World news and comment from the Guardian

/world

  • Spain’s apocalyptic floods show two undeniable truths: the climate crisis is getting worse and Big Oil is killing us | Spain | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/02/spain-apocalyptic-floods-climate-crisis-worse-big-oil-cop29

    Governments continue to focus on economic speed rather than climate safety. They have been slow to reduce the risks and prepare societies, but many, including the UK, have been quick to lock up those who scream warnings and who hold up traffic. The legal system is effectively compelling citizens to accept catastrophe.

    #climat #profits

  • UN should consider suspending Israel over ‘genocide’ against Palestinians, says special rapporteur | Israel | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/31/un-should-consider-suspending-israel-over-genocide-against-palestinians

    UN should consider suspending Israel over ‘genocide’ against Palestinians, says special rapporteur

    Francesca Albanese, who was stopped from appearing at US Congress this week, said Israel defied UN resolutions

  • Meloni’s government passes new law to save Albania migration transfer policy

    Move by Italian PM overturns ruling by a Rome court that could have blocked deal to curb migrant arrivals

    Italy’s far-right government has passed a new law to overcome a court ruling that risks blocking the country’s multimillion-dollar deal with Albania aimed at curbing migrant arrivals.

    On Friday, a court in Rome ruled to transfer back to Italy the last 12 asylum seekers being held in the new Italian migration hub in Albania. The ruling has cast doubt on the feasibility and legality of plans by the EU to explore ways to establish migrant processing and detention centres outside the bloc as part of a new hardline approach to migration.

    The group of individuals, who had arrived at the port of Shëngjin from Lampedusa onboard a military vessel last week, were among the 16 people transferred for the first time to the designated facility in Gjadër under the agreement between Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, and the Albanian prime minister, Edi Rama, aimed at holding men who are intercepted in international waters while trying to cross from Africa to Europe.

    Four of the 16 men were immediately sent back to Italy on Thursday, including two who were underage and two who were deemed as vulnerable.

    The remaining 12 individuals whom the Rome judges ordered be transferred back to Italy were returned via the port of Bari on Saturday in a blow to Meloni that risks turning the initiative into what aid workers and opposition groups have deemed a “complete failure” and a “financial disaster”.

    Meloni’s party, the far-right Brothers of Italy, angrily condemned the decision on social media, blaming “politicised magistrates” who “would like to abolish Italy’s borders. We will not allow it.”

    Italy’s justice minister, Carlo Nordio, attacked the judges, saying “the definition of a safe country cannot be up to the judiciary”.

    The dispute that has sparked the clash revolves around the definition of what constitutes “safe countries” of origin. The 16 asylum seekers hailed from Egypt and Bangladesh, countries deemed safe by Italy, and therefore, according to the government, they should have been repatriated to their countries of origin.

    However, the judges ordered their transfer to Italy, saying the men could be at risk of violence if repatriated, effectively upholding the 4 October ruling of the European court of justice that the Italian government appeared to have overlooked. As a general rule, EU law takes precedence over conflicting national laws.

    The EU court made it clear that a country not entirely safe cannot be deemed safe, underlining that the condition of insecurity, even if limited to a specific part of the country, such as a certain region, could lead to the entire country being deemed unsafe.

    The council of ministers approved the decree after an emergency meeting held late Monday afternoon. The aim of the new law is to draw up a new list of safe countries, which can be updated every six months, and to allow a court of appeal to reconsider rulings that order the transfer of asylum seekers to Italy. From now on, the country of origin will be a primary condition for repatriation. Meloni’s government hopes in this way to bind the magistrates’ decision to government decrees and not to international laws.

    “In compliance with the ruling of the European court of justice, countries that contain unsafe territorial areas are excluded from the list: Nigeria, Cameroon and Colombia,” said the undersecretary to the presidency of the council, Alfredo Mantovano, in a press conference at Palazzo Chigi after the council of ministers’ meeting.

    Meloni said: “We will continue to work tirelessly to defend our borders.”

    The row between the judges and the government escalated further on Sunday when Meloni published excerpts on social media of a letter sent by one prosecutor to a group which includes judges.

    In it, Judge Marco Patarnello warned that Meloni was “stronger and much more dangerous” than the former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who faced frequent legal woes and who repeatedly attacked the judiciary.

    Rightwing politicians said the letter proved the legal bias against the government.

    Critics said however that Meloni did not post the rest of the text, in which Patarnello said “we must not engage in political opposition, but we must defend jurisdiction and the citizens’ right to an independent judge”.

    On Monday, the president of the judiciary’s union, Giuseppe Santalucia, said: “We are not against the government, it would be absurd to think that the judiciary, an institution of the country, is against an institution of the country like political power.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/21/meloni-rushes-to-pass-new-law-to-save-albania-migration-transfer-policy

    #Italie #Albanie #externalisation #accord #migrations #asile #réfugiés #frontières #decret #pays-sûrs

    –-

    ajouté à la métaliste sur l’#accord entre #Italie et #Albanie pour la construction de #centres d’accueil (sic) et identification des migrants/#réfugiés sur le territoire albanais...

    https://seenthis.net/messages/1043873

    • CPR in Albania. Paesi “sicuri” per decreto legge

      I fatti sono noti: il fermo dei primi migranti, che la Libra, nave della Marina militare italiana, aveva portato in Albania non è stato convalidato dal tribunale di Roma. Nel CPR albanesi, secondo quanto stabilito dagli accordi con il governo di Tirana, potrebbero finire solo uomini adulti provenienti da paesi “sicuri”.
      Paesi “sicuri” sono quelli inclusi in una lista stilata dal governo.
      In base al parere della Corte europea giustizia sulla direttiva UE in materia di paesi “sicuri” che stabilisce che non possono esservi paesi assolutamente sicuri per tutt*, il tribunale di Roma ha obbligato il governo a trasferire in fretta in Italia e furia il gruppetto di uomini provenienti da Bangladesh ed Egitto, rinchiusi nel CPR di Gjader.
      La risposta del governo non si è fatta attendere. Ieri è stato emesso un decreto legge, quindi immediatamente in vigore, sino alla scontata convalida del parlamento, in cui viene definita per legge la lista dei paesi “sicuri”.
      Nei fatti il governo se ne infischia del merito e va dritto allo scopo: selezionare, rinchiudere e deportare esseri umani in eccesso per mantenere il consenso nel proprio elettorato.

      https://radioblackout.org/2024/10/cpr-in-albania-paesi-sicuri-per-decreto-legge

    • L’Italie publie un nouveau décret sur les « pays sûrs » pour sauver son accord avec l’Albanie

      Le gouvernement italien a publié lundi un nouveau décret visant à sauver son accord avec l’Albanie, qui prévoit l’externalisation des demandes d’asile dans ce pays voisin. L’exécutif a dévoilé une nouvelle liste de pays considérés comme « sûrs » pour envoyer les ressortissants originaires de ces États vers l’Albanie, sans être contrecarré par une décision de justice. Mais les juristes estiment que cette modification législative risque quand même de poser de nouvelles questions juridiques.

      Le gouvernement italien contre-attaque. La coalition au pouvoir, alliant droite et extrême droite, a adopté lundi 21 octobre en Conseil des ministre un décret qui inscrit dans la loi 19 pays considérés comme « sûrs » par Rome pour y rapatrier les migrants.

      Un moyen pour le gouvernement de sauver son accord avec l’Albanie, mis à mal par une décision de justice vendredi. Un tribunal romain a en effet invalidé la rétention des 12 premiers migrants arrivés sur le sol albanais mercredi 16 octobre, après avoir été interceptés en Méditerranée par les autorités italiennes. Ces hommes, originaires d’Égypte et du Bangladesh, ont dû être rapatriés en Italie trois jours plus tard.

      Les juges italiens se sont appuyés sur un récent arrêt de la Cour européenne de justice (CJUE), qui estime que le Bangladesh et l’Égypte ne sont pas des pays sûrs, contrairement à l’Italie.

      Nouvelle liste de pays « sûrs »

      Afin de se conformer à la législation européenne, l’exécutif italien a exclu aujourd’hui trois pays parmi les 22 de sa liste précédente de « pays sûrs ». Désormais, le #Cameroun, la #Colombie et le #Nigeria en sont exclus. Toutefois, la nouvelle liste, qui a vocation à être mise à jour annuellement, comprend toujours le #Bangladesh, la #Tunisie et l’#Egypte.

      Le décret ministériel, dont l’entrée en vigueur est immédiate, vise « à garantir que le recours à la demande de protection ne soit pas largement exploité pour échapper à la justice », a déclaré le ministre de l’Intérieur, Matteo Piantedosi.

      Mais ce nouveau texte suffira-t-il à contrer la justice, comme le souhaite la Première ministre Giorgia Meloni ? Selon des juristes, cette modification législative risque de poser de nouvelles questions juridiques, et même avec ce décret, c’est bien la législation européenne qui prévaut malgré tout.

      « Magistrats politisés »

      La décision de la justice italienne est un revers cinglant pour la cheffe du gouvernement, qui a fait de la lutte contre l’immigration irrégulière sa priorité.

      « Je ne crois pas qu’il soit de la compétence des juges de décider quels pays sont sûrs et lesquels ne le sont pas, c’est une compétence du gouvernement », avait-t-elle déclaré, alors que son parti avait dénoncé une décision « absurde » et fustigé des « magistrats politisés ».

      De son côté, le ministre de la Justice Carlo Nordio a dénoncé « un arrêt de la Cour de Justice européenne qui est complexe, très détaillé et qui n’a probablement pas été bien compris ni bien lu ».

      L’accord avec Tirana, qui a du plomb dans l’aile, était pourtant présenté comme un exemple à suivre au sein de l’Union européenne (UE). Depuis quelques jours, les États membres - dont certains veulent appliquer le modèle italien - ont les yeux rivés sur l’Italie, et sur sa possibilité ou non d’externaliser les demandes d’asile dans un pays hors UE.

      https://www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/60711/litalie-publie-un-nouveau-decret-sur-les-pays-surs-pour-sauver-son-acc

    • Italy: What next for the government’s Albania plan?

      The Italian government’s plan to process asylum seekers in Albania has hit a stumbling block. The government insists it will go ahead anyway, but if it is contrary to EU law, can it really proceed? InfoMigrants asked an expert from the Italian juridical association ASGI.

      Italy claims its Albania plan is in step with European policy, but Italian judges have ruled that legally, it contravenes European and human rights law. Where does the plan go from here?

      An Italian naval ship, the Libra, is currently docked in Sicily. According to the Italian news agency ANSA, the ship is waiting for orders to move just outside Italy’s national waters, to take more migrants rescued on their way to Italy towards the centers in Albania.

      But given the decision by Rome’s tribunal last week, ordering migrants taken to Albania back to Rome to have their claims processed, can the Albanian system really work?

      Lucia Gennari is a lawyer and associate with ASGI, the Italian Association for Juridical Studies on Immigration. InfoMigrants put some of its questions to her:

      IM: The Italian government says it wants to go ahead, but can it, legally speaking?

      LG: Well, they passed a new decree on Monday. So, it seems that the way they are hoping to move ahead is to enshrine a list of safe countries of origin in law. But we know that judges are not obliged to apply [Italian] laws that might go against European Union principles and judgments and directives.

      To us the passing of this decree seems to be less about substantially changing things, from a legal perspective, and more about signaling that if there is a decision in the future where a judge rules that the person who comes from a country on the list should have their asylum claim heard anyway, they can accuse the courts of being politicized and trying to interfere with the policies of government.

      What they did with this decree was remove countries from the list that had territorial exceptions, arguing that the EU Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling referenced by the Rome Tribunal applied only to these territorial restrictions. This is true, but also the ECJ was very clear that for a country to be considered safe, it has to “uniformly and systematically respect” human and civil rights.

      There is also an ongoing case before the ECJ on this very topic. It is very likely that there will be a second [European] decision that will exclude the possibility of considering a country safe when there are exceptions for certain categories of people. We have for example Bangladesh, which has a lot of exempted categories of people.

      The other thing they did, was to include the possibility of appealing at the court of appeal the possibility of administrative detention. Before you could only appeal at the high court, and that takes a long time. So previously, if a judge decided to revalidate the detention of someone, there was no way for the state to restart that detention. The new decree would make that possible.

      So, I think this is how they are hoping to keep going with the Albania protocol.

      IM: The navy has a ship waiting in Augusta, is it possible for the Italian government to send that ship out and pick up more people? Or are they perhaps waiting for nationals from countries that are not Egypt and Bangladesh to try and take them to Albania?

      LG: I don’t know why they are waiting. Perhaps it is because there is currently bad weather in the Mediterranean and perhaps there are not so many departures. I don’t think it is about trying to find nationals from other countries, because the logic will be the same.

      The mechanism is that they collect people who were rescued by other smaller Italian ships. The people are selected on board the rescue ship and some are brought to the Libra and some are sent to Lampedusa and others are sent back to Albania, but they have to be in international waters.

      IM: Does the Italian government’s decree regarding safe countries remind you of the former British government’s attempts to declare Rwanda safe above the ruling of the supreme court?

      LG: Yes, I don’t know in detail the mechanism for Rwanda. I think there are some differences, and perhaps the Italian government learned from the Rwanda plan, which failed completely. There is one crucial difference between Rwanda and Albania, and that is that in the Italian government’s plan, everyone who is brought to Albania, there is this fiction that they are still on Italian territory. All the laws that apply are the same as in Italy. It’s Italian law, the procedures are the same, at least theoretically. I think in practice there are probably a lot of differences, but, the UK wanted to hand over their responsibility of assessment of asylum claims to the Rwandan authorities, and this is a very big difference.

      https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/60808/italy-what-next-for-the-governments-albania-plan

  • US officials attend Gaza aid meetings on site of Israeli prison accused of ‘horrific’ torture
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/14/usaid-gasa-aid-meetings-sde-teiman

    Officials from the US’s main humanitarian agency attend daily meetings on an Israeli military base that also hosts a notorious prison for Palestinian detainees where torture reportedly runs rampant, the Guardian has learned.

    According to three officials with the US Agency for International Development (USAid), Israel’s humanitarian relief hub began operating at the desert military base Sde Teiman on 29 July, with a regular US presence. USAid is tasked with facilitating urgently needed humanitarian assistance to Gaza.

  • Non pas que ce soit la première fois ; mais c’est la première fois qu’un journaliste fait son travail.

    US-made munition used in Israeli strike on central Beirut, shrapnel shows | Lebanon | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/11/us-made-munition-used-in-israeli-strike-on-central-beirut-shrapnel-show

    The building was one of two hit in central Beirut on Thursday night, targeting the senior Hezbollah figure Wafiq Safa, the head of the group’s liaison and coordination unit and responsible for working with Lebanese security agencies. According to Reuters, Safa survived the assassination attempt.

    The Guardian found remnants of a US-manufactured joint direct attack munition (Jdam) in the rubble of the collapsed apartment building on Friday afternoon. Jdams are guidance kits built by the US aerospace company Boeing that attach to large “dumb bombs” ranging up to 2,000lbs (900kg), converting them into GPS-guided bombs.

    The weapons remnant was verified by the crisis, conflict and arms division of Human Rights Watch and a former US military bomb technician.

  • As war and religion rages, Israel’s secular elite contemplate a ‘silent departure’ | Israel | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/06/as-war-and-religion-rages-israels-secular-elite-contemplate-a-silent-de

    (...) Earlier this year, Netanyahu’s former chair of the National Economic Council, Eugene Kandel, joined forces with the administrative expert Ron Tzur to warn that Israel faces an existential threat.

    In a paper calling for a new political settlement, they warned that under a business-as-usual scenario “there is a considerable likelihood that Israel will not be able to exist as a sovereign Jewish state in the coming decades”.

    Among the threats they highlighted were rising emigration, particularly among the people who have built up Israel’s hi-tech sector and the schools and hospitals vital to attracting the global elite. “Israel’s locomotive of growth is innovation, and that is driven by a small group of several tens of thousands of people in a country of 10 million,” the paper warned. “The weight of their departure from the country is immense in comparison to their number.”

    The problem precedes the 7 October attacks and the war that followed, as demographic and political shifts have prompted some secular, liberal Israelis to question their future in a state increasingly dominated by religious traditionalists.

    (...) Secular Israelis who prioritise living in a liberal democracy are a shrinking portion of Israel’s population, said Uri Ram, professor of sociology and anthropology at Ben Gurion University of the Negev.

    By 2015, only a minority – although, at 45%, a large one – of the Jewish population in Israel defined themselves as secular, and that is shrinking as religious and ultra-orthodox Jewish families, on average, have more children.

    Data from the first class at elementary schools in 2023 showed that only 40% of children were in the secular stream, he said.

    “There is a growing problem of ‘brain drain’, and it will increase, firstly, if the military risk is not reduced and, secondly, if the state does indeed turn more populist-autocratic,” said Ram, who has researched the struggle for Israel’s future between liberal, mostly secular Israelis like Noam and a group he describes as ethno-religious traditionalists.

    “In these situations, the upper middle classes will send their young generations abroad. Jews are well networked in desired academic and professional markets abroad, and family and work connections will assist the integration of young, educated Israeli immigrants in the desired locations.”

    (...) It is hard to evaluate the scale of departures so far. In 2023, during the prewar domestic turmoil over Netanyahu’s judicial reforms, there was a net departure from Israel of between 30,000 and 40,000 people, the newspaper Haaretz reported.

    Immigration is not only one-way: some Israelis abroad have seen a country in crisis and decided to return. Noam Bardin, a former chief executive of the satnav app Waze, flew back to Israel on 8 October.

    Tech firms drive the economy but only employ 10% of the workforce, Bardim told Haaretz in a recent interview, warning that, without that talent, Israel’s recent years of economic success could unravel. “That’s only 400,000 people, 50,000 of whom comprise the main engine – engineers, senior executives at funds, whom the whole world is trying to recruit. If these people leave the country, we’ll become Argentina.”

    Ciechanover fears the process is accelerating faster than is captured by official statistics or anecdotal observations. It takes time to pass the exams needed to practise in another country, and find jobs, housing and schools. Many colleagues don’t tell friends or family when they start this process.

  • Lebanese healthcare workers fearful as growing numbers killed in strikes | Lebanon | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/03/lebanese-healthcare-workers-fearful-as-growing-numbers-killed-in-strike

    One after another, Israeli airstrikes last week began to hit near hospitals in Lebanon’s south. On Tuesday one airstrike landed next to Bint Jbeil hospital and another hit the outskirts of Tibnine public hospital as ambulances were approaching it. An empty building next to Ragheb Harb University hospital near Nabatieh was hit on Wednesday and then again on Thursday.

    Paramedics say they began to notice a pattern with the strikes: whenever they arrived at a location to start rescue operations, they said Israeli airstrikes would follow. In one case, in the town of Suhmoor in the western Bekaa valley on Monday last week, an ambulance was struck directly after the team left the car. Pictures of the vehicle engulfed in flames circulated in Lebanese media.

    Meanwhile, paramedics have begun receiving strange calls with a voice speaking Arabic on the other end, warning them to evacuate their medical centres, said Rabih Issah, a local commissioner of Islamic Kashafat al-Risala medical organisation that serves much of south Lebanon.

    Last Wednesday, paramedics in two different villages received calls, forcing the workers to stop their work and evacuate, though the buildings were not bombed. Unlike the wave of Israeli calls that warned 80,000 Lebanese to distance themselves from buildings it alleged contained Hezbollah weapons ahead of Israel’s aerial campaign in south Lebanon the week before, these warnings were directed only at the medical workers.

    #zs

  • Elon Musk to present Atlantic Council global citizen award to Giorgia Meloni [23 septembre 2024]
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/sep/23/elon-musk-to-present-atlantic-council-global-citizen-award-to-giorgia-m

    Elon Musk is to present Giorgia Meloni with the Atlantic Council’s global citizen award in New York, as Italy’s far-right prime minister resurrects links with allies of Donald Trump before the US presidential elections.

    Meloni will receive the prize during a gala dinner on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in recognition of her “groundbreaking role as Italy’s first female prime minister, her strong support of the European Union and the transatlantic alliance, and her 2024 chairmanship of the Group of Seven”.

    Merci the Atlantic Council.

  • Middle East crisis live: Israel ‘will do whatever it takes to avoid 7 October-style attack’ as it launches Lebanon ground raids
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/oct/01/israel-lebanon-attacks-live-blog-ground-offensive-hezbollah-hamas-gaza-
    Quand les mots disent l’inverse de la réalité...

    [ISR] Military spokesperson accuses Hezbollah of preparing to use villages as staging posts to invade Israel and ‘massacre innocent men, women and children’

  • Today : At least 51 killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon, Over 90,000 newly displaced people reported in Lebanon after Israeli airstrikes
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/sep/25/middle-east-crisis-live-lebanon-says-only-us-can-end-war-as-israel-laun
    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/fef242d7884f07bf5a3390ded6e941b97404e744/0_307_5052_3031/master/5052.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-ali

    At least 51 killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon, minister says
    The Lebanese health minister, Firass Abiad, said at least 51 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon today, Reuters reported.

    Over 90,000 newly displaced people reported in Lebanon after Israeli airstrikes
    After three days of concentrated airstrikes on Lebanon by Israel, the International Organization for Migration said on Wednesday that there were at least 90,530 newly displaced people. Nearly 40,000 were in 283 shelters, Reuters reports.

  • New Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon as Hezbollah confirms death of senior commander | Lebanon | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/sep/25/israel-lebanon-strikes-hezbollah-commander-ibrahim-qubaisi-latest-news-
    Strikes across the Israel-Lebanon border
    Airstrikes, artillery fire and drone strikes, 21-24 September 2024

  • Des “centaines” de membres du Hezbollah blessés par l’explosion de leur bipeur, selon un ministre libanais | Monde | 7sur7.be
    https://www.7sur7.be/monde/des-centaines-de-membres-du-hezbollah-blesses-par-lexplosion-de-leur-bipeur-se

    “Des dizaines de membres du Hezbollah ont été blessés dans la banlieue sud de Beyrouth”, bastion de la formation islamiste, et “dans le sud du Liban par l’explosion de leur bipeur”, avait plus tôt indiqué à l’AFP une source proche du mouvement islamiste. Elle a cependant assuré qu’il n’y avait eu aucun mort. Une autre source proche du Hezbollah a affirmé à l’AFP qu’il s’agissait d’un “piratage israélien”.

    • L’ancien ministre libanais de la Défense, Yacoub Sarraf, a déclaré qu’il ne pensait pas que la détonation des bipeurs était une "attaque cybernétique", mais plutôt que "ce type d’équipement a un code par son fabricant, pour s’assurer qu’il peut être détoné sous une clé d’information appelée “Back door” qui permet au fabricant d’accéder à l’appareil et de donner des instructions pour le faire exploser".

      "De ce qui précède, je conclus que l’ennemi [Israël] a reçu ce code et l’a utilisé pour commettre ce crime horrible. Prions pour les blessés."

    • https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/cyber-attack-targeting-pagers-results-in-tens-of-injuries-in

      Preliminary reports indicate that hundreds of Lebanese citizens were injured after their portable pager communication devices detonated on Tuesday.

      The cyber attack managed to hack the devices, with reports of injuries spreading across several villages in the Lebanese South, Bekaa, and Beirut’s southern suburb.

      Lebanese security forces confirmed that specific types of wireless devices were targeted, with several sources alleging that an Israeli breach caused the devices to go off and subsequently explode.

      The LSF urged civilians to clear the roads for ambulances to ensure the timely and safe transportation of casualties.

    • https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/9/17/israels-war-on-gaza-live-38-killed-as-israel-risks-becoming-pariah?update

      We have some more comments from military analyst Elijah Magnier on the simultaneous pager explosions in different parts of Lebanon.

      This is a very sophisticated attack and normally, at this scale, it requires the collaboration of more than one entities.
      If the Israeli intelligence managed to compromise the pagers that have been supplied to Hezbollah, this [does not exclude] that they have managed to access the supply by Iran, because Iran supplies Hezbollah in most of its equipment.
      An operation of this scale needs the presence of high explosives, even in small quantity, and an awful long time to sit one every single pager and manually implement one to three grams of highly explosive material and yet conserve the functionality of the pager, the screen and all the electronics without all of this being affected.
      That requires the work of more than one intelligence services and the break of the channel of supply.
      That can also indicate that there is an explosive, because batteries don’t explode on their own in Beirut, in Bekaa Valley, in the south of Lebanon and in Syria and everywhere there is a pager at the same instant.
      This is not something related to the malfunction of the pager but it is something that is implemented in it and exploded by a frequency, most likely a radio frequency.
      In this case, we understand that the Israeli intelligence have placed this explosive with the support of a third country before they reached Hezbollah
      This means that they have not only taken their time but they sat on this supply for a long time before it reached its final destination and
      most probably the Iranians will be now examining all their products and equipment to make sure that nobody has tampered in what they have acquired.

    • Je ne comprends même pas comment un appareil de communication de série peut être designé pour exploser.

      Genre, y pas de contrôles de conformité, des tests ?

      En plus, t’es fabriquant : à quel moment tu demandes à tes ingénieurs de designer la fonction « explosion via un back door » ?
      C’est clairement un surcout.
      Qui décide de s’infliger un surcout de production et pourquoi ?

    • soit c’est le fabricant, avec une équipe discrète en post-fab pour équiper [installer un explosif] les pagers, soit c’est le vendeur à l’Iran, ou n’importe quel maillon/moment de la chaine de distribution (dans un bateau ou un entrepôt), qui a bossé pour Israël et/ou ses alliés (peut-être dans l’hypothèse d’éviter une régionalisation étendue du conflit qu’Israël ne cesse de promettre) avant la livraison à l’Iran.
      et c’est un coup très dur, moins symbolique mais plus opérationnel que de dessouder Ismail Haniyeh à Téhéran.

      edit effet matériel direct : incapaciter des centaines de cadres du Hezbollah ; guerre psychologique : avec ce sabotage d’ État(s), l’organisation ne protège pas contre Israël, nulle part à l’abri ; être prêt à mourir ce n’est pas la même chose que d’être blessés par centaines et par milliers (comme dit la chanson...) de manière absolument imprévue.
      cette opération ressemble toutes choses inégales par ailleurs à une préparation d’artillerie sans qu’on puisse savoir si c’est de la dissuasion plus plus ou un préalable à une nouvelle invasion du Liban (tant annoncée...)

    • Le Hezbollah visé en masse par des explosions de bipeurs au Liban et en Syrie
      https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/international/170924/le-hezbollah-vise-en-masse-par-des-explosions-de-bipeurs-au-liban-et-en-sy

      Des centaines de personnes ont été blessées, mardi 17 septembre, dans l’explosion simultanée de milliers de bipeurs, dans plusieurs bastions de la formation pro-iranienne au Liban mais aussi en Syrie. Le ministre libanais de la santé, Firas Abiad, a fait état de huit morts et de plus de 2 800 blessés.

    • https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/world/former-netanyahu-aide-hints-israel-is-behind-beirut-attack/ar-AA1qIkVx

      Topaz Luk, a former top aide and spokesperson to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, hinted in a post on X that Israel was behind Tuesday’s attack in Beirut.

      Luk’s post was a response to a former post by publicist Haim Levinson, in which Levinson argued that the prime minister would not order an attack before he visits New York next week for the United National General Assembly. Luk responded, “[The argument] did not age well,” indicating that the prime minister had ordered the attack.

      The Prime Minister’s Office responded, “Topaz Luk has not been the prime minister’s spokesperson for a number of months and is not part of the inner circle of consultations.”

    • mon hypothèse actuelle, puisqu’on sait que Israël sait imposer le tempo, c’est que cette opération a été montée avec l’accord [la participation directe ?] des É.U en la présentant comme destinée à couper l’herbe sous le pied (et le pied avec) du Hezbollah afin d’éviter (différer ?) une attaque au sol d’ampleur qui contraindrait les É.U à maintenir et renforcer leur soutien et surtout leur présence militaire dans la région (ou pas ... ?). ben oui, y a des élections chez l’Oncle Sam. c’est plus exploitable qu’un passage à l’’ONU.
      en comme c’est le boulon iranien qui n’a pas tenu, c’est tout bénef.

      edit
      Explosions au Liban : qu’est-ce qu’un bipeur ?
      https://www.lemonde.fr/pixels/article/2024/09/17/explosions-au-liban-qu-est-ce-qu-un-bipeur_6321814_4408996.html

      Leur faible puissance électrique rend très improbable qu’ils aient pu provoquer les explosions puissantes qui ont fait plusieurs milliers de blessés. (...)
      L’agence de presse Reuters rapportait cet été que le Hezbollah avait recours à des technologies de communication de plus en plus rudimentaires, dont des bipeurs, pour contrer les capacités de surveillance d’Israël, un des pays les plus avancés en matière de surveillance numérique. (...)
      En 1996, Yéhia Ayache, considéré comme le principal artificier du Hamas, avait été tué par l’explosion d’un téléphone portable contenant 15 grammes d’un puissant #explosif, le #RDX.

      https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/RDX

      le même « live » de Le Monde évoque 2500 bipeurs piégés

      Washington affirme ne pas être « impliqué » dans l’explosion des bipeurs au Liban, et n’avait pas été informé à l’avance de l’attaque et « exhort[e] l’Iran à ne pas se servir du moindre événement (sic) pour tenter d’alimenter l’instabilité et d’aggraver encore les tensions dans la région ».

      au vu de vidéos, et malgré des morts et, sans doute, des blessés graves, il doit y avoir de nombreuses blessures curables : les bipeurs et la place libre à l’intérieur, sauf coup de bol, c’est trop petit, même pour du RDX. du coup, ça ressemblerait davantage à un coup de semonce préparant une attaque plus vaste...

    • https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240917-israel-shekel-plummets-against-us-dollar-following-mass-

      The Israeli shekel dropped to its lowest level against the US dollar on Tuesday evening after a security incident in Lebanon left dozens injured, sparking further regional tension, Anadolu Agency reports.

      The Israeli shekel was trading at 3.8 per US dollar as of 2:20 PM GMT, down from 3.73 before the mass incident. This marks the shekel’s lowest exchange rate since 7 August, according to the Bank of Israel’s historical data.

    • Thread by amalsaad_lb on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App
      https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1836090599969017998.html

      Israel’s unprecedented and highly sophisticated security operation today in which almost 3000 people have been injured so far, is by all means a massive blow to Hizbullah. This is all more so the case given that Hizbullah has always credited its performance in the July War, in part, to its primitive telecom network which relied on pagers and a fiber optic “internal” line. By neutralising Israel’s technological superiority with “simplicity”, to borrow Nasrallah’s terms, Hizbullah prevented Israel from disrupting its command and control system. 1/

      Today’s attack effectively negates this advantage. The question is: why did Israel choose to prematurely play this card outside the context of all-out war, where a disruption of this magnitude could have changed the course of the war. Israel surely knows that Hizbullah will now review and amend its entire communication protocols, which suggests that Israel has other aims which could well fall short of full war. 2/

      The operation appears to have been designed as a major spectacle potentially serving dual purposes: to demoralise Hizbullah’s cadres and instil uncertainty while acting as a coercive deterrent aimed at altering their force positioning along the border. 3/

      Israel appears to have developed a unique military-security paradigm in its war on Lebanon: its daily assassination campaign via drone warfare blurs the line between prolonged security measures and traditional warfare. Today’s attack consolidates this novel paradigm which acts more as a substitute for all-out conventional war. At least for the time being. 4/

    • Ce que dit le droit international (pour ce qu’il vaut…)

      Brian Finucane sur X :

      Thinking about rules relating to booby traps under Amended Protocol II of the CCW for no particular reason.

      https://x.com/BCFinucane/status/1836105843739160641

      2. It is prohibited to use booby-traps or other devices in the form of apparently harmless portable objects which are specifically designed and constructed to contain explosive material.

      3. Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 3, It is prohibited to use weapons to which this Article applies in any city, town, village or other area containing a similar concentration of civilians in which combat between ground forces is not taking place or does not appear to be imminent, unless either:
      (a) they are placed on or in the close vicinity of a military
      (b) measures are taken to protect civilians from their effects, for example, the posting of warning sentries, the Issuing of warnings or the
      provision of fences.

      Brian Finucane sur X :
      https://x.com/BCFinucane/status/1836114522685243498

      The US, Israel, and Lebanon are all parties to Amended Protocol II.

    • Craig Mokhiber sur X :
      https://x.com/CraigMokhiber/status/1836090509753774508

      Israel’s massive terrorist attack in Lebanon today, using mobile devices as weapons, besides opening a dangerous new chapter in global terrorism, and likely provoking a wider war in the region, also constitutes a grave breach of humanitarian law & a gross violation of human rights. The perpetrators must be held to account.

      It also violates the human rights law prohibition of extrajudicial executions and the IHL prohibition of booby-traps designed to look like harmless portable objects or like something likely to attract civilians. And it violates the IHL requirements of distinction, proportionality, and precaution, as well as the prohibition on targeting civilians, in some of the cases.

    • Reuters
      https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/dozens-hezbollah-members-wounded-lebanon-when-pagers-exploded-sources-witne

      The New York Times reported that Israel hid explosive material in the Taiwan-made Gold Apollo pagers before they were imported to Lebanon, citing American and other officials briefed on the operation. The material was implanted next to the battery with a switch that could be triggered remotely to detonate

    • @colporteur qui se demande

      comment Israël aurait « trié » parmi tous les pagers de Beyrouth, par exemple ?

      Les chroniques rapportées sur X à propos de ces évènements tendraient à affirmer qu’Israël (ou les instances d’IA dont ils se servent) n’a effectué aucun « tri » parmi les cibles potentielles de cette attaque. Par contre la presse « mainstream » te martèle que c’était des membres du Hezbollah qui étaient visés.

    • Oui, il n’y a clairement aucun tri : c’est du terrorisme pur et simple.

      l’OMC devrait aussi se préoccuper des conséquences des interceptions de produits commerciaux grand public afin d’en faire des armes pour guerre de lâches.

      Sans confiance, il n’y a plus de commerce.

      À partir de là, en fait, la boite de pandore est largement ouverte aux yeux du public : les gus peuvent faire ce qu’ils veulent à qui ils veulent et il n’y a ni lois, ni contrôles, rien.

    • Le taïwanais Gold Apollo affirme que les bipeurs du Hezbollah ont été produits par son partenaire hongrois BAC - L’Orient-Le Jour
      https://www.lorientlejour.com/article/1427491/le-taiwanais-gold-apollo-affirme-que-les-bipeurs-du-hezbollah-ont-ete

      Le groupe taïwanais Gold Apollo a affirmé mercredi que les bipeurs piégés du Hezbollah, portant sa marque, dont l’explosion a fait au moins neuf morts et des milliers de blessés la veille au Liban, ont été produits et vendus par son partenaire hongrois BAC.

      « En vertu d’un accord de coopération, nous autorisons BAC à utiliser notre marque pour la vente de produits dans certaines régions, mais la conception et la fabrication des produits sont de l’unique responsabilité de BAC », a indiqué dans un communiqué Gold Apollo.

      Le groupe taïwanais a démenti des informations du New York Times, selon lesquelles il avait lui-même fabriqué et vendu au Hezbollah les bipeurs, du modèle AR924. « Notre entreprise n’apporte que l’autorisation d’utiliser la marque et n’est pas impliquée dans la conception et la fabrication » de ce bipeur, a-t-il insisté.

      « Ce ne sont pas nos produits (...) Ce ne sont pas nos produits du début à la fin », avait affirmé plus tôt mercredi le directeur de l’entreprise, Hsu Ching-kuang, à des journalistes à Taipei.

    • Merci à tou·tes d’être critiques. Trop vu des gens se réjouir, les yeux et le coeur qui saignent. Cette attaque est vraiment terroriste. Un espace safe.

    • En apparté pour @mfmb

      On vit une sale période. J’ai redécouvert hier soir le film « La liste noire » (Guilty by Suspicion).
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guilty_by_Suspicion
      Si on en croit le déroulé historique de toute cette ignominie (maccarthysme), il faudra surement attendre des décennies pour que les lignes bougent. Ce que ne verrons pas bon nombre d’entre nous. Et nos survivants pour la plupart n’auront pas gardé en mémoire tout ce qui s’est passé dans les « années 20 » du XXIe siècle ni n’auront la possibilité de consulter des archives accessibles pour le « grand public ».

    • non, @sombre, ce tri a dès hier été expliqué. il ne s’agit pas de l’ensemble des bipeurs présents au Liban ou en Syrie mais de bipeurs piégés (sans doute lors dès la fabrication, c’est plus facile que de le faire dans le circuit logistique, surtout à une telle échelle), livrés au Hezbollah, par, semble-t-il, cette boite hongroise (la Hongrie et Israël sont en très bons termes..).
      comme ce ne sont pas des militaires cantonnés, un tel tri ne suffit pas à épargner les civils.

    • comme ce ne sont pas des militaires cantonnés, un tel tri ne suffit pas à épargner les civils.

      Pas bien compris cette phrase @colporteur. Parce que, sortis d’usine, je me pose la question à savoir comment ces terminaux se sont retrouvés dans les mains de personnes qui n’avaient rien à voir avec le Hezbollah.
      Une possibilité : les services de renseignements israéliens ont des taupes parmi le Hezbollah et ils ont fait livrer des appareils piégés aux personnes ciblées. Mais apparemment, ils ont ratissé large.

    • Explosions de bipeurs au Liban : l’ONU estime que les responsables "devront rendre des comptes"
      https://www.bfmtv.com/international/moyen-orient/explosions-de-bipeurs-au-liban-le-haut-commissaire-de-l-onu-estime-que-les-re

      Les responsables de l’attaque meurtrière aux bipeurs contre les membres du mouvement pro-iranien Hezbollah au Liban ce mardi 17 septembre, « devront rendre des comptes », a réclamé ce mercredi le Haut-Commissaire de l’ONU aux droits de l’homme, Volker Türk.

      « Le ciblage simultané de milliers de personnes, qu’il s’agisse de civils ou de membres de groupes armés, sans savoir qui était en possession des engins ciblés, où ils se trouvaient et dans quel environnement ils se trouvaient au moment de l’attaque, constitue une violation du droit international des droits de l’homme et, dans la mesure où il est applicable, du droit international humanitaire », a souligné Volker Türk dans un communiqué.

      (Malgré le fond des déclarations qu’il rapporte, l’article de BFM ne peut s’empêcher de reprendre la phraséologie habituelle qui permet d’excuser le terrorisme d’État d’Israël : « mouvement pro-iranien », « contre les membres… », « mouvement islamiste pro-iranien », « places fortes du Hezbollah »… Tiens, chez BFM on est passé de « fief » à « place forte » pour désigner Dahyé, c’est charmant.)

    • Explosions meurtrières au Liban : des téléphones et ordinateurs piégés provoquent des incendies, la Russie dénonce un terrorisme de masse - Le Père Peinard
      https://www.leperepeinard.com/flash-info/explosions-meurtrieres-au-liban-des-telephones-et-ordinateurs-pieges-

      18 septembre 2024 17h50

      Nouvelle vague de terreur au Liban : une série d’explosions d’appareils électroniques, tels que des téléphones et ordinateurs, a secoué plusieurs zones du pays, déclenchant des incendies dans des immeubles résidentiels. Ces attaques ciblées sèment la panique et aggravent encore une situation déjà explosive.

      La diplomatie russe n’a pas tardé à réagir, qualifiant ces actes de ” terrorisme monstrueux, à la fois par leur cynisme et leur ampleur “, en raison du nombre croissant de victimes. Le Liban, déjà en endeuillé, plonge un peu plus dans l’horreur.

    • @sombre, a priori le H. livre à ses hommes sa commande destinée à les équiper. Enterrez vos portables, au moins dans une cage de Faraday, ont-ils dit, et ils ont fournis la low tech qui va bien. Mais c’était face au Mossad et à ses techniques de piégeages : on nous dit (est-ce vrai ?), que Ismail Haniyeh a été tué dans un appart « sécurisé » à Téhéran, miné par Israël. Plus proche de ce qui a lieu en ce moment, à une échelle incommensurable, Yahya Ayyash, « artificier du Hamas » est mort tué par l’explosion de son portable en 1996.

      Je ne lis pas l’arabe et ne sais donc pas combien de civils extérieurs au H. (on peut être salarié, mendiant ou marchand et membre d’une organisation politico-militaire) ont été atteints, mais il est pas difficile d’imaginer (même si c’est pas ce qu’il ya de plus sérieux) que si on a un bipeur livré par le H. dans sa baraque des explosions puissent tuer des enfants, que si les explosions ont lieu dans des lieux confinés (je joue aux échecs avec mon fils ou je lui lit une histoire, par exemple) des civils non membres du H. soient atteints.
      Israël savait qu’il y aurait des victimes collatérales. Perso, j’ai aucune idée de la proportion de celles-ci.
      Et cette fois, ce que j’imagine c’est que le H. a trois raisons de minimiser le nombre de blessés parmi ses membres : ne pas amplifier la démoralisation interne (mais, par proximité et voisinage, de nombreux libanais sauront ce qu’il en est, et plus encore les miliciens du H. ) ; tenter de leurrer l’ennemi en minorant l’efficacité de son action ; et, enfin, susciter/renforcer l’indignation et/ou la solidarité.

      Ces histoires d’ordis qui explosent, je ne les ai pas vu ailleurs. En revanche, les talkies du H. qui sautent (combien ?) aujourd’hui, ça parait avéré.
      Après l’attaque au sol en Syrie contre une fabrique d’obus, cette opération de neutralisation (10% des soldats hors de combat au moins pour un moment, tous grades confondus ?) et de démoralisation est énorme, totalement inédite.
      Et c’est couplé (comme il se doit) avec l’annonce d’envoi de troupes israéliennes à la frontière du Liban (une occupation « comme avant » ? rien n’est moins sûr. des raids ? autre ?).

      Vous qui êtes si nombreux dans la tech, la com, le net, on a ici un cas d’école : sans infrastructures de communication, pas d’obéissance (sans que ce soit ici péjoratif), pas de coordination rapide, désorganisation maximale (qui reviendra aux pigeons voyageurs ?)

      (Dans les années 90, nous utilisions des bipeurs à Paris pour coordonner des groupes lors d’actions : les flics (décidaient ou) arrivaient parfois à faire que les messages soient... différés ; c’est d’un pratique).

      Avec ces actions, Israël réussi aussi à mettre l’Iran au pied du mur. Comment mener une guerre à laquelle les logiques adverse conduisent par « front de la résistance » interposé ? Comment mener une guerre sans s’y impliquer directement ?

      De l’extrême droite au centre, le mot d’ordre israélien actuel le plus officiel c’est la sécurité et la réinstallation de leurs déplacés. Ce qui signifie restaurer la raison d’être de cet État : garantir la sécu de certains juifs, raison d’être pour partie ruinée par le 7 octobre. Une « victoire contre le Hamas » de substitution à celle qui continue d’être invoquée par Netanyahou et dont on vu ici ces derniers mois comment elle est mise en cause en interne par les constats de défaite militaire et politique, par la solidarité avec les otages, etc.

      On a pas fini d’en voir (et je cause même pas des palestiniens et des libanais)

      edit quand tu es organisé, tu files ni ta kalach ni ton bipeur dédié à n’importe qui, d’autant que ce dernier est ton lien indispensable avec l’organisation. l’ambassadeur d’Iran à Beyrouth, blessé, peut bien dire que c’était le bipeur d’un de ses gardes du corps (ils sont aussi là pour ça lorsqu’on utilise je ne sais combien de téléphones, et un bipeur), on ne coupe pas volontairement le contact.

    • Second wave of device explosions hits Lebanon a day after pager attack | AP News
      https://apnews.com/article/lebanon-israel-exploding-pagers-hezbollah-syria-ce6af3c2e6de0a0dddfae4863427

      BEIRUT (AP) — Walkie-talkies and solar equipment exploded in Beirut and multiple parts of Lebanon on Wednesday in an apparent second wave of attacks targeting electronic devices a day after hundreds of pagers used by Hezbollah blew up, state media and Hezbollah officials said. At least nine people were killed and more than 300 people wounded in the second wave, the Health Ministry said.

    • Concernant cette deuxième vague, on lit qu’outre les talkie-walkie, explosent aussi :
      https://x.com/OALD24/status/1836419188593713471

      - Paging devices
      – Wireless radio devices
      – Biometric machines
      – Solar power systems

      Nisrine Sharwani avait aussi mentionné cela :
      https://x.com/snarwani/status/1836421758057922760

      - Pagers
      – Wireless radios
      – Fingerprint machines
      – Solar energy systems
      – Lithium battery cars

      Mais le tweet semble avoir été effacé.
      Avez vous des sources sur cette diversité d’engins ?

    • J’ai trouvé trace de l’information sur l’explosion de panneaux solaires via The Guardian, qui cote un communiqué de l’agence libanaise d’information :
      https://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/justice-law/722390/%D8%A7%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%A9-%D9%81%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%A9-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8

      Zahrani - A girl from the town of Al-Marwaniyah was injured as a result of the explosion of the solar energy system in her family’s home.

      The Guardian précise que
      https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/sep/18/middle-east-crisis-live-hezbollah-pager-explosion-lebanon-irael-iran-la

      Several solar power systems exploded in people’s homes across Lebanon, according to the National News Agency, injuring at least one girl in the town of al-Zahrani in south Lebanon.
      Pictures of exploded solar panels, fingerprint readers and other devices circulated through social media, though it was unclear if they blew up by themselves or were simply near walkie-talkies which blew up.

    • il n’était pas clair s’ils avaient explosé d’eux-mêmes ou s’ils étaient simplement à proximité de talkies-walkies qui avaient explosé.

      Dans un talkie il y a bien plus d’espace pour des explosifs que dans un pager, aujourd’hui, moins de talkies, plus de morts, une masse de blessés moins importante :

      Quatorze morts et plus de 450 blessés dans la deuxième série d’explosions d’appareils de communication, selon le dernier bilan du ministère de la santé libanais

      Les explosions d’appareils de communication survenues mercredi ont fait quatorze morts et plus de 450 blessés, selon le dernier bilan communiqué dans la soirée par le ministère de la santé libanais.

      https://www.lemonde.fr/international/live/2024/09/18/en-direct-nouvelle-serie-d-explosions-au-liban-israel-annonce-une-reorientat

      (ces talkies étaient dans la même livraison ?)
      .

    • Human Rights Watch - Lebanon: Exploding Pagers Harmed Hezbollah, Civilians
      https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/09/18/lebanon-exploding-pagers-harmed-hezbollah-civilians

      “Customary international humanitarian law prohibits the use of booby traps – objects that civilians are likely to be attracted to or are associated with normal civilian daily use – precisely to avoid putting civilians at grave risk and produce the devastating scenes that continue to unfold across Lebanon today. The use of an explosive device whose exact location could not be reliably known would be unlawfully indiscriminate, using a means of attack that could not be directed at a specific military target and as a result would strike military targets and civilians without distinction. A prompt and impartial investigation into the attacks should be urgently conducted.”

    • Lebanon: Statement by the High Representative on the series of explosions across the country [Josep Borrell Fontelles]
      https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/lebanon-statement-high-representative-series-explosions-across-country_e

      Even if the attacks seem to have been targeted, they had heavy, indiscriminate collateral damages among civilians: several children are among the victims

      I consider this situation extremely worrying. I can only condemn these attacks that endanger the security and stability of Lebanon, and increase the risk of escalation in the region.

    • The Guardian view on Israel’s booby-trap war: illegal and unacceptable - Editorial
      https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/sep/18/the-guardian-view-on-israels-booby-trap-war-and-unacceptable

      In the second world war, guerrilla forces scattered large quantities of booby-trapped objects likely to be attractive to civilians. The idea was to cause widescale and indiscriminate death. The Japanese manufactured a tobacco pipe with a charge detonated by a spring-loaded striker. The Italians produced a headset that blew up when it was plugged in. More than half a century later, a global treaty came into force which “prohibited in all circumstances to use booby-traps or other devices in the form of apparently harmless portable objects that are specifically designed and constructed to contain explosive material”. Has anyone told Israel and its jubilant supporters that, as Brian Finucane of the International Crisis Group points out, it is a signatory to the protocol?

    • Exploding pagers and radios: A terrifying violation of international law, say UN experts
      https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/09/exploding-pagers-and-radios-terrifying-violation-international-law-say-un

      “To the extent that international humanitarian law applies, at the time of the attacks there was no way of knowing who possessed each device and who was nearby,” the experts said. “Simultaneous attacks by thousands of devices would inevitably violate humanitarian law, by failing to verify each target, and distinguish between protected civilians and those who could potentially be attacked for taking a direct part in hostilities.

      “Such attacks could constitute war crimes of murder, attacking civilians, and launching indiscriminate attacks, in addition to violating the right to life,” the experts said.

      Humanitarian law additionally prohibits the use of booby-traps disguised as apparently harmless portable objects where specifically designed and constructed with explosives – and this could include a modified civilian pager, the experts said. A booby-trap is a device designed to kill or injure, that functions unexpectedly when a person performs an apparently safe act, such as answering a pager.

      “It is also a war crime to commit violence intended to spread terror among civilians, including to intimidate or deter them from supporting an adversary,” the experts warned. “A climate of fear now pervades everyday life in Lebanon,” they said.

    • Jennifer O. Lee sur X :
      https://seenthis.net/messages/1072185

      people […] don’t stop to question how Israel could orchestrate a sophisticated attack in Lebanon by detonating thousands of personal electronic devices simultaneously, yet they aren’t adept enough to locate Israeli hostages being held in a geographical area approx. 5mi wide by 25mi long that functions like an open-air prison and of which they have complete control.

    • @kassem: c’est proche de la logique de cet article parodique: Confusion As Military With Ability To Kill Individual Fighters Via Pager Explosions Spent Previous 11 Months Carpet Bombing Civilians
      https://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2024/09/16/they-told-us-to-reduce-waiting-lists-chi-defends-taking-boy-o

      “Y’know after reading the news on the pager attacks I’m starting to think the systematic cutting off of food, water and electricity, the bombing of schools and refugee camps, the total destruction of thousands upon thousands of homes, the murdering of journalists and aid workers, it wasn’t the only option,” offered an idiot with zero knowledge of the complex and serious business of justified military actions which some people are erroneously calling a ‘terror attack’ or ‘war crime’.

      Having at their disposal the vast and far reaching infiltration capabilities that delivered this wave of pager explosions, questions continue to be asked of Israel in the matter of systematically trying to wipe Gaza off the map.

    • Volker Türk (OHCHR) on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question - Security Council, 9730th meeting https://x.com/UNWebTV/status/1837247285182206101

      https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1837246691579211776/pu/vid/avc1/720x720/I8Sq1BQcBCCzpZrn.mp4

      In the #SecurityCouncil, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights @volker_turk said he was appalled by the recent attacks in #Lebanon. He called for an investigation and the upholding of international humanitarian and human rights law.

      Full briefing: https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k11/k1183w0rm1

  • Crisis at Jewish Chronicle as stories based on ‘wild fabrications’ are withdrawn | Israel-Gaza war | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/sep/14/crisis-at-jewish-chronicle-as-stories-are-withdrawn

    In recent months, there have been suggestions in the Israeli media that stories have been placed in European newspapers, including one in the German tabloid Bild, that are based on fake or misrepresented intelligence, planted as part of an effort to support prime minister Benjamin’s Netanyahu’s negotiating position over Gaza.

  • Heat aggravated by carbon pollution killed 50,000 in Europe last year – study

    Continent is warming at much faster rate than other parts of world, leading to fires, drought and health problems.

    Hot weather inflamed by carbon pollution killed nearly 50,000 people in Europe last year, with the continent warming at a much faster rate than other parts of the world, research has found.

    The findings come as wildfires tore through forests outside Athens, as France issued excessive heat warnings for large swathes of the country, and the UK baked through what the Met Office expects will be its hottest day of the year.

    Doctors call heat a “silent killer” because it claims far more lives than most people realise. The devastating mortality rate in 2023 would have been 80% higher if people had not adapted to rising temperatures over the past two decades, according to the study published in Nature Medicine.

    Elisa Gallo, an environmental epidemiologist at ISGlobal and lead author of the study, said the results showed that efforts taken to adapt societies to heatwaves had been effective.

    “But the number of heat-related deaths is still too high,” she warned. “Europe is warming at twice the rate of the global average – we can’t rest on our laurels.”

    Heatwaves have grown hotter, longer and more common as people have burned fossil fuels and destroyed nature – clogging the atmosphere with gases that act like a greenhouse and heat the planet. Globally, 2023 was the hottest year on record, and scientists expect 2024 to soon take its place.

    Researchers have found that cooler countries in Europe such as the UK, Norway and Switzerland will face the greatest relative rise in the number of uncomfortably hot days. But the absolute death toll will continue to be greatest in southern Europe, which is better adapted to hot weather but more exposed to scorching temperatures.

    The scientists found heat-related mortality in 2023 was highest in Greece, with 393 deaths per million people, followed by Italy with 209 deaths per million and Spain with 175 deaths per million.

    On Monday firefighters in Greece battled wildfires outside Athens which forced authorities to evacuate several suburbs in the capital and a children’s hospital. Repeated heatwaves had dried out the surrounding forest and turned trees into tinder.

    In 2003, a heatwave killed 70,000 people across the continent and sent officials scrambling to save lives by setting up early warning systems and prevention plans. But nearly two decades later, the death toll from the record-breaking heat in 2022, which claimed more than 60,000 lives, left researchers wondering how effective the measures had been.

    The scientists modelled the effects of heat on health for different time periods since the turn of the century and estimated last year’s death toll to be 47,690. They found the mortality rate would have been 80% greater if the temperatures of 2023 had hit in the period 2000–2004 than in the pre-pandemic reference period 2015-2019. For people over the age of 80, the heat would have proven twice as deadly.

    Dominic Royé, the head of data science at the Climate Research Foundation, who was not involved in the study, said the results were consistent with published studies. He added that there was a need to better monitor the effects of heat on groups most at risk, as well as the implementation of plans to prevent deaths.

    “We monitor temperature very well, but not health impacts in the same way,” said Royé. “Social adaptation to rising temperatures has played a crucial role in preventing mortality in Europe but remains insufficient.”

    Scientists say that governments can keep people safe from heatwaves by designing cool cities with more parks and less concrete, setting up early warning systems to alert people to imminent danger, and strengthening healthcare systems so doctors and nurses are not pushed into overdrive when temperatures soar.

    But individual actions like staying indoors and drinking water also have powerful effects on death tolls. Checking in on older neighbours and relatives who live alone can spell the difference between life and death.

    Dr Santi Di Pietro, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at the University of Pavia, said his colleagues were treating more patients a day than they did in early January during the flu season.

    Heatwaves must be tackled at all levels, he said, but people could take “simple measures” to protect themselves and their loved ones. These included avoiding the sun during the hottest hours of the day, seeking shade when outside and swapping alcohol for water.

    “As obvious as it may sound, drinking water is paramount to prevent dehydration,” he said. “Elderly people often do not perceive thirst, so we should keep an extra eye on them.”

    More work is needed to adapt to climate change and mitigate the rise in temperatures, said Gallo. “Climate change needs to be considered as a health issue.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/12/heat-aggravated-by-carbon-pollution-killed-50000-in-europe-last-year-st
    #décès #mortalité #Europe #chaleur #pollution #chiffres #statistiques #santé #silent_killer

    –-

    voir aussi :
    Europe : la #pollution aux #particules_fines a tué 253 000 personnes en 2021, selon un #rapport
    https://seenthis.net/messages/1028557

    via @freakonometrics

  • Political chaos in France after Macron refuses to name PM from leftwing coalition | France | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/26/chaos-in-france-after-macron-refuses-to-name-prime-minister-from-leftwi
    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/ab35db41e9b2ffa504ac247674554c13eb047d87/0_37_6000_3600/master/6000.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-ali

    France has been plunged into further political chaos after Emmanuel Macron refused to name a prime minister from the leftwing coalition that won the most parliamentary seats in the snap election last month.

    The president had hoped consultations would break the political deadlock caused by the election that left the Assemblée Nationale divided into three roughly equal blocks – left, centre and far right – none of which has a majority of seats.

    After two days of talks with party and parliamentary leaders to break the stalemate and allow him to name a prime minister with cross-party support, Macron’s decision not to choose the New Popular Front’s candidate was met with anger and threats of impeachment.

    In a statement released on Monday evening, the Elysée described the discussions on Friday and during the day as “fair, sincere and useful” but said they had failed to result in a workable solution.

    A government formed by the leftwing alliance the New Popular Front (NFP) – comprising France Unbowed (LFI), the Socialist party (PS), the Greens (EELV) and the Communist party (PCF) – would lead to an immediate vote of no confidence and a collapse of the government, Macron said explaining his decision.

    • the Assemblée Nationale divided into three roughly equal blocks – left, centre and far right – none of which has a majority of seats

      Ils ont pas mis à jour leurs tablettes le Guardian. Il faudrait leur dire que le « centre » c’est du « centre-right » (au moins) voire « right » tout court 😁

  • Countries fueling Israel’s Gaza war may be complicit in war crimes, experts warn | Israel-Gaza war | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/20/israel-war-gaza-fuel-war-crimes-warning

    Israeli tanks, jets and bulldozers bombarding Gaza and razing homes in the occupied West Bank are being fueled by a growing number of countries signed up to the #genocide and Geneva conventions, new research suggests, which legal experts warn could make them complicit in serious crimes against the Palestinian people.

    Four tankers of American jet fuel primarily used for military aircraft have been shipped to Israel since the start of its aerial bombardment of Gaza in October.

    […]

    Researchers analyzed shipping logs, satellite images and other open-source industry data to track 65 oil and fuel shipments to Israel between 21 October last year and 12 July.

    It suggests a handful of countries – Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Gabon, Nigeria, Brazil and most recently the Republic of the Congo and Italy – have supplied 4.1m tons of crude oil to Israel, with almost half shipped since the ICJ ruling. An estimated two-thirds of crude came from investor-owned and private oil companies, according to the research, which is refined by Israel for domestic, industrial and military use.

    […]

    Source :
    Behind the Barrel : New Insights into the Countries and Companies Behind Israel’s Fuel Supply - Oil Change International
    https://priceofoil.org/2024/08/19/behind-the-barrel-new-insights-into-the-countries-and-companies-behind-i

    (Les pays en gras sont musulmans, le premier à majorité chiite et le second sunnite ; pour montrer la farce du “clash des civilisations”)

    #génocidaires

    • Brazil, where President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been one of the sharpest critics of Israel, accounts for 9% of the total crude oil supplied to Israel in the past nine months. One of the crude shipments departed in February after the interim ICJ ruling. An additional tanker of fuel oil, used mostly for heating and powering generators, set sail in April.

  • Lawyers seeking arms export ban submit claims of Israeli war crimes to UK court
    Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor | Mon 19 Aug 2024 | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/19/lawyers-seeking-arms-export-ban-submit-claims-israeli-war-crimes-uk-cou
    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/6511da0cd6c724623fa26624b1ed587b809b6b9e/0_379_6720_4032/master/6720.jpg?width=1900&dpr=1&s=none

    Claims of Palestinians being tortured, left untreated in hospital and unable to escape constant bombardment have been submitted to the high court in London by lawyers seeking an order preventing the UK government continuing to grant arms export licences to British companies selling arms to Israel.

    The 14 witness statements covering more than 100 pages come from Palestinian and western medical doctors working in Gaza’s hospitals, as well as from ambulance drivers, civil defence department workers and aid workers.

    The graphic evidence is designed to support a request for a court order that the UK government has acted irrationally in refusing to ban the sale of arms, arguing there was not a clear risk the weapons would be used to commit breaches of international humanitarian law. This is the statutory test set for the government to decide whether to grant arms export licences. The Labour government is reviewing the policy.
    Activists in front of the British consulate in East Jerusalem with large banner reading ’Stop arming genocide’

    The signed testimony has been given by witnesses all identified to the court, but only two of them are being named by the Guardian due to the need to protect families in Gaza from potential retribution. The judicial review is due to be held between 8 and 10 October.

    The case has been brought by an alliance of NGOs including Al-Haq, Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), Amnesty International, Oxfam and Human Rights Watch. It is the first attempt to put such graphic testimony of alleged Israeli war crimes in front of a British judge since Hamas launched its deadly attack on Israel on 7 October in which more than 1,100 Israelis were killed and 250 taken hostage.

    The previous Conservative administration defended its decision to continue to grant licences, saying there was insufficient risk that UK weapons were being used in war crimes.

    The Israel Defense Forces claims it is acting in self-defence in line with humanitarian law and that allegations of misconduct are investigated independently.

    One of the named witnesses, Dr Ben Thomson, a Canadian kidney specialist, said he treated a patient who had been forced to stand for 48 hours, requiring a skin graft on his heel. He said he also treated a 60-year-old man who had been stripped naked by Israeli forces, whose wrists had been bound tightly for three days, and who had been dragged on the floor, causing his wrist to be worn down to the bone.

    He said: “Every part of the healthcare system has been targeted and destroyed and is now completely incapable of providing care. So many people are dying from issues that are completely treatable.” He said he had personally treated three children whom he could have saved if he had any access to the appropriate medicines.

    He testified that when he visited the tent city in Rafah in March, water was rationed to three litres a day and there was one toilet for every 800 people. He said he was forced to reset bones without pain medication and that on one occasion, such was the overcrowding in a hospital that a man in his care died “on the floor in a pool of his own blood and brain matter”.

    In the second named witness statement, Dr Khaled Dawas, a consultant surgeon at University College hospital London, said conditions in hospitals on both his trips “were what he imagined medieval medicine must have been like”. He said many of his patients were victims of sniper fire.

    He said: “I understand that Israel justifies its attacks on hospitals by reference to its claim that the hospitals are overrun by militants but in my four weeks in al-Aqsa hospital I personally did not see a single one.” He said he met many patients who had clearly been beaten in detention camps, and one patient who had been dragged along the ground by the external fixator holding his broken limb together.

    He added that on his second visit he treated a disabled man who “in detention had been handcuffed, blindfolded and handcuffed to his wheelchair with his wrists tied to the right of his torso for 30 days”.

    He said on his second visit he found the morale of staff had deteriorated and by April “there was a sense of fatalism that this would never end”.

    Another consultant, based in Britain but not being named, detailed how he and a group of doctors were bombed at a so-called safe house on 18 January. He said that “the episode acted as an impetus for NGOs to stop sending humanitarian workers” and despite assurances given by British diplomats in Cairo that the attack would be taken up at the highest level in the UK, he claims nobody in government in London contacted the medical team.

    Charlotte Andrews-Briscoe, a barrister acting for GLAN, who has compiled and submitted the evidence, said her only limiting factor in compiling the witness statements was the sheer number of cases of mistreatment and abuse.

    #IsraelUK #marchand_de_canons

  • As a former IDF soldier and historian of genocide, I was deeply disturbed by my recent visit to Israel | Israel | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/13/israel-gaza-historian-omer-bartov

    Une conférence à l’université Ben Gourion par Omer Bartov qui tourne mal à cause d’une meute de réservistes sionistes venue la saboter

    These students were not necessarily representative of the student body in Israel as a whole. They were activists in extreme rightwing organisations. But in many ways, what they were saying reflected a much more widespread sentiment in the country.

    […]

    When the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising, broke out in late 1987 I was teaching at Tel Aviv University. I was appalled by the instruction of #Yitzhak_Rabin, then minister of defence, to the IDF to “break the arms and legs” of Palestinian youths who were throwing rocks at heavily armed troops. I wrote a letter to him warning that, based on my research into the indoctrination of the armed forces of #Nazi Germany, I feared that under his leadership the IDF was heading down a similarly slippery path.

    As my research had shown, even before their conscription, young German men had internalised core elements of Nazi ideology, especially the view that the subhuman Slav masses, led by insidious Bolshevik Jews, were threatening Germany and the rest of the civilised world with destruction, and that therefore Germany had the right and duty to create for itself a “living space” in the east and to decimate or enslave that region’s population. This worldview was then further inculcated into the troops, so that by the time they marched into the Soviet Union they perceived their enemies through that prism. The fierce resistance put up by the Red Army only confirmed the need to utterly destroy Soviet soldiers and civilians alike, and most especially the Jews, who were seen as the main instigators of Bolshevism. The more destruction they wrought, the more fearful German troops became of the revenge they could expect if their enemies prevailed. The result was the killing of up to 30 million Soviet soldiers and citizens.

    […]

    Today, across vast swaths of the Israeli public, including those who oppose the government, two sentiments reign supreme.

    The first is a combination of rage and fear, a desire to re-establish security at any cost and a complete distrust of political solutions, negotiations and reconciliation. The military theorist Carl von Clausewitz noted that war was the extension of politics by other means, and warned that without a defined political objective it would lead to limitless destruction. The sentiment that now prevails in Israel similarly threatens to make war into its own end. In this view, politics is an obstacle to achieving goals rather than a means to limit destruction. This is a view that can only ultimately lead to self-annihilation.

    The second reigning sentiment – or rather lack of sentiment – is the flipside of the first. It is the utter inability of Israeli society today to feel any empathy for the population of Gaza. The majority, it seems, do not even want to know what is happening in Gaza, and this desire is reflected in TV coverage. Israeli television news these days usually begins with reports on the funerals of soldiers, invariably described as heroes, fallen in the fighting in Gaza, followed by estimates of how many Hamas fighters were “liquidated”. References to Palestinian civilian deaths are rare and normally presented as part of enemy propaganda or as a cause for unwelcome international pressure. In the face of so much death, this deafening silence now seems like its own form of vengefulness.

    #endoctrinement

    • […] my view of what was happening in Gaza had shifted. On 10 November 2023, I wrote in the New York Times: “As a historian of genocide, I believe that there is no proof that genocide is now taking place in Gaza, although it is very likely that war crimes, and even crimes against humanity, are happening. […] We know from history that it is crucial to warn of the potential for #genocide before it occurs, rather than belatedly condemn it after it has taken place. I think we still have that time.”

      I no longer believe that. By the time I travelled to Israel, I had become convinced that at least since the attack by the IDF on Rafah on 6 May 2024, it was no longer possible to deny that Israel was engaged in systematic war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocidal actions. It was not just that this attack against the last concentration of Gazans – most of them displaced already several times by the IDF, which now once again pushed them to a so-called safe zone – demonstrated a total disregard of any humanitarian standards. It also clearly indicated that the ultimate goal of this entire undertaking from the very beginning had been to make the entire Gaza Strip uninhabitable, and to debilitate its population to such a degree that it would either die out or seek all possible options to flee the territory. In other words, the rhetoric spouted by Israeli leaders since 7 October was now being translated into reality – namely, as the 1948 UN Genocide Convention puts it, that Israel was acting “with intent to destroy, in whole or in part”, the Palestinian population in Gaza, “as such, by killing, causing serious harm, or inflicting conditions of life meant to bring about the group’s destruction”.