Attention to the Unseen

Business Insider reports: Over the last several weeks, members of Congress have openly discussed the idea of conditioning US aid to Israel. The conversation has been driven by the climbing death toll and worsening conditions for Palestinian civilians in Gaza, far-right policies pursued by the Netanyahu government, and a sense that Israel has not been interested in pursuing a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in recent years. Conditions aren’t likely to happen, at least in the near term. The…

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Just Security reports: On Dec. 6, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sent an urgent letter to the Security Council on the desperate humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, using the seldom invoked authority in Article 99 of the UN Charter. In his letter, the Secretary-General reiterates his previous appeals for a humanitarian ceasefire and warns that public order in Gaza will “completely break down soon due to the desperate conditions.” A rarely used diplomatic tool, Article 99 allows the head…

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The New York Times reports: Republicans on Wednesday blocked an emergency spending bill to fund the war in Ukraine, demanding strict new border restrictions in exchange and severely jeopardizing President Biden’s push to replenish the war chests of American allies before the end of the year. The failed vote highlighted waning support in the United States for continuing to fund Ukraine’s war effort at a perilous time in the conflict, with Kyiv’s counteroffensive failing to meet its objectives and Russia’s…

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Robert A. Pape writes: Since October 7, Israel has invaded northern Gaza with some 40,000 combat troops and pummeled the small area with one of the most intense bombing campaigns in history. Nearly two million people have fled their homes as a result. More than 15,000 civilians (including some 6,000 children and 5,000 women) have been killed in the attacks, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health, and the U.S. State Department has suggested that the true toll may be…

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  Israel’s ambassador to the UK said a safe zone for Palestinians called “Mawasi” had been set up in the south of Gaza. But when Sky’s team visited, there was no aid, no food kitchens and no help.

Reuters reports: Israeli authorities are investigating claims by U.S. researchers that some investors may have known in advance of a Hamas plan to attack Israel on Oct. 7 and used that information to profit from Israeli securities. Research by law professors Robert Jackson Jr from New York University and Joshua Mitts of Columbia University found significant short-selling of shares leading up to the attacks, which triggered a war nearly two months old. “Days before the attack, traders appeared to anticipate…

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The Daily Beast reports: The White House told party leaders in the House and Senate on Monday that they are running out of time to reach an agreement on sending more aide to Ukraine in its war against Russia. The director of the Office of Management and Budget, Shalanda Young, explained that a lack of funding would “kneecap Ukraine on the battlefield.” “I want to be clear: Without congressional action, by the end of the year we will run out…

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The Washington Post reports: On June 15, in a conference room at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, flanked by top U.S. commanders, sat around a table with his Ukrainian counterpart, who was joined by aides from Kyiv. The room was heavy with an air of frustration. Austin, in his deliberate baritone, asked Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov about Ukraine’s decision-making in the opening days of its long-awaited counteroffensive, pressing him on why his forces weren’t using Western-supplied…

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Daanish Faruqi writes: As the humanitarian pause took effect in Gaza, footage of the massive destruction in the northern part of the enclave has started to trickle in. Seeing these images of devastation, one cannot but think of Thomas Friedman’s reference to what he calls the “Hama rules” in an article he published with The New York Times on October 14. A neologism he coined many years ago, it refers to then-Syrian President Hafez al-Assad’s violent razing of the city…

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Politico reports: Muslim leaders from several swing states on Saturday descended on Dearborn, Michigan, to launch a national campaign against the reelection of President Joe Biden — a response to his handling of the Israel-Hamas conflict. Organizers from Michigan, Minnesota, Arizona, Wisconsin, Florida, Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania are calling the campaign #AbandonBiden, vowing to ensure that Biden is a one-term president. These leaders have run separate pressure campaigns in their respective states, members of the coalition said, but they felt…

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