logo
Militant George Abdallah arrives in Lebanon after more than 40 years in French detention

Militant George Abdallah arrives in Lebanon after more than 40 years in French detention

BEIRUT (AP) — A Lebanese pro-Palestinian communist militant arrived in Lebanon Friday following his release after more than 40 years in detention in France.
Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, 74, was serving a life sentence for complicity in the murders of two diplomats, one American and one Israeli, in Paris in 1982.
The Paris Court of Appeal ruled last week that Abdallah, who has been imprisoned in France since his arrest in 1984, could be released on the condition that he leave the country and never return.
Abdallah was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1987 for complicity in the assassinations of U.S. Army Lt. Col. Charles Ray, who was stationed in Paris as an assistant military attaché, and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov.
He became eligible for parole in 1999 but multiple requests he filed since then were denied.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Vance claims ‘Trump has nothing to hide' in Epstein case, says Obama, Bush ‘didn't fully investigate' serial perv
Vance claims ‘Trump has nothing to hide' in Epstein case, says Obama, Bush ‘didn't fully investigate' serial perv

New York Post

time18 minutes ago

  • New York Post

Vance claims ‘Trump has nothing to hide' in Epstein case, says Obama, Bush ‘didn't fully investigate' serial perv

Vice President JD Vance was adamant Monday that President Trump 'has nothing to hide' with respect to notorious sex predator Jeffrey Epstein, while ripping into the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations for their handling of the case. 'The president has been very clear. We're not shielding anything,' Vance told reporters at an event in Canton, Ohio meant to promote the newly-enacted One Big Beautiful Bill Act. 'The president has directed the attorney general to release all credible information and, frankly, to go and find additional credible information related to the Jeffrey Epstein case,' added the Ohio native. 'He's been incredibly transparent about that stuff. But some of that stuff takes time.' Advertisement Vance echoed other top officials in stressing the need to safeguard the names of victims in any additional disclosures about Epstein, who was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell Aug. 10, 2019, while awaiting federal trial on sex trafficking charges. 4 Vice President JD Vance insisted that President Trump has nothing to hide on the Epstein issue. POOL/AFP via Getty Images 4 Critics have alleged that the feds know significantly more about Jeffrey Epstein than what's been revealed. Advertisement Before ascending to public office, Vance suggested the government was not being transparent about the late pedophile or his purported network of associates. 'For 20 years, you had Obama and George W. Bush's Department of Justice go easy on this guy. They didn't fully investigate the case,' the 40-year-old charged Monday. 'They didn't show any curiosity about the case, and now Donald J. Trump is asking his Department of Justice to show full transparency.' 'If you want to criticize the people who aren't showing full transparency, you ought to go after the administrations that went easy on Jeffrey Epstein, the administrations that concealed this case for 20 years, and the administrations that failed to show full transparency.' 4 Jeffrey Epstein had been a fixture among American elites for decades. Getty Images Advertisement In 2007, then-Miami US Attorney Alex Acosta cut a deal with Epstein allowing him to plead guilty to Florida state charges of solicitation of prostitution and procuring a minor for prostitution. Under the plea agreement, Epstein was only confined for 13 months, spending much of that period on work release. Acosta was named Labor Secretary by Trump at the beginning of the president's first term, but resigned in July 2019, days after Epstein's arrest by federal investigators, amid an outcry over the plea deal. 'Donald J. Trump, I'm telling you, he's got nothing to hide,' Vance insisted. 'His administration has got nothing to hide, and that's why he's been an advocate for full transparency in this case.' 4 President Trump has ripped into the MAGA firestorm over Jeffrey Epstein but simultaneously called for transparency. Getty Images Advertisement Trump has faced a firestorm in the wake of a Justice Department and FBI memo issued July 6 — exactly six years after Epstein's last arrest — that concluded the 66-year-old killed himself in his prison cell and did not possess a 'client list' of powerful associates who are claimed to have engaged in sex with girls as young as 14, contrary to widespread speculation. The president has lashed out at some of his supporters for believing what he calls the 'Jeffrey Epstein hoax' and accused the Democrats of pushing bad-faith claims about the case. Last week, a Florida federal judge rejected a DOJ request to release transcripts of grand jury testimony from the investigation into Epstein that preceded the 2007 plea deal. Meanwhile, in Tallahassee, Epstein's accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell sat for two days of interviews with Justice Department officials, led by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.

Sen. Angus King to oppose ‘any' support for Israel amid Gaza crisis
Sen. Angus King to oppose ‘any' support for Israel amid Gaza crisis

The Hill

time18 minutes ago

  • The Hill

Sen. Angus King to oppose ‘any' support for Israel amid Gaza crisis

Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) said Monday he will oppose 'any' support for Israel amid the hunger crisis in Gaza. 'I am through supporting the actions of the current Israeli government and will advocate—and vote—for an end to any United States support whatsoever until there is a demonstrable change in the direction of Israeli policy,' King said in a statement on his website. 'My litmus test will be simple: no aid of any kind as long as there are starving children in Gaza due to the action or inaction of the Israeli government,' he added. On Monday, President Trump indicated a break with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where the president stated there was 'real starvation' happening. Trump said to reporters during a meeting alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer that he was 'not particularly' in line with Netanyahu's claim that there was no starvation occurring in Gaza, which has faced mass destruction and death in Israel's war against Hamas. 'I mean, based on television, I would say not particularly because those children look very hungry,' Trump told reporters when asked about Netanyahu's claim. Gaza humanitarian director for Save the Children Rachael Cummings said that the situation for Gazans is 'catastrophic' and that children 'are literally starving.' 'The situation in Gaza is catastrophic for children and increasingly now for adults. There is no food available in the market. Children are literally starving,' Cummings said on ABC's 'This Week.' King said in his Monday statement that he 'cannot defend the indefensible,' adding that 'Israel's actions in the conduct of the war in Gaza, especially its failure to address the unimaginable humanitarian crisis now unfolding, is an affront to human decency.' 'What appears to be a deliberately-induced famine among a civilian population—including tens of thousands of starving children—can never be an acceptable military strategy,' he continued.

Two rights groups are first Israeli voices to accuse Israel of genocide
Two rights groups are first Israeli voices to accuse Israel of genocide

USA Today

time18 minutes ago

  • USA Today

Two rights groups are first Israeli voices to accuse Israel of genocide

Two Israeli rights groups said Israel was carrying out "coordinated, deliberate action to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza strip." JERUSALEM − Two Israeli human rights organizations said Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, the first major voices in Israeli society to level the strongest possible accusation against the state, which vehemently denies it. Rights group B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel released their reports at a July 28 press conference in Jerusalem, saying Israel was carrying out "coordinated, deliberate action to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza strip." "The report we are publishing today is one we never imagined we would have to write," said B'Tselem Executive Director Yuli Novak. "The people of Gaza have been displaced, bombed and starved, left completely stripped of their humanity and rights." More: One meal a day. $20 for an egg. Choosing which kid gets fed. Starvation stalks Gaza Physicians for Human Rights Israel focused on damage to Gaza's healthcare system, saying: "Israel's actions have destroyed Gaza's healthcare infrastructure in a manner that is both calculated and systematic". Israel has fended off accusations of genocide since the early days of the Gaza war, including a case brought by South Africa at the International Court of Justice in the Hague that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned as "outrageous". A spokesperson for the Israeli government called the allegation made by the rights groups on Monday "baseless." More: 'Children look very hungry': Trump rejects Netanyahu's claim of no starvation in Gaza "There is no intent, (which is) key for the charge of genocide ... it simply doesn't make sense for a country to send in 1.9 million tons of aid, most of that being food, if there is an intent of genocide," said spokesperson David Mencer. A spokesperson for Israel's military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Accusations of genocide have particular gravity in Israel because of the origins of the concept in the work of Jewish legal scholars in the wake of the Nazi Holocaust. Israeli officials have in the past said using the word against Israel was libellous and antisemitic. When Amnesty International said in December that Israel had committed genocidal acts, Israel's foreign ministry called the global rights group a "deplorable and fanatical organization." The 1948 Genocide Convention, adopted globally after the mass murder of Jews by the Nazis, defines genocide as "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group". More: USAID analysis found no evidence of massive Hamas theft of Gaza aid Israel launched its war in Gaza after Hamas-led fighters attacked Israeli communities across the border on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to its tallies. Israel has often described that attack, the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, as genocidal. Since then, Israel's offensive has killed nearly 60,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health officials, reduced much of the enclave to ruins, and displaced nearly the entire population of more than two million. Israel has consistently said its actions are justified as self-defence, and Hamas is to blame for all harm to civilians, for refusing to release hostages and surrender, and for operating in civilian areas, which the group denies. 'I feel horror' At a Jerusalem cafe, Carmella, a 48-year-old teacher whose grandparents survived the Holocaust, said that she was distressed over the suffering an hour's drive away, inside Gaza. More: Israel and US recall teams from Gaza truce talks, US says Hamas not showing good faith "It feels difficult to me as an Israeli, as a Jew, to watch those images and feel anything but tremendous compassion and horror, to be honest. I feel horror." International attention to the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza has intensified in recent weeks, with U.N. agencies saying the territory is running out of food for its 2.2 million people. Israel, which controls all supplies in and out of Gaza, says it has let enough food in, and blames the U.N. for failing to distribute it. Israel shut off all supplies in March for nearly three months, reopening the territory in May but with restrictions it says are needed to prevent aid from ending up in the hands of fighters. Since then, its forces have shot dead hundreds of Gazans trying to reach food distribution sites, according to the United Nations. 'You see cracks' Israel has announced measures in recent days to increase aid supplies, including pausing fighting in some locations, allowing airlifts of food and safer corridors for aid. Throughout the conflict, Israeli media have tended to focus mainly on the plight of Israeli hostages in Gaza. Footage widely broadcast in other countries of destruction and casualties in Gaza is rarely shown on Israeli TV. That has been changing, with recent images of starving children having a little more impact, said Oren Persico from The Seventh Eye, a group that tracks trends in Israeli media. "It's very slowly evolving," he said. "You see cracks." But he did not expect the genocide allegation would spark a major shift in attitudes: "The Israeli perception is: 'what do you want from us? It's Hamas' fault, if it would only put down its weapons and (release) the hostages this could all be over'." In an editorial in the Jerusalem Post on Sunday, Dani Dayan, the chairman of Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, said it was not accurate to accuse Israel of committing genocide. "But that does not mean we should not acknowledge the suffering of civilians in Gaza. There are many men, women, and children with no connection to terrorism who are experiencing devastation, displacement, and loss," he wrote. "Their anguish is real, and our moral tradition obligates us not to turn away from it."

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store