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Republicans accuse Biden, Schumer of emboldening Iran prior to attack on Israel
Republicans in the Senate are accusing the Democratic Party, including President Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., of emboldening Iran prior to the country’s recent attack on U.S. ally Israel. “Instead of standing with our ally, Israel, Democrats are focused on appealing to their radical left base, which hates Israel and is actively supporting Hamas and Iran,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital. “To appease his base, Joe Biden allowed over $100 billion to flow to Iran. Iran then used that money to make drones and cruise missiles to attack Israel,” Cruz said. “In a very real sense, Joe Biden funded Iran’s attack on Israel. The Democrat position on Israel and Iran is as illogical as it is indefensible.” 13 DEMS VOTE AGAINST RESOLUTION CONDEMNING IRAN AFTER ISRAEL STRIKE Iran attacked Israel directly over the weekend, launching hundreds of drone strikes as well as a barrage of ballistic and cruise missiles. With the help of the U.S. military, Israel managed to intercept almost all the incoming drone and missile attacks. Iran’s previous involvement in attacks against Israel has been through proxies in countries such as Syria and Yemen. Launching an assault from within its own country marks a major escalation from a proxy fight to a direct attack. “Since October 7, Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer have tried to undermine Israel at every turn,” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Whether it’s on the battlefield, at the UN, or in Congress, they are more interested in pleasing the pro-Hamas wing of their party than they are in helping our greatest ally in the Middle East.” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., pointed to the Democratic Party’s shift on Israel, saying in a statement Saturday, “Tehran and its proxies are emboldened when they see divisions between the US and Israel.” Prior to the attack, Biden hardened his posture toward Israel as it fights Hamas in Gaza. Biden warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a call this month “that U.S. policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel’s immediate action on these steps” to address civilian casualties and ensure safety for humanitarian aid workers, according to the White House. The call followed an Israeli strike that led to the deaths of seven aid workers from World Central Kitchen. Last month, Schumer sparked outrage from Republicans after calling on Israel in a floor speech to hold elections to replace Netanyahu, who he said “has put himself in coalition with far-right extremists” and “has been too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza.” “If Prime Minister Netanyahu’s current coalition remains in power after the war begins to wind down and continues to pursue dangerous and inflammatory policies that test existing U.S. standards for assistance, then the United States will have no choice but to play a more active role in shaping Israeli policy by using our leverage to change the present course,” Schumer said. Prior to his floor speech, Schumer requested a classified intelligence briefing, which he routinely receives, on the status of hostage negotiations between Israel and Hamas. The briefing revealed that there would be no disruptions to ongoing hostage negotiations if Schumer gave his speech, according to a source familiar. DEARBORN ACTIVISTS’ PUSH TO BAIL ON BIDEN SPREADS TO OTHER KEY BATTLEGROUND STATES However, the source was unable to say whether any implications regarding Iran were relayed during the briefing. Schumer’s office also hit back at the claims, with spokesperson Allison Biasotti saying in a statement, “Leader Schumer has been clear that the United States’ commitment to Israel’s security is ironclad, and that the best way to deter enemies of Israel, like Iran, is for the House to promptly pass the bipartisan supplemental bill, with over $17 billion urgently needed for Israel’s defense and U.S. operations against Iranian-backed aggression in the Red Sea, which Schumer already passed in the Senate.” The majority leader’s office said the attack on Israel was a response to the recent Israeli strike on Iran’s consulate in Damascus, Syria, adding that Iran and Israel have been engaged in a lengthy conflict for years. But according to one Democrat aide, there are senators in the party who are concerned about a growing number of Democrats’ posture on Israel potentially giving Iran the sense that American support is wavering for its ally. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., accused Biden of trying to “walk a tightrope of appeasing an increasingly radical base of his party while upholding the mainstream American position of support for Israel.” “The problem is the president isn’t walking a tightrope. He’s trying to straddle the Grand Canyon,” he said in a statement. ISRAEL’S ADVANCED MILITARY TECHNOLOGY ON FULL DISPLAY DURING IRAN’S ATTACK White House spokesperson Andrew Bates pushed back on criticism of Biden’s posture toward Israel, and he rejected claims he emboldened Iran to attack, in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Former Trump Administration officials and Fox News’ own reporting have debunked those lies,” he said. “President Biden is the only American President to have directly defended Israel, as he ordered the American military to do last weekend,” Bates said. “He is also the only American President to have set foot in Israel during wartime, in support of our ironclad commitment to their security. Unlike others, he did not rail against Israel in the days after October 7th, nor has he ever praised Hezbollah.” Meanwhile, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., pointed to a recent effort to force votes on a stand-alone Israel aid bill in the Senate as she criticized her Democrat counterparts. “This week, Senate Democrats again blocked immediate aid to Israel after Senator [Roger] Marshall and I demanded a vote to support our ally. The Left would rather play politics to appease their socialist base,” she told Fox News Digital in a statement. “It’s clear that the Biden administration and Leader Chuck Schumer refuse to back our most important ally in the Middle East,” Blackburn continued. Two Democrat
Biden set to block millions of acres in Alaska from oil, gas drilling in Earth Day action
The Biden administration is planning to block oil and gas drilling across millions of acres in an Alaskan reserve, which Congress specifically set aside for resource development. The Department of Interior (DOI) is expected to finalize regulations on Friday, just days ahead of Earth Day. These regulations would effectively lock up more than 13 million acres of public land within the National Petroleum Reserve (NPR-A), sources familiar with the agency’s timing told Fox News Digital. The regulations represent one of the Biden administration’s most aggressive actions pushed under its climate and conservation agenda. According to the DOI, the regulations as proposed would create an outright prohibition on any new leasing across 10.6 million acres of the area, equivalent to about 40% of the entire NPR-A. They would additionally require DOI subagency the Bureau of Land Management to review whether to expand protected areas or create new protected areas in the NPR-A at least every five years. “With climate change warming the Arctic more than twice as fast as the rest of the planet, we must do everything within our control to meet the highest standards of care to protect this fragile ecosystem,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland previously said. “President Biden is delivering on the most ambitious climate and conservation agenda in history.” ‘STOP APPEASING DICTATORS’: GOP SENATORS DEMAND BIDEN IMPOSE OIL SANCTIONS ON VENEZUELA Under the administration’s actions curbing development in the NPR-A, future oil and gas leasing and industrial development would be strictly limited in the vast Teshekpuk Lake, Utukok Uplands, Colville River, Kasegaluk Lagoon and Peard Bay – “special areas” known for their rich wildlife populations on Alaska’s North Slope. DOI said closing the land off from resource development would help protect various wildlife species, including caribou. The regulations, initially proposed in September, have since garnered more than 10,000 public comment letters, reflecting both support for and opposition to the rules. And according to the Office of Management and Budget filings reviewed by Fox News Digital, DOI officials have met with several stakeholders. HALF OF US STATES REVOLT AGAINST EPA CRACKDOWN ON GAS CARS WITH MAJOR LEGAL CHALLENGE While the regulations have received support from Democrats and environmental groups, they have been blasted by the state of Alaska, Alaska’s bipartisan congressional delegation, local leaders, Indigenous groups, energy industry associations and Republican lawmakers. “Joe Biden is doing everything he can to attack American energy,” Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said during a press conference late Thursday. “They’re going to prohibit oil production in, of all places, the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. That’s like saying no more picnics in Yellowstone National Park.” Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, who organized the press conference, added in an interview with FOX Business on Thursday that locking up NPR-A lands would outsource oil and gas production to “regimes that hate us” like Russia, Venezuela and Iran. BIDEN ENERGY SECRETARY REVEALS STOCK OWNERSHIP OF EV LOBBY GROUP FOUNDING COMPANY In February, Sullivan, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, sent a letter to the White House, urging it to consider the perspectives of Native Alaskans, many of whom support oil and gas development in the NPR-A. “While we obviously recognize the impacts of climate change on the Alaskan environment, the policy objectives of this administration do not negate congressional direction for the management of the Petroleum Reserve, nor do those objectives nullify the obligation to hear and consider the perspectives of the North Slope people that will be negatively impacted by this proposed rule,” several Native Alaskan leaders wrote in a comment letter to DOI. Overall, NPR-A spans 23 million acres of public land in northern Alaska. It was first established as a petroleum reserve for the U.S. Navy in 1923 before it was transferred in 1976 to DOI under the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act. DOI didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Dem-linked political group blasted for meddling in key GOP primary to boost challenger: ‘Lame attempt’
A California-based group linked to Democrats is getting involved in a Pennsylvania congressional primary by boosting a Republican against a Republican incumbent in the latest example of liberal funds being directed toward a GOP primary. True Patriots PA, a liberal group linked to California Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell, sent out mailers to Pennsylvania voters to slam GOP Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick and say he is not conservative enough, in essence boosting his primary opponent, Mark Houck, Politico first reported this week. Fox News Digital obtained some of those mailers that framed Fitzpatrick as a “RINO” (“Republican in name only”) and implied he wasn’t conservative enough for the base that supports former President Trump. “MAGA is ready to bag the biggest RINO in Congress,” reads one of the mailers along with a photo of Fitzpatrick photoshopped onto a rhinoceros body. “We sent Brian Fitzpatrick to D.C. to represent our values, instead, he became best friends with Kamala Harris and the Democrats,” another mailer said. STRATEGISTS WARN ELECTION MEDDLING, PROMOTION OF CERTAIN GOP CANDIDATES COULD ‘BACKFIRE’ ON DEMOCRATS FEC records show True Patriots PA spent roughly $26,000 on the mailer. Meagan Olson is listed as treasurer for both True Patriots PA and the Swalwell campaign. “I consider Brian a friend and someone who has bravely defied his party to help secure Ukraine aid,” Rep. Swalwell told Fox News Digital in a statement. “I have never heard of his primary opponent and am not involved or support any effort to defeat Brian in the primary. My office uses a professional compliance firm that serves as treasurer for dozens of campaigns.” When reached for comment, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) directed Fox News Digital to a Washington Post article in January 2024 in which DCCC Chair Rep. Suzan DelBene said her group no longer supports the strategy of propping up “far-right” candidates in swing districts. “It should come as no surprise that a group connected to Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat who is so dumb that he was tricked into sleeping with a Chinese spy, would be propping up self-described chronic masturbator Mark Houck in the Republican Primary against Brian Fitzpatrick,” Defending America PAC’s Chris Pack told Fox News Digital. “Even Democrats as intellectually challenged as Eric Swalwell know that their best chance at flipping the one seat needed to take back Democrat control of the House of Representatives is if Mark Houck beats Brian Fitzpatrick in the primary next Tuesday.” Houck, a pro-life activist, has made previous acknowledgments that he “had a pornography problem” as a young man and spoke openly at a church conference about talking to his son about masturbation and erections. DEMOCRATS RIPPED FOR ADMITTING ‘QUIET PART OUT LOUD’ AFTER PANIC ABOUT KEY STRATEGY HELPING TRUMP “I struggled with pornography, and of course that leads to sexual sin, masturbation and stuff. That was a chronic habit,” Houck said in a 2010 interview, which Defending America PAC included in an ad titled “Beat it.” In a recent statement, Houck said he “fell victim to the dehumanizing effects of the pornography industry” over “two decades ago.” He also defended the conversation about his son, saying the clips circulating online “seizes on de-contextualized comments I made with my son present in public pursuit of this transformative ministry” meant to steer people away from pornography. The Democrat group boosting Houck is the latest example of a recent trend in which liberal funds have been used to back Republican challengers in an effort to sink candidates who support or are supported by former President Trump. PACs linked to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have spent millions meddling in GOP primaries this cycle, including in swing state Senate races in Ohio and Montana. Duty and Country PAC, affiliated with Schumer, ran ads during the Ohio GOP Senate primary that accused Trump-backed businessman Bernie Moreno of being “too conservative for Ohio.” That effort proved unsuccessful in the primary as Moreno won every county in the Buckeye State, beating his nearest challenger by almost 20 points. In 2022, Democrats spent more than $40 million to boost six pro-Trump candidates in Republican primaries, and all six of those Republicans lost their general election races to Democrats. Fitzpatrick, who has so far declined to say if he will endorse Trump, voted against impeaching Trump twice and won re-election in 2022 by almost 10 points, despite Biden carrying the 1st Congressional district. “After years of brutal losses, the far-left has finally figured out they have no chance of beating Congressman Fitzpatrick, so they’ve now tagged California left-wing extremists to meddle in his primary using the same violent political rhetoric they claim to stand against,” Fitzpatrick campaign spokesperson Ben Trundy told Fox News Digital in statement. “This lame attempt to prop up Mark Houck, an admitted porn addict and serial grifter who believes in complete abortion bans with no exceptions, shows just how desperate they are to force their extreme policies on Bucks and Montgomery County voters.”
Can Sunil Kanugolu bring India’s Modi down, 10 years after helping him win?
A small crack in one of the pillars supporting the world’s largest lift-irrigation project was the opening that Sunil Kanugolu was looking for as he shepherded the election campaign of the opposition Congress party in the southern Indian state of Telangana late last year. Up against the regional Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) party whose leader K Chandrashekhar Rao had ruled Telangana since the state’s birth a decade earlier, the Congress, riding on disenchantment over alleged corruption and nepotism, was polling well. But Kanugolu, the in-house election mastermind of the Indian National Congress or Congress party, wanted something more — something that would drive home his party’s advantage, based on a mantra that’s central to his approach. “No election is ever won by logic. Emotions win elections,” the 40-year-old says often, according to a close confidant who requested anonymity. In Telangana, a member of Kanugolu’s team found a photograph of the small crack in the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project that morphed into a poll strategy to topple the BRS from power. Mock ATM machines, branded as “Kaleshwaram ATM”, were set up in different parts of Telangana and photos of Congress workers inserting fake currency notes into the slot — which was the chief minister’s mouth — went viral. In the story that the Congress was telling, the project, constructed at a staggering cost of $9.8bn and being touted as a symbol of Telangana pride, was a crumbling testament to the BRS’ brazen corruption. The campaign was a classic example from Kanugolu’s election strategy playbook. “I’m not a believer in fighting elections with multiple, three-four-five items. There has to be one single narrative that you keep pushing and get the entire party, entire ecosystem, resources at your disposal to rally around. Other issues are sprinklings that you add to speeches and stuff like that,” Kanugolu’s confidant recalls him saying. In Telangana, that “sprinkling” included publicising welfare schemes the Congress would implement for women, farmers, youth, the elderly and poor families if voted to power. “Within about a week there was a three to nine percent swing in the vote share on the basis of the promises,” a researcher with Inclusive Minds, the Bengaluru-headquartered election consultancy firm that Kanugolu runs for the Congress, told Al Jazeera. The Congress won a clear majority and formed the government in Telangana. A decade ago, Kanugolu, a former consultant with McKinsey, was a member of the team that strategised, shaped and implemented Narendra Modi’s prime ministerial campaign. Now, a decade later, he is one of the top political consultants in the country and is working with the Congress to bring down PM Modi in the national elections that began on April 19 with the first phase of voting, and will be conducted in seven phases ending on June 1. But the challenge Kanugolu faces is not just from Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but his own Congress party as well. The Congress party has been out of power federally for 10 years, and has just 52 members of parliament (MPs) in the 543-member lower house of Indian parliament, the Lok Sabha. In May 2022, when Kanugolu officially joined the Congress, he was inducted into an eight-member “Task Force-2024”. The plan was to let him lead the Congress’s campaigns in nine states that went to polls for their regional governments in 2023 — and then tackle the 2024 general elections. But internal politics within the Congress derailed the state election plan and the task force failed to take off, forcing Kanugolu to narrow his focus and ambition. He is now working on a plan B, focussing on 100-120 constituencies where the Congress either has a winning chance or wants to put up a fight as a matter of prestige. The general hired to win India’s 2024 election war by launching a full-frontal attack on Modi’s BJP is now busy managing a hundred or so snipers and trying to make sure they don’t miss their targets. “Political consultants are not magicians. They play an important but limited role if a party is in good shape,” Sanjay Kumar, co-director of Lokniti, a New Delhi-based research organisation that studies public opinion during and between elections, told Al Jazeera. “Is there a magician who can make the Congress win the 2024 elections? Even 50 magicians can’t make the Congress win.” Narendra Modi, then chief minister of the state of Gujarat, addresses the public via a 3D projection as part of his campaign in the 2014 national election that made him prime minister, in Ahmadabad, India, Friday, April 11, 2014. Kanugolu was a part of the team that crafted Modi’s campaign [Ajit Solanki/AP Photo] Crack team Ahead of the 2014 national election, Modi, then the chief minister of the western state of Gujarat, roped in public health specialist Prashant Kishor to create a tech-savvy, data-driven election consultancy, much like future US President Barack Obama’s in 2008, to catapult him on to the national stage. Kishor in turn brought in Kanugolu, among other bright, ambitious professionals, and together they set up Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG). They conducted extensive surveys to understand what motivated people’s voting decisions, studied past voting patterns, tested what resonated with people and created a campaign strategy for the BJP by putting Modi at its centre. “There are only two ways to win elections — either you make your line big, or you cut the other person’s line,” Abhimanyu Bharti, a former political consultant with CAG, who now runs the online School of Politics, told Al Jazeera. The CAG used both these strategies effectively. It pulled out all the stops to launch a powerful campaign to exploit the rising anger against the Congress’s inefficient and corrupt government at the centre. Millions of dollars were spent to create Brand Modi and to project him as an able administrator, a decisive leader who had brought development, foreign investment and prosperity to his home state of Gujarat. A blitzkrieg of 3D vans in almost every Lok Sabha constituency beamed Modi’s
US chef’s bid to own ‘chili crunch’ name raises ire in Indonesia, Malaysia
Medan, Indonesia – When Michelle Tew, the owner of Malaysia-based food company Homiah, received a cease and desist letter from American-Korean celebrity chef David Chang last month, she felt “sadness and betrayal”. The letter informed Tew that she had 90 days to stop using the term “chili crunch” on the labels of her sambal – a chilli-based condiment popular across Southeast Asia – as Chang had trademarked the phrase. “David Chang is such a large name in the Asian-American food community and it felt very personal, even though I don’t know him personally,” Tew told Al Jazeera. “The Asian food community is really like a family and, to go after a woman-owned business, to even think of that at all and not to have a friendly conversation first, I really wondered where his compassion was.” Chang, who owns the Momofuku restaurant chain in the US and has since abandoned his trademark claim, began selling jars of “Chili Crunch” in 2020, but he is far from the first person to put such a product on the market. David Chang has come under fire for attempting to enforce a trademark for the term ‘chili crunch’ [Damian Dovarganes/AP Photo] Chilli-based condiments have been used across Asia since time immemorial. In English, they have gone by various names, including chilli crunch, chilli crisp and chilli oil, depending on their consistency and the proportions of ingredients. Tew, who learned to cook from her Malaysian grandmother, chose to call her product “Sambal Chili Crunch”, as sambal, which typically includes ingredients such as chillies, shrimp paste, garlic and palm sugar, is not widely known outside of Southeast Asia and she needed to find a way to explain it to a foreign audience. The practice of trying to trademark generic food terms is not unique to Chang or the US food and beverage industry. Arie Parikesit, a culinary guide who runs the Kelana Rasa food and tour business, said that while Chang had been trying to “monopolise” the term “chili crunch”, there had been similar cases in his native Indonesia. “A similar thing happened in the Indonesian food and beverage world when the term ‘kopitiam’ [coffee shop] was accepted as a brand right submitted by a company that had recently been established and forced classic kopitiam entities that were decades old not to use this brand,” Parikesit told Al Jazeera. “Trade name monopolies like this are clearly unhealthy and, instead of promoting Asian cuisine more widely, as David Chang and Momofuku have done, it creates a bad atmosphere among Asian food and condiment players.” “Small heritage companies will also be affected. At a time where collaboration is key, this kind of old-style rivalry deserves to be left behind,” he added. The need for a collaborative approach is underscored by the difficulty Southeast Asian food and beverage players face trying to get a foot in the door outside of the region. Tew of Homiah said that Southeast Asian food is not widely known in many parts of the world, particularly compared with other cuisines. “If you go to a supermarket in the US, there will be two whole aisles dedicated to olive oil, which is just one product. Then you might find half an aisle or a stand which has food from ‘other’ places in it, like Southeast Asian cuisine mixed together with other cuisines like Mexican.” Jun Yi Loh, a Malaysian food writer and recipe developer, agreed that Malaysian food terms are not necessarily easy to grasp, which is why descriptors such as “chili crunch” need to be used. “I’ve long held the opinion that one of the key reasons Malaysian food hasn’t blown up in the way that Singaporean or Thai food has in recent years is that our food isn’t as easy to describe or package in a sort of elevator pitch way,” Loh told Al Jazeera. Michelle Tew, the owner of Malaysia-based food company Homiah, says she felt ‘betrayed’ after receiving a cease and desist letter [Courtesy of Michelle Tew] After weeks of outcry over Momofuku’s cease and desist letters, which were sent to dozens of small businesses in the US, Chang last week backed down, saying on The Dave Chang Show podcast: “I understand why people are upset, and I’m truly sorry.” In a statement sent to Al Jazeera, Momofuku said: “When we created Chili Crunch, we wanted a name to differentiate our product from the broader chilli crisp category. We believed the name ‘Chili Crunch’ reflected the uniqueness of our product, which blends flavours from multiple culinary traditions, and bought a pre-existing trademark for the name.” Momofuku said it had taken feedback from the community on board and now understood that the term “chili crunch” carried a broader meaning. “We have no interest in ‘owning’ a culture’s terminology and we will not be enforcing the trademark going forward,” the company said. While Chang may have done a u-turn, the episode has nonetheless left a nasty taste in the mouths of some of those promoting Southeast Asian cuisine abroad. Loh said the debacle had brought to light the legal tribulations that can come with running a business in a foreign market. “It will factor into the minds of small business owners for sure,” he told Al Jazeera. “I believe this event will be remembered as a frivolous case, initiated by Momofuku and David Chang with tonnes of hubris and very little thought,” Auria Abraham, the owner of Auria’s Malaysian Kitchen, a food company selling sambal, spice blends and kaya, told Al Jazeera. Abraham, who moved to the US in the 1990s before launching her first product, Hot Chilli Sambal in 2013, said that the Momofuku furore has sparked a wider debate around who “owns” food. “We have to accept and understand that no single country, entity or person can lay claim to things like condiments, ingredients or recipes,” she said. Abraham said that Malaysian food has been shaped for centuries by immigrants who brought recipes that were shared, adopted and then modified to reflect the ingredients available in different regions. “With
Google fires 28 staff after protests against cloud contract with Israel
Tech giant says employees engaged in ‘completely unacceptable behaviour’ during sit-in at company offices. Google has fired 28 employees following a sit-down protest over the tech giant’s contract to provide cloud computing and artificial intelligence services to the Israeli government The terminations come after the group No Tech for Apartheid on Tuesday occupied Google offices in California and New York to protest the $1.2bn contract known as Project Nimbus. Video of the demonstrations shared on social media showed police arresting employees in the office of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian. In a statement on Thursday, Google said that physically impeding employees and preventing them from accessing company facilities was a “clear violation of our policies and completely unacceptable behaviour”. “After refusing multiple requests to leave the premises, law enforcement was engaged to remove them to ensure office safety,” a spokesperson said. “We have so far concluded individual investigations that resulted in the termination of employment for 28 employees, and will continue to investigate and take action as needed.” Google also denied that the contract was related to weapons or intelligence services. In a blog post, Google CEO Sundar Pichai issued a veiled warning to protesting employees. “We have a culture of vibrant, open discussion that enables us to create amazing products and turn great ideas into action. That’s important to preserve. But ultimately we are a workplace and our policies and expectations are clear: This is a business, and not a place to act in a way that disrupts coworkers or makes them feel unsafe, to attempt to use the company as a personal platform, or to fight over disruptive issues or debate politics,” Pichai said. “This is too important a moment as a company for us to be distracted.” No Tech for Apartheid accused Google of retaliation and said those fired included staff who had not directly participated in the protests. “This flagrant act of retaliation is a clear indication that Google values its $1.2 billion contract with the genocidal Israeli government and military more than its own workers. In the three years that we have been organising against Project Nimbus, we have yet to hear from a single executive about our concerns,” it said in a statement posted on Medium. No Tech For Apartheid also described claims that protesters had defaced property and physically impeded other employees’ work as a “lie”. “Even the workers who were participating in a peaceful sit-in and refusing to leave did not damage property or threaten other workers. Instead, they received an overwhelmingly positive response and shows of support,” the group said. Adblock test (Why?)
Israel hits Iran with ‘limited’ strikes despite White House opposition
Despite the White House voicing its opposition against Israel striking back at Iran, the Jewish state issued “limited” strikes early Friday. Fox News Digital has confirmed there have been explosions in Isfahan province where Natanz is located, though it is not clear whether it has been hit. A well-placed military source has told Fox that the strike was “limited.” The news came after President Joe Biden warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S. would not take part in a counter-offensive against Iran. ISRAEL STRIKES SITE IN IRAN IN RETALIATION FOR WEEKEND ASSAULT: SOURCE John Kirby, the White House’s top national security spokesperson, told ABC’s “This Week” program on Sunday, April 14 that the United States will continue to help Israel defend itself, but does not want war with Iran. Kirby said “our commitment is ironclad” to defending Israel and to “helping Israel defend itself,” after being asked if the U.S. would support retaliation. Kirby doubled-down on the fact that Biden does not “seek” war with Iran. “And as the president has said many times, we don’t seek a wider war in the region. We don’t seek a war with Iran. And I think I will leave it at that,” Kirby added. ISRAEL’S ADVANCED MILITARY TECHNOLOGY ON FULL DISPLAY DURING IRAN’S ATTACK “We don’t seek escalated tensions in the region. We don’t seek a wider conflict,” Kirby said. Pentagon Press Secretary Major General Pat Ryder echoed Kirby’s sentiments, sharing in a press briefing that the U.S. does “not want to see a wider regional war.” “As I’ve highlighted, we do not seek escalation in the region, but we will not hesitate to defend Israel and protect our personnel,” he said during the question and answer segment of the briefing. “Again, we do not want to see a wider regional war,” he added. “We don’t seek conflict with Iran, but we won’t hesitate to take [the] necessary actions to protect our forces.” Reports of Israel’s “limited strike” against Iran came following a retaliatory strike over the weekend. Iran attacked Israel over the weekend in retaliation for Israel’s deadly strike on Iran’s consulate in Syria earlier this month that killed a dozen people, including a top general. The weekend attack by Iran marked a major escalation of violence. Despite decades of hostilities between the two nations, Iran has never directly attacked Israel, instead relying on proxy forces in Iraq, Lebanon and elsewhere. Fox News’ Bradford Betz and Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report.
Reports of Israel’s retaliatory strikes against Iran prompt reactions from lawmakers: ‘Right to defend itself’
Lawmakers reacted after Israel reportedly struck a site in Iran early Friday in retaliation for Tehran firing a barrage of missiles and drones at Israel last weekend. A handful of American politicians defended Israel’s “right to defend itself,” calling for the U.S. to “stand with Israel.” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital that Israel had a “right and obligation to respond” and blamed the recent attacks on President Biden’s handling of foreign policy in the region. “The scope of Israel’s action tonight shows just how far Iran’s reach has extended across the region. Iran’s advances should worry every American, because when Iran’s leaders chant ‘Death to Israel’ they also chant ‘Death to America,’” Cruz said. “Iran launched a massive attack and act of war against Israel. That attack was enabled because Joe Biden and Biden officials dismantled pressure on the Ayatollah.” ISRAEL STRIKES SITE IN IRAN IN RETALIATION FOR WEEKEND ASSAULT: SOURCE “Thankfully, after decades of cooperation with the United States, and thanks to President Trump’s diplomacy in the Middle East, we and our Israeli and Arab allies repelled that attack,” he said. “However, it was still an act of war, and Israel had the right and obligation to respond. “Congress should ensure the United States stands unequivocally with our Israeli allies as they do so and reestablish deterrence,” Cruz said. Following Iran’s attack on Israel last weekend, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., asked how America would respond if it were attacked. “If another country targeted America with the single biggest drone attack in history, how would we respond?” he asked. ISRAEL’S ADVANCED MILITARY TECHNOLOGY ON FULL DISPLAY DURING IRAN’S ATTACK After reports of the Friday attack surfaced, Rubio posted on X: “Israel has the ability to conduct strikes against targets inside Iran without entering Iranian airspace from aircraft over Syrian and Iraqi airspace.” Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz defended Israel’s reported attack, saying it has the “right to defend itself against Iran’s full network of evil,” while placing blame on the Biden administration. “Iran and its proxies have mounted attacks against Israel for years, and under the Biden administration’s foreign policy, things have only escalated. Israel has a right to defend itself against Iran’s full network of evil,” Gaetz wrote on X. “Wisdom must be displayed,” he said. “A broadening regional war is in the best interest of no Middle Eastern country – or the United States.” “The United States stands with Israel,” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla, added on X shortly after reports of Israel’s retaliatory attack on Iran. Fox News Digital confirmed that there have been explosions in the Isfahan province where Natanz – the site of one of Iran’s nuclear facilities – is located, though it is not clear whether it has been hit. A well-placed military source has told Fox that the strike was “limited.” Fox News’ Bradford Betz and Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report.
As Lok Sabha polls 2024 start, will extreme heat be a threat to voters? Here’s what IMD has to say
While hot weather is part of everyday life in much of India, the intensity and frequency of heat waves are rising due to climate change, increasing the risk of working or other outdoor activities.