South Korea ‘mobilizing banks’ to finance arms sale to Poland – Reuters

The proposed $22-billion export of military hardware to Warsaw would be South Korea’s largest-ever weapons sale

South Korea is seeking assistance from five domestic banks to help finance Poland’s purchase of $22 billion worth of weapons, after Warsaw hit import-export lending limits, in what would be Seoul’s biggest-ever arms sale, according to a report by Reuters.

“Five local banks are reviewing a syndicated loan as a support measure” intended to assist Warsaw’s purchase of military hardware from Seoul, Reuters said on Friday. This includes rocket artillery systems and fighter jets, the news agency added, citing a South Korean government official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Officials from a South Korean defense manufacturer confirmed discussions of a syndicated loan plan, Reuters reported, while two representatives of South Korean banks confirmed that loans would be issued, but did not elaborate on what type.

A syndicated loan involves a group of lenders collaborating to provide a large sum to a single borrower, typically to finance significant deals. The South Korean defense official told Reuters that, should the syndicated loan prove to be insufficient, “there could be other financing measures on the way.”

Read more

EU failing to meet Ukraine ammo pledges – Bloomberg

The report indicates Seoul’s intentions to work around Poland’s financing obstacles to secure what would be South Korea’s largest-ever arms sale, worth around $22.7 billion. It follows an agreement struck between the two countries last year through which South Korean arms manufacturers arranged the supply of tanks, howitzers and fighter jets to the EU state.

That arrangement was worth about $13.7 billion and at the time was South Korea’s largest-ever arms export deal. Government officials in Seoul didn’t provide comment on the latest reported transaction when asked by Reuters.

The military conflict in Ukraine has provided a boom to South Korea’s weapons exporting industry, with sales totalling around $17 billion last year – a significant increase on the $7.25 billion it registered in 2021. Seoul’s 2022 deal with Poland established it as a major player in a global weapons export market typically dominated by the US and Russia.

Reuters also notes that the South Korean leadership is seeking closer relationships with Europe, and particularly with Poland, which borders Ukraine, as Warsaw beefs up its military stockpiles.

In September, Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki suggested that it would no longer supply weapons to Ukraine amid a dispute regarding Kiev’s grain exports. Instead, Morawiecki outlined a plan for Warsaw to modernize its own military hardware.

He later clarified his comments, which he said had been misinterpreted in the “worst possible way,” by saying that it would be only newly-purchased weapons that would not be sent to its neighbor amid its conflict with Moscow.

Ally teases Biden with beach invitation

The Dominican president invited his US counterpart to Punta Cana in 2025

President Luis Abinader of the Dominican Republic put his US counterpart Joe Biden in hot water this week, advertising a Caribbean resort to the American leader known for spending a lot of time at the beach.

During a photo op at the White House on Thursday, Abinader said he was looking forward to the 2025 Summit of the Americas, “where we will continue to develop the bonds of security, prosperity and democracy that bind us together.”

“And that summit will be in Punta Cana, so you’ll have time to be on the beach,” Abinader added.

Punta Cana is on the island nation’s Coconut Coast, home to many lavish resorts along the 30-kilometer stretch of sandy beaches and crystal-clear waters.

Abinader’s friendly quip turned into an embarrassment for Biden, however, as the American public assumed the Dominican president was mocking the US leader over his propensity for beach breaks.

Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader tells Biden the next Summit of the Americas “will be in Punta Cana, so you’ll have time to be on the beach” pic.twitter.com/3HjtNUHW6x

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) November 2, 2023

According to an estimate by a Republican outfit in May, Biden had spent 40% of his presidency on vacation, mainly at his residence in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. His most recent trip was in October, after the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war, prompting rapper ‘50 Cent’ to call the president out in a viral social media post.

“We got some real sh*t going on out here Joe,” the rapper wrote on Instagram. “What’s the plan, to get a tan and chill? Come on now.” 

The Summit of the Americas was started by US President Bill Clinton in 1994, “to promote economic growth and prosperity throughout the Americas based on shared democratic values.” The most recent one was held in California in 2022. 

Abinader and Biden also discussed the security situation in Haiti, which shares an island with the Dominican Republic. The US leader thanked the Dominican president for his support of Ukraine, according to the White House’s readout of their meeting.

Why American Muslims aren’t buying Biden’s anti-Islamophobia spiel

Washington’s unquestioning support for Israel’s attack on Gaza invalidates any anti-hate “strategy” the White House may present at home

This week, the administration of US President Joe Biden announced that it would, according to Reuters, “develop a national strategy to battle Islamophobia.” Meanwhile, Biden is facing intense skepticism from Muslim Americans for his unwavering support for the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) assault on Gaza, which comes in response to terrorist attacks by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7.

Reports suggest that this effort to combat Islamophobia has been in the works for months. In May, the White House also released a strategy to push back against anti-Semitism that also mentioned countering hatred against Muslims. The renewed hostilities in the Middle East have provided an impetus for this; meanwhile, the FBI has long noted that white-supremacist terrorism and hate-based terror are the number one terror-related concern in the United States. Hate crimes against Asian Americans, against the backdrop of renewed tensions between the US and China, have also been soaring in recent years.

As with the hatred against Asians in the US, it is evident that Washington’s foreign policy is intimately connected to the deteriorating domestic security situation. In January of this year, I noted in my column for RT in response to one of many hate crimes against Asians in the US, “Without a change in how we approach the subject of competition with China, Asian communities in the United States will never be safe. They will be a canary in the coal mine for what the military is seething to do in live combat against the Chinese.”

Read more

Israel could be committing war crimes – UN human rights body

It is evident that the same applies to how official US policy treats Arabs and Muslims and how the public digests this. What is happening in Gaza has been described as “genocide,” “an atrocity,” “ethnic cleansing” and “war crimes,” not just by enemies and opponents of Israel but by UN experts and officials, if sometimes cautiously. The Hamas attacks, as UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres correctly pointed out, did not happen in a vacuum. They were preceded, if in no way justified, by over half a century of occupation of Palestinian territories and construction of countless Israeli settlements there that were ruled illegal under international law by a UN resolution.

Washington has been supporting Israel in all of this and has now given it carte blanche – be it weapons, diplomatic cover, and political support – to proceed with its destruction of Gaza. The situation as it stands is such that Palestinians have been robbed of their sovereignty and any realistic path toward statehood. The US is enthusiastically supporting this.

What makes this latest escalation in Gaza unique is that it is so well-publicized. We are constantly inundated with images and videos of death and destruction, its victims predominantly being women, children, and the elderly. In spite of these terrible things, which everyone in the world is seeing on virtually every available platform, the US and the White House are pronouncing clearly that they do not care.

Devaluing the lives of Palestinians, who are Arabs and predominantly Muslim, so flagrantly, as well as dismissing those who do speak out as supporters of terrorist outfits like Hamas, sends a message that such atrocities are fine – and, doubtless, many bad actors within the US will take note. They will use the tacit approval of the crimes being committed in Gaza by the White House to play out their own sick fantasies at home. This is what makes the supposed strategy to combat Islamophobia so fundamentally absurd.

If basic morality were not enough to convince Biden’s team that this course of action was foolhardy, perhaps the language of electoral politics may suffice. On this, we can see that the White House’s support for Israel is also a clear political liability.

Read more

Biden approval among Democrats drops to lowest point of presidency

According to a widely reported poll commissioned by the Arab American Institute, Biden’s support among Arab Americans, who are a crucial voting bloc in key battleground states like Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, has plummeted in response to his pro-Israel stance. In 2020, Biden enjoyed support from 59% of Arab Americans and, even before the outbreak of more violence in the Middle East, this fell to 35%. Now that support has plummeted to just a meager 17%. 

The poll’s key findings reveal that about a quarter of Arab Americans are unsure of who they intend to support in 2024, while 40% said they’d vote for likely Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump, 13.7% said they’d vote for independent candidate Robert F. Kenned Jr., and another 3.8% would vote for Cornel West, also an independent. Only 20% of respondents indicated they’d rate Biden’s job performance as “good,” and another 66% reported negative feelings about his presidency. 

One may like to think that the old phrase “What goes around comes around” may indeed hold up. While Palestinian civilians suffering in Gaza may never have justice, it seems clear that for those supporting the unfolding tragedy there will be consequences – whether these be deepening racial tensions in America or loosening Biden’s frail grip on power.

For the White House, if it would like to avoid these obvious consequences and actually ameliorate the victimization of American Muslims, then they necessarily need to hold Israel accountable for its crimes in Gaza. Any strategy that does not include this is utterly meaningless – and millions of Americans know it.

Israel vows to use ‘all power’ to bomb Gaza after US’ call for humanitarian pause

West Jerusalem refuses any ceasefire that does not include an immediate release of hostages, the prime minister says

Israel will not change its approach to the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a press conference on Friday. The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) will go on with its relentless bombing campaign against the Palestinian enclave, he said, adding that West Jerusalem will not agree to any pause in the hostilities unless the Israeli hostages are freed. 

The IDF will continue striking Gaza with “all of its power,” Netanyahu said in a statement to the media. His nation “refuses a temporary cease-fire that doesn’t include the return of our hostages,” he added. 

Around 240 people had been kidnapped by the Gaza-based Hamas militant group in a surprise attack on Israel on October 7. The militants have since claimed they were open to the idea of releasing the hostages but maintained it can only be done after hostilities cease, adding that they cannot even gather information on people in their captivity between the bombardments and the communications blackout imposed by Israel. 

Read more

You’re either with us or Hamas – Israel

Netanyahu’s statements came after he met US State Secretary Antony Blinken in Tel Aviv. During the meeting, America’s top diplomat and the Israeli prime minister discussed the so-called “humanitarian pauses” needed to protect Gaza civilians and increase humanitarian aid deliveries. 

“We believe all these efforts would be facilitated by humanitarian pauses with arrangements on the ground increasing security for civilians and allowing more effective and sustained distribution of humanitarian aid,” Blinken said at his own press conference in Tel Aviv. 

He also reiterated Washington’s support for Israel by saying that the Jewish state would “never be alone.” 

On Thursday, the Israeli security cabinet announced further restrictions against the Palestinian enclave. All workers from Gaza stranded on Israeli territory amid the IDF operation would be sent home, the Israeli authorities said. “Israel cuts all ties with Gaza, there will be no more Palestinian workers from Gaza,” the statement issued by the security cabinet said. 

Read more

Hamas vows to make Gaza invasion ‘curse’ for Israel

Israel’s massive bombings of Gaza have faced criticism from many Arab nations as well as Türkiye and even the UN, which spoke of “collective punishment” and potential war crimes committed by the Israeli military. Moscow was also critical of West Jerusalem’s actions while condemning the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel as well. 

On Wednesday, the Russian ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, stated at the UN General Assembly emergency meeting that Israel’s right to self-defense does not warrant an invasion into Gaza, over which West Jerusalem has no jurisdiction. His words sparked an angry response from West Jerusalem, which accused Moscow of denying Israel its right to security and seeking to divert the world’s attention from its own military campaign in Ukraine.

On Thursday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog blasted all those who, he said, sought to “tie our hands” with demands for a ceasefire. “Anyone who thinks the cynical exploitation of civilian suffering will tie our hands and save Hamas this time is wrong. For us and for the Palestinians, the suffering will end only with the removal of Hamas,” he wrote in an opinion piece for the New York Times.

Israel launches attack on Russia at UN

West Jerusalem said it would not accept any criticism from Moscow

Israel has accused Russia of denying the country its right to “self-defense” after Moscow’s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, criticized the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) over their ongoing military campaign in Gaza.

West Jerusalem was “outraged” by the Russian diplomat’s statements, the Israeli Ynet news media outlet reported on Thursday, adding that relations between the two nations have been in decline amid the continued IDF operation in Gaza.

On Wednesday, Nebenzia told an emergency session of the UN General Assembly that Israel could not cite self-defense as a reason for its invasion into Gaza, as it had no jurisdiction to operate in the enclave in the first place and was acting as an “occupying power” there.

Israel’s ambassador to the international body, Gilad Erdan, hit back by saying it was “ridiculous to hear … the Russian representative preach morality to Israel on the issues of human rights and international law.” He also said Moscow was “the last place that can preach to us,” pointing out Russia’s expulsion from the UN Human Rights Council.

Moscow was suspended from the UN body in April 2022, less than two months after the start of its operation in Ukraine. The resolution on the decision was supported by 93 members of the UN General Assembly, with 24 voting against and 58 abstaining.

Read more

Israel’s Gaza operations not ‘self-defense’ – Moscow

The Israeli diplomat accused Russia of trying to divert the world’s attention from its own ongoing military campaign in Ukraine by drawing attention to the IDF’s actions in Gaza and called such attempts “unfortunate.”

In his Wednesday speech, Nebenzia specifically mentioned that Russia did not “deny Israel the right to fight terrorism.” He then urged the IDF to “fight terrorists” and not civilians, adding that Jewish people should know better than anyone else that killing the innocent does not help restore justice.

Israel launched its latest operation in Gaza following a surprise attack by the Gaza-based Palestinian militant group, Hamas, which claimed the lives of more than 1,400 Israelis, mostly civilians. The Israeli military campaign in Gaza, which has included massive bombardments and some ground operations, has so far killed around 9,000 Palestinians, including more than 3,700 children, according to the enclave’s health officials.

Russia has condemned the Hamas attack but also criticized Israel’s indiscriminate killing of civilians and called for an immediate ceasefire.

US asked Israel to avoid killing civilians – Politico

Washington is reportedly “pushing hard” after the Jabalia bombing

Washington has grown increasingly uncomfortable with the civilian death toll in Gaza, requesting an explanation from Israel for one of the airstrikes on the densely populated Jabalia refugee camp, Politico reported on Friday.

The request was in the context of “asking Israel to do more to avoid civilian casualties,” a US official, granted anonymity to discuss sensitive conversations, told the outlet. Washington has also asked for details on “the thinking and process” behind the strike and urged Israel to conduct “precision targeting” to avoid harming civilians.

Visiting Israel on Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters that he has urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pursue a “pause” in the fighting and gave him advice about reducing civilian casualties. 

Netanyahu responded that Israel will not agree to any ceasefires and intends to proceed “with full force” until Hamas has released all hostages taken in the October 7 attack.

Read more

Second Israeli airstrike hits Gaza refugee camp

The US urged Israel to conduct a “more surgical” operation instead of a full-scale invasion of Gaza, citing the potential for both civilian and Israel Defense Forces (IDF) casualties, the anonymous official told Politico, but Netanyahu only “partially” heeded the advice.

“The path they chose was kind of splitting the difference,” the official said.

Netanyahu declared war on Hamas after the Palestinian militant group’s incursion claimed 1,400 Israeli lives, mostly civilians. IDF jets and artillery have repeatedly struck Gaza, resulting in over 9,000 deaths, according to the most recent figures provided by health officials in the Hamas-controlled enclave. IDF ground troops entered Gaza last Friday and reportedly cut it in half.

Tuesday’s strike on Jabalia killed 50 and injured 150 people. Another strike, on Wednesday, killed at least 80 more, according to local doctors. Israel has acknowledged both strikes, saying it was targeting senior Hamas commanders who were “intentionally endangering Gazan civilians” by using them as human shields.

While the unnamed US official who spoke to Politico insisted that American “support for Israel’s right to defend itself remains solid,” some members of Congress from President Joe Biden’s party appear to be having reservations.

On Friday, 13 Senate Democrats issued a joint statement calling for “a short-term cessation of hostilities” to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, free the hostages, and negotiate a peace. Meanwhile, Democrats in the House are discussing possible measures to penalize Israel if it refuses to change course, including “actual enforcement of existing human rights vetting” tied to US weapons deliveries, one member of Congress told Politico on condition of anonymity.