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Trump Says Biden Has ‘Become Like a Palestinian,’ Calls on Incumbent to Let Israel ‘Finish the Job’ in Gaza
Former US President Donald Trump lambasted incumbent President Joe Biden’s approach to the Israel-Hamas war during Thursday night’s presidential debate in Atlanta, claiming that Biden has “become like a Palestinian.”
During the debate, CNN anchor Dana Bash pressed Biden on how he plans to use his leverage to wind down the ongoing war in Gaza, where the Israeli military has been waging a military campaign against Hamas following the Palestinian terrorist group’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel. Biden touted the specifics of his administration’s “three-phase plan” to secure the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza and enact a permanent “ceasefire.”
Biden highlighted his decision to deny Israel a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs, claiming they “don’t work well in populated areas” and that they “kill a lot of innocent people.” The Biden administration has blocked transfers of these weapons over frustrations stemming from Israeli military operations in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, a step that Israel insists is necessary to dismantle the remaining Hamas battalions.
The incumbent president insisted that Hamas, which launched the ongoing war in Gaza by invading southern Israel and slaughtering over 1,200 people there on Oct. 7, has already been “greatly weakened” and that Israel needs to exercise restraint when “using certain weapons on population centers.”
“The only one who wants the war to continue is Hamas,” Biden declared.
Trump responded by asserting that Israel also wants to continue the war and that the Biden administration should “let them finish the job.”
“He [Biden] has become like a Palestinian. But, they don’t like him because he is a very bad Palestinian,” Trump continued.
Israel has said it is committed to freeing the remaining hostages kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7 and to dismantling the military and governing capabilities of Hamas, which rules neighboring Gaza.
Trump also stated that his former administration’s approach to Iran, the chief international sponsor of Hamas, made Israel safer.
“Israel would have never been invaded in a million years by Hamas. You know why? Because Iran was broke with me,” Trump said, referring to the economic sanctions regime that his administration imposed on Iran. “I wouldn’t let anybody do business with them. They ran out of money. They were broke. They had no money for Hamas. They had no money for anything. No money for terror.”
Harsh US sanctions levied on Iran under Trump, who withdrew from the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with between the Iranian regime and world powers, crippled the Iranian economy and led its foreign exchange reserves to plummet. Trump and his Republican supporters in the US Congress have criticized Biden, a Democrat, for renewing billions of dollars in US sanctions waivers, which had the effect of unlocking frozen funds and allowing the country to access previously inaccessible hard currency.
The Iranian regime is the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism, devoting significant sums of money each year to supporting proxies across the Middle East.
Biden, who initially expressed strong support for Israel in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 atrocities, has adopted a tougher posture toward the Jewish state’s war effort amid mounting pressure from fellow Democrats and progressive groups. Expressing concern over civilian casualties, Biden has called on Israel to pursue a ceasefire and avoid pursuing the remaining Hamas battalions in Rafah.
Meanwhile, Trump has sent mixed signals regarding his stance on the Israel-Hamas war. During an interview with the Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom earlier this year, Trump urged Israel to “finish up your war” and “get on to peace.” In that same interview, Trump said that the Jewish state was creating “a very bad picture for the world.” During an April campaign rally, Trump nodded in approval to his audience chanting “Genocide Joe,” a nickname many progressives have pinned on Biden to signal their disapproval of his handling of the war in Gaza. Trump responded, “They’re not wrong, they’re not wrong. He’s done everything wrong.”
The post Trump Says Biden Has ‘Become Like a Palestinian,’ Calls on Incumbent to Let Israel ‘Finish the Job’ in Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Ex-IDF Soldier Becomes First Republican in 50 Years to Win New York State Assembly Seat in Long Island District
A former officer in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) became the first Republican to win a state assembly seat in northern Hempstead, Long Island in more than 50 years.
Daniel Norber narrowly defeated two-term Democratic incumbent Gina Silitti to capture the 16th District of the New York State Assembly. The district encompasses most of Nassau County, an area which maintains a significant Jewish population.
Norber’s victory came amid a huge surge in support for Republican candidates across the country. US President-elect Donald Trump won the 16th District by over 2,000 votes, assisting Norber, a dual US-Israeli citizen, secure victory in his history-making down-ballot race.
The ex-IDF officer’s win also came in the midst of increasing antisemitism across the country. In the year following the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7, Jewish families in Nassau County have reported being targeted with hate crimes.
In September, a Jewish family in Nassau County alleged that a suspect urinated on their front door and yelled antisemitic slurs. Months earlier in April, county officials denounced antisemitic graffiti which covered the faces of hostages taken captive by Hamas during the Oct. 7 onslaught. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who is Jewish, has also accused Civil Service Employees Association Local 830, an 8,000-member local union, of antisemitism for distributing flyers depicting him with devil horns.
Silitti, Norber’s opponent, found herself in hot water with the local Jewish community after one of her staffers bashed Israel on social media.
“She wasn’t sensitive to what was going on. I felt she was out of touch,” Norber, 45, told the New York Post.
Though Norber focused his campaign on domestic issues such as bolstering law enforcement and cutting taxes, he believes that his support for Israel also helped him establish valuable inroads with the local Jewish community. Moreover, his grandparents endured the Holocaust and his mother ran away from communism in the Soviet Union.
Norber was also on the ground in Israel during the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks with his wife and four kids.
“It was the worst atrocity to Jews since the Holocaust. Israel is not the same anymore,” Norber said, according to the Post.
Norber has also touted a series of policies which would likely bolster Jewish safety in Nassau County. In the New York State Assembly, he aims to implement a statewide mask ban with the goal of preventing anonymity during protests — a popular tactic employed by activists during anti-Israel demonstrations to hid their identity. The lawmaker also wants to repeal cashless bail, with the intention of reducing the number of violent criminals on the streets.
The post Ex-IDF Soldier Becomes First Republican in 50 Years to Win New York State Assembly Seat in Long Island District first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘Challah for Ceasefire’?: Phoebe Maltz Bovy on watching the political tightrope in women’s media
In the before-times, a personal essay in a women’s magazine about home-baked challah, in which the writer discusses how this ritual connects them to their Jewish roots, would be a […]
The post ‘Challah for Ceasefire’?: Phoebe Maltz Bovy on watching the political tightrope in women’s media appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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Palestinian Filmmaker Who Accused Israel of ‘Genocide’ Wins Top Prize at Film Festival With Israel-Set Drama
A Palestinian filmmaker who has accused Israel of “genocide” during the ongoing war in Gaza took home the top prize on Sunday at the 65th Thessaloniki International Film Festival for a family drama set in Israel that includes Jewish and Arab characters.
Director Scandar Copti won the Golden Alexander for best feature film and a 10,000-euro cash prize for his film “Happy Holidays,” an Arabic- and Hebrew-language film that follows four interconnected characters who “share their unique realities, highlighting the complexities between genders, generations, and cultures.” One character, named Rami, is a Palestinian from Haifa who must deal with his Jewish girlfriend’s sudden decision to change her mind about her planned abortion.
Copti directed and wrote the screenplay for “Happy Holidays.” He also directed the Oscar-nominated 2009 film “Ajami.”
“Happy Holidays” is Copti’s second film, and it premiered in early September in the 2024 Venice Film Festival’s Horizons section, where it won the award for best screenplay. During his virtual acceptance speech at the Venice Film Festival, Copti accused Israel of committing a “genocide” in Gaza, where the Israeli military has been waging a campaign against Hamas terrorists.
“Over the past 11 months, our shared humanity and moral compass has been tested as we witness the ongoing genocide in Gaza,” he said in comments which elicited applause from the audience. He talked about the “painful reality” in Gaza and said “Happy Holidays” examines “how moral narratives can bring us together as communities, but also blind us to the suffering of others. It explores how traditions and indoctrination can distort our values and make injustice seem acceptable.”
“True freedom is interconnected,” he added. “None of us are free until all of us are free, from all sorts of oppression.”
The jury at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival — which included filmmaker and producer Sara Driver, filmmaker Denis Côté, and producer Konstantinos Kontovrakis — applauded Copti’s film “for intricately weaving different narratives and perspectives that fully expose the complexity of national, gender, and class dynamics that can divide societies and for seeing the future in the face of a young woman.”
The post Palestinian Filmmaker Who Accused Israel of ‘Genocide’ Wins Top Prize at Film Festival With Israel-Set Drama first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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