WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told Congress Tuesday that pressure on Israel to improve humanitarian aid to Gaza appears to be working, but he said more must be done, and it remains to be seen if the improvement will continue.
“It clearly had an effect. We have seen changes in behavior, and we have seen more humanitarian assistance being pushed into Gaza,” Austin said in a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. “Hopefully that trend will continue.”
Austin’s comments came during a session that was interrupted several times by protesters shouting at him to stop sending weapons to Israel. “Stop the genocide,” they said, as they lifted their hands, stained in red, in the air. A number of senators also decried the civilian casualties, saying the administration needs to do more to press Israel to protect the population in Gaza.
In response, Austin said he spoke with his Israeli counterpart, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, on Monday and that he repeated US insistence that Israel must move civilians out of the battlespace in Gaza and properly care for them.
Austin and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. CQ Brown Jr. were testifying on Capitol Hill about the Pentagon’s $850 billion budget for 2025. But the hearing offered the first chance for lawmakers on both sides to question the Pentagon’s top civilian and military leadership on the administration’s Israel strategy following Tel Aviv’s deadly strike on World Central Kitchen humanitarian aid workers in Gaza.
That strike led to a shift in tone from President Joe Biden on how Israel must protect civilian life in Gaza and drove dozens of House Democrats, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to call on Biden to halt weapons transfers to Israel. Half the population of Gaza is starving and on the brink of famine due to Israel’s tight restrictions on allowing aid trucks through.
Israel in recent days took initial steps to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza. In a call Friday, Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that future US support for the war in Gaza depends on Israel taking more action to protect civilians and aid workers.
At the hearing, Austin also said that the military is moving ahead with plans to build a pier off the Gaza coast to increase the delivery of humanitarian aid, and initial operations will probably be ready to start by the third week of this month. He said that details are still being worked out but that aid organizations will help do that.
Six US military ships with personnel and components to build a humanitarian aid pier are enroute to Gaza, with several in the Mediterranean Sea, heading toward Cyprus.
The war, now in its seventh month, has killed more than 33,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to local health authorities. Israeli authorities say 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and roughly 250 people taken hostage in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.
In their opening statements, both Austin and Brown emphasized that their 2025 budget is still shaped with the military’s long-term strategic goal in mind — to ready forces and weapons for a potential future conflict with China. About $100 billion of this year’s request is set aside for new space, nuclear weapons and cyber warfare systems the military says it must invest in now before Beijing’s capabilities surpass it.
But the conflicts in Ukraine and Israel are challenging a deeply-divided Congress and have resulted in months of delays in getting last year’s defense budget through, which was only passed by lawmakers a few weeks ago.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has issued desperate pleas that if the US does not help soon, Kyiv will lose the war to Russia.
The Pentagon scraped together about $300 million in ammunition to send to Kyiv in March but cannot send more without Congress’ support, and a separate $60 billion supplemental bill that would fund those efforts has been stalled for months.
“The price of US leadership is real. But it is far lower than the price of US abdication,” Austin told the senators.
If Kyiv falls, it could imperil Ukraine’s Baltic NATO member neighbors and potentially drag US troops into a prolonged European war. If millions die in Gaza due to starvation, it could enrage Israel’s Arab neighbors and lead to a much wider, deadlier Middle East conflict — one that could also bring harm to US troops and to US relations in the region for decades.
Israel’s actions in Gaza have been used as a rallying cry by factions of Iranian-backed militant groups, including the Houthis in Yemen and Islamic Resistance groups across Iraq and Syria, to strike at US interests. Three US service members have already been killed as drone and missile attacks increased against US bases in the region.
Lawmakers are also seeing demands at home. For months, a handful of its far-right members have kept Congress from approving additional money or weapons for Ukraine until domestic needs like curbing the crush of migrants at the southern US border are addressed. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson is already facing a call to oust him as speaker by Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene because Johnson is trying to work out a compromise that would move the Ukraine aid forward.
Austin tells Congress Israel is taking steps to boost aid to Gaza as lawmakers question US support
https://arab.news/r73fy
Austin tells Congress Israel is taking steps to boost aid to Gaza as lawmakers question US support
- Austin’s comments came during a session that was interrupted several times by protesters shouting at him to stop sending weapons to Israel
- “Stop the genocide,” they said, as they lifted their hands, stained in red, in the air
Pentagon restricts Ukraine’s use of US missiles against Russia, WSJ reports
- As the White House sought to persuade Putin to join peace talks, an approval process was put in place at the Pentagon has kept Ukraine from launching strikes deep into Russian territory, the Journal said
WASHINGTON: The Pentagon has been quietly blocking Ukraine from using US-made long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to strike targets inside Russia, limiting Kyiv’s ability to employ these weapons in its defense against Moscow’s invasion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing US officials.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
The news came as US President Donald Trump has grown more frustrated publicly over the three-year-old war and his inability to secure a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.
After his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and a subsequent meeting with European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky failed to produce observable progress, Trump said on Friday that he was again considering
slapping Russia with economic sanctions or, alternatively, walking away from the peace process.
“I’m going to make a decision as to what we do and it’s going to be, it’s going to be a very important decision, and that’s whether or not it’s massive sanctions or massive tariffs or both, or we do nothing and say it’s your fight,” Trump said.
Trump had hoped to arrange a bilateral meeting between Putin and Zelensky, but that has also proven difficult. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told NBC on Friday that there was no agenda in place for a sitdown with Zelensky.
“Putin is ready to meet with Zelensky when the agenda would be ready for a summit. And this agenda is not ready at all,” Lavrov told NBC, saying no meeting was planned for now.
As the White House sought to persuade Putin to join peace talks, an approval process put in place at the Pentagon has kept Ukraine from launching strikes deep into Russian territory, the Journal reported.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has final say over use of the long-range weapons, the Journal said.
Neither Ukraine’s presidential office nor the defense ministry immediately responded to Reuters’ request for a comment outside business hours. The White House and the Pentagon also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
UN rapporteur to take part in former Labour leader Corbyn’s ‘Gaza tribunal’
- The event, titled the “Gaza tribunal,” will be held on Sept. 4 and 5 at Church House in Westminster
LONDON: A UN special rapporteur will contribute to a two-day “tribunal” into Britain’s role in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has announced.
Corbyn said Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, would take part in the hearings, which are being organized by his Peace and Justice Project, The Guardian newspaper reported on Saturday.
The event, titled the “Gaza tribunal,” will be held on Sept. 4 and 5 at Church House in Westminster.
Speaking at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival on Saturday, Corbyn said the initiative was intended to fill the gap left by the government’s decision to block his private member’s bill calling for an official inquiry into the UK’s role in the conflict.
The bill was halted at its second reading in July.
“We’ve invited people to make submissions — lawyers and others, and voices from Gaza and the West Bank, and other places — in order to put forward their view on the policy. And Francesca Albanese has agreed to take part and put forward her view on the legality of it,” he said.
Corbyn said Albanese was “very keen to support it and get involved,” and compared the event to the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war.
He added that the hearings would seek answers on issues including the use of the RAF Akrotiri airbase during the conflict.
A website dedicated to the tribunal says it will “examine Britain’s role in war crimes perpetrated in Gaza” by “hearing from experts and witnesses,” and “establish the full scale of our government’s complicity in the genocide against the Palestinian people.”
Last month, 22 NGOs, including Action Aid, backed Corbyn’s call for an inquiry and said they would consider supporting an independent tribunal if the government rejected his proposal.
Taiwan’s vote on restarting nuclear plant fails
- The recall votes, the second in a month, are an attempt to restore ruling party control of the legislature
TAIPEI: A Taiwanese referendum on whether to restart a nuclear power plant failed on Saturday after the number of votes in favor fell short of the legally required threshold.
Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant closed in May, ending atomic energy in Taiwan and increasing concerns about the island’s almost total reliance on fossil fuel imports to power its homes, factories and chip industry.
President Lai Ching-te’s Democratic Progressive Party had opposed reopening Maanshan unless there were safety guarantees and a solution for waste disposal.
FASTFACTS
• President Lai Ching-te’s Democratic Progressive Party had opposed reopening Maanshan unless there were safety guarantees and a solution for waste disposal.
• But the main opposition Kuomintang party supported restarting it, arguing that continued nuclear power supply is needed for energy security.
But the main opposition Kuomintang party supported restarting it, arguing that continued nuclear power supply is needed for energy security.
The referendum failed to pass with around 4.3 million people voting “yes” and 1.5 million voting “no.”
For it to succeed, at least 5 million “yes” votes were required and they had to outnumber “no” votes.
Lai told reporters after the vote that he respected the result and understood “the society’s expectations for diverse energy options.”
“The greatest consensus of Taiwan’s energy debate ... is safety. Nuclear safety is a scientific issue, and one that cannot be resolved through a single vote.”
A survey published by the Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation this month showed support for the referendum was high, with 66.4 percent of respondents in favor of restarting Maanshan if authorities confirm there are no safety concerns.
Critics, however, said the vote was a waste of time because the question of whether to reopen the plant was conditional on approval of “the competent authority.”
Taiwanese referendum decisions are valid for two years. If most voters had supported reopening the plant, the government could have ignored the result if safety inspections took longer than that.
“Whether it is passed or not, the decisions will go to the government. So there will be no difference at all,” said Chen Fang-yu, assistant professor of political science at Soochow University in Taipei.
At its peak in the 1980s, nuclear power made up more than 50 percent of Taiwan’s energy generation, with three plants operating six reactors across the island.
But safety concerns have grown in the past four decades following the Three Mile Island accident, dumping of nuclear waste on indigenous land on Taiwan’s Orchid Island and the Fukushima disaster.
Two plants stopped operating between 2018 and 2023 after their operating permits expired. Maanshan stopped for the same reason.
Bangladesh aims to deepen trade as Pakistan’s deputy PM makes landmark Dhaka visit
- Ishaq Dar to meet Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, other senior officials during 2-day visit
- Exchanges between Dhaka, Islamabad steadily grown since ousting of former PM Hasina last August
DHAKA: Bangladesh seeks to increase trade and economic cooperation with Pakistan, the office of Chief Adviser Prof. Muhammad Yunus said on Saturday as Dhaka began hosting Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar in the highest-level trip from Islamabad in years.
Dar’s two-day visit to Bangladesh will include meetings with Yunus and Touhid Hossain, the country’s adviser for foreign affairs, with discussions expected to cover bilateral relations as well as regional and international issues.
“During the visit of the Pakistan deputy prime minister, Bangladesh will focus on increasing bilateral trade and commerce and economic cooperation,” Azad Majumder, Yunus’ deputy press secretary, told Arab News on Saturday.
Dar’s trip follows Yunus’ meetings with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif over the past year. The two have met twice since Yunus took office last August, after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted in a student-led uprising.
The leaders met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York in September, and then again during the D-8 Summit in Cairo in December.
Majumder said: “During the meeting at Cairo, both the leaders of Bangladesh and Pakistan identified some areas where bilateral cooperation can be increased between the two countries. Some of these cooperation areas are textile industries, sugar industries, exchange of youth delegation, and so on … Bangladesh will also focus on accelerating bilateral cooperation on (these) areas.”
Dhaka and Islamabad are moving quickly to mend relations after decades of bitterness dating back to Bangladesh’s independence in 1971. The war split East Pakistan — now Bangladesh — from West Pakistan, ending 24 years as one country.
Prior to Dar’s trip, Pakistan’s Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan arrived on Thursday on a visit aimed at expanding trade ties, with official talks touching on agriculture and food security to strengthen crop yields.
Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch held foreign office consultations in Dhaka in April this year, the first such dialogue in 15 years.
Pakistani cargo ships also began to arrive at Bangladesh’s main Chittagong port last November, for the first time since 1971.
Humayun Kabir, former Bangladeshi ambassador to the US, told Arab News: “I think both countries are prepared to make up for lost time over the last 15 years and find ways to make a normal relationship, which will be beneficial for both sides.
“Since Pakistan has a stable government at the moment, they can easily initiate this type of diplomatic advancement.
“Bangladesh can benefit in many ways through the enhancement of bilateral relationships with Pakistan … We have many complementarities, particularly in the areas of trade and commerce. Besides, there is scope for people-to-people contact, academic exchange, etc.”
For many Bangladeshis, memories of the 1971 war of independence remain vivid.
“We have some pending issues with Pakistan. Pakistan is yet to fulfill an outstanding issue related to the genocide that took place in Bangladesh in 1971, committed by its people,” Kabir said.
“I think, in order to move forward with the bilateral relationship, a concrete decision should come from the Pakistan side in this regard. When such an emotional issue remains unresolved, there are fears that other areas of cooperation may get hampered.
“Once these pending issues are resolved, I think it will pave the road for a normal relationship, and it will ultimately be a positive thing for both countries.”
Asian activists ready to set sail with largest-ever Gaza aid flotilla
- First convoy of boats will set sail from Spanish ports for the Gaza strip on Aug. 31
- Activists from 10 Asian nations, including Indonesia, Philippines are taking part
JAKARTA/MANILA: Asian activists are preparing to set sail with the Global Sumud Flotilla, an international fleet from 44 countries aiming to reach Gaza by sea to break Israel’s blockade of food and medical aid.
They have banded together under the Sumud Nusantara initiative, a coalition of activists from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Maldives, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Pakistan, to join the global flotilla movement that will begin launching convoys from Aug. 31.
Sumud Nusantara is part of the GSF, a coordinated, nonviolent fleet comprising mostly small vessels carrying humanitarian aid, which will first leave Spanish ports for the Gaza strip, followed by more convoys from Tunisia and other countries in early September.
The international coalition is set to become the largest coordinated civilian maritime mission ever undertaken to Gaza.
“This movement comes at a very crucial time, as we know how things are in Gaza with the lack of food entering the strip that they are not only suffering from the impacts of war but also from starvation,” Indonesian journalist Nurhadis told Arab News ahead of his trip.
“Israel is using starvation as a weapon to wipe out Palestinians in Gaza. This is why we continue to state that what Israel is doing is genocide.”
Since October 2023, Israel has killed more than 62,000 Palestinians and injured over 157,000 more. As Tel Aviv continued to systematically obstruct food and aid from entering the enclave, a UN-backed global hunger monitor — the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification — declared famine in Gaza on Friday, estimating that more than 514,000 people are suffering from it.
Nurhadis is part of a group of activists from across Indonesia joining the GSF, which aims to “break Israel’s illegal blockade and draw attention to international complicity in the face of the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people.”
“We continue to try through this Global Sumud Flotilla action, hoping that the entire world, whether it’s governments or the people and other members of society, will pressure Israel to open its blockade in Palestine,” he said.
“This is just beyond the threshold of humanity. Israel is not treating Palestinians in Gaza as human beings and the world must not keep silent. This is what we are trying to highlight with this global convoy.”
The GSF is a people-powered movement that aims to help end the genocide in Gaza, said Rifa Berliana Arifin, Indonesia country director for the Sumud Nusantara initiative and executive committee member of Jakarta-based Aqsa Working Group.
“Indonesia is participating because this is a huge movement. A movement that aspires to resolve and end the blockade through non-traditional means. We’ve seen how ineffective diplomatic, political approaches have been, because the genocide in Gaza has yet to end. This people-power movement is aimed at putting an end to that,” Arifin told Arab News.
“This is a non-violent mission … Even though they are headed to Gaza, they are boarding boats that have no weapons … They are simply bringing themselves … for the world to see.”
As the Sumud Nusantara initiative is led by Malaysia, activists are gathering this weekend in Kuala Lumpur, where a ceremonial send-off for the regional convoy is scheduled to take place on Sunday, led by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
One of them is Philippine activist Drieza Lininding, leader of civil society group Moro Consensus Group, who is hoping that the Global Sumud Flotilla will inspire others in the Catholic-majority nation to show their support for Palestine.
“We are appealing to all our Filipino brothers and sisters, Muslims or Christians, to support the Palestinian cause because this issue is not only about religion, but also about humanity. Gaza has now become the moral compass of the world,” he told Arab News.
“Everybody is seeing the genocide and the starvation happening in Gaza, and you don’t need to be a Muslim to side with the Palestinians. It is very clear: if you want to be on the right side of history, support all programs and activities to free Palestine … It is very important that as Filipinos we show our solidarity.”
