Matthias Williams

‘Al Jazeera’ Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh Killed by Israeli Forces’: UN

While saying that it was not indiscriminate firing from Palestinians that killed the journalist, the UN human rights office accused Israel of not conducting a probe into the matter.

London: Information reviewed by the UN human rights office suggests Israeli security forces fired the shot that killed Palestinian-American reporter Shireen Abu Akleh in May, not indiscriminate firing from Palestinians, a spokesperson said on Friday.

“It is deeply disturbing that Israeli authorities have not conducted a criminal investigation,” Ravina Shamdasani told a briefing in Geneva.

Israeli and Palestinian officials have exchanged recriminations over the shooting that also led to chaotic scenes at Abu Akleh’s funeral when Israeli police officers charged at mourners.

The Israeli Defences Forces (IDF) said on Friday that it was committed to investigating Abu Akleh’s death and called on the Palestinian authorities to share access to the bullet that killed her. The Palestinian Authority has refused to hand over the bullet, saying it does not trust Israel.

“The results of the UN investigation confirm once again what we said from the start, that Israel is responsible for the killing of the journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and it must be held accountable for this crime,” Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, told Reuters.

Also read: The Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh is No Aberration

Shamdasani said the UN rights office had conducted its own “monitoring” of the incident – she declined to use the word investigation – and had gone through photo, video and audio material.

It had also visited the scene, consulted experts, reviewed official communications and interviewed witnesses, she said.

“All information we have gathered – including official information from the Israeli military and the Palestinian attorney-general – is consistent with the finding that the shots that killed Abu Akleh and injured her colleague Ali Sammoudi came from Israeli Security Forces and not from indiscriminate firing by armed Palestinians, as initially claimed by Israeli authorities,” she said.

The Palestinian Authority has said its investigation showed that Abu Akleh was shot by an Israeli soldier in a “deliberate murder”. Its findings lent support to several witnesses, including Palestinian journalists, who said she was killed by Israeli fire. Israel denied the accusation.

Abu Akleh was shot dead on May 11 while she was covering an Israeli military raid in the city of Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

“Our findings indicate that no warnings were issued and no shooting was taking place at that time and at that location,” Shamdasani said.

“At around 06h 30, as four of the journalists turned into the street leading to the camp, wearing bulletproof helmets and flak jackets with ‘PRESS’ markings, several single, seemingly well-aimed bullets were fired towards them from the direction of the Israeli Security Forces,” she said.

“One single bullet injured Ali Sammoudi in the shoulder, another single bullet hit Abu Akleh in the head and killed her instantly.”

In a statement responding to Shamdasani’s briefing, the IDF insisted there had been an exchange of fire between Israeli forces and Palestinian gunmen.

“Ever since the incident, the IDF has been investigating and reviewing the circumstances of Ms. Abu Akleh’s death,” the statement said.

“The IDF investigation clearly concludes that Ms. Abu Akleh was not intentionally shot by an IDF soldier and that it is not possible to determine whether she was killed by a Palestinian gunman shooting indiscriminately in her area or inadvertently by an IDF soldier.”

In a previous statement, the Israeli military said it identified a soldier’s rifle that may have killed Abu Akleh but that it needed to analyse the fatal bullet to be certain.

(Reuters)

Belarus President Gets Birthday Call From Putin as Protesters Crowd Minsk

Lukashenko is struggling to contain weeks of protests and strikes since winning an August 9 election his opponents say was rigged.

Minsk: Belarusians chanting “Happy Birthday, you rat” and flying red-and-white opposition flags gathered near President Alexander Lukashenko’s residence on Sunday as protesters kept up the pressure on the veteran leader to resign, before dispersing peacefully.

The President, in office for 26 years, has shown no inclination to step down. For the second weekend in a row, he appeared in a black cap and carrying an automatic rifle while walking around his residence, according to a photo published by Russia’s RIA news agency.

Lukashenko, who turned 66 on Sunday, is struggling to contain weeks of protests and strikes since winning an August 9 election his opponents say was rigged. He denies electoral fraud and has said the protesters, whom he previously called “rats”, are backed from abroad.

Russian President Vladimir Putin used a birthday phone call to invite Lukashenko to visit Moscow, a sign of the Kremlin’s willingness to back Lukashenko as he grapples with the unrest and the threat of new Western sanctions.

Tens of thousands of protesters streamed into central Minsk, carrying balloons, flowers and flags, in the afternoon. Belarus had a white-red-white flag for a brief period in the early 1990s and it has become a symbol of its anti-government protests.

Passing cars honked their horns in solidarity. Some women lay down in protest in front of a cordon of helmeted security forces.

Protesters then converged on Lukashenko’s residence, which was guarded by a wall of security forces carrying shields. A column of armoured military vehicles was seen driving towards the city centre.

Police made sporadic detentions throughout the day, bundling people into prisoner vans. At least 140 people were detained, the interior ministry said, according to RIA. Some protesters resisted arrest by what appeared to be plain-clothes officers, an eyewitness said.

Earlier on Sunday, video footage shared by local media showed women dressed in traditional dress laying several pumpkins in front of the main government building, a folk custom intended to signal the rejection of a suitor.

Also read: Protesters Pack Belarus Capital, Putin Offers Military Help to President

In a holiday atmosphere, the protesters occasionally sang songs. At one point, a man draped in a flag got down on one knee and made a marriage proposal to a woman who accepted with a hug and a kiss as bystanders cheered.

An aide to the President, Nikolai Latyshenok, ruled out holding talks with the opposition and said that, in his personal opinion, only around 20-30% of Belarusian society was against the president, Russian news agencies reported.

“It has been said many times, let’s decide everything peacefully,” TASS cited him as saying.

One of the country’s largest mobile operators, A1, said it had reduced the capacity of mobile internet bandwidth at the government’s request.

People attend an opposition demonstration to protest against police violence near Government House in Minsk. Photo: Reuters

Putin’s support

Belarus is Russia’s closest ex-Soviet ally and its territory is an integral part of Moscow’s European defence strategy. Nevertheless, Lukashenko is seen in Moscow as a prickly partner.

In the biggest sign yet of Russia’s willingness to intervene to prop up Lukashenko, Putin said on Thursday the Kremlin had set up a “reserve police force” at Lukashenko’s request, although it would be deployed only if necessary.

“It was agreed to hold a meeting in Moscow in the coming weeks,” the Kremlin said in a statement after the leaders’ call on Sunday.

The European Union is gearing up to impose new sanctions on Belarus. Lukashenko threatened on Friday to cut off European transit routes across his country in retaliation.

A one-time manager of a Soviet collective farm, Lukashenko faced a wave of unrest including from sections of society normally seen as loyal; such as journalists from the tightly-controlled state media who quit and a sitting ambassador, who also resigned.

Hundreds of athletes, including Olympic medallists, published a demand for new elections on a sports website.

(Reuters)

Trump Denies Pressuring Ukraine, Will Not Commit to Transcript Release

On Friday, reports by US media outlets said Trump repeatedly pressured Ukraine’s president to investigate Joe Biden, one of Trump’s chief political rivals, in a July phone call.

Kiev: Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko on Saturday denied suggestions that US President Donald Trump had put pressure on Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy during a phone call in July.

In an interview with media outlet Hromadske, Prystaiko said Ukraine was an independent state and would not take sides in US politics even if “in theory” the country was in a position to do so. He added that Kiev appreciated the assistance it received from Washington.

On Friday reports by US media outlets said Trump repeatedly pressured Ukraine‘s president to investigate Joe Biden, one of Trump‘s chief political rivals, in a July phone call.

The call was featured in a classified whistle-blower complaint that has sparked a political battle between Democrats warning of a national security threat and Republicans turning it into an attack on Biden, a front-runner in the field of Democrats seeking to challenge Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

Also read: A Day After Praising Modi At Houston, Trump Calls His Pakistan Stance ‘Very Aggressive’

Reuters has not confirmed details of the whistle-blower’s complaint. But a source familiar with the matter said it alleged “multiple acts” by Trump, not just a phone call with a foreign leader. The source requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Zelenskiy’s office has so far declined to comment on the allegations.

“I know what the conversation was about and I think there was no pressure,” Prystaiko said. “This conversation was long, friendly, and it touched on many questions, sometimes requiring serious answers.”

Trump dismissed the September 12 complaint from the whistle-blower within the intelligence community as a partisan hit against him.

Trump had spoken to Zelenskiy less than three weeks before the complaint was filed. Trump is due to meet Zelenskiy during a United Nations gathering in New York.

Prystaiko said Zelenskiy had the right to keep conversations with other leaders confidential.

“I want to say that we are an independent state, we have our secrets,” he was quoted as saying in the interview.

The July 25 call between the leaders is under investigation by three Democratic-led House committees, who want to know if Trump and his personal lawyer, Rudolph Giuliani, tried to pressure the Ukrainian government into aiding Trump‘s re-election campaign.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Trump urged Zelenskiy about eight times during the call to work with Giuliani to investigate Biden and Biden’s son.

(Reuters)

Ukraine Snap Election: Comedian Zelenskiy’s Party in Prime Focus

Zelenskiy’s Servant of the People party, named after the TV comedy where he played a fictional president, has consistently led the opinion polls for the parliamentary vote but might fall short of a majority.

Kiev: Ukrainians started to vote in a snap parliamentary election on Sunday that could consolidate the power of new President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and hand the novice politician a stronger mandate for driving change in the war-scarred nation.

A comedian with no prior policy making experience, Zelenskiy caused a political earthquake by winning a landslide presidential election victory in April. He cast himself as an every man outsider who would tackle corruption and raise living standards in one of Europe’s poorest countries.

Also read: Comedian Who Played President on TV Might Actually Become Ukraine’s President

At present, the 41-year-old leader shares power with a cabinet and lawmakers who are mostly loyal to his predecessor.

Whoever wins the election will inherit a country at the centre of the West’s standoff with Moscow following Russia’s annexation of Ukraine‘s Crimea peninsula in 2014 and its role in a separatist conflict in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine that has killed 13,000 people in the past five years.

The new government will also need to implement reforms agreed with international donors in order to secure billions of dollars of new loans to keep the economy stable. Zelenskiy announced a snap election on the day he was inaugurated in May.

“By calling an early election, the new president hoped to keep the momentum of his presidential victory going. He is backed in this attempt by a majority of Ukrainians who view parliament as inherently corrupt and have given Mr Zelenskiy a mandate to ‘clean up’ the political class,” said Agnese Ortolani of the Economist Intelligence Unit.

“We expect Mr Zelenskiy to be given a broad mandate from the Ukrainian people to move forwards with the set of ambitious reforms that he laid out in the first weeks of his presidency.”

Beyond his everyman image, Zelenskiy has faced scrutiny over his business connections to one of Ukraine‘s most powerful tycoons, Ihor Kolomoisky.

Also read: Ukraine’s President Zelenskiy Disbands Parliament on Inauguration Day

Kolomoisky has fought a protracted legal battle with the state over control of Ukraine‘s largest lender, PrivatBank, which was nationalized against his wishes in 2016.

Zelenskiy insists he is not beholden to Kolomoisky and will not take his side. A rollback of PrivatBank’s nationalisation would likely lead to foreign creditors freezing aid.

Talking to your friend

So far, Ukrainians appear willing to give Zelenskiy the benefit of the doubt. Servant of the People has held a commanding opinion poll lead over the Russian-friendly Opposition Platform in second place.

Also in the running are the parties headed by the man Zelenskiy beat in April – former president Petro Poroshenko, and that of former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko. The Voice party, fronted by rock star Sviatoslav Vakarchuk, is seen as a possible coalition ally for Zelenskiy.

Zelenskiy has promised to keep the country on a pro-Western course while securing peace in the Donbass region.

He will seek a new aid-for-reforms programme with the International Monetary Fund and has promised crowd-pleasing anti-corruption measures, such as stripping lawmakers of their immunity from prosecution.

Often tie-less and speaking to voters through social media videos, Zelenskiy has carried his informal style from the campaign trail into the presidency.

A recent poll by the Washington-based National Democratic Institute asked voters which politicians they thought were interested in hearing their opinions.

Zelenskiy scored 49 percent, compared to eight percent for former president Poroshenko. Two-thirds of those surveyed thought Zelenskiy would make changes that mattered to them.

“The president and his team have demonstrated a new way of doing things. Politics is changing. It’s more interactive,” said Ian Woodward, the Ukraine Deputy Director for the NDI.

“Communicating directly in real language that people can understand, it’s not standing from up on high or at a distance,” he said. “It’s like talking to your friend. Much more informal and conversational language.”

(Reuters)