Despite Biden's pause, billions in US weapons will still flow to Israel

Tel Aviv is slated to receive a diverse array of American military equipment, spanning from joint direct attack munitions — transforming conventional bombs into precision tools — to tank rounds, mortars, and armoured tactical vehicles.


A view of M825 and M825A1 artillery shells labeled D528, the US Department of Defense Identification Code for “white phosphorus-based munitions” in Sderot, Israel on October 09, 2023. [Mostafa Alkharouf /Anadolu Agency]

Billions of dollars worth of US weaponry remains in the pipeline for Israel, despite the delay of one shipment of bombs and a review of others by President Joe Biden's administration, concerned their use in an assault could wreak more devastation on Palestinian civilians.

A senior US official said this week that the administration had reviewed the delivery of weapons that Israel might use for a major invasion of Rafah, a southern Gaza city where over 1.5 million civilians have sought refuge, and as a result paused a shipment of bombs to Israel.

Washington has long urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right government not to invade Rafah without safeguards for civilians, seven months into a war that has devastated much of Gaza.

Congressional aides estimated the delayed bomb shipment's value as "tens of millions" of US dollars. The shipment was supposed to consist of 1,800 2,000-pound (900-kilogramme) bombs and 1,700 500-pound (225-kilogramme) bombs, according to a senior US administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.

A wide range of other military equipment is due to go to Israel, including joint direct attack munitions (JDAMS), which convert dumb bombs into precision weapons; and tank rounds, mortars and armoured tactical vehicles, Senator Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters.

Risch said those munitions were not moving through the approval process as quickly as they should be, noting some had been in the works since December, while assistance for Israel more typically sails through the review process within weeks.

Biden administration officials have said they are reviewing additional arms sales, and Biden warned Israel in a CNN interview on Wednesday that the US would stop supplying weapons if Israeli forces make a major invasion of Rafah.

Israeli bombardment in Gaza has killed some 34,904 Palestinians, wounding 78,514 and uprooted the majority of Gaza's 2.4 million people.

Separately, Representative Gregory Meeks, top Democrat on the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, has put a hold on an $18 billion arms transfer of package for Israel that would include dozens of Boeing Co. F-15 aircraft. At the same time, he awaits more information about how Israel would use them.

Biden's support for Israel in its war against Gaza has emerged as a political liability for the president, particularly among young Democrats, as he runs for re-election this year. It fuelled a wave of "uncommitted" protest votes in primaries and has driven pro-Palestine protests at US universities.

None of those weapons agreements are part of a spending package Biden signed last month that included about $26 billion to support Israel and provide humanitarian aid.

Risch and Meeks are two of the four US lawmakers — the chair and ranking member of Senate Foreign Relations and chair and ranking member on House Foreign Affairs — who review major foreign weapons deals.

'Fight with their fingernails'

Ignoring Biden's warning, hawkish Netanyahu issued a video statement on Thursday saying Israelis "would fight with their fingernails" in an apparent rebuff of Biden.

Republicans accused Biden of backing down on his commitments to Israel. "If the Commander-in-Chief can't muster the political courage to stand up to radicals on his left flank and stand up for an ally at war, the consequences will be grave," Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said in a Senate speech.

Ten other Senate Republicans held a press conference to announce a non-binding resolution condemning "any action by the Biden Administration to withhold or restrict weapons for Israel."

White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Israel was still getting the weapons it needs to defend itself. "He's (Biden's) going to continue to provide Israel with the capabilities that it needs, all of them," Kirby said.

Some Congressional Democrats welcomed Biden's action.

Senator Chris Murphy, the Democratic chair of the Foreign Relations Mideast subcommittee, cited concern about Rafah.

"I do not think it is our strategic or moral interest to help Israel conduct a campaign in Rafah that is likely to kill thousands of innocent civilians and not likely impact Hamas' long-term strength in a meaningful way," he told Reuters.

The US declared its support for Israel since the beginning of the war on October 7 last year. US never holds back in arming Israel, regardless of alarming Gaza civilian casualties.

The United States gives Israel $3.8 billion in annual military dole and often shields its ally at the United Nations.

 

Gen. Wesley Clark to Newsmax: Doubt Israel Needs Weapons From US

By Mark Swanson    |   Thursday, 09 May 2024 

Retired Gen. Wesley Clark told Newsmax on Thursday it's his belief that Israel has shrugged off President Joe Biden's hold on certain munitions, saying he would be "surprised if Israel needs anything from us."

Clark joined "The Record With Greta Van Susteren" to discuss Biden's holding back of munitions as a warning to Israel not to invade Rafah.

"Israel has adequate military means. I think the United States knows that. And Israel is going to do what Israel needs to do, and I think it should do that," Clark said.

"I'd be very surprised if Israel needs anything from us, actually," Clark said, regarding its incursion into Rafah. "I got a great deal of respect for the Israeli armed forces. I don't think they've exhausted their stockpiles. I don't think they're waiting for just-in-time arrival, on anything from rifles to tanks to spare parts or whatever that they need for Gaza.

"But I think they always feel more secure if they have a larger inventory. I think these shipments that have been stopped probably will result in some rundown of those inventories," he added.

Despite Biden’s pause, billions of dollars in US arms for Israel still in pipeline

GOP senator says wide range of other munitions set to go to Israel besides withheld bombs, but laments approval process for them not as quick as it should be

By AGENCIES and TOI STAFF

The Times of Israel

Illustrative - IDF tanks are positioned in southern Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip on May 9, 2024. (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP)

Billions of dollars worth of US weaponry remains in the pipeline for Israel, despite the delay of one shipment of bombs and a review of others by US President Joe Biden’s administration, which says it’s concerned the Israel Defense Forces could use them in densely populated Rafah, as is has in other parts of Gaza.

A senior US official said this week that the administration had reviewed the delivery of weapons that Israel might use for a major invasion of Rafah, a southern Gaza city where over one million civilians have sought refuge, and as a result paused a shipment of 2,000- and 500-pound bombs to Israel.

Washington has long urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government not to invade Rafah without safeguards for civilians, seven months after Hamas’s October 7 massacre in southern Israel started the war in Gaza.

The issue has become a major point of contention between Biden and Netanyahu, who insists a ground offensive into Rafah is necessary to fulfill the war goal of removing Hamas from power following the October 7 massacre. Netanyahu’s hard-right coalition partners have demanded that the offensive go ahead, threatening to bolt the government should it instead prioritize a truce agreement freeing hostages and halting the fighting.

Congressional aides estimated the delayed bomb shipment’s value as “tens of millions” of US dollars.

A wide range of other military equipment is due to go to Israel, including joint direct attack munitions (JDAMS), which convert dumb bombs into precision weapons; and tank rounds, mortars and armored tactical vehicles, Senator Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters.

File – Republican Sen. Jim Risch speaks to media about Israel, October 18, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Risch said those munitions were not moving through the approval process as quickly as they should be, noting some had been in the works since December, while assistance for Israel more typically sails through the review process within weeks.

Biden administration officials have said they are reviewing additional arms sales, and Biden warned Israel in a CNN interview on Wednesday that the US would stop supplying weapons if Israeli forces make a major invasion of Rafah.

The war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas’s October 7 massacre, which saw some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border into Israel by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 252 hostages, mostly civilians, many amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.

The subsequent Israeli offensive, aimed at destroying Hamas and freeing the hostages, has killed some 35,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The figure cannot be independently verified, and is believed to include both civilians and combatants killed in Gaza, including as a consequence of terror groups’ own rocket misfires.

Smoke billows from Israeli strikes on eastern Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 7, 2024. (AFP)

The IDF says it has killed over 13,000 operatives in Gaza, in addition to some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7. The IDF says 267 soldiers have been killed during the ground offensive against Hamas and amid operations along the Gaza border.

Separately, Representative Gregory Meeks, top Democrat on the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, is holding up an $18 billion arms transfer of package for Israel that would include dozens of Boeing Co. F-15 aircraft while he awaits more information about how Israel would use them, though the fighter jets are not slated to be delivered for several years.

“It’s enough of the indiscriminate bombing,” Meeks charged last month. “I don’t want the kinds of weapons Israel has to be utilized to have more death. I want to make sure humanitarian aid gets in, and I don’t want people starving to death.”

Biden’s support for Israel in its war against Hamas has emerged as a political liability for the president, particularly among young Democrats, as he runs for re-election this year. It fueled a wave of “uncommitted” protest votes in Democratic primaries and has driven anti-Israel protests at US universities, though a recent poll showed over 70 percent of Americans overall believe Israel should launch an offensive in Rafah to defeat Hamas.

None of those weapons agreements are part of a spending package Biden signed last month that included about $26 billion to support Israel and provide humanitarian aid.

Risch and Meeks are two of the four US lawmakers – the chair and ranking member of Senate Foreign Relations and chair and ranking member on House Foreign Affairs – who review major foreign weapons deals.

Historic Israeli desire to ‘go it alone’ is tested by Gaza and Iran


Amir Cohen/Reuters
Israeli soldiers stand atop a Merkava tank near the border with the Gaza Strip in southern Israel, May 9, 2024. Israel's ground incursion into the Gaza city of Rafah has so far been limited.

By Howard LaFranchi Staff writer
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
May 9, 2024|WASHINGTON


As the world grows increasingly critical of the war in Gaza and pressure builds for a permanent cease-fire, Israel finds itself torn between two inclinations: cooperate with the international community that rallied to its side after Hamas’ attack in October, and Iran’s in April, or go it alone.

And as negotiations over a potential cease-fire and hostage release deal continue, and even as Israel ratchets up bombardments and other operations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, Israel is sending mixed signals over which path it will take.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continued this week to use a blustery “we will go it alone if we must” rhetoric publicly. At the same time, the promised assault on Rafah has so far been limited and targeted – although a massing of Israeli troops outside the city Thursday suggested accelerating preparations for a ground assault.

Israel is facing historic challenges over its instinct to act alone in war. One comes from a rift with its U.S. ally over Gaza. Another comes from the demonstrated benefits of regional cooperation and integration.

The choice facing Israel is pivotal and indeed historic in its ramifications.

Does it hold fast to a fundamental tenet of its founding national security doctrine, that it depends solely on itself and fights its wars alone? Or do shifting geopolitical dynamics – and especially Israel’s desire to strengthen regional ties in the face of confrontation with Iran and its proxies – call for a more cooperative and international security strategy?

Israel was already shifting away from a go-it-alone stance before the Hamas attack and Gaza war, some analysts say, pointing to deepening cooperation with a growing number of Arab neighbors. The question now, they add, will be how far and for how long Israel’s chosen path in Gaza sets back or even reverses Israel’s opening.

“This is an important moment that will have a very significant impact on what was already a process f more integration into the region and more opening up to international cooperation,” says Nimrod Goren, senior fellow for Israeli affairs at the Middle East Institute in Washington.

“I don’t think we’ll be going back to the notion of ‘Israel alone’ that Netanyahu is preaching now,” he adds, “but there is a sense that Israel’s global standing is very much on the line and will face the consequences of what happens” both in Rafah and with the cease-fire negotiations.

Mohammed Salem/Reuters
Palestinians sit next to their belongings in the southern Gaza Strip, May 9, 2024. People are fleeing Rafah after Israeli forces launched a ground and air operation in the eastern part of the southern Gaza city.

For some military analysts, the so-far limited Rafah operation should be seen as pressure on Hamas to accept a mutually palatable cease-fire deal. But others see it as a nod to U.S. President Joe Biden, who has stated his strong disapproval of Mr. Netanyahu’s promised full ground invasion of Rafah, where more than 1 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering.

“Netanyahu may very well be making these moves signaling Israel’s going into Rafah to keep the pressure on” the cease-fire and hostage-deal negotiations, says Benjamin Friedman, policy director and a Middle East expert at Defense Priorities, a realist foreign policy think tank in Washington.
Biden delays shipment of bombs

The Biden administration put some meat on the bones of its Rafah assault objections by last week pausing an arms shipment to Israel, a first for a U.S. president who has long portrayed his support for Israel as complete and unshakable. Mr. Biden ordered a halt to a shipment of 3,500 large bombs over concerns, according to administration officials, that they would be used to strike Rafah.

The president went a step further Wednesday, saying the United States is “not going to supply the weapons and the artillery shells” for an invasion. “They’re not going to get our support if, in fact, they’re going into these population centers,” he said in a CNN interview aired Wednesday evening.

International objections to an assault on Rafah were further underscored by the French Foreign Ministry earlier this week, when it revealed in a statement that President Emmanuel Macron warned Mr. Netanyahu in a phone conversation Sunday that Israel would be committing a war crime under international law if it forcibly displaces civilians from Rafah.

“What we are seeing publicly now is a fight between President Biden and Netanyahu over what the priorities are in the war, with Netanyahu trying to play the Rafah card especially for domestic political reasons,” says Mr. Goren, who is based in Israel. “But there is a gap between public statements and what is happening on the ground,” he adds, “and if you look closely, you see that Israel has up to now been taking into account U.S. and Egyptian and others’ demands.”

The choice Israel faces has been salient at least since March, when the U.S. signaled its growing frustration by declining to use its veto in the United Nations Security Council to stop a cease-fire resolution – an expression of global condemnation that until then had been a red line for the Biden administration.
Common cause against Iran

But then in April, the U.S. assembled and led a coalition of countries – including Jordan, Egypt, and even Saudi Arabia – to help defend Israel against an onslaught of Iranian drones and missiles dispatched by Tehran as retaliation for Israel’s bombing of an Iranian compound in Syria.

At the time, some U.S. officials and Middle East analysts expressed hope Israel would value having international partners – particularly Sunni Arab neighbors that share common cause against Iran – and alter its historical approach as a friendless Jewish state willing to act alone in a hostile world.

Maya Alleruzzo/AP
Families of Israeli hostages and their supporters carry photos depicting those held by Hamas in Gaza in a march calling on the Netanyahu government to make a deal to obtain their release, in Tel Aviv, Israel, May 8, 2024.

Some have even posited that the war in Gaza presents Israel and in particular Mr. Netanyahu with an opportunity to end the conflict and fashion a postwar era that results in greater security for Israel and stronger relations with its Arab neighbors, including Palestinians and Saudi Arabia.

But shortly after the U.S.-led coalition’s successful response to Iran’s first-ever direct assault on Israeli territory, Mr. Netanyahu reverted to a more traditional position of Israeli self-defense unfettered by international entanglements.

“If we need to stand alone, we will stand alone,” Mr. Netanyahu said Sunday before a group of survivors of the Holocaust. “If we do not defend ourselves,” he added, “nobody will defend us.”

Such rhetoric is directed at a particular segment of the Israeli public and at Mr. Netanyahu’s own right-wing coalition government, some experts say.

“Netanyahu likes the optics of defying the Biden administration and saying, ‘We Israelis can defend ourselves and do things on our own,’” says Mr. Friedman. “He knows that if he says publicly, ‘I can’t go into Rafah because of Biden and all the other international pressures,’ he risks losing his coalition, and as a result losing power.”
Eye on Israeli elections

As for the path ahead, Mr. Friedman says he sees Israel staying the course toward greater regional cooperation that it was already on before the war. Where Israel’s execution of the war will have greater impact, he adds, is on Israel’s relations with Europeans and other “liberal Western countries” that place a priority on issues like human rights and treatment of the Palestinians.

Moreover, eventual Israeli elections will play a key role in determining how Israel moves forward in the war’s aftermath, experts say.

For Mr. Friedman, Mr. Netanyahu may be playing for time to see how the U.S. presidential election goes in November. The Israeli leader “may very well be thinking that if Trump wins, he can get everything he wants in terms of the region and relations with the Saudis” without any of the concessions Mr. Biden is seeking on Palestinian governance and an eventual Palestinian state.

Mr. Goren foresees the broad question of Israel’s relations with the world taking a front-and-center role in any campaign before the next set of elections, whenever they occur.

“The war and its impact on Israel’s global standing are viewed one way by the more international elements, the tech companies and the universities and professors, and another way by Netanyahu’s base and others who basically see a hostile world,” he says. “The debate between those two sides will be played and become more important before the next Israeli elections.”

UN agency says closing east Jerusalem HQ after arson by Israeli extremists

UNRWA said it was temporarily closing its compound in occupied East Jerusalem after an arson attack by Israeli extremists.

The New Arab Staff & Agencies
09 May, 2024

Lazzarini said that it was the second attack on the compound in a matter of days [Getty/file photo]


The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said Thursday it was temporarily shuttering its headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem after Israeli extremists set fire to the perimeter following weeks of repeated attacks.

"This evening, Israeli residents set fire twice to the perimeter of the UNRWA headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem," agency chief Philippe Lazzarini said on X, formerly Twitter, lamenting that it was the second attack on the compound in a matter of days.

He described how "a crowd accompanied by armed men were witnessed outside the compound chanting 'Burn down the United Nations'."

UNRWA and staff from other UN agencies at the time were on the compound, which has on its grounds petrol and diesel stations for a fleet of UN cars.

"While there were no casualties among our staff, the fire caused extensive damage to the outdoor areas," Lazzarini said, adding that UNRWA staff had put out the fire themselves.

The attack came after two months of "Israeli extremists staging protests outside the UNRWA compound", he said, adding that one protest earlier this week "became violent when demonstrators threw stones at UN staff and at the buildings of the compound".

Thursday's arson attempts marked "an outrageous development," Lazzarini said. "Once again, the lives of UN staff were at a serious risk".

"In light of this second appalling incident in less than a week, I have taken the decision to close down our compound until proper security is restored."

The UNRWA chief lamented that "over the past months, UN staff have regularly been subjected to harassment and intimidation".

"Our compound has been seriously vandalised and damaged. On several occasions, Israeli extremists threatened our staff with guns."

RELATED

The Israeli political movement to expel UNRWA from Jerusalem

In-depth

Jessica Buxbaum

Anas Ambri

UNRWA, which coordinates nearly all aid to war-torn Gaza, has been in crisis since January when Israel accused about a dozen of its 13,000 Gaza employees of being involved in the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel.

This led many donor nations, including its top donor the United States, to abruptly suspend funding to the agency, threatening its efforts to deliver desperately-needed aid in Gaza, although several have since resumed payments.

An independent review group of UNRWA, led by French former foreign minister Catherine Colonna, found some "neutrality-related issues" but said Israel had yet to provide evidence for its chief allegations.

Qatar's foreign ministry issued a statement Thursday condemning "in the strongest terms the attack by Israeli settlers on the UNRWA headquarters".

The ministry slammed the "systematic Israeli targeting of UNRWA", maintaining it was aimed "to liquidate it and deprive millions of Palestinians of its necessary services".

Created in 1949, the agency employs around 30,000 people in the Palestinian territories, as well as Jordan, Lebanon and Syria which host Palestinian refugees.

OIC condemns settlers attack on UNRWA headquarters in occupied Jerusalem

Published: 09 May 2024 - 

QNA

Jeddah: The Organization of Islamic Cooperation on Thursday strongly condemned the attack carried out by groups of extremist settlers against the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in occupied Jerusalem, warning of the consequences of targeting international headquarters and missions in the occupied territories.

In a statement, the OIC considered this attack an extension of organized terrorism and ongoing Israeli crimes against Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories, noting that it comes in the context of the occupations attempts to undermine the role of UNRWA, distort it, and dry up its funding sources.


It added that the occupation forces and settlers have destroyed more than 160 facilities belonging to the United Nations agency, and killed about 188 UNRWA employees since the start of the aggression on the Gaza Strip seven months ago, in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and relevant United Nations resolutions.

Half of Gaza Water Sites Damaged or Destroyed

Photo by Planet Labs
Asharq Al Awsat
01:21-10 May 2024 

AD ـ 02 Thul-Qi’dah 1445 AH

Hundreds of Gaza's water and sanitation facilities have been damaged or destroyed since Israel began military action against Hamas, satellite analysis by BBC Verify has found.

Damage to a major supplies depot has also severely disrupted repairs.

The lack of clean water and flows of untreated sewage pose a serious threat to health, say aid agencies.

The destruction comes despite Israel's duty to protect critical infrastructure under the rules of war, unless there is evidence sites are being used for military reasons, say human rights lawyers.

Clean water has always been a limited resource in Gaza and the territory has largely relied on a system of boreholes and desalination plants for its supply.

BBC said in its report found that more than half of these vital facilities have been damaged or destroyed since Israel launched its retaliation in Gaza after Hamas attacked on 7 October.

It also said that four of the six wastewater treatment plants - crucial to preventing the build-up of sewage and the spread of disease - have been damaged or destroyed. The two others have shut down because lack of fuel or other supplies, according to one aid agency.

The plants were among more than 600 water and sanitation facilities that we analysed, using a list of locations provided by Gaza's Coastal

In one satellite image, of Khan Younis in the south of Gaza, two damaged large water storage tanks can be seen.

The destruction of water and sanitation facilities has led to "disastrous health consequences for the population", said Dr Natalie Roberts, executive director of Medecins Sans Frontieres UK.

"The rates of diarrhoeal disease have gone catastrophically high," she said.

In very severe cases, such disease can kill young children and the vulnerable. Rates of hepatitis A - found in contaminated water and particularly dangerous for pregnant women - are also high, according to the charity.

"This is killing people," Dr Roberts said.

There is a particular spike in disease in Rafah in the south where many Gazans have fled to, Dr Roberts said, and a risk of cholera.

There has been widespread damage to buildings across Gaza since Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October.
According to the UN, about 69,000 housing units have been destroyed and a further 290,000 damaged.

Biden’s Gaza War Policy ‘Has Failed’: Why a US Diplomat Quit the State Dept.

Jessica Le Masurier
• May 9, 2024

Hala Rharrit resigned from the US State Department in April, ending an 18-year career as a diplomat. Most recently, she was the Arabic language spokesperson for the Mideast-North Africa region. She could no longer tolerate the Biden administration’s “militaristic” policy over the Gaza war and was the third State Department official to leave publicly.

Welcome to a special episode of PassBlue podcast series UNSCripted. I’m Jessica Le Masurier, and I’m joined by Hala Rharrit, the Arabic language spokesperson for the Mideast-North Africa region for the United States State Department who recently resigned in protest over US policy on the war in Gaza. (The text part of the interview, below, has been edited for clarity.)

Listen to the interview with Hala Rharrit

PassBlue: As the US is rocked by antiwar protests on campuses nationwide, it’s also clear there’s much discontent within the Biden administration over the war. Mrs. Rharrit is the third State Department official to publicly quit over the Biden administration’s stance on the conflict. You worked for the State Department for over 18 years, what made you finally decide to quit?

Rharrit: I joined straight out of my graduate studies in 2006, and the reason I decided to become a diplomat was because, as silly as it sounds, I wanted to do good in the world and I wanted to help my country. I felt for the last 18 years that every single day as a diplomat, I was doing those things. I was helping the United States of America. I was strengthening ties between the United States and other countries. I felt like I was a force of good in the world. Unfortunately, the role that the United States has chosen to play in this crisis has been catastrophic. It pains me very much to say that as a dedicated diplomat.

It pains me to say that out loud, and it took me a while to even admit it to myself. But the reality is that President [Joe] Biden has chosen to implement a militaristic policy that has focused on sending weaponry to Israel for a continued bombardment on a besieged civilian population.

This policy has failed. It has not achieved any of its military objectives. The Israeli hostages are still stuck in Gaza. Obviously, 34,000 Palestinians have been killed, 14,000 of whom are children. As a diplomat, I strongly believe in the power of diplomacy. There are other ways to achieve goals and diplomatic solutions work. But unfortunately, the administration has chosen to ignore its diplomats and has chosen to consistently abide by this militaristic policy.
I could no longer be part of that.

PassBlue: Could you describe what it was like inside the State Department after the Oct. 7 attacks?

Rharrit: For us that are serving overseas as diplomats, especially in the Middle East, we were horrified by the terrorist attacks. Everybody was just shocked at the devastation and the horrors that occurred that day. And we were all very concerned about, obviously, what would happen next, because it was without a doubt Israel would react and obviously try to bring home the hostages and would react against Hamas.

But I think it’s clear that nobody quite realized, or at least would have hoped, that it would not have gotten to this stage, when we’re talking about famine. I want to be clear now, this is not an us-versus-them dichotomy that has been a lot on mainstream media. It shouldn’t be an Israeli versus Palestinian side. We should really be looking at this conflict in terms of the people, the Israeli people, the Palestinian people, and the fact that we’ve gotten to the point of famine, that children have died of starvation, when there are grocery stores that are completely full, just 30 minutes away from where these children are dying of starvation, it’s unacceptable.

PassBlue: What was it like working for the State Department during these months of war? Were there particular incidents that will stay in your mind that you won’t forget?

Rharrit: It’s been the most, by far, challenging time of my entire career, and obviously it ended in resignation. So my role was as spokesperson for the State Department in the region. I was in charge of the Middle East and North Africa media markets, with the Arabic language market. So prior to Oc. 7, I had done well over 100 media engagements on Arab media. But after Oct. 7, it became clear to me that our messaging in the region was pouring gas on the fire. It was not helping the situation and it was actually generating significant anti-American backlash.

So I stood down on interviews, which was quite controversial for me professionally. . . . and instead I was sending reports back to Washington on a daily basis documenting and reporting what was happening in the region — on both traditional media and social media — and what I was reporting to Washington was the growing anti-Americanism, the likes of which I haven’t seen in decades. And my warning was, this policy is not only hurting Palestinians, it’s not only hurting Israelis, but it’s also hurting us and the repercussions are going to be severe on the United States for generations to come potentially.

But what was frustrating is that no matter what data, no matter what information was sent back, we never changed course. I was definitely sidelined. I was silenced. I started being excluded from certain things, from certain meetings, my name started disappearing off emails because people did not like this critical feedback I was giving. This was a first for me because the State Department has always been a place of discussion, of negotiations internally.

Within the halls of the Department as diplomats, we’ve always been able to, from my experience, have a frank, honest, open conversation about what’s working, what’s not. What can we do to improve this? How can we strategize this for the good of our country? But there’s been a chilling effect with this conflict, where people are scared to discuss it.

PassBlue: Why accounts for the “chilling effect”? What’s different about this war?

Rharrit: Honestly, from my perspective, it’s coming strictly from the top down. And the State Department is not able to and the diplomats out in the field are not able to effectively influence in a way that we have before. In our role as diplomats working in embassies and consulates, we become experts wherever we work, and we provide information to Washington to try to help them and guide them in making policy decisions.

But no matter what was coming from the field with this conflict, the policy was the policy. And it wasn’t shifting even in terms of our own messaging, not even speaking about the broader policy. My point, which is not my point based on my personal opinion, it was my point based on reporting, on documenting things, on data that our messaging is causing a backlash. There was no evidence that we still message these talking points to the Arab world, no matter what the reaction we were going to generate and how much anti-Americanism we were going to generate. And so that’s been different. The State Department has shrunk, from my experience with this particular conflict, to strictly implementing arms. And we haven’t been able to leverage our own influence, which led me to ask, “Why am I here?”

Because then it made me feel complicit and feel like I’m enabling the policy by remaining because it was coming directly from the top of the camp; it was not changing or shifting, no matter what it learned about the ramifications of the policy.

PassBlue: When you say directly from the top, do you mean US Secretary of State Antony Blinken? Or President Joe Biden? Could you please explain?

Rharrit: It’s clearly from the President. President Biden and those around him in the White House. And Secretary Blinken; they’re the ultimate decision-makers regarding this policy.

PassBlue: What did you do to try and change things? Did you try to go through the official channels? It seems as though you tried to express your discontent.

Rharrit: Absolutely. I went through official channels, cable. I wrote reports. Like I mentioned, I was writing daily reports, analyzing traditional and social media. I wrote emails. I had phone calls. I had conversations face to face. Really, it was very frustrating because, again, we were seeing the ramifications throughout the region. We saw that everything we worked for to improve ties between the United States and Arab countries was just crumbling. I don’t know how we’re going to regain our credibility. And that was my point, that not only is it causing a generational cycle of violence for the Palestinians and the Israelis, there is no rational way that you can assume this level of killing is not going to just generate a generational cycle of violence or people will continue to have back and forth revenge destabilizing the Middle East.

But it’s also devastating our own credibility as the United States. We could no longer talk even about press freedom because we were remaining silent on all of the journalists that got killed in Gaza. So it was very frustrating to continuously report this information back to Washington, but nothing was really changing.

PassBlue: How many others do you think feel the same way you do? Do you sense any unease from other officials in the State Department?

Rharrit: I know there are a lot because many came to me after my resignation was announced internally within the department. A lot reached out to me expressing that they felt similar frustration that they were very, very devastated by the policy and understood how much it was hurting America and how much it was destabilizing to the region that they felt they couldn’t see anything, they weren’t empowered enough to say anything, and that they were worried about their own career, which is also a very sad thing. That’s not what the department is supposed to be about. In my view, there aren’t enough diplomats that are concerned about the policy.

PassBlue: Did you observe any unease from, say, Secretary of State Blinken or the US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield? In the Arab world, she’s been nicknamed by some as the “hand of death” following the multiple US vetoes of Security Council resolutions on Gaza.

Rharrit: She’s been vilified throughout Arab social media in particular, and I sent a lot of that back to Washington and all of those memes with her hand bloodied because I wanted to show Washington, “Look at at how our ambassador to the United Nations is being portrayed.” This image of her with a bloody hand will remain embedded in the minds of millions of people across the region if we don’t change course. People do feel unease. It’s very uncomfortable, especially for people that work in the region. And we have to interact with people that call us out on our double standards. I was meeting with Arab journalists, for example, and they would ask me all the time, why isn’t America doing anything to protect these journalists? I thought you all stood up for press freedom. I thought that was one of your values.

Passblue: Can you tell me about other responses to US policy that you were observing in the Middle East?

Rharrit: Our air drops were horribly rejected throughout the region; they were mocked, actually, and they were seen as an insult by so many people that [said], How dare you just send these parachutes from the sky. And we’re seeing Palestinians look so undignified running after the food it was received, as [if] you’re only doing this to appease the critics and make it look like you’re helping. Whereas if you actually cared about alleviating mass starvation, you would condition military aid, leverage that and force the aid trucks that are at the border [to get through] . . . the US is not doing that. I have to say that the policy did not impact strictly the Israeli-Palestinian issue. We were being called out on our double standard for everything else: Russia-Ukraine, Sudan. The region started to call us out on double standards across the board, which made things very difficult diplomatically.

PassBlue: What response did you see to Biden’s announcement about the construction of the US-led pier off the Gaza coast to deliver aid?

Rharrit: It was a horrific response to the point where a lot of Arab social media were talking about how the pier was being built with rubble that included the bodies of Palestinians. It was very graphic, the messaging, and then it led to so many conspiracy theories that this is what the West wanted all along, and they’re not even going to use it for humanitarian aid. There became such a level of distrust because people could not wrap their heads around the fact that if you really wanted to help, you would stop arming. Why are you sending Israel offensive weaponry if you actually care about the Palestinian people?

PassBlue: Why do you think the Biden administration acted so rashly in response to the Israeli allegations against UNWRA staffers without having any underlying evidence? Is there a loophole that Biden could use to ultimately reinstate the funds to UNWRA?

Rharrit: Of course he could reinstate the funds to UNWRA. But you’re right, it was a very rash decision to cut the aid and shows the double standard because as soon as we had received word from from Israel — and yes, the allegations were very concerning — that to make a decision that collectively punishes an entire population, especially in times of potential famine, it just didn’t make sense, especially when there was not proof provided before that decision was made. Again, I think it speaks to the exceptions to our rules. We generally don’t operate that way. There’s due process. There are things that are usually done in order for us to make decisions.

PassBlue: Finally, how do you think the Biden administration’s Gaza policy is working out on the domestic front; we’re seeing student uprisings, many Americans are saying that they’re going to vote uncommitted. How do you see Biden’s Gaza policy impacting the US election?

Rharrit: I think the impact will be significant. It took seven months before these students started protesting. These students have been much like people across the world and, in particular, the Arab world, have been consuming on a daily basis through their social media, horrific and traumatic images of the carnage of the mass killings that have been occurring every day in Gaza. If President Biden had resolved this conflict, we wouldn’t have student protests today. And we have to realize that, and that’s a failure of the policy.

We welcome your comments on this article.  What are your thoughts on Rharrit's resignation?

Jessica Le Masurier is a New York and UN correspondent for France 24. She has both a bachelor’s degree, with honors, and a master’s degree in modern languages and literature from Oxford University.

Landmark UN Vote on Resolution Expanding Palestine's Rights and Membership Prospects

The UN General Assembly is expected to vote on a resolution granting Palestine additional rights and privileges, including the right to speak on all issues and propose agenda items, but not the right to vote. The resolution also calls on the Security Council to reconsider Palestine's request for full membership. The United States, which has vetoed a similar resolution in the Security Council, opposes the measure, arguing that Palestinian membership should be achieved through negotiations with Israel. However, the resolution is expected to pass with a large majority, as there are no vetoes in the General Assembly.

PTI | United Nations | Updated: 10-05-2024

The UN General Assembly is expected to vote Friday on a resolution that would grant new "rights and privileges" to Palestine and call on the Security Council to favorably reconsider its request to become the 194th member of the United Nations.

The United States vetoed a widely backed council resolution on April 18 that would have paved the way for full United Nations membership for Palestine, a goal the Palestinians have long sought and Israel has worked to prevent, and U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood made clear Thursday the Biden administration is opposed to the assembly resolution.

Under the U.N. Charter, prospective members of the United Nations must be "peace-loving," and the Security Council must recommend their admission to the General Assembly for final approval. Palestine became a U.N. non-member observer state in 2012. "We've been very clear from the beginning there is a process for obtaining full membership in the United Nations, and this effort by some of the Arab countries and the Palestinians is to try to go around that," Wood said Thursday. "We have said from the beginning the best way to ensure Palestinian full membership in the U.N. is to do that through negotiations with Israel. That remains our position." But unlike the Security Council, there are no vetoes in the 193-member General Assembly and the resolution is expected to be approved by a large majority, according to three Western diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because negotiations were private.

The draft resolution "determines" that a state of Palestine is qualified for membership - dropping the original language that in the General Assembly's judgment it is "a peace-loving state." It therefore recommends that the Security Council reconsider its request "favorably." The renewed push for full Palestinian membership in the U.N. comes as the war in Gaza has put the more than 75-year-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict at center stage. At numerous council and assembly meetings, the humanitarian crisis facing the Palestinians in Gaza and the killing of more than 34,000 people in the territory, according to Gaza health officials, have generated outrage from many countries.

The original draft of the assembly resolution was changed significantly to address concerns not only by the U.S. but also by Russia and China, the diplomats said.

The first draft would have conferred on Palestine "the rights and privileges necessary to ensure its full and effective participation" in the assembly's sessions and U.N. conferences "on equal footing with member states." It also made no reference to whether Palestine could vote in the General Assembly.

According to the diplomats, Russia and China which are strong supporters of Palestine's U.N. membership were concerned that granting the list of rights and privileges detailed in an annex to the resolution could set a precedent for other would-be U.N. members - with Russia concerned about Kosovo and China about Taiwan.

Under longstanding legislation by the U.S. Congress, the United States is required to cut off funding to U.N. agencies that give full membership to a Palestinian state - which could mean a cutoff in dues and voluntary contributions to the U.N. from its largest contributor.

The final draft drops the language that would put Palestine "on equal footing with member states." And to address Chinese and Russian concerns, it would decide "on an exceptional basis and without setting a precedent" to adopt the rights and privileges in the annex.

The draft also adds a provision in the annex on the issue of voting, stating categorically: "The state of Palestine, in its capacity as an observer state, does not have the right to vote in the General Assembly or to put forward its candidature to United Nations organs." The final list of rights and privileges in the draft annex includes giving Palestine the right to speak on all issues not just those related to the Palestinians and Middle East, the right to propose agenda items and reply in debates, and the right to be elected as officers in the assembly's main committees. It would give the Palestinians the right to participate in U.N. and international conferences convened by the United Nations - but it drops their "right to vote" which was in the original draft.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas first delivered the Palestinian Authority's application for U.N. membership in 2011. It failed because the Palestinians didn't get the required minimum support of nine of the Security Council's 15 members.

They went to the General Assembly and succeeded by more than a two-thirds majority in having their status raised from a U.N. observer to a non-member observer state. That opened the door for the Palestinian territories to join U.N. and other international organizations, including the International Criminal Court.

In the Security Council vote on April 18, the Palestinians got much more support for full U.N. membership. The vote was 12 in favor, the United Kingdom and Switzerland abstaining, and the United States voting no and vetoing the resolution.

Risch Leads 24 Colleagues in Introducing NOPE Act to Cut Off U.S. Funding to UN if PA Receives More Privileges

MAY 09, 2024


WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today led 24 Senate colleagues in introducing the No Official Palestine Entry (NOPE) Act, legislation to update existing funding prohibitions in law that would cause the United States to cut off assistance to entities that give additional rights and privileges to the Palestinian Authority.

“The Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) are deeply flawed, plagued by corruption, and incite terrorism through the egregious ‘pay for slay’ program. Giving the PLO a voice at the United Nations is preposterous and fails to account for the PLO’s role in inspiring generations of Palestinians to support acts of terror,” said Risch. “This legislation will ensure taxpayer dollars are not used to give the PLO credibility.”

In addition to Risch, the

Full text of the legislation can be found here.

Background:

On Friday, May 10th, the Palestinian Authority will pursue a vote in the United Nations (UN) General Assembly to enhance its current status at the UN. This enhanced status may fall short of full membership, but it would include numerous rights and privileges that previously have only been granted to full members.

Current U.S. law prohibits U.S. funding to organizations, such as the UN, which give the PLO full membership or standing as a member state. The NOPE Act updates the existing funding prohibition to organizations that offer the PLO “any status, rights, or privileges beyond observer status.

###

Horse stranded on roof during Brazil floods rescued by boat

Story by Holly Patrick •

zfwriDoC-720.jpg© TV Globo via Reuters

The Independent

Horse stranded on roof during floods in Brazil rescued by boat

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Ahorse trapped on a roof due to flooding in Brazil was rescued via boat by a joint team of firefighters and veterinarians on Thursday, 9 May.

The animal had been stuck for at least 24 hours in in Canoas, in the southern Rio Grande do Sul state.

More than 100 people have died and at least 1,476,170 have been affected by heavy flooding in the state.

Four deaths have been registered in Canoas, one of the worst-affected cities.

Footage showed the horse being brought ashore by boat after being tranquilised.

It was initially thought that a helicopter would be used to rescue him.

Brazil floods: horse stranded on roof is rescued as death toll rises to 107 people


Animal dubbed ‘Caramelo’ was trapped for days, balancing on two strips of slippery asbestos after flooding hit the Porto Alegre area


Agencies in Porto Alegre

Thu 9 May 2024 

Emergency workers have rescued a horse that had been trapped for days on a rooftop after severe floods in southern Brazil, as the death toll from the disaster rose to 107 people.

The animal, dubbed Caramelo on social media, had been balancing on two narrow strips of slippery asbestos in Canoas, a city in the Porto Alegre metropolitan area that is one of the hardest-hit areas in the state, much of which has been isolated by floodwaters.


Brazil flooding death toll rises to 90 as more than 155,000 people displaced

On Thursday, rescuers successfully transferred the horse into a Zodiac inflatable boat to take it to safety, providing a rare dose of hope to a beleaguered region.

At least 136 people are still missing and more than 165,000 have been displaced from flooded homes and rescued by boats and helicopters.

More rains are forecast in the coming days, raising fears that water levels will rise further in the inundated state capital of Porto Alegre and nearby town where streets have turned into rivers.

Caramelo’s rescue was broadcast live on television. Firefighters and veterinarians climbed onto the partially submerged roof, sedated and immobilized the horse, and then placed it on an inflatable raft – all 770lbs of it. The operation involved four inflatable boats and four support vessels, with firefighters, soldiers and other volunteers.

“We found the animal in a debilitated state,” Capt Tiago Franco, a firefighter from Sao Paulo deployed to lead the rescue, was quoted as saying in a statement from that state’s security secretariat. “We tried to approach in a calm way.”

The floods have destroyed infrastructure and bridges, blocking access to Porto Alegre, where supermarket shelves are empty and looting has been reported at night.

Governor Eduardo Leite said initial calculations indicate that the state of Rio Grande do Sul will need at least 19bn reais ($3.68bn) to rebuild from the damage, which has extended into farm areas around the capital.

“The effect of the floods and the extent of the tragedy are devastating,” he said on social media.

The stranded horse is just one of many animals rescue workers have been striving to save in recent days. Rio Grande do Sul state agents have rescued about 10,000 animals since last week, while municipal agents and volunteers have saved thousands more, according to the state’s housing secretariat.

Animal protection groups and volunteers have been sharing images of difficult rescues and heartwarming scenes of pets reuniting with their owners on social media. One video that went viral shows a man crying inside a boat, hugging his four dogs after rescuers went back to his home to save them.

How a trans sex worker from Paraguay became friends with the Pope

The pontiff has been welcoming transwomen to the Vatican.

By Greg Owen Thursday, May 9, 2024


Pope Francis during lunch with the poor on the occasion of the VII World Day of the Poor in the Paul VI Hall on November 19th, 2023.Photo: Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Im


On Thursday, Pope Francis presided over a ceremony that laid out his vision for the coming 2025 Jubilee, a once-every-quarter-century event that will bring tens of millions of Catholic pilgrims to Rome. The papal bull, delivered in the atrium of St. Peter’s Basilica, laid out a vision of hope for the coming Holy Year, asking for gestures of solidarity with the poor, prisoners, migrants and Mother Nature.

Since he rose to the papacy in 2013 and famously declared, “Who am I to judge,” hope for those neglected, disenfranchised, and ostracized people has been central to his tenure. Lately, those people have included a group of trans sex workers who have earned the pope’s attention.

RELATED:


Pope Francis calls out the hypocrisy of critics of LGBTQ+ blessings

He pointed out that they care a lot more about LGBTQ+ people being blessed than “an entrepreneur who… exploits people.”

Over the last several years, Francis has earned the enmity of conservative Catholics for welcoming LGBTQ+ people with his approval of blessings for same-sex couples and a declaration that “being homosexual is not a crime.” Concurrently, Francis has welcomed dozens of transgender women, many of them sex workers, to the Vatican for blessings and audiences and even a lunch that brought a busload of them accompanied by the press.

One was Laura Esquivel, a trans sex worker from Paraguay.

She described herself as tough and made of iron.

“Soy hecho de hierro,” the 57-year-old would say. She had worked the streets since she was 15, did time in an Italian jail for cutting another sex worker in a fight, and apologized to no one, including the pope.

But somehow, the pope now knew her name.

“It’s almost like Laura has become a friend of the pope,” Rev. Andrea Conocchia told The Washington Post. Conocchia, also known as Don Andrea, is a priest in the seaside village of Torvaianica where Esquivel plied her trade.

Don Andrea had helped Esquivel and her fellow trans sex workers in the small town, 20 miles south of Rome. The town is a destination for men who increasingly bought the workers’ particular brand of company. However, as the pandemic raged in Italy, business dried up, and food and money became scarce for these women in the small town.

Some assistance for the town’s sex workers came directly from the Vatican.

Don Andrea suggested they write to the pope and thank him. He replied with a handwritten note, telling one of Esquivel’s compatriots, “Thank you very much for your email. … I respect you and accompany you with my compassion and my prayer. Anything I can help you with, please let me know.”

When vaccines became available, the women were welcomed to Paul VI Hall in the Vatican for shots, unavailable in the rest of the country to undocumented workers like them.

“They saved our lives,” Esquivel said.

At her first audience with Francis, accompanied by Don Andrea and a small group of trans women and a same-sex couple on a warm summer morning in 2022, Esquivel blurted in Italian, “I’m a transsexual from Paraguay.”

The pope smiled and told her, “You are also a child of God.”

Esquivel asked for his blessing, and he touched both her shoulders.

“God bless you,” he said.

“You, too,” Laura responded.

Francis laughed and said, “We should speak Spanish, we’re South American,” acknowledging their shared identity.

Visits with women like Esquivel became regular events.

“Groups of trans come all the time,” Francis told fellow Jesuits in Lisbon last August. “The first time they came, they were crying. I was asking them why. One of them told me, ‘I didn’t think the pope would receive me!’ Then, after the first surprise, they made a habit of coming back. Some write to me, and I email them back. Everyone is invited! I realized these people feel rejected.”

Ten days before that Vatican lunch with trans women, among a thousand underprivileged and homeless people of Rome — and the first public acknowledgment that Francis was engaged with the trans community — the Vatican had released guidance that transgender people could be baptized and serve as godparents.

Esquivel was seated directly across a table from the pontiff. The talk over plates of cannelloni was light.

“Pope Francis never criticized me or told me to change my life,” Esquivel said.

Not long after, Esquivel was diagnosed with colon cancer. Don Andrea and the Vatican took Esquivel under their wing, helping her establish residency to enroll in the National Health Service, and providing lodging in Rome while she underwent chemotherapy.

The pope asked Don Andrea often about her health.

In thanks for his help and concern, Esquivel brought homemade empanadas to the papal household, accompanied by Don Andrea. As the guards let her in, she turned to him and said, “I feel like someone.”

“Laura, you are someone,” he replied.

 

Migration Helps Offset Serious Problem Of Low Birth Rate In Rich Countries, Pope Francis Says

THE INTERNATIONAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AGREES

 May 10, 2024  

By CNA

By Almudena Martínez-Bordiú

During a May 8 audience at the Vatican, Pope Francis said that migration helps fight the crisis caused by low birth rates, especially in “rich countries.”

Addressing participants at an event titled “Care Is Work, Work Is Care,” promoted by the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development, the Holy Father reflected on decent work and social justice.

Pope Francis called low birth rates “a very serious problem” and lamented, as he has on previous occasions, that despite the low birth rate “rich countries aren’t having children.”

“Everyone has a dog, a cat, everyone, but they don’t have children,” he lamented, noting that “the migration comes to help the crisis caused by low birth rates.”

The pontiff said that “many people emigrate in search of work, while others are forced to do so to flee their countries of origin, often torn by violence and poverty.”

According to Pope Francis, “these people, also due to prejudices and inaccurate or ideological information, are often seen as a problem and a financial burden on a nation, when in reality, by working, they contribute to the economic and social development of the host country and the country from which they come.”

Pope Francis stressed the need to offer decent work and food security while highlighting the crises suffered by war-torn countries, such as Gaza and Sudan, which have “the largest number of people facing famine.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Pope Francis meets with participants of the “Care Is Work, Work Is Care” event sponsored by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development on May 8, 2024, at the Vatican. | Credit: Vatican Media