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Year: 2024

Hamas leader killed in Lebanon was UN employee, agency confirms

Hamas leader killed in Lebanon was UN employee, agency confirms

A U.N. human rights group confirmed Hamas’ leader in Lebanon, who was recently killed by Israeli strikes, was their employee.  Fateh Sherif was killed Monday in an airstrike on the al-Bass refugee camp in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, along with his wife and children. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) noted that Sherif had been on suspension with the organization since March but had not been fired.  “Fateh Al Sharif was an UNRWA employee who was put on administrative leave without pay in March and was undergoing an investigation following allegations that UNRWA received about his political activities,” an UNRWA spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News Digital.  At the time, his suspension sparked widespread protests and strikes by teachers in Lebanon.  “Sherif was responsible for coordinating Hamas’ terror activities in Lebanon with Hezbollah operatives. He was also responsible for Hamas’ efforts in Lebanon to recruit operatives and acquire weapons,” the Israel Defense Force (IDF) and Israeli Security Agency (ISA) said in a joint statement.  “He led the Hamas terrorist organization’s force build-up efforts in Lebanon and operated to advance Hamas’ interests in Lebanon, both politically and militarily.” ISRAELI STRIKE KILLS HAMAS COMMANDER IN LEBANON  Israel alleges UNRWA is overrun with terrorist sympathizers, a claim the agency denies.  Sherif was the principal of the UNRWA-run Deir Yassin Secondary School in al-Bass and head of the UNRWA teachers’ union, which has around 2,000 teachers.  “Through that position, and as principal of a large UNRWA school, he was able to recruit operatives, and to brainwash generations of Palestinians to engage in terrorism,” Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, told Fox News Digital.  Neuer and his organization had long pushed U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini to fire Sherif and said they provided both with a dossier proving his involvement in Hamas.  “Everyone at UNRWA knew. Yet they refused to act,” Neuer said.  IRAN’S AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI IN HIDING WITH EXTRA SECURITY FOLLOWING HEZBOLLAH LEADER’S DEATH: REPORT  “Even as school principal al-Sharif openly incited terrorism on social media for over a decade, UNRWA did nothing. They failed to fire or even condemn their school principal for being a Hamas terror chief. Only this year, when there was intense scrutiny of UNRWA, did they finally slap him on the wrist with a suspension – while for months insisting that they were conducting ‘an investigation.’” The Sherif killing unfolded as another terrorist group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said three of its leaders were killed in an airstrike that hit the upper floor of an apartment building in Beirut, according to Reuters.  Israeli officials said Monday they will “continue to operate against anyone who poses a threat to the civilians of the State of Israel.”  Israel over the past few days has expanded its attacks on Iran-backed militant groups in the region, also killing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike over the weekend. While it weighs a full-on ground offensive, the IDF has been launching small special forces operations in southern Lebanon.  A reported Israeli airstrike hit central Beirut, the first strike at the heart of the capital since 2006, in an escalation of the bombing that local officials say has killed more than 1,000 in Lebanon.  Iran has vowed Israel’s “criminal acts” would not go unanswered, while President Biden has insisted all-out war in the Middle East “must be avoided.”

Trump narrows Harris’ small lead in battleground Michigan, Wisconsin, poll finds

Trump narrows Harris’ small lead in battleground Michigan, Wisconsin, poll finds

Former President Trump has narrowed Vice President Kamala Harris’ small lead in the battleground states of Michigan and Wisconsin, new polling by the New York Times/Siena College finds.  Among likely voters in Michigan, Harris received 48% support, while Trump garnered 47%, locking the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees in an essential tie well within the poll’s margin of error. Harris polled at 49% among likely voters in Wisconsin, while Trump received 47% support in the same state where polls usually overestimate backing for Democrats, according to the Times.  The Times pointed to the economy, which remains the most important issue for voters, as Trump’s strength on economic issues helps him edge away at Harris’ slim lead in the two northern battlegrounds.  The new poll contrasts with August’s New York Times/Siena College survey, which has Harris leading Trump by four percentage points, 50% to 46% among likely voters, in the battlegrounds of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania as well. That poll was the first conducted as the race reshaped with Harris becoming the presidential nominee following President Biden’s July departure from the contest.   FOX NEWS POLL: HARRIS, TRUMP IN CLOSE RACE IN NORTH CAROLINA Now with less than 40 days until the Nov. 5 election, New York Times/Siena College polling places Harris ahead of Trump by nine percentage points in Nebraska’s Second Congressional District, whose sole electoral vote could be critical in the Electoral College. The Times says Harris could receive exactly 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House if she picks up that district – given the vice president also wins Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and Trump is victorious in the Sun Belt battleground states.  Though Ohio does not fall into the battleground state category for the presidential race, it’s home to one of the nation’s most competitive Senate contests between Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown and GOP challenger Bernie Moreno. New York Times/Siena College polling has Trump six points ahead of Harris in Ohio, whereas Brown leads Moreno by four points. TRUMP VISITS WISCONSIN TOWN SHAKEN BY MIGRANT CRIME: ‘CROSSED KAMALA’S WIDE-OPEN BORDER’ Democrats have enjoyed an advantage for months in presidential contest polling in Wisconsin, which has been determined by less than a percentage point in four of the last six elections, including the 2020 race, the Times notes. Meanwhile, Biden carried Michigan by three points in 2020, while Trump won that Wolverine State in 2016 by three-tenths of a point.  Abortion was placed as the second most important issue among Michigan and Wisconsin voters.  The new poll found 18% of voters in the two states listed abortion as their top issue, noting an uptick since May when 13% of voters in Michigan and Wisconsin marked it as their determining cause. On abortion, Harris leads Trump by 20 points in Michigan, but now only by 13 points in Wisconsin. Harris had a 22-point lead over Trump in August on the abortion issue in the Badger State.