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Police detain dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators for disrupting Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
(New York Jewish Week) – Police detained 34 anti-Israel protesters during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in Manhattan on Thursday.
The activists disrupted the procession in Midtown and were forcibly removed by police.
Video showed the demonstrators lying in the street, dousing themselves with fake blood, and chanting “Liberation, for Palestine and planet.” They wore white jumpsuits emblazoned with words including “consumerism,” “colonialism,” “ethnic cleansing” and “capitalism.”
In footage from the event, bystanders are heard booing the activists as the protest holds up the iconic parade.
Police said 34 individuals had been taken into custody. Four were arrested for charges including trespassing, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. Thirty individuals received criminal court summonses for trespassing.
Radical pro-Palestinian groups also held protests in Manhattan around the time of the parade. The groups advertised the demonstrations as “Flood ‘Thankstaking’ for Gaza and indigenous resistance,” echoing Hamas’ name for its Oct. 7 terror rampage through southern Israel, which it called “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.”
The demonstrations were led by Within Our Lifetime and Decolonize This Place, two hardline pro-Palestinian groups that endorsed the Hamas attack after it killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
Footage shared by the activists showed protesters marching through Manhattan waving Palestinian flags and holding signs that said “Zionism is terrorism,” “By any means necessary,” and “Resistance until return,” then gathering at the New York Public Library’s main branch on Fifth Avenue in Midtown. Video showed the facade of the library defaced with red handprints and Palestinian flags.
The group said it was disrupting Thanksgiving to protest the “settler colonies the United States and Israel,” and had targeted the Stephen Schwarzman building of the library because the “zionist billionaire” for which it is named has business ties in Israel, and because, last month, following the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, the Blackstone Group, of which Schwarzman is the CEO, pledged $7 million in humanitarian aid for Israel.
The organizers earlier this week encouraged their followers to show up along the parade route with Palestinian flags and signs.
The groups have held near-daily protests in New York City in recent weeks that call for the elimination of the Jewish state and the targeting of “Zionists” in the U.S. There are additional protests scheduled for Friday and Saturday.
Within Our Lifetime set off an uproar last week by posting maps online showing the location of Jewish and pro-Israel organizations in New York and encouraging its followers to target the institutions.
The demonstrations are taking place as Israel navigates a delicate process to release some of the hostages held by terrorists in Gaza. The attackers took over 200 Israelis and foreign nationals hostage on Oct. 7, including many children.
On Friday, 13 Israelis and 11 other nationals were released from captivity in exchange for a pause in fighting and Israel’s release of thirty-nine Palestinians, many of whom were imprisoned on terror charges.
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The post Police detain dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators for disrupting Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Report: IDF Probes Whether Houthis Used Iranian Cluster Bomb-Bearing Missile
Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi addresses followers via a video link at the al-Shaab Mosque, formerly al-Saleh Mosque, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
i24 News – The Israeli military said Saturday it launched a probe into the failure of its defenses to fully intercept a missile launched by Yemen’s Houthi jihadists, parts of which struck not far from the Ben Gurion airport on Friday night.
According to the Ynet website, one of the hypotheses being examined is that the projectile contained cluster munitions, similar to those used by Iran to fire at Israeli cities during the 12-day war in June. Cluster munitions pose a challenge to interceptors as they disperse smaller explosives over a wide area.
In June, Iran fired several missiles carrying scattered small bombs with the aim of increasing civilian casualties.
The IDF said on Saturday that its initial review suggests the ballistic missile from Yemen likely fragmented in mid-air. Five interceptors from various systems engaged with the missile, including THAAD, Arrow, David Sling & Iron Dome.
Authorities said that shrapnel impacted a house in the central Israeli moshav of Ginaton, yet no one was hurt, with the fragment landing in the house’s backyard.
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Iran Forces Kill Six Militants, IRNA Reports, Israel Link Seen
The Iranian flag is seen flying over a street in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 3, 2023. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iranian security forces shot dead six militants in a clash in southeastern Iran on Saturday, a day after armed rebels killed five police officers in the restive region, the official news agency IRNA reported.
IRNA said evidence showed the group was linked to Israel and may have been trained by Israel‘s Mossad spy agency. There was no immediate Israeli reaction to the allegation.
Another two members of the militant group were arrested, the report said. All but one of the militants were foreign, it added, without giving their nationality.
Iranian police said this month they had arrested as many as 21,000 suspects during the 12-day war with Israel in June.
Iran’s southeast has been the scene of sporadic clashes between security forces and armed groups, including Sunni militants and separatists who say they are fighting for greater rights and autonomy.
Tehran says some of them have ties to foreign powers and are involved in cross-border smuggling and insurgency.
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Benny Gantz Urges Time-Limited National Unity Government to Further Chances of Hostage Deal
Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz attends his party’s meeting at the Knesset, Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, June 27, 2022. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – Blue and White Party leader Benny Gantz on Saturday called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition politicians to form a temporary national unity government to further the chances of bringing home the hostages held in Gaza.
Addressing Netanyahu, Yair Lapid and Avigdor Liberman, Gantz said that the proposed government’s two supreme priorities would be the release of Israeli hostages held by the jihadists of Hamas and instituting universal conscription in Israel by ending the exemption from military service enjoyed by the ultra-Orthodox.
Upon attainment of the goals, the government would dissolve and call an election.
“The government’s term will begin with a hostage deal that brings everyone home,” Gantz said in a video address. “Within weeks, we will formulate an enlistment outline that would see our ultra-Orthodox brethren drafted to the military and ease the burden on those already serving. Finally, we will announce an agreed-upon election date in the spring of 2026 and pass a law to dissolve the Knesset [Israeli parliament] accordingly. This is what’s right for Israel.”