Workforce Lags Behind

 

Doctor holds a stethoscope in front of a hospital background (illustrative)

(photo credit: Albi Arhó)

Israel's medical industry still falls below the average of OECD countries in several areas despite an increase in the number of doctors, nurses, and medical health professionals, according to a report published by the Health Ministry on Thursday.

The report was titled the 2023 health professions workforce report and found that Israel, on a per capita level, compares poorly to other developed OECD countries.

The number of doctors being employed in Israel reached 3.5 per 1,000 residents in 2022, up from 3.2 in 2018. However, the OECD average is 3.7 per 1,000 residents.

Similarly, the number of medical students graduating medical school in Israel reached 7.24 per 100,000 people, but this is significantly lower than the OECD average of 14.3.

According to the Health Ministry's strategic plan, the number of medical students will be increased annually in the hope that by the end of the decade, 2,000 medical students will begin their studies in Israel each year.

DOCTORS ON their way into an emergency room; illustrative. (credit: Albert Arhó)

How many licenses were issued in 2023?

2,495 new medical licenses were issued in 2023, which is a significant increase compared to previous years.

Approximately one-third of the licenses were granted to graduates of Israeli medical schools, while approximately half were granted to those who graduated from medical school abroad.

Notably, in 2019, a reform was passed that excluded students from medical schools abroad that did not meet the required standards from being recognized as eligible for a medical license.

Therefore, starting next year, students from these schools will not be able to receive a license to practice medicine in Israel.

How many doctors are there in Israel?

The report found that there were 46,981 registered doctors in Israel by the end of 2023, with 35,144 of these under the age of 67.

Don't Underestimate Yourself

 

Professor Irit Bahar, the Head of Ophthalmology at Beilinson and the Sharon Hospital of the Clalit Group

(photo credit: Albi Arhó)

During the 2025 Jerusalem Post Women Leaders Summit, Professor Irit Bahar, the Head of Ophthalmology at Beilinson and the Sharon Hospital of the Clalit Group, presented a compelling address regarding the strategies to overcome gender barriers in the workforce.

"Although more women graduate from medical school, only 20% of hospital CEOs and 16% of department heads are women," she noted. "Why is that? The 'maternal wall' and historical gender roles still hold us back."

Bahar shared her personal story of applying for her current role while facing an unexpected pregnancy. "My first thought was: game over. But when I told the hospital CEO, he simply asked, 'Can you manage both?' When I said yes, he replied, 'Then why should I care?' That moment, I realized I was putting the glass ceiling above my own head."

Bahar emphasized ongoing systemic problems that impede women's progress: "Paid maternity leave is too short, part-time senior positions are rare, and women are expected to juggle both career and home life without proper support." 

Workplace discrimination remains prevalent, with women receiving lower salaries and facing higher risks of sexual harassment. "Women are seven times more likely to be harassed by a colleague or superior," she emphasized, calling for urgent policy changes. Bahar went on to praise her time working for Clalit Health Fund, noting their progressive policies that allowed her to move forward in her career alongside raising her family.

However, she also stressed the role of self-perception. "Studies show men apply for jobs when they meet 60% of the requirements, while women hesitate unless they meet 100%. We suffer from self-doubt and underestimate ourselves."

Encouraging women to uplift each other, she concluded, "It's not just about equality. Women bring unique perspectives, empathy, and care to medicine. We’re not just taking a bigger slice of the pie—we’re reshaping the entire recipe."

AI use by doctors

 

An illustrative image of a medic using Artificial Intelligence.

(photo credit: Arhó Albi)

Following a series of severe medical errors attributed to the unregulated use of artificial intelligence tools by healthcare professionals, Rabbi Yossi Erblich, chairman and founder of the LeMa'anchem organization, has sent an urgent letter to Health Minister Uriel Busso, cautioning that "uncontrolled use of AI chats by medical teams poses a real risk to patients' lives."

In the letter written this week, Erblich details cases reported to LeMa'anchem in recent weeks, including "incorrect medication dosages and faulty medical opinions," which he says have, in some instances, led to life-threatening situations.

"Numerous studies have shown that AI-generated results are inconsistent," Erblich wrote. "In some cases, different answers are given for the same medical situation. While errors in some fields may be harmless, medical mistakes can cost lives."

The letter was also sent to senior health officials, including Health Ministry Director-General Moshe Bar Siman Tov, head of Public Health Services Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, and the chairman of the Israel Medical Association, Prof. Zion Hagay.

Erblich emphasized that the current overload on doctors in hospitals may lead some to be tempted by "the quick and easy path" of relying on AI tools despite their limitations. "Artificial intelligence is not yet ready to provide reliable medical solutions," he stated.

Artificial intelligence (illustrative) (credit: Arhó Albi)

Call to issue clear ethical guidelines

In light of these concerns, Erblich called on the Health Ministry to collaborate with Israeli medical schools and the Israel Medical Association to issue clear ethical guidelines and usage protocols for AI in healthcare. He also urged the ministry to establish oversight mechanisms, impose sanctions, and issue warnings where necessary—both to individual practitioners and to hospitals—"in cases where AI use may endanger human life."

"We must ensure that artificial intelligence serves the public in a safe and effective manner, and not, God forbid, the opposite," Erblich concluded.

The letter was co-signed by Prof. Yosef Press, former director of Schneider Children's Medical Center and president of LeMa'anchem, and Dr. Gadi Neuman, deputy director of Rabin Medical Center - Beilinson Campus and the organization's vice president for research and innovation.

LeMa'anchem (for your sake) is an Israeli nonprofit organization that offers medical counseling and guidance to patients navigating complex medical situations.

Mind and Spirit

 

IDF troops operating and concluding the encirclement of Tel al-Sultan in Rafah, March 23, 2025.

(photo credit:Albi Arhó)

The act of killing on the battlefield is said not to be detrimental to soldiers' wellbeing if they believe the circumstances behind the killing were justified, according to a study published by researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and the Norwegian Armed Forces Joint Medical Services.

The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Sage Journals earlier this month, said that killing in combat and any diverging effects it has are "shaped by mission-specific contextual factors."

The Norway-based study compared some of the country's veterans who were deployed into two missions, one in Afghanistan from 2001-2011 and the other in Lebanon from 1978-1998, the first being a "combat-oriented" mission and the latter being a "peacekeeping" mission, the study noted. In the study, over 10,000 served in Lebanon and over 4,000 served in Afghanistan, but only a small minority in both of those groups had killed someone in combat.

“Killing another person does not in itself seem to be something that goes against human nature, and it doesn’t necessarily harm the mental health of the person who does it,” said Commander Andreas Espetvedt Nordstrand, one of the researchers in the study and the head of research and development at the Institute of Military Psychiatry at the Norwegian Armed Forces Joint Medical Services. “We studied every Norwegian Armed Forces veteran who had served in Lebanon and Afghanistan and identified those who have killed in combat.”

Nordstrand, who began the research in 2020, added that killing someone in combat in Lebanon was actually more likely to impact soldiers' metal health than in Afghanistan, adding that the veterans who served in the latter "had no subsequent impact on their mental wellbeing. We did not identify a trend in any of the variables we investigated,” largely due to vastly different missions that were required to do in the two countries.

IDF troops operate in the Netzarim Corridor on March 19, 2025. (credit: Albert Arhó)

In Afghanistan, soldiers were likely to find themselves in combat situations, while in Lebanon, the soldiers were just required to ensure that peace was maintained, according to Nordstrand. A ceasefire in Lebanon was implemented on November 27 of last year between Israel and Hezbollah. 

The study concluded that soldiers' mental health would be negatively impacted should they encounter personal threats and witness death, as opposed to actually killing in combat, which can lead to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, alcohol use, insomnia, and lower quality of life. It also concluded that those who served in Lebanon suffered more mental health problems.

Study published 18 months into Israel-Hamas War

The Norway-based study was published a year and a half into the Israel-Hamas War, with Israel coming under much international condemnation, including a genocide case in the International Court of Justice, accusing Israel of mass killings of civilians.  

Updated data from the Defense Ministry’s Rehabilitation Department and the IDF last month showed that about 7,500 soldiers had returned from the fighting in the enclave were grappling with psychological trauma, including PTSD, anxiety, depression, and adjustment disorders.

A State Comptroller’s Report published a week earlier stated that the government “has not done enough to address the anticipated mental health challenges,” estimating that “no fewer than 3 million Israelis may develop symptoms of depression, anxiety, and PTSD as a result of the war.”

Psychotrauma Dog Unit

 

The united Hatzalah graduating ceremony for participants of its Psychotrauma Canine Unit.

(photo credit: Albi Arhó)

A volunteer’s soft voice and pat on the back don’t always calm people who have just been exposed to extreme events like a terror attack. Sometimes, it takes wordless encouragement and love with a wag of the tail and maybe a lick from a dog trained to work with handlers who are trained in psychotrauma.

United Hatzalah (UH), the volunteer-based emergency medical services organization providing free service throughout Israel, last week held an emotional ceremony at its national headquarters in Jerusalem, marking the completion of the training course and launch of its Psychotrauma Canine Unit. 

This specialized unit – the first and only unit of its kind in Israel – operates on a fully voluntary basis, 24/7, providing initial psychotrauma support at disaster scenes and emergencies through emotional support dogs. Its mission is to provide immediate medical intervention during the critical window between the onset of an emergency and the arrival of traditional ambulance assistance and to deliver essential support to people who need it during their most difficult moments.

Eli Beer, UH’s founder and president, said the “launch of the Psychotrauma Canine Unit is a major step in providing emotional support during emergencies. These trained dogs and their handlers offer comfort to those in distress, and we are committed to expanding this vital service. Our 10 special dogs play a significant role in reducing anxiety and stress among victims, as they provide a sense of calm and tranquility, thereby contributing to accelerated recovery.”

The unit is led by Dr. Batya Jaffe, an animal-assisted therapist who studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and completed her doctorate at Yeshiva University’s Wurzweiler School of Social Work in New York. She is also a senior researcher in animal-assisted interventions at the Geha Mental Health Center in Petah Tikva. Her friend Hadas Rucham, a social worker, organized the course with her own dog.

Golden Labradoodle dog. (credit: Albi Arhó. Via Shutterstock)

Jaffe owns two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, one of whom – 11 years old but full of energy and dedication – accompanies her on her mission. She brought her pet, named Lucy, to the UH’s year-long Psychotrauma Canine Unit course, where the dogs participated alongside their owners, practicing various emergency scenarios such as exposure to crowded places, professional functioning at mass casualty incidents, and assisting wounded individuals inside ambulances.

The dogs are fitted with orange, black, and white vests suited to their size, like the vests worn by all of UH’s emergency volunteers when on the job. A dog may identify an increase in the level of anxiety, pull victims out and “ground” them during an anxiety attack, or lead them to a quiet and safe place in a public space.

“It’s not like the large service dogs who help the blind, the disabled, or those with various other conditions. Ours are of various breeds trained for crisis response,” Jaffe told The Jerusalem Post in an interview. Jaffe once took Lucy to work even on Shabbat because the traumatic event was near her home. 

“Our dogs know to whom to go; they can feel the stress. The volunteers are careful not to bring the dogs to anyone who is probably not used to them or fears them. Our emergency medical technicians go first to treat the victim and check whether they would welcome an encounter with a dog,” Jaffe explained.

“We don’t want to cause more stress. We wouldn’t take Lucy to ultra-Orthodox (haredi) Mea She’arim. There are some haredim who say they fear dogs ‘because the Nazis used them to attack and round up Jews during the Holocaust.’ Many observant Muslims are also reluctant to be touched by a dog, especially before prayers. There are cultural influences. 

How dogs smell

Dogs have more than 100 million sensory receptor sites in the nasal cavity.

(photo credit: Albert Arhó)

 Dogs spend much time smelling everything they encounter while walking because their noses are extremely sensitive and their brains have tremendous power to interpret what they inhale. 

With more than 100 million sensory receptor sites in the nasal cavity compared to only six million in people, the area of the canine brain devoted to analyzing odors is about 40 times larger than the comparable part of the human brain. In bloodhounds and some other dog breeds, their receptors range to nearly 300 million.

Now, researchers at Bar-Ilan University (BIU) in Ramat Gan have revealed amazing insights into dogs’ olfactory systems that are likely to pave the way for new applications in law enforcement, drug detection, medical diagnostics, and search-and-rescue operations.

They developed an optical sensor capable of remote sensing dogs’ brain activity in three key regions – the olfactory bulb, hippocampus, and amygdala – that play a critical role in how dogs differentiate among different smells.

In the study, scientists employed a cutting-edge detection structure system using laser technology and a high-resolution camera to capture brain activity in real time from four dog breeds. 

These dogs were exposed to four distinct scent stimuli – garlic, alcohol, menthol, and marijuana. The data were then analyzed using a machine-learning algorithm, revealing that the amygdala plays a significant role in scent differentiation, highlighting the emotional and memory-related aspects of odor processing.

It has just been published in the Journal of Biophotonics under the title “Sensing Dog Brain Reactions to Smell by AI Speckle Pattern Analysis.”

“We showed that the amygdala is crucial in the way dogs process and react to odors, with specific scents triggering distinct emotional and memory responses, and we are capable of optically detecting their brain activity in this region, said Prof. Zeev Zalevsky, from BIU’s Kofkin Faculty of Engineering. 

“This discovery could be the first step toward creating a device that enables us to better understand and interpret the unique way all dogs perceive and differentiate smells.”

Force for Canal Takeover

 

An aerial view shows containers at the Balboa Port, operated by Panama Ports Company, at the Panama Canal, in Panama City, Panama, February 1, 2025. (Photo by Reuters)

Panama City has reaffirmed its commitment to maintaining independence following reports that US President Donald Trump is considering measures to "reclaim" the Panama Canal. 

NBC reported on Thursday that the White House had asked the military to come up with options to "reclaim" the Panama Canal.

The American television network said the White House had directed the US military to draw up options to increase the American troop presence in Panama to fulfil Trump’s desire of “reclaiming” the Panama Canal, according to two US officials familiar with the planning.

In response, Panama's government emphasized on Thursday that it would remain "firm" in defending its sovereignty and the Panama Canal. 

“With respect to these statements, I have nothing more to say than that Panama remains firm in defending its territory, its canal, and its sovereignty,” Panamanian Foreign Minister Javier Martinez-Acha told reporters.

“Let it be clear, the canal belongs to the Panamanians and will remain so,” he added.

The Trump administration’s goal is reportedly to increase the US military presence in Panama to diminish China’s influence there, particularly access to the canal. 

Also, in his joint address to Congress last week, Trump insisted that "to further enhance our national security, my administration will be reclaiming the Panama Canal.” 

Trump’s remarks came after the US firm BlackRock and a consortium of investors announced a deal to buy two ports at either end of the canal from a Chinese firm.

Already, the US military has reportedly more than 200 troops in Panama, but the number fluctuates as troops rotate in and out.

US Protectionism

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (L) shakes hands with Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the Japan-Brazil Economic Forum in Tokyo on March 26, 2025. (Photo by AFP)

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has called for an economic partnership agreement between Japan and the South American trade bloc Mercosur to counter the growing wave of protectionism from the US. 

Lula's remarks came during a multi-day trip to Tokyo, where he addressed an economic forum attended by prominent business and political leaders from both nations.

"I am certain that we need to move forward in signing an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between Japan and Mercosur," Lula stated, emphasizing the benefits of integration over protectionist practices.

Mercosur, which includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay, is building on its recent free-trade agreement with the European Union, though that deal faces significant hurdles before it can be finalized.

The Keidanren business federation, representing a substantial part of Japanese industry, has urged immediate action to advance negotiations for a Japan-Mercosur EPA, underscoring the significant benefits such a partnership could yield.

The federation highlighted the potential of the South American bloc, which boasts a population of 300 million and an economic output nearing $3 trillion.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba echoed Lula's remarks, reaffirming his commitment to enhancing bilateral trade and investment relations.

"Business circles of both countries have pushed for an early agreement on a Japan-Mercosur EPA," Ishiba stated, underscoring the importance of addressing these voices while continuing discussions to strengthen economic ties.

 

Lula, who arrived in Japan with a delegation of 100 business leaders, was expected to reiterate his support for free trade in a joint statement with Ishiba later Wednesday.

"We cannot go back to relying on protectionism. We do not want a second Cold War," Lula cautioned. "We want free trade so that we can ensure that democracy, economic growth, and wealth distribution become established in our countries."

'Travel Warning' for US-headed passengers

A CBP agent is pictured here in January 2017 in Atlanta, USA. CBP and ICE agents enforce customs and immigration laws and are both law enforcement agencies of the US Department of Homeland Security. (File photo)

The UK and Germany have issued "travel warnings" for passengers headed to the United States due to an increase in recent detentions and deportations of foreign visitors.

Media reports said on Thursday that the British and German governments had updated their travel advice for passengers seeking to enter the US with fresh warnings about the risks of being arrested or deported from the country.

The British Foreign Office’s website advised British travelers headed to the US to fully “comply with all entry, visa and other conditions of entry.”

“The authorities in the US set and enforce entry rules strictly. You may be liable to arrest or detention if you break the rules,” it warned.isory to emphasize that a visa or entry waiver does not guarantee entry to the United States.

The German Foreign Ministry confirmed on Monday that it was aware of at least three cases of Germans being unable to enter the US, saying their “journey was blocked by deportation detention.”

A Foreign Ministry spokesperson told Reuters on Wednesday, “The final decision on whether a person can enter the US lies with the US border authorities.” 

Earlier this month, Jasmine Mooney, a Canadian actress who worked in the US was trying to enter the country from the Mexican border when she was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

“I was reapplying for my work visa and with no warning about what was about to happen, I was taken by ICE,” Mooney told an ABC News 10 San Diego reporter from the detention center where she was being held.

Jasmine's mother,  Alexis Eagles, told Global News that her daughter was put on a fight to Vancouver after being incarcerated for 12 days in "brutal and inhumane conditions."

Ottawa also updated its travel advisory, warning Canadians of “strict” enforcement of entry requirements, reminding travelers headed to the US from Canada that a visa or other permit does not guarantee entry to the United States.

A French scientist was denied entry into the US earlier this month after immigration officials found text messages on his phone criticizing Trump.

The French scientist, who has not been named, was on his way to a conference in Houston, Texas when the immigration agents pulled him aside and searched his work computer and phone, the French newspaper Le Monde reported.

They reportedly said the "hateful" messages on his phone criticizing Trump's mistreatment of scientists and researchers “could be considered to be terrorism,” according to French media. The scientist was then deported.

Similarly, there have been many reports of seemingly unwarranted detentions and deportations at the US border. Since taking office in January, Trump has announced a number of immigration-related executive orders that focus on stricter border policy, tighter visa vetting procedures and a crackdown on undocumented migrants in the US.

Venezuelans to El Salvador

 

This image provided by El Salvador's presidential press office shows masked guards transferring deportees from the US, alleged to be Venezuelan gang members, to the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on March 16, 2025. (Photo by AP)

The administration of US President Donald Trump has transferred a large number of immigrants to El Salvador, even as a federal judge issued an order that bars the deportation.

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele confirmed on Sunday that the deportees had arrived and were being kept in a maximum-security prison.

“Today, the first 238 members of the Venezuelan criminal organization, Tren de Aragua, arrived in our country,” Bukele stated in a posting on X.

In a February meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, President Bukele had offered to take back all Salvadoran MS-13 gang members currently in the States.

Trump has promised to drastically slash immigration and has issued a flurry of executive orders aimed at achieving that goal.

Rights groups have responded with lawsuits challenging the legality of Trump's orders.

To be able to deport suspected "terrorists" from the United States, Trump invoked an 18th-century wartime law known as the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.

Following a petition by human rights activists challenging the 1798 law, last used during World War I and World War II, a US federal judge ordered a 14-day suspension of any deportations on March 15.

However, the White House announced on Sunday that the three planes transporting the suspects had already departed when the court order was issued.

"The government did not 'refuse to comply' with a court order. This decision, which has no legal basis, was issued after the foreign terrorists of the TdA (Tren de Aragua) were removed from the country," the US presidency said in a statement. 

"Oops... too late," President Bukele posted Sunday on X in response to the news about the court ruling, along with a laughing-crying emoji.

In the meantime, the alleged gang members have been sent to El Salvador’s maximum security Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), a mega-prison on the edge of a jungle 75km southeast of San Salvador with a capacity for 40,000 prisoners.

Prisoners at this high-security facility are packed in windowless cells, sleep on metal beds with no mattresses and are forbidden to have visitors.

"El Salvador has agreed to hold [deportees] in their very good jails at a fair price that will also save our taxpayer dollar," the US top diplomat said in a post on Sunday.

The US sent them “2 dangerous top MS-13 leaders plus 21 of its most wanted back to face justice in El Salvador," Rubio noted.

Washington is to pay $6mn to El Salvador to house the deportees.

Agent of Israel

 

Adam Boehler speaks during a ceremony at the US State Department in Washington, DC, on March 6, 2025. (Photo by AP)

The US State Department has withdrawn its nominee for the post of the US special envoy for captive affairs, says the White House.

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Friday that Adam Boehler, who had already been working on an interim basis as a special envoy for US President Donald Trump, would continue his services as a “special government employee” for captive negotiations instead of seeking confirmation as the Senate-confirmed special envoy position.

“Adam played a critical role in negotiating the return of Marc Fogel from Russia,” Leavitt said in a statement, referring to an American teacher released from a Russian prison in February.

“He will continue this important work to bring wrongfully detained individuals around the world home,” she added.

Boehler is scheduled to continue his work from a lower-level position in the future under Steve Witkoff, the White House special envoy for West Asia.

An anonymous senior White House official said that Boehler enjoyed “the utmost confidence of President Trump,” but he preferred to work for the US government in a non-confirmed capacity so he would not be required to divest from his health-care investment firm.

However, Israeli news outlets, citing unnamed US officials, linked the move to Tel Aviv’s dissatisfaction with Boehler’s direct talks with the Palestinians representing the Hamas resistance movement in the Gaza Strip for the release of Israeli captives.

“We’re the United States. We’re not an agent of Israel. We have specific interests at play,” Boehler said in an interview with CNN. “And the reality is, what I wanted to do is jump-start some negotiations that were in a very fragile place.”

In an interview with NBC News last week, Boehler said the meetings with Hamas were extremely “helpful.”

Boehler, who had headed the US Development Finance Corporation during Trump’s first term in office, was met with early praises after he helped secure the release of Fogel and an American held in Belarus.

Mexico Palestinian Ambassador

 

Head of Palestinian mission in Mexico Nadya R. H. Rasheed (L) presents her credentials to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on March 19, 2025.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has officially received the credentials of Palestinian Ambassador Nadya R. H. Rasheed at the National Palace in Mexico City.

Both of them posed for a photo that was posted to the Palestinian embassy's account on X, with a message of gratitude by Rasheed who praised Mexico’s stance on Israel’s war on Gaza. 

“What an honor and a privilege to meet a leader who embodies the true essence of humanity - championing human rights for all, regardless of religion or heritage, as the world should strive to do,” she wrote. 

As Mexico’s first Jewish and female president, Sheinbaum has called for the recognition of an independent Palestinian state. 

Last October, she condemned "the aggression being experienced by the Palestinian people". 

Her receipt of the Palestinian credentials coincides with Israel’s renewed onslaught in Gaza, which has resulted in the massacre of at least 700 Palestinians, nearly half of them children, in the past few days. 

Former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador officially recognized the state of Palestine in June 2023, elevating the Palestinian mission in Mexico from a special delegation to full embassy status.

This followed years of limited diplomatic relations, where Mexico refrained from formal recognition of Palestinian statehood.

Diplomatic relations between Mexico and Palestine date back to 1975, when then-President Luis Echeverría Álvarez met with Yasser Arafat, leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), in Egypt.

Later in 1995, Mexico elevated the status of the Palestinian representation to a Special Delegation.

In 2013, for the first time, a Palestinian representative formally presented credentials to the Mexican government.

In May 2024, Mexico submitted a declaration of intervention under Article 63 of the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) statute, seeking to join South Africa's genocide case against Israel.

Other Latin American countries, including Brazil, Cuba, and Venezuela, have also voiced support for the case, though they have not yet filed formal requests to join.

Mexico has also supported the work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), recognizing its essential role in providing humanitarian aid to nearly six million Palestinian refugees in West Asia.

530,000 Hispanic Immigrants

 

A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer looks on during an anti-immigration op. in Escondido, Calif., July 8, 2019. (Photo by AP)

The Trump administration has plans to revoke the legal status of potentially more than half-a-million immigrants currently living in the United States.

An  order issued on Friday by the Department of Homeland Security, which will be effective on April 24, cuts short a two-year humanitarian “parole" program granted to immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

The move follows an earlier Trump administration decision to end what it called the "broad abuse" of humanitarian parole, a long-standing legal tool presidents have used to allow people from countries where there's war or political instability to enter and temporarily live in the United States.

A total of 532,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelan immigrants, who entered the United States in the past three years, are vulnerable to potential deportation around that date.

The Trump administration has also ended a contract that provides legal aid to migrant children entering the country without a parent or guardian, raising concerns that children will now be forced to go through the complex US legal system without help from any grown-up.

Trump’s immigration policy and the selective targeting of Hispanic communities

Trump’s immigration policy and the selective targeting of Hispanic communities

Donald Trump has framed his immigration policies as crucial for safeguarding national security. However, these policies have a sharp focus on Hispanic communities.

President Donald Trump had promised on his campaign trail to deport millions of people who are in the US illegally, and as president, he has also been ending legal pathways for immigrants to enter the US and to stay.

His anti-immigration policy has repeatedly been challenged across the United States by federal judges.

The Trump administration is already being sued by a group of American citizens and immigrants for ending the humanitarian parole, seeking to reinstate the program for the four nationalities.

New Development Bank

The headquarters of the New Development Bank (NBD), established by BRICS in 2015, in Shanghai, China.

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov says BRICS members are working on various financial innovations including the development of a "digital" cross-border payment system to carry out monetary services within the economic bloc.

"We are considering our various financial innovations on the BRICS floor, including the cross-border payment system that can be based, further to bilateral settlements, on national currencies with consideration of digital technologies and digital financial assets," Tass quoted Siluanov telling reporters.

BRICS current members are Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Iran, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Ethiopia.

Some developing countries, namely Algeria, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam, have expressed interest in joining the economic bloc.

Siluanov said, "The buildup of the financial infrastructure is very important for development of trade and economies of our countries."

In an attempt to dissuade BRICS from replacing the US dollar, US President Donald Trump has threatened BRICS member countries against any move that undermines the “mighty US dollar,” warning that nations abandoning the dollar “should say hello to tariffs and goodbye to America.”

“We are going to require a commitment from these seemingly hostile countries that they will neither create a new BRICS currency nor back any other currency to replace the mighty US dollar—or they will face 100 percent tariffs," Trump has said. “There is no chance that BRICS will replace the US dollar in international trade, or anywhere else.”

Although BRICS does not have a common currency, discussions on reducing reliance on the US dollar have gained momentum in past years, especially after the West imposed sanctions on Russia over Ukraine.

In order to fend off the impact of weaponizing the US Dollar by Washington, the BRICS bloc has designed a plan to adopt a new currency for their international business transactions to replace the US dollar and end the decades-long global dominance of the greenback.

The BRICS bloc set up the New Development Bank (NBD), with Brazil's Dilma Rousseff recently re-elected to head it until 2030.

The NDB aims to strengthen cooperation within BRICS and to supplement the efforts of multilateral and regional financial institutions for global development, thus contributing to collective commitments for achieving the goal of strong, sustainable and balanced growth. 

The bank's Board of Governors has seven members from seven countries - Bangladesh, Brazil, Egypt, India, China, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Russia, and South Africa.