JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER. 1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)
35 ROCKS TO ISRAEL FROM LEBANON.DEATH CULT PROTESTERS SAY DEATH TO AMERICA AND ISRAEL IN AMERICA.
MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places,(DIFFERNT PLACES AT THE SAME TIME) and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
Elam (IRAN IN THE BIBLE) passed into the hands of the Persians" (A.H. Sayce).
Jeremiah 49:35-39
35-Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might.
36-And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come.
37-For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, [even] my fierce anger, saith the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them:
38-And I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from thence the king and the princes, saith the LORD.
39-But it shall come to pass in the latter days, [that] I will bring again the captivity of Elam, saith the LORD.
Ezekiel 32:24
24-There [is] Elam and all her multitude round about her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which are gone down uncircumcised into the nether parts of the earth, which caused their terror in the land of the living; yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit.
EZEK 38:4-13
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY) of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.(AFRICAN MUSLIMS,SUDAN,TUNESIA ETC)
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
13 Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?(OIL IS IN SPOIL-I BELIEVE THATS WHY RUSSIA,ARAB/MUSLIMS MARCH TO ISRAEL)
EZEK 39:11-21
11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: (EAST OF THE DEAD SEA IN THE JORDAN VALLEY) and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.(CEMETARY OF THE HORDE)
12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.
13 Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; (ALL AVAILABLE ISRAELS WILL BURY THE RUSSIA,MUSLIM HORDE) and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord GOD.
14 And they shall sever out men of continual employment, (NUCLEAR PROFFESIONALS) passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.(SO BY THE SOUNDS OF IT AFTER 7 MONTHS THE NUKED RUSSIA,MUSLIM HOARDES BONES WILL STILL BE FULL OF RADIATION, SO VISITERS TO ISRAEL WILL JUST PUT A SIGN BY THE BONES.NOT TOUCH THEM.OR THEY WOULD STILL GET RADIATION POISONING FROM ISRAEL NUKING THEM 7 MONTHS EARLIER.SO THE SIGN GOES BY THE BONES.THE NUCLEAR PROFFESIONALS WILL PICK UP AND TAKE THE BONES TO THE JORDAN VALLEY BURIAL SITE.
15 And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man’s bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamongog.(VALLEY OF GOGS HORDES)
16 And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah.(MEANING CITY OF THE HOARDE) Thus shall they cleanse the land.
17 And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.(RUSSIA,ISLAMIC HORDE)
18 Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
19 And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.
20 Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord GOD.
21 And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)
1 OF 3 GOD GAVE THEN OVER TO
1-PROMISCUOUS SEX AMOUNG EACH OTHER.
ROMANS 1:24
24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: (THE 60S FREE SEX)
2 OF 3 GOD GAVE THEM OVER TO
2-SODOMITES - MEN LUSTING MEN, AND WOMEN LUSTING AFTER WOMEN.
ROMANS 1:26-27
26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
3 OF 3 GOD GAVE THEM OVER TO
3-A DEPRAVED MIND-ANY SIN GOES.
ROMANS 1:28-31
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER GOD GAVE THEM OVER TO THESE 3 DEPRAVED ABOMINATION SINS?
OH OH NOAHS DAY. WHAT HAPPENED IN NOAHS DAY. THE WHOLE WORLD WAS JUDGED BY WATER.
GENESIS 6:7,17
7 And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.
GENESIS 7:4
4 For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.
GENESIS 8:16
16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
WELL THE SODOMITES PICKED THE RIGHT SIGN OF A RAINBOW FOR JUDGEMENT. THE SODOMITES TRYED TO STEAL GODS SIGN THAT THE WHOLE EARTH WILL NEVER DIE FROM FLOOD WATERS AGAIN. BUT THE JUDGEMENT THIS TIME IS GOING TO BE BY FIRE.NOT WATER.
2 PETER 3:7
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
GOD SURE EXPOSED THE CLOSET ISRAEL HATERS BY ALLOWING THE OCT 7TH ATTACK. NOW THE ISLAMIC DEATH CULT ARAB SUPPORTERS HAVE COME OUT FROM UNDER EVER ROCK OR CREVIS ON EARTH.NOW GOD WILL BE ABLE TO DEAL WITH ALL THE ISRAEL HATERS THAT ARE POKING GOD IN THE EYE. YOU CAN BET ALL THE CITIES WITH THESE ISRAEL HATER COLLEDGES WILL HAVE EITHER EARTHQUAKES, TORNADOES, HURRICANES, FLOODING RAIN STORMS AND LARGE HAIL, MUD SLIDES, SINK HOLES AND COLLAPSES LIKE THE BRIDGE. THE SCHOOLS AND DEMOLIBNUTS WON;T DO ANY THING ABOUT THESE PROTESTS. YOU CAN BET GOD WILL DEAL WITH THESE COCKROACH SUPPORTERS AGAINST HIM AND ISRAEL.
WELL THE DEMOLIBNUT EXTREMIST LEFT-WING LUNATICS GOT THEIR WISH. THEY GOT THEIR FLOOD AMERICA WITH COCKROACHES FROM AROUND THE WORLD VIOLENCE DOERS. AND NOW THEIR PAYING THE PRICE. AND GOD WILL HAVE TO CLEAN UP THE GARBAGE BY PUTTING TRUMP IN. OR GOD HIMSELF WILL ALLOW A FEW TERRORIST ATTACKS IN AMERICA. SO DEMOLIBNUTS THINK ABOUT WHAT A SIN THEY DONE WITH AN OPEN BORDER.
Glory to our martyrs,' declare protesters at U of Michigan-Dozens arrested at NYU ‘liberated zone’ as anti-Israel encampments sweep US campuses-Emboldened by arrests at Columbia, Students for Justice in Palestine declares nationwide bid to demand colleges divest from Israel, stop ‘profiteering off the genocide in Gaza’By Agencies and ToI Staff Today, 9:44 am-APR 23,24
Clashes broke out between NYPD officers and demonstrators at New York University after police moved in to clear out an anti-Israel “liberated zone” set up by pro-Palestinian protesters late Monday amid reports of antisemitic incidents, the latest violence as unrest over the Israel-Hamas war spreads to campuses across the US.Officers in riot gear scuffled with demonstrators, after the police began getting rid of equipment and arresting protesters for violating an order to disperse. Some of the protesters appeared to act violently toward officers, with a masked man draped in a keffiyeh throwing a chair toward them.Dozens of protesters — including students and faculty — were arrested, according to local media reports.The school said it warned the crowd to leave, then called in the police after the scene became disorderly and the university said it learned of reports of “intimidating chants and several antisemitic incidents.” Shortly after 8:30 p.m., officers began making arrests.“It’s a really outrageous crackdown by the university to allow the police to arrest students on our own campus,” said New York University law student Byul Yoon.The scenes have been repeated at schools across the US, inspired by events at another Columbia University, also in New York.A pro-Palestinian protest against Israel at Yale University allegedly turned violent with dozens of arrests.The University of Southern California canceled all its planned commencement speakers.The gates to Harvard Yard were closed to the public on Monday.Encampments have sprung up at campuses from Boston to Ann Arbor and Chapel Hill.The spread of the anti-Israel demonstrations is being promoted and celebrated by pro-Palestinian activists, including the anti-Zionist Jewish Voice for Peace. And it’s prompting alarm from Jewish campus groups that are calling on administrators to take more aggressive action.US President Joe Biden condemned the rising antisemitism at many of the protests, but also appeared to call for understanding of the demonstrators.While marking Earth Day in Virginia Monday, Biden was asked by a reporter if he condemns “the antisemitic protests on college campuses.”“I condemn the antisemitic protests. That’s why I’ve set up a program to deal with that,” he said. BIDEN: "I condemn the antisemitic protests, that's why I've set up a program to deal with that. I also condemn those who don't understand what's going on with the Palestinians, and how they're being…" pic.twitter.com/pn5h5Uxler— Prem Thakker (@prem_thakker) April 22, 2024“I also condemn those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians and how they’re being…” Biden then added before trailing off as a reporter asked if he thinks the Columbia University president should resign.Students across the country said the Columbia arrests only further emboldened them to call for their universities to divest from Israel. Buoyed by the growing number of demonstrations, the national umbrella of Students for Justice in Palestine announced the launch of a cross-campus initiative called “Popular University for Gaza.”“Over the last 72 hours, SJP chapters across the country have erupted in a fierce display of power targeted at their universities for their endless complicity and profiteering off the genocide in Gaza and colonization of Palestine,” the group posted on X, on Sunday afternoon.The post was headlined, “CAMPUSES IN REVOLT FOR GAZA AND DIVEST.”One of the first and most notable campuses to see a Columbia-style encampment was Yale, whose protest began last week. Like Columbia’s, it ended in the arrests of dozens of students when police entered campus overnight between Sunday and Monday.A pro-Israel student said she was stabbed in the eye by a pro-Palestinian protester’s flag at the protests, which have been condemned by Democratic Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, who represents the district and has called for a temporary ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, where Israeli forces are fighting the Hamas terror group in response to its October 7 onslaught.“Inciting hatred and violence toward Jewish students and community members, as we have seen at other universities, is completely unacceptable and those responsible for violence must be held accountable,” DeLauro wrote.In a letter to students and its campus community, Yale Hillel leaders Uri Cohen and Rabbi Jason Rubenstein described the recent events as “perhaps the most divisive, most fearful moment I have seen.”“In last night’s chaos on the Beinecke Plaza, which could erupt again tonight, protests became the site of physical altercations that left a member of our community injured, which we cannot tolerate,” Cohen and Rubenstein wrote. “I have similarly heard troubling and credible first-hand accounts that respected Muslim members of the Yale community, and their sacred symbols, were treated with disrespect last night — for which there is no excuse.”Yale: one of many videos of a human blockade that did not let me move around at last night's violent protest. This is me standing in between protestors and the wall. organizers told protestors to get closer to the wall. "Come closer," they beckoned, waving the mob in my direction pic.twitter.com/qMrH2mfvkM— Sahar Tartak???????????????? (@sahar_tartak) April 21, 2024-Similar protests are springing up at a range of other schools. One student activist collective at the University of Michigan, the TAHRIR Coalition, said Monday that it, too, had set up an encampment on the Diag, the center of campus. One banner at the encampment reads, “Long Live the Intifada.”“Inspired by the 100+ students facing academic and carceral retaliation for protesting Columbia University’s investment in genocide, we along with Students for Justice in Palestine chapters across the country have made the bold and unwavering decision to occupy our campuses until our demands are met in full,” the Michigan coalition said in a statement.The collective said it would not leave the space “until we achieve full divestment” from Israel, adding, “Power to our freedom fighters, glory to our martyrs.”The campus chapter of JVP said it would hold a Passover Seder there Monday night in solidarity with the protesters.BREAKING: ‘Encampment for Gaza’ set up at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, with tents out as students occupy The Diag on campus pic.twitter.com/nIdjuhwEPK-Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) April 22, 2024-In addition to Michigan, pro-Palestinian protesters at several other schools have set up new encampments in solidarity with Columbia students, including at New York University and the New School in New York; the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tufts University and Emerson College in the Boston area. At some schools, including UNC, those encampments have already been dismantled after administrators intervened.In response to the encampments, Hillel International, the umbrella organization of Jewish campus groups, said it respected free speech but called on university administrators to take action in the face of the protests, including demands to “aggressively enforce” their rules, bar entry to “outside agitators” and protect Jewish spaces.“The extreme tactics of those creating these encampments and related protests are unacceptable at every level,” the Hillel statement said. “They are denying students access to safe learning opportunities and campus life. They are flagrantly violating clear campus policies and rules with impunity. They are fostering hate and discrimination, often targeted specifically at Jewish and Israeli students who are part of their campus communities.”The statement follows divergent statements from Jewish leaders at Columbia: One rabbi urged students to leave campus, while others condemned the protests but rebuffed calls for Jews to flee.At MIT, the pro-Israel student group MIT Israel Alliance said that a campus encampment was “anti-Jewish” because it had been set up near the Hillel building just before Passover, and said it was “alarming” that many of the protesters were not students.“We do not trust that random protesters who have nothing better to do than sleep on Kresge lawn banging drums all night will have good judgment in terms of safety and violence escalation,” the group said, echoing observers of the Columbia protests who said some of the most strident participants were also not students. The MIT group urged the school to clear the encampment while also providing remote learning options for Jewish students.ro.Other schools have been the sites of walkouts, rallies and pro-Palestinian protests, including Ohio State University and Miami University in Ohio; Rutgers University in New Jersey; and Northwestern University in Illinois.At Harvard University, officials closed Harvard Yard for the week in anticipation of similar planned protests. Officials at Washington University in St. Louis suspended three students who disrupted a campus event for admitted students with a pro-Palestinian protest the previous week, then disbanded a rally held to protest the suspensions over the weekend.And the University of Pennsylvania over the weekend banned a pro-Palestinian student group, Penn Students Against the Occupation, after the school said members had targeted and harassed Jewish students and faculty who participated in a trip to Israel.Meanwhile, across the country, the University of Southern California has canceled all commencement speeches — including its invited speaker, film director Jon M. Chu — as part of the continued blowback stemming from the school’s decision to bar its pro-Palestinian valedictorian from speaking at next month’s ceremony. In addition, the university canceled appearances from planned honorary degree recipients including pioneering tennis legend Billie Jean King, National Endowment for the Arts Chair Maria Rosario Jackson and National Academy of Sciences President Marcia McNutt.The cancellation of USC’s commencement speaker lineup is one of several parallels students are drawing between this moment and 1968, when anti-Vietnam war protests at Columbia prompted the school to cancel that year’s graduation ceremonies.“In 1968 commencement did not happen. That was a long time ago, but that is what in a lot of ways is trying to be recreated here,” said Yakira Galler, a Jewish student at Barnard, Columbia’s women’s college, who has been disturbed by the protests. “I don’t know where they’re going to put all the seats for commencement.”Regarding the administration, she added, “I don’t know what’s going to happen. I think they’re hoping that it will calm down, but I think they’re terribly wrong.”Angus Johnston, a historian of student activism, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that today’s pro-Palestinian protest movement is actually less radical in its actions than student movements of the Vietnam era — though he acknowledged that the antisemitism present in today’s protests is a concern.He said that during Columbia’s mass student protests against the Vietnam War in 1968, students occupied a half-dozen campus buildings for a week; took an administrator hostage; and stole and destroyed university files. Antiwar protesters at other schools frequently set fire to buildings housing the Reserve Officer Training Corps, which trains students enlisted in the military.“The administration response is pretty similar: mass arrests, closing down the campus and calling the cops and all of that,” said Johnston, an adjunct instructor at Hostos Community College of the City of New York. “But the protests themselves, both at Columbia and across the country, have really been much more measured, much more restrained, than the kinds of protests we saw even in the mid ’60s.”Johnston said administrators have turned themselves into a target by taking aggressive action against the students right before the end of the semester.That’s because another lesson from the Vietnam protests, Johnston said, is “the more the administration escalates, the more the administration itself becomes a target of the protests. Because the administration is now doing the oppressing of the students.”Some pro-Palestinian student activists see hypocrisy in their universities’ efforts to crack down on their behavior. Prior to the incidents at Columbia, Rifka Handelman, a Jewish Voice for Peace student activist at the University of Maryland, told JTA that the university library has framed photos of student-led protest movements from throughout the 20th century, including against the Vietnam War and apartheid in South Africa.“It really rubs me the wrong way that UMD embraces these protests as part of its history — you know, these big photos on the wall of the library for everyone to see,” Handelman said. “I find it pretty hypocritical that universities embrace the history of those movements, but do not embrace movements with similar goals and similar tactics.”Whether and how commencement happens at the schools now contending with encampments, at least one Jewish leader is looking to the story of Passover to guide his students through a trying time and reassure them that they will emerge on the other side.In a note to his community, Yale’s Cohen wrote, “I hope that the straits through which we pass this year will not only help us experience what the first Exodus felt like, but also what it might feel like in our day.”
Protesters hold up posters of Palestinian terror convicts-‘This is 1938,’ says Israeli professor blocked from entering Columbia’s main campus
University’s COO tells Shai Davidai that he’s barred from area of anti-Israel encampment ‘to maintain safety of the community’; Congress members demand Jewish students be protected-By Luke Tress Today, 4:13 am-APR 23,24
New York Jewish Week via JTA — An outspoken Israeli professor was blocked from entering a portion of the Columbia University campus and Jewish members of Congress demanded action from the administration on Monday as pro-Palestinian protests against Israel continued to roil the Manhattan university.Shai Davidai, an Israeli assistant professor at Columbia University’s business school, had announced on social media that he planned to enter the university’s main campus on Monday morning to hold a “peaceful sit-in” in the area of pro-Palestinian demonstrators who have occupied the campus lawn since last week.But the university deactivated Davidai’s Columbia ID card, preventing him from accessing the main campus, which is currently restricted only to those who hold valid Columbia IDs. Davidai teaches at the business school, a separate area from the main campus, and still has access to that location.The university’s chief operating officer, Cas Holloway, met Davidai at the entrance to tell him he would not be allowed in.About an hour earlier, Davidai had posted a message he had received from Holloway, saying he would be allowed to hold a counter-protest at an area that is separate from the encampment, with the protection of public safety officers. Decrying the offer as a “continuation of six months of gaslighting and degrading the Jewish community,” Davidai rejected the offer, tweeting, “F— YOU CAS.”“This is 1938,” he wrote in another post, referring to the dismissal of Jewish staff from universities in Nazi Germany in the years leading up to the Holocaust.At the university gates, Davidai, who has emerged as a vocal and controversial supporter of Jewish students on campus since shortly after Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, addressed a crowd of people who had assembled there.“I have not just a civil right as a Jewish person to be on campus, I have a right as a professor employed by the university to be on campus,” Davidai said at the entrance, as supporters shouted “shame” and students watched from inside the university fence. “Being Jewish in public has become a political statement,” Davidai said. “It’s not a privilege, it’s a right, and they’re not allowing me that right.”"MY card has been deactivated? Why?" – Shai Davidai, Pro-Israel professor at Columbia attempted to swipe his card to go inside the 'Liberated Zone' encampment with his supporters.Video by @yyeeaahhhboiii2 Desk@freedomnews.tv to license pic.twitter.com/Poyt1JekGP— Oliya Scootercaster ???? (@ScooterCasterNY) April 22, 2024-The pro-Israel supporters appeared to be mostly older adults, not students. Many Jewish students had left campus due to safety concerns, Davidai said. Many had also headed home for the Passover holiday.In an email sent Monday morning, Holloway told Davidai that “to maintain the safety of the Columbia community,” he would not be allowed to enter the area of the encampment, according to a copy quoted by the conservative news magazine National Review.“Because of the obvious risk to the safety of students and other members of our community, we strongly urge you to ask any students and colleagues who may have planned to join you to change their plans as well,” Holloway wrote. “Obviously, the safety of our community has to be the top priority right now. As a faculty member, you have a fiduciary duty to do everything in your power to help keep our students and campus safe.”Davidai’s exclusion from the main campus comes as all outsiders, guests of Columbia students and faculty and even some students have been barred entry over the pro-Palestinian protests that have swept the campus in the last week.Joseph Howley, a Jewish classics professor who has been supporting students participating in the pro-Palestinian protests, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that he understood why the university might prevent Davidai from entering the main campus right now.“If they have information that specific individuals pose a security threat, it seems reasonable to me that they would want to exclude them, even just temporarily, to defuse that threat. They’ve already applied this logic to students who are suspended, which I don’t approve of, but there is a consistent logic there,” Howley said. “If a faculty member with a track record of harassing students says, ‘I’m going to go start trouble on campus,’ I would expect the administration to have a conversation with them. And as a last resort, I’m not surprised that they would suspend ID access.”Davidai has said he does not target or harass students, but focuses on student groups who have violated campus policies or expressed support for terrorism. He said he had planned to go onto the campus lawn to read the names of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.Howley said the protests would include two Passover seders on Monday night, one inside the main campus in the pro-Palestinian encampment and another off campus for students who are currently barred from entering because of their participation in those protests.Those protests have drawn national attention — including from the White House — after video from weekend demonstrations showed protesters making antisemitic comments and calling for more attacks like the one on October 7 that Hamas mounted against Israel, killing some 1,200 people and launching the current war.The protesters have demanded the university divest from Israeli companies, cut ties with Israeli academic institutions and issue a statement supporting a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and condemning the Israeli military campaign.The students set up a protest encampment in the center of campus last week as Columbia’s president, Minouche Shafik, addressed a congressional investigative committee on antisemitism. The university called in the NYPD to clear the unauthorized demonstration, charging more than 100 students with trespassing and further inflaming campus tensions. Student protesters expanded their demands to include barring police from campus and amnesty for students arrested or suspended over the protests.Since then, protests have continued, with some outside groups, including the pro-Palestinian organization Within Our Lifetime, whose leader has expressed support for Hamas, entering campus and addressing students.The encampment protests have spread to other universities in recent days, including Manhattan’s New School and New York University, Yale and the University of Michigan.Alarmed by the rhetoric on campus, Jewish Congress members Daniel Goldman, Kathy Manning, Jared Moskowitz and Josh Gottheimer held a press conference outside the university’s Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life, which is located a block away from campus and announced on Sunday that it would be providing escorts for Jewish students visiting during Passover.The representatives demanded that the university take action to rein in antisemitism and protect Jewish students.“The rhetoric has escalated to a point where Jewish students feel unsafe,” said Goldman, a Democrat who represents New York’s 10th Congressional District in Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn.“The university and all universities have an obligation to maintain the safety and security of their students of all backgrounds,” Goldman said after touring the campus protest area with Jewish students.Manning, a Democrat from North Carolina’s 6th Congressional District and a co-chair of the House Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism, characterized some of the protest activity as “targeted harassment and intimidation,” adding, “The college must do more to keep Jewish students safe.”Moskowitz, a Democrat from Florida’s 23rd Congressional District, vowed action of his own.“On a bipartisan basis we in Congress are going to do something about it,” he said.The White House expressed concern on Sunday as footage from the protests went viral.“While every American has the right to peaceful protest, calls for violence and physical intimidation targeting Jewish students and the Jewish community are blatantly antisemitic, unconscionable, and dangerous,” the White House said in a statement.Chants of “intifada revolution” from protesters outside the campus gates were audible as the Congress members delivered their statements. The group of several dozen protesters carried signs with the images of Palestinian terrorists on them, including Zakaria Zubeidi, who is incarcerated in an Israeli prison for attacks on Israeli civilians, and Mahmoud al-Arida, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad member serving a life sentence. The two were among six inmates who were part of a notorious jailbreak in September 2021, before being captured within two weeks of their escape.A small group of pro-Israel counterprotesters gathered next to the rally carrying images of Israeli hostages in Gaza-Police officials said at a briefing outside the campus that the university was private property, and officers could not enter without an invitation from the university if there were no immediate threats of danger. Police said the university had requested officers remain stationed outside campus and that the NYPD was coordinating safe passage off campus for students with the university. Dozens of police officers in riot gear were lined up on the sidewalk across from the campus.Lawmakers, the university and police say they are seeking to preserve the right to free speech and free assembly, while protecting the safety and ability to learn of Jewish and Israeli students and faculty, who have said some protest activities veer into antisemitism and outright threats.Video shared online of recent protests included a demonstrator holding a sign saying “Al Qasam’s next targets,” referring to the armed wing of Hamas, next to Jewish students. Demonstrators outside campus also chanted in support of Hamas, video showed. A video posted by Chabad showed pro-Palestinian protesters calling for the destruction of Tel Aviv from atop the iconic sundial at the center of campus.America we have a problem-Al-Qassam, you make us proud, take another soldier out”“We say justice, you say how? Burn Tel Aviv to the ground”“Hamas, we love you. We support your rockets too”Extremists at @Columbia chant in support for Hamas terror.pic.twitter.com/htdDoqWL7i— David Saranga (@DavidSaranga) April 21, 2024-Jewish students say they have at times been unable to access parts of campus because of protesters. Video showed protesters linking arms and walking forward in unison to block Jewish students’ entry to the lawn. Jessica Schwalb said she and a group of friends had walked onto the lawn on Sunday night and were encircled by protesters within minutes. One of the students was wearing a Star of David but the group was not protesting, Schwalb said.“We couldn’t go anywhere without being stopped or followed,” said Schwalb, a junior studying human rights. “They feel the need to keep an eye on us and they constantly call us Zionists and it’s just really discriminatory what’s happening.”She added, “It’s terrifying rhetoric and staying on the inside of Columbia’s gates, it no longer provides the safety that it once did.”An Orthodox rabbi at Columbia urged students to leave for their safety on Sunday. The campus Hillel said it disagreed with the message but shared his concerns, while the campus Chabad expressed grave concerns about conditions on campus but said its Passover seders would go forward without interruption.Shafik said in a Monday email to the university community that all classes on Monday would be held virtually “to deescalate the rancor and give us all a chance to consider next steps.”“I am deeply saddened by what is happening on our campus. Our bonds as a community have been severely tested in ways that will take a great deal of time and effort to reaffirm,” Shafik said.Shafik called for discussions about the war in Gaza, adding, “But we cannot have one group dictate terms and attempt to disrupt important milestones like graduation to advance their point of view.”Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Israel aid bill heads to US Senate for final approval after months of delay-Funding package, which also includes aid for Ukraine and Taiwan and provisions against TikTok, will send $26 billion to Israel for arms and humanitarian assistance for Gaza-By MARY CLARE JALONICK Today, 3:21 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — The US Senate is returning to Washington on Tuesday to vote on $95 billion in war aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, taking the final steps in Congress to send the legislation to President Joe Biden’s desk after months of delays and contentious internal debate over how involved the United States should be abroad.The $61 billion for Ukraine comes as the war-torn country desperately needs new firepower and as Russian President Vladimir Putin has stepped up his attacks. Ukrainian soldiers have struggled to hold the front lines as Russia has seized the momentum on the battlefield and forced Ukraine to cede significant territory.Biden told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday that the US will soon send badly needed air defense weaponry. The House approved the package Saturday in a series of four votes, sending it back to the Senate for final approval.“The President has assured me that the package will be approved quickly and that it will be powerful, strengthening our air defense as well as long-range and artillery capabilities,” Zelensky said in a post on X.The legislation also would send $26 billion in wartime assistance to Israel and humanitarian relief to citizens of Gaza, and $8 billion to counter China in Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific. In an effort to gain more votes, Republicans in the House majority also added a bill to the package that could ban the social media app TikTok in the US if its Chinese owners do not sell their stake within a year.The foreign aid portion of the bill is similar to what the Senate passed in February with some minor changes and additions, including the TikTok bill and a stipulation that $9 billion of the economic assistance to Ukraine is in the form of “forgivable loans.”The package has had broad congressional support since Biden first requested the money last summer. But congressional leaders had to navigate strong opposition from a growing number of conservatives who question US involvement in foreign wars and argue that Congress should be focused instead on the surge of migration at the US-Mexico border.The growing fault line in the GOP between those conservatives who are skeptical of the aid and the more traditional, “Reagan-era” Republicans who strongly support it may prove to be career-defining for the two top Republican leaders. Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, who has made Ukraine aid a top priority, said last month that he would step down from leadership after becoming increasingly distanced from many in his conference on the issue and others. House Speaker Mike Johnson, who put the bills on the floor after praying for guidance, faces threats of an ouster after a majority of Republicans voted against them.McConnell has made clear that stopping Putin is important enough for him to stake his political capital.“The national security of the United States depends on the willingness of its leaders to build, sustain and exercise hard power,” McConnell said after House passage Saturday, adding, “I make no apology for taking these linked threats seriously or for urging the Biden administration and my colleagues in Congress to do the same.”Johnson said after House passage that “we did our work here, and I think history will judge it well.”The Senate could pass the aid package, now combined back into one bill, as soon as Tuesday afternoon if senators are able to agree on the timing for a vote. If Republicans who oppose the legislation decide to protest and draw out the process, final votes would likely be Wednesday.The legislation was first passed by the Senate in February on a sweeping 70-29 vote, and it could get even more votes this time after the House added in the loan provisions. The idea for a loan started with former President Donald Trump, who had been opposed to the aid.South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a longtime GOP hawk who voted against it in February because it wasn’t paired with legislation to stem migration at the border, praised Johnson after the vote and indicated he will vote for it this time. “The idea that the United States will be safer if we pull the plug on our friends and allies overseas is wrong,” he said on X.The revised House package also included several Republican priorities that were acceptable to Democrats to get the bill passed. Those include proposals that allow the US to seize frozen Russian central bank assets to rebuild Ukraine; impose sanctions on Iran, Russia, China and criminal organizations that traffic fentanyl; and could eventually ban TikTok in the US if the owner, ByteDance Ltd., doesn’t sell. That bill has wide bipartisan support in the House and Senate.Opponents in the Senate, like the House, are likely to include some left-wing senators who are opposed to aiding Israel because of the country’s war in Gaza, which has killed thousands of civilians. Vermont Sens. Bernie Sanders, an independent, and Peter Welch, a Democrat, both voted against the package in February.“This bill provides Netanyahu $10 billion more in unrestricted military aid for his horrific war against the Palestinian people,” Sanders said on X just before that vote. “That is unconscionable.”The war between Israel and Hamas broke out following Hamas’s October 7 onslaught against Israel. During the massacre, the terror organization killed nearly 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped 253.The ensuing Israeli offensive has killed over 33,000 people, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry. This figure cannot be independently verified and includes over 13,000 terrorists Israel says it has killed since the beginning of the war.The Times of Israel Staff contributed to this report.
Satellite images show tent compound construction in south Gaza ahead of possible Rafah op-Israel says it is not behind growing development of tents in Khan Younis, but preparations for the long-stalled invasion of Rafah seem to be underway-By AP, ToI Staff and Jacob Magid-Today, 1:57 pm-APR 23,24
Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press on Tuesday appear to show a new compound of tents being built near Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip as the Israeli military continues to signal plans for an offensive targeting the city of Rafah.Images from Planet Labs PBC analyzed by the AP show the tent compound starting to be fully under construction on April 16 just west of Khan Younis. Images taken Sunday show the tent compound has grown since then.The Haaretz newspaper, without attributing the information, said Egypt was constructing the tent compound ahead of a possible Rafah offensive by Israel.The Israeli Defense Forces told AP that they were not behind the construction of the tents.Their construction, however, comes as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened “additional painful blows” targeting Hamas over the breakdown of talks over trying to free the remaining hostages held in the Gaza Strip.That could include the long-threatened attack on Rafah, where half of the Gaza Strip’s 2.3 million people have fled amid the war. The US, Israel’s main ally, has repeatedly said any military operation needs to protect civilians.Netanyahu has said he would order the military to evacuate civilians from Rafah for the offensive, but it is not clear where they could go.According to a Wall Street Journal report on Monday, the IDF is readying to evacuate Palestinian civilians from Rafah ahead of its planned offensive there against Hamas.Citing Israeli and Egyptian officials, The Journal said the Israeli plans envision that the first two to three weeks of the operation will consist of evacuating civilians, in coordination with the US, Egypt and other Arab countries.The evacuation will reportedly involve moving civilians to the nearby city of Khan Younis, among other areas in Gaza, where Israel will set up shelters with tents, food and medical facilities.After that, the officials said the IDF will gradually move troops into Rafah and target areas where it believes Hamas leaders and operatives are hiding.Israel has said Rafah, where Hamas’s four intact battalions are deployed, remains the terror group’s last major stronghold in the Strip after the IDF operated in the north and center of the Palestinian enclave. It also believes that many of the remaining 133 hostages kidnapped in the Hamas-led October 7 atrocities are being held in Rafah.The Egyptian officials said the fighting in Rafah is expected to last at least six weeks, though the timing of the operation remains uncertain.An Israeli security official quoted in the report said the IDF will “have a very tight operational plan because it’s very complex there.”“There’s a humanitarian response that’s happening at the same time,” the official added.The report came as US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said, “We don’t want to see Palestinians evacuated from Rafah unless it is to return to their homes.”The Biden administration has repeatedly expressed its opposition to a mass IDF invasion of Rafah, though this language from the State Department appeared to be new.“We don’t think there’s any effective way to evacuate 1.4 million Palestinians. There’s no way to conduct an operation in Rafah that would not lead to inordinate civilian harm and severely hamper the delivery of humanitarian assistance,” Miller said.At other times, US officials have indicated that they’d be prepared to accept an IDF offensive in Rafah if Israel did manage to safely evacuate the civilians there and care for their humanitarian needs. In his latest comments, Miller rejected the notion that the US could support a major Rafah invasion.“We do want to see people able to leave Rafah to return to their homes — if they exist — and to their neighborhoods and to begin rebuilding their homes. We want to see the Palestinian people in Gaza start to restart their lives and rebuild their lives and ultimately bring this conflict to a close,” he said.Washington has argued that a large-scale military offensive in Rafah would put the Palestinians sheltering there at risk, wreak havoc on Gaza’s main humanitarian hub located in southern Gaza, and further isolate Israel internationally without actually boosting its security.Instead, it is pushing for Israel to pursue more targeted operations against Hamas leaders in Rafah while coordinating with Cairo to secure the Egypt-Gaza border, creating an underground wall to prevent weapons smuggling and choke off the remaining terror elements in the area, a US official told The Times of Israel.Israel argues that it cannot defeat Hamas without launching a major offensive in Rafah to dismantle the terror group’s remaining battalions there. It says it will only launch the invasion after it evacuates the civilians in the city, ensures that they’ll be able to continue receiving humanitarian aid upon relocation and coordinates with Egypt, which borders Rafah and has expressed significant alarm over a potential operation.Last week, Israeli and US officials held a second virtual meeting about the potential IDF operation in Rafah, which ended with the administration still remaining unconvinced of Israel’s plans to evacuate Palestinians and ensure they receive humanitarian assistance.
Barrage of 35 rockets from Lebanon targets northern communities as Passover begins-IDF says no injuries in attack, troops shell launch sites; Israeli fighter jets also strike several other Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon-By Emanuel Fabian-and ToI Staff 22 April 2024, 11:17 pm
A barrage of some 35 rockets were fired from Lebanon at the northern community of Ein Zeitim near Safed on Monday evening as Jewish Israelis sat down for the Passover Seder meal.The attack set off sirens in Safed and nearby towns. The IDF said there were no injuries in the attack and that troops shelled the launch sites.Israeli fighter jets also struck a Hezbollah position in southern Lebanon after hitting two more buildings where Hezbollah operatives were gathered earlier, the IDF said.Hezbollah said it had fired “dozens” of Katyusha rockets at an army headquarters in northern Israel in response to raids targeting villages in southern Lebanon.A Hezbollah statement said it had bombarded “the headquarters of the 3rd Infantry Brigade of the 91st Division at Ein Zeitim Base with dozens of Katyusha rockets”.This was in response to Israeli attacks on “southern villages and civilian homes,” most recently in Srifa, Odaisseh and Rab Tlatin.The back and forth came hours after a Hezbollah surface-to-air missile downed an Israeli military drone over southern Lebanon shortly after midnight.The Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group said it shot down an Elbit Hermes 450 unmanned aerial vehicle over the Lebanese town of Aaichiyeh, some 13 kilometers (8 miles) from the Israeli border.Israeli fighter jets struck the missile launch site used in the attack, the IDF said, adding that the incident was under further investigation.Fresh rocket sirens subsequently sounded in the border community of Arab al-Aramshe. Three rockets fired from Lebanon struck open areas near the town, causing no injuries or damage, the IDF said.Since October 8, Hezbollah and allied terror groups have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a daily basis with rockets, drones, anti-tank missiles and other means, saying it is doing so to support Gaza during the war there.The largely evacuated Bedouin town was the site of a deadly Hezbollah drone attack on Wednesday. Maj. (res.) Dor Zimel, 27, critically wounded in the April 17 incident, succumbed to his wounds on Sunday.Israel has threatened to go to war to force Hezbollah away from the border if it does not retreat and continues to threaten northern communities, from where some 70,000 people were evacuated to avoid the fighting.So far, the skirmishes on the border have resulted in eight civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 11 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.Hezbollah has named 285 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon, but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 54 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier and at least 60 civilians have been killed.AFP contributed to this report
Dismissing review, Israel calls UNRWA ‘a poisoned, rotten tree whose roots are Hamas’Foreign Ministry says problem not ‘a few bad apples,’ charges that report ‘ignores the severity of the problem and offers cosmetic fixes’By Lazar Berman and ToI Staff Today, 6:54 am-APR 23,24
The Foreign Ministry on Monday charged that Hamas’s penetration of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees is so deep that “it is impossible to say where UNRWA ends and Hamas begins,” as a review of the organization’s links to terror was released.The report said Israel had yet to provide supporting evidence for its claims that a significant number of UNRWA staff were members of terrorist organizations. It also asserted that UNRWA had “robust” policies in place to ensure staff neutrality, though acknowledged issues persist with compliance.The review was led by former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna, who was appointed after Israel alleged that 12 UNRWA staff actively participated in the Hamas-led October 7 onslaught in which 1,200 people were killed and another 253 taken hostage, triggering the ongoing war in Gaza.Israel subsequently claimed another 30 UNRWA staffers assisted or facilitated those crimes on October 7 and as much as 12 percent of the organization’s staff were affiliated with terror organizations.“If more than 2,135 UNRWA employees are members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and 1/5 of the principals of UNRWA schools are Hamas activists, the problem with UNRWA-Gaza is not a problem of a few bad apples,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein said in a statement issued shortly before the report was released. “It is a poisoned and rotten tree whose roots are Hamas.”The report “ignores the severity of the problem and offers cosmetic fixes,” said the Foreign Ministry.“This is not what a true and comprehensive investigation looks like,” said the statement.“This is what a desire to avoid the problem and not call it by its name looks like.”The ministry also said that UNRWA was not part of the solution for Gaza and never will be, and that donor nations should direct their funds to other humanitarian organizations.Israel’s allegations against the dozen UNRWA staff led 16 states to pause or suspend funding of $450 million to UNRWA, a blow to an agency grappling with the humanitarian crisis that has swept Gaza since Israel launched its offensive there.Israel has long complained about the agency, founded in 1949 to care for Palestinian refugees. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for UNRWA to be shut down, saying it is infested by terror elements and unjustly seeks to perpetrate the Palestinian refugee crisis.UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini in March warned of “a deliberate and concerted campaign” to end its operations. UNRWA employs 32,000 people across its area of operations, 13,000 of them in Gaza.UNRWA says it terminated the contracts of 10 of the 12 staff accused by Israel of involvement in the October 7 attack, and that the other two are dead. A UN oversight body is leading a separate investigation into the Israeli allegations against those 12 staffers.Agencies contributed to this report.
US: We don't want Gazans evacuated unless they're going home-Israel said readying to evacuate Palestinians from Rafah ahead of planned offensive-Egyptian officials briefed on Israeli plans tell WSJ that IDF will gradually move into Hamas’s last major Gaza stronghold, with fighting expected to last at least 6 weeks-By ToI Staff and Jacob Magid-Today, 2:34 am-APR 23,24
The Israel Defense Forces is readying to evacuate Palestinian civilians from Gaza’s southernmost city in Rafah ahead of its planned offensive there against Hamas, according to a report Monday.Citing Israeli and Egyptian officials, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Israeli plans envision that the first two to three weeks of the operation will consist of evacuating civilians, in coordination with the US, Egypt and other Arab countries.The evacuation will reportedly involve moving civilians to the nearby city of Khan Younis, among other areas in Gaza, where Israel will set up shelters with tents, food and medical facilities.After that, the officials said the IDF will gradually move troops into Rafah and target areas where it believes Hamas leaders and operatives are hiding.Israel has said Rafah, where Hamas’s four intact battalions are deployed, remains the terror group’s last major stronghold in the Strip after the IDF operated in the north and center of the Palestinian enclave. It also believes that many of the remaining 129 hostages kidnapped in the Hamas-led October 7 atrocities are being held in Rafah.The Egyptian officials said the fighting in Rafah is expected to last at least six weeks, though the timing of the operation remains uncertain.An Israeli security official quoted in the report said the IDF will “have a very tight operational plan because it’s very complex there.”“There’s a humanitarian response that’s happening at the same time,” the official added.The report came as US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said, “We don’t want to see Palestinians evacuated from Rafah unless it is to return to their homes.”The Biden administration has repeatedly expressed its opposition to a mass IDF invasion of Rafah, though this language from the State Department appeared to be new.“We don’t think there’s any effective way to evacuate 1.4 million Palestinians. There’s no way to conduct an operation in Rafah that would not lead to inordinate civilian harm and severely hamper the delivery of humanitarian assistance,” Miller said.At other times, US officials have indicated that they’d be prepared to accept an IDF offensive in Rafah if Israel did manage to safely evacuate the civilians there and care for their humanitarian needs. In his latest comments, Miller rejected the notion of any possibility that the US could support a major Rafah invasion.“We do want to see people able to leave Rafah to return to their homes — if they exist — and to their neighborhoods and to begin rebuilding their homes. We want to see the Palestinian people in Gaza start to restart their lives and rebuild their lives and ultimately bring this conflict to a close,” he said.Washington has argued that a large-scale military offensive in Rafah would put the Palestinians sheltering there at risk, wreak havoc on Gaza’s main humanitarian hub located in southern Gaza, and further isolate Israel internationally without actually boosting its security.Instead, it is pushing for Israel to pursue more targeted operations against Hamas leaders in Rafah while coordinating with Cairo to secure the Egypt-Gaza border, creating an underground wall to prevent weapons smuggling and choke off the remaining terror elements in the area, a US official told The Times of Israel.Israel argues that it cannot defeat Hamas without launching a major offensive in Rafah to dismantle the terror group’s remaining battalions there. It says it will only launch the invasion after it evacuates the civilians in the city, ensures that they’ll be able to continue receiving humanitarian aid upon relocation and coordinates with Egypt, which borders Rafah and has expressed significant alarm over a potential operation.Last week, Israeli and US officials held a second virtual meeting about the potential IDF operation in Rafah, which ended with the administration still remaining unconvinced of Israel’s plans to evacuate Palestinians and ensure they receive humanitarian assistance.
Announcement on Netzah Yehuda to be made in coming days-Blinken: Both Hamas onslaught, ensuing Israeli offensive raise human rights concerns-Top US diplomat denies ‘double standard’ in assessing allegations against Israel, rejects comparisons between Israeli war against terror group and Russian invasion of Ukraine-By Jacob Magid-Today, 1:05 am-APR 23,24
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken highlighted both Hamas’s October 7 onslaught and the subsequent war Israel launched to defeat the terror group among the issues covered in the State Department’s 2023 human rights report that was unveiled Monday.“Hamas’s horrific attacks on Israel on October 7 last year and the devastating loss of civilian life in Gaza as Israel exercises its right to ensure that those attacks never happen again, have raised deeply troubling human rights concerns,” Blinken said at a press conference called to unveil the report.“We continue to work every day to bring the fighting to an end, to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas and other groups, to uphold international humanitarian law, to prevent further suffering, to create a path toward a more peaceful and secure future for Israelis and Palestinians alike,” Blinken added.The Israel chapter of the human rights report itself begins by highlighting the large-scale attack launched by Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other terror groups on October 7, “killing an estimated 1,200 individuals, injuring more than 5,400 and abducting 253 hostages.”“Israel responded with a sustained, wide-scale military operation in Gaza, which had killed more than 21,000 Palestinians and injured more than 56,000 by the end of the year, displaced the vast majority of Palestinians in Gaza, and resulted in a severe humanitarian crisis,” the report says. “The continuing conflict had a significant negative impact on the human rights situation in the country.”The State Department declined to say what its source was for the 2023 Palestinian death count from the Gaza war, but it appeared to rely on the Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures have not been independently verified and include some 13,000 Hamas gunmen Israel says it has killed in battle. Israel also says it killed some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.Blinken denied that the Biden administration uses a double standard when adjudicating allegations of human rights abuses against Israel, amid questions from reporters at the press conference if Washington is seeking to sweep such accusations under the rug only when it comes to the Jewish state.“Do we have a double standard with Israel? The answer is no,” Blinken said.“As this report makes clear, we apply the same standard to everyone, and that doesn’t change whether the country in question is an adversary, competitor, a friend or an ally,” the secretary said.Blinken reiterated that the US efforts looking into allegations of human rights abuses by Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza were “ongoing.”While acknowledging that such probes take time to conclude, Blinken noted that the US does not wait to reach out to Israeli authorities for immediate clarification regarding alleged abuses when they occur.Blinken rejected the comparison made by reporters to the speed with which the US responded to alleged rights abuses by Russia in Ukraine, and the more dragged-out process employed to adjudicate alleged crimes by Israel in Gaza.“The case of Ukraine is totally different than in Gaza. The Ukrainians are not in any way a legitimate target the way Hamas is in Gaza. [Hamas is also] embedding themselves among civilians, hiding in and underneath apartment buildings, mosques, hospitals.”“In the case of Ukraine, when Russian forces withdrew from Bucha, we were able to see very plainly what had happened. Each of these situations is different.”Blinken also stressed that Israel has demonstrated the capacity to probe itself when allegations of rights abuses come to light. “This is what separates democracies from other countries — the ability, the willingness, the determination to look at themselves.”“It’s my understanding that they have many open investigations based on reports that have come forward with allegations about abuses of human rights,” he added.Asked whether he’ll be announcing the US decision to blacklist the Netzah Yehuda battalion over alleged human rights abuses, Blinken said an announcement would be made on the matter in the coming days, “so please stay tuned on that.”The Biden administration had originally planned to announce on Monday the decision to bar US military aid from being used to supply weapons to the IDF’s Nezah Yehuda battalion over alleged rights abuses against Palestinians, a US official told The Times of Israel.The announcement was supposed to have been made in parallel to the release of the human rights report, but the administration decided to hold off on making the announcement as it seeks to clarify its messaging over the decision amid significant Israeli pushback, the US official said.Amid the US plans to take punitive actions against Netzah Yehuda, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant met with the unit’s troops on the Gaza border earlier Monday.“The entire defense establishment, the IDF and the State of Israel support you, appreciate you and strengthen you in your operations to protect the State of Israel,” Gallant told the Netzah Yehuda troops, according to his office.The unit, made up of Orthodox nationalists and part of the Kfir Brigade, has been operating in the Beit Hanoun area amid the war, after months on the Syrian border. It had previously been stationed in the West Bank, where it was at the center of several controversies connected to right-wing extremism and violence against Palestinians. It was diverted to the Syrian border following the flood of allegations.“Errors and mistakes happen wherever there is military activity and they must not happen… but the fact that one, or two, or [multiple] soldiers did something wrong, this should not vilify the [entire] battalion,” Gallant said. In such cases, the soldiers are “taken care of.”“No one in the world will teach us what morality is and what norms are,” Gallant added.The 2023 State Department report pointed to “significant human rights issues,” including “credible reports” of arbitrary or unlawful killings, enforced disappearances, torture and unjustified arrests of journalists, among others during Israel’s war in Gaza.It added that the Israeli government had taken some credible steps to identify and punish the officials who may have been involved in those alleged abuses.Israel has denied allegations of deliberately causing humanitarian suffering in the enclave. It denies deliberately targeting civilians, accusing Hamas of using residential buildings for cover.Rights groups have flagged numerous incidents of civilian harm during the Israeli army’s offensive in Gaza, as well as raised alarm about rising violence in the West Bank, but so far the Biden administration has said it has not found Israel in breach of international law.Washington gives $3.8 billion in annual military assistance to its longtime ally. Progressive Democrats and Arab American groups have criticized the Biden administration’s steadfast support for Israel, which they claim provides it with a sense of impunity.But this month, US President Joe Biden for the first time threatened to condition support for Israel and insisted that it take concrete steps to protect humanitarian aid workers and civilians.Reuters contributed to this report.
Prosecutor alleges Trump tried to ‘corrupt’ 2016 election at opening of trial-Prosecution seeks to frame hush money trial as election interference; defense lawyers argue ex-president attempting to squash ‘sinister’ attempts at hurting himself and loved ones-By Michael R. Sisak, Jennifer Peltz, Eric Tucker and Jake Offenhartz 22 April 2024, 11:37 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump tried to illegally influence the 2016 US presidential election by preventing damaging stories about his personal life from becoming public, a prosecutor told jurors Monday at the start of the former president’s historic hush money trial.A defense lawyer countered by saying that Trump was “innocent” and by attacking the integrity of the onetime Trump confidant who’s now the government’s star witness.The opening statements offered the 12-person jury — and the voting public — a roadmap for viewing the allegations at the heart of the case and Trump’s expected defenses. The attorneys previewed weeks of salacious and potentially unflattering testimony in a trial that will unfold against the backdrop of a closely contested White House race. Trump is not only the presumptive Republican nominee but also a defendant facing the prospect of a felony conviction and prison.Prosecutors at the outset sought to emphasize the gravity of the case, the first of four criminal prosecutions against Trump to reach trial, by framing it as about election interference. The depiction seemed intended to rebut criticism that the case lacks the grievous allegations that define Trump’s other three cases, including plotting to overturn an election and illegally hoarding classified documents.“The defendant, Donald Trump, orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election. Then he covered up that criminal conspiracy by lying in his New York business records over and over and over again,” prosecutor Matthew Colangelo told jurors.The opening statements also served as an introduction to the colorful cast of characters that comprise the tawdry saga, including a porn actor who says she had a sexual encounter with Trump; the lawyer who prosecutors say paid her to keep quiet about it; and the tabloid publisher who agreed to function as the campaign’s “eyes and ears.”Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records — a charge punishable by up to four years in prison — though it’s not clear if the judge would seek to put him behind bars. A conviction would not preclude Trump from becoming president again, but because it is a state case, he would not be able to pardon himself if found guilty. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.The case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg revisits a chapter from Trump’s history when his celebrity past collided with his political ambitions and, prosecutors say, he scrambled to stifle stories that he feared could torpedo his campaign.In his opening statements, Colangelo traced the origins of the effort to the emergence late in the 2016 campaign of the 2005 “Access Hollywood” recording in which Trump could be heard boasting about grabbing women sexually without their permission.“The impact of that tape on the campaign was immediate and explosive,” Colangelo said, recounting for jurors how prominent Trump allies withdrew their endorsements and condemned his language.The prosecutor said evidence will show the Republican National Committee even considered whether it was possible to replace Trump with another candidate.Within days of the “Access Hollywood” tape becoming public, Colangelo told jurors that The National Enquirer alerted Cohen that porn actor Stormy Daniels was agitating to go public with her claims of a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006.Stormy Daniels at an event in West Hollywood, California in 2018. (AP/Ringo H.W. Chiu, File)-“At Trump’s direction, Cohen negotiated a deal to buy Ms. Daniels’ story to prevent American voters from hearing that story before Election Day,” Colangelo told jurors.The prosecutor described other payments as well that were part of what’s known in the tabloid industry as a “catch-and-kill” ploy — catching a potentially damaging story by buying the rights to it and then suppressing or killing it through agreements that prevent the paid person from telling the story to anyone else.Trump has denied having a sexual encounter with Daniels.Colangelo also talked about arrangements made to pay a former Playboy model $150,000 to suppress her claims of a nearly yearlong affair with the married Trump. Colangelo said Trump “desperately did not want this information about Karen McDougal to become public because he was worried about its effect on the election.”He told jurors they would hear a recording Cohen made in September 2016 of himself briefing Trump on the plan to buy McDougal’s story. The recording was made public in July 2018. Colangelo told jurors they heard Trump in his own voice, saying: “What do we got to pay for this? One-fifty?”Arguing that Trump did nothing illegal when his company recorded the checks to Cohen as legal expenses, defense lawyer Todd Blanche challenged the notion that Trump agreed to the Daniels payout to safeguard his campaign. Prosecutors say the payments were veiled reimbursements meant to cover up Cohen’s payments to Daniels.While the money changed hands close to the election, Blanche characterized the transaction as the then-candidate trying to squelch a “sinister” effort to embarrass him and his loved ones.“President Trump fought back, like he always does, and like he’s entitled to do, to protect his family, his reputation and his brand, and that is not a crime,” Blanche told jurors.Trump arrived at the courthouse shortly before 9 a.m., minutes after castigating the case in capital letters on social media as “election interference” and a “witch hunt.”The trial will require him to spend his days in a courtroom rather than on the campaign trail, a reality he complained about Monday when he lamented to reporters that he was “here instead of being able to be in Pennsylvania and Georgia and lots of other places campaigning, and it’s very unfair.”Trump has nonetheless sought to turn his criminal defendant status into an asset for his campaign, fundraising off his legal jeopardy and repeatedly railing against a justice system that he has for years claimed is weaponized against him.Hearing the case is a jury that includes, among others, multiple lawyers, a sales professional, an investment banker and an English teacher. As court began Monday, Judge Juan Merchan disclosed that one of the jurors selected for the case had conveyed reservations about participating, apparently because of the intense media attention. The juror was questioned privately but will remain on the case.The case will test jurors’ ability to set aside any bias but also Trump’s ability to abide by the court’s restrictions, such as a gag order that bars him from attacking witnesses. Prosecutors are seeking fines against him for alleged violations of that order.To convict Trump of a felony, prosecutors must show he not only falsified or caused business records to be entered falsely, which would be a misdemeanor, but that he did so to conceal another crime.The allegations don’t accuse Trump of an egregious abuse of power like those filed by the federal government. But the New York prosecution has taken on added importance because it may be the only one of the four cases against Trump that reaches trial before the November election. Appeals and legal wrangling have delayed the other three cases.
