The trial began on Tuesday for a killing that marked one of the earliest and worst alleged hate crime incidents in the United States since the eruption of U.S. ally Israel's military assault on Gaza after an October 2023 attack by Hamas. The family's landlord, Joseph Czuba, 73, was charged with murder and hate crimes and had earlier pleaded not guilty (Read more at MSN).
The leaders of Gulf Arab states are expected to strategize with their Egyptian and Jordanian counterparts Friday in an effort to counter U.S. President Donald Trump’s controversial proposal to redevelop the Gaza Strip under U.S. control and displace its Palestinian residents. The meeting in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, is in preparation for a broader Arab League summit in Egypt on March 4 (Read more at Japan Times).
"When the president talks about this, it means he wants to shake up everyone's thinking and think about what is compelling and what is the best solution for the Palestinian and Gazan people who live there," US Middle East envoy Steven Witkoff added (Read more at Anadolu Ajansı).
It is part of the global freeze on US foreign aid. It comes at a critical time as the PA struggles to maintain stability in the occupied West Bank and prepare for a potential role in governing Gaza. While some international donors have stepped in to offset the shortfall, a Palestinian security training official revealed that certain programs have already been cancelled, and a planned security meeting with US officials regarding operations in Jenin has been postponed (Read more at New Arab).
Hundreds of pro-Palestine people attended a demonstration organised by the Palestinian Assembly for Liberation-Awda (Pal-Awda) on Tuesday in New York City's borough of Brooklyn to protest against a real estate event advertising land for sale in occupied Palestine, with protests turning violent (Read more at Middle East Eye).
The security assistance that has been suspended to the PA is from the State Department and Department of Defence. “Most of the PA’s aid doesn’t come from the State Department. It comes from the CIA. Last I heard, they haven’t changed their policy on the PA.” (Read more at Middle East Eye)
U.S. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham dismissed President Donald Trump's proposal to seize Gaza and force out the Palestinians, while Democrat Senator Richard Blumenthal said he expects Arab states to put forward a workable alternative. Graham, a longtime ally of Trump and a key Republican in Congress with influence on foreign policy and national security matters, told reporters there was little appetite in the Senate "for America to take over Gaza in any way, shape or form." (Read more at AOL)
In an arrest report, police alleged that Brafman had “spontaneously stated that while he was driving his truck, he saw two Palestinians and shot and killed both” (Read more at Aljazeera).
The Trump administration welcomed on Wednesday Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's decision to revoke the system of payments to families of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails or to families of Palestinians who were killed or wounded during attacks against Israelis (Read more at Axios).
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday, during talks with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, that any deal on the future of war-torn Gaza must boost regional security, the US State Department said (Read more at France 24).
He told Fox News that he had “very productive and constructive” calls on Sunday with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani and Egypt’s director of intelligence. Witkoff said they spoke about “the sequencing of phase two, setting forth positions on both sides, so we can understand ... where we are today, and then continuing talks this week at a location to be determined so that we can figure out how we get to the end of phase two successfully.” (Read more at Arabnews)
It is not clear whether Trump is going to accept the release of only three hostages or call for the end of the ceasefire when his demand isn't met. Other than Dekel-Chen, Hamas is still holding five American hostages. One, Edan Alexander, is still alive (Read more at Axios).
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s intention from day one of his "revenge" attack on Gaza, launched 16 months ago, was either ethnic cleansing or genocide in Gaza. His ally in genocide for the next 15 months was former US President Joe Biden. His ally in ethnic cleansing is current US President Donald Trump (Read more at Middle East Eye).
"I don’t know what’s going to happen at 12 o’clock. If it was up to me, I’d take a very hard stance. I can’t tell you what Israel is going to do," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Anadolu Ajansı).
In remarks made during the World Government Summit in Dubai, the UAE ambassador to the US, Yousef Al-Otaiba acknowledged the complexity of the situation, stating, “But at the end of the day, we’re all in a solution-seeking business, we just don’t know where it’s going to land yet.” During the same summit, UAE President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan engaged in discussions with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, emphasizing the importance of a two-state solution (Read more at Roya News).
Egypt has said Trump had extended an open invitation to Sisi to visit the White House earlier this month. Egypt’s President, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, will not travel to Washington for talks at the White House as long as the agenda includes US President Donald Trump’s plan to displace Palestinians from Gaza. Jordan’s King Abdullah appeared uncomfortable during a meeting with Trump at the White House on Tuesday, at which Trump discussed his Gaza plan (Read more at Middle East Monitor).
Speaking alongside the Arab country's ruler in the White House, Trump signalled he would not budge on his idea that involves moving the Gaza Strip's shell-shocked residents. Trump has infuriated the Arab world by saying that Palestinians would not be able to return to their homes under his proposal to redevelop the enclave. King Abdullah said later that he reiterated to Trump Jordan's "steadfast position" against the displacement of Palestinians (Read more at Business Standard).
Egypt's foreign ministry said Abdelatty, in a meeting in Washington, stressed the importance of achieving "a just and lasting peace that ensures Palestinians’ rights, including the establishment of an independent state on their entire national territory”. A statement by the US State Department after the meeting did not explicitly mention Trump's plan but added that Rubio "reiterated the importance of close cooperation to advance post-conflict planning for the governance and security of Gaza" and said "Hamas can never govern Gaza again" (Read more at Middle East Eye).
President Trump on Sunday said he was losing patience with the cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas after seeing footage of the Palestinian terrorists releasing Israeli hostages over the weekend, whose appearance he compared to Holocaust survivors. “They look like Holocaust survivors. They were in horrible condition. They were emaciated,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on his way to New Orleans to attend the Super Bowl. “I don’t know how much longer we can take that … at some point we’re going to lose our patience.” (Read more at AOL)
US president says other countries in the Middle East could be tasked with rebuilding parts of the war-ravaged enclave (Read more at Aljazeera).
Egypt said it had been in contact with Arab partners including Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to firm up the region's rejection of any displacement of Palestinians after U.S. President Donald Trump said they should go from Gaza (Read more at AOL).
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday that Gaza currently is "not habitable" due to dangers such as unexploded weapons, and that people would have to live elsewhere while the area is rebuilt (Read more at Yahoo News).
US President Donald Trump’s proposal to take over the Gaza Strip and resettle Palestinians elsewhere brings to mind an earlier suggestion by his son-in-law Jared Kushner about the potential value of “waterfront property” in the enclave. Kushner, a former aide to Trump, suggested last year that Israel should remove the population out of the Gaza Strip while it “cleans up” the area (Read more at Anadolu Ajansı).
“On the question of Gaza, the definition of insanity is attempting to do the same thing over and over and over again,” Mr Hegseth said before the start of his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Pentagon. “The president is willing to think outside the box, look for new and unique, dynamic ways to solve problems that have felt like they were intractable ... We’re prepared to look at all options.” (Read more at Straits Times).
Russia’s RIA Novosti cited a senior Hamas official as saying, "In the past, we did not object to contact with the administration of (former US president Joe) Biden, Trump or any other US administration, and we are open to talks with all international parties." (Read more at Staits Times)
Hamas calls Trump’s idea a ‘recipe for generating chaos’ and says the people of Gaza will not allow their displacement. Secretary-General Hussein al-Sheikh said the PLO rejects all calls for the displacement of the Palestinian people from their homeland. While Trump claimed that Riyadh was not demanding a Palestinian homeland, Saudi Arabia said it would not normalise ties with Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state. “He’s totally lost it,” Murphy, a Democrat, said on X. “A US invasion of Gaza would lead to the slaughter of thousands of US troops and decades of war in the Middle East. It’s like a bad, sick joke.” “Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people, not the United States, and President Trump’s call to expel Palestinians from their land is an absolute non-starter,” the Council on American-Islamic Relations said (Read more at Aljazeera and France 24).
Australia's prime minister restated Australia's "longstanding" support for a two-state solution but repeatedly refused to offer a view on Mr Trump's remarks. "I'm not going to, as Australia's prime minister, give a daily commentary on statements by the US president. My job is to support Australia's position," he told reporters at Parliament House on Wednesday (Read more at ABC News).
"Gaza MUST BE FREE from Hamas. As @POTUS shared today, the United States stands ready to lead and Make Gaza Beautiful Again," Rubio said on X. "Our pursuit is one of lasting peace in the region for all people." While Trump had floated suggestions of Palestinian displacement since Jan. 25, statements issued since by Rubio's State Department on its websites after the top U.S. diplomat's subsequent calls with regional leaders did not explicitly mention Trump's suggestion (Read more at AOL).
Since Trump's return to the White House a little more than two weeks ago, his "America First" approach seems to have morphed into "America More," with the president fixated on acquiring new territory even after campaigning on pledges to keep the nation out of foreign entanglements and "forever wars.” He has raised the possibility of the country taking back the Panama Canal, proposed the U.S. wrest Greenland from Denmark and repeatedly suggested that Canada should be absorbed as the 51st U.S. state. Reuters/Ipsos polling shows little public support for these ideas, even in Trump's Republican Party (Read more at Japan Times).
Palestinians have long been haunted by what they call the"Nakba", or catastrophe when 700,000 of them were dispossessed from their homes during the war that surrounded the creation of Israel in 1948 (Read more at AOL).
President Donald Trump on Tuesday suggested that displaced Palestinians in Gaza be permanently resettled outside the war-torn territory and proposed the U.S. take “ownership” in redeveloping the area into “the Riviera of the Middle East.” (Read more at AP)
Some of the strongest criticism came from Rand Paul, the Kentucky senator who said “The pursuit for peace should be that of the Israelis and the Palestinians. I thought we voted for America First,” (Read more at Guardian)
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday Israel would hand over Gaza to the United States after fighting was over and the enclave's population was already resettled elsewhere, which he said meant no U.S. troops would be needed on the ground. (Read more at USNews)
Johnson called Trump's proposal "a bold move – certainly far bolder than what's been done before" and said "we'll stand with the president on his initiative." He added, "I think you have to do something to eradicate the threat to Israel. Here's the problem. If you leave Gaza in its current form, there's always a risk of another October seventh" (Read more at NPR)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the Republican's clear plan to help rebuild the war-torn strip saying it will "change history". He also said how America "will do a job with it" if they own the Gaza Strip and take full responsibility for dismantling it safely after years of torment for the people of Palestine (The U.S. Sun).
“I don’t think people should be going back to Gaza,” he added. “Gaza is not a place for people to be living, and the only reason they want to go back, and I believe this strongly, is because they have no alternative. … If they had an alternative, they’d much rather not go back to Gaza and live in a beautiful alternative that’s safe.” (Read more at The Hill)
Five Arab foreign ministers and a senior Palestinian official sent a joint letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio opposing plans to displace Palestinians from Gaza, instead demanding Palestinians be involved in the reconstruction process. Trump's repeated comments about moving Palestinians from Gaza alarmed many Arab countries who see that as a threat to the stability of Egypt and Jordan (Read more at Axios).
The United Nations and the UNRWA have not commented on the development, however, the decision is poised to coincide with the visit of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the US who has earlier accused UNRWA of running anti-Israel incitement and its staff of being “involved in terrorist activities against Israel.” (Read more at Indian Express)
The release includes U.S. and Israeli dual citizen Keith Siegel, 65, Yarden Bibas, 35, and Ofer Kalderon, 54. Kalderon also holds French citizenship. The three men were handed over Saturday morning to representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza, who transferred them to Israeli troops for the drive across the border into Israel. Bibas and Kalderon were handed over in Khan Younis, in Gaza's south; Seigel in Gaza City in the enclave's north (Read more at NPR).
Foreign ministers and officials from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, the Palestinian Authority and the Arab League said Trump’s proposed move would threaten stability in the region, spread conflict and undermine prospects for peace (Read more at Aljazeera).
Sisi expressed confidence that Trump could bring peace to the region. He invited Trump to visit Egypt. Egypt said the two leaders had a positive dialogue that stressed the importance of fully implementing the first and second phases of the ceasefire. The White House statement on the call did not refer to the ceasefire (Read more at Global South World).
New information suggests the money went to Mozambique's Gaza Province. On his second day in office, Trump signed an executive order suspending all foreign aid programmes, slamming the previous Biden administration for funding what he claimed was unnecessary assistance (Read more at New Arab).
The PA’s plan envisions the Gaza Strip ruled by a committee whose majority is from outside of the enclave. The plan was presented on Tuesday to Steve Witkoff during a meeting in Riyadh by Hussein al-Sheikh, a senior Palestinian official who has been floated as a successor to octogenarian Palestinian President Mohammad Abbas (Read more at Middle East Eye).
The Trump administration wants to see the ceasefire continue and Gaza stabilized so it can move forward with its ambitious plans for the Middle East, which include getting a peace agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel and trying to get a deal with Iran on its nuclear program (Read more at Axios).
In an executive order signed on Wednesday, Trump said the federal government would use “all available and appropriate legal tools” to prosecute and remove perpetrators of “unlawful anti-Semitic harassment and violence”. “Jewish students have faced an unrelenting barrage of discrimination; denial of access to campus common areas and facilities, including libraries and classrooms; and intimidation, harassment, and physical threats and assault,” Trump’s order said. Under US immigration law, foreign nationals can be deemed “inadmissible aliens” under a range of scenarios apart from being convicted of a crime (Read more at Aljazeera).
Israeli news organizations reported that the country's military took Witkoff to inspect the Netzarim Corridor, which it created during the war to split the Gaza Strip in two (Read more at NPR).
Trump on Saturday floated a plan to "clean out" Gaza, where Israel's war has killed tens of thousands and caused a humanitarian crisis, in comments that echoed long-standing Palestinian fears of being permanently driven from their homes. The suggestion by Trump was not mentioned in the U.S. State Department statement released on Tuesday after the call between Rubio and Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty (Read more at AOL).
The US envoy to the UN has said that they support Israel’s “sovereign decision” to shutter UNRWA in Jerusalem and that the agency is “exaggerating” the impact of an Israeli ban that experts and UN officials have said would have catastrophic impacts on humanitarian support for Palestinians (Source: MTV).
He called it "ethnic cleansing" and a "war crime" and called on others to censure Trump for making the suggestion. Trump's comments received little outrage from leading progressives and puzzled some of his Republican allies (Read more at Middle East Eye).
The Harvard Management Company reinvested $150 million in Booking Holdings Inc., a company under fire for its operation in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. In 2018, Human Rights Watch found that Booking.com connects travelers to rental properties in the Palestinian territories and alleged the company is complicit in human rights abuses against Palestinians. The student governments of at least three graduate schools — Harvard Law School, Harvard Divinity School, and the Harvard Graduate School of Design — passed resolutions urging the HMC to divest from institutions and companies that “aid the ongoing illegal occupation of Palestine.” (Read more at Crimson)
Speaking at a press briefing in Berlin, Foreign Ministry spokesman Christian Wagner said that Germany maintains its commitment to the international consensus regarding Gaza's status. “There is a common position shared by the EU, our Arab partners and the United Nations, which is very clear: The Palestinian population cannot be expelled from Gaza, and Gaza must not be permanently occupied or resettled by Israel,” he said (Read more at Anadolu Ajansı).
Washington “celebrates the release of the four Israeli hostages held in captivity for 477 days. It is critical that the ceasefire implementation continues and that all of the hostages are freed from Hamas captivity and safely returned to their families,” according to a statement from the State Department (Read more at JNS).
"I'd like Egypt to take people," Trump said. "You're talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say, 'You know, it's over.'" Trump said he complimented Jordan for having successfully accepted Palestinian refugees and that he told the king, "I'd love for you to take on more, cause I'm looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now, and it's a mess. It's a real mess." (Read more at NPR)
The intelligence indicates a similar number of Hamas fighters have been killed during that period, the sources said. The latest official U.S. estimates have not been previously reported (Read more at AOL).
The contractors are poised to help secure a key zone that splits Gaza in two and is known as the Netzarim corridor. The contractors are intended to screen vehicles ferrying Palestinians from the enclave’s south for weapons (Read more at New York Times).
'I'm going to be a part of an inspection team at the Netzarim corridor, and also at the Philadelphia corridor,' Steve Witkoff says. The team’s role is to verify that those entering the areas are not armed and pose no threat (Read more at Anadolu Ajansı).
A senior Hamas official has told Newsweek that the Palestinian movement was surprisingly encouraged by the comments made by President Donald Trump during his inaugural speech and expressed hope he would commit to lasting peace and stability in the Gaza Strip. "It is striking that Israel was not mentioned in the president's inauguration speech, which is unusual, and that the president does not want wars and seeks to achieve peace," Hamas Political Bureau member and spokesperson Basem Naim said (Read more at Newsweek).
“It’s not our war. It is their war. I am not confident. But I think they’re very weakened on the other side,” he said in response to a question in the Oval Office while signing orders in the first hours of his presidency. Asked about the future governance of the Gaza Strip, the president said he believed “you certainly can’t have the people that were there,” in an apparent reference to the Iranian-backed Hamas terror organization. “Most of them are dead, by the way, right?” continued Trump. “But they didn’t exactly run it well. Run viciously and badly. You can’t have that.” (Read more at New York Post)
Some 25% of Democrats and 19% of Republicans favor Islamists over the Jewish state and 82% back the ceasefire. The 25-34 age group showed the highest support for Hamas, with nearly a third favouring the organisation over Israel (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Steve Witkoff, Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, plans to be a near-constant presence in the region in an attempt to prevent the deal from unraveling. For now, a top concern for Trump’s envoy is a rogue incident sparked by inevitable day-to-day interfacing between Israelis and Palestinians on the ground in and near Gaza, even given the ceasefire agreement (Read more at NBCNews).
He also added that if Hamas rejects the Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal, the United States will support Israel "in what it has to do." (Read more at RBC-Ukraine)
Palestinian Americans across the United States, including Rep. Rashida Tlaib, celebrated a ceasefire between Hamas and Israeli fighters in Gaza that went into effect Sunday. Tlaib, the only Palestinian American serving in the U.S. Congress, made a post on Sunday condemning the "genocide" in Gaza and noting that she voted against banning TikTok, a platform where users had shared strong support for Palestinians that went dark Sunday (Read more at Yahoo News).
Several journalists who are outspoken critics of American support for Israel loudly lambasted US Secretary of State Antony Blinken over the war in Gaza on Jan 16, repeatedly interrupting his final press conference as he sought to defend his handling of the 15-month-old conflict (Read more at Strait Times).
The U.S. Education Department on Thursday noted concerns about discrimination against Muslim, Arab and Palestinian students at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia and reached a settlement with the institution to resolve the issue. The university agreed to revise its nondiscrimination policies and procedures, including pertaining to protests and a definition of harassment that includes harassment based on actual or perceived shared ancestry (Read more at AOL).
Mr. Biden spoke with the MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell in his last television interview while in office and said, in the days after the war in Gaza began, He pushed Netanyahu to prevent civilian deaths during the Gaza war. He also defended his steadfast support for Israel (Read more at New York Times).
Biden’s last day as president, on 19 January, is also the first day of the planned Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal that was reportedly pushed to the finish line by the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump. This has raised more significant criticism of Biden’s role in Israel’s bombing campaign on Gaza, with the US providing $17.9bn in military aid since 7 October 2023 (Read more at Middle East Eye).
The Gaza Strip ceasefire should begin on Sunday (Jan 19) as planned, despite the need for negotiators to tie up a "loose end" at the last minute, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said (Read more at CNA).
There has been much shock and awe among many Arabs in recent weeks at the brutal repressive campaign dubbed "The Protection of the Homeland" that the Palestinian Authority (PA) has launched against Palestinian resisters to the Israeli occupation in the West Bank. The campaign's ultimate failure led the Israelis to intervene again this week by bombing the Jenin refugee camp, killing around 12 Palestinians (Read more at Middle East Eye).
In the wake of November’s election, the Trump and Biden teams began working together. “I think a lot of progress has been made. The fact that you have an outgoing and an incoming administration that have worked hand in hand to make the case for urgency, I think, has been noticed by all parties,” the ambassador said (Read more at The Hill).
Trump had dispatched his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, to join the negotiations in Doha, and Witkoff was there for the last 96 hours of talks leading up to the deal. A senior Biden administration official, in a briefing with reporters, credited Witkoff with helping deliver the deal, working alongside Biden's envoy, Brett McGurk, who has been in Doha since 5 Jan (Read more at Business Standard).
Chuck Schumer: “It couldn’t have happened without steadfast diplomacy and until the potency of Hamas was radically reduced.” John Barrasso: “I think that the world is seeing Donald Trump coming into power in the United States, and we're seeing changes around the world to reflect a new strength in America." Hakeem Jeffries: “This long-overdue agreement will secure the release of many of those hostages, set the stage for others to come home.” Bernie Sanders: “Both sides must honor the deal and implement it as quickly as possible… The United Nations and other aid organizations must finally be allowed unfettered access to all areas of the Gaza.” Claudia Tenney: "After Biden's repeated failure to free the Israeli & American hostages being held by Hamas, President Trump has already negotiated a deal to release the hostages, & he hasn't even been sworn in yet. The world is a safer place with President Trump as America's Leader." (Read more at USNews)
Biden said. “I’ve worked on foreign policy for decades. This was one of the toughest negotiations I’ve ever experienced. We reached this point because to the pressure Israel built on Hamas, backed by the United States.” (Read more at The Hill)
Speaking at the Atlantic Council in Washington in his final days as the U.S. top diplomat, Blinken said Washington envisioned a reformed Palestinian Authority leading Gaza and inviting international partners to help establish and run an interim administration for the enclave. A security force would be formed from forces from partner nations and vetted Palestinian personnel (Read more at AOL).
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Israel 'must accept' Gaza Strip and West Bank united under Palestinian Authority. Blinken’s remarks provide a rare window into US intelligence assessments of Hamas’s strength, which is likely to ruffle Israel’s positioning after a potential ceasefire, given its stated objective of “total victory and the eradication of Hamas” (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and US President Joe Biden emphasized Tuesday the importance of overcoming obstacles and showing flexibility to secure a cease-fire agreement in Gaza. The remarks were made during a phone call between the two leaders (Read more at Anadolu Ajansı).
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said there’s a “distinct possibility” that Israel and Hamas will be able to reach a ceasefire deal before President Joe Biden leaves office in a week. “The pressure is building for Hamas to come to yes,” (Watch more at Bloomberg).
But it is not enough to seal a deal. "We're making some real progress," Biden told reporters at the White House. "I'm still hopeful that we'll be able to have a prisoner exchange," he said, adding Hamas was getting in the way of that. The president said he met with negotiators. a Palestinian official close to the mediation effort said the absence of a deal so far did not mean the talks were going nowhere and this was the most serious attempt so far. However, Israel still insists on keeping a 1 km landscape along the eastern and northern borders of the Gaza Strip, which will restrict the return of residents to their homes and represent a retreat from what it (Israel) had agreed upon in July (Read more at Reuters).
A prominent American Quaker organisation has cancelled its advertising with the New York Times (NYT) after the newspaper refused to allow an advertisement referring to Israel’s aggression in Gaza as genocide (Read more at Middle East Monitor).
“Well, I think we’re making a lot of progress, and I don’t want to say too much because I think they’re doing a really good job back in Doha,” Witkoff said at a Trump press conference in Palm Beach, Florida (Read more at Arabnews).
Hamas says it will free its remaining hostages only if Israel agrees to end the war and withdraw all its troops from Gaza. Israel says it will not end the war until Hamas is dismantled and all hostages are free (Read more at Arabnews).
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Monday for a final push for a Gaza ceasefire before President Joe Biden leaves office, after a Hamas official told Reuters the group had cleared a list of 34 hostages as first to go free under a truce (Read more at Globe and Mail).
The Palestinian Authority (PA) asked the United States to approve a four-year $680m plan to boost the training of its special forces and bolster its supply of ammunition and armoured vehicles. The US delegation expressed satisfaction with the campaign in Jenin and pledged to deliver armoured vehicles and ammunition (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Six current and former students allege the school violated the students’ constitutional rights. The federal lawsuit was filed on Friday in the US District Court in Detroit. The plaintiffs allege that the school violated the students’ constitutional rights to free speech, due process and equal protection under the law (Read more at Middle East Eye).
The FBI has arrested an 18-year-old student from George Mason University (GMU), accusing him of being involved in a plot to attack the Israeli consulate in New York, in a case involving an undercover informant or agent who helped the teenager come up with the plan. Abdullah Ezzeldin Taha Mohamed Hassan, a first-year student and an Egyptian national, has been charged with one count of distributing information related to explosives that could be used to murder internationally protected persons (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Burns is due to meet Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, in Doha (Read more at Dohanews).
The lawsuit, opens new tab filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia alleged that the State Department under Secretary of State Antony Blinken has deliberately circumvented a U.S. human rights law to continue funding and supporting Israeli military units accused of atrocities in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank (Read more at Rueters).
Mike Casey, one of only two people explicitly focused on Gaza, left over inaction and doing ‘what the Israelis want’. Mike Casey arrived in Jerusalem in 2020. “The more informed you become on this issue, you can’t avoid realizing how bad it is,” Casey said. Casey resigned in July after four years at the job, discreetly leaving the post unlike other recent high-profile government departures. Now Casey reflected on how, as one of only two people in the entire US government explicitly focused on Gaza, he became an unwilling chronicler of a humanitarian catastrophe (Read more at Guardian).
However, Matthew Miller, the department's spokesperson, in Washington acknowledged that previous hopes for a ceasefire had ultimately been dashed, making the current outlook more tentative (Read more at Middle East Monitor).
The security operation to regain control in the city of Jenin and its refugee camp from militants is the largest conducted by Palestinian security forces in years. Palestinian and U.S. officials said Palestinian leadership launched the operation out of fear that Islamist militants — emboldened after armed rebels took control of Syria — could try to overthrow the Palestinian Authority (Read more at Axios).
The arrests occurred during a sit-in at NYU, where students were nonviolently blocking access to the Bobst Library. According to the American Association of University Professors, the professors were not involved in the protest itself but were there to ensure the safety of the student demonstrators (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Mufid Abdulqader was convicted in a terrorism case civil liberties groups say highlights US's disproportionate targeting of Muslim charities. In 2020, Abdulqader had put in a plea for compassionate release on the grounds of the Covid-19 pandemic, which was tearing through the Seagoville federal prison in Texas where he was serving his sentence (Read more at Middle East Eye).
“We’re now looking to close a hostage release deal and a cease-fire, which would stop the war and reunite hostages with their families,” Sullivan said. “Just over one year ago, we reached a deal that brought 78 hostages out of Gaza and home to their families. It’s time to finish the job and bring all of the hostages home.” Sullivan will travel to Doha and Cairo from Jerusalem to advance these negotiations (Read more at Media Line).
Two-pronged diplomatic push sees Blinken covering Jordan, Turkiye, while Sullivan holds talks in Israel, Qatar and Egypt. Washington has acknowledged Ankara’s right to defend itself from what it perceives as a security threat, but has also said it will continue working with the SDF (Read more at Aljazeera).
PA's Jenin offensive is driven by fear that Trump will be drawn to a plan floated by UAE to install a different ruling elite. Looming over the Palestinian Authority’s battle with anti-occupation armed groups in Jenin are fears that US President-elect Donald Trump is amenable to sidelining the PA’s current leaders in a future post-war Gaza Strip in favour of the United Arab Emirates and its Palestinian allies (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Steve Witkoff, who will formally take up the position when Trump's administration starts, said he hoped and prayed there would be ceasefire in Gaza between Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel before Trump takes office on Jan. 20. "You heard what the president said, they better be released," he said, referring to Trump. "Listen to what the president has got to say. It's not a pretty day if they're not released," Witkoff added (Read more at ArabNews).
The Palestine Liberation Organization and Palestinian Authority argue that a law Congress enacted in 2019 to allow victims of terrorism to sue the authorities violates their due process rights (Read more at NBCNews).
Steve Witkoff, who will officially take up the position under Trump’s administration, met separately in late November with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, said the source. Witkoff’s conversations appear to have been aimed at building on nearly 14 months of unsuccessful diplomacy by the Biden administration, Qatar and Egypt aimed at a lasting ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, in Gaza (Read more at Middle East Monitor).
Trump said Mr Boehler was a lead negotiator for him on his team that worked the Abraham Accords in 2020, a series of normalisation agreements between Israel and Arab nations. “He has negotiated with some of the toughest people in the World, including the Taliban, but Adam knows that NO ONE is tougher than the United States of America, at least when President Trump is its Leader (Read more at Strait Times).
Trump wants Netanyahu to make a deal, but experts say the compromises needed to reach a deal with Hamas might bring an end to the Netanyahu government. It is hard to tell whether Netanyahu is a prisoner of Ben-Gvir and Smotrich like many say or that he himself shares their ideas. Hamas is trying to survive, to stop the war in order to not cease [existing] as an organization. If Trump demands the end of the war in Gaza, it will entail steps, such as the release of Palestinian prisoners, that cannot be accepted by the current government. This will lead to an election in Israel, which could be something Trump actually wants (Read more at Media Line).
The United States on Monday welcomed Israel's one-year extension of a lifeline to Palestinian banks, after threats by the far-right finance minister to sever the connection amid the Gaza war. The United States had pressed Israel to maintain the waiver which allows Israeli banks to work with Palestinian ones, fearing otherwise that the comparatively stable West Bank would descend into economic havoc (Read more at Barron's).
“Please let this TRUTH serve to represent that if the hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume Office as President of the United States, there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against Humanity,” Trump said (Read more at Aljazeera).
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Monday that Captain Omer Maxim Neutra, a 21-year-old lone soldier from New York, was killed during Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack and that his body remains in Gaza. Neutra, a tank platoon commander in the IDF’s 7th Armored Brigade, was among four soldiers abducted during the assault near Nahal Oz (Read more at Media Line).
Biden was snapped with a copy of the book The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine, written by renowned Palestinian American author Rashid Khalidi, which he seemingly purchased in a 'Black Friday' sale in a bookshop in Nantucket. Khalidi is a historian and expert on Middle Eastern affairs who teaches at Columbia University, and who is known for his opposition to US policies on Palestine and Israel (Read more at New Arab).
He pleaded for Trump to secure his release. Netanyahu calls video cruel psychological warfare, vows to bring hostages home. Biden administration is working to secure release before Trump's inauguration (Read more at Reuters).
This is the second year in a row that pro-Palestinian protesters have used the nationally televised parade to call for a ceasefire in Gaza amid nearly 14 months of conflict following Palestinian militant group Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of Israel. All of the demonstrators have been released as of Friday, according to the NYPD. (Read more at The Hill)
The U.S. "will make another push, with Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, Israel and others, to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza," he said. Biden also wants the hostages released and to end the war without Hamas in power (Read more at Reuters).
The U.S. "will make another push, with Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, Israel and others, to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza," Biden said. He also wants the hostages released and to end the war without Hamas in power (Read more at Reuters).
Rawhi Fattouh, 75, said last year that "Jerusalem belongs exclusively to the Palestinians, the Arabs and the Muslims." Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas’s decision to appoint a longtime confidante, Rawhi Fattouh, 75, as his successor “provides valuable clarity and strengthens governance,” a U.S. State Department spokesperson said (Read more at JNS)
A phone call to President-elect Donald Trump, an appeal to Saudi Arabia, checking in with Tiffany Trump’s Lebanese American in-laws, or just hoping for the best. Palestinian officials are pursuing a hodgepodge of diplomatic overtures to secure a productive relationship with a new Trump administration, five years on from a falling-out with the last one (Read more at CSMonitor).
UN security council voted 14-1 in favor of resolution but it was not adopted because of the US veto. The resolution demanded “an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” in the war between Israel and the Palestinian group, along with “the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages”. Robert Wood, deputy ambassador to the UN, said that the US position remained that there had “to be a linkage between a ceasefire and the release of hostages”. (Read more at Guardian)
The Treasury Department said in a statement the sanctions targeted the group's representatives abroad, a senior member of the Hamas military wing and those involved in supporting fundraising efforts for the group and weapons smuggling into Gaza (Read more at Daily Observer).
Trump's Middle East envoy epitomises the president-elect's disdain for policy wonks and international relations experts. With Trump saying he will use the hostage deal to expand the 2020 Abraham Accord agreements, Witkoff is likely set to delve deeper into the world of Gulf politics and the Israel-Palestine conflict (Read more at Middle East Eye).
Although the previous administration of US President-elect Donald Trump was seen as a staunch ally of Israel, Varsen Aghabekian Shahin, Palestine’s minister of state for foreign affairs and expatriates, says Palestinians remain hopeful about his return to the White House (Read more at Arabnews).
The United States wants real and extended pauses in fighting in Gaza so assistance can get to people who need it, but the best way to help people would be to end the war, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday. “Israel, by the standards it set itself, has accomplished the goals that it set for itself,” Blinken told reporters during a visit to Brussels. “This should be a time to end the war.” (Read more at NBCNews)
Qatar then made the demand to Hamas leaders about 10 days ago. Three Hamas officials denied Qatar had told Hamas leaders they were no longer welcome in the country. The spokesperson for Qatar’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for confirmation or comment (Read more at Arabnews)
The official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, cited a statement by Abbas’ office saying he spoke with Trump over the phone, congratulating him on his election victory earlier this week. Trump told Abbas that he was committed to end the ongoing conflict in Gaza and to work with him and other relevant stakeholders “to promote peace in the region (Read more at Middle East Monitor)
Palestinians, locked in war with Israel for more than a year, expressed fear at Donald Trump’s return to the White House, while the leaders of the Hamas group and the Palestinian Authority urged him to act for peace (Read more at Middle East Monitor).
Cairo's plan would have seen four Israeli hostages and 100 Palestinian terrorists released over a 10-day period after an initial 48-hour pause in fighting. Another proposal from Doha last week reportedly involved the release of 11 hostages in exchange for a one-month ceasefire, with priority given to living female captives. During talks in Doha at the end of last month, CIA Director Bill Burns reportedly proposed a 28-day ceasefire in Gaza in exchange for Hamas releasing eight hostages and Israel freeing dozens of Palestinian prisoners (Read more at JNS).
In an effort to engage with “leaders of the Arab-American community,” Harris headed to Michigan, a key swing state that is home to more than 200,000 Arab American voters. There, she pledged to do “everything in her power to end the war”. While acknowledging the “suffering in Gaza”, she reiterated, once again, that she must “ensure Israel is secure”. Trump has consistently prioritized ‘security’ concerns over humanitarian considerations and repeatedly affirmed that Israel should seek a swift victory. Moreover, Trump has frequently voiced skepticism about the two-state solution, suggesting that achieving peace might be difficult under this framework (Read more at Palestine Chronicle).
Taskin Torlak, 37, Sgt. Quandarius Davon Stanley, 23, was one of three US service members hurt May 23 while working on the temporary floating pier that Biden had announced with great fanfare during his State of the Union address in March. The other two service members suffered minor injuries and returned to work after the incident, which the Pentagon has said was not combat related (Read more at NewYork Post).
In phone call with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Blinken "reviewed actions Israel has taken to date and urged further actions to substantially increase and sustain humanitarian aid – including food, medicine and other essential supplies – to civilians across all of Gaza.” Asked what consequences Israel might face if it does not meet the 30-day requirements, Miller declined to speculate, saying: "I do not know what the factual situation that we will face in that period will be." (Read more at Anadolu Ajansı)
While Muslim community leaders who have requested meetings with the Vice President say they have been snubbed, at a rally in Michigan on Sunday Trump was endorsed by several Muslim figures who appeared on stage with the Republican candidate. Anxiety in the Harris campaign over the Arab-American vote appears to be more justified, and is compounded, say observers, by her failure to make any meaningful pledges to end the war. They appear to have miscalculated the level of anger and disappointment at the Biden administration’s support for a war that has bombed Gaza to the stone age and killed six per cent of its population (Read more at Alahram).
Dubbed "Prince of Polling," globally-acclaimed public opinion pollster John Zogby tells TRT World it would be an "accurate" assessment to suggest Gaza war might bolster Netanyahu in next election while potentially costing Harris in US. Arab Americans have been voting overwhelmingly Democrat since 2004 as a protest against then President George W. Bush's war in Iraq and the revelations at Abu Ghraib prison. She and the Democrats have really alienated Arab Americans and Muslims who could be decisive in those states (Read more at TRTWorld).
Israel's decision for a month's waiver extension on co-operation between Israeli and Palestinian banks covered a "very short term" and would create "another looming crisis" by Nov. 30, the United States warned on Thursday. The remarks came after a spokesman for Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he would sign the waiver to extend banks' co-operation for another month after the cabinet agreed (Read more at AOL).
Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides leads the European Union nation closest to Gaza. The small Mediterranean island nation has played a critical role in efforts to get humanitarian aid into Gaza since the war between Hamas and Israel began more than a year ago. He said that Biden and White House officials briefed him on the latest stepped-up efforts by the U.S. administration and other mediators but declined to offer further details about the discussion (Read more at Associated Press).
State Department officials gathered the incidents from public and non-public sources, including media reporting, civil society groups and foreign government contacts. The mechanism, which was established in August 2023 to be applied to all countries that receive US arms, has three stages: incident analysis, policy impact assessment, and coordinated department action. None of the Gaza cases had yet reached the third stage of action. Options, the former official explained, could range from working with Israel’s government to help mitigate harm, to suspending existing arms export licences or withholding future approvals (Read more at Middle East Monitor).
The United States has asked Israel to explain a “horrifying” strike in northern Gaza, State Department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, said on Tuesday, an attack on a residential building in which at least 93 Palestinians were killed or missing. Miller said he could not speak to the specific death toll, but the US was seeking more information. He said it was a “horrifying incident with a horrifying result.” Washington contacted Israeli officials and “made clear we want to know exactly what happened, how you could have a result that produces, according to reports, dozens of children dead, and we don’t yet know the answer to that question,” Miller said (Read more at Middle East Monitor).
Washington believes that Hamas is being led in Gaza by a council until its hierarchy is re-established after Israeli forces killed Yahya Sinwar, the terror group’s chief in the Strip, on Oct. 16, Matthew Miller, the U.S. State Department spokesman, said. JNS asked why Washington isn’t pressuring Qatar to push Mashaal into a deal, given that the terror leader is a guest in the Gulf state. Miller cited the prior “tireless efforts” and “intense focus” of Qatari Prime Minister Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to try to seal an agreement. “They have a channel with Hamas that is productive for trying to reach this agreement,” Miller said. “The fact is it’s Hamas that holds the hostages, and so it’s Hamas with whom they have to negotiate.” (Read more at Jewish News Agency)
The warning came a day after Israel’s Knesset voted to ban the UN Palestinian Relief Agency (Unrwa) from operating in occupied Palestine, and Israel. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the US was “deeply troubled” by the bill (Read more at Middle East Eye).
CIA director Bill Burns floated a deal for a 28-day Gaza ceasefire, the freeing of around eight hostages by Hamas and the release of dozens of Palestinian prisoners by Israel. Burns discussed the idea during a meeting on Sunday with Israeli and Qatari counterparts (Read more at Arabnews).
US Presidential Candidate Dr. Jill Stein said “We have two greater evil candidates; there is no lesser evil .. We are at the tipping point. It feels like we’re closer now than ever before.” What’s unique about this ordeal is that social media users and independent media outlets based in the region have been broadcasting the war crimes taking place there on a day-to-day basis. For that reason, Netanyahu’s assaults on the surrounding civilian population are crucial to the upcoming elections since the violence in question has always been funded by US taxpayer dollars (Read more at Palestinechronicle).
President Joe Biden formally apologised on Friday for the U.S. government's role in running abusive Native American boarding schools for more than 150 years, and was heckled at the event over his support for Israel's war on Gaza. A pro-Palestinian protester shouted: "How can you apologize for a genocide while committing a genocide in Palestine?" The president replied, "There is a lot of innocent people being killed and it has to stop." (Read more at New Arab)
The Biden administration believes Sinwar was the main obstacle to an agreement, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to the region this week hoping to achieve a breakthrough. Among the options is an Egyptian proposal for a two-week cease-fire in exchange for the release of six hostages. Still, it is not immediately clear who would be the decision-maker for any proposal brought forward to Hamas, which has yet to choose Sinwar’s successor (Read more at NBC News).
In each call, US Defence Secretary, Lloyd Austin said he cites the need for Israel to be more precise during military operations against Palestinian group, Hamas, to limit civilian casualties, and cites the need to get humanitarian assistance to the civilian population. “Failure to do that will create a generation of Palestinians that really will continue to resist cooperating with Israel in the future. So you’re actually increasing the numbers of insurgents … if you fail to do that,” Austin said. “It’s a strategic imperative in my view.” (Read more at Middle East Monitor)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday that Israel has so far taken insufficient steps to get more humanitarian aid into Gaza, and he asked it to work to improve the situation. Blinken held "extended conversations" about the humanitarian situation in Gaza with Netanyahu and other senior Israeli leaders, who committed to act upon the U.S. requests (Read more at USNews).
Police have arrested an unknown number of pro-Palestine protesters at the University of Minnesota after a group of students briefly occupied an administrative building in protest against Israel's genocide in Gaza, organisers said. The Monday afternoon protest prompted an alert from school officials: "Protestors have entered Morrill Hall on the East Bank, causing property damage and restricting entrance and exit from the building," the alert said (Read more at TRTWorld).
They discussed security and economic stability in the West Bank as well as the Palestinian Authority’s efforts to improve its anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regime. The U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo noted the Palestinian Authority’s progress on strengthening its CFT regime to further support these relationships, including by completing key milestones related to the assessment of AML/CFT risks within its jurisdiction and bolstering effective compliance with international standards (Read more at US Treasury).
Harris dodged a question on whether Arab American and Muslim anger over US support for Israel’s continued bombardment of Gaza and more recently in Lebanon could cost her the election in the battleground state of Michigan, but said she would continue speaking out about the tragic loss of innocent lives (Read more at Arabnews).
He praised the Israeli leader as doing a good job while attacking President Joe Biden's administration. "He's called me. I haven't spoken to him. I'm going to speak to him probably now," Trump said. "Biden is trying to hold him back….and he probably should be doing the opposite actually." (Read more at USNews)
Joe Biden is expected to use Israel’s killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to wind down the war in Gaza, but in the waning months of his term the U.S. president may lack leverage to bend the Israeli leader to his will (Read more at AOL).
Miller told a regular press briefing that Sinwar had been the "chief obstacle" to reaching an end to the war. "That obstacle has obviously been removed. Can’t predict that that means whoever replaces (Sinwar) will agree to a ceasefire, but it does remove what has been in recent months the chief obstacle to getting one," said U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller (Read more at USNews).
Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said “We’ve had a small number of special operations forces that have been advising the Israelis on hostage recovery efforts. That included working side by side with their Israeli counterparts to help locate and track Sinwar and other Hamas leaders hiding in Gaza who’ve been holding people, include Americans, hostage since Oct. 7 last year,” (Read more at The Hill).
The US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told the Security Council on Wednesday at a meeting convened by France UK and Algeria that such a policy “would not just be horrific and unacceptable” but also had “implications under international and US law”. The sudden surge in pressure is in part a response to growing fears that Israel may be trying to force Palestinians to leave northern Gaza using starvation, but also reflects a new assertive line being pushed by the US vice-president, Kamala Harris, worried her election prospects will be damaged if the administration is seen to have presided over an enforced mass exodus (Read more at Guardian).
The US & Canada have made coordinated designations of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network. Samidoun is said to be a sham charity that fundraises for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a terrorist organisation (Read more at Global Sanctions).
Israel is highly dependent on U.S. military aid as it fights a war on several fronts and has been under intense scrutiny as warnings emerge again about the humanitarian situation in northern Gaza. Israeli authorities closed crossings into Gaza earlier this month, halting deliveries of food and essential supplies to 400,000 Palestinians before some trucks were able to enter again (Read more at Axios).
USAid officials attend meetings at site where Palestinians say they were subjected to rape, electrocution and beatings. Established after the 7 October Hamas-led attack on southern Israel and the subsequent war on Gaza, the Sde Teiman base became a makeshift centre to hold Palestinian detainees. Since October 2023, more than 4,000 Palestinians from Gaza have been detained by the Israeli military there, often held without charge or evidence of wrongdoing (Read more at Middle East Eye).
"We have been making clear to the government of Israel that they have an obligation under international humanitarian law to allow food and water and other needed humanitarian assistance to make it into all parts of Gaza, and we fully expect them to comply with those obligations." the State Department said. Despite the US's alleged concerns, it has made clear that its funding of Israel's war machine is unconditional, with the US continuing to provide weapons and diplomatic support for Netanyahu's government despite it crossing alleged red lines set by Washington (Read more at New Arab).
But it is "meaningless" unless a deal is actually reached, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris said. "We must have a ceasefire and a hostage deal as immediately as possible," she said (Read more at USNews).
He added "they never took advantage of it. You know, as a developer, it could be the most beautiful place — the weather, the water, the whole thing, the climate. It could be so beautiful. ... it could be one of the best places in the world." . He claimed he's "been there" despite public records showing he's never visited Gaza, and his campaign told the New York Times "Gaza is in Israel. President Trump has been to Israel." (Read more at Axios)
Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff “will plant a memorial tree on the grounds of the Vice President’s Residence in honor of the victims and deliver remarks,” according to the White House. Trump will deliver remarks in Miami at an Oct. 7 remembrance event (Read more at USNews).
The United States imposed fresh sanctions on individuals and a "sham charity" it said were international financial supporters of Hamas, among others, on the anniversary of the group's bloody attack on Israel. Among the individuals targeted are Yemeni national Hamid Abdullah Hussein al Ahmar, said to be an international supporter of Hamas, and nine entities linked to him. Several Europe-based fundraisers were also named, including Italy-based Mohammad Hannoun, Majed al-Zeer in Germany and Adel Doughman in Austria (Read more at Barrons).
Harris sidestepped a question in the interview on whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was a ”real close ally.” ”I think with all due respect the better question is do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people and the answer to that question is yes,” Harris said (Read more at First Post).
Polls show Stein garnering just 1% in the Nov. 5 election, while Harris and her Republican rival, former President Donald Trump, are almost tied with 49% and 48%. But Stein, who has been campaigning on a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and an immediate U.S. arms embargo on Israel, won 40% of the Muslim vote in Michigan in an August poll. Democrats could win back those voters if they demanded and work to enact an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon (Read more at USNews).
The emails, which haven’t been reported before, reveal alarm early on in the State Department and Pentagon that a rising death toll in Gaza could violate international law and jeopardize US ties in the Arab world. The messages also show internal pressure in the Biden administration to shift its messaging from showing solidarity with Israel to including sympathy for Palestinians and the need to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza (Read more at Irish Examiner).
Protesters chanted "Hands off the Middle East," "Free Palestine" and "Biden, Harris, Trump and Bibi; none are welcome in our city," demonstrated on Tuesday against American military support for Israel as risks have risen of a full-fledged conflict in the Middle East, with anti-war activists demanding an arms embargo against the US ally (Business Standard).
“He absolutely hasn’t given up,” Mr Sullivan said in an interview with MSNBC hours before Mr Biden addressed the UN General Assembly for the last time as president. Mr Biden will huddle with world leaders gathered in New York to work on a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza (Read more at Straitstimes).
The White House national security communications adviser said, “It’s tough to get him to say yes to things that he’s already said he wants. It’s very, very difficult. But as the president said the other day, everything is unrealistic until all of a sudden it’s not anymore.” Earlier this month, the U.S. Justice Department announced criminal charges against Sinwar, along with others in connection with the Oct. 7 attack (Read more at Politico).
The crash of the Palestinian banking system could bring down the Palestinian Authority, creating a power vacuum that could throw the West Bank into chaos and exacerbate the conflict in the region. Israel's finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, an ultranationalist anti-Palestinian settler, has taken many steps over the last two years to weaken the Palestinian Authority as part of his ideology of annexing the West Bank (Read more at Axios).
The congresswoman’s statement about the publication of the cartoon “Tlaib Pager Hamas” came after many users on the social media platform X had condemned it as anti-Arab as well as Islamophobic. A statement from the Democratic US House representative also expressed concern that the cartoon by Henry Payne would “incite more hate and violence against Arab and Muslim communities” (Read more at Guardian).
US officials now believe that a ceasefire deal between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza is unlikely before President Joe Biden leaves office in January, the Wall Street Journal reported. “I can tell you that we do not believe that deal is falling apart,” Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told reporters before the Wall Street Journal report was published. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said two weeks ago that 90 percent of a ceasefire deal had been agreed upon (Read more at Aljazeera).
Some Arab American and Muslim voters angry at U.S. support for Israel’s offensive in Gaza are shunning Democrat Kamala Harris in the presidential race to back third-party candidate Jill Stein in numbers that could deny Harris victories in battleground states that will decide the Nov. 5 election (Read more at The News).
White House spokesperson John Kirby said the visit would be the first-ever by a president of the Gulf Arab country to Washington, adding that Vice President Kamala Harris would meet separately with the UAE leader. Discussions would also focus on climate, clean energy and UAE's role as a partner in the Group of Seven's global infrastructure partnership, Kirby told reporters (Read more at Gulf Today).
He is attempting to block over $20 billion in arms sales to Israel through a series of resolutions. Sanders said he has support for the proposal, which would halt the sale of missile systems, tank rounds, new fighter jets, and other weapons responsible for the destruction in Gaza (Read more at New Republic).
Shuang, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, questioned the Security Council’s effectiveness, asking, “Why has it been unable to stop this human tragedy, the worst of its kind to this day?” “Had the US not shielded one side time and again, multiple resolutions of this council would not have been flagrantly rejected and defied,” Shuang stated. He urged the US to “show a responsible attitude”, cease its passivity, and use its’ strategic influence to pressure Israel into ending its military operations immediately, as demanded by council resolutions months ago (Read more at Middle East Eye).
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, "I don't have a timetable for you other than to say that we are working expeditiously to try to develop that proposal." Talks over months have so far failed to reach a deal to end war, now in its twelfth month, even after U.S. President Joe Biden in June publicly laid out a proposal that Israel had agreed to (Read more at Reuters).
For the last three months, the Biden administration has been caught between its interest in de-escalating the situation in the Middle East through a ceasefire deal in Gaza and an obstinate Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who is not interested in bringing this unjust war to an end (Read more at Al Ahram).
Matt Nelson of Boston reportedly sets himself on fire outside Israeli consulate, becoming latest individual in US to self-immolate to protest Israel's genocidal war in Gaza being carried out with American weapons (Read more at TRTWorld).
He called on the Justice Department to initiate independent investigations into the killing of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, a Turkish American activist, by Israeli forces in the West Bank. He said, "By continuing to credulously accept the explanations of an extremist Israeli government whose stated goal is to annex the West Bank and push Palestinians off their land, the United States makes a mockery of its values." (Read more at Anadolu Agency)
The US vice president and Democratic nominee has failed to back Aysenur Eygi’s family’s call for an independent investigation. But she also urged “full accountability” for the killing. Israel’s preliminary investigation indicated it was the result of a tragic error for which the [Israeli military] is responsible (Read more at Aljazeera).
Last month, the art museum — founded by Japanese American sculptor Isamu Noguchi — announced a policy prohibiting employees from wearing anything that expressed "political messages, slogans or symbols". The Museum said they violated its updated dress code by wearing keffiyeh head scarves, which have become an emblem of solidarity with the Palestinian cause (Read more at Khaleej Times).
A breakthrough could offer a major boost, a vaunted “October surprise”, to Biden’s heir Kamala Harris in the razor-thin race against Donald Trump for the White House. Polling shows that Harris has more to gain than lose from a tougher stand on Israel, while the reverse is true for Trump. The Biden administration is striving for another prize ahead of the November election: Israeli-Saudi normalisation. But calm in Gaza is a prerequisite (Read more at Arab Weekly).
The Israeli foreign ministry “sent a classified cable” to the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC, and to all Israeli consulates in the U.S.” about South Africa’s ICJ case. Israeli diplomats “were instructed to ask members of Congress to issue public statements condemning South Africa’s actions against Israel and threaten that it could lead to suspending U.S. trade relations with South Africa.” (Read more at Palestine Chronicle)
US settlement proposal includes all the contentious points, foremost among them the Philadelphia Corridor between the Gaza Strip and Egyp. It also focused on the number of senior Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails who will be released as part of the potential deal, rather than the total number of prisoners to be released (Read more at Middle East Monitor).
Support for Ukraine in its defence against Russia, reaching a ceasefire deal to end the war in Gaza and the tense situation in the Indo-Pacific are among the items on their agenda (Read more at Anadolu Agency).
Statements so far from the administration differ from remarks that follow killings of Israeli Americans. The State Department's immediate response drew the ire of Palestinian Americans, who accused the White House of treating the death of Israeli Americans with higher concern than other Americans killed by Israel (Read more at Middle East Eye).
The White House is reassessing its strategy for a hostage-release and ceasefire in Gaza deal as President Biden's top aides deliberate whether there is a point in presenting a new proposal as Hamas and Israel both take tougher positions in negotiations, U.S. officials say. The murder of six hostages by Hamas, military control of the Philadelphi corridor, and the Hamas's new demand to release 100 more Palestinian prisoners who are serving life sentences for murdering Israelis caused significant pessimism at the White House. Officials feel Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar doesn't want a deal right now (Read more at Axios).
Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, was shot in the head Friday while protesting in the Israeli-occupied town of Beita. Her family called on President Biden, Vice President Harris and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to order an investigation and “ensure full accountability for the guilty parties.” The IDF said in a statement that the incident is under review (Read more at New York Post).
They said their agencies had “exploited our intelligence channels to push hard for restraint and de-escalation (Read more at Business Standard).
"Colleges will and must end the antisemitic propaganda or they will lose their accreditation and federal support," Trump said, speaking remotely to a crowd of more than 1,000 Republican Jewish Coalition donors in Las Vegas. In the United States, the federal government does not directly accredit universities but has a role in overseeing the mostly private organizations that give colleges accreditation (Read more at Reuters).
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged both Israel and Hamas to finalize an agreement for a truce in Gaza. In an interview with US news channel Fox, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sounded less optimistic a deal would be reached soon and said, "It's not close." (Read more at Times of Oman).
The incident occurred during a regular protest march in Nablus that has witnessed repeated attacks by settlers. Fouad Nafaa, head of Rafidia Hospital in Nablus, confirmed that the woman arrived at the hospital in critical condition with a severe head injury. “We tried to perform a resuscitation operation on her, but unfortunately she died,” Nafaa told Reuters (Read more at Media Line).
Walz's comments came in an interview with a local Michigan public radio station — a state with a large Muslim American population that is also a potentially pivotal swing state. The Democratic ticket looks to balance its support for Israel with the humanitarian plight of civilians (Read more at NewArab)
The Board, which operates independently but is funded by the US social media firm, said the phrase “From the river to the sea” has several meanings, and as such its use cannot in itself be deemed to be harmful, violent or discriminatory. Critics of the phrase say it is anti-Semitic and a call for Israel’s eradication (Read more at Middle East Monitor).
Hamas' new demand to increase the number of Palestinian prisoners released as part of the deal raised even more concerns and questions among U.S. negotiators about whether an agreement is possible. U.S. officials said one of the main arguments made in the meeting was that after Hamas murdered the hostages, including an American, the U.S. shouldn't push for a proposal that gives Hamas additional concessions and instead focus on applying more pressure and accountability measures against Hamas (Read more at Axios).
U.S. prosecutors charged Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and five other leading figures in the Palestinian militant group with offenses including terrorism over the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. The indictment that was unsealed Tuesday marks the first step in the U.S. trying to hold Hamas accountable for the killing and kidnapping of hundreds of civilians, including U.S. citizens, but it's largely symbolic as Sinwar is believed to be hiding in Gaza and the DOJ notes in a statement that three of those charged are believed to be dead (Read more at Axios).
Kamala Harris' strong support for Israel as it continues its war in Gaza is fueling calls for a fresh round of protests at campaign stops, universities and public events in the weeks ahead, activists told Reuters, describing what they said was her failure to listen to pro-Palestinian voices. They plan to show up in force during Harris' debate against Donald Trump in Philadelphia on Sept. 10 (Read more at Arabnews).
at least 1.7 million Palestinians were crowded into a “safe zone” whose size is equivalent to just 70 percent of the total area of Washington’s Dulles International Airport. the US government has lobbied Israel on “several mitigating measures”, based on the assessment that Israel is “unlikely” to change its overall policy (Read more at Middle East Eye).
The problem that has been dogging any breakthrough is a lack of trust. This is largely because America cannot be a strong ally with Israel and at the same time an honest broker. Any proposal that leaves out an end to the war and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza will ultimately be rejected. If the members of the UNSC are serious about wanting an end to the war, they can simply pass a resolution that details steps to this end and that does not include any vague wording about allowing the Israeli army to stay in Gaza (Read more at Arabnew).
At the University of South Florida, all activities which may feature signs, tents or amplified sound now require prior approval. Likewise, at the University of California, the university president ordered chancellors on all 10 campuses to ban student encampments and "overnight loitering". Using a mask to hide your identity or block walkways and university buildings is now also prohibited. New York University says identifies "Zionists" as hate speech and be subject to punitive action. At GWU, the mandatory orientation briefing for new enrollments included a briefing on what students could and could not say with regards to criticism of Israel on campus (Read more at Middle East Eye).
The United States has repeatedly voiced optimism for talks on reaching a truce proposed by President Joe Biden in the more than 10-month conflict, despite repeated differences voiced between Israel and Hamas. Kirby said that senior White House official Brett McGurk stayed in Cairo for an extra day to allow further talks at a lower level (Read more at Defense Post).
Constructive ambiguity is not a strategy. It is a mechanism to bypass awkward moments. The US markets a ceasefire deal without a ceasefire. Instead of an end to hostilities by all sides, it simply proposes a hostage-prisoner exchange during a pause in Israeli bombardment (Read more at Arabnews).
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield called on Hamas to accept a “bridging proposal” put forward by the US that appears to differ from a previous proposal adopted by the UNSC and agreed to by the Palestinian group (Read more at Aljazeera).
Disappointed Pro-Palestinian activists said Kamala Harris' speech to close the Democratic convention in Chicago failed to demonstrate any break from the status quo, after a week in which the most divisive issue facing the party was mostly ignored (Read more at USNews).
U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris said in her Democratic National Convention speech: "I will always stand up for Israel's right to defend itself," Harris said while adding "what has happened in Gaza is devastating", and "heartbreaking." (Read more at USNews)
During their call, Biden asked for Israeli forces to be pulled out from a 1- to 2-kilometer strip along the Egypt-Gaza border during the first phase of the Gaza deal so negotiations on the deal can move forward. The Israeli officials said Netanyahu partially accepted Biden's request and agreed to give up one Israeli position along the border. Netanyahu's partial agreement resulted in the U.S. supporting the Israeli position that other IDF forces remain along the Philadelphi corridor in the first phase of the deal (Read more at Axios).
He sought to inject urgency into efforts to broker a Gaza ceasefire deal and said “the United States does not accept any long-term occupation of Gaza by Israel ... the agreement is very clear on the schedule and the locations of IDF withdrawals from Gaza, and Israel has agreed to that." The US official said even if Hamas were to agree on the bridging proposal immediately, there would have to be additional conversations to iron out details on implementation of the deal (Read morea t Euractiv).
Ocasio-Cortez claimed that the vice president is “working tirelessly to secure a ceasefire in Gaza”. Soon afterwards, fellow Squad member Ilhan Omar of Minnesota ripped into Ocasio-Cortez (Read more at TRTWorld).
The crowd turned its frustration toward Vice President Kamala Harris, referring to the Democratic candidate as "Killer Kamala". The DNC's security team confirmed that protesters breached a portion of the fencing on the outer perimeter near the convention arena but said law enforcement personnel acted quickly and there was no threat to attendees (Read more at Business Standard).
Hamas senior official Osama Hamdan criticised United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s statement on Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted an updated proposal. The senior Hamas said that it “raises many ambiguities” because it is “not what was presented to us nor what we agreed on.” (Read more at HumEnglish)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on his ninth visit to the Middle East since thw war on Gaza said in Israel warned against any moves that could heighten regional tensions, following threats from Iran and Lebanese group Hezbollah to avenge the recent Israeli assassinations of two leaders (Read more at AlAhram).
If the party’s presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, does not change her policy on Israel, I will not be casting a ballot for her and I will not be the only one. More than 700,000 Americans have cast an “uncommitted” vote in the Democratic primaries (Read more at Aljazeera).
