Tag: criticism

Israeli cabinet ministers reject US criticism on West bank settlements

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Jerusalem: Israel’s finance minister on Tuesday dismissed Washington’s criticism of new settlement construction in the West Bank, promising to double down and legalise dozens of wildcat outposts in the occupied territory.
Bezalel Smotrich reaffirmed his commitment to expand Israeli authority in the lands that the Palestinians seek for a future state less than a day after the United States expressed opposition to the move.
On Tuesday, Europe’s top diplomats also condemned Israel’s plans to build thousands of new homes in the West Bank and retroactively legalise nine outposts, saying they are “deeply troubled” and “strongly oppose these unilateral actions”.
The joint statement from the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom echoed the American condemnation, with no sign they would any action against Israel.
Smotrich, a religious ultranationalist settler, appeared defiant on Tuesday. He and his right-wing allies, he said, remain “committed to removing completely the restrictions on building in Judea and Samaria”, referring to the West Bank by its biblical names.
Smotrich said the Israeli government has “clarified (its) position to the Americans.”
“Disagreements are allowed, even between friends,” he added.
In a contentious coalition deal, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised Smotrich authority over the defense body responsible for planning for both settlements and Palestinian construction in parts of the West Bank where Israel maintains civilian control.

Once he receives those powers, Smotrich has vowed to “normalise” life for more than 500,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank, erasing the differences between living in a settlement and within Israel’s internationally recognised border and effectively annexing West Bank territory. Such a move would draw widespread global condemnation.
Israel captured the West Bank, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war.
Most of the international community considers Israeli settlements illegal and and an obstacle to peace. Some 700,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.
On Sunday, after a surge in violence in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, Netanyahu’s Cabinet unanimously authorised the legalization of nine settlement outposts and said it would soon approve 10,000 new homes in existing settlements.
Ultranationalists who oppose Palestinian statehood comprise a large part of Israel’s new government, which has declared settlement construction a top priority.
Israel’s newest settlement plans have also drawn condemnation from Israel’s Arab neighbours Jordan and Egypt, as well as Saudi Arabia.
On Tuesday, Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt also joined the chorus of criticism.
“The Israeli settlement policy on occupied land is contrary to international law and must be stopped,” Huitfeldt said.
(Except for the headline, the story has not been edited by Siasat staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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#Israeli #cabinet #ministers #reject #criticism #West #bank #settlements
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 15, 2023
Newly released African American studies course side-steps DeSantis’ criticism

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The nonprofit on Wednesday reiterated that no state nor district had seen the new framework before its unveiling and denied that any feedback from state officials was taken into consideration. At least two governors, DeSantis and Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, have sent letters to the College Board about the course, with Pritzker warning that Illinois schools wouldn’t accept the “watering down of history.”
“… [T]his refining process, which is a part of all AP courses, has operated independently from political pressure,” said Robert J. Patterson, a Georgetown University professor who co-chaired the committee of educators who developed the course, in a statement.
A 234-page overview for the African American Studies course shows that the program covers a range of topics from the origins of the African diaspora to the slave trade and Civil Rights movement. Students who take the course would learn about the Black Panther Party and the growth of the Black middle class, abolitionists and the role Black women play in society. The new requirements will take effect when the course launches for the 2024-2025 school year.
The updated syllabus also excludes mandatory lessons on intersectionality, which is a part of critical race theory, as well as other topics Florida’s Depart of Education had called “concerning.”
Lessons on Black queer studies and movements for Black lives that were taught in the pilot didn’t make the final cut. However, those topics were listed as potential ideas for students to pursue in their 1,500-word mandatory project. Students can pick such “contemporary topics or debates” for their projects, including the Black Lives Matter movement, reparations debates, intersectionality and dimensions of the Black experience and queer life and expression in Black communities.
While the coursework has curricular and resource requirements, the AP program said it supports each school having its own curriculum that enables students to build the skills and understandings in the framework.
“This course is an unflinching encounter with the facts and evidence of African American history and culture,” said College Board CEO David Coleman in a statement. ”No one is excluded from this course. … Everyone is seen.”
More than 300 African American Studies professors from more than 200 colleges across the country consulted the AP program in developing the course framework over the past year, the College Board said, and the course refining process ended in December.

DeSantis, who said the original coursework “pushed an agenda,” claimed victory when the College Board announced that the program would be updated ahead of its release. But it’s still ultimately up to the Florida Department of Education to review the course before it can become available to students in the state.
Florida’s decision to reject the course scored national attention and sparked a beef between the state and Illinois, where Pritzker called DeSantis’ actions “political grandstanding.” Civil rights attorney Ben Crump also pledged to sue DeSantis if Florida again blocks schools from teaching the course. Vice President Kamala Harris also denounced the rejection of the course, saying recently that “every student in our nation should be able to learn about the culture, contributions, and experiences of all Americans.”
DeSantis has stood by denying the course on the heels of the state’s “Stop WOKE” law, which forbids instruction that would make someone “feel guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress” due to their race, color, sex or national origin.”
About 18 states have similar “divisive concepts” laws that restrict how educators can discuss racism, sexism or systemic inequality in the classroom. The majority of the bills were efforts to rebuke critical race theory, the study of how racism has been weaved into American laws and institutions throughout history. Most public school officials across the country say they do not teach the theory. But these states could move to follow the DeSantis administration when deciding if they’ll adopt the new interdisciplinary course.
“Our core curriculum … requires the teaching of Black history, but real Black history — I mean things that really matter,” DeSantis said on an episode of the Charlie Kirk Show podcast that aired Jan. 26. “This course had things like queer theory, it had things like abolishing prisons, intersectionality, it advocated for reparations and things.”
He continued: “That’s political activism. If that’s what you want to do on your own time, it’s a free country. But we’re not going to use tax dollars in the state of Florida to put that into our schools because it’s not trying to educate kids, it’s trying to impose an agenda on kids.”

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#Newly #released #African #American #studies #sidesteps #DeSantis #criticism
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

February 1, 2023
Rijiju faces fierce criticism by ex-SC judges on collegium system remarks

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New Delhi: The Centre and the judiciary friction over the collegium system for appointment of judges seems to be far from over, as former Supreme Court judges have vehemently criticized Law Minister Kiren Rijiju for his comments against the collegium system.
Fierce criticism by the judges has not deterred Rijiju from voicing out his opinion on the collegium system and recently in a media interaction, he said the Supreme Court collegium publishing inputs of Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) and intelligence bureau (IB) on candidates recommended by the collegium for judgeship, is a matter of grave concern.
In an interview to a news channel, Rijiju said the appointment of judges is a sensitive issue, which we cannot discuss on public platforms and emphasized that he cannot discuss the process, but can say, the government takes its considered decision carefully and follows a policy.
Former Supreme Court judge justice Rohinton Nariman, at a public event, slammed the Law Minister for his “diatribe” against the collegium system for appointment of judges.
Justice Nariman said, “This sitting on names is a very deadly thing against the democracy of this country. Because what you are merely doing is you are waiting for a particular collegium and hoping that the next collegium changes its mind…” Justice Nariman was part of the Supreme Court collegium till he retired in August 2021.
Similarly, former Supreme Court judge justice Madan B. Lokur, in an interview to a news website earlier this month, said the justification given by the law minister for his suggestions — that 2015 apex court judgment “directed to restructure the Memorandum of Procedure of the collegium system” — is “flawed”.
Justice Lokur, who was also a former member of the Supreme Court collegium, called the law minister’s suggestions “unacceptable” and, if implemented, would “damage and undermine the independence of the judiciary”.
Similarly, Justice Nariman had also emphasized what would be the independence of judiciary if judges, who are fearless and independent are not being appointed. He said, “If you don’t have fearless and independent judges, say goodbye…There is nothing left…As a matter of fact, according to me if finally, this last bastion falls or was to fall we would enter the abyss of a new dark age”.

In December last year, a Supreme Court bench of three-judges headed by justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and comprising justices Abhay S. Oka and Vikram Nath told the Attorney General R Venkataramani that just because there are some sections of the society who express a view against the collegium system, it will not cease to be the law of the land.
The top court had also deplored Centre sitting on files of candidates recommended by the collegium for judgeship. And, on January 6, the Supreme Court told the Attorney General (AG) R Venkataramani elevation of lawyers, picked up by the collegium for appointment as judges, should not be objected merely due to their point of view, and a court must reflect different philosophies and points of view.
The Law Minister, in the interview, said that when it was said from the Supreme Court bench that the government is sitting on files, then, in a democracy, it becomes necessary for him to reply. He stressed that the government does not sit on files normally, rather it follows the process as required.
The apex court collegium published resolutions reiterating names of some advocates for judgeship in various high courts. The apex court cited inputs by RAW and IB on candidates, whose files were returned by the Centre to the collegium for reconsideration.
In a statement, in connection with appointment of openly gay lawyer Saurabh Kripal as a judge of the Delhi High Court, the collegium said, “From the letters of the Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW) dated 11 April 2019 and 18 March 2021, it appears that there are two objections to the recommendation which was made by the collegium of this court on 11 November 2021 approving the name of Saurabh Kirpal namely: (i) the partner of Saurabh Kirpal is a Swiss National, and (ii) he is in an intimate relationship and is open about his sexual orientation.”
Reiterating Kripal’s name, the collegium said there is no reason to pre-suppose that the partner of the candidate, who is a Swiss National, would be inimically disposed to our country, since the country of his origin is a friendly nation.
“Many persons in high positions, including present and past holders of constitutional offices, have and have had spouses who are foreign nationals,” the collegium added.
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#Rijiju #faces #fierce #criticism #exSC #judges #collegium #system #remarks
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 29, 2023
IndiGo emergency door opening case: Won’t glorify Cong’s criticism, says Tejasvi Surya

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Bengaluru: Reacting for the first time on the aircraft’s emergency door opening incident, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Bengaluru South, Tejasvi Surya on Saturday said a clarification on the matter has already been provided, and he will “not further glorify the criticism of the Congress”.
While the airline — IndiGo, did not name the passenger, some passengers travelling on the same flight had claimed that it was Tejasvi Surya. The BJP leader, however, had maintained a silence on the issue.
Speaking to reporters on Saturday after flagging off Namo Charity Run in Bengaluru, Surya said the airlines and the DGCA have given clarification regarding the incident.
“The Union Minister for Civil Aviation has explained that it was an incident that took place accidentally. K. Annamalai, the Tamil Nadu BJP president who was travelling with me also explained what exactly happened. Two other passengers have also given clarification over the incident,” he said.
“I don’t want to react in the backdrop of criticism from the Congress party or someone asking something, and glorify their criticism,” MP Tejasvi Surya claimed.
A controversy had broken out recently after IndiGo Airlines had released a statement that a passenger had opened the emergency door of its Chennai-Tiruchirapalli flight on December 10, 2022 leading to a two hour delay in the flight departure.
Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia confirmed on Wednesday (January 18) that the door was opened last month “by mistake”, and the person who opened it has apologised.
IndiGo had said on Tuesday that a passenger accidentally opened the emergency exit of a plane at the Chennai airport on December 10. The passenger had apologised, said the airlines.

While the airline did not name the passenger, few opposition parties have reacted on the matter, claiming that the person responsible for the act is Tejasvi Surya.
Without naming Surya, the Civil Aviation Minister on Wednesday confirmed that the passenger who by mistake opened the emergency exit, leading to a two hour delay of the flight, has apologised for his act.
“I won’t respond to what the opposition is saying. It’s important to look at the facts. The door was opened by him by mistake when the flight was on the ground and after all checks, the flight was allowed to take off,” Scindia said.
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#IndiGo #emergency #door #opening #case #Wont #glorify #Congs #criticism #Tejasvi #Surya
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 21, 2023