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Marvel Strips Shira Haas’s Israeli Character of All Ties to Israel in ‘Captain America: Brave New World’
After the debut of the teaser trailer for “Captain America: Brave New World” on Friday, Marvel Studios released the first official synopsis for the 2025 film, and it shares more information on the character played by Israeli actress Shira Haas.
In was initially announced in 2022 that the Emmy-nominated Haas would play in the upcoming film an Israeli superhero named Sabra, whose real name is Ruth Bat-Seraph. The character, who first appeared in “The Incredible Hulk” comic book in 1980, is an Israeli mutant who is an agent for the Mossad, Israel’s spy agency. In the comics, she wore a blue and white outfit featuring a Star of David and had superpowers like superhuman strength, speed, a regenerative healing power, and the ability to charge others by transferring her life energy to them.
However, according to the film’s new synopsis provided by Marvel, Haas’s character has no connection to Israel at all and her name “Sabra” will not be used. Her background as an Israeli agent has also been changed and now she is a “Black Widow” of Russian origin, similar to characters played by Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh in other Marvel projects. It also appears that she might not have any super powers in the film, directed by Julius Onah.
“New to the cast is Shira Haas, who joins as Ruth Bat-Seraph. A former Black Widow, Ruth is now a high-ranking US government official who has the trust of President Ross,” read the synopsis.
The film also stars Anthony Mackie as Captain America and Harrison Ford, making his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut as newly elected US President Thaddeus Ross.
Since 2022, there have been calls to boycott the film because of Haas’s participation and the inclusion of an Israeli character, even after Marvel openly said it would change Sabra’s backstory. Marvel said at the time: “While our characters and stories are inspired by the comics, they are always freshly imagined for the screen and today’s audience, and the filmmakers are taking a new approach with the character Sabra who was first introduced in the comics over 40 years ago.”
Those who are criticizing “Captain America: Brave New World,” even more so after the teaser trailer was released on Friday, include both pro-Israel supporters, who are upset that the character now works in the interest of the US instead of Israel, and anti-Israel activists, who want to boycott the film due to the character’s Israeli roots.
“BRING SABRA BACK!!” a pro-Israel supporter wrote in response to the teaser trailer that Mackie posted on Instagram. Another wrote, “Sabra is a specific character, it’s not yours to change. Not 44 years after they created her. Let her be her.”
“Why would anyone watch this trash when you’ve added an IDF [Israel Defense Forces] soldier character! Talk about propaganda machine!” wrote one social media user on Sunday who was commenting on a separate post on Mackie’s Instagram page. Another wrote, “Why is there an Israeli soldier in this movie??? They are literally posting their war crimes on social media??” A third social media user said, “I can’t wait to avoid this with its zio ‘hero.’”
Captain America: Brave New World” premieres in theaters on Feb. 14, 2025.
The post Marvel Strips Shira Haas’s Israeli Character of All Ties to Israel in ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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IDF Finds Terror Tunnel Next to Hospital in Samaria
JNS.org – Israeli forces discovered a tunnel during a counterterror operation in the Tulkarem camp in the West Bank, the IDF said on Friday.
According to the Israeli military, the underground complex was located adjacent to a hospital in the camp, situated north of the city of the same name, and contained an entrance but no exit, as it was still under construction.
“The forces are continuing to investigate the complex and will dismantle it,” the IDF added.
While Hamas built a vast terror tunnel network in the Gaza Strip over many years that the Israeli army has been working to dismantle since war started on Oct. 7, these types of tunnels are rare in the West Bank, where the IDF regularly operates to locate and destroy terrorist infrastructure.
The tunnel was found as the IDF restarted its major operation in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley on Sept. 10, which has been dubbed “Summer Camps” and was initially launched on Aug. 28.
Since the operation resumed, the IDF has killed more than 10 armed terrorists in ground and aerial attacks, including four in the areas of Tulkarem and Nur Shams, the army said. Three of the latter terrorists were killed in an aerial strike on Sept. 11, and the fourth in close-quarters combat.
One of the three killed in the aerial strike was named by the IDF as Muhammad Abu Ataya. He was suspected of killing Master Sgt. (res.) Maxim Rizkov, 30, from Beersheva, of the Israel Border Police’s Yamas undercover unit, on Oct. 18, 2023.
In addition, the IDF said that it hit another 15 terrorists during the operation, without specifying whether they were wounded or killed or how they were attacked.
During a 48-hour counterterrorism operation in the areas of Tubas, Tamun and Far’ar, Israeli forces killed a terrorist throwing explosive devices during exchanges of fire. The forces also located a vehicle rigged with explosives. Inside, they found explosive devices and a long-range detonation system that was dismantled.
In all the areas of activity, Israeli forces seized large amounts of weapons, including sniper rifles, two M-16s, handguns and additional weaponry.
In Tulkarem, forces located and dismantled four bomb manufacturing laboratories and four operational communications centers equipped with cameras. Additionally, a machine used to manufacture weapons, within which weapon parts were found, and many IEDs in the area were dismantled.
Furthermore, five armed terrorists were killed by an aircraft in Tubas.
The post IDF Finds Terror Tunnel Next to Hospital in Samaria first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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France: Antisemitic Tag at Memorial for Murdered Jewish Women
JNS.org – A memorial garden in Nogent-sur-Marne, France, dedicated to two victims of gruesome antisemitic murders in Paris in 2017 and 2018, respectively, was defaced with a swastika.
The city mayor, Jacques Martin, strongly condemned the act, describing it as “vandalism” and stating that “hatred has no place in Nogent.”
The municipality quickly removed the antisemitic tag and made available to investigators CCTV recordings of the area.
The garden, inaugurated in November 2022, is of particular importance to the community.
Sarah Halimi, born in Nogent-sur-Marne in November 1951, spent some 30 years of her life there as a nursery director before her tragic murder in Paris.
The mayor stressed that, until now, Nogent-sur-Marne had been spared by the upsurge in antisemitism seen nationwide in recent months.
He said he is determined not to let such behavior take root in his city, declaring that ignorance and hatred would not be tolerated. He affirmed the town’s determination to preserve the memory of Sarah Halimi and Mireille Knoll, refusing to see them “murdered a second time.”
In April 2021, the French Supreme Court ruled that Halimi’s murderer was criminally irresponsible. Twenty-five thousand people gathered across France on April 25, 2021, at the call of citizens’ groups and representatives of the Jewish community, to protest the lack of a trial following the murder.
Halimi, 65, was beaten to death in her Paris apartment before being defenestrated by her 27-year-old neighbor, to cries of “Allah Akbar” (“God is the greatest” in Arabic).
Mireille Knoll, who had fled Paris in 1942 to escape the Vel d’Hiv roundup, was stabbed 11 times and her body burned.
Her two killers were convicted in 2021—one was acquitted of murder but sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment for theft, and the other was sentenced to life imprisonment with a 22-year security period for murder, with the aggravating circumstance that the victim belonged to the Jewish community.
The post France: Antisemitic Tag at Memorial for Murdered Jewish Women first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Man Who Set Himself Afire in Boston Reportedly Was Anti-Israel Protester
JNS.org – A man set himself ablaze in downtown Boston, not far from the Boylston Street entrance to the Public Garden shortly after 8 p.m. on Wednesday.
It wasn’t clear what the man’s motives were, but the incident occurred at 19 Columbus Avenue, according to a report that the Boston Police Department provided to JNS. That address is in the vicinity of the Consulate General of Israel to New England.
The man was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital with “severe burn wounds,” per the police report. The report stated that the incident wasn’t a suspected hate crime.
Video that circulated on social media purported to be from the man. In the video, a man who identified himself as Matt Nelson said that he would engage in “an extreme act of protest,” and that “we are all culpable in the ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
The man also spoke in the video of everyone being “slaves to capitalism and the military industrial complex,” and said that Washington must stop supporting the Jewish state and must back the (proposed) International Criminal Court indictment against Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Free Palestine,” the man in the video added. (JNS sought comment from the Israeli consulate.)
A Boston Globe staffer with the same name as the man in the video posted that some had mistaken him for the man in the video.
The post Man Who Set Himself Afire in Boston Reportedly Was Anti-Israel Protester first appeared on Algemeiner.com.