,” she said.
“The gangs do not care if people live or die — this is a terrible trade in lives.”
Cooper said on X she was in touch with Retailleau, adding the two met this week to discuss “our determination to increase cooperation and law enforcement to pursue and dismantle criminal gangs.”
The latest tragedies bring to 51 the number of migrants who have died attempting to reach England from France so far this year, according to Billant.
Channel crossings to Britain by undocumented asylum seekers have surged since 2018 despite repeated warnings about the perilous journey. The Channel has heavy maritime traffic, icy waters and strong currents.
Migrants sometimes get crushed or trampled to death in overcrowded boats.
In July, a 21-year-old woman from Kuwait was crushed to death in a migrant boat off the French coast.
The French and British governments have sought to stop the flow of undocumented migrants, who may pay smugglers thousands of euros per head for the passage to England from France aboard small boats.
France’s new right-wing prime minister, Michel Barnier, said on Tuesday the country needed a stricter immigration policy.
He vowed to be “ruthless” with people traffickers, who he said “exploit misery and despair” that pushed undocumented asylum seekers to risk trying to cross the Channel and the Mediterranean.
The latest tragedies come after eight migrants died in mid-September when their overcrowded vessel capsized while trying to cross the Channel.
In early September at least 12 people including six minors, mostly from Eritrea, died off the northern French coast when their boat capsized.
The number of migrants arriving in Britain by crossing the Channel in small boats has topped 25,000 since the start of the year.
Stopping the small boat arrivals on England’s southern coast was a key issue in Britain’s general election in July.
Britain’s Cooper has said the government aims over the next six months to achieve the highest rate of deportations of failed asylum seekers in five years.
Ukraine downs a Russian warplane and Russia claims gains in the east
- The Russian bomber was shot down near the city of Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk province
- Also in the partially occupied Donetsk province, Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed Saturday that it had taken control of the village of Zhelanne Druhe
KYIV: Ukrainian forces said they shot down a Russian fighter plane on Saturday while Russia claimed it made gains in Ukraine’s east.
The Russian bomber was shot down near the city of Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk province, head of the Kostiantynivka Military Administration Serhiy Horbunov was quoted as saying by Ukraine’s public broadcaster, Suspilne. Photos showed charred remains of an aircraft after it landed on a house that caught fire.
Also in the partially occupied Donetsk province, Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed Saturday that it had taken control of the village of Zhelanne Druhe.
If confirmed, the capture would come three days after Ukrainian forces said they were withdrawing from the front-line town of Vuhledar, some 33 kilometers (21 miles) from Zhelanne Druhe, following a hard-fought two-year defense.
Although unlikely to change the course of the war, the loss of Vuhledar is indicative of Kyiv’s worsening position, in part the result of Washington’s refusal to grant Ukraine permission to strike targets deep inside Russian territory and preventing Kyiv from degrading Moscow’s capabilities.
Zelensky will present his victory plan to allies
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that he will present his “victory plan” at the Oct. 12 meeting of the Ramstein group of nations that supplies arms to Ukraine.
“We will present the victory plan — clear, concrete steps toward a just end to the war. The determination of our partners and the strengthening of Ukraine are what can stop Russian aggression,” he wrote on X, adding that the 25th Ramstein meeting would be the first to take place at the leaders’ level.
Zelensky presented his plan to US President Joe Biden in Washington last week. Its contents have not been made public but it is known that the plan includes Ukraine’s membership of NATO and the provision of long-range missiles to strike inside Russia.
Russia shells southern Ukraine and a Ukraine drone hits a bus
Meanwhile, two people died in Russian shelling in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region, regional Gov. Ivan Fedorov said.
Ukraine’s air force said that Russia had launched three guided missiles and 13 attack drones at Ukraine overnight into Saturday. It said the missiles were intercepted, three drones were shot down over the Odesa region and 10 others were lost.
Nine people were wounded when a Ukrainian drone struck a passenger bus in the city of Horlivka in the partially occupied Donetsk region, the city’s Russian-installed Mayor Ivan Prikhodko said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Saturday that air defenses shot down 10 Ukrainian drones overnight in three border regions, including seven over the Belgorod region, two over the Kursk region, and one over the Voronezh region.
