October 25, 2023

*) UN chief says Hamas blitz 'didn't happen in a vacuum', riling Israel UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has rankled Israel at the United Nations Security Council meeting in which he stressed the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel "did not happen in a vacuum”. Opening the session on Tuesday, Guterres said there was no excuse for the operation by Hamas on Israeli settlements but also warned against "collective punishment" of the Palestinians. He then said Hamas operation "did not happen in a vacuum" as the Palestinians have been "subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation." His remarks infuriated Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen. *) UNSC deepening crisis in Gaza with one-sided approach: President Erdogan The International community is failing in the face of Israel's lawless and indiscriminate attacks on civilians in Palestine's Gaza, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said. In his message on the 78th anniversary of the United Nations, Erdogan thanked those working under its framework for peace and justice in the world. He said a party that is a bystander to "collective punishment" of the people in Gaza cannot offer hope to humanity, and ensure peace, stability *) Biden's Israel support angers Muslim Americans; could jeopardise 2024 votes Muslim Americans and their allies are criticising President Joe Biden's response to the Israeli war on Gaza, asking him to do more to prevent a humanitarian crisis in the blockaded enclave or risk losing their support in the 2024 election. Many Arab Americans and Muslim Americans are upset Biden has not pushed for any humanitarian ceasefire even as Palestinians are being killed by Israel's bombardment of besieged Gaza. In hotly contested Michigan, Arab Americans account for 5 percent of the vote. In other battleground states, Pennsylvania and Ohio, they are between 1.7 percent to 2 percent, said Jim Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute. Biden won Michigan with 50.6 percent of the vote in 2020, compared to 47.8 percent for Trump, and Pennsy