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Israeli Race Car Driver Finishes Third In International Race With Photos of Hamas Hostages on His Helmet
A partial view of the helmet worn by Ariel Elkin during his USF Juniors race on April 7, 2023. Photo: Screenshot
Israeli race car driver Ariel Elkin recently won his first Formula 4 race of the season and used his helmet in the competition to honor the hostages still held captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip since the Oct. 7 terrorists attacks that took place in southern Israel.
Elkin, 16, competed in the USF Juniors Formula 4 international race that took place on Sunday morning at the NOLA Motorsports Park near downtown New Orleans, Louisiana. His helmet in the race was covered with photos of the hostages and on the top of the helmet he wrote in black marker “BRING THEM HOME NOW!!!” and in Hebrew the phrase “Am Israel Chai,” which means “long live Israel.”
When Elkin got to the podium to accept his trophy for finishing in third place, the commentator asked him to put down his helmet and instead hold his trophy. The race car driver refused and explained that he wanted to pay tribute to the hostages that remain in Gaza. Instead of lifting his trophy over his head to take a photo with the other winners, he lifted his helmet to draw awareness to the hostages.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry thanked Elkin for his kind gesture in a post on the country’s official Twitter account and following his win, Elkin called for the immediate return of the hostages, which include one of his friends. He also thanked his supporters and the Israel Defense Forces for “keeping my family safe.”
“I am calling for bringing all of the hostages back home now and I am waiting to be back in Israel with my friend who is already half a year in Gaza,” he said. “I am waiting for her to come back home with all of the hostages.”
A total of 129 hostages abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7 remain in Gaza and the IDF has confirmed the deaths of 34 of those hostages. As part of a new ceasefire deal being discussed, Israel has demanded the release of 40 hostages — including all women as well as sick and elderly men, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners that would be released from Israeli prisons. However, Israeli officials and sources familiar with the negotiations revealed that Hamas told mediators it does not have 40 living Israeli hostages who meet Israel’s conditions.
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Trump Administration to Release Over $5 Billion School Funding That It Withheld
US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and President Donald Trump, in the East Room at the White House in Washington, DC, US, March 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
President Donald Trump’s administration will release more than $5 billion in previously approved funding for K-12 school programs that it froze over three weeks ago under a review, which had led to bipartisan condemnation.
“(The White House Office of Management and Budget) has completed its review … and has directed the Department to release all formula funds,” Madi Biedermann, deputy assistant secretary for communications at the U.S. Education Department, said in a statement, adding funds will be dispersed to states next week.
Further details on the review and what it found were not shared.
A senior administration official said “guardrails” would be in place for the amount being released, without giving details.
Early in July, the Trump administration said it would not release funding previously appropriated by Congress for schools and that an initial review found signs the money was misused to subsidize what it alleged was “a radical leftwing agenda.”
States say $6.8 billion in total was affected by the freeze. Last week, $1.3 billion was released.
After the freeze, a coalition of mostly Democratic-led states sued to challenge the move, and 10 Republican US senators wrote to the Republican Trump administration to reverse its decision.
The frozen money covered funding for education of migrant farm workers and their children; recruitment and training of teachers; English proficiency learning; academic enrichment and after-school and summer programs.
The Trump administration has threatened schools and colleges with withholding federal funds over issues like climate initiatives, transgender policies, pro-Palestinian protests against U.S. ally Israel’s war in Gaza and diversity, equity and inclusion practices.
Republican US lawmakers welcomed the move on Friday, while Democratic lawmakers said there was no need to disrupt funding in the first place.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon separately said she was satisfied with what was found in the review and released the money, adding she did not think there would be future freezes.
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Israel to Resume Airdrop Aid to Gaza on Saturday, Military Says
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
Israel will resume airdrop aid to Gaza on Saturday night, the Israeli military said, a few days after more than 100 aid agencies warned that mass starvation was spreading across the enclave.
“The airdrops will include seven pallets of aid containing flour, sugar, and canned food to be provided by international organizations,” the military added in a statement.
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Trump Says Hamas ‘Didn’t Want to Make a Deal,’ Now Likely to Get ‘Hunted Down’
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.
i24 News – US President Donald Trump on Friday said the Palestinian jihadists of Hamas did not want to make a deal on a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza.
“Now we’re down to the final hostages, and they know what happens after you get the final hostages. And basically because of that, they really didn’t want to make a deal,” Trump said.
The comments followed statements by Middle East peace envoy Steve Witkoff and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the effect that Israel was now considering “alternative” options to achieve its goals of bringing its hostages home from Gaza and ending the terror rule of Hamas in the coastal enclave.
Trump added he believed Hamas leaders would now be “hunted down.”
On Thursday, Witkoff said the Trump administration had decided to bring its negotiating team home for consultations following Hamas’s latest proposal. Witkoff said overnight that Hamas was to blame for the impasse, with Netanyahu concurring.
Trump also dismissed the significance of French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement that Paris would become the first major Western power to recognize an independent Palestinian state.
Macron’s comments, “didn’t carry any weight,” the US leader said.
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