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‘Fauda’ Star Idan Amedi Declines Invite to Israel’s Independence Day Ceremony
Idan Amedi gives a statement following his release from Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Israel, January 25, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
Israeli singer and actor Idan Amedi declined an invitation to light a ceremonial torch in Israel’s upcoming state ceremony to mark its 76th Independence Day, which will take place in May.
The Fauda star wrote in an Instagram post on Wednesday that he will instead stay at home to remember those killed in the Israel-Hamas war that began following the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in the Jewish state.
“There is no greater honor than that, but unfortunately I will not be able to receive it this year,” Amedi said about being offered to light one of the torches at the Independence Day celebration, which this year will be themed “Israeli heroism.”
“We have encountered so many heroes since that black Saturday [Oct. 7], and I have fought alongside some of them, both in the past and during the current war,” Amedi added. “This year, I will stay at home and join in their memory like many people in Israel. I hope in the future to maybe have the right to light a torch thanks to the words I write, and not because of the war.”
Amedi was seriously injured in an explosion on Jan. 8 while fighting in the Gaza Strip as a reservist in the combat engineering unit of the Israel Defense Forces. Six soldiers were killed in the incident. After being discharged from the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan on Jan. 25, Amedi said, “I will come back to singing and acting and, with G-d’s help, I will also return to fight for my country.”
In his Instagram post on Wednesday, Amedi wrote it was clear to him that he was doing the right thing by joining IDF soldiers fighting in the Gaza Strip.
“Everywhere I went (in Gaza), I was met by surprised soldiers. Some of them asked me, ‘what are you doing here?’ Something in the picture didn’t add up for them,” he recalled. “But laying on the ground, dusty, with equipment and weapons, I felt more than ever that I belonged to my people. I was fortunate to meet the best of the nation’s sons and daughters, real heroes. But before that, people with dreams and passions, who were hungry and homesick.”
“I am proud of the choices I have made,” he noted. “It was clear to me that this time I was fighting for the future of my children, Yaeli and Jonathan, and that gave me strength and helped me give others the strength, even in the darkest of places.”
Many in Israel, including a number of mayors and local authority leaders, have said they believe Independence Day celebrations should be toned down this year considering those killed on Oct. 7, the 134 hostages who remain held against their will by Hamas in Gaza, and the IDF soldiers still fighting in the Hamas-ruled enclave.
Israel’s Independence Day, known as Yom Haatzmaut in Hebrew, will begin this year on May 13 in the evening and end on the evening of May 14.
The post ‘Fauda’ Star Idan Amedi Declines Invite to Israel’s Independence Day Ceremony first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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