INTERNACIONAL
US says Israel has not received all requested weapons for fight in Gaza: ‘Don’t have capacity’
The U.S.’s top general said Thursday that Washington has not sent all requested military arms to Israel as the brutal fight in Gaza continues, a conflict that has drawn condemnation from both sides of the political aisle.
«Although we’ve been supporting them with capability, they’ve not received everything they’ve asked for,» chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff General Charles Q. Brown said Thursday, speaking from an event hosted by the Defense Writer’s Group.
«Some of that is because they’ve asked for stuff that we either don’t have the capacity to provide or not willing to provide, not right now,» he added.
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Brown did not go into detail regarding which type of military equipment the U.S. has denied Israel, and the Pentagon did not answer Fox News Digital’s questions regarding which arms have been withheld.
Instead, the Pentagon pointed to a statement issued by spokesman for the general, Navy Capt. Jereal Dorsey, who said Brown’s comments «were solely in reference to a standard practice before providing military aid to any of our allies and partners.»
«We assess U.S. stockpiles and any possible impact on our own readiness to determine our ability to provide the requested aid,» he said. «There is no change in U.S. policy.
«The United States continues to provide security assistance to our ally Israel as they defend themselves from Hamas.»
It is unclear how the U.S.’s support for Ukraine in its war against Russia has affected U.S. weapon stockpiles and whether that has impacted Washington’s ability to aid Israel. Though the U.S. backing of Jerusalem in its fight against Hamas has become a controversial issue, not for financial reasons but because of a growing humanitarian crisis there.
The U.S. position on Israel has become a hot-button issue at home and abroad as questions circulate over whether U.S. military aid is contributing to higher civilian death tolls in Gaza.
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Human rights advocates, Democrats and Western allies have pointed to the high death toll in Gaza and what some have argued is a disproportionate response to the October Hamas terrorist attack, which saw the indiscriminate killing of 1,200 Israeli civilians and the abduction of 253 hostages, according to Israeli figures.
The Hamas run ministry of Health claims that more than 32,000 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza during Israel’s military offensive, and on Monday the U.N. Security Council voted in favor of passing a resolution that called for an immediate cease-fire – a move that was made possible only after the U.S. abstained from voting.
The Biden administration has begun shifting its stance when it comes to Israel’s war in Gaza, and on Tuesday U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, that the death toll was «far too high» in the Gaza Strip while humanitarian assistance was «far too low» given the Israeli blocks on aid.
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Biden saw the effects of his support for Israel from the campaign trail when thousands of voters cast their ballots on Super Tuesday under the «uncommitted» option in the Democratic primary, as a show of frustration.
Simultaneously, Republicans on the Hill have moved to exemplify the fissures in the Democratic Party and Biden’s increasing frustration with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Reuters contributed to this report.
INTERNACIONAL
French PM to resign as leftists nab majority of parliamentary seats in snap election
A far-left political coalition that unexpectedly assembled ahead of France’s snap elections is projected to win the majority of parliamentary seats up for grabs and the country’s prime minister has announced his intention to resign – leading the country into unforeseen territory and possible turmoil.
As the election results came in, French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced he will be turning in his resignation on Monday.
President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance was projected to take the second most seats, while the far right was projected to come in third.
Macron called the snap election just four weeks ago, after the right-wing National Rally (RN) scored enormous success in the European Parliamentary elections in June. Polling before the first round of voting indicated RN would continue to dominate. However, more recent polling ahead of the runoff indicates those returns have diminished and RN will fall short of a clear majority.
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The first round occurred on June 30 and resulted in just 76 of the 577 constituencies in the French National Assembly determining their representative. Candidates who did not receive an outright majority in the first round of voting went on to a second-round runoff, which happened on Sunday.
Going into the election, France was set to elect the RN as the largest party in government, though it was possible no party might emerge with a clear majority in the tightly contested election.
When the results started to come in, projections changed toward the left, signifying a lack of majority for any single alliance, which threatened to plunge France into economic and political turmoil.
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The final results of the election are not expected until late Sunday or early Monday.
Macron made a huge gamble when he called for the snap election, and the projections show the gamble may not have paid off for the unpopular president and his alliance, which lost control of parliament.
While the far-right RN greatly increased the number of seats it now holds in parliament, the results fell short of the party’s expectations.
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Far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon urged Macron to invite the leftist New Popular Front coalition to form a government, given projections that put it in the lead.
Macron’s office said the president would «wait for the new National Assembly to organize itself» before making any decisions.
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A hung parliament with no single bloc coming close to getting the 289 seats needed for an absolute majority in the National Assembly, the more powerful of France’s two legislative chambers, would be unknown territory for modern France.
France doesn’t have a tradition of lawmakers from rival political camps coming together to form a working majority.
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The projections, if confirmed by official counts, will spell intense uncertainty for a pillar of the European Union and its second-largest economy, with no clarity about who might partner with Macron as prime minister in governing France.
Fox News Digital’s Peter Aitken and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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