Latest news with #IsraelAid
The Guardian
22-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
AOC's office vandalized after recent House vote involving US aid to Israel
A Bronx office of the US House member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was vandalized early on Monday, according to New York City police, who say they are investigating. The vandalism occurred as the progressive Democratic congresswoman grapples with 'threats on [her] life', as her campaign manager put it, after a recent US House of Representatives vote involving American aid to Israel. Officers called out to Ocasio-Cortez's campaign office in Westchester Square at about 12.45am found its front covered in red paint, police said. Images circulating online and on local news media outlets showed someone had left a sign which alleged that Ocasio-Cortez 'funds genocide in Gaza', though she has repeatedly criticized the Israeli military's strikes there. The vandalism occurred after Ocasio-Cortez on Friday voted against a defense spending bill amendment authored by the Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia that would have eliminated funding for the system protecting Israel from missiles. Ocasio-Cortez voted 'no' on the defense spending bill itself, which passed the House and included more than $600m in aid for Israel, as she alluded to on an X post hours after the office's vandalism. Her vote on Greene's amendment prompted the Democratic Socialists of America to issue a statement accusing Ocasio-Cortez of backing Israel's 'eliminationist campaign against the Palestinian people'. Ocasio-Cortez, who has maintained that Israel's military actions in Gaza amount to a 'genocide' and often draws political criticism from US conservatives, wrote on Monday on X: 'Google is free. If you're saying I voted for military funding, you are lying.' A separate X post from Ocasio-Cortez's campaign manager, Oliver Hidalgo-Wohlleben, said Monday's office vandalism coincided with her staff having recently received 'multiple threats on the congresswoman's life'. 'We are treating this seriously with our security partners to make sure she, our staff, and volunteers are safe,' Hidalgo Wohlleben's post said. A post on Monday on the social media platform Bluesky from Ocasio-Cortez added: 'The threat environment this morning is scary. 'Drag me for the position if you disagree but don't lie. It's out of control. Saying I voted for this funding is false.' Hidalgo-Wohlleben's X post said that the Bronx congresswoman's staff was in the process of cleaning up the vandalized office. 'Our office is a hub in the community, and we want it to be a safe space for all our neighbors,' Hidalgo-Wohlleben also wrote. Ocasio-Cortez has represented New York's 14th congressional district since early 2019. Her endorsement of the democratic socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani in New York City's mayoral race in June captured national headlines.
France 24
18-07-2025
- Politics
- France 24
Syrian forces prepare to redeploy to Sweida after renewed Druze-Bedouin clashes
Syrian security forces are preparing to redeploy to the Druze-majority Sweida city to quell fighting with Bedouin tribes, a Syrian interior ministry spokesperson said on Friday, further straining a fragile truce in Syria 's south. A ceasefire announced on Wednesday briefly ended days of bloody fighting that erupted when Bedouin and Druze fighters clashed in Sweida province, prompting the Syrian government to send in troops – further spiking violence. 07:20 The clashes drew in Israel, which said it would not allow Syria's Islamist-led government to deploy troops to the south and struck Syrian troops in Sweida, the defence ministry and close to the presidential palace in Damascus. Syrian troops withdrew from Sweida after the truce was announced but clashes sparked up again late Thursday between the tribal Bedouin fighters and the Druze, part of a religious minority that also has followers in Lebanon and Israel. At least 594 people have been killed in several days of fighting, government forces and Bedouin groups, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, which alleges that both Syrian government forces and Druze fighters have carried out summary executions. Israel says sending humanitarian aid Israel announced on Friday that it was sending humanitarian aid to Sweida's Druze population, while also denying reports that it carried out renewed strikes in the area overnight. "Against the backdrop of recent attacks targeting the Druze community in Sweida and the severe humanitarian situation in the area, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has ordered the urgent transfer of humanitarian aid to the Druze population in the region," the foreign ministry said in a statement. The aid package will amount to 2 million shekels (nearly $600,000) and will include food parcels and medical supplies, the ministry added. 04:46 Describing Syria's new rulers as barely disguised jihadists, Israel has vowed to shield the area's Druze community from attack, encouraged by calls from Israel's own Druze minority. Its deep distrust of Syria's new Islamist-led leadership appears to be at odds with the United States, which said it did not support recent Israeli strikes on Syria. Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, who has worked to establish warmer ties with the US, has accused Israel of trying to fracture Syria and promised to protect its Druze minority.
