Palestinian lawmaker Faraj al-Ghoul killed by Israeli in Gaza
Al-Ghoul was a sitting member of the PLC and a prominent political figure in the Gaza Strip. No further details have been released about other casualties in the strike.
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Middle East Eye
2 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Islamic State may be responsible for atrocities against Druze, not Syrian forces, Barrack says
US envoy Tom Barrack suggested that Syrian government forces were not responsible for atrocities committed against Druze in southern Syria, and that the armed fighters who carried out the attacks may have been Islamic State militants disguised in government uniforms. Barrack, who is President Donald Trump's envoy to Syria as well as ambassador to Turkey, made the comments in an interview with Reuters in Beirut on Tuesday. Syria's southern province of Sweida was the site of sectarian violence between the majority Druze community and Sunni Bedouins. The conflict was internationalised after Israel intervened, bombing Syrian government forces. Israel cast the bombings as an effort to protect Druze. Israel is home to around 150,000 Druze. Around 1,000 people were killed in the clashes in southern Syria. Barrack also cast doubt on video footage that circulated widely on social media alleged to be of Syrian government forces committing atrocities, saying it could have been easily altered. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters "The Syrian troops haven't gone into the city. These atrocities that are happening are not happening by the Syrian regime troops. They're not even in the city because they agreed with Israel that they would not go in," he told Reuters. Israel's intervention in the fighting "upset" the Trump administration and Saudi Arabia, as Middle East Eye was the first to report. On Monday, the White House said Trump was "caught off guard" by Israel's bombing. Barrack is spearheading the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. He has been a vocal supporter of efforts by Gulf states to invest in the war-torn country. He has generally walked a tightrope between concerns for minorities in Syria and calls for the central government in Damascus to assert its authority. Barrack is trying to push the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to integrate into the Syrian army as the US looks to continue reducing its military presence in northeast Syria. Barrack has been well received in Turkey. US support for the SDF has been a long-running sore point in the Nato allies ties. Barrack's messaging on Sharaa In a press conference in Beirut on Monday Barrack was asked about Israeli intervention, which he said 'came at a very bad time' and created 'another very confusing chapter' for Syria. Current and former Arab, Israeli and US officials told MEE that Israel's strikes and efforts to position itself as a defender of the Druze suggested it was bent on carving out a zone of influence in Syria that conflicts directly with the vision of a unitary post-war Syria put forward by Barrack. Barrack has repeatedly stressed that the US was not dictating Syria's form of government. He has cast his diplomacy as a test case for Trump's pledge in May to stop western 'nation builders' and 'interventionists' from working in the Middle East and instead empower locals allies such as the Gulf states and Turkey. Saudi Arabia told US that Syrian forces should deploy to Sweida despite Israeli objections, source says Read More » But Barrack said Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa should assess the fallout of the Sweida conflict, saying Sharaa should reflect: "I'm going to adapt quickly, because if I don't adapt quickly, I'm going to lose the energy of the universe that was behind me." Barrack added that Sharaa's 'theme … isn't working so well', and told Reuters he advised Sharaa to reduce the influence of Islamists in the military and cooperate on security with regional states. Sharaa was the leader of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, a former US-designated terrorist organisation that toppled Bashar al-Assad last December. Before that he ran al-Qaeda's Syrian branch. Syria has been seen bouts of sectarian violence since Sharaa came to power. In March, Syrian security forces killed hundreds of Alawites - the sect to which Assad belonged - along the Mediterranean coast. In June, at least 25 people were killed in a bombing at Mar Elias Greek Orthodox Church. Sharaa was criticised for his handling of the fallout. He has promised to protect minorities. Barrack said that Sharaa had to address those concerns. "If they end up with a federalist government, that's their determination. And the answer to the question is: everybody may now need to adapt."
Middle East Eye
3 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Columbia University suspends or expels almost 80 students for pro-Palestine protest
Columbia University announced new sanctions against student activists on Tuesday, suspending or expelling dozens of students for their participation in pro-Palestine protests. The suspensions will last between one and three years and will require students to write an apology letter if they wish to return to the university. The disciplinary proceedings primarily targeted students involved in the takeover of Butler Library to host a teach-in honouring the Palestinian writer Basel al-Araj, who was killed by Israeli forces in 2017. Protesters renamed the library 'the Basel al-Araj Popular University'. 'The sanctions issued on July 21 by the University Judicial Board were determined by a UJB panel of professors and administrators who worked diligently over the summer to offer an outcome for each individual based on the findings of their case and prior disciplinary outcomes,' Columbia wrote in a statement. Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) said in a statement: 'Once Barnard joins Columbia in announcing charges, these will be the most suspensions for a single political protest in Columbia campus history and hugely exceed sentencing precedent for teach-ins or non-Palestine-related building occupations.' Barnard is a Columbia University affiliate. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters CUAD alleged that Columbia president Claire Shipman modified disciplinary proceedings to crack down on student protesters. '[Shipman] illegally restructured the University Judicial Board (UJB) and removed student members and faculty oversight to pursue exceptionally harsh sanctions against its own students,' CUAD said in a statement. Pro-Palestine protests at Columbia and other universities have come to the forefront since the beginning of Israel's war on Gaza, which several countries, as well as many international rights groups and experts, now say qualify as an act of genocide. More than 100 Palestinians in Gaza, including at least 80 children, have starved to death as a result of Israel's siege, and more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed at aid distribution sites since March. Police on campus Students have condemned Columbia's collaboration with the New York Police Department (NYPD) and Trump administration officials. During the takeover of Butler Library, Columbia invited NYPD officials on to campus, who ultimately arrested 78 demonstrators. Columbia claimed the NYPD's presence was necessary to 'assist in securing the building and the safety of our community'. Georgetown University professor placed on leave over misrepresented X post Read More » But four students were hospitalised with concussions due to NYPD brutality during the protest, according to CUAD. One of the arrested students reported being 'choked and going in and out of consciousness after the arrest. One of [the police officers] kept trying to gouge my eyes. They slammed my head into the floor multiple times.' CUAD alleged that the disciplinary sanctions were a result of talks between Columbia and the Trump administration to restore $400 million in cancelled federal funding. They listed Columbia's adoption of a definition of antisemitism that considers Zionism a protected class and a new partnership with the pro-Israel Anti-Defamation League as similar concessions. Columbia's press office did not respond to a request for clarification. Student activists say they will continue to organise undeterred by disciplinary proceedings. According to one student quoted on CUAD's Substack, 'if this hearing was meant to isolate or shame, it has done the opposite. It has made us more clear: no sanction handed down here can expel principle. Basel al-Araj wrote: 'Join them, and don't betray the question.' We have joined, and we will not betray the question."
Middle East Eye
4 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
US contractor recounts gruesome details of Gaza aid delivery
A US mercenary unloaded an entire can of pepper spray into the face of a Palestinian man picking noodles off the ground, and other contractors shot into crowds of starving people trying to collect food in Gaza, a US security contractor told Israeli media. Those are just some of the harrowing details that a 25-year-old contractor who recently worked for a security firm guarding distribution sites for the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) shared with Israel's Channel 12 news in an interview aired on Tuesday. The man, whose face was blurred and voice distorted to protect his identity, said he was a US military veteran who had deployed 12 times to four different war zones, but never saw such violence carried out against unarmed civilians as that by Israeli soldiers and US mercenaries in Gaza. 'I have never in my entire military career... have I been a part of, allowed, or bystander to the use of force against unarmed innocent civilians. Ever. And I'm not going to do it now,' he said. 'There is no fixing this,' he said. 'Put an end to it.' New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces while trying to access food in Gaza since the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began operations, the United Nations said on Tuesday. GHF distribution sites are guarded by two US security firms: Safe Reach Solutions (SRS) and UG Solutions. SRS is run by a former high-ranking CIA officer and tied to a US private equity firm in Chicago, Middle East Eye has reported. Both companies have come under scrutiny for the violence unfolding at aid sites where starving Palestinians are trying to collect food. The Associated Press reported earlier this month that American contractors guarding the sites are using live ammunition and stun grenades against Palestinians. The GHF told MEE on Thursday that while some of its aid workers had been attacked and injured en route to the sites, there have been "no incidents or fatalities at or in the immediate vicinity" of any of the sites. The spy, private equity baron and ghost of a Trump donor: The revolving door behind a Gaza mercenary firm Read More » The former contractor interviewed by Channel 12 recounted similar atrocities. 'There was a man who was on the ground. He was on his hands and knees and he was picking up individual noodles,' he said. 'This guy wasn't armed. He wasn't a threat. This UG contractor sprayed an entire can of pepper spray on to this guy's face. That's lethal.' In another case, the contractor recounted standing next to a Palestinian woman hit by a stun grenade: 'She collapsed, fell to the ground. That was the moment I knew I couldn't continue.' The man also said that US contractors were firing live rounds at starving Palestinians. Job adverts for US mercenaries going to Gaza have called for applicants with weapons training and experience in 'warfare tactics'. 'As the Palestinians were finishing getting the aid that was on the site, the UG Solutions personnel began shooting in their direction, shooting at them, shooting at their feet,' he said. Israeli troops have admitted to deliberately shooting and killing unarmed Palestinians waiting for aid in the Gaza Strip, following direct orders from their superiors. The US and Israeli-backed GHF was established to supplant the UN in distributing aid in Gaza. Only a trickle of food has entered the enclave, and some Palestinians, including children, are dying of hunger. The contractor said Israeli engineers who planned the GHF sites did not appear to consider humanitarian factors or accessibility. 'If the UN method had the amount of support and security and coordination that GHF is getting, the UN process would be very successful,' he said.
