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Trump’s ethnic cleansing idea unlikely to come to fruition: Analysis

Monday, January 27, 2025  
US President Trump’s idea of the mass expulsion of Palestinians in Gaza to Jordan and Egypt is unlikely to ever happen, says Middle East analyst Mouin Rabbani.

"Even if he applies pressure on Jordan and Egypt, I think their leaderships will recognise the price of going along with Trump is going to be much greater than the price of resisting him – in terms of the survival of their leaderships for participating in something like this," Rabbani told Al Jazeera, referring to Trump’s plan as "ethnic cleansing".

"This isn’t going to happen because Israel is not going to succeed in ethnically cleansing the Gaza Strip after a war, after having failed to do so during a war."

When former US Secretary of State Antony Blinken went on a tour of Arab states to promote this idea late last year, he was met with a "blanket refusal", Rabbani added.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu is feeling the heat from his coalition partners over the ceasefire deal who view the Israeli leader as succumbing to US demands, the analyst said.
“I think there’s a kind of a mix of personal, political and ideological factors at play. But ultimately, I think the key relationship to look at here is not that between Netanyahu and his coalition partners, or between Israelis and Palestinians, but between Washington and Israel – because Washington is the one calling the shots, and Israel has no choice but to comply.”

Trump’s Middle East policies not expected to be ‘coherent’, ‘linear’: Analysis

Tuesday, January 21, 2025

No one can guarantee Trump’s commitment to the Gaza ceasefire, according to Yossi Mekelberg, an analyst at Chatham House in London, UK.

“No one can guarantee … whether Trump is as committed to do all three phases [of the ceasefire] as much as he’s committed … to see the first phase … with the theatre of it,” Mekelberg told Al Jazeera.

“I think we don’t expect to see a coherent and linear line with Trump, [but] there are some promising lines … when he talks about dialogue.”

His reversal of sanctions on violent Israeli settlers, meanwhile, is “not a sign towards encouraging the peace”, the analyst said.

Still, the focus should be on rebuilding Gaza and ensuring the warring sides don’t violate the ceasefire, Mekelberg said.

“It’s not only about rebuilding it physically but also psychologically. People went through a huge trauma. It’s about governance, it’s about the political solution.”

Trump’s inauguration: Key takeaways as Trump sworn in as 47th US president

Tuesday, January 21, 2025

Donald Trump has been sworn in as the 47th president of the United States, returning to the White House four years after his defeat.

In his inaugural speech on Monday, January 20, 2025 the 78-year-old took an aggressive stance, using his platform in the Capitol Rotunda to criticise outgoing Democratic President Joe Biden. Trump vowed a "revolution of common sense" and condemned Biden’s presidency.

He signed multiple executive orders to reverse key Biden policies and pardoned around 1,500 individuals charged over the January 6 Capitol riot in 2021.

Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna reports from Washington, DC.

Trump’s Panama Canal threat would breach UN Charter: Analysis

Tuesday, January 21, 2025

Al Jazeera's diplomatic editor James Bays says:
Trump is the president of the United States and he says he is going to take the Panama Canal back. Now, if he did that, that would be a breach of the UN Charter, that’s the governing document that has framed international relations since World War II. Not just a matter of history though, this sets a precedent.

Golden age: Donald Trump is sworn in as 47th president of the US

Tuesday, January 21, 2025
Donald Trump has been sworn in as the 47th President of the United States, marking a historic return to the White House.

He's taken the oath of office, ushering in a new administration and an end to Joe Biden's presidency.
 
His inauguration took place in the Capitol Rotunda -- moved indoors for the first time in 40 years because of intense cold weather.

Trump's the first president to have invited foreign leaders to his inauguration.

He's returning to the Oval Office backed by a House and Senate under Republican control.

And has promised sweeping executive orders on day one to undo Biden policies and push forward his promises.

Why is Los Angeles on fire?

Friday, Jan 10, 2025
The fires burning through Los Angeles now are already the worst in the history of California, a state known for its wildfires. Thousands have lost their homes, and nearly 180,000 have been forced to evacuate. What is it like to be in the city on fire?

In this episode:

    Manuel Rápalo, Journalist, Los Angeles
    Mona Holmes, Eater LA reporter

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Amy Walters, Sonia Bhagat, Chloe K. Li and Tamara Khandaker with Phillip Lanos, Spencer Cline, Melanie Marich, and our host, Malika Bilal.  

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our video editor is Hisham Abu Salah and Mohannad al-Melhem. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.

ICC sanctions bill sends message of support to Israel from US Congress: Al Jazeera

Friday, Jan 10, 2025  
Al Jazeera's Patty Culhane reports live from Washington, DC, providing updates on the proposed legislation to sanction International Criminal Court officials.

Patty Culhane notes that the bill is expected to pass into law, attributing this development to the ICC's charges against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Echoes of a Lost Gaza - 2024 version | Featured Documentary

Sunday, October 27, 2024  
Mariam Shahin has been making films about Gaza for over thirty years. She’s also made many documentaries and short films for Al Jazeera English since it launched in 2006. When she moved to Gaza in 2005, she felt a powerful sense of optimism following the Israeli withdrawal. But by 2009, war had badly damaged its infrastructure, neighbourhoods, businesses and communities – and that optimism had evaporated.

Now, in the wake of the even more destructive war that began on 7th October 2023, Mariam seeks out the people she has met in Gaza over the years – and reflects on the wasted potential and devastated lives after sixteen years of blockade and a year of one of the most destructive wars in Middle East history.

Oxfam’s Mahmoud al-Saqqa warns of critical food shortage, limited aid amid Israeli strikes on Gaza

Sunday, October 27, 2024
Oxfam's Gaza food security and livelihood leader, Mahmoud al-Saqqa, joined Al Jazeera from Deir el-Bala, discussing the escalating humanitarian crisis. Al-Saqqa outlined severe shortages of food, medicine, and essentials, worsened by Israeli bombardments and border closures.

He highlighted that more than 90% of Gaza's population now faces acute food insecurity, and children are increasingly malnourished. Aid entry has been minimal, particularly into northern Gaza, where severe restrictions leave residents with few options but displacement.

Al-Saqqa emphasised that humanitarian workers are risking their lives daily, calling for international action against the use of food as a weapon.

Iran’s Khamenei says wrong to downplay Israel’s attack

Sunday, October 27, 2024
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made his first comments about the ''malignant" Israeli attack on Iran early Saturday in a meeting with the families of the four members of the armed forces who were killed.

The Israelis try to make the impact of the strikes appear larger than reality, but any move inside Iran to make them appear smaller would also be "wrong", he said.

“It would be wrong for us to say that it was nothing and it did not matter,” Khamenei said.

"The calculation error of the Zionist regime must be disrupted. They do not know Iran, its youth, its nation. They have not yet been able to fully comprehend the power, capabilities, initiative and will of the Iranian nation, we must make them understand it."

Khamenei also opened a Hebrew account on X after the Israeli strikes.

Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar reports from Tehran, Iran.
To discuss this further, we are joined by Menachem Klein, a political science professor at Bar-Ilan University, speaking from West Jerusalem.