Biden outlined his intention to cooperate with these partners to bring about an end to the war in Gaza, secure the release of captives held by Hamas, and ensure that Hamas relinquishes power.
Egypt, Qatar, and the US have spearheaded mediation efforts between Israel and Hamas since the war began on October 7, 2023.
Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Gantz, a member of the Israeli war cabinet, as the US seeks to ratchet up pressure on the Netanyahu government to allow more aid into Gaza. Those calls have gone largely unheeded as the humanitarian crisis deepens and ceasefire talks have yet to reach a breakthrough.
The Biden administration‘s rift with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu became even more acute Sunday, when Vice President Kamala Harris called for a cease-fire in Gaza the day before a controversial meeting with a top Israeli official and longtime Netanyahu rival.
Israeli Cabinet minister Benny Gantz traveled to Washington without the endorsement of Netanyahu, who instructed the Israeli Embassy in the U.S. to withhold assistance in arranging his meetings, Israel Hayom reported.
An official from Netanyahu’s far-right Likud party said Gantz’s trip was planned without authorization from the Israeli leader. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Netanyahu had a “tough talk” with Gantz and told him the country has “just one prime minister.”
Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday is hosting a member of Israel’s wartime Cabinet who is visiting Washington in defiance of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Benny Gantz, a centrist political rival of Netanyahu, is sitting down with several senior Biden administration officials this week, including Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken,
„The prime minister made it clear to Gantz last night that he does not approve of his trip to Washington. Any official trip abroad by a minister that is not private but rather in an official capacity requires approval from the prime minister,“ the senior figure was quoted as saying.
A statement from Gantz confirmed that he would meet with Harris, as well as with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Republican and Democratic members of US Congress.
Biden’s deep-seated fear: that Netanyahu is eager to drag the U.S. into a wider war in the Middle East, a conflict that would ensure American weapons keep flowing to the region, troops soon follow and, in the maelstrom, international pressure on him to agree to a Gaza cease-fire and his domestic political difficulties both dissipate.
Not that the president would ever say such things in public.
Politico cited White House officials on events surrounding Biden’s support for Israel in the war against Hamas and the political backlash with some in his party and amongst voters.
The report says that Biden has „grown suspicious“ of Netanyahu as the war continues, and says that Biden‘s fear is that „Netanyahu is eager to drag the US into a wider war in the Middle East.“
Biden‘s spokesman Andrew Bates denied the report, replying that „the president did not say that, nor would he,“ and added that Biden and Netanyahu have „a decades-long relationship that is respectful in public and in private“.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today welcomed the invocation of a rare clause ordering the UN Security Council to meet to discuss an urgent ceasefire in Israel’s ethnic cleansing and genocide in Gaza.
Facing a severe risk of collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza, I urge the Council to help avert a humanitarian catastrophe & appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared.
Approved resolution
The Security Council,
Reaffirming the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations,
Reaffirming that all parties to conflicts must adhere to their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law,
Stressing that international humanitarian law provides general protection for children as persons taking no part in hostilities, and special protection as persons who are particularly vulnerable, and recalling that the taking of hostages is prohibited under international law,
Recalling that all parties to armed conflict must comply strictly with the obligations applicable to them under international law for the protection of children in armed conflict, including those contained in the Geneva Conventions of 12th August 1949 and the Additional Protocols of 1977, as well as the relevant conventions regarding the involvement of children in conflict situations,
Expressing deep concern at the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and its grave impact on the civilian population, especially the disproportionate effect on children, underlining the urgent need for full, rapid, safe, and unhindered humanitarian access, and stressing the humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, and independence and the obligation to respect and protect humanitarian relief personnel,
Rejecting forced displacement of the civilian population, including children, in violation of international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law,
Expressing deep concern that the disruption of access to education has a dramatic impact on children, and that conflict has lifelong effects on their physical and mental health,
Commending the ongoing efforts of several regional and international actors as well as of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to address the hostage and humanitarian crises.
Demands that all parties comply with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law, notably with regard to the protection of civilians, especially children;
Calls for urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors throughout the Gaza Strip for a sufficient number of days to enable, consistent with international humanitarian law, the full, rapid, safe, and unhindered humanitarian access for United Nations humanitarian agencies and their implementing partners, the International Committee of the Red Cross and other impartial humanitarian organizations, to facilitate the continuous, sufficient and unhindered provision of essential goods and services important to the well-being of civilians, especially children, throughout the Gaza Strip, including water, electricity, fuel, food, and medical supplies, as well as emergency repairs to essential infrastructure, and to enable urgent rescue and recovery efforts, including for missing children in damaged and destroyed buildings, and including the medical evacuation of sick or injured children and their care givers;
Calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas and other groups, especially children, as well as ensuring immediate humanitarian access;
Calls on all parties to refrain from depriving the civilian population in the Gaza Strip of basic services and humanitarian assistance indispensable to their survival, consistent with international humanitarian law, which has a disproportionate impact on children, welcomes the initial, although limited, provision of humanitarian supplies to civilians in the Gaza Strip and calls for the scaling up of the provision of such supplies to meet the humanitarian needs of the civilian population, especially children;
Underscores the importance of coordination, humanitarian notification, and deconfliction mechanisms, to protect all medical and humanitarian staff, vehicles including ambulances, humanitarian sites, and critical infrastructure, including UN facilities, and to help facilitate the movement of aid convoys and patients, in particular sick and injured children and their care givers;
Requests the Secretary-General to report orally to the Security Council on the implementation of this resolution at the next mandated meeting of the Security Council on the situation in the Middle East, and further requests the Secretary-General to identify options to effectively monitor the implementation of this resolution as a matter of prime concern;
Decides to remain seized of the matter.
3:40 PM
The Security Council voted on the Malta resolution, with 12 members in favour, none against, and three countries abstaining, Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom.
Thune, who was just reelected to a fourth Senate term, noted that federal officeholders take an oath to uphold the Constitution and added that he takes his seriously.
“Of course I disagree with that. I swear an oath to uphold the Constitution, and it is a bedrock principle — it is the principle, the bedrock of our country. So I couldn’t disagree more,” Thune said.
(17.10.2022)
Riyadh’s alignment with Russia definitively started during that War and was irrevocably strengthened when Moscow agreed to support then-beleaguered Saudi Arabia and OPEC in their first post-Oil Price War production announcement at the end of 2016, forming ‘OPEC+’ (‘plus’ Russia) in the process. And Saudi Arabia’s move towards the autocracies of the East, with which its own autocracy is naturally aligned, was definitively concluded with China when Beijing allowed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) to save face, and probably his eventual succession to the kingship as well, by offering to privately buy in 2017 all five percent of his disastrously conceived initial public offering of Saudi Aramco. Last week’s Saudi-led shock two million barrels per day (bpd) collective crude oil production cuts shows that MbS personally has nothing but contempt for the U.S., so it is little wonder that key figures in the West Wing of the White House are taking it so personally.
Why it matters: It‘s the first time Lapid as prime minister has given a speech backing a two-state solution. Lapid made clear that the establishment of a Palestinian state must have security arrangements for Israel.
It‘s also the first time since 2017 that an Israeli prime minister has publicly expressed support for a two-state solution.
Flashback: Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed support for the two-state solution in a speech in May 2009.
Die Gespräche zur Wiederherstellung des Atomabkommens zwischen dem Iran und sechs weiteren Staaten sind für beendet erklärt worden. Der Text sei fertig und werde nun vom EU-Außenbeauftragten Josep Borrell in den Hauptstädten der beteiligten Länder vorgelegt, sagte ein hoher EU-Vertreter am Montag in Wien. „Sie müssen nun Ja oder Nein sagen“, so der Diplomat.
We shouldn’t downplay the threat posed by a return to power by Netanyahu, a criminal defendant who caused great damage to the fabric of Israeli life, undermined its democratic institutions, eroded its values and is willing to cooperate with Kahanists to regain power. But this threat should not obscure the substance of Rinawie Zoabi’s arguments, which deserve serious attention. Not every abomination can be koshered by citing Netanyahu, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotric
Iran‘s top negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani is due back in Vienna on Wednesday after unexpectedly returning to Tehran on Monday for consultations, an Iranian and a European official said.
Mora is acting as the European Union‘s coordinator in the negotiations in Vienna. His comments came as Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said in Tehran on Monday that ……………………
FURIOUS Tory MPs today mauled Boris Johnson as he prepared to announce a “completely unjustifiable” delay to Freedom Day.
The PM is facing an angry Conservative revolt over plans to slam the brakes on his roadmap, which he is expected to confirm at a somber press conference tonight.
The pro-Palestinian stance of these lawmakers reached unprecedented levels on Wednesday after Reps. Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Mark Pocan introduced a resolution attempting to block a $735 million arms sale to Israel — the first-ever attempt by sitting members of Congress to block such a sale.
The Biden administration notified Congress on May 5 that it approved selling Israel $735 million in weapons, mostly Boeing-made Joint Direct Attack Munitions that can turn so-called dumb bombs into precision-guided missiles.
Twenty-eight Democratic senators, led by Sen. Jon Ossoff, and eight House Democrats issued joint statements calling for a swift end to the flare-up in order to prevent a further loss of life.
“To prevent any further loss of civilian life and to prevent further escalation of conflict in Israel and the Palestinian territories, we urge an immediate cease-fire,” the senators said.
It’s an awkward public fight for a party that has made its commitment to social and racial justice a main part of its platform. As the US comes to grips with its own history of racism in new ways and adopts the Black Lives Matter movement in a mainstream way, liberals want to apply similar notions of justice to foreign policy, where an increasing number see apartheid in Israel’s approach to the Palestinians.
Among the 18 Tories who signed the pledge that „All schools should open full-time to all pupils from Feb 22 to March 8 are former Cabinet minister Esther McVey, ex-ministers Steve Baker, Tim Loughton and Harriet Baldwin, and chairman of the 1922 committee of backbench Conservative MPs Sir Graham Brady.
In 2019, he agreed to merge his Yesh Atid party into Benny Gantz’s Kahol Lavan and accepted Gantz’s leadership.
(03.02.2021)
The new rebellion mushroomed after Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon set the pace by announcing a phased return of Scottish schools from February 22.
Tory MPs also pointed to falling case rates and evidence to Parliament from the Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jenny Harries that schools are not considered one of the major vectors of infection transmission.
The meeting comes as a row escalates over the supply of its coronavirus vaccine. #sabcnews
AstraZeneca says it has not pulled out of talks with the EU on vaccine deliveries, plans meeting later Wednesday.
The group includes the former Cabinet minister Esther McVey and Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the influential 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers, according to the Telegraph
And Mr Williams faced yet more opposition from Conservative colleagues last night, in the form of Education Select Committee Chairman Robert Halfon.
The former Minister of State for Skills revealed he had asked for an Urgent Question in the House of Commons in which he would demand to know the route-map for getting children back to school.
„We locked down the country and shut down our schools on the basis of a forecast, so why can‘t we open it up on the basis of one too? It is not sustainable to leave the public and British businesses languishing any longer,“ Mr Baker told The Telegraph.
Last week Steve Baker, the deputy chair of the Tory backbench Covid Recovery Group (CRG), wrote to MPs calling on them to write to the Government chief whip and make clear an exit strategy was needed.
He told them „inevitably the Prime Minister’s leadership will be on the table“ unless Mr Johnson outlined the return to freedom.