Latest news with #freePalestine
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Who is Mohamed Sabry Soliman? Colorado terror suspect identified after firebombing pro-Israel event
The FBI has identified the suspect who attacked a pro-Israel rally in Boulder, Colorado as Mohamed Sabry Soliman. Six people aged between 67 and 88 were injured when Solimon, 45, firebombed the demonstration, which was organized to remember the October 7 victims who are still being held hostage by Hamas militants in Gaza. Boulder Police said the horror unfolded during the event, organized by Run For Their Lives, on Pearl Street Mall in the city's downtown at around 1.26pm on Sunday, the first day of a Jewish holiday called Shavuot. Shocking videos posted online showed Soliman appearing to taunt the victims while brandishing bottles of alcohol for the Molotov cocktails in each hand as smoke rose from the scene. Wearing only jeans and sunglasses, he yelled: 'End Zionists... they are terrorists' and 'free Palestine'. He also said: 'How many children have you killed?' according to the ADL Center on Extremism.
National Post
24-05-2025
- Politics
- National Post
NP View: When progressives become indistinguishable from Islamists
Video of Elias Rodriguez — the suspect charged in the shooting deaths of two Israeli Embassy employees outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday — bears striking resemblance to scenes that have been witnessed at anti-Israel protests on Canadian streets and university campuses in recent years. The senseless murder of a young couple solely because they were Israeli and taking part in an event at a Jewish museum is the logical conclusion of calls to Globalize the Intifada. Article content Article content Article content Although Rodriguez was clean cut and not trying to hide his identity, he was seen waving a keffiyeh and began the now familiar chant of 'free, free Palestine' as he was being led away by police. A manifesto posted online after the shooting, purportedly written by Rodriguez, reiterates many of the usual talking points against Israel, but laments that, 'Thus far the rhetoric has not amounted to much.' Rodriguez then attempts to justify 'the morality of armed demonstration,' and claims others will understand that what he did was 'the only sane thing to do.' The social media post was accompanied by a call to 'Escalate For Gaza' and 'Bring The War Home.' Article content Article content Notably, Rodriguez does not appear to be a radicalized Muslim or a recent immigrant from a Middle Eastern country with high rates of antisemitism. He more closely resembles your run-of-the-mill social justice warrior: the type of person who worked as an 'oral history researcher' on African-American communities at an educational non-profit; attended Black Lives Matter protests and other anti-capitalist demonstrations; gave an interview to a socialist magazine lamenting how Amazon was responsible for the 'whitening of Seattle'; and had past ties with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, an anti-Israel communist group. Article content According to his manifesto, Rodriguez wasn't even aware of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict until 2014. In the same fashion as the kids who were radicalized in mosques after 9/11 and went on to fight with the Taliban and ISIS, Rodriguez appears to have transformed from a fairly typical American lefty into a cold-blooded killer in just over a decade. In too many cases, the progressives have become indistinguishable from the Islamists. Article content Article content While we don't know how Rodriguez — who has a BA in English from the University of Illinois Chicago — was radicalized, those who have been paying attention to the antisemitism and anti-Israel bias that has come to dominate universities, the media and left-wing narratives should not be surprised that it eventually led to blood being spilled in the streets of a western capital. Article content At the encampment set up at the University of Toronto last spring, for example, signs reading Revolution Until Victory, Glory to All Martyrs, This is the Intfada (sic) and Globalize Resistance were commonplace. Based on the clueless statements made by some students during last year's encampment craze, it's clear that at least some of them did not fully appreciate the meaning of these phrases, or the history of the Middle East conflict. Those people now need to take a hard look in the mirror, because the deaths of Sarah Milgrim, 26, and Yaron Lischinsky, 30, is the fruit of their labour.
BBC News
24-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Kneecap defiant at first major gig since terror charge
Kneecap fans turned out in force on Friday to support the Irish-language hip-hop trio at their biggest ever festival headline gig, which came just days after a band member was charged with a terror Óg Ó hAnnaidh was charged by the Metropolitan Police for having allegedly displayed a flag in support of proscribed Lebanese organisation Hezbollah at a gig last band denied the offence, calling it "political policing" and "a carnival of distraction" away from on stage at the Wide Awake festival, the rapper - due to appear in court next month - said the authorites were "trying to silence us before Glastonbury" and urged fans to be "on the right side of history." "I know we're out, we're enjoying ourselves and we're trying to listen to some tunes at a festival... believe me lads, I wish I didn't have to do this," he said at the south London event."But the world's not listening. The world needs to see solidarity of 20,000 people in a park in London chanting, 'free free Palestine!'"The chant echoed out around Brixton's Brockwell UN said on Friday that Gaza was in the "cruellest phase" of war, with 9,000 trucks' worth of aid ready at the border for the Palestinian territory."Let's remember how lucky we are to be in a field with our friends and not being bombed from the sky," Kneecap's frontman, who goes by the stage name Mo Chara, told the audience on Friday launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the Palestinian group Hamas's cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken least 53,762 people, including 16,500 children, have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. Friday's concert - Kneecap's first big gig since the investigation was launched - followed a smaller "secret" set at London's 100 club the night saw the band - comprised of Chara, Móglaí Bap (Naoise Ó Cairealláin) and balaclava-wearing beatmaker DJ Próvaí (JJ Ó Dochartaigh) - rip through tracks from their acclaimed album Fine Art, which has seen a surge in streaming in recent weeks since the controversy included a brand new track called The Recap which dropped online only hours earlier, and begins with a clip of a news report about the counter-terrorism investigation. Fans, many of whom were wearing Irish and Palestinian flags and shirts, bounced and sang along to their tracks which find them rapping in English and Irish about everything from drug-fuelled parties to Northern Ireland and fan, Myrtle from Brighton, told BBC News she agreed with the band's views on Gaza."I think it's amazing. I think they're completely right," she said."Imagine in a few years if we get to a state where it's [even worse] and you can't say that you've been on the right side of history and you've not made an effort to make that change, how do you not feel guilty?"She added: "Obviously it's led to one of them being charged with a terror offence which is awful, but it's brought more attention to the politics behind it."The gig culminated in rousing renditions of Kneecap songs Get Your Brits out and H.O.O.D, with the band encouraging fans to bellow out the Irish Republican slogan "Tiocfaidh ár lá", which translates as "our day will come".Brixton resident John told us outside the gig: "At best they're naive, at worst they're apologists for violence.""Do they really know what Ireland was like before the Good Friday Agreement?" he asked.A fan who lives in Orkney, Gwen, told us she had first come across Kneecap "by accident" when her sister told her about the band's now Bafta-winning lived in a kibbutz in Israel when she was younger. "I've spent a lot of time in Israel, and I've had a lovely experience with Israeli people, and I've met Palestinian people in Israel," she explained."And the main thing that resonated with me when I was in Israel was that most people on the ground just kind of want peace. They don't like living with the constant fear of terror."She said she "loved Kneecap even more" when they "started putting their light on Gaza".Speaking at the Ivor Novello awards a day earlier, the composer of Kneecap's semi-autobiographical biopic, Michael "Mikey J" Asante, told the BBC's Mark Savage: "I haven't really spoken to them, it's all pretty new - but more than anything else there's the notion of freedom of expression."It will all work out how it needs to. So you leave the people who have the information to make the right decisions."Ó hAnnaidh seemed unconcerned about the law on the night, joking with fans that they would have to write to him in jail while asking them to get their "grannies to light a wee candle for me". To their many fans, Kneecap are relatable, hedonistic provocateurs, mixing rapid-fire anti-establishment lyrics that aim to give a voice to the oppressed with danceable bass-heavy their critics they are dangerous upstarts who have now gone too an incendiary performance at the Coachella music festival in California last month, they described Israel's military action in Gaza as a US-funded genocide. As a result, they have been called antisemitic and "terrorist sympathisers".Then in the UK, historic footage from two of their gigs was assessed by counter-terrorism police. One appeared to show a band member shouting "up Hamas, up Hezbollah" - both groups are banned in the UK and it is a crime to express support for them - while another video allegedly showed them calling for Conservative MPs to be apologised to the families of murdered MPs Sir David Amess and Jo Cox but claimed footage of the incident had been taken out of context and "exploited and weaponised", adding they had have "never supported" Hamas or repeated the claim they were "being made an example of" on stage on Friday. Organisers of Friday's Brixton event confirmed in a statement earlier this month that Friday's gig would go ahead after they held "positive discussions with key stakeholders"."Wide Awake Festival has a proud history of supporting the alternative music scene and we look forward to staging another unforgettable event showcasing the very best emerging and established talent," they other Kneecap gigs have been cancelled in the wake of the controversy, including their sets at the Eden Project in Cornwall and Plymouth Scotland have said that allowing them to perform at the TRNSMT music festival in Glasgow next month will require "a significant policing operation".Some politicians including Tory leader Kemi Badenoch have called for Kneecap to be banned and Commons Leader Lucy Powell has said the group should not be allowed to perform at Glastonbury next month, where they are listed for the Óg Ó hAnnaidh is due to appear in court a week before the festival begins. Artists including CMAT, Massive Attack and Primal Scream as well as Paul Weller and DJ Annie Mac have all publicly defended Kneecap, saying the powers-that-be are "strategically concocting moral outrage over the stage utterings of a young punk band" while ignoring the situation in Gaza.
The National
22-05-2025
- The National
The National reports from outside Israeli embassy in Washington after deadly shooting at Jewish Museum
Two members of embassy staff were shot dead on Wednesday night by a gunman who shouted 'free Palestine'
Sky News
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Sky News
Israel-Gaza latest: 'You're on wrong side of humanity' - Netanyahu launches attack on Starmer after killings in US
A couple who worked at the Israeli embassy in Washington DC have been shot dead by a suspect who shouted "free Palestine". Benjamin Netanyahu has blamed the leaders of the UK, France and Canada for fuelling antisemitism. Follow the latest.
