Israel-Hamas war

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      Protesters calling for ceasefire in Israel-Hamas war arrested in US Capitol building – video

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      Protesters rallied in Washington DC, calling on the Biden administration and Congress to press for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. About 200 demonstrators, many from the group Jewish Voice for Peace, filled the rotunda of the Cannon House office building on Capitol Hill and staged a sit-in, calling for an end to the bombing and to ‘let Gaza live’. A number of arrests were made by US Capitol police, who handcuffed protesters and escorted them out of the building More

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      in US Politics

      Trump vows to expand Muslim ban and bar Gaza refugees if he wins presidency

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      Doubling down on the hardline immigration policies that have long animated his base, Donald Trump on Monday vowed to bar refugees from Gaza and immediately expand his first-term Muslim travel ban if he wins a second term following the deadly attack on Israel last week.Speaking to supporters in Iowa, the former president said that if he returns to the Oval Office, he will immediately begin “ideological screening” for all immigrants and bar those who sympathize with Hamas and Muslim extremists. The war between Israel and Hamas has sparked what is now the deadliest of five Gaza wars for both sides, with more than 4,000 dead.Though Trump’s audience in the Horizon Events Center in Clive cheered his proposals, 31-year-old information technology specialist Ritu Bansal said she supported Trump but hoped he would also show compassion for the people of Gaza.“In my opinion the US government should care for the victims of the Hamas attack on Israel and the civilian victims in Gaza,” Bansal said. “The US can care for both.”Trump’s proposals would mark a dramatic expansion of the controversial – and legally dubious – policies that drew alarm from immigrant rights and civil liberties activists, but helped him win the presidency in 2016.Trump has long railed against the US taking immigrants from countries he has called inferior, particularly in Africa and the Middle East, and told the crowd Monday that while he was president the US stood up for Israel and “Judeo-Christian civilization and values”.Trump also continued to paint himself as a martyr for his loyal supporters, railing against the four indictments he is facing along with a narrow gag order that was imposed Monday by the federal judge overseeing the 2020 election interference case against him in Washington. The order, which Trump has pledged to appeal, bars him from making statements targeting prosecutors, possible witnesses and court staff.“I am willing to go to jail if that’s what it takes for our country to become a democracy again,” he said in Clive.Trump pledged to bar the entry of refugees from Gaza fleeing Israel’s retaliatory strikes after the surprise 7 October attack, just as he tried to bar citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries during his first term with an executive order. The executive order, however, was met with fierce opposition and was fought all the way to the US supreme court. The high court eventually upheld a third version of the ban, which included travelers from North Korea and some from Venezuela.Current and former members of communist and totalitarian parties and their sympathizers are already banned from entry into the US. But Trump told about 1,500 people in suburban Des Moines that if he wins a second term, the US would no longer allow what he called “dangerous lunatics, haters, bigots and maniacs to get residency in our country”.“If you empathize with radical Islamic terrorists and extremists, you’re disqualified,” he said. “If you want to abolish the state of Israel, you’re disqualified. If you support Hamas or any ideology that’s having to do with that or any of the other really sick thoughts that go through people’s minds – very dangerous thoughts – you’re disqualified.”The ex-president and 2024 Republican frontrunner also said he would aggressively deport resident aliens with “jihadist sympathies” and send immigration agents to “pro-jihadist demonstrations” to identify violators.“In the wake of the attacks on Israel, Americans have been disgusted to see the open support for terrorists among the legions of foreign nationals on college campuses. They’re teaching your children hate,” he said. “Under the Trump administration, we will revoke the student visas of radical anti-American and antisemitic foreigners at our colleges and universities and we will send them straight back home.” More

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      Jewish groups rally at White House urging Biden to push for Gaza ceasefire

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      Leftwing US Jewish groups gathered outside the White House on Monday to urge the Biden administration to pressure Israel into dropping its plans for a military invasion of Gaza and instead declare an immediate ceasefire.Accusing Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of planning “genocide”, several hundred volunteers from campaign groups IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace chanted slogans, carried placards and sang ancient Jewish songs in protest of what they said was an immoral response to the deadly assault on 7 October by the Palestinian group Hamas that killed at least 1,400 Israelis.At least 30 people were arrested during the protest, according to reports from ABCNews. One organiser, identifying himself only as Yotam, told demonstrators shortly before they departed an initial rallying point at Farragut Square for the White House that 150 activists had volunteered to be arrested if security personnel ordered them to vacate the entrance points.The demonstrators also trained their sights on Joe Biden, who they said was complicit in an Israeli retaliatory bombardment that had destroyed Gaza neighbourhoods, cut off water and electricity, and left around 2,200 Palestinians dead, including 700 children.The criticism of the US president came as he was considering an offer by the Israeli prime minister to visit Israel as it grieves in the aftermath of the Hamas attacks. Biden has offered unequivocal support for the country since it was attacked, but cautioned that a re-occupation of Gaza – from which Israel formally withdrew in 2005 – would be a mistake.Monday’s demonstration came as Gaza faced an intensifying humanitarian crisis as more than half a million people fled their homes in the north of the tiny coastal enclave in advance of preparations for an apparent Israeli ground invasion with the stated goal of destroying Hamas.Standing outside the White House gates, Eva Borgwardt, political director of IfNotNow, demanded an urgent meeting with Biden. “The stakes are life or death,” she said.“We are here to tell President Biden, as the commander in chief of the most powerful military in the world he needs to do everything in his power to demand a ceasefire, to demand a de-escalation, to release the Israeli hostages and to address the underlying circumstances that have led us into this nightmare.”Protest organisers said they were prepared to engage in civil disobedience to influence US policy, including blocking entrances to and from the White House.Holding placards bearing slogans including “My grief is not your weapon” and “Stop genocide in Gaza”, they said their focus was in ending US support for Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and what they described as the Jewish state’s “system of apartheid”.Several described Israeli rhetoric towards Palestinians in the wake of the Hamas attacks as explicitly genocidal.Some attendees waved Palestinian flags, while others carried “Free Palestine” placards. Some of those present wore Jewish kippas, or skull caps.For all the focus on Israel’s policy, there was little reference to or direct criticism of Hamas for its attack on Israeli towns and communities that has triggered the latest crisis in the decades-old dispute between Israelis and Palestinians.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionInstead, activists put the focus on the Biden administration’s sale of expensive military equipment to Israel.Omas Baddar, a Palestinian American analyst, said the White House was guilty of hypocrisy for condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine while appearing to condone Israel’s actions.“When you compare the rhetoric of this administration, talking about being a human rights-first foreign policy administration, about the need to put an end to the violence that has taken place in Russia’s war with Ukraine and you contrast it with its rhetoric on what is happening with Israel and Palestine today, it is nothing short of a level of hypocrisy that deserves to be called out as aggressively as we possibly can,” he said.Borgwardt said the demonstration was evidence that the Jewish left was coalescing into a movement aimed at “throwing itself into [Israel’s] war machine” and stopping the onslaught on Gaza.However, some of those present acknowledged that wider support among the Jewish community is hard to come by.“I have a conflict with my family. I believe in a bi-national state,” said Sami Gold, 19, a political science and history student at George Washington University in Washington DC, who said his mother was Israeli-born. “Jews have been discriminated against for thousands of years and if there was a way of forming a Jewish state without discriminating against other people, I would be all for it. But we don’t live in that world.“My family still loves me, but they are sad that this is what I believe. But I think they are going to become more and more sympathetic to what I believe in.” More

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      Progressive Democrats bring resolution calling for ceasefire in Israel-Hamas war

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      A group of prominent progressive US lawmakers introduced a resolution on Monday calling for a ceasefire in the fast-escalating conflict between Israel and Hamas that has resulted in a death toll in the thousands, as fears grow that the war could spiral into a wider regional conflict.The two-page resolution, brought by 13 Democratic members of Congress, urges the Biden administration to “immediately call for and facilitate de-escalation and a ceasefire to urgently end the current violence” as well as to “promptly send and facilitate the entry of humanitarian assistance into Gaza”.“We all know collective punishment of millions of Palestinians is a war crime. No one – no one – can deny that,” said the congresswoman Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, the only Palestinian American member of the House on a Monday press call. “The answer to war crimes can never be answered with more war crimes.”Tlaib, her voice shaking with emotion, said Palestinians, including American citizens trapped in Gaza, feel “abandoned by the world”.“Please turn on the TV,” she said. “See what’s happening. Don’t turn away.”Tlaib and others, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Cori Bush of Missouri, introduced the resolution as Israel prepared a likely ground offensive into Gaza amid the crisis.The calls for a ceasefire are notable in Washington, where policymakers have rushed to express unwavering support for Israel following the shocking Hamas attacks. So far, only a handful of mostly progressive Democratic lawmakers have called for a de-escalation of violence, while most Democrats, adopting the posture of the Biden administration, have pledged unconditional solidarity.A leaked state department memo published by HuffPost warned US diplomats against using phrases such as “de-escalation/ceasefire” as the words did not align with current US policy.Joe Biden declared that Israel not only has a right to respond but a “duty” to do so. But as Israel masses troops around Gaza’s borders, the president has also begun to press for restraint. In an interview with CBS’s 60 minutes, Biden warned that it would be a “big mistake” for Israel to try to reoccupy the territory once more with ground troops.On Monday, Biden postponed a planned trip to Colorado to stay in Washington DC and focus on the conflict as he reportedly weighs an invitation to visit Israel in what would be an extraordinary show of support for one of the US’s closest allies.Meanwhile, Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, was dispatched on a faltering diplomatic mission across the Middle East to try to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and keep the conflict from widening into a regional war.In Washington DC, the Democratic lawmakers face an uphill climb to pass their resolution in the Republican-controlled House, which is presently without a speaker and therefore unable to conduct normal business. Republicans are under pressure to quickly fill the speakership vacancy, after a handful of far-right conservatives ousted the previous occupant, in part so that Congress can respond to the widening crisis in the Middle East.There is a broad bipartisan consensus in Congress for aiding Israel’s war effort. A separate bipartisan resolution declaring that Congress “stands ready to assist Israel with emergency resupply and other security, diplomatic and intelligence support” in its “brutal” and “unprovoked” war against Hamas has 381 sponsors.But as the conflict grinds on, and the death toll rises, Tlaib said she expects more members will join their call for a ceasefire. Though the overwhelming majority of the House Democratic caucus has not yet joined calls for a ceasefire, Tlaib told reporters that party leaders did not try to dissuade her or her allies from introducing the resolution.“We’ve been clear on the need for de-escalation and a ceasefire since the attacks,” Bush said. “Leadership and the White House know exactly where we stand: there is no military solution to this conflict.”Earlier calls by progressive Democrats for a de-escalation of violence infuriated colleagues of both parties who pledged unflinching support for Israel in the wake of the unprecedented terror attack that many likened to the nation’s “own 9/11”.“Calls for de-escalation, even if well-meaning, are premature”, the congressman Jake Auchincloss, a Massachusetts Democrat who is Jewish, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, last week. “Israel needs the military latitude to re-establish deterrence and root out the nodes of terrorism. Israel did not ask America to de-escalate on September 12, 2001.”The rift underscored a shift in attitude among Democrats on the decades-old conflict. Once nearly unified in their support for Israel and its right to defend itself, Democrats in recent years have grown more critical of Israel, especially under the leadership of the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his far-right government.It comes as the party’s base voters have increasingly expressed concern about the plight of the Palestinians. A Gallup poll released earlier this year marked the first time Democrats said they sympathized more with Palestinians than Israelis.A CNN poll conducted after the attack by Hamas found deep sympathy for the Israeli people among the American public. But it also found attitudes toward the conflict and the US’s response to it varied by party, with Democrats and independent voters far less likely than Republicans to say the response by the Israeli military was “fully justified”.Those divisions are only likely to become sharper as the humanitarian situation in Gaza deteriorates ahead of an expected ground invasion by the Israeli military.During the call, the congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, a progressive Democrat of Massachusetts, condemned the attack by Hamas and called on her colleagues to recognize the value of both Israeli and Palestinian lives.“Let me make it plain: the murder of innocent Israeli civilians by Hamas is horrific and unacceptable. And the murder of innocent Palestinian civilians is a horrific and unacceptable response from Israel,” Pressley said on the press call. “Vengeance should not be a foreign policy doctrine. Our shared humanity is at stake, and we must move with urgency.” More

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      ‘A dangerous game’: Republican chaos and indecision as crises shake the world

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      The US’s closest ally in the Middle East is reeling from what many call its “9/11” and now a humanitarian disaster looms in Gaza. Winter is approaching in Ukraine, which needs urgent supplies to maintain its counteroffensive against Russia. From China’s expansive ambitions, to coups in Africa, to the climate crisis, the world is crying out for leadership.But on Capitol Hill in Washington, Republicans can’t find one. Friday marked the 10th day of paralysis as the party struggles to elect a speaker of the House of Representatives to replace the ousted Kevin McCarthy. This after majority leader Steve Scalise won a closed-door vote but abandoned his run because he lacked enough support to win on the House floor.Such petty bickering, grievances and vendettas might typically fascinate seasoned Washington watchers and readers of political insider newsletters but be met by a shrug by many Americans and indifference overseas. This time, however, is different. The ripples of Republican dysfunction could soon be felt across a troubled world.“It’s a dangerous game that we’re playing,” Michael McCaul, chairman of the House foreign affairs committee, told reporters on Thursday. “It just proves our adversaries right that democracy doesn’t work. Our adversaries are watching us and Israel is watching. They need our help.”McCaul, a Republican congressman from Texas, has put forward a bipartisan resolution with Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the committee, condemning Hamas and reaffirming support for Israel. But the House cannot vote on it until there is a speaker in the chair.McCaul added: “I’m going to remind my colleagues about how dangerous this is. If we don’t have a speaker, we can’t assist Israel in this great time of need after this terrorist attack. So I think we’re playing with fire and we need to stop playing games and politics with this and vote a speaker in.”The House speaker is the third-highest-ranking elected official in the country, second in line to the presidency. Without one, legislative business is at a standstill. The House is currently under the control of Representative Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, who was named as the temporary speaker after McCarthy’s departure, but his ability to move legislation is unclear.Joe Biden said on Tuesday that he would seek approval from Congress for additional funding for Israel in the wake of the devastating attack by Hamas. But the fight over the speakership puts a question mark over how soon such aid could be approved and sent.Biden has also requested $24bn in additional funding for Ukraine but this too hangs in limbo. Although the White House has claimed that the vast majority of House Republicans still support such assistance, there has been growing dissent in recent weeks and the issue was a factor in McCarthy’s downfall.Then there is the threat of a government shutdown that would further dent US credibility overseas. Congress has until a self-imposed deadline of 17 November to pass 12 new bills to fund the government for the rest of the year and into 2024. The leadership vacuum is sucking up precious time and energy and making a shutdown more likely.Biden had spent the first two years of his presidency seeking to restore order and rebuild alliances after the “America first” mayhem of the Donald Trump years. But when Republicans gained control of the House in January with a narrow majority that empowered the far right, that effort was always likely to suffer erosion.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionKarine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, told reporters: “What we’re seeing is certainly shambolic chaos over there on the other side of Pennsylvania Avenue, and they need to get their act together … We’ve never seen a conference behave this way or be this chaotic.”Biden’s speech on Tuesday was described as one of the most powerful statements of support for Israel ever given by a US president; he has previously spoken of his deep-rooted love for the country. Huge uncertainties remain: Israel has ordered a million people to evacuate northern Gaza ahead of an expected ground invasion; Hamas could still have more surprises in store; Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia based in Lebanon, could still open a second front.But instead of addressing the crisis with one voice, Republicans are consumed with a bogus impeachment inquiry into Biden and the publicity-seeking antics of members such as Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Nancy Mace. And this week New York Republicans moved to expel accused fraudster George Santos.Kyle Herrig, executive director of the Congressional Integrity Project, said: “Since day one the Maga Republicans in the House majority have failed to work on real domestic priorities and instead focused on partisan stunts in their extreme efforts to return Donald Trump to the White House.“Their ongoing dysfunction, misplaced priorities and failures now impede the efforts of President Biden to come to the aid of key allies internationally. Chaos, not governance, defines the House Republican Caucus.” More

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      in US Politics

      Bush says US must support Israel ‘no ands, ifs or buts’ amid 9/11 comparisons

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      The US must support Israel “no ands, ifs or buts”, the former US president George W Bush said as he advocated for tough action in response to violence by Hamas which many observers have likened to the 9/11 attacks on US soil, after which Bush led his country and much of the Middle East into 20 years of war that cost millions of lives.In an interview with the historian Mark Updegrove, reported by Axios, the 43rd president, now 77, was asked for his thoughts on the attacks that have killed more than 1,100, prompting Israeli air strikes that have killed more than 1,500 in Gaza amid expectations of a ground invasion, with more than 100 Israeli hostages taken.“My thoughts were that we need to support Israel,” Bush said. “No ands, ifs or buts.“This is an unprovoked attack by terrorists, people willing to kill innocent people to achieve an objective. Hamas is a political organisation. They do not reflect the majority of the Palestinians. Don’t be surprised if Israel takes whatever action is necessary to defend herself. And it’s gonna be ugly for a while.”On 11 September 2001, Islamist terrorists hijacked four airliners, crashing two into the World Trade Center in New York, one into the Pentagon in Virginia and one into a field in Pennsylvania. The death toll was 2,977.In October 2001, the US invaded Afghanistan, which had sheltered leaders of al-Qaida, the group behind the attacks. In March 2003, US and allied troops invaded Iraq, which Bush sought without evidence to tie to 9/11. The US withdrew from Iraq in 2011 and Afghanistan 10 years later after a huge cost in human life, the vast majority civilians.The Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs at Brown University puts the US death toll in post-9/11 war operations at 7,057 and the number of wounded far higher. It says 30,177 US veterans of the 9/11 wars have died by suicide.According to the Imperial War Museum, 454 Britons were killed in Afghanistan and 179 in Iraq. Other US allies also lost troops. The toll on regional allies was huge: the Watson Institute says approximately 177,000 “uniformed Afghans, Pakistanis, Iraqis and Syrian allies [had] died as of November 2019”.Of the civilian death toll related to US operations after 9/11, it says: “Wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria and Pakistan have taken a tremendous human toll.“As of September 2021, an estimated 432,093 civilians in these countries [had] died violent deaths as a result of the wars. As of May 2023, an estimated 3.6-3.8 million people [had] died indirectly in post-9/11 war zones. The total death toll in these war zones could be at least 4.5-4.7 million and counting … civilian deaths have also resulted from US post-9/11 military operations in Somalia and other countries.”Nonetheless, in conversation with Updegrove in Santa Barbara, California, Bush held a hard line for a military response to the Hamas attacks. For Israel, he said, responding would be “tough … you know, going out in the neighbourhoods of Gaza is gonna be tough.“[Israel has] a very seasoned military but they just called up 300,000 reservists … and to the extent they’d be put in harm’s way it’s gonna be awfully difficult on the prime minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] but he’s got to do what he’s got to do.“You’re dealing with cold-blooded killers. And you can make all kinds of excuses why they are but they are and [Netanyahu’s] job is to protect his country. And anyway, we’ll find out what he’s made of.”Observers say Israel’s response, inevitably killing civilians, risks exchanging one war crime for another.Bush faced similar accusations after 9/11.In January 2002, in his State of the Union address, he coined the phrase “axis of evil”, to describe Iran, Iraq and North Korea. In California on Thursday, Updegrove asked to what extent Bush linked Iran to the Hamas attacks.“I don’t know,” Bush said. “I don’t get the intelligence anymore. Their stated objective is the destruction of Israel. That’s what the leaders say. And in this world, you got to take what they say seriously. And Iran has been pretty good at using surrogate terrorist groups, Hezbollah [in Lebanon] being the key word of course.“… I am kind of a hardliner on all this stuff. I never thought we should try to accommodate Iran, in any way, shape or form … these are the kind of people that if you show softness, they will take advantage of it.”Saying the US should “stand squarely with Netanyahu” and praising Joe Biden for doing so, Bush said: “The immediate future doesn’t look very bright. Particularly if you’re on the Hamas side. It’s going to be chaotic.“In a democracy, the people’s voices matter. And there’s gonna be a weariness. You watch. The world is going to be, ‘OK, let’s negotiate. Israel’s got to negotiate.’ They are not going to negotiate. These people have played their cards. They want to kill as many Israelis as they can. Negotiating with killers is not an option for the elected government of Israel.“And so we’re just gonna have to remain steadfast. But it’s not going to take long for people to say, ‘This is going on too long. Surely there’s a way to settle this, with negotiations. Both sides are guilty.’ My view is one side is guilty, and it’s not Israel.”His comments were met with applause. More

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      Biden’s foreign policy agenda upended by Israel-Hamas war – podcast

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      In a TV speech on Tuesday Joe Biden pledged unwavering support for Israel after Hamas militants killed hundreds of civilians including US nationals on Saturday. More than 900 people in Gaza have been killed in retaliatory airstrikes by Israel, which has enforced a ‘blockade’ of the area, sealing off 2.3 million people from food, fuel and other supplies.
      Despite some Democrats calling for de-escalation of the situation, Biden said Israel not only had the right to defend itself, but a ‘duty’ to do so. So how else might the US be able to influence the war? As some at home use this moment to blame Biden, what can his administration do to keep his foreign policy plans on track?
      This week, Jonathan Freedland is joined by Aaron David Miller – who served for two decades as a state department analyst, negotiator and adviser on Middle East issues – to discuss what the US president should do next

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