Rupert Murdoch

Blighty, Donald. Your legal team riled him up. That's a big mistake. We all know Rupert Murdoch is old (e.g., 94), but did you have to recap his multiple health issues in your legal filing of July 28 connected with the suit against the Wall Street Journal? It was a gratuitous swipe at your frenemy.

The filing notes that Murdoch collapsed and fainted in February at a breakfast with a journalist, was hospitalized for “a serious case of COVID-19” and “suffered a broken back, seizures, two bouts of pneumonia, atrial fibrillation, and a torn Achilles tendon.”

You say Murdoch’s age and health warrant his deposition on an expedited basis.

My hunch is your litany of Murdoch’s health woes will spur the old Aussie into action.

He’ll be at the Miami courthouse with bells on his toes, and ready to talk about the WSJ article, “Jeffrey Epstein’s Friends Sent Him Bawdy Letters for a 50th Birthday Album. One was from Donald Trump.”

Saw it on TV... It’s good that Donald Trump traveled to Scotland for a five-day golfing jaunt.

During downtime, the president undoubtedly turned on the television and tuned in to the BBC, which has been reporting wall-to-wall about the starvation in Gaza.

It's a much different vibe in the US. Back at the White House, Trump is cocooned with Fox News, which gives short-shrift to the misery in Gaza, and bends over backwards in supporting Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

A typical Fox story on Gaza ran July 26 about the Israel Defense Forces resuming airdrops of aid into The Strip while disputing claims of deliberate starvation. The Fox producers should take a peek at the Beeb.

The former reality show host now says there is “real starvation” in Gaza because you can’t fake the images of emaciated kids that he saw on the tube in Scotland. He talked vaguely about opening food centers in Gaza in tandem with European allies.

That would make great TV. We can even call them Trump Hospitality Suites.

Come together. J Street, the liberal Jewish lobbying group and the Muslim Public Affairs Council issued the following statement concerning the Palestinian plight.

“As leaders and organizations with differing historical narratives, political analyses, and policy prescriptions regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we come together in shared conviction to say: Enough. Enough war. Enough civilian suffering. Enough starvation. Enough terror and hostage-taking. Enough rhetoric that justifies forced displacement and collective punishment.”

They are alarmed by use of starvation as a weapon of war, and warned about the impact that it will have on have on US foreign policy.

“Anti-American sentiment is rising dramatically around the world due to our government’s perceived complicity in violation of international humanitarian law,” said the groups.

They called for unhindered flow of humanitarian aid through all international channels, an immediate ceasefire in Gaza to end the war, and the release of all hostages.

Amen to that.