Over 200 medical journals call on WHO to declare immediate emergency: ‘We’ve got to act with thought … but also with haste’

As the editorial cited, the rise of global temperatures due to human activities is just one possible contributing factor to the “disruption of social and economic systems.”

Susan Elizabeth Turek
Sat, November 25, 2023 

Thanks to modern technologies, from airplanes to social media, humans seem to be more interconnected than ever. While that has sparked positive developments, it has also brought new challenges.

According to CBC News’ Lauren Pelley, more than 200 medical journals recently asked the World Health Organization to declare a global health emergency either at or before the next World Health Assembly in May 2024.

What’s happening?

The medical journals petitioned the WHO with their request in an editorial published on Oct. 25 via peer-reviewed medical journal The BMJ, saying the combination of biodiversity loss and changing global temperatures is creating a crisis, per CBC News.

“An emergency declaration helps us realize that we’ve got to act with thought — but also with haste,” said Dr. Gaurab Basu, the director of education and policy at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment.

Kamran Abbasi, the editor-in-chief of the British Medical Journal and the lead author of the editorial, added that “it makes no sense … to consider the health and nature crises in separate silos.”

Why is this important? 

Our planet’s future is being written by our choices today.

As the editorial cited, the rise of global temperatures due to human activities is just one possible contributing factor to the “disruption of social and economic systems.”

Millions of people have already been displaced by extreme weather events linked to the overheating of our planet, including at home in the United States and abroad. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), approximately 1.2 billion people may need to leave their homes by 2050.

Meanwhile, an increase in waterborne diseases has been driven by pollution — which is also affecting the amount of quality food our oceans can provide, per The BMJ.

“The climate crisis and loss of biodiversity both damage human health, and they are interlinked,” Abbasi told CBC.

What’s being done about this crisis?

WHO seems to be on board with taking widescale action, which Basu told CBC could help galvanize efforts from more scientists, governments, and policymakers worldwide.

The recognition of the crisis from multiple entities already bodes well.

Dr. Maria Neira, the director of the organization’s Department of Environment, Climate Change, and Health, also highlighted how the WHO was actively involved in the formulation of the UN Climate Conference’s Day of Health, with Dec. 3 being the first-ever day focusing on the relationship between climate and health.

Greek PM to 'persist' with UK over Parthenon Marbles


AFP
Sun, 26 November 2023 

The Parthenon Marbles have been on display at the British Museum since 1817 -- but Greece is determined to secure their return (Daniel LEAL)

Greece's prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Sunday he would push for the return of the Parthenon Marbles when he meets UK leader Rishi Sunak in Britain this week.

The sculptures, also known as the Elgin Marbles, were taken from the Parthenon temple at the Acropolis in Athens in the early 19th century by British diplomat Thomas Bruce, the earl of Elgin.

Greece maintains the marbles were stolen, which Britain denies, and the issue has been a source of contention between the countries for decades.


Mitsotakis, who is due to see Sunak on Monday, likened the collection being held at the British Museum in London to the Mona Lisa painting being cut in half.

"They do look better in the Acropolis Museum, a state-of-the-art museum that was built for that purpose," he told the BBC.

"It's as if I told you that you would cut the Mona Lisa in half, and you will have half of it at the Louvre and half of it at the British Museum, do you think your viewers would appreciate the beauty of the painting in such a way?"

Mitsotakis added that "this is exactly what happened with the Parthenon sculptures".

"That is why we keep lobbying for a deal that would essentially be a partnership between Greece and the British Museum but would allow us to return the sculptures to Greece and have people appreciate them in their original setting," he told the Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme.

The 2,500-year-old collection has been on display at the British Museum since 1817.

In January, the UK government ruled out a permanent return after media reported the British Museum was close to signing a loan agreement that would see the marbles back in Athens.

Mitsotakis, who won a second term in June, said his government "had not made as much progress as I would like in the negotiations".

But added: "I'm a patient man and we've waited for hundreds of years, and I will persist in these discussions."

Mitsotakis said he would also raise the issue with UK opposition leader Keir Starmer, who -- if opinion polls are believed -- is set to be Britain's next prime minister after an election expected next year.

The Parthenon temple -- built in the 5th century BCE to honour the goddess Athena -- was partially destroyed during a Venetian bombardment in 1687, then looted.

Its fragments are scattered throughout many renowned museums.

Earlier this year, three marble fragments of the Parthenon temple that had been held by the Vatican for centuries were returned to Greece.

pdh/rox

Keeping Elgin Marbles in UK akin to ‘cutting Mona Lisa in half’ – Greek leader


Ted Hennessey, PA
Sun, 26 November 2023 

The Greek prime minister has compared the British Museum’s possession of the Elgin Marbles to the Mona Lisa painting being cut in half.

Athens has long demanded the return of the Parthenon Sculptures, which were removed from Greece by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century, when he was the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said he will raise the issue during meetings with Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer in London this week.


Asked where the Parthenon Sculptures should be, Mr Mitsotakis told BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: “I think the answer is very clear.

“They do look better in the Acropolis Museum, a state-of-the-art museum that was built for that purpose.”

Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis (Jordan Pettitt/PA)

He went on: “This is not in my mind an ownership question, this is a reunification argument, where can you best appreciate what is essentially one monument?

“I mean, it’s as if I told you that you would cut the Mona Lisa in half, and you will have half of it at the Louvre and half of it at the British Museum, do you think your viewers would appreciate the beauty of the painting in such a way?

“Well, this is exactly what happened with the Parthenon sculptures and that is why we keep lobbying for a deal that would essentially be a partnership between Greece and the British Museum but would allow us to return the sculptures to Greece and have people appreciate them in their original setting.”

Sections of the Parthenon Marbles in London’s British Museum (Matthew Fearn/PA)

British Museum chairman George Osborne, the former chancellor, has previously said he is exploring ways for the Elgin Marbles to be displayed in Greece.

There has been speculation this could involve some form of loan arrangement.

Sir Keir, who represents the Holborn & St Pancras constituency, home to the British Museum, will tell Mr Mitsotakis that Labour will not change the law regarding the marbles, The Financial Times reported.

One person close to Sir Keir told the paper: “We’re sticking with the existing law, but if a loan deal that is mutually acceptable to the British Museum and the Greek government can be agreed, we won’t stand in the way.”

The 1963 British Museum Act prevents the institution giving away objects from its collection except in very limited circumstances.

The Prime Minister, speaking in March, said that there were “no plans” to change a law over the sculptures.

Sir Keir Starmer (Jane Barlow/PA)

Mr Mitsotakis said: “We have not made as much progress as I would like in the negotiations, but again, I’m a patient man and we’ve waited for hundreds of years and I will persist in these discussions.”

Asked if it can be done within his time as prime minister, he added: “I would hope so, yes, I was just elected.”

A British Museum spokesperson said: “Discussions with Greece about a Parthenon Partnership are on-going and constructive.

“We believe that this kind of long term partnership would strike the right balance between sharing our greatest objects with audiences around the world, and maintaining the integrity of the incredible collection we hold at the museum.”

Social media users share delight after capturing ‘halo’ around moon

Danielle Desouza, PA
Sun, 26 November 2023 

Social media users have shared their delight after spotting the “unbelievable” moment a “halo” could be seen around the moon.

Good Morning Britain meteorologist Laura Tobin shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the phenomenon is caused by the refraction of moonlight from ice crystals in the upper atmosphere.

Angie Burns took a photo of a halo around the Moon from her front door (Angie Burns/PA)

X was awash with people sharing pictures they took of the “halo” around the moon, including Angie Burns, a TV and radio presenter at Marlow FM.


Ms Burns, who is based just outside Wokingham, told the PA news agency she managed to capture the phenomenon on Saturday night from her front door.

“It was the first time I’ve seen something like this so close,” she said.

A halo around the Moon in Reigate (Simon Collins/PA)

“(It was) unbelievable and yet tranquil.”

Geographer Simon Collins told PA he was “delighted” to catch a glimpse of the moment.

“I’m a keen weather observer (and) run a local weather station so am always delighted to see lovely weather phenomena as so many others did last night as well,” the 57-year-old, who took the photo in Reigate, Surrey on Saturday night, said.

Halo around Moon (Ben Light/PA)

Some described witnessing the occurrence as “amazing”, with others commenting that it was “very weird” and “like a nighttime rainbow”.

Is China really dumping Treasury bonds and sending yields higher? A former US official explains the mystery


Filip De Mott
Sat, November 25, 2023 

Reuters

China is not dumping its stockpile of US bonds, Brad Setser, a former Treasury official, wrote.


A large part of China's holdings is not accounted for in official US data, he said.


While it has sold some Treasurys, Beijing has bought up US debt in the form of agency bonds.

China isn't fueling the bond-market rout with a large sale of its Treasury holdings but is instead reshuffling its US debt assets, Brad Setser, a former Treasury official, wrote for the Council on Foreign Relations.

After US Treasury yields surged to highs not seen in 16 years, economists have looked for explanations for what is now one of the worst market crashes in history.

Apollo Global Management's Torsten Sløk also pointed to China recently, citing official US data that showed the country had sold $300 billion worth of Treasurys since 2021. And in August, a $21.2 billion dump of US assets by China was largely made up of Treasurys.

But Setser said such data presented an incomplete picture. Drawing on other sources, he estimated that China's overall US-bond holdings had been relatively stable since 2015.

Though China's holdings appear to be slipping in official US Treasury International Capital data, the metric reflects only foreign holdings in US custodians, or the financial institutions that safeguard the assets, Setser said.

"If a simple adjustment is made for Treasuries held by offshore custodians like Belgium's Euroclear, China's reported holdings of US assets look to be basically stable at between $1.8 and $1.9 trillion," he wrote.

Brad Setser/Council on Foreign Relations

Added to that, the US data fails to capture US asset holdings that were handed over to third-party management. China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange is known to hold accounts at global bond and hedge funds, as well as private-equity firms, Setser said.

He added that even where China had reduced its Treasury holdings, the sales were much smaller than other data suggested and purchases of US debt in other forms, such agency bonds, had increased.

Agency bonds are issued by government-sponsored enterprises, and some of the top issuers are US-backed firms such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

In fact, Beijing's agency bonds once outpaced its Treasury assets, Setser said. Though it moved away from that market during the Federal Reserve's quantitative-easing era, soaring yields on agency debt have brought back China's buying habit.

In 2022 and the first six months of 2023, China purchased over $100 billion in agency debt and sold just $40 billion in Treasurys, he estimated.

"Bottom line: the only interesting evolution in China's reserves in the past six years has been the shift into Agencies," he wrote. "That has resulted in a small reduction in China's Treasury holdings — but it also shows that it is a mistake to equate a reduction in China's Treasury holdings with a reduction in the share of China's reserves held in US bonds or the US dollar."

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M WITH CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS

Beijing police launch investigation into troubled wealth manager Zhongzhi

Reuters
Sat, November 25, 2023 at 7:44 AM MST·1 min read

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Beijing police are investigating suspected crimes committed by Zhongzhi Enterprise Group, a leading Chinese wealth manager, according to a social media post published by the Chaoyang Public Security Bureau on Saturday.

Zhongzhi earlier this week told investors it is heavily insolvent with up to $64 billion in liabilities, threatening to reignite concerns that China's property debt crisis is spilling over into the broader financial sector.

The firm has sizable exposure to China's real estate sector and is a major player in China's $3 trillion shadow banking sector - roughly the size of the French economy.

Zhongzhi did not immediately reply to an email request for comment after normal business hours on Saturday. A phone call went unanswered.

Zhongzhi apologised to its investors in a letter issued on Wednesday that said it had total liabilities of about 420 billion yuan ($58 billion) to 460 billion yuan ($64 billion), compared to estimated total assets of 200 billion yuan.

The social media post from Beijing authorities said it was looking into "many" suspects involved with the company and encouraged investors to report their losses in order to help with the ongoing investigation.

"Investors are requested to actively cooperate with the police in investigating and collecting evidence and safeguard their rights and interests through legal channels," it read in part.

The post did not specify what crimes Zhongzhi or the individuals were suspected of having committed.

(Reporting by Casey Hall; Editing by Mark Potter)

Chinese military holds training drills near Myanmar border after convoy fire

Updated Sat, November 25, 2023 

Myanmar's convoy of trucks burn on China's border, near Muse

By Casey Hall

SHANGHAI (Reuters) -China's military will begin "combat training activities" from Saturday on its side of the border with Myanmar, it said on social media, a day after a convoy of trucks carrying goods into the neighbouring Southeast Asian nation went up in flames.

The incident, which Myanmar state media called an insurgent attack, came amid insecurity concerns in China, whose envoy met top officials in Myanmar's capital for talks on border stability after recent signs of rare strain in their ties.

The training aims to "test the rapid maneuverability, border sealing and fire strike capabilities of theatre troops," the Southern Theatre Command, one of five in China's People's Liberation Army, said on the WeChat messaging app.

A separate statement released by the provincial government of China's Yunnan, which neighbours Myanmar, said the drills would run until Nov. 28 in the areas near Manghai, Manling and Qingshuihe villages.

Myanmar was told of the drills, military junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said, adding that they aimed to "maintain stability and peace" near the border, and did not undermine China's policy of non-interference in Myanmar's internal affairs.

"The military tie between China and Myanmar is firm and collaboration between both armies is friendly and building up," he said in his post on state-run social media.

Friday's fire in the town of Muse came as Myanmar's military has lost control of several towns and military outposts in the northeast and elsewhere as it battles the biggest co-ordinated offensive it has faced since seizing power in a 2021 coup.

The surge in fighting has displaced more than 2 million people in Myanmar, the United Nations says.

(Reporting by Casey Hall and Poppy McPherson; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

 

 

UK families hit with £1,410 ‘inflation tax’ hidden in Autumn Statement

TO PAY FOR TAX CUTS FOR THE 1%

Maira Butt
Sun, 26 November 2023 

A rise in inflation would cost households an additional £1,410 according to new analysis of government watchdog documents (PA)

Families across the UK are expected to be paying an extra £1,410 in an “inflation tax” according to a new analysis of documents produced by the government’s spending watchdog.

It comes as Labour blasted Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s “dirty dozen” of stealth taxes costing households an additional £800 a year despite trumpeted claims of cuts.

The figures analysed by The Mirror and produced by the government’s Office of Budget Responsibility showed that the upgraded forecast for inflation between November this year and March 2024 would add an additional cost of £1,400 to households across the nation.


It means that a family’s weekly outgoings would be £27 a week higher next year, with households having to spend more on food, clothes, energy, fuel and going out in line with the expected increase in the rate of inflation.

The Chancellor presented his autumn statement on Wednesday (via REUTERS)

Darren Jones, Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said: “Inflation is not just a number; it means higher prices that are forcing millions of families to cut back and make difficult choices.

“The Government would have us believe that the spectre of inflation is now in our past, but this analysis reveals it will continue to have a significant impact on household finances into the new year.

Other changes hidden in the small print of the autumn statement include increases to a host of smaller taxes including vehicle excise duty, gaming duty, environmental levies and tobacco, part of what Labour described as a “dirty dozen” of stealth taxes.

Mr Jones said the autumn statement was a “Trojan horse packed with stealth taxes”.

A Treasury spokesperson said: “We have just introduced a tax cut for 29 million working people worth £9 billion a year, meaning that personal taxes for the average person are lower than every other G7 country.

“People working as nurses, teachers, police officers could see gains of hundreds of pounds a year after the cuts to National Insurance and since 2010 we’ve increased personal tax thresholds to take 3 million people out of paying tax altogether.

“Alongside this we’ve introduced full expensing, the biggest business tax cut in modern British history worth over £50 billion over the next five years, and a business rates support package that will support businesses and the high street.”

Labour councillor who quit over backlash against party’s Gaza stance wins back seat as independent


Will Hazell
Sat, 25 November 2023 

Pro-Palestinian march in London - Paul Grover

Labour has suffered a surprise by-election loss in east London after a local backlash against the party’s stance on the conflict in Gaza.

Sir Keir Starmer’s party lost the Plaistow North ward on Newham council to a former Labour councillor who quit the party in protest at his refusal to demand a ceasefire.

Running as an independent, Sophia Naqvi secured 1,266 votes - 46 per cent of the votes cast.

Labour’s candidate, Aktharul Alam, received 750 votes (27 per cent).

According to the Evening Standard, Ms Naqvi said that an LBC interview last month in which Sir Keir suggested Israel had a right to withhold water and energy from the people of Gaza was the “final straw” which persuaded her to quit.
‘Disgraceful comments were the final straw’

“A few weeks ago, I was still a Labour Party member desperately trying to get our mayor and councillors to call for a ceasefire in Gaza,” she said.

“The Labour leader’s disgraceful comments to LBC were for me the final straw… like many others I left the Labour Party and as a result was persuaded by Newham Independents to be their candidate in the Plaistow by-election.”

However, Ms Naqvi also said she had “fought a campaign on local issues” in the Labour-run borough.

“People are fed up of record council tax bills, crumbling infrastructure and the filthy state of our streets,” she said.

Half of UK Muslims unhappy with Starmer

While Newham retains a large Labour majority, Ms Naqvi’s victory follows another councillor, Zuber Gulamussen, also quitting Labour to become an independent because of the party’s Gaza policy.

Earlier this month, The Telegraph reported polling findings showing that nearly half of UK Muslims were unhappy with Sir Keir’s stance on the Middle Eastern conflict.

However, the survey by Savanta still found that 58 per cent of Muslims responding to the poll were planning to vote Labour at the next election, compared to 17 per cent who picked the Conservatives and 8 per cent who preferred the Liberal Democrats.

Calls for ‘conditions’ in aid to Israel add to Democrats’ divisions

Mike Lillis
Fri, November 24, 2023 


The battle among Democrats over U.S. policy on Israel has found a new front this month in the form of liberal calls to set “conditions” on any new military aid delivered to Tel Aviv.

A number of leading progressives in both the House and Senate have warned in recent days that they would oppose any aid package that fails to apply new limits on Israel’s forceful engagement with Palestinians in the wake of Hamas’s brutal attacks on Israeli civilians last month, including strikes in Gaza that have killed thousands more Palestinian civilians.

Behind Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the liberal critics of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s tactics want to withhold new aid to his government unless it agrees to new constraints designed to minimize those civilian casualties.

“The blank check approach must end,” Sanders wrote in a New York Times op-ed published Wednesday. “The United States must make clear that while we are friends of Israel, there are conditions to that friendship and that we cannot be complicit in actions that violate international law and our own sense of decency.”

The demands have sparked a backlash from some of Capitol Hill’s most ardent pro-Israel Democrats, who are lashing out at the pro-Palestinian bloc with warnings that restricting Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 attacks would only empower Hamas, which the United States deems a terrorist group, and heighten the threat it poses to Israel.

“Neither Palestinians nor Israelis will know peace so long as Hamas holds hostages, controls Gaza, and retains its ability to attack Israelis,” Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), a staunch Israel supporter, said over the weekend. “Conditioning aid to Israel will move peace further away, threatening both Israeli and Palestinian lives rather than saving them.”

The internal clash has highlighted the long-standing Democratic divisions when it comes to the decades-old Israel-Palestine conflict, creating fresh challenges for party leaders, including President Biden, who are backing Israel’s forceful response while also scrambling to placate the liberal critics — a key branch of the party’s base — who are accusing Israel of committing human rights crimes in Gaza.

Those ruptures have been on full display within the House Democratic Caucus since Oct. 7, arising during a pair of votes to affirm Congress’s support for Israel — both rhetorically and financially — and later in another series of votes that ended in the formal censure of Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), one of just three Muslims in Congress and the only Palestinian American, for her sharp criticisms of Israel.

The tense debate is sure to resurface in the coming weeks when Democratic leaders are hoping to approve Biden’s $14.3 billion request for Israel aid — part of a much broader proposal that also features military funding for Ukraine and humanitarian assistance in Gaza — in the short window that remains before year’s end.

Sanders, a liberal icon with an army of followers, foreshadowed the tough battle to come when he issued a statement over the weekend outlining the stipulations needed to win his support for more Israel aid.

His six-point plan calls for an immediate end to what he considers “indiscriminate bombing” in Gaza that’s resulted in the deaths of thousands of civilians; a “significant pause” in Israel’s military operations to allow for the delivery of humanitarian aid; affirmation that displaced Gazan families will retain the right to return to their homes; assurances that Israel will neither continue its blockade on Gaza, nor occupy the region long-term, when the hostilities end; a prohibition on the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank; and a commitment to earnest peace talks designed to clinch an elusive two-state solution.

“The Netanyahu government, or hopefully a new Israeli government, must understand that not one penny will be coming to Israel from the U.S. unless there is a fundamental change in their military and political positions,” Sanders said in the statement.

He is hardly alone. Alongside Tlaib, a number of House liberals — many of them representing the far-left “squad” — have also been highly critical of Israel’s historic policies toward Palestinians broadly and Netanyahu’s handling of the current military operations in Gaza in particular.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) argued that the United States applies conditions to “virtually all other … allies,” and doing the same toward Israel is simply “the responsible course” to ensure that American taxpayers aren’t financing human rights abuses.

“The United States has a legal and moral responsibility to ensure that public resources do not facilitate gross violations of human rights and international law,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Israel’s most vocal Democratic defenders have different ideas. Rep. Jared Moskowitz (Fla.), a first-term lawmaker, denounced the conditional approach, vowing to block any such provisions from an Israel aid package if they were under consideration in the House.

“I am absolutely for humanitarian aid to Gaza,” Moskowitz wrote on X. “But if Bernie Sanders puts political requirements on the Aid to Israel, I will work in the House to remove those conditions or condition Aid to Gaza that requires the removal of Hamas.”

The Democratic collision over Israel reflects the broader debate around the country, pitting those supporting Israel’s military strategy, in the name of self-defense and self-preservation, against those critical of Tel Aviv’s human rights record in Gaza and the West Bank.

That debate has grown more fierce as both the country and Congress have grown more diverse. Some lawmakers said it’s only natural that the conversation would change with the arrival of new members with distinctive backgrounds and unique perspectives.

“We’ve never had this before,” said Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), a member of the squad. “We’ve never had three Muslims before, two Muslim women before. So if we’ve never had that … it’s going to be very contentious and difficult and challenging to understand each other on Day One.

“My hope is that on Day 1,000 there is a collective understanding and we begin to have conversations that center on empathy and compassion and humanity — for all people. And we don’t have that right now. It’s pro-Israel, and that’s it,” he continued. “We don’t even talk about the occupation, the conditions in Gaza, the 50 percent poverty, the 50 percent children, a siege happening when the language that’s being used is clearly to dehumanize, conflating Hamas with Palestinian.

“That’s what’s happening — from the White House on down.”

Across the aisle, Republicans are largely united in their support for Israel aid, though there are disagreements within the GOP over whether the new funding should be accompanied by other budget changes designed to defray the costs.

Newly installed Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), as his first legislative act with the gavel, passed a $14.3 billion Israel package earlier in the month, which also featured steep cuts in IRS funding to satisfy conservatives — an addendum that added billions of dollars to deficit spending and eroded almost all support from Democrats.

The next steps on Israel aid are expected to begin in the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats who oppose any offsets to emergency spending bills. It remains unclear how, or if, Johnson would bring such a bill to the House floor and risk a conservative revolt.

Biden: Conditions on aid to Israel a ‘worthwhile thought’

Nick Robertson

THE HILL
Fri, November 24, 2023 


President Biden conceded to critics within his party Friday that calls to put specific conditions on aid to Israel are a “worthwhile thought” amid the country’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

But at a press conference marking a four-day truce in the war to free 50 hostages taken by Hamas, Biden also implied that those conditions could hamper diplomacy.

“I think that’s a worthwhile thought, but I don’t think if I started off with that we ever would have gotten to where we are today,” Biden said. “We have to take this a piece at a time.”

The president has been under immense pressure from a growing group of Democrats who have criticized the Biden administration for strongly backing Israel in the conflict, despite a growing number of civilian casualties in Gaza.

“The blank check approach must end,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) wrote in a New York Times op-ed published Wednesday. “The United States must make clear that while we are friends of Israel, there are conditions to that friendship and that we cannot be complicit in actions that violate international law and our own sense of decency.”

The war in Gaza has killed more than 12,000 Palestinians, including more than 4,600 children, since it began early last month, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Biden said he has repeatedly pressured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to better consider the lives and well-being of Gazan civilians.

“I’ve encouraged the Prime Minister to focus on trying to reduce the number of casualties while he is attempting to eliminate Hamas, which is the legitimate objective use,” Biden said. “That’s a difficult task.”

“And I don’t know how long it will take,” he continued. “My expectation and hope is that as we move forward, the rest of the Arab world and the region is also putting pressure on all sides to slow this down to bring this to an end as quickly as possible.”

Progressive Democrats have pushed the Biden administration to call for a long-term cease-fire in the conflict, arguing that the Israeli military strategy puts too many Palestinian civilians at risk. They have been joined by hundreds of former Biden campaign staffers and have sparked division in the State Department.

In his op-ed this week, Sanders described the Israeli strategy as one of “indiscriminate bombing.”

“The Netanyahu government, or hopefully a new Israeli government, must understand that not one penny will be coming to Israel from the U.S. unless there is a fundamental change in their military and political positions,” Sanders said in the statement.

The U.S. already requires that all counties that receive military aid, by law, abide by international law. The progressives argue that the measure has entirely been ignored in the case of Israel.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said the U.S. applies conditions for “virtually all other … allies,” and doing so for Israel is “the responsible course.”

“The United States has a legal and moral responsibility to ensure that public resources do not facilitate gross violations of human rights and international law,” she wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Israel's liberal use of large US-made bombs accounts for the high civilian casualty toll in Gaza, military experts say: 'It's beyond anything that I've seen in my career'

Kenneth Niemeyer

Sat, November 25, 2023 

• Israel's use of US-made bombs is contributing to high Palestinian civilian casualties, experts say.

• The rate of death in Gaza has outpaced some of the century's "deadliest moments," The New York Times reported.

• One expert said Israel's use of aerial bombs is "beyond anything that I've seen."

Israel's use of large, American-made bombs is contributing to the massive death toll in Gaza, passing some of the deadliest conflicts in recent memory.

The killing in Gaza, aided by the use of 2,000-pound US-made bombs, is outpacing many of this century's "deadliest moments," including the United States campaigns in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, according to The New York Times.

The massive scale of Israel's attacks along with the use of large, US-made bombs in dense, urban areas have contributed to the massive death toll, according to the report.

While it's not entirely possible to calculate the exact number of civilian casualties in Gaza, researchers believe the 10,000 women and children reported dead by the Hamas-led Gaza Health Ministry to be an approximate, if conservative, estimate of civilian killings, according to the report.

The Gaza Health Ministry's most recent death toll released on November 10 included 11,078 deaths, according to the Associated Press.

Marc Garlasco, a military adviser for Dutch peace organization PAX and former senior Pentagon intelligence analyst, told The Times that the use of such bombs by Israel is "beyond anything that I've seen in my career."

The closest instances Garlasco could point to for a historical comparison, when such large bombs were dropped on such densely populated areas, were "Vietnam, or the Second World War," according to the outlet.

According to the report, US military officials often believed that the most common American-made aerial bomb, which weighs 500 pounds, was too large to be used when fighting the Islamic state in Iraq and Syria. In contrast, Israel has been liberally using 2,000-pound bombs, which are also made in America, and are capable of crumbling entire apartment complexes, The Times reported.

Brian Castner, an Amnesty International weapons investigator and former US Air Force explosive ordnance disposal officer, told The Times that the bombs used in Gaza are larger than bombs used by the US to fight ISIS in Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria. Castner told the outlet that the explosives are more consistent with targeting underground structures such as tunnels.

"They are using extremely large weapons in extremely densely populated areas," Castner said. "It is the worst possible combination of factors."

Israel has noted that Gaza is a unique battlefield — small and dense with civilians living next to and on top of Hamas-run tunnel networks, The Times reported.

Israel acknowledges that women and children have been killed in Gaza, but said the reported death toll in the Hamas-run region can not be trusted, according to The Times. Israel's military did not provide a casualty count of its own, but denied targeting civilians, the newspaper said.

"We do a lot in order to prevent and, where possible, minimize the killing or wounding of civilians," Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli military spokesman, told the outlet. "We focus on Hamas."

On Friday, Israel agreed to a four day cease-fire in exchange for the release of hostages held by Hamas inside Gaza. Hamas released 25 total hostages, 13 Israelis and 11 foreigners, including 10 from Thailand and one from the Philippines, on the same day.

The Israel Defense Forces did not immediately return Insider's request for comment.