Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said US envoy Steve Witkoff described Gaza’s entire population as “two million Nazis” during a private meeting last year.
Speaking at a conference in Israel on Thursday, the far-right minister recounted a conversation held after Witkoff’s visited Gaza last August at the height of the Israeli genocide.
Smotrich said: "When Witkoff was appointed, I sat with him and Ron Dermer [former Israeli ambassador to the US]." They showed Witkoff a propaganda video, after which the US envoy turned to Smotrich and reportedly said: "Bezalel, I will not let two million Nazis live next to your children on fences."
Witkoff, a former property lawyer with no previous foreign policy or humanitarian experience, publicly presented the Gaza visit as an effort to “help craft a plan to deliver food and medical aid to the people of Gaza”.
At the time, Israel was deliberately starving residents by restricting food entering Gaza and driving much of its population towards famine.
Smotrich: Steve Witkoff called Gaza Palestinians ‘two million Nazis’
UK charity warned by regulator over fundraising video for Israeli soldiers
The UK’s charity regulator has issued an official warning to a British charity which raises funds to support Israeli soldiers over a "distressing" video posted on its website.
The Charity Commission said the London-based UK Friends of the Association for the Wellbeing of Israel's Soldiers (UK-AWIS) had “breached their legal duties” after publishing a video appealing for donations to support Israeli forces involved in the war against Hamas.
“All of the trustees have failed to act in the charity’s best interests and manage its resources responsibly by exposing the charity’s reputation to unnecessary risk,” the commission said.
“This is a breach of trust or duty, or misconduct and/or mismanagement in the administration of the charity.”
The video, which has since been removed from UK-AWIS’s website, Facebook and YouTube pages, appeared to show a person being killed as part of a montage of footage featuring air strikes and combat scenes, similar to promotional content produced by the Israeli military.
Multiple Explosions Rock Kyiv in Early-Morning Russian Missile Attack
Russia launched a ballistic missile attack on Kyiv early Saturday, striking four districts and injuring at least six people, Ukrainian officials said.
The first explosions were heard at around 3:38 a.m., before air-raid sirens sounded in the capital at 3:40 a.m. and in the surrounding region at 3:54 a.m.
“The enemy is attacking the capital with missiles. Please remain in safe places,” Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, wrote on Telegram.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko later confirmed that the city had been targeted with ballistic missiles.
“The number of injured in the capital has risen to six,” Tkachenko reported.
Three people were hospitalized, while three others received medical assistance at the scene. Officials did not immediately provide further details on their conditions.
Bipartisan housing bill to become law in a matter of hours – even if Trump refuses to sign it
A major housing bill will go into effect at midnight on Saturday without Donald Trump’s signature, after the president said he would refuse to sign the legislation because Congress has not approved new restrictions on voting nationwide.
The measure, known as the 21st Century Road to Housing Act, is the biggest change to federal policy for buyers, renters and homebuilders in decades, and Congress approved it with large margins last month after lengthy negotiations between Democrats and Republicans.
But Trump has tied the bill to the Save America Act, which would impose a host of new restrictions on voters and state election officials nationwide ahead of November’s midterm elections, in which Republicans will be defending their majorities in the Senate and the House of Representatives. A version of the Save America Act passed the House in February, but it is opposed by Senate Democrats and lacks the votes in that chamber to overcome the filibuster.
Last month, Trump canceled a signing ceremony for the housing bill, denying his Republican allies an opportunity to publicly highlight their efforts to address housing affordability, which surveys indicate is a top concern among voters.
New York City becomes first in the US to ban deceptive subscription practices
New York City has adopted a new rule that bans companies from using deceptive subscriptions to trap customers into paying for gym memberships, streaming services and other recurring charges, the city’s consumer protection office said.
The new rule, which will start on 1 October, promises hefty fines and aggressive enforcement for violators. Companies that do not provide a simple way to cancel could pay $525 per user subscription, back fees and additional fines.
The city is also targeting so-called “junk fees” that raise the final price of everything from apartments to shttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/10/new-york-city-deceptive-subscriptions-banporting events, with a proposed rule that requires sellers to “advertise the total price for any good or service, including all mandatory additional charges and fees, up front”, according to a release shared with the Guardian.
“People shouldn’t have to wait on hold for half an hour or send a certified letter or show up to a store in person in order to cancel” a subscription, said Samuel AA Levine, the city’s commissioner of consumer and worker protection, in an interview.
The state of New York this week sued several companies over “forever chemicals”
The state of New York this week sued several companies over “forever chemicals,” a family of toxic chemicals that have commonly been used in consumer products.
New York Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday sued five firms, alleging that they knew and hid information indicating these chemicals were toxic and persistent in the environment.
James also alleged the companies knew their products were harmful to the environment.
New York’s lawsuit is against DuPont, 3M and DuPont spinoffs Chemours, Corteva and EIDP.
“Big companies like 3M and DuPont knowingly sold toxic products that threatened New Yorkers’ health and polluted our environment for decades. It’s time for them to pay for the damage they caused,” James said in a written statement.
Trump weakens key endangered species protection
The Trump administration announced Friday that it rolled back a key protection for endangered species.
Specifically, it said it was repealing a previous definition of prohibited “harm” to endangered animals and plants under the Endangered Species Act.
Under prior regulations, expressly prohibited “harm” includes significantly changing a species’s habitat to the point that it “actually kills or injures wildlife” by preventing food, shelter or breeding.
The administration said it was making its move to speed up approvals for projects that would have been slowed under previous rules of the road, which it described as outdated.
“For years, federal agencies abused the ESA to obstruct lawful land use and burden American families and businesses,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement.
Environmental advocates warned that repealing the definition could allow developers to trample over important habitats — harming at-risk animals and plants in the process.
Controversial White House report targets Smithsonian. What's going on?
Tensions between the Trump administration and the Smithsonian Institution have escalated after a White House report accused the National Museum of American History of promoting a "radical, activist ideology."
In the days after the report was released, historians rallied around the museum, Smithsonian leadership criticized the report, and visitors – including some supporters of President Donald Trump – told USA TODAY they saw little evidence of a https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/07/10/trump-smithsonian-national-museum-american-history/90860071007/radical agenda at the museum.
The 162-page report, released July 4 by the White House Domestic Policy Council, is part of the Trump administration’s ongoing review of the Smithsonian, which includes 21 museums and the National Zoo.
The report accuses the museum of overemphasizing themes like racism and inequality and says its leaders steered from historical scholarship toward social justice advocacy. It also argues that the museum's exhibits fail to sufficiently highlight American achievements and instead "teach disdain and inspire disgust of our great country."
Missouri flash floods leave around a dozen missing from campground
Flash flooding in southeastern Missouri wrecked a campground and carried away about a dozen people, according to local authorities.
The Bearcat Getaway Campground located along the Black River in Lesterville, Missouri, was hit by catastrophic flooding in the southeastern part of the state. The most recent rash of floodwaters destroyed a campground building and around 10 to 17 people were caught in the waters, the Reynold County Sheriff’s Office said in a July 10 release.
Search and rescue operations are actively underway, and this remains a rapidly evolving situation," the sheriff’s office said. "We are grateful for the tireless efforts of the many agencies and responders who worked tirelessly throughout the search and rescue operation."
USA TODAY has reached out to the sheriff's office for additional information on the missing campers.
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