Category World News

Washington, DC – Hours after United States President Donald Trump promised that Israel would not attack Qatar again, the Israeli ambassador to the US suggested that his country could repeat its attempt to kill Hamas officials within the Gulf country.

Speaking to Fox News late on Tuesday, Yechiel Leiter said if Hamas leaders had survived the Doha bombardment, Israel would target them again.

“If we didn’t get them this time, we’ll get them the next time,” the Israeli envoy said.

Israel launched air attacks in Doha targeting a Hamas delegation that was meeting to discuss Trump’s Gaza ceasefire proposal on Tuesday.

But Hamas said its top leaders – including its Gaza chief Khalil al-Hayya – survived the assassination attempt, which killed six people, including a Qatari security officer.

Countries across the world, including some of Israel’s Western allies, condemned the attack.

The Israeli air raids appear to have violated several provisions of international law, including the United Nations Charter’s prohibition on aggression against sovereign states.

Qatar described the strikes as “state terrorism” and called for a regional response against the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani accused Netanyahu of undermining regional stability and peace in pursuit of “narcissistic delusions” and personal gains.

“Working to violate the sovereignty of nations without any care must not be overlooked and must be confronted by all means,” he said.

Trump, a staunch supporter of Israel, also expressed misgivings with the attack, but stopped short of publicly condemning it.

“Unilaterally bombing inside Qatar, a Sovereign Nation and close Ally of the United States, that is working very hard and bravely taking risks with us to broker Peace, does not advance Israel or America’s goals,” he wrote in a social media post.

Qatar is a major non-NATO ally of the US, and it has helped mediate several international agreements involving Washington. The Gulf country also hosts one of the largest US military bases in the region.

The US president added on Tuesday that he spoke to Qatar’s emir and prime minister and “assured them that such a thing will not happen again on their soil”.

But Leiter dismissed the US and international concerns, saying that Israel – which attacked at least five Arab countries over the past month – is changing the region “for the better” and working to “defeat Islamic extremism”.

“Right now, we may be subject to a little bit of criticism. They’ll get over it,” he said.

The United Kingdom, France, Canada and Australia are among a new wave of countries planning to recognise Palestine as a state at this year’s United Nations General Assembly meeting. What does this actually mean? And what, if anything, does it change?

This episode features:

Shibley Telhami | Professor for peace and development at the University of Maryland

Diana Buttu | Palestinian lawyer and analyst

Michael Lynk | Professor emeritus of law at Western University and former United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories

A Hong Kong bill that proposed limited legal rights to same-sex couples has been voted down by lawmakers in the Chinese semi-autonomous city’s Legislative Council.

The bill had proposed to allow residents who have already formed unions overseas to register their partnerships locally and to grant them rights in handling medical and funeral matters.

That included the ability to access their partners’ medical information and participate in medical decisions with consent, and claim their deceased partners’ remains.

“Today is a disappointing day for Hong Kong,” advocacy group Hong Kong Marriage Equality said in a statement after the vote.

“(It) sends a troubling signal to both local and international communities — that court rulings may be disregarded and the dignity of individuals overlooked.”

The Registration of Same-Sex Partnerships Bill, unveiled in July, stemmed from one of the legal victories that pushed the government to offer more equal rights to gays and lesbians.

The government has stressed that marriages in Hong Kong will remain defined as a union between a man and a woman, but it proposed a registration system for same-sex couples whose partnership is legally recognised abroad.

However, the bill met fierce opposition from lawmakers, even though it followed the top court’s 2023 ruling stating the government should provide a framework for recognising such relationships and giving it two years to work out a solution.

Out of the lawmakers who attended the meeting, 71 voted against the bill, 14 approved it, and one abstained.

‘Alarming disdain for LGBTQ rights’

Despite LGBT activists decrying its limitations, the bill drew near-universal criticism from the pro-Beijing politicians that dominate Hong Kong’s legislature.

“The proposed bill on same-sex partnerships was flawed, but in rejecting it, the government has shown an alarming disdain for [LGBTQ] rights,” Amnesty International said after the vote.

“The failure of this bill must not be the end … On the contrary, it should be the catalyst for the authorities to produce a stronger bill.”

Same-sex marriage is not legal in China, and social stigma remains widespread.

Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China with its own legislature and a mini-constitution that guarantees a “high degree of autonomy”.

However, the city’s once vibrant political opposition and civil society have been effectively silenced since Beijing introduced a sweeping national security law in 2020.

Authorities gave the public seven days to write in with their views on Wednesday’s bill.

Of the 10,800 submissions received, 80 percent were against it, according to the government.

Hong Kong Marriage Equality said that around half the submissions opposing the bill used templates that indicate “strong mobilisation by specific groups”.