‘A fight between civilisation and savagery’: Trump
Republican presidential hopefuls lined up overnight on Saturday to pledge unwavering support for Israel in its war on Hamas.
Republican presidential hopefuls lined up overnight on Saturday to pledge unwavering support for Israel in its war on Hamas as they spoke at an annual gathering of influential Jewish donors.
Former president Donald Trump told the Republican Jewish Coalition event he would “defend our friend and ally in the State of Israel like nobody has ever”.
The conflict between Israel and Hamas is “a fight between civilisation and savagery, between decency and depravity, between good and evil”, said Mr Trump, who received the warmest response from attendees, as he took aim at President Joe Biden’s administration and avoided criticising his rivals.
The overwhelming favourite to win the party nomination to run against Mr Biden next year despite facing multiple criminal prosecutions, Mr Trump spoke after sparking fury in recent weeks by describing Lebanon-based Islamist group Hezbollah as “very smart” and criticising Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Also on hand in Las Vegas was Mr Trump’s nearest rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who called the October 7 Hamas surprise attack on Israel “the most deadly attack against Jews since the Holocaust itself”.
Mr DeSantis and others pointed to what they said was rising anti-Semitism on US college campuses, and proposed yanking funding for universities and cancelling visas for pro-Palestinian foreign students.
“We need cultural chemotherapy to fight this cancer,” senator Tim Scott said. “Any student with a visa who calls for genocide should be deported.”
House majority leader Steve Scalise said “next week we are going to have a resolution on the floor to condemn the actions of anti-Semitism at campuses across our country”.
“If you cannot stand against terrorism today, when can you?”
He mentioned several upcoming bills, including one to “give Israel the funding it needs to replenish” its strategic missile systems.
The only woman in the race, Nikki Haley, Mr Trump’s former ambassador to the UN, has evoked fears of anti-Semitic attacks on US soil.
“As president I will change the official federal definition of anti-Semitism to include denying Israel’s right to exist,” said Ms Haley, adding she would strip tax breaks from schools that did not combat anti-Semitism.
“College campuses are allowed to have free speech, but they are not free to spread hate that supports terrorism,” she said. “Federal law requires schools to combat anti-Semitism. We will give this law teeth and we will enforce it.”
The newly installed Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, in his first address to a public event since taking on the new role, said Republicans would “stand united for Israel”.
“We will not stop standing by the side of the Israelis until they have won,” he vowed, adding “There will be a ceasefire only when Hamas ceases to be a threat to Israel”.
AFP
Who makes the law? Judicial activism and NZ’s Supreme Court
In New Zealand, there is now an increasingly public debate about the role of our highest court. It is probably a debate that Australia should have as well.
Hezbollah’s millions go up in smoke as cash vault hit
A Hezbollah bunker containing half a billion dollars lies under a hospital in Beirut, Israel says as the IDF targets a separate vault filled with tens of millions of dollars in gold and cash.