16/07/2025

WEDNESDAY | JULY 16, 2025

9

EU weighs action against Israel

Ultra-orthodox party leaves Netanyahu govt TEL AVIV: One of Israel’s ultra orthodox parties, United Torah Judaism, said it was quitting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition due to a dispute over failure to draft a Bill to exempt yeshiva students from military service. Six of the remaining seven members of UTJ, comprising the Degel Hatorah and Agudat Yisrael factions, wrote letters of resignation. Yitzhak Goldknopf, chairman of UTJ, had resigned a month ago. That would leave Netanyahu with a razor thin majority of 61 seats in the 120 seat Knesset, or parliament. It was not clear whether Shas, another ultra-orthodox party, would follow suit. Degel Hatorah said in a statement that after conferring with its head rabbis, “and following repeated violations by the government to its commitments to ensure the status of holy yeshiva students who diligently engage in their studies ... have announced their resignation from the coalition and the government.” Ultra-orthodox parties have argued that a Bill to exempt yeshiva students was a key promise in their agreement to join the coalition in late 2022. A spokesperson for Goldknopf confirmed that in all, seven UTJ Knesset members are leaving the government. Some religious parties in Netanyahu’s coalition are seeking exemptions for seminary students from military service that is mandatory in Israel, while other lawmakers want to scrap any such exemptions altogether. – Reuters BBC documentary breached accuracy guide, review finds LONDON: A BBC documentary about children’s lives in Gaza narrated by the 13-year-old son of a deputy minister in the Hamas-run government breached the British public broadcaster’s editorial guidelines on accuracy, an internal review said. The BBC’s investigation, however, found there were no other breaches of its editorial guidelines, including on impartiality, and no evidence that outside interests “inappropriately impacted on the programme”. The BBC removed Gaza: How To Survive A War Zone from its online platform in February, five days after it was broadcast, saying it had“serious flaws”.The documentary was made by independent production company HOYO Films. A review found the programme breached a guideline on accuracy that deals with misleading audiences. The background on the narrator’s father was “critical information” that was not shared with the BBC before broadcast, the review found. “Regardless of how the significance or otherwise of the narrator’s father’s position was judged, the audience should have been informed about this,” said the report by Peter Johnston, BBC director of editorial complaints and reviews. BBC Director-General Tim Davie said the report had identified a significant failing in relation to accuracy. “We will now take action on two fronts – fair, clear and appropriate actions to ensure proper accountability and the immediate implementation of steps to prevent such errors being repeated,” Davie said. – Reuters

more (so) that the implementation of what we have agreed also happens on the ground.” At a meeting of EU and neighbouring countries in Brussels on Monday, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said the situation in Gaza remained “catastrophic”. Israel’s Saar, speaking at the same meeting, sounded confident his country would avoid further EU action. “I’m sure not any of them will be adopted by the EU member states,” said the foreign minister. “There’s no justification whatsoever.” While the EU appears unable to take any further moves against Israel, just getting to this stage has been a considerable step. The bloc only agreed to review the cooperation deal after Israel relaunched its devastating operation in Gaza in March. Until then deep divisions between countries backing Israel and those more favourable to the Palestinians had hamstrung any move. – AFP deprived more than 1.25 million Palestinians of access to clean water,” it added. According to the statement, the Israeli army has obstructed the entry of 12 million litres of fuel monthly, the necessary amount to operate the minimum number of water wells, sewage stations, waste collection mechanisms and other vital sectors in Gaza. “This has caused a complete paralysis in water and sewage networks and the spread of epidemics, mainly among the children.” The media office called on the international community and human rights organisations to take immediate action to stop Israel’s systematic and deliberate use of water as a war weapon and to allow the necessary amount of fuel and heavy equipment to reoperate water wells and drainage stations. Israel has kept Gaza crossings closed to food, medical, and humanitarian aid since March 2, deepening an already severe humanitarian crisis in the enclave, affecting Gaza’s 2.4 million residents. The blockade has pushed the region into famine conditions, with many reported deaths due to hunger. Eighty-five of the 100 US senators are co-sponsoring a Bill that would give Trump the authority to impose 500% tariffs on any country that helps Russia, but the chamber’s Republican leaders have been waiting for Trump to give them the go-ahead for a vote. China and India are the biggest buyers of Russian crude. Trump told the BBC that he was “not done” with Putin and that he thought a Ukraine peace deal was on the cards. – Reuters Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip since Oct 7, 2023, killing over 58,000 Palestinians so far, most of them women and children. The relentless bombardment has destroyed the enclave and led to food shortages and a spread of disease. – Bernama

The tone of discussions will be shaped strongly by how Israel is implementing a promise to the EU to improve humanitarian access to Gaza. Kallas said on Thursday she had struck a deal with her Israeli counterpart, Gideon Saar, to open more entry points and allow in more food. Gaza’s two million residents are facing dire humanitarian conditions as Israel has severely limited aid. “We see some good signs of more trucks getting in,” Kallas said. “But of course we know that this is not enough and we need to push

o Divided bloc unlikely to act, say diplomats

BRUSSELS: EU foreign ministers will discuss a raft of options for action against Israel over the war in Gaza but likely will not agree on any. The bloc’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has put forward 10 potential steps after Israel was found to have breached a cooperation deal between the two sides on human rights grounds. The measures range from suspending the accord or curbing trade ties to sanctioning Israeli

ministers, imposing an arms embargo and halting visa-free travel. But despite growing anger over the devastation in Gaza, EU states remain divided over how to tackle Israel and diplomats say there appears to be no critical mass for any move. “I was asked to give the inventory of the options that could be taken and it’s up to the member states to discuss what do we do,” Kallas said on Monday.

Over 700 killed while collecting water GAZA CITY: More than 700 Palestinians, mostly children, have been killed by Israeli army fire while collecting water since October 2023. “The Israeli occupation media office said in a statement. The office accused Israeli forces of using water as a weapon of war “to deprive the Palestinians of their most basic rights”. On Sunday, at least 12 people were killed, including eight children, by Israeli fire while waiting to collect water in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

It noted that Israeli army forces had committed 112 massacres against Gazans collecting water, killing more than 700 people, mostly children, since October 2023.

continues to wage a systematic and deliberate war of thirst against the Palestinian people in Gaza, in a flagrant violation of all international and humanitarian conventions,” Gaza’s government

The media office said that over 720 water wells were deliberately destroyed by the Israeli army in Gaza. “Attacks on water wells have

A man washes up with water from the tank of a destroyed mobile water cistern that was hit by Israeli bombardment in the Nuseirat camp on Monday. – AFPPIC

Russia does not care about Trump ultimatum

MOSCOW: Russia does not care about President Donald Trump’s “theatrical ultimatum” about slapping sanctions on buyers of Russian exports unless Moscow agrees to a peace deal in Ukraine, a senior security official said yesterday. Trump, sitting beside Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office, on Monday announced new weapons for Ukraine and threatened secondary tariffs of 100%

was disappointed. Russia didn’t care.” The Kremlin has so far not commented on Trump’s remarks but said on Monday it was clear that the United States had continued to supply weapons and ammunition to Ukraine. In Washington, a White House official said Trump’s intention is to impose “100% tariffs on Russia” and secondary sanctions on other countries that buy oil from Russia if a peace deal is not struck in 50 days.

on the buyers of Russian exports, of which crude makes up a major chunk. He also expressed frustration with Vladimir Putin, saying he did not want to call the Russian leader “an assassin, but he’s a tough guy”. “Trump issued a theatrical ultimatum to the Kremlin,” former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said in a post in English on X. “The world shuddered, expecting the consequences. Belligerent Europe