On Conflicts of Interest #113, Kyle Anzalone and Will Porter cover the ceasefire deal reached between the Israeli government and armed groups in Gaza. The agreement has held over several days and appears to have brought the eruption of violence to an end. All said and done, at least 248 Palestinians and 12 Israelis were killed throughout 11 days of fighting, which flattened residential areas across Gaza and saw thousands of rockets fired into Israeli cities. Under tight blockade, Gaza now returns to its status as the world’s largest open-air prison as Tel Aviv continues to expand Jewish-only settlements in the occupied West Bank.
US lawmakers have introduced a series of bills looking to repeal several Authorizations for the Use of Military Force (AUMFs) still on the books, including those passed in 1957, 1991 and 2002. While a promising development, the much more open-ended 2001 AUMF – which has been invoked for Terror War military action in at least 14 countries – has been left out of the recent push to rescind the authorizations.
Yemen’s Houthis have maintained their offensive into Marib province, the last major piece of territory in the country’s north controlled by the Saudi-backed government. Though fighting has reached a stalemate, the Biden administration continues to place all blame on the Houthis for the ongoing violence, ignoring their pleas to end their support for a Saudi blockade on Yemen’s ports.
Subscribe on YouTube and audio only.