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More than half of House Democrats endorse Biden’s backing of Israel in Hamas war

WASHINGTON (JTA) — More than half of Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter to President Joe Biden endorsing his policy of backing Israel in its war against Hamas, mounting a firewall against calls from the party’s left to pressure Israel into a ceasefire.

The signatories include several outspoken critics of Israel, as well as all 24 Jews in the House Democratic caucus.

The letter, dated Friday, was spearheaded by three Jewish members, Jerry Nadler and Dan Goldman of New York and Jamie Raskin of Maryland, and was signed by 131 lawmakers.

“We stand with you in supporting Israel and are ready to provide whatever assistance the state and people of Israel need to defend themselves and to ensure that hostages return home and those who perpetrated these crimes against humanity are held accountable,” the letter says.

On Friday, Biden asked Congress for $10.4 billion in defense assistance for Israel as it counterattacks Hamas, which invaded Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, wounding thousands and taking more than 200 hostages.

Biden has said he backs Israel’s goal of destroying Hamas. A number of progressives on the party’s left oppose additional defense assistance for Israel and have led calls for a ceasefire, coming out to back protesters at the U.S. Capitol last week. The letter does not mention a ceasefire.

In a sign of how much the atrocities of Oct. 7 have shifted the political landscape, some of the party’s most insistent critics of Israel have signed onto this letter. Those include Betty McCollum of Minnesota, who has long proposed cutting some assistance to Israel as long as it keeps Palestinian minors in detention; Raul Grijalva of Arizona, who in 2021 was one of just a handful of lawmakers to vote against $1 billion in anti-missile defense funding for Israel after its last war with Hamas; and Greg Casar of Texas, who just last week was reported to be among 18 Democrats backing a ceasefire.

After declaring its willingness to support Israel, the letter also goes to great lengths to express support for Biden’s efforts to get humanitarian assistance to Gaza. Biden, who made a lightning visit to Israel last week, has made clear to Israel that it must not block humanitarian assistance coming in from the Egypt-Gaza border and that it must abide by the laws of war.

“We are grateful as well for your clear statements regarding the fundamental importance of ensuring that the humanitarian needs of the civilian population of Gaza are met, and that all possible steps are being taken to ensure the safety of civilians and noncombatants in the Strip,” the letter says. “Reportedly, more than 3,000 people have been killed and more than 9,700 wounded in Gaza, making it imperative that we act to prevent further loss of innocent lives. We agree with you that Israel’s response must be in accordance with international law and our shared democratic values.”

The letter concludes by saying that any long-term solution must be diplomatic and not military. Biden has also said that he does not want Israel to reoccupy the Gaza Strip, and in recent days Israeli officials have indicated that they have no appetite for reoccupation. Israel captured the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Six-Day War and withdrew in 2005; Hamas took power there after a brief civil war in 2007.


The post More than half of House Democrats endorse Biden’s backing of Israel in Hamas war appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

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Anti-Israel Activists Damage Planes at UK Military Base

An activist from Palestine Action sprays a military aircraft engine with red paint at RAF Brize Norton, to damage it, in Carterton, Britain, June 20, 2025, in this still image obtained from handout video. The group’s action was in protest of British military assistance to Israel, claiming that they, “interrupted Britain’s direct participation in the commission of genocide and war crimes across the Middle East”, stating on their website. Photo: Palestine Action/Handout via REUTERS

Anti-Israel activists broke into a Royal Air Force base in central England on Friday, damaging and spraying red paint over two planes used for refueling and transport.

Palestine Action said two members had entered the Brize Norton base in Oxfordshire, putting paint into the engines of the Voyager aircraft and further damaging them with crowbars.

“Despite publicly condemning the Israeli government, Britain continues to send military cargo, fly spy planes over Gaza and refuel US/Israeli fighter jets,” the group said in a statement, posting a video of the incident on X.

“Britain isn’t just complicit, it’s an active participant in the Gaza genocide and war crimes across the Middle East.”

Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the “vandalism” as “disgraceful” in a post on X.

Britain’s defense ministry and police were investigating.

“It is our responsibility to support those who defend us,” the defense ministry said.

A spokesperson for Starmer said the government was reviewing security across all British defense sites.

Palestine Action is among groups that have regularly targeted defense firms and other companies in Britain linked to Israel since the start of the conflict in Gaza.

The group said it had also sprayed paint on the runway and left a Palestine flag there.

The Gaza war was triggered when Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists attacked Israel in October 2023, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages.

US ally Israel subsequently launched a military campaign in Gaza aimed at dismantling Hamas and freeing the hostages.

The post Anti-Israel Activists Damage Planes at UK Military Base first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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US Supreme Court Upholds Law on Suing Palestinian Authorities Over Terror Attacks

The US Supreme Court building is seen the morning before justices are expected to issue opinions in pending cases, in Washington, DC, June 14, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz

The US Supreme Court upheld on Friday a statute passed by Congress to facilitate lawsuits against Palestinian authorities by Americans killed or injured in terrorist attacks abroad as plaintiffs pursue monetary damages for violence years ago in Israel and the West Bank.

The 9-0 ruling overturned a lower court’s decision that the 2019 law, the Promoting Security and Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act, violated the rights of the Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization to due process under the US Constitution.

Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, who authored the ruling, said the 2019 jurisdictional law comported with due process rights enshrined in the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment.

“It is permissible for the federal government to craft a narrow jurisdictional provision that ensures, as part of a broader foreign policy agenda, that Americans injured or killed by acts of terror have an adequate forum in which to vindicate their right” to compensation under a federal law known as the Antiterrorism Act of 1990, Roberts wrote.

The US government and a group of American victims and their families had appealed the lower court’s decision that struck down a provision of the law.

Among the plaintiffs are families who in 2015 won a $655 million judgment in a civil case alleging that the Palestinian organizations were responsible for a series of shootings and bombings around Jerusalem from 2002 to 2004. They also include relatives of Israeli-American Ari Fuld, who was fatally stabbed by a Palestinian in 2018.

“The plaintiffs, US families who had loved ones maimed or murdered in PLO-sponsored terror attacks, have been waiting for justice for many years,” said Kent Yalowitz, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.

“I am very hopeful that the case will soon be resolved without subjecting these families to further protracted and unnecessary litigation,” Yalowitz added.

The ongoing violence involving Israel and the Palestinians served as a backdrop to the case.

US courts for years have grappled over whether they have jurisdiction in cases involving the Palestinian Authority and PLO for actions taken abroad.

Under the language at issue in the 2019 law, the PLO and Palestinian Authority automatically “consent” to jurisdiction if they conduct certain activities in the United States or make payments to people who attack Americans.

Roberts in Friday’s ruling wrote that Congress and the president enacted the jurisdictional law based on their “considered judgment to subject the PLO and PA [Palestinian Authority] to liability in US courts as part of a comprehensive legal response to ‘halt, deter, and disrupt’ acts of international terrorism that threaten the life and limb of American citizens.”

New York-based US District Judge Jesse Furman ruled in 2022 that the law violated the due process rights of the PLO and Palestinian Authority. The New York-based 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that ruling.

President Joe Biden’s administration initiated the government’s appeal, which subsequently was taken up by President Donald Trump’s administration. The Supreme Court heard arguments in the case on April 1.

The post US Supreme Court Upholds Law on Suing Palestinian Authorities Over Terror Attacks first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Zohran Mamdani Warned ‘Third Intifada Looms’ During 2015 Wave of Palestinian Violence

Candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during a Democratic New York City mayoral primary debate, June 4, 2025, in New York, US. Photo: Yuki Iwamura/Pool via REUTERS

New York City Democratic mayoral contender Zohran Mamdani predicted a “looming third intifada” in a recently resurfaced X/Twitter post from 2015. 

Mamdani’s social media post was a response to a 2015 opinion article in the New York Times which characterized the US approach to Israel as “hypocritical” and described the Jewish state as “discriminatory.”

In October 2015, Israel faced a surge of violent attacks from Palestinian youths, mostly consisting of stabbings, shootings, and car-rammings which left dozens of innocent Israelis dead and many more injured. The period of violence, known as the “Knife Intifada,” was largely driven by controversies surrounding Jerusalem’s holy sites.  Israeli security forces promptly subdued the violent attacks amid escalating regional tensions.

Interesting piece from Anat Biletzki in @nytopinion, especially as the third #Intifada looms. #israel #palestine,” Mamdani wrote on X/Twitter in 2015.

The First and Second Intifadas were violent Palestinian uprisings against Israel’s presence in the West Bank and Gaza, marked by rampant terrorist attacks against Israelis. The First Intifada, which took place from 1987 to 1990, often portrayed as a grassroots movement, quickly escalated beyond civil disobedience into widespread riots, Molotov cocktail attacks, and coordinated assaults on Israeli soldiers and civilians.

The Second Intifada, which took place from 2000 to 2005, was deadlier, with over 1,000 Israelis killed in suicide bombings targeting buses, restaurants, and public areas. Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces launched major counterterrorism operations to dismantle terrorist networks.

Critics argue the intifadas were legitimate expressions of resistance to what they describe as Israeli occupation.

The resurfaced tweet comes as Mamdani faces backlash over his recent defense of the controversial phrase “globalize the intifada,” which has been regularly chanted at anti-Israel demonstrations around the world during the ongoing Gaza war.

On Tuesday’s episode of “The Bulwark Podcast,” host Tim Miller asked Mamdani whether he would be willing to condemn the chant “globalize the intifada,” arguing that the phrase — which references the two previous periods of sustained Palestinian terrorism against Jews and Israels — calls for violence against Jewish people. Mamdani refused to condemn the chant, claiming that it has been misinterpreted and represents a “desperate desire for equality and equal rights.”

“I am someone who, I would say am, is less comfortable with the banning of certain words, and that I think is more evocative of a Trump-style approach of how to lead a country,” Mamdani said in comments first reported by Jewish Insider

“I think what’s difficult also, is that the very word has been used by the Holocaust Museum when translating the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising into Arabic, because it’s a word that means ‘struggle,’” he continued. “And, as a Muslim man who grew up post-9/11, I’m all too familiar in the way in which that Arabic words can be twisted, can be distorted.”

Jewish organizations and watchdog groups have condemned the slogan as a form of hate speech that blurs the line between criticism of Israeli policy and incitement against Jewish communities, especially amid a rise in antisemitic incidents globally.

Following the release of the podcast, Mamdani was excoriated by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, which wrote, “Exploiting the Museum and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising to sanitize ‘globalize the intifada’ is outrageous and especially offensive to survivors.”

Fellow New York City Democratic mayoral candidates Andrew Cuomo and Whitney Tilson also issued statements condemning Mamdani for attempting to use the history of the Holocaust to justify use of the controversial slogan.

Mamdani has also come under criticism for repeatedly refusing to affirm Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, instead suggesting that Israel does not offer “equal rights” to all of its citizens. He has also promised to support the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel as mayor and has vowed to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with New York Police Department (NYPD) forces.

The post Zohran Mamdani Warned ‘Third Intifada Looms’ During 2015 Wave of Palestinian Violence first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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