Ex-Israeli PM:Trump must tell Netanyahu 'enough is enough'
US President Donald Trump should tell Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu "enough is enough", a former Israeli prime minister told AFP, denouncing the continuation of the war on Gaza as a "crime" and insisting a two-state solution is the only way to end the conflict.
Ehud Olmert, prime minister between 2006-2009, said in an interview in Paris that the United States has more influence on the Israeli government "than all the other powers put together" and that Trump can "make a difference".
He said while the international community accepted Israel's right to self-defence after 7 October, this changed when Netanyahu spurned chances to end the war in March and instead ramped up operations.
"If there is a war which is not going to save hostages, which cannot really eradicate more of what they did already against Hamas and if, as a result of this, soldiers are getting killed, hostages maybe get killed and innocent Palestinians are killed, then to my mind this is a crime," said Olmert.
"And this is something that should be condemned and not accepted," he said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arabian Business
32 minutes ago
- Arabian Business
Trump ‘very happy' with China trade deal, says framework ‘done'
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he was 'very happy' with a trade deal that restored a fragile truce in the U.S.-China trade war, a day after negotiators from Washington and Beijing agreed on a framework covering tariff rates. 'We made a great deal with China. We're very happy with it,' Trump told reporters before a performance at Washington's Kennedy Center on Wednesday evening. 'We have everything we need, and we're going to do very well with it. And hopefully they are too.' Earlier, Trump used his Truth Social platform to announce the agreement was 'done, subject to final approval from President Xi and me.' The deal involves China supplying rare earths and magnets to U.S. companies while the United States would abandon threats to revoke visas for Chinese students. 'Full magnets and any necessary rare earths will be supplied, up front, by China. Likewise, we will provide to China what was agreed to, including Chinese students using our colleges and universities,' Trump wrote. The U.S. president stated that America would have tariffs of 55 per cent on Chinese goods. A White House official later clarified this figure represents the sum of a baseline 10 per cent 'reciprocal' tariff on goods from nearly all trading partners, 20 per cent on Chinese imports related to fentanyl concerns, and pre-existing 25 per cent levies from Trump's first term. China's tariffs on U.S. imports would remain at 10 per cent. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed the 55 per cent rate is fixed and unalterable. 'You can definitely say that,' he told CNBC on Wednesday when asked if tariff levels on China would not change. The negotiations were aimed at cooling tensions between the world's two largest economies after a rapid escalation of tariffs earlier this year nearly paralysed trade between them. The Geneva deal reached last month had faltered over China's continued curbs on critical minerals exports, prompting the Trump administration to respond with export controls preventing shipments of semiconductor design software, jet engines for Chinese-made planes and other goods to China. Top officials from both countries convened for urgent discussions in London beginning Monday. These talks were arranged following a telephone conversation between Trump and Xi last week, which helped resolve tensions that had emerged shortly after their initial agreement in Geneva. 'We have reached a framework to implement the Geneva consensus and the call between the two presidents,' Lutnick told reporters after the London talks. Both sides will now present the framework to their respective presidents for approvals, he added. Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Li Chenggang also confirmed a trade framework had been reached in principle. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told lawmakers that the deal would not reduce U.S. export restrictions on high-end artificial intelligence chips in exchange for access to Chinese rare earths. 'There is no quid pro quo in terms of chips for rare earths,' Bessent said during a U.S. Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing. The London talks were triggered partly by U.S. concerns about China's export restrictions on rare earth minerals, which are essential for manufacturing everything from smartphones to electric vehicles. U.S. stocks drifted lower on Wednesday but have recouped most of the losses suffered earlier in the spring during Trump's wave of tariff announcements. In May, a temporary truce reached in Geneva brought Trump's new U.S. tariffs on Chinese products down from 145 per cent to 30 per cent, while Beijing slashed levies on U.S. imports to 10 per cent and promised to lift barriers on critical mineral exports. It was not immediately clear from Trump's comments where things stood regarding the timeline for a more comprehensive deal that was reached last month in Geneva, which had set a deadline of August 10.
Dubai Eye
an hour ago
- Dubai Eye
Israel Knesset rejects vote on dissolving itself
Israel's parliament rejected early on Thursday a preliminary vote to dissolve itself, the Knesset said in a statement, after an agreement was reached regarding a dispute over conscription. The vote, which could have been a first step leading to an early election that polls show Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would lose, was rejected with 61 lawmakers opposing it to 53 supporting it. The Knesset consists of 120 seats, and the majority needed to pass the vote was 61 lawmakers. This gives Netanyahu's ruling coalition further time to resolve its worst political crisis yet and avoid a ballot, which would be Israel's first since the eruption of the war with Hamas in Gaza. Netanyahu has been pushing hard to resolve a deadlock in his coalition over a new military conscription bill, which has led to the present crisis. "I am pleased to announce that after long discussions we have reached agreements on the principles on which the draft law will be based," Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee Yuli Edelstein said in a statement. Some religious parties in Netanyahu's coalition are seeking exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students from military service that is mandatory in Israel, while other lawmakers want to scrap any such exemptions altogether. The exemptions have been a hot-button issue in Israel for years but have become particularly contentious during the war in Gaza, as Israel has suffered its highest battlefield casualties in decades and its stretched military is in need of more troops. Growing increasingly impatient with the political deadlock, ultra-Orthodox coalition factions have said they will vote with opposition parties in favour of dissolving the Knesset and bringing forward an election that is not due until late 2026. "It's more than ever urgent to replace Netanyahu's government and specifically this toxic and harmful government," said Labour's opposition lawmaker Merav Michaeli. "It's urgent to end the war in Gaza and to bring back all the hostages. It's urgent to start rebuilding and healing the state of Israel." Successive polls have predicted that Netanyahu's coalition would lose in an election, with Israelis still reeling over the security failure of Palestinian militant group Hamas' October 7 2023 attack and hostages still held in Gaza. Hamas' surprise attack led to Israel's deadliest single day and shattered Netanyahu's security credentials, with 1,200 people killed and 251 hostages taken into Gaza. Israel's offensive against Hamas in Gaza has since killed almost 55,000 Palestinians, according to health officials in the Gaza, left much of the territory in ruins, and its more than two million population largely displaced and gripped by a humanitarian crisis. Twenty months into the fighting, public support for the Gaza war has waned. More than 400 Israeli soldiers have been killed in combat there, adding to anger many Israelis feel over the ultra-Orthodox exemption demands even as the war drags on. Ultra-Orthodox religious leaders, however, see full-time devotion to religious studies as sacrosanct and military service as a threat to the students' strict religious lifestyle.
Dubai Eye
an hour ago
- Dubai Eye
UAE President congratulates Philippines on Independence Day
President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has sent a congratulatory cable to his counterpart in the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, on the country's Independence Day. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, also sent similar messages to Marcos Jr. In Manila, Marcos Jr led the celebration of the 127th anniversary of the country's independence and nationhood. It was marked with a flag-hoisting ceremony at the Rizal National Monument followed by wreath-laying rites in honour of the nation's heroes. A grand float parade at the Quirino Grandstand featured seven pivotal events in Philippine history, with members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) also participating in the event.
