Feed aggregator

National Basketball Association legend Shaquille “Shaq” O’Neal this past weekend sent a heartfelt video message in English and Hebrew to survivors of the Oct. 7 massacre and bereaved families.

The 52-year-old, whose trophy shelf includes three titles with the Los Angeles Lakers and one with the Miami Heat, delivered the greeting to Timberlane Camp in Toronto, which is hosting young people who went through the Hamas-led attack on the northwestern Negev and families affected by the tragedy.

The California-based pro-Israel organization Creative Community for Peace and Canadian charity organization OneFamily, which assists Israeli victims of terrorism, are supporting the initiative.

“Camp Timberlane! Hello! Shalom! This is Shaquille O’Neal. I just wanted to give you guys a shout out and let you know I love you. To all the amazing children from the OneFamily, I know you came from far, far away. Hope you’re having a good time. We love you so very much. Thank you for coming, and we’ll talk to you soon. All right.” O’Neal said, before switching to Hebrew.

“Shalom. Baruch Hashem [Praise God]. L’Shanah Tovah [Have a happy new year]. Shabbat Shalom.”

WATCH:

JNS

The first night of the 2024 Democratic National Convention featured many attacks on former president Donald Trump, including some false and misleading attacks. Here’s a roundup of some claims that caught attention, in the order in which they were made.

– – –

“We tried to expand Social Security and Medicare. Donald Trump tried to cut them year after year after year.”

-Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.)

This is false. The Harris-Walz campaign’s social media also posted a version of this claim.

On Medicare, virtually all anticipated savings sought by Trump would have been wrung from health providers, not Medicare beneficiaries, as a way of holding down costs and improving the solvency of the old-age health program. Trump, in fact, borrowed many proposals from Barack Obama, who had failed to get them through Congress.

Marc Goldwein, senior vice president at the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, which seeks to lower the budget deficit, closely studied the Trump proposals each year.

“The basic argument here is quite ridiculous,” he said of the Harris-Walz campaign post. Goldwein noted that the Inflation Reduction Act, in which Harris cast the tiebreaking vote for passage, also reduced health-care costs for Medicare, such as through inflation caps. “By the same logic, you could say Joe Biden cut Medicare.”

As for Social Security, Trump kept his promise not to touch retirement benefits, bucking longtime efforts by Republicans to raise the retirement age. But Trump did seek, without success, to reduce spending for Social Security Disability Insurance as well as Supplemental Security Income, which is administered by the Social Security Administration.

Goldwein said that the reductions generally were intended to make the programs more efficient, such as eliminating double payments of both unemployment insurance and disability (also sought by Obama). He also said the proposals were relatively small.

Trump has insisted he will not cut benefits for Medicare or Social Security if he is elected president again.

– – –

“He [Trump] told us to inject bleach into our bodies.”

-Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.)

This is exaggerated. Trump did not say people should inject bleach into their bodies. Instead, at a pandemic briefing in 2020, he spoke confusingly of an “injection inside” of lungs with a disinfectant. He made the remarks after an aide presented a study showing how bleach could kill the virus when it remained on surfaces. Trump later claimed he was speaking “sarcastically,” though he seemed serious at the time.

Readers can judge for themselves. Here are his full remarks on April 23 that year: “I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning, because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it’d be interesting to check that, so that you’re going to have to use medical doctors with, but it sounds interesting to me.”

– – –

“When Donald Trump was president, corporate America ran wild. Donald Trump did not bring back the auto industry. When Donald Trump was president, auto plants closed. Trump did nothing.”

-Shawn Fain, United Auto Workers president

This is exaggerated. There were some new auto-plants built during the Trump presidency. Until the pandemic, Trump’s overall record on auto industry jobs was pretty good. From February 2017 to February 2020, just before the pandemic crashed the U.S. economy, Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows a gain of 34,100 auto manufacturing jobs and 36,400 auto retail jobs – for a total of more than 70,000 jobs in three years.

– – –

“She [Kamala Harris] won’t be sending love letters to dictators.”

-Former secretary of state and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton

There is no evidence that Trump sent such letters. Clinton is making a bit of a leap to suggest that Trump has written “love letters” to dictators.

Clinton appears to be referring to a 2018 comment from Trump about North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un: “We fell in love, okay? No, really, he wrote me beautiful letters, and they’re great letters. We fell in love.”

That’s certainly an unusual statement, but he’s referring to letters written by Kim. We do not know what Trump wrote to Kim – or other dictators, for that matter.

Former national security adviser John Bolton, in his tell-all memoir, “The Room Where It Happened,” described one of Kim’s letters as “pure puffery, written probably by some clerk in North Korea’s agitprop bureau, but Trump loved it.” After another such letter, Trump even mused that he wanted to invite Kim to the White House – what Bolton called a “potential disaster of enormous magnitude.”

– – –

“It has to be some form of punishment for the woman. Yeah, there has to be some form.”

-Trump, quoted in a DNC video

Trump quickly walked back this statement. This March 3, 2016, quote from Trump pops up in the video as a woman, Amanda Zurawski, describes how she was not able to seek an abortion in Texas after her water broke early and her pregnancy was no longer viable. “I was punished for three days, having to wait for either my baby to die or me to die, or both. I was stuck in this horrific hell of both, wanting to hear her heartbeat and also hoping I wouldn’t,” Zurawski said.

The juxtaposition might leave the impression that Trump still believes this. But he walked back the statement the same day he made it in a town hall.

“If Congress were to pass legislation making abortion illegal and the federal courts upheld this legislation, or any state were permitted to ban abortion under state and federal law, the doctor or any other person performing this illegal act upon a woman would be held legally responsible, not the woman,” Trump said in a statement. “The woman is a victim in this case as is the life in her womb.”

– – –

“I ran for president in 2020 because of what I saw in Charlottesville in August of 2017 … When the president was asked what he thought had happened, Donald Trump said, and I quote, ‘there are very fine people on both sides.’ My God, that’s what he said. That is what he said and what he meant.”

-President Joe Biden

This topic has been heavily disputed. President Trump’s response to the march in Charlottesville was a central event of his presidency. Over the course of several days, Trump made a number of contradictory remarks, permitting both his supporters and foes to create their own version of what happened.

Biden has frequently claimed that Trump said the white supremacists were “very fine people.” But the reality is more complicated. Trump was initially criticized for not speaking more forcefully against the white nationalists on the day of the clashes, Aug. 12. Then, in an Aug. 14 statement, Trump actually condemned right-wing hate groups – “those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans.”

But Trump muddied the waters on Aug. 15, a day later, by also saying: “You had people – and I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists – because they should be condemned totally. But you had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and white nationalists.” It was in this news conference that he said: “You had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides.”

Trump added: “There were people in that rally – and I looked the night before – if you look, there were people protesting very quietly the taking down of the statue of Robert E. Lee. I’m sure in that group there were some bad ones.”

The problem for Trump is that there was no evidence of anyone other than neo-Nazis and white supremacists in the Friday night rally on Aug. 11. He asserted there were people who were not alt-right who were “very quietly” protesting the removal of Lee’s statue.

It’s possible Trump became confused and was really referring to the Saturday rallies. But that’s also wrong. A Fact Checker examination of videos and testimony about the Saturday rallies found that there were white supremacists, there were counterprotesters – and there were heavily armed anti-government militias who showed up on Saturday.

The evidence shows there were no quiet protesters against removing the statue that weekend.

– – –

“[We’re] removing every lead pipe from schools and homes so every child can drink clean water.”

-Biden

This is very exaggerated. Biden secured $15 billion through the bipartisan infrastructure law for lead pipe replacement. But the Environmental Protection Agency has projected that replacing the nearly 10 million lead pipes that supply U.S. homes with drinking water could cost at least $45 billion.

– – –

“More children in America are killed by a gunshot than any other cause in the United States – more die from a bullet than cancer, accidents or anything else in the United States of America.”

-Biden

This is misleading. Biden is using a statistic on gun deaths of “children and teens,” meaning it includes deaths of 18- and 19-year-olds, who are legally considered adults in most states. When you focus only on children – 17 and younger – motor vehicle deaths (broadly defined) still rank No. 1, as they have for six decades, though the gap is rapidly closing. Deaths of children from gun violence have increased about 50 percent from 2019 to 2021, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows.

– – –

“We know from his own chief of staff, four-star General John Kelly, that Trump while in Europe would not go to the gravesites in France of the brave service members who gave their lives in this country, he called them ‘suckers and losers.’ ”

-Biden

This has been vehemently denied by Trump. For his part, John F. Kelly, Trump’s White House chief of staff in 2018 put out a statement in 2023 which blasted Trump for “rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France.”

However it is important to note what his statement did not say, which is the reason Trump did not visit the cemetery was because he thought the fallen soldiers were “losers,” and not any other reason for not visiting.

– – –

“We have a thousand billionaires in America. You know what is their average tax rate they pay? 8.2 percent.”

-Biden

This is very misleading, as Biden is comparing apples and oranges.

The “lower tax rate” refers to a 2021 White House study concluding that the 400 wealthiest taxpayers paid an effective tax rate of 8 percent. But that estimate included unrealized gains in the income calculation. That’s not how the tax laws work. People are taxed on capital gains when they sell their stocks or other assets. So this is only a figure for a hypothetical tax system.

According to IRS data on the top 0.001 percent – 1,475 taxpayers with at least $77 million in adjusted gross income in 2020 – the average tax rate was 23.7 percent. The top 1 percent of taxpayers (income of at least $548,000) paid nearly 26 percent.

– – –

“Donald Trump says he will refuse to accept the election result if he loses again … He’s probably seeing a bloodbath if he loses – in his words.”

-Biden

Biden is quoting a Trump comment from a different topic, and misleadingly applying it here.

Biden suggests Trump said there would be a “bloodbath” if he lost the election. But in a March 16 rally, Trump used the word when talking about the impact of Chinese electric vehicles on the U.S. auto industry.

“China now is building a couple of massive plants where they’re going to build the cars in Mexico and think, they think, that they’re going to sell those cars into the United States with no tax at the border,” Trump said. “We’re going to put a 100 percent tariff on every single car that comes across the line, and you’re not going to be able to sell those cars. If I get elected. Now, if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath, for the whole – that’s going to be the least of it. It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country. That’ll be the least of it. But they’re not going to sell those cars.”

The Trump campaign noted that one of the definitions of “bloodbath,” in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is “a major economic disaster.” It also means “a notably fierce, violent, or destructive contest or struggle.”

(c) Washington Post

*My name is Yisrael Fried, Ruti’s father.* Our baby is now fighting for her life. While most of you are enjoying quality time with your families, going out on trips, and spending these warm summer days together, we are living our worst nightmare. Instead of planning Ruti’s first summer vacation, *we are battling a vicious cancer that has attacked her small body.* Each passing day brings new pain and greater fear. The doctors say that only urgent treatment in Boston can save her life, but the costs are beyond our means. I am begging you—help us save Ruti. *Every donation,* can be the hope that gives her the chance to grow up, *Please don’t leave us alone in this fight.*  Donate now

The U.S. imposed sanctions on the former president of Haiti, Michel Joseph Martelly, Tuesday following accusations that he abused his influence to facilitate drug trafficking into the U.S. and sponsored gangs that have contributed to instability in the Caribbean country. The Treasury Department’s acting undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, Bradley T. Smith, said the action “emphasizes the significant and destabilizing role he and other corrupt political elites have played in perpetuating the ongoing crisis in Haiti.” Haiti is engulfed in gang violence while peaceful protesters are tear-gas sed by police as they call on law enforcement to help them stop the gangs that have been violently seizing control of neighborhoods. Hundreds of police officers from Kenya have arrived in Haiti for a U.N.-backed mission led by the East African country to deal with the gangs. A July United Nations report states that gang violence in Haiti has displaced more than 300,000 children since March — with many children living in makeshift shelters, including schools in poor hygienic conditions, placing them at risk of disease. Martelly, who served as president from 2011 to 2016, was previously sanctioned by the Canadian government in November 2022 for financing gangs. In January, a Haitian judge issued an arrest warrant for Martelly and more than 30 other high-ranking officials accused of government corruption, namely misappropriation of funds or equipment related to Haiti’s National Equipment Center. State Department official Vedant Patel said the Tuesday sanctions were meant to “promote accountability for all individuals whose activities contribute to gang violence and destabilize the political environment in Haiti, regardless of their rank or stature.” The U.S. uses a December 2021 executive order related to foreigners engaged in the drug trade as its authority to impose the sanctions. (AP)

Freed hostage Aviva Siegel reacts to meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, as cease-fire talks resume in a critical week in the Middle East.

Thirteen people were arrested during protests on the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, most them related to a “brief breach” of security fencing “within sight and sound of the United Center,” the city’s police superintendent said Tuesday. More protests were planned throughout the week, including one Tuesday night outside the Israeli Consulate. However, attendance at the main rally on Monday was far below estimates of organizers who had predicted more than 20,000 would show up. Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said Tuesday that the crowd was around 3,500 strong.

Sen. JD Vance on the DNC: “Tim Walz has been going around saying that he served in war and maybe they did it in Chicago so that he could actually, accurately say he visited a combat zone.

Iran said its response to the alleged Israeli killing of a Hamas leader in Tehran could take a long time, signaling that the Islamic Republic won’t rush the expected retaliation that had raised fears of a regional war in the Middle East.

“Time is on our side and it’s possible that the waiting period for this response will be long,” Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Spokesman Ali Mohammad Naeini was cited as saying by Iranian state TV.

“It’s possible that Iran’s response won’t be a repeat of past operations,” he said, adding that Israel “must await calculated and precise strikes at the appropriate time.”

Iran accuses Israel of killing Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility.

In April the IRGC fired an unprecedented barrage of missiles and drones at Israel in retaliation for an air strike on its consulate in Syria. The IRGC is a branch of Iran’s military that reports directly to the country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

(c) Washington Post

“In my perfect world, every Republican is out of the country and all the immigrants come in. That’s what I want.” – DNC attendee

Border Police officers overnight Tuesday found 34 Palestinians who had entered Israel illegally in a Tel Aviv apartment complex. The Arabs were arrested and transferred to the Tel Aviv police for interrogation. An Israeli resident of Tel Aviv called the police on Monday and reported that there were illegal Palestinians in an apartment building in the Shapira neighborhood of south Tel Aviv. Her report followed the explosion in south Tel Aviv by a Palestinian suicide bomber who had entered Israel illegally and planned to carry out a mass-casualty attack but b’chasdei Hashem caused only his own gruesome death and the injury of one Israeli. Sheffi Paz, an activist for the rights of Jews in south Tel Aviv, responded to the report: “It takes a suicide bomber for the police to remember that the neighborhoods of south Tel Aviv are overrun with illegal infiltrators. Tonight, 37 infiltrators were arrested in the Shapira neighborhood. And I still haven’t received an answer to the question: Were their landlords also arrested?” On Sunday evening, Tel Aviv police officers arrested three Palestinian infiltrators who were working (illegally) at a construction site of a kindergarten in the city. They also arrested the infiltrators’ employer. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

A Palestinian taxi triggered a roadside bomb that had been planted in the Shomron city of Jenin with the intention of harming Israeli security forces, lightly wounding the driver, Hebrew media reported on Monday.

Footage published by Israel’s Kan News public broadcaster showed extensive damage to the taxi. No passengers were hurt in the incident, according to Arabic media reports.

Since the beginning of the war with Hamas on Oct. 7, the Israel Defense Forces has carried out intensive ground operations in the Jenin area, arresting hundreds of suspects and dismantling terror infrastructure, including explosives buried under roads, intended to kill IDF soldiers.

In late June, IDF Capt. Alon Sacgiu, 22, a commander in the Haruv Reconnaissance Unit of the military’s Kfir Brigade, was killed by such a bomb during counterterror operations in the Jenin camp.

Only days later, IDF Sgt. First Class (res.) Yehuda Geto, 22, was killed by a roadside bomb in the Nur Shams camp, east of Tulkarem in Shomron.

On Monday, Israeli security forces neutralized an improvised roadside explosive near the community of Chavat Gilad in northern Shomron.

“Earlier today, terrorists rolled a tire with a gas cylinder inside towards an axis near the village of Madama in the Shomron Brigade,” an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson said in a statement. There were no casualties, the army noted.

Yehuda and Shomron saw more than 500 Palestinian terrorist attacks each month on average in the first half of 2024, according to figures Rescuers Without Borders (Hatzalah Yehuda and Shomron) published on Aug. 1.

In the first six months of this year, Israeli first responders recorded some 3,272 acts of terrorism in the region, including 299 explosive charges.

(JNS)

King Charles III is visiting the seaside town of Southport to meet with survivors of the stabbing rampage that killed three young girls and sparked more than a week of unrest across the U.K. The monarch traveled to the community northwest of Liverpool on Tuesday for a private meeting where he will hear the experiences of some of the children who were attacked at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on July 29. Crowds cheered for the king as he arrived at Southport Town Hall, where mourners have placed bunches of flowers and cuddly toys in tribute to the slain children. Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, were killed in the attack which was followed by rioting in Southport and across the country. Violence rocked Britain for more than a week after the stabbings, with crowds spouting anti-immigrant and Islamophobic slogans clashing with police. The disturbances were fueled by misinformation spread by right-wing activists using social media to falsely claim that a Muslim immigrant was behind the attack. Charles is also expected to meet with police, paramedics and other emergency service workers who responded to the attack and the disorder that followed. Local faith leaders will also attend. The U.K.’s worst unrest in more than a decade led to some 1,100 arrests. The government pledged that rioters who hurled bricks at police, looted shops and attacked mosques and hotels used to house asylum-seekers would feel “the full force of the law.” (AP)

Outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden said on Monday in a keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago that anti-Israel protesters “have a point.”

“Those protesters out on the street. They have a point. A lot of innocent people are being killed on both sides,” the 81-year-old told the United Center crowd on the first night of the convention after being introduced by First Lady Jill Biden and their daughter, Ashley Biden.

Four demonstrators were arrested after several dozen anti-Israel protesters breached an outer fence line on the north side of the indoor arena in the city’s Near West Side on Monday evening, ABC 7 Chicago reported.

The protesters attempted to disrupt Biden’s speech but were pushed back by Chicago police in riot gear, backed by U.S. Capitol police.

“Officers put on gas masks as some protesters tried to bring down a second fence set up in front of police,” according to the Associated Press.

“At no point was the inner perimeter breached,” the Chicago Police stated. “There was no threat to any protectees.”

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker told CNN that the breach was “brief.”

Although anti-Israel organizers said they expected some 20,000 protesters to descend on the Windy City for the DNC, only a few thousand seemed to have shown up, the AP reported, and reporters covering the event shared photos of fields of unclaimed antisemitic signs.

Footage and images circulated on social media purporting to show protesters openly supporting Hamas, a U.S.-designated terror organization. Protesters also accused Biden and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running for president, of supporting genocide, the AP reported.

At least one protester was recorded waving a Hezbollah flag, according to Israel’s Channel 12.

Inside the United Center during Biden’s speech, audience members unfurled a banner reading: “Stop arming Israel.” A man is seen trying to rip it out of their hands. After the audience saw the banner, they began chanting, “We love Joe.”

“We’ll keep working to bring hostages home and end the war in Gaza and bring peace and security to the Middle East. As you know, I wrote a peace treaty for Gaza. A few days ago I put forward a proposal that brought us closer to doing that than we’ve done since Oct. 7,” Biden said.

“We’re working around the clock—my secretary of state—to prevent a wider war and reunite hostages with their families and surge humanitarian health and food assistance into Gaza now, to end the civilian suffering of the Palestinian people and finally deliver a ceasefire and end this war,” the president continued.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday urged the Hamas terror group to accept the latest proposal for a ceasefire-for-hostages deal with Israel, following meetings with senior officials in Yerushalayim.

“In a very constructive meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu today, he confirmed to me that Israel accepts the bridging proposal, that he supports it. It’s now incumbent on Hamas to do the same,” said Blinken.

“What I would say to Hamas and to its leadership is: If it genuinely cares about the Palestinian people that it purports to somehow represent, then it will say yes to this agreement, and it will work on clear understandings on how to implement it,” he told reporters.

“The single quickest, best, most effective way to relieve the terrible suffering of the Palestinians that was instigated by Hamas’s attack on Oct. 7 and the war that ensued is to complete this agreement,” he added.

Blinken arrived in Egypt on Tuesday ahead of negotiations on the Gaza ceasefire agreement.

Back in Chicago, families of abductees with American citizenship met with members of the Harris campaign, including Ilan Goldenberg, who was named last week its liaison to the Jewish community.

According to Channel 12, Goldenberg reiterated Harris’s commitment to Israel’s security alongside the efforts to reach a ceasefire deal and return the hostages. The meeting was described as good, with the positions expressed corresponding to those of the Biden administration.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), a member of the progressive “Squad” and a harsh critic of Israel, made the case for Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, against the ticket of Republican nominee Donald Trump and vice presidential choice Ohio Sen. JD Vance.

Harris “is working tirelessly to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and bringing hostages home,” Ocasio-Cortez said to cheers from the crowd.

The leader of Congregation Beth Shalom in Wilmington, Delaware, Michael Beals, who Biden has affectionately called his rabbi and who has campaigned for the president, recited the priestly blessing in Hebrew to conclude the first night of the DNC.

The convention is in Chicago until Thursday, with events at the United Center and McCormick Place.

(JNS)

CBS political correspondent Caitlin Huey-Burns confronted former President Donald Trump on his refusal to accept the outcome of the 2020 election during an interview in Pennsylvania on Monday. As Trump pledged to accept the results of the upcoming 2024 election, he clarified that his acceptance would depend on whether he deems the election “fair and free.” In the interview, which took place while Democrats launched their convention in Chicago, Huey-Burns questioned Trump about his stance on election integrity, his attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris, and his willingness to release his medical records — which Trump said he would “gladly do.” When asked directly if he would accept the results of the 2024 election, Trump responded, “If I see that we had a fair and free election, which I hope to be able to say, but if I see that, I will. You will never see anybody more honorable than me. I’m an honorable person.” When Huey-Burns pointed out that Trump did not accept the results of the previous election, he replied, “That’s right, because there were many problems with the last election. You know it, so do they, and so does everybody else.” Huey-Burns pushed back, citing that many legal cases were dropped. Trump countered by blaming the courts, saying, “No, no, they weren’t brought because the judges wouldn’t take them because they said it was after the election. Well, how else are you going to find out until after the election?” Trump also expressed optimism that changes made in the last four years would ensure a fair election in 2024. “Certainly, if for some reason I lose, and I think if I lose, this country will go into a tailspin the likes of which it’s never seen before, the likes of 1929 — but if I do, and it’s free and fair, absolutely, I will accept the results,” Trump said. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

According to a report by Channel 12, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has received the newly revised US mediation plan, which was endorsed by Qatar and Egypt and accepted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday. However, Israeli sources believe that Sinwar is likely to maintain Hamas’s public stance, which is to reject the proposal.

On Monday, the Democratic National Convention (DNC) held its first-ever panel discussion on “Palestinian human rights,” a reflection of the growing influence of progressive activists within the Democratic Party regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The panel, organized by members of the “Uncommitted National Movement,” took place at a satellite location six miles from the main convention site in Chicago. The movement, which encourages voters to withhold support from President Joe Biden due to his backing of Israel’s military actions against Hamas in Gaza, aims to pressure Democratic leaders to shift their stance on the conflict. “This week, 30 Uncommitted delegates will be engaging with Democratic leaders inside the DNC, asking them to unite the party, win a ceasefire, and save Palestinian lives by no longer arming Israel,” the Uncommitted movement said in a statement on social media. “Democratic leaders need to know the delegates represent a grassroots movement.” The group has been vocal in its demands for the party to endorse a ceasefire and impose an arms embargo on Israel, which it claims will help end the ongoing conflict in Gaza. The movement accuses Israel of committing “genocide” in the Hamas-ruled territory and argues that halting U.S. military support would save lives. Top Democratic leaders have engaged in discussions with Uncommitted leaders in recent weeks, particularly given the importance of Arab American voters in key swing states like Michigan. Vice President Kamala Harris, the party’s nominee for the 2024 presidential election, recently met with Uncommitted leaders ahead of a campaign rally in Michigan, where she reportedly expressed openness to further discussions with pro-Palestinian activists. However, the Harris campaign has since denied any consideration of an arms embargo on Israel, saying that Harris “does not support an arms embargo on Israel” and remains committed to ensuring Israel can defend itself against threats from Iran and terrorist groups like Hamas. Harris also reportedly held a private meeting with Abdullah Hammoud, the mayor of Dearborn, Michigan, who has been outspoken in his criticism of Israel’s military operations in Gaza. Hammoud has accused Israel of committing “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing,” and has labeled Israel’s actions as perpetuating a “racist apartheid system.” (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

The Houthis in Yemen planned to carry out massive attacks on American warships and Israeli ports, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing the Iranian terror proxy group and European officials.

The attacks would have come in response to last month’s targeting killing of Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Israeli strikes on terror targets in the Houthi-controlled port city of Hodeidah in Yemen.

Israel’s aerial assault on Hodeidah appeared to be the first on Yemeni soil since the terrorist group joined the war against Israel in support of Hamas last year. It came in retaliation for a deadly Houthi drone attack that killed an Israeli man and wounded four others in Tel Aviv.

The Houthis for months have been harassing commercial shipping in the Red Sea and launching drones and missiles at Israel.

According to the WSJ report, the Houthis and Iranian-backed militias in Iraq are itching for a more aggressive approach to Israel and American forces in the region. This is causing concern in Tehran, as it tries to find a way to respond to the Haniyeh assassination without provoking direct Israeli attacks on its soil that the Americans are warning could have devastating consequences for the regime.

(JNS)

Yoel and Mendy Levy, brothers who escaped from the Lev Tahor cult years ago, have tried to visit their widowed mother several times in recent months after eight long years of separation but have been cruelly driven away each time amid threats to their lives. The brothers have sent many letters to their mother over the years but the cult members refused to give them to her. A month ago, Mendy finally obtained permission from the cult leaders to see their mother. He booked two tickets to Guatemala but when the brothers reached the compound, they were blocked by cult members who claimed that their mother didn’t want to see them and threatened to harm them if they didn’t leave the compound. “We burst into bitter tears,” Mendy said. “Because we know the truth. Our mother loves us and how could it be she said she didn’t want to see us?” They returned to the States but had a breakthrough in the weeks afterward when one of the cult members, Uriel Yosef, personally assured them that they could meet their mother. They again traveled to Guatemala. But when they arrived there, Uriel Yosef wasn’t “available” and they were again denied entry. One of the cult leaders, an El-Salvadorian who joined the cult, even approached them holding a shechita knife and threatened to harm them if they didn’t leave the area. The brother tried again several days ago but this time they came with their a bodyguard. But to no avail – they were again expelled from the area amid threats to their lives. Donate to the Levy brother’s efforts in helping their family inside the cult and exposing the Lev Tahor abuse: Zelle or PayPal – mendylevy2@gmail.com   (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

Panama deported 29 Colombians on Tuesday on a flight that the government said was the first paid for by the United States under an agreement the two countries signed in July. The Colombians had entered Panama illegally through the Darien jungle, a path used by more than 500,000 migrants headed north last year. The vast majority of those were Venezuelans. But at least for now, Panama is not able to deport Venezuelans because the relationship between the two countries has turned tense since Panama — like most other countries in the region -– has refused to recognize the results of Venezuela’s election giving President Nicolas Maduro another term. The two countries have suspended their diplomatic relations. Panama President José Raúl Mulino, who took office July 1, pledged to stop that migration flow, an interest he shares with the U.S. government. Mulino had originally said the flights would be “voluntary” repatriations, but those deported Tuesday had criminal records, officials said. Roger Mojico, director of Panama’s National Immigration Service, told reporters Tuesday that Panama is speaking with other countries such as Ecuador and India about coordinating repatriation flights. (AP)