ICYMI

Israel launches expanded ground offensive into Gaza

Over the weekend, Israel began its previously announced expanded ground offensive into Gaza. The assault follows several days of intense bombardment, with more than 100 people killed each day since Thursday. While earlier Israeli offensives were publicly justified as efforts to free remaining hostages, this latest operation has notably abandoned this rationale. Instead, Israeli officials have described it as a campaign for “victory over the enemies of Israel”.

Since the ceasefire ended and the blockade on aid and food was reinstated on 2 March, the population of the Gaza Strip has faced unrelenting attacks, as well as severe shortages of food, water, and medicine, placing over half a million people at serious risk. Israel is deliberately denying the population access to essential resources needed for survival. On Sunday, it announced that “basic amounts of food” will be allowed into Gaza.

As Israel continues its bombing campaign in Gaza, recent Nakba Day Demonstrations in Berlin expressing solidarity with Palestine were disrupted by heavily armed police, who violently assaulted protestors and made several arrests.

Māori MPs suspended for performing haka in Parliament 

The New Zealand (Aotearoa) Parliament is currently deliberating the suspension of three Māori MPs who performed a haka during a parliamentary session in November 2024. The protest was staged in opposition to the Treaty of Waitangi Bill, which sought to redefine the nation’s founding agreement. The Treaty, originally signed in 1840 between the British Crown and Māori leaders during colonisation, has long been central to Māori rights and recognition. The revised version of the bill has faced heavy criticism for its attempt to reverse rights granted to the Māori population.

The bill was ultimately voted down in April, but the MPs who protested it are now facing a 21-day suspension from Parliament – the harshest disciplinary measure ever considered. The Māori party strongly condemned the proposed punishment, though the ruling conservative coalition is expected to approve it in a vote on Tuesday.  

Guyana passes bill to hold companies directly accountable for oil spillages

Guyana has passed an oil pollution bill that will hold companies directly liable for oil spillages they cause. With oil production rising sharply in recent years – expected to reach a minimum of 900,000 barrels per day – Guyana is set to become Latin America’s fifth-largest oil exporter.

To enhance oversight of the growing gas output, particularly from offshore fields, the legislation mandates regular inspections and introduces penalties or suspension for non-compliance as well as financial responsibility for damages caused. With major global players involved in the local oil production like Exxon Mobil group, the bill is aimed at ensuring safer transactions and less damage through oil leaks.

PKK announces dissolution

Last week, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) announced its formal dissolution, following a call issued on 27 February by its imprisoned leader, Abdullah Öcalan. Founded in 1978 in response to the oppression of Kurds in Turkey, the PKK had engaged in armed resistance against the Turkish state since 1984.

After Öcalan’s appeal, the PKK declared a unilateral ceasefire in March. During a congress held last week, the party officially announced that it will disband. This means all activities and armed resistance under the name of the PKK will cease. They stated: "The PKK struggle has broken the policy of denial and annihilation of our people and brought the Kurdish issue to a point of solving it through democratic politics.” The leaders emphasised that final disarmament and surrender of weapons will only occur once a permanent and mutual agreement with Ankara, ensuring Kurdish rights, is reached. 

The move is intended to pave the way for a peaceful and democratic resolution to the Kurdish-Turkish conflict, based on political parties and democratic organisation. There has been some resistance from within the PKK to this decision. Uncertainty also remains regarding the future of former members as well as other Kurdish organisations in the region. Turkish oppositional figures, as well as the pro-Kurdish DEM party, have welcomed the move, the ruling party, however, has maintained a hardline stance, with Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan stating that disarmament of the PKK alone is “not enough”. 

Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day

18 May is Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day, also known as Mullivaikkal Day, named after the village in which a massacre took place during the final days of the war in 2009. Every year for the past 16 years, Tamil people in their homeland and the diaspora commemorate the people massacred by the Sri Lankan military during the 26 years of civil war. On 18 May 2009, the war between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam came to an end with an estimated 70,000 lives lost. Until this day, 169,796 Tamils remain unaccounted for, and many of the Sri Lankan forces have not seen consequences for their actions and continue to discriminate against the Tamil population of the island.

Germany tightens migration laws

CSU Interior Minister, Alexander Dobrindt, has announced a focus on tighter border controls in a discussion on immigration policy. During their election campaign in February, the CSU/CDU coalition voiced a strong no-tolerance policy for unauthorized immigrants. In previous years, asylum seekers who made it to the German border and planned to apply for asylum both in Germany and in other countries after arrival were allowed to enter. The new policy will reverse this, turning away all asylum seekers without documents, with the exception of pregnant women and children. This is in stark contrast to former Chancellor Angela Merkel’s policies. Further plans include an additional 3000 officers assigned at the border, and the implementation of drones, thermal scanners, and helicopters.

Romanian and Polish election results

Nicușor Dan, Romania’s centrist Bucharest mayor, has won the presidential election. He defeated right-wing rival George Simion, whose campaign had detailed a future for Romania inspired by Donald Trump’s policies, including plans to end military aid to Ukraine. As Dan described, the election results would dictate a “pro-Western versus anti-Western Romania”. After months of political tension, Simion won the first round of elections on 04 May with 41%, backed by the support of diaspora voters across Western Europe and the UK. In the final round, Dan took the majority vote with 53.6%. Following this win, Dan pledged to fight corruption and maintain support for Ukraine. 

In Poland, Rafał Trzaskowski – the current centrist mayor of Warsaw and candidate of the Prime Minister’s Civic Coalition – has narrowly won Poland’s first round of presidential elections on Sunday, with 31.3% vote. Closely following is Karol Nawrocki, a conservative historian backed by the Law and Justice Party (PiS), who lost power 18 months prior, with 29.5% vote. Trzaskowski proposes a pro-EU and reformist government following the current president, Donald Tusk, while Nawrocki, reflecting PiS values, defends conservative politics, with strict immigration and civil rights policies. The runoff election will take place on 1 June.

Ben and Jerry’s co-founder arrested 

Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben and Jerry’s, was arrested for protesting against the Gaza blockade at a US Senate hearing in Washington. Cohen and other protesters were handcuffed and escorted away, charged with “crowding and obstructing”. 

In a video recording documenting the instance, a bystander asked Cohen why he was arrested, at which he responded “Congress kills poor kids in Gaza by buying bombs and pays for it by kicking kids off Medicaid in the US…They need to let food into Gaza, they’re starving kids.”

Cohen and co-founder Jerry Greenfield have been longtime activists and prominent voices against Israel’s violence in Gaza. 

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