Netanyahu Invited to Address Congress
US congressional leaders have invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress, in a show of support for West Jerusalem and despite the political divide over Israel’s military operation in Gaza.
A letter published by House Speaker Mike Johnson on Friday said the invitation had been extended to “highlight America’s solidarity with Israel.” The date for the speech has not been specified.
The invitation – which was also signed by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, along with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries – has reportedly been in the works for some time.
Netanyahu’s planned visit exposed divisions among US lawmakers, particularly within the Democratic caucus, when the idea was put forward in May. Some argue for maintaining a strong Jewish state in the region, while others are critical of Israel’s human rights record.
Schumer added his signature after weeks of delay, despite having strongly criticized Netanyahu in March for his handling of the Israel-Hamas war. He called on Netanyahu to hold new elections, as the current government has been “too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza, which is pushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows.”
The Israel-Hamas war, now in its seventh month after the October 7 surprise attack by the Palestinian militant group, has caused concerns in the US and abroad over Netanyahu’s military strategy. The Gaza health authorities claim the operation has killed more than 36,000 in the Palestinian enclave. In May, the International Criminal Court accused Netanyahu and his defense minister, along with three Hamas leaders, of war crimes.
In May, a number of Schumer’s fellow Democrats reportedly pushed for him not to sign the letter when the idea was suggested. House Intelligence Committee ranking member Jim Himes said Netanyahu “should be focused on freeing hostages, not on charming legislators.”READ MORE: Israel has offered new Gaza ceasefire plan – Biden
Congressman Dan Kildee told Axios that a speech by the Israeli prime minister would “complicate an already complicated situation,” while former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi simply said no to the idea.
Democratic Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky called Netanyahu a “menace,” telling The Hill that “should he come for any reason, in any venue, I am not going to be there.”
US President Joe Biden has said he supports Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas, but has grown critical of the country’s war conduct. On Friday, Biden presented a new ceasefire plan that he says would lead to the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza and could end the hostilities.
White House Lied to Congress About Israel-Gaza, Per Official Resigning in Protest
A State Department official has resigned in protest, saying the Biden White House lied to Congress on a critical report so American weapons could keep flowing to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) for its war in Gaza.
That official is Stacy Gilbert, a 20-year State Department employee who was a civil military advisor in the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration. In February, a national security memo directive tasked the State and Defense departments with writing a report assessing whether Israel was complying with the Geneva Conventions, and whether Israel was thwarting the flow of humanitarian assistance. Working with other experts, Gilbert was tasked with answering the latter question.
That question had enormous implications: The Foreign Assistance Act prohibits aid to countries that thwart the flow of US humanitarian aid. Gilbert says she and other experts formed a clear consensus that Israel had blocked aid “in many ways,” and that they began crafting a report with that conclusion.
However, with the report still in rough draft form, Gilbert said senior officials shut her and other subject matter experts out of the project, and proceeded to rewrite the report over the ensuing days before it was due to be filed with Congress.
Gilbert told PBS:
“When the report came out on May 10, and I read the conclusion…that Israel was not blocking humanitarian assistance, I decided I would resign, because that was absolutely not the opinion of subject matter experts in the State Department, USAID, the humanitarian community, organizations that are working in Gaza.”
The estimated Palestinian death toll in Gaza has crossed 36,000. In the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas invasion of southern Israel, Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant announced a “complete siege” of the 25-mile long strip. “There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed,” he said. “We are fighting human animals and are acting accordingly.” Earlier this month, the UN World Food Programme said that northern Gaza is in the midst of a “full-blown famine.”
Despite receiving tens of billions of dollars in weapons and money for its war, Israel has ignored Washington’s pleas for mercy and thwarted the flow of aid through overland crossings — to the extent that President Biden ordered the construction of a pier off the Gaza coast to do an end-run around the IDF –spending $320 million and critically injuring a service member in the process. Upon completion, the pier promptly fell apart in rough weather and it’s being removed for repair and the price tag gets bigger.
Israeli citizens have done their own part to thwart the flow of aid:
Israeli settlers continued to attack aid trucks passing through the West Bank, blocking food from reaching Gaza as humanitarian groups warn that civilians are starving.
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) May 28, 2024
Last week, Israeli protestors stomped on boxes of food and torched several trucks. https://t.co/fgmHtGSHuy pic.twitter.com/2h9Ha5mwWX
In a statement explaining her resignation, Gilbert wrote:
“There is abundant evidence showing Israel is responsible for blocking aid. To deny this is absurd and shameful…Some members of the US government…made a conscious choice to deny the facts on the ground in Gaza in order to continue military support for Israel’s disastrous conduct in this war…
Another State Department official who’d already resigned in protest of the Biden administration’s management of the Israel-Gaza war used Gilbert’s resignation as an opportunity to renew his own condemnation. “On the day when the White House announced that the latest atrocity in Rafah did not cross its red line, this resignation demonstrates that the Biden Administration will do anything to avoid the truth,” wrote Josh Paul, formerly of the State Department’s Bureau of Political affairs.
On March 9, Biden warned Israel against a major attack on the southernmost Gaza city of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians had fled for safety — explicitly calling it a “red line.” On Sunday, an Israeli strike in Rafah killed at least 45 people, including 12 women and 8 children. Many of the victims were incinerated in tents. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was a “tragic mistake.” The White House said the strike didn’t cross a red line and wouldn’t effect US policy.
Has there ever been a more despicable liar? https://t.co/soCNZvd5xD
— Daniel McAdams (@DanielLMcAdams) May 29, 2024
Gilbert says her motivation for resigning extends beyond the restriction of humanitarian aid:
“Israel’s killing of at least 36,000 Palestinians, deliberate destruction of the majority of buildings, and attacks on every major medical facility, schools, and stores, lives and livelihoods, can’t be ignored…I cannot continue working for a government that denies and enables Israel’s deliberate carnage in Gaza.”
Meanwhile, as the resignations keep piling up, US bombs keep dropping on Palestinian militants and innocents alike…
Yo! New IDF thirst trap video just dropped and it is ???
— Greg J Stoker (@gregjstoker) May 31, 2024
Must watch… pic.twitter.com/6C2s1eHLFt
France Foils Planned Attack on Paris Olympics as Israel’s Mossad Warns of Terrorism Ahead of Games
Radical progressive leaders across the Western world, along with leftist non-governmental organizations, are continuing to facilitate an unprecedented migrant invasion into Europe and the US. This poses a significant national security risk as terror threats surge into summer.
Jumping across the Alantic to Europe, the French interior minister told AP News that security officers foiled an attack ahead of soccer events during the Paris Olympics.
Gerald Darmanin said in a statement that the members of the General Directorate of Internal Security arrested an 18-year-old man from Chechnya on May 22 on suspicion of being behind a plan to attack soccer events that will be held in the city of Saint-Etienne, southwest of Lyon. -AP
The report continued:
The man was preparing an attack targeting the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium in the city of Saint-Etienne that will host several soccer matches during the Summer Games. The planned attack was to target spectators and police forces, the statement said. The suspect wanted to attack the Olympic events “to die and become a martyr,” the statement also said. -AP
Besides the person from Chechnya, Israel’s Mossad was quoted by The Jerusalem Post as also saying there are rising threats of terrorism ahead of the soccer events in France.
Iran is increasing its support of terror in Europe through proxy criminal groups in the 60-day lead-up to the Paris Olympics, the Mossad revealed on Thursday.
It highlighted in particular the activities of two criminal groups — FOXTROT and RUMBA — alleging that they were “directly responsible for a violent activity and the promotion of terrorism in Sweden and throughout Europe” and that they receive funds and direction directly from Iran.
Israel’s spy agency charged that Iran was behind the grenade attack against Israel’s Embassy in Belgium this past weekend and the gunshots near the embassy in Sweden on May 17. –JPost
In recent days…
Pro-Palestinian Group Claims To Cut Fiber Cables At UK Defense Factory Making F-35 Targeting Systems https://t.co/fBkFvd3BBt
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 30, 2024
Let’s not forget in the US, the terror group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine has been linked to fueling chaos across colleges and universities. Through public records analysis, we have found links with PFLP to one sanctioned Iranian bank.
Absurd: Radical Leftist Rashida Tlaib Speaks At Conference Connected With Terrorist Group https://t.co/kBfUR0Ep3y
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 27, 2024
Remember the warning from the UAE Foreign Minister in 2017…
The West is beyond compromised.
Microplastics Discovered in All Semen Samples in New Study
Microplastics have been discovered in the semen of all the participants in a new study.
Microplastics were first discovered in semen samples last year, but the new study, conducted in China, raises the possibility that a significant proportion of the male population, perhaps even all men, may have microplastics in their semen.
Semen samples were taken from 40 men in Jinan, China, and raman microspectroscopy was used to identify and quantify microplastic particles in the samples.
Microplastics were detected in every one of the 40 samples, with an average of two particles per sample. Eight distinct types of plastic were identified, with polystyrene being the most prevalent, accounting for 31% of the plastic identified.
Image: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173522
Although plastic was found in all of the samples, physical abnormalities were not significantly associated with specific plastic types. Sperm motility was affected by some types of plastic more than others.
The researchers state that further research into the effects of microplastics on male reproductive parameters needs to be carried out.
A recent study found microplastics in the testicles of all the men who participated. Microplastics have now been found in more or less every human tissue, from the lungs, gut, liver and kidneys, to the brain and reproductive organs.
Plastics and plastic chemicals have been heavily implicated in the growing fertility crisis throughout the developed world. Sperm counts and testosterone levels among men have decreased to such an extent in recent decades that some experts, like Professor Shanna Swan, warn of a “spermageddon” scenario, where sperm counts drop so low that natural reproduction becomes impossible.
On the basis of current trends, Professor Swan has suggested “spermageddon” could arrive as early as 2045.
EXCLUSIVE: Roger Stone Responds To Trump Conviction In New York Show Trial
Hillary Clinton Claims “She Was Right About Everything” with New Mugs for Sale
Hillary Clinton unveiled a new piece of merchandise to coincide with Donald Trump’s conviction in a Manhattan court on Thursday.
“We recently had some new merch made based on a phrase I hear a lot. The design happened to be finalized today,” Clinton wrote in an Instagram post.
The $22 ceramic mug bears the phrase “Turns out she was right about everything” and features an image of the former Secretary of State sipping from a cup.
“With your purchase, you’ll support Onward Together groups defending democracy… and get a pretty great mug to sip tea from,” the post continued.
Fans can also buy “Turns out she was right about everything” tote bags and stickers.
Later on Thursday, Clinton delivered remarks at the Vital Voices Global Partnership’s award gala in Washington where she alluded to Trump’s conviction.
“Anything going on today?” she asked the audience, with a grin.
This isn’t the first time Clinton has attempted to cash in on the lawfare being waged against Donald Trump. In 2022, she released a hat with the phrase “But her emails,” when it was claimed Trump disposed of documents in a toilet at the White House. She re-released the hats last year after the announcement of Trump’s federal classified-documents trial.
EXCLUSIVE: Roger Stone Responds To Trump Conviction In New York Show Trial
“When They Talk about Democracy, It’s a Soundbite”: Watch Tucker Interview Don Jr.
Donald Trump Jr. sat down for a half-hour interview with Tucker Carlson in the aftermath of his father’s conviction on Thursday.
In the wide-ranging interview posted to Twitter, the two men talked about the political persecution of Donald Trump, 6 January, political corruption, the state of the economy, Big Tech censorship and much more.
Donald Trump Jr. on his father’s conviction. pic.twitter.com/B8kToH7Zey
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) June 1, 2024
Speaking about his father’s opponents, Don Jr. said, “I don’t think there’s anything they won’t do.”
“I think the system’s probably been broken for much longer than any of us would care to admit.”
“For at least 61 years, since they killed a president in an election year,” Tucker interjected.
Don Jr. also spoke about the long process of losing his political illusions.
“I wanted to believe that everything I grew up believing was accurate, but it’s all bullsh*t. So we have to fix that. That’s why we fight now.”
EXCLUSIVE: Roger Stone Responds To Trump Conviction In New York Show Trial