World
Biden faces ridicule for saying he’s been ‘very supportive’ of Palestinians
Washington, DC – After the Israeli military bombed a school housing displaced people in central Gaza on Tuesday, a young man stood at the chaotic scene with a rocket fragment in his hand. “This is an Israeli American missile,” he said.
“We were stepping on corpses. I cannot describe the cruelty of what is happening,” the man said in a video verified by Al Jazeera after the attack in the Nuseirat area, which killed 17 civilians and injured dozens.
Such mass-casualty attacks have been a near-daily reality for Palestinians in Gaza for the past nine months. Officials and everyday people in the besieged territory have expressed outrage that the bombs decimating their lives are, in many cases, supplied by the United States as part of its alliance with Israel.
After air raids in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis killed at least 90 Palestinians last week, the Gaza Government Media Office blamed the US directly for the attack.
But US President Joe Biden has a different view of Washington’s role in the war.
“I’m the guy that did more for the Palestinian community than anybody,” he said in an interview that aired online on Monday.
“I’m the guy that opened up all the assets. I’m the guy that made sure that I got the Egyptians to open the border… I’m the guy that’s been able to pull together the Arab states to agree to help the Palestinians with food and shelter.”
He added, “I mean, I’ve been very supportive of the Palestinians.”
The US president’s assertion was met with ridicule by Palestinian rights advocates, who stressed that Biden’s unconditional support for Israel is fuelling a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
“It’s hard to decide whether these comments by Biden were arrogant, blind or deceitful. It seems that he wants to take credit both for enabling the genocide and for letting Palestinians have a little bit of medicine and water and food,” said Amer Zahr, a Palestinian American comedian and activist.
Lexis Zeidan, a Detroit-based Palestinian American organiser, echoed that criticism.
“The only thing Biden did more for when it comes to Palestinians is increase their death toll with US-funded Israeli bombs,” she told Al Jazeera.
Armed by the US, the Israeli military has killed more than 38,000 Palestinians in Gaza and levelled large parts of the territory.
A self-proclaimed Zionist
In the same interview with journalist Speedy Morman, Biden re-asserted that he identifies as a Zionist.
“A Zionist is about whether or not Israel is a safe haven for Jews because of their history of how they’ve been persecuted,” he said.
The president then went on to ask the interviewer whether he knows what it means to be a Zionist.
Zionism is a Jewish nationalist ideology that emerged in Europe in the late 1800s, calling for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine, where only a small minority of the population was Jewish at that time.
While the ideology’s supporters present it as a form of self-determination, many Palestinian rights advocates argue that Zionism has led to the dispossession and ongoing subjugation and oppression of Palestinians.
During the interview, Biden reiterated a position he often repeats while explaining his affinity for Israel: He claimed that Jews across the world would not be safe without the country.
“If there weren’t an Israel, every Jew in the world would be at risk,” he said.
Some activists say such remarks could be seen to perpetuate the anti-Semitic trope of “dual loyalty”: the idea that Jewish people must be loyal to Israel, whatever their background.
Eva Borgwardt, national spokesperson at IfNotNow, a youth-led Jewish-American progressive group, slammed the president’s comment.
“Many of us hear this repeated statement as a threat to our safety in this country. As president of the United States, it’s Biden’s job to make the US safe for everyone, including Jewish Americans,” Borgwardt told Al Jazeera in a statement.
“If he wants to keep Jews safe, he should focus on combating the real and present danger of white nationalism, instead of sending more bombs for Israel to prolong its assault on Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and left hostages to languish in captivity.”
US support for Israel
Zahr, the Palestinian American comedian, also slammed Biden for insisting that he is a Zionist.
“After nine months, he is still defiantly and proudly calling himself a Zionist. Well, in November, he’s going to see how that word makes us vote,” Zahr told Al Jazeera.
Due to his unwavering support for Israel, Biden has struggled with key constituencies in the Democratic Party, including young people, progressives, and Arab and Muslim Americans.
His electoral woes were exasperated after a disastrous debate performance in June, where he appeared exhausted and confused at times.
While Biden and top officials in his administration often underscore their backing of Israel, the president played down that support during the interview with Morman.
Ahmad Abuznaid, the executive director of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USPCR), said Biden is claiming that he supports Palestinians because he understands that he has alienated voters in communities that support Palestinian rights.
“And so he attempted to make himself an ally of the movement when, in fact, what he’s doing is supporting the genocide of our people,” Abuznaid told Al Jazeera. “At this moment, he’s arming it. He’s defending it. He’s supporting it. And that’s how Palestinian Americans perceive President Biden and these comments. The comments are offensive. They’re disrespectful.”
Biden had boasted earlier this month that he is more popular in Israel than he is in the US. But when addressing the Arab vote with Morman, the US president falsely claimed that the US is only sending defensive weapons to Israel.
“I denied them offensive weapons that they were using, 2,000-pound (907kg) bombs and the rest,” he said.
While the US did stop a single shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel this year, Biden administration officials have stressed that the transfer of other weapons has continued steadily on a regular basis.
In April, Biden signed off on $14bn in additional US military aid to Israel. And the Pentagon confirmed this week that 500-pound (226kg) bombs that were part of the suspended shipment have been separated and released to the US ally.
“Biden could stop this genocide today by turning off the tap of unlimited funds and weapons to Israel. But instead, he allows Netanyahu to do as he pleases, repeatedly calls himself a Zionist, and does what the emperor does — supports Israel unequivocally because Israel secures US interests in the Arab world,” said Hatem Abudayyeh, chair of the US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN).
“If Biden is our saviour, then who out there is our enemy?”
World
Minnesota braces for what’s next amid immigration arrests and in the wake of Renee Good shooting
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Already shaken by the fatal shooting of a woman by an immigration officer, Minnesota’s Twin Cities on Sunday braced for what many expect will be a new normal over the next few weeks as the Department of Homeland Security carries out what it called its largest enforcement operation ever.
Protesters screamed at heavily-armed federal agents and honked car horns, banged on drums and blew whistles in attempts to disrupt their operations in one Minneapolis neighborhood filled with single-family homes.
There was some pushing and several people were hit with chemical spray just before agents banged down the door of one home on Sunday. They later took one man away in handcuffs.
“We’re seeing a lot of immigration enforcement across Minneapolis and across the state, federal agents just swarming around our neighborhoods,” said Jason Chavez, a Minneapolis city councilmember. “They’ve definitely been out here.”
Chavez, the son of Mexican immigrants who represents an area with a growing immigrant population, said he is closely monitoring information from chat groups about where residents are seeing agents operating.
People holding whistles positioned themselves in freezing temperatures on street corners in the neighborhood where 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed Wednesday, watching for any signs of federal agents.
More than 20,000 people have taken part in a variety of trainings to become “observers” of enforcement activities in Minnesota since the 2024 election, said Luis Argueta, a spokesperson for Unidos MN, a local human rights organization .
“It’s a role that people choose to take on voluntarily, because they choose to look out for their neighbors,” Argueta said.
The protests have been largely peaceful, but the Twin Cities remained anxious. Minneapolis public schools on Monday will start offering remote learning for the next month in response to concerns that children might feel unsafe venturing out while tensions remain high.
Many schools closed last week after Good’s shooting and the upheaval that followed.
While the enforcement activity continues, two of the state’s leading Democrats said on Sunday that the investigation into Good’s shooting death shouldn’t be overseen solely by the federal government.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith said in separate interviews Sunday that state authorities should be included in the investigation because the federal government has already made clear what it believes happened.
“How can we trust the federal government to do an objective, unbiased investigation, without prejudice, when at the beginning of that investigation they have already announced exactly what they saw — what they think happened,” Smith said on ABC’s “This Week.”
The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents and that Good had “weaponized” her vehicle.
Todd Lyons, acting director of ICE, defended the officer on Fox News Channel’s “The Sunday Briefing.”
“That law enforcement officer had milliseconds, if not short time to make a decision to save his life and his other fellow agents,” he said.
Lyons also said the administration’s enforcement operations in Minnesota wouldn’t be needed “if local jurisdictions worked with us to turn over these criminally illegal aliens once they are already considered a public safety threat by the locals.”
The killing of Good by an ICE officer and the shooting of two people by federal agents in Portland, Oregon, led to dozens of protests across the country over the weekend.
Thousands of people marched Saturday in Minneapolis, where Homeland Security called its deployment of immigration officers in the Twin Cities its biggest ever immigration enforcement operation.
___
Associated Press journalists Giovanna Dell’Orto in Minneapolis, Thomas Strong in Washington, Bill Barrow in Atlanta, and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.
World
Netanyahu and Rubio discuss US military intervention in Iran amid ongoing nationwide protests: report
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the possibility of U.S. intervention in Iran, according to a report.
The two leaders spoke by phone Saturday as Israel is on “high alert,” preparing for the possibility of U.S. military intervention in Iran, according to Reuters, citing multiple Israeli sources. A U.S. official confirmed the call to Fox News Digital but did not provide additional details.
The report comes as nationwide anti-regime demonstrations across Iran hit the two-week mark.
On Saturday, the Iranian regime triggered an internet “kill switch” in an apparent effort to conceal alleged abuses by security forces and as protests against it surged nationwide, according to a cybersecurity expert. The blackout reduced internet access to a fraction of normal levels.
KEANE WARNS IRANIAN REGIME TO TAKE TRUMP ‘DEAD SERIOUS’ ON PROTEST KILLING THREAT AMID ONGOING DEMONSTRATIONS
Secretary of State Marco Rubio holds his end-of-year press conference at the State Department in Washington, D.C., Dec. 19, 2025. (Kevin Mohatt/Reuters)
On Sunday, Iran’s parliament speaker warned that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America strikes the Islamic Republic.
Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf issued the threat as lawmakers rushed the dais in the Iranian parliament, shouting, “Death to America!” according to The Associated Press.
President Donald Trump offered support for the protesters on Saturday, writing on Truth Social that “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!”
IRANIAN MILITARY LEADER THREATENS PREEMPTIVE ATTACK AFTER TRUMP COMMENTS
In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran’s Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)
At a news conference Friday, Trump said Iran was facing mounting pressure as unrest spreads across the country.
“Iran’s in big trouble,” he said. “It looks to me that the people are taking over certain cities that nobody thought were really possible just a few weeks ago. We’re watching the situation very carefully.”
The president said the U.S. would respond forcefully if the regime resorts to mass violence.
“We’ll be hitting them very hard where it hurts. And that doesn’t mean boots on the ground, but it means hitting them very, very hard where it hurts,” he said.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Protests in Iran intensify for the 12th day. (The National Council of Resistance of Iran)
Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department and White House for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Emma Bussey, Brie Stimson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
World
Four killed, 20 injured in overnight Russian strikes across Ukraine
Published on
Russia fired more than 150 drones overnight into Sunday targeting close to two dozen locations across Ukraine, killing at least four people and injuring 20 more.
Ukraine’s Air Forces say they intercepted 125 drones aerially but confirmed that at least 25 strike drones struck their targets.
They added that Moscow’s latest barrage mainly targeted Kharkiv, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk, all of which were targeted in Saturday’s overnight strikes as well.
Local officials in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia say the strikes targeted residential areas and energy infrastructure. More than 385,000 homes were affected by electric, gas or water outages, at a critical time as temperatures plunged to 10 degrees below Celsius.
Regional lawmakers say service was restored to most of the affected households and areas by Sunday morning, but added that emergency work was still being carried out to restore power to the remaining homes.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of timing their attacks with the cold peaks of winter as to maximise civilian suffering.
“They struck targets that have no military purpose whatsoever – energy infrastructure, residential buildings. They deliberately waited for freezing weather to make things worse for our people. This is deliberate, cynical Russian terror specifically against civilians,” wrote Zelenskyy in a post on X.
He also noted that this week had seen heightened Russian assault on Ukrainian cities, announcing that his country’s defence forces recorded thousands of attacks using a variety of different weapons.
“Over the course of this week, Russia launched almost 1,100 attack drones against Ukraine, more than 890 guided aerial bombs, and over 50 missiles of various types – ballistic, cruise, and even the Oreshnik medium-range ballistic missile.”
The Ukrainian leader thanked all units responsible for protecting the country and responding to attacks, and praised their tireless efforts and resilience.
He also called on allies to ensure his embattled country maintains “stable support”, in defence and diplomatic fields as coordinated dialogue efforts continue in search of peace.
Meanwhile, Russia says that one person was killed in Ukrainian strikes on the western city of Voronezh. Officials say a young woman succumbed to her wounds at an intensive care unit of a local hospital after debris from a drone fell on her house during Saturday’s attacks.
They added that at least three others were injured in the attacks which targeted more than 10 residential apartment buildings, private homes and a high school.
The city of Voronezh lies just 250 kilometres from the Ukrainian border and is home to approximately one million people. The attacks, which Kyiv have yet to confirm, came after the Kremlin’s major offensive on Ukraine in the early hours of Saturday.
Additional sources • AP
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