WASHINGTON: More than 1,000 officials in the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have signed an open letter urging the Biden administration to call for an immediate cease-fire in the war between Israel and Hamas, according to a copy of the letter seen by Reuters.
The letter is latest sign of unease within the US government over President Joe Biden’s unwavering support for Israel in its response to the Oct. 7 attacks by Palestinian Hamas militants that killed 1,400 Israelis, mostly civilians.
Washington has rebuffed calls from Arab and Palestinian leaders and others to call for Israel to halt its assault on the Hamas-controlled Gaza strip which has killed more than 11,000 Palestinians, including over 4,500 children, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
“(W)e are alarmed and disheartened at the numerous violations of international law; laws which aim to protect civilians, medical and media personnel, as well as schools, hospitals, and places of worship,” the letter reads.
“We believe that further catastrophic loss of human life can only be avoided if the United States Government calls for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza.”
The letter, published on Nov. 2, had now garnered 1,029 signatures from staff of the US aid agency. Signatories’ names are hidden but the letter shows it was signed by officials in many of the agency’s bureaus in Washington as well as officials posted around the world.
“We appreciate the ongoing dialogue we have with our dedicated staff and partners, and continue to welcome our team to share their opinions with leadership,” USAID Spokesperson Jessica Jennings said in an emailed response.
It comes amid protests in the United States and elsewhere calling for a cease-fire, and widespread concern among officials over the US response to the Middle East crisis, which has included the public resignation of one State Department official who said he opposed continued lethal assistance to Israel.
More than 500 people who worked on Biden’s 2020 election campaign on Thursday published a letter, seen by Reuters, calling for the president to support an immediate cease-fire, and a group of congressional staffers held a vigil on Wednesday at the Capitol demanding a cease-fire, images on social media showed.
A source familiar with the matter said there has been “deep frustration” among officials in the aftermath of Oct. 7 and how the administration has given what the sources see as a “carte-blanche” to Israel, allowing it conduct a military offensive in Gaza.
The source said they were aware of at least four cables that have been drafted for the State Department’s internal “dissent channel,” which allows diplomats to raise concerns about policy anonymously with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The State Department does not confirm the existence of dissent cables.
The department has held a number of listening sessions in the past month, including in US missions in the Middle East, two sources who attended the sessions said.
Deputy State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said on Thursday it has been important for Blinken and other leaders to “engage directly with the workforce,” a reference to listening sessions held with concerned staff.
“We also recognize that this has been a trying time for our workforce,” Patel said.
“We have ensured that our missions around the world, particularly those that might be more heightened attention right now to what’s happening in the Middle East have access to those resources and are able to interface with department leaders about not just what’s happening in the region, but the ways that this department can continue to serve them.”
Over 1,000 USAID officials call for Gaza cease-fire in letter
https://arab.news/63m3a
Over 1,000 USAID officials call for Gaza cease-fire in letter
- The letter is latest sign of unease within the US government over President Joe Biden’s unwavering support for Israel
- “(W)e are alarmed and disheartened at the numerous violations of international law; laws which aim to protect civilians,” the letter read
Greek court drops criminal charges against 35 international aid workers
Greece was on the front line of a huge surge of refugees and migrants to Europe in 2015 and 2016
ATHENS: Greece has dropped criminal charges against dozens of international aid workers, ranging from spying to facilitating what authorities had called illegal entry into the country through the island of Lesbos, court documents showed on Tuesday.
Most of the 35 people, accused in 2020 of setting up a criminal organization and providing support to traffickers ferrying migrants, were German nationals. The rest included people from Norway, Austria, France, Spain, Switzerland and Bulgaria. They were arrested and had denied wrongdoing at the time.
The case was dropped due to inadequate evidence, the documents seen by Reuters showed.
“The detailed investigation of the case file has resoundingly quashed the police narrative which was pure fiction,” said Zaharias Kesses, a lawyer representing some of the aid workers.
Greece was on the front line of a huge surge of refugees and migrants to Europe in 2015 and 2016, many through its outlying islands close to Turkiye, including Lesbos. That flow has since ebbed.
The case was based on a 2020 operation by the Greek intelligence service EYP and the anti-terrorism unit with the code name Alkmini, and involved undercover agents who traveled as migrants from Turkiye to Lesbos.
Greek intelligence services were initially involved because the workers, who were using an alarm phone for migrants and asylum seekers in need of rescue at sea, were thought to have passed on information on Greek coast guard movements and vessel equipment.
But a magistrate’s investigation concluded the information and visual material collected were not confidential.
“There is not enough evidence to support the accusations against the defendants,” the documents said.
Top French university loses funding over pro-Palestinian protests
- Regional support for the Paris-based university includes 1 million euros earmarked for 2024
- The university’s acting administrator, Jean Basseres, said he regretted the decision
PARIS: The Paris region authority sparked controversy Tuesday by temporarily suspending funding for Sciences Po, one of the country’s most prestigious universities, after it was rocked by tense pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
“I have decided to suspend all regional funding for Sciences Po until calm and security have been restored at the school,” Valerie Pecresse, the right-wing head of the greater Paris Ile-de-France region, said on social media on Monday.
She took aim at “a minority of radicalized people calling for anti-Semitic hatred” and accused hard-left politicians of seeking to exploit the tensions.
Regional support for the Paris-based university includes 1 million euros earmarked for 2024, a member of Pecresse’s team told AFP.
On Tuesday, the university’s acting administrator, Jean Basseres, said he regretted the decision.
“The Ile-de-France region is an essential partner of Sciences Po, and I wish to maintain dialogue on the position expressed by Mrs.Pecresse,” he told French daily Le Monde in an interview published Tuesday.
In an echo of tense demonstrations rocking many top US universities, students at Sciences Po have staged a number of protests, with some students furious over the Israel-Hamas war and ensuing humanitarian crisis in the besieged Palestinian territory of Gaza.
France is home to the world’s largest Jewish population after Israel and the United States, as well as Europe’s biggest Muslim community.
University officials called in police to clear a protest last week. On Monday, police broke up a student protest demanding an end to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza at Sorbonne, another top French university.
Higher Education Minister Sylvie Retailleau said on Tuesday the French government had no plans to suspend funding for Sciences Po.
Speaking to broadcaster France 2, she estimated the state’s funding for the university at 75 million euros. She said there had been “no anti-Semitic remarks” and no violence had been committed during the demonstrations.
Both Basseres and Retailleau also said there were no plans to suspend Sciences Po’s collaboration with universities in Israel.
Critics on the left have denounced Pecresse’s announcement.
“It’s shameful and an absolute scandal,” said Mathilde Panot, the head of hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) deputies in parliament, adding the behavior of the students was a “credit to the world and a credit to our country.”
Panot and Rima Hassan, a Franco-Palestinian activist who is running on the LFI list for European elections, were on Tuesday questioned in an investigation into suspected justification of “terrorism” over comments on the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel.
Several hundred people staged a solidarity rally in support of the two women on Tuesday morning.
“In what democracy are counter-terrorism methods used against political activists, community activists and trade unionists?” Panot, 35, told her supporters, who chanted “Resistance” and waved Palestinian flags.
“I want to tell the pro-Israeli lobby organizations behind these complaints that they will not silence us,” added 32-year-old Hassan.
The war started after Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 34,535 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
Palestinian militants also took some 250 hostages on October 7. Israel estimates 129 remain in Gaza, including 34 believed to be dead.
King Charles III resumes public duties as he fights cancer
- The British head of state appeared relaxed as he and his wife Queen Camilla met patients and staff at the University College Hospital Macmillan Cancer Center
- He talked to patients receiving chemotherapy at a day unit
LONDON: King Charles III on Tuesday reportedly told fellow cancer patients “I’m well,” as he carried out his first official public engagement since being diagnosed with the condition.
The British head of state appeared relaxed as he and his wife Queen Camilla met patients and staff at the University College Hospital Macmillan Cancer Center in central London.
He talked to patients receiving chemotherapy at a day unit, including 60-year-old Asha Millen, who has bone marrow cancer.
“I said, ‘How are you?’ and he said, ‘I’m well’,” she told reporters afterwards.
Another patient, Lesley Woodbridge, 63, said the king sympathized with her, and added: “I’ve got to have my treatment this afternoon as well.”
Charles, 75, suspended most of his duties in February after cancer was found while he was being treated for an enlarged prostate the previous month.
The exact nature of his cancer has not been disclosed but doctors said last week they were “very encouraged” by the progress of his treatment as an out-patient and “positive” about his recovery.
His daughter-in-law Catherine, Princess of Wales, 42, underwent abdominal surgery in January and said in March that she was receiving chemotherapy.
Again, no details were given about what type of cancer she has. Kate, as she is widely known, is married to Charles’s elder son and heir Prince William.
Tuesday’s event was the first in a number of planned engagements in the coming weeks and designed to raise awareness of the importance of early cancer diagnosis and highlight innovative research, Buckingham Palace said.
Charles, who succeeded his mother Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022, was officially crowned king on May 6 last year.
He has been seen attending church services since his diagnosis and at selected audiences. He has also continued his official state business.
His treatment will continue but his schedule in the coming weeks will be reduced and subject to medical advice, a spokesperson added.
His engagements will include a state visit by Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako of Japan in June.
The chief executive of University College London Hospitals group, David Probert, said Charles “deliberately went out of his way to meet as many staff and patients as he could.”
Patients were “delighted” to see him, he told Sky News, and described the visit as “incredibly uplifting.”
Members of the public last week welcomed the king’s return to some duties, praising him for raising awareness about cancer, which will affect one in two people, according to Cancer Research UK.
Probert said the king’s announcement had led to a surge in people looking up symptoms and seeking out treatment.
“It’s a huge issue in today’s society,” Keegan Gray, 23, a demolitions manager from New Zealand, told AFP on Friday.
“A lot of people have cancer and a lot of people they keep it to themselves, they’re a bit shy about it,” he added after the news Charles would resume some public duties.
Gray said it was “really beautiful” that the king was raising awareness of cancer and the work of treatment clinics.
Charles and Kate’s cancer diagnoses have created a headache for the royal family, with both having postponed public engagements.
William has also taken a step back to support his wife and their three young children, leaving fewer senior royals to fill the schedule.
Camilla, 76, has stepped in to take over many of her husband’s engagements. Charles’s sister Princess Anne and his youngest brother Prince Edward have also taken on more prominent roles.
Charles’s largely estranged younger son, Prince Harry, is no longer a working royal but is expected in London on May 8 to mark the 10th anniversary of his Invictus Games for disabled military veterans.
He will then join his American wife Meghan on a visit to Nigeria.
Russia says shot down US-made missiles launched by Ukraine
- Washington has said it had supplied the arms to Ukraine
- The Russian-installed head of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, said one of the missiles was downed in the village of Donskoye
MOSCOW: Russia said Tuesday it had shot down six US-supplied tactical missiles launched by Ukraine, with officials in annexed Crimea saying some were downed over the Black Sea peninsula.
Washington has said it had supplied the arms to Ukraine, which has been asking for more powerful weapons for months as it struggles to contain advancing Russian forces.
Moscow’s defense ministry said it had destroyed six Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) rockets “in the last 24 hours,” without saying where they were shot down.
The Russian-installed head of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, said one of the missiles was downed in the village of Donskoye, outside the main city of Simferopol.
“After an ATACMS missile was shot down, undetonated submunitions scattered,” Aksyonov said on Telegram.
“If you find such a weapon, do not pick it up or come close and call emergency services or the police,” he warned.
Aksyonov posted a photograph of a metal ball which he said was part of the destroyed missile.
Russia did not say if the missiles caused any damage in Crimea.
Earlier, an official from Russian-occupied southern Ukraine, Vladimir Rogov, said that air defense had been in operation over Simferopol and the town of Dzankoi, in northern Crimea.
Ukraine has regularly attacked Crimea during Moscow’s more than two-year offensive.
But it did not comment on Tuesday’s attack.
Last week, the United States said it had sent ATACMS missiles to Ukraine in February.
Ukrainian forces are now awaiting the arrival of new US weapons, green-lighted by President Joe Biden after months of being blocked by political wrangling in Congress.
Sri Lanka joins Global South-North dialogue through Riyadh WEF meeting
- Foreign Minister Ali Sabry was among the special meeting’s speakers
- He represented the Global South perspective at the invitation of Saudi FM
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka is trying to position itself in the dialogue between the Global South and North, its foreign minister said, following the World Economic Forum’s special meeting on global collaboration organized by Saudi Arabia.
The WEF’s Special Meeting on Global Collaboration, Growth and Energy for Development convened 1,000 global leaders arriving in Riyadh from 92 countries on April 28-29 to find actionable, collaborative and sustainable solutions to shared challenges.
The meeting saw a focus on the Global South, or countries, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere and largely in Africa, Asia and Latin America, which until recently have often been described as developing or less developed.
Sri Lanka FM Ali Sabry represented the Global South perspective at the forum’s session titled “North to South, East to West: Rebuilding Trust” alongside his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan.
“It was a great opportunity for me to showcase Sri Lanka and the challenges that countries in the Global South face, and also to position Sri Lanka as an important player, particularly in the Global South in shaping the future … for collaboration, peace and stability, rather than confrontation,” he told Arab News.
The minister was in Riyadh at the invitation of Prince Faisal, with whom he also held a meeting.
“We look forward to elevating the partnership,” Sabry said.
“We intend to sign the investment protection agreement that would probably pave the way for the inflow of investment into Sri Lanka.”
He also met other Saudi leaders during his visit to explore further cooperation possibilities.
The Kingdom has expanded ties with the South Asian island nation since last year, agreeing to broaden political consultation and launching a new employment scheme aimed at boosting Sri Lanka’s manpower exports.
Colombo has since sought Saudi assistance in developing several of its key sectors, including tourism and agriculture.
