Financial Times - Felicia Schwartz, James Politi and Mehul Srivastava / Joe Biden warns Israel he will halt US weapon supplies if it invades Rafah
 

• President Joe Biden has told Israel that the US would withhold the supply of offensive weapons if it moved ahead with a full invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza, in his starkest warning yet over its conduct of the war against Hamas. 

• Biden’s comments, in an interview with CNN during a trip to Wisconsin, came after Washington had already paused a shipment of munitions heading to Israel, amid concern over its operations in Rafah, where more than 1mn Palestinian civilians have been sheltering. 

• The US has opposed Israel’s plans for an assault on Rafah, hoping instead to help broker a deal between Israel and Hamas to free hostages held in Gaza and reach a ceasefire lasting at least six weeks. 

• But with the fate of those talks still uncertain, Biden publicly warned Israel that Washington would curtail its supply of weapons depending on its conduct in Rafah — a step that his administration had been unwilling to take until now.

   

The Washington Post - Heidi Levine and Loveday Morris / Tanks amass around Gaza as Israel gears up for Rafah operation
 

• Hundreds of tanks and military vehicles have amassed along the border with Gaza in recent days as Israel has started operations in the southern city of Rafah, with soldiers saying they are preparing for a wider offensive. 

• At one area that appeared to have become a temporary staging ground, scores of Merkava tanks maneuvered on a dusty slope, churning up the earth. Some were topped with Israeli flags. 

• Trucks carrying hulking Israeli armored D9 bulldozers, tanks and other vehicles trundled up and down roads that have seen a surge in military vehicles. 

• “We’re feeling really good. We want to win this war, and we have to do that,” said Gili, a 28-year-old reservist with a logistics unit supporting the Givati Brigade. Gili and other Israel Defense Forces soldiers who spoke with The Washington Post are being identified only by their first names because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

   

SCMP - Maria Siow / New ‘Squad’ bloc could allow Philippines to ‘borrow strength’ of Australia, Japan, US to counter China
 

• An emerging regional bloc linking Australia, Japan, the Philippines and the United States is expected to evolve into a more permanent or institutionalised grouping. 

• But for now, analysts say the informal alliance will allow Manila to “borrow the strength” of the other three nations in countering challenges from China, and in elevating the Philippines’ status beyond that of a “junior partner”. 

• US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin last week met counterparts from Australia, Japan and the Philippines as Washington sought to deepen ties within the rising regional group that Pentagon officials had privately nicknamed the “Squad”, according to a Bloomberg report. 

• The quadrilateral marks the latest regional partnership Washington has forged to counter Beijing’s growing assertiveness in the region.

   

Euractiv - Anna Brunetti and Aurélie Pugnet / EIB greenlights historic overhaul of dual-use policy, ramps up defence investment
 

• The EU’s multi-billion lending arm announced on Wednesday (8 May) changes to its long-standing policy not to invest in military products, by waiving restrictions on dual-use investments. 

• The board of directors of the European Investment Bank (EIB) approved an “updated definition of dual-use goods and infrastructure eligible for EIB Group financing,” scrapping its minimum threshold for expected revenues from civilian applications or share of civilian users within any defence-related investment, they said in their statement. 

• Until now, its dual-use lending criteria restricted the bank’s investment into defence-related projects to those civilian applications that exceed their military use. 

• EU finance ministers, who serve as EIB’s directors, agreed to “facilitate financing” for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) involved in security and defence, “by opening up dedicated intermediated financing.”

Our opinion reads for today:

• Foreign Policy - Steven A. Cook / Saudi Arabia Is on the Way to Becoming the Next Egypt 

• Project Syndicate - Dalia Marin / The Zero-Sum Logic Fueling the Rise of Germany’s Far Right