Latest news with #Israel-first
The National
2 days ago
- Politics
- The National
John Swinney: Why I want our NHS to treat Gaza's injured children
This suffering has been referred to as a humanitarian catastrophe. This is true – but using that type of language risks leaving people with the idea that this horror has simply come out of the ether as some sort of natural phenomenon. So I will speak plainly. This suffering is a result of the ongoing actions of the government of Israel. Israel has imposed a suffocating blockade on Gaza since early March – with severe restrictions on food and aid shipments into Gaza throughout the war. READ MORE: I'm a senior BBC journalist. I'm tired of the Israel-first approach Thousands of people have been killed and injured. Children are dying of starvation and lack of water. Entire cities have been almost completely erased and populations displaced. Pregnant women are unable to access critical medical care, and the rate of miscarriage in Gaza has increased by 300% since October 2023. The population has been pushed past breaking point, and the suffering being inflicted on the people of Gaza is beyond any justification. This must end now. The hostages must be released immediately. Israel must lift all restrictions and allow unfettered, safe, and dignified access to humanitarian aid throughout Gaza immediately. The international community must insist on it. The statements made this week by Israel's Defence Minister on his plans to force all Palestinians in Gaza into a camp built on the ruins of Rafah – plans which are illegal, inhumane and risk worsening the humanitarian crisis in Gaza – must be rejected by all. We must stand firm against all efforts to make the conflict in Gaza go on one minute longer than it has gone on today. A two-state solution, one which recognises the sovereignty and the independence of a Palestinian state, is vital for a just and lasting peace, and will be at heart of the Scottish Government's work towards justice on the international agenda. In the last year, we have provided £550,000 to charities working in the Middle East who are helping people affected by the ongoing conflict with access to emergency assistance, including food, clean water and medical care. That support is important, but not in itself enough – we are ready and willing to do more. Getting injured children out of Gaza Earlier this week, I met with Unicef who raised the particular issue of medical evacuations with me. With hospitals destroyed and medical supplies running out, this is an emergency and a race against time to provide specialist medical care for the children and babies suffering from injuries caused by the war. Scotland's world-class National Health Service stands ready to play our full part in supporting these medical evacuations and the treatment of injured Palestinian children. This requires the support of the UK Government, and I have asked the Prime Minister to support facilitating a transfer of these children, who need medical care to survive, to Scotland. READ MORE: David Lammy calls Israel Gaza concentration camp plan 'sticking point' The suffering of the people of Gaza is one of the greatest international failings of my lifetime – and the international community cannot let it go on one second longer than it already has. We need to see nations across the world demand that international law is enforced and renew their efforts to support a just and lasting peace for civilians both in Israel and Palestine. History will judge world leaders on how they act at this moment and up until now, that judgement will be damning. I can give my assurance, that Scotland's position on the world stage will continue to be one of compassion, justice and global citizenship – and we will keep using our voice to demand peace in the region, and justice for the Palestinian people.
The National
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- The National
I'm a senior BBC journalist. I'm tired of the Israel-first approach
IT seems as though the criticism around the BBC's coverage of Israel and Gaza is getting louder every week. On Monday, I spoke to a senior journalist who works for the World Service to find out more about how staff are feeling. Last week, the BBC decided to announce it would no longer be streaming 'high-risk' shows at Glastonbury after being called out for broadcasting a Bob Vylan set which featured the frontman leading the crowd in an anti-IDF chant. This led to journalists calling the corporation 'censorious' and 'cowardly'. A documentary on the destruction of Gaza's healthcare system was also shown last week on Channel 4 after the BBC had opted not to air it, following concerns it may create 'a perception of partiality that would not meet the high standards that the public rightly expect'. This was despite the fact the BBC commissioned the documentary, which was produced by Basement Films. READ MORE: How UK media are covering up British spy flights for Israel The BBC World Service journalist – who wished to remain anonymous – said the move made on the Gaza: Doctors Under Attack documentary in particular 'crossed a new line', with reporters and staff working for the broadcaster reaching boiling point over the 'struggle' that seems to exist in trying to fight for in-depth and truthful coverage of Palestine. Having worked for the BBC for nearly a decade, the journalist said he has increasingly witnessed bosses over the past year 'buckling to pressure' from political powers over Israel and Gaza, and he now feels the BBC is 'bending over all the time to defend the wrong people' with an 'Israel-first' approach. As a journalist, you feel it is your raison d'etre to tell the truth and fight whatever powers that be to make sure people know the truth. But the journalist detailed to me how difficult this is becoming at the BBC when it comes to Israel and Palestine news. 'The bar that they set for every single tiny detail is so much higher [for Palestine stories] than if you were to make a piece about October 7 and you were interviewing Israelis about what happened then,' he told The National. 'For me, there is always the scope to be making brilliant work on Palestine within the BBC but it's just a struggle. BBC director-general Tim Davie has been accused of 'buckling under pressure' on Israel and Gaza coverage (Image: Andrew Milligan) 'You have to really want it, and most people are put off by the level of bureaucracy that you have to go through.' He went on: 'News really struggles, I think, to frame it [Israel/Gaza] in a way that's truthful. We have very much an Israel-first approach. 'Whatever airstrike happens and kills 60 people, it's always 'what do Israel say about why they did it or who they were targeting?'. As long as Israel keeps saying that it doesn't ever target civilians, that's how we frame them. 'But at what point do we take more notice of what they do, rather than what they say?' The dropping of Gaza: Doctors Under Attack by the BBC came fresh off the back of controversy over the How to Survive a Warzone documentary – a programme the BBC removed from iPlayer after it was revealed it featured the son of a Hamas official. The BBC argued the film couldn't go out while a review into the How to Survive a Warzone documentary was going on. READ MORE: Anas Sarwar 'must cut ties' to Tony Blair Institute amid Gaza plan row Speaking about how Gaza: Doctors Under Attack was binned, the journalist said he believed director-general Tim Davie and BBC News CEO Deborah Turness were constantly 'buckling to political pressure' and airing the documentary would have helped to boost their reputation at a time when it is waning. 'With this medics doc [Gaza: Doctors Under Attack], that was, for me, a new line that was crossed,' he said. He went on: 'Tim [Davie] and Deborah [Turness] are constantly buckling to pressure. 'The ironic thing is they do it to avoid bad headlines, but the headlines that have been created by censoring and blocking an absolute vital documentary about Gaza's healthcare system being demolished [are so bad], they've created a worse situation for themselves. 'If they had the courage to stand up to those pressures and say we're going to put this out because it's true – it's not about being impartial, it's the truth – then they would be in a better position. 'The BBC is such a respected institution – increasingly less so – but they would have gained some respect back." Channel 4 showed a documentary on Gaza originally commissioned by the BBC (Image: PA) The journalist said he had a 'big gripe' with how the Israel Defense Forces was often treated as a reliable source, adding that he did not feel the coverage of Israel/Gaza at the BBC had been 'guided by the rules of war and international law'. He went on: 'The BBC seems out of touch on this [Israel/Gaza]. It seems like it's bending over all the time to defend the wrong people, it's bending over backwards to do PR for a foreign army that is committing atrocities." Last week, more than 100 BBC journalists called for Robbie Gibb, the controversial BBC board member for England, to be removed from the role over his impact on the broadcaster's reporting. READ MORE: Tony Blair's staff took part in 'Gaza Riviera' project Gibb's position on the BBC editorial standards committee is 'untenable' as his well-known political affiliations mean the BBC is not reporting on Israel 'without fear or favour', a letter co-ordinated by BBC insiders says. Gibb, who was Theresa May's director of communications in No 10 and an early editorial adviser to the alt-right broadcaster GB News, led the buy-out of the Jewish Chronicle in 2020 and remained a director of Jewish Chronicle Media until August 2024. In a collaboration with Declassified UK, The National revealed on Monday how the UK mainstream media have not carried out a single investigation into the extent, impact or legal status of the more than 500 surveillance flights over Gaza the RAF has carried out since December 2023. Asked why he thought the BBC hadn't looked into the matter, the journalist said he did not believe there were enough tenacious staff members willing to pursue such a story that could cause them grief. 'It's a massive organisation full of individuals and you need individuals that pitch it and have the tenacity to fight for the story and you need it to get green lit by a brave editor, though they shouldn't have to be brave,' he said. "So if you don't have those individuals pushing for it, it's not going to appear out of thin air. At the moment, I don't think there are enough people like that at the BBC who are willing to put their neck on the line and do stories that are going to cause themselves grief and their editors' grief." A BBC spokesperson said: 'Throughout our impartial reporting on the conflict we have made clear the devastating human cost to civilians living in Gaza. We will continue to give careful thought to how we do this. 'We believe it is imperative that our journalists have access to Gaza, and we continue to call on the Israeli government to grant this.'
Int'l Business Times
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Int'l Business Times
MAGA Influencer Turns on Trump, Calling Him a 'Chronic Disappointment': 'I Feel Embarrassed I Told People to Vote for Him'
Candace Owens, a prominent MAGA influencer, criticized President Donald Trump in a recent interview, calling him a "chronic disappointment" over his decision to enter the Israel-Iran war. Owens, a conservative commentator who gained popularity on YouTube by championing Trump during his first term, said she was invited on "Piers Morgan Uncensored" to discuss the growing divide within the MAGA movement. Owens argued the movement was rooted in non-interventionism and claimed Trump's decision to bomb Iran directly contradicted that principle. "He's been a chronic disappointment, and I feel embarrassed that I told people to go vote for him because this wasn't going to happen, and it is happening," Owens said. Owens stated Trump bombed Iran last week at the behest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the president's subservience to Israel is to blame for the MAGA split. "The reason that America wants a regime change in Iran is because Bibi Netanyahu is demanding it, and that answers the question as to why there is a split in the MAGA movement," Owens stated. "What we are seeing right now is the infiltration of Israel-first people; the neocons, people who have always wanted never-ending wars and the people who have recognized that following Israel's foreign policy initiatives has led to America being on the decline." "That's where I stand," Owens continued, adding that there was "no imminent threat to the United States" before the Trump administration dropped bunker-busting bombs on three of Iran's nuclear facilities. Elsewhere, Owens championed a regime change in Israel since "Iran's regime is not negatively impacting America on a day-to-day basis." When asked how she felt about aligning with New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), Owens stood by her stance. "The MAGA movement has always been a movement that explicitly did not want to keep involving our sons and daughters in the Middle East, so we have not changed that position. If AOC was always antiwar then she should have thrown on a red hat in 2020 and 2015 and joined the MAGA movement. That would have been fantastic," Owens stated. Originally published on Latin Times
Sydney Morning Herald
15-05-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Trump is MAGA-fying the Middle East, with or without Netanyahu's support
In a repeat of his first presidency, Donald Trump has chosen to visit Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar for his inaugural overseas visit, and significantly, bypass Israel on his four-day trip. In part, this is because he is keen to maximise the US's ability to benefit from hydro-carbon resource wealth and lucrative markets of the region, and not let their regional strategic partner, Israel, stand in the way. Another reason for the visit is almost certainly to thank Qatar for their most recent gift to the United States government – a $US400 million ($622 million) luxury jet Trump plans to keep when he leaves office. But this visit is not like that of a usual dignitary or foreign power passing through. As a transactional leader, Trump is set to transform the Middle East according to his Make America Great Again dictum. Although still committed to the security of the state of Israel, Trump has found its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, too trigger-happy in getting the US involved in Israel's regional conflicts. Thus, his relationship with the prime minister has taken a back-seat to America's wider regional interests. During a speech in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, Trump outlined his vision for remaking the region, saying, 'As I have shown repeatedly, I am willing to end past conflicts and forge new partnerships for a better and more stable world, even if our differences may be very profound.' Loading Trump wants to strengthen ties with Saudi Arabia and the kingdom's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has engaged in social modernisation in proximity to Trump's liking. Though MBS, as bin Salman is known, was shaken by Joe Biden's regional plan (an 'Israel-first' policy and withdrawal from Afghanistan), the crown prince engaged in diversifying Saudi foreign relations by joining the BRICS forum for emerging economies, strengthening ties with China and improving relations with Iran. While impressed by bin Salman making trillion-dollar trade, investment and defence deals, Trump has de-emphasised the importance of a healthy relationship between Saudi Arabia and Israel (something he previously advocated for). So much so that Trump has expressed a willingness to help Saudi Arabia establish a nuclear program.
Express Tribune
18-02-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Trump 2.0's vision for Gaza: America's grand Middle East gamble
Trump's hardline stance on Gaza, favoring Israel, stirs controversy, displacement fears, and regional instability. U.S President Donald Trump faces opprobrium as he unleashes a barrage of outrageous decisions and a flurry of provocative statements regarding Gaza. While Donald Trump claimed credit for the Gaza ceasefire brokered before his second term, he doubts its durability as Israel continues to breach it, blatantly. During his inauguration speech, he highlighted that his proudest legacy would be that of 'peacemaker and unifier'. Nevertheless, his political rhetoric has not translated into concrete actions and the promises now ring hollow as Trump shows preferential treatment towards Israel. In 2024, Trump announced a slew of aggressive 'Israel-first' hawks to stack his cabinet for the second administration. Trump's nominee for UN Ambassador, Elise Stefanik, has expressed that Israel has a 'biblical right' to dominate the West bank and accused the UN of 'anti-Semitic rot'. In addition, Trump's pick of Mike Huckabee as envoy of Israel, a pro-Israel hardliner, is also a harbringer of doom for Gaza as he called the two-state solution 'irrational and unworkable.' Similarly, his Defence Secretary, Pete Hegseth, also espouses similar views of subjugating Palestinians while lending unconditional support to Israel as well. With respect to his policy, Trump has so far veered into a disconcerting paradox. He has lifted sanctions on Israeli settlers accused of attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. He has also called for relocating Gaza's 2.2 million Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan which has sparked widespread outrage, raising concerns over ethnic-cleansing of Palestinians. Another deplorable move was directing the U.S military to release the hold on supply of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel which exacerbates the security threat of ferocious bombardment on Palestinian population and the civilian infrastructure of the territory. Moreover, Trump has also signed a punitive executive order to deport non-citizen college students who participated in pro-Palestine protests in order to combat 'antisemitism'. Furthermore, Trump stopped U.S funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and reiterated that Palestinians have 'no alternative' but to leave Gaza, immediately. Such draconian policies and incendiary remarks illustrate Trump's embrace of Netanyahu, which is a foregone conclusion considering his first term wherein he slashed funding to the UNRWA, shut down the PLO mission in Washington, recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital and moved the U.S embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and most importantly, endorsed Israeli settlements in the Golan heights, abetting Israeli oppression. Moreover, Trump's 'Deal of the Century', offered conditional statehood with limited sovereignty, buried the two-state solution, legitimized Israeli colonies in the West bank and ultimately, disappointed the Palestinians who aptly described it as the 'Steal of the Century'. Similarly, while the Abraham Accords had marked a watershed in Arab–Israeli relations, laying the groundwork for a new balance of power in the region of Middle East, it sought to reshape the region's diplomatic landscape by bypassing Palestinian leadership. Consequently, as of now, the expansion of the normalization of Arab-Israel ties has frozen as analysts claim that gulf states will emphasize that the normalization with Israel, especially for Saudi Arabia, is contingent upon securing an irreversible and viable path to Palestinian statehood. Nevertheless, with Netanyahu being the first foreign leader to visit Washington, Trump has prioritized Israel. He has bolstered its political sway in Middle East's geopolitics while relegating Palestinians to the sidelines as the U.S presented an outlandish proposal of transforming the Gaza strip into the 'Riviera of the Middle East' that left the world utterly flummoxed. According to his grandiose Middle East playbook, Trump envisions opulent golf courses and luxury resorts along the Mediterranean coastline of Gaza. The proposal for 'humanized migration' - a sanitized term for ethnic cleansing - is being presented as a moral solution to the intractable conflict that has rattled the region. The Gaza plan echoed Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner's, 'waterfront property idea', suggesting last year that Israel should 'clean up' the area and remove the civilians. As anticipated, the Arab states vehemently oppose Trump's improbable plan as it is divorced from the complex politics of the region. Jordan fears potential destabilization as it is already a home to a large number of Palestinian refugees and Egypt's fears revolve around Hamas sympathisers of the Sunni Islamist Muslim Brotherhood. Both the states see the plan as equivalent to liquidating the Palestine cause while jeopardizing their individual peace treaties with Israel. Jordan has rebuffed Trump's push to accommodate displaced Palestinians while Egypt presses for an alternate vision of reconstruction in Gaza for Palestinians without displacement. Amid this pandemonium, Trump's fantasy proves nothing more than a pipe dream while Palestinians remain banished into an Israeli backyard with no solution in sight. Notwithstanding the havoc it has wreaked in the region, Trump's support for Israel has been unwavering. Several administration officials, including National Security Advisor Michael Waltz and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, downplayed Trump's proposal, framing it as support for Palestinian reconstruction while White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt denied any plan to deploy U.S. troops to Gaza. Contrastingly, Trump has endorsed the Israeli far right's push for annexation, marked by settlement expansion and Palestinian displacement, citing Israel's need for more territory. Moreover, out of the tendentious remarks Trump has passed in Israel's support, the most controversial is Trump's recent and explicit threat to 'let hell break out' in the region, had the Israeli captives held in the strip not been released. With the U.S now set to 'take over and own' the Gaza Strip, Trump has ruled out the right of return to the Palestinians, ignoring their sentimental attachment to the place. His ludicrous real estate ambitions reflected in the Gaza Plan have also infuriated the Arab world, igniting a regional crisis as he views the Gaza strip through a real estate mogul's lens and not that of a peacemaker. Recently, Netanyahu also poured scorn on Saudi Arabia, suggesting the establishment of a Palestinian state on Saudi territory which was completely repudiated. Such a fragile political scenario does not augur well for Gaza which is mired in a geopolitical quandary, especially as Trump's inflammatory ravings and fruitless policies push Palestinians deeper into an abyss of relentless bloodshed. To sum up, Israel's warmongering and morally reprehensible policies have unleashed an apocalypse in Gaza, inflicting irreparable harm while committing a genocidal massacre against the innocent civilians of Palestine. The risky brinkmanship between Israel and Gaza will inevitably spiral into an escalation in the region. Needless to say, Trump's craven attempts to appease Israel will plunge the Palestinians into a new quagmire of violence and instability. His contemptible decision to unequivocally support Israel will seal the ineluctable fate of the Middle East.
