Category World News

In response to reports of a spate of violent crimes against religious sites, police in the UK are looking into a possible arson attack on a mosque in southern England as a “hate crime.”

On Saturday, just before 10 p.m. (22:00 GMT), officers were called to the scene of an arson attack on Phyllis Avenue in Peacehaven, East Sussex, according to local police.

According to them, the fire destroyed a car and the mosque’s front entrance, adding that no one was hurt.

A burned-out car is visible at the mosque’s entrance, according to images and video shared online.

Two people were inside the building when two balaclava-clad people tried to force the mosque door open, according to a report on CNN, which quoted a volunteer mosque manager. The building was then set on fire by two balaclava-clad people.

The mosque’s spokesperson stated in a statement that the community was “deeply saddened” by the “shocking” attack. We are deeply appreciative that no one was hurt, despite the incident having damaged our building and vehicles.

“This hateful behavior does not fit our town or our community.” We will continue to live up to the values that Peacehaven has always fostered, such as kindness, respect, and mutual support,” the statement continued.

We urged everyone to reject division and show compassion and unity when responding to hate, the statement continued.

According to Detective Superintendent Karrie Bohanna, the Muslim community was concerned by the attack. According to Bohanna, “there is already an increased police presence at the scene, and there are also additional patrols taking place across the county to provide reassurance,”.

There is no place for hate in the county, according to Sussex Police, who adopt a zero-tolerance policy against hate crime.

Possible “terrorist” act

The police must determine the origins of the attack and whether it qualifies as “an act of terrorism,” according to Mothin Ali, deputy leader of the Green Party.

People in this community will feel terrified and targeted for their faith because they were inside the mosque when it was firebombed, Ali said.

Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven Labour MP Chris Ward described the “disgusting” attack as “appalled.”

He claimed that there were no injuries, which was purely accidental. Our peaceful, accepting neighborhood has no place for this hatred and violence. We’ll find a way to stop it and show our support to those who are affected.

Following a ramming and stabbing on Thursday at a synagogue in northern Manchester, the attack comes. Two people were seriously hurt, and three were killed.

The Islamophobic arson attack was condemned by the Muslim Council of Britain, which urged authorities to “provide robust protection for all places of worship.”

The mosque attack “follows a disturbing pattern of intimidation and violence,” it continued. The council added in its statement that “a mosque was attacked just last week in Hounslow, while mosques across the nation were targeted by coordinated hate campaigns and bomb threats.”

Separately, the East London Mosque stated on X that “our communities must remain unwavering – Muslims, Jews, Christians, people of all faiths, and none – in standing together against extremism, intolerance, and violence.”

The British Jewish Board’s Deputies also criticized the mosque attack, stating on X that “every faith community has the right to worship without fear.” Better than this is our nation.

Following months of protests against asylum seekers and a social media campaign called #OperationRaisetheColours, the UK’s climate is still tense.

The call was heeded in recent weeks by those who pinned the flag of England with St. George’s Cross and Union Jacks to some shops, lampposts, roundabouts, and other public places across the country. The white stripes of zebra crossings have been painted with red crosses.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has become the target of a sustained right-wing backlash after the US-based Jewish advocacy group included an organisation founded by slain right-wing figure Charlie Kirk in its online database on extremism.

The blowback escalated sharply on Wednesday after FBI Director Kash Patel announced that the bureau would sever ties with the ADL, accusing the prominent advocacy group of spying on Americans.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk’s post calling the ADL a “hate group” set off a firestorm of criticism online, forcing the group to scrap the “Glossary of Extremism and Hate”, which contained more than a thousand entries on groups and movements with connections to hateful ideologies.

But that has not subdued the backlash from conservatives – the base of the governing Republican Party.

So, what’s ADL’s online database, and why has it triggered MAGA (Make America Great Again) rage? And how has the nonprofit, which backed the crackdown on pro-Palestine campus protests by the administration of US President Donald Trump, ended up ruffling feathers across the political spectrum?

What is ADL?

The ADL is one of the oldest and most influential Jewish advocacy groups in the United States. It was founded in 1913 by members of the B’nai B’rith – Hebrew for “Sons of the Covenant”, a Jewish fraternal organisation – to counter anti-Semitism and prejudice against Jews.

The group, which calls itself “a global leader in combating antisemitism”, started with its original mission, “to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all”.

Over time, the ADL grew into a national force with branches spread across the country. It works closely with law enforcement agencies to train officers on identifying bias-motivated violence. It also develops programmes and resources on anti-Semitism and the Holocaust, partnering with schools, universities and communities.

Its monitoring of right-wing racist and anti-LGBTQ+ extremism also allowed it space within the US’s liberal Jewish community.

Since its inception, the ADL has argued that anti-Zionism could lead to anti-Semitism. But in the past couple of decades, the nonprofit has been pushing to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism, which conflates some criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism. The ADL has also backed a controversial resolution passed by the US Congress that defined anti-Zionism as anti-Semitism.

The ADL is a well-resourced civil society group, with around $163m in revenue last year alone.

What caused the backlash against ADL?

The recent backlash was triggered after several influential right-wing social media accounts began posting screenshots of the ADL’s entry on Kirk’s organisation, Turning Point USA, in its “Glossary of Extremism”.

Kirk, who is credited with galvanising young voters for Trump, was assassinated last month.

Though Turning Point USA was not listed as an “extremist organization”, the nonprofit had documented incidents where its leadership and affiliated members had made “racist or bigoted comments”.

ADL’s entry on “Christian Identity” – which the nonprofit identified as an extremist theology that promotes white supremacy – also drew widespread criticism from right-wing influencers.

The ADL has long positioned itself as a nonpartisan watchdog. But conservatives have increasingly argued that it has become politically aligned with progressive causes, including the group’s partnerships with social media companies in moderating hate-speech policies.

Jonathan Greenblatt, the ADL’s CEO, has been accused of “weaponising anti-Semitism” to attack critics of liberal policies and of conflating right-wing populism with hate speech in the past.

In the weeks following Kirk’s assassination, the US has seen a wave of right-wing backlash against public figures who criticised him, with several commentators and journalists facing professional repercussions – including the brief suspension of a television show by comedian Jimmy Kimmel and the firing of Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah.

What was in ADL’s online database?

The ADL “Glossary of Extremism and Hate” was an online, searchable database launched in March 2022 by the organisation’s Center on Extremism. After the backlash from right-wing influencers, mostly from the MAGA camp, the ADL quietly moved to retire its database from the public.

The database contained more than 1,000 entries providing overviews and definitions of terms, symbols, slogans, tactics, publications, groups, and individuals associated with various extremist ideologies, hate movements, and related activities.

The resource covered a broad spectrum, including white supremacism, anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim bigotry, and extremism on the far right and far left. The glossary reportedly included groups like the Proud Boys, the Nation of Islam, the Oath Keepers, and others.

The ADL, in its statement, argued that “an increasing number of entries in the Glossary were outdated”, and “a number of entries [were] intentionally misrepresented and misused”.

The organisation further said that it wanted to focus on exploring “new strategies and creative approaches to deliver our data and present our research more effectively”.

The list is no longer publicly available on ADL’s site, and the original URL now redirects to the organisation’s home page.

How did Musk get into this?

The online smear campaign gained traction on Sunday night after billionaire Elon Musk started interacting with posts targeting the ADL.

Musk, who has more than 227 million followers on X, said, “The ADL hates Christians, therefore it is is [sic] a hate group.”

The ADL’s operations encourage murder, Musk said in another reply to a post on X, formerly Twitter, which he bought in 2022 after paying $44bn.

Musk’s attacks on the ADL still came as a shock to some. ADL’s Greenblatt has, in fact, praised Musk several times, including in 2023 for saying that X would block use of the pro-Palestinian slogan “from the river to the sea”.

That applause reportedly led to the resignation of a top ADL executive, Yael Eisenstat, who headed the nonprofit’s Center for Technology and Society, and the group lost several donors.

The ADL has also criticised Musk, saying X’s Grok chatbot promoted pro-Nazi ideology. The chatbot has praised Adolf Hitler, and called itself “MechaHitler”.

Former and current ADL employees have told Jewish Currents, a US-based progressive publication, that Greenblatt has repeatedly given a pass to Musk’s white nationalist sympathies if they help the ADL fight anti-Zionism – a pattern that reportedly escalated after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, followed by Israel’s now two-year-long war on Palestine, which has been dubbed genocide by an United Nations inquiry panel.

Then again, earlier this year, Greenblatt came to Musk’s defence after several Jewish lawmakers and civil society groups condemned Musk’s fascist-style salutes on stage during a speech after Trump’s re-election.

The ADL had posted: “It seems that Elon Musk made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute.”

Why did the FBI snap ties with ADL?

The FBI’s decision to cut ties with the ADL also marks a sharp rupture in a partnership that had lasted for decades, at least since the 1940s, rooted in joint efforts to train law enforcement officers and monitor extremist threats across the US.

The move was announced by FBI chief Patel just 24 hours after Musk joined the online campaign, accusing the ADL of having “become a political front masquerading as a watchdog”.

Patel also targeted James Comey, an American lawyer who served as the director of the FBI from 2013 to 2017, during the era of US President Barack Obama.

“James Comey wrote ‘love letters’ to the ADL and embedded FBI agents with them – a group that ran disgraceful ops spying on Americans,” Kash said in a post on X, without offering any more clarity on this.

“That era is OVER. This FBI won’t partner with political fronts masquerading as watchdogs,” he concluded.

Why is ADL accused of pro-Israel bias and of suppressing pro-Palestinian activism?

The ADL has also faced criticism from left-wing activists for exhibiting a pro-Israel bias and suppressing pro-Palestinian activism, particularly in the wake of widespread protests across US campuses over the Gaza war that has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians and turned the Palestinian enclave into ruins.

The advocacy group has dubbed grassroots protests against Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza as “pro-Hamas activism”, while its CEO Greenblatt has described the Jewish groups calling for a ceasefire as “the ugly core of anti-Zionism”.

The ADL also publicly campaigned against campus protests last year, describing some demonstrations as “antisemitic hate rallies”. The group urged university administrators and government officials to take action against protest organisers, and pressured institutions to censor or discipline dissenting voices.

ADL’s Greenblatt praised Trump for withholding $400m in grants to Columbia University after campus protests and complimented the arrest of Columbia pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil.

“We appreciate the Trump Administration’s broad, bold set of efforts to counter campus antisemitism – and this action further illustrates that resolve by holding alleged perpetrators responsible for their actions,” the ADL posted above a tweet about Khalil’s arrest.

The ADL’s collaboration with the US administration has dented its credibility, and several staff have resigned, citing the organisation’s overt emphasis on pro-Israel advocacy.

Since Bashar al-Assad’s ouster, Syria has held its first indirect parliamentary election. Osama Bin Javaid from Al Jazeera visits Damascus and explains how the procedure will operate.

Five people have been killed in Ukraine after Russia launched hundreds of drones and missiles across the country overnight, which officials said targeted civilian infrastructure.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that Russia fired approximately 50 missiles and 500 attack drones.

“The Russians struck with cruise missiles, Shaheds and Kinzhals among other things,” he said. “The Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zaporizhzhia, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, Odesa, and Kirovohrad regions were all targeted.”

One person in the eastern city of Zaporizhzhia and four members of a family in Lviv were killed in the attack. One of those killed was a 15-year-old girl.

Lviv’s mayor, Andriy Sadovyi, said that the city was left without power and that public transport was affected. Sadovyi warned residents of the city not to go outside, citing smoke and several ongoing fires.

Mykola Dmytrotsa, a resident of Lapaivka village just outside Lviv, said his house was struck.

“All windows were blown out, doors and everything inside, too. What else can I tell you? I do not even want to talk about it. No doors, no windows, no roof,” he told the Reuters news agency.

Volodymyr Hutnyk, a local official, said: “In this area, 10 private homes were damaged so severely that they are no longer habitable. They will need to be dismantled and rebuilt. Many other houses have shattered windows and doors, and their roofs have been damaged.”

Lviv is near Ukraine’s border with Poland and has generally avoided the worst of Russia’s attacks.

Maksym Kozytskyi, the governor of Lviv region, said it was the largest attack the region had experienced throughout the war, which has lasted more than three years.

“Across all affected areas, residential buildings and critical infrastructure were damaged,” Ukraine’s Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said. “Moscow continues to strike homes, schools, and energy facilities – proving that destruction remains its only strategy.”

“Ukraine was shattered by explosions last night,” said Kira Rudik, a member of Ukraine’s parliament. “Every one of these tragedies could have been prevented if Russia had been stopped.”

At least 30 people were killed on a passenger train in Sumy due to a Russian strike on Saturday, which Ukraine’s president said was “savage”.

Poland scrambles jets

Poland said it mobilised its fighter jets along with NATO allies to respond to the strike, which the Polish air force said was “preventive in nature” and “aimed at securing the airspace and protecting citizens”.

Around 20 Russian drones entered Polish airspace in early September, raising concerns about the possible spillover of Russia’s attacks onto Polish and NATO territory. Russia has also been accused in recent weeks of violating the airspace of other NATO members, including Norway, Estonia, Lithuania and Denmark.

Belgium on Friday said 15 drones were spotted flying over a military base in the country’s east. Its Defence Minister Theo Francken said there was no evidence linking Moscow directly, but added, “Personally, I think those drones are often an example of hybrid threats. This is a way to sow unrest. That has been Russia’s pattern for many years.”

Russia has denied responsibility for many of the attacks, with President Vladimir Putin mocking countries claiming Russia was behind the drone attacks over the weekend.

On Saturday, Denmark said Russian naval vessels had tracked Danish ships, sailed on collision courses, tracked aircraft with their radars and pointed their weapons. “Russia is using military means, including in an aggressive way, to put pressure on us without crossing the line into armed conflict in a traditional sense,” Danish intelligence director Thomas Ahrenkiel said.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said Russia is “masking its failed summer offensive with terror attacks on Ukrainian civilians and infrastructure”. Kallas said the EU was prepared to back Kyiv for “as long as needed” and said a new sanctions package was being prepared.

Lithuania’s foreign minister, Kestutis Budrys, joined Zelenskyy after the attack in calling on countries around the world to stop purchasing Russian energy, which they said fuels Moscow’s war machine.

“We must stop feeding its imperial appetite and put an end to state terrorism,” Budrys posted on X.

These incidents come as Europe has hardened its position on Russia, announcing new sanctions, the possibility of using Russian money for Ukraine and purchasing NATO arms for Kyiv, while the US has warmed to the Kremlin.

Samuel Ramani, a fellow at the United Kingdom-based defence think-tank RUSI, said Russia is retaliating for Europe taking a “sharply” pro-Ukraine position in recent months.

Russia sees Europe as a more “incorrigible adversary, whereas with the Americans, we can still find a way back, a way to do business with them and work with them,” Ramani told Al Jazeera.

Nearly two years after the UN voted in favor of the division of Palestine, the UNRWA was established. The only UN agency that focused solely on the Palestinians, the dispossessed population, existed and still exists.

UNRWA participated in almost every aspect of Palestinian life in the decades that followed, from food distribution to healthcare and education to utilities. The organization’s activities were hampered by Israeli pressure and were sidelined in the wake of the genocide in Gaza.

We need UNRWA to finish its work and put an end to the famine right now that a ceasefire is approaching. It is the only organization that can distribute aid fairly and effectively.

My family has always been a part of UNRWA. My siblings and I attended UNRWA’s schools, where we received free education under the guidance of devoted teachers. Additionally, my family frequently relied on UNRWA to provide food for us. We used to go to the agency’s clinics frequently as children to get primary care, get shots, and get basic treatment. Particularly for those who couldn’t afford private care, this service was always accessible.

UNRWA continued to offer services as best it could following the Israeli genocide that occurred in Gaza on October 7, 2023. Israel, supported by its Western allies, launched a fierce campaign against the organization, though. The Israeli government opened an investigation into the involvement of some UNRWA employees in the attacks in January 2024, and some of them were fired.

These allegations provided justification for Western donor nations, including the United States and members of the European Union, to stop funding UNRWA. At a time when Gaza’s two million people were almost entirely dependent on UNRWA’s resources, that had a significant impact.

The situation with aid started to improve after the ceasefire agreement was announced in January of this year. UNRWA was able to resume distribution of aid in a timely and just manner.

In each neighborhood, there were designated aid centers and clear schedules. Each family had to use their ID number to register in advance to prevent chaos. UNRWA would send them a message letting them know when they would arrive to pick up their parcels. When they arrived at the center, staff or volunteers would check their information to make sure no one was overlooked or given more than they deserved. Based on its size, each family would receive a food parcel. In the midst of extremely challenging circumstances, this system gave Palestinians a sense of calm.

Unfortunately, this circumstance did not endure. Israel resumed its genocide on March 2, when it stopped aid from entering the Strip on March 2. People once more had to deal with displacement and intolerable circumstances that they believed they would never be able to.

UNRWA announced on April 25 that its food stock had run out. We have since experienced yet another severe famine. More than a million people have been left with hunger and malnutrition after UNRWA and numerous other humanitarian organizations stopped conducting their aid efforts.

In response to Israeli claims that Hamas had stolen aid, the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) was established a month later.

GHF does not provide a structured distribution model like UNRWA. Its distribution centers are situated in dangerous locations, and the process is erratic. No registration, fair distribution, or schedules are present. People are permitted to rush in and get whatever they can because a small number of food parcels are just dumped in a fenced-off area every day. More than 2, 500 Palestinians who are in need of aid are currently killed by Israeli soldiers or foreign mercenaries who use live fire to “order.”

Israel has only permitted a small amount of aid to enter Gaza, with the majority of it being looted before reaching its intended destination, aside from the deadly aid at GHF. It started allowing commercial trucks as well in the late summer of that year. They sell products at exorbitant prices to merchants in all of their products.

The famine has continued unabated.

Every day, I witness children in my neighborhood rushing to a small, Palestinian charity-run takyah, which is a soup kitchen. These regional organizations typically use donations from abroad to purchase the small items sold at local markets. Rice, lentils, pasta, or soup are the main dishes. These meals are entirely dependent on families who can’t afford them.

Ironically, many of the same nations that had suspended UNRWA funding called for immediate action in August.

“Famine is brewing right before our eyes.” The statement from the foreign ministers of 19 EU member states, along with Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and Japan, read urgently.

However, these nations denied more than two million people their fundamental right to food by cutting funding for UNRWA and allowing Israel to destroy the organization.

They must reaffirm their support for the organization that caused such suffering and demand that Israel permit it to fully reopen its services if they are serious about ending the genocide and starvation.

UNRWA has always provided Gaza’s residents with a lifeline. In the midst of chaos, it was the only organization that gave us a sense of stability and hope. UNRWA would need to be reimbursed and protected in order for us to survive this genocide and what follows. It would be equivalent to allowing the extermination of Palestinians if Israel were to permit its destruction.