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Republicans are blocking their own calls for Israeli aid

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Republicans are blocking their own calls for Israeli aid

Personal grudges and party infighting have left House Republicans with their hands tied while the rest of Washington scrambles to respond to the deadly fighting in Israel and Gaza.

Last week’s historic ousting of Representative Kevin McCarthy from the speakership revealed fraught tensions within the House GOP. That risky move to upend the House of Representatives is now looming over Republicans as lawmakers look for a way to deliver aid to Israel after Hamas militants launched one of its most deadly attacks on the country over the weekend.

House Republicans like Representatives Claudia Tenney and Jim Baird have already pushed for aid to Israel since the attacks, with Tenney outlining plans to introduce legislation to fund the Iron Dome and Baird calling on his colleagues to “stop these political games and show leadership during this international emergency.”

But, Guy Ziv, an associate professor at American University who specializes in United States foreign policy and U.S.-Israel relations, told Newsweek that the new vacancy may mean members of Congress will have to wait to send their message to America’s adversaries.

“The paralysis in the House of Representatives is problematic in terms of assisting Israel in its war with Hamas because without a speaker it can’t pass emergency aid,” Ziv said. “Nor is it clear whether Representative Patrick McHenry, the interim speaker, has the authority to bring resolutions or bills to the House floor.”

The fighting in the Middle East region, which has at least 1,600 people dead on both sides and thousands more injured, according to the Associated Press, has put pressure on House Republicans to quickly elect a new speaker so that emergency aid can be passed and delivered at a critical moment in the conflict.

But electing a new speaker had already been an uphill battle for the House GOP. With a razor-thin majority in the chamber, a Republican candidate running for the gavel cannot afford to lose more than four GOP votes. McCarthy was ousted by eight Republican votes, and those margins took him 15 rounds of voting before he won the speakership in January.

With two candidates seeking the gavel this time around, the Republican conference remains divided over whether Representative Steve Scalise or Representative Jim Jordan should be the next House speaker. At the same time, McCarthy has also left the door open to another speakership amid the turmoil in the Middle East, telling reporters this week that he would be willing to take up the gavel if House Republicans are deadlocked and strongly touting his Israel record.

“I don’t know if these developments will help Kevin McCarthy get his job back—I’m skeptical—but he does seem to be exploiting this situation for political purposes,” Ziv said. “His false claim that President Biden has handed over $6 billion to Iran is an oft-heard GOP talking point, but it’s simply not the case.”

As the House remains stalled, some Republicans have pushed for their colleagues to act with or without a speaker. House Foreign Affairs Chair Mike McCaul urged bipartisan lawmakers to immediately bring a resolution condemning Hamas to the floor, telling CNN‘s State of the Union this weekend that, “We cannot wait. We have to get that message out as soon as possible.”

Democrats have also used the developments in the Middle East and the paralysis in the House to criticize Republicans over the party’s infighting, painting the GOP as ineffective at leading Congress and unable to push feuds aside in times of crisis. Representative Matt Gaetz, who introduced the motion to vacate that led to the historic ousting of McCarthy, had continued his feud with the former speaker and drawn backlash from members of his own party for leaving them “weakened.”

“Israel is at war- meanwhile: 1. House is stalled until Republicans select Speaker candidate; 2. Senate is out this week; 3. No confirmed US ambassador to Israel; 4. Ukraine aid package isn’t moving; 5. [Senator Tommy] Tuberville continues barricade 300+ military noms,” Representative Jason Crow wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday. “Republicans must call House back into session immediately. Our national security can’t wait.”

“Israel attacked and still no Speaker. These House Republicans have proven they’re incapable of governing. They deserve to lose control of the House in 2024,” former Representative Joe Walsh said.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries also called on Republicans to end their “civil war” this weekend so that the House “can move forward to get the business of the American people done, both as it related to our domestic needs…as well as our national security considerations in terms of being there for Israel, being there for the Ukrainian people, being there for our allies all throughout the free world.”

Israel faces brutal urban warfare if it invades Gaza

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Israel faces brutal urban warfare if it invades Gaza

With Israel suffering its deadliest attack in decades at the hands of Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants, all eyes are on what its government chooses to do next.

The Israeli Air Force has already conducted several days of air strikes on targets in the Gaza Strip, where Hamas is based, and Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, ordered a “complete siege” of the Palestinian territory, cutting off its energy, food and water supply.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has suggested this is only the opening salvo in a much larger offensive on the Palestinian group.

“We have only started striking Hamas,” Netanyahu said in a televised address on Monday. “What we will do to our enemies in the coming days will reverberate with them for generations.”

Video footage has appeared on social media showing a massing of Israeli military equipment near the border with Gaza. Some 300,000 reservists have been called up after the nation declared war on Hamas.

While Israel is tight-lipped about its plans, the rapid mobilization of reservists has fueled speculation it could be preparing for a major ground invasion of Gaza.

“I don’t think that can be considered a foregone conclusion,” Colonel Richard Kemp, a retired British Army officer who commanded a battalion during the war in Afghanistan, told Newsweek. “What he [Netanyahu] says and what happens in reality may be two different things. You’ve got to look at it from the perspective [of] you don’t announce your plans to the enemy.”

“Netanyahu [has] always been very cautious around widespread use of military force,” Daniel Byman, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Vox. “But it may be hard to be cautious in these circumstances.”

It would not be the first time Israeli troops have entered Gaza, but experts are already warning that such an operation could be costly for both the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the more than two million Palestinian civilians who live there.

They said that Hamas fighters may have already prepared ambushes and traps for any incoming forces, and that potentially heavy casualties, including of civilians, could complicate the operation for Israel geopolitically.

Entrenched Urban Warfare

Gaza is one of the most densely populated regions in the world, measuring 141 square miles in total, meaning buildings in its urban areas are tightly grouped together. Even though the Israeli army is proficient at both conventional and urban warfare, it is a tactical nightmare.

Israel previously occupied Gaza from 1967 to 2005, and successfully invaded the territory in 2014. But this time round, the same time militants had for planning their seemingly unnoticed coordinated attack was also time to prepare within Gaza.

“If they do decide to go in on the ground, then it’s a very, very dangerous operation for the IDF because, apart from anything else, this attack that’s taken place now obviously took months of planning—and part of that planning would be to prepare for Israel’s reaction,” Kemp said. “The whole area is going to be sown up with booby-traps, mines, sniper positions, ambushes, attack tunnels—you name it.”

He added: “The IDF is trained to do that, they’re trained for those operations…but, no matter how much training you do, it’s still a risky, very dangerous form of military operations.”

“Hamas still has a robust arsenal of rockets and could be planning more ambushes,” Colin Clarke, research director at the Soufan Group, a security consultancy, told Vox. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see suicide bombings, if Hamas is able to infiltrate more operatives onto Israeli soil.”

An article for the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point examined the performance of Hamas in Gaza in 2014. It described Hamas fighters as determined and adaptable.

“Close combat involved direct fire engagements between Hamas and Israeli ground forces, with Hamas using RPGs, machine guns, and small arms. Hamas employed mortars, short range rockets and antitank guided missiles to support these engagements. Hamas fighters appeared more effective and aggressive than in past conflicts, surprising Israeli forces and coordinating fire,” it said.

It added that Hamas was able to maintain its defenses, and fire rockets toward Israel, even under intense attack from the air. However, it was less effective at engaging Israeli tanks and armored vehicles.

“Whatever its path forward, Hamas will be ready for the next round of war with Israel. It will seek to fight longer, do more damage, and defend itself more vigorously,” it said.

Israel has conducted an intensive campaign of air strikes on targets across Gaza since Saturday, with video footage showing entire high-rise buildings being demolished. Israeli officials have said it has been forewarning civilians in the areas about to be hit, and telling them to move to safer ground.

Kemp suggested the Israeli air force could achieve its government’s aims of crippling Hamas with air strikes alone, but had been prevented from doing so previously due to international pressure. While many world leaders have expressed solidarity with Israel over the latest attacks, that sentiment may not hold in a bloody, urban battle.

The former colonel, who also served in Northern Ireland and Bosnia, said a ground invasion was “less precise and controlled than strikes from the air.

“IDF aircraft are pretty much invulnerable; they can take their time, and the same goes for missile strikes into Gaza. There’s no real pressure to act quickly if the conditions aren’t right, whereas on the ground there is pressure to act quickly and in a very confused situation. Because it’s not only a question of killing the enemy; it’s also a question of trying not to kill your own troops.”

Civilian Casualties

When Israel last sent troops into Gaza, the war took around 1,500 civilian lives, according to U.N. estimates. Some 1,600 people have already been killed on both sides in the current violence, the Associated Press has reported, with thousands more wounded. So far, Israel’s military action beyond its borders has been limited to air strikes.

“The likelihood of a high number of civilian casualties in a ground operation is much greater,” Kemp said. “I think no matter how much you work to minimize civilian casualties, you’re not going to succeed when there’s lots of densely populated built-up areas, when the enemy is operating among the civilian population—very often dressed exactly like the civilian population [and] hard to distinguish—and not only that, but they use the civilian population as human shields deliberately.”

“You could get up to 10,000, 20,000 [civilian casualties]—there’s really no limit to the amount of people that could be harmed by that kind of invasion,” Frank Lowenstein, a former U.S. special envoy for Middle East peace, told BBC Newsnight on Monday.

A high civilian death toll would likely lead to public outcry, and could prompt political pressure for Israel to cease any potential ground invasion—frustrating its stated aim of eradicating Hamas’ militia.

“Hamas’ entire military strategy is predicated not on defeating Israel on the battlefield—because they can’t,” Kemp said. “Their strategy is to attack Israel in such a way that Israel is obliged to carry out retaliation, as any country would, and that retaliation is inevitably going to cause civilian casualties, which is what Hamas want.

“They want their own civilians to die at the hands of the IDF, so they can use that to isolate, vilify, condemn Israel…on the world stage, which they’ve been extremely successful at.”

Hugh Lovatt, a senior Middle East analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told the Telegraph: “An Israeli ground incursion will come at a tremendous cost in terms of Palestinian and Israeli lives. As past operations have shown, it will amplify Gaza’s humanitarian crisis and fan Palestinian and Arab anger against Israel.”

It is not just Palestinian civilians currently at risk in Gaza, but an estimated 150 hostages—including women, children and the elderly—who were taken from Israel by militants with the intention of exchanging them for Palestinian prisoners. Hamas officials have since threatened to kill one for every air strike undertaken without warning.

“You can’t release them from the air,” Kemp said of the hostages. “Whether you can release them from the ground or not is another question as well, and I wouldn’t be too confident of that.”

Exit Strategy

Hamas, through its political wing, has been the de facto ruler of Gaza since 2006, after Israel’s withdrawal. Even if Israel were able to dismantle its operations, the IDF would then face the challenge of maintaining order in a region where the local population staunchly opposes Israeli governance.

“I think it may be that there is not an exit strategy,” Kemp said, noting a withdrawal from Gaza could come when the IDF “believe that Hamas’ capability of fighting back and its will to resist had been destroyed,” but that in previous conflicts Hamas had “never lost their will to resist.”

In the ensuing power vacuum, he said, the only alternative was for the IDF to maintain a military presence in Gaza on a permanent basis, as it had done previously—but that was “not an easy task.”

In addition, any ground invasion on Gaza could also escalate into a conflict on multiple fronts for Israel, drawing resources away from any offensive on Hamas.

Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed, Lebanese Islamist Shiite militant group, has already conducted artillery strikes on northern Israel, while the head of the Iranian-backed Badr Organization reportedly threatened to attack U.S. forces if they intervened in the war on Israel’s side, after the Pentagon ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group into the eastern Mediterranean.

Update 10/11/23, 2:36 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.

Update 10/11/23, 8:45 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information. The headline was also updated.

Correction 10/11/23, 9:25 a.m. ET: This article was updated to correct the area of Gaza.

Kadyrov’s surprise response as mosque named after father "struck" by Hamas

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Kadyrov’s surprise response as mosque named after father "struck" by Hamas

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov issued a surprising response to his Telegram channel after reports emerged on Monday that a mosque named after his father was struck by a Hamas missile in the Israeli town of Abu Ghosh near Jerusalem.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry reported on Monday that the Akhmat Kadyrov mosque—the second-largest mosque in Israel—was damaged in attacks launched by Hamas.

The statement came two days into the war, which erupted after Hamas militants launched a surprise multi-front attack from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel over the weekend. The total death toll has risen to nearly 1,600 on both sides, the Associated Press reported.

The AP said that around 900 people, including 73 soldiers, have been killed in Israel, according to media reports. In Gaza, more than 680 people have been killed, according to authorities there.

Hamas said it launched its “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood” in response to Israeli police actions in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem and over violence instigated by Israeli settlers illegally occupying parts of the Palestinian West Bank.

Chechen leader Kadyrov opened the $10 million mosque dedicated to his late father and former President of Chechnya, Akhmat Kadyrov, in March 2014. Donations from Chechnya contributed $6 million to the funding for the mosque, which was built in an Ottoman Turkish style, then-mayor of Abu Ghosh Isa Jabar said at the time.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry published an image on Monday that appears to show a large cloud of smoke rising from the mosque after an apparent missile strike by Hamas militants.

In a statement, it said a Hamas rocket “directly struck the Akhmat Kadyrov mosque.”

Kadyrov’s subsequent statement surprisingly didn’t address the reports that the mosque had been struck. Instead, he voiced support for Hamas.

“We fully support the actions of Palestine, because their lands were taken by Israel at one time,” the Chechen leader said.

Russia’s state-run news agency Tass offered a conflicting version of events, reporting on Monday that the mosque had not been damaged. The publication said eyewitnesses in Abu Ghosh denied reports that it had been struck.

“The mosque is intact. There was no hit. The evening prayer went as usual, people came to pray. The rocket did land, but not here, nearby,” an eyewitness told Tass.

A missile damaged a building in the vicinity, however, one eyewitness said.

Newsweek has contacted the Russian foreign ministry by email to request comment.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has called for an end to the armed hostilities in Israel, asking both sides “to immediately ceasefire, renounce violence, show the necessary restraint.”

The conflict “cannot be solved by force, but only by diplomatic means,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

Do you have a tip on a world news story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about the Russia-Ukraine war? Let us know via worldnews@newsweek.com.

I was married and miserable. One breakthrough made me end it

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I was married and miserable. One breakthrough made me end it

On the outside, my life looked pretty great. My husband was successful in his career, making a very good living. I was working as an actor—doing an episode here and there of Grey’s Anatomy—but was able to be at home with our son most of the time.

I had a beautiful house, a nice car—the works. But behind the scenes, our marriage was very volatile. I felt like I was dying a slow emotional death and had completely lost my sense of self. I had no idea who I was.

Often people would ask me how I was and I didn’t know how to answer the question, because I was miserable. I almost felt like a Stepford wife; robotic, trying to make everything look good on the outside. It was absolutely awful.

For a long time, I had been questioning my relationship, but I was doing all of these personal development workshops and the message was always the same: Anything is fixable.

I was told that if you change your behavior, then the entire relationship will also change, so I focused on bettering myself and fitting into this completely untenable situation. But the more I tried to change myself, the worse I felt, and the worse things got.

I started asking people how you knew when you’d reached the end, because there was always this sense of something else coming around the corner. I thought that if I just took another class, or tried another method, then everything would be okay.

But how do you know when you’ve tried everything?

A friend of mine said to me: “When you know, you’ll know.” I was p****d. The whole point of the conversation was that I didn’t know, and I was asking for advice.

Then, one day shortly afterward, I was standing in my closet looking for something, and it suddenly hit me. It hit me like a ton of bricks.

I realized that while we’re told we have to stay in our marriages for our children no matter what, we were modeling something to my son that I did not want for him.

I feared that if he continued to watch our toxic dynamic, he would grow up mirroring that. He would choose codependent women and repeat everything we did wrong. It was all he knew about marriage.

Everyone says you have to stay for your kids, but that was the moment I realized I had to leave for mine. My friend was right—in that instant, it was so clear to me.

Absolute relief washed over me. It was as though I was off the hook, no longer fixing something that wasn’t mine to fix. Honestly, I was giddy, it was the strangest feeling.

For a good year, I felt elated—I was finally free. But then the grief hits.

When we separated I took a major lifestyle hit, I had to move to a house on the “wrong side of the tracks.” No more manicured lawns or granite countertops for me. Not a stainless steel appliance in sight.

I moved to an older house where the paint was peeling off and the grass in the front lawn was dead. It was a really stark difference, but, initially, I was thrilled.

At 38 I was excited to get out there and date again, I felt like I was in my prime. I got into my first relationship, which initially was absolutely amazing, but then I started to have dreams about my ex.

“What is happening here?” I thought. I didn’t want my ex in my dreams. I knew I didn’t want to be back together, but it helped me realize that there was some grief there I had to address. And that sucked.

What followed was lots and lots of therapy. I was fortunate enough to forge a really good co-parenting relationship with my ex-husband. I think we had tried so hard to make our marriage work that, by God, we were going to make that divorce work.

Of course, at first there were many ups and downs—it hasn’t always been the healthiest. But there’s no playbook for these situations and I think it’s all the luck of the draw.

I was lucky enough to have an ex who was willing to put down all the toxicity and put our son first. And in my subsequent decade working in the divorce space, I know that’s not always true.

My work in divorce developed because in the very early days of my separation, people would come to me and say: “You guys had such a toxic marriage, how have you had such a good divorce?”

I always said the same thing: “We put our son first. He is at the center of every decision we make. We’ve never put him in the middle.”

When my marriage ended—pre-Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin’s divorce—concepts like separation coaching and conscious uncoupling were not a thing.

So when I went to life coaching school, people really had no idea what it was. I took some classes and instantly loved it. I ended up doing the whole year and a half curriculum and got myself my certification.

At the time, I feel there was so much negative messaging about divorce. It’s always terrible, awful, and bad for the children. But I knew that there was another way to do it.

So then I went back to school specifically to become certified as a relationship coach in family systems. My business has since evolved and I ended up really establishing myself in the divorce space.

For anyone thinking of leaving their marriage, the very first step I always recommend is to focus on rebuilding your sense of self. Because when you’ve been in any kind of unhappy relationship, whether it’s toxic or not, you’re essentially trying to fit yourself into something that’s not meant for you. And we tend to lose ourselves in the process.

So while it may be tempting to look at our partner and their behaviors, the first thing we have to do is reestablish our sense of self. Who are you outside of this relationship?

When you have established that sense of self again, I suggest looking at who that other person is, and whether that person aligns with your values.

Once you have found who you are again, it is easier to look at this other person and say: “That actually doesn’t fit with who I am anymore.” It becomes more about yourself than about the other person.

I hope to give women the ability to say: “This isn’t working for me anymore, and that is okay.”

Then we can work through interpersonal stuff; communication styles and love languages so they better understand themselves in relationships and know what they want in the future. Because if you don’t do that work, you’ll probably repeat the pattern and it is likely your next relationship will be very similar.

Having agonized over the question of “when is it time to leave?” for so long, I have come to the conclusion that there has to be a better way to discern this. And I hope to have created that process for women.

You don’t have to sit around waiting for the ton of bricks. There’s work that we can do to help you gain that clarity, without waiting around for those bricks to hit you.

Kate Anthony is a divorce coach, author of The D Word: Making the Ultimate Decision About Your Marriage and the host of the The Divorce Survival Guide Podcast.

All views expressed in this article are the author’s own.

As told to Newsweek’s My Turn associate editor, Monica Greep.

Do you have a unique experience or personal story to share? Email the My Turn team at myturn@newsweek.com.

10 things you can do in your car besides driving

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10 things you can do in your car besides driving

Today’s vehicles, whether electric or not, are filled with technology, infotainment and games to kill time when waiting for a charge, or just waiting in the carpool lane. Automakers like BMW and Tesla are adding video game capability, and with Google Built-in and Amazon Fire TV streaming video is here. Beyond that, companies are making nostalgia a part of the drive, and adding ways to relax when the day is over. Here are some of the best.

AirConsole Gaming – BMW 5 Series/i5

BMW has inked a deal with the AirConsole gaming service to provide hundreds of casual games to the curved infotainment display in the cabin. They include racing, sports, quiz and music quiz games as well as simulation, strategy, jump-and-run and puzzle games. There are only 15 now including “Go Kart Go”, “Golazo”, “Music Guess” and “Overcooked”. BMW says the portfolio of available games will be continually expanded.

YouTube Videos – Mercedes-Benz EQS

The new electric Mercedes-Benz EQS will launch with a production-ready version of DRIVE PILOT that allows drivers to take their hands and eyes off the road when in traffic under 40 miles per hour. Through its infotainment system partnership with Google, owner of YouTube, when in slow traffic drivers can watch movie trailers, Minecraft clips or anything else on the massive video platform.

Amazon Fire TV – Jeep Grand Wagoneer

The more-optioned Jeep Grand Wagoneer comes with a digital instrument cluster for the driver, a central infotainment display and a screen for the front passenger. With Wi-Fi and Amazon Fire Built-in passengers in the front or back can watch anything available on the Amazon platform including Disney Plus, Hulu and Netflix, in addition to Prime Video. Each passenger can pick their own content.

Look at the (Simulated) Stars – Rolls-Royce Spectre

The Starlight Headliner and Doors in the latest Rolls-Royce Spectre (and Phantom, Ghost and Wraith) are created by fitting fiber optic strands at different depths and angles. That causes the stars to light up in different intensities and directions. The brightness can also be adjusted to suit the driver’s mood. The constellation of each Starlight Headliner is completely unique to the owner. The process takes more than 17 hours to complete.

Order a Pizza – Chevrolet

Domino’s Pizza is part of the Chevrolet Marketplace meaning customers can order pizza to carry out or be delivered right from their infotainment screen. Choosing from saved orders and recent orders stop hungry patrons from sifting through the entire Domino’s menu while driving, and once a customer has setup their Pizza Profile, they can order and pay at any time, right from their vehicle.

Control Your Smarthome – Nissan and Infiniti

A decade ago, the only thing at home that could be accessed with your vehicle was the garage door. With Alexa embedded in most Nissans and Infinitis, buyers can now use all the same functions in their vehicle as they do on a home Alexa. Commands like “turn on the porch light” or “turn the heat up to 72 degrees” can be uttered on the commute home. It can also control your home cameras, locks and even a television.

Sleep Soundly – Volkswagen I.D. Buzz

The Volkswagen I.D. Buzz just appeared at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in Monterey Bay, California, but a few weeks earlier the electric I.D. Buzz van was at the inaugural International Volkswagen Bus Day where the company showed off its Accessories Concept with the a kitchen/bed combo from EU-based Ququq. The modular unit converts into a bed for two and features a functional kitchen and food prep area. It’s currently available in Europe but will be available in the U.S. soon.

Pamper your Pooch – Subaru

Many people travel with their pets and there’s no safer way than in a Subaru. The company has dozens of pet accessories including ramps for the older dogs, padded cargo liners for the Ascent, Forester and Outback, as well as harnesses, seat protectors and travel bowls that won’t spill in the car.

Customize Your Space – Ford FITS

In the Ford Maverick buyers can download specs to 3D print accessories like grocery hooks, phone mounts, purse holders and dozens of other items for its Ford Integrated Tether System or FITS. Customers have created cupholders and latches for all manner of equipment and some have even went to Etsy and Ebay to sell their creations.

Relive Your Childhood – Ford Mustang

The new Ford Mustang not only took some exterior styling from its ’80s and ’90s Fox Body predecessor, it also borrowed the gauges. In the new Mustang, the speedometer and tachometer are digital, but they’re also customizable meaning you can pick from several options including the round, white- or green-marked gauges of one of the most iconic Mustangs.

"The Crown" season 6 trailer contains hidden royal Easter egg

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"The Crown" season 6 trailer contains hidden royal Easter egg

Netflix’s teaser trailer for the final season of its hit royal drama The Crown contains a hidden Easter egg linked to a significant royal event in the life of Queen Elizabeth II.

Fans of the show, which began its 60-episode run in 2016, celebrated on October 9 as Netflix released details about the highly anticipated final season, looking at the life and reign of the late queen and her family.

In an announcement that included a cryptic minute-long trailer, the streaming giant said that the season would be released in two parts. The first four episodes will focus on the death of Princess Diana in 1997 and will be released on November 16. The remaining six episodes will depict events leading up to 2005 and will stream on December 14.

In the trailer, the three actresses who have played Elizabeth in the show (Claire Foy, Olivia Colman and Imelda Staunton) each feature, reciting lamenting dialogue about the self-sacrifices made by the woman who ruled Britain for over seven decades.

Staunton—who took over the lead role from Colman in 2022—is the prime focus of the trailer. She closes a scene looking out from the balcony of Buckingham Palace in London with the line: “What about the life I put aside? The woman I put aside?”

In this scene, there is an unacknowledged link to one of the defining moments of Elizabeth’s reign, her Golden Jubilee, which took place in 2002.

Unobvious to the average viewer, the hidden Easter egg is in the costume worn by Staunton, a blue coat dress and matching woven hat with diamond brooch pinned to the breast.

The outfit is a match for the one worn by the real life Elizabeth on the day she marked her 50 years on the throne with a Golden Jubilee thanksgiving service at St Paul’s Cathedral in London on June 4, 2002.

Apart from being a landmark of a long reign that had only been celebrated by two previous monarchs (King George III in 1809 and Queen Victoria in 1887), the jubilee signalled a new era of Elizabeth’s reign.

The 76-year-old monarch had navigated the monarchy through the perilous decade of the 1990s. It not only saw a number of royal divorces and scandals, but also the fire at Windsor Castle in 1992, the year she defined as her annus horribilis, and the death of Princess Diana in a car crash in 1997.

The beginning of the new millennium was marked by two further deaths in the life of the queen, those of her younger sister, Princess Margaret, and of her mother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

The queen mother was 101, and a domineering matriarchal force within the monarchy. She died just three months before the Golden Jubilee celebrations.

Though deeply mourned by her daughter, a number of commentators and courtiers have defined the queen mother’s death as a moment of liberation for Elizabeth. It has been suggested that the monarch felt able to make modernizing changes to the routines of monarchy that may have upset the Queen Mother, who was born when Queen Victoria was on the throne.

The Golden Jubilee also marked a shift in the world’s view of the monarchy, with an increased level of attention being turned towards the teenage Princes William and Harry.

On the day of the jubilee pageant, William received a wave of screaming cheers from royal fans when he appeared alongside his grandmother, which has featured in a number of recent viral videos.

The use of the thanksgiving service costume in The Crown‘s series-finale trailer suggests the milestone moment will feature in the show.

The events covered will stop in 2005, with the wedding of King Charles and Queen Camilla known to feature. It is not yet clear how the series will end, or if there will be a tribute to Elizabeth, who died at the age of 96 in September 2022.

James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek‘s royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek‘s The Royals Facebook page.

Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We’d love to hear from you.

Meghan Markle accused of being "egotistical" over titles in viral video

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Meghan Markle accused of being "egotistical" over titles in viral video

Meghan Markle has been accused of “bigging herself up” by using her royal title during a message for children and parents in a viral video.

The Duchess of Sussex continues to use the aristocratic title that was given to her when she married into the royal family, despite quitting the monarchy three years ago.

Prince Harry also continues to style himself Duke of Sussex, and the couple use the royal titles that were given to their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, at the point King Charles III became monarch in September 2022.

However, the issue has proven controversial, and some of their most vocal detractors in the media have called for them to be stripped of their titles.

A TikTok post from five days ago showed a clip of Meghan introducing herself using her royal title and compared it with how other royals have greeted the public.

Meghan said, “I’m Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex,” while the Prince of Wales said, “my name’s William.” The Princess of Wales said, “I’m Catherine and this is William next to me,” and Princess Beatrice said: “My name’s Beatrice.”

The montage was posted by @lampshadebond with the onscreen caption: “The egotistical one bigging herself up.”

The clip of Meghan comes from a 2021 video in which she read her children’s book The Bench for Brightly Storytime, which creates resources for parents to encourage reading to children.

There may, of course, be other moments in which she has introduced herself simply as “Meghan,” in the same way as William and Kate.

Meghan’s Video for Brightly Storytime

In the full video, Meghan said: “Hi and welcome to Brightly Storytime. I am Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, and today I am going to read you my book called The Bench.

“This is illustrated by Christian Robinson, and I asked him to do something special for me and use watercolours, which isn’t the normal medium he works with, but he did it to make this extra special,” the duchess added.

“I hope you love the pictures as much as you love the words. I wrote this as a poem for my husband and our son, Archie, and then turned it into a book so you can enjoy it, too.”

The duchess was criticized by some in the British press at the time, with the U.K. newspaper Daily Mirror running the headline: “Meghan Markle divides opinion after introducing herself with royal title to children.”

Most of the criticism contained in the story was based on the reaction to the video on social media, including one post on X, formerly Twitter, that read: “And of course she introduces herself as the duchess of sussex. She won’t let the title go will she?”

What Meghan Has Said About Royal Titles

Royal titles have been a contentious issue not only among fans but also for the duke and duchess themselves.

Meghan told Oprah Winfrey in a TV interview in March 2021 that there had been discussions within the palace about not giving prince and princess titles to their children, which the duchess appeared to link to the separate question of whether they would get police security.

“All the grandeur surrounding this stuff is an attachment that I don’t personally have, right? I’ve been a waitress, an actress, a princess, a duchess,” she told Oprah.

“I’ve always just still been Meghan, right? So, for me, I’m clear on who I am, independent of all that stuff. And the most important title I will ever have is Mom. I know that.”

It is unclear why Meghan felt that Archie and Lilibet’s security situation was conditional on them getting royal titles. Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie were only offered police protection in their early lives and have now been without it for years.

However, Meghan added: “The idea of our son not being safe, and also the idea of the first member of color in this family not being titled in the same way that other grandchildren would be…”

Ultimately, Archie and Lilibet did get their prince and princess titles automatically when Charles became king in September 2022. Harry and Meghan began using the titles for the first time publicly when it was announced they had held a christening for Princess Lilibet.

The couple’s spokesperson said in a statement: “I can confirm that Princess Lilibet Diana was christened on Friday, March 3, by the Archbishop of Los Angeles, the Rev John Taylor.”

Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek‘s The Royals Facebook page.

Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We’d love to hear from you.

Coins linked to infamous massacre found hidden in fireplace

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Coins linked to infamous massacre found hidden in fireplace

Coins linked to an infamous massacre that saw nearly 40 people slaughtered have been discovered under a grand fireplace in Scotland.

The hoard of coins was found in a small pot at a house that used to belong to Alasdair Ruadh “MacIain” MacDonald of Glencoe, chief of the MacDonald clan from 1646 to 1692, a press release from the University of Glasgow reported.

Uncovered by archaeology student Lucy Ankers, the coins had been placed under a grand fireplace, at a summerhouse in Glencoe, in the Scottish Highlands, over 300 years ago.

The 36 coins all vary in date, however none of them came after the 1680s—this suggests that they could have been placed there either during, or just before the infamous Glencoe Massacre of 1692, archeologists believe.

As estimated 38 members of Clan MacDonald of Glencoe were killed by government soldiers during the massacre. This was because the clan remained loyal to King James VII, who had been exiled, and were part of the first Jacobite rising of 1689. The massacre took place on February 13, 1692.

The coins may have been placed there for safekeeping during the massacre, but they were never retrieved. This indicates that the clan member may have been killed during the massacre.

“These exciting finds give us a rare glimpse of a single, dramatic event. Here’s what seems an ordinary rural house, but it has a grand fireplace, impressive floor slabs, and exotic pottery imported from the Netherlands and Germany. And they’ve gathered up an amazing collection of coins in a little pot and buried them under the fireplace,” Dr. Michael Given, co-director of the University of Glasgow’s archaeological project in Glencoe and senior lecturer in archaeology, said in a press release detailing the finds.

“What’s really exciting is that these coins are no later than the 1680s: so were they buried in a rush as the Massacre started first thing in the morning of the 13th February 1692? We know some of the survivors ran through the blizzard and escaped up the side glens, including this one: were these coins witnesses to this dramatic story? It’s a real privilege, as archaeologists, to hold in our hands these objects that were so much part of people’s lives in the past.”

Other objects discovered in this area indicate that the summerhouse was used frequently as a hunting lodge and feasting hall by the chief members of the clan throughout the 17th century, the University of Glasgow reported.

Other artifacts uncovered indicate the high status of those who gathered there. Objects found as well as the hoard of coins included pottery, as well as evidence of leather and glass working.

“These excavations have allowed us to better understand how landscapes such as Glencoe might have been occupied and managed through the early modern period,” Edward Stewart, an archaeology PhD student and the excavations director of the University of Glasgow’s archaeological project in Glencoe, said in a press release. “Our previous investigations of the nearby summer shieling settlements offered an opportunity to understand how communities of herders lived and worked in these landscapes, now the excavation of ‘MacIain’s Summerhouse’ allows us to better understand the importance of these uplands to local elites.”

“The scale of this structure and the wealth of artefacts uncovered within suggest this was a place where the MacDonald chiefs could entertain with feasting, gambling, hunting and libations. The discovery of this coin hoard within the structure adds an exciting dimension to this story. However, ordinary and everyday finds within this structure such as spindle whorls for making thread, a pitch fork, and a dress pin, speak to the everyday lives of those who lived here, worked the land and minded the cattle, allowing us to tell their stories as well as these grand tales of chiefs and their retinue.”

Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about archeology? Let us know via science@newsweek.com.

Mia Khalifa is getting canceled

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Mia Khalifa is getting canceled

Mia Khalifa has lost contracts over social media posts in which she supported Palestinian “freedom fighters,” amid the most recent outbreak of violence between Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel.

Hamas launched attacks on Israel on Saturday in a move that took the Israeli military and security services by surprise, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu subsequently declared: “We are at war.”

At least 700 people have reportedly been killed in Israel and more than 400 in Gaza, according to the Associated Press. Since Saturday, Israel has carried out attacks against Hamas, launching “Operation Swords of Iron.”

Hezbollah, an Iran-backed organization that the U.S. considers a terrorist group alongside Hamas, on Sunday launched a barrage of mortar shells into Israel. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) fired artillery into Lebanon. No casualties were reported on either side, according to Reuters.

Amid news of the conflict, former adult film star Khalifa, who has long been a vocal supporter of Palestinians, shared a post on X, formerly Twitter, in which she addressed the footage that was coming out of the region.

“Can someone please tell the freedom fighters in Palestine to flip their phones and film horizontal,” she wrote on the platform on Saturday.

Following days of criticism over her post, Khalifa sought to clarify her comment in a follow-up statement on Monday.

“I just want to make it clear that this statement in no way shape or form is [inciting] spread of violence,” she said. “I specifically said freedom fighters because that’s what the Palestinian citizens are… fighting for freedom every day.”

However, the damage was already done. Playboy has severed ties with the star; visitors to her page on the brand’s Centerfold platform are now met with a “not found” notification. Playboy announced the end of its relationship with Khalifa in an email to subscribers, according to the Daily Mail.

“We are writing today to let you know of our decision to terminate Playboy’s relationship with Mia Khalifa, including deleting Mia’s Playboy channel on our creator platform,” read the email, copies of which have been shared on X.

“Over the past few days, Mia has made disgusting and reprehensible comments celebrating Hamas’ attacks on Israel and the murder of innocent men, women and children,” the statement continued.

“At Playboy, we encourage free expression and constructive political debate, but we have a zero-tolerance policy for hate speech. We expect Mia to understand her words and actions have consequences.”

Lebanese-born Khalifa’s original message on Saturday also lead to her public firing from her role as an adviser at Red Light Holland, which produces and distributes magic mushrooms.

Responding, Red Light Holland CEO Todd Shapiro wrote: “This is such a horrendous tweet @miakhalifa. Consider yourself fired effective immediately. Simply disgusting. Beyond disgusting. Please evolve and become a better human being.”

“The fact you are condoning death, rape, beatings and hostage taking is truly gross,” Shapiro went on. “No words can explain your ignorance. We need humans to come together, especially in the face of tragedy. I pray for you to become a better person. However, it clearly seems like it’s too late for you.”

A screenshot of Shapiro’s X post was shared on the Red Light Holland account, prompting Khalifa to respond: “I’d say supporting Palestine has lost me business opportunities, but I’m more angry at myself for not checking whether or not I was entering into business with Zionists. My bad.”

In a separate post responding to the screenshot, Khalifa said: “I just wanna make sure there’s 4k footage of my people breaking down the walls of the open air prison they’ve been forced out of their homes and into so we have good options for the history books that write about how they freed themselves from apartheid.

“Please worry about your sad little company lacking direction and purpose before you utter my name again. I stand with all people fighting oppression, now and always, do your research before begging for my investment in your little project, I’m from LEBANON, are you insane for expecting me to be on the side of colonialism you f****** weirdo.”

Elsewhere, Khalifa recently responded to an X post discussing those who have publicly expressed support for Palestinians.

The X user stated in the post that “a lot of people forget that being pro Palestine is actually like an unpopular stance. We saw what happened to Bella Hadid and how much backlash she got and mind you the girl is Palestinian. So all these celebs supporting all this while upsetting is also just unsurprising.”

“If you see a celebrity supporting just TRUSTTTT it’s the money that’s talking,” said Khalifa in response, adding that “these people have no soul or opinions of their own or the ability for critical thinking and will do/say anything to appease their investors in their businesses.”

Khalifa has been outspoken in her support for Palestinians in recent years. In 2021, she made headlines for branding Israeli actress and Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot “genocide Barbie” following her statement on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Gadot’s post began with her saying that she worries for her family and friends, adding that the conflict is a “vicious cycle” that has gone on for too long.

“Israel deserves to live as a free and safe nation, our neighbors deserve the same,” she continued. “I pray for the victims and their unimaginable hostility to end, I pray for our leaders to find a solution so we could live side by side in peace. I pray for better days.”

The Marvel actor’s statement was also criticized by Yair Netanyahu, the son of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said it was “neutral as if she was from Switzerland.”

Khalifa’s political outspokenness marks a turnaround for the star, who told Newsweek in a 2015 interview that she wasn’t particularly interested in Lebanese politics. “I don’t want us to be bullied by Syria or Israel, but I’m pretty indifferent towards it,” she said at the time.

Newsweek has contacted representatives of Khalifa and Playboy for comment.

The Biden Factor In Israel’s War With Hamas

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The Biden Factor In Israel’s War With Hamas

A world-shaking catastrophe like the attack by Hamas on Israel is never the result of just one cause. The truth is there are a dozen different factors that can and must be accounted for when determining what led to this attack. From the intelligence failures, to the false sense of security of the Iron Dome, going all the way back to the disengagement of Gaza in 2005—shares of blame can be assigned to each one.

Another one of those factors is the policy of the Biden administration. It would be foolish to assign all blame to Joe Biden, but naive to assign none.

Biden was well known for his foreign policy incompetence long before he won the presidency. He began his term with a basic principle: undo whatever Donald Trump did. It did not matter to Biden whether the Trump policy was good or bad—if Trump did it, he must undo it. This affected a wide range of domestic policies, but several key foreign ones as well.

In April 2021, Biden gave $235 million to Palestinians, either directly or through UNRWA, the United Nations agency tasked with resettling Palestinian refugees. A little over a year later, Biden announced another $316 million. Not only was this action foolish, it violated the Taylor Force Act, a 2018 law signed by Trump which forbids U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority when as long as it funds pay-to-slay programs. Almost 40 members of Congress sent a letter requesting an answer about the usage of these funds to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

What happened to these funds? They were intended in part to go to Gaza for humanitarian purposes, yet we know that for nearly two decades Hamas has taken funds such as these and used them to build out its terror network. Concrete meant for schools was used instead to construct tunnels into civilian population centers. This was part of the reason Trump canceled the aid in 2018. Biden signaled to Hamas that U.S. dollars are readily available, no strings attached.

Biden didn’t just give the Palestinian Authority money, he granted it greater legitimacy in the eyes on the American government—legitimacy that Trump had removed. He reopened the U.S. Office of Palestinian Affairs, which was at one point a consulate in Jerusalem focused on pushing for a Palestinian state. Trump closed it in 2018 when he moved the Embassy to Jerusalem and folded the responsibilities together. Biden’s separation of those responsibilities validated the Palestinian Authority in the eyes of Hamas. That same Office of Palestinian Affairs was forced to delete its “all sides” post on X (formerly Twitter). “We urge all sides to refrain from violence and retaliatory attacks,” the office said as Hamas was kidnapping and murdering women at a music festival. It had clearly assumed this would be the State Department’s message, because that was the policy Biden has regarding Israel.

Hamas also saw how Biden handled Afghanistan. Biden not only left Afghan allies and American citizens behind, he left behind over $7 billion in weaponry and equipment. His cowardly retreat from Afghanistan made America look weak, and a weak America means an unstable globe. Those weapons were seized by the Taliban and sold by agents like the one that Biden traded to Russia for a WNBA basketball player. In January, NBC reported that those weapons were being used by militants in Kashmir. Israel expressed concerns in June that Iran had gotten hold of some of those weapons. Now there are reports that American weapons and equipment fell into the hands of Hamas and were being used against America’s greatest regional ally to capture and kill civilians.

Biden signaled his neglect for Israeli security in the way he approached a potential peace between Israel and her neighbors. The Abraham Accords were able to achieve a historic agreement between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan. This was achieved when the Trump team, led by Jared Kushner, realized a simple truth—you don’t need to solve the Palestinian conflict to gain peace. Biden ignored that fact, and it is a primary reason Saudi Arabia has yet to sign on. As recently as last week, 20 Senate Democrats demanded that the U.S. not back any peace agreement between Israel and the Saudis unless Israel were to make massive concessions to the Palestinians—for literally no reason. The Palestinians see this demand and think that in a conflict, America will side with them.

They also see the outright contempt with which Biden treats Bibi Netanyahu. Following the pattern set by Barack Obama, who once famously complained to French President Nicolas Sarkozy that he has to “deal with [Netanyahu] every day,” Biden has shown Bibi nothing but disrespect since coming into office. Normally a new president calls allies within a few days of his inauguration. It took over three weeks for Biden to call Netanyahu. Then, when Netanyahu regained control of the Knesset, Biden initially refused to invite him to the White House, opting instead to invite President Isaac Herzog. This pattern of disrespect did not go unnoticed.

Then, of course, there is the Iran of it all. This Hamas attack was backed by Iran, the same terror-sponsoring state Biden just gave $6 billion. This is the same Iran that chants “Death to America, Death to Israel” and that Biden is desperate to negotiate with in hope of reentering the infamous nuclear deal (a deal, it should be noted, that has no penalties for funding terrorism). While Biden’s spokespeople are proclaiming far and wide that the money released to Iran can only be used for “humanitarian purposes,” Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi specifically said to Lester Holt that the money will be used “wherever we need it.”

Each of these may seem insignificant in a vacuum, but together they paint a broad picture for Hamas of what they can expect from Biden. The president is beholden to a left flank of Democrats that includes Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and others who blame Israel for these attacks and demand deescalation while hostages are held in Gaza. That was not an insignificant factor in Hamas’ calculation to move forward with this attack. It’s also something that Americans must reconcile with ahead of the 2024 election.

Moshe Hill is a political columnist and analyst. His work can be found on www.aHillwithaView.com.

The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.

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