Israeli | Pakistan

SAN FRANCISCO: A US judge has granted an injunction barring Israeli spyware maker NSO Group from targeting WhatsApp users but slashed a $168 million damages award at trial to just $4m. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton ruled on Friday that NSO Group’s behaviour fell short of a “particularly egregious” standard needed to support the jury’s calculations on a financial penalty. But in the ruling, she said the court “concluded that defendants’ conduct causes irreparable harm, and there being no dispute that the conduct is ongoing” the judge granted WhatsApp owner Meta an injunction to stop NSO Group’s snooping tactics at the messaging service. “We applaud this decision that comes after six years of litigation to hold NSO accountable for targeting civil society members,” WhatsApp boss Will Cathcart said in a statement. Evidence at trial showed that NSO Group reverse-engineered WhatsApp code to stealthily install spyware targeting users, according to the ruling. The spyware was repeatedly redesigned to escape detecti...

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg revealed that she was beaten, humiliated and threatened with being “gassed in a cage” during her time in Israeli custody, Swedish news outlet Aftonbladet reported in an interview published on Wednesday. Greta was one of 450 people aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla, a humanitarian aid mission involving over 40 vessels which aimed to deliver food, water and medicine to the Gaza Strip amid Israel’s two-year onslaught on the besieged enclave. The boats were intercepted by the Israeli navy on October 1, with Greta and all other activists being arrested and kept in Israeli custody. She was released and deported to Greece on October 6. In her interview, Greta recounted her treatment in Israeli custody, which ranged from humiliation, threats of violence and physical beatings. “She doesn’t want headlines about herself and the torture she says she was subjected to,” Aftonbladet reported. “That was one of the first things she said on the evening she returned home, at a press conference in ...

Iran on Tuesday denounced “baseless claims” made by United States President Donald Trump, calling Washington “the largest sponsor of terrorism”. Addressing Israel’s Knesset on Monday ahead of joining an international peace summit in Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh, Trump said that Iran wants to reach a peace deal with the US “even if they said, ‘We don’t want to make a deal,’”. In a statement carried by the state news agency IRNA, the foreign ministry said: “The US, as the world’s largest generator of terrorism and supporter of the terrorist and genocidal Zionist (Israeli) regime, has no moral authority to level accusations against others.” “The repetition of false claims regarding Iran’s peaceful nuclear programme can in no way justify the joint crimes of the US and the Zionist regime” in violating Iran’s soil, the ministry said. Israel launched a surprise attack on Tehran on June 13, targeting military, nuclear, and civilian sites as well as senior military commanders and nuclear scientists. Tehran launched retalia...

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon said Sunday that one of its members was wounded by an Israeli grenade dropped near a UN position in the country’s south, the third incident of its kind in just over a month. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has been working with the Lebanese army to support a November ceasefire that sought to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and militant group Hezbollah that culminated in two months of open war. “Just before noon yesterday, an Israeli drone dropped a grenade that exploded near a UNIFIL position” in Kfar Kela, the force said in a statement published on Sunday. “One peacekeeper was lightly injured and received medical assistance.” Earlier this month, UNIFIL said Israeli drones had dropped multiple grenades near peacekeepers providing security for workers clearing rubble left over from the war. And in a similar episode in September, UNIFIL said Israeli drones had dropped four grenades near peacekeepers, with Israel insisting...

Former senator Mushtaq Ahmad, detained by Israeli forces during last week’s Gaza aid flotilla interception, has left Jordan for Pakistan.

“This is not just a sea journey, it’s not an adventure, but rather it is a task that is extremely dangerous,” said former Jamaat-i-Islami senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan in an interview with Dawn.com just before he embarked on the Global Sumud Flotilla mission to Gaza. The Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), with around 500 participants from over 44 countries, including Pakistan, attempted to break Israel’s siege on Gaza and distribute humanitarian aid to the malnourished and injured civilians suffering from two years of genocide in the enclave at the hands of Israel. Former senator Khan’s words rang true from the very beginning of the mission, when two GSF aid boats were struck by incendiary devices in Tunisian waters. The ‘Family’ and ‘Alma’ boats, which held the steering committee of the aid convoy, were attacked on September 8 and 9. The aid boats were attacked once again on September 23 near Crete; this time, there was international condemnation, with Italy, Spain and Turkiye dispatching warships to aid the boats. T...

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday confirmed that former Senator Mushtaq Ahmed, who was detained by Israeli forces during the Gaza-bound Sumud Flotilla mission, has been released from custody and is now safe at the Pakistan Embassy in Jordan.

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who was arrested by Israel when they intercepted the Global Sumud Flotilla, called out world governments for continuing to enable Tel Aviv’s genocide in the Gaza Strip after she arrived in Greece on Monday. The 45-vessel flotilla, with activists and politicians on board, left Spain last month to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza, where the United Nations has warned of famine. The flotilla was intercepted by the Israeli navy, with commandos boarding the boats and arresting participants. Former Pakistani senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan was also on board and is currently in Israeli custody. In her first public comments since her release by Israeli authorities, Greta emphasised that the real story is not the interception of the flotilla, but the genocide being carried out in the Gaza Strip. “The Global Sumud Flotilla was the biggest-ever attempt to break Israel’s illegal and inhumane siege by sea,” the Swedish activist said. “It is a story of global, international solidarity, of people s...

The Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Sunday, said that Pakistan was actively engaged with its international partners to ensure the safety and prompt repatriation of its citizens who were illegally detained by the Israeli occupying forces.

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Thursday strongly condemned the Israeli military’s assault on the Global Sumud Flotilla bound for Gaza, terming it “another blatant act of terrorism.

Pakistan has strongly condemned the deadly assault by Israeli forces on the Global Sumud Flotilla, a humanitarian mission comprising more than 40 civilian vessels carrying over 450 aid workers from 44 countries.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said on Saturday that a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tanker with 27 crew members, including 24 Pakistanis, was attacked by an Israeli drone while it was docked at a port in Yemen earlier this month. After the Foreign Office (FO) said earlier today that Pakistanis aboard the LPG tanker were safe and sound and making their way out of Yemeni waters, Naqvi posted on X that the vessel was attacked on September 17 while it was docked at the Ras Issa port, which was under the control of Houthi rebels. Israel has launched repeated attacks on Houthi targets during the Gaza conflict, as the Iran-backed rebels fire missiles and drones at Israel and Red Sea shipping, claiming solidarity with the Palestinian cause. According to Naqvi, apart from Pakistanis, the LPG tanker’s crew included two Sri Lankans and a Nepali. He said the vessel’s captain was also a Pakistani. Naqvi added that an LPG tank had exploded following the attack, but the crew managed to extinguish the fire. “The vessel was ...

ISLAMABAD - Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Tuesday visited the embassy of Qatar in Islamabad and met with Qatari Ambassador Ali bin Mubarak Al-Khater, where he condemned recent Israeli attacks on Qatar and expressed solidarity with the Gulf state.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani in Doha on Tuesday and reaffirmed Pakistan’s “all-out support and solidarity” for the Gulf state after last week’s Israeli attack on its capital. The meeting was held on the sidelines of the emergency Arab-Islamic Summit in Doha, where leaders from the Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) yesterday called for a review of ties with Israel following its deadly strike on Hamas members in the Qatari capital as they discussed a Gaza ceasefire proposal. “While reaffirming Pakistan’s all-out support and solidarity with Qatar at this critical time, the prime minister termed Israel’s attack of September 9, a flagrant violation of Qatar’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as a serious breach of international law,” read a press release issued today by the government-run Press Information Department (PID). Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Syed A...

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar arrived in Doha on Sunday to attend the Emergency Arab-Islamic Summit, convened in response to the Israeli attack on Qatar.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was confirmed on Saturday to attend a summit of Arab and Muslim leaders in Qatar to denounce Israel’s attack on Hamas officials in Doha and to show solidarity with the Gulf state. Qatar said earlier today it would hold the emergency moot in light of the recent developments in the region. Foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said Monday’s meeting would consider “a draft resolution on the Israeli attack on the state of Qatar” to be drafted on Sunday at a ministerial meeting. Israel targeted Hamas leaders on Tuesday in strikes on the Qatari capital, killing five Hamas members and a Qatari security officer. The attack drew widespread international condemnation, including from Gulf monarchies allied with the United States, Israel’s main backer. Al-Ansari was quoted as saying by the official QNA news agency that the summit reflected “broad Arab and Islamic solidarity with the State of Qatar in the face of Israel’s cowardly aggression … and the categorical rejection of Israel’s st...

In a meeting with the Qatari emir on Thursday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif urged unity in the Muslim world to confront Israeli provocations following Tel Aviv’s recent airstrikes targeting residential areas in Doha. PM Shehbaz reached Doha today on a one-day visit, where he met Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani to express solidarity and regional unity after the attacks, state media reported. “The prime minister emphasised that Israel’s ongoing aggression in the Middle East must be stopped and the Muslim world needs unity in its ranks to confront Israeli provocations,” according to a statement by state broadcaster PTV on X. The statement said the prime minister strongly condemned the Israeli attack as a “blatant violation” of Qatar’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. He stated that the leadership and people of Pakistan were deeply concerned about the attack, which was contrary to international laws. “Reaffirming the historical and brotherly relations between Pakistan and Qatar, the prime min...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif departed for Doha on Thursday morning for a one-day visit to express solidarity with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Qatari royal family, and the people of Qatar following recent Israeli aggression.

Pakistan on Wednesday requested an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) following Israeli strikes in Qatari capital Doha, which targeted Hamas leadership. With Tuesday’s strikes, Israel is expanding military actions that have ranged across the Middle East to include the Gulf Arab state, where the Palestinian group has long had its political base. Qatar, which has acted as a mediator alongside Egypt in talks on a ceasefire in the almost two-year-old conflict in Gaza, condemned the attack as “cowardly” and called it a flagrant violation of international law. In a post on X, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar wrote that Pakistan requested the meeting along with Somalia and Algeria, after “unprovoked illegal Israeli aggression” in Qatar to “discuss the situation and seize itself of this grave matter”. “Pakistan expresses its complete solidarity and firm support with the government and brotherly people of Qatar,” Dar wrote. ‘Our enemies are not safe anywhere’: Israel Meanwhile, Israel warned its...

Pakistan on Wednesday requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to address the unprovoked and illegal Israeli aggression against the State of Qatar.