Egypt declared the advisor to the Ethiopian embassy in Cairo persona non grata and gave him 48 hours to leave the country.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement on Thursday that the decision came in implementation of the rules of diplomacy and after Ethiopia considered the Egyptian diplomat Ahmed Muharram Ahmed Suleiman persona non grata and gave him 48 hours to leave the country.
Egypt saw the Ethiopian action as unfortunate and unjustified. An official source confirmed Egypt's adherence to respecting the sovereignty of countries and not interfering in their internal affairs.
The Egyptian side pointed out that Ethiopia has become accustomed to pinning its successive internal crises on the authority of external parties.
A senior official at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said on Wednesday that his criticism of Israeli policies in Gaza had cost him his job, while the agency's director-general warned his employees against engaging in campaigns of a human rights nature.
Director of the Rural Transformation and Gender Equality Division at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Ben Davis, said in a statement to Agence France-Presse that he was informed in July that his contract would not be renewed after 26 years he spent at the agency, under the pretext of violating the rules of neutrality.
He added: “They accused me of organizing these silent vigils to protest the conditions of starvation and famine in Gaza.” In reference to silent protests organized weekly by employees of the organization headquartered in Rome.
Davis was also criticized for a report he helped prepare on food availability in Gaza and humanitarian law, published in May.
“We were asked to withdraw it,” he said, adding, “We were not allowed to refer to humanitarian law.”
It appeared that FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu issued a warning to employees on Tuesday against engaging in activities or campaigns of a human rights nature within the agency.
His statements came during a public intervention at the beginning of a video session on forests.
He continued: “Human rights are very important, of course, but we have a human rights agency in Geneva. Whoever is interested, go there.”
He added: “If one of the senior officials here engages in political work, I will fire him... You must follow the (FAO) constitution... You are violating employee regulations... But I am a very nice person, and I have not been fired many people.”
He added: “I will expel more people if they break the law.”
The FAO did not respond to a request for comment.
When asked if he believed he was concerned with the Director-General’s statements, Davis said: “Absolutely,” explaining: “He rebuked me publicly in the past, as he considered me too involved in politics.”
Davis also expressed his "concern" about the Director-General's statements regarding the expulsion of more people.
He pointed out that hundreds of people participated in silent protests at the height of these movements, while the number of participants is currently limited to between 30 and 40 people per week.
The Israeli military campaign in Gaza, which was launched following the Hamas attack, resulted in the killing of more than 74,000 Palestinians and the injury of more than 174,000, according to the Ministry of Health, whose figures the United Nations considers reliable.
The movement’s attack on October 7, 2023, on southern Israel, resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people.
On Thursday, the Israeli Supreme Court of Justice expressed its intention to annul the decisions of the Central Elections Commission to remove Arab lists of candidates for the upcoming elections, considering them political decisions not based on legal foundations, but at the same time it suggested to the third candidate in the joint list, the head of the National Democratic Rally, Sami Abu Shehadeh, to withdraw his candidacy.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Yitzhak Amit said: “We held discussions between the judges; Because the statements written by candidate Sami Abu Shehadeh are long and controversial, and cause emotional turmoil.”
He added, “After listening to the arguments of the parties, we conducted consultations and found a difference in opinions, but it appears that the majority of judges support the decision to disbar, with all its consequences.”
Amit continued: “For these reasons, and based on the opinion of all members of the body, we recommend that Mr. Abu Shehadeh think carefully about whether he is committed to his candidacy, or not, which may prevent the issuance of a reasoned ruling in his case.”
The court granted Abu Shehadeh one day to decide his position, and accordingly his party decided to hold a meeting of the political bureau to deliberate on the court’s proposal.
The head of the Joint List, Youssef Jabareen, said that the court’s decision regarding Abu Shehadeh is shameful, and it indicates that the judges are trying to please the extreme right in Israel. A team of lawyers supporting Shehadeh estimated that “the evidence presented against him does not meet the level of proof required judicially,” and that it “does not support the conclusion that he supports the armed struggle.”
An attempt to whiten one's face in front of the West
One of the defense lawyers interpreted the court’s proposal to Abu Shehadeh as an attempt by the court to whitewash its face before the judiciary. In the Western world, there is still respect for the Israeli judiciary despite its continued distance from justice. The Supreme Court is trying to evade making a decision and give Abu Shehadeh the opportunity to withdraw on his own. Thus, you gain in two ways: It escapes Western criticism for its support for a decision restricting freedom of expression, and on the other hand, it wins the approval of the extreme racist right.
However, far-right activists attacked the court, and extremist Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who proposed the deletion of Arab lists, said, “The court takes a merciful approach to Israel’s enemies, and it had to accept the decisions of the Elections Commission, which express the desire and will of the majority of the people in Israel.”
A few hundred Arab citizens demonstrated in front of the court. When Ben Gvir arrived, he started shouting at them: “You are supporters of terrorism.” Get out of here. overland. overland". They responded by chanting: “Fascism will not pass.”
On September 23, the Central Elections Committee approved the cancellation of lists and candidates, but the party committee composed of party representatives in the Knesset does not have the authority to final cancellation, and its decision does not become effective unless approved by the Supreme Court.
The court's panel of nine judges met on Thursday to deliberate on the committee's decisions, and it appeared from the first stage of deliberations that the majority of judges were moving to reject all of those decisions, with the exception of the decision to disbar Abu Shehadeh.
The Adalah Center, which is responsible for defending the Arab lists, confirmed that the delisting decisions are not based on the required evidence and legal standards, calling for their cancellation and allowing the lists and candidates to run in the elections for the 26th Knesset. Abu Shehadeh, who was expelled for writing an article in which he said that “the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, is important and historic,” retracted the article and said that he had made a mistake, and he was supposed to accept his apology.
During his appearance before the court, Abu Shehadeh said that he rejects violence in all its forms, in addition to his opposition to war and occupation. He accused the Israeli government of persecuting Arab citizens, Arab parties and leaders, considering that Netanyahu, Ben Gvir and Yair Golan are seeking to impose an Arab leadership that adopts the positions of the Zionist leadership.
