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Shapiro on arson attack at home: ‘The devastation was shocking'

Shapiro on arson attack at home: ‘The devastation was shocking'

The Hill23-04-2025

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) said 'the devastation was shocking' following the recent arson attack at his residence, adding in a New York Times opinion piece that 'it looked like a bomb had gone off in the middle of our home.'
'Windows were smashed in, and there was glass everywhere. Some tables were turned over, and others had just melted away. Artwork from the New Deal era that had hung on display for visitors to enjoy had disintegrated into the walls. Plates we had eaten our Seder dinner on were broken and covered in soot,' Shapiro said in the Times.
'The Haggadah — our prayer book for the Seder — was burned so badly, only a few short lines of text were recognizable. The devastation was shocking, and to me, it did not appear to be an accident. The damage was too extreme,' he added.
Shapiro said '13 hours after the arsonist invaded our home, I stood at the window that he had climbed through, receiving an update from the Pennsylvania State Police, and then made clear to the people of my state that nothing would deter me from doing my job — and nothing would deter me from practicing my faith openly and proudly.'
'And I meant it. After I concluded my remarks, I rejoined my family to celebrate our second Passover Seder,' he added.
According Pennsylvania State Police, the suspect who was arrested in connection with the arson attack at Shapiro's residence pointed to the struggle of the Palestinian people as his motivation.
On Tuesday, Shapiro said that President Trump called over the weekend to ask about the arson attack.
'He was very gracious. He asked how Lori and the kids were doing. [We] talked for a couple minutes about what transpired at the residence, and then we talked about for maybe the next 15 minutes or so about a whole host of other topics,' Shapiro said of the call.
'Obviously, I'm not going to get into our private conversation,' he continued, 'but he's attuned to the issues that are important to me. I, of course, know the issues that are important to him, and we agreed to stay in touch going forward.'
Shapiro said that the call from the president came from his cell phone, so he didn't recognize the number initially and let it go to voicemail.

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UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway sanction 2 far-right Israeli Cabinet ministers
UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway sanction 2 far-right Israeli Cabinet ministers

The Hill

timean hour ago

  • The Hill

UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway sanction 2 far-right Israeli Cabinet ministers

JERUSALEM (AP) — Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway said Tuesday they have imposed sanctions on two far-right Israeli government ministers for allegedly 'inciting extremist violence' against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich face asset freezes and travel bans from the five countries. The ministers are champions of expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The decision by Western governments friendly to Israel was a sharp rebuke of Israel's settlement policies in the West Bank and of settler violence, which has spiked since Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack ignited the war in the Gaza Strip. The five countries' foreign ministers said in a joint statement that Ben-Gvir and Smotrich 'have incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights. Extremist rhetoric advocating the forced displacement of Palestinians and the creation of new Israeli settlements is appalling and dangerous.' Israel's Foreign Ministry said earlier it had been informed of the sanctions. Smotrich, the country's finance minister, wrote on social media that he found out that Britain had decided to sanction him for obstructing the viability of a Palestinian state. 'We are determined to continue building,' he said. 'We overcame Pharoah, we'll overcome Starmer's Wall.' Ben-Gvir, the national security minister, wrote on social media. Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called the move 'outrageous.' He said he had discussed it with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and they would meet next week to discuss Israel's response. The Biden administration took the rare step of sanctioning radical Israeli settlers implicated in violence in the occupied West Bank — sanctions that were then lifted by President Donald Trump. Eitay Mack, an Israeli human rights lawyer who spent years campaigning for the sanctions on Smotrich and Ben-Gvir — along with violent West Bank settlers — described the move as 'historic.' 'It means the wall of immunity that Israeli politicians had has been broken,' he said. 'It's unbelievable that it took so long for Western governments to sanction Israeli politicians, and the fact that it's being done while Trump is president is quite amazing,' said Mack. 'It is a message to Netanyahu himself that he could be next.' Israel captured the West Bank along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want those territories for their hoped-for future state. Settlement growth and construction have been promoted by successive Israeli governments stretching back decades, but it has exploded under Netanyahu's far-right coalition, which has settlers in key Cabinet posts. There are now well over 100 settlements and 500,000 Israeli settlers sprawling across the territory from north to south — a reality, rights groups say, dimming any hopes for an eventual two-state solution. ___ AP Correspondent Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.

UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway sanction 2 far-right Israeli Cabinet ministers
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