Day 1168: "Outrageous and abhorrent."
1/ The Biden administration authorized another weapons transfer to Israel despite public frustration with Israel’s conduct in the war and opposition to Israel’s planned invasion of Rafah, which could lead to mass casualties and exacerbate the humanitarian disaster on Gaza. The weapons package, worth billions of dollars, includes more than 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound bombs, which have been linked to civilian deaths during Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. It was approved in 2008 but is only being fulfilled now. The Biden administration, however, is considering a new weapons sales worth more than $18 billion to Israel of fighter jets, air-to-air missiles, and guidance kits, which turn dumb bombs (like the MK84 and MK82) into precision-guided weapons. While the sale is pending U.S. government approval, it will be years before the weapons arrive in Israel. U.S. and Israeli officials, meanwhile, held virtual talks to discuss the Biden administration’s alternative proposals to the invasion of Rafah, where more than one million Palestinians are sheltering with nowhere to go. The meeting was supposed to take place last week in-person, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled it after the U.S. didn’t veto a U.N. resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. (Washington Post / NBC News / Associated Press / ABC News / CNN)
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Al-Shifa Hospital has become a graveyard, Palestinian health official says. (Washington Post)
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“Entire families dead”: Journalist describes scene at Al-Shifa Hospital after Israeli troops withdraw. (CNN)
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“A horror movie”: One man describes the aftermath of Israel’s raid on Al-Shifa. (New York Times)
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Israeli lawmakers vote to authorize ban on Al Jazeera operating in Israel, which will allow Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to ban the Qatar-based news network Al Jazeera from operating in Israel, citing national security concerns over its coverage of the war in Gaza. (Washington Post)
2/ Trump posted a video to his personal social media website depicting Biden with his hands and feet tied together in the back of a pickup truck. In a 20-second video, a pickup truck featuring pro-Trump flags can be seen with a large decal on its tailgate showing Biden hogtied, lying horizontally. “This image from Donald Trump is the type of crap you post when you’re calling for a bloodbath or when you tell the Proud Boys to ‘stand back and stand by,’” the Biden campaign said in a statement. “Trump is regularly inciting political violence and it’s time people take him seriously — just ask the Capitol Police officers who were attacked protecting our democracy on January 6.” Trump’s campaign, meanwhile, responded: “Democrats and crazed lunatics have not only called for despicable violence against President Trump and his family, they are actually weaponizing the justice system against him.” (CNN / USA Today / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News)
3/ Biden proclaimed March 31 Transgender Day of Visibility and called on Americans to “join us in lifting up the lives and voices of transgender people throughout our Nation and to work toward eliminating violence and discrimination based on gender identity.” Despite International Transgender Day of Visibility being held annually on March 31 since 2009, Republicans attacked Biden for issuing the proclamation because it coincided with Easter (which varies from year to year). House Speaker Mike Johnson claimed that the “Biden White House has betrayed the central tenet of Easter” and called the decision “outrageous and abhorrent.” Trump’s reelection campaign characterized Biden’s proclamation in support of transgender and gender-nonconforming people as “blasphemous” part of a “years-long assault on the Christian faith.” The White House accused Republicans of “seeking to divide and weaken our country with cruel, hateful and dishonest rhetoric,” adding: “Biden will never abuse his faith for political purposes or for profit.” Trump, meanwhile, is now selling copies of the Bible, called the “God Bless the USA Bible,” for $60. (ABC News / CNN / Associated Press / Washington Post)
4/ The Manhattan district attorney asked the judge overseeing Trump’s criminal hush money trial to expand the gag order to stop Trump from attacking family members of people involved in the case. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg made the request after Trump repeatedly attacked New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan as “compromised” and called Merchan’s daughter, who works for a political consulting firm, a “Rabid Trump Hater.” Trump launched the series of attacks shortly after Merchan imposed a gag order barring Trump from making statements about witnesses, jurors, prosecutors, court staff or the family members of prosecutors and court staff. (Washington Post / CNN)