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Nearing the end of a whirlwind Middle East trip this week, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken finished meetings with the Israeli president and relatives of American hostages held by Hamas, left his beachside hotel in Tel Aviv and shook hands with protesters gathered outside. He looked them in the eye and said there was a new hostages-for-cease-fire deal on the table that Hamas should take. “Bringing your loved ones home is at the heart of everything we’re trying to do, and we will not rest until everyone — man, woman, soldier, civilian, young, old — is back home,” he said. That public show of empathy with frustrated protesters is something that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has avoided since the war began in October. And, lately, he has focused his recent public comments on an imminent ground offensive — an invasion of the city of Rafah in southern Gaza “with or without” a cease-fire deal, as the Israeli leader put it on Tuesday.

Persons: Antony J, Blinken, ”, Benjamin Netanyahu Organizations: Hamas Locations: Tel Aviv, Rafah, Gaza

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken delivered twin messages to Hamas and Israel on Wednesday, pressing Hamas to accept a cease-fire proposal while at the same time urging Israeli leaders to put off a major ground invasion into the thickly populated southern Gaza city of Rafah. On the last day of a Middle East trip, his seventh visit to the region since the war began in October, Mr. Blinken tried to turn up the pressure on Hamas. “We are determined to get a cease-fire that brings the hostages home and to get it now, and the only reason that that wouldn’t be achieved is because of Hamas,” Mr. Blinken said at the start of a meeting in Tel Aviv with Isaac Herzog, the president of Israel. “There is a proposal on the table, and as we’ve said: No delays, no excuses. The time is now.”The proposed agreement calls for the release of 33 hostages in the initial stage of a cease-fire, and would lead to the release of Palestinian prisoners being held in Israel.

Persons: Antony J, Blinken, “, wouldn’t, ” Mr, Isaac Herzog, Israel, we’ve Organizations: Israel, Mr Locations: Gaza, Rafah, Tel Aviv, Israel

On Today’s Episode:With Israel Poised to Invade Rafah, Negotiators Try Again for Cease-Fire Deal, by Isabel Kershner and Edward WongCrackdowns at 4 College Protests Lead to More Than 200 Arrests, by Anna Betts, Matthew Eadie and Nicholas Bogel-BurroughsTrump and DeSantis Meet for First Time Since Bruising Primary, by Maggie Haberman and Nicholas Nehamas

Persons: Isabel Kershner, Edward Wong Crackdowns, Anna Betts, Matthew Eadie, Nicholas Bogel, Burroughs Trump, Maggie Haberman, Nicholas Nehamas Locations: Rafah

☆ Austin Taken to Hospital for Bladder Issue
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-11 | by ( Edward Wong | More About Edward Wong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Mr. Austin came under widespread criticism last month when he went to the hospital for several days for treatment for complications related to a recent prostate cancer surgery. Mr. Austin also had not informed the president that he had undergone the original surgery in December. Lawmakers called for the Pentagon to provide answers on why so many officials were kept in the dark. Mr. Biden said on Jan. 12 that he still had confidence in Mr. Austin. General Ryder said the Pentagon would provide an update on Mr. Austin’s condition as soon as possible.

Persons: Austin, Biden, “, Mr, General Ryder Organizations: White House, Pentagon, Lawmakers, Army, United States Central Command

North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, could take some form of lethal military action against South Korea in the coming months after having shifted to a policy of open hostility, U.S. officials say. The officials have assessed that Mr. Kim’s recent harder line is part of a pattern of provocations, but that his declarations have been more aggressive than previous statements and should be taken seriously. While the officials added that they did not see an imminent risk of a full-scale war on the Korean Peninsula, Mr. Kim could carry out strikes in a way that he thinks would avoid rapid escalation. They pointed to North Korea’s shelling of a South Korean island in 2010 as an example. The two sides exchanged artillery fire, resulting in the reported deaths of troops on both sides as well as civilians in the South, but both militaries soon stopped.

Persons: Kim Jong, Kim Organizations: South Locations: South Korea, Korean

☆ Biden Urges Congress to Quickly Approve F-16 Sale to Turkey
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-24 | by ( Edward Wong | More About Edward Wong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Biden sent a letter to four senior members of Congress on Wednesday urging them to quickly approve a $20 billion sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey, following the vote one day earlier by Turkey’s Parliament to allow Sweden to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, according to three U.S. officials. The White House sent the letter to the top Democratic and Republican lawmakers on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which have oversight of arms transfers by the State Department to other nations. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, a member of NATO, has linked his country’s approval of Sweden’s accession to the security organization to the F-16 sales, which had been pending. Both Sweden and Finland had asked to join NATO after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and the vast majority of the alliance’s members soon agreed. Turkey approved Finland’s bid but, along with Hungary, has withheld approval for Sweden.

Persons: Biden, Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Organizations: Atlantic Treaty Organization, White House, Democratic, Republican, Senate Foreign Relations, House Foreign Affairs Committee, State Department, NATO Locations: Turkey, Sweden, Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, Finland, Ukraine, Hungary

☆ Paul Whelan’s Family Says He Was Attacked in Russian Prison
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Edward Wong | More About Edward Wong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The family of Paul Whelan, an American imprisoned in Russia, said Wednesday that he had been attacked by a fellow prisoner in the labor camp where he has been serving a 16-year sentence on what the United States says are fabricated charges of espionage. Mr. Whelan told his family in a phone call that he had been working on a production line at the prison on Tuesday when another prisoner hit him in the face, according to a statement from David Whelan, Paul’s brother. The assailant then tried to hit him again, he told his family, but he “stood up to block the second hit,” and other prisoners helped intervene. Mr. Whelan described the attack as “relatively minor,” the statement said, but was afraid that such attacks could occur at any time and escalate into more serious ones, given “various sharp implements” available in the prison workshops. “Paul is a target because he is an American, and anti-American sentiment is not uncommon among the other prisoners,” the family’s statement said.

Persons: Paul Whelan, Whelan, David Whelan, Paul’s, “, “ Paul Locations: Russia, United States, American

In public, the company has announced its staggering growth with a steady cadence of news releases. But in classified American intelligence channels, there have been more concerning reports about the company. and other American spy agencies have issued warnings about G42’s work with large Chinese companies that U.S. officials consider security threats, including Huawei, the telecommunications giant that is under U.S. sanctions. U.S. officials fear G42 could be a conduit by which advanced American technology is siphoned to Chinese companies or the government. The intelligence reports have also warned that G42’s dealings with Chinese firms could be a pipeline to get the genetic data of millions of Americans and others into the hands of the Chinese government, according to two officials familiar with the reports.

Persons: Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, Jake Sullivan Organizations: United Arab, White House, AstraZeneca, OpenAI, Huawei Locations: United Arab Emirates, China, Silicon, U.S

Israel continues to dismiss calls for a longer-term cease-fire accompanied by political negotiations, despite growing U.S. and international concern about the humanitarian toll in Gaza. As it pummeled Gaza City in the north, the Israeli government told residents to go to southern Gaza, and many did so. But Israel has continued to carry out airstrikes across the south with large munitions: 1,000- to 2,000-pound bombs. U.S. officials say their top goals include maintaining electricity supplies to Gaza’s hospitals and providing fuel for water desalinization. It’s not that they expect the pause will turn into a cease-fire” lasting weeks or longer.

Persons: Biden, Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, ” Matthew Miller, Miller, David Satterfield, Brett McGurk, Mr, McGurk, ”, —, they’re, ” Martin, Antony J Organizations: Qatari, Hamas, State Department, United Nations, U.S, U.S . Agency for International Development, National Public Radio, Wednesday Locations: Gaza, Gaza —, United States, Israel, Egypt, East, North Africa, Qatar, U.S

☆ Panda Diplomacy Might Not Be Dead Just Yet
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( Edward Wong | More About Edward Wong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The fur balls might be coming back to Washington and San Diego. Xi Jinping, China’s leader, said in a speech on Wednesday night that his nation’s best diplomats, giant pandas, might soon return to zoos in the United States that have recently sent bears back to their homeland. “We are ready to continue our cooperation with the United States on panda conservation, and do our best to meet the wishes of the Californians so as to deepen the friendly ties between our two peoples,” he told a gathering of mostly business executives at a dinner in San Francisco. Mr. Xi pointed out that the pandas are “envoys of friendship between the Chinese and American peoples.”Panda-monium gripped the United States last week when the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington sent its two aging adult pandas, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, and their cub, Xiao Qi Ji, or “Little Miracle,” back to China on a 19-hour FedEx flight, the Panda Express.

Persons: Xi Jinping, Mr, Xi, Mei Xiang, Tian Tian, Xiao Qi Ji Organizations: FedEx, Panda Express Locations: Washington, San Diego, United States, San Francisco, China

☆ Biden Says a ‘Real’ Palestinian State Must Come After War
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( Edward Wong | More About Edward Wong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

President Biden said on Wednesday that the endpoint of the Israel-Hamas conflict has to be a Palestinian state that is “real,” existing alongside an Israeli one. Mr. Biden and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken have been publicly emphasizing the need for a two-state solution in recent days. The last major push along those lines came from John Kerry when he was secretary of state in the Obama administration. Mr. Biden said he did not have a specific idea of when to tell Israel it should halt its war in Gaza. Israeli officials have said Hamas has at least 100 women and children and should release them all, the official said.

Persons: Biden, there’s, Mr, Xi Jinping, Antony J, Blinken, John Kerry, Obama, Shifa Organizations: Hamas, Shifa, Fighters, Al Locations: Israel, Palestinian, San Francisco, U.S, Gaza, Qatar, United States

More than 400 political appointees and staff members representing some 40 government agencies sent a letter to President Biden on Tuesday protesting his support of Israel in its war in Gaza. The letter, part of growing internal dissent over the administration’s support of the war, calls on the president to seek an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and to push Israel to allow humanitarian aid into the territory. Two political appointees who helped organize the letter to Mr. Biden said the majority of the signatories are political appointees of various faiths who work throughout government, from the National Security Council to the F.B.I. Some of the signatories helped Mr. Biden get elected in 2020 and said in interviews they were concerned that the administration’s support of Israel’s war in Gaza clashed with Democratic voters’ stance on the issue. So far, more than 11,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s military offensive according to Gaza’s health ministry.

Persons: Biden, Antony J, Blinken, Mr, Israel Organizations: State Department, U.S . Agency for International Development, USAID, Department, U.S ., The New York Times, National Security Council, Justice Department, Democratic Locations: Israel, Gaza, U.S, United States

Mei Xiang and Tian Tian arrived in 2000, about one year after Hsing-Hsing was euthanized due to kidney disease and eight years after Ling Ling’s passing from heart failure. The two new pandas stayed for a decade under the first formal pact, then remained under two consecutive five-year agreements. Mei Xiang gave birth in August 2020, at an age when scientists had thought she would no longer be able to have a baby. Zoos that host pandas outside of China usually agree to send cubs back before they turn 4, and to send adults back when they are elderly — Mei Xiang is 25 and Tian Tian 26. “I don’t want to have a panda pass away outside of China.”

Persons: Mei Xiang, Tian Tian, Hsing, Ling Ling’s, Xiao Qi Ji, ”, Melissa Songer, “ Locations: China, Washington

President Biden and his aides have been careful not to even hint in public that Israel could be violating any laws of war. And the State Department continues to approve sales of weapons to Israel while refraining from making any assessments of the legality of Israel’s actions. Israel says it is impossible to defeat its enemy without killing innocents — a lesson that Americans and their allies should understand. Mr. Netanyahu added that the attack “was a legitimate act of war with tragic consequences that accompany such legitimate action. And during Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken’s visits to Israel after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, Israeli officials privately invoked the 1945 U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Persons: Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, Mr, Netanyahu, “, ‘, ’, Antony J, Blinken’s, Mark Regev, Regev, ” Organizations: State Department, Royal Air Force, ”, Islamic State, “, ISIS, PBS Locations: Israel, Copenhagen, Iraqi, Falluja, Iraq, Mosul, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, United States

The three proposed tranches of semiautomatic and automatic rifles are valued at $34 million and are being ordered directly from American gunmakers, but they require State Department approval and congressional notification. U.S. officials attributed that to the encouragement of settlers by the far-right government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and statements by some Israeli officials supporting the annexation of the West Bank. Since Oct. 7, more than 150 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank — nearly equal to the number in all of 2022, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Settler intimidation of Palestinians, leading to their displacement from strategic areas of the West Bank, makes any prospect of that much more difficult. State Department officials who oversee weapons sales have discussed potential concerns with Israeli counterparts.

Persons: Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr, ”, Antony J, Blinken, Mahmoud Abbas, “, Jessica Lewis Organizations: State Department, West Bank, Department, New York Times, The State Department, West Bank —, Palestinian Health Ministry, Palestinian Authority, The Times, Israeli National Police Locations: United States, U.S, American, Gaza, Tel Aviv, Ramallah, Sunday, Israel, I.N.P

Since the war began, Saudi officials have returned to specific calls for a substantive Israeli-Palestinian peace process and for the creation of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. Despite the escalating violence, it appears that American and Saudi officials are holding on to hopes of a normalization deal with Israel. Senators said they left Riyadh with the impression that Saudi leaders would still like to recognize Israel when the right moment arrives. Prince Mohammed launched a disastrous Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen in 2015 aiming to oust the Iran-backed Houthi rebels who nonetheless remain firmly in power there. It merely said that, although tensions persisted between Israel and the Palestinians, the Biden administration had “de-escalated crises in Gaza.”

Persons: Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Jordan —, Prince Mohammed, Houthi, Blumenthal, Israel “, Mr, Biden “, Jake Sullivan, “, Sullivan, Biden, ” Organizations: Saudi, Israel, Senators, State Department, U.S ., U.S, Foreign Affairs Locations: Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Palestinian, Jerusalem, Saudi, Riyadh, Yemen, East, Washington, U.S, United States, Gaza

☆ As Violence Surges, Nations Seek U.S. Defense Pacts. Some Americans Are Wary.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( Edward Wong | More About Edward Wong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

In recent months, leaders and diplomats from a growing number of nations have signed security pacts with the United States, upgraded military ties and weapons purchases or have begun negotiating potential new defense treaties and arrangements. Frightened by Russia’s aggression, Finland joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in April, while Sweden is on the brink of membership. Israel and the United States have a series of agreements on military aid. The push around the world for the United States to be all things to all partners in terms of defense is stronger than at any time since the end of the Cold War. All of that sets up a potential battle over a new White House request for $105 billion of military aid that would go mostly to Ukraine and Israel.

Persons: Biden, Donald J Organizations: North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Republican, Trump Locations: Washington, United States, Ukraine, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Philippines, China, North, Finland, Sweden, Israel, Gaza, Iraq, Afghanistan

The Biden administration has advised Israel to delay a ground invasion of Gaza, hoping to buy time for hostage negotiations and to allow more humanitarian aid to reach Palestinians in the sealed-off enclave, according to several U.S. officials. American officials also want more time to prepare for attacks on U.S. interests in the region from Iran-backed groups, which officials said are likely to intensify once Israel moves its forces fully into Gaza. Mr. Biden also spoke to the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Britain. When Mr. Biden met with the Israeli war cabinet during his trip to Tel Aviv last week, he avoided making requests of Mr. Netanyahu, officials said. Instead, the president offered a series of questions that should be answered before a ground invasion starts.

Persons: Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu, Lloyd J, Austin III, Austin, Yoav Gallant, Gallant, ”, Antony J, Blinken, “, Mr, Netanyahu Organizations: Sunday, U.S, Defense, Pentagon, Embassy, Hamas, CBS, Biden, Press, State Department, Consulate Locations: Israel, Gaza, Iran, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Britain, U.S, Washington, Qatar, United States, Baghdad, Erbil, Iraq, ”, Tel Aviv

Yet videos released by Hamas fighters themselves depict the brutal killing of unarmed civilians. Yaakov Peri, a former head of the Shin Bet, the Israeli security service, said Israel may have agreed to let humanitarian aid enter Gaza on Saturday morning in light of the hostages’ release Friday night. “But we cannot fall for this trap.”There are still many questions of why, of all the 200 or so hostages, the Raanans were released. Hamas might be trying to temper Israeli retaliation on Gaza by gaining some good will from the Biden administration. President Biden and his team have been closely advising Israel on how it is waging its war on Gaza, although it is not clear how much Israel actually listens to what the Americans say.

Persons: Gazans, —, Yaakov Peri, Shin, Mr, Peri, Robert D’Amico, ”, D’Amico, Biden Organizations: Hamas Locations: Israel, Gaza, California

President Biden and his top aides have been urging Israeli leaders against carrying out any major strike against Hezbollah, the powerful militia in Lebanon, that could draw it into the Israel-Hamas war, American and Israeli officials say. The Americans are conveying to the Israelis the difficulties of battling both Hamas in the south and a much more powerful Hezbollah force in the north. U.S. officials believe Israel would struggle in a two-front war and that such a conflict could draw in both the United States and Iran, the militia’s main supporter. American officials want to rein in Hezbollah too. U.S. officials feared that Mr. Netanyahu might approve a pre-emptive strike on Hezbollah in the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas, which killed more than 1,400 people.

Persons: Biden, Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr, Netanyahu Organizations: U.S, Hamas Locations: Lebanon, Israel, U.S, United States, Iran, East, Gaza

Under such an agreement, the United States and Saudi Arabia would generally pledge to provide military support if the other country is attacked in the region or on Saudi territory. The discussions to model the terms after the treaties in East Asia, considered among the strongest the United States has outside of its European pacts, have not been previously reported. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, regards a mutual defense agreement with the United States as the most important element in his talks with the Biden administration about Israel, current and former U.S. officials said. Saudi officials say a strong defense agreement would help deter potential assaults by Iran or its armed partners even as the two regional rivals re-establish diplomatic ties. Prince Mohammed is also asking the Biden administration to help his country develop a civilian nuclear program, which some U.S. officials fear could be cover for a nuclear weapons program to counter Iran.

Persons: Biden’s, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Biden, Prince Mohammed Organizations: Saudi, United Locations: United States, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Saudi, East Asia, Iran

As China’s spy balloon drifted across the continental United States in February, American intelligence agencies learned that President Xi Jinping of China had become enraged with senior Chinese military generals. The spy agencies had been trying to understand what Mr. Xi knew and what actions he would take as the balloon, originally aimed at U.S. military bases in Guam and Hawaii, was blown off course. Mr. Xi was not opposed to risky spying operations against the United States, but American intelligence agencies concluded that the People’s Liberation Army had kept Mr. Xi in the dark until the balloon was over the United States. American officials would not discuss how spy agencies gleaned this information. But in details reported here for the first time, they discovered that when Mr. Xi learned of the balloon’s trajectory and realized it was derailing planned talks with Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, he berated senior generals for failing to tell him that the balloon had gone astray, according to American officials briefed on the intelligence.

Persons: Xi Jinping, Xi, derailing, Antony J, Blinken Organizations: People’s Liberation Army Locations: United States, China, Guam, Hawaii

☆ U.S. and Chinese Officials Meet in Malta to Discuss Ukraine and Other Flashpoints
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-17 | by ( Edward Wong | More About Edward Wong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

However, recent developments, especially within the Chinese government and the party, have cast doubt on whether that would happen. Questions are swirling around recent purges within the top levels of the Chinese government and the Communist Party. U.S. officials determined last week that Gen. Li Shangfu, the Chinese defense minister, who had not made any public appearances or pronouncements since late August, had been placed under investigation for corruption. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken traveled to Beijing in June for two days of meetings, mainly separate talks with Mr. Xi, Mr. Wang and Mr. Qin, after canceling a trip during the balloon episode in early February. She was followed by John Kerry, the special climate envoy, and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

Persons: Sullivan, Wang, Biden, Xi, Li Shangfu, Qin Gang, Antony J, Blinken, Qin, Janet L, Yellen, John Kerry, Gina Raimondo Organizations: Communist Party . U.S, Mr Locations: San Francisco, United States, China, Beijing

Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea, plans to travel to Russia this month to meet with President Vladimir V. Putin to discuss the possibility of supplying Russia with more weaponry for its war in Ukraine and other military cooperation, according to American and allied officials. Mr. Kim could possibly go to Moscow, though that is not certain. Mr. Putin wants Mr. Kim to agree to send Russia artillery shells and antitank missiles, and Mr. Kim would like Russia to provide North Korea with advanced technology for satellites and nuclear-powered submarines, the officials said. Mr. Kim is also seeking food aid for his impoverished nation. Mr. Kim also plans to visit Pier 33, where naval ships from Russia’s Pacific fleet dock, they said.

Persons: Kim Jong, Vladimir V, Putin, Kim Organizations: Mr, Eastern Federal University, Eastern Economic, Russia’s Locations: North Korea, Russia, Ukraine, Pyongyang, North, Vladivostok, Moscow, Korea

Last fall, American diplomats received grim news that border guards in Saudi Arabia, a close U.S. partner in the Middle East, were using lethal force against African migrants who were trying to enter the kingdom from Yemen. The diplomats got more detail in December, when United Nations officials presented them with information about Saudi security forces shooting, shelling and abusing migrants, leaving many dead and wounded, according to U.S. officials and a person who attended the meetings, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity since they were not authorized to speak to journalists. In the months since, American officials have not publicly criticized the Saudis’ conduct, although State Department officials said this past week, following a published report of the killings, that U.S. diplomats have raised the issue with their Saudi counterparts and asked them to investigate. It remains unclear whether those discussions have affected Saudi actions. The Saudi security forces’ violence along the border came to the fore in a report by Human Rights Watch on Monday that accused them of shooting and firing explosive projectiles at Ethiopian migrants, killing hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of them during the 15-month period that ended in June.

Organizations: United Nations, State Department, Saudi, Human Rights Locations: Saudi Arabia, U.S, Yemen, Saudi

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