STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’ support for Israel’s security is “ironclad,” her national security adviser Phil Gordon said on Sunday, adding that she has been briefed and is closely monitoring a rocket attack on a football ground in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
The United States said Washington has been in discussions with Israeli and Lebanese counterparts since Saturday’s “horrific” attack and that it was working on a diplomatic solution. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington did not want further escalation of the conflict, which has seen daily exchanges of fire between the Israeli military and Hezbollah along the border.
Hezbollah has reportedly evacuated positions in southern and eastern Lebanon and Syria following Israeli threats after a deadly rocket strike on the occupied Golan Heights, a source close to the group said.
Discrimination and attacks against Muslims and Palestinians rose by about 70% in the U.S. in the first half of 2024 amid heightened Islamophobia due to Israel’s war in Gaza, the Council on American-Islamic Relations advocacy group said. Human rights advocates have reported a global rise in Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian bias and antisemitism since the eruption in October of the Israel-Gaza war which has killed tens of thousands and caused a humanitarian crisis.
In the first six months of 2024, CAIR said it received 4,951 complaints of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian incidents, a rise of nearly 70% compared with the same period in 2023.
Indonesia strongly condemned the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’ political bureau, in Tehran, Iran, on Wednesday. “It constitutes a provocation that could escalate conflicts in the region and derail the ongoing negotiation,” the Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a social media post.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said and Hamas blamed Israel for the attack. Hamas said Haniyeh was killed “in a Zionist airstrike on his residence in Tehran after he participated in the inauguration of Iran’s new president.”
Senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk called the raid a “cowardly act that will not go unpunished,” according to the Hamas-run Al-Aqsa television channel. He has vowed that the group will respond to Ismail Haniyeh’s assassination. In a separate statement, another Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, told Reuters that the killing was a major escalation that would not achieve its goals. Maher al-Taher, international relations officer of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), noted that the Israeli regime would not have been able to commit the atrocity “without American cover,” referring to the unreserved support provided to Tel Aviv by its biggest ally, the United States.
The United States was “not aware of or involved in” the killing of top Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Channel News Asia. When asked what impact the killing is going to have, Blinken said, “It’s very hard to speculate, and I’ve learned over many years never to speculate on the impact one event may have on something else.” Instead, he stressed the importance of getting a ceasefire to end the nine-month war.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he had heard the reports that Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated, but he had no additional information. Austin said Washington will help defend Israel if it is attacked, while working to reduce tension in the region following the assassination.
President Jokowi was condemned the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, calling it intolerable. “That was violence, a murder that is intolerable, and took place in the sovereign area of Iran,” he said. “I suppose all, including Indonesia, strongly condemn violence and murder like that.”
UN Security Council members was condemned the assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital Tehran, while permanent representatives of the U.S. and U.K. blamed Iran for destabilizing the region. U.S. Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Robert Wood told the Council that “Israel has a right to defend itself against attacks from Hezbollah and other terrorists.” Wood said that the United States was not involved in the attack carried out by Israel in the southern region of Beirut: “There is no doubt, absolutely none, that Hezbollah was responsible for this attack,” he said.
Indonesia’s free and active foreign policy principle is being challenged by the advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declaring as illegal Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories. This is a rare window of opportunity for Indonesia, now a middle power, to contribute to the long campaign to establish peace and to create an independent state of Palestine. Let us not get our hopes too high. Never underestimate the challenges in finding peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Nevertheless, Indonesia should use all its powers and influence, and its great wealth of diplomatic experience, in peace-making, to find a lasting solution to the conflict.
