Biden Administration Advances Plan for New $1 Billion Arms Sale to Israel |
The Joe Biden administration notified Congress yesterday that it plans to sell more than $1 billion in new weapons to Israel, unnamed U.S. and congressional officials told the Wall Street Journal and other media outlets. The package reportedly includes tank ammunition, tactical vehicles, and mortar rounds. When asked for comment on the new package, the White House and State Department referred to U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s statement on Monday that the United States is “continuing to send military assistance” to Israel despite previously pausing one shipment of two-thousand-pound bombs over concerns they might be dropped in densely populated cities.
U.S. officials have stressed particular concern over the possibility of a full-scale Israeli military offensive in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, from which almost 450,000 people have evacuated (BBC) over the past week, according to the United Nations. Sullivan said (NYT) in his Monday remarks that Washington was “still working with Israel on a better way to ensure the defeat of Hamas everywhere in Gaza, including in Rafah.” In the immediate term, U.S. negotiators have pushed for a cease-fire and hostage exchange deal between Israel and Hamas, though Qatar’s prime minister said yesterday that those talks were at “almost a stalemate.”
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“The idea that Israel is being abandoned or left to stand alone is preposterous. 99 percent of U.S. military aid (that totals close to $4 billion annually) will continue to flow,” CFR President Emeritus Richard Haass writes on Substack. “I see the [previous] Biden arms decision as an example of the United States acting independently on behalf of its own interests and preferences, much as it did in air-dropping food aid and building a pier off Gaza or in abstaining on a UN resolution Israel wanted vetoed.”
“The potential arms transfer illustrated the narrow path the Biden administration is walking with Israel, trying to prevent an assault on Rafah and limit civilian casualties in Gaza but continuing to supply a longtime ally that the president has said has a right to defend itself,” the New York Times’ Robert Jimison writes.
Read the full suite of Foreign Affairs and CFR.org resources on Israel and the current conflict.
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Three Dead in New Caledonia Unrest After Changes to Voting Rules |
The French overseas territory of New Caledonia saw violent clashes (Reuters) at demonstrations against a decision by Paris lawmakers yesterday to give voting rights to French residents who have lived on the island for more than ten years. Some local leaders said the move would dilute the Indigenous Kanak vote.
China/Philippines: China deployed dozens of ships (NYT) to a disputed atoll in the South China Sea as a Philippine civilian group of fishing boats prepared to sail toward the area today to assert Philippine territorial claims. Officials in the Philippine Navy and Coast Guard said they were sending ships to escort the civilian protest flotilla.
This timeline looks at China’s maritime disputes.
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Pakistani PM Announces Broader Plan to Privatize State-Owned Enterprises |
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced (Reuters) plans yesterday to privatize all state-owned enterprises with the exception of strategic firms. Previously, he had planned only to privatize loss-making firms. Privatization is one of the recommendations made by the International Monetary Fund for Pakistan’s economic reforms.
India: The Supreme Court ordered the release (Reuters) of journalist Prabir Purkayastha and ruled his arrest was invalid, his lawyers said today. Purkayastha had been detained in October in a probe into potential illegal funding from China, which came after a New York Times report named his organization as part of a network that allegedly received funds to publish Chinese propaganda.
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Middle East and North Africa |
450 British Businesspeople Travel to Saudi Arabia for Two-Day Economic Summit |
The United Kingdom is seeking closer economic ties with Saudi Arabia and is in talks (Bloomberg) with the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council over a potential trade deal. Under rules that took effect this year, firms must have a regional base in Saudi Arabia or risk losing business with state entities. |
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WaPo: Niger PM Blames U.S. Threats for Bilateral Dispute |
U.S. attempts to dictate which countries Niger can partner with and failures to justify U.S. troop presence in the country prompted a worsening of bilateral relations, Niger’s Prime Minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine told the Washington Post. After a coup in Niger last year, Washington froze security support and paused counterterrorism activities in the country. Despite Niger insisting that U.S. troops leave, Zeine said that “no Nigerien considers the United States as the enemy,” and he welcomes more economic relations alongside maintaining diplomatic ones.
For Foreign Affairs, Joseph Sany and Kehinde A. Togun discuss how to counter Africa’s coup problem.
Zimbabwe: More than seven million people, over half the country’s population, need immediate food aid (Bloomberg) amid a drought and will continue to need it through next March, Zimbabwe’s information minister said yesterday. Last week, the UN humanitarian office appealed for $429 million to assist Zimbabwe.
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Georgia Legislature Approves ‘Foreign Agents’ Bill After Weeks of Protest |
President Salome Zourabichvili has said she would veto (NYT) the controversial bill, which earned final legislative approval yesterday. It is similar to a law in Russia that has been used to repress dissent. The ruling Georgian Dream party has enough votes to override her veto.
Russia: Authorities arrested (Politico) high-ranking Lieutenant General Yuri Kuznetsov “on suspicion of criminal activity,” state media reported yesterday. His detention comes after President Vladimir Putin’s replacement of Russia’s defense minister on Sunday and the April arrest of another high-ranking official in a corruption probe.
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BYD Launches Hybrid Truck in Mexico |
Yesterday’s launch was the first time (Reuters) the Chinese automaker BYD inaugurated a new product outside of China. While it came the same day as a U.S. announcement of new tariffs on Chinese auto imports, the company’s Americas head said they did not plan to ship the product to the United States.
Brazil: The head of state oil firm Petrobras is stepping down (FT) in what is the fifth CEO to resign from the company in three years. Outgoing leader Jean Paul Prates had clashed with government-appointed board members about dividend payments to shareholders.
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Ship That Crashed Into Bridge Had Two Blackouts Previous Day, Agency Report Finds |
Yesterday’s report from the National Transportation Safety Board details preliminary findings (CNN) of the probe into the cargo ship Dali’s March crash into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge. The ship experienced two power outages the day before the crash and a pair of electrical failures minutes prior to the crash, the report said. The emergency generator was not configured to power the ship during the collision.
This Expert Brief by CFR Fellow Zongyuan Zoe Liu unpacks the implications of the Baltimore bridge collapse on U.S. supply chains.
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