The Times of Israel is liveblogging Thursday’s events as they unfold.
UN asks states for record $51.5 billion in aid funding amid disasters, Ukraine war
The United Nations says it is asking member states for a record $51.5 billion in aid funding for next year, as disasters and the ongoing war in Ukraine drive up humanitarian needs worldwide.
The global body’s humanitarian office says the funds are needed to help 339 million people in 69 countries, an increase of 65 million people compared with the same time last year. The appeal is a 25% increase on that made for 2022, it says.
“Humanitarian needs are shockingly high, as this year’s extreme events are spilling into 2023,” says the UN’s emergency relief coordinator, Martin Griffiths.
He cites droughts in the Horn of Africa, floods in Pakistan and the conflict in Ukraine, which have pushed the number of displaced people worldwide above 100 million.
“All of this on top of the devastation left by the pandemic among the world’s poorest,” says Griffiths. “For people on the brink, this appeal is a lifeline. For the international community, it is a strategy to make good on the pledge to leave no one behind.”
The UN’s annual Global Humanitarian Overview combines funding required by the global body and numerous nongovernmental organizations.
Current funding provided by member states is less than half of what’s needed, forcing aid groups and agencies “to decide who to target with the funds available,” the UN humanitarian office says.
Netanyahu responds to Avi Maoz, says Jerusalem Pride Parade won’t be nixed
Presumed incoming prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacts to Noam’s Avi Maoz, saying the Jerusalem Pride Parade “will continue to march.”
“My government won’t harm the LGBT community or the rights of any Israeli citizen,” he adds. “We will care for all Israeli citizens with mutual solidarity and work to improve our lives. This is our mission.”
Virulently anti-LGBT MK Maoz vows to scrap annual Jerusalem Pride Parade
MK Avi Maoz, the ultra-conservative, anti-LGBT incoming head of a new body in charge of Israel’s “Jewish identity,” vows to cancel Jerusalem’s annual Pride Parade, calling it “a march of public whorish abomination.”
“The Jerusalem Pride Parade should be canceled first,” the Noam party leader and its only MK tells Olam Katan, a conservative religious right-wing weekly. “I will make sure to cancel it. It’s an utter disgrace. I am very direct and honest about this.”
Maoz acknowledges that the matter hasn’t been part of his coalition agreements with presumed incoming prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but says he is “not hiding it; of course I would like to cancel it.”
A 16-year-old girl was murdered by an ultra-Orthodox extremist during the 2015 parade. It run annually since 2002.
