Timing Emergency Aid to Israel: Putting it on the Warped Trail and Preventing Disruption by Republican Rep. Kurtis Johnson
It was the first time the Congress tried to put conditions on emergency aid that pro-Israel Democrats objected to.
Representative Brad Schneider of Illinois said that “in my worst nightmares, I never thought I would be asked to vote for a bill cynically conditioning aid to Israel on ceding to the partisan demands of one party.”
“It provides Israel with the aid it needs to defend itself, free its hostages and eradicate Hamas, which is a mission that must be accomplished,” Mr. Johnson said at a news conference. We need to make sure responsible spending and reduce the size of the federal government to pay for our commitment to our friend and ally.
Mr. Johnson said the cuts were attached for the principle of fiscal responsibility by House Republicans.
The budget office estimates that the spending cuts in the bill will increase the deficit by $12.5 billion over the next decade.
Mr. Johnson is trying to keep his conference united in the early days of his speakership by structuring the Israel legislation. His predecessor, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, was ousted after he passed two bills — one to avert the nation’s first default on its debt and the other to avert a shutdown — that did not have majority backing from his House Republicans.
Israeli Defense Forces in Gaza: After a Day at the War, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Israeli Security Forces Needs a Stop
Some would be evacuees thought the crossing would open, and went over the last three weeks, only to be turned away at the gate. Rumors and confusion abounded as news spread that the crossing was open this week, prompting many people to head there even though they were not yet scheduled to depart. Some people may not have heard that they were on the list to leave this week, because of the lack of internet and spotty phone connections.
But reaching safety was hardly as simple as showing up at the border, foreign passport in hand, as several evacuees described in interviews with The New York Times.
TEL AVIV, Israel — Hundreds of Americans and other foreign passport holders were poised to leave the Gaza Strip Thursday, continuing the first major departure of civilians from the territory since the war between Israel and the militant Hamas began earlier this month.
“It’s very difficult, but she should go,” Ms. Salah said in a phone call from the city of Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, holding back tears. “To be safe.”
A pause in hostilities between Hamas and the Israel Defense Forces would not be, as Mr. Netanyahu declared recently, a surrender to terrorism, nor is a pause the equivalent of a cease-fire, as a White House official noted. Israel has warned that a blanket cease-fire would accomplish little at this point other than allowing Hamas time to regroup.
The announcement came as President Biden revealed that Netanyahu agreed to halt shelling on the 20th, in order to free two Americans.
TEL AVIV, Israel — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel for another visit to urge the country to prioritize the protection of civilians in Gaza, as Israel continues its offensive in the Palestinian territory and tensions rise in the region.
But Mr. Biden is under increasing pressure to respond to what humanitarian groups have called an urgent crisis for civilians inside Gaza, where food, water, medicine and fuel are in short supply. Even though Israeli officials say they killed a top Hamas leader, dozens of people were killed in a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.
“I think we need a pause,” he said, speaking to a crowd of supporters after giving a campaign speech. A brief cessation of military operations could “give time to get the prisoners out,” he added, which the White House later clarified to refer to hostages held by Hamas.
More of the millions of civilians who remain in Gaza would be given the opportunity to move to relative safety during a humanitarian pause. The Rafah border crossing was opened earlier this week, allowing hundreds of foreigners, including dozens of Americans, to leave Gaza and enter Egypt.
Officials have said negotiations are continuing for the release of additional hostages, with representatives of Qatar serving as mediators. If those negotiations succeed, officials said they would urge Israel to agree to stop its operations in the area where Hamas is set to release the hostages.
U.S. officials said they were also concerned about the delivery of humanitarian aid, which is beginning to trickle into Gaza on trucks that are entering through the Rafah gate at the border between Gaza and Egypt.
A small boy in a video was made to cry while showing the horrible effects of the war between Israel and Hamas. He sobs for his two teenage sisters, who were killed when the house they were in was destroyed by an air strike, while he eats his sandwich.
In Syria, the cries from the boy were heard several years prior to Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza.
Videos and pictures of the conflict offer a powerful record of the costs of war as Israel prepares to eliminate Hamas in revenge for the deaths of more than 1,400 people. But online, those accounts are competing with misappropriated depictions of unrelated tragedies — a cycle that experts say not only diminishes the experiences of victims past and present but also risks casting doubt on legitimate evidence of atrocities from the war. There are a lot of photographs and clips that are taken out of context. but experts say the misuse to relay the level of suffering is especially egregious.
Massimino wondered if the depiction of violence against a loved one could be used as a kind of generic depiction of violence. It is horrifying.
The New List of Passport Holders Arriving to Passage in Gaza: Calling for Aid from the State Department and the U.S. Embassy
The new list of passport holders approval to depart was issued by the border authority overnight. It was made up of around 400 Americans. It was unclear how many would be able to cross Thursday.
The State Department has been in contact with around 400 Americans who have expressed a desire to leave, department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Wednesday. With their family members, the total number is around 1,000, Miller said.
The number of people who have been killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has risen to over 9,000, according to Palestinian health officials. Nearly 200,000 homes have been destroyed.
It would be a huge boost to Europe ifUkraine were to eventually join the European Union and NATO, due to its formidable army, agricultural exports and technology prowess. It is a big boost for a new, more pluralistic Middle East to see Israel back at the table for a two-state solution to the issue of Palestinians and Saudi Arabia.
Israel and the Ukraine need America’s assistance in fighting the Russia-Iran axis. Israel will have to make hard choices the morning after the war is over. Because while we may write big checks to both today, they will not be blank checks. Each will have an expiriment date and need to make very painful political decisions very soon.
He conditioned the funding for Israel on President Biden agreeing to give the same amount of money to the IRS as he would have given to them had it not been for taxes that are not paid. The Israel lobby has a message for them: don’t go along with that game. Next time, aid for Israel will be tied to extreme G.O.P. positions on abortion or guns.)
What Do We Need to Know About the Russian-Iran War and How It Affects the American Global Leaders: When the United States Warred
Johnson might have pressed for funding of the war against the Germans in Europe rather than against the Japanese in the Pacific, if he had been the speaker during World War II. Or they would have agreed to Lend-Lease assistance for the allies only if President Franklin Roosevelt would eliminate the I.R.S. altogether. More firearms, butter, no taxes and two fronts.
If it sounds like an utterly incoherent worldview that will undermine the American global leadership that has shaped a world we have thrived in, it is because it is. It is because of this that it feels like House G.O.P. leaders are small thinking in a big time. They are shameless, shameful and dangerous. Please do our country a favor and audition for Fox News on some other issue.
The post-Cold War world has a greater chance of handling other global challenges than if these shifts are stymied.
But you don’t need to speak Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Russian or Ukrainian to understand that Iran-backed Hamas launched its war to stymie the Saudi-Israel normalization and prevent Tehran from being isolated and that Vladimir Putin launched his war to stop Ukraine from expanding a Europe whole and free and prevent Moscow from being isolated.
Leon Aron, author of “Riding the Tiger: Putin’s Russia and the Uses of War,” argued that Russia and Iran have a lot in common. “Both leaders have nothing to offer their people other than quasi-religious wars which enable them to stay in power by keeping their countries either at war or primed for war,” he told me.
Source: Opinion | Seeing the Big Picture in Two Big Wars
The Rise and Fall of the Hamas-Israel Resistance-Forever Model in the Age of Israel, Saudi Arabia and the U.S.
Meanwhile, normalization of relations between the Jewish state and Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, would very likely pave the way for normalization between Israel and the most populous Muslim country in the world, Indonesia, as well as Malaysia and maybe later even Pakistan. It would prove that Jews and Muslims aren’t destined to be forever in conflict and can revive the not always harmonious — but often harmonious — relations their communities enjoyed throughout much of history before the Palestinian conflict.
Hamas was aware that if Israel and Saudi Arabia agreed on terms that would satisfy the more moderate Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and bring it significant financial advantages and more legitimacy, the Hamas Gaza resistance-forever model would be completely isolated. Hamas launched this war because it knew that it would ruin Israelis and also many more of its own innocent civilians. It was disgusting. Iran was also aware of the same.
Second, the U.S. still sees a giant hole in the heart of Israel’s strategy: Who will be in charge of the Gaza if Hamas is evicted? The most likely place to find the Palestinian Authority is in the West Bank. The only way the Palestinian leaders will take on that role is if Israel allows them to grow and if Israel is seen as moving toward a two-state solution. Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is attempting to annex the West Bank.
But anyone who thinks the cynical exploitation of civilian suffering will tie our hands and save Hamas this time is wrong. For us and for the Palestinians, the suffering will end only with the removal of Hamas. Anyone trying to tie our hands is, intentionally or not, undermining not only Israel’s defense but also any hope for a world where these atrocities cannot happen.
People around the world, including in the United States, who have justified the attacks by Hamas would do well to understand exactly what this group continues to stand for.
Gaza’s homeless workers are stuck in the West Bank: a Palestinian man tells NPR he sees his family and is afraid of his family
“My son, when I speak with him, I say, ‘How are you?’ and he tells me, ‘Baba, I write my name on my arm, in case I am killed,’” Zrain says. His son wants the world to know who he is.
His wife and five children are staying in Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital, where the United Nations estimates some 50,000 people are seeking refuge from Israeli strikes. He doesn’t mind if the news is chilling or not.
In the courtyard of the university, another worker from Gaza, Basel Zrain, tells NPR even though he and the other men are safe here, with food and water, being away from their children haunts them.
He looks at the photos of his two young daughters. He can forget about the bad things that have happened when he sees pictures of their smiling faces.
Alfarany has a large group of relatives and says he’s overwhelmed by the thought of the kids going through trauma in war.
“I had a video, but it disturbed me too much that I deleted it,” he says. I watched it many times and said I was going to remove it.
The Journey of a Palestinian Worker to the Gaza Strip, and Home in the Community: Ibrahim Alfarany, 28, and His brother, Ibrahim, 29, accompanied by two children
His wife and kids survived an Israeli airstrike several weeks ago while seeking cover at a playground. He says that his house was among the buildings destroyed in his neighborhood on the northern outskirts of Gaza City.
Alfarany says he is very happy and relieved to know his brother is alive, though the life he and other family members are experiencing in Gaza is hard to watch from afar.
While Alfarany was able to take a bus to the West Bank after Oct. 7, his brother was detained by the Israeli military near Nahariya, in northern Israel. Alfarany talked to his brother on Friday, after losing contact for more than 20 days, as his brother was walking into Gaza.
Ibrahim Alfarany is a Palestinian worker who is staying at Al-Istiqlal University. He usually works and lives near a store just south of Tel Aviv, where he stocks vegetables for a few weeks at a time, and travels back to Gaza.
It is a makeshift shelter which has more than 400 Gazans residing in it. Thousands more laborers are taking shelter throughout the West Bank, including in the city of Ramallah.
At the Al-Istiqlal University campus in the Palestinian city of Jericho, laundry hangs from the windows. There are dorm rooms stacked with bunk beds, and in larger halls, men lounge on mattresses pushed up against the walls, scrolling on their cellphones for news from Gaza. Plastic bags dot the floor with whatever belongings they have. If you go on the wait list, you’ll be able to get a shave and a trim at the impromptu barber shop.
Israel granted more than 18,000 work permits to people from Gaza prior to the war. Many employed in restaurants, retail or construction were living in Israel for short periods and sending money home to their families.
To return to Gaza, they would have to go through Israel — but they are not allowed to enter. There’s no way to know how they’d get to Gaza.
Thousands of other laborers who were forced to return to Gaza on foot from Israel, with numbered tags on their ankle were heard on Friday.
RAFAH, Gaza Strip, and JERICHO, West Bank — News from Gaza comes in conversations in the hallway, over the communal sinks, between bunk beds, and texts and calls with relatives. For thousands of workers from Gaza who are stuck in makeshift shelters and camps in the West Bank, much of their world — including their families — is still 60 miles away.
Hezbollah’s Leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and the Status of Israel in the Middle East: A Call to Arms?
In his first comments since the beginning of the war, Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, said in an address to his followers on Friday that that was not his group’s plan.
Hezbollah intends to draw Israeli military strength away from Gaza, said Nasrallah. He claimed the operations, which have included shelling attacks, incursions and most recently suicide drones, are tying up significant parts of Israel’s military and causing psychological warfare in forcing the displacement of residents in the north of the country.
The Hezbollah leader said his group has lessened a large part of the forces expected to escalate the attack on Gaza. In Lebanon, people say that we are taking a risk. This risk is a part of a correct calculation.
Hezbollah has more trained fighters than Hamas and an arsenal of rockets that can strike targets deep inside Israel. Military analysts believe that the group may also have other military capabilities that it has yet to unveil.
Mr. Nasrallah warned that Hezbollah’s forces should be prepared should hostilities with Israel increase. “All the possibilities on our Lebanese front are open,” he said. We could use all the options available at any time.
During one of the most tense periods in the Middle East in recent years, though, Mr. Nasrallah’s speech offered a small measure of relief for many, that at least one powerful force was not seeking to plunge the region into even greater violence.
Mr. Nasrallah is a highly respected figure inside a group that calls itself the “axis of resistance,” a network of Iranian-backed militias in several Arab countries that share an anti-American and anti-Israeli ideology and have come to coordinate their operations more closely in recent years. A decision by Hezbollah to launch a full-on war with Israel would most likely encourage attacks by an assortment of allied militias in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.
During his address, which was live-streamed to large gatherings of Hezbollah supporters around Lebanon, Mr. Nasrallah lashed out at the United States for its staunch support for Israel, accusing President Biden of dishonesty in telling Israel that it had the right to defend itself but that it had to respect human rights.
He said the group was not intimidated by two aircraft carriers that the United States had dispatched to the eastern Mediterranean.
Mr Nasr Hood said that the fleets in the Mediterranean did not scare them. “Your fleets that you threaten us with, we are prepared for them as well.”
Should the United States intervene directly in the war, Mr. Nasrallah said, it could expect attacks by Hezbollah’s allies on its military bases and other targets in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere.
The U.S. military said that the carriers were sent to deter a wider war because of the mounting anger in Arab countries over the crisis facing Gazan civilians. Israel has resisted calls for a cease-fire or Humanitarian pause to help deliver aid, even though it faces increasing international criticism over the dire conditions in Gaza.
The leader of the Hezbollah movement praised the fighters from his group for launching daily attacks on Israeli military positions and destroying communications infrastructure. The attacks forced Israeli civilians to flee so that they wouldn’t contribute to the attacks on Gaza.
Thousands of Hezbollah supporters gathered in Lebanon to view the speech on screens. Hezbollah and Palestinian flags were on display at the large site in Lebanon’s southern suburbs. Celebratory gunfire rang out, and supporters shouted, “We are here for you, Nasrallah.”
He said the future of this front with Israel hinges on the events in Gaza. He called foreign nations, and on the U.S. in particular, to pressure Israel to end the war in Gaza. He warned: “If you want to avoid a regional war, you must end the aggression on Gaza.”
After the leader of the Hezbollah group, Mr. Nasrallo, finished his speech, Sbeti, 40, fired a volley of celebratory gunshots into the air. He said he would fight for Israel if asked by Hezbollah.
A driver who had grown poorer during Lebanon’s deep economic crisis in recent years, Mr. Sbeti was not overly worried about the vast damage that Israel could do to Lebanon in a new war.
Israel and the September 7 Attacks in the Gaza Strip: U.S. First Contact with the United States through the Continuum Lives Project
“We stand strongly for the proposition that Israel has not only the right but the obligation to defend itself and to do everything possible to make sure that this Oct. 7 can never happen again,” Blinken said Friday.
During his third visit to the region and fourth to Israel since the war started, he spoke with Israel’s war cabinet in Tel Aviv.
“We provided Israel advice that only the best of friends can offer on how to minimize civilian deaths while still achieving its objectives of finding and finishing Hamas terrorists and their infrastructure of violence,” Blinken said.
The leader of the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon threatened to start fighting against Israel if the US did not cease its military actions in the country.
The Palestinian health officials said 9,155 people have died in Gaza since the start of the war. The Ministry of Health in Gaza says that two-thirds of those victims are children.
A major focus of discussions Friday emphasized the U.S. wish for a “humanitarian pause,” which Blinken said would allow much more desperately needed aid to enter Gaza and for the more than 200 hostages to be released.
Israel has been accused of not complying with international law in the wake of the October 7 attacks.
Herzog said Gaza citizens are receiving millions of leaflets, text messages and phone calls to alert them in advance of airstrikes and to warn them to leave the area he claimed in accordance with international law.
“We are hearing from the outside the demonstration of the families, our heart goes out to them, we understand it, we want her immediate release,” Herzog said.
I spend time with the families of some of the people kidnapped by Hamas and wrote these lines in Jerusalem. The hostages now held in Gaza include Jewish Israelis, Muslim Israelis and foreign citizens of different ethnicities.
The meetings I have held with these families have been the most trying of my years in public life. More than 1,400 people were killed on that day and many of them were murdered in their homes or dancing at music festivals. When I returned from one kibbutz devastated in the attack, I had to wash the blood off my shoes.
Just like ISIS and Al Qaeda, the Hamas terrorists who attacked Israeli homes and families had no qualms about burning babies. They tortured children and raped women. They broadcast them live and videotaped them because they were so proud of their actions. These videos will forever remain a stain on those Palestinians and their supporters who celebrated that day and a testament to the depravity of the terrorists and of the ideas that inspired them.
The idea that so many in the world are willing to support these actions is disturbing for me. In the capitals of Europe we’ve seen rallies supporting the total destruction of Israel “from the river to the sea.” Professors and students at American colleges make speeches and sign statements justifying terrorism, even glorifying it.
The terrorist ideology threatens everyone, not only Jews, and this shows that this collision of values is happening everywhere in the world. History shows us that foul ideologies often start with the Jewish people. We find ourselves on the front lines of this battle, but all nations face this threat, and they must understand that they could be next.
There are some key questions that will be important when Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits the region on Friday and we have already asked them during his recent visit to Israel.