A policy gap is widening between the U.S. and Israeli governments.

Monday, November 20, 2023
BY JULIA CLAIRE & CROOKED MEDIA

“I don’t think it’s possible for MTG to get more extreme — maybe more unhinged but not more extreme…Where do you go from Jewish space lasers?”

- Rep. Ken Buck ([link removed]) (R-CO) letting it rip on Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) before he retires

Negotiators are working feverishly towards a deal in which Hamas would release some hostages and fighting would pause for a few days to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid.

* Gaza’s hospitals remain under significant pressure. Twenty-eight premature babies were evacuated from Gaza’s largest hospital to Egypt for urgent treatment on Monday ([link removed]) . The infants are “fighting serious infections,” a World Health Organization spokesperson said. Several newborns at the hospital, Al Shifa, also died after their incubators lost power. Lack of infectious disease control, clean water, and medicine have imperiled patients across all hospitals in Gaza, but have been particularly deadly in the neonatal wards. Palestinian authorities and the WHO said 12 people were killed at another hospital in Gaza that had been surrounded by Israel Defense Forces tanks. WHO chief Tedros Ghebreyesus said he was “appalled” by the attack. The IDF claimed that the troops were firing back at fighters inside the hospital while taking “numerous measures” to minimize civilian casualties.

* U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke to reporters while traveling to Ukraine, and affirmed the administration’s position regarding the need to get humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. The Washington Post ([link removed]) had reported last week that Hamas, in negotiations mediated by Qatar, had agreed to a hostage deal in exchange for a five-day ceasefire, but were forced to issue a correction, as the deal had not actually been agreed upon, and is still being discussed. The United Nations reported that shipments of fuel entered Gaza from Egypt on Sunday after Israel confirmed it would allow for the daily delivery of 70,000 liters. The U.N. called that amount “well below the minimum requirements for essential humanitarian operations.”

* Witnesses reported heavy fighting ([link removed]) between Hamas gunmen and Israeli forces trying to advance into north Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp, home to some 100,000 people. Israel claims it to be a “significant militant stronghold.” Jabalia has already been the target of repeated Israeli bombardment. The Gaza Health Ministry has estimated that at least 13,000 Palestinians have been killed in total since the Israeli counter offensive began, at least 5,600 of them children. The United Nations reported that two-thirds of Gaza’s 2.3 million population have been displaced. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters, “We are witnessing a killing of civilians that is unparalleled and unprecedented in any conflict,” since he took office in 2017. International Red Cross president Mirjana Spoljaric traveled to Qatar on Monday to meet with a Hamas leader and Qatari authorities
([link removed]) to “advance humanitarian issues” as the conflict continues to worsen.

Back in Washington, the Biden administration is facing rare public challenges from its own staffers ([link removed]) over its support for Israel, even as a policy gap widens between the White House and the Israeli government.

* White House officials have repeatedly appealed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government to do more to protect Palestinian civilians and allow for the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, but have been rebuffed, according to NBC News. The two governments also disagree on the future of Gaza. One former U.S. official told the outlet, ([link removed]) “There’s a looming gap between the U.S. and Israel on where we’re going to be in a month or two.” The Biden administration has said they would like to see the Palestinian Authority assume responsibility for the security of Gaza when the war is over. But Netanyahu responded by stating that he plans for Israel to have an “indefinite” overall security responsibility in Gaza. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pushed back less than 24 hours later, saying the U.S. believes there can be “no reoccupation of Gaza after the conflict, hence, no attempt to
blockade or besiege Gaza,” and “no reduction” in Gaza’s territory.

* Many of the Biden administration’s top officials have called for a two-state solution—i.e. establishing a Palestinian state based on the existing Palestinian territories—an idea that Netanyahu has long resisted and that some members of his far-right coalition government overtly oppose. President Biden issued some of his strongest remarks yet on Saturday, saying that the United States is prepared to impose sanctions on Israeli settlers attacking Palestinians in the occupied West Bank ([link removed]) . In a Washington Post op-ed, Biden wrote, “The United States is prepared to take our own steps, including issuing visa bans against extremists attacking civilians in the West Bank.” According to the U.N., since the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack against Israelis, Israeli settlers have killed at least eight Palestinians, including a child, and injured more than 70 others in the West Bank. The U.N. humanitarian office has
recorded more than 251 settler attacks since that date.

President Biden’s approval rating has dropped to the lowest level of his presidency, as a clear majority of all voters disapprove of his handling of the Israel-Hamas war ([link removed]) , and has fallen behind disgraced former president Donald Trump in a hypothetical general election poll for the first time in NBC Polling. The erosion in support for Biden is most acute among Democrats, particularly the coalition of voters that got him elected in 2020.

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On Friday the White House denounced Elon Musk, the world’s richest person and owner of Tesla and X (the website formerly known/forever in our hearts as Twitter) for “abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate” for his high-profile endorsement ([link removed]) of an antisemitic post on his platform. But the U.S. government remains very much in bed with Musk by its own accord. In recent weeks the federal government agreed to fund up to $1.2 billion worth of SpaceX launches in the next year to put critical Pentagon assets into space. In September the Pentagon agreed to pay Musk tens of millions of dollars for his “Starshield” communication system, which the administration says is critical to deterring China, because it’s more resistant to hacking and remote disabling than the Pentagon’s own communications satellites.

So despite President Biden’s words, there is no indication that the U.S. government has any intention, nor viable way, to extract themselves from Musk and his technological tentacles. There is scarce precedent for the government being so dependent on the technology provided by one individual, let alone one this odious. But as The New York Times points out, Musk is being held to a different standard than the heads of traditional defense contractors ([link removed]) —Raytheon, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, etc.—would be if they were amplified antisemitic conspiracy theories. Ever since the invasion of Ukraine, the Pentagon’s dependance on Musk has only increased. Musk’s SpaceX and Starlink companies have a near-unparalleled dominance in their sectors—not precisely a monopoly, but about as close as one gets without the official distinction.

Lawyers for the Department of Justice and those representing disgraced former president Donald Trump faced targeted questioning on Monday related to the gag order imposed on Trump by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ([link removed]) .


A new United Nations report calculated that Earth is warming well past the internationally agreed-upon climate threshold ([link removed]) . Countries will have to slash emissions by 42 percent by the end of the decade to adhere to the 2015 Paris Climate Accords.


More than 700 of OpenAI’s 770 employees signed a letter threatening to quit unless the current board of directors resigns and reappoints ousted CEO Sam Altman ([link removed]) s, who was abruptly removed on Friday. The workers threatened to join Altman at Microsoft if their demands were not met.


The Supreme Court rejected former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chavin’s appeal of his second-degree murder conviction ([link removed]) in the killing of George Floyd on Monday.


A new report on the United Kingdom’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic uncovered that current British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was quoted as saying that the government should “just let people die” rather than impose a second national lockdown ([link removed]) when he was serving as Finance Minister in 2020. Great guy! Long live Conservatism!

Former first lady Rosalynn Carter passed away on Sunday in Plains, GA at 96. ([link removed]) She and former president Jimmy Carter were married for over 77 years. She also wore an off-the-rack gown to his inauguration and sent their daughter to public school; RIP to a woman of the people!

In a victory that shocked the political establishment, radical far-right candidate Javier Milei won the Argentine presidential election on Sunday ([link removed]) . Milei’s win represents the sharpest-right turn in the country’s 40 years of democracy. The former television pundit with no governing experience (sound familiar?) claimed nearly 56 percent of the vote in a major upset over the nation’s center-left economic minister Sergio Massa. In a country of 46 million people with a 40 percent poverty rate, Milei vowed to slash public spending. He railed against the country’s “political caste,” in a rallying cry that echoed Trump’s “drain the swamp.” He called Pope Francis an “evil” leftist, called climate change a “socialist lie,” and pledged to hold a referendum to overturn the 2020 law that legalized abortion.


Massa told supporters that the results were “not what we had hoped for,” and added: “There were two paths. We chose the path of defense of the security system in the hands of the state…the path of the defense of education and public health as central values. Argentines chose the other path.” Argentina’s far right has ascended to power to control the third-largest economy in Latin America, which could have significant implications for the region and the larger world. Disgraced former president Donald Trump wrote to Milei on Truth Social: “I am very proud of you…You will turn your Country around and Make Argentina Great Again!” Wow! Kill me!
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Happy reading, and happy holidays!

*Sale ends Monday, December 18th.

The U.S. government is once again offering COVID-19 tests by mail ([link removed]) . Get yours and stay healthy!


Target, Best Buy, and Walmart announced they will be closed on Thanksgiving—a huge win for workers ([link removed]) . No longer will employees have to fake smile when they could be watching the National Dog Show and eating too much.


Apple pledged to only use recycled cobalt in its batteries by 2025 ([link removed]) as part of the efforts to make all of the company’s products carbon neutral by 2030.


Support among Americans for abortion is at one of the highest levels on record since researchers began tracking the data in the 1970’s ([link removed]) according to a new Wall Street Journal-NORC poll.
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