Bibi driver: battles led by and within Israel

Middle East Escalation:

• Israel resumed airstrikes in Gaza and redeployed ground troops one week after a previous ceasefire attempt, effectively ending the fragile truce.
• Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry reports over 50,000 cumulative deaths (fighters and civilians) since the war's outset.
• Israeli forces have re-entered Gaza, bisecting the main north-south corridor and encircling Rafah, while issuing warnings of permanent occupation if hostages are not released.
• Aid flows have been cut off for over two weeks; humanitarian groups have suspended personnel movement due to safety concerns regarding supply distribution.
• Israel is currently holding 59 hostages; 24 are believed to be alive, with families protesting the fighting renewal with limited impact.
• Violence has flared in Lebanon following three rockets fired from the south; Israel responded with airstrikes in both southern and eastern Lebanon, killing several people.
• A ceasefire in Lebanon remains precarious but is viewed by analysts as more likely to hold than the one in Gaza, as both Israel and Hezbollah retain an interest in its preservation.

Israeli Domestic Politics:

• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resumed hostilities in Gaza primarily to secure his coalition's majority before a critical budget vote deadline at the end of the month, which would trigger automatic early elections if not passed.
• The far-right Jewish Power Party rejoined Netanyahu's coalition days after the war's resumption, ensuring the passage of the budget through the Knesset.
• Netanyahu is aggressively attempting to remove three senior officials:
  • The army chief, who resigned earlier this year and was replaced.
  • Ronan Barr, head of the Shin Bet; Netanyahu attempted to fire him, but the Supreme Court blocked the move, though Barr has accepted responsibility for the October 7 failures and intends to resign post-war.
  • The Attorney General; the cabinet approved a no-confidence motion to remove her, who is currently prosecuting Netanyahu on multiple corruption charges.
• Analysts note Netanyahu is leveraging the war to resume pre-Oct 7 efforts to weaken the judiciary and intelligence services, framed as dismantling a "deep state" he claims targets him.
• Netanyahu is shifting blame for the October 7 attacks onto security officials to avoid personal accountability, despite his role in the political environment that preceded the event.

US-Mexico Relations:

• Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has successfully maintained favorable relations with Donald Trump, resulting in two-month reprieves from threatened US tariff hikes.
• Sheinbaum's approval rating has risen to 85%, allowing her to distinguish herself from her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
• Mexico's strategy involves balancing "toughness and flattery," such as presenting Trump with a graph illustrating falling fentanyl flows since his return to power to validate his influence.
• Domestic security measures have intensified under her administration, including the deployment of 10,000 troops to the border in January and the extradition of 29 alleged drug traffickers on February 27.
• Analysts suggest Sheinbaum is using the threat of US tariffs as a pretext to target corrupt officials within her own Morena party, particularly those colluding with criminal groups.
• Sheinbaum is pivoting toward greater private sector involvement in energy and investment to bolster the economy, marking a shift from her predecessor's hostile stance toward the private sector.
• A potential tariff implementation on April 2 remains a threat; while Trump's unpredictability complicates long-term planning, Sheinbaum's diplomatic handling has proven effective so far.

Obituary: Richard Fortey:

• Richard Fortey, the late editor of The Intelligent obituaries and renowned paleontologist, died at age 89.
• His fascination with trilobites began at age 14 after finding a fossil on a British beach, leading to a 30-year career at the Natural History Museum.
• Fortey specialized in trilobites, which thrived for roughly 300 million years (500 to 250 million years ago) before the Permian mass extinction; they are distinguished by their three-lobed calcite exoskeletons and eyes containing up to 15,000 calcite lenses.
• He utilized trilobite distribution data to reconstruct ancient continental maps, proving the existence of separate landmasses prior to the formation of Pangaea.
• Fortey funded a four-acre wood near Chiltons with earnings from television appearances (including with David Attenborough), where he cataloged natural history and human history of the site.
• He identified as a "naturalist" rather than just a paleontologist, maintaining a lifelong curiosity about the natural world.