Hospitals Struggle to Treat Wounded as Israel Steps Up Military Offensive in Gaza

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch Managing Editor

GAZA CITY, Gaza – The Israeli army, air force and navy has launched a major operation in the Gaza Strip Tuesday against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli Military mobilized infantry troops along the border for a possible ground invasion designed to stop rocket attacks launched into Israel. The offensive has so far targeted dozens of sites in the coastal region. On Tuesday the Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said the military operation against in Gaza “will probably not end within several days.”

Smoke and flames are seen following what police said was an Israeli air strike the city of Rafah in Gaza. Medical supplies are in short supply as Israel prepares for a larger offensive in the region. (Photo courtesy of Reuters)

According to Palestinian sources At least 16 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes targeting since Monday night. Among those killed in the attacks was Mohammad Sha’aban, a leader of Hamas’ militant wing. Israel confirmed that Sha’aban, whom it referred to as “a senior Hamas terrorist,” was killed in the airstrikes.

50 bombings were reportedly carried out overnight Monday and throughout the day on Tuesday. Dr. Dr. Ayman al-Sahbani rushed to Al-Shifa hospital attend to victims of the bombings which have so far included at least 8 people with 2 children among the injured. While Al-Shifa hospital is Gaza’s primary hospital and the largest in the territory Dr. Sahbani expressed concern that the hospital will not have the capacity to handle a sudden influx of bombing victims if the Israeli military strikes on Gaza continue.

On Tuesday all 12 beds in the hospital’s intensive care unit were occupied. “Most of those people here have medical referrals and were supposed to be receiving treatment at outside hospitals,” Sahbani said. “Now, we can’t get them out, and we can’t find a space for new patients if the airstrikes intensify.”

In addition to the shortage of hospital beds in Gaza, the region also suffers from a shortage of medicine and medical supplies. According to Gaza’s Health Ministry spokesman, Ashraf al-Qedraa Gaza is missing about 30 percent of essential drugs, while 15 percent of the remainder is expected to be exhausted within days of an Israeli assault. He said “the medical services are in a very critical situation” that Gaza never reached during the Egyptian-Israeli siege on Gaza adding that the ministry is running “extremely short” essential medical supplies like gloves, urine catheters, and other medical equipment.

The conflict between Hamas and Israeli shows no signs of de-escorting and has worsened in the days since three Israeli settlers were found murders in the West Bank, murders the Israeli military blames on the Gaza based group. Mushir Al-Masri, a Hamas leadership figure and member of the Palestinian parliament, wrote on his Facebook on Monday that “the enemy has crossed the red lines and will be made to pay the price for its crimes.” He added that the death of Hamas militants “is fuel for the intifada and the resistance.” Following the statement rocket fire from Gaza into Israeli territory increased with Hamas claiming responsibility for the barrage.

For More Information Please See:

Al Jazeera – Gaza Hospitals Struggle to Treat Wounded – 8 July 2014

CNN International – Israel Blocks Rocket Headed For Tel Aviv; Gaza Ground Operation Possible –8 July 2014

Reuters – Israel Steps Up Gaza Offensive after Surge in Rocket Fire – 8 July 2014

The Washington Post – Israel Launches Major Operation against Hamas In Gaza Strip – 8 July 2014

South America Gears Up for El Niño

By Delisa Morris

Desk Reporter, South America

El Niño, a weather phenomenon, is probably going to occur in the third quarter of 2014.  Which means that we should be seeing El Niño like temperatures within the next few weeks.  During El Niño the weather is characterized as oddly warm ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific.

A car stuck on a flooded street, Photo courtesy of Lamont-Dougherty Earth Observatory

 

The phenomenon starts as a body of warm water developing  in the central and eastern Pacific ocean.  The water then flows toward the western coast of South America.  This sets off several weather changes globally.

El Niño weather only recurs at two- to seven-year intervals.  The effects of which have a major impact on the climate around the world, including heavy rainfall and droughts.

Places in the world become dryer than normal conditions due to El Niño’s drought effects, or more floods occur due to the heavy rainfall.  El Niño also affects the temperature, normal temperatures are either colder or hotter than normal during El Niño weather.  The weather changes mostly increase global temperatures on top of man-made global warming.

The socio-economic impacts during El Niño can be extremely detrimental to the affected area.  During the last El Niño from 2009 until 2010, the hottest year on record, in northern Brazil the conditions were drier than normal while across tropical South America conditions were wetter than normal conditions.  South America usually is most impacted by widespread flooding, though there is also an increased chance of landslides.

During El Niño agriculture, infrastructure, housing, and health, such as outbreaks of cholera and other water-borne diseases, are vastly affected.  There will also be a shift in nutrient-rich ocean currents that lure fish, which could lead to a rise in the prices of food.

The unpredictable weather wreaks havoc on farmers and other agricultural markets.

Many international organizations are jump-starting El Niño preparedness warnings to mitigate the extreme weather’s impact.  For example, World Food Program has begun storing food in areas that may be difficult to reach in extreme weather conditions.

According to Moody’s Investors Service, governments and banks in South America are in better financial shape to deal with the costs of this year’s El Niño than in the past.

The Pacific ocean has already began to warm to weak El Niño temperatures, the weather is not expected to dissipate until early months of 2015.

La Niña is the name for when the El Niño phenomenon is ending, and temperatures start to return to normal.  Scientists say that while the two extreme weather patterns are not caused by global warming, their frequency and intensity are vastly affected by greenhouse gasses.

For more information, please see:

Business Insider – Prepare for El Nino – July 1, 2014

Time – El Nino Increasingly Likely, United Nations Weather Agency Warns – June 26, 2014

VOA news – El Nino Likely to Trigger Extreme Climate Events – June 26, 2014

The Wall Street Journal – South America Better Positioned Financially for El Nino, Moody’s Says – July 1, 2014

Indonesia’s Problem of Growing Religious Intolerance

by Max Bartels 

Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania Desk 

 

Jakarta, Indonesia

Indonesia has one of the largest Muslim populations in the world; there is now a popular push in the country for religious uniformity among Muslims and a growing intolerance of other religious and even other splinter sects of the Muslim religion. There have now been 264 incidents of religious violence in Indonesia as of 2012 with many more occurring in the past 2 years.

Protesters in Indonesia protest against the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam in the capital Jakarta.
(Photo Curtesy of asianews.it)

Most recently the Indonesian Ahmadiyya sect of Islam has come under attack from Islamists. In the past there have been many violent attacks of the Ahmadiyya communities of Indonesia from mobs and protesters resulting in many deaths. However, the recent problem stems from the Indonesian government who has been slowly restricting the rights of the Ahmadiyya communities. The government has been shutting down Ahmadiyya mosques all over the country citing the need to maintain religious uniformity as the justification for the intrusion.

There has been a growing trend of support form Middle Eastern countries in Indonesia. Countries like Saudi Arabia flow money into religious institutions and schools in Indonesia in an attempt to increase the Islamist sentiment. The current president of Indonesia while not an Islamist himself has appointed many to his council. With support in the government the radical Islamists have had freedom in their acts of repression and the government has passed many decrees against religious minorities and allowed radicals to act violently without repercussion. These decrees have included mandating that every citizen have an identity card, which indicates their religion; these cards have been a source of discrimination for religious minorities.

In the past Indonesia has been proactive about curbing terrorism in the country. The concern for Australia and other western nations is that the growing domestic religious intolerance will lead to intolerance aimed abroad. Indonesia in the past has always prided itself on maintaining a large peaceful Muslim population with little to no radicalization. This increase in violence could bring in or develop radical Islamist and terrorist groups.

It an election year in Indonesia and there and there will be a new government to step in and change the current downward spiral of religious intolerance. Both candidates for the presidency have come out in support of religious tolerance. They realize that without improving conditions for religious minorities in the country that they lose the support of the international community. Both candidates have said that they plan to eliminate regulations and decrees that repress religious minorities and increase education and social welfare in order to tackle the problem.

For more information, please see:

UCA News — Indonesian Election Candidates Promise Religious Tolerance — 19 June 2014

Amnesty International — Arbitrary Closure of Ahmadiyya Highlights Religious Repression — 27 June 2014

The Guardian — Indonesia’s Growing Religious Intolerance has to be Addressed — 5 February 2014

The Wall Street Journal — Indonesia’a Religious Tolerance Problem — 24 February 2014

Interpol has Re-opened the Browder Red Notice Case on the Back of Magnitsky’s Posthumous Trial

 

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION

 

 

3 July 2014 – Documents recently received from Interpol show that the Russian government has successfully convinced Interpol’s Commission for Control of Files to re-open their consideration to issue an Interpol Red Notice for Bill Browder, by submitting Mr Browder’s conviction in absentia in Russia, where he was a co-defendant with the deceased Sergei Magnitsky in the first ever posthumous trial in Russian history.

 

Two previous Russian attempts to get a Red Notice issued for Mr Browder failed because Interpol deemed those attempts were politically motivated and violated Interpol’s constitution. Shortly after Interpol’s first rejection of Russia’s request for Browder, Interpol’s General Secretary wrote an editorial for the Daily Telegraph newspaper, citing Mr Browder’s case as the example for why reforms are not needed at Interpol (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/10082582/Interpol-makes-the-world-a-safer-place.html).

 

Strangely, Interpol has now decided to reopen the case based on the Magnitsky posthumous trial. Interpol’s Commission for the Control of Interpol’s Files said that it plans to re-examine the Russian submission in relation to Mr Browder at its next session in October 2014.

 

“It would be a true signal of the need for reform of Interpol if a Red Notice were issued on the basis of the first posthumous trial in Europe since Pope Formosus in 897,” said a Hermitage Capital representative.

 

In July 2013, Sergei Magnitsky was convicted of tax evasion three years after he was murdered in Russian state custody, in the first ever posthumous trial in Russian history. Bill Browder was convicted as his co-defendant in the second ever trial in absentia against a Westerner. The trial was deemed to be politically motivated and illegitimate by the Council of Europe, the European Parliament and numerous international human rights organisations.

 

The convictions have since been upheld by the Moscow City court in January this year, in the absence of lawyers for Mr Browder and Mr Magnitsky. Instead, they were represented by unknown lawyers appointed by the Russian government.

 

In addition to presenting Interpol with the convictions from that trial as “new evidence,” the Russian authorities presented a “fresh” arrest warrant for Mr Browder, issued in March this year on the basis of the posthumous trial. The arrest warrant was signed by Moscow judge Elena Stashina, who is sanctioned by the U.S. Government for her role in the false detention of Sergei Magnitsky. Four days before Sergei Magnitsky was murdered in police custody, Judge Stashina prolonged his detention and denied Magnitsky’s medical care requests.

 

Judge Igor Alisov, who issued the posthumous conviction, was also placed on the U.S. Government’s sanctions list under the ‘U.S. Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act,’ for his role in concealing the liability of officials involved in Sergei Magnitsky’s death.

 

The documents used in the posthumous trial were fabricated by Russian Interior Ministry officers, including officers Artem Kuznetsov and Oleg Silchenko, also involved in Sergei Magnitsky’s false arrest and detention, and who are also sanctioned by the U.S. Government, which prohibits U.S. persons from any dealings with them.