Morning Brief: Biden Health Revelations & Israel Lays Into Hamas

Former President Joe Biden is suffering from an “aggressive” form of cancer. Hamas says it is ready to resume talks after massive strikes by Israel, and, as the UK struggles with the effects of mass migration, Britain’s liberal prime minister makes a major reversal.

It’s Monday, May 19, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.

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Biden Reveals Cancer Diagnosis Amid Bombshell Reports Of Cognitive Decline

Topline: On Sunday, former President Joe Biden’s staff announced that the 82-year-old had been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer on the heels of renewed public interest in his physical and mental decline.

A Biden spokesman revealed that an exam last month found a small nodule on his prostate, and further examination revealed it to be an “aggressive” form of cancer and that it has spread to his bones. Prostate cancer that has metastasized to the bones has a ~33% 5-year survival rate, and the median life expectancy after diagnosis is 21 months. The one silver lining is that it appears to be “hormone-sensitive,” making it more treatable.

After former President Biden dropped out of the race last summer, Democrat leaders made a concerted effort to shift their focus away from the president and toward Kamala Harris and other prominent, younger lawmakers. But a new book from Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson offers explosive details of “President Biden’s decline, its cover-up and his disastrous choice to run again.” The revelations have set Washington ablaze and brought the former president’s decline back into the national conversation.

Remember: The White House spent four years condemning anyone who questioned his cognitive fitness, labeling videos of his mental missteps “cheap fakes” and essentially gaslighting those who said he seemed off.

According to numerous administration and campaign officials, both on and off the record, Biden’s physical deterioration was so severe that some of his closest advisers believed he would need to use a wheelchair if re-elected. While Biden’s staff routinely assured the American people that behind closed doors, he was running laps around his staff, numerous officials now say that due to his old age, he was limited to a six-hour work window, typically from 10 am to 4 pm, with time often scheduled for naps.

As this new evidence has come to light, Democratic leaders have come out on the record saying Biden never should have run for re-election and that his mental state was clearly compromised. But it’s important to note how different that message is from what we heard from them when he was actually in power:

Former Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas: The most difficult part about a meeting with Joe Biden is preparing for it. Because he is sharp, intensely probing and detail oriented and focused.

Former Attorney General Merrick Garland: “I have watched him expertly guide meetings of staff and cabinet members. I could not have more confidence in the president.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY): “It’s as good as it’s been over the years I’ve been, he’s fine. All this right-wing propaganda that his mental acuity has declined is wrong.”

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker (D): “He is on the ball. The man knows more than most of us have forgotten.”

Israel Launches New Offensive; Hamas Returns To Diplomatic Talks

Topline:  Israel forces Hamas back to the bargaining table after a new ground offensive.

In a new operation, called Operation Gideon’s Chariots, Israeli troops moved into portions of northern and southern Gaza while the air force launched hundreds of strikes against terrorists. Israel’s objectives have been the same since the war began: to free the hostages and destroy Hamas. Over the weekend, Israel made measurable progress toward both of those goals. According to a Hamas spokesman, the terror group decided to return to the negotiating table without preconditions. 

An Israeli official told Israel’s I24 News that talks in Qatar are “intense” but still short of a “breakthrough.” While officials are more optimistic than last week, it’s still unclear if a deal can be reached.” One possible agreement, proposed by US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, would secure the release of 10 hostages.  Israeli officials believe 23 of the October 7 hostages that remain in Hamas’ custody are still alive, although there are concerns that three of them are in critical condition. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has said he is willing to end the war altogether, but only if Hamas surrenders and Gaza is disarmed. The Israeli official said the delegation in Qatar “won’t be there forever. If there won’t be progress shortly, we will progress in the fighting.”

Over the weekend, Israeli planes carried out at least 670 strikes against Hamas terror targets. Dozens of terrorists are reportedly dead, and one of those might have been Hamas’ head of military operations, Mohammed Sinwar – the brother of Yahya Sinwar, who led Hamas until Israeli forces killed him in October.

New documents have also shed light on what inspired the October 7 terror attack on Israel that began this war. The Wall Street Journal got a peek at the minutes of an October 2, 2023, meeting of Hamas’s political leadership, which show that this attack that had been years in the making, was launched less than a week later to disrupt Israeli-Saudi relations. Israel and Saudi Arabia were close to normalizing relations under the Abraham Accords from President Donald Trump’s first term. According to the minutes, Yahya Sinwar was concerned that normalizing relations between the Saudis and Israelis would “open the door for the majority of Arab and Islamic countries to follow the same path.” So – with Iran’s approval – Hamas launched the attack to “bring about … a strategic shift in the paths and balances of the region with regard to the Palestinian cause.”

In his second term, President Trump has continued to try to bring Israel and Saudi Arabia together. In his recent visit to the Middle East, the president said, “It’s my fervent hope, wish, and even my dream that Saudi Arabia, a place I have such respect for… will soon be joining the Abraham Accords.”

UK’s Left-Wing Prime Minister Makes An About-Face On Immigration

Topline: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has made a landmark speech in which he attacked mass migration and said his government would significantly reduce it.

At a press conference unveiling his government’s new policy, Prime Minister Starmer said that he wanted to “take back control of our borders,” calling the previous era of mass immigration “squalid.” He blamed the previous Conservative government for the significant increase in immigration since 2021, which saw net migration quadruple. In 2023, migration was more than 1 million, which is nearly the same size as Birmingham, the second-largest city in the country. Starner called this a “one-nation experiment in open borders,” warning that Britain risked becoming an “island of strangers.” 

“When you have an immigration system that seems designed to permit abuse, bring in lower paid workers, sold by politicians on a false premise, then you are not championing growth or justice!” Starmer said. “You’re actually contributing to the forces that are slowly pulling our country apart.”

Although he praised diversity and described migration as part of “Britain’s story,” Starmer said that immigrants should commit to integrating, including learning English. He also extended the period required to apply for permanent settlement from five years to 10.

“That will reassure a lot of people who were worried that the millions of low-skilled immigrants who have come here in the last few years would soon be eligible for settlement, at which point they could fully access the welfare state,” Guy Dampier of the Prosperity Institute told The Daily Wire. “Immigration policy in Britain has been dominated for the last few decades by the idea that immigration was good for the economy and that it was only illegal immigration which was the problem. So this is a major rhetorical shift.”

The ideological pivot provoked outrage within the Labour Party’s left-wing base – many party activists resigned, and some sitting members of parliament condemned their party leader’s speech. However, polling indicates that public support for reducing immigration is quite high.

“In a lot of ways the Prime Minister is reflecting the mood of the country, rather than driving it,” Dampier told The Daily Wire. “And which the anti-immigration Reform party (led by Nigel Farage) did very well in. So some people think this is an attempt to win back voters and stem the collapse in popularity. For people on the right, this was something of a vindication. The Prime Minister said things they have argued for years.”