The New Beijing School of Wolf-Warrior Diplomacy

"Boy, your greatest achievement is to have ruined the friendly relations between China and Canada, and have turned Canada into a running dog of the U.S."

"Spendthrift!!!"

Consul General Li Yang, Chinese Diplomatic Mission, Brazil

 

"This is a very unfortunate and unnecessary tweet. Insulting leaders of other countries is not a thing a diplomat should do"

"It is not only undiplomatic, but also against China's own culture of being polite and respectful."

Zhiqun Zhu professor of international relations, Bucknell University, Pennsylvania

 

"Those are fighting words, and lack specificity. They're not explaining what it is that Mr.Trudeau has done to ruin the friendly relations."

";Greatest achievement' could be some kind of dig at him."

"China is shooting itself in the foot by encouraging such a confrontational style of diplomacy."

"When China's image suffers, one knows that this type of diplomacy is problematic."

Charles Burton, former Canadian diplomat in Beijing

Chinese Wolf-Warriors Diplomats' Abusive War on Twitter    TechStream  

"A little more than a year ago, China had almost no diplomatic presence on Twitter. A handful of accounts, many representing far-flung diplomatic outposts, operated without apparent coordination or direction from Beijing. Today, the work of Chinese diplomats on Twitter looks very different: More than 170 of them bicker with Western powers, promote conspiracies about the coronavirus, and troll Americans on issues of race. The quadrupling in the past year and a half of China’s diplomatic presence on a site blocked within China suggests that turning to Western platforms to influence the information environment beyond China’s borders is no longer an afterthought but a priority."

Jessica Brandt and Bret Schafer,  TechStream

China goes out of its way to make friends in countries that become dependent on its largesse, opening up trade opportunities for developing nations; giving out generous credit to countries who cannot afford to pay back the debt and thus become involuntarily indebted; helping to build critical infrastructure in countries of the world that need a leg-up and don't look past the gift horse to view its long-term agenda that might not in future years, be too advantageous to themselves while binding them within China's orbit as unquestioning satellite-vassal states.

 

To those obliging, appreciative countries whose need overrides caution, China turns its smiling Janus face. The scowling face is reserved for those countries which are advanced in their experience of China, whose technologies Beijing is accustomed to siphoning off through surveillance and espionage, who take steps to cut off access to their industrial and military trade formulae, and who take the occasion to condemn the Chinese Communist Party for its stealth infiltration into their countries as well as Beijing's human rights abuses.

Of all people to accuse of China-baiting and hostility to Beijing, Canada's prime minister would be the very least to point accusatory fingers at. Justin Trudeau has gone out of his way on countless occasions to ingratiate himself into the favour of Beijing, anxious to achieve a free trade agreement with the hope of integrating Canada's financial future with that of the second largest economy in the world. Prepared in the process to overlook human rights abuses perpetrated by the CCP, and willing to trade Canada's scientific and technology successes for the opportunity to dine at China's economic table.

A confluence of circumstances beyond Mr. Trudeau's control, however, made it increasingly difficult to placate an irate Chinese establishment when Beijing's demands could no longer be accommodated and the world looked on at Canada's under-performance in protecting its own Chinese-Canadian citizenry from persecution by shadowy CCP-affiliated figures. Subsequent events have created hostility from the fire-breathing dragon that is Beijing in its insulting, vituperative lashing out at Canada, which balks at 'learning from its mistakes' as Beijing demands.

Justin Trudeau's father Pierre as then-prime minister of Canada, initiated a trek by Western governments to Beijing in expressions of forgiveness for the mass slaughter during the Cultural Revolution and the later crackdown on student rebellion crying out for democracy which came to a shuddering halt in Tiananmen Square settling once and for all China's communist bona fides. Democracy in Hong Kong has had its death knell, and only Taiwan awaits its forced unification back to the Chinese fold.

Beijing's diplomatic action came into renewed view on Monday as fighter jets and surveillance planes of the Chinese military entered Taiwan's air defence zone just as Palau's president was visiting Taipei accompanied by Washington's ambassador to Taiwan, forcing Taiwan's air force to scramble in interception of the ten Chinese aircraft, following an earlier 20 Chinese jets overflying the country's exclusive air zone on Friday

Several weeks ago Canada finally publicly supported the European Union and the United States in denouncing Chinese repression of its Turkic Muslim minorities in Xinjiang province. Canadian Conservative Member of Parliament Michael Chong who instigated a House of Commons motion to declare the treatment of China's Uyghurs a genocide was hit by Chinese sanctions.

Last week the French government called in China's ambassador to Paris for discussions relating to tweets attacking French lawmakers while labelling a think tank analyst critical of Beijing a "small-time hoodlum" and "crazed hyena", fully abandoning all pretense at civilized diplomacy in its all-out war against its human-rights critics. Its uncivil bullying goes hand-in-glove with its rapacious claims of new Chinese territory at the expense of its neighbours.

Beijing is using its size and influence on the world stage to consolidate its holdings and stretch further and further to acquire more, including land, sea and air. Its odyssey for world dominance in manufacturing and trade, in technology and above all communications, leaves no stone unturned be it the acquisition of precious earth minerals or fossil fuels. It is a conscienceless behemoth intent on swallowing the world to fill its greedy belly. 

Temporary Risk of Product Scarcity and Elevated Costs: Suez Canal vs Horn of Africa

"The market is betting that the issue might go on for a while."

"If you detour to the Cape of Good Hope, it will probably take at least one more week to reach the Netherlands from Shanghai ... if you have to detour, it should raise current freight rates further."

Kim Young-ho, analyst, Samsung Securities

 

"We see that the pirates are acting with greater impunity."

"They are spending more periods of time on board vessels. In one case, they were on board a vessel for more than 24 hours, totally unchallenged."

International Maritime Bureau (IMB) Director Michael Howlett 

"There is a risk there, and it's probably another reason why the ocean carriers will think twice before they actually go around the Horn (of Africa)."

Genevieve Giuliano, University of Southern California's Sol Price School of Public Policy

While piracy in Somalia has fallen in recent years, crime is thriving off the shores of West Africa.

Farah Abdi Warsameh / AP

 

Stuck on the horns of a dilemma, shipping has been inadvertently put on hold through the Suez Canal. Now, an alternative to waiting possibly several weeks for the mammoth vessel Ever Given to be freed, is to consider rounding the Horn of Africa. The accidental ramming of the side of the canal by a ship so long that the width of the canal holds it captive at either side of the canal until it is freed, while other cargo-carrying ships await their opportunity at either end to continue their journeys delivering cargo has created a maritime backlog of unprecedented proportions.

The fear of rerouting vessels through to Africa rather than wait for weeks for the Suez Canal to finally be cleared of the massive obstruction, is that of falling prey to pirates operating off both the West and East coasts of Africa. In their concern, shipping companies have appealed to the U.S. Navy in fear of the elevated threat of piracy should ships be rerouted, given the choice of anchoring with billions of dollars of cargo tied up at sea or deciding to embark on a lengthy and potentially risky route around Africa.

"Africa has the risk of piracy, especially in East Africa", said Zhao Qing-feng, office manager of the China Shipowners' Association from Shanghai, even as serious consideration is being given to the potential alternative. There was "nothing we can do" about cargo stuck on vessels outside the Suez Canal awaiting entrance, warned Rolf Habben Jensen, chief executive of Hapag-Lloyd, the world's fifth-largest container carrier. The focus is to have ships arrive at their intended destinations as soon as possible.

 

Supply chains concerns are of the utmost importance to manufacturers' dependence on container shipping. East Africa has long had a reputation for piracy, while a surge in kidnappings at sea and other maritime crimes have surged in recent months in West Africa, as well. Chief commercial officer Dimitris Maniatis of Seagull Maritime Security which provides ship guards explained that private security doesn't come cheap; between $5,000 to $10,000 each vessel should those waiting at the southern entrance of the Suez Canal need to turn and sail through the Gulf of Aden.

Bypassing the Suez Canal to travel around South Africa's Cape of Good Horn would effect the opportunity to steer clear of areas known to be dangerous off the coast of West Africa. While companies express their concerns that should the blockage continue their vessels could face piracy risks, the U.S. Navy observed that no impact on naval operations in the region has yet been noted. The decision of whether to reroute represented a "roll of the dice", in the words of the head of liner operations at Maersk Asia Pacific, James Wroe.

 

The Ever Given is stuck across the Suez Canal (Photo by Suez Canal Authority/Handout/AFP via Getty Images)

According to Rolf Jansen, three vessels in its alliance with other shipping companies had been diverted, as has the Ever Green, sister-ship to the Ever Given, the very vessel crammed widthwise in the Suez Canal. In Singapore and Tokyo similar rerouting decisions were "imminent", affecting a number of oil tankers and other vessels. Travelling from Singapore to Rotterdam via the Cape of Good Hope vessels would face added costs of $400,000 each vessel for the entire voyage.

Close to two hundred vessels were stranded either side of the Suez Canal, representing the choke point through which approximately twelve percent of global trade flows; a route critical for oil, gas and high-demand food commodities like coffee. Asian carmakers rely on the route to transport parts meant for European factories. Their delay raises the potential of plant stoppages across the U.K. and Europe should the blockage be extended.

Nissan is "assessing the impact on our operations", of which the Suez Canal is part of, shipping to Europe from Asia, while Honda is monitoring the situation. Carmakers maintain very little stock, relying on "just in time" delivery of components. Delivery delays at sea forces carmakers to turn to expensive air freighting of parts as an emergency measure. Rerouting cargo around southern Africa would add at least seven days and potentially force cancellation of other scheduled routes.

The Ever Given blocks the Suez Canal.

Satellite image ©2021 Maxar Technologies

Dutch and Japanese salvage specialists have a variety of theories on how best to proceed intending to free the Ever Given, presenting a formidable technical challenge complicated by inclement weather conditions. According to Hapag-Lloyd's Jansen it would "at least take a few weeks" for congestion at the Suez Canal to ease, even after the gigantic container ship is refloated.

The Humboldt Tragedy and the Immigrant Driver

"Contrary to almost all of the many people I have acted for, [Sidhu's] remorse and empathy for the victims was foremost, and his concern for his personal consequences was secondary."

"As a criminal barrister for 40 years, I can tell you that this type of selflessness is unusual."

"Throughout the proceedings, his instructions were to attempt to minimize the collateral grief to the families that necessarily flowed from the criminal proceedings."

Mark Brayford, Sidhu defence lawyer

Jaskirat Singh Sidhu is taken out of the Kerry Vickar Centre in Melfort following his sentencing on March, 22, 2019 for his role in the Humboldt Broncos bus crash Photo by Liam Richards /Saskatoon StarPhoenix

A young male immigrant from India, starting to make a new life for himself in Canada, hired by a cartage company to drive semi-trailers for which he received inadequate training. A week of instruction sufficed to earn him a legal license to drive a large rig on Canadian highways; in the instance at hand a tractor-trailer with an added pup trailer. He had two weeks' experience driving the rig solo. His attention fully turned to driving when he realized the tarp on the pup trailer was flapping. Distracted, he missed a stop sign at a poorly designed intersection.

That intersection was known locally as a dangerous  spot, to the extent that six people had died there in previous motor vehicle accidents. Jaskirat Sidhu had been on the job for a month when the assignment to drive a delivery with the rig came up. Because of that momentary distraction, the driver who was not using his cellphone, was not on drugs, hadn't used alcohol, was fully aware, drove past the flashing stop sign at the rural Saskatchewan intersection and collided with a bus carrying the junior hockey team from Humboldt, Saskatchewan. 

 

The young hockey players and the team's staff were being taken to a playoff game on April 6, 2018. 

Sixteen members of the junior hockey team and staff died in the collision and 13 were injured, some with life-changing injuries. 

 

At the scene, the shattered truck driver fully cooperated with police investigators. Throughout the investigation to follow, his arrest and trial, he abnegated any opportunity to help his case, even when evidence came to light that the intersection and the stop sign were inadequate to their purpose, the cause of previous deadly accidents; he was driving into the sun; and mature trees were growing beside the highway partially obscuring views, including that of the stop sign.

 

Aerial photographs of the scene showed the scale of the collision with heavy damage to the coach (right) Canadian Press, Rex/Shutterstock

His purpose was to take full responsibility for the outcome of a momentary distraction that had resulted in  a horrific ending. His purpose was to spare the families involved any additional suffering after their dreadful losses. Jaskirat Sidhu has the official status of a landed immigrant. He is not yet a citizen of Canada, although he aspired to citizenship. He was newly married to another immigrant and together they planned to make a life for themselves in Canada.

He was sentenced to eight years in prison, representing the stiffest such penalty for accidents of this kind. Vehicular homicides are not all that uncommon in Canada, mostly caused by people driving under the influence of alcohol, drugs, speeding, talking on their cellphones or instances of sheer carelessness. Jaskirat Sidhu had pleaded guilty to 29 charges of dangerous driving causing death and bodily harm. He made no effort to defend himself. Overwhelmed with remorse he instructed his lawyers to plead guilty on his behalf to all charges brought against him.

The case management team at Prince Albert Penitentiary where he was incarcerated citing his exemplary behaviour while in prison along with his "significant level of remorse and victim empathy", recommended his transfer to a minimum-security facility. That recommendation was turned down by the prison warden. Uppermost in the warden's mind would be the reaction from family members whose children were killed or maimed by the accident that shocked the entire country when news exploded nationally of the Humbold team's dreadful loss.

Under Canadian law, anyone who is not a citizen of Canada, someone with the status of a landed immigrant for example, who is found guilty of a major criminal act can be extradited to their country of origin. Despite the ghost of the tragedy following the young immigrant couple, their hope is to be allowed to remain in Canada, become Canadian citizens, make their lives here, raising a family. An official with the Canada Border Services agency is to decide whether to allow Jaskirat Sidhu to remain in Canada, or to deport him when he becomes eligible for parole this coming November.

"Deportation of Mr. Sidhu back to India only serves to cause more suffering to him, his wife and his family."

"We have exchanged several emails with Mr. Sidhu and his wife, Tanvir, and it is clear to us that Jaskirat is indeed a broken and suffering soul."

"There has been enough suffering for everyone involved in this tragedy. We do not need any more."

Scott and Laurie Thomas, parents of 18-year-old Evan Thomas who died in the crash.

Evan Thomas between his two parents   Photo: Scott Thomas

"I believe it would be extremely unfortunate to now not allow a man who made a mistake and owned up to it and accepted his consequences the opportunity to continue his life here in Canada."

"I spent every day of the trial watching a man cry and be utterly devastated by the results of a mistake he made ..."

"I believe in second chances. A man who took the harshest sentence for a crime of this nature without appealing or defending himself in an attempt to ease even a small amount of pain for those he hurt is someone I believe deserves a second chance."

Christina Haugan, widow, Broncos' head coach Darcy Haugan who died in the crash

"By contrast [to the Humboldt Broncos' case], a Saskatchewan driver who had previously dodged charges of drunk driving and fleeing the scene of a crash, drove through a stop sign in 1997, killing a 39-year-old woman and injuring her young son before fleeing the scene without rendering assistance."

"He was not charged with leaving the scene, but received a ticket for driving without due care and paid a small fine."

"That driver, Scott Moe, is now premier of Saskatchewan."

Parker Denham, retired Nova Scotia journalist

Canada's Aboriginal Justice System

"She was not a street person. She was missing, and she was murdered."

"It was horrific and I try not to dwell on it. Its like trying to get out of a dark pit."

"[Muchieiwanape is] evil [and] sadistic [he] should be locked up permanently."

"While incarcerated, he has received his education and job skills. How nice. What supports were put in place for my sister and her family after he washed my sister's blood from his hands?"

"I'm filled with anger. They should be held accountable for being lenient with these dangerous inmates. What now? Who's to blame if he harms another innocent person?"

Darlene Clarke, Aboriginal heritage, Selkirk, Manitoba

Darlene Clarke, left, is pictured with her sister Kimberley Clarke, right, in an undated family photo. The woman in the middle is their late mother, Sarah Clarke. (Submitted by Courtney Bear)

"When a person is sentenced in federal custody, a big part of that sentence is supposed to be tied to the severity of the crime, and some kind of deterrent or punishment factor. But once that person starts their sentence, another big part of what becomes part of the decision process is what is that person's needs for rehabilitation?"

"Often first-degree murderers may end up in the maximum type of prison environment, but over time ... they're continually evaluated. In some cases, that means taking down steps in their security levels at their institutions."

"...But for the majority of people that are serving federal sentences, there is a lot of value in the rehabilitation activities they do."

Mary Campbell, director, Centre for Criminal Justice Studies, University of New Brunswick

The issue in Canada of 'missing and murdered Indigenous women' is a sad and sorry statement of malfunction and dysfunction; malfunction on the part of government penal agencies and dysfunction out of the larger Aboriginal population. Indigenous, First Nations women and children have a higher degree of violence committed against them than their counterparts in the general population. The same can be said for First Nations men; who also suffer violence disproportionately.

 

More First Nations children are taken into protective custody than are non-Aboriginal children in the general population. Substantially greater numbers of First Nations men are incarcerated for all manner of crimes, and again hugely disproportionate to their numbers in society. Many First Nations people live in remote, isolated communities, but those who have left their ancestral tribal communities to live in urban centres are prone to the same behavioral frailties as their tribal cousins living on reserves. 

Addiction to drugs and alcohol run rampant through their communities, much of it driven by bio- and cultural-inheritance. Colonialism takes its fair share of responsibility for the plight and neglect of First Nations people. Tribal leaders have great influence over the course of events of their people, exerting that influence persuasively in issues such as non-integration into non-Aboriginal social streams and allegiance to their heritage and lands. Which keeps them isolated, living in remote communities where health care and social services are less accessible.

Kimberley Clarke, 36, was murdered under Winnipeg's Redwood Bridge in 1998. She had three children. (Submitted by Jade Frost)

 

The issue of violence in native communities is an ongoing failure of both First Nations and government agencies tasked to give aid, to solve. Criminal behaviour is too common but much worse is the violence enacted against one another, and most particularly toward girls and women. Missing and murdered Aboriginal women has its start right there, with the responsibility that should be laid directly at the feet of those leaders who fail to address it but point a finger of blame at 'white colonists' and issues such as residential schools whose purpose was to give Indigenous children a contemporary education to enable them to meld into the greater society.

Many Aboriginals have done just that, with and without the aid of residential schools, propelling themselves into respected positions in the professions of law, medicine, journalism, government, social services and more. Just as some tribes have succeeded in pioneering for themselves positions as leaders in commercial ventures that have been hugely successful and remunerative, while others are dismal failures, led by reserve councils that are corrupt and unaccountable.

 

Escaped prisoner Roderick Muchikekwanape. Photo by U.S. Marshals Service

Through all of this, the federal government and provincial governments tread a fine line between honouring Aboriginal traditions and culture and imposing the laws of the land. Unevenly, as it happens, with heavy consideration to treating First Nations law-breakers more leniently than non-First-Nations criminals. In the case of Canadian murderer Roderick Muchikekwanape, 42, freedoms of a nature ill-deserved by his murderous past. He bludgeoned an Aboriginal woman to death and sexually assaulted her.

The two met at a party in Winnipeg in 1998. They were seen walking together, when security at a nearby business called police after hearing screams and seeing someone running from the source of the tumult. When police arrived they discovered a trail of blood which led to the river. Kimberley Clarke's body was discovered after two days; she had been beaten to death. Roderick Muchikekwanape was found guilty at trial and sentenced to life imprisonment. Months ago, he walked away from a minimum-security Mission Institution in British Columbia.

These are open grounds, with few security features, where those institutionalized are on an 'honour' system to remain within the grounds. Accommodation is casual, there is no resemblance to the usual penal institutions where hardened criminals and murderers are kept in federal prisons. And these minimum-security alternatives are meant exclusively for the Aboriginal criminal class. It is thought that these places are more in keeping with First Nations cultures and systems of justice for malefactors. Several months ago Roderick Muchikekwanape walked out of Mission Institution and he is still at large.

The minimum-security Mission Institution in B.C. where Roderick Muchikekwanape was serving his life sentence has a long history of inmate escapes. Photo by Francis Georgian/Postmedia/File

 

A video capture last saw him in Washington State where U.S. Marshalls feel he is likely to "claim to belong to a tribe in the U.S." Royal Canadian Mounted Police, at the time of his escape, said he has "a history of significant violence". Correctional Service of Canada issued a news release that he was unaccounted for at an evening count, leading to a warrant being issued for his arrest. His has not been the only high-profile escape from the Mission Institution which houses hundreds of medium- and minimum-security Indigenous prisoners.

Barb Van Vugt, the then-warden in 2017 described no physical barrier preventing inmates from leaving the prison. "We believe a gradual release into society is safest and best for everyone", she stated following Robert Dezwaan, serving a sentence for the sexual assault of 16-year-old Cherish Billy Oppenheim whom he had beaten to death and buried under rocks, had also decided to leave the prison. Convicted of a 2004 fire-bombing in Calgary where two young children were killed, Michael Sheets was another escapee. And there are more.

As for Muchikekwanape, the Pacific North-west Violent Offender Task Force is looking for him. Just over six feet in height, black hair, brown eyes, he has a number of aliases. He was last seen, according to the U.S. marshals, boarding a bus to Mount Vernon, another bus to Everett, on his way to Sumas, Washington -- on the Canada-U.S.border.

Israeli Palestinian Cities Strangled by Palestinian-on-Palestinian Violence

"Many Arab Israelis blame the violence on organized crime, and accuse police of devoting too few resources to root it out in Arab cities, towns and neighborhoods. Experts, policymakers and activists argue that even as Israeli police have cracked down on crime among Israeli Jews, not enough has been done to combat endemic violence in the Arab community, which has long suffered from official neglect."

"Over the past few years, Arab criminal groups have proliferated and taken over spaces vacated by state institutions and police. A new reality has been created in Arab towns and cities, one in which powerful protection rackets have access to an enormous quantity of weapons, lend money and collect payments at the barrel of a gun, and open fire at Arab mayors and their family members."

"The metastasizing phenomenon has also fueled gang wars between different groups jockeying for turf and clientele, turning towns into battlefields and sometimes catching innocent bystanders in the crossfire. 'It is the Arab crime organizations who rule Israel today when it comes to the criminal underworld. They are strong, determined, forceful and they don’t screw around. They have enough weapons for an entire army', an anonymous senior cop told Channel 12 in 2018."

"The underworld violence is mostly confined to Arab areas of the country, as seen in the disproportionate number of killings among the Arab community compared to Jewish areas of the country. Even though Arab Israelis constitute roughly 21% of the population, they accounted for 71% of the 125 homicides in Israel in 2019."

Aaron Boxerman, The Times of Israel, 31 December 2020

Police at the scene of a fatal shooting in the northern town of Bi’ina, October 4, 2020 (Israel Police)

What is it about Palestinian history and culture that might be responsible for a seeming proclivity to violence and gangsterism? The Palestinian Authority ostensibly has no influence on Palestinians living in Israel as part of the Israeli population with full citizenship. It does, on the other hand, exercise influence on all Palestinians when Mahmoud Abbas exhorts Palestinians to 'resist' the 'occupation', when he sees to it that Palestinian children under his autonomous rule are taught from Israel-hating curricula where Jews are portrayed as killers of Palestinians and children are urged to join the 'resistance' and plan their future as martyrs.

 

Arab residents of Jerusalem throw rocks at Israeli police near the Lions Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City on October 6, 2000, at the outset of the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

Palestinian citizens of Israel are known to succumb to the invitation extended to them by the PA to vent their anger against Israelis and they do this with regularity through knifings, vehicular attacks and other means by which they hope to exact maximum damage through killing Israeli Jews and being glorified by the PA as martyrs to the cause, receiving generous monthly stipends if they're incarcerated, and if they die while committing atrocities those monthly payments for 'heroism' go to their families. It cannot help but have an effect on those within Palestinian society vulnerable to suggestive hatred.

Palestinian citizens living in Israel have called increasingly upon Israeli police to solve the problem of Palestinian-on-Palestinian crime. The response of the Israeli Police has been less than impressive to those calling for an end to the fear and violence they live with. There is that age-old conundrum of a society failing to influence its members for the better, that when an institutional force of another society enters the picture to try to bring order and security to bear, invariably criticism will surface to the effect that the 'intruding' society has been overbearing in its response.

Israel, sensitive to the never-ending criticism coming at its governance from outside sources such as states within the European Union, always highly critical of Israeli action as it applies to Palestinians, are quick to pounce declaring that Israel has trod on Palestinians' human rights. There will always be many within the Israeli-Palestinian community who plead for police action to clean up the crime the community is forced to live with, while others from within the community await the opportunity to claim undue force brought to bear by an 'apartheid' government.

The poisonous clamour from the international community over any hints that Israel's police force might exact stern measures to persuade the Palestinian criminal class that their days of free reign to sow terror among their own is over, goes a long way in dissuading the government of Israel from taking such action. To be sure, Israeli police respond to the violence, but in the same token even while they are aware of what is occurring, the reality is that information and evidence from the community itself to aid the police in their work is hard to come by.

Obviously for the simple enough reason that it is seen as a 'betrayal' for Palestinians to aid Israeli police in cleaning up the gangsters among them along with the certain knowledge that they and theirs will be punished by retributive action. Both sectors are between a rock and a hard place; the police for fear of recriminations by the foreign press and their government agencies, the Palestinian communities for fear of their own victimizing them even further through indiscriminate killings.

 

Arab Israelis protest against violence, organized crime and recent killings in their communities, in the Arab town of Majd al-Krum in northern Israel on October 3, 2019. (Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP)

 

Matters have become so desperate from within the Palestinian towns and cities cowering in fear from the violence of the gangs among them that huge protests have been  taking place calling on the Israeli government to protect its Palestinian citizens -- from other Palestinian citizens who have no regard whatever for the security and human rights of their own in the greater interests of terroristic glory and the acquisition of ill-gotten gains.

“I lost my husband and two children. They were shot dead right in front of us in our home, and yet there have been no arrests so far. In 2012, I participated in a Knesset hearing. I felt optimistic when the prime minister turned to me and promised that the case would be handled, and that they would find the murderers, but nothing actually came of that. When I saw that no progress was being made, I asked the district police in Haifa about where the investigation stood. One police investigator told me, ‘I can tell you who came into your house and shot your husband and children, but we need evidence.’ I refused to accept his response. I didn’t want to know who shot them, because I am sure that if I was Jewish, they would have found the murderer and arrested him in a matter of 24 hours."

Siham Egbariya from the Arab city of Umm al-Fahm

Arab Israelis protest against violence, organized crime and recent killings among their communities, in the Arab town of Majd al-Krum, northern Israel, October 03, 2019. (David Cohen/FLASH90)

“Contrary to the stereotype, these are not ‘crime families.’ In the families of those involved in organized crime, you’ll often find doctors and lawyers — and a crime boss, whose foot soldiers are mostly from outside the family", explained Walid Haddad, formerly a 15-year Israeli law enforcement officer in the Public Security Ministry, now a criminologist teaching at Western Galilee College

"In general, banks hesitate to provide loans in our Arab towns. This has led individuals, breadwinners, and business owners in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic to take loans on the black market. Most of them are asked to pay absurd amounts."

“How do these groups make people pay? They threaten their lives and their property. And those people who do manage to pay, in practice, fund the next series of crimes."

"Homicides are just one parameter in the violence: Attempts to gun down mayors, threats, extortion, blackmail, domestic violence, use of weapons in disputes."

Joint List MK Mansour Abbas

Police at the scene of a deadly shooting in the central city of Lod on December 28, 2020. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

   

The Childen's Crusade at the U.S.-Mexico Border

"I heard there was an opportunity to come."

"I heard on the news that mothers with their babies and minors could come."

"[My baby's father?] He abandoned us. We have nothing."

Mayra, 17, Guatemalan refugee

 

"[It's nonsense that more migrants were coming because I am] a nice guy."

"They come because their circumstance is so bad."

U.S.President Joe Biden 

A young girl carries a child inside a U.S. Customs and Border Protection holding area in El Paso, Texas. Lucas Jackson/Reuters

 

Since October of 2020, roughly two-thirds of unaccompanied minors taken into custody at the border of Mexico and the U.S. have travelled from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. The remainder for the most part are Mexican children. Currently the number in the custody of a U.S.Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) refugee office managing a government shelter system stands at 9,200. Most of these children are in their teens, but there are hundreds under 12 years of age.

Among the unaccompanied children many hope to become reunited with family members. Many others have left their homes to escape violence and poverty, a fact well understood by immigration experts. Slumping economies caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has been the cause of many more migrants leaving their home countries. Hurricanes have recently battered Central America.

 

A young asylum seeker arrives with her family at a bus station after being released by US border patrol in Brownsville, Texas, on 25 February. Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images

 

Under the new Biden administration, a recent change in policy permits unaccompanied children into the United States even while single adults and families crossing illegally continue to be expelled. Under the previous Trump and Obama administrations in 2019 and 2014, similar spikes in migrant crossings from Mexico to the U.S. also occurred.

While the potentially dangerous trip to the border is undertaken by some children on their own, or through a smuggler, in alternate instances children travel with older siblings, grandparents or other relatives and they can be separated by Customs and Border Protection once caught at the border.

Upon being taken into custody the children are meant to be transferred out of Customs and Border Protection to shelters operated by Health and Human Services within a 72-hour period. With limited shelter space, however, border detention centres may see children remaining for longer periods, and this is what is happening at the present time, due to an influx of greater numbers.

 

Children play between tents at a makeshift migrant camp in Matamoros, Tamaulipas state, Mexico. Bloomberg

 

Originally constructed to house adult men for short periods of time, the border stations have the potential to pose COVID-19 health risks to children and staff alike, in overcrowded conditions. When they gain the shelters, children can be released to parents or other sponsors or alternately placed in foster care where asylum can be pursued or alternate ways sought to remain in the U.S. -- other than to be deported.

 

Of the approximately 200,000 unaccompanied children entering the country from fiscal year 2014 to fiscal year 2019, four percent were removed, according to U.S. Department of Homeland Security data. Several emergency shelters for children in Texas have been opened by the administration, along with plans to utilize the Dallas convention centre for up to three thousand migrant teen boys to be housed.

 

Looking to the longer term, the Biden administration is planning to establish programs permitting Central Americans to apply for refugee status in the United States from their home countries, while also making an effort to improve conditions in those countries. Allied with that effort, a program has been restarted allowing certain Central American children with parents living lawfully in the U.S. to apply for a refugee resettlement from their home countries.

 

A U.S. Border Patrol agent releases a young asylum seeker with her family at a bus station on February 25 in Brownsville, Texas. (CNN)