RSS
Israeli Artists Denied US Visas Allegedly Due to Song Lyrics Condemning Hamas Leaders and Supporters
Israeli rap duo Ness Ve Stilla. Photo: YouTube screenshot
Four Israeli artists were refused visas to perform in the United States over the weekend allegedly because of controversy surrounding a song by one of the scheduled acts, Israel’s Channel 12 News reported.
Rap duo Ness Ve Stilla, Lior Narkis, and Chaim Osadon, star of the kid’s show “The Crazy World of Dod Chaim,” were scheduled to perform on Sunday at an Israel solidarity concert in Florida sponsored by the Consulate-General of Israel in Miami.
Ness Ve Stilla, whose real names are Nessya Levi and Dor Soroker, told Israel’s Channel 12 that officials in the US gave them the impression that all four artists were denied visas because of the duo’s song “Harbu Darbu,” which they released last year following the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel. All four artists submitted one joint visa application and were therefore rejected jointly, the Israeli publication Mako reported.
In “Harbu Darbu,” Ness and Stilla call for revenge against Hamas and Hezbollah — both Iran-backed terrorist groups — and threaten model Bella Hadid, singer Dua Lipa, and former Playboy model Mia Khalifa, all of whom have condemned Israel. The rappers name Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and top Hamas officials Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh, saying “every dog’s day will come.”
“Everyone who planned, everyone who supported, everyone who carried out, everyone who murdered, every bad person gets his punishment in the end,” they rap in the song. Ness and Stilla also describe pro-Palestinian supporters in the song as the “Children of Amalek,” which is a reference to the ancient tribe that tried to destroy the Israelites. Ness raps: “Left, right, left, impressive how the whole country put on uniforms from the Galilee to Eilat … We brought the whole army on you and I swear there will be no forgiveness.”
“One, two, shoot,” Levi sings. “Get your asses ready, ’cause it’s the air force, feel the vibration all the way to Tel Aviv; all the girls stare at the soldiers, and that guy on the news suddenly seems handsome to me … For mom and dad, for all my friends in the front line; one for grandpa and grandma; we write their names on the shells.”
Narkis confirmed in an Instagram post on Friday that he was denied a visa to perform in Florida. He wrote that “even though I’m already here [in the United States], I am being prevented from holding the performances that were planned due to bureaucratic reasons.”
“We were promised that we will receive an artist visa that we can perform legally,” he added. “Until that moment the requested approval was not received. Unfortunately we are forced to postpone all the shows in the USA.”
Narkis eventually was able to secure permission to perform in Miami on Sunday and took to the stage at Miramar Regional Park. He also announced on Instagram that he was able to organize two concerts in Los Angeles.
The post Israeli Artists Denied US Visas Allegedly Due to Song Lyrics Condemning Hamas Leaders and Supporters first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
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.
RSS
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.
RSS
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.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login