Israeli Minister calls for West Bank destruction similar to Gaza's Jabalia
Tel Aviv: Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich sparked outrage on Monday by declaring that parts of the occupied West Bank "must look like Gaza's Jabalia," referencing the extensive destruction inflicted on the besieged enclave during Israel's ongoing military operations.
The incendiary remarks came in response to a shooting near the illegal West Bank settlement of Kedumim, where three Israeli settlers were killed and eight others injured. Reports indicate that at least two Palestinians opened fire on vehicles and a bus before fleeing the scene.
Smotrich, notorious for his inflammatory rhetoric, specifically named Funduq, Nablus, and Jenin in his comments, calling for their destruction to mirror Jabalia, a northern Gaza area that has suffered severe devastation. Jabalia was heavily targeted during Israel’s military operations, which included strikes on hospitals and other civilian infrastructure.
Since the escalation of violence in October 2023, the Israeli assault on Gaza has resulted in over 45,800 Palestinian deaths, with approximately 11,000 individuals still missing and presumed buried under rubble. In the occupied West Bank, 835 Palestinians have been killed and 6,450 injured in Israeli attacks during the same period.
The violence comes amid heightened tensions and ongoing international condemnation of Israel’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank. Last year, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian, including the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and East Jerusalem, is unlawful. The Court declared the associated settlement regime, annexation policies, and exploitation of natural resources to be in violation of international law.
The ICJ also called on Israel to end its occupation, dismantle illegal settlements, provide reparations to Palestinian victims, and facilitate the return of displaced populations. UN experts have further recommended an arms embargo on Israel, sanctions on individuals and entities involved in illegal activities, and an end to commercial engagements harming Palestinian communities.
Smotrich's comments have drawn widespread criticism from human rights organizations and international observers, who view them as a dangerous escalation of the already volatile situation in the region.
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President Trump wants to impose 15% tariff, up from 10% he announced after Supreme Court decision
Washington (AP): President Donald Trump said Saturday that he was raising the global tariff he wants to impose to 15 per cent, up from 10 per cent he had announced a day earlier.
Trump said in a social media post on that he was making the decision “Based on a thorough, detailed, and complete review of the ridiculous, poorly written, and extraordinarily anti-American decision on Tariffs issued yesterday,” by the US Supreme Court.
After the court ruled he didn't have the emergency power to impose many sweeping tariffs, Trump signed an executive order on Friday night that enabled him to bypass Congress and impose a 10 per cent tax on imports from around the world. The catch is that those tariffs would be limited to just 150 days, unless they are extended legislatively.
Trump's post significantly ratcheting up a global tax on imports to the US yet again was the latest sign that despite the court's check, the Republican president was intent on continuing to wield in an unpredictable manner his favourite tool to for the economy and to apply global pressure. Trump's shifting announcements over the last year that he was raising and sometimes lowering tariffs with little notice jolted markets and rattled nations.
Saturday's announcement seemed to a be a sign that Trump intends to use the temporary global tariffs to continue to flex.
“During the next short number of months, the Trump Administration will determine and issue the new and legally permissible Tariffs, which will continue our extraordinarily successful process of Making America Great Again,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social media network.
Under the order Trump signed Friday night, the 10 per cent tariff was scheduled to take effect starting February 24. The White House did not immediately respond to a message inquiring when the president would sign an updated order.
In addition to the temporary tariffs that Trump wants to set at 15 per cent, the president said Friday that he was also pursuing tariffs through other sections of federal law which require an investigation by the Commerce Department.
Trump made an unusually personal attack on the Supreme Court judges who ruled against him in a 6-3 vote, including two of those he appointed during his first term, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett. Trump, at a news conference on Friday, said of the two justices: “I think it's an embarrassment to their families."
He was still seething Friday night, posting on social media complaining about Gorsuch, Coney Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts, who ruled with the majority and wrote the majority opinion. On Saturday morning, Trump issued another post declaring that his “new hero” was Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who wrote a 63-page dissent. He also praised Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, who were in the minority, and said of the three dissenting justices: "There is no doubt in anyone's mind that they want to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
