IndustryStandard

Marines are headed to Los Angeles as the Trump administration ratchets up tensions that threaten to turn largely peaceful protests there into a full-blown crisis. It’s a rare and aggressive step to involve active-duty troops in civilian law enforcement activities.

A defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, called the activation of the Marines a “provocation” designed to foster to a “manufactured crisis.”

Experts question the legality of the mobilization of the Marines.

On Saturday, President Donald Trump took the already extraordinary action of calling up more than 2,000 National Guard troops to tamp down demonstrations in California. In doing so, he exercised rarely used federal powers that bypassed Gov. Gavin Newsom’s authority.

Every year, Jewish American college students are offered a 10-day, all-expenses-paid trip to Israel with the Birthright Foundation. The closely curated tours take them across the country, from swimming in the Dead Sea to visiting the graves of soldiers who died fighting in Gaza, all accompanied by their peers in the Israeli military.

This summer marks the 25th anniversary of the program — and despite Israel’s ongoing bombing, starvation, and shooting of Palestinians in Gaza, it’s touted to be the biggest cohort yet. Thirty-thousand students, aged 18 to 26, are slated to travel to Israel for free this summer, with the cost of their $5,000 trip underwritten by the nonprofit organization.

A study published in May by Brandeis University and funded by Birthright found that last year’s cohort are “much more connected to Israel, and much more likely to identify with the political right.” Birthright participants were also “more likely to provide a counterargument to claims that Israel is committing genocide” after the trip.

Seventy-five House Democrats voted on Monday in support of a resolution that praised President Donald Trump’s deportation regime.

The vote came as Trump deployed more than 1,700 National Guard members and 700 Marines to Los Angeles to crush protests against increased U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and mass arrests.

Sponsored by Rep. Gabe Evans, R-Colo., a pro-Israel Republican, the bulk of the resolution was dedicated to condemning the attack last month in Boulder, Colorado, against pro-Israel demonstrators calling for the release of hostages in Israel. Tucked into the text was a line praising ICE, expressing “gratitude to law enforcement officers, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel, for protecting the homeland.”

While some Democrats are busy joining Republican colleagues to praise ICE, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., is seeking to pass a law that holds police accountable for violence against protesters. Her bill, introduced in late May, would apply penalties to law enforcement for using force in response to a demonstration.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump made no secret of his willingness to exert a maximalist approach to enforcing immigration laws and keeping order as he campaigned to return to the White House. The fulfillment of that pledge is now on full display in Los Angeles.

The president has put hundreds of National Guard troops on the streets to quell protests over his administration’s immigration raids, a deployment that state and city officials say has only inflamed tensions. Trump called up the California National Guard over the objections of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom — the first time in 60 years a president has done so — and is deploying active-duty troops to support the guard.

By overriding Newsom, Trump is already going beyond what he did to respond to Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, when he warned he could send troops to contain demonstrations that turned violent if governors in the states did not act to do so themselves. Trump said in September of that year that he “can’t call in the National Guard unless we’re requested by a governor” and that “we have to go by the laws.”

In Monday's incident, people at the scene said that Palestinian gunmen shot at them, as well as Israeli forces. They said the gunmen appeared to be allied with the Israeli forces, as they were operating near them and moved back into an Israeli military zone.

One witness told BBC Arabic's Middle East daily programme that he saw a group of young men dressed in civilian clothes and with their faces completely covered when he arrived in the area to get a box of food aid from the GHF site.

"At first, we thought they might be Palestinian youths helping with the process, but suddenly, they began shooting at us," Hisham Saeed Salem said. "Even those who managed to get a box of aid were targeted and shot. We still don't know who these attackers are. They took everything from us - some even stole from us during the chaos," he added.