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Macron Calls for Sanctions over Those Interfering in Libya

French President Emmanuel Macron attends a joint news conference with his counterpart of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, July 23, 2020. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
French President Emmanuel Macron attends a joint news conference with his counterpart of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, July 23, 2020. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
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Macron Calls for Sanctions over Those Interfering in Libya

French President Emmanuel Macron attends a joint news conference with his counterpart of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, July 23, 2020. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
French President Emmanuel Macron attends a joint news conference with his counterpart of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, July 23, 2020. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that the European Union should push for sanctions over those involved in Libya’s conflict.

Arms sanctions, Macron said, were necessary "to achieve a ceasefire and unlock a real dynamic towards a political resolution of the Libyan conflict,” he told reporters at the Elysee Palace alongside his Cypriot counterpart Nicos Anastasiades.

Macron said foreign powers "whoever they are" cannot be allowed to violate a UN embargo on sending weapons to Libya.

Turkey supports Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA).

France angrily condemned Ankara last month after it said a French navy ship was targeted by a Turkish frigate's missile radar while inspecting cargo en route to Libya.

"More broadly, Europe must undertake a thorough reflection on the security issues in the Mediterranean," said Macron, who will host a summit of countries of the southern European Union at the end of August or early September.

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Israeli Defense Minister Says He Will End Detention without Charge of Jewish Settlers

Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
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Israeli Defense Minister Says He Will End Detention without Charge of Jewish Settlers

Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)

Israel’s new defense minister said Friday that he would stop issuing warrants to arrest West Bank settlers or hold them without charge or trial — a largely symbolic move that rights groups said risks emboldening settler violence in the Israeli-occupied territory.

Israel Katz called the arrest warrants “severe” and said issuing them was “inappropriate” as Palestinian militant attacks on settlers in the territory grow more frequent. He said settlers could be “brought to justice” in other ways.

The move protects Israeli settlers from being held in “administrative detention,” a shadowy form of incarceration where people are held without charge or trial.

Settlers are rarely arrested in the West Bank, where settler violence against Palestinians has spiraled since the outbreak of the war Oct. 7.

Katz’s decision was celebrated by far-right coalition allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. National Security Minister and settler firebrand Itamar Ben-Gvir applauded Katz and called the move a “correction of many years of mistreatment” and “justice for those who love the land.”

Since Oct. 7, 2023, violence toward Palestinians by Israeli settlers has soared to new heights, displacing at least 19 entire Palestinian communities, according to Israeli rights group Peace Now. In that time, attacks by Palestinian militants on settlers and within Israel have also grown more common.

An increasing number of Palestinians have been placed in administrative detention. Israel holds 3,443 administrative detainees in prison, according to data from the Israeli Prison Service, reported by rights group Hamoked. That figure stood around 1,200 just before the start of the war. The vast majority of them are Palestinian, with only a handful at any given time Israeli Jews, said Jessica Montell, the director of Hamoked.

“All of these detentions without charge or trial are illegitimate, but to declare that this measure will only be used against Palestinians...is to explicitly entrench another form of ethnic discrimination,” said Montell.