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‘Death to the Zionist’: American Journalist Arrested After Threatening to Kill Jews, Zionists, and Federal Workers
A reported photo of Jeffrey Stevens. Source: Twitter/X
After making death threats against Jews and government officials, a freelance journalist for the Dearborn, Michigan-based publication The Arab American News, was arrested earlier this week and now faces up to five years in federal prison.
Forty-one-year-old Jeffrey Stevens, who lives in Indiana, was charged with one count of making threats using interstate communication, which carries a maximum punishment of five years in prison.
He reportedly wrote “I am going to kill every Jew in ft. Wayne, and there is nothing you can do to stop it because you are stupid n***ers,” in a Facebook message to Inidana’s Forty Wayne Police Department. He continued, “I am going to make sure I kill every one of you, especially the dark ones, and there is nothing you stupid n***ers can [do] about it.”
According to an affidavit, he also threatened to “shoot every pro-Israel U.S. government official” and “make sure that every CIA member who is pro-Israel is eliminated.”
He also claimed he had “strong Palestinian, Hezbollah, and Iranian contacts.”
In December, Stevens also allegedly wrote “People will remember me. I am going to be the pro-Palestinian who finally had enough that i started eliminating CIA operatives. You will only be remembered as one of the many bitches who were slaughtered. I am going to make sure that every CIA member who is pro-Israel is eliminated. I am so confident that I will give you my phone number, and there is nothing you can do about it because you are a botch [sic]. I will f**k you up.”
He admitted to making such threats during an interview with the FBI in early February, according to reports. He claims that he was drunk when he did so.
Stevens has written more than 40 articles for The Arab American News, mainly about Israel-related subjects.
In a statement to The Algemeiner, the paper’s publisher, Osama Siblani, wrote that “I really don’t know the person very well. I spoke to him couple of times he mentioned to me that he was working for the Jerusalem Post in Israel and he is now in Indiana and would like to submit articles for publication to The Arab American News for no charge. I accepted to review and publish what is acceptable to our publication at no charge. And that was the case.”
Siblani pointed out that “We have not published anything from Mr. Steven’s [sic] since sometimes [sic] in November last year.”
The FBI was initially made aware of Stevens directly after Hamas’s October 7 terrorist attack when he posted “Death to the Zionist” on Facebook. However, there is no indication the paper would have known about such comments at the time.
“As for the threat he made, of course, they are his and we vehemently disagree with them and totally and unequivocally condemn these threats against anyone,” Siblani noted.
He also made clear that “Mr. Steven’s is not our employee and he never was. He was simply one of many contributors. We won’t accept any further submission from him. We are totally shocked and disappointed that he resorted to these kind [sic] of threats even though reports indicate that he was intoxicated when he made them, still that is not an excuse.”
Stevens is being held without bond due to a prior criminal record and to ensure he shows up to his court date.
Since October 7, antisemitic incidents have surged in the U.S. by more than 330%, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
The post ‘Death to the Zionist’: American Journalist Arrested After Threatening to Kill Jews, Zionists, and Federal Workers first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd
Magdeburg Christmas market, December 21, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Christian Mang
i24 News – A suspected terrorist plowed a vehicle into a crowd at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg, west of the capital Berlin, killing at least five and injuring dozens more.
Local police confirmed that the suspect was a Saudi national born in 1974 and acting alone.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his concern about the incident, saying that “reports from Magdeburg suggest something bad. My thoughts are with the victims and their families.”
Police declined to give casualty numbers, confirming only a large-scale operation at the market, where people had gathered to celebrate in the days leading up to the Christmas holidays.
The post Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister
A person waves a flag adopted by the new Syrian rulers, as people gather during a celebration called by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) near the Umayyad Mosque, after the ousting of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, Photo: December 20, 2024. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo
Syria’s new rulers have appointed Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency which toppled Bashar al-Assad, as defense minister in the interim government, an official source said on Saturday.
Abu Qasra, who is also known by the nom de guerre Abu Hassan 600, is a senior figure in the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group which led the campaign that ousted Assad this month. He led numerous military operations during Syria’s revolution, the source said.
Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa discussed “the form of the military institution in the new Syria” during a meeting with armed factions on Saturday, state news agency SANA reported.
Abu Qasra during the meeting sat next to Sharaa, also known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, photos published by SANA showed.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said this week that the defense ministry would be restructured using former rebel factions and officers who defected from Assad’s army.
Bashir, who formerly led an HTS-affiliated administration in the northwestern province of Idlib, has said he will lead a three-month transitional government. The new administration has not declared plans for what will happen after that.
Earlier on Saturday, the ruling General Command named Asaad Hassan al-Shibani as foreign minister, SANA said. A source in the new administration told Reuters that this step “comes in response to the aspirations of the Syrian people to establish international relations that bring peace and stability.”
Shibani, a 37-year-old graduate of Damascus University, previously led the political department of the rebels’ Idlib government, the General Command said.
Sharaa’s group was part of al Qaeda until he broke ties in 2016. It had been confined to Idlib for years until going on the offensive in late November, sweeping through the cities of western Syria and into Damascus as the army melted away.
Sharaa has met with a number of international envoys this week. He has said his primary focus is on reconstruction and achieving economic development and that he is not interested in engaging in any new conflicts.
Syrian rebels seized control of Damascus on Dec. 8, forcing Assad to flee after more than 13 years of civil war and ending his family’s decades-long rule.
Washington designated Sharaa a terrorist in 2013, saying al Qaeda in Iraq had tasked him with overthrowing Assad’s rule and establishing Islamic sharia law in Syria. US officials said on Friday that Washington would remove a $10 million bounty on his head.
The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people, caused one of the biggest refugee crises of modern times and left cities bombed to rubble and the economy hollowed out by global sanctions.
The post Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels
View of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) building in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib / Flash90.
i24 News – Sweden will no longer fund the U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) and will instead provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza via other channels, the Scandinavian country said on Friday.
The decision comes on the heels of multiple revelations regarding the agency’s employees’ involvement in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.
Sweden’s decision was in response to the Israeli ban, as it will make channeling aid via the agency more difficult, the country’s aid minister, Benjamin Dousa, said.
“Large parts of UNRWA’s operations in Gaza are either going to be severely weakened or completely impossible,” Dousa said. “For the government, the most important thing is that support gets through.”
The Palestinian embassy in Stockholm said in a statement: “We reject the idea of finding alternatives to UNRWA, which has a special mandate to provide services to Palestinian refugees.”
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel thanked Dousa for a meeting they had this week and for Sweden’s decision to drop its support for UNRWA.
“There are worthy and viable alternatives for humanitarian aid, and I appreciate the willingness to listen and adopt a different approach,” she said.
The post Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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