RSS
Biden Administration Has Provided ‘No Evidence’ of Israel Denying Aid to Gaza Civilians: Expert
US President Joe Biden and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken attend a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as Biden visits Israel amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Oct. 18, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
The Biden administration has provided “no evidence” that Israel is deliberately denying humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza as part of its war strategy against Hamas, an expert and former top US policy adviser told The Algemeiner on Tuesday, in response to a letter from the White House warning Israel that US arms shipments could be cut off unless the humanitarian situation in Gaza improves within 30 days.
John Hannah, former national security adviser to US Vice President Dick Cheney, added that it would be a “disaster” for President Joe Biden’s legacy if he were to withhold military support from Israel at this critical juncture.
“There’s no doubt the situation on the ground in Gaza is dire for innocent civilians. That’s the reality of war in general and urban warfare in particular,” Hannah said. However, he emphasized, “the administration has so far not produced any compelling evidence that Israel is weaponizing starvation against civilians.”
The White House letter, addressed to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, expressed concern over what it said was a significant drop in aid deliveries to northern Gaza in recent months. The letter stated that the decline raised questions about Israel’s compliance with a National Security Memorandum (NSM) issued by Biden earlier this year.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin wrote that Israel “must — starting now and within 30 days — act on the following concrete measures” to ensure the flow of aid, warning that “failure to demonstrate a sustained commitment to implementing and maintaining these measures may have implications for US policy under NSM-20 and relevant US law.”
The memo, sent just weeks before the Nov. 5 presidential election, requires US security aid recipients, including Israel, to ensure that humanitarian aid is not obstructed in areas where American-supplied weapons are being used. The administration’s concerns are rooted in reports from international aid agencies and the United Nations that aid deliveries to Gaza have plummeted, raising the risk of widespread famine.
However, Hannah, a senior fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, pushed back against these accusations, pointing to Israel’s efforts to keep aid flowing despite the complexities of urban warfare and the presence of Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group committed to Israel’s destruction and seeking to retain control of the neighboring enclave.
“The facts are that the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] has facilitated the delivery of more aid to territory controlled by the enemy than any military in the history of warfare, despite knowing with certainty that doing so is actually strengthening Hamas and making the IDF’s job harder,” he said.
According to Blinken and Austin, the amount of aid that entered Gaza in September was the lowest in a year. They urged Israel to allow at least 350 aid trucks into Gaza each day, facilitate aid routes through Jordan, and end the “isolation” of northern Gaza by ensuring continued access for humanitarian organizations.
The letter also called for temporary pauses in IDF military operations to enable aid deliveries, stating that “multiple evacuation orders have forced 1.7 million people” into increasingly precarious living conditions.
Hannah argued that these demands overlook the significant risks Israel is already taking by allowing aid into an active conflict zone. “There simply has been no famine or mass starvation despite all the dire warnings that the sky was falling,” he said, criticizing what he called unfounded accusations against Israel.
“On the contrary, in the face of incessant accusations since Oct. 7 from the United Nations and humanitarian aid agencies that Israel is systematically withholding aid and Gaza is on the precipice of widespread famine, the IDF has time after time shown the charges to be blatantly false,” Hannah said.
In April, Blinken warned Israel to increase the flow of humanitarian aid, stating, “If we don’t see the changes that we need to see, there’ll be changes in our policy,” though he stopped short of explicitly threatening an arms embargo.
However, a month later a report authored by renowned academics and public health officials found that humanitarian aid allowed into the Strip from the period of January-April amounted to more than 3,000 calories per person per day.
In June the IPC Famine Review Committee walked back its own prediction that Gaza was in danger of famine, saying that the findings were “implausible” and the original March review was based on inadequate information.
“Given the record of past calumny against the IDF, people are right to be deeply skeptical that the charges against Israel this time are true,” Hannah said.
Hannah highlighted the broader geopolitical consequences of the Biden administration’s stance, saying that “the fact that the administration would leak this letter and attempt to undermine and weaken Israel in the middle of a brutal multi-front war will be celebrated by Hamas, Iran, and Hezbollah and won’t reflect well on the Biden administration.”
Hannah’s most pointed criticism was reserved for the potential fallout if the Biden administration decides to follow through on its threat to restrict military aid to Israel.
“It would be a disaster for Biden’s legacy, and for his image as a life-long Zionist, if he were to choose to end his presidency by withholding arms from Israel at its moment of greatest peril in the last 50 years,” Hannah said.
The post Biden Administration Has Provided ‘No Evidence’ of Israel Denying Aid to Gaza Civilians: Expert first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Lebanon Must Disarm Hezbollah to Have a Shot at Better Days, Says US Envoy

Thomas Barrack at the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse in Brooklyn, New York, U.S., November 4, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
i24 News – Lebanon’s daunting social, economic and political issues would not get resolved unless the state persists in the efforts to disarm Hezbollah, the Iranian proxy behind so much of the unrest and destruction, special US envoy Tom Barrack told The National.
“You have Israel on one side, you have Iran on the other, and now you have Syria manifesting itself so quickly that if Lebanon doesn’t move, it’s going to be Bilad Al Sham again,” he said, using the historical Arabic name for the region sometimes known as “larger Syria.”
The official stressed the need to follow through on promises to disarm the Iranian proxy, which suffered severe blows from Israel in the past year, including the elimination of its entire leadership, and is considered a weakened though still dangerous jihadist outfit.
“There are issues that we have to arm wrestle with each other over to come to a final conclusion. Remember, we have an agreement, it was a great agreement. The problem is, nobody followed it,” he told The National.
Barrack spoke on the heels of a trip to Beirut, where he proposed a diplomatic plan for the region involving the full disarmament of Hezbollah by the Lebanese state.
The post Lebanon Must Disarm Hezbollah to Have a Shot at Better Days, Says US Envoy first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Report: Putin Urges Iran to Accept ‘Zero Enrichment’ Nuclear Deal With US

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of a cultural forum dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the birth of the Turkmen poet and philosopher Magtymguly Fragi, in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Oct. 11, 2024. Photo: Sputnik/Alexander Scherbak/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Russian President Vladimir Putin has told Iranian leadership that he supports the idea of a nuclear deal in which Iran is unable to enrich uranium, the Axios website reported on Saturday. The Russian strongman also relayed the message to his American counterpart, President Donald Trump, the report said.
Iranian news agency Tasnim issued a denial, citing an “informed source” as saying Putin had not sent any message to Iran in this regard.
Also on Saturday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated that “Any negotiated solution must respect Iran’s right to enrichment. No agreement without recognizing our right to enrichment. If negotiations occur, the only topic will be the nuclear program. No other issues, especially defense or military matters, will be on the agenda.”
The post Report: Putin Urges Iran to Accept ‘Zero Enrichment’ Nuclear Deal With US first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Syria’s Al-Sharaa Attending At Least One Meeting With Israeli Officials in Azerbaijan

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, May 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/Pool
i24 News – Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa is attending at least one meeting with Israeli officials in Azerbaijan today, despite sources in Damascus claiming he wasn’t attending, a Syrian source close to President Al-Sharaa tells i24NEWS.
The Syrian source stated that this is a series of two or three meetings between the sides, with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani also in attendance, along with Ahmed Al-Dalati, the Syrian government’s liaison for security meetings with Israel.
The high-level Israeli delegation includes a special envoy of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, as well as security and military figures.
The purpose of the meetings is to discuss further details of the security agreement to be signed between Israel and Syria, the Iranian threat in Syria and Lebanon, Hezbollah’s weapons, the weapons of Palestinian militias, the Palestinians camps in Lebanon, and the future of Palestinian refugees from Gaza in the region.
The possibility of opening an Israeli coordination office in Damascus, without diplomatic status, might also be discussed.
The source stated that the decision to hold the meetings in Azerbaijan, made by Israel and the US, is intended to send a message to Iran.
The post Syria’s Al-Sharaa Attending At Least One Meeting With Israeli Officials in Azerbaijan first appeared on Algemeiner.com.