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Hezbollah Rockets Kill 7 as US Officials Meet Israeli Counterparts in Jerusalem to Discuss Truce Deal
Senior US and Israeli officials meet in Jerusalem, Oct. 31, 2024. Photo: Ma’ayan Toaf (GPO)
Senior US officials Amos Hochstein and Brett McGurk arrived in Israel on Thursday to discuss a proposed agreement to de-escalate hostilities with the Hezbollah terrorist group which, according to a leaked draft, would have Israel withdraw from southern Lebanon within a week of signing.
The eight-page draft, which was exposed by Israel’s Kan public broadcaster, stipulated that Israel would retain the right to conduct targeted strikes against imminent threats for a 60-day period. The agreement also outlined the deployment of the Lebanese Army, alongside UNIFIL, the UN’s peacekeeping force in Lebanon, in dismantling Hezbollah’s military infrastructure and blocking unauthorized weapons and ammunition from entering the country.
Throughout the day, US Special Envoy Hochstein and McGurk, who is President Joe Biden’s Middle East adviser, held meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Shin Bet Director Ronan Bar, Mossad Director David Barnea, and other senior Israeli officials.
The meetings came amid ongoing rocket barrages from Iran-backed Hezbollah into northern Israel which killed seven people and wounded several more. One incident in Metula, which is largely evacuated due to the conflict, killed farmer Omer Weinstein and four of his foreign workers. In a second incident, a 60-year-old and her 30-year-old son were killed in an olive grove near Shfaram from a Hezbollah rocket.
Avi Melamed, a former Israeli intelligence officer and Middle East expert, said all indications pointed to Hezbollah, which wields significant influence in southern Lebanon, signing a ceasefire deal but that in the meantime, the Iran-backed terror group was employing its remaining capabilities in a “rearguard battle” to preserve some leverage.
Even Naim Qassem, who took over from his slain predecessor Hassan Nasrallah as Hezbollah chief, seemed inclined to a ceasefire, despite a fiery first speech in which he threatened Netanyahu’s life.
“He’s trying to save face, but it’s quite clear that Hezbollah ultimately wants to reach some kind of deal to end this matter,” Melamed told The Algemeiner.
“In the eyes of the Arab world, Hezbollah is the defeated party in this war,” he added.
The group had sustained heavy losses and large swaths of south Lebanon have been entirely decimated. According to Melamed, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) was now shifting its focus to striking strategic Hezbollah strongholds such as Baalbek and Qusair — a key city on the Syria-Lebanon border that Hezbollah captured a decade ago during the Syrian civil war and is now using as a transit point for the smuggling of weapons and fighters. The strikes are intended to further degrade Hezbollah’s military assets and increase pressure on the organization to negotiate from a weakened position.
Meanwhile, the IDF confirmed on Thursday that an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon killed Mohammed Khalil Alian, a Hezbollah regional commander overseeing anti-tank missile operations. Alian was targeted in the village of Burj Qallawiyah, where he led Hezbollah’s “Nasser” unit in the Hajir area, a division responsible for many of the rocket, mortar, UAV, and anti-tank missile launches into northern Israel.
Some 70,000 residents of Israel’s north have been evacuated from their homes for over a year, after Hezbollah began launching rockets into the region. The Israeli government has vowed to take whatever measures are necessary, including military action, to ensure the displaced persons can return.
Raz Malka, representing Lobby 1701 — a group formed after the war’s outbreak to advocate for Israel’s northern evacuees — expressed skepticism about the proposed ceasefire agreement.
“We have seven casualties in the north, so it doesn’t feel like it’s safe right now to go back, especially with this agreement,” he told The Algemeiner.
“It’s worth almost nothing,” he said, adding his hope that the Israeli government will ensure the IDF upholds its responsibility to protect the security of northern residents.
The post Hezbollah Rockets Kill 7 as US Officials Meet Israeli Counterparts in Jerusalem to Discuss Truce Deal first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Police Manhunt Continues for Assailant Who Slashed Jewish Man in New York City
Screenshotted image of suspect wanted for stabbing a Jewish man in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York City on Oct. 29, 2024. Photo: NYPD Crime Stoppers
The New York City Police Department (NYPD) has released new information regarding its ongoing search for the assailant who slashed a visibly Jewish man in the face as he was walking through downtown Brooklyn on Tuesday morning.
The unprovoked perpetrator cursed at the victim, a 30-year-old male, before attacking him and then fleeing on foot, according to the NYPD. Emergency medical services transported the victim to Maimonides Medical Center in stable condition.
Now, the NYPD is calling on the public to help its investigation, and on Thursday it provided The Algemeiner with images of the suspected assailant as well as video footage of him strolling through the area.
The individual, clad in a black ski mask and winter coat of the same color, appears to be clutching something in his right-hand pocket, according to the video.
“The New York City Police Department is asking for the public’s assistance in identifying the individual depicted in the attached media in connection to an assault that occurred within the confines of the 88 Precinct,” the law enforcement agency said in a statement encouraging people with information to contact its Crime Stoppers Hotline. “The unidentified individual cursed at the victim and slashed him in the face. The individual fled on foot in an unknown direction to parts unknown.”
Witnesses of the crime reported that the suspect also yelled “hateful rhetoric,” according to Yaacov Behrman, a liaison for Chabad Headquarters, the main New York base of the Hasidic movement.
“This is a very serious incident, and the Jewish Future Alliance is deeply concerned about it,” he said, noting that the victim “is hospitalized and requires surgery.”
Letitia James, the attorney general of New York, posted on social media that she is thankful that the victim “is expected to make a full recovery,” adding, “We will not tolerate any attacks against our Jewish communities.”
Tuesday’s crime against the Orthodox Jewish community came amid a welter of similar incidents throughout New York City’s Five Boroughs. According to a report issued in August by New York state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, antisemitic incidents accounted for a striking 65 percent of all felony hate crimes in New York City last year. The report added that throughout the state, nearly 44 percent of all recorded hate crime incidents and 88 percent of religious-based hate crimes targeted Jewish victims.
Meanwhile, according to an Algemeiner review of NYPD hate crimes data, 385 antisemitic hate crimes have struck the New York City Jewish community since last October, when the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas perpetrated its Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, unleashing a wave of anti-Jewish hatred unlike any seen in the post-World War II era.
Beyond New York, anti-Jewish hate crimes in the US spiked to a record high last year, and American Jews were the most targeted of any religious group in the country, according to a report published by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) last month.
“We are gravely concerned and have reached out to law enforcement to closely monitor this violent assault,” the New York/New Jersey office of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said in a statement addressing Tuesday’s slashing. “Our thoughts are with the victim and his family, and we are praying for his full recovery.”
Last year, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) recorded 8,873 antisemitic incidents— an average of 24 every day — across the US, amounting to a year unlike any experienced by the American Jewish community since the organization began tracking such data on antisemitic outrages in 1979. Most of the outrages occurred after Hamas’s terrorist attacks on Oct. 7.
Incidents of harassment, vandalism, and assault all spiked by double and triple digits, with California, New York, New Jersey, Florida, and Massachusetts accounting for nearly half, or 48 percent, of all that occurred.
Breaking down the numbers, the ADL found a dramatic rise in the targeting of Jewish institutions such as synagogues, community centers, and schools, with 1,987 such incidents taking place in 2023 — a 237 percent increase which included over a thousand fake bomb threats, also known as “swattings.”
Other figures were equally staggering, with assaults and vandalism rising by 45 percent and 69 percent, respectively, while harassment soared by 184 percent. Antisemitic incidents on college campuses, which The Algemeiner has continued to cover extensively, rose 321 percent, disrupting the studies of Jewish students and leaving them uncertain about the fate of the American Jewish community.
The last quarter of the year proved the most injurious, the ADL noted, explaining that after the Hamas atrocities in October, 5,204 antisemitic incidents rocked the Jewish community. Across the political spectrum, from white supremacists on the far right to ostensibly left-wing Ivy League universities, antisemites emerged to express solidarity with the Palestinian terrorist group, spread antisemitic tropes and blood libels, and openly call for a genocide of the Jewish people in Israel.
Such incidents occurred throughout the US. In California, an elderly Jewish man was killed when an anti-Zionist professor employed by a local community college allegedly pushed him during an argument. At Cornell University in upstate New York, a student threatened to rape and kill Jewish female students and “shoot up” the campus’ Hillel center. In a suburb outside Cleveland, Ohio, a group of vandals desecrated graves at a Jewish cemetery. At Harvard University, America’s oldest and, arguably, most prestigious university, a faculty group shared an antisemitic cartoon depicting a left-hand tattooed with a Star of David dangling two men of color from a noose.
“Despite these unprecedented challenges, American Jews must not give in to fear,” ADL chief executive officer Jonathan Greenblatt said at the time.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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A 2022 Hamas TV Show Displayed the Oct. 7 Massacre; Why Didn’t Anyone Pay Attention?
The body of a motorist lies on a road following a mass-infiltration by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip, in Sderot, southern Israel October 7, 2023. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
In 2022, Hamas TV produced a show whose plot described in chilling detail the approaching Hamas invasion, killings, and kidnappings in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Watching Hamas’ 2022 broadcast highlights a critical question haunting Israelis since October 7: How did Israeli intelligence overlook the clear warning signs of the attack, given that Hamas not only rehearsed the actions it later carried out, but openly described its plans on TV?
Worse yet, in a 2022 speech, then-Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar openly confirmed that the plot in the TV show reflected Hamas’ plans:
Sinwar: “This [TV] creation is not different in any way from our [Hamas’] very great imaginative powers ... from their intelligence, and from their various fields of activity.” [emphasis added]
There are varying explanations for why Hamas publicly revealed its attack plans a year before October 7. Some think that Hamas wanted “to ridicule the occupation [i.e., Israel] afterward and prove its intelligence failure.“ Others say Sinwar took ideas from the show:
Sinwar liked the show’s script and its events, and he wanted to implement them in practice, which he was indeed able to do. [emphasis added]
[Wattan, independent Palestinian news agency, Dec. 4, 2023]
In any case, the tragic fact remains that this show was broadcast in 2022, and Sinwar confirmed that it was accurate, and Israeli intelligence did not take it seriously.
The following is from the 2022 Hamas broadcast anticipating the actual Hamas terror attack on Oct. 7, 2023:
Transcript of portions of Hamas’ 2022 TV show:
Hamas terrorist: “Today we invaded them, and they did not invade us.” …
Hamas terrorist: “We will move towards the Kissufim [army] post [i.e., Israeli town], and the moment we take control of it, we will start to move towards the Re’im base.” …
“Israeli officer”: “They must not reach this base.”
“Israeli officer”: “The location was secured, and we still don’t know what their [Hamas’] target is.”
“Israeli officer” 1: “No matter what happens, they must not reach this structure under any circumstances. What is happening is either a large battle that will completely eliminate the State of Israel or a rehearsal. A rehearsal ahead of the liberation battle.” …
A scene in an “Israeli intelligence headquarters”:
“Israeli officer” 1: “There’s something strange. The cameras on the [Gaza] border … were hacked without us [Israel] noticing. The same images repeat themselves. It looks like something serious is happening.”
“Israeli officer” 2: “They shut down the activity of all the radar and disrupted the broadcast. We can’t see what is happening through the satellites. Patrols on the border reported to the army defense command about an infiltration of dozens of armed people.” …
Images of soldiers being taken captive are shown.
Hamas terrorist 1: “Isn’t this dangerous for the Jihad fighters?”
Hamas terrorist 2: “They’ll take control of the site and totally erase the secret database. They have taken a large group of [Israeli] captives.”
“Israeli official” 1: “The state [of Israel] is in a difficult period. We don’t comprehend the event we are in…”
“Israeli officer”: “Israel is turned upside down. I fear this is Armageddon. The entire world is turned upside down. They’re invading us.”
[Wattan, independent Palestinian news agency, Dec. 4, 2023]
Hamas terror leader Yahya Sinwar said this at a ceremony honoring the creators of the TV show in 2022:
Sinwar: “This TV show has a very great influence on our people’s struggle, its Jihad … This [TV] creation is not different in any way from our very great imaginative powers, from the activity of our brothers in [Hamas’] Martyr Izz A-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, from their [weapons] production workshops, from their intelligence, and from their various fields of activity … On behalf of the [Hamas] Movement leadership, and on behalf of our people and nation, [I express] our great thanks and our appreciation to you over this wonderful [TV] creation…”
Comments by Palestinian Wattan TV in 2023:
“The [2022] show includes scenes like what indeed happened in [Oct. 7] ‘the Al-Aqsa Flood’” …
“In the show, they took control of the [Israeli] Re’im [army] base and the Southern Command headquarters, which indeed happened in the [Oct. 7] operation.” …
“[In Hamas’ 2022 show] the [surveillance] disruption that took place on Oct. 7 was also seen.”
“There were also scenes similar to the [Oct. 7] real events, such as [Hamas fighters] going up on tanks and taking [Israeli] captives.” …
“At the end of the [2022 TV] show, the operation’s results were presented, such as mass [Israeli] emigration and American aid.”
Itamar Marcus is Founder and Director of Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article first appeared.
The post A 2022 Hamas TV Show Displayed the Oct. 7 Massacre; Why Didn’t Anyone Pay Attention? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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California Cafe Kicks Out Man Wearing ‘Violent’ Star of David Baseball Hat, Owner Asks if He’s a ‘Zionist’
Jonathan Hirsch says he was kicked out of the Jerusalem Coffee House in Oakland, California on Oct. 26, 2024 for wearing a hat with the Star of David on it. Photo: Screenshot
A cafe owner in Oakland, California kicked out a man for wearing a Star of David emblazoned on his baseball hat this past weekend, arguing that the religious symbol possesses a “violent” connotation and identifies him as a “Zionist.”
In a video posted on social media, Jonathan Hirsch, who is Jewish, was angrily confronted and asked to leave the Jerusalem Coffee House on the afternoon of Oct. 26 because of his hat. Hirsch and the cafe owner, Abdulrahim Harara, engaged in a heated exchange of words, in which the Jewish man accused the venue of practicing unlawful discrimination.
Jonathan Hirsch, wearing Star of David hat, kicked out of Jerusalem Coffee House in North Oakland by owner. @oaklandpoliceca investigating whether this was hate crime. 6:30,7:15 p.m. #KTVUPlus pic.twitter.com/lJQL90SiL3
— Henry K. Lee (@henrykleeKTVU) October 30, 2024
“You’re being asked to leave. You’re causing a disruption. This is a private business. You’re being asked to leave,” Harara said.
“This gentleman asked me to leave because of my hat,” Hirsch said from behind the camera.
“This is a violent hat and you need to leave,” the owner added.
“My hat is violent?” Hirsch asked.
“Yes,” Harara responded.
“You can’t ask me to leave because of my religion,” Hirsch then said.
“Are you a Zionist?” the owner asked.
“I don’t have to identify myself,” Hirsch answered.
“Get out!” Harara ordered.
Hirsch accused the owner of discriminating against him based on his “protected class” and threatened to issue a lawsuit against the venue. The owner then pulled out his phone and threatened to call the police on Hirsch if he did not vacate the premises.
In an interview with local Fox outlet KTVU, Kirsch explained that he regularly wears his hat with the Star of David on it.
“I wear this hat all the time. I mean, I’ve had this hat for years. And it means a lot to me. It’s meant a lot more over the last year,” he said, explaining that he and his 5-year-old son went to the the cafe because his child needed to go to the bathroom and his wife wanted a coffee.
“I wasn’t going out looking for a fight. But when someone comes up to me fighting, I can’t teach my son [that] Jews are these meek people that run and cower,” Hirsch told KTVU.
Videos showed Oakland Police Department officers later arriving at the scene and attempting to de-escalate the situation. They recommended that Hirsch leave when anti-Israel protesters started arriving.
The department is reportedly still investigating and has not determined whether the incident was a hate crime.
The Jerusalem Coffee House, which celebrates Palestinian culture, has previously raised eyebrows for offering two drinks that seemingly hint at support for the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas and violence against Israel. One drink is called “Iced In Tea Fada,” a reference to extended periods of Palestinian terrorism perpetrated against Israel known as “intifadas,” or violent uprisings.
The other drink is called is called the “Sweet Sinwar.” Yahya Sinwar, who was killed by Israeli forces earlier this month, was the leader of Hamas and architect of the terrorist group’s massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7. However, Harara denied that the drink was named after the terrorist leader.
The cafe also reportedly displays on its menu inverted red triangles, a symbol used by Hamas to mark Israeli targets.
Jeremy Russell, spokesman for the Jewish Community Relations Council Bay Area, told KTVU that Saturday’s incident was “one of the most clear-cut cases of anti-Jewish discrimination that I have seen.”
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