Dozens of protesters yesterday demonstrated outside the Taipei office of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) against US support for Israel in the recent conflict between Israel and Hamas that has led to heavy civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip.
“Free Palestine! Let Gaza live!” protesters chanted as they held placards with slogans against the Israeli military action in Gaza, urging the US to cease military support for Israel, as well as pictures of children killed in the Israeli offensive.
The protesters also placed red handprints on flags of the US and Israel to symbolize their belief the two countries are responsible for the bloodshed in Gaza.
Photo: CNA
“It has been more than 20 days since Israel launched its latest offensive on Gaza, leading to the deaths of more than 1,200 people and wounding more than 620, while, according to UN statistics, as many as 160,000 Palestinians have been displaced,” Taiwan Labor Party Vice Chairman Tang Shu (唐曙) said.
“The US not only firmly supports the Israeli massacre of Palestinians, but has also been providing US$3 billion a year in military assistance to Israel since 2006,” he said.
While US President Barack Obama says he feels saddened to see Palestinian civilians being killed, the US never withdraws its support for Israel, Tang said.
Photo: CNA
“On July 23, the US was the only country at a UN meeting that voted against launching an investigation on Israeli war crimes, meaning that the US approves of the killings in Gaza,” Tang said.
He condemned Israel for attacking a UN refugee facility despite receiving a clear warning from the UN.
“Israel does not care, because the US is backing it,” he said.
China Tide Association secretary-general Lin Sheng-chou (林聲洲) said that it was hard for him to imagine that a people who suffered from ethnic cleansing would now involve themselves in the same crime.
“What the Nazis did to the Jews shocked the world, triggering a worldwide anti-fascist movement,” Lin said.
“It is hard for me to imagine that the Jews are doing to Palestinians what the Nazis did to them during World War II, because of the Zionist movement,” Lin said.
Lin said Israel says that it has launched attacks on Gaza because it was being attacked by rockets fired by Hamas.
“However, the military forces of the two sides are not balanced. Israel is using a disproportional force to attack Gaza, harming mostly civilians and civilian facilities,” he said.
Tang said that if the US claims that it supports Israeli military action because Israel has the right to self-defense when rockets are flying into its territories, then “why doesn’t the rule of self-defense apply to Palestinians as well?”
At the end of the demonstration, AIT spokesperson Mark Zimmer came out to take a petition from the protesters.
A rally is being organized for outside the Israeli representative office in Taipei on Saturday evening and everyone who is concerned about what is going on in Gaza is welcome to attend, Tang said.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai