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A28 u.s. news
Diabierna 30 OctOber 2020

US allows Jerusalem-born citizens to put Israel on passports

(AP) — The United States administration broke with fighter jets, and Sudan will be
will allow Americans born decades of U.S. policy by rec- removed from the U.S. list of
in disputed Jerusalem to ognizing Jerusalem as Israel's state sponsors of terrorism,
list Israel as their place capital in 2017 and later mov- which will allow it to receive
of birth on passports and ing the embassy there from much-needed foreign aid.
other documents, accord- Tel Aviv, where most other
ing to a new policy an- countries maintain their mis- Israel said last week that it
nounced Thursday. sions. dropped its objections to the
sale of advanced weapons to
The move came a day after Israel captured east Jerusalem the UAE after the Pentagon
the United States amended in the 1967 Middle East war provided assurances it would
science accords signed with along with the West Bank, preserve Israel's military edge
Israel to apply to institutions territories the Palestinians in the region. Israeli Prime
in the occupied West Bank. seek as part of their future Minister Benjamin Netan-
The changes, enacted days state. Israel considers the en- yahu has repeatedly insisted
before the U.S. election, ap- tire city its “unified, eternal” the agreement to establish
peared to be aimed at shoring capital while the Palestinians ties with the UAE amounted
up the support of evangelical want their own capital in east the new passport policy was and isolate the Palestinians. to “peace for peace” and that
Christians and other Israel Jerusalem. in keeping with the deci- He released a plan to resolve arms deals were not part of
backers. sion to recognize Jerusalem the Middle East conflict in it. But Emirati officials have
Secretary of State Mike Pom- as Israel's capital. Jerusalem- January that overwhelmingly indicated there were under-
President Donald Trump's peo said in a statement that born Americans will be able favors Israel and was imme- standings on the matter, and
to specify either “Israel” or diately rejected by the Pales- President Donald Trump has
“Jerusalem” as their place of tinians. said the U.S. was considering
birth on passports and official the Emirati request for the
documents. The administration has suc- planes.
ceeded, however, in improv- U.S. Defense Secretary Mark
Those who do not specify ing ties between Israel and Esper visited Israel on Thurs-
their place of birth will be other Arab nations. In recent day and met with top Israeli
listed as having been born in weeks the United Arab Emir- officials.
Jerusalem. ates, Bahrain and Sudan have Israeli Defense Minister
Nabil Abu Rdeneh, the agreed to normalize relations Benny Gantz, who visited
spokesman for Palestinian with Israel, giving Trump Washington last week, said he
President Mahmoud Abbas, a string of foreign policy was "deeply appreciative of
condemned the move, call- achievements ahead of the our dialogue, which has en-
ing it a “flagrant violation of vote. In return, the United sured that Israel now has the
international law.” Trump Arab Emirates hopes to pur- tools it needs to contend with
has taken a series of unprece- chase advanced U.S. weap- destabilizing forces in the re-
dented steps to support Israel ons, including stealth F-35 gion.”

Wisconsin Republican Party says hackers stole $2.3 million

(AP) — Hackers have stolen $2.3 in the state, usually with Biden ahead the person was not authorized to dis- vendors, Hitt said.
million from the Wisconsin Re- by single digits and within the margin cuss internal conversations.
publican Party's account that was of error. It was discovered after someone no-
being used to help reelect Presi- Hitt said he was not aware of any There have been more than 800 at- ticed that an invoice was generated
dent Donald Trump in the key other state GOP being targeted for tempted phishing attacks for financial that should not have been, he said.
battleground state, the party's a similar hack, but state parties were gain targeting the Wisconsin Demo-
chairman told The Associated warned at the Republican National cratic Party this campaign cycle, but Hitt said it appears the attack began
Press on Thursday. Convention this summer to be on the none has been successful, said party as a phishing attempt and no data ap-
lookout for cyber attacks. spokeswoman Courtney Beyer. pears to have been stolen, said party
The party noticed the suspicious ac- spokesman Alec Zimmerman.
tivity on Oct. 22 and contacted the “We have been in contact with the The alleged hack is “certainly embar-
FBI on Friday, said Republican Party state party and are assisting them rassing” for Republicans, said Matt The money was stolen from the state
Chairman Andrew Hitt. through this process," said Republi- Rothschild, leader of the Wisconsin party's federal account, which cur-
can National Committee spokesman Democracy Campaign, an indepen- rently contains about $1.1 million,
Hitt said the FBI is investigating. FBI Michael Ahrens. "The RNC never dent group that tracks campaign do- but that number fluctuates daily be-
spokesman Brett Banner said that, left Wisconsin after 2016, and we are nations and spending. cause of quick moving resources late
per policy, "the FBI is not permitted confident that our ground game and “It’s got to hurt them and their ability in the campaign, Zimmerman said.
to confirm or deny an investigation.” the millions we are spending on TV to function at this crucial moment,” Money in the federal account can
The Wisconsin Department of Jus- and digital will deliver us another win he said. “I can’t see any upside for only be spent on federal races and
tice, which has a center focused on there in 2020.” them in this matter.” donations are capped at $10,000 per
cyber crime able to assist if requested, The reported hack exposed new ten- individual each calendar year.
has not been asked to investigate, said sions in the final days of the race be- Hitt stressed that the money stolen
spokeswoman Rebecca Ballweg. tween the Trump campaign and the was for services already rendered. Campaign finance reports filed this
state party, which overspent and failed “While a large sum of money was sto- week in Wisconsin show Democrats
The alleged hack was discovered less to properly account for its expendi- len, our operation is running at full have raised far more money than
than two weeks before Election Day, tures in 2018, leading to a shakeup in capacity,” he said. Republicans. The state Democratic
as Trump and Democratic rival Joe top party leadership. Hitt said the hackers manipulated in- Party raised nearly $59 million over
Biden made their final push to win voices from four vendors who were the past two years compared with just
Wisconsin and its 10 electoral votes. Campaign officials in Wisconsin being paid for direct mail for Trump's $23.7 million for Republicans.
Trump won the state by fewer than learned about the alleged hack from reelection efforts as well as for pro-
23,000 votes in 2016 and was plan- media reports and were furious that Trump material such as hats to be Early voting is in full swing in Wis-
ning his third visit in seven days on state officials had not briefed them on handed out to supporters. Invoices consin, with more than 1.6 mil-
Friday. Biden also planned to cam- how it might impact operations, ac- and other documents were altered so lion ballots returned as of Thursday
paign in Wisconsin on Friday. Polls cording to a Trump campaign official when the party paid them, the money morning. That is nearly 55% of the
have consistently shown a tight race who requested anonymity because went to the hackers instead of the total vote cast in 2016.