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Yahoo
20-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Fact check: Netanyahu, Smotrich's claim of $1b. Biden aid to judicial reform foes debunked
Netanyahu's endorsement of the false claim came in the form of the sharing of a post by the Likud party from Friday afternoon. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and other members of the government and coalition falsely claimed on Saturday and Sunday that the former US administration led by President Joe Biden provided nearly 1 billion dollars in aid to Israeli groups who protested the government's controversial 2023 judicial reforms. Netanyahu's endorsement of the false claim came in the form of the sharing of a post by the Likud party from Friday afternoon. The Likud's post citeda report by the US Committee on the Judiciary published a day earlier. According to the Likud and Netanyahu, "An official document published by the US Congress reveals astonishing information confirming what many have long suspected: the previous US administration transferred close to a billion dollars to left-wing organizations in Israel." The data provided by the report, however, show that the maximum government funds that reached the protest groups in question were less than $600,000. The Likud and Netanyahu called the efforts an attempt to "undermine the rule of a democratically elected, stable right-wing government,' adding that "as part of the attempt to overthrow the government, external pressures were applied, leading to a deep social rift, encouragement of disobedience, and dangerous divisions within Israeli society." In a conference on Sunday morning, Smotrich repeated the false claim. 'Over the weekend, a report was released by the US Congress Judiciary Committee revealing that nearly one billion dollars were transferred to approximately 1,000 NGOs with the aim of dismantling the right-wing government and the broader national camp. This is reportedly being supported not only through funding but also by the mobilization of media and academia in service of this campaign.' 'If anyone is wondering what the government has had to face from the moment it was formed, and what challenges it continues to contend with, this event must be understood first, before delving into discussions about its achievements, successes, and failures,' Smotrich concluded. The report listed a large number of anti-judicial reform organizations and cited various funding sources. However, a large majority of the funds listed in the report either did not originate from the US government or did not reach the organizations in question. The report noted that Congress's Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Foreign Affairs on March 26 sent letters to six US and Israeli non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to request 'documents related to any grants, cooperative agreements, or other awards received from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) or State Department.' The NGOs in question The six NGOs were Blue and White Future, Movement for Quality Government in Israel, PEF Israel Endowment Funds, Jewish Communal Fund, Middle East Peace Dialogue Network, and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA). According to the report, the organizations produced 380 total documents. According to the report, between 2021-2024 PEF Israel Endowment Funds, which provided some 18 million USD to the protest group Blue and White Future (BWF), received some $187,000 from the RPA, which itself received approximately 50 million USD in grants from the Biden administration during the same period. The report does not specify whether the $187,000 of aid were part of the funds transferred to the protest groups, nor how much of it was received after the protests began in early 2023. The report mentions a second grant as originating in the RPA that reached anti-judicial reform groups. According to the report, between 2021-2024 RPA donated $557,000 to its 'affiliate and partner' Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF), which in 2023 donated $370,000 to three groups affiliated with the protests – Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP), New Israel Fund (NIF), and 'Brothers and Sisters in Arms.' Following the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023, the latter organization ceased protests and launched a logistics center based on philanthropy and volunteers to assist IDF reservists and civilian evacuees. The report did not specify whether or not the RBF funds were given before or after October 7. The report also mentions $42,000 in direct aid from the US government to the Movement for Quality Government in Israel (MQG). MQG was a central organization in the protests, but the funds in question were earmarked for educational activities for students in the 11th and 12th grades. A series of other contributions listed in the report to a number of organizations either did not originate in US federal funding, or did not reach protest organizations. The Likud claim about nearly 1 billion USD in aid may have originated in a stat in the report, noting that PEF Israel Endowment Funds, according to which 'between 2021 and 2024, PEF, a US-based tax-exempt entity, provided more than $884 million to over 1,000 Israeli organizations, including groups involved in the judicial reform.' However, the report does not provide proof of any state funding that may have reached PEF other than the aforementioned $187,000, and the sum of grants that the report lists as originating from the US government is below $600,000. The actual number is likely far less, since the grants in question were provided between 2021-2024 and therefore likely came in part before the announcement of the judicial reforms in January 2023. The report also assumes that the grants provided by RPA came specifically from its income from federal funds, even though the organization receives private funding as well. Solve the daily Crossword
The Guardian
19-07-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Malaria ‘back with a vengeance' in Zimbabwe as number of deaths from the disease triple
Zimbabwe's efforts to control malaria have been dealt a huge blow as experts say the disease has returned 'with a vengeance' after US aid cuts, with 115 outbreaks recorded in 2025 compared with only one last year. The sharp rise in cases comes six months after Donald Trump halted critical funding for US research and national response programmes. The cuts in January, which included funding for tuberculosis, HIV/Aids and malaria programmes, crippled the Zimbabwe Entomological Support Programme in Malaria (Zento) at Africa University in Mutare, which provides the country's National Malaria Control Programme with scientific research to combat the disease. Cumulative malaria cases increased by 180% in the first four months of 2025, according to the health ministry, while the number of malaria-related deaths increased by 218%, from 45 in the same period in 2024 to 143 in 2025. As of 26 June, the number of malaria cases had risen to 119,648, with 334 deaths, according to the Zimbabwean health ministry. The distribution of essential control methods, such as mosquito nets, was also disrupted, leaving hundreds of thousands of people exposed to mosquito bites across the country. The health ministry said in May that 1,615,000 insecticide-treated nets were being distributed but that there was a shortfall of 600,000 due to the withdrawal of US funding. Itai Rusike, director of Zimbabwe's Community Working Group on Health, said funding shortfalls were jeopardising the country's significant gains against malaria over the past 20 years. 'Sustained domestic funding is critical to keep prevention and treatment efforts on track,' he said. 'If mosquito nets and preventive medicines for pregnant women are unavailable, lives will be lost. When the supply of test kits and first-line treatments is disrupted, malaria cases and deaths will spiral.' Children under the age of five account for 14% of total malaria cases. Zimbabwe has set out to eliminate malaria by 2030, in line with the ambitious goal set by the African Union, using various strategies such as raising community awareness, preventing mosquito bites with insecticide-treated nets and spraying, as well as improving surveillance systems. Dr Henry Madzorera, a former health minister, said Zimbabwe should mobilise its own resources to bridge the funding gap. 'We have a lot of taxes earmarked for the health sector – let us use them wisely for health promotion and disease prevention,' he said. 'People must be treated early for malaria. 'The country should not rely on donors to do malaria-elimination activities,' Madzorera added. In 2024, USAID disbursed $270m for health and agriculture programmes in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe's deputy health minister, Sleiman Kwidini, admitted the funding gap left by the US cuts had disrupted the provision of mosquito nets. 'We are now taking over the procurement of those nets after the US withdrew funding. We have just been disturbed, but our vision is to eliminate malaria by 2030,' he said. Prof Sungano Mharakurwa, director of Africa University's Malaria Institute, said it would take time to recover lost ground but added: 'If we get funding, we can hit the ground running and promptly return to scoring successes again, until we beat this deadly scourge that is malaria.' He said that since the Zento mosquito surveillance programme began in Manicaland province, there had been a marked reduction in malaria cases and it was about to be extended when the US cuts came. 'Working with the National Malaria Control Programme, it had just been expanded,' Mharakurwa said. 'It was poised to run for five years with national coverage when it was abruptly terminated.' Africa University data shows that Manicaland recorded 145,775 malaria cases in 2020 but just 28,387 after Zento was introduced in 2021. Malaria cases in the province had been further reduced to 8,035 by 2024 before more than trebling to 27,212 the following year, when US funding was cut. Mharakurwa said: 'The malaria was back with a vengeance straight after, and [numbers of] cases that were waning rebounded in 2025, surpassing levels that had ever been seen since the beginning of the project.' Above-normal rains this year, which aided malaria transmission, had worsened the situation, he added.
ABC News
16-07-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
US-backed aid distribution organisation says 20 people killed at site in Gaza
A US- and Israeli-backed private aid organisation that distributes food and supplies inside Gaza has confirmed 20 Palestinians were killed at one of its sites in the south of the strip on Wednesday morning. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) said 19 people were trampled and another was stabbed, as the crowd surged at the site in Khan Younis. It blamed what it described as "agitators" in the crowd, saying it believed they were linked to Hamas. "We have credible reason to believe that elements within the crowd — armed and affiliated with Hamas — deliberately fomented the unrest," GHF said in a statement. "For the first time since operations began, GHF personnel identified multiple firearms in the crowd, one of which was confiscated. An American worker was also threatened with a firearm by a member of the crowd during the incident." GHF said the incident followed a "troubling pattern" of false information about aid site openings being circulated online. "False messages about aid site openings, including at SDS4 (Wadi Gaza) and the long-closed SDS1 (Tal Sultan), have circulated widely on Telegram and other platforms, fuelling confusion, driving crowds to closed sites, and inciting disorder," the statement said. The international humanitarian community has been scathing in its criticism of the GHF-run sites, saying they were death traps for desperate Palestinians trying to access food. There have been multiple shootings outside the distribution facilities in recent weeks, which local health authorities said have killed hundreds of Palestinians. GHF has repeatedly rejected those claims, but added that it does not have responsibility for incidents happening in the areas outside of its distribution sites. The Israel Defense Forces has admitted firing warning shots at some of the sites, but has denied being involved in mass shootings.
New York Times
15-07-2025
- Business
- New York Times
The Collateral Damage of Federal Work Force Cuts: Summer Interns
In December, Ryan Silien found out that he had secured an internship working on a United States Agency for International Development program in the Philippines. Mr. Silien, then a freshman at William & Mary, was elated. His plans started to unravel once President Trump took office in January. U.S.A.I.D. was among the organizations targeted by Mr. Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. By March, Mr. Silien's internship offer had been swept away along with at least 7,000 jobs the department had deemed a waste of taxpayer dollars. Beyond his panic and disappointment, Mr. Silien said he was a bit baffled that in its push for efficiency, the department championed by Mr. Trump and Elon Musk had done away with his unpaid internship. The government was passing up 'free labor by, arguably, some of the people who will be most passionate and excited to get involved in this work,' said Mr. Silien, 18. The Trump administration's sweeping cuts have pushed many lifetime civil servants out of their roles They have also disrupted people at the other end of the career spectrum: summer interns, those energetic new arrivals who count on internships to serve as the on-ramp to their professional lives. (Some, but not all, are paid for their efforts.) Young people who hustled for competitive internships and research positions said they felt dejected when those offers were taken back. Their optimism gave way to a stressful scramble to find other roles or sources of income on short notice. Several second-guessed whether they really wanted to enter fields that seemed to be crumbling before their eyes. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Al Jazeera
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
US sending special envoy after weapons deliveries resumed, says Ukraine
The United States is once again delivering military supplies to Ukraine and will also be sending its special envoy, Keith Kellogg, to Kyiv next week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said. In his nightly address on Friday evening, Ukraine's leader said that US aid shipments had been restored, following the Pentagon's decision to briefly halt the delivery of certain weapons to Kyiv. 'We have received political signals at the highest level – good signals – including from the United States, from our European friends,' he said. Zelenskyy added that his country was working with its allies 'on new supplies, increased weapons production in Ukraine and better support for our army'. 'Next week, we will continue working with the US side on a military level, including between our military and General Kellogg,' he said. At the start of July, the Trump administration paused shipments of weapons to Ukraine, including air defence missiles, over fears that its own stockpiles were dwindling. The halt coincided with a spike in Russia's aerial bombardment of Ukraine, with Moscow's military firing 728 drones and 13 missiles against it on Wednesday, the largest daily total in more than three years of war. The US military aid pause also came as Ukraine suffered its highest number of monthly civilian casualties in the entire war. In June, 232 people were killed and 1,343 injured, according to the human rights mission in Ukraine. After announcing earlier this week that the US would resume shipments to Kyiv, US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that his country was sending weapons to NATO, which could then be sent on to Ukraine by its member states. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed on Friday that European nations could give some of their military supplies to Kyiv and order replacements from the US. 'It's a lot faster to move something, for example, from Germany to Ukraine than it is to order it from a [US] factory and get it there,' Rubio said during a visit to Malaysia. Meanwhile, on the front line, the Russian military struck Ukraine's southern port city of Odesa on Friday morning, injuring at least eight people, according to Ukrainian local officials. Overnight Russian attacks on eastern Ukraine also injured nine and forced the evacuation of a maternity centre in Kharkiv, President Zelenskyy said. Drone attacks, shelling Meanwhile, Russian officials noted that Ukrainian drone and shelling attacks had killed three people in the Russian regions of Belgorod, Lipetsk and Tula on Friday. The Ukrainian military said on Telegram that it had targeted a Russian fighter aircraft plant in the Moscow region and a missile production facility in the Tula region on Friday. Both drone attacks caused explosions and fires, Ukraine added. The US's decision to resume aid deliveries to Ukraine comes as Trump has signalled a growing impatience with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Amid an apparent thaw in relations, Rubio met his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Malaysia on Friday. 'We are talking, and that is a start,' Rubio said. Lavrov later travelled to North Korea to hold talks. Pyongyang has been an important backer of Moscow, sending thousands of troops to Russia to help it in its war against Ukraine.
