The Israel military today said that it killed Hamas’s military chief Muhammad Deif in Gaza last month. Deif was believed to be a key planner of the Oct. 7 attack.
The announcement came a day after two high-ranking Israeli enemies were killed.
Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in a blast on Wednesday while visiting the Iranian capital of Tehran. He was in Tehran to attend the inauguration of newly-elected Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian the day before.
Taher Al-Nunu, a spokesman for Haniyeh, said the Hamas figure was killed after a direct missile impact on the room he was staying in at the time.
No one had claimed responsibility for the blast as of Wednesday afternoon but Hamas and Iranian officials quickly pointed the blame at Israel, which has been battling with the U.S. and Israeli-designated terrorist group since it led attacks across southern Israel on Oct. 7. Israel has vowed to kill Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders since the October attack.
“The criminal and terrorist Zionist regime martyred our beloved guest inside our house and made us mournful, but it paved the way for a harsh punishment to be imposed on it,” Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday, referring to the Israeli government.
The strike that killed Haniyeh came within hours of another airstrike in southern Beirut, that killed Fuad Shukr, a senior military official within Hezbollah, another U.S. and Israeli-designated terrorist group. While the Israeli government hasn’t claimed responsibility for killing Haniyeh, it has claimed credit for the strike targeting Shukr.
In a Wednesday evening address, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Israel would “exact a heavy price from any aggression against us on any front.” Netanyahu directly alluded to the strike that killed Shukr in Beirut during his Wednesday remarks but didn’t specifically reference Haniyeh’s assassination.
Iranian Ambassador to the U.N. Amir Saeid Iravani, and other Iranian officials, have said the United States also bears responsibility for Haniyeh’s death, for its ongoing support of Israel. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken insisted, in a Wednesday interview, that the United States was “not aware of or involved in” the strike that killed Haniyeh.
Other international observers joined in condemning Haniyeh’s assassination. Representatives for Qatar and Egypt—two countries that have both worked as intermediaries in Israel–Hamas cease-fire talks—said the Hamas leader’s assassination could undermine ongoing negotiations.
“How can mediation succeed when one party assassinates the negotiator on the other side?” Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani said Wednesday.
The foreign ministries of Russia and China—two geopolitical rivals of the United States—also condemned Haniyeh’s assassination. The Russian Foreign Ministry said the killing was “fraught with dangerous consequences for the entire region” while Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said the strike “may plunge the region into greater turmoil.”
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres also said the airstrikes in Tehran and Beirut were “a dangerous escalation.” The U.N. Security Council convened an emergency meeting on Wednesday to address the recent escalating tensions in the Middle East.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said, at a Wednesday press briefing, that there are “no signs that an escalation is imminent” following Haniyeh’s assassination. Still, Kirby said the Biden administration is “obviously concerned” about an escalating conflict and is continuing to monitor the region.
—Ryan Morgan
SENATE CONSIDER CHILD TAX CREDIT EXPANSION
The U.S. Senate today will take up legislation to expand the child tax credit before leaving for the month-long August recess.
It looks likely that the bill, pushed by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), will fail despite overwhelming bipartisan support in a January House vote, when the bill was approved by the lower chamber 357–70.
Schumer called the bill “good for kids, good for affordable housing, good for small businesses, and good for American families. This bipartisan bill passed the House overwhelmingly and we hope the Senate Republicans will join us.”
With a topline price of $79 billion, the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act would incrementally increase the tax credit filers can receive for their dependent children. Currently, that amount sits at $1600.
Additionally, it would reinstate several aspects of former President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax legislation, including tax cuts related to research and small business expenses.
Nevertheless, the bill is widely expected to fail by senators—including Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), one of the only Republicans openly supporting the legislation.
Hawley told The Epoch Times that the bill’s “not perfect,” but argued that it would benefit working people.
Still, he said, “I'd be really surprised to get 60,” referencing the procedural threshold needed to advance legislation in the Senate.
Sen. J.D. Vance, the Ohio Republican sharing the ticket with Trump, may not be able to make the vote—in spite of past expressions of support for pro-family tax programs—due to his campaign schedule.
A few other Republicans, including Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), indicated to The Epoch Times that they hadn’t yet made a final decision.
For Republican opponents of the legislation, the concern is more about process than substance: several critics told The Epoch Times that they “liked a lot of” what’s in the bill..
But according to these Republican critics, Schumer hasn’t handled the process correctly by putting the bill on the floor without giving it a chance to work through the Senate Finance Committee and be negotiated by senators.
“I think there’s more of a process question than a substantive question you have to deal with,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, told The Epoch Times.
“It should have been referred to us,” Grassley added.
“I don’t think we’ll give cloture,” Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) told The Epoch Times, adding “we want to see a committee process.”
National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Steve Daines (R-Wyo.), meanwhile, called the bill “a show vote.”
“It’s purely a show vote because he’s got some endangered Senate Democrats that want to have this vote,” Daines said.
Most of these opponents suggested that a deal could be reached on the issue if the bill went through the appropriate legislative channels.
Should it fail, the bill will not be able to be taken up again until the Senate returns in September, at which point all attention will likely be focused on more pressing spending legislation.
—Joseph Lord
BOOKMARKS
Kyiv has closed a Russian pipeline that supplied oil to Hungary and Slovakia, prompting fears of a shortage. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto blamed the move on European Commission officials, saying they wanted to “blackmail” two countries that did not provide arms support to Ukraine in its war against Russia.
Republican Kari Lake has emerged victorious in her Arizona Senate primary race, lining up a battle against Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) in November. The two candidates will vie for the vacancy left by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), who is not seeking reelection.
The USDA plans to disburse more that $2 billion to farmers who reportedly faced discrimination prior to 2021. The money will be spread out over 43,000 farmers, in allotments ranging from $3,500 to farmers who couldn’t get loans, to $500,000 for farmers and ranchers discriminated against for ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, and other characteristics.
Air New Zealand is abandoning its 2030 climate goals, saying the path forward is not logistically sustainable due to cost and supply chain issues. The original goal was to reduce its carbon footprint by 28.9 percent in line with the United Nations’ Science Based Targets Initiative.
The UK Court of Appeal has posthumously overturned a ruling against 19-year old Sudiksha Thirumalesh, which previously declared her mentally unfit to make decisions about her medical health. Ms. Thirumalesh died while fighting that ruling, in which her intention to seek experimental therapy in Canada was labeled a “delusion” by doctors who thought it better for her to cease treatment and face certain death.
—Stacy Robinson