Fifty oil companies representing nearly half of global production have pledged to reach near-zero methane emissions and end routine flaring in their operations by 2030, but environmental groups have called it a “smokescreen”.
Sultan al-Jaber, the president of the United Nations climate summit (COP28) held in Dubai this year, made the announcement on Saturday, saying the pledge included major national oil companies such as Saudi Aramco, Brazil’s Petrobras and Sonangol from Angola and multinationals like Shell, TotalEnergies and BP.
“The world does not work without energy,” al-Jaber said. “Yet the world will break down if we do not fix energies we use today, mitigate their emissions at a gigaton scale and rapidly transition to zero carbon alternatives.”
Methane can be released at several points along the operation of an oil and gas company, from fracking to when natural gas is produced, transported or stored. It persists in the atmosphere for less time than carbon dioxide, but it’s more than 80 times more powerful than the greenhouse gas most responsible for climate change.
Al-Jaber, also the head of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co, has maintained that having the industry’s buy-in is crucial to drastically slashing greenhouse emissions and limiting global warming.
However, environmental groups were quick to criticise the pledge. It is a “smokescreen to hide the reality that we need to phase out oil, gas and coal”, said a letter signed by more than 300 civil society groups.
(Al Jazeera)
Cutting methane emissions
The administration of US President Joe Biden unveiled on Saturday final rules aimed at cracking down on US oil and gas industry releases of methane.
Several governments, philanthropies and the private sector said they have also mobilised $1bn in grants to supports countries’ efforts to tackle the potent gas.
Two major emitters of methane, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, joined the Global Methane Pledge, a voluntary agreement by more than 150 countries to slash their methane emissions by 30 percent by 2030.
The World Bank on Saturday launched an 18-month “blueprint for methane reduction”, which will set up 15 national programmes aimed at cutting methane emissions from activities like rice production, livestock operations and waste management.
This year, European Union negotiators also reached a deal to reduce methane emissions from the energy industry across the 27-member bloc. The agreement bans routine venting and flaring and mandates strict reporting. By 2027, it will expand those norms to oil and gas exporters outside the bloc.
(Al Jazeera)
Other pledges
A slew of other announcements aimed at decarbonising the energy sector were made at COP28 on Saturday.
The US pledged $3bn to the Green Climate Fund, Vice President Kamala Harris said.
With more than $20bn in pledges, the fund is the largest of its kind dedicated to supporting climate action in developing countries. The $3bn would be in addition to another $2bn previously delivered by the US. In a written statement, the US Treasury said the new pledge is subject to funding availability.
A commitment by 117 countries, led by the EU, the US and the United Arab Emirates, also aims to triple renewable energy capacity worldwide by 2030 and double the annual rate of energy efficiency improvements.
Pledge backers included Brazil, Nigeria, Australia, Japan, Canada, Chile and Barbados. While China and India have signalled support for it, neither backed the overall pledge on Saturday – which pairs the ramp-up in clean power with a reduction in fossil fuel use.
A declaration was also signed by more than 20 countries aiming to triple nuclear power capacity by 2050 with US climate envoy John Kerry saying the world cannot achieve “net zero” emissions without building new reactors.
“We are not making the argument that this is absolutely going to be the sweeping alternative to every other energy source,” he said during a launch ceremony. “But … you can’t get to net-zero 2050 without some nuclear, just as you can’t get there without some use of carbon capture, utilisation and storage.”
Global nuclear capacity now stands at 370 gigawatts with 31 countries running reactors. Tripling that capacity by 2050 would require a significant scaling-up in new approvals and finance.
The ongoing explosion in public activism in the United States and the world for a ceasefire in Gaza and equal rights for Israelis and Palestinians is a battleground as important as the military face-off over Gaza in this century-old conflict.
It reveals the eroding efficacy of traditional pro-Israel propaganda in the face of more visible and explicitly apartheid policies by Israel and widespread, technically proficient mobilisations by pro-Palestine and pro-justice movements. It also signals how people across the globe recognise the Palestinians’ suffering and their battle for national rights as among the last anti-colonial struggles in the world.
Signs of this trend were visible even before the October 7 Hamas attacks on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and about 240 taken captive. But the unprecedented and brutal Israeli counterrampage against civilians and all institutions of life in Gaza that followed — killing 15,000 people and displacing almost 80 percent of the population — has clarified Israeli policies and their long colonial vintage and turned global sentiment against Israel’s aggressions.
That public pressure in turn forced even backers of the war in the West to reluctantly push for a week’s truce and negotiated exchanges of detainees by Israel and Hamas before the fighting resumed on Friday.
Perhaps the most compelling of the political developments that are now in flux and will shape the world’s view of the war and the configuration of the region has been the steady stream of students and young professionals in the United States and beyond standing up for equal rights for both Palestinians and Israelis. They have done this through global mass actions like demonstrations, legal suits, strikes, media campaigns, and public expressions of support by athletes, artists and others in society.
Not surprisingly, this has sparked countercampaigns by pro-Israel groups in the US and globally to shut down the voices of pro-Palestine activists and to criminalise elements of Palestinian identity itself — like displaying the Palestinian flag or wearing the keffiyeh headdress.
Many public discussions and meetings on the issue have been barred, and people who express any kind of sympathy for Palestine – even if in old social media posts – have been dismissed from their jobs. The ultimate cruelty was Israel banning public shows of joy by families and communities for young Palestinian prisoners freed from Israeli jails during the truce — a ban which, unsurprisingly, most Palestinians ignored.
Many reasons explain why public sentiment in the US and globally has been shifting away from a traditional, heavily pro-Israel stance to a more even-handed position that seeks to end Israel’s occupation and military savagery against Palestinians and demand accountability and redress for the past century of Zionist settler-colonial excesses in all of historic Palestine, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. These include notably Palestinian ethnic cleansing and forced exile, refugeehood, occupation, statelessness and fragmented nationhood.
Rising public support for Palestinian rights reflects Israel’s harsh, often criminal policies, which are now visible for the whole world to see every day – including the brutality in Gaza that jurists and scholars increasingly evaluate in the context of genocide.
Partnerships stitched together by Palestinian activists with progressive groups across the world have also amplified the calls for justice.
This expanded rapidly after the Black Lives Matter movement heightened people’s awareness and focus on social justice demands that persist among subjugated and colonised people in many countries. People across the world have made the connection between history, Zionism, Israel, the Palestinians and the consequences of how the US and United Kingdom totally and enthusiastically support Israel’s actions. Most of the world that suffered and remembers the pain and ignominy of Western colonialism instinctively recognised the Palestinians’ ongoing resistance to Israel as the world’s last anti-colonial struggle and seek to support it in any way they can.
Young people and university students lead this new wave of activism for social justice because on their cell phones and computer screens they see the damage being done to people’s lives everywhere by 19th century-type colonial policies, whether against African Americans in Missouri, Palestinians in Gaza or Jenin, or ethnic minorities in other countries.
When credible reports by international groups like Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch describe Israel’s policies to control Palestinians as apartheid, the world’s conscience – led by its youth and students – kicks into action to rid us of this scourge. Equal rights for Israelis and Palestinians is their goal, as happened in South Africa after decades of nonviolent and occasional military struggle.
Not surprisingly, this global wave of activism for Palestine has elicited some wild accusations that the protests – especially in US universities — are motivated by anti-Semitism or support for Hamas. This reflects more than anything else the desperation of Zionist and pro-Israel groups who recognise and worry that their traditional propaganda in the West is flailing.
Other arguments are being made about why the global wave of action for universal social justice and ending settler-colonial occupations is not sincere. Some say that activists unfairly pick on Israel but ignore other governments that treat people harshly. Others argue that Israel treats its Palestinian citizens well because a few of them are in parliament or that Israel is a good place because it respects LGBTQ rights.
Diversionary propaganda like this will mount, but it will fail as it has been failing in recent years – because the pain, cruelty and criminality of settler-colonial apartheid grab the attention and drive the activism of all decent human beings everywhere who want to work for a better world.
Israel does have many impressive qualities in science, education, agriculture and other fields, but they are drowned out by its soul-grinding settler-colonial apartheid reality we see on television daily.
So we march in the streets for social justice and liberty for all as good people have always done to fix their world’s weaknesses and right its wrongs.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
Aid organisations say they face difficulties operating as Israel resumes its bombardment of Palestinians in Gaza.
A limited number of aid trucks has managed to enter the besieged Gaza Strip through Egypt after being forced into a holding pattern since a weeklong truce ended and Israel started bombing the enclave again.
“The Palestine Red Crescent crews have now received aid trucks through the Rafah crossing from our partners in the Egypt Red Crescent,” PRCS confirmed in a post on X on Saturday.
The PRCS said it received 50 aid trucks through the Egypt-controlled crossing containing food, water, relief assistance, medical supplies and medicine.
The aid trucks had been unable to enter since Friday when the Israeli military restarted bombing Gaza targets, killing hundreds of Palestinians.
📍 The Palestine Red Crescent teams received 50 aid trucks🚛through the #Rafah crossing today. The trucks contain food, water, relief assistance, medical supplies and medicines.#HumantarianAid#Gazapic.twitter.com/iyOBf8dHwW
No aid convoys or fuel deliveries had entered Gaza since 6pm (16:00 GMT) on Friday, and aid convoys ready to enter Gaza had remained on the Egyptian side of the border, according to the United Nations.
Before the truce that came into effect eight days ago, fewer than 100 trucks were passing into Gaza each day. About 200 trucks entered every day for the duration of the truce.
That is compared with the 500 trucks of aid that were entering the Gaza Strip every day before the war started on October 7, according to the UN, which has said the current flow of aid is no match for the needs of civilians in Gaza.
The main difficulty in getting the trucks inside Gaza lies with an Israeli checkpoint that has been established as part of a system since October 21, when the first aid deliveries started to be allowed in.
The system allows Israel to painstakingly vet every single truck to assuage purported concerns that the humanitarian assistance will find its way into the hands of Hamas.
It obligates drivers to take a round trip of more than 80km (50 miles) from Rafah to a crossing on Egypt’s border with Israel and back, which has caused significant bottlenecks. There, the trucks are thoroughly scanned and searched for anything Israel might deem unfit to enter Gaza – including small kitchen knives.
Hisham Mhanna of the International Committee of the Red Cross told Al Jazeera on Saturday that the continuing fighting in Gaza has made it difficult for aid agencies to operate.
“There should be a complete ceasefire so that the humanitarian aid can help alleviate, even if slightly, the suffering of civilians,” he said, adding that political efforts were needed to ensure a collapse of the humanitarian sector in Gaza could be prevented.
The UN has lobbied for Israel to open the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing near Rafah which used to handle large quantities of goods before the war, but Israel has refused.
“Humanitarian operations within Gaza have largely halted, except for services within shelters and limited distributions of flour in areas south of Wadi Gaza,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its latest report on Saturday.
“The evacuation of wounded people and dual nationals to Egypt, and the return of Gazans stranded in Egypt, have also stopped.”
On Saturday, the Ministry of Health announced that the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza has risen to 15,207, a majority of them women and children, since the war started on October 7.
More than 40,000 people have been wounded in the attacks, it said, adding large numbers of them will die every day due to a lack of treatment options in Gaza hospitals.
Following the October 7 Hamas attack, Israel has been clamping down on pro-Palestinian sentiment within its borders, including passing an amendment to its counterterrorism law that has been criticised for violating civil and human rights.
Much has changed for Jews and Palestinians living inside Israel since the Hamas attack, which killed about 1,200 people, and the subsequent devastation wrought by Israel on Gaza, which has killed more than 14,500 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
Here’s a look at the amendment and how it will affect people living inside Israel:
What is the ‘terrorist content’ amendment?
Israeli politicians began debating a temporary amendment to the counterterrorism law adding “consumption of terrorist materials” as a new criminal offence shortly after the war began.
The Knesset, the Israeli parliament, passed the amendment to the law on November 8 that criminalises “identification” with Hamas and ISIL (ISIS) and carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison. The amendment will be in effect for two years, with the option to extend and add other groups to the list at a later date.
The bill outlines the aim of tackling the phenomenon of “lone-wolf terrorism”, or the radicalisation of individuals not affiliated with any group through consuming content online.
What are the criticisms of the amendment?
Nareman Shehade Zoabi, a lawyer at Adalah, an Israel-based human rights organisation and legal centre, told Al Jazeera it is difficult to tell the severity of the implications of the new law, given its vague nature and the difficulty of understanding what precisely “consumption” means under the law.
“However, this vagueness, together with the exceptions stipulated in the law, clearly reveals the intent to target Palestinians in particular,” she said. “What is extremely concerning is that, in recent days, we have seen the law enforcement authorities in Israel constantly lowering the standard for what can be defined as ‘incitement to terror’ – one form of content prohibited in the law – which has resulted in dozens of outrageous indictments.”
Criminal investigations for such offences usually involve the use of “intrusive tools of surveillance against individuals”, Zoabi said. “We fear that this move is intended to further expand the state’s ability to lock up Palestinians as a means of silencing them.”
Others have criticised the amendment as well.
The Tel Aviv-based Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) said the law “remains unprecedented in democratic countries and may have a chilling effect on freedom of expression”.
Haifa-based Adalah called it “one of the most intrusive and draconian legislative measures ever passed by the Israeli Knesset, since it makes thoughts subject to criminal punishment”.
Are there any safeguards in the new law?
Gur Bligh, a Knesset legal adviser, said the law is not as draconian as critics claim. It includes a provision requiring law enforcement officials to establish that the accused identifies with banned groups.
That, Bligh said, will help avoid “excessive criminalisation”.
But others disagree.
Adalah has called it “one of the most intrusive and draconian legislative measures ever passed by the Israeli Knesset, since it makes thoughts subject to criminal punishment”.
Will the amendment change Israel’s response to pro-Palestinian activities?
There had been reports of people being arrested – and mistreated while detained – for their online activity, including posting on Instagram and liking Facebook content, soon after the war and even before that amendment was passed.
But Israel’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian sentiment has gone much further.
There have been reports of dozens of cases of Palestinian students enrolled in Israeli universities and colleges facing disciplinary action – and sometimes expulsion – over any expression of support for Gaza or raising awareness about Palestinian children being killed by Israeli operations.
Rights groups have also reported instances of Palestinians there losing their jobs and being hit with demotions or suspensions in various sectors, including retail, tech, hospitals and private companies, over support for other Palestinians.
A ban has been imposed on pro-Palestinian and anti-war demonstrations. Lawyers have been warned by the Israeli Bar Association not to publish content online that may be perceived as “incitement to violence”. Members of the Knesset who represent Palestinian political parties have been pressured and threatened with expulsion.
Earlier in November, Israel deported thousands of Palestinian workers from the Gaza Strip who were working inside Israel back to the besieged enclave. They had been abruptly detained without judicial process, having had their work permits revoked, and said they were tortured and insulted in prison.
Does the amendment affect only Palestinians?
The overwhelming majority of crackdowns taking place in Israel following the war have been targeted at Arabs, specifically Palestinians, living in Israel.
But Jewish citizens of Israel have not been spared.
There have been reports of Jewish Israeli activists being targeted by right-wing mobs with what appears to be at least a tacit approval by the state. Shabak, the security services of Israel, is conducting so-called warning talks with Israeli citizens who have spoken or posted online about anything that could be construed as support for Gaza or criticism of the war.
What other legal measures affecting Palestinians have been put in place?
Since the start of the war, Israel more than doubled its number of Palestinian prisoners and conditions in Israeli prisons have significantly deteriorated. Reports and testimonies indicate that Palestinian prisoners have lost a number of limited privileges – like televisions, books, family photos and cooking slabs – that they had gained over decades of struggle, including through hunger strikes.
Rights groups have reported that the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) has considerably restricted access to water, food, medical care, family and lawyer visits, and communal items, is ordering more raids resulting in prisoner beatings, and overcrowding prisons by increasing cell capacities.
The Knesset on October 18 approved an amendment to its “prison ordinance” that effectively allows for the overcrowding of prison cells as the Israeli government arrests more Palestinians.
The amendment legally allows those suspected or convicted of national security-related offences to be placed on mattresses on prison floors.
It was passed as a temporary measure and is slated to remain in effect for three months unless extended. It effectively allows Israeli prisons to take in more inmates even if they are already at full capacity.
Earlier this month, the Israeli Ministry of Interior said it aims to introduce amendments to the counterterrorism and citizenship laws to authorise the revocation of permanent residency or citizenship of an individual who has been convicted of a “terrorism-related” offence.
Israeli media reported on Tuesday that Sports Minister Miki Zohar has requested revocation of citizenship for Ataa Jaber, an Israeli footballer who plays for the Palestinian national team, because he observed a minute of silence during a match against Lebanon last week.
Who is behind the amendments and crackdowns?
Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, one of the most hardline figures in what was already Israel’s most far-right administration under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu even before the war, is believed to be a main driving force behind the crackdowns.
Ben-Gvir was convicted in 2007 – when he was a far-right activist – by a Jerusalem court for “incitement to racism” for carrying signs that, among other things, read “expel the Arab enemy” during demonstrations.
Along with other officials, the minister has been a driver of a policy to significantly increase the number of Israeli civilians who are armed. Days after the Hamas attack, he announced loosening gun controls to allow thousands of assault rifles to be doled out to civilian teams, especially in border towns.
Adalah’s Zoabi noted that since the war began “the most extreme right-wing ministers and lawmakers have been taking advantage of collective feelings of fear and vengeance to advance various measures that entrench Jewish supremacy in Israel”.
“Such measures include efforts to make substantive changes on the ground, like the forcible displacement of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, the arming of Jewish civilians, and the redefinition of the limits of rights and liberties of Palestinians through legislation and governmental policies,” she said.
“These steps are especially alarming when the courts do not make the pretence of curbing the attack on Palestinian rights.”
Apart from ground-penetrating munitions, US has also given Israel several other types of bombs and artillery shells.
The United States has given so-called ‘bunker buster’ bombs and an array of other munitions to Israel for its war on Gaza, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.
Washington has transferred 100 BLU-109 bombs to Israel that are meant to penetrate hardened structures before exploding, the report said, citing unnamed US officials.
The bomb carries a warhead weighing more than 900 kilogrammes (19,80 pounds) and has previously been used by the US in conflicts including the war in Afghanistan.
It is not the only type of ammunition provided by the US to Israel for the war on the besieged enclave, which has so far killed more than 15,000 Palestinians, including at least 6,150 children. The October 7 Hamas attack on Israel that started the war killed 1,200 people.
Unlike the regular arms updates by the US about the war in Ukraine, the Pentagon has remained mostly silent on its level of weapons support for Israel amid international condemnation of Israeli military operations in Gaza.
The WSJ report said a surge of US arms to Israel since the start of the war has included 15,000 bombs and 57,000 155mm artillery shells that have primarily been carried on C-17 military cargo planes.
Washington has also sent more than 5,000 unguided Mk82 bombs, more than 5,400 Mk84 bombs, about 1,000 GBU-39 small-diameter bombs, and approximately 3,000 JDAMs, a guidance kit that turns unguided bombs into precision-guided munitions, it said.
This is on top of the billions of dollars Israel receives each year in US financial support for its military operations.
According to the WSJ, large bombs made by the US have been used in some of the deadliest Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, including a strike that levelled an apartment block in the Jabalia refugee camp, killing more than 100 people. Israel said the attack was justified as it killed a Hamas leader.
Israel’s intense aerial bombing of Gaza restarted shortly after the end of a weeklong truce on Friday that saw dozens of captives held in Gaza exchanged for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. Many dozens of Palestinians have already been killed less than 24 hours after the strikes resumed.
The Israeli army, which has repeatedly been telling Palestinians to evacuate northern Gaza amid its ground operations, said on Saturday that parts of southern Gaza are also a battle zone now. People on the ground and rights groups have repeatedly said there is no safe place in Gaza.
‘Questioning in Congress’
Al Jazeera’s Heidi Zhou-Castro said the report on the delivery of heavy-duty penetration bombs to Israel has raised new questions about continued US arms transfers to the country.
“These are major bombs that the US has used in the past in its wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, but mainly in open areas … Now Israel is using these bombs in a very different environment in Gaza, on a densely populated civilian population,” Zhou-Castro said.
“Many people are now questioning in Congress whether continuing to give these ‘bunker bombs’ is a good idea and also calling for more transparency,” she said.
The penetration bombs could theoretically be used to target the tunnels that Hamas uses to move around personnel and munitions. However, the tunnels are located under a densely populated urban area, which would mean using the bombs would lead to many more civilian casualties.
The US has fully backed the Israeli war efforts in the face of growing international pressure for a total ceasefire. Washington has repeatedly said it has asked Israel to try to limit civilian casualties, even as it lay siege to Gaza’s main hospitals.
The United Nations political mission in Sudan, UNITAMS, will end on Sunday.
A United Nations political mission in war-racked Sudan will end on Sunday after the UN Security Council voted to shut it down following a request from Sudanese authorities last month.
Fourteen of the council’s 15 members adopted Friday’s resolution to end the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS), while Russia abstained.
Starting Monday, a three-month transition period will begin to allow for the departure of UNITAMS personnel and the transfer of its tasks to other UN agencies “where appropriate and to the extent feasible”.
While they voted in favour of the resolution, UN ambassadors from the United States and United Kingdom expressed dismay over the decision.
“Let me be clear, the United Kingdom would not have chosen to close UNITAMS at this moment,” said Britain’s deputy UN envoy James Kariuki, whose country drafted the resolution.
US envoy Robert Wood said: “We are gravely concerned that a reduced international presence in Sudan will only serve to embolden the perpetrators of atrocities with dire consequences for civilians.”
In the text, the council expressed “alarm at the continued violence and humanitarian situation, in particular violations of international humanitarian law and grave human rights violations and abuses” in Sudan.
War erupted on April 15 between the Sudanese army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) after weeks of rising tension between the two sides over a plan to integrate forces as part of a transition from military rule to democracy.
Six million people have since been forced from their homes and 25 million need humanitarian help, the UN says.
‘Disappointing’
“We reiterate that the Sudanese authorities remain responsible for the safety and security of UNITAMS staff and assets during this transition and call for their full cooperation in allowing an orderly withdrawal,” Britain’s Kariuki told the council.
The UN mission in Sudan employs 245 people, including 88 in Port Sudan, as well as others in Nairobi and Addis Ababa, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said last month.
UNITAMS was put in place in 2020 to help support a democratic transition in Sudan following the fall the previous year of President Omar al-Bashir.
But in October 2021, the difficult path to civilian government was cut short, when army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan assumed full powers in a coup.
On April 15, before a deal on resuming the transition to democracy could be signed, fighting erupted between the Sudanese army led by al-Burhan and the RSF, led by General Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo.
A few weeks later, al-Burhan demanded that UNITAMS chief Volker Perthes be sacked, placing blame for the violence on his shoulders. The diplomat ultimately stepped down in September, and has not been replaced.
Last month, saying the mission had been “disappointing”, the government in Khartoum demanded its immediate end, leaving the UNSC with virtually no choice but to withdraw, as the UN must operate with the host nation’s consent.
“We affirm the government’s readiness to continue constructive engagement with the UN by strengthening cooperation with a country team,” Dafallah Alhaj, an envoy to Sudan’s al-Burhan, told the council on Friday. He said the delivery of humanitarian aid was a top priority.
UN officials said the world body will keep trying to help the Sudanese people with the continuing presence of various humanitarian agencies. “What is clear and what should be clear to everyone is that the United Nations is not leaving Sudan,” Dujarric told reporters on Thursday.
Washington, DC – Inexplicable. That is how advocates are describing the actions of some Democratic officials who seem to be not only alienating but actively antagonising members of their own party over differing views on the war in Gaza.
Many prominent Democrats, including United States President Joe Biden, have voiced “unwavering” support for Israel’s military offensive in the Palestinian enclave. But that stance has fractured the Democratic base, with polls showing that a majority of Americans support a ceasefire.
That schism was prominently on display in November, when activists held a ceasefire protest outside the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, DC. Democratic Congressman Brad Sherman responded by calling the demonstrators “pro-terrorist”.
“Apparently, these pro-#Hamas demonstrators want #Republicans to prevail in the next Congressional election,” he wrote in a social media post.
He also accused the activists of attempting to break into the building — an allegation refuted by the protest organisers and journalists who were at the scene. The protesters had sought to block an entrance to the headquarters where a reception was unfolding, and police responded by evacuating lawmakers and forcibly dispersing the activists.
But advocates say Sherman’s reaction was one of many instances where Democratic politicians have smeared their constituents over the Gaza war, signalling a disconnect with the party’s base.
‘Major political error’
Beth Miller, the political director at Jewish Voice for Peace Action, an advocacy group, called Democrats’ attacks on ceasefire activists “pathetic” and “shocking”.
“It’s also a major political error,” Miller told Al Jazeera.
She noted that public opinion polls show most Americans — and an overwhelming majority of Democrats — back an end to hostilities in Gaza.
A Reuters/Ipsos survey released last month indicated 68 percent of respondents believed Israel should call a ceasefire and negotiate an end to the war. That number rose to 77 percent among Democrats alone.
“For these members of Congress to not only dismiss it, but to actively attack those people, I think it means that they’re also not reading the political winds of how people will be voting and what they will be demanding in the coming cycle,” Miller said.
The rift between Democratic policy and public opinion has translated into dwindling approval ratings. In October, the Arab American Institute, a think tank, found Arab American support for Biden had dropped 42 percent, reaching an all-time low.
That downward trend was reflected in the wider public as well. A recent NBC poll showed that 70 percent of voters under 34 disapproved of President Joe Biden’s handling of the war.
Usamah Andrabi, communications director at Justice Democrats, a progressive group, said the Democratic Party is showing itself to be “out of step” with its base as well as the broader electorate.
“It is a baffling calculation to see the president and the White House side far closer with Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government in Israel than a majority of his own Democratic voters at home,” Andrabi told Al Jazeera.
Congressional leaders attend a pro-Israel rally in Washington, DC, on November 14 [File: Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo]
Criticising calls for a ceasefire
From the outset of the war, several Democrats, including Biden, have drawn ire for appearing to vilify activists calling for a ceasefire.
Days after the conflict broke out, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre issued a strongly worded response to a question about legislators allegedly “equating the Hamas terror attack” with Israeli actions.
Jean-Pierre first asked for clarity about which Congress members had done so. When the reporter identified them as members who “called for a ceasefire”, she said their statements were “wrong”, “repugnant” and “disgraceful”.
It was unclear which statements she was referring to, but many activists understood her words to be a condemnation of the progressive lawmakers pushing for an end to the war.
Meanwhile, Democratic Senator John Fetterman earned the praise of the far-right publication Breitbart last month for waving an Israeli flag at ceasefire protesters on Capitol Hill.
Then came the large pro-Israel protest on November 14, during which top congressional Democrats held hands with their Republican counterparts, including House Speaker Mike Johnson. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer led chants of “I stand with Israel”. The crowd regularly called out, “No ceasefire!”
The Biden administration was represented by Deborah Lipstadt, the US envoy to combating anti-Semitism, who delivered a speech. The pro-Israel rally was also attended by far-right figures, including Christian Zionist pastor John Hagee, who has been accused of stoking both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
A day after the rally, two White House communications officials Andrew Bates and Herbie Ziskend shared approvingly a Fox News story titled, “Biden allies condemn far-left calls for ceasefire in Israel-Hamas war”.
In the article, Democratic lawmakers — including Fetterman and Congressman Ritchie Torres — praised Biden for his support for Israel and admonished those demanding an end to the war as “fringe”.
An anonymous Biden administration official quoted in the story criticised the mainstream media for not being critical enough of Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American member of Congress.
The criticism of Palestinian rights supporters continued this week when Democratic Congressman Brad Schneider gave an interview to Fox News.
He called for revoking the tax-exempt status of groups that he claimed are diverting money “into terrorist organisations”, citing — without evidence — the advocacy organisation American Muslims for Palestine. He added that “groups like Students for Justice in Palestine and others should not be getting these tax benefits”.
‘Core voting bases’
Andrabi, from Justice Democrats, understands this kind of rhetoric as corrosive to the relationship Democratic politicians have with their supporters.
“What we are seeing is the Biden administration attempting to gaslight the American people into believing that their majority that supports a ceasefire is somehow radical and fringe when the only people who are radical and fringe is the coalition between Netanyahu’s far-right government and the Biden White House,” Andrabi said.
He dismissed arguments that the war will not shake Biden’s standing with voters as he seeks reelection in 2024.
Foreign policy is seldom a top priority for voters. But advocates say the scale of the violence in Gaza has made it a decisive issue for many constituents. Some United Nations experts have gone so far as to warn of “a grave risk of genocide“.
“I don’t think anybody will forget that a year from now. And what Democrats are doing is trying to will it into existence that this is not going to matter,” Andrabi explained. But, he added, “it matters so much to so many of their core voting bases”.
Delaware State Representative Madinah Wilson-Anton, who was part of a hunger strike outside the White House this week calling for a ceasefire, expressed bewilderment at the mainstream Democrats’ position.
“I’m trying to figure out what the rationale is,” she told Al Jazeera, voicing disappointment in Biden.
“People feel betrayed. People feel like they were led to believe he was this moral leader that was going to restore the soul of America.”
New York State Representative Zohran Mamdani said Americans are desperate for a government that represents them and their demands. He expressed surprise that calls for a ceasefire have been deemed controversial.
“I don’t know how this demand is characterised as something that is far-left. This is the most mainstream demand in America today on foreign policy,” he said.
More than 180 people have been killed and hundreds of others wounded as Israeli forces resumed their bombardment of the Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian officials, after a week-long truce expired.
Eastern areas of Khan Younis in southern Gaza came under intense bombardment as the deadline lapsed shortly after dawn on Friday, with columns of smoke rising into the sky, the Reuters news agency reported. Residents took to the road with belongings heaped in carts, searching for shelter further west.
Sirens blared across southern Israel as militants fired rockets from the coastal enclave into towns. Hamas said it had targeted Tel Aviv, but there were no reports of casualties or damage there.
Gaza health officials said Israeli air strikes had killed 184 people, wounded at least 589 others and hit more than 20 houses.
The Israeli military dropped leaflets over Gaza City and southern parts of the enclave on Friday, urging civilians to flee to avoid the fighting, but rights groups have repeatedly warned there are no safe places in Gaza.
“Civilians are being ordered to move south, but nowhere in Gaza is safe due to the indiscriminate bombing and continued fighting,” said the NGO Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) on X, calling on the Israeli army to rescind the order.
Civilians are being ordered to move south, but nowhere in Gaza is safe due to the indiscriminate bombing and continued fighting.
— Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières (@MSF_canada) December 1, 2023
The UN said the fighting would worsen an extreme humanitarian emergency. “Hell on Earth has returned to Gaza,” Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN humanitarian office in Geneva, said.
The Palestinian Red Crescent (PRCS) says Israeli forces informed “all organisations and entities” operating at the crossing that the entry of trucks is “prohibited, starting from today” and until further notice.
“This decision exacerbates the suffering of citizens and increases the challenges facing humanitarian and relief organisations in alleviating the hardships of citizens and displaced persons due to the ongoing aggression,” the PRCS said in a post on X.
‘Urgent rescue plan’
Speaking to reporters after Israel resumed its bombardment, Gaza’s government media office called on Arab and Muslim states to urgently establish field hospitals in the besieged enclave to save “tens of thousands of injured people”.
The office’s spokesperson, Salama Marouf, said a “large number of aid trucks” is also urgently needed, including at least one million litres (more than 264,000 gallons) of fuel per day.
Marouf called on countries, especially members of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, to come up with an “urgent rescue plan” and to find “quick humanitarian solutions that address the fate of more than 250,000 families who have lost their homes”.
Each of the warring sides blamed the other for causing the collapse of the truce by rejecting terms to extend the daily release of hostages held by armed groups in exchange for Palestinian detainees.
The pause, which began on November 24, had been extended twice, and Israel had said it could continue as long as Hamas released 10 hostages each day. But after seven days during which women, children and foreign hostages were freed, mediators failed at the final hour to find a formula to release more, including Israeli soldiers and civilian men.
Qatar, which has played a central role in mediation efforts along with the United States and Egypt, said negotiations were still going on with Israelis and Palestinians to restore the truce, but that Israel’s renewed bombardment of Gaza had complicated its efforts.
In a meeting with the United Kingdom’s newly-appointed Foreign Secretary David Cameron on the sidelines of COP28 in Dubai, Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, said his country was committed to continuing efforts to de-escalate.
According to a a statement released by Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the two reviewed the latest developments in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories as well as ways to implement a lasting ceasefire.
The White House also said it was pushing to restore the truce, with Press Secretary John Kirby telling reporters on Friday evening that the US wants to see more captives released and more humanitarian aid get into the Strip.
“There has been some disappointment, the fact that the US efforts to extend the ceasefire were not successful, but the other reaction has been to simply repeat the Israeli line that the end of the ceasefire came about because of actions by Hamas,” Al Jazeera’s Mike Hannah reported from Washington, DC.
“Blinken says Israel is acting immediately to ensure the safety of civilians in the conflict zones, giving them areas in which they will take safe shelter. This ignores the fact that Israel has, in turn, ignored the humanitarian notification system,” he added.
Egypt says it was also working to reinstate the truce in Gaza as soon as possible, according to a statement by Egypt’s State Information Service.
More than 15,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 7, including more than 6,000 children. In Israel, the official death toll stands at about 1,200.
Israel’s assault on Gaza resumes the day after the summit reaches an agreement over a long-sought rehabilitation fund.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged world leaders at the COP28 climate summit to plan for a future without fossil fuels, saying there was no other way to curb global warming.
Speaking a day after COP28 President Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber proposed embracing the continued use of fossil fuels, Guterres said: “We cannot save a burning planet with a fire hose of fossil fuels.”
“The 1.5-degree limit is only possible if we ultimately stop burning all fossil fuels. Not reduce. Not abate,” he said on Friday, referring to nascent technologies to capture and store carbon emissions.
The competing visions summed up the difficulty of the UN climate talks in the oil-producing United Arab Emirates, where divisions over fossil fuels and acrimony over lagging financing and geopolitical tensions around the war in Gaza threatened to distract delegates from making progress.
Climate disaster fund
An agreement was reached on Thursday for the creation of a “loss and damage fund” to help poor countries weather the impacts of climate change, which is largely the result of fossil fuel use by rich countries, which have produced a large share of cumulative emissions.
While such a fund has long been sought by developing nations, which stand to lose the most from climate change and have urged richer countries to provide assistance, only $700m was dedicated to the fund. Poor countries had said $100bn is needed.
A member from a developing nation on the summit’s main advisory board also resigned on Friday after reports that the host, the United Arab Emirates, would use the event to try to secure commercial deals on further oil and gas production.
“These actions undermine the integrity of the COP presidency and the process as a whole,” Hilda Heine, former president of the low-lying, climate-vulnerable Marshall Islands, said in a resignation letter.
A spokesperson for al-Jaber, who is also the head of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, has denied the reports and said he is “extremely disappointed” by the resignation.
Hadeel Ikhmais, a climate change expert with the Palestinian Authority, speaks to reporters at the COP28 UN Climate Summit [Joshua A Bickel/AP Photo]
Anger over Gaza war
Some world leaders took their turn at the podium on Friday to criticise Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, breaking an unspoken agreement to steer clear of politics at UN climate summits.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erodgan and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa accused Israel of committing war crimes in Gaza during their speeches while an Israeli official said the military was abiding by international law and was intent on destroying Hamas.
“South Africa is appalled by the cruel tragedy that is under way in Gaza. The war against the innocent people of Palestine is a war crime that must be ended now,” Ramaphosa said.
“As we see in this region, conflicts are causing immense suffering and intense emotion,” Guterres said in remarks on Friday. “We just had the news that the bombs are sounding again in Gaza.”
“We are here all together, all the world together, to combat climate change and, really, we’re negotiating for what?” asked Hadeel Ikhmais, a climate change expert with the Palestinian Authority. “We’re negotiating for what in the middle of a genocide?”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog had been scheduled to give a speech on Friday but did not do so after other leaders criticised Israel’s heavy bombardment of Gaza, which Colombian President Gustavo Petro called “genocide and barbarism unleashed on the Palestinian people”.
Questions raised about responsibility and accountability as Israel resumes bombardment of Gaza.
Israel has resumed its bombardment of Gaza after mediators failed to extend a seven-day ceasefire in the besieged territory. Air strikes have targeted houses and refugee camps in the north, in the centre and in the south of Gaza.
Palestinians there were already suffering a humanitarian crisis. The United Nations says 80 percent of the population has been displaced and the healthcare system has collapsed.
The Israeli army offensive raises questions of responsibility and accountability.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is acting in self-defence after attacks by Hamas on southern Israel on October 7 killed 1,200 people.
It began a bombing campaign of Gaza that same day and then launched a ground offensive, killing more than 15,000 Palestinians.
Under international law, Israel is the occupying power in Gaza and the West Bank and is obliged to protect all the people there.
But Israel doesn’t recognise Palestine as a state and argues Hamas has bases in hospitals and residential areas, making them legitimate military targets.
Presenter: Laura Kyle
Guests:
Mustafa Barghouti – secretary general of the Palestinian National Initiative
Ahmed Abofoul – legal researcher and advocacy officer at Al-Haq, an independent Palestinian human rights organisation
Triestino Mariniello – professor of law at Liverpool John Moores University and member of the legal team for Gaza victims at the International Criminal Court
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