Category: Headlines

Hamas ready to release hostages if Israeli airstrikes stop: Iran

October 16, 2023 Published by

International News | The Hill 

Iran’s Foreign Ministry claimed that the militant group Hamas is prepared to release the hostages it’s holding in Gaza if Israel ceases its airstrikes.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said Hamas officials “stated that they are ready to take necessary measures to release the citizens and civilians held by resistant groups, but their point was that such measures require preparations that are impossible under daily bombardment by the Zionists against various parts of Gaza,” The Associated Press reported.

Israel said Monday that Hamas is believed to be holding 199 people hostage, which is up from the previous estimate. This includes children and the elderly and is also believed to include U.S. citizens.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters last week there was a “very small” number of Americans believed to be held as hostages, but he wasn’t aware of proof of life and couldn’t provide details about their whereabouts or condition.

Speaking at a news conference, Kanaani said that Hamas has stated that “they have no problem to continue resisting.”

“They said the resistance holds military capability to continue resisting in the field for a long time,” he said, speaking of Hamas.

The State Department is also warning Americans not to travel to Gaza and is asking Americans to “reconsider” traveling to Israel and the West Bank.

Hamas launched its deadly attack more than a week ago, prompting Israel to declare war on the group. Israel has said more than 1,400 Israelis have been killed so far. At least 2,750 Palestinians have also been killed and another 9,700 wounded, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

 

​Read More 

The bitcoin safe haven trade is back on, says Bernstein

October 16, 2023 Published by

US Top News and Analysis 

With recession fears swelling again, investors seeking a safe place to put their assets should be interested in bitcoin , says Bernstein. The cryptocurrency, which has grown in popularity among institutions for its “digital gold” qualities, has an “enviable return record” versus physical gold, Bernstein analyst Gautam Chhugani said in a note Monday. “Bitcoin’s hard money properties makes it an attractive ‘safe haven’ asset. Since its inception, bitcoin has consistently outperfomed gold,” he wrote. “Bitcoin’s inflation today at 1.8% is similar to Gold’s inflation, but what bitcoin skeptics miss is that every 4 years, bitcoin’s inflation halves, and bitcoin is still at a fairly early stage of institutional adoption i.e more inflows as supply become more scarce, leading to its exponential move.” Chhugani is referring to bitcoin’s halving event, which takes place every four years when the reward for mining bitcoin is cut in half, as designed in the Bitcoin code, to reduce the supply of the cryptocurrency. Historically, it has set the stage for new bull runs, and the next one is expected to come in May 2024. Bitcoin is up about 150% over the past three years – even with a 60% drawdown in 2022 – while gold has been flat, Chhugani noted. Going back five years, bitcoin has outperformed gold by 5x. On top of its outperformance, Bernstein notes that bitcoin is also in the early stages of institutional adoption, which will be helped by the approval of the first spot bitcoin ETF in the U.S. “The Bitcoin ETF would make bitcoin accessible in broker accounts [and] well integrated with private banks and wealth managers/advisors,” Chhugani said. “The early stages of bitcoin adoption, naturally, makes it more attractive [than] gold, with bitcoin market cap at less than 5% of Gold’s market value (of above ground reserves).” Bernstein’s comments come about a week after legendary hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones told CNBC bitcoin is looking more attractive as an investment with the economy “more likely than not” going into a recession. Jefferies also recently said bitcoin is a “critical hedge” against currency debasement and the return of inflation. —CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed reporting.

Read More 

[World] Landlord charged with hate crimes after Muslim boy killed in Illinois

October 16, 2023 Published by

BBC News world-us_and_canada 

Reuters

Six-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume celebrated his birthday a few weeks ago
By Gareth Evans & Mike Wendling in Plainfield, Illinois
BBC News

A man has been charged with murder and hate crimes after allegedly stabbing a six-year-old boy to death because he was Muslim.

Joseph Czuba, 71, is accused of killing Wadea Al-Fayoume and seriously wounding his mother in Plainfield, Illinois.

The landlord allegedly targeted the pair, who were his tenants, because of their religion and the ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israel.

President Joe Biden said he was “sickened” by Saturday’s attack.

“This horrific act of hate has no place in America, and stands against our fundamental values: freedom from fear for how we pray, what we believe, and who we are,” he said.

Hanaan Shahin, 32, was attacked by her landlord, who had a military-style knife, and ran to the bathroom to call the police, authorities said.

She suffered more than a dozen stab wounds but is expected to survive.

Her son, Wadea, was stabbed more than two dozen times in the attack and later died in hospital. A funeral service and burial will be held on Monday afternoon in the town of Bridgeview, which is sometimes referred to as “Little Palestine” because of its large Palestinian-American population.

On Monday, a makeshift memorial – which included a stuffed spider-man figure and other children’s toys – stood at the scene of the crime.

Several crosses, apparently put up by Mr Czuba sometime before the incident, were also visible, along with a sign telling passers-by to “pray the rosary at 4:20”.

This video can not be played

To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.

Watch: Palestinian resident in tears after killing of Muslim boy

He celebrated his sixth birthday just a few weeks ago. “He loved his family, his friends. He loved soccer, he loved basketball,” the executive director of the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Ahmed Rehab, said.

When officers arrived at the scene, about 40 miles (64km) south-west of Chicago, they found Mr Czuba sat on the ground outside the property with a cut to his face.

The victims, who were Palestinian-Americans, were found in a bedroom.

Mr Czuba was taken to hospital for treatment before being questioned by detectives. He was later charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, hate crimes and aggravated battery.

While he did not make a statement, detectives said they were able to determine a potential motive.

“Both victims in this brutal attack were targeted by the suspect due to them being Muslim and the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis,” the Will County Sheriff’s office said.

The US Justice Department has also opened a federal hate crime investigation into the attack. In statements on Monday, both Vice President Kamala Harris and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas condemned the attack and rising incidents of hate.

“There is no humane world that can and should tolerate the murder of an innocent child because of his identity,” Mr Mayorkas said. “The tragic events in the Middle East…have brought ideologies of hate to the fore across the world – notably antisemitism and Islamophobia. This must end.”

Will County Sheriff’s Office

Murder suspect Joseph Czuba is now awaiting his court appearance

At a news conference on Sunday, CAIR said Wadea was born in the US while his mother – originally from Beitunia in the West Bank – came to the country 12 years ago.

“[Wadea] paid the price for the atmosphere of hate and otherisation and dehumanisation that frankly I think we are seeing here in the United States,” Mr Rehab said.

The boy’s father, Oday al-Fayoume, was at the news conference and was in a state of shock, Mr Rehab said.

Neighbours such as Eva Case expressed disbelief at the violent attack. “I don’t care what the situation was,” she told the BBC’s US partner CBS. “Don’t take it out on somebody that innocent of life.”

Others who lived nearby said the pair had moved into the home four years ago.

“It’s sickening. I can’t even imagine how anybody could do that to a little child,” one neighbour said.

More on Israel Gaza war

Follow live: Latest updatesExplained: What’s going on in Gaza and Israel, and why now?History behind the story: The Israel-Palestinian conflictGaza maps: What life is like in the Gaza StripHamas’ attack on Israel: The volunteers giving dignity to the dead

More than 1,400 people were killed in Israel when Hamas crossed the border from the Gaza Strip to attack civilians and soldiers.

In Gaza, nearly 2,700 people have been killed by Israel’s bombing, Palestinian authorities say, with an estimated 1,000 missing under rubble.

On Sunday, the FBI said it had seen an increase in reported threats in the US since Hamas launched its attack more than a week ago.

Most have been deemed not credible, a senior FBI official said, but both Jewish and Muslim institutions have been targeted.

Sign up for our morning newsletter and get BBC News in your inbox.

Related Topics

Israel Gaza warUnited StatesIllinois

 

​Read More 

 

More high schoolers try this college savings strategy: It’s like getting two years free, says expert

October 16, 2023 Published by

US Top News and Analysis 

watch now

VIDEO5:1305:13
Few families pay the full price for college: Take these 3 steps to help cover rising higher education costs
College

Without the promise of broad-based student loan forgiveness, there’s another option for eliminating higher-education debt before it balloons.

Through dual enrollment, high school students can complete college-level coursework and even receive an associate’s degree by the time they graduate.

That can shave years off the cost of a bachelor’s degree, in some cases cutting the tab — not to mention the borrowing costs — in half.

More from Personal Finance:
These top colleges all promise no student loan debt
Public colleges aren’t as cheap as you’d think
Should you apply early to college?

“It’s a very smart way to start your higher education,” said Martha Parham, senior vice president of public relations at the American Association of Community Colleges.

“They’re basically getting two years of college for free.”

Dual enrollment is growing in popularity

More students are catching on, according to a recent report by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, which showed a 12.8% jump in dual enrollment since 2022.

At Post University’s High School Academy in Waterbury, Connecticut, the number of students enrolled has spiked since the program launched a little more than five years ago. Students take a mix of high school- and college-level courses, shortening the time it takes to complete a high school diploma and one to two years of college coursework.

“For every class you can take in high school, that’s one less class you are financing down the road,” said Chad McGuire, director of Post’s High School Academy.

Not all students in dual enrollment programs graduate high school with an associate’s degree, but most finish with at least one year of college credit, which gives them the option to enter college as a transfer student.

At least 35 states have policies that guarantee that students with an associate’s degree can transfer to a four-year state school as a junior.

“Dual enrollment is not new,” McGuire said. “But there’s more effort to make it accessible.”

They’re basically getting two years of college for free.
Martha Parham
senior vice president of public relations at the American Association of Community Colleges

Unlike Advanced Placement, another program in which high school students take courses and exams that could earn them college credit, dual enrollment is a state-run program that often works in partnership with a local community college.

These programs are not restricted to high school students on a specific, and often accelerated, academic track, as many AP classes are.

In fact, many of the programs were initially geared toward underrepresented students who were unlikely to consider college.

Where dual enrollment falls short

Nearly two-thirds of community college dual enrollment students nationally were from low- or middle-income families, according to a 2017 study from the Community College Research Center at Columbia University.

Of those students, 88% continued on to college after high school, and most earned a degree within six years.

However, to date, dual enrollment predominantly includes high-achieving, mainly white students who were likely already on the college track, according to new data from Columbia’s Community College Research Center.

While there is evidence that dual enrollment benefits students, students of color are underrepresented, the researchers said.

To reduce equity gaps, the authors suggest improved outreach to underserved students and families to increase awareness of dual enrollment and its effectiveness in increasing college-going and completion rates.

Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube.

Read More 

[World] Jim Jordan: the conservative Republican who wants to be Speaker

October 16, 2023 Published by

BBC News world-us_and_canada 

This video can not be played

To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.

Watch: Jim Jordan: Three things to know about the conservative firebrand

By Chloe Kim
BBC News

Republicans in the House of Representatives are trying to select a new Speaker amid in-fighting that has kept one of the most important government posts empty for nearly two weeks.

After Louisiana Representative Steve Scalise dropped out of the Speaker race – for not mustering enough votes – the party turned to firebrand Jim Jordan of Ohio, officially nominating him on Friday.

A fierce ally of former President Donald Trump, he may not be able to secure enough votes from moderate Republicans, who fear he is too extreme, to take the gavel when the full House meets on Tuesday.

Who is Jim Jordan?

Once a college wrestling coach, Mr Jordan is now serving his ninth term in Congress representing Ohio’s 4th district, which encompasses the area north of Columbus.

The 59-year-old chairs the influential House Judiciary Committee, where he heads a subcommittee on the “weaponization of the federal government”, and is a key member of the House Oversight Committee.

He is also one of three Republicans leading the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, and he co-founded the House Freedom Caucus in 2015 – the furthest right bloc within the Republican party.

As an avid defender of the 45th president, Mr Jordan has risen to prominence over the years with the help of Mr Trump’s base.

Last week on Truth Social, Mr Trump pushed for Mr Jordan in the Speaker’s race, saying he “is STRONG on Crime, Borders, our Military/Vets, & 2nd Amendment”.

“He will be a GREAT Speaker of the House, & has my Complete & Total Endorsement!” Mr Trump wrote.

Mr Jordan is in line with more mainstream members of his party on many policies, opposing abortion and gun restrictions and supporting more stringent immigration policies. But he stands with the right wing in opposing more aid to Ukraine, saying he would stop further spending if made Speaker.

Three ways Republican House Speaker chaos ends on Capitol HillWhat does the US Speaker of the House do?

What is he known for?

Mr Jordan has received most attention – and scrutiny – for his actions involving the Capitol riot on 6 January 2021 and his ties to Mr Trump.

He was one of the Republican lawmakers who voted against certifying that Mr Biden was the legitimate winner of the 2020 presidential election. In the days after the ensuing riot, Mr Trump awarded Mr Jordan the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honour.

Last year, Mr Jordan refused to answer questions from the House select committee investigating that day’s violence about his communications before the riot with Mr Trump and others, like Mark Meadows, Mr Trump’s former chief of staff.

At the same time, the bipartisan committee revealed Mr Jordan had asked White House staff whether Mr Trump would grant pardons to lawmakers who had voted to overturn the election.

Mr Jordan became a nationally known figure a year earlier as one of eight House lawmakers defending Mr Trump during his first impeachment trial.

Prior to his legislative days, while a sports coach at Ohio State University (OSU), multiple student athletes said Mr Jordan knew about sexual abuse by an OSU doctor but did not do anything about it.

Dr Richard Strauss, who died in 2005, allegedly sexually abused at least 177 male athletes over the course of nearly two decades.

Mr Jordan has denied that he knew about the abuse.

Related Topics

US politicsUS CongressUnited States

 

​Read More 

 

SF Giants’ Alyssa Nakken interviews for managerial job

October 16, 2023 Published by

Latest & Breaking News on Fox News 

The San Francisco Giants have started the interview process for the team’s next manager after it parted ways with Gabe Kapler at the end of the 2023 season.

Assistant coach Alyssa Nakken interviewed for the job last week, Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said Sunday. Nakken has been in the organization since 2020 and made history in April 2022 when she became the first woman to coach on the field in a major league game.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

The Athletic first reported Nakken took the interview.

Further history would be made if she’s offered and takes the job.

Nakken, 33, was a softball star at Sacramento State from 2009 to 2012 and was hired by Kapler in 2020 as an assistant. She was a three-time all-conference selection and a four-time Academic All American. She earned her master’s in sports management from the University of San Francisco after interning for the Giants’ baseball operations department in 2014.

MLB, TEAM ISRAEL PITCHER SADDENED OVER HAMAS ATTACK REACTIONS: ‘NOT A GOOD SHOWING FOR HUMANITY’

The odds of her winning the gig are unclear as there’s stiff competition for the job.

Third-base coach Mark Hallberg and bench coach Kai Correa are among the internal candidates for the position. MLB.com reported that special assistant to baseball operations Ron Wotus is expected to be in the running as well.

The Giants dismissed Kapler after a disappointing season. The team was 107-55 in 2021 as baseball went from a pandemic-impacted season back to a 162-game slate. The team lost in the National League Division Series. Then, in 2022, the Giants were 81-81 and missed the playoffs.

San Francisco was 79-83 in 2023 and again missed the playoffs. The Giants appear to be far from the days of winning three World Series in five years.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

​Read More 

 

Underwater photography competition crowns winners among 1,600 photos: See a 3-headed eel pic and more

October 16, 2023 Published by

Latest & Breaking News on Fox News 

An underwater photography company hosted a competition to find the most jaw-dropping images of 2022-2023. 

UnderwaterPhotography.com had over 1,600 images submitted to its competition, with all falling under 10 different categories based on the type of angle used, the image captured and more. 

The overall winner and world champion crowned was Glenn Ian Villanueva from the Philippines, who happens to be a tax consultant by day, as SWNS reported.

RARE SPOTTED HAND-FISH PIC AMONG TOP WINNERS OF 2022 OCEAN ART UNDERWATER PHOTO CONTEST

The shot that won gold in the “macro swimming” section was a unique image of a fish inside a jellyfish. 

Villanueva told SWNS that photography — and diving, specifically — is what helps him survive corporate life. 

“The warm and sometimes cold water as you descend underwater offers the perfect environment for the busy mind to cool down, relax and be creative,” he said. 

ALASKAN BALD EAGLES WIN NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC’S FIRST ‘PICTURES OF THE YEAR’ PHOTO CONTEST WITH STUNNING IMAGE

Villanueva said he hopes to do underwater photography full-time one day. 

Another notable winner in the competition was Penn de los Santos, who won first place in the “macro super macro” category and gold in the “macro not swimming” category. 

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SPOTLIGHTS EXTRAORDINARY PHOTOGRAPHY AS ‘PICTURES OF THE YEAR’: HERE ARE 10 GREAT SHOTS

One image was of a specimen taken in the ocean off the Philippines — while the other is what appears to be an underwater image of a 3-headed eel, as SWNS reported.

French photographer Jerome Mirande won third place in the “over/under” category for his mermaid image captured in Corsica — an island in France. 

Mirande’s images are all taken while free diving, according to SWNS. 

Belgium photographer Kurt Storms took second place in the “wide-angle wreck” section — ones that covers any image taken of a manmade object that’s sunk underwater. 

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER

His image was of the Ghianis D in Egypt’s Northern Red Sea — which sunk in 1983 when it hit a reef, as SWNS reported. 

The competition includes 219 winning images, but competition organizer Tal Mor told SWNS that the number of submissions was up 40% from the 2021-2022 competition.

“It’s the industry’s most coveted prize because it says you succeeded in the most competitive environment there is, against the top talent of the moment,” the group said. 

Mor added that photographers who want to make a name for themselves tend to come to Underwater Photography — which began in 1996 — to do so. 

For more Lifestyle articles, visit www.foxnews.com/lifestyle.

 

​Read More 

 

Israel reports killing top Hamas commanders, ‘eliminating’ other key terror operatives in Gaza airstrikes

October 16, 2023 Published by

Latest & Breaking News on Fox News 

Israeli forces announced Sunday that they killed a top Hamas commander blamed for one of the most heinous kibbutz attacks during the terror group’s surprise assault on Oct. 7. 

Southern Khan Yunis Nukhba commander Billal Al Kedra, accused of being responsible for the Kibbutz Nirim massacre, was neutralized as “part of extensive IDF strikes targeting senior operatives and terrorist infrastructure in the Gaza Strip,” Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Israel Securities Authority (ISA) said. 

Following ISA intelligence, IDF fighter jets operated in Gaza and “neutralized” Al Kedra, the IDF press release said. 

The IDF also provided video purportedly showing the strike that killed the Hamas commander. They also said Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist operatives were also neutralized.

“The IDF also struck over one hundred military targets located in Zaytun, Khan Yunis, and west Jabaliya,” the IDF statement said. “These strikes impacted the capabilities of the Hamas terrorist organization, by targeting its operational command centers, military compounds, dozens of launchers, anti-tank missile launch posts and observation posts. Furthermore, operational command centers belonging to the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization were struck.” 

ISRAEL EVACUATING 28 COMMUNITIES NEAR LEBANON BORDER

The rural farming enclave of Nirim, located less than a mile from the Gaza border, was one of several kibbutz communities that bore the brunt of Hamas’ brutal ground attack Oct. 7. 

A resident there told CNN afterward that terrorists were starting fires and knocking door to door pretending to be military in order to drive Israelis out of their homes to kill or kidnap them. 

“They just slaughtered everyone. They killed kids, babies, grandmothers,” the Nirim survivor told CNN, though it’s unclear how many were killed or kidnapped from there. 

The IDF on Monday shared six images of other “key operatives of the Hamas terrorist organization eliminated” by Israeli forces. 

“Hamas is a genocidal terrorist organization,” the IDF post on X, formerly Twitter, said. “We will eliminate Hamas.” 

WHITE HOUSE NAMES EX-AMBASSADOR TO LEBANON, TURKEY AS US SPECIAL ENVOY TO MIDDLE EAST ‘HUMANITARIAN ISSUES’

The operatives include Ali Qadi, commander of Hamas’ Nukhba Jabalya Assult Company, Mueaz Eid, commander of the Hamas Southern District of National Security, Zachariah Abu Ma’amar, the head of the International Relations office in Hamas’ Political Bureau, Joad Abu Shmalah, the Hamas Minister of Economy in the Gaza Strip, Belal Alqadra, the commander of the Nukhba Southern Khan Yunis Assault Company, and Merad Abu Merad, the head of the Hamas Aerial Array in Gaza City. 

More than a million people have fled their homes in the Gaza Strip ahead of an expected Israeli invasion that seeks to eliminate Hamas’ leadership after its deadly incursion, according to The Associated Press. Aid groups warn an Israeli ground offensive could hasten a humanitarian crisis.

Israeli forces, supported by U.S. warships, positioned themselves along Gaza’s border and drilled for what Israel said would be a broad campaign to dismantle the militant group. A week of blistering airstrikes have demolished neighborhoods but failed to stop militant rocket fire into Israel.

The war that began Oct. 7 has become the deadliest of five Gaza wars for both sides, with more than 4,000 dead. The Gaza Health Ministry said 2,750 Palestinians have been killed and 9,700 wounded. More than 1,400 Israelis have been killed, and at least 199 others, including children, were captured by Hamas and taken into Gaza, according to Israel.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

 

​Read More 

 

New York officers will not face charges for using stun gun on man who later caught on fire, died

October 16, 2023 Published by

Latest & Breaking News on Fox News 

Police officers in upstate New York will not face criminal charges in connection with the death of a man who doused himself with hand sanitizer and then caught on fire when one of the officers shot a stun gun at him, the state attorney general’s office said Friday.

Jason Jones, 29, was taken off life support in December 2021 after having spent six weeks in intensive care following the fire at the Catskill police station.

Attorney General Letitia James’ office released a report on Jones’ death and the officers’ actions, concluding that a prosecutor would not be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officers committed crimes. The report also recommended that police officers receive new training on using stun guns safely.

WISCONSIN POLICE OFFICERS RESCUE YOUNG WOMAN WHO SCREAMED ‘I WANNA DIE!’ IN LAKE MICHIGAN

“Officers attempted to subdue Mr. Jones with a device that is not usually lethal to take him to a hospital, believing he was a danger to himself or others,” James’ office said in a statement. “The investigation showed that their training did not warn them against using a Taser around hand sanitizer.”

Jones’ family disputes the report’s findings and has a pending lawsuit against the town of Catskill and three officers, according to their lawyer.

On Oct. 29, 2021, police in Catskill, about 30 miles south of Albany, responded to a local bar for a 911 report about an unruly patron. When officers arrived, they escorted Jones outside and he ran to the police station, authorities said.

Jones became unruly in the police station lobby too, pounding on windows, overturning a table and removing some of his clothes as three officers talked to him to try to calm him down, police said. Jones then took alcohol-based hand sanitizer that was in the lobby and spread it on his head and upper body, authorities said.

MICHIGAN K-9’S MUGSHOT GOES VIRAL AFTER POLICE ACCUSE PUP OF STEALING OFFICER’S LUNCH

The officers determined Jones “could be” a danger to himself or others and decided to take him into custody, according to James’ office. One officer shot Jones with a stun gun, and his head and upper body burst into flames for about 25 seconds. Officers appeared startled and ran out of the lobby to find a fire extinguisher, the report said.

Graphic video shows Jones putting out the flames himself and later being taken away to a hospital.

Kevin Luibrand, a lawyer for Jones’ family, said Jones’ father is upset by the report’s conclusions, and Jones’ mother had been “inconsolable” over how long the investigation was taking before she died of natural causes Tuesday.

Luibrand said he and the family believe it could be proven in court that the officers committed crimes, and parts of the report are inconsistent with the video. Luibrand took issue with the report’s findings that before the stun gun was used, there was a discussion among the officers about taking Jones into custody because he appeared to be a danger to himself or others.

“There was no conversation. There was no discussion,” he said, adding the stun gun use “was reactive and wholly unnecessary.”

 

​Read More 

 

Israeli President shows alleged torture manual Hamas uses on civilians: ‘Extremely cruel, inhumane enemy’

October 16, 2023 Published by

Latest & Breaking News on Fox News 

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog said Hamas terrorists are carrying “instruction guides” on how to torture and kidnap civilians, as he explained the kind of “extremely cruel and inhumane enemy” his country is fighting against.

During an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Sunday, he first described the horrors he witnessed while walking through Kibbutz Be’eri near the Gaza Strip, where ten percent of its members were murdered by Hamas terrorists. 

“I saw the skull of a woman, in which house I visited, the house totally destroyed, totally destroyed, and they just cut her head off,” Herzog said. “I saw a pool of blood in that house where the picture of the children is hanging, and the grandchildren are hanging on the wall with the knives and the hatchets which they went in. I saw the most horrific scenes possible.”

This was just one example of Hamas’s cruelty, he said, as this community had advocated for peace and sent financial help to their Palestinian neighbors in Gaza for years before they were attacked.

THE LEGACY MEDIA DECRIES ‘BOTHSIDESISM’ EXCEPT WHEN IT INVOLVES ISRAEL AND HAMAS

Herzog also shared a torture and kidnapping manual allegedly found on the body of a terrorist.

“This was found on the body of one of the terrorists. This is a booklet. Okay?” he said while holding up a pamphlet emblazoned with the image of a Hamas terrorist. 

“This booklet is an instruction guide how to go into a civilian premises, into a kibbutz, a city, a moshav, how to break in and first thing what do you do when you find the citizens? You torture them. This is the booklet. It says exactly how to torture them, how to abduct them and how to kidnap them,” he explained.

“So therefore the story is not Israel versus Palestinians or Judaism versus Islam, God forbid, the story is about humanity. Are we with good or we with evil? That’s where humanity should stand,” he urged.

Herzog staunchly defended his country’s right to protect itself, after Blitzer questioned Israel’s planned ground operation and efforts to evacuate civilians from Northern Gaza.

FORMER ISRAELI SOLDIER SUGGESTS HOSTAGE RESCUE OPERATIONS BEHIND DELAY IN GROUND INVASION OF GAZA

“My nation is bleeding. My nation is in pain. My nation is in sorrow,” he said. “And we are faced with an extremely cruel, inhumane enemy, which we have to uproot with no mercy.” 

The Israeli leader said Hamas has used residential areas in Gaza to launch missiles at civilians ever since they withdrew from the strip in 2005, but this most recent attack was far worse. 

“They shoot their missiles at our children from their homes, from their shops, from their mosques, from their hospitals. For years they’ve been trying to do it. For years and years and years, ever since we withdrew from Gaza in 2005,” he explained. 

He also said while Israel was taking efforts to keep Palestinian civilians safe, Hamas was preventing them from getting to safety.

“We are trying now to move the civilians so that they will not be hurt. We want to go in and uproot that infrastructure of terror. Get the mob out from the inner city,” he added. “[W]e are trying to help Palestinians in Gaza to go to a safe zone while Hamas is trying to block them all the way through.”

Ahead of its expected military ground operation, Israel dropped flyers over Gaza, warning Palestinians to evacuate the area.

At least 4,200 people have been killed in the war on both sides, including at least 1,400 Israeli civilians and soldiers and 30 Americans. Palestinian health authorities say at least 2,808 Palestinians have been killed and more than 10,950 wounded. Thirteen American citizens are unaccounted for, FOX News has reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to defeat Hamas and wipe them “off the face of the Earth” in response to the terror attack.

For more Culture, Media, Education, Opinion and channel coverage, visit foxnews.com/media

 

​Read More 

 

More forecasts: 30 days Toronto weather