VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews, Jakarta - Qatar's ruling emir on Tuesday urged the international community not to grant Israel "unrestricted authorisation to kill" Palestinians in its fight against Hamas, in what he called a dangerous escalation that threatens global security.

"We say enough. Israel shouldn't be granted an unconditional green light and unrestricted authorisation to kill," Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani said in an annual speech to open the Gulf Arab state's advisory Shura council, his first public comments since Qatar began its most recent efforts to mediate between Israel and Hamas.

The Palestinian health ministry said the Gaza death toll had topped 5,000 in two weeks of Israeli air strikes in response to Hamas' surprise Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, in which the Islamist militant group killed more than 1,400 people and captured more than 200 hostages.

Since then, wealthy gas-producer Qatar has had an open dialogue with both Israel and Hamas which has brought about the release of four hostages held by Hamas, including two Israeli women on Monday.

"We call for a serious regional and international stance against this dangerous escalation that we are witnessing, which threatens the security of the region and the world,” Sheikh Tamim said.

"We do not accept double standards and acting like the lives of Palestinian children aren't accounted for, as if they don't have faces or names." (Reuters)

VOINews, Jakarta - Russia and Iran are firming up bilateral relations in a 'trusting' atmosphere, Russia's foreign ministry said early on Tuesday after its chief, Sergei Lavrov, was received by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi during a visit to Tehran.

"In a traditionally trusting atmosphere, current aspects of the bilateral agenda were substantively discussed with an emphasis on further building up the entire complex of multifaceted Russian-Iranian partnership," the foreign ministry said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.

Lavrov, who went to Tehran shortly after an Asia trip to China and North Korea, discussed energy and logistics projects with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian.

As has been the Russian norm, few details of the talks, which took place amid the rising tensions in the Middle East, have been disclosed.

Lavrov also participated in regional talks hosted by Iran, aiming to bring peace to the South Caucasus region after Azerbaijani forces last month recaptured the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh and forced thousands of ethnic Armenians to flee.

Since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Moscow has sought to firm up ties with countries traditionally considered Western aligned, accusing "the collective West" of trying to break up Russia.

Ukraine has urged Tehran to stop supplying deadly drones to Russia, which Kyiv says have played a major role in Moscow's attacks on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.

Iran initially denied supplying the Shahed kamikaze drones to Russia but later said it had provided a small number before Moscow launched the war.

The United States has said that it has been concerned by the "burgeoning defence partnership" between Iran and Russia, which poses risks not only to Ukraine but also to Iran's neighbours. (Reuters)

VOINews, Jakarta - Some of Israel's actions in its war against Hamas, like cutting off food and water for Gaza, could "harden Palestinian attitudes for generations" and weaken international support for Israel, former U.S. President Barack Obama said on Monday.

In rare comments on an active foreign policy crisis, Obama said any Israeli military strategy that ignores the human costs of the war "could ultimately backfire."

"The Israeli government's decision to cut off food, water and electricity to a captive civilian population (in Gaza) threatens not only to worsen a growing humanitarian crisis; it could further harden Palestinian attitudes for generations, erode global support for Israel, play into the hands of Israel's enemies, and undermine long-term efforts to achieve peace and stability in the region," Obama said.

Israel has heavily bombarded Gaza with air strikes since Hamas' Oct. 7 assault on Israel left over 1,400 people dead. Israel's air strikes have killed more than 5,000 Palestinians, Gaza officials say.

Obama condemned Hamas' attack and reiterated his support for Israel's right to defend itself, while cautioning about risks to civilians in such wars.

It was not clear whether Obama had coordinated his statement with U.S. President Joe Biden, who served as his vice president for eight years.

During his presidency, Obama often backed Israel's right to self-defense at the start of conflicts with Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza, but quickly called for Israeli restraint once Palestinian casualties mounted from airstrikes.

Gaza, a 45 km-long (25-mile) strip of land that is home to 2.3 million people, has been ruled politically since 2007 by Hamas, an Iran-backed Islamist group, but faces a blockade from Israel.

The Obama administration sought, but ultimately failed to broker, a peace deal in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Since taking office in early 2021, Biden has not tried to resume long-stalled talks, saying that leaders on both sides were too intransigent and the climate was not right.

Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a testy relationship when Obama was in office, including when Obama's administration was negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran.

Biden, as Obama's vice president, often acted as a mediator between the two men.

In his statement on Monday, Obama acknowledged that the U.S. had itself "fallen short of our higher values when engaged in war," especially after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. (Reuters)

VOINews, Jakarta - Deputy Governor of Bank Indonesia (BI) Juda Agung has said that BI will strengthen cybersecurity to protect the national financial system infrastructure following an increase in cyberattacks against financial service providers in 2023.

"BI will encourage the strengthening of cyber resilience, both from BI and the industry. Because the smooth running of payment systems and data security are essential to maintain the trust of the community," he said at the launch of the Financial Stability Study (KSK) No.41 book here on Monday.

According to him, the central bank is currently creating a template for an end-to-end cybersecurity policy, which will cover cyber handling in industries, preventive steps, and resolution measures when a cyberattack occurs, including the mechanism of coordination with the Financial Services Authority (OJK).

"We have a forum that regularly evaluates cyber resilience in this industry. But if they (cyberattacks) continue to occur, a protocol is needed; we are strengthening this," he said.

Apart from system disruption, cyberattacks on financial system infrastructure would cause a decline in public trust in the financial system, he added.

This year, several financial institutions in Indonesia have fallen victim to cyberattacks. They have included state-owned Bank Syariah Indonesia (BSI), multifinance company BFI Finance Indonesia (BFIN), and workers' social security agency BPJS Ketenagakerjaan.

State of the Internet, in its report entitled The High Stakes of Innovation: Attack Trends in Financial Services, said that the financial services sector in the Asia-Pacific and Japan was hit by 3.7 billion cyberattacks in the period from the second quarter of 2022 to the second quarter of 2023.

With this figure, the sector emerged as the one with the most number of cyberattacks. (Antaranews)