Day: October 7, 2023

Israeli forces clashed with gunmen from the Palestinian group Hamas on Sunday, 24 hours after the militants launched a surprise attack on Israel in which nearly 500 people were killed in the deadliest day of violence in Israel for 50 years.

The biggest incursion into Israel in decades could undermine U.S-backed efforts to forge regional security alignments that could threaten Palestinian aspirations for statehood and the ambitions of the group’s main backer, Iran.

Hamas fighters began their attack at dawn on Saturday with a huge barrage of rockets into southern Israel, giving cover to an unprecedented, multi-pronged infiltration of fighters into Israel from Gaza, a narrow strip that is home to 2.3 million Palestinians.

Hamas fighters killed at least 250 Israelis in clashes through the day and escaped back into Gaza with dozens of hostages. More than 230 Gazans were killed when Israel responded with one of its most devastating days of retaliatory strikes.

“We will take mighty vengeance for this wicked day,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday.

Israeli troops battled Hamas gunmen through the night in parts of southern Israel. An Israeli army spokesperson said on social media the situation was not fully under control.

The escalation comes against a backdrop of surging violence between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where a Palestinian authority exercises limited self-rule, opposed by Hamas that wants Israel destroyed.

The West Bank has seen stepped-up Israeli raids, Palestinian street attacks and assaults by Jewish settlers on Palestinian villages. Conditions for Palestinians have worsened under Netanyahu’s hard-right government. Peacemaking has been stalled for years.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said the assault that began in Gaza would spread to the West Bank and Jerusalem. Gazans have lived under an Israeli blockade for 16 years.

In a speech, Haniyeh highlighted threats to Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, the continuation of an Israeli the blockade on Gaza and Israeli normalization with countries in the region.

“How many times have we warned you that the Palestinian people have been living in refugee camps for 75 years, and you refuse to recognise the rights of our people?”

Bodies of Israeli civilians surrounded by broken glass were strewn across the streets of Sderot in southern Israel near Gaza. The bodies of a man and woman were sprawled across the front seats of a car.

Terrified Israelis, barricaded into safe rooms, recounted their plight by phone on live television.

Senior military officers were among those killed in fighting near Gaza, the Israeli military said.

Netanyahu’s office said his security cabinet had approved steps to destroy the military and governmental capabilities of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, another militant group, “for many years”, including cutting electricity, fuel supplies and the entry of goods into Gaza.

In Gaza, black smoke, orange flashes and sparks lit the sky from explosions. Israeli drones could be heard overhead.

Gaza’s dead and wounded were carried into crumbling and overcrowded hospitals with severe shortages of medical supplies and equipment. The health ministry said 232 people had been killed and at least 1,700 wounded.

Western countries, led by the United States, denounced the attack

At the White House, President Joe Biden went on national television to say Israel had the right to defend itself, issuing a blunt warning to Iran and other countries: “This is not a moment for any party hostile to Israel to exploit these attacks to seek advantage. The world is watching.”

The United States has been seeking a deal to normalise ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia, seen by Israelis as the biggest prize yet in their decades-long quest for Arab recognition. Palestinians fear any such agreement could sell out their dreams of an independent state.

Osama Hamdan, the leader of Hamas in Lebanon, told Reuters that Saturday’s operation should make Arab states realize that accepting Israeli security demands would not bring peace.

Across the Middle East, there were demonstrations in support of Hamas, with Israeli and U.S. flags set on fire and marchers waving Palestinian flags in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. Iran and Hezbollah, Iran’s Lebanese allies, praised the Hamas attack.

Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri told Al Jazeera the group was holding a large number of Israeli captives, including senior officials. He said Hamas had enough captives to make Israel free all Palestinians in its jails.

Hamas said the attack was driven by what it called escalated Israeli attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, Jerusalem and against Palestinians in Israeli prisons.

That Israel was caught completely off guard was lamented as one of the worst intelligence failures in its history, a shock to a nation that boasts of its intensive infiltration and monitoring of militants.

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The Supreme Court in military-ruled Myanmar has rejected appeals against six corruption convictions for the jailed former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, according to media reports.
Suu Kyi, in detention since the military toppled her government in a 2021 coup, faces 27 years in prison. She is appealing dozens of convictions for crimes ranging from treason and bribery to violations of the telecommunications law.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has denied wrongdoing.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the coup and the junta’s crackdown on opponents, with thousands jailed or killed. Many governments have called for the unconditional release of Suu Kyi and thousands of other political prisoners in the Southeast Asian country.

A junta spokesperson did not answer calls from Reuters seeking comment on Sunday.
The court in August rejected five appeals by Suu Kyi on illegally importing and possessing walkie-talkies, sedition and violating coronavirus restrictions.

The junta recently granted a partial pardon that shaved six years off her prison sentence, a move that critics, including her son, said meant nothing.

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Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Sunday he remained hopeful a referendum to recognise the country’s Indigenous people in the constitution would succeed, even as the measure lags in opinion polls less than a week from the vote.

“I’m optimistic,” Albanese told the Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC) on Sunday morning, according to a transcript. “Whether it be Shepperton or Sydney or Brisbane, Melbourne, the places I’ve been, Hobart, Adelaide in the last week, have been extremely positive.”

Albanese’s centre-left Labor government backs the referendum, while the opposition Liberal-National conservatives urge a “No” vote on Oct. 14. Nationally, opponents lead the yes campaign by 53% to 38%, according to an opinion poll last week.

If the “Voice to Parliament” referendum is approved, it would constitutionally enshrine Indigenous people and set up an advisory body for their input on policies that affect them.

Most Indigenous people favour the change, but some say it is a distraction from achieving practical and positive outcomes and would not fully resolve the issues affecting them. The political opposition says the measure is divisive, would be ineffective and would slow government decision-making.

Marginalised by British colonial rulers and not mentioned in Australia’s 122-year-old constitution, Indigenous Australians, who make up 3.8% of the population, face discrimination, shorter life expectancy, lower education outcomes and high incarceration rates.

As part of final efforts to buoy the yes side, Albanese on Saturday posted a photo to Social media platform X showing him casting his vote in Sydney in Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales, where 4.2% of people identify as Indigenous.

Last month, thousands rallied in state capitals to support the yes campaign, which sees the measure as necessary to boost outcomes for the nation’s Indigenous people.

Donald Trump adviser Peter Navarro was recently convicted for contempt of Congress, and is awaiting his prison sentencing. Now Navarro is suddenly telling the court that he needs to leave the country for what he claims is medical treatment.

Why would Navarro need to go overseas to get medical treatment? That’s the question the court is going to be asking, presumably while fighting off the urge to bust out laughing, as it rejects his request. Legal expert Katie Zhang reacted to Navarro’s request with “Yeah, that’s gonna be a “no”.”

This doesn’t mean Peter Navarro is trying to flee the country. In fact that would be pretty odd, given that he’s looking at perhaps four months in prison for the contempt conviction. But it underscores that Trump world people like Navarro really don’t understand that it’s over for them. Navarro is a convicted criminal on his way to prison. He doesn’t get to leave the country just because he feels like it.

It’s also worth keeping in mind that Peter Navarro may not be done getting criminally charged. He and Steve Bannon played a key role in formulating Donald Trump’s plot to overthrow the 2020 election. Jack Smith’s criminal probe is ongoing, and right now Navarro has got to be worrying that he could get caught up in it.

The post Peter Navarro seeks to leave the country after his criminal conviction appeared first on Palmer Report.

The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta has brought colorful displays to the New Mexico sky in an international event that attracts hundreds of thousands of spectators every year.

The event started Saturday with a drone light show before sunrise followed by a mass ascension of hot air balloons. Over nine days, local residents and visitors will be treated to a cavalcade of colorful and special-shaped balloons.

The annual gathering has become a major economic driver for the state’s biggest city. The Rio Grande and nearby mountains provide spectacular backdrops to the fiesta that began with a few pilots launching 13 balloons from an open lot near a shopping center on what was the edge of Albuquerque in 1972.

The fiesta has morphed into one of the most photographed events in the world, now based at Balloon Fiesta Park. Balloon designs have featured cartoon animals, Star Wars characters and even the polar bear found on Klondike bars.

“But they’re still all about the basics,” said fiesta director Sam Parks, who flies a globe-style balloon modeled after one flown by the fiesta’s late founder Sid Cutter. “You add heat to a big bag of air and you go up.”

Nearly 830,000 people from around the world attended last year’s event. Scheduled nighttime events include fireworks and balloon glows, in which hot air balloons are inflated and lit up from the ground.

The launch window opens Saturday evening for what is billed as one of the biggest events in aviation: the Gordon Bennett competition. The winner of the gas balloon race is the one who flies the farthest distance.

Some 550 balloon pilots are registered to fly this year, seeking to take advantage of a phenomenon known as the “Albuquerque box,” when the wind blows in opposite directions at different elevations, allowing skillful pilots to bring a balloon back to a spot near the point of takeoff.

Visitors to the event also can pay to go aloft for views of the Sandia Mountains to the west and New Mexico’s capital, Santa Fe, farther north.

“It has become part of the culture,” Parks said. “The thread, if you will, of those here.”

Elizabeth Wright-Smith, who is flying the Smokey Bear balloon this week, said she reunites with friends from all over the country at the fiesta that she would not see otherwise. As of early Saturday afternoon, she had already run into 30 people she had met from various balloon races, safety seminars and other events across the country.

“It’s a big reunion,” she said.

Her favorite part of the fiesta is watching and interacting with the thousands of spectators who flock to Balloon Fiesta Park, which grow smaller as she ascends in her balloon. The sky was clear Saturday – a contrast from last year, when off-and-on rain left parts of the fiesta soggy.

“Pictures don’t do it justice, videos don’t do it justice,” Wright-Smith said. “You’ve got to be standing there watching them to really get it.”

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi warned Saturday of a “vicious cycle” of violence after Hamas launched a deadly attack on Israel, which responded with devastating airstrikes on Gaza.

El-Sissi received a call from French President Emmanuel Macron, Egypt’s presidency said, and the two discussed “coordinating efforts to stop the escalation in the Gaza Strip between the Palestinian and Israeli sides.”

Cairo has historically been a key mediator in conflicts between Israel and the Palestinians.

El-Sissi’s spokesperson said he “warned against the danger of the situation deteriorating and sliding into more violence, the worsening of humanitarian conditions in Gaza and the region entering into a vicious cycle of tensions that threatens regional stability and security.”

The foreign ministry had earlier appealed to “both the Palestinian and Israeli sides to exercise the highest degrees of restraint.”

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry made a series of calls, including to his counterparts in the United States, Russia, Turkey, Germany, France and Spain, to rally “international actors” to “intervene immediately.”

He received a call from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the foreign ministry said, to discuss “the international and regional efforts that must be undertaken to contain the situation and put an end to the violence and the loss of life.”

Shoukry and Russia’s Sergei Lavrov stressed “the need for an immediate stop to the escalations” ahead of an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting Sunday, a foreign ministry statement said.

Shoukry called on the Security Council to “uphold its responsibility” and “put measures in place to protect Palestinian rights.”

Months of violence

In a call with Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, both men “expressed their deep concern about the progressive and dangerous deterioration of events.”

Separately, Safadi warned of the “volatility” of the situation, “particularly in light of what cities and areas of the West Bank are witnessing of Israeli attacks and violations against the Palestinian people.”

The Hamas assault follows months of surging violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with fatalities in the occupied West Bank hitting a scale not seen in years.

Jordan and Egypt were the first two regional states to forge peace deals with Israel, before U.S.-backed diplomatic normalizations followed in 2020 with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco.

Shoukry also called UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed to discuss “the gravity of the current situation and the need to make every effort to prevent the security situation from getting out of control.”

The Hamas attack sparked a wave of condemnation, with European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen calling it “terrorism in its most despicable form.”

In a call with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, Shoukry stressed the “importance of stopping the escalation and all sides exercising restraint.”

Cairo also called on the international community to “urge Israel to stop the attacks and provocative actions against the Palestinian people and to adhere to the principles of international humanitarian law with regard to the responsibilities of an occupying state.” 

Gun battles raged into the night, hours after the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a surprise large-scale attack against Israel Saturday. Hamas had fired thousands of rockets from Gaza and sent fighters to kill and abduct soldiers and civilians. 

The coordinated attack came as a complete surprise to Israeli intelligence.  

At least 250 Israelis were killed and more than 1,000 wounded after dozens of Palestinian militants infiltrated Israel from Gaza by land, sea and air. An unknown number of Israeli soldiers and civilians were seized and taken into Gaza, an enormously sensitive issue for Israel. 

Israel launched airstrikes on Gaza, leveling several buildings in Gaza City. Palestinian health officials said at least 200 Palestinians were killed and more than 1,600 wounded in the Israeli strikes.  

Israel promises retaliation

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to avenge what he said was a “black day” for Israel, saying the army will strike back at Hamas in Gaza with full force.   

“The [Israeli Defense Force] is about to use all its force to destroy Hamas’s capabilities,” Netanyahu said in a brief televised statement. “We’ll strike them to the bitter end and avenge with force this black day they brought on Israel and its people.” 

U.S. President Joe Biden voiced “rock solid and unwavering” support for the U.S. ally and warned “against any other party hostile to Israel seeking advantage in this situation.” 

The United Nations Security Council called an emergency meeting for Sunday to discuss the latest violence. 

Fighting continues

As night fell, the Israeli army said its forces were engaged in live gun battles in 22 locations in Israel.    

“There are still 22 locations where we are engaging with terrorists that came into Israel, from the sea, from the land and from the air,” said army spokesperson Richard Hecht on what he labelled a “robust ground invasion.” 

The coordinated attack began around 6:30 a.m. local time with thousands of rockets aimed as far as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, some bypassing the Iron Dome defense system and hitting buildings.  

Hamas fighters, using ground vehicles, motorized paragliders, and boats, breached Gaza’s security barrier and attacked nearby Israeli towns and military posts, opening fire on residents and passersby. 

Linda Gradstein in Jerusalem contributed to this report; some material for this article came from The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse. 

(New York Jewish Week) – As reports from Israel and Gaza painted a picture of the region plunged into chaos, dozens of people came together halfway across the world to process the incoming news, share resources and offer a helping hand and a tight hug to anyone who might need it. 

Held in the lobby of the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, an impromptu support gathering for local Jews, Israelis and other New Yorkers in the metro area coincided with Saturday’s Shabbat and Shemini Atzeret celebrations, and took the place of cancelled pro-democracy rallies against the Israeli government. 

Reactions around the room from attendees who requested to remain anonymous all spoke to the same feeling: “shocked,” several said. “Terrible,” said one man. “Dead inside,” another woman answered. “It feels like a movie,” said a third. They had come to the JCC for a variety of reasons — to be with other people in a time of fear, to learn more information about what is going on, to find out how they can help and to show their support for Israel.

On Saturday morning in Israel, as many civilians prepared for a day of Shabbat and holiday celebrations. Hamas militants launched a surprise attack out of Gaza, sending thousands of rockets into the country, taking over kibbutzim and kidnapping Israelis. Official reports count more than 300 Israelis dead and over 1,500 wounded, though numbers are expected to rise. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared “we are at war,” in response to the attacks.

The JCC is often a “meeting ground for when anything happens,” Rabbi Joanna Samuels, the organization’s CEO, told the New York Jewish Week. “It’s a huge privilege and responsibility of this space that we can open the doors to our community when something happens and we need to gather.”

There was no formal agenda for the meeting. Rather the hope was to provide a space for community members to simply be with each other in a time of crisis and uncertainty. Messages about the gathering were sent via WhatsApp and text message throughout the morning; as the afternoon wore on, more and more people showed up, decked out in rain gear and many with children in tow. 

Huddled over coffee and donuts, attendees chatted quietly; some crying and hugging, others communicating with friends and family over WhatsApp, still more with their phones open to Israeli and American news broadcasts.

“We really just wanted to create a space where we can all come together and support each other and strengthen each other and not sit alone at home in front of the television,” Sivan Aloni, the regional director of the Israeli-American Council in New York, told the room. “So really, thank you everyone for coming. Because you’re not only supporting yourself, you’re supporting everyone here in the room.”

For 86-year-old Aryeh Aloni, who fought in the 1956 Sinai Campaign, the war is the worst-case scenario imagined by those who, like him, have protested Israel’s current government for the last year — and experienced the last 75 years of Israeli and Palestinian history. “My parents are rolling in their graves,” he said. “I feel terrible.” 

“It’s shocking. It’s cruel. Now what’s going to happen? Who will pay the price is thousands and thousands of innocent Palestinians and Israelis,” he added. Aloni said that while he has lived in the United States since the early 1960s, he has 21 first cousins living in Israel — and many of their descendants were called up from the military reserves earlier this morning. 

Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie, the Israeli-American founding director of the Lab/Shul community, noted that the attack also coincided In Israel with Simchat Torah (which began in the Diaspora on Saturday evening).

“I’m 54 years old,” he said. “On Oct. 6 ,1973, the middle of the Yom Kippur, the war broke out. I was too young to know. My father and many other men were taken from the synagogue straight to the army. My memory is from the next day in our backyard, with the sukkah half-built and there was a siren. My mother dragged me by the arm to go to the shelter next door.

“I can’t believe that 50 years later, I have to explain to my children what’s going on and that Simchat Torah, the day in which we celebrate our sacred story and our continuity, now, like Yom Kippur,  is forever marked with this continuing story of trauma.”

Lau-Lavie encouraged those in the room to share their emotions and not “keep things bottled up” or “sit in front of the phone and doomscroll.”

“This and other gatherings will help us,” he said. “Please hold each other. We’re not alone.” 

Also present at the gathering was Tsach Saar, the deputy and acting Israeli consul general in New York. “It’s a very difficult day for all of us. There’s not too much to say, just to be together, I’m very happy to see the Israeli community and Jewish community  being together and here for another,” Saar said. He offered a listening ear and to provide as many answers as he could give in the moment. 

Some guests asked about canceled flights to and from Israel. Others wanted to know what they could do to help. “Where was the IDF?” Aloni, the veteran of the Israel Defense Forces, wanted to know, wondering like many observers why the military had not anticipated the Hamas assault. Saar answered that the situation is still being investigated.

A QR code was passed around the room for those who wanted to participate in support efforts, including hosting visiting Israelis whose return flights may have been delayed or canceled due to the war.

Across the city, communities were mobilizing to conduct responses. At Anshe Chesed, a Conservative congregation on the Upper West Side, an email was sent out to community members that the Simchat Torah celebration scheduled for Saturday night would be canceled. 

“New York City has the largest Jewish population in the world outside of Israel, and we stand side by side with Israel every day — but we do so with extra resolve today in light of Hamas’ unprovoked terrorist attacks directed at the country and its people,” Mayor Eric Adams said in a press release Saturday morning. “Today’s attack, coming at the end of what is supposed to be a celebratory time at the end of the Jewish High Holy days, is nothing more than a cowardly action by a terrorist organization seeking to undo that peace and divide us into factions. That won’t happen.  

“We have resources on the ground in Israel gathering intelligence, and we are continually monitoring multiple channels to identify any potential threats, both here and abroad. While there is no credible threat to New York City at this time, our administration is in touch with Jewish leaders across the five boroughs, and we have directed the NYPD to deploy additional resources to Jewish communities and houses of worship citywide to ensure that our communities have the resources they need to make sure everyone feels safe,” the release added.

Eric S. Goldstein, CEO of UJA-Federation Of New York, was in Israel when the hostilities broke out. “We are working with our partners to provide urgent resources. New York — the largest Jewish community outside of Israel — is in unbreakable solidarity with Israel at war,” he said in a statement. “The global Jewish community stands in unity with the Israeli people and share their grief and anger at this callous, cowardly assault on Israeli citizens.”

The gathering at the JCC concluded with the entire room — which had grown to nearly 100 people over the course of an hour — rising together to sing Israel’s national anthem, “Hatikvah,” which means “The Hope.” “Our hope is not yet lost, It is two thousand years old,” they sang. “To be a free people in our land, The land of Zion and Jerusalem.”

This article originally appeared on JTA.org.

The post On a grim Shabbat, Manhattan Jews gather in solidarity with an Israel under attack appeared first on The Forward.

The GOP has asked something of Democrats that we refuse to give them, and with good reason. The GOP has asked us to babysit them. Since Kevin’s ouster, many a Republican infant has gone on television or tweeted or done something blaming Democrats for their own hot mess.

Why did the Dems not vote for Kevin? Why did the Dems vote with Matt Gaetz? These and many other stupid questions have been asked by Republican misfits who seem to have roused themselves from the big sleep they were in and are now blearily blinking as the realization that they’ve behaved like a bunch of idiots spreads through them.

It is not up to us to hold the sweaty hands of Republicans who can’t seem, no matter what happens to them, to get their own shit together and act at least a little human. Rep. Jamie Raskin agrees, saying to the Washington Post that Republicans have done nothing but “feed Trump derangement and MAGA extremism three meals a day.”

He’s right. It is not our job to console bitter and miserable GOP members. It is not our job to teach these old dogs new tricks. They’re ADULTS for crying out loud! It’s time they act so.

Republicans are great at passing blame to everyone but their own dilapidated selves. It’s really incredible that they have managed to make such a mess of things. And they want DEMOCRATS — the ones they regularly label communists and enemies to step in and HELP them? Are they delirious?

I’ve got something to say to Republicans.GROW UP! Grow the heck up, GOP, and look to fix your own messes. I know it’s hard for you to do anything that actually resembles WORK, but we, the democrats, are not your babysitters. Grow up and fend for yourselves.

The post This is just getting embarrassing appeared first on Palmer Report.

Major airlines canceled dozens of flights to and from Tel Aviv this weekend after Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a surprise large-scale attack against Israel. 

On the arrivals board at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport, American Airlines, Air France, Lufthansa, Emirates, Ryanair and Aegean Airlines were among those companies pulling flights.

Many departing flights were canceled, too.

“Given the current security situation in Tel Aviv, Lufthansa is canceling all flights to and from Tel Aviv up until and including Monday, a spokesperson for the German carrier told AFP. 

The airline was “permanently monitoring the security situation in Israel,” he added.  

Air France said it had halted Tel Aviv flights “until further notice.” 

Air France-KLM group’s low-cost carrier Transavia also canceled a flight from Paris to Tel Aviv Saturday evening. 

In Warsaw, Polish carrier LOT said Saturday it had also canceled a flight to Tel Aviv. 

However, airport authorities did not stop commercial air links with Eilat, Israel’s second international airport and tourist destination on the Red Sea.