Amid warnings of a full scale war, Biden administration dispatches envoy to Middle East Deirdre Shesgreen, USA TODAY UP NEXT
WASHINGTON – The Biden administration dispatched a top State Department diplomat to the Middle East immediately to try to de-escalate the deadly conflict between Israel and Hamas, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Wednesday.
President Joe Biden faces growing pressure to help stem the violence and heightened international alarm over the spiraling death toll. The United Nations special coordinator for the Middle East, Tor Wennesland, warned on Wednesday that the situation is escalating toward full scale war.
The fighting has killed at least 53 Palestinians and seven Israelis, and Hamas and Israel continued their lethal exchange of rocket fire and airstrikes Wednesday. Fourteen Palestinian children and two Israeli children were among the dead. It s the most severe outbreak of violence since 2014, and there s no e
Episode Notes
This week’s violence across Israel and the occupied territories points to a new era in Israeli-Palestinian relations. Palestinian observers find themselves wondering: Is it a changing diplomatic paradigm, thanks to a growing movement to acknowledge the human rights of Palestinians and find lasting peace? Or is it something more frightening, more deafening the beginning of unbridled war?
Guests: Yousef Munayyer, a fellow at the Arab Center Washington, and Mariam Barghouti, a writer based in Ramallah.
If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work.
US President Joe Biden has pledged to take a rights-based approach to US foreign policy.
But as Israeli air raids pummel the Gaza Strip, killing more than two dozen Palestinians in the besieged coastal territory, Palestine advocates say Biden is failing to apply that standard to Israel – and without US pressure, Israel has little incentive to change its stance.
Phyllis Bennis, an analyst at the US-based Institute for Policy Studies, said that “as long as the US is not prepared to hold Israel to account”, any statements from the Biden administration about the ongoing violence would not lead to a de-escalation.
Al Jazeera: US President Joe Biden has pledged to take a rights-based approach to US foreign policy.
But as Israeli air raids pummel the Gaza Strip, killing more than two dozen Palestinians in the besieged coastal territory, Palestine advocates say Biden is failing to apply that standard to Israel – and without US pressure, Israel has little incentive to change its stance.
Phyllis Bennis, an analyst at the US-based Institute for Policy Studies, said that “as long as the US is not prepared to hold Israel to account”, any statements from the Biden administration about the ongoing violence would not lead to a de-escalation.