WASHINGTON, D.C. (SDJW) — Following a meeting Monday between Vice President Kamala Harris and former Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, an opposition leader now serving in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 5-member “War Cabinet,” Harris’ office released the following statement: “The vice president expressed her deep concern about the humanitarian conditions in Gaza.” She “urged Israel to take additional measures” to increase the flow of aid. “She called on Hamas to accept the [ceasefire] terms on the table.”
Before meeting at the White House with Harris, Gantz commented, “With friends, we should always speak openly and that’s what we’re going to do.”
In another development, President Biden has sent an envoy to Lebanon to warn against escalation of the tit-for-tat cross-border fighting with Israel. His senior advisor, Amos Hochstein, said “escalation of violence is in no one’s interest and there is no such thing as a limited war. An escalation will certainly not help Lebanon rebuild and advance forward at this critical time in Lebanon’s history.”
In related news:
–A Wall Street Journal poll taken between Feb. 21-28 showed Americans evenly split in their evaluation of the Israel-Gaza War. Asked if they felt Israel’s actions had gone too far, 42 percent agreed that they had, while 43 percent answered that the actions were either just about right or hadn’t gone far enough. The poll’s cross-tabulation found that 70 percent of Democrats believed Israel had gone too far, while only 16 percent of Republican respondents felt the same way.
–CNN reported telecommunications have been disrupted by Houthi strikes in the Red Sea. Damage to underwater cables have caused nearly one-fourth of the telecommunications traffic among Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. The Houthis initially targeted ships suspected of traveling to and from Israel, and later expanded their attacks to American and British-related ships. The UK and the US have retaliated with bombing runs against Houthis’ military installations.
–More than 8,000 plaintiffs, including 6,500 Israelis and 1,500 dual American-Israeli citizens, have filed a lawsuit in the Washington D.C. federal court demanding that the United States discontinue its funding of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNWRA). Plaintiffs represented by Brooklyn attorney Robert J. Tolchin and Israeli attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner of Shirat HaDin-Israel Law Center, rely on legislation adopted by Congress 50 years ago that “prohibited U.S. funding unless UNRWA affirmatively prevented any of it from going to what was then referred to as ‘guerilla fighters,'” according to Tolchin.
–Jewish columnist Letty Cottin Pogrebin wrote a column explaining why, as a matter of Jewish ethics, she feels she must call for a ceasefire in Gaza. .
–In Union City, New Jersey, the municipal government held a Palestinian flag-raising ceremony on Friday. The City Council earlier had passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, as did the city councils in North Bergen and Weehawken, New Jersey. A similar resolution was defeated in Jersey City. Jason M. Shames, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey, said in a statement that “a local town council should focus their work on issues that directly benefit their town and their citizens and not let individuals with a personal agenda hijack the work of the municipality. Making a resolution on a contentious issue in the international political arena has no bearing or impact on their residents or on the international conflict and will only engender feelings of divisiveness and acrimony.”
–In New York City, 4-year-old orphan Omar Abu Kuwalk, whose parents and sister were killed when their Gaza City building was bombed during an Israeli airstrike, received a prosthetic device replacing his left arm that had been blown off below the elbow. Through a special arrangement involving Israel, Egypt, and the United States, the boy was brought from Gaza by his aunt Maha Abu Kawaik, whose husband and three children remain in a refugee camp in Rafah. He is now recuperating in a home run by Global Medical Relief Fund.
–A man identified as Abdel-Gawad Mohamed reportedly was beaten and arrested in Alexandria, Egypt, after he climbed a billboard and denounced Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as an agent of Israel. Contending Sisi has betrayed the neighboring people of Gaza, he shouted that the Egyptian president is a traitor. “I’m not afraid of you, Sisi. Allah is great, Allah is great,” he chanted.
–In Nigeria, Former Aviation Minister Femi Farni-Kayode said it is completely “unacceptable” that some members of the Igbo people of Eastern Nigeria are supporting Israel in its war with Gaza. He noted that some Igbo like to call themselves the Jews of Africa, while others have converted to the Jewish religion. “It is an irony of fate that the overwhelming majority of the very same Igbo people who were slaughtered in their millions between 1967 and 1970 and who were subjected to the worst form of ethnic cleansing that Africa has ever seen are now openly applauding the State of Israel for committing genocide against the women and children of Gaza,” Farni-Kayode said.
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Compiled from SDJW news services