‘Hardly anything’ will deter Israel’s Gaza war: South Africa judge on ICJ case

South Africa’s case brought in December 2023 alleges that Israel’s Gaza offensive, launched in retaliation for an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel, breached the 1948 UN Genocide Convention. (AFP)
Short Url
Updated 12 July 2024
Follow

‘Hardly anything’ will deter Israel’s Gaza war: South Africa judge on ICJ case

UNITED NATIONS: A leading South African judge said on Thursday that “hardly anything” will deter Israel’s Gaza offensive, but Pretoria’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice remains vital to highlight the dire situation.

South Africa’s case brought in December 2023 alleges that Israel’s Gaza offensive, launched in retaliation for an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel, breached the 1948 UN Genocide Convention. Israel has strongly denied the accusation.

In an interview with AFP, Nambitha Dambuza, a judge of appeal in the Supreme Court of South Africa, lamented that Israel faces few constraints in prosecuting its war.

“The cause of the state concerned, Israel, is so deep and they’re convinced they’re in the right and they know there’s hardly anything that’s going to happen if they continue with their conduct,” Dambuza said.

“Accountability can be a choice among states and I’m not saying all states are the same. Some are more sensitive to pressure, and they might adjust their conduct accordingly, but others will not,” added Dambuza who was in New York for the UN’s High Level Political Forum.

South Africa’s case, which Spain said last month it would join along with several Latin American nations, has resulted in several rulings against Israel.

Last month the ICJ ordered Israel to ensure “unimpeded access” to UN-mandated investigators to look into allegations of genocide.

In a ruling on January 26, the ICJ also ordered Israel to do everything it could to prevent acts of genocide during its military operation in Gaza.

South Africa has gone to the ICJ several times arguing that the dire humanitarian situation means the court should issue further fresh emergency measures.

On May 24, the court ordered Israel to immediately halt its military offensive in the city of Rafah and keep open the key border crossing there for unhindered humanitarian aid.

It also called for the unconditional release of hostages taken by Palestinian militant group Hamas during its October 7 assault that sparked the war.

While ICJ rulings are legally binding, the court has no concrete means to enforce them. Dambuza said that even bringing the case publicized the situation and drew attention to the alleged violations.

“It did bring pressure,” she said. “Although the process didn’t result in any tangible relief... putting these issues out in the public, society gets to see justice — or attempts at justice.”

The war was sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

The militants also seized hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza, including 42 the military says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 38,345 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

Turning to ecological problems, Dambuza, chair of the Africa Judicial Network on Environmental Law, called for an international environmental court to be set up.

She also said traditional courts, which are run by community leaders and are common in rural South Africa, had an important role to play in adjudicating environmental disputes globally.


Afghan women UN staff forced to work from home after threats

Updated 6 sec ago
Follow

Afghan women UN staff forced to work from home after threats

UNAMA confirmed that UN staff had been threatened
“Several United Nations female national staff members in the Afghan capital Kabul have been subjected to threats,” it said

KABUL: Afghan women working for the United Nations in Kabul have been threatened by unidentified men because of their jobs, the organization and several women told AFP on Thursday.

Multiple women working for various UN agencies told AFP on condition of anonymity they had been threatened on the street and over the phone by men warning them to “stay home.”

UN staffer Huda — not her real name — said that for weeks she has been bombarded with messages abusing her for “working with foreigners.”

“The messages keep coming and they are always harassing us... saying, ‘Don’t let me see you again, or else’,” the young woman told AFP.

She said her office had advised her to work from home until further notice.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) confirmed that UN staff had been threatened.

“Several United Nations female national staff members in the Afghan capital Kabul have been subjected to threats by unidentified individuals related to their work with the UN,” it said in a statement.

Considering the threats “extremely serious,” the UN has taken “interim” measures “to ensure the safety and security of staff members,” it added.

The Taliban government, accused by the UN of imposing a “gender apartheid” against women since returning to power in 2021, has denied any involvement.

Interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani said such threats were a “crime” and that police would take action.

UNAMA said the authorities had opened an investigation.

Since seizing power in 2021, the Taliban authorities have severely restricted Afghan women from working and it is the only country in the world where women are banned from education beyond primary school.

The government in 2022 banned women from working for domestic and international NGOs, which was extended to include the UN’s offices in the country the following year.

The policy has some exceptions including for women working in health care and education, and has not been consistently enforced.

The UN has previously called the policy “deeply discriminatory.”

Selsela, in her 30s, said while returning from the office last week she was approached by unknown men who told her she should be “ashamed” and that she must “stay home.”

“They said, ‘We told you nicely this time, but next time you’ll have another thing coming’,” she told AFP.

“I was very scared,” she said, explaining how she struggles to work efficiently from home in a country where electricity and Internet are unreliable.

“The situation for women is getting worse every day.”

Another woman, Rahila, said she and two other women colleagues were stopped by men while traveling home in a UN vehicle and told not to go to the office anymore.

“They said, ‘Don’t you know that you are not allowed?’,” Rahila said, adding that she has also received threatening messages from unknown numbers.

“I am very worried, I need my job and my salary,” she said.

Three-quarters of Afghanistan’s population of some 45 million people struggle to meet their daily needs, according to the UN, with the country facing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

New Trump ban puts thousands of Afghans in US resettlement limbo

Updated 12 min 33 sec ago
Follow

New Trump ban puts thousands of Afghans in US resettlement limbo

  • Ban hits nationals of 12 countries, including Iran, Libya, Sudan and Yemen
  • 25,000 Afghans approved for relocation to the US are stranded in Pakistan

KABUL: A new US travel ban, which lists Afghans among nationals of 12 affected countries, has put on hold the lives of thousands of refugees who fled Afghanistan after the withdrawal of American-led troops in 2021.

US President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Wednesday banning nationals from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen from entering the country — part of a broader immigration crackdown launched by his administration earlier this year at the start of his second term.

The move has placed in a state of indefinite waiting some 25,000 Afghans who have been approved for relocation to the US and are awaiting departure in Pakistan.

One of them, Mohammad Iqbal, a 35-year-old former government employee, told Arab News that his refugee resettlement application has been active for the past two years. Having completed two interviews with the UN refugee agency and the necessary medical check-ups, he was waiting for his final visa appointment.

He is not allowed to work in Pakistan, and he also cannot go back to Afghanistan — both for safety reasons and since that would halt the refugee process.

“I am running out of money and there is no work for Afghans here in Pakistan. We are also facing an increasing risk of deportation. My passport will expire if I don’t make it to the US in a few months. It will be very difficult to go back to Afghanistan. I won’t be safe there,” Iqbal said.

“I have done my master’s degree abroad and worked in some highly technical positions before 2021 ... The current decision by the US president is very unfair and is against the promises made to us by the US government.”

Besides those in Pakistan, thousands more Afghans are in the same situation stranded in Qatar and in the UAE, and another few hundred have been kept waiting at Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo — the largest US military base in the Balkans.

The US travel ban will be in effect from June 9, according to a presidential proclamation released by the White House, which said that it was needed to protect the US from “from terrorist attacks and other national security or public-safety threats.”

Justifying the decision on Afghanistan, Trump cited its lack of a “competent or cooperative central authority for issuing passports or civil documents” and screening and vetting capabilities. Another reason was that the Taliban, “a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) group,” controls Afghanistan.

The Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021, when its Western-backed administration collapsed as American-led international forces withdrew after two decades of occupation that started with the US invasion of the country in 2001.

The troop withdrawal was followed by an exodus of hundreds of thousands of Afghans — many of whom had worked as translators or local staff for foreign governments, organizations or for the previous administration, and feared potential retribution by the Taliban.

“The US played a direct role in creating this situation. As a result of the 20-year US occupation, Afghan society was divided into hostile groups that turned against each other,” said Nasir Ahmad Nawidy, political science professor at Salam University in Kabul.

“Because of the improper policy of the US — without an agreement and peace being reached — the country collapsed, and the systems and order were destroyed. As a result, many people who were prominent figures or experts in the previous regime, or other people who had held important positions in this country, were forced to leave Afghanistan.”

He was still hopeful that the US justice system would challenge Trump’s decision.

“The US has a commitment to these people,” he said. “They have been promised it, and their visas are in process. Ignoring these commitments and halting or delaying ongoing processes is against all humanitarian laws.”


German foreign minister tells Israeli counterpart to allow more aid into Gaza

Updated 22 min 58 sec ago
Follow

German foreign minister tells Israeli counterpart to allow more aid into Gaza

  • Germany would continue to deliver weapons to Israel

BERLIN: German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul criticized Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip at a press conference with his Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar in Berlin on Thursday, again calling for more humanitarian aid to be allowed into the enclave.

Wadephul also decried the Israeli government’s announcement that it would allow 22 more settlements in the West Bank.

Germany would continue to deliver weapons to Israel, he added, saying the country needed to defend itself.


Afghans who helped America during the war plead for an exemption from Trump travel ban

Updated 45 min 19 sec ago
Follow

Afghans who helped America during the war plead for an exemption from Trump travel ban

  • Their appeal came hours after Trump announced a US entry ban on citizens from 12 countries, including Afghanistan
  • “This is heartbreaking and sad news,” said one Afghan

ISLAMABAD: Afghans who worked for the US during its war against the Taliban urged President Donald Trump Thursday to exempt them from a travel ban that could lead to them being deported to Afghanistan, where they say they will face persecution.

Their appeal came hours after Trump announced a US entry ban on citizens from 12 countries, including Afghanistan.

It affects thousands of Afghans who fled Taliban rule and had been approved for resettlement through a US program assisting people at risk due to their work with the American government, media organizations, and humanitarian groups. But Trump suspended that program in January, leaving Afghans stranded in several locations, including Pakistan and Qatar.

Pakistan, meanwhile, has been deporting foreigners it says are living in the country illegally, mostly Afghan, adding to the refugees’ sense of peril.

“This is heartbreaking and sad news,” said one Afghan, who worked closely with US agencies before the Taliban returned to power in 2021. He spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the issue, fearing Taliban reprisals and potential arrest by Pakistani authorities.

He said the travel ban on an estimated 20,000 Afghans in Pakistan could encourage the government to begin deporting Afghans awaiting resettlement in the US “President Trump has shattered hopes,” he told The Associated Press.

He said his life would be at risk if he returned to Afghanistan with his family because he previously worked for the US Embassy in Kabul on public awareness campaigns promoting education.

“You know the Taliban are against the education of girls. America has the right to shape its immigration policy, but it should not abandon those who stood with it, risked their life, and who were promised a good future.”

Another Afghan, Khalid Khan, said the new restrictions could expose him and thousands of others to arrest in Pakistan.

He said police had previously left him and his family alone at the request of the US Embassy. “I worked for the US military for eight years, and I feel abandoned. Every month, Trump is making a new rule,” said Khan. He fled to Pakistan three years ago.

“I don’t know what to say. Returning to Afghanistan will jeopardize my daughter’s education. You know the Taliban have banned girls from attending school beyond sixth grade. My daughter will remain uneducated if we return.”

He said it no longer mattered whether people spoke out against Trump’s policies.

“So long as Trump is there, we are nowhere. I have left all of my matters to Allah.”

There was no immediate comment on the travel ban from the Taliban-run government.

Pakistan previously said it was working with host countries to resettle Afghans. Nobody was available to comment on Trump’s latest executive order.


Russian strike kills 5 in Ukraine, including a 1-year-old, hours after Trump-Putin call

Updated 53 min 50 sec ago
Follow

Russian strike kills 5 in Ukraine, including a 1-year-old, hours after Trump-Putin call

  • Six drones hit a residential area in the city shortly before dawn, injuring nine others
  • The child killed was the grandson of the local fire chief, Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said

PRYLUKY, Ukraine: At least five people, including a 1-year-old child, his mother and grandmother, were killed Thursday in a nighttime Russian drone attack on the northern Ukrainian city of Pryluky, officials said.

Six drones hit a residential area in the city shortly before dawn, injuring nine others, according to authorities. The child killed was the grandson of the local fire chief, Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.

The fire chief, identified by local officials as 50-year-old Oleksandr Lebid, “arrived to respond to the aftermath right at his own home,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on Telegram. “It turned out that a Shahed drone hit his house.”

The attack came just hours after US President Donald Trump spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to Trump, Putin said “very strongly” that Russia will retaliate for Ukraine’s stunning drone attacks on Russian military airfields on Sunday.

US-led diplomatic efforts to stop the more than 3-year-long war have delivered no significant progress, and the grinding war of attrition has continued unabated.

Child’s mother feared drone attacks

The mother of the 1-year-old killed in Pryluky was a police officer called Daryna Shyhyda, Ukraine’s National Police said.

“Today our hearts are scorched by pain,” the police force wrote on Telegram. “This is not just a loss — it is three generations of life uprooted.”

Liudmyla Horbunova, 55, who lives across the street from where the Shahed drone hit, said Shyhyda had moved with her son last weekend to her parents’ house from her home in Kyiv because she was scared of potential Russian attacks on the capital.

“She ran away from Shaheds in Kyiv, but they found her here, in Pryluky,” Horbunova told The Associated Press.

Firefighters worked through charred debris and extinguished the remains of a fire that engulfed the home of Shyhyda’s parents, leaving only a brick carcass and scattered toys, clothes and a family photo book.


Drones struck across regions

Pryluky, which had a prewar population of around 50,000 people, lies about 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Kyiv, the capital. The city is far from the front line and does not contain any known military assets.

The last time Pryluky was struck was in November last year, when a Russian missile hit an administrative building and injured one person.

Zelensky said a total of 103 drones and one ballistic missile targeted multiple Ukrainian regions overnight, including Donetsk, Kharkiv, Odesa, Sumy, Chernihiv, Dnipro and Kherson.

“This is another massive strike,” Zelensky said. “It is yet another reason to impose the strongest possible sanctions and apply pressure collectively.”

US peace effort remains stalled
Zelensky, who has accepted a US ceasefire proposal and offered to meet with Putin in an attempt to break the stalemate in negotiations, wants more international sanctions on Russia to force it to accept a settlement. Putin has shown no willingness to meet with Zelensky, however, and has indicated no readiness to compromise.

Germany’s new leader Friedrich Merz was due to meet with President Donald Trump in Washington on Thursday as he works to keep the US on board with Western diplomatic and military support for Ukraine.

Ukraine’s top presidential aide, Andriy Yermak, met with senior American officials in Washington on Wednesday and called for greater US pressure on Russia, accusing the Kremlin of deliberately stalling ceasefire talks and blocking progress toward peace, according to a statement on the presidential website.

Yermak, who traveled to the US as part of a Ukrainian delegation, met with senior American officials to bolster support for Ukraine’s defense and humanitarian priorities. He said Ukraine urgently needs stronger air defense capabilities.

More people wounded in Kharkiv
Hours later, 19 people were injured in a Russian drone strike on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. Those hurt included children, a pregnant woman, and a 93-year-old woman, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov wrote on Telegram.

At around 1:05 a.m., Shahed-type drones struck two apartment buildings in the city’s Slobidskyi district, causing fires and destroying several private vehicles.

“By launching attacks while people sleep in their homes, the enemy once again confirms its tactic of insidious terror,” Syniehubov wrote on Telegram.

Russian aircraft also dropped four powerful glide bombs on the southern city of Kherson, injuring at least three people, regional authorities said.