Holding banners and pictures of wounded children, dozens of people demonstrated outside the Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei yesterday morning, condemning Israel’s attacks on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, saying the military action has led to massive civilian injuries and deaths.
“Free Palestine, let Gaza live,” dozens of protesters chanted as they demonstrated outside the Israeli representative office while holding banners and placards condemning Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip and urging the US to stop providing military and economic assistance to Jerusalem.
“Since 2000, Israel has killed, on average, one child every three days,” Labor Party Vice Chairman Tang Shu (唐曙) told onlookers. “But in the past nine days since Israel renewed its attacks on the Gaza Strip, the number of children killed has far surpassed that.”
Photo: CNA
Tang said that Israel has accused Hamas of being behind the kidnapping and murder of three Israelis and it launched the attack on the Gaza Strip in retaliation.
“Although there’s already another Islamic group that claims responsibility for [the kidnappings], Israel still launched the military action on Gaza,” Tang said. “As of today, Israeli attacks have led to nearly 200 deaths and injured 1,400 people — and the vast majority of them are civilians.”
“This is not a war, it’s an unjust massacre,” Tang added.
Tang dismissed a ceasefire declaration by Israel, the US and Egypt as “merely a political show” and urged Taiwanese to boycott Israeli products in protest.
A Taiwanese Muslim surnamed Wang (王) slammed Israeli remarks that its attacks on the Gaza Strip were launched in self-defense.
“Would it make any sense to you if another country invaded Taiwan and we resisted for the survival of our own country and then the invader told the world that it was waging war against Taiwan in self-defense?” he said.
In a later statement in response to the protesters, the Israeli representative office said that it would continue its bombing of the Gaza Strip if Hamas did not accept the ceasefire proposed by Egypt.
“Hamas left us no choice — responding with the launch of over 140 rockets on Israeli territory since 9am July 15 — but to broaden and intensify the campaign against it,” the statement said.
“This is what we will do until we achieve our goal — the restoration of quiet for Israel’s citizens by inflicting a significant blow on the terrorist organizations, while taking all possible measures to protect uninvolved civilians,” the statement added.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
RSS