German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday evening that he had become „disillusioned“ with the US and Israel over the war on Iran.
„At this point I am disillusioned simply because the US and Israel claimed at the beginning that they could solve this problem within days,“ Merz said in televised remarks. „Now I must recognise: it is not solved.“
The head of the Histadrut labor federation urges again far-right Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to set a date for early elections, indicating that if the premier refuses, the organization could take steps aimed at forcing his hand.
Speaking at a conference hosted by Yedioth Ahronoth on Wednesday, May 8, Arnon Bar-David declares that Netanyahu and his government âcannot avoid responsibility for the failures of October 7.â
Last year, when protests against the same governmentâs divisive judicial overhaul plan reached a tipping point following Netanyahuâs firing of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the Histadrut declared a general strike, helping force the prime minister to walk back that decision and to pause the overhaul.
âI think the world is horrified with the current situation,â she said, adding that âunless Israel changes its course it will continue to lose support.â
anada suspended funding to UNRWA in January after Israel alleged 12 employees of the aid agency were involved in some capacity in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
CBC News first reported on Tuesday that the government intended to resume funding after receiving an interim report from the United Nations investigation of Israel‘s allegations.
The intelligence report‘s findings are in stark contrast to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken‘s remarks in January, in which he said that the accusations against UNRWA were âhighly, highly credibleâ.
The Journal also reported that Israel has not âshared the raw intelligence behind its assessments with the USâ despite the strong security relationship between the two countries.
Israel has shared a dossier of sorts outlining its accusations, alongside details of where their evidence stems from, with the US and several western news organisations.
Major UNRWA donors, incl the US, have frozen vital funds bcz of Israel‘s allegations.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini says „the UN has never, never, ever received any written dossier, despite our repeated call.“
Bidenâs 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 Bidenâs 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“.