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Three Israeli Police Officers Killed in Terror Shooting Near Hebron
A view shows Palestinian houses as an Israeli power distribution plant is seen in the background in Hebron in the West Bank, Jan. 22, 2020. Photo: Reuters / Mussa Qawasma.
JNS.org – Three Israeli police officers were killed in a drive-by shooting on Sunday morning near the Tarqumiya checkpoint, some 7.5 miles northwest of Hebron in Judea.
Magen David Adom paramedics treated a male and a female officer at the scene before pronouncing them dead. Another male officer was seriously wounded and evacuated to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheva, where he was later pronounced dead.
They were later named as Ch. Insp. Arik Ben Eliyahu, 37, from Kiryat Gat, who is survived by his wife and three children; Command Sgt. Maj. Hadas Branch, 53, from Sde Moshe, who is survived by her husband, three children and a granddaughter; and First Sgt. Roni Shakuri, 61, from Sderot, who is survived by his wife, a daughter and a granddaughter.
אנו מודיעים בצער ויגון רב על נפילתם של שלושה שוטרים הבוקר בפיגוע ירי רצחני סמוך למעבר תרקומיא:
פקד אריק בן אליהו ז”ל, בן 37, תושב קרית גת.
הותיר אחריו אישה ושלושה ילדים, הורים ושתי אחיות.
רנ”ג הדס ברנץ ז”ל, בת 53, תושבת שדה משה.
הותירה אחריה בעל ושלושה ילדים, הורים וחמישה… pic.twitter.com/nr01SBmfCW
— משטרת ישראל (@IL_police) September 1, 2024
Shakuri’s daughter, First Sgt. Mor Shakuri, was killed while battling Hamas terrorists attempting to take control of the Sderot police station on Oct. 7.
The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday initiated a search for the terrorists, who opened fire from a car at the police vehicle with the three officers inside on Route 35 and then fled on foot. The road was closed to traffic and security forces were preparing to search the nearby Palestinian village of Idna.
Later on Sunday, IDF and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) fighters surrounded a house in Hebron where terrorists were believed to be holed up, the military said in a statement. At least one terrorist linked to Sunday morning’s attack was “neutralized” at the site, the IDF stated.
According to reports, the terrorist who carried out the shooting served as a member of Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas‘s “Presidential Guard,” though it was unclear whether he still held the position.
Israel Police Commissioner Daniel Levy and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir arrived at the scene of the attack.
“I am certain and convinced that together with the IDF we will find and eliminate the despicable terrorists who harmed three of our good policemen,” Levy said at the scene.
Ben-Gvir said, “The right to life [of Israelis] prevails over the freedom of movement of the Palestinians.”
The minister later tweeted, in a lengthy post about the Judea attack and the bodies of six hostages recovered in Gaza overnight Saturday, that the attack “once again proved, unfortunately, the dire consequences of terrorists roaming freely in the area.
“Terrorism must be fought without imagination and without following [failed] security assumptions. In Gaza as in Judea and Samaria. The Palestinian Authority is a terrorist authority—an instigator of terrorism, pays salaries to murderers of Jews, its police officers engage in terrorism, and the Al-Aqsa Brigades [Fatah-affiliated terrorist group] belong to it,” Ben-Gvir continued.
“Those who trust them, endanger the State of Israel. Unfortunately, the security assumptions also control the roads; when Defense Minister Gallant orders to open roadblocks for the Palestinians, the result is the murder of Jews. It is forbidden to be bleeding hearts at the expense of the lives of our citizens—our right to live and not to be murdered, prevails over their right of movement. We need to close the traffic lanes we travel on to the residents of the P.A.”
יום קשה עם בשורות מרות. עם ישראל כולו כואב. ליבנו שותת דם. אנו משגרים תנחומים למשפחות החטופים שנרצחו בעזה, ולמשפחות הנרצחים בפיגוע בתרקומיא. באופן אישי אלה שוטרים גיבורים שאת חלקם היכרתי – אחיי הקדושים .
לצערי, אני רואה את האמירות המופרעות משמאל, שמאשימות את ממשלת ישראל ברצח…
— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) September 1, 2024
The head of the Gush Etzion Council, Yaron Rosenthal, called on the IDF to “start the operation to clean up the nests of terrorism in the [P.A.’s] Hebron Governorate and the surrounding area.”
On Saturday, an IDF soldier was killed and three others wounded during clashes with Hamas terrorists in Jenin in northern Samaria.
The slain man was identified as Staff Sgt. Elkana Navon, 20, from Petach Tikvah.
Also on Saturday, the Hamas terrorist group hailed the previous day’s “double heroic operation” after car bombers wounded three Israelis in the Gush Etzion region of the West Bank.
The post Three Israeli Police Officers Killed in Terror Shooting Near Hebron first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Two Russian Regions Block Telegram App Over Security Fears
The Telegram logo is seen on a screen of a smartphone in this picture illustration taken April 13, 2018. Photo: REUTERS/Ilya Naymushin.
Authorities in two Russian regions have blocked the Telegram messenger because of concerns that the app could be used by enemies, a regional digital development minister was quoted as saying by the TASS state news agency on Saturday.
Dagestan and Chechnya are mainly Muslim regions in southern Russia where intelligence services have registered an increase in militant Islamist activity.
“It (Telegram) is often used by enemies, an example of which is the riots at the Makhachkala airport,” said Yuri Gamzatov, Dagestan’s digital development minister, adding that the decision to block the messenger had been made at the federal level.
Gamzatov was referring to an anti-Israel riot in Dagestan in October 2023, when hundreds of protesters stormed an airport to try to attack passengers arriving on a plane from the Jewish state. No passengers were injured, and authorities have prosecuted several people over the incident.
News of the plane’s arrival had spread on local Telegram channels, where users posted calls for antisemitic violence. Telegram condemned the attack and said it would block the channels.
Telegram did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the blocks in Russia.
Based in Dubai and founded by Russian-born Pavel Durov, the messenger has nearly 1 billion users and is used widely in Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet republics.
Moscow tried but failed to block Telegram in 2018 and has in the past demanded the platform hand over user data. Durov is under formal investigation in France as part of a probe into organized crime on the app.
Gamzatov, the minister in Dagestan, said Telegram could be unblocked in the future, but encouraged users to switch to other messengers in the meantime.
The post Two Russian Regions Block Telegram App Over Security Fears first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Trump’s Scottish Golf Resort Vandalized with Pro-Palestine Graffiti
US President Donald Trump speaks at the White House, in Washington, DC, Feb. 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
US President Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf resort in Scotland has been daubed with pro-Palestinian graffiti, with a protest group claiming responsibility.
Local media on Saturday showed images of red paint scrawled across walls at the course with the slogans “Free Gaza” and “Free Palestine” as well as insults against Trump.
“Gaza is not for sale” was also painted on one of the greens and holes dug up on the course.
Palestine Action said it caused the damage, posting on social media platform X: “Whilst Trump attempts to treat Gaza as his property, he should know his own property is within reach.”
Last month, Trump enraged the Arab world by declaring unexpectedly that the United States would take over Gaza, resettle its over 2-million Palestinian population and develop it into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”
Police Scotland said it was investigating.
“Around 4.40am on Saturday, 8 March, 2025, we received a report of damage to the golf course and a premises on Maidens Road, Turnberry,” a Police Scotland spokesperson said, adding that enquiries were ongoing.
Separately on Saturday, a man waving a Palestinian flag climbed the Big Ben tower at London’s Palace of Westminster.
The post Trump’s Scottish Golf Resort Vandalized with Pro-Palestine Graffiti first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Columbia University Promises to Address Trump Administration’s Concerns After $400 Million in Funding Pulled
A student protester parades a Palestinian flag outside the entrance to Hamilton Hall on the campus of Columbia University, in New York, US, April 30, 2024. Photo: Mary Altaffer/Pool via REUTERS
Columbia University’s interim president said the school is working to address the “legitimate concerns” of US President Donald Trump’s administration after $400 million of federal government grants and contracts to the university were canceled over allegations of antisemitism on campus.
In an announcement on Friday, the government cited what it described as antisemitic harassment on and near the school’s New York City campus as the reason for pulling the funding. The university has repeatedly been at the forefront of pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel student protest movement since the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and subsequent war in Gaza.
“I want to assure the entire Columbia community that we are committed to working with the federal government to address their legitimate concerns,” Katrina Armstrong, the university’s interim president, said in a late-night message to alumni on Friday. “To that end, Columbia can, and will, continue to take serious action toward combating antisemitism on our campus.”
The Trump administration said the canceled funding is only a portion of the $5 billion in government grants that has been committed to the school, but the school is bracing for a financial hit.
“There is no question that the cancellation of these funds will immediately impact research and other critical functions of the University, impacting students, faculty, staff, research, and patient care,” Armstrong said.
Federal funding accounted for about $1.3 billion of the university’s $6.6 billion in operating revenue in the 2024 fiscal year, according to a Columbia financial report.
Some Jewish students and staff have been among the pro-Palestinian protesters, and they say their criticism of Israel is being wrongly conflated with antisemitism. Minouche Shafik resigned last year as Columbia’s president after the university’s handling of the protests drew criticism from pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian sides alike.
The administration has declined to say what contracts and grants it has canceled, but the Education Department argues the demonstrations have been unlawful and deprive Jewish students of learning opportunities.
Civil rights groups say the immediate cuts are unconstitutional punishment for protected speech and likely to face legal challenges.
The post Columbia University Promises to Address Trump Administration’s Concerns After $400 Million in Funding Pulled first appeared on Algemeiner.com.