The Full Belmonte, 10/22/2023
First Humanitarian Aid Reaches a Hard-Pressed Gaza
But the 20-truck shipment of food, water and medical supplies is only a fraction of what is needed to head off a catastrophe, officials say.
By Thomas Fuller and Vivian Yee
Oct. 21, 2023
“After days of diplomatic wrangling, 20 trucks carrying food, water and medical supplies crossed into Gaza on Saturday, providing a ray of hope for the more than two million residents of the enclave, whose living conditions the United Nations called ‘catastrophic.’
The first of what U.N. officials described as a trickle of aid, a respite in Israel’s blanket siege of the enclave imposed after the Hamas terrorist attacks of Oct. 7, came after intense negotiations, including during President Biden’s visit to Israel last week.
But the deal allowed the passage of only a fraction of the long line of trucks waiting to carry 3,000 tons of aid from Egypt into Gaza. Negotiations for future shipments were continuing, and it was unclear when more aid would be allowed in.
‘The supplies currently heading into Gaza will barely begin to address the escalating health needs as hostilities continue to grow,’ the World Health Organization, which supplied trauma kits as part of the convoy, said in a statement on Saturday. ‘Much more is needed.’
The shipment was delayed for days out of Israeli concerns that it might be used to funnel weapons and munitions to Hamas. It did not include the fuel that the United Nations says is needed to run medical facilities and water desalination plants. The Israeli military is blocking fuel from the territory because it fears it will be used by Hamas for military purposes.
Seven hospitals and 25 health care clinics are out of service because they ran out of fuel, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, operated by Hamas….” Read more at New York Times
The chair of the speaker of the House.Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
“At least 10 Republicans have announced that they will run for speaker, including House veterans and a sophomore. See who’s running.” [New York Times]
House chaos forces Senate to take the wheel on spending
BY AL WEAVER
© Greg Nash
“The stalemate in the House is forcing the Senate to pick up the legislative slack and take the lead on spending.
The includes keeping the government funded, as well as an emerging aid package that includes money to help Israel and Ukraine and to ease concerns at the border, a top issue for House Republicans that they may have precious little say over.”
Read the full story here at The Hill
What to know about Speaker candidate Kevin Hern
BY NICK ROBERTSON
“House Republicans will meet to find a new Speaker nominee in a closed-door meeting on Monday evening.
Amid the crowded group is Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), who officially announced his candidacy after the meeting where the caucus abandoned House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
Here’s what you need to know about him.
Read the full story here at The Hill
Who is Speaker candidate Mike Johnson?
BY TARA SUTER
Sunday at noon is the deadline for lawmakers to file their candidacy for House Speaker.
House Republican Vice Chairman Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Saturday joined the now-crowded field of candidates vying for the gavel.
Here’s what you need to know about him.
Read the full story here at The Hill
GOP lawmaker urges Republicans to sign unity pledge to back eventual Speaker nominee
BY NICK ROBERTSON
“Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.) is urging his caucus to vote together as chaos over the House Speakership continues, launching a unity pledge for lawmakers to commit to a single candidate.
The House has been without a Speaker for nearly three weeks after nominees, Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), failed to secure enough support to win election to replace former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), after he was ousted from the top spot earlier this month.”
Read the full story here at The Hill
McHenry is reluctant center of House Speakership storm
BY SYLVAN LANE
“Speaker Pro Tem Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) for weeks has been at the center of a storm that keeps threatening to propel him to the most powerful office in Congress — whether he wants that or not.
As the House GOP struggles for a third week to pick a new leader, Republicans have repeatedly voiced support for giving McHenry enough power to keep the gears of the House turning.”
Read the full story here at The Hill
Democrats divided on Biden’s vulnerabilities for 2024
BY NIALL STANAGE
“New polling reveals just how vulnerable President Biden is roughly a year out from the 2024 election.
Biden has persistently low approval ratings. There are widespread concerns about his age. And, in head-to-head polls against four-times-indicted former President Trump, Biden is in a dead-heat at best.
Now, polls in battleground states are flashing warning signs as well.”
Read the full story here at The Hill
A view of damaged buildings as the Israeli airstrikes continue in Gaza City.
“The death toll in Gaza since October 7 has risen to 4,651, with more than 14,245 wounded, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said earlier today. Meanwhile, the Israeli military has escalated its operations in the occupied West Bank, striking a mosque today to thwart what it called ‘an imminent terror attack.’
Norma weakened to tropical storm strength Saturday after bringing hurricane-force winds, flash flooding and storm surge to Mexico’s Pacific coast. Norma made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane with winds of 80 mph over the far southern portion of Mexico’s Baja California Sur — which includes Cabo San Lucas — Saturday afternoon, the National Hurricane Center said.
Investigators are searching for a motive in the death of a Detroit synagogue leader found stabbed over the weekend, the city’s police chief said. The body of Samantha Woll, president of the board of the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue, was discovered with multiple stab wounds at her home on Saturday morning, the Detroit Police Department said in a statement.
House Republicans are once again scrambling with no clear path to elect a new speaker after voting to push Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan out of the race Friday, the latest sign of the chaos and divisions that have engulfed the majority party and left the chamber in a state of paralysis.
Kenneth Chesebro, a Donald Trump-aligned attorney who helped craft the 2020 fake elector plot, pleaded guilty on Friday in the Georgia election subversion case. The plea deal is another major victory for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who charged Trump and 18 others in the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. Former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell pleaded guilty on Thursday.
MONDAY
Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey is scheduled to be arraigned on new charges that he conspired to act as a foreign agent for Egypt. Menendez and his wife were indicted last month on corruption-related offenses, and are accused of accepting ‘hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes’ — including gold, cash, home mortgage payments and a luxury car — in exchange for the senator’s influence. The superseding indictment filed against Menendez, who was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the time of the alleged actions, adds a new dimension to the case by alleging a US senator was working on behalf of another country. Both Menendez and his wife have pleaded not guilty.
The City of Orlando will seek final approval from the city council to buy Pulse, the popular LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed and at least 53 others were injured in a mass shooting in 2016. The site of the deadly shooting was referred to as ‘a permanent part of Orlando’s history’ in an agenda item to be discussed at Monday’s city council meeting. ‘The City is interested in acquiring this property as part of the process of developing a permanent memorial that honors the victims,’ the agenda item states.
North Carolina's GOP-controlled state legislature is expected to vote on new congressional district maps that could put at risk as many as four Democratic-held seats in the US House — a move that could help determine which party gains the upper hand in the chamber after the 2024 elections. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper does not have veto power over redistricting legislation in North Carolina.
WEDNESDAY
President Joe Biden will host Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia for an official visit to the US, which will include a state dinner. The event will be Biden's fourth state dinner since taking office. In June, he welcomed India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the White House.
THURSDAY
The Commerce Department will release its first reading of third-quarter gross domestic product, the broadest measure of US economic output. The agency's final revision of Q2 GDP last month showed economic growth holding at an annualized rate of 2.1% — a positive sign for the Federal Reserve's campaign to cool demand and bring down price increases.” [CNN]
Inside Biden's Gaza strategy
Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
“President Biden is taking a dual-track approach to the Gaza crisis:
He's standing staunchly with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in public while trying to hold him back in private, Axios' Barak Ravid reports.
Why it matters: The U.S. supports Israel but doesn't want to get drawn into another large or protracted military operation in the Middle East. Threading that needle is Biden's biggest challenge right now.
Between the lines: Biden set the tone for the U.S. response in a speech just days after the Hamas attack on Israel, when he compared the group to ISIS.
The speech was aired during prime time in Israel, and it was one of the most-watched TV events in Israel's history.
Biden has used that credibility delicately — he and Netanyahu have a fraught history. During their almost daily calls, Biden has avoided directly pressuring the prime minister, according to U.S. officials.
Instead, he has asked questions — a gentler way to raise the same concerns.
32 Americans died and 11 are unaccounted for after the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel, the State Department said Thursday. Hamas yesterday released two U.S. citizens being held hostage.
Breaking: Some 20 trucks carrying humanitarian aid crossed into Gaza today after Biden successfully lobbied Egypt and Israel to agree to allow in aid during his visit to Israel three days ago. Get the latest.
Behind the scenes: Biden himself is the driving force behind much of this strategy, people familiar with the process say.
His Oct. 10 speech ‘was all Joe Biden,’ according to a source familiar with the speech-writing process, who said Biden shot down aides' attempts to water down the language or balance the messages.
What's next: Biden won't be able to stop the war. But he is likely going to continue to use his popularity and credibility among Israelis to influence its path.” [Axios]
Mapped: Changing borders
Data: Axios research. (Depicts region after the end of the British Palestine Mandate. Not shown are Israeli settlements in the West Bank.) Map: Will Chase and Jacque Schrag/Axios
“The UN considers the Gaza Strip to be occupied by Israel, along with the West Bank and Golan Heights, because Israel controls the movement of people and goods in and out of the territory and has imposed a land, air and sea blockade.
Israel argues that it no longer occupies Gaza because it withdrew its soldiers and settlers in 2005 and does not govern the Strip.” [Axios]
What to know about Gaza
Data: OpenStreetMap, WorldPop. Map: Will Chase/Axios
“Gaza and its more than 2.1 million people have been under constant Israeli bombardment since the Hamas terrorist attack.
The Israeli military is now preparing for a ground invasion of the small coastal enclave — an incursion that is expected to be long and difficult, Axios' Laurin-Whitney Gottbrath writes.
Zoom out: Gaza is a small Palestinian territory — roughly the size of Detroit — located on the Mediterranean coast.
Most Palestinians who live in Gaza are refugees. Roughly half are under the age of 18.
Zoom in: The Gaza Strip is currently run by Hamas, which is considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the U.S. and several other governments.
Israel, with the support of Egypt, imposed a land, sea and air blockade of Gaza in 2007 after Hamas took control.
Israel says the blockade is necessary for security reasons, keeping Hamas and other militant groups like the Palestinian Islamic Jihad from importing weapons that can be used against Israel.
Palestinians call the blockade ‘collective punishment’ and say it's turned Gaza into an ‘open-air prison.’
Palestinians must get permission from Israel or Egypt to leave the enclave, which is often difficult to get.
More than 80% of Palestinians in Gaza live in poverty, according to the UN.
A bakery is destroyed at Nuseirat Refugee Camp after Israeli airstrikes in Deir al Balah, Gaza. Photo: Ashraf Amra/Anadolu via Getty Images
Shouq Al Najjar, a Gazan, told Axios she and her husband had ‘no choice but to evacuate’ their home in Gaza City ‘because of the Israeli airstrikes that devastated our neighborhood,’ including reducing their home to rubble.
‘My husband and I started our married life less than a year ago in that house, which now lies in ruins,’ Al Najjar, 27, said. ‘Survival feels uncertain.’” [Axios]
Hamas' tunnel network
An Israeli army officer gives journalists a tour in 2014 of a tunnel said to be used for cross-border attacks from Gaza. Photo: Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images
“Israeli forces would face Hamas' labyrinthian warren of tunnels under the Gaza Strip in an expected ground assault, Axios' Jacob Knutson writes.
It's unknown how extensive the tunnels are. But they've grown in scale and sophistication over two decades. Some are even equipped with electricity, lighting and rail tracks.
They likely span large parts of the Strip, reaching more than 100 feet beneath the surface in some places and ending at dozens of hidden access points. Hamas' leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, claimed in 2021 that the militant group had around 310 miles of tunnels in Gaza.
Why it matters: The tunnels, dubbed by Israel as the ‘Gaza metro,’ are vital for Hamas from both an offensive and defensive standpoint.
The big picture: Hamas' military arm has relied for more than three decades on guerrilla warfare that uses rockets, snipers, improvised explosive devices and underground tunnels to attack Israel.
The militants use the tunnels to smuggle and store weaponry and evade detection.
Further complicating an invasion, some of the hostages kidnapped in the attack are held in tunnels, Hamas said.
This picture, taken with a fisheye lens in 2018, shows a tunnel that Israel says was dug from Gaza into Israel. Photo: Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images
The other side: Israel built a sensor-equipped underground anti-tunnel barrier below a fence spanning its entire border with Gaza.” [Axios]
How Israel built its formidable military
President Biden poses with an Iron Beam (left) and Iron Dome air defense system (right) at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport in 2022. Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
“For decades, Israel has been one of the most powerful and technologically advanced military powers in the Middle East.
With an annual military budget exceeding $20 billion and access to some of the most advanced U.S. military hardware, Israel controls the skies and much of the sea around its territory and has superior cyber capabilities.
Israel is believed to have dozens of nuclear warheads — though it has never acknowledged them — and possesses highly sophisticated drones, fighter aircraft, tanks, submarines and artillery.
The Israel Defense Forces relies on compulsory military service beginning at age 18.
Since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, 300,000+ reservists have been called up.
Graphic: Kavya Beheraj and Sarah Grillo/Axios; Icons: Mahmut Resul Karaca/Anadolu via Getty Images
“ The U.S. is by far the biggest supplier of military aid to Israel, contributing around $130 billion since its founding.
U.S. military assistance to Israel last fiscal year was worth $3.8 billion, second only to Ukraine. That accounted for 16% of Israel's military budget.
The latest: In his Oval Office address on Thursday, Biden made the case for a sweeping emergency funding request that includes $10 billion for Israel.” [Axios]
War spills over
Data: Natural Earth, Axios research. Map: Will Chase/Axios
“The war between Israel and Hamas has already spilled into neighboring countries, with street protests and even cross-border attacks, Axios' Erica Pandey writes.
Why it matters: Israel's neighbors fear further domestic unrest and mass outflows of refugees as the conflict deepens. Israel fears that a second front could open on the border with Lebanon.
State of play: There have been daily skirmishes along the border, with Iran-backed Hezbollah militants firing dozens of rockets and the Israel Defense Forces conducting strikes of its own.
Hezbollah has pledged its support to Hamas and has far greater military capability than the Palestinian militant group.
What to watch: The White House has discussed using military force if Hezbollah joins the fighting in Gaza.” [Axios]
How Iran fits in
Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
“Iran and the militant groups it backs are forcing Israel and the U.S. to contend with the possibility that the Israel-Hamas war could explode into a regional conflagration, Axios' Dave Lawler writes.
The big picture: President Biden's visit to Israel this week — paired with the movement of U.S. warships and aircraft into the region — was intended in part as a warning to Iran.
While Hezbollah poses the gravest direct threat to Israel, Iran-linked groups in Yemen, Iraq and Syria could also play a role in the conflict.
Our thought bubble: Without playing a direct role on the ground, Iran is trying to create an atmosphere in which Israel and the U.S. must constantly be concerned about what it and its proxies might do, Axios' Barak Ravid notes.
The White House called Iran ‘complicit’ in Hamas' Oct. 7 terrorist attack because it has provided the group with training, funding and support. But U.S. officials have said they have no evidence that Iran was involved in the planning or execution.
At the very least, funding and technological know-how from Iran have helped Hamas increase its military capabilities.” [Axios]
Ben Jackson/Getty Images
The Buckeyes are tough enough
“For a couple years, Ohio State’s toughness has been in question. A few weeks ago, coach Ryan Day revealed the criticism had gotten to him, firing back at long-retired coach Lou Holtz for doubting the Buckeyes’ physicality.
After No. 3 Ohio State’s 20-12 suffocation of No. 7 Penn State in yesterday’s battle of Big Ten East unbeatens, one thing has been established: The Buckeye defense is dump-truck tough.
The Bucks entered yesterday with the No. 2 defense nationally in yards per play allowed. If not for a meaingless touchdown they allowed with under 30 seconds left, the Buckeyes would’ve held Penn State to its first single-digit score since 2018. Ohio State allowed only one third-down conversion — on 16 attempts.
Undoubtedly sturdy on one side of the ball, with Marvin Harrison, Jr. (162 yards against Penn State’s previously No. 1 defense) on the other? Top-tier contender.
James Franklin’s Nittany Lions, meanwhile, are again stuck wondering how to finally take one more step.
Elsewhere in college football:
Winning 49-0, No. 2 Michigan took out some feelings on 2-5 Michigan State, either because these teams hate each other or in response to those illegal-scouting allegations. Or both. Buckeyes-Wolverines, as big as ever, is only five weeks away. Season goes fast!
Adding even more embarrassment, MSU’s scoreboard ran a YouTube trivia video that included a graphic of, um, Hitler’s face. The school apologized.
Upset of the week: Virginia entered as a 23.5-point underdog with a 1-5 record, then beat No. 10 North Carolina, 31-27. The No. 10 ranking is officially cursed, with teams slotted there having lost in four straight weeks.
And finally, some on-field controversy, as Minnesota out-grunted No. 24 Iowa in a 12-10 tectonic shift of a game. The Hawkeyes’ Cooper DeJean scored what might’ve been the game-winner (on a punt return, of course) … except the refs called it back for ‘an invalid fair catch signal.’ He’d been trying to wave his teammates away from the ball. See for yourself:
Tough call, sure, but how much sympathy can we muster for a team that spent the second half gaining all of two yards? Goal for next week: Advance the ball at least seven feet. Maybe even an entire Wemby.” [The Athletic]
“College football now has wages for athletes over $100,000. The payments are from controversial groups called donor collectives.” [New York Times]
October 22, 2023
Good morning. We’re covering Martin Scorsese’s new film….
Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone.Melinda Sue Gordon/Apple Original Films
Adapted with care
“It’s not your imagination: Movies really are getting longer. The average blockbuster now runs thirty minutes more than films did in the 1990s, a recent Economist survey found.
Martin Scorsese’s highly anticipated new film, ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ is in theaters this weekend. And at three-and-a-half hours long, it serves as further proof of the swelling moviegoing experience. In this case, though, fretting over the run-time might belie the thoughtfulness of Scorsese’s creation.
The film, adapted from a best-selling nonfiction book by David Grann, is about the murders of members of the Osage Nation, a Native American tribe in Oklahoma, in the 1920s. The Osage became extremely wealthy after oil was discovered on their land — placing them on a receiving end of a rapacious conspiracy. The Times’s chief movie critic Manohla Dargis calls it a ‘heartbreaking masterpiece.’
Yet the adaptation is not an exercise in strict fidelity. Both the book and movie tell a story of violence, and of the ensuing investigation by an F.B.I. agent dispatched by J. Edgar Hoover. But Scorsese and his collaborators wanted to examine more closely the heart of the story: the Osage.
The shift away from straight police procedural came two years into the writing process, after a discussion with Leonardo DiCaprio. ‘I think Marty and I just looked at each other and we felt there was no soul to it,’ DiCaprio told The Times. Or, as Scorcese put it in a Time interview: ‘I realized I was making a movie about all the white guys.’
The perspective switch prompted Scorsese to meet with the Osage nation. ‘I got them to understand that I wanted to do the best I could with them and the story, and that they could trust me, I hoped,’ he told The New Yorker.
At the center of the narrative is a love story at once warm, complicated and dark. DiCaprio plays Ernest Burkhart, a white World War I veteran, who is encouraged to marry into the Osage at the instruction of his uncle, William Hale (Robert De Niro). Burkhart weds an Osage woman named Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone) and starts a family with her. All the while, he is involved in Hale’s plan to murder Kyle’s family members in pursuit of land rights.
‘With grace, sorrow and sublime filmmaking clarity,’ Dargis writes, Scorsese turns a true crime story into ‘a requiem for the country.’
Read her full review here.” [New York Times]
“The American Museum of Natural History is reevaluating its collection of human remains, including the bones of enslaved Black people and Native Americans. Experts say that for decades, museums used human remains for research that was rooted in racism — like looking for physical proof of the superiority of white people. The museum plans to temporarily remove all bones and have conversations with the affected communities to ‘repair and heal’ its past.” [NPR]
“Lives Lived: Bobby Charlton, one of soccer’s greatest players, won the World Cup with England in 1966. He led the Manchester United team after surviving a plane crash that killed many of his teammates. He died at 86.” [New York Times]