Can the EU develop a shared foreign policy?
The divisions between EU member states over Israel’s war on Gaza contrast with near unity on the Russia-Ukraine war. European Union foreign ministers have met to discuss the Red Sea crisis, the Gaza war and Ukraine. There’s unity on some issues – but sharp division on others. Is it possible for the bloc of 27 states to have a shared or meaningful foreign policy? Presenter: Nastasya Tay Guests: Suzanne Lynch – chief Brussels correspondent, Politico Julien Barnes-Dacey – director of the Middle East and North Africa programme of the European Council on Foreign Relations Ben Aris – founder and editor-in-chief of bne IntelliNews, a business media company focusing on emerging markets Adblock test (Why?)
US demands ‘urgent’ Israeli probe into Palestinian-American child’s death
US calls for a quick investigation into the killing of 17-year-old Tawfiq Ajaq in the occupied West Bank. The United States has urged Israel to launch an investigation into the death of Tawfiq Ajaq, a 17-year-old Palestinian-American who Palestinian authorities say was killed by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank. At a press briefing in Washington, DC on Monday, US State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters that the US is “devastated about the killing” and is continuing “to engage closely with the Government of Israel to ascertain as much information as possible”. “We have called for an urgent investigation to determine the circumstance of his death,” Patel said. He added that the head of the US Office of Palestinian Affairs had visited Ajaq’s family to offer condolences and would continue assisting them together with the US Embassy in Jerusalem. Ajaq was born in Gretna, Louisiana, near New Orleans, and was brought to the West Bank by his parents last year. Ajaq’s relative, Joe Abdel Qaki, said Tawfiq and a friend were having a barbecue in a village field when he was shot. Speaking at his son’s funeral on Saturday, Tawfiq’s father, Hafez Ajaq, said Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank were “killer machines”. Israeli police have said they received a report on Friday regarding a “firearm discharge, ostensibly involving an off-duty law enforcement officer, a soldier and a civilian”. Police did not identify who fired the shot, though they said the shooting targeted people “purportedly engaged in rock-throwing activities along Highway 60″, the main north-south thoroughfare in the occupied West Bank. “This is not the first time Defense for Children Palestine hasn’t been able to confirm whether a settler or soldier killed a child. One aids and abets the other,” Miranda Cleland, an advocacy officer with Defense for Children Palestine, said in a post on X. Tawfiq is an American child who was chased & shot at by an Israeli settler, THEN Israeli forces pulled up and continued shooting. This is not the first time @DCIPalestine hasn’t been able to confirm whether a settler or soldier killed a child. One aids and abets the other. https://t.co/hvwD8LYuZM — Miranda Cleland (@MirandaCleland) January 20, 2024 At least 369 people have been killed by Israeli troops and settlers in the occupied West Bank since October, including 95 children. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) also noted that 2023 was the deadliest year for children in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, with 124 Palestinian and six Israeli children killed there since the start of the year. Mustafa Barghouti, the general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative party, told Al Jazeera that the growing raids and attacks in the occupied West Bank are an attempt by Israel to reoccupy the territory “completely”. “This is a clear message from [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu,” Barghouti said. “He’s saying there’s no place anymore for any independent Palestinian authority here. He’s reoccupying the West Bank as he is trying to reoccupy Gaza.” Adblock test (Why?)
Republicans probe DHS Secretary Mayorkas over role in housing migrants on federal lands
FIRST ON FOX: House Republican leaders on the Natural Resources Committee are probing the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) role in placing migrants on federal lands in New York. In a letter sent Monday to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., and Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., who chairs the panel’s oversight subcommittee, cited interviews they conducted with federal officials who confirmed DHS’s involvement in the decision to house migrants at Gateway National Recreation Area’s Floyd Bennett Field, managed by the National Park Service (NPS). While DHS, according to the letter, intervened to ensure Floyd Bennett Field, in New York City’s Brooklyn borough, would be leased to the local government for migrant housing, the land is managed by the Department of the Interior (DOI) and NPS. In one interview, a senior DOI official told congressional investigators that they “did what DHS asked us to do” when they moved forward with the plan last year. “The Committee is deeply concerned with the Biden administration leasing NPS land for use as a migrant encampment, a use that is not only inconsistent with the National Park Service Organic Act, but publicly recognized as legally perilous by DOI,” Westerman and Gosar wrote to Mayorkas. REPUBLICANS ACCELERATE PROBE INTO BIDEN ADMINISTRATION’S ACTIONS TO HOUSE MIGRANTS ON FEDERAL LANDS “Moreover, the Committee is concerned with the role DHS played in the process, particularly as you described it in the letters to Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul and as described to Committee staff by DOI and NPS officials,” the Republican lawmakers continued. MAYOR’S OFFICE AVOIDS SAYING WHETHER IT BACKS NONCITIZENS VOTING AFTER WARNING MIGRANT CRISIS WILL DESTROY NYC In August, Mayorkas sent letters to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams, hitting back at the officials over their handling of the surge of migrants in New York City, Politico reported at the time. He further noted “structural issues” with New York’s handling of the crisis and implored the city and state to accept a lease DOI sent for the temporary use of Floyd Bennett Field to house migrants. “DOI seeks to finalize that lease as soon as you are ready,” Mayorkas wrote to Hochul and Adams, according to Politico. Weeks later, on Sept. 15, DOI and the local parties executed the agreement to lease portions of Floyd Bennett Field’s property. Officials then constructed temporary housing on land along the shore of Jamaica Bay. However, the Republican leaders have pointed out that, prior to the decision to lease the property, Hochul noted the DOI had itself argued such an action would likely violate federal laws. The governor, who has called for federal assistance in dealing with her state’s migrant influx, remarked one month prior that officials told her office “they do not allow for use of shelter on any of their properties.” REPUBLICANS FUME AT BIDEN FOR VACATIONING AS BORDER CROSSINGS EXPLODE: ‘DERELICTION OF DUTY’ The Republicans have also probed how the White House Council on Environmental Quality appears to have allowed DOI to bypass the normal eco review process mandated under the National Environmental Policy Act. The 1969 law requires federal agencies to review the environmental impacts of projects and proposals on federal land before approval. Meanwhile, the housing facility erected at Floyd Bennett Field has been heavily criticized by migrants as inhumane and, according to a Venezuelan mother of three interviewed by The City, “like a hell.” Thousands of migrants at the encampment were evacuated earlier this month and sent to a New York City high school, forcing the school to cancel in-person classes. The Natural Resources Committee’s ongoing investigation comes as migrants continue to flood the southern border in record numbers and Republicans call for the Biden administration to make structural reforms to secure the border. In December, more than 302,000 migrants were encountered attempting to cross the U.S. southern border, by far the largest single month figure ever recorded. The number also brought fiscal 2024 first-quarter numbers to 785,000 encounters, the highest number ever recorded. DHS didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
U.S. Supreme Court says Texas can’t block federal agents from the border
The high court’s order effectively maintains long-running precedent that the federal government — not individual states — has authority to enforce border security.
Supreme Court rejects appeal from former Hunter Biden business partner regarding criminal conviction
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from Hunter Biden’s former business partner regarding his criminal conviction for his alleged role in defrauding a Native American tribe. Devon Archer, who served on Ukrainian energy company Burisma’s board alongside Hunter Biden, previously lost an appeal before the high court. A federal judge sentenced Archer to prison in 2018 for allegedly defrauding the tribe by fraudulently issuing $60 million in tribal bonds after he was convicted by a jury. However, his conviction was thrown out in late 2018 by U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams in Manhattan because she was “left with an unwavering concern that Archer is innocent of the crimes charged,” according to Reuters. HUNTER HAS TIES TO NEARLY 2 DOZEN CURRENT, FORMER BIDEN OFFICIALS AS FEDERAL CHARGES, HOUSE PROBES LOOM Archer’s conviction was reinstated by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals a month before the 2020 election and he received a one-year and one-day prison sentence in February 2022. Despite the sentence, Archer’s lawyer, Matthew Schwartz, has maintained his innocence and said they intended to file a series of appeals, which has delayed Archer serving his sentence. “Mr. Archer is obviously disappointed with today’s sentence, and intends to appeal. It is unfortunate that the judge, who has previously expressed concern that Mr. Archer is innocent of the crimes charged and reiterated that belief today, felt that she was constrained not to act on her independent assessment of the evidence,” Schwartz said in February 2022. The ordeal stems from Archer’s alleged role in defrauding a Native American tribal entity and various investment advisory clients of tens of millions of dollars in connection with the issuance of bonds by the tribal entity and the subsequent sale of those bonds through “fraudulent and deceptive means,” according to the Department of Justice. Hunter Biden was not involved with the scheme. HUNTER BIDEN TOLD DEVON ARCHER THEY WOULD GET ‘LAST LAUGH’ AFTER CONVICTION WAS THROWN OUT: ‘MOTHERF—ERS’ CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Abrams previously ruled that evidence presented earlier against Archer did not show that he “knew that the bond issue was fraudulent, or that he received any personal benefit from it,” according to Reuters. However, she would later say in 2022 that the alleged crime was “too serious” to let Archer get no prison time, claiming that “there’s no dispute about the harm caused to real people.” Schwartz, Archer’s attorney, did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.
Supreme Court sides with Biden in Texas border razor wire case
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday sided with the Biden administration in a case involving a razor wire fence along Texas’ border with Mexico. The court’s decision allows Border Patrol agents to cut concertina wire that Texas had installed along the border near Eagle Pass while litigation continues. The roughly 30 miles of wire had been installed as part of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s broader fight with the administration over immigration enforcement and attempts to stem the historic flow of migrants across the border since Biden’s term began. In court papers, the Biden administration argued that the wire impedes Border Patrol agents from reaching migrants as they cross the river and that, in any case, federal immigration laws trumps Texas’ own efforts to stem the flow of migrants into the country. In a 5-4 vote Monday, the justices granted an emergency appeal from the Biden administration, which has been in an escalating standoff at the border with Texas and had objected to an appellate ruling in favor of the state. SENATOR HAWLEY INTRODUCES BILL TO SLASH DHS FUNDING OF ‘LIBERAL PROPAGANDA’ The deciding vote was cast by Justice Roberts, while Justices Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh were in the dissent. Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a Trump appointee, also sided with the majority. No justice provided an explanation for their vote. Most of the razor wire is deployed in the Shelby Park area of Eagle Pass. It is owned by the city but was recently seized by the State of Texas. Federal Border Patrol agents have been blocked from the park since then, a move the Border Patrol Union publicly supports. The litigation is one of several legal challenges in federal court by the Biden administration over Texas’ border enforcement policies, including floating barriers in the Rio Grande as well as trespassing arrests and incarceration of illegal immigrants by the state.. Those cases have yet to reach the Supreme Court. This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Sens. Tuberville and Marshall endorse Trump-backed Arizona Republican Kari Lake for Senate
Republican Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake picked up two more Senate GOP endorsements in her bid to defeat Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., in what’s anticipated to be one of 2024’s closely contested races. Sens. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., and Roger Marshall, R-Kan., endorsed former President Donald Trump’s surrogate in the Arizona race in a campaign news release. “If I learned anything from my 40 years of coaching football, it was the value of teamwork,” Tuberville said in a statement. “And if I’ve learned anything during my time in the Senate, it’s that America needs more common-sense conservatives willing to go against the grain in Washington, DC, and fight to take our freedoms back. Kari Lake is just the teammate I need beside me in the United States Senate. That’s why she has my complete endorsement.” Lake said in a statement that she and Tuberville are “cut from the same cloth” and “share the relentless drive to save our country.” “And he needs more America First Senators to take the field alongside him and win this country back,” she said. KARI LAKE PICKS UP FIRST MAJOR ENDORSEMENT IN RACE TO FLIP ARIZONA SENATE SEAT RED Marshall said in a statement that Lake is “a straight shooter who will work tirelessly to secure our border, protect our constitutional rights, rein in inflation, and support law and order.” “For these reasons and a litany of others, I am honored to endorse her candidacy for the U.S. Senate,” he said. In a statement, Lake said Marshall “understands, like I do, the need to help women, save babies, and empower families.” “In the Senate, I will work with him on improving our healthcare system, championing strong agriculture policies, securing America’s border and defending our 2nd amendment. I am proud to have his endorsement to be the next U.S. Senator from Arizona,” her statement read. The two lawmakers join the third ranking GOP senator, Republican Conference Chairman John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., who threw their support behind Lake in December. KARI LAKE GETS ANOTHER BIG BOOST WHILE GOP INCREASINGLY SEES HER AS STANDARD-BEARER FOR MAJOR SENATE SEAT FLIP Lake’s only major opponent in the Republican primary is Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb. The conservative firebrand gained national attention in her 2022 gubernatorial bid in Arizona, making Trump’s voter fraud allegations a key campaign issue. Lake lost to Democrat Katie Hobbs.
White House doubles down after Biden admits US border not secure: ‘The system is broken’
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre doubled down on President Biden’s admission that the U.S. border is not secure on Monday. Jean-Pierre nevertheless dodged when asked why Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has repeatedly testified to Congress that the border is in fact secure. The White House described the border as a “broken” system that needs further funding. “On Friday, President Biden said that he does not believe the border is secure, which is different from what Secretary Mayorkas has testified multiple times on the Hill. Why do they have two different views of the security of the border?” a reporter asked. “The president has been really clear that we need to move on the border,” Jean-Pierre responded. “Him saying that we need to deal with border security, as we, as Mayorkas, as we all have here been doing at the White House, I think shows that we have an issue at the border and we need to deal with it, and we have to act now. There’s an urgent need.” ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT POPULATION SOARS UNDER BIDEN: GOVERNMENT DATA “Mayorkas, who is tasked with making sure those resources are applied – If he is saying something different than the president about whether it’s secure or not. I guess I have a hard time understanding why there is a disconnect here,” the reporter pressed. MIGRANT CRISIS INCREASING STRAIN ON BORDER OFFICIALS, IMMIGRATION COURTS WITH MASSIVE NUMBERS “Look, the president has repeatedly said the immigration system is broken,” Jean-Pierre responded, going on to point to immigration proposals he put forward over the past three years. Biden’s administration has sought to downplay record-high levels of illegal immigration seen in the late months of 2023. As many as 10,000 migrants were arrested daily at the southwest U.S. border in December, but the White House sought to pass it off as a seasonal surge. There were 242,418 migrant encounters at the southern border in November – the highest November on record and the third-highest month ever. Meanwhile, Republicans on Capitol Hill are pursuing impeachment against Mayorkas. “This one man is the architect of destruction down here. One man has caused all this chaos, deaths from fentanyl poisoning, danger to the country with terrorists coming in and 8 million encounters with no legal status. He is the architect. He has destroyed the fabric of this nation,” Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo on Sunday. Fox News’ Lawrence Richard contributed to this report
Marjorie Taylor Greene heads to New Hampshire to support Trump: ‘Live Free or Die!’
Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said she’s going to New Hampshire to support former President Donald Trump ahead of the first-in-the-nation primary election on Tuesday. Greene announced on social media that she is heading to the Granite State to support Trump in his push for the top of the GOP ticket in 2024, proclaiming the former president will have an “historic” win. “I’m so excited to be heading to The Granite State today to support President Trump in the first in the nation primary!” Greene wrote on Monday. “Tomorrow’s victory will be historic!” TRUMP VS HALEY: WHERE THEY STAND IN THE GOP PRIMARY BATTLE AND HOW THEY MATCH UP WITH BIDEN “Live Free or Die!!” she added, quoting the New Hampshire state motto. Greene’s name has been thrown around in recent years as a potential running mate for Trump as he vies for his second term. However, Trump has not made a decision on who will be joining him on his 2024 ticket. Still, speculation has been fueled by the Georgia Republican’s appearances at Trump’s rallies, and she has been a top surrogate for the president before. Greene’s travel comes before the critical New Hampshire primary election. The GOP primary field has dwindled down to two major names, Trump and his former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended his campaign on Sunday. Trump and Haley are both campaigning hard ahead of Tuesday’s primary, and a win for either of them is crucial. If Trump wins, he will likely solidify himself as the GOP nominee for president in 2024, setting up a rematch with President Biden. However, should Haley win, it creates a chink in Trump’s armor and allows for a narrative boost to the former South Carolina governor. Trump, who is running a third straight time for the White House, stands at 57% support in a daily tracking poll released on Monday by Suffolk University, the Boston Globe and NBC10 in Boston, with Haley at 38%. Both candidates received two-point bumps with the departure of DeSantis, who was a distant third in New Hampshire in the single digits. Fox News Digital reached out to Greene and Trump’s campaigns for comment. Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed reporting.
Could a divided Jewish base upend US Democrats’ presidential hopes?
Dearborn, Michigan – Raised in a Jewish American household, Dana Kornberg was in her early 20s when she started to become critical of the Israeli government. It was 2006, and Kornberg was touring Israel, as part of what is called a birthright trip, a tradition for Jewish teens and young adults. During her travels, she saw Israeli construction workers building a tall concrete barrier to fence in parts of the occupied West Bank, a landlocked Palestinian territory. She also heard Israeli comments about Palestinians that made her uncomfortable: “They were alluded to as being dangerous.” Those experiences made her concerned about Israel’s treatment of Palestinians — something that evoked in her parallels to Jewish oppression throughout history. “To me, it was horrific,” said Kornberg, now a 41-year-old assistant sociology professor. “What lessons have we learned from what our people have gone through?” Dana Kornberg addresses protesters in front of a federal building in Detroit, Michigan, in October [Stephen Starr/Al Jazeera] Now, as Israel’s war in Gaza continues to rage, Jewish American voters such as Kornberg are grappling with the US’s role in the conflict — and how it will affect their voting preferences in the upcoming presidential election. Jewish American voters have long been seen as a reliably Democratic voting bloc: The Pew Research Center dubbed them “among the most consistently liberal and Democratic groups in the US population”. During the last presidential election cycle, eight out of 10 Jewish people identified as Democratic. But US policy towards Israel and the war in Gaza has since divided Jewish Americans, as well as the broader Democratic base, leading to fears of a depressed turnout. On one hand, President Joe Biden has continued to rally strong support among Jewish voters by pledging his “rock-solid and unwavering” support to Israel, as it leads a months-long military campaign in Gaza. That stance, however, has provoked outcry among more progressive Jewish organisations, as the death toll in the Palestinian enclave soars past 25,200. Questions of rising anti-Semitism in the US have also mobilised Jewish advocacy groups, ahead of what is expected to be a tightly fought race for the White House in November. A January poll from USA Today and Suffolk University showed narrow margins separating Biden from his chief Republican rival, former President Donald Trump. Biden received 37 percent support in the poll, compared with Trump’s 39. Other surveys have shown foreign policy to be a top issue for voters this year, with a majority of Americans backing a ceasefire in Gaza, something Biden has refused to call for. Kornberg, a member of the progressive organisation Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), is among those protesting Biden’s stance on the war in Gaza, where United Nations experts have warned of the risk of genocide and famine. In recent months, Kornberg has travelled from Michigan to Washington, DC, and Chicago to join demonstrations calling for a ceasefire. She was one of nearly 100 protesters arrested in November for blocking the Israeli consulate in Chicago. Kornberg questioned whether Biden would be able to rally Jewish American voters before the general election. Even the prospect of a second Trump presidency, she warned, might not be enough to unite the Democratic base. “I’m just not convinced that the fear of Trump is going to be enough to get [Democratic voters] to go to the polls,” Kornberg said. She also criticised Biden for statements he made downplaying the Palestinian death toll and tying Jewish wellbeing worldwide to Israel. “When Biden says things like, ‘The only place Jews can feel safe is Israel’, that’s a severely anti-Semitic comment because a lot of us heard it as if Jewish people shouldn’t be safe in this country,” she said of the US. President Joe Biden has rallied support among the majority of Jewish voters, but younger voters are more sceptical of his track record in Gaza [Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo] But the question of how Israel is perceived — and whether its actions in Gaza are justified — is an issue that has split Jewish American communities along generational lines. A poll in November from the Jewish Electorate Institute found that Biden retains strong Jewish support overall: Three-quarters of participants approved of his handling of Israel’s war in Gaza. That number dropped, however, when young Jewish Americans were viewed in isolation. Only 53 percent of Jewish voters ages 18 to 35 approved of Biden’s stance, compared with 82 percent for other voting age groups. Still, participants overwhelmingly backed Biden. An estimated 68 percent said they would vote for the Democratic incumbent, compared with 22 percent for Trump and 11 percent who were undecided. Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, a pro-Israel advocacy group, credited that high level of support to shared values. “Overwhelmingly, Jewish voters support President Biden because he represents the interests and values of the Jewish community, including — but not limited to — support of Israel,” Soifer told Al Jazeera. She also named “abortion, democracy, gun safety, climate change, the economy [and] anti-Semitism” as “key issues driving the Jewish vote”. But Soifer added that she saw renewed party engagement after October 7, the day the Palestinian group Hamas launched attacks on southern Israel, killing an estimated 1,200 people. “Jewish voters self-identify as Democrats over Republicans by a nearly 50-point margin. This has only been solidified in the aftermath of October 7,” Soifer explained. Her organisation has also seen an uptick in support following the Hamas attack, she added. Progressive and anti-Zionist Jewish American advocacy groups have likewise reported a significant bump in membership following the start of the war in Gaza. “Since October 7, our following and base has doubled or more by nearly every measure,” said Liv Kunins-Berkowitz of Jewish Voice for Peace. “We now have over 1.8 million followers on our social media accounts and over 720,000 people that JVP counts as our base. They subscribe to our email list and regularly engage in JVP’s campaigns, demonstrations and workshops.” House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Minority