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A2 UP FRONT
Thursday 25 July 2024
In fiery speech to Congress, Netanyahu vows 'total victory' in Gaza

and denounces U.S. protesters

Continued from Front Capitol Wednesday, and po-
lice deployed pepper spray
But the Israeli leader soon as thousands of protesters
pivoted to a darker tone rallied, denouncing Netan-
as he derided those pro- yahu as a "war criminal" and
testing the war on college calling for a cease-fire.
campuses and elsewhere in The appearance made
the U.S., gesturing to demon- Netanyahu the first foreign
strations happening on the leader to address a joint
streets outside the Capitol. meeting of Congress four
He called protesters "useful times, surpassing Winston
idiots" for Israel's adversaries. Churchill.
Some hostages freed from House Speaker Mike John-
Gaza and families of those son gave Netanyahu a
still in captivity listened in the warm welcome. More than
House chamber. Security 60 Democrats and political
removed protesters in the independent Bernie Sand-
gallery who rose to display ers boycotted Netanyahu's
T-shirts with slogans demand- speech. The most notable
ing an end to the war and absence was right behind
the freeing of remaining hos- him: Vice President Kamala
tages. Harris, who serves as presi-
One member, Rep. Rashida dent of the Senate, said a
Tlaib, the only Palestinian- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to a joint meeting of Congress at the Capitol in long-scheduled trip kept her
American serving Congress, Washington, Wednesday, July 24, 2024. from attending.
took it a step further, hold- Associated Press The next Democrat in line,
ing up a sign that said "WAR by Hamas-led militants in the president and current presi- foreign policy for decades," Sen. Patty Murray of Wash-
CRIMINAL" on one side and Oct. 7 attack that started the dential contender Donald he said. ington, declined to attend,
"GUILTY OF GENOCIDE." Tlaib war. He accused the numer- Trump "for all he's done for Delivering the speech dur- so Sen. Ben Cardin, the chair
has been one of Netanya- ous protesters of the war in Israel." ing Israel's evening prime of the Senate Foreign Rela-
hu's most strident critics in the United States of stand- Netanyahu is scheduled to time, Netanyahu also had tions Committee, served as
Congress and was censured ing with the militants who he meet with Biden and Harris an eye on the audience "senator pro tempore" in
for her comments last year said killed babies in Hamas' on Thursday, and with Trump back home. Netanyahu, place of her.
against the Israel-Hamas attack on Oct. 7. at Mar-a-Lago on Friday. whose popularity has plum- Trump's running mate, Sen. JD
war, which has killed more "These protesters that stand Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Dem- meted from its pre-war levels, Vance, was also a no-show
than 39,000 in Gaza. with them, they should be ocrat from Maryland, said aimed to portray himself as for Netanyahu's speech, cit-
She has relatives in the West ashamed of themselves," Netanyahu's speech was a statesman respected by Is- ing the need to campaign.
Bank and represents a district he said. made for Trump's GOP. rael's most important ally and Crowds of demonstrators
in Michigan with many Pal- Netanyahu — who is fre- "We didn't hear anything welcomed in the corridors near the Capitol protested
estinian Americans. quently accused of wading about meaningful progress of Washington. That task is the war's high civilian death
Netanyahu made little or into U.S. politics in favor of towards a bilateral ceasefire complicated by Americans' toll. Others condemned
no mention of efforts by the conservative and Republi- in return for hostages. We increasingly divided views on Netanyahu's inability to free
United States and Arab al- can causes — started his re- didn't hear anything about Israel and the war, which has Israeli and American hostag-
lies to negotiate an end to marks with praise of President peace. We didn't hear any- emerged as a key issue in es taken by Hamas and other
the fighting and a release Joe Biden. But he turned to thing about a two-state so- the U.S. presidential election. militants during the Oct. 7 at-
of surviving hostages seized lavishing praise on former lution, which has been U.S. Tall steel barriers ringed the tack that sparked the war.q

FAA agrees with air traffic controllers’ union to

give tower workers more rest between shifts

negotiated for next year. 12 hours of rest before all number of flights in New
"The science is clear that shifts as one way to reduce York and Florida because
controller fatigue is a pub- the risk that tired controllers of a shortage of air traffic
lic safety issue, and it must might make mistakes. The controllers. Whitaker said
be addressed," FAA Admin- panel also said additional the FAA will hire 1,800 con-
istrator Mike Whitaker said. time off might be need- trollers this year and is ex-
He promised more mea- ed before midnight shifts, panding its ability to hire
sures to address tired con- which don't allow workers and train controllers.
trollers. to follow normal sleep pat- Controllers have been in
Rich Santa, president of terns. the center of some close
the controllers' union, said The agreement between calls. The National Trans-
WASHINGTON (AP) — The following orders from con- the group has been raising the FAA and the union will portation Safety Board said
Federal Aviation Admin- trollers. concern about fatigue for give controllers 10 hours in January that a controller
istration said Wednesday The FAA and the National years. He said the agree- off between shifts and 12 made faulty assumptions
it will increase minimum Air Traffic Controllers Associ- ment "will begin to provide hours off before and after that led him to clear a Fe-
rest time between shifts for ation, the union represent- relief to this understaffed a midnight shift. They also dEx plane to land in Austin,
air traffic controllers after ing the workers, agreed to workforce." agreed to limit consecutive Texas, while a Southwest
highly publicized close calls a number of changes that A report by experts to the overtime assignments. Airlines jet was taking off
between planes that were will apply as schedules are FAA recommended 10 to The FAA has limited the from the same runway. q