The Times of Israel is liveblogging Thursday’s events as they happen.
US to boycott UN meeting paying tribute to Iran’s Raisi
UNITED NATIONS — The United States will boycott a United Nations tribute on Thursday to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed earlier this month in a helicopter crash, a US official says.
The 193-member UN General Assembly traditionally meets to pay tribute to any world leader who was a sitting head of state at the time of their death. The tribute will feature speeches about Raisi.
“We won’t attend this event in any capacity,” a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, tells Reuters. The US boycott has not previously been reported.
Raisi, a hardliner who had been seen as a potential successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed when his helicopter came down in poor weather in mountains near the Azerbaijan border on May 19.
“The United Nations should be standing with the people of Iran, not memorializing their decades-long oppressor,” says the US official. “Raisi was involved in numerous, horrific human rights abuses, including the extrajudicial killings of thousands of political prisoners in 1988.”
“Some of the worst human rights abuses on record, especially against the women and girls of Iran, took place during his tenure,” the official says.
The UN Security Council stood at the beginning of an unrelated meeting for a moment of silence on May 20 to remember the victims of the helicopter crash. Deputy US Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood reluctantly stood with his 14 counterparts.
The United States expressed its “official condolences” for Raisi’s death, the State Department said on May 20. White House national security spokesperson John Kirby also said that day: “No question this was a man who had a lot of blood on his hands.”
US President Joe Biden’s administration was strongly criticized by some Republican members of Congress for offering condolences to Iran.
Raisi, 63, was elected president in 2021 and in office ordered a tightening of morality laws, oversaw a bloody crackdown on anti-government protests and pushed hard in nuclear talks with world powers.
US indicates Israeli takeover of Philadelphi Corridor in line with limited op it’s willing to support
White House national security spokesman John Kirby indicates Israel’s recently announced capture of the Philadelphi Corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt does not cross the Biden administration’s red line regarding a major military offensive in Rafah.
“When [Israel] briefed us on their plans for Rafah, it did include moving along that corridor and out of the city proper to put pressure on Hamas in the city,” Kirby tells reporters in a briefing.
He declines to confirm if Israel has indeed seized all of the Philadelphi Corridor, saying, “It’s not our op.”
However, he says the move is consistent with the “limited” ground operation that Israeli officials briefed the US on ahead of time.
US President Joe Biden warned earlier this month that he would halt certain offensive weapons shipments to Israel if the IDF launched a major military offensive in populated parts of Gaza’s southernmost city.
Israel Land Authority orders UNRWA to evacuate Jerusalem premises within 30 days for lease violations
The Israel Land Authority has informed UNRWA that it must vacate its East Jerusalem premises in Ma’alot Dafna within 30 days, following the approval of a demand from Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf to evict the UN agency for Palestinian refugees from any state land it is currently occupying.
In a letter to UNRWA, the ILA writes that it owes them a sum of NIS 27,125,280 ($7,326,711.19) for operating on land belonging to Israel without consent for the last seven years.
In addition, it instructs UNRWA that it is “required to immediately stop any illegal use, destroy everything you have built in violation of the law, vacate the land of any people or items and return it to the Authority within 30 days from the date of this letter.”
Ynet reports that for several years, the ILA has turned a blind eye to UNRWA’s violation of the terms under which the land was leased to it, but has now decided to enforce the terms of the lease in light of tensions over the war in Gaza and the alleged involvement of several UNRWA employees in the October 7 massacre carried out by Hamas in southern Israel.