Latest news with #post-Israel
New York Post
21-07-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
US special envoy for hostage response says ‘Israel is going to take kinetic action' if Hamas rejects hostage deal
If Hamas does not take the proposal on offer to release the hostages in Gaza, 'Israel is going to take some kinetic action,' U.S. Special Envoy for Hostage Response Adam Boehler warned in an interview with CNN on Sunday night. The envoy said he was 'optimistic' that a ceasefire agreement can be reached with the terrorist organization, 'because [U.S. Special Envoy for Peace Missions Steve Witkoff] has been leaning in really closely on a deal and he's done it with Israel.' Boehler went on to say that 'post-Israel winning [against] Iran there's a new sense of ability to get something done. The Israelis want something done.' 6 Israeli captive (center), who has been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, is escorted by Hamas fighters before being handed over to the Red Cross in Deir al-Balah. AP 6 Children looking at rifles displayed by Hamas fighters. AP 6 Israeli captive Eli Sharabi escorted by Hamas fighters. AP When asked what it would take for Hamas to agree to a hostages-for-prisoners-exchange deal, Boehler said that 'these are down to little details. … I would say that Israel at this point is bending over backward; they're redrawing maps. … at this point, what you do, is you say, 'Look, we're going to take this deal, we're going to let at least 10 hostages go…' 'We've got two dead Americans there [in Gaza]. We've got the Chens [referring to the family of U.S.-Israeli dual citizen Sgt. Itay Chen] and we have the Neutras [referring to the family of U.S.-Israeli dual citizen Capt. Omer Neutra]. We have to get those Americans out and we need to get the other hostages out.' The American negotiator further stated, 'Hamas is very hard-headed. They've been offered many things that they should take and it's time for Hamas to release the hostages. So I'm more optimistic than I was, because all those factors are there. We've got an A-team negotiating it. Now what I really want to see is Hamas take action.' Boehler stressed that the current offer is a 'firm pathway to negotiation and peace. That's the best [that Hamas is] going to get and they should take the deal on offer.' He noted that Gaza's Islamic dictatorship has not taken deals proposed in the past, warning that 'every single time they don't take it, it [the terms offered] goes down and goes down and goes down. 'So my recommendation to Hamas would be take the deal that Israel [and] the United States is offering you, let's get some people home, and let's move to end this conflict,' Boehler said. 6 Adam Boehler, senior advisor at the U.S. State Department, hugs Aviva Siegal. Getty Images 6 Boehler stressed that the current offer is a 'firm pathway to negotiation and peace. That's the best [that Hamas is] going to get and they should take the deal on offer.' AP 6 Boehler spoke to CNN on the backdrop of the release of 10 American hostages from Venezuela via a prisoner swap deal between the U.S., the South American country and El Salvador. MOHAMMED SABER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Boehler spoke to CNN on the backdrop of the release of 10 American hostages from Venezuela via a prisoner swap deal between the U.S., the South American country and El Salvador. The special envoy said that the message conveyed by this latest proposal is that it is 'high time that every country realized that if you're holding an American, it's a real problem.' Every morning, the NY POSTcast offers a deep dive into the headlines with the Post's signature mix of politics, business, pop culture, true crime and everything in between. Subscribe here! Boehler emphasized that Washington will not pay hundreds of millions in ransom, but expects countries to release U.S. hostages unilaterally 'to get in America's good graces.' Fifty hostages remain in Gaza, 49 of whom were abducted to the Strip during the Hamas-led cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023. One body of an Israeli officer, Lt. Hadar Goldin, has been held in Gaza since 2014. According to Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the 50 being held in Gaza include 28 deceased abductees.
Time of India
16-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
"Peaceful Purposes": China Sides With 'Nuclear Iran', Slams Trump-Netanyahu's 'Bullying'
/ Jul 17, 2025, 01:01AM IST China vowed full support to Iran's sovereignty and right to enrich uranium for peaceful use. At the SCO summit, Beijing blasted U.S. 'bullying' and pledged deeper military-economic ties. The move cements Iran's alignment with China post-Israel conflict and U.S. strikes.
Time of India
11-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Rebellion within the ranks: China's top military paper challenges Xi Jinping's push for battlefield robots
China's top military newspaper PLA Daily published an article warning against using humanoid robots in war. The article goes against President Xi Jinping's military tech ambitions, especially his focus on high automation and AI in the army, as per the reports. Three writers—Yuan Yi, Ma Ye, and Yue Shiguang—wrote the piece, but it's not clear if they are from the army or civilian defence. The article says using humanoid robots in large numbers could cause 'indiscriminate killings' and accidental deaths, which could lead to legal issues and moral backlash, as stated in the report by The Telegraph. It asks the military to do more ethical and legal studies before using these robots in battle. The piece admits that humanoid robots are useful for war since they reduce human deaths, and could be the next big step in military tech, like drones once were, as per the reports. ALSO READ: Largest population purge this decade? Iran expels half a million Afghans in rapid crackdown post-Israel war But it warns that the technology is still new and not fully understood, so the use of these robots in combat should be strictly controlled and regulated. This article is very unusual for PLA Daily, which normally just promotes the government's military plans. That's why many experts are surprised, as reported by The Telegraph. Live Events Big change in tone from earlier Just two months ago, the same paper praised humanoid robots and said they would change the future of war in a good way. The new warning might mean that some people in Beijing are not fully happy with China's heavy focus on military AI and robots, as per the report by The Telegraph. Interestingly, the article didn't name the Chinese military (PLA) directly, but it did name other countries like the US, Russia, and Japan, saying they are also investing heavily in humanoid robots for war. China is leading the world in automation, with more robots per worker than any country except South Korea and Singapore, according to the reports. ALSO READ: Bitcoin hits new all-time high at $113,804 as supply shrinks and big buyers load up China building robot army fast From 2022 to 2023, China added over 276,000 roboworkers, which is more than half of all robots used globally. Last month, China's state media proudly showed off the world's first robot football match, where AI robots played soccer with no human help, as per The Telegraph report. The Chinese defence industry is also making robot dogs for combat, and military strategists are openly supporting the use of humanoid robots in battle. The US, on the other hand, is not focusing much on humanoid robots, but is investing more in next-gen fighter jets and drones, claims reports. A well-known scholar at the PLA's top institute, Wang Yonghua, has said that humanoid robots can mimic human actions, interact with humans, and replace soldiers in complex missions, as stated by The Telegraph. FAQs Q1. Why did China's military newspaper warn about battlefield robots? The PLA Daily warned that humanoid robots could cause accidental killings and legal or moral problems. Q2. Is China using humanoid robots in its army? China is developing humanoid robots and combat robot dogs, but some experts now want strict rules before using them in war.
Observer
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Observer
Opinion- Trump, Bibi steer towards an ugly world, together
There was a time when a meeting between the president of the United States and the prime minister of Israel brought only pride to both Israeli and American Jews, who saw two democratic leaders working together. Well, I know that I am not alone when I say that pride is not the emotion that welled up in me on seeing the chummy picture of Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu meeting in the Oval Office on Monday. It was disgust and depression. Each is a wannabe autocrat, each is working to undermine the rule of law and so-called elites in his respective country, each is seeking to crush what he calls a 'deep state' of government professionals. Each is steering his nation away from its once universal aspiration to be a 'light unto the nations' towards a narrow, brutish might-equals-right ethnonationalism that is ready to mainstream ethnic cleansing. Each treats his political opposition not as legitimate but as enemies within and each has filled his Cabinet with incompetent hacks, deliberately chosen for loyalty to him instead of the laws of their lands. Each is driving his country away from its democratic traditional allies. Each asserts territorial expansion as a divine right — 'From the Gulf of America to Greenland' and 'From the West Bank to Gaza.' Trump and Netanyahu are engaged, each in his own country, in creating a 'post-America' and a 'post-Israel' world. By 'post-America,' though, I don't mean an America that is losing relative power but an America that is deliberately shedding its core identity as a country, on its best days, committed to the rule of law at home and the betterment of all humanity abroad. By 'post-Israel,' I mean an Israel that is deliberately shedding its core identity — that of a proudly proclaimed rule-of-law democracy in a region of strongmen that will always prioritise a permanent peace with Palestinians (if its security can be assured) over 'a permanent piece'' of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. One simply cannot imagine Trump or Vice President JD Vance aspiring to build the America that Ronald Reagan described in his January 11, 1989, farewell address. Reagan spoke of the need to reinforce in our children 'what America is and what she represents in the long history of the world.' That America was a moral and political beacon, 'a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here.' In mindlessly shrinking our own government and dissing so many of our traditional allies, 'Trump is not just destroying careers and values, he is quite literally making America weak again,' Stanford democracy expert Larry Diamond told me. That is about as 'post' the America I grew up in — and aspire to see my grandchildren grow up in — as I can imagine. Netanyahu has been hard at work creating a similar post-Israel. Trump forced out his FBI director for being insufficiently loyal; Netanyahu is close to doing the same with Ronen Bar, the widely respected head of Israel's FBI equivalent, the Shin Bet, at a time when Bar is investigating some of Netanyahu's top aides. Netanyahu himself is on trial on corruption charges. He stands accused by the Israeli opposition — and by more than a few relatives of hostages — of prolonging the war in Gaza to appease the Jewish supremacists who keep him in power and potentially out of jail. He is also trying, as we speak, to remove Israel's independent and courageous attorney general because he apparently considers her disloyal. Since coming to office in late 2022, Netanyahu has also been on a mission to undermine the power of the Israeli Supreme Court to check the decisions of the executive and legislative branches. Netanyahu's aim today is 'dismantling all the essential components of democracy,' Mickey Gitzin, director of the New Israel Fund, wrote in Haaretz on Sunday. 'The method is a simple one: You create a maelstrom of daring, illegal moves, simultaneously and on all fronts. While the public is reacting to the dismissal of the head of the Shin Bet security service, you advance draconian legislation against' non-governmental organisations. Trump's and Netanyahu's domestic strategies have truly merged with the weaponisation of antisemitism as a way to silence or delegitimise critics. Readers of this column know that I have zero respect for any campus protesters who bash Israeli actions in Gaza without uttering a word of censure for Hamas — let alone a word of support for Ukrainians whose democracy is being savaged by Vladimir Putin's Russia. But ours is, for now, still a free country and if people aren't engaging in violent acts, or harassing other students in or out of class, they should be free to say whatever they want, including advocating a Palestinian state of whatever size they want.
Observer
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Observer
Trump, Bibi steer towards an ugly world, together
There was a time when a meeting between the president of the United States and the prime minister of Israel brought only pride to both Israeli and American Jews, who saw two democratic leaders working together. Well, I know that I am not alone when I say that pride is not the emotion that welled up in me on seeing the chummy picture of Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu meeting in the Oval Office on Monday. It was disgust and depression. Each is a wannabe autocrat, each is working to undermine the rule of law and so-called elites in his respective country, each is seeking to crush what he calls a 'deep state' of government professionals. Each is steering his nation away from its once universal aspiration to be a 'light unto the nations' towards a narrow, brutish might-equals-right ethnonationalism that is ready to mainstream ethnic cleansing. Each treats his political opposition not as legitimate but as enemies within and each has filled his Cabinet with incompetent hacks, deliberately chosen for loyalty to him instead of the laws of their lands. Each is driving his country away from its democratic traditional allies. Each asserts territorial expansion as a divine right — 'From the Gulf of America to Greenland' and 'From the West Bank to Gaza.' Trump and Netanyahu are engaged, each in his own country, in creating a 'post-America' and a 'post-Israel' world. By 'post-America,' though, I don't mean an America that is losing relative power but an America that is deliberately shedding its core identity as a country, on its best days, committed to the rule of law at home and the betterment of all humanity abroad. By 'post-Israel,' I mean an Israel that is deliberately shedding its core identity — that of a proudly proclaimed rule-of-law democracy in a region of strongmen that will always prioritise a permanent peace with Palestinians (if its security can be assured) over 'a permanent piece'' of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. One simply cannot imagine Trump or Vice President JD Vance aspiring to build the America that Ronald Reagan described in his January 11, 1989, farewell address. Reagan spoke of the need to reinforce in our children 'what America is and what she represents in the long history of the world.' That America was a moral and political beacon, 'a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here.' In mindlessly shrinking our own government and dissing so many of our traditional allies, 'Trump is not just destroying careers and values, he is quite literally making America weak again,' Stanford democracy expert Larry Diamond told me. That is about as 'post' the America I grew up in — and aspire to see my grandchildren grow up in — as I can imagine. Netanyahu has been hard at work creating a similar post-Israel. Trump forced out his FBI director for being insufficiently loyal; Netanyahu is close to doing the same with Ronen Bar, the widely respected head of Israel's FBI equivalent, the Shin Bet, at a time when Bar is investigating some of Netanyahu's top aides. Netanyahu himself is on trial on corruption charges. He stands accused by the Israeli opposition — and by more than a few relatives of hostages — of prolonging the war in Gaza to appease the Jewish supremacists who keep him in power and potentially out of jail. He is also trying, as we speak, to remove Israel's independent and courageous attorney general because he apparently considers her disloyal. Since coming to office in late 2022, Netanyahu has also been on a mission to undermine the power of the Israeli Supreme Court to check the decisions of the executive and legislative branches. Netanyahu's aim today is 'dismantling all the essential components of democracy,' Mickey Gitzin, director of the New Israel Fund, wrote in Haaretz on Sunday. 'The method is a simple one: You create a maelstrom of daring, illegal moves, simultaneously and on all fronts. While the public is reacting to the dismissal of the head of the Shin Bet security service, you advance draconian legislation against' non-governmental organisations. Trump's and Netanyahu's domestic strategies have truly merged with the weaponisation of antisemitism as a way to silence or delegitimise critics. Readers of this column know that I have zero respect for any campus protesters who bash Israeli actions in Gaza without uttering a word of censure for Hamas — let alone a word of support for Ukrainians whose democracy is being savaged by Vladimir Putin's Russia. But ours is, for now, still a free country and if people aren't engaging in violent acts, or harassing other students in or out of class, they should be free to say whatever they want, including advocating a Palestinian state of whatever size they want.
