News Briefs: UK’s new leader; Chinese migrants; Israel and July 4th greeting

Today’s news briefs include a new leader for the UK; Illegal Chinese migrants deported; Israel sends July 4th greetings to America.

United Kingdom elects new leader

The British public went to the polls Sunday, returning Labour to government for the first time since it elected Tony Blair in 1997. Keir Starmer, the party’s leader, spoke from 10 Downing  Street thanking voters who gave the conservative Tory party a thrashing. Starmer has worked for five years steering the liberal Labour Party to the center of British politics as the mood of the Continent abandons far-left liberal policy in elections this year. Starmer also comes to his new position as Prime Minister as a supporter of Israel, having worked to rid the party of its antisemites. Reports the Times of Israel, “Starmer-led Labour government is likely to be far less antagonistic to Israel — and far more sympathetic to the concerns of British Jews.” Starmer’s wife is Jewish.

US reports illegal Chinese immigrants

With the US presidential election just months away, the Department of Homeland Security said this week that it sent 116 Chinese migrants from the United States back home in the first “large charter flight” since the Trump administration. The flight comes as Chinese immigration has become the subject of intense political debate in the upcoming U.S. presidential election, according to the Associated Press. “We will continue to enforce our immigration laws and remove individuals without a legal basis to remain in the United States,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement. Most of the migrants entered across the southern border. Critics responded on Twitter asking why it took almost four years for the Biden administration to enforce the policy.

Netanyahu issues July 4th message to Americans

“On this Fourth of July, I want to thank the American people for being true to their birthright, the Spirit of 1776, and wish them a happy and blessed Independence Day,” Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday. “Through thick and thin, for the past nine months, Israel has deeply appreciated vital American support. “In these times of national crisis, as the people of Israel fight a seven-front war for our national survival against Iran and its terror proxies, it is heartening to know that far from standing alone, we have the support of the greatest democracy the world has ever known.” Netanyahu went on to say that “America stands with Israel because Americans are similarly moved by the legacy of their forefathers. At their base, Israel and America are guided by the same twin insights. Freedom is the most precious gift humanity will ever know. And freedom isn’t free. You have to be willing to fight for it.”

–Dwight Widaman and wire services