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
Obama Speaks to Young Leaders as Some Democrats Push to Pass the Torch
World
Canada bans more assault firearms, suggests donating guns to Ukraine
Canada on Thursday announced a ban on 324 assault-style firearms in a continued effort for more stringent gun control.
Leaders in Canada also said that they are working with the government of Ukraine to see how the guns can be donated to support the fight against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Every bit of assistance we can offer to the Ukrainians is one step toward their victory,” Defense Minister Bill Blair said.
The latest restriction, announced by Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, also includes investments in border security in an effort to stop smuggling and trafficking, as well as strengthening firearms controls, and tougher penalties for gun traffickers.
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The restrictions will be implemented immediately, the agency noted.
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“This means these firearms can no longer be used,” Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said.
The shoring up of gun control laws in Canada came after the May 2020 ban of 1,500 makes and models of firearms. Last month, that number grew to more than 2,000 as new models were identified.
“Firearms designed for the battlefield plainly do not belong in our communities,” Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs, said. “Too often, these types of weapons have been used to commit some of the worst atrocities Canada has ever witnessed.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Public Safety Canada for comment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
World
South Korea’s ruling party leader calls for suspension of Yoon’s powers
Han Dong-hoon says ‘credible evidence’ shows president intended to arrest political leaders.
The head of South Korea’s ruling party has called for the swift suspension of President Yoon Suk-yeol’s powers, citing “credible evidence” that he sought the arrest of political leaders following his short-lived declaration of martial law.
People Power Party (PPP) leader Han Dong-hoon, who had earlier said he would oppose efforts to impeach Yoon, said “newly emerging facts” had tipped the scales against the president.
“I learned last night the president ordered the defence counter-intelligence commander to arrest major political leaders, characterising them as antistate forces, and mobilised intelligence institutions in the process,” Han said.
“I have said that to prevent this country from descending into further chaos, I would try to stop the impeachment bill from passing this time,” Han added.
“But based on what has been revealed, to protect South Korea and our people, I believe it is necessary to stop President Yoon from exercising his powers as president promptly.”
Han said that Yoon had failed to acknowledge that his martial law declaration was illegal and wrong, and there was a “significant risk” that he could take similar extreme action again if he stayed in office.
South Korea was placed under martial law for about six hours on Tuesday night after Yoon announced the move in a surprise televised address to the nation in which he cited threats from “anti-state forces” and North Korean sympathisers.
The National Assembly quickly mobilised to overturn Yoon’s order in a 190-0 vote.
Yoon lifted the order at about 4am, but not before troops had descended on the National Assembly and scuffled with legislators and protesters.
As well as facing impeachment, Yoon is currently under investigation for treason alongside resigned Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun, Army Chief of Staff General Park An-su and Interior Minister Lee Sang-min, according to local media reports.
The call from Han, who is the justice minister and one of Yoon’s top rivals in the PPP, marks a decisive shift in the ruling party’s response to the crisis.
The opposition Democratic Party has called for a vote on Saturday night to impeach Yoon, but it needs at least eight votes from the ruling party to reach the necessary two-thirds threshold in the 300-member National Assembly.
If the motion is successful, South Korea’s Constitutional Court would then rule on whether to confirm Yoon’s removal from office.
Until now, the PPP had indicated it would oppose Yoon’s impeachment, with some analysts suggesting that lawmakers feared backlash for going against their own party, as occurred following the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye in 2016.
Park was later sentenced to 20 years in prison for corruption before she was pardoned.
Not including Yoon, four of South Korea’s seven presidents have either been impeached or jailed for corruption since the country’s transition to democracy in the late 1980s.
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