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Israel’s Ben-Gvir Squabbles with Military Chief about Ethics

Israeli right-wing Knesset member Itamar Ben-Gvir (L) and Bezalel Smotrich (R) during the swearing-in ceremony for the new Israeli parliament the 25th Knesset in Jerusalem, 15 November 2022. (Reuters)
Israeli right-wing Knesset member Itamar Ben-Gvir (L) and Bezalel Smotrich (R) during the swearing-in ceremony for the new Israeli parliament the 25th Knesset in Jerusalem, 15 November 2022. (Reuters)
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Israel’s Ben-Gvir Squabbles with Military Chief about Ethics

Israeli right-wing Knesset member Itamar Ben-Gvir (L) and Bezalel Smotrich (R) during the swearing-in ceremony for the new Israeli parliament the 25th Knesset in Jerusalem, 15 November 2022. (Reuters)
Israeli right-wing Knesset member Itamar Ben-Gvir (L) and Bezalel Smotrich (R) during the swearing-in ceremony for the new Israeli parliament the 25th Knesset in Jerusalem, 15 November 2022. (Reuters)

An Israeli far-right politician set to take a key security post in Benjamin Netanyahu's emerging government traded barbs on Wednesday with the military chief over the jailing of a soldier who had taunted leftist activists in the occupied West Bank.

Ultra-nationalist Jewish Power leader Itamar Ben-Gvir criticized the 10-day confinement handed down to a soldier who was filmed on Friday warning pro-Palestinian activists in the flashpoint city of Hebron: "Ben-Gvir will sort this place out."

Ben-Gvir, to whom Netanyahu has promised the post of national security minister, with expanded powers over police in the West Bank, said on Twitter on Monday that the sentence was too harsh and weakened soldiers' resolve.

He also appeared in a video together with the soldier's father on Tuesday, demanding that the army review the punishment and drawing apparent criticism from Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi.

"We will not allow intervention by any politician, left or right, in commanders' decisions, nor use of the military to promote a political agenda," Kohavi told the soldier's battalion and brigade commanders in a telephone call, the military said on Twitter.

In his turn, Ben-Gvir, also on Twitter, accused Kohavi of making inappropriate political statements and said he had no intention of intervening in the commanders' punitive measures but demanded a change in policy.

Netanyahu called on Twitter for Israel's conscript military to be "left out of any political argument".

On Friday, his Likud party said it had reached agreements on cabinet posts with the Jewish Power after a Nov. 1 saw the joint list of far-right factions soar to third place in parliament.

The ascent of Ben-Gvir, a West Bank settler whose record includes 2007 convictions for incitement against Arabs and support for a Jewish militant group on the Israeli and US terrorist watchlists, has stirred concern at home and abroad.

Ben-Gvir, a lawyer, says his positions have become more moderate. They include expulsion for those he deems terrorists or traitors - rather than all Arabs - and looser open-fire regulations for troops facing Palestinian unrest.

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Typhoon Gaemi Weakens to Tropical Storm as It Moves Inland Carrying Rain toward Central China

In this photo released by the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense, Taiwanese soldiers clear debris in the aftermath of Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung county in southwestern Taiwan, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense via AP)
In this photo released by the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense, Taiwanese soldiers clear debris in the aftermath of Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung county in southwestern Taiwan, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense via AP)
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Typhoon Gaemi Weakens to Tropical Storm as It Moves Inland Carrying Rain toward Central China

In this photo released by the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense, Taiwanese soldiers clear debris in the aftermath of Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung county in southwestern Taiwan, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense via AP)
In this photo released by the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense, Taiwanese soldiers clear debris in the aftermath of Typhoon Gaemi in Kaohsiung county in southwestern Taiwan, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense via AP)

Tropical storm Gaemi brought rain to central China on Saturday as it moved inland after making landfall at typhoon strength on the country's east coast Thursday night.

The storm felled trees, flooded streets and damaged crops in China but there were no reports of casualties or major damage. Eight people died in Taiwan, which Gaemi crossed at typhoon strength before heading over open waters to China.

The worst loss of life, however, was in a country that Gaemi earlier passed by but didn't strike directly: the Philippines. A steadily climbing death toll has reached 34, authorities there said Friday. The typhoon exacerbated seasonal monsoon rains in the Southeast Asian country, causing landslides and severe flooding that stranded people on rooftops as waters rose around them.

China Gaemi weakened to a tropical storm since coming ashore Thursday evening in coastal Fujian province, but it is still expected to bring heavy rains in the coming days as it moves northwest to Jiangxi, Hubei and Henan provinces.

About 85 hectares (210 acres) of crops were damaged in Fujian province and economic losses were estimated at 11.5 million yuan ($1.6 million), according to Chinese media reports. More than 290,000 people were relocated because of the storm.

Elsewhere in China, several days of heavy rains this week in Gansu province left one dead and three missing in the country's northwest, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Taiwan Residents and business owners swept out mud and mopped up water Friday after serious flooding that sent cars and scooters floating down streets in parts of southern and central Taiwan. Some towns remained inundated with waist-deep water.

Eight people died, several of them struck by falling trees and one by a landslide hitting their house. More than 850 people were injured and one person was missing, the emergency operations center said.

Visiting hard-hit Kaohsiung in the south Friday, President Lai Ching-te commended the city's efforts to improve flood control since a 2009 typhoon that brought a similar amount of rain and killed 681 people, Taiwan's Central News Agency reported.

Lai announced that cash payments of $20,000 New Taiwan Dollars ($610) would be given to households in severely flooded areas.

A cargo ship sank off the coast near Kaohsiung Harbor during the typhoon, and the captain's body was later pulled from the water, the Central News Agency said. A handful of other ships were beached by the storm.

Philippines At least 34 people died in the Philippines, mostly because of flooding and landslides triggered by days of monsoon rains that intensified when the typhoon — called Carina in the Philippines — passed by the archipelago’s east coast.

The victims included 11 people in the Manila metro area, where widespread flooding trapped people on the roofs and upper floors of their houses, police said. Some drowned or were electrocuted in their flooded communities.

Earlier in the week, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered authorities to speed up efforts in delivering food and other aid to isolated rural villages, saying people may not have eaten for days.

The bodies of a pregnant woman and three children were dug out Wednesday after a landslide buried a shanty in the rural mountainside town of Agoncillo in Batangas province.