Congressman says US foreign policy has ‘blind spot’ on Israel-Palestine conflict

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Updated 02 June 2022
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Congressman says US foreign policy has ‘blind spot’ on Israel-Palestine conflict

  • US Congressman Sean Casten of Illinois said that a real friend to Israel will tell it when it does wrong, such as in examining the killing of Palestinian-American Shireen Abu Akleh
  • Casten urges the reopening of US Consulate to help Palestinians address challenges they face from Israeli settlers and to undermine the influence of Hamas

CHICAGO: American foreign policy has a “blind spot” when it comes to getting accurate information on challenges facing Israelis and Palestinians or achieving peace, Illinois Congressman Sean Casten (D-6th) told Arab News Wednesday.

Elected in 2018 after defeating conservative Peter Roskam, Casten said he saw how the “status quo” provokes extremists on both sides, Hamas and Israeli settlers, during two visits to Israel and later the West Bank.

Casten said he supports a two-state solution but believes it will be difficult to achieve under current circumstances. He stressed that he supports Israel’s right to security in the face of threats from Hamas, as well as the rights of Palestinian civilians, citing the experiences he saw Palestinian farmers face from armed settlers while in Bethlehem last February.

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“We had gone in the last time I was there, which was last February. We had gone in and met with several Palestinians. They (Israeli settlers) have got a farm up on the hill above their farm, and it is essentially an outpost with armed settlers who are regularly coming down and shooting their (Palestinian) livestock,” Casten recalled from the trip.

“And we’re sitting there saying we are members of Congress. Why don’t we just walk up? And they were saying no, no… ‘You are going to get shot if you do that, do not walk up there,’ which is weird because normally as a member of Congress, we can go anywhere. We then come back, and we met with Tom Knives, the US ambassador to Israel, who is a lovely guy, and we start telling him about this and it was clear he was not aware of those realities on the ground because as the ambassador to Israel, he cannot travel into that region except in a supervised fashion. And so, we need to have information. We have this blind spot in US foreign policy right now.”

Casten said the situation he saw there reinforced his belief that re-opening the US Consulate in Jerusalem for Palestinian affairs, which is one of the goals of President Joseph Biden, is essential.

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“We have Palestinian communities who need representation. They don’t have an embassy anymore. Should we push to create that embassy? That seems like a good thing Congress should do. We’re not taking sides. We are just saying we need to make sure that people [are safe]. We talked to a guy who runs the Hope Flowers School that teaches non-violence in Bethlehem. He doesn’t have anyone to reach out to right now. So, we raise that issue and then we hear, well, ‘Be careful pushing that because as you have seen the Knesset is very divided right now and if you push too hard that might create the rise, the return of the Israeli political right,’” Casten said.

“I am completely in [support] of that (opening the US Consulate). But the challenge is how do we do that in a way that is responsive to the circumstances on the ground there?”

Casten complained that the US understanding of the Israeli-Palestine conflict is dominated by activists on both sides in the US and that a greater effort needs to be made to hear the views of everyone involved to better understand the reality. He said that the US must “understand how it affects the politics on the ground there” in order to address those challenges.

Appearing on “The Ray Hanania Show,” broadcast on the US Arab Radio Network and sponsored by Arab News, Casten said his experiences showed how one cannot only listen to activists who advocate for their causes but must also hear from others to better understand the hurdles that prevent peace.

“There is so much pressure in our US system to be responsive to US citizens who are advocates for the region. And I think it is so dangerous to only listen to those groups if you haven’t spoken to groups on the ground…I have met with everyone from Prime Minister (Mohammed) Shtayyeh to (President) Mahmoud Abbas to (Prime Minister) Benjamin Netanyahu and (Alternate Prime Minister) Yair Lapid this last time,” Casten said.

“Everybody will tell Americans who are there that the system is very brittle. If you push us too hard, you will see the rise of the right on the Israeli [side], if you push us too hard you will see the rise of Hamas on the Palestinian side. And there is this tremendous pressure that says, ‘Please don’t violate the status quo.’ And yet we all know that the status quo is untenable. I think the surest way to compromise the security of everyone in the region is to continue the status quo where you have a group of people with no property rights and increasingly little hope.”

Casten observed how the recent signing of peace accords between Israel and other Arab states has changed the dynamics of what many Israelis believe is the path to peace.

“The feeling on the ground in Israel, I think there used to be a sense in Israel that there is no path to regional peace without a resolution to the Palestinian issue,” Casten said. 

“And with the passage of the Abraham Accords, with the increasing concerns of a nuclear Iran, the feeling I get on the street when I talk to Israelis over there is that they have almost inverted that until we have regional peace, we don’t need to worry about the Palestinian issue. I don’t know how to solve that. I feel better about our opportunity to solve that when we have more centrist moderate governments. Of course, the Israeli government has been very brittle now for four or five years.”

Casten said he supports the two-state solution but is unsure how it can be achieved in today’s political dynamics.

“I absolutely support it, and I wish I could tell you that I saw a path to getting it done. I don’t know how you have a democratic Jewish Israel that doesn’t have two states with coherent borders,” Casten said.

“I will also share with you, I have yet to meet an Israeli leader who is committed to the idea that they don’t have complete control of security, which is one and one-half states. And I have yet to meet a leader in the Palestinian authority who doesn’t have a business card that doesn’t have a map that runs from the Jordan to the sea.”

Casten also said he was optimistic in cases like the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh that one could criticize Israel without being anti-Israeli. Palestinian witnesses have said they believed the Palestinian-American citizen was killed on May 11 by an Israeli sniper’s bullet, but the Israelis have resisted that conclusion.

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“There are a lot of pressures in our domestic politics. But I think we should be able to manage,” Casten said when asked if responsibility for Abu Akleh’s killing will be resolved.

“I have always been partial to that beautiful line of Frederick Douglass when he said that the best friend of the nation is who acknowledges her faults rather than cloak himself in the specious garb of patriotism. He was, of course, talking about America. But I think in the same way, for the United States to be a good friend of Israel, as we are, we also have to be willing to say as your friend, you are not perfect.”

Casten is a scientist, clean energy entrepreneur and CEO who has dedicated his life to fighting climate change. He serves on the Science, Space, and Technology Committee, the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis and is vice chair of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship, and Capital Markets.

Casten faces fellow Democrat Congresswoman Marie Newman in the June 28 election primary. Newman did not respond to several requests to appear on the radio show.

The Ray Hanania Show is broadcast live every Wednesday at 5 p.m. Eastern EST on WNZK AM 690 radio in Greater Detroit, including parts of Ohio, and WDMV AM 700 radio in Washington D.C., including parts of Virginia and Maryland. The show is rebroadcast on Thursdays at 7 a.m. in Detroit on WNZK AM 690 and in Chicago at 12 p.m. on WNWI AM 1080.

You can listen to the radio show podcast here


Germany approves $3.25 billion in new Ukraine military aid

Updated 6 sec ago
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Germany approves $3.25 billion in new Ukraine military aid

  • The amount comes on top of four billion euros in Ukraine military aid already planned in Germany’s budget for 2025
  • A further 8.3 billion euros were earmarked for Kyiv for 2026 to 2029

BERLIN: Germany on Friday approved three billion euros ($3.25 billion) in new military aid for Ukraine, just days before planned US-brokered talks with Moscow and Kyiv on a limited truce.
The money is earmarked for defense equipment for the country fighting Russian forces, including munitions, drones, armored vehicles and air-defense systems.
The parliament’s budget committee gave the green light for the funds, which had been on hold for months amid discord in the coalition government of outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
But the final adoption on Friday of a major new spending package that also eased Germany’s strict debt rules for defense outlays gave the government new room for maneuver.
President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Germany for the new aid in a post on X, saying it would provide “exactly what Ukraine needs most — what saves Ukrainian lives.
“This means contracts with the German defense industry will now be signed for future — a significant step toward building long-term security guarantees,” Zelensky said.
“It is also a recognition that Ukraine’s army will become even stronger after the war ends, and Germany is committed to contributing to that.”
Greens MP Britta Hasselmann, whose party has strongly pushed for Ukraine aid, expressed relief the new billions were being released, “albeit late.”
She called it “a strong signal to Ukraine, a signal that is absolutely necessary for peace and security in Europe.”

The new money comes on top of four billion euros in Ukraine military aid already planned in Germany’s budget for 2025.
A further 8.3 billion euros were earmarked for Kyiv for 2026 to 2029.
Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit has said the latest package would include units of the German-made Iris-T air-defense systems that had yet to be built and would be delivered over the next two years.
Germany has been Ukraine’s second-largest supplier of military aid after the United States, contributing some 28 billion euros so far since Russia launched its full-scale invasion over three years ago.
But the situation has changed dramatically since US President Donald Trump reached out to Russia’s Vladimir Putin to end the war and suspended military aid to Ukraine. He also cast doubt on America’s commitment to NATO.

Russia and Ukraine on Friday traded accusations of massive overnight attacks, three days before both sides will hold talks with US officials in Saudi Arabia on how to halt the war.
Both countries have said they agree with a 30-day pause in strikes on energy targets, though they have continued their aerial attacks unabated.
Each has repeatedly accused the other of breaking the truce, which has not been formally agreed.
Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz, whose party won February elections, has pushed through a spending package worth hundreds of billions to bolster Germany’s armed forces and infrastructure and to keep backing Ukraine.
Merz’s conservatives are in coalition talks with the SPD of Scholz, who has also vowed that Germany would keep supporting Kyiv.
Ukraine “can rely on us and we will never leave it on its own,” Scholz said at a European Council summit late Thursday.
“It will also need a strong army in times of peace, and it must not be put in danger by any peace agreement.”
 


Trump pulls security clearances for Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton

Updated 13 min 26 sec ago
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Trump pulls security clearances for Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton

BRIDGEWATER, New Jersey: US President Donald Trump on Friday took away security clearances for former Vice President Kamala Harris, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and others in his latest move against his Democratic opponents.
The Republican president, who has also revoked the security clearance for former President Joe Biden, defeated Clinton in the 2016 presidential election and Harris in last year’s election.
“I have determined that it is no longer in the national interest for the following individuals to access classified information,” Trump said in a late Friday memorandum that also included former Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
While the revocations may not have immediate impacts, it is another sign of the growing political rift in Washington as Trump seeks revenge on his perceived enemies.
The memorandum was issued hours after Trump arrived at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf property for the weekend.
Trump also targeted Republican former Representative Liz Cheney, a sharp Trump critic, former Biden White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Fiona Hill, a Russia expert who served on his National Security Council during his first term.
Mark Zaid, a national security lawyer in Washington who represents whistleblowers, and Adam Kinzinger, a former Republican lawmaker who is a sharp Trump critic, were among several others who had their security clearances revoked.
He had already revoked the security clearance for Biden, denying the former president to the traditional access to US intelligence.
Former US presidents have traditionally received intelligence briefings so they can advise incumbent presidents on national security and foreign policy.
In 2021, Biden revoked the security clearance for Trump, who was then a former president.


Canada’s new PM says Trump will want trade talks as Americans suffer from trade war

Updated 22 March 2025
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Canada’s new PM says Trump will want trade talks as Americans suffer from trade war

  • Carney said talks with Trump will not happen “until we get the respect we deserve as a sovereign nation”
  • Trump kept up his near-daily attacks on Canada on Friday, repeating that the country should be the 51st state

TORONTO: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday US President Donald Trump will ultimately respect Canada’s sovereignty and be ready for comprehensive trade talks because Americans are going to suffer from Trump’s trade war.
Carney said talks with Trump will not happen “until we get the respect we deserve as a sovereign nation. By the way, this is not a high bar.”
Trump kept up his near-daily attacks on Canada on Friday, repeating that the country should be the 51st state and that the US keeps Canada “afloat.”
“When I say they should be a state, I mean that,” the American president said.
Carney met with Canada’s provincial leaders at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa for trade war talks.

 

Carney, sworn in last Friday, still hasn’t had a phone call with Trump. Trump mocked Carney’s predecessor, Justin Trudeau, by calling him Governor Trudeau, but he has not yet mentioned Carney’s name.
The new prime minister said he wants a comprehensive discussion on trade and security with the Americans and not a one-off tariff discussion.
“In the end, Americans are going to lose from American trade action and that’s one of the reasons I am confident that there will be that discussion with the appropriate amount of respect and the breadth,” Carney said. “I am ready for it anytime they are ready.”
Trump put 25 percent tariffs on Canada’s steel and aluminum and is threatening sweeping tariffs on all Canadian products as well as all of America’s trading partners on April 2.
Carney became Prime Minister after winning a Liberal Party leadership race triggered by Trudeau’s decision to step down earlier this year. He’s expected to trigger the process for early parliamentary elections this Sunday, with a vote expected Wilon April 28.
The governing Liberals appeared poised for a historic election defeat this year until Trump declared trade war and upended Canadian politics.
The almost daily attacks on Canada’s sovereignty have infuriated Canadians, who are canceling trips south of the border and avoiding buying American goods when they can. The surge in Canadian nationalism has bolstered Liberal poll numbers.
Carney said in an effort to diversify trade the premiers of Canada’s provinces agreed work on a plan to develop a national trade and energy corridor. He said after some discussions about the response to the tariffs, the premiers turned their sights to “nation building” to build things faster than ever before.

 

That includes finding ways to better move energy and critical minerals. They also talked about moving quickly to eliminate trade barriers between provinces and with the federal government.
Carney also said Ottawa is also going to waive the one-week waiting period to get employment insurance for people whose jobs are cut because of the tariffs, and temporarily allow Canadian businesses to defer income tax and sales tax payments to help boost their liquidity.


Weekslong lockups of European tourists at US borders spark fears of traveling to America

Updated 22 March 2025
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Weekslong lockups of European tourists at US borders spark fears of traveling to America

  • Since Trump took office, there have been incidents of tourists being stopped at US border crossings and held for weeks at US immigration detention facilities before being allowed to fly home at their own expense

SAN DIEGO, California: Lennon Tyler and her German fiancé often took road trips to Mexico when he vacationed in the United States since it was only a day’s drive from her home in Las Vegas, one of the perks of their long-distance relationship.
But things went terribly wrong when they drove back from Tijuana last month.
US border agents handcuffed Tyler, a US citizen, and chained her to a bench, while her fiancé, Lucas Sielaff, was accused of violating the rules of his 90-day US tourist permit, the couple said. Authorities later handcuffed and shackled Sielaff and sent him to a crowded US immigration detention center. He spent 16 days locked up before being allowed to fly home to Germany.

Since President Donald Trump took office, there have been other incidents of tourists like Sielaff being stopped at US border crossings and held for weeks at US immigration detention facilities before being allowed to fly home at their own expense.
They include another German tourist who was stopped at the Tijuana crossing on Jan. 25. Jessica Brösche spent over six weeks locked up, including over a week in solitary confinement, a friend said.

Lucas Sielaff poses for a photo in Bad Bibra, Germany, on March 20, 2025. He spent 16 days locked up in a crowded US border prison before being allowed to fly home to Germany. (AP Photo)

On the Canadian border, a backpacker from Wales spent nearly three weeks at a detention center before flying home this week. And a Canadian woman on a work visa detained at the Tijuana border spent 12 days in detention before returning home last weekend.
Sielaff, 25, and the others say it was never made clear why they were taken into custody even after they offered to go home voluntarily.
Pedro Rios, director of the American Friends Service Committee’s US-Mexico border program, a nonprofit that aids migrants, said in the 22 years he has worked on the border he’s never seen travelers from Western Europe and Canada, longtime US allies, locked up like this.
“It’s definitely unusual with these cases so close together, and the rationale for detaining these people doesn’t make sense,” he said. “It doesn’t justify the abhorrent treatment and conditions” they endured.
“The only reason I see is there is a much more fervent anti-immigrant atmosphere,” Rios said.
Of course, tourists from countries where the US requires visas — many of them non-Western nations — have long encountered difficulties entering the US
US authorities did not respond to a request from The Associated Press for figures on how many tourists have recently been held at detention facilities or explain why they weren’t simply denied entry.
‘Deemed inadmissible’
The incidents are fueling anxiety as the Trump administration prepares for a ban on travelers from some countries. Noting the “evolving” federal travel policies, the University of California, Los Angeles sent a notice this week urging its foreign-born students and staff to consider the risks of travel for spring break, warning “re-entry requirements may change while you are away, impacting your return.”
Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in an email to the AP that Sielaff and Brösche, who was held for 45 days, “were deemed inadmissible” by Customs and Border Protection. That agency said it cannot discuss specifics but “if statutes or visa terms are violated, travelers may be subject to detention and removal.” The agencies did not comment on the other cases.
Both German tourists were allowed into the United States under a program offered to a select group of countries, mostly in Europe and Asia, whose citizens are allowed to travel to the US for business or leisure for up to 90 days without getting a visa in advance. Applicants register online with the Electronic System for Travel Authorization.

Border Patrol agents and members of the military stand inside a gate in one of two border walls separating Mexico from the US  March 21, 2025, in San Diego, California. (AP Photo)

But even if they are authorized to travel under that system, US authorities have wide discretion to still deny entry. Following the detentions, Britain and Germany updated their travel advisories to alert people about the strict US border enforcement. The United Kingdom warned “you may be liable to arrest or detention if you break the rules.”
Sielaff arrived in the US on Jan. 27. He and Tyler decided to go to Tijuana for four days in mid-February because Tyler’s dog needed surgery and veterinary services are cheaper there. They figured they would enjoy some tacos and make a fun trip out of it.
“Mexico is a wonderful and beautiful country that Lucas and I love to visit,” Tyler said.
They returned Feb. 18, just 22 days into Sielaff’s 90-day tourist permit.
When they pulled up to the crossing, the US border agent asked Sielaff aggressively, “Where are you going? Where do you live?” Tyler said.
“English is not Lucas’ first language and so he said, ‘We’re going to Las Vegas,’ and the agent says, ‘Oh, we caught you. You live in Las Vegas. You can’t do that,’” Tyler said.
Sielaff was taken away for more questioning. Tyler said she asked to go with him or if he could get a translator and was told to be quiet, then taken out of her car and handcuffed and chained to a bench. Her dog, recovering from surgery, was left in the car.
After four hours, Tyler was allowed to leave but said she was given no information about her fiancé’s whereabouts.
During questioning, Sielaff said he told authorities he never lived in the US and had no criminal history. He said he was given a full-body search and ordered to hand over his cellphone and belongings. He was put in a holding cell where he slept on a bench for two days before being transferred to the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego.
There, he said, he shared a cell with eight others.
“You are angry, you are sad, you don’t know when you can get out,” Sielaff said. “You just don’t get any answers from anybody.”
He was finally told to get a direct flight to Germany and submit a confirmation number. In a frantic call from Sielaff, Tyler bought it for $2,744. He flew back March 5.
‘A blatant abuse’ of US border authorities’ power, victims say
“What happened at the border was just blatant abuse of the Border Patrol’s power,” Tyler said.
Ashley Paschen agrees. She said she learned about Brösche from a TikTok video asking anyone in the San Diego area for help after her family learned she was being held at the Otay Mesa Detention Center. Paschen visited her several times and told her people were working to get her out. Brosche flew home March 11.
“She’s happy to be home,” Paschen said. “She seems very relieved if anything but she’s not coming back here anytime soon.”

A member of Mexico’s National Guard patrols along the primary fence on the Mexico-US border in Tijuana, Mexico, on March 18, 2025, as part of the Mexican government’s response to US President Donald Trump’s demand to crack down on immigration and drug smuggling. (REUTERS)

On Feb. 26, a tourist from Wales, Becky Burke, a backpacker traveling across North America, was stopped at the US-Canada border and held for nearly three weeks at a detention facility in Washington state, her father, Paul Burke, posted on Facebook. She returned home Tuesday.
On March 3, Canadian Jasmine Mooney, an actress and entrepreneur on a US work visa, was detained at the Tijuana crossing. She was released Saturday, her friend Brittany Kors said.
Before Mooney’s release, British Columbia Premier David Eby expressed concern, saying: “It certainly reinforces anxiety that ... many Canadians have about our relationship with the US right now, and the unpredictability of this administration and its actions.”
The detentions come amid legal fights over the Trump administration’s arrests and deportations of other foreigners with valid visas and green card holders, including a Palestinian activist who helped organize campus protests of the war in Gaza.
Tyler plans to sue the US government.
Sielaff said he and Tyler are now rethinking plans to hold their wedding in Las Vegas. He suffers nightmares and is considering therapy to cope with the trauma.
“Nobody is safe there anymore to come to America as a tourist,” he said.


Under threat from Trump, Columbia University agrees to policy changes

Updated 22 March 2025
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Under threat from Trump, Columbia University agrees to policy changes

  • Trump has put other universities on notice that they will face cuts if they do not embrace his agenda

NEW YORK: Columbia University agreed Friday to put its Middle East studies department under new supervision and overhaul its rules for protests and student discipline, acquiescing to an extraordinary ultimatum by the Trump administration to implement those and other changes or risk losing billions of dollars in federal funding.
As part of the sweeping reforms, the university will also adopt a new definition of antisemitism and expand “intellectual diversity” by staffing up its Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies, according to a letter published Friday by the interim president, Katrina Armstrong.
The announcement drew immediate condemnation from some faculty and free speech groups, who accused the university of caving to President Donald Trump’s largely unprecedented intrusion upon the school’s academic freedom.
“Columbia’s capitulation endangers academic freedom and campus expression nationwide,” Donna Lieberman, the executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration pulled $400 million in research grants and other funding over the university’s handling of protests against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. As a precondition to restoring those funds — along with billions more in future grants — federal officials last week demanded the university immediately enact nine separate reforms to its academic and security policies.
In her response Friday, Armstrong indicated Columbia would implement nearly all of them. She agreed to reform the college’s long-standing disciplinary process and bar protests inside academic buildings. Students will not be permitted to wear face masks on campus “for the purposes of concealing one’s identity.” An exception would be made for people wearing them for health reasons.
The university will also appoint a new senior provost to review the leadership and curriculum of several international studies departments to “ensure the educational offerings are comprehensive and balanced.”
The appointment appeared to be a concession to the Trump administration’s most contentious demand: that the university places its Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies Department under “academic receivership for a minimum of five years.”
“It’s an escalation of a kind that is unheard of,” Joan Scott, a historian and member of the academic freedom committee of the American Association of University Professors, said of the call for receivership last week. “Even during the McCarthy period in the United States, this was not done.”
The Trump administration has repeatedly accused Columbia University of letting antisemitism go unchecked at protests against Israel that began at the university last spring and quickly spread to other campuses.
In her letter, Armstrong wrote that “the way Columbia and Columbians have been portrayed is hard to reckon with. We have challenges, yes, but they do not define us.”
While Trump has made Columbia the most visible target of his crackdown on higher education, he has put other universities on notice that they will face cuts if they do not embrace his agenda.
Last week, his administration announced investigations into 52 universities for their diversity, equity and inclusion programs.