Middle East

 Biden Is Not the First U.S. President to Cut Off Weapons to Israel

Guardian, UK - Netanyahu has grown increasingly resistant to Biden’s public charm and private pleading, prompting the president’s recent assertive pushback. Netanyahu, for his part, is brushing off Biden’s warnings and vowing to press ahead with a Rafah offensive. Netanyahu’s political survival may depend on the offensive. If he reaches a hostage deal that stops short of conquering Rafah, hard-liners in his coalition have threatened to topple the government and trigger new elections at a time when opinion polls forecast he would lose. Biden aides nonetheless insist the president is unwilling to allow the U.S.-Israel relationship to truly rupture on his watch. They cite not only the political imperative — a majority of Americans support Israel — but also Biden’s personal history with the country. Meanwhile, he faces mounting protests from young Americans, a segment of the electorate critical to his reelection.

NPR - Aid workers say that what's lacking isn't resources or aid but "the political will to get it" into Gaza, NPR's Jane Arraf reports on Up First. One official called the pier "a joke." Pediatrician John Kahler, co-Founder of MedGlobal, said what they needed was opening the gates to let food into what he described as a “lab of malnutrition," not "silly piers or silly airdrops." Another medical aid official noted that the pier will cost $320 million, which could instead be used to buy a large number of truckloads of aid.