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Lawmakers hold moment of silence for slain Omer Neutra as thousands mourn in hometown synagogue

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Lawmakers hold moment of silence for slain Omer Neutra as thousands mourn in hometown synagogue

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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. 

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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.

An image of Omer Neutra is displayed at his memorial service Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024 at the Midway Jewish Center in Syosset, N.Y. (AP Photo/Philip Marcelo) (AP Photo/Philip Marcelo)

7 US HOSTAGES STILL HELD BY HAMAS TERRORISTS AS FAMILIES PLEAD FOR THEIR RELEASE: ‘THIS IS URGENT’

“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.”

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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.

Omer Neutra family

Syosset, N.Y.: Daniel Neutral, brother of Omar Neutra, surrounded by father Ronen Neutra and mother Orna Neutra at the Midway Jewish Center on Dec. 3, 2024 in Syosset, New York speak during a memorial service for Omer Neutra, an Isaeli-American who was killed by Hamas militants.  (Howard Schnapp/Newsday RM via Getty Images)

AMERICAN FATHER OF HAMAS HOSTAGE ITAY CHEN PUSHES US, ISRAEL ON ‘PLAN B’ AS NEGOTIATIONS FALTER

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.”

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“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.

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American Hostages

These are the American hostages who were taken by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023 and held in Gaza, only Hersh Goldberg-Polin (Left) has been returned to Israel after the IDF found him and other hostages killed by terrorists. Pictured next to Hersh is Itay Chen, Sagui Dekel-Chen, Edan Alexander, Omer Neutra, Gadi Haggai and Judi Weinstein Haggai and Keith Siegel. (Fox News Photo)

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.”

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Far-right influencer Nick Fuentes accused of pepper spraying woman on his doorstep

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Far-right influencer Nick Fuentes accused of pepper spraying woman on his doorstep

BERWYN, Ill. (AP) — Far-right influencer Nick Fuentes is due in court later this month after a woman accused him of pepper-spraying her when she showed up at his suburban Chicago home following his “Your body, my choice” post on X.

According to court documents, the 57-year-old woman approached Fuentes’ home in Berwyn on Nov. 10, shortly after his address was leaked following his post, the Chicago Tribune reported. Berwyn is a Chicago suburb of about 54,000 people.

The woman told the newspaper in a Nov. 15 interview that her friends encouraged her to go to Fuentes’ home to see if rumors were true that he had been receiving prank deliveries after his post on X. She said she made a video of herself on the sidewalk in front of Fuentes’ home. Another woman pulled up in her car and told her to ring the doorbell.

She alleged that Fuentes opened the door before she could ring the bell, pepper-sprayed her, screamed an expletive and took her phone.

Fuentes, 26, faces a battery charge in connection with the incident, the newspaper reported. He is due to appear in court on Dec. 19. He has posted mugshots of himself on his X account along with “Free me (racial slur).”

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He didn’t immediately respond to a message The Associated Press sent him Saturday through X. Attempts to reach his attorney, Eduardo Cervantes, were unsuccessful.

Fuentes, a Holocaust-denying white supremacist, is part of an emboldened fringe of right-wing “manosphere” influencers who have seized on Republican Donald Trump’s presidential victory to amplify misogynistic derision and threats online.

Many of them have appropriated the “my body, my choice” abortion rights slogan, changing it to “your body, my choice.” The twist on the wording has been largely attributed to Fuentes’ Nov. 5 X post: “Your body, my choice. Forever.”

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Trump urges US to stay out of Syrian civil war, blaming Obama for failure as Islamists close in on capital

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Trump urges US to stay out of Syrian civil war, blaming Obama for failure as Islamists close in on capital

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JERUSALEM—President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday weighed in for the first time on the Syrian Islamist revolt against the country’s dictator Bashar al-Assad who is holed up in his palace in Damascus.

The radical Islamist movement reached the suburbs of the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Saturday and are preparing to storm the main bastion of Assad’s fledgling regime.

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Trump warned on the social media platform Truth Social: “Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!”

He took former President Obama to task for failing to enforce his “red line” in 2013 to launch military strikes against Assad after the Syrian strongman executed a shocking mass chemical weapons strike on civilians, in which more than 1,400 people were killed.

ISLAMIST REBELS IN SYRIA CATCH ASSAD, PUTIN, IRAN REGIMES OFF GUARD GIVING US NEW MIDEAST HEADACHE

President-elect Donald Trump predicted to Fox News in October that President Biden would pardon his son Hunter. (Fox News)

Critics accused Obama’s administration at the time of reneging on its promise to take military action against Assad for his crimes against humanity.

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“This is where former President Obama refused to honor his commitment of protecting the RED LINE IN THE SAND, and all hell broke out, with Russia stepping in. But now they are, like possibly Assad himself, being forced out, and it may actually be the best thing that can happen to them. There was never much of a benefit in Syria for Russia, other than to make Obama look really stupid,” wrote Trump.

He added “Opposition fighters in Syria, in an unprecedented move, have totally taken over numerous cities, in a highly coordinated offensive, and are now on the outskirts of Damascus, obviously preparing to make a very big move toward taking out Assad. Russia, because they are so tied up in Ukraine, and with the loss there of over 600,000 soldiers, seems incapable of stopping this literal march through Syria, a country they have protected for years.”

Also on Saturday, the Israeli military, which is on high alert, announced, “A short while ago, an attack was carried out by armed individuals at a U.N. post in the Hader area in Syria. The IDF is currently assisting the U.N. forces in repelling the attack.”

RUSSIA AND SYRIA BOMB SYRIAN ISLAMIST REBELS AFTER SURPRISE INCURSION

A Syrian opposition fighter takes a picture of a comrade stepping on a portrait of Syrian President Bashar Assad in Aleppo, early on Saturday Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

A Syrian opposition fighter takes a picture of a comrade stepping on a portrait of Syrian President Bashar Assad in Aleppo, early on Saturday Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed) (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

The IDF added that it has deployed “reinforced forces in the Golan Heights area and will continue to operate in order to protect the State of Israel and its citizens.”

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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with his Turkish counterpart on the situation in Syria. Turkey is the principal backer of the Islamist coalition seeking to topple the Assad 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, is the key force that has secured large swaths of Syrian territory over the last few days.

U.S. State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement that “Blinken spoke today with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to discuss developments in Syria. Secretary Blinken emphasized the importance of protecting civilians, including members of minority groups, across Syria.”

An anti-government fighter covers his ears as a multi-barrel rocket launcher fires against regime forces in the northern outskirts of Syria's west-central city of Hama on December 4, 2024. Syrian government forces pressed a counterattack against Islamist-led rebels around the key city of Hama on December 4 after suffering a string of staggering losses further north, a war monitor said. 

An anti-government fighter covers his ears as a multi-barrel rocket launcher fires against regime forces in the northern outskirts of Syria’s west-central city of Hama on December 4, 2024. Syrian government forces pressed a counterattack against Islamist-led rebels around the key city of Hama on December 4 after suffering a string of staggering losses further north, a war monitor said.  (Bakr al Kassem/AFP via Getty Images)

Miller added, “The Secretary discussed the need for a political solution to the conflict, consistent with U.N. Security Council Resolution 2254. Secretary Blinken also extended his congratulations to Foreign Minister Fidan on the selection of Ambassador Feridun Sinirlioglu as the OSCE [Organization for Security and Co-operation] Secretary General and looks forward to continued cooperation in the region.”

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. 

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Aug. 31, 2013: President Obama with Vice President Biden as he makes a statement about Syria in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington.

Aug. 31, 2013: President Obama with Vice President Biden as he makes a statement about Syria in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington. (AP)

The State Department has classified Assad’s regime as a state-sponsor of terrorism. Phillip Smyth, an expert on Iranian regime proxy groups and Syria, who is with the Atlantic Council, told Fox News Digital regarding Trump’s comment, “I do not see a huge deviation from his previous policy points. He is staying the course. Realism with what is going on.”

Trump’s message to [the] Assad regime and the HTS coalition is “I wish them both luck. It is essentially that,” said Smyth. He termed Trump’s post a “statement of the reality” about the Syrian civil war.

FILE - In this Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2013 citizen journalism file image provided by the United Media office of Arbeen, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, members of a chemical weapons investigation team take samples from sand near a part of a missile that is likely to be one of the chemical rockets, according to activists, in the Damascus countryside of Ain Terma, Syria. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, Oct. 11, 2013, for working to eliminate the scourge that has haunted generations from World War I to the battlefields of Syria. (AP Photo/United Media office of Arbeen, File)

FILE – In this Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2013 citizen journalism file image provided by the United Media office of Arbeen, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, members of a chemical weapons investigation team take samples from sand near a part of a missile that is likely to be one of the chemical rockets, according to activists, in the Damascus countryside of Ain Terma, Syria. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, Oct. 11, 2013, for working to eliminate the scourge that has haunted generations from World War I to the battlefields of Syria. (AP Photo/United Media office of Arbeen, File) (The Associated Press)

When asked whether he thought Assad would use chemical weapons on the Islamist rebels, Smyth said, “It would not surprise me if he did. There is risk of it.” Smyth expects a bit more anarchy in the battle of Damascus. “You will have different factions wrestling for control.”

Given the lightening seizure of major Syrian cities such as Aleppo and Hama over the last week, Smyth said, “I think the writing is on the wall. His mobilization attempts have not been successful. There is this lackadaisical haze over the Assad regime. You can see internal corruption on full display in how they are mobilizing and acting. The rapid collapse says everything. There is a lot of paper tiger posture. There was no expectation that there would be an advance like this.”

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Storm Darragh causes widespread disruption in the UK and Ireland

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Storm Darragh causes widespread disruption in the UK and Ireland

Storm Darragh has left hundreds of thousands in Ireland and the UK without power with heavy rain and winds gusts reaching 150 km per hour.

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Hundreds of thousands in Ireland and the UK were left without power as Storm Darragh caused widespread disruption in the region.

Millions of people were warned to stay indoors on Saturday, as high winds of up to 150 km per hour and heavy rain caused officials to send out a rare emergency alert by phone to around 3 million households in Wales and the southwest of England.

The official alert, which made a sire-like sound, warned people to stay indoors and was sent to every mobile phone in the area impacted by the extreme weather.

On Friday, the Met Office, the UK’s weather forecaster, issued a red weather warning — the most serious type. Overnight, thousands of homes, many in Northern Ireland, Wales, and western England, were left without power.

Strong winds closed major highways and bridges across the country, while multiple train services were suspended.

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In Ireland, the storm left almost 400,000 homes, farms, and businesses without power, and some flights at Dublin Airport were cancelled.

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