Indian diplomats, intellectuals ask Supreme Court to stop arms sales to Israel

Special Indian diplomats, intellectuals ask Supreme Court to stop arms sales to Israel
Journalists gather at the courtyard of the Supreme Court of India in New Delhi on Oct. 17, 2023. (AFP)
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Updated 07 September 2024
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Indian diplomats, intellectuals ask Supreme Court to stop arms sales to Israel

Indian diplomats, intellectuals ask Supreme Court to stop arms sales to Israel
  • Petitioners say weapons exports to Israel violate India’s Constitution
  • Petition is expected to be read by India’s top court on Monday

NEW DELHI: Indian academics, retired diplomats, and civil servants are seeking the Supreme Court’s intervention to cancel any existing licenses for the export of military equipment to Israel during its war on Gaza.

A 417-page writ petition filed to India’s top court on Wednesday and supplemented on Thursday includes information about public and private sector companies in India “dealing with manufacture and export of arms and munitions (that) have been granted licenses for the export of arms and munitions to Israel, even during this period of the ongoing war in Gaza.”

Petitioners request that the Supreme Court issue an order to the government of India to cancel these licenses and halt the granting of new ones as the sales are in violation of India’s obligations under international law and in breach of its own constitutional provisions of the right to life and equality, and the state’s duty uphold international treaties.

“This act of giving weapons to a state which is engaged — I quote the ICJ (International Court of Justice) — in probable genocidal activities, is a clear violation of India’s domestic law and international law, that is what is argued out in the main text of the petition,” Vijayan Malloothra Joseph, a renowned policy analyst and one of the 11 petitioners, told Arab News.

Indian arms sales to Israel came into the spotlight in May, when two cargo ships were prevented from docking in a Spanish port.

“Spain blocked and stopped all ships from entering their territorial waters and parking in Cartagena port. They outrightly declined. They said the ships were carrying ammunition and they gave a list of ammunition,” Joseph said.

This triggered an uproar among Indian civil society, and a group of lawyers and judges in July called on Defense Minister Rajnath Singh to cancel the licenses of companies supplying military equipment to Israel in the wake of its ongoing genocide case in the International Court of Justice over its deadly onslaught on Gaza.

The Ministry of Defense did not respond to the call, but its spokesperson told Arab News last week that the government “has not authorized the supply of any weapons to Israel during the last several months.” The spokesperson did not comment on canceling existing licenses.

“We have written earlier to the defense minister requesting him to stop the sales of lethal weapons to Israel. In these circumstances we did not get a response, then we went to the Supreme Court,” Deb Mukharji, former ambassador to Bangladesh, Nigeria and Nepal, who also signed the petition, told Arab News.

“Our expectation is that the Supreme Court might take notice because we have said that the permission to sell weapons to Israel is an illegal act. The point is that if something illegal is being done then we have to approach the Supreme Court to stop it from being done.”

At least 40,900 people, most of them children and women, have been killed and more than 94,600 wounded in Israeli military attacks on the enclave since October last year, according to Gaza Health Ministry estimates.

The real toll, however, is believed to be much higher, as the ministry’s data does not include people buried under rubble, those who died of their injuries, or who starved to death while Israeli forces have been blocking international aid.

“It’s a violation of human rights by Israel and we should not be a party to this. This has been the main motivation for the petition,” said Ashok Kumar Sharma, another petitioner, and India’s former ambassador to Finland and Kazakhstan.

“All of us petitioners have no vested interests except humanitarian interests. I have been a diplomat for 36 years and I have seen many such incidents in this history, and we the Indian people and the Indian state have never supported any genocide anywhere in the world.”

Cheryl D’Souza, advocate and member of the legal team that filed the writ petition, told Arab News that the petition is expected to be read in the court on Monday.

“The matter is listed before the chief justice on Monday. Let’s see what happens. We have appealed to the judicial conscience of the court to do something about this matter because it involves the lives of so many people,” she said.

“Let’s hope the Supreme Court steps in.”

 


Canada PM Trudeau survives vote of no confidence

Canada PM Trudeau survives vote of no confidence
Updated 18 sec ago
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Canada PM Trudeau survives vote of no confidence

Canada PM Trudeau survives vote of no confidence

OTTAWA: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday survived a vote of no confidence in the first major test of his minority Liberal government whose popularity has waned after nine years in office.

His tenuous grip on power, however, is already set to face more challenges in the coming days and weeks, with the main opposition Conservatives vowing to try again to topple the government as early as Tuesday.

Following a heated debate that saw members of Parliament trade insults and slam their fists on desks, they voted 211 to 120 against the Conservative motion to unseat the Liberals and force snap elections.

Far ahead in public opinion polls, Tory leader Pierre Poilievre has been itching for a snap election since the leftist New Democratic Party (NDP) earlier this month tore up a coalition agreement with the Liberals, leaving the Trudeau administration vulnerable to being toppled.

A combative Poilievre has railed against Trudeau for what he said was a failure to address soaring costs of living, a housing crisis and crime, while doubling the national debt.

The promise of Canada, “after nine years of Liberal government, is broken,” he said during a Commons debate on Tuesday.

But other opposition parties, whose support is needed to topple the Liberals, have pushed back against his rightwing agenda.

Liberal House leader Karina Gould accused the Tories of “playing games.”

“I think it’s pretty lame that they’re going to put forward another non-confidence vote tomorrow,” she said.

Immediately following the no confidence vote, the NDP again sided with the Liberals to pass legislation on capital gains taxes, averting another political crisis.

Poilievre has vowed to keep trying, with the next opportunity to bring down the government to be presented next week. If that fails, he will have a few more chances before the end of the year.

The separatist Bloc Quebecois has also demanded concessions from the ruling Liberals for its continued support in Parliament beyond the end of October.

Trudeau swept to power in 2015, and has managed to hold on by defeating two of Poilievre’s predecessors in 2019 and 2021 ballots.

The deal with the New Democratic Party to prop up the Liberals would have kept his government in office until late 2025.

But the NDP, seeing its alignment with the Liberals hurting its own popularity, exited the deal early.

According to a recent Angus Reid poll, the Conservatives are well ahead of the Liberals, with 43 percent of voting intention against 21 percent for the ruling party. The NDP is at 19 percent.

Going forward, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said his party would evaluate each bill in Parliament before deciding how to vote.

With legislation pending on NDP priorities including a national dental plan, political analysts who spoke to AFP suggested an election won’t likely be triggered until at least spring 2025.

However, University of Ottawa professor Genevieve Tellier told AFP: “Anything is possible. It could come before Christmas.”

In the meantime, a weakened Trudeau administration under constant threat “will find it more difficult to govern,” she said.

Bloc leader Yves-Francois Blanchette said Wednesday he would seek to keep the government afloat until the end of October.

But if there has been no movement on its legislative priorities by then, he said the Bloc would turn against the Liberals.

In Canada’s Westminster parliamentary system, a ruling party must hold the confidence of the House of Commons, which means maintaining support from a majority of members.

The Liberals currently have 153 seats, versus 119 for the Conservatives, 33 for the Bloc Quebecois, and the NDP 25.


Trump says Ukraine is ‘dead’ and dismisses its defense against Russia’s invasion

Trump says Ukraine is ‘dead’ and dismisses its defense against Russia’s invasion
Updated 7 min 3 sec ago
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Trump says Ukraine is ‘dead’ and dismisses its defense against Russia’s invasion

Trump says Ukraine is ‘dead’ and dismisses its defense against Russia’s invasion
  • Says Ukraine should have made concessions to Putin in the months before Russia’s February 2022 attack
  • Blames Biden and Harris for giving egging on Ukraine to fight rather than pushing it to cede territory to Russia

Former US President Donald Trump described Ukraine in bleak and mournful terms Wednesday, referring to its people as “dead” and the country itself as “demolished,” and further raising questions about how much the former president would be willing if elected again to concede in a negotiation over the country’s future.
Trump argued Ukraine should have made concessions to Russian President Vladimir Putin in the months before Russia’s February 2022 attack, declaring that even “the worst deal would’ve been better than what we have now.”
Trump, who has long been critical of US aid to Ukraine, frequently claims that Russia never would have invaded if he was president and that he would put an end to the war if he returned to the White House. But rarely has he discussed the conflict in such detail.
His remarks, at a North Carolina event billed as an economic speech, come on the heels of a debate this month in which he pointedly refused to say whether he wanted Ukraine to win the war. On Tuesday, Trump touted the prowess of Russia and its predecessor Soviet Union, saying that wars are “what they do.”
The Republican former president, notoriously attuned to slights, began his denunciation of Ukraine by alluding to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s recent criticism of Trump and running mate JD Vance.
Zelensky, who is visiting the US this week to attend the UN General Assembly, told The New Yorker that Vance was “too radical” for proposing that Ukraine surrender territories under Russian control and that Trump “doesn’t really know how to stop the war even if he might think he knows how.”

Said Trump, “It’s something we have to have a quick discussion about because the president of Ukraine is in our country and he’s making little nasty aspersions toward your favorite president, me.”
Trump painted Ukraine as a country in ruins outside its capital, Kyiv, short on soldiers and losing population to war deaths and neighboring countries. He questioned whether the country has any bargaining chips left to negotiate an end to the war.
“Any deal — the worst deal — would’ve been better than what we have now,” Trump said. “If they made a bad deal it would’ve been much better. They would’ve given up a little bit and everybody would be living and every building would be built and every tower would be aging for another 2,000 years.”
“What deal can we make? It’s demolished,” he added. “The people are dead. The country is in rubble.”

Zelensky is pitching the White House on what he calls a victory plan for the war, expected to include an ask to use long-range Western weapons to strike Russian targets.
While Ukraine outperformed many expectations that it would fall quickly to Russia, outnumbered Ukrainian forces face grinding battles against one of the world’s most powerful armies in the country’s east. A deal with Russia would almost certainly be unfavorable for Ukraine, which has lost a fifth of its territory and tens of thousands of lives in the conflict.
Trump laid blame for the conflict on President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic rival in November. He said Biden “egged it all on” by pledging to help Ukraine defend itself rather than pushing it to cede territory to Russia.
“Biden and Kamala allowed this to happen by feeding Zelensky money and munitions like no country has ever seen before,” Trump said.
Notably, Trump did not attack Putin’s reasoning for launching the invasion, only suggesting Putin would not have started the war had Trump been in office. He did say of Putin, “He’s no angel.”


US Muslim group endorses Harris, says Trump bigger danger

US Muslim group endorses Harris, says Trump bigger danger
Updated 29 min 7 sec ago
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US Muslim group endorses Harris, says Trump bigger danger

US Muslim group endorses Harris, says Trump bigger danger
  • The endorsement comes as the 2024 race between Harris and Trump remains very tight ahead of the Nov. 5 election
  • Arab American and Muslim voters may play a decisive role in the outcome in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia and other battleground states

MICHIGAN: US Muslim advocacy group Emgage Action on Wednesday endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris despite its ongoing concern over the war in Gaza, saying former President Donald Trump posed a greater danger with his promise to reinstate travel restrictions affecting majority-Muslim countries.
The endorsement comes as the 2024 race between Harris and Trump remains very tight ahead of the Nov. 5 election. Arab American and Muslim voters may play a decisive role in the outcome in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia and other battleground states. These voters helped President Joe Biden defeat Trump in 2020 by thousands of votes.
Many Muslim groups, including Emgage Action, have criticized the Biden administration, where Harris serves as vice president, for its support of Israel’s war in Gaza. Harris has urged an immediate ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza, saying she supports Israel’s right to defend itself as well as the Palestinians’ right to self-determination.
“While we do not agree with all of Harris’ policies, particularly on the war on Gaza, we are approaching this election with both pragmatism and conviction,” Emgage CEO Wa’el Alzayat said in a statement, adding it sought to provide “honest guidance to our voters regarding the difficult choice they confront at the ballot box.”
Emgage Action, which endorsed Biden in 2020, said it mobilized 1 million Muslim voters in that election. The group said the Harris endorsement reflects a “responsibility to defeat Trump and defend the community against what would be a return to Islamophobic and other harmful policies.”
Trump’s campaign had no immediate comment.
His campaign has held dozens of events with Arab Americans and Muslims in swing states and plans another event this weekend in Michigan, Richard Grenell, Trump’s former acting director of national intelligence, said last week.
Trump has said he will reinstate the “travel ban” that restricts entry into the United States of people from a list of largely Muslim-dominant countries. Biden rolled back the ban shortly after taking office in 2021.
The Harris campaign welcomed the endorsement a week after another big voting bloc, the pro-Palestinian grassroots organization Uncommitted National Movement, said it would not endorse Harris, Trump or a third-party candidate.
Harris has already won the backing of smaller Muslim groups, including the Black Muslim Leadership Council Fund and the American Muslim Democratic Caucus.
The US, Israel’s biggest ally and weapons supplier, has sent Israel more than 10,000 highly destructive 2,000-pound (900-kg) bombs and thousands of Hellfire missiles since the start of the Gaza war in October, US officials told Reuters in June.
The war in the Gaza Strip began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas gunmen stormed into Israeli communities, killing some 1,200 people and abducting about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, Israel’s military has leveled swaths of Gaza, driving nearly all of its 2.3 million people from their homes, giving rise to deadly hunger and disease and killing more than 41,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities.


Trump says would destroy Iran if it ‘harms’ a US election candidate

Trump says would destroy Iran if it ‘harms’ a US election candidate
Updated 44 min 44 sec ago
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Trump says would destroy Iran if it ‘harms’ a US election candidate

Trump says would destroy Iran if it ‘harms’ a US election candidate
  • “As you know, there have been two assassination attempts on my life that we know of, and they may or may not involve — but possibly do — Iran,” Trump said
  • “If I were the president, I would inform the threatening country, in this case Iran, that if you do anything to harm this person, we are going to blow your largest cities“

WASHINGTON: Donald Trump said Wednesday Iran should be blown “to smithereens” if the Islamic republic is involved in the harming of a US White House candidate or ex-president.
The provocative remarks come after American intelligence warned of threats from Tehran against the Republican’s life after two apparent assassination bids in recent months.
“As you know, there have been two assassination attempts on my life that we know of, and they may or may not involve — but possibly do — Iran,” Trump said at a campaign event in North Carolina.
“If I were the president, I would inform the threatening country, in this case Iran, that if you do anything to harm this person, we are going to blow your largest cities and the country itself to smithereens,” he added.
Trump went on to say he and the United States have been “threatened very directly by Iran” and that a firm message needed to reach Tehran that there would be the most severe consequences should it be involved in plots to kill or hurt an American president or candidate.
“The best way to do it is through the office of the president, that (if) you do any attacks on former presidents or candidates for president, your country gets blown to smithereens, as we say.”
Trump also said it was “strange” that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was in New York this week and accorded substantial protection as he attends the United Nations General Assembly even as news of the threats emerged.
“We have large security forces guarding him, and yet they’re threatening our former president and the leading candidate to become the next president of the United States,” Trump said.
The remarks come as world leaders scramble to try to avert hostilities between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel escalating into a wider regional war.
Iran has rejected accusations it is trying to kill Trump this summer, shortly after a gunman opened fire at a rally in Pennsylvania on July 13, killing one person and wounding the presidential candidate.
Days later, Trump posted on social media that if Iran did kill him, “I hope that America obliterates Iran, wipes it off the face of the Earth.”
On Wednesday, the 78-year-old Trump suggested the would-be assassin in Pennsylvania had used “potentially foreign-based apps,” and that the alleged gunman in Florida had multiple mobile phones that Trump said US authorities have been unable to open.
“They must get Apple to open these foreign apps (and) open the six phones from the second lunatic,” Trump said. “Because we have a lot at stake.”


Ukraine urges world leaders not to seek ‘an out’ from Russia’s war instead of true peace

Ukraine urges world leaders not to seek ‘an out’ from Russia’s war instead of true peace
Updated 25 September 2024
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Ukraine urges world leaders not to seek ‘an out’ from Russia’s war instead of true peace

Ukraine urges world leaders not to seek ‘an out’ from Russia’s war instead of true peace
  • “Any parallel or alternative attempts to seek peace are, in fact, efforts to achieve an out instead of an end to the war,” Zelensky said
  • “Do not divide the world. Be united nations,” he implored

UNITED NATIONS: Ukraine’s president urged global leaders Wednesday to stand with his country and not seek “an out” instead of a “real, just peace” more than two years into Russia’s war.
At a time when he faces growing pressure from Western allies and some of his fellow Ukrainians to negotiate a ceasefire, President Volodymyr Zelensky told the UN General Assembly there’s no alternative to the “peace formula” he presented two years ago. Among other things, it seeks the expulsion of all Russian forces from Ukraine and accountability for war crimes.
“Any parallel or alternative attempts to seek peace are, in fact, efforts to achieve an out instead of an end to the war,” he said.
“Do not divide the world. Be united nations,” he implored. “And that will bring us peace.”
Russia hasn’t yet had its turn to speak at the assembly’s annual gathering of presidents, prime ministers, monarchs and other high officials. Low-level Russian diplomats occupied the country’s seats in the huge assembly hall during Zelensky’s speech. Russian President Vladimir Putin is not attending this year’s high-level meetings at the General Assembly.
The war in Ukraine was center stage the last two times that world leaders convened for the UN’s signature annual meeting. But this year, the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and the escalating developments along the Israeli-Lebanese border have gotten much of the spotlight.
Ukraine and Russia, with one of the world’s most potent armies, are locked in a grinding fight along a 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line.
The war began when Russia invaded in February 2022 and has killed tens of thousands of people. Russia has gained momentum in Ukraine’s east; Ukraine, meanwhile, startled Russia by sending troops across the border in a daring incursion last month.
Zelensky argued Tuesday at the UN Security Council that Russia needs to ” be forced into peace,” saying there’s no point in pursuing peace talks with Putin.
In Moscow, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov responded Wednesday that the Ukrainian president’s call for compulsion was “a fatal mistake” and “a profound misconception, which, of course, will inevitably have consequences for the Kyiv regime.”
Zelensky is expected to present a victory plan this week to US President Joe Biden.