israelis kill dozens in gaza · 2019-11-11 · responsibility for all conse-quences following the...

VOL. CLXVII . . . No. 57,963 © 2018 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2018

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David Brody, correspondent for theChristian Broadcasting Network, haswide access to the president. PAGE A12

NATIONAL A12-18

Welcome at the White HouseGeneticists sound the alarm about thegenetic tinkering carried out in garagesand living rooms. PAGE D1

SCIENCE TIMES D1-6

‘Biohacking’ DNA

Margaret Renkl PAGE A25

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A24-25

Sergei V. Skripal met secretly withEuropean intelligence officers in theyears before he was poisoned. PAGE A5

INTERNATIONAL A4-11

Still in the Spy Game

Four British women, armed with newlypublished data on the salary gap, pushto change their industries. PAGE B6

Faces of the Fight for Fair Pay

JERUSALEM — Across theGaza Strip on Monday morning,loudspeakers on minarets urgedPalestinians to rush the fence bor-dering Israel, where they weremet by army snipers. At least 58were killed and thousands in-jured, local officials said — theworst day of carnage there sinceIsrael invaded Gaza in 2014.

Hours later, a beaming IvankaTrump helped unveil a stonemarker etched with her father’sname on the new American Em-bassy in Jerusalem, keeping hiscampaign promise to officially ac-knowledge Jerusalem as Israel’scapital. An audience of 800 reli-gious conservatives and right-wing politicians from both coun-tries sang “Hallelujah.”

“What a glorious day,” exultedPrime Minister Benjamin Netan-yahu.

The two scenes, only an hour’sdrive apart, illustrated the chasmdividing Israelis and Palestiniansmore than at any moment in re-cent history.

For generations, both sides ofthe conflict have been locked incompeting, mutually negatingnarratives, with only sporadicflickers of hope for peace despite

the efforts of a long list of presi-dents and secretaries of state.

Now, with the militant Hamasmovement hanging on to controlof Gaza, and Mr. Netanyahubacked by President Trump, nei-ther side is even listening to theother, and the Palestinians havelumped the United States togeth-er with Israel as an overt adver-sary.

Responsibility for the violenceon Monday rested “squarely withHamas,” said Raj Shah, a WhiteHouse spokesman, for “intention-ally and cynically provoking” Is-rael by urging Palestinians tostorm the border fence. “Israelhas the right to defend itself,” hesaid.

In Gaza, Khalil al-Hayya, depu-ty chief of Hamas, blamed theUnited States for inciting the vio-lence by moving the embassy toJerusalem, reversing decades ofAmerican policy and defying in-ternational consensus. “TheAmerican administration bearsresponsibility for all conse-quences following the implemen-tation of this unjust decision,” hesaid.

The two sides were in equallydifferent worlds when speaking ofhow the embassy opening wouldaffect the moribund peaceprocess.

Palestinians, who hope to see

ISRAELIS KILL DOZENS IN GAZA

By DAVID M. HALBFINGER

Palestinian demonstrators running for cover along the Israel-Gaza border on Monday, against a backdrop of tear gas and smoke.IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA/REUTERS

U.S. Embassy Opens in Jerusalem,but Peace Is as Distant as Ever

Continued on Page A11

Unlike Facebook and Instagram, Whats-App has received little attention for itssway on voters. But in one Indian state,the service has been crucial. PAGE B1

BUSINESS DAY B1-7

India’s WhatsApp Election

A COMPLEX PEACE A Trumppromise is met, while prospectsfor peace are set back. PAGE A10

Emergency managers say they haverevamped plans, as a new hurricaneseason begins June 1. PAGE A18

Puerto Rico Braces for MoreThe team sends flowers to the familiesand colleagues of officers killed on dutyanywhere in the country. PAGE B8

SPORTSTUESDAY B8-11

Yankees Mourn With the Police

In “How to Change Your Mind,”Michael Pollan writes about the history,science and lessons of LSD. PAGE C1

Psychedelic Flashbacks

A clinical trial will test whether dailynutritious meals can improve the well-being of chronically ill people. PAGE D3

For Healing, a Food Chain

Two district attorneys are said to beconsidering a bold repudiation of mari-juana prosecutions. PAGE A20

NEW YORK A19-21

Marijuana Policy Change?

Margot Kidder, who rocketed to fameplaying Lois Lane in “Superman” andits three sequels, was 69. PAGE A23

OBITUARIES A22-23

Superman’s Favorite Reporter

DOUG MILLS/THE NEW YORK TIMES

President Trump traveled to visit Melania Trump in the hospitalon Monday after she was treated for a kidney ailment. Page A16.

Visiting the First Lady

Representative Jeb Hensarlingof Texas needed a favor: Beforeretiring, he wanted to anoint a lo-cal activist as his successor. Mr.Hensarling, a veteran conserva-tive, reached out to PresidentTrump for help, but the WhiteHouse hesitated to intervene, ac-cording to a person familiar withthe overture.

Instead, Mr. Hensarling found awilling ally at Mr. Trump’s righthand: Vice President Mike Pence.Mr. Pence backed the congress-man’s favorite, Bunni Pounds, last

month in a tweet that blindsidedkey White House aides.

The eager assistance Mr. Penceprovided a senior lawmaker re-flected the outsize political port-folio that the vice president andhis aides have seized for them-selves as the 2018 elections ap-proach. While Mr. Trump remainsan overpowering personality inRepublican politics, he is mostlyuninterested in the mechanics ofmanaging a political party. Histeam of advisers is riven with per-sonal divisions, and the WhiteHouse has not yet crafted a strat-egy for the midterms. So Mr.

Trump Aides Bristle as Pence Seizes Control of G.O.P. Races

This article is by AlexanderBurns, Jonathan Martin and Mag-gie Haberman.

Continued on Page A16

GAZA — He crawled along thebumpy ground, wire-cutters inhand. People around him werefelled by bullets. He choked whenIsraeli jeeps sped past, pepperinghim with tear gas. A few yardsaway, a man was shot in the leg.Behind him, he said, a teenage boywas shot in the head, fatally.

By the end of the day, IsmailKhaas, a 23-year-old Palestinianprotester, accomplished what hehad set out to do: he touched thefence separating Gaza from Is-rael.

“That’s the priority, and weachieved it,” he said.

Mr. Khaas insisted he did nothave a death wish. But on Monday,the deadliest day in Gaza since the2014 war with Israel, the risksmay not have seemed commensu-rate with the rewards.

At least 58 protesters had beenkilled, Gaza’s Health Ministry re-ported, more than the 49 killedsince the protests at the borderfence started on March 30.

A Day of Defiance and DespairAt a Border Fence Under Siege

By DECLAN WALSH

The U.S. sent Ivanka Trump and Steven Mnuchin to Jerusalem.RONEN ZVULUN/REUTERS

Continued on Page A10

BAGHDAD — Moktada al-Sadr,a firebrand militia leader whoseforces once battled Americantroops in Iraq and were implicatedin widespread atrocities againstcivilians, has emerged as the sur-prise front-runner in the Iraqi na-tional elections, according to Iraqielection officials.

After American forces largelywithdrew from Iraq in 2011, Mr.Sadr remained vocally anti-Amer-ican, though he has also beenstrongly critical of Iran, the otherforeign power with widespread in-fluence here.

The victory of Mr. Sadr’s poli-tical coalition could complicatethe American strategy in Iraq.The American military has beentraining, sharing intelligence andplanning missions with formermilitias in the country, gamblingthat their military partnershipcan keep the Islamic State frommaking a comeback here.

Mr. Sadr has been highly criti-cal of American airstrikes in thecountry against the Islamic State,though he has said little recentlyabout his willingness to allowAmerican troops to remain onIraqi soil.

American officials are now un-certain — though not yet worried— about what the position ofIraq’s future government may beon the issue.

Some of Mr. Sadr’s political al-lies, even those who foughtagainst American soldiers in thepast, want the United States tostay and help shore up the coun-try. His closest rivals in the elec-tion also support the Americansstaying. And even Mr. Sadr’s rep-resentatives have said that hewould abide by agreements be-tween the United States and Iraqon training Iraqi security forces.

Mr. Sadr once led the Iraqi Shi-ite militia known as the MahdiArmy, which fought with Ameri-

IRAQ VOTERS BACKALLIES OF CLERICWHO FOUGHT U.S.

SADR COALITION LEADS

Calls Against Graft andInterference Bolster a

Firebrand’s Hand

By MARGARET COKERand RICK GLADSTONE

Continued on Page A9

Moktada al-Sadr, a Shiite cleric.ALAA AL-MARJANI/REUTERS

WASHINGTON — The Su-preme Court struck down a 1992federal law on Monday that effec-tively banned commercial sportsbetting in most states, opening thedoor to legalizing the estimated$150 billion in illegal wagers onprofessional and amateur sportsthat Americans make every year.

The decision seems certain toresult in profound changes to thenation’s relationship with sportswagering. Bettors will no longerbe forced into the black market touse offshore wagering operationsor illicit bookies. Placing bets willbe done on mobile devices, fueledand endorsed by the lawmakersand sports officials who opposed itfor so long. A trip to Las Vegas towager on March Madness or theSuper Bowl could soon seemquaint.

The law the decision over-turned — the Professional andAmateur Sports Protection Act —prohibited states from authoriz-ing sports gambling. Among itssponsors was Senator Bill Brad-ley, Democrat of New Jersey and aformer college and professionalbasketball star. He said the lawwas needed to safeguard the in-tegrity of sports.

But the court said the law wasunconstitutional. “It is as if federalofficers were installed in state leg-islative chambers and werearmed with the authority to stoplegislators from voting on any of-fending proposals,” Justice Samu-el A. Alito Jr. said, writing for themajority. “A more direct affront tostate sovereignty is not easy toimagine.”

Across the country, state offi-cials and representatives of thecasino industry greeted the rulingwith something like glee, nowheremore than in New Jersey, whichanticipated the decision and hadbeen prepared to quickly take ad-vantage of it.

In 2011, the state’s voters pas-sed a constitutional amendmentin favor of legalizing sports bet-ting, and three years later, theLegislature repealed its lawagainst sports betting. Both werechallenged in court. But now theLegislature only has to pass a lawestablishing the rules and regula-tions for sanctioned sports bettingto begin at casinos and racetracksin the state.

A spokesman for Gov. Philip D.Murphy said his office sent a pro-posed bill to the Legislatureweeks ago and has been negotiat-ing behind the scenes in anticipa-tion of a favorable ruling from thecourt. Stephen M. Sweeney, theState Senate president, said peo-

Justices NullifyLaw That Bans

Sports Betting

New Jersey Case OpensDoor for Other States

By ADAM LIPTAKand KEVIN DRAPER

Continued on Page A15

WASHINGTON — PresidentTrump’s recent threat to imposetariffs on as much as $150 billionworth of Chinese goods appearedto be the first volley in whatlooked like a full-scale trade warwith the nation’s greatest eco-nomic adversary. Now, suddenly,Mr. Trump seems ready to makepeace.

To alleviate trade tensions, Mr.Trump is considering easing up ona major Chinese telecommunica-tions company, ZTE, in exchangefor China agreeing to buy moreAmerican products and lifting its

own crippling restrictions onAmerican agriculture, people fa-miliar with the deliberations said.

The shift is an abrupt reversalthat reflects another twist in thepitched battle inside the WhiteHouse between the economic na-tionalists, who channel Mr.Trump’s protectionist instincts,and more mainstream advisers,who worry about the effects ofhard-line policies on the stockmarket and long-term economicgrowth.

While the nationalists had re-cently seemed ascendant — push-ing Mr. Trump toward a show-

About-Face on Trade With ChinaStings White House Hard-Liners

Continued on Page A7

This article is by Ana Swanson,Mark Landler and Keith Bradsher.

BETS ON HOLD After a SupremeCourt ruling, now what? PAGE A15

“Le Marin” (“The Sailor”), valued at$70 million, was withdrawn from an artsale at Christie’s. PAGE C5

ARTS C1-8

Picasso Painting Is Damaged

Late EditionToday, mostly cloudy, afternoonshowers, thunder, high 85. Tonight,cloudy, showers, thunder, flashflooding, low 62. Tomorrow, shower,high 65. Weather map, Page B12.

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