China turned down requests by the Biden administration to join the U.S.-led international naval armada to protect cargo ships from Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, as Beijing sought to cut its own deal with the Iran-backed militant group to protect its own shipping interests.

A Western diplomatic source tells Threat Status Beijing turned down a role in the naval coalition based on an internal assessment that the Palestinian-Israeli war in Gaza and Houthi shipping attacks were a significant setback for the U.S. global image. The source told Washington Times National Security Correspondent Bill Gertz that Beijing calculated that its participation in the coalition would benefit Washington — its major strategic rival — and therefore declined to take part.

Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, meanwhile, weighed in on China’s moves during remarks last week to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, saying Beijing sought to communicate directly with Houthi officials to avoid attacks on Chinese ships and instead for the rebels to target U.S. and allied shipping. Mr. Campbell described Beijing’s approach as “profoundly unhelpful.” The effort by Beijing failed after the Houthis attacked a Chinese ship.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called off Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s planned trip to Washington for talks this week, according to Israeli media reports that contend Mr. Netanyahu doesn’t want the trip to happen until he speaks with President Biden about Israel’s military plans in the days ahead.

The development comes as clashes continue to intensify between Israeli forces and Palestinian Hamas fighters in Gaza and the West Bank, and Iran-backed Hezbollah forces in Lebanon — and while the Netanyahu government contemplates a possible direct strike on Iran in retaliation for Tehran’s missile attack on Israel last week. Palestinians said Wednesday that a large-scale Israeli operation in northern Gaza killed and wounded dozens of people and threatened to shut down three hospitals in the enclave.

Some analysts contend Mr. Netanyahu blocked Mr. Gallant from traveling to Washington as part of ongoing tensions between the two men over Israel’s war strategy. The tensions burst into the open in late August when Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant reportedly engaged in a shouting match stemming from disagreements over a potential hostage release and Gaza cease-fire deal.

Mr. Gallant had been slated to meet with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Washington this week.

An Afghan man who came to the U.S. as part of Mr. Biden’s chaotic 2021 troop withdrawal now stands accused of an ISIS-fueled plot to launch a suicide attack on Election Day next month. He planned to use two AK-47 rifles to shoot up what he described as large gatherings of people, according to federal law enforcement authorities.

The Justice Department announced Tuesday that Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, told authorities he expected to be martyred in the attack. Federal agents ran an undercover operation offering to sell Mr. Tawhedi the rifles, and established his fealty to the Islamic State, or ISIS, through information gleaned from his phone and online activities.

The suspect was “also seen in a video recorded on July 20 reading to two children text that describes the rewards a martyr receives in the afterlife,” the Justice Department said. Authorities assert that Mr. Tawhedi planned to carry out the attack with his nephew, a juvenile who is not named in the court documents.

The Communist Party rules China, but it is not a legitimate government, and party leaders’ grotesque wealth and corruption are a symptom of its illegitimacy, write Paul Berkowitz and Bradley A. Thayer. They also note that Congress has tasked the U.S. intelligence community with producing a publicly available report on the wealth and corrupt activities of Chinese Communist Party leaders.

The catch is that “the report was due last December,” write Mr. Berkowitz and Mr. Thayer, who assert that it is important for Congress to query the “long overdue” report, and that “the American people deserve an answer regarding its status.”

“The exposure of the leaders’ wealth helps the Chinese people identify and people of goodwill to understand the tyrannical and corrupt nature of the regime,” they write.

Clifford D. May takes stock of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s recent agreement to cede control to Mauritius of the Chagos Islands — the remote Indian Ocean archipelago that includes Diego Garcia that hosts a British-American military base strategically vital to gathering intelligence and projecting air and naval power into the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific.

“The agreement, to be formalized in a treaty, says the United Kingdom will continue to have access to Diego Garcia for 99 years. But Mauritius’ leaders have become close with China’s rulers, and the latter ‘will be delighted’ with this transfer of sovereignty, as former British Defense Secretary Penny Mordaunt told me in an email on Sunday,” writes Mr. May.

“[Prime Minister] Starmer, like too many other Western leaders, is more eager to atone for Britain’s colonialist past than to defend the free world from China’s colonialist present,” argues Mr. May, who heads the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and is an opinion contributor to Threat Status.

• Oct. 10 — Beijing’s Axis of Chaos: A Discussion with Matt Pottinger, Foundation for Defense of Democracies

• Oct. 11 — Why Taiwan Matters to the U.S. and the World, Hudson Institute

• Oct. 14 — Safeguarding Democracy in an Era of Geopolitical Competition, Lowy Institute

• Oct. 15 — Ukraine’s Energy Sector: Short-Term Threats and Long-Term Prospects, Wilson Center

• Oct. 16 — Assessing Opportunities for Protection of Civilians in Sudan, Stimson Center

• Nov. 8-10 — IISS Prague Defense Summit 2024, International Institute for Strategic Studies