Is Israel’s anti-BDS campaign fueling anti-Semitism?

Equating criticism of Israel’s violations of international law with anti-Semitism is absurd.Shadi HatemAPA images

Michael Lesher-27 July 2016

Not long ago, a Jewish former neighbor of mine wrote to me to ask whether, as a member of Jewish Voice for Peace, I support the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.

I replied that I’ve supported boycotts of companies that promote Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land for years now; otherwise, I explained, I would be complicit in a serious offense against humanity and international law.

I also referred him to the Jewish Voice for Peace website for more information about the tactics endorsed by a wide range of organizations in the hope that economic pressure, added to political action, will hasten the occupation’s end.

A simple answer to a simple question? Well, not to my old neighbor, who wrote back to assure me that, whatever I may say, my real objective is the “destruction of the Jewish state.”

He assured me that as long as I criticized Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land, I was an enemy, unworthy of further discussion.

Though saddened by this broadside – no less by its dogmatism than by its invective – I can’t really say I was surprised.

Israel’s anti-BDS campaign is now in full overdrive, and for anyone who takes it seriously, as my former neighbor evidently does, the predictable first casualty of its propaganda is truth. The first beneficiary, I fear, may be anti-Semitism.

Preposterous

For the record, though it means repeating the obvious: Jewish Voice for Peace does not seek the destruction of Israel, which would in any case be a preposterous objective given Israel’s unchallenged military might.

As for me, while supporting human rights for Palestinians, I bear no animus against Israel’s Jews; in fact, both of my children have spent years as students in that country.

And my former neighbor knows all this.

Still, it isn’t hard to figure out where he’s getting his misinformation. After all, we’re both Orthodox Jews, and Jewish communal publications are very much part of the problem.

The Orthodox weekly Mishpacha devoted the cover story of its 15 June issue to what it called “the global hate movement” – that is, the movement for Palestinian rights.

Meanwhile, according to The New York Times, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon,warned in May that BDS is “the 21st-century incarnation of an old disease: anti-Semitism.”

Canard

Other Israeli officials are singing the same tune.

Gilad Erdan, who as public security minister is in charge of Israel’s anti-BDS efforts, has implicitly comparedthe BDS movement to the Nazis. Erdan, speaking of BDS campaigns for Palestinian human rights and equal rights for all, claimed their tactics and “propaganda” would “make history’s greatest anti-Semites proud.”

Erdan also repeated the canard that BDS seeks to “destroy Israel” with tactics including campaigns to “intimidate artists planning to perform in Israel” – though he promptly insisted that the campaign has no effect at all: “[BDS] has not and will not influence the decisions of any Israeli government, right or left,” he noted.

The Israeli government may not yet be influenced, but artists clearly are rethinking scheduled appearances.

Liberals weigh in

Even liberal Jewish communal publications are playing along.

Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah, writing in Tikkun, has argued that any campaign that supports Palestinian rights is anti-Semitic if, “regardless of the oppression of peoples across the world by numberless nations, Israel is singled out for special condemnation.”

To my way of thinking, this is as dishonest as anything cooked up by Israel’s propagandists: posing as a critique of a double standard, the argument actually insists on a double standard in Israel’s favor.

Who ever imagined that a campaign aimed at, say, political repression in Turkey was evidence of anti-Turkish bigotry because it doesn’t address repression in Saudi Arabia? How many of Israel’s apologists objected to the sanctions imposed on Iraq in 1990 on the grounds that Iraq’s occupation of Kuwait was not unique?

It seems only Israel is supposed to be immune from criticism – however legitimate – that doesn’t come yoked with reminders about each of the “numberless nations” whose records leave something to be desired.

Proponents of this idea don’t tell us how campaigners for Palestinian rights are supposed to meet that condition; and even if they could, the condition itself would be indefensibly discriminatory.

Living a lie

Equating support for Palestinian human rights with anti-Semitism is actually worse than absurd. It threatens to promote the very anti-Semitism it claims to deplore.

Think about it: if people are asked to believe that “history’s greatest anti-Semites” would be “proud” of a movement that promotes the human rights of non-Jews, couldn’t they start to wonder whether anti-Semitism really means nothing uglier than exposing the discriminatory policies of a so-called Jewish state?

After all, it’s in the nature of every equation to work both ways. If we suggest that opposing Israel’s criminal policies is the modern equivalent of Nazism, don’t we invite actual admirers of Nazism to present themselves to a confused public as defenders of human rights?

Questions like that are bound to turn a lot of stomachs, as indeed they should. Anything that threatens to sanitize the genocidal campaign against Europe’s Jews that broke out less than 80 years ago should be greeted with horror.

How ironic, then, that the apologists claiming to defend Israel from a “new anti-Semitism” are the very ones whose anti-BDS arguments bracket the Final Solution with respectable civil rights work.

Israel’s defenders have sometimes complained that comparing Israel’s actions to those of Nazi Germany impermissibly waters down the Holocaust. Maybe they had a point. Too bad their scruples evaporate when throwing around similar comparisons to demonize Palestinians, or their international supporters.

Israel’s anti-BDS tactics aren’t aimed at fighting anti-Semitism.

Deliberately or not, what they are actually doing is making anti-Semitism look respectable – a mere matter of applying fair standards to conflicts between Jews and non-Jews. That’s a shocking posture for anyone – let alone Jews – to take.

In its current desperate mode, Israel’s propagandists are evidently prepared not only to falsify the BDS campaign but to pretty up the all too real evil of anti-Semitism. And all of us who recognize the poisonous effects of bigotry must pray that they fail.

I’m tempted to write this to my former neighbor, but I feel pretty sure he won’t consider anything I say. 

The publications he trusts – Israeli, Orthodox, Jewish “mainstream” – have assured him that Jews are at one pole of the world, while all Palestinian rights activism converges at the other.

The existence of a group like Jewish Voice for Peace, let alone my membership in it, upends his reality. If he were willing to face the facts we cite – and they are facts – he might have to admit that he has been living a lie.

And that may be too much to ask of him.

For me, that’s the quiet tragedy of Israel’s anti-BDS hysteria. Its immediate target is anti-occupation activism. But its ultimate accomplishment, if it succeeds, will be a future in which the price of being Jewish is acquiescing in international crime – and the word “anti-Semitism” will have been given undeserved and dangerous respectability.

Our options couldn’t be more clearly defined. Now it’s up to us to choose the right path.

Michael Lesher, a writer and lawyer, is the author of Sexual Abuse, Shonda and Concealment in Orthodox Jewish Communities (McFarland). He is a member of Jewish Voice for Peace. 

Website:www.michaellesher.com

State Dept. criticizes Israeli settlement expansion, demolitions

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has been looking to improve its relations with the White House. (Amir Cohen/Reuters)

By Ruth Eglash and Carol Morello July 28

JERUSALEM — The Israeli government’s plans to build new units in Jewish settlements in the West Bank and a spate of home demolitions in Palestinian areas over the past week have drawn sharp criticism from the Obama administration.

Israel “is systematically undermining the prospects for a two-state solution” with the Palestinians, State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement Wednesday.

“We strongly oppose settlement activity, which is corrosive to the cause of peace,” thestatement said.

Separately, Kirby also said Secretary of State John F. Kerry will travel to Paris for a meeting Saturday with Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority. The purpose of their talks, the spokesman said, is to explore whether it is possible to “make progress on creating conditions where a two-state solution can be realized.”

The strongly worded State Department statement was widely seen as a warning to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government, which is renegotiating a multibillion-dollar military aid package with the United States and has been looking to improve its relations with the White House.

 

Netanyahu’s office did not respond to the statement.

“We are witnessing a signal from the Americans to Netanyahu that they do not like what they see,” said Hagit Ofran, director of the Settlement Watch team for the left-wing Israeli human rights organization Peace Now.

“The fact that there are elections in the U.S. might be perceived in Israel as an opportunity to get away with things, but this is the Americans saying, ‘We are still watching you,’ ” Ofran said.

[Israel tells France it’s not interested in multilateral peace talks]

Kirby’s statement focused on Israeli government plans to build 770 units in the East Jerusalem settlement of Gilo. The international community views Gilo as Palestinian territory occupied by Israel.

Plans to build in Gilo have been a point of contention between Israel and the Obama administration. In March 2010, during a visit by Vice President Biden, a tender issued for the construction of a housing project in Gilo sparked a mini-crisis between the two allies. Additional construction announcements seem to have been made at strategic points over the years, such as when Israel released the first batch of long-held Palestinian prisoners as part of the now-defunct U.S.-brokered peace process in 2014.

[As Jewish settlement turns 40, a founder looks ahead in the West Bank]

 

“By condemning building in Gilo, the administration repeats its initial mistake in the peace process. It is creating a demand that no Israeli government can meet and no Palestinian leader can ignore,” said Michael Oren, a former Israeli ambassador to the United States who is a member of parliament from the ruling coalition.

“Nobody in Israel views Gilo as a settlement, but once the administration demands a freeze in Gilo, then no Palestinian leader can demand anything less,” he said. “Gilo is a deal-breaker.”

In its statement, the State Department also criticized Israeli plans to build 323 units in East Jerusalem, expand settlements in the West Bank and retroactively legalize an Israeli outpost near Ramallah.

[In the settlement of Kiryat Arba, the demand is to expand]

“We have been seeing more and more settlements built in the past few years and increased demolitions of Palestinian property recently,” said Jamal Dajani, director of communications for Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah.

Dajani was referring to demolitions of a dozen Palestinian homes this week in East Jerusalem. The demolitions, which Israel said were intended to weed out illegal buildings, left many families homeless. The Palestinians said building permits are often rejected for residents of these areas.

“We support the State Department’s statement,” Dajani said. “It is about time we hear this from the U.S. 

The whole international community is condemning these Israeli actions. They are a violation of the Geneva convention, which specifically prohibits the occupying power from transferring people in the areas it is occupying.”

The State Department’s statement also raised concerns about “increased demolitions of Palestinian structures in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.”

Israel has demolished more than 650 Palestinian structures in those areas this year, more than in all of 2015, the statement said.

Morello reported from Washington.

Nusra confirms split with al-Qaeda 'to protect the Syrian revolution'

Abu Mohamed al-Golani says creation of the Levantine Conquest Front aims to 'close the gap' between Syria's fighting factions

First image ever showing Nusra chief Abu Mohamed al-Golani (AFP/Al-Manara Al-Bayda)

Dania Akkad-Thursday 28 July 2016

Nusra Front leader Abu Mohamed al-Golani confirmed late on Thursday that his group has formally split from al-Qaeda and has renamed itself the Levantine Conquest Front.

"The creation of this new front aims to close the gap between the jihadi factions in the Levant," Golani said in his first televised appearance, soon after Nusra released the first photo of the leader ever seen publicly. "By breaking our link, we aim to protect the Syrian revolution."

"We thank the leaders of al-Qaeda for understanding the need to break links."

Golani's comments come several hours after al-Qaeda's leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri appeared to give his blessing to the anticipated split with its Syrian affiliate in an audio recording released on YouTube.

Speculation had been growing in the past week that Nusra Front leaders had decided to cut their formal links with al-Qaeda, with sources close to the group telling Middle East Eye that an announcement was imminent.

In a clip within the six-and-a-half-minute audio message attributed to Zawahiri, he said that Nusra should split from al-Qaeda if the decision improved the unity of groups fighting a common enemy in Syria

The Nusra Front has long been among the myriad of rebel groups battling both pro-government forces since the beginning of the country's civil war in 2011, often working closely and fighting alongside other groups.

"The brotherhood of Islam that bonds us is stronger than any obsolete links between organisations," Zawahiri is heard to say. "These organisational links must be sacrificed without hesitation if they threaten your unity."

Also speaking, Abu al-Khayr al-Masri, a deputy to Zawahiri, said al-Qaeda approved "any possible action" that would improve the unity among the rebel factions fighting in Syria and form a "new generation" of fighters.

"After studying the situation in Syria... we approve any possible action that will preserve jihad in the Levant," Masri said. “We say now to the leaders of the Nusra Front: do what preserves the unity of Islam and Muslims, and jihad in the Levant. 

“We urge you to take the necessary steps in this direction. This is also a call to all the other jihadi factions in the Levant… You must form one rank to protect our people and our land.”

Middle East Eye understands that Masri was present at a 5 April meeting in Idlib city between Nusra members and Taha Rifai, a leading Egyptian Islamist who was trying to convince the group to set aside its global ambitions and focus on fighting the Assad government.

Soon after the meeting, Rifai was killed by a US drone strike.

A screengrab of al-Qaeda's audio message, reading ‘A sound recording by Sheikh Ahmed Hassan Abu Kheir’ (YouTube)

Nusra has been one of the most effective anti-government factions in Syria’s civil war, particularly in the country’s north.

However, both the US and Russia had designated the group as a terrorist organisation because of its affiliation to al-Qaeda, allowing the countries to bomb Nusra fighters on the ground.

The split appears to be motivated by an attempt from Nusra to attract other opposition groups to unify with it just as the US and Russia have reportedly agreed to target Nusra and the Islamic State (IS) militant group.

Earlier this week, a writer purporting to be a Dutch associate of Nusra called Al-Maqalaat saidthat the timing of the decision was "no coincidence".

"The overall message of the break with al-Qaeda will be that the US is not enemies with al-Qaeda or any other so-called terrorist organisation, but their animosity is against the Muslim Ummah as a whole, especially the Muslims who are seeking to establish the rule of Islam," Al-Maqalaat wrote.

"If the other parties agree to any of these preconditions, then this would be the best deal in the history of Islam, or rather mankind. If the other parties agree to these preconditions, then the breaking of ties between Jabhat Nusra and Al-Qaeda will form a major backlash for the West."

At the daily State Department press conference on Thursday, spokesman John Kirby said the US has "certainly seen no indication that would give us reason to change the designation of this group". 

'Playing chess'

Analysts say the official split has the potential to drastically alter the dynamics among Syrian rebels depending on which and whether other groups decide to join the new Nusra.

"My interpretation is that Nusra was not doing it to avoid being bombed, because it will be bombed either way," said Thomas Pierret, a lecturer in contemporary Islam at the University of Edinburgh.

Instead, the group is "playing chess" with other rebel groups, like Ahrar al-Sham, who have long demanded that Nusra break its allegiance to al-Qaeda in order for the groups to unify. When joint Russian-US operations start, Pierret said, Nusra will be able to say it has fulfilled its end of the bargain.

But the question now is whether other rebel groups will join with a newly recast Nusra in practice. 

Any group that does join now, said Mohamed Okda, an expert on Syrian issues who has been involved in negotiating with Syrian groups, will have made the decision weeks or even months ago as rumours swirled about the coming changes and will have coordinated with their donors to make sure they will continue to be protected or receive funding - or both.

Sam Heller, a Beirut-based analyst who tweets as Abu Jamajem, and Pierret agree that smaller factions that are already seen as being connected to Nusra, like Jabhat Ansar al-Din, may join up. They have "little to lose anyway", Pierret said.

"I think there will be limited appetite among more mainline or nationalist rebel brigades to join up with the Nusra that has been picking them off one by one and progressively seizing political control in the north," Heller said.

Both analysts said it is unlikely that Ahrar al-Sham, the other main fighting force in northern Syria, would join the new Nusra venture.

Since its inception, they said, Ahrar has tried to avoid being designated as a terrorist group by the US, and has been successful until now. If Ahrar joined the new incarnation of Nusra, it would risk becoming blacklisted, especially as the US will likely continue to designate Nusra a terrorist organisation regardless of the split.

"My gut feeling is that an integration between Ahrar and a non-al-Qaeda Nusra wouldn't mainstream and legitimise Nusra; to the contrary, it would just render Ahrar politically toxic," Heller said.

But at the same time, Pierret said, Ahrar's leadership is divided. One faction within the leadership has pushed for a "moderate line" which has included involvement in peace negotiations and abiding by ceasefires, with little pay-off for the group. 

"So inevitably, if the line you are pushing appears to be a complete failure in the end, the countervailing line gets more weight and credit within the organisation. So I wouldn’t be surprised if the hardliners were on the rise again," Pierret said. If this faction were to join the new Nusra, he added, it would be such a strong force that it would be difficult for the rest of the organisation not to join.

Equally, he said, other rebel groups may be eyeing the Nusra split and wondering whether this is a last-ditch opportunity, especially since the result of "playing nice" over the winter - abiding by ceasefires and participating in negotiations - is Aleppo besieged and the rebels "got exterminated", he said.

"So what is the point of being a moderate rebel today in Syria?" he said, referring to the US-backed New Syrian Army push last month in eastern Syria, which resulted in the group being routed by IS.

"The only credible option is to be cannon fodder for silly [US-led] anti-IS operations in the desert."

Additional reporting by Mary Atkinson

Erdogan wants army under president's control after coup - Turkish official

Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim (C), flanked by Chief of Staff General Hulusi Akar (L), Defense Minister Fikri Isik (R) and the country's top generals, leaves Anitkabir, the mausoleum of modern Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, after a wreath-laying ceremony...REUTERS/UMIT BEKTAS

 BY ECE TOKSABAY AND DAREN BUTLER-Fri Jul 29, 2016

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan wants the armed forces and national intelligence agency brought under the control of the presidency, a parliamentary official said on Thursday, part of a major overhaul of the military after a failed coup.

Erdogan's comments came after a five-hour meeting of Turkey's Supreme Military Council (YAS) - chaired by Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and including the top brass - and the dishonourable discharge of nearly 1,700 military personnel over their alleged role in the abortive putsch on July 15-16.

After the meeting, Erdogan approved the council's decisions to keep armed forces chief Hulusi Akar and the army, navy and air force commanders in their posts, making few changes to the top brass, Erdogan's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin told reporters.

Erdogan, who narrowly escaped capture and possible death on the night of the coup, told Reuters in an interview last week that the military, NATO'S second biggest, needed "fresh blood". The dishonourable discharges included around 40 percent of Turkey's admirals and generals.

Turkey accuses U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen of masterminding the coup and has suspended or placed under investigation tens of thousands of his suspected followers, including soldiers, judges and academics.

In the aftermath of the coup, media outlets, schools and universities have also been closed down.

"The president said that ... he would discuss with opposition parties bringing the General Staff and the MIT (intelligence agency) under the control of the presidency," the parliamentary official said.

Such a change would require a constitutional amendment, so Erdogan's Islamist-rooted AK Party would require the support of opposition parties in parliament, Turkish media said.

Both the General Staff and MIT currently report to the prime minister's office. Putting them under the president's overall direction would be in line with Erdogan's push for a new constitution centred on a strong executive presidency.

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag repeated Ankara's request to the United States to swiftly extradite Gulen, once a powerful ally of Erdogan. He cited intelligence reports suggesting that the 75-year-old preacher might flee his residence in rural Pennsylvania.

Gulen has condemned the coup and denies any involvement.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said more than 300 personnel in his ministry had links to Gulen and that it had dismissed 88 employees.

Separately, Turkey's biggest petrochemicals company Petkim said its chief executive had resigned and the state-run news agency Anadolu said he had been detained in connection with the failed coup.

Anadolu also said Ankara prosecutors requested the seizure of the assets of 3,049 judges and prosecutors detained as part of the investigation into the coup attempt.

WESTERN CONCERNS

Western governments and human rights groups have condemned the coup, in which at least 246 people were killed and more than 2,000 injured. But they have also expressed disquiet over the scale and depth of the purges, fearing that Erdogan may be using them to get rid of opponents and tighten his grip on power.

The government said on Wednesday it had ordered the closure of three news agencies, 16 television channels, 45 newspapers, 15 magazines and 29 publishers. This announcement followed the shutting down of other media outlets and detention of journalists with suspected Gulenist ties.

In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said the United States was "deeply concerned" about the latest reports of Turkish closure of news media outlets and was seeking clarification from the government about the action.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel became the latest Western leader on Thursday to urge restraint, while underlining Turkey's need to take action against the rebels.

"In a constitutional state - and this is what worries me and what I am following closely - the principle of proportionality must be ensured by all," she told a news conference in Berlin.

Cavusoglu told broadcaster CNN Turk that some prosecutors with links to Gulen had fled to Germany and he urged Berlin to extradite them. He also said he saw "positive change" in the attitude of the United States towards Ankara's request to extradite Gulen to Turkey.

Even before the failed coup, Turkey was struggling with major security challenges including attacks by Kurdish militants and Islamic State, a grim reality underscored by tourism data on Thursday showing a 40 percent fall in foreign visitors in June.

Turmoil in Turkey's armed forces raises questions about its ability to contain the Islamic State militant threat in neighbouring Syria and the renewed Kurdish insurgency in its southeast, military analysts say.

The AK Party, founded by Erdogan and in power since 2002, has long had testy relations with the military, which for decades saw itself as the ultimate guardian of Turkey's secular order and legacy of the nation's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. The military has ousted four governments in the past 60 years.

However, Erdogan says the armed forces have been infiltrated in recent years by Gulen's supporters. "The army has to stop being the army of the Fethullah Gulen terrorist organisation," Justice Minister Bozdag said.

EXERTING CONTROL

In a symbolic sign of how civilian authorities are now firmly in charge, Thursday's military council meeting was held at the prime minister's office rather than General Staff headquarters.

Yildirim accompanied senior military officers to pay respects at Ataturk's mausoleum in Ankara ahead of the meeting.

"We will surely eliminate all terror organisations that target our state, our nation and the indivisible unity of our country," Yildirim said in televised remarks at the mausoleum.

Changes since the coup include bringing the gendarmerie, which is responsible for security in rural areas, and the coast guard firmly under interior ministry control rather than under General Staff control.

CNN Turk has reported that more than 15,000 people, including around 10,000 soldiers, have been detained so far over the coup, citing the interior minister. Of those, more than 8,000 were formally arrested pending trial, it said.

EXTRADITION URGENT

This month's events have exacerbated strains in Turkey's relations with the United States. Washington has responded cautiously to the request to extradite Gulen, saying it must provide clear evidence of his involvement in the coup plot.

Bozdag said Turkey was receiving intelligence that Gulen might flee, possibly to Australia, Mexico, Canada, South Africa or Egypt. Egypt said it had not received an asylum request.

Gulen built up his reputation as a Sunni Muslim preacher with intense sermons. His movement, known as Hizmet, or "Service" in Turkish, set up hundreds of schools and businesses in Turkey and later abroad. His philosophy stresses the need to embrace scientific progress, shun radicalism and build bridges to the West and other religious faiths.

The United States and European Union, which Turkey aspires to join, have both urged Ankara to exercise restraint in its crackdown on suspected Gulen supporters and to ensure those arrested have a fair trial.

Amnesty International has said detainees may have suffered human rights violations, including beatings and rape - an accusation roundly rejected by Ankara.

The EU has also bridled at talk in Turkey - from Erdogan down - of restoring the death penalty, a move Brussels said would scupper Ankara's decades-old bid to join the bloc.

Tourism, a pillar of the economy, has been badly hit by a series of deadly bombings in Turkey, including one at Istanbul's airport in June that killed 45 people, and by tensions with Russia. Data showing a 40 percent drop year-on-year in June in the number of foreign visitors to Turkey is further bad news for the government. The decline was the biggest in 22 years.

(Additional reporting by Ayla Jean Yackley. David Dolan and Seda Sezer in Istanbul, Arshad Mohammed in Washington; Writing by Gareth Jones; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

South Korea: Samsung boss embroiled in sex-for-hire scandal

Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee. Pic: AP

28th July 2016

INVESTIGATORS in South Korea have opened a probe into an alleged sex scandal involving billionaire Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee, who has been accused of soliciting the services of prostitutes several times between 2011 and 2013.

Although Lee is been in a comatose state since 2014, after suffering a heart attack, an official from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said Wednesday the case is being handled by a division specializing in crimes against women and children. He refused to be named, citing office rules.

The allegations emerged last week after internet news outlet Newstapa released footage purportedly showing a man who appeared to be Lee interacting with women who might have been prostitutes on several occasions.

Selling or buying sex is a crime punishable by up to a year in prison or a fine of 3 million won (US$2,600) in South Korea.

After receiving the footage from an anonymous source in April, Newstapa reported that the makers of the video allegedly attempted to blackmail Lee and the group.

The company reportedly received demands for money in exchange for the video, but chose to ignore it as it found the credibility of the video to be questionable.

According to the Korea Times, the Samsung Group on Friday expressed discomfort over the scandal involving Lee, who is currently hospitalized.

SEE ALSO: Samsung chairman hospitalized after heart attack

“We are discomforted by the stir involving Chairman Lee Kun-hee,” it was quoted as saying.

“However, the issue is a personal matter of Chairman Lee, so on behalf of the group we have nothing to say.”

Filmed at what appears to be Lee’s residence in Samseong-dong and another reisence in Nonhyeon-dong in southern Seoul, the videos stretched over seven hours and were taken on five occassions between December 2011 and June 2013.

The women featured in the video were said to be in their 20s and 30s and worked at bars and entertainment outlets. They were paid 5 million ($4,000) for their services, it was reported.

Additional reporting by Associated Press

Can Natural Gas Put Cyprus Back Together Again?

As Cyprus ramps up its own energy exploration, and hopes prevail of an Israel-Turkey pipeline, there is growing optimism that natural gas will help finally unify the divided island.

BY KEITH JOHNSON-JULY 27, 2016

The emerging energy boom in the eastern Mediterranean could be just what’s needed to finally reunify Cyprus after the island has spent more than 40 years bitterly divided between a Greek south and a Turkish north.

The discovery in recent years of natural gas fields in waters belonging to Egypt, Israel, and even Lebanon has galvanized the attention and investment of energy companies, including big ones from Europe and the United States. On Wednesday, Cyprus itself took a big step toward realizing its own energy
promise, announcing that a spate of major-league players, including ExxonMobil of the United States, Total of France, and Eni of Italy, have bid to drill for gas off the southern coast of the divided island.

Cyprus’s latest effort to jump-start interest in its offshore resources — after several false starts and spats with Turkey as recently as 2014 over disputed waters where some of the natural gas is found — comes just as Turkey and Israel are mending fences after six years of antagonism.

That reconciliation is driven, in part, by Turkey’s desire to import Israeli natural gas, which would likely have to come via a pipeline that would almost certainly have to pass through Cypriot waters — and Nicosia has said it willblock any pipeline if the island stays divided.

In other words, Ankara’s appetite for Israeli gas might just give it reason enough to back the reunification of Cyprus some 42 years after Turkish troops invaded and tore it asunder.

“Gas might provide an incentive to Turkey to support the process” of reunification, said Michael Leigh, a senior fellow with the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

Turkish officials have been all over the map with their public statements. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Tuesday, in his first comments after the coup attempt, that Turkey supports reunification talks. But he also called the current round of talks the “last chance” for Greek Cypriots to be flexible.

Turkey’s ambassador to the EU, Selim Yenel, told Politico this week that the island’s reunification was not a prerequisite for Ankara to start importing gas from Israel, though energy experts believe it is.

A spokesman at the Turkish Embassy in Washington told Foreign Policy, “Turkey strongly believes that hydrocarbon resources in the Eastern Mediterranean should serve as a source of peace, cooperation and welfare for the region.” While the energy aspect is a new twist in the decades-old talks over the island’s future, he said that “we believe both Turkish and Greek Cypriots have equal and inherent rights to the resources.”

The Cypriot embassy did not respond to requests for comment. Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades has repeatedly said energy development in the eastern Mediterranean, including in Cyprus itself, could be a “catalyst” for peace, stability, and regional integration. But any export pipeline that passed through its waters on the way to Turkey would require a unified island, Cypriot officials have made clear.

In July 1974, Turkish troops invaded the northern part of the island and established a breakaway republic in the north that only Turkey recognizes. The Greek-speaking south is a member of the European Union and is internationally recognized. The divided island has, for decades, soured Turkey’s relations with fellow members of NATO, including Greece, as well as the EU and the United States.

Reunification talks between Greek and Turkish Cypriots have been ongoing for years, and both sides say 2016 represents perhaps the best chance to reach a deal to end the island’s artificial division. On Tuesday, the United Nations agreed to extend its peacekeeping force on the island, where it has been since 1964, for another six months.

Cyprus’s own possible energy resources could also act as a spur to reunify. The interest of major international firms like ExxonMobil and Total are a testament to the potential resources buried deep in the Mediterranean, and the discovery last year of a huge field off the coast of Egypt raised hopes of a similar find in Cypriot waters. That, in turn, has fueled the island’s dreams of turning itself into an energy hub and a regional exporter of natural gas.

But even if all the fields put out for tender this month are developed, the country is unlikely to be awash in gas, relatively speaking. Though estimates vary widely, the best available data on gas reserves estimate that Cyprus has about the same volume that Turkey consumes annually, or a bit more: 50-70 billion cubic meters.

“In a part of the world where we supersize every issue, it doesn’t surprise me that 50 [billion cubic meters] in Cyprus becomes a ‘major’ source of gas,” said Brenda Shaffer, a Mediterranean energy expert at Georgetown University.

Rather, she said, it is the Turkish desire to reduce its reliance on Russia for energy supplies, and especially Ankara’s hunger to start importing gas from its new friend Israel, that puts Cyprus in an advantageous position.

“The bargaining position of the south is better than most times, because there is Turkish interest in a pipeline and there is Turkish interest in showing that they are mending fences with everyone, so the timing is probably one of the best for Cyprus to” reach an accord on reunification, Shaffer said.

There are still loads of obstacles, though, energy promises notwithstanding. It’s not clear exactly where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stands on some thorny issues, Leigh said, where “Ankara’s green light is essential” to reach an agreement. That pertains to territorial questions arising from decades of division and especially the withdrawal of the estimated 30,000 to 40,000 Turkish troops still in Cyprus, he said.

And in the wake of this month’s failed coup attempt by elements of the Turkish army and Erdogan’s subsequent draconian crackdown on perceived enemies, it’s not clear if Turkish leaders even have the bandwidth to push forward a solution to the Cyprus question right now, Leigh said.

Photo credit: TOMS/Flicker

India: The Iron Lady to end 16-year fast; to contest Manipur election

• Irom Sharmila to end her 16-year-old fast on August 9.

• Sharmila wants to contest in upcoming Manipur elections.

• She wants to resolve issues by contesting the elections.

( July 26, 2016, Imphal, Sri Lanka Guardian) “Sixteen years after starting her path-setting hunger strike demanding repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, Manipur’s “Iron Lady” Irom Chanu Sharmila has decided to end her fast on August 9 and contest Assembly elections as an Independent candidate,” the PTI, premier Indian news agency has reported.

The report further reads as follows;

The 44-year-old iconic rights activist, who has been forcibly fed through a nasal tube since 2000, said she would join politics as she no longer believes that her fast will lead to the repeal of the “draconian” AFSPA.

“I will end my fast on August 9 and contest elections on an independent ticket,” Sharmila told the media after coming out of a local court here where she is facing a trial for attempting suicide.

“I will join politics and my fight will continue,” Sharmila, who has refused to eat or drink anything since November, 2000 and is forcibly fed through a nasal tube in Imphal’s Jawahar Lal Nehru Hospital, a special ward of which acts as her prison.

Assembly elections in Manipur are scheduled early next year.

In the past, many political leaders have met Sharmila and tried to cajole her into joining politics but she has rejected all offers.

She also expressed her desire to get married after coming out of prison on August 9.

The civil rights activist is known to have a boyfriend, a British national of Indian origin, who has in the past been in trouble with Sharmila supporters.

On the charge of attempting suicide by means of a fast unto death in 2006 at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, she has been arrested, released and then re-arrested from time to time.

The maximum punishment under Section 309 of IPC is a one-year jail term.

India's child labor bill criticized by rights groups

India's parliament has passed a revised labor bill that bans children less than 14 years of age from doing hazardous jobs but allows them to work in family businesses. Rights groups have slammed the new act.

28.07.2016
The contentious bill was recently passed in the Rajya Sabha (upper house of parliament) after intense debate. The new bill still requires approval by President Pranab Mukherjee, after which it would become a law.

The revised bill makes employment of children below 14 years a criminal offense. It also prohibits the employment of adolescents aged 14 to 18 in hazardous conditions and introduces more stringent punishments and fines for the offenders.

All these new clauses have been hailed by a majority of labor organizations and rights groups.

Varun Gandhi, a lawmaker for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, however raised questions about the implementation of these new provisions, especially with regard to the prosecution of offenders.

 

Child labor still rife in India

Family-run enterprises

But what has upset child rights activists most is a divisive provision in the bill that they believe will put children under risk.

The legislation permits children under 14 to work in "family-owned" enterprises after school hours and during school holidays. Activists have unanimously condemned this provision.

"It will make child labor invisible and legal. It will also be difficult to monitor and punish offenders," Thomas Chandy, CEO of rights organization Save the Children, told DW.

According to the United Nations, some 150 million children across the world are engaged in child labor. India is home to the largest number of child laborers in the world. Many of these children work in family-run businesses.

Last year, the International Labor Organization estimated that at least 5.8 million Indian children — aged between five and 17 — were employed as wage laborers in various sectors of the Indian economy, while another six million work in family businesses without pay.

A study conducted by Save the Children last year found that 12-year-olds who spend three or more hours a day on household chores are 70 percent less likely to complete secondary education.

Making child labor legal?

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) also voiced concerns over the amended bill, saying it would legitimize child labor under some conditions.

Many in India believe the new law will not eliminate child labor violations, because a number of family firms are engaged in hazardous activities, and the pressure on children to work may supersede their need for education. Furthermore, the definition of "family-owned businesses" is unclear in the law, as it goes beyond just the nuclear family of parents and grandparents to include enterprises run by a child's aunts and uncles.

"It is a pity that India is literally allowing children to be employed in family enterprises," Enakshi Ganguly Thukral, co-founder of the HAQ Centre for Child Rights, told DW.

"The employment of children in occupations like tanning, bangle-making, carpet weaving, domestic work and numerous other professions like these that were previously recognized as hazardous for children will now be legal," added Thukral.

India's Nobel laureate and child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi said he was disappointed by the amended act, calling it a "missed opportunity."

"The definition of family and family enterprises is flawed. This law uses Indian family values to justify economic exploitation of children. It is misleading the society by blurring the lines between learning in a family and working in a family enterprise," he said in a statement.

How do I reduce the risk of having a stroke?

Doctors now think that 90% of strokes are preventable through lifestyle changes, including eating less salt and processed food, quitting smoking and exercising more. Should you be changing your habits?

 Exercise is essential as you get older if you want to reduce your risk of a stroke. Photograph: Zero Creatives/Getty Images/Cultura RF

Luisa Dillner-Monday 25 July 2016

Every three minutes and 27 seconds someone in the UK has a stroke. By the age of 75, one in five women and one in six men will have had one. Strokes are cited by people as one of their four most dreaded conditions. There are many statistics about strokes but an important one became obsolete this week: it used to be said that 80% of them could be prevented.

Research in this week’s Lancet from the Interstroke study says that figure is actually 90%. This latest study, of 26,915 people from 32 countries found that 10 factors accounted for about 90% of the risk of having a stroke. The worst offenders were high blood pressure, lack of exercise, poor diet and smoking. But there was also stress, too much alcohol, heart problems, obesity, diabetes and high cholesterol in hot pursuit.

The study, from McMaster University in Canada, included people who had had strokes caused by either blood clots or bleeding in the brain. The diagnosis was made using clinical criteria for a stroke and a brain scan. Patients or their carers were given a questionnaire asking about risk factors and the results were compared with those of controls (comparable people who hadn’t had a stroke).

The solution

None of these risk factors is new. So why aren’t we doing more, individually, to protect ourselves from strokes? There is always age, and a genetic predisposition to stroke that you are powerless to resist. But the lead author of the paper, Dr Martin O’Donnell, is both realistic and optimistic. “So much of the risk of stroke is modifiable by the individual,” he says. “It’s not just one risk factor, it’s a collection of lifestyle choices – all interlinked. If you exercise and eat well, then you will be a healthy weight and less likely to get diabetes.” O’Donnell knows that people can’t sustain extreme changes of behaviour. But this is fine because in stroke prevention, the risk factors are so connected that even modest changes would add up to a measurably lower risk. An editorial accompanying the paper advises people to eat less salt to reduce the risk of high blood pressure and less sugar and processed food.

“Ideally, healthy behavior should start in youth, but it is never too late and you can do things in moderation,” says O’Donnell. “You should have your blood pressure checked every year.” He admits, though, that prevention is difficult: “It’s not like you wake up one day and say: today is the day I would have had a stroke if I hadn’t taken preventative therapy. But I am a stroke physician and, unfortunately, I am the doctor who sees the patient who didn’t take the blood-pressure tablet.”