The Times of Israel is liveblogging Friday’s events as they unfold.
Biden and Trump set to hold first debate
US President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump have both arrived in Atlanta with a debate between the two candidates set to kick off in some 30 minutes.
A lively crowd of supporters greeted Biden as he arrived at his Atlanta hotel ahead of the debate earlier.
The crowd of about 50 chanted “Four more years.” Many wore campaign T-shirts. Some held placards with Biden’s trademark aviator sunglasses on them. Others had signs with the face of Biden’s alter ego “Dark Brandon.”
The president pumped his fist and embraced one man, a possible sign of how he’s getting energized for the evening’s showdown with former President Donald Trump.
Trump adviser Corey Lewandowski, who flew to Georgia with the former president, says Trump was in a “good mood” ahead of Thursday’s general election debate.
Lewandowski says a “small footprint” of Trump’s inner circle was on the plane including top aides Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita.
Trump heard some last-minute advice, Lewandowski says, but was relaxed on the trip.
Security around the debate site, which will take place without an audience or live press, has tightened up in recent hours.
Unscalable fencing has gone up around the CNN studios, as well as the Georgia Tech arena where hundreds of journalists are gathered to cover the debate.
There have been at least a few protesters near the site, including a man clad in a black-and-white prison-style outfit and a sign reading “Lock Biden Up,” and accusing the president of betraying Israel and the US.
A group of pro-Palestinian protesters are also gathered outside, calling to end US support for Israel.
Various groups have indicated their intent to gather near the debate site, but a downpour of mid-afternoon rain may be dampening — literally — some of those plans.
Smotrich said set to release PA tax funds, extend banks waiver as part of outposts deal
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich will sign off on moves unfreezing tax funds withheld from the Palestinian Authority as part of a deal to win cabinet approval to legalize West Bank outposts and place new sanctions on senior Palestinian officials, according to reports.
The hardline minister will also extend a waiver allowing Israeli banks to work with their Palestinian counterparts, Haaretz reports.
Smotrich had pledged to withhold funds collected by Israel on the PA’s behalf and allow the banks waiver to expire after June until the Israeli government adopts a series of punitive measures against the PA over the moves taken by Norway, Spain and Ireland, in addition to Ramallah’s support for the cases against Israel in the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.
The minister said late Thursday that the security cabinet had signed off on his proposal to legalize five outposts, revoke “various approvals and benefits” for senior PA officials, expand Israeli enforcement powers against Palestinian building in the West Bank and okay thousands of new settlement homes.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, which usually announces cabinet-level decisions, has not issued any statements and is not reachable for immediate comment.
An Israeli official told ToI this month that the government was interested in placating Smotrich so that he’ll release some of the Palestinian tax revenues, a major point of contention between Jerusalem and Washington, and extend indemnity to Israeli correspondent banks.
The expiration of the waiver would severely hamper the West Bank economy, which is intrinsically dependent on Israel due to the power imbalance between the sides.
It’s unclear if the scheme will placate Washington, though. A US official said last week that the sides are liable to find themselves in the same situation a month or two down the line “if and when [Smotrich] decides to hold up the funds again.”
“These funds cannot continue to be held for ransom. They belong to the Palestinians,” the US official told ToI.
Jacob Magid and Reuters contributed to this report.
UN Security Council demands Houthis stop attacks, skirts around Gaza war
The UN Security Council has approved a resolution demanding Yemen’s Houthi rebels halt all attacks on ships and urged that the disruption to maritime security in a critical Middle East waterway be urgently addressed.
The resolution makes no mention that the Iran-backed rebels claim they are staging the attacks because of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
The resolution, which also extended the requirement that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres report monthly on the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, was approved by a 12-0 vote, with Russia, China and Algeria abstaining.
The resolution condemns the Houthis’ continuing attacks, emphasizing the need to address root causes, “including the conflicts contributing to regional tensions and the disruption to maritime security.”
The resolution, which was a follow-up resolution to one adopted January 10 that condemned and demanded an immediate halt to Houthi attacks, “urges caution and restraint to avoid further escalation of the situation in the Red Sea and the broader region.”
Speaking on behalf of the United States and Japan, which sponsored the resolution, US deputy ambassador Robert Wood says the Houthi attacks “threaten international peace and security” and that they are “a global challenge” that “necessitates a global solution.”
“With this resolution the council once again sends a clear message to the Houthis: Cease these attacks immediately,” he says.
China’s deputy UN ambassador Geng Shuang said Beijing abstained as it did in January because some key elements in the resolution “could have negative consequences and lead to further escalation of regional tensions.”
An immediate and lasting cease-fire in Gaza “will help cool down the situation in Yemen and the Red Sea,” Geng says.
Pennsylvania Senate advances bill pulling state funds from schools that boycott Israel
Pennsylvania’s state Senate has approved legislation that would block state aid from going to any university that boycotts or divests from Israel, following pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses across the country that included demands for divestment.
The measure, which passes by a vote of 41 to 7, also would bar the state treasurer and public pension systems from boycotting or divesting from Israel’s government or commercial financial activity in that country.
The bill wins support from all but one Republican and most Democrats. It now goes to the House.
Supporters of the legislation say it was motivated by a desire to support an ally nation in its war with Hamas, to fight a rising tide of antisemitism in the United States and to alert state-subsidized universities that they must protect Jewish students from threats and bullying by anti-Israel protesters.
Democratic Sen. Judy Schwank, said she hopes it sends a message to college administrators and boards of trustees that are responsible for campus safety.
“Bodily harm, death threats, go beyond just hurt feelings and they certainly stretch the limits of free speech,” Schwank says.
Feds probing anti-Israel protest outside LA synagogue as Garland decries antisemitism
Federal officials are investigating a weekend demonstration against Israel that spiraled into violence as protesters blocked access to a Los Angeles synagogue, US Attorney General Merrick Garland says, saying the incident appeared to have been motivated by antisemitic hate.
Fighting between pro-Palestinian demonstrators and counterprotesters erupted Sunday outside the Adas Torah synagogue in the heavily Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood and police were called in to break it up. One person was arrested, and footage showed at least one pro-Israel figure badly bloodied.
Garland says the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, the FBI and the US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California “have been and, as we speak, are collecting evidence on that matter.”
The “Justice Department will not tolerate criminal acts motivated by antisemitic hate,” Garland says, becoming emotional as he recalls his family’s own history fleeing the pogroms of eastern Europe at the start of the 20th century.
“Let me promise to the Jewish community that this Justice Department will do everything within its power, working with federal partners and state and local partners, to secure the community’s safety,” he says. “And as attorney general, I will do everything in my power to do that.”
Garland does not comment further on what exactly officials are examining.
US President Joe Biden condemned the violence in a post Monday on social media platform X. “Intimidating Jewish congregants is dangerous, unconscionable, antisemitic, and un-American,” Biden said.
The Los Angeles Police Department on Monday began providing additional patrols in Pico-Robertson and outside houses of worship citywide.
Estonian PM Kallas named as new EU foreign policy chief
Estonia’s Kaja Kallas has been named as the European Union’s next top diplomat replacing Josep Borrell, whose tenure was marked by outspoken criticism of Israel.
European Union leaders signed off on the appointment of Kallas as part of a deal that keeps German conservative Ursula von der Leyen as president of the European Commission for another five years and names Antonio Costa of Portugal as European Council president.
Kallas is prime minister of her tiny Baltic home country. She comes from the pro-business liberal group, which is also home to embattled French President Emmanuel Macron and lost seats in the June poll, trailing into fourth place.
“This is an enormous responsibility in this time of geopolitical tensions. There’s war in Europe, but there’s also growing instability globally,” Kallas tells reporters.
She and von der Leyen must still be approved by a majority of lawmakers in the European Parliament, which could take place when the newly constituted legislature meets next month.
Kallas, who turns 47 on Tuesday, has made her name as an eloquent critic of neighboring Russia and its expansionist aims since she became Estonian prime minister in early 2021.
An uncompromising voice in the EU and NATO for unconditional support to Kyiv and for containing Moscow, she led her country of 1.4 million people to become among the highest per-capita military donors to Ukraine.
But she is considered largely untested on foreign affairs matters farther from home, including in the Middle East. She has voiced support for Israel’s right to defend itself in the aftermath of the October 7 massacre, but has also decried the humanitarian crisis in Gaza since Israel invaded the Strip.