How Netanyahu manipulated Biden over Gaza
It was Joe Biden who, for 15 long months, provided almost unconditional support to Benjamin Netanyahu in his war on Gaza. An in-depth investigation by The New York Times, based on classified documents and interviews with more than 100 officials, revealed the extent to which the Democratic president was manipulated by the Israeli head of government – even as Netanyahu was openly betting on Trump's reelection.
The refounder of Israel
Netanyahu has led Israel for more than 17 years – first from 1996 to 1999, then from 2009 to 2021, and again since December 2022. Such exceptional longevity has allowed him to deeply reshape the political landscape and parts of the country's institutions, despite protest movements sparked by this illiberal drift. Netanyahu is not just a brilliant tactician but also a relentless opportunist, willing to use any maneuver to cling to power, especially since he has faced a triple indictment for fraud, accepting bribes and breach of trust.

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LeMonde
2 hours ago
- LeMonde
93 Palestinians killed by Israeli army in Gaza while trying to collect aid, civil defense says
Gaza's civil defense agency said Israeli forces opened fire on crowds of Palestinians trying to collect humanitarian aid in the war-torn Palestinian territory on Sunday, July 20, killing 93 people and wounding dozens more. Eighty were killed as truckloads of aid arrived in the north, while nine others were reported shot near an aid point close to Rafah in the south, where dozens of people lost their lives just 24 hours earlier. Four were killed near another aid site in Khan Yunis, also in the south, agency spokesman Mahmud Basal told AFP. The UN World Food Programme said its 25-truck convoy carrying food aid "encountered massive crowds of hungry civilians which came under gunfire" near Gaza City, soon after it crossed from Israel and cleared checkpoints. Israel's military disputed the death toll and said soldiers had fired warning shots "to remove an immediate threat posed to them" as thousands gathered near Gaza City. Deaths of civilians seeking aid have become a regular occurrence in Gaza, with the authorities blaming Israeli fire as crowds facing chronic shortages of food and other essentials flock in huge numbers to aid centers. The UN said earlier this month that nearly 800 aid-seekers had been killed since late May, including on the routes of aid convoys. 'Sniper' fire In Gaza City, Qasem Abu Khater, 36, told AFP he had rushed to try to get a bag of flour but instead found a desperate crowd of thousands and "deadly overcrowding and pushing." "The tanks were firing shells randomly at us and Israeli sniper soldiers were shooting as if they were hunting animals in a forest," he added. "Dozens of people were martyred right before my eyes and no one could save anyone." The WFP condemned violence against civilians seeking aid as "completely unacceptable." Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the agency and other parties. The army says it works to avoid harm to civilians, and that this month it issued new instructions to its troops on the ground "following lessons learned" from a spate of similar incidents. Israel on Sunday withdrew the residency permit of head of the OCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) office in Israel, Jonathan Whittall, who has repeatedly condemned the humanitarian conditions in Gaza. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, in a post to X, accused him of spreading lies about the war in Gaza. The war was sparked by Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, leading to the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed 58,895 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

LeMonde
5 hours ago
- LeMonde
The day Silicon Valley's oligarchs kissed Trump's ring
The seating plan, orchestrated by Donald Trump, had been deliberately designed to place them directly beneath a painting of a historic surrender: that of the British General John Burgoyne in 1777 to George Washington, the future first president of the United States, to whom Trump sometimes compares himself. But did they even notice? At that moment, the tech industry's leading executives seemed preoccupied with the cameras filming them, lined up in neat rows as they awaited the start of the inauguration ceremony on January 20. The whole world witnessed the scene, without knowing what was happening backstage. And yet, all the protagonists were there, at the heart of the Capitol, a symbol of American democracy that Trump supporters had stormed on January 6, 2021, or hidden away in the back rooms of power. Here is the place to start to understand this new nomenklatura, which made its fortune in less than a quarter-century by embedding itself into our lives. Even before entering the rotunda, where the crème de la crème of the guests were set to attend the ceremony, the first attendees heard the thunderous commotion that often signals Jeff Bezos's arrival, flanked by his assistants, a makeup artist and bodyguards. Within the empire that his company, Amazon, has become, he is a ruthless and blunt leader. With a "low tolerance for stupidity," his executives say, as if to excuse him. On the outside, he is the opposite: friendly, jovial, attentive to others and extremely flexible in his politics. In short, a good-natured person. Not long ago, the billionaire who transformed online retail – and, often, the labor market – with his all-encompassing delivery services, was still seen as a staunch Democrat. The Washington Post, the prestigious newspaper he bought in 2013, had endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016 and then Joe Biden in 2020. But business is business.


France 24
6 hours ago
- France 24
European powers plan fresh nuclear talks with Iran
Britain, France and Germany, known as the E3, "are in contact with Iran to schedule further talks for the coming week", the source said. The trio had recently warned that international sanctions against Iran could be reactivated if Tehran does not return to the negotiating table. Iran's Tasnim news agency also reported that Tehran had agreed to hold talks with the three European countries, citing an unnamed source. Consultations are ongoing regarding a date and location for the talks, the report said. "Iran must never be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon. That is why Germany, France and the United Kingdom are continuing to work intensively in the E3 format to find a sustainable and verifiable diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear programme," the German source said. Israel and Western nations have long accused Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran has consistently denied. On June 13, Israel launched a wave of surprise strikes on its regional nemesis, targeting key military and nuclear facilities. The United States launched its own set of strikes against Iran's nuclear programme on June 22, hitting the uranium enrichment facility at Fordo, in Qom province south of Tehran, as well as nuclear sites in Isfahan and Natanz. Kremlin meeting Iran and the United States had held several rounds of nuclear negotiations through Omani mediators before Israel launched its 12-day war against Iran. However, US President Donald Trump's decision to join Israel in striking Iranian nuclear facilities effectively ended the talks. The E3 countries last met with Iranian representatives in Geneva on June 21 -- just one day before the US strikes. Meanwhile on Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a surprise meeting in the Kremlin with Ali Larijani, top adviser to Iran's supreme leader on nuclear issues. Larijani "conveyed assessments of the escalating situation in the Middle East and around the Iranian nuclear programme", Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of the unannounced meeting. Putin had expressed Russia's "well-known positions on how to stabilise the situation in the region and on the political settlement of the Iranian nuclear programme", he added. Moscow has a cordial relationship with Iran's clerical leadership and provides crucial backing for Tehran but did not swing forcefully behind its partner even after the United States joined Israel's bombing campaign. Snapback mechanism Iran and world powers struck a deal in 2015 called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which placed significant restrictions on Tehran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief. But the hard-won deal began to unravel in 2018, during Trump's first presidency, when the United States walked away from it and reimposed sanctions on Iran. European countries have in recent days threatened to trigger the deal's "snapback" mechanism, which allows the reimposition of sanctions in the event of non-compliance by Iran. After a call with his European counterparts on Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the Western allies had no grounds for reactivating sanctions. "If EU/E3 want to have a role, they should act responsibly and put aside the worn-out policies of threat and pressure, including the 'snap-back' for which they (have) absolutely no moral (or) legal grounds," Araghchi said on X. However, the German source on Sunday said that "if no solution is reached over the summer, snapback remains an option for the E3". Iran last week said there would be no new nuclear talks with the United States if they were conditioned on Tehran abandoning its uranium enrichment activities. © 2025 AFP