Up First from NPR - Netanyahu Faces Opposition, Russia Strikes Ukraine, Top New York Aide Spying

Episode Date: September 4, 2024

A major government reshuffle is underway in Ukraine as intensifying Russian missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian cities kills dozens and injures hundreds. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces mounting pressure from protesters and political rivals accusing him of prioritizing his political survival over Israel's security. And, a longtime New York political aide is accused of secretly working for the Chinese government, sparking concerns over foreign influence in U.S. policymaking. Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.Today's episode of Up First was edited by Carrie Kahn, Rebecca Rossman, Luis Clemens, Mohamad ElBardicy, and Jan Johnson.It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Lindsay Totty.We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. And our technical director is Carleigh Strange.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

missiles fell on a military academy in ukraine russia intensified attacks on ukrainian cities including strikes on residential areas as the government reshapes itself for a lengthening war i'm michelle martin that's steven skip and this is up first from npr news israel's prime minister is facing increasingly pointed criticism over Gaza, both outside Israel and in. As protests there continue for a third day, rivals accuse Benjamin Netanyahu of prioritizing his political survival over Israel's security. Is he losing his grip on power? Also, a longtime aide to New York State's governor is accused of secretly working for China. I'm furious and I'm outraged and absolutely shocked at how brazen her behavior was.

It was a betrayal of trust. How deep does China's influence go? Stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your day. Now Our Change will honor 100 years of the Royal Canadian Air Force and their dedicated service to communities at home and abroad. From the skies to Our Change, this $2 commemorative circulation coin marks their storied past and promising future.

Find the limited edition Royal Canadian Air Force $2 coin today. One year ago, the event that changed a region. Heavily armed Palestinian militants in Gaza flew across the border. The October 7th Hamas attacks on Israel. Israeli ground troops have entered northern Gaza. How the war unfolded and where it could be headed. Pagers carried by Hezbollah members began exploding in cars. Listen to a special episode of the podcast State of the World from NPR.

Do you feel like there's more on your to-do list than you can accomplish? Or maybe the world's problems feel extra heavy these days. We can't eliminate stress, but we can manage it. It's almost like I have a new operating system now. Like I tend to live more in this light. Stress Less, a quest to reclaim your calm. A new series from NPR's Life Kit. Ukrainians received two reminders that they are far from the end of the war.

Their president is reshaping his government for the next phase of the conflict. And Russia sent waves of missiles into the country, including some that landed on a military academy. NPR's Joanna Kikissis is covering this story from Kyiv, Ukraine. Joanna, what is this military academy? So, Steve, it's called the Military Communications Institute, and it's in the city of Poltava in sort of the central eastern part of the country. Cadets there learn about digital innovation to help with drone and electronic warfare. And we spoke to Denis Kliop. He's in charge of a local rapid response team in Poltava. And he said the explosions at this academy were so intense that he felt them almost two miles away.

And when he arrived to the scene, he says he saw the worst tragedy he's witnessed in the war. He's saying, I have never seen so many dead bodies in one place and so mutilated. In some cases, I couldn't make out that this was a human being lying there. He said the injured were so dazed and that the missiles came so fast that there wasn't time to shelter. Wow. I want to try to get this in perspective, Joanna, because from this distance, from the United States, we may lose track a little bit. Is this happening all the time to some degree that missiles are constantly raining on the country? Yes, it's a daily occurrence in Ukraine. There are strikes every day, but this last stretch, last couple of days, has been especially bad.

Last night, a university in the northeastern city of Sumy was hit, and early this morning, Russia launched guided missiles and drones all over Ukraine. A missile hit a residential building near a train station in Lviv, which is on the far west on the border with Poland, and officials there say at least seven people have died and more than a dozen are injured. So how is Ukraine's government responding to these attacks? So Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, repeated something he said a lot, that the way to respond is for the White House

to finally allow Ukraine to use these long-range weapons from the U.S. to strike at military targets deep into Russia. He's saying Russian strikes will become absolutely impossible if Ukraine has the ability to destroy launch sites, military airfields, logistics hubs. And he's insisting that this will end the war sooner. The White House, though, is saying these strikes could actually escalate the war. Yeah, the concern is, of course, that at some point Russia brings in nuclear weapons. But haven't we already crossed this line? Because Ukraine has literally invaded a portion of Russia in recent weeks. Yeah, Ukraine's offensive into Russia's Kursk region shocked everyone, including the Ukrainians themselves.

Ukrainian troops now occupy part of that region. And Zelensky seemed to hope that it could force Russia to the negotiating table. But after the attacks of the last couple days, that doesn't seem to be happening. What is happening, of course, is that Zelensky is reshaping the government. What is he doing? So he announced last night that he wanted to restructure state institutions, and shortly thereafter, all these letters of resignations from his cabinet started pouring in. And this morning, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, he's one of the most prominent cabinet ministers, he also offered to resign.

If Parliament accepts these resignations, it's going to be the biggest shakeup since the war began. And it comes at such a precarious time because as Ukraine pushes forward with that offensive in Russia, it's also losing land to Russia in the east. Trying to reorganize for whatever may come next. Joanna, thanks so much. You're welcome. That's NPR's Joanna Kakisis. Israelis are growing even louder in demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu make a ceasefire with Hamas. Days of protests have followed the news that Hamas killed six hostages, just as Israeli troops were approaching the part of Gaza where they were. Now, the prime minister's critics do blame Hamas for the killings, but they accuse Netanyahu of blocking a deal that could have brought the hostages home. Now, the critics include one of Israel's leading political figures who was allied with the prime minister until recently.

And, Piers, Hadil El-Shalchi is in Tel Aviv and covering this story. Welcome. Thank you. Okay, that political leader is Benny Gantz, who's a former general and a veteran Israeli politician. What's he saying? Yeah, well, last night, Gantz came out fighting. He demanded Netanyahu make a deal or quit. Gantz is the leader of the centrist National Unity Party, and he was part of Israel's emergency war cabinet that was formed after October 7th. But then he quit in June, protesting Netanyahu's handling of the war. Last night, he said Netanyahu should, quote, hand over the keys and go home. Have a listen.

Netanyahu has lost his way. He sees himself as the state, and that's dangerous, Gantz said. Now, Gantz actually doesn't have enough influence to sway Netanyahu. I mean, Netanyahu's own defense minister has tried to get the prime minister to accept a deal and he refuses to. But Gantz's voice yesterday does add to the ever-growing pressure from inside Israel and frankly the world for Netanyahu to just accept a deal and eventually end the war in Gaza. I want to work through the different viewpoints on what Netanyahu is doing. His critics contend that he's being obstinate for self-preservation, that his far-right coalition doesn't want the deal and they would unseat him, or that if the shooting were to stop, there would have to be an election that he would lose.

Those are the theories against him. But I want to understand the way the prime minister describes his situation. The outlines of a deal are Israelis stop their assault, Hamas releases hostages. What does Netanyahu say is wrong with that deal? Well, you know, the thing is, we don't know all the details of the ceasefire proposal that's on the table right now. But we do know that a major sticking point is the presence of Israeli troops on a strip of land called the Philadelphia Quarter on the Gaza-Egypt border. Netanyahu is opposed to withdrawing Israeli troops from it. He says that Hamas could

smuggle weapons through the tunnels under it and rebuild its military capabilities or even smuggle hostages the other way into Egypt. And Hamas wants the Israeli military to withdraw completely from the area, which actually is something that Netanyahu's own defense minister is ready to do and says it could be done relatively safely. Another one of the points of opposition between Netanyahu and some of his fellow Israelis. I want to ask about another news item. Just after these hostages were killed, including an American, the American Justice Department issued indictments against Hamas leaders. What's going on there?

Right. So the Department of Justice announced last night that they were unsealing indictments of six Hamas leaders, including the group's head, Yahya Sanwar. He's believed to be somewhere in a tunnel under Gaza, you know, directing operations. And the charges say that they carried out attacks that killed Americans, including Hirsch, Goldberg, Poland. He was one of the hostages whose death sparked the mass protests in Israel in the past couple of days. And, you know, this is a largely symbolic movie. Three of those Hamas leaders named are already dead. Although I suppose others are alive and Israeli airstrikes continue and other kinds of strikes continue on Gaza, correct? Yeah. So in

Gaza, the death toll mounts. Latest figures after nearly 11 months of war is more than 40,800, according to health officials in Gaza. Evacuation orders continue displacing Palestinians numerous times to ever shrinking so-called humanitarian zones, which are really just squalid and not all that safe. And also Israel's largest military operation in the West Bank in almost two years continues. Israeli troops have encircled a number of urban refugee camps like Jenin, saying they want to root out militants. Their Palestinian officials say 33 Palestinians have been killed so far in those raids, dozens of arrests, and Israel says militants have killed three Israeli police officers.

Okay. NPR's Adil Al-Shalchi in Tel Aviv. Thanks so much. You're welcome. Okay, an aide to New York State's Democratic governor is accused of working secretly for China's government. The U.S. Justice Department alleges that she was taking payments from China's Communist Party. Linda's son and her husband, Chris Hu, pleaded not guilty late yesterday at a Brooklyn courthouse. And Paris Brian Mann is following all of this. Brian, good morning. Good morning, Steve. Okay, what does the indictment say? Yeah, it says that Linda's son, who is an important player in New York politics and government for more than a decade, worked in secret for China as early as 2016,

failing to register as an agent of a foreign government. What the FBI says is that one of her missions, Steve, was to quietly use her influence to block New York officials from having contact with representatives of Taiwan. China, of course, has worked for decades to isolate Taiwan diplomatically. Sun also allegedly rewrote official pronouncements issued by former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and the current Governor Kathy Hochul, shaping those announcements to be more pro-China. Okay, so working for different word choices by a New York state governor, what did China allegedly pay for that? According to the indictment, Beijing officials funneled millions of dollars in cash into businesses owned by Linda Sun's husband, Chris Hu.

Money the couple allegedly disguised, in part by laundering it through luxury real estate. The FBI also says one Chinese government official, Steve, showed gratitude to the family by having a chef in the Chinese consulate in New York repeatedly send Nanjing-style salted duck. These payments and gifts allegedly continued for years. And again, to be clear, Sun and Hu have pleaded not guilty to these charges.

They're free on bond this morning with court-ordered restrictions on their travel. Okay, so a little bit of duck, a few million dollars. What does Governor Kathy Hochul say about these allegations against one of her own aides? Hochul says her team first identified misconduct by Sun last year and quickly fired her, reporting her alleged activity to law enforcement. Hochul spoke last night to NPR member station WNYC. I'm furious and I'm outraged and absolutely shocked at how brazen her behavior was. It was a betrayal of trust. The scope of what she was capable of doing is shocking. Linda Sun also worked as a top aide to Grace Meng when Meng was

in the New York State Assembly. She's now a member of Congress from New York. Through much of that time, again, Steve, the FBI says she was actually working for China. Okay, so I'm trying to think this through, Brian. These are allegations about an aide to the governor of one state. I mean, a big and important state, but one American state. It makes me think that there must be, if these allegations were true, there must be a very widespread Chinese influence campaign in the United States. The FBI has been warning about this kind of activity for years, urging government officials, state and federal, to be vigilant.

I spoke with Casey Michelle, who's an expert on foreign lobbying in the U.S. He says there is evidence of influence networks funded by China that operate underground. We have seen, though, other suspicious, other shady, other potentially unregistered, potentially criminal Chinese-related foreign lobbying networks. Last month in a separate case, Steve, another New York resident, Xu Jun Wang, was convicted on federal charges. He worked as a spy on China's behalf. Prosecutors say Wang could be sentenced up to 25 years behind bars if they're found guilty. Linda Sun and Chris Hu also face serious prison time. Are there other countries that are also trying to influence officials across the United States?

Yeah, absolutely, Steve. U.S. officials say other governments are using similar criminal tactics. In July, NPR reported a former CIA analyst had been arrested for allegedly working as an undeclared agent for the South Korea government, maintaining secret ties in that case to South Korean intelligence officials for more than a decade. And then last month, former U.S. Senator Bob Menendez from New Jersey resigned. He, of course, was convicted of taking bribes from Egyptian officials in exchange for secretly working on Egypt's behalf in Washington. The Justice Department describes these latest arrests in New York as another sign they're working aggressively to root out foreign agents and their schemes. Thanks for the reminder of the gold bars, Brian. Appreciate it.

You bet, Steve. That's NPR's Brian Mann. And that's Up First for this Wednesday, September 4th. I'm Steve Inskeep. And I'm Michelle Martin. Your next listen is Consider This from NPR. Supreme Court Justice Katonji Brown-Jackson is sharing the story of her life in her new memoir, Lovely One. Hear how the first black woman to sit in the Supreme Court was lifted up by her family. Listen to Consider This from NPR. Today's Up First was edited by Carrie Kahn, Rebecca Rossman, Louise Clemens, Mohamed El-Bardisi, and Jan Johnson. Produced by Ziad Butch, Nia Dumas, and Lindsay Tati. We get engineering support from Nisha Hynes, and our technical director is Carly Strange. Join us tomorrow.

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