British tourist to be deported from Israel
A British tourist is facing deportation from Israel after allegedly entering a closed military area and threatening security forces, Israeli authorities say.
Janet Adyeri, 35, who was named by Israeli media, was detained in the Southern Hebron Hills area in the occupied West Bank on Monday.
After being questioned she was found to have posted anti-Israel Defense Forces (IDF) sentiments on social media and to belong to an organisation calling for the boycott of Israel, police said.
Israel's immigration authority said Adyeri would be kept in a detention centre, and is expected to be deported within the next 24 hours.
According to Israeli police, Adyeri "violated public order by refusing to identify herself to the forces and threatening a settlement security coordinator".
Following an investigation at the Central Unit of Judea and Samaria, Ayderi was brought before a judge, police said.
Adyeri's lawyer Riham Nasra said her client was not interrogated about her social media posts or making threats.
She told Israeli media she was only "questioned regarding her entry into a closed military zone, and that's it."
Nasra said added Adyeri only refused to identify herself when asked by a plainclothes soldier.
She presented identification to uniformed soldiers later on.
According to Israeli media, Nasra disputes Adyeri was brought before a judge, as police claimed.
She was taken straight to a hearing at the Population and Immigration Authority in Ramle, where her deportation was decided upon, Nasra said.
The BBC has contacted the UK Foreign Office for comment.
After the incident, Israel's national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said anyone "who acts against the State of Israel will find an aggressive police presence. The games are over," in a post on X.
Last month, two Labour MPs were denied entry to Israel while on a trip to the occupied West Bank.
Israel's population and immigration authority said this was because they intended to "spread hate speech".
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
17 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Israeli forces recover bodies of two hostages in Gaza, PM says
Israeli security forces operating in Gaza have recovered the bodies of two Israeli hostages, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says. He named one of them as Yair (Yaya) Yaakov, 59, who was killed inside his home at Kibbutz Nir Oz during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023. His teenage sons, Or and Yagil, and his partner, Meirav Tal, were abducted alive and released in November 2023, as part of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. Netanyahu said the name of the other hostage had not yet been released, but that their family had been informed. There are now 53 hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive. News of the recovery of Yair Yaakov's body initially came from his sons. "Dad, I love you," Yagil wrote in a post on Instagram on Wednesday evening, according to the Haaretz newspaper. "I don't know how to respond yet. I'm sad to say this. I'm waiting for your funeral, I love you and knew this day would come." Yagil also thanked the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Shin Bet internal security service and expressed hope that the remaining hostages "will be brought [back] in a deal that doesn't risk soldiers". Later, Netanyahu issued a statement saying: "Together with all the citizens of Israel, my wife and I extend our deepest condolences to the families who have lost their most beloved." "I thank the soldiers and commanders for another successful execution of the sacred mission to return our hostages." The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents many hostages' families, said in a statement that it "bows its head in sorrow over the murder of Yaya and shares in the profound grief of the Yaakov family". "There are no words to express the depth of this pain," it added. "The hostages have no time. We must bring them all home, Now!" The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the 7 October attack, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. At least 55,104 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.


New York Post
27 minutes ago
- New York Post
Congress demands investigation into billionaire funding radical groups, including one linked to LA riots
A shadowy US billionaire who is bankrolling radicals, including groups involved in this week's riots in Los Angeles, faces being hauled before a Congressional committee, according to a Republican lawmaker. China-based Neville Roy Singham will be called to testify about his funding of myriad non-profits including radical anti-Israel and Marxist groups. They include the Party for Liberation and Socialism, which has been heavily involved in protest against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Los Angeles this week, although there is no evidence they have been directly involved in any of the violence which has erupted there. Advertisement 6 The Party for Socialism and Liberation was among the radical left-wing groups that helped organize the riots against ICE in Los Angeles this week. Toby Canham for NY Post 'If he refuses to appear, he will be subpoenaed, and if he ignores that he will be referred to the DOJ for prosecution,' said Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna in a post on X in all capital letters earlier this week. The congressional committee will be looking at Singham's links to the Chinese Communist Party, according to Luna. Advertisement 6 Radical philanthropists Jodie Evans (center) and husband Roy Singham attend the 2016 TriBeCa film fstival with film producer Abigail Disney. WireImage 6 Elias Rodriguez, the suspect in the murder of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington DC, participated in an anti-police brutality demonstration organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation in 2017. Katie Kalisher via Storyful In April, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary urged the Department of Justice to investigate the People's Forum and Code Pink, leftist activist groups affiliated with Singham and his wife Jodie Evans. Born in Chicago, the software entrepreneur and his activist wife now live in Shanghai but still funnel plenty of money back to the US. Advertisement Although they deny working for the Chinese government, they share offices with the Maku Group, a propaganda network which promotes the Chinese Communist Party abroad. 6 Jodie Evans is a co-founder of Code Pink, a women's anti-war group that also promotes North Korea. Getty Images for MoveOn 'Evidence suggests that The People's Forum and Code Pink have been funded and influenced by … Singham and the communist Chinese government, both of which are foreign principals. 'The evidence also suggests that The People's Forum and Code Pink have engaged in political activities that directly advance the communist Chinese government's political and policy interests,' said committee chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). Advertisement 6 Republican Representative Anna Paulina Luna has demanded that Neville Singham appear before her Oversight Committee to answer questions about his links to the Chinese Communist Party. AP Last year, the House Ways and Committee asked the IRS to revoke the exempt status for the People's Forum, a Manhattan-based non-profit financed by Singham. That group helped organize anti-Israel demonstrations in the city a day after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that left 1,200 Israelis dead. Some of the group's members were also behind the violent demonstrations at an encampment for Gaza at Columbia University last year. 'The Singham network operates as a coordinated movement incubator, a term used by the People's Forum itself,' said Alex Goldberg, senior advisor to the National Contagion Research Institute, a think tank that tracks disinformation on social media platforms. 'It combines media, publishing and organizing under one roof.' Most of the groups linked to Singham operate out of a Chelsea, New York, office and cafe where People's Forum regularly offers courses with titles such as 'Racial Capitalism' and 'Spanish for Social Justice.' 6 The protests against ICE in Los Angeles this week were partly organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Toby Canham for NY Post Among the Singham-linked non-profits are BreakThrough News and a radical book publishing company, 1804 Books. Advertisement 'These groups do not operate independently,' Goldberg told The Post. 'They share leadership, funding, and a unified ideological mission closely aligned with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, a revolutionary Marxist organization, expanding its presence on college campuses and in major cities.' The Party for Socialism and Liberation was recently tied to Elias Rodriguez, the suspect in the shooting deaths of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington DC last month. In 2017, Rodriguez attended a police brutality demonstration as part of the radical socialist group, which immediately distanced itself from him in the wake of the shooting. Singham, 71, has not always been against the accumulation of capital. He is the founder and former chair of Thoughworks, a tech consulting company which he sold to a private equity firm in 2017 for $785 million. 'Roy Singham is incredibly charismatic,' said a source who did not want to be identified. Advertisement Evans, 70, co-founded the anti-war group Code Pink, and sits on the board of the People's Forum. She is the co-author of 'China is not our enemy,' written with Mikaela Nhondo Erskog, a researcher at another group funded by Singham. In another extreme example, Evans and another activist with Code Pink traveled to North Korea in 2015 as part of a delegation of 'Women Cross DMZ,' a pro-North Korean non-profit based in Hawaii.
Yahoo
32 minutes ago
- Yahoo
SEC scrubbed guidance on DEI in asset manager selection from website
The Securities and Exchange Commission has purged guidance from its website regarding fund manager diversity, but it was hard to find even before President Donald Trump's second term. That pullback from promoting diversity, equity and inclusion in asset management comes as part of the Trump administration's executive orders targeting "DEI" programs. And it underscores the confusing current state of federal efforts to ensure that more women- and minority-owned fund firms get a fair shot at doing business with large government pensions and retirement plans. For advocates, such programs open doors to capital and to rewarding careers as financial advisors or wealth and asset management professionals and, in some cases, the enforcement of crucial civil rights laws. To Trump's supporters, DEI has expanded access for some at the expense of others, to the point that consideration of factors involving race, gender and other identities has turned more important than merit in, say, hiring or the awarding of contracts. The SEC has removed an October 2022 "frequently asked questions" memo explaining how the fiduciary duty applies to the use of DEI criteria in the selection of asset managers, according to a recent study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, an independent watchdog agency that reports to Congress. The SEC issued the FAQ during President Joe Biden's administration, at which time critics questioned its importance and obscure previous location on the agency's website. Now, with so many aspects related to DEI in administrative or legal limbo, the way forward after small but notable progress in opportunities for women and minority financial professionals looks anything but clear. "I'm optimistic, and that's because we've seen this movie before," said Dorien Nuñez, the president and director of research with consulting firm OMNI Research Group and co-founder of OMNI Wall Street Advantage, a chartered financial analyst training, mentoring and internship organization. He cited the Reagan administration's unsuccessful push to eliminate the Small Business Administration in the 1980s. "This is definitely more aggressive," Nuñez said. "ESG is flourishing globally. DEI is flourishing globally. It's just the political will and megaphone that is fighting against it so much, so vocally." For impact managers whose strategies seek to close wealth gaps through clients' investment portfolios, the administration's anti-DEI actions are "really hampering their marketing efforts" and capital-raising, said Will Gholston, a CFA and certified financial planner who is the vice president of investments with New York-based registered investment advisory firm Re-Envision Wealth. At this point, any fund manager "would definitely think twice before bringing that type of product to market in this environment," he said. "I am currently at a Black-owned firm that's made racial equity investing the centerpiece of our strategies," Gholston said. "You have to be much more cautious in the way that you design products, the way that you talk about products. There is that risk that you're going to be in trouble." READ MORE: Which publicly traded firms have the best and worst racial equity grades? Representatives for the SEC didn't respond to inquiries about the removal of the guidance from its website or the findings of the GAO report, which updated the watchdog's 2017 study on asset manager diversity and came at the request of Democratic lawmakers three years ago. The dearth of assets managed by women- or minority-owned firms received more attention following the 2020 murder of George Floyd as part of the industry's response to the nationwide protests. The GAO found some signs of change at certain pension plans and across the industry. Five federal pensions told the researchers that 61 women- or minority-owned asset managers were overseeing a combined $4.06 billion on their behalf at the end of 2022 — but that was still only 2.8% of the externally managed assets across the plans. On the other hand, that is a far higher share than in asset management in general. As of 2023, the industry-wide assets managed by women- and minority-owned firms had ticked up to 1.1% from less than 1% in 2017. However, that tiny blip added up to a total of $1.3 trillion in assets managed by 340 firms, compared to $529 billion at just 180 firms only six years earlier. That's a 146% surge in assets, or a difference of $771 billion in AUM, and an 89% jump in the net increase of 160 more firms with some degree of ownership by women or Black, Hispanic, Asian American or other minority group members. READ MORE: DOGE cuts to fair housing grants hit HOME for financial advisor The ramifications of Trump's DEI orders to the SEC remain difficult to ascertain, based on the agency's website. The conservative Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 policy blueprint for Trump's administration called for the SEC to end "discrimination based on immutable characteristics" in the form of "offices at financial regulators that promote racist policies (usually in the name of 'diversity, equity, and inclusion')." And, in February, SEC staff informed GAO researchers that they had taken down the previous guidance about "investment advisers' consideration of DEI factors when recommending or selecting other advisers" based on Trump's executive orders in the previous month, the GAO report said. "As a result, we removed our assessment of this guidance from our review," the report's authors, Director of Financial Markets and Community Involvement Michael Clements and Director of Education, Workforce and Income Security Tranchau "Kris" Nguyen wrote. "SEC staff also told us that they were analyzing the potential impact of the executive orders on their activities related to promoting and collecting diversity policies and practices through SEC's diversity self-assessment form for its regulated entities." The link to the 2022 FAQ now goes to a "403 error" page. But still available are the "Diversity self-assessment tool" for regulated entities, a bare section explaining the purposes of the SEC Office of Minority and Women Inclusion under the Dodd-Frank Law and a statement by two commissioners praising the now-purged guidance. The report, which stated that the GAO hasn't "determined the scope and effect of the January 2025 executive orders or their impact on SEC programs and activities" didn't include any information about what specifically made the FAQ out of compliance with Trump's executive orders. "Staff from SEC's Division of Investment Management issued this guidance to clarify that investment advisers may consider DEI factors when recommending or selecting other advisers, such as asset management firms, provided that doing so is consistent with the client's objectives, the scope of the relationship and the adviser's disclosures," Clements and Nguyen wrote in a footnote. READ MORE: Fighting systemic racism with estate planning — one client at a time Even before Trump took office, some industry experts wondered what, if anything, to conclude from the FAQ. The guidance "raises more questions than it answers," according to a November 2022 blog by consulting firm Patomak Global Partners entitled "The Curious Case of the Hidden FAQ." The SEC issued no corresponding public announcement about the guidance, the blog noted. And the agency didn't even include the FAQ alongside others available in the FAQ section of its website. In fact, the mere existence of the guidance may not have become publicly known without two of the commissioners releasing the statement. And any asset allocators or managers would have found it difficult to use in the first place, according to Patomak, which described it as "a check-the-box exercise to implement a controversial recommendation." "Even if an adviser stumbled upon the FAQ," the blog continued, "it does not provide helpful guidance as to how an adviser can incorporate DEI factors into its selection or recommendation of other advisers consistent with its fiduciary duty to clients. Investment advisers should be wary of overreliance on this FAQ. Staff FAQs have no legal force or effect and do not alter or amend applicable law, given that they represent the views of SEC staff, not the Commission. Choosing an investment adviser with a short track record or minimal AUM can open an investment adviser to significant liability in the event of subpar performance or an incident of defalcation, a problem this nonbinding FAQ is unlikely to solve, particularly in light of the fact that it contains no guidance on how to balance these competing concerns." READ MORE: How financial advisors can help close the racial wealth gap Regardless, advocates like Nuñez and Gholston will continue their work in any political climate — and welcome collaboration from other industry professionals in the mission to increase opportunities and align clients' portfolios to their principles. "The short answer is, contact me," Nuñez said. "Some of us have been out here doing this for decades, and we're now working closer together than before. But it is very fragmented." Taking down the guidance is "definitely a move in the wrong direction" by the SEC, but efforts to increase women- and minority representation in asset management "have been so inadequate to date that there's not much room to decline," Gholston said. And that has spanned Democratic and Republican administrations, he pointed out. The underlying trends in the investing marketplace aren't going away in Trump's second term, according to Gholston. "The desire for greater fairness and a level playing field in the investment management world has not declined amongst the populace, the investment world and our clients," he said. "It's very likely that, over the long term, we're going to see a renewed effort in this space." Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data