Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's main political opponent Benny Gantz, who is heading the "Blue and White" party that leads in the polls, thinks President Trump could recognize Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights in order to help Netanyahu win the April 9 elections, three Gantz aides told me.
Why it matters: Israel has occupied the Golan Heights from Syria since 1967. U.S. recognition of Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights would be a huge diplomatic win for Netanyahu — no less significant than the moving of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. In the last year, Netanyahu and other Israeli politicians, including Gantz's political ally Yair Lapid, have started calling for U.S. recognition of the Golan Heights.
Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro is struggling to restore power to the country’s electricity grid after a devastating 96-hour nationwide blackout knocked out cellular, internet, and water services, resulting in at least 21 preventable deaths at hospitals.
The big picture: Tottering from crisis to crisis has taken a heavy toll on Maduro. His regime hasn't yet reached a burnout point, but with social unrest erupting into lootings as the crisis-stricken country gradually regains power, he will likely face a reckoning for his failure to protect the grid.
Out tomorrow from longtime U.S. Ambassador Bill Burns, now president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, "The Back Channel: A Memoir of American Diplomacy and the Case for Its Renewal."
Details: The book includes accounts of two unheeded warnings about Russia.
Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May spoke with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker Sunday evening ahead of a crucial Brexit vote, but talks between the two parties remain "deadlocked," Britishmediareport.
Why it matters: May faces a substantial loss if she presents to members of Parliament a deal that's largely unchanged for Tuesday's "meaningful vote." She's been trying to achieve changes to the Brexit agreement with the European Union to avoid Britain remaining indefinitely in a customs union and to maintain an open border on the island of Ireland — known as the "Irish backstop." However, the E.U. is reluctant to change the existing deal. Now, May's under pressure to delay Tuesday's vote. Talks were expected to resume Monday. Britain is due to leave the E.U. on March 29.
Siti Aisyah, the Indonesian woman accused of killing the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, was freed after Malaysian prosecutors dropped the murder charge against her, the Jakarta Post reported Sunday night.
It’s a huge week for Brexit, but that won't necessarily mean more clarity on whether and how the U.K. will exit the EU.
Driving the news: There will be a vote on the Brexit deal Theresa May negotiated with the EU on Tuesday. The new deal will be almost identical to the one rejected back in January, which led May to the biggest Parliamentary defeat in more than a century.
President Trump late Saturday night appeared to "like" a tweet from Mother Jones linking to a story titled, "A Florida massage parlor owner has been selling Chinese execs access to Trump at Mar-a-Lago," according to an account that tracks Trump family Twitter activity.
The backdrop: The Mother Jones piece dives into the strange saga of Li Yang, a Trump donor from China who founded a chain of massage parlors in Florida — including the one at which New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft has been accused of soliciting prostitution. Yang took a picture with Trump at a Super Bowl party at his West Palm Beach golf club last month, and reportedly runs an investment business that offers opportunities "to interact with the president, the [American] Minister of Commerce and other political figures."
