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Trump marks Army milestone as troops deployed to Los Angeles
Trump marks Army milestone as troops deployed to Los Angeles

Straits Times

time10-06-2025

  • Politics
  • Straits Times

Trump marks Army milestone as troops deployed to Los Angeles

A military exercise is held during U.S. President Donald Trump's visit to Fort Bragg to mark the U.S. Army anniversary, in North Carolina, U.S., June 10, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein A military exercise is held during U.S. President Donald Trump's visit to Fort Bragg to mark the U.S. Army anniversary, in North Carolina, U.S., June 10, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein U.S. Army members gather on the day of U.S. President Donald Trump's visit to Fort Bragg to mark the U.S. Army anniversary, in North Carolina, U.S., June 10, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein U.S. Army members look at Marine One on the day of U.S. President Donald Trump's visit to Fort Bragg to mark the U.S. Army anniversary, in North Carolina, U.S., June 10, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with Army members as he looks at a military exercise during a visit to Fort Bragg to mark the U.S. Army anniversary, in North Carolina, U.S., June 10, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein U.S. President Donald Trump stands in a makeshift bunker during a visit to Fort Bragg to mark the U.S. Army anniversary, in North Carolina, U.S., June 10, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein FORT BRAGG, North Carolina - President Donald Trump celebrated soldiers in North Carolina on Tuesday as he threatened force against Washington military parade protesters and deployed troops in a confrontation over U.S. immigration policy. Trump's visit to Fort Bragg, home to some 50,000 active-duty soldiers, for long-scheduled commemorations of the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary followed his move to deploy 700 Marines and 4,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles in an escalating response to street protests over his immigration policies. The Republican president defended the decision to reporters, saying it was needed to protect federal property and personnel. California's Democratic-led government has said the move is an abuse of power and an unnecessary provocation. Street demonstrations in Southern California have been underway since Friday, when activists clashed with sheriff's deputies. In North Carolina, Trump addressed troops after he and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth watched soldiers demonstrate a special forces assault on a building and use a long-range missile launcher on base. It was the first in a series of celebrations of the Army anniversary involving Trump, ahead of a major parade in Washington on Saturday. Trump on Tuesday warned against demonstrations against that parade, telling reporters "they're going to be met with very big force." The FBI and the Metropolitan Police Department have said there are no credible threats to the event. The week's Army commemorations combine Trump's penchant for patriotic pomp and his political positioning as a law-and-order president. Saturday's celebrations in Washington include thousands of troops, dozens of military aircraft and coincide with Trump's 79th birthday. The Army was established on June 14, 1775, more than a year before the Declaration of Independence. Earlier this year, Trump restored the name Fort Bragg to the base, one of the largest in the world, despite a federal law that prohibits honoring generals who fought for the South during the Civil War. His administration says the name now honors a different Bragg - Private First Class Roland Bragg, who served during World War Two. In 2023, the base had been renamed Fort Liberty, a change driven by racial justice protests. Since launching his second term in office in January, Trump has made the military a focus of his efforts, with his defense secretary working to purge transgender service members, top officials appointed under his Democratic predecessor and even books deemed out of step. The president's cost-cutting government reforms have largely spared the Defense Department's nearly $1 trillion annual budget. He has pledged to avoid international conflict while launching new weapons programs and increasing the use of the military domestically, including in immigration enforcement. Trump has pledged to deport record numbers of people who are in the country illegally and to lock down the U.S.-Mexico border, setting the ICE border enforcement agency a daily goal of arresting at least 3,000 migrants. Demonstrators in Los Angeles have assembled, among other places, at a government facility where immigrants are detained. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Israeli embassy staffers killed in Washington aspired to Middle East bridge-building
Israeli embassy staffers killed in Washington aspired to Middle East bridge-building

Straits Times

time22-05-2025

  • Politics
  • Straits Times

Israeli embassy staffers killed in Washington aspired to Middle East bridge-building

Flowers are laid out near the site where two Israeli embassy staff were shot dead near the Capital Jewish Museum, in Washington, D.C., U.S. May 22, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein JERUSALEM - The two young Israeli embassy employees killed by a gunman at a Jewish museum in Washington had big dreams of building bridges and promoting dialogue in the conflict-ridden Middle East, according to people who knew them. Yaron Lischinsky, a research assistant in the embassy's political section, and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, a member of the embassy's administrative staff, who were about to get engaged, were killed by a suspect identified by Washington police as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago. Police said the suspect then entered the museum and chanted "Free Palestine, Free Palestine" after being taken into custody by event security. Lischinsky and Milgrim were shot as they left an annual event for young Jewish diplomats, this year focusing on resolving humanitarian crises in the Middle East, at the Capital Jewish Museum, about 1.3 miles (2 km) from the White House. Washington Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said a man fired at a group of four people with a handgun, hitting both the victims. He was seen pacing outside the museum prior to the shooting. Lischinsky always had clear career goals of becoming a diplomat, driven by his desire to "contribute to bridge-building with other places, with other countries", said his professor Nissim Otmazgin, Dean of Humanities at Hebrew University. He thought that his diverse background - a Christian who converted to Judaism after moving to Israel and said he called both Jerusalem and the southern German city of Nuremberg home - would help him as a diplomat. According to his LinkedIn page, he supported the so-called Abraham Accords that normalised relations between Israel and a number of Arab countries, and believed that "expanding the circle of peace with our Arab neighbours and pursuing regional cooperation is in the best interest of the State of Israel and the Middle East as a whole". The German-Israeli Society said Lischinsky had grown up in the German state of Bavaria and spoke fluent German. BRIDGE-BUILDING CHALLENGING "He wanted to become a diplomat so he could actually use his knowledge, his background, to contribute," said Otmazgin, who remembered Lischinsky as a well-rounded individual invested in academics, and as a defender in soccer. Bridge-building has been an especially difficult challenge since Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel from Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. Israel's response, an air and ground war that has killed over 53,000 people and reduced much of the small Gaza Strip to rubble, has drawn global condemnation, including pro-Palestinian protests on U.S. university campuses. The shootings are likely to aggravate polarisation in the United States over the war in Gaza between supporters of Israel and pro-Palestinian demonstrators. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed criticism and vowed to keep bombarding Gaza until Hamas is eradicated, a position that has sharpened divisions over the Gaza war at home and abroad. Joshua Maxey, Executive Director of Bet Mishpachah, an LGBTQ+ synagogue in Washington that Milgrim attended, described her as a pleasant person who could cope with stress and was committed to helping LGBTQ+ Jews feel included. Milgrim, an American Jew originally from Kansas, like Lischinsky, harboured big ambitions despite entrenched hatred in the Middle East to make a difference to her Jewish community and beyond it. "What I admired about her the most is that she was so dedicated to the Jewish community, and not just the Jewish community, but to humanity as a whole," said Maxey. "And to advocate for peace and to advocate that we are all this one big human family, and we should care for one another, and you know, in all of our capacities, strive to make this world a better place." Milgrim was a member of Tech2peace, a joint Israeli-Palestinian organisation that promotes peace through innovation. "Her energy, thoughtfulness, and unwavering belief in dialogue, peace and equality inspired everyone who had the privilege to work alongside her," said Tech2peace. Sabrina Soffer, a student who volunteered at the Israeli Embassy in Washington and worked alongside Lischinsky to show support for Israel after Hamas' October 2023 attack through social media, told Reuters she was deeply saddened. "The bond that we created in those days was just completely unmatched. And I'm sure, you know, the vibrancy of his smile and just his warmth were also radiant in Sarah too," said Soffer. "It's just two people that the world shouldn't have lost - that's for sure." REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

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