Israel critics see double standard in treatment of Moscow vs. Jerusalem
Sarah Leah Whitson, the former chief of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East division, accuses Washington of a double standard in okaying severe punishment against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, while opposing sanctions against Israel over its treatment of Palestinians.
“We see that not just the US government but US companies are falling over themselves to sanction and boycott anything that has an association with the Russian government,” she is quoted by The Guardian as saying.
“Contrast that with the exact opposite when it comes to sanctioning Israel for its violations of international law to the point where American states are passing laws to punish Americans unless they promise never to boycott Israel. It’s very clear that the grounds for resisting sanctions on Israel, or even compliance with international law, is purely political.”
British Labour MP Julie Elliott makes similar comments to parliament: “The Palestinians are looking to us to speak and act in the same terms. We sanctioned Russia over Crimea, and we are now likely to impose more sanctions, with which I wholeheartedly agree, yet Palestinians ask why we do nothing to end Israel’s occupation.”
Jonathan Greenblatt, head of the Anti-Defamation League, pushes back. He says the Mideast conflict is “a dispute over territory by two peoples who both have historic claims and connections.
“To compare this complexity to Russia’s brute use of force against the sovereign & peaceful nation of Ukraine is to intentionally misrepresent the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and is deeply insensitive to the security and humanitarian crisis confronting Ukrainians today.”
EU says will review Ukraine’s membership request in coming days
Charles Michel, president of the European Council, says the European Union will discuss Ukraine’s request to join in the coming days.
On Twitter, Michel writes: “The EU’s solidarity, friendship and unprecedented assistance for #Ukraine are unwavering.
“We will discuss Ukraine’s membership application in coming days.”
Macron condemns Putin’s ‘moral cynicism’ over ‘hypocritical’ Ukraine corridors to Russia
French President Emmanuel Macron accuses his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin of hypocrisy and cynicism after Moscow said it would open humanitarian corridors to allow the evacuation of civilians from several Ukrainian cities, but only to Russia or Belarus.
“All this is not serious, it is moral and political cynicism, which I find intolerable,” Macron tells LCI television in an interview.
He adds that promises to protect civilians only so that they could flee toward Russia were “hypocritical.”
“I do not know many Ukrainians who want to go to Russia,” he adds, saying that full ceasefires to protect civilians were needed rather than corridors.
Mixed signals from Poland over whether it will supply warplanes to Ukraine
Polish government officials say that Poland has not sent, and will not send, its fighter jets to Ukraine to support Ukraine’s defense against Russia.
A deputy foreign minister, Marcin Przydacz, says in an interview on Radio Zet: “We will not open our airports and Polish planes will not fight over Ukraine … Polish planes will not fight over Ukraine.”
But separately the government spokesman, Piotr Mueller, indicates a final decision had not been made. He says that a decision on whether to send fighter jets presents risks and is a “very delicate matter.”
The comments come after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky begged the United States to help Kyiv get more warplanes to fight Russia’s invasion and retain control of its airspace.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that Washington was looking at a proposal under which Poland would supply Kyiv with Soviet-era fighters and in turn receive American F-16s to make up for their loss.
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