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DeSantis: Israel may need to remove Palestinians from Gaza if it faces a ‘second Holocaust’
(JTA) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said that if Israel were faced with a “second Holocaust,” he could understand why it would remove Palestinian civilians from the Gaza Strip.
The statement came hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel has no intention of doing so.
DeSantis’ remarks at a Republican presidential debate on Wednesday came on the eve of opening arguments at The Hague, where Israel faces charges of genocide at the International Court of Justice. The debate was the final one ahead of the Iowa Republican caucuses on Monday — the first contest in the Republican presidential primary.
Jake Tapper, the CNN moderator, asked DeSantis if he supports Israeli cabinet ministers who are “pushing for the mass removal of Palestinians from Gaza,” noting that his rival on the debate stage at Drake University in DesMoines, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, does not support mass removal.
“As President I am not going to tell them to do that, I think there’s a lot of issues with that,” DeSantis said. “But if they make the calculation that to avert a second Holocaust, they need to do that — I think some of these Palestinian Arabs, Saudi Arabia should take some, Egypt should take some.”
Just hours earlier, Netanyahu in a short video posted on social media in English said Israel had no plans to remove Palestinians or to permanently reoccupy the Gaza Strip.
“I want to make a few points absolutely clear: Israel has no intention of permanently occupying Gaza or displacing its civilian population,” Netanyahu said. “Israel is fighting Hamas terrorists, not the Palestinian population, and we are doing so in full compliance with international law.”
Netanyahu’s remarks came after weeks of pressure from the Biden administration to explicitly contradict the statements of ministers, who have called for the removal of Palestinians in the wake of the war launched with Hamas’ Oct. 7 invasion of Israel.
Haley and DeSantis are vying for the second place spot behind former President Donald Trump, who still maintains substantial lead just days ahead of the Iowa caucuses. Trump snubbed the debate, a way to broadcast his consistent lead in the polling.
Republican Jewish donors who oppose Trump have lined up behind Haley as her polling has improved, and as DeSantis’s polling numbers have cratered.
Haley touted her record as Trump’s envoy to the United Nations in defending Israel, and took DeSantis to task for making Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie a lead campaign surrogate; Massie is the only Republican who consistently votes against pro-Israel resolutions in Congress.
“We need to understand: the reason we need to support Israel is Israel is a bright spot in a tough neighborhood,” she said. “They are the tip of the spear when it comes to defeating terrorism. It has never been that Israel needs America. It has always been that America needs Israel. When I was at the United Nations, I fought every day for Israel.”
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The post DeSantis: Israel may need to remove Palestinians from Gaza if it faces a ‘second Holocaust’ appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Germany Confirms Saudi Warning about Perpetrator of Christmas Market Attack
A Saudi flag flutters atop Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, Turkey October 20, 2018. Photo: REUTERS File Photo
i24 News – German authorities confirmed on Sunday that Saudi Arabia had warned them last year about the suspect in the car-ramming attack at the Christmas market in Magdeburg over the weekend.
The head of the Federal Criminal Police Office (Germany’s equivalent to the FBI), Holger Münch, told German media that his office received a tip from Saudi Arabia in November 2023, which led the authorities to carry out “appropriate investigative steps.” However, Germany decided that the warnings were not serious, as the perpetrator had no criminal background.
“The suspect, Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, also published a large number of extremist posts online,” Münch said. “He was also in contact with various authorities, voicing insults and even threats. However, it is unknown if he committed any acts of violence.” He added that the warnings turned out to be non-specific. The Federal Office for Immigration and Refugees also reported on X that it had received a tip about the suspect at the end of last summer.
The incident began Friday evening, when the Saudi-German slammed into people with his BMW in a crowded Christmas market area in the city of Magdeburg, running over a large group of people. Five people were killed in the event, which German authorities have not yet defined as a terrorist attack. Today the name of one of the victims was published, a 9-year-old boy named Andre Gleissner. Abdulmohsen is reportedly a 50-year-old doctor with no criminal record who hailed from Saudi Arabia, but in later years became an atheist and spoke out against Islam. He had a permanent refugee status in Germany, for fear of persecution in Saudi Arabia.
The post Germany Confirms Saudi Warning about Perpetrator of Christmas Market Attack first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Netanyahu Says Israel Will Continue to Act Against the Houthis
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a cabinet meeting at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem on June 5, 2024. Photo: Gil Cohen-Magen/Pool via REUTERS
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday Israel would continue acting against the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, whom he accused of threatening world shipping and the international order, and called on Israelis to be steadfast.
“Just as we acted forcefully against the terrorist arms of Iran’s axis of evil, so we will act against the Houthis,” he said in a video statement a day after a missile fired from Yemen fell in the Tel Aviv area, causing a number of mild injuries.
On Thursday, Israeli jets launched a series of strikes against energy and port infrastructure in Yemen in a move officials said was a response to hundreds of missile and drone attacks launched by the Houthis since the start of the Gaza war 14 months ago.
On Saturday, the US military said it conducted precision airstrikes against a missile storage facility and a command-and-control facility operated by Houthis in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa.
Netanyahu, strengthened at home by the Israeli military’s campaign against Iran-backed Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon and by its destruction of most of the Syrian army’s strategic weapons, said Israel would act with the United States.
“Therefore, we will act with strength, determination and sophistication. I tell you that even if it takes time, the result will be the same,” he said.
The Houthis have launched repeated attacks on international shipping in waters near Yemen since November 2023, in support of the Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas.
The post Netanyahu Says Israel Will Continue to Act Against the Houthis first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Weakened Iran Could Pursue Nuclear Weapon, White House’s Sullivan Says
FILE PHOTO: The atomic symbol and the Iranian flag are seen in this illustration, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
The Biden administration is concerned that a weakened Iran could build a nuclear weapon, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday, adding that he was briefing President-elect Donald Trump’s team on the risk.
Iran has suffered setbacks to its regional influence after Israel’s assaults on its allies, Palestinian Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, followed by the fall of Iran-aligned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Israeli strikes on Iranian facilities, including missile factories and air defenses, have reduced Tehran’s conventional military capabilities, Sullivan told CNN.
“It’s no wonder there are voices (in Iran) saying, ‘Hey, maybe we need to go for a nuclear weapon right now … Maybe we have to revisit our nuclear doctrine,’” Sullivan said.
Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful, but it has expanded uranium enrichment since Trump, in his 2017-2021 presidential term, pulled out of a deal between Tehran and world powers that put restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activity in exchange for sanctions relief.
Sullivan said that there was a risk that Iran might abandon its promise not to build nuclear weapons.
“It’s a risk we are trying to be vigilant about now. It’s a risk that I’m personally briefing the incoming team on,” Sullivan said, adding that he had also consulted with US ally Israel.
Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, could return to his hardline Iran policy by stepping up sanctions on Iran’s oil industry.
Sullivan said Trump would have an opportunity to pursue diplomacy with Tehran, given Iran’s “weakened state.”
“Maybe he can come around this time, with the situation Iran finds itself in, and actually deliver a nuclear deal that curbs Iran’s nuclear ambitions for the long term,” he said.
The post Weakened Iran Could Pursue Nuclear Weapon, White House’s Sullivan Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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