The Guardian is reporting that over the weekend, Israel’s former military chief Gadi Eisenkot has started negotiations with potential governing partners inside Prime Minister Netanyhu's far right coalition as well as with the Arab parties who saw significant gains in the parliamentary elections.
The 66 year-old Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar party, formally got the legally required mandate from the Israel's president, Isaac Herzog, to form a government despite his bloc lacking a clear majority.He has 28 days to do it.
Tuesday the Trump administration was rebuked by voters, particularly younger ones, over the American decision to join in Israel's war of choice with Iran while ignoring the ongoing genocide in Gaza and systemtic incursions in the West Bank. For Israel, that generational American shift has profound consequences.
Eisenkot remarks suggested he saw his country faced an existential threat from its own growing isolation from not just the US, but the entire planet.
“We are in the midst of a devastating diplomatic crisis," the retired military leader said. "Even our closest friends and strategic allies are saying their relationship with Israel must be reassessed.”
In the week since the US election, the Democrats have now claimed 259 seats, a net 41 seat gain. In the US Senate, Democratic challengers Rep. Mary Peltola in Alaska and Scott Colom in Mississippi, continue to lead their Republican incumbent opponents. So far, Democrats have picked up seven Senate seats with a potential to get up to 56 seats in the upper chamber.
World leaders are gathering in Turkey this week for COP 31 this year's UN Climate Summit as what's described as a "monster El Nino" makes the global fossil fuel linked crisis worse.
Last night, in a 60 Minute interview, President Trump conceded his immigration policy might have been "too tough" and opened the door to working with Congressional Democrats. Meanwhile, his elevation of Steven Miller to the chief of staff job indicates otherwise.
This morning we ran this all by labor historian Dr. Joe Wilson. We will also check in with the folks fighting the ICE prison in Roxbury, New Jersey where there's no sign of Trump backing down.
In our second hour we spoke with Food and Water Watch national policy director Bill Walsh and Jennifer Coffey, who leads the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions about how, despte Tuesday pro-environmental results, the fossil fuel lobby is working overtime to use the lame duck session to make it harder for local and state governments to use existing federal environmental protections law to defeat data centers or new ICE detention facilities.
Walsh told listeners Sen. Chuck Schumer had not weighed in yet while Rep. Hakeem Jeffries had publicly expressed reservations about nthe Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, US Senate bill 5653, also known as the permitting reform legislation that would ensure that data centers and pipelines are approved regardless of how the projects will result in more air and water pollution.
We finished up with Make the Road New Jersey's Nedia Morsy and Brittany Paris, with Rutgers AAUP-AFT who are both part of the growing chorus who want the State of New Jersey to divest from Palantir, for its work with the Trump deportation apparatus and Israel's genocidal siege of Gaza.
Last week, Palantir took a hit in the stock market when traders factored in the risk the entire AI sector would come under greater scrutiny with Democrats prevailing in the mid-terms.
The state has close to $138 million in Palintir stock.
"We’ve been sounding the alarm on this for the past year," Morsy said. "Palantir was always a risky investment, and what we’re seeing now should be a wake up call for the state to divest immediately. We can’t gamble with state pension funds, especially in a company like Palantir with a long track record of helping violate people’s rights. That’s a huge legal liability that our state pension fund can’t afford. Retirees shouldn’t be the ones left holding the bag when the stock freefalls.”
