Biden warns Israel not to repeat mistakes the U.S. made after 9/11
On his day-long trip to Israel, President Joe Biden expressed his continued support, but cautioned against letting anger drive the country’s next moves, according to the New York Times.
“Justice must be done,” Biden said. “But I caution this: While you feel that rage, don’t be consumed by it. After 9/11, we were enraged in the United States. While we sought justice and got justice, we also made mistakes.”
He was likely referring to the U.S. invasion of Iran following the Sep. 11, 2001, attacks, but did not further elaborate or explain what this means for Israel.
The president will give an Oval Office address Thursday night on Israel and Ukraine.
U.S. State Department official resigns over Biden’s handling of Israel-Hamas conflict
A State Department official resigned Wednesday in response to Biden’s decision to continue sending weapons and ammunition to Israel, according to CNN.
Josh Paul, who served almost 11 years as the director of congressional and public affairs for the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, cited “a policy disagreement concerning our continued lethal assistance to Israel” as his reason for resignation.
“Decades of the same approach have shown that security for peace leads to neither security nor to peace,” Paul said. “The fact is, blind support for one side is destructive in the long term to the interests of the people on both sides. I fear we are repeating the same mistakes we have made these past decades, and I decline to be a part of it for longer.”
U.S. resumes deportation flights to Venezuela
Deportation flights to Venezuela began Wednesday under a new Biden administration initiative to curb migration, according to The Washington Post.
The first flight left from Harlingen, Texas, and briefly touched down in Miami before returning roughly 130 migrants to Caracas, Venezuela’s capital city.
ICE said the goal of these flights is to “enforce United States immigration laws while strengthening the consequences for those who cross our border unlawfully.”
Joran van der Sloot admits to killing Natalee Holloway
After pleading guilty on Wednesday to wire fraud and extortion charges, Joran van der Sloot confessed to beating Natalee Holloway to death on a beach in Aruba in 2005, according to AP News.
Van der Sloot was the last person to be seen with Holloway and the chief suspect in the police investigation, but Aruba authorities were never able to build a case against him.
In 2010, federal prosecutors in Alabama charged van der Sloot for his attempt to get $250,000 from Holloway’s mother in exchange for information about her death.
As a part of his plea deal, van der Sloot revealed he bludgeoned Holloway with a cinderblock and dumped her body in the ocean.
“As far as I’m concerned, it’s over,” Beth Holloway, Natalee’s mother, said. “Joran van der Sloot is no longer the suspect in my daughter’s murder. He is the killer.”
