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US Says its Israel Policy Unchanged after Report on Leveraging Weapon Sales

A unit of Israeli soldiers return with their tanks to the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip, after spending months in the Palestinian territory engaged in battles with Hamas militants, on January 28, 2024, as the fighting between the two warring sides continues. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP)
A unit of Israeli soldiers return with their tanks to the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip, after spending months in the Palestinian territory engaged in battles with Hamas militants, on January 28, 2024, as the fighting between the two warring sides continues. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP)
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US Says its Israel Policy Unchanged after Report on Leveraging Weapon Sales

A unit of Israeli soldiers return with their tanks to the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip, after spending months in the Palestinian territory engaged in battles with Hamas militants, on January 28, 2024, as the fighting between the two warring sides continues. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP)
A unit of Israeli soldiers return with their tanks to the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip, after spending months in the Palestinian territory engaged in battles with Hamas militants, on January 28, 2024, as the fighting between the two warring sides continues. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP)

The White House said on Sunday there was no change in its Israel policy after NBC News reported the United States was discussing using weapon sales to Israel as leverage to convince the Israeli government to scale back its military assault in Gaza.
"Israel has a right and obligation to defend themselves against the threat of Hamas, while abiding by international humanitarian law and protecting civilian lives, and we remain committed to support Israel in its fight against Hamas," a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said. "We have done so since Oct. 7, and will continue to. There has not been a change in our policy."
NBC News reported earlier on Sunday that at the direction of the White House, the Pentagon has been reviewing what weaponry Israel has requested that could be used as leverage. The report cited sources and said no final decisions were made.
The report added that the US is considering slowing or pausing the deliveries in hopes that doing so will make the Israelis take actions such as opening humanitarian corridors to provide more aid to Palestinian civilians.
"There has been no request from the White House for DoD (Department of Defense) to slow down weapons deliveries to Israel," a White House official said when asked about the NBC News report. "And not aware of any request to review weapons to potentially slow walk deliveries either."
Among the weaponry the US discussed using as leverage, the NBC News report added, were 155 mm artillery rounds and joint direct attack munitions (JDAMs), which are guidance kits that convert dumb bombs into precision-guided munitions.
The heavy death toll from Israel's war in Gaza has led to much international alarm. President Joe Biden has previously referred to Israeli bombing as "indiscriminate" but Washington has not called for a ceasefire, saying such a measure would benefit Hamas, which governs Gaza.

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World

Trump Refuses to Apologize for Video Depicting Obama and Wife as Apes

FILE PHOTO: US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump see off former US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama as they depart following Trump's inauguration at the Capitol in Washington, US January 20, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump see off former US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama as they depart following Trump's inauguration at the Capitol in Washington, US January 20, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo
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Trump Refuses to Apologize for Video Depicting Obama and Wife as Apes

FILE PHOTO: US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump see off former US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama as they depart following Trump's inauguration at the Capitol in Washington, US January 20, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump see off former US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama as they depart following Trump's inauguration at the Capitol in Washington, US January 20, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

President Donald Trump’s racist social media post featuring former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, as primates in a jungle was deleted Friday after a backlash from both Republicans and Democrats who criticized the video as offensive.

Trump said later Friday that he won't apologize for the post: “I didn't make a mistake,” he said.

The Republican president’s Thursday night post was blamed on a staffer after widespread backlash, from civil rights leaders to veteran Republican senators, for its treatment of the nation’s first Black president and first lady. A rare admission of a misstep by the White House, the deletion came hours after press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed “fake outrage” over the post. After calls for its removal — including by Republicans — the White House said a staffer had posted the video erroneously.

The post was part of a flurry of overnight activity on Trump's Truth Social account that amplified his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him, despite courts around the country and Trump's first-term attorney general finding no evidence of systemic fraud.

Trump has a record of intensely personal criticism of the Obamas and of using incendiary, sometimes racist, rhetoric — from feeding the lie that Obama was not a native-born US citizen to crude generalizations about majority-Black countries.

The post came in the first week of Black History Month and days after a Trump proclamation cited “the contributions of black Americans to our national greatness” and “the American principles of liberty, justice, and equality.”

An Obama spokeswoman said the former president, a Democrat, had no response.

‘An internet meme’

Nearly all of the 62-second clip appears to be from a conservative video alleging deliberate tampering with voting machines in battleground states as 2020 votes were tallied. At the 60-second mark is a quick scene of two jungle primates, with the Obamas’ smiling faces imposed on them.

Those frames originated from a separate video, previously circulated by an influential conservative meme maker. It shows Trump as “King of the Jungle” and depicts Democratic leaders as animals, including Joe Biden, who is white, as a jungle primate eating a banana.

“This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King,” Leavitt said by text.

Disney's 1994 feature film that Leavitt referenced is set on the savannah, not in the jungle, and it does not include great apes.

“Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public,” Leavitt added.

By noon, the post had been taken down, with responsibility placed on a Trump subordinate.

Trump, answering questions from reporters accompanying him Friday night aboard Air Force One, said the video was about fraudulent elections and that he liked what he saw.

“I liked the beginning. I saw it and just passed it on, and I guess probably nobody reviewed the end of it,” he said.

Asked if he condemned the video's racism, Trump said, “Of course I do.”

The White House explanation raises questions about control of Trump’s social media account, which he's used to levy import taxes, threaten military action, make other announcements and intimidate political rivals. The president often signs his name or initials after policy posts.

The White House did not immediately respond to an inquiry about how posts are vetted and when the public can know when Trump himself is posting.

Mark Burns, a pastor and a prominent Trump supporter who is Black, said Friday on X that he'd spoken “directly” with Trump and that he recommended to the president that he fire the staffer who posted the video and publicly condemn what happened.

“He knows this is wrong, offensive, and unacceptable,” Burns posted.

Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., told The Associated Press she does “not buy the White House's commentary.”

Condemnation across the political spectrum Trump and White House social media accounts frequently repost memes and artificial intelligence-generated videos. As Leavitt did Friday, Trump allies typically cast them as humorous.

This time, condemnations flowed from across the spectrum — along with demands for an apology that doesn't appear to be coming.

World

Clintons Call for Their Epstein Testimony to Be Public

Images of former US President Bill Clinton are on display as Chairman of the House Oversight Committee James Comer (R-KY) speaks during a meeting to vote on whether to hold Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress for defying subpoenas to testify in the panel's investigation of the late convicted offender Jeffrey Epstein, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., US, January 21, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Images of former US President Bill Clinton are on display as Chairman of the House Oversight Committee James Comer (R-KY) speaks during a meeting to vote on whether to hold Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress for defying subpoenas to testify in the panel's investigation of the late convicted offender Jeffrey Epstein, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., US, January 21, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
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Clintons Call for Their Epstein Testimony to Be Public

Images of former US President Bill Clinton are on display as Chairman of the House Oversight Committee James Comer (R-KY) speaks during a meeting to vote on whether to hold Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress for defying subpoenas to testify in the panel's investigation of the late convicted offender Jeffrey Epstein, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., US, January 21, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Images of former US President Bill Clinton are on display as Chairman of the House Oversight Committee James Comer (R-KY) speaks during a meeting to vote on whether to hold Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress for defying subpoenas to testify in the panel's investigation of the late convicted offender Jeffrey Epstein, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., US, January 21, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Former US president Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary are calling for their congressional testimony on ties to convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein to be held publicly, to prevent Republicans from politicizing the issue.

Both Clintons had been ordered to give closed-door depositions before the House Oversight Committee, which is probing the deceased financier's connections to powerful figures and how information about his crimes was handled, said AFP.

Democrats say the probe is being weaponized to attack political opponents of President Donald Trump -- himself a longtime Epstein associate who has not been called to testify -- rather than to conduct legitimate oversight.

House Republicans had previously threatened a contempt vote if the Democratic power couple did not show up to testify, which they have since agreed to do.

But holding the deposition behind closed doors, Bill Clinton said Friday, would be akin to being tried at a "kangaroo court."

"Let's stop the games & do this the right way: in a public hearing," the former Democratic president said on X.

Hillary Clinton, former secretary of state, said the couple had already told the Republican-led Oversight Committee "what we know."

"If you want this fight...let's have it in public," she said Thursday.

The Justice Department last week released the latest cache of so-called Epstein files -- more than three million documents, photos and videos related to its investigation into Epstein, who died from what was determined to be suicide while in custody in 2019.

Bill Clinton features regularly in the files, but no evidence has come to light implicating either Clinton in criminal activity.

The former president has acknowledged flying on Epstein's plane in the early 2000s for Clinton Foundation-related humanitarian work, but said he never visited Epstein's private island.

Hillary Clinton, who ran against Trump for president in 2016, said she had no meaningful interactions with Epstein, never flew on his plane and never visited his island.

World

Two Airports in Poland Closed Due to Russian Strikes on Ukraine

Lublin Airport is unavailable due to military activity involving NATO aircraft (Reuters)
Lublin Airport is unavailable due to military activity involving NATO aircraft (Reuters)
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Two Airports in Poland Closed Due to Russian Strikes on Ukraine

Lublin Airport is unavailable due to military activity involving NATO aircraft (Reuters)
Lublin Airport is unavailable due to military activity involving NATO aircraft (Reuters)

Two airports in southeastern Poland were suspended from operations as a precaution due to Russian strikes on nearby Ukraine territory, Polish authorities said on Saturday.

"In connection with the need to ensure the possibility of the free operation of military aviation, the airports in Rzeszow and Lublin ‌have temporarily ‌suspended flight operations," ‌Polish Air ⁠Navigation Services Agency ‌posted on X.

Both cities are close to the country's border with Ukraine, with Rzeszow being NATO's main hub for arms supplies to Ukraine, Reuters said.

Military aviation had begun operating in Polish airspace due to Russian ⁠strikes on Ukraine, the Operational Command of ‌the Polish Armed Forces said on ‍X.

"These actions are ‍of a preventive nature and ‍are aimed at securing and protecting the airspace, particularly in areas adjacent to the threatened regions," the army said.

Flight tracking service FlightRadar24 posted on X that the closure involved NATO aircraft operating in the area.

The ⁠US Federal Aviation Administration said in a notice to airmen that both airports were inaccessible due to the military activity related to ensuring state security.

Last month, Rzeszow and Lublin suspended operations for a time, but the authorities said then that the military aviation operations were routine and there had been no threat to ‌Polish airspace.