Category: FOREIGN

Foreign Blogs is a network of global affairs blogs and a supplement to the Foreign Policy Association’s Great Decisions program.

  • ‘If Israel does not stop massacre of Palestinians, we cannot be there’: Colombia warns

    Colombian President Gustavo Petro has warned Israel about breaking off diplomatic ties if the country does not stop attacks in the Gaza Strip.

    Colombia recalled its ambassador to Israel on Tuesday.

    “I have decided to recall our ambassador to Israel for consultations. If Israel does not stop the massacre of the Palestinian people, we cannot be there,” Petro said on X.

    “Now the neo-Nazis want the destruction of the Palestinian people, freedom, and culture,” he wrote in X.

    “If we have to suspend foreign relations with Israel, we suspend them,” he said on X. “We do not support genocides.”

    His stance led to a reaction from US Embassy in Bogota: “We are dismayed to see Colombian President Gustavo Petro compare the Israeli government with Hitler’s genocidal regime. We strongly condemn your statements and ask that you condemn Hamas, a designated terrorist organization, for the callous murders of Israeli men, women and children.”

  • New York police arrest hundreds at Jewish protest urging Gaza ceasefire

    New York police arrest hundreds at Jewish protest urging Gaza ceasefire

    Hundreds of people were arrested Friday when police broke up a large demonstration of mostly Jewish New Yorkers who had taken over the main hall of Grand Central station in protest of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, police and organizers said.

    The New York Police Department said at least 200 people had been arrested, while protest organizers put the number at more than 300.

    Photos from the scene showed long lines of young people standing in handcuffs and wearing black sweatshirts with the words “Not In Our Name” and “Cease Fire Now” printed in white.

    The massive sit-in was called by the group Jewish Voice for Peace-New York City, which said thousands of its members had attended the protest, blocking the main concourse of the city’s central rail station.

    Pictures showed the terminal packed with protesters who held up banners reading “Palestinians should be free” and “Mourn the dead, fight like hell for the living.”

    Organizers called the peaceful sit-in “the largest civil disobedience New York City has seen in 20 years.”

    Rabbis launched the event by lighting Shabbat candles and reciting the Jewish prayer for the dead, known as the kaddish.

    “While Shabbat is typically a day of rest, we cannot afford to rest while genocide is unfolding in our names,” said Rabbi May Ye, in a statement released by organizers.

    “The lives of Palestinians and Israelis are intertwined, and safety can only come from justice, equality, and freedom for all,” the rabbi said.

    Israel launched its bombardment of Gaza after Hamas gunmen stormed across the border on 7 October, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping over 220 others, according to Israeli officials.

    The Hamas-run health ministry said Friday that Israeli strikes on Gaza had now killed 7,326 people, more than 3,000 of them children.

  • India ‘Shocked’ At Qatar Death Penalty For 8 Citizens

    India ‘Shocked’ At Qatar Death Penalty For 8 Citizens

    India said Thursday that eight of its citizens had been sentenced to death by Qatar in a case that media reported involved high-ranking ex-naval officers accused of spying.

    New Delhi said it would “take up the verdict with Qatari authorities” and would continue to “extend all consular and legal assistance” to the prisoners, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

    “We have initial information that the Court of First Instance of Qatar has today passed a judgement in the case involving eight Indian employees of Al Dahra company,” the statement added.

    “We are deeply shocked by the verdict of death penalty and are awaiting the detailed judgement.”

    Al Dahra is a Gulf-based company that offers “complete support solutions” to the aerospace, security and defence sectors, according to its website.

    There was no immediate confirmation from the Qatari authorities.

    India’s foreign ministry gave no further details on the eight condemned or their alleged crimes.

    “Due to the confidential nature of proceedings of this case, it would not be appropriate to make any further comment at this juncture,” the ministry statement added, saying it was “exploring all legal options”.

    However, several Indian media outlets reported that among those sentenced were ex-naval officers -– including former captains and commanders -– and that the men had been arrested in Doha in August 2022.

    The Times of India, Hindustan Times and the Press Trust of India all reported that the men were arrested for an “alleged case of espionage”.

  • 80 per cent of Gaza burns victims are children: What do we know about day 15

    80 per cent of Gaza burns victims are children: What do we know about day 15

    13 Palestinians killed in occupied West Bank

    At least 13 Palestinians have reportedly been killed in Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank.

    The Israeli raid led to clashes in the Nur Shams refugee camp.

    Among the killed Palestinians are seven children whereas one Israeli officer also died.

    Israel-Lebanon border

    Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah alongside Palestinian armed groups are still at odds as cross-border attacks continue.

    Al Jazeera reports that the attacks are limited to areas only a few kilometres on each side of the border, adding that Hezbollah is trying to stop Israeli potential operation into Gaza.

    ‘Fuel will not enter Gaza’: Israeli army spokesperson

    Daniel Hagari says the 20 trucks carrying aid into Gaza from Egypt will go to the southern part of the besieged enclave.

    But he stated that “fuel will not enter Gaza”.

    At a news conference after the opening of the Rafah crossing earlier, Hagari told reporters that only food, water and medical aid will be allowed to enter the enclave.

    Israeli air raids kill 46 in Gaza

    Air raids through the night have reportedly killed at least 46 people.

    Preparations for ‘next phase of war’

    Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has disclosed that the war will be carried through three phases and that preparations are underway “for the next phase of the war” which is said to be a ground operation.

    The first phase is under way which, as he explained, aims to destroy the military infrastructure of Hamas military. The second phase will be “lower intensity” operations to “destroy pockets of resistance”.

    “The third phase will require the removal of Israel’s responsibility for life in the Gaza strip, and the establishment of a new security reality for the citizens of Israel,” as highlighted in his statement.

    800 EU officials condemn chief’s support of Israeli attacks on Gaza

    In the light of the recent incessant Israeli attacks on Gaza, more than 800 EU officials have written to European Union’s chief, Ursula von der Leyen, condemning her “uncontrolled” support of Israel.

    Al Jazeera has reported seing the letter whereas the signatories of the letter say they “hardly recognise the values of the EU” and that there has been a “seeming indifference demonstrated over the past few days by our institution towards the ongoing massacre of civilians in the Gaza Strip, in disregard for human rights and international humanitarian law”.

    The signatories are also upset by the Commission’s “double standards” as on one hand, the Russian blockade of Ukraine is deemed as an act of terror, while Israel’s blockade of Gaza is “completely ignored”.

    “If Israel does not stop immediately, the whole Gaza Strip and its inhabitants will be erased from the planet,” the letter read.

    “We urge you [von der Leyen] to call, together with the leaders of the whole Union, for a ceasefire and for the protection of civilian life. This is at the core of the EU existence,” they said, warning “the EU risks losing all credibility”.

    The letter brings to light the conflict within the EU on the Israel-Gaza war.

    The letter also read that the European Commission’s “recent unfortunate actions or positions seem to give a free hand to the acceleration and the legitimacy of a war crime in the Gaza Strip”.

    “We would have been proud if the European Union … had called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and indiscriminate violence against civilians,” the letter read.

    UN update on casualties in Gaza, West Bank
    Death toll in the Palestinian enclave has risen up to 4,137 which includes 70 percent of children and women.

    Additionally, more than 1,000 people are said to be missing and are presumably under the buildings attacked by Israel.

    1.4 million people are internally displaced in Gaza while at least 30 percent of residency has been destroyed or damaged in Gaza.

    80 per cent of Gaza burns victims are children

    Ghassan Abu Sitta has said that medical workers no longer have dressings for burns victims.

    “We have more than 70 wounded with burns covering more than 40 per cent of their body surface. 80 per cent are children,” Abu Sitta said on X (formerly Twitter).

    10,000 Palestinians imprisoned in two weeks

    There were already about 5,200 Palestinians in Israeli prisons before the attacks of October 7. Following the incident, 4,000 Gazan labourers in Israel have reportedly been arrested while other 1,070 have been taken in in army raids in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

    Cairo Peace Summit to address war on Gaza

    More than a dozen countries participated in a conference in Cairo, Egypt to discuss ways to “de-escalate” the Israel-Palestine escalation while there is also a fear of the conflict rippling throughout the Middle East.

    The Cairo Summit for Peace was attended by Jordan, France, Germany, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, the United States, Qatar, South Africa and other countries alongside the United Nations and European Union.

    Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi urged all the leaders to collectively carve out a way to end the “humanitarian catastrophe” in the Gaza Strip and establish peace between the two sides.

    He also asserted the need to deliver aid to Gaza and call for a ceasefire as well as attainment of the two-state solution.

    Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also attended the summit and appealed for the opening of the humanitarian corridors.

    “We will remain on our land.”, he added, saying that Palestinians will not leave.

  • India, Canada relations continue souring as diplomatic staff is thinned out

    India, Canada relations continue souring as diplomatic staff is thinned out

    Following the allegations of India’s involvement in the murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside a cultural centre in Surray, British Columbia on June 18, Canada expelled top Indian diplomat Pavan Kumar Rai who was allegedly the head of Indian Intelligence in Canada. “We’ve been clear we will not tolerate any form of foreign interference,” the Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly stated in a press conference on September 18. 

    In response, India asked a top-tier Canadian diplomat to leave the country in five days, citing “growing concern at the interference of Canadian diplomats in our internal matters and their involvement in anti-India activities”. 

    The gravity of the matter became clearer when Canada cancelled a trade mission to India that was scheduled for later this year.

    Since then, tensions are at an all time high between the two countries. On October 19, Melanie Joly confirmed to the media that 41 Canadian diplomats have left India after the Modi Government threatened to take back their diplomatic immunity. The two governments rushed into the decision after trying negotiations for two weeks. New Delhi posed the demand of “parity” in the number of diplomats between the two countries. Reportedly India had 21 accredited diplomats in Canada while the latter had 62 in India spread across four consulates in Mumbai, Chandigarh and Bengaluru. The immigration officers that catered applications from Nepal and Bhutan along with India have now been reduced from 27 to 5. However, the withdrawal of immunity is unilateral from India’s side-a violation of International Laws.  

    Canada, on the other hand, has decided to neither reciprocate nor “retaliate” because this would put the diplomats of other countries at risk. Even though, contrary to India’s claims of accredited diplomats, the registry of foreign representation by India shows the number to be 60 in Canada, Joly refused to comment on that and reiterated that because it is unprecedented, “we decided not to reciprocate”

  • ISRAEL CELEBRATES ATTACK ON HOSPITAL, LATER BLAMES HAMAS FOR ATROCITY

    ISRAEL CELEBRATES ATTACK ON HOSPITAL, LATER BLAMES HAMAS FOR ATROCITY

    After a heinous attack on a hospital in Gaza, Israel, initially taking credit for killing more than 800 innocent civilians, blamed the attack on Hamas.

    According to Al-Jazeera, an Israeli spokesman said that the hospital and five others could be a target by Israel.

    After the attack and the extreme backlash around the world, Israel retracted it’s statement and said that Hamas had hidden weapons in the hospital and then had misfired their own rockets onto the hospital. According to journalists, official Israeli accounts even posted footage of a rocket misfire – but the timing of the footage didn’t match the time of the attack – and was deleted by the Israeli accounts.

    Pressure mounts on US President Biden who is expected in Israel tomorrow to see if he will now go to the country after the Israeli state bombs a hospital – the most heinous crime in the history of the conflict.

    X (former Twitter) users have called out Israel and their supporters on the retraction of their statement and trying to put the blame of their atrocities on Hamas.

    Protests have erupted all over the world against Israel’s heinous and brutal attack on a Palestinian hospital which killed more than 800 people. From Sweden to Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Tunisia, Jordan, Lebanon, and the West Bank, people are taking to the streets and protesting against the genocide in Palestine. Protestors in Jordan have surrounded the Israeli embassy with calls to end the genocide.

    After the recent attack, Scotland becomes the first country to offer refuge to the people of Gaza.

  • Blast in restaurant in China kills at least 31 people

    At least 31 people have been killed and seven injured on Wednesday as the result of a gas explosion at a restaurant in northwestern China. The blast was caused by a leaking liquefied petroleum gas tank.

    “A leak of liquefied petroleum gas … caused an explosion during the operation of a barbecue restaurant,” state news agency Xinhua said on Wednesday.
    The owner, shareholders, and staff of the restaurant were among the nine people who were detained by police after the explosion.

    According to media accounts, the BBQ restaurant in Yinchuan, the region’s capital, is very popular among locals. High school students and pensioners were among those killed in the explosion, which occurred during the busiest dining hours.

  • Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Cori Bush join Ilhan Omar in boycotting Modi’s Washington address 

    Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Cori Bush join Ilhan Omar in boycotting Modi’s Washington address 

    Congresswoman Cori Bush and member of the U.S. House of Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have joined Congresswoman Ilhan Omar in boycotting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Washington speech. 

    Both politicians announced their decision via Twitter. The development came shortly after Omar announced that she would be boycotting Modi’s speech, citing human rights abuse.

    Both Ocasio-Cortez and Bush have made their decision to boycott for the same reasons. In her statement on Twitter, Ocasio-Cortez pointed out how Modi had been denied a U.S. visa in 2005 due to his alleged complicity in the 2002 Gujarat riots. 

    She goes on to explain that a joint address to Congress is among the most prestigious invitations the U.S. can extend, and it should not be done so to individuals with a record of human rights violations. 

    Bush also alleges Modi’s history of committing human rights abuses, undermining democracy, and targeting journalists. 

    In February this year, BBC offices in India had been raided by tax department officials, just weeks after the release of a documentary revealing evidence of Modi’s responsibility in Gujarat riots. The documentary was later blocked by the government.

    Modi had been invited by top U.S. lawmakers to join Biden in a joint address to Congress on June 22nd. As China’s influence grows in the Indo-Pacific region, the U.S. is anxious to secure India’s cooperation as a counterbalance.

  • Modi to celebrate International Yoga Day on UN’s Lawn during U.S. visit

    Modi to celebrate International Yoga Day on UN’s Lawn during U.S. visit

    In celebration of the ninth annual observance of International Day of Yoga, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi will be leading a yoga session on the north lawn of the UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday morning.

    Modi, a practicing Hindu, often presents himself as devoutly religious. Considering yoga has its origins in ancient Hindu religious practices, the exercise seems a fitting ode to both his faith and culture.

    But there are other, more important concerns surrounding his crucial visit to Washington.

    Congresswoman boycotts speech

    Earlier today, United States’ Congresswoman Ilhan Omar published a tweet ahead of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s speech to Congress. She stated she will not be attending the address, holding a briefing with human rights groups instead to discuss ‘Modi’s record of repression and violence.’ 

    She accused his government of repression of religious minorities, emboldening Hindu nationalist groups, and targeting journalists/human rights advocates ‘with impunity’.

    At the beginning of June, top lawmakers in the U.S. had invited Modi to address Congress on the 22nd of June, during his visit to Washington, DC. Addressing Congress is a rare opportunity that is granted only to the country’s closest allies.

    Biden asked to raise concerns

    A letter was sent to U.S. President Joe Biden on the eve of Modi’s visit to Washington, asking him to raise concerns around democratic norms and human rights in India with its prime minister. 

    A total of 75 American Senators and Representatives have signed the letter. The U.S. lawmakers that drafted it said they were concerned about religious intolerance, press freedoms, internet access and the targeting of civil society groups. 

    They cited “a series of independent, credible reports” reflecting “troubling signs” in India, as reported by Reuters. 

    “We do not endorse any particular Indian leader or political party — that is the decision of the people of India — but we do stand in support of the important principles that should be a core part of American foreign policy,” said the letter.

    A strategic ceremony

    According to BBC, the discussions between the two states not only have potential to infuse new energy into India-U.S. relations, but also have an impact on the global order.

    As China’s influence continues to grow in the Indo-Pacific, the U.S. needs India’s influence more than ever, viewing it as a counterbalance to China’s. While India is reluctant to claim this tag, China is one of the main catalysts driving India-U.S. relations.

    Human rights advocates worry that geopolitics might overshadow humanitarian issues. U.S. rights groups have planned protests against Modi’s state visit to Washington, citing India’s deteriorating human rights record, as reported by Reuters.

  • Largest virus outbreak: China relies on TCM to fight Covid-19

    Largest virus outbreak: China relies on TCM to fight Covid-19

    Shanghai is distributing to residents millions of boxes of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), such as herbal products and flu capsules, which it says can treat Covid-19 in the battle to control its largest virus outbreak.

    China’s commercial capital, now under an extended lockdown, reported more than 17,000 new Covid-19 infections on April 5, including 311 symptomatic cases, among a population of more than 26 million.

    “Facing the extremely transmissible Omicron variant, we should use TCM treatment as soon as possible,” said Fang Min, president of the city’s Shuguang Hospital.

    “For general public, including high-risk groups, taking TCM treatment when the epidemic is severe has good preventive effect,” he told a news briefing on Tuesday, adding that such treatments for more than 21 million people had been handed out.

    Several residents told Reuters they had received free boxes of over-the-counter flu medicine Lianhua Qingwen from neighbourhood committees in recent weeks. Others who caught Covid said they got TCM medication to be dissolved in hot water.

    About 98% of Shanghai’s Covid-19 patients are taking TCM treatment, and teams of TCM workers have fanned out to designated hospitals and quarantine sites since the latest outbreak began in March, Fang said.

    China’s health authority has recommended several TCM drugs and ingredients, such as Lianhua Qingwen, for use by Covid-19 patients, although a lack of reliable clinical data limits their use outside the country.

    China approved several treatments including Pfizer’s Paxlovid and Brii Biosciences Ltd’s antibody-based medicine to treat Covid patients, but it is not clear how widely they are used.

    Reuters