Trump's moment in the Middle East
United States President Donald Trump's tour of the Middle East this week is his first international trip since he started his second term. Conspicuously absent from his itinerary, however, was Washington's closest ally in the region: Israel. In the US and Israeli media, the apparent snub has fuelled talk of a growing rift between Trump and his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Contributors:
Diana Buttu – Human rights lawyer and analyst
Dana Mills – Writer, +972 magazine and Local Call
Jeremy Scahill – Cofounder, Drop Site News
Tariq Nafi reports on the killing this week of one of Gaza's best-known journalists – and why it represents a new low in Israel's unparalleled war on the press.
The tit-for-tat conflict between India and Pakistan lasted only a week before a ceasefire deal was reached, but it was long enough to provide an insight into the role the media might play in a longer war.
We speak with Indian journalist Hartosh Singh Bal about mainstream media under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government – from misinformation to hate speech – and the alternative news outlets trying to provide the antidote.
Featuring:
Hartosh Singh Bal – Executive editor, The Caravan magazine
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Al Jazeera
2 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Fact check: Will ‘big beautiful bill' really allow Trump to delay election?
A liberal group and social media users shared posts that say President Donald Trump's 'one big beautiful bill' for tax and spending would let him reschedule or eliminate elections. 'If the Senate passes the 'one big beautiful bill' and Trump signs it, that's it. It becomes law,' said the viral graphic on Meta and X. 'And here's what that really means. He can delay or cancel elections – legally.' The post included a long list of other claims about what the bill would accomplish; for this fact-check, we are focusing on the elections claim. The group Being Liberal, which calls itself 'one of the oldest social media liberal political brands', took down the graphic after we reached out for comment. The group told us it didn't create the post and removed it because the elections claim wasn't accurate. The earliest reference for the graphic we found online was from an anonymous blog post on May 23. The bill does not give Trump power to delay or cancel elections, an action that would be unconstitutional. 'The bill would not directly give the president any authority over elections,' said Eric Kashdan, senior legal counsel at the Campaign Legal Center, a group that advocates for voting rights and this year sued the Trump administration over a voter registration executive order. A spokesperson for House Speaker Mike Johnson, Griffin Neal, told PolitiFact, 'The bill obviously does not provide the President of the United States with the authority to cancel or delay elections.' The US House passed the tax and spending bill May 22 and it now moves to the Senate, where lawmakers could make changes. Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the Senate majority leader, said he hopes the bill can be sent to Trump by July 4. The bill includes one provision related to democracy and checks and balances; it would expand the executive branch's power by curtailing judges' ability to hold people in contempt of court. Provision critics said it could take away the courts' power to restrain the federal government if it violates the Constitution or breaks the law. We found no provision in the bill that says the president can delay or cancel an election. In July 2020, amid the pandemic and a surge in voting by mail, Trump floated the idea of delaying the election. At the time, he was running for re-election. But the Constitution empowers Congress to set the date by which states must choose their presidential electors, the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service found in 2020. 'Since 1845, Congress has required states to appoint presidential electors on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, which represents the date by which voters in every state must cast their ballot for President,' the report said. Congress still has that power, said Edward Foley, an Ohio State University constitutional law professor. The Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022 added a new definition of 'Election Day' that makes it clear that a voting extension can occur only through state law specified in advance and under tightly restricted conditions, such as a catastrophe, Foley said. That means Election Day 'cannot otherwise be cancelled or delayed' and the president plays no role in any alteration of Election Day, Foley said. Congress can change the Election Day date by enacting a new statute, as it did with the Electoral Count Reform Act, Foley said. Erwin Chemerinsky, a University of California, Berkeley law professor, told PolitiFact nothing in the bill lets Trump cancel or delay elections. 'The Constitution provides that elections for Congress be held every two years and for President every four years,' Chemerinsky said. 'There is no constitutional authority to cancel elections.' The bill includes a different provision that some experts called a threat to democracy, but not at the ballot box. Section 70302 would make it harder for judges to find a defendant in contempt of court for ignoring a judge's orders. Here's how: The legislation would require plaintiffs to pay a security bond before a judge could find the defendant in contempt of court. That would mean judges could no longer waive the security bond requirement, something that frequently happens in cases against the government. The section references a federal rule that says a court may issue a preliminary injunction or temporary restraining order only if the plaintiff pays a security bond to cover costs and damages by any party 'found to have been wrongfully enjoined or restrained'. A security bond is an insurance policy to protect someone wrongfully accused of wrongdoing from financial losses during litigation, Kashdan said. The courts can require plaintiffs to pay money that the court holds until the end of the litigation 'If they win, they get their money back,' Kashdan said. 'If they lose, and the person they sued had a right to do whatever it was they were prevented from doing during the lawsuit, they get to keep that money to help compensate them for any losses they experienced during the litigation.' However, 'those seeking such court orders generally do not have the resources to post a bond, and insisting on it would immunise unconstitutional government conduct from judicial review,' wrote Chemerinsky for the website Just Security, which publishes a Trump litigation tracker. 'It always has been understood that courts can choose to set the bond at zero.' A March White House memo that criticised organisations for suing the federal government said enforcement of the security bond rule 'is critical to ensuring that taxpayers do not foot the bill for costs or damages caused by wrongly issued preliminary relief by activist judges and to achieving the effective administration of justice'. The House bill provision raised concern among groups that have defended the judiciary's role to provide a check on Trump's power. As of May 23, at least 177 court rulings have temporarily paused Trump administration actions, according to The New York Times. Social media posts say the Republican tax and budget bill will let Trump 'delay or cancel elections – legally'. We found nothing in the bill that would let Trump cancel or delay elections. A provision would make it harder for judges to hold people in contempt of court, but that is not the same as cancelling elections. Only Congress can change a presidential election's date, not the president, and this bill doesn't change that. We rate this statement False.
Al Jazeera
2 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
US presses NATO to agree defence spending hike
United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has pressed NATO members to agree to Donald Trump's demand for a major increase in defence spending ahead of a summit later this month. The US president has said NATO allies should boost investment in defence to 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), up from the current target of 2 percent. 'To be an alliance, you got to be more than flags. You got to be formations. You got to be more than conferences. You need to be, keep combat-ready capabilities,' Hegseth said as he arrived for a meeting of defence ministers in Brussels on Thursday. 'We're here to continue the work that President Trump started, which is a commitment to 5 percent defence spending across this alliance, which we think will happen,' Hegseth said, adding: 'It has to happen by the summit at The Hague later this month.' In an attempt to compromise with the new target, NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte has proposed that members of the military alliance boost defence spending to 3.5 percent of GDP and commit a further 1.5 percent to broader security-related spending. 'We have to go further and we have to go faster,' Rutte told reporters on Wednesday. 'A new defence investment plan will be at the heart of the NATO summit in The Hague,' he added. Reporting from Brussels, Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra said for some European countries, including Spain, Germany and Belgium, meeting a 5 percent target will be 'extremely difficult'. 'But they have decided they are going to further coordinate their military strategy particularly when it comes to acquiring air defence systems, long-range missiles and also train their troops to be ready for the potential of any geopolitical change,' Ahelbarra said. Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, European NATO members have been steadily increasing their defence spending. Ahelbarra said European members are 'concerned' that Russia remains the 'biggest threat to stability in the region'. Diplomats have said that countries are attempting to negotiate the timeline to achieve the 5 percent target. Rutte has proposed reaching the target by 2032, which some countries consider too late, while others think it's unrealistic, considering current spending and industrial production levels. Lithuanian Defence Minister Dovile Sakaliene said on Wednesday that the 2032 target was 'definitely too late, and pushed for a target of 2030 at the latest. Swedish Defence Minister Pal Jonson told reporters on Thursday that Stockholm also wants to see the bloc reach the 5 percent target by 2030. Meanwhile, NATO officials have estimated that, on average, meeting the new targets would cost countries between 3.5 and 3.7 percent of GDP.
Al Jazeera
5 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Can the US afford to lose its 1.1 million international students?
Khadija Mahmoud* is pulling an all-nighter, filled with caffeine and surviving on adrenalin to pack up her belongings so she can catch the train in the morning from Washington, DC to New York City for her summer internship. Mahmoud is a 21-year old international student who has just finished her junior year at Georgetown University. She is anxious and worried after her immigration lawyer advised against leaving the country for the summer due to the recent border control policies for international students. On 27 May, the State Department instructed United States embassies around the world to temporarily pause scheduling new student visa appointments, as the Trump administration seeks to expand social media screenings for applicants, the latest in a string of restrictions targeting international students. 'It's been very turbulent, and equally terrifying with each development that comes,' Mahmoud told Al Jazeera, speaking from her college dormitory in Washington, DC. Mahmoud isn't alone in feeling this way. Many other international students say they feel they need to stay under the radar, afraid that even a small issue could get them deported. According to NAFSA, a US nonprofit organisation that focuses on international education and student exchange, over the 2023/2024 academic year there were just more than 1.1 million international students studying in the US. These international students made up 5.6 percent of the nearly 19 million total higher education students across the US. Together, students from India and China made up 54 percent of the total, with India leading at 331,602 (29 percent) and China at 277,398 (25 percent).Fanta Aw, executive director and CEO of NAFSA, who is herself a former international student, says she knows on a personal and professional level how important the cultural exchange between international students and local communities is, especially in today's hyper connected world. 'I think this is a major loss for the United States; other countries will open their doors and they are already welcoming students,' Aw told Al Jazeera. 'Students want certainty. They want consistency. And they want to know that the system works. And if they continue to see action after action, they're already losing trust,' she adds. 'Once you continue down this road, you will have years to recover from this, and you may never recover from it. Because by then, more other countries are competing for these same students.' 'We're seeing Germany. We're seeing Japan. We're seeing South Korea. Malaysia has always been a destination for students. The Middle East, with all of the American-style universities – this is what the US is competing with.' Although many international students are concentrated at major universities on the East and West coasts, a sizeable number also study at prominent universities in the Midwest and other parts of the US. According to data compiled by Open Doors, during the 2023/2024 academic year, New York City hosted the largest number of international students, with 27,247 at New York University and 20,321 at Columbia University. Northeastern University in Boston follows, with 21,023 international such student headed to the Midwest is Noor Ali*, a 23-year-old from Karachi, Pakistan, who is embarking on her masters in journalism on a full scholarship from the university. Ali has requested her identity be concealed and her institution not be named for her security. Despite having already received her student visa, she's still concerned about entering the US. 'I got my visa the day that India attacked Pakistan and Pakistan retaliated against India,' she laughs as she explains how she ventured out that day when both nuclear neighbours were engaged in an aerial face-off, far above in the skies. 'Miraculously, the appointment did not get cancelled. And I ended up going there for my interview. And I ended up getting the visa, which was like, insane. I didn't really know how I got it. But I mean, I've gotten it now!' Ali beams, her excitement undeniable at her luck. Although she had the option to study in Europe, she chose the US because of her familiarity with the country through movies and TV shows. Even without having visited, she feels like she understands American life and culture. 'These values of American democracy are about American freedom. And, you know, just a lot of focus on ethics and morality, and it used to be known for its academic freedom, and a lot of focus on diversity.' Ali's ideals are not without scepticism or worry. She admits being very scared and has reconsidered her decision several times. Still, she feels encouraged by the pushback the Trump administration's policies have received lately. 'The core of American democracy or ideals of freedom are getting reinforced,' says Ali. She feels strongly that the cultural experience will be worth it for her. The Trump administration's latest step in its crackdown on US universities has particularly focused on international students who have shown support for Palestinians in Gaza over the past year. 'Georgetown has a pretty large international student population compared to other schools in the US, so you'd think that would translate into a lot more advocacy and more grassroots work going on on campus,' Mahmoud goes on to say. Mahmoud feels her college hasn't been a very vocal campus when it comes to the rights of students, nor in providing a proper safety net for freedom of speech. 'I think a massive inflection point on campus was the detention of Dr Badar Suri. I felt the need to have to scrape through my social media, see if I posted anything that could get me flagged,' says Mahmoud. Dr Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral scholar of conflict studies, was arrested on March 17 outside his home in Rosslyn, Virginia and held in immigration detention for two months before being released on May 14, following a federal judge's order. Suri, whose wife Mapheze Saleh is a US citizen of Palestinian descent, has spoken out against Israel's war in Gaza. That particular case became a real turning point on the campus, she says, where a lot of international students had spoken up and taken to social media. According to NAFSA, the 1.1 million international students studying in the US contributed $43.8bn to the US economy during the 2023–2024 academic year, creating 378,175 jobs nationwide. That means that for every three international students enrolled, one US job was created or supported. California hosted the highest number of international students, with 140,858 contributing $6.4bn to the state's economy and supporting 55,114 jobs. New York followed with 135,813 students, generating $6.3bn and creating 51,719 jobs. Texas came third, with 89,546 international students contributing $2.5bn and supporting 22,112 jobs. In total, 12 states gained more than $1bn each from the economic contributions of international students. According to NAFSA, international student spending in these 12 states combined to generate 57 percent of the total dollar contribution to the US economy.'When your enrolment declines, then you're going to have some economic challenges and that's going to force institutions to have to make some very difficult decisions and choices,' NAFSA executive director Fanta Aw explains. 'The number of high schoolers that are graduating is on the decline in most parts of the country. So it's not like they can make that up with American domestic students because that's already on the decline.' 'So when you cannot have the level of enrollment at the undergraduate level here in the US and that is then compounded with the decline in international students, that's a perfect storm.' Aw says many international students who return home contribute to their countries, while those who stay in the US contribute through taxes and help boost the overall economy. In the 2023-2024 academic year, among the 1.1 million students, the most popular majors were Math and Computer Science, Engineering, and Business and Management. International students enrolled in English language programs contributed $371.3m and supported 2,691 jobs. In terms of degrees, nearly half (502,000) of all international students were registered for postgraduate programmes, 343,000 in undergraduate programmes, 243,000 in Optional Practical Training (OPT), and 39,000 in non-degree programmes.*Name has been changed to protect anonymity
