Arab and Muslim leaders gathered in Doha on Monday urged a review of diplomatic and economic ties with Israel following emergency talks called in response to Israel’s deadly strike on the Qatari capital last week. The talks came as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem and pledged Washington’s “unwavering support” to Israel in the Gaza war.
SUMMARY
- Rubio takes up Qatar strike unease with Netanyahu
- Arab and Muslim leaders hold emergency talks after Israel’s Qatar attack
- Gaza aid flotilla carrying Greta Thunberg sets sail from Tunisia
- Rubio promises ‘unwavering support’ to Israel in Gaza goals
Arab, Muslim leaders urge review of Israel ties after Qatar attack
Arab and Muslim leaders called for a review of ties with Israel after emergency talks in Doha on Monday following last week’s deadly strike on Hamas members in the Qatari capital.
The Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation joint session, which brought together nearly 60 countries, sought to take firm action after Israel’s attack on Qatar-hosted Hamas officials as they discussed a Gaza ceasefire proposal.
A joint statement from the summit urged “all States to take all possible legal and effective measures to prevent Israel from continuing its actions against the Palestinian people”, including “reviewing diplomatic and economic relations with it, and initiating legal proceedings against it”.
US , Israel on same page over the attack that targeted Hamas leaders in Doha
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Israel’s vital ally voices unease over air strikes on Qatar that threaten to derail already flailing attempts to reach a Gaza ceasefire.
In the press conference that followed, they seemed to be ‘on the same page’ as Noga Tarnopolsky analyses from Jerusalem.
UN expert says Gaza deadliest conflict ever for journalists or are covering genocide
A UN expert accused Israel Monday of intentionally targeting journalists in a bid to cover up “genocide”, warning that the war raging there was the deadliest ever for media workers.
“The way in which journalists are being killed, silenced … is the cover-up of genocide,” Irene Khan, the special rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, told reporters in Geneva.
She said the latest United Nations figure showed that at least 252 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Gaza since the war was triggered by militant group Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
That makes it “the deadliest conflict ever for journalists”, Khan said, warning that the number “is of course likely to go up, because every week we hear news of more killings”.
Already, “more journalists have been killed in Gaza than in both World Wars, Vietnam War, wars in Yugoslavia and the war in Afghanistan combined”, she said.
By comparison, she said 14 journalists had been killed in Ukraine since Russia began its full-scale invasion in early 2022, while the number of journalists killed over two decades of conflict in Afghanistan was in “the dozens”.
Gulf states say US partners should ‘use their influence’ to rein in Israel
The Gulf states called on their close ally Washington to use its leverage to rein in Israel following unprecedented Israeli strikes on Hamas in Qatar last week.
“We also expect our strategic partners in the United States to use their influence on Israel in order for it to stop this behaviour… They have leverage and influence on Israel, and it’s about time that this leverage and influence be used,” Gulf Cooperation Council Secretary General Jasem Mohamed Al-Budaiwi said in a press conference following a summit in Doha.
But US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday backed Israel’s new offensive on Gaza City and the goal of eradicating Hamas, casting doubt on whether diplomacy would work to end nearly two years of war.
Rubio showed no daylight between himself and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a visit to Jerusalem, despite President Donald Trump gently chiding Israel a week earlier for carrying out air strikes on Hamas leaders in US partner Qatar.
UN rights expert says complicity with Gaza ‘genocide’ ‘shame of our time’
A UN rights expert reiterated on Monday that Israel was committing “genocide” in Gaza, slamming what she said was the “complicity” of other countries as “the shame of our time”.
“Far too many states continue to look away, normalise the suffering and even profit from it,” Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, told reporters in Geneva.
“Arms trade and diplomatic engagement with Israel continue unabated,” she said.
“This is not just morally wrong, this is unlawful,” she insisted, demanding “accountability (for) the very people who have been giving orders to continue trade and arms transfers toward Israel”.