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Three UK Men Jailed for ‘Heinous’ Antisemitic Kidnapping, Assault of Israeli Music Producer
Itay Kashti. Photo: YouTube screenshot
Three men in the United Kingdom were each sentenced to eight years and one month in prison on Friday after pleading guilty to kidnapping and violently assaulting an Israeli Jewish music producer.
Faiz Shah, 23, from Bradford; Mohammad Comrie, 23, from Leeds; and Elijah Ogunnubi-Sime, 20, from Wallington were arrested on Aug. 26, 2024, and were sentenced at Swansea Crown Court in Wales for the abduction and brutal assault of the London-based producer and composer Itay Kashti. Shah and Comrie were both sent to jail while Ogunnubi-Sime was sent to a young offender institution, according to the BBC.
Judge Catherine Richards said the kidnapping and assault in August 2024 was “motivated by events taking place elsewhere in the world,” referring to the Israel-Hamas war in the Middle East.
“[Kashti] was an entirely innocent, hard-working music producer that you had identified as a victim based on your understanding of his wealth and his Jewish heritage,” Richards said during the sentencing on Friday. “It seems to me that you justified your actions against the victim based on his background, as if he was less worthy of your respect and compassion. That is utterly abhorrent.”
“This is an absolutely horrific crime. It is an enormous relief that Mr. Kashti was able to escape, given that similar abductions of Jews from France to Gaza have ended in murder,” a spokesperson for the British charity Campaign Against Antisemitism said in a released statement. “This is what ‘globalizing the Intifada’ looks like: Jews being subjected to violence motivated by religious hatred. We are grateful to the police in Wales and to the court for taking a stand. This sentence is a message both to prospective perpetrators of such heinous crimes and also to the authorities elsewhere in Britain, who have turned too much of a blind eye to incitement to violence against Jews.”
The Community Security Trust (CST), a nonprofit charity that advises Britain’s Jewish community on security matters also applauded Friday’s sentencing. CST said it has worked closely to support Kashti and his family in the aftermath of the incident, including providing security advice and psychological and emotional support.
“This is a shocking and deeply troubling crime that the police have confirmed also had an antisemitic element due to the victim’s identity as an Israeli Jew,” CST said in a statement on X. “The victim suffered a terrible ordeal in which he was kidnapped, handcuffed, seriously assaulted, and even threatened with death by the perpetrators. In her sentencing remarks, the judge confirmed that all three defendants were motivated by racial and religious hostility in choosing the victim.”
Kashti’s kidnappers lured him to a rented house in rural Wales by using false identities and pretending to be from a music production company that was inviting him to a music recording workshop. They planned to kidnap their victim, extort money from him, and they also tried to source ketamine to drug Kashti, said prosecutor Craig Jones, who added that there was “clear political and religious motivation” to the attack because of Kashti’s Jewish and Israeli identity. Kashti took a taxi from London to the rented house on Aug. 26, 2024, and immediately upon arrival, he and his innocent taxi driver were attacked. The taxi driver was hit in the face but managed to escape while Kashti was chained and handcuffed, and brutally assaulted.
The music producer eventually managed to free himself from the chains, located his phone, and ran to hide in nearby bushes. He called his wife, who then called the police, as did the taxi driver. With the help of a police helicopter, officers found the three suspects hiding in a nearby field. Kashti suffered swollen and bruised eyelids, a swollen nose and bruising to his back, knees and leg and a cut to the scalp, according to BBC.
Kashti said his kidnapping and assault “felt like my own personal Oct. 7,” a reference to the deadly Hamas-led terrorist attacks that took place in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, during which terrorists murdered 1,200 people and took hundreds of hostages, many of whom remain in captivity.
“I was kicked to the head several times, handcuffed to a radiator, and forced to lie down on the floor,” he said. “I was threatened and told if I were to try and escape, I’d be killed. The awful attack of the 7th of October was flashing through my mind as I lay restrained on the floor in handcuffs. I can’t deny the strong and devastating impact this brutal and unnecessary attack has had on my life. My physical injuries lasted for weeks, and I have been suffering with anxiety, which I have never experienced before.”
DS Gareth Jones, an officer in the case, said the incident “was thoroughly planned and was sophisticated in elements.”
“Securing justice for the victim has been our priority throughout,” he noted. “This sentence today reflects the severity of this offense – and we hope it gives the victim a sense of justice. We thank him for his strength and patience whilst we carried out a thorough investigation into what was an extraordinary crime.”
The post Three UK Men Jailed for ‘Heinous’ Antisemitic Kidnapping, Assault of Israeli Music Producer first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Islamic Jihad Armed Wing Spokesman Killed in Israeli Strike, Sources From Group Say
Militants stand during the funeral of two Palestinian Islamic Jihad gunmen who were killed in an Israeli raid, in Jenin refugee camp, in the West Bank on May 10, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Raneen Sawafta
An Israeli airstrike killed the spokesperson of the armed wing of the Palestinian terrorist group Islamic Jihad on Tuesday, as well as his wife and several members of his family, sources associated with the group said.
Naji Abu Saif, better known as Abu Hamza, was killed in an airstrike that targeted his house in central Gaza, the sources added.
Islamic Jihad has held some of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists during their Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel.
The post Islamic Jihad Armed Wing Spokesman Killed in Israeli Strike, Sources From Group Say first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Renews Heavy Strikes Against Hamas in Gaza
Palestinians walk past the rubble of buildings, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, February 27, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
JNS.org – The Israeli military conducted “extensive” strikes against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip overnight Monday, the Israel Defense Forces announced early on Tuesday morning.
“This follows Hamas’s repeated refusal to release our hostages, as well as its rejection of all of the proposals it has received from US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff and from the mediators,” the Israeli prime minister’s office stated.
The IDF is “attacking targets of the Hamas terrorist organization throughout the Gaza Strip in order to achieve the objectives of the war as they have been determined by the political echelon including the release of all of our hostages, the living and the deceased,” the statement continued. “Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that Jerusalem had consulted the Trump administration before launching the operation, which the Israeli military named “Strength and Sword.”
US President Donald Trump “has made it clear: Hamas, the Houthis, Iran, all those who seek to terrorize not just Israel but also the United States of America will see a price to pay. All hell will break loose,” Leavitt said.
All of “the terrorists in the Middle East” should take Trump “very seriously when he says he is not afraid to stand for law-abiding people … and our friend and our ally Israel,” she added.
Al Jazeera and other Arab media reported that Mahmoud Abu Watfa, a deputy minister in Gaza’s Hamas-run Interior Ministry, was among several senior Hamas figures killed in the strikes.
Egyptian television station Sada El-Balad reported that Abu Obeida al-Jamasi, a member of Hamas’s political bureau and head of its emergency committee, was also killed.
Several outlets, including Saudi news channel Al Hadath, reported the death of Bahjat Abu Sultan, head of central operations in the Gaza Interior Ministry.
IDF Spokesperson Col. Avichay Adraee issued an urgent warning Tuesday to residents of Gaza, urging those in specific areas to evacuate immediately as Israeli forces intensified their operations.
In a statement posted on X, Adraee identified Beit Hanoun, Khirbet Khaza’a, and Abasan al-Kabira and al-Jadida as dangerous combat zones. He called on civilians to relocate to designated shelters in western Gaza City and Khan Yunis for their safety, stressing that remaining in these areas would put their lives at risk.
Meanwhile, the IDF Home Front Command has instructed municipalities near the Gaza border to close schools until further notice.
“Following a situation assessment, it was decided that the Gaza envelope will move from a full activity level to a reduced activity level, which does not allow for educational activities,” according to the statement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a high-level security assessment on Tuesday at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv. The meeting included Defense Minister Israel Katz, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, and senior security officials.
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon stated on Monday night in New York that the U.N. Security Council would convene on Tuesday to discuss the situation in Gaza.
“It is time for the countries of the world to take seriously our unwavering commitment to bring back all our hostages home and defeat the enemy,” the Israeli envoy stated. “Nothing will stop us from fighting to free our hostages, who have been held in brutal Hamas captivity for 527 days. We will show no mercy against our enemies while our hostages languish in Hamas terror tunnels.”
An Israeli official “claimed that in recent days during the ceasefire Hamas has been preparing to carry out new attacks against Israel and has taken steps to rearm,” Axios reported. “The official said the IDF kept the operational plan top secret and within a relatively small circle in order to surprise Hamas.”
The post Israel Renews Heavy Strikes Against Hamas in Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Shocking Revelation: United Nations Counts Palestinian Fighters as ‘Civilians’ in Death Count
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the 79th United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters in New York, U.S., September 26, 2024. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
According to the United Nations, the below are photos of civilians. That’s odd, because Ahmed Abu Obeid and Saqer Abed were Islamic Jihad gunmen, killed in June 2024 during what the terror group described as a “fierce” battle with Israeli soldiers. And Said Izzat Jaber, killed that same month, was a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist.
If we zoom out to look at the whole month, it becomes clear that these are hardly the only casualties misclassified by the UN.
In fact, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the primary body that tallies and characterizes Palestinian casualties, currently insists every single West Bank Palestinian killed by Israel in June was a civilian. The Hamas commander? A civilian. The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade gunmen? Civilians. The Islamic Jihad militants? Civilians. The Hamas attackers? Civilians.
For that month, OCHA lists 34 West Bank fatalities, classifying all as civilians. B’Tselem concurs with the number, but in detailing the circumstances of each death makes clear that the vast majority were combatants.
According to the UN’s casualty portal, all 34 of the West Bank fatalities were “civilians.”
The UN’s wholesale misinformation remains when zooming further. In fact, according to OCHA, each and every conflict-related death in the West Bank since January 2008 (the earliest searchable date on its casualty portal) was a civilian.
The UN casualty portal classifies every one of the 1,897 West Bank fatalities it counts since 2008 as “civilian.”
The UN casualty portal classifies every one of the 1,897 West Bank fatalities it counts since 2008 as “civilian.”
The extent of the misinformation has varied somewhat over the past few weeks.
We first checked the portal on March 6, 2025, after a New York Times story cited UN casualty figures. Though OCHA didn’t acknowledge a single fatality was a member of an “armed group” and insisted that every death prior to June 2024 was a civilian, it had at least allowed for the possibility that some post-June 2024 casualties weren’t civilians, categorizing several hundred casualties under the label “Dispute.”
But at some point between then and now, even these “disputed” casualties became “civilians.”
The most generous interpretation might be that a technological glitch erased the combatants. Such generosity, though, might not be warranted.
Even away from the OCHA portal, the United Nations has sought to conceal the many armed terror operatives among Palestinian casualties. In a June 4, 2024, statement, for example, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk and his spokesman Jeremy Laurence referenced the 505 Palestinians killed in the West Bank since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack, chastising Israel for what they called “unacceptable” and “wanton” killing — without offering even a hint that any of the casualties were members of terror groups or involved something more than “throwing stones, incendiary bottles, and firecrackers.”
The UN officials whitewashed the reality, which included intense combat. In the month prior to their statement, for example, 28 (per B’Tselem) or 29 (per OCHA) Palestinians were killed in the West Bank, including: three Hamas operatives, one Islamic Jihad gunman, and one a Lion’s Den militant killed in exchanges of fire; two Palestinians killed during attempted stabbing attacks on Israeli security officials; an armed man; a senior Islamic Jihad terrorist; and someone who died when an Israeli military vehicle drove over Palestinian explosives.
These made up a third of the month’s total fatalities. Others were killed while clashing with Israeli security forces. (Details via B’Tselem.)
A month earlier, in April 2024, the 26 (per B’Tselem) or 29 (per OCHA) Palestinians killed included: a senior Hamas militant; eleven Islamic Jihad gunmen killed during exchanges of fire; two other gunmen; three Palestinians who attempted to stab Israeli security forces; two who threw explosives; and one who might have been inadvertently killed by Islamic Jihad gunmen. These made up about 75 percent of the month’s fatalities.
Given how frequently UN casualty figures are cited in media, OCHA’s widespread misclassification of casualties could have far-reaching consequences. By labeling armed militants as “civilians,” OCHA cultivates a misleading narrative that obscures the reality of armed clashes with terror groups, and instead portrays Israel as engaging in indiscriminate violence against civilians.
Given how Volker Türk has talked about the violence, one might wonder if this misimpression is precisely what UN officials want.
We’ve informed OCHA of its errors and asked about their provenance and duration. We’ll update this space with any response.
Gilead Ini is a Senior Research Analyst at CAMERA, the foremost media watchdog organization focused on coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict, where a version of this article appeared.
The post Shocking Revelation: United Nations Counts Palestinian Fighters as ‘Civilians’ in Death Count first appeared on Algemeiner.com.