Middle East crisis

Israel-Palestine conflict
Macron: “Unacceptable” that the US stops Palestinians

Emmanuel Macron is furious at the US decision to deny Palestinian representatives visas to the UN General Assembly in September. In a post on X, the French president calls the decision “unacceptable” and demands that the US change its decision.

Last week, the US announced that representatives of the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization are being blocked from the meeting. The decision means, among other things, that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will not be allowed to travel to New York.

At the General Assembly, several countries, including France, are expected to recognize Palestine. 

Gaza war
Scientist: “No doubt” that it is genocide

It may take several years for the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to decide whether Israel’s warfare in Gaza constitutes genocide or not. This is what Turkish genocide expert Onur Uraz, assistant professor at Turkish Hacettepe University and author of the academic work “Classifying Genocide in International Law”, tells TT.

Uraz is one of the researchers responsible for the IAGS resolution, which on Monday ruled that Israel's warfare in Gaza meets the legal criteria for genocide. Uraz says that the legal bar for what constitutes genocide is set high, but that there is no doubt that it is what is happening in Gaza.

According to Uraz, Israel had the right to strike back against Hamas after the attack on October 7, 2023.

- But then it became something completely different: the intention is no longer just to crush Hamas.

Uraz points to several examples in Israel's warfare: Israel blocking emergency aid, forcing the population to move, destroying properties and slandering residents of Gaza. 

Distrust among reservists a headache for Netanyahu

Israel has begun the mobilization of tens of thousands of reservists as part of a plan to broaden the offensive in Gaza City. This is reported by the AP. According to Israeli Army Radio, 40,000 reservists are to report for duty on Tuesday.

Many of the reservists have already served hundreds of days since the outbreak of the war and are now expected to sign up for another three months, with the possibility of a one-month extension depending on how the fighting develops, writes Haaretz.

The army fears that the response to the mobilization will be poor, something that may be partly obscured in the statistics but which will be felt all the more clearly on the ground. Heavy voices within the IDF believe that Benjamin Netanyahu's plans risk the lives of the hostages, and according to senior defense sources, a crisis of confidence has spread among the reservist ranks.