Michael Oren, former Israeli Ambassador to the United States. Credit: Wikipedia.org
Edited by: Fern Sidman
In recent years, Columbia University has found itself embroiled in controversy as allegations of anti-Semitism on campus have come to the forefront. According to a report in the New York Post on Monday, Jewish graduates of the prestigious institution have raised their voices, demanding that their alma mater address the alarming rise in anti-Semitic incidents and take concrete steps to ensure the safety and well-being of Jewish students.
Matt Schweber, a member of the newly formed Columbia University Jewish Alumni Association, expressed profound dismay at the situation, stating, “Who could have ever imagined that Columbia University would be the site for rallies calling for Intifada, for swastikas scrawled on campus property and for Jewish students to be intimidated and followed as they walk home from class,” as was reported by the Post. Schweber’s words reflect the deep-seated concern within the Jewish community regarding the hostile environment that has emerged within the university’s grounds.
The alumni association has unequivocally called on the university administration to fulfill its duty in curbing anti-Semitism. The Post also reported that Schweber emphasized, “Our message today: enough is enough. It must be stopped. The administration must do their job.”
One of the most alarming incidents highlighted by the alumni association was an unauthorized rally on campus where hundreds of anti-Israel protesters were captured chanting slogans such as “intifada, intifada!” and “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will be Free!” These chants, often accompanied by symbols and rhetoric associated with anti-Semitism, propagate a dangerous narrative that undermines the legitimacy and security of the Jewish state of Israel.
Moreover, the presence of BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) signs at the rally further underscores the systematic targeting of Israel and its supporters.
Recent statements from prominent figures, including Michael Oren, former Israeli Ambassador to the United States, shed light on the deep-seated concerns among both current students and alumni regarding the university’s handling of anti-Semitic incidents.
Oren’s remarks, stemming from a roundtable discussion with students from Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), underscore a stark contrast in attitudes towards their respective institutions. While UPenn students expressed a willingness to stand by their school despite challenges, Columbia students voiced apprehension and disillusionment, according to the Post report.
The resignation of former UPenn President Liz Magill following a contentious congressional testimony further amplifies the spotlight on issues of anti-Semitism within academia. Magill’s departure, coupled with ongoing investigations by the US Department of Education into allegations of anti-Semitism at Columbia, underscores the gravity of the situation.
Bryan Rudolph, co-founder of the Columbia Jewish Alumni Association, has been vocal in rallying support among Jewish alumni to address the escalating concerns on campus. Rudolph’s call to action emphasizes the crucial role that alumni play in advocating for change and holding the university administration accountable, as was detailed in the Post report. He highlighted the fundamental principles of diversity and inclusivity that lie at the heart of any academic institution.
The recent suspension of four students and their eviction from dormitories following their alleged involvement in an unauthorized event further highlights the university’s efforts to address misconduct.
The unauthorized event was hosted by Barakat, who identified as a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine; a US designated terror organization. The event, titled “Resistance 101,” has sparked outrage and raised serious questions about the university’s commitment to fighting Jew hatred.
Google execs are ready to make changes to the company’s message board in a bid to ease tensions. Credit: AP
By: Hellen Zaboulani
Google has, for close to 14 years, hosted an online message board named Memegen, where employees could share ideas and chat about mostly anything. The broad range of topics discussed on Memegen have included job cuts, returning back to the office following the pandemic, critiques towards bosses and comic relief.
In recent months, however, one topic has come in the limelight on the message board leading to heated debate – namely the war in Gaza. As reported by the NY Times, Google executives are ready to make changes to the company’s beloved message board in a bid to ease tensions. Planned changes to Memegen will include scrapping the virtual thumbs-down feature—which helped popular memes rise to the top while less voted on memes swiftly disappeared from view.
Also, a feature where employees can see metrics of how popular one meme has become will be removed. The tech giant said it plans to implement the changes later this year. Google said the changes planned were based on employee feedback which indicated that thumbs down votes made workers feel bad, and that the shared metrics made the message board too competitive.
Per the Times, some employees are not thrilled about the changes, worrying that its a way of censoring their free expression and changing Memegen into a dull corporate message board, rather than the lively real-time barometer of employee sentiments. The proposed changes to the message board, have in themself, become a hot topic on Memegen. Over 4,000 employees liked a recent post about protecting the forum entitled, “The 5 minutes I spend on Memegen before starting my work are the best 2 hours of my day.”
Memegen was first created in October 2010 by two Google engineers, Colin McMillen (who has since left the company) and Jonathan Feinberg. The name is short for Meme Generator, and it allows employees using their work user names to select or upload images, type a message over it, post it as a meme and be seen and replied to all throughout the company.
Christopher Fong, a former Google partnerships manager who now runs Xoogler, a community of former Google workers, said Memegen has been popular for more than a decade. Employees had commented on and voted on company meetings and on decisions made by the company’s upper echelons. People wrote what they were “thinking but embarrassed or afraid to say,” said Mr. Fong. Employees loved
Memegen for being a community hub and a free space for opinions where even the top executives were not immune to criticism.
Memegen has grown into more of a political scene, though since October when the war erupted in Gaza. Bickering broke out amongst employees and members down-voted posts they disagreed with, which made them harder to find, said two people with knowledge of the exchanges, who requested not to have their names published.
Per the Times, in February, the company’s internal moderators began their effort to remove the down votes and meme scoring, saying they saw coordinated down-votes being used as a “bullying tactic.” They added that there was a drastic increase in complaints about the content employees were sharing, starting in the second half of 2023.
A Google spokeswoman said in a statement that “as the team has transparently shared with employees, they’re experimenting with some common industry practices similar to what other internal and external social platforms have done.”
The N.A.R. has come under fire for allegedly being the driving force to hike up those commission rates, with the Justice Department first suing the trade group back in 2005.
By: Ilana Siyance
The United States Justice Department will reopen an antitrust probe into the National Association of Realtors.
As reported by the NY Times, the investigation will look into whether the influential trade group’s rules work to inflate the cost of selling a home.
The probe came back to life after a decision on Friday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which overturned a lower-court ruling from 2023 which had denied the Justice Department’s request for info from N.A.R. regarding broker commissions and how real estate listings get marketed. The National Association of Realtors has been a powerful source for the residential real estate industry for decades, boasting some 1.5 million members, $1 billion in assets and a powerful lobbying arm in Washington. The group actually owns a trademark for the word “Realtor,” and an agent must be a member of the organization to call themselves a realtor.
The N.A.R. also got a heavy blow from a March 15 agreement to settle several lawsuits that alleged the group had violated antitrust laws and had conspired to fix the rates that real estate agents charge their clients. Pending federal court approval, N.A.R. will be on the hook to pay $418 million in damages and will significantly need to change its rules on agent commissions and the databases on which homes are listed for sale, the Times reported. In Missouri, home sellers had filed a lawsuit against N.A.R. which led to multiple copycat claims, in which they successfully argued that the group’s rule that a seller’s agent must make an offer of commission to a buyer’s agent had forced home sellers to pay higher commissions.
Friday’s decision will now give the Justice Department another opportunity to look into the fees and other N.A.R. rules which have long frustrated consumers. “Real-estate commissions in the United States greatly exceed those in any other developed economy, and this decision restores the Antitrust Division’s ability to investigate potentially unlawful conduct by N.A.R. that may be contributing to this problem,” said Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter, the head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division, in an emailed statement. “The Antitrust Division is committed to fighting to lower the cost of buying and selling a home.”
Per the NY Times, Americans pay a total of about $100 billion in real estate commissions each year. Most agencies charge the seller a commission of 5 or 6 percent, whereas in many other countries commission rates are only 1 to 3 percent. The N.A.R. has come under fire for allegedly being the driving force to hike up those commission rates, with the Justice Department first suing the trade group back in 2005.
Should N.A.R. wish to appeal Friday’s ruling, the case would have to move up to the Supreme Court.
On Friday, representatives for N.A.R. issued an emailed statement saying the organization was “reviewing
today’s decision and evaluating next steps,” adding that they remained “steadfast in our commitment to promoting consumer transparency and to supporting our members in protecting their clients’ interests in the home buying and selling process.”
Known as the Brooklyn Tower, at 9 DeKalb Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn, it boasts 93-stories, soaring 1,066 feet into the sky. Photo Credit: Wikipedia.org
By: Serach Nissim
JDS Development Group built the tallest building in New York City outside of Manhattan. Known as the Brooklyn Tower, at 9 DeKalb Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn, it boasts 93-stories, soaring 1,066 feet into the sky. The mixed-use skyscraper is primarily residential. To make this dream a reality, Michael Stern’s JDS Development Group had taken out a $240 million loan in 2019 from Silverstein Properties. As reported by Crain’s NY, it is now in default on its junior mezzanine, senior mezzanine and mortgage loans, Silverstein said. Silverstein has hired JLL to handle the foreclosure auction, currently scheduled for June 10 at 10 a.m.
It would not be unusual for a lender to take control of a property through a foreclosure auction, and Silverstein is certainly positioned to do so— both as the lender on the property and as a seasoned NY landlord. The companies did not reply to Crain’s request for comment regarding a possible takeover.
The sleek dark skyscraper, clad in stone, bronze, and stainless steel, is hardy the only big residential tower to recently open in Brooklyn—but it is the tallest. The building boasts roughly 550 residential units—150 of which are condos, as well as about 400 apartments, 30% of which are affordable housing. Designed by SHoP Architects it is situated alongside Brooklyn’s landmarked Dime Savings Bank.
The building contains some 120,000 square feet of amenity spaces, some of which are within the bank. Amenities include three rooftop swimming pools, a cocktail bar and lounge by the pools, an indoor fitness center with a fourth pool, conference and meeting rooms, dining room with kitchen, billiards room, and a movie room for residents. StreetEasy lists 11 condos available for sale at the building, with prices ranging from $950,000 for a studio to $7.85 million for a penthouse. The site also lists 12 rentals available, with a studio asking $3,965 a month, and a two-bedroom asking $8,375 monthly.
Per Crain’s, Stern had first purchased the project site for $90 million in 2015 with former partner Joseph Chetrit. Later, in 2018, he had agreed to buy out Chetrit’s stake in the project and pay for part of it with a $20 million promissory note, according to the lawsuit. In early 2022, however, Chetrit had sued JDS and Stern through a limited liability company, claiming that Stern still owed him $17.6 million from the deal, with $8,000 in interest accruing daily. The suit was discontinued that June when the real estate titans came to a settlement.
JDS Development is also the developer behind the Billionaires Row tower near Central Park at 111 W. 57th St. That building has been dubbed the “most slender skyscraper in the world.” Also named the Steinway Tower, the luxury condo building stands about 1,400 feet tall and has 84-stories, containing 60 condos.
The tower, completed in 2022, is the fourth-tallest building in the U.S., as of November 2022, and is the thinnest skyscraper in the world with a width-to-height ratio of roughly 1:24. Amenities at that tower include an indoor pool, sauna, steam, and treatment rooms, a fitness center, a golf simulator, paddle court, outdoor terrace, a study, and a private dining room with catering kitchen. JDS had faced its share of problems at that property as well, including an accident in 2021 which had led construction to stall for months. The developer had sued crane operators over the incident.
Ed Stetzer, dean of Talbot School of Theology at Biola University, categorized Trump’s approach as functionally a pro-states’ rights, pro-abortion access position. Credit: Biola University
By: Holly Meyer & Tiffany Stanley
For conservative, anti-abortion Christians, former President Donald Trump delivered in four years what no other Republican before him had been able to do: A conservative majority U.S. Supreme Court that would go on to overturn Roe v. Wade, a Holy Grail of the movement.
With abortion rights now controlled by each state, rather than legalized nationwide by the 1973 court ruling, Trump made clear Monday that he would not be leading the push for a federal abortion ban as he vies for his second term in the Oval Office. Some anti-abortion religious leaders criticized his approach, while others gave thanks for Trump’s past anti-abortion wins and vowed to keep pressing for federal restrictions.
“Roe is done. The opportunity to protect life is at hand,” Brent Leatherwood, who leads the Southern Baptist Convention’s political arm, said in a statement.
Candidates who profess the anti-abortion views of the voters they’re wooing “should be articulating a robust vision for establishing a true culture of life where babies are saved, mothers are served, and families are supported,” he said. “Anything short of that is not a serious attempt to court pro-life voters.”
The Trump campaign did not respond to The Associated Press’ request for comment. But in the video posted Monday on his Truth Social site, Trump backed the patchwork of state abortion laws that followed the 2022 Supreme Court decision upending federal abortion protections. Trump took credit for the outcome, a historic ruling celebrated by his evangelical base.
“Many states will be different. Many will have a different number of weeks or some will have more conservative than others and that’s what they will be,” Trump said. “At the end of the day it’s all about will of the people.”
Ed Stetzer, dean of Talbot School of Theology at Biola University, categorized Trump’s approach as functionally a pro-states’ rights, pro-abortion access position, and fellow anti-abortion Christians should recognize it for the political move that it is.
“Convictions about life are better than following the political winds, and it appears that President Trump’s convictions have given way to the political winds,” said Stetzer, who thinks it is too early to tell if this would cause some conservative Christians not to vote for him.
As Republican-led states have outlawed or further restricted abortion, Democrats believe the fight over abortion rights helps them at the polls. The issue will be on some state ballots again this year.
For many anti-abortion advocates, voting for President Joe Biden, who is vowing to restore Roe v. Wade’s protections if re-elected, is not an option. Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, one of the nation’s biggest anti-abortion advocacy groups, rebuked Trump’s position, but remains committed to defeating Biden and congressional Democrats.
“We are deeply disappointed in President Trump’s position. Unborn children and their mothers deserve national protections and national advocacy from the brutality of the abortion industry,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, a Catholic and president of the organization, in a statement.
“Saying the issue is ‘back to the states’ cedes the national debate to the Democrats,” she said.
The Faith & Freedom Coalition, an evangelical advocacy group founded by conservative activist Ralph Reed, said in a statement that it still plans to contact millions of voters of faith between now and the election.
Legislative Bill 575 was dubbed the Sports and Spaces Act by its author Sen. Kathleen Kauth. Credit: AP
By: Margery A. Beck
A bill that that would bar transgender students from school bathrooms, locker rooms and sports teams that correspond with their gender identity failed Friday to get enough votes to advance in heavily conservative Nebraska.
Legislative Bill 575, dubbed the Sports and Spaces Act by its author Sen. Kathleen Kauth, would have restricted students to teams and facilities for the gender they were assigned at birth. An amended version would have gone a step further by barring students taking male hormones from girls’ teams, even if they were assigned female at birth, effectively excluding transgender males from all sports competition.
The bill needed 33 votes to end a filibuster and failed by a margin of 31 to 15, eliciting a cheer from protesters outside the chamber. Sens. Tom Brandt and Merv Riepe, who initially cosponsored the bill and had been expected to support it, abstained.
With only four days left in the legislative session, the bill is dead for the year.
Its sudden re-emergence this session temporarily threw the Legislature into turmoil. It had been stalled for more than a year before it was suddenly voted out of committee Thursday and scheduled for debate Friday.
Kauth touted the measure as protecting women’s sports, saying that allowing transgender women to play on women’s teams creates “a significant barrier for female athletes to compete in sports.”
She said there is “a significant sports performance gap between the sexes,” and “this bill protects sex inequity.”
The debate turned contentious early, with Omaha Sen. Megan Hunt calling out Kauth by name.
“This is not about protecting women,” said Hunt, who has been open about being bisexual. “It’s about the danger and the power of the imagination of a bigot, Sen. Kauth, and those who would support a bill like this.”
After another senator complained, she was asked by the Legislature’s presiding officer to refrain from casting aspersions on fellow lawmakers. That prompted Hunt to invite her colleagues to censure her.
“Do you know how hard it is to be a queer kid?” she asked. “You’re getting bullied. You’re getting beat up sometimes. And bills like LB575 just sanction that.”
Many Republican officials have sought to limit the rights of LGBTQ+ Americans in recent years, including with policies like the sporting and bathroom restrictions contained in the Nebraska bill. The national push by conservatives has come as more younger people are identifying as LGBTQ+.
At least 24 states have laws barring transgender women and girls from competing in certain women’s or girls sports competitions, including five of the six states that border Nebraska: Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, South Dakota and Wyoming.
Eleven states including Iowa and Kansas have adopted laws barring transgender girls and women from girls’ and women’s bathrooms at public schools, and in some cases other government facilities.
The failure of Nebraska’s bill came as a surprise, given the dominance of Republicans over state government and the passage last year of its companion bill, also by Kauth, which banned gender-affirming surgery for anyone under 19 and greatly restricted gender-affirming medications and hormones for minors.
That measure passed after a 12-week abortion ban was attached to it, and it was signed by the governor. A lawsuit challenging the hybrid law is currently winding through the courts.
In Nebraska it takes a supermajority of 33 of the Legislature’s 49 members to end debate on a filibustered bill.
In this photo released by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, a Russian paratrooper prepares his sniper rifle at an undisclosed position in Ukraine. Credit: AP
By: Illia Novikov
Russia and Ukraine are trading fresh accusations over renewed threats to Europe’s largest nuclear plant that has been caught up in the war, with Moscow alleging Ukraine was behind drone attacks on the facility that were witnessed by U.N. inspectors and Kyiv accusing Russia of disinformation tactics.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday called the drone attacks on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine “a very dangerous provocation.”
“This is a very dangerous practice that has very bad, negative consequences in the future,” Peskov said during his daily conference call with reporters.
The U.N.’s atomic watchdog agency on Sunday confirmed drone strikes on one of the plant’s six reactors, which caused one casualty, but did not attribute responsibility to either side.
The Associated Press was unable to verify either side’s claims in the area of heavy fighting where independent journalists are not allowed to enter.
An official at Energoatom, Ukraine’s atomic energy company, blamed Russia for the attacks, saying they were “a provocation” orchestrated to malign Ukraine.
The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.
The plant has repeatedly been caught in the crossfire since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and seized the facility shortly after. The International Atomic Energy Agency, a U.N. body, has frequently expressed alarm about the plant amid fears of a potential nuclear catastrophe.
The strikes did not compromise the nuclear facility, which the Kremlin’s forces have been occupying and running in southern Ukraine since shortly after the war began more than two years ago, the IAEA said. The plant’s six reactors have been shut down for months, and IAEA inspectors are stationed at the site.
Propaganda and disinformation have been used as weapons by both sides during the conflict, and both sides have accused each other on other occasions of planning attacks on the plant.
Last July, Ukraine and Russia accused each other of planning to attack the Zaporizhzhia plant, though neither side provided evidence to support their claims.
Even with its reactors shut down, the plant still needs power and qualified staff to operate crucial cooling systems and other safety features.
The IAEA team did not observe structural damage to the “systems, structures and components” important to the nuclear safety of the plant, it said. They reported superficial scorching to the top of a reactor dome.
The damage “has not compromised nuclear safety, but this is a serious incident (with the) potential to undermine (the) integrity of the reactor’s containment system,” the IAEA said on X, formerly Twitter.
IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi said the main reactor containment structures took at least three direct hits. “This cannot happen,” he said on X.
Zaporizhzhia is one of four regions that Russia illegally annexed in September 2022.
The Institute for the Study of War, a think tank based in Washington, said Russian authorities are seeking “to use Russia’s physical control over the (plant) to force international organizations, including the IAEA, to meet with Russian occupation officials to legitimize Russia’s occupation of the (plant) and by extension Russia’s occupation of sovereign Ukrainian land.”
Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
By: Nicole Winfield
The Vatican on Monday declared gender-affirming surgery and surrogacy as grave violations of human dignity, putting them on par with abortion and euthanasia as practices that it said reject God’s plan for human life.
The Vatican’s doctrine office issued “Infinite Dignity,” a 20-page declaration that has been in the works for five years. After substantial revision in recent months, it was approved March 25 by Pope Francis, who ordered its publication.
From a pope who has made outreach to the LGBTQ+ community a hallmark of his papacy, the document was received as a setback, albeit predictable, by trans Catholics. But its message was also consistent with the Argentine Jesuit’s long-standing belief that while trans people should be welcomed in the church, so-called “gender ideologies” should not.
In its most eagerly anticipated section, the Vatican repeated its rejection of “gender theory,” or the idea that one’s biological sex can change. It said God created man and woman as biologically different, separate beings, and said people must not tinker with that or try to “make oneself God.”
“It follows that any sex-change intervention, as a rule, risks threatening the unique dignity the person has received from the moment of conception,” the document said.
It distinguished between gender-affirming surgeries, which it rejected, and “genital abnormalities” that are present at birth or that develop later. Those abnormalities can be “resolved” with the help of health care professionals, it said.
Advocates for LGBTQ+ Catholics immediately criticized the document as outdated, harmful and contrary to the stated goal of recognizing the “infinite dignity” of all of God’s children. They warned it could have real-world effects on trans people, fueling anti-trans violence and discrimination.
“While it lays out a wonderful rationale for why each human being, regardless of condition in life, must be respected, honored, and loved, it does not apply this principle to gender-diverse people,” said Francis DeBernardo of New Ways Ministry, which advocates for LGBTQ+ Catholics.
Nicolete Burbach, lead expert in social and environmental justice at the London Jesuit Centre, said the document showed the Vatican continues to fail to engage with queer and feminist approaches to the body “which it simply dismisses as supposedly subjecting both the body and human dignity itself to human whims.”
“I think the main difficulty faced by the document is that it attempts to affirm the church’s authentic commitment to human dignity in the face of a troubling history on the part of the church itself around attacks on that dignity,” said Burbach, a trans Catholic theologian who researches transness and the Catholic Church.
The document’s existence, rumored since 2019, was confirmed in recent weeks by the new prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Argentine Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, a close Francis confidant.
Fernández had cast the document as something of a nod to conservatives after he authored a more explosive document approving blessings for same-sex couples that sparked criticism from conservative bishops around the world, especially in Africa.
And yet, in an apparent attempt at balance, the document takes pointed aim at countries — including many in Africa — that criminalize homosexuality. It echoed Francis’ assertion in a 2023 interview with The Associated Press that “being homosexual is not a crime.”
The new document denounces “as contrary to human dignity the fact that, in some places, not a few people are imprisoned, tortured, and even deprived of the good of life solely because of their sexual orientation.”
A rising challenger to Orbán mobilized tens of thousands of supporters . Credit: AP
By: Justin Spike
A rising challenger to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán mobilized tens of thousands of supporters in Hungary’s capital on Saturday, outlining a plan to unite the country and bring an end to the populist leader’s 14-year hold on power.
At the center of the demonstration, the latest in a recent series of protests against Orbán’s right-wing nationalist government, was political newcomer Peter Magyar, a former insider within Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party who has shot to prominence in recent weeks through his allegations of entrenched corruption and cronyism among the country’s leaders.
Magyar addressed a crowd that filled the sprawling square near the parliament building in Budapest, announcing his creation of a new political community aimed at uniting both conservative and liberal Hungarians disillusioned by Orbán’s governance and the fragmented, ineffectual political opposition.
“Step by step, brick by brick, we are taking back our homeland and building a new country, a sovereign, modern, European Hungary,” Magyar said, adding that the protest was “the biggest political demonstration in years.”
Magyar, 43, was once a member of Orbán’s political circle and is the ex-husband of former justice minister and Orbán ally Judit Varga. But he broke ranks in February in the wake of a political scandal that led to the resignation of his ex-wife and the president, and has amassed a large following with frequent media appearances where he portrays Hungary’s political life as having been taken over by a privileged group of oligarchs and anti-democratic elites.
He has argued that Orbán’s government operates as a “mafia,” and advocated for a moral, political and economic transformation of the country that would rein in corruption and create a more pluralistic political system.
“More than twenty years have passed as our elected leaders have incited the Hungarian people against each other. Whether the fate of our country went well or we were close to bankruptcy, we were pitted against each other instead of allowing us to band together,” Magyar said. “We will put an end to this now.”
Hungary’s government has dismissed Magyar as an opportunist seeking to forge a new career after his divorce with Varga and his loss of positions in several state companies. But his rise has compounded political headaches for Orbán that have included the resignation of members of his government and a painful economic crisis.
Last month, Magyar released an audio recording of a conversation between him and his ex-wife Varga that he said proved that top officials had conspired to manipulate court records in order to cover up their involvement in a corruption case. He has called on Orbán’s government to resign and for a restoration of fair elections.
Orbán’s critics at home and in the European Union have long accused him of eroding Hungary’s democratic institutions, taking over large swaths of the media and altering the country’s election system to give his party an advantage. The EU has withheld billions in funding to Budapest over alleged democratic backsliding, misuse of EU funds and failure to guarantee minority rights.
One demonstrator on Saturday, Zoltan Koszler, said he wanted a “complete change in the system, which is now completely unacceptable to me.”
“I want to live in a normal rule-of-law state where the principles of the rule of law are really adhered to, not only on paper, but in reality,” he said.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his wife will stop by the White House Tuesday evening. Credit: AP Photo/Susan Walsh
By: Aamer Madhani
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida begins a much-anticipated visit to Washington on Tuesday aiming to spotlight shared concerns about provocative Chinese military action in the Pacific and at a rare moment of public difference between the two nations over a Japanese company’s plan to buy an iconic U.S. company.
Kishida and his wife will stop by the White House Tuesday evening ahead of Wednesday’s official visit and formal state dinner as President Joe Biden looks to celebrate a decades-long ally he sees as the cornerstone of his Indo-Pacific policy. Kishida will be the fifth world leader honored by Biden with a state dinner since he took office in 2021.
Ahead of the White House visit, Kishida is set to visit Arlington National Cemetery and stop by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Tuesday. Biden and Kishida on Wednesday will hold talks and take part in a joint news conference before Biden fetes the Japanese leader with the state dinner in the East Room.
The prime minister has also been invited to address a joint meeting of Congress on Thursday. He will be just the second Japanese leader to address the body; Shinzo Abe gave a speech to Congress in 2015.
The visit comes after Biden announced last month that he opposes the planned sale of Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel of Japan, exposing a marked rift in the partnership at the very moment the two leaders aim to reinforce it. Biden argued in announcing his opposition that the U.S. needs to “maintain strong American steel companies powered by American steelworkers.”
Ambassador Rahm Emanuel, Biden’s envoy to Tokyo, sought Monday to downplay the impact of Biden’s opposition to the U.S. Steel acquisition to the relationship. Emanuel noted that in February the Biden administration approved a plan that would drive billions of dollars in revenue to a U.S.-based subsidiary of the Japanese company Mitsui for crane production in the United States.
“The United States relationship with Japan is a lot deeper and stronger and more significant than a single commercial deal,” said Emanuel, the former mayor of Chicago, in a joint appearance at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies with Japan’s chief envoy to Washington. “As we would say in Chicago, you got to chill.”
Nippon Steel announced in December that it planned to buy U.S. Steel for $14.1 billion in cash, raising concerns about what the transaction could mean for unionized workers, supply chains and U.S. national security. Shigeo Yamada, Japan’s ambassador to Washington, declined to comment on whether Kishida would raise the Nippon-U.S. Steel deal with Biden.
Biden has sought to place greater foreign policy focus on the Pacific even while grappling with the fallout of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the grinding Israel-Hamas war. Last year, Biden brought together Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol at the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland, a historic summit between leaders of two countries that have a difficult shared history.
Biden has honored Yoon with a state visit and picked Kishida’s predecessor, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, as the first face-to-face foreign leader visit of his presidency.
The administration has been pleased by Japan’s strong support for Ukraine. Tokyo has been one of the largest donors to Kyiv since Russia’s February 2022 invasion, and Japan has surged its defense spending amid concern about China’s military assertiveness.
German Army Chief Lt. Gen. Alfons Mais listens to a question during a media joint conference with Lithuanian Chief of Defence Gen. Valdemaras Rupsys and Lithuanian Defense Minister Laurynas Kasciunas. Photo Credit: AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis
By: Liudas Dapkus
Lithuanian leaders hailed a “historic event” as Germany on Monday began deploying troops in the Baltic country — a NATO member — marking the first time since World War II that German forces will be based outside the country on a long-term basis.
About two dozen soldiers arrived in Lithuania, laying the groundwork for a further 150 to join them later this year. The deployment is expected to be up to its full strength of 5,000 by the end of 2027.
“This is the first time that we have permanently stationed such a unit outside of Germany,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said in Berlin at a farewell ceremony for the preliminary command of Germany’s Lithuanian brigade, according to German news agency dpa. Pistorius called it “an important day for the German army.”
In the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, Defense Minister Laurynas Kasciunas said that the move was “a great example” for all the countries on NATO’s eastern flank, on the border with Russia and its ally, Belarus.
“We will create such a defense and deterrence architecture that no adversary from the east will even think about testing NATO’s Article 5,” he told reporters.
Article 5 on collective defense is at the heart of the 32-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It states that an armed attack against one or more of the members shall be considered an attack against all.
Some 4,800 soldiers and around 200 civilians with the German army will be stationed permanently in Lithuania, which is increasingly worried by its aggressive neighbors.
Under an agreement, Lithuania is preparing military bases for the German brigade to be deployed in this Baltic state bordering Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave to the west and Belarus to the east.
The German army, the Bundeswehr, has taken part in long-term operations abroad since the 1990s, first in the Balkans and then in combat operations in Afghanistan. At the moment, the Bundeswehr says German soldiers are deployed in Europe, Asia and Africa, as well as in the Mediterranean.
However, this is the first permanent standalone German deployment, not on rotation as part of a multinational force.
Kasciunas said the German brigade is expected to reach full operational capacity by 2027.
“For us, this means more effective deterrence of the enemy and even greater security. It is an example of exceptional leadership and commitment as we actually see NATO’s collective defence and unity at work,” Lithuania Chief of Defence Valdemaras Rupsys added.
Up to one-third of troops are expected to bring their family members, according to the Lithuanian Defense Ministry.
Pistorius said Germany “will do everything we can to equip the brigade as it needs to be equipped from the outset.”
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and US Ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns. Photo Credit: AP
By: Fatima Hussein
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and her team are leaving China and returning to Washington after trying to tackle the major questions of the day between the countries. Here’s a look at what she tried to accomplish, what was achieved, and where things stand for the world’s two largest economies:
UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICES
Yellen said she wanted to go into the U.S.-China talks to address a major Biden administration complaint that Beijing’s economic model and trade practices put American companies and workers at an unfair competitive disadvantage by producing highly subsidized solar products, electric vehicles and lithium-ion batteries at a loss, dominating the global market.
Chinese government subsidies and other policy support have encouraged solar panel and EV makers in China to invest in factories, building far more production capacity than the domestic market can absorb. She calls this overcapacity.
Throughout the week of meetings, she talked about the risks that come from one nation maintaining nearly all production capacity in these industries, the threat it poses to other nations’ industries and how a massive rapid increase in exports from one country can have big impacts on the global economy.
Ultimately, the two sides agreed to hold “intensive exchanges” on more balanced economic growth, according to a U.S. statement issued after Yellen and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng held extended meetings over two days in the southern city of Guangzhou. It was not immediately clear when and where the talks would take place.
“It’s not going to be solved in an afternoon or a month, but I think they have heard that this is an important issue to us,” she said.
MONEY LAUNDERING AND RELATED CRIMES
After several rounds of meetings, the U.S. Treasury and the Chinese central bank agreed to work together to stop money laundering in their respective financial systems.
Nearly all the precursor chemicals that are needed to make the deadly substance fentanyl are coming from China into the U.S. The U.S. says exchanging information on money laundering related to fentanyl trafficking may help disrupt the flow of the precursor chemicals into Mexico and the U.S.
“Treasury is committed to using all of our tools, including international cooperation, to counter this threat,” Yellen said in a speech announcing the formation of the group.
The new cooperative between the U.S. and China will be part of the two nations’ economic working groups that were launched last September, and the first exchange will be held in the coming weeks.
TIKTOK
Efforts in the U.S. to ban social media app TikTok, owned by Chinese parent company ByteDance, were raised initially by the Chinese during U.S-China talks, a senior Treasury official told The Associated Press. The firm has in the past promoted a data security restructuring plan called “Project Texas” that it says sufficiently guards against national security concerns.
However, U.S. lawmakers have moved forward with efforts to either ban the app or force the Chinese firm to divest its interest in the company, which the White House has supported. In China this week, it was evident that there was little movement on the issue.
Yellen said at a news conference Monday that she supported the administration’s efforts to address national security issues that relate to sensitive personal data. “This is a legitimate concern,” she said.
This is a locator map for Yemen with its capital, Sanaa. (AP Photo)
By: Lorne Cook
The commander of a European Union naval mission in the Red Sea wants to significantly increase its size to better defend against possible attacks by Houthi rebels based in Yemen, as just four warships are patrolling an area twice the size of the 27-nation bloc.
The EU mission — dubbed Aspides, from the Greek for “shield” — has escorted 68 ships and repelled 11 attacks since it was established less than two months ago. It only defends civilian vessels and does not take part in any military strikes. The southern part of the Red Sea is deemed a high-risk zone.
“Just a single transit of one of our ships between the two larger distances to the area might take about 10 days, and also to cross the high-risk area takes almost two days,” Greek navy Rear Admiral Vasilios Gryparis, the commander of the mission, told reporters in Brussels on Monday.
He said the high-risk zone “has seen multiple attacks in the past months” ranging from threats and intimidation to “complex attacks” using “shore, air and sea-based assets, drones and ballistic missiles.” No one has been hurt.
Nineteen of the 27 EU nations are involved in the mission but only four frigates are patrolling.
Iran-backed Houthi rebels, which control much of Yemen’s north and west, launched a campaign of drone and missile attacks on shipping in the Red Sea in November. They have also fired missiles toward Israel, although those have largely fallen short or been intercepted.
The attacks have hit maritime trade to Egypt and Europe, with only around half the usual number of ships moving through the area. It’s added up to two weeks of transit time for vessels that want to avoid the Suez Canal, hiking transport costs and shipping insurance.
The rebels have described their campaign as an effort to pressure Israel to end its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The ships targeted by the Houthis, however, largely have had little or no connection to Israel, the U.S. or other nations involved in the war.
Their campaign has continued despite more than two months of U.S.-led retaliatory airstrikes.
The EU mission also remains “very vigilant” for any spike in attacks following last week’s airstrike, widely blamed on Israel, which destroyed Iran’s consulate in Syria, killing 12 people, including two elite Iranian generals, Gryparis said. Top Iranian officials have promised to retaliate.
“We call on Iran to show restraint and to use its influence to avoid escalation, and in particular, with relation to the Houthis,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said, but he added: “I don’t think Iran has full control (of) the Houthi decision-making. They have become quite autonomous.”
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders leading a prayer before hosting an Iftar Ramadan fast-breaking dinner in Qatar with Qatari
officials and international diplomats, April 13, 2023. (Hamas.ps)
Edited by: Fern Sidman
In a calculated move to address the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, President Joe Biden has embarked on a diplomatic initiative, reaching out to key regional players for assistance. On Friday, President Biden penned letters to the leaders of Qatar and Egypt, urging them to use their influence to broker a hostage deal with the Hamas terrorists, according to a senior administration official.
Simultaneously, in a bid to escalate diplomatic efforts, President Biden has deployed CIA Director William Burns to Cairo for talks that were held over the weekend specifically addressing the hostage crisis. The gathering is expected to include David Barnea, the head of Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, as well as negotiators from Qatar and Egypt. Notably, the AP reported that negotiations with Hamas are conducted indirectly, with proposals relayed through third parties to the Hamas terrorist leaders clandestinely sheltering in tunnels beneath Gaza.
French satirical newspaper Le Canard Enchaîné added fuel to the fire in November 2022 when it published a controversial cartoon depicting Qatar’s football team carrying firearms and wearing explosive belts, reminiscent of terrorist imagery, as was indicated in the report on CounterExtremism.com. Credit: Hadrian / Shutterstock
In the conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden emphasized the necessity of exhausting all avenues to ensure the safe return of hostages and discussed empowering Israeli negotiators to facilitate a deal, as revealed by an official.
The proposed deal is outlined in phases, with the initial focus on securing the release of vulnerable groups such as women, the elderly, the sick, and the wounded. This prioritization reflects a concerted effort to alleviate the suffering of those held captive in dire circumstances.
Meanwhile, Qatar continues to play a double game with the United States. On the one hand, Qatar has served as a safe harbor for Hamas leaders who live in luxury hotels in Doha, and on the other hand Qatar claims that they are allied with US interests.
According to a December 2023 report by the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a Washington, DC-based nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy, Qatar has enabled the terrorist organization Hamas politically and financially for decades. However, the tiny Gulf Arab state has successfully positioned itself as the lead negotiator in the Hamas-Israel war despite its lack of neutrality and ongoing support for terrorism. In fact, Doha hosts key members of Hamas’s senior leadership and has given an estimated $1.8 billion to Gaza’s Hamas-run government. As a designated major non-NATO ally of the United States, Qatar’s ongoing support for Hamas raises overdue questions as to whether Washington should finally press the Gulf country to close Hamas offices, expel Hamas officials, and turn off the financial spigot.
The FDD report also detailed Qatar’s role in serving as a major financier of Hamas terrorism. The report stated that the former Emir of Qatar was the first world leader to visit Gaza after Hamas seized the territory by force in 2007. Sheikh Hamad, father of the current emir, visited the coastal enclave and pledged $400 million in support. Doha pledged $360 million of annual support to the enclave in January 2021, in part to subsidize government salaries. About a third of Qatari support is in the form of fuel that Hamas authorities sell for cash. Hamas also collects kickbacks from salaries and other aid flowing into Gaza.
Qatar’s foreign ministry released a statement on October 7th holding “Israel alone responsible” for Hamas’s bloody rampage, as was detailed in the FDD report. The ministry ignored Hamas’s war crimes and accused Israel of violating international law. After failing to condemn the 10/7 attack, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, the Qatari emir, said on October 24 that “it is untenable for Israel to be given an unconditional green light and free license to kill.”
Ismail Haniyeh, the chief of Hamas’s political bureau, resides in Qatar, as do Khalil al-Hayya, head of Hamas’s communications office, and Khaled Mashal, Hamas’s former political chief and current head of the group’s diaspora office. The FDD report said that on October 13, 2023, Mashal called for a global “Day of Jihad,” encouraging the Muslim world to “head to the squares and streets” in support of the Palestinian cause. In Doha, Hamas leaders live in five-star hotels; Haniyeh and Mashal are reportedly worth over $4 billion each.
Moreover, the FDD report explained that Hamas opened a political office in Doha in 2012. Haniyeh currently serves as chief of the bureau. Sheikh Meshal bin Hamad al-Thani, Qatar’s ambassador to the United States, claims that Hamas set up its Doha office following “a request from Washington to establish indirect lines of communication with Hamas.” An Obama White House official said there was no request from Washington, but the administration did not oppose the move either. A spokesperson for the Qatari Foreign Ministry said on November 5 that Doha has “no reason to close” the office if it can facilitate diplomacy. On Capitol Hill, Doha has tried to block U.S. legislation recognizing the Gulf country as a Hamas financier.
On Friday, President Biden penned letters to the leaders of Qatar and Egypt, urging them to use their influence to broker a hostage deal with the Hamas terrorists, according to a senior administration official. Pictured above are the families of the hostages in Gaza. Credit: AP Photo/Ariel Schalit
The abundantly tendentious and agenda driven news outlet Al Jazeera is owned by the Qatari government and effectively functions as a media mouthpiece of the state. The network regularly lionizes the violent activities of Hamas, with particularly vitriolic coverage of the conflict during clashes with Israel, according to the FDD report. For years, Yusuf Qaradawi, the Muslim Brotherhood cleric who endorsed the tactic of suicide bombings, hosted a program on the channel. After the October 7 attack, the network broadcast Hamas military chief Mohammad Deif’s call to arms. Al Jazeera also aired incendiary statements from Ismail Haniyeh and his deputy, Saleh al-Arouri. Haniyeh appeared on Al Jazeera praising Hamas’s “great triumph” and calling on “the sons of this entire nation, in their various locations, to join this battle in any way they can.”
Further information provided in the FDD report indicated that following Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005, Hamas prevailed in the Palestinian elections in 2006. After a one-year stand-off with the ruling Fatah faction, Hamas fought a bloody civil war, executing some of its Fatah rivals by shoving them off buildings. Qatar sided with Hamas and endorsed its takeover of Gaza in 2007. It has provided political and financial assistance to the Islamist group in the years since while undermining the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority, which runs the West Bank.
The FDD report also pointed out that in November 2023, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdelrahman al-Thani said, “We have built relations with Hamas in order to maintain peace and stability in the region.” Yet contrary to the belief that Qatar could moderate Hamas and help stabilize the region, Doha’s support for Hamas has facilitated relentless violence. Under Qatari patronage, Hamas has fought five separate wars against Israel (2008, 2012, 2014, 2021, and 2023).
In June 2017, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, and Egypt severed ties with Qatar and imposed a blockade on the Gulf nation. According to the information contained in the FDD report, Saudi Arabia said it cut ties to “protect national security from the dangers of terrorism and extremism,” while the UAE noted Qatar’s “ongoing policies that rattle the security and sovereignty of the region.” Both countries accused Doha of backing the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group that gave rise to Hamas. Riyadh and Abu Dhabi also demanded that Qatar sever all ties to terrorist organizations, stop funding those organizations, curtail its close ties to Tehran, terminate the Turkish military presence in Qatar, and shut down Al Jazeera and other incendiary news outlets funded by Doha.
Contradictory as it may sound, despite its support for terrorism, Qatar has been named by the United States as a major non-NATO ally, with the country serving as a strategic hub for U.S. military operations in the Persian Gulf region, as per the FDD report. Located 18 miles southwest of Doha, Al-Udeid Air Force Base hosts an estimated 10,000 U.S. troops as well as CENTCOM Forward Headquarters, from which the U.S. launches air operations against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. In addition, the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force and other foreign forces are stationed at the base built by Qatar following the 1991 Operation Desert Storm.
In the middle of March, Fox News reported that at Qatar’s recently held defense exposition, known as the Doha International Maritime Defense Exhibition and Conference (DIMDEX), it provided a platform for countries with strained relations with the United States to showcase their military capabilities. While Qatar maintains defensive and strategic partnerships with the U.S., its openness to hosting nations hostile to American interests has sparked concerns about arms proliferation and potential implications for regional stability.
According to the information provided in the Fox News report, Matt McInnis, senior fellow for the Institute for the Study of War, acknowledged the gathering of “strange bedfellows” at such events, highlighting Qatar’s tendency to extend invitations to a wide range of countries.
“It’s not surprising that Qatar was inviting Iran, Russia, and other countries,” McInnis explained as he spoke with Fox News, shedding light on the eclectic mix of participants at the exposition. “So, this is, in many ways, typical for Qatar to be open to everyone.”
“The Islamic Republic of Iran, the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism and home to the largest ballistic missile arsenal in the Middle East, is working to sell its weapons to the world,” warned the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), as was reported by Fox News. The group highlighted the potential risks associated with Iran’s weapons sales and urged the U.S. to “take action to restrict Iran’s access to future weapons expos.*
Between November 20, 2022, and December 18, 2022, Qatar hosted the prestigious International Federation of Football Association (FIFA) World Cup soccer tournament. However, its hosting of this global event drew attention to its political and diplomatic ties, igniting both debate and criticism.
French satirical newspaper Le Canard Enchaîné added fuel to the fire in November 2022 when it published a controversial cartoon depicting Qatar’s football team carrying firearms and wearing explosive belts, reminiscent of terrorist imagery, as was indicated in the report on CounterExtremism.com. This cartoon highlighted the paradox that Qatar, as a U.S. ally, maintains relations with groups and countries the U.S. and other nations have accused of supporting terrorism such as Iran.
Qatar’s hosting of the FIFA World Cup also put its political associations under the spotlight. CounterExtremism.com reported that accusations of hosting members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), al-Qaeda, and the Taliban have further complicated its international image. In July 2021, the Department of State initiated an investigation into allegations of Qatari financial support for the IRGC as well as Hamas.
President Joe Biden, right, shakes hands with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in the Oval Office of the White House, January 31, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Other examples of Qatari influence can be found on college campuses across North America. Until recently, the issue of foreign donations influencing American academia remained unnoticed. However, a study published in 2022 by the National Association of Academics in the United States sheds light on a significant flow of Qatari money to universities in the country, particularly in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. According to an in depth report that appeared on the Calcalistech.com web site in October 2023,the study reveals that between 2001 and 2021, Qatar donated a staggering $4.7 billion to American universities, making it the largest foreign donor during this period. What initially seemed like harmless financial support has sparked a series of events, raising concerns about the influence on academic institutions.
The study highlights the fact that a considerable portion of the funds received by American universities from Qatar went unreported, violating legal requirements, according to the Calcalisteceh.com report. This revelation adds a layer of complexity to the already controversial issue. The Qatari financial support, ostensibly meant to foster academic growth, has now come under scrutiny for potential undisclosed motives.
The turning point came after the Hamas attacks on October 7, unleashing an explosion of vehemently anti-Israel propaganda that was regularly broadcast by pro-Hamas student protesters. The serene atmosphere of academic institutions transformed into a battleground, with vile anti-Semitic sentiments taking center stage.
In October alone, countless campus protests erupted. Calcalistech.com reported that at Amherst University, anti-Israel students staged a riot that led to the arrest of 57 individuals after they took over the administration building. At Tulane University clashes erupted between Jewish students and a pro-Hamas group, escalating when the latter burned the Israeli flag during a demonstration.
At Cooper Union in New York City, Jewish students found themselves locked in the library for safety as pro-Hamas protesters violently confronted them. The report on the Calcalistech.com web site also said that at George Washington University, anti-Semitic messages projected on the library wall intensified concerns, with sentiments like “Free Palestine from the river to the sea” and “Glory to our martyrs.”
Qatar has found itself in a diplomatic tightrope, maintaining close military ties with the United States while facing accusations of supporting terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and Hamas.
Having said this, it should be noted that prominent American universities, including Cornell, Georgetown, Northwestern, and Carnegie Mellon, received substantial funding from Qatar, leading to the establishment of branches in Doha. As was reported in the Calcalistech.com report, Cornell, a member of the Ivy League, opened a medical school with a staggering $1.8 billion donation from Qatar. Georgetown University was also a recipient of Qatar’s largess as they received $750 million for a school of government. Moreover, Northwestern established a journalism school with a $600 million donation from Qatar in 2007.
The significant share of donations comes from the Qatar Foundation, a non-profit organization established by the government in 1995 with the mission to promote education and science in the country, as was indicated in the Calcalistech.com report. While collaborations between nations and educational institutions are not uncommon in the era of globalization, the source and magnitude of Qatari donations raise unique concerns.
In this photo released on the official Telegram page of the Syrian Presidency, Syrian President Bashar Assad, right, welcomes Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian before their meeting in Damascus, Syria, Monday, April 8, 2024. Iran’s foreign minister Monday accused the United States of giving Israel the “green light” to strike its consulate building in Syria that killed seven Iranian military officials including two generals. (Syrian Presidency Telegram page via AP)
By: Kareem Chehayeb & Albert Aji
Iran’s foreign minister Monday accused the United States of giving Israel the “green light” for a strike on its consulate building in Syria that killed seven Iranian military officials including two generals.
Hossein Amirabdollahian reiterated Tehran’s vows that it will respond to the attack, widely blamed on Israel, that appeared to signify an escalation of Israel’s targeting of military officials from Iran, which supports terrorist groups fighting Israel in Gaza, and along its border with Lebanon.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an address Monday reiterated the Iran-backed group’s support for a Tehran military response to the attack that killed Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior military official in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force, and worsened fears of the war spiraling into the rest of the Middle East.
Since the war in Gaza began six months ago, clashes have increased between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Hamas, which rules Gaza and attacked Israel on Oct. 7, is also backed by Iran, as well as an umbrella group of Iraqi militias targeting U.S. military bases and positions in Syria and Iraq.
Though Israel has regularly conducted strikes targeting Iranian military officials and allies, Zahedi’s death was the most significant blow for Tehran since a U.S. drone targeted and killed Quds Force chief Gen. Qassim Soleimani in 2020 in Baghdad.
“I’d like to say with a very loud voice from here in Damascus that America has a responsibility in what happened and must be held responsible,” Amirabdollahian told reporters in Damascus during a visit where he met his Syrian counterpart, Faisal Mekdad, who condemned both the strike and Israel’s offensive in Gaza. Amirabdollahian also met President Bashar Assad, with whom he discussed Gaza and the wider situation in the region, a statement from Assad’s office said.
The Iranian foreign minister, who earlier that day inaugurated the opening of a new consular section in a nearby building, justified his claims by saying that Washington and “two European countries” did not condemn the attack on the diplomatic building.
He said that failure to condemn the attack “indicates that Washington had given the green light to Israel to commit this crime.”
The Biden administration has insisted that it had no advance knowledge of the airstrike. Washington is Israel’s vital military ally.
Israel, which rarely acknowledges strikes against Iranian targets, said it had no comment on the strike in the Syrian capital. However, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said last week that the U.S. has assessed Israel was responsible.
Initially after the strikes, Iranian state media said Zahedi led the Quds Force in Lebanon and Syria until 2016.
Then, in a public address Monday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Zahedi was a key figure for the Lebanese group, and had three four-year stints in the tiny Mediterranean country.
Nasrallah, like Syria, and other key allies of Tehran, have said they remain committed to backing Iran.
“It’s a natural right for Iran. It’s natural for the Islamic Republic to conduct this response (to the consulate attack),” Nasrallah said.
Nasrallah said Zahedi’s first involvement was until 2002, overseeing Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon, and helping Hezbollah scale up. Zahedi’s second term covered some of the fiercest fighting in Syria’s uprising turned civil war, where Tehran and Russia played a key role in backing Assad against opposition forces. Zahedi’s final stint began in 2020 and ended when he was killed.
Hezbollah terrorists and Israeli troops have clashed along the tense Lebanon-Israel border since Oct. 8, the day after the Hamas attack on southern Israel.
The Hezbollah leader said that the moment the clashes began, Zahedi reportedly wanted to join Hezbollah militants on the front line but wasn’t permitted to do so.
Earlier Monday, Israeli airstrikes over southern Lebanon killed Ali Ahmad Hussein, an elite commander of Hezbollah’s secretive Radwan Force. Hezbollah announced Hussein’s death, but did not give any details on the circumstances or his role with the group in line with how it makes public the deaths of its members.
The killing of Hussein, one of the most senior militants slain thus far, came ahead of the Iranian foreign minister’s visit to Syria.
Israel considers Hezbollah its most serious immediate threat, estimating it has some 150,000 rockets and missiles, including precision-guided missiles that can hit anywhere in Israel. The group, which has thousands of battle-hardened fighters who participated in Syria’s 12-year conflict, also has different types of military drones.
In January, Israeli jets struck and killed another elite Hezbollah commander from the Radwan Force, Wissam al-Tawil, who fought with the group for decades and took part in some of its biggest battles.
Hezbollah says it will stop firing rockets once a ceasefire is reached in the Gaza Strip that would end the Israel-Hamas war. Israeli officials have been demanding that the Radwan Force withdraw from the border area in order for tens of thousands of displaced Israelis to return home.
Washington and Paris have been scrambling to find a diplomatic resolution to halt the fighting along the Lebanon-Israel border, hoping to prevent a new all-out war between Hezbollah and Israel since a month-long war in the summer of 2006.
The risk of war spreading to Lebanon has worsened existing political tensions within the country between Hezbollah and their most vocal opponent, the nationalist Christian Lebanese Forces party.
Matters worsened Monday when the Lebanese military announced the death of a Lebanese Forces local official who had been kidnapped a day earlier in northern Lebanon. The Lebanese Army said they detained three Syrians accused in the kidnapping and killing of Pascale Suleiman as they tried to steal his car.
The Lebanese Forces party cast doubt on the army’s findings, saying they believed it was a political assassination.
Nasrallah in his speech slammed members of the Christian party and allies who had accused Hezbollah of being involved in the kidnapping. calling it “baseless” and dangerous rhetoric.
An Israeli airstrike in the Gaza strip. Photo Credit: AP
By: Mike Corder
Preliminary hearings open Monday at the United Nations’ top court in a case that seeks an end to German military and other aid to Israel, based on claims that Berlin is “facilitating” acts of genocide and breaches of international law in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
Israel strongly denies its military campaign amounts to breaches of the Genocide Convention.
While the case brought by Nicaragua centers on Germany, it indirectly takes aim at Israel’s military campaign in Gaza following the deadly Oct. 7 attacks when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people. More than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. Its toll doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants, but it has said women and children make up the majority of the dead.
“We are calm and we will set out our legal position in court,” German Foreign Ministry spokesperson Sebastian Fischer said ahead of the hearings.
“We reject Nicaragua’s accusations,” Fischer told reporters in Berlin on Friday. “Germany has breached neither the genocide convention nor international humanitarian law, and we will set this out in detail before the International Court of Justice.”
Nicaragua has asked the court to hand down preliminary orders known as provisional measures, including that Germany “immediately suspend its aid to Israel, in particular its military assistance including military equipment in so far as this aid may be used in the violation of the Genocide Convention” and international law.
The court will likely take weeks to deliver its preliminary decision and Nicaragua’s case will probably drag on for years.
Monday’s hearing at the world court comes amid growing calls for allies to stop supplying arms to Israel as its six-month campaign continues to lay waste to Gaza.
The offensive has displaced the vast majority of Gaza’s population. Food is scarce, the U.N. says famine is approaching and few Palestinians have been able to leave the besieged territory.
“The case next week in The Hague will likely further galvanize opposition to any support for Israel,” said Mary Ellen O’Connell, a professor of law and international peace studies at the University of Notre Dame.
On Friday, the U.N.’s top human rights body called on countries to stop selling or shipping weapons to Israel. The United States and Germany opposed the resolution.
Also, hundreds of British jurists, including three retired Supreme Court judges, have called on their government to suspend arms sales to Israel after three U.K. citizens were among seven aid workers from the charity World Central Kitchen killed in Israeli strikes. Israel said the attack on the aid workers was a mistake caused by “misidentification.”
Germany has for decades been a staunch supporter of Israel. Days after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, Chancellor Olaf Scholz explained why: “Our own history, our responsibility arising from the Holocaust, makes it a perpetual task for us to stand up for the security of the state of Israel,” he told lawmakers.
Berlin, however, has gradually shifted its tone as civilian casualties in Gaza have soared, becoming increasingly critical of the humanitarian situation in Gaza and spoken out against a ground offensive in Rafah.
Nicaragua’s government, which has historical links with Palestinian organizations dating back to their support for the 1979 Sandinista revolution, was itself accused earlier this year by U.N.-backed human rights experts of systematic human rights abuses “tantamount to crimes against humanity.” The government of President Daniel Ortega fiercely rejected the allegations.
