Daily Report

West Bank: settler attacks on Christian village

The most senior church leaders in the Holy Land on July 14 toured the Christian Palestinian town of Taybeh in the West Bank, which has been the scene of repeated attacks by Israeli settlers in recent weeks. In a joint statement, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilos III, and Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, called the settler attacks a threat to Christian heritage, and called for an investigation into the failure of Israeli authorities to respond to the ongoing assaults. Taybeh, the biblical Ephraim, has three churches—Greek Orthodox, Roman Catolic and Melkite—whose pastors issued an joint appeal calling on Israeli authorities to prevent further settler violence. They charged that the violence—including arson attacks that have threatened the Byzantine-era Church of Al-Khader (St. George)—have occurred in the presence of passive Israeli soldiers. The settlers have also damaged the olive groves that are Taybeh's primary source of income, and are preventing farmers from accessing and working their lands. (VaticanNews, ToI, Al Jazeera)

Syria: demand accountability in killings of Alawites

On July 9, Amnesty International urged Syria's transitional president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, to ensure the publication of all the findings of a fact-finding committee's investigation into the targeted killings of members of Syria's Alawite minority.

Amnesty's deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, Kirstine Beckerle, said: "Survivors and the families of victims have the right to know what happened, who was responsible, and what concrete steps the authorities will take to deliver justice. Only independent and impartial investigations can lead to credible and fair trials." Amnesty also urged the Syrian government to ensure that effective reparations are provided for the affected families.

Nigeria: pardon for Ogoni Nine 'far short of real justice'

Amnesty International on June 13 said that the Nigerian government's pardon for the Ogoni Nine falls "far short of real justice." The rights group published the statement in response to the government's decision two days earlier to posthumously exonerate the Nine.

Podcast: Orwell in Gaza

Amid starvation and horrifically escalating atrocities in Gaza, Israel announces plans to build a giant concentration camp on the ruins of Rafah, an evident preparation for forced "transfer" of the Palestinian population from the Strip entirely—an idea Trump enthusiastically embraces. On the West Bank, amid growing settler attacks, more Palestinian land is enclosed behind separation walls built to protect Israeli settlements. Amid all this, Benjamin Netanyahu (wanted for war crimes by the ICC) meets with Trump in Washington to openly discuss the "transfer" plan—and announces that he has nominated the American president for the Nobel Peace Prize. In Episode 286 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg argues that Trump could in fact get get the Nobel prize while facilitating genocide in Gaza and instating a mass detention state in the US—a fitting inauguration of the fascist world order.

IACHR issues 'landmark' opinion on climate crisis

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on July 5 praised the previous day's advisory opinion on the climate crisis from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) as a "landmark step forward," urging states to take meaningful action through legislation, policymaking and international cooperation. Advisory Opinion 32/25 addresses signatory states' human rights obligations under the American Convention on Human Rights (Pact of San José) in the face of climate change. The opinion was issued in response to a request submitted by the governments of Chile and Colombia last year.

ECHR: a decade of Russian war crimes in Ukraine

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on July 9 found that Russia has committed grave violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) in Ukraine. Judges at the ECHR rendered a series of decisions related to consolidated complaints brought by Ukraine and the Netherlands since the Ukraine conflict began in 2014. Among the named violations of IHL are the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17), multiple violations of the Geneva Conventions and other human rights treaties, application of "extremism laws" against religious communities, and interference with freedom of speech and the press.

Serbia: harsh repression as protests mount

Europe's top human rights official on July 4 raised concerns that Serbian authorities are using violence and arbitrary arrests to break up protests against President Aleksandar Vučić's populist government. The Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O'Flaherty especially decried "the arrest of children, as well as the number of students being charged for criminal offenses or hospitalized for the treatment of injuries."

UN condemns Russian attacks on Ukraine nuclear plant

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on July 5 strongly condemned Russia's largest yet wave of drone and missile attacks in Ukraine, especially noting strikes that disrupted the power supply to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), endangering nuclear safety. A statement issued by Guterres' office said:

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