An Israeli supporter man attacked a woman of Irish origin, who joined a demonstration in support of Palestine, in the Netherlands
A Dutch man carrying an Israel’s flag attacked a woman of Irish origin, who joined a demonstration in support of Palestine, in the Netherlands' capital city on Sunday.
During the demonstration staged by the Palestinian Community in the Netherlands (PGNL) in Amsetrdam's Dam Square, the man took the Palestinian flag from a child’s hand and threw it on the ground, erupting tensions.
After the attack, which occurred in front of police officers, the Dutch man was arrested.
The father of the child and the woman who was attacked filed a complaint.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Robert Willem van Norren, one of the demonstrators, said it was not the first time the man caused such problems and he was arrested 11 times for similar reasons before.
Recalling that the municipality had allowed demonstrations one week for Palestine, the other for Israel, Norren said: “He shouldn’t have been here today. This week it was our turn for a demonstration.”
An Irish woman is battered by an Israel supporter during pro-Palestinian demonstration in Amsterdam, Netherlands on Sunday.
Pro-Palestinian woman battered in Amsterdam
For the last six months, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have staged almost-daily demonstrations along the heavily-fortified buffer zone with Israel.
Since the demonstrations began on March 30, more than 190 Palestinians have been martyred -- and thousands more injured -- by Israeli troops deployed along the other side of the buffer zone.
Protesters demand the “right of return” to their homes and villages in historical Palestine, from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel.
They also demand an end to Israel’s 12-year-long blockade of Gaza, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its roughly two million inhabitants of many basic commodities.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, appeared in court on Sunday for the first hearing in the fraud trial against her, in which she is alleged to have misused state funds in ordering catered meals.According to the indictment, Sara Netanyahu, along with a government employee, fraudulently obtained from the state more than $100,000 for hundreds of meals supplied by restaurants, bypassing regulations that prohibit the practice if a cook is employed at home.Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing.She was charged in June with fraud and breach of trust and of aggravated fraudulent receipt of goods. If convicted, Sara Netanyahu could face up to five years in prison.Looking tense, Netanyahu made no comment to reporters who had packed the tiny courtroom. She sat on a bench behind her lawyers."Can we ask them to move the cameras away?", she asked the lawyer for the other defendant, who replied: "You're used to it.""Not like this," Netanyahu answered. She shook her head as the prosecutor described the gravity of her case.The session, however, dealt mainly with procedural matters. The judge set a meeting with the prosecutors and the defendants' lawyers for Nov. 13 in which he said he hoped all sides could narrow their differences "or even resolve the case".But a settlement at this stage appears remote because the prosecutors would likely demand Netanyahu plead guilty, something her lawyer has ruled out. She was not asked at the hearing to enter a plea.Netanyahu’s lawyers contend the indictment does not hold up because the regulations for ordering meals were legally invalid and a household employee had requisitioned the food despite Netanyahu's protestations.The prime minister, who himself is embroiled in corruption investigations, has called the allegations against his wife absurd and unfounded.Sara Netanyahu, 59, has inspired a multitude of headlines in the past over what family spokesmen call an undeserved reputation for imperiousness.In 2017 the Netanyahus won a libel suit against an Israeli journalist who said Sara once kicked her husband out of their car during an argument. In 2016, a Jerusalem labour court ruled that she had insulted and raged at household staff in the prime minister’s official residence.So far, Sara's present legal woes have not politically damaged her husband, now in his fourth term as Israel’s leader and riding high in opinion polls despite the allegations against him.Accusations he has made against the Israeli media of orchestrating a politically motivated witch-hunt against him and his wife appear to have struck a chord with his right-wing voter base, which has rallied in support of the 68-year-old leader.Netanyahu says will meet Putin soon on Syria security coordination
Wife of Israeli prime minister goes on trial for fraud
Dozens of Palestinians demonstrated high unemployment rates in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, which has been reeling under a crippling Israeli blockade since 2007.Protesters called on local authorities and the Ramallah-based Ministry of Labor to intervene to create jobs for jobless Palestinians in the seaside enclave."Today, poor families in Gaza are coming out to raise their voices in the face of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the international community," Talal Abu Zarifa, a member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), which organized the rally, told Anadolu Agency.“We tell the PA that you have to correct your policy and put an end to the division that has turned the Gaza Strip into a disaster zone in conjunction with the [Israeli] blockade."Abu Zarifa went on to decry the “continued silence of the international community” towards the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip.Last month, the World Bank warned that the Gaza economy was in “free fall”, calling on Israel and the international community to take immediate actions to avoid “immediate collapse” in the Palestinian territory.According to the bank, the unemployment is now over 50 percent – and over 70 percent among Gaza's youth.Israel has imposed a crippling siege on the Gaza Strip after Palestinian group Hamas seized control of the strip from rival Fatah group.In October, Hamas and Fatah -- Palestine’s two main political factions -- signed a landmark reconciliation agreement in Cairo aimed at ending their bitter division. However, the reconciliation agreement has failed to bear fruit due to ongoing differences between the two factions.Gazans bury three martyrs killed by IsraelIsraeli navy arrests two fishermen off Gaza coastThree Palestinians martyred along Gaza-Israel buffer zone
Palestinians protest high unemployment in Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin soon to discuss continued security coordination over Syria.Netanyahu said he had spoken by telephone with Putin "and we agreed to meet soon to continue the imporant security coordination between our armed forces".Netanyahu made the announcement, without citing a specific date for the talks, at a cabinet meeting. Moscow said on Tuesday it had upgraded Syria's air defences with the S-300 missile system, after accusing Israel of indirect responsibility for the downing of a Russian spy plane by Syrian forces as they fired on attacking Israeli jets last month.
Netanyahu says will meet Putin soon on Syria security coordination