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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Sunday that Israel will be halting all movement of goods into Gaza, following Hamas’s apparent rejection of a ceasefire proposal suggested by President Donald Trump’s envoy. As Breitbart News reported Saturday, “Israel accepted a new proposal by the Trump administration on Saturday night, under which all of the 63 remaining hostages would be released over the course of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, en route to a permanent ceasefire.” It was not clear at the time what Hamas’s response would be to the proposal, which had been conveyed by U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is threatening to withhold aid from cities that do not follow his homeless policies — while arguing at the same time that it would be wrong for the federal government to withhold aid from California. Newsom is asking Congress and the Trump administration for $40 billion in aid to deal with the aftermath of the deadly Los Angeles fires — even as he spends $50 million to fight Trump over immigration and other issues. California officials have generally pushed back against the idea that federal aid for the fires should have “strings,” such as Ambassador Ric...

The U.S. government is in the habit of sending hundreds of billions overseas each year—foreign aid, military assistance, humanitarian support—and most of it is wasted or siphoned off by the well-connected. It’s the ultimate slush fund. Billions are funneled to NGOs that line their pockets, pay exorbitant salaries to their cronies, and rarely, if ever, deliver on the stated mission. This is a direct line to the $36 trillion debt and a $2 trillion annual deficit we’re drowning in. Foreign aid is a massive scam, draining U.S. coffers while our own infrastructure and services fall apart. Look at the State...

President Donald Trump is trying to work toward peace in Ukraine. Folks on the left seem content with continual war, with us pouring out support Ukraine with no end in sight, with seemingly no accounting. And that if you objected to it or wanted more of an accounting, it was somehow supporting Russia. You can believe Russia's invasion was wrong but still see that that this can't go on without a resolution. But now under Trump, we're finally addressing that question and talking about options that Biden and many in Congress just didn't want to ever address. The Trump team...

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday formalizing his announcement earlier this week that he’ll freeze assistance to South Africa for a law aiming to address some of the wrongs of South Africa’s racist apartheid era — a law the White House says amounts to discrimination against the country’s white minority. “As long as South Africa continues to support bad actors on the world stage and allows violent attacks on innocent disfavored minority farmers, the United States will stop aid and assistance to the country,” the White House said in a summary of the order. The White House said...

American officials at the State Department are striving to maintain aid to Ukraine despite the announcement of a freeze on foreign aid by the new Secretary of State, reports the "Financial Times." It remains unclear what impact this decision will have.High-ranking diplomats in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs have appealed to Secretary of State Marco Rubio to exclude support for Ukraine from the memorandum suspending foreign aid for 90 days, issued by him on Friday. Rubio has already made exceptions for Israel and Egypt, as well as emergency food programs, but Ukraine was not included.SNIPThe Ukrainian edition of...

The Trump administration’s sudden halt on U.S. foreign aid is causing chaos inside groups ranging from health providers to landmine removers — interrupting lifesaving programs as officials struggle to understand the scope of the directive. Following the Friday order from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, leaders of aid organizations are looking at which programs to stop, and whether to immediately cut staff or even shut down. As they seek waivers, aid groups are scrambling to adjust — from seeking non-federal funds to help refugees arriving in the U.S. to halting efforts at HIV clinics in Africa. “This ‘stop work’ order...

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, voiced her support on Friday for the recent halt in foreign aid seemingly impacting Ukraine. Newsweek has reached out to Greene and the White House via email for comment. Why It Matters Greene, an ally of President Donald Trump, has been a staunch critic of former President Joe Biden's Ukrainian aid amid the Russia-Ukraine war that began nearly three years ago. Trump has also criticized the billions of dollars the Biden administration has spent in supporting Kyiv and has said that if he was at the negotiating table with Russian President Vladimir Putin...

Gavin Newsom can't be trusted with billions in bail-out money for the torched neighborhoods of Los Angeles. That much is obvious to your humble West Coast, Messed Coast™ correspondent. That's what you call a cold open to this week's West Coast, Messed Coast™, report where I've been keeping close track of the fire response. Gavin Newsom and his minions in public office — especially L.A. Mayor Karen Bass — can't be trusted to properly account for what will be a years-long effort to rebuild the charred parts of L.A. County. The governor who lost or misspent BILLIONS OF DOLLARS in...

Please, Don, may I have some more? President Trump was greeted warmly by Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom as the commander in chief exited Air Force One upon arrival in Los Angeles Friday — making nice after Trump blasted his management of the crisis. Trump, 78, and Newsom, 57, talked briefly and animatedly after the president descended the steps of his jet — with the governor alternately pointing, making a fist and giving a thumbs up. The awkward greeting, in which both men patted each other on the shoulder, ended with Newsom, who had not been officially invited, giving first...

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Thursday rejected the idea of combining California wildfire aid with a debt ceiling hike, saying Democrats would oppose such a package if Republicans bring it to the floor. “It’s a nonstarter,” Jeffries said during a press briefing in the Capitol. The pushback could complicate the plans of Republican leaders in both chambers, who are reportedly weighing a strategy to craft a massive legislative package combining an extension of government spending — which is scheduled to expire March 14 — with an increase in the debt limit, aid for wildfire victims and border security...

Despite over 2,400 aid trucks having entered the Gaza Strip since the Israel-Hamas ceasefire on Sunday, Gaza residents say the aid is not reaching them and are accusing Hamas of diverting it and selling it, Hebrew media reported on Thursday. “We don’t see any aid or goods at reasonable prices. Why?” lamented one resident, according to Channel 12 News. Another said, “Hamas steals the aid and sells it to merchants, who then set exorbitant prices at the expense of our entire people.” The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that 897 aid trucks entered Gaza on...

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) claimed Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that House Republicans were attempting to condition disaster relief to Californians for “massive tax breaks for billionaires.” Host Kristen Welker said, “Let me get your take on disaster aid, Leader Jeffries. You just heard Speaker Johnson say very clearly that yes, there may be strings attached, that yes, it’s possible that they will move to try to link it to an increase in the debt limit. Would you vote yes if that were to come before you? If that were the only way you believe to get...

Tuesday on ABC’s “The View,” Whoopi Goldberg told her co-hosts that Republicans like Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) saying there could be strings attached to aid for the California wildfires was “beyond shameful.” Goldberg said, “As wildfires continue to devastate Los Angeles, burning homes and costing billions in damages, some are calling for award shows like The Oscars to be postponed or canceled while others want them turned into telethons to raise funds for the victims. Right now, The Oscars aren’t until March. What I’m concerned about is this: Republicans like Mike Johnson threatening to put conditions on the aid to...

California is moving quickly to protect undocumented immigrant students as top officials Monday outlined steps to guide school leaders, inform parents and provide mental health support to anxious students and families at elementary schools through university campuses. This deployment of reassurance and resources at public schools, where every child has a right to an education regardless of immigration status, is designed to counter President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office Jan. 20. Trump has repeatedly threatened to order mass deportations to address what he characterizes as the harms of illegal immigration.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he will again call on allies to boost its air defenses at this week’s meeting in Germany, as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes over later this month with a vow to end the almost three-year war quickly. Zelenskyy said that dozens of partner countries will participate in the meeting of the Ramstein group at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Thursday, “including those who can help boost our capabilities not only to defend against missiles but also against guided bombs and Russian aviation.”

For weeks, we've been hearing news reports and public statements about starving babies in Gaza. 60 Minutes did a long, breathy, segment this past weekend, interviewing clean and showered Gazans supposedly on the edge of death, speaking in perfect English, with no questions asked about whether they danced on Oct. 7. The pope made a lot of furious appeals for Gaza, too, always speaking of the children and throwing a few darts at Israel, which is trying to defend itself from monstrous terrorists, and not the terrorists who have embedded themselves behind the civilians in these misery zones. The UNRWA,...

Thousands of pallets of humanitarian aid stacked at the Gaza border — from sacks of flour to blankets and canned food — are awaiting delivery by relief organizations that are unwilling to send supply trucks likely to be looted by Hamas terrorists and other street criminals. The aid, coming in on trucks from Jordan, Egypt and the West Bank, has already been inspected by the Israel Defense Forces before entering Gaza, where the international community and humanitarian organizations are in charge of delivering the assistance to Palestinians. But the path from the Israel-Gaza border to where the aid is needed...

One day after Democrats fumed about his absence on the world stage and from his own administration, retiring President Biden has announced he will roll out even “more student debt cancellation,” work to “achieve a ceasefire in Gaza with the hostages released” and send further military assistance to Ukraine, according to an internal White House memo. The memo from Biden’s chief of staff Jeff Zients, which was addressed to all White House staff, outlined the 46th president’s foreign and domestic priorities for his remaining 42-day “sprint” before President-elect Donald Trump assumes office, a copy of the memo obtained by The...

House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday rejected a White House request to pass $24 billion in additional aid for Ukraine by the end of the year, saying any further assistance for Kyiv would be decided by President-elect Trump when he assumes office in January. “I’m not planning to do that,” Johnson said in response to a question if he would add aid for Ukraine to a continuing resolution to fund the government. Johnson, speaking during a House Republican Leaders news conference, said Trump’s election victory is changing the dynamic of Russia’s war on Ukraine and that any additional U.S. assistance...