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Disgraced Hollywood director Brett Ratner immigrates to Israel
(JTA) — Brett Ratner, the director and producer of Hollywood blockbusters who is seeking a comeback from allegations of sexual misconduct, has emigrated to Israel.
Last week, Ratner posted an Instagram story showing the passbook that Israel issues to new immigrants, granting them tax breaks and other benefits. He captioned it in Hebrew, “Brett Shai Ratner.” He appears to have posted more recent Instagram stories from Israel, according to a report in Walla.
The Instagram posts came just a week after he published a photo of himself, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Sara Netanyahu and pro-Israel figure Alan Dershowitz together at the United Nations. Ratner and Dershowitz were special guests of Netanyahu at his speech to the body. The director was for a time a business partner of James Packer, the Australian media mogul who is close to the Netanyahu family.
Ratner — who directed blockbusters, including the “Rush Hour” series, and produced others, including “Horrible Bosses” — was swept up in the early wave of “#MeToo” allegations about powerful Hollywood figures. In 2017, six women accused Ratner of sexual harassment and misconduct. He denied all charges but major studios cut ties with him.
In 2021, Hollywood media reported that Ratner hoped for a comeback and was signed on to direct a biopic about Milli Vanilli, the early 1990s R&B duo who were revealed to be lip-syncing their songs. Pushback from women’s defense groups that arose out of the #MeToo movement led the production company to nix the project.
Ratner was well known as a supporter of Jewish and Israeli organizations and has been honored for his Jewish philanthropy and other humanitarian efforts.
In June, Variety reported that Bryan Singer — who directed big budget superhero films such as “X-Men” and who was also disgraced by #MeToo allegations — has been living in Israel in recent years and similarly seeking to revive his career.
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The post Disgraced Hollywood director Brett Ratner immigrates to Israel appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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250 Hezbollah Terrorists Including 21 Commanders Eliminated in Ground Op
DF operating in southern Lebanon. Photo: IDF Spokesperson
i24 News – The Israeli military eliminated 250 Hezbollah terrorists including 21 commanders in four days of ground combat, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Friday.
IDF soldiers operating in southern Lebanon have uncovered vast caches of weapons and munitions in civilian residences, showing how central embedding within civilian population is to Hezbollah’s mode of warfare.
Meanwhile, heavy strikes targeting the Hezbollah stronghold of Dahieh in southern Beirut were ongoing, Lebanese media reported.
The post 250 Hezbollah Terrorists Including 21 Commanders Eliminated in Ground Op first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Airstrikes Launched on Several Parts of Yemen, Houthi Al Masirah TV says
Illustrative. Hodeidah, Yemen, July 20, 2024. Houthi Military Media/Handout via REUTERS
Airstrikes were launched on Friday at several parts of Yemen including its capital Sanaa and Hodeidah airport, Al Masirah TV, the main television news outlet run by the Houthi movement controlling much of Yemen, and residents said.
Strikes also targeted the south of Dhamar city and the southeast of al-Bayda province, the channel added.
Residents said that the attack on al-Bayda province targeted several Houthi military outposts.
Al Masirah TV reported that the strikes had been carried out by the United States and British forces, but a British government source said Britain was not involved.
Iran-aligned Houthi militants have launched attacks on international shipping near Yemen since last November in solidarity with Palestinians in Israel‘s war with Hamas.
The attacks have drawn US and British retaliatory strikes and disrupted global trade as ship owners reroute vessels away from the Red Sea and Suez Canal to sail the longer route around the southern tip of Africa.
Following the airstrikes, a Houthi spokesman called the attack “a desperate attempt,” adding that “Yemen will not be deterred by these attacks and will continue its steadfastness in confronting the enemies.”
The post Airstrikes Launched on Several Parts of Yemen, Houthi Al Masirah TV says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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IDF Kills Hamas Commander in Tulkarem
Illustrative. Israeli troops during counterterrorism activity in Tulkarem, northwestern Samaria, September 2024. Photo: IDF.
JNS.org – An Israeli Air Force fighter jet conducted a rare strike in Tulkarem in the West Bank on Thursday night, targeting top Hamas terrorist Zahi Yaser Abd al-Razeq Oufi.
The Palestinian Authority reported at least 18 fatalities in the strike, with a local security source telling Agence France-Presse it was the deadliest in Judea and Samaria since the Second Intifada.
Ayyth Radwan, the head of Islamic Jihad’s Tulkarem branch, was also reportedly killed.
Oufi was planning a terrorist attack “in the immediate time frame,” according to the Israel Defense Forces, and directed the thwarted car bombing last month near Ateret in the Binyamin region of Samaria.
There were no casualties in the incident, which Israel Ganz, the head of the Binyamin Regional Council, called a “great miracle.”
The IDF said Oufi was involved in smuggling weapons to terrorists who perpetrated several recent attacks against Israelis, including some that resulted in injuries to civilians.
He also “worked to establish terrorist networks on behalf of Hamas and assisted terror operatives in the area to carry out significant shooting and explosive attacks,” added the military.
The post IDF Kills Hamas Commander in Tulkarem first appeared on Algemeiner.com.