The Pope, the State Department, the United Nations and a leading Christian group have all condemned a new major attack on Christians in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which the U.N. says left at least 49 dead.
In the latest attack in a tragic long string of mass murders by Islamist terrorists in both Nigeria and the DRC, the U.N. said rebels from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a sanctioned rebel group allied to Islamic State with roots in Uganda, burst into a church in the Eastern town of Komanda and set about hacking Christians who were worshipping inside with machetes and other knives. The congregation was attacked at 1 a.m. last Sunday morning, while they were on a night vigil, reportedly praying for peace.
The rebels also burnt nearby homes. Nine children are said to be among the dead. Several villagers have been abducted.
A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital, “The United States designated the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), also known as ISIS-DRC, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 2021. We are concerned by reports of the recent attack on civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo and strongly condemn this cowardly act of violence against Christians in their place of worship.”
Villagers bury their dead on July 28th, following the murder of 49 Christians in the Democratic Republic of Congo by ISIS-linked jihadists. (Open Doors )
Pope Leo XIV also condemned the attack. “May the blood of these martyrs become a seed of peace, reconciliation, fraternity, and love for the Congolese people.” A Vatican Cardinal added that the Pope “learned with dismay and deep sorrow of the attack.”
The U.N.’s Stablization Mission in the DRC, MONUSCO, expressed “deep outrage at these heinous acts of violence, which constitute serious violations of international humanitarian law and infringements on human rights.”
“The killings are strategic,” Illia Djadi, senior sub-Saharan researcher for Christian charity Open Doors, who support and speak up for Christians persecuted for their faith, stated. He added, “The ADF have a very clear aim: they want to turn a large part of DRC into an Islamic caliphate, like the horrific one instigated in Iraq and Syria in 2014 by Islamic State.”
Contacted by Fox News Digital on Tuesday, Djadi said, “The presence of Islamic State groups across the region means that sub-Saharan Africa has become the new epicenter of jihadism.”Muslims are in the minority here; it’s said that Christians account for between 80-95% of the population.
Villagers walk towards the burial site of 49 Christians killed by jihadists in the Democratic Republic of Congo on July 28th. (Open Doors)
70 Christians were reported beheaded, again in a church in the DRC, in February. The killings of Christians are worse in Nigeria, with Pope Leo XIV telling crowds at the Vatican that “some 200 people were murdered, with extraordinary cruelty” on June 13 in Yelewata, in Nigeria’s Benue State.
According to Open Doors International’s 2025 World Watch List (WWL), of the 4,476 Christians killed worldwide in WWL’s latest reporting period, 3,100 of those who died (69%) were in Nigeria.
Djadi told Fox News Digital that despite President Trump’s brokered peace deal in the DRC, Christians in the East of the country are still at risk. “There has been a lot of attention paid to the DRC recently, with Donald Trump spearheading a peace initiative between the DRC and Rwanda, whose rebel fighters the M23 have taken a large proportion of territories in the east of the DRC.”
Christian faithfuls hold signs as they march on the streets of Abuja during a prayer and penance for peace and security in Nigeria in Abuja on March 1, 2020. (KOLA SULAIMON/AFP via Getty Images)
“However,” Djadi added, “while government forces are trying to contain the M23 in the urban regions, the rural areas are left undefended. It has left a security vacuum, meaning that the ADF are free to slaughter hundreds of innocent civilians with impunity, with Christians especially at risk.‘
“It is the primary responsibility of (the) Congolese government to protect the whole nation, regardless of their religious faith or ethnic background. What would happen if the ADF continues its killing unopposed is too awful to contemplate.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Paul Tilsley is a veteran correspondent who has reported on African affairs for more than three decades from Johannesburg, South Africa. He can be followed on X @paultilsley
Christianity is at risk of being “wiped out” in parts of the world due to intensifying persecution, the United Kingdom’s special envoy for freedom of religion or belief, David Smith, has warned. The British government is now targeting 10 countries as part of its revised foreign policy focus to defend this human right.
Smith, the Labour Party MP for North Northumberland, made the remarks during a briefing at the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office. A Christian who previously worked with Tearfund and the Bible Society, he announced a new plan to prioritize FoRB in countries where religious minorities, including Christians, Baháʼís and Ahmadiyya Muslims, face repression or violence, the Religion Media Centre reported.
Smith said the U.K. will focus on 10 countries, naming Vietnam, Algeria, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, China, Syria, Ukraine, Afghanistan and Iraq. He said these were selected because of the severity of need, the U.K.’s diplomatic ties and the possibility of making progress.
He added that persecution, carried out both by governments and social groups, can involve harassment by police, social ostracism, detention without cause, denial of citizenship, torture, attacks on places of worship and even killings, citing research by the Pew Research Center.
He cited recent data showing that 380 million Christians face persecution worldwide and warned, “Persecution on the basis of religion or belief, enacted by States themselves and social groups, is taking place on every continent in the world.”
Smith called the U.K.’s commitment “a new chapter” in foreign policy and said freedom of religion was interlinked with other liberties, including freedom of speech, conscience and assembly.
Of the 10 selected, only three — Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan — are among the top 10 in the Open Doors World Watch List, which identifies countries where Christians are most severely persecuted. The worst offenders on that list, such as North Korea, Somalia and Yemen, are not among the U.K.’s current priorities.
Smith acknowledged the gap and said that countries like Eritrea and Yemen remain within his scope through ongoing advocacy. He stated that the strategy’s targeted nature does not prevent the U.K. from acting in other cases, including on behalf of prisoners of conscience.
He referred to the Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan, who are not recognized as Muslims by the state and whose mosques are often desecrated, and the repression of Baháʼís in Iran and Christians in North Korea.
FoRB, Smith explained, is not merely about religious belief but about the health of societies. “Religious intolerance and persecution can fuel instability and conflict,” he said. He added that protecting belief rights is crucial to preventing future crises, especially in countries grappling with war or sectarian divisions.
The U.K. government’s FoRB strategy involves five strands.
First, it aims to uphold international standards through bodies such as the U.N. and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Second, it will embed the issue into targeted bilateral diplomacy, encouraging individual missions to raise FoRB in foreign capitals. Third, the U.K. will strengthen international coalitions working on religious freedom. Fourth, the Foreign Office will incorporate FoRB into its mainstream human rights programming. The fifth strand involves collaboration with civil society groups working on interfaith respect and awareness.
Speaking at the briefing, Lord Collins of Highbury, minister for human rights, said the U.K. has long believed that rights and the rule of law strengthen global prosperity and resilience. He said his office had already written to British heads of mission directing them to embed human rights, including FoRB, into all areas of diplomatic work.
He cited the recent release of two individuals — Nigerian atheist Mubarak Bala and Cuban Pastor Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo — as examples of successful British-supported advocacy.
“Only by working together can we build a world where everyone, everywhere, can live with dignity, free to believe — or not believe — without fear,” Lord Collins said.
In April, during a debate, Smith said Britain’s diplomatic stance is informed by its own history, moving “from persecution to pluralism,” which he said provides credibility to advocate abroad. He described the U.K. as “uniquely well placed” to act in support of religious liberty, citing its legacy of legal rights and peaceful pluralism.
The role of FoRB envoy was created following a 2019 report by then-Bishop of Truro Philip Mounstephen, which found that Foreign Office staff lacked awareness of global religious persecution. The report led to recommendations that religious freedom be formally integrated into U.K. foreign policy.
Smith argued that defending FoRB not only benefits persecuted communities but also those who engage in repression. He said FoRB could unlock new opportunities and freedoms for their nations to flourish, and reaffirmed his commitment to press the U.K. government to act.
Meanwhile, Christian Today noted that new research by Jersey Road PR has found that mainstream U.K. media rarely report on attacks against Christians globally.
Americans have yet another compelling reason to reconsider their involvement in Gaza, where millions of taxpayer dollars support its inhabitants. Fox News recently reported that Hamas has placed bounties on the staff of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), targeting both U.S. and local workers. This alarming development follows the Trump administration’s decision to approve an additional $30 million in aid to Gaza.
While Christian communities face persecution in regions like Nigeria and Syria, they receive little to no international assistance. Meanwhile, those impacted by hurricanes in the United States have struggled to receive federal aid, highlighting a disparity in the allocation of resources. The global stage is witnessing a less-than-stellar performance from America, as important domestic and international needs remain unmet.
The GHF has confirmed to Fox News that credible reports indicate Hamas is actively targeting their organization. Bounties have been placed on American security personnel and Palestinian aid workers, offering financial rewards for harm inflicted. Such actions underscore the volatile environment humanitarian workers face in Gaza.
In a strategic move, Hamas has stationed “armed operatives” near humanitarian zones, aiming to disrupt the only reliable aid delivery system in the area. This month, a deadly attack by Hamas resulted in the deaths of 12 GHF workers, with others reportedly tortured. These victims were local workers, demonstrating the indiscriminate nature of the violence.
Despite years of aid from the U.S. and Israel, the majority of Gazans continue to support jihadist ideologies. The persistent animosity toward Westerners, Christians, and Jews remains unchanged. The deeply rooted belief in perpetual jihad among devout Muslims presents an ongoing challenge for international relations.
President Donald Trump was reminded of this harsh reality when Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, showed no gratitude after being spared from an Israeli assassination plot. Trump’s surprise at Khamenei’s continued hostility highlights the complexity of dealing with such adversaries. The unyielding stance of certain leaders poses significant barriers to peace.
Efforts to negotiate or incentivize a departure from violence have consistently proven ineffective. The foundational teachings of Islam, with their historical implications, persist as barriers to change. Recent events, such as those in Kuala Lumpur, illustrate the cycle of violence that follows Palestinian movements globally.
Hamas’s actions against aid workers are likely to continue, fueled by local support for jihad against Israel. The situation in Gaza appears dire, with few viable solutions on the horizon. Some argue that the only resolution lies in Israel reclaiming control over Gaza and eliminating the threat posed by Hamas.
The complexities of international aid and foreign policy are underscored by these ongoing challenges. The need for a strategic reevaluation of resource allocation and diplomatic efforts is evident. America’s role on the world stage is under scrutiny, with a pressing need for effective solutions.
While the plight of those in conflict zones continues, so does the debate over American involvement. The balance between domestic responsibilities and international aid is a contentious issue. As the situation in Gaza evolves, global attention remains fixed on the outcomes of these intricate dynamics.
The resilience of humanitarian organizations like GHF is tested daily in hostile environments. Their commitment to aiding those in need, despite significant risks, is commendable. However, the sustainability of such efforts is questionable in the face of persistent threats.
The geopolitical landscape is fraught with challenges that demand careful navigation. America’s decisions in foreign policy have far-reaching implications, affecting both allies and adversaries. The pursuit of lasting peace requires a nuanced approach, informed by historical context and current realities.
The international community watches closely as tensions in Gaza persist. The interplay between aid, diplomacy, and military strategy is complex and multifaceted. As stakeholders assess the situation, the search for viable paths forward continues.
In the midst of global challenges, the role of leadership is critical. Policymakers must weigh the consequences of their decisions with regard to both domestic and international impact. The effectiveness of such leadership is measured by its ability to foster stability and progress.
The narrative surrounding Gaza and similar conflicts is shaped by diverse perspectives. Each viewpoint contributes to the broader discourse on international relations and humanitarian aid. Understanding these perspectives is key to addressing the root causes of unrest.
ICE officers, with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations and Border Patrol, perform enforcement operations in Delray Beach, Florida, on Jan. 23. (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Flickr)
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 11 Iranian nationals over two days, the Department of Homeland Security announced Tuesday. Among those in custody is Ribvar Karimi, who “reportedly served as an Iranian army sniper from 2018 to 2021,” according to the DHS. An Islamic Republic of Iran Army identification card was in Karimi’s possession when he was arrested in Locust, Alabama, on Sunday.
Karimi entered the U.S. in October 2024 on a visa for foreigners who are engaged to be married to a U.S. citizen. But the DHS says he “never adjusted his status—a legal requirement—and is removable from the United States.”
Karimi remains in ICE custody and is facing removal from the U.S.
Ribvar Karimi
Under DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, the department “has been full throttle on identifying and arresting known or suspected terrorists and violent extremists that illegally entered this country, came in through [former President Joe Biden’s] fraudulent parole programs or otherwise,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
“We have been saying we are getting the worst of the worst out—and we are,” McLaughlin added. “We don’t wait until a military operation to execute. We proactively deliver on President [Donald] Trump’s mandate to secure the homeland.”
In addition to Karimi, ICE arrested eight other Iranian nationals on Sunday and two more on Monday.
The arrests of the Iranian nationals come amid concerns of the possibility of the activation of Iranian terrorist sleeper cells in the U.S. in the wake of the U.S. attack on three Iranian nuclear sites Saturday.
In Houston, ICE arrested Behzad Sepehrian Bahary Nejad, who entered the U.S. on a visa in 2016. He was arrested in 2017 for assaulting a family member, according to DHS, and in 2019, an immigration judge ordered his removal. A Department of Justice immigration judge denied his request for his case to be reopened. Nejad was said to be carrying a loaded pistol when ICE arrested him.
Behzad Sepehrian Bahary Nejad
Hamid Reza Bayat was arrested in Houston despite having been ordered removed from the U.S. in 2005. According to DHS, he has twice been “convicted of drug crimes and once convicted of driving on a suspended license.”
Hamid Reza Bayat
Mehrzad Asadi Eidivand entered the U.S. in 2012, and in 2013 a judge granted him voluntary removal from the U.S., but he never left. He is “convicted of threatening a law enforcement officer and being an alien in possession of a firearm,” according to DHS.
Mehrzad Asadi Eidivand
Yousef Mehridehno was arrested in Gluckstadt, Mississippi. Mehridehno entered the U.S. legally in 2017, but the government terminated his residency after it was determined that he “lied on his original visa application and committed potential marriage fraud,” according to DHS. “In February, Mehridehno was listed as a known or suspected terrorist, and he’s now in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.”
Yousef Mehridehno
Mahmoud Shafiei and Mehrdad Mehdipour were living together in Colorado Springs, Colo., at the time of their arrests. A judge ordered Shafiei removed from the U.S. in 1987 after he entered the U.S. in 1981. Shafiei’s “criminal history includes state and federal convictions for drug crimes and arrests for assault and child abuse,” according to the DHS. Mehdipour was processed for expedited removal in 2023.
Mahmoud Shafiei
ICE arrested Mehran Makari Saheli in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is a “former member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) with admitted connections to Hezbollah,” according to DHS. He was ordered removed from the U.S. in 2022.
Mehran Makari Saheli
Bahman Alizadeh Asfestani was arrested in San Francisco and has a criminal history, according to DHS, that includes “a 1994 conviction for petty theft and a 1995 conviction of possession of a controlled substance for sale.”
Bahman Alizadeh Asfestani
On Monday, ICE Buffalo arrested Mohammad Rafikian who has been “convicted of grand larceny, schemes to defraud, criminal impersonation, and practicing as an attorney,” the DHS said.
Also on Monday, ICE San Diego apprehended Arkavan Babk Moirokorli. He was convicted of forging an official seal.
A group of Muslims plans to build “Epic City” on 402 acres north of Dallas, a self-governed community with over 1,000 homes, a mosque, and shops, ruled by Sharia law, not U.S. laws. This should outrage and scare Americans familiar with Sharia law’s oppression, women banned from… pic.twitter.com/o2ha5FyxTZ
Students participate in a pro-Palestine protest at Columbia University in New York City, Nov. 15, 2023. (Spencer Platt via Getty Images)
One year after the deadliest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust, 3.5 million American Jews say they have experienced antisemitism, according to a recent study.
“One out of every five American Jewish children have experienced antisemitism since Oct. 7,” EJ Kimball, director of Christian engagement at Combat Antisemitism Movement, said during an event at The Heritage Foundation on Monday to mark the anniversary of Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel.
Kimball, a father of two, said both his children have experienced antisemitism at school in the past year. According to the survey, which was conducted by Dr. Ira Sheskin of the University of Miami and commissioned by Combat Antisemitism Movement, 61% of American Jews report feeling less safe since the terrorist attack a year ago.
Hamas terrorists killed about 1,200 people, mostly Israelis, on Oct. 7, and another 250 were taken hostage. Today, 93 Israelis are still being held hostage in Gaza, including four Americans with dual citizenship.
Kimball and several other experts in the field of combating antisemitism addressed the circumstances that led to Oct. 7 and the swift rise in anti-Jewish sentiment on college campuses during Monday’s event.
How Hamas Was Able to Carry Out Oct. 7
While Hamas carried out the deadly terrorist attack, Iran sponsored it, according to Fred Fleitz, vice chair of Center for American Security at the America First Policy Institute.
“Iran is the head of the snake,” Fleitz said during a panel discussion. “Iran is funding Hamas and Hezbollah and the Houthi rebels and Shiite militias in Syria and Iraq.”
Iran had the money to fund the attack at least in part because the U.S. government gave Iran access to billions of dollars as part of a prisoner exchange and the Biden administration “ignored all the sanctions that were introduced in the previous administration, allowing [Iran to sell] oil in the market and other business activities, allowing Iran to earn another $50 to $100 billion,” according to Mort Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America.
“The reserves went from $4 billion to $100 billion, enabling them to fund and arm Hamas and Hezbollah,” added Klein.
But Iran’s financial favor was not the only circumstance that led to Oct. 7. In 2005, all Israeli settlements in the Gaza strip were dismantled and “that was a terrible mistake,” according to Klein. In 2007, Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip. Hamas was also able to carry out the attack a year ago because of “Biden pressuring Israel to give work permits to Gaza civilians,” Klein said.
“These innocent Gaza civilians gave Hamas the routes, maps where the kindergartens were, where the schools are, the residents in each home, so they knew exactly what they were doing,” he said.
Israel should have also created a “buffer zone” between Israel and Gaza, Klein argued, adding that Israel may have missed an opportunity to destroy Hamas in 2021 after Hamas fired missiles at Israel. The Jewish state did respond, but the U.S. encouraged Israel to limit its response, which it did.
America has also given funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, which, according to Klein, “teaches hate and violence to Arabs.”
The United States is “in part responsible for Hamas remaining strong and remaining really in existence,” Klein said.
Why Did Pro-Palestine Protests Break Out So Quickly After Oct. 7?
The bodies of dead Israelis were hardly cold following the Oct. 7 attack when pro-Palestine protests broke out on college campuses in the U.S.
“One day after that attack, these individuals started coming out and protesting Israel’s right to defend itself right here in the heart of America,” Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said during Monday’s event.
The individuals Schanzer is referring to are not so much the students protesting at Columbia University and other schools, but a group known as American Muslims for Palestine.
American Muslims for Palestine is “the group that incubated, funded, and directed Students for Justice in Palestine,” Schanzer said. Students for Justice in Palestine has organized many of the pro-Palestine campus protests over the past year.
“And, of course, we see people showing up at each one of these things—adults that have no business being on campus—and you’ve got to start to ask yourself, why?” Schanzer said.
Kimball says there has been a “colossal failure from leadership” on college campuses to call out antisemitism. The Combat Antisemitism Movement director contends that there should be consequences for students who participate in these “pro-genocidal protests” because “most of them have no idea what they’re even doing. They’re being used [and] manipulated.”
A.F. Branco Cartoon – Thousands of Hezbollah terrorists’ pagers and walkie-talkies are literally blowing up, killing and injuring hundreds. They were booby-trapped by Israel in an effort to fight against terrorism.
BREAKING: Hezbollah’s Walkie-Talkie Explosions Rock Lebanon, Killing 14 and Injuring Over 400, Just One Day After Deadly Pager Blasts
By Jim Hoft – The Gateway Pundit – Sept 18, 2024
UPDATE: Lebanon’s Health Ministry reports 14 dead and over 450 injured in Wednesday’s explosions.
In a brutal second wave of explosions, at least nine people were killed and over 300 injured Wednesday when Hezbollah’s walkie-talkies detonated across Lebanon. This attack follows closely on the heels of Tuesday’s pager blasts, which claimed the lives of 12 and left nearly 4,000 wounded in what is rapidly becoming an unparalleled security nightmare for the terrorist organization. READ MORE…
A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions (art and politics) and translated them into cartoons that have been popular all over the country in various news outlets, including NewsMax, Fox News, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Rep. Devin Nunes, Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Chris Salcedo, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and President Trump.
A woman holds a poster of Israeli hostage Omer Neutra during a memorial vigil for the Israeli people killed by Hamas during the October 7 attacks, in New York City on November 1, 2023. | Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images
Following the IDF’s announcement that the bodies of six hostages, including Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, were recovered from Rafah, attention has now shifted to the remaining hostages still alive in Gaza.
Many U.S. citizens may not realize that four American hostages are currently held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. This issue has received limited attention from U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration, which has made only a few statements about hostages with dual U.S.-Israeli citizenship being held by captive by Hamas in Gaza.
One of these statements came early Sunday morning when Biden said he was “devastated and outraged” by the Goldberg-Polin’s death.
Goldberg-Polin was one of eight U.S. hostages abducted by Hamas during the Oct. 7 massacres in southern Israel. With Hersh’s death confirmed, four of the eight are now confirmed by the IDF to have been killed by Hamas.
Four American hostages are still in captivity, and their current condition remains unknown.
Keith Siegel
Keith Siegel (64) was last seen with hostage Omri Miran in a video released by Hamas. In that video, Miran mentioned the recent Passover holiday, indicating the video was released soon after recording. Keith was abducted with his wife Aviva from their home in Kfar Aza. The couple was driven into the Gaza Strip in their own vehicle and kept together until Aviva’s release in the November hostage release deal.
Following her release, Aviva said her husband had not told Hamas that he was a U.S. citizen out of fear that Hamas would release him without her.
Sagui Dekel-Chen
Sagui Dekel-Chen was a project manager for the United Kingdom branch of the Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayemet Le’Israel) which organizes the construction of schools and youth centers.
Dekel-Chen was abducted from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7. He was a member of the kibbutz’s security team, and engaged Hamas terrorists in combat before eventually being captured after several hours.
His father Jonathan spoke at a J Street event on the sidelines of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) last month, where he called on Democratic leaders to hold Hamas accountable for its actions.
Omer Neutra
Long Island-born Omer Neutra was serving as a tank commander in the IDF on Oct. 7 when he was abducted by terrorists. Omer’s parents, Orna and Ronen Neutra, have been active ever since, raising awareness about his plight, as well as those of the rest of the captives.
Like the parents of Goldberg-Polin, Omer’s parents took their message to both the Republican National Convention (RNC) and the DNC, calling for both sides to work toward the release of all the captives.
Like Omer, Edan Alexander was captured while serving in the IDF on Oct. 7. Alexander spoke with his parents on the phone that morning, shortly after the rocket attacks from Gaza began. He assured his mother that he was safe. About half an hour later, she was not able to reach him.
Both Omer and Edan were assigned to the same post in southern Israel on Oct. 7. As soldiers, they would be part of the last group released during a hostage deal, with Hamas considering soldiers to be more valuable for negotiations.
Besides these four men, three other U.S. citizens who were killed or fatally wounded on Oct. 7 are also being held by Hamas in Gaza: Itay Chen (19); Judith Weinstein Haggai (70); and Gadi Haggai (73).
In early August, Denver Post columnist Doug Friednash wrote about the remaining American hostages, asking why their plight did not arouse the same media publicity as other hostages or prisoners, such as Brittney Griner, a member of the U.S. women’s national basketball team and a three-time Olympic gold medalist. Griner received international attention in 2022 when she was detained in Russia on a drug offense. She was found guilty and sentenced to nine years but was later released in a prisoner exchange.
Friednash noted that 33 Americans were killed in the Oct. 7 Hamas massacres, while eight were taken captive. Four of those eight are now confirmed dead.
He noted that most Americans could probably not even name any of the U.S. hostages, and the lack of media focus on their situation or the U.S. government’s efforts to free them.
“And, we need to ask the question: why are these five [now four after the death of Hersh Goldberg-Polin] Americans forgotten? Is it because they are Jewish or dual citizens? Is it because our nation’s leaders believe this is predominantly Israel’s problem, not ours? Or, is it for some other political reason?” he wrote.
Almost one month later, those questions appear to be unanswered.
Following the return of the hostages bodies, 97 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7 remain in captivity in Gaza. This latest figure includes the bodies of at least 33 hostages who have already been confirmed deceased by Israel Defense Forces.
I’ve been telling you all for years what Islam teaches, and adheres to, and we get very little feedback. Here are two X I found this morning that confirms everything we’ve said, fromt the mouths of two Palestinian mothers.
Watch: Wife of Hamas leader, Umm Osama, explains how Palestinian mothers sacrifice their children's souls for Allah (God of Islam), by raising them as suicide bombers to kill Jews and die as martyrs. During this interview on TV, she challenges Palestinian mothers to hate the Jews… pic.twitter.com/WXuov0pJ2H
pic.twitter.com/Zo6kxlENT9 Watch: Palestinian mother from Gaza brought her baby to an Israeli hospital and let Jewish doctors to save his life by treating his rare congenital heart defect. While her son was recovering from the surgery, she told a journalist about her hope to…
Looters steal Gaza aid delivered via a U.S.-built floating pier, raising concerns about aid to Palestinians and regional security. Pictured: This handout image shows U.S. soldiers and sailors working with Israeli troops May 16 to erect the temporary pier on the Gaza coast. (Photo: U.S. Central Command/ Getty Images)
Joshua Arnold is a staff writer at The Washington Stand, contributing both news and commentary from a biblical worldview.
It took far longer for Americans to build a floating pier on the Gazan coast to deliver aid for civilians caught in the Israel-Hamas war than for the aid to be looted.
President Joe Biden announced the pier project during his State of the Union address March 7. After delays, the pier was in place by May 7. However, due to “high winds and high sea swells,” as deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh described it, no aid could be delivered immediately.
The first 10 truckloads of food aid were landed on the floating pier last Friday and were subsequently delivered to a warehouse for the U.N. World Food Programme 8 miles away. On Saturday, 16 more trucks landed with aid. However, “11 of those trucks never made it to the warehouse,”said Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general. “Crowds had stopped the trucks at various points along the way.” The Associated Press reported gunfire erupting at the scene, leaving at least one man dead.
“There was, you know, what I think I would refer to as ‘self-distribution,’” Dujarric said.
In response to the looting, the U.S. military halted further aid deliveries Sunday.
Due to a lack of specific reporting, it’s not clear who was responsible for plundering the aid caravan.
U.N. officials planted the suggestion that the aid was looted by Palestinian civilians, brought to the brink of starvation by Israel’s blockade in its war with Hamas, the terrorist organization that governs the Gaza Strip and massacred some 1,200 civilians Oct. 7 in Israel. Following this lead, most media reports have attributed the “self-distribution” simply to “crowds.”
However, it would be strange if civilian crowds in Gaza had enough firearms to cause a shootout over aid. This is Gaza, not Chicago.
Since its bloody coup in 2007, Hamas has governed the territory with an iron fist, brutally eliminating any perceived threat to its control. It’s hard to believe that any Palestinian in the Gaza Strip has firearms besides Hamas and its allied terrorist groups.
Perhaps the U.S. military drew the same conclusion. Perhaps it suspected the supplies plundered from aid trucks eventually wound up in the hands of terrorists—even if the terrorists happily used crowds of hungry civilians to stop the caravan initially. Perhaps that’s why the U.S. military halted further aid deliveries.
Meanwhile, of the food aid that made it through to the U.N. warehouse, U.S. officials say they believe none has been distributed to those in need. When asked Tuesday whether aid had reached Gaza residents, Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder responded: “I do not believe so.”
That makes two problems with the American military’s Gaza food delivery mission.
First, international and nongovernmental aid organizations on the ground aren’t effective at distributing aid to those in need. Second, once aid enters Gaza, it’s hard to prevent it from falling into the hands of nefarious actors.
🚨 Breaking: Assisted by @UNRWA, Hamas terrorists again take control of aid trucks today before they reach civilians 👇
Civilians in Gaza are starving despite hundreds of aid trucks entering every day. Meanwhile most Hamas terrorists are obese. pic.twitter.com/YKUcCWFxuY
Any U.S. aid delivery strategy that fails to account for these two problems is doomed to misfire. Biden promised no U.S. military “boots on the ground” in Gaza (are boots on a floating pier anchored to the ground much different?). This means the U.S. must, at some point, hand off the aid to groups already handling it so ineffectively and insecurely. When asked Tuesday “who was responsible for security” of the looted aid trucks, the U.N.’s Dujarric admitted, “There is no—we don’t have any armed security.”
The current U.S. plan to get the pier’s terminal up and running again is for the aid convoys to travel to the World Food Programme warehouse by “new routes.” This, obviously, solves none of the problems.
This new plan is likely to last only as long as it takes for the same “crowds” to ambush a convoy on its new route. If the crowd still has guns and the men in the trucks don’t, it’s hard to imagine any other outcome but more looting.
Neither problem should have surprised the Biden administration, if officials were willing to listen to America’s close friend and ally, Israel. Israel has known all along that Hamas commandeers confiscate aid shipments and that Gazan aid organizations are ineffective. As of Tuesday, Israeli border guards had outworked international aid agencies to the point that “650 truckloads [were] waiting for collection and distribution … on the Gazan side of the crossings,” according to an Israeli agency, Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories.
“Crossings” is plural because Israel worked to open a second border crossing to aid trucks May 1, after Hamas damaged the crossing in its Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in southern Israel. Meanwhile, Hamas stole the first convoy of aid to enter the Gaza Strip through the newly restored crossing under the coordination of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.
In February, a U.S. diplomat denied that Hamas seized any aid shipments into Gaza, but he also acknowledged that Hamas could “shape where and to whom assistance goes.” America’s difficulties delivering aid to the Gaza Strip underscore who is the villain and who is the hero in this story.
Reporting from international and mainstream media outlets would convince you that Israel is out to maximize the suffering of people in Gaza, including by starving them to death. The International Criminal Court recently issued “preposterous” indictments against Israeli leaders, “saying that Israel has starved Gazans to death,” as Eugene Kontorovich, director of the Center for Middle East and International Law at George Mason University’s Scalia Law School, said on “Washington Watch.”
“It’s not clear that anyone has starved in Gaza,” Kontorovich said. But, he added, “to the extent there’s a problem with food supplies there, it is well known that Hamas steals and plunders all the civilian, all the humanitarian supplies that are coming in. So, it’s not clear why it’s Israel rather than Hamas that is being accused of this.”
The International Criminal Court has no official jurisdiction, so it “can’t really do anything directly against Israel,” Kontorovich said. The charges nevertheless are “blood libel against the Jews,” he said, a classic example of antisemitism that will be used “in a further diplomatic campaign to delegitimize Israel.”
But the claim that Israel is trying to starve Palestinian civilians by not allowing aid into Gaza is simply false. Since the beginning of the war, Israel has allowed 19,981 truckloads of food, 1,752 truckloads of water, 4,213 truckloads of shelter equipment, 2,002 truckloads of medical supplies, and 1,784 truckloads of mixed supplies into Gaza, as well as 297 tanks of fuel and 541 tanks of cooking gas. That adds up to 572,300 tons of humanitarian aid on 29,746 trucks. (Meanwhile, Gaza’s other neighbor, Egypt, has closed its border crossing and is allowing no aid into the strip.)
Israel has done this, even though it knows much of the aid will end up in its enemy’s hands, to alleviate the suffering of Gazan civilians. The Israelis have delivered thousands of leaflets, broadcast their targets in advance, and otherwise sacrificed operational efficiency in countless ways to spare Palestinian lives. Israel has done all this, and then the international community blames it when Hamas, a terrorist organization, steals humanitarian aid from civilians and uses those civilians as human shields.
No country in the world is doing more to help the people of Gaza than the nation of Israel. Yet Biden’s decision to build a floating pier on the Gaza coast was essentially a rebuke to our ally, a declaration that Israel isn’t doing enough. It took only two days of real-world interactions for the Biden administration to discover that Gaza aid delivered through an American port of entry faces all the same barriers as aid delivered through an Israeli port of entry—none of which are Israel’s fault.
Biden’s floating pier is an inefficient, costly alternative to Israeli border crossings. U.S. officials claimed the pier initially could handle 90 trucks per day, possibly up to 150 trucks. Yet only a couple dozen trucks have left the pier since its completion two weeks ago. For comparison, 403 aid-bearing trucks entered Gaza on Monday alone, nearly all through Israel.
The floating pier involved the labor of 1,000 U.S. servicemembers and a price tag of $320 million, Reuters reported.
“The administration got what it wanted” out of the pier, speculated National Review’s senior political correspondent, Jim Geraghty, “which was a couple of ‘U.S. military starts delivering aid to Gaza through floating pier’ headlines this past weekend.”
But for the civilians of Gaza, the Biden administration has delivered next to nothing.
Jonathan Conricus, a former spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces, told Newsmax on Monday that Israel is formulating a comprehensive plan to “roll back Iranian aggression” following the attack by Iran over the weekend.
The IDF announced on Sunday that it had identified 300 Iranian drones and missiles and eliminated “99%” of those headed for Israel on Saturday night. The attack came in response to an alleged Israeli strike on an Iranian consulate in Syria that killed several high-ranking Iranian officials.
Conricus, now a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said on “National Report,” “An attack like this from a sovereign country against Israel is not something that can or will go unanswered or unchecked.”
He added, “Israel will retaliate. I think that what Israel is now doing is formulating a strategic plan so as not to retaliate just for the sense of retaliation, but to retaliate as part of a bigger and more expansive plan to really roll back Iranian aggression in the region.”
The chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri announced on Sunday that the attack had concluded and there was no intention of continuing the operation.
Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan on Monday called for the U.N. Security Council to “impose all possible sanctions on Iran before it’s too late.
“This attack crossed every red line, and Israel reserves the legal right to retaliate,” he said.
Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, defended the attack to the U.N. Security Council in a meeting, saying that Iran had to “exercise its inherent right to self-defense under international law” and that the country “does not seek escalation or war in the region” and does not want a conflict with the United States.
“Israeli civilians have been living under Iranian terror for far too long,” Conricus said. “All of the terrorist organizations around us — whether it’s Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza, or Hezbollah in Lebanon, or a bunch of Iranian proxies in Syria — they are all funded and equipped and armed by Iran.”
“Iran’s actions over the weekend are, in fact, also an invitation for Israel to actually change its strategy and start repaying Iran for attacking and menacing so many Israeli civilians,” he said.
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Yemen’s Houthi spokesperson told Reuters on Tuesday that the group’s operations in the Red Sea, where its missiles and drones have been threatening international shipping, will only stop when Israeli “aggression” on Gaza ends and the siege is lifted.
Asked if the attacks on ships would seize if a ceasefire deal was reached for Gaza, Mohammed Abdulsalam said the situation would be reassessed if the siege ended and humanitarian aid was free to enter.
Most American voters who are tracking the issue anticipate rising domestic prices for vital goods because of disruptions to commercial shipping in the Red Sea. a survey finds. Pictured: Yemenis lift rifles, Palestinian-Yemeni flags, and Houthi emblems Friday while shouting slogans to protest U.S.- and U.K.-led airstrikes against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels for disrupting maritime traffic. (Photo: Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images)
An opinion survey taken before the recent U.S.-led military action against Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen found strong concern that disruptions in the Red Sea would elevate food and energy prices here at home.
The new polling from TIPP Insights surveyed 1,401 adults about the Houthi rebels’ attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea.
The survey first established the extent to which respondents were tracking the issue, finding Americans closely divided: 48% said they’re following the issue very or somewhat closely, while 46% said they’re not following it very closely, or not at all. Only 6% say they were unaware of the Houthi attacks on commercial shipping.
Broken down by party line, 52% of Democrats, 49% of Republicans, and 43% of independents said they are aware of the attacks, suggesting this generally isn’t a partisan issue.
Once this baseline was established, TIPP Insights posed three additional questions to those respondents who said they were following the Houthi attacks.
The first question, which got the most dramatic results, asked whether respondents were very, somewhat, not very, or not at all concerned that the attacks might disrupt vital supply chains of commodities such as food and energy.
Fully 89% answered that they were very or somewhat concerned, while only 9% said they were not. The smallest group of respondents in the survey, just 2%, said they had no opinion.
These results remained consistent across all demographics. Although younger voters were marginally less concerned than their older counterparts, the survey found that those concerned still had a significant majority that held across genders and ethnic groups.
In other words, for the roughly half of the U.S. electorate tracking the Red Sea issue, the majority anticipates a rise in domestic prices for vital goods because of the disruptions, which should get the attention of both parties at the outset of 2024.
Given that the price of Brent crude already is creeping up over $80 per barrel because of extended voyages around the Cape of Good Hope to deliver cargoes, this concern is likely to intensify in coming months.
The survey’s second question asked whether respondents placed the primary blame for the attacks on Iran’s Islamist regime, the Israel-Hamas war, or both.
The largest group of respondents, 42%, said they blamed both, and the second largest, 32%, said they blamed Tehran, a result that suggests 74% of American voters consider the Iranian regime at least partially culpable for the turmoil.
Only 15% said they blamed the Israel-Hamas war and, when the response of “both” was accounted for, 57% blamed the war.
It’s worth noting that of the 671 voters surveyed who said they were following the issue and so moved on to the additional questions, the single largest age demographic was 25 to 44, with a total of 230 respondents.
This group was considerably more likely to blame the Houthis’ attacks on the Israel-Hamas war (24%) than were those 18 to 24 (14%), 45 to 64 (12%), or 65 and older (7%), so the real percentage of Americans who blame Israel and the war may be lower.
The third question revealed the starkest partisan divide in the survey. “How confident are you,” it asked, “that President Biden’s Operation Prosperity Guardian will secure commercial shipping in the Red Sea?”
Overall, 52% of respondents said they either were very confident or somewhat confident that Biden would be successful, compared with 41% who said they weren’t confident and 8% who said they’re not sure. That should be welcome news for the president.
Democrats were significantly more confident, with 81% responding positively and only 11% disagreeing. But the numbers for the other political groups tell a different story: Only 26% of Republicans and 41% of independents said they have a degree of confidence in Operation Prosperity Guardian, compared to 68% and 49%, respectively, who said they don’t.
So although Biden’s action has the strong support of those in his base who are following events in the Red Sea, he is underwater on the issue not only with conservatives but also with independents. These survey results could signal broader unease with Biden’s performance as commander in chief.
TIPP Insights conducted its polling as Houthi attacks on commercial shipping were escalating, but before the Biden administration took retaliatory action Jan. 11 and 12.
While the Houthis rebels’ immediate response was muted, they escalated retaliation and struck two commercial vessels in recent days. There are no indications that the U.S.- and U.K.-led airstrikes restored freedom of navigation in the region—in fact, all reports are that shipping is still being diverted in the wake of the airstrikes.
Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, for example, announced a two-week hiatus in production at German factories due to lack of components.
If the Houthi threat isn’t neutralized and this type of stoppage spreads in coming weeks, supply chain disruptions will start to compound in a fashion that may grip the American electorate more broadly as primary voters head to the polls.
Freight shipping prices will rise Jan. 15 after Iran-backed Houthi rebels attacked vessels in the Red Sea, according to a report. CNBC reported Wednesday the expected price rise comes amid longer transit times around Africa that are disrupting and delaying deliveries of products. Vessels aren’t able to come back to Asia in time, and ocean carriers are canceling sailings on short notice, both as a result of ship diversions, Honour Lane Shipping emailed clients, the news outlet reported.
The rerouted vessels are carrying items including spring clothing, footwear, home goods, electronics, patio furniture, and pool supplies.
British clothing retailer Next also recently warned of stock delays as a result of the longer ocean transit, while Ikea in December lamented its own supply chain delays, the outlet noted.
“The rerouting of vessels is leading to longer transit times and increased costs,” Jon Gold, vice president of supply chain at the National Retail Federation, told CNBC. “Unfortunately, the longer the disruptions occur, the more challenges will arise in ensuring supply chain reliability and efficiency.”
The longer voyages are also adding to the cost of freight.
MSC, the world’s largest ocean carrier, was the first shipping company to release rates for the second half of January, according to CNBC. Beginning Monday, rates for those clients will be $5,000 for West Coast routes, $6,900 for the East Coast, and $7,300 for routes to the Gulf of Mexico.
“This is really an unexpectedly huge rate increase,” HLS wrote, CNBC reported.
Vessel volume in the Suez Canal has fallen 61% to an average of 5.8 vessels per day, compared with volumes before the Houthi attacks, according to logistics data firm Project44, CNBC reported.
Egypt, which owns and operates the Suez Canal, charges between $500,000 and $600,000 per vessel transit, resulting in losses for a country already hurt by a declining tourism industry and soaring inflation.
The hikes follow an attack on Tuesday by the Houthis, the largest in the area by the militants as the three-month-long war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza spills into other parts of the Middle East.
“As most carriers currently still reroute completely anyhow, we do not see more divisions than before,” said Franziska Bietke, global sea logistics communication manager at Kuehne + Nagel, CNBC reported. “The magnitude of yesterday’s attack is likely to reinforce the global carriers’ position that the passage is too risky.”
Logistics companies are also warning clients of container shortages, which hasn’t happened to shippers since the COVID-19 pandemic, CNBC reported.
Mark Rhodes, regional director of ocean product for Asia-Pacific at Crane Worldwide Logistics, told CNBC that containers arriving in Europe through the diverted route will need to make their way back to the manufacturing hot spots in Asia.
“The container shortage remains fresh in our memories from the COVID pandemic,” Rhodes said. “The outbound leg from Asia to Europe is just the beginning of what could be more turbulent times ahead in 2024.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — An armed unmanned surface vessel launched from Houthi-controlled Yemen got within a “couple of miles” of U.S. Navy and commercial vessels before detonating on Thursday, just hours after the White House and a host of partner nations issued a “final warning” to the Iran-backed militia group to cease the attacks or face potential military action.
Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of U.S. Navy operations in the Middle East, said it was the first time the Houthis had used an unmanned surface vessel, or USV, since their harassment of commercial ships in the Red Sea began after the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. They have, however, used them in years past.
Fabian Hinz, a missile expert and research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said the USV’s are a key part of the Houthi maritime arsenal and were used during previous battles against the Saudi coalition forces that intervened in Yemen’s war. They have regularly been used as suicide drone boats that explode upon impact.
Most of the Houthis’ USVs are likely assembled in Yemen but often fitted with components made in Iran, such as computerized guidance systems, Hinz said.
The location of this latest attack was not immediately clear, but Cooper said it took place in international shipping lanes.
Since late October, the Houthis have launched scores of one-way attack drones and missiles at commercial vessels transiting the Red Sea. U.S. Navy warships have also intercepted ballistic missiles the Pentagon says were headed toward Israel. Cooper said a total of 61 missiles and drones have been shot down by U.S. warships.
In response to the Houthi attacks, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in December announced Operation Prosperity Guardian, with the United States and other countries sending additional ships to the southern Red Sea to provide protection for commercial vessels passing through the critical Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Cooper said 1,500 commercial ships have been able to transit safely since the operation was launched on Dec. 18.
However, the Houthis have continued to launch missiles and attack drones, prompting the White House and 12 allies to issue what amounted to a final warning Wednesday to cease their attacks on vessels in the Red Sea or face potential targeted military action.
Cooper said Operation Prosperity Guardian was solely defensive in nature and separate from any military action the U.S. might take if the Houthi attacks continue.
The U.S., United Kingdom and France are providing most of the warships now, and Greece and Denmark will also be providing vessels, he said.
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Associated Press writer Jack Jeffery contributed to this report.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
U.S. spy agencies verified Israeli claims that Hamas and another Palestinian terrorist group used Shifa Hospital in Gaza City as a command center and to hold hostages, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.
In late November, the Israel Defense Forces released extensive video evidence of terror tunnels under Shifa Hospital—the Gaza Strip’s largest medical facility—saying it “unequivocally” proves the modus operandi of Hamas, “which systematically operates from hospitals.”
The terrorist group held at least three of the estimated 240 hostages it kidnapped on Oct. 7 at Shifa, the IDF said. Nevertheless, critics continued to claim that the IDF had little evidence Hamas used the hospital as a command post.
“In the weeks since the operation, news organizations have continued to raise questions about Hamas’s presence at the hospital. And health and humanitarian organizations have criticized the Israeli operation. A humanitarian team led by the World Health Organization, which visited Al-Shifa immediately after Israeli forces stormed the hospital, called it a ‘death zone,'” the Times reported.
But a senior U.S. intelligence official said Tuesday that the American government was convinced that Hamas used the hospital complex to direct terrorist forces, store weapons and hold “at least a few hostages.” The official also said U.S. spy agencies had information that Hamas destroyed evidence before the IDF operation at the hospital got underway. A U.S. official expressed confidence in the intelligence assessment as it was based on information gathered independently by both Israel and American agencies.
In November, the IDF recovered the body of Cpl. Noa Marciano, who was kidnapped by Hamas, in a building adjacent to Shifa Hospital. Also found next to the hospital was the corpse of another hostage, Yehudit Weiss.
Israeli forces arrested the hospital’s director, Muhammad Abu Salmiya, on Dec. 23.
“In the hospital, under his management, there was extensive Hamas terrorist activity. Findings of his involvement in terrorist activity will determine whether he will be subject to further ISA [Israel Security Agency, i.e. Shin Bet] questioning,” the IDF said in a statement.Republished with permission from Jewish News Syndicate.
Taysir “Tass” Saada, 75, told Israeli-American journalist Joel C. Rosenberg that he anticipates many Palestinian Muslims will be open to converting to Christianity after becoming disillusioned with Hamas | YouTube/Joel Rosenberg on TBN
A former terrorist who was associated with the Fatah political party and the Palestinian Liberation Organization before converting to Christianity in the 1990s believes the Israel-Hamas war is preparing many Muslims in Gaza to become Christians.
Taysir “Tass” Abu Saada, 73, told Israeli-American journalist Joel C. Rosenberg during an interview that aired on the Trinity Broadcasting Network over the weekend that he believes the scale of violence and destruction roiling the Middle East is “not normal” and an indication that the “end of time” is quickly approaching.
But Saada also has hope the conflict is causing many Muslims in the region to become disillusioned with Hamas and radical Islam, thereby leading them to be more open to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As a former Palestinian Muslim born in Gaza, Saada is preparing to move back to Gaza after the war is over to be part of the “harvest.”
“Hamas is an ideology that is spread among many people, not only in the Gaza Strip but all over the world,” Saada said. “However, God has a plan. And I believe the Arabs’ and the Jews’ plan is also part of that, and that is where my hope is.”
Saada, who wrote the autobiographical Once an Arafat Man, recounted in testimony for JewishRoots.net how he became consumed with rage toward Jewish Israelis and others following the 1967 Six Day War. After his family moved to Saudi Arabia and Qatar when he was still young, he eventually ran away to join Fatah and fight under Yasser Arafat, the former chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization. He would become a sniper, an assassin and Arafat’s personal driver.
“After the Six Day War, I felt as if I was having a nervous breakdown, and my hatred just grew and grew,” Saada remembered in his testimony. “I did not understand how we could lose so many wars against Israel. We were bigger than Israel in numbers and size, we had more equipment — everything we had was more than they had, but still, we lost the wars against them.”
“I was thinking that once again, our leaders sold us to the Jews,” he added. “That was when I decided to go and fight for our land, which I believed was ours.”
After his family found him and forced him to return to Qatar, repeated violence and legal troubles led his father to urge him to continue his education in the West. Saada traveled to the United States in 1974, where he married an American woman and met a Christian named Charlie, who would ultimately share the Gospel with him after befriending him for over 19 years.
Saada remembered that in 1993, he was spiritually suffering when Charlie finally opened up to him about his Christian faith. In his testimony, he said Charlie told him that if he wanted to experience peace of mind, he had “to love the Jews.”
“I completely froze and asked him how he could even think of such a thing — to love the Jews?” Saada wrote. “He knew I hated them. For me, as for most Arabs, a good Jew was a dead Jew.”
Saada said that he was frightened and reluctant when Charlie opened the New Testament to read John 1:1 to him, but remembered that as soon as Charlie had read the verse about the divinity of Jesus Christ, he began violently shaking before fainting.
When he regained consciousness after experiencing a supernatural experience during which Jesus appeared to him in a bright light, he immediately surrendered his life to Him, he said. Saada’s wife and son also became Christians.
Saada recounted to Rosenberg how he returned to Israel in 2003, knowing he would be arrested because he felt that Jesus called him to confess his violent sins to the Israelis, as well as his change of heart. After 14 hours of interrogation, an Israeli colonel allowed him to go.
Saada grew emotional telling the story of how he told a heavily-armed Israeli soldier that he once fought for Arafat but had since become a Christian and wanted to pray for him. The soldier began to cry and asked to hug him, he said.
Since becoming a Christian, Saada and his family founded Hope for Ishmael, an Evangelical outreach to Muslims and Seeds of Hope, a humanitarian nonprofit that provides necessities to impoverished people in the Middle East.
Saada told Rosenberg that many non-Christians in the region are encountering Jesus in dreams and that his sources on the ground now ministering to Palestinians in Gaza anticipate that the spiritual harvest “is going to be huge” in the wake of the conflict.
“That is why I am back in the Holy Land, to move to the Gaza Strip and take part in rebuilding,” Saada said. “I believe with all the destruction, with all that happened, with the hardship the Palestinians have gone through, they cannot sit back but will ask, ‘Why?'”
“God is going to do a lot of work, and I want to be a part of that,” he added.
Hamas turned the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia in the Gaza Strip into a military base, its director Ahmad Kahlot admitted during an investigation conducted by Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, Shin Bet.
The hospital director’s testimony was revealed in a video of the interrogation published by Shin Bet and Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday evening.
Kahlot was among dozens of armed suspects who surrendered and were arrested at the hospital in the northern Gaza Strip on Dec. 12, according to the IDF. Footage of the mass arrest was published two days later.
Kahlot was recruited into Hamas as a high-ranking officer and several of the hospital’s staff served as military operatives of the Hamas organization under him, he said.
According to Kahlot, about 16 of the hospital’s employees served in a double role as Hamas terrorists, including doctors, nurses, paramedics, and clerks.
Hamas terrorists turned the hospital into a military facility, hiding its operatives there, using ambulances for transport and even holding a kidnapped Israeli soldier there.
“They hide in hospitals because they believe that a hospital is a safe place. They will not be harmed if they are inside a hospital,” he stated.
“Hamas has offices inside the hospitals,” Kahlot continued during the interrogation. “There are places for senior officials – they also brought a kidnapped soldier there. There is a designated place for investigations, internal security, and special security. They all have private phone lines inside the hospital.”
Kahlot explained that Hamas has its own private ambulances, with slightly different colors and no license plates. “It was used to bring the kidnapped soldier and to transfer bodies. It comes and goes without transporting the wounded.”
“Once I begged them to take a wounded man to an Indonesian hospital, for healing, for treatment, they refused. Their mission is more important,” the hospital director told Israeli authorities.
“The leaders of Hamas are cowards. They left us on the ground while they’re holing up in hiding places. They destroyed us.”
More than 70 terrorists were arrested during an operation on the grounds of the Kamal Adwan Hospital last week. Several clashes broke out, during which IDF soldiers eliminated more terrorists.
The detainees were taken for interrogation by Israel’s Military Intelligence Unit 504 and Shin Bet coordinators.
In the footage published by the IDF, the terrorists can be seen leaving the hospital premises holding weapons above their heads as a sign of surrender.
A recently released Hamas hostage’s revelation of sexual violence against her fellow captives appears to refute anti-Israel progressives who tend to downplay or dismiss terrorists’ atrocities. Chen Goldstein-Almog, 48, was held hostage by Hamas with three of her children for 51 days following the Palestinian terrorist group’s Oct. 7 attack on Israelis. Her husband and eldest daughter were murdered by Palestinian terrorists during the attack.
Chen Goldstein-Almog, 48, was held hostage with three of her children by Hamas for 51 days following the Palestinian terrorist group’s Oct. 7 attack on innocent Israelis. (Israel Defense Forces via AP)
Goldstein-Almog and her children were released by the terror group, and the wife and mother gave an interview with the Israeli press on Dec. 11 about her time as a hostage. During her interview, Goldstein-Almog revealed she heard firsthand accounts of sexual violence from other female hostages by their Hamas captors.
“I heard the testimony directly from girls and heard things second hand,” Goldstein-Almog said. “Some of the sexual violence happened well into our time in Gaza, not in the first week.”
“But the way their bodies were desecrated, they don’t know how they will deal with that. It happened weeks into their time in Gaza,” she said.
“If they were released earlier, they would’ve been saved from experiencing sexual violence,” Goldstein-Almog added.
Goldstein-Almog said they “heard three stories firsthand of women saying they were sexually abused and we heard an additional story.” She added that “presumably, there are more instances” of sexual violence by Hamas.
Briahna Joy Gray, a former spokesperson for Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign, tweeted, “‘Believe all women’ was always an absurd overreach: woman should be heard, claims should be investigated, but evidence is required.” (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
The former hostage also said she “was threatened once when they thought I was wandering around and looking free” in the first apartment they were taken to and that “there was a threat that” she would “be handcuffed, but it didn’t happen.”
“I said I have kids and nothing happened to me,” Goldstein-Almog said. “It was the only time I felt under threat [of sexual violence].”
A spokesperson for the Biden administration State Department noted earlier this month that one of the reasons Hamas does not want to release women hostages is because “they don’t want those women to be able to talk about what happened to them.”
Many American progressives have been largely silent on Hamas’ sexual violence against Israelis, while some have downplayed or dismissed the reports of sexual assault.
Briahna Joy Gray, a former national press secretary for Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign, tweeted earlier this month, “‘Believe all women’ was always an absurd overreach: woman should be heard, claims should be investigated, but evidence is required.”
“The same is true of the allegations out of Israel,” Gray wrote in a Dec. 4 tweet. “But also, this isn’t a ‘believe women’ scenario bc no female victims have offered testimony.”
“Believe all women” was always an absurd overreach: woman should be heard, claims should be investigated, but evidence is required. The same is true of the allegations out of Israel.
But also, this isn’t a “believe women” scenario bc no female victims have offered testimony. https://t.co/a3Ku6gzY8L
“Zionists are asking that we believe the uncorroborated eyewitness account of *men* who describe alleged rape victims in odd, fetishistic terms,” Gray continued in a subsequent tweet.
“Shame on Israel for not seriously investigating claims of rape and collecting rape kits,” she added.
Zionists are asking that we believe the uncorroborated eyewitness account of *men* who describe alleged rape victims in odd, fetishistic terms.
Shame on Israel for not seriously investigating claims of rape and collecting rape kits. pic.twitter.com/zbHfduQnev
Progressive Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., was torched after she clashed with CNN’s Dana Bash over the lack of widespread condemnation of Hamas’ use of sexual violence against Israeli women during the Oct. 7 attacks. The Washington state Democrat suggested that wasn’t true and claimed she had already condemned Hamas’ treatment of women, before quickly turning the conversation back to Israel.
“But I think we have to remember Israel is a democracy. That is why they’re a strong ally of ours. And if they do not comply with international humanitarian law, they are bringing themselves to a place that makes it much more difficult strategically for them to be able to build allies, to keep public opinion with them, and frankly, morally, we cannot say that one war crime deserves another. That is not what international humanitarian law says,” Jayapal said.
“With respect, I was just asking about the women, and you turned it back to Israel. I’m asking you about Hamas,” Bash said.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal was torched after she clashed with CNN’s Dana Bash over the lack of widespread condemnation of Hamas’ use of sexual violence against Israeli women during the Oct. 7 attacks. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The lawmaker said she had already answered the question and added, “We have to be balanced about bringing in the outrages against Palestinians. Fifteen thousand Palestinians have been killed in Israeli airstrikes, three-quarters of whom are women and children.”
“And it’s horrible,” Bash said. “But you don’t see Israeli soldiers raping Palestinian women.”
“I don’t want this to be the hierarchies of oppressions,” Jayapal said.
Jayapal has since issued a statement“unequivocally” condemning “Hamas’ use of rape and sexual violence as an act of war.”
“This is horrific and across the world, we must stand with our sisters, families, and survivors of rape and sexual assault everywhere to condemn this violence and hold perpetrators accountable,” Jayapal said.
Neither Jayapal nor Gray immediately responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Hanna Panreck contributed reporting.
Houston Keene is a politics writer for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to Houston.Keene@Fox.com and on Twitter: @HoustonKeene
BBC/Nik Millard “We see women of all ages… We see the bruises, we learn about the cuts and tears, and we know they have been sexually abused,” Captain Maayan told the BBC
The BBC has seen and heard evidence of rape, sexual violence and mutilation of women during the 7 October Hamas attacks.
WARNING: CONTAINS EXTREMELY GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE AND RAPE
Several people involved in collecting and identifying the bodies of those killed in the attack told us they had seen multiple signs of sexual assault, including broken pelvises, bruises, cuts and tears, and that the victims ranged from children and teenagers to pensioners.
Video testimony of an eyewitness at the Nova music festival, shown to journalists by Israeli police, detailed the gang rape, mutilation and execution of one victim.
Videos of naked and bloodied women filmed by Hamas on the day of the attack, and photographs of bodies taken at the sites afterwards, suggest that women were sexually targeted by their attackers.
Few victims are thought to have survived to tell their own stories.
Their last moments are being pieced together from survivors, body-collectors, morgue staff and footage from the attack sites.
Police have privately shown journalists a single horrific testimony that they filmed of a woman who was at the Nova festival site during the attack.
She describes seeing Hamas fighters gang rape a woman and mutilate her, before the last of her attackers shot her in the head as he continued to rape her.
BBC/Nik Millard Hamas fighters stormed the Nova festival on 7 October and killed hundreds
In the video, the woman known as Witness S mimes the attackers picking up and passing the victim from one to another.
“She was alive,” the witness says. “She was bleeding from her back.”
She goes on to detail how the men cut off parts of the victim’s body during the assault.
“They sliced her breast and threw it on the street,” she says. “They were playing with it.”
The victim was passed to another man in uniform, she continues.
“He penetrated her, and shot her in the head before he finished. He didn’t even pick up his pants; he shoots and ejaculates.”
One man we spoke to from the festival site said he heard the “noises and screams of people being murdered, raped, decapitated”.
To our question about how he could be sure – without seeing it – that the screams he heard indicated sexual assault rather than other kinds of violence, he said he believed while listening at the time that it could only have been rape.
A statement he made through a support organisation describes it as “inhuman”.
“Some women were raped before they were dead, some raped while injured, and some were already dead when the terrorists raped their lifeless bodies,” his statement says. “I desperately wanted to help, but there was nothing I could do.”
BBC/Dave Bull Israelis are still grappling with the Hamas attack in October
Police say they have “multiple” eye-witness accounts of sexual assault, but wouldn’t give any more clarification on how many. When we spoke to them, they hadn’t yet interviewed any surviving victims.
Israel’s Women’s Empowerment Minister, May Golan, told the BBC that a few victims of rape or sexual assault had survived the attacks, and that they were all currently receiving psychiatric treatment.
“But very, very few. The majority were brutally murdered,” she said. “They aren’t able to talk – not with me, and not to anyone from the government [or] from the media.”
Videos filmed by Hamas include footage of one woman, handcuffed and taken hostage with cuts to her arms and a large patch of blood staining the seat of her trousers.
In others, women carried away by the fighters appear to be naked or semi-clothed.
Multiple photographs from the sites after the attack show the bodies of women naked from the waist down, or with their underwear ripped to one side, legs splayed, with signs of trauma to their genitals and legs.
“It really feels like Hamas learned how to weaponise women’s bodies from ISIS [the Islamic State group] in Iraq, from cases in Bosnia,” said Dr Cochav Elkayam-Levy, a legal expert at the Davis Institute of International Relations at Hebrew University.
“It brings me chills just to know the details that they knew about what to do to women: cut their organs, mutilate their genitals, rape. It’s horrifying to know this.”
BBC/Dave Bull” It really feels like Hamas learned how to weaponize women’s bodies from ISIS in Iraq, from cases in Bosnia,” said Cochav Elkayam-Levy
“I spoke with at least three girls who are now hospitalised for a very hard psychiatric situation because of the rapes they watched,” Minister May Golan told me. “They pretended to be dead and they watched it, and heard everything. And they can’t deal with it.”
Israel’s police chief Yaacov Shabtai said that many survivors of the attacks were finding it difficult to talk and that he thought some of them would never testify about what they saw or experienced.
“18 young men and women have been hospitalised in mental health hospitals because they could no longer function,” he said.
Others are reportedly suicidal. One of those working with the teams around survivors told the BBC that some had already killed themselves.
Much of the evidence has come from the volunteer body-collectors deployed after the attacks, and those who handled the bodies once they arrived at the Shura army base for identification.
One of the body-collectors volunteering with the religious organisation Zaka described to me signs of torture and mutilation which included, he said, a pregnant woman whose womb had been ripped open before she was killed, and her foetus stabbed while it was inside her.
The BBC has not been able to independently verify this account, and Israeli media reports have questioned some testimony from volunteers working in the traumatic aftermath of the Hamas attacks.
Another, Nachman Dyksztejna, provided written testimony of seeing the bodies of two women in kibbutz Be’eri with their hands and legs tied to a bed.
“One was sexually terrorised with a knife stuck in her vagina and all her internal organs removed,” his statement says.
At the festival site, he says small shelters were “filled with piles of women. Their clothing was torn on the upper part, but their bottoms were completely naked. Piles and piles of women. […] When you took a closer look at their heads, you saw a single shot straight to the brain of each.”
Hundreds of bodies were collected from the attack sites by volunteers.
BBC/Dave Bull May Golan: “For the first five days, we still had terrorists on the ground in Israel. And there were hundreds, hundreds of bodies everywhere.”
Investigators admit that in those first chaotic days after the attacks, with some areas still active combat zones, opportunities to carefully document the crime scenes, or take forensic evidence, were limited or missed.
“For the first five days, we still had terrorists on the ground in Israel,” May Golan said. “And there were hundreds, hundreds of bodies everywhere. They were burned, they were without organs, they were butchered completely.”
“This was a mass casualty event,” police spokesman Dean Elsdunne told journalists at a briefing.
“The first thing was to work on identifying the victims, not necessarily on crime scene investigation. People were waiting to hear what happened to their loved ones.”
It was staff at the army’s Shura base, where bodies arrived for identification, who have provided investigators with some of the most crucial evidence.
This evidence emerged from a makeshift hub of tents and refrigerated shipping containers set up at the base to identify the bodies.
When we visited, hospital trolleys, their iron skeletons topped with khaki stretchers, stood neatly lined up in front of the containers that housed the dead; the white plastic overalls of those on shift translucent under the floodlights.
Fighter jets roared overhead, drowning out the cicadas, as Israel’s bombardment of Gaza continued.
Teams here told us they’d seen clear evidence of rape and sexual violence on the bodies coming in, including broken pelvises from sustained violent abuse.
“We see women of all ages,” one of the reservists on the forensic team, Captain Maayan, told the BBC. “We see rape victims. We see women who have been through violation. We have pathologists and we see the bruises, we learn about the cuts and tears, and we know they have been sexually abused.”
I ask her what proportion of the bodies she’s handled show signs of this.
“Abundant,” she said. “Abundant amount of women and girls of all ages.”
BBC/Dave Bull Debris litters the ground at the Nova festival site
The number of victims is hard to define, partly because of the state of the bodies.
“It’s definitely multiple,” said another serving soldier who asked us to use only her first name, Avigayil. “It’s hard to tell. I’ve dealt with more than a few burned bodies and I have no idea what they went through beforehand. And bodies that are missing the bottom half – I also don’t know if they were raped. But women that were clearly raped? There are enough. More than enough.”
“Sometimes we are left only with a very small part of the body,” Dr Elkayam-Levy tells me. “Maybe it’s a finger, a foot or a hand that they’re trying to identify. People were burned to ashes. Nothing was left. […] I want to say that we’ll never know how many cases there were.”
Privately some of those working on this talk in terms of “dozens” of victims but quickly caution that evidence is still being gathered and pieced together.
The civil commission headed by Dr Elkayam-Levy, to collect testimony on sexual crimes, is calling for international recognition that what happened on 7 October was systematic abuse, constituting Crimes Against Humanity.
“We see definite patterns,” she told me. “So it wasn’t incidental, it wasn’t random. They came with a clear order. It was […] rape as genocide.”
Avigayil agrees there were similarities in the violence visited on the bodies that arrived at the Shura base.
“There are patterns in that groups of women from the same place were treated in a similar manner,” she said.
“There might be a set of women who were raped in one way, and we’re seeing similarities in the bodies; and then a different set that were not raped but shot multiple times in the exact same pattern. So it seems that different groups of terrorists had different forms of cruelty.”
“This was a premeditative, systematic event,” police chief Yaacov Shabtai told journalists.
BBC/Dave Bull” Israel on 7 October is not the same country that woke up the following morning”: police chief Yaacov Shabtai
David Katz from Israel’s cyber crime unit which is involved in the investigation, told journalists that it was too early to prove that sexual violence was planned as part of the attack, but that data extracted from the phones of the Hamas attackers suggested that “everything was systematic”.
“It would be reckless to say we can already prove it […] but everything that was one there was done systematically,” he said. “Nothing happened by coincidence. Rape was systematic.”
Israel’s government points to documents it says were found on Hamas fighters that appear to support the idea that sexual violence was planned. It’s released clips of interrogations with some captured fighters in which they appear to say that women were targeted for this purpose.
Last week, UN Women put out a statement saying it “unequivocally condemn[ed] the brutal attacks by Hamas” and was “alarmed by the numerous accounts of gender-based atrocities and sexual violence during those attacks”.
Dr Elkayam-Levy said before the statement that international women’s rights organisations had taken far too long to respond to her call for support.
“This is the most documented atrocity humanity has known,” she told me.
“Israel on 7 October is not the same country that woke up the following morning,” said police chief Yaacov Shabtai.
Amid the horror of what happened to women here, Captain Maayan from the Shura identification unit says the hardest moments are when she sees “the mascara on their eyelashes, or the earrings they put on that morning”.
Israel is considering a plan to pump seawater into Hamas’ tunnel system underneath the Gaza Strip, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing U.S. officials. The Israel Defense Forces has assembled five large seawater pumps capable of transferring thousands of cubic meters of water per hour from the Mediterranean Sea into the tunnels, according to the report. Work was reportedly completed on the pumps around the middle of November. They are located roughly one mile north of the Al-Shati Camp along northern Gaza’s coastline.
Israel first informed the Biden administration of the plans in early November, the officials said, with discussions on the effectiveness of such an operation and the potential environmental impact, including on the Strip’s water supply. The officials said the reaction in Washington was mixed, with some supporting it and others privately expressing concerns, although “there wasn’t necessarily any U.S. opposition to the plan.”U.S. officials said that they didn’t know how close Israel was to carrying out the plans, with a final decision on whether to proceed still pending.
Israel has discovered around 800 tunnels so far during the Gaza ground operation that began on Oct. 27, with 500 of them destroyed or sealed. The IDF has also destroyed hundreds of miles of tunnels in addition to the shafts.
Hamas kidnapped over 200 people during the Oct. 7 massacre, with 137 still being held hostage.
A source familiar with the plan said that a flooding process over weeks would allow for Hamas terrorists and potentially hostages to move out.
“We are not sure how successful pumping will be since nobody knows the details of the tunnels and the ground around them,” the source said. “It’s impossible to know if that will be effective because we don’t know how seawater will drain in tunnels no one has been in before.”
The WSJ reached out to an IDF official, who declined to comment on the report, saying only that “The IDF is operating to dismantle Hamas’ terror capabilities in various ways, using different military and technological tools. “Republished with permission from Jewish News Syndicate.
Nayab Gill and her family | Global Christian Relief
Nayab Gill was just 13 years old when she was taken from her home in Gujranwala, Pakistan, by her Muslim employer. She was forced to convert to Islam and made to marry her abductor at gunpoint, a fate faced by dozens of minor Christian girls in Pakistan each year. Two years after her kidnapping, Nayab made a daring escape and is now sharing her story.
On May 20, 2021, Nayab Gill’s employer, Saddam Hayat, a 30-year-old married father of four children, reportedly arrived at her home to “take her to work” in his vehicle.
“Saddam was a frequent visitor to our house,” said Nayab. “He owned some shops in our area, one of which was rented by my father. Saddam promised to pay me a salary of 10,000 Pakistani Rupees ($34) and said the money would help my poor family to supplement its income. My father reluctantly agreed to his proposal because Saddam told him that I was like his own daughter.”
Nayab recalls that Saddam at least twice tried to make advances on her at work, compelling her to keep a safe distance.
“I was afraid that if I told my family about Saddam’s advances, my father would stop me from going to work, and my family would lose the money that we needed so desperately,” she said.
On the day of the kidnapping, instead of taking her to the salon where she worked selling facial products, Saddam took her to a deserted house, where he forced her to renounce her Christian faith and sign a blank paper. Nayab says that soon after being held hostage, Saddam threatened her at gunpoint that if she did not succumb to his will, he would kill her and her father.
“I screamed and cried, but no one heard me. After getting the paper forcibly signed, Saddam locked me up in a room and left,” she said. “I was kept there for two days, during which I was given food only once in 24 hours.”
“On the third day, Saddam came and told me that my father had registered a case of abduction against him. He told me that I would be presented before a judge, and if I did not testify that I had converted to Islam and married him of my free will, my family and I would be killed on the court’s premises.”
Nayab recorded a statement in court in her abductor’s favor. He was given custody of Nayab as his lawful wife in front of her helpless parents, who shed tears for their young daughter.
Nayab’s ordeal worsened after the court gave custody to her abductor.
“Saddam then took me to his own house and locked me up in a room on the second floor,” she said. “During my two-year captivity, he repeatedly assaulted me against my will and treated me like a slave. But I did not lose hope and my faith in Christ!”
“I prayed every night, saying, ‘God, please help me.’ I would also pray for my family’s safety. They refused to give up and kept moving through the court system for my recovery. But I was too scared to reveal the truth. Each time I was summoned in court, I would say that I was an adult and had married Saddam with my free will.”
“Saddam’s family treated me like an outcast. They often humiliated me for being born to a Christian family. There were times when I thought I should end my life, but I think it was my faith in God that gave me the strength to face that situation.”
In April 2023, Nayab found a chance to escape.
“It was the last week of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan when Saddam’s former wife registered a case against him for threatening her,” she said. “Fearing arrest, Saddam and his brothers fled the house, but in the rush of things, they forgot to lock me up.
“It seemed God had answered my prayers for freedom. I discreetly left the house and started running, not even knowing where the road would lead me.”
“I stopped at a market to catch my breath when a Muslim woman approached me. She must have sensed that something was not right. She asked me if I needed help. I told her that I did not have any money or a phone to contact my father. She took me to her house, where I was able to get in touch with my family.”
Nayab was soon reunited with her parents.
“I don’t have words to express the joy I felt when I saw my father,” she said. “Tears rolled down our eyes as he hugged me and kissed my forehead, promising to keep me safe forever.”
Nayab’s father filed a second petition with the Supreme Court in July 2021 after the High Court rejected his first petition and sent the girl with her abductor. The Supreme Court set a hearing for the newest petition a full two years in the future, dampening the family’s hopes of recovering their child. Once the court finally heard the case in September 2023, it dismissed the petition as being “infructuous,” or pointless, because the girl had been reunited with her family.
The Supreme Court’s decision has left the door open for more sexual exploitation of underage Christian girls in Pakistan in the guise of religious conversion.
“I was expecting that the Supreme Court would hear my story, but it seems it wasn’t interested. I now want to resume my education and make friends. I don’t have friends anymore. I even asked my mother to let me cut my hair because I want to be like a boy. It’s not safe to be a girl in Pakistan.”
Global Christian Relief (GCR) is America’s leading watchdog organization focused on the plight of persecuted Christians worldwide. In addition to equipping the Western church to advocate and pray for the persecuted, GCR works in the most restrictive countries to protect and encourage Christians threatened by faith-based discrimination and violence.
I have been hearing all weekend about the rapping Hamas has been doing. As I heard each report, my first reaction was grief for the victims, and anger at the coverage on all the news outlets, and internet.
Going back to the days of September 11, 2001, then the rise of ISIS, I have been reporting on the practices of radical Islam. I’ve published report after report on the common conduct of these so-called Islamic fighters (regardless of the banner they are operating under). The child to adult male marriages, the common belief that they have an approved expectation to rape every female captive, whether or not they intend to make them wives, or concubines (sex slaves). Mohammed had a 6-year-old bride. They are quick to say that he waited to consummate their marriage until she was 8.
Here is a lecture by an Islamic woman explaining the practice to listeners.
This video was taken by a Hamas animal on October 7. I have three daughts and a granddaughter. I can’t imagine my horror if one of them were on the bike, knowing what was about to be done to her.
Watch this video carefully. All those involved are civilians 👇
Some of the most horrendous crimes on October 7th were committed by civilians. https://t.co/i902xLaeq1
Here is a picture of the girl gang raped and killed described above.
Yoni Saadon, one of the witnesses, recounts in the Times:“I saw this beautiful woman with the face of an angel and eight or ten of the fighters beating and raping her. She was screaming, ‘Stop it — already I’m going to die anyway from what you are doing, just kill me!’ When they… pic.twitter.com/uEXCFpz7Pk
This is a dramatic display of Islamic fighters taking captive of a girl, savaging them, and then walking them around like a trophy. This was shot in Beverly Hills, California.
Woman walks around Beverly Hills dressed as one of the victims of Hamas to raise awareness of the October 7th attack.
The woman she is dressed as was seen in a viral video on Oct 7th with bloodied track pants after being violently raped.
A temporary cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war has been extended another day, according to mediator Qatar. The announcement Thursday morning came minutes before the cease-fire was set to expire. Hamas released two Israeli women from captivity several hours later, Israel’s military said.
Israel had agreed to extend the truce by one day for every 10 militant-held hostages who are freed. The cease-fire, which began Nov. 24 and was originally set to expire on Monday, has paused the deadliest fighting between Israel and Palestinians in decades.
Israel has vowed to resume the war in an effort to end Hamas’ 16-year rule of Gaza, but it’s facing mounting international pressure to spare southern Gaza a devastating ground offensive like the one that has demolished much of the north.
Roughly 240 hostages were captured by Hamas in its Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel that ignited the war. More than 13,300 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, according to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in Gaza, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants. About 1,200 people have been killed in Israel, mostly during the initial incursion by Hamas.
— Truce in Israel-Hamas war is extended by a day, minutes before it was set to expire.
— Jake Sullivan says the White House is not seeking conditions on military aid to Israel, despite Biden’s comment.
— Israel compares Hamas to the Islamic State group. But the comparison misses the mark in key ways.
— U.S. Senate Majority Leader Schumer warns that antisemitism is on the rise as he pushes for Israel aid.
— A friendship forged over 7 weeks of captivity lives on.
Here’s what’s happening in the war:
The Israeli military said Thursday that two Israeli hostages were released from captivity in the Gaza Strip. In a statement, the army said the Red Cross had transferred the two women to Israeli forces. They were to be taken to an Israeli military base. The two hostages are among a larger group of Israelis expected to be released Thursday as part of the latest extension of a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. Israel was to free some 30 Palestinian prisoners later Thursday.
TEL AVIV, Israel — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is reminding Israeli leaders of the need for Israel to comply with international law as it prosecutes its war against Hamas in Gaza. Blinken also said it is imperative that Israel take great care to avoid civilian casualties if it starts major military operations in southern Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought shelter after fleeing their homes in the northern part of the territory. He said the U.S. places great importance on the resumption of a peace process that would eventually lead to the creation of a Palestinian state, something that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes.
Speaking Thursday just hours after Israel and Hamas agreed at the last minute to a third extension of their cease-fire agreement, Blinken told Netanyahu that the U.S. will continue “support for Israel’s right to protect itself from terrorist violence in compliance with international humanitarian law and urged Israel to take every possible measure to avoid civilian harm,” the State Department said.
The message aligned with the Biden administration’s shifting rhetoric on the war, which began as a full-throated embrace of Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks but gradually tempered as the number of Palestinian civilian casualties began to rise, prompting widespread international criticism. To prevent a further exponential increase in civilian casualties, Blinken “stressed the imperative of accounting for humanitarian and civilian protection needs in southern Gaza before any military operations there and urged immediate steps to hold settler extremists accountable for violence against Palestinians in the West Bank,” the State Department said Blinken told Netanyahu.
Blinken met with Netanyahu and his war Cabinet in Jerusalem before traveling to the occupied West Bank for talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The Israeli army has confirmed that Ofir Tzarfati, an Israeli believed to be held hostage in Gaza, is dead. Tzarfati was thought to be among the approximately 240 people taken hostage by Hamas on October 7. He had been celebrating his 27th birthday at a music festival with his girlfriend when Hamas militants stormed into Israel and killed at least 364 people at the festival and kidnapped many others. Tzarfati’s family was originally unclear what happened to him, but a few weeks later, the army notified the family that they believed that Tzarfati was being held in Gaza, according to media reports.
The army did not specify where Tzarfati’s body was identified
TEL AVIV, Israel — Two gunman opened fire on a crowded bus station at the entrance of Jerusalem, killing at least three people and wounding several others, according to Jerusalem police.
Another blatant violation of the ceasefire. A terrorist attack, murdering people waiting for the bus. https://t.co/0Vtbse4CMB
“The bus station was very crowded, which is why so many people were wounded,” said Magen David Adom spokesperson Zaki Heller told Army Radio. According to police, the two gunmen drove toward the bus stop armed with a handgun and an M16 rifle and opened fire. Both were killed at the scene by two soldiers who were near the bus stop.
Jerusalem police chief Doron Turgeman said police believe both attackers were from east Jerusalem. It was unclear if the attack was carried out by a Palestinian militant group or individuals acting on their own, or if it would have any impact on the truce in Gaza.
One 24-year-old woman was pronounced dead at the scene and another man died later at the hospital.
A year ago, a bomb exploded at the same bus stop, killing a 16-year-old boy and wounding 18.
JERUSALEM — Israel and Hamas agreed to extend a temporary truce by another day just minutes before it was set to expire, said Qatar, which has been mediating between the two sides. The truce was set to expire Thursday morning. Negotiations on extending it came down to the wire, with last-minute disagreements over the hostages to be freed by Hamas in exchange for another day of a halt in fighting.
The Qatari Foreign Ministry said the truce was being extended under the same terms as in the past, under which Hamas has released 10 Israeli hostages per day in exchange for 30 Palestinian prisoners.
Israel released another group of Palestinian prisoners early Thursday in exchange for 16 hostages freed hours earlier by the Islamic militant group Hamas in Gaza. A bus carrying some of the Palestinian detainees arrived in the West Bank city of Ramallah before dawn. The releases came on the sixth day of a temporary truce in the Israel-Hamas war.
Most prominent among those freed was 22-year-old Ahed Tamimi, an activist who gained worldwide fame in 2017 after a video of her slapping an Israeli soldier went viral on social media. Israeli troops arrested her at her West Bank home on Nov. 6 for “inciting to terrorism” on her Instagram account. Her mother said Tamimi’s account had been hacked.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Supermodel Gigi Hadid—seen here in New York City on Oct. 25, 2022, at the WWD Honors—posted false information about Israel, but later apologized. (Photo: Arturo Holmes/Getty Images)
Gigi Hadid, an American fashion model of Palestinian descent, has apologized for sparking outrage last week for making numerous false claims against Israel amid its war with Hamas, claiming Israel abducts, rapes and tortures children.
“Israel is the only country in the world that keeps children as prisoners of war. Abduction, rape, humiliation, torture, murder of Palestinians years and years and years before Oct. 7, 2023,” Hadid claimed in a since-deleted Instagram story to her 79 million followers.
The post included a picture of Ahmad Manasra, a Palestinian who stabbed two Israelis with his cousin in 2015 when he was 13 years old and was sentenced to 12 years in prison, falsely portraying Manasra as a “child prisoner of war.”
But on Tuesday, Hadid posted on Instagram apologizing for this mistake. “I used the wrong example to make that point, and I regret that,” she wrote.
Hadid, 28, faced backlash across the internet, with many claiming her post was spreading false information and was antisemitic.
“Gigi Hadid isn’t shy about spreading lies to the world! … And she writes this while Hamas still holds … children that they kidnapped, including a baby only 10 months [old]!! The Hadid family is a family of liars that instigate hatred!” Israeli activist Yoseph Haddad wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Hadid’s anti-Israel posts came amid a deal between Israel and Hamas to release 50 Israeli hostages in exchange for 150 Palestinians detained in Israeli jails and prisons. Israel said there would be one additional day of cease-fire for every 10 additional hostages Hamas released. Hamas has released about 100 hostages as of this writing.
Hadid’s father, Mohamed Hadid, was born into a Palestinian Muslim family in Nazareth, Israel. However, Gigi Hadid was born in Los Angeles. Her sister, Bella Hadid, also a fashion model, likewise supports the Palestinians.
The state of Israel has previously responded to Hadid’s allegations against the country by writing in an infographic, “There is nothing valiant about Hamas’ massacre of Israelis. Condemning Hamas for what it is (ISIS) is not anti-Palestine, and supporting Israelis in their right against barbaric terrorists is the right thing to do.”
Hadid also reposted an Instagram Reel about Israel supposedly harvesting Palestinians’ organs on Sunday. The video was originally published by a user named Umme Murtaza, on which Murtaza said, “Watch this disturbing video, where health officials admitted that Israeli authorities had harvested the organs of dead Palestinians for years without their consent.” Hadid did not apologize for sharing that Reel.
“Gigi Hadid is the only major supermodel that keeps spreading blood libels about Jews harvesting organs,” Tamar Schwarzbard, the head of digital operations at the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, wrote on X.
Terrorist sympathizers are out in full force spreading fake news about Israel’s treatment of its prisoners, as the country executes a swap with Hamas for hostages taken by the terrorist group on Oct. 7. Here are four of the most outrageous lies circulating on social media.
1. Israel Is ‘Only Country That Keeps Children As Prisoners’
This week, American supermodel Gigi Hadid shared a post to her more than 79 million Instagram followers condemning Israel as “the only country in the world that keeps children as prisoners of war.” The post, which has been deleted, claimed Palestinian terrorist Ahmed Mansara was “abducted” by Israeli officials at 12 years old and “has endured solitary confinement despite his severe health condition.”
According to the New York Post, Mansara went on a “stabbing rampage” in East Jerusalem with his 15-year-old cousin in 2015 that left a 20-year-old security guard and a 13-year-old boy with critical injuries. Mansara was convicted of two counts of attempted murder after his cousin was killed in the attack by a police officer.
“He initially received a sentence of 12 years in prison, which was later reduced” to nine and a half years, the Post reported. “During his incarceration, Mansara has repeatedly attempted to harm himself and others. He has been in and out of solitary confinement, drawing the ire of Amnesty International, a nongovernmental human rights advocacy group.”
Terrorist sympathizing aside, Hadid’s post claiming Israel is “the only country in the world that keeps children as prisoners of war” is fake news on its face. Roughly 30 children — some of whom still remain in captivity nearly two months later — were taken hostage by Hamas, after the terrorist group slaughtered Israeli women and children in the Oct. 7 massacre which killed at least 1,200.
Unsurprisingly, child hostages held by Hamas have been subject to physical and emotional abuse. A 12-year-old was even reportedly placed in solitary confinement for more than two weeks.
🚨 Hamas forced hostages to watch videos of the 7/10 atrocities.
This is Eitan (13), He spent 51 as a hostage of Hamas. terrorists killed his father in front of him and took him to Gaza.
While held hostage, Hamas forced him to view videos of the 7/10 Atrocities.
2. Israel at Fault for Injuries Sustained by Suicide Bomb
In another episode of terrorist-sympathizing disinformation, anti-Israel pundits spread false narratives online about Israa Jaabis, who was released from Israeli custody in a prisoner swap on Monday. They claimed Jaabis’s disfigured condition was a result of Israeli brutality after nearly a decade of incarceration.
“For those of you who don’t know who Israa is, this is a photo before and after what the [Israel Defense Forces] has done to her,”wrote one user on X. The side-by-side images show Jaabis with a permanently scarred face from severe burns. But the IDF didn’t do that to her; she did it to herself in 2015 when she attempted to kill scores of civilians by detonating a suicide bomb.
3. Hamas Held Hostages in ‘Reasonable Conditions’
Dominic Waghorn, the international affairs editor for Sky News, wrote on X that hostages held by Hamas were “held in reasonable conditions.”
“Hamas leader Yehya Sinwar met with the Israeli hostages a day after they were taken in tunnels under Gaza and told them they would not be harmed and would be returned as part of a hostage deal,” Waghorn wrote. “Undermines the Israeli Hamas = ISIS storyline.”
Testimony from released prisoners, however, has revealed “horrors” endured by those held captive. Hostages were reportedly forced to use plastic chairs for beds and were given irregular meals. One 84-year-old hostage was even hospitalized in critical condition upon being released.
4. Israeli Hostage Looks ‘Thankful’ For Captivity
Maree Campbell, who claims in her bio on X to be an international relations analyst and “journalist,” contended that a released Israeli hostage looked appreciative to her captors.
“I’m not a facial expression expert,” Campbell professed on X, “but judging by the look in her eyes and the expression on her face, I’d say that is a look of appreciation and thanks.”
“Might it be that she is saying thanks for being treated unexpectedly well whilst in captivity?” Campbell asked.
A community note on the platform clarifies that the hostage in the photo, Mia Regev, was shot by Palestinian terrorists before her abduction.
Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist and the author of Social Justice Redux, a conservative newsletter on culture, health, and wellness. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at Tristan@thefederalist.com. Sign up for Tristan’s email newsletter here.
Israel confirms release of 5th hostage group by Hamas as final day of cease-fire nears
Israel confirmed a list of 50 female Palestinian prisoners it is willing to release in exchange for 20 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza over the next two days. Israel and Hamas agreed to a two-day extension to their cease-fire. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Tony Blinken is set to return to the Middle East to negotiate the flow of aid into Gaza.
Israel and Hamas entered the first day of a two-day extension to their cease-fire agreement on Tuesday as Israel continues to stay its hand in exchange for hostages.
Israel secured the release of at least 69 hostages since the cease-fire began on Friday, exchanging them for 150 Palestinian criminals held in Israeli prisons
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Israel-Hamas war: IDF announces custody of 12 newly-released hostages
Members of the Red Cross prepare to transport hostages released by Hamas in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on November 28, 2023. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Tuesday night that the 12 newly-released hostages are currently inside Israeli territory.
In a statement, the IDF said that their special forces division is “currently with the 12 released hostages.”
“After an initial medical assessment, the released hostages will continue to be accompanied by IDF soldiers as they make their way to Israeli hospitals, where they will be reunited with their families,” the press release added. “The Israel Defense Forces salutes and embraces the released hostages upon their return home.”
The Israeli military said that they remain determined to bring home all of the hostages that were kidnapped by Hamas from Israel.
“The IDF, together with the entire Israeli security establishment, will continue to operate to bring home all the hostages,” the press release continued. “The IDF Spokesperson reiterates the importance of demonstrating patience and sensitivity during this time out of respect for the released hostages and their families.”
Israel-Hamas war: Mother of hostage says she is concerned for son but ‘thrilled’ at captive releases
The mother of a hostage who was taken captive by Hamas terrorists says that she is overjoyed to see hostages being released during the Israel-Hamas cease-fire.
Rachel Goldberg, whose son Hersh Goldberg-Polin was kidnapped on October 7, appeared on “America Reports” Tuesday to talk about the latest developments with the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.
“I am actually thrilled with the how the progression of these hostages being returned…I just saw that a dear friend of ours, wife and daughter, were released tonight,” Goldberg explained. “I can’t describe how happy these last few nights of seeing these children going back to their families [make me].”
The mother said that while she feels hopeful, she also remains concerned for her son. Goldberg-Polin was reportedly injured by terrorists and lost a limb.
“I worry about my son, who I know was in critical condition…and will now permanently live the rest of his life without a limb,” she explained. “I’m concerned for his health. I don’t know if he’s getting the antibiotics that he needs. I’m hoping that he got the surgery that he needed.”
“But I am thrilled with the releases of all of these hostages,” Goldberg added.
Israel-Hamas war: Iranian drone flies close to USS Eisenhower in Persian Gulf
U.S. maritime posture in Middle East as of November 28, 2023.
A U.S. official told Fox News that an Iranian drone flew near a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Middle East on Tuesday.
The drone allegedly flew near the USS Eisenhower in the Persian Gulf. The ship was in international waters at the time.
The Iranian drone reportedly ignored multiple warnings, according to the U.S. official. The U.S. military is considering the incident unsafe and unprofessional on Iran’s part.
Fox News Digital’s Liz Friden contributed to this report.
Jewish students at Indiana University denounce antisemitism on campus
Entrance sign into campus at Indiana University in Bloomington Indiana. (Photo by: Don & Melinda Crawford/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Jewish student organizations at Indiana University (IU) issued a statement Tuesday denouncing antisemitism on their campus amid the Israel-Hamas war
IU student Ethan Fine posted the statement on X, in response to allegedly antisemitic remarks made by IU’s student government president.
“The Jewish groups who signed onto the letter represent the vast majority of the estimated 4,500 Jewish students at IU,” Fine wrote on X. “After a meeting with the student body president, it was clear to us that she is no longer fit to serve.”
“We are calling on [the student body president] to resign and for the members of her executive branch to be replaced,” Fine added. “We stand together. We stand united against antisemitism.”
Israel-Hamas war: Senator Chuck Schumer to give speech about antisemitism tomorrow
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks during a news conference following a closed-door lunch meeting with Senate Democrats at the U.S. Capitol November 28, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Senator Chuck Schumer announced on Tuesday that he will be making a “major address” about antisemitism on Wednesday, as the Israel-Hamas war continues.
Schumer, who serves as the Majority Leader of the U.S. Senator, called hatred against Jews “a crisis” in the United States.
“Antisemitism is a crisis in the country,” Schumer wrote on X. “As the highest-ranking Jewish elected official, I feel compelled to speak out about it.”
“I’ll be giving a major address on it tomorrow,” the senator added.
The U.S. military on Tuesday delivered its first of three rounds of humanitarian aid intended for the people of Gaza, according to the Pentagon.
Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Ryder told reporters that the U.S. airlifted 24.5 metric tons of U.N. humanitarian supplies to provide “vitally needed medical supplies, warm clothing, and food and nutrition assistance to the people of Gaza.”
USAID requested that the supplies be transported via a US Air Force C-17 cargo plane, Ryder said. The aircraft arrived earlier Tuesday in Egypt where it was to be transported into Gaza and distributed by U.N. agencies.
Israel-Hamas war: Senator Thom Tillis recalls watching ‘horrific’ video of Hamas attack
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) arrives to the U.S. Capitol Building on September 26, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) announced on X that he and other Senators watched graphic footage related to Hamas’ terrorist attacks on Tuesday.
“Today, my Senate colleagues and I watched footage of the devastation caused by Hamas’ horrific terrorist attack against Israel,” Tillis wrote on X. “What we saw was not for the not for the faint-hearted. “
The North Carolina Republican then said that Hamas was “pure evil and must be destroyed.”
“Hamas has made it clear that they will stop at nothing to eliminate Israel and its people,” the senator added. “As Israel’s longtime ally and friend, we must do everything we can to support its efforts to defend itself and destroy Hamas.”
DOD says US Navy, Israeli-owned ship not intended target of Houthi missiles
In an undated photo released by Zodiac Maritime, the tanker Central Park is seen. Attackers seized the tanker linked to Israel off the coast of Aden, Yemen, on Sunday, Nov. 26, 2023, authorities said. (Zodiac Maritime via AP)
The Pentagon said Tuesday that the USS Mason and Central Park, an Israeli-owned tanker, were not the intended target of Houthi missiles that fired from Yemen over the weekend.
The missiles came after five armed assailants attempted to seize the MV Central Park, an Israeli-owned tanker operated by Zodiac Maritime, in the Gulf of Aden on Sunday. The vessel sent out a distress call and forces from the USS Mason, an American destroyer, responded.
The five assailants attempted to flee in their small boats, but the U.S. forces pursued them and fired warning shots, resulting in their eventual surrender, according to Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder.
Israel-Hamas war: 4-year-old hostage Avigail Idan discharged from hospital
Avigail Idan was held in captivity by Hamas.
Avigail Idan, the 4-year-old girl who was released by Hamas captors on Sunday evening, was discharged from Schneider Children’s Medical Center on Tuesday.
“Avigail aged 4, was discharged from hospital earlier today,” Schneider Children’s Medical Center announced in a statement. “The staff at Schneider Children’s Medical Center were excited alongside her at this achievement.”
“Avigail was discharged today following treatment from the moment of her return to Israel on Sunday, November 26, 2023, in the specially assigned department at Schneider Children’s Medical Center,” the statement continued.
The hospital said that Idan was treated by “psychosocial” providers after being held in captivity for nearly two months. Her parents were killed by Hamas terrorists on October 7 before she was kidnapped.
“Since her arrival, the medical and psychosocial team at Schneider accorded her all-embracing medical and emotional care,” the press release added.
US Dept of Education opens investigation of Harvard over antisemitism on campus
Supporters of Palestine gather at Harvard University at a rally in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Oct. 14, 2023. (JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is opening an investigation into Harvard University following antisemitism on campus in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war, Fox News has learned.
In a letter obtained by Fox News Digital dated Tuesday, Kristi R. Harris, Chief Attorney for the OCR Boston Office said that the OCR will be opening an investigation into whether Harvard “failed to respond to alleged harassment of students based on their national origin (shared Jewish ancestry and/or Israeli) in a manner consistent with the requirements of Title VI.”
“Please note that opening the complaint for investigation in no way implies that OCR has made a determination on the merits of the complaint. During the investigation, OCR is a neutral factfinder, collecting and analyzing relevant evidence from you, the University, and other sources, as appropriate,” the letter says.
Israeli doctor gives update on 84-year-old hostage Elma Avraham’s condition: ‘She is conscious’
A Red Cross vehicle carrying newly released hostages drives towards the Rafah border point with Egypt, in the southern Gaza Strip on November 28, 2023. (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED/AFP via Getty Images)
An Israeli doctor says that 84-year-old hostage Elma Avraham is in better condition after she was rushed to a hospital upon being released from Hamas.
Avraham “suffered from many underlying illnesses and received medication essential to her life on a regular basis before she was kidnapped,” according to Soroka Medical Center director Moti Klein.
“Elma was evacuated in a very difficult condition when all vitals, all her vital signs, level of consciousness, pulse, blood pressure, blood, body temperature and blood sugar were extremely, extremely low,” Klein explained. “This is the reason for the definition of immediate danger to her life.”
Klein added that her condition was “most likely caused by not receiving those essential medications.” He reported that upon arrival, she was “unconscious in a very difficult situation while she was breathing and receiving support for her collapsed buddy system.”
“I am happy to inform that in the last few hours there has been improvement in her condition,” the doctor continued. “She is conscious, she is breathing on her own and does not need the same level of support she needed upon arrival. She was responding well to the treatment given to her and is receiving and still receiving.”
Hamas’ youngest hostage, 10-month-old Kfir Bibas, has been handed over to another terrorist group in Gaza along with his family, according to the IDF, and the news is leaving a distraught relative to plead for her loved ones’ safe return.
“I can’t say we are surprised about the level of cruelty and inhumane behavior from Hamas in this deal, in this cease-fire,” Yifat Zailer, cousin of Kfir’s mother Shiri, told “FOX & Friends” on Tuesday.
“They signed an agreement to release all women and children. Tomorrow is the last day supposedly of this cease-fire, of this agreement as it was signed. And there is still no news about my family, if they’ll be returned or not.”
10 Israelis, 2 others held by Hamas are freed, IDF says
10 Israelis, 2 others held by Hamas are freed, IDF says
The International Red Cross has taken custody of 12 hostages released by Hamas on Tuesday, Israel says.
Israeli Defense Forces say 10 of the hostages are Israeli citizens and two more are foreigners. It did not clarify the nationality of the non-israelis, however.
The announcement marks the 5th group of hostages to be released by Hamas since Israel agreed to a cease-fire with the terrorist group on Friday. The cease-fire is expected to continue through Wednesday.
“A short while ago, Red Cross representatives transferred the 12 hostages to Egypt,” the IDF said in a statement. “The released hostages’ convoy is currently making its way through Egypt to the meeting point with our soldiers at Kerem Shalom. Security representatives will verify the identity of the released hostages at the meeting point. The families of the hostages are being updated by IDF representatives with the latest available information.”
The Israeli hostages released Tuesday have been identified as Ditza Heiman, 84; Tamar Metzger, 78; Ada Sagi, 75; Merav Tal, 53; Rimon Kirsht, 36; Ofelia Roitman, 77; Gabriela Leimberg, 59; Mia Leimberg 17;.Noralin Agojo Babadilla, 60 and Clara Marman, 62.
Jewish groups sue University of California over ‘unchecked spread’ of antisemitism
The Sather Tower on the University of California, Berkeley campus in Berkeley, California, U.S., on Friday, June 4, 2021. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
A coalition of Jewish groups filed a lawsuit agains the University of California on Tuesday, alleging the institution is allowing the “unchecked spread” of antismeitism across its campuses.
The Brandeis Center and Jewish Americans for Fairness in Education, filed the lawsuit in California early Tuesday. The lawsuit comes as antisemitic incidents have skyrocketed across the country and the globe, especially on college campuses.
The lawsuit points to 23 student groups at UC Berkeley Law School that require new members of guest speakers to disavow Israel, according to Politico.
“Conditioning a Jew’s ability to participate in a student group on his or her renunciation of a core component of Jewish identity is no less pernicious than demanding the renunciation of some other core element of a student’s identity — whether based on race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual identity,” the lawsuit says. “No such imposition is required — or would be remotely tolerated — of other students.”
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are facing a closing window to approve new funding for Israel and Ukaine as the two countries continue their war efforts.
President Biden’s administration has called on Congress to fund both Israel and Ukraine in a single bill, but many Republicans oppose such an idea. While Republicans overwhelmingly support funding for Israel’s war agaisnt Hamas, the party’s opposition to funding for Ukraine’s military has slowly grown since Russia’s invasion.
UN ‘downplayed’ Hamas violence to perpetuate image of Israel as ‘the aggressor’: Israeli professor
UN ‘downplayed’ Hamas violence to perpetuate image of Israel as ‘the aggressor’: Israeli professor
Israel is attempting to get the United Nations to recognize and condemn Hamas’ sexual crimes against Israeli women and girls, allegedly perpetrated during the Hamas-led terror attack on Oct. 7.
During a meeting at the U.N. in Geneva on Monday, Israeli officials attempted to raise awareness of the alleged sexual violence against women and urged the international body – which often condemns global injustices and human rights violations – not to keep quiet about the issue.
Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, an associate professor at the Bar-Ilan University, who spoke at the event, told Reuters that the U.N. rights bodies have “downplayed” and “minimized” sexual violence to perpetuate Israel as “the aggressor” in the current conflict.
“Among the war crimes and the crimes against humanity that Hamas committed on October 7th were also sexual crimes, sexual assaults, rapes, that were part, that were a systematic part of their attack, of the massacre and we are expecting a strong condemnation,” she said. “We expected recognition of that. We expected a clear and loud statement that says that there is no justification for using the bodies of women as a weapon of war. None of this came until now.”
The professor said she was “deeply concerned, because of the complete lack of acknowledgment, of recognition by United Nations bodies and entities and by the international human rights world, lack of recognition that indeed Hamas committed horrific sexual crimes against women, against women and girls, on October 7th in Israel.”
Israeli hostage briefly escaped Hamas before locals handed him to terrorists
Israeli hostage briefly escaped Hamas before locals handed him to terrorists
One of the recently released Hamas hostages had previously escaped imprisonment and survived for days in the rubble of Gaza before locals recaptured him, according to a report.
“He tried getting to the border. But he didn’t have the capacity to understand where he was or where he needed to go, so he couldn’t navigate through the open field,” Ron Krivoi’s aunt, who spoke about his struggle during an appearance on KAN’s Reshet Bet radio on Monday morning.
Russian-Israeli Krivoi departed Gaza as part of the third group released as part of a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas brokered through Qatar. Both parties agreed Tuesday to extend the cease-fire by two days, conditional on the release of more hostages.
The 25-year-old was working at the Supernova festival on Oct. 7 as a sound technician when Hamas terrorists attacked, according to The Times of Israel. Russian President Vladimir Putin had personally requested Hamas include Krivoi in the second wave of released hostages as part of a separate deal.
Krivoi’s aunt claimed that he had not remained imprisoned the entire time, having briefly escaped and survived for four days in the ruins of the Gaza Strip, The Jerusalem Post reported.
She explained that Hamas had kept him in a residential building during his imprisonment, but then the Israel Defense Force’s bombing had collapsed part of the building and allowed him to escape.
The exchange comes following a tumultuous morning in which both Israel and Hamas accused one another of breaching the cease-fire agreement. Multiple Israeli soldiers were lightly injured when three separate explosions went off in northern Gaza.
Israel and Hamas agreed to extend the cease-fire through Wednesday.
Fox News foreign correspondent Trey Yingst explained Israel’s claim that Hamas violated the temporary cease-fire agreement with three explosions in Northern Gaza that injured a number of IDF troops on Tuesday.
Both Israel and Hamas accused one another of breaching the cease-fire, which has so far held for five days. Israel says the three explosions occurred in close proximitty to IDF soldiers, lightly injuring a number of them.
Both parties say the other instigated a fire-fight that took place at the site of one of the detonations. Neither party has indicated plans to call off the cease-fire, however.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., accused the Biden administration of enabling “gross human rights violations” in Gaza by sending military aid to Israel as it seeks to eradicate Hamas.
The progressive lawmaker held a tele-town hall on Monday evening where she fielded multiple questions on the Middle Eastern conflict, including a constituent who said the U.S. should “just defund Israel and send funding and aid to Gaza.”
She also encouraged pro-Palestinian activists to keep putting pressure on Democratic lawmakers to support a cease-fire, even as heightened tensions around the issue have led to instances of vandalism and threatening behavior.
“Forces that are recipients of U.S. military aid cannot be engaging in gross human rights violations,” Ocasio-Cortez said, citing a set of statutes known as the Leahy law. “And if they are engaged in gross human rights violations, then that aid must be either pulled, reconsidered, conditioned, etc.”
The Leahy law stops the government “from using funds for assistance to units of foreign security forces where there is credible information implicating that unit in the commission of gross violations of human rights,” according to the State Department.
“What we are witnessing is the gross violation of human rights in Gaza, and that is being done with U.S. military assistance,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “I don’t think that the American people want to see our public resources going to finance gross human rights violations.”
Israel urges UN to highlight Hamas’ sexual crimes against women on Oct. 7
Israeli diplomats held a meeting at the United Nations in Geneva calling attention to the sexual violence committeed by Hamas during its Oct. 7 massacre in Israel on Tuesday.
Israel has widely documented rape, murder, and other crimes against women committed by Hamas during the attack. While the U.N. has already condmened the Oct. 7 massacre, experts who spoke at Israel’s Tuesday event say U.N. rights bodies “downplayed” and “minimised” the sexual violence.
“We expected a clear and loud statement that says that there is no justification for using the bodies of women as a weapon of war. None of this came up until now,” said Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, an Associate Professor at the Bar-Ilan University. “It turns around the conventional framing of viewing Israel as the aggressor, and Palestinians as the ultimate victim.”
Meanwhile, the U.N. Human rights office says it has not been granted access to visit Israel to investigate the crimes committed on Oct. 7.
“The Office is attempting to carry out remote monitoring of these and other human rights violations reported in Israel and the OPT (Occupied Palestinian Territories). Lack of direct access to Israel and the OPT has hampered the work,” U.N. spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told Reuters. “We have repeatedly stressed the need for rigorous investigations and accountability for all serious breaches of international human rights and humanitarian law, irrespective of the identity of the alleged perpetrators,” she added.
Top Israeli commander says IDF is ‘prepared’ to continue war on Hamas after cease-fire
Top Israeli commander says IDF is ‘prepared’ to continue war on Hamas after cease-fire
A top Israeli military official delivered an update on the conflict with Hamas and the progress in rescuing hostages in Gaza on Tuesday.
Chief of the General Staff, LTG Herzi Halevi says Hamas has so far released 76 hostages. Herzi said Israel will not be satisfied untill every hostage has returned home, however.
“Each one who is released brings great relief, but there is no ounce of relief in the fact that more remain. We will operate to bring them all back,” Herzi said.
“The IDF is prepared to continue fighting. We are using the days of the pause as part of the framework to learn, strengthen our readiness and approve future operational plans,” he added.
Israel’s cease-fire agreement with Hamas began Friday, and the groups agreed on a two-day extension on Monday. It is unclear whether Israel will agree to further extensions later this week.
Herzi went on to assure Israeli citizens that there will be thorough investigations into how the IDF and Israel’s intelligence community failed to prevent Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre.
NYC chancellor denies students who stormed halls demanding Jewish teacher’s ouster are ‘radical’
NYC chancellor denies students who stormed halls demanding Jewish teacher’s ouster are ‘radical’
New York City Schools Chancellor David Banks on Monday staunchly denied allegations that the approximately 400 students who swarmed the halls of Hillcrest High School last week demanding the ouster of a Jewish teacher who supports Israel had been in any way “radicalized.”
“This is a really good school with wonderful young people. And I’m so taken aback by this notion that these kids are terrorists … or radicalized. Even that kind of language is just terrible, and it’s irresponsible,” Banks said at a press conference, confirming that some students had been suspended or faced disciplinary action after the incident. Viral video showed students acting out after the teacher’s social media profile showed she attended an off-campus rally in support of Israel.
Citing privacy and confidentiality laws, Banks declined to say how many students were disciplined or provide more details but said he did not suspend all the hundreds in the hallway.
On November 20, a teacher at Hillcrest High School “was targeted based on her support for Israel expressed in a permissible way outside of school hours and her Jewish identity,” Banks said, outlining how the “safety of multiple of our staff and students were put at risk after approximately 400 students acted disruptively during class changing time, roving the school and calling for the removal of a Jewish educator.” Officials said the Jewish teacher was on a different floor at the time the crowd of students stormed the halls.
Israel has identified 300 Palestinian prisoners who it says are elligible to be released under the current cease-fire exchange agreement with Hamas. Roughly 80% of those prisoners are listed only as “detained,” meaning they have not faced formal charges, according to a report from CNN.
So far, Hamas has released 69 hostages from Gaza and Israel has in turn released 150 Palestinian prisoners. Of those prisoners, 98 were being detained without charges, according to CNN.
Israel says cease-fire terms violated by 3 detonations, gunfire; IDF soldiers injured
Israel accuses Hamas of breaching cease-fire following after explosions, gunfire in northern Gaza
Israeli Defense Forces accused Hamas violating the cease-fire agreement after a trio of explosions and an exchange of gunfire in northern Gaza on Tuesday.
The IDF says the three explosives were detonated in close proximity to Israeli troops, causing some light injuries. While Israel stated that the explosives violated the cease-fire, it did not indicate plans to withdraw from the deal as of early Tuesday morning.
“Over the last hour, three explosive devices were detonated adjacent to IDF troops in two different locations in the northern Gaza Strip, violating the framework of the operational pause. In one of the locations, terrorists also opened fire at the troops, who responded with fire,” the IDF said in a statement.
“A number of soldiers were lightly injured during the incidents,” the statement continued. “In both incidents, the troops were located in positions as per the framework of the operational pause.”
Hamas released a statement saying it remains committed to the terms of the cease-fire, and it in turn accused Israel of violations.
“As a result of a clear violation by the enemy of the truce agreement in the northern Gaza Strip today, field friction occurred and our mujahideen dealt with this violation. We are committed to the truce as long as the enemy has committed to it, and we call on the mediators to pressure the occupation to adhere to all the terms of the truce on the ground and in the air,” Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades wrote in a statement.
Large plumes of smoke could be seen rising over the Gaza skyline on Tuesday, but Israel says they are not the result of airstrikes or any other offensive action.
IDF spokesman Peter Lerner joined Fox News on Tuesday to discuss the issue. He said ISrael has yet to determine a cause for the pillars of smoke. Israel and Hamas are in the first day of their newly-extended cease-fire, with Hamas expected to release 10 additional Israeli hostages later in the day.
Hamas officials accused Israel of a “clear violation” of the cease-fire agreement, claiming an Israeli aristrike occurred.
Mother of Vermont shooting victim says son ‘may have to be in a wheelchair’
The mother of one of the three Palestinian students shot in Vermont over the weekend says her son has a bullet lodged in his spine and doctors overseeing his recovery aren’t sure if he will be able to walk again, according to a report.
Elizabeth Price, whose 20-year-old son Hisham Awartani attends Brown University, told ABC News, “I’m shaking. I’m hollow inside. I’m aching to be with my son” following the incident that happened Saturday night in Burlington.
“He’s lying immobilized in a bed, but he had very high spirits in the beginning. And I think now it’s beginning to sink into him the extent of — the enormity of — the challenge that faces him,” Price reportedly said. “He may have to be in a wheelchair. … I believe that he’ll be able to walk, but his life has been taken away from him as it is, and he’s gonna have to recreate this new life.”
“Justice to me means making sure that the man who shot my son is behind bars,” Price also told ABC News. “Justice to me is making sure that crimes like this don’t happen again. Justice to me is also about my son finding a way to rebuild his life.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday morning said that federal authorities are probing whether the shooting was a hate crime.
Israeli journalists are blasting tech billionaire Elon Musk’s visit to Israel this week as the X owner is facing accusations of antisemitism.
On Monday, Musk met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyhu, Israeli President Isaac Herzog as well as the families of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas. He also toured an Israeli kibbutz where civilians were murdered on Oct. 7 during terrorist attacks.
But his trip wasn’t welcomed by everyone in Israel, particularly members of the media.
“Blatant antisemite & publisher of antisemitism Elon Musk should be persona non grata in Israel,” Haaretz editor in chief Esther Solomon posted on X. “Instead, Netanyahu – plumbing new depths of amoral sycophancy – gifts him a PR visit to the kibbutzim devastated by Hamas. Profane, venal, bilious, both of them.”
“Hard to stomach welcoming someone who just days ago endorsed a virulently antisemitic trope, has dabbled for years in antisemitism and has turned this platform into a cesspool of hate. It’s quite frankly gross,” Times of Israel reporter Amy Spiro similarly wrote.
Israel-Hamas war: US looks to increase aid into Gaza through Egypt, includes warning for Israel
Israel-Hamas war: US looks to increase aid into Gaza through Egypt, includes warning for Israel
The United States will accelerate its humanitarian assistance into Gaza, including food, fuel and medical supplies, with the first of three relief flights beginning this week, Fox News has learned.
The U.S. military will be sending a series of items, which also include supplies to help Palestinians survive the upcoming winter conditions, to North Sinai and Egypt on Tuesday, according to senior administration officials. Additional plane loads of supplies and aid will then be sent in the coming days, the officials said.
Additional talks are in the works with the Israeli government on how to allow even more assistance to the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, many of whom have been displaced from their homes and face unsustainable living conditions in south and central Gaza, where about 80% of the Gaza Strip population now lives.
These supplies and fuel are not linked to the release of hostages, the officials said. As of Tuesday, Hamas has released at least 69 hostages, 51 of them Israeli, while Israel has released roughly 150 Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas is expected to release 10 more Israeli hostages Tuesday as the extended cease-fire between the two sides holds.
Fox News Foreign Correspondent Trey Yingst reported on the latest developments as the first day of the extended cease-fire began. Yingst said the majority of the hostages released so far have been women and children. Each of the hostages released on Monday still have fathers and husbands in Hamas custody.
Hamas transfers 10-month-old Israeli hostage, family to separate Palestinian terror group in Gaza
Hamas transfers 10-month-old Israeli hostage, family to separate Palestinian terror group in Gaza
Hamas transfered custody of a 10-month-old Israeli hostage and his family to another terrorist group in southern Gaza, Israeli Defense Forces said Tuesday.
The IDF’s Arabic spokesman Avichay Adraee announced the transfer late Monday night. The family consists of the infant, Kfir; his 4-year-old brother Ariel, and their parents. The IDF did not specify precisely which organization they have been transfered to.
“In Hamas prison, infants under one year old who have not seen the light of day for more than 50 days are detained. Hamas treats them as if they were spoils and sometimes hands them over to other terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip,” Adraee wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
“For example, the Bibas family, the two red-haired children “The Reds,” who were kidnapped from their home in Nir Oz by a member of the Hamas terrorist organization (pictured) and are being held in the Khan Yunis area by one of the Palestinian factions.”
Israel-Hamas war: U.S. Navy says Houthis fired 2 ballistic missiles toward Israel-linked ship
Israel-Hamas war: U.S. Navy says Houthis fired 2 ballistic missiles toward Israel-linked ship
U.S. intelligence officials told Fox News on Monday that the Iran-backed Houthis are the group that fired two ballistic missiles toward the USS Mason.
The assessment was done by the U.S. Navy. Officials believe that the Yemeni Houthis more likely wanted to target the MV Central Park, a vessel linked to Israel, based on the missiles’ trajectory.
One of the two missiles splashed in the ocean, five nautical miles from the MV Central Park and 10 nautical miles from the USS Mason.
Two U.S. officials told Fox News that the second missile exploded midair.
Fox News Digital’s Jennifer Griffin and Andrea Vacchiano contributed to this report.
Video shows Eitan Yahalomi and his mother BatSheva greeting each other.
The temporary cease-fire agreement includes the swap of hostages taken by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attack against Israel for Palestinian prisoners held in the Jewish State.
More than 15,000 people have been killed in Gaza and Israel since Hamas launched its largest attack against Israel in decades on Oct. 7, leading to a military response from Israeli forces.
Thousands more have been wounded, and many others have been taken hostage by Hamas and raped, tortured and murdered.
California GOP Rep. David Valadao’s office vandalized by anti-Israel protestors
California GOP Rep. David Valadao’s office vandalized by anti-Israel protestors
A California congressman is the latest victim of antisemitism attacks happening across the country as Rep. David Valadao’s (R-Calif.) Hanford office was vandalized Monday morning, according to a post on X from Rep. Valadao.
Rep. Valadao posted a photo of his Hanford office Monday afternoon covered in “Murdered by Israel” posters and fake blood.
“This morning, my Hanford office was vandalized by anti-Israel protestors. I strongly support the right to peaceful protest, but violence and vandalism are never acceptable. In a democracy, harassment and intimidation is not how you make your voice heard,” Rep. Valadao posted.
The Hamas mantra is “from the river to the sea” to the Jews in Israel, but with Biden and the Democrat’s open border policies, how long before it comes to America? Many people on the terrorist watch list have already been apprehended at the border, and they suspect many more than that have escaped into the country. So, more than likely, it isn’t a matter of if it is a matter of when the mantra will be “from the Atlantic to the Pacific,” with terrorist attacks happening on a grander scale than what happened on 9-11
Biden and the Democrats seem to be so blinded by their Globalist Leftist ideology they don’t care or can’t see the danger.
A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions (art and politics) and translated them into cartoons that have been popular all over the country in various news outlets, including NewsMax, Fox News, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Rep. Devin Nunes, Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Chris Salcedo, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and President Trump.
The Israeli military says 11 hostages have been released from Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip and returned to Israeli territory. Military officials said late Monday that the hostages were on Israeli soil and undergoing initial medical checks before being reunited with their families.
It is the fourth such release under a cease-fire deal with the Hamas military group. Israel is to free 33 Palestinian prisoners later Monday. The cease-fire had been set to expire early Tuesday. But Qatar, which has been mediating between the sides, said they agreed to extend the truce by two more days.
The war broke out Oct. 7 when Hamas militants burst across the border into Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 240 others captive. Israel declared war, and over 13,000 Palestinians have been killed in weeks of Israeli strikes, according to health authorities in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
Israeli media said the hostages included two women and nine children. Two of the children are 3 years old.
The release of 11 Israeli hostages and 33 Palestinians under the original ceasefire agreement, which had been due to end Monday night, dominated the day’s flurry of truce activity. According to a Reuters report, the Israeli hostages released from Gaza on Monday include three French citizens, two Germans and six Argentinians. The news service cited a Qatari foreign ministry spokesman on social media platform X.
The White House said U.S. officials had hoped two American women would be among the latest group to be freed from Gaza, where it believes eight or nine U.S. citizens are being held.
Hamas said it had received a list of Palestinians to be released from Israeli jails. It said these included three female prisoners and 30 minors.
The Israel Defense Forces shared a video of a mosque, alleging that Hamas had been using the
facility to make and store weapons.
“Hamas used this mosque as a weapons storage facility and a laboratory for Hamas’ rockets. Finding dozens of mortars, warhead missiles, thermobaric weapons, RPGs and a tunnel shaft,” the IDF tweet about the facility declared.
The post included a video with English captions as someone walked into the mosque and showed footage of it.
“In the mosque’s basement, there is a weapon storage facility, a Hamas rocket manufacturing lab, and lots and lots of explosive devices as well as explosive materials,” the captions on the video read. “Hamas built entire walls to hide the lab” the captions continued, “we had to destroy them in order to expose the lab.”
Holy places, such as mosques, should not be used as fronts for terrorism.
Hamas used this mosque as a weapons storage facility and a laboratory for Hamas’ rockets. Finding dozens of mortars, warhead missiles, thermobaric weapons, RPGs and a tunnel shaft.
The Jewish state went to war last month after Hamas perpetrated atrocities in Israel, including murders, rapes, and kidnappings. Israel has approved a temporary ceasefire with Hamas that will involve the release of some of the hostages.
“The Government of Israel is obligated to return home all of the hostages,” the Israeli government noted in a statement. “Tonight, the Government has approved the outline of the first stage of achieving this goal, according to which at least 50 hostages – women and children – will be released over four days, during which a pause in the fighting will be held,” the statement added. “The release of every additional ten hostages will result in one additional day in the pause.”
“The Government of Israel, the IDF and the security services will continue the war in order to return home all of the hostages, complete the elimination of Hamas and ensure that there will be no new threat to the State of Israel from Gaza,” the statement concluded.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this evening, at the start of the Government meeting:
While this meeting is to discuss the return of our hostages, I would like to start with something that should be self-evident: We are at war – and will continue the war. pic.twitter.com/YaICV89yEU
Two journalists working for a Lebanon-based TV channel and a third person were killed by a rocket strike near Lebanon’s border with Israel on Tuesday, the Lebanese state news agency reported. The agency said the incident took place near the town of Tir Harfa, about a mile from the Israeli frontier. The strike came less than a day after Hezbollah hit Israeli Defense Forces’ military positions near the border, according to reports.
“According to Israeli Media, Hezbollah has launched upwards of 40 Rockets and 3 Attack Drones against IDF Positions in Northern Israel this morning causing Significant Damage to at least 1 Military Outpost along the Border, with this being seen as a Serious Escalation,” an open-source intelligence monitor posted Monday on X.
Israeli aircraft Tuesday struck three-armed terror cells in Lebanese territory close to the border, as well as a number of Hezbollah targets, the army said, according to Jewish News Syndicate. Sirens sounded in northern Israel on Tuesday morning due to a potential hostile aircraft intrusion from Lebanon, with the IDF later giving the all-clear.
Three anti-tank missile launches from Lebanon toward the area of Metula near the Israel-Lebanon border were identified by the IDF on Tuesday morning. No injuries were reported, and the IDF struck the source of the launches. Later on Tuesday morning, the IDF reported that terrorists fired mortar shells at a military post in northern Israel.
Lebanon’s Al Mayadeen TV, which the two killed reporters were working for, said Israel had carried out the attack and deliberately targeted the journalists. Israel’s military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah broke out after Hezbollah’s Palestinian ally Hamas launched an attack on Israel on Oct. 7. The border violence has escalated, raising Western fears of a widening war in the Middle East that could draw in both the United States and Iran.
It is the worst violence at the border since Israel and Hezbollah fought a war in 2006 and has so far killed more than 70 Hezbollah fighters, 13 Lebanese civilians, seven Israeli troops and three Israeli civilians.
Newsmax writer Eric Mack and JNS.org contributed to this report.
Siblings Ido (left) and Yonatan (right) Lulu-Shamriz say they have not been able to find any peace since Hamas took their little brother hostage on Oct. 7. (Photo: Philip Reynolds/The Daily Signal)
Yonatan Lulu-Shamriz’s daughter was celebrating her 2nd birthday on Oct. 7 in Israel. Inside the safe room of their home one mile from the border of Gaza, Lulu-Shamriz’s little girl was delighted that she was allowed to eat her birthday cake with her fingers as her parents had not had time to grab forks as they fled into the safe room. The child was unaware of the Hamas terrorists outside, and her parents did everything they could to ensure it stayed that way.
“I told her that we were going to play a game,” Lulu-Shamriz said, “the whisper game, that if we whisper, we get the balloons after.”
For the 22 hours he, his 7-month pregnant wife, his daughter, and their two dogs were in the safe room, they tried to remain as silent as possible, and if his daughter started to sing or talk loudly, he reminded her of the game and the prize of balloons if she remained quiet. After being in the safe room for a few hours, Lulu-Shamriz, who is 33 and the oldest among three boys, received a text from his 26-year-old brother Alon Lulu-Shamriz telling the family he heard Hamas terrorists in his house.
“I wrote him that I love him, and he’s strong, and this is the last time we spoke,” Lulu-Shamriz told The Daily Signal during a recent interview.
Lulu-Shamriz’s youngest brother was taken hostage by Hamas during the attack in October. At first, the family thought he was among the 1,200 Israelis killed in the terrorist attack, but later, the Israel Defense Force confirmed that he was taken hostage.
Lulu-Shamriz and his brother Ido Lulu-Shamriz, 32, recently traveled from Israel to Washington, D.C., to share their story and advocate for their little brother and the release of about 240 hostages being held in Gaza.
The oldest Lulu-Shamriz said he and his family have not found any peace since his little brother was kidnapped, but instead said he feels “blame all the time.”
“You wear these clothes, you eat food, you go to bed, you brush your teeth in the morning, and you always ask yourself if Alon get the same conditions,” the oldest brother said. “When you put your blanket at night, you ask yourself, is Alon cold now?”
Alon Lulu-Shamriz was taken hostage by Hamas Oct. 7. Photo compliments of JDA Worldwide.
Ido Lulu-Shamriz, the middle brother, had a different experience on Oct. 7. The middle brother is part of the civilian emergency squad in his kibbutz near the Gaza border in Israel. Every kibbutz near the Gaza Strip has a civilian squad that can respond to threats until the Israel Defense Force arrives, Ido Lulu-Shamriz explained.
Around 6:30 a.m. on Oct. 7, Ido Lulu-Shamriz received a message from a squad member that someone had parachuted into his kibbutz with a gun. He then started to hear missiles go off and alarms sound and realized that “this is not just the missile attack.”
“This is something unique, something that never happened to us,” he said.
Ido Lulu-Shamriz and the members of his civilian emergency squad were instructed via a group WhatsApp message to go to the shelter in the kibbutz where their guns are stored. He reached the shelter and got his gun and he and the other squad members began to fight “dozens of terrorists around the shelter,” he recalled.
“Seven of my friends were killed,” Ido Lulu-Shamriz added. “Seven of them fought shoulder to shoulder with me, and the other seven guys survived.”
“At the beginning, we thought about attack,” he said, but “then you realize you need to defend because there are so many, they were everywhere. And then you realize it’s self-defense, you know, everyone needs to rescue himself before you’re going to be dead like your friends.”
Ido Lulu-Shamriz and his good friend retreated back to his house, but before they made it to safety, Ido Lulu-Shamriz saw that his neighbor’s door was open. His neighbors, a husband and wife, had two 10-month-old twins.
“When I saw the door open, I realized that they are not with us anymore,” he said, bluntly.
Ido Lulu-Shamriz entered the safe room in his home with his friend and initially believed that Hamas terrorists had killed the parents and their twin babies. Later, however, through the walls of the safe room, they heard the babies crying. “They didn’t stop for 12 hours,” the middle brother said.
He sent a message to Israel Defense Force soldiers alerting them to the twin babies, but “they didn’t reach them for 12 hours, 12 hours that I’m hearing those twins crying nonstop while their parents are dead between their beds.”
Reflecting on the events of Oct. 7, Ido Lulu-Shamriz added, “Nothing can prepare you for those moments, you know, for such a battle, such a sight to fight with your best friends that are now alive and a couple of minutes later, they are dead. It’s terrible. You can’t prepare for those moments in your life.”
When asked what message they have for President Joe Biden and America’s leaders, Yonatan Lulu-Shamriz, the eldest brother, said America needs to put “pressure on Qatar” because the nation has a “direct channel to Hamas” and Qatar could play a role in negotiating the release of the hostages.
Victoria Coates, vice president of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy at The Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Signal that “Qatar does have leverage with Hamas.” But Coates noted that the hostage negotiations are complex and that there is no simple answer to moving negotiations forward. (The Daily Signal is the news outlet of Heritage.)
Yonatan Lulu-Shamriz said he hopes U.S. citizens understand that what “happened in Israel on the seventh of October, it’s not aimed only for Jews, for Israelis, and Zionists.”
“They killed everyone,” he said, referring to Hamas. “They kill Thai people, they kill Americans, they killed Russian, and Europe is next. America is next.”
After Hamas massacred 1,400 men, women, and children in Israel last month, FBI Director Christopher Wray warned that the terror group “and its allies” could inspire attacks on Americans “here on our own soil.” He also told the Senate that the FBI is conducting “multiple, ongoing investigations” into people affiliated with the U.S.-designated terrorist group.
What Wray didn’t say is that the FBI has been investigating Hamas’ biggest ally in America for the past 30 years — without seeking any charges. Launched in 1994 as a secret front organization to support Hamas, according to declassified FBI wiretap transcripts and FBI testimony, the Council on American-Islamic Relations has, in the decades since, become an accepted member of Washington’s lobbying community. The New York Times and other influential newspapers routinely describe CAIR as a “Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization.”
Although it has not repudiated its support for Hamas — which is committed to the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people — CAIR was enlisted by the Biden administration in May to take part in a White House initiative to fight antisemitism.
On Oct. 7, the day Hamas terrorists butchered 1,400 Jews, including 33 Americans — raping many and abducting some 240 others to Gaza from southern Israel — CAIR’s national executive director, Nihad Awad, delivered an anti-Israel message in Arabic which seemed to justify what Hamas did. Translated into English, it read: “All Arab peoples must go out on Sunday, Oct. 8 — and every day — in demonstrations in support of the Palestinians and in rejection of normalization with the occupier and the apartheid regime [Israel].”
On Saturday afternoon, CAIR helped rally more than 100,000 Muslims in D.C. to instead condemn Israel for supposedly carrying out “genocide” in Gaza in response to the Oct. 7 attacks. Multiple speakers called for the destruction of Israel — and, by implication, the Jewish people there — by demanding Palestinians take all the lands “from the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea.”
Awad was front and center, delivering a fiery speech bashing Israel and President Biden for not calling on Israel to stop bombing Hamas targets inside Gaza, which he called “genocidal attacks.” He threatened to hurt Biden at the ballot box in 2024 if he does not urge a ceasefire.
“We have discovered the language that President Biden understands: ‘No ceasefire, no votes,’” Awad bellowed to the crowd, which erupted into a chant repeating his words. “No votes in Michigan, no votes anywhere if you do not call for a ceasefire now. He then led a chant: “Free, free Palestine!”
Also, Awad promised to provide legal support to Muslim Americans who protest in support of Palestine. “We are with you,” he said. “The people of Gaza rely on your voices and activism.”
Protesters later marched on the White House, where they defaced the white brick gate of the Executive Mansion with red paint symbolizing the blood of Gazans who have died from the Israeli army’s counterstrikes. Awad is on record declaring his support for Hamas. At Barry University in 1994, for example, he said: “I am in support of the Hamas movement.”
CAIR did not respond to requests for comment, but without addressing specifics, it has previously argued it “is not a ‘front group for Hamas.’” The White House declined to comment, while the FBI claimed charging CAIR or its executives was outside its authority. “The FBI is an investigative agency and we don’t make the decisions about filing charges or prosecuting a case,” FBI spokeswoman Susan McKee said. “Prosecutors make those decisions.” The Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment.
While CAIR is now a mainstay of American politics — headquartered just three blocks from the U.S. Capitol, with 35 offices across the country — its history reveals its close connections with terror groups such as Hamas, as detailed in the 2009 book this reporter co-authored with counterterrorism expert P. David Gaubatz, Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld that’s Conspiring to Islamize America.
The story began in the Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan in the 1960s, where Awad and a co-founder of CAIR, Omar Ahmad, were born. Both men eventually came to the United States for university studies. By 1992, Awad was a key member of the so-called Palestine Committee in America, which helped finance Hamas. According to a 1992 letter from the Gaza Strip, Hamas asked the Committee for money to buy “weapons, weapons, our brothers.” The letter continued: “The meaning of killing a Jew for the liberation of Palestine cannot be compared to any jihad on earth.”
Around the same time, the FBI was eavesdropping on several Hamas leaders in connection with terrorist activities, which produced tapes documenting the incarnation of CAIR in 1993. At a secret meeting that October, Omar Ahmad called to order the Hamas summit in Philly at a Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Philadelphia to discuss the formation of a new front organization to support their “movement” in America. Awad also attended the meeting.
According to court testimony by FBI agent Lara Burns, who runs a major counterterrorism program for the bureau, Ahmad, Awad, and the other leaders who gathered there hatched a scheme to disguise overseas payments to Hamas terrorists and their families as charity. FBI wiretaps also recorded them stating the need to deceive Americans about the true aims of their planned American front group as Hamas launched a campaign of terror attacks on Israel known as the “Intifada.”
They compared the deception to the “head fake” in basketball, where a shooter tricks an opponent guarding him into moving in a different direction. The group, according to the wiretap transcripts, envisioned an “alternative” organization whose pro-Palestinian stripes were “not very conspicuous.” Burns testified CAIR was what they had in mind. During the talks, they tried to mislead any authorities who might be listening in by referring to Hamas as “Samah” — Hamas spelled backward.
Ahmad would co-found CAIR in 1994, hiring Awad as executive director that same year. Both men have expressed hatred toward Israel and resentment toward their adopted country for helping fund and arm the Jewish nation.
Burns testified during the 2008 terrorism trial of a charitable front for Hamas known as the Holy Land Foundation. It was the largest terror funding case in U.S. history. As part of the court filings, the Justice Department included CAIR on a list of co-conspirators underwriting Hamas terrorism — though CAIR and its founders were never indicted in the case. The HLF, busted up as the main fundraising arm of Hamas in America, commingled funds, assets, and personnel with CAIR, according to tax records and court documents.
“CAIR has been identified by the government as a participant in an ongoing and ultimately unlawful conspiracy to support a designated terrorist organization [Hamas] — a conspiracy from which CAIR never withdrew,” said former Assistant U.S. Attorney James Jacks, who was the lead prosecutor in the case.
A federal judge agreed. “The government has produced ample evidence to establish the associations of CAIR with Hamas,” then-U.S. District Judge Jorge Solis wrote in a July 2009 ruling.
A number of FBI counterterrorism agents were frustrated that CAIR’s national office and executives were never charged in the conspiracy, although the founder of CAIR’s Texas chapter was sentenced to prison. They said politics intervened. After 9/11, they said FBI headquarters viewed CAIR as a link to the Muslim community through which they might obtain tips about terror threats to the homeland. Brass even invited CAIR officials up to the executive suites located on the seventh floor of the Hoover building to discuss outreach policy.
“We said, ‘These are the bad guys, this is Hamas. What are you doing?’” former FBI Special Agent John Guandolo said, describing how he and other agents protested the special treatment afforded CAIR.
After CAIR was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the HLF’s criminal scheme to funnel more than $12 million to Hamas terrorists, the FBI finally disengaged from the group. The agency stopped conducting formal outreach with CAIR’s national office until, it said, it could resolve issues with Awad and other worrisome leaders.
“Until we can resolve whether there continues to be a connection between CAIR or its executives and Hamas, the FBI does not view CAIR as an appropriate liaison partner,” then-Assistant FBI Director Richard Powers said in a 2009 letter to the Senate.
But some investigators say the FBI should have shut down the group, not just the outreach program, issuing search warrants and conducting more intrusive surveillance, which they say would have allowed the government to run the Hamas front out of business.
“CAIR is the leading Hamas entity inside the United States, and the FBI has taken no action to prosecute them,” said Guandolo, who helped lead several major counterterrorism probes at the Washington field office after 9/11. He explained that “politically correct” FBI leadership is hesitant to go after a minority religious group and is overly sensitive to charges of “Islamophobia” often leveled by CAIR against its critics.
The FBI’s reluctance to roll up the Hamas front has pushed private investigators to take matters into their own hands. In 2008, a counterterrorism specialist led a team of investigators in a daring undercover operation of CAIR that included infiltrating its national headquarters located on New Jersey Avenue in Washington, D.C., near the Capitol building. Working as interns, the investigators, who posed as recent converts to Islam wearing traditional Muslim garb, secretly video-recorded conversations with CAIR officials. During the six-month operation, they also intercepted more than 12,000 pages of documents CAIR intended to shred as trash. The evidence, which was turned over to the FBI, is documented in Muslim Mafia, which also features an appendix with several key internal CAIR documents reprinted.
Among other things, the book revealed that CAIR employed violent Islamic terrorists, and then supported the terrorists behind the scenes even after they were convicted. It also uncovered an influence operation against members of key homeland security committees in Congress that included planting CAIR operatives in congressional offices. Internal CAIR documents laid out a plan to elect dozens of pro-Hamas Muslims to Congress. CAIR even started holding Muslim prayer sessions each Friday in the basement of the Capitol.
Muslim Mafia also traced the deeper roots of Hamas back to the secretive Muslim Brotherhood, the pro-jihad group founded in Egypt that built a sophisticated network of Islamic nonprofits inside the U.S. several decades ago. The book documented how Muslim Brotherhood leaders wrote a secret blueprint for “destroying [America] from within … so that it is eliminated and Allah’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.” FBI investigators discovered the manifesto stashed in a sub-basement of a Brotherhood leader’s home in Annandale, Virginia, after raiding his residence as part of a terrorism probe.
Several alarmed Republican members of Congress held a press conference about the book’s findings, warning a Hamas terror front group was infiltrating Congress.
Besides exposing Hamas’ political arm in America, the book exposed the inner workings of the broader anti-Israel lobby, which includes several left-wing groups aligned with CAIR. This lobby is now revealing itself in the wake of Israel’s own 9/11.
“The seeds for 9/11 were planted in 1948,” according to a draft of a “Proposed Muslim Platform” found at CAIR’s headquarters. “A resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict needs to be based on recognizing and correcting the harm that was done to the Palestinians since 1948,” when the United Nations partitioned land for Israel.
Guandolo said Hamas proved just how dangerous it is on Oct. 7. He warned that the terrorist group has already penetrated American society, and CAIR is the tip of the spear.
“Currently, CAIR is directing efforts at the ground level across the United States with organizations known for violent extremism,” he added in a recent interview with RealClearInvestigations. “Again, the FBI is doing nothing to adhere to their oaths of office and protect the American people.”
This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations.
Investigative journalist Paul Sperry is a regular contributor to RealClearInvestigations and has written news or op-ed pieces for the New York Post, New York Times and Wall Street Journal. His books include ‘The Great American Bank Robbery’ (2011), and ‘Crude Politics: How Bush’s Oil Cronies Hijacked the War on Terrorism’ (2003).
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released video on Friday showing what it says is a stash of mortar bombs hidden in the vicinity of a kindergarten classroom. The short video shows a damaged kindergarten classroom and then pans into a small storage area, revealing a pile of mortar shells.
An IDF spokesman said the mortar shells and other weapons were recovered by soldiers in schools inside the Gaza Strip.
A photo of mortar shells next to a school classroom. (IDF)
Additionally, IDF troops also found numerous Hamas weapons hidden in the Al-Karmel elementary school, the IDF said. Those weapons are understood to consist of rocket-propelled grenades and other military equipment.
U.S. and Israeli officials have said the Hamas terrorist organization uses civilian infrastructure like schools, homes and hospitals as cover for its military activities.
The IDF also released an image of a stockpile of weaponry and ammunition it says were seized from the Al-Quds Hospital, located in the Tel al-Hawa area of Gaza City. The IDF says terrorists are using tunnels beneath hospitals to conduct its operations.
The IDF also released an image of a stockpile of weaponry and ammunitions it says were seized from the Al-Quds Hospital, located in the Tel al-Hawa area of Gaza City. (IDF)
The IDF also announced on Friday that it had captured a post in Gaza belonging to the Palestine Islamic Jihad, a Sunni Islamist militant group, where they seized many rockets and other weapons.
The IDF post was a major asset for weapon production used to attack Israeli civilians and train terrorist fighters, the IDF said. It was located next to a courthouse and a Turkish hospital, according to the Israeli military.
“IDF troops searched the post and removed two trucks full of weapons, including Badr-3 rocket parts (a surface-to-surface rocket), UAV parts, and intelligence materials belonging to the [Palestinian Islamic Jihad],” an IDF spokesperson said.
The Israel Defense Forces seized a large weapons cache from a post belonging to the terrorist group, the Palestine Islamic Jihad. (Israel Defense Forces)
IDF troops also found a training tank used by terrorists to train fighters on how to capture an Israeli tank, the IDF said.
“During the operation, an anti-tank missile was launched at the troops from an adjacent building. The troops directed a helicopter to strike the terrorist cell that launched the missile,” the military said. “Furthermore, a terrorist cell fired additional shots at the troops from an adjacent courthouse and was struck by an IDF tank.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP)
The seizures come as the Israeli military continues to target Hamas leadership in northern Gaza and has captured several of the terrorist group’s key bases in the region.
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry claims more than 11,200 Gazans have been killed in the fighting, though they do not distinguish between Palestinian civilians and Hamas terrorists.
The war was sparked after Hamas launched a series of brutal terror attacks on Oct. 7.
Louis Casiano and Elizabeth Pritchett contributed to this report.
Michael Dorgan is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business.
You can send tips to michael.dorgan@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @M_Dorgan.
City officials in the birthplace of Jesus Christ are tearing down Christmas decorations in solidarity with Palestinians amid Israel’s continued invasion of Gaza. Bethlehem, an ancient city located in the West Bank, declared via social media and official spokespeople that decorations installed in previous years are being removed amid the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
“Bethlehem Municipality crews announced the dismantling of Christmas decorations installed several years ago in the city’s neighborhoods and removing all festive appearances in honor of the martyrs and in solidarity with our people in Gaza,” the city wrote on Facebook, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Please remember that Bethlehem is controlled by Palestinians, who Great Britton brought in to take over Israel’s land. These are NOT a people. They are Arabic, from Saudi Arabia, who kick them out of Saudi Arabia because they tried to kill the Royal Family to take over Saudi Arabia. No portion of Israel belongs to them. It has been Israels for over 3,000 years, given to them by God. God promised to bless those that bless Israel, and curse those that don’t. All fighting against Israel is fighting against God the Father.
People attend Christmas celebrations around the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, West Bank. Domestic and foreign visitors gather around the Church of the Nativity, where Jesus is believed to have been born, participate in a Christmas ceremony and the Mass. (Issam Rimawi/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
A city spokesperson also acknowledged the campaign to remove Christmas decorations in a statement to the Telegraph.
“The reason is the general situation in Palestine; people are not really into any celebration, they are sad, angry and upset; our people in Gaza are being massacred and killed in cold blood,” the spokesman said, according to the outlet.
They added, “Therefore, it is not appropriate at all to have such festivities while there is a massacre happening in Gaza and attacks in the West Bank.”
Armenian Orthodox arrive at the Church of Nativity in the West Bank city of Bethlehem to celebrate Christmas and the Epiphany. (Wisam Hashlamoun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Despite the significance of Bethlehem to Christians and its high religious tourism from the faithful during the Advent season, the city is majority Muslim. The Christian population of Bethlehem has been in steady decline since the mid-20th century. In 1950, Christians made up over 80% of the local population, but now hover around 10% in a Muslim-dominated region.
Christian communities celebrate the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem in the West Bank, where Christ is believed to have been born. (Photo by Issam Rimawi/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Many Christians have chosen to flee the area due to persecution and religious harassment. Additionally, low birth rates among Christian communities in Bethlehem have also contributed to the collapsing demographic in the West Bank. Approximately 185,000 Christians live in Israel, where they make up just under 2% of the population, according to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics.
Timothy Nerozzi is a writer for Fox News Digital. You can follow him on Twitter @timothynerozzi and can email him at timothy.nerozzi@fox.com
The United Nations Security Council called for a days-long pause in fighting in Gaza on Thursday as Israeli forces continued to strike against Hamas leaders in Gaza City. Israeli forces took control of the Al-Shifa Hospital and are working to “destroy” Hamas in the region.
The Israeli military continues to target Hamas leadership in northern Gaza and has captured several the terrorist groups’ key bases in the region
There remain up to 238 Hamas hostages in Gaza, and 10 of them are believed to be Americans. The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry claims more than 11,200 Gazans have been killed in the fighting, though they do not distinguish between Palestinian civilians and Hamas terrorists.
After weeks of gridlock, the United Nations Security Council voted to call for a days-long humanitarian pause in fighting
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IDF soldiers recover body of Hamas hostage found near Al-Shifa Hospital
IDF soldiers recover body of Hamas hostage found near Al-Shifa Hospital
Israeli Defense Forces say they found the body of a hostage taken in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Thursday.
Israeli forces say they found Yehudit Weiss’ body in a building adjacent to the Al-Shifa Hospital, which Israel says Hamas had been using as a headquarters until early this week. The IDF did not offer any details about Weiss beyond her name, but noted that her family has been contacted.
Soldiers searching the building say they also found military equipment including Kalashnikov rifles and RPG’s inside.
Weiss was one of roughly 240 people taken hostage by Hamas duirng its Oct. 7 massacre in Israel. She is now among a small number of hostages confirmed to have been killed since Israel’s war on Hamas began.
Israeli troops discovered a hidden booby-trapped vehicle inside the complex of a Hamas-run hospital in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces said Thursday.
In a video posted to X, the IDF said the vehicle contained AK-47 rifles, grenades, RPGs, sniper rifles and other explosives.
“This is what Hamas is trying to hide from you,” an IDF spokesperson said in the footage.
Near the vehicle were weapons, ammunition and other items, including handcuffs and knives displayed on the ground, the IDF said.
“And where they’re hiding all this equipment is in the hospital,” the spokesperson said. “A place that’s supposed to be for humanitarian aid. They have all this evil hidden here.”
“This is where they choose to hide everything because they know the IDF won’t attack, the air force won’t attack here,” he added. “They use the hospital as human shields.”
Israel has long claimed tat Hamas has used hospitals and other sensitive locations as cover to conceal its military operations.
On Tuesday, John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, said that intelligence supports Israel’s claims about Hamas activities in hospitals.
“I can confirm for you that we have information that Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad use some hospitals in the Gaza Strip, including al-Shifa, and tunnels underneath them, to conceal and to support their military operations and to hold hostages,” Kirby told reporters on Air Force One.
IDF chief of staff says Israel close to ‘destroying’ Hamas’ military system in Gaza’s north
Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi talks with troops Thursday in the Gaza Strip. (Israel Defense Forces)
The chief of staff for the Israel Defense Forces on Thursday credited his troops with moving closer to destroying Hamas’ “military system” amid its weeks-long campaign against the terror group.
Herzi Halevi visited soldiers on the ground inside the Gaza Strip, where he spoke of Israel’s response to Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israeli border communities.
“As the campaign move forwards, with what you have done here with these battalions, Division 36 and 252, we are quite close to destroying the (Hamas) military system that existed in the north of the Gaza Strip,” he said, according to a press release. “We will complete it, we still have some things to do, but we are getting closer.”
He said the IDF will continue its military operations and that “as much as it depends on us, area after area, we’re going to kill the commanders and kill the operatives and destroy the infrastructure.”
“You have done it excellently so far, take what you’ve learned so far – for almost three weeks, and do it even better,” Halevi added.
Israel has battered Gaza with continuous airstrikes in the weeks since the attack, resulting in thousands dead and an escalating humanitarian crisis.
It’s highly unlikely that Israeli military operations will eliminate the ideology of Hamas, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby suggested Thursday.
Israel has pummeled the Gaza Strip for six weeks with airstrikes as Israeli leaders have vowed to eliminate the terror group.
“What we have learned through our own experiences … through military and other means, you can absolutely have a significant impact on [a] terrorist group’s ability to resource itself, to train fighters, to recruit fighters, to plan and to execute attacks,” Kirby said Thursday during a briefing.
He noted that Hamas leaders have repeatedly said they plan to attack Israel for the foreseeable future.
Military operations against a particular group, no matter how precise and targeted, cannot eliminate an idea, he said, citing the defeat of other terror groups in recent years.
“I mean, look at the shadow of itself that ISIS is right now, look at the shadow of itself that al Qaeda is right now. That doesn’t mean that the ideology also withers away and dies,” he said. “But you can absolutely have a practical, meaningful effect on a terrorist organization’s ability to conduct and execute its attacks.”
Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman contributed to this report.
Israel released video footage that purportedly shows part of a tunnel on the grounds of a hospital complex in Gaza.
The tunnel was near the Al-Shifa hospital, which Israel has said is used by Hamas to plan attacks and military operations.
On Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces released footage showing weapons and military equipment inside the hospital, which has shelter thousands of civilians amid Israeli shelling.
Israeli officials claim that the facility is being used as cover by Hamas terrorists and that the group has set up its main command center underneath the building.
“A few of the most interesting things that we found totally confirms, without any doubt, that Hamas systematically uses hospitals in their military operations, in violation of international law,” IDF Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said as he walked through an MRI building at the hospital.
Shelling ramps up at Israel-Lebanon border with Hezbollah, IDF trading missile strikes: report
Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike, left, and artillery shelling, right, on the outskirts of Aita al-Shaab, a Lebanese border village with Israel in south Lebanon on Monday. Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants and their allies have been clashing along the border since the Israel-Hamas war started five weeks ago with a bloody incursion into southern Israel by Hezbollah ally Hamas. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
The Israel Defense Forces and Lebanon-based Hezbollah have ramped up shelling against each other as both sides continue to trade airstrikes.
Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, said it has struck eight targets so far in Israel on Thursday, including Israeli soldiers and a military barracks, “in support of our steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip,” according to Reuters.
In response, the IDF said it hit a site in Lebanon that has tried launching anti-tank missiles toward its territory and that artillery strikes have been directed at other locations, the news agency adds.
Israel’s counterattack has impacted several villages along Lebanon’s southern border, a source told Reuters. There were no reported injuries. Both sides have repeatedly traded airstrikes since Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israeli border communities.
Since Hamas launched its war on Israel, more than 70 Hezbollah fighters and 10 civilians have been killed in shelling in Lebanon, Reuters reports.
Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman contributed to this report.
Pro-Palestinian protesters block bridges in Boston, San Francisco during rush hour
Pro-Palestinian protesters block bridges in Boston, San Francisco during rush hour
Pro-Palestinian protesters blocked traffic on bridges in Boston and San Francisco during rush hour Thursday morning to call for a cease-fire in Gaza as Israel continues to target Hamas leadership more than a month after the militant group’s deadly incursion into Israel.
On the Boston University bridge, the group IfNotNow, which says it represents members of Boston’s Jewish community, chanted “Cease-fire now!” and demanded that Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., support an immediate cease-fire and use her influence to stop the Israeli government’s military action in Gaza.
The protest slowed traffic to a trickle on the bridge, which connects Boston and Cambridge, as the group held signs that said, “Let Gaza Live,” and unfurled a banner across the roadway that read, “Jews say: Ceasefire now.”
“We care about Palestinian lives, we only want to hurt Hamas,” one protester on the bridge told NBC Boston, while another said, “There can’t be peace for Jews unless there is peace for Palestinians.”
Meanwhile, Pro-Palestinian protesters also shut down the Bay Bridge in San Francisco, where President Biden was courting world leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
Fox News’ Stephen Sorace contributed to this report
Republicans blast pro-Palestinian protests at DNC: ‘Nation’s capital is under siege’
I am on Capitol Hill right now and it’s on lockdown. No getting in or out of our offices. We have officers that were pepper sprayed by pro-Hamas protestors with a lot of people attempting to break into the Democratic HQ. Anyone else notice how violent the so-called “ceasefire”… pic.twitter.com/UbtMmLe7Ei
The Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C., saw fireworks on Wednesday night when pro-Palestinian protesters clashed with police in front of the DNC.
Republicans weighed in on the protests online, with Florida Rep. Kat Cammack posting a video of the protest while she was on Capitol Hill.
“I am on Capitol Hill right now and it’s on lockdown,” Cammack wrote. “No getting in or out of our offices.”
“We have officers that were pepper sprayed by pro-Hamas protestors with a lot of people attempting to break into the Democratic HQ,” she continued. “Anyone else notice how violent the so-called ‘ceasefire’ crowd is?”
Fox News’ Houston Keene contributed to this report
The Guardian removes Osama bin Laden’s ‘Letter to America’ after TikTok unearths pro-terror screed
The Guardian removes Osama bin Laden’s ‘Letter to America’ after TikTok unearths pro-terror screed
The Guardian removed Osama bin Laden’s infamous “Letter to America” this week as the words of the terrorist mastermind behind the attacks of September 11, 2001, went viral after being unearthed by social media users.
The left-wing outlet had the anti-American and antisemitic letter published on its website since 2002 and was the first Google search result when searching for the document. But the publication deleted bin Laden’s letter amid a sudden spike in traffic.
A spokesperson for The Guardian told Fox News Digital, “The transcript published on our website 20 years ago has been widely shared on social media without the full context. Therefore we have decided to take it down and direct readers to the news article that originally contextualized it instead.”
The Guardian declined additional comment.
The 9/11 attacks killed nearly 3,000 people, with many thousands more injured and suffering from long-term illnesses, after Islamic terrorists crashed four hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center, Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania; the latter was forced down by heroic passengers. In the letter to the American people translated in English, bin Laden justified al-Qaeda’s attacks against the U.S. because “you attacked us” and “you attacked us in Palestine.”
“Palestine, which has sunk under military occupation for more than 80 years. The British handed over Palestine, with your help and your support, to the Jews, who have occupied it for more than 50 years; years overflowing with oppression, tyranny, crimes, killing, expulsion, destruction and devastation,” bin Laden alleged.
Suspect arrested in death of pro-Israel demonstrator Paul Kessler
Suspect arrested in death of pro-Israel demonstrator Paul Kessler
California police have arrested Loay Abdelfattah Alnaji, 50, in relation to the death of Jewish man Paul Kessler at an Israel protest last week.
Alnaji has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and has a bail set at $1,000,000. The arrest comes roughly a week after Kessler, 69, died in the hospital after striking his head on the concrete during an altercation with Alnaji.
Footage showed Kessler bleeding on the ground following the incident. Alnaji, a pro-Palestinian protester had allegedly manhandled Kessler and caused him to fall.
The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department stated last week that they had identified a 50-year-old suspect in the case, but they had not yet identified him nor made an arrest.
AOC leads two dozen Democrats calling for Israel cease-fire over ‘violations against children’
AOC leads two dozen Democrats calling for Israel cease-fire over ‘violations against children’
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is leading renewed calls for President Biden to support a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas over the “grave violations” being committed against children in the war.
“We write to you to express deep concern about the intensifying war in Gaza, particularly grave violations against children, and our fear that without an immediate cessation of hostilities and the establishment of a robust bilateral ceasefire, this war will lead to a further loss of civilian life and risk dragging the United States into dangerous and unwise conflict with armed groups across the Middle East,” the progressive lawmaker wrote.
She and 23 other progressives wrote to Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday, asking for details on the U.S. plan to de-escalate tension in the region.
They cited figures from both Israel and the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza about how many children have been killed or abducted since Hamas militants launched a surprise attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing hundreds of civilians.
Israel has responded by bombarding Gaza with rocket fire and a ground invasion.
“We reaffirm our unequivocal condemnation of the Hamas attacks on Israel that took place on October 7th, in which Hamas killed over 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals, and captured over 200 hostages, who were subsequently taken to Gaza,” the Democrats wrote.
Massachusetts town flying Palestinian flag sparks backlash from residents, Jewish congregation
Massachusetts town flying Palestinian flag sparks backlash from residents, Jewish congregation
A local Jewish leader spoke out on “FOX & Friends” Thursday after his Massachusetts town approved a permit to allow a Palestinian flag to fly in town.
Marc Freedman, president of Congregation Ahavat Olam in North Andover, said the flag was now a “symbol of antisemitism” following the Oct. 7 attacks.
“It is a symbol to just eliminate the entire Jewish population,” he said.
Town officials approved a permit Monday allowing the Palestinian flag to be flown on the North Andover Town Common.
“I think they’re just a bunch of cowards. They took a legal initiative, a legal statement from council that said you need to follow specific guidelines and must raise this flag, when in their hearts, in their hearts, I know every single one of them did not want to raise their flag,” he said.
He said the council put personal concerns ahead of the town and added, “that’s not what leadership does.”
Fox News’ Hanna Panreck contributed to this report
IDF footage shows Hamas rockets stashed under child’s bed inside Gaza terrorist’s home
IDF footage shows Hamas rockets stashed under child’s bed inside Gaza terrorist’s home
Israeli Defense Forces released footage of troops searching the home of a Hamas terrorist in Gaza and uncovering a stash of rockets hidden under a young child’s bed on Thursday.
IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari says the rockets and other weapons found inside the home were destroyed soon afterward. Footage shows an Israeli soldier walking past a pink “baby girl” sign before revealing several rockets inside a compartment in the bed.
“Rockets were found inside a bed in the children’s bedroom inside the house of a Hamas terrorist during operational activity carried out by the troops of the 551st Brigade. The terrorist was a part of a Hamas terrorist cell in Beit Hanoun,” Hagari said in a statement.
“During the operational activity, the troops uncovered a significant amount of weapons including rockets, explosive devices, and dozens of kilos of explosives. The weapons were subsequently destroyed by the forces,” he added.
Rockets were found inside a bed in the children's bedroom inside the house of a Hamas terrorist during operational activity carried out by the troops of the 551st Brigade. The terrorist was a part of a Hamas terrorist cell in Beit Hanoun >> pic.twitter.com/25SneQfOkF
— דובר צה״ל דניאל הגרי – Daniel Hagari (@IDFSpokesperson) November 16, 2023
Information, photos about Hamas hostages found on laptop inside hospital: IDF
Information, photos about Hamas hostages found on laptop inside hospital: IDF
Israeli Defense Forces uncovered information about hostages taken by Hamas on a laptop found inside the Al-Shifa Hospital on Thursday.
Israel says the laptop had photos and videos taken of hostages after the Oct. 7th massacre in Israel. Israeli forces say evidence indicates Hamas was using Al-Shifa Hospital as a base of operations “within the last few days.”
“At the end of the day, this is just the tip of the iceberg,” Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus told the BBC. “Hamas aren’t here because they saw we were coming. This is probably what they were forced to leave behind. Our assessment is that there’s much more.”
Fox News’ foreign correspondent Trey Yings and cameraman Yaniv Turgeman visited the hospital with Israeli special forces early Thursday.
Israel says Hamas took some 239 hostages on Oct. 7, though the U.S. has said there is no way to know how many of those are still alive.
Online personality and pro-Palestinian activist Lynette Adkins urged her over 175,000 TikTok followers on Tuesday to read the words of the terrorist mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks.
“I need everyone to stop what they’re doing right now and go read- It’s literally two pages. Go read ‘A Letter to America,” Adkins said the video. “And please come back here and just let me know what you think because I feel like I’m going through, like, an existential crisis right now and a lot of people are, so I just need someone else to be feeling this.”
Her video received roughly 800,000 views and over 80,000 likes on TikTok.
Fox News Foreign Correspondent Trey Yingst and cameraman Yaniv Turgeman went inside the Al-Shifa hospital with Israeli special forces on Thursday, sharing images of weapons found inside the complex.
Israeli forces say the weapons are evidence that Hamas had used the facility–and tunnel systems under it–as a base of operations.
Footage from Yingst and Turgeman’s visit showed rifles stashed behind an MRI machine as well as other supplies.
President Biden says he thinks Israel’s military operation in Gaza will stop when Hamas “no longer maintains the capacity to murder, abuse, and do horrific things to the Israelis.”
Speaking at a press conference after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Biden called on the Israeli military to exercise caution as they pursue Hamas military targets near civilian infrastructure. He said the Israel Defense Forces has “an obligation to use as much caution as they can in going after their targets.”
However, he added, “Hamas said they plan to attack Israelis again and this is terrible dilemma.”
Biden and his administration have remained steadfast in support for Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas. U.S. officials have strongly condemned the Oct. 7 terror attacks on Israel, in which Hamas terrorists infiltrated the Jewish state and massacred as many as 1,200 people, taking some 240 back to Gaza as hostages. Other world leaders have condemned Israel’s military actions in Gaza, specifically attacks on hospitals and other civilian infrastructure, pointing to the staggering death toll figures released by the Hamas-led Gaza Health Ministry. Israel has said, and the White House confirmed, that Hamas uses Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest in Gaza City, as a military base to store weapons and plan terrorist attacks.
The U.S. government has rejected calls for a cease-fire in the conflict, insisting that Israel has a right to defend itself. At the same time, the Biden administration has pressured Israel to allow short-term pauses in the fighting so humanitarian aid, including food and medical supplies, can be delivered to the Palestinians living in Gaza.
Fox News’ Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report
Israeli military gains ‘operational control’ over Gaza harbor used by Hamas
Israeli Defense Forces have gained “operational control” over the Harbor in Gaza city, previously a Hamas stronghold.
Israeli Defense Forces have gained “operational control” over the Harbor in Gaza city, previously a Hamas stronghold.
The IDF announced its successful oepration in the harbor on Thursday, saying Hamas had used the area to train maritime forces.
“The IDF has gained operational control over the Hamas-operated Gaza Harbor,” The IF wrote in a statement. “Disguised as a civilian area, the harbor was used by Hamas as a training facility for their naval commando forces to plan and execute terrorist attacks.”
“During the operation, conducted by soldiers of the 188th Armored Corps’ Brigade and Flotilla 13, numerous terrorist tunnel entrances and terrorist infrastructures were destroyed,” the statement continued.
Israel has conducted a relentless campaign against Hamas terrorists cells in Gaza City. The terrorist group has maintained a labyrinth of tunnels beneath the population center.
The IDF has gained operational control over the Hamas-operated Gaza Harbor.
Disguised as a civilian area, the harbor was used by Hamas as a training facility for their naval commando forces to plan and execute terrorist attacks.
Hamas has agreed to release dozens of hostages from Gaza under terms of a tentative deal that the Israeli government is now considering, the Washington Post reported Thursday.
While the exact terms of the deal remain unclear, it is believed to involve the release of some Palestinian prisoners held in Israel in addition to a multi-day pause in fighting in Gaza. The deal may already have been rejected, however.
Hamas terrorists took up to 240 hostages during their Oct. 7 massacre inside Israel. That number includes 10 Americans and many other foreign nationals who were in Israel.
UN rights chief calls for international investigation into alleged Israel-Hamas war crimes
UN rights chief calls for international investigation into alleged Israel-Hamas war crimes
UN human rights chief Volker Turk appeared to call for an international investigation into alleged war crimes commited by Israel in its war against Hamas on Thursday.
Turk made the comments after returning from a visit to the Middle East, though he was not allowed to access Israel or Gaza. The official condemned Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank and argued that some in Israel have no qualms about killing civilians.
“Extremely serious allegations of multiple and profound breaches of international humanitarian law, whoever commits them, demand rigorous investigation and full accountability,” he said during a U.N. briefing in Geneva, going on to decry the “intensification of violence and severe discrimination agaisnt Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.”
“It is apparent that on both sides, some view the killing of civilians as either acceptable or collateral, or a deliberate and useful weapon of war,” he continued.
Driver rams barrier at Israeli embassy in Tokyo, injures police officer
Driver rams barrier at Israeli embassy in Tokyo, injures police officer
Police in Tokyo arrested a lone driver who rammed his vehicle into a barrier outside the Israeli embassy on Thursday.
Israeli ambassador to Japan Gilad Cohen confirmed the incident in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. Japanese police say they arrested the suspect, a 53-year-old man who was suspected to be a member of a “right-wing organization.”
A police officer outside the embassy received minor injuries in the incident.
“Shocked by the suspected vehicular ramming attack on a police officer on guard near the Israeli embassy in Tokyo. This matter is under investigation by the local police. I would like to express gratitude to the Japanese government and Tokyo Police for their commitment to ensuring our security. Wishing a speedy recovery to the injured police officer,” Cohen wrote on social media.
Top media outlet marred by string of retractions and apologies related to Israel-Hamas war
Top media outlet marred by recent string of retractions and apologies related to Israel-Hamas wa
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has been blemished with a string of apologies and retractions related to stories detailing developments in the Israel-Hamas war.
England’s premiere outlet, which celebrated its 100th anniversary last year, is the oldest and largest local and global broadcaster and has been heralded as an integral source of worldwide news.
But the broadcaster’s reputation has been questioned in recent weeks after a series of inaccurate news reports led critics and social media users to wonder why the BBC’s mistakes erred on behalf of Hamas and Palestinians.
On Tuesday, BBC News Channel aired a report that claimed Israeli forces had descended on Al Shifa hospital in Gaza and targeted “medical teams and Arab speakers” inside.
While reports did indicate the IDF had entered the hospital, no reports corroborated the claim that soldiers had targeted those inside.
The error led the BBC to issue an on-air apology, retraction and a written statement.
“As BBC News covered initial reports that Israeli forces had entered Gaza’s main hospital, we said that ‘medical teams and Arab speakers’ were being targeted. This was incorrect and misquoted a Reuters report,” the BBC said. “We should have said IDF forces included medical teams and Arabic speakers for this operation. We apologize for this error, which fell below our usual editorial standards.”
Fox News’ Nicholas Lanum contributed to this report
Chicago college professor justifies Hamas attack ‘after 75 years of Israeli white supremacy’
Chicago college professor justifies Hamas attack ‘after 75 years of Israeli white supremacy’
A Chicagoland sociology professor sent a mass email to her students and department colleagues attempting to rally support for Palestinians who she claims have faced “75 years of Israeli White supremacy.”
Brooke Johnson, an associate professor and sociology department coordinator at Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU), argued “As critical sociologists we are trained to analyze power and inequality in society” and that “this importantly comes with the responsibility to speak up when we witness harm, injustice, and violence,” stressing “What is currently happening in Palestine is one of those moments.”
“After 75 years of Israeli White supremacy, including displacement, human rights violations, and systemic violence, Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th which resulted in 1400 deaths and 240 hostages,” Johnson wrote in a Nov. 8 email obtained by Fox News Digital. “Israel is now collectively punishing Palestinians. The Palestinian death toll from Israeli airstrikes exceeds 10,000, and almost half of these are children. This number increases daily as airstrikes continue; water, food and medical aid are cut off; and demands for a humanitarian cease-fire increase.”
One student who received the email was left “really upset” by what Johnson wrote, calling the accusations she made against Israel including being guilty of “White supremacy” as “just not true.”
“I called my mom and I started crying,” the student, who did not wish to be identified, told Fox News Digital.
The student accused Johnson of “justifying” the Oct. 7 attack.
Fox News Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report
Police in the nation’s capital responded to the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters Wednesday evening as pro-Palestinian demonstrators grew violent while calling for an immediate cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.
About 150 people were “illegally and violently protesting” near the DNC headquarters building in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C., according to U.S. Capitol Police.
Six Capitol police officers were injured during the clash on Wednesday evening, according to the agency. Their injuries stemmed from minor cuts, pepper spray burns and punches thrown by protesters who turned violent alongside peaceful protesters.
Videos on social media showed protesters shoving police officers and trying to hold on to metal barricades at the DNC headquarters while officers attempted to remove them.
Capitol police and the Metropolitan Police Department, who also responded to the protest, did not immediately confirm to Fox News Digital how many arrests were made at the event.
Protesters included members of “If Not Now” and “Jewish Voice for Peace.” Both organizations have organized other demonstrations in Washington D.C. since Hamas’ unprecedented Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
Fox News Digital’s Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, Adam Sabes, Kelley Kramer and Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.
Israeli Air Force strikes home of Ismail Haniyeh, head of Hamas’ Political Bureau: IDF
The Israel Defense Forces said Thursday its air force conducted a strike on the home of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Haniyeh, who is the head of Hamas’ Political Bureau, is accused of using his residence in Gaza as terrorist infrastructure and a meeting point for Hamas’ senior leaders to direct attacks on Israel.
It’s not clear if anyone was killed in the strike as Haniyeh lives in Qatar, according to the Times of Israel.
Overnight, IDF fighter jets struck the residence of Ismail Haniyeh, the Head of Hamas’ Political Bureau.
The residence was used as terrorist infrastructure and a meeting point for Hamas’ senior leaders to direct terrorist attacks against Israel. pic.twitter.com/kljYYN6O0U
Around 150 lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle attended a screening on Tuesday of footage from the heinous Hamas terror attacks perpetrated in Israel last month, according to the Washington Post.
Democratic Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland said in a statement that the footage “will forever haunt” him. “Every Member present was either in tears or sat stunned,” he noted. “The sheer carnage of the scenes I saw called to mind the darkest moments of the Holocaust, the pogroms, and thousands of years of antisemitic violence.”
“In one clip, two little boys watch a Hamas fighter kill their father right before their eyes. In another, a terrorist stands over the bodies of dead Jews as he brags to his parents over the phone about how he killed ten Jews with his bare hands. We saw images of mutilated infants, defiled corpses, and families burned alive in their homes,” Hoyer recalled.
Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland described it as “utterly chilling,” according to the Post. “Hamas is a terrorist death cult, and it would clearly kill every person in Israel if it could. Nor does it show any interest in the rights of the Palestinian people.”
“It was the most horrific thing I have ever seen,” Rep. August Pfluger (R-Tx.) said in a tweet.
This morning I viewed footage of Hamas’ brutal October 7th attack against innocent Israelis. It was the most horrific thing I have ever seen.
Israel went to war in the wake of the horrific Hamas attacks last month. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that the Jewish state is attempting to allow civilians to escape danger but that Hamas is blocking people from fleeing to safety.
“While Israel is doing everything to keep civilians out of harm’s way, Hamas is doing everything to keep them in harm’s way. Israel provides civilians in Gaza humanitarian corridors and safe zones, Hamas prevents them from leaving at gunpoint,” Netanyahu asserted.
It is not Israel that is deliberately targeting civilians but Hamas that beheaded, burned and massacred civilians in the worst horrors perpetrated on Jews since the Holocaust.
While Israel is doing everything to keep civilians out of harm’s way, Hamas is doing…
Israeli soldiers and tanks rolled into al-Shifa Hospital, the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip and location of a major Hamas terrorist compound, according to Israel. The military is conducting a “precise and targeted operation” inside the hospitals, where hundreds of medical patients and personnel remain. Hamas has denied Israeli accusations it uses the hospital as a shield.
The Israeli military captured Hamas government buildings in Gaza and has fought its way to the gates of the region’s largest medical facility, Al-Shifa Hospital.
The Israel Defense Forces said troops killed Hamas terrorists and encountered explosive devices and terror cells during its “precise and targeted operation” at the al-Shifa Hospital.
There remain up to 238 Hamas hostages in Gaza, and 10 of them are believed to be Americans. The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry claims more than 11,200 Gazans have been killed in the fighting, though they do not distinguish between Palestinian civilians and Hamas terrorists.
Israel-Hamas war: IDF finds weapons inside al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released video early Wednesday showing weapons found inside the al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza.
“IDF troops are continuing the precise and targeted operation against Hamas in the Shifa Hospital complex, in which the troops are conducting searches for Hamas terrorist infrastructure and assets,” the IDF said in a statement.
“As the soldiers entered the hospital complex, they engaged with a number of terrorists and killed them,” the statement added. “Following this, during searches in one of the departments of the hospital, the troops located a room with technological assets, along with military and combat equipment used by the Hamas terrorist organization.”
The footage shows Israeli officers sorting through the firearms, ammunition and weapons reportedly left by Hamas fighters.
The IDF says that “technological assets and extensive intelligence information” found in the hospital are being reviewed by authorities.
Biden allies condemn far-left calls for cease-fire in Israel-Hamas war
U.S. President Joe Biden departs the White House November 14, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
President Biden’s strong backing of Israel and his response to its war with terrorist organization Hamas speaks to the mainstream of the Democratic Party and the majority of Americans, according to supporters of the president, despite progressive Democrats publicly opposing the administration’s rejection of a cease-fire.
Multiple Biden allies told Fox News Digital that the administration’s stance against a cease-fire protects Americans and national security interests at home and abroad.
Nearly a dozen Biden allies defended the president’s policies in interviews with Fox News Digital after more than 400 government officials within the administration signed onto a letter opposing the president’s handling of the war, and demanding a cease-fire.
NYC Columbia University faculty and students protest suspension of 2 far-left groups
A protester holds a sign at a “All out for Gaza” protest at Columbia University in New York on November 15, 2023. (Photo by BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty Images)
Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters stood outside of Columbia University in New York City on Wednesday, holding signs while chanting and demanding the removal of Jewish people from Gaza, while others boycotted the suspension of two far-left student-led groups by the school’s administration.
The “emergency protest” was shared on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, by groups such as WOLPalestine (Within Our Lifetime) and CUNYPalestine, noting the event was scheduled for Nov. 15 at 2 p.m.
“All Out for Gaza at Columbia University,” the post read. “In solidarity with Columbia SJP (Students for Justice in Palestine) and JVP (Jewish Voices for Peace) who were recently unjustly suspended by the university administration.
NYU hit with lawsuit for fueling ‘virus of antisemitism,’ ‘abusing Jewish students with impunity’
A New York University (NYU) flag flies outside of the NYU business school on August 25, 2020. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
New York University was hit with a groundbreaking lawsuit, the first of what is expected to be a series against elite universities, for allegedly allowing antisemitism to fester on its campus and also “deliberately” seeking to “make the campus environment even more… frightening for Jewish students,” according to court documents.
“NYU is among the worst campuses for Jewish students, and NYU has long been aware of the festering Jewish hatred permeating the school,” the suit filed by Kasowitz Benson Torres, an influential firm based in New York City, said.
It alleged that NYU was aware of “ongoing and disgraceful acts of anti-Jewish bigotry,” and refused to act in violation of Jewish students’ Title VI civil rights and sought remedial measures and financial penalties. The suit made startling allegations, including that NYU’s administration’s actions, or lack thereof throughout the years, added fuel to antisemitism on campus.
The “Outnumbered” co-hosts reacted to the rise of antisemitism and Tuesday’s March for Israel rally, as the war between Hamas and Israel continues.
Fox News contributor Morgan Ortagus, who is Jewish, thanked the show for lending her support amid rampant antisemitism.
“I’m so grateful to this show, to all of you, to the producers. I’ve never cried on air,” Ortagus explained. “And a couple of weeks ago, just seeing the images and the rampant anti-Semitism, having a daughter, it has been so hard to talk about it. But I’m so appreciative of you guys for for giving us the voice, giving us the opportunity.”
“I never have felt unsafe in this country for my daughter the way I do now,” she continued, adding that she was appreciated for the 300,000 people who showed up to the March for Israel rally.
“Between October 7th and November 7th, there have been 832 anti-Semitic attacks,” co-host Kayleigh McEnany said. “Do the math, that means 28 per day. That means more than one every hour.”
Comedian Jon Lovitz blasts HBO’s John Oliver for shaming U.S. over alliance with Israel
Jon Lovitz arrives at the Mike Tyson Cares and We2Matter’s 100 Women Matter Celebrity Fundraiser Gala on August 17, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Legendary comedian and actor Jon Lovitz blasted HBO host Jon Oliver this week after the British talk show host reprimanded the United States for supporting Israel and the “suffering” it has caused in Gaza following Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre.
Lovitz replied to a social media post from Oliver’s talk show with an X post noting how the U.S. would obviously support its “democratic ally” Israel over the radical terror group that killed 1400+ people in the country last month.
Pushing back against the British HBO host’s skepticism of America’s alliance with Israel, Lovitz declared, “God bless America. #IstandwithIsrael.”
Netanyahu’s wife writes Jill Biden a letter urging her to save ‘suffering’ Hamas child hostages
Former Israeli Prime Minister and Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara Netanyahu at an election-night event on November 1, 2022 in Jerusalem, Israel.
The wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has written a letter Wednesday to first lady Jill Biden, urging her to call for the “immediate release” of child hostages who are “suffering” in the captivity of Hamas terrorists.
Sara Netanyahu opened her plea by saying that “I’m writing to you not only as Bibi’s wife but first and foremost as a mother.”
“For over a month now, 32 children have been held kidnapped in Gaza, brutally torn from their parents and their homes,” Netanyahu said. “These children are surely suffering from untold trauma, not only by being kidnapped, but having witnessed the brutal murder of their parents and siblings on that horrific October 7th.”
Biden’s favorite columnist urges him to use Trump’s peace proposal for two-state solution
Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times columnist and bestselling author Thomas L. Friedman on February 26, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
New York Times opinion columnist Thomas Friedman, one of President Biden’s favorite writers, is urging him to follow in part former President Trump’s plan for a two-state solution in the Middle East.
After visiting Israel and the West Bank, Friedman came to the conclusion that America needed an active “vision for how the Gaza war must end” in a column published Tuesday.
“The Biden plan — are you sitting down? — could actually use as one of its starting points President Donald Trump’s proposal for a two-state solution,” Friedman wrote, “because [Benjamin] Netanyahu embraced that in 2020, when he had a different coalition. (Netanyahu and his ambassador in Washington practically wrote the Trump plan.)”
‘Will & Grace’ star Debra Messing blasted for speech at pro-Israel rally in DC
Debra Messing speaks during ‘March For Israel’ at the National Mall on November 14, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images)
Social media users criticized “Will & Grace” star Debra Messing after she gave a speech in defense of Israel during a pro-Israel rally in Washington, D.C., this week.
Users on both sides of the political spectrum slammed Messing for her impassioned speech condemning the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, with pro-Israel conservatives hitting her for voting for Biden, who has given aid to Israel’s enemies, as well as pro-Palestinian leftists accusing her of defending “genocide” in Gaza.
Messing, a Jewish person and Hollywood liberal, gave the speech in front of thousands at the “March for Israel” in D.C. on Tuesday. The Jewish Federations of North America organized the event to support Israel amid its war with Hamas and to call out terror and hatred being shown towards the Jewish community.
Bipartisan lawmakers push Biden to investigate Hamas’ cryptocurrency financing
From left: House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, President Biden and Rep. Ritchie Torres (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll, Ting Shen/Bloomberg, Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call)
Top House lawmakers are investigating the breadth and depth of the digital wealth owned by terror groups like Hamas just over a month after the Gaza-based organization’s surprise attack on Israel.
“Reports indicate that Hamas-linked digital wallets received about $41 million and Palestinian Islamic Jihad-linked digital wallets received about $93 million between August 2021 and June 2023. Yet, it remains unclear how much, if any, of the publicly identified digital assets are accessible to or remains in the possession of Hamas,” the lawmakers wrote to President Biden and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
“According to reports, Hamas shut down its digital asset fundraising campaign in April 2023 citing the ability of government officials to identify and prosecute donors.”
The bipartisan letter is led by House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., Digital Asset subcommittee Chairman French Hill, R-Ark., and Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y.
“We request the White House and the Treasury to utilize the open blockchain ledger to assess the footprint of Hamas’ digital asset fundraising campaign. In doing this, Congress can better understand the United States’ available tools and capabilities to target bad actors on blockchain and support legitimate digital asset use and innovation,” Emmer told Fox News Digital.
A top United Nations humanitarian aid official is being ripped Wednesday by an Israeli ambassador after sharing an image on X showing him shaking hands with Iran’s foreign minister, who reportedly helped Hamas plan its Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths posted that he held a meeting in Geneva with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian about the “devastating” situation unfolding in the Gaza Strip and the “critical” need to deliver aid to the area.
The Wall Street Journal previously reported that Amirabdollahian had taken part in at least two planning meetings in Lebanon with the terrorist groups Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad ahead of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which launched the Middle East war.
“Tell me @UNReliefChief, what role do you see Iran playing in such regard?” Israeli Ambassador to Geneva Elion Shahar wrote in response to Griffiths’ post. “What role do you see for the prime sponsors of a terrorist organization who murdered, raped, and tortured over 1,200 Israelis?”
“Did you ask him about the weapons Iran has transferred to Hamas through aid shipments, which were used to kill Israelis on October 7th?” she continued. “Did you ask him about the money Iran has transferred to Hamas, which pays for its leaders’ 5-star hotels in Qatar where they cheered when young Israelis were murdered on TV?”
“Iran is part of the problem, not the solution,” she concluded. “It is about time the U.N. starts to understand this simple truth.”
Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman contributed to this update.
Destroyer USS Thomas Hudner shot down a drone from Yemen in the Red Sea
BOSTON, MA – NOVEMBER 26: The USS Thomas Hudner, named after Concord’s Medal of Honor recipient Thomas Hudner, arrives in Boston for its commissioning ceremony later in the week on Nov. 26, 2018. (Photo by David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
The USS Thomas Hudner, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, shot down a drone from Yemen in the Red Sea, two U.S. defense officials confirm to Fox News.
A defense official said the drone was shot down in self-defense. “The drone was heading towards the Hudner,” the official said.
On Tuesday, during the Pentagon news briefing, Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin asked Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh about the lack of U.S. military response to the Houthis in Yemen who downed the $32 million MQ-9 drone over the Red Sea last week.
“Isn’t the lack of response by the US military inviting more actions, aggressive actions by the Houthis?” Griffin asked.
“I wouldn’t say that it’s inviting more aggressive or further response from the Houthis,” Singh replied. “We’ve seen the Houthis do this before.”
“I’m not saying that we’re not going to respond. We always reserve the right to respond at a time and place of our choosing. But I just don’t have anything to forecast for you right now,” she added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited troops at the Zikim military base near north Gaza and said, “There is no place in Gaza that Israel will not reach.”
Netanyahu was briefed on the fighting that occurred on Oct. 7, when Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel and attacked residences and military posts in southern Israel. Hamas killed more than 1,200 people in the assault, mostly civilians, and took some 240 people hostage back to Gaza.
Standing next to soldiers at the base, Netanyahu said: “Do you remember when we were told that we would not break into Gaza? We broke through. We were told that we would not reach the outskirts of Gaza City – we arrived. We were told that we won’t enter Shifa – we entered.
“There is no hiding, no shelter, no refuge for the murderers of Hamas,” Netanyahu said. “We will arrive and eliminate Hamas and return our abductees – these are two sacred missions.”
Hundreds gathered Sunday at a Ventura County, California, intersection where a week earlier, a 69-year-old Jewish man struck his head on concrete and later died after a confrontation with an unnamed pro-Palestinian protester.
Flowers, wreaths, candles and letters surrounded the spot in front of the gas station at Westlake and Thousand Oaks Boulevards, where Paul Kessler sustained his fatal injuries.
One man held a sign that read, “We want justice for Paul,” per footage shared with Fox News Digital. Others bandied Israeli flags and sang “Oseh Shalom” — a Hebrew song praying for peace for the country, its people and the world.
Blood still marked the ground where Kessler’s head struck the sidewalk in widely-shared footage from around 3:30 p.m. on Nov. 5 showing medics attending to a bleeding but alert Kessler at the scene as police questioned onlookers.
Kessler was pronounced dead at nearby Los Robles Hospital about 10 hours after the incident. Per the Ventura County Medical Examiner during a press conference Tuesday, Kessler’s non-lethal injuries were noted on the left side of his face, while internal injuries included skull fractures, swelling and bruising to the brain.
Kessler’s manner of death was determined to be homicide, Medical Examiner Christopher Young said.
Fox News Digital’s Christina Coulter contributed to this update.
BBC News Channel has apologized for an inaccurate report that claimed Israeli forces were targeting “medical teams and Arab speakers” inside of Gaza’s main hospital.
On Tuesday, a BBC News program reported that Israeli forces were carrying out an operation against Hamas forces inside Al Shifa hospital.
The news anchor then claimed that the soldiers were targeting individuals, including hospital workers and Arab speakers, inside the hospital, which would constitute a war crime. The BBC News anchor cited Reuters as the source of their information. However, reporting from Reuters on Israeli troops entering the hospital contradicted the BBC.
“Israel said its troops uncovered unspecified weapons and “terror infrastructure” inside the hospital compound after killing fighters in a clash outside. Once inside, they said there had been no fighting and no friction with civilians, patients or staff,” an article from Reuters noted.
“Witnesses who spoke to Reuters from inside the compound on Wednesday described a situation that appeared calm, if tense, as the Israeli troops moved between buildings carrying out searches,” the outlet added.
One of the most influential news organizations in the world, BBC issued an on-air apology for its claims about the Al Shifa hospital the following morning.
“BBC News, as it covered initial reports that Israeli forces had entered Gaza’s main hospital, we said that medical teams and Arab speakers were being targeted,” the anchor said. “This is incorrect and misquoted a Reuters report which said IDF forces included medical teams and Arabic speakers for this operation. We apologize for this error, which fell below our usual editorial standards.”
The anchor also noted that the correct version of events was broadcast “minutes later.”
Fox News Digital’s Nikolas Lanum contributed to this update.
Pro-Palestinian protesters marched in Staten Island on Tuesday, chanting anti-Israel slogans and burning the Israeli flag.
“From the river, to the sea,” hundreds of people shouted, a phrase that appears in the founding charter of the terrorist group in Hamas and calls for the destruction of Israel.
Protesters were also filmed burning an Israeli flag.
Police arrested six people, including at least one minor, in connection to the pro-Palestinian rally in St. George, SILive.com reported.
The rally was organized by the pro-Palestinian group WIthin Our Lifetime and held outside of Borough Hall. NYPD officers forced the demonstration to relocate onto Richmond Terrace, disrupting traffic, the report said.
Protesters also criticized President Bident and the U.S. government’s support for Israel in th ewar against Hamas. People chanted, “Israel bombs, USA pays. How many kids have you killed today?”
“What other words can be used for this besides ethnic cleansing? Besides genocide? Words that these mainstream media outlets still refuse to use,” Nerdeen Kiswani, founder and chair of Within Our Lifetime, told SILive.com.
“There are Palestinian men, women and children, every day, on our screens begging people to look at the world and tell the world to stop this genocide. But they are not stopping it. In fact, countries like the one we live in, like the United States, are funding it,” she said.
Israeli forces continue operations inside al-Shifa Hospital, Hamas official says
Israeli soldier stands near boxes labelled “Medical Supplies” at the Al Shifa hospital complex, amid their ground operation against Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, during what they say is a delivery of humanitarian aid to the facility in Gaza City, November 15, 2023 in this handout image. Israeli Defence Forces/Handout via REUTERS
A senior official with the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry told the Associated Press that Israeli forces are still operating inside al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical facility in the territory.
Speaking by phone from the hospital, Munir al-Boursh said Israeli soldiers ransacked the basement and other buildings, including those housing the emergency and surgery departments.
“They are still here … patients, women and children are terrified,” he said. He said doctors vowed to stay with their patients “till the end.”
The White House confirmed Tuesday that Hamas terrorists are using al-Shifa Hospital and the tunnels beneath it as a base for military operations and to hold hostages. The Israel Defense Forces said earlier Wednesday it is carrying out a “precise and targeted operation against Hamas” in a specific part of the hospital away from patients and medical staff. The IDF also said it delivered medical supplies.
Al-Boursh told the AP he spoke with an Israeli official by phone on Wednesday and asked him to join the forces searching the facility, but he refused.
The IDF says it recovered weapons from the basement of the hospital.
The mood in the nation’s capital ranged from somber to jubilant Tuesday, as tens of thousands of people rallied in support of Israel and the Jewish community.
“I feel like it’s my duty right now to be here, to be advocating for my people,” Tal told Fox News.
Demonstrators draped themselves in American and Israeli flags as they congregated at the National Mall for the “March for Israel.”
“We love America, and we’re so happy that America is standing behind Israel,” Elliot from New Jersey said. “It’s really great to all be here together, show support to each other and say thank you to the country.”
A coalition of Jewish organizations planned the march to show support for Israel in the wake of the Oct. 7 terror attacks in which Hamas killed around 1,200 people, primarily Israeli civilians. More than 11,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its counterattack, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.
“I came to stand with Israel during this really crazy time … and stand up for the hostages to come home, and for peace, once and for all,” Cillia from Michigan said.
Fox News Digital’s Hannah Ray Lambert and Jon Michael Raasch contributed to this update.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib is part of a secret social media group in which its members have glamorized Hamas in its war battle with Israel after the terror group attacked and killed hundreds of innocent Israeli civilians last month, Fox News Digital has found.
The Michigan Democrat is a member of the Palestinian American Congress group on Facebook. The group is hidden from non-members and does not appear on the platform’s search engine, though Fox News Digital was able to gain access to it.
The group’s founder, Maher Abdel-qader, who has extensive ties to Tlaib and has also been linked to other liberal politicians, has come under fire in the past for his antisemitic social media posts, including questioning if the Holocaust ever occurred.
The Palestinian American Congress group, of which Tlaib is a member, has featured pro-Hamas posts in the wake of the deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
On Oct. 12, one group member posted: “We don’t want to throw you in the sea…we want you to ride it back from where you came.” The message was accompanied by a picture of an elderly Israeli woman and a Hamas fighter holding her captive.
Fox News Digital’s Joe Schoffstall and Peter Hasson contributed to this update.
UN official condemns Israeli raid on Gaza hospital, insists Hamas not use it as a ‘shield’
UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief, Martin Griffiths speaks during an international humanitary conference for civilians in Gaza, at the Elysee Presidential Palace, in Paris, on November 9, 2023. (Photo by LUDOVIC MARIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
The United Nations’ top emergency relief official on Wednesday condemned the Israeli military operation in Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital and said Hamas must not use it as a ‘shield’ for their activities.
“Look, Hamas must not, should not, use a place like a hospital as a shield for their presence,” said Martin Griffiths in a video statement, adding that “hospitals should not become a place of – a war zone – of danger.”
Earlier on X, Griffiths said he was “appalled” by overnight reports of Israeli military operations inside the hospital.
The U.N. World Health Organization says Shifa patients have needs that are “well beyond basic care.” Images reportedly from the facility showed medics trying to keep newborns warm in blankets because power for incubators had failed.
“The babies have no incubators,” Griffiths said. “Some are dead already. We can’t move them out. It’s too dangerous.”
“I understand the Israelis’ concern for trying to find the leadership of Hamas, that’s not our problem,” he added. “Our problem is protecting the people of Gaza from what’s being visited upon them.”
Maryland middle school DEI teacher under investigation for Israel-Hamas comments
A Diversity, Equity and Inclusion teacher at a Maryland middle school is being investigated over social media posts suggesting Hamas terrorists’ attack on Israel was a hoax. (Google Maps)
A Diversity, Equity and Inclusion teacher at a Maryland middle school is being investigated over a social media posts suggesting the Hamas terrorists’ attack on Israel was a hoax and other posts about the war in the Middle East.
Sabrina Khan-Williams, a World Studies teacher and a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team leader at Tilden Middle School, made a series of posts doubting reports about Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack against Israel, according to Facebook screenshots obtained by The Daily Wire.
“Debunked!! No music festival attack. Babies were not burned. Women were not violated,” she wrote in one post.
More than 11,000 people have been killed in Gaza and Israel since Hamas launched its largest attack against Israel in decades on Oct. 7, prompting a military response from Israeli forces. Thousands more have been wounded, and many others have been taken hostage by Hamas and raped, tortured and murdered.
Kahn-Williams suggested in another post that Hamas did not start the war against Israel.
“Hamas did not start this. They were just the perfect vehicle for Zionists to continue its apartheid,” she wrote.
Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion contributed to this update.
Turkish President Erdogan labels Israel ‘terrorist state’
ANKARA, TURKIYE – NOVEMBER 15: Turkish President and the Leader of the Justice and Development (AK) Party Recep Tayyip Erdogan makes statements as he attends his party’s group meeting at the Turkish Grand National Assembly in Ankara, Turkiye on November 15, 2023. (Photo by Emin Sansar/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made incendiary anti-Israel comments on Wednesday, calling Israel a “terrorist state” intent on destroying Gaza and its residents.
In a speech to members of his own political party, Erdogan also vowed to bring Israeli political and military leaders before an international tribunal to be tried for war crimes.
“Israel is implementing a strategy of total destruction of a city and its people,” Erdogan said. “I say openly that Israel is a terrorist state.”
In the same speech, Erdogan referred to Hamas terrorists as “resistance fighters” trying to protect their land and people.
Turkey recently normalized relations with Israel but its war with Hamas in Gaza has again strained their ties. Israel recalled its diplomats from Turkey last month after Erdogan accused Israel of committing war crimes. Turkey later also recalled its ambassador from Israel.
Turkey has found itself at odds with its NATO allies, most of whom have backed Israel’s right to defend itself following the Hamas terrorist attack on Oct. 7, while Turkey has echoed the stances of other Middle Eastern nations in questioning Israel and defending the Palestinians.
Fox News Digital’s Peter Aitken and the Associated Press contributed to this update.
Reports of a potential hostage deal between Israel and Hamas is evidence that the terror group is reeling from the IDF’s barrage of Gaza, a top adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told FOX News Tuesday.
Hamas and Israel are reportedly close to to a deal that would exchange as many as 70 women and children held hostage by Hamas in return for the release of female Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
Mark Regev, who recently served as Israel’s ambassador to the United Kingdom and is now a senior adviser to Netanyahu, said one aspect of the deal should underline how evil Hamas truly is.
He cited a figure of 240 people estimated to be held by Hamas, including 32 children and infants.
“I always ask us to remember what sort of people kidnap babies and infants, what sort of people can kidnap a 9-month-old baby. They really are sick. They really are depraved. What more could one say about Hamas?” Regev said.
“But if they are moving towards releasing hostages, it’s not because they have suddenly become humanitarians. It’s because they’ve been on the receiving end of the IDF’s (Israeli Defense Force) military might. And they are feeling the pain, feeling the pressure.”
Regev said he is hopeful for a deal soon, while reiterating the IDF’s pressure campaign must continue in order to expedite the possibility of future prisoner releases by a potentially teetering Hamas.
Fox News Digital’s Charles Creitz contributed to this update.
IDF emphasizes hospital operation targets Hamas, not civilians
An aerial view shows the compound of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on November 7, 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. (BASHAR TALEB/AFP via Getty Images)
The Israel Defense Forces emphasized Wednesday that its forces conducting a “precise and targeted operation” at the al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza are targeting Hamas.
The White House confirmed Tuesday that Hamas terrorists are using Gaza’s largest hospital, al-Shifa, and the tunnels beneath it as a base for military operations and to hold hostages. Both Hamas and hospital officials have denied the allegation.
“Israel is at war with Hamas, not with the civilians in Gaza,” said Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, a spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces. “The IDF has publicly warned time and again that Hamas’s continued military use of Shifa Hospital jeopardizes its protected status under international law.”
Hagari said Israeli forces in Gaza included medics and Arabic speakers to try and provide assistance in the “complex and sensitive environment.”
Israel continues to attack Hamas military targets in Gaza with a relentless campaign of airstrikes. Thousands of Palestinians have moved southward toward the Rafah border crossing into Egypt as the Israeli military has urged civilians to evacuate the warzone in the north.
Fox News Digital’s Brandon Gillespie and the Associated Press contributed to this update.
An Israeli practises using a newly acquired gun, at a weapons distribution point for people allowed to carry arms, at the Ayyelet HaShahar Kibbutz, in northern Israel, near the Lebanese border on October 12, 2023. (Photo by JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images)
Israeli citizens are rushing to arm themselves in the wake of the deadly Oct. 7 terror attacks.
A news release from the Ministry of National Security said more than 236,000 new requests for gun permits have been filed since the attack – a figure equal to the number filed over 20 years, the ministry said.
Israelis feel uneased after Hamas terrorists caught the country off-guard, infiltrating through the south and slaughtering more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, at a music festival and in their homes.
Armed civilian security squads entered the breach in the army’s absence to fight off some of the attackers. Shortly after, Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir said he would expand and arm such squads with 10,000 assault rifles that would be distributed particularly in border towns, mixed Jewish-Arab cities and West Bank settlements.
Some 1,700 permits are being issued daily after the Ministry of National Security eased restrictions, the report said. By comparison, an average of 94 were issued daily in November 2022, and an average of 42 a year earlier.
Israeli soldiers killed in war against Hamas rises to 49: IDF
Israel Defense Forces said captains Omri Yosef David(left) and Yedidya Asher Lev(right) were killed in Gaza on Tuesday. (Israel Defense Forces)
The Israel Defense Forces announced two more soldiers were killed on Tuesday as Israel’s war against Hamas terrorists continues.
The fallen have been identified as Omri Yosef David, 27, and Yedidya Asher Lev, 26, and their families have been notified. Both David and Lev were captains, according to the IDF’s memorial page.
As of Wednesday morning, there here have been 49 IDF soldiers killed since ground operations began in Gaza.
On Wednesday, the IDF said its forces have entered Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital after surrounding the facility earlier.
The army said its forces were carrying out “a precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a specified area” at al-Shifa Hospital. It gave no further details but said it was taking steps to avoid harm to civilians.
In a statement, the Israeli military said it had warned “the relevant authorities in Gaza once again that all military activities within the hospital must cease within 12 hours. Unfortunately, it did not.”
Fox News’ Yonat Friling and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Israel ‘will not stop’ operations in Gaza until Hamas destroyed, hostages released: defense minister
ISRAEL – NOVEMBER 11: Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visits the 91st Division’s base in northern Israel, November 11, 2023. (Photo by Israeli Defense Minister/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant said the Jewish state “will not stop its operations in Gaza” until Hamas is obliterated and hostages are back home with their families during a Wednesday meeting with U.S. Special Coordinator Brett McGurk.
The meeting between Gallant and McGurk, U.S. Special Coordinator for the Middle East, took place at the Ministry of Defense’s headquarters in Tel Aviv. The two discussed operational developments in Israel’s war against Hamas and the complexity of fighting the terrorist group given that it operates in civilian buildings.
Intelligence and additional details related to the hostages being held by Hamas and efforts to bring them home were also discussed.
The two leaders spoke on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and how to overcome the challenges in facilitating aid to the civilian population, as well as the international community’s role in getting more urgent supplies delivered to the area.
Gallant also expressed his appreciation for America’s ongoing support and deep partnership, and the two agreed to remain in close contact.
Medical supplies provided by Israeli forces arrive at Gaza hospital
Israel Defense Forces said medical supplies provided by the force have arrived at the al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza. (Israel Defense Forces/X)
The Israel Defense Forces said medical supplies, including baby food and incubators, have arrived at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza amid the targeted attack on Hamas terrorists inside the building.
“We can now confirm that incubators, baby food and medical supplies, provided by the IDF, have successfully reached the hospital,” the IDF wrote on X.
The supplies arrived Wednesday morning after Israeli soldiers began a “precise and targeted operation” against Hamas, which operates out of the hospital. The operation remains active, according to the IDF.
Arabic-speaking soldiers and the IDF’s medical team are reportedly at the hospital to ensure the supplies make it to those in need.
The Israeli army alleges the main command center for Hamas is hidden inside the hospital, in underground tunnels beneath the structures that house hundreds of patients and medical staff. Both Hamas and al-Shifa Hospital staff deny the allegations.
More than 11,200 Palestinians — two-thirds of them women and minors — have been killed since the war began, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths. About 2,700 people have been reported missing.
Israel Defense Forces said troops killed Hamas terrorists and encountered explosive devices and terror cells during its “precise and targeted operation” at the al-Shifa Hospital.
The area of the hospital where the operation is taking place was decided upon by intelligence indicating Hamas activity was coming from the area, the IDF said.
Before entering, troops discovered explosive devices and terrorist cells, which prompted an “engagement” that left Hamas terrorists dead, according to the IDF.
A Hamas training camp containing terror tunnel shafts, classrooms, intelligence material and dozens of weapons, including rockets and loaded RPGs, was located in the area on Tuesday by Israeli forces.
In addition, the IDF said it struck two terrorists with a UAV after it identified a terrorist cell exiting a building with an anti-tank missile launching post in the northern Gaza Strip. The terrorists were carrying suspected IEDs, which were planted in the area.
Israeli forces seized the Hamas terror organization’s military headquarters in Gaza this week. On Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces revealed new details about Hamas’ subterranean “pit” command center. Israeli soldiers were reportedly surprised by the level of sophistication of Hamas’ underground high command quarters, drawing comparisons to the IDF’s own “pit” beneath its Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv.
The Hamas subterranean headquarters includes a special shaft with an elevator that can reportedly reach a depth of 30 meters (nearly 100 ft.) and fit seven people inside. The elevator descends to a specially- designed tunnel that is air conditioned and outfitted with oxygen. In addition, the tunnel includes advanced communication equipment, suggesting that top Hamas officials hide in there, including Gaza’s Hamas chief Yahiya Sinwar and Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif.
The Israeli military doctrine has traditionally focused on deterrence rather than dismantling the Hamas terror organizations. However, following the unprecedented Hamas massacre on Oct. 7 that claimed the lives of 1,200 Israelis and foreigners, mostly civilians, Israel has vowed to dismantle Hamas from the Gaza Strip.
IDF Division 162 Commander Brig. Gen. Itzik Cohen stressed that the Israeli military is currently implementing the goal of eliminating Hamas’ military and governing capabilities in Gaza City.
“We created conditions which could lead to taking apart the military and governance capabilities of Hamas in Gaza City,” Cohen explained.
“Since the start of the invasion, the IDF and Division 162 have been taking apart the centers of gravity of Hamas and the capabilities that it spent years building. Since the start of the invasion, divisional forces have killed over 1,000 Hamas terrorists and reduced rocket fire from northern Gaza at Israel by around 80%,” the IDF general added.
Earlier this week, Israeli forces from the Golani Brigade seized Hamas’ parliament building in Gaza City, an important symbol of the Iranian-backed terror organization’s political power in the coastal enclave.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, a retired IDF general and former commando from the Shayetet 13 naval elite unit, recently said Hamas is unable to stop the Israeli advances throughout the Gaza Strip.
“Hamas isn’t capable of stopping the IDF. The IDF is advancing to every (necessary) location,” Gallant stated.
“The Hamas terrorist organization has lost control of Gaza, terrorists are fleeing south, civilians are looting Hamas bases, and they have no confidence in their government,” he assessed.
The Israeli army announced on Wednesday morning that it had launched “a precise and targeted operation against Hamas” in one part of the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. The medical center has emerged as a hub for Hamas activities, including its command centers below the hospital.
“The IDF is conducting a ground operation in Gaza to defeat Hamas and rescue our hostages. Israel is at war with Hamas, not with the civilians in Gaza,” the Israeli military confirmed in an official statement.
Hamas has systematically used hospitals, mosques, kindergartens, schools and private homes for storing weapons and hiding terrorist operatives. The IDF recently revealed that the Rantisi Children’s Hospital, named after Hamas founder Abdel Aziz Rantisi, was being used for weapons storage and has likely been the location where Hamas has been hiding hostages for more than five weeks.
The Muslim Brotherhood has been working to destroy the United States from within for DECADES, this is their secret written plan exposed. pic.twitter.com/2bodbC4vcg
An American mom whose child is being held hostage in Gaza by Palestinian terrorists delivered the most caustic speech. It hurts but you need to put yourself through it.pic.twitter.com/NqWWSiHKAB
I’ve never in my life been in such a huge crowd. The #MarchForIsrael rally today was incredible. Singing. Dancing. Prayers. Inspiration. There was no violence. No vandalism. No destruction. Just a real, raw, peaceful, gathering. #BringThemHome ❤️🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/CiL36UDpZ2
🔥🚨HIDDEN HISTORY: On December 1, 1963 Malcolm X gave a speech called “God’s Judgement of White America.” where he identified the ‘White Liberal’ as the most ‘dangerous’ and ‘deceitful’ thing in the Western Hemisphere.
Evidence showing how Hamas terrorists used Gaza’s Rantisi Hospital for Children as a terror base was revealed by the Israeli army on Monday.
“Hamas hides in hospitals. Today, we will expose this to the world,” IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Daniel Hagari said as he presented the evidence at a press conference.
Atypically, Hagari, himself was featured in the video footage, as he accompanied the Israeli Navy commando Shayetet 13, the unit he once commanded, on a raid deep inside the Gaza Strip, Hagari, at first, showed evidence of a weapons depot under the Rantisi Hospital that included suicide bombs, AK-47 rifles, grenades, RPGs and more.
BREAKING:
The Israeli Army took control of the Rantisi children’s hospital in Gaza & found a secret tunnel leading 20 m below ground to a Hamas command & control center.
Weapons, baby bottles & motorcycles in the tunnel indicate hostages were held there pic.twitter.com/ArFWOqfkgl
On Sunday, the IDF presented footage showing terrorists firing RPGs from the entrance of al-Quds Hospital.
“Hamas uses hospitals as an instrument of war,” Hagari confirmed while standing in front of the displayed weapons. He was standing in a room painted with trees and other children’s drawings above the weapons displayed on the floor.
Hagari then went to another room, showing motorcycles that were used by terrorists during the Oct. 7 massacre of Israel’s Gaza border communities, suggesting that the terrorists likely brought some of the Israeli hostages to Rantisi Hospital.
More evidence of this was found in the room next door, where a woman’s clothing lay on a chair with pieces of rope attached to it. Above the chair, a baby’s bottle was found and diapers lay on the floor nearby.
The IDF suspects that Israeli hostages, including small children and their mothers, were held in the complex and is analyzing the evidence to gain more clues as to the identity and the whereabouts of the hostages, Hagari said.
Army Radio later reported that a bloody knife found in the basement was also being analyzed.
This area of the hospital basement was closed off from the rest of the hospital and contained improvised sanitary installations, including toilets, showers and a kitchen, and had its own ventilation system.
Hagari also showed a list of guard shifts hanging on the wall of a room decorated like a living room, with the title “Al-Aqsa flood” (the Hamas name for the war) and began with Oct. 7.
“Our war is against Hamas, not against the people in Gaza. Especially not the sick, the women, or the children,” Hagari reiterated at the press conference. “Our war is against Hamas who uses them as human shields.”
Rantisi Hospital as well as other hospitals in northern Gaza were evacuated with the help of Israeli forces, Hagari added.
Supporters of Palestinians demonstrate near the Israeli Consulate on May 18, 2021, in Houston. Hundreds of protesters chanted slogans of “Free, free Palestine. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” (Photo: Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle/Getty Images)
Left-wing American Jews feel betrayed by the Left.
It’s the Left that remains anti-Israel even after the greatest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, and even though most Palestinians and their supporters explicitly call for the destruction of the Jewish state: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
Progressive American Jews are shocked by their fellow progressives. But the only thing that is shocking is their shock. Here’s why:
The Left has been calling for an economic boycott of Israel for decades and has labeled Israel an “apartheid” state.
The Left labels America, the most tolerant, multiethnic society in history, “systemically racist.”
The Left called for “defunding the police,” supports attorneys general who abolish bail for violent criminals, and praised demonstrations against America—including many that included vandalism and violence—for more than half a year.
The Left supports all-black dorms and all-black graduations on college campuses. The Left has almost destroyed every liberal ideal regarding race. The University of California, among many other left-wing institutions, has labeled “racist” the liberal ideal of being colorblind, and labeled “racist” the beautiful anti-racist sentiment “There is only one race, the human race.”
The Left—specifically, schools of education and teachers unions—has ruined elementary schools and high schools. And it has destroyed universities as institutions that allow open dialogue.
The Left affirms the lie that men can become women and women can become men, and it
works to crush the life and career of anyone who denies that people can become the other sex. The Left supports the demise of women’s sports by fighting to allow any man who says he is a woman to compete in women’s sports. The Left supports putting children who say they are the other sex on hormone-blocking drugs and supports allowing girls under the age of 21 (and sometimes under 18) who say they are boys to have their breasts surgically removed.
The Left has been waging the most successful war against free speech in American history. As a result, almost half of America’s young people say they believe in free speech but not for “hate speech,” which, of course, means they do not believe in free speech.
The Left asserts that the human fetus at any stage of development is, literally, worthless, certainly worth less than a dog, if the woman carrying it wants an abortion.
The Left has essentially destroyed mainstream journalism. Mainstream media no longer hold truth as an ideal. They promoted the lie for nearly two years that Russia colluded with the Trump presidential campaign in 2016. (Many still do.) They continue to promote the lie that having to present an ID when voting is “racist.”
The Left has poisoned American medicine. The American Medical Association has announced that birth certificates should no longer list the sex of a child. Medical boards threaten to suspend or even revoke the medical licenses of physicians who question the efficacy of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine or prescribe hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin to patients in the early stages of COVID-19.
The Left has enthusiastically supported the America-hating and Israel-hating Black Lives Matter organization and the flag-defaming athletes who refused to stand for the national anthem.
The Left has promulgated the racist doctrine in most American schools and businesses that all whites are racist.
The Left teaches schoolchildren that they should be ashamed of their past and that their future is awful (due to carbon emissions), and that capitalism is bad and socialism good.
The Left, in short, hates the West, the most decent civilization ever created, and hates America, the most decent country ever created.
The Left, for decades, has declared Zionism racist—meaning that Israel’s existence is inherently immoral—and has charged Israel with “genocide” against the Palestinians.
Yet, now Jews on the Left are simply shocked that the people who hold all these contemptible positions either morally equate Hamas with Israel or actually support those who chant “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” which is in fact a call to genocide. Specifically, genocide of the Jews.
Unlike the liberal Jew, the left-wing Jew—the professor, the columnist, the teacher—is a destructive fool. But the liberal Jew is inexcusably naive about the Left, nearly all of whose positions have nothing in common with liberalism, not to mention with the Torah.
Talk about bad timing. On Wednesday, the White House announced a “National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia,” the necessity of which, according to awkwardly scripted remarks by Vice President Kamala Harris, is that Muslims endure a disproportionate number of “hate-fueled attacks and other discriminatory incidents.”
Leave it to the Biden White House to pick a moment when a wave of antisemitism is surging across America to announce this. Set aside the dearth of evidence that Muslims face persecution or discrimination in mainstream American society. Last year set a record for anti-Jewish hate crimes, breaking the previous record that was set the year before. Since the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, antisemitism has erupted in our cities and on campuses, this time with the imprimatur and cooperation of the identitarian left. The idea that now is the time to address Islamophobia is so out of touch with the reality of the moment, only the Biden-Harris administration could possibly have come up with it.
But the announcement inadvertently serves to highlight a rather disturbing development in our civic life. At this point, some three weeks removed from the Hamas slaughter of 1,400 Israelis, it’s hard to deny that we have a domestic constituency for Hamas in this country. Generally speaking, it’s comprised of a broad swath of the woke left together with a broad swath of Muslim-Americans, united in what amounts to an unstable Red-Green alliance.
It’s also easy to see that this Hamas constituency is warming up for a season of real violence.
We’ve all seen the recent videos of self-righteous Hamas sympathizers tearing down posters of missing or kidnapped Israeli children. In almost every case, their actions are accompanied by either a defiant callousness or a dead-eyed nonchalance. Pleading with them or interrogating them is pointless, as every person who has tried to do so on camera has quickly discovered. These people are antisemites, and it’s not possible to shame them out of their antisemitism. They own it gladly.
But this week, a different sort of video appeared on social media. A group of Jews in Manhattan’s Upper East Side physically protected a bunch of posters of Israeli child hostages from an antisemite who was trying to tear them down. The man, who of course covered his face with a keffiyeh, tried to force his way through and a scuffle ensued. Eventually, a cop pulled up and appeared to arrest the man as a crowd gathered.
Just happened. 68th and Lex. Jews protecting the posters of Jewish children hostages from being torn down. pic.twitter.com/xIrcdSf9Ne
The incident illustrates the violence lurking just beneath the surface of the antisemitic, pro-Hamas sentiment now manifesting all across the country. The kind of people who are willing to casually rip down posters of children taken hostage by terrorists are not those who have any kind of principled commitment to nonviolence. They might or might not individually be cowards, but they clearly have no problem with violence as such — see, for example, the BLM posters celebrating Hamas paragliders who slaughtered more than 250 Israeli concertgoers on Oct. 7.
This is especially true on our nation’s college campuses. This week at Harvard, whose students have staged some of the most blatant and vile pro-Hamas demonstrations, including straightforward calls for the ethnic cleansing of Jews, a group of keffiyeh-waving students surrounded and then assaulted a Jewish student who was simply trying to get away from them.
Some of these assailants have been identified, like Ibrahim Bharmal, a student at Harvard Law School and an editor at the Harvard Law Review, as well as Elom Tettey-Tamaklo, a student of Harvard Divinity School. That a Harvard law student feels free to harass and assault Jews on campus — the opposite of what we should expect from a student of the law — suggests not only that antisemitism on campus is a real threat to Jewish students but that the pro-Hamas woke left is growing in boldness and is reasonably confident it can target individual Jews on campus with impunity.
Jon Levine called the Harvard assault a LARP pogrom, which is exactly what it was. And as we know from 2020, left-wing riot and assault LARPers eventually get around to the real thing. Indeed, all the elements are falling into place for a season of civic violence of the kind we saw during the summer of 2020. The White House’s ham-fisted campaign against Islamophobia is all the confirmation you need that Jewish Americans, not Muslims, are the ones in real danger right now.
This is something of a pattern on the left. When a dangerous or unstable element in its coalition is revealed as such, the official narrative is to pretend that element is under unique threat from the American mainstream. Look at the media and Democrat reaction to the mass shooting at a Christian school in Nashville back in March. The shooter was Audrey Hale, a 28-year-old woman who identified as a man. She killed three children and three adults before police took her out. Hale was mentally unwell and left behind a kind of trans shooter manifesto, which was suspiciously never released to the public.
In the wake of the shooting, all we heard from the corporate press and Democratic leaders was that transgender Americans were under threat. Not a word about how transgender ideology attracts mentally unstable, unwell people who need help, not affirmation. That was not the conversation they wanted to have, even after the slaughter of six innocent people.
Likewise, we’re going to hear a lot more about how Muslims and left-wing Hamas apologists are the real victims, even as Jewish students suffer escalating attacks, harassment, and threats. Make no mistake, the violent rhetoric you hear at these pro-Hamas rallies, the revolting practice of tearing down posters of Israeli children taken hostage, the targeting of individual Jewish students on campus — it’s all leading somewhere very bad.
John Daniel Davidson is a senior editor at The Federalist. His writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Claremont Review of Books, The New York Post, and elsewhere. He is the author of the forthcoming book, Pagan America: the Decline of Christianity and the Dark Age to Come, to be published in March 2024. Follow him on Twitter, @johnddavidson.
The United States is not trying to dictate limits for Israel, the White House said on Friday, as the Israelis expanded their military operation in Gaza against Hamas militants. The fresh military onslaught by Israel comes as the United States scrambles to arrange a humanitarian pause for deliveries of fuel and relief aid to Gaza civilians. How the expanded ground operation will impact efforts toward a pause was unclear.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby, at a news briefing, would not comment on the Israeli expanded ground operation. But he said Washington supported Israel’s right to defend itself after Hamas militants killed 1,400 people in southern Israel on Oct. 7. “We’re not drawing red lines for Israel,” he said. He said the United States continued to discuss with Israel the aims of its operation, the need to protect civilians in Gaza, the effort to gain the safe return of Israeli hostages and the need to consider what comes after ground operations in Gaza.
“Since the very beginning, we have had and will continue to have conversations with them about the manner in which they’re doing this. And we have not been shy about expressing our concerns over civilian casualties, collateral damage, and the approach that they might choose to take. That’s what friends can do, and we’re friends,” he said.
Most people now realize that Iran is directly involved with Hamas and the recent attacks on Israel through the funding they have received from Biden, the $6 billion, and $58 billion through oil revenue when Biden ignored the embargo placed on their production by Trump.
This can even be traced back to when Obama was president, giving Iran pallets full of millions of dollars. Most of the money from Biden and Obama has most likely ended up in the hands of terrorists like Hamas and Hezbollah that have killed Jews and Americans.
Obama has long been suspected of favoring Iran over the people of Israel and their welfare and having strong Muslim sympathies that may have been instrumental in his Middle East policies.
We have a New Speaker, Mike Johnson. Will he be the anti-RINO we all have been hoping for?
House Republicans came to their collective senses on Oct. 25 and elected U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) as the new Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, ushering in new leadership three weeks after former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was ousted when 208 House Democrats joined a coalition of 8 House Republicans on Oct. 3 in removing his via motion to vacate the chair.
The vote among Republicans for once was unanimous on the House floor, with Johnson getting even more support than did McCarthy when he was finally elected in January. What remains to be seen is if Republicans will be able to keep the conference united when the House proceeds to imminent appropriations bills Johnson has promised to put onto the floor in the coming days and weeks.
In an Oct. 23 dear colleague letter to House Republicans prior to winning the internal conference election for the Speaker nomination, Johnson laid out the legislative calendar for appropriations for the next 18 months. Per the calendar, four appropriations bills will come up immediately in the next week: Energy and Water, Legislative Branch, Interior and Environment and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development.
Four more would follow in the week after that, in time for the Nov. 17 when the current continuing resolution comes due. Johnson acknowledged that his proposed, expedited schedule for passage of appropriations was “ambitious,” and afforded that there might not be time to work out differences with the Senate.
If so, Johnson also offered another continuing resolution as a fallback: “if another stopgap measure is needed to extend government funding beyond the November 17 deadline, I would propose a measure that expires on January 15 or April 15… to ensure the Senate cannot jam the House with a Christmas omnibus.”
A.F. Branco has taken his two greatest passions (art and politics) and translated them into cartoons that have been popular all over the country in various news outlets, including NewsMax, Fox News, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and “The Washington Post.” He has been recognized by such personalities as Rep. Devin Nunes, Dinesh D’Souza, James Woods, Chris Salcedo, Sarah Palin, Larry Elder, Lars Larson, Rush Limbaugh, and President Trump.
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BBC/Nik Millard “We see women of all ages… We see the bruises, we learn about the cuts and tears, and we know they have been sexually abused,” Captain Maayan told the BBC
BBC/Nik Millard Hamas fighters stormed the Nova festival on 7 October and killed hundreds
BBC/Dave Bull Israelis are still grappling with the Hamas attack in October
BBC/Dave Bull” It really feels like Hamas learned how to weaponize women’s bodies from ISIS in Iraq, from cases in Bosnia,” said Cochav Elkayam-Levy
BBC/Dave Bull May Golan: “For the first five days, we still had terrorists on the ground in Israel. And there were hundreds, hundreds of bodies everywhere.”
BBC/Dave Bull Debris litters the ground at the Nova festival site
BBC/Dave Bull” Israel on 7 October is not the same country that woke up the following morning”: police chief Yaacov Shabtai
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