Trump says he told Netanyahu in July to end Gaza war

Trump says he told Netanyahu in July to end Gaza war
Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump n Bedminster, New Jersey. (Reuters)
Short Url
Updated 16 August 2024
Follow

Trump says he told Netanyahu in July to end Gaza war

Trump says he told Netanyahu in July to end Gaza war
  • Trump was referring to his meeting with Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago residence in late July

WASHINGTON/ JERUSALEM: Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Thursday that he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their last meeting in July to quickly end
Israel’s war in Gaza.

“He knows what he’s doing, I did encourage him to get this over with,” Trump told reporters at a press conference on Thursday. “It has to get over with fast, but have victory, get your victory and get it over with. It has to stop, the killing has to stop.”
Trump was referring to his meeting with Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago residence in late July, when Netanyahu visited the US He also met President Joe Biden and Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris during his trip.
Netanyahu’s office and Trump both separately denied on Thursday an Axios report that said they had spoken the previous day about Gaza ceasefire and hostage release talks.
“Contrary to media reports, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not speak yesterday with former President Donald Trump,” a statement from Netanyahu’s office said.
“I expect, I might be talking to him, but I haven’t since then,” Trump said at Thursday’s press conference.
Biden laid out a three-phase ceasefire proposal in an address on May 31. Washington and regional mediators have since tried arranging the Gaza ceasefire-for-hostages deal but have run into repeated obstacles.
The report, in Axios, cited two US sources. One source said Trump’s call was intended to encourage Netanyahu to take the deal, but stressed he did not know if this is indeed what the former president told Netanyahu.
Egypt, the United States and Qatar have scheduled a new round of Gaza ceasefire negotiations this week.
Washington, Israel’s most important ally, has said that a ceasefire in Gaza will reduce the rising threat of a wider war in the Middle East.
There has been an increased risk of a broader war after the recent killings of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran and Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut. Both drew threats of retaliation against Israel.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on Oct. 7 when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s subsequent assault on the Hamas-governed enclave has since killed over 40,000 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry, while also displacing nearly the entire population of 2.3 million, causing a hunger crisis and leading to genocide allegations at the World Court that Israel denies.


Five new arrests in attacks against Israeli soccer supporters, Dutch police say 

Five new arrests in attacks against Israeli soccer supporters, Dutch police say 
Updated 18 sec ago
Follow

Five new arrests in attacks against Israeli soccer supporters, Dutch police say 

Five new arrests in attacks against Israeli soccer supporters, Dutch police say 
  • The attacks occurred early on Friday on Israeli soccer supporters following a match between visiting Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax Amsterdam
  • The suspects are men aged 18 to 37 and living in the Netherlands
THE HAGUE: Dutch police on Monday said they had arrested five more people for their suspected involvement in attacks on Israeli football supporters late last week which authorities have condemned as antisemitic.
The suspects are men aged 18 to 37 and living in the Netherlands, police said in a statement. Previously, 63 suspects had been arrested.
Earlier on Monday Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof vowed that the Netherlands would focus all its efforts on bringing perpetrators of the violence to justice.
“The images and reports for Amsterdam and what we’ve seen this weekend of antisemitic attacks against Israelis and Jews are nothing short of shocking and reprehensible,” Schoof told a press conference, adding that police and prosecutors are still piecing together the details of what happened.
The attacks occurred early on Friday on Israeli soccer supporters following a match between visiting Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax Amsterdam left at least five people injured. They were denounced as antisemitic by the Dutch authorities and foreign leaders including Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Following the attacks, Israel sent extra planes to bring Maccabi supporters home
Reacting to reports that there had also been altercations between Maccabi supporters and locals before the match on Thursday, Schoof said there was no justification for the violence against Israeli supporters.
Dutch police have said Maccabi fans on Wednesday attacked a taxi and burned a Palestinian flag in Amsterdam. On the day of the game, Maccabi supporters were filmed chanting anti-Arab slogans in videos verified by Reuters.
“We are well aware of what happened earlier with Maccabi supporters but we think that’s of a different category and we condemn any violence as well, but that is no excuse whatsoever for what happened later on that night in the attacks on Jews in Amsterdam.” Schoof said.

Russian frigate with hypersonic missiles conducts drills in English Channel, news agencies say

Russian frigate with hypersonic missiles conducts drills in English Channel, news agencies say
Updated 30 min 50 sec ago
Follow

Russian frigate with hypersonic missiles conducts drills in English Channel, news agencies say

Russian frigate with hypersonic missiles conducts drills in English Channel, news agencies say

A Russian Navy frigate equipped with new generation hypersonic cruise missiles has conducted drills in the English Channel and is carrying out tasks in the Atlantic Ocean, Russian news agencies reported on Tuesday.
The crew of the frigate, which Russian TASS state news agency said is equipped with Zircon (Tsirkon) hypersonic anti-ship missiles, conducted counter-terrorism drills and training on avoiding dangerous targets, Russian state agencies reported, citing the Northern Fleet’s press service.


Ten killed in India’s Manipur after firefight with security forces

Ten killed in India’s Manipur after firefight with security forces
Updated 53 min 11 sec ago
Follow

Ten killed in India’s Manipur after firefight with security forces

Ten killed in India’s Manipur after firefight with security forces
  • Manipur has been suffering unrest since last year after clash between majority Meitei community, tribal Kukis
  • State police say ten “armed militants” were killed in gunfight with security forces after attacking police station

GUWAHATI: Ten armed men were killed in a gunfight with security forces in India’s remote northeastern state of Manipur on Monday after trying to attack a police station, officials said.
Manipur has been suffering unrest since last year, when the majority Meitei community and the tribal Kukis clashed after a court ordered the state government to consider extending special economic benefits and quotas in government jobs and education enjoyed by the Kukis to the Meiteis as well.
The state of 3.2 million people has been divided into two ethnic enclaves — a valley controlled by the Meiteis and the Kuki-dominated hills — since the conflict began in May 2023.
The areas are separated by a stretch of no-man’s land monitored by federal paramilitary forces. At least 250 people have been killed and some 60,000 displaced.
State police described Monday’s attackers as “armed militants,” saying in a statement that security forces and police had responded fiercely and brought the situation under control after around 45 minutes of heavy gunfire.
Krishna Kumar, deputy commissioner of Manipur’s Jiribam district, where the incident took place, said “miscreants” who attacked a police station had been killed by central security forces.
However, the Hmar Students’ Association, a tribal body representing the Hmars — a sub-group of the Kuki tribal community — alleged that “village volunteers” had been killed in a “premeditated massacre” by federal and state security forces and “Meitei militants.”
Kumar said the region had been tense since last week, when a 31-year-old tribal woman was burned and killed.
One security officer was critically injured, said a local police official who asked not to be named since he was not authorized to speak to media.


Trump set to name Marco Rubio secretary of state: NYT

Trump set to name Marco Rubio secretary of state: NYT
Updated 12 November 2024
Follow

Trump set to name Marco Rubio secretary of state: NYT

Trump set to name Marco Rubio secretary of state: NYT
  • In 2016, when they were competing for the Republican presidential nomination, Rubio called Trump a “con artist” and the “most vulgar person to ever aspire to the presidency”

WASHINGTON: President-elect Donald Trump is expected to name Florida Senator Marco Rubio as secretary of state, The New York Times reported Monday night.
It quoted three people as saying that the decision is not final, but that Trump appears to have settled on Rubio, a loyalist whom Trump passed over as his vice presidential running mate.
Rubio has been consistently named over the last week as one of the frontrunners to head US diplomacy, along with the abrasive former ambassador to Germany, Ric Grenell.
Asked if he was destined for a senior cabinet job, Rubio told CNN last week, “I always am interested in serving this country.”
The nomination of the hawkish congressman, who has Cuban heritage, would cap a remarkable turnaround in his relations with Trump.
In 2016, when they were competing for the Republican presidential nomination, Rubio called Trump a “con artist” and the “most vulgar person to ever aspire to the presidency.”
Born to Cuban immigrants in Miami, he graduated with a political science degree from the University of Florida in 1993.
He was elected to the US Senate in 2010 with his campaign buoyed by the Tea Party, a far-right contingent of Republicans that coalesced in the aftermath of Barack Obama’s election as president.
 


Trump selects Mike Waltz as national security adviser, sources say

Trump selects Mike Waltz as national security adviser, sources say
Updated 12 November 2024
Follow

Trump selects Mike Waltz as national security adviser, sources say

Trump selects Mike Waltz as national security adviser, sources say

WASHINGTON: President-elect Donald Trump has picked Republican Representative Mike Waltz to be his national security adviser, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday, tapping a retired Army Green Beret who has been a leading critic of China.
Waltz, a Trump loyalist who also served in the National Guard as a colonel, has criticized Chinese activity in the Asia-Pacific and has voiced the need for the United States to be ready for a potential conflict in the region.
The national security adviser is a powerful role, which does not require Senate confirmation. Waltz will be responsible for briefing Trump on key national security issues and coordinating with different agencies.
While slamming the Biden administration for a disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, Waltz has publicly praised Trump’s foreign policy views.
“Disruptors are often not nice ... frankly our national security establishment and certainly a lot of people that are dug into bad old habits in the Pentagon need that disruption,” Waltz said during an event earlier this year.
“Donald Trump is that disruptor,” he said.
Waltz has a long history in Washington’s political circles.
He was a defense policy director for defense secretaries Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates and was elected to Congress in 2018. He is the chairman of the House Armed Services subcommittee overseeing military logistics and also on the select committee on intelligence.
Waltz is also on the Republican’s China Task Force and has argued the US military is not as prepared as it needs to be if there is conflict in the Indo-Pacific region.
In a book published earlier this year titled “Hard Truths: Think and Lead Like a Green Beret,” Waltz laid out a five part strategy to preventing war with China, including arming Taiwan faster, re-assuring allies in the Pacific, and modernizing planes and ships.
On Ukraine, Waltz has said his views have evolved. After Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, he called for the Biden administration to provide more weapons to Kyiv to help them push back Russian forces.
But during an event last month, Waltz said there had to be a reassessment of the United States’ aims in Ukraine.
“Is it in America’s interest, are we going to put in the time, the treasure, the resources that we need in the Pacific right now badly?” Waltz asked.
Waltz has praised Trump for pushing NATO allies to spend more on defense, but unlike the president-elect has not suggested the United States pull out of the alliance.
“Look we can be allies and friends and have tough conversations,” Waltz said last month.