What you need to know about US Congress vote on aid for Israel
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/4/20/us-congress-to-vote-on-aid-for-israel-ukraine-taiwan-whats-the-deal
Lawmakers are expected to vote later today on military aid packages for Israel, Ukraine and others in the Asia Pacific region.
The three bills are part of Speaker Mike Johnson’s complex strategy to get aid out to foreign allies while quelling a rebellion by hardline Republicans who prefer to see cash spent at home on border security measures and are prepared to boot him out of his job to get their way.
Under pressure, Johnson came up with a multipronged approach that would see three separate votes on the partitioned bills, allocating $60.84bn in long-delayed aid to Ukraine, some $26bn for Israel and about $8bn for Asia Pacific allies – Taiwan, in the main – to counter Chinese expansionism.
Some conservatives will baulk at the $9.2bn in humanitarian aid for Gaza, which was also contained in a previous bill passed by the Senate. “That could be a potential stumbling block,” Chris Tuttle, a DC-based senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), told Al Jazeera.
China’s foreign minister says UN membership of Palestine would ‘rectify injustice’: Report
“A prompt admission of Palestine into the United Nations is a move to rectify a prolonged historical injustice,” Xinhua News Agency quoted Wang Yi as saying. His comment came after the US voted against recognising a Palestinian state by vetoing a Security Council resolution, denying Palestinians full membership of the world body.
China has long supported the idea that Palestinian statehood would pave the way for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The country has also been strengthening ties with the Palestinian Authority as it seeks a greater role in the Middle East to edge out US influence there.
Abbas denounces US’s veto of Palestinian UN membership
The US on Thursday vetoed a widely supported resolution at the UN Security Council that would have paved the way for the state of Palestine to gain full membership at the United Nations.
In a new interview, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the move as a display of the US’s defiance of Palestine’s “rights, history and land”, as well as the “sanctities of the Palestinian people”.
“While the world agrees on the application of international law and stands by the Palestinian right, America continues to support the occupation, refusing to compel Israel to stop its genocidal war,” Abbas told the official Wafa news agency. “It provides Israel with weapons and funds that kill our children and destroy our homes, and it stands against us in international forums, in positions that do not serve security and stability in the region,” he added.
“The United States has violated all international laws and abandoned all promises regarding the two-state solution and achieving peace in the region."
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