Hundreds form human chain in protest at Canada-U.S. border
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Washington Post
12 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Mass protests erupt in Israel as IDF readies plans to occupy Gaza City
JERUSALEM — Thousands of Israelis stayed home from work, flooded city streets and blocked roads and highways across the country on Sunday, staging some of the largest anti-war protests in months as the military prepares for a major assault on Gaza City, the humanitarian crisis there deepens and anxiety mounts over the conditions of the hostages still in captivity. The widespread strike on Sunday, a work day in Israel, was organized by the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum, an umbrella group representing many families of current or former Israeli hostages. The group called for action in response to the government's decision this month to seize control of Gaza's largest city, an operation that could take months and involve the forced displacement of an estimated 1 million Palestinians. Top military leaders and some Israeli citizens oppose the plan, worried that it would endanger the 20 hostages authorities presume are still alive, strain army resources and erode prospects for recovering the bodies of 30 more hostages who were either killed in the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, or died while in captivity. 'Hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens will shut down the country today with one clear call: Bring back the 50 hostages, end the war,' the forum said. That call came as Eyal Zamir, the chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, met with military commanders in Gaza. He said Israel's battle plans for the next phase of the war would be approved on Sunday, with 'a focus on Gaza City.' 'We will continue striking until Hamas is defeated, with the hostages always before our eyes,' he told the commanders, according to an IDF readout of the meeting. Major tech companies and a body of civil aviation workers announced they would allow employees to go on strike. Israel's main trade union federation, the Histadrut, declined to participate, though chairman Arnon Bar-David joined protesters in Tel Aviv to show solidarity. 'Declaring a strike would have colored this struggle as a political struggle — and that is the last thing I want to happen,' he told relatives of hostages there. 'This is not about right or left, it is about human beings — bringing back those who were kidnapped from their beds, from their shifts, or from their tanks.' The demonstrations kicked off early in cities including Tel Aviv and Haifa, as well as outside Kibbutz Beeri, a community along the perimeter with Gaza that was overrun by Palestinian militants on Oct. 7, 2023. That day, Hamas and allied groups streamed into southern Israel, killed around 1,200 people and took 251 hostages back to the Gaza Strip. Israel's retaliatory war in Gaza, which has lasted 22 months, has killed more than 61,000 people, according to local health officials; leveled large swaths of the enclave and plunged the area into a humanitarian crisis. Israelis, especially in Tel Aviv, have protested regularly throughout the war to call on the government to reach a deal with Hamas to bring the hostages home. Increasingly, mainstream Israeli media have spotlighted the dire starvation crisis in Gaza after months of Israel's near-total aid blockade on the besieged enclave, horrifying some Israelis and triggering protests. 'Enough is enough,' said Aya Shilon-Hadass, a doctor at Sheba Tel HaShomer Medical Center who joined hundreds of health workers at a march in Tel Aviv. 'You can't build a society or trust one another when our brothers and sisters are abandoned, while the bloodshed continues on both sides. The war must stop.' Former hostages filled the Tel Aviv plaza that is now known as 'Hostages Square.' Arbel Yehud was held for more than a year by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a smaller militant group in Gaza, before she was released in January during a two-month ceasefire. 'My partner Ariel Cunio and his brother David, along with 48 other hostages, are still there in captivity in Gaza,' she told the crowd, according to the families forum. 'I know firsthand what it's like to be in captivity. I know that military pressure doesn't bring hostages back — it only kills them.' Several local governments threw their support behind Sunday's protests: Tel Aviv canceled some cultural activities and shut swimming pools, and the municipality in nearby Herzliya said it would bus residents to the main protest planned for Sunday evening in Tel Aviv. But plenty of businesses remained open, and a major shopping mall was filled with customers. Protesters waved signs outside the homes of some government ministers and blocked highways and key intersections throughout the country, bringing traffic in parts of Tel Aviv to a standstill. 'Everyone home now!' protesters shouted, staring down cars. One frustrated driver, an air-conditioning technician named Eli, who was on his way to work, got out of his car to try to negotiate with the protesters to move out of the way. 'War is terrible for everyone but we need to secure our lives here,' he said in an interview, speaking on the condition that his last name be withheld for fear of retaliation. 'It's either us or them,' he added of the Palestinians in Gaza, calling on Israel to 'eliminate them all, from young to old.' 'It helps Hamas, what they are doing,' he said of the protests Sunday. 'It doesn't help us. It disrupts our lives.' Police said they would not allow protesters to block roads without 'proper authorization,' and in some places scuffled with and physically removed the demonstrators, according to videos circulating. By early afternoon, police had arrested 38 people, the spokesperson's unit said in a statement. Government ministers came out against the strike, with some accusing protesters of doing Hamas's bidding. 'Those who today are calling to end the war without the defeat of Hamas are not only hardening Hamas's stance and pushing further away the release of our hostages, they are also ensuring that the atrocities of Oct. 7 will be repeated and that we will have to fight an endless war,' Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet meeting Sunday. 'We are determined to carry it out,' he said of the decision to invade and occupy Gaza City. 'Together we are fighting, and with God's help, together we will complete the victory and end the war.' Opposition politicians, however, voiced solidarity with the demonstrators. Opposition leader Yair Lapid, a member of the centrist Yesh Atid party, visited the main Tel Aviv protest to call for a hostage deal. Meanwhile, Israeli forces have stepped up their bombardment of Gaza City, residents and medics said, focusing their strikes on the southern neighborhood of Zeitoun, one of the city's largest. Emergency personnel and local media have in recent days reported intense bombing in the area, forcing much of the population out. Gaza's civil defense force described the strikes and shelling as 'relentless,' and said that ambulances have been unable to reach most of the people they say are trapped under the rubble. In nearby al-Shifa Hospital, director Mohammed Abu Selmiya said dozens of injured and dead had arrived over the preceding 24 hours — including casualties from the shelling in Zeitoun and those who had been shot while trying to retrieve aid from humanitarian convoys at the Zikim border crossing in the north. 'The artillery, airstrikes and fire are almost constant. It's horrific, they never stop,' said Mohamed Orabi, 42, a dentist displaced from Zeitoun to the Rimal area in the western part of Gaza City. 'Sometimes it stops for ten minutes or so, then it starts again,' he said. On Saturday, Israel announced that it was preparing to move people from combat zones to southern Gaza and that it would begin allowing humanitarian organizations to bring tents into the enclave to facilitate the move. U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk said earlier this month Israel's operation would violate international law. It 'will result in more massive forced displacement, more killing, more unbearable suffering, senseless destruction and atrocity crimes,' he said in a statement. Lior Soroka in Tel Aviv and Siham Shamalakh in Cairo contributed to this report.
CNN
12 minutes ago
- CNN
Zines not hashtags: Gen-Z's new protest playbook
Zines not hashtags: Gen-Z's new protest playbook Gen-Z activists are rethinking protest tools. Opting to go offline over concerns of misinformation and surveillance, zines offer another way to organize. For the latest "The Assignment" podcast episode, CNN's Audie Cornish speaks with artist and organizer Kennedy McDaniel about what's prompting the shift from hashtag activism. 01:51 - Source: CNN Vertical Trending Now 15 videos Zines not hashtags: Gen-Z's new protest playbook Gen-Z activists are rethinking protest tools. Opting to go offline over concerns of misinformation and surveillance, zines offer another way to organize. For the latest "The Assignment" podcast episode, CNN's Audie Cornish speaks with artist and organizer Kennedy McDaniel about what's prompting the shift from hashtag activism. 01:51 - Source: CNN Canadian government orders end to Air Canada strike After more than 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants went on strike seeking wage increases and paid compensation for work when planes are on the ground, the Canada Industrial Relations Board has ordered them to return to work according to an announcement by Canadian Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu. 01:05 - Source: CNN Spike Lee's Reaction to Trump's Smithsonian Orders 'To roll back the clock' says Director Spike Lee to CNN's Victor Blackwell in response to President Donald Trump's Smithsonian orders. 01:14 - Source: CNN Russian media reacts positively to Trump-Putin Summit Russian state TV gave a positive coverage of the outcome of the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska, celebrating the handshake between the two leaders. Russian officials also stated that the meeting resulted in progress on sanctions and opened up room for future negotiations. CNN's Fred Pleitgen reports. 01:23 - Source: CNN London's toxic trash 'volcano' Arnolds Field landfill on Launders Lane in east London is better known to locals as the 'Rainham volcano.' The site was used as an illegal dump for years and now, every summer, it bursts into flames, sending plumes of acrid smoke over nearby homes, parks and schools. CNN's Laura Paddison speaks to residents who feel abandoned and trapped. 02:05 - Source: CNN Hong Kong twin pandas turn one Giant panda twins Jia Jia and De De celebrated their first birthdays in Hong Kong on Friday. The cubs were born last August to Ying Ying, who became the oldest giant panda on record to give birth. 00:43 - Source: CNN Football player's emotional press conference sparks conversation University of Nebraska freshman punter, Archie Wilson, left his home in Australia to play for the Cornhuskers. During a press conference, a reporter asked Wilson how he was doing being so far away from his family and his emotional reaction sparked a conversation around masculinity. Writer and philosopher Ryan Holiday joined CNN's Boris Sanchez to discuss. 01:29 - Source: CNN McDonald's Japan causes Pokémon food waste frenzy Piles of untouched Happy Meals littered sidewalks outside McDonald's restaurants in Japan over the weekend, as frenzied customers scrambled to buy limited-edition sets with Pokémon cards. CNN International Correspondent Hanako Montgomery has the story. 00:55 - Source: CNN Taylor Swift unveils album details on boyfriend Travis Kelce's podcast Taylor Swift announced her 12th studio album 'The Life of a Showgirl' will be released on October 3rd. Swift made an appearance on the podcast 'New Heights,' hosted by her boyfriend Travis Kelce and his brother Jason Kelce where they discussed the album 00:48 - Source: CNN Taylor Swift jokes about male sports fans in new teaser video A new teaser for the highly anticipated podcast featuring Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce and Jason Kelce was just released. In the new clip, Swift jokes about male sports fans who have criticized her appearance on NFL broadcasts of Kansas City Chiefs games. 00:43 - Source: CNN Beyoncé wins her first Emmy Beyoncé won her first Emmy for the "Beyoncé Bowl" halftime show during a Christmas NFL game that aired on Netflix, which takes her halfway to an EGOT. 00:26 - Source: CNN Did Taylor Swift drop another Easter egg? Taylor Swift announced her newest album "The Life of a Showgirl" on Travis and Jason Kelce's podcast "New Heights." CNN's Lisa France reports that the announcement could reveal hints about the future of Travis and Taylor's relationship. 00:55 - Source: CNN Meet the winner of 2025's World's Ugliest Dog Contest The World's Ugliest Dog Contest named Petunia, a hairless bulldog, the winner of this year's competition in California on Friday. The prize was $5,000 and a merchandise deal with Mug Root Beer. 00:30 - Source: CNN A relic of the 90s and early 2000s, AOL ending its dial-up internet service AOL, an internet pioneer that brought millions of Americans online for the first time, is discontinuing its dial-up service next month. AOL posted a statement saying it 'routinely evaluates its products and has decided to discontinue Dial-up Internet' on September 30, ending more than three decades of operations. 00:33 - Source: CNN Masked thieves steal $7,000 worth of Labubu dolls Masked thieves stole about $7,000 worth of Labubu dolls from a Los Angeles-area store on Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department are investigating the incident. 00:44 - Source: CNN
Yahoo
14 minutes ago
- Yahoo
US suspends visas for Gazans after far-right influencer posts
The US government said Saturday it is suspending visitor visas for Gazans after a far-right influencer with the ear of President Donald Trump complained that wounded Palestinians had been allowed to seek medical treatment in the United States. The announcement came one day after a series of furious social media posts by Laura Loomer, who is known for promoting racist conspiracy theories and claiming that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were an inside job. "All visitor visas for individuals from Gaza are being stopped while we conduct a full and thorough review of the process and procedures used to issue a small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas in recent days," the State Department, which is led by Marco Rubio, wrote on X. In a series of posts on X Friday, Loomer called on the State Department to stop giving visas to Palestinians from Gaza who she said were "pro-HAMAS... affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and funded by Qatar," without providing evidence. Loomer's target was the US-based charity HEAL Palestine, which said last week it had helped 11 critically wounded Gazan children -- as well as their caregivers and siblings -- arrive safely in the US for medical treatment. It was "the largest single medical evacuation of injured children from Gaza to the US," the charity said on its website. - 'Dangerous and inhumane' - "Truly unacceptable," Loomer wrote in another X post. "Someone needs to be fired at @StateDept when @marcorubio figures out who approved the visas." "Qatar transported these GAZANS into the US via @qatarairways," she said. Qatar is "literally flooding our country with jihadis," she added. Loomer said she had spoken to the staff of Republican Tom Cotton, who chairs the Senate intelligence committee, adding that they were "also looking into how these GAZANS got visas to come into the US." Republican Congressman Randy Fine explicitly commended Loomer after the visa change was announced, in a sign of her sway over some US policy. "Massive credit needs to be given to @LauraLoomer for uncovering this and making me and other officials aware. Well done, Laura," Fine wrote on X. The Palestine Children's Relief Fund, a US-based charity, called on the Trump administration to "reverse this dangerous and inhumane decision." Over the last 30 years the charity has evacuated thousands of Palestinian children to the US for medical care, it said a statement. "Medical evacuations are a lifeline for the children of Gaza who would otherwise face unimaginable suffering or death due to the collapse of medical infrastructure in Gaza." Though Loomer holds no official position, she wields significant power, and is reported to have successfully pushed for the dismissal of several senior US security officials she deemed disloyal to Trump. In July, Loomer took aim at a job offer made to a highly qualified Biden-era official for a prestigious position at the West Point military academy. The Pentagon rescinded the offer one day later. Trump also fired the head of the highly sensitive National Security Agency, Timothy Haugh, and his deputy Wendy Noble in April at the apparent urging of Loomer, after she met with the president at the White House. "No other content creator or journalist has gotten as many Biden holdovers fired from the Trump admin!" Loomer posted on X Saturday. nr/dl/sla Solve the daily Crossword
