The U.S. State Department appears to have contradicted itself on whether Israel is held to a different moral standard than Hamas.

Yesterday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters that there was no ‘double standard’ of expectations for either side of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

‘Do we have a double standard? The answer is ‘no,’’ Blinken said Monday while discussing the department’s report on human rights violations in the region.

He continued, ‘As this report makes clear, in general, as we’re looking at human rights and the condition of human rights around the world, we apply the same standard to everyone.’

Ambassador David Satterfield, the State Department’s special envoy for Middle East humanitarian issues, however, seemed to directly contradict this assertion on Tuesday, saying that there is indeed a different standard of behavior expected from Israel in the conflict.

‘Now with respect to Israel, we require from Israel — because it is the right and moral thing to do — a very different standard of conduct,’ Satterfield told reporters during a press conference.

He continued, ‘And as I noted in my remarks, the president made clear on his visit to Israel shortly after Oct. 7, it’s not just strategically important for you to do this. It’s the morally right thing to do. It is the reflection of what Israel is — a democracy with values.’

The State Department’s annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices highlighted Israel prominently, featuring concerns over the country’s precautions to minimize the civilian toll of Palestinians on the first page, which is normally reserved for the most egregious of human rights abusers. 

In the report’s preface, Blinken addressed human rights concerns about the war between Israel and terrorist group Hamas prior to either Iran or the Taliban in Afghanistan. 

The secretary of state explained that the U.S. has ‘made clear’ that Israel needs to follow international law ‘and take every feasible precaution to protect civilians.’ Blinken emphasized that the department is still ‘urgently’ raising concerns about civilian deaths in Gaza during the war.

The U.S. also ‘repeatedly’ brought up concerns about humanitarian aid access in Gaza, civilian displacement and ‘unprecedented’ journalist deaths, the report noted. 

Israel was mentioned before the Biden administration’s State Department addressed ‘ongoing and brutal human rights abuses in Iran’ or ‘the Taliban’s systemic mistreatment of and discrimination against Afghanistan’s women and girls.’ 

Fox News Digital’s Julia Johnson contributed to this report.

An organization working to advance the ‘America First’ agenda has united a diverse coalition of conservative groups to fight together ‘against the radical left’s extreme positions and agenda’ ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

Led by America First Works, a 501c4 that’s closely aligned with the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) and promotes an ‘America First’ agenda through policy and legislation, the coalition was constructed earlier this month during a meeting in the nation’s capital, where a pledge to work together was signed.

‘On April 3rd, America First Works hosted a meeting at the Willard Hotel, which is historic in and of itself – Martin Luther King refined his speech [there], Abraham Lincoln was there – and brought together over 50 organizations, over 100 people, to just sit down and discuss how we can best work together,’ Ashley Hayek, who serves as the executive director at America First Works and the chief engagement officer at America First Policy Institute, told Fox News Digital about the ‘historic’ meeting.

‘For the first time since Reagan’s presidency, [we brought] all of the groups together to work together and to commit that we would coordinate moving forward, whether it’s early vote or ballot harvesting where it’s legal, mobilization, [or] election integrity,’ she added.

Titled ‘United We Win,’ the pledge was signed by dozens of conservative groups with wide-ranging interests who share common goals: To reclaim ‘our nation’s narrative,’ to ‘win the argument’ ahead of the presidential election, and ‘saving America.’

Those who signed the pledge vowed to ‘work together as never before’ as they ‘harness our collective resources, wisdom, and energy to educate like never before, to grow our coalition with unwavering dedication, and to advance conservative solutions that will steer our country back toward prosperity, security, and freedom.’

‘Our mission is clear: reclaim our nation’s narrative, win the argument, hold our elected officials accountable, and begin the work of healing and rebuilding,’ the pledge reads. ‘Each member organization promises to contribute fully towards our shared goal. We will combine our energies, budgets, and abilities, leaving no stone unturned, no resource untapped, and no citizen unengaged.’

Celebrating the diversity of the groups that pledged their support, Hayek insisted this was the ‘first step’ in ensuring a successful election year.

‘You have Rebecca Weber, the CEO of AMAC [Association of Mature American Citizens]. It’s a group very similar to AARP, but for conservative seniors. You have groups like Ralph Reed’s Faith and Freedom Coalition, who are mobilizing across the country. You also have groups like Bienvenido that focuses on Hispanic outreach,’ she said.

‘This was the first step in bringing everyone together and to have conversations about what this year looks like, how we reclaim the narrative, how we win messaging, how we push back together against the radical left’s extreme positions and agenda,’ Hayek added.

Other groups that attended the meeting and signed onto the pledge, Hayek said, included Tea Party Patriots Action and Turning Point Action.

‘All of our groups have different missions that are very unique, but we all have the same goal of wanting to make America first and to save our country,’ Hayek said. ‘Making sure that we are all talking together, working together, understanding what each group is doing, is really the first step. That was accomplished by signing that pledge and committing to each other that we will unite like we have never united before.’

Pointing to early voting efforts that are being championed by the coalition, Hayek highlighted the fact that ‘life happens’ and noted that some circumstances may prevent people in certain areas of the country from getting to the polls on Election Day.

‘If you look at what just recently happened in New York in this special election, you had a snowstorm. Those that did not vote early were not able to possibly cast their ballot. You look at what happened in Reno in 2022 – and it’s a very important Senate race – there was a freak snowstorm that came through and people were not able to cast their ballot,’ she said. ‘While I think most of us agree that there should be Election Day only, no mail ballots, one vote, one person, complete clear rule of the law voting, that’s not reality…. We need to use every tool possible to reach voters, and get people to vote early.’

Hayek noted that conservatives should be taking advantage of mailing in their ballots early in states where it’s permitted, as she stressed the importance of ‘getting caught up with the times, modernizing our tactics, working together, and turning out the vote.’

‘Conservatives and the America First movement, we are on the right side of policies. We are for families, we are for hardworking Americans, we have policy plans that change hearts and minds. We actually saw that in 2022.… We saw historic numbers, increases in Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, suburban women who supported conservative causes,’ Hayek said. ‘Now we just need to implement the tactics to make sure we’re turning out our votes in the right places so that we can save our country.’

Hayek also spoke briefly about the AFPI’s Pathway to 2025 initiative, which she described as a ‘five pillar plan’ that’s ‘really simple.’

She said the effort, which is being led by former New York GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin, is about ‘messaging and data, it’s unifying the movement, it’s project 19, focusing on the counties that we believe will ultimately determine the next election, it’s our ballot harvesting and voter mobilization, and then, of course, day one of what a new administration looks like.’

‘By the way, the day one of the new administration, that’s not just a White House. It’s also in our states… how we can we have a big impact at even at the school board level,’ she added.

Asked about the plan and how it would work as far as the replacement of certain individuals or groups who are already a part of the government, Hayek said, ‘That team has assembled over 600 volunteers that have done deep dives into each one of the departments to determine best practices, so they can hit the ground running on day one of a new administration.’

‘That work is so important because it’s something that the left has done incredibly well and something that, as conservatives, we can do so much better,’ she said.

Recognizing that the ‘conservative movement has been outspent,’ Hayek said she’s confident ‘we will not be outsmarted.’

‘Right now, it’s very clear that the America First movement, the conservative movement, is focused,’ she added. ‘They’re dedicated to working together.’

The Senate successfully advanced a $95 billion foreign aid package, which includes assistance for both Israel and Ukraine, on Tuesday by passing a motion to invoke cloture and end debate on the measures early. 

The upper chamber cleared the procedural hurdle by a vote of 81 to 19 after the House passed the bills on Saturday, and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., promised to move quickly to get the package across the finish line. 

Included in the package of bills is aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, as well as a measure requiring TikTok to divest from Chinese-owned ByteDance, and the REPO Act, which would allow $5 billion in Russian assets held in U.S. banks to be transferred to Ukraine.

Schumer pleaded with fellow senators in remarks on the Senate floor ahead of the vote, telling them, ‘Let us not delay this. Let us not prolong this. Let us not keep our friends around the world waiting for a moment longer.’

‘Today, the Senate faces a test,’ Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in his own floor remarks prior to the vote. ‘And we must not fail it.’

He further called passage of the supplemental foreign aid bills ‘overdue.’ President Biden first made his request for additional aid to U.S. allies in October 2023. 

The Senate initially passed a foreign aid package to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan in February, but House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., did not move quickly to bring the measure to the House floor for a vote. And when Johnson ultimately brought aid for a vote in the lower chamber, it was a different version, prompting the bills to be sent back to the Senate before they can head to Biden for a signature. 

The initial package had passed the Senate with overwhelming support, by a vote of 70 to 29. 

The package faces some pushback from senators on both sides of the aisle. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, for example, is against the continued aid to Ukraine, citing the amount of aid already given to the country, as well as the potential of humanitarian aid getting into the hands of Hamas terrorists. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., also has reservations over the package due to the continued aid to Israel. He has previously criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the high civilian death toll in Gaza.  

However, the opposition from these senators and others doesn’t appear to be widespread enough to threaten the bills’ passage.

Every single House Republican from New York is demanding that Columbia University President Dr. Nemat ‘Minouche’ Shafik step down from leading the Ivy League school as tensions mount on campus over the Israel-Hamas war.

‘Over the past few days, anarchy has engulfed the campus of Columbia University. As the leader of this institution, one of your chief objectives, morally and under law, is to ensure students have a safe learning environment. By every measure, you have failed this obligation,’ the GOP lawmakers wrote.

‘The situation unfolding on campus right now is a direct product of your policies and misguided decisions. As representatives from the State of New York, many of our constituents are directly impacted by the unfolding chaos on Columbia’s campus.’

The lawmakers said they had ‘no confidence’ in Shafik’s ‘leadership of this once esteemed institution.’

The letter was led by House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and signed by her nine fellow Republicans representing parts of the state.

In their criticism of the embattled academic, the lawmakers cited Shafik’s recent congressional testimony at a heated GOP-led hearing examining accusations of antisemitism on campus and the school administration’s role in combating it.

Shafik, meanwhile, has been lambasted by people on both sides of the divide, catching heat from the progressive activist community for allowing NYPD officers to arrest protesters at the tent encampment.

However, in their Monday letter, the House Republicans wrote, ‘Despite implementing new rules to stop such unauthorized events and this illegal, antisemitic encampment clearly violating these rules, it was nearly two days before the New York Police Department (NYPD) was authorized to clear the encampment.’

‘Since then, the encampment has shockingly been allowed to reconvene, order has not been restored, and NYPD has not been allowed to return,’ they wrote. ‘The ongoing situation that has unfolded is a direct symptom of your continued lax enforcement of policy and clear double standards.’

Columbia University students and attendees of its sister school, Barnard College, have been camping on university grounds and staging demonstrations for weeks in protest of the university’s investments in companies tied to Israel.

Some Jewish students have even reported being targeted physically and verbally by mobs of anti-Israel protesters on campus. Classes have moved to a hybrid remote and in-person status amid concerns over students’ safety. 

‘It’s time for Columbia University to turn the page on this shameful chapter,’ the letter said. ‘This can only be done through the restoration of order and your prompt resignation.’

Fox News Digital has reached out to Columbia University for a response.

Former President Donald Trump has come to House Speaker Mike Johnson’s defense, as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., pushes for the Louisiana Republican’s ouster from the leadership position. 

‘Well, look, we have a majority of one, OK?’ Trump told radio host John Fredericks on Monday. ‘It’s not like he can go and do whatever he wants to do. I think he’s a very good person. You know, he stood very strongly with me on NATO when I said NATO has to pay up …It’s a tough situation when you have. I think he’s a very good man. I think he’s trying very hard. And again, we’ve got to have a big election.’ 

Fredericks had asked the presumptive GOP nominee, who spent earlier Monday in a Manhattan courtroom listening to his defense and prosecutors’ opening statements in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s hush-money criminal trial, how he squares ‘this divide with MAGA and Mike Johnson.’ 

Trump did praise Johnson for having secured as part of the package that Ukraine would receive more than $9 billion of economic assistance in the form of ‘forgivable loans.’

‘We’ve got to election some people in Congress, much more than we have right now,’ Trump continued. ‘We have to elect some good senators. Get rid of some of the ones we have now, like Romney and others. And we have to have a big day, and we have to win the presidency. If we don’t win the presidency, I’m telling you I think our country could be finished… We are absolutely a country in decline.’ 

Greene, a strong Trump ally, called on Johnson to resign after the House passed a $95 billion foreign aid package that includes about $61 billion for Ukraine, or she would move to have him ousted as Speaker. 

‘Mike Johnson’s leadership is over. He needs to do the right thing to resign and allow us to move forward in a controlled process,’ she told Fox News’ ‘Sunday Morning Futures.’ ‘If he doesn’t do so, he will be vacated.’

Though Johnson has drawn ire from some House conservatives for working across the aisle to secure deals with President Biden on federal spending, government spying and, most recently, Ukraine, the political environment has changed since House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was removed from the speakership over similar frustrations last October. 

Inching closer to the November election, Republicans maintain a slimmer majority after McCarthy resigned from the House after his ouster as speaker and Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., was expelled from the lower chamber of Congress. Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., voiced support for Greene’s motion to vacate Johnson from the speakership last week. 

But Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., head of the House Freedom Caucus who supported McCarthy’s ouster, told The Hill he opposed booting Johnson from the top job. 

‘My judgment and estimation is that this is not the time to do that,’ Good reportedly said. 

Since Hamas’ horrific attack on October 7th, in which over 1,200 Israelis were killed, 250 were captured and taken as hostages to Gaza, and thousands wounded, I am in the United Nations Security Council on a near weekly, sometimes daily, basis. Yet not one of these meetings has been dedicated to advancing the release of our hostages held in captivity in Gaza, nor to condemning Hamas for its heinous actions. These meetings are dedicated solely to slandering Israel in its defensive war against Hamas terrorists who have sworn to repeat October 7th again and again until Israel is destroyed. 

This is a war for the state of Israel’s future. Yet, in this distorted world of the U.N. where forward is backward and up is down, the Security Council sought to reward terrorism by unilaterally granting the Palestinians full membership after they committed the most widespread massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.  

It is appalling, especially considering the requirements for admission to the U.N.: permanent population, defined territory, government, and capacity to enter relations with other states.

The Palestinian Authority has absolutely no control over Gaza. Everyone knows it. But even in Judea and Samaria, entire neighborhoods and cities are ruled by other terrorist gangs, and the Palestinian ‘Authority,’ ironically, has no authority. Who exactly was the Council voting to ‘recognize’ and give full membership status to? 

But, above anything else, a very important principle stated in Article 4 of the U.N. Charter is, ‘Membership in the United Nations is open to all peace-loving states.’ 

If the U.N. can’t prevent wars or defend human rights, it has lost any reason to exist.

Does anyone doubt that the Palestinians fail to meet these criteria? Did anyone hear any Palestinian leader even condemn the massacre of Israeli children? 

In every poll, even those conducted by the Palestinians, the vast majority of Palestinians support Hamas and continued terror against Israelis. 

The Palestinian Authority is the opposite of a ‘peace-loving’ entity.

The Palestinian Authority not only have not condemned the October 7th Massacre, they are also paying monthly salaries to all the terrorists that took part in it, rewarding the rapists.

This is a genocide-loving entity that does not deserve any status at the U.N.

But sadly, for the Security Council, the Palestinians’ inability to meet the criteria simply does not matter. The U.N. Charter is important to them only when it can be used against Israel. In other words, the U.N. Charter be damned. International law be damned. 

What this Council has decided to focus on is granting a prize to terrorists. Granting the perpetrators and supporters of October 7th full membership status in the U.N. is the vilest reward for the vilest crimes.

The only thing that a forced, unilateral recognition of a Palestinian State would do is to make any future negotiations almost impossible. As long as the Palestinians feel that they can exploit this politicized body to their benefit, why would they bother at the negotiating table or support any compromise?

The Palestinians have rejected every peace plan ever made and they continue to support terror and boycott negotiations. And now they know that their rejectionism pays off. 

They can say no, no, no, but still get what they demand, because the U.N. is guided by politics, not morality or truth.

All the Security Council is ‘accomplishing’ through this destructive approach, is making a solution to the conflict unattainable. 

The U.N. is no longer about multilateralism, sadly. It is now committed to multi-terrorism.

And if the U.N. can’t prevent wars or defend human rights, it has lost any reason to exist.

The day will come when it will be shuttered. The U.N., as we know it, will cease to exist and in its place will stand a body that truly cares about human rights. That truly fights to promote peace. That is capable of putting politics aside, for the sake of justice, morality, and humanity. And when that day comes – and it will – the meeting and subsequent vote to force the establishment of a Palesti-Nazi state will be remembered as catalysts of the UN’s collapse. 

A meeting where the world burned, but all that concerned the Security Council was helping terrorists in Gaza survive.

A meeting where a terror entity could be given full membership status. This is how far the UN has fallen. And this is why the UN – in its current format – has no future.

I truly pray for brighter days. For a time when the U.N. can successfully combat the forces of darkness, not welcome them and be influenced by them. 

North Korea ran simulated nuclear counterstrikes against unspecified foreign enemies on Monday, according to state media. 

The rocket launches were conducted under the supervision of supreme leader Kim Jong Un at an undisclosed location within the small region surrounding the capital city of Pyongyang.

Missiles fired Monday traveled over 300 kilometers and successfully struck a targeted island in the Sea of Japan.

The nuclear counterstrike simulation marked the debut of ‘Haekbangashoe’ — the hermit kingdom’s ‘nuclear trigger’ — and proved the efficacy of the ‘system of command, management, control and operation of the whole nuclear force,’ according to state news.

North Korea has claimed the 600mm multiple rocket launchers used in the Monday operation are capable of firing nuclear warheads.

Last week, North Korea conducted a separate series of military exercises over the Yellow Sea, testing a ‘super-large warhead’ for cruise missiles and anti-aircraft missiles.

Kim Jong Un promised a ‘death blow’ to any foreign nation that transgresses against North Korea while speaking at the Kim Jong-il University of Military and Politics earlier this month.

‘[Kim Jong Un] said that now is the time to be more thoroughly prepared for a war than ever before and that the DPRK should be more firmly and perfectly prepared for a war, which should be won without fail, not just for a possible war,’ North Korean state media reported. 

On Wednesday, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that the nation intended to create new mechanisms for monitoring the development of nuclear capabilities in North Korea.

‘I look forward to engaging with both the Republic of Korea and Japan, but like-minded (countries) as well, on trying to develop options both inside the U.N. as well as outside the U.N. The point here is that we cannot allow the work that the panel of experts were doing to lapse,’Thomas-Greenfield said to an audience in South Korea.

Republic of Korea is the official name of South Korea.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is looking to quickly pass a $95 billion package with aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan roughly six months after President Biden made his request for additional aid in October 2023.

‘Now it’s the Senate’s turn, and the finish line is now in sight,’ Schumer said in a statement following the House’s passage of separate aid bills for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. As part of the package, it also passed a measure requiring the app TikTok to divest from Chinese-owned ByteDance, as well as a measure called the REPO Act, which would allow $5 billion in Russian assets held in U.S. banks to be transferred to Ukraine.

The House passed the measures on Saturday, more than two months after the Senate passed a different version of the foreign aid package. 

With this goal of swift Senate passage in mind, Schumer didn’t wait until the House had approved the package before he began working on it.

‘A few moments ago, Democrats and Republicans locked in an agreement enabling the Senate to finish work on the supplemental with the first vote on Tuesday afternoon,’ the majority leader previewed in his statement. 

‘The task before us is urgent. It is once again the Senate’s turn to make history,’ Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in his own statement about the need to pass the aid. 

But as Schumer hopes to expedite the aid bills, discontent on both sides of the aisle threatens to upend his timeline.

According to a source familiar, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, is leading a push to table the so-called ‘amendment tree,’ which would prevent Schumer from predetermining which amendments would be considered. Instead, it would allow senators to take their amendments to the chamber floor in regular order. In Senate terms, ‘filling the amendment tree’ refers to a process by which a certain number and type of amendments are offered under Senate precedents. Once these amendments are offered and the ‘tree is filled,’ no other amendments are allowed.

One of the amendments Lee wants to see implemented in the package is a provision requiring Ukraine to repay the aid, some of which would be granted in the form of a loan, which would be eligible to be forgiven under the House-passed measure.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is supportive of this effort, signaling potential bipartisan backing, the source said. Sanders dislikes the package for his own reasons and plans to offer his own amendments to it.

Sanders’ two amendments include one to stop ‘unfettered military aid to Netanyahu’s war machine’ and another that would restore funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency ‘so that children in Gaza don’t starve.’

If the senators are successful in preventing the amendment tree being filled by Schumer, preventing consideration of other amendments, the voting process would be lengthened. And if any amendments were to pass, the bills would need to be reconsidered by the House.

It’s unclear what level of support they have garnered for this effort. It would take a simple majority of 51 votes to table the amendment tree. 

Despite this opposition to the current package, a senior GOP Senate source told Fox News Digital that the previous aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan passed with 70 votes. Only 29 voted against it. And while certain changes have been made, the source said the bills are likely to move quickly as Schumer intends.

Six Georgian opposition parties appealed on Thursday for mass protests against a government bill on ‘foreign agents’ which they say aims to block the South Caucasus country’s path towards the European Union and NATO.

The bill, which critics compare to legislation that Russia has used extensively to crack down on dissent, has already prompted three straight nights of demonstrations this week in the capital Tbilisi.

Up to 10,000 protesters gathered outside the parliament on Wednesday evening before marching on the prime minister’s office. At least 13 people have been detained over the past two days and one police officer was injured in altercations, the interior ministry said.

In their jointly published statement, the opposition parties hailed the protesters’ ‘fighting spirit’ and slammed the ruling Georgian Dream party for supporting the bill.

‘The Russian law initiated by ‘Georgian Dream’ is in contradiction with the Constitution of Georgia, the will of the Georgian people to become a full-fledged member of the European Union and NATO, and the long-term goal of securing the sovereignty of our country,’ the parties said.

The Kremlin has denied any association with the bill.

The opposition specifically singled out Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire former prime minister who founded Georgian Dream, for ‘trying to kill the European future of Georgia’.

Ivanishvili could not be reached for comment.

The bill would require organizations receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as agents of foreign influence. Georgian Dream says it will help promote transparency and combat ‘pseudo-liberal values’ imposed by foreigners.

Eighty-three of parliament’s 150 deputies backed the bill on its first reading on Wednesday in a vote boycotted by opposition parties. It must clear two more readings to become law.

The EU said the bill risks blocking Georgia’s path to membership, while the U.S. State Department also expressed disappointment over Wednesday’s parliamentary vote.

‘(The bill) could limit freedom of expression, stigmatize organizations that deliver these benefits to the citizens of Georgia, and impede independent media organizations working to provide Georgians with access to high quality information,’ State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.

Georgia’s pro-European opposition is deeply divided, including over the legacy of jailed former president Mikheil Saakashvili, whose United National Movement (UNM) party remains the country’s second largest.

The UNM was among the six signatories to Thursday’s appeal.

Ahead of a planned trip to China this week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is reported to have alleged that Beijing is still committing genocide against Uyghur Muslim minorities. 

The comments in the State Department’s annual report on human rights around the world echoed language in previous years concerning China’s treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the western province of Xinjiang. 

But the comments are notable now given the timing of Blinken’s trip to China, where he is expected to hold delicate talks with his counterparts on several key topics, including the ongoing war in Ukraine and global trade. 

In a preface the State Department’s report, Blinken said the findings document ‘ongoing grave human rights abuses in the People’s Republic of China (PRC).’ 

He alleged that in Xinjiang, China is carrying out ‘genocide, crimes against humanity, forced labor, and other human rights violations against predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups.’ 

The report’s section on China details the detention of more than one million people in camps and prisons and the use of re-education camps in Xinjiang, among other abuses committed against the broader Chinese population.

China for its part, has denied these allegations for years, saying these supposed concentration camps are ‘vocational training centers’ to curb terrorism, separatism and religious radicalism.

When he took office in 2021, Blinken endorsed a determination by his predecessor that China’s actions amounted to genocide, and he has raised the issue in meetings with Chinese officials.

A senior State Department official briefing reporters last week on Blinken’s trip said human rights would be among the issues raised by Blinken with Chinese officials, but did not mention the situation in Xinjiang. 

Reuters contributed to this report.