National and international media news & headlines compiled by CLG

U.S. to feed troops Japanese seafood amid Fukushima radiation fears –Washington has agreed to help offset a Chinese ban on imports following Japan’s release of nuclear wastewater into the ocean | 31 Oct 2023 | The U.S. government has agreed to buy Japanese seafood for its military to help mitigate the economic fallout from Japan’s decision to release radioactive wastewater from its destroyed Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean. The American armed forces will sign a long-term contract with Japanese seafood suppliers to help counter China’s ban on imports from Japan, U.S. ambassador to Tokyo [deep-state dirt-bag] Rahm Emmanuel told Reuters in an interview on Monday. Japanese fish, scallops and other products will be served on U.S. Navy ships and stocked in commissaries and mess halls at 17 American military bases in the region, he added.

Germany ‘Must Be Prepared for War’ in Europe, Defense Minister Says | 30 Oct 2023 | The German government began a massive rearmament campaign in 2022, creating a 100 billion (EU) fund for military modernization after the Ukraine crisis exploded into a full-blown NATO proxy war against Russia. German defense spending is at its highest levels since World War II, but that apparently hasn’t improved the nation’s defense capabilities. Germany must prepare itself for a European war, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has announced. “We have to get used to the idea that there may be a threat of war in Europe,” the minister said in an interview with German media. “Germany must be able to defend itself. We must be prepared for war,” he said. Warning that the ongoing Ukraine crisis and the latest explosion of violence in the Palestinian-Israeli crisis will have consequences for German society, Pistorius said that Germany must act defensively, and that this applies to both the Bundeswehr and society at large.

Yemen’s Houthis declare joining Israel-Hamas war –Part of an “Axis of Resistance” backed by Iran, the Houthis have rallied behind the Palestinians since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7. | 31 Oct 2023 | Yemen’s Houthis have waded into the Israel-Hamas war raging more than 1,000 miles from their seat of power in Sanaa, declaring on Tuesday they had fired drones and missiles at Israel in attacks that highlight the regional risks of the conflict. Part of an “Axis of Resistance” backed by Iran, the Houthis have rallied behind the Palestinians since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, opening a new front for a movement that has waged war for eight years with a Saudi-led coalition in the Gulf. Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a televised statement the group had launched a “large number” of ballistic missiles and drones towards Israel, and there would be more such attacks to come “to help the Palestinians to victory.” His statement confirmed the widening scope of a conflict that has unnerved states including the world’s biggest oil exporter Saudi Arabia, hardening fears of spillover as Israel seeks to destroy Hamas in its Gaza Strip stronghold.

Erdogan tells pro-Palestinian rally: Israel is occupier | 29 Oct 2023 | President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addressed hundreds of thousands of supporters at one of the largest pro-Palestinian rallies since the Israel-Hamas war began, courting his Islamist political base a day ahead of the centenary of Turkey’s secular republic. “Israel has been openly committing war crimes for 22 days, but the Western leaders cannot even call on Israel for a ceasefire, let alone react to it,” Erdogan told the crowd in Istanbul on Saturday (28 October), who waved Palestinian flags. “We will tell the whole world that Israel is a war criminal. We are making preparations for this. We will declare Israel a war criminal,” he said. In an hour-long speech, Erdogan also repeated his assertion that Hamas was not a terrorist organisation, describing Israel as an occupier. Turkey has condemned Israeli civilian deaths caused by Hamas’s 7 October rampage through southern Israel, which killed 1,400, but Erdogan this week called the militant group Palestinian “freedom fighters.”

Israeli air strikes kill 50 in north Gaza refugee camp, Palestinian medics say | 31 Oct 2023 | Palestinian health officials said at least 50 Palestinians were killed when Israeli air strikes hit a densely populated refugee camp in north Gaza on Tuesday, as Israeli ground forces battled Hamas gunmen based in a sprawling tunnel network. Israeli military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht, speaking to CNN, confirmed the Israeli strike on Jabalia refugee camp and said it targeted “a very senior Hamas commander in that area”. He added: “We’re looking into it and we’ll be coming out with more data as we learn what happened there.”

Netanyahu ignored warnings from security services – report –Officials also misjudged the threat from Hamas, focusing instead on Iran and Hezbollah, The New York Times has reported | 30 Oct 2023 | Israeli security services warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for months that his domestic policies were fueling dangerous political turmoil, the New York Times (NYT) reported on Sunday. Officials reportedly stressed that internal discord was weakening the country’s security and strengthening Israel’s enemies. The report was part of an examination of what led up to the latest hostilities between Israel and Gaza. At one point in July, the prime minister even allegedly refused to meet with a senior general who was trying to deliver a threat warning based on classified intelligence. At the same time, the NYT assessed that Israeli security representatives themselves continuously misjudged the threat posed by Hamas, including in the weeks leading up to the October 7 attack on Israeli territory…

FBI director issues stark warning about potential for terror attacks on American soil –FBI Director Wray warns terror threat to Americans at ‘whole other level’ amid Hamas-Israel conflict | 31 Oct 2023 | FBI Director Christopher Wray on Tuesday warned that the threat of a terror attack against Americans has been raised to a “whole other level” due to ongoing conflict in the Middle East. “The reality is that the terrorism threat has been elevated throughout 2023, but the ongoing war in the Middle East has raised the threat of an attack against Americans in the United States to a whole other level,” Wray told lawmakers on the Senate Homeland Security Committee. Hamas launched a deadly terrorist attack against Israel on Oct. 7, leading to a military response from the U.S. ally. The conflict has renewed concern in the U.S. that there could be similar terror attacks inspired by Hamas and other terrorist groups, including by domestic and homegrown terrorists.

Open hatred of Jews surges globally, inflamed by Gaza war | 31 Oct 2023 | In Los Angeles, a man screaming “kill Jews” attempts to break into a family’s home. In London, girls in a playground are told they are “stinking Jews” and should stay off the slide. In China, posts likening Jews to parasites, vampires or snakes proliferate on social media, attracting thousands of “likes”. These are examples of incidents of antisemitism, which have surged globally since the attack by Hamas gunmen on southern Israel on Oct. 7 and subsequent war on the Islamist group launched by Israel in the Gaza Strip. In countries where figures are available from police or civil society groups, including the United States, Britain, France, Germany and South Africa, the pattern is clear: the number of antisemitic incidents has gone up since Oct. 7 by several hundred percent compared with the same period last year.

Judge Reverses Pause on Trump Gag Order in Federal Election Case | 30 Oct 2023 | A federal judge has reinstated a gag order she previously ordered on former President Donald Trump in the Department of Justice’s federal election case accusing him of trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan had initially approved President Trump’s request for an administrative stay, or pause, on the gag order requested by government prosecutor special counsel Jack Smith. The gag order prohibited remarks that would “target” the prosecution and defense legal teams, court staff, and potential witnesses. In Judge Chutkan’s initial written opinion, she dismissed arguments made for First Amendment defenses, writing that the obligation to protect the proceedings from outside interference preceded First Amendment rights.

Separate bills for billions in foreign aid for Israel and Ukraine not a done deal in GOP-led House | 30 Oct 2023 | Newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has made clear he’ll propose separate spending bills this week for billions in assistance to both Ukraine and Israel but his conference isn’t in full support of the plan. The decision marks his first big move since becoming speaker last week and it’s already drawing criticism from some in his own party who are not on board with spending more m-ney on foreign wars. The proposal also appears to be facing bipartisan headwinds in the Senate, given that Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer have expressed support for providing such funding as one package.