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Pope Francis sharply criticized the Israeli genocide being waged by Israel occupation on the Gaza Strip, which has continued for 461 days. He described the humanitarian situation in the Gaza as “critical and deeply shameful.” In his annual address to diplomats, delivered on his behalf by one of his aides, Pope Francis highlighted the deaths of children due to the winter cold in Gaza, compounded by the near-total electricity outages. He stated, “We cannot accept children freezing to death because of the destruction of hospitals or the bombing of the power grid.” According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, seven children and one other resident have died due to severe cold and harsh weather conditions. Displaced individuals in Gaza are living in temporary tents, exacerbating their suffering due to shortages of food, water, fuel, and medicine. The United Nations has repeatedly warned of famine in the impoverished and densely populated region, which remains under continuous attacks by the occupying forces. On Wednesday, the International Red Cross reported that Gaza’s children are dying from the cold as winter storms have torn through their tents and flooded them with rainwater, following 13 months of relentless Israeli aggression against Gaza. In a statement, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said that cold weather and lack of shelter are causing the deaths of newborns in Gaza, where 7,700 newborns lack life-saving care. Previously, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini stated that Gaza’s children are freezing to death due to the cold and lack of shelter, noting that winter blankets and supplies have been stuck for months, awaiting approval by Israel to enter Gaza. Rosalia Bolin, an official with UNICEF in Gaza, warned of worsening conditions as winter descends on Gaza. She noted that children are suffering from the cold and dampness, with many still wearing summer clothes. In a press statement, she added that children in Gaza are scavenging through rubble for plastic scraps to burn for warmth. Diseases are spreading due to the lack of healthcare services, with hospitals frequently under attack. The Israeli occupation continues its fierce war on Gaza for the 461st consecutive day, causing widespread destruction and more than 154,000 casualties, including martyrs and injured, in addition to 11,000 missing persons.

Foreign Minister Thorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir has confirmed that Iceland will pay its contribution to UNRWA, the UN Palestine Agency, ahead of schedule “in light of the enormous humanitarian need.” “I spoke today with the Director General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini,” the Foreign Minister wrote on social media.  “Iceland greatly appreciates the important work that Lazzarini and his staff do under extremely challenging conditions.” Mrs. Gunnarsóttir also spoke with the UN humanitarian and development chief for Gaza, Sigrid Kaag. “We discussed the importance of establishing a ceasefire in Gaza, improving access to humanitarian aid and finding a solution for the people of the region. Because the current situation is unacceptable. “ The horror must end In her statement on Facebook the Icelandic Foreign Minister said it was her sincere belief that the international community can do more and speak louder – for peace and for the people who live in unthinkable and cruel situations every day. “Iceland stands with the innocent citizens and children who are suffering from these unimaginable tragedies. This horror must end,” Mrs. Gunnarsdóttir wrote. In 2023 Iceland and UNRWA signed a multi-year framework agreement for the years 2024-2028 in support of Palestine Refugees. Israel´s decision to ban UNRWA Last month, Sweden decided to stop its contributions to UNRWA in the light of Israel´s Parliament´s, (the Knesset),  decision to outlaw the Palestine agency´s activities. Earlier, the foreign ministers of the five Nordic Countries, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, had expressed their “deep concern” over the legislation. They “strongly urged Israel to ensure continued and unhindered humanitarian access for UNRWA to the Palestine refugees that it was set up to serve.” “The clock is ticking fast towards the implementation of the Knesset bill,” Philippe Lazzarini, the UNRWA Commissioner-General, wrote on X. ”If implemented, it will ban @UNRWA from operating in the occupied Palestinian territory. This is part of broader efforts to erase Palestinian history and identity. The bill is due to come into effect in just under 4 weeks.”

On Saturday, the European Union EU stated that  Israel has no  sovereignty over the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967, emphasizing that this is the EU’s firm and consistent position on this issue. The EU Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič highlighted the exclusion of goods produced in the Israeli settlements from the EU’s  trade preferences. Šefčovič noted that discussions are ongoing within the Council regarding the implications of the advisory opinion and potential further measures to uphold international law. The advisory opinion refers to the decision issued by the International Court of Justice on July 19, 2024, which declared Israel’s occupation of Palestine to be illegal under international law. The advisory opinion reaffirmed the obligation of EU states to refrain from engaging in economic or commercial transactions with Israeli  settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. Vice-President of the European Commission, Kaja Kallas, reaffirmed the European Union’s commitment to international humanitarian law in response to its position on the genocide in Palestine.  She emphasized the EU’s  ongoing focus on protecting civilians and ensuring the delivery of humanitarian aid. Kaja Kallas noted  that decisions regarding arms export restrictions or sanctions fall under the authority of individual member states and the Council. She also highlighted the steps taken by the European Union to impose sanctions on Israeli  settlers. The Palestine Mission to the European Union welcomed these responses, describing them as a ‘step forward.’, emphasizing  its commitment to working with partners to turn these responses into concrete measures that promote justice and uphold human rights for the Palestinian people. For the 456th consecutive day, the Israeli occupation forces have been committing crimes and genocidal campaign in the Gaza Strip, alongside the imposition of a total siege, preventing the entry of humanitarian aid and targeting civilians. In the West Bank and Jerusalem, the Israeli occupation forces have accelerated settlement construction, particularly in areas classified as ‘C,’ in preparation for the annexation of the West Bank and the Judaization of Jerusalem. Meanwhile, new Israeli restrictions have been imposed on Palestinian construction in areas classified as ‘B. Extremist settlers have intensified their daily attacks on Palestinian civilians, their properties, and various facilities, with the full protection of the occupation forces.

 Irish Foreign Minister Michael Martin stated that there is an “urgent need” to end the Israeli war, which has continued for 450 consecutive days in the Gaza Strip, emphasizing the immediate necessity to stop the slaughter of civilians and children in Gaza. Martin called in a press statement on Sunday to stop the Israeli genocide against the Gaza Strip, noting that : “We need a ceasefire in Gaza and we need to increase humanitarian aid to civilians.” Martin expressed his concern about reports that the last major hospital in the northern Gaza Strip (Kamal Adwan Hospital) was out of service due to the Israeli assault on the hospital where the Israeli occupation soldiers burnt its building after arresting doctors, the wounded and patients. The Israeli genocide waged by Israeli occupation forces on the Gaza Strip continues for the 450th consecutive day, amid the doubling of citizens’ suffering due to the ongoing raids, the bitter cold and the harsh living conditions of the displaced in tents in the harsh winter. The death toll from the Israeli genocide has risen to 45,514 victims and 108,189 injuries since October 7, 2023, according to the daily report issued by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza today, Sunday.

Hundreds of Palestine supporters led silent marches on Saturday evening in Swedish and British cities to protest the European silence on the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Protesters in the Swedish city of Uppsala carried dolls covered in red-stained shrouds to denounce the killing of children in Gaza and the attacks on civilians in tents and hospitals, and the forced evacuation of workers at Kamal Adwan Hospital by the Israeli military. They also held pictures of people killed and wounded to denounce the genocide. The scene was repeated in the British city of Leeds to urge Prime Minister Keir Starmer to stop arming Israel and adhere to implementing the decisions made by International Criminal Court (ICC) to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former war minister Yoav Gallant. Anti-war and pro-Palestine activists staged a rally in central London on Thursday, coinciding with Boxing Day. Since the start of the Gaza conflict, many countries across the world have seen anti-war protests. People from all walks of life have frequently held rallies in cities across Britain, EU countries, the United States, and beyond calling for an end to Israel’s brutal war on Gaza.  Previously, United Nations agencies and rights groups have urged Israel to cease its military actions in Gaza.   In November, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant for committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.  Israel already stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).  The ICJ, known as the World Court, found in January that there was a risk of violation of the rights of the Palestinian people to protection from genocide. It ordered Israel to “take all measures within its power” to desist from killing Palestinians in contravention of the genocide convention, to prevent and punish the incitement of genocide, and to facilitate provision of “urgent basic services”. Israel has ignored such calls to end its genocidal war in Gaza.  Netanyahu ordered his army to launch war on Gaza after Hamas carried out a surprise military operation in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

Thierry Brésillon The outraged reaction to a proposal to remove the offence from the penal code reveals authoritarian and Islamophobic trends within the French establishment The bill tabled on 19 November by Ugo Bernalicis, a member of the left-wing party France Unbowed (La France insoumise, LFI), to remove the incrimination of “apology for terrorism” from the penal code has sparked a fierce controversy in the country. This provision has, in fact, been widely used since 7 October 2023 to criminalise statements of support for the Palestinians. Critics immediately went wild. “It must be fought with the greatest force,” declared Justice Minister Didier Migaud. Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau was outraged, saying: “It is difficult to do [anything] more despicable.”  Even within the ranks of the Socialist Party (Parti socialist, PS), an ally of France Unbowed, regional elected official Carole Delga denounced a “moral failure in the face of the victims of terrorism and the bereaved families”. The less severe commentators criticised LFI for a justified but solitary and poorly worded initiative. However, no political leader and few TV debate hosts considered it necessary and legitimate to address the substance of the subject. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch LFI MP Manuel Bompard commented by saying that he was “flabbergasted by the Trumpification of the debate” and “the intellectual laziness of the media class”. The intent of the bill was not simply to repeal the criminal offence of apology for terrorism but to return it to the press law, from which it had been taken and integrated into the penal code by legislation adopted on 13 November 2014. The urgent need at the time was to counter the propaganda of organisations claiming to be part of the so-called “international jihad” in the context of the proclamation of a caliphate by the Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq in June 2014. The group’s propaganda aimed to seduce young Europeans by glorifying its fighters, with the goal of enlisting them or mobilising them to commit attacks in Europe. The press law was totally unsuitable for facing this phenomenon. The point of the 2014 legal change was mainly to lift the constraints that slowed down investigations, authorise pretrial detentions and immediate court appearances, allow for evidence seizures, and mobilise anti-terrorism surveillance resources. In the traumatic, if not hysterical, atmosphere generated in France by the January and November 2015 attacks, the number of reports – encouraged by the government – for comments made on social media, in the workplace or even at school increased from 1,500 to 35,000 in one year. Criminalisation of simple comments But since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October last year, the use of the qualification of apology for terrorism has experienced a new surge.  As early as 10 October, then-Justice Minister Eric Dupont-Moretti instructed prosecutors to pursue “public remarks praising [these] attacks, presenting them as legitimate resistance to Israel, or the public propagation of messages inciting a favourable judgment on Hamas or Islamic Jihad because of the attacks they organised”. Hundreds of investigations have been launched. By the end of January 2024, Le Monde counted 626 such enquiries targeting ordinary citizens, influencers, students, members of civil society organisations, union activists, journalists, academics (such as Francois Burgat), political leaders, local elected officials and even two LFI high-profile members: MP Mathilde Panot and future MEP Rima Hassan. The vast majority of French political, media and intellectual elites have integrated the Israeli narrative. Those who deviate from it are treated as heretics, either “antisemitic Islamists” or “collaborators” For having equated Hamas’ “heroic” action to an act of “resistance”, an activist was sentenced to pay €3,000 ($3,120) in damages to Jewish organisations that filed a civil suit against him. He was also added to the national register of terrorist offences perpetrators, FIJAIT, for 10 years, requiring him to report his home address every three months and notify authorities of any international travel at least two weeks in advance. Among the most emblematic cases was that of a union leader, Jean-Paul Delescaut, sentenced in April to a one-year suspended prison sentence for a leaflet published by his organisation which stated that “the horrors of the illegal occupation have accumulated. Since Saturday, they have been receiving the responses they provoked”. The mere reminder of the historical context was considered a justification, as it failed to express sufficient moral disapproval, according to the terms of the judgment. People with Arab-sounding names have particularly aroused suspicion and police have paid a lot of attention to signs of religious practice, as though such practices indicate a predisposition to terrorism – reducing the conflict to a confessional clash devoid of any political rationality. Warnings ignored Critics of the legislation proposed by LFI have deliberately ignored years of warnings issued by various authoritative human rights organisations about France’s apology for terrorism law. In 2017, ombudsman Jacques Toubon expressed his deep concern for “a vagueness incompatible with freedom of expression and information” and warned against the “targeting of a section of the population” (ie Muslims). In a report issued in May 2019, the UN special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism highlighted “the weighty effects of the offence of ‘apology for terrorism’ on the right to freedom of expression”. France’s ‘apology for terrorism’ law used to ‘criminalise’ Palestine solidarity The report stated: “The law is broadly drafted, engaging significant legal uncertainty, enabling discretionary overreach and affecting the protection of free expression and the open exchange of ideas in a robust democracy.” More recently, in April, the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights (CNCDH) explained to the justice minister that its circular “may have generated confusion between approval, praise of a crime and/or criminals, and stances relating to the context in which they were committed. The latter are part of a debate of ideas and should therefore be able to enjoy freedom of expression”. Even a former anti-terrorist judge, Marc Trevidic, who had recommended the inclusion of the apology for terrorism offence in the penal code at the time, denounced“a totally perverted use of the law” last October. “A simple tag in support of Palestine makes you risk prison,” he wrote, calling for “a U-turn”. Judges

Argentine filmmaker Norman Briski has voiced unwavering support for the Palestinian cause, emphasizing that “Gaza will never be defeated.” In an interview with the Brazilian outlets The Palestine Chronicle and A Nova Democracia, Briski highlighted the importance of global solidarity with Palestinians in the face of the Israeli “genocide.” Briski, one of Argentina’s most prominent directors, stated, “A true Jew will defend the Palestinian people,” underscoring his belief that the concept of genocide in Gaza has gained global recognition. He urged solidarity with Palestinians as a universal struggle for freedom against imperialism, drawing parallels between their plight in the Middle East and the historical struggles of Latin American peoples against colonialism. During his speech at the Martín Fierro Awards on October 24, 2024, Briski declared, “Gaza, Gaza, Gaza,” affirming that the besieged coastal enclave “will never be defeated.” The 86-year-old filmmaker added, “I don’t care if the audience applauds me, but in my blood, in my ancestry, I feel solidarity with a people who are being killed.” Briski also criticized the Argentine government, led by President Javier Milei, for its pro-Israel stance. He linked this position to increasing “civil complicity” in supporting colonial projects. Warning of imperialism’s expansionist ambitions, he argued, “An economic solution based on genocide represents the failure of a model that will lead to new barbarism.”

As protests against Israeli war against civilians in the Gaza Strip escalate worldwide, Germany is intensifying its crackdown on pro-Palestine activities, showing clear support for Israel The German parliament has proposed a draft law entitled ‘Protecting Jewish Life in Germany.’” which has sparked widespread controversy in political and media circles. According to the German magazine Der Spiegel, both the ruling and opposition parties have reached an agreement on this law, which seeks to impose stricter punitive measures against the anti-Israel movement in Germany, under the pretext of protecting the Jewish community in the country. Contrary to what its title suggests, the draft of this law primarily aims to restrict pro-Palestine activities, particularly those advocating for a peaceful boycott of Israel, including the BDS movement. The draft will soon be presented to the German parliament (Bundestag) for a vote, which raises significant concerns regarding civil liberties and individuals’ rights to express their political views. The new law would allow the revocation of residency and citizenship for individuals deemed “anti-Israel” by German authorities. This includes immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa, as well as left-wing anti-imperialist activists. It will also grant broader powers to ban any institutions deemed anti-Israel, including organizations that advocate for a boycott of Israel. Moreover, the law mandates that local authorities reduce funding for cultural activities deemed “anti-Semitic,” in response to the growing criticism of Israel at cultural events, such as the Berlin Film Festival. Additionally, the law empowers school and university administrations to impose punitive measures against individuals labeled as “anti-Semitic” by the draft, including the possibility of expulsion from educational institutions Such law presents a dangerous shift by the German government, which is framed as a protection of Jewish life. Yet, it clearly targets supporters of Palestinian rights, and distorts any anti-Israel movement by automatically classifying it as anti-Semitism. Furthermore, this law threatens freedom of expression and impose further restrictions on Palestinian activists and human rights advocates in Germany.