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Israel’s Far Right Challenges Biden, Slams US Policy on Gaza

Joe Biden with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu during the US President’s solidarity visit to Israel on October 18 (dpa)
Joe Biden with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu during the US President’s solidarity visit to Israel on October 18 (dpa)
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Israel’s Far Right Challenges Biden, Slams US Policy on Gaza

Joe Biden with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu during the US President’s solidarity visit to Israel on October 18 (dpa)
Joe Biden with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu during the US President’s solidarity visit to Israel on October 18 (dpa)

The Israeli right wing and far-right parties of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government are not satisfied with the economic, military and economic support offered by the US administration of President Joe Biden for Israel.
On Friday, those parties slammed the US policy on Gaza and said Washington is “trying to impose dictates on the Israeli government.” They also accused the Biden administration of seeking to drive the Israelis to suicide by establishing a Palestinian state, and trying to prevent them from paying the price for a Hamas massacre against the people of Gaza.
The far right is telling Washington that Israel now has a rare opportunity. “With our soldiers proudly returning to our positions in the south, we must return fully, sovereignly and morally, to Gaza,” according to Nadia Matar and Yehudit Katsover, the founders of Sovereignty Movement, Ribonut, and members of the Otzma Yehudit party of Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir.
Matar and Katsover, famous for their violent settler protests 30 years ago, wrote that “a thousand Israeli flags should now be raised at key positions in the Gaza Strip, alongside the flags heroically raised by our soldiers working there.”
No to Foreign Intervention
Also, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich expressed his dissatisfaction with the US policy on Gaza. He said that Israel is “an independent state that governs itself, knows its interests, and does not like friends to interfere in our affairs.”
When asked to comment on Biden's criticism of the far right in Israel and his call for changes in Netanyahu's government that would get rid of the extremists, Smotrich responded, “I see that as a compliment.”
Two Opinion Polls
Two Maariv and Yedioth Ahronoth polls conducted this week showed Friday that a high percentage of Israelis oppose the US approach to the future of the Gaza Strip and demand that Israel remains in it.
One poll published by the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, found that 23% of Israelis believe that the Gaza Strip should be ruled by an Israeli military after the war, while 23% say it should be ruled by moderate Arab states.
Another poll published on Friday by the Israeli newspaper Maariv said 43% of Israelis disapprove of Netanyahu’s treatment of Biden than support it, 36%.
The poll also showed a “decline in popularity” for the Likud Party led by Netanyahu.
According to the poll results, if the elections were held today, Likud and its ally parties would win 43 seats, compared to the 64 seats this coalition currently holds in the parliament or Knesset, according to the 2022 elections.
The results concluded that the Likud party would receive only 17 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, while the National Unity Party led by Gantz would receive 39 seats if general elections were held.

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Taiwan Demonstrates Sea Defenses against Potential Chinese Attack as Tensions Rise with Beijing

A Taiwan navy Tuo Chiang-class corvette(rear) and Kuang Hua VI-class missile boat (front) maneuver during a drill in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, 09 January 2025. EPA/RITCHIE B. TONGO
A Taiwan navy Tuo Chiang-class corvette(rear) and Kuang Hua VI-class missile boat (front) maneuver during a drill in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, 09 January 2025. EPA/RITCHIE B. TONGO
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Taiwan Demonstrates Sea Defenses against Potential Chinese Attack as Tensions Rise with Beijing

A Taiwan navy Tuo Chiang-class corvette(rear) and Kuang Hua VI-class missile boat (front) maneuver during a drill in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, 09 January 2025. EPA/RITCHIE B. TONGO
A Taiwan navy Tuo Chiang-class corvette(rear) and Kuang Hua VI-class missile boat (front) maneuver during a drill in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, 09 January 2025. EPA/RITCHIE B. TONGO

Taiwan on Thursday demonstrated its sea defenses against a potential Chinese attack as tensions rise with Beijing, part of a multitiered strategy to deter an invasion from the mainland.
The island’s navy highlighted its Kuang Hua VI fast attack missile boats and Tuo Chiang-class corvettes in waters near Taiwan’s largest port of Kaohsiung, a major hub for international trade considered key to resupplying Chinese forces should they establish a beachhead on the island.
The Kuang Hua VI boats, with a crew of 19, carry indigenously developed Hsiung Feng II anti-ship missiles and displayed their ability to take to the sea in an emergency to intercept enemy ships about to cross the 44-kilometer (24-nautical mile) limit of Taiwan’s contiguous zone, within which governments are permitted to take defensive action.
China routinely sends ships and planes to challenge Taiwan’s willingness and ability to counter intruders, prompting Taiwan to scramble jets, activate missile systems and dispatch warships. Taiwan demanded on Wednesday that China end its ongoing military activity in nearby waters, which it said is undermining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and disrupting international shipping and trade.
Mountainous Taiwan's strategy is to counter the much larger Chinese military with a relatively flexible defense that can prevent Chinese troops from crossing the strait. Landing sites are few on Taiwan's west coast facing China, forcing Beijing to focus on the east coast.
Hsiao Shun-ming, captain of a Tuo Chiang-class corvette, said his ship’s relatively small size still allows it to “deliver a formidable competitive power” against larger Chinese ships. The Tuo Chiang has a catamaran design and boasts high speeds and considerable stealth ability.
Taiwan has in recent years reinvigorated its domestic defense industry, although it still relies heavily on US technology such as upgraded fighter jets, missiles, tanks and detection equipment. US law requires it to consider threats to the island as matters of “grave concern,” and American and allied forces are expected to be a major factor in any conflict.
Thursday's exercise “demonstrates the effectiveness of asymmetric warfare, and Taiwan’s commitment to defense self-reliance,” said Chen Ming-feng, rear admiral and commander of the navy’s 192 Fleet specializing in mine detection. “We are always ready to respond quickly and can handle any kind of maritime situation.”
China's authoritarian one-party Communist government has refused almost all communication with Taiwan's pro-independence governments since 2016, and some in Washington and elsewhere say Beijing is growing closer to taking military action.
China considers Taiwan a part of its territory, to be brought under its control by force if necessary, while most Taiwanese favor their de facto independence and democratic status.