Janine di Giovanni is executive director at The Reckoning Project and a columnist for The National
October 09, 2023
I abhor violence, probably because I have spent more than half my life in the world’s most violent places.
I condemn the killing of any civilians, no matter their faith, race, or creed. I mourn all the dead in Palestine and Israel, and the dead do not distinguish whether they are Jewish, Muslim, Christian or atheist.
They are all victims of the actions taken by some politicians, warlords and leaders who put the safety of civilians far behind their own quest for power.
Successive Israeli governments have subjugated the Palestinian people for 75 years, while yet another military operation carried out by Hamas will once again have a tragic blowback on the Palestinians living in Gaza – the very people they are supposed to represent and protect.
I have worked in Gaza since 1990 and continue to work there. I have relationships that stretch back over decades.
I started out as a young journalist who was horrified by the events of the first intifada. Israeli tactics of torture, deportation, incarceration and indiscriminate attacks against civilians led me to do the work I do today – documenting and cataloguing potential war crimes in Ukraine.
While one might be able to hold Israel responsible for certain crimes, I am also aware of the deep fractures in Palestinian political life and their many flaws.
Following its actions on Saturday, Hamas has opened the gates of hell against their own people. So much for Hamas 2.0, the supposedly kinder and gentler face of terrorism, which was their last public diplomacy operation a few years ago.
It is important to remember, however, that all Palestinians should not be painted with Hamas’s violence brush.
People survey the damage from a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip in Tel Aviv. AP
Fire and smoke rise following an Israeli air strike, in Gaza city. AP
A missile explodes in Gaza city during an Israeli air strike. AFP
New York City Police hold back Israeli supporters during a protest between Palestinian and Israeli demonstrators. EPA
Relatives of an Israeli missing since a surprise attack by Hamas militants near the Gaza border during a press conference in Ramat Gan, Israel. AP
A relative of an Israeli missing since the attack by Hamas militants near the Gaza border sheds tears during a press conference in Ramat Gan, Israel. AP
Palestinians inspect the rubble of a building after it was struck by an Israeli air strike, in Gaza city. AP
A car burnt during an infiltration by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip, near Sderot, Israel. AFP
Israeli border police take cover by a vehicle, near Sderot. Reuters
Israeli police check the occupants of a vehicle near Ashkelon, Israel. Bloomberg
Lebanese soldiers overlook the Israeli town of Metula at the Lebanese side of the border in Kfar Kila, Lebanon. AP
Women mourn during a funeral of a family killed in Israeli strikes on the Palestinian city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip. AFP
Soldiers walk past an Israeli police station damaged during battles to dislodge Hamas militants who were stationed inside. AFP
Palestinian firemen check the remains of a residential building destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City. AFP
People walk around the ruins of a building destroyed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City. AFP
A Palestinian woman's home which was damaged during Israeli airstrikes on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. AFP
Israelis inspect the rubble of a building in Tel Aviv after it was hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip. AFP
Palestinians search for casualties in a house destroyed by Israeli strikes in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. Reuters
A Palestinian man reacts next to the ruins of a house destroyed in Israeli strikes in Khan Younis. Reuters
Israeli troops unload 155 mm artillery at an undisclosed location on the border with the Gaza Strip. AFP
A Palestinian man stands in front of the rubble of Gaza city's Al-Watan Tower, which was destroyed in Israeli airstrikes. AFP
People near a mosque destroyed in Israeli airstrikes in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip. AFP
People examine a building destroyed in Israeli air strikes in Gaza city. AFP
Israeli troops gather at an undisclosed location on the border with the Gaza Strip. AFP
Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets launched from the Gaza Strip. Reuters
Fire and smoke rises amid an Israeli air strike in Gaza city. AFP
Palestinians inspect the ruins of the Palestine Tower after an Israeli missile struck. EPA
Rockets launched from the Gaza Strip landed in Tel Aviv. Reuters
Black smoke rises after an Israeli air strike in Gaza city. EPA
The departure board at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv displays a host of cancelled flights. AFP
A building hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip. Getty Images
A police officer stands near a burned car at a scene in Tel Aviv. Getty Images
A woman walks past a damaged site after a rocket landed in Tel Aviv. Reuters
Israeli police inspect the damage from a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip. AP
Firefighters, rescue and security workers at the site, where a rocket hit a residential building in Tel Aviv. EPA
Residents of the Israeli city of Netivot bordering the Gaza Strip wait to be evacuated to central Israel. AFP
Israeli ambulances wait to evacuate wounded residents from the city of Sderot. EPA
A car amid the rubble of a destroyed tower after an Israeli air strike in Gaza city. AFP
The lives of a majority of them are hellish – packed in tightly, subject to blanket Israeli restrictions, and unable to leave for crucial medical treatment
The Israeli government’s collective punishment against all of Gaza for the actions of Hamas – who Israeli officials might say were elected by the people of Gaza, so they all deserve to be punished – is inhumane and a potential war crime.
Gaza, an area that is just 40 kilometres long and 12 kilometres wide, houses as many as two million people. The lives of a majority of them are hellish – packed in tightly, subject to blanket Israeli restrictions, and unable to leave the territory even for crucial medical treatment. The list of those who died because they could not leave for chemotherapy or organ transplants is long – and this includes plenty of children.
My friends in Gaza’s ancient Christian community are forbidden to leave to go to Easter or Christmas in Bethlehem – or one member of the family is permitted, and no one else. The young entrepreneurs – and there are many – are refused exit visas for visits to workshops, scholarships, or conferences in foreign countries.
On my last trip to Gaza, I decided to focus on the extraordinary talent and resilience of the youth – because two-thirds of Gaza’s two million people are under the age of 25.
The people I met – computer geeks, rock musicians, artists, poets and female entrepreneurs promoting empowerment – want peace. They don’t want Hamas. They want to live a life that doesn’t mean hiding from bombs and Israel turning off their water and electricity supplies. They want to fall in love, get married, have children, and build better lives. Now that future is shattered.
What annoys me more than anything is the coverage by the largely American, but also British, TV presenters who have little knowledge of the history of the occupation, or the suffering that has accompanied it. It is too easy to follow the narrative that Hamas are evil while all Israelis are cast as heroes, who want peace.
A coat hangs beside the rubble at the site of the destroyed Al-Watan Tower following Israeli air strikes in Gaza City on Sunday. EPA
Worse is a new geopolitical “theory” linking Palestinians to Russia. Some of the rhetoric I have come across suggests the world is divided between the bad guys – Russia, the Middle East and Iran – on the one side, and the good guys – the western superheroes of Nato, Ukraine and Europe – on the other.
US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy do not help by pushing the narrative and unequivocally supporting Israel. In any case, where was Israel when Ukraine needed it? Sitting on the fence.
The background and the future are just more nuanced and complicated, but this is the simple narrative they are running with because it is easy to swallow.
Being under aerial bombardment, as I have, is like being in a doll’s house as one tries to find a place to hide while a giant from up above is constantly throwing boulders at the house. There is nowhere for people to run. I was able to leave the places where I was trapped in bombing, but the people of Gaza have no such escape route.
I write this with the heaviest of hearts, because I think of the summer nights a few years ago, sitting at the edge of the Mediterranean in Gaza City with young Gazan friends who had dreams and real hopes of innovations, businesses and creativity. The only way they could do this was if there was a pathway of peace.
But the Israeli government’s vengeance will destroy Gaza again. It will be rebuilt. Then it will be destroyed again.
What the Israeli government does not understand is that every time it bombs a building with families and innocent people inside, it closes several doors to peace. It kills and crushes the best of these young thinkers – the very people it should be cultivating as a new generation of peacemakers.
Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
Power: 450hp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
if you go
The flights
Etihad and Emirates fly direct to Kolkata from Dh1,504 and Dh1,450 return including taxes, respectively. The flight takes four hours 30 minutes outbound and 5 hours 30 minute returning.
The trains
Numerous trains link Kolkata and Murshidabad but the daily early morning Hazarduari Express (3’ 52”) is the fastest and most convenient; this service also stops in Plassey. The return train departs Murshidabad late afternoon. Though just about feasible as a day trip, staying overnight is recommended.
The hotels
Mursidabad’s hotels are less than modest but Berhampore, 11km south, offers more accommodation and facilities (and the Hazarduari Express also pauses here). Try Hotel The Fame, with an array of rooms from doubles at Rs1,596/Dh90 to a ‘grand presidential suite’ at Rs7,854/Dh443.
Jigra
Director: Vasan Bala
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
Rated: 3.5/5
LIST OF INVITEES
Shergo Kurdi (am)
Rayhan Thomas
Saud Al Sharee (am)
Min Woo Lee
Todd Clements
Matthew Jordan
AbdulRahman Al Mansour (am)
Matteo Manassero
Alfie Plant
Othman Al Mulla
Shaun Norris
The Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index
The Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index
Mazen Abukhater, principal and actuary at global consultancy Mercer, Middle East, says the company’s Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index - which benchmarks 34 pension schemes across the globe to assess their adequacy, sustainability and integrity - included Saudi Arabia for the first time this year to offer a glimpse into the region.
The index highlighted fundamental issues for all 34 countries, such as a rapid ageing population and a low growth / low interest environment putting pressure on expected returns. It also highlighted the increasing popularity around the world of defined contribution schemes.
“Average life expectancy has been increasing by about three years every 10 years. Someone born in 1947 is expected to live until 85 whereas someone born in 2007 is expected to live to 103,” Mr Abukhater told the Mena Pensions Conference.
“Are our systems equipped to handle these kind of life expectancies in the future? If so many people retire at 60, they are going to be in retirement for 43 years – so we need to adapt our retirement age to our changing life expectancy.”
Saudi Arabia came in the middle of Mercer’s ranking with a score of 58.9. The report said the country's index could be raised by improving the minimum level of support for the poorest aged individuals and increasing the labour force participation rate at older ages as life expectancies rise.
Mr Abukhater said the challenges of an ageing population, increased life expectancy and some individuals relying solely on their government for financial support in their retirement years will put the system under strain.
“To relieve that pressure, governments need to consider whether it is time to switch to a defined contribution scheme so that individuals can supplement their own future with the help of government support,” he said.
Citizenship-by-investment programmes
United Kingdom
The UK offers three programmes for residency. The UK Overseas Business Representative Visa lets you open an overseas branch office of your existing company in the country at no extra investment. For the UK Tier 1 Innovator Visa, you are required to invest £50,000 (Dh238,000) into a business. You can also get a UK Tier 1 Investor Visa if you invest £2 million, £5m or £10m (the higher the investment, the sooner you obtain your permanent residency).
All UK residency visas get approved in 90 to 120 days and are valid for 3 years. After 3 years, the applicant can apply for extension of another 2 years. Once they have lived in the UK for a minimum of 6 months every year, they are eligible to apply for permanent residency (called Indefinite Leave to Remain). After one year of ILR, the applicant can apply for UK passport.
The Caribbean
Depending on the country, the investment amount starts from $100,000 (Dh367,250) and can go up to $400,000 in real estate. From the date of purchase, it will take between four to five months to receive a passport.
Portugal
The investment amount ranges from €350,000 to €500,000 (Dh1.5m to Dh2.16m) in real estate. From the date of purchase, it will take a maximum of six months to receive a Golden Visa. Applicants can apply for permanent residency after five years and Portuguese citizenship after six years.
“Among European countries with residency programmes, Portugal has been the most popular because it offers the most cost-effective programme to eventually acquire citizenship of the European Union without ever residing in Portugal,” states Veronica Cotdemiey of Citizenship Invest.
Greece
The real estate investment threshold to acquire residency for Greece is €250,000, making it the cheapest real estate residency visa scheme in Europe. You can apply for residency in four months and citizenship after seven years.
Spain
The real estate investment threshold to acquire residency for Spain is €500,000. You can apply for permanent residency after five years and citizenship after 10 years. It is not necessary to live in Spain to retain and renew the residency visa permit.
Cyprus
Cyprus offers the quickest route to citizenship of a European country in only six months. An investment of €2m in real estate is required, making it the highest priced programme in Europe.
Malta
The Malta citizenship by investment programme is lengthy and investors are required to contribute sums as donations to the Maltese government. The applicant must either contribute at least €650,000 to the National Development & Social Fund. Spouses and children are required to contribute €25,000; unmarried children between 18 and 25 and dependent parents must contribute €50,000 each.
The second step is to make an investment in property of at least €350,000 or enter a property rental contract for at least €16,000 per annum for five years. The third step is to invest at least €150,000 in bonds or shares approved by the Maltese government to be kept for at least five years.
Candidates must commit to a minimum physical presence in Malta before citizenship is granted. While you get residency in two months, you can apply for citizenship after a year.
Egypt
A one-year residency permit can be bought if you purchase property in Egypt worth $100,000. A three-year residency is available for those who invest $200,000 in property, and five years for those who purchase property worth $400,000.
Source: Citizenship Invest and Aqua Properties
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
Fitness problems in men's tennis
Andy Murray - hip
Novak Djokovic - elbow
Roger Federer - back
Stan Wawrinka - knee
Kei Nishikori - wrist
Marin Cilic - adductor
'The worst thing you can eat'
Trans fat is typically found in fried and baked goods, but you may be consuming more than you think.
Powdered coffee creamer, microwave popcorn and virtually anything processed with a crust is likely to contain it, as this guide from Mayo Clinic outlines:
Baked goods - Most cakes, cookies, pie crusts and crackers contain shortening, which is usually made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Ready-made frosting is another source of trans fat.
Snacks - Potato, corn and tortilla chips often contain trans fat. And while popcorn can be a healthy snack, many types of packaged or microwave popcorn use trans fat to help cook or flavour the popcorn.
Fried food - Foods that require deep frying — french fries, doughnuts and fried chicken — can contain trans fat from the oil used in the cooking process.
Refrigerator dough - Products such as canned biscuits and cinnamon rolls often contain trans fat, as do frozen pizza crusts.
Creamer and margarine - Nondairy coffee creamer and stick margarines also may contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.
Most wanted allegations
Benjamin Macann, 32: involvement in cocaine smuggling gang.
Jack Mayle, 30: sold drugs from a phone line called the Flavour Quest.
Callum Halpin, 27: over the 2018 murder of a rival drug dealer.
Asim Naveed, 29: accused of being the leader of a gang that imported cocaine.
Calvin Parris, 32: accused of buying cocaine from Naveed and selling it on.
John James Jones, 31: allegedly stabbed two people causing serious injuries.
Callum Michael Allan, 23: alleged drug dealing and assaulting an emergency worker.
Dean Garforth, 29: part of a crime gang that sold drugs and guns.
Joshua Dillon Hendry, 30: accused of trafficking heroin and crack cocain.
Mark Francis Roberts, 28: grievous bodily harm after a bungled attempt to steal a £60,000 watch.
James ‘Jamie’ Stevenson, 56: for arson and over the seizure of a tonne of cocaine.
Nana Oppong, 41: shot a man eight times in a suspected gangland reprisal attack.
1. Kylian Mbappe - to Real Madrid in 2017/18 - €180 million (Dh770.4m - if a deal goes through)
2. Paul Pogba - to Manchester United in 2016/17 - €105m
3. Gareth Bale - to Real Madrid in 2013/14 - €101m
4. Cristiano Ronaldo - to Real Madrid in 2009/10 - €94m
5. Gonzalo Higuain - to Juventus in 2016/17 - €90m
6. Neymar - to Barcelona in 2013/14 - €88.2m
7. Romelu Lukaku - to Manchester United in 2017/18 - €84.7m
8. Luis Suarez - to Barcelona in 2014/15 - €81.72m
9. Angel di Maria - to Manchester United in 2014/15 - €75m
10. James Rodriguez - to Real Madrid in 2014/15 - €75m
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened. He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia. Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”. Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
Company name: baraka
Started: July 2020
Founders: Feras Jalbout and Kunal Taneja
Based: Dubai and Bahrain
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $150,000
Current staff: 12
Stage: Pre-seed capital raising of $1 million
Investors: Class 5 Global, FJ Labs, IMO Ventures, The Community Fund, VentureSouq, Fox Ventures, Dr Abdulla Elyas (private investment)
