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‘Devastated’: Biden Mourns Death of Israeli-American Hostage
US President Joe Biden, left, meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, to discuss the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Oct. 18, 2023. Photo: Miriam Alster/Pool via REUTERS
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Tuesday confirmed the death of Israeli-American 19-year-old Sgt. Itay Chen, who was murdered on Oct. 7 and whose body was taken by Hamas into Gaza.
US President Joe Biden said that he was “devastated” to learn about Chen’s death.
Recent intelligence showed that Chen was killed during a battle with Hamas terrorists near the border with Gaza and that his body was later seized from the Nahal Oz base where he served.
Chen’s death has now been officially recognized by the Israeli army’s chief rabbi, but his family has chosen to postpone the shiva mourning period and wait for the return of his remains, which are still being held by Hamas.
Chen’s last contact with his family was at 6:30 am on Oct. 7, when he updated them that the base was under attack. He was initially categorized as missing, but within days it was confirmed that he had been taken, along with 253 others, into Gaza.
His father, New York native Rubi Chen, emerged as a leading voice among the hostages’ families around the world early on in the Israel-Hamas war and has met with Biden and senior US officials.
Biden on Tuesday recalled a visit by Chen and his brother, Alon, at the White House on Hanukkah.
“Itay’s father and brother joined me at the White House, to share the agony and uncertainty they’ve faced as they prayed for the safe return of their loved one,” he said.
“No one should have to endure even one day of what they have gone through. At the end of our meeting, they gave me a menorah — a solemn reminder that light will always dispel the darkness, and evil will not win.”
Biden reiterated his commitment to return all the hostages still in Gaza after being kidnapped on Oct. 7.
“We are with you. We will never stop working to bring your loved ones home,” Biden promised.
The first time Biden spoke with the older Chen was five days after his son’s abduction during a video meeting together with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was in Israel at the time.
The Algemeiner spoke with Chen shortly after that meeting about an upcoming bar mitzvah for Alon, his youngest son. Chen extended an open invitation to all who wanted to attend the celebration on the upcoming Saturday.
“Our youngest son deserves to have a happy bar mitzvah. It’s pretty simple. So we put that [horror] aside for a couple of hours and we have the embrace of our community.”
Asked if he was concerned about an impending ground invasion by Israeli forces, Chen, a venture capitalist, said that it was “sadly ironic” that he held onto the hope that the hostages were being used as human shields and that the more prized the hostage — his son, being an American, falling in that category — the higher his chances of survival.
“These animals that took Holocaust survivors and children, they know they need to take care of themselves. It’s basic instinct. They need to surround themselves with people to be human shields,” he told The Algemeiner. “The top [terrorists] are in underground bunkers keeping the hostages, and especially dual citizens, close to them.”
Beyond the kidnappings, Hamas terrorists also murdered 1,200 people during their Oct. 7 invasion of southern Israel, sparking the war in Gaza.
The post ‘Devastated’: Biden Mourns Death of Israeli-American Hostage 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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