Hundreds attend funeral of killed Israeli hostage Oded Lifshitz
Hundreds of people flocked to the southern Israeli kibbutz of Nir Oz on Tuesday to pay their last respects to 84-year-old peace activist Oded Lifshitz, who was killed in captivity in the Gaza Strip.
"Dad, you're here now, now you're home," the Times of Israel quoted his eldest son, Arnon Lifshitz, as saying during the funeral.
Lifshitz, then aged 83, was one of the 250 people abducted during the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
His remains were returned to Israel last week under a fragile ceasefire agreement with the Palestinian extremist group.
A forensic examination suggests that Lifshitz was killed by his captors shortly after having been taken to the sealed-off coastal territory.
His body was returned alongside those of Kfir and Ariel Bibas, two young boys who were abducted alongside their parents.
The body of the boy's mother, Shiri Bibas, was said to have been returned alongside them, but Israel later announced that the remains were not hers, sparking outrage.
Shiri Bibas was then returned the next day, and she and her sons are set to be buried on Wednesday.
The children's father, Yarden Bibas, 34, was released alive by Hamas on February 1. All four members of the family were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz during the unprecedented October terrorist attacks two years ago.
Some 1,200 people were killed in the attacks, which led to another war in Gaza, in which tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed so far.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Oklahoma lawmakers were trying to finish for the year. Then everything stopped over this bill
A stalemate dominated what was expected to be the final day of the 2025 session of the Oklahoma Legislature, with a Senate vote to override the governor's veto of a House bill taking five hours and delaying action on 49 other attempted veto overrides. Both legislative chambers remained in session well into the night of Thursday, May 29, and early Friday morning, to handle those overrides – all but two of them eventually succeeded, and those could be considered when the House returns for a final session later Friday morning. Both chambers also voted to approve a resolution to oust state mental health commissioner Allie Friesen. The Senate adjourned sine die, ending its 2025 session, at 12:25 a.m. Friday. By law, the Legislature has to adjourn by 5 p.m. Friday. The marathon Thursday was due to the fact that work in both chambers stalled for hours — from the afternoon until 9:13 p.m. — and only resumed after a Republican legislator in the Senate switched his vote to complete a successful override of House Bill 2769. The measure, authored by Rep. Chris Kannady, R-Oklahoma City, would create a financial assistance program for Oklahoma guard members who enroll in a technology center. It also would create a fund to pay members when they become eligible for retirement benefits from the Defense Finance Accounting Service. It was the first measure the House voted on earlier Thursday when both chambers were voting to override Gov. Kevin Stitt's vetos of bills that had originated in their chambers. Once bills passed their original chambers, the measures moved across the Capitol rotunda to the other chamber. But the tradeoff turned into a stalemate over HB 2769. The House did not act on any vetoed bills until the Senate approved the measure, a process that took hours. What to know: Oklahoma governor signs income tax cut deal It's common practice late in a legislative session for one chamber to not act on a priority of the other chamber until the first chamber's priority is dealt with. Apparently, HB 2769 was such a priority for the Republican-led House. To override a veto, a bill must receive a two-thirds majority vote in both chambers, and a three-quarters majority in both chambers if it has an emergency clause attached that would make it take effect immediately. At 4:11 p.m., the Senate opened its override vote for HB 2769, which needed 32 Senate votes to succeed. An initial vote was 30-16, without the votes of two senators – Sen. Adam Pugh, R-Edmond, and Sen. Dana Prieto, R-Tulsa. Pugh was out of state on personal business, a Senate spokesman said – although he arrived in time for the post-midnight votes. Prieto's whereabouts were unknown, although he had been present during a morning session. The margin was just short of the bar needed to pass HB 2769 into law. Bargaining over votes occupied the ensuing hours. About 5:50 p.m., Sen. Nikki Nice of Oklahoma City, one of two Democratic senators who initially had voted no, re-entered the Senate chamber and changed her vote, pushing the tally to 31-15. But about 6:30, Sen. Casey Murdock, R-Felt, switched his vote from 'yes' to 'no.' Sen. Regina Goodwin, D-Tulsa – at that point her party's lone 'no' vote – came back into the chamber but soon left again without changing her vote. Murdock could be seen conferring in the rotunda with legislative leaders. But as the bell that summons legislators to their chambers echoed through the Capitol for hours, the 30-16 vote remained posted on the electronic board inside the Senate. Murdock then switched his vote back to 'yes', and then Sen. Roland Pederson, R-Burlington, switched his vote. Sen. Brent Howard, R-Altus, who was presiding over the session, quickly closed the vote when the tally reached 32-14. Shortly after 9 p.m., the House voted to suspend its rules to allow food on the floor and to be able to work past midnight. The Senate later did the same. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: This bill sparked a five-hour stalemate in the Oklahoma Legislature
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Bernard Kerik, head of New York police during 9/11, dies at 69
Bernard Kerik, New York City's former police commissioner during the 11 September 2001 attacks, has died aged 69. His death was confirmed by FBI Director Kash Patel, who said the former police officer died Thursday after a "private battle with illness." Kerik oversaw the police response to the deadliest terrorist attack in US history, and was later appointed by former US President George Bush as head of a provisional police force in Iraq. He pleaded guilty to charges of tax fraud in 2009 and served three years in prison, though he was pardoned by President Donald Trump in 2020. Those who paid tribute to Kerik include former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was in office when Kerik served as commissioner of the NYPD, and current mayor Eric Adams. "We've been together since the beginning. He's like my brother," Giuiliani said Thursday on his show. "I was a better man for having known Bernie," Giuiliani said. "I certainly was a braver and stronger man." Adams, who had been friends with Kerik for nearly 30 years, said he had visited him in hospital before his death. "He was with his loved ones who are in my prayers tonight," Adams said in a statement. "He was a great New Yorker and American." Kerik, a former army veteran and a decorated law enforcement officer, rose up the ranks through his career, and was nearly tapped to run the Department of Homeland Security under Bush in 2004 before he abruptly withdrew his nomination. In 2009, Kerik pleaded guilty to federal charges after he was accused of lying to investigators about interest-free loans he received from an Israeli billionaire and a New York real estate magnet while he was in public office. He was granted a full pardon by Trump in 2020, and later joined Giuiliani's efforts to overturn Trump's election loss that same year. What happened on 9/11?
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Columbia's Progressive March
Columbia Universitys commencement demonstrates the far left ideology of its faculty, but suggests that for students, much of this is performative. Last week, I attended my nephews graduation from Columbia College, Columbias Ivy League undergraduate division. As an alumnus of the college, as well as of Columbias business and law schools, I found the ceremony and left-leaning speeches familiar. As a conservative, even then, I was often verbally attacked by other students. On successive April Fools days, Columbia Daily Spectator even lampooned me as Kevin Spewak, spokesman for the fictional "Columbia Students in Opulence." Despite Columbias long-time liberal bent, including what we now refer to as "wokeness," its students generally embraced core principles of American exceptionalism, worked hard, and pursued traditional careers. Ironically, given todays problems, one of my classmates, David Friedman, became U.S. ambassador to Israel, and another, Michael Oren, became Israels ambassador to the U.S. When I attended the college, it admitted only men. Women were welcome at the engineering school, and Columbias affiliate, Barnard College. Last year, 51% of Columbias undergraduates were women (63%, including Barnard). Comparable to my class, about 15% of the graduating seniors were foreigners. Unlike my class, 63% of the Americans were minority students. That is a direct result of DEI. At the graduation ceremony, nearly every award was presented to a student pursuing studies in a woke subject, such as sustainable development or African-American studies (neither of which existed when I was a student), and most were engaged in progressive activities, such as interning with Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a hate group that advances Hamas objectives in the United States, or campaigning for tenants rights. The students gave a warm welcome to the colleges dean, Josef Sorett, a professor who focuses on African-American sexual politics and social justice, and who chaired Columbias Inclusive Public Safety Advisory Committee. Sorett was one of four Columbia deans who exchanged disparaging texts about Jews last year during a forum on antisemitism. He defended their prejudice by criticizing publication of their texts as an invasion of privacy. Only in a woke, antisemitic administration would Sorett have retained his job. The universitys acting president, former ABC anchor Claire Shipman did not receive as warm a welcome. A meaningful percentage of the seniors, and some guests, heckled her and broke into chants demanding freedom for Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia graduate student facing deportation for his role as an agent provocateur for Hamas. Shipman responded with humor and grace, and the heckling subsided after a few minutes. Two days later, the Civil Rights Office of the Department of Health and Human Services found Columbia in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by "acting with deliberate indifference towards student-on-student harassment of Jewish students from October 7, 2023, through the present." Still, the substance and brevity of the protest shows both the misguided priorities of students and the performative shallowness of their concerns. Students ended the demonstration so they could receive their diplomas, giving short shrift to Khalil and those who objected to Shipmans bringing in the police to evict pro-Palestinian demonstrators from Butler Library. That pragmatism is consistent with the majors selected by the vast majority of Columbias students. While the awards went to students adopting the progressive mantra, more than 96% of the majors and concentrations selected by seniors fell into traditional disciplines such as history, political science, computer science, math, and literature. Just 70 of 1,708 majors and concentrations were in sustainable development, human rights, ethnicity and race studies, or the like. Relatively few students attended the separate graduation ceremonies for Asian, black, "Lavender" (LGBTQIA+), native, and other "affinity groups." There was little interest in what New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor (best known for her concerns about flags flown by the wives of Supreme Court justices) had to say. On the other hand, while just 4% of Hispanics support the use of "Latinx," that is how they are labeled at Columbia. It also seemed that every student lauded from the stage was a dual major who studied at the "intersection" of something of progressive significance. I had a dual major when I attended Columbia. I didnt realize that made me intersectional. When a university promotes intersectional, oppressor dogma, approves of antisemitic tweets, and bestows praise only on the tiny minority of its students who exemplify progressive ideology, the result is a boot camp for DEI, open borders, social justice for criminals, antisemitism, and a liberal rules-based order. But, a look under the keffiyeh shows that the indoctrination may not endure, and the substantial majority of students of all races and national origins may soon enough refocus on traditional careers and success. For true converts, if they shun violence, the beauty of America is the right of citizens to hold and advocate misguided views. I doubt Columbia credits American exceptionalism for that liberty. Kenin M. Spivak is founder and chairman of SMI Group LLC, an international consulting firm and investment bank. He is the author of fiction and non-fiction books and a frequent speaker and contributor to media, including RealClearPolitics, The American Mind, National Review, television, radio, and podcasts.
