Issues in the News - Voice of America Voice of America (VOA)

Students protesting the Israel-Hamas war are digging in at Columbia University and inspiring more and more demonstrations at university campuses across the United States. The protests are causing rising tensions on all sides of emotionally charged issues that have leadership at institutions facing a delicate balance to encourage free speech while protecting students.

Will Israel and Iran heed the call of world leaders to de-escalate tensions that could potentially lead to a region-wide war. Iran vowed a massive response but has so far had a muted reaction. In another tense part of the world, U.S. and European leaders stress the urgency of air defense for Kyiv as Russin attacks intensify. After months of delay, U.S. lawmakers plan to vote on aid for Ukraine Saturday. And a look at a coordinated international effort to support Ukraine’s government in its investigation and prosecution of Russian war crimes since its invasion in February 2022.

The White House says reports of an imminent attack by Iran on Israel is a real and viable threat. The U.S. and other countries warn their citizens against travel to the region. Families of hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza rallied outside the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv Friday, pleading for President Joe Biden to help secure the release of their loved ones. Russia’s war on Ukraine could also be reaching a dangerous turning point. A look at what it could mean for U.S. and European national security.

Israel opens more aid routes and delivery access to Gaza, a day after U.S. President Joe Biden’s call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatening a shift in U.S. policy towards Israel unless it reduced harm to civilians in Gaza. Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Edward P. Djerejian, Senior Fellow for the Harvard Kennedy Belford Center’s Middle East Initiative gives his take on what he believes needs to happen. The deaths of seven World Central Kitchen staffers have shaken the humanitarian community as groups now weigh the safety risks of their own workers. Janti Soeripto, President and CEO of Save the Children who just returned from Gaza talks about the serious impacts even a short pause in aid would mean for millions of starving civilians. Tensions heat up as Iran accuses Israel of carrying out an airstrike in Syria that killed some of its top military commanders and threatens to retaliate.

The U.N. special rapporteur working with the UN’s top human rights body laid out the findings of her report this week finding “reasonable grounds” to believe Israel has been carrying out genocide in Gaza, which Israel vehemently denies. Omer Bartov Samuel Pisar Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Brown University provides insights into the careful criteria is made for declaring genocide. And a conversation with Russia analyst Nicole Wolkov with the Institute for the Study of War on the likely motives behind the Kremlin’s continuing efforts to push the false narrative that Ukraine and the West were behind last week’s deadly concert hall attack in Moscow.

US. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the “gaps are narrowing” in negotiations between Israel and Hamas for a cease-fire and hostage release deal. EU leaders meet in Brussels with Ukraine and their own defense topping the agenda. The U.N. weather agency's annual State of the Global Climate report Tuesday was a “red alert.” With the clock is ticking, will humanity take the action needed to prevent the worst impacts of global warming.