Author: CNN

CNN
 — 

More than 700 entertainment industry professionals have signed an open letter voicing their support for Israel and condemning Hamas as fighting continues in the Middle East.

Gal Gadot, Amy Schumer, Mayim Bialik and Jerry Seinfeld were among those who signed the letter that was released on Thursday by nonprofit entertainment industry organization Creative Community For Peace.

Chris Pine, Liev Schreiber, Debra Messing and Mark Hamill were also among the signatories.

The letter calls on leaders of the entertainment industry to “speak out forcefully against Hamas and do whatever is in their power to urge the terrorist organization to return the innocent hostages to their families.”

“This is terrorism. This is evil. There is no justification or rationalization for Hamas’ actions,” the letter continued.

Israel has reported at least 1,200 people were killed and thousands more injured in Hamas’ attacks over the weekend. Hamas is also holding as many as 150 people hostage in Gaza, according to Israeli authorities.

At least 1,537 people — including 500 children and 267 women — have been killed since Israel started strikes on Gaza following the deadly Hamas attack last Saturday, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. An additional 6,612 people have sustained injuries, the ministry added.

The letter also included a warning urging public figures in the entertainment industry to “to refrain from sharing misinformation about the war,” and to avoid amplifying any “propaganda.”

“Our thoughts are with all those experiencing unfathomable levels of fear and violence, and we hope for the day when Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side in peace,” the letter concluded.

You can read the full open letter here.

CNN
 — 

A mother who shielded her son from gunfire, a “pro-peace” academic, young people who attended a musical festival and two brothers are among at least 27 Americans who have been killed in the warfare between Israel and Hamas, family members and officials say.

Brothers Igal Wachs, 53, and Amit Wachs, 48, were killed when Hamas gunmen stormed their village of Netiv HaAsara, which borders Gaza, Igal’s ex-wife Liat Oren-Wachs told CNN.

Both were dual Israeli-American citizens and members of the village’s security team, said Oren-Wachs, who believes the pair were killed trying to defend their community. Amit had lived in Netiv HaAsara all his life and leaves behind a wife, two daughters and a son, Oren-Wachs said.

“They were both very family oriented,” she said.

The brothers are among the US citizens who were killed after the Gaza-based militant group launched a devastating attack on Israel early Saturday that left at least 1,200 dead.

The number of Americans dead after the Hamas attack now stands at 27, the White House said Thursday. Fourteen Americans are missing, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.

Israeli-American Daniel Ben Senior, 34, who had been missing since attending the Nova music festival near the Gaza-Israel border, has been killed, her father told CNN. She had been working with a group of event organizers at the festival, which was supposed to be an all-night dance party to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. The festival became a scene of carnage Saturday as Hamas gunmen attacked attendees.

Jacob Ben Senior, who had been unable to reach his daughter since Friday, was informed by authorities she was killed, he told CNN’s Erica Hill.

In response to the attack, Israel has pounded Gaza with airstrikes. At least 1,417 people have been killed in Gaza – including 447 children – and more than 6,200 have been wounded, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Medical care has been hampered by Israel cutting power to the territory. It’s unclear whether any US citizens are among those killed or injured in Gaza.

As families in the US wait for information about their missing loved ones, others are confronted with the sudden loss of siblings, children or parents.

Here is what we know about some of the Americans who have died in Israel.

‘A child of light and life’

Ilan Troen said he was on the phone with his daughter when she was killed.

Troen, a professor emeritus from Brandeis University in Massachusetts, said his daughter and son-in-law, Deborah and Shlomi Matias, were killed by Hamas militants over the weekend. Troen’s grandson, 16-year-old Rotem Matias, was shot but will survive, Troen told CNN’s Poppy Harlow on Monday.

Troen said he was speaking to his daughter when militants infiltrated the safe room the family was in. After she was shot, her body gave cover to her son.

“We were on the phone with Deborah as she was killed,” Troen said. “We were on the phone the entire day with our grandson, Rotem, as he lay first under her body, and then found a place to escape under a blanket in a laundry.”

Rotem was shot in the stomach, Troen said, but will recover.

“The brunt of the shot was borne by his mother,” he said. “The terrorists who came, they had explosives and blew up the front door to their house and then blew out the front door to their so-called safe room.”

Rotem hid for more than 12 hours after he was shot, texting on his phone to communicate with people who were coaching him on how to breathe and how to manage “the blood that was coming out of his abdomen,” Troen said, adding Rotem’s phone was down to a 4% charge when he was rescued.

Deborah Matias attended the Rimon School of Music in the Tel Aviv area, where she met her husband, Troen told CNN. “Deborah was a child of light and life,” Troen said. “She, rather than becoming a scientist or a physician, she said to me one day, ‘Dad, I have to do music, because it’s in my soul.’”

Hayim Katsman was “very pro-peace” and had supported “a solution for this bleeding conflict” between Israel and Palestinians before he was killed, his sibling told CNN.

Noy Katsman – who is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns – said they last heard from their brother Saturday morning when he wrote to say there were terrorists in Kibbutz Holit, which is in southwest Israel near Gaza.

When they tried to reach their brother again about four hours later, there was no response.

Hayim Katsman’s friend, Avital Alajem, described how she was hiding inside a shelter’s closet with Katsman when gunmen came and began firing at the door – striking Katsman multiple times.

“He was murdered,” Alajem told CNN’s Anderson Cooper in Israel early Tuesday. “I was saved because he was next to the door, and they shot him.”

Katsman, who was a US citizen, was remembered by his sibling as a “brilliant academist,” a musician who DJ’d and played bass, and a volunteer at the community garden in the city of Rahat.

He earned his PhD in international studies from the University of Washington’s Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies in 2021 and was described as “an emerging scholar in the field of Israel Studies,” in a statement issued by the Association for Israel Studies.

Noy Katsman told CNN they hoped their brother’s death will not be used “as an excuse to kill other innocent people,” adding: “He wouldn’t have wanted that.”

Israeli-American Roey Weiser was killed during Saturday’s attack, his mother, Naomi Feifer-Weiser, told CNN.

Weiser, 21, was a sergeant who served in the 13th Battalion of the Golani Brigade and was stationed at the Kerem Shalom border crossing, his mother said.

“He died how he lived, by putting others first, and when his base was overrun by terrorists, he went on his own to divert their attention allowing others to escape. Because of his bravery, at least 12 other soldiers are alive today,” Weiser’s mother said.

She said the family was finally able to retrieve her son’s body on Tuesday. The funeral was held Wednesday.

“Roey lived his life to the fullest, almost always with a smile on his face,” the mother said. “He was always looking for ways to help those around him, and before he was conscripted he was a volunteer firefighter who was always the first to jump into action when needed.”

Though Weiser’s parents were born and raised in the US, they now live in Israel.

A 20-year-old New Jersey-born, Israeli soldier died in the attacks, his relatives told CNN.

Earlier this week, the parents of Itay Glisko were visited at their home by soldiers who told them their son was dead, according to Rachel Glisko, Itay’s aunt who lives in Los Angeles.

His parents had been waiting for days to hear “any shred of evidence” of their son’s whereabouts, the aunt said, but “nobody knew what was going on with him.”

Rachel Glisko said her nephew fought like a “lion” against Hamas until the end.

“Since yesterday, we can’t stop crying. I don’t believe it, can’t believe it,” she said. “He took care of them, he was fighting and was taking care of his fellow soldiers who got wounded.”

His aunt described him as kind and generous and said he “didn’t complain about anything in the army.”

“He was really a fighter. He fought for Israel,” she added.

His parents and family are devastated.

“He’s only 20 years old. He’s not going to have girlfriend, not going to have kids, not going to have a wedding. It’s done,” she said through tears. “This family have (a) big hole in hearts, not going to recover from that.”

Aryeh Shlomo Ziering, a 27-year-old dual Israeli-American citizen, was killed in Israel, his aunt Debby Ziering confirmed to CNN.

He was a captain in the Israeli Defense Forces’ dog-handling unit.

Ziering’s parents, who are from New York and Maine, moved to Israel after getting married. Although he was born and raised in Israel, Ziering attended summer camp in the United States and grew up speaking English with his parents, his aunt said.

Debby Ziering also told CNN that Aryeh grew up not wanting to be a soldier, but “when my nephew does something, he does it 200%. And he was very passionate about protecting his country.”

She remembers him as a “fun-loving, athletic, great kid.”

Danielle Waldman, who was born in Palo Alto, California, was attending the music festival in Israel with her boyfriend of six years when they both were killed, her father Eyal Waldman told CNN’s Erin Burnett.

“I had hoped and thought that they may have been taken hostages to Gaza and that we would see them again,” he said.

Eyal Waldman found out just hours before speaking to CNN that his daughter was among those killed. Danielle was his youngest daughter.

“Each and every one that met her have loved her,” Eyal tearfully recalled. “She’s done nothing wrong and nothing bad to anyone.”

He said the last time he spoke with his daughter she mentioned she had decided with her boyfriend that they would get married soon. The two had just moved into a new apartment several weeks before they were killed with a dog they share, and they had refurnished and redecorated it.

“We will bury them together,” her father said.

Cindy Flash, 67, was a dual citizen and a native of St. Paul, Minnesota. Her husband, Igal Flash, 66, was born in Israel as a son of Holocaust survivors.

The couple are among the dozens killed in one of the grisliest scenes emerging from the Hamas attack on Israel, their daughter, Keren Flash, told CNN.

Keren, 34, said she learned Thursday her parents were killed in the safe room of their home in Kfar Aza, a southern Israel kibbutz close to the Israeli-Gaza border – a home they moved back into just a week before their deaths.

“The last message my mom sent was at 4:59 p.m. on Saturday, and she said, ‘They’re breaking into the house,’” Keren said.

Three minutes later, Cindy Flash texted attackers had broken into the safe room.

“That was the last time anyone heard from them,” Keren said.

She described her mother as “all heart and soul.” Her father, Igal, was the strong and silent type with a sweet soul, Keren said.

Keren told CNN her mother had unwavering hope in humanity, even protesting Israeli military action in Gaza.

“They were some of the best people that I have ever known,” Keren said. “They were good people. They cared about other people. They fought for other people’s rights and other people’s voices.”

Jonathan Rom, a dual Israeli-American citizen, was killed in the Hamas attack on the Nova music festival, his family said.

Rom’s cousin, Daniel Zaken, told CNN that Rom was attempting to help a young woman escape when he encountered heavy gunfire.

The Israel Defense Forces informed Rom’s family of his death Wednesday, according to Zaken, who was traveling to Greece on Thursday to return home to suburban Atlanta.

Zaken said he was on his way to Israel aboard a cruise ship when the attack that claimed his cousin’s life occurred.

Rom, who was born in South Carolina, had lived in Israel for several years, Zaken said.

“It’s just helplessness,” Zaken told CNN. “It’s just unbelievable that they’ve been even able to do something like this.”

Israel resident Ranae Butler said her family was once a “big, beautiful tribe.”

The attack by Hamas on the Nir Oz kibbutz changed everything. “Half our family is gone,” Butler said in an interview with “CNN News Central.”

Six relatives, including at least five US citizens, were among the residents killed by Hamas on Saturday near the Gaza Strip, according to Butler.

Nir Oz, close to the site of the Nova music festival, was among the worst hit of the kibbutzim near Gaza, with scores of residents killed or taken hostage.

Butler’s mother, Carol Siman Tov, 70, and her brother, Johnny Siman Tov, 36, texted her after they fled to safe rooms at their separate houses on the kibbutz during the attack, Butler said.

Johnny and his wife, Tamar Kedem-Siman Tov, 35, hid with their three children – twins Arbel and Shachar, 5, and Omer, 2 – Butler said.

Butler’s mother fled home with her dog, Charlie. Johnny texted Butler, saying, “‘They’re here. They’re burning us. We’re suffocating,’” Butler said.

Johnny and his wife were shot through a window, and Butler’s mother was shot to death in her own safe room, Butler said.

Carol, Johnny and the three children were US citizens, according to Butler. Tamar’s citizenship wasn’t immediately clear.

Several other family members living at Nir Oz survived the attack, Butler said, including two of her brothers, two sisters and her father, Larry Butler, also US citizens. She said her brother Shachar Butler, who was head of security for the kibbutz, was shot but is recuperating.

“They barely put on their boots and pants, and ran and fought in bravery,” Butler said.

“We’re crying and hugging,” she said. “They’ve all been through hell.”

A young man who loved nature and wanted to be a DJ

Twenty-year-old Laor Abramov’s dream was to be a DJ like his father, David.

The permanent resident of the US was killed in last weekend’s attack on Israel by Hamas, his mother, Michal Halev, told CNN.

“This was our worst nightmare,” Halev said, after getting word of his death.

Abramov was attending a nature party on Saturday with his friends when his family lost contact with him.

On Monday, his parents shared a photo of him in a shelter with CNN. They believed he was hiding out in a border city near Gaza.

“We have been calling and texting and emailing and just sending photos on social media and asking everyone we know,” Abramov’s mother had told CNN’s Poppy Harlow on Monday.

Laor loved being in nature with his friends, his mother said.

Correction: An earlier version of this story overstated the number of American citizens confirmed killed in Israel.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled Daniel Ben Senior’s first name.

CNN
 — 

A Black Texas high school student who has been suspended for more than a month over the length of his locs hairstyle has been referred to an alternative school, according to a notice sent to his mother from his school principal and obtained by CNN.

Darryl George, 18, will be placed in a Disciplinary Alternative Education Program, also known as an alternative school, through Nov 29, the notice said.

The letter, signed by Barbers Hill High School principal Lance Murphy, cites violations for “multiple infractions of campus and classroom rules” including, “disruption of the ISS classroom, failure to comply with directives from staff/administration, violation of tardy policy and violation of the dress and grooming policy.”

“As the School Principal, I have determined that your child has engaged in chronic or repeated disciplinary infractions that violate the District’s previously communicated standards of student conduct,” Murphy writes in the notice.

The decision to send George to an alternative program is the latest escalation in a legal fight over whether the teenager’s locs hairstyle – which he often wears in braids or a ponytail – is a violation of the school district’s dress code which places limitations on how long a male students’ hair can be.

School officials had previously warned George and his family that continued violation of the dress code would result in a referral to an alternative program, CNN previously reported.

The George family refuses to cut the teen’s hair and argues the district’s policy is a violation of the Texas CROWN Act, a law which prohibits discrimination on the basis of hairstyles “commonly associated with race.”

Last month, George and his mother, Darresha, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, the state’s attorney general, and school officials for allegedly failing to enforce the law.

George will be allowed to return to class on November 30, according to the notice.

But the notice also states the family will not be able to appeal the referral to an alternative school. The letter cites the Texas Education Code, which states “if the period of placement in the alternative education program does not extend beyond 60 days … this decision is final.”

Greg Poole, superintendent of the Barbers Hill Independent School district, told CNN George was not referred to an alternative school because of his hair.
“Confidentiality does not allow us to disclose the infractions that caused his current disciplinary placement but it was unequivocally not because of his hair,” he said.

Allie Booker, an attorney for George and his family, called the move “retaliation” for the family’s ongoing legal dispute with the school district.

On Wednesday, a judge in the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas denied a motion filed by the Barbers Hill Independent School district to remove the case from federal court, according to court documents.

“Today they filed a motion to pull (the case) out of the federal court and the judge struck the motion for non-compliance with court rules, so they retaliated by putting Darryl in DAEP,” Booker said, referring to the alternative school.

District officials denied Booker’s claim, saying administrators do not intend to enhance the current disciplinary action against the student for the ongoing violation of its grooming policy pending the court’s ruling on whether the district’s policy is legal.

Candice Matthews, a spokesperson for the family and a civil rights activist, told CNN George feels “horrible” about the referral but plans to show up for the program tomorrow. She also said George still does not plan to cut his hair.

The 18-year-old student has been serving in-school suspension since August 31 because of his locs, according to court documents.

Correction: This story has been updated to correct Darryl George’s age. He is 18 years old.

CNN
 — 

Donald Trump’s inflammatory and artless comments about Hamas’ horror in Israel emphasize the defining characteristic of his attitude toward foreign policy and his entire political world view: It’s all about him.

Trump criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, lauded Hezbollah militants as “very smart” and sought political gain from the attacks that killed 1,200 people by claiming that if the last election was not “rigged,” he’d be the American president and they’d never have happened.

The ex-president openly admitted a grievance against Netanyahu, complaining he had pulled out at the last minute from joining the US air attack that assassinated Iranian intelligence chief Qasem Soleimani in Iraq in 2020. Trump had previously fumed over the Israeli leader’s perceived disloyalty in recognizing he lost the election.

Trump is now a private citizen, and it’s possible he wouldn’t have addressed the situation in the same way if he were president – although there were multiple examples of his tone deafness and indiscretion when he was in the White House. But he’s also the 2024 Republican front-runner for president and his statements are therefore scrutinized for clues over how he would behave in office. His latest comments add to plentiful evidence that a second Trump term would be even more riotous at home and globally disruptive than his first four years in power.

The former president’s remarks also offered an opening to his GOP rivals, who accused him of behavior unsuitable for a potential commander in chief after an ally came under attack amid horrendous scenes of carnage in which some Americans were also killed. Some bemoaned his apparent admiration for Hezbollah, a Lebanese militia group that is hostile toward Israel.

“He’s a fool. Only a fool would make those kinds of comments,” former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has rooted his campaign in criticizing Trump’s suitability for office, told CNN.

“Only a fool would give comments that could give aid and comfort to Israel’s adversary in this situation,” Christie continued. “This is someone who cares, not about the American people, not about the people of Israel, but he cares about one person and one person only, the person he sees in the mirror when he wakes up in the morning.”

The former president tried to defuse the growing controversy on Thursday evening, releasing a statement in which he insisted that “there was no better friend or ally of Israel” than him. He accused President Joe Biden of weakness and incompetence. “With President Trump back in office, Israel, and everyone else, will be safe again!” he said.

Trump’s original grievance-based analysis reflects a transactional, unorthodox approach to foreign policy that often prioritizes his own personal goals over a standard understanding of the national interest. It also highlighted a contrast with his potential 2024 election opponent. Biden reacted to the attack by using all of the tools of traditional statesmanship, including rhetoric, personal behind-the-scenes contacts with key foreign leaders and by mobilizing allies. Like Trump, Biden has had a personal and political beef with Netanyahu – but shelved his differences with him weeks before the attack and has been in constant contact with the prime minister since it occurred.

Biden is seeking to strike a balance. He has shown the most ardent support for Israel of any recent US president and acknowledged its desire to retaliate and reestablish its sense of security after the most shocking penetration of its borders and national psyche in 50 years. But Biden is also sending private and public signals to Netanyahu that Israel’s response should not infringe the laws of war and that he should consider the humanitarian consequences of an invasion of Gaza, as he seeks to prevent the war escalating into a dangerous regional conflict that could draw in the US.

Biden’s opponents have every right to critique his foreign policies and to ask whether a hands-off approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict meant his administration dismissed the threat from Hamas. Critics also argue his attempts to open dialogue with Iran, a key sponsor of the militant group, emboldened the Islamic Republic and threatened Israel’s security. But Biden is also forging a contrast of temperament and approach with Trump that will be at the center of his campaign’s narrative if the 2024 election is a rematch of 2020 and will boil down to this question to voters: Is Trump fit for the Oval Office?

Trump said on Fox News on Wednesday that Netanyahu had been “hurt very badly” by the attacks. “He was not prepared, and Israel was not prepared,” the former president said. His comments were not necessarily wrong and the intelligence and political failures in Israel will be investigated after the war. But the timing and tone of criticism is questionable given that Israel, one of America’s closest allies, is suffering after a horrendous attack on civilians and is in need of support not political points scoring and second guessing. His willingness to trash Netanyahu, despite the Israeli leader’s considerable efforts to align himself politically with the ex-president, also shows how loyalty is usually a one-way street for Trump and those who he believes have crossed him are liable to get a public dressing down.

Trump’s comments were not the first time he has appeared to seek a political benefit from his foreign policy and his positions on Israel especially. Last October, he complained that American Jews were not sufficiently grateful to him for actions like moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem when he was in the White House.

“No President has done more for Israel than I have,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social network, adding that it was somewhat surprising that “our wonderful Evangelicals are far more appreciative of this than the people of the Jewish faith, especially those living in the U.S.” He was accused of using antisemitic tropes demanding the loyalty of American Jews. The White House said he insulted Jews and Israelis.

Trump’s remarks Wednesday on Hezbollah, which has the capacity to rain even more carnage on Israel, also appeared inappropriate in the circumstances. “They’re vicious, and they’re smart. And, boy, are they vicious, because nobody’s ever seen the kind of sight that we’ve seen,” Trump said during a political event in Florida. His statement was in keeping with his habit of praising foreign adversaries he sees as tough even if they rule with an iron fist, infringe basic humanitarian values and are US adversaries. He’s rarely concealed his admiration of Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean tyrant Kim Jong Un, for instance. And he added to his long record of praising Vladimir Putin – an accused war criminal because of atrocities committed during the war in Ukraine – when he recently described the Russian leader as “a genius.”

Trump often appeared to be willing to cede national interests to his political benefit while in office. For instance, at a summit with Putin in Helsinki he sided with Putin who dismissed findings by US intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the 2016 election in attempt to help him.

The former president is advocating a return to his “America First” nationalist foreign policy, prizes tough talk and ruthlessness on the global stage, and remains disdainful of allies and the international security architecture that has been the foundation of American power since the end of World War II. While these are positions that would represent a sharp transformation of US foreign policy, it is quite legitimate for him to present them to voters and try to win support for his vision.

Yet his recent comments will only reinforce the impression often left by his actions as president that his own aspirations are most important. They also show Trump’s quintessential contempt for the rules of politics, foreign policy and even basic human decency, which explain why he horrifies many Americans and foreign governments. But this behavior is key to his authenticity for grass roots Republicans who abhor the codes of what they see as establishment elites.

Trump during the Florida event criticized Israel for not taking part in the raid that killed Soleimani. “I’ll never forget that Bibi Netanyahu let us down. That was a very terrible thing, I will say that,” he said. It was not immediately clear whether Israel had considered an operational role in the strike or whether Trump had broken a confidence with an ally or even revealed classified information.

The ex-president has a record however of loose talk on government secrets. He has been indicted over the alleged mishandling of national security material among classified documents he hoarded at his Mar-a-Lago resort after leaving office. Last week, ABC News reported that Trump allegedly shared US secrets about the submarine service and nuclear weapons with an Australian billionaire. Trump denies all wrongdoing.

The ex-president’s GOP rivals, who have struggled to exploit his political vulnerabilities without alienating his super loyal supporters pounced on his criticism of Netanyahu.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis accused Trump of throwing “verbal grenades” at Israel. “Now’s not the time to be doing, like, what Donald Trump did by attacking Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, attacking Israel’s defense minister, saying somehow that Hezbollah were ‘very smart,’” DeSantis said in New Hampshire. “Now’s not the time to air personal grievances about an Israeli prime minister.” Former Vice President Mike Pence hammered Trump’s foreign policy – even though he was part of the former president’s administration that repeatedly challenged American values. Pence also claimed that Trump had somehow changed in his years out of office, a debatable proposition that looks self-serving since it appears intended to create plausible distance from Trump’s excesses while in office.

“He’s simply not expressing, and his imitators in his primary, are not expressing the same muscular American foreign policy that we lived out every day,” Pence said on a local New Hampshire radio.

What Trump is expressing is his idiosyncratic, convention-busting brand of foreign policy rooted in his personal prejudices, grievances and search for political advantage that will once again rock the world if he wins the 2024 election.

CNN
 — 

The footage is from the last two years, but it is chillingly prescient. In a December 2022 video, Hamas fighters can be seen flooding a training area, shooting rockets and capturing pretend prisoners as they surround mock Israeli buildings.

The camp, CNN analysis shows, had just been constructed, and was very close to Erez Crossing, the pedestrian passageway between Gaza and Israel that Hamas fighters ultimately breached last weekend in a bloody attack which killed over 1,200 people in Israel.

Another video taken more than a year ago, shows Hamas fighters practicing take-offs, landings and assaults with paragliders – the same unusual assault mode that Hamas deployed with lethal effect in the same Oct. 7 attack.

A CNN investigation has analysed almost two years of training and propaganda video released by Hamas and its affiliates to reveal the months of preparations that went into last week’s attack, finding that militants trained for the onslaught in at least six sites across Gaza.

Two of those sites, including the arid training site shown in the December video, were a little more than a mile from the most fortified and patrolled section of the Gaza-Israel border. Of the remaining sites: one is located in central Gaza, and the other three in far south Gaza.

Two years of satellite imagery, also reviewed by CNN, show no indication of an offensive Israeli military action against any of the six identified sites.

Not only was there activity in the last several months at the camps, but some camps also absorbed surrounding farmland, converting it from agriculture to barren area for training in the last two years, according to satellite imagery.

In the stunned aftermath of Hamas’ ruthless incursion – where militants abducted 150 people, overran Israeli military bases, and laid waste to towns and farms – questions are being raised about the intelligence and operational failures by Israel’s security apparatus.

The fact that Hamas trained for the attack in plain sight for at least two years raise further questions as to why Israel, home to the Middle East’s most sophisticated military and spying operation, was unable to pick up on and stop the October 7 attack?

When CNN reached out to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment, its international spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said the findings were “nothing new.”

He added that Hamas has “had many training areas” and Israel’s military had “struck many training areas over the years in the different rounds of escalation.”

Conricus noted that Israel has not had a major escalation with Hamas in over two years, in reference to when hostilities between Israel and Hamas erupted in 2021. It followed weeks of tension in Jerusalem, where a group of Palestinian families faced eviction from their homes in East Jerusalem in favor of Jewish nationalists.

Conricus also said that Hamas may have made the facilities “look civilian.”

However, five of the sites – the sixth is a landing strip – do not have civilian features and are nearly identical in how they are constructed and arranged.

They are all surrounded by massive earthen berms, which are taller than the buildings in the camps. The buildings – most have no roofs – are nearly all made from cinderblocks and cement.

Some camps have gates and fences, while others have street curbs but no paved roads.

Asked about the camps, Conricus said they could not answer CNN’s questions “since they relate to the complex analysis of intelligence at the same time that we are fighting a war.”

“This topic, together with numerous other issues, will be investigated by the IDF at the end of the war,” he added.

Senior Hamas official Ali Baraka, the head of the Lebanon-based Hamas National Relations Abroad, told RT Arabic following Saturday’s attack that the terror organization has been preparing for the attack for two years.

Metadata analyzed by CNN indicates that Hamas conducted the trainings for months, sometimes over a year, before releasing the propaganda montages on their social media channels.

The videos also foreshadow the events of October 7.

In one clip, militants are seen practicing take-offs, landings and assaults with paragliders. The metadata showed it was filmed over a year ago. The shadows and position of the sun in the video also indicates that filmed training sessions either lasted for hours, or took place on multiple days.

During the October 7 attack, paragliders took off at dawn close to two training camps geolocated by CNN that are near the Gaza-Israel border.

The videos show that the same practice take-off location the paragliders used had also been used to test Hamas’ own homegrown drones. Metadata indicates those tests took place months before the paragliding montages took place.

Hamas terrorists are also seen in propaganda videos practicing with the type of weaponry they would use to attack on October 7. They created mock Israeli buildings and streets and are seen executing a number of different assault tactics on them.

At a training site hundreds of feet from the Erez Crossing, a wall of a building has a drawing of two palm trees and an animal figure that looks similar to Israel’s Erez Crossing battalion’s insignia.

The video shows them even practicing taking prisoners and zip-tying their hands at the camp.

Satellite imagery shows that the camp was constructed within the last year and a half.

In three of the training camps, they even created fake Israeli tanks consisting of what appears to be a large outer shell surrounding a truck. Fighters are seen practicing an attack against it, launching RPGs and other explosives.

Lublin and Kostrogaj, Poland
CNN
 — 

A few days ago, eastern Poland was basking in unseasonably warm weather. But the winters here are long and harsh, and they can arrive with little warning.

It’s Friday night in Lublin, and the weather has changed. The city’s youth are out, en masse, huddled in jackets and beanies that had hibernated in wardrobes for months. They’re cold, but they’re amped up, tapping their feet in impatience. And they’re angry.

Plenty of topics draw the ire of Poland’s resurgent far right. “I’m here because I’m anti-LGBT, I’m anti-European Union, I’m anti-abortion,” a 15-year-old boy who helped organize tonight’s event in Lublin’s central square tells CNN.

But the political weather is shifting, too. For the first time since Russia launched a brutal war across the border last year, some corners of Polish society are turning on a new target: Ukraine.

“Some Ukrainians here feel too much like they’re at home,” says Przemysław Chinek, 28, who has brought his wife and two daughters – aged five and three months – to a rally for Confederation, a far-right party that has surged in support before Poland’s election on Sunday.

“They threaten Poles,” he adds. “Culturally, these are similar countries. But the morality is different.”

Confederation rails against state spending, lambasting the funds Poland – Ukraine’s nearest and most important European ally – has provided its neighbor since Russia invaded.

“President Zelensky is a puppet!” yells the opening speaker at the rally, riling up a swelling crowd. “I’m very tolerant. But remember you are not a guest, you are a visitor,” Mateusz Rybaczek, a 31-year-old content creator in the crowd, says of the vast population of Ukrainian refugees in Poland. “You must give me respect. It’s my country.”

Poland’s relationship with Russia is uncomplicated: To most Poles, Moscow has always been, and will always be, a global predator whose threat must be resisted. That stance, baked in generations worth of animosity, has only hardened over the past 18 months.

But Ukraine, the enemy of Poland’s enemy, has not always been its friend. Historical trauma and neighborly competition, postponed last February, are returning, and Confederation has given voice to Poles who look at the country’s 1.4 million resettled Ukrainian refugees with suspicion.

The party is not a major player in Polish politics, but it has exerted growing influence in recent weeks. And its role could swell this weekend; opinion polls suggest Sunday’s parliamentary elections could result in a hung parliament, offering Confederation a path to power if they strike a deal with Law and Justice, the populist ruling party known by its Polish acronym, PiS.

Confederation has said its not interested in doing any deals, but they have some ideological crossover with PiS, and Polish media has speculated their support could be required to prop up a weakened PiS government.

Such an outcome is a worst-case scenario in Kyiv and the West. There is sentiment everywhere at this rally – just over a hundred miles from Ukraine – that will delight a Kremlin desperate to force cracks in Western solidarity.

“We drove girls from Ukraine from the border to Warsaw,” says Tomasz Piotr, 33, recounting his efforts in the early days of the invasion. He and his wife, Katarzyna, say they donated groceries to a refugee hub too, eager to help after seeing brutal scenes from Ukraine.

But like many of his peers at the rally, he says Ukrainians have not shown “gratitude” for their efforts. “They want more than they should have,” he says. “We must know when to say stop… the Pole comes first, and we have to remember it.”

‘Everybody is tired’

Like millions of Ukrainians, Anna Martynenko remembers with fondness the help she received as her country plunged into conflict. “Polish people gave us food. There were places where we could stay, where it was warmer,” she says in Warsaw, where she now lives with her two sons. “They asked how I feel – they were so friendly.”

Poland’s support has been essential to Ukraine’s war effort; since February 2022, several million displaced people have hurried out of Ukraine and into Poland, while several billions’ worth of NATO military equipment has been rushed in through Polish territory.

That support is now eroding on two fronts. While hostility fills some public squares and airwaves through an election campaign, even among those more sympathetic, fatigue is creeping in.

“Intellectually, Ukrainians still have my support,” says Gianmarco Ercolani, who hosted a refugee in his flat in Lodz last year. “But I feel like I’ve done a lot already,” he says. “Now that there is not this urgency, it makes you shift your mentality… you just get used to it.”

Last year, a Pew Research Center survey found 80% of Poles supported their country taking in refugees fleeing war. When Pew asked the same question last month, support had dropped to 52%.

Martynenko speaks highly of her host country; she recalls one incident, on the subway, when a Pole told her to “go back to Ukraine,” but it’s nothing she isn’t used to. “People can be rude anywhere,” she says.

But the conflict has been long, and urgency has drifted. “Everybody is tired,” she notes. “This war could come to Poland… (but) not everybody understands this.”

Back in Lublin, the rally begins, and it’s raucous. Pyrotechnics rip through the frigid evening air; fake bills, depicting Poland’s prime minister in a wig, are pumped from canons and dance down to the ground, sending teenagers and parents lapping at the ground to claim one.

The event is aimed squarely at eastern Poland’s young voters, among whom Confederation has made inroads. During their summer peak, surveys showed the party in the lead among 18-21-year-old male voters.

The group’s charismatic, 36-year-old co-leader Sławomir Mentzen – who boasts 800,000 followers on TikTok – flicks through a series of political memes, projected onto a giant screen behind him. At times, it sounds like a stand-up routine.

Everyone here is sick of the populist government’s social welfare program, which supports parents, the elderly, and now Ukrainian refugees. Martynenko says the money she receives – 500 zloty ($116) every month, for each of her children – is “not enough” to support a family. But for Confederation supporters, it is 500 zloty too much.

“It’s 50:50 for me – (half of Ukrainians) are coming here with good intentions, and (the other half) are coming here because they can. Maybe for the money,” says spectator Filip Gajos, 23. Last week, Mentzen wrote on Twitter that in a few years, “Ukraine will gain significant influence on Polish politics. This cannot be allowed to happen.”

As anger increased, painful trauma has been dug up from the past. “Polish-Ukrainian relations were not good for a very long time,” Chinek says. “Everybody remembers Volhynia, and the people who died there.”

He is referring to a World War II-era massacre – Poles call it a genocide – by Ukrainian nationalists just east of Lublin, mostly in what is now western Ukraine.

Memory of that tragedy became an essential pillar of Polish identity-building after its independence from the Soviet Union. “It was a part of the reclaiming of the past in the post-Communist period; the filling of the blank spots in the Polish history textbooks,” says Dariusz Stola, a historian of Poland at the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Discussion of those events “almost completely disappeared with the Russian attacks last year,” Stola says. “Anyone who was raising these arguments about the past was quickly labeled as a pro-Russian voice.”

Now, those loaded memories have returned, entangling in trauma the country’s efforts to integrate Ukrainian refugees. This summer, on the 80th anniversary of the tragedy, Poland’s government reissued calls for the exhumations of graves. “There’s still people that we can’t identify. There’s living generations that can’t find their grandfathers,” says Simon Oshinski, a 21-year-old Confederation supporter.

Fearful of losing their rural strongholds to Confederation, ruling PiS officials have toughened their stance on Kyiv during the election campaign, issuing combative shots at President Volodymyr Zelensky and his government on Volhynia, on grain imports, and even – very briefly – on the delivery of weapons.

“(Ukrainian refugees) have complete access to the labor market and the welfare system, very much like Polish citizens,” Stola says. “That has been exploited by this far-right party – and clearly, (PiS) in recent weeks have realized this, and tried to play the same strings.”

Those shifts reflect the political currency Confederation has built up during the election – even as, for now, they remain a relatively minor party in outright influence. And they have stoked concerns that, should Confederation be required to prop up the next PiS government, anti-Ukraine sentiment will seep further into Polish decision-making.

Anger builds in Poland’s countryside

On Adam Zaleski’s farm, outside the village of Kostrogaj in central Poland, it has been a difficult year.

“It was dry since the spring,” he says in a stoic tone, speaking deliberately and slowly about the myriad problems affecting Polish agriculture. “I’m spending a lot of money, and we’re not sure at what price we’ll be selling.”

Farms like Zaleski’s – which was first operated by his great-great-grandfather, in the 1890s – were facing difficulties before Russia made its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year. But since the war started, Zaleski’s anxiety has increased.

Earlier this year, a tense and occasionally furious spat between Poland and Ukraine erupted over a glut of cheap Ukrainian grain, which would normally be shipped from the country’s now-occupied Black Sea ports, but instead flowed into Poland and through Europe.

The influx of product undercut Polish farmers like Zaleski, leading to a temporary EU ban that lapsed last month, causing another geopolitical dust-up as Poland – alongside Hungary and Slovakia – said they would maintain it.

“The result is here, in the numbers,” he says, wearily prodding at a handwritten page littered with downward arrows and subtraction marks. “There are no profits at all,” Zaleski says, as another difficult season concludes.

Zaleski and his wife, Justyna, remain resolutely determined that Russia is defeated on the battlefield. But the conflict between their government and Kyiv has led to exasperation in rural communities such as theirs.

A turning point for them and many Poles came when Zelensky suggested that Poland was making “political theater” of the grain dispute, telling the United Nations General Assembly that “some of our friends in Europe” were “making a thriller from the grain,” and “helping set the stage for a Moscow actor.”

“It was scandalous,” Zaleski says. “People are outraged,” his wife adds. “We didn’t say that we’re going to block (the passage of) the grains. But we don’t want this grain in Poland.”

Now, second thoughts are creeping in. “Ukrainians have access to healthcare, to universities, to high schools. There are fewer chances for Poles, in our own country,” says Justyna – an increasingly common if ambiguous refrain among some Poles.

Zaleski himself is less animated. “In our relationship, between Poland and Ukraine, there were many things that were not solved – for years,” he adds, with some weariness. He mentions the Volhynia massacre repeatedly, an open wound for many Poles generations later.

“A friendship is good when it’s based on honesty,” he says. “Without solving these problems from the past, we can’t build a new relationship based on respect.”

Zaleski, a socially conservative farmer who has voted for PiS in the past but is reluctant to do so again, is precisely the kind of Pole whose support Confederation is desperate to claim.

He is suspicious of the group, but understands their appeal. “They have offered shortcuts,” he says. “This is a party showing voters how to solve in simple ways some very complicated issues. Probably, many people will vote for them.”

He will vote, though he can’t say yet for whom. But whoever enters power next week, displaced Ukrainian Martynenko believes – and hopes – that Poland’s support will not waver further.

When Poles welcomed her last spring after she fled Ukraine, “I knew that everything is OK,” she said.

“A lot of people came here from Ukraine to save their children,” she adds. “It’s very difficult to stay alone without support.”

CNN
 — 

A New Hampshire college student on Thursday pleaded guilty to federal charges of threatening to kill a member of Congress after he became angry while drunkenly scrolling on TikTok.

While authorities didn’t name the member of Congress, Rep. Matt Gaetz confirmed he was the target when he played the threatening voicemail at the heart of the case on his podcast earlier this year. CNN has reached out to the Florida Republican’s office for comment.

The defendant, 24-year-old Allan Poller, faces up to five years in prison when he is sentenced in January.

According to court documents, Poller, who is a student at Keene State College in New Hampshire, placed a call to the Washington, DC, office of an unnamed member of Congress just after midnight on March 29.

No one in the office answered, prosecutors said, so Poller left a voicemail warning the member to stop “coming for the gays” and threatened to kill the member should they continue.

“If you keep on coming for the gays, we’re gonna strike back and I guarantee you, you do not want to f**k with us,” Poller said, according to court documents. “We will kill you if that’s what it takes. I will take a bullet to your f**king head if you f**k with my rights anymore.”

Poller later admitted to leaving the message in an interview with law enforcement, according to court documents, telling investigators that he had been drinking and become angry while watching videos on TikTok.

Poller’s attorney Jesse Friedman said in a statement that his client “recognizes that hate in any form is wrong and hurtful. He accepts responsibility for his actions and did not intend for his acts to cause harm or a threat to anybody.”

As part of his plea deal, Poller agreed that while he may not have intended to carry out the threat, he knew his voicemail would be viewed as such.

CNN
 — 

Dollar General has brought back its former chief executive in an attempt to revive its struggling business.

On Thursday, the discount chain announced that it had reinstated Todd Vasos as CEO, replacing Jeff Owen. Vasos had previously served in the role for seven years before he retired in 2022.

The replacement is effective immediately, the company said. Owen was CEO for less than one year.

“At this time the Board has determined that a change in leadership is necessary to restore stability and confidence in the Company moving forward,” said Michael Calbert, the chair of Dollar General’s board of directors, in a statement.

Shares of Dollar General, which have been under pressure this year, surged in after-hours trading Thursday after the announcement.

Dollar General has faced slowing growth since Owen took over as chief executive last November. In August, the company slashed its sales and profit outlook for the year, blaming weaker consumer spending and increasing theft. Earlier this year, workers also protested a pattern of federal safety violations and violent incidents at the chain.

External economic factors may have contributed to the discount chain’s downtrend as well.

Neil Saunders, retail analyst and managing director at GlobalData, told CNN that Dollar General’s slowdown was partially attributed to its customer base feeling the pressure of higher costs of living.

“This has been exacerbated by cuts in SNAP payments as temporary pandemic benefits came to an end. As a result, lower-income shoppers are cutting back on non-consumable and indulgent purchases from the chain in a bid to save money,” he said.

Wall Street seemed to lose faith in Owen’s leadership. Earlier this year Dollar General workers protested over unsafe working conditions at the store.. The retailer’s stock has fallen nearly 60% since the start of this year.

Conversely, during Vasos’ seven years as CEO, Dollar General more than doubled its market capitalization. The company also expanded its store base by approximately 7,000 and increased annual sales by more than 80% during that time.

In a statement, Vasos said his aim was to return the retailer to a position of strength.

“I look forward to getting back to work with the broader team as we strive to return to a position of operational excellence for our employees and customers and deliver sustainable long-term growth and value creation for our shareholders,” he said.

At least one Wall Street analyst applauded the leadership shakeup. Oppenheimer senior analyst Rupesh Parikh called the change “surprising,” but said it “could help to re-instill confidence” in the retailer.

Editor’s Note: A version of this story appeared in CNN Business’ Nightcap newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free, here.

CNN
 — 

When a company goes public it’s kind of like their bar mitzvah. They’ve reached adulthood and are ready to take responsibility for their actions.

But a lot of companies that celebrated their “bar mitzvahs” lately are learning that adulting kind of sucks.

Setting the scene

The initial public offering market was booming in 2021.

In just the first nine months of 2021, 785 companies went public in the US, compared to 664 for all of 1996 — the dawn of the internet stock mania, Paul La Monica reported. Some of those IPOs included Bumble, Oatly, Robinhood and Allbirds.

Rivian, the electric vehicle maker, got in on the fun too in November of that year, in what was then the biggest IPO since Meta’s. Shares closed nearly 30% higher on Rivian’s first day of trading.

But it wasn’t just the IPO market that was booming. It was the entire stock market.

This came as the economy started to spring back to action after pandemic restrictions were lifted and people were basically in “treat yo’ self” mode on steroids.

The Federal Reserve played a role in it too, by keeping interest rates at near-zero levels. Investors’ money wasn’t tied to making loan payments as much, so they could invest more in the stock market.

Then in March 2022 Fed Chair Jerome Powell et al. woke up from their transitory inflation slumber and realized they couldn’t just will inflation out of existence and were like, “So, uh, yeah, I think we gotta do something.” That something was raising interest rates.

And with that, among other factors, the stock market’s little Ferris Bueller’s Day Off shindig started to unravel, as did many companies’ IPO hopes and dreams.

All in all, the US IPO market fell 94.8% to $8 billion in 2022, a 32-year low.

Fast forward to 2023

Even though the Fed continued to raise interest rates, the stock market started to get out of its slump, and suddenly the IPO market came out of hibernation.

The headliners of the IPO festival that’s taken off this year include UK-based chip designer Arm, Instacart and Birkenstock, which made its debut earlier this week.

Arm and Instacart at least got a taste of the good life before things turned south. On their first days of trading, shares of both stocks closed well above their IPO prices. They’ve since lost all those initial gains, and their shares are well below their IPO prices.

Poor Birkenstock closed down 13% on its IPO day Wednesday. And Thursday it closed down almost 7%.

Like I said, adulting sucks. It especially sucks when a lot of turmoil is happening that’s outside of your control and you’re left to fend for yourself. Stocks across the board have gotten crushed because of the spike in US Treasury yields (more on that here).

But the other side of this is companies may just be setting their IPO prices too high. As Nightcap wrote earlier this week, companies going public get to say how much they think they’re worth by setting an IPO price. But then once trading begins investors get to judge if that’s what they think it is worth.

Sometimes companies even purposefully set their IPO prices low so investors get super excited and rush to buy shares, boosting the prices up. Clearly that wasn’t the case with Birkenstock.

Marjeyoun, Lebanon
CNN
 — 

The silence on Lebanon’s border with Israel is deafening. After five days of near constant crossfire between fighters in Lebanon and Israeli forces, the guns seem to have largely gone quiet.

This remains one of the most important, and dangerous, fault lines in this volatile region. Following the surprise Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, this frontier – largely calm since the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war – is even more charged with consequence.

Any conflict erupting here could pour fuel on the raging fire of the current Hamas-Israel war by drawing in the most powerful paramilitary group in the Middle East: Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Hezbollah’s political stance has unambiguously supported the Palestinian militants. It has sponsored rallies in support of Palestinian groups and has roundly condemned Israel’s large-scale airstrikes on Gaza.

More than 1,200 people have been killed in the Hamas attacks on Israel, while more than 1,500 people have been killed by Israeli strikes on Gaza since Saturday.

But it is still unclear whether Hezbollah will actively participate in this conflict. So far, it has adhered to its current rules of engagement and repeatedly stated that it will fire at Israel only when Lebanese territory, or its fighters, are fired upon. It has broadly stuck to that, despite the spiraling wider tensions.

Skirmishes here can instead be seen as the low rumble of tit-for-tat exchanges since the start of the Hamas-Israel war. For days, Lebanon-based Palestinian militants have launched rockets into Israel, leading to Israeli attacks on Lebanese territory, including Hezbollah positions. Hezbollah has fired back at Israeli border positions with precision-guided missiles.

Three Hezbollah militants and three Israeli soldiers have been killed in the nearly week-long exchange of fire here.

Hezbollah has not intervened on behalf of the Palestinian militants so far. The group has explicitly linked its attacks on Israel to Israel’s targeting of Lebanese territory, and the fighting remains limited to this border region.

Still, the region remains on a knife’s edge.

Multiple reports have suggested that Western diplomats have sought to keep the Shia armed group out of the emerging conflict. The USS Gerald R Ford, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, is now stationed in the eastern Mediterranean in what is seen by many analysts as a US attempt to deter that eventuality, which could herald a much more violent phase of this war.

Unlike Hamas, Hezbollah is a regional power. For years, it has participated in several conflicts in the Middle East, including in Iraq and Syria. It is also believed to have materially supported and trained Houthi rebels in Yemen. Its fighters are battle-hardened from fighting on behalf of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against Syria’s armed opposition groups, as well as against ISIS and the al-Qaeda affiliated Nusra front. This has given them significant experience in urban warfare.

Hezbollah also has a much more sophisticated arsenal than it had during its 2006 war with Israel, which ended up with no clear victor or vanquished. At the time, many parts of Lebanon were devastated, but Hezbollah foiled Israel’s ultimate plan to dismantle the group, dealing a blow to Israel’s aura of invincibility. Back then, Hezbollah fought mostly with inaccurate, Soviet-era Katyusha rockets. Nowadays, it has precision guided missiles.

In addition to potentially bringing more sophisticated weaponry and fighters into the current conflict, Hezbollah’s intervention could rope in other parties, too. Hezbollah is part of a coalition of Iran-backed fighters who are still stationed in Syria. Their participation could potentially open a third front on the Syria-Israel border, this time alongside Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) who are also present in Syria.

Until the end of the Hamas-Israel conflict, diplomats and observers of many stripes will continue to watch the tinderbox here very closely. Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has gone noticeably quiet since the start of the hostilities to the south, adding to the strange relatively tranquil yet incredibly tense atmosphere.

Thursday’s calm on the Lebanon-Israel border – interrupted occasionally by Israeli interceptions of rockets from Palestinian militants – begs many questions. Has the flare-up here ground to a near halt? Or is this the lull before a huge regional storm?