RSS
House overwhelmingly passes resolution condemning Hamas Oct. 7 massacres
WASHINGTON (JTA) — In its first action under its new speaker, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly condemned the deadly invasion of Israel by Hamas on Oct. 7, which launched Israel’s current war against the terror group in Gaza.
“With the most cosponsors of any resolution ever, this measure sends a clear message across the globe: The U.S. stands with Israel,” Rep. Michael McCaul, the Texas Republican who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee, said after the vote Wednesday, posting on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
The resolution was approved 412-10, with another six members voting present, out of 435 congressional seats. A number of lawmakers were absent, and at least one seat remains empty pending a special election.
McCaul, working with his Democratic counterpart on the committee, New York’s Gregory Meeks, garnered 425 co-sponsors for the resolution, which declares that the House of Representatives “stands with Israel as it defends itself against the barbaric war launched by Hamas and other terrorists” and “stands ready to assist Israel with emergency resupply and other security, diplomatic, and intelligence support.” Among the co-sponsors, unusually, were party leaders, including Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the Democratic minority leader.
Meeks and McCaul, with the backing of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, first pressed for the resolution on Oct. 10, three days after Hamas’s invasion. Within a day they had garnered 390 co-sponsors, including progressives who have been harshly critical of Israel. But they were frustrated by the inability of Republicans to elect a speaker after a cadre of far-right lawmakers ousted Kevin McCarthy, the California Republican who previously held the role. McCaul pledged to make the resolution the first thing the House passed under a new Speaker.
Mike Johnson, the Louisiana Republican who ended weeks of stalemate with his election as speaker just before the vote, said in his first remarks in the role that he was committed to Israel’s security.
“We have no better friend in the Middle East than the state of Israel,” he said. “Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state. the special relationship between the United States and Israel is unbreakable. Our commitment to Israel’s security is ironclad and Israel has a right to defend itself under the international rules of war against the brutal terror unleashed on its citizens by Hamas.”
Jeffries, who participated in the ceremonial passing of the gavel to Johnson, also expressed support for Israel in his remarks.
Johnson said he would work with President Joe Biden to pass emergency defense assistance for Israel. Biden has asked for $10.4 billion, which Republicans say they are amenable to; however, he has coupled it with a request for $60 billion in assistance for Ukraine as it continues to fend off Russia’s invasion, which is controversial among Republicans.
Five of the six co-sponsors who voted “present” were on the Democratic Party’s progressive left, which came under intense pressure from outside groups to refrain from backing a resolution that did not call for a ceasefire. They were Pramila Jayapal of Washington, Joaquin Castro of Texas, Nydia Velázquez of New York, Greg Casar of Texas, and Chuy Garcia of Illinois. The sixth lawmaker voting “present” was Ayanna Pressley, a Massachusetts Democrat who did not co-sponsor the resolution.
Voting against were Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a Republican, and nine Democrats: Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Jamaal Bowman of New York, Cori Bush of Missouri, Al Green of Texas, Summer Lee of Pennsylvania, Andre Carson of Indiana and Delia Ramirez of Illinois. Most of the Democratic “no” votes were from the Squad, a group of progressive lawmakers.
Omar said in a statement that she could not support a resolution that only noted the victims of Hamas without also noting Palestinians killed in Israel’s subsequent airstrikes in Gaza. Like many of the others who voted no, she is also pushing for a ceasefire, which the Biden Administration opposes.
“I’m committed to peace and a prompt ceasefire,” she said. “While the resolution rightly acknowledges and mourns the lives taken by Hamas, I cannot support a resolution that fails to acknowledge and mourn the lives of Palestinians taken by the Israeli military.”
Hamas killed more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians, in its raids, wounded thousands of others and abducted more than 200. Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry says that Israeli strikes have so far killed more than 5,000 Palestinians, including many children. How many of the Palestinian dead are terrorists and how many are civilians cannot currently be assessed.
—
The post House overwhelmingly passes resolution condemning Hamas Oct. 7 massacres appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
RSS
Iran, US Task Experts to Design Framework for a Nuclear Deal, Tehran Says
Atomic symbol and USA and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, September 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Iran and the United States agreed on Saturday to task experts to start drawing up a framework for a potential nuclear deal, Iran’s foreign minister said, after a second round of talks following President Donald Trump’s threat of military action.
At their second indirect meeting in a week, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi negotiated for almost four hours in Rome with Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, through an Omani official who shuttled messages between them.
Trump, who abandoned a 2015 nuclear pact between Tehran and world powers during his first term in 2018, has threatened to attack Iran unless it reaches a new deal swiftly that would prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran, which says its nuclear program is peaceful, says it is willing to discuss limited curbs to its atomic work in return for lifting international sanctions.
Speaking on state TV after the talks, Araqchi described them as useful and conducted in a constructive atmosphere.
“We were able to make some progress on a number of principles and goals, and ultimately reached a better understanding,” he said.
“It was agreed that negotiations will continue and move into the next phase, in which expert-level meetings will begin on Wednesday in Oman. The experts will have the opportunity to start designing a framework for an agreement.”
The top negotiators would meet again in Oman next Saturday to “review the experts’ work and assess how closely it aligns with the principles of a potential agreement,” he added.
Echoing cautious comments last week from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, he added: “We cannot say for certain that we are optimistic. We are acting very cautiously. There is no reason either to be overly pessimistic.”
There was no immediate comment from the US side following the talks. Trump told reporters on Friday: “I’m for stopping Iran, very simply, from having a nuclear weapon. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. I want Iran to be great and prosperous and terrific.”
Washington’s ally Israel, which opposed the 2015 agreement with Iran that Trump abandoned in 2018, has not ruled out an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the coming months, according to an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter.
Since 2019, Iran has breached and far surpassed the 2015 deal’s limits on its uranium enrichment, producing stocks far above what the West says is necessary for a civilian energy program.
A senior Iranian official, who described Iran’s negotiating position on condition of anonymity on Friday, listed its red lines as never agreeing to dismantle its uranium enriching centrifuges, halt enrichment altogether or reduce its enriched uranium stockpile below levels agreed in the 2015 deal.
The post Iran, US Task Experts to Design Framework for a Nuclear Deal, Tehran Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Hamas Says Fate of US-Israeli Hostage Unknown After Guard Killed in Israel Strike
Varda Ben Baruch, the grandmother of Edan Alexander, 19, an Israeli army volunteer kidnapped by Hamas, attends a special Kabbalat Shabbat ceremony with families of other hostages, in Herzliya, Israel October 27, 2023 REUTERS/Kuba Stezycki
Hamas said on Saturday the fate of an Israeli dual national soldier believed to be the last US citizen held alive in Gaza was unknown, after the body of one of the guards who had been holding him was found killed by an Israeli strike.
A month after Israel abandoned the ceasefire with the resumption of intensive strikes across the breadth of Gaza, Israel was intensifying its attacks.
President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff said in March that freeing Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old New Jersey native who was serving in the Israeli army when he was captured during the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks that precipitated the war, was a “top priority.” His release was at the center of talks held between Hamas leaders and US negotiator Adam Boehler last month.
Hamas had said on Tuesday that it had lost contact with the militants holding Alexander after their location was hit in an Israeli attack. On Saturday it said the body of one of the guards had been recovered.
“The fate of the prisoner and the rest of the captors remains unknown,” said Hamas armed wing Al-Qassam Brigades’ spokesperson Abu Ubaida.
“We are trying to protect all the hostages and preserve their lives … but their lives are in danger because of the criminal bombings by the enemy’s army,” Abu Ubaida said.
The Israeli military did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Hamas released 38 hostages under the ceasefire that began on January 19. Fifty-nine are still believed to be held in Gaza, fewer than half of them still alive.
Israel put Gaza under a total blockade in March and restarted its assault on March 18 after talks failed to extend the ceasefire. Hamas says it will free remaining hostages only under an agreement that permanently ends the war; Israel says it will agree only to a temporary pause.
On Friday, the Israeli military said it hit about 40 targets across the enclave over the past day. The military on Saturday announced that a 35-year-old soldier had died in combat in Gaza.
NETANYAHU STATEMENT
Late on Thursday Khalil Al-Hayya, Hamas’ Gaza chief, said the movement was willing to swap all remaining 59 hostages for Palestinians jailed in Israel in return for an end to the war and reconstruction of Gaza.
He dismissed an Israeli offer, which includes a demand that Hamas lay down its arms, as imposing “impossible conditions.”
Israel has not responded formally to Al-Hayya’s comments, but ministers have said repeatedly that Hamas must be disarmed completely and can play no role in the future governance of Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to give a statement later on Saturday.
Hamas on Saturday also released an undated and edited video of Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot. Hamas has released several videos over the course of the war of hostages begging to be released. Israeli officials have dismissed past videos as propaganda.
After the video was released, Bohbot’s family said in a statement that they were “deeply shocked and devastated,” and expressed concern for his mental and physical condition.
“How much longer will he be expected to wait and ‘stay strong’?” the family asked, urging for all of the 59 hostages who are still held in Gaza to be brought home.
The post Hamas Says Fate of US-Israeli Hostage Unknown After Guard Killed in Israel Strike first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Oman’s Sultan to Meet Putin in Moscow After Iran-US Talks
FILE PHOTO: Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said gives a speech after being sworn in before the royal family council in Muscat, Oman January 11, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Sultan Al Hasani/File Photo
Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said is set to visit Moscow on Monday, days after the start of a round of Muscat-mediated nuclear talks between the US and Iran.
The sultan will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.
Iran and the US started a new round of nuclear talks in Rome on Saturday to resolve their decades-long standoff over Tehran’s atomic aims, under the shadow of President Donald Trump’s threat to unleash military action if diplomacy fails.
Ahead of Saturday’s talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. Following the meeting, Lavrov said Russia was “ready to assist, mediate and play any role that will be beneficial to Iran and the USA.”
Moscow has played a role in Iran’s nuclear negotiations in the past as a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member and signatory to an earlier deal that Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.
The sultan’s meetings in Moscow visit will focus on cooperation on regional and global issues, the Omani state news agency and the Kremlin said, without providing further detail.
The two leaders are also expected to discuss trade and economic ties, the Kremlin added.
The post Oman’s Sultan to Meet Putin in Moscow After Iran-US Talks first appeared on Algemeiner.com.