World
Biden pledges military aid, political support for Israel amid Gaza war
Washington, DC – United States President Joe Biden has pledged unwavering support for Israel as its military pummels Gaza with bombardment, in the wake of an unprecedented attack from the Palestinian group Hamas over the weekend.
In a White House speech on Tuesday, Biden said that Washington will provide additional military assistance to Israel, which has since declared war on Hamas.
He also underscored the brutality of Saturday’s attack — which killed hundreds of people and saw others taken captive — and compared Hamas to ISIL (ISIS), accusing it of “terrorism”.
“This is what they mean by human tragedy, an atrocity on an appalling scale,” Biden said. “We’re going to continue to stand united, supporting the people of Israel who are suffering unspeakable losses and opposing the hatred and violence of terrorism.”
The US president, however, did not provide details about the Israeli war in Gaza or its aims — only backing what he called Israel’s “duty to respond to these vicious attacks”.
Here, Al Jazeera looks at five key takeaways from Biden’s address:
Biden pledges more military aid to Israel
Biden pledged more military assistance for Israel, which already receives $3.8bn in US military aid.
“We’re surging additional military assistance, including ammunition and interceptors to replenish the Iron Dome,” he said referring to Israel’s anti-missile system.
“We’re going to make sure that Israel does not run out of these critical assets to defend its cities and its citizens.”
.@VP and I sat down with our teams to receive a situation update on the terrorist attack in Israel and to direct next steps.
We connected with Prime Minister Netanyahu to discuss coordination to support Israel, deter hostile actors, and protect innocent people. pic.twitter.com/u4xOHMeMqw
— President Biden (@POTUS) October 10, 2023
The US president called on Congress to take “urgent action to fund the national security requirements of our critical partners”, likely referring to both Israel and Ukraine, the latter of which is fending off a full-scale invasion from Russia.
“This is not about party or politics. It’s about the security of our world, the security of the United States of America,” he said.
Biden added that his administration is in “near constant communication” with Israeli partners.
According to the White House, Biden has been closely following the situation with daily briefings from his security team. Earlier on Tuesday, he spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the third time in as many days.
Americans amongst Hamas captives
Biden confirmed that Americans are among the captives held by Hamas without specifying the number. He also said that 14 US citizens have been killed in the attack.
“I’m directing my team to share intelligence and deploy additional experts from across the United States government to consult with and advise Israeli counterparts on hostage recovery efforts because as president, I have no higher priority than the safety of Americans being held hostage around the world,” he said.
No mention of Palestinian civilians or broader conflict
With the death toll mounting in Gaza as Israeli jets relentlessly bomb the densely populated territory, Biden did not mention Palestinian casualties.
Instead, he focused on Israeli victims of Hamas’s attack.
The only time Biden mentioned Palestinians was to slam Hamas. “Hamas doesn’t stand for the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and self-determination,” he said. “Its stated purpose is the annihilation of the state of Israel and the murder of Jewish people.”
Hamas’s 2017 charter counters Biden’s claim, rejecting the “persecution of any human being or the undermining of his or her rights on nationalist, religious or sectarian grounds”.
Biden also did not address the root causes of the conflict.
Hamas leaders have said they launched the attack in response to Israeli violations at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, near-daily violence against Palestinians in the West Bank and the nearly 20-year blockade on Gaza.
Leading rights groups have accused Israel of imposing a system of apartheid on Palestinians.
US warns against ‘taking advantage’ of war
Biden, apparently addressing Iran and the Lebanese group Hezbollah, warned other parties in the region against “taking advantage” of the war in Gaza.
“To any country, any organisation, anyone thinking of taking advantage of the situation, I have one word: Don’t. Our hearts may be broken but our resolve is clear,” he said.
The US president said Washington has “enhanced its military force posture” in the region to “strengthen deterrence”.
The Pentagon had announced plans to send additional military ships and aircraft to the Eastern Mediterranean after the Hamas attack.
“We stand ready to move in additional assets as needed,” Biden said on Tuesday.
The US has not participated directly in the attacks on Gaza, and a White House spokesperson said on Monday that Washington has “no intention to put US boots on the ground”.
Unqualified political support for Israeli response
Biden offered unqualified political support to Israel’s military response despite fears for the more than 2.2 million people who live in Gaza.
Israeli leaders have already declared a “complete siege” on the Palestinian enclave, pledging to prevent food and other essential supplies from entering the territory, raising concerns from rights advocates and the United Nations.
“Like every nation in the world, Israel has the right to respond, indeed has a duty to respond to these vicious attacks,” Biden said on Tuesday.
“Let there be no doubt: The United States has Israel’s back. We’ll make sure the Jewish and democratic state of Israel can defend itself — today, tomorrow, as we always have. It’s as simple as that,” he added.
Biden said he told Netanyahu that, if the US had experienced a similar attack, its response would be “swift, decisive and overwhelming”.
“We also discussed how democracies like Israel and the United States are stronger and more secure when we act according to the rule of law,” Biden said.
World
Australian court lifts order blocking X on church stabbing video
World
3 men charged in UK for allegedly collaborating with Hong Kong intelligence service
- Three men have been charged by British police with assisting the Hong Kong intelligence service.
- The men were among 11 people arrested earlier in Yorkshire and London by counterterrorism police.
- Arrests and searches were conducted across England as part of the investigation, authorities said.
British police have charged three men with assisting the Hong Kong intelligence service amid growing concern that hostile states are trying to interfere with democracy and economic activity in the U.K.
The three men were among 11 people arrested earlier this month in Yorkshire and London by counterterrorism police using provisions of a new law that allows suspects in national security and espionage cases to be detained without warrant. The eight other suspects were released without charge.
Chi Leung (Peter) Wai, 38, Matthew Trickett, 37, and Chung Biu Yuen, 63, are also charged with foreign interference, the Metropolitan Police Service said. They will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
HONG KONG LAWMAKERS UNANIMOUSLY PASS CONTROVERSIAL SECURITY LAW, GRANTING GOVERNMENT POWER TO CURB DISSENT
“A number of arrests were made and searches carried out across England as part of this investigation,” Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met’s counterterrorism command, said in a statement. “While led from London, the Counter Terrorism Policing network has been crucial to disrupting this activity.”
The announcement comes as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak prepares to deliver a speech on Monday in which he is expected to say that Britain is facing an increasingly dangerous future due to threats from an “axis of authoritarian states,” including Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. Tensions with China flared last year after a parliamentary researcher was arrested on suspicion of spying for Beijing, charges that Chinese officials called a “malicious smear.”
Hong Kong’s security bureau, Hong Kong police and the office of China’s foreign ministry in Hong Kong didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The British government last year passed a new national security act that gave police additional powers to tackle foreign espionage. The legislation was needed to combat the “ever-evolving” threat of foreign interference and in “response to the threat of hostile activity from states targeting the U.K.’s democracy, economy, and values,” the government said.
The arrests in the current case were made on May 1 and 2. The investigation is continuing, police said.
World
Star witness Cohen to testify against Trump in hush money trial
Former lawyer’s testimony viewed as key in former president’s criminal prosecution six months ahead of election.
The star prosecution witness in Donald Trump’s hush money trial, Michael Cohen, is set to take the stand to testify against the former president.
Trump’s former lawyer and personal fixer, is due in court on Monday. The Manhattan district attorney hopes that the testimony of the key witness would help influence the verdict in the first-ever criminal case against a US president, sitting or former.
Cohen’s expected appearance in the New York courtroom signals that the closely-watched trial is entering its final stretch. Prosecutors say they may wrap up their presentation of evidence by the end of the week.
Cohen is set to testify about his role in arranging hush money payments on Trump’s behalf, including to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
Daniels told jurors last week that a payment of $130,000 that she received in 2016 was meant to prevent her from going public about a sexual encounter she says she had with Trump at a celebrity golf tournament a decade earlier.
Trump is accused of falsifying business records to reimburse Cohen for the payment on the eve of the 2016 presidential election when the story could have proved politically fatal. Prosecutors say the reimbursements were logged as legal expenses to conceal their true purpose.
The Republican presidential candidate has denied the allegations.
Defence lawyers are expected to try to paint Cohen, who once said he would “take a bullet” for Trump, as untrustworthy. They are also expected to cast him as vindictive and agenda-driven.
Since their fallout, the fixer-turned-foe has emerged as a relentless and sometimes crude critic of Trump. Last week he appeared in a live TikTok stream wearing a shirt featuring a figure resembling Trump behind bars and wearing handcuffs.
Five years ago, Cohen pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the payments and to lying to Congress. Trump’s defence will highlight the prosecution’s reliance on a witness with such a record.
Other witnesses, including former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker and former Trump adviser Hope Hicks, have testified at length about the role Cohen played in arranging to stifle stories that were feared to be harmful to Trump’s 2016 candidacy.
Jurors also heard an audio recording of Trump and Cohen discussing a plan to buy the rights to a story of a Playboy model, Karen McDougal, who has said she had an affair with Trump.
The trial is taking place six months before the November election, when the presidential hopeful will try to defeat Democratic President Joe Biden.
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