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Rescued Hamas Hostage Noa Argamani References Coachella While Urging Public to Visit Nova Exhibit
Noa Argamani attends the TIME100 gala, celebrating the magazine’s annual list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World, in New York City, US, April 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
Noa Argamani urged the public on Thursday night to visit the Nova Festival exhibit commemorating the Hamas terrorist attack at the music event on Oct. 7, 2o23, while also calling for the release of the remaining hostages being held captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The 27-year-old, who is featured in the 2025 TIME100 list of the 100 most influential people in the world, attended the 19th annual TIME100 Gala on Thursday night in New York City. During a red carpet interview with TIME, she spoke about her emotional visit to the exhibit “Nova: Oct. 7 6:29 AM, The Moment Music Stood Still” months earlier when it was open in New York City. The large-scale traveling exhibit about the Nova attack recently opened in Toronto after successful runs in Tel Aviv, New York, Los Angeles, and Miami.
Argamani was abducted by Hamas terrorists during their deadly rampage at the Nova Music Festival in Re’im, Israel, on Oct. 7, 2023. She was held captive in Gaza for 245 days until she was rescued by the Israel Defense Forces during a heroic operation in June 2024.
“Because I was at the Nova music festival and a lot of my friends were murdered, it was really difficult for me to come [to the exhibit] and see what happened to them,” Argamani said. “Because I carry a lot. I know my story and the story of my friends who have been murdered in captivity. It was too much to handle. Too much to carry.”
Nevertheless, she encouraged every person to visit the exhibit, before mentioning another major music event – the recent Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. She said about the exhibit: “I think it’s something everybody should [visit] because, as you saw what happened now in Coachella, these kids, I’m part of them, I come to the Nova music festival just to have fun, to dance, to enjoy my life … it’s definitely a pure situation. A party for peace and love.”
During the second weekend of Coachella earlier this month, the Irish rap trio Kneecap performed and at the end of their set, they projected three screens that featured anti-Israel messages. “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people,” said one such message, followed by, “It is being enabled by the US government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes.” A third screen displayed the text: “F–k Israel. Free Palestine.” Also during the performance, band member Mo Chara talked about Palestinians being “bombed from the … skies with nowhere to go.” The band additionally led the audience to chant, “Free, free Palestine.”
On Thursday night, Argamani suggested that music festivals, like Coachella and Nova, should not get political. She said, “It’s important for people to come visit the exhibition and see that we just want to have fun. We’re not armed, we’re not political. We don’t get right [wing] or left [wing], we all just want to have fun. That’s the main idea of those festivals.”
When asked how she is dealing with the trauma of the Oct. 7 attack and her captivity, Argamani said, “It’s really hard for me because my partner is still in captivity.” Argamani’s boyfriend, Avinatan Or, was also taken hostage at the Nova music festival by Hamas terrorists. He recently turned 32, his second birthday in captivity, and is one of 24 Hamas hostages whom Israel believes is still alive.
“I never saw him in captivity,” Argamani said about Or. “I asked about him everywhere I went, but they didn’t tell me nothing. I didn’t know if he’s alive or just kidnapped … I didn’t want to know the answer because it was too much for me.”
“But until Avinatan will come home, and all those 59 [remaining] hostages will come back, I will not heal,” she concluded. “I will push forward, and I will fight as much as I can so everybody will come back home.”
The post Rescued Hamas Hostage Noa Argamani References Coachella While Urging Public to Visit Nova Exhibit first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Trump Is Lying When He Speaks of Peace
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with government officials in Tehran, Iran, April 15, 2025. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Donald Trump on Saturday of lying when the US president said during his Gulf tour this week that he wanted peace in the region.
On the contrary, said Khamenei, the United States uses its power to give “10-ton bombs to the Zionist (Israeli) regime to drop on the heads of Gaza’s children.”
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One after departing the United Arab Emirates on Friday that Iran had to move quickly on a US proposal for its nuclear program or “something bad’s going to happen.”
His remarks, said Khamenei, “aren’t even worth responding to.” They are an “embarrassment to the speaker and the American people,” Khamenei added.
“Undoubtedly, the source of corruption, war, and conflict in this region is the Zionist regime — a dangerous, deadly cancerous tumor that must be uprooted; it will be uprooted,” he said at an event at a religious center in Tehran, according to state media.
Earlier on Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Trump speaks about peace while simultaneously making threats.
“Which should we believe?” Pezeshkian said at a naval event in Tehran. “On the one hand, he speaks of peace and on the other, he threatens with the most advanced tools of mass killing.”
Tehran would continue Iran-US nuclear talks but is not afraid of threats. “We are not seeking war,” Pezeshkian said.
While Trump said on Friday that Iran had a US proposal about its nuclear program, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in a post on X said Tehran had not received any such proposal. “There is no scenario in which Iran abandons its hard-earned right to (uranium) enrichment for peaceful purposes…” he said.
Araqchi warned on Saturday that Washington’s constant change of stance prolongs nuclear talks, state TV reported.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that America repeatedly defines a new framework for negotiations that prolongs the process,” the broadcast quoted Araqchi as saying.
Pezeshkian said Iran would not “back down from our legitimate rights”.
“Because we refuse to bow to bullying, they say we are source of instability in the region,” he said.
A fourth round of Iran-U.S. talks ended in Oman last Sunday. A new round has not been scheduled yet.
The post Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Trump Is Lying When He Speaks of Peace first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Confirms New Gaza Ceasefire Talks with Israel in Qatar on Saturday
Doha, Qatar. Photo: StellarD via Wikimedia Commons.
A new round of Gaza ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel is underway in Qatar’s Doha, Hamas official Taher al-Nono told Reuters on Saturday.
He said the two sides were discussing all issues without “pre-conditions.”
Nono said Hamas was “keen to exert all the effort needed” to help mediators make the negotiations a success, adding there was “no certain offer on the table.”
The negotiations come despite Israel preparing to expand operations in the Gaza Strip as they seek “operational control” in some areas of the war-torn enclave.
The return to negotiations also comes after US President Donald Trump ended a Middle East tour on Friday with no apparent progress towards a new ceasefire, although he acknowledged Gaza’s growing hunger crisis and the need for aid deliveries.
The post Hamas Confirms New Gaza Ceasefire Talks with Israel in Qatar on Saturday first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: ICC’s Khan Goes on Administrative Leave Amid Sexual Misconduct Probe
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan speaks during an interview with Reuters in The Hague, Netherlands, Feb. 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
i24 News – Chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan has stepped down temporarily as an investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct by United Nations investigators is nearing its final phase, Reuters reported on Friday citing sources from the international court.
Khan allegedly forced sexual intercourse upon a member of staff on multiple occasions, the Wall Street Journal reported last week, linking the allegations to Khan’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant.
A statement is expected later today announcing that Khan is going on administrative leave, according to a source in the prosecutor’s office.
The post Report: ICC’s Khan Goes on Administrative Leave Amid Sexual Misconduct Probe first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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