KABUL: Assailants fired at least a dozen rockets near the heavily fortified Afghan presidential palace on Tuesday as President Ashraf Ghani delivered his Eid speech live from there, residents said.
There were no reports of casualties. The rockets were fired from a building less than a mile away from the palace. Government forces exchanged fire with the assailants, who had dug in inside the building.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which came on the second day of a conditional cease-fire announced by Ghani with the Taliban, which has not yet responded to his offer.
Blasts could be heard as Ghani was delivering his speech, which was aired live. He was not reading from a paper, and no one approached him to inform him about the blasts, but he seemed to know and mentioned the blasts in his speech.
“We announced a cease-fire provided it is a bilateral one. It was based on the national consensus,” said Ghani.
“But… some groups and individuals who believe in plotting and blood (letting) will resort today to acts that would jeopardize the tranquility of the Afghan nation,” he added.
“If they believe that they can subdue this nation with this rocketing, then they should rethink that this nation has resolve.”
Irish minister defends ‘limited’ trade curbs on Israeli settlements
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DUBLIN: Ireland’s planned curbs on trade with Israeli settlements will be limited strictly to goods, a minister told Reuters, offering the first clear signal on the scope of the contested legislation and rejecting accusations that the country is antisemitic. Ireland has been preparing a law to curb trade with settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, facing pressure at home to widen the scope of the ban from goods to services, while Israel and the United States want the bill scrapped. Ireland has been one of the European Union’s most outspoken critics of Israel’s assault in Gaza, which authorities in the Palestinian enclave say has killed more than 67,000 people.
’EXTREMELY LIMITED MEASURE’, SAYS MINISTER But Thomas Byrne, Ireland’s Minister of State for European Affairs and Defense, told Reuters that the bill is limited to the import of goods and that it would not become law this year. “It’s an extremely limited measure, which would prohibit imports of goods from illegally-occupied territories,” he said in an interview. “Similar measures have already been brought in in a number of European countries.” Byrne’s comments give insight into Dublin’s thinking as Ireland seeks to deflect pressure, including from US companies based in the country, to soften its criticism of Israel. Ireland’s bill is expected to help shape how other European nations launch similar curbs on trade with Israeli settlements. The Irish government has signalled the bill is imminent but has yet to publicly announce its scope. Byrne declined to say when it would be sent to parliament, as the government weighs the bill’s implications. “It’s certainly not going to be implemented this year,” he said. Earlier this year, sources told Reuters that the government intended to blunt the law, curbing its scope to just a limited trade of goods, such as dried fruit, and not services. That more ambitious move could have entangled companies in technology and other industries in Ireland doing business in Israel. Business lobby groups had sought to kill the idea. Limiting the bill to goods only would catch just a handful of products imported from Israeli-occupied territories such as fruit that are worth just 200,000 euros ($234,660) a year.
LAWMAKER BLACK SAYS SHE STILL WANTS SERVICES BAN Most of the international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law. Israel disputes this, citing historical and biblical ties to the area. It says the settlements provide strategic depth and security. On Gaza, Israel says it acted in self-defense following the deadly October 7, 2023, Hamas attack that killed 1,200 people and resulted in 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel has repeatedly said it is committed to international law and tries to minimize harm to the civilian population of Gaza. Frances Black, the lawmaker who proposed the Irish bill, told Reuters she would push to include a ban on services. “It will take a lot of work in the new year to get services included but that’s exactly what I’m prepared to do.” Byrne also defended Ireland’s government, after Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar recently posted a video online where he accused the Irish government of having an “antisemitic nature.” Saar said the Irish government’s response had been slow to a local proposal to rename a park bearing the name of Chaim Herzog, the former president of Israel who was raised in Dublin. Irish ministers had roundly criticized the idea and Dublin City Council has since delayed a decision on whether to remove the name. US senator Lindsey Graham had also labelled Ireland a “cesspool of antisemitism.”
EU LAWMAKER REJECTS ANTISEMITISM CHARGE AS ‘NONSENSE’ “I reject outright that the country is in any way antisemitic,” said Byrne. “We’re deeply conscious of the contribution that Jewish people have made in Ireland.” Ireland’s relations with Israel have been fraught. Last December, Israel shut its embassy in Dublin amid a row over Ireland’s criticism of its war in Gaza, including Ireland’s recognition of a Palestinian state last year. Barry Andrews, an Irish member of the European parliament, urged Dublin to go ahead with its occupied territories bill. “Claims that Ireland is antisemitic are nonsense,” he said. Ireland has nothing to fear. We are no longer the only ones doing this.” On Wednesday, Ireland’s central bank governor Gabriel Makhlouf was forced to abandon a public speech in Dublin by pro-Palestinian protesters objecting to the central bank’s earlier role in the sale of Israeli bonds.
