Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 5-21-21

Political
Biden Faces Israeli-Palestinian Fighting He Wasn't Expecting — Or Prepared For
Biden Drives New Electric Ford 150; 'This Is The Future'
President Biden stops to talk to the media as he drives a Ford F-150 Lightning truck at Ford Dearborn Development Center, on Tuesday, May 18, 2021, in Dearborn, Michigan.
President Biden trav- eled Tuesday to Dearborn, Michigan, to visit Ford's elec- tric vehicle plant as his ad- ministration continues to push for alternative forms of energy and transportation. Biden also drove the Ford F- 150 Lightning truck, an elec- tric vehicle, while at the facility. " This truck is fast and the future."
"The future of the auto in- dustry is electric. There's no
turning back," Biden said in remarks from the auto plant, known as the Ford Rouge Electric Vehicle Cen- ter.
Ford is previewing the new F-150 Lightning, which will be built by United Auto Workers members. Biden has aligned himself with unions, and is pushing his multi-trillion-dollar infra- structure package, known as the American Jobs Plan.
Trump Organization Now Under
Criminal Investigation, NY
Attorney General Says
The New York attorney general’s office said on Tues- day it has now opened a crim- inal investigation into former President Donald Trump’s company, going beyond what began as a civil probe.
Attorney General Letitia James has been investigat- ing whether the Trump Or- ganization falsely reported property values to secure loans and obtain economic and tax benefits.
“We have informed the Trump Organization that our investigation into the or- ganization is no longer purely civil in nature," Fabien Levy, a spokesman for the attorney general's office, said in a statement.
DONALD TRUMP
"We are now actively inves- tigating the Trump Organi- zation in a criminal capacity, along with the Manhattan DA," he said.
WASHINGTON — For Presi- dent Joe Biden, the eruption of violence between Israel and the Palestinians is a crisis he not only did not expect, but was not prepared to confront.
Despite being one of the most experienced foreign policy ex- perts among recent presidents, Biden had made it clear he wanted to focus his foreign pol- icy on China primarily, as well as on restarting talks with Iran to re-enter and strengthen the nu- clear accord negotiated under former President Barack Obama, and toughen but nor- malize the post-Trump U. S. stance toward Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Dealing with the Israeli-Pales- tinian conflict, which has bedev- iled generations of American presidents, was, according to White House officials, a much less urgent matter. Notably, any effort to rebalance U. S. policy and include Palestinian equities in negotiations was going to be challenging after former Presi- dent Donald Trump departed from decades of bipartisan U. S. commitment to a two-state solu- tion and excluded the Palestini- ans from diplomatic talks, while cutting them off from U. S. con- tributions to U .N. relief funds.
Arab leaders never contem- plated Israel’s recent actions in Jerusalem to evict Palestinians from homes they’ve lived in for generations and to fire rubber bullets into Al-Aqsa Mosque during last Friday evening prayers in the closing days of the holy month of Ramadan 10 days ago.
While everyone know the Is- ralis were wrong with the intru- sion into the mosque, the third-most sacred site in all of Islam, triggered the rocket fire from Gaza, which was immedi-
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU AND PALESTINIAN LEADER MAHMOUD ABBAS.
The House — in a bipartisan 364-62 vote on Tuesday — passed legislation intended to combat anti-Asian hate crimes, sending it to President Joe Biden’s desk.
The legislation, which aims to improve hate crime data col- lection as anti-Asian racism has surged in the last year, has already passed the Senate and garnered Biden’s support. Dubbed the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act, it would bolster hate crime tracking by desig- nating a Justice Department official to specifically review potential hate crime incidents, providing grants for regional law enforcement agencies to
Young participants are seen holding a placard near NYC City Hall during Stop Asian Hate demonstration to show support to Asian community in New York City.
set up reporting hotlines, and how to handle hate crime re- offering training to police on sponse.
ately met by Israeli airstrikes — the conflict that has now esca- lated to the brink of all-out war. What has changed this time, in contrast to the last explosion be- tween the two sides seven years ago? The violence has extended to conflict between Israeli Arabs and Jews in communities across Israel, well beyond the Palestin- ian territories. While Israel has not invaded Gaza from the ground, the extent of the air combat in both directions is much more intense.
The death toll from the ongo- ing Israeli attacks on the be- sieged Gaza Strip has risen to 212, the Palestinian Health Min- istry said on Monday.
The grim figure includes 61 children, 35 women and 16 eld- erly people, the ministry said in a statement, while 1,400 people have been injured during the of- fensive.
The Israeli military has staged airstrikes across the Gaza Strip since May 10, leaving behind a massive trail of destruction across the seaside territory.
Ten Israelis have been killed in Palestinian rocket fire from the Gaza Strip into Israel.
The Israelis iron-clad defense is considered to be one of the best system of shooting down any missle launched at them. It's like a human squashing an ant.
And the climate of U. S. politi- cal support for Israel’s policies has evolved: There is growing pressure from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party for a more even-handed approach that recognizes Palestinian rights, despite America’s histori- cally iron-clad support for Israel, its closest Middle East ally and largest single recipient of U. S. military aid.
Netanyahu has defended the strike as warranted, claiming that the media tower housing The Associated Press, BBC, Al Jazeera, and other media outlets also housed Hamas military in- telligence, without revealing the basis for that claim.
The Biden administration has no top diplomat in Israel: no ambassador, no consul general, and only a relatively low-level envoy, Deputy Assistant Secre- tary of State Hadi Amr.
And it is dealing with Israeli and Palestinian leaders who are historically weak.
The House Passes Bill To Combat Anti-Asian Hate Crimes
PAGE 6-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY FRIDAY, MAY 21, 2021