OSWIECIM, Poland: Israel’s president said in Poland on Thursday the return of hostages held by Palestinian militants in Gaza was a “universal moral imperative” and called on the international community to help end “this horrific humanitarian crime.”
Isaac Herzog spoke from the southern city of Oswiecim, the site of the former Nazi German death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, on the occasion of the annual March of the Living to commemorate its victims.
Auschwitz was the largest of the extermination camps built by Nazi Germany and has become a symbol of the Holocaust of six million European Jews. One million Jews and more than 100,000 non-Jews died at the site between 1940 and 1945.
“With a broken heart, I remind us all that even though after the Holocaust we swore ‘never again’, today — here and now — the souls of dozens of Jews are once again yearning within a cage, longing for water and freedom,” Herzog said at a ceremony.
Nearly 60 “of our brothers and sisters remain held by terrorist murderers in Gaza, in a horrific crime against humanity,” he added.
“The return of the hostages is a universal moral imperative, and I call from here — from this sacred place — for the entire international community to mobilize and end this horrific humanitarian crime.”
Some 251 people, including women and children, were seized during Palestinian militant group Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, which left 1,218 Israelis dead according to an AFP tally based on official data, and sparked a deadly war in Gaza.
Fifty-eight hostages are still being held there, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s military response in Gaza has unleashed a humanitarian crisis and killed at least 51,355 people, mainly civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
Herzog did not mention Israel’s military operations in Gaza at the ceremony in Auschwitz.
Qatar, with the United States and Egypt, brokered a truce in Gaza between Israel and Hamas which began on January 19 and enabled a surge in aid, alongside the exchange of hostages and prisoners.
Israel resumed its intense air strikes and ground offensive across Gaza on March 18 amid disagreement over the next phase in the ceasefire that for two months had largely halted the fighting.
Last month, Herzog said he was shocked that the hostage issue was no longer a top priority in the country and criticized the war policy of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
Thousands of Israelis have been holding daily protests in Jerusalem, angry over the government’s policies including a return to war, which many see as forsaking the hostages still being held in Gaza.
Israel president says ‘moral imperative’ to bring home Gaza hostages
https://arab.news/jz9sj
Israel president says ‘moral imperative’ to bring home Gaza hostages
- “With a broken heart, I remind us all that even though after the Holocaust we swore ‘never again’,” Herzog said
- Nearly 60 “of our brothers and sisters remain held by terrorist murderers in Gaza, in a horrific crime against humanity“
Russia launches smallest nighttime attack on Ukraine in months in run-up to possible peace talks
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, said Monday that Russia is “quickly replenishing front-line units with new recruits to maintain the battlefield initiative”
KYIV: Russia launched 10 Shahed and decoy drones at Ukraine in nighttime attacks, the Ukrainian air force said Tuesday, in its smallest drone bombardment this year as the warring countries prepare for possible peace talks in Turkiye.
The Kremlin hasn’t directly responded to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s challenge for Russian leader Vladimir Putin to meet him in person at the negotiating table in Istanbul on Thursday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused for the second straight day Tuesday to tell reporters whether Putin will travel to Istanbul and who else will represent Russia at the potential talks. “As soon as the president considers it necessary, we will make an announcement,” Peskov said.
Russia has said it will send a delegation to Istanbul without preconditions.
The US has been applying stiff pressure on both sides to come to the table since President Donald Trump came to power in January with a promise to end the war.
Military analysts say both sides are preparing a spring-summer campaign on the battlefield, where a war of attrition has killed tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, said Monday that Russia is “quickly replenishing front-line units with new recruits to maintain the battlefield initiative.”
Zelensky will not be meeting with any Russian officials in Istanbul other than Putin, Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Zelensky, said Tuesday on a YouTube show run by prominent Russian journalists in exile.
Lower-level talks would amount to simply “dragging out” any peace process, Podolyak said.
European leaders have recently accused Putin of dragging his feet in peace efforts while he attempts to press his bigger army’s battlefield initiative and capture more Ukrainian land.
Russia effectively rejected an unconditional 30-day ceasefire demanded by Ukraine and Western European leaders from Monday, when it fired more than 100 drones at Ukraine. Putin instead offered direct peace talks.
But the wrangling over whether a ceasefire should come before the talks begin has continued.
“Ukraine is ready for any format of negotiations with Russia, but a ceasefire must come first,” Andrii Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said Tuesday.
Negotiations are impossible while “the Ukrainian people are under attack by Russian missiles and drones around the clock,” Yermak said in a video address to the Copenhagen Democracy Summit 2025.
Putin has repeatedly questioned the legitimacy of the Ukrainian government, especially Zelensky himself, saying his term expired last year. Under Ukraine’s constitution, it is illegal for the country to hold national elections while it’s under martial law, as it now is.
In a further complication, a Ukrainian decree from 2022 rules out negotiations with Putin.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke Monday with the senior diplomats from the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Poland, who were meeting in London, to assess “the way forward for a ceasefire and path to peace in Ukraine,” spokesperson Tammy Bruce said.
Those European countries had pledged further sanctions on Russia if it didn’t comply with a full ceasefire that Ukraine had accepted from Monday, but they made no announcement of additional punitive measures.
Putin ‘doesn’t dare’ meet Zelensky in Istanbul: EU’s Kallas
- The meeting set for Thursday in Istanbul would be the first direct negotiations
- Zelensky has urged Putin to personally attend the talks
COPENHAGEN: The European Union’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas said Tuesday she didn’t think Russian President Vladimir Putin would turn up for talks in Turkiye this week with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The meeting set for Thursday in Istanbul would be the first direct negotiations between Ukrainian and Russian officials since the early months of Moscow’s invasion in 2022.
Zelensky has urged Putin to personally attend the talks that the Kremlin leader himself suggested, but Moscow has so far declined to respond to the invitation.
“I think it’s a good move if they sit down,” Kallas told a democracy conference in Copenhagen, adding: “But I don’t think he dares, Putin.”
“It has been over two months since Ukraine agreed to an unconditional ceasefire,” she said.
“Russia is clearly playing games, trying to find time, hoping that time is on their side. We haven’t seen any good efforts or good signs from their side.”
Ukraine said Tuesday that a Putin no-show would be a clear sign that Moscow is not serious about peace.
“If Vladimir Putin refuses to come to Turkiye, it will be the final signal that Russia does not want to end this war, that Russia is not willing and not ready for any negotiations,” Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said in a statement.
How Western aid cuts deepen Afghan women’s crisis
- Foreign aid empowers Afghan women through funding, training, market access
- Entrepreneurs say sudden cuts force women-led businesses to close
KABUL: Afghan women entrepreneurs who have carved out spaces of independence for themselves and others, despite sweeping Taliban restrictions, are facing the collapse of their businesses as Western donors abruptly cut the aid they once pledged.
The rights of Afghan women have been curtailed since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021.
Barred from secondary schools and higher education, restricted in public places and not allowed to take up most of the jobs, women have been turning to private entrepreneurship to empower themselves and others.
Aid from Western countries, which have been pressuring the Taliban to uphold women’s rights, has been especially vital in sustaining these female-led initiatives.
The sudden reduction in funding, which started with massive US aid cuts since January, has already affected Afghan healthcare and essential services and is now taking a toll on the very group the West once vowed to support.
“Women’s economic activities have been severely affected by the reduction in international aid. Reduced financial support has led to fewer training and development opportunities, and in some cases international partners that previously provided resources or markets have suspended or ceased their activities,” Behnaz Saljoqi, head of the Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Industries in Herat, told Arab News.
International humanitarian aid has played a key role in empowering women entrepreneurs by providing not only direct support but also training, networking opportunities, microfinance, access to foreign markets, and sponsorship for exhibitions.
“This support not only helped women acquire technical and managerial skills, but also gain greater confidence to participate in the labor market and society. Without this support, many women would not even consider starting a business,” Saljoqi said.
“If the situation continues or worsens, the working environment for women will become increasingly difficult … The empowerment process that began in previous years will be reversed.”
Bahar Anwari, who runs Bahar Canvas Art Gallery in Kabul, is already observing a decline in her business as her usual customers — women — are no longer placing orders.
“With the reduction of development projects, things changed in the country,” she said.
“The purchasing power of people, especially women, has become very low. Employment opportunities became scarce, and most women lost their jobs, and poverty is growing every day. We will have to shut down our workshops and sit at home doing nothing.”
For Afghan women entrepreneurs, doing business means not only helping to sustain their own households but also contributing to society and creating opportunities for others like them.
International support has played a key role in making it possible.
“Women in Afghanistan largely depend on financial support from family and international organizations. While establishing my company, I also received some funds from a development organization, without which it would have been very difficult to set up the business,” said Parisa Elhami, director of fashion brand Watan Collection.
“Being in business as a woman gave me the strength and confidence to maintain my social standing despite the limitations. Business allowed me to be independent and provide employment opportunities for other women.”
The foreign aid cuts, especially from Afghanistan’s main donor, the US — which invaded the country in 2001 and spent billions of dollars on two decades of military and development operations — have already disrupted basic services such as healthcare, education, and food distribution.
Women, whose social role US humanitarian agencies earlier promoted, face losing their place in society, together with the collapsing businesses.
“The presence of women in economic and social spheres is vital. It not only contributes to economic growth, but also contributes to social justice and the overall progress of society,” Elhami told Arab News.
“The decline in international aid, especially from the US, has forced many women-run companies to close or reduce their staff … If the economic situation and global aid levels continue at the same pace or worse, the future of women’s business will be seriously threatened. Many businesses will disappear and women’s access to economic, health and educational opportunities will be severely limited.”
UN chief pleads with countries to pay their share for peacekeeping, points to financial problems
- UN’s peackeeping department currently leads 11 operations, in countries including Lebanon, South Sudan, Congo others
- “Peacekeeping operations have been facing serious liquidity problems,” said Guterres
BERLIN: UN Secretary-General António Guterres told countries that the world body’s peacekeeping operation is “only as strong as member states’ commitment to it” as he pleaded with them Tuesday to pay their share.
The United Nations’ peackeeping department currently leads 11 operations, in countries including Congo, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Lebanon, Cyprus and Kosovo.
The budget for nine of those operations during the fiscal year that ends on June 30 totals $5.6 billion, 8.2 percent lower than a year earlier. Each of the UN’s 193 member countries is legally obliged to pay its share toward peacekeeping.
Guterres argued that, with a budget “representing a tiny fraction of global military spending — around one half of one percent — UN Peacekeeping remains one of the most effective and cost-effective tools to build international peace and security.”
“But it’s only as strong as member states’ commitment to it,” he added at the opening of a two-day, German-hosted conference of ministers to discuss the future of peacekeeping.
“Unfortunately, peacekeeping operations have been facing serious liquidity problems. It is absolutely essential that all member states respect their financial obligations, paying their contributions in full and on time.”
Guterres didn’t offer details of the problems, but acknowledged that “these are tough times for the financing of our work across the board.”
More broadly, the UN has been scrambling to respond to funding cuts for aid operations from its biggest donor, the United States, under President Donald Trump’s administration.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said that his country, like many others, “is prepared to pledge additional resources” for peacekeeping. But he said there should also be an effort to make missions “more efficient and more focused” through clearer mandates, cutting back on bureaucracy and avoiding duplication.
Philippine ex-president Duterte wins mayoral election from ICC detention
- Duterte was mayor of Davao for more than 20 years before becoming president
- Local residents credit him with creating a peaceful, safe and livable city
MANILA: Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has won the mayoral election in his home city by a landslide, poll results showed on Tuesday, despite his detention at the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity.
Duterte won another term as mayor of Davao City with more than 662,000 votes, which is about 85 percent of the total and eight times more than his closest rival.
In ICC custody since March, Duterte is awaiting trial over the “war on drugs” campaign during his time as president in 2016-22, which the court estimates resulted in the extrajudicial killings of 30,000 Filipinos.
But even from a jail cell halfway across the world, his legacy as mayor of Davao for more than two decades before becoming president lives on, enough for his supporters to show up in masses at the polls.
“He is the father figure for most Davaoenos (people of Davao). He is largely credited for the peace and order in the city, which is far better than anywhere else,” Davao resident and former journalist Allan Afdal Dawal told Arab News.
“Things worked and people can walk in the busy streets without being pickpocketed or robbed. For example, Agdao was a gangland until the ’90s. Now it’s a bustling commercial district,” he said. “As for his ICC case, most people believed he would eventually be exonerated as the charges were seen as trumped up.”
Under Philippine law, candidates facing criminal charges, including those in detention, can run for office, unless they have been convicted and have exhausted all appeals.
Duterte, 80, first became mayor of Davao in 1988, at a time when the city was plagued by violence, insurgency and gang warfare.
“Davao’s peace and order situation in the ’80s was unimaginable. When PRRD (President Rodrigo Roa Duterte) took over, it was a miraculous 360-degree turn. He ruled with an iron fist but made Davaoenos feel safer,” Davao native Jojie told Arab News.
Davao, the third most-populated city in the Philippines, has since topped global lists of safest and most livable cities across Asia.
In Duterte, the people of Davao remember a leader who is approachable and relatable.
“He’s very different from the typical politician who’s like ‘high and mighty’ or usually has a lot of bodyguards … So many of the people here felt that finally, there’s someone who is ‘one of them,’” business owner May Ann told Arab News.
People often saw him in public spaces, including driving a taxi around the city. Interacting with Duterte, who locals call Digong, was a normal occurrence that made people “feel like they know him personally and have a close connection with him,” she added.
“I used to volunteer at a halfway home for children with cancer, and he would always be there on Survivors’ Day. Even though I knew about the EJKs (extrajudicial killings), many of us overlooked it because of what he had done for the city.”
Duterte’s deadly anti-drugs campaign has been the subject of international investigation for years, leading to his arrest in March. He has repeatedly defended the crackdown and denied the extrajudicial killing of alleged drug suspects, although he has also openly admitted to instructing police to kill in self-defense.
He could become the first Asian former head of state to go on trial at the ICC. But while his legal fate remains uncertain, Duterte could still take his oath as mayor despite being behind bars.
“If I were President Duterte, I will ask ICC to be given the chance to take an oath of office as elected mayor of Davao before an official of the Philippines’ consulate to make more official his victory. Though it could be a long shot, depends on his lawyers’ arguments,” election lawyer Romy Macalintal told Arab News.
“In his absence, the vice mayor will act as mayor ... The elected vice mayor is his son.”
