Israeli army says it 'intercepted' drone fired from Yemen
The Israeli military said its air force intercepted a drone it claimed was fired from Yemen, adding that it did not cross Israeli territory and no alerts were issued.
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Sky News AU
16 minutes ago
- Sky News AU
Trump calls for ‘cancellation' of Benjamin Netanyahu's corruption trial
US President Donald Trump has called for the cancellation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's trial. Throwing his support behind the prime minister, Trump condemned the Israeli corruption trial. The long-running corruption trial began in May 2020, as the Israeli prime minister requested it be postponed due to the war in Gaza. Trump took to social media platform Truth Social, where he unleashed on the trial, calling it a 'witch hunt'. 'I was shocked to hear that the State of Israel, which has just had one of its greatest moments in history, and is strongly led by Bibi Netanyahu, is continuing its ridiculous Witch Hunt against their great wartime Prime Minister,' Trump posted. 'Bibi and I just went through hell together, fighting a very tough and brilliant longtime enemy of Israel, Iran, and Bibi could not have been better, sharper, or stronger in his love for the incredible holy land.'
USA Today
16 minutes ago
- USA Today
Boulder, Colorado, attack suspect charged with federal hate crimes
A man accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at a group of people in Boulder, Colorado, who gathered in support of Israeli hostages in Gaza, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on 12 hate crime counts, prosecutors said on June 25. The indictment comes after a federal judge ruled last week that there was enough evidence to move forward with a hate crime case against Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45. The indictment, which was unsealed on June 25, accuses Soliman of attacking members of "Run for Their Lives," a group advocating for the release of the hostages held in Gaza since the assault on Israel by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. The incident occurred on June 1 as the group gathered at a pedestrian mall in downtown Boulder for a weekly demonstration. Authorities said Soliman targeted the group with Molotov cocktails and a makeshift flamethrower, injuring more than a dozen people. The 12 hate crime counts against Soliman include nine counts of violating 18 U.S.C. § 249, willfully causing injury to a person because of their actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado. It also includes three counts of violating 18 U.S.C. § 844(h), using fire or an explosive to commit a felony. Soliman had previously been charged with a federal hate crime offense, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. State prosecutors have also charged Soliman with 118 criminal counts, including attempted murder and other offenses. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if he's found guilty of the federal hate crime charges against him. Boulder attack: How a father of 5 morphed into a terror suspect with Boulder's Jews in his crosshairs What happened in the attack in Boulder? Boulder dispatch received several calls to the outdoor Pearl Street Mall at around 1:26 p.m. local time on June 1, police said. Initial reports indicated that there was a man with a weapon, and people were being set on fire near the Boulder County Courthouse. Soliman had carried a backpack weed sprayer that contained a flammable liquid and a black plastic container that held at least 18 glass bottles and jars filled with flammable liquid, several of which had "red rags stuffed through the top to act as wicks," according to the indictment. The indictment states that he then allegedly approached the Run for Their Lives group and threw two ignited Molotov cocktails while shouting "Free Palestine!" Authorities said 15 people between the ages of 25 and 88 were injured with burns. Soliman was taken into custody following the attack. Authorities closed off several blocks in downtown Boulder surrounding the county courthouse as multiple teams processed the crime scene and investigated a subject vehicle. The indictment said a handwritten document was recovered from the vehicle driven by Soliman. According to the indictment, the document stated, "Zionism is our enemies untill [sic] Jerusalem is liberated and they are expelled from our land," and also described Israel as a "cancer entity." The indictment further alleges that Soliman told law enforcement during an interview that he viewed "anyone supporting the exist [sic] of Israel on our land" to be "Zionist." He allegedly said he "decide[d] to take [his] revenge from these people' and "search[ed] the internet looking for any Zionist event," according to the indictment. Soliman also said he learned of the Run for Their Lives group through online searches for 'Zionist' events and that he was able to identify the group after seeing the flags and signs they carried outside the county courthouse, the indictment states. The Associated Press reported that during the June 18 hearing, Soliman's defense attorney had urged the judge not to allow the hate crime case to proceed because the alleged attack was not a hate crime. The attorney said the attack was motivated by opposition to the political movement of Zionism, according to AP. One year later: Anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim hate incidents spike since Oct. 7 attacks Who is Mohamed Soliman? Soliman entered the United States in August 2022 on a B-2 tourist visa that expired over two years ago, according to Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. An affidavit said he was born in Egypt and lived in Kuwait for 17 years before moving to Colorado three years ago. Soliman, who has a valid Colorado driver's license and no prior criminal history, told investigators that he planned the attack for a year and "was waiting until after his daughter graduated to conduct the attack," according to the affidavit. He hoped to use a gun and had taken shooting classes, but his immigration status prevented him from purchasing a firearm, the affidavit said. Uber confirmed that Soliman had worked as a driver starting in spring 2023, though the company did not specify whether he worked driving passengers or for Uber Eats, or both. The company terminated Soliman's account following the attack but noted that he had "no concerning feedback while driving on the Uber platform." According to the affidavit, he lived at a home in Colorado Springs with his wife and five children. Soliman's wife and children, ages 4 to 18, were detained by immigration agents on June 3, and the Trump administration said they would be subjected to expedited deportation. But a federal judge in Denver blocked the move on June 4, saying the family is entitled to due process. By then, the family had been transferred to a detention facility in Texas, where the case is expected to be heard. Contributing: Susan Miller, Jorge L. Ortiz, Christopher Cann, Michael Loria, and Phaedra Trethan, USA TODAY
Scoop
17 minutes ago
- Scoop
'New Middle East': This Is Netanyahu's Real Goal In The Region
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu persistently declares his ambition to "change the face of the Middle East". Yet, his repeated assertions seem to clash with the unfolding reality on the ground. Netanyahu's opportunistic relationship with language is now proving detrimental to his country. The Israeli leader undoubtedly grasps fundamental marketing principles, particularly the power of strong branding and consistent messaging. However, for any product to succeed over time, clever branding alone is insufficient; the product itself must live up to at least a minimum degree of expectation. Netanyahu's "product," however, has proven utterly defective, yet the 75-year-old Israeli Prime Minister stubbornly refuses to abandon his outdated marketing techniques. But what exactly is Netanyahu selling? Long before assuming Israel's leadership, Netanyahu mastered the art of repetition – a technique often employed by politicians to inundate public discourse with specific slogans. Over time, these slogans are intended to become "common sense". As a member of the Knesset in 1992, Netanyahu delivered what appeared to be a bombshell: Iran was "within three to five years" from obtaining a nuclear bomb. In 1996, he urged the US Congress to act, declaring that "time is running out." While the US pivoted its attention toward Iraq, following the September 2001 attacks, Netanyahu evidently hoped to eliminate two regional foes in one stroke. Following the fall of the Iraqi government in 2003, Netanyahu channeled all his energy into a new discourse: Iran as an existential threat. Between then and now, Iran has remained his primary focus, even as regional alliances began to form around a discourse of stabilization and renewed diplomatic ties. However, the Obama administration, especially during its second term, was clearly uninterested in another regional war. As soon as Obama left office, Netanyahu reverted to his old marketing strategy. It was during Trump's first term that Netanyahu brought all his marketing techniques to the forefront. He utilized what is known as comparative advertising, where his enemies' "product" is denigrated with basic terms like 'barbarism', ' dark age ', and so forth, while his own is promoted as representing ' civilization ', ' enlightenment ', and 'progress'. He also invested heavily in the FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) marketing technique. This entailed spreading negative or misleading information about others while promoting his own as a far superior alternative. This brings us to "solution framing." For instance, the so-called "existential threats" faced by Israel can supposedly be resolved through the establishment of a "New Middle East." For this new reality to materialize, the US, he argues, would have to take action, not only to save Israel but also the "civilized world" as well. It must be noted that Netanyahu's "New Middle East" is not his original framing. This notion can be traced to a paper published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in March 2004. It followed the US war and invasion of Iraq and was part of the intellectual euphoria among US and other Western intellectuals seeking to reshape the Middle East in a way that suited US geopolitical needs. The Carnegie article sought to expand the definition of the Middle East beyond the traditional Middle East and North Africa, reaching as far as the Caucasus and Central Asia. American politicians adopted this new concept, tailoring it to suit US interests at the time. It was US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who largely rebranded"greater" to "new," thus coining the "New Middle East," which she announced in June 2006. Though Netanyahu embraced the term, he improvised it in recent years. Instead of speaking of it as a distant objective, he declared that he was actively in the process of making it a reality. "We are changing the face of the Middle East. We are changing the face of the world," he triumphantly declared in June 2021. Even following the events of October 7, 2023, and the Israeli war and genocide that ensued, Netanyahu never ceased using the term. This time, however, his emphasis on "change" rotated between a future possibility and an active reality. "I ask that you stand steadfast because we are going to change the Middle East," he stated on October 9 of that same year. And again in September 2024, he proclaimed that Israel was "pursuing" a plan to "assassinate Hezbollah leaders" with the aim of "changing the strategic reality of the Middle East." And again, in October, December, and January of this year. In every single instance, he contextualized the "change of the Middle East" with bombs and rockets, and nothing else. In May, coinciding with a major Israeli bombing of Yemen, he declared that Israel's "mission" exceeds that of "defeating Hamas," extending to "changing the face of the Middle East." And finally, on June 16, he assigned the same language to the war with Iran, this time remaining committed to the new tweak of adding the word "face" to his new, envisaged Middle East. Of course, old branding tactics aside, Netanyahu's Middle East, much like the US' old "greater Middle East," remains a pipe dream aimed at dominating the resource-rich region, with Israel serving the role of regional hegemon. That said, the events of the last two years have demonstrated that, although the Middle East is indeed changing, this transformation is not happening because of Israel. Consequently, the outcome will most likely not be to its liking. Therefore, Netanyahu may continue repeating, like a broken record, old colonial slogans, but genuine change will only happen because of the peoples of the region and their many capable political players. - Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of six books. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappé, is ' Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak Out'. His other books include 'My Father was a Freedom Fighter' and 'The Last Earth'. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). His website is
