Developments.
U.S. foreign policy inches forward.
I hope you’re having a lovely weekend. I’ve been listening to a really quite masterful set by a DJ I recently discovered. You can listen, too, if you’re into that kind of thing.
In the news, there have been so many developments this week. The Biden administration appears to be shifting its stance toward Israel, hatching plans to use whatever leverage it has to pressure the Netanyahu government to wind down its military operation in Gaza. U.S. negotiators are allegedly pushing for a sustained ceasefire, and President Biden signed an executive order allowing the U.S. to impose sanctions on Israeli settlers who attack Palestinians.
Then, in Congress, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Thursday that the much-anticipated text of the national security supplemental funding bill — which includes aid for Ukraine — would finally be released. The Senate could vote on it as soon as Wednesday.
Republicans want 72 hours to analyze the text before they vote on it. It’s still unclear if there will be enough support to get the bill across the finish line in the House. But after months of negotiations and complaints that no one had seen the bill’s language, this is still substantial progress. More on this soon, and in the What I’m Reading section below.
What I’m writing:
• Congress is working to pass a bill that would allow Washington to use frozen Russian assets to rebuild Ukraine. However, the new bill raises complex legal questions about seizing sovereign assets. This story is unlocked and free to read.
• For National Journal Radio, my editor and I break down the latest developments in Congress and the Middle East.
My weekly news blurbs:
What I’m reading:
• European Union leaders reached a deal to provide €50 billion in aid to Ukraine — and they were in unanimous agreement after some leaders persuaded the sole holdout, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, to drop his veto, Politico Europe reports.
• The European Union threatened to harm Hungary’s economy if it blocked fresh aid to Ukraine under a confidential plan drawn up by Brussels, according to the Financial Times.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told his top general Valery Zaluzhny that he would soon be fired, but a replacement still has not been selected, the Washington Post reports.
• The European parliament opened an internal probe into Latvian MEP Tatjana Ždanoka after Russian investigative journalists from The Insider reported that she was working for the Kremlin’s spy service, Politico Europe reports.
• Russian lawmakers passed a bill that would allow authorities to confiscate the property of those convicted of “discrediting” and spreading “fakes” about the army and the war in Ukraine, the Moscow Times reports.
• Politico Europe interviewed Russian opposition candidate Boris Nadezhdin, a 60-year-old veteran politician who promises to end Vladimir Putin’s “fatal mistake” of invading Ukraine, halt mobilization, and free political prisoners, including Alexei Navalny.
• Russia’s foreign ministry condemned a decision by Ecuador to hand over Russian-made military hardware to the United States for use in Ukraine, calling it a “reckless” breach of contract, Reuters reports.
• U.K. lawmakers expressed frustration that funds from the sale of the Chelsea soccer club have not been used to support Ukrainian war victims, as was promised by the former owner, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, the Associated Press reports.
• Albania’s constitutional court approved 5-4 a controversial agreement to send asylum seekers in Italy to Albania, the BBC reports.
• The European Union’s envoy for the Western Balkans urged Kosovo and Serbia to push ahead with normalization talks ahead of the June European elections, the Associated Press reports.
• Sinn Féin vice-president Michelle O’Neill was elected as First Minister of Northern Ireland in a historic moment for Northern politics, the Irish Times reports. O’Neill is the first non-unionist politician to head Stormont’s devolved government.
• Former Prime Minister Alexander Stubb won the first round of Finland’s presidential election and will face ex-foreign minister Pekka Haavisto in a runoff next month, the Associated Press reports.
• The far-right Alternative for Germany party narrowly lost a district runoff vote in the eastern state of Thuringia in the first electoral test since revelations of an AfD plan for the mass deportation of foreigners, which sparked protests across the country. DW has the details.
• The BfV, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, is probing its own former chief Hans-Georg Maaßen over claims of right-wing extremism, the Associated Press reports.
• Denmark dropped bombs in four key incidents in which civilians were reportedly killed or injured in the 2011 war that led to the overthrow of dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi, according to an investigation by Altinget and Airwars in partnership with the Guardian.
• Spain’s congress blocked a controversial amnesty law that aimed to benefit Catalan nationalists involved in separatist activities, the BBC reports. The separatist Junts party voted against the bill because they said it did not sufficiently protect Catalan independence leaders from new terrorism charges.
• The United States attributed the drone attack that killed three U.S. personnel and wounded at least 40 in Jordan on Sunday to the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a broad umbrella group of Iran-backed militias, the Associated Press reports.
• U.S. strikes against Iran-linked militants in Iraq and Syria killed dozens of fighters and several civilians, the Washington Post reports. It was the Biden administration’s first round of retaliatory action for an attack that killed three U.S. forces in Jordan last week.
• U.S. officials confirmed that plans were approved for a series of strikes against targets inside Iraq and Syria, including Iranian personnel and facilities, CBS News reports.
• The Iran-backed militia group Ketaib Hezbollah, which took responsibility for Sunday’s drone attack, said it has suspended operations against U.S. forces, the BBC reports.
• Al Jazeera has a piece on Tower 22, the small U.S. logistics outpost in Jordan’s northeast close to the borders with Iraq and Syria.
• Several right-wing Israeli ministers attended a conference calling for Israelis’ “resettlement” of Gaza, with National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich delivering keynote speeches, NBC reports. The conference was led in part by the Nachala organization, a group endorsing the expansion of Jewish settlements.
• Several countries suspended funding for the U.N. Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) after it announced it fired several staff over allegations they were involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, the BBC reports. UNRWA said it could be forced to suspend its operations if donor states do not reinstate funding.
• Twenty aid organizations, including the Norwegian Refugee Council, Oxfam, and Save the Children, said in a joint statement that UNRWA’s role in Gaza was irreplaceable and that “the population faces starvation, looming famine and an outbreak of disease.” The European Union announced it would not suspend funding to UNRWA pending the outcome of the internal investigation launched.
• Israel ramped up efforts to prevent Israeli protesters from blocking the flow of aid into Gaza days after the International Court of Justice said it must allow more supplies to enter the enclave, the New York Times reports.
• The Biden administration is discussing leveraging arms sales to Israel to convince the Israeli government to scale back its military campaign in Gaza, NBC news reports.
• U.S. President Biden signed an executive order allowing the United States to impose new sanctions on Israeli settlers – and potentially Israeli officials and politicians – involved in violence against Palestinians, Axios reports.
• U.S. negotiators are pushing for a ceasefire that could stop the war in Gaza long enough to stall Israel’s military momentum and potentially pave the way to a more lasting truce, the Wall Street Journal reports.
• Senior national security officials from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, and the Palestinian Authority met secretly in Riyadh to coordinate plans for after the war in Gaza ends and to discuss how a revitalized Palestinian Authority could govern the region, Axios reports.
• Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps reduced the deployment of their senior officers in Syria due to a spate of fatal Israeli strikes and will instead draw on allied Shi’ite militia to preserve their sway, Reuters reports.
• Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian landed in Pakistan for “in-depth talks” on de-escalating tensions following the deadly airstrikes by Tehran and Islamabad that killed at least 11 people, the Associated Press reports. The two countries said they respected each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and would expand security cooperation after exchanging missile strikes at militant targets.
• An Iranian man accused of leading a network that targets dissidents has been charged with hiring two Canadians, including a member of the Hells Angels, to kill two Iranian refugees living in Maryland, according to unsealed indictments. The New York Times has the story.
• A Pakistan independent candidate affiliated with former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party was shot dead by gunmen while campaigning, CNN reports.
• Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva fired the deputy director of the national intelligence agency and four department heads as investigations continue into claims the agency, Abin, spied on ex-president Jair Bolsonaro’s enemies, the BBC reports.
• A Thai court ordered the country’s most popular political party to end its campaign to change the country’s notoriously strict royal defamation law, CNN reports.
• Hong Kong’s leader confirmed he will introduce tighter national security laws to build on existing legislation Beijing imposed on the city in 2020, Reuters reports.
• Malaysia halved former Prime Minister Najib Razak’s 12-year prison sentence for corruption, CNN reports. Najib served as Prime Minister from 2009 to 2018 before being found guilty of money laundering, abuse of power, and other charges in 2020 in relation to a scandal (1MBD) that saw billions of dollars embezzled out of Malaysia.
• Militants in eastern Congo killed at least 12 villagers in a spate of attacks, the Associated Press reports. The killings were allegedly carried out by the Allied Democratic Forces, armed militants believed to be linked to the self-styled Islamic State militant group.
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