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Celia Hatton

๐Ÿ‘ค Speaker
2148 total appearances

Appearances Over Time

Podcast Appearances

Global News Podcast
Four countries boycott Eurovision over Israel's inclusion

There had been questions about whether the Israeli government had influenced the public vote, given that the Israeli entry came top in that public vote.

Global News Podcast
Four countries boycott Eurovision over Israel's inclusion

So how big a crisis is this for the Eurovision Song Contest?

Global News Podcast
Four countries boycott Eurovision over Israel's inclusion

Can these divisions be healed?

Global News Podcast
Four countries boycott Eurovision over Israel's inclusion

Mark Savage.

Global News Podcast
Four countries boycott Eurovision over Israel's inclusion

Let's turn to the latest from Gaza, where a prominent Palestinian militia leader who opposed Hamas has been killed.

Global News Podcast
Four countries boycott Eurovision over Israel's inclusion

Yasser Abu Shabab was a Bedouin tribal chief who led a group operating in Israeli-controlled territory near the southern city of Rafah.

Global News Podcast
Four countries boycott Eurovision over Israel's inclusion

Hamas had accused him of collaborating with Israel.

Global News Podcast
Four countries boycott Eurovision over Israel's inclusion

He'd been one of several men jostling for power as the region prepares for the second phase of the U.S.

Global News Podcast
Four countries boycott Eurovision over Israel's inclusion

ceasefire plan.

Global News Podcast
Four countries boycott Eurovision over Israel's inclusion

His militia, the Popular Forces, said he was shot while trying to resolve a family dispute.

Global News Podcast
Four countries boycott Eurovision over Israel's inclusion

But Venetia Mingus, a journalist with The Times of London who recently interviewed Yasser Abu Shabab, says there are reports that he may have been assassinated.

Global News Podcast
Four countries boycott Eurovision over Israel's inclusion

Yasser Abu Shabab was a 35-year-old smuggler from Rafah in southern Gaza who, at the start of the war in Gaza, was in a Hamas prison on drug trafficking charges.

Global News Podcast
Four countries boycott Eurovision over Israel's inclusion

So quite an unlikely figure to end up leading a militia.

Global News Podcast
Four countries boycott Eurovision over Israel's inclusion

However, in May last year, he emerged as leader of what he called the Popular Forces.

Global News Podcast
Four countries boycott Eurovision over Israel's inclusion

He declared the group to be an anti-Hamas militia working towards a terrorism-free future for the Strip.

Global News Podcast
Four countries boycott Eurovision over Israel's inclusion

But it is worth noting he never really had the support of Gazan's civilians, even though many are anti-Hamas, as he's seen as a collaborator with Israel.

Global News Podcast
Four countries boycott Eurovision over Israel's inclusion

Now, when I interviewed him...

Global News Podcast
Four countries boycott Eurovision over Israel's inclusion

He denied this, although it is clear he's been working with Israel as he has been operating under their areas of control.

Global News Podcast
Four countries boycott Eurovision over Israel's inclusion

And he said that he was funded and supported by powerful members of the Tarabin tribe, who are a Bedouin tribe which stretch from Egypt to the UAE.

Global News Podcast
Four countries boycott Eurovision over Israel's inclusion

And he said they provided the weapons and the money to keep their group going.