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Biden, Allies in Berlin to Renew Gaza Truce Call After Hamas Leader Killed

US President Joe Biden leaves the White House to board Marine One, Washington, DC, USA, 17 October 2024. EPA/WILL OLIVER
US President Joe Biden leaves the White House to board Marine One, Washington, DC, USA, 17 October 2024. EPA/WILL OLIVER
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Biden, Allies in Berlin to Renew Gaza Truce Call After Hamas Leader Killed

US President Joe Biden leaves the White House to board Marine One, Washington, DC, USA, 17 October 2024. EPA/WILL OLIVER
US President Joe Biden leaves the White House to board Marine One, Washington, DC, USA, 17 October 2024. EPA/WILL OLIVER

US President Joe Biden and European leaders meeting during his farewell visit to Germany on Friday were expected to renew calls for a Gaza ceasefire after Israel said it killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
While still on Air Force One, Biden hailed the death of the man Israel blames for the October 7 attack as a "good day", saying it removed a key obstacle to a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal, AFP reported.
Biden and the German, British and French leaders were also set to pledge their sustained military support for Ukraine as it fights off Russia's invasion.
Biden's flying 24-hour visit comes as Ukraine faces a third grueling winter at war, and a day after President Volodymyr Zelensky presented his "victory plan" to the European Union and NATO in Brussels.
Biden arrived late Thursday for the Berlin visit, just weeks ahead of a US election in which allies are nervously eyeing a possible return of Donald Trump to the White House.
On Friday Biden is to hold talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Trump, who during his last term berated NATO allies, has also opposed the level of US military support for Ukraine and would be expected to soften US criticism of Israel in its wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
Biden's meetings in Berlin were expected to address the conflict pitting Israel against Hamas and its Hezbollah allies, including the risk of a wider escalation with Iran.
Biden said Thursday he would "congratulate" Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but also "discuss the pathway" for securing the release of hostages and "ending this war once and for all".
"There is now the opportunity for a 'day after' in Gaza without Hamas in power, and for a political settlement that provides a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike," he said.
Scholz, speaking in Brussels Thursday, said "there is a proposal from President Biden and others as to what such a ceasefire could look like and we fully support that".
'Stand with Ukraine'
Now in his last months in office, 81-year-old Biden was originally due in Germany last week for a four-day state visit that would have included a major Ukraine defense meeting with Zelensky.
After canceling that trip to coordinate the response to Hurricane Milton, Biden was at pains to make his valedictory Germany trip nonetheless, with a stripped-down program squeezed into a one-day visit.
Traditionally strong US-German relations soured during the Trump presidency, and Scholz told parliament Thursday that Biden had overseen "an incredible improvement in cooperation".
Biden was to start his visit with a meeting from 0800 GMT with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who was to present him with Germany's highest honor, the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit.
Steinmeier's office said this was to recognize Biden's "services to German-American friendship and the transatlantic alliance... in particular in the face of Russian aggression against Ukraine".
Zelensky's plan includes a request for an immediate invitation for Kyiv to join NATO and the lifting of restrictions by Western allies on using long-range weapons.
A senior US administration official told AFP ahead of Biden's visit that there was "not consensus at this time" on a NATO invitation.
But the official pointed to a summit of the alliance in July where member states had "affirmed that Ukraine is on an irreversible path to membership".
Despite recent Russian battlefield gains, the US official said that "time is, in fact, on Ukraine's side" and vowed: "We will stand with Ukraine and give it what it needs to prevail."
Macron said at the end of EU summit talks in Brussels that France supported Zelensky's request that Ukraine be regularly invited to NATO summits.
As for the broader question of security guarantees wanted by Kyiv, Macron said: "This is what we will have to discuss" at Friday's talks.
The United States has been by far the biggest supplier of military aid to Ukraine since the 2022 Russian invasion, followed by Germany.
Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security advisor, said Biden was seeking "to make our commitment to Ukraine sustainable and institutionalized for the long term".

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Angry Macron Blasts Media over Reporting of Israel Comments

Emmanuel Macron lashed out at media, commentators and his own ministers - AFP
Emmanuel Macron lashed out at media, commentators and his own ministers - AFP
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Angry Macron Blasts Media over Reporting of Israel Comments

Emmanuel Macron lashed out at media, commentators and his own ministers - AFP
Emmanuel Macron lashed out at media, commentators and his own ministers - AFP

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday faced accusations of seeking to reduce the media to merely reproducing press releases after blaming journalists, ministers and commentators for the furore over comments attributed to him on Israel.

A visibly furious Macron late Thursday began his press conference after an EU summit in Brussels with a tirade against those who he accused of distorting remarks made in a closed-door cabinet meeting and showing a "lack of professionalism" in their work.

The remarks attributed to Macron that Israel needed to adhere to UN resolutions in its campaigns in Lebanon and Gaza as the state was created by the world body angered Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but also sparked strong reactions in France.

"Mr Netanyahu must not forget that his country was created by a decision of the UN," Macron told ministers, referring to the resolution adopted in November 1947 by the United Nations General Assembly on the plan to partition Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state, AFP reported.

Netanyahu accused Macron of a "distressing distortion of history" and "disrespect". In France, the speaker of the upper house Senate, Gerard Larcher, said he was "astounded" by the remarks and accused the president of showing his "ignorance" of history.

"I would like you to allow me to recall a few rules," Macron solemnly told reporters at the start of his news conference on Thursday.

"I must tell you how astonished I was to read so many comments, comments on comments, reactions, including from political leaders, foreign or French, to remarks that I made without seeking to know what exactly I said."

Macron attacked "ministers", "journalists" and "commentators" for the ensuing controversy, denying his remarks "as they were reported", arguing his words were taken out of context.

"I believe I say enough about the situation in the Middle East not to need a ventriloquist," he added.

- 'Checks sources rigorously' -

He called on ministers to "show respect for the rules and functions so as not to circulate false information" and on journalists "to treat the remarks reported with the necessary precautions".

After come critics in France questioned whether Macron had been casting doubt on Israel's right to exist, the president said that "there is no ambiguity" in the position of France.

But the Association of the Presidential Press (APP), which groups together reporters covering the head of state, said Macron had "seriously questioned the ethics of the press, which investigates and cross-checks its sources rigorously."

"Our work cannot be limited to repeating official statements. The definition of journalism cannot be a presidential prerogative," it said.

With heavy sarcasm, Greens MP Benjamin Lucas said on X: "That's right, journalists, why don't you simply and blindly reproduce the official press releases? Why bother searching, by cross-checking sources, to seek the truth?"

But after a controversy that has dogged Macron all week some supporters applauded his reactions.

Foreign policy is one of the few areas where the president retains leeway after the inconclusive outcome to summer legislative elections and appointment of a right-wing government left the centrist looking increasingly isolated.

"The voice of France in the world deserves better than the distortion of the truth. Those who engage in this are playing a very dangerous game for the country," said pro-Macron MP Mathieu Lefevre.