Media watchdog condemns Israel over killing of 4 Gaza journalists, demands accountability

DUBAI: Daniella Weiss, a radical settler leader, has been nominated by Israelis for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

Professors Amos Azaria and Shalom Sadik of Ariel University and Ben-Gurion University submitted nominations for Weiss, according to reports.

In a letter to the Nobel Prize Committee, they reportedly claimed that “the establishment of Jewish communities has prevented violence and enhanced security” and that despite both Jewish and Palestinian deaths in Gaza, casualties were “significantly lower” in the West Bank due to Weiss’ work.

Weiss, director of the Nachala Settlement Movement, is a prominent supporter of Israeli annexation and illegal settlements in Palestinian territories.

Israel’s West Bank settlements have been deemed illegal by the UN and several countries.

In June 2024, Canada imposed sanctions against Weiss and six others “in response to the grave breach of international peace and security posed by their violent and destabilizing actions against Palestinian civilians and their property in the West Bank.”

The nomination has left online users baffled and outraged. One said: “For a moment, I thought this was a joke, but no, it’s not.”

Another said, “No one will want to be honoured with a Noble prize if this ever happens.”

The Nobel Peace Prize winners will be announced on Oct. 10 with the award ceremony scheduled for Dec. 10.

PARIS: A prominent French journalist on Sunday announced he was stepping down from his role as an expert analyst for broadcaster RTL after provoking an uproar by comparing French actions during colonial rule in Algeria to a World War II massacre committed by Nazi forces in France.
Jean-Michel Aphatie, a veteran reporter and broadcaster, insisted that while he would not be returning to RTL he wholly stood by his comments made on the radio station in late February equating atrocities committed by France in Algeria with those of Nazi Germany in occupied France.
“I will not return to RTL. It is my decision,” the journalist wrote on the X, after he was suspended from air for a week by the radio station.
On February 25 he said on air: “Every year in France, we commemorate what happened in Oradour-sur-Glane — the massacre of an entire village. But we have committed hundreds of these, in Algeria. Are we aware of this?“
He was referring to the village of Oradour-sur-Glane, where an SS unit returning to the front in Normandy massacred 642 residents on June 10, 1944. Leaving a chilling memorial for future generations, the village was never rebuilt.
Challenged by the anchor over whether “we (the French) behaved like the Nazis,” Aphatie replied: “The Nazis behaved like us.”
On X, he acknowledged his comments had created a “debate” but said it was of great importance to understand the full story over France’s 1830-1962 presence in Algeria, saying he was “horrified” by what he had read in history books.
After being suspended for a week by the channel it means that “if I come back to RTL I validate this and admit to making a mistake. This is a line that cannot be crossed.”
His comments had prompted a flurry of complaints to audio-visual regulator Arcom which has opened an investigation.
France’s conduct in Algeria during the 1954-1962 war that led to independence and previous decades remain the subject of often painful debate in both countries.
Historians from both sides have over the last years documented numerous violations including arbitrary killings and detention carried out by French forces and the history still burdens French-Algerian relations to this day.
The far-right in France has long defended French policies in those years with Algeria War veteran Jean-Marie Le Pen, who co-founded the National Front (FN) party and died earlier this year, drawing much support from French settlers who had to return after independence.