Amnesty International is alarmed at report that Israel has gone from shooting at protesters to adopting a “zero tolerance” policy towards them.
Amnesty International called on the Israeli government to rein in its armed forces, which have routinely used unnecessary or excessive force during Gaza’s weekly “The Great March of Return” protests.
This follows a move the US to downgrade a Palestinian office from a consulate general to a department with the Israeli Embassy.
Pro-Israel advocates hailed the decision, saying it confirmed the US recognized the whole of Jerusalem as part of Israel.
In better news, Canada joins other nations in providing assistance to UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency, responsible for the welfare of Palestine refugees). A Canadian very anti-UNRWA piece provides summary of all of the accusations against that organization. Back on September 1st, the US ended aid to UNRWA.
A spokesman for Unrwa, Chris Gunness, defended the agency in a series of tweets.
“We reject in the strongest possible terms the criticism that Unrwa’s schools, health centres, and emergency assistance programs are ‘irredeemably flawed’,” he wrote.
Italy moved quickly to supply funds to UNRWA following the US cut-off. As of late September, donor nations had raised $122 million to replace US funding. Donor nations included Jordan, Sweden, Turkey, Japan and Germany.
