作者： root

Israel’s decades-old US support risks losing Democrats

2026-07-29T05:04:24.881Z / reuters.com

WASHINGTON, July 29 (Reuters) – For generations, support for Israel united Washington. Now Israel’s attacks on Gaza, the Iran war and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s close ties to U.S. Republicans are eroding Democratic backing, threatening to turn one of America’s closest alliances into a partisan divide.

Support for Israel among Democratic voters has plummeted, candidates critical of Israel are winning Democratic primaries and even moderate lawmakers are increasingly willing to challenge decades of U.S. support for Israel.

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The shift is evident in Congress. This month, nearly half of House Democrats voted for a failed amendment to cut off aid to Israel, legislation that once likely would have been defeated by an overwhelming bipartisan majority. Israel receives $3.8 billion annually in U.S. military aid and received billions more in emergency funds in recent years.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and some of his lieutenants opposed the measure, calling it overly broad. But former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark were among those voting yes.

Democrats are increasingly divided over whether military aid should continue unchanged, be restricted to defensive weapons or be halted altogether.

U.S. Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, the leading Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he hopes Israeli elections in October help restore bipartisan U.S. support while opening a new chapter beyond Netanyahu’s leadership.

“New governments get to change direction,” Coons told Reuters, adding, “Netanyahu has kept Israel at war for years now, partly to avoid the political consequences of his choices.”

Overall sentiment toward Israel is declining. A June Quinnipiac University poll found 48% of voters and 66% of Democrats believe the United States is too supportive of Israel, up from 16% and 20% when the question was first asked in 2017.

“Yes, there is a vigorous debate, but across broad segments of the parties, support for Israel remains firmly in the mainstream,” said Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, in an interview.

ISRAEL A FLASHPOINT IN MICHIGAN DEMOCRATIC RACE

The shift faces a major test in Tuesday’s Democratic U.S. Senate primary in Michigan where voters will weigh competing visions of U.S. support with growing numbers of congressional Democrats questioning longstanding U.S. military aid.

The race between progressive Abdul El-Sayed and U.S. Representative Haley Stevens will determine who faces Republican Mike Rogers in November and reflects the wider Democratic debate over Israel and longstanding U.S. military support.

Stevens made a video with AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a major donor to her campaign, arguing that a close relationship with Israel “yields trade, that yields economic growth and that keeps our freedoms safe.”

By contrast, El-Sayed, a former public health official, told Fox News: “The question is whether we want a politics where our money is sent over to Israel to fund genocide and apartheid instead of investing in our own kids.”

A U.N. inquiry and several human rights groups have accused Israel of committing genocide in its military’s devastation of Gaza, an allegation Israel rejects, saying it is fighting Hamas and taking steps to reduce civilian harm.

Israeli policy has been a factor in other battleground congressional races, including New York, Florida and Colorado.

DEMOCRATIC SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL ERODES

Strains with Democrats deepened 11 years ago, when in a speech to Congress at the request of the Republican majority Netanyahu attacked a deal crafted by then-President Barack Obama, a Democrat, on controlling Iran’s nuclear program.

Sentiment critical of Israel grew after Israel launched its war in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack, in which nearly 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed and hundreds were taken hostage. More than 73,000 Palestinians have since been killed, according to Gaza health officials.

Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has reshaped Democratic politics, fueling a backlash among younger voters and deepening a generational divide within the party.

Campus protests in 2024 intensified pressure on Democrats to reassess support for Israel. Some analysts say President Joe Biden’s refusal to do so contributed to Democratic nominee Kamala Harris’ loss to Trump later that year.

Adding to tensions, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani called for Netanyahu’s arrest for alleged war crimes.

This primary election cycle, some establishment candidates have been defeated by more progressive challengers who have questioned support for Israel, mostly in congressional districts dominated by Democrats.

Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of J Street, a progressive pro-Israel rival to AIPAC, said the debate within the Democratic Party reflected a backlash against the right-wing Netanyahu and AIPAC, calling it “a toxic brew that really has helped to make Israel, unfortunately, a real wedge issue in the Democratic Party.”

AIPAC did not respond to requests for comment.

Shibley Telhami, a University of Maryland professor of government and politics and senior non-resident fellow at the Brookings Institution, called it a “paradigm shift that sees Israel now as a villain, even a genocidal villain, in a way that was never the case before.”

While some conservative influencers have joined the attack, the Republican Party will support Israel as long as evangelical Christians and Trump stand firm, Telhami said in an interview.

ISRAEL RESHAPES POLITICAL BATTLEGROUNDS

The divide over Israel is spilling into congressional campaigns elsewhere.

Republican Representative Mike Lawler, who represents a district outside New York City with a large Jewish population, has used the Democratic shift on Israel to attack challenger Cait Conley in a battleground fight for control of the House.

In southern Florida, moderate Representative Jared Moskowitz, a consistent supporter of Israel aid, is being challenged in the August 18 Democratic primary by democratic socialist Oliver Larkin, who campaigns on his belief that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza and supports an immediate suspension of U.S. military aid to Israel.

Recent opinion polls show Moskowitz leading Larkin by 32 percentage points.

Longtime U.S. Representative Diana DeGette was defeated in the Colorado Democratic primary by Ethiopian-born Melat Kiros. Kiros has called for ending wars, including by stopping military aid to Israel, while DeGette said she supported sending only defensive weapons to Israel.

U.S. Senator Mazie Hirono, who has advocated for a two-state solution and more humanitarian aid for Palestinians, said, “I think the support for Israel’s right to exist, all of that is there. It’s just the (Israeli) leadership we seriously question.”

Reporting by Matt Spetalnick, Patricia Zengerle and Richard Cowan in Washington and Emily Rose and Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem; editing by Michael Learmonth and Howard Goller

Does Trump even care if Russia helps Iran target US troops?

2026-07-29T04:00:25.443Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/29/politics/trump-russia-iran-us-troops

When President Donald Trump launched the Iran war, one of his chief goals was to stop Tehran from funding proxy groups in the Middle East. Those proxy groups, he noted, were responsible for wounding and killing scores of US troops.

When it comes to whether Russia is helping Iran target those Americans, though, Trump seems remarkably incurious.

And that’s become a pretty familiar posture for him.

The most recent example stems from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s testimony before a Senate committee last week.

When asked whether China and Russia were helping Iran, Hegseth cited “ways in which both of those countries” have been “enabling some of the things Iran is doing, yes.”

Two days later, Secretary of State Marco Rubio ignored a question about the subject while seated across from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Then Trump issued a social media post contradicting Hegseth. He said China and Russia were “in my opinion, not participating” in the Iran war because their leaders had assured him they weren’t selling weapons to Tehran.

“I think, you know, I trust them,” Trump said later in the day, adding: “There could be some things they do. But, thus far, at least, it has not been major. I don’t think they’d want to have me disappointed.”

But Russia isn’t just accused of potentially arming Iran; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Moscow has given Iran satellite imagery of US bases.

When asked about this Monday, Trump again downplayed how much it mattered — saying it would have been “unimpactful” — but added, “We’ll find out if that’s true. I’ll ask (Russian President Vladimir) Putin about it.”

But it’s not like this is a new story for him to suddenly broach with Putin. CNN’s first story on this dates back nearly five months, to early March, when it first reported that Russia was providing intel on US military targets to Iran, according to multiple sources familiar with US intelligence.

(The New York Times has reported since then that US and European officials also believed Moscow was providing drones and drone parts to Iran, which the Kremlin denied.)

The president greeted CNN’s March reporting much like the news today. He said he had “had no indication of that whatsoever” but that the results in the war’s early days suggested it didn’t matter much.

“Whether or not this happened, frankly, it does not really matter,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt added, “because President Trump and the United States military are absolutely decimating the rogue Iranian terrorist regime.”

One of Trump’s negotiators to end the Russia-Ukraine war, Steve Witkoff, said he had “strongly” told Russia not to give Iran targeting information and other aid. But Trump never came out and said it so firmly.

And even after additional US deaths at the hands of Iran this month, the subject apparently still doesn’t concern him too much.

All of it sounds a lot like Trump’s first term, when there was also intelligence linking Russia to the targeting of US troops. Back then, it was Russia possibly placing bounties on those troops in Afghanistan.

As of mid-2020, Trump denied he had been orally briefed on it. But CNN and others reported it had been in his daily briefing in February 2020 (which he is not known to fully read) and that the White House had received intelligence about the possibility as far back as early 2019.

Trump knocked the story as possibly a “hoax” and “fake news” and, weeks after it was reported, said he had declined to bring it up during a call with Putin.

“I have never discussed it with Putin,” Trump told Axios at the time. “I would, I have no problem with it.”

The Trump administration emphasized that the intelligence wasn’t conclusive, and the Biden administration said by 2021 that the CIA had only “low to moderate confidence” in it. But that still leaves open the possibility. And given it involves the lives of US troops, it would seem to be something a president might be pretty interested in.

Trump, though, has done what he often does — draw an apparent moral equivalency to what the US does. During his first term, he likened the possibility of Russia placing bounties on US troops to the United States aiding anti-Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s. And back in March, he said that Russia would “say we do it against them, wouldn’t they?”

The problem with this posture is not just that it places the United States on similar moral ground to Russia; it’s that it sends a message to Russia that helping Iran target US troops — if that indeed is happening — isn’t a red line for Trump.

欧洲干旱加剧 多瑙河布达佩斯段水位创纪录新低

2026年7月29日 15:38 / 联合早报

2026年6月，游客船行驶在匈牙利布达佩斯的多瑙河上。 （法新社）

匈牙利水资源管理总局星期二（7月28日）发布的数据显示，多瑙河布达佩斯段水位已降至31厘米，创下该河段水位历史新低。由于水位下降，多瑙河沿线多地相继发现了二战时期的弹药和沉船等。

水利部门当天测得的数据打破了这一河段在2018年10月25日创下的33厘米最低纪录。气象与水利专家预测，未来几天，多瑙河水位可能会继续下降。

鉴于罕见的高温干旱刷新了水位纪录，近日在多瑙河上的玛格丽特岛附近水域清理出一些二战时期遗留炮弹。此外，据当地媒体报道，多瑙河沿线多地近期相继发现了一些沉船残骸。

近来持续高温与降水不足使欧洲主要河流水位下降。国际科研机构“世界天气归因联盟”23日发布研究报告说，人类活动导致的气候变化加剧了欧洲当前的严重干旱。与降雨量不足相比，异常高温是欧洲多地干旱加重的更主要原因。

欧洲干旱加剧 多瑙河布达佩斯段水位创纪录新低

2026年7月29日 15:38 / 联合早报

2026年6月，游客船行驶在匈牙利布达佩斯的多瑙河上。 （法新社）

匈牙利水资源管理总局星期二（7月28日）发布的数据显示，多瑙河布达佩斯段水位已降至31厘米，创下该河段水位历史新低。由于水位下降，多瑙河沿线多地相继发现了二战时期的弹药和沉船等。

水利部门当天测得的数据打破了这一河段在2018年10月25日创下的33厘米最低纪录。气象与水利专家预测，未来几天，多瑙河水位可能会继续下降。

鉴于罕见的高温干旱刷新了水位纪录，近日在多瑙河上的玛格丽特岛附近水域清理出一些二战时期遗留炮弹。此外，据当地媒体报道，多瑙河沿线多地近期相继发现了一些沉船残骸。

近来持续高温与降水不足使欧洲主要河流水位下降。国际科研机构“世界天气归因联盟”23日发布研究报告说，人类活动导致的气候变化加剧了欧洲当前的严重干旱。与降雨量不足相比，异常高温是欧洲多地干旱加重的更主要原因。

电动轮椅失控乐龄男困草坪 两客工助脱困

2026年7月29日 11:11 / 新明日报

根据脸书视频，两名身穿反光背心、头戴安全帽的外籍客工分别站在轮椅两侧，抓住底部铁支架，合力将男子和轮椅拖上斜坡。 （取自“Kance Kai Hua Liong”脸书视频截图）

一名乐龄男子坐电动轮椅时疑失控，连人带车冲下人行道旁斜坡，卡在草坪凹陷处无法脱身。两名外籍客工见状立即上前，合力将男子和轮椅拉回路面，全程不到30秒。

根据网民“Kance Kai Hua Liong”星期一（7月27日）在脸书发布的视频，一名穿着红色上衣的乐龄男子坐电动轮椅时，相信因操作不当，突然冲下人行道旁的小斜坡，驶入草坪凹陷处，导致轮椅被卡住，无法倒退脱困。

两名身穿反光背心、头戴安全帽的外籍客工随即赶至，分别站在轮椅两侧，抓住底部铁支架，合力将男子和轮椅拖上斜坡。其中一人随后绕到轮椅后方，两人再一同将轮椅拉回人行道，整个救援过程仅约半分钟。

脱困后，男子一边指向人行道一边说话，似乎在向客工解释自己误入斜坡的经过。网友在贴文中描述，男子也不断向两人道谢。

不少网民在评论区留言，赞扬两名客工热心助人。也有网友注意到，男子所使用的电动轮椅椅背调得过低，可能影响操控时的视线和判断。

视频画面未显示事发地点与具体时间。《联合早报》已联系发布视频的网民，以了解更多详情。

上海小熊猫在台亮相沪代表团缺席 国台办批民进党无理刁难

2026-07-29 11:25 / 联合早报

上海动物园交流至台北市立动物园的两只小熊猫星期三（7月29日）正式亮相。图为雄性小熊猫。 （台北市立动物园官网）

上海动物园交流至台北市立动物园的小熊猫星期三（7月29日）正式亮相，但原定赴台见证活动的上海市政府代表团并未现身。台湾大陆委员会称活动存在“统战疑虑”，但否认拒绝代表团入境；中国大陆国台办则指责民进党“无理刁难、无理拒绝”上海相关人员赴台，暴露“台独”本性。

综合台湾《联合报》《自由时报》报道，台北市长蒋万安当天出席小熊猫亮相记者会，宣布两只小熊猫分别取名“甜甜”和“乐乐”，并与首次亮相的乐乐互动。

这次动物交流是台北上海双城论坛促成的成果。报道称，台北市政府原计划邀请上海官员7月赴台共同见证，但此前有消息称，陆委会拒绝上海市政府副秘书长张玉鑫、上海市台办主任金梅、副主任李骁东及随团媒体入境。

陆委会回应称，台北市政府曾就上海代表团赴台一事询问，但并未正式提出申请。陆委会主委邱垂正在立法院受访时说，小熊猫见面会存在“统战疑虑”，台北市政府询问后便没有再提出申请。

不过，台北市副市长林奕华反驳称，市府早在6月17日就已发函陆委会，但对方口头表明，不会允许上海市台办主任、副主任及市政府副秘书长等人入境台湾。

蒋万安对上海代表团无法赴台感到可惜，并反问：“小动物的交流能够对动物保育尽一份心力，这跟统战有什么关系？”

大陆国台办发言人陈斌华星期三在新闻发布会上说，小熊猫赴台受到台湾民众的广泛欢迎，但民进党“竟对上海赠送方派员参加见面仪式无理刁难、无理拒绝”，充分暴露“台独”本性和对抗思维。

陈斌华对此予以谴责，并称民进党“动辄阻挠限制两岸正常交流合作、破坏两岸关系的做法，完全违背岛内主流民意，必遭台湾民众反对与唾弃”。

美军称伊朗发动突袭 国际油价一度涨超5%

2026年7月29日 11:09 / 联合早报

7月24日，纽约证券交易所的交易员紧盯早间交易。 （法新社）

受伊朗向驻中东美军发射导弹等因素影响，国际原油期货价格星期二（7月28日）晚间快速走高，纽约油价一度涨超5%。

新华社报道，截至美东时间28日晚上8时20分（新加坡时间29日早上7时20分），纽约商品交易所9月交货的轻质原油期货价格报每桶82.20美元（约106新元），涨幅收窄至3.71%；9月交货的伦敦布伦特原油期货价格报每桶86.88美元，涨幅为3.32%。

美国中央司令部28日在X平台发文说，伊朗当天向驻中东美军发射多枚导弹，美军拦截了所有来袭导弹。

美国中央司令部晚些时候发布声明说：“7月28日，美军和沙特武装部队在伊拉克对伊朗支持的恐怖分子进行了精确打击。这些恐怖分子受伊朗伊斯兰革命卫队指使，试图袭击美军和沙特能源基础设施。”

美国总统特朗普7月24日决定暂停打击伊朗。在美伊暂停相互攻击期间，国际原油期货价格连续三个交易日显著下跌，纽约和伦敦布伦特原油期货主力合约价格分别累计下跌14.03%和16.49%。

三男涉毒被捕 肃毒局起获逾14万元毒品

2026年7月29日 11:30 / 新明日报

肃毒局一天破三起案件，起获总市值超过14万2000元毒品。 （中央肃毒局提供）

中央肃毒局于星期一（7月27日）展开执法行动，逮捕三名新加坡籍男子，其中两人涉嫌贩毒，一人涉嫌吸毒。行动中起获的大麻、冰毒、克他命和麦角酸酰二乙胺（LSD）毒邮票等毒品总市值超过14万2000元，估计可满足860名吸毒者一周的毒瘾需求。

7月27日下午，肃毒局人员在宏茂桥4道一带的组屋底层，逮捕一名涉嫌贩毒的34岁男子。

执法人员随即将他押往相邻座组屋的住宅单位展开搜查，从其身上起获四枚麦角酸酰二乙胺毒邮票，并在单位内起获约879克大麻和约123克冰毒。

经过进一步调查，执法人员迅速展开第二场行动，在巴西立11街一带的组屋电梯口，逮捕一名涉嫌贩毒的29岁男子。

男子被押回同座组屋的住处后，执法人员共起获约4641克大麻和145克克他命。起获的毒品包括从男子身上搜出的两包大麻、在单位内发现的数包大麻和克他命，以及在单位外找到的块状大麻。

同日下午，肃毒局人员在惹兰红山西一带的住宅单位内，逮捕一名涉嫌毒品罪行的27岁男子。执法人员搜查该单位后，起获约9克冰毒。

根据《滥用毒品法令》任何人贩运或提议贩运受管制药物，或为贩运毒品做准备或相关行为，均属违法。凡贩运超过500克大麻，罪名一旦成立，可被判处死刑。

针对所有被捕嫌犯的调查仍在进行中。

熊本强震逾9000人已安置在避难中心

2026年7月29日 11:47 / 联合早报

日本内阁秘书长木原稔说，包括熊本和福冈在内的五个县共设有506个避难中心。 （路透社）

日本政府说，截至星期三（7月29日）清晨，已有9000多人被安置在避难中心。

法新社报道，日本内阁秘书长木原稔说，包括熊本和福冈在内的五个县共设有506个避难中心，截至29日上午7时（新加坡时间29日清晨6时），共收容了9186人。

位于日本熊本县八代市的八代神社在7月28日7.1级强震中坍塌。（路透社）

谈到人员伤亡方面，木原稔说：“根据我们收到的报告，有七人重伤、29人轻伤。”

日本首相高市早苗早前说，截至29日早上8时30分，九州熊本县地震的死亡人数已增至13人。

解放军推《制胜》宣传片 四川舰实射画面首度公开

2026年7月29日 11:54 / 联合早报

中国军方在解放军建军99周年之际推出名为《制胜》的宣传片，四川舰发射新型多功能干扰弹的实射画面首度公开。 （中国国防部视频截图）

中国军方在解放军建军99周年之际推出名为《制胜》的宣传片，最新现役武器在预告片中几乎全面亮相，其中包括多款对台作战“王牌”。全球首艘配备电磁弹射的076型两栖攻击舰四川舰，实射画面也首度公开。

综合中国大陆官媒《环球时报》和香港《信报》报道，中国解放军新闻传播中心星期二（7月28日）公布，将在中国“八一建军节”推出思想解读类融媒体片《制胜》。在当天发布的3分多钟《制胜》主题曲视频画面中，解放军海陆空和火箭军最新现役武器几乎全面亮相，当中包括多款对台作战“王牌”。

《环球时报》称，视频中四川舰发射新型多功能干扰弹、191远程箱式火箭炮实弹射击大口径火箭弹的画面，都是首度公开亮相，“展现出解放军远程精确火力打击的硬核实战能力”。

有“无人机航母”之称的四川舰由中国自主研制建造，去年11月完成首次海试。 076型是中国迄今吨位最大、也是首艘装备电磁弹射器的两栖攻击舰，可弹射大型无人机执行攻击和侦察任务。

对于视频中曝光的四川舰实射干扰弹画面，中国军事专家张军社告诉《环球时报》：“该型干扰弹与舰上配备的近程防空导弹、近防炮搭配，共同构建舰载末端防御体系，用于拦截来袭导弹等各类威胁目标。”

张军社还分析：“此次宣传片画面中出现的这款新型多功能干扰弹可应对多元威胁，能够针对敌方来袭导弹、舰炮弹药、水下鱼雷等目标发挥作用，兼顾对空、对水面、对水下防御。它可依据来袭目标类型自主匹配弹种，通过水声干扰、红外干扰、鱼雷诱饵、多波段箔条干扰等多种手段迷惑、偏移来袭攻击武器，全方位强化舰艇末端防护与战场生存能力。”

191远程箱式火箭炮实弹射击大口径火箭弹画面也首次公开。中国军事专家宋忠平告诉《环球时报》：“此前，191远箱火发射火箭弹的画面已公开过，此次首次公开的是它发射更大口径火箭弹的画面。这种大口径火箭弹可以说是一种‘战术导弹’，精度更高，破坏力更大。”

据宋忠平介绍，191远箱火具有射程远、精度高、反应速度快、火力体系广、点面结合等特点，特别是箱式弹药补充方式能大幅缩短作战准备时间。它们集战役打击、战术支援为一体，可远程压制歼敌、精确打击破敌，拓展陆战能力边界。

张军社预计，《制胜》宣传片还将曝光多款解放军陆军、海军、空军、火箭军等军兵种主战装备的最新训练画面，“直观彰显‘我军’（中国解放军）远程打击实力与捍卫国家主权、安全、发展利益的过硬能力”。

去年解放军建军98周年时，中共中央军委政治工作部也曾联合中央网信办等摄制思想解读类融媒体片《攻坚——矢志强军向一流》。在《攻坚》宣传片中，中国海军福建舰航母、新型潜艇执行远航任务以及火箭军洲际弹道导弹发射画面等动态相继发布。