Anti-Semitism is on the Rise in Europe as the Casualty Count in the Israel-Gaza Conflict Continues to Grow

By Kyle Herda

Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BRUSSELS, Belgium – The battle between Israel and Gaza has led to many casualties, mostly on the side of Gaza. The massive loss by the Palestinians, many of whom were civilians, has led to a growing anti-Semitic behavior across Europe.

Israel strikes Gaza City with an air and artillery strike. (Photo courtesy of The Independent)

With multiple strikes by Israel upon U.N. compounds in Gaza sheltering Palestinian civilians, the most recent occurring this past weekend, many nations have become angered by Israel. Even the United States, an ally to Israel, labeled Israel’s most recent attack as “disgraceful.” French President Francois Hollande also questioned the aspect of remaining neutral with a conflict of such magnitude raging on.

But governments are not the only ones who are upset with Israel as a result of this major conflict. While Israel is not without its own sizeable casualty list, with well over a thousand rockets having been fired at Israel over the past month or more, the Palestinian casualty count is nearly ten times as great. Specifically the high civilian casualty count in Gaza has led to a growing hatred towards Israel that appears to be spreading throughout Europe. A British poll goes as far as to call some of the attacks by Israel against Gaza “war crimes.”

Within Belgium, a doctor refused emergency care to a Jewish woman. In Spain, a writer called for expelling a Jewish community. In Italy, philosopher Gianni Vattimo harshly states how he would like to shoot “Zionists.” A teenager in Germany firebombed a synagogue. In France, anti-Israel protestors attacked a synagogue. Even in Ireland a councilman urged the shelling of Israel.

While given that a large portion of this new brewing dislike is a result of Israel’s actions and it is likely that most of these remarks and attacks are the result of political distaste, it has given fuel to an underlying anti-Semitic minority. Germany is a strong advocate of educating people as to the atrocities that occurred during World War Two, and has always been quick to stomp out any hateful protests.

However, amid condemnation by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Joachim Gauck, anti-Semitism has seen a recent violent increase in Germany. This fear has spread not only among Jewish citizens of Germany, but many other European countries as well. France has seen a large emigration of its Jewish citizens to Israel as of late.

With anti-Semitism across Europe slowly beginning to spread and boil as the Israel-Gaza conflict drags on, the safety of Jewish citizens in Europe is becoming more unsure by the day.

For more information, please see:

Daily News – Behind Europe’s anti-Semitic slurs – 4 August 2014

The Washington Post – How Israel is losing Europe – 4 August 2014

The New York Times – Anti-Semitism Rises in Europe Amid Israel-Gaza Conflict – 1 August 2014

The New York Times – Number of French Jews Emigrationg to Israel Rises – 20 June 2014

Media Restrictions in Fiji Threaten Free and Fair Democratic Elections

by Max Bartels

Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania 

 

Suva, Fiji

Fiji is preparing for its first democratic election since the military coup in 2006. Since the coup the Fijian media has been subjected to restrictions by the military government seeking to control the flow of information to its citizens, the government has ramped up these restrictions as the September elections approach. The Fijian government has added new regulations monitoring the level of bias in political reporting. The regulations cover both local Fijian reporters as well as foreign reporters working in Fiji and covering Fijian politics. Violation of the regulations results in fines and can be punishable by up to five years in jail. So far a number of foreign reporters have been banned from Fiji after writing articles or conducting interviews that the government believed  to reflect bias that they did not want the public exposed to. One of these reporters was New Zealander Michael Field who made comments about the state of the Fijian media being farcical and that it does not represent a fair and free democracy.

FIJI DEMOCRACY MARCH SYDNEY
Fijians protest the military government and the restrictions to freedom and democracy they’ve suffered.
(Photo Curtesy of SBS News Australia)

Amnesty International has stressed that in regards to the Fiji election freedom of expression is crucial for the media to achieve governmental transparency. The government has passed legislation aimed at restricting the freedom of journalists writing on the election and other issues within the government. Many journalists have been intimidated by the government, slapped with heavy fines and jail time. Amnesty International also reported there has been a number of arbitrary detentions of  number of local journalists. In order for elections to be free and fair there must be an unrestricted media with the ability to criticize the government and the candidates without fear of retribution by the authorities.

When the media decree was first enacted after the coup it stated that media reports must not include material, which goes against public interest or order. These decrees put the media under the effective control of the military government. When the laws were first enacted there was an opportunity for public consultation, however those members of the public who had the opportunity to consult were only given two and a half hours to read the law and prepare for the consultation. There was not a proper opportunity for an opposition to the decree. This sort of policy has continued even during the transfer to democracy and these sorts of laws are in opposition to the democratic changes the country is trying to make and hopefully not a reflection of the rest of the election process.

For more information, please see:

ABC Australia Network News — Fiji to Set up Media Monitor Ahead of Election — 27 March 2014

Fiji Times — Media restrictions — 29 April 2014

Amnesty International — Fiji: End Harassment of Journalist Ahead of Election — 27 June 2014

ABC News Australia — Fiji Media Decree ‘Extremely Worrying’ — 7 April 2010

SBS News Australia — In Fiji, Free Press Remains Elusive — 11 July 2014 

 

 

 

South America Governments Pull Ambassadors from Israel

By: Delisa Morris

News Reporter – South America

Last week five South American countries pulled their diplomats out of Gaza including: Chile, Peru, El Salvador, Ecuador, and Brazil.

A photo of Israel’s operation in Gaza. Photo courtesy of naharnet.com

To protest Israel’s operation in the Gaza strip five South American countries pulled their ambassadors out of Israel this week.  The spokesman for Israel’s Foreign Ministry, Yigal Palmor, said recalling ambassadors encourages Hamas.

“Israel expresses its deep disappointment with the hasty decision of the governments of El Salvador, Peru and Chile to recall their ambassadors for consultations,” said Palmor. “This step constitutes encouragement for Hamas, a group recognized as a terror organization by many countries around the world.”

Palmor believes these countries are handing terrorists a prize.

“Israel expects countries that oppose terrorism to act responsibly and not to hand terrorists a prize,” he said. “So far, every time Israel accepted plans for establishing a cease-fire and restoring calm, it was countered by Hamas’s sustained rocket fire. El Salvador, Chile and Peru would have been much better advised to promote the international move intended to assist Israel in its efforts to defend innocent civilians and instate a durable cease-fire with the demilitarization of Gaza.”

Jorge Montero, the Chilean ambassador  was called back because of “the escalation of Israeli military operations in Gaza” said the Chilean Foreign Ministry.

“Chile notes with great concern and dismay that such military operations, which at this stage of development are subject to a collective punishment against the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza, do not respect fundamental rules of international humanitarian law.”

The Chilean Foreign Ministry went on to note that over 1,000 Palestinian lives, including civilians, have been lost during Operation Protective Edge, which is now in its 27th day.

Furthermore the statement condemned rocket fire by Hamas on the civilians of Israel, but said “the scale and intensity of Israeli operations in Gaza violate the principle of proportionality in the use of force, an essential requirement to justify self-defense.” The statement also called “for an immediate end of hostilities” in Gaza.

The Peruvian foreign ministry, in Lima, published a similar statement condemning Israel’s operation in Gaza.

The executive director of the American Jewish Committee that is active in Latin America, David Harris, said that it was astonishing that the Mercosur statement did not even mention Hamas.

Harris said “the notion that Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay would issue a joint statement with Venezuela voicing concern about human rights anywhere would be laughable, if it weren’t so terribly tragic. Caracas has been one of the main defenders of Syrian President [Bashar] Assad, who is responsible for some 170,000 deaths and millions of refugees, and is a staunch ally of Iran, the principal state sponsor of terrorism in the world, including at least two deadly attacks in Argentina in 1992 and 1994.”

For more information, please see:

NBC News – Chile, Peru Recall Ambassadors from Israel Over Gaza Offensive – 30 July 2014

Israel National News – Chile Recalls Israeli Ambassador Over Gaza – 30 July 2014

The Jerusalem Post – Israel ‘deeply disappointed’ at El Salvador, Peru, and Chile for Recalling Envoy – 30 July 2014

Haaretz – El Salvador Becomes Fifth Latin America Country to Recall Israel Envoy – 29 July 2014

 

First Contact with Indigenous People in Brazil

by: Delisa Morris

News Reporter – South America

Recently, rare video footage has been released by the Brazil Indigenous Affairs department.  In the video you can see first contact being made with indigenous people at the Brazil/Peru border.  These indigenous people are from the Panoan linguistic group and in the video you can see their hesitation at making contact with people from the department.

Panoan linguistic group making first contact with FUNAI Image courtesy of YouTube and Telegraph.co

To sweeten the deal the Brazil Indigenous Affairs department offered the Panoan linguistic group bananas for making the connection.  The contact was made in northern Brazil, along the banks and inside of the Envira River, in the western Acre state of Brazil, close to the Peruvian border.

Another indigenous people, the Ashaninka tribe, laid clothes along the edges of the forest, near the Panoan settlement, in June, as a gesture of friendship.  After, the Panoan’s tried to make contact with the Ashaninka tribe by visiting their settlement.  This was the first time in several decades that an Amazonian Indian tribe visited a settled population without first being contacted or invited.  The Ashaninka often help FUNAI by giving them hints about the whereabouts of other tribes.

Later, Brazil’s National Indian Foundation (FUNAI), travelled to the area with health specialists and interpreters and filmed the second contact on June 29.

The footage from the first encounter shows one of the interpreters handing over a few bunches of bananas to the natives before they cautiously retreated.

There was concern early in July when news spread about the tribe making contact with a village, because some natives were showing flu like symptoms before they returned to their forrest home.  According to FUNAI, at least seven people were suffering from flu like symptoms and a virus normally found in outside populations.  This alarmed many campaigners to tune into the rights of indigenous peoples.

It is unknown if the members of the tribe were sick and refused medical treatment.  This raises concern that the natives will spread disease when they return to their home.

Many Brazilian experts believe that the Indians were forced to cross from Peru into Brazil because of illegal loggers and drug smugglers taking over their land.

Currently Peru has two reserves where there are un-contacted tribes including the Murunahua Indigenous Reserve.

According to the 2013 census in Brazil, there are 810,000 indigenous people in the country and 560 of them have been murdered in the past decade.  There are at least 18 tribes spread throughout the amazon region, with no contact to the outside world.

Please view the video of the first contact with the Panoan linguistic group below.  Video courtesy of BBC News.

For more information, please see:

The Independent – Amazonian Indian Tribe Filmed Making Contact with Brazil Village in Rare Video Footage – 31 July 2014

The Washington Post – Indigenous People in Brazil Contacted for the First Time – with Bananas – 31 July 2014

The Guardian – Amazon Tribe Makes First Contact with Outside World – 1 August 2014

BBC News – Face to Face with Isolated Amazon Tribe in Brazil – 31 July 2014

 

 

As the Africa Summit in Washington, D.C. Nears, Activists Push for Gay-Rights

Gay-Africa-003

 

By: Ashley Repp

News Desk Reporter, Africa 

Africa, as a continent, is home to the strictest of anti-gay laws in the world, and as an issue of human rights, many African nations are facing backlash for their laws and called to address such violations of human rights.  Activists are now calling on prominent world leaders, including President Barak Obama, to push for gay rights to be on the agenda for the African summit in Washington next week.  Activists see this summit as a rare opportunity for the human rights of the African gay, lesbian, and transgender population to be discussed and supported.  The LGBT community in Africa faces some of the worst discrimination, and many human rights activists demand change.

In Africa, 37 African countries have laws on the  books criminalizing homosexuality.  Some nations allow imprisonment of homosexual and transgender people, while some countries, including Nigeria, Mauritania, and Sudan, go so far as to allow for the killing of such individuals.  And while Uganda recently removed the law allowing for the death penalty in cases dealing with gay and transgender people, it still has some of the strictest anti-gay laws.  Creating a safe space for those in the LGBT community in Africa will be a difficult battle, considering how persistent some governments and communities appear to be in maintaining anti-gay laws and culture.  Just last month in Nigeria, over a dozen individuals were assaulted by a mob in order to rid the community of homosexuals.

Many of the LGBT community in Africa live in constant fear of violence, harassment, and punishment.  Discrimination of members of this population is rampant and permeates nearly every facet of life in many African nations.  As a result of the discrimination, the LGBT community bears the burden of poverty due to unemployment or inability to find a job because of known or presumed sexual orientation, abandonment   by family and community, and legal punishment.  With what is effectively rejection by society, members of the African LGBT community have few options and even fewer rights.

Although Obama has already increased sanctions against Uganda for its new anti-gay laws, the summit next week will be a unique opportunity, if the chance is seized, for the leaders of the countries with the strictest anti-gay laws, to be addressed in person for the human rights issues created by anti-gay culture, law, and policy.  And with tensions rising within nations between groups that support and promote the upholding of the tradition anti-gay rhetoric and culture, and those who support LGBT human rights, the time could not be more ripe for a multi-national discussion on the issue.

 

For more information, please visit:

Time- Advocates issue report on the dreadful state of LGBT rights in Africa, as world leaders and leading figures from the continent prepare for the US-Africa Leaders Summit- July 29, 2014

ABC News- Activists Want Gay Rights on Africa Summit Agenda- July 29, 2014

BBC News Africa- Cameroon lawyer wins award for defending gay rights- Mar 18, 2014

The Washington Post- Here are the 10 countries where homosexuality may be punished by death- Feb 24, 2014