JERUSALEM: A far-right Israeli minister sparked fresh outrage on Monday by saying he would build a synagogue at Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound if he could, once again challenging government policy.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who has repeatedly ignored the government’s long-standing ban on Jews praying at the site, told Army Radio that if it were possible he would build a synagogue at the Al-Aqsa compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.
The Al-Aqsa compound is Islam’s third holiest site and a symbol of Palestinian national identity, but it is also Judaism’s holiest place, revered as the site of the second temple destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.
“If I could do anything I wanted, I would put an Israeli flag on the site,” Ben Gvir said in the interview.
Asked several times by the journalist if he would build a synagogue at the site if it were up to him, Ben Gvir finally replied: “Yes.”
Under the status quo maintained by Israeli authorities, Jews and other non-Muslims are allowed to visit the compound in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem during specified hours, but they are not permitted to pray there or display religious symbols.
In recent years, the restrictions at the compound have been increasingly flouted by hard-line religious nationalists like Ben Gvir, prompting sometimes violent reactions from Palestinians.
The Al-Aqsa mosque compound is administered by Jordan, but access to the site itself is controlled by Israeli security forces.
Ben Gvir told Army Radio that Jews should be allowed to pray in the compound.
“Arabs can pray wherever they want, so Jews should be able to pray wherever they want,” he said, claiming that the “current policy allows Jews to pray at this site.”
Several Israeli officials condemned Ben Gvir after his latest comments, and a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said “there is no change” to the current policy.
“Challenging the status quo on the Temple Mount is a dangerous, unnecessary, and irresponsible act,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on X.
“Ben Gvir’s actions endanger the national security of the State of Israel.”
Palestinian presidency spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh also condemned Ben Gvir, warning that “Al-Aqsa and the holy sites are a red line that we will not allow to be touched at all.”
Hamas, with whom Israel is locked in a bitter war in the Gaza Strip, said the minister’s comments were “dangerous” and called on Arab and Islamic countries “to take responsibility for protecting the holy sites.”
Earlier this month, Ben Gvir announced he had prayed at the compound, drawing widespread condemnation, including from several influential Israeli rabbis.
During a recent visit to the site, Ben Gvir filmed a video statement in which he reiterated his opposition to any ceasefire in the Gaza war.
Israel minister says would build synagogue at flashpoint Jerusalem site
https://arab.news/btvx9
Israel minister says would build synagogue at flashpoint Jerusalem site
- “If I could do anything I wanted, I would put an Israeli flag on the site,” Ben Gvir said in an interview
- Asked several times by the journalist if he would build a synagogue at the site if it were up to him, Ben Gvir finally replied: “Yes”
Deadly floods bring relief to Moroccan farmers
- The torrential rains at the weekend triggered floods that killed at least 18 people in areas of southern Morocco that straddle the Sahara desert
RABAT: When powerful thunderstorms hit Morocco’s arid south, they brought deadly floods but also provided some relief to farmers as the country grapples with its worst drought in nearly 40 years.
The torrential rains at the weekend triggered floods that killed at least 18 people in areas of southern Morocco that straddle the Sahara desert.
While the rain was devastating in part, it also brought some relief to farmers growing crops like almonds, dates and cereals.
“These rains will bring a breath of fresh air” to the south, said agronomist Mohamed Taher Srairi.
“But it has not rained elsewhere, and the country remains under a heavy structural drought.”
The unusual rainfall resulted from a tropical air mass shifting northward, according to Lhoussaine Youabd, spokesman for Morocco’s General Directorate of Meteorology.
Experts say climate change is making extreme weather, such as storms and droughts, more frequent and intense.
Morocco is one of the world’s most water-stressed nations, with frequent droughts affecting a third of the population employed in agriculture.
Near areas of the northwest African country lashed by the weekend’s rain, water levels in dams have risen and groundwater is expected to replenish.
The four Draa Oued Noun dams, which supply areas impacted by the floods in the Ouarzazate region, saw water levels increase by 19 percent to 191 million cubic meters, according to Youssef Ben Hamou, director of the agency managing the barrages.
The region of Ouarzazate, located in Morocco’s south, sits between the Atlantic Ocean, the Atlas Mountains and the Sahara.
Water levels of the large Ouarzazate dam climbed to 69 million cubic meters, roughly 70 percent of its capacity, while levels at the Fask dam rose by 10 million cubic meters in just 24 hours.
“The rains have proved to be a boon for the region, because these reserves will be able to ensure drinking water supply which remains a priority,” said Ben Hamou.
Mohamed Jalil, a water resources consultant, said the downpours would help to replenish soil saturation levels, although that usually requires rainfall over time after a long drought.
“This will bring respite to the oases, particularly for agriculture,” he said.
The psychological impact of the long-awaited rains was also significant, he said, especially after a harsh, dry summer.
The massive rainfall had “brought hope” to the drought-hit area, he said.
The Moroccan government has pledged financial aid to the flooded areas.
During a visit to Ouarzazate this week, Agriculture Minister Mohammed Sadiki announced the allocation of $4.1 million to repair damaged infrastructure, support agriculture and help those affected by the floods.
Although no further downpours are expected in the immediate future, climatologists warn that Morocco must better prepare for weather disasters driven by global warming.
Moroccans should be ready “for new phenomena whose frequency and violence are unknown, given the effects of climate change,” said Mohamed Said Karrouk, a climatology professor at Hassan II University in Casablanca.
Iran upping repression of women 2 years after Mahsa Amini’s death: UN experts
- Iranian Kurdish Mahsa Amini died while in custody, sparking nationwide protests
- UN experts say repression had stepped up noticeably since April in fresh update
Geneva: UN experts accused Iran Friday of “intensifying” its repression of women two years after Mahsa Amini’s death in custody, which sparked nationwide protests, including an apparent pattern of sentencing women activists to death.
Amini, 22, was an Iranian Kurdish woman who died three days after her arrest in Tehran in September 2022 for allegedly breaching Iran’s dress code which requires women to wear a headscarf.
Two years on, “Iran has intensified its efforts to suppress the fundamental rights of women and girls and crush remaining initiatives of women’s activism,” the independent UN fact-finding mission on Iran warned in a statement.
The UN Human Rights Council appointed the experts to investigate the deadly crackdown on nationwide protests that rocked Iran after Amini’s death.
“Although mass protests have subsided, the unabated defiance of women and girls is a continuous reminder that they still live in a system that relegates them to ‘second class citizens’,” said the experts, who do not speak on behalf of the United Nations.
In a fresh update, they said repression had stepped up noticeably since April.
State authorities had “increased repressive measures and policies” through the so-called “Noor Plan,” which encourages sanctioning rights violations against women and girls who flout the mandatory hijab, they said.
“Security forces have further escalated pre-existing patterns of physical violence, including beating, kicking, and slapping women and girls who are perceived as failing to comply with the mandatory hijab laws and regulations,” the team said in a statement.
They also warned that state authorities had enhanced surveillance for hijab compliance, including in private spheres like vehicles, and with a range of tools, including drones.
At the same time, a new “Hijab and Chastity” bill, which is in the final stages of approval, provides for harsher penalties for women who do not wear the mandatory hijab — including soaring fines, long prison sentences and travel bans.
In their statement, the experts expressed particular concern about “an apparent new pattern of sentencing to death of women activists... following their convictions for national security offenses.”
“Over the last two years, the death penalty and other domestic criminal law provisions, in particular those related to national security, have been used as instruments to terrorize and deter Iranians from protesting and expressing themselves freely,” they said.
Tunisians set to protest against authoritarianism ahead of upcoming presidential election
- Newly-formed ‘Tunisian Network for the Defense of Rights and Freedoms’ hopes to draw attention to what it has called a surge in authoritarianism
TUNIS: Tunisians are expected to take to the streets on Friday to denounce the tumult that’s plagued the country’s upcoming election, with candidates arrested, kicked off the ballot or banned from politics for life.
The newly-formed “Tunisian Network for the Defense of Rights and Freedoms” hopes to draw attention to what it has called a surge in authoritarianism.
“Protesting this Friday is a reaction to the violation of rights and freedoms we’re seeing in Tunisia today. The other reason is seeing some citizens being deprived of their right to run in the presidential vote,” said Mohieddine Lagha, Secretary-General of the Tunisian League for Human Rights.
The North African country’s Independent High Authority for Elections has sparred with judges over which candidates will be allowed to appear on the ballot in the October 6 election.
The commission’s detractors have accused it of lacking independence and acting on behalf of President Kais Saied, who appoints its members.
The commission has rejected organizations that have applied to be election observers, and it has said it will not add three candidates to the ballot who won court appeals challenging the authority’s earlier rejections.
That includes former health minister Abdellatif Mekki, a former member of the Islamist movement Ennahda now running with his own party, Work and Accomplishment. Mekki was arrested in July on charges his attorneys said were political and banned from politics for life.
A court ordered the election authority to put him on the ballot last month, and his candidacy was reinstated for a second time earlier this week. ISIE dismissed the first court’s ruling and has not commented on the most recent one.
“We called for a large participation of the population in this protest as we’re hoping to pressure for a massive mobilization,” Ahmed Neffati, Mekki’s campaign manager, said.
“Tunisians won’t let go of their right for a free and democratic election,” he added.
Despite expectations of a barely-contested vote, Saied has upended Tunisian politics in recent months. Last month he sacked the majority of his cabinet, and his critics decried a wave of arrests and gag orders on leading opposition figures as politically driven.
The International Crisis Group last week said Tunisia was in a “deteriorating situation,” and Human Rights Watch called on the election commission to reinstate the candidates.
“Holding elections amid such repression makes a mockery of Tunisians’ right to participate in free and fair elections,” said Bassam Khawaja, the group’s deputy Middle East and North Africa director.
Hamas chief Sinwar thanks Hezbollah in letter to Nasrallah
- Sinwar has not appeared in public since the Oct. 7 attacks
- Hezbollah is the most powerful faction in an alliance of Iran-backed groups known as the Axis of Resistance
BEIRUT: Hamas chief Yehya Sinwar thanked the leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah for his group’s support in the conflict with Israel, Hezbollah said on Friday, in the first reported message since Sinwar became Hamas leader in August.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah has been waging attacks on Israel for nearly a year in a conflict across the Lebanese-Israeli border that has been taking place in parallel to the Gaza war. Hezbollah says its attacks aim to support the Palestinians.
“Your blessed actions have expressed your solidarity on the fronts of the Axis of Resistance, supporting and engaging in the battle,” Sinwar told Nasrallah, according to Hezbollah’s Al-Manar broadcaster.
Sinwar has not appeared in public since the Oct. 7 attacks, and is widely thought to be running the war from tunnels beneath Gaza. It was the second time this week he is reported to have sent a letter. Hamas said on Tuesday he had sent one congratulating Algerian President Abdulmadjid Tebboune on his reelection.
Hezbollah is the most powerful faction in an alliance of Iran-backed groups known as the Axis of Resistance, which have also entered the fray with attacks from Yemen and Iraq in support of Hamas during the Gaza war.
In the early days of the conflict, former Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal hinted at frustration over the scale of Hezbollah’s intervention, thanking the group but saying “the battle requires more.”
Over the last year, Israel has killed around 500 Hezbollah fighters, including its top military commander Fuad Shukr. The toll is greater than Hezbollah’s losses in its 2006 war with Israel. Hezbollah has said it had no advance knowledge of the Oct. 7 attack, which Sinwar helped plan.
Sinwar also thanked Nasrallah for a letter he sent expressing condolences for the death of Ismail Haniyeh, the former Hamas leader killed in Tehran in July in an assassination widely believed to have been carried out by Israel.
The hostilities across the Lebanese-Israeli border have forced tens of thousands of people to leave both sides of the frontier. The risk of escalation has loomed large.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Tuesday that Israeli forces are near to fulfilling their mission in Gaza and their focus will turn to the Lebanon border.
Israeli leaders have said they would prefer to resolve the conflict through an agreement that would push Hezbollah away from the border. Hezbollah has said that it will continue fighting as long as the Gaza war continues.
Body of activist shot in West Bank arrives in Turkiye
- The UN rights office has accused Israeli forces of shooting Aysenur Ezgi Eygi in the head
- Her family said she was ‘shot in the head and killed by a bullet from an Israeli soldier’
ISTANBUL: The body of a US-Turkish activist, shot dead by Israeli forces while protesting against illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, arrived in Turkiye on Friday.
The killing last week of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, has sparked international condemnation.
The United Nations rights office has accused Israeli forces of shooting Eygi in the head.
The Israeli army has acknowledged opening fire in the area and has said it is looking into the case.
Turkish officials, including Istanbul governor Davut, Gul attended the ceremony at Istanbul’s airport, where they prayed before the coffin wrapped in the Turkish flag.
Ankara has launched an investigation into Eygi’s death during a protest in the occupied West Bank town of Beita.
It has also petitioned the UN to launch an independent inquiry into the killing.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a vocal opponent of Israel’s war in Gaza, has vowed to ensure “that Aysenur Ezgi’s death does not go unpunished.”
Her family said she was “shot in the head and killed by a bullet from an Israeli soldier” during a weekly demonstration against Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law.
US President Joe Biden called on Wednesday for Israel to provide “full accountability” and demanded it “do more” to avoid such killings.
The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said on Tuesday that increased violence in the occupied West Bank meant it risked becoming “a new Gaza.”
Eygi’s family is hoping to hold her funeral on Saturday in the western coastal town of Didim.
“It’s sad but it’s also a source of pride for Didim,” Eygi’s uncle Ali Tikkim, 67, who lives in the town, said on Wednesday.
