US envoy urges UNSC to condemn ‘brazen’ Houthi attack on oil tanker
Linda Thomas-Greenfield says “brazen” Houthi attacks have left a Greek-flagged oil tanker in flames in the Red Sea, threatening “to create an ecological disaster with devastating consequences”.
She called on the UN Security Council, which has previously demanded the Houthis stop their attacks, to condemn the new assault.
As we reported earlier, the Sounion’s 25 crew members were rescued by an EU warship on Thursday, a day after the Houthi attack set the oil tanker on fire. The ship is reportedly carrying 150,000 metric tonnes of crude oil.
Instead of condemning it, maybe use all your military stationed there to extinguish the fire? Another UNSC resolution isn't going to stop an ecological disaster. Is anyone trying to salvage the ship or is the only goal to condemn the Houthis?
And why no condemnation for the very real, already here and present, ecological disaster of the entirety of Gaza... It's the clear the US doesn't care about what's happening in Gaza at all. The current ceasefire push is only to prevent getting dragged into a wider war and to fool voters
What leverage does Biden have over Israel?
More from Slim at the Middle East Institute.
The analyst said the US appears to be the only negotiating party who seemed optimistic about the progress of ceasefire talks.
“I haven’t heard such optimism being expressed by either the Israelis or by Hamas. In fact, the mistrust between them, the enmity between them continues to grow. I did not hear the same optimism expressed by the other mediators – meaning Qatar and Egypt. When we have only mostly US officials continuously trying to be optimistic, [it makes me] wonder whether this has to do with our own election cycle and with what’s going on domestically,” Slim said.
She added that every US president will have leverage over Israel and that former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W Bush had not been afraid to condition military aid to get concessions from Israel.
But Biden, “from the beginning, espousing this unconditional support of Israel” has “robbed” himself of the ability “to put the relationship on the line and force Netanyahu himself to change his cost-benefit calculus”, Slim said.
Israel’s new conditions aimed at delaying a truce in Gaza
Rami Khouri, a distinguished fellow at the American University of Beirut, told Al Jazeera that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is constantly adding new conditions to a ceasefire in Gaza as a “delaying tactic”.
“The Arab world has gone through a critical phase in the last couple of years, which is to recognise that constantly going into meetings to discuss new ideas, new compromises and new ceasefires” is not going to get them anywhere, Khouri said.
The 1993 Oslo Accords epitomised this, he said, when “Palestinians made all kinds of sacrifices and concessions and got nothing in return”.
Hamas and Hezbollah are both aware of this and so are not “playing games created by American mediators who are at the same time the funders and the military providers and diplomatic protectors of Israel, which is carrying out the genocide”, he explained.
“You can’t be a credible negotiator or mediator while you’re also one party to the genocide,” he added.
Israel receives 500th US military supply plane since October 7
“The 500th aircraft in the joint airlift operation has landed in Israel,” says the Israeli Defence Ministry in a statement. It said the new supply plane was “part of a large-scale logistical effort that began with the outbreak of the recent war”.
“Through this operation, over 50,000 tons of military equipment have been delivered to Israel via 500 flights and 107 sea shipments,” it said.
“The equipment procured and transported includes armored vehicles, munitions, ammunition, personal protection gear, and medical equipment, which are crucial for sustaining the IDF [Israeli army’s] operational capabilities during the ongoing war,” the ministry added.
