“As a war memorial, we value the importance of peaceful dialogue and understanding.
“We condemn all acts of violence and terrorism. This evening the museum is lit in blue and white in condemnation and as an expression of hope for peace.”
Researcher Dr Arama Rata said within hours, about 100 people had gathered outside the museum, many holding Palestine flags and chanting “Free Palestine”.
She said a verbal confrontation arose between the Palestine supporters and a group of Israel supporters.
Red fabric-covered lights
Dr Rata said Palestine supporters subsequently covered the lights with red fabric blacking out the display.
She said the museum must issue a formal apology to the community, saying its actions have caused deep divisions for people who are already hurting.
Alternative Jewish Voices co-founder Marilyn Garson, a Jewish woman who spent four years in Gaza providing humanitarian aid to shelters, said the board of the War Memorial Museun was either partisan, or uninformed.
“They feel solidarity only with Israel. So they single out one acknowledged crime while massive crimes against Palestinians are unfolding. I don’t understand how Palestinian civilians can be invisible to the board of a war museum,” she said.
“It seems to me that it is the antithesis of a war memorial’s mission to downgrade some human lives. They’re saying that they feel for these civilians and not those civilians. So someone really doesn’t understand the concept of civilian safety.
“A war memorial should act to hold back the violence, they need to learn into their blind spot. I want them to call for the end of this horror.”
Personally apologised
In a statement, chief executive David Reeves said he personally apologised and they were reviewing the feedback they had received from Sunday night.
“I acknowledge the depth of feeling around our decision to light the museum on Sunday night,” Reeves said.
“We wanted this to be an expression of hope for peace — our approach was wrong, and I personally apologise for the distress and hurt caused to members of our community,” he said.
“I am carefully reviewing and reflecting on all of the feedback we have received. As a War Memorial Museum, we continue to hope for deeper understanding and a peaceful resolution to conflict.”
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
In the aftermath of Palestinian group Hamas’ terror attack inside Israel on October 7 and the Israeli state’s even more terrifying attacks on Palestinian urban neighbourhoods in Gaza, the media across many parts of Asia tend to take a more neutral stand in comparison with their Western counterparts.
A lot of sympathy is expressed for the plight of the Palestinians who have been under frequent attacks by Israeli forces for decades and have faced ever trauma since the Nakba in 1948 when Zionist militia forced some 750,000 refugees to leave their homeland.
Even India, which has been getting closer to Israel in recent years, and one of Israel’s closest Asian allies, Singapore, have taken a cautious attitude to the latest chapter in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Soon after the Hamas attacks in Israel, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that he was “deeply shocked by the news of terrorist attacks”.
He added: “We stand in solidarity with Israel at this difficult hour.” But, soon after, his Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) sought to strike a balance.
Addressing a media briefing on October 12, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi reiterated New Delhi’s “long-standing and consistent” position on the issue, telling reporters that “India has always advocated the resumption of direct negotiations towards establishing a sovereign, independent and viable state of Palestine” living in peace with Israel.
Singapore has also reiterated its support for a two-state solution, with Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam telling Today Daily that it was possible to deplore how Palestinians had been treated over the years while still unequivocally condemning the terrorist attacks carried out in Israel by Hamas.
“These atrocities cannot be justified by any rationale whatsoever, whether of fundamental problems or historical grievances,” he said.
“I think it’s fair to say that any response has to be consistent with international law and international rules of war”.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has blamed the rapidly worsening conflict in the Middle East on a lack of justice for the Palestinian people.
Lack of justice for Palestinians
“The crux of the issue lies in the fact that justice has not been done to the Palestinian people,” Beijing’s top diplomat said in a phone call with Brazil’s Celso Amorim, a special adviser to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, according to Japan’s Nikkei Asia.
The call came just ahead of an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on October 13 to discuss the Israel-Hamas war. Brazil, a non-permanent member, is chairing the council this month.
Indonesian President Jokowi Widodo called for an end to the region’s bloodletting cycle and pro-Palestinian protests have been held in Jakarta.
“Indonesia calls for the war and violence to be stopped immediately to avoid further human casualties and destruction of property because the escalation of the conflict can cause greater humanitarian impact,” he said.
“The root cause of the conflict, which is the occupation of Palestinian land by Israel, must be resolved immediately in accordance with the parameters that have been agreed upon by the UN.”
Indonesia, which is home to the world’s largest Muslim population, has supported Palestinian self-determination for a long time and does not have diplomatic relations with Israel.
But, Indonesia’s foreign ministry said 275 Indonesians were working in Israel and were making plans to evacuate them.
Many parts of Gaza lie in ruins following repeated Israeli airstrikes for the past week. Image: UN News/Ziad Taleb
Sympathy for the Palestinians
Meanwhile, Thailand said that 18 of their citizens have been killed by the terror attacks and 11 abducted.
In the Philippines, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo said on October 10 that the safety of thousands of Filipinos living and working in Israel remained a priority for the government.
There are approximately 40,000 Filipinos in Israel, but only 25,000 are legally documented, according to labour and migrant groups, says Benar News, a US-funded Asian news portal.
According to India’s MEA spokesperson Bagchi, there are 18,000 Indians in Israel and about a dozen in the Palestinian territories. India is trying to bring them home, and a first flight evacuating 230 Indians was expected to take place at the weekend, according to the Hindu newspaper.
It is unclear what such large numbers of Asians are doing in Israel. Yet, from media reports in the region, there is deep concern about the plight of civilians caught up in the clashes.
Benar News reported that Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has spoken with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about resolving the Palestine-Israel conflict according to UN-agreed parameters.
Also this week, the Malaysian government announced it would allocate 1 million ringgit (US$211,423) in humanitarian aid for Palestinians.
Western view questioned
Sympathy for the Palestinian cause is reflected widely in the Asian media, both in Muslim-majority and non-Muslim countries. The Western unequivocal support for Israel, particularly by Anglo-American media, has been questioned across Asia.
Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post’s regular columnist Alex Lo challenged Hamas’ “unprovoked” terror attack in Israel, a narrative commonly used in Western media reporting of the latest flare-up.
“It must be pointed out that what Hamas has done is terrorism pure and simple,” notes Lo.
“But such horrors and atrocities are not being committed by Palestinian militants without a background and a context. They did not come out of nowhere as unadulterated and uncaused evil”.
Thus Lo argues, that to claim that the latest terror attacks were “unprovoked” is to whitewash the background and context that constitute the very history of this unending conflict in Palestine.
US media’s ‘morally reprehensible propaganda’
“It’s morally reprehensible propaganda of the worst kind that the mainstream Anglo-American media culture has been guilty of for decades,” he says.
“But the real problem with that is not only with morality but also with the very practical politics of searching for a viable peace settlement”.
He is concerned that “with their unconditional and uncritical support of Israel, the West and the United States in particular have essentially made such a peace impossible”.
Writing in India’s Hindu newspaper, Denmark-based Indian professor of literature Dr Tabish Khair points out that historically, Palestinians have had to indulge in drastic and violent acts to draw attention to their plight and the oppressive policies of Israel.
“The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), under Yasser Arafat’s leadership, used such ‘terrorist’ acts to focus world attention on the Palestinian problem, and without such actions, the West would have looked the other way while the Palestinians were slowly airbrushed out of history,” he argues.
While the PLO fought a secular Palestinian battle for nationhood, which was largely ignored by Western powers, this lead to political Islam’s development in the later part of the 1970s, and Hamas is a product of that.
“Today, we live in a world where political Islam is associated almost entirely with Islam — and almost all Muslims,” he notes.
Palestinian cause still resonates
But, the Palestinian cause still resonates beyond the Muslim communities, as the reactions in Asia reflect.
Indian historian and journalist Vijay Prashad, writing in Bangladesh’s Daily Star, notes the savagery of the impending war against the Palestinian people will be noted by the global community.
He points out that Hamas was never allowed to function as a voice for the Palestinian people, even after they won a landslide democratic election in Gaza in January 2006.
“The victory of Hamas was condemned by the Israelis and the West, who decided to use armed force to overthrow the election result,” he points out.
“Gaza was never allowed a political process, in fact never allowed to shape any kind of political authority to speak for the people”.
Prashad points out that when the Palestinians conducted a non-violent march in 2019 for their rights to nationhood, they were met with Israeli bombs that killed 200 people.
“When non-violent protest is met with force, it becomes difficult to convince people to remain on that path and not take up arms,” he argues.
Prashad disputes the Western media’s argument that Israel has a “right to defend itself” because the Palestinians are people under occupation. Under the Geneva Convention, Israel has an obligation to protect them.
Under the Geneva Convention, Prashad argues that the Israeli government’s “collective punishment” strategy is a war crime.
“The International Criminal Court opened an investigation into Israeli war crimes in 2021 but it was not able to move forward even to collect information”.
Kalinga Seneviratne is a correspondent for IDN-InDepthNews, the flagship agency of the non-profit International Press Syndicate (IPS). Republished under a Creative Commons licence.
“Today, the Labour Party and the KSPI (Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions) are holding an action in front of the United States Embassy and later it will be continued at the United Nations offices in the context of calling for an end to the Palestine and Israeli war”, Labour Party president Said Iqbal told the protesters.
Iqbal said they were asking US President Joe Biden not to send troops to Israel.
They gave speeches in front of the US Embassy so that the message they are conveying is immediately implemented by the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council.
“The Labour Party and trade unions in Indonesia reject the presence of American troops entering Israel, and the American aircraft carrier that has already entered the Mediterranean,” said Iqbal.
Heavy death toll A heavy police presence was deployed around the event and the officers redirected traffic when it became too congested.
The Israel-Hamas conflict has been heating up since Saturday, October 7, when Hamas attacked Israel and since then the Israeli Defence Forces have been bombing the Gaza Strip enclave.
From Ireland to South Africa and from the U.S. to Pakistan, tens of thousands of people all around the world are taking to the streets to demand an end to Israel’s attacks on occupied Gaza. pic.twitter.com/CKlNMVWXlT
The International Press Institute (IPI) global network has called on all parties involved in the ongoing hostilities in Israel and Gaza to ensure all measures are taken to protect the safety of journalists.
There are also reports that one Israeli journalist was abducted in southern Israel while two additional Palestinian journalists are reportedly missing.
“We urge all sides involved in the hostilities to respect the right of journalists and media organiSations to safely cover armed conflict in accordance with international humanitarian and human rights law,” said the statement.
According to reports, freelance journalist Mohammad Al-Salhi was shot and killed while reporting on the border to the east of al-Bureij, a Palestinian refugee camp in central Gaza on October 7.
Ibrahim Mohammad Lafi, a photographer for Ain Media news agency was killed while reporting near Beit Hanoun checkpoint, close to the border in northern Gaza.
Mohammad Jargon, a reporter with Smart Media, was shot dead while reporting in the east of Rafah city in southern Gaza.
Killed in airstrikes
Another four journalists, Saeed Al-Taweel, Asaad Shamlikh, Mohammad Rizq Sobh, and Hisham Al-Nawajha, were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, according to IPI sources.
Meanwhile, the Israeli news organisation Ynet has reported that one of its photojournalists, Roy Idan, was abducted from his home in southern Israel by Hamas militants on Saturday, October 7.
In addition, there were reports that two Palestinian photojournalists — Nidal Al-Wahidi and Haitham Abdelwahid — went missing on Saturday while covering events at the Beit Hanoun checkpoint.
IPI sid it was also disturbed by reports that the offices of several Palestinian news organisations in Gaza were completely or partially destroyed in Israeli bombing raids.
The Palestine Government Media Office said in a statement that more than 40 media offices in Gaza were targeted.
“Amid the horrific developments that have taken place since Saturday in Israel and Gaza, we remind all parties of their obligations to protect journalists in situations of armed conflict, in accordance with international humanitarian and human rights law”, IPI director of advocacy Amy Brouillette said.
“We are extremely disturbed by reports that at least seven Palestinian journalists have been killed and call on all parties involved to protect the right of journalists to cover the ongoing events. The flow of information remains essential during war and conflict.”
It was perhaps inevitable that the shock Hamas attack on Israel would become a minor election sideshow in New Zealand. Less than a week from the Aotearoa New Zealand polls, a crisis in the Middle East offered opposition parties a brief chance to criticise the foreign minister’s initial reaction.
But if it was a fleeting and fairly trivial moment in the heat of a campaign, the crisis itself is far from it — and it will test the foreign policy positions of whichever parties manage to form a government after Saturday.
It can be tempting to see the latest eruption of violence in Gaza and Israel as somehow “normal”, given the history of the region. But this is far from normal.
What appear to be intentional war crimes and crimes against humanity, involving the use of terror against citizens and guests of Israel, will provoke what will probably be an unprecedented response.
The bombardment and “complete siege” of Gaza, and preparation for a possible ground invasion, have catastrophic potential.
Hundreds of thousands may be forced towards Egypt or into the Mediterranean, with the fate of the hostages held by Hamas looking dire. Israel has now said there will be no humanitarian aid until the hostages are free.
There is a risk the war will spread over Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, with Hezbollah (backed by Iran) now involved.
“The number of bombs that Israel has dropped on the Gaza Strip in the last six days is equal to the number of bombs that America has dropped in Afghanistan in a year.”
Beyond these immediate concerns, however, the world is divided. Outrage in the West is matched by support in Arab countries for Palestinian “resistance”. Despite US efforts to get a global consensus condemning the attack, the United Nations Security Council could not agree on a unified statement.
With no global consensus, New Zealand can do little more than assert and defend the established rules-based international order. This includes stating clearly that international humanitarian law and the rules of war are universal and must be applied impartially.
That’s akin to New Zealand’s position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine: the rules of war apply to all, both state and non-state forces (irrespective of whether those parties agree to them). War crimes are to be investigated, with accountability and consequences applied through the relevant international bodies.
This applies to crimes of terror, murder, hostage-taking and indiscriminate rocket attacks carried out by Hamas. But the government needs also to emphasise that war crimes do not justify further retaliatory war crimes.
International law prohibits collective punishments, and access for humanitarian relief should be permitted. To hold an entire population captive – as a siege of Gaza involves – for the crimes of a military organisation is not acceptable.
The two-state solution It is also important that New Zealand carefully considers definitions of terrorism and legitimate force. Terrorists do not enjoy the political and legal legitimacy afforded by international law.
Whether this distinction is anything more than a fiction needs to be reviewed. If this were to change, it would mean the financing, participation in or recruitment to any branch of Hamas would be illegal. This might have implications for any future peace process, should Hamas be involved.
At some point, most people surely hope, the cycle of violence will end. The likeliest route to that will be the so-called “two-state solution”, requiring security guarantees for Israel, negotiated land swaps and careful management of Jerusalem’s holy sites.
New Zealand has long supported this initiative, despite its apparent diplomatic near-death status. An emergency meeting of the Arab League in Cairo this week urged Israel to resume talks to establish a viable Palestinian state, and China has also reiterated support such a solution.
New Zealand cannot stay silent when extreme, indiscriminate violence is committed by any group or nation. But joining any movement of like-minded nations to continue pushing for the two-state solution is still its best long-term strategy.
The tragic events in Israel/Palestine these past few days have highlighted the absolute failure of Western governments like New Zealand to hold Israel accountable for its myriad war crimes against the Palestinian people for more than 75 years.
Even in the past year the New Zealand government has failed to speak up despite obvious signs that unbearable pressure was building in Palestine following the election in late 2022 of the most extreme far-right government in Israel’s history.
This new government has taken numerous steps to ramp up pressure on Palestinians everywhere in the occupied Palestinian territories by:
Announcing the building of more illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land;
Encouraging attacks on Palestinian towns villages and rural communities by illegal Israeli settlers and provided Israeli military support for the settlers;
Organising highly provocative incursions into the Al Aqsa mosque compound by Israeli government ministers; and
Justifying and casualised the killing of Palestinians resisting the Israeli occupation of their country (more than 250 Palestinians were killed in the first nine months of this year including dozens of children)
The total silence of Western governments such as New Zealand to these developments has emboldened Israel to act with impunity as it bulldozes more Palestinian land, builds more illegal settlements.
The reaction from Hamas when its attack came has shocked and appalled Israelis, Palestinians and most of the world community.
Attacks on civilians condemned
Palestinian Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) has condemned the Hamas attack on civilians as a war crime under the Fourth Geneva Convention, just as we condemn any attack on civilians no matter who the attacker is.
But unlike our Prime Minister, Chris Hipkins, and most Western governments, we also condemn Israeli war crimes.
It is a war crime to use collective punishment against civilian populations. In other words it is unlawful to punish a whole group for the actions of a few.
It is also unlawful to withhold, food, water and the essentials of life from people living under military occupation as Israel is doing to Gaza.
The New Zealand government must not only condemn war crimes committed by Hamas but it must also condemn war crimes against the Palestinian people.
But Prime Minister Hipkins has not once this year condemned Israeli war crimes and even after the events of the past few days he is silent. For the government, Palestinian lives matter less than Israeli lives.
A grief-stricken Gaza man weeps for his dead loved ones and the destruction of his home in indiscriminate Israeli air strikes. Image: Al Jazeera
More war crimes
Meanwhile, Israel has announced preparations to commit more war crimes against Palestinians.
“We are fighting against human animals” said Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant yesterday as he announced what he called a “complete siege” on Gaza which Israel is set to impose.
Hearing racist, dehumanising, language about Palestinians from Israeli politicians is nothing new but this time Israel is using genocidal language to justify the massive death toll which they are planning to inflict on Palestinian refugees in Gaza — refugees created through war crimes committed by Israeli militias in 1948.
On Saturday, Palestinians and their supporters are holding rallies and vigils around New Zealand to demand our government speak out and condemn not only the killing of Israeli civilians but also the slaughter of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
We will be demanding the government take action to hold Israel to account for the crimes of its occupation of Palestine in the same way we have held Russia to account for its crimes against the Ukrainian people in its occupation of Ukraine.
The start of each rally will include a minute of silence to remember all the civilians — Palestinians and Israelis — who have been killed in the last week.
John Minto is national chair of the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA).
Nationwide rallies on Saturday, October 14, calling for an end to the Israeli-Gaza war and the killing of civilians — in Auckland at 2pm at Aotea Square.
Almost 50 years to the day after the joint Egyptian-Syrian offensive that launched the 1973 October War, Israel has once again been caught with its pants down. On this occasion its briefs were dangling from its ankles as well.
Operation Al Aqsa Storm, as Hamas named its 7 October 2023 offensive into Israeli territory, represents an even greater Israeli failure.
Extensive and reasonably successful Egyptian and Syrian efforts to conceal their intentions, preparations, and capabilities notwithstanding, Israel in 1973 received multiple warnings about an impending Arab attack from, among others, King Hussein of Jordan, a high-level Egyptian agent, and several of its own intelligence officers.
Its primary failure was not ignorance, but the haughty dismissal of knowledge that contradicted preconceptions.
While hubris and complacency have been mainstays in Israel’s dealings with Arab military adversaries, on this occasion it additionally had no information about the impending operation.
This despite its world-leading surveillance and intelligence capabilities, and the reality that the Gaza Strip is not only miniscule in size but also the most intensively and intrusively surveilled territory and population on the planet, and one that has furthermore been under blockade for 17 years.
That Hamas and Islamic Jihad were under these circumstances able to plan and prepare an operation of such scale, scope, and sophistication, a process that will have consumed many months at the least, and will have required extensive communications among leaders, cadres, and operatives, is an astonishing achievement and testament to the legendary resourcefulness of Gaza’s Palestinians.
Launched in plain view
While we can at this point only speculate as to how Hamas managed to prepare and launch this offensive in plain view of Israel, the avoidance or effective encryption of electronic and digital communications will certainly have played an important role.
Similarly, Hamas has in recent years considerably improved its counter-intelligence capabilities to minimise infiltration, an essential feature given the nearly constant flow of Palestinians who transit through Israeli-controlled border crossings and are susceptible to recruitment by Israeli intelligence as conditions for access to health care, employment, and the like.
Rather than serving as Israel’s eyes and ears within the Gaza Strip, it seems likely at least some of these Palestinians conducted reconnaissance for Operation Al Aqsa Storm within Israel.
As for the weaponry used, much of it is either rudimentary or of local manufacture, making ingenious use of available materials such as paragliders, steel from a British ship that sunk off the Gaza coast decades ago to manufacture rocket tubes, and unexploded Israeli ordnance. More advanced capabilities will have been smuggled in, presumably with the assistance of Hizballah in Lebanon, perhaps with the cooperation of sympathetic or corrupt Egyptian border patrols.
The legendary corruption of Israel’s own border crossings with the Gaza Strip may also have played a role.
Committed to fighting the previous war, Israel constructed formidable underground obstacles to prevent Palestinian commandos from infiltrating Israel through their tunnel network. In response, Hamas and Islamic Jihad simply breached the weak points in the barriers surrounding the Gaza Strip, such as wire fences that relied on electronic monitoring rather than more sturdy concrete obstacles (some of which also appear to have been breached).
And a key objective of the initial Palestinian missile barrage, which targeted Israeli military airfields among other objectives, was to paralyze and thus delay Israel’s ability to rapidly respond.
Immediate objectives
Al Aqsa Storm’s immediate objectives were to infiltrate and seize key Israeli security installations, such as the Re’im military base which serves as the headquarters for the Gaza Division; kill or capture a significant number of Israeli soldiers; establish Palestinian territorial control over population centers within Israel’s boundaries for the first time since 1948; and present significantly improved Palestinian capabilities to the Israeli public and security establishment with a massive missile barrage at Israeli cities and the deployment of new infiltration and combat techniques.
While Israeli civilian casualties do not appear to have been an objective as such, it appears that many were killed, and others abducted. Additionally, there are reports of a massacre at a desert party.
In the event, the operation succeeded in nearly all respects, one suspects beyond the wildest expectations of those who planned and executed it. Dozens of Israeli soldiers, including a major general, were spirited into captivity inside the Gaza Strip.
Many more, including senior officers, were killed and wounded, and almost 24 hours after the operation commenced, Palestinian fighters remained ensconced in multiple locations and installations inside Israel.
Images of Israeli bulldozers and missiles deployed against the Israeli police headquarters in Sderot to dislodge Palestinian fighters within it will remain with us for some time, and as with the Egyptian military’s nearly effortless crossing of the Suez Canal in 1973, won’t be erased by subsequent developments.
A more difficult question concerns Hamas’s motives and broader aims. Seen from the movement’s perspective, Israel has simply gone too far, for too long.
Particularly under the stewardship of the Netanyahu government and its predecessor, escalation has been consistent and transformed into a strategy.
Ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing of the Jordan Valley, army-enabled attacks on villages throughout the West Bank by settler auxiliaries, and increasing incursions by prominent Israeli politicians and settler groups into the Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem’s Old City have reached new heights, and done so in the explicit service of formal annexation.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a map of the “New Middle East” without Palestine during his September 22, 2023, address to the UN General Assembly in New York. Image: Common Dreams
In the Gaza Strip, Israel has shown no inclination to lift or significantly relax the blockade, and treats Hamas as a force that can safely be ignored on the grounds that the movement cares about little else than maintaining its rule over the Gaza Strip.
Within Israel’s prisons, the situation of Palestinian detainees has been deteriorating by design. Yet every Israeli escalation has been normalised by Israel’s US and European partners, with each outrage met by little more than paeans to “shared values” and Israel’s “right to defend itself” and, under Washington’s leadership, a focus on an Israeli-Saudi agreement intended to render Palestine and the Palestinians irrelevant.
Within the region, a growing number of Arab states have in practice extended to Greater Israel a halal certificate, at Palestinian expense. Closer to home, Turkey has forced a number of Hamas leaders it previously hosted to leave the country, and Qatar has in recent months reduced the financial support it provides to Gaza in agreement with Israel, on the grounds that Hamas needs to find a more sustainable solution to its financial crisis.
So what is Operation Al Aqsa Storm meant to achieve? It appears that the movement concluded, some time ago, that a repeat of previous confrontations with Israel, such as during the 2021 Unity Intifada, the first that Hamas rather than Israel initiated, would be insufficient to break the logjam, and that only a spectacle on the scale of what we witnessed on October 7 would serve to concentrate minds in Israel and other relevant capitals.
In other words, the main objective would seem to be to render the status quo obsolete and put paid to the Israeli-Egyptian blockade, entirely or at least in its current form. Secondly, Hamas appears determined to free Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, and additionally use those it has captured and abducted as leverage in negotiations on other matters, including for example those relating to the Haram al-Sharif.
Insurmountable obstacles
It is highly unlikely that undermining Saudi-Israeli diplomacy formed an important motivation, because the proposed deal faces too many insurmountable obstacles in Washington and Israel, and both Hamas and its allies understand this.
Additionally, if Muhammad bin Salman is determined to proceed with such a deal, there’s no indication he would be deterred by a mound of Palestinian corpses any more than his Arab cohorts who preceded him, and in any case, could consummate any agreement after a decent interval.
This notwithstanding, embarrassing not Riyadh specifically but all regional capitals that maintain formal or informal relations with Israel is an added benefit for Hamas. Particularly so if mass demonstrations in the region in support of the Palestinians serve to remind its governments and the world at large that Palestine remains a live issue.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad can additionally be presumed to hope that their offensive fatally weakens the PA ensconced in Ramallah, thereby creating greater freedom of action for their movements in the West Bank.
The above notwithstanding, the timing of this operation is curious, because conventional wisdom held that Israel’s various adversaries were content with a strategy of managed escalation so as not to interrupt the growing polarisation and dysfunction within the Israeli political arena.
That Hamas nevertheless chose an unprecedented offensive at this moment may have been related to matters of operational security and fears of exposure, or an assessment that this was an opportune moment with Israel having prioritised sadism in the West Bank and reinforcement of its border with Lebanon, or indeed a revised assessment that exposing the colossal failure of Israel’s extremists and security establishment is the best way to weaken them.
It is inconceivable that Hamas would have embarked on an operation of this scale without also preparing for an unprecedented Israeli response. Together with Islamic Jihad and others, it will probably have prepared for massive Israeli incursions into the Gaza Strip launched for the purpose of significantly degrading their organisations and infrastructure, killing cadres and assassinating leaders it can locate, and leaving a massive trail of death and destruction.
Last stand thinking
Better a last stand than a slow death, the thinking apparently goes, particularly if that stand gives a renewed lease on life. Israel will presumably also conduct a massive sweep throughout the West Bank, crack down on Palestinians within Israel, and may also seek to abduct or liquidate Hamas leaders based abroad.
It’s a scenario based on the reasonable assumption that Israel remains unprepared to resume direct control of the entire territory for a protracted period of time. In other words, and as with previous assaults on the Gaza Strip, Israel’s objective may ultimately be to restore a version of the status quo that produced the present crisis.
Inflicting significant casualties in close-quarter combat, as the Palestinians succeeded in doing in 2014, could reduce the length and intensity of such incursions. The Palestinian organisations presumably know better than to believe that holding dozens of Israeli prisoners will provide them with a measure of protection from the authors of the Hannibal Doctrine, which considers a dead Israeli soldier preferable to a captive one.
It is an issue that can at most be used for psychological warfare.
A key question is whether Gaza’s militants will confront Israel only with their existing preparations, or whether Operation Al Aqsa Storm is part of a broader initiative by the self-styled Axis of Resistance, in which Hezbollah and perhaps others will join the fray if Israel crosses certain red lines to relieve the pressure on the Gaza Strip.
If Israel follows through on its demands of mass evacuations of densely populated Palestinian neighborhoods and proceeds with intensive carpet bombing to flatten them, causing mass casualties in the process, we may soon find out.
Mouin Rabbani has published and commented widely on Palestinian affairs, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the contemporary Middle East. He was previously senior analyst Middle East and special advisor on Israel-Palestine with the International Crisis Group, and head of political affairs with the Office of the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria. He is co-editor of Jadaliyya Ezine.
Concerns over alleged political interference in the command and control of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force are among the grounds that will be pursued by the suspended Chief of Defence, Major-General Mark Goina, if the court grants him leave to appeal.
Goina seeks leave to review the decision of the National Executive Council (NEC) that suspended him from his substantive role as the major-general of the PNGDF on August 17, 2023, and appointed Commodore Philip Polewara as acting commander of the PNGDF.
While pursuing his application for leave to review at the Waigani National Court yesterday, General Goina, through his lawyer David Dusal, when giving the background of the matter, submitted that the Minister for Defence Win Bakri Daki, who is the third defendant in the proceeding, had been allegedly interfering with the command, control and operation of the PNGDF.
It was submitted that Goina became gravely concerned in recent times of the minister’s insistence and instructions to the general as the commander of the PNGDF to appoint and discharge certain officers within the PNGDF, which raised significant concerns of
political interference into the functions of the military.
It was submitted that such authority was vested in the Commander of the Defence Force and not, the minister, nor was the commander subject to directions from a civilian.
In his affidavit, General Goina indicated that the minister had to sponsor the NEC submission for him to be suspended without him being informed on the reasons for his suspension.
Presiding judge Justice Oagile Dingake had to direct Goina’s lawyer to first make submissions on leave to review and not on the substantive merits of the case until leave was decided.
Leave requirements met
General Goina’s lawyer Dusal then submitted that leave should be granted since Goina had met all the requirements of leave.
It was submitted that Goina, as the plaintiff, had standing as a person directly affected by the decision of the NEC on August 16, 2023, and the subsequent gazettal by the Governor-General on August 17, 2023, giving effect to the NEC decision.
It was also submitted that General Goina had arguable grounds on the basis that there was an error of law relating to his suspension since it was made without consultation with the Public Services Commission under s.59 of the Constitution and that he was not given the right to be heard.
It was further submitted that there was also no delay in the filing of the leave application.
The state through lawyer Alice Kimbu opposed the application for leave and argued that Goina’s suspension was still active and the proceeding would pre-empt or interfere with a pending inquiry into the death of two soldiers during a military training.
Kimbu further argued that although she had no issue with the plaintiff’s standing or the delay in filing of the application, leave should not be granted and must be refused on the basis that the proceeding would be destructive to the inquiry.
Justice Dingake noted that although General Goina may have met all requirements for leave, it had reached the third month of Goina’s three-month suspension period and there would be “no utility” in pursuing the matter further.
Suspension coming to end
“Suspension is almost coming to an end, what’s the utility?” he asked.
“Just when it is coming to an end, you’re coming to the court.
“Am I entitled to take into account that the suspension is coming to an end?
“What happens if I reserved my decision for six months?” Justice Dingake asked.
Lawyer Dusal in response submitted that as indicated in the suspension instrument, it was indicated that General Goina be suspended for three-months or, pending the final outcome of the inquiry.
He submitted that the inquiry would take six to 12 months and the status of General Goina’s suspension would depend on the final outcome.
Kimbu for the state argued that the grant of leave was discretionary and as per the circumstance, the court should not grant leave.
Justice Dingake reserved his ruling to a date to be advised.
Jacob Pokis a PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with permission.
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The New Zealand government bears heavy responsibility for loss of life of Palestinians and Israelis in the latest fighting in Israel/Palestine and must revisit its policy, says the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) national chair John Minto.
“Whatever the eventual outcome of the Hamas attacks on Israel today [Saturday], the New Zealand government bears heavy responsibility for the loss of life of Palestinians and Israelis,” he said in a statement.
“Like other Western countries, New Zealand has failed to hold Israel to account for its multiple crimes, including war crimes, against the Palestinian people, day after day, year after year and decade after decade.
“We have ignored human rights reports of Israel’s apartheid policies. Our government has been looking the other way.”
Hamas launched a large-scale military operation “Al-Aqsa Flood” against Israel, describing it as in response to the desecration of Al-Aqsa Mosque and increased settler violence.
The group running the besieged Gaza Strip (population 2.1 million) said it had fired thousands of rockets and sent fighters into Israel. Early reports said at least 5 Israelis, had been killed, 35 people taken captive and more than 500 had been wounded and taken to hospitals.
Repeated Israeli attacks
Minto described the Hamas attacks as “understandable”.
“Over recent months Western countries have turned a blind eye to the brutality of the Israeli army and settler groups engaging in repeated attacks on Palestinian towns and villages and the killing of civilians and children,” he said.
“The result is now playing out in more violence initiated by Israel’s brutal occupation — the longest military occupation in modern history. The occupation includes Israel’s 17-year-old blockade of the Gaza strip — the largest open-air prison in the world.”
“New Zealand must reassess its policy on the Middle East and demand Israel adopt a timetable to implement international law and United Nations resolutions.”
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is finished. Politically and otherwise,” declared Al Jazeera political analyst Marwan Bishara, who says Israel has never learnt from history of colonialism.
“His arrogance has finally caught with him. No matter how many Palestinians this corrupt opportunist kills before his final downfall, he will go down in utter humiliation.
“Israel gets a glimpse of the real future days after Netanyahu cavalierly showed us at the United Nations future maps of the new Middle East centered around Israel — with no Palestine existence.”
Israel launched air strikes on Gaza in retaliation in an operation called “Iron Swords”.
Al Jazeera political analyst Marwan Bishara . . . Israel has never learnt from the history of colonialism and the suffering of a third generation of Palestinians in the Gaza “open prison”. Image: Al Jazeera screenshot/APR
The Algerian democracy advocate Ahmed Zaoui, a New Zealand citizen, has been arrested by Algerian security forces after commenting on human rights violations at a political meeting at his home.
His New Zealand lawyer Deborah Manning said Zaoui had been detained at a police station in the city of Medea since he was taken from his home at about 5.30pm on Tuesday (Algerian time).
“He was arrested at gunpoint . . . by eight men in balaclavas from the special forces and the neighbourhood was surrounded, so it was a significant operation, and he’s been taken for interrogation,” she said.
“It’s a precarious situation for anyone taken under these circumstances.”
He had not yet been charged with anything, she said.
Zaoui, who was recognised as a refugee in New Zealand 20 years ago after a protracted legal battle, entered Algeria on a New Zealand passport.
“Mr Zaoui has two homes now — he has family in Algeria and New Zealand and he was wanting to find a way to live in both worlds.
‘Constant communication’
“He returned to Algeria to be with family in recent years as the political situation appeared to be settling. He was planning to return to New Zealand later this year.”
Manning remained in “constant communication” with Zaoui’s family in Algeria.
The family was “very concerned” and was working with New Zealand consular affairs.
There was no New Zealand consulate in Algeria but Manning said she was in touch with “the relevant authorities”.
Selwyn Manning’s documentary on the Ahmed Zaoui case.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade told RNZ it was aware of reports of a New Zealander detained in Algeria but could not provide further information due to “privacy reasons”.
According to Amnesty International, about 300 people have been arrested in Algeria on charges related to freedom of speech since a law change in April cracking down on media freedom.
Zaoui, a former theology professor, stood as a candidate for the Islamic Salvation Front in Algeria’s first general election in 1991.
However, the government cancelled the election and banned his party when it appeared it was on track to win the election, forcing Zaoui and others to flee the country.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
A recent online conversation hosted by the Women’s Climate Congress (WCC) and attended by more than 100 women from many different countries revealed one of the most disturbing issues we face in the world today. Along with messages of hope from some brilliant women, the discussion on Women bringing new agendas toCOP28 included an eye opening speech from Katrin Geyer, Environment Advisor at Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom(WILPF), about the huge impact that the world’s armed forces have on carbon emissions.
Listening to Katrin I thought of these words of George Orwell: ‘In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act’ and I was reminded of how magnificent and enlightening the book 1984 is.
It is mind boggling to see parallels with a book written over 70 years ago. In his dystopian masterpiece, Orwell conveyed so brilliantly how propaganda and censorship feed the dangers of totalitarianism, which are even more disastrous in a time when we face a global challenge that requires truth telling and collaborative action.
Sure enough, countries do not want to disclose the scope of their military forces, and therefore the emissions that they produce. Yet an estimate by international experts, quoted by Ms Geyer, suggests that militaries are among the world’s biggest consumers of fuel, accounting for 5.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. (For reference – all global civil aviation produces 2.4% of global emissions).
Pondering on how global finances and attention are directed now, we can clearly see that there is little to no concern for the planet and people impacted by climate change when it comes to the military. There are many natural disasters happening, yet the response from the world leaders is basically non-existent. However, when there is even a minor military conflict, all politicians and news outlets are talking about it.
This year alone the military has cost us 2.24 trillion USD, setting the record for spending money on war in all history. Needless to say, this is actively diverting resources from tackling the climate crisis and supporting those most affected. The narrative across the media is all about individuals – it is easy to shame people and tell them to stop flying or buy an electric car, but can you do that to the military machine that gets a free ride?
It is vital that we require the military to disclose all their emissions, as without thorough and accurate reporting, there is no accountability for their impact.
A fully ‘green’ military is a fantasy, as there are no alternatives to the colossal amounts of fuel used by fighter jets, ships and tanks not only in war, but also in training. It leads us to the argument that only a peaceful planet can be healthy and sustainable. Current WILPF campaign insists on including armed force emissions in COP28 negotiations as well as work towards a feminist agenda of overall demilitarisation.
All of the speakers at the event reinforced the idea that as the climate crisis progresses and becomes worse, we still have hope and the ability to contribute in both big and small ways. For instance, peace is featured on the COP 28 programme for the first time. It is a small step, but one that should be celebrated.
Polina argues knowledge of the truth allows us to make better decisions and take appropriate action, while ignorance can lead to disastrous consequences. Picture: Shutterstock
It sends a signal to governments and their negotiators that peace is on the agenda and should be seen as a priority. While wrapping up the discussion, speakers came back to the necessity of having all kinds of diverse perspectives for such a complex issue as climate change, clearly communicating alternatives to the current state of the world, patriarchy, capitalism and the military. Katrin reinforced that idea: ‘Providing a crystal clear vision of how the world will look like will help mobilising more people and making sure the women’s perspectives and ambitions are heard and made a reality’.
As a climate scientist, I wanted to add some suggestions for researchers while the negotiations for demilitarisation are taking place:
Researchers need to promote clear, time-sensitive, quantitative criteria for accounting, reporting, and lowering military emissions.
Researchers should collaborate with the military on ways to calculate, manage, and cut emissions.
Researchers must study and document the effects of armed warfare on the environment and society. It’s essential for figuring out recovery pathways and understanding the long-term costs of armed conflict.
This issue requires governments to work together with peacemakers, military and academia to develop an accepted and efficient method of emission accounting and reduction. This all comes back to inclusivity, collaboration, compassion and intuitiveness – qualities of women’s leadership that are urgently needed to redress the historical and systemic imbalance and lead to real long-lasting change.
Here‘s a link to the full WCC Climate Conversation and for more on the military’s contribution to climate change and how feminism can be a part of the solution here is an excellent panel held this year by the UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn on demilitarisation and decarbonisation.
Nairobi, October 5, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists on Thursday called on Ethiopian authorities to immediately release three journalists detained in late August and early September, and expressed grave concern about a pattern of detaining journalists amid an ongoing state of emergency.
On August 26, 2023, police arrested Tewodros Zerfu, a presenter and program host with the online media outlets Yegna TV and Menelik Television, while he was chatting with a friend at a cafe in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, according to reports from the outlets and accounts from his sister Seblework Zerfu and Yegna TV founder Engidawork Gebeyehu, who spoke to CPJ by messaging app.
Four days later, on August 30, two security officers in civilian clothing arrested Nigussie Berhanu, a political analyst and co-host of, “Yegna Forum,” a biweekly political show on Yegna TV, according to Yegna TVreports, Engidawork, and a family member who spoke to CPJ on condition of anonymity, citing safety concerns.
On September 11, seven federal police officers arrested Yehualashet Zerihun, the program director of the privately owned station Tirita 97.6 FM, his residence in Addis Ababa, according to a report by Tirita and Yehualashet‘s wife Meron Jembere, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app. Meron said she had not been given any specific reason for his arrest to date.
The three journalists were initially detained at the Federal Police Crime Investigation Center in the capital city of Addis Ababa, but have since been transferred to a temporary detention center at a military in Awash Arba, a town in Afar State that is about 240 miles (145 kilometers) east of Addis Ababa, according to the people who spoke to CPJ. Those sources said they were not aware of the journalists being presented in court or formally charged with a crime.
“The detention of journalists at a military camp, under unclear judicial oversight, is a deeply worrying sign of the depths to which Ethiopia’s regard for the media has sunk,” said CPJ sub-Saharan Africa representative, Muthoki Mumo. “Authorities should release journalists Tewodros Zerfu, Yehualashet Zerihun, and Nigussie Berhanu, as well as other members of the press detained for their work.”
Ethiopia declared a six-month state of emergency on August 4, 2023, in response to the conflict in northern Amhara state involving federal government forces and the Fano, an armed militia, according to media reports. Since then, CPJ has documented the detention of at least four other journalists in Addis Ababa, two of whom remain detained, also in Awash Arba.
The state of emergency legislation gives security personnel sweeping powers of arrest and permits the suspension of due process of law, including the right to appear before a court and receive legal counsel.
In addition to his role as a program director, Yehualashet was a host and co-host of three weekly radio shows, “Negere Kin,” “Semonegna,” and “Feta Bekidame,” focusing on art and social issues.
According to CPJ’s review of their work, Tewodros and Nigussie usually appeared together on Yegna TV’s regular program, “Yegna’s Forum,” and their commentary and reporting is published on Yegna TV’s YouTube channel, which has over 600,000 subscribers. Yegna Forum is a mostly political program, which has been critical of the Ethiopian government. Prior to their detention, they had discussed the ongoing Amhara conflict, criticizing the passing of the state of emergency decree, and questioning the neutrality of the Ethiopian National Defense Force.
A few days before his detention, Nigussie made a Facebook post in which he alleged that he was “perceived as a threat” to the government, and had been “identified as a target.”
CPJ’s queries sent via email to federal police spokesperson Jeylan Abdi and the office of the federal minister of justice were unanswered. Government spokesperson Legesse Tulu did not respond to queries sent via messaging app and text message.
Defence ministers from several Asian and Pacific states are scheduled to meet in New Caledonia for two days during the first week of December, French Armed Forces in New Caledonia (FANC) commander General Yann Latil announced at the weekend.
He added that French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu was also scheduled to attend.
The high-level meeting would also see the attendance of other defence ministers, including Australia’s Richard Marles, who has met Lecornu on several occasions over the past few months.
In October 2022, a previous regional meeting took place in Tonga and it included defence ministers from the host country and also from Australia, New Zealand, France, Chile, Fiji and Papua New Guinea.
Hosting the meeting in New Caledonia by France is widely regarded as in line with the French Indo-Pacific strategy to reaffirm its presence in the region through its three overseas territories of New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna.
In this context, New Caledonia is perceived as the hub of French presence in the Pacific.
During his recent visit in New Caledonia in late July, French President Emmanuel Macron announced a budget increase for the Pacific base and plans to set up a “Pacific Military Academy Military” in Nouméa to train soldiers from neighbouring Pacific island states under the principle of “partnership”.
The number of soldiers permanently posted in New Caledonia is also scheduled to increase from the current 1350 to more than 2000 by the end of 2023, General Latil told French media.
Last week, French and Japanese armed forces also concluded for the first time a three-week joint terrestrial exercise that took place in New Caledonia.
It involved about 350 French soldiers and and about 50 Japanese troops.
“This is a new step in strengthening our ties with Japan, which shares France’s vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific,” General Latil said.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Barely a day passes without a story in the British or Australian media that ramps up fear about the rulers in Beijing, reports the investigative website Declassified Australia.
According to an analysis by co-editors Antony Loewenstein and Peter Cronau, the Australian and British media are ramping up public fear, aiding a major military build-up — and perhaps conflict — by the United States and its allies.
The article is a warning to New Zealand and Pacific media too.
Citing a recent article in the Telegraph newspaper in Britain headlined, “A war-winning missile will knock China out of Taiwan – fast”, says the introduction.
“Written by David Axe, who contributes regularly to the outlet, he detailed a war game last year that was organised by the US think-tank, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
“It examined a Chinese invasion of Taiwan and concluded that the US Navy would be nearly entirely obliterated. However, Axe wrote, the US Air Force ‘could almost single-handedly destroy the Chinese invasion force’.
“‘How? With the use of a Lockheed Martin-made Joint Air-to-Surface Strike Missile (JASSM).
“‘It’s a stealthy and highly accurate cruise missile that can range hundreds of miles from its launching warplane,’ Axe explained.
“‘There are long-range versions of the JASSM and a specialised anti-ship version, too — and the USAF [US Air Force] and its sister services are buying thousands of the missiles for billions of dollars.’
“Missing from this analysis was the fact that Lockheed Martin is a major sponsor of the CSIS. The editors of The Telegraph either didn’t know or care about this crucial detail.
“One week after this story, Axe wrote another one for the paper, titled, ‘The US Navy should build a robot armada to fight the battle of Taiwan.’
“‘The US Navy is shrinking,’ the story begins. ‘The Chinese navy is growing. The implications, for a free and prosperous Pacific region, are enormous.’”
Branding the situation as “propaganda by think tank”, the authors argue that some sections of the news media are framing a massive military build-up by the US and its allies as necessary in the face of Chinese aggression.
“These repetitive media reports condition the public and so allow, or force, the political class to up the ante on China,” Loewenstein and Cronau write.
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Myanmar’s military kept up its campaign of airstrikes even during the controversial ASEAN Air Chiefs conference, to which four countries decided not to send a representative. There were 20 air attacks during the three-day event, locals and ethnic armed groups told Radio Free Asia on Monday.
The conference took place from Sept. 13-15 led by junta Air Force chief Gen. Tun Aung. Air Force chiefs from Brunei, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand attended, while Singapore and the Philippines sent video messages. Malaysia and Indonesia boycotted the event.
Meanwhile the junta’s brutal air campaign continued with airstrikes on Sagaing region’s Indaw, Pale and Ayadaw townships. The air force also attacked Mogoke township in Mandalay region and Kyaukkyi township in eastern Bago region.
In Indaw, junta planes attacked a monastery in Kha Yan Sat Kone village on Friday, following up with a heavy artillery bombardment.
The 77-year-old abbot Rajinda and 42-year-old laybrother Win Thein died in the attack, according to a local who didn’t want to be named for fear of reprisals.
“The monastery was bombed by an airplane,” the local said.
“Seconds later, the junta fired a Howitzer at the same monastery killing the abbot …That’s why the whole village had to sleep outside the village on the night of September 15.
“Now they have returned to the village as they have to cremate the abbot. The abbot’s head was split and the civilian was hit in the chest,” said the man, adding that there had been no fighting in the area before the attack.
Three junta helicopters carried out 13 airstrikes on villages in Bago region’s Kyaukkyi township, according to a Karen National Union statement Friday.
More than 5,000 residents from six villages were forced to flee to escape the bombardement, the statement said.
A local resident, who didn’t want to be named for security reasons, told RFA that people are still unwilling to return to their homes because they are afraid of more airstrikes. They are staying in nearby villages and the forest.
On Friday night, a jet fighter fired on a village in Mandalay region’s Mogoke township for 15 minutes, residents told RFA Burmese.
They said the junta launched the attack following a battle with the Ta’ang National Liberation Army.
A spokesperson for the ethnic armed group, Lt. Col. Mong Aik Kyaw, said the junta has stepped up its air campaign recently.
“We have seen more airstrikes from their side,” he said.
“Now they are attacking civilian targets. Last month, a jet fighter came and attacked Taung Gyaw hill where there was no fighting.”
He added that since July 23, there have been more than 40 clashes between the junta army and the TNLA.
Calls to junta Deputy Information Minister Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun went unanswered.
The Air Force chiefs who attended the ASEAN conference in Naypyitaw discussed regional security and cooperation in the fight against terrorism.
Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw spokesperson Sithu Maung said all ASEAN members should have boycotted the conference.
“Airstrikes targeting civilians, not military targets are war crimes and crimes against humanity,” said the representative of the committee which is made up of members of the National League for Democracy and other lawmakers ousted in the February 2021 coup.
“If they attended the conference knowing of this situation it would encourage violence.”
Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Burmese.
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Vendors in Myanmar who boycott military-produced booze and cigarettes beware – you may be getting a summons from junta authorities.
That’s what happened to restaurant owners on 19th street in Yangon’s Latha township when representatives of their local ward administration office called them in on Wednesday and warned them to sell the goods or face the consequences, the owners and officials told RFA Burmese.
The military controls businesses that produce and distribute several alcoholic brands in the country, including Myanmar Beer, Mandalay Beer, Black Shield Beer, Mandalay Rum, Army Rum, Andaman God and Dagon branded alcohols, as well as various soft drinks.
It also makes and sells Red Ruby and Premium Gold branded cigarettes.
“They told us to sell Myanmar beer, rum and cigarettes produced by their military factories in our restaurants, just like other products we sell,” said one owner who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke on condition of anonymity citing fear of reprisal.
“They warned us not to discriminate against their products and threatened to take action against those who don’t sell them,” the owner said. “Nobody [from the junta] has come to inspect our restaurants on 19th street yet, but I heard that they did so at restaurants in rural locations.”
It was not immediately clear how authorities intend to punish those who ignore the order.
A cashier tallies the sale of Dagon Beer made by Myanmar junta owned Myanmar Economic Corporation, one of the country’s main military conglomerates in Yangon, Sept. 2016. Credit: Romeo Gacad/AFP
On the flip side, rebel groups fighting the military, which took control of the government in a 2021 coup, have warned merchants not to sell military-owned brands – saying they would seize and destroy them if discovered.
The General Strike Coordination Body, which organizes boycotts of the military, has also urged the people not to use the products.
The pressure from both sides would seem to put merchants in a bind.
Bid to beat sanctions?
The campaign appears to be the latest bid by a cash-strapped junta to earn money in the face of crushing international sanctions over its repressive rule.
According to the owner, the warning was issued in line with a campaign led by Interior Minister Lieutenant General Yar Pyae to regain market share for beer, liquor and other goods produced by the military throughout the country.
The junta has issued orders to police stations and municipal offices in all states and regions to force shopping centers, stores, shops and restaurants – including those in the junta’s base of power, the capital Naypyitaw – to sell its products, a member of the ward administration in Yangon’s North Okkalapa township told RFA.
He said his office had been assigned to “check if the shops and restaurants sell the military-produced goods and submit a paper report by 6:00 p.m. every day.”
The junta has yet to release any information about the campaign or what kind of action it might take against those who boycott the military’s products.
Translated by Kyaw Min Htun. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Burmese.
The Free Papua Organisation (Organisasi Papua Merdeka-OPM) has sent an open letter to the United Nations leadership demanding that “decolonisation” of the former Dutch colony of West New Guinea, the Indonesian-administered region known across the Pacific as West Papua, be initiated under the direction of the UN Trusteeship Council.
The letter accuses the UN of being a “criminal accessory to the plundering of the ancestral lands” of the Papuans, a Melanesian people with affinity and close ties to many Pacific nations.
According to the OPM leader, chairman-commander Jeffrey Bomanak, West Papuans had been living with the expectation for six decades that the UN would “fulfill the obligations regarding the legal decolonisation of West Papua”.
OPM leader Jeffrey Bomanak . . . an open letter to the UN calling for the UN annexation of West Papua in 1962 to be reversed. Image: OPM
Alternatively, wrote Bomanak, there had been an expectation that there would be an explanation “to the International Commission of Jurists if there are any legal reasons why these obligations to West Papua cannot be fulfilled”.
The open letter was addressed to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, General Assembly President Csaba Kőrösi and Trusteeship Council President Nathalie Estival-Broadhurst.
‘Guilty’ over annexation
“The United Nations is guilty of annexing West New Guinea on Sept 21, 1962, as a trust territory which had been concealed by the UN Secretariat from the Trusteeship Council.”
Indonesia has consistently rejected West Papuan demands for self-determination and independence, claiming that its right to sovereignty over the region stems from the so-called Act of Free Choice in 1969.
But many West Papuans groups and critics across the Pacific and internationally reject the legitimacy of this controversial vote when 1025 elders selected by the Indonesian military were coerced into voting “unanimously” in favour of Indonesian rule.
A sporadic armed struggle by the armed wing of OPM and peaceful lobbying for self-determination and independence by other groups, such as the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), have continued since then with persistent allegations of human rights violations with the conflict escalating in recent months.
“The UN is a criminal accessory to the plundering of our ancestral lands and to the armament exports from member nations to our murderers and assassins — the Indonesian government,” claimed Bomanak in his letter.
“West Papua is not a simple humanitarian dilemma. The real dilemma is the perpetual denial of West Papua’s right to freedom and sovereignty.”
Bomanak alleges that the six-decade struggle for independence has cost more than 500,000 lives.
West Papua case ‘unique’
In a supporting media release by Australian author and human rights advocate Jim Aubrey, he said that the open letter should be read “by anyone who supports international laws and governance and justice that are applied fairly to all people”.
“West Papua’s case for the UN to honour the process of decolonisation is a unique one,” he said.
“Former Secretary General U Thant concealed West Papua’s rights as a UN trust territory for political reasons that benefited the Republic of Indonesia and the American mining company Freeport-McMoRan.
“West Papua was invaded and recolonised by Indonesia. The mining giant Freeport-McMoRan signed their contract to build the Mt Grasberg mine with the mass murderer Suharto in 1967.
“The vote of self-determination in 1969 was, for Suharto and his commercial allies, already a foregone conclusion in 1967.”
Aubrey said that West Papuans were still being “jailed, tortured, raped, assassinated [and] bombed in one of the longest ongoing acts of genocide since the end of the Second World War”.
Western countries accused
He accused Australia, European Union, UK, USA as well as the UN of being “accessories to Indonesia’s illegal invasion and landgrab”.
About Australia’s alleged role, Aubrey said he had called for a Royal Commission to investigate but had not received a reply from Governor-General David Hurley or from Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus.
PRESS RELEASE
OFFICIAL OPM Press Release 14 September 2023
OPM LEADER ACCUSES UN OF GIFTING WEST PAPUA TO INDONESIA & US MINER FREEPORT-MCMORAN – DEMANDS DECOLONIZATION
Jeffrey P Bomanak accuses United Nations Secretary General António Guterres, General Assembly President Csaba… pic.twitter.com/gggZl3wLyc
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1. Navy officials vastly underestimated the costs to build the ship in estimates provided to Congress. The original price tag more than doubled.
Contractors were supposed to build the ships fast, in large numbers and at an original cost of $220 million each — cheap for a Navy vessel. The ships were based in part on designs for commercial car or passenger ferries. As the Navy began to apply tougher standards, costs soared.
2. The ships were supposed to be equipped with interchangeable weapons systems to allow them to fight, hunt submarines and detect mines. The Navy failed to make this happen.
Former officers said that the Navy’s haste to deliver the ships took precedence over the vessels’ combat abilities. After spending hundreds of millions, the Navy abandoned its plan to outfit the ships to find and destroy submarines; the system to hunt undersea mines is still under development. Without functioning weapons systems, one former officer said, the ship was only a “box floating in the ocean.” In response to questions, the Navy acknowledged the LCS was not suitable for fighting peer competitors such as China. The LCS “does not provide the lethality or survivability needed in a high-end fight.”
3. Scores of sailors and officers spent more time trying to fix the ships than sailing them.
Because the crews were so small, only the most elite officers and sailors were meant to sail the ships. But breakdowns meant that the ships often spent more time in port than at sea. Some sailors sought mental health assistance because of the challenges. The LCS program became known as a place where naval careers went to die. Over time, the Navy increased crew sizes on the LCS.
4. The Navy relied so heavily on contractors for maintenance and repair that sailors and officers were unable to fix their own ships.
Sailors and officers were not allowed to touch certain pieces of equipment because of complicated arrangements with Navy contractors. Cumbersome negotiations meant it could sometimes take weeks to get contractors on board. “An average week would consist of 90 to 100 hours in port doing, honestly, nothing,” one former officer said of his time. The Navy has recently increased the amount of maintenance performed by sailors.
5. A string of high-profile breakdowns at sea beginning in late 2015 laid bare the limits of the ships and their crews.
In late 2015, the USS Milwaukee broke down en route to its home port, the equivalent of a brand new car stalling on its way out of the dealership. In January 2016, the USS Fort Worth broke down when a crew of exhausted sailors failed to execute a routine procedure, costing the Navy millions in repairs. Months later, the USS Freedom saw its engine destroyed by a seawater leak. Then the USS Coronado had trouble with its water jets, followed by the USS Montgomery, which collided with a tugboat, then cracked its hull after striking a lock in the Panama Canal. Each incident added fresh embarrassment to a program meant to propel the Navy into a more technologically advanced future.
6. Top Navy commanders pressured subordinates to sail even whenthe crews and shipswere not fully prepared to go to sea.
On the Freedom, sailors and officers understood that they had a “no fail mission” with “‘no appetite’ to remain in port.” Even though one engine was contaminated, the ship’s commander took it to sea. Afterward, the ship needed repairs that took two years to complete and cost millions. On the Fort Worth, one sailor complained that there was “no break, no reprieve, just increasing daily tasking.”
7. One Navy secretary and his allies in Congress fought to build more of the ships even as they broke down at sea and their weapons systems failed. The Navy wound up with more ships than it wanted, at an estimated lifetime cost of $100 billion.
Time and again, senior officers voiced their concerns about the ineffectiveness of the ships, yet members of Congress, the Pentagon and Navy leaders advocated for them anyway. In some cases, officers assigned to review the ships’ performance saw their careers derailed after sharing their unvarnished, critical findings.
Former Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said the Navy took the breakdowns seriously, “but it did not seem, from what we were looking at, that it was a systemic problem.”
8.Lawmakers with shipyards in their districts played a key role in expanding the program and protecting it from scrutiny.
When the Navy decided to issue contracts to build 20 littoral combat ships in two states in 2010, it encountered stiff resistance from the then-ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, John McCain, a Republican. But Sen. Richard Shelby, a Republican representing Alabama, where some of the ships were being built, slipped in an amendment that would allow the Navy to do so in a last-minute budget bill. “He made sure it happened,” a Shelby spokesman said at the time. Democratic Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, who was initially skeptical of the ships, supported the proposal. He said the plan to build 10 vessels at a shipyard in neighboring Wisconsin would provide “a major boost for the region’s economy.” Even after the Navy finally determined that it only needed 32 of the ships, Congress managed to fund three more.
The families of the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks have written a letter to President Biden, urging him to make good on his promise to release information to the public about Saudi Arabia’s role in the attacks. These people want closure, and the only way to get that is for the government to finally […]
An Australian advocacy group in support of West Papuan self-determination has criticised the Melanesian Spearhead Group leaders for failing to grant West Papua full membership in the organisation at last week’s summit in Port Vila.
While praising Vanuatu Minister for Climate Change Adaptation Ralph Regenvanu for his public stance in support of the West Papuans, Australia West Papua Association (AWPA) spokesperson Joe Collins said that “every West Papuan and their supporters also feel let down by the MSG leaders”.
Collins, who was in Port Vila for the coinciding second West Papuan leaders summit, said in a statement: ”Over the last few months in West Papua, the grassroots have taken to the streets calling on the MSG to grant full membership to the ULMWP (United Liberation Movement for West Papua) at the MSG.
“Many were arrested, beaten, tortured and jailed as they rallied peaceful in calling on the MSG to support them.
“It is tragic that the MSG did not respond to their call. Do the MSG leaders not read the reports of the ongoing human rights abuses in West Papua?”
Collins cited a video and human rights report about attacks on villages around Kiwirok in West Papua and the aftermath exposing Indonesian military brutality as recent examples.
“Surely with all the aid flowing to the Pacific countries it’s not simply a case of ‘follow the Money?’, Collins said.
Humanitarian aid
He referred to an article in the Vanuatu Daily Post which reported: “A top Vanuatu government official allegedly travelled to Jakarta to negotiate a reported VT300 million to fund the VIP Lounge of Port Vila International Airport and fund humanitarian aid.
“The ground breaking ceremony happened recently.”
The ground-breaking ceremony for the Indonesian-funded ugrade of the VIP Lounge at Port Vila’s Bauerfield Airport last week. Image: Vanuatu Daily Post
Collins said that when the Indonesian delegation walked out of the MSG summit as ULMWP leader Benny Wenda prepared to speak, “it was not only an insult to West Papua but to the MSG leaders as well.”
“The leaders should have granted full membership to the ULMWP [in response to] that outrageous act alone,” Collins added.
“If the MSG leaders failed West Papua, the people of the Pacific, and Vanuatu in particular, do not.
“Just spending a few days in Port Vila, one can see the support for West Papua everywhere. The West Papuan flag flying free, and stickers, in taxis and on walls.”
The West Papuan representatives at their own summit also “showed a determined people committed to their freedom”.
The West Papuan summit was addressed by Regenvanu and a former Vanuatu prime minister, Barak Sope.
(@OnlinePalEng) 
