Month: October 2023

Gazans are blocked from fleeing through Egypt, which has kept tight control of its border. An Israeli invasion of Gaza could test President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s approach.

A 50-year-old Israeli man who works at the Israeli Embassy in Beijing was stabbed on Friday in front of a supermarket, Chinese police and the Israeli government said. 

Beijing police said they had arrested a suspect, a 53-year-old foreign man. They said the victim is a family member of an Israeli diplomat. No motive was given for the attack. 

“The employee was transferred to hospital and he is in a stable condition,” an Israeli government statement said, without giving additional details. 

The incident came after Israel criticized China’s statement following the unprecedented and deadly incursion by the militant group Hamas into southern Israel last Saturday. The attack sparked an ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. The stabbing occurred as Muslims across the world took to the streets in large protests after Friday prayers over Israel’s intense bombing campaign in Gaza. 

Just before the announcement, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said Ambassador Rafi Harpaz had spoken Thursday with the Chinese envoy for the Middle East, Zhai Jun, to express his country’s “deep disappointment” over China’s comments after the Hamas incursion. 

There was “no clear and unequivocal condemnation of the terrible massacre committed by the terrorist organization Hamas against innocent civilians and the abduction of dozens of them to Gaza,” the statement said. “The Chinese announcements do not contain any element of Israel’s right to defend itself and its citizens, a fundamental right of any sovereign country that was attacked in an unprecedented manner and with cruelty that has no place in human society.” 

An earlier Chinese statement about the phone conversation said that Beijing condemns actions that harm innocent civilians and is “deeply concerned over the escalation of tensions and violence … and saddened by the civilian casualties caused by the conflict.” 

Asked about the Israeli statement, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin reiterated that China opposes acts harming citizens and violating international law. 

“China will continue to work unremittingly for de-escalation of the situation and the resumption of peace talks,” he said. 

In Beijing, about half-a-dozen plainclothes police were stationed outside the Israeli Embassy in addition to the normal contingent of uniformed officers. Some 2 kilometers (1.25 miles) away at the Palestinian Embassy in Beijing, plainclothes officers were also on hand and one was tightening wires on a fence. 

Since the war broke out, antisemitic remarks have surged on Chinese social media. Bombarded with hostile messages, the Israeli Embassy in Beijing is filtering comments on its Chinese social media account. 

The embassy selected a comment that said, “Support Israel! Destroy the terrorist organization!” — the remarks got 5,700 likes. 

China: US fueling tensions

Chinese state media have blamed the United States for fanning tensions in the region. 

“The Chinese government has always propagated a narrative that places the blame squarely on Israel, a key U.S. ally, because this aligns with a key objective of [the ruling Communist Party’s] propaganda: to undermine the U.S. in the international community,” said Yaqiu Wang, research director for China, Hong Kong and Taiwan at Freedom House. “This time, it is no exception.” 

While the United States remains Israel’s top ally, China in recent months had tried to reach out to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox government as tensions had risen with Washington over Netanyahu’s planned overhaul of the country’s judiciary, which sparked months of protests. 

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin were in the region Friday in support of Israel while President Joe Biden also has spoken out against the Hamas attack. America also has sent additional arms to Israel, deployed one aircraft carrier group and plans to send another to discourage a regional escalation as Israel prepares for a possible ground offensive in Gaza. 

The U.S. ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, tweeted on X that “we are shocked by today’s attack on an Israeli diplomat in Beijing” and said the embassy had offered its full support to the Israeli Embassy and the Israeli community in China. 

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, meeting with Chinese leaders in Beijing earlier this week, voiced dissatisfaction over the initial Chinese statement on the deadly Hamas incursion. 

Schumer later said he was gratified when a Foreign Ministry spokesperson later added that China is “deeply saddened by the civilian casualties” and “opposes and condemns acts that harm civilians.” 

By Matt Spetalnick, Patricia Zengerle and Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Despite Israeli bombardment that has brought Gaza to the brink of a humanitarian meltdown, U.S. President Joe Biden is facing

By Huseyin Hayatsever and Tuvan Gumrukcu ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey said on Friday that Israel’s call for Gazans to move south in 24 hours ahead of its planned ground offensive was inhumane and a

New Delhi [India], October 13 (ANI): Responding to an email questionnaire sent by ANI on the recent Israel-Hamas war that has engulfed the Middle East region, the Iranian Ambassador to India, Iranian Ambassador to India, Iraj Elahi, distanced his country from Hamas’ recent attack on South Israeli communities along the border with Gaza. The full […]

NYPD reiterates no credible threats Friday amid Hamas ex-leader’s call for ‘day of Jihad’  New York Post

Inna Vernikov, a Republican Jewish member of the New York City Council from Brooklyn, was arrested Friday morning and charged with criminal possession of a firearm after pictures circulating on social media showed her with a gun at her waist. The photos show Vernikov participating in a pro-Israel counterprotest of a pro-Palestinian rally at Brooklyn College on Thursday.

Vernikov, 39, recently got a permit to carry a concealed gun after completing a mandatory New York State concealed-carry class. She said she got it because she feared for her safety. “With antisemitism, it doesn’t feel safe in the city anymore. Vernikov, a Ukrainian native, told the New York Post. 

The gun she carried was a 9MM Smith & Wesson. New York state law bans the possession of guns at protests and rallies because they are considered “sensitive” locations. 

In a video she posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, Vernikov she showed up to make sure “Jewish students feel safe today,” as noted in a statement she released prior to the demonstration. Pointing to a crowd of students shouting “Free Palestine” and waving Palestinian flags she added: “If you are here today standing with these people you are nothing short of a terrorist without the bombs.”

New York City Council Member Inna Vernikov brought a GUN to a rally to intimidate students. #ExpelVernikov pic.twitter.com/3e4HKhumRZ

— Jews for Racial & Economic Justice (@JFREJNYC) October 13, 2023

New York State Senator Julia Salazar wrote on X there was no excuse for an elected official to bring a firearm to a college campus, and “to intimidate Palestinian students” by wearing it on her waist. 

The New York Police Department said Friday that Vernikov was contacted after the rally and told to turn herself in on a criminal possession of a weapon charge. She was booked at the 70th Precinct in Midwood early in the morning and released with a desk appearance ticket, a summons issued by a police officer to appear in criminal court.

The atmosphere at colleges and universities has been tense this week as Jewish and Israeli students mourn the victims of  Hamas’ attack on Israel, and pro-Palestinian students blame Israel for deaths in Gaza from Israeli airstrikes. More than 1,300 Israelis were killed in Saturday’s massacre and more than 1,500 Palestinians have died from the heavy Israel bombardment of the Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Khaled Mashal, the former leader of Hamas, called for Muslims to join a “day of rage” with global protests against Israel on Friday, sparking fears at Jewish institutions. New York officials said they have received no credible threats, but have nonetheless heightened security out of an abundance of caution. 

The post Jewish NYC council member arrested for carrying gun near pro-Palestinian rally appeared first on The Forward.

PETAH TIKVA, ISRAEL — It was 7 a.m. on Shabbat morning when Ifat Haiman’s sister-in-law called and woke them with urgent news: Israel was at war.

“What war, what is she talking about?,” Ifat recalled thinking. She and her husband Haim went back to bed.

An hour or so later, they turned on the news. They couldn’t comprehend what was happening before their eyes. A terror attack was unfolding at the Supernova Sukkot Gathering, an annual dance party that attracted hundreds of young people from across the country. Their daughter, Inbar Haiman, was likely running for her life.

Ifat called her son Ido. She told him that his 28-year-old sister had attended the very party where a massive terror attack was now taking place. Ido forwarded his mother messages from Inbar, who was attempting to flee the chaos.

“We tried to tell her to be careful,” said Ifat, “to take care of herself.” 

Inbar Heiman, 28, holds a chalice of beer at a bar in Israel Courtesy of Eli Cohen

Inbar Haiman grew up in Petah Tikva, a diverse middle-class city just east of Tel Aviv. For the past three years, she has lived in Haifa, where she studies visual communication at the WIZO Academy of Design and Education. She shares an apartment with her boyfriend, Noam Alon.

“She has so many friends,” Ifrat, 53, tells me. “They love her so much. And that’s solely a tribute to her personality, her charisma, and her desire to give.” Before serving in the army, she spent her national service year teaching, in mixed Jewish-Arab schools in Israel’s south.

“She’s the most amazing girl that I’ve ever met,” Alon told Sky News on Thursday. “She’s everything for me and everything for her family.”

Nova, as the festival is known, is an all night psytrance rave in Re’im, a tiny secular kibbutz just three miles east of the Gaza border. Colorful sun shades cover the area in front of the stage, near a statue of the Buddha. Stretched tents dot the surrounding desert, flanked by an orchard. “You go to be happy,” as one friend of mine who has attended in past years put it, “with other people who are happy.”

Now, water bottles, shawls, sleeping bags and blankets litter the cracked earth. Half-finished bottles of booze stock a makeshift bar, and half-painted canvases lie among ransacked suitcases. Attendees danced into the night; the music was so loud that many people saw, not heard, the first rockets fall at dawn.

Shortly after the rockets, terrorists arrived. They came on motorcycles, pickup trucks, jeeps and cars. They arrived on foot and even by paraglider. They shot and lobbed grenades at the festival attendees. At least 260 people were killed, and several others have been kidnapped — including Inbar.

‘We failed on Saturday’

Members of the security forces continue to search for identification and personal effects at the Supernova Music Festival site, where hundreds were killed and dozens taken by Hamas militants near the border with Gaza. Oct. 12, 2023 in Kibbutz Re’im, Israel Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images

For hours, the army was nowhere to be found. In one firsthand account, an Israeli journalist writes that he coordinated the rescue of his own son without any official help.

“We failed on Saturday. This is our responsibility,” IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagari told NBC News on Friday.

You can see for miles from Reim on a clear day, which is a problem when you’re trying to run for your life. Many come to the festival especially for the isolation, and many packed into shared rides with strangers in order to reach it — and in order to flee.

Drone footage taken after the event reveals a long line of charred cars clustered near the exit, the only road out of the festival. Some of the vehicles’ windows had been shattered, and many doors were flung open, as if their passengers sought a quick escape. Many people managed to flee, only to be killed by Hamas while trying to drive back to safety. There is video of terrorists shooting people who had been playing dead. Others were killed in or on the run to neighboring kibbutzim. And several were captured and paraded through the streets of Gaza.

‘We know that Inbar is alive’

Left to right: Inbar Haiman’s aunt Hana Cohen, parents Ifat and Haim Haiman, and uncle Eli Cohen sit in the Haiman’s family apartment in Petah Tikva, Israel. On Oct. 7, Inbar was captured by Hamas terrorists at the Nova music festival near kibbutz Re’im in southern Israel Photo by Laura Ben-David

The Cohen family shared an audio file with me on Thursday, containing the testimony of two Re’im survivors who had last seen their daughter. It was recorded by Alon’s mother.

At around 8:40 a.m., the two men said, they hid with a group of about 30 other people underneath the festival stage. Someone said the terrorists were “closing in,” and that they should run. They inadvertently headed west toward Gaza — dazed amid the chaos and perhaps in an altered state of consciousness. This is a psychedelic music festival, after all.

The two men didn’t know Inbar. But the three of them ran — and hid, and ran — for hours.

“She was strong,” one recalled. “She was able to keep up with our pace.”

The trio thought they had made it to the shrubs, and then the orchards, of kibbutz Be’eri — about six miles northeast, not west, of Re’im. But instead, they had run west, closer to Gaza. The Israeli men recall that two armed terrorists were “chasing the whole insane time.” One had a long metal rod, “20 meters long.” At some point, they were able to grab Inbar, and pin a knife to her throat.

Two additional terrorists emerged from the orchards on a motorcycle. The Israeli men said they tried to fight the terrorists off, but that the kidnappers were able to leave with Inbar on a motorcycle. They said Inbar was crying.

Two other terrorists, one young and one old, chased after the Israeli men. “Look, we’re unarmed!” one of the Israelis yelled over his shoulder. He kept looking back. One of the terrorists was “rather chubby” and couldn’t keep pace — the Israeli men were able to escape.

Inbar’s parents confirmed their daughter’s identity from a video publicized by Hamas, now held by the IDF as evidence. Though Inbar does not appear clearly in it, her parents recognized their daughter by her distinctive patterned tights.

“We know from witnesses that Inbar is alive, and we hold Hamas responsible for returning her alive,” Inbar’s 53-year-old mother told me on Thursday. ”She is being held there against every convention that exists,” her father added.

“Communication folks from the army speak with us,” Haim, 54, told me. “Now things are starting to move, which hadn’t happened in the first days. It was very frustrating.”

But there are few signs of progress. “We’re on our own as a family,” he adds. “We do have friends who are helping us,” some of whom have opened their own makeshift “situation rooms,” working together to find more information on and spread awareness of Inbar’s plight.

“We’re constantly busy, not thinking, working to free Inbar,” said Haim.

“Like robots,” Idit adds.

“Is she in Gaza? Is she eating? Is somebody caring for her if she was wounded? We don’t know. It’s really hard to feel that,” said Haim. “The lack of information, that we don’t know.”

But the family remains optimistic, and insists that others must hold onto hope.

“It’s not encouraging that she’s imprisoned. But at least we know that she’s alive.”

The Forward’s Chana Pollack assisted with Hebrew translations.

The post ‘At least we know that she’s alive’: The family of a young woman captured by Hamas insists on hope appeared first on The Forward.