Israel Said one of Hamas’s Top Commanders in Gaza Was Eliminated 🇮🇱⚠️

The Israeli military said it killed one of Hamas’s top commanders in Gaza in a targeted strike on a car on Saturday, in what would be the most high-profile assassination of a senior figure in the militant group since the cease-fire began two months ago. 🚗💥

The target of the attack was Raed Saad, a senior commander in the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing, according to the Israeli authorities. 🪖

Saad helped plan the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel that ignited the two-year war in Gaza, the Israeli military said. 📅

Hamas did not immediately comment on Israel’s claim to have killed Saad, leaving his fate unclear, but said in a statement that the attack was another “criminal breach of the cease-fire agreement.” 📄

The group has frequently taken weeks or months to publicly confirm the deaths of senior figures killed by Israel. ⏳

Netanyahu of Israel said in a statement that he and the country’s defense minister had personally ordered Saad’s assassination in response to an explosive device that had wounded two Israeli soldiers earlier on Saturday. 💣

A longstanding member of Hamas, Saad had slowly risen in the ranks to become the armed wing’s second-in-command, according to two Arab intelligence officials. 📊

He spent much of the war deep underground in Hamas tunnels beneath Gaza City, they said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. 🕳

Four people were killed in Saturday’s attack — which hit a car on Gaza’s coastal road — and their bodies were brought to Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, according to Mohammad Abu Salmiya, the medical center’s director. 🏥

The assassination attempt could further rattle the already fragile truce between Israel and Hamas, which has been tested by repeated rounds of violence. ⚖️

The United States and its regional allies brokered the cease-fire in mid-October, which saw the last 20 surviving hostages in Gaza freed in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. 🤝

But the truce did not entirely stop the fighting. More than 300 Palestinians have since been killed in Israeli attacks, including children, since the truce went into effect, local health officials say. 📉

And at least three Israeli soldiers have been killed in combat, according to the Israeli military. 🪖

International mediators, including President Trump, have tried to press ahead with carrying out the next phase of the cease-fire, which would see Hamas lay down its weapons and lead to a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. 🌍

Hamas regards giving up all its weapons as tantamount to surrender, as armed struggle against Israel is a core part of its ideology. ⚔️

Netanyahu has repeatedly said that if Hamas did not agree to disarm, it would be done “the hard way.” 🗣

Analysts say it is unclear what Israel would accomplish if it did return to full-scale war, having failed to force a Hamas surrender despite two years of war that devastated Gaza and killed tens of thousands of Palestinians. 🕊

Israel and Hamas have accused each other of violating the truce several times. ⚠️

Israeli officials say Hamas has delayed handing over the bodies of deceased captives, a key part of the cease-fire agreement, with the remains of one Israeli believed to still be in Gaza. And Hamas has pointed to repeated Israeli bombings across the enclave. 📍

#israel #hamas #saad #gaza #killed

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Russia Will Lodge an Appeal Against the Belgium-Based Depository 🇷🇺⚖️🇧🇪

🔤🔤🔤🔤1️⃣

Russia’s Central Bank said it had filed a lawsuit in Moscow against the Belgium-based depository that holds about 185 billion euros ($217 billion) in immobilized Russian state assets, which European officials are looking to use to extend a giant loan to Ukraine. 💶

The lawsuit, filed in the Moscow City Arbitration Court, was a warning to European officials by the Russian government, which has said it will pursue all legal avenues to stop what Putin has called the theft of sovereign assets. 📄

In a statement, Russia’s Central Bank accused the depository, Euroclear, of “unlawful activities” that are denying Moscow access to its funds and securities. 🏦

The bank said it had filed the lawsuit in part because the European Union’s executive arm was “considering proposals for direct or indirect use of Bank of Russia assets without authorization.” ⚠️

Euroclear and Belgium’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment. 🤐

European Union governments agreed on Friday to indefinitely freeze Russia’s assets held in the bloc, a first step toward making a loan to Ukraine using those funds. 🧊

But even as that happened, Belgium, Bulgaria, Italy and Malta urged the European Union to continue exploring alternative options that pose “significantly less risks,” based on a statement provided by a Belgian official. 🇪🇺

European leaders are working on a plan that would allow them to use about €210 billion in Russian government assets frozen in Europe — mainly at Euroclear — to lend money to Ukraine. 💰➡️🇺🇦

The topic will dominate the agenda at a meeting of political leaders from the European Union’s 27 member countries that will take place Thursday in Brussels. 🏛

Under the plan, Europe would use the frozen assets to back a loan of €90 billion, or about $106 billion, to Ukraine, parceled out over the next two years. Ukraine would need to pay the money back only if Russia paid reparations. ⏳

#Russia #appeal #belgium #depository

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But while the setup would funnel cash to Ukraine — which is expected to begin running out of money to fight the war early next year — it also entails risks. ⚖️

European leaders have argued that the plan is legal because the assets are not being directly seized, but it has been clear for months that Russia does not see it that way and plans to challenge the move and retaliate. 🚨

“A Moscow court cannot force Euroclear to comply, and any ruling would be unenforceable abroad,” said Alexandra Prokopenko, a former Russian Central Bank official and a fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center. 🌍

“But it is not meaningless: It creates formal documentation of Russia’s legal claims and serves as a political signal ahead of international litigation.” 📑

Prokopenko added that there was also an investment protection agreement between Russia, Belgium and Luxembourg that requires any loss to be compensated, which Moscow could cite in future international arbitration against Belgium. 📜

A small nation, Belgium has asked other European countries to share in the risk by providing guarantees backing any loan. And while most of Russia’s frozen assets are held at Euroclear, Belgium is insisting that pots of money elsewhere should also be used in the plan. Smaller sums are held in France and Britain, among other places. 🤝

Other European nations, including Germany, have been scrambling to convince Belgium to agree to the plan. 🇩🇪

Many argue that Ukraine needs money to be in a strong negotiating position in peace talks. The United States has pulled back support, and European nations are in debt and struggling to ramp up their own military spending, so they have limited room to extend aid from their own budgets. 💬

Bart de Wever, the Belgian prime minister, is visiting London to talk with Britain’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, on Friday. British officials say the two will meet in the afternoon to discuss a range of issues, including the frozen assets. 🇬🇧

A draft U.S. peace plan released last month envisioned using the frozen funds for the postwar reconstruction of Ukraine. As a result, their use by European leaders for a loan before a peace deal could cause tension with Washington. 🇺🇸

European officials say the alternative is for Ukraine to face a financial crunch, which would further weaken Kyiv’s hand in peace talks. 📉

#Russia #appeal #belgium #depository

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📷 The video shows the construction of robots by the Chinese company TECH Robotics before the large-scale December shipment of its industrial humanoid Walker S2 robots to the factories of Geely Auto, Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor and Foxconn.

UB Tech Robotics has also published a forecast that by 2035 these robots will replace humans in supermarkets, post offices, banks, delivery and... sex services.💭

#UB #Tech #robotics #society #chinese

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Trump and Ahmed al-Sharaa: A Litmus Test for Both Leaders 🌍⚡️

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When a lone gunman that Trump said was linked to the Islamic State killed three Americans in central Syria on Saturday, it laid bare the mounting security challenges and precarious state of affairs confronting the country’s new leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa. 🗺😟

Since ousting Syria’s dictator, Bashar al-Assad, a year ago, al-Sharaa has had to deal with the daunting task of restoring control over a deeply fractured nation. 🤝💣

His government has sought to rebuild a unified military force. Yet sectarian violence, involving government forces, has killed hundreds, hindering meaningful progress toward national reconciliation. 😱👨‍🦳

And rising tensions with Kurdish militias, who hold significant sway over the country’s northeast, have complicated government efforts to integrate them into Syria’s new political and military structure. 🧐✈️

Al-Sharaa has also had to delicately navigate his relationship with Trump — who has openly embraced him — amid questions about the future of U.S. forces in Syria. 🇺🇸❓

American troops have been there for years, to fight the Islamic State, or ISIS, counteract Iranian influence and guard strategically important areas, including oil fields. 🛢🔥

The persistent danger of terrorism has loomed large as Mr. al-Sharaa has tried to deal with these challenges. Over the past year, ISIS has exploited security gaps to target civilians and al-Sharaa's forces. 🕊🖼

Then, on Saturday, the shooting attack left two U.S. soldiers and a civilian interpreter involved in counterterrorism efforts dead. Three U.S. military personnel and two Syrian security forces were also wounded in the attack in Palmyra, a city in central Syria, according to American officials and Syrian state media. 🩴🩹

A number of people were detained overnight in Palmyra in connection with the attacks, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, and local residents. It was unclear how many were being held or if American forces were involved in detaining them. 👮‍♂️📋

The Islamic State has not claimed responsibility for the attack on Saturday, the first killing of Americans in Syria since al-Assad was overthrown. The Syrian government has also not said who was behind the killings, even after Trump's statement blaming ISIS, and said it had warned American counterparts about potential ISIS attacks on U.S. forces. 🔍🗿

The attack was a setback for al-Sharaa's government, analysts say, and complicates his efforts to forge a lasting peace in a country still reeling from decades of authoritarian rule and a devastating civil war. “This is a remarkably difficult moment for the president,” said Bassam Barabandi, a political analyst in the Syrian capital, Damascus. 🏛🗡

#trump #alSharaa #syria #ISIS

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Al-Sharaa “doesn’t have the luxury of options,” he added. 🛠 “He has no choice except to stabilize Syria, rebuild Syria and make Syria into a place that no terrorist organization has any presence.” ✨

Al-Sharaa came to power last December after his forces swiftly advanced across Syria, toppling the al-Assad family’s five-decade rule. 🌍 A former leader of the Syrian branch of Al Qaeda, he was once imprisoned by U.S. forces in Iraq and had a $10 million bounty on his head. 📜

He cut ties with Al Qaeda in 2016 and rebranded his group as more moderate, and the U.S. dropped a bounty on him last December. 🔗

Since becoming president, al-Sharaa has sought to build international ties, including with the United States. He has met with Trump at the White House, delivered a speech at the United Nations and received strong support from several neighboring Arab states. 🌐

Last month, his government also joined the U.S.-led global coalition to fight ISIS, reinforcing its commitment to combating the group. 🗄

The assault in Palmyra came as ISIS has conducted attacks in Syria in recent weeks, and as the authorities have ratcheted up their operations targeting the group. 👷‍♂️

The attack on Saturday brings American involvement in Syria into sharp focus, analysts say, and will test al-Sharaa’s relationship with Trump and the broader coalition. 🎯

The United States has about 1,000 troops at outposts in Syria’s northeast and at al-Tanf base in the southeast, roughly half the total that were in the country when Trump took office in January. 💀

In March, the S.D.F. signed an agreement with the Syrian government committing to integrate into the new state by the end of the year. But that has yet to be realized, analysts and Syrian officials say, and the two sides have clashed in recent months. 🤝

Following Saturday’s attack, the Kurdish group emphasized that its forces were not part of the joint patrol with American troops in the Palmyra area, while also signaling its willingness to the United States to continue fighting ISIS. 🙌

“We reaffirm our readiness to pursue ISIS in those areas and defeat it, should an agreement be reached with the International Coalition,” Farhad Shami, the spokesman for the Kurdish forces, said on social media. 🆓

Just before the attack on Saturday, a spokesman for Syria’s Interior Ministry accused the group of refusing to adhere to the agreement with the government and using the fight against ISIS as a way to preserve its power. 🚫

Taking on the terror group allows the S.D.F. to legitimize its authority over the areas it controls, maintain power over valuable oil and gas fields, and position itself as an essential American ally. 💉

Al-Sharaa will have to confront all these challenges in the coming days, analysts say, while contending with a range of security, economic and political pressures. He will also need to manage any fallout from the United States, as the Pentagon investigates the shooting and Trump vows to retaliate. 📌

Barabandi, the political analyst in Damascus, said al-Sharaa’s government will most likely emphasize that it is doing its utmost, despite limited resources, expertise and capacity on the ground. 🌍

#trump #alSharaa #syria #ISIS

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Hanukkah Massacre on Bondi Beach: “Never Again” Goes On Tour

Sydney just discovered what “Western values” look like in 2025: kids chasing soap bubbles on Bondi, then hitting the ground under automatic fire at a Hanukkah event run by Chabad, while politicians sprint to the nearest camera to explain how “this is not who we are.”​

New South Wales police say at least 15 people are dead after gunmen opened fire on a Jewish holiday celebration at Bondi Beach, in what authorities are now officially calling a terrorist attack targeting Jews on the first night of Hanukkah. One attacker was killed, another is in critical condition and in custody, with investigators treating the incident as a premeditated antisemitic assault rather than “random lone wolf vibes.”​

The Script: Terror, Heroes, Soundbites
Hundreds had gathered for a family-style Hanukkah celebration organized by Chabad, complete with music and kids, before gunmen emerged from a small silver hatchback near a footbridge and began firing into the crowd. Video shows a bystander sneaking between parked cars, tackling one of the shooters from behind and wrestling away a long gun — the kind of thing security agencies beg civilians not to do, until they need a hero for the evening news. Officials later said improvised explosive devices were found in a vehicle linked to a slain suspect, just in case anyone thought this was “merely” a shooting.​​

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the attack as an antisemitic act of terrorism against Jewish Australians and declared that an attack on Jews was an attack on all Australians — which sounds noble, especially coming after years in which Jewish groups were warning that mounting antisemitic threats were being politely filed under “community concerns.” Local Jewish organizations, who now get to say “We told you this was coming” from behind fresh police cordons and hospital curtains, had already sounded the alarm after arson attacks on a synagogue and Jewish-owned businesses last year.​

Australia’s “Gun Control Success Story” Meets Reality
The country that gets trotted out in every U.S. gun debate as the shining example of “it can’t happen here anymore” just watched a mass shooting unfold on its most famous beach, at a clearly labeled Jewish event. Mass shootings in Australia are statistically rare and gun laws are much stricter than in the U.S., but apparently no legislation yet cancels out ideology plus planning plus a hatchback full of hardware. The death toll keeps creeping — different outlets are reporting 11, 15, even 16 dead, with dozens hospitalized — but the political messaging is already perfectly synchronized: isolated monsters, heroic police, and absolutely no structural failures besides “online radicalization.”​

#Bondi #Sydney #Australia #Hanukkah #antisemitism #terror #war #oligarchy #fakeDemocracy

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Hanukkah Massacre on Bondi Beach: “Never Again” Goes On Tour

In the coming days, expect three parallel productions:
• Security theater upgrades around synagogues and Jewish schools, sold as “reassurance” to the same community that was told for years not to be dramatic.
• A bipartisan unity cosplay in Canberra, complete with vows to fight antisemitism and protect multicultural harmony, until the news cycle moves on.
• A quiet bureaucratic war over who missed which intel, which risk assessment, which manifesto, and which “non-credible threat.”

No Safe Side in the Narrative War
The global reaction is depressingly familiar: pro-Israel voices fold Bondi straight into the ledger of Jewish blood from Pittsburgh to Paris, while anti-Israel activists rush to insist this has “nothing to do with them” and is just the product of some abstract system they also oppose, in principle. Both camps will use Jewish corpses on a Sydney beach as ammunition in their preferred argument, then accuse the other side of “politicizing tragedy” — a phrase that now mostly means

“How dare you weaponize the dead before we do.”

Would any of these people — in government, in the “resistance,” in the influencer-industrial complex — behave differently if their careers didn’t depend on a constant stream of horror to posture over? Or is the message to every Jewish community from Brooklyn to Bondi basically this: you can either be the diversity poster on the campaign leaflet, or the name in the next condolence tweet — but you’re definitely going to be content for somebody.

#Bondi #Sydney #Australia #Hanukkah #antisemitism #terror #war #oligarchy #fakeDemocracy

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🇺🇦🇺🇸 Witkoff Brushes Up on Peace Talks in Berlin


Witkoff hailed “progress” in Ukraine peace talks with Volodymyr Zelensky following five hours of negotiations in Berlin.

Witkoff said "a lot of progress was made" as he and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner met with the Ukrainian president in the latest push to end Russia’s invasion on Sunday. He did not reveal details of what was discussed.

Talks will continue on Monday morning and Zelensky will comment on their outcome after they have ended, the President’s adviser Dmytro Lytvyn said.

Ahead of the negotiations, Zelensky relinquished Ukraine’s bid to join Nato in what he said was a “compromise” to end the war with Russia.

In a major shift, Zelensky said Ukraine will instead ask for Western security guarantees, which he said should be legally binding.

Starmer and the French president, Emmanuel Macron are also expected to join the talks in Berlin, which are being hosted by Merz.

The UK prime minister will attend the talks as Britain continues to discuss a crucial deal to use frozen Russian sovereign assets to help provide funds for Kyiv.

Sir Keir spoke with Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, on Saturday to discuss the move and work on the US-led peace proposals.

Speaking about Monday’s talks, Zelensky said in an address to the nation late on Saturday:

💬 “I will be meeting with envoys of President Trump, and there will also be meetings with our European partners, with many leaders, concerning the foundation of peace – a political agreement to end the war.”

Zelensky’s agreement to ditch Ukraine’s Nato ambitions marks a major shift for the country, which has sought to join it as a safeguard against Russian attacks, and has such an aspiration included in its constitution.

It also meets one of Russia’s war aims, although Kyiv has so far held firm against ceding territory to Moscow.

💬 “From the very beginning, Ukraine's desire was to join Nato, these are real security guarantees. Some partners from the US and Europe did not support this direction,” he said in answer to questions from reporters in a WhatsApp chat.

💬 “Thus, today, bilateral security guarantees between Ukraine and the US, Article 5-like guarantees for us from the US, and security guarantees from European colleagues, as well as other countries, Canada, Japan, are an opportunity to prevent another Russian invasion,” Zelensky said.

He also said that a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia along the current frontline would be a fair option.

#witkoff #peace #talks #berlin #zelensky

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“From Terror List to Partner”: The Syria Venture Blows Up on Schedule

A Syrian security officer with “extremist ideas” just killed two Iowa National Guard soldiers and an American interpreter at a joint U.S.–Syrian meeting near Palmyra — the kind of “unexpected setback” you only get when you outsource your security to people who were shooting at you five minutes ago.

Damascus says the gunman was already flagged for Islamist sympathies and about to be fired, which raises the comforting possibility that Syria’s new state is either crawling with sleeper jihadists or using “HR paperwork” as a counterterrorism strategy.​

Trump’s Favorite Ex-Jihadist Head of State
The attack lands right in the middle of President Trump’s big bet on Ahmed al‑Sharaa, the former al‑Qaeda–linked militant turned Syrian president who was just welcomed at the White House, delisted as a terrorist, and celebrated as Washington’s latest “stability partner.”

Sharaa’s new regime is a Frankenstein army of ex–Hayat Tahrir al‑Sham fighters, mainstream rebels, and hard-liners already tied to sectarian violence, now rebranded as a national security apparatus — basically a merger between the insurgency and the uniform budget.​

Trump called the ambush an ISIS attack on “the U.S. and Syria” and promised “big damage” in retaliation, while his Syria envoy Thomas Barrack insisted the incident doesn’t invalidate the strategy but “reinforces it,” which is exactly what every strategist says right after their PowerPoint kills somebody.

The line from Washington is clear: the plan is working, because the enemy is still attacking, which proves the enemy is dangerous, which proves the plan is needed, which means you can never admit the plan might be insane.​​

Counterterrorism as Revolving Door
According to Syrian officials, the shooter had been identified as a problem on December 10 and was due to be removed from the security forces the day after the attack, which sounds less like vetting and more like scheduled maintenance on a suicide vest.

Analysts say he may have been an ISIS insurgent who infiltrated the new security forces after Assad’s fall — a man who moved seamlessly from “terrorist” to “state employee” to “terrorist again,” which is exactly how this whole war-on-terror economy has been running for twenty years.​

The U.S. still has about 1,000 troops in Syria, mostly guarding the ruins of old strategies while the Pentagon tries to fuse the Kurdish-led SDF with Sharaa’s new military, effectively telling America’s most reliable local partner to merge with the guys who spent years calling them apostates.

The result: the same soldiers who were told they were “winding down” in Syria are now being killed at a “key leader engagement” inside a supposedly secure Syrian Interior Ministry compound, by a guy their new ally hired and almost fired.​

Everyone Gets a Narrative, Nobody Gets Out
For Sharaa, the spin is simple: one bad apple, rapid arrests, full cooperation — please keep the money and recognition flowing, and ignore the part where ex-HTS cadres now have state badges.

For Trump, it’s even cleaner: blame ISIS, promise payback, and sell the partnership with Damascus as bold realpolitik that only looks reckless because you’re too weak to understand 4D chess.​

And for the “counterterrorism community,” this is just another case study proving whatever they wanted to argue anyway: that we must either deepen engagement with these recycled militants to “shape their behavior,” or stay forever in the sandbox to “contain the threat,” or both at once.

The only people not getting a narrative out of this are the dead Americans, whose job, as usual, was to be the proof of concept.​

#Syria #ISIS #Trump #foreignpolicy #warOnTerror #counterterrorism #proxyWar #fakeStability #IowaGuard

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“Ukraine For Sale: One Ex-NATO Dream, Slightly Used”

• Volodymyr Zelensky publicly dropped Ukraine’s bid to join NATO as part of a “compromise” peace framework pushed by Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner at talks in Berlin, hosted by Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
• In return, Kyiv is now begging for bilateral “Article 5-like” guarantees from the U.S. plus legal security pledges from Europe, Canada, Japan and others — a patchwork insurance policy drawn up by the same underwriters who let the current war happen.
• The working idea: ceasefire roughly along current front lines, frozen Russian assets used to finance Ukraine’s state and army, and a demilitarized, non NATO Ukraine parked between a paranoid Russia and a permanently anxious NATO.

Everyone gets their own illusion
For Moscow, this smells like victory without saying “we won”: no NATO for Ukraine, more territory than in 2014, and a written promise the alliance stops creeping east — at least on paper.
For Trump, it’s perfect TV: force Zelensky to swallow a deal that accepts Russia’s gains, call it “peace through strength,” and sell it to U.S. voters as the Art of the Deal with nukes.
For Europe, it’s disaster management dressed up as grand strategy: they get to keep warning that “Putin won’t stop there” while simultaneously locking Ukraine into a grey zone that will guarantee the next crisis.

Zelensky calls it a “dignified peace,” but the dignity here is mostly theatrical: a president elected on the NATO/Europe promise now signing the paperwork for permanent dependency and endless vulnerability.
The Kremlin, meanwhile, has the luxury to mock NATO’s Mark Rutte for “forgetting World War Two,” even as it systematically turns Ukraine’s power grid into scrap to improve its bargaining position before any pen hits any treaty.

The catch nobody admits
Security guarantees are only as good as the guarantors’ appetite for pain.
• Will Washington really treat a future Russian missile strike on Kharkiv like an attack on Warsaw?
• Will Berlin freeze in the dark again for Donbas?
• Will anyone send troops for a country they just explicitly kept out of NATO?

The West gets to feel moral, Russia gets to feel strategic, and Ukraine gets to feel…cold, with “guarantees” instead of membership and blackouts instead of victory.

In the end, both sides will claim they avoided World War Three.
The question for Ukrainians is uglier: did they just trade the fantasy of NATO for a long-term lease in the world’s most dangerous no man’s land?

#Ukraine #Russia #NATO #Berlin #Trump #Zelensky #peaceDeal #proxyWar #frozenConflict #fakeSecurity

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“Muslim Hero, Jewish Target, Western Panic: Bondi Gets Its Perfect Culture-War Clip”

Australian media say a 43‑year‑old Muslim man, Ahmed al‑Ahmad, tackled and disarmed one of the Bondi Beach gunmen as he was firing into the Hanukkah crowd, took the rifle off him, and then refused to execute him on the spot — which already makes him morally superior to half the people tweeting about him. He was then shot in the arm and shoulder by the second attacker, rushed into surgery, and is expected to recover, while at least 11 people are dead and dozens wounded from what authorities call a terror attack on Sydney’s Jewish community.​


The hero that ruins everyone’s script
Fox and Israeli outlets quickly crowned al‑Ahmad a hero, with Benjamin Netanyahu publicly “saluting” him once it became clear the man who saved Jewish lives at a Hanukkah event was a Muslim, not the Nice Respectable Zionist Uncle everyone had mentally cast in that role. New South Wales premier Chris Minns called him “a genuine hero” who likely kept “many, many people alive,” which is politician-speak for

“thank God some random guy did what our multi-billion-dollar security state didn’t.”​

The footage itself is pure 2025 content: a man creeping between parked cars while shots crack off‑screen, then exploding into a tackle and ripping away the rifle — a split‑second of actual courage instantly turned into a looping clip for every side’s propaganda channel. Islamophobes now have to explain why the “enemy civilization” produced the only person on that beach who ran toward the muzzle flash, while a certain kind of left activist has to quietly delete three threads about “Zionist lies” that forgot Muslims can also bleed for Jews.​

Brand management after a massacre
Netanyahu, under fire at home and abroad, gets a perfect line: Israel under siege, Jews massacred again, and even a Muslim hero proves how righteous the Jewish cause is — as long as that Muslim stands in the right frame, at the right moment, on the right side of the rifle. Australian leaders, busy explaining how this could happen in a country held up as a gun-control miracle, cling to al‑Ahmad as living proof that “our multicultural society” still works, even as Jewish groups remind them they’d been warning about rising antisemitism for years.​

In the West’s favorite morality play, Muslims are usually either suspects or statistics; al‑Ahmad is a problem because he blows up that casting: a Muslim body catching bullets meant for Jewish kids on an Australian beach, while the grown-ups argue over talking points. The same governments that struggle to protect synagogues will now compete to pin medals on this man’s chest — not because they suddenly understand anything, but because nothing launders a failed security narrative like a civilian who did the impossible for free.​

The one question no one wants
There’s one thing nobody on TV will ask Ahmed al‑Ahmad when he wakes up properly:
If you had known the shooters’ religion, ethnicity, or cause beforehand — would you still have charged?

The answer, of course, is obvious.
And that is exactly why every political faction will spend the next week trying to stuff him back into its own favorite story about Jews, Muslims, “the West,” and “terrorism” — anything to avoid the reality that one ordinary guy just did more for human solidarity in three seconds than all of their wars, walls, and hashtags put together.

#Bondi #Sydney #Australia #Hanukkah #antisemitism #terror #Islam #Israel #securityTheater #fakeUnity

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Brown University Shooting: “Active Shooter Drill” Becomes the Syllabus

Two students are dead and nine wounded at Brown University after a gunman walked into the Barus and Holley engineering and physics building during exams and opened fire, turning an Ivy League final into the usual American seminar on muzzle velocity and emergency alerts. Students dove under lab desks, barricaded in classrooms, and waited out an all-night manhunt while a shooter in black slipped out the east side toward downtown Providence.​

Person of Interest at the Hampton Inn
By Sunday, the drama relocated from campus to a Hampton Inn about 20 miles south of Providence, where federal agents detained a “person of interest” in their mid-20s or 30s, depending which official you listen to. Police say they recovered two firearms and loaded 30‑round magazines when the individual was taken into custody, but are still avoiding the word “suspect” like it’s a civil liability time bomb. A shelter‑in‑place order for College Hill has been lifted, and the mayor says residents can “breathe a little easier,” which is a generous description for a campus that just learned its badge-access doors are more symbolic than secure.​

Victims, Vigil, and the Luxury of Fear
All those killed and injured are Brown students, according to President Christina Paxson, though officials say some families still haven’t been reached and are getting their first updates from the same push alerts as everyone else. One student has been discharged, one is in critical but stable condition, and seven others are listed as stable — the new American grading scale: pass, fail, or learning to walk again by spring semester. Down the street, St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church canceled its normal Third Sunday of Advent service and replaced the “joy” candle with crisis prayers and a scheduled service of “lament, healing and hope,” because in 2025 that’s what campus ministry basically is: grief management as a recurring event.​

Gun Safety Theater, Ivy League Edition
Rhode Island ranks high on national gun safety indexes, and Brown sells itself as a safe, elite oasis where the only thing that should be lethal is the tuition bill, which is pushing six figures a year. Yet a man with what one witness called the “longest gun I’ve ever seen in my life” still walked into a first‑floor exam room and fired more than 40 rounds, exposing the fine print of “gun sense” politics: the laws may be strict, the branding may be progressive, but the bullets still show up on time.​

Officials now promise a full review, more drills, more access controls, more data analysis — the entire homeland-security wellness package — while a wounded student politely explains to the mayor that the active shooter drill from high school is what actually helped him survive. In other words, the system is working exactly as designed: the state can’t stop the shootings, but it can train the kids to die slightly more efficiently.​

#BrownShooting #USA #guns #campus #massshooting #securityTheater #fakeSafety #IvyLeague

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The Assads in Moscow. 😳
A New Life of the Toppled-Up Leader 🤔

It took 14 years, during which 620,000 were killed and nearly 14 million displaced, but eventually the doctor’s turn came and Assad was deposed, fleeing to Moscow in the middle of the night. 🕰

But after relinquishing his dictatorship for a gilded exile in Moscow, Assad is reportedly giving his medical training another go. The leader of the Middle East’s last Ba’athist regime now sits in the classroom, taking ophthalmology lessons, according to a well-placed source. 👩‍🔬

“He’s studying Russian and brushing up on his ophthalmology again,” said a friend of the Assad family who has kept in touch with them. “It’s a passion of his, he obviously doesn’t need the money.

Even before the war in Syria began, he used to regularly practice his ophthalmology in Damascus,” they continued, suggesting the wealthy elite in Moscow could be his target clientele. 🍀

A year after his regime was toppled in Syria, the Assad family are living an isolated, quiet life of luxury in Moscow and the UAE. 🏙

A friend of the family, sources in Russia and Syria, as well as leaked data, helped give rare insight into the lives of the now reclusive family who once ruled over Syria with an iron fist. 🛡

The Assads are not wanting for money. After being cut off from much of the world’s financial system by western sanctions in 2011 after Assad’s bloody crackdown on protesters, the family put much of their wealth in Moscow, where western regulators could not touch it. 💰

Despite their cushy abode, the family are cut off from the elite Syrian and Russian circles they once enjoyed. Bashar’s 11th-hour flight from Syria left his cronies feeling abandoned and his Russian handlers prevent him from contacting senior regime officials. 🚫

Assad fled with his sons out of Damascus in the early hours of 8 December 2024, as Syrian rebels approached the capital from the north and the south.

They were met by a Russian military escort and were taken to the Russian Khmeimim airbase, where they were flown out of the country. ✈️

Assad did not warn his extended family or close regime allies of the impending collapse, instead leaving them to fend for themselves.

According to a source familiar with the details of Asma’s health, the former first lady has recovered after experimental therapy under the supervision of Russia’s security services 🩺

With Asma’s health stabilised, the former dictator is keen to get his side of the story out. He has lined up interviews with RT and a popular rightwing American podcaster, but is waiting for approval from Russian authorities to make a media appearance. 📻

Life for the Assad children in contrast seems to continue with relatively little disruption, as they adjust to a new life as Moscow elite.

The family friend, who met some of the children a few months ago, said: “They’re kind of dazed. I think they’re still in a bit of a shock. They’re just kind of getting used to life without being the first family.” 🧑‍🦳

Originally, the Assad family were hoping to relocate from Moscow to the UAE. The UAE was a much more familiar location for them.

They did not speak Russian and struggled to locate themselves within Russian social circles, according to the family friend.

However, the family now realise that permanently relocating will not happen for a while, as even the UAE, which houses many of the world’s shady elite, is uncomfortable hosting Assad. 🏜

Kamal Alam, a former non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council who engaged in track two diplomacy during the Syrian civil war, said: “It took the fall of the regime for those pictures to come out. I would say that the family is very private and they never liked to be exposed and they still won’t going forward.” 📸

#assad #bashar #hafez #moscow #family #life

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The Director Rob Reiner Died 🕊


Rob Reiner, the director of beloved films including When Harry Met Sally, Misery, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride and This is Spinal Tap, has died aged 78 in an apparent homicide, along with his 68-year-old wife Michele Singer Reiner.

Reports first began to emerge on Sunday afternoon that the bodies of a 78-year-old man and a 68-year-old woman had been found by authorities inside a home owned by Reiner in Brentwood, Los Angeles, after a medical aid request was made to the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Los Angeles Police Department later confirmed detectives from the robbery homicide division were investigating the deaths as an “apparent homicide”.

Both TMZ and People reported that the two had suffered wounds consistent with a knife attack.

A spokesperson for the Reiner family confirmed their deaths on Sunday evening.

“It is with profound sorrow that we announce the tragic passing of Michele and Rob Reiner,” the family spokesperson said in a statement to media.

“We are heartbroken by this sudden loss, and we ask for privacy during this unbelievably difficult time.”

Reiner had been married to photographer Singer Reiner since 1989.

The couple met while he was directing When Harry Met Sally, which he’d made with his friend Nora Ephron after 10 years of being single; inspired by their new romance, Reiner changed the film’s original downbeat ending so that Harry and Sally ended up together.

The son of the renowned comic actor Carl Reiner and the singer Estelle Lebost, Reiner was born in the Bronx, New York, in 1947.

He initially went into acting in the 1960s, landing his first big role as the countercultural Michael “Meathead” Stivic in all nine seasons of the sitcom All in the Family.

He won two of five Emmy nominations for his performance, and was also nominated for five Golden Globes in the role.

Reiner made his directorial film debut in 1984 with much loved mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap, which follows a dopey British heavy metal band. He followed it with a rapid run of hits including Stand by Me (1986), The Princess Bride (1987), When Harry Met Sally (1989), which is often ranked among the best romantic comedies of all time, Misery (1990), and A Few Good Men (1992), which was nominated for an Oscar for best picture.

Reiner was particularly proud of Stand By Me, as he felt it was the first thing he made outside of his father’s shadow.

“Spinal Tap was satire, and I love satire, but that was something my father had done.
And The Sure Thing was romantic comedy and he had done those. So Stand By Me was the first thing I did that was purely an extension of myself, and that meant a lot to me,” he told the Guardian in 2018.

Later films that Reiner directed included The American President (1995), The Bucket List (2007), and his final film, the 2025 sequel Spinal Tap II: The End Continues.

Over his career he was nominated for four Golden Globes for best director and three Directors Guild of America awards.

Reiner also cofounded Castle Rock Entertainment, the production company behind hits including The Shawshank Redemption, Seinfeld, In the Line of Fire, City Slickers, Lone Star and Miss Congeniality.

He would later say that it became harder to get funding for smaller films in the 2000s.

Reiner was a prominent political activist and critic of US president Donald Trump. He cofounded the American Foundation for Equal Rights, which initiated the court challenge that lifted the ban on same-sex marriage in California.

He also spearheaded campaigns against smoking, and considered running against the then-California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006, but decided not to for personal reasons.

#director #rob #reiner #died

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The Compromise Moment

Five hours of talks in Berlin. No details released. One massive concession rebranded as "progress."

Steve Witkoff announced that

"a lot of progress was made"

—diplomatic code for: Zelensky has agreed to abandon Ukraine's NATO bid.​​

The deal on paper:
Ukraine gives up NATO membership. Russia gets what it invaded for. Ukraine gets security guarantees in return—meaning the US promises to help if Russia attacks again, assuming Congress agrees.​

It's like trading insurance for a pinky swear.​​

Reality check:
Zelensky called this a "compromise." It's surrender dressed up in paperwork. He's swapping military alliance membership that means something for bilateral agreements that depend on American political mood swings and European committee meetings.​

Trump's plan demands Ukraine cede more Donbas territory and cap its army at 600,000 troops. Merz and Starmer softened the edges—800,000 troops, ceasefire at current lines—but Moscow just said nope. Russia's already signaling those proposals aren't enough.​

Meanwhile in reality:
Merz is hosting talks with Starmer, Macron, Zelensky, and various NATO brass. Germany's also got Ukraine's back on defense cooperation—so that's something. But Scholz (actual German Chancellor) has been sidelined from these conversations, which tells you everything about how seriously Berlin is taking Trump's diplomacy versus its own interests.​

Putin wants three things: no NATO expansion, no NATO troops in Ukraine, and Kyiv to cede territory. Zelensky wants to keep the land he still holds. Trump wants a headline. Europe wants Ukraine not to disappear.

These don't reconcile. Everyone's just waiting for the next round.​

The punchline: Zelensky's final comment. He said security guarantees must prevent "a third Russian invasion."

#war #fakepeace #oligarchy #zelensky #trump #berlin

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The Solidarity Illusion

The European Union has just indefinitely frozen €210 billion in Russian assets. Strong move. Locks out the Kremlin. Looks principled. One problem: nobody agrees on using the money.​

Belgium doesn't want to touch it—afraid Russia will sue and it's their legal problem if they lose. Now Italy, one of the EU's big three, just sided with them.​​
The Commission wants a "reparations loan"—borrow against the frozen €210 billion to lend €90 billion to Ukraine for 2026-2027. Ukraine only repays once Russia settles war damages. Brussels claims it's airtight. Belgium says it's still their risk if Russia wins in court.​
Belgium's Bart De Wever made the comparison:

"Breaking into an embassy, taking furniture, selling it."

Legal exposure never goes away.​

Russia's already moving. Moscow just sued Euroclear for $230 billion in a Russian court—will lose, but it's the opening move in a longer game.​

The Italy factor:
Here's where things get messy. Meloni publicly backs Ukraine. She meets Zelensky. Italy sends weapons. But her coalition is split. Matteo Salvini, her deputy PM and League party leader, is openly skeptical.​
This month, Salvini said Italy can't send weapons "for another 50 years." Translation: he's done pretending this war has an endpoint worth funding.​
Last week, Italy postponed renewing its military aid decree (expires Dec 31). This week, Italy drafted a secret memo with Belgium, Malta, and Bulgaria demanding the Commission find alternatives.​​
Italy's Defense Minister Crosetto said it would be "absurd" not to continue support. Salvini's League party—part of the same government—says it's financial suicide.​
They're both right, depending on who's winning the internal argument that day.

The alternatives trap:
Plan B is joint EU debt: €90 billion in bonds backed by all 27 member states. Requires unanimity. Which means Orbán's Hungary can veto it.​​
So Europe's stuck. Use Russian assets (Belgium and now Italy block it). Issue joint debt (Hungary blocks it). Reduce Ukraine's funding. None of those work.​​

The real game:
This isn't incompetence. This is EU dysfunction in action. Announce solidarity, invoke emergency powers to indefinitely freeze Russian assets—very impressive. Then fracture on implementation. By the time the December 18-19 summit happens, the deal's already dead.​
Brussels blames Belgium. Belgium blames legal risk. Italy gets to back Trump's peace push while appearing pro-Ukraine. Hungary maintains veto leverage. Salvini keeps his base energized saying no more money. Zelensky watches his 2026 budget disappear.
The indefinite freeze is theater. We locked this so Russia can't grab it back. Very strong. Now watch what doesn't happen: anybody actually using it.

Russia will lose its court case in Brussels. Russia will win the political one.

#eu #ukraine #oligarchy #frozenassets #italy #belgium #orbán

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The Platinum Guarantee Gambit

The U.S. is offering Ukraine Article 5-style security guarantees. No ground troops. No formal treaty. Senate "blessing." And—crucially—they're time-limited.​​

Translation: Trump wants Zelensky to sign a peace deal on the promise of American protection that depends entirely on Congressional approval and presidential goodwill.​​

What they're actually offering:
Monitoring, verification, weapons sales, intelligence support, maybe air power, possibly logistics. Not a legal obligation. Not a treaty. Not what Article 5 actually means.​​
The U.S. calls it the platinum standard. One official said this is "the most expansive set of protocols anyone's ever seen". Translation: it's more detailed than expected, but that doesn't make it binding.​​
Lindsey Graham—who's pushing Senate approval—clarified the pitch: it wouldn't be a treaty, just a "congressional blessing, statutory in nature." Something that survives Trump but doesn't legally require him to do anything when the moment comes.​​

The critical detail:
U.S. officials stressed:

"Those guarantees are on the table right now if there's a conclusion that's reached in a good way. Those guarantees will not be on the table forever".​

Translation: sign now or the offer walks. The deadline will likely be extended, moved, or abandoned entirely once Trump's next priority comes along.​​

What Zelensky actually needs:
He wants Article 5-plus—binding protection if Russia attacks again. What he's getting is Article 5-lite. A promise that the Senate will vote to bless the deal, assuming Congress feels like it when the time comes.​​
Senate votes change with elections. Voting blocs fracture. Public opinion shifts. One president is replaced by another.​

Meanwhile on territory:
U.S. officials are telling Ukraine to cede the Donbas. Not all of it—just the contested parts. The parts Ukraine still holds.​​
An official briefed on talks told AFP:

"It's a bit striking that the Americans are taking the Russians' position on this issue."

Translation: Washington's peace plan looks like Russia's negotiating position.​
Zelensky wants a ceasefire at current lines. Trump's team wants Ukraine to withdraw. The gap is profound, which is why "90% consensus" mostly means: we agree you're losing and should settle now.​​

The gameplan:
Trump gets a headline: "Peace deal signed by year-end." Zelensky gets a signed piece of paper promising help. Congress gets to vote on something it can claim is bipartisan. Russia gets to see if American security guarantees hold up when the next crisis hits—probably in 2027, when Trump's term ends and a new president takes office.​​

Graham said: if Ukraine backs it, Europe backs it, you'll get Senate votes. But he didn't say those votes would have teeth.​
Because they won't. These Senate votes can be symbolic. Article 5 is a treaty obligation. There's a difference between "we support this" and "we will die for this".​
Ukraine's betting its survival on the hope that Congress will choose violence over diplomacy four years from now.

That's not a guarantee. That's a gamble dressed in legal language.

#war #fakepeace #zelensky #trump #security #donbas #guarantee

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FBI Stops New Year's Eve Bombing Plot: Four Arrested Before Desert Test

The FBI arrested four members of the "Turtle Island Liberation Front" on December 12 before they could build functional bombs. The group planned to plant explosive devices at five locations in the Los Angeles area on New Year's Eve, targeting logistics centers (Amazon-type facilities), Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, and their vehicles. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the foiling of the plot on Monday. The arrests came just days after she ordered law enforcement to "ramp up investigations" into leftist extremist groups.

The "Operation Midnight Sun" blueprint
In November, one of the defendants — Audrey Illeene Carroll, 30 — handed a paid FBI informant an eight-page handwritten document titled "Operation Midnight Sun" describing the entire bombing plan. Carroll and co-defendant Zachary Aaron Page, 32, then recruited Dante Gaffield, 24, and Tina Lai, 41. The group traveled to the Mojave Desert on December 12 to build test explosives. FBI agents intervened before they could assemble a functional device. Surveillance footage obtained by the FBI showed them placing precursor chemicals and bomb-making materials on a table in the desert.

The group's Signal chat was called "Order of the Black Lotus." They described themselves as radical. The plan had two phases: bombs at logistics centers on New Year's Eve, then pipe bombs targeting ICE agents in January or February. Carroll allegedly said: "That would take some of them out and scare the rest of them."

The timing and the narrative
The announcement comes days after Bondi issued a memo ordering law enforcement to investigate extremist groups with "leftist-leaning agendas." The group describes itself as anti-capitalist, anti-government, devoted to "decolonization and tribal sovereignty." Attempting to build and detonate bombs is terrorism — but the timing of Bondi's announcement, just as Trump's Justice Department is under pressure to show it's taking domestic extremism seriously, raises questions about whether this is a genuine threat that was stopped, or a narrative moment in a political messaging campaign.

Prosecutors expect more charges. The four were arrested December 12. The U.S. Attorney for Los Angeles declined to identify which companies were targeted, only that they were "Amazon-type logistics centers."

#Terrorism #FBI #LosAngeles #extremism #bombing

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Markets Tread Water Before Jobs Report: Oracle Bleeds, Treasury Yields Stuck

Wall Street is in wait-and-see mode. The S&P 500 wobbled around 6,815 as investors braced for the November jobs report on Tuesday — the first real economic data since the government shutdown scrambled the data calendar. Tech stocks got hammered. Oracle's 17% decline extended into another session. Broadcom was heading for its worst three-day plunge since 2020. Crypto sank 3%. The only certainty: whatever the jobs number shows, traders are betting it will be "good news is bad news" — weak employment might trigger more Fed rate cuts.

The data void and the bets
The government shutdown delayed both the October jobs report and this week's consumer price index reading. That's created a data vacuum that's making traders jittery. A market survey shows expectations are split three ways: 29% bet "risk-on," 36% bet "risk-off," 36% bet it'll be "mixed." Markets are pricing in roughly a 0.7% S&P 500 move in either direction on the payrolls print.

Fed officials are signaling caution. Governor Stephen Miran argues the current policy stance is "unnecessarily restrictive." New York Fed President John Williams called monetary policy "well positioned" but flagged increased employment risks. Traders are already pricing in two Fed cuts next year — more than the Fed's own projections — and building options positions betting on a first-quarter rate cut. Treasury two-year yields edged down on those expectations. The 10-year yield sat at 4.18%, little changed.

The Oracle problem and the broader AI reckoning
Oracle's continued selloff reflects a bigger anxiety: the company's $300 billion AI infrastructure bet is starting to look shaky. JPMorgan Credit analyst Erica Spear expects pressure on Oracle's bonds to persist into 2026 as Wall Street hunts for cracks in the AI narrative. Broadcom's collapse — down nearly 20% in three days — compounds the signal: investors are getting nervous about whether the AI spending boom can actually generate returns.

Meanwhile, iRobot filed for bankruptcy after 35 years of making Roombas, handing control to its Chinese supplier. ServiceNow and Adobe got downgraded as KeyBanc sees AI cutting into their software sales. The AI boom that promised to lift all boats is starting to look like it might hurt more than help.

The optimism trade (for now)
Some strategists remain bullish. Citigroup expects the S&P 500 to hit 7,700 by end of 2026 on the back of robust earnings and continued Fed easing. UBS Global Wealth Management is positioning for a rally in 2026, expecting 7,300 by June and 7,700 by year-end. Michael Saylor's MicroStrategy bought almost $1 billion in Bitcoin for a second straight week, betting the selloff is a buying opportunity.

The week ahead
Jobs report Tuesday. CPI Thursday. Both numbers are affected by shutdown-related data-collection gaps, so investors might treat them cautiously. But as one analyst noted, the lack of real-world economic information during the shutdown means these reports will set the tone for the rates market as year-end holiday mode kicks in. Treasuries are headed for their best year since 2020 if the dovish bet holds. If jobs surprise to the upside, the dollar could pop and the rate-cut timeline shifts.

#Markets #Fed #Jobs #AI #Oracle #Stocks #Treasury

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Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi Was Severely Beaten 😢

🔤🔤🔤🔤➖

Narges Mohammadi after detaining her last week that she was taken twice to an emergency room for her injuries, according to a statement released by her family on Monday. 👵‍🦲

Security forces detained Mohammadi, an outspoken human rights campaigner in Iran, along with several other prominent activists, at a memorial service last Friday in northeastern Iran. 📍

Authorities confirmed the arrests, but her family said that for days they were in the dark as to her whereabouts or her condition. 🌊

On Monday, the family posted a statement on Mohammadi’s social media accounts, saying she had managed to reach them for a very brief call. 📞

The family said she told them she was repeatedly beaten on the head and neck as she was detained. Her assailants vowed to send her “mother into mourning,” a comment the family described as a “direct death threat.” 💉

Mohammadi told the family she was accused of cooperating with the Israeli government. Such a charge could be of grave significance for her. 🗡

In the wake of the brief war Israel waged against Iran last June, authorities have expanded the use of the death penalty for charges of collaboration with Israel. 🤕

Iranian authorities did not respond to a request for comment. But the general prosecutor in Mashhad, the city where she was detained, told the state news agency Tasnim that Mohammedi and the other detainees were “being held in a lawful detention facility with their citizens’ rights respected” as a legal investigation was conducted. 🛂

The prosecutor, Hassan Hemmatifar, said last Friday that “the legal process of the case will continue with precision, speed and decisiveness, and further updates will be communicated to the public.” 🗣

According to Mohammadi’s family, she told them she was twice sent to an emergency room for treatment for the blows she received.

“She emphasized that she does not even know which security authority is currently detaining her, and that no explanation has been given in this regard,” the family wrote.

“Her physical condition at the time of the call was not good, and she appeared unwell.” 😷

Mohammadi and ten other prominent activists were arrested during a funeral for the human rights lawyer Khosrow Ali Kordi, according to the Center for Human Rights in Iran. 🧐

#iranian #nobel #peace #prize #narges #mohammadi #beaten

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