World
Lawmakers hold moment of silence for slain Omer Neutra as thousands mourn in hometown synagogue
A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday night held a moment of silence for American-Israeli Omer Neutra who was determined this week to have been killed by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, after it was believed that he had been alive for more than a year.
Neutra, 21 years old, was a tank platoon commander in the 7th Armored Brigade’s 77th Battalion in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and was among the first to respond to the Hamas attack that ultimately killed some 1,200 people and initially saw the abduction of more than 250 men, women and children.
His parents, Orna and Ronen, who spoke with Fox News Digital just days prior to the tragic development, believed their son was still alive after the IDF had long assessed that he, along with Nimrod Cohen, another soldier from his tank, were taken hostage into Gaza and remained alive.
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“For 420 days Omer’s parents and his brother Daniel have done everything they can with the love and support of hundreds of thousands of others to free their son from captivity,” Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., who represents the Neutra family’s district, said from the House floor. “Every day they soldiered on through alternating deep sorrow and brief bursts of hopefulness. They went from crushing anxiety to steely determination.
“Just a few days ago we learned that this courageous young man, this bright light, this courageous idealist, made the ultimate sacrifice,” Suozzi continued. “Omer had not been alive for the last 422 days, he was murdered on Oct. 7.”
Footage from the attack on Omer’s tank showed the commander, as well as three others, Shaked Dahan, Oz Daniel and Nimrod Cohen being pulled from the military vehicle by Hamas terrorists and being taken captive.
Daniel and Dahan had previously been assessed to have been killed following the attack, and according to the IDF, intelligence now suggests Omer, a descendant of Holocaust survivors, was also killed on Oct. 7. 2023.
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The Israeli military has not said how they came by this new information and the fate of Cohen remains unknown.
In a memorial service held for Omer on Tuesday in the Long Island synagogue where he reportedly celebrated his bar mitzvah years earlier, Omer’s father Ronen, said the news had left them “breathless and empty.”
“For over a year now, we’ve been breathing life into your being, my beautiful boy,” Orna said through tears, according to reports. “With the hope and love of so many, we kept going and going and going, keeping you alive, speaking your name from every outlet, pushing any hint of despair, not stopping to breathe or to take in the deep pain of your absence.”
“Now things are clear,” she said to the reported 1,500 attendees at the service. “But not as we’d hoped.”
Onra and Ronen have described their son as loving, a good friend and an athlete, but they also highlighted his ability to lead and how his actions on Oct. 7, 2023 saved lives.
Omer’s body is believed to still be held by Hamas along with the six other American hostages, only three of whom are still assessed by the IDF to be alive at this time, including Edan Alexander, Sagui Dekel-Chen and Keith Siegel.
Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s body was recovered after he, along with five others, were discovered to have been murdered by Hamas in the tunnels in Gaza in August.
There are still 100 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza following the recovery of Itai Svirski’s body on Wednesday, an Israeli hostage taken during the attack on Kibbutz Be’eri on Oct. 7, 2023.
The IDF confirmed he “was murdered in captivity by his captors, and his body was held hostage in the Gaza Strip.”
World
Photos: How South Korean Protesters Filled Streets to Demand Yoon’s Ouster
Tens of thousands of South Koreans from across the country gathered in the streets outside the National Assembly in Seoul on Saturday, demanding President Yoon Suk Yeol’s ouster. Mr. Yoon briefly imposed martial law on Tuesday, reopening old wounds and plunging the country into political chaos. An attempt to impeach Mr. Yoon failed to garner the required number of votes, prolonging the political upheaval and uncertainty that has roiled the country this week.
Protests in the city and around the country have intensified since Mr. Yoon’s audacious move on Tuesday. The rally at the National Assembly ahead of the impeachment vote on Saturday was the largest one yet, despite freezing temperatures. By 3 p.m. the areas in front of the National Assembly were filled.
People waved flags representing labor unions, human rights groups and smaller political parties. The police, wearing neon jackets, were lined up along the crowds to keep order.
As the grand boulevard facing the National Assembly filled up with protestors, people moved to the street that runs across the front of the complex.
Meanwhile, in another part of Seoul, supporters of Mr. Yoon gathered near Gwanghwamun Square. There were chairs set up for the supporters, unlike the crowds sitting on the ground outside of the National Assembly. Soon after the impeachment vote began, speakers were quick to announce that impeachment looked unlikely, and the crowd turned jubilant.
Protesters in front of the National Assembly stayed well into the night, as the voting session dragged on. People held candles and colorful light sticks. South Korea has a tradition of holding candlelight rallies to express political dissent.
As 9 p.m. approached, it became clear there were not enough votes to impeach Mr. Yoon and the crowd began to thin out.
However, many protesters said they would not give up. “I plan to come every weekend,” said Subin Park, 29, who had traveled from Bucheon, west of Seoul. “I hope a lot of people will show up from Monday.”
World
Syrian dictator Bashar Assad flees into exile as Islamist rebels conquer country
JERUSALEM — Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, who used chemical weapons multiple times on his population, has fled Syria after rebels stormed the capital city of Damascus, according to Reuters.
Assad, who was trained as an eye doctor in the United Kingdom before succeeding his father, and his British-born wife, Asma al-Assad, fled with their three children, according to Syrian television reports. It was not known where they were headed.
A video statement from a group of men on Syrian state TV said that Assad had been overthrown and all prisoners have been set free.
The man who read a statement said the Operations Room to Conquer Damascus is calling on all opposition fighters and citizens to preserve state institutions of “the free Syrian state.”
“Long live the free Syrian state that is to all Syrians and all” their sects and ethnic groups, they said.
Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali said early Sunday he didn’t know the whereabouts of Assad. He told the Saudi television network Al-Arabiyya that they lost communication Saturday night.
Crowds of Syrians gathered in the central squares of Damascus to celebrate. Some chanted anti-Assad slogans and honked horns. In other areas, celebratory gunshots rang out.
Syria has been embroiled in a bloody, nearly 14-year civil war as Islamist rebels looked to overthrow the Assad dynasty. The apparent collapse of more than 50 years of Assad family rule over the Syrian Arabian Republic is a monumental turning point in Middle East power politics.
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A coalition of largely radical Islamist groups dislodged Assad’s Iran-backed regime. The U.S.-designated terrorist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist former Al-Qaeda affiliate that is part of the rebel forces, played the decisive role in evicting Assad, who inherited his presidency in 2000 following the death of his father, Hafez Assad.
Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the Islamist leader of HTS, who has a $10 million bounty on his head from the U.S., seeks to present a toned-down version of the radical Islamism that has defined his years of fighting in Syria and in Iraq against American troops. Al-Golani was detained by the U.S. military in the first decade of this century.
Syrian experts have told Fox News Digital that HTS seeks to impose a totalitarian Islamist regime on the population. Phillip Smyth, an expert on Iranian regime proxy groups and Syria, who is with the Atlantic Council, told Fox News Digital, “HTS is a group that is an outgrowth of Al-Qaeda and has connections to Turkey. Their endgame is to create a Taliban-esque society with a few tweaks.”
Al-Golani banned his fighters from opening fire into the air in Damascus.
“Public institutions will remain under the supervision of the prime minister until they are officially handed over,” he said in a statement published on his group’s social media outlets.
Assad’s decision in 2011 to launch a violent crackdown on pro-democracy Syrian activists during the Arab Spring revolts, which engulfed Egypt and Tunisia, resulted in the protracted civil war. Assad’s scorched-earth policy against the citizens of his country caused the killing of over 500,000 people. The UN recently announced that it has stopped tracking the mounting death toll.
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The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Egyptian and Jordanian officials urged Assad to flee Syria and form a government-in-exile. Jordan’s government denied the report.
In 2015, Assad’s regime was teetering when Russia intervened to save the dictatorship. The U.S.-sanctioned Lebanese terrorist movement, Hezbollah, and its main sponsor, Iran, both threw their weight behind Assad’s regime.
The rebel forces who routed Assad’s forces—with the swift capture of the major Syrian cities of Aleppo, Hamas, and Homs—jolted both Putin and Iran. Ukraine’s resistance to Russia’s invasion of its territory has weakened Moscow. Israel has inflicted a number of aerial attacks on Iran’s military infrastructure since Tehran’s ally, Hamas, launched a surprise attack against the Jewish state on October 7, 2023.
The United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 2254 in 2015, which called for a cease-fire, UN-run elections and a new constitution. Assad rejected the resolution’s implementation.
After Assad launched a shocking mass chemical weapons strike on Syrian civilians in 2013, in which more than 1,400 people were killed, former President Obama’s administration reneged on its promise to take military action against Assad.
The origin of Assad’s forced departure can be traced back to a group of schoolboys in the southwestern dusty city of Daraa—the cradle of the Syrian revolt—in 2011. The young boys used cans of graffiti to write on a concrete wall: “The people / want / to topple the regime!”
Assad’s cousin, Gen. Atef Najeeb, oversaw an operation that involved reported torture of the arrested 15 boys between the ages of 10 and 15. Syrian officials ripped the boy’s fingernails out and burned and beat them.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
World
Iconic Notre Dame cathedral reopens for the first time since 2019
Paris’ iconic Notre Dame cathedral reopens five years after it was nearly destroyed by a devastating fire five years ago. 1,500 dignitaries, including sitting heads of states and royal figures attended the historic ceremony.
The iconic Notre Dame cathedral rises from the ashes.
The gothic architectural masterpiece was closed for five years, undergoing restoration work after a devastating fire almost destroyed it in 2019.
The restoration, a remarkable achievement in just five years for a structure that took nearly two centuries to build was seen as a moment of triumph for French President Emmanuel Macron, who championed the ambitious timeline. It’s a moment of respite air for Macron who’s been battling domestic political challenges, after the collapse of his country’s government just a few days ago.
The celebration was attended by 1,500 dignitaries, including US President-elect Donald Trump, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, US First Lady Jill Biden and Prince William of Britain’s Royal Family.
The ceremony was initially planned to begin on the forecourt was moved inside due to bad weather. But the unusually harsh December winds howling could not stop the Notre Dame’s resurrection. But nothing could diminish from the significance of the moment, as choirs sang psalms inside the luminous nave, and the cathedral’s organ, silent for nearly five years, erupted with an interplay of melodies.
Paris Archbishop Laurent Ulrich opened the ceremony with three resounding knocks on the cathedral’s doors, wielding a specially designed crosier carved from the fire-scorched beams. And just like that, the cathedral was officially reopened for worship.
Observers and attendees see the event as Macron’s, who turned it into a diplomatic gathering, highlighting France’s ability to come together in unity on the international stage despite internal political chaos.
Outside the cathedral’s iconic western facade, the word “MERCI” (thank you in French) was projected
The French president reiterated his gratitude as he addressed the nation at the ceremony. He expressed his gratitude to firefighters and first responders; who saved the UNESCO accredited World Heritage Site from total collapse, and the personnel who worked tirelessly for years to bring the cathedral to its former glory.
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