Skip next section Netanyahu: Protesters should be ashamed
07/24/2024July 24, 2024
Netanyahu: Protesters should be ashamed
Netanyahu said anti-Israel protesters chose to “stand with evil” and with Hamas.
“They should be ashamed of themselves,” he said.
“For all we know, Iran is funding the anti-Israel protests that are going on right now, outside this building,” he said.
Addressing the protesters outside the Capitol, he said, “Some are holding up signs saying ‘gays for Gaza.’ They might as well hold up signs saying ‘Chickens for KFC.’”
Netanyahu said Iran was funding anti-Israel protests and accused the protestors of being “Iran’s useful idiots.”
https://p.dw.com/p/4ihNd
Skip next section Netanyahu: ‘America and Israel must stand together’
07/24/2024July 24, 2024
Netanyahu: ‘America and Israel must stand together’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began his speech by saying the world was at a crossroads of history, facing what he said was “not a clash of civilizations a clash of barbarism and civilization.”
He also said, “America and Israel must stand together.”
“When we stay together… we win, they lose,” Netanyahu said. “I came to assure you, we will win.”
He then recalled the Hamas attacks of October 7, in which some 1,200 people were killed, and about 240 more were kidnapped.
“October 7 is a day that will live in infamy,” he said. “After October 7, ‘never again’ is now.”
https://p.dw.com/p/4ihK6
Skip next section Israel postpones delegation’s trip to Qatar for Gaza talks
07/24/2024July 24, 2024
Israel postpones delegation’s trip to Qatar for Gaza talks
An Israeli delegation’s trip to Qatar for indirect , announced for Thursday, has been postponed.
It is now expected to take place next week, an Israeli official told reporters. The exact date remains unclear. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office had announced the delegation’s trip before he left for the United States.
The official said the delegation’s departure was delayed because Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden wanted to discuss ways to advance a possible cease-fire and hostage-release deal when they meet in Washington on Thursday.
The delegation was to be led by David Barnea, head of Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency. Barnea was to explain Israel’s current negotiating position to the Qatari government, which is in contact with the Hamas leadership.
In addition to Qatar, Egypt and the United States are mediating the talks, which center on exchanging the 120 remaining hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and a cease-fire in the Gaza war.
https://p.dw.com/p/4ih9z
Skip next section Netanyahu’s visit triggers wave of protests outside US Capitol
07/24/2024July 24, 2024
Netanyahu’s visit triggers wave of protests outside US Capitol
Thousands of people gathered at the Capitol in Washington to protest a visit by Israeli Prime Minister and call for a cease-fire in the
Some of the demonstrators condemned Israel, but others have expressed support while urging Netanyahu to reach a cease-fire agreement in the war with Hamas and bring home hostages still held by the militant group.
“Seek peace and pursue it,” one sign read, quoting a Bible verse, while others were designed as criminal “wanted” signs, with photos of Netanyahu in place of a mug shot.
Protesters carrying signs that read “Arrest Netanyahu” and “End all US aid to Israel” shouted “Free, free Palestine.” Some waved Palestinian flags.
Hours before Netanyahu was to address members of Congress, police lining Pennsylvania Avenue led away several protesters who were sitting in the street. Protest leaders said six intersections leading to the Capitol were “claimed by the Palestinian people.”
Organizers had said in advance that they would try to block Netanyahu’s route to the building.
https://p.dw.com/p/4ih2y
Skip next section Some lawmakers plan to skip Netanyahu’s speech
07/24/2024July 24, 2024
Some lawmakers plan to skip Netanyahu’s speech
Dozens of Democratic lawmakers planned to skip Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress, expressing dismay at the thousands of civilian deaths and humanitarian crisis caused by Israel’s campaign in Gaza.
, who presides over the Senate, will also be absent. Her office said she is on a long-planned trip. Harris, who would be seated behind a foreign leader for such a speech, will meet Netanyahu privately later this week.
The next highest-ranking Democrat in the Senate, Senator Patty Murray, has declined to attend Netanyahu’s speech, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would instead meet with families of Israeli victims of Hamas.
Former President Donald Trump’s running mate, Republican Senator , said he would also skip Netanyahu’s speech, citing the need to campaign.
Some lawmakers said they were uncomfortable appearing to endorse Netanyahu and his hard-right coalition government. Netanyahu also faces declining poll numbers in Israel.
“For him, this is about shoring up his support back home, which is one of the reasons I don’t want to attend,” Senator Chris Van Hollen told reporters. “I don’t want to be part of a political prop in this act of deception. He is not the great guardian of the US-Israel relationship.”
https://p.dw.com/p/4ih86
Skip next section Hezbollah releases drone video purporting to show Israeli air base
07/24/2024July 24, 2024
Hezbollah releases drone video purporting to show Israeli air base
The Lebanese Iranian-backed armed group broadcast a drone video it said showed air defense systems, aircraft and fuel depots at Israel’s Ramat David air base, nearly 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the border to Lebanon.
The video was more than eight minutes long and, Hezbollah said, was filmed mostly on Tuesday. It also included nighttime footage that Hezbollah said was taken “earlier” and other images the group said were taken in July.
It was the third in a series of videos released by Hezbollah that the group said were meant to demonstrate how far its surveillance of Israel has gone. The first video showed the Israeli port city of Haifa, and the second showed the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
An Israeli military spokesman said in a statement on X that the video was filmed by a surveillance drone and that the base’s operations were not affected.
Hezbollah is an Iran-backed Shiite political party and militant group in Lebanon. Hezbollah is considered a terrorist organization by the US, Germany and several Sunni Arab countries, while the EU lists its armed wing as a terrorist group.
https://p.dw.com/p/4igh7
07/24/2024July 24, 2024
Netanyahu says no change to status quo at Jerusalem holy site, contradicts minister
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there has been no change in prayer arrangements at a flashpoint . The comments came after a far-right minister in his ruling coalition said there had been a policy shift.
“Israel’s policy of maintaining the status quo on the Temple Mount has not changed and will not change,” Netanyahu’s office wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Earlier in the day, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said that Israel’s “political echelon,” of which he said he is a member, “allows Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount.”
The compound in the walled Old City houses the Al-Aqsa mosque, Islam’s third holiest shrine, and is also revered in Judaism as the Temple Mount, a remnant of two ancient temples.
The site is . Under a decades-old “status quo” arrangement with Muslim authorities, Israel allows Jews to visit on the condition that they refrain from praying or other religious rituals.
In addition to the Prime Minister’s Office, Israeli police denied Jews were allowed to pray at the site.
“We do not allow [Jewish] prayer at the Temple Mount,” Eyal Avraham, commander of the Israeli police’s holy sites unit, says in a video on the Israeli Walla news site.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called Ben-Gvir a “pyroman who is trying to set the Middle East on fire.”
https://p.dw.com/p/4igbS
Skip next section Netanyahu in Washington amid strained relations US-Israeli relations
07/24/2024July 24, 2024
Netanyahu in Washington amid strained relations US-Israeli relations
Israeli Prime Minister is scheduled to address US lawmakers on Wednesday, with his speech marking the first time a foreign leader has addressed Congress four times.
He is due to hold talks with President Joe Biden on Thursday. The leaders will discuss progress towards a cease-fire in Gaza and a hostage release, the White House said.
Vice President Kamala Harris will meet separately with Netanyahu, who is also scheduled to meet with Donald Trump on Friday.
Netanyahu’s speech is likely to focus on , which followed the October 7 Hamas attack on Israeli civilians.
Netanyahu’s visit has already sparked protests in the United States. on Tuesday night as they sat inside the Cannon House rotunda, part of the US Capitol complex.
The demonstration, organized by Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), was called in opposition to Netanyahu’s planned speech.
Police officials told reporters that protests are not permitted inside Cannon House, and so the arrests commenced when demonstrators refused to leave.
dh/sms (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)
https://p.dw.com/p/4ig8m
Skip next section Musk activates Starlink internet service in Gaza hospital
07/24/2024July 24, 2024
Musk activates Starlink internet service in Gaza hospital
in a hospital in the with the help of and the , Elon Musk said of the communication network owned by Musk’s SpaceX.
“Starlink is now active in a Gaza hospital with the support of @UAEmediaoffice and @Israel,” posted on X.
The move comes more than five months after the Israeli government approved Starlink’s use in the hospital in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
Starlink is a network of in low Earth orbit that can provide internet to remote locations or areas that have had normal communications infrastructure disabled or destroyed.
The UAE said the high-speed internet would enable potentially life-saving medical consultations via real-time video calling.
UAE’s foreign minister thanked Musk for supporting the country’s field hospital in Gaza.
https://p.dw.com/p/4igB0
The post Middle East updates: Netanyahu addresses US lawmakers appeared first on Deutsche Welle.