#israël

Entre les Émirats arabes unis et Israël, il y a plus qu’un mariage de raison
Andreas Krieg - Lundi 27 juillet 2020
▻https://www.middleeasteye.net/fr/opinion-fr/emirats-israel-mbz-annexion-cisjordanie-iran

Le réchauffement des relations entre les deux pays repose en grande partie sur une vision commune de l’islam politique en tant qu’enjeu sécuritaire

Alors que le Premier ministre israélien Benyamin Netanyahou fait – progressivement avancer son plan d’annexion de la Cisjordanie occupée –, l’attention s’est portée ces dernières années sur le réchauffement des relations entre les Émirats arabes unis (EAU) et Israël.

Même si l’ambassadeur émirati à Washington Yousef al-Otaiba a adopté une position ferme contre le projet d’annexion, dans une tribune publiée en hébreu, la normalisation des liens entre Abou Dabi et Tel Aviv ne sera probablement pas conditionnée par la politique palestinienne d’Israël.

Au-delà des liens géostratégiques, commerciaux et sécuritaires profonds, la relation entre Abou Dabi et Israël repose sur des synergies idéologiques solides. (...)

L’Autorité palestinienne rejette l’accord entre Israël et les Emirats, et le qualifie de « trahison »
franceinfo avec AFP - France Télévisions - Mis à jour le 14/08/2020
▻https://www.francetvinfo.fr/monde/proche-orient/israel-palestine/l-autorite-palestinienne-rejette-l-accord-entre-israel-et-les-emirats-e

Cette dernière a également appelé à une « réunion d’urgence » de la Ligue arabe pour dénoncer le projet soutenu par les Etats-Unis.

L’Autorité palestinienne de Mahmoud Abbas a qualifié jeudi 13 août au soir de « trahison » de la cause palestinienne l’accord de normalisation des relations entre Israël et les Emirats arabes unis. « Les dirigeants palestiniens rejettent ce que les Emirats arabes unis ont fait. Il s’agit d’une trahison de Jérusalem et de la cause palestinienne », a indiqué dans un communiqué la direction palestinienne. Cette dernière a également appelé à une « réunion d’urgence » de la Ligue arabe pour dénoncer le projet soutenu par les Etats-Unis.

Le Hamas a également condamné et rejeté cet accord qui « ne sert pas la cause palestinienne mais est considéré comme une continuation du déni des droits du peuple palestinien », selon Hazem Qassem, porte-parole du mouvement islamiste palestinien au pouvoir dans la bande de Gaza. « Cet accord est rejeté et condamné », a-t-il ajouté.

Accord avec Israël : la Turquie accuse les Emirats de « trahir la cause palestinienne »
14 août 2020 Par Agence France-Presse
▻https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/fil-dactualites/140820/accord-avec-israel-la-turquie-accuse-les-emirats-de-trahir-la-cause-palest

La Turquie a accusé vendredi les Emirats arabes unis de « trahir la cause palestinienne » en acceptant de signer un accord de normalisation des relations avec Israël soutenu par les Etats-Unis.
(...)
Selon les Emirats, en échange de cet accord, Israël a accepté de « mettre fin à la poursuite de l’annexion des territoires palestiniens ». Mais le Premier ministre israélien Benjamin Netanyahu n’a pas confirmé, évoquant un simple « report ».

« Les Emirats arabes unis s’efforcent de présenter cela comme une sorte de sacrifice pour la Palestine, alors qu’ils trahissent la cause palestinienne pour servir leurs petits intérêts », a réagi dans un communiqué le ministère turc des Affaires étrangères.

« L’Histoire et la conscience des peuples de la région n’oublieront pas cette hypocrisie et ne la pardonneront jamais », a-t-il ajouté.

Ardent défenseur de la cause palestinienne, le président turc Recep Tayyip Erdogan critique régulièrement les pays arabes qu’il accuse de ne pas adopter une attitude suffisamment ferme face à Israël.

La vive réaction d’Ankara intervient aussi au moment où les relations entre la Turquie et les Emirats arabes unis, deux rivaux régionaux, sont tendues.

Les deux pays s’opposent notamment en Libye, où ils soutiennent des camps opposés.

L’Iran condamne l’accord Israël/Emirats, une « stupidité stratégique »
14 août 2020 Par Agence France-Presse
▻https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/fil-dactualites/140820/l-iran-condamne-l-accord-israelemirats-une-stupidite-strategique?userid=f9

L’accord de normalisation des relations entre Israël et les Emirats arabes unis conclu sous l’égide des Etats-Unis est une « stupidité stratégique », a réagi vendredi le ministère iranien des Affaires étrangères.
(...)
L’établissement de relations diplomatiques entre Israël et les alliés des Etats-Unis au Moyen-Orient, y compris les riches monarchies du Golfe, est un objectif clé de la stratégie régionale de M. Trump pour contenir la République islamique d’Iran, ennemi intime de Washington et de l’Etat hébreu.

Ces dernières années, Israël a développé une coopération officieuse avec des économies régionales comme Bahreïn, les Emirats et l’Arabie saoudite.

Qualifiant « l’action honteuse des Emirats » de dangereuse, l’Iran a mis en garde contre toute ingérence d’Israël dans le Golfe et affirmé que « le gouvernement émirati et les autres Etats à ses côtés seront responsables des conséquences » de cet accord.

Dans une allusion indirecte à son grand rival régional, l’Arabie saoudite, Téhéran a aussi appelé les dirigeants « dans leur tour d’ivoire » qui s’opposent aux peuples palestinien et yéménite à ne pas faire l’erreur de « confondre leurs ennemis et leurs amis ».

L’Arabie saoudite intervient dans la guerre au Yémen depuis 2015 en soutien aux forces du gouvernement face aux rebelles Houthis, soutenus par l’Iran.

« Un coup de poignard dans le dos » : les Palestiniens dénoncent l’accord de normalisation entre les Émirats et Israël Par MEE et agences - Vendredi 14 août 2020
▻https://www.middleeasteye.net/fr/actu-et-enquetes/palestine-israel-emirats-arabes-unis-accord-normalisation-annexion

Les Palestiniens et leurs soutiens ont fustigé l’accord conclu par Abou Dabi avec Israël, qui a par ailleurs annoncé par la voix de son Premier ministre Benyamin Netanyahou que l’annulation du projet d’annexion censée être prévue par le pacte n’était pas garantie
(...)
La France a ainsi jugé que « la décision, prise dans ce cadre par les autorités israéliennes, de suspendre l’annexion de territoires palestiniens [était] une étape positive, qui [devait] devenir une mesure définitive », selon le chef de la diplomatie française Jean-Yves Le Drian.

Pour les Nations unies, cet accord pourrait créer « une occasion pour les dirigeants israéliens et palestiniens de reprendre des négociations substantielles, débouchant sur une solution à deux États conformément aux résolutions onusiennes en la matière », a déclaré le secrétaire général de l’organisation, António Guterres.

Israël et les Emirats arabes unis annoncent une normalisation de leurs relations diplomatiques
Le Monde avec AFP Publié hier à 18h01, mis à jour à 13h34
►https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2020/08/13/israel-et-les-emirats-arabes-unis-annoncent-une-normalisation-de-leurs-relat

(...)Le président égyptien, Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi, a, lui aussi, salué dans un Tweet « une étape [vers la] réalisation de la paix au Moyen-Orient ». Le sultanat d’Oman, lui, a exprimé vendredi son « soutien » à l’accord « historique », a annoncé un porte-parole du ministère des affaires étrangères. « Nous espérons que cette décision contribuera à établir une paix complète, juste et durable au Proche-Orient », a ajouté le responsable, cité par l’agence de presse officielle Oman News Agency (ONA). (...)

How Biden VP Kamala Harris could tip U.S.
Allison Kaplan Sommer, Amir Tibon | Aug. 12, 2020 | 12:13 PM - Haaretz.com
▻https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-biden-harris-vp-israel-foreign-policy-1.9060875

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UPDATE: Biden announces Kamala Harris as running mate for 2020 election

Many of the eulogies for Senator Kamala Harris’ promising but unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination blamed her campaign’s failure on the fact that she was seen as too progressive for the centrists who favored Biden – but not progressive enough for those who rallied around Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

Harris certainly walked the tightrope on the issue of Israel: She is strongly in the moderate Biden column but has had to adjust her optics, if not the content of her stands to avoid alienating more progressive supporters.

This process can be measured in her relationship with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Not long after her election as California senator, but well before her presidential bid, Harris was the star performer at the powerful pro-Israel lobby’s 2017 Policy Conference, in a much-quoted appearance: “Having grown up in the Bay Area, I fondly remember those Jewish National Fund boxes that we would use to collect donations to plant trees for Israel,” she said at that conference, followed by a rapturous travelogue of a recent tour of Israel and the West Bank, which she visited with her Jewish husband, Doug Emhoff, whom she married in an interfaith ceremony in 2014.

She also co-sponsored a Senate resolution in January 2017 criticizing President Barack Obama – in his last week in office – for abstaining in a vote on a UN Security Council resolution condemning Israel’s settlement policies.

The following year, as she began to eye the 2020 presidential nomination, Harris did not appear publicly, but quietly attended an off-the-record session at AIPAC that was later revealed in social media posts by attendees. Then, in 2019, after the Democratic hopefuls came under pressure to boycott the confab, she stayed away – but made a point of releasing photos with AIPAC leaders in her Capitol Hill office, facing subsequent criticism from the left wing of the party.

Like Biden, Harris strongly supports a two-state solution, and she has pleased AIPAC and other “pro-Israel” circles by speaking out in favor of Israel’s “right to defend itself” from Hamas attacks from the Gaza Strip, and saying that she didn’t think the United States should pressure Israel on peace with the Palestinians because a resolution “cannot be imposed by outside parties.” Those circles are surely less excited by her statements during the primary race endorsing the idea of the United States rejoining the Iran nuclear agreement under a new administration, but “look toward expanding it.”

Following Biden’s announcement of his running mate, Halie Soifer, Harris’s former national security adviser and current executive director of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, said the senator “strongly aligns with the values of American Jews, including her support of the U.S.-Israel relationship, her commitment to ensuring access to affordable healthcare and education, her intolerance for hatred and bigotry, and her unwavering efforts to protect our country’s most vulnerable communities.”

#Kamala_Harris #USA

Biden-Harris ticket a blow to Palestinian hopes
Michael F. Brown Power Suits 12 August 2020 | The Electronic Intifada
▻https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/michael-f-brown/biden-harris-ticket-blow-palestinian-hopes

https://electronicintifada.net/sites/default/files/styles/original_800w/public/2020-08/120820-biden-harris.jpg?itok=8Tlz0TDO

US Senator Kamala Harris of California is Joe Biden’s choice to be the Democratic vice presidential candidate.

Palestine solidarity activists feared this moment. So, too, did a wide range of progressives.

The worst possible candidate for the top of the ticket will now be joined by perhaps the most anti-Palestinian of the vice presidential candidates.

In a year of protest against racist police violence, it is also noteworthy that Harris upheld convictions secured through official misconduct and was often not the “progressive prosecutor” she claims to be.

Harris twice received financial support from Donald Trump when running for state attorney general. (...)

More than 10,000 join peaceful anti-Netanyahu protest in Jerusalem, for fourth week in a row - Israel News - Haaretz.com
▻https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-thousands-in-jerusalem-for-anti-netanyahu-demo-protesters-allegedl

https://images.haarets.co.il/image/fetch/x_0,y_175,w_2192,h_1273,c_crop/q_auto,h_698,w_1200,c_fill,f_auto/fl_lossy.any_format.preserve_transparency.progressive:none/https://www.haaretz.co.il/polopoly_fs/1.9057711!/image/3335029142.jpg

Haaretz photographer detained, protesters in Eilat say they were pepper sprayed ■ Near the prime minister’s official residence, one says ’The next political murder is written on the wall’
Josh Breiner, Noa Shpigel | Aug. 9, 2020 | 4:55 AM | 1

More than 10,000 protesters gathered on Saturday outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official residence, and thousands more across the country in demonstrations against the government for the fourth week in a row.

Police in Jerusalem attempted to bring the demonstration to an end shortly after midnight by airing an announcement over loudspeakers. Police started evacuating protesters from the area around the residence around half an hour later.

Calls to leave the protest zone after midnight often preceded more severe clashes between protesters and law enforcement at previous demonstrations, and some feared violence before the protest started – but the demonstration ended quickly, after an apparently firm police operation. Three were arrested for “disturbing the peace,” the police later said in a statement.

Haaretz photographer Ohad Zwigenberg was briefly detained. He was released after being confined for 20 minutes to a bus rented to carry away detained protesters.

In the southern city of Eilat, protesters said they were pepper sprayed, while a police unit in the area said it noticed “something in the air” that soon subsided. Protesters said about 10 of them felt their eyes burn after being sprayed from inside a car and did not see the perpetrator.

The protests demanding that Netanyahu resign over his corruption charges have been notable for their relative intensity and allegations of police misconduct, as well as violent assaults on protesters who say their aggressors were right-wing extremists.

One protester in Jerusalem on Saturday, Liat Levy, told Haaretz: “The next political murder is written on the wall.” Referring to an interview with the murderer of a left-wing activist, she said, “We all heard Yona Avrushmi calling us ‘germs’ yesterday, and that’s the message Netanyahu signaled, and there are those who may get ideas. ... It’s only a matter of time until a protester is hurt.”

Netanyahu’s Likud party on Saturday called the protests “left-wing riots” and accused Israel’s Channel 12 News of “doing everything it can to encourage the far-left demonstrations” of the premier’s opponents, after it aired an interview with Benny Gantz.

Some 10,000 people participated in last Saturday’s protest at the prime minister’s official residence in Jerusalem, with 12 protesters being arrested. Earlier that week, five protesters were injured after being attacked, allegedly by far-right counter demonstrators, including with broken glass bottles.

Netanyahu said this week that the ongoing protests “are being organized at luxury hotels towers” and doubled down on his claims that they are being led by “anarchists.” The prime minister further alleged that the protests “are funded by left-wing foundations and receive disproportionate support from the media.” He has also continuously complained of uncontrolled incitement against him, including what he has said are daily death threats against him and his family and that the media are supportive of the protests “at North Korean” levels. He has also accused protesters of being “coronavirus incubators.”

Meanwhile, this week Facebook removed three fake accounts that were pretending to be anti-government protest activists and uploaded content inciting against Netanyahu.

Bar Peleg, Almog Ben Zikri and Reuters contributed to this report.

#Jerusalem #Israelmanif

Thousands throng central Jerusalem in anti-Netanyahu protest
By ARIEL SCHALIT August 8, 2020
▻https://apnews.com/c39038c040683d2faaf39bd6a036613e

https://storage.googleapis.com/afs-prod/media/d578e910d5734121ae9ba2ed81526fc7/3000.jpeg

JERUSALEM (AP) — Thousands of demonstrators thronged the streets near the official residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in central Jerusalem on Saturday night, in a renewed show of strength as weeks of protests against the Israeli leader showed no signs of slowing.

Throughout the summer, thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets to call on Netanyahu to resign, protesting his handling of the country’s coronavirus crisis and saying he should not remain in office while on trial for corruption charges. Self-employed workers whose businesses have been hurt by the economic crisis also joined Saturday’s march.

Though Netanyahu has tried to downplay the protests, the gatherings only appear to be getting stronger.

In Jerusalem on Saturday, protesters held Israeli flags, blew horns and chanted slogans against Netanyahu. Some held posters that said “Crime Minister” or called him “out of touch.” A large banner projected onto a nearby building said “Balfour is in our hands,” a reference to the street where Netanyahu lives.

The demonstrators accuse Netanyahu of corruption and say that he and the country’s bloated coalition government have failed to recognize the suffering of its citizens.

Israeli media estimated some 15,000 people at the Jerusalem demonstration. An estimated 1,000 also protested at an intersection near Netanyahu’s beach house in the upscale coastal town of Caesaria, and smaller gatherings took place on bridges and at intersections across the country.

There was a heavy police presence at the demonstrations but no reports of violence in the loud but orderly protests.

The rallies against Netanyahu are the largest Israel has seen since 2011 protests over the country’s high cost of living.

After moving quickly to contain the virus last spring, many believe Israel reopened its economy too quickly, leading to a surge in cases. The country is now coping with record levels of coronavirus, while unemployment has surged to over 20%.

Many of the demonstrators, including many young unemployed Israelis, accuse Netanyau of mishandling the coronavirus crisis and the economic damage it has caused.

Netanyahu’s Likud Party announced that Sunday’s weekly Cabinet meeting had been called off because of disagreements with the chief coalition partner, the rival Blue and White Party. The sides have been feuding over the country’s national budget, and if they cannot reach a deal by late this month, Israel would be plunged into an early election.

Likud and Blue and White have repeatedly squabbled since forming a coalition government in May. While Blue and White leader Benny Gantz has defended the protesters, Netanyahu has dismissed them as “leftists” and “anarchists” and inciting violence against him. He also accuses the local media of strengthening the demonstrations by giving them heavy coverage.

Netanyahu’s son, Yair, this week caused a public uproar when he described the protesters as “aliens.” Many protesters Saturday dressed up as visitors from outer space to mock the comments.

While the demonstrations have largely been peaceful, there have been signs of violence in previous weeks. Some protesters have clashed with police, accusing them of using excessive force, while small gangs of Netanyahu supporters affiliated with a far-right group have assaulted demonstrators. But recent gatherings have taken place without incident.

The demonstrations, taking place several times a week at locations around the country, are organized by a loose-knit network of activist groups. Some object to Netanyahu remaining in office while he is on trial. He has been charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in a series of scandals. Many carry black flags, the name of one of the grassroots movements.

Des milliers de personnes aux dernières manifestations anti-Netanyahu
Des rassemblements ont eu lieu aux abords des habitations du Premier ministre et sur les ponts, dans tout Israël, pour dénoncer la corruption et sa gestion de la pandémie
Par Aaron Boxerman et Times of Israel Staff 9 août 2020, 12:35
▻https://fr.timesofisrael.com/des-milliers-de-personnes-aux-dernieres-manifestations-anti-netany

Des milliers d’Israéliens se sont réunis samedi soir pour protester contre le Premier ministre Benjamin Netanyahu dans le cadre d’un mouvement plus large dénonçant ses accusations de corruption et sa gestion de la pandémie de coronavirus.

La principale manifestation a été organisée aux abords de la résidence du Premier ministre à Jérusalem, où des rassemblements anti-Netanyahu ont eu régulièrement lieu ces derniers mois. Selon les médias, environ 15 000 personnes ont pris part au rassemblement, contre 32 000 personnes selon les organisateurs, se basant sur le nombre de brassards distribués aux participants à l’entrée de la place.
(...)
De nombreux manifestants ont brandi des panneaux conçus à la main dénonçant un gouvernement déconnecté. Un groupe de protestataires a fabriqué un sous-marin en papier mâché – une allusion à l’affaire de corruption impliquant l’achat de navires qui a éclaboussé des proches de Netanyahu, mais épargné le chef du gouvernement – le promenant à travers la foule. (...)

Charles Enderlin
@Charles1045
This is a total fake.
▻https://twitter.com/Charles1045/status/1290936913571000323

Elijah J. Magnier ne croit pas à une cache d’armes du Hezbollah dans le port :
▻https://twitter.com/ejmalrai/status/1290967546125058048

I spoke to several sources and this is my conclusion:

The Harbour is controlled by several security forces, including those who are pro and against #Hezbollah. Too many eyes, too many witnesses and a location considered not only “unfriendly” but also unecessary.+

#Hezbollah truck flow on regular basis from #Syria to #Lebanon without the need to use the harbour or the airport and not even the official borders between #Lebanon and #Syria.

#Hezbollah supports an international investigation because it believes the ammonium nitrate can’t explode on its own and a professional investigation would shed light on what has hapenned because it is a national catatrophy.

Bottom line:

There is no #Hezbollah weapons cache at the #Beirut harbour & no #Israel attack coz the circumstances of the explosion were present with a huge fire before the explosion ongoing and firemen trying to control it.

Sorry for all the conspiracy theorists around.

Tout le monde se lâche ! Ici, c’est le Réseau Voltaire qui s’interroge sur la « nouvelle arme » testée à Beyrouth...
▻https://www.voltairenet.org/article210662.html

l’article de Richard Silverstein a été traduit en français, là :
▻https://charleroi-pourlapalestine.be/index.php/2020/08/05/richard-silverstein-israel-a-bombarde-beyrouth

EU: Frontex splashes out: millions of euros for new technology and equipment (19.06.2020)

The approval of the new #Frontex_Regulation in November 2019 implied an increase of competences, budget and capabilities for the EU’s border agency, which is now equipping itself with increased means to monitor events and developments at the borders and beyond, as well as renewing its IT systems to improve the management of the reams of data to which it will have access.

In 2020 Frontex’s #budget grew to €420.6 million, an increase of over 34% compared to 2019. The European Commission has proposed that in the next EU budget (formally known as the Multiannual Financial Framework or MFF, covering 2021-27) €11 billion will be made available to the agency, although legal negotiations are ongoing and have hit significant stumbling blocks due to Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic and political disagreements.

Nevertheless, the increase for this year has clearly provided a number of opportunities for Frontex. For instance, it has already agreed contracts worth €28 million for the acquisition of dozens of vehicles equipped with thermal and day cameras, surveillance radar and sensors.

According to the contract for the provision of Mobile Surveillance Systems, these new tools will be used “for detection, identification and recognising of objects of interest e.g. human beings and/or groups of people, vehicles moving across the border (land and sea), as well as vessels sailing within the coastal areas, and other objects identified as objects of interest”. [1]

Frontex has also published a call for tenders for Maritime Analysis Tools, worth a total of up to €2.6 million. With this, Frontex seeks to improve access to “big data” for maritime analysis. [2] The objective of deploying these tools is to enhance Frontex’s operational support to EU border, coast guard and law enforcement authorities in “suppressing and preventing, among others, illegal migration and cross-border crime in the maritime domain”.

Moreover, the system should be capable of delivering analysis and identification of high-risk threats following the collection and storage of “big data”. It is not clear how much human input and monitoring there will be of the identification of risks. The call for tenders says the winning bidder should have been announced in May, but there is no public information on the chosen company so far.

As part of a 12-month pilot project to examine how maritime analysis tools could “support multipurpose operational response,” Frontex previously engaged the services of the Tel Aviv-based company Windward Ltd, which claims to fuse “maritime data and artificial intelligence… to provide the right insights, with the right context, at the right time.” [3] Windward, whose current chairman is John Browne, the former CEO of the multinational oil company BP, received €783,000 for its work. [4]

As the agency’s gathering and processing of data increases, it also aims to improve and develop its own internal IT systems, through a two-year project worth €34 million. This will establish a set of “framework contracts”. Through these, each time the agency seeks a new IT service or system, companies selected to participate in the framework contracts will submit bids for the work. [5]

The agency is also seeking a ’Software Solution for EBCG [European Border and Coast Guard] Team Members to Access to Schengen Information System’, through a contract worth up to €5 million. [6] The Schengen Information System (SIS) is the EU’s largest database, enabling cooperation between authorities working in the fields of police, border control and customs of all the Schengen states (26 EU member states plus Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland) and its legal bases were recently reformed to include new types of alert and categories of data. [7]

This software will give Frontex officials direct access to certain data within the SIS. Currently, they have to request access via national border guards in the country in which they are operating. This would give complete autonomy to Frontex officials to consult the SIS whilst undertaking operations, shortening the length of the procedure. [8]

With the legal basis for increasing Frontex’s powers in place, the process to build up its personnel, material and surveillance capacities continues, with significant financial implications.

▻https://www.statewatch.org/news/2020/june/eu-frontex-splashes-out-millions-of-euros-for-new-technology-and-equipme

#technologie #équipement #Multiannual_Financial_Framework #MFF #surveillance #Mobile_Surveillance_Systems #Maritime_Analysis_Tools #données #big_data #mer #Windward_Ltd #Israël #John_Browne #BP #complexe_militaro-industriel #Software_Solution_for_EBCG_Team_Members_to_Access_to_Schengen_Information_System #SIS #Schengen_Information_System

EU : Guns, guards and guidelines : reinforcement of Frontex runs into problems (26.05.2020)

An internal report circulated by Frontex to EU government delegations highlights a series of issues in implementing the agency’s new legislation. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the agency is urging swift action to implement the mandate and is pressing ahead with the recruitment of its new ‘standing corps’. However, there are legal problems with the acquisition, registration, storage and transport of weapons. The agency is also calling for derogations from EU rules on staff disciplinary measures in relation to the use of force; and wants an extended set of privileges and immunities. Furthermore, it is assisting with “voluntary return” despite this activity appearing to fall outside of its legal mandate.

State-of-play report

At the end of April 2020, Frontex circulated a report to EU government delegations in the Council outlining the state of play of the implementation of its new Regulation (“EBCG 2.0 Regulation”, in the agency and Commission’s words), especially relating to “current challenges”.[1] Presumably, this refers to the outbreak of a pandemic, though the report also acknowledges challenges created by the legal ambiguities contained in the Regulation itself, in particular with regard to the acquisition of weapons, supervisory and disciplinary mechanisms, legal privileges and immunities and involvement in “voluntary return” operations.

The path set out in the report is that the “operational autonomy of the agency will gradually increase towards 2027” until it is a “fully-fledged and reliable partner” to EU and Schengen states. It acknowledges the impacts of unforeseen world events on the EU’s forthcoming budget (Multi-annual Financial Framework, MFF) for 2021-27, and hints at the impact this will have on Frontex’s own budget and objectives. Nevertheless, the agency is still determined to “continue increasing the capabilities” of the agency, including its acquisition of new equipment and employment of new staff for its standing corps.

The main issues covered by the report are: Frontex’s new standing corps of staff, executive powers and the use of force, fundamental rights and data protection, and the integration into Frontex of EUROSUR, the European Border Surveillance System.

The new standing corps

Recruitment

A new standing corps of 10,000 Frontex staff by 2024 is to be, in the words of the agency, its “biggest game changer”.[2] The report notes that the establishment of the standing corps has been heavily affected by the outbreak of Covid-19. According to the report, 7,238 individuals had applied to join the standing corps before the outbreak of the pandemic. 5,482 of these – over 75% – were assessed by the agency as eligible, with a final 304 passing the entire selection process to be on the “reserve lists”.[3]

Despite interruptions to the recruitment procedure following worldwide lockdown measures, interviews for Category 1 staff – permanent Frontex staff members to be deployed on operations – were resumed via video by the end of April. 80 candidates were shortlisted for the first week, and Frontex aims to interview 1,000 people in total. Despite this adaptation, successful candidates will have to wait for Frontex’s contractor to re-open in order to carry out medical tests, an obligatory requirement for the standing corps.[4]

In 2020, Frontex joined the European Defence Agency’s Satellite Communications (SatCom) and Communications and Information System (CIS) services in order to ensure ICT support for the standing corps in operation as of 2021.[5] The EDA describes SatCom and CIS as “fundamental for Communication, Command and Control in military operations… [enabling] EU Commanders to connect forces in remote areas with HQs and capitals and to manage the forces missions and tasks”.[6]

Training

The basic training programme, endorsed by the management board in October 2019, is designed for Category 1 staff. It includes specific training in interoperability and “harmonisation with member states”. The actual syllabus, content and materials for this basic training were developed by March 2020; Statewatch has made a request for access to these documents, which is currently pending with the Frontex Transparency Office. This process has also been affected by the novel coronavirus, though the report insists that “no delay is foreseen in the availability of the specialised profile related training of the standing corps”.

Use of force

The state-of-play-report acknowledges a number of legal ambiguities surrounding some of the more controversial powers outlined in Frontex’s 2019 Regulation, highlighting perhaps that political ambition, rather than serious consideration and assessment, propelled the legislation, overtaking adequate procedure and oversight. The incentive to enact the legislation within a short timeframe is cited as a reason that no impact assessment was carried out on the proposed recast to the agency’s mandate. This draft was rushed through negotiations and approved in an unprecedented six-month period, and the details lost in its wake are now coming to light.

Article 82 of the 2019 Regulation refers to the use of force and carriage of weapons by Frontex staff, while a supervisory mechanism for the use of force by statutory staff is established by Article 55. This says:

“On the basis of a proposal from the executive director, the management board shall: (a) establish an appropriate supervisory mechanism to monitor the application of the provisions on use of force by statutory staff, including rules on reporting and specific measures, such as those of a disciplinary nature, with regard to the use of force during deployments”[7]

The agency’s management board is expected to make a decision about this supervisory mechanism, including specific measures and reporting, by the end of June 2020.

The state-of-play report posits that the legal terms of Article 55 are inconsistent with the standard rules on administrative enquiries and disciplinary measures concerning EU staff.[8] These outline, inter alia, that a dedicated disciplinary board will be established in each institution including at least one member from outside the institution, that this board must be independent and its proceedings secret. Frontex insists that its staff will be a special case as the “first uniformed service of the EU”, and will therefore require “special arrangements or derogations to the Staff Regulations” to comply with the “totally different nature of tasks and risks associated with their deployments”.[9]

What is particularly astounding about Frontex demanding special treatment for oversight, particularly on use of force and weapons is that, as the report acknowledges, the agency cannot yet legally store or transport any weapons it acquires.

Regarding service weapons and “non-lethal equipment”,[10] legal analysis by “external experts and a regulatory law firm” concluded that the 2019 Regulation does not provide a legal basis for acquiring, registering, storing or transporting weapons in Poland, where the agency’s headquarters is located. Frontex has applied to the Commission for clarity on how to proceed, says the report. Frontex declined to comment on the status of this consultation and any indications of the next steps the agency will take. A Commission spokesperson stated only that it had recently received the agency’s enquiry and “is analysing the request and the applicable legal framework in the view of replying to the EBCGA”, without expanding further.

Until Frontex has the legal basis to do so, it cannot launch a tender for firearms and “non-lethal equipment” (which includes batons, pepper spray and handcuffs). However, the report implies the agency is ready to do so as soon as it receives the green light. Technical specifications are currently being finalised for “non-lethal equipment” and Frontex still plans to complete acquisition by the end of the year.

Privileges and immunities

The agency is also seeking special treatment with regard to the legal privileges and immunities it and its officials enjoy. Article 96 of the 2019 Regulation outlines the privileges and immunities of Frontex officers, stating:

“Protocol No 7 on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Union annexed to the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and to the TFEU shall apply to the Agency and its statutory staff.” [11]

However, Frontex notes that the Protocol does not apply to non-EU states, nor does it “offer a full protection, or take into account a need for the inviolability of assets owned by Frontex (service vehicles, vessels, aircraft)”.[12] Frontex is increasingly involved in operations taking place on non-EU territory. For instance, the Council of the EU has signed or initialled a number of Status Agreements with non-EU states, primarily in the Western Balkans, concerning Frontex activities in those countries. To launch operations under these agreements, Frontex will (or, in the case of Albania, already has) agree on operational plans with each state, under which Frontex staff can use executive powers.[13] The agency therefore seeks an “EU-level status of forces agreement… to account for the partial absence of rules”.

Law enforcement

To implement its enhanced functions regarding cross-border crime, Frontex will continue to participate in Europol’s four-year policy cycle addressing “serious international and organised crime”.[14] The agency is also developing a pilot project, “Investigation Support Activities- Cross Border Crime” (ISA-CBC), addressing drug trafficking and terrorism.

Fundamental rights and data protection

The ‘EBCG 2.0 Regulation’ requires several changes to fundamental rights measures by the agency, which, aside from some vague “legal analyses” seem to be undergoing development with only internal oversight.

Firstly, to facilitate adequate independence of the Fundamental Rights Officer (FRO), special rules have to be established. The FRO was introduced under Frontex’s 2016 Regulation, but has since then been understaffed and underfunded by the agency.[15] The 2019 Regulation obliges the agency to ensure “sufficient and adequate human and financial resources” for the office, as well as 40 fundamental rights monitors.[16] These standing corps staff members will be responsible for monitoring compliance with fundamental rights standards, providing advice and assistance on the agency’s plans and activities, and will visit and evaluate operations, including acting as forced return monitors.[17]

During negotiations over the proposed Regulation 2.0, MEPs introduced extended powers for the Fundamental Rights Officer themselves. The FRO was previously responsible for contributing to Frontex’s fundamental rights strategy and monitoring its compliance with and promotion of fundamental rights. Now, they will be able to monitor compliance by conducting investigations; offering advice where deemed necessary or upon request of the agency; providing opinions on operational plans, pilot projects and technical assistance; and carrying out on-the-spot visits. The executive director is now obliged to respond “as to how concerns regarding possible violations of fundamental rights… have been addressed,” and the management board “shall ensure that action is taken with regard to recommendations of the fundamental rights officer.” [18] The investigatory powers of the FRO are not, however, set out in the Regulation.

The state-of-play report says that “legal analyses and exchanges” are ongoing, and will inform an eventual management board decision, but no timeline for this is offered. [19] The agency will also need to adapt its much criticised individual complaints mechanism to fit the requirements of the 2019 Regulation; executive director Fabrice Leggeri’s first-draft decision on this process is currently undergoing internal consultations. Even the explicit requirement set out in the 2019 Regulation for an “independent and effective” complaints mechanism,[20] does not meet minimum standards to qualify as an effective remedy, which include institutional independence, accessibility in practice, and capacity to carry out thorough and prompt investigations.[21]

Frontex has entered into a service level agreement (SLA) with the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) for support in establishing and training the team of fundamental rights monitors introduced by the 2019 Regulation. These monitors are to be statutory staff of the agency and will assess fundamental rights compliance of operational activities, advising, assisting and contributing to “the promotion of fundamental rights”.[22] The scope and objectives for this team were finalised at the end of March this year, and the agency will establish the team by the end of the year. Statewatch has requested clarification as to what is to be included in the team’s scope and objectives, pending with the Frontex Transparency Office.

Regarding data protection, the agency plans a package of implementing rules (covering issues ranging from the position of data protection officer to the restriction of rights for returnees and restrictions under administrative data processing) to be implemented throughout 2020.[23] The management board will review a first draft of the implementing rules on the data protection officer in the second quarter of 2020.

Returns

The European Return and Reintegration Network (ERRIN) – a network of 15 European states and the Commission facilitating cooperation over return operations “as part of the EU efforts to manage migration” – is to be handed over to Frontex. [24] A handover plan is currently under the final stage of review; it reportedly outlines the scoping of activities and details of “which groups of returnees will be eligible for Frontex assistance in the future”.[25] A request from Statewatch to Frontex for comment on what assistance will be provided by the agency to such returnees was unanswered at the time of publication.

Since the entry into force of its new mandate, Frontex has also been providing technical assistance for so-called voluntary returns, with the first two such operations carried out on scheduled flights (as opposed to charter flights) in February 2020. A total of 28 people were returned by mid-April, despite the fact that there is no legal clarity over what the definition “voluntary return” actually refers to, as the state-of-play report also explains:

“The terminology of voluntary return was introduced in the Regulation without providing any definition thereof. This terminology (voluntary departure vs voluntary return) is moreover not in line with the terminology used in the Return Directive (EBCG 2.0 refers to the definition of returns provided for in the Return Directive. The Return Directive, however, does not cover voluntary returns; a voluntary return is not a return within the meaning of the Return Directive). Further elaboration is needed.”[26]

On top of requiring “further clarification”, if Frontex is assisting with “voluntary returns” that are not governed by the Returns Directive, it is acting outside of its legal mandate. Statewatch has launched an investigation into the agency’s activities relating to voluntary returns, to outline the number of such operations to date, their country of return and country of destination.

Frontex is currently developing a module dedicated to voluntary returns by charter flight for its FAR (Frontex Application for Returns) platform (part of its return case management system). On top of the technical support delivered by the agency, Frontex also foresees the provision of on-the-ground support from Frontex representatives or a “return counsellor”, who will form part of the dedicated return teams planned for the standing corps from 2021.[27]

Frontex has updated its return case management system (RECAMAS), an online platform for member state authorities and Frontex to communicate and plan return operations, to manage an increased scope. The state-of-play report implies that this includes detail on post-return activities in a new “post-return module”, indicating that Frontex is acting on commitments to expand its activity in this area. According to the agency’s roadmap on implementing the 2019 Regulation, an action plan on how the agency will provide post-return support to people (Article 48(1), 2019 Regulation) will be written by the third quarter of 2020.[28]

In its closing paragraph, related to the budgetary impact of COVID-19 regarding return operations, the agency notes that although activities will resume once aerial transportation restrictions are eased, “the agency will not be able to provide what has been initially intended, undermining the concept of the EBCG as a whole”.[29]

EUROSUR

The Commission is leading progress on adopting the implementing act for the integration of EUROSUR into Frontex, which will define the implementation of new aerial surveillance,[30] expected by the end of the year.[31] Frontex is discussing new working arrangements with the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation (EUROCONTROL). The development by Frontex of the surveillance project’s communications network will require significant budgetary investment, as the agency plans to maintain the current system ahead of its planned replacement in 2025.[32] This investment is projected despite the agency’s recognition of the economic impact of Covid-19 on member states, and the consequent adjustments to the MFF 2021-27.

Summary

Drafted and published as the world responds to an unprecedented pandemic, the “current challenges” referred to in the report appear, on first read, to refer to the budgetary and staffing implications of global shut down. However, the report maintains throughout that the agency’s determination to expand, in terms of powers as well as staffing, will not be stalled despite delays and budgeting adjustments. Indeed, it is implied more than once that the “current challenges” necessitate more than ever that these powers be assumed. The true challenges, from the agency’s point of view, stem from the fact that its current mandate was rushed through negotiations in six months, leading to legal ambiguities that leave it unable to acquire or transport weapons and in a tricky relationship with the EU protocol on privileges and immunities when operating in third countries. Given the violence that so frequently accompanies border control operations in the EU, it will come as a relief to many that Frontex is having difficulties acquiring its own weaponry. However, it is far from reassuring that the introduction of new measures on fundamental rights and accountability are being carried out internally and remain unavailable for public scrutiny.

Jane Kilpatrick

Note: this article was updated on 26 May 2020 to include the European Commission’s response to Statewatch’s enquiries.

It was updated on 1 July with some minor corrections:

“the Council of the EU has signed or initialled a number of Status Agreements with non-EU states... under which” replaces “the agency has entered into working agreements with Balkan states, under which”
“The investigatory powers of the FRO are not, however, set out in any detail in the Regulation beyond monitoring the agency’s ’compliance with fundamental rights, including by conducting investigations’” replaces “The investigatory powers of the FRO are not, however, set out in the Regulation”
“if Frontex is assisting with “voluntary returns” that are not governed by the Returns Directive, it further exposes the haste with which legislation written to deny entry into the EU and facilitate expulsions was drafted” replaces “if Frontex is assisting with “voluntary returns” that are not governed by the Returns Directive, it is acting outside of its legal mandate”

Endnotes

[1] Frontex, ‘State of play of the implementation of the EBCG 2.0 Regulation in view of current challenges’, 27 April 2020, contained in Council document 7607/20, LIMITE, 20 April 2020, ▻http://statewatch.org/news/2020/may/eu-council-frontex-ECBG-state-of-play-7607-20.pdf

[2] Frontex, ‘Programming Document 2018-20’, 10 December 2017, ►http://www.statewatch.org/news/2019/feb/frontex-programming-document-2018-20.pdf

[3] Section 1.1, state of play report

[4] Jane Kilpatrick, ‘Frontex launches “game-changing” recruitment drive for standing corps of border guards’, Statewatch Analysis, March 2020, ▻http://www.statewatch.org/analyses/no-355-frontex-recruitment-standing-corps.pdf

[5] Section 7.1, state of play report

[6] EDA, ‘EU SatCom Market’, ▻https://www.eda.europa.eu/what-we-do/activities/activities-search/eu-satcom-market

[7] Article 55(5)(a), Regulation (EU) 2019/1896 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European Border and Coast Guard (Frontex 2019 Regulation), ►https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32019R1896

[8] Pursuant to Annex IX of the EU Staff Regulations, ▻https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:01962R0031-20140501

[9] Chapter III, state of play report

[10] Section 2.5, state of play report

[11] Protocol (No 7), ▻https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.C_.2016.202.01.0001.01.ENG#d1e3363-201-1

[12] Chapter III, state of play report

[13] ‘Border externalisation: Agreements on Frontex operations in Serbia and Montenegro heading for parliamentary approval’, Statewatch News, 11 March 2020, ▻http://statewatch.org/news/2020/mar/frontex-status-agreements.htm

[14] Europol, ‘EU policy cycle – EMPACT’, ▻https://www.europol.europa.eu/empact

[15] ‘NGOs, EU and international agencies sound the alarm over Frontex’s respect for fundamental rights’, Statewatch News, 5 March 2019, ►http://www.statewatch.org/news/2019/mar/fx-consultative-forum-rep.htm; ‘Frontex condemned by its own fundamental rights body for failing to live up to obligations’, Statewatch News, 21 May 2018, ►http://www.statewatch.org/news/2018/may/eu-frontex-fr-rep.htm

[16] Article 110(6), Article 109, 2019 Regulation

[17] Article 110, 2019 Regulation

[18] Article 109, 2019 Regulation

[19] Section 8, state of play report

[20] Article 111(1), 2019 Regulation

[21] Sergio Carrera and Marco Stefan, ‘Complaint Mechanisms in Border Management and Expulsion Operations in Europe: Effective Remedies for Victims of Human Rights Violations?’, CEPS, 2018, ▻https://www.ceps.eu/system/files/Complaint%20Mechanisms_A4.pdf

[22] Article 110(1), 2019 Regulation

[23] Section 9, state of play report

[24] ERRIN, ▻https://returnnetwork.eu

[25] Section 3.2, state of play report

[26] Chapter III, state of play report

[27] Section 3.2, state of play report

[28] ‘’Roadmap’ for implementing new Frontex Regulation: full steam ahead’, Statewatch News, 25 November 2019, ►http://www.statewatch.org/news/2019/nov/eu-frontex-roadmap.htm

[29] State of play report, p. 19

[30] Matthias Monroy, ‘Drones for Frontex: unmanned migration control at Europe’s borders’, Statewatch Analysis, February 2020, ►http://www.statewatch.org/analyses/no-354-frontex-drones.pdf

[31] Section 4, state of play report

[32] Section 7.2, state of play report
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Mediterranean: As the fiction of a Libyan search and rescue zone begins to crumble, EU states use the coronavirus pandemic to declare themselves unsafe

▻https://www.statewatch.org/analyses/2020/eu-guns-guards-and-guidelines-reinforcement-of-frontex-runs-into-problem

#EBCG_2.0_Regulation #European_Defence_Agency’s_Satellite_Communications (#SatCom) #Communications_and_Information_System (#CIS) #immunité #droits_fondamentaux #droits_humains #Fundamental_Rights_Officer (#FRO) #European_Return_and_Reintegration_Network (#ERRIN) #renvois #expulsions #réintégration #Directive_Retour #FAR (#Frontex_Application_for_Returns) #RECAMAS #EUROSUR #European_Aviation_Safety_Agency (#EASA) #European_Organisation_for_the_Safety_of_Air_Navigation (#EUROCONTROL)

Frontex launches “game-changing” recruitment drive for standing corps of border guards

On 4 January 2020 the Management Board of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) adopted a decision on the profiles of the staff required for the new “standing corps”, which is ultimately supposed to be staffed by 10,000 officials. [1] The decision ushers in a new wave of recruitment for the agency. Applicants will be put through six months of training before deployment, after rigorous medical testing.

What is the standing corps?

The European Border and Coast Guard standing corps is the new, and according to Frontex, first ever, EU uniformed service, available “at any time…to support Member States facing challenges at their external borders”.[2] Frontex’s Programming Document for the 2018-2020 period describes the standing corps as the agency’s “biggest game changer”, requiring “an unprecedented scale of staff recruitment”.[3]

The standing corps will be made up of four categories of Frontex operational staff:

Frontex statutory staff deployed in operational areas and staff responsible for the functioning of the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) Central Unit[4];
Long-term staff seconded from member states;
Staff from member states who can be immediately deployed on short-term secondment to Frontex; and

A reserve of staff from member states for rapid border interventions.

These border guards will be “trained by the best and equipped with the latest technology has to offer”.[5] As well as wearing EU uniforms, they will be authorised to carry weapons and will have executive powers: they will be able to verify individuals’ identity and nationality and permit or refuse entry into the EU.

The decision made this January is limited to the definition of profiles and requirements for the operational staff that are to be recruited. The Management Board (MB) will have to adopt a new decision by March this year to set out the numbers of staff needed per profile, the requirements for individuals holding those positions, and the number of staff needed for the following year based on expected operational needs. This process will be repeated annually.[6] The MB can then further specify how many staff each member state should contribute to these profiles, and establish multi-annual plans for member state contributions and recruitment for Frontex statutory staff. Projections for these contributions are made in Annexes II – IV of the 2019 Regulation, though a September Mission Statement by new European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen urges the recruitment of 10,000 border guards by 2024, indicating that member states might be meeting their contribution commitments much sooner than 2027.[7]

The standing corps of Frontex staff will have an array of executive powers and responsibilities. As well as being able to verify identity and nationality and refuse or permit entry into the EU, they will be able to consult various EU databases to fulfil operational aims, and may also be authorised by host states to consult national databases. According to the MB Decision, “all members of the Standing Corps are to be able to identify persons in need of international protection and persons in a vulnerable situation, including unaccompanied minors, and refer them to the competent authorities”. Training on international and EU law on fundamental rights and international protection, as well as guidelines on the identification and referral of persons in need of international protection, will be mandatory for all standing corps staff members.

The size of the standing corps

The following table, taken from the 2019 Regulation, outlines the ambitions for growth of Frontex’s standing corps. However, as noted, the political ambition is to reach the 10,000 total by 2024.

–-> voir le tableau sur le site de statewatch!

Category 2 staff – those on long term secondment from member states – will join Frontex from 2021, according to the 2019 Regulation.[8] It is foreseen that Germany will contribute the most staff, with 61 expected in 2021, increasing year-by-year to 225 by 2027. Other high contributors are France and Italy (170 and 125 by 2027, respectively).

The lowest contributors will be Iceland (expected to contribute between one and two people a year from 2021 to 2027), Malta, Cyprus and Luxembourg. Liechtenstein is not contributing personnel but will contribute “through proportional financial support”.

For short-term secondments from member states, projections follow a very similar pattern. Germany will contribute 540 staff in 2021, increasing to 827 in 2027; Italy’s contribution will increase from 300 in 2021 to 458 in 2027; and France’s from 408 in 2021 to 624 in 2027. Most states will be making less than 100 staff available for short-term secondment in 2021.

What are the profiles?

The MB Decision outlines 12 profiles to be made available to Frontex, ranging from Border Guard Officer and Crew Member, to Cross Border Crime Detection Officer and Return Specialist. A full list is contained in the Decision.[9] All profiles will be fulfilled by an official of the competent authority of a member state (MS) or Schengen Associated Country (SAC), or by a member of Frontex’s own statutory staff.

Tasks to be carried out by these officials include:

border checks and surveillance;
interviewing, debriefing* and screening arrivals and registering fingerprints;
supporting the collection, assessment, analysis and distribution of information with EU member and non-member states;
verifying travel documents;
escorting individuals being deported on Frontex return operations;
operating data systems and platforms; and
offering cultural mediation

*Debriefing consists of informal interviews with migrants to collect information for risk analyses on irregular migration and other cross-border crime and the profiling of irregular migrants to identify “modus operandi and migration trends used by irregular migrants and facilitators/criminal networks”. Guidelines written by Frontex in 2012 instructed border guards to target vulnerable individuals for “debriefing”, not in order to streamline safeguarding or protection measures, but for intelligence-gathering - “such people are often more willing to talk about their experiences,” said an internal document.[10] It is unknown whether those instructions are still in place.

Recruitment for the profiles

Certain profiles are expected to “apply self-safety and security practice”, and to have “the capacity to work under pressure and face emotional events with composure”. Relevant profiles (e.g. crew member) are required to be able to perform search and rescue activities in distress situations at sea borders.

Frontex published a call for tender on 27 December for the provision of medical services for pre-recruitment examinations, in line with the plan to start recruiting operational staff in early 2020. The documents accompanying the tender reveal additional criteria for officials that will be granted executive powers (Frontex category “A2”) compared to those staff stationed primarily at the agency’s Warsaw headquarters (“A1”). Those criteria come in the form of more stringent medical testing.

The differences in medical screening for category A1 and A2 staff lie primarily in additional toxicology screening and psychiatric and psychological consultations. [11] The additional psychiatric attention allotted for operational staff “is performed to check the predisposition for people to work in arduous, hazardous conditions, exposed to stress, conflict situations, changing rapidly environment, coping with people being in dramatic, injure or death exposed situations”.[12]

Both A1 and A2 category provisional recruits will be asked to disclose if they have ever suffered from a sexually transmitted disease or “genital organ disease”, as well as depression, nervous or mental disorders, among a long list of other ailments. As well as disclosing any medication they take, recruits must also state if they are taking oral contraceptives (though there is no question about hormonal contraceptives that are not taken orally). Women are also asked to give the date of their last period on the pre-appointment questionnaire.

“Never touch yourself with gloves”

Frontex training materials on forced return operations obtained by Statewatch in 2019 acknowledge the likelihood of psychological stress among staff, among other health risks. (One recommendation contained in the documents is to “never touch yourself with gloves”). Citing “dissonance within the team, long hours with no rest, group dynamic, improvisation and different languages” among factors behind psychological stress, the training materials on medical precautionary measures for deportation escort officers also refer to post-traumatic stress disorder, the lack of an area to retreat to and body clock disruption as exacerbating risks. The document suggests a high likelihood that Frontex return escorts will witness poverty, “agony”, “chaos”, violence, boredom, and will have to deal with vulnerable persons.[13]

For fundamental rights monitors (officials deployed to monitor fundamental rights compliance during deportations, who can be either Frontex staff or national officials), the training materials obtained by Statewatch focus on the self-control of emotions, rather than emotional care. Strategies recommended include talking to somebody, seeking professional help, and “informing yourself of any other option offered”. The documents suggest that it is an individual’s responsibility to prevent emotional responses to stressful situations having an impact on operations, and to organise their own supervision and professional help. There is no obvious focus on how traumatic responses of Frontex staff could affect those coming into contact with them at an external border or during a deportation. [14]

The materials obtained by Statewatch also give some indication of the fundamental rights training imparted to those acting as deportation ‘escorts’ and fundamental rights monitors. The intended outcomes for a training session in Athens that took place in March 2019 included “adapt FR [fundamental rights] in a readmission operation (explain it with examples)” and “should be able to describe Non Refoulement principle” (in the document, ‘Session Fundamental rights’ is followed by ‘Session Velcro handcuffs’).[15] The content of the fundamental rights training that will be offered to Frontex’s new recruits is currently unknown.

Fit for service?

The agency anticipates that most staff will be recruited from March to June 2020, involving the medical examination of up to 700 applicants in this period. According to Frontex’s website, the agency has already received over 7,000 applications for the 700 new European Border Guard Officer positions.[16] Successful candidates will undergo six months of training before deployment in 2021. Apparently then, the posts are a popular career option, despite the seemingly invasive medical tests (especially for sexually active women). Why, for instance, is it important to Frontex to know about oral hormonal contraception, or about sexually transmitted infections?

When asked by Statewatch if Frontex provides in-house psychological and emotional support, an agency press officer stated: “When it comes to psychological and emotional support, Frontex is increasing awareness and personal resilience of the officers taking part in our operations through education and training activities.” A ‘Frontex Mental Health Strategy’ from 2018 proposed the establishment of “a network of experts-psychologists” to act as an advisory body, as well as creating “online self-care tools”, a “psychological hot-line”, and a space for peer support with participation of psychologists (according to risk assessment) during operations.[17]

One year later, Frontex, EASO and Europol jointly produced a brochure for staff deployed on operations, entitled ‘Occupational Health and Safety – Deployment Information’, which offers a series of recommendations to staff, placing the responsibility to “come to the deployment in good mental shape” and “learn how to manage stress and how to deal with anger” more firmly on the individual than the agency.[18] According to this document, officers who need additional support must disclose this by requesting it from their supervisor, while “a helpline or psychologist on-site may be available, depending on location”.

Frontex anticipates this recruitment drive to be “game changing”. Indeed, the Commission is relying upon it to reach its ambitions for the agency’s independence and efficiency. The inclusion of mandatory training in fundamental rights in the six-month introductory education is obviously a welcome step. Whether lessons learned in a classroom will be the first thing that comes to the minds of officials deployed on border control or deportation operations remains to be seen.

Unmanaged responses to emotional stress can include burnout, compassion-fatigue and indirect trauma, which can in turn decrease a person’s ability to cope with adverse circumstance, and increase the risk of violence.[19] Therefore, aside from the agency’s responsibility as an employer to safeguard the health of its staff, its approach to internal psychological care will affect not only the border guards themselves, but the people that they routinely come into contact with at borders and during return operations, many of whom themselves will have experienced trauma.

Jane Kilpatrick

Endnotes

[1] Management Board Decision 1/2020 of 4 January 2020 on adopting the profiles to be made available to the European Border and Coast Guard Standing Corps, ►https://frontex.europa.eu/assets/Key_Documents/MB_Decision/2020/MB_Decision_1_2020_adopting_the_profiles_to_be_made_available_to_the_

[2] Frontex, ‘Careers’, ►https://frontex.europa.eu/about-frontex/careers/frontex-border-guard-recruitment

[3] Frontex, ‘Programming Document 2018-20’, 10 December 2017, ►http://www.statewatch.org/news/2019/feb/frontex-programming-document-2018-20.pdf

[4] The ETIAS Central Unit will be responsible for processing the majority of applications for ‘travel authorisations’ received when the European Travel Information and Authorisation System comes into use, in theory in late 2022. Citizens who do not require a visa to travel to the Schengen area will have to apply for authorisation to travel to the Schengen area.

[5] Frontex, ‘Careers’, ►https://frontex.europa.eu/about-frontex/careers/frontex-border-guard-recruitment

[6] Article 54(4), Regulation (EU) 2019/1896 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 November 2019 on the European Border and Coast Guard and repealing Regulations (EU) No 1052/2013 and (EU) 2016/1624, ►https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32019R1896

[7] ‘European Commission 2020 Work Programme: An ambitious roadmap for a Union that strives for more’, 29 January 2020, ▻https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_20_124; “Mission letter” from Ursula von der Leyen to Ylva Johnsson, 10 September 2019, ▻https://ec.europa.eu/commission/sites/beta-political/files/mission-letter-ylva-johansson_en.pdf

[8] Annex II, 2019 Regulation

[9] Management Board Decision 1/2020 of 4 January 2020 on adopting the profiles to be made available to the European Border and Coast Guard Standing Corps, ►https://frontex.europa.eu/assets/Key_Documents/MB_Decision/2020/MB_Decision_1_2020_adopting_the_profiles_to_be_made_available_to_the_

[10] ‘Press release: EU border agency targeted “isolated or mistreated” individuals for questioning’, Statewatch News, 16 February 2017, ►http://www.statewatch.org/news/2017/feb/eu-frontex-op-hera-debriefing-pr.htm

[11] ‘Provision of Medical Services – Pre-Recruitment Examination’, ▻https://etendering.ted.europa.eu/cft/cft-documents.html?cftId=5841

[12] ‘Provision of medical services – pre-recruitment examination, Terms of Reference - Annex II to invitation to tender no Frontex/OP/1491/2019/KM’, ▻https://etendering.ted.europa.eu/cft/cft-document.html?docId=65398

[13] Frontex training presentation, ‘Medical precautionary measures for escort officers’, undated, ▻http://statewatch.org/news/2020/mar/eu-frontex-presentation-medical-precautionary-measures-deportation-escor

[14] Ibid.

[15] Frontex, document listing course learning outcomes from deportation escorts’ training, ▻http://statewatch.org/news/2020/mar/eu-frontex-deportation-escorts-training-course-learning-outcomes.pdf

[16] Frontex, ‘Careers’, ►https://frontex.europa.eu/about-frontex/careers/frontex-border-guard-recruitment

[17] Frontex, ‘Frontex mental health strategy’, 20 February 2018, ▻https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/89c168fe-e14b-11e7-9749-01aa75ed71a1/language-en

[18] EASO, Europol and Frontex, ‘Occupational health and safety’, 12 August 2019, ▻https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/17cc07e0-bd88-11e9-9d01-01aa75ed71a1/language-en/format-PDF/source-103142015

[19] Trauma Treatment International, ‘A different approach for victims of trauma’, ▻https://www.tt-intl.org/#our-work-section

▻https://www.statewatch.org/analyses/2020/frontex-launches-game-changing-recruitment-drive-for-standing-corps-of-b
#gardes_frontières #staff #corps_des_gardes-frontières

Drones for Frontex: unmanned migration control at Europe’s borders (27.02.2020)

Instead of providing sea rescue capabilities in the Mediterranean, the EU is expanding air surveillance. Refugees are observed with drones developed for the military. In addition to numerous EU states, countries such as Libya could also use the information obtained.

It is not easy to obtain majorities for legislation in the European Union in the area of migration - unless it is a matter of upgrading the EU’s external borders. While the reform of a common EU asylum system has been on hold for years, the European Commission, Parliament and Council agreed to reshape the border agency Frontex with unusual haste shortly before last year’s parliamentary elections. A new Regulation has been in force since December 2019,[1] under which Frontex intends to build up a “standing corps” of 10,000 uniformed officials by 2027. They can be deployed not just at the EU’s external borders, but in ‘third countries’ as well.

In this way, Frontex will become a “European border police force” with powers that were previously reserved for the member states alone. The core of the new Regulation includes the procurement of the agency’s own equipment. The Multiannual Financial Framework, in which the EU determines the distribution of its financial resources from 2021 until 2027, has not yet been decided. According to current plans, however, at least €6 billion are reserved for Frontex in the seven-year budget. The intention is for Frontex to spend a large part of the money, over €2 billion, on aircraft, ships and vehicles.[2]

Frontex seeks company for drone flights

The upgrade plans include the stationing of large drones in the central and eastern Mediterranean. For this purpose, Frontex is looking for a private partner to operate flights off Malta, Italy or Greece. A corresponding tender ended in December[3] and the selection process is currently underway. The unmanned missions could then begin already in spring. Frontex estimates the total cost of these missions at €50 million. The contract has a term of two years and can be extended twice for one year at a time.

Frontex wants drones of the so-called MALE (Medium Altitude Long Endurance) class. Their flight duration should be at least 20 hours. The requirements include the ability to fly in all weather conditions and at day and night. It is also planned to operate in airspace where civil aircraft are in service. For surveillance missions, the drones should carry electro-optical cameras, thermal imaging cameras and so-called “daylight spotter” systems that independently detect moving targets and keep them in focus. Other equipment includes systems for locating mobile and satellite telephones. The drones will also be able to receive signals from emergency call transmitters sewn into modern life jackets.

However, the Frontex drones will not be used primarily for sea rescue operations, but to improve capacities against unwanted migration. This assumption is also confirmed by the German non-governmental organisation Sea-Watch, which has been providing assistance in the central Mediterranean with various ships since 2015. “Frontex is not concerned with saving lives,” says Ruben Neugebauer of Sea-Watch. “While air surveillance is being expanded with aircraft and drones, ships urgently needed for rescue operations have been withdrawn”. Sea-Watch demands that situation pictures of EU drones are also made available to private organisations for sea rescue.

Aircraft from arms companies

Frontex has very specific ideas for its own drones, which is why there are only a few suppliers worldwide that can be called into question. The Israel Aerospace Industries Heron 1, which Frontex tested for several months on the Greek island of Crete[4] and which is also flown by the German Bundeswehr, is one of them. As set out by Frontex in its invitation to tender, the Heron 1, with a payload of around 250 kilograms, can carry all the surveillance equipment that the agency intends to deploy over the Mediterranean. Also amongst those likely to be interested in the Frontex contract is the US company General Atomics, which has been building drones of the Predator series for 20 years. Recently, it presented a new Predator model in Greece under the name SeaGuardian, for maritime observation.[5] It is equipped with a maritime surveillance radar and a system for receiving position data from larger ships, thus fulfilling one of Frontex’s essential requirements.

General Atomics may have a competitive advantage, as its Predator drones have several years’ operational experience in the Mediterranean. In addition to Frontex, the European Union has been active in the central Mediterranean with EUNAVFOR MED Operation Sophia. In March 2019, Italy’s then-interior minister Matteo Salvini pushed through the decision to operate the EU mission from the air alone. Since then, two unarmed Predator drones operated by the Italian military have been flying for EUNAVFOR MED for 60 hours per month. Officially, the drones are to observe from the air whether the training of the Libyan coast guard has been successful and whether these navy personnel use their knowledge accordingly. Presumably, however, the Predators are primarily pursuing the mission’s goal to “combat human smuggling” by spying on the Libyan coast. It is likely that the new Operation EU Active Surveillance, which will use military assets from EU member states to try to enforce the UN arms embargo placed on Libya,[6] will continue to patrol with Italian drones off the coast in North Africa.

Three EU maritime surveillance agencies

In addition to Frontex, the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) and the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA) are also investing in maritime surveillance using drones. Together, the three agencies coordinate some 300 civil and military authorities in EU member states.[7] Their tasks include border, fisheries and customs control, law enforcement and environmental protection.

In 2017, Frontex and EMSA signed an agreement to benefit from joint reconnaissance capabilities, with EFCA also involved.[8] At the time, EMSA conducted tests with drones of various sizes, but now the drones’ flights are part of its regular services. The offer is not only open to EU Member States, as Iceland was the first to take advantage of it. Since summer 2019, a long-range Hermes 900 drone built by the Israeli company Elbit Systems has been flying from Iceland’s Egilsstaðir airport. The flights are intended to cover more than half of the island state’s exclusive economic zone and to detect “suspicious activities and potential hazards”.[9]

The Hermes 900 was also developed for the military; the Israeli army first deployed it in the Gaza Strip in 2014. The Times of Israel puts the cost of the operating contract with EMSA at €59 million,[10] with a term of two years, which can be extended for another two years. The agency did not conclude the contract directly with the Israeli arms company, but through the Portuguese firm CeiiA. The contract covers the stationing, control and mission control of the drones.

New interested parties for drone flights

At the request of the German MEP Özlem Demirel (from the party Die Linke), the European Commission has published a list of countries that also want to use EMSA drones.[11] According to this list, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Portugal and also Greece have requested unmanned flights for pollution monitoring this year, while Bulgaria and Spain want to use them for general maritime surveillance. Until Frontex has its own drones, EMSA is flying its drones for the border agency on Crete. As in Iceland, this is the long-range drone Hermes 900, but according to Greek media reports it crashed on 8 January during take-off.[12] Possible causes are a malfunction of the propulsion system or human error. The aircraft is said to have been considerably damaged.

Authorities from France and Great Britain have also ordered unmanned maritime surveillance from EMSA. Nothing is yet known about the exact intended location, but it is presumably the English Channel. There, the British coast guard is already observing border traffic with larger drones built by the Tekever arms company from Portugal.[13] The government in London wants to prevent migrants from crossing the Channel. The drones take off from the airport in the small town of Lydd and monitor the approximately 50-kilometre-long and 30-kilometre-wide Strait of Dover. Great Britain has also delivered several quadcopters to France to try to detect potential migrants in French territorial waters. According to the prefecture of Pas-de-Calais, eight gendarmes have been trained to control the small drones[14].

Information to non-EU countries

The images taken by EMSA drones are evaluated by the competent national coastguards. A livestream also sends them to Frontex headquarters in Warsaw.[15] There they are fed into the EUROSUR border surveillance system. This is operated by Frontex and networks the surveillance installations of all EU member states that have an external border. The data from EUROSUR and the national border control centres form the ‘Common Pre-frontier Intelligence Picture’,[16] referring to the area of interest of Frontex, which extends far into the African continent. Surveillance data is used to detect and prevent migration movements at an early stage.

Once the providing company has been selected, the new Frontex drones are also to fly for EUROSUR. According to the invitation to tender, they are to operate in the eastern and central Mediterranean within a radius of up to 250 nautical miles (463 kilometres). This would enable them to carry out reconnaissance in the “pre-frontier” area off Tunisia, Libya and Egypt. Within the framework of EUROSUR, Frontex shares the recorded data with other European users via a ‘Remote Information Portal’, as the call for tender explains. The border agency has long been able to cooperate with third countries and the information collected can therefore also be made available to authorities in North Africa. However, in order to share general information on surveillance of the Mediterranean Sea with a non-EU state, Frontex must first conclude a working agreement with the corresponding government.[17]

It is already possible, however, to provide countries such as Libya with the coordinates of refugee boats. For example, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea stipulates that the nearest Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) must be informed of actual or suspected emergencies. With EU funding, Italy has been building such a centre in Tripoli for the last two years.[18] It is operated by the military coast guard, but so far has no significant equipment of its own.

The EU military mission “EUNAVFOR MED” was cooperating more extensively with the Libyan coast guard. For communication with European naval authorities, Libya is the first third country to be connected to European surveillance systems via the “Seahorse Mediterranean” network[19]. Information handed over to the Libyan authorities might also include information that was collected with the Italian military ‘Predator’ drones.

Reconnaissance generated with unmanned aerial surveillance is also given to the MRCC in Turkey. This was seen in a pilot project last summer, when the border agency tested an unmanned aerostat with the Greek coast guard off the island of Samos.[20] Attached to a 1,000 metre-long cable, the airship was used in the Frontex operation ‘Poseidon’ in the eastern Mediterranean. The 35-meter-long zeppelin comes from the French manufacturer A-NSE.[21] The company specializes in civil and military aerial observation. According to the Greek Marine Ministry, the equipment included a radar, a thermal imaging camera and an Automatic Identification System (AIS) for the tracking of larger ships. The recorded videos were received and evaluated by a situation centre supplied by the Portuguese National Guard. If a detected refugee boat was still in Turkish territorial waters, the Greek coast guard informed the Turkish authorities. This pilot project in the Aegean Sea was the first use of an airship by Frontex. The participants deployed comparatively large numbers of personnel for the short mission. Pictures taken by the Greek coastguard show more than 40 people.

Drones enable ‘pull-backs’

Human rights organisations accuse EUNAVFOR MED and Frontex of passing on information to neighbouring countries leading to rejections (so-called ‘push-backs’) in violation of international law. People must not be returned to states where they are at risk of torture or other serious human rights violations. Frontex does not itself return refugees in distress who were discovered at sea via aerial surveillance, but leaves the task to the Libyan or Turkish authorities. Regarding Libya, the Agency since 2017 provided notice of at least 42 vessels in distress to Libyan authorities.[22]

Private rescue organisations therefore speak of so-called ‘pull-backs’, but these are also prohibited, as the Israeli human rights lawyer Omer Shatz argues: “Communicating the location of civilians fleeing war to a consortium of militias and instructing them to intercept and forcibly transfer them back to the place they fled from, trigger both state responsibility of all EU members and individual criminal liability of hundreds involved.” Together with his colleague Juan Branco, Shatz is suing those responsible for the European Union and its agencies before the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Soon they intend to publish individual cases and the names of the people accused.

Matthias Monroy

An earlier version of this article first appeared in the German edition of Le Monde Diplomatique: ‘Drohnen für Frontex Statt sich auf die Rettung von Bootsflüchtlingen im Mittelmeer zu konzentrieren, baut die EU die Luftüberwachung’.

Note: this article was corrected on 6 March to clarify a point regarding cooperation between Frontex and non-EU states.

Endnotes

[1] Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European Border and Coast Guard, ►https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/PE-33-2019-INIT/en/pdf

[2] European Commission, ‘A strengthened and fully equipped European Border and Coast Guard’, 12 September 2018, ▻https://ec.europa.eu/commission/sites/beta-political/files/soteu2018-factsheet-coast-guard_en.pdf

[3] ‘Poland-Warsaw: Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) for Medium Altitude Long Endurance Maritime Aerial Surveillance’, ▻https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:490010-2019:TEXT:EN:HTML&tabId=1

[4] IAI, ‘IAI AND AIRBUS MARITIME HERON UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEM (UAS) SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED 200 FLIGHT HOURS IN CIVILIAN EUROPEAN AIRSPACE FOR FRONTEX’, 24 October 2018, ▻https://www.iai.co.il/iai-and-airbus-maritime-heron-unmanned-aerial-system-uas-successfully-complet

[5] ‘ European Maritime Flight Demonstrations’, General Atomics, ▻http://www.ga-asi.com/european-maritime-demo

[6] ‘EU agrees to deploy warships to enforce Libya arms embargo’, The Guardian, 17 February 2020, ▻https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/17/eu-agrees-deploy-warships-enforce-libya-arms-embargo

[7] EMSA, ‘Heads of EMSA and Frontex meet to discuss cooperation on European coast guard functions’, 3 April 2019, ▻http://www.emsa.europa.eu/news-a-press-centre/external-news/item/3499-heads-of-emsa-and-frontex-meet-to-discuss-cooperation-on-european-c

[8] Frontex, ‘Frontex, EMSA and EFCA strengthen cooperation on coast guard functions’, 23 March 2017, ▻https://frontex.europa.eu/media-centre/news-release/frontex-emsa-and-efca-strengthen-cooperation-on-coast-guard-functions

[9] Elbit Systems, ‘Elbit Systems Commenced the Operation of the Maritime UAS Patrol Service to European Union Countries’, 18 June 2019, ▻https://elbitsystems.com/pr-new/elbit-systems-commenced-the-operation-of-the-maritime-uas-patrol-servi

[10] ‘Elbit wins drone contract for up to $68m to help monitor Europe coast’, The Times of Israel, 1 November 2018, ▻https://www.timesofisrael.com/elbit-wins-drone-contract-for-up-to-68m-to-help-monitor-europe-coast

[11] ‘Answer given by Ms Bulc on behalf of the European Commission’, ▻https://netzpolitik.org/wp-upload/2019/12/E-2946_191_Finalised_reply_Annex1_EN_V1.pdf

[12] ‘Το drone της FRONTEX έπεσε, οι μετανάστες έρχονται’, Proto Thema, 27 January 2020, ▻https://www.protothema.gr/greece/article/968869/to-drone-tis-frontex-epese-oi-metanastes-erhodai

[13] Morgan Meaker, ‘Here’s proof the UK is using drones to patrol the English Channel’, Wired, 10 January 2020, ▻https://www.wired.co.uk/article/uk-drones-migrants-english-channel

[14] ‘Littoral: Les drones pour lutter contre les traversées de migrants sont opérationnels’, La Voix du Nord, 26 March 2019, ▻https://www.lavoixdunord.fr/557951/article/2019-03-26/les-drones-pour-lutter-contre-les-traversees-de-migrants-sont-operation

[15] ‘Frontex report on the functioning of Eurosur – Part I’, Council document 6215/18, 15 February 2018, ▻http://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-6215-2018-INIT/en/pdf

[16] European Commission, ‘Eurosur’, ▻https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/borders-and-visas/border-crossing/eurosur_en

[17] Legal reforms have also given Frontex the power to operate on the territory of non-EU states, subject to the conclusion of a status agreement between the EU and the country in question. The 2016 Frontex Regulation allowed such cooperation with states that share a border with the EU; the 2019 Frontex Regulation extends this to any non-EU state.

[18] ‘Helping the Libyan Coast Guard to establish a Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre’, ▻https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-8-2018-000547_EN.html

[19] Matthias Monroy, ‘EU funds the sacking of rescue ships in the Mediterranean’, 7 July 2018, ▻https://digit.site36.net/2018/07/03/eu-funds-the-sacking-of-rescue-ships-in-the-mediterranean

[20] Frontex, ‘Frontex begins testing use of aerostat for border surveillance’, 31 July 2019, ▻https://frontex.europa.eu/media-centre/news-release/frontex-begins-testing-use-of-aerostat-for-border-surveillance-ur33N8

[21] ‘Answer given by Ms Johansson on behalf of the European Commission’, 7 January 2020, ▻https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-9-2019-002529-ASW_EN.html

[22] ‘Answer given by Vice-President Borrell on behalf of the European Commission’, 8 January 2020, ▻https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-9-2019-002654-ASW_EN.html

▻https://www.statewatch.org/analyses/2020/drones-for-frontex-unmanned-migration-control-at-europe-s-borders

#drones

Monitoring “secondary movements” and “hotspots”: Frontex is now an internal surveillance agency (16.12.2019)

The EU’s border agency, Frontex, now has powers to gather data on “secondary movements” and the “hotspots” within the EU. The intention is to ensure “situational awareness” and produce risk analyses on the migratory situation within the EU, in order to inform possible operational action by national authorities. This brings with it increased risks for the fundamental rights of both non-EU nationals and ethnic minority EU citizens.

The establishment of a new ’standing corps’ of 10,000 border guards to be commanded by EU border agency Frontex has generated significant public and press attention in recent months. However, the new rules governing Frontex[1] include a number of other significant developments - including a mandate for the surveillance of migratory movements and migration “hotspots” within the EU.

Previously, the agency’s surveillance role has been restricted to the external borders and the “pre-frontier area” – for example, the high seas or “selected third-country ports.”[2] New legal provisions mean it will now be able to gather data on the movement of people within the EU. While this is only supposed to deal with “trends, volumes and routes,” rather than personal data, it is intended to inform operational activity within the EU.

This may mean an increase in operations against ‘unauthorised’ migrants, bringing with it risks for fundamental rights such as the possibility of racial profiling, detention, violence and the denial of access to asylum procedures. At the same time, in a context where internal borders have been reintroduced by numerous Schengen states over the last five years due to increased migration, it may be that he agency’s new role contributes to a further prolongation of internal border controls.

From external to internal surveillance

Frontex was initially established with the primary goals of assisting in the surveillance and control of the external borders of the EU. Over the years it has obtained increasing powers to conduct surveillance of those borders in order to identify potential ’threats’.

The European Border Surveillance System (EUROSUR) has a key role in this task, taking data from a variety of sources, including satellites, sensors, drones, ships, vehicles and other means operated both by national authorities and the agency itself. EUROSUR was formally established by legislation approved in 2013, although the system was developed and in use long before it was subject to a legal framework.[3]

The new Frontex Regulation incorporates and updates the provisions of the 2013 EUROSUR Regulation. It maintains existing requirements for the agency to establish a “situational picture” of the EU’s external borders and the “pre-frontier area” – for example, the high seas or the ports of non-EU states – which is then distributed to the EU’s member states in order to inform operational activities.[4]

The new rules also provide a mandate for reporting on “unauthorised secondary movements” and goings-on in the “hotspots”. The Commission’s proposal for the new Frontex Regulation was not accompanied by an impact assessment, which would have set out the reasoning and justifications for these new powers. The proposal merely pointed out that the new rules would “evolve” the scope of EUROSUR, to make it possible to “prevent secondary movements”.[5] As the European Data Protection Supervisor remarked, the lack of an impact assessment made it impossible: “to fully assess and verify its attended benefits and impact, notably on fundamental rights and freedoms, including the right to privacy and to the protection of personal data.”[6]

The term “secondary movements” is not defined in the Regulation, but is generally used to refer to journeys between EU member states undertaken without permission, in particular by undocumented migrants and applicants for internal protection. Regarding the “hotspots” – established and operated by EU and national authorities in Italy and Greece – the Regulation provides a definition,[7] but little clarity on precisely what information will be gathered.

Legal provisions

A quick glance at Section 3 of the new Regulation, dealing with EUROSUR, gives little indication that the system will now be used for internal surveillance. The formal scope of EUROSUR is concerned with the external borders and border crossing points:

“EUROSUR shall be used for border checks at authorised border crossing points and for external land, sea and air border surveillance, including the monitoring, detection, identification, tracking, prevention and interception of unauthorised border crossings for the purpose of detecting, preventing and combating illegal immigration and cross-border crime and contributing to ensuring the protection and saving the lives of migrants.”

However, the subsequent section of the Regulation (on ‘situational awareness’) makes clear the agency’s new internal role. Article 24 sets out the components of the “situational pictures” that will be visible in EUROSUR. There are three types – national situational pictures, the European situational picture and specific situational pictures. All of these should consist of an events layer, an operational layer and an analysis layer. The first of these layers should contain (emphasis added in all quotes):

“…events and incidents related to unauthorised border crossings and cross-border crime and, where available, information on unauthorised secondary movements, for the purpose of understanding migratory trends, volume and routes.”

Article 26, dealing with the European situational picture, states:

“The Agency shall establish and maintain a European situational picture in order to provide the national coordination centres and the Commission with effective, accurate and timely information and analysis, covering the external borders, the pre-frontier area and unauthorised secondary movements.”

The events layer of that picture should include “information relating to… incidents in the operational area of a joint operation or rapid intervention coordinated by the Agency, or in a hotspot.”[8] In a similar vein:

“The operational layer of the European situational picture shall contain information on the joint operations and rapid interventions coordinated by the Agency and on hotspots, and shall include the mission statements, locations, status, duration, information on the Member States and other actors involved, daily and weekly situational reports, statistical data and information packages for the media.”[9]

Article 28, dealing with ‘EUROSUR Fusion Services’, says that Frontex will provide national authorities with information on the external borders and pre-frontier area that may be derived from, amongst other things, the monitoring of “migratory flows towards and within the Union in terms of trends, volume and routes.”

Sources of data

The “situational pictures” compiled by Frontex and distributed via EUROSUR are made up of data gathered from a host of different sources. For the national situational picture, these are:

national border surveillance systems;
stationary and mobile sensors operated by national border agencies;
border surveillance patrols and “other monitoring missions”;
local, regional and other coordination centres;
other national authorities and systems, such as immigration liaison officers, operational centres and contact points;
border checks;
Frontex;
other member states’ national coordination centres;
third countries’ authorities;
ship reporting systems;
other relevant European and international organisations; and
other sources.[10]

For the European situational picture, the sources of data are:

national coordination centres;
national situational pictures;
immigration liaison officers;
Frontex, including reports form its liaison officers;
Union delegations and EU Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions;
other relevant Union bodies, offices and agencies and international organisations; and
third countries’ authorities.[11]

The EUROSUR handbook – which will presumably be redrafted to take into account the new legislation – provides more detail about what each of these categories may include.[12]

Exactly how this melange of different data will be used to report on secondary movements is currently unknown. However, in accordance with Article 24 of the new Regulation:

“The Commission shall adopt an implementing act laying down the details of the information layers of the situational pictures and the rules for the establishment of specific situational pictures. The implementing act shall specify the type of information to be provided, the entities responsible for collecting, processing, archiving and transmitting specific information, the maximum time limits for reporting, the data security and data protection rules and related quality control mechanisms.” [13]

This implementing act will specify precisely how EUROSUR will report on “secondary movements”.[14] According to a ‘roadmap’ setting out plans for the implementation of the new Regulation, this implementing act should have been drawn up in the last quarter of 2020 by a newly-established European Border and Coast Guard Committee sitting within the Commission. However, that Committee does not yet appear to have held any meetings.[15]

Operational activities at the internal borders

Boosting Frontex’s operational role is one of the major purposes of the new Regulation, although it makes clear that the internal surveillance role “should not lead to operational activities of the Agency at the internal borders of the Member States.” Rather, internal surveillance should “contribute to the monitoring by the Agency of migratory flows towards and within the Union for the purpose of risk analysis and situational awareness.” The purpose is to inform operational activity by national authorities.

In recent years Schengen member states have reintroduced border controls for significant periods in the name of ensuring internal security and combating irregular migration. An article in Deutsche Welle recently highlighted:

“When increasing numbers of refugees started arriving in the European Union in 2015, Austria, Germany, Slovenia and Hungary quickly reintroduced controls, citing a “continuous big influx of persons seeking international protection.” This was the first time that migration had been mentioned as a reason for reintroducing border controls.

Soon after, six Schengen members reintroduced controls for extended periods. Austria, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway cited migration as a reason. France, as the sixth country, first introduced border checks after the November 2015 attacks in Paris, citing terrorist threats. Now, four years later, all six countries still have controls in place. On November 12, they are scheduled to extend them for another six months.”[16]

These long-term extensions of internal border controls are illegal (the upper limit is supposed to be two years; discussions on changes to the rules governing the reintroduction of internal border controls in the Schengen area are ongoing).[17] A European Parliament resolution from May 2018 stated that “many of the prolongations are not in line with the existing rules as to their extensions, necessity or proportionality and are therefore unlawful.”[18] Yves Pascou, a researcher for the European Policy Centre, told Deutsche Welle that: “"We are in an entirely political situation now, not a legal one, and not one grounded in facts.”

A European Parliament study published in 2016 highlighted that:

“there has been a noticeable lack of detail and evidence given by the concerned EU Member States [those which reintroduced internal border controls]. For example, there have been no statistics on the numbers of people crossing borders and seeking asylum, or assessment of the extent to which reintroducing border checks complies with the principles of proportionality and necessity.”[19]

One purpose of Frontex’s new internal surveillance powers is to provide such evidence (albeit in the ideologically-skewed form of ‘risk analysis’) on the situation within the EU. Whether the information provided will be of interest to national authorities is another question. Nevertheless, it would be a significant irony if the provision of that information were to contribute to the further maintenance of internal borders in the Schengen area.

At the same time, there is a more pressing concern related to these new powers. Many discussions on the reintroduction of internal borders revolve around the fact that it is contrary to the idea, spirit (and in these cases, the law) of the Schengen area. What appears to have been totally overlooked is the effect the reintroduction of internal borders may have on non-EU nationals or ethnic minority citizens of the EU. One does not have to cross an internal Schengen frontier too many times to notice patterns in the appearance of the people who are hauled off trains and buses by border guards, but personal anecdotes are not the same thing as empirical investigation. If Frontex’s new powers are intended to inform operational activity by the member states at the internal borders of the EU, then the potential effects on fundamental rights must be taken into consideration and should be the subject of investigation by journalists, officials, politicians and researchers.

Chris Jones

Endnotes

[1] The new Regulation was published in the Official Journal of the EU in mid-November: Regulation (EU) 2019/1896 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 November 2019 on the European Border and Coast Guard and repealing Regulations (EU) No 1052/2013 and (EU) 2016/1624, ►https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32019R1896

[2] Article 12, ‘Common application of surveillance tools’, Regulation (EU) No 1052/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2013 establishing the European Border Surveillance System (Eurosur), ▻https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32013R1052

[3] According to Frontex, the Eurosur Network first came into use in December 2011 and in March 2012 was first used to “exchange operational information”. The Regulation governing the system came into force in October 2013 (see footnote 2). See: Charles Heller and Chris Jones, ‘Eurosur: saving lives or reinforcing deadly borders?’, Statewatch Journal, vol. 23 no. 3/4, February 2014, ▻http://database.statewatch.org/article.asp?aid=33156

[4] Recital 34, 2019 Regulation: “EUROSUR should provide an exhaustive situational picture not only at the external borders but also within the Schengen area and in the pre-frontier area. It should cover land, sea and air border surveillance and border checks.”

[5] European Commission, ‘Proposal for a Regulation on the European Border and Coast Guard and repealing Council Joint Action no 98/700/JHA, Regulation (EU) no 1052/2013 and Regulation (EU) no 2016/1624’, COM(2018) 631 final, 12 September 2018, ▻http://www.statewatch.org/news/2018/sep/eu-com-frontex-proposal-regulation-com-18-631.pdf

[6] EDPS, ‘Formal comments on the Proposal for a Regulation on the European Border and Coast Guard’, 30 November 2018, p. p.2, ▻https://edps.europa.eu/sites/edp/files/publication/18-11-30_comments_proposal_regulation_european_border_coast_guard_en.pdf

[7] Article 2(23): “‘hotspot area’ means an area created at the request of the host Member State in which the host Member State, the Commission, relevant Union agencies and participating Member States cooperate, with the aim of managing an existing or potential disproportionate migratory challenge characterised by a significant increase in the number of migrants arriving at the external borders”

[8] Article 26(3)(c), 2019 Regulation

[9] Article 26(4), 2019 Regulation

[10] Article 25, 2019 Regulation

[11] Article 26, 2019 Regulation

[12] European Commission, ‘Commission Recommendation adopting the Practical Handbook for implementing and managing the European Border Surveillance System (EUROSUR)’, C(2015) 9206 final, 15 December 2015, ▻https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/sites/homeaffairs/files/what-we-do/policies/securing-eu-borders/legal-documents/docs/eurosur_handbook_annex_en.pdf

[13] Article 24(3), 2019 Regulation

[14] ‘’Roadmap’ for implementing new Frontex Regulation: full steam ahead’, Statewatch News, 25 November 2019, ►http://www.statewatch.org/news/2019/nov/eu-frontex-roadmap.htm

[15] Documents related to meetings of committees operating under the auspices of the European Commission can be found in the Comitology Register: ▻https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regcomitology/index.cfm?do=Search.Search&NewSearch=1

[16] Kira Schacht, ‘Border checks in EU countries challenge Schengen Agreement’, DW, 12 November 2019, ▻https://www.dw.com/en/border-checks-in-eu-countries-challenge-schengen-agreement/a-51033603

[17] European Parliament, ‘Temporary reintroduction of border control at internal borders’, ▻https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/ficheprocedure.do?reference=2017/0245(COD)&l=en

[18] ‘Report on the annual report on the functioning of the Schengen area’, 3 May 2018, para.9, ▻https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-8-2018-0160_EN.html

[19] Elpseth Guild et al, ‘Internal border controls in the Schengen area: is Schengen crisis-proof?’, European Parliament, June 2016, p.9, ▻https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2016/571356/IPOL_STU(2016)571356_EN.pdf

▻https://www.statewatch.org/analyses/2019/monitoring-secondary-movements-and-hotspots-frontex-is-now-an-internal-s

#mouvements_secondaires #hotspot #hotspots

Avril 2020 :
#Israël ferme une clinique palestinienne testant le coronavirus à #Jérusalem Est

►https://seenthis.net/messages/843777

Retour sur la plus grande manifestation anti-Netanyahu à Jérusalem et les autres
Pas de violences majeures entre la police, les activistes d’extrême droite et les milliers de manifestants ; 12 arrestations
Par Aaron Boxerman et Anat Peled 2 août 2020, 12:32
►https://fr.timesofisrael.com/retour-sur-la-plus-grande-manifestation-anti-netanyahu-a-jerusalem

La police a permis aux militants qui se pressaient dans les rues situées aux abords de la résidence officielle du Premier ministre de continuer à manifester samedi après minuit, dans ce qui est apparu comme un signe d’apaisement. Elle a néanmoins ultérieurement utilisé la force pour disperser plusieurs centaines de personnes qui refusaient de partir.

Ce sont environ 10 000 personnes qui se sont rassemblées sur la place de Paris à Jérusalem, samedi soir, pour réclamer la démission de Netanyahu, dans ce qui a été la dernière démonstration de force d’un mouvement anti-gouvernemental qui ne cesse de croître et qui réunit les activistes dans les rues israéliennes, ces dernières semaines – et notamment de nombreux jeunes engagés politiquement.

Les tensions étaient particulièrement élevées après des agressions commises lors d’un certain nombre de manifestations antérieures – même si aucun incident de violences majeures n’a par ailleurs été rapporté. (...)

En Israël, des milliers de manifestants anti-Netanyahu de nouveau dans la rue
Publié le : 01/08/2020
▻https://www.france24.com/fr/20200801-en-isra%C3%ABl-des-milliers-de-manifestants-anti-netanyahu-de-nou

La crise post-Covid renforce les manifestations à Jérusalem
3 août 2020 Par Salomé Parent-Rachdi

Depuis un mois, des manifestations quasi quotidiennes secouent Israël. Une frange de la population réclame la démission de Benjamin Netanyahou, jugé corrompu et accusé d’avoir mal géré l’épidémie de coronavirus et ses conséquences.
▻https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/international/030820/la-crise-post-covid-renforce-les-manifestations-jerusalem

traduction en français : ▻https://seenthis.net/messages/869983

Tel Aviv : Des manifestants agressés par des activistes d’extrême droite présumés
Les victimes manifestaient aux abords du domicile du ministre de la Police ; 5 personnes ont été hospitalisées dont deux blessées au couteau, il y a eu 4 arrestations
Par Times of Israel Staff 29 juillet 2020, 10:54
▻https://fr.timesofisrael.com/tel-aviv-des-manifestants-agresses-par-des-activistes-dextreme-dro

Plusieurs activistes d’extrême-droite présumés ont attaqué mardi soir des manifestants rassemblés près du domicile du ministre de la Sécurité intérieure, Amir Ohana, après la diffusion d’un enregistrement dans lequel ce dernier donnait pour instruction aux hauts-responsables de la police d’intensifier la répression à l’encontre des Israéliens lors des mouvements de protestation contre le Premier ministre Benjamin Netanyahu.

Les attaquants ont été vus en train de frapper les manifestants avec des bouteilles de verre et des chaises, et les asperger de gaz lacrymogène.

Les organisateurs du mouvement ont fait savoir que cinq personnes avaient été hospitalisées, deux d’entre elles blessées au dos par une arme blanche.

« Ils nous ont frappés avec des chaises, ils nous ont attaqués à coup de bouteilles de verre. Il y a eu du sang », a commenté un participant au rassemblement, s’adressant au site d’information Walla.

La radio militaire a fait savoir que les agresseurs appartenaient au club de hooligans du Beitar Jérusalem, la Familia. Le groupe est connu pour ses éléments d’extrême-droite et racistes, et il aurait été responsable d’agressions similaires commises contre des manifestants à Jérusalem, la semaine dernière.

La police a annoncé avoir procédé à quatre arrestations pour troubles à l’ordre public et agression, sans donner d’autres détails.

Des centaines de personnes se sont réunies, mardi soir, aux abords du domicile d’Ohana.

Certains ont ensuite bloqué l’autoroute Ayalon, obligeant la police à dévier la circulation routière.

Au domicile du ministre du Likud, les protestataires se sont tenus derrière une barrière, scandant des slogans dénonçant Ohana, le gouvernement et la police, à grand renfort de vuvuzelas. Parmi les slogans : « Police, qui protèges-tu ? », « C’est la honte », « Qui nous protégera de la police ? » et autres accroches contre les policiers.

Un voisin d’Ohana qui s’est confié au Times of Israel a déclaré que le rassemblement avait été plus dense que d’autres qui avaient eu lieu, dans le passé, aux abords de son domicile, dans une tour de Tel Aviv. Il a également noté qu’il avait été toutefois moins important que les autres mouvements de protestation anti-gouvernementaux récents.

Pour leur part, ce sont des centaines de personnes qui se sont réunies près de la résidence officielle de Netanyahu à Jérusalem, amplifiant la pression dans le cadre d’une campagne qui appelle le chef de gouvernement de longue date à démissionner.

Les participants ont scandé le slogan devenu le cri de ralliement dans les manifestations contre Netanyahu, accusé de corruption et dont le procès a lieu actuellement : « Capital ! Régime ! Pègre ! »

Netanyahu est traduit devant la justice pour une série de dossiers dans lesquels il est mis en cause. Il aurait ainsi reçu des cadeaux luxueux de la part de ses amis milliardaires et il aurait fait des faveurs en termes de réglementations à des magnats des médias en échange d’une couverture plus favorable de ses actions et de celles de sa famille dans leurs journaux.

Le Premier ministre, pour sa part, n’a cessé de clamer son innocence, accusant les médias et le système judiciaire de « chasse aux sorcières » visant à lui faire quitter sa fonction, et il a refusé d’abandonner son poste.

Les manifestants ont également tourné leur attention vers Ohana qui aurait encouragé la police à réprimer les rassemblements organisés à la résidence du Premier ministre à Jérusalem.

Selon des enregistrements qui ont fuité et qui ont été diffusés, dimanche, par la chaîne publique Kan, Ohana tenterait de mettre au défi un jugement émis par la Haute-cour de justice qui avait autorisé les manifestations continues à Jérusalem contre Netanyahu. Il exercerait de fortes pressions sur les forces de l’ordre en faveur de répressions plus sévères.

Répondant à cette fuite d’information, le procureur-général Avichai Mandelblit a envoyé une lettre au commissaire de police Motti Cohen, mardi, lui disant de ne prendre des décisions que sur la base de considérations professionnelles.

« La pouvoir décisionnaire, en ce qui concerne la prise en charge de ces manifestations, a été accordé à la police qui est placée sous votre autorité ; il ne doit dépendre que de votre jugement professionnel et sans autre considération indépendante », a écrit Mandelblit.

Des mouvements de protestation ont été organisés de manière répétée aux abords de la résidence officielle du Premier ministre. Ils ont attiré des milliers d’Israéliens furieux contre la corruption gouvernementale, la gestion de la crise du coronavirus et autres maux. Des scènes occasionnelles de violences ont pu avoir lieu, souvent de la part des agents de police qui tentaient de disperser la foule.

Netanyahu et certains de ses partisans ont condamné les manifestants, les qualifiant « d’anarchistes ».

Ohana aurait demandé, dans le passé, que les rassemblements à Jérusalem soient interdits ou organisés ailleurs que devant l’habitation du Premier ministre.

La Haute-cour a approuvé les manifestations actuelles près de la résidence de Netanyahu, qui habite dans le quartier Rehavia de Jérusalem, entraînant la colère de résidents locaux qui ont porté plainte devant le tribunal pour les faire interdire, évoquant des perturbations de leur vie quotidienne.

Michael Bachner a contribué à cet article.

As tensions soar in north, Netanyahu warns Syria and Lebanon against attacks
Amid friction with Hezbollah, PM says neighboring countries will bear responsibility for any assault; ministers instructed to make no comments on situation
By TOI staff 26 juillet 2020 , 5:44 pm
▻https://www.timesofisrael.com/as-tensions-soar-in-north-netanyahu-warns-syria-and-lebanon-against-a

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Sunday that Syria and Lebanon would bear responsibility for any attack against Israel emanating from their territories, amid heightened tensions between the Jewish state and the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group along the northern border.

Speaking at the opening of the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said Israel had a “consistent policy to not allow Iran to entrench militarily on our northern border.

“Lebanon and Syria bear responsibility for any attack from their territory against Israel,” he said. “We will not allow anyone to upend our security or threaten our citizens; we won’t tolerate an attack on our forces… The IDF is prepared to respond to any threat.” (...)

Noga Tarnopolsky
@NTarnopolsky
▻https://twitter.com/NTarnopolsky/status/1287114012472287233

A woman wearing the Palestinian flag as a mask has been (illegally) arrested. No law prohibits displaying thr Palestinian flag.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Edy_VbdWAAAV0kp.jpg

Noga Tarnopolsky
@NTarnopolsky
▻https://twitter.com/NTarnopolsky/status/1287134495574036480

Protester who flew Israeli flag in Palestinian colors was also detained

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Edy7kOjXYAEdXS5.jpg

Charles Enderlin
@Charles1045
▻https://twitter.com/Charles1045/status/1287121035020709898

Ayman ODEH député de la liste arabe conjointe manifeste à Balfour

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Edy2A9bWsAACOEZ.jpg

Ayman Odeh
@AyOdeh
▻https://twitter.com/AyOdeh/status/1287103730526167043

הגענו להפגנה בבלפור עם פעילים ערבים ויהודים שדורשים יחד שלום, שוויון, וצדק חברתי.

Haggai Matar
@Ha_Matar
▻https://twitter.com/Ha_Matar/status/1287119019829596162

Justice for Iyad (al-hallak) - at the Jerusalem anti-Netanyahu protest

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EdzD4yfXYAACmJc.jpg

Des dizaines de personnes arrêtées à la manifestation anti-Netanyahu à Jérusalem
Par Aaron Boxerman, Anat Peled et Times of Israel Staff
24 juillet 2020, 11:48
▻https://fr.timesofisrael.com/des-dizaines-de-personnes-arretees-a-la-manifestation-anti-netanya

Tard jeudi et tôt ce vendredi, des dizaines de manifestants ont été arrêtés et la police a utilisé contre eux des canons à eau

Jerusalem police clash with anti-government protesters, detain 55 outside Netanyahu’s residence
Nir Hasson, Bar Peleg | Jul. 24, 2020 | 10:47 AM - Haaretz.com
▻https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-jerusalem-bracing-for-another-night-of-anti-netanyahu-protests-1.9

https://images.haarets.co.il/image/fetch/x_0,y_75,w_2200,h_1278,c_crop/q_auto,h_698,w_1200,c_fill,f_auto/fl_lossy.any_format.preserve_transparency.progressive:none/https://www.haaretz.co.il/polopoly_fs/1.9017562!/image/3185899526.jpg

Police arrested 55 demonstrators Thursday night as thousands of anti-government protesters gathered outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official residence in Jerusalem, calling for his resignation over his corruption charges and what they call a mismanagement of the coronavirus crisis and assault on democracy.

This is the biggest number of protesters police have arrested since the anti-Netanyahu demonstrations kicked off several weeks ago. Most of the protesters were released on Friday morning with restrictions on movement, including a ban from entering Jerusalem for a period of up to 10 days.

Nearly 20 other protesters will be brought before a Jerusalem judge on Friday after refusing to agree to limitations.

Police said some 4,000 people took part in the protest, adding that about 1,000 demonstrators remained at Paris Square by the Prime Minister’s Residence on Balfour Street after the protest ended.

The movement had called for Thursday’s protest in response to an emergency powers law that was passed in the Knesset on Wednesday and allows the government to take some executive decisions bypassing legislative oversight amid the coronavirus crisis.

Police started to forcefully break up the protest at around 10:30 P.M. At midnight, violent clashes erupted between the police and hundreds of demonstrators who refused to leave the square. Those remaining planned to march toward the city center, but police officers used water cannons to prevent them from doing so, prompting the crowd to disperse.

Police said in a statement that protesters were arrested on suspicion of causing public disturbance, as well as assaulting police officers and other demonstrators.

“Police officers acted to protect the health of those taking part in the protest, and enforced the wearing of masks on those who failed to do so. After police declared several times that the protest was over, some refused to leave the area, therefore obligating officers to disperse them and restore public order,” the statement read.

The police added they “will work to allow each and every person to exercise their right to protest, but at the same time won’t allow any violation of public order.”

Gonen Ben Yitzhak, an attorney for some of those arrested, said an investigations officer for the Jerusalem police refused to allow him to enter the station where those arrested were being held, and was unable to represent them.

Police set up a buffer zone to separate the anti and pro-Netanyahu protesters. Confrontations also developed between the police Netanyahu’s supporters, with mounted police officers pushing back demonstrators who tried to enter the buffer zone.

One counter-protester, Likud activist Boris Aplichuk, said the anti-Netanyahu protesters were “the pereprators of chaos, the perpetrators of anarchy and the destroyers of the State of Israel” and said the protests were funded by “a pedophile named Epstein,” referring to Jeffrey Epstein, whose links with former prime minister and Netanyahu opponent Ehud Barak have been highlighted by supporters of the prime minister.

Aplichuk added that Barak and opposition politicians Yair Lapid and Avigdor Lieberman were behind the protests and that “they serve the Israeli deep state that has taken over our law enforcement system.”

Left-wing activists said they have been attacked throughout the protest by members of extremist right-wing La Familia soccer fan club at Paris Square and nearby streets. Some said they were attacked while sitting at a coffee shop, with one saying his hand was cut by a glass bottle a La Familia member smashed at his direction.

Left-wing activist and media adviser Ahiya Shatz who attended the protest told Haaretz he was also attacked by La Familia members. “There were four people from La Familia who yelled ’It’s a shame that Hitler didn’t finish the job,’ and ’You don’t deserve someone like Bibi, you deserve someone like Hitler.’ Then a bigger group approached me and I started filming them, pushed me and knocked my phone out of my hand.”

Thursday’s protest is the sixth such demonstration in the last ten days. Further demonstrations are expected on Friday and Saturday. The protests started last month and as they grew and turned into marches on the center of the city, the police response also became increasingly forceful, with law enforcement deploying riot control units, as well as mounted units and water cannons.

More than 100 people were arrested in the last week and a half, most of them released with restraining orders preventing them from returning to the area.

Residents of the Rehavia neighborhood, where Balfour Street is situated, filed a petition with the High Court asking to prevent the demonstrations, saying it affected their quality of life, as well as their safety. They report constant noise from almost permanent encampments of anti- and pro-Netanyahu supporters, who sometimes engage in shouting matches in the middle of the night.

Some of the petitioners met with Public Security Minister Amir Ohana on Wednesday, who is known as a staunch Netanyahu ally. The minister suggested to ban the protests altogether, while other security officials floated the idea of moving them to another location – but police said this could not be done.

On Thursday, Ohana asked protests representatives to meet with him and residents of the neighborhood, but they all, apart from one, refused. Organizer Amir Haskel said Ohana “has nothing to do with it. We’ve already reached agreements with the police… so as not to disturb the residents, but Ohana has his mind made up to block the protest.”

The so-called Black Flag group said Ohana “puts Israeli democracy in danger,” adding: “We won’t agree to meet with him, but send him home, just like Netanyahu.”

Several groups are organizing attendance for the protests, which are mirrored by smaller gatherings in other cities and on bridges and junctions over major highways throughout the country.

But they are largely decentralized and have spontaneously combusted into a mass movement, which has made law enforcement increasingly brazen in its attempt to gather information. Several people attending protests reported attempts by police officers to recruit them as informant in the last week.