Connect with us

Washington, D.C

Gallant heads to US as Washington weighs in IDF strike on Iran

Published

on

Gallant heads to US as Washington weighs in IDF strike on Iran


Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is set to visit Washington on Tuesday as the United States seeks to weigh in on the scope of Israel’s anticipated retaliatory strike against Iran.

“Whoever thinks that a mere attempt to harm us will deter us from taking action, should take a look at [our achievements] in Gaza and Beirut,” Gallant said Sunday, less than a week after Iran attacked Israel with ballistic missiles.

Advertisement

“We are powerful in both defense and offense, and this will be reflected in the manner of our choosing, at the time and place of our choosing,” he said as he visited the Nevatim Air Force base.

US President Joe Biden has been blunt about his opposition to an Israeli strike that would target either Iran’s oil fields or its nuclear facilities. KAN News reported on Sunday that the US had offered Israel monetary incentives to modify its attack plans.

US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew spoke of the issue at the annual Shabtai Shavit World Summit of the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) at Reichman University on Sunday.

Advertisement

“What we’ve made clear publicly is that it’s important for this not to escalate [Israeli-Iranian violence] into a regional war.

“The president has made some public comments that suggest the things that we think create the greatest risk of things spiraling.

Advertisement

“On the other hand, we haven’t said that Israel should just tolerate having 200 ballistic missiles shot at it in a little over an hour, even if it was two hours,” Lew said as he underscored how serious those attacks were.

He cautioned that a decision to destroy Iran’s nuclear program was not a decision to make because Israel has had a successful few weeks in its military exchanges.

Khamenei speaks

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei warned Israel and the US not to respond, in a post he placed on X/Twitter.

Advertisement

Stay updated with the latest news!

Subscribe to The Jerusalem Post Newsletter


“What our armed forces did was to inflict the minimum punishment on that usurping Zionist regime in response to its appalling crimes. It’s a bloodthirsty regime, a wolf-like regime, and the US’s rabid dog in the region.”

Advertisement

“The brilliant Operation True Promise 2 of our armed forces was completely legal and legitimate. And if necessary, this will be done again in the future,” he wrote.

In advance of the anniversary of the October 7 massacre, President Issac Herzog gave a rare interview to the Saudi news organization Al Arabiya in which he called on the people of the Middle East to unite in peace and for those who oppose Iran to create a military alliance against it, akin to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Advertisement

“We are all the children of Abraham, and I call upon the people of Lebanon, the people of Iran, the people of all of the oppressed nations in the region to rise up and understand that if we move this empire of evil, if we confront it and be tough together, we surely can hope for a better future and create a NATO-like structure in the region that blocks radicalism,” he said.

“Iran is the only country in the world who calls for the eradication of another member state of the United Nations – that’s Israel,” Herzog said.

“I saw the speech of the supreme leader. There was no message of accommodation, of extending a hand or saying, let’s move together, two great historic nations to help change the lives of people in the Middle East. Rather, you see Iran spending billions of dollars of their own citizens’ money on a huge war machine aimed at creating pain and havoc. So either we offer hope for hope, or we go for destruction. Iran offers destruction. We are offering hope,” he stated.

Advertisement

The United States, France, and Britain have stood behind Israel in its battle against Iran. Their armies, along with those from Israel and Jordan, took to the skies in April and again last week to defend the Jewish state against the direct strikes from Iran.

French President Emmanuel Macron called on Saturday for an arms embargo against Israel with regard to offensive munition used by the IDF in Gaza.

Advertisement

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Macron in a phone conversation Sunday that an arms embargo against Israel as the IDF is fighting Iran and its proxies would only strengthen the Islamic Republic.

“Iran supports all parts of its axis of terrorism. Israel expects its friends to stand behind it and not impose restrictions that will only strengthen the Iranian axis of evil,” the Prime Minister’s Office said as it paraphrased the message Netanyahu delivered to Macron.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot will be in Israel on Monday to stand in solidarity with the country as part of a regional visit he is making this week in light of heightened regional tensions.

Advertisement





Source link

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Washington, D.C

2 dead, 1 seriously hurt in Southeast DC fire

Published

on

2 dead, 1 seriously hurt in Southeast DC fire


Two adults are dead and one person is seriously hurt after a house fire in Southeast D.C.

Firefighters responded to 23rd Street at 5:30 a.m. Sunday morning to a report of a fire. Upon arrival, they saw flames coming from the second floor of the townhouse. All three people were on the top floor at the time of the fire. They were able to put out the fire.

A 34-year-old woman and a 64-year-old man were pronounced dead. An 85-year-old woman was escorted down a ladder from the top floor and was transported to a nearby hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Investigators are working to determine the cause of the fire. One person has taken one person into custody in connection with prior incidents at the home.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

Washington, D.C

Third person arrested in connection to deadly stabbing in Northwest DC

Published

on

Third person arrested in connection to deadly stabbing in Northwest DC


WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) said authorities arrested a third person in connection to a fatal stabbing that took place in Northwest on April 5.

Police said that at about 11:20 p.m., officers responded to the 1300 block of Peabody St. for the report of an unconscious person inside of an apartment.

When officers arrived at the scene, they found 53-year-old Fasil Teklemariam, of Northwest D.C., inside with stab wounds. He died at the scene.

3 shot, 1 dead after shooting in Northeast DC

Advertisement

On Friday, police arrested 35-year-old Tommy Whack of Hyattsville, Md. He is being charged with First Degree Murder while Armed-Felony Murder.

This is the third person that has been charged in this case.

Police have already arrested and charged a 22-year-old woman from Bowie, Md., and a 19-year-old woman of no fixed address with First Degree Murder while Armed-Felony Murder.

As previously reported by DC News Now, according to court documents, Teklemariam was a “Sugar Daddy” to 22-year-old Tiffany Taylor Gray of Bowie, Md. Witnesses in the court documents said Gray used Teklemariam’s thumb to get money from his account.

Anyone with information on this case should call the police at (202) 727-9099 or text your tip to the Department’s TEXT TIP LINE at 50411.

Advertisement

MPD currently offers a reward of up to $25,000 to anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest and conviction of a person or persons responsible for a homicide committed in the District of Columbia.

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to DC News Now | Washington, DC.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Washington, D.C

Is DC home to America's liveliest cemetery?

Published

on

Is DC home to America's liveliest cemetery?


Welcome to a spot in Southeast D.C. where you can hang out with your friends, have a cup of coffee, watch some live theater … and where 70,000 people have chosen to make their eternal resting place.

We’re wondering: Could historic Congressional Cemetery be America’s liveliest cemetery?

“We are still an active cemetery, so we’re actually still selling plots and burying people, as well as having movie nights, immersive theater,” said Jackie Spainhour, president of Congressional Cemetery. “We’re a certified 5K course. We have a writing group; we have a book club. Everything you can think of, we have tried here.”

They call it D.C.’s greatest undertaking.

Advertisement

In addition to its 70,000 permanent residents, the cemetery welcomed 10,000 guests to its events last year alone.


WRC

News4’s Tommy McFly talks to an actor for Soul Strolls, the annual immersive theater experience put on by the historic Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

Those events include Soul Strolls, their immersive history theater experience and guided-lantern tour.

Advertisement

“We have actors actually portraying the people buried here, and we usually have these thematic stories that connect them,” Director of Programming AJ Orlikoff said. “This year it blew me away. We sold out over 1,600 tickets for four nights of the event in two and a half days. Ultimately, Soul Strolls is a fun, spooky time with your friends. But you know, it’s a fun, spooky history time with your friends.”

Permanent residents include some big names from local — and national — history

Speaking of history: Cemetery residents include former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry, J. Edgar Hoover, composer John Philip Sousa and Civil War-era photographer Mathew Brady.

“I would say he’s the father of photojournalism,” Docent of the Year Rick Liebling said.

Way before selfies at events, Brady’s lens snapped Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth and President Abraham Lincoln.

Advertisement
A gravesite monument to Mathew Brady, known as the father of photojournalism.


WRC

A gravesite monument to Mathew Brady, known as the father of photojournalism.

“Brady took pictures of Lincoln and made him look presidential, and Lincoln himself said, ‘Brady is the one who got me the presidency’,” Liebling told us.

Liebling also shared that he plans for Congressional to be his final resting place, too.

“But I’m comfortable knowing that there’s dogs here, and because there’s dogs here, that means people will actually walk near or around where I’m going to be. I find that somewhat comforting,” he said.

Advertisement

Dogs were the first to bring life back to Congressional Cemetery

Before interactive theater and movie nights and book clubs, it was dogs that brought life back to the cemetery.

“Well, I will tell you, way back around 1988 or so, it was not a real pleasant, comfortable place to come,” said Victor Romero, one of the founding members of Congressional Cemetery’s K9 Corps. “I mean, aside from the stones and the markers themselves being in various states of disrepair….”

Dogs sniff around Congressional Cemetery in Washington D.C.


WRC

Dogs sniff around Congressional Cemetery in Washington D.C.

There were also reports of illegal activities — not the welcoming place visitors know these days.

Advertisement

“And we brought more life to corners of the cemetery that people had not been to in ages,” Romero said. “This is indeed the liveliest place in Washington, D.C.”

Meet a death doula (and try not to freak out)

Laura Lyster-Mensh said people usually get unsettled when she tells them what she does.

“Then they meet me and they chill out a little, but yeah, no, it sounds scary, but it’s not,” said Lyster-Mensh, the cemetery’s death doula in residence. “It’s actually about living, not dying, to do things like death cafés.”

Think of Death Café as maybe getting a latte and talking about mortality.

“We do, of course, have people here with terminal illnesses who are dying and know that their their time is very finite, but most people are coming to be in groups to talk about this relationship with death, and they’re often young,” Lyster-Mensh said. “Some come on dates.”

Advertisement
Laura Lyster-Mensh is the death doula in residence at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C.


WRC

Laura Lyster-Mensh is the death doula in residence at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

“I have much optimism for these couples,” she added, laughing.

‘Every cemetery has its own kind of brand, and this is ours’

Other historic cemeteries such as Laurel Hill in Philadelphia, Green-wood in Brooklyn and Oakland in Atlanta also look toward the living for a breath of fresh air.

“We’re really on the cusp of a real cultural transformation of cemeteries as spaces, and they really are spaces for the living now, and that entails everything that the living love to do,” Orlikoff said.

Advertisement

But do people ever feel like a lively scene at a cemetery is too disrespectful toward the dead?

“Yeah, we get that every once in a while, people who have different cultural traditions and maybe just don’t understand,” Spainhour said. “We’re very transparent that this may not be the space for you, if this isn’t what you like. You know, every cemetery has its own kind of brand, and this is ours.”



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending