| | | | |  | | By Matt Berg and Eric Bazail-Eimil | |  Palestinians rush trucks as they transport international humanitarian aid from the U.S.-built Trident Pier near Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip on May 18, 2024. | AFP via Getty Images | With help from Joseph Gedeon Subscribe here | Email Matt | Email Eric Programming note: We’ll be off Monday for Memorial Day, so we’ll next see you in your inbox on Tuesday. Don’t miss us too much. Israel appears to have no plans to stop its military operation in the southern city of Rafah in Gaza, even as an international court ordered the military to do so. But there is a glimmer of hope that aid efforts in the enclave will soon improve. Today, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel must immediately halt its offensive in Rafah, as a further assault on the city would put civilians at “immediate risk,” the court said. About 400,000 civilians remain there, while some 800,000 have fled in recent days, according to United Nations assessments. The ICJ also said Israel needs to open the Rafah border crossing with Egypt for the entry of humanitarian aid, ensure access to Gaza for investigators and fact-finding missions, and report to the court within a month on its progress in applying these measures. Israel doesn’t recognize the ICJ’s jurisdiction. In a promising development for aid this afternoon, Egyptian President ABDEL FATTAH EL-SISI agreed to resume aid truck deliveries into Rafah during a phone call with President JOE BIDEN. Egypt will allow the flow of humanitarian assistance through the Kerem Shalom crossing “on a provisional basis,” per the White House. The U.S. agreed to send senior officials to Cairo next week to further discuss the matter. The news comes at a dire time. Over the past week, UNRWA and the World Food Program have only been able to get about 50 trucks into southern Gaza each day, SCOTT ANDERSON, senior deputy director of UNRWA, the main U.N. agency in Gaza, told NatSec Daily. About 350 trucks a day are needed, he said. UNRWA had to pause food distribution in Rafah and mostly suspend it across the southern part of the enclave “because there's just nothing to give out,” Anderson said, adding that Israel’s seizure of the Kerem Shalom crossing was the organization’s biggest problem. “If we don't get stuff in soon at scale, we're not going to be able to keep our gains that we've made to avert a famine,” Anderson said. The National Security Council didn’t respond to a request for comment. The ICJ ruling, paired with the International Criminal Court’s request for an arrest warrant for Prime Minister BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, are putting the Biden administration in a tricky situation. While Biden swiftly rebuked the ICC’s warrant request, it will be much harder for the White House to argue against the Rafah ruling today since administration officials have urged Israel to avoid a major operation in the city. “The whole world is taking action to stop the genocide of Palestinians, including the International Court of Justice. Where is President Biden’s ‘red line’?” Rep. RASHIDA TLAIB (D-Mich.) tweeted today, referring to the president’s vague “red line” remarks in March about Rafah. Israel hasn’t listened to international bodies yet, so it’s very unlikely it will start now — especially after its troops last night found the bodies of three hostages who were killed on Oct. 7 and brought into Gaza. And hardliners in the U.S. are standing by Israel. “The ICJ can go to hell,” Sen. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.) tweeted today. “This will and should be ignored by Israel.”
| | A message from Lockheed Martin: Constantly evolving to meet emerging threats. In today’s world, you need to spot the threats before they’re seen.
That’s why Lockheed Martin’s vision of 21st Century Security® means pushing the boundaries of defense tech to build a new standard of deterrence and protection. Learn more. | | | | | $50B IN ASSETS FOR UKRAINE? Washington and the European Union are close to an agreement to secure a massive loan for Ukraine — using Russian assets frozen in the West as collateral, our own GREGORIO SORGI, MICHAEL STRATFORD and GIORGIO LEALI report. Russian state assets were frozen in Europe immediately after President VLADIMIR PUTIN’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and they have since been invested and are earning interest. After months of disagreement, governments are now converging on a plan to use this interest as leverage for a loan, seven officials from different countries and bodies told our colleagues. During the G7 finance ministers gathering that kicked off today in Italy, Washington will push to win over European skeptics to the latest U.S. plan, which could be worth around $50 billion. The figure is short of America’s original ambitious demand, but it’s still far more than the EU has agreed to. Read: What a UK Labour election win would mean for Ukraine by our own STEFAN BOSCIA PUTIN’S CEASE-FIRE DEAL: Putin is open to a cease-fire deal that freezes the current battlefield lines, four Russians familiar with the matter told Reuters’ GUY FAULCONBRIDGE and ANDREW OSBORN. Putin’s proposal comes ahead of a peace summit in Switzerland next month in which world leaders will discuss how the war could end. Russia hasn’t been invited to those talks, and Ukraine is already shooting down the idea. “Putin is desperately trying to derail the peace summit,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister DMYTRO KULEBA tweeted today. “He is scared of its success … Putin currently has no desire to end his aggression against Ukraine.” But Putin is prepared to fight on if the West and Kyiv don’t respond to his proposal, the people said, as Russian troops continue advancing in the northeast Kharkiv region. Ukraine, meanwhile, is showing no signs that it’ll stop fighting back. Kyiv’s forces struck a Russian military complex in the annexed Crimea territory Thursday night using long-range U.S.-supplied missiles, a Ukrainian official told The Wall Street Journal’s IAN LOVETT and NIKITA NIKOLAIENKO. The strike coincides with increased pressure among top lawmakers and Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN himself to lift a ban on Ukraine using U.S. weapons to strike Russian territory. Last month, our colleagues scooped that Ukraine had been secretly given long-range missiles by the U.S. and used them to strike behind enemy lines. HAITI DEPORTATIONS: At a roundtable this week, Homeland Security Secretary ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS said there are two reasons Haitians who have left their country recently are being returned to their homeland: Conditions on the ground aren’t bad everywhere, and the U.S. wants to deter potential migrants from taking dangerous routes. “As odd as that might sound … the conditions in Port-Au-Prince specifically are dismal. The severity, or acuity of the challenges in Port-Au-Prince, do not carry throughout the entire country,” Mayorkas said when asked by our own JOSEPH GEDEON. “And number two, we have to avoid people taking the seas.” Democrats have blasted the Biden administration over the past month for continuing the deportations, despite widespread displacement and killings as gangs grow increasingly influential in Haiti. DRINKS WITH NATSEC DAILY: At the end of every long, hard week, we like to highlight how a prominent member of Washington’s national security scene prefers to unwind with a drink. Today we’re featuring ADDAR LEVI, principal deputy general counsel at the Treasury Department. She could use a cold one, as the G7 finance ministers summit continues over the weekend. When she’s not working on using immobilized Russian sovereign assets for the benefit of Ukraine, Levi likes to sip on “a good rye Manhattan” with some pals. But she’s currently training for a half marathon (in this weather?!), so you’re more likely to find her with an ice-cold Gatorade — the blue ones, preferably. So, if you see a top Treasury official sitting at The Wells on Capitol Hill wearing a medal and a trusty pair of Brooks, give her a high-five — or maybe a congratulatory whiskey shot. Cheers, Addar! IT’S FRIDAY. WELCOME TO THE WEEKEND: Thanks for tuning in to NatSec Daily! This space is reserved for the top U.S. and foreign officials, the lawmakers, the lobbyists, the experts and the people like you who care about how the natsec sausage gets made. Aim your tips and comments at mberg@politico.com and ebazail@politico.com, and follow us on X at @mattberg33 and @ebazaileimil. While you’re at it, follow the rest of POLITICO’s national security team: @alexbward, @nahaltoosi, @PhelimKine, @laraseligman, @connorobrienNH, @paulmcleary, @leehudson, @magmill95, @johnnysaks130, @ErinBanco, @reporterjoe, and @JGedeon1.
| | | | THE GOLD STANDARD OF DEFENSE POLICY REPORTING & INTELLIGENCE: POLITICO has more than 500 journalists delivering unrivaled reporting and illuminating the policy and regulatory landscape for those who need to know what’s next. Throughout the election and the legislative and regulatory pushes that will follow, POLITICO Pro is indispensable to those who need to make informed decisions fast. The Pro platform dives deeper into critical and quickly evolving sectors and industries, like defense, equipping policymakers and those who shape legislation and regulation with essential news and intelligence from the world’s best politics and policy journalists.
Our newsroom is deeper, more experienced, and better sourced than any other. Our defense reporting team—including Lara Seligman, Joe Gould, Paul McCleary, Connor O’Brien and Lee Hudson—is embedded with the market-moving legislative committees and agencies in Washington and across states, delivering unparalleled coverage of defense policy and the defense industry. We bring subscribers inside the conversations that determine policy outcomes and the future of industries, providing insight that cannot be found anywhere else. Get the premier news and policy intelligence service, SUBSCRIBE TO POLITICO PRO TODAY. | | | | | | | | | COTTON’S MOMENT: Sen. TOM COTTON (R-Ark.) is rising in former President DONALD TRUMP’s veepstakes, according to The New York Times’ MICHAEL BENDER. The firebrand Arkansas conservative, who serves on the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence Committees, has risen to the top ranks of Trump’s shortlist, according to Trump associates, alongside Sens. TIM SCOTT (R-S.C.) and MARCO RUBIO (R-Fla.). Cotton’s military service, which included deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq, and his Ivy League background have helped him gain brownie points in Trump’s eyes. Picking Cotton, the Times writes, would assuage more traditional Republicans who have qualms about a second Trump presidency’s foreign policy direction and want to see seasoned hands in the White House. Cotton has pushed for sanctions against the International Criminal Court for pursuing arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister YOAV GALLANT and has supported military assistance for Ukraine. He also supported the decision to provide Ukraine cluster munitions to use against Russia.
| | RUSSIAN TECH ATTACKS: Russian GPS jamming has hampered many U.S.-made weapons provided to Ukraine which rely on satellite guidance systems, The Washington Post’s ISABELLE KHURSHUDYAN and ALEX HORTON report. That has prompted Ukraine to stop using some Western-provided weapons, per senior Ukrainian military officials and internal assessments obtained by the Post. Weapons that have been successfully jammed — which effectively disables navigation — include Excalibur GPS-guided artillery shells and High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems. Russian forces have also increasingly targeted the Starlink internet systems Ukrainian troops rely on as fighting in the northeastern Kharkiv region continues, The New York Times’ PAUL MOZUR and ADAM SATARIANO report. Moscow’s troops have “deployed stronger electronic weapons and more sophisticated tools” to degrade the service, provided by tech billionaire ELON MUSK’s company, the outlet writes. It appears to be the first time Russia has been able to disrupt Starlink on a wide scale during the war.
| | HUNGARY’S LOST APPETITE: If NATO members decide to send troops to Ukraine to help train soldiers there, Hungary has no interest in taking part, Prime Minister VIKTOR ORBÁN said today. “We do not approve of this, nor do we want to participate in financial or arms support [for Ukraine], even within the framework of NATO,” Orbán told state-run radio, per The Associated Press’ JUSTIN SPIKE. Orbán is Putin’s closest ally in Europe, and the Hungarian leader has toed the line in his support for Russia during the war, frustrating Western partners. Hungary is actively working to “redefine” its position in the military alliance, Orbán explained. Lawyers are looking into “how Hungary can exist as a NATO member while not participating in NATO actions outside of its territory,” he said.
| | | |   | | | | | CHIPS FUNDING FOR SECRET PROGRAMS: Lawmakers have directed more than three billion dollars intended for Commerce Department semiconductor manufacturing grants toward a secretive national security project run by chipmaker Intel, our own CHRISTINE MUI reports. Congressional appropriators shifted $3.5 billion that the Commerce Department was hoping to use for grants and pushed it into a separate Pentagon program called Secure Enclave in a March spending bill. The program was not part of the original CHIPS and Science Act. Lawmakers say they were taken by surprise to see the money shifted to the classified program, which will build chips in a special facility for defense and intelligence needs. They also worry it will undercut the Biden administration’s efforts to grow the U.S. high-tech manufacturing base. READ: Biden admin-backed deal with Emirati AI giant sets off alarm bells in Congress by our own JOHN SAKELLARIADIS
| | BORRELL BLASTS ISRAEL: European Union foreign policy chief JOSEP BORRELL criticized Israel, the U.S. and others who came out against Spain, Ireland and Norway promising to recognize Palestine as a state this week, our own PIERRE EMMANUEL NGENDAKUMANA reports. “Recognizing the Palestinian state is not a gift to Hamas, quite the contrary. Reinforcing the Palestinian Authority is not reinforcing Hamas; quite the contrary. It’s aimed at giving greater strength to the part of Palestinian society which we recognize and with which we work,” he said, according to the Spanish daily newspaper El País. Today, Israeli Foreign Minister ISRAEL KATZ said his country has decided to “sever the connection between Spain’s representation in Israel and the Palestinians” and prohibit the Spanish consulate in Jerusalem from providing services to Palestinians from the West Bank. Borrell hit back: “Israel needs to accept that it can be criticized by people who do not believe that it is doing things well, and what is happening in Gaza is certainly worrying people in Europe and around the world.” NIGHTMARE FOR THE DREAM: Members of the Georgian Dream party accused the U.S. of “blackmail” after Washington said it will place visa restrictions on those lawmakers, for their support of a so-called foreign agents bill, Reuters’ LUCY PAPACHRISTOU reports. Loyal NatSec Daily readers won’t be surprised by this development.
| | | | DON’T MISS POLITICO’S ENERGY SUMMIT: The future of energy faces a crossroads in 2024 as policymakers and industry leaders shape new rules, investments and technologies. Join POLITICO’s Energy Summit on June 5 as we convene top voices to examine the shifting global policy environment in a year of major elections in the U.S. and around the world. POLITICO will examine how governments are writing and rewriting new rules for the energy future and America’s own role as a major exporter. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | | | — SHAQUILLE O'NEAL — yes, the 7’ 1” NBA Hall of Famer — has been named digital ambassador for education for the partnership for digital access in Africa.
| | — MATTHEW KARNITSCHNIG, POLITICO: How Putin hijacked Austria’s spy service — and is now gunning for its government — OONA HATHAWAY, Foreign Affairs: Don’t go to war with the ICC — YANIV VOLLER, War on the Rocks: The inevitable role of clans in post-conflict stabilization in Gaza
| | — Atlantic Council, 10 a.m.: Homeland defense: Evolving capabilities for a new era — Brookings Institution, 10:30 a.m.: Sanctions on Russia: What's working? What's not? — National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations, 2:30 p.m.: The American response to the crisis in Gaza — Center for Strategic and International Studies, 4 p.m.: A book discussion on DAVID SANGER’s "New Cold Wars: China's Rise, Russia's Invasion, and America's Struggle to Defend the West." — Politics and Prose Bookstore, 7 p.m.: A discussion on STUART EIZENSTAT’s "The Art of Diplomacy: How American Negotiators Reached Historic Agreements That Changed the World" Thanks to our editor, Heidi Vogt, who is scared of our success and has no desire to end her aggression against us. Thanks to our producer, Giselle Ewing, who helps us fight against Heidi every Friday.
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