Israeli authorities have put an extremist Jewish settler into detention for five months without charges or trial to head off violence aimed at stopping Israel's Gaza Strip pullout, and a newspaper reported yesterday that dozens more suspected militants could be arrested.
Israeli frequently uses the practice, known as administrative detention, against Palestinians it considers as a security threat, but it rarely employs it against Jews. But with Jewish extremists planning to resist the summer pullout, the army and politicians have discussed using the detentions to contain expected violence.
On Sunday, police arrested Neria Ofan, a 34-year-old West Bank settler, at an army roadblock, and said they plan to hold him until the end of September. Officials, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said Ofan was suspected of "involvement in terror."
Ofan's wife, Naomi, told Israel Army Radio the detention was part of a campaign to muzzle opponents.
The Haaretz newspaper reported that Israeli army officers want to place dozens of Jewish extremists under administrative detention. Sharon aide Ilan Cohen told Army Radio there would not be "wholesale administrative detentions, on the contrary," but did not explain further.
Ofan, who has been questioned by police in the past though never charged, advocates Jewish control of a disputed Jerusalem holy site, known to Jews as Temple Mount and to Muslims as Haram as-Sharif. Extremist Jews have threatened to storm the shrine in the summer to divert police and soldiers from Gaza to Jerusalem, and thereby stop the pullout.
Israeli police prepared for possible clashes between Jews and Muslims yesterday at the holy site, a flashpoint for Israeli-Palestinian tensions. A small group of Jewish extremists, Revava, had initially said its supporters would attempt to enter the shrine at the start of each month on the Jewish calendar.
A handful of demonstrators showed up the shrine a month ago, and were kept out by police. Access to Israelis has been restricted since Israel captured east Jerusalem and its holy sites in the 1967 Mideast war.
Yesterday, which marks the start of the month of Iyar on the Jewish calendar, no demonstrators showed up. However, police severely restricted access to Muslims, in order to prevent possible friction.
Police clashed briefly yesterday morning with 200 Palestinians who had gathered nearby to protest the restrictions. The Palestinians threw stones and bottles at police, who responded with stun grenades. Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres, meanwhile, warned that destroying Jewish settlers' homes in Gaza could jeopardize the planned Israeli pullout from the area this summer.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
Africa has established the continent’s first space agency to boost Earth observation and data sharing at a time when a more hostile global context is limiting the availability of climate and weather information. The African Space Agency opened its doors last month under the umbrella of the African Union and is headquartered in Cairo. The new organization, which is still being set up and hiring people in key positions, is to coordinate existing national space programs. It aims to improve the continent’s space infrastructure by launching satellites, setting up weather stations and making sure data can be shared across
RSS