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Hostage Survivor Testifies Hamas Captors Tortured Young Woman in Front of Her
Relatives and supporters of hostages kidnapped during Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel rally for their release, after a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas ended when the terrorist group broke it, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Dec. 2, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha
i24 News — Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, held a hearing for returned hostages and families of those still being held in Gaza since the Oct. 7 attack, to discuss the harrowing situation of the abducted and the efforts to rescue the 136 people remaining in captivity, as well as to provide a space for testimonies from those who survived the atrocities.
Aviva Adrienne Siegel, who was held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip for 51 days, gave one of the most moving testimonies. “I want to talk to you about several moments that were very difficult for me,” she said. “There were millions like that and I could go on talking to you for a week.”
“I want to help the abductees to be strong enough. I came home and found my daughters half their size because they hadn’t eaten,” Siegel said, describing her experience returning to Israel.
“My life has changed from one end to the other. Everywhere I go I am looked at as the hostage. I went through 51 days of hell in Gaza, of humiliation and my husband is still there going through it and I can’t do it. I feel like I’m suffocating, I don’t sleep at night,” said Siegal, whose husband Keith is still held in Gaza.
“I want to tell you that the abductees are much worse than us. They are there in the dark, without medication that they should receive. One of the days in captivity I met an abductee. I’ll say some unkind words: this son of a b—ch touched her and didn’t even let me hug her after it happened,” Siegel said, adding that the female hostage confided that the terrorist holding them captive had sexually assaulted her.
“There was another case of an abductee who arrived and they thought she was an army officer and they simply tortured her next to me. I was a witness to it,” she testified at the parliamentary hearing, concluding “I want to ask you how I am supposed to deal with all this?”
Sigi Cohen, whose son was kidnapped from the Nova Music Festival, tearfully said, “Elia was wounded by gunfire and kidnapped to Gaza. From that moment on, I have no idea what happened to my son for 95 days. None of the returnees saw him. No one knows what’s going on with him.”
“Enough of this, we must know. At least let the Red Cross come in and check what’s going on with him. He’s had an epileptic fit before,” she said. “No one talks about the men who are there! It’s not only women, not just children. It should be everyone, just everyone.”
The hearing was attended by Knesset members, ambassadors, returned hostages, and family members. The caucus was established by Likud coalition lawmaker Boaz Bismuth and opposition member from Yesh Atid, Shelly Tal Meron.
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Brandeis Center Files Complaint on Behalf of Jewish Students Expelled After Parents Report Antisemitic Bullying
Kenneth L. Marcus. Photo: United States Department of Education.
On Tuesday, the legal activist nonprofit the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law submitted a complaint against Nysmith School in Sully Square, Virginia, charging that administrators retaliated against three Jewish students after their parents reported antisemitic harassment.
The filing on behalf of Brian Vazquez and Ashok Roy details how their 11-year-old daughter experienced sustained antisemitic bullying from classmates, including the epithet “baby-killer” and the taunt that she deserved to die because of the war in Gaza. Peers reportedly told the unnamed student that everyone at the school hates Jews and Israel, which is why they hated her. When her parents complained to the headmaster, they received promises of action but nothing followed.
The antisemitic harassment allegedly increased after the school installed a Palestinian flag and canceled a speech from a Holocaust survivor (out of fear that such an event would further inflame campus tensions over the Israel-Hamas conflict). When the parents objected again, the headmaster told them their daughter needed to “toughen up.” Two days later he sent the parents a letter informing them that all three of their children were expelled, an action not justified by any academic or disciplinary problems.
The complaint argues that Nysmith fostered an antisemitic environment and cites as evidence a photograph of a drawing made by students and shared by the school featuring the face of Adolf Hitler on an image meant to depict “strong historical leaders.”
Kenneth L. Marcus, chairman of the Brandeis Center called Nysmith’s actions against the students “disgraceful.”
The complaint shows “the administration not only dismissed this family’s pain and humiliation, but allowed an atmosphere that fostered antisemitism,” Marcus said. “Through its actions, the administration sent a clear message: bullying is acceptable, as long as it’s against Jewish families. We must all emulate the strength of these parents and their children and stand up to antisemitism and its perpetrators, as difficult as it may be. In addition to action from legal authorities, it is high time for public moral outrage; the normalization of antisemitism must stop.”
Dillon PLLC filed the complaint jointly with the Brandeis Center. “Summarily expelling three young Jewish kids in the middle of the school year after their parents voiced concerns about antisemitism is beyond the pale,” said firm partner Justin Dillon. “And don’t get me started about that picture of Hitler.”
The Algemeiner contacted the front office at Nysmith School for a response but did not receive a response by press time.
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White House Urges UN to Fire Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese
Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur on human rights on the Palestinian territories, attends a side event during the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, March 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
The White House is pressing the United Nations to remove Francesca Albanese, the special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, over what officials describe as a pattern of inflammatory, legally questionable and antisemitic conduct.
In a formal diplomatic communication to UN leadership, the US accused Albanese of crossing ethical and legal boundaries by promoting fringe legal theories and issuing sweeping threats to American and international companies.
Albanese, an Italian academic appointed by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in 2022 and recently reappointed for a second term, has come under increasing scrutiny for her outspoken criticism and targeting of Israel. Recently, she sent letters to major companies, some of them US government contractors, warning that doing business with Israel could constitute “complicity in genocide,” “apartheid,” and other grave human rights abuses. The letters alleged potential criminal liability under international law.
The Trump administration lambasted these moves as a campaign of “political and economic warfare.” In a sharply worded letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, acting US Ambassador Dorothy Shea argued that Albanese’s claims were built on “false legal premises” and “inflammatory rhetoric,” warning that such conduct poses risks not just to Israel but to global business and diplomatic norms.
The controversy highlights longstanding US concerns about perceived anti-Israel bias at the UN, particularly within the Human Rights Council, where Israel has frequently been the target of critical resolutions.
US officials have also cast doubt on Albanese’s legal credentials, alleging that the special rapporteur is not an actual lawyer. The state department contends she routinely presents herself as an “international lawyer” despite reportedly never having passed a bar exam or been licensed to practice law. That detail, the US argues, should disqualify her from the diplomatic immunities typically granted to UN officials.
The letters sent to companies are part of a forthcoming UN report, spearheaded by Albanese, that accuses Israel of operating an “economy of genocide” with the support of global corporations. US diplomats dismissed the draft as “legally baseless,” saying it misrepresents both facts on the ground and international law. “Private companies are not legally bound by human rights law,” Shea wrote in her communication.
A spokesman for the UN secretary-general’s office told the Washington Free Beacon it has “no authority over the human rights rapporteurs,” who report directly to the Human Rights Council, according to the outlet. “It is up to the Human Rights Council to handle appointments and to oversee their work,” said the spokesman.
Press representatives for the UNHRC did not immediately respond to a Free Beacon request for comment.
Albanese has long drawn criticism from Israel and its allies. She has accused the Israeli government of perpetrating a system of apartheid and has publicly compared Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler, a comparison widely condemned across political lines. She has also been accused of rationalizing or downplaying the October 7 Hamas attacks.
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Danish Suspect Arrested for Spying on Berlin’s Jewish Community for Iranian Intelligence Amid Rising Middle East Tensions
The Iranian flag flying over a street in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 3, 2023. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
A man accused of spying on Jewish institutions and individuals in Berlin on behalf of Iranian intelligence — allegedly in preparation for potential terrorist attacks — has been arrested in Denmark.
In a statement released Tuesday, German prosecutors confirmed that a Danish citizen was detained last week in Aarhus, a city in western Denmark, on suspicion of being tasked by Iranian intelligence with collecting information on “Jewish localities and specific Jewish individuals” in the German capital.
According to German authorities, the man allegedly spied on three properties last month, “presumably in preparation for further intelligence activities in Germany, possibly including terrorist attacks on Jewish targets.”
While it hasn’t been disclosed which sites and individuals were targeted, a report by German magazine Der Spiegel revealed that the suspect took photos of several houses, including the headquarters of the German-Israeli Society (DIG).
The suspect is accused of working for a foreign intelligence service, reportedly receiving orders from the Quds Force, Iran’s elite paramilitary unit responsible for directing its proxies and terrorist operations abroad.
After being extradited from Denmark, the suspect will appear before a German judge who will decide whether to keep him in custody pending formal charges.
This latest threat comes as concerns grow over Iranian sleeper cells while tensions in the Middle East escalate amid the ongoing conflict between Tehran and Jerusalem.
After Israel struck Iranian nuclear facilities last month to prevent the country from obtaining a nuclear weapon, Iran warned of retaliation, saying it may activate sleeper cells abroad and mobilize its proxies — from Hezbollah to the Houthis — to target Israeli assets in response to the attacks.
As tensions escalated between the two adversaries, Jewish security groups and institutions worldwide, including schools and synagogues, increased security measures and urged vigilance, anticipating that Iran — limited in its capacity to retaliate militarily against Israel — might target Israeli and Jewish interests abroad.
Tehran has a long history of deploying spies to orchestrate assassination plots and attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets across Europe and the United States.
For example, Swiss authorities last year arrested Swedish teenagers who, acting on Iranian instructions, attempted to attack the Israeli embassy in Stockholm.
There have also been reports of Iranian links to a shooting at a German synagogue and planned attacks on Jewish sites in Cyprus in recent years.
In the US, one notable case is the foiled 2011 plot in which authorities uncovered an Iranian plan to assassinate the then-Saudi ambassador by bombing Café Milano, a Washington, DC, restaurant popular with American officials.
Germany has long been a strong ally of Israel, even as an increasing number of European Union members adopt anti-Israel stances and push for measures against the country.
At the same time, Berlin has maintained a tense relationship with Tehran while striving to re-engage Iran diplomatically over its nuclear program.
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