Human Rights

20 March 2024; MEMO: Israel has been stripped of its “liberal democracy” status by a prominent global index which measures the democratic health of countries. The downgrade means that for the first time in 50 years Israel has been demoted to the level of less democratic countries.

20 March 2024; MEMO: Activists in the UK have launched the “No Tax for Genocide” campaign, calling on supporters to stop paying taxes to protest and change the British government’s stance on Israel’s war on Gaza.

The campaign’s founders argue that paying taxes while the government supports Israel is tantamount to “aiding and abetting genocide,” which they claim is “illegal” under international and domestic laws.

20 March 2024; MEMO: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Saudi Arabia today at the start of a tour of the Middle East to try to secure a ceasefire in Israel’s war against the Palestinians in Gaza war as increasing tension showed in Washington’s relationship with its ally Israel, Reuters has reported.

20 March 2024; MEMO: An online Israeli influencing campaign employing fake social media accounts has been attacking the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), according to a recent report by a disinformation watchdog cited by Haaretz.

20 March 2024; MEMO: Israel yesterday announced that it has informed the United States of its opposition to Qatar’s involvement in building and operating a floating pier in the Gaza Strip that will bring humanitarian aid into the Strip.

Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said the US had invited Qatar to be involved in constructing the pier in spite of Tel Aviv’s objection.

18 March 2024; MEMO: Israel has lost its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, a former Israeli military commander said yesterday.

“You can’t lie to many people for a long time,” Yitzhak Brick, a former major general, said in an article in Maariv newspaper, according to Anadolu.

“What is happening in the Gaza Strip and against Hezbollah in Lebanon will blow up in our faces sooner or later,” he warned.

18 March 2024; MEMO: Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor has documented the Israeli occupation’s “systematic” targeting of dozens of programmers and IT experts, alongside the destruction of their company headquarters as part of its genocide in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir demanded that Jews storm Al-Aqsa Mosque in the last ten days of Ramadan, according to Israeli media reports.

Israel’s Channel 13 reported that “Ben-Gvir demanded abolishing the well-known policy in Israel and allowing Jews to storm Al-Aqsa Mosque during the last ten days of Ramadan.”

It revealed that security officials were informed of Ben-Gvir’s request before the Council of Ministers discuss this matter over the next two weeks.

18 March 2024; MEMO: The EU foreign policy chief today warned that Gaza is already “in a state of famine”, saying the situation is “entirely man-made” by Israel.

“In Gaza, we are no longer on the brink of famine, we are in a state of famine affecting thousands of people,” Josep Borrell told the opening ceremony of the two-day European Humanitarian Forum 2024 in Brussels.

“This is unacceptable,” he stressed, adding: “Starvation is used as a weapon of war.”

19 March 2024; MEMO: A senior Palestinian police officer was killed by Israeli forces in the northern Gaza Strip yesterday, the Government Media Office said, Anadolu reported.