 Saudi Arabia and Israel have intensified discussions over normalization of ties. What are the implications of this move? September 28th is International Safe Abortion Day. But why are so many women denied this essential health service? And a recent report has chronicled instances of hate speech gatherings in India. What does it say about this dangerous trend? This is the Daily Debrief. These are your stories for the day. And if you're watching this on YouTube, don't forget to hit that subscribe button. The normalization of ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel, if it happens, will be one of the most momentous developments in the region. Now the United States is definitely trying very hard to get this to happen, even though the Saudis have placed some very tough conditions. One of the key issues is the question of Palestine. Now the official Saudi position remains that a Palestinian state is a prerequisite for normalization. But that seems highly unlikely with this current Israeli government under Benjamin Netanyahu. So what exactly is on the cards? Are the already besieged and attacked Palestinian people at further risk? We go to Abdul. Abdul, thanks for joining us. Now this issue has been in the news for many, many months. Now we have been hearing about back-channel talks going on for a long, long time. Recently, Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi Crown Prince, even gave an interview on this, which was really made a lot of news as well. But now we have the Saudi delegation visiting Palestine. So we're seeing some actual concrete steps. I believe an Israeli minister also traveled to Riyadh if I'm not mistaken. But so could you maybe take us through, you know, what exactly is this normalization process we're talking about? And what are the demands from various sides? Well, the normalization process is a larger US-led process basically between Israel and Arab countries. As we all know, Arab countries decided long back in early 2000 during the summit, Arab summit, that they will not normalize their relationship with Israel until a Palestinian, independent Palestinian state is created with East Jerusalem as its capital. And on that condition, of course, Israel has not fulfilled that condition. And that's why none of the Arab countries, except for the Egypt, signed a normalization deal long back in 1979. And Jordan, which basically followed Oslo peace accords and normalized relationship with Israel. Apart from these two Arab countries, none of the other Arab countries had any formal ties with Israel. And that basically, of course, has a heavy price to pay. As Israel is a country, it's legitimacy and so on and so forth. And that's why it's a big deal for Israel. And US being it seems the guardian of its foreign policy has basically taken a responsibility on its shoulders. And under Trump administration, they started Abraham Accord, basically in which they offered certain benefits to Arab countries in return of them normalizing relations with Israel. So of course, some of the closest US allies like Bering, UAE and the countries which were on the war, neither here nor there because of the changes in the politics and so forth. For example, Sudan, Morocco, they kind of went ahead and normalized, signed this so-called agrama course. Saudi Arabia is given the fact that it's one of the biggest countries in the Arab world, the richest and the most powerful in many senses is a regional player. Its normalizing relationship with Israel, of course, has much more significance than any other country which have done so so far. So Israel is desperately wanting to do it. And that's why the US is basically ready to fulfill whatever Saudi's are demanding in return. It is not a secret that there is a relationship between Saudi Arabia and Israel, not officially of course. But to make it official, which has a larger diplomatic, political and other implications has benefits. And that's why there is a push and as you said there are visits going on. Saudi ministers are visiting Palestine. Israeli ministers are basically visiting Saudi Arabia. So the US delegates are there basically trying to figure it out how to do it. There are two major demands which Saudi Arabia has put in so far what we are hearing is of course the support for the domestic nuclear program. And of course other benefits in terms of the funds, in terms of larger economic benefits and so forth. Until these two things are fulfilled, Saudi Arabia is saying they will not normalize. But that is also not very clear. So we have to still wait and watch. In this context the key question of course is of the Palestinians because what we are seeing of course is Saudi Arabia is making some statements about how the issue is to be resolved. On the other hand we do see an Israeli government under Benjamin Netanyahu that has actually escalated anti-Palestinian actions over the past since it came to power. Even governments before have been following that path. We know that the two state solution is pretty much dead at this point. So where exactly is the ground for a kind of deal or a compromise here considering that it looks unlikely that Israel will change its path and Saudi demand on the other hand is in another direction. Exactly. So in that context one should look if you see the reports coming from Saudi delegation's widget to Palestine and the Palestinian Authority putting some conditions apparently. That if you want to normalize relations with Israel it seems that Palestinian Authority has also given it up that they know that they will do it somehow. So they want to take something out of it and therefore they are putting some condition because it's a matter of political legitimacy also. Saudi Arabia being the champion of quote unquote Arab world, Arab politics and so forth a very long time it will be difficult to justify normalizing relations and therefore they want some legitimate way out. And Palestinian Authority thinks that if they put pressure on Israel they might convince Israel to do certain things. For example, they have demanded that area C which was during Oslo Accord was given to the majority of the occupied West Bank given to Israel under Israeli security and political control should be partially at least civilian administration should be transferred to Palestinian Authority and there should be a time bound final status negotiation. So apart from that of course there are original demand of Saudi Arabia opening a consulate in Jerusalem. So if these demands are fulfilled we will be okay if we normalize the relationship that's what the reports say. Though Saudi Arabia has still has still reiterated its commitment to this two state solution and to the Arab peace proposal and so on and so forth. It seems at this moment it's very, very difficult to say in which direction it is going and of course when it comes to Israeli state and I directly pointed out that they do not need to do any of these things because they are changing the status of area C would mean that the fate of the illegal settlements and around 700,000 illegal settlers living in those areas and occupied East Jerusalem will be in a difficult situation. And no Israeli government at this moment can take that risk given the fact that it is run by mostly by the settler illegal settler leadership like Ben Guir and Sport Street and others. Thank you Abdel so much for that analysis again something we need to really keep a watch on for the next weeks and months because it'll probably be quite a defining moment. Thank you so much. September 28th is International Safe Abortion Day and women's organizations across the world are expected to hold actions and events. The right to safe abortion should be uncontroversial ideally but it has been under attack in many countries and in some places there has even been a backsliding. We go to Anna of People's Health Movement to understand why this is happening. Anna, thank you so much for joining us a very important day to commemorate especially in the light of developments in various parts of the world. In fact, we'll go to some of these regions in later questions. But to begin with maybe going to talk about the significance of the day itself a bit of context or a bit of history as to why it's important. Well, essentially today we mark International Safe Abortion Day and essentially what the day is meant to do is to draw attention to the fact that abortion is healthcare and that it should be provided safely and freely to all women and to all of those who need it in any part of the world. But unfortunately the day also marks the fact that for years and for decades countries have failed to step up to this obligation and have essentially moved in a very different direction in many cases. But on the other hand, you know, we've seen international organizations including the World Health Organization advocating for safe abortion as essential part of healthcare and of course an essential component of sexual and reproductive healthcare. So today it's actually a call to action. We'll see feminist movements, we'll see health movements all around the world rallying behind the demands to decriminalize abortion where it already isn't decriminalized. But also expanding abortion services in many ways, including by providing abortion through abortion through pills, so using medicaments, but also to adding those pills to the national to the national lists of essential medicines which should should increase access. And of course, you know, what the health movements and what the feminist movements are also asking asking governments to do is to stop repressing activists who are fighting for women's rights as unfortunately is the case in many countries still. And of course, in this context, you know, you would think that this is one of those issues or cases where there is gradual progress in various parts of the world over time. And in fact, in many countries we have seen that state after state region after region country after country legalizing abortion after massive struggles in many cases by women's organizations. But unfortunately, we've also seen, you know, instead of progress, we've seen things moving in backwards, so to speak, in a very regressive direction. The classic example is also that of the United States where, you know, protections were removed some time ago. And another case I guess is also Poland, which is important to talk about because we have elections coming up there very soon. So could you maybe talk a bit about that as well? Yeah, absolutely. And I think you bring up very important, very important examples, you know, when the changes to abortion, to abortion legislation were made in the United States, we were also observing in a way in parallel, very different changes occurring in Latin America. And this is also something that needs to be highlighted that essentially Mexico very recently managed to decriminalize nationally abortion in the country. But on the other hand, as you rightly pointed out, you know, Poland is seeing a very different situation. So all the way since 2020, women in Poland, but also healthcare workers in Poland have been persecuted for providing or seeking abortion. Although they might be providing abortion on a legal base. So that's something that human rights organizations have been pointing out very recently. And so essentially what we're seeing in Poland is that first it has a very restricted space where you can actually get abortion legally in 2020, they removed the possibility of being granted an abortion based on the fetus being ill, terminally ill. So, and on the basis of this ground around 90% of abortions in Poland were being granted at the time. So you can imagine the scope that this decision has affected. And now we're seeing and we're hearing reports from the ground, very disturbing reports that women and health workers, their families, their friends, they're being investigated by the police, by the judiciary in a very aggressive way in an attempt to instill fear and to essentially make them not to provide abortion or not to seek abortion, even if they know they need it. So this covers a range of groups, the women from the age of 17 to the age of 40 have been affected by that. And health workers are growing increasingly, increasingly fearful of what is to come. Right, Anna, and finally, very briefly, if you can maybe take us to what are some of the kind of actions expected in various parts of the world on the occasion of International Safe Abortion Day. Well, I think it's fair to say that we'll see a whole range of actions and I think that as the day progresses and as we hear reports also from Latin America and from the Western Hemisphere, it will become more colorful. But what we know it's going to happen is that there are going to be demonstrations, for example, in France, we're going to see various protests in different cities. People are also taking online action. So if you follow social media today, I'm sure that you will find a lot of materials focusing on safe, on access to safe abortion. And there have already been some reports about analysis focusing on Latin America, but also focusing on access to abortion in Eastern Europe. For example, there has been a very recent and nice report about access to abortion in Croatia. So essentially what the day is supposed to do is to instill solidarity and to inspire people to work together in order to ensure that abortion is finally adopted as an essential part of healthcare and can be provided to publicly funded health systems. Thank you so much, Anna, for that analysis as well as for giving an understanding of how the situation is in various countries, especially Poland, I think will be tracking more news from there in the coming days as well. Thank you so much. And finally, a report by the research group Hindutva Watch says that 255 anti-Muslim hate speech gatherings and events were recorded in India in the first six months of this year, that is in 181 days. A majority of these incidents took place in states ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party. The report also noted that the ruling BJP has benefited from rioting based on religious polarization. And Hindu extremist groups are responsible for these hate speech gatherings. We go to Pragya Singh for more details. Pragya, thank you so much for joining us. So quite an important report because it kind of I think tries to chronicle or give a larger picture of what is happening in the country. A lot of smaller incidents may of course not have been chronicle. But could you maybe first give us a brief summary of what really this report says when it talks about hate speech gatherings, what does it mean and what's kind of the impact. Right Prashant, it is an important report simply because now in India we're getting habituated to information about what's happening in our country which is important, which is relevant, coming from outside the country. Someone else is doing the job that the Indian media is supposed to do and others in India are supposed to do but are not able to. Because the government is simply the government at the center the Hindu nationalist BJP which is ruling the country and several states has strongly discouraged any approach towards you know what is its ideological probability to challenge that. And that's exactly what the report really does find it finds that there have been 255 recorded instances of hate speech. The definition which it picks up is actually what the United Nations would regard as hate speech targeting any ethnicity etc. Now the focus of this report however is on anti-Muslim hate speech which has been sort of article of faith since the BJP came to power in 2014. That's what the report says it says there has been a 500% jump in you know instances of hate speech including instances which have led to actual violence. The amazing part of the report is that 68% of these hate speeches were actually referring to what the Hindutva watch has categorized as a conspiracy theory. So in a sense no surprises there because the kind of the way they have weaponized certain terms which are cultural terms like or religious terms like jihad, water jihad, fertilizer jihad. Now fertilizer jihad in a sense means that you know the right wing internationalists they say that in India the Muslim farmers are over using fertilizer and that is a form of jihad because fertilizer can be dangerous to your health. You see I mean it just it's not I mean a conspiracy theory would not even sum up the extent to which this is damaging because fertilizer overuse is a genuine issue in India. And the government successfully have tried to tackle this it has had implications it has no religious implications logically it goes on and on like that. And the other crucial conclusion is that the election coming up in 2024 the national election and the election in various provinces this year in 2023 do seem to lead the BJP leaders including some of the top leaders to make more and more hate speeches 80% of the hate speeches they have documented are in BJP rule states. In fact you might think that they're happening in BJP rule states but those who are making them are part of the opposition, you know, parties but that does not seem to be accurate either because in states where the partition the party the BJP has lost and another party has come to power the hate speeches drop in frequency tremendous dropping frequency from in fact 96% of the hate speeches recorded in the southern state of Karnataka were actually done during the term of the previous BJP government. So it's a very worrying trend simply because it rests on conspiracy conspiracy theories which are notoriously hard to challenge and yet it also seems that it's spread like wildfire the 500% increase that I just mentioned. Right Pragya also this has the impact of this is really dangerous because of course like you said a large number of these events of hate speech gatherings have calls of violence another large number also have calls for boycotts so there's also a kind of you know even if it does not immediately lead to a riot there is a kind of stigmatization there is a kind of breaking of the social fragment social you know fabric that takes place because of these kind of repeated hate speech gatherings as well. Yes Prashant you know that actually also there is I think if I remember correctly this 33% of the instances of hate speech referred to quote unquote the need for inflicting violence on Muslims and a smaller percentage 6 or 7% actually refer to specific arms the need to specifically take up arms against Muslims. So therefore we can conclude based on what Hindu watch has recorded that this is not mere bigotry which can exist anywhere this is this is actually you know and we have instances in India where such violence has been unleashed at at the conclusion of such cataclysmic events whether at a small scale or a large scale what the BJP and its leaders and the Hindu groups end up doing is blaming the people or saying that their conspiracy theories are therefore valid and so it's a circular argument and you know it leads back to itself and so it perpetuates itself but it's notoriously difficult to control and I think one of the things that's really relevant is that the 17 states that Hindu watch has colored reports based on public sources actually it indicates that in the run up to the elections in 5 crucial states later this year and in the 2024 looks of election the opposition parties and people in general civil society need to prepare for these events and find a way to challenge the narratives that are being pushed. Pragya thank you so much for the analysis and that's all we have time for in this episode of daily debrief we'll be back with another episode tomorrow with more stories from around the world until then do visit our website peoplesdispatch.org Follow us on all the social media platforms and if you're watching this on YouTube please don't forget to hit that subscribe button.