US-Israel arms deal risks gifting Netanyahu election boost

Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, says the US-Israel arms deal risks encouraging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government unless Washington ensures strict compliance with human rights and aid conditions.

Kimball said that there is “increasing frustration with the way the war has been prosecuted”.

“This kind of weapons shipment at this point only encourages Netanyahu’s government, and it is really a gift to this government ahead of this election, to try to show that Netanyahu still has full American support,” Kimball said.

US law requires that “countries we are assisting are not engaged in human rights abuses nor are they blocking humanitarian assistance”, he noted.

“It is inarguable whether Israel has violated those principles,” Kimball said, adding that “we need to make sure that our government can verify and document that Israel is meeting our conditions”.

Hind Rajab Foundation files criminal complaint against Israeli soldier in Italy

The Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) has filed a criminal complaint in Italy against Yonatan Chalich, an Israeli soldier, for alleged war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity committed during his deployment in Gaza between October 2023 and August 2024.

According to a statement issued by the foundation on Monday, Chalich is currently on holiday in the central Italian region of Tuscany. During his deployment, he served with the Tycoon Company of the Givati Shaked Battalion under the 401st Armoured Brigade.

The HRF’s investigation highlighted three incidents in which Chalich may have been involved:

• The siege and destruction of al-Shifa Hospital in March and April 2024
• The attack on the Haj Hamdi Harzallah mosque in late December 2023
• The destruction of Palestine Square in December 2023

“Italy, and Tuscany in particular, is a place where solidarity with Palestine runs deep and where the demand for justice has been heard loudly,” said

Dyab Abou Jahjah, the foundation’s general director, adding that “its people should not see their land turned into a safe haven for those who destroyed

Gaza and committed genocide against its people”.

“There can be no holiday from accountability. If the evidence follows you from Gaza to Tuscany, justice must follow too,” Abou Jahjah said.