Uncategorized
Gunman in Texas mall shooting reportedly posted antisemitic rhetoric on social media
(JTA) — The suspect in the shooting Saturday at a mall in Texas appears to have posted antisemitic, anti-LGBTQ and misogynist messages to a social media account.
According to researchers at the Anti-Defamation League, as well as a report in NBC News, the gunman, a 33-year-old who killed eight people at an outlet mall in Allen, a suburb of Dallas, had an account at OK.RU, a Russian social media platform. On the account, he cited sites popular with white supremacists, such as 4chan, and white supremacist figures such as Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes. His posts repeated antisemitic conspiracies, using an abbreviation for the “Zionist occupied government” and claiming that Jews have “engineered society so that men cannot mate with a woman.”
“An initial assessment of a massive social media trove, which ADL researchers can link to Garcia with a high degree of confidence, reveals a preoccupation with violence that manifests in a wide range of hate, including towards women and Jews,” read an assessment by the ADL’s Center on Extremism, using the shooter’s last name. The report cited Bellingcat, an investigative journalism site, in its research.
The shooter also posted photos of a jacket with a patch featuring the acronym for “Right Wing Death Squad,” a far-right term, as well as a shirtless photo where he is shown with tattoos of a swastika and the logo of the Nazi Waffen-SS force. “Here’s what I think about your diversity you f….g loser’s [sic],” he wrote in the photo caption, according to the ADL, which added that at least one post included the phrase “Heil Hitler.”
His posts also included misogynistic and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. According to the ADL, he wrote that he was inspired by “Libs of TikTok,” an anti-LGBTQ social media account run by Chaya Raichik, an Orthodox Jew. Law enforcement officers are investigating the alleged shooter’s social media and have not publicly shared a motive for the shooting.
The mall shooting, in which the gunman was killed by police, comes a week after another mass shooting in Cleveland, Texas. It also comes roughly a year after another white supremacist shooter killed 10 people at a mall in Buffalo and, 10 days later, a gunman killed 21 people in a mall in Uvalde, Texas. According to the ADL, three-quarters of the people killed by extremists over the past decade were killed by right-wing shooters.
“As ADL has consistently documented, right-wing extremist violence poses the greatest extremist threat to America,” tweeted ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt. “The #AllenTexas shooter’s social media appears to underscore this clear and present danger.”
—
The post Gunman in Texas mall shooting reportedly posted antisemitic rhetoric on social media appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Uncategorized
Exclusive: Israeli Officials Harshly Critical of Steve Witkoff’s Influence on US Policy on Gaza, Iran, i24NEWS Told
US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Washington, DC, Jan. 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
i24 News – Amid growing disagreements with the Trump administration over the composition of the Board of Peace for Gaza and the question of a strike on Iran, officials in Israel point to a key figure behind decisions seen as running counter to Israeli interests: Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.
The officials mention sustained dissatisfaction with Witkoff. Sources close to the PM Netanyahu told i24NEWS on Saturday evening: “For several months now, the feeling has been that envoy Steve Witkoff has strong ties, for his own reasons, across the Middle East, and that at times the Israeli interest does not truly prevail in his decision-making.”
This criticism relates both to the proposed inclusion of Turkey and Qatar in Gaza’s governing bodies and to the Iranian threat. A senior Israeli official put it bluntly: “If it turns out that he is among those blocking a strike on Iran, that is far more than a coincidence.”
Uncategorized
EU Warns of Downward Spiral After Trump Threatens Tariffs Over Greenland
European Union flags flutter outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on June 17, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Yves Herman
European Union leaders on Saturday warned of a “dangerous downward spiral” over US President Donald Trump‘s vow to implement increasing tariffs on European allies until the US is allowed to buy Greenland.
“Tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral. Europe will remain united, coordinated, and committed to upholding its sovereignty,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU Council President Antonio Costa said in posts on X.
The bloc’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas said tariffs would hurt prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic, while distracting the EU from its “core task” of ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“China and Russia must be having a field day. They are the ones who benefit from divisions among allies,” Kallas said on X.
“Tariffs risk making Europe and the United States poorer and undermine our shared prosperity. If Greenland’s security is at risk, we can address this inside NATO.”
Ambassadors from the European Union’s 27 countries will convene on Sunday for an emergency meeting to discuss their response to the tariff threat.
Uncategorized
Israel Says US Gaza Executive Board Composition Against Its Policy
FILE PHOTO: Displaced Palestinians shelter at a tent camp in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, January 14, 2026. REUTERS/Haseeb Alwazeer/File Photo
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Saturday that this week’s Trump administration announcement on the composition of a Gaza executive board was not coordinated with Israel and ran counter to government policy.
It said Foreign Minister Gideon Saar would raise the issue with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The statement did not specify what part of the board’s composition contradicted Israeli policy. An Israeli government spokesperson declined to comment.
The board, unveiled by the White House on Friday, includes Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. Israel has repeatedly opposed any Turkish role in Gaza.
Other members of the executive board include Sigrid Kaag, the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process; an Israeli‑Cypriot billionaire; and a minister from the United Arab Emirates, which established relations with Israel in 2020.
Washington this week also announced the start of the second phase of President Donald Trump’s plan, announced in September, to end the war in Gaza. This includes creating a transitional technocratic Palestinian administration in the enclave.
The first members of the so-called Board of Peace – to be chaired by Trump and tasked with supervising Gaza’s temporary governance – were also named. Members include Rubio, billionaire developer Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.