Biden Reaffirms Support For Israel; Announces Gaza Aid Deal
President says Israel and Egypt agreed to let humanitarian aid into Gaza
Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up!
Hi everyone,
It’s starting to feel like Groundhog Day. On Wednesday, Rep. Jim Jordan lost the vote for House speaker, again.
Jordan got 199 votes yesterday; Tuesday he had 200. The magic number is 217. So things are going in the wrong direction. All of the Democrats voted for Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
It is not looking great for Jordan, as Republicans begin to discuss putting up yet another person for speaker. The next vote could happen this afternoon.
Watch out for that first step, it’s a doozie.
Mosheh & Jill
🗞 PRESIDENT BIDEN’S WHIRLWIND TRIP TO ISRAEL
BIDEN IN ISRAEL
President Biden wrapped up a 7 1/2 hour visit to Israel on Wednesday, reiterating unwavering support for Israel’s security after the Hamas terror attack on October 7th. The trip was complicated and cut short because of the Gaza hospital compound explosion on Tuesday.
Israel and the US say their intelligence (some of which was shared publicly yesterday) shows it was caused by an errant Islamic Jihad rocket. Hamas continues to blame an Israeli airstrike, but has failed to provide evidence thus far.
Biden met with Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and families of victims killed in the attack.
He also reached a deal with Israelis to get humanitarian aid like food, water and medicine into Gaza from Egypt.
Biden reportedly had an hour-long phone conversation with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to let 20 trucks of aid go through the Rafah crossing.
The shipments will be subject to inspections and must go to civilians and not Hamas.
A reminder, Hamas had a history of smuggling rockets, explosives and other weapons from Iran across Egypt, Western intelligence sources have said.
Israel cut off the flow of food, fuel and water to the Gaza Strip after the attack by Hamas.
Biden also announced $100 million in aid to Gaza and the West Bank.
The U.S. has already provided extensive aid and military support to Israel. Officials plan to ask Congress for more than $2 billion in combined additional aid for Israel and Ukraine.
🎥 While speaking in Tel Aviv, President Biden pledged unwavering support for Israel, but also cautioned Israelis against letting “rage” consume them, subtly urging restraint, and addressing concern for innocent Palestinians.
THE HOSPITAL EXPLOSION: WHAT WE KNOW
Complicating Biden’s visit was the blast at the Gaza hospital on Tuesday. Biden backed up Israel’s claims that they did NOT fire the rocket: “Based on the information we’ve seen to date, it appears it was a result of an errant rocket fired by a terrorist group in Gaza.”
Biden said his information is based on data from the Pentagon. He later joked that Hamas has to learn how to “shoot straight.”
The National Security Council says based on “analysis of overhead imagery, intercepts and open source information, Israel was not responsible.”
We’ve compiled the evidence released so far (see below) which shows, so far, that the explosion was most likely caused by a misfire by the Islamic Jihad, another terrorist organization that operates out of Gaza. This includes:
Israeli aerial footage, as well as video from the Al Jazeera network, shows rockets being launched from Gaza, just after the terror groups announced they would be. One appears to lose acceleration and falls back onto the hospital parking lot.
There were no craters or significant damage to the hospital building, which would have been the case with an Israeli aerial strike.
Intercepted calls between Hamas operatives released by Israel confirm Hamas knew it was an Islamic Jihad mistake.
Additionally, an IDF spokesperson said Hamas had inflated the casualty numbers, and couldn’t have known within minutes of the explosion—what caused the blast and that 500 people were dead.
THE RIPPLE EFFECTS
Despite the evidence, Hamas still claims that Israel was behind the attack— and many in the Arab world believe it. Jordan cancelled the planned meeting between President Biden and Arab leaders in Amman, which was to take place after his visit to Israel. And protests continued from the West Bank to Lebanon to Jordan.
In Tunisia, protesters reportedly burned and severely damaged one of the few synagogues left in the country (from when there was a large Jewish community there).
In Lebanon, hundreds of protesters gathered at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon and had altercations with police. The US is now warning all Americans not to travel to Lebanon.
In Turkey, a US consulate has been closed indefinitely after protesters threw molotov cocktails at the complex.
📺 President Biden is set to deliver a prime-time foreign policy address tonight. The Oval Office address is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET and will address the administration's response to Hamas’ terrorist attacks against Israel and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
⏳ SPEED READ
🚨NATION
📌 18 Years Later: Joran van der Sloot admits to killing Alabama teen Natalee Holloway, judge says (CNN)
📌 US vetoes UN Security Council action on Israel, Gaza (REUTERS)
📌 Biden to deliver a primetime foreign policy address Thursday (NBC)
📌 Donald Trump told to keep volume down after getting animated at New York civil fraud trial (YAHOO)
🌎 AROUND THE WORLD
📌 Putin touts solidarity with China in Xi’s pitch for new world order as crisis grips Middle East (CNN)
📌 Egyptian president 'rejects' effort to push Palestinians to Egypt, warns it could jeopardize peace with Israel. (FOX)
📌 Eight French airports hit by security alerts (REUTERS)
📌 US shoots down two one-way attack drones targeting US forces in Iraq, US defense official says (CNN)
📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH
📌 X, formerly Twitter, tests charging new users $1 to tweet, retweet (CNBC)
📌 United Airlines to seat window passengers first to cut down on boarding time (FOX)
📌 Abbott says market overestimating sales hit from new diabetes drugs (REUTERS)
📌 ChatGPT can now respond with images and search the web (CNBC)
🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT
📌 ‘We cannot lose our humanity’: Madonna addresses Israel-Hamas war on stage in London (THE GUARDIAN)
📌 Here’s the real reason Britney Spears shaved all her hair off in 2007 (BUZZFEED)
📌 Quentin Tarantino visits troops in Israel to “Boost Morale” amid Hamas War (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER)
📌 John Stamos reveals he was sexually abused as a child (ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY)
🗓 ON THIS DAY: OCTOBER 18
1796: An essay appears in the Gazette of the United States in which a writer, mysteriously named “Phocion,” accuses presidential candidate Thomas Jefferson of having an affair with an enslaved woman.
Phocion turned out to be former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton.
The essay typified the nasty, personal nature of political attacks in late 18th-century America— in case you thought politics TODAY is nasty.
1985: “Take on Me” music video helps Norway’s A-ha reach the top the U.S. pop charts.
1987: The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted nearly 23%, the largest one-day percentage drop in the stock market's history, coined “Black Monday.”
2005: The Iraqi Special Tribunal started the trial of Saddam Hussein for crimes against humanity. Hussein, the fifth President of Iraq, was found guilty and executed on December 30, 2006.