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🇺🇸 Truce Extended: What's next?

Plus, private island for sale

November 29, 2023

The Flag

Good morning, and happy Wednesday. A team of South Korean student inventors has been awarded the 2023 James Dyson Award for an air pressure-controlled IV bag that will allow rescuers in disaster situations much more flexibility when administering live-saving fluids and drugs.

Plus, a Florida Keys private island that was once featured on an HGTV series is for sale with an asking price of $2.5 million.

Left: Is Biden Doomed in 2024? 3 Theories Andrew Prokop, Vox

Left: Christie Vows To Continue Doomed Campaign to Bitter End Ed Kilgore, New York Magazine

Right: Missouri v. Biden and the Effort To Censor True Information Byron York, Washington Examiner

Right: Amazon Loophole Is Driving the Fentanyl Crisis David Dayen, American Prospect

QUICK CLICKS

Haley’s Big Backer, Hunter’s Oversight, Indian Workers Rescued

US: Influential Koch network backs Nikki Haley in GOP presidential primary (CNN)

US: Hunter Biden agrees to House Oversight Committee testimony (FOX News)

US: Biden, Democrats pounce on Trump’s offensive against the ACA (MSNBC)

US: Texas abortion case heard before state's highest court, as more women join lawsuit (NPR)

World: Ukraine military intelligence chief's wife has been poisoned, reports say (FOX News)

World: All 41 workers rescued from collapsed tunnel in India after 17-day ordeal (CNN)

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Knightscope’s influence and reach seem to be on the rise. Just in 2023, the company has made more than 50 announcements including numerous contracts and reports it is on track to double its revenue versus 2022. These contracts further validate the growing demand for Knightscope's robotic solutions as they continue to work through a nearly $5 million backlog of new orders.

The company is currently offering an investment opportunity for interested parties to buy bonds.

The robotics market was valued at $31.38 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach $110.39 by 2030 with a CAGR of 15% from 2022-2030. Knightscope seems well-positioned to capitalize on this growth and be a potential leader in the U.S. market. Click here to learn more about the Rise of the Robots.

MIDDLE EAST

Truce Extended: What’s Next?

On Monday, Israel and Hamas reached an agreement to extend their truce. The deal was aided by Qatar, Egypt, and the Biden Administration, which Israel lauded for its integral role. Hamas is expected to release an additional 20 Israeli hostages, and Israel is expected to send back 60 more Palestinian women and children held in Israeli jails.

Reporting from the Left: Israel and Hamas agree to extend truce for two more days, and to free more hostages and prisoners (AP)

Reporting from the Right: Israel and Hamas extend truce as hostage talks continue (Washington Examiner)

From The Flag: Hamas and Israel agreed to a four-day ceasefire last week, in which 50 Israeli hostages were exchanged for 150 imprisoned Palestinian women and children. Israel said it would grant an additional day of truce for every 10 additional prisoners Hamas released. Not all hostages in Gaza are held by Hamas, and according to an Israeli official, there was an understanding that Hamas would use the four-day truce to locate 20 more hostages. With the truce extended, many are looking at what this means for the future of the conflict. Here’s what both sides are saying.

LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Uncertain Future

  • “Monday’s extension is good news for anyone concerned about the humanitarian situation, but the bigger questions about the future of the war remain.”

  • Recognizing Palestine as a state would go a long way to creating positive shifts in the region.

  • “Israel’s leaders have big reasons to extend the temporary cease-fire — and big reasons to resume fighting.”

The Israel-Hamas prisoner deal was extended. What comes next? Ellen Ioanes, Vox: “…the bigger questions about the war’s path and the future of Gaza remain as unclear as they were when this pause began. …Israel holds ‘thousands of Palestinians, including hundreds of children ... on murky legal grounds.’ Hamas and Palestine Islamic Jihad are still holding well over 100 hostages in Gaza. … At this pace of exchange, the ceasefire could continue for days, given the number of hostages still in Gaza. But there is no agreed-upon framework for a long-term deal, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that the war will go on after the current ceasefire concludes. While the prisoner exchange could strengthen Hamas’s political position, further complicating Israel’s goal to eradicate the group, Israel appears undeterred. … Hamas has also only agreed to release civilians; although the militant group that controls Gaza has taken some Israeli soldiers hostage, guaranteeing their release will require further negotiations…

Why recognizing Palestine is the key to ending the war in Gaza, Daoud Kuttab, The Washington Post: “Washington’s refusal to recognize a Palestinian state deprives Israel of any reason to take the Palestinians seriously. It is this egregious lack of political imagination on the Americans’ part that has helped bring us to the catastrophe that is now engulfing the region. Recognizing Palestine as a full member state would have a number of positive effects. It would demonstrate that Biden is truly serious about his professed aim of a two-state solution. And it would undermine the positions of radicals on both sides — the Palestinian extremists who refuse to recognize Israel, as well as those on Israel’s far right, who want to annex all the Palestinian territory west of the River Jordan. … Biden is right to say Palestinians urgently need a ‘revitalized’ political structure — presumably based on the will of the Palestinian people as expressed through free elections. But such elections will be almost impossible to conduct unless Palestinian voters can be sure that their votes will bring them closer to freedom from occupation and endless violence. In this sense, recognition and new elections are two indispensable components of the same strategy.”

One more opinion piece from the Left: A Strategic Dilemma, David Leonhardt, The New York Times

RIGHT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Eliminating Hamas is The Priority

  • The more time that passes, the more time Hamas has to arm itself, making it harder to eradicate the militant group.

  • A permanent ceasefire will only allow Hamas to get stronger, and the only way to a true ceasefire is to completely eliminate Hamas.

  • Giving control of Gaza to Fatah is not the right move as they are no better than Hamas.

Israel’s OK on extending cease-fire mustn’t stop it from wiping out Hamas, Editorial Board, The New York Post: “Every day that passes with Hamas still alive makes the job of eradicating it harder. But Hamas must be obliterated. No one can blame Jerusalem for choosing to make the return of its hostages a top priority. Yet Israel faces a ticking clock: World pressure to ‘permanently’ end the war keeps growing. And if the past is any guide, Israel will be forced to call off its campaign against Hamas prematurely (recall its conflicts with Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, which now has as many as 150,000 rockets). Team Biden has even warned Israel against shifting attacks to Gaza’s southern region unless civilians there are first assured access to humanitarian aid and safety. That may make it difficult, if not impossible, for Israel to finish the job. Yet much is left to be done: Hamas vowed weeks ago to continue its attacks “again and again” until Israel is destroyed; one of its leaders, Khaled Mashal, bragged Friday that the terror group’s tunnels and weapons remain intact and that it can and will use them to launch new attacks on Israel.”

The only way to get a 'permanent ceasefire' is to destroy Hamas, Zachary Faria, Washington Examiner: “Spineless world leaders and brainless liberal activists are calling for a ‘permanent ceasefire’ between Israel and Hamas. It is nothing more than a delusional fantasy because the only way a permanent ceasefire can be reached with Hamas is if Hamas is eliminated. The calls for a permanent ceasefire have come from the prime ministers of Belgium and Spain, two cowards whose civilians should hope are never tasked with actually having to defend their countries from an existential threat. The calls also come from protesters across the United States and in London. The problem, of course, is that there was a ceasefire in place before Hamas decided to massacre some 1,200 civilians, a meticulously planned attack that included taking hostages and executing families in their homes. … You could simply deny reality, as socialist New York state Sen. Julia Salazar did after touting a permanent ceasefire march. But even then, the formula for a “permanent” end to hostilities is clear: You must eliminate the group whose entire existence is centered on slaughtering Israeli civilians (and all Jews) and destroying the state of Israel.”

One more opinion piece from the Right: Don’t Give Gaza to the Palestinian Authority, Eugene Kontorovich and Itamar Marcus, The Wall Street Journal

FLAG THIS

Shifting Views on Israel and Palestine

Before the truce was announced, US public support for Israel's war against Hamas militants in Gaza had been eroding, with most Americans thinking Israel should call a ceasefire to a conflict, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll from mid-November.

Some 32% of respondents said "the US should support Israel,” which is down from 41% who said the US should back Israel when the poll was conducted immediately after Hamas’s October 7 attack (Reuters).

A Quinnipiac poll found the number of US voters who sympathize with Palestinians more than Israelis has slightly grown. Among voters between the ages of 18 and 34, a majority said their sympathies lie more with the Palestinians, which is up from 26% in October.

Among Democrats, a plurality (41%) said they sympathized more with Palestinians — a 19 percentage point increase from last month's Quinnipiac poll — while sympathy for Israelis fell 14 percentage points

An overwhelming 80% of Republican voters sympathized with Israelis over Palestinians, and 83% said it is also in the national interest to continue supporting Israel. (Axios).

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WATERCOOLER

Ike’s Visit, Mud Libraries, Bleach Life

On This Day in 1952: Making good on his most dramatic presidential campaign promise, newly elected Dwight D. Eisenhower goes to Korea to see whether he can find the key to ending the bitter and frustrating Korean War.

The Atlantic: The Tyranny of Stuff

Today I learned bleach has a shelf life with the effectiveness decreasing after just 6 months and eventually degrading into salt water.

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