LONDON: The British owner of an animal shelter in Afghanistan will be allowed to evacuate around 200 cats and dogs on a charter plane from Kabul, the UK’s defense minister said Wednesday in an apparent climbdown.
The high-profile campaign by former Marine Paul “Pen” Farthing to evacuate his animals has prompted controversy as thousands of people seek to flee the Taliban ahead of United States troops’ withdrawal by August 31.
After serving in Afghanistan with the British Army, Farthing founded an animal charity called Nowzad in Kabul rescuing cats, dogs and donkeys.
He remains in Kabul and has crowd-funded a plane to fly out his staff and their families as well as some 200 cats and dogs in what he calls Operation Arkansas
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace had earlier said it would be wrong to “prioritize pets over people” as thousands wait outside the airport, many fearing reprisals from the Taliban which seized control of the country on August 15.
But early Wednesday Wallace tweeted that he had authorized officials to process Farthing’s Afghan staff at Kabul airport.
Once that happens, “if he (Farthing) arrives with his animals we will seek a slot for his plane,” Wallace said.
He emphasised that the “limiting factor” had been maintaining the flow of the evacuations, “not airplane capacity.”
Wallace added that Farthing and his Afghan staff, who have been granted UK visas, could also leave without the animals on a Royal Air Force flight.
The defense minister had told Sky News on Tuesday that Farthing’s chartered plane would “block the airfield” and “sit there empty” as officials processed other passengers waiting in a huge line.
“As for the animals that he (Farthing) has rescued and saved, it is just not going to be the case that I will prioritize them over the men, women and children we see in desperate need at the gate.”
Farthing has waged a campaign backed by celebrities including comedian Ricky Gervais, complaining at the UK defense ministry’s stance.
British tabloids traditionally support campaigns to help animals abroad and The Sun wrote Wednesday that Wallace offered a “glimmer of hope” to the “mercy flight.”
Farthing has said he could transport animals in the hold of the 250-seat plane and take Afghans in spare seats.
The UK has evacuated more than 10,000 people from Afghanistan since August 13 and more military flights were planned for Wednesday, according to the defense ministry.
Foreign Minister Dominic Raab praised the operation on Sky News on Wednesday, saying: “It’s never been done before and no country has done better.”
Briton can evacuate 200 dogs and cats from Kabul, UK rules
https://arab.news/7jvx6
Briton can evacuate 200 dogs and cats from Kabul, UK rules
- After serving in Afghanistan with the British Army, Paul "Pen" Farthing founded an animal charity called Nowzad in Kabul rescuing cats, dogs and donkeys.
- Farthing remains in Kabul and has crowd-funded a plane to fly out his staff, their families and some 200 cats and dogs in 'Operation Ark'
Arts festival’s decision to exclude Palestinian author spurs boycott
- A Macquarie University academic who researches Islamophobia and Palestine, Abdel-Fattah responded saying it was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship,” with her lawyers issuing a letter to the festival
SYDENY: A top Australian arts festival has seen the withdrawal of dozens of writers in a backlash against its decision to bar an Australian Palestinian author after the Bondi Beach mass shooting, as moves to curb antisemitism spur free speech concerns.
The shooting which killed 15 people at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Dec. 14 sparked nationwide calls to tackle antisemitism. Police say the alleged gunmen were inspired by Daesh.
The Adelaide Festival board said last Thursday it would disinvite Randa Abdel-Fattah from February’s Writers Week in the state of South Australia because “it would not be culturally sensitive to continue to program her at this unprecedented time so soon after Bondi.”
FASTFACTS
• Abdel-Fattah responded, saying it was ‘a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship.’
• Around 50 authors have since withdrawn from the festival in protest, leaving it in doubt, local media reported.
A Macquarie University academic who researches Islamophobia and Palestine, Abdel-Fattah responded saying it was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship,” with her lawyers issuing a letter to the festival.
Around 50 authors have since withdrawn from the festival in protest, leaving it in doubt, local media reported.
Among the boycotting authors, Kathy Lette wrote on social media the decision to bar Abdel-Fattah “sends a divisive and plainly discriminatory message that platforming Australian Palestinians is ‘culturally insensitive.'”
The Adelaide Festival said in a statement on Monday that three board members and the chairperson had resigned. The festival’s executive director, Julian Hobba, said the arts body was “navigating a complex moment.”
a complex and unprecedented moment” after the “significant community response” to the board decision.
In the days after the Bondi Beach attack, Jewish community groups and the Israeli government criticized Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for failing to act on a rise in antisemitic attacks and criticized protest marches against Israel’s war in Gaza held since 2023.
Albanese said last week a Royal Commission will consider the events of the shooting as well as antisemitism and social cohesion in Australia. Albanese said on Monday he would recall parliament next week to pass tougher hate speech laws.
On Monday, New South Wales state premier Chris Minns announced new rules that would allow local councils to cut off power and water to illegally operating prayer halls.
Minns said the new rules were prompted by the difficulty in closing a prayer hall in Sydney linked to a cleric found by a court to have made statements intimidating Jewish Australians.
The mayor of the western Sydney suburb of Fairfield said the rules were ill-considered and councils should not be responsible for determining hate speech.
“Freedom of speech is something that should always be allowed, as long as it is done in a peaceful way,” Mayor Frank Carbone told Reuters.
