TV News LIES

A group of settlers who crossed the border from Israel into southern Syria in an attempt to establish new settlements have been apprehended and returned by the Israeli military.

On Thursday, some 13 settlers belonging to a group called the "Pioneers of the Bashan" cut through the border fence in two locations using angle grinders and drove into Syria with the aim of settling there.

Five of the group breached the border in the Mount Hermon area, and another eight near the Syrian village of Bir Ajam in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The Israeli military said in a statement that troops "rushed to the two locations, and shortly afterward the civilians were found" and that some "clashed" with the soldiers.

It confirmed that all of the suspects were "safely returned to Israeli territory under IDF escort", adding that the military "strongly condemns the incident and emphasises that it is a grave incident constituting a criminal offence" endangering both civilians and Israeli soldiers.

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Palestinian sources reported that groups of settlers gathered at the entrance of Deir Jarir, east of Ramallah, while the IOF stormed both Deir Jarir and nearby Deir Dibwan. The incursions coincided with violent confrontations in Silwad as Palestinian youths resisted the simultaneous settler and military presence.

In Birzeit, near Ramallah, IOF arrested former prisoner Salama al-Qatawi after storming his home. In Nablus, troops raided the New Askar refugee camp and detained Shadi al-Rifai. Two children, Khaled and Sahlam Zein, were also arrested after their home was raided in Burin, south of the city.

Israeli occupation forces (IOF) entered Nablus through the Awarta checkpoint and expanded their operations to Kafr Qalil, east of the city, intensifying the military presence in the area.

In Tubas, military bulldozers were deployed in the town of Tammun, causing significant destruction to civilian property. Additional reinforcements were moved toward al-Faraa refugee camp from the al-Hamra checkpoint, escalating military presence in the area.

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On 10 October, following two years of Israeli genocide that have turned Gaza into the new benchmark of total destruction, after Israel has killed and injured hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and inflicted on all the people in Gaza “severe bodily or mental harm,” to quote from the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the Trump administration imposed a ceasefire, giving rise to the idea that the Gaza war has ended.

The ceasefire, however, seems to be designed mostly to move forward with the business deals of the mega rich in the Middle East, and the fire has never ceased: the Israeli government has continued its assault, killing and injuring hundreds of Palestinians since 10 OcMore...tober, destroying thousands of homes and buildings, and blocking the entry of sufficient aid.

The genocidal rhetoric, furthermore, has not ended. Take, for instance, Simcha Rothman, a member of the Knesset (the Israeli parliament) for the Religious Zionist Party, who spoke on 28 October in an international summit in Hungary organized in support of Israel. “If we want to destroy the idea of genocide,” he said, “if we want to destroy [it] and we should destroy the idea of Muslim Brotherhood that takes over the entire west, the Middle East, but after that, the entire world, the entire western civilization, we have to define it as the enemy.” “The enemy in Gaza,” he continued, “are not the terror tunnels, the enemy in Gaza are not the missiles, the enemy in Gaza are not even the terrible people who took the hostages; the enemy in Gaza is the idea of a genocide, the same idea that echoes in mosques all around Europe, the same idea that echoes in mosques in the US, in campuses, in encampments, the same idea, this is the enemy.”

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A massive fire tore through a high-rise housing complex in Hong Kong on Wednesday into Friday, in one of the region's deadliest blazes in decades.

Hong Kong authorities say at least 128 people have died in the fire and dozens are still missing.

At least one of the dead is a firefighter who was combating the blaze. The Hong Kong fire department also said 76 people were injured.

The fire department chief said the fire alarms failed to operate properly when the fire broke out.

On Friday, police arrested eight people on suspicion of corruption over the renovation works. Earlier in the week, three men were taken away for alleged manslaughter in connection with the fire.

The fire was put out at 10:18am on Friday, according to a government press release.

The Wang Fuk Court complex in Hong Kong's Tai Po district is a cluster of eight public housing towers and home to about 4,600 people, according to a 2021 census.

Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated cities in the world, making it difficult to extinguish large fires, which can spread easily from building to building.

Because of the blaze, several adjacent roads were shut down, along with about 30 bus routes, which were diverted away from the fire. The fire also spread from the housing complex to the Wong Shiu Chi Secondary School about 500 yards away.

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Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will remain in detention at the International Criminal Court after appeals judges on Friday rejected a request to release him on health grounds.

The octogenarian is facing charges of crimes against humanity for his alleged involvement in dozens of killings as part of his so-called war on drugs when in office, first as the mayor of a southern city and later as president.

Duterte’s lawyers failed to show that an October decision by lower chamber was unreasonable, Judge Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza said, addressing the full courtroom in The Hague.

The former president was not in court on Friday.

Last month, judges decided to keep Duterte in custody, finding that he was likely to refuse to return for trial and could use his freedom to intimidate witnesses.

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Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu should be quaking in his boots at the decisive victory of Zohran Mamdani in the 4 November New York City mayoral election. Not because of absurd allegations of antisemitism for which there is no evidence, but because Mamdani has broken the longstanding taboo for successful New York candidates against criticizing the Israeli government. And he has only reinforced his approach in the month since his election.

New York has the largest Jewish population in the United States – and the second-largest of any city in the world after Tel Aviv. The longstanding assumption was that many Jewish voters prioritized the defense of the Israeli government over other issues, so criticism of Israel would set them against a politician.

Mamdani blew that assumption out of the water. During the campaign he spoke accurately and openly about the genocide that Israel was committing in Gaza. He insisted that all residents of Israel should have equal rights. He said he would arrest Netanyahu were he to show up in New York. Yet one-third of New York’s Jewish voters cast a ballot for him. As did many others.

Some Jews may have been uncomfortable with Mamdani’s criticism of Israel but liked other aspects of his candidacy, such as his relentless focus on affordability. Others, myself included, were attracted by his candor on such an important issue as Israel. Many were also probably appalled by the efforts of Mamdani’s principal opponent, Andrew Cuomo, to tar Mamdani with fact-free allegations of antisemitism.

Mamdani has only continued his openness on Israel since the election. In his remarkably friendly meeting with Donald Trump in the White House on 21 November, Mamdani repeated his genocide views and noted that the US government was funding it. Trump let the comment slide without a response.

After a major Manhattan synagogue hosted a group that was encouraging American Jews to emigrate not only to Israel (a normal enough appeal) but also to Israel’s settlements in the occupied West Bank, Mamdani noted the illegality of the settlements. That is an accurate reflection of article 49 of the fourth Geneva convention, which prohibits an occupying power from transferring its population to occupied territory.

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