UK to set up council for Islamophobia definition

UK to set up council for Islamophobia definition
Members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community pray at the Baitul Futuh Mosque in southwest London on April 15, 2023. (AFP)
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Updated 04 February 2025
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UK to set up council for Islamophobia definition

UK to set up council for Islamophobia definition
  • Deputy PM to establish body to advise government on areas relating to anti-Muslim hate
  • Conservative ex-minister tipped to head council after working on previous definition

LONDON: The UK is planning to establish a council to offer advice to the government and discuss matters relating to Islamophobia.

The council, to be set up by Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, will have 16 members. Among its duties will be helping provide a new official definition of Islamophobia in the UK.

Former Conservative Minister Dominic Grieve is thought to have been recommended to lead the council, having previously chaired the Citizens’ UK Commission on Islam.

Qari Asim, a Leeds-based imam who previously worked as an advisor to the government, has also been shortlisted to join the council.

Grieve wrote a forward to a 2018 all-party parliamentary group report which established an Islamophobia definition subsequently adopted by the Labour Party.

The all-party Islamophobia report determined that “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.”

Grieve said he “greatly welcomed” the report in his forward, adding that it “makes an important contribution to the debate as to how Islamophobia can best be addressed. It is well researched and can give all of us food both for thought and positive action.”

He told the Daily Telegraph that he had not yet been approached to lead the new council, but added: “If I can be of assistance in doing something constructive requested by any government on a non-party political basis I am willing to consider it. It depends on what it is and whether I can add value and help the wider public service.”

On the report’s definition of Islamophobia, he said: “It was apparent at the time that defining Islamophobia is extremely difficult for perfectly valid reasons relating to freedom of expression.”

Grieve added: “Perfectly law-abiding Muslims going about their business and well integrated into society are suffering discrimination and abuse.”

The Daily Telegraph reported that Rayner is looking to establish a similar council on antisemitism, alongside plans to widen reporting of anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish non-crime hate incidents in the UK.

A spokesman for Rayner’s department told the newspaper: “All forms of religious and racial hatred have absolutely no place in our society. The Government engages regularly with faith communities to help foster strong working relationships and we are actively exploring a more integrated and cohesive approach to tackling racial and religious hatred, including Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. Further details of this work will be set out shortly.”


Microsoft CEO heckled over company’s ties to Israeli military

Microsoft CEO heckled over company’s ties to Israeli military
Updated 33 sec ago
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Microsoft CEO heckled over company’s ties to Israeli military

Microsoft CEO heckled over company’s ties to Israeli military
  • Employee tells Satya Nadella to show annual conference ‘how Microsoft is killing Palestinians’
  • ‘A top Azure customer is committing crimes against humanity. We see it live on the internet every day’

LONDON: A keynote address by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was interrupted by an employee protesting the company’s relationship with Israel on Monday.

Joe Lopez, a firmware engineer who works on Microsoft’s cloud-computing platform Azure, shouted “Satya, how about you show how Microsoft is killing Palestinians” during the company’s annual developer conference.

Before he was escorted from the room, he added: “How about you show how Israeli war crimes are powered by Azure?”

It was not the only protest against Microsoft’s relationship with Israel amid the ongoing war in Gaza.

A group called No Azure for Apartheid, which has been campaigning for over a year, also demonstrated at the conference.

Azure is believed to have been used by Israel in surveillance of Palestinians and is utilized by the Ofek Unit, a branch of the air force that identifies airstrike targets, The Guardian reported.

Lopez emailed colleagues to explain his actions. “As one of the largest companies in the world, Microsoft has immeasurable power to do the right thing: demand an end to this senseless tragedy, or we will cease our technological support for Israel,” he said.

“If leadership continues to ignore this demand, I promise that it won’t go unnoticed. The world has already woken up to our complicity and is turning against us. The boycotts will increase and our image will continue to spiral into disrepair.”

Lopez added: “Leadership rejects our claims that Azure technology is being used to target or harm civilians in Gaza. Those of us who have been paying attention know that this is a bold-faced lie.”

He concluded: “We don’t need an internal audit to know that a top Azure customer is committing crimes against humanity. We see it live on the internet every day.”

Anna Hattle, a Microsoft employee and organizer of the No Azure for Apartheid campaign, emailed senior management on May 15 stating: “One year ago, workers launched the No Azure for Apartheid campaign and petition in a state of urgency after 7 months of genocide.”

Referencing the 1948 mass displacement of an estimated 750,000 Palestinians known as the Nakba, Hattle said the world is “currently witnessing the same crimes committed 77 years ago with one key difference: now, the Israeli Occupation Forces are carrying out this genocide at a much greater scale thanks to Microsoft cloud and AI technology.”

On April 6, employees Ibtihal Aboussad and Vaniya Agrawal accused Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman of profiting from war at an artificial intelligence event. Aboussad and Agrawal were subsequently dismissed by the company.

Google also fired 50 people last year after a series of internal protests against its own cloud-computing relationship with the Israeli military.

Microsoft refused to comment on Lopez’s protest. An earlier investigation by the company concluded that there was “no evidence” Israel uses its technology to harm or target people.


UK PM refuses to say if Israel committing genocide in Gaza

UK PM refuses to say if Israel committing genocide in Gaza
Updated 16 min 38 sec ago
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UK PM refuses to say if Israel committing genocide in Gaza

UK PM refuses to say if Israel committing genocide in Gaza
  • Keir Starmer: It is a ‘really serious, unacceptable, intolerable situation’
  • UN humanitarian chief: International community must ‘act now’ to ‘prevent genocide’

London: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has refused to be drawn on whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

It follows comments from Tom Fletcher, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, that the international community needs to “act now” to “prevent genocide” in the Palestinian enclave.

Fletcher also told the UN Security Council that Israel has been “deliberately and unashamedly” blocking aid from entering Gaza.

Starmer was asked by Sky News at a press conference following a new set of agreements with the EU if he believes genocide is happening in Gaza.

He did not answer the question directly, but said it is a “really serious, unacceptable, intolerable situation.”

His words were echoed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who was also in attendance and called for the “unacceptable” blockade by Israel to be “lifted now.”

The Genocide Convention defines genocide as the “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group,” including acts such as killings, causing physical or mental harm, or creating conditions in order to destroy an identified group.


Israeli politician slammed for saying country should not 'kill babies for a hobby'

Israeli politician slammed for saying country should not 'kill babies for a hobby'
Updated 15 min 11 sec ago
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Israeli politician slammed for saying country should not 'kill babies for a hobby'

Israeli politician slammed for saying country should not 'kill babies for a hobby'

JERUSALEM: Israeli government and opposition leaders condemned on Tuesday a left-wing politician, Yair Golan, after he said in a radio interview that “a sane country... does not kill babies for a hobby.”
“Israel is on the path to becoming a pariah state among the nations — like the South Africa of old — if it does not return to behaving like a sane country,” said Golan, chairman of Israel’s Democrats party.
“A sane country does not wage war against civilians, does not kill babies for a hobby, and does not set goals involving the expulsion of populations,” he told Israel’s Kan public radio.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Golan, a former major general in the military, of “wild incitement” against Israeli troops and of “echoing the most despicable anti-Semitic blood libels against the (Israeli army) and the State of Israel.”
Golan also drew condemnation from government critics, with opposition leader Yair Lapid saying in a post on X: “Our fighters are heroes and are defending our lives. The statement that they kill children as a hobby is incorrect and is a gift to our enemies.”
Education Minister Yoav Kisch, of Netanyahu’s party, called for an investigation for incitement into Golan, whose party is a coalition of several left-wing factions.
“Golan is not a member of Knesset and does not have immunity. I expect the attorney general to immediately open an investigation against him for incitement,” Kisch said on X.
Military chief Eyal Zamir in a statement condemned remarks that cast doubt on the “morality” of the army’s actions and of its troops.
Responding to criticism, Golan said on X that he was trying to sound the alarm on the direction he believed Israel was headed.
The government’s war plans are “the realization of the fantasies of (Itamar) Ben Gvir and (Bezalel) Smotrich,” Golan said, referring to two far-right ministers.
“If we allow them to realize them, we will become a pariah state,” the left-wing politician said.
Golan is a vocal opponent of Netanyahu’s government and its policies.
In November 2024, he accused Netanyahu of putting his own political interests before the country’s following a decision to dismiss defense minister Yoav Gallant.


Pakistan, India agree to withdraw troops by end May

Pakistan, India agree to withdraw troops by end May
Updated 20 May 2025
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Pakistan, India agree to withdraw troops by end May

Pakistan, India agree to withdraw troops by end May
  • More than 70 people were killed in the four-day conflict
  • The military confrontation involving intense tit-for-tat drone, missile, aerial combat and artillery exchanges

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and India have agreed to withdraw troop reinforcements deployed during their recent conflict back to their peacetime positions by the end of May, a senior Pakistani security official told AFP on Tuesday.
More than 70 people were killed in the four-day conflict, which was sparked by an attack on tourists by gunmen in Indian-administered Kashmir last month that New Delhi accused Islamabad of backing -- a charge it denies.
The military confrontation involving intense tit-for-tat drone, missile, aerial combat and artillery exchanges came to an abrupt end after US President Donald Trump announced a surprise ceasefire, which is still holding.
"Troops will be withdrawn to pre-conflict positions by the end of May," the senior security official told AFP on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media.
The official said both countries agreed a phased withdrawal of the additional troops and weaponry deployed, mostly on the already heavily militarised de facto border in Kashmir, known as the Line of Control (LoC).
It comes after the Indian army last week said both sides agreed to take "immediate measures to ensure troop reduction from the borders and forward areas".
"All of these steps were initially planned to be completed within 10 days, but minor issues caused delays," the Pakistani official added.
Kashmir is claimed in full by both India and Pakistan, which have fought several wars over Muslim majority region since their 1947 independence from British rule.
The latest conflict began on May 7 when India launched strikes against what it said were "terrorist camps" in Pakistan, triggering an immediate response from Islamabad.


WHO members adopt a ‘pandemic agreement’ born out of the disjointed global COVID response

WHO members adopt a ‘pandemic agreement’ born out of the disjointed global COVID response
Updated 20 May 2025
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WHO members adopt a ‘pandemic agreement’ born out of the disjointed global COVID response

WHO members adopt a ‘pandemic agreement’ born out of the disjointed global COVID response

GENEVA: The World Health Organization’s member countries on Tuesday approved an agreement to better prevent, prepare for and respond to future pandemics in the wake of the devastation wrought by the coronavirus.
Sustained applause echoed in a Geneva hall hosting the WHO’s annual assembly as the measure — debated and devised over three years — passed without opposition.
The treaty guarantees that countries which share virus samples will receive tests, medicines and vaccines. Up to 20 percent of such products would be given to the WHO to ensure poorer countries have some access to them when the next pandemic hits.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has touted the agreement as “historic” and a sign of multilateralism at a time when many countries are putting national interests ahead of shared values and cooperation.
Dr. Esperance Luvindao, Namibia’s health minister and the chair of a committee that paved the way for Tuesday’s adoption, said that the COVID-19 pandemic inflicted huge costs “on lives, livelihoods and economies.”
“We — as sovereign states — have resolved to join hands, as one world together, so we can protect our children, elders, frontline health workers and all others from the next pandemic,” Luvindao added. “It is our duty and responsibility to humanity.”
The treaty’s effectiveness will face doubts because the United States — which poured billions into speedy work by pharmaceutical companies to develop COVID-19 vaccines — is sitting out, and because countries face no penalties if they ignore it, a common issue in international law.
The US, traditionally the top donor to the UN health agency, was not part of the final stages of the agreement process after the Trump administration announced a US pullout from the WHO and funding to the agency in January.