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Screening of Raw Footage From Oct. 7 Hamas Attacks Cancelled at Cannes Due to ‘Security Threat’
An Israeli soldier stands during a two-minute siren marking the annual Israeli Holocaust Remembrance Day, at an installation at the site of the Nova festival where party goers were killed and kidnapped during the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas terrorists from Gaza, in Reim, southern Israel, May 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
A private screening of a film about the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel that was set to take place on the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival was cancelled on Tuesday after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) notified organizers about a security threat, Variety reported.
WestEnd Films Co-Founder Sharon Harel-Cohen organized a screening on May 17 of the 47-minute film Bearing Witness to the October 7 Massacre, which features raw, firsthand footage from the Oct. 7 massacre captured by video surveillance, body cameras, and cellphones of Hamas terrorists and IDF soldiers. A small group of members of the film industry were invited to the screening and it was scheduled separate from the Cannes Film Festival, which is taking place at the Palais des Festivals in France with heightened security measures this year.
The invitation for the screening noted that “for security reasons the location will be released only a few days before the event, to registered participants only.” It was set to take place at the Exclusive Hotel Belle Plage, which is roughly a mile from the Palais, and attendees were asked not to tell others about the location. But then the screening was abruptly called off.
“About an hour before, we received an order from the IDF not to hold the screening due to a security threat,” WestEnd Films Co-Founder Maya Amsellem told Variety. “We have not heard any additional details.”
“There’s not much you can do,” Harel-Cohen told the publication. “When you get word that there is a security issue from the IDF, that’s it. It was an opportunity. It’s really a pity.” Harel-Cohen added that she will not try to hold another screening of Bearing Witness during the Cannes Film Festival, which ends Saturday.
However, sources told Variety that the screening was cancelled because the IDF asked for permission to organize the viewing a mere two hours before it was scheduled to take place and the screening did not follow security protocol.
The Algemeiner previously reported that violence broke out between pro- and anti-Israel protesters in November outside a screening for Bearing Witness in Los Angeles that was attended by Hollywood executives and other high-profile members of the film and television industry.
Laura Blajman-Kadar, a survivor of the Oct. 7 attacks, attended a screening at the Cannes Film Festival on May 15 wearing a dress that paid tribute to the hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The post Screening of Raw Footage From Oct. 7 Hamas Attacks Cancelled at Cannes Due to ‘Security Threat’ 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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