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US House Democrats Demand Biden Administration ‘Suspend Offensive Weapons’ to Israel

US Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) hold a news conference. Photo: Reuters / Erin Scott
A group of 20 Democratic lawmakers in the US House on Tuesday sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin urging the Biden administration to “suspend offensive weapons” to Israel due to the country’s military campaign in Gaza.
The letter, signed by some of the most strident critics of Israel in Congress, called for the outgoing US administration to withhold critical offensive weapons from Israel, citing dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza, where the Jewish state has been fighting Hamas terrorists for the past 14 months. The lawmakers said that Israel has “failed” to address “concerns over Gaza” and that the Biden administration should “reconsider” sending more weapons to the long-time US ally and lone democracy in the Middle East.
The message was spearheaded by Reps. Summer Lee (D-PA) and Greg Casar (D-TX), the incoming Congressional Progressive Caucus chair. Among the other signatories were some of the most outspoken critics of Israel in Congress, including: Democratic Reps. Jamaal Bowman (NY), Cori Bush (MO), Joaquin Castro (TX), Lloyd Doggett (TX), Veronica Escobar (TX), Jesús García (IL), Al Green (TX), Sara Jacobs (CA), Pramila Jayapal (WA), Hank Johnson (GA), Jim McGovern (MA.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY), Ilhan Omar (MN), Mark Pocan (WI), Ayanna Pressley (MA), Delia Ramirez (IL), Rashida Tlaib (MI), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ).
“We believe continuing to transfer offensive weapons to the Israeli government prolongs the suffering of the Palestinian people and risks our own national security by sending a message to the world that the US will apply its laws, policies, and international law selectively,” the lawmakers wrote. “Furthermore, a failure to act will put Israeli lives in danger by prolonging [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s war, isolating Israel on the international stage, and creating further instability in the region.”
The letter also condemned Israel for allegedly blocking humanitarian aid transfers into Gaza, saying that an average of 42 trucks per day have entered the enclave.
Experts have rejected such claims, arguing there is no evidence suggesting Israel has blocked humanitarian aid into Hamas-ruled Gaza.
“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,” John Hannah, former national security adviser to US Vice President Dick Cheney, recently told The Algemeiner.
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said in October that Israel has delivered over 1 million tons of aid, including 700,000 tons of food, to Gaza since it launched its military operation a year ago. He also noted that Hamas terrorists often hijack and steal aid shipments while fellow Palestinians suffer.
In Tuesday’s letter, the lawmakers also criticized Israel over its polio vaccination drive in Gaza, asserting that the Jewish state contributed to escalating “violence” which forced delays in the vaccine distributions. The letter also claimed that Israel did not provide “access to northern Gaza” during the vaccination efforts.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over 556,000 children under the age of 10 received two doses of the polio vaccine, representing 94 percent of the target population. The vaccination campaign was a “remarkable achievement given the extremely difficult circumstances the campaign was executed under,” according to the WHO.
Israel has insisted that the evacuation of northern Gaza was a necessary step to preserve civilian life as it continued its military campaign against Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group that launched the war with its invasion of southern Israel last Oct. 7. Though critics have labeled the evacuation orders as “forced displacement,” Israel argued that these advanced warnings were evidence of the Jewish state’s commitment to protecting innocents.
Israel says it has gone to unprecedented lengths to try and avoid civilian casualties, noting its efforts to evacuate areas before it targets them and to warn residents of impending military operations with leaflets, text messages, and other forms of communication. However, Hamas, which rules Gaza, has in many cases prevented people from leaving, according to the IDF.
Another challenge for Israel has been Hamas’s widely recognized military strategy of embedding its terrorists within Gaza’s civilian population and commandeering civilian facilities like hospitals, schools, and mosques to run operations and direct attacks.
However, the letter lambasted Israel for allegedly bombing hospitals, schools, and places of worship in Gaza without once mentioning Hamas or any of the terrorist threats that Israel faces.
The missive represents the latest attempt by some Democratic lawmakers, particularly from the party’s progressive wing, to forcibly wind down the Israel-Hamas war by cutting off the Jewish state’s access to certain American arms. In the year following Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, Democratic politicians have adopted an increasingly adversarial stance against the Jewish state. While the vast majority of Democratic officials expressed public agreement with Israel’s right to go to war against Hamas, many liberal lawmakers have nonetheless accused the Jewish state of “indiscriminately” bombing Gaza civilians or inflicting mass “starvation” on the beleaguered enclave.
Tuesday’s letter came days after a group of 77 Democrats in the US House sent a letter to Blinken and Austin demanding that the Biden administration provide an assessment of Israel’s “compliance with all relevant US policies and laws,” suggesting that the Middle East’s lone democracy and Washington’s closest ally in the region is violating international humanitarian law in Gaza.
The post US House Democrats Demand Biden Administration ‘Suspend Offensive Weapons’ to Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Germany’s Scholz Rebukes Vance, Defends Europe’s Stance on Hate Speech and Far Right

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks to the media after he met former prisoners following the largest prisoner exchange between Russia and the West in decades, at the military area of Cologne Bonn Airport in Cologne, Germany, August 1, 2024. Photo: Christoph Reichwein/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz delivered a strong rebuke on Saturday to US Vice President JD Vance’s attack on Europe’s stance toward hate speech and the far right, saying it was not right for others to tell Germany and Europe what to do.
Vance lambasted European leaders on Friday, the first day of the Munich Security Conference, accusing them of censoring free speech and criticizing German mainstream parties’ “firewall” against the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
“That is not appropriate, especially not among friends and allies. We firmly reject that,” Scholz told the conference on Saturday, adding there were “good reasons” not to work with the AfD.
The anti-immigration party, currently polling at around 20% ahead of Germany’s February 23 national election, has pariah status among other major German parties in a country with a taboo about ultranationalist politics because of its Nazi past.
“Never again fascism, never again racism, never again aggressive war. That is why an overwhelming majority in our country opposes anyone who glorifies or justifies criminal National Socialism,” Scholz said, referring to the ideology of Adolf Hitler’s 1933-45 Nazi regime.
Vance met on Friday with the leader of AfD, after endorsing the party as a political partner — a stance Berlin dismissed as unwelcome election interference.
Referring more broadly to Vance’s criticism of Europe’s curtailing of hate speech, which he has likened to censorship, Scholz said: “Today’s democracies in Germany and Europe are founded on the historic awareness and realization that democracies can be destroyed by radical anti-democrats.
“And this is why we’ve created institutions that ensure that our democracies can defend themselves against their enemies, and rules that do not restrict or limit our freedom but protect it.”
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot added his voice to the defense of Europe’s stance on hate speech.
“No one is required to adopt our model but no one can impose theirs on us,” Barrot said on X from Munich. “Freedom of speech is guaranteed in Europe.”
UKRAINE
The prospect of talks to end the Ukraine-Russia war had been expected to dominate the annual Munich conference after a phone call between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin this week, but Vance barely mentioned Russia or Ukraine in his speech to the gathering on Friday.
Instead, he said the threat to Europe that worried him most was not Russia or China but what he called a retreat from fundamental values of protecting free speech – as well as immigration, which he said was “out of control” in Europe.
Many conference delegates watched Vance’s speech in stunned silence. There was little applause as he delivered his remarks.
Asked by the panel moderator if he thought there was anything in Vance’s speech worth reflecting on, Scholz drew laughter and applause in the crowd when he responded, in a deadpan manner: “You mean all these very relevant discussions about Ukraine and security in Europe?”
The post Germany’s Scholz Rebukes Vance, Defends Europe’s Stance on Hate Speech and Far Right first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Trump Team to Start Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks in Saudi Arabia in Coming Days, Politico Reports

US Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) speaks on Day 1 of the Republican National Convention (RNC) at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US, July 15, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Mike Segar
Senior officials from US President Donald Trump’s administration will start peace talks with Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Saudi Arabia in the coming days, Politico reported on Saturday, citing sources familiar with the plan.
US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Saudi Arabia, the report said. Special envoy for Ukraine-Russia talks, Keith Kellogg, will not be in attendance, according to the report.
The post Trump Team to Start Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks in Saudi Arabia in Coming Days, Politico Reports first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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UN Peacekeeping Mission Deputy Commander Injured After Convoy Attacked in Beirut

FILE PHOTO: A UN peacekeepers (UNIFIL) vehicle is seen next to piled up debris at Beirut’s port, Lebanon October 23, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
The outgoing deputy force commander of the United Nations Interim Force (UNIFIL) in Lebanon was injured on Friday after a convoy taking peacekeepers to Beirut airport was “violently attacked,” UNIFIL said.
The mission demanded a full and immediate investigation by Lebanese authorities and for all perpetrators to be brought to justice, it said in a statement.
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun condemned the attack on Saturday, saying that security forces would not tolerate anyone who tries to destabilize the country, according to a statement from his office.
The French government also condemned the attack.
“France calls on the Lebanese security forces to guarantee the security of blue-helmet peacekeeping forces, and calls on Lebanon’s judicial authorities to shed all light on this unacceptable attack and to go after those responsible,” the French foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
Lebanon’s Interior Minister Ahmad al-Hajjar called for an emergency meeting before noon on Saturday to discuss the security situation, Lebanese state news agency NNA reported.
“He affirmed the Lebanese government’s rejection of this assault that is considered a crime against UNIFIL forces,” NNA reported, citing the minister.
He also gave instructions to work on identifying the perpetrators and referring them to the relevant judicial authorities.
The minister told reporters on Saturday that more than 25 people had been detained for investigation over the attack.
The United States earlier condemned the attack. A State Department statement said the attack was carried out “reportedly by a group of Hezbollah supporters”, referring to the Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon.
The post UN Peacekeeping Mission Deputy Commander Injured After Convoy Attacked in Beirut first appeared on Algemeiner.com.