List of All Articles with Tag 'america'

For Israelis and Palestinians alike, the world has been upended in a matter of days. For them, along with anxious loved ones across the United States, a terrifying new reality is starting to set in: A sense of impending doom, loss and uncertainty.

The White House said it was “running out of runway” on supporting both Ukraine and Israel as US Republican lawmakers warned they would protest any funding request for military aid from the Biden administration for the two crisis-hit nations. “I think in the immediate term, right now, we can continue to support – with the authorities in the appropriations we have – Israel and Ukraine. But, you know, we’re ... certainly running out of runway,” said John Kirby, a spokesperson for the National Security Council. Mr Kirby was answering a question at a daily briefing on the administration meeting the immediate needs of Ukraine and Israel along with the continuing fight to elect a House Speaker. Mr Kirby said the US administration had the means to support both Israel and Ukraine in the near term. “But you don’t want to be trying to bake in long-term support when you’re at the end of the rope,” he said on Wednesday. “And on the Ukraine funding, we’re coming near to the end of the rope. I mean, today we announced $200mn, and we’ll keep that aid going as long as we can, but it’s not going to be indefinite,” he said, adding that the US is moving with “a sense of alacrity”. He added a certain date could not be put on “near term” because it hinged on Ukraine’s expenditure rate and replenishment ability. The National Security Council coordinator also said the House Speaker position was critical in terms of bringing legislation to the floor and moving things forward. “So the sooner that there’s a Speaker of the House, obviously, the more comfortable we’ll all be in terms of being able to support Israel and Ukraine,” he said. The White House has been considering a budget request tying money for these two conflicts together to increase the chances that the heavily-debated assistance for Ukraine will be approved. President Joe Biden on Tuesday called the attack in Israel “an act of sheer evil” and said that the US military assistance was being sent to help Israel in its fight. Saturday’s Hamas attack was “the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust”, he said. He told Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the US will send more military assistance to help Israel fight Hamas. On Tuesday, he warned other countries and armed groups against entering the war. The US is already rushing munitions and military equipment to Israel and has deployed a carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean as deterrence. Read More Israel-Hamas war – live: IDF tanks and troops mass at Gaza border as soldiers prepare for attack order What is Hamas, and why did it attack Israel? All you need to know about militant group in Gaza A brief history of the Israel-Palestine conflict - explained How big is the Israeli military and what is the Iron Dome? White House walks back Biden comments that he had seen pictures of beheaded Israeli children

Lionel Messi is widely considered the greatest soccer player in the world, which makes one wonder how extensive access to him and his new team could yield such a boring sports docuseries. Still, that adequately sums up "Messi Meets America," an Apple TV+ project whose first three episodes have all the heft of a latenight infomercial.

As bombs rained down on Gaza Monday, Palestinian-Americans visiting or living there said they were desperately trying to find ways out of the region but have received little or no support from US Embassy officials, even though they are US citizens.

A former US general took to Twitter on Sunday to remind Republicans laying blame on the Biden administration after Hamas militants launched the deadliest attack on Israel in decades that Donald Trump shared classified intelligence from Israel with Iran-allied Russia when he was president. Retired army general Mark Hertling shared a story about allegations the former president told top Russian officials that Israel had successfully hacked Isis computers in order to gain intelligence about bomb plots against the West in a meeting at the White House in 2017. At the time, the former president’s actions reportedly ignited fears by Israel that Russia could have passed the information to its ally Iran, which has long been a supporter of the Palestinian cause. Mr Trump reportedly leaked the information in a meeting in the Oval Office in May 2017 with the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, and the then-Russian ambassador to the US, Sergey Kislyak. Amid uproar over the revelation, Mr Trump insisted he had every right to give Russia the information. He tweeted: “As president, I wanted to share with Russia (at an openly scheduled WH meeting) which I have the absolute right to do, facts pertaining to terrorism and airline flight safety. Humanitarian reasons, plus I want Russia to greatly step up their fight against Isis and terrorism." General Hertling’s reminder of the incident comes after Republican presidential contenders accused the Biden administration of helping to fund the attacks in Israel, which saw more than 700 killed, after a deal was struck to free up $6bn in previously frozen assets to assist humanitarian causes in Iran. The complex deal was announced by the Biden administration in September as part of the agreement to release five US citizens detained in Iran. As part of the deal, roughly $6bn in frozen Iranian assets that were being held in South Korea were transferred to an account in Doha, Qatar. Administration officials have insisted the money has not yet been spent and is now being held in a restricted account in Doha – but in the wake of the Hamas attacks on Israel over the weekend, Republicans including Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Tim Scott and JD Vance have claimed the money may have been linked to the attacks. In response to Biden administration claims the money can only be used for humanitarian purposes, conservatives have responded that the money is “fungible”, meaning Iran could take advantage of the $6bn by reallocating or moving around other funds. “For all those focused on ‘fungible’ perhaps this is something to be considered,” General Hertling, the former commander of US troops in Europe and an outspoken critic of Mr Trump, tweeted. Iran provides some $100m a year to Palestinian armed groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, according to the US State Department. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis accused Joe Biden of “policies that have gone easy on Iran” and have “helped to fill their coffers.” In a video statement, he said: “Israel is now paying the price for those policies. We’re going to stand with the State of Israel, they need to root out Hamas and we need to stand up to Iran.” Meanwhile, South Carolina Senator and GOP presidential hopeful Tim Scott alleged the attack was “the Biden $6bn ransom payment at work.” “We didn’t just invite this aggression, we paid for it,” he said in a statement. Mr Trump also accused the Biden administration of funding the Hamas attack on Israel, falsely stating American taxpayer dollars helped fund these attacks. Senior Biden administration officials have stressed $6bn is not taxpayer money, and comes from payments made by South Korea to Iran to buy oil in recent years. Mr Trump also argued that, under president Biden, the US is perceived as being “weak and ineffective” on the global stage, thereby opening the door to hostility. “They didn’t have that level of aggression with me. They didn’t have it. This would have never happened with me either,” Mr Trump claimed, adding later in Cedar Rapids that Mr Biden had “betrayed Israel” with the deal. The White House insists the money is ringfenced for humanitarian purposes — such as food and medicine for Iranians — and handled by what the administration described as vetted non-Iranian vendors. Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council, said she could not directly address Republican criticism due to federal restrictions. “But I can clarify the facts: Not a single cent from these funds has been spent, and when it is spent, it can only be spent on things like food and medicine for the Iranian people,” she said on Saturday in a statement. “These funds have absolutely nothing to do with the horrific attacks today and this is not the time to spread disinformation.” Over the weekend, Hamas militants stormed into Israel, killing hundreds of people and taking dozens captive across the Gaza border. More than 700 people were killed, with at least nine Americans among the dead. Palestinian officials have said that more than 400 have been killed in retaliatory Israeli attacks on Gaza. Thousands more people are believed to be injured while the number of individuals taken hostage by Hamas is currently unclear. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately declared a state of war and promised “mighty vengeance” on Israel’s attackers. On Monday, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant ordered the “complete siege” of Gaza, saying authorities will cut electricity and block the entry of food and fuel. Meanwhile, sirens have sounded in both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, with witnesses in the latter city hearing explosions that may have been from rocket impacts or from mid-air interceptions. Read More Israel-Hamas war live updates: ‘Complete siege’ on Gaza ordered as rocket explosions heard in Jerusalem Donald Trump 'handed Russia classified intelligence on Israel successfully hacking Isis computers' Families of Britons killed or held hostage in Israel-Hamas war share ‘indescribable pain’ The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary

Nine US citizens have died in the conflict in Israel, a US National Security Council spokesperson said Monday.

WASHINGTON The United States on Monday confirmed the death of nine Americans in Israel during the violence in

A weekend of terror in Israel has sharpened already grave questions about the capacity of the politically fractured United States to lay out a unified and coherent response to a world spinning out of its control.

Elon Musk pleaded with X users on Sunday to try and stick to the facts, as the site and its billionaire owner come under heavy criticism for the spread of false information regarding the Israel-Hamas war. “As always, please try stay as close to the truth as possible, even for stuff you don’t like,” Mr Musk wrote on X. “This platform aspires to maximize signal/noise of the human collective.” Critics have been hammering Mr Musk for the proliferation of fake news on the site, arguing his attempts to loosen the reins on its content moderation have allowed bad actors and dubious sources to flourish. “This site is a cesspool of disinformation,” former Obama administration official and podcaster Tommy Vietor wrote on X in response to Mr Musk’s plea. “You have made it exponentially worse, and just this morning you recommended an account known to spread lies and antisemitism. Other than that, great job.” “This site is worse than useless during a breaking news story,” Aaron Kleinman, of the States Project political advocacy group, wrote recently in response to a thread collecting false information about the war in Israel and Gaza. “Actively harmful. Don’t log in if you want to be informed.” Dubious news stories have spread far and wide on the site formerly known as Twitter since the outbreak of war in Israel yesterday. A widely seen video, purporting to show a Hamas militant shooting down an Israeli helicopter, was really a clip from a video game, BBC Verify’s Shayan Sardarizadeh reports. A Taliban spokesperson had to set the record straight after a false claim spread on social media that the group was seeking to join in the conflict, Pakistan bureau chief for WIONews Anas Mallick reports. And a widely shared clip of Israel reportedly bombing a Gazan office tower really was from fighting that occured in 2021. Critics of X allege that policy changes under Mr Musk have allowed such false information to spread more easily. Since taking over, Mr Musk has disbanded Twitter’s trust and safety team, reinstated (and at times vocally endorsed the content of) known extremists and far-right commentators, removed labels noting accounts associated with foreign governments, and allowed paid access to the verification feature, a designation on Twitter previously reserved for heads of states, celebrities, journalists, and other high-profile individuals who could see their credibility abused by imitators. The Independent has contacted X for comment. Read More Israel-Palestine conflict live: Fierce gun battles rage with Hamas militants as ‘over 700 Israelis killed’ Israel suffers bloodiest day in decades as fierce gunfights rage in streets against Hamas militants US regulators seek to compel Elon Musk to testify in their investigation of his Twitter acquisition

Mike Pence led the charge for the foreign interventionist wing of the 2024 Republican primary against their isolationist rivals this weekend as new hostilities erupted between Israel and the Hamas militants of the occupied Gaza Strip. It was a banner weekend for that wing of the GOP, whose members among the 2024 primary field spent their hours one-upping each other with rhetoric endorsing an unmitigated Israeli response against the Palestinian militant group that launched attacks across the country. Mr Pence made his remarks in Iowa, where he is battling for a surprise victory (or at least a decent-enough showing) in the first-in-the-nation caucuses. Calling out Donald Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy and Ron DeSantis by name, he accused them of supporting America’s retreat from a global military, diplomatic and economic footprint he argued was previously responsible for tamping down on unrest around the world. His rebuke, he said, was directed at “voices of appeasement like Donald Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy and Ron DeSantis that I believe have run contrary to the tradition in our party that America is the leader of the free world.” “This is ... what happens when you have leaders in the Republican Party signaling retreat on the world stage,” charged the former vice president. He also faulted President Joe Biden for supposedly continuing that “retreat”, as others in the hawkish wing have done, and blamed the incumbent president for not projecting the strength that would supposedly have warned Vladimir Putin off of ordering the invasion of Ukraine. Those sentiments were repeated by other figures representing the “establishment politics” wing of the Republican Party, namely Tim Scott and Nikki Haley. The former accused Mr Biden of being “complicit” in the Hamas attacks on Israeli police, military and civilian targets over the weekend. Such rhetoric used to be frowned upon in Washington. In the modern Republican Party, accusing one’s political rivals of being in bed with terrorists is no longer a rarity, but a feature of the typical GOP politician. The Biden administration and its allies have taken notice. Chris Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, rebuked Republican senator Rick Scott after a similar posting, writing: “For too many Republicans, their hatred of Democrats is their only organizing prism. Even on a day like today all they can do is attack. Senator Scott’s social media is mostly attacks on Biden instead of support for Israel. There are times for politics. There are times for unity.” Ms Haley drew her own accusations of bloodthirst from the left after she tweeted at Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, urging him to “finish them” — referring to Hamas militants. The Palestinian militant group is accused of deliberately killing hundreds of civilians over the weekend and taking others hostage; both actions are considered war crimes under international law. The scope and scale of Israel’s response has drawn similar accusations from supporters of the end of Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. Donald Trump, meanwhile, focused his criticism on Joe Biden over the weekend — a sign that he continues to view the Republican primary as largely decided. “THE HORRIBLE ATTACK ON ISRAEL, MUCH LIKE THE ATTACK ON UKRAINE, WOULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED IF I WERE PRESIDENT - ZERO CHANCE!” wrote Mr Trump in a Sunday-morning Truth Social post. Read More White House official accuses GOP senator JD Vance of ‘shameful lies’ after he blamed Biden for Hamas attack Biden says the US ‘stands with Israel’ in TV address as he condemns ‘appalling terrorist attacks’ by Hamas Would a Speaker Jim Jordan doom the House GOP majority? Mike Pence says he is 'deeply disappointed' in vote to oust Kevin McCarthy as House speaker Former VP Pence to talk national security and foreign policy at AP-Georgetown University forum Here's where all the cases against Trump stand as he campaigns for a return to the White House

Not at all depressing.

The Supreme Court will consider the strength of the Americans with Disabilities Act on Wednesday when it hears a dispute over whether a self-appointed "tester" of the civil rights law has the right to sue hotels over alleged violations of its provisions.