Kamala Harris says she won’t give up pushing for end to Israel-Gaza war
Kamala Harris says she won’t give up pushing for end to Israel-Gaza war/node/2575961/world
Kamala Harris says she won’t give up pushing for end to Israel-Gaza war
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris campaigns at a get-out-the-vote rally in Detroit, Michigan, a key battleground state for the two presidential candidates, on October 19, 2024. (Getty Images/AFP)
Kamala Harris says she won’t give up pushing for end to Israel-Gaza war
Harris acknowledged challenges ahead but told reporters she would continue to push for an end to the conflict
Harris on Friday won the endorsements of 50 prominent Lebanese-Americans, who said the US had been “unrelenting” in its support for Lebanon under the Biden administration
Updated 37 sec ago
Reuters
DETROIT, Michigan: US Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday repeated her call for a ceasefire in Israel’s war in Gaza and said it was important to seize the opportunity provided by the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, a mastermind of the Oct. 7 attack.
Harris acknowledged challenges ahead but told reporters she would continue to push for an end to the conflict.
“This creates an opening that I believe we must take full advantage of — to dedicate ourselves to ending this war and bringing the hostages home,” she said.
“As it relates to the issues in the Middle East and in particular in that region, it has never been easy. But that doesn’t mean we give up. It’s always going to be difficult. We can’t give up.”
Harris dodged a question on whether Arab American and Muslim anger over US support for Israel’s continued bombardment of Gaza and more recently in Lebanon could cost her the election in the battleground state of Michigan, but said she would continue speaking out about the tragic loss of innocent lives.
“I speak publicly all the time about the fact that there are so many tragic stories coming from Gaza,” Harris said, also referencing the initial Hamas Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
“What’s critically important as we look at this moment, is ... acknowledging the tragedy of what has happened in Gaza, in terms of the extraordinary number of innocent Palestinians that have been killed, and taking that seriously and speaking truth about that,” she said.
Harris and Trump are essentially tied in the most competitive states like Michigan, with just 17 days until the Nov. 5 election.
Harris will need strong results in the majority non-white cities of Detroit and Atlanta and their surrounding suburbs — both of which have large Arab American and Muslim populations — to repeat US President Joe Biden’s 2020 wins in Michigan and Georgia. Trump won Michigan by 11,000 votes in 2016. In 2020, Biden beat Trump by 155,000 votes.
Harris on Friday won the endorsements of 50 prominent Lebanese-Americans, who said the US had been “unrelenting” in its support for Lebanon under the Biden administration and that they expect additional backing if Harris wins in November.
The endorsement came amid ongoing Israeli attacks on Lebanon that have killed at least 2,350 people over the last year, according to the Lebanese health ministry, with more than 1.2 million people displaced. Hezbollah attacks have killed 50 Israeli soldiers and civilians, according to Israel.
The death toll has mounted in Gaza after the Oct. 7 attack that killed around 1,200 people, with another 253 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s military response in Gaza has killed more than 42,500 people, Palestinian officials say.
Why the Arab-American vote is not just about the Middle East conflict
New survey conducted by Arab News and YouGov captures the nuances and complexities of the important demographic’s priorities
Al-Arabiya’s Joseph Haboush and Arab News’s Tarek Ali Ahmad analyzed the findings on the Ray Hanania Radio Show
Updated 10 min 58 sec ago
Ray Hanania & Gabriele Malvisi
CHICAGO/LONDON: The Arab American voter base, often viewed primarily through the lens of Middle East concerns like the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, presents a far more nuanced picture in the upcoming US elections, experts have told Arab News.
Discussing the preview of a new survey conducted by Arab News and YouGov, Joseph Haboush, Washington correspondent for Al Arabiya English, and Tarek Ali Ahmad, head of Arab News’ Research & Studies Unit, said that while the Palestinian issue remains significant, Arab Americans are equally focused on domestic issues like the economy, border security and hate speech.
“The issue of Palestine is not as prevalent among the Arab American voters as one might think,” Haboush said.
A Lebanese American, Haboush said that many Arab Americans, particularly those of Lebanese origin, have conflicting views on Palestine due to Lebanon’s own complex history with the Palestinian community during its civil war.
Some blame the Palestinians for their role in the conflict, while others view the matter differently, Haboush said during the taping of “The Ray Hanania Radio Show” on Thursday.
“It’s interesting that it might not be as high of a priority among the Arab American voters as an outsider might think.”
Lebanon’s demographic shift, fueled by the influx of Palestinians in 1948 and 1967, contributed to tensions that culminated in the Lebanese Civil War from 1975 to 1990.
The conflict, pitting Palestinian and Lebanese Muslim forces against Christian militias, drew in regional powers like Syria, Israel and Iran, leading to devastating consequences.
The war left Lebanon in a fragile sectarian balance that persists today.
Many Lebanese fled the violence, seeking refuge in the US and Europe, where they established communities that, while preserving Lebanese heritage, have become increasingly integrated into local society and politics.
With the 2024 election shaping up to be a head-to-head race between Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris, Arab American voters are weighing multiple priorities. The survey shows that these voters, who have often been portrayed as a monolithic bloc driven by foreign policy, are just as concerned about bread-and-butter issues facing their daily lives.
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris (left) and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump campaign in the US state of Michigan, a key battleground state for the two candidates, on October 19, 2024. (Getty Images/AFP)
The survey found that while 68 percent of Arab Americans considered the US stance on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict when deciding their vote, a near-equal number expressed concern over the economy and inflation, which ranked as the most pressing issues for 65 percent of respondents.
This signals a shift in priorities, where domestic economic challenges are competing with longstanding foreign policy issues for Arab Americans’ attention.
“The poll that was conducted by YouGov and Arab News essentially revealed that Arab Americans are nearly evenly split in their support for two major presidential candidates, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris,” Arab News’s Ali Ahmad said.
He added that while only 4 percent favored third-party candidate Jill Stein — known for criticizing US support for Israel — a small segment of undecided voters could play a crucial role, particularly in battleground states such as Michigan, where the Arab American community could sway the election outcome.
The Biden administration has faced heavy criticism for its unwavering support of Israel’s military actions against Hamas and Hezbollah, pushing the region to the brink of a wider conflict involving Iran’s “Axis of Resistance.”
The alliance, comprising Tehran-backed militias in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen, has fueled a tit-for-tat escalation of violence, with diplomats worldwide scrambling to prevent further chaos.
Haboush argued that Washington, despite co-leading negotiations for ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon, has failed to effectively leverage its diplomatic power, “putting a bit of a dent on the US image abroad”.
Despite that, 52 percent of Arab Americans surveyed want the US to either maintain or increase its military presence in the region, Haboush highlighted.
“They want the US to kind of work its diplomatic channels, (and) at the same time they don’t want the US to leave, according to this poll, at least from a military point of view. Because, I think, the belief is that once the military presence is gone, just the overall interest is gone,” Haboush said, adding that the survey results reflect a belief in the value of US involvement, despite recent diplomatic shortcomings.
This sentiment emerged as Israel on Thursday confirmed the death of Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas and mastermind of the Oct. 7 attacks where 1,200 people were killed, mostly civilians, and 250 abducted, killed during a patrol in Rafah in southern Gaza.
In this Oct. 21, 2011 photo, Yahya Sinwar, a founder of Hamas' military wing, talks during a rally in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/File)
Sinwar’s death, widely seen as pivotal, could mark a new phase in the conflict that has claimed more than 42,000 lives in Gaza and more than 2,400 in Lebanon, following clashes between Israel and Hezbollah.
While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to press on, some officials view Sinwar’s death as a potential opening for peace, providing a chance for the more than year-long conflict in Gaza to finally end, and for Israeli hostages to be brought home.
With less than 20 days until the election, analysts expect that US President Joe Biden may seize this window to push for a ceasefire, a move that could influence the election and boost the campaign of Kamala Harris, who is viewed by respondents of the survey as less likely to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict compared to Republican nominee Donald Trump.
“There’s a notable division in who Arab Americans believe is better to handle the situation (in Gaza and Lebanon). Many of them feel that both candidates are simply incapable regarding Middle East issues,” Ali Ahmad said, adding that “a significant enough amount (of voters) to alter this election” have veered toward Stein in protest of US foreign policy.
“The results showed that a majority of those polled, 40 percent, considered themselves as Democrat, while 28 percent considered themselves Republican,” he said.
“Yet, they found that Donald Trump was more likely to be the person who would be able to end the Palestine-Israel conflict.”
The fact that “the person that’s closer to the aggressor” is seen as more likely to resolve the conflict, is “kind of paradoxical in a sense,” Ali Ahmad added.
Further complicating the picture, more than one-third of respondents expressed equal support for both a two-state solution and a one-state model, where Israelis and Palestinians share equal rights.
As Haboush said on “The Ray Hanania Radio Show,” the Palestinian issue, while important, does not entirely overshadow other regional concerns.
He argued that people are still deeply invested in what happens in the Middle East, particularly the situation with Iran, highlighting his belief that Arab Americans supposedly wanting a more “hawkish approach” over a diplomatic one “wasn’t 100-percent accurate.”
Haboush said that although foreign policy is relevant, the 2024 election will likely be driven by domestic issues that deeply resonate with Arab American voters, such as the economy, border control and discrimination. The survey, designed to provide clearer insights into Arab American priorities, reveals a much more nuanced picture than anticipated.
“If you look domestically, the voter base would traditionally align with the conservative party,” Haboush said. “Even when you look at foreign policy, I thought a lot (of people) preferred this more hawkish approach, yet the poll says a little bit otherwise.”
He also pointed out that the younger generation of Arab Americans, many of whom have been vocal on social media about the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon and may be first-time voters, adds another layer of complexity. “So, it’s just difficult to gauge,” he said.
With the election approaching and the race in a tight balance, Haboush said that both candidates are increasingly aware of the Arab American vote’s importance. This has been reflected in growing media attention to the demographic, as campaigns focus on undecided voters in key battleground states.
“The mainstream media in the US don’t understand the diversity of the Arab American community,” he said. “For decades, the Arab American has just been portrayed as a victim of war and conflict immigration.
Haboush criticized the media for selective coverage, saying that outlets “cover the Arab American polling in great detail (because) it fits into some sort of narrative … (but) don’t see the productive role that they’ve played generation after generation in this country, and a number of factors playing to that.”
The full survey, set to be released in the coming days, promises more detailed insights into Arab American voting patterns and the issues shaping their decisions, on one of the most anticipated elections in recent history.
As the US prepares for a head-to-head race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, the Arab American vote may prove more pivotal — and complex — than ever before.
“The Ray Hanania Radio Show” airs every Thursday on the U.S. Arab Radio Network on WNZK AM 690 Radio in Michigan at 5 p.m. EST, with a rebroadcast the following Monday. The show, sponsored by Arab News, is also available via podcast at ArabNews.com.rayradioshow and Facebook.com/ArabNews.
Video published by Ukraine purports to show North Korean soldiers in Russia
In the video, presumably North Korean soldiers stand in line to pick up bags, clothes and other apparel from Russian servicemen
“We cannot provide additional verification from the sources who provided it to us due to security concerns,” said Ihor Solovey, head of the center
Updated 19 October 2024
AP
KYIV: A video purporting to show dozens of North Korean recruits lining up to collect Russian military fatigues and gear aims to intimidate Ukrainian forces and marks a new chapter in the 2 1/2-year war with the introduction of another country into the battlefield, Ukrainian officials said.
In the video, which was verified by Ukraine’s Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security, which operates under the Culture and Information Ministry, presumably North Korean soldiers stand in line to pick up bags, clothes and other apparel from Russian servicemen. The Associated Press could not verify the video independently.
“We received this video from our own sources. We cannot provide additional verification from the sources who provided it to us due to security concerns,” said Ihor Solovey, head of the center.
“The video clearly shows North Korean citizens being given Russian uniforms under the direction of the Russian military,” he said. “For Ukraine, this video is important because it is the first video evidence that shows North Korea participating in the war on the side of Russia. Now not only with weapons and shells but also with personnel.”
The center claims the footage was shot by a Russian soldier in recent days.
It comes after the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, said in local media reports that about 11,000 North Korean infantrymen were currently training in eastern Russia. He predicted they would be ready to join fighting by November. At least 2,600 would be sent to Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukraine launched an incursion in August, he was quoted as saying.
“The emergence of any number of new soldiers is a problem because we will simply need new, additional weapons to destroy them all,” Solovey told AP. “The dissemination of this video is important as a signal to the world community that with two countries officially at war against Ukraine, we will need more support to repel this aggression.”
The presence of North Korean soldiers in Ukraine, if true, would be another proof of intensified military ties between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Last summer, they signed a strategic partnership treaty that commits both countries to provide military assistance. North Korean weapons have already been used in the Ukraine war.
France vows support for Ukraine’s plan to end Russian invasion
The proposal is being considered by Ukraine’s Western partners, whose help is vital for Kyiv to resist its bigger neighbor
A key element would be a formal invitation into NATO, which Western backers have been reluctant to consider until after the war ends
Updated 19 October 2024
AP
KYIV: French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot pledged his support for Ukraine’s plan for ending the 2 1/2-year war with Russia, telling reporters in Kyiv on Saturday that he will work with Ukrainian officials to secure other nations’ backing for the proposal.
Unveiled by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier this week, Kyiv’s so-called “victory plan” hopes to compel Russia to end its invasion of Ukraine through negotiations.
The proposal is being considered by Ukraine’s Western partners, whose help is vital for Kyiv to resist its bigger neighbor. A key element would be a formal invitation into NATO, which Western backers have been reluctant to consider until after the war ends.
“A Russian victory would be a consecration for the law of the strongest and would push the international order toward chaos,” Barrot said at a joint press conference with his Ukrainian counterpart, Andrii Sybiha. “That is why our exchanges should allow us to make progress on President Zelensky’s victory plan and rally the greatest number possible of countries around it.”
Since the 2022 invasion, France has been one of Ukraine’s staunchest military, diplomatic and economic supporters in Europe. It is currently training and equipping what will become a full new brigade of Ukrainian soldiers for front-line deployment.
French President Emmanuel Macron has also previously pushed for a policy shift from Ukraine’s Western allies that could change the complexion of the war — allowing Kyiv to strike military bases inside Russia with sophisticated long-range weapons provided by Western partners, which include missiles from France.
Long-range strikes are a key part of Zelensky’s five-point plan but have been met with reluctance by Kyiv’s allies so far.
Barrot also announced that France would deliver the first batch of Mirage 2000 combat jets to Ukraine in the first three months of 2025, with Ukrainian pilots and mechanics also trained to fly and maintain them.
“By resisting against the invader with exceptional courage, you are not only fighting for Ukraine’s territorial integrity, but you are also holding a front line that separates Europe from Vladimir Putin’s Russia, that separates freedom from oppression,” the French minister said in Kyiv.
Russia and Ukraine exchange POWs
Barrot’s visit coincided with a prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine late Friday night that included 190 POWs traded by the two sides under a deal negotiated by the United Arab Emirates.
Among the 95 Ukrainians were 34 Azov fighters who defended Mariupol and the Azovstal steelworks, the fortress-like plant in the now-occupied city of Mariupol where their last-ditch stand became a symbol of resistance against Moscow’s invasion.
“Ninety-five of our people are home again. These are the warriors who defended Mariupol and ‘Azovstal,’ as well as the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Kherson regions,” Zelensky wrote in a post on X.
The head of the Azov Brigade, Denys Prokopenko, said on Facebook that 34 Azov fighters had been returned, but that another 900 remained in Russian captivity.
A well-known Ukrainian human rights activist and service member, Maksym Butkevych, was also among the 95 exchanged. His release was announced by the ZMINA Human Rights Center, the organization that he co-founded.
The swap follows the repatriation of 501 dead soldiers to Ukraine Friday in what appeared to be the biggest repatriation of war dead since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Most of the soldiers were killed in action in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine, mostly around the city of Avdiivka that Russian forces captured in February after a long and grueling battle, Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said in a statement.
Russia also received the bodies of 89 of its soldiers, Russian lawmaker Shamsayil Saraliyev told reporters.
Elsewhere, the Russian Ministry of Defense said that it shot down 16 Ukrainian drones over Russia’s Bryansk, Rostov, and Belgorod regions in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Local social media channels shared images that appeared to show a blaze at a factory in the Bryansk region specializing in microelectronics. Russian authorities did not confirm the strike.
WARSAW: A new exhibition on Gaza opened in the Polish capital Warsaw over the weekend, reenacting videos of atrocities posted on social media by Israeli soldiers who committed them.
“With Deepest Sympathy” features the work of Igor Dobrowolski, a sculptor and painter, whose art has for years touched subjects that include physical and economic violence, war crimes and genocide.
It started with a performance where the blindfolded artist, with his face covered and hands bound by cable ties, knelt on the concrete floor next to child-sized burial shrouds, where he remained unable to move for seven hours like the Palestinian men in the countless videos shared online by their armed captors.
“I treat oppressed people as close to my heart,” Dobrowolski told Arab News. “When you treat others that way, it’s hard to bear when they are subjected to such immense injustice.”
He was surrounded by his paintings illustrating the stories of atrocities reported throughout the year of Israel’s deadly onslaught on Gaza — or what is being widely called the first “livestreamed genocide.”
On the other side, LCD screens showed videos of Dobrowolski staging some of the many clips Israeli troops have posted on TikTok since the war began, documenting themselves blowing up residential buildings and schools, looting homes, abusing civilians — all of which are war crimes under the Geneva Convention.
Called the “Most moral army in the world,” the series also relates to the shocking footage circulated online in the aftermath of Israeli attacks on the population of Gaza, including a recent one in which displaced people sheltering in tents were burnt alive.
As hours passed, people came closer to the artist, some to take videos, some to check on him. At one point, a woman who could not bear the sight tried to untie his hands. At another, Palestinian Ambassador Mahmoud Khalifa knelt down and embraced him.
“These works reflect the pain, the martyrdom of the people who are living it ... This voice is very loud, I think it should reach everyone,” he said. “Thank you. We can feel this solidarity, we can feel this support.”
Since last year, Dobrowolski has held numerous solo demonstrations in front of the Israeli, US and German embassies in Warsaw, and also at monuments such as the Berlin Wall and Auschwitz concentration camp.
With banners “Israel exploits Holocaust memory to carry out genocide,” “Israel is doing to Palestinians what Germany did to the Jews,” he stood alone, often for hours, in cold and rain.
But in his cause, he is not alone, knowing that his family will always have his back.
“I am depressed and terrified, but full of admiration for my child,” his mother, Teresa, told Arab News. “No matter what he does, we’ll stand by him all the way.”
Dobrowolski has received threats because of his work, and admits he often fears for his future, given how solidarity with the Palestinians, especially those in Gaza, has been widely silenced and cracked down on.
“I realize how powerful the forces we are fighting are,” he said. “I know, however, what is right and what is wrong, and I know I should do something, even though I have plenty of excuses not to. But I just close my eyes and do it. As Chris Hedges said: ‘I don’t fight fascists because I’m going to win; I fight fascists because they are fascists.’”
The artist, whose works have been displayed at Maddox Gallery in the UK and Gin Huang Gallery in Taiwan, has lately had his visibility limited on social media platforms which regularly shadowban content related to Palestine.
For the curator of his Warsaw exhibition, that was yet another reason for the show to take place, despite warnings that there was “risk.”
It was a way to expand the reach of “content that is constantly subjected to manipulation and censorship,” Karolina Kliszewska from Cliche Gallery said.
“Art at this moment is the only realm of freedom ... I feel that this is a risk in the sense that more people will awaken and be touched by this kind of performance and the boldness of the creator, who restores the meaning and significance of the term ‘committed art.’”
JAKARTA: At least two patients have died at the Indonesia Hospital in north Gaza, while dozens of people remain trapped inside after Israeli strikes early on Saturday morning, Indonesian volunteers reported.
The hospital, which is funded by the Indonesian NGO Medical Emergency Rescue Committee, was one of just three partially functional hospitals treating critical patients and sheltering displaced Palestinians in northern Gaza since the latest Israeli offensive began earlier this month.
There were at least 40 patients and 15 medics trapped inside the hospital, Sarbini Abdul Murad, chairman of MER-C’s board of trustees in Jakarta, told Arab News.
“Two people died. We haven’t received any more updates but with the patients’ critical condition, and Israel complicating the medical supply process, we are very concerned about the lives of the other patients,” he said. “The Indonesia Hospital has been under Israeli attack, and the bombing destroyed the third and fourth floor. And now tanks are encircling the hospital.”
Murad said he was in touch with Gaza’s deputy health minister, Yousef Abu Al-Rish, and the hospital’s director, Dr. Marwan Al-Sultan, about the ongoing attack.
“The patients trapped there are in critical condition, and they cannot evacuate. The health workers can’t possibly leave them behind because of their condition, so they are staying because it is part of their moral and professional responsibility to help those who need medical attention,” he said.
North Gaza was also under a communications blackout following deadly air strikes in the area, said Fikri Rofiul Haq, a MER-C volunteer who has sought safety in the central Deir Al-Balah city after Israeli forces issued evacuation orders ahead of their latest ground and air attacks.
“They cut off electricity and the internet, please pray for the Indonesia Hospital — don’t let the Zionist forces destroy it again,” Haq wrote on social media.
The hospital has been targeted by Israeli forces before. In November 2023, intense shelling of the building killed at least 12 people.
In a statement issued on Saturday, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Israel was “intensifying its targeting of the health system in the northern Gaza Strip” and laying siege to and directly targeting the Indonesia Hospital, Kamal Adwan Hospital, and Al-Awda Hospital with the intention of “putting them out of service.”
More than a year since Israel launched its war on Gaza, its military has killed at least 42,500 people and injured more than 99,500. The real death toll is suspected to be much higher, with estimates published by medical journal The Lancet indicating that, as of July, it could be more than 186,000.
