This article is part of the Clarion’s Week in Review series, covering current events that shape the conversations on our campus and beyond.
The past week brought significant developments in the U.S. and around the globe. As Americans grappled with the boundaries of free speech, a stark United Nations report concluded that Palestinians in Gaza are experiencing genocide.
Meanwhile, outrage over corruption in flood control projects erupted in the Philippines, with thousands filling the streets of Manila to demand accountability, just as the nation and several others in Southeast Asia are simultaneously bracing for Super Typhoon Ragasa.
U.N. finds Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip
In a 72-page report released on Sept. 16, a U.N. commission of inquiry concluded that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
The Commission concluded that since Oct. 7, 2023, Israeli authorities and security forces have committed four of the five genocidal acts described in the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which criminalizes genocide and obliges member states to prevent and punish it. It was the first unanimously adopted U.N. human rights treaty.
These acts were committed, according to the Commission, “with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as a group.”
The U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory was established by the U.N. Human Rights Council in 2021 to investigate alleged human rights and international humanitarian law violations.
It is chaired by Navi Pillay, a South African jurist and former U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. She was also the president of the international criminal tribunal on the Rwandan genocide.
“The Commission finds that Israel is responsible for the commission of genocide in Gaza,” said Pillay in a press release last week. “It is clear that there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through acts that meet the criteria set forth in the Genocide Convention.”
A day earlier, U.N. Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese announced that, while the figures reported by the Palestinian Ministry of Health describe at least 64,964 Palestinians killed in Gaza, the actual death toll may be as high as 680,000 people.
“If this number is confirmed, 380,000 of these are infants under five,” Albanese said.
On Sept. 21, Australia, Canada, Portugal and the United Kingdom formally recognized a state of Palestine, joining the majority of U.N. member states in doing so. The U.N. General Assembly will open its annual session on Tuesday, Sept. 23, celebrating the organization’s 80th anniversary.
Southeast Asia prepares for Super Typhoon Ragasa amidst anti-corruption protests in the Philippines
Tens of thousands of Filipino protestors took to the streets Sunday, Sept. 21, amidst allegations of government corruption after it was estimated that the country has lost as much as $15 billion in the last two years meant for flood relief projects.
The allegations were initially levied in July, but demands for the return of the relief aid and jail time for those who have profited from the country’s geographic vulnerability to flooding disasters, continued.
The demonstrations in Manila gathered as many as 50,000 protestors, many of whom were peaceful.
Organizers chose to hold the protests on Sunday, as Sept. 21, 1972, marks the martial law declaration by President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. which began a twenty-year-long dictatorship. Between 1972 and 1986, 70,000 Filipinos were arrested, 34,000 were tortured and at least 3,240 were killed.
The protests come as Super Typhoon Ragasa, locally known as Nando, and expected to be the strongest storm this year, made landfall in the Philippines around 1:00 p.m. local time Sept. 22.
Schools and government offices have been closed, including in Manila, and nearly 10,000 Filipinos have been evacuated. A super typhoon is equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane, and officials are already warning of the destruction expected along Ragasa’s path.
Hundreds of thousands of people in China and Vietnam are preparing for evacuation, while Laos officials have directed local authorities to enhance disaster relief efforts. Some 300 people have moved away from Taiwan’s coasts in anticipation of flooding.
ABC ends suspension of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
Comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” will return to air, a representative for Walt Disney Company, which owns Kimmel’s network ABC, announced.
The statement comes after days of outrage both online and across the country following the indefinite suspension of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on Sept. 17 due to Kimmel’s monologue about President Trump and his supporters’ reactions to the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk on Sept. 10.
Allies of President Trump, including Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr, publicly threatened ABC, which suspended production on the show “to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country,” the spokesperson said in a statement to CNN.
“It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive,” the spokesperson said.
Kimmel, a vocal critic of President Trump and his administration, made no public statements, but swift public backlash erupted across the country. Kimmel quickly became the face of the ongoing national debate over freedom of speech protections.
Among Kimmel’s supporters were organized protestors in New York and California and more than 430 entertainers who signed an open letter organized by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
Immigration judge orders deportation of Mahmoud Khalil
On Sept. 18, a Louisiana immigration judge ordered the deportation of pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil to either Algeria or Syria citing information he allegedly omitted from his green card application.
Khalil, a former graduate student at Columbia University, became among the first international student activists targeted by the Trump administration when he was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in March.
Khalil is accused of leaving information about his involvement in pro-Palestinian activism and aid work he did with the U.N. off of his green card application, accusations his lawyers claim are pretext for his political activism.
The order names Algeria and Syria specifically because Khalil holds a passport in Algeria and was born and raised in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria.
Khalil likely will not be immediately deported. His lawyers are expected to appeal the decision, and his case challenging his initial detention is still making its way through the New Jersey court system.
