Israeli police Thursday arrested a pair of Israeli teens who were allegedly on their way to carry out a hate crime attack against a Palestinian village in the central West Bank, the Times of Israel reports.
Trump’s decision to assassinate a leading Iranian official in Iraq yesterday has contributed to the split inside the Israel lobby in the United States. Republican Israel supporters celebrate the killing, and see it as destroying the last hope of saving the Iran deal. Many Democratic supporters of Israel are critical of the decision.
After the Trump administration killed Democratic Iran’s top general Qassem Suleimani in a targeted drone strike, the Democratic presidential candidates rushed to condemn the action. However, nearly every statement reiterated Trump’s justification for the strike: that Suleimani was an evil terrorist and murderer.
Donald Trump has campaigned against “never ending wars.” Tonight with an assassination in Iraq, he risks another one– putting his reelection in jeopardy, say some observers. Trump knows what he is doing, trying to please his biggest donor, Sheldon Adelson.
As he becomes a mainstream contender, Pete Buttigieg has shifted on the Israel Palestine issue. After saying directly that he would seek to condition aid to Israel if the country moves toward annexing the West Bank, the South Bend Mayor dodged this question entirely at the last debate, offering platitudes about the need for U.S. “leadership” in the world.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to seek parliamentary immunity from prosecution over corruption charges against him, a move that would likely delay any trial until after the third consecutive round of Israeli elections in March.
Shortly after returning from a trip to Israel, Montana Secretary of State Corey Stapleton shared a strange, meandering post on his website titled “We Were Here First.” In the post, Stapleton compares the Little Shell tribe of Chippewa in Montana to the Palestinians and draws a parallel between Israeli policies and those of Montana’s government.