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US Tells Israel that Escalations in Middle East Serve No One

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken shakes hands with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. (Archive-Reuters)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken shakes hands with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. (Archive-Reuters)
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US Tells Israel that Escalations in Middle East Serve No One

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken shakes hands with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. (Archive-Reuters)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken shakes hands with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. (Archive-Reuters)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in a phone call on Friday that the escalation of tensions in the Middle East was "in no party's interest" while also stressing the need for a Gaza ceasefire, the State Department said.
There has been an increased risk of escalation into a broader Middle East war after recent killings of Palestinian group Hamas' leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran and of Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut drew threats of retaliation against Israel.
As a result, many fear a widening of Israel's war in Gaza that has already killed tens of thousands and caused a humanitarian crisis, following Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel, Reuters said.
"The Secretary reaffirmed the United States' ironclad commitment to Israel's security and discussed how escalation is in no party's interest," the State Department said in a statement.
Blinken stressed the "urgent need to reach a ceasefire in Gaza" that could release hostages held in the enclave and "create the conditions for broader regional stability," the State Department added.
A day earlier, Gallant spoke to US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin about the situation in the region.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on Oct. 7 when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
The Gaza health ministry says that since then Israel's military assault on the Hamas-governed enclave has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians while also displacing nearly the entire population of 2.3 million, causing a hunger crisis and leading to genocide accusations that Israel denies.
President Joe Biden laid out a three-phase ceasefire proposal in an address on May 31. Washington and regional mediators have since tried arranging the Gaza ceasefire-for-hostages deal but have consistently run into obstacles.

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Biden, Trump Security Advisers Meet to Pass Ceremonial Baton

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan (L) hands a baton to incoming National Security Advisor Mike Waltz during an event at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, on January 14, 2025. (AFP)
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan (L) hands a baton to incoming National Security Advisor Mike Waltz during an event at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, on January 14, 2025. (AFP)
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Biden, Trump Security Advisers Meet to Pass Ceremonial Baton

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan (L) hands a baton to incoming National Security Advisor Mike Waltz during an event at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, on January 14, 2025. (AFP)
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan (L) hands a baton to incoming National Security Advisor Mike Waltz during an event at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, on January 14, 2025. (AFP)

Top advisers to US President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump put aside their differences - mostly - for a symbolic "passing of the torch" event focused on national security issues on Tuesday.

Biden national security adviser Jake Sullivan passed a ceremonial baton to US Congressman Mike Waltz, Trump's pick for the same job, in a revival of a Washington ritual organized by the nonpartisan United States Institute of Peace since 2001.

The two men are normally in the media defending their bosses' opposing views on Ukraine, the Middle East and China.

On Tuesday, Waltz and Sullivan politely searched for common ground on a panel designed to project the continuity of power in the United States.

"It's like a very strange, slightly awkward version of 'The Dating Game,' you know the old game where you wrote down your answer, and that person wrote down their answer, and you see how much they match up," said Sullivan.

The event offered a preview of what may be in store on Monday when Trump is inaugurated as president. This peaceful transfer of power, a hallmark of more than two centuries of American democracy, comes four years after Trump disputed and never conceded his loss in the 2020 election.

This time the two sides are talking. Sullivan, at Biden's request, has briefed Waltz privately, at length, on the current administration's policy around the world even as the Trump aide has regularly said the new team will depart radically from it.

Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Biden's envoy Brett McGurk are working together this week to close a ceasefire deal in the region for hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

Asked about the key challenges facing the new administration, Waltz and Sullivan on Tuesday both pointed to the California wildfires and China.

Sullivan also highlighted a hostage deal and artificial intelligence as key issues.

Waltz pointed to the US border with Mexico, an area where Trump has ripped Biden's approach.

But he credited the Biden administration with deepening ties between US allies in Asia.

For all the bonhomie between the two men, and the talk of the prospects for peace in the Middle East, Waltz painted a picture of the grimmer decisions awaiting him in his new job.

"Evil does exist," he said. "Sometimes you just have to put bombs on foreheads."