Joe Biden calls for diplomatic solution to Middle East conflict in final United Nations address
Joe Biden has called for an end to conflicts in the Middle East in his final address to world leaders at the UN General Assembly.
In his speech in New York, the US president said now was the time for Israel and Hamas to finalise the terms of a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza.
Mr Biden said the families of those taken hostage were “going through hell” and added: “Innocent civilians in Gaza are also going through hell.”
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Speaking about Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon edging closer to an all-out war, Mr Biden said: “Full-scale war is not in anyone’s interest.
“A diplomatic solution is still possible. In fact, it remains the only path to lasting security.”
Mr Biden also condemned Israeli settler violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank and said progress towards peace in the Middle East would put the world in a stronger position to respond to “the ongoing threat posed by Iran”.
“Together we must deny oxygen to its terrorist proxies,” he said – referring to Iran-backed groups Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthi militants in Yemen – “and ensure that Iran will never, ever obtain a nuclear weapon.”
He had a more hopeful outlook for the Middle East when he addressed the UN a year ago, when he spoke of a “sustainable, integrated Middle East” coming into view.
During his speech, Mr Biden also praised the support his Western allies have given to Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022.
“The good news is Putin’s war has failed in its core aim. He set out to destroy Ukraine, but Ukraine is still free,” he said.
He called for world leaders to continue their support for Ukraine, adding: “We cannot grow weary. We cannot look away, and we will not let up on our support for Ukraine, not until Ukraine wins with a just, durable peace.”
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Little sign of urgency from president on diplomatic intervention in Middle East
It was not the high note Joe Biden would have hoped for in his last speech at the UN.
With the world in crisis on so many fronts in the dying months of his presidency, there was little hope of that.
Mr Biden has built so much of his political career in foreign policy and yet his legacy overseas is now unravelling.
It was far from his finest speech. He went through the list of achievements and challenges. His words lacked conviction. His tone was flat.
Most of all the speech was overshadowed by the spiralling crisis in the Middle East. On that, the president seemed tin-eared.
He spoke of the ceasefire deal his diplomats have tried to forge over Gaza. It is for now dead in the water but not for Mr Biden. “Now is a time for the parties to finalise terms,” he said.
What the region needs now is urgent diplomatic intervention by the US and its allies here at the UN.
There was little sign of that urgency from the president in this speech. He seemed to be going through the motions in the twilight of his presidency.
‘Some things are more important than staying in power’
With four months left in office, the speech was one of Mr Biden’s last high-profile opportunities as president to put forward the case for American support for Ukraine, which could be placed in doubt if former president Donald Trump defeats vice president Kamala Harris.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is still trying to galvanise Mr Biden into loosening restrictions on the use of Western-supplied long-range missiles, so Ukrainian forces can use them to hit targets in Russia.
Mr Biden will hear from Mr Zelenskyy about a new Ukrainian peace plan when they meet in Washington this Thursday.
During the course of the war, Mr Biden has initially resisted Ukrainian requests for certain military assets, such as M1 Abrams tanks and F-16 fighter jets, before relenting and agreeing to their use.
Mr Biden concluded his final speech to the UN General Assembly as US president with a message to world leaders: “My fellow leaders, let us never forget, some things are more important than staying in power. It’s your people.”
Elon Musk has criticised US President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill, calling it “outrageous” and a “disgusting abomination”.
The bill, which includes multi-trillion-dollar tax breaks, was passed by the House Republicans in May, and has been described by the president as a “big, beautiful bill”.
The tech billionaire hit out at the tax cuts on his platform X, writing: “I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore.
“This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.
“Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”
Elon Musk left his ‘special government employee’ role last week. Pic: AP.
In American politics, “pork” is a political metaphor used when government spending is allocated to local projects, usually to benefit politicians’ constituencies.
Musk left the administration abruptly last week after working to cut costs with his team, the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency – known as DOGE – with the ambition of sacking federal workers and cutting red tape.
The White House brushed Musk’s comments aside, claiming they did not surprise the president.
In a press conference on Tuesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that “the president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill”.
She added: “This is one, big, beautiful bill.
“And he’s sticking to it.”
The White House on Tuesday asked Congress to cut back $9.4bn in already approved spending, taking money away from DOGE.
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What did Musk achieve at DOGE?
The billionaire tweeted: “It will massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit to $2.5 trillion (!!!!) and burden American citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt.”
He also suggested voting out politicians who advanced the president’s tax bill.
“In November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people,” Musk wrote in another X post.
How Musk’s mission to cut government spending fell flat
Last Thursday, Musk revealed on X that his scheduled time as a “special government employee” was coming to an end.
Before the news broke, Musk’s father told Sky News his son was “not a very good politician”.
But speaking to Gillian Joseph on The World, Errol Musk insisted there was “no rift between Elon and Donald Trump”.
Musk’s time at DOGE was controversial, with drastic cuts to America’s humanitarian efforts sparking particular criticism.
Questions have also been raised about whether the department has actually saved taxpayers as much money as suggested.
Musk initially had ambitions to slash government spending by $2trn (£1.5trn) – but this was dramatically reduced to $1trn (£750bn) and then to just $150bn (£111bn).
Elon Musk brought his son X Æ A-12 to the Oval Office during a press conference earlier this year. Pic: Reuters.
The 53-year-old, who famously brought his son X Æ A-12 to the Oval Office, also expressed frustration about resistance to his ideas and clashed with other senior members of the Trump administration.
He recently told The Washington Post: “The federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realised. I thought there were problems, but it sure is an uphill battle trying to improve things in DC to say the least.”
By law, status as a “special government employee” means he could only serve for a maximum of 130 days, which would have ended around 30 May.
The family of the man accused of throwing petrol bombs at a pro-Israel group in Colorado have been taken into custody.
Immigration officers detained Mohamed Soliman’s relatives, believed to be his wife and five children.
Soliman, an Egyptian national, moved to the US three years ago and lived in Colorado Springs but was there illegally after his visa and work authorisation expired. He reportedly has two teenage children and three younger children.
“We are investigating to what extent his family knew about this heinous attack, if they had knowledge of it, or if they provided support to it,” said homeland security secretary Kristi Noem on X.
Soliman, 45, is being held after Molotov cocktails were thrown at a group doing a walk for Israeli hostages in Boulder on Sunday.
The attacker allegedly yelled “Free Palestine” and had a total of 18 petrol bombs – but police said he “got scared” and only tossed a couple.
Soliman also had a makeshift flamethrower in the form of gas in a backpack sprayer, according to a FBI statement, but told investigators he did not use it.
Twelve people were injured, authorities said. The victims were aged between 52 and 88 and three of them were still being treated in hospital on Tuesday.
Mohamed Soliman appeared with a bandaged ear in a mugshot. Pic: Boulder Police Dept.
Soliman was allegedly dressed as a gardener to get as close as he could to the small group. Authorities said he told them he had no regrets.
He has been charged with a hate crime and 16 counts of attempted murder in federal and state cases.
Court papers said he planned the attack for a year and told authorities that no one, including his family, was aware of the plot.
Video showed Soliman being arrested at the scene and an apparent burn mark on the ground
An FBI statement said Soliman left an iPhone hidden in a drawer at his home with messages for his family but that his wife handed it to police.
The family are said to be cooperating with investigators.
Soliman admitted taking gun training to try to get a permit but was denied as he wasn’t a US citizen, according to police and the FBI.
Barred from buying a firearm, he allegedly used YouTube to learn how to make petrol bombs.
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Law enforcement searched for bombs after the attack. Pic: AP
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Boulder attack was “aimed against peaceful people who wished to express their solidarity with the hostages held by Hamas, simply because they were Jews”.
The incident follows the arrest of a Chicago-born man in the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy employees in Washington DC last month.
Tensions are simmering in the US over Israel’s war in Gaza.
There has been an increase in antisemitic hate crime, as well as moves by some supporters of Israel to brand pro-Palestinian protests as antisemitic.
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