Trump says Israeli president should be ashamed over Netanyahu pardon, Herzog responds: “Israel operates by the Law”
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
US President Donald Trump criticised Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Thursday evening for not granting a pardon to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his ongoing corruption trial, prompting a firm reply from the Israeli president’s office.
Speaking to reporters about Netanyahu’s visit to Washington and other political and security issues, Trump said: “President Herzog should be ashamed of himself, a pardon over this trial that’s going on. The president of Israel, the primary power he’s got is the power to give pardons.”
Repeating his criticism, Trump added: “he said he’s given it five different times, but he doesn’t want to do it, because I guess he loses his power. I think the people of Israel should really shame him. He is disgraceful for not giving it.”
READ: Herzog says he will consider Netanyahu’s pardon request only in the state’s interest
In response, the office of Isaac Herzog said: “The prime minister’s request is currently under review at the Justice Ministry for a legal opinion in accordance with the established procedures,” according to The Times of Israel.
The statement added, “Only upon completion of that process will President Herzog consider the request in accordance with the law, the best interests of the State of Israel, guided by his conscience, and without any influence from external or internal pressures of any kind.”
It stressed that “Israel is a sovereign state governed by the rule of law.”
The statement also noted that President Herzog appreciates the significant contribution made by Donald Trump to Israel and its security.
It concluded: “Contrary to the impression created by President Trump’s remarks, President Herzog has not yet made any decision on this matter.”
READ: Netanyahu may seek Trump’s backing for Gaza relocation plan: Hebrew newspaper
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Trump’s racist rhetoric: a lifelong strategy, not a series of slips
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/trumps-racist-rhetoric-lifelong-strategy-not-series-slips
US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after signing a spending bill that ends a partial shutdown of the federal government in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, February 3, 2026The US president’s career is defined by a consistent use of racist tropes and provocation. Why are world leaders so silent over his repeated vitriolic prejudice, asks ROGER McKENZIE
THE recent racist meltdown by United States President Donald Trump is no aberration.
It is in fact part of a deep history of racism by the far-right US president.
It is a disgrace that there is any doubt that Trump was personally responsible for posting a video that depicted Barack and Michelle Obama as apes — a well-worn racist trope against black people.
What is perhaps even more of a disgrace is the pass that he seems to be given over this in the US and by the so-called international community.
There was barely a whimper from world leaders over the posting by Trump. This perhaps says as much about them as it does against racist Trump.
The fact is that Trump’s racism has been crystal clear from the moment he entered public life.
…
One of the many problems I have around Trump’s racism, having known of his racism for years and attempted to raise the alarm from the beginning, is that he continues to get away with his despicable behaviour and world leaders still rush to be photographed next to him.
The man is a racist and should be called out at every opportunity by everyone including so-called world leaders — regardless of diplomatic niceties.
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/trumps-racist-rhetoric-lifelong-strategy-not-series-slips
China Reaffirms Vow to Aid Cuba Amid Trump’s ‘Inhumane’ Economic Strangulation
Original post by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
“China firmly supports Cuba in safeguarding national sovereignty and security and opposing external interference,” a Beijing spokesperson said.
As the Trump administration weaponizes its economic privation of the Cuban people in hopes of ousting their socialist government, China on Tuesday reaffirmed its pledge to help alleviate the island’s worsening oil shortage.
Emboldened by his recent abduction of socialist Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on legally dubious “narco-terrorism” charges, President Donald Trump is ratcheting up pressure on a people already ravaged by 64 years of what many critics call Washington’s “economic terrorism” and decades of actual terrorism committed by US-based right-wing Cuban exiles.
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Cut off from the Venezuelan petroleum that provided around 75% of Cuba’s imported oil just a few years ago, the island is suffering a worsening energy emergency. The Cuban government has responded by strictly rationing fuel and seeking alternate sources of oil such as Mexico and, to a lesser extent, Russia.
“I would like to stress again that China firmly supports Cuba in safeguarding national sovereignty and security and opposing external interference,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said during a press conference.
“China stands firmly against the inhumane actions that deprive the Cuban people of their right to subsistence and development,” he added. “China will, as always, do our best to provide support and assistance to Cuba.”
As is usually the case when Washington tightens the screws on Cuba, everyday Cubans are suffering the most.
“You can’t imagine how it touches every part of our lives,” Marta Jiménez, a hairdresser in Cuba’s eastern city of Holguín, told CodePink co-founder and frequent Common Dreams opinion contributor Medea Benjamin, who traveled to Cuba last week with a group to deliver 2,500 pounds of lentils.
“It’s a vicious, all-encompassing spiral downward,” Jiménez continued. “With no gasoline, buses don’t run, so we can’t get to work. We have electricity only three to six hours a day. There’s no gas for cooking, so we’re burning wood and charcoal in our apartments. It’s like going back 100 years.”
“The blockade is suffocating us—especially single mothers,” she added, “and no one is stopping these demons, Trump and [Secretary of State] Marco Rubio.”
The United Nations General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly every year but once since 1992 to condemn the US blockade on Cuba. Last October, the UNGA voted 165-7 against the embargo, with 12 abstentions.
Original post by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
Khanna Names 6 Men ‘Likely Incriminated’ by Epstein Files That ‘DOJ Hid for No Apparent Reason’
Original article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
“The reality is that Donald Trump’s FBI scrubbed these files in March, long before Thomas Massie and I passed the Epstein Transparency Act,” said the California progressive.
Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna on Tuesday read aloud on the House floor the names of half a dozen men he said are “likely incriminated” in files concerning Jeffrey Epstein, the late convicted child sex criminal and former friend of President Donald Trump.
“Yesterday, Congressman [Thomas] Massie [R-Ky.] and I went to the Department of Justice to read the unredacted Epstein files,” Khanna (Calif.) said. “We spent about two hours there, and we learned that 70 to 80% of the files are still redacted.”
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“In fact, there were six wealthy, powerful men that the DOJ hid for no apparent reason,” the congressman continued. “When Congressman Massie and I pointed this out to the DOJ, they acknowledged their mistake, and now they have revealed the identity of these six powerful men.”
“These men are: Salvatore Nuara; Zurab Mikeladze; Leonic Leonov; Nicola Caputo; Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, CEO of Dubai Ports World; and billionaire businessman Leslie Wexner, who was labeled as a ‘co-conspirator,’ by the FBI.” Khanna said.
“Now my question is: Why did it take Thomas Massie and me going to the Justice Department to get these six men’s identities to become public?” Khanna asked. “And if we found six men that they were hiding in two hours, imagine how many men they are covering up for in those three million files.”
Last year, Congress passed Khanna and Massie’s Epstein Files Transparency Act, which required the public release of all relevant documents within 30 days. The legislation also empowered Attorney General Pam Bondi to redact large amounts of information that critics fear could include material that incriminates Trump, who Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said Tuesday is mentioned “more than a million times” in the unredacted Epstein files.
Democratic lawmakers and Massie have accused the DOJ of violating the law by incomplete disclosure and blowing the legal deadline for publishing the documents.
“The story gets worse,” Khanna said Tuesday. “The reality is that Donald Trump’s FBI scrubbed these files in March, long before Thomas Massie and I passed the Epstein Transparency Act… That means the survivors’ statement to the FBI naming rich and powerful men who went to Epstein’s island… they’re all hidden.”
None of the six named men had responded to Khanna’s action as of late Tuesday afternoon. A legal representative for Wexner previously told the Associated Press that prosecutors had informed the 88-year-old billionaire that he was “neither a co-conspirator nor a target in any respect,” and that he cooperated with investigators.
The names of the six men were entered into the Congressional Record as part of Khanna’s remarks. Inclusion in the Epstein files does not by itself prove or even imply any criminal wrongdoing.
“It’s time to begin with accountability for the Epstein class,” Khanna said during his remarks Tuesday. “Hold them in front of Congress, those people who visited the island or did business with Epstein after he was a convicted pedophile. Investigate them. Prosecute them. And let us return to democratic accountability in the United States of America.”
Original article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
