
Netanyahu flies out of US without breaking the ice on Gaza deal
Despite Trump throwing his weight behind a push for a 60-day truce between Israel and Hamas, no breakthrough was announced during Netanyahu's visit, a disappointment for a president who wants to be known as a peacemaker and has hinged his reputation on being a dealmaker. 'He prides himself or being able to make deals, so this is another test case,' said Rachel Brandenburg, the Israel Policy Forum's Washington managing director and senior fellow.
Trump's ability to strike a ceasefire deal in the 21-month war will reveal the boundaries of his influence with Netanyahu, especially after their recent joint strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities that both leaders touted at the White House this week.

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Indian Express
24 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Gaza ceasefire talks: Displacement is not peace
Written by Sujata Ashwarya Even as ceasefire talks continue in Doha, the bombs keep falling on Gaza. On July 10, Israeli airstrikes reportedly killed 82 Palestinians, pushing the death toll since October 2023 beyond 55,000. The vast majority of Gaza's population has been displaced, and much of the enclave lies in ruins. While diplomats speak of 'phased withdrawals' and 'hostage exchanges,' the war's deeper tragedy is unfolding on another scale: The erasure of a people's presence from their homeland under the guise of humanitarian planning. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's latest proposal, endorsed by Israel's security cabinet, outlines the full military capture of Gaza, indefinite control over its territory, and the creation of a so-called humanitarian city on the ruins of Rafah. Under this plan, Israeli forces would control the perimeter of the site and initially relocate some 6,00,000 Palestinians, primarily those already displaced in the Al-Mawasi area, into the zone. Eventually, the entire population of Gaza would be concentrated there. Israeli officials have openly linked this relocation to a broader emigration scheme, described by one as something that 'will happen', raising serious concerns that this so-called humanitarian arrangement is in fact a staging ground for mass displacement. This is not the language of peace. It is the architecture of a controlled displacement. While the Israeli government frames its intentions as voluntary relocation, prominent human rights lawyers and legal scholars have called it what it is: Forced transfer, which is both illegal under international law and morally indefensible. As Michael Sfard, a leading Israeli human rights lawyer, put it plainly: 'It is all about population transfer… in preparation for deportation outside the Strip.' In the background, the rhetoric of Prime Minister Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump hints at a shared vision for Gaza that stretches beyond ceasefire deals. Trump's earlier proposal to transform Gaza into a 'Riviera of the Middle East' has, within months, evolved into open discussions of third-country resettlement for Palestinians — an idea that has been openly embraced by far-right Israeli leaders. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has categorically rejected any withdrawal from the territory Israel has 'conquered', explicitly linking military occupation with expansionist goals in both Gaza and the West Bank. Meanwhile, efforts to negotiate a 60-day pause in hostilities, mediated by Qatar, are inching forward. The terms under discussion include phased hostage releases, expanded humanitarian access, and Israeli military withdrawals from parts of Gaza. But the core impasse remains: Hamas demands a permanent ceasefire and full withdrawal, while Netanyahu insists on Hamas's unconditional surrender and removal. In other words, both sides continue to speak past one another while civilians are crushed between ruin and rhetoric. This is not to excuse Hamas. Its October 7 cross-border attack, which killed civilians and triggered the current war, was a destructive act that has only deepened Palestinian suffering. The group has not only endangered Israeli lives but has also placed Palestinians in Gaza in a double bind, using them as human shields in wartime and as political leverage in negotiations. Yet Hamas's actions cannot justify the obliteration of Gaza, nor should they be used to obscure the underlying realities of occupation, blockade, and dispossession that long preceded this war. What is at stake is more than ceasefire logistics. The current moment risks hardening a framework in which Palestinian existence is contained and relocated rather than recognised and restored. A humanitarian pause that simply reorders the geography of displacement is not peace. A corridor controlled by foreign troops is not sovereignty. And a camp built on the ruins of Rafah is not a future. For decades, Palestinians have demanded something very simple and very difficult: The right to live freely in their homeland. That demand has been undermined not only by Israel's policies but also by a global order willing to look away when the language of security is used to justify siege and expulsion. The international community, including India, must reject any diplomatic framework that seeks to normalise permanent displacement or indefinite occupation. There can be no durable solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict without recognising the Palestinian right to remain on their land and live free from forced displacement. Ceasefires are essential to ending violence. They may bring temporary relief, but they do not dismantle the structures that sustain it or substitute for justice. If the talks in Qatar are to lead anywhere meaningful, they must move beyond preserving Israel's military objectives and confront what has been lost by the Palestinians. What is unfolding in Gaza cannot be separated from the pressures and dispossession faced by Palestinians in the West Bank. Any agreement that ignores this shared reality risks becoming a cover for entrenching injustice. The goal cannot be to manage Palestinian displacement. It must be brought to an end. A just resolution of the Palestinian question is not a threat to Israeli security. It is the surest path to it. The writer is a Professor in the Centre for West Asian Studies (Middle Eastern), Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi


New Indian Express
28 minutes ago
- New Indian Express
Trump tours Texas flood sites and defends officials as questions mount about response
KERRVILLE, Texas: President Donald Trump on Friday toured the devastation from catastrophic flooding in Texas and lauded state and local officials, even amid mounting criticism that they may have failed to warn residents quickly enough that a deadly wall of water was coming their way. Trump has repeatedly promised to do away with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as part of his larger pledges to dramatically shrink the size of government, and he's fond of decrying officials in Democrat-run states hit by past natural disasters and tragedy. But the president struck a far more somber and sympathetic tone while visiting America's most populous Republican state — highlighting the heartbreak of what happened while effusively praising elected officials and first responders alike. 'The search for the missing continues. The people that are doing it are unbelievable,' Trump, seated with officials around a table with emblazoned with a black-and-white 'Texas Strong' banner, said at a makeshift emergency operations center inside an expo hall in Kerrville. He later added, 'You couldn't get better people, and they're doing the job like I don't think anybody else could, frankly.' Since the July 4 disaster, which killed at least 129 people and left more than 170 missing, the president has been conspicuously silent on his past promises to shutter FEMA and return disaster response to the states. Instead, he's focused on the once-in-a-lifetime nature of what occurred in central Texas' Hill Country and its human toll. 'We just visited with incredible families. They've been devastated,' the president said of a closed-door meeting he and first lady Melania Trump had with the relatives of some of those killed or missing.


Economic Times
31 minutes ago
- Economic Times
Alexandria Ocasio Cortez calls Trump ‘rapist' as DOJ Epstein files spark MAGA backlash
NYT News Service AOC calls Trump a 'rapist' following DOJ release of Epstein files dismissing conspiracy theories, triggering backlash from MAGA loyalists Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez escalated tensions in the political battle over the Jeffrey Epstein files on Friday(July 11), calling President Donald Trump a 'rapist' in a post on X. The comment came after the Department of Justice released its findings on the Epstein case, which dismissed two widely circulated conspiracy theories.'Wow who would have thought that electing a rapist would have complicated the release of the Epstein Files?' Ocasio-Cortez wrote, referring to renewed backlash over the government's conclusion that Epstein died by suicide and that there is no 'client list' of wealthy or powerful individuals tied to his The backlash has extended into Trump's political base. Prominent MAGA supporters, including Dan Bongino, Pam Bondi, and Elon Musk, expressed disappointment and outrage after the Department of Justice and FBI concluded that no evidence supports theories of Epstein's murder or hidden blackmail materials. The July 6 memo stated that after a review of 300 GB of files, 10,000 video clips, and 4,000 images of victims, no criminal information beyond Epstein's already documented crimes was discovered. Trump dismissed the controversy during a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, telling a reporter, 'Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy's been talked about for years. That is unbelievable.'Ocasio-Cortez also cited a WIRED report suggesting that surveillance footage from Epstein's jail cell the night of his death may have been altered. The Department of Justice said it released the full footage to address speculation, but critics remain was found civilly liable in 2023 for sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll in a New York department store in the 1990s. While the court ruled the act didn't meet New York's legal definition of rape, a federal judge later wrote that Trump's actions met the colloquial definition of the word. Trump settled a defamation suit against ABC News for $15 million in 2024 after George Stephanopoulos inaccurately stated on air that Trump was found liable for 'rape.' Despite the legal nuance, critics like Ocasio-Cortez have continued to use the term in public attacks.