Saturday, May 9, 2026
Home Blog Page 42

Did Biden lie about Golda Meir meeting? What we know

Fox News
-
0
Did Biden lie about Golda Meir meeting? What we know

President Joe Biden recounted a meeting with former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir during remarks about the conflict between Israel and Hamas Tuesday afternoon, but some on social media did not buy his story.

Biden reiterated the United States’ support for Israel after Hamas fired rockets at Israel while dozens of its fighters infiltrated its border by air, land and sea in areas near the Gaza Strip Saturday morning, marking an escalation of the longstanding Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a televised address on Saturday that Israel was now at war, launching its own attacks against Hamas in Gaza, as Israeli authorities have blocked the transfer of food, fuel, water and medications into Gaza. Biden has maintained that Israel has the right to defend itself against the attack, upholding Washington’s longstanding allyship with Israel.

According to the Associated Press, the Israeli military has said at least 1,000 people have been killed in Israel, while an estimated 830 people have been killed in Gaza since the fighting began on Saturday.

While speaking to reporters about the conflict, Biden told a story about his meeting with Meir. He first visited Israel as a Senator in 1973 “just before the Yom Kippur War” and met with Meier in her office. After the meeting, Meir asked Biden if he wanted to take a photograph with her and noticed the “consternation” on his face, he said.

“She could tell, I guess, that I was concerned. She leaned over and whispered to me, ‘Don’t worry Senator Biden. We have a secret weapon here in Israel. My word is what she said, ‘We have no place else to go,'” Biden said.

Some social media users accused Biden of lying about the meeting.

“So, Joe Biden thinks he met with Golda Meir? Interesting……..3 May 1898 – 8 December 1978,” wrote @USBornNRaised on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

“He lied about the Golda Meir story. Wake up,” posted @JammieWF.

Is Biden’s Story True?

Biden became a senator in 1972, and Meir served as prime minister from 1969 to 1974. Therefore, she would have been in office during his visit in 1973.

Furthermore, the story is consistent with what he has said in the past about his meeting with Meir. Biden has told the story several times throughout his political career, including during a speech in 1992.

“She said, ‘Son you look depressed.’ I said, ‘Madame prime minister, I am depressed. You just spent the last hour telling me, in effect, you have no chance.’ She said, ‘One thing I didn’t tell you, you should know, we Jews have a secret weapon in our battle, or dispute, with the Arabs. We have no place else to go,'” Biden said.

He has described the meeting as “one of the most consequential meetings” he ever had. He told the same story in a 2022 speech at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv in July 2022.

Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment via email

Democrats’ chances of holding Senate delivered a blow in key state: Poll

Fox News
-
0
Democrats’ chances of holding Senate delivered a blow in key state: Poll

A new poll of Ohio voters delivered a blow to Democrats‘ chances of holding the Senate in the 2024 elections, showing Republicans with a slight lead over incumbent Senator Sherrod Brown.

Brown is facing reelection in Ohio, a state with an increasingly Republican-friendly electorate, next November. The race is viewed as a must-win for Democrats, who need to win critical races in conservative-leaning states next year to maintain their narrow Senate majority. Democratic incumbents in Ohio, Montana and West Virginia are viewed as the most vulnerable, as former President Donald Trump carried each of those states in 2020.

Brown, first elected to the Senate in 2006, will face Ohio votes for the first time since 2018 when a “blue wave” carried Democrats to victory in Republican areas across the country. Brown won by just under 7 points.

But new polling numbers released Tuesday suggest that Brown could be in for a tight reelection race next November. An Emerson College poll found two of his most likely challengers leading him, though many voters remained undecided and the race remains close.

The poll, which surveyed 438 registered voters, found State Senator Matt Dolan with the strongest lead over Brown, leading by two percentage points. Secretary of State Frank LaRose led by one point, according to the poll. Polls have shown LaRose with a consistent lead over his opponents, though the Emerson poll did not include primary numbers.

Meanwhile, Brown maintained a 2-point lead over Bernie Moreno, a former Senate candidate and ally to former President Donald Trump.

Notably, the poll found a significant number of voters remained undecided as to who they plan to vote for. In the matchup between Brown and LaRose, 23 percent of voters remained undecided, meaning Brown could still win those voters. The poll had a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.

Other surveys have found stronger numbers for Brown. A USA TODAY Network/Suffolk University poll in July found Brown leading LaRose by 0.4 percentage points, Dolan by 3.4 percentage points and Moreno by 7.2 percentage points.

The Cook Political Report, an organization that tracks elections across the U.S., rates the race as a “toss-up,” meaning that either party has a chance at winning.

Newsweek reached out to Brown’s campaign for comment via email

Should Brown lose reelection, Democrats would need to hold their seats in Montana and West Virginia, both more reliably Republican states than Ohio, which was won by former President Barrack Obama twice, or flip a GOP-held state. Texas Senator Ted Cruz is viewed as the most vulnerable Republican in the state that has drifted toward Democrats in recent years, but he is still seen as favored, polls show.

Meanwhile, Democrats are also aiming to flip Arizona’s seat currently held by Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat-turned-Independent. Sinema has not announced whether she plans to run for reelection, but polls generally show Democrat Ruben Gallego, expected to be the nominee, with an edge in a three-way race against Sinema and a Republican.

Deli worker maces woman he thinks is transgender: Lawsuit

Fox News
-
0
Deli worker maces woman he thinks is transgender: Lawsuit

A New York City woman has sued a deli, alleging that a former employee assaulted her as he mistook her for being transgender.

Jasmine Adams, a 35-year-old mother of two, filed a lawsuit on Monday, alleging that she was attacked by a cashier during a visit to purchase marijuana for a friend at Staten Island’s West Brighton Deli Grocery & Grill on July 28, according to New York’s Daily News.

Following a dispute over the marijuana—which has become widely available at retail stores in the city since it was legalized in 2021—the worker purportedly became hostile and threatened to call police, prompting Adams to urge him to follow through with the threat.

Adams, who is bisexual and was wearing an Apple Watch wristband featuring rainbow Pride flag colors at the time, alleges that the worker then called her a “transvestite” and flew into a violent rage.

“I heard him call me a transvestite,” Adams told the Daily News. “I’m like, ‘Transvestite? I’m a whole female. I have lady parts.'”

The lawsuit accuses the deli worker of spraying Adams in the face with mace before running from behind the counter to further assault her. Adams said that she attempted to hit him with a coffee pot when he grabbed her hair and dragged her out of the store while calling her a “b****,” according to the suit.

A video of the incident reviewed by the newspaper purportedly shows the worker dragging Adams down a set of concrete stairs as bystanders react with shock. With Adams on the ground, the worker proceeds to kick her in the head.

“Next thing I know when I opened my eyes, I was outside next to my car on the floor,” said Adams. “I said to myself that I gotta get outta here because I don’t know if he’s going to kill me.”

Adams went home with bruises and cuts and called police. She says that she was asked to return to the scene, where she waited four hours for police to arrive. When officers showed up, they seemingly knew the attacker, calling him “Mr. Fourth of July,” according to the lawsuit.

The worker has since been fired from the store, although police reportedly said that he has not been identified and that West Brighton Deli Grocery & Grill has refused to help in this regard.

In response to a request for comment, the New York City Police Department told Newsweek via email on Tuesday that no arrests had been made in the case and that the investigation is ongoing.

The lawsuit filed against the deli in Staten Island Supreme Court on Monday alleges that Adams was attacked because the worker “perceived [the] plaintiff to be transgender.”

“Even if I was a transvestite, what does that have to do with anything?” Adams told the Daily News. “Why were you so comfortable putting your hands on me? I wasn’t being aggressive. I didn’t have any weapon. I was a customer.”

A study published in 2021 by the Williams Institute at the University of California Los Angeles School of Law found that the transgender community was over four times more likely to experience violent victimization—defined as aggravated or simple assault, rape or sexual assault—than their cisgender counterparts.

LGBTQ+ activists say that a recent increase in transphobia, fueled by an anti-transgender movement pushed by conservative politicians, affects not only the transgender community but also cisgender people who are mistakenly perceived as transgender.

“We keep warning y’all that far more cis people will be hurt by anti trans violence,” transgender activist and lawyer Alejandra Caraballo wrote in response to the Staten Island incident on X, formerly Twitter.

A children’s track meet in Kelowna, British Columbia, ground to a halt in June when an adult man demanded “proof” that a 9-year-old cisgender girl who was competing was not transgender.

The girl’s mother, Heidi Starr, then told Newsweek that the man’s wife baselessly referred to her and the girl’s other mother as “genital mutilators,” “groomers” and “pedophiles.”

In July, 59-year-old Michelle Peacock was killed in Richmond, Indiana, when, police said, her 67-year-old neighbor Tommy Earl slit her throat with a straight razor under the mistaken belief that she was transgender.

Earl reportedly told police that he was not ashamed of the killing and would “do it again” since he believed Peacock was “a male acting like a woman,” according to a report citing court documents from Indianapolis Fox affiliate WXIN.

Hamas attack survivor slams Josh Hawley’s Israel response: "Shame on you"

Fox News
-
0
Hamas attack survivor slams Josh Hawley’s Israel response: "Shame on you"

An Israeli journalist who narrowly escaped being slaughtered by Hamas over the weekend is denouncing Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri for playing politics with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Over 1,600 people have been killed on both sides since the Islamist militant group that controls the Gaza Strip launched a surprise missile attack on Israel on Saturday. Journalist Amir Tibon and his family barely escaped when Hamas militants invaded the small settlement he lived in near the Gaza border.

Hawley, like nearly all major U.S. lawmakers, has condemned the Hamas attack and pledged to support Israel. The senator—one of many Republicans against continuing to provide Ukraine with funds to fight invading Russian forces—also suggesting that any new U.S. aid to Ukraine should instead be given to Israel in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

“Israel is facing existential threat,” Hawley wrote on Monday. “Any funding for Ukraine should be redirected to Israel immediately”

Tibon responded to the senator’s post on Tuesday, praising President Joe Biden while calling it a “cynical move” to suggest that it would not be possible to help both Ukraine and Israel. He pointed out that Iran was supplying Russia with drones to attack Ukraine while also arming Hamas to fight Israel.

“What a cynical move,” wrote Tibon. “Shame on you Senator. Iran is sending drones to Ukraine and guns to Gaza, to murder Ukrainians and murder Israelis. God help us if USA cant support both countries against this brutal anti-democratic axis. Glad Biden is in charge.”

Newsweek reached out for comment to Hawley’s office via email on Tuesday.

Tibon told The Atlantic in an interview published on Monday that he was convinced he and his young family were “going to die” as they heard Hamas militants approaching their home, before being rescued by a group of Israeli soldiers and his father, a former general.

“I’m happy to be alive,” he said. “I’m happy my family is alive. I’m staying with my extended family. I’m worried sick about friends and neighbors who were injured or kidnapped into Gaza. And I’m worried about my country.”

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday that the U.S. military already “began shipping military aid to Israel” at Biden’s direction and that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin “has adjusted our force posture in the region to bolster regional deterrence efforts.”

The prospect of Congress approving additional funding for Israel or Ukraine remains in limbo due to the House of Representatives being rudderless after recently ousting their speaker, GOP Representative Kevin McCarthy, while the Senate is on break.

However, funding for Israel is likely to be approved eventually, as the vast majority of lawmakers seemingly support it, with a few notable exceptions from both Republicans and Democrats. New funds for Ukraine are less certain, with an increasing number of hard-right Republicans in the GOP-controlled House opposing the move.

Gigi Hadid breaks silence on Israel attacks

Fox News
-
0
Gigi Hadid breaks silence on Israel attacks

Palestinian-American model Gigi Hadid is breaking her silence days after Hamas militants attacked Israel, sparking war in the Middle East.

Hadid, the daughter of Palestinian-American real estate developer Mohamed Hadid, described the ongoing conflict as an “unjustifiable tragedy” in a statement posted to Instagram on Tuesday, while revealing that she believes the “terrorizing of innocent people” by Hamas is setting back the “Free Palestine” movement.

“My thoughts are with all those affected by the unjustifiable tragedy, and every day that innocent lives are taken by this conflict—too many of which are children,” said Hadid. “While I have hopes and dreams for Palestinians, none of them include the harm of a Jewish person.”

“The terrorizing of innocent people is not in alignment with & does not do any good for the ‘Free Palestine’ movement,” she added. “The idea that it does has fueled a painful, decades-long cycle of back&forth retaliation.”

Hadid said that “no innocent civilian, Palestinian or Israeli, deserves to be a victim” of the bloodshed. At least 1,600 people on both sides of the war had been killed as of Tuesday, including a minimum of 14 Americans, according to the Associated Press. Thousands of others were injured or taken hostage by Hamas.

“If you are hurting, as I share my condolences today with my loved ones, both Palestinian and Jewish, I’m sending you my love & strength—whoever and wherever you are,” Hadid said.

“There are a lot of complex, personal, and valid feelings, but every human deserves basic rights, treatment and security,” she continued. “No matter their nationality, religion, ethnicity, or where they were born.”

Gigi Hadid and her sister Bella have repeatedly spoken out in support of Palestinians and against the policies of the Israeli government in the past.

In 2021, Gigi Hadid re-shared an Instagram post on the “Palestinian struggle” by journalist and activist Noor Tagouri, who wrote: “We should all unequivocally agree that ethnic cleansing and apartheid states are the war crimes we learned about in school agreeing this should never happen again.”

Hadid became embroiled in a minor controversy in early March 2022 after comparing the struggles of Palestinians to Ukrainians, with Ukraine having been invaded by the Russian military weeks earlier.

The model announced that she would be donating all of her earnings from fall 2022 fashion shows to “those suffering from the war in Ukraine, as well as continuing to support those experiencing the same in Palestine.”

Mohamed Hadid’s reaction to the Hamas attacks and the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian war was reportedly far different than his famous daughter’s, with the real estate developer dubbing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “the new Hitler” on Instagram, according to Fox News.

“This was never about Hamas,” he reportedly wrote. “This to create the new graveyard to 2.5 million Palestinians … the new Hitler of modern times.”

Newsweek reached out for comment to Gigi Hadid’s representative via email on Tuesday night.

Chicago Cubs employee hospitalized after touching "substance" in mail

Fox News
-
0
Chicago Cubs employee hospitalized after touching "substance" in mail

One person was hospitalized after coming into contact with a “foreign substance” at the corporate offices of the Chicago Cubs baseball team.

The Chicago Police Department said in a statement emailed to Newsweek on Tuesday night that that a male victim of unknown age was admitted to the Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center “in an unknown condition after coming in contact with a skin irritant” in the afternoon.

Police bomb and arson units, as well as a hazardous materials response team, were reportedly called to the Cubs office near Wrigley Field, according to CBS News.

In a statement to Chicago ABC station WLS, the Cubs identified the employee as a member of its security team who had suffered an “allergic reaction” to the unknown substance. The team said the employee had since been released from the hospital.

“This afternoon, a member of our security team detected a foreign substance that was contained in a small package delivered to our offices at 1101 West Waveland,” the Cubs statement reads. “We immediately notified authorities which prompted a Chicago Fire Department hazmat response.”

“The employee noticed an allergic reaction and was transported to the hospital as a precaution and has since been released,” it continues. “At this time, we have not been asked to leave the building or shelter in place while the safety assessment and investigation is underway.”

Kris Habermehl, Airborne Spot news reporter for Chicago CBS station WBBM, shared multiple photos on X, formerly Twitter, of emergency responders and vehicles at the office. Habermehl wrote that “Waveland Avenue remains blocked from Clark to Kenmore” with the bomb squad still on scene as of 5:44 p.m. local time.

Although the team did not provide any additional information on who was present, it is unlikely that any Cubs players were inside the building at the time of the incident. The Cubs’ Major League Baseball season ended last week with the team failing to make the playoffs.

Suspicious packages sent through the mail typically prompt a serious response from law enforcement. While many incidents turn out to be false alarms or hoaxes, packages sometimes contain actual poison or explosive devices.

Mailing dangerous chemicals or substances is a federal crime. However, the U.S. Postal Service, which has a law enforcement arm that utilizes a series of screening techniques intended to weed out dangerous materials and devices, says that the risk of anyone receiving a truly harmful package is “extremely remote.”

“The likelihood of anyone receiving a harmful biological or chemical agent is extremely remote,” the website of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service states. “Postal Inspectors within the Dangerous Mail Investigations Program are specially trained to recognize the common characteristics of suspicious mail and use an array of specialized screening equipment to identify and mitigate threats to postal infrastructure, its employees, and the general public.”

Update: 10/10/23, 7:45 p.m.: This article was updated with additional information.

Putin’s political gamble could put Ukraine war at risk

Fox News
-
0
Putin’s political gamble could put Ukraine war at risk

Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s strategy ahead of the country’s next election may hurt Moscow’s already weary troops along the front lines of the war in Ukraine.

Although he has yet to announce his reelection, Putin is the anticipated winner of the March presidential race, which Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has confirmed would take place on schedule despite the “special military operation” in Ukraine, Reuters reported Monday.

The U.K. Ministry of Defense noted in its latest update on the war in Ukraine that Putin’s campaign will likely focus on the common themes of protecting Russian citizens from “external enemies,” and anticipates that the Kremlin will attempt to stray from “unpopular policy moves” in the months leading up to the election.

“It is therefore highly unlikely that any further [mobilization] wave will be implemented before the March 2024 presidential election,” British intelligence added.

Russian Defense Ministry Sergei Shoigu said last week that there were no plans for an additional mobilization effort similar to the partial mobilization enacted by Putin last fall, which was widely unpopular and led to hundreds of thousands of citizens fleeing the country to avoid getting ordered to the front lines.

But Moscow’s troops have consistently reported low morale, poor training and lack of support in the fight against Kyiv’s ongoing counteroffensive, meaning a delay in further mobilization could hurt Russia’s offensives against Ukraine.

George Mason University Schar School of Policy and Government professor Mark N. Katz told Newsweek Tuesday that the British intelligence assessment “could be correct” about Putin’s plan to halt mobilizations, adding that it “will weaken the possibility of a Russian offensive against Ukraine.”

“It may be, though, that Putin was not planning any such offensive but is just focusing on the defensive aim of holding onto the Ukrainian territory that Russia now occupies,” Katz added in his email to Newsweek.

David Silbey, associate professor of history at Cornell and director of teaching and learning at Cornell in Washington, D.C., echoed that Putin will likely “remain on the defensive” in the months to come, saying that the approaching winter months will pose a barrier to Ukraine’s offensive.

Silbey also added in his email to Newsweek that postponing mobilizations “doesn’t necessarily hurt the Russian militarily too much” in the current fight against Kyiv, saying that casualty rates are “down” among Putin’s troops “and the Ukrainians are pushing forward along a fairly narrow axis, allowing the Russians to concentrate their defenders.”

“The big risk is that Ukraine does manage a breakthrough and cut off the Crimea, even partially,” Silbey continued. “That would be a terrible blow for Putin.”

The Institute for the Study of War previously assessed that Putin was preparing for a long war in Ukraine, which in recent months has been marked by incremental but consistent gains in Kyiv’s attempt to reclaim occupied territory in the east and southeast.

Other experts have also speculated that the Kremlin leader may be looking to postpone the fighting until after the November 2024 U.S. election, as Putin may be hoping for reelection of former President Donald Trump. The ex-president, along with several other Republicans, have called for a reduced or even complete end to Washington’s military aid to Ukraine.

“If this occurs, then Russia can undertake an offensive against a weakened Ukraine that is much more likely to succeed,” Katz said Tuesday, adding that Putin “may be disappointed, though, in his expectations about U.S. domestic politics.”

Update 10/10/23, 4:50 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional comment from David Silbey.

Prosecutors want to use Alex Jones against Donald Trump’s lawyer

Fox News
-
0
Prosecutors want to use Alex Jones against Donald Trump’s lawyer

Georgia prosecutors have called on far-right conspiracy theorist and Infowars host Alex Jones to testify during the trial of former Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro’s election interference case scheduled later this month.

Chesebro was indicted alongside former President Donald Trump and 17 other codefendants in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis‘ sprawling racketeering case, which accuses the former president and his allies of attempting to overturn the 2020 election results in the state of Georgia. Chesebro, who is being tried alongside former Trump lawyer Sydney Powell, is scheduled to head to trial on October 23.

In a court filing Tuesday, Willis’ office claimed that Jones’ testimony will provide “unique knowledge” on the charges against Chesebro. The attorney has been accused of serving as the architect behind Trump’s “fake elector” scheme that was intended to illegally declare the former president as the winner of the 2020 election in Georgia.

“On January 6, 2021, Alex Jones participated in the march on the United States Capitol alongside members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers and others,” read Tuesday’s petition. “According to public statements made by Alex Jones, ‘the White House told me three days before, we are going to have you lead to March.'”

Prosecutors also pointed to evidence that Chesebro was “marching” alongside Jones on January 6. CNN reported in August that the former Trump lawyer can be seen in videos of the riot on the U.S. Capitol walking beside and recording Jones with a phone camera as a group of Trump supporters following Jones approach a restricted area of the Capitol grounds.

“Alex Jones, based on the information set forth above, is necessary and material witness,” read the filing. “He possesses unique knowledge concerning communications between himself and Kenneth Chesebro and other known and unknown individuals involved in the multi-state, coordinated efforts to influence the results of the November 3, 2020, election in Georgia and elsewhere.”

Although Jones is a resident of Texas, Jones is legally obligated to attend and testify during a trial out of state. If Jones does not meet the request, Texas officials will secure his attendance under state law.

Prosecutors did not provide a specific date when Jones will be called on as a witness in Chesebro’s trial but said that they do not anticipate his testimony to take longer than a day. Newsweek reached out to the press team at Infowars for comment via email.

Jones has been tangled in a fair share of legal woes in the aftermath of January 6, including being called to testify before the House select committee investigating the riot at the Capitol. His fellow Infowars host, Owen Shroyer, has also been sentenced to 60 days in prison for his involvement in the riot.

Tommy Tuberville reports ex-CIA director to police over online attack

Fox News
-
0
Tommy Tuberville reports ex-CIA director to police over online attack

Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville said that his office has filed a report with U.S. Capitol Police in light of a recent attack made online by former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Michael Hayden.

“This morning my office was made aware of a statement made by General Michael Hayden calling for a politically motivated assassination,” read a statement shared by Tuberville on X, formerly Twitter. “This statement is disgusting and it is repugnant to everything we believe in as Americans.”

Hayden’s statement in question was a post to X Monday evening in response to a question posed by online personality Nathalie Jacoby, who asked her users if Tuberville should be removed from the Senate Armed Services Committee. The Republican lawmaker has blocked hundreds of military promotions in protest of the Department of Defense’s policy on abortion access for service members.

In response to Jacoby’s post, Hayden wrote, “How about the human race?”

Hayden later double-downed on his statement, writing in a post Tuesday morning that despite receiving backlash from “many MAGAnuts” over his attack against Tuberviller, “I stand by that view.”

Tuberville said that Hayden’s comments were “a serious crime” and called out Democrats for not condemning the attack as of Tuesday afternoon. He also criticized the former CIA director for “presiding over some of the biggest failures in the history of American intelligence,” including the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001.

“I am a conservative and a Republican, but above all, I am an American who cares about this country and is deeply concerned for its future,” Tuberville continued in his statement. “I am not a politician, and when I came to Washington, I did not expect to be popular among the clown show; but I certainly did not expect to be lied about on the Senate floor and threatened by former government officials like Michael Hayden.”

Newsweek reached out to Hayden via email Tuesday evening for comment.

Tuberville, a former football coach at Auburn University, has been criticized by Republicans and Democrats alike for his blockade of military promotions, which lawmakers and military personnel argue are harming the U.S. armed services. Last month, Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer lashed out at his Republican colleague from the Senate floor, claiming that Tuberville has “accomplished nothing” in his protest.

Last month, Tuberville told Newsweek that he would end his hold on military promotions if the Pentagon agreed to pull back on their policy and let Congress have a vote on the matter. The Senator claims that the DOD’s policy of funding travel expenses for military members seeking abortion care out of state is against federal law.

“The American people deserve a vote. It’s too controversial a topic not to vote on,” Tuberville told Newsweek. “You don’t just don’t say, ‘We’re just gonna do it this way.’ I mean, that’s not what we do here in this country.”

Correction 10/11/23, 1:40 p.m. ET: This article was updated to reflect that Senator Tommy Tuberville was the football coach at Auburn University.

US and Iran risk being drawn into "multi-front conflict"

Fox News
-
0
US and Iran risk being drawn into "multi-front conflict"

The conflict between Israel and Hamas along the Gaza border is in growing danger of becoming a regional war involving Iran and the United States, an international security firm has warned.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Tuesday it had secured its border with Gaza, three days after Hamas militants from the exclave launched an assault on southern Israel in the country’s biggest breach since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

Israel has continued with air strikes on targets in Gaza as the war’s death toll rises. As of Tuesday, at least 900 Israelis and at least 700 Palestinians have died, according to Reuters, with thousands on both sides injured.

Ali Barakeh, a member of Hamas’ exiled leadership in Beirut, told the Associated Press his group had enough rockets to last a long time and would use dozens of hostages to secure the release of Palestinians detained in Israel and overseas.

An assessment given to Newsweek by security firm Global Guardian, which has been evacuating dozens of its clients from Israel since the hostilities broke out on Saturday, said it was significant that Israel had called up more than 300,000 reservists and had evacuated the border areas.

It said that Israel would likely make its next move when Israeli citizens by the border with Gaza were safe.

Whether this would be followed by a ground incursion into Gaza or a pre-emptive strike at Hezbollah, “the probability of multi-front conflict is rapidly increasing.”

Global Guardian also said an incursion would likely prompt a response from Hamas backers, Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Russia has informed Israel that U.S. entry into the conflict would result in Iranian-aligned forces in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon entering the war, it added.

“There are many different ways in which the situation could become regional and essentially a much larger conflict involving all the major players. It’s been a major concern for a very long time, and all roads have been leading here,” Zev Faintuch, Global Guardian’s senior intelligence analyst told Newsweek.

“This has been part of Iran’s long-term strategy—to create what they call ‘Ring of Fire’ around Israel and to engender this potential multi-front war. They have auxiliaries and different militias, they have got Hezbollah.”

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday that Tehran was not involved in the Hamas attack on Israel but praised those “who planned the attack on the Zionist regime.”

But Faintuch said that American military assets now off the coast of Lebanon, in Syria, in Iraq, and in the Arabian Gulf, showed “this could easily draw in the U.S.”

“There’s definitely the potential for this becoming a regional conflict, and that’s our biggest concern,” he said.

Faintuch, who was a former IDF infantry gunner, said Israel would have to act quickly as time and international support are inversely correlated.

His firm’s report predicts that an Israeli invasion and operation to eliminate Hamas would result in high civilian casualties, especially as Hamas is likely to use human shields and Palestinian casualties to promote its strategic goals.

“When you have a horrific event like this, international legitimacy is high, but as time goes on, Israel’s real global support is going to get diminished,” he said. “In terms of legitimacy, it is very important to ensure that whatever Israel does is they do it quickly because that legitimacy is going to get eroded.”

1...414243...86Page 42 of 86

EDITOR PICKS

POPULAR POSTS

POPULAR CATEGORY