May 19, 2021
Biden’s decision to show “support for a cease-fire” in a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday signaled that the U.S. was looking for more public ways to stop the fighting. But his statement expressing support for a halt to the deadly warfare but not demanding one outright showed the limits of U.S. power and Biden’s wariness of applying too much public pressure on Israel.
The role of Hamas the Palestinian Authority rival that runs Gaza and is labeled a terrorist organization by the U.S., the European Union and others makes it impossible for the U.S. to bring the two sides together. And after four years of being shunned by former President Donald Trump, Palestinians are wary of any U.S. offers to play the role of middleman.
No, we are in no way suggesting that Israel should burn. This is play on Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, who declared unequivocally that “Gaza will burn,” as Israel’s military was planning to essentially carpet bomb key areas in the region.
Who’s the boogeyman this time? Hamas, of course. “Hamas leaders bear responsibility for your being hunkered down in your homes,”[1] said Gantz. “If citizens of Israel have to sleep in shelters, then Gaza will burn.”[2]
This shouldn’t be a surprise at all. Gilad Sharon, son of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, declared back in 2012:
“We need to flatten entire neighborhoods in Gaza. Flatten all of Gaza…There should be no electricity in Gaza, no gasoline or moving vehicles, nothing. Then they’d really call for a ceasefire. Were this to happen, the images from Gaza might be unpleasant – but victory would be swift, and the lives of our soldiers and civilians spared.”[3]
Facebook deploys special team as Israel-Gaza conflict spreads across social media reuters.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from reuters.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
It looks like the NCAA is nothing but a paper tiger after all. As states around the country considered bills to protect womenâs sports, the National Collegiate Athletics Association threatened it would only hold championships in locations âfree of discrimination.â In other words, they would withhold any tournaments or championships to punish states that required athletes to compete against their same biological sex. Some politicians, like South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem (R), were cowed into surrender. But others boldly held their course.
States like Alabama and Tennessee passed laws to require public school athletes to compete according to their biological sex. The Arkansas legislature overwhelmingly passed into law a robust bill that will protect all womenâs sports, including at the collegiate level.
Blinken: Israel Shared Intelligence With U.S. About Gaza Strike
19 May 2021
The U.S. received “further information” from Israel concerning its decision to strike an international media office building in Gaza on Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday.
“We have received some further information through intelligence channels,” Blinken said from Iceland on May 18 after arriving in Reykjavik to attend an Arctic Council meeting. The United States’ top diplomat declined to elaborate on the information received, saying, “That’s not something I can comment on.”
Blinken’s confirmation that Israel provided the U.S. with additional intelligence regarding its bombing of Jala Tower on Saturday comes after international news and press freedom outlets demanded Israel provide evidence for its claims that the building contained “Hamas military intelligence assets.”