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Oct. 7 Supernova Survivor Attends Cannes Film Festival in Gown Paying Tribute to Hamas Hostages
Laura Blajman-Kadar during arrivals for the screening of the film “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” out of competition at the 77th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 15, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Stephane Mahe
A survivor of the Hamas massacre at the Supernova Music Festival on Oct. 7 attended the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday in a gown that drew attention to the hostages who have been held captive in the Gaza Strip for seven months.
Laura Blajman-Kadar wore a yellow gown that featured pictures of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, including Yarden Bibas, Liri Albag, and two of her friends, Elkana Bohbot and Eliya Cohen. On top of the gown she wore a black slash that read: “Bring Them Home.” She walked the red carpet during arrivals for the screening of the film “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” and was accompanied by a woman who wore a white ensemble that had yellow ribbons on it.
The color yellow, and specifically a yellow ribbon, is a longstanding symbol of solidarity with prisoners or hostages — and in this case is a nod to the 132 Israeli hostages who remain in captivity in Gaza since being kidnapped on Oct. 7.
Blajman-Kadar shared on social media a photo of her wearing the gown at the Cannes Film Festival and wrote in the caption, “It wasn’t easy but with the help of amazing people we succeeded! We will not allow the world to forget you!!! BRING THEM HOME!!!” She also thanked the October 7 Collective, which is a French organization dedicated to raising awareness about the release of the hostages. The organization helped Blajman-Kadar with her appearance at the Cannes Film Festival.
“A lot of people participated in the design of the dress and in helping to get tickets for the ceremony,” she told Ynet. “I got them through someone who wants to stay behind the scenes and does not want to be involved in what is called ‘provocation’ here. There are many good people behind the scenes.”
Beljman-Kader also told the Israeli publication that people in charge at the festival did not allow her to walk on the red carpet like most of the celebrities and some other guests, but they did let her to walk the famous stairs and take a picture on them. She said once she was inside the hall, her dress garnered positive attention, with many guests congratulating her or voicing support for her efforts to raise awareness regarding the hostages.
“There were no bad reactions,” she explained. “It was very important for us to have representation to call for the release of the kidnapped, certainly in a year when there is also no adequate representation for Israeli cinema.”
The short film “It’s Not Time For Pop” by Amit Vaknin is the only film from Israel taking part in the Cannes Film Festival this year and it will compete in the La Cinéf section, which highlights projects from film schools.
Blajman-Kadar survived the Oct. 7 terrorist attack at the Supernova festival by hiding in a van with six others, including her husband, for six hours. Since the attack, she has traveled the globe advocating for the hostages and sharing her personal story of survival. She also published a memoir about her experience on Oct. 7 that is titled “Croire en la vie,” which in English means “Believing in Life.”
Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists murdered 1,200 people and abducted over 250 others during their surprise invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7. Over 100 of the hostages were released in November as part of a temporary ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
After leaving the screening of “Furiosa: The Saga of Mad Max” starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth, Blajman-Kadar said the film was a “harsh” reminder of the Oct. 7 attacks.
“It’s not a movie to watch after the ordeal I went through,” she told Ynet. “It has scenes of people cutting off their limbs and kidnapping them on motorcycles. We experienced things not far from what happened in the movie. For me, personally, it was harsh.”
The post Oct. 7 Supernova Survivor Attends Cannes Film Festival in Gown Paying Tribute to Hamas Hostages first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iranian Media Claims Obtaining ‘Sensitive’ Israeli Intelligence Materials
FILE PHOTO: The atomic symbol and the Iranian flag are seen in this illustration, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
i24 News – Iranian and Iran-affiliated media claimed on Saturday that the Islamic Republic had obtained a trove of “strategic and sensitive” Israeli intelligence materials related to Israel’s nuclear facilities and defense plans.
“Iran’s intelligence apparatus has obtained a vast quantity of strategic and sensitive information and documents belonging to the Zionist regime,” Iran’s state broadcaster said, referring to Israel in the manner accepted in those Muslim or Arab states that don’t recognize its legitimacy. The statement was also relayed by the Lebanese site Al-Mayadeen, affiliated with the Iran-backed jihadists of Hezbollah.
The reports did not include any details on the documents or how Iran had obtained them.
The intelligence reportedly included “thousands of documents related to that regime’s nuclear plans and facilities,” it added.
According to the reports, “the data haul was extracted during a covert operation and included a vast volume of materials including documents, images, and videos.”
The report comes amid high tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, over which it is in talks with the US administration of President Donald Trump.
Iranian-Israeli tensions reached an all-time high since the October 7 massacre and the subsequent Gaza war, including Iranian rocket fire on Israel and Israeli aerial raids in Iran that devastated much of the regime’s air defenses.
Israel, which regards the prospect of the antisemitic mullah regime obtaining a nuclear weapon as an existential threat, has indicated it could resort to a military strike against Iran’s installations should talks fail to curb uranium enrichment.
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Israel Retrieves Body of Thai Hostage from Gaza
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz looks on, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Nov. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage who had been held in Gaza since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday.
Nattapong Pinta’s body was held by a Palestinian terrorist group called the Mujahedeen Brigades, and was recovered from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified.
Pinta, an agricultural worker, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the Gaza border where a quarter of the population was killed or taken hostage during the Hamas attack that triggered the devastating war in Gaza.
Israel’s military said Pinta had been abducted alive and killed by his captors, who had also killed and taken to Gaza the bodies of two more Israeli-American hostages that were retrieved earlier this week.
There was no immediate comment from the Mujahedeen Brigades, who have previously denied killing their captives, or from Hamas. The Israeli military said the Brigades were still holding the body of another foreign national. Only 20 of the 55 remaining hostages are believed to still be alive.
The Mujahedeen Brigades also held and killed Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, according to Israeli authorities. Their bodies were returned during a two-month ceasefire, which collapsed in March after the two sides could not agree on terms for extending it to a second phase.
Israel has since expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as US, Qatari and Egyptian-led efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered.
US-BACKED AID GROUP HALTS DISTRIBUTIONS
The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade of the enclave, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling.
Aid distribution was halted on Friday after the US-and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said overcrowding had made it unsafe to continue operations. It was unclear whether aid had resumed on Saturday.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral. It says it has provided around 9 million meals so far.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to U.N. and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza.
The war erupted after Hamas-led terrorists took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the October 7, 2023 attack, Israel’s single deadliest day.
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US Mulls Giving Millions to Controversial Gaza Aid Foundation, Sources Say
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
The State Department is weighing giving $500 million to the new foundation providing aid to war-shattered Gaza, according to two knowledgeable sources and two former US officials, a move that would involve the US more deeply in a controversial aid effort that has been beset by violence and chaos.
The sources and former US officials, all of whom requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that money for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) would come from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which is being folded into the US State Department.
The plan has met resistance from some US officials concerned with the deadly shootings of Palestinians near aid distribution sites and the competence of the GHF, the two sources said.
The GHF, which has been fiercely criticized by humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations, for an alleged lack of neutrality, began distributing aid last week amid warnings that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli aid blockade, which was lifted on May 19 when limited deliveries were allowed to resume.
The foundation has seen senior personnel quit and had to pause handouts twice this week after crowds overwhelmed its distribution hubs.
The State Department and GHF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Reuters has been unable to establish who is currently funding the GHF operations, which began in Gaza last week. The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to transport aid into Gaza for distribution at so-called secure distribution sites.
On Thursday, Reuters reported that a Chicago-based private equity firm, McNally Capital, has an “economic interest” in the for-profit US contractor overseeing the logistics and security of GHF’s aid distribution hubs in the enclave.
While US President Donald Trump’s administration and Israel say they don’t finance the GHF operation, both have been pressing the United Nations and international aid groups to work with it.
The US and Israel argue that aid distributed by a long-established U.N. aid network was diverted to Hamas. Hamas has denied that.
USAID has been all but dismantled. Some 80 percent of its programs have been canceled and its staff face termination as part of President Donald Trump’s drive to align US foreign policy with his “America First” agenda.
One source with knowledge of the matter and one former senior official said the proposal to give the $500 million to GHF has been championed by acting deputy USAID Administrator Ken Jackson, who has helped oversee the agency’s dismemberment.
The source said that Israel requested the funds to underwrite GHF’s operations for 180 days.
The Israeli government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The two sources said that some US officials have concerns with the plan because of the overcrowding that has affected the aid distribution hubs run by GHF’s contractor, and violence nearby.
Those officials also want well-established non-governmental organizations experienced in running aid operations in Gaza and elsewhere to be involved in the operation if the State Department approves the funds for GHF, a position that Israel likely will oppose, the sources said.
The post US Mulls Giving Millions to Controversial Gaza Aid Foundation, Sources Say first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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