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Political and social events from the Middle East, with exclusive reports and interviews. Tuesday at 5:45pm Paris time.
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For this final edition of Middle East Matters, we bring you a series of reports from our correspondents in the region. We begin in Israel, where as the war in Gaza drags on, divisions in Israeli society are growing more stark. Immediately after the attacks of October 7, the vast majority of people supported the government's decision to pursue Hamas aggressively. But a growing, vocal minority argues the government's strategy is not working – particularly when it comes to rescuing the Israeli hostages. Our correspondent Claire Duhamel reports.
Around a dozen donor countries are freezing funding to UNRWA, the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees, after Israel alleged that 12 UN staffers took part in the October 7 Hamas attacks. The UN has fired the employees in question and promised a full investigation. The budget cuts come at a profoundly challenging time. A quarter of the population of Gaza is starving, and UNRWA is the biggest aid provider in the enclave. Unless funding resumes, the agency says it will have to stop its operations in the coming weeks. We take a closer look and speak to Johann Soufi, who ran UNRWA's legal department from 2020 until last year.
From Lebanon to Iraq and Syria, the ripple effects of the war between Israel and Hamas are being felt, but nowhere more so than Yemen. For months now, Houthi rebels there have been firing missiles at cargo ships in the Red Sea, prompting the US and UK to bomb targets inside Yemen this past weekend. FRANCE 24 spoke to Dr Elisabeth Kendall, a Yemen specialist at the University of Cambridge.
The International Court of Justice is to hold hearings this week on a case brought by South Africa, accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza and seeking a halt to its military campaign. Israel has described the allegations against it as "baseless" and intended to stir up lethal hatred of Jews. FRANCE 24's Shirli Sitbon tells us more about South Africa's decision to file the case, the Israeli response and what's likely to happen at the hearings.
In this edition, we look at the ripple effects of the war in Gaza. In the Red Sea, Houthi rebels from Yemen are stepping up their attacks on vessels in the vital shipping lane, saying they're doing so in protest at Israel's actions in Gaza, even though many of the ships in question are not Israeli-owned. Might that lead to a wider conflict? We speak to Abdul Ghani Al-iryani, senior researcher at the Sana'a Center for Strategic Studies.
He's claiming that his remarks were "misinterpreted". The Emirati oil executive leading the COP28 climate conference in Dubai has come out fighting after widespread criticism of his suggestion that there was "no science" indicating that a phase-out of fossil fuels was needed to contain global warming. A controversial choice as president, Sultan al-Jaber argues he's "uniquely placed" to persuade the industry to buy into a green energy future. We take a closer look.
This week, we are starting to learn more about the conditions of the mainly Israeli hostages held in Gaza. Those who have been released tell different stories: some received medical attention, while others were denied it. Many were held in the dark, with little food. What is clear is that all the hostages suffered a massive ordeal; we take a closer look. Plus, FRANCE 24's Wassim Nasr tells us why those released so far are only women and children.
The world's eyes are on Gaza at the moment, and rightly so. But violence is also continuing in the occupied West Bank. Even before the October 7 Hamas attacks, 2023 was already the deadliest year for Palestinians there in two decades. Now, violent confrontations are happening almost every day. Israel says it is trying to stamp out militant groups in the West Bank, but civilians are being killed. For more, we speak to Tahani Mustafa, a Palestine analyst at the International Crisis Group.
As the war between Israel and Hamas rages on, violence is also on the rise in the occupied West Bank, fuelling tensions and creating divides amongst the Jews and Arabs living side by side in the region. While some continue to perpetuate the violence that splits communities, others are trying to build bridges between Palestinians and Israelis despite the anger and loss on both sides. For more, we're joined from Tel Aviv by Rula Daood and Nadav Shofet, from Standing Together, an Israeli grassroots movement aimed at building a just and equal society.
We bring you a special edition of Middle East Matters, one month after the start of the Israel-Hamas war. On October 7, 1,400 people were killed in the unprecedented Hamas attacks; the largest loss of Jewish life in a single day since the Holocaust. A month on, Israelis are still reeling, none more so than the families of hostages still held in Gaza, as our team on the ground reports. Meanwhile, amid intensifying Israeli bombardments on Gaza, the UN says the enclave is becoming a "graveyard for children". At least 10,000 Palestinians have been killed there, including more than 4,000 infants. For more on the dire humanitarian situation, we speak to Juliette Touma from UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
In this special edition, we take a closer look at the military strategy behind Israel's ground offensive in Gaza. Can Hamas truly be defeated?
In this special edition of Middle East Matters, we focus on the regional repercussions of the Israel-Hamas war. The October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel have placed Arab nations which have peace treaties with Israel in the awkward position of trying to honour their commitments under those deals, while they face mounting pro-Palestinian support from their people on the streets. We also take a look at the role played by regional mediator Qatar.
In this special edition of Middle East Matters, we look at the media war being played out in the Israel-Hamas conflict. Researchers who study mis- and disinformation warn that fake stories are spreading fast, adding to the digital fog of war. We talk to FRANCE 24's Catalina Marchant de Abreu, presenter of our Truth or Fake show.
Hamas fighters on Saturday launched an unprecedented deadly assault on Israel, catching Israeli intelligence services off-guard. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed the militant group will pay a heavy price. As Israel responds with force, razing whole districts in Gaza, the Hamas-run Palestinian enclave, residents there are being left with nowhere to go. Amid the loss of life on both sides, the conflict risks spreading to the wider region. In this special edition of Middle East Matters, we get analysis from Professor Yossi Mekelberg of London's Chatham House think-tank. We also take a closer look at the history of Hamas.
Is "chocolate hummus" an original, creative recipe or an insult to Arab culture? That's the burning question as a chorus of voices slam the so-called cultural appropriation of Middle Eastern food in the West. Where to draw the line between appropriation and exchange? And is there anything wrong with enjoying "fusion food"? FRANCE 24's Thameen Al-Kheetan dips into the issue for us.
The ballot hadn't been expected until spring next year. But Egypt's National Election Authority announced this week that the country would be holding its presidential vote in December, amid its worst-ever economic crisis. The vote is already fraught with accusations of repression. Human rights groups say at least 35 opposition supporters have been arrested in recent months. Our Cairo correspondent Eduard Cousin tells us more.
This week, five Americans released from an Iranian prison arrived back home in the United States. Their release was a part of a deal brokered by Qatar. The prisoner swap agreement also included the unfreezing of $6 billion of Iranian funds, which the Biden administration has reiterated was not a ransom. We take a closer look.
Israel's Supreme Court has opened the first case examining the legality of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial judicial overhaul, lurching towards a showdown with the nation’s far-right government. The latter has split Israel in two ever since it announced plans to reform the country’s judicial system, which would see the Supreme Court weakened. We speak to Yuval Shany, professor from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Faculty of Law and former member of the UN Human Rights Committee.
It's sometimes called a forgotten war: fighting in Yemen has killed hundreds of thousands of people. Hunger has claimed even more lives, while 4.5 million Yemenis are internally displaced. Yet the complex conflict between Saudi-led forces and Houthi rebels doesn't always make headlines. This September, nine years after the Houthis attacked the capital Sanaa, triggering Saudi Arabia's intervention, the country is not in the grips of all-out war, but it's still not at peace either. In this special edition, we bring you reports from our team on the ground and speak to Asher Orkaby, the author of "Yemen: What everyone needs to know".
Anti-government anger is mounting in southern Syria, where rare protests in the heartland of the minority Druze community are now into their second week. The protests were initially driven by surging inflation and the war-torn country's economic crisis, but have quickly shifted focus, with marchers now calling for the fall of the Assad government. The demonstrations are centered on a region that's largely stayed on the sidelines during more than a decade of civil war: the government-controlled province of Sweida. The protests were initially sparked by Assad's move to raise public sector salaries while scaling back fuel and gas subsidies. We take a closer look.
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