Office of Iran's supreme leader confirms deaths of top commanders
It named them as Armed Forces Chief of Staff Mohammad Bagheri and the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Major General Hossein Salami.
The General Staff of Iran's Armed Forces earlier called the Israeli attack a "blatant aggression" and vowed to inflict a "devastating" and "crushing" response.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also warned that "the miscalculations and crimes of the sworn enemies of Iran and Iranians will not go unanswered."
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Japan Times
8 hours ago
- Japan Times
Could the Palestinians gain full membership at the United Nations?
Momentum seems to be building for more countries to recognize a Palestinian state in Israeli-occupied territory after France said last week it would do so in September. Britain said Tuesday it would follow suit at the U.N. General Assembly unless Israel takes steps to ease the Gaza Strip crisis and bring about peace. The Palestinian Authority, which represents the Palestinian people at the United Nations, where the delegation is officially known as the State of Palestine, is not a full member and has no vote in the 193-member General Assembly. Here are some details about the status of the Palestinians at the United Nations: What is the current status of the Palestinians at the U.N.? The Palestinians are a non-member, observer state at the United Nations — the same status as the Holy See (Vatican). The General Assembly approved the de facto recognition of the sovereign state of Palestine in November 2012 by upgrading its observer status at the world body to "non-member state" from "entity." There were 138 votes in favor, nine against and 41 abstentions. What happened last year? In May 2024, the U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly backed a Palestinian bid to become a full member by recognizing it as qualified to join and recommending the U.N. Security Council "reconsider the matter favorably." That resolution also granted the Palestinians some additional rights and privileges from September 2024 — like a seat among the U.N. members in the assembly hall. The May vote by the General Assembly amounted to a global survey of support for the Palestinian cause to become a full member — a move that would effectively recognize a Palestinian state — after the United States vetoed the step in the Security Council in April 2024. The Palestinians remain a non-member observer state as the 15-member Security Council has not acted on the General Assembly recommendation. How does the United Nations admit new members? Countries seeking to join the United Nations usually present an application to the U.N. secretary-general, who sends it to the Security Council for an assessment and vote. A council committee of the 15 members first assesses an application to see if it satisfies the requirements for U.N. membership. The application can then either be shelved or put forward for a formal vote in the Security Council. Approval requires at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the U.S., Russia, France, China or Britain. If the council approves the membership request, it then moves to the General Assembly for approval. A membership request needs a two-thirds majority to be cleared by the assembly. A country cannot join the United Nations unless both the Security Council and General Assembly approve. What happened to the Palestinian application in 2011? A U.N. Security Council committee assessed the Palestinian application for several weeks to see if it satisfied requirements for U.N. membership. But the committee was unable to reach a unanimous position and the Security Council never formally voted on a resolution on Palestinian membership. Diplomats said the Palestinians lacked the minimum nine votes needed to adopt a resolution. Even if they had won enough support, the United States had said it would veto the move. What is the U.S. position? The United States, Israel's most powerful and influential ally, has said a Palestinian state can only be established through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. The latest round of those negotiations broke down in 2014 and the process remains frozen, with prospects for revival dimmed further by the ongoing, devastating war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza. Under U.S. law, Washington cannot fund any U.N. organization that grants full membership to any group that does not have the "internationally recognized attributes" of statehood. The United States cut funding in 2011 for the Paris-based U.N. cultural agency, UNESCO, after the Palestinians joined as a full member.
NHK
11 hours ago
- NHK
Canada to recognize State of Palestine at UN General Assembly in September
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says his country will recognize the State of Palestine at the United Nations General Assembly in September if the Palestinian Authority commits to democratic reforms. Carney condemned the Israeli government at a news conference on Wednesday saying it "allowed a catastrophe to unfold in Gaza." He said Canada will recognize Palestine on the condition that the Palestinian Authority holds elections next year without Hamas taking part and undertakes other democratic reforms. Israel's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday rejected Canada's move saying the decision is a "reward" for Hamas and harms efforts to achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and for the release of hostages. Canada's move would make it the third among the Group of Seven nations to recognize Palestine, after France and Britain. France announced its decision to do so last week. A three-day conference was held at the UN headquarters in New York until Wednesday, to advance steps toward a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Britain said during the conference that it would recognize a Palestinian state on certain conditions. More countries, including Australia and Finland, have expressed "the willingness or the positive consideration" to recognize the State of Palestine. In a joint statement, they urged other nations to join their call.
Japan Times
15 hours ago
- Japan Times
Israeli rights groups break taboo with accusations of genocide
When two human rights groups became the first major voices in Israel to accuse the state of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, breaking a taboo in a country founded after the Holocaust, they were prepared for a backlash. B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel released reports at a press conference in Jerusalem on Monday, saying Israel was carrying out "coordinated, deliberate action to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip." That marked the strongest possible accusation against the state, which vehemently denies it. The charge of genocide is deeply sensitive in Israel because of its origins in the work of Jewish legal scholars in the wake of the Nazi Holocaust. Israeli officials have rejected genocide allegations as antisemitic. So Sarit Michaeli, B'Tselem's international director, said the group expected to face attacks for making the claim in a country still traumatized by the deadly Hamas-led attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, that triggered the war in Gaza. "We've looked into all of the risks that we could be facing. These are legal, reputation, media risks, other types of risk, societal risks and we've done work to try and mitigate these risks," said Michaeli, whose organization is seen as being on the political fringe in Israel but is respected internationally. "We are also quite experienced in attacks by the government or social media, so this is not the first time." It's not unrealistic "to expect this issue, which is so fraught and so deeply contentious within Israeli society and internationally to lead to an even greater reaction," she said. Israel's foreign ministry and prime minister's office did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Shortly after the reports were released on Monday, government spokesperson David Mencer said: "Yes, of course we have free speech in Israel." He strongly rejected the reports' findings and said that such accusations fostered antisemitism abroad. Some Israelis have expressed concern over Israel's military campaign in Gaza that has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, destroyed much of the enclave and led to widespread hunger. An international global hunger monitor said on Tuesday a famine scenario was unfolding in the Gaza Strip, with malnutrition soaring, children under five dying of hunger-related causes and humanitarian access severely restricted. "For me, life is life, and it's sad. No one should die there," said nurse Shmuel Sherenzon, 31. But the Israeli public generally rejects allegations of genocide. Most of the 1,200 people killed and the 251 taken hostage to Gaza in the Oct. 7 attacks in southern Israel were civilians, including men, women, children and the elderly. In an editorial titled "Why are we blind to Gaza?" published on the mainstream news site Ynet last week, Israeli journalist Sever Plocker said images of ordinary Palestinians rejoicing over the attacks in and even following the militants to take part in violence made it almost impossible for Israelis to feel compassion for Gazans in the months that followed. "The crimes of Hamas on Oct. 7 have deeply burned — for generations — the consciousness of the entire Jewish public in Israel, which now interprets the destruction and killing in Gaza as a deterrent retaliation and therefore also morally legitimate." Israel has fended off accusations of genocide since the early days of the Gaza war, including a case brought by South Africa at the International Court of Justice in the Hague that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned as "outrageous." While Israeli human rights groups say it can be difficult working under Israel's far-right government, they don't experience the kind of tough crackdowns their counterparts face in other parts of the Middle East. Israel has consistently said its actions in Gaza are justified as self-defense and accuses Hamas of using civilians as human shields, a charge the militant group denies. Israeli media has focused more on the plight of hostages taken by Hamas, in the worst single attack on Jews since the Holocaust. In this atmosphere, for B'Tselem's Israeli staff members to come to the stark conclusion that their own country was guilty of genocide was emotionally challenging, said Yuli Novak, the organisation's executive director. "It's really incomprehensible, it's a phenomena that the mind cannot bear," Novak said, choking up. "I think many of our colleagues are struggling at the moment, not only fear of sanctions but also to fully grasp this thing." Guy Shalev, executive director of Physicians for Human Rights Israel, said the organization faced a "wall of denial." It has been under pressure for months and is expecting a stronger backlash after releasing its report. "Bureaucratic, legal, financial institutions such as banks freezing accounts including ours, and some of the challenges we expect to see in the next days ... these efforts will intensify," he said.
