Month: November 2023

Bob Knight, the brilliant and combustible coach who won three NCAA titles at Indiana and for years was the scowling face of college basketball, has died. He was 83.

Knight’s family made the announcement on social media on Wednesday night.

“It is with heavy hearts that we share that Coach Bob Knight passed away at his home in Bloomington surrounded by his family,” the statement said. “We are grateful for all the thoughts and prayers and appreciate the continued respect for our privacy as Coach requested a private family gathering, which is being honored. We will continue to celebrate his life and remember him, today and forever as a beloved Husband, Father, Coach, and Friend.”

Knight was among the winningest coaches in the sport, finishing his career with 902 victories in 42 seasons at Army, Indiana and Texas Tech. He also coached the U.S. Olympic team to a gold medal in 1984.

The Hall of Famer cared little what others thought of him, choosing Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” to celebrate his 880th win in 2007, then the record for a Division I men’s coach.

He was nicknamed “The General” and his temper was such that in 2000 it cost him his job at Indiana. He once hit a police officer in Puerto Rico, threw a chair across the court and was accused of wrapping his hands around a player’s neck.

His critics fumed relentlessly about his conduct, but his defenders were legion. There was this side of Knight as well: He took pride in his players’ high graduation rates, and during a rule-breaking era he never was accused of a major NCAA violation.

At Indiana, he insisted his base salary not exceed that of other professors. At Texas Tech, he sometimes gave back his salary because he didn’t think he earned it.

Knight expected players to exceed expectations on the court and in the classroom. He abided by NCAA rules even when he disagreed with them, never backed down from a dust-up and promised to take his old-school principles to the grave.

His disposition and theatrics, however, often overshadowed his formidable record, tactical genius and dedication to his players and the game, leaving behind a singular resume.

“He changed basketball in this state, the way you compete, the way you win,” Steve Alford, the leader of Knight’s last national championship team in 1987, once said. “It started in Indiana, but he really changed college basketball. You look at the motion offense and people everywhere used it.”

Long esteemed for his strategy and often questioned for his methods, Knight reveled in constructing his best teams with overachievers. As a hard-to-please motivator, he clung to iron principles, and at 6-foot-5 was an intimidating presence for anyone who dared cross him.

When Knight retired in 2008, he left with four national championships (one as a player at Ohio State) and as the Division I men’s record-holder in wins. He coached everyone from Mike Krzyzewski to Isiah Thomas to Michael Jordan. His coaching tree included Krzyzewski, who broke Knight’s wins record; Alford; Lawrence Frank, Keith Smart, Randy Wittman and Mike Woodson, Indiana’s current coach, among others.

“I have molded everything we do from practices to academics to community service and even how you should represent the school from that time,” Alford said. “Coach Knight had a lot to do with that.”

Robert Montgomery Knight was born Oct. 25, 1940, in Massillon, Ohio. His mother, whom Knight credited as his strongest childhood influence, was a schoolteacher and his father worked for the railroad.

Hazel Knight seemed to understand her son’s temperament. Once, when Indiana was set to play Kentucky on television, two of Knight’s high school classmates ran into her at a grocery store and asked if she was excited about the game, according to his biography, “Knight: My Story.”

“I just hope he behaves,” his mother remarked.

He played basketball at Ohio State, where he was a reserve on three Final Four teams (1960-62). He was on the 1960 title team that featured Jerry Lucas and John Havlicek, two future Basketball Hall of Famers.

After a year as a high school assistant, Knight joined the staff of Tates Locke at West Point. In 1965, he took over as head coach at age 24. In six seasons, coaching the likes of Krzyzewski and Mike Silliman, his teams won 102 games and it was off to Indiana in 1971.

Knight quickly restored the Hoosiers’ basketball tradition with a revolutionary offense and an almost exclusively man-to-man defense. Most opponents struggled against his early Indiana teams, with the Hoosiers going 125-20 and winning four Big Ten Conference crowns in his first five seasons.

The run concluded with Indiana’s first national championship in 23 years. That 1975-76 team went 32-0, ending a two-year span when the Hoosiers were 63-1 and captured back-to-back Big Ten championships with 18-0 records. It remains the last time a major college men’s team finished with a perfect record. That team was voted the greatest in college basketball history by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association in 2013.

Knight won his second title in 1981, beating Dean Smith’s North Carolina team after NCAA officials decided to play the game hours after President Ronald Reagan was shot and wounded earlier in the day. His third title at Indiana came in 1987 when Smart hit a baseline jumper in the closing seconds to beat Syracuse, one of the most famous shots in tournament history.

Knight spent five decades competing against and usually beating some of the game’s most revered names — Adolph Rupp, Smith and John Wooden in the early years; Krzyzewski, Rick Pitino and Roy Williams in later years.

The Olympic team he coached in Los Angeles in 1984 was the last amateur U.S. team to win gold in men’s basketball. And, to no surprise, it came with controversy. Knight kept Alford on his team while cutting the likes of future Hall of Famers Charles Barkley and John Stockton.

But winning and winning big was only part of Knight’s legacy. He would do things his way.

Other big-time coaches might follow the gentlemanly, buttoned-up approach, but not Knight. He dressed in plaid sport coats and red sweaters, routinely berated referees and openly challenged decisions by NCAA and Big Ten leaders. His list of transgressions ran long:

Knight was convicted in absentia of assaulting a Puerto Rican police officer during the 1979 Pan American Games.
He forfeited an exhibition game to the Soviet Union in 1987 when he pulled his team off the court after being called for a third technical foul.
He told NBC's Connie Chung in a 1988 interview, "I think that if rape is inevitable, relax and enjoy it." Knight was answering a question about how he handled stress and later tried to explain he was talking about something beyond one's control, not the act of rape.
He was accused of head-butting one player and kicking his own son, Pat, during a timeout.
At a 1980 news conference he fired a blank from a starter's pistol at a reporter. During the 1992 NCAA Tournament, Knight playfully used a bull whip on star player Calbert Cheaney, who is Black.

His most famous outburst came Feb. 23, 1985, when Purdue’s Steve Reid was about to attempt a free throw. A furious Knight picked up a red plastic chair and heaved it across the court, where it landed behind the basket. Fans started throwing pennies on the court, one hitting the wife of Purdue coach Gene Keady. Reid missed three of his next six ensuing free throws.

“There are times I walk into a meeting or a friend calls to say, ‘I saw you on TV last night,'” Reid said on the 20th anniversary of the incident. “I know what they’re talking about.”

Knight apologized the next day, received a one-game suspension and was put on probation for two years by the Big Ten. Intent on preventing such a thing again, Indiana officials chained together the chairs for both benches.

The iconic black-and-white photo of the incident remains a classic for Hoosiers fans and even became fodder for a television commercial with one of his old coaching rivals, former Notre Dame coach Digger Phelps. Knight for years joked he was merely attempting to toss the chair to a woman looking for a seat.

Fifteen years after the chair toss, Knight’s temper led to his downfall in Bloomington. Video surfaced of Knight allegedly putting his hands around the neck of player Neil Reed during a 1997 practice, a charge that prompted Indiana President Myles Brand to put Knight on a zero-tolerance policy following a university investigation.

Then, on Sept. 10, 2000, after winning a school-record 662 games and 11 Big Ten titles in 29 seasons, his time at Indiana came to a shocking end. While passing Knight in an Assembly Hall corridor, Indiana student Kent Harvey said, “Hey, what’s up, Knight?” Knight considered it disrespectful, grabbed Harvey’s arm and lectured him about manners. A few days later, Brand fired Knight.

Students protested by tearing down a goal post at the football stadium, ripping a dolphin statue off a fountain and hanging Brand in effigy outside his home. Knight publicly condemned Brand’s leadership. Brand became NCAA president in 2002 and died in 2009 at 67 while still on the job. Neil Reed died in 2012 after collapsing in his California home. He was 36.

In 2003, he lashed out profanely after an ESPN reporter asked about his relationship with Alford, then the Iowa coach. The following year Knight received a reprimand after a verbal dust-up with David Smith, then the Texas Tech chancellor, as the two men stood at a grocery store salad bar.

He still won, too. In his first six years in West Texas, Knight led the Red Raiders to five 20-plus win seasons, a feat never previously achieved at the school. On Jan. 1, 2007, Knight won his 880th career game, breaking Dean Smith’s record with a win over New Mexico. Krzyzewski topped Knight’s mark in 2011, with his mentor broadcasting the game for ESPN.

For nearly two decades, Indiana officials attempted to make peace. Knight refused, even skipping his induction into the school’s athletic Hall of Fame in 2009.

“I hope someday he will be honored at Indiana. That needs to happen. Somebody needs to make that happen,” Scott May, a starter on Knight’s 1976 championship team and an outspoken critic of Knight’s firing, pleaded as Knight stayed away. “I think they should name Assembly Hall after him.”

The ice finally broke in February 2020, a few months after Knight bought a new house in Bloomington. His first public appearance at Assembly Hall since the firing came at halftime of the Hoosiers’ game against rival Purdue.

Billed as a reunion between the coach and many of his former players, the halftime celebration became a sustained roar for The General. May and Quinn Buckner, who also played on Knight’s first title team, helped the aging coach — no longer steady on his feet — walk onto the court.

“When he moved back here, I knew he was in a good place,” said Wittman, who played on the 1981 national champs. “I knew he was happy here, living, and I told him you belong here.”

Knight didn’t speak to the crowd that day. It spoke to him.

“We love you, Bobby,” one fan shouted during a brief pause from the crowd, a scene that brought the steely Knight to tears.

Away from the court, Knight was an avid golfer who loved to read, especially history, and donated generously to school libraries at Indiana and Texas Tech. He would vacation in far-flung places to hunt and fish with family or friends such as baseball great Ted Williams or manager Tony La Russa.

Knight also made a cameo appearance in the 2003 movie “Anger Management” with Adam Sandler. In 2006, he starred in “Knight School,” an ESPN reality show in which 16 Texas Tech students vied for the chance to walk on to his team the following season.

A month after leaving Tech, Knight, who often lashed out at reporters, joined ESPN as a guest studio analyst during the 2008 NCAA Tournament. The next season, he expanded his role as a color commentator. The network parted with Knight in 2015.

He returned to public view in 2016, campaigning for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in 2016 and kept a mostly low profile until returning to the campus where he became a household name.

“I was standing there, and he was coach Knight,” Wittman said, referring to Knight’s pregame speech in February 2020. “It was like he hadn’t left that locker room. The words he gave to those players before they went out on the floor, it was fabulous.”

Survivors include wife Karen and sons Tim and Pat.
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Pakistan has started rounding up and deporting undocumented foreigners — including 1.7 million Afghan nationals — following a one-month deadline for voluntary departure that expired Wednesday.

Authorities have reported that nearly 250,000 Afghans have returned to their home country voluntarily in the run-up to the November 1 deadline to avoid being arrested and forcibly expelled.

The United Nations and Pakistani officials say those facing deportation include more than 600,000 people who fled Afghanistan after the Islamist Taliban returned to power in August 2021, when the United States and NATO withdrew their troops from the country.

U.S. officials say they are working closely with Pakistani counterparts to ensure the protection of at least 25,000 Afghans who could be eligible for relocation to the United States under a special immigration program for their services during the two-decade-long presence of American forces in Afghanistan.

But a senior Pakistani official said Wednesday that Islamabad had rejected the list because of significant discrepancies.

“The list of 25,000 Afghans was shared with Pakistan just days before the deportation deadline was to expire. We examined it thoroughly but found it flawed and incomplete,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity for not being authorized to discuss the subject publicly.

The official added that the U.S. side eventually withdrew the list in response to Pakistan’s objections and promised to resubmit it after removing the flaws. Washington did not comment immediately on Pakistani assertions.

On Tuesday, a U.S. official said that facilitating “the safe and efficient” resettlement of Pakistan-based eligible Afghan refugees and asylum seekers is a priority for the U.S. administration.

“To help protect vulnerable individuals, we have shared a list with the government of Pakistan of more than 25,000 Afghan individuals in the U.S. resettlement and relocation pipelines,” said the U.S. official, who spoke anonymously to discuss the policy. “We are in the process of sending letters to those individuals that they can share with local authorities to help identify them as individuals in the U.S. pipeline.”

Dozens of Afghan nationals jailed for “minor crimes” also were released from a prison near the capital of Islamabad and were transported along with others to the border for repatriation Wednesday.

“This action is a testament to Pakistan’s determination to repatriate any individuals residing in the country without proper documentation,” Pakistani Interior Minister Sarfaraz Bugti said on social media platform X.

The Taliban have repeatedly called on Pakistan and other neighboring countries hosting Afghan refugees to halt their deportation. The U.N. and human rights groups have warned the Pakistani plan could expose many individuals to retribution and abuses by de facto Afghan authorities.

“We call on them not to deport Afghans forcefully without preparation; rather give them enough time, and countries should use tolerance,” a Taliban statement said Wednesday. “Those Afghans who have left the country due to political concerns, we assure them to return and live peacefully in their country.”

The Taliban have set up temporary camps on the Afghan side for returning families to provide them with immediate shelter, health care, food and other services. 

Pakistan has been praised globally for hosting millions of Afghan refugees who fled the decadelong Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and ensuing factional fighting in the 1990s. Currently, more than 4 million Afghans reside in the country, including 1.4 million legally registered refugees and hundreds of thousands of documented economic migrants.

Pakistani authorities have stated that Afghans living legally in the country are not subject to the crackdown.

Islamabad defends its policy regarding foreigners without legal status, saying Afghan nationals have carried out several suicide bombings in Pakistan amid a recent spike in deadly attacks in the country being orchestrated by Taliban-allied militants from Afghan soil.

The violence has led to anti-Afghan sentiment and calls for forcing the refugee community out of the country. It comes as Pakistan struggles to address a protracted economic crisis, which has led to historic levels of inflation and energy prices.

VOA Pakistan Bureau Chief Sarah Zaman contributed to this report.
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The Federal Reserve kept its key short-term interest rate unchanged Wednesday for a second straight time but left the door open to further rate hikes if inflation pressures should accelerate in the months ahead. 

In a statement after its latest meeting, the Fed said it would keep its benchmark rate at about 5.4%, its highest level in 22 years. Since launching the most aggressive series of rate hikes in four decades in March 2022 to fight inflation, the Fed has pulled back and has raised rates only once since May. 

The latest statement noted that recent tumult in the financial markets has sent longer-term interest rates up to near 16-year highs and contributed to higher borrowing rates across the economy. 

“Tighter financial and credit conditions for households and businesses,” it said, “are likely to weigh on economic activity.” 

That reference echoed recent comments by Fed officials that higher yields — or interest rates — on the 10-year Treasury note could impose a dampening impact on the economy, cool inflation, and substitute for an additional rate hike by the Fed. 

Speaking at a news conference, Chair Jerome Powell suggested that the surge in longer-term interest rates will slow the economy if those higher rates stay high for a prolonged period. But he cautioned that the Fed isn’t yet confident that its own benchmark rate is high enough to slow the economy over time. 

Long-term Treasury yields have soared since July, the last time the Fed raised rates, swelling the costs of auto loans, credit card borrowing, and many forms of business loans. Nationally, the average long-term fixed mortgage rate is nearing 8%, its highest level in 23 years.

Economists at Wall Street banks have estimated that sharp losses in the stock market and higher bond yields could have a depressive effect on the economy equal to the impact of three or four quarter-point rate hikes by the Fed. 

Those tighter credit conditions, though, have yet to cool the economy or slow hiring as much as the Fed had expected. Growth soared at a 4.9% annual pace in the July-September quarter, powered by robust consumer spending, and hiring in September was strong.

On Wednesday, the government said employers posted a sizable 9.6 million job openings last month, well below the peak of early last year but still sharply above pre-pandemic levels. 

Consumer inflation has dropped from a year-over-year peak of 9.1% in June 2022 to 3.7% last month. But recent data suggests that inflation remains persistently above the Fed’s 2% target. 

Powell and other Fed officials have responded to the surprising evidence of economic strength by saying the Fed will monitor incoming data for any hints that inflation will either further subside or remain chronically above its target level. In the meantime, most Fed watchers expect the central bank to keep rates unchanged in December as well. 

Market analysts say an array of factors have combined to force up long-term Treasury yields and couple with the Fed’s short-term rate hikes to make borrowing costlier for consumers and businesses. For one thing, the government is expected to sell potentially trillions of dollars more in bonds in the coming years to finance huge budget deficits even as the Fed is shrinking its holdings of bonds. As a result, higher Treasury rates may be needed to attract more buyers. 

And with the future path of rates murkier than usual, investors are demanding higher yields in return for the greater risk of holding longer-term bonds. 

What’s important for the Fed is that the yield on the 10-year Treasury has continued to zoom higher even without rate hikes by the central bank. That suggests that Treasury yields may stay high even if the Fed keeps its own benchmark rate on hold, helping keep a lid on economic growth and inflation. 

Other major central banks have also been dialing back their rates hikes with their inflation measures having appeared to improve. The European Central Bank kept its benchmark rate unchanged last week, and last month inflation in the 20 countries that use the euro fell to 2.9%, its lowest level in more than two years. 

The Bank of England also kept its key rate unchanged in September. The Bank of Japan, meanwhile, is inching toward higher borrowing costs, as it loosens control on longer-term rates. 
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In mid-November, Washington’s trade representatives will be in San Francisco for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders’ Week. Trade experts say the US has moved away from unlimited free trade and toward targeted trade policies, which could help Washington attract more APEC nations to invest in a US manufacturing boom already underway. VOA’s Jessica Stone reports. Video edit: Chenny Yu Chen
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U.S. President Joe Biden has nominated Kurt Campbell, the U.S. National Security Council’s coordinator for Indo-Pacific Affairs, to be the State Department’s No. 2 diplomat behind Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

In an email obtained by VOA and addressed to State Department staff members, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Campbell’s nomination “comes at a critical inflection point,” coinciding with the United States’ investment in an “unmatched network of alliances and partnerships” in the Indo-Pacific.

If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Campbell will replace Wendy Sherman, who retired on July 28.

Campbell was assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs from 2009 to 2013 under then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Biden administration policy calls for the U.S. to compete, contest and cooperate with China in an increasingly complex diplomatic and economic relationship.

“We are in competition with China, but we do not seek conflict, confrontation or a new Cold War. We are for managing the competition responsibly,” Campbell told reporters in a briefing on June 14 ahead of a visit by Blinken to Beijing.

The United States and China have been preparing for a meeting in November between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ summit in San Francisco.

“I think continuing high-level engagement, practical areas of communication in an environment in which competition remains the dominant theme in our relationship, is what we can hope for and work towards,” Campbell said in a recent interview with China Talk, a newsletter focused on U.S.-China relations.

Campbell played a crucial role during the administration of former President Barack Obama in shaping Washington’s “pivot to Asia” policy, which reoriented U.S. foreign policy toward that region.

Campbell is married to Lael Brainard, who is Biden’s top economic adviser.
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President Joe Biden is facing a revolt from some members of his own Democratic Party over his unwavering support for Israel as that country expands ground operations in Gaza and Palestinian civilian casualties mount. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this report.
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The number of Afghans seeking asylum in the United States has jumped to 19,000 over the past two years, marking a sharp contrast to the annual double- and triple-digit figures previously reported by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

From 2013 to 2021, the United States granted asylum to fewer than 1,000 Afghans in total.

The sharp rise in the number of Afghan asylum-seekers is directly linked to the evacuation by the U.S. military of more than 124,000 individuals, mostly Afghan nationals, from Kabul International Airport in August 2021. 

After undergoing initial security and health screenings at U.S. military bases in Qatar, Germany and other countries, the Afghan evacuees subsequently entered the United States under a status known as humanitarian parole.

In May 2022, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees USCIS, announced Temporary Protected Status registration for 72,500 Afghans, allowing them to work and live in the country until Nov. 20, 2023.

Last month, Homeland Security said it is extending the program until May 2025 to cover previous and newly eligible individuals.

“The extension and redesignation of Afghanistan for TPS allows an estimated 17,700 individuals to be granted TPS, if they apply for TPS and are found eligible. This includes approximately 3,100 existing beneficiaries currently receiving TPS benefits under Afghanistan’s previous designation, plus an estimated 14,600 newly potentially eligible individuals,” a USCIS spokesperson told VOA by email.

Congress has yet to approve the Afghan Adjustment Act, which would create legal pathways for Afghans who entered the United States in 2021 under humanitarian parole and are seeking permanent residence and naturalization.

“The administration has repeatedly put forward an adjustment act and publicly called on Congress to support a bipartisan adjustment act that would provide a durable, more streamlined immigration pathway for those currently in parole,” the spokesperson said.

While dozens of Democratic and Republican lawmakers have publicly supported the Afghan Adjustment Act, others have voiced concerns about poor security vetting of the individuals who were airlifted from Kabul amid a chaotic withdrawal operation.

Asylum challenges

Amid uncertainty about when and whether Congress will approve the legislation, Homeland Security has encouraged Afghans in temporary protected and parole statuses to apply for asylum, without offering assurances that their cases will be approved.

Critics say the U.S. asylum system is already overwhelmed with applications, and the addition of thousands of Afghan applicants will further strain it.

“Our immigration court system has a massive backlog [of] hundreds of thousands of cases, and many of which are asylum cases,” Laurence Benenson, vice president of policy and advocacy at the National Immigration Forum, told VOA. Benenson said adjudicating asylum cases takes up to five years.

Last year, 1,438 Afghans were granted asylum by the USCIS, a significant increase compared with 96 individuals in 2021 and only 37 in 2020.

In the rush to leave Afghanistan, some evacuees may have failed to take with them the appropriate documents to support their asylum petitions, which Benenson said “makes it much harder to pursue their claims.”

Three Afghan asylum-seekers interviewed for this story said their applications have been pending at USCIS for over a year.

“I don’t know how long we will remain in this limbo, but the uncertainty pains every day,” said Qais Ahmad, who left Kabul on a U.S. military flight in August 2021 and entered the U.S. in December 2021 with his wife and four children.

It is unclear how the Afghan Adjustment Act, if approved by Congress, would handle the thousands of Afghans with pending asylum cases.

“It remains to be seen, is the answer,” said Daniel Salazar, a policy analyst at the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants.

“There are different groups of Afghan nationals who will be affected by the AAA in a variety of ways, but we won’t really know that until federal agencies are actively implementing it,” Salazar told VOA.

Until Congress enacts the Afghan Adjustment Act, the many thousands of Afghans who fall outside the requirements for a Special Immigration Visa — a program that facilitates easy and swift residence for individuals who worked for the U.S. military and programs in Iraq and Afghanistan — will have to undergo the lengthy and cumbersome asylum system. 

 
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President Joe Biden is facing internal revolt from some members of his Democratic Party over his unwavering support for Israel as it expands ground operations in Gaza and Palestinian civilian casualties increase.

The National Muslim Democratic Council (NMDC) sent an open letter demanding that Biden use his influence with Israel to broker a cease-fire by 5 p.m. Tuesday. Without a cease-fire, the advocacy group threatened to mobilize millions of Muslim voters to withhold donations and votes toward Biden’s 2024 reelection campaign.

NMDC includes party leaders from hotly contested states likely to decide the election, such as Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

“We know for a fact that our community will make a difference in the battleground states,” said council chair Basim Elkarra to VOA. “Democratic Party leaders are paying attention, and they are afraid of what’s happening, and they are sending messages to the White House that this is going to hurt our chances in 2024.”

Administration officials have advocated for “humanitarian pauses” to allow aid to reach civilians in Gaza but say a cease-fire now will only benefit Hamas.

Nearly 1.1 million Muslim voters cast ballots in the 2020 election, turning out in numbers large enough to swing the presidential race in key battleground states. Muslim Americans and Arab Americans have traditionally voted for Democratic candidates, but with thousands of Palestinians killed in Israeli retaliatory airstrikes and ground operations in Gaza, a shift may be coming.

A new poll ((https://www.aaiusa.org/library/arab-americans-special-poll-domestic-implications-of-the-most-recent-outbreak-of-violence-in-palestineisrael )) released Tuesday by the Arab American Institute showed support for Biden has dropped among Arab American voters, from 59% in the 2020 election to 17% ahead of 2024.

According to the poll, two-thirds of Arab Americans have a negative view of Biden’s handling of the Israeli-Hamas war. The majority believe the U.S. should not send weapons and military equipment to Israel and should call for a cease-fire.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the White House will continue to engage with the Arab American and Muslim community.

“We certainly want to continue to keep those lines of communication open,” she told VOA during her briefing Tuesday.

However, while the White House provided an extensive readout of Biden’s Oct. 11 meeting with Jewish leaders, they did not announce the president’s meeting with Muslim leaders on Oct. 25.

An administration official told VOA that not every participant wanted this meeting to be made public, an assessment disputed by three Muslim community leaders with direct knowledge of the meeting. The leaders, who spoke with VOA and asked not to be identified, said that it was the White House that made confidentiality a requirement of the meeting.

Jewish voters ‘deeply appreciative’

In contrast, Jewish Americans are “deeply appreciative” of Biden’s full-throated support of Israel, said Halie Soifer, who leads the Jewish Democratic Council of America. About 41% of Jews worldwide – about 7 million people – live in the U.S., according to Pew Research, the same number as in Israel.

Jews make up 2% of the U.S. population but about 3% of the electorate. In the 2020 election, the total number of eligible voters was 158.4 million, according to a Pew Research tabulation.

“The turnout for Jewish voters is on average 10% higher than the average American voter, in some states we’ve seen as high as 15% to 20% higher depending on the election,” Sofier told VOA, adding that Jewish voters tend to live in swing districts or states.

Biden is also widely praised in Israel, where his words and actions, including his brief wartime visit to Tel Aviv, made Israelis feel they are not alone, said Jonathan Rynhold, head of the Department of Political Studies at Bar-Ilan University.

Even those who were extremely critical of Biden and more sympathetic to former President Donald Trump, have publicly said, “I was wrong. This guy is a true friend of Israel,” Rynhold told VOA.

Since the Hamas attack, Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been in close communication, with Biden urging Netanyahu to conduct the offensive against Hamas in Gaza “in a manner consistent with international humanitarian law that prioritizes the protection of civilians,” the White House said Sunday, following the Israeli military’s expansion of its ground operations into Gaza late Friday.

“What he’s saying to Israel – to help me to help you,” Rynhold said. “If you give maximum effort to fight in the right way, according to the laws of war, then it makes it easier for me to support you, and get support for you in the international community, and home in America and in the Democratic Party.”

There’s growing pressure worldwide for a humanitarian cease-fire as casualties mount.

More than 8,000 Palestinians, including at least 3,300 children, have been killed in Israeli retaliatory attacks, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.

The Oct. 7 attack by Hamas killed at least 1,400 people in Israel and took more than 200 hostages. The militant group that controls the Gaza Strip cited Israel’s decadeslong occupation of the West Bank among its motivations for attacking Israeli civilians and soldiers.

Republican support

Support for Israel is also strong among Republicans. Rejecting Biden’s call for a $106 billion international aid package with funding for Ukraine, Israel and other needs, newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, has put forward a $14.3 billion package that only includes money for Israel.

Meanwhile Trump, the leading contender for his party’s 2024 presidential nomination, faced an intense backlash over his criticism of Netanyahu just days after the Hamas attack. He said Netanyahu was unprepared and described Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group backing Hamas, as “very smart.”

At the Republican Jewish Coalition leadership summit over the weekend, Trump returned his focus on Biden.

“Four straight years, I kept America safe. I kept Israel safe, and I kept the world safe,” he said at the gathering of influential Republican donors. “If I were president, the attack on Israel would never, ever have happened.”

Trump’s argument is unlikely to change voters’ perception of Biden’s handling of the war, said Norman Ornstein, senior fellow emeritus at the American Enterprise Institute.

“There isn’t a lot of room for Republicans here, whether it’s Trump or the Republicans in Congress to outflank Biden on support for Israel,” he told VOA.

While foreign policy is not usually a key driver of the American electorate unless U.S. troops are deployed, the war in Gaza has elicited highly emotional responses from Americans. Demonstrations both for and against Israel have spread in various cities, while incidents of antisemitism and Islamophobia are on the rise.

Overall, a majority of voters – 84% Republicans, 76% Democrats and 74% independents – think supporting Israel is in the national interest of the United States, according to an Oct. 17 Quinnipiac University national poll of registered voters. Most voters – 79% Republicans, 59% Democrats, 61% independents – approve of sending weapons and military equipment to Israel.

An overwhelming majority of voters (85%) are concerned that the conflict will escalate into a wider war in the Middle East.

Anita Powell contributed to this report.
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U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria have been attacked with drones or rockets at least 27 times in recent days, as more U.S. forces deploy to the region, Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder said Tuesday.

At least seven of these attacks were launched after U.S. forces in the early morning hours of Friday struck two facilities in eastern Syria used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and affiliated groups.

The U.S. strikes were in response to earlier attacks on U.S. forces and were “narrowly tailored … to protect and defend U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria,” Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in a statement.

None of the attacks carried out since the U.S. retaliatory strikes on Friday has caused casualties or damage, according to defense officials.

The latest attack occurred Monday and used multiple one-way attack drones to target al-Asad Air Base in western Iraq, said a defense official who spoke to VOA on condition of anonymity due to security sensitivities.

Multiple rockets were used in another attack on al-Asad on Monday, and rockets targeted U.S. and coalition forces at two locations in eastern Syria as well, one at a base known as Green Village and another at Mission Support Site Euphrates.

On Sunday, a one-way attack drone was used against U.S. forces at a base near al-Shaddadi, according to U.S. officials.

Ryder said the Pentagon was deploying 300 more troops to the Middle East region “to support regional deterrence efforts and further bolster U.S. force protection capabilities.”

“They aren’t going to Israel,” Ryder said.

Ryder and other officials have blamed Iranian-backed proxies for the near daily attacks on U.S. forces.

“We know that these are Iranian-backed militia groups that are supported by Iran and, of course, we hold Iran responsible for these groups,” Ryder said last week.

Austin told members of Congress on Tuesday that the United States maintains the right to respond at a time and place it chooses.

“If this doesn’t stop, then we will respond.” Austin said.

Asked by VOA whether the recent attacks are a sign that U.S. deterrence is not working, a senior defense official said earlier this week that “Iran’s objective for a long time has been to force a withdrawal of the U.S. military from the region. What I would observe is that we’re still there.”

US strikes back in Syria

One American F-15 and two American F-16 fighter jets used precision munitions against a weapons storage facility and an ammunition facility near Abu Kamal early Friday local time, according to defense officials. The Pentagon assesses the strikes successfully hit their targets, and it is still looking into casualty numbers.

“These precision self-defense strikes are a response to a series of ongoing and mostly unsuccessful attacks against U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-backed militia groups that began on Oct. 17,” Austin said in a statement. 

“The United States will not tolerate such attacks and will defend itself, its personnel, and its interests,” he added.

Officials have raised concerns about the prospect of “more significant escalation” in the region from Iranian proxy groups. 

“Spillover into Syria is not just a risk; it has already begun,” Geir Pedersen, U.N. special envoy for Syria, said on Monday.

The attacks since Oct. 17 on U.S. and coalition forces have resulted in 17 minor injuries to Americans in Syria and four minor injuries to American personnel in Iraq, with U.S. officials continuing to monitor any potential traumatic brain injuries. 

One U.S. contractor at al-Asad Air Base in Iraq suffered a cardiac episode while sheltering in place during a false alarm for an air attack and died. 

At least 20 attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria occurred between Oct. 17 and Oct. 26, according to the Pentagon.

US increasing protection in region

Approximately 1,200 troops have either deployed or are in the process of deploying from the United States to the Middle East to increase force protection. These units include a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, battery from Fort Bliss, Patriot batteries from Fort Sill, and Patriot and Avenger batteries from Fort Liberty.

Austin placed more than 2,000 military personnel on heightened alert earlier this month with a prepare-to-deploy order.

VOA’s Margaret Besheer contributed to this report from the United Nations.
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U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Tuesday that Russia would be successful in Ukraine unless the United States kept up its support for Kyiv.

Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken testified to the Senate Appropriations Committee on President Joe Biden’s request for $106 billion to fund ambitious plans for Ukraine, Israel and U.S. border security.

“I can guarantee that without our support [Russian President Vladimir] Putin will be successful,” Austin said during the hearing.

“If we pull the rug out from under them now, Putin will only get stronger and he will be successful in doing what he wants to do.”

Arguing that supporting U.S. partners is vital to national security, Biden requested $61.4 billion for Ukraine, about half of which would be spent in the United States to replenish weapons stocks drained by previous support.

Congress has already approved $113 billion for Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022. The White House has said it has less than $5.5 billion in funds to continue transferring weapons from U.S. stockpiles to Ukrainian forces fighting Russia.

The path forward for Biden’s latest funding plan looks uncertain. Democrats solidly back Biden’s strategy of combining Ukraine aid with support for Israel, as do many Republicans in both the Senate and House of Representatives.

But Republicans who lead the House of Representatives object to combining the two issues, joined by some party members in the Senate.

Austin said the Biden administration wanted Ukraine to continue operations through the winter, but Kyiv could not do that if they were forced to pause because of a lack of U.S. support.

Kyiv military officials said on Monday that Russia has bulked up its forces around the devastated city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine and has switched its troops from defense to offense, but Ukraine has been preparing to repel the attacks.
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