Israel's democracy has become an illusion

EDITORIAL

Le Monde

The new Israeli government is sympathetic to Jewish extremists and the ultra-Orthodox and plans to expand settlements, perpetuating a domination that should come at a political and diplomatic price.

Published on December 30, 2022

The composition of the new Israeli government sworn in on December 29, and the share obtained by the most radical parties ever represented in the Knesset (the Israeli Parliament), highlight an unprecedented evolution of the Jewish state. While the illiberal and reactionary shift that emerged from the ballot box concerns only the Israelis themselves, the same cannot be said of the desire to dominate the Palestinian territories, which is the other key issue for this government. The vision is no longer that of two states, but that of an annexation fraught with great peril.

More than 50 years after the conquest of Gaza and the West Bank by force, the Israeli military regime there can no longer be considered a temporary occupation. In half a century, regardless of a failing Palestinian authority, this state of exception has continued to be refined as the Israeli authorities have facilitated the settlement of Jewish Israeli citizens within these conquered territories, in violation of international law.

In recent months, there have been heated protests against the use of the term "apartheid" by human rights organizations to describe the system to which Palestinians are subjected. Israel's defenders are used to this activism, especially as the battle is not only semantic, given its potential legal implications for the International Criminal Court, which is investigating crimes committed in these territories.

The strength of this reaction cannot mask the only reality that counts, and which should provoke the only acceptable indignation: a regime is allocating different rights on the same land to different populations defined by ethnic criteria. While the Palestinians are locked up in enclaves at the whim of the occupier, a specific legal framework that benefits only Israelis of the Jewish faith guarantees the continuity between the state recognized by the international community and these occupied lands. This state of affairs is the consequence of the strategy that leads to annexation.

Israel's allies have resigned themselves to this situation, as have many Arab countries, which normalized their relations with the Jewish state without batting an eyelid. But this does not detract from the monstrosity that has been created, as illustrated by the systematic expropriation of land, the lack of freedom of movement and the use of unequal violence with complete impunity, among other things. The withdrawal from Gaza has never prevented Israel from exerting ruthless pressure on its inhabitants, as shown by the inhuman blockade imposed on this suffering territory.

To sustain this domination over the entire territorial area stretching from the Mediterranean to the border with Jordan comes at a political and diplomatic price. Israel's democratic nature is becoming an illusion. The 5 million Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank are subjected to a regime that governs every detail of their lives.

The issue also concerns the Western allies of the Jewish state. They have long exalted common values to hide their failures to act on matters related to Palestine, but these principles are nowhere to be found. They should therefore not be surprised that they arouse the indifference of a part of the world when they call, elsewhere, for the respect of the rights of peoples.

The Euribor rate rises by 3.5 points in 2022 and closes the year at 3%, the highest level since the real estate crisis.

The rate rises by two tenths of a point in December after the European Central Bank's latest interest rate hike.

The Euribor is out of control: is it a good time to amortise and take off part of the mortgage?

Taking out a mortgage now costs nine times more than a year ago

Madrid

30/12/2022

ABC.ES

Translation by Germán & Co

The Euribor has spent months climbing a mountain whose peak is still not in sight. The index to which most mortgages in Spain are referenced closes December and, therefore, the year 2022 slightly above 3%. A level that has not been exceeded as a monthly average since the real estate crash in 2008.

The new data represents a new acceleration with respect to November, having climbed another two tenths of a percentage point. Thus, in just one year the Euribor has gone from -0.502% in December 2021 to 3.01% in the same month of 2022. This represents a rise of 3.5 percentage points, the highest ever seen in the index's historical series, which began in 1999.

This is the monthly average, which is used to calculate the revision of mortgage repayments and new loans. Because the daily index has already comfortably exceeded 3%. The figure for 30 December, the last for 2022, leaves the daily Euribor at almost 3.3%, which indicates that January will see another monthly increase if this trend continues.

More and more users are turning to this type of solution to ask for a loan, given the facilities it offers.

This evolution is due to the rise in the price of money. In July, the European Central Bank (ECB) raised its benchmark interest rates for the first time in eleven years. This decision was followed by others in September, October and this December, bringing them to 2.5%.

The Euribor is closely linked to rate hikes. The index is the rate at which banks lend money to each other; if the price of money rises, so does the interest at which banks lend to each other. And this is directly reflected in the Euribor. In fact, the Euribor usually anticipates the ECB's rate hikes, as has been the case so far in 2022.

The rate started to rise at the beginning of the year and returned to positive territory in April. Since then it has not stopped rising, with the big acceleration occurring in September with a rise of one percentage point in just thirty days. It is now at 3%, but experts believe it still has some way to go.

Upward trend

Economists expect the ECB's reference rate to be above 3% in the short term. There is even talk that they could reach 4% before the end of 2023. The Euribor is already discounting these increases and, in theory, would anticipate the monetary institution's decisions.

What analysts expect is that by the middle of next year the index will be around 3.5%, putting more pressure on both variable mortgages whose repayments will have to be revised and new home loans that are taken out, which will be more expensive. As ABC reported, taking out a mortgage now is nine times more expensive than a year ago.

GOLDEN BOY

Pele the brilliant and beloved icon who never had a bad word for anyone… except, perhaps, Diego Maradona

Dave Kidd

Published: 30 Dec 2022

The Sun

A LONG-RUNNING spat with Diego Maradona, ham acting in Escape to Victory and even adverts for Viagra.

Ask anyone under the age of 50 what they actually remember about Pele and these are the likely themes.

Pele and Diego Maradona had a long-running rivalry - but now may now 'kick a ball together in the sky'Credit: EPA

Before Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo emerged, Pele and Maradona were out on their own in the debate over who was the greatest footballer of all time.

After Maradona played such a dominant role in Argentina’s 1986 World Cup victory — in Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium, like Pele’s finest hour — the Brazilian suddenly had a genuine rival for his crown as the finest player in history.

And there was little love lost between the pair, with Maradona usually the poisonous protagonist.

At various times, both men recognised the greatness of the other but there was often a barb, with Maradona once chastising Pele for supposedly allowing his former team-mate Garrincha to die in poverty.

Pele — outspoken about drug abuse in the game — often responded that he would not criticise Maradona when he was ‘ill’ due to substance abuse.

And following the Argentine’s death in 2020, Pele even said: “One day we’ll kick a ball together in the sky above.”

The Brazilian was certainly the more gallant of the two.

And to those of us who never saw him play live, Pele had a saintly glow, as if his No 10 shirt should have come with a halo.

Yet in an era when legalised violence was very much a part of football, Pele could give as good as he got.

Jimmy Greaves, an expert teller of anecdotes, had a wonderful ability to humanise the Gods of the game when I was ghostwriter for his column.

He told a gem of a story about Pele from the Little World Cup, a four-team tournament in 1964 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Brazilian FA.

Greaves and the rest of the England squad, who were due to play Portugal the next day, were in the stadium in Sao Paulo watching Pele’s Brazil take on Argentina.

Pele was being man-marked by muscular defender Jose Mesiano and after one kick too many from the Argentine, Pele leapt several feet in the air and floored his antagonist with a head-butt.

Greaves recalled the incident starting a near riot, with England players fearing for their safety, but the ref missed the flashpoint.

Despite getting off scot-free, Pele had an ineffective match and Argentina ran out 3-0 winners.

It was shocking to hear of Pele’s violent side and almost as surprising to be told that he’d ever had a poor game.

For those of us a generation or so younger than Pele, there were two regular sightings of him on television — frequent replays of his 1970 World Cup highlights reel and then the war movie Escape to Victory.

No Christmas was complete without a rerun of this classic 1981 film, with cast including Michael Caine, Sylvester Stallone and Bobby Moore, as well as Pele himself.

The movie is about a match between an allied prisoner of war team and a German army side — a thrilling 4-4 draw in which Pele’s character, Corporal Luis Fernandez, scores a spectacular overhead bicycle kick.

Before the match, Caine — player-manager of the POW XI — gives­ a detailed team talk at his blackboard of the passing game he wants his men to employ.

But Pele grabs the chalk and illustrates how he intends to dribble around the entire Nazi team and score a solo goal.

There was never any chance of him winning an Oscar for that performance — but his greatness on the football pitch was never in doubt.

And you didn’t need to have seen him play for real to understand that.