US general has provided Trump with options to strike Iran
Centcom Gen Michael Kurilla says Americans ready to attack with 'overwhelming force' if President gives order
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The National
14 minutes ago
- The National
Israel recovers bodies of two Gaza hostages as Benjamin Netanyahu survives bid to collapse coalition
Israel's military and the Shin Bet intelligence agency have recovered the bodies of two hostages from Gaza, as the death toll from the war passes 55,100. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement on Wednesday that the body of Yair Yaakov had been retrieved, along with that of another hostage whose identity was not disclosed. The military said Palestinian Islamic Jihad abducted and killed Mr Yaakov during the attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Militants also took Mr Yaakov's partner, Meirav Tal, and two of his children hostage, but later released them, the army said. Mr Yaakov was 59 at the time of his death. Israel said it retrieved the two bodies in the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza. They were recovered as Gaza's Health Ministry said the death toll from the war had passed 55,100, with more than 127,390 injured. Many more people are believed to be buried under rubble or in areas inaccessible to medics. Mr Netanyahu is under increasing pressure over the war. After 20 months of violence, 53 hostages are still in Gaza, with fewer than half believed to be alive. Israel 's military estimates that 40,000 armed Palestinian fighters remain in the enclave, according to media reports, despite Israel vowing to 'destroy' Hamas. Mr Netanyahu's coalition survived an opposition-backed effort to collapse the government early on Thursday, as lawmakers rejected a bill that could have paved the way for a dissolution of parliament and snap elections. Out of the Knesset's 120 members, 61 voted against the proposal, with 53 supporting it. The opposition introduced the bill hoping to force elections with the help of ultra-Orthodox parties angry at Mr Netanyahu over the contentious issue of military conscription for members of their community. While the opposition is composed mainly of centrist and leftist groups, ultra-Orthodox parties that prop up Mr Netanyahu's government had earlier threatened to back the motion. But most ultra-Orthodox lawmakers ultimately chose to oppose the effort to collapse the government, Israeli media reported on Thursday morning. The opposition will now have to wait six months to submit another dissolution bill. Mr Netanyahu's coalition, formed in December 2022, is one of the most right-wing in the country's history. It includes two ultra-Orthodox parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism. The parties threatened to back the push for early elections amid the row over conscription. Military service is mandatory in Israel, but under a ruling that dates back to the founding of the country – when ultra-Orthodox Jews were a small community – men who devote themselves full-time to the study of sacred texts are given a de facto pass. Whether that should change has been a long-running issue. Efforts to scrap the exemption and the anger that sparked have intensified during the war, as the military looks for more manpower. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Wednesday that bringing down the government at a time of conflict would pose "an existential danger" to Israel's future. "History will not forgive anyone who drags the state of Israel into elections during a war," he told parliament, adding that there was a "national and security need" for the ultra-Orthodox to fight in the military. Twenty months into the Gaza war, negotiations over a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas remain deadlocked. A brief truce collapsed in March and Israel has since intensified operations to 'destroy' the group. Israel also faces immense international pressure over the humanitarian crisis in the enclave, where the UN has warned the entire population faces famine. Israel last month eased an aid blockade on Gaza. A convoy carrying hundreds of activists set off from Algeria this week en route for Gaza to challenge Israeli restrictions on aid. On Wednesday, the group arrived at the Egypt-Libya border and plans to enter the enclave at the Rafah crossing, travelling by cars and buses. The activists are expected to go to Cairo, before travelling to Rafah. It was not clear whether members of the convoy were able to cross into Egypt as of Wednesday night. But the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that foreign delegations needed to obtain approval before visiting the area bordering Gaza.
The National
24 minutes ago
- The National
Can the man who paved the way for Trump heal divisions in the US?
For at least the past 10 years, there has been a steady stream of articles and surveys that have concluded that the world is more divided than ever: over the rise of China and ethno-nationalism, Russia-Ukraine, Brexit, gender ideology, culture wars, the revival of racial conflicts, free speech, religion versus secularism, to name just a few issues. The re-election – sometimes, it feels, the very existence – of Donald Trump is also usually on the list. So it may be a surprise to hear that a man who has recently been described as 'the conservative intellectual who laid the ground for Trump ' or who 'paved the way for Trump' could provide a model for how to bridge those divides. Not necessarily for how to heal them; but how to keep the conversation going. William F Buckley Jr is considered by many to have been the architect of the modern conservative movement in the US, and an intellectual flagbearer whose influence helped it completely take over the Republican Party (which for a long time had also been the party of northern liberals). In 1955, he founded the influential National Review magazine, and later backed both Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan as Republican presidential candidates. From 1966-1999, he presented Firing Line, a weekly television show that set a very high bar for depth of debate and width of discussion. He was so famous that his distinctively patrician tones were impersonated by both Robin Williams – in the 1992 Disney film Aladdin – and by the talk show host Johnny Carson. Mr Buckley wrote more than 50 books and was an aesthete with high-brow tastes. The connection with Mr Trump may not be immediately obvious; although Mr Trump knew all about him. When Senator Ted Cruz tried to claim that Mr Trump was not a true conservative in a 2016 primary debate, saying that 'not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan', Mr Trump replied: 'Conservatives actually do come out of Manhattan. Including William F Buckley.' The similarities between the two are currently being examined partly because of a new biography, Buckley: The Life and Revolution that Changed America by Sam Tanenhaus, which has just come out. Two salient points are that both understood the power of mass media, and that both were suspicious of elites and wanted to overturn a liberal establishment that each saw as not consisting just of a few big corporations but as having infiltrated state institutions and a vast number of professions at nearly every level. In an important sense, Mr Buckley and Mr Trump can both be seen as genuine revolutionaries. By this point, some readers may be doubting that Mr Buckley has any lessons to offer about uniting people. But he does. Take this line from an interview with Tanenhaus, who was also his biographer: 'Yet the current era feels a world away in other respects. For one, Buckley's politics rarely affected his many friendships. 'His best friends were liberals,' Tanenhaus said. He greatly admired Jesse Jackson. It was not strange for Eldridge Cleaver, the black nationalist, and Timothy Leary, the psychonaut, to stop by his house. 'If he became your friend, and then you told him you joined the Communist party, he would say: That is the worst thing you can do, I'm shocked you would do it, but you're still coming over for dinner tomorrow, right? It's just a different world view, and we don't get it because we take ourselves more seriously than he did.' Buckley and Trump can both be seen as genuine revolutionaries That's one way of putting it. I think there's more. It may have been to do with Mr Buckley's devout Roman Catholicism – and hence the possibility of redemption – or the belief, common to all Abrahamic faiths, that we are all part of God's creation, but he didn't see people solely as the sum of their beliefs. It's there on Firing Line (now available on YouTube), where Mr Buckley had many guests who he clearly believed not only were wrong but had morally flawed views. But he engaged them in highly informed debate, and never treated them as irredeemably evil. Nowadays many appear to have accepted that certain beliefs absolutely define who people are. One columnist wrote last week that 'Trump and Brexit' were 'two causes so clearly defined between left and right that few of those from one camp were pre-existing friends with the other'. As a lifelong Eurosceptic with a huge number of pro-EU friends in the UK, I take exception to that. But I understand the position. The dangers of such an attitude are outlined in a new book Against Identity by the Australian philosopher Alexander Douglas. 'People respond to criticisms of their views as though their very identity is being attacked,' as a review of the book this week put it. 'Here we have the basis for division and intergroup conflict,' Mr Douglas wrote. I remember seeing the consequences of identity being all among my family's Northern Irish friends at Al Kharj dairy farm in Saudi Arabia in the 1980s. The Catholic nationalist farm manager my family used to spend happy weekends with would socialise with the Protestant unionist vet in that setting. But 'back home I wouldn't acknowledge him if I crossed him in the street,' said our friend. Similarly, I saw politics in Malaysia become so rancorous, so personal, and so all-identifying during the prime ministership of Najib Razak (2009-2018) that when a friend went to work for him, he was viciously attacked by close associates who supported the then opposition. Believing in the policies of a moderate reformist leader was enough to sunder bonds that went back decades. Mr Buckley offered another way. On his television shows, he engaged persistently but politely, and with a weight of research that paid his guests the evident compliment of taking them seriously, even if he thought them dangerously misguided. And in his personal life: you advance something I think is terribly wrong, but we can remain friends and – of course! – we should still break bread together. Because we are more than our views, and our identities and common humanity transcend them. Isn't that something we could do with a lot more of? In a sea of uncertainty and bad news, I didn't expect to find my spirits lifted by the man 'who paved the way for Trump'. But I did. Thank you, Bill Buckley Jr – and may many more follow your example.
Zawya
an hour ago
- Zawya
Maritime agency warns shipping industry over rising Middle East tensions
LONDON: Increased tensions in the Middle East may lead to an escalation in military activity that could impact shipping in critical waterways, Britain's maritime agency said on Wednesday. Much of the world's oil and key commodities including grains pass through the region's busy sealanes. The United States and Iran are expected to hold talks this week on Iran's nuclear programme. Washington has threatened to take military action if the talks fail, and Iran said on Wednesday it could strike U.S. bases in the region if conflict arises. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said in an advisory note on Wednesday that it was aware of increased tensions in the Middle East which could lead to an escalation of military activity having a direct impact on mariners. The UKMTO advised vessels to use caution when passing through the Gulf, the Gulf of Oman and Straits of Hormuz. The UKMTO, which gathers reports on threats to shipping, did not specify the nature of the increase in tensions that prompted its alert. "Israel-affiliated merchant shipping is assessed to be at heightened risk of reciprocal military action," British maritime security company Ambrey said separately on Wednesday. "Substantial U.S. support to Israeli offensive action would raise the risk to U.S. shipping and vessels carrying U.S. cargo." Shipping industry and insurance sources said there was growing concern over a spillover from any action by Israel and its arch foe Iran, especially in waters around the Gulf and nearby waters. Last year, Iran fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel, and Israel launched airstrikes on targets inside Iran. "Any attack will have a certain potential to escalate and impact shipping as well as implicate military forces of other countries operating in the area, including the United States," said Jakob Larsen, chief safety & security officer with shipping association BIMCO. "A full-blown armed conflict between Israel/U.S. and Iran would most certainly effectively close the Straits of Hormuz at least for a period of time and drive up oil prices." (Reporting by Jonathan Saul in London, Ahmed Elimam and Elwely Elwelly in Dubai, Editing by Peter Graff and Ed Osmond)
