The Times of Israel is liveblogging Friday’s events as they happen.
Argentina court rules Iran ordered 1990s terror bombings of Israeli embassy, AMIA center
BUENOS AIRES — An Argentine court says Iran had ordered the deadly 1992 attack on Israel’s embassy in Buenos Aires and the 1994 attack on the Asociacion Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) Jewish center, local media reports.
The ruling also implicates the Lebanese Shiite terror movement Hezbollah, declares Iran a “terrorist state” and calls the attack against the AMIA — the deadliest in Argentina’s history — a “crime against humanity,” according to court documents cited by media reports.
House Speaker Mike Johnson negotiating with White House to advance Ukraine and Israel aid
WASHINGTON — US House Speaker Mike Johnson is negotiating with the White House as he prepares for the treacherous task of advancing wartime funding for Ukraine and Israel through the House, a top House Republican says.
House Republican Leader Steve Scalise tells reporters that Johnson has been talking with White House officials about a package that would deviate from the Senate’s $95 billion foreign security package and include several Republican demands. It comes after Johnson has delayed for months on advancing aid that would provide desperately needed ammunition and weaponry for Kyiv, trying to find the right time to advance a package that will be a painful political lift.
“There’s been no agreement reached,” Scalise says. “Obviously there would have to an agreement reached not just with the White House, but with our own members.”
Johnson is being stretched between a Republican conference deeply divided in its support for Ukraine, as well as two presidential contenders at odds over the US’s posture towards the rest of the world. President Joe Biden has repeatedly chastised Republicans for not helping Ukraine, saying they are doing the bidding of Russian President Vladimir Putin and hurting US security. Meanwhile, Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican candidate, has said he would negotiate an end to the conflict as he tries to push the US to a more isolationist stance.
The Republican speaker is set to travel to the former president’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida on Friday to meet with Trump and has been consulting him in recent weeks on the Ukraine funding to gain his support — or at least prevent him from openly opposing the package.
Pentagon chief tells Gallant of ‘full US support to defend’ Israel from Iranian attack
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant spoke with his American counterpart Lloyd Austin, according to a Pentagon statement that says the latter stressed “ironclad US support for Israel’s defense in the face of growing threats from Iran and its regional proxies.”
“Secretary Austin assured Minister Gallant that Israel could count on full US support to defend Israel against Iranian attacks, which Tehran has publicly threatened,” the readout adds.
There is no immediate statement from Gallant’s office on the phone call.
US official predicts Iran attack on Israel won’t be big enough to draw America into war
WASHINGTON — The United States expects an attack by Iran against Israel but one that would not be big enough to draw Washington into war, US official says.
The White House said earlier Washington did not want conflict to spread in the Middle East and the US had told Iran it was not involved in an airstrike against a top Iranian military commander in Damascus.
The White House added it warned Iran to not use that attack as a pretext to escalate further in the region.
‘No consensus’ in Security Council on full UN membership for Palestinians, says chair
UNITED NATIONS — Members of the UN Security Council have failed to reach a consensus on a longshot bid by Palestinians for full UN membership, according to the body’s chair.
“There was no consensus” during a closed-door meeting, says Maltese Ambassador Vanessa Frazier, who holds the council’s rotating presidency for April. “However, the majority were very clearly in favor to move on with membership.”