Human Rights

15 September 2023; MEMO: US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken yesterday revealed that Saudi Arabia has made it clear to the United States that issues related to the Palestinians will be an essential part of any future agreement with Israel.

“It is also clear from what we hear from the Saudis that if this process is to move forward, the Palestinian piece is going to be very important too,” Blinken said, adding, “Normalisation cannot come at the expense of the Palestinian cause.”

15 September 2023; MEMO: The Biden administration has allowed much of US foreign military aid to Egypt to go ahead, saying the country was vital for US national security interests, despite what critics have said about widespread human rights abuses, Reuters reports.

Washington has only withheld $85 million of the aid which, under US law, was contingent on Egypt making “clear and consistent progress” in releasing political prisoners, which the United States said Cairo did not fulfil.

16 September 2023; MEMO: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged that Israel lift its restrictions on the Palestinian economy and occupied territories to give way for improving investment opportunities.

16 September 2023; MEMO: Israeli warplanes on Friday targeted a Palestinian watchtower near the east side of Gaza City, security sources disclosed, reporting no human casualties.

The airstrike came following a demonstration organised by hundreds of youths along the Gaza fence in support of Al-Aqsa Mosque and solidarity with Palestinian hunger strikers inside Israeli jails.

12 September 2023; MEMO: The Israeli military acknowledged yesterday that occupation soldiers had mistakenly attacked and imprisoned three innocent Palestinians last month leaving them with life-altering injuries.

According to the Times of Israel, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) claimed that occupation soldiers fired at several Palestinians who were supposedly throwing makeshift explosives from a moving vehicle towards a nearby military post near the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.

13 September 2023; MEMO: Egypt has announced a ban on the wearing of the niqab or face covering in schools, settling a long-held debate in the country on their permissibility within public institutions.

13 September 2023; MEMO: A Palestinian political analyst and specialist in Jerusalem affairs, Jamal Amro, warned on Tuesday of the area around Al-Aqsa Mosque in the occupied city being turned into an army base during Jewish holidays, Shehab news agency has reported. Amro made his observation following the Israeli cabinet’s decision to raise the security level across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem during the upcoming holiday season.

05 September 2023; MEMO: A cross-party delegation of Australian lawmakers will head to the US later this month to urge Washington to abandon its demand for the extradition of WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, Anadolu Agency reports.

The delegation includes Barnaby Joyce, Tony Zappia and independent lawmaker, Monique Ryan.

Ryan told the broadcaster, ABC, they feel “really, really strongly about the importance of securing Mr. Assange’s freedom.”

05 September 2023; MEMO: The trial of a man accused in a hate-motivated murder of four members of a Muslim family began Tuesday in a Canadian court, Anadolu Agency reports.

Nathaniel Veltman allegedly drove his vehicle on 6 June, 2021, onto the sidewalk and into the Afzaal family, who were out for an evening walk in London, Ontario, west of Toronto.

07 September 2023; MEMO: A recent survey on Canadian public opinion conducted by EKOS Research Associates and sponsored by CJPME has found that Canadians use the term “apartheid” the most to describe the state of Israel. Only a minority of Canadians see Israel as a “vibrant democracy”.

The survey aimed to understand the general Canadian perception regarding the democratic nature of Israel, given the contrasting descriptions of Israel as a democracy and the belief that it is practicing apartheid.