16 September 2023; MEMO: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged that Israel lift its restrictions on the Palestinian economy and occupied territories to give way for improving investment opportunities.
12 September 2023; MEMO: Fifteen Democratic senators are urging the Biden administration to refrain from including Israel in the US Visa Waiver Program due to its failure to provide equal treatment to Palestinian-Americans seeking entry into the nation.
12 September 2023; MEMO: The United States waived sanctions to allow the transfer of $6 billion in Iranian funds from South Korea to Qatar, a step needed to carry out a previously announced US-Iran prisoner swap, according to a US document, Reuters reports.
22 August 2023; MEMO: The suggestion that US aid to Israel is increasingly becoming a contentious political issue was highlighted further this week when a Republican presidential contender called for Israel to be weaned off the $3.8 billion it receives from America every year. Vivek Ramaswamy, a 37-year-old entrepreneur, spoke about reshaping the US relationship with Israel and suggested that Washington should leverage the recent Middle East normalisation agreements to phase out its annual aid to Isr
17 August 2023; MEMO: The head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, will visit Israel next week to assess the impact to the Israel Defence Forces combat readiness following the refusal of some reservists to report for voluntary duties in protest against the government’s judicial overhaul plan, Israeli media reported on Wednesday. Senior Israeli military leaders, including Air Force Commander Major General Tomer Bar, have warned of a gradual degradation in the IDF’s combat readiness amid the protests.
16 August 2023; MEMO: Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said Tuesday that there has been no change to the US’s approach to Iran after the nations struck a tentative prisoner swap deal last week, Anadolu Agency reports.
“The agreement that we’re pursuing to bring home those who are wrongfully detained in Iran is an entirely separate matter that we want to bring to a successful conclusion,” Blinken told reporters at the State Department.
10 August 2023; MEMO: In a bid to counter progressive candidates critical of Israel, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has intensified its recruitment efforts for the 2024 US elections. The pro-Israel group is actively seeking House candidates to challenge prominent members of the "Squad", such as Jamaal Bowman and Ilhan Omar.
10 August 2023; MEMO: The US and Iraq have reiterated their commitment to strengthening dialogue,security and military cooperation, Anadolu Agency reports.
The move came in a statement, released on Wednesday, at the conclusion of a two-day US-Iraq security cooperation dialogue in Washington between US Defence Secretary, Lloyd Austin, and Iraqi Defence Minister, Thabit Muhammad Al-Abassi.
07 August 2023; MEMO: Washington has condemned as "terrorism" the killing of a Palestinian by suspected Jewish settlers, in language that appears to reflect US frustration with surging violence in the occupied West Bank under Israel's hard-right government, Reuters reported.
04 August 2023; MEMO: American support for Israel no longer serves strategic US interests, says Steven Simon, Washington's former National Security Council senior director for the Middle East and North Africa. Simon, who directly managed the Israel-Palestine file, served under the administration of former US President Barack Obama. He urged the US to reconsider its relation in a new book titled 'Grand Delusion: The Rise and Fall of American Ambition in the Middle East'.
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