Author: Matt

Ever since Kevin McCarthy was ousted as Speaker of the House by only eight members of Congress, things have been pretty messy in the chamber.

Ohio Republican Jim Jordan tried and failed to rally support for his nomination. After losing three ballots on the House floor and a secret Republican-only vote, he’s out.

Not having a speaker has essentially shut down the business of governing, and House Republicans have no consensus on a candidate.

Host Scott Detrow speaks with NPR’s Congressional Correspondent Deirdre Walsh and Political Correspondent Susan Davis about the ongoing speaker battle and what comes next.

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During his visit to Tel Aviv this week, President Biden reiterated a desire for peace between Israelis and Palestinians through the implementation of a two-state solution.

For years, the idea of establishing a state for the Palestinian people and a state for the Israeli people has been a strategy that presidents – on both sides of the political aisle – have evoked as a framework for peace in the Middle East.

With the unprecedented violence playing out between Israel and Hamas for many political analysts, a peaceful, two-state agreement seems impossible.

But a little over two decades ago there was hope that it could be achieved.

NPR’s Scott Detrow talks with ambassador Dennis Ross about how 23 years ago Palestinian leaders and Israel’s prime minister came close to an agreement.

More than 60 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in the days after Hamas’ attack on southern Israel. Some of those deaths appear to be reprisal killings.

NPR’s Leila Fadel visited the village of Qusra in the West Bank where some of these killings have taken place.

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At a military base south of Tel Aviv, Israeli soldiers and medical examiners are working around the clock to identify remains of hundreds of people killed in the Hamas attacks earlier this month.

NPR’s Ari Shapiro visited the base and spoke with those conducting the work about the challenges of identifying so many bodies.

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Israel’s military has ordered all residents of Gaza City and northern Gaza to evacuate to the southern end of the territory ahead of an expected ground invasion.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians are struggling to evacuate – as closed borders hamper those efforts. Others refuse to leave the areas Israeli military forces say they will target.

For Jordanian Palestinians who have family in the Gaza Strip their loved ones are just 90 miles away. But that distance can feel painfully close AND impossibly far.

NPR’s Ari Shapiro traveled to Amman, Jordan. He spoke with two Jordanian Palestinians who have family in the Gaza Strip about their hopes and fears.

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It’s been more than a week of war in Israel and Gaza, following Hamas attacks in southern Israel that left more than 1,300 Israelis dead. In response, Israeli air strikes in Gaza have killed more than 2,500 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials. The intense violence — and the prospect of more to come — is having a deep emotional impact on people who care about both Israelis and Palestinians.

NPR’s Scott Detrow speaks with Aziza Hasan, executive director of NewGround: A Muslim Jewish Partnership for Change, and Alyson Freedman, a member of Sisterhood Salaam Shalom.

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How do you evacuate more than a million people across a cramped, urban bombed out territory and get them to safety — in just one day?

In the lead up to a likely ground war invasion, Israel on Friday gave residents of Gaza an ultimatum: move to the southern end of the territory, or face the full force of the Israeli military as it plans to go after Hamas militants on the ground.

Israel’s government is intent on stamping out the Hamas militants who planned and carried out last week’s attack that killed 1,300 Israelis. Since then, Israel has launched a wave of airstrikes into Gaza that Palestinian health officials say have killed at least 1,500 civilians.

NPR’s Leila Fadel speaks with Mark Regev, Senior Advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ari Shapiro speaks to Dr. Mustafa Barghouti a member of the Palestinian National Initiative in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

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Following the surprise attack launched by Hamas militants, hundreds of thousands of Israeli forces are gathering along the border of Gaza.

All signs suggest an Israeli ground invasion of the Palestinian territory is imminent. The last time this happened was in 2014.

NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly speaks with reporter Gregg Carlstrom, who covered that conflict, to hear what we might expect if Israel invades Gaza again in the coming days.

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Amazon is by far the U.S.’s largest online marketplace. But sellers say they’re being squeezed out by higher fees and cheaper merchandise sold direct from Amazon itself.

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Conflicts have broken out between Israel and Gaza several times over the years. But this past weekend saw Hamas launch a surprise attack unlike any other before.

Hamas killed over a thousand people, took others hostage, and even assumed control of several Israeli communities. Israel’s military was caught completely unaware.

Now the Israeli military has laid siege to Gaza. Retaliatory Israeli air strikes have killed at least 800 Palestinians and displaced around 200 thousand people. They’ve cut off fuel, electricity and food supplies into the area.

How did we get to this point?

NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Tal Schneider, political and diplomatic correspondent for the Times of Israel, and Shibley Telhami, the Anwar Sadat professor of peace and development at the University of Maryland.

Additional reporting in this episode by Daniel Estrin and Aya Batrawy.

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