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Jewish Community Celebrates Release of Jewish American Journalist Evan Gershkovich From Russian Imprisonment
American reporter Evan Gershkovich is seen at a court hearing in Moscow. Photo: Reuters/Evgenia Novozhenina
Jewish groups are celebrating a prisoner-swap deal which secured the release of Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich, along with more than a dozen other individuals, from Russian prison on Thursday.
The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), an umbrella organization that represents over 350 Jewish communities across the continent, released a statement thanking the Biden administration for its help in freeing the Jewish American journalist.
“Jewish Federations of North America are overjoyed and relieved at the news of Evan Gershkovich’s release, along with the release of Paul Whelan and other political prisoners,” the organization said in a statement. “It has been 491 days since Russia wrongfully detained Evan, a Wall Street Journal reporter trying to do his job in communicating news back home to readers.”
The American Jewish Committee (AJC) also released a statement condemning Russia for wrongfully imprisoning Gershkovich and thanking the Biden administration for securing his release.
“AJC is deeply relieved that Gershkovich, the other Americans, and all those freed as part of this agreement are no longer suffering in the deplorable conditions of detention in Russia and have been released to safety and freedom. AJC deeply appreciates the role of President Biden and his administration, and other world partners, in securing their release,” AJC said.
Gershkovich’s detainment galvanized the global Jewish community. JFNA collected over 2,200 letters addressed to Gershkovich and delivered them to his parents to commemorate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Many Jewish supporters also left a seat open for him at the Passover seder.
Gershkovich, along with fellow Americans Paul Whelan and Alsu Kurmasheva and American green-card holder Vladimir Kara-Murza, were released as part of months-long negotiations between the two geopolitical adversaries. The massive, secretive 26-person swap took place in Ankara, Turkey. Beyond Russia and the United States, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, and Norway also participated.
The White House released a statement touting the multi-country deal as a “feat of diplomacy.”
Gershkovich, the child of Soviet Jewish immigrants, had been living in Russia for six years at the time of his arrest.
Thursday’s prisoner release is the largest of its kind since the Cold War.
“Some of these women and men have been unjustly held for years. All have endured unimaginable suffering and uncertainty. Today, their agony is over,” the White House said in its statement.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken released a statement confirming that the American prisoners were on their way back to the United States.
“Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, and Alsu Kurmasheva are now on their way back to the United States from Russia. Through the extraordinary efforts of countless people in the State Department and across our government, the United States was able to strike an agreement to secure their freedom, as well as that of Vladimir Kara-Murza and 12 others held prisoner inside Russia,” Blinken said.
US President Joe Biden held a press conference at the White House to remark on the release of the American prisoners. The president invited the family members of those who were detained in Russia to celebrate.
“Moments ago, the families and I were able to speak to them on the telephone from the Oval Office. They’re out of Russia,” Biden confirmed.
US relations with Russia, which have long been unstable, completely deteriorated after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, calling into question whether the two nations would be able to strike a prisoner release deal.
Gershkovich had been imprisoned in Russia since March 2023. The journalist was sentenced last month to serve 16 years in a Russian penal colony after being found guilty on charges of espionage. The US and the Wall Street Journal rebuked the allegations as meritless.
The Wall Street Journal‘s publisher, Almar Latou, and editor-in-chief, Emma Tucker, released a joint statement to “condemn in the strongest terms Vladimir Putin’s regime in Russia, which orchestrated Evan’s 491-day wrongful imprisonment based on sham accusations and a fake trial as part of an all-out assault on the free press and truth. Unfortunately, many journalists remain unjustly imprisoned in Russia and around the world.”
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At Least 12 Killed in Massive Russian Attack on Ukraine
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a joint press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 10, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
i24 News – Russia-Ukraine War: About three and a half years after the outbreak of the war, Russia carried out last night (Sunday) the largest air attack since it began. At least 12 people were killed, including three children, and dozens more were injured when 367 rockets and missiles were fired at Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sharply criticized US policy, which so far has taken a soft stance towards Russia, and recently hinted that it would stop mediating between the two countries: “The silence of America, the silence of others in the world only encourages Putin,” he wrote on Telegram. “Every such Russian terrorist attack is reason enough for new sanctions against Russia.”
The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russia launched 298 drones and 69 missiles in a night attack. According to him, they shot down 266 drones and 45 missiles. Damage was caused to several areas, including the second largest city in Ukraine, Kharkiv, as well as Mykolaiv in the south and Ternopil in the west.
In parallel, a prisoner of war exchange deal was concluded. In Russia, reports said that 303 prisoners were transferred from each side. In total, over the last three days 2,000 prisoners, 1,000 Ukrainians and 1,000 Russians, have been returned to their countries. Zelensky thanked the servicemen of the armed forces, and promised to bring all the prisoners home. “Today, our armed forces, the national guard, the state border service, and the special state transport service are returning home.”
“I am grateful to the team that worked around the clock to successfully execute these exchanges,” he added. “We will certainly bring back each and every one of our people from Russian captivity.”
Meanwhile, The Washington Post reported that the Russian army may reach a severe shortage of manpower and weapons in the next year. The Ukrainian army is also in trouble, and it is offering generous economic grants to new recruits.
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UN Says More Food Needed in Gaza as Looting Hampers Deliveries
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks to members of the Security Council during a meeting to address the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, at UN headquarters in New York City, New York, US, April 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
Israeli airstrikes killed at least six Palestinians guarding aid trucks against looters, Hamas officials said on Friday, as the head of the United Nations warned that only a “teaspoon” of aid was getting in following Israel’s 11-week-long blockade.
The Israeli military said 107 trucks carrying flour and other foodstuffs as well as medical supplies entered the Gaza Strip from the Kerem Shalom crossing point on Thursday, for a total of 305 since Monday when the blockade was relaxed.
But getting the supplies to people sheltering in tents and other makeshift accommodation has been fitful and U.N. officials say at least 500 to 600 trucks of aid are needed every day.
So far, an umbrella network of Palestinian aid groups said, 119 aid trucks have got past the Kerem Shalom crossing point and into Gaza since Israel eased its blockade on Monday in the face of an international outcry.
Despite the relaxation of the blockade, distribution has been hampered by looting by groups of men, some of them armed, near the city of Khan Younis, an umbrella network representing Palestinian aid groups said.
“They stole food meant for children and families suffering from severe hunger,” the network said in a statement, which also condemned Israeli airstrikes on security teams protecting the trucks.
The U.N. World Food Program said 15 trucks carrying flour to WFP-supported bakeries had been looted, which it said reflected the dire conditions facing Gazans.
“Hunger, desperation and anxiety over whether more food aid is coming is contributing to rising insecurity,” it said in a statement.
A Hamas official said six members of a security team tasked with guarding the shipments were killed.
Israel imposed the blockade in early March, accusing Hamas of stealing aid meant for civilians. Hamas rejects the charge, saying a number of its own fighters have been killed protecting the trucks from armed looters.
“Hamas constantly calls the looters ‘guards’ or protectors’ to mask the fact that they’re disturbing the aid process,” an Israeli military official said.
‘DESPERATION’
With most of Gaza’s 2 million population squeezed into an ever narrowing zone on the coast and in the area around the southern city of Khan Younis by Israel’s military operation, international pressure to get aid in quickly has ratcheted up.
“Without rapid, reliable, safe and sustained aid access, more people will die – and the long-term consequences on the entire population will be profound,” said U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
A German government spokesperson said the aid was “far too little, too late and too slow,” adding that delivery of supplies had to be increased significantly.
Israel has announced that a new system, sponsored by the United States and run by private contractors, will soon begin operations from four distribution centers in the south of Gaza, but many details of how the system will work remain unclear.
The U.N. has already said it will not work with the new system, which it says will leave aid distribution conditional on Israel’s political and military aims.
Israel says its forces will only provide security for the centers and will not distribute aid themselves.
As the aid has begun to trickle in, the Israeli military has continued the intensified ground and air operation launched last week, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said would end with Israel taking full control of the Gaza Strip.
The military said it had conducted more strikes in Gaza overnight, hitting 75 targets, including weapons storage facilities and rocket launchers.
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Swiss Authorities Exploring Probe Into US-Backed Gaza Aid Group
Displaced Palestinian children wait to receive free food at a tent camp, amid food shortages, as the conflict between Israel and Hamas continues, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, February 27, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
Swiss authorities said on Sunday they were exploring whether to open a legal investigation into the activities of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-backed organization that plans to oversee aid distribution in the Palestinian enclave.
The move comes after a Swiss NGO submitted a request for a probe into GHF’s aid plan, which the United Nations has opposed, saying it is not impartial or neutral and forces further displacement and exposes thousands of people to harm.
The GHF, which has said it hopes to start work in Gaza by the end of May, told Reuters it “strictly adheres” to humanitarian principles, and that it would not support any form of forced relocation of civilians.
Israel has allowed limited aid deliveries to resume this week after having stopped all aid deliveries to Gaza on March 2.
TRIAL International, a Switzerland-based NGO, on Friday said it had filed two legal submissions asking Swiss authorities to investigate whether the Swiss-registered GHF complies with Swiss law and international humanitarian law.
The submissions were made to the Swiss Federal Supervisory Authority for Foundations and the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) on May 20 and 21.
The FDFA on Sunday confirmed to Reuters that both authorities had received the submissions.
TRIAL International said it asked the Swiss FDFA to explain if the GHF had submitted a declaration, in accordance with Swiss law, to use private security companies to distribute aid, and if it had been approved by Swiss authorities.
The FDFA told Reuters it is investigating whether such a declaration would be required for the foundation.
It said that the Federal Supervisory Board for Foundations cannot review whether foundations comply with their statutes until they start their activities.
The GHF told Reuters that though using private security firms represents a change from prior aid delivery frameworks, it would ensure aid is not diverted to Hamas or criminal organizations.
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