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Europe
European Commission
03/10/2024 - 13:55 The European Commission decided to refer Hungary to the Court of Justice because it considers its national laws criminalise groups that receive foreign funding of election campaigns, including NGOs and established a new Sovereignty Protection Office that has broad investigative powers. (Source: France24 / AFP)
A comment: This could block the Office for the Defence of Sovereignty from conducting investigations until the matter has been resolved.
United States
Oct 03, 2024 Will the post-Oct. 7 war permanently alter Washington's 80-year commitment to the Jewish state? The already deeply polarized debate over the U.S.-Israel relationship is likely to become more intense in the future. In the U S.-Israeli understandings reached in the aftermath of the June 1967 war, the U.S. pledged to maintain Israel’s conventional military superiority over any combination of regional enemies. Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge (QME) is a commitment enshrined in U.S. law. Israeli dependence upon Washington's unquestioning direct military engagement remain critical. Israel’s long-held contention at the heart of U.S.-Israel strategic cooperation - that the conventional arsenal supplied by the U.S. to Israel, or QME, enables it to “defend itself by itself ” - undermines deployment of U.S. forces to defend against Iranian missile attacks against Israel. Washington has responded with more weapons, and more money for Israel - well over $300 billion in all, the most U.S. aid provided to a single foreign country by far. The United States is a gerontocracy whose most important leaders were politicized 'in an era when Israel was viewed as, in effect, a post-Holocaust gift to international Jewry', and to criticize it was to in some real sense align with anti-semites. The U.S. is still effectively enabling Israel to escalate even as it calls for regional de-escalation. The U.S. isn’t incapable of reforming the relationship - it’s unwilling. Some 'incalculable portion" of younger Americans is less committed to virtual carte blanche for Israel’s leaders. Israel's "right to defend itself" cannot offer an adequate moral justification for the brutal punishment inflicted on the Palestinian people. The relationship is contributing more than ever to the geopolitical weakening of America. As the Biden administration frantically runs cover for Israeli criminal actions, the cost to the U.S. in political, reputational, legal and other arenas increases exponentially. It seems that there is nothing Israel could do that would cause this administration to impose consequences or restrict the vast flow of American resources into Israel's war machine, even as it threatens to drag the United States into war and potentially to destroy the Democrats' chance of retaining control of the White House. The next generation of American voters has demonstrated they will not support the U.S. sending billions of tax dollars to a country that murders and starves entire populations. Pro-Israel groups and their congressional supporters have attempted to silence debate and arrest the growth of pro-Palestinian sentiment. State laws have been enacted penalizing individuals or groups that endorse sanctions on Israel and they’ve expanded the definition of antisemitism to include legitimate criticism of Israel. There’s been pressure from Republicans and donors to impose severe speech restrictions on university campuses and 'dark money' groups are spending over $100 million to target the campaigns of members of Congress sympathetic towards Palestinians. (Source: Responsible Statecraft *)
* The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, an American think tank specializing in US foreign policy.
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