In South Texas, university students accuse Democratic county officials of suppressing their votes
The county decided to not have an early voting site at a Laredo university because of historic low turnout. It will have one on Election Day.
Virginia AG cheers Supreme Court ruling as ‘huge win’ for election integrity
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares on Wednesday called the Supreme Court’s order halting a lower court’s decision to reinstate hundreds of potential noncitizens to the state’s voter rolls “a huge win for the rule of law.” “This is just a huge win for the rule of law,” Miyares told Fox News Digital shortly after the Supreme Court issued its order. “It ensures that Virginia will be allowed to follow our laws that make sure that noncitizens are not on our voter rolls for next week’s elections, that we’re not going to be forced to be putting 1,500 plus noncitizens back on our rolls.” “I’m very grateful that the Supreme Court recognized the importance of the issue and they made this decision in such a short timeframe,” Miyares said. “It’s really just a reaffirmation of our commitment to both election integrity and making sure that our electoral process remains secure for all Virginians.” SUPREME COURT TEMPORARILY HALTS LOWER COURT RULING ORDERING 1,600 VOTERS BACK ON VIRGINIA VOTER ROLLS Miyares went on to applaud the team at the Virginia Attorney General’s Office for the “amount of hard work these past two weeks upholding and defending Virginia law.” “And I’m very, very proud of my team because their commitment to the rule of law has been exemplary during this process,” Miyares said. A divided court granted the state’s stay application pending appeal in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented. The decision proves a victory for Gov. Glenn Youngkin just days after the state had filed an emergency appeal to the high court to halt a lower court decision ordering it to restore the names of approximately 1,600 individuals to its voter rolls. 26 REPUBLICAN ATTORNEYS GENERAL JOIN VIRGINIA IN PETITIONING SUPREME COURT TO RULE ON VOTER ROLL “We are pleased by the Supreme Court’s order today. This is a victory for commonsense and election fairness. I am grateful for the work of Attorney General Jason Miyares on this critical fight to protect the fundamental rights of U.S. citizens,” Youngkin said in a statement shortly after the order was issued. The core question of the case was whether Virginia had violated a so-called quiet period under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), or a federal law requiring states to halt all “systematic” voter roll maintenance for a 90-day period before a federal election. The Department of Justice (DOJ) sued the state – including Miyares in his official capacity as Virginia attorney general – over its removal program earlier this month. Youngkin has insisted that the state’s process is “individualized” and conducted in accordance with state and federal law. Virginia’s voter roll maintenance program was implemented in August of this year and compares the state Department of Motor Vehicles’ list of self-identified noncitizens to its list of registered voters. Individuals without citizenship were flagged and informed that their voter registration would be canceled unless they could prove their citizenship in 14 days. The DOJ argued such removals were conducted too close to Nov. 5 and thus violated the NVRA’s quiet period provision. This was backed by a U.S. judge in Alexandria, who ordered the state to halt its removals last week and to reinstate the registrations of all 1,600 removed individuals. Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report.
GOP’s in-person voting surge up against Dem dominance with mail-in ballots in deep blue state
Early in-person Republican voters in deep blue New Jersey are slightly outpacing their Democratic neighbors, data shows. Early in-person voting kicked off in the Garden State on Saturday, with 247,003 residents casting their votes over the weekend alone, NJ.com reported. Republican early in-person voters have taken the lead in the state, with 144,105 GOP votes cast compared to Democrats’ 139,524 votes, state data analyzed by an Associated Press elections researcher found as of Tuesday. “What we’re seeing is phenomenal. Republicans are finally embracing the opportunity to vote early. The return rate on vote by mail ballots has been fantastic. Local Republican organizations are doing a great job in getting the word out,” New Jersey Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli said Wednesday on “Fox & Friends First” in reaction to the data. Democrats in the deep blue state still have the edge over Republicans for vote-by-mail ballots at 383,062 compared to 130,362, the New Jersey Globe reported. All in, New Jersey has 6,562,735 registered voters this cycle, state data shows. Of those registered, 2,497,951 are registered Democrats, 1,564,964 are Republicans, and 2,420,522 are unaffiliated, state data show. TRUMP HOLDS MASSIVE BEACHFRONT CAMPAIGN RALLY FOR RAUCOUS NEW JERSEY CROWD: ‘WE’RE GOING TO WIN’ The blue state last voted for a Republican presidential candidate in 1988, when Republican Vice President George H. W. Bush defeated Democrat Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis. The state had voted for Republican candidates from 1968 until 1992, when the state kicked-off its ongoing blue voting trends. Former President Donald Trump has made early voting a hallmark of his campaign, bucking the Republican tradition of voting in-person on Election Day. He spoke to voters in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, when he again urged voters to head to the polls early. TRUMP’S WILDWOOD, NJ RALLY WAS ‘TRULY STUNNING’: JOE CONCHA ”I don’t like to speak too early, but you have to get out and vote because we … we want a big, beautiful number. We’re leading in every single swing state. Because, normally Republicans, they like to vote at the end no matter what you say, they like to vote at the end,” Trump said from the Allentown rally. Elections experts have pointed to Trump’s remarks encouraging early voting as a likely catalyst for the state’s record number of votes a week ahead of Election Day. “First, former President Trump has told his supporters to vote early. So, I think, when all the numbers are considered, we will see a shift among Republicans from voting on Election Day to voting early in person,” Ben Dworkin, director of the Rowan University Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship, told NJ.com about the flood of early votes this cycle. TRUMP SUPPORTERS FLOCK TO MASSIVE NEW JERSEY CAMPAIGN RALLY TO HEAR FORMER PRESIDENT SPEAK AMID ONGOING TRIALS TRUMP SUPPORTERS OUTSIDE MADISON SQUARE GARDEN SAY ‘EXHILARATING’ RALLY SHOWS NY IS IN PLAY “This is not a race in which a lot of people can’t decide between Harris and Trump. They’ve decided and once the doors were opened to early voting, they are going to drive on in,” he added. Trump has campaigned in the Garden State, including holding a massive rally on South Jersey’s Wildwood beach in May. “We’re going to win New Jersey,” Trump told the crowd, which Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew described as “the biggest political rally in the history of New Jersey.” Ciattarelli continued in his comments to “Fox & Friends First” on Wednesday that the Republican Party “can win” the presidential race and down the ballot. “New Jersey is not a deep blue state. We can win here and and I do think Donald Trump’s going to do that as well as our US Senate candidate, our congressional candidates, and many of our local candidates,” he said. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Watch: Ayodhya decked up for grand Deepotsav celebrations, over 25 lakh earthen lamps adourned alongside banks of Saryu
The newly-built historic Ram Janmabhoomi Temple is also going to witness grand celebrations on the occasion of the festival
Indian Railways announces over 7000 additional train trips amid festive rush for Diwali, Chhath Puja; details inside
This is a significant increase from the 4,500 special trains run last year.
JD Vance calls out Harris donor who doubled down on Biden’s ‘garbage’ comment
Former President Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, called out how one of Kamala Harris’ “biggest donors is doubling down on calling half the country ‘garbage.’” Vinod Khosla, co-founder of the giant tech company Sun Microsystems, wrote on X “Garbage is an understatement for MAGA extremists.” He responded to a story by the Associated Press titled, “Biden suggests Trump supporters are ‘garbage’ after comic’s insult of Puerto Rico.” “Will Kamala and her campaign return his contributions?” Vance wrote Wednesday. “Or will they continue to insult half of the country for the sin of thinking Kamala Harris isn’t good at her job?” Khosla is a billionaire and Democratic megadonor. In June, he gave $413,000 to the Harris Action Fund, a political action committee that supports the vice president. He previously donated $100,000 to the PAC in June 2023 and made two separate $3,300 donations to the Biden for President campaign, which Harris took over after President Biden withdrew from the election. KAMALA HARRIS SILENT AFTER BIDEN’S ‘GARBAGE’ COMMENT ABOUT TRUMP SUPPORTERS The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Harris addressed Biden’s controversial remark Wednesday, telling reporters that the president “clarified his comments.” “I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for,” she said, adding that Biden called her the night before but his remarks didn’t come up. Biden sparked controversy during a Zoom call on Tuesday with Voto Latino, one of the largest Latino voter and civic outreach organizations in the U.S. On the call, Biden was asked about a comment made Sunday during a Trump rally at Madison Square Garden in which comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” BIDEN CALLS TRUMP SUPPORTERS ‘GARBAGE’ DURING HARRIS CAMPAIGN EVENT AS VP PROMISES UNITY AT ELLIPSE RALLY “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” Biden said. Amid backlash, Biden claimed he was referring to only Hinchcliffe, and the White House released a transcript of the call that said “supporter’s,” in the possessive. TRUMP HAS ANOTHER RESPONSE TO BIDEN’S ‘GARBAGE’ COMMENT ABOUT GOP SUPPORTERS “Earlier today I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage—which is the only word I can think of to describe it. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I meant to say. The comments at that rally don’t reflect who we are as a nation,” Biden posted on X. Though Harris has not commented on Biden’s remark, her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, discussed it on “Good Morning America” on Wednesday. “The president’s clarified his remarks, but let’s be very clear. The vice president and I have made it absolutely clear that we want everyone as a part of this. Donald Trump’s divisive rhetoric is what needs to end. He called this a garbage country and continues on from ‘the enemy within.’ What you heard Vice President Harris say and what I say is, there’s a place for all of us here, and I think that’s the one. She’s running for president. She’s making the message and she delivered that speech on the Ellipse that showed what we can be as a country,” said Walz. “So, I think America knows the direction we’re going. She’s laid out a new way forward, and that’s what we’re going to do for the next six days and then the next eight years after that.” Fox News Digital’s Scott McDonald contributed to this report.
Supreme Court temporarily halts lower court ruling ordering 1,600 voters back on Virginia voter rolls
The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to take up an emergency challenge from Virginia, temporarily halting a federal judge’s decision that ordered it to reinstate hundreds of potential noncitizens to the state’s voter rolls. The decision is a victory for Gov. Glenn Youngkin and comes just days after the state of Virginia filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court to halt a lower court decision ordering it to restore the names of some 1,600 individuals to its voter rolls. At the heart of the case is whether Virginia’s voter removal process violates a so-called quiet period under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), or a federal law requiring states to halt all “systematic” voter roll maintenance for a 90-day period before a federal election. That argument pitted the Department of Justice — which sued the state over its removal program earlier this month — against Youngkin, who insisted the state’s process is “individualized” and conducted in accordance with state and federal law. With just days until the election, the court’s decision is expected to be under the microscope. 26 REPUBLICAN ATTORNEYS GENERAL JOIN VIRGINIA IN PETITIONING SUPREME COURT TO RULE ON VOTER ROLL Virginia’s voter roll maintenance program was implemented in August and compares the state Department of Motor Vehicles’ list of self-identified noncitizens to its list of registered voters. Individuals without citizenship were flagged and informed that their voter registration would be canceled unless they could prove their citizenship in 14 days. The Justice Department argued that the removals were conducted too close to the Nov. 5 elections and violated the NVRA’s quiet period provision, a decision backed by a U.S. judge in Alexandria, who ordered Virginia last week to halt its removals and to reinstate the registrations of all 1,600 removed individuals. Justice Department officials also cited concerns in their lawsuit that eligible votes may have incorrectly been removed from the rolls without adequate notice or with enough time to correct the mistake. YOUNGKIN VOWS TO APPEAL ‘TO SCOTUS’ AFTER US JUDGE ORDERS 1,600 VOTERS BACK ON BALLOT In the state’s petition to the Supreme Court, Virginia Attorney General Jason S. Miyares objected to the lawsuit and subsequent court ruling on several grounds. First, he argued the NVRA does not extend to “self-identified noncitizens” in the state – adopting a more narrow reading of the law than the Justice Department and one that he said could render the primary basis for the lawsuit obsolete. Second, he argued that if the NVRA does apply, the state still has an “individualized process” of removing voters that is conducted by the Department of Motor Vehicles and directly by local registration offices. Late Monday, attorneys general from all 26 Republican-led states joined Virginia in filing an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, backing its assertion that the removal program was conducted on an “individualized” basis, and further, that the Justice Department’s reading of the protections granted under NVRA are overly broad and do not apply to noncitizens. Attorneys urged the court to grant Virginia’s emergency motion and “restore the status quo,” noting that doing so “would comply with the law and enable Virginia to ensure that noncitizens do not vote in the upcoming election.” “This Court should reject Respondents’ effort to change the rules in the middle of the game and restore the status quo ante,” they wrote. “The Constitution leaves decisions about voter qualifications to the people of Virginia. And the people of Virginia have decided that noncitizens are not permitted to vote.” Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Alabama man who threatened Fani Willis sentenced to 21 months in prison, issues tearful apology
An Alabama man who left threatening phone messages for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and the county sheriff last summer because he was angry over an investigation into former President Donald Trump was sentenced Tuesday to nearly two years in prison. Arthur Ray Hanson II, of Huntsville, made the phone calls just over a week before Trump and 18 others were indicted in Fulton County in August 2023 over efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Federal prosecutors say Hanson left voicemails laced with profanity and racial slurs for Willis and Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat. U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee in Atlanta said he found Hanson’s behavior “appalling” and that the victims’ fear was “real and legitimate.” He sentenced Hanson to serve a year and nine months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. He also ordered Hanson to pay a fine of $7,500. FANI WILLIS ASKS GEORGIA APPEALS COURT TO RESTORE 6 CHARGES AGAINST TRUMP, CO-DEFENDANTS Hanson had pleaded guilty in June to leaving threatening phone messages. Speaking for nearly 10 minutes during Tuesday’s hearing, Hanson was tearful as he apologized to Willis and Labat. “I’m truly sorry for making those phone calls,” he said. “That is not who I am.” Willis told the judge that the threats left her fearing not only for herself but for the lives of her daughters and her father. Before she’s the district attorney, she’s a mom, she told the judge: “Mom was really scared.” Labat also briefly addressed the court, saying the threats exposed his family to “the ugly side of the job.” Defense attorney Tyler Wolas told the judge that Hanson has a history of abusing alcohol. In pushing for a lesser sentence, he also said Hanson suffers from grand mal seizures and, after his arrest, he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Wolas noted that Hanson had completed an anger management course and is regularly attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Three of Hanson’s friends and his 19-year-old son told the judge that he is a good and generous person and that those phone calls don’t reflect the man they know. Hanson said he had been drinking and didn’t remember leaving the messages. He said he was “repulsed and sickened” when he heard the recordings. He said he is not racist, though he acknowledged it might sound that way, and said Willis and Labat did not deserve to be threatened. He used to be someone who was a regular commenter online and allowed himself to get caught up in a “social media frenzy,” he said, adding that he has given up social media and stopped drinking. The Fulton County indictment on Aug. 14, 2023, was the fourth criminal case brought against Trump in a matter of months and was widely anticipated. When reporters asked shortly before it was returned whether Trump would have a mug shot taken if he was charged, the sheriff said, “Unless someone tells me differently, we are following our normal practices and so it doesn’t matter your status, we’ll have a mug shot ready for you.” Hanson called the Fulton County government customer service line and left voicemails for the prosecutor and the sheriff on Aug. 6, 2023. Prosecutors included transcripts of the messages in a sentencing memo submitted to the court. In a message for Willis, Hanson warned her to watch out, that she won’t always have people around who can protect her and that there would be moments when she would be vulnerable. “When you charge Trump on that fourth indictment, anytime you’re alone, be looking over your shoulder,” he said, according to the transcript. In the message for Labat, Hanson threatened the sheriff, warning him not to take a mug shot of Trump. “I’m just telling you that if you take a mugshot of the president and you’re the reason it happened, some bad (expletive)’s probably gonna happen to you,” the voice message said, according to court records. Hanson’s attorneys had asked that he be sentenced to probation and community service or to home confinement rather than prison. They noted that his 19-year-old son lives with him and that his mother has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and has little time left to live. Prosecutor Bret Hobson called Hanson’s crime “incredibly serious” and said he caused real harm to the victims and their families. He asked for the sentence that was given, which was at the low end of federal sentencing guidelines. He argued that anyone who considers threatening a public official “needs to think prison is a possibility.” Boulee said he would have given Hanson a longer sentence, but he took into account what his lawyers and loved ones said, as well as prosecutors’ recommendation. But he made clear that he found Hanson’s behavior unacceptable. “To add insult to injury, you not only attacked them for doing their job, you attacked them because of the color of the skin,” Boulee said. He said the racial slurs in the messages were an “attempt to make them feel low and less valued.” Willis said after the hearing that she had forgiven Hanson. She said it was important that the judge mentioned the racist nature of the threats so that Black people know they can come into a courtroom and feel protected. Willis is running for re-election, and the case against Trump is largely on hold while a pretrial appeal is pending. But when asked whether she plans to continue her prosecution if Trump wins next month’s presidential election, Willis said she plans to “continue to prosecute every single case in my office.”
Trump, Harris will make final pitch to North Carolina voters in overlapping rallies on Wednesday
Former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris will hold overlapping rallies in North Carolina on Wednesday, amid recent polling that indicates a tight race in the battleground state. Harris is expected to speak at 12:30 p.m. EST in Raleigh, just moments before Trump will take the stage in Rocky Mountain at 1 p.m. EST. The dueling candidates’ back-to-back rallies, held just six days before Election Day, will take place at locations roughly 60 miles apart. Nearly 3.2 million early votes have already been cast in the Old North State as of Tuesday, according to the State’s Board of Elections, representing 40.7% of the state’s registered voter population. MOMENTUM SHIFTS AGAINST KAMALA HARRIS JUST DAYS BEFORE ELECTION AND HERE’S WHY A Marist Poll survey, released on Oct. 24, found that Trump is leading Harris by 2 percentage points among likely voters in North Carolina, 50% to 48%. TRUMP, HARRIS NECK AND NECK IN BATTLEGROUND STATES ARIZONA, GEORGIA, NORTH CAROLINA The survey also found Trump leading the Democratic nominee among Independent voters, 53% to 42%. The poll was conducted Oct. 17-22 among 1,513 North Carolina adults with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points. “With 16 Electoral College votes, North Carolina could help offset Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes in the scramble to get to 270,” Dr. Lee M. Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, said alongside the polling results. “But Trump has carried North Carolina both in 2016 and 2020. The outcome this time may hinge on whether Robinson, the GOP candidate for governor who significantly trails, dampens Republican enthusiasm with an adverse impact on Trump’s effort.” Quinnipiac University also released a poll, a week prior, that showed Harris with a slight lead over Trump, 49% to 47%. Libertarian Party candidate Chase Oliver received 1% of the vote in the survey. The survey was conducted from Oct. 10-14 with 1,031 likely voters in North Carolina questioned and a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. Harris and Trump have been barnstorming battleground states in the weeks leading up to the election, and both campaigns have put a heavy focus on North Carolina in the race to win the state’s 16 key electoral votes. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Politics and starvation: Gaza learns of Israel’s decision to ban UNRWA
Until this morning, 38-year-old Hussam Abu Ghaban had not heard of the Israeli Knesset’s decision to ban the UN agency responsible for his family’s welfare. Now, with the Israeli Knesset passing two bills banning the agency from Israel and choking off its ability to work in Gaza, the family does not know what to do. Someone in the nearby camp operated by the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) had mentioned it, but Abu Ghaban had not known about what turned out to be an overwhelming Knesset vote in favour of the ban despite international outrage. ‘People would go hungry’ The concern on Abu Ghaban’s face was unavoidable as he weighed the news. He, his wife Ola and their eight children had fled Shati refugee camp in the north of the Gaza Strip in early November to the relatively safe vicinity of a camp at Deir el-Balah maintained by UNRWA. Hussam Abu Ghaban, 38, Deir el-Balah, Gaza [Hussein Owda/UNRWA] Overcrowded and painfully under-resourced as the camp is, it represents some small support to the 1.9 million displaced people in Gaza. “UNRWA ‘s support has been crucial,” Abu Ghaban told a translator. “They provide essential services such as health, education and food, as well as managing the camp,” he said, outlining how the family of 10, reduced to living in a tent, relied upon the UN agency for the dwindling number of essentials that make it through the Israeli checkpoints. Abu Ghaban did not know how the family would survive without the support the UN agency has given generations of them since they were uprooted from their village of Hiribya to make way for the new state of Israel in the 1948 Nakba (catastrophe). The Abu Ghaban family in Deir el-Balah displacement camp. As a family, they have been displaced since 1948 [Hussein Owda/UNRWA] Since then, barred by Israel from returning, their displacement has become generational. Abu Ghaban struggled to imagine life under Israel’s brutal assaults on Gaza without the support of the UN. “Refugees would struggle to survive,” he said. “People would go hungry, and that could lead to increased violence,” he said of an enclave he described as already gripped by hunger, fear and instability. Life is already difficult, he said. There had not been space in the official camp when they arrived. Now they exist on its periphery, though still under the care of the UN. Abu Ghaban pointed to the plastic sheet UNRWA had provided to cover their tent. He still had nothing to make the rough dirt floor safe for his children, the youngest just six. Life in Deir el-Balah is hard enough for the young, Abu Ghaban explained. “They’re now forced to focus just on survival, but I can see they still remember their previous life. UNRWA’s recreational activities help ease some of the strain. “The children still express their hopes through drawing,” he said, pointing to the rough childlike sketch on the tent’s wall of a family going home. Drawing on the tent where the Abu Ghaban family takes shelter, Deir el-Balah [Hussein Owda/UNRWA] The impotence of aid The legislation that may well stop much of the aid provided to the Abu Ghaban family will become law 90 days after Israel’s foreign minister informs the UN. Moreover, with no alternative humanitarian agency earmarked in the legislation to replace the UNRWA, the consequences for those trapped in Gaza stand to be catastrophic. Within the enclave, UNRWA acts as what its spokesperson Jonathan Fowler described as the “backbone” of the international humanitarian operation in Gaza. Without UNRWA, that aid operation in Gaza would unravel, he said. In Gaza, the situation has never been more desperate. In the northern reaches, with access strictly controlled by the Israeli military, famine looms over everyone as international concerns over a siege of the area, denied by the Israeli government, continue to grow. epa11581588 Internally displaced Palestinians attend a gathering to collect food donated by a charity, in Khan Younis camp on September 3, 2024 [Haitham Imad/EPA] Should UNRWA’s ability to operate within the territory be halted, the delivery of the limited assistance that still penetrates parts of Gaza would also grind to a halt, Fowler told Al Jazeera. “Such a move by a UN member state against a UN General Assembly-mandated organisation is unprecedented and dangerous,” Fowler said. “It … violates the State of Israel’s obligations under international law… [and it] would be a setback to sustainable peace efforts and to reaching a diplomatic solution to the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” he added. “Failing to push back against attempts to intimidate and undermine the United Nations in the occupied Palestinian territory will eventually compromise humanitarian and human rights work worldwide.” The politics of hunger Israel’s longstanding campaign against UNRWA has escalated during Israel’s war on Gaza and includes a list of as yet unevidenced accusations of supporting Hamas’s fighters. Throughout, UNWRA has strained to work on the ground in Gaza to help mitigate the effects of an Israeli military campaign deemed by the International Court of Justice in its January ruling a potential case of genocide. Nevertheless, in the face of international pressure, unparallelled during the 13 months of total war on Gaza, the Israeli Knesset voted overwhelmingly to ban the agency, potentially collapsing the entire fragile network of aid that has so far managed to sustain what remains of Gaza’s population. Even Israel’s closest ally the United States has recognised the seriousness of the situation. Speaking earlier this week, a State Department official acknowledged both the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, especially its north, and UNRWA’s role in mitigating it. One of the drafters of Israel’s legislation banning UNRWA, Yulia Malinovsky, dismissed the concerns of the US, which has provided Israel with unflinching diplomatic cover and weaponry throughout its war on Gaza, as representing unacceptable interference in Israel’s internal affairs. A screengrab shows Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir speaking at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem on July 17, 2024 [AFPTV/AFP] “I congratulate and thank the members of