What happened?
The Muslim holy month of Ramadan began Monday with no cease-fire in Gaza. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sparred over the weekend about the high death toll and humanitarian crisis and Israel's plans to attack Rafah, a last refuge for about half of Gaza's 2.2 million residents.
Who said what?
Netanyahu has a "right to defend Israel" and "pursue Hamas," but an attack that leaves "30,000 more Palestinians dead" is a "red line," Biden told MSNBC. "In my view, he's hurting Israel more than helping Israel." Netanyahu told Politico that whatever Biden meant, he is "wrong" if he thinks Netanyahu is "pursuing private policies" that go against the "wish of the majority of Israelis." He said Israel still plans to attack Rafah.
The commentary
The U.S. "lost faith in Netanyahu and it's not surprising," Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said. "Half of his Cabinet has lost faith in him as has the majority of Israel's citizens." Even a more moderate Israeli leader "wouldn't do things significantly differently" in Gaza, Eytan Gilboa, an expert on U.S.-Israel relations at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University, told The Associated Press. Nobody "of sound mind here" is "willing to leave Hamas in Gaza."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
What next?
Ramadan is typically a month of "dawn-to-dusk fasting," The New York Times said, but "that seems far away" in Gaza, where "people are so hungry that some have resorted to eating leaves and animal feed."
-
Political cartoons for November 22Cartoons Saturday’s political cartoons include Trump's autopen, war for oil rebranded, and more
-
Hitler: what can we learn from his DNA?Talking Point Hitler’s DNA: Blueprint of a Dictator is the latest documentary to posthumously diagnose the dictator
-
Government shutdown: why the Democrats ‘caved’In the Spotlight The recent stalemate in Congress could soon be ‘overshadowed by more enduring public perceptions’
-
Judge halts Trump’s DC Guard deploymentSpeed Read The Trump administration has ‘infringed upon the District’s right to govern itself,’ the judge ruled
-
Trump accuses Democrats of sedition meriting ‘death’Speed Read The president called for Democratic lawmakers to be arrested for urging the military to refuse illegal orders
-
Court strikes down Texas GOP gerrymanderSpeed Read The Texas congressional map ordered by Trump is likely an illegal racial gerrymander, the court ruled
-
Trump defends Saudi prince, shrugs off Khashoggi murderSpeed Read The president rebuked an ABC News reporter for asking Mohammed bin Salman about the death of a Washington Post journalist at the Saudi Consulate in 2018
-
Congress passes bill to force release of Epstein filesSpeed Read The Justice Department will release all files from its Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking investigation
-
Trump says he will sell F-35 jets to Saudi ArabiaSpeed Read The president plans to make several deals with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this week
-
Judge blasts ‘profound’ errors in Comey caseSpeed Read ‘Government misconduct’ may necessitate dismissing the charges against the former FBI director altogether
-
Ecuador rejects push to allow US military basesSpeed Read Voters rejected a repeal of a constitutional ban on US and other foreign military bases in the country
