Daily Discussion - May 1, 2024

Israel tells U.S. it will punish Palestinian Authority if ICC issues warrants

Over the last few weeks, Israel has told the U.S. that it has information suggesting Palestinian Authority officials are pressing the ICC prosecutor to issue arrest warrants against Israeli leaders, two Israeli officials said.

U.S. and Israeli officials said Israel told the Biden administration that if arrests warrants are issued, it will consider the Palestinian Authority responsible and retaliate with strong action that could lead to its collapse.

One possible action could be to freeze the transfer of tax revenues Israel collects for the Palestinian Authority. Without these funds, the Palesti…  Čitaj višenian Authority would be bankrupt.

Biden to Deliver Keynote Address at Holocaust Memorial

U.S. President Joe Biden, who has long cited the Holocaust as core to his worldview, is expected to discuss the U.S.' moral duty to 'combat the rising scourge of antisemitism' during next Tuesday's address on Capitol Hill.

The speech will represent a rare high-profile foray by the president into an issue that has roiled college campuses and U.S. politics in recent weeks.

Biden gave impassioned remarks about antisemitism in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks against Israel. And he has denounced the pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses that have, on occasion, turned threatening towards Jewish students.

But many of the recent condemnations around campus activities have come from White House aides, sparking backlash from Republicans who have accused the president of ducking a public accounting of the matter.

Largest American Union Issues Statement Supporting Pro-Palestine Protestors

United Auto Workers' Leader Shawn Fain:

"The UAW will never support the mass arrest or intimidation of those exercising their right to protest, strike, or speak out against injustice.

Our union has been calling for a ceasefire for six months. This war is wrong, and this response against students and academic workers, many of them UAW members, is wrong.

We call on the powers that be to release the students and employees who have been arrested, and if you can’t take the outcry, stop supporting this war."

Houthi Rebels Expand Drone Attacks To Indian Ocean

Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthis are threatening merchant ships hundreds of miles out in the Indian Ocean after striking a container vessel well beyond the Red Sea last week, maritime officials and experts have warned.

The drone attack on the MSC Orion on the night of April 26 followed a threat by the Houthis in March to extend their attacks to the Indian Ocean, including on commercial vessels sailing between Asia and Europe around the Cape of Good Hope.

Many shipping companies have switched to that longer route to avoid Houthi attacks on the approaches to the Suez Canal in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

New York City Mayor Suggests College Protests Have An ‘International Connection.’

Eric Adams suggested on MSNBC the Columbia protests may have an "international" connection: "I don't know if they're international, I think we need to look into that as well, but there's an attempt to radicalize young people in this country."

He didn't say what he's basing this on.

On CBS, Adams again declines to identify the "outside" individuals or groups he says participated in the Columbia protests. He does say: "It's not singular, it's plural, several organizations and groups, I want to be clear on that, we did not take this action lightly."

Democrats enter panic mode as Gaza protests erupt

Rep. Annie Kuster (D-N.H.), chair of the center-left New Democrat Coalition acknowledged many Democrats "have been, kind of, holding back" on weighing in on the protests.

"It's complicated enough for us with the range of opinions and height of emotions we have, without weighing in on what [colleges] should be doing," Kuster said."It's hard because ... the more thoughtful approach is the more difficult approach. It's easier to pick a side and start yelling," said another senior House Democrat.

Asked about the protests in a brief interview at the Capit…  Čitaj višeol on Tuesday, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), said he is "not going to talk about the politics of that. People always have the right to speak out and should."

China Launches First Super Aircraft Carrier

China’s latest aircraft carrier, the Fujian, appears poised to leave port to begin initial sea trials. The development comes soon after five aircraft mockups appeared on the deck of the flattop, as you can read about here, and a little over three months since we got our best view of the warship in its completed form. Once the Fujian goes to sea, it will mark a hugely important step in the development of the country’s naval aviation, with the carrier being the first of its kind to be fully locally designed and also China’s first to launch aircraft via catapults rather than…  Čitaj više by a ‘ski jump’ takeoff ramp.

Highway Collapses in Southern China Amid Heavy Rains, Killing 24

A nearly 60-foot segment of an expressway in a rural area of southeastern China collapsed before dawn on Wednesday after days of heavy rain, killing 24 people and injuring 30 others.

Photos released after the incident appeared to show that a landslide had begun under two lanes of an expressway that ran along the side of a hill. A wide, brown scar of mud ran down the side of the hill between bright green foliage, leaving a large gap in the expressway.

Vehicles lay jumbled at the base of the hill below the hole, blackened and still smoking from a fire that had burned vigorously during the night, drawing a large number of fire trucks to the area.

The state news media said that many of the survivors were seriously injured, with drivers and passengers alike suffering severe bone fractures and injuries to internal organs.

China Crosses Biden's Red Line On Ukraine

President Biden warned China two years ago not to provide “material support” for Russia’s war in Ukraine. On Friday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken conceded that Xi Jinping ignored that warning. China, Mr. Blinken said, was “overwhelmingly the No. 1 supplier” of Russia’s military industrial base, with the “material effect” of having fundamentally changed the course of the war. Whatever Mr. Biden chooses to do next will be momentous for global security and stability.

Mr. Biden can either enforce his red line through sanctions or other means,…  Čitaj više or he can signal a collapse of American resolve by applying merely symbolic penalties. Beijing and its strategic partners in Moscow, Tehran, Pyongyang and Caracas would surely interpret half-hearted enforcement as a green light to deepen their campaign of global chaos. Mr. Xi sees a historic opportunity here to undermine the West.

Arizona Senate Will Vote On Abortion Ban Appeal

The Arizona Senate is expected to vote on Wednesday on a measure to repeal the state's 1864 ban on abortion, which could go into effect within weeks if not struck down.

The Arizona House last week passed the measure after a handful of Republicans broke party ranks and voted with Democrats to send it to the Senate. The bill appears to have enough support to pass the upper chamber, even with Republicans holding a slim 16-14 majority.

If passed, the measure could immediately be sent to Governor Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, who has said she will sign it.

The fight over the Civil War-era abortion…  Čitaj više ban in Arizona, a state sharply split between Democrats and Republicans, is the latest flashpoint on women's reproductive rights in the U.S. In 2022 the U.S. Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to abortion, leaving it up to states to decide the issue. Conservative-led states quickly invoked strict bans on abortion within their borders.

Trump Heads To Michigan And Wisconsin After Being Hit With Gag Order

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will hold rallies in Wisconsin and Michigan on Wednesday, a day after the judge in his New York criminal trial fined him for violating a gag order and warned he could be jailed for further infractions.

Trump's visit to the two battleground states will mark his first major campaign events since the April 15 start of the New York trial, in which he is accused of falsifying business records concerning a hush money payment to a porn star.

The first former U.S. president to stand trial on a criminal charge, Trump is having to schedule his signature…  Čitaj više campaign events around court proceedings that are expected to last through May.