Elon Musk, Israel Agree for Use of Starlink in Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with businessman Elon Musk during their visit to Kfar Aza kibbutz (dpa)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with businessman Elon Musk during their visit to Kfar Aza kibbutz (dpa)
TT

Elon Musk, Israel Agree for Use of Starlink in Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with businessman Elon Musk during their visit to Kfar Aza kibbutz (dpa)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with businessman Elon Musk during their visit to Kfar Aza kibbutz (dpa)

Israel and Tycoon Elon Musk had agreed in principle that SpaceX's Starlink satellite units can only be operated in Israel with the approval of the Israeli Ministry of Communications, including the Gaza Strip."

Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi issued a statement that seemed a retreat from his opposition last month to Musk's proposal to use Starlink to support communication links in the blackout-hit enclave with "internationally recognized aid organizations."

During his visit to Israel, Musk met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and visited a kibbutz in southern Israel, where Hamas launched its attack on Oct. 7.

Netanyahu told Musk during an interview published on his "X" account at the end of their visit to Kfar Aza that Israel must disarm Gaza after the destruction of Hamas and "eliminate extremism" in the Palestinian territories.

Netanyahu's office released footage showing the two men walking through rubble on the kibbutz.

"We have to demilitarize Gaza after the destruction of Hamas, and we have to deradicalize Gaza ... and then we have to also rebuild Gaza," he said.

Karhi announced a preliminary agreement that Starlink would only operate in Israel and Gaza with the Israeli government's approval.

"Elon Musk, I congratulate you for reaching a principle understanding with the Ministry of Communications under my leadership," Karhi wrote.

"As a result of this significant agreement, Starlink satellite units can only be operated in Israel with the approval of the Israeli Ministry of Communications, including the Gaza Strip."

In statements, Musk declared his support for the campaign launched by Israel against the Hamas movement.

"Those that are intent on murder must be neutralized," Musk added.

"The propaganda must stop that is training people to be murderers in the future. And then making Gaza prosperous. And if that happens, I think it will be a good future."

Reuters indicated that Musk had a direct online discussion with Netanyahu, adding that he asserted: "I'd like to help as well," Musk said

Netanyahu hoped Musk would help, adding that his visit reveals the commitment to secure a better future.

Musk himself was assailed for his endorsement of an anti-Jewish post on Nov. 15.

Musk also watched footage assembled from Hamas bodycams, CCTV, and other sources of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in which Israel says 240 people were taken captive back to Gaza.

Early on Monday, the billionaire tweeted during his Israel visit that "actions speak louder than words."

Later, Musk met families of hostages held in Gaza with Israeli President Isaac Herzog. Herzog said Musk had a huge role in the global fight against antisemitism.



Bangladesh Protest Leaders Taken from Hospital by Police

People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
TT

Bangladesh Protest Leaders Taken from Hospital by Police

People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)

Bangladeshi police detectives on Friday forced the discharge from hospital of three student protest leaders blamed for deadly unrest, taking them to an unknown location, staff told AFP.

Nahid Islam, Asif Mahmud and Abu Baker Majumder are all members of Students Against Discrimination, the group responsible for organizing this month's street rallies against civil service hiring rules.

At least 195 people were killed in the ensuing police crackdown and clashes, according to an AFP count of victims reported by police and hospitals, in some of the worst unrest of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's tenure.

All three were patients at a hospital in the capital Dhaka, and at least two of them said their injuries were caused by torture in earlier police custody.

"They took them from us," Gonoshasthaya hospital supervisor Anwara Begum Lucky told AFP. "The men were from the Detective Branch."

She added that she had not wanted to discharge the student leaders but police had pressured the hospital chief to do so.

Islam's elder sister Fatema Tasnim told AFP from the hospital that six plainclothes detectives had taken all three men.

The trio's student group had suspended fresh protests at the start of this week, saying they had wanted the reform of government job quotas but not "at the expense of so much blood".

The pause was due to expire earlier on Friday but the group had given no indication of its future course of action.

Islam, 26, the chief coordinator of Students Against Discrimination, told AFP from his hospital bed on Monday that he feared for his life.

He said that two days beforehand, a group of people identifying themselves as police detectives blindfolded and handcuffed him and took him to an unknown location.

Islam added that he had come to his senses the following morning on a roadside in Dhaka.

Mahmud earlier told AFP that he had also been detained by police and beaten at the height of last week's unrest.

Three senior police officers in Dhaka all denied that the trio had been taken from the hospital and into custody on Friday.

- Garment tycoon arrested -

Police told AFP on Thursday that they had arrested at least 4,000 people since the unrest began last week, including 2,500 in Dhaka.

On Friday police said they had arrested David Hasanat, the founder and chief executive of one of Bangladesh's biggest garment factory enterprises.

His Viyellatex Group employs more than 15,000 people according to its website, and its annual turnover was estimated at $400 million by the Daily Star newspaper last year.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police inspector Abu Sayed Miah said Hasanat and several others were suspected of financing the "anarchy, arson and vandalism" of last week.

Bangladesh makes around $50 billion in annual export earnings from the textile trade, which services leading global brands including H&M, Gap and others.

Student protests began this month after the reintroduction in June of a scheme reserving more than half of government jobs for certain candidates.

With around 18 million young people in Bangladesh out of work, according to government figures, the move deeply upset graduates facing an acute jobs crisis.

Critics say the quota is used to stack public jobs with loyalists to Hasina's Awami League.

- 'Call to the nation' -

The Supreme Court cut the number of reserved jobs on Sunday but fell short of protesters' demands to scrap the quotas entirely.

Hasina has ruled Bangladesh since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January after a vote without genuine opposition.

Her government is also accused by rights groups of misusing state institutions to entrench its hold on power and stamp out dissent, including the extrajudicial killing of opposition activists.

Hasina continued a tour of government buildings that had been ransacked by protesters, on Friday visiting state broadcaster Bangladesh Television, which was partly set ablaze last week.

"Find those who were involved in this," she said, according to state news agency BSS.

"Cooperate with us to ensure their punishment. I am making this call to the nation."