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Man who killed 3 Black shoppers in Jacksonville carried a swastika-decorated gun
(JTA) — The man who killed three Black shoppers at a Florida Dollar General on Saturday carried a gun that had a swastika on it, according to police in Jacksonville.
The shooter, who died by suicide inside the store, left behind multiple manifestos spelling out his hatred for Black people, officials said, adding to a string of racist attacks on minority groups in the United States. The manifestos have not been made public.
The U.S. Justice Department is investigating the shooting as “a hate crime and an act of racially-motivated violent extremism,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement on Sunday.
Jacksonville officials said they had not found any evidence thus far that the shooter, Ryan Christopher Palmeter, 21, was part of an organized hate group. But advocates say the presence of the Nazi insignia, coupled with the racist manifestos, offer yet another example of how hate ideologies threaten people of many backgrounds.
“From Charlottesville to Pittsburgh to Poway to El Paso to Buffalo, we’re witnessing a cycle of white supremacist violence – fueled by increasingly normalized conspiracy theories and hate promoted directly by politicians and pundits and enabled by social media,” Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, said in a statement on Saturday, naming the locations of mass shootings by white supremacists.
“And it’s sadly no surprise that this racist shooter marked his gun with swastikas: because antisemitism, anti-Black racism, and white supremacy are inextricably linked, animating and fueling each other in a constant feedback loop – with deadly consequences for our communities and our democracy,” Spitalnick added.
The Jacksonville area has emerged as a hub of extremism, with multiple white supremacist and other hate groups active in the area, according to the Anti-Defamation League. The leader of the antisemitic propaganda group Goyim Defense League said he was drawn to the Jacksonville area shortly before he moved from California to Florida last year. In October, the Goyim Defense League used a light projection to display the text “Kanye is right about the Jews,” a catchphrase used by hate groups, at a Jacksonville football game attended by 75,000 people.
The Dollar General shooting took place on the five-year anniversary of a fatal shooting at a video game convention in Jacksonville, and officials said the shooter’s manifestos indicated an awareness of the date. (The perpetrator in that case, which was not treated as a hate crime, was a Jewish man from Baltimore.)
It also comes 15 months after a shooter who subscribed to “replacement theory,” or the belief that minorities are usurping white Americans in a plot masterminded by Jews, killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo, New York, grocery store. The theory has united white supremacists across borders in their hatred of Jews and immigrants and inspired multiple attacks, including the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting in which 11 Jews were murdered; the 2019 attack on a New Zealand mosque that killed 51; and the 2019 massacre at an El Paso, Texas, Walmart that targeted Hispanic immigrants..
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis visited the scene of the Jacksonville shooting on Sunday, where his remarks were briefly interrupted by booing before a local councilwoman silenced the crowd. DeSantis, a Republican presidential candidate, has loosened gun laws in Florida and has also sought to constrain instruction about race and racism in public schools.
“We are not going to let people be targeted based on their race,” DeSantis said. “We are going to stand up and we are going to do what we need to do to make sure that evil does not triumph in the state of Florida.”
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Lebanon Must Disarm Hezbollah to Have a Shot at Better Days, Says US Envoy
Thomas Barrack at the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse in Brooklyn, New York, U.S., November 4, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
i24 News – Lebanon’s daunting social, economic and political issues would not get resolved unless the state persists in the efforts to disarm Hezbollah, the Iranian proxy behind so much of the unrest and destruction, special US envoy Tom Barrack told The National.
“You have Israel on one side, you have Iran on the other, and now you have Syria manifesting itself so quickly that if Lebanon doesn’t move, it’s going to be Bilad Al Sham again,” he said, using the historical Arabic name for the region sometimes known as “larger Syria.”
The official stressed the need to follow through on promises to disarm the Iranian proxy, which suffered severe blows from Israel in the past year, including the elimination of its entire leadership, and is considered a weakened though still dangerous jihadist outfit.
“There are issues that we have to arm wrestle with each other over to come to a final conclusion. Remember, we have an agreement, it was a great agreement. The problem is, nobody followed it,” he told The National.
Barrack spoke on the heels of a trip to Beirut, where he proposed a diplomatic plan for the region involving the full disarmament of Hezbollah by the Lebanese state.
The post Lebanon Must Disarm Hezbollah to Have a Shot at Better Days, Says US Envoy first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: Putin Urges Iran to Accept ‘Zero Enrichment’ Nuclear Deal With US
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of a cultural forum dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the birth of the Turkmen poet and philosopher Magtymguly Fragi, in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Oct. 11, 2024. Photo: Sputnik/Alexander Scherbak/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Russian President Vladimir Putin has told Iranian leadership that he supports the idea of a nuclear deal in which Iran is unable to enrich uranium, the Axios website reported on Saturday. The Russian strongman also relayed the message to his American counterpart, President Donald Trump, the report said.
Iranian news agency Tasnim issued a denial, citing an “informed source” as saying Putin had not sent any message to Iran in this regard.
Also on Saturday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated that “Any negotiated solution must respect Iran’s right to enrichment. No agreement without recognizing our right to enrichment. If negotiations occur, the only topic will be the nuclear program. No other issues, especially defense or military matters, will be on the agenda.”
The post Report: Putin Urges Iran to Accept ‘Zero Enrichment’ Nuclear Deal With US first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syria’s Al-Sharaa Attending At Least One Meeting With Israeli Officials in Azerbaijan
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, May 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/Pool
i24 News – Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa is attending at least one meeting with Israeli officials in Azerbaijan today, despite sources in Damascus claiming he wasn’t attending, a Syrian source close to President Al-Sharaa tells i24NEWS.
The Syrian source stated that this is a series of two or three meetings between the sides, with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani also in attendance, along with Ahmed Al-Dalati, the Syrian government’s liaison for security meetings with Israel.
The high-level Israeli delegation includes a special envoy of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, as well as security and military figures.
The purpose of the meetings is to discuss further details of the security agreement to be signed between Israel and Syria, the Iranian threat in Syria and Lebanon, Hezbollah’s weapons, the weapons of Palestinian militias, the Palestinians camps in Lebanon, and the future of Palestinian refugees from Gaza in the region.
The possibility of opening an Israeli coordination office in Damascus, without diplomatic status, might also be discussed.
The source stated that the decision to hold the meetings in Azerbaijan, made by Israel and the US, is intended to send a message to Iran.
The post Syria’s Al-Sharaa Attending At Least One Meeting With Israeli Officials in Azerbaijan first appeared on Algemeiner.com.