• Leaders condemn Israeli strike on Doha as unlawful attack.
• Israel responsible for genocide, war crimes: summit.
• Leaders call for urgent action to end these practices.

The Arab-Islamic Emergency Summit on Monday called for wide-ranging sanctions on Israel, including an arms embargo and review of economic and diplomatic ties, in response to Tel Aviv’s “flagrant aggression” against Qatar and its ongoing war in Gaza.

Leaders — in the final communiqué issued after the emergency meeting — demanded international accountability, warning that Israel’s repeated crimes and violations of international law pose a direct threat to regional and global peace.

The communiqué urged all states to hold Israel accountable by imposing sanctions, halting the transfer of weapons and military materials, reviewing their relations, and pursuing legal action.

The summit was convened after Israel’s September 9 strike on a residential area in Doha, which targeted housing facilities for mediation delegations, schools, nurseries, and diplomatic missions. The attack caused civilian casualties, including a Qatari martyr, and injuries among residents.

Arab and Islamic leaders condemned the strike in the strongest terms, calling it “cowardly and unlawful.” They said it amounted to a flagrant act of aggression against an Arab and Islamic state and a dangerous escalation that exposes the extremism of the Israeli government.

The communiqué reaffirmed absolute solidarity with Qatar, declaring that aggression against one Arab or Islamic state is an attack on all. Leaders pledged to stand firmly with Qatar in all measures it may take to defend its sovereignty, stability, and the safety of its people.

They warned that Israel’s assault on Qatar, a key mediator in ceasefire talks for Gaza, was also an attack on international peace-making itself. Israel, they said, bore full responsibility for undermining mediation and diplomacy. 

The summit said Israel was responsible for genocide, ethnic cleansing, siege, and starvation against Palestinians and termed such actions as war crimes in violation of the Geneva Conventions.

Leaders condemned settlement expansion, forced displacement, and annexation attempts, describing them as crimes against humanity.

They called for urgent international action to end these practices, stressing that silence and inaction had emboldened Israel to persist in its aggressions and perpetuate a policy of impunity.

The leaders reaffirmed support for an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, rejecting any attempt to bypass or undermine the Palestinian cause. They endorsed Jordan’s custodianship of Al-Aqsa Mosque, declaring it a place of worship exclusively for Muslims.

The communiqué also backed the enforcement of International Criminal Court arrest warrants against Israeli officials and compliance with International Court of Justice rulings on genocide prevention in Gaza. 

The summit welcomed the “New York Declaration” by the UN General Assembly supporting Palestinian statehood and the upcoming Two-State Solution Conference in New York, co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France.

It also valued efforts by Arab and Islamic states at the UN Security Council, especially Algeria, Somalia, and Pakistan, for defending the Palestinian cause and convening the emergency session on Israel’s attack against Qatar.

They added that Israel’s aggression against Qatar was not an isolated act but part of a broader campaign that threatens the sovereignty of Arab and Islamic states, undermines international law, and destabilises the region.

LONDON: A Pakistani-origin doctor who left a patient midway through an operation to have intercourse with a nurse is at “very low risk” of repeating his serious misconduct, a medical tribunal has ruled.

Married father-of-three, 44, and the unnamed nurse were caught in a “compromising position” by a shocked colleague who walked in on the pair at Tameside Hospital.

The consultant anaesthetist from Lahore had asked another nursing colleague to monitor the male patient, who was under general anaesthetic, so he could go to the bathroom.

Instead, the doctor went to another operating theatre – used partly as a storage room – at the hospital in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, where sexual activity took place with Nurse C on September 16, 2023.

The doctor was absent from the operating room for eight minutes and the patient came to no harm. The matter was reported to management and the doctor was dismissed in February 2024 following an internal investigation.

Last week, he told an MPTS disciplinary tribunal he wanted to resume his career in the UK and relocate with his family after they had since moved to his native Pakistan where he worked as a doctor.

The doctor promised there would never be a repeat of a “one-off error of judgment”.

Giving evidence, he said: “It was quite shameful, to say the least. I only have myself to blame. I let down everybody, not just my patient and myself but the trust and how it would look. I let down my colleagues who gave me a lot of respect.”

On Monday, the tribunal determined that the doctor “had put his own interests before those of the patient and his colleagues” and the incident involving Nurse C “had the potential to distract … and he may not have able to give his full attention to the patient’s care”.

Tribunal chairwoman Rebecca Miller said his actions, while they did not harm the patient’s safety, were “significant enough to amount to misconduct that was serious”.

However, she was satisfied that the doctor was determined not to repeat his past misconduct and considered the risk of repetition to be “very low”.

Miller said: “The tribunal considered that members of the public and the profession would understand the high level of scrutiny to which …Dr Anjum had been subjected, and that a finding of serious misconduct would weigh heavily upon him. 

The tribunal was satisfied that this public finding of serious misconduct was sufficient to maintain public confidence in the profession and proper professional standards, and that there was not a necessity to make a finding of impaired fitness to practise for that purpose.”

No sanction will be imposed on the doctor and the hearing will reconvene in Manchester on Tuesday to decide whether to issue a warning on the doctor’s registration.

The doctor had admitted engaging in sexual activity with Nurse C and that he knew she was “likely to be nearby” when he left his patient. He also admitted his actions had the potential to put his patient at risk.

NEW YORK: New York Governor Kathy Hochul has endorsed Zohran Mamdani in his run for mayor of New York City, a major boost for the rising Muslim politician.

“In the four years since I took office, one of my foundational beliefs has been the importance of the office of New York governor working hand in hand with the mayor of New York City for the betterment of the 8.3 million residents we both represent,” Hochul wrote in a New York Times opinion piece.

“The question of who will be the next mayor is one I take extremely seriously and to which I have devoted a great deal of thought. Tonight I am endorsing Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani.”

In a post on X linking to the column, she wrote: “New York City deserves a mayor who will stand up to (President) Donald Trump and make life more affordable for New Yorkers. “That’s @ZohranKMamdani.”

In response, Mamdani welcomed the endorsement in a post on X. “I’m grateful for the Governor’s support in unifying our party, her resolve in standing up to Trump, and her focus on making New York affordable. I look forward to the great work we will accomplish together. Our movement is only growing stronger,” he wrote.

Mamdani won the Democratic primary in June, defeating the establishment candidate, Andrew Cuomo, with progressive promises to freeze rent, introduce a $ 30-per-hour minimum wage, and increase taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers.

With a message of change and a savvy social media presence, Mamdani turned out thousands of new voters, and polling on the mayoral election shows him comfortably ahead of Cuomo, a former governor of New York, who is now running as an independent candidate.

Mamdani also has a large lead over Eric Adams, the unpopular incumbent mayor who is also running as an independent, and the Republican Curtis Sliwa.

Yet, Hochul, the most powerful Democrat in New York, had resisted endorsing Mamdani or any other candidate for mayor, telling journalists in June: “Obviously, there are areas of difference in our positions.”

The governor appears to have come round, however, having met with Mamdani in recent weeks. Hochul, who is running for re-election next year, released her first campaign ad in late August, casting herself as a straight-talking “fighter” who will stand up to Donald Trump.

Mamdani’s victory has inspired more than 10,000 progressives to consider a run for office and earned big-name endorsements from progressive Democrats like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as well as Pakistan-born Senator Chris van Hollen during the campaign.

Yet the centre of the party has appeared wary. Senior Democratic figures in the state, including Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and the House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, have yet to endorse anyone for mayor.

Chuck Schumer, the influential Senate majority leader who represents New York, has also yet to endorse in the race. Schumer is a staunch supporter of Israel, while Mamdani has repeatedly criticised the Israeli war on Gaza and described the situation there as a genocide, as have many human rights groups, including some from Israel.

Mamdani has also said that if elected, he would order the New York Police Department (NYPD) to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he sets foot in the city.

He said in an interview with The New York Times that Netanyahu was a war criminal who was committing genocide in the Gaza Strip. If the Israeli leader were to come to New York, Mamdani said, he would honour a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for Netanyahu’s arrest by having him apprehended at the airport.