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Year: 2024

Israeli society still supports Netanyahu and his war on Palestinians

Israeli society still supports Netanyahu and his war on Palestinians

NewsFeed A new poll shows Israelis would still re-elect Benjamin Netanyahu, suggesting much of Israeli society still supports his policies against Palestinians whether under occupation in the West Bank or unrelenting war in Gaza. Al Jazeera’s Soraya Lennie breaks it down. Published On 15 Aug 202415 Aug 2024 Adblock test (Why?)

Mapping Ukraine’s surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region

Mapping Ukraine’s surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region

During the past week, Ukraine has launched an offensive in Kursk in the most significant cross-border attack since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. The Kursk region, located in western Russia and bordering Ukraine, has a population of about 1.2 million. Ukraine’s incursion, which began on August 6, took the Kremlin by surprise. Moscow has struggled to push back against the assault for over a week and announcing emergency measures including the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of civilians. Both Kyiv and Moscow have now acknowledged the operation into the Russian border regions, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirming on Saturday that his army is fighting within Russian territory. How much of Russia does Kyiv claim it controls? Oleksandr Syrskii, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, claimed Kyiv’s forces controlled about 1,000sq km (386sq miles) of Russia’s Kursk region on Monday, six days into the offensive. That’s almost as much land as Russia has advanced upon in Ukraine so far this year, according to analysts. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, estimated Ukraine’s advances at about 800sq km (309sq miles) based on satellite imagery and open source information. “We continue to conduct an offensive operation in the Kursk region. Currently, we control about 1,000 square kilometres of the territory of the Russian Federation,” Syrskii said in a video published on Zelenskyy’s Telegram account on Tuesday. On Tuesday, Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian forces are now in control of 74 Russian settlements in the Kursk region, the result of a Ukrainian cross-border operation. Where are evacuations taking place? The Russia-Ukraine land border is about 1,974km (1,227 miles) long. Nearly 200,000 people have been forced to evacuate from border regions. The governor of the Belgorod region on Wednesday declared a state of emergency, blaming the relentless bombardment by Ukraine. “The situation in the Belgorod region continues to be extremely difficult and tense,” Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a video posted on the Telegram messaging app. Daily shelling by Ukraine’s armed forces had destroyed houses, and had killed and injured civilians, he added. “Therefore, we are making a decision, starting today, to declare a regional emergency situation throughout the Belgorod region … with a subsequent appeal to the government to declare a federal emergency situation.” Why has Ukraine launched an incursion? President Zelenskyy said Russian forces have conducted almost 2,100 artillery strikes from Russia’s Kursk region on Ukraine’s Sumy region since June 1, 2024, and Ukraine’s operations into Kursk were intended to secure its borders from the Russian military. Zelenskyy insisted that the offensive is tactical – not aimed at taking Russian territory, but at forcing Russia into a ceasefire. “Russia brought war to others, now it’s coming home,” he said on Tuesday. The Institute for the Study of War reported that geolocated footage indicated Ukrainian forces had recently been active in Sudzha and northern Zaoleshenka. On August 12, it was alleged that Ukraine had captured the town of Sudzha, according to Russian sources. Gas pipelines near Sudzha Intense fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces is taking place near a pipeline Russia uses to supply European countries with gas. However, network operators and gas companies said on Tuesday that the flow of gas had not been disrupted. Sudzha is the site of the only pumping station for Russian natural gas to reach Europe through Ukraine. European countries like Austria, Hungary and Slovakia still buy gas from Russia – all of it flowing through Sudzha. Located about 10km (6 miles) from the Ukrainian border, Sudzha sees an average of 42 million cubic metres (1.5 billion cubic ft) of Russian gas flowing through its pipelines on the way to Europe every day. The town plays host to a gas metering system that measures this flow. Despite the war with Russia, Kyiv has allowed the gas to continue being sent through its Soviet-era gas pipeline unabated as part of a $2bn-a-year contract between state-owned Naftogaz and Russia’s Gazprom. Adblock test (Why?)

Harris camp silent on when VP will hold press conference as Trump preps to host his second in a week

Harris camp silent on when VP will hold press conference as Trump preps to host his second in a week

The Harris campaign has remained mum on when Vice President Kamala Harris will hold a formal press conference, or why she has not held one since she emerged as the Democratic Party’s nominee, while former President Donald Trump prepares to hold his second press conference in a week this afternoon. Harris became the de facto Democratic nominee on July 21, when President Biden exited the race and passed the torch to Harris through an endorsement. Harris has not held a formal press conference or joined a sit-down interview with the media in the 25 days since Biden endorsed her and she officially clinched the nomination in a subsequent “virtual” roll-call vote less than two weeks later. Fox News Digital reached out to the campaign this week asking if there were plans to schedule a formal press conference and when, as well as inquiring why the vice president has not held one in more than three weeks. The campaign did not respond to the requests.  Campaign spokespeople have been pressed about the issue during interviews on news shows, but have also demurred on giving an answer. Instead, both Harris and members of her campaign have said she plans to hold a sit-down interview by the end of August. Details on a date or which outlet will hold the interview have not yet been released.  KAMALA HARRIS’ GLOWING TIME COVER DRAGGED BY CRITICS: ‘JOURNOS WORSHIPPING POLITICIANS, TERRIFIC’ “I’ve talked to my team, I want us to get an interview scheduled before the end of the month,” Harris said last week after a campaign event in Michigan.  The vice president has been criss-crossing the country over the last roughly three weeks as she works to earn support from voters. Biden dropped out of the race amid mounting concerns surrounding his mental acuity and 81 years of age, leaving Harris with just under 100 days to campaign.  Harris has taken a handful of questions from the media while on the campaign trail, but she has snubbed the media by not holding pressers or sit-down interviews. Time magazine earlier this month published a glowing cover story on Harris, but the vice president didn’t agree to an interview for the piece. Instead, that article quoted aides and allies who lauded Harris as a formidable candidate against former President Donald Trump.  Pressure has built on the campaign to hold a press conference, including CNN’s Jim Acosta questioning Harris communications director Michael Tyler this week on air.  “I’m sure this is not going to be the first time you’ve heard this question, but the Trump campaign is also going after the vice president for not doing enough interviews, for not holding a press conference. Would it kill you guys to have a press conference? Why hasn’t she had a press conference?” Acosta asked.  25 DAYS: KAMALA HARRIS HAS NOT HELD A PRESS CONFERENCE SINCE EMERGING AS PRESUMPTIVE DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE Tyler said that she and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz have been “busy” traveling across the country, citing multiple campaign rallies. “Michael, you know a campaign rally isn’t really a press conference,” Acosta said to Tyler. “Why hasn’t she had a press conference? She’s the vice president, she can handle the questions, why not do it?”  Tyler said that Harris will hold a press conference at some point and would sit down for an interview with a media outlet by the end of the month.  The left-leaning Washington Post editorial board also challenged Harris over dodging the media on Sunday, saying of her opponent, “At least he has taken questions.”  CNN HOST PRESSES HARRIS CAMPAIGN SPOX ON VP’S SCHEDULE AS SHE AVOIDS PRESS: ‘SHE HAS TIME’ FOR AN INTERVIEW Trump and allies of the 45th president have used Harris’ lack of media availability as a point of attack.  ​​”It’s pretty sad when you think that somebody that does this for a living can’t answer a question or is afraid to do an interview, and in her case, with a very friendly interview. She’s got all friendly interviewers,” Trump said of Harris Monday evening during his roughly two-hour interview with tech billionaire Elon Musk on X Space.  Some have said that Harris is pulling a move from Biden’s 2020 playbook, when Biden carried out a cloistered campaign strategy during the pandemic, which earned him the nickname “Basement Joe” from Trump.  “Kamala Harris should absolutely hold a press conference. One would expect it when she names her vice-presidential pick. But we cannot expect her to break from Biden’s serial avoidance of press conferences,” NewsBusters executive editor Tim Graham previously told Fox News Digital. FORMER CLINTON AIDE PAUL BEGALA DEFENDS HARRIS AVOIDING THE MEDIA: ‘WHO CARES’? “Since the 2020 campaign, we have witnessed the bizarre spectacle of Donald Trump granting wide access to networks that suggest he’s a fascist and hammer him daily, while Biden and Harris won’t grant interviews to media outlets that gurgle all over them and their ‘historic accomplishments,’” he continued. “Either they think the press can never be servile enough, or they are projecting a complete lack of confidence in their efforts to put complete sentences together.”  Some supporters of the vice president say that her strategy of avoiding the media is a winning one as she continues building out her campaign before the DNC in Chicago next week.   “Where is it written that you have to sit down for a press interview?” longtime Democratic consultant James Carville told the New York Times. “They’ve had to pick a vice president, plan a convention, move around, do this, do that, and she’s already agreed to a debate.” Meanwhile, Trump has been more available to the media, holding press conferences at his homes in Florida and New Jersey, in addition to campaigning, and joining a two-hour conversational interview with Musk this week. Musk invited Harris to join him for a similar interview ahead of the election, but the campaign has not said whether Harris will accept. Fox News Digital’s Brian Flood contributed to this article.   Get the latest updates from

‘So abhorrent’: Federal judge rules against UCLA in lawsuit over ‘Jew Exclusion Zone’

‘So abhorrent’: Federal judge rules against UCLA in lawsuit over ‘Jew Exclusion Zone’

A Los Angeles federal district Tuesday ordered the University of California, Los Angeles, to stop allowing and assisting antisemitic agitators to ban Jews from large parts of UCLA’s campus.   In the wake of the horrifying attack in Israel on Oct. 7, anti-Israel activists on campus set up barricades in the center of campus that blocked access to critical educational infrastructure on campus.  In a lawsuit filed by Becket Law and co-counsel Clement & Murphy PLLC, the religious liberty firm accused UCLA of “aiding and abetting” an antisemetic culture, including what effectively became a “Jew Exclusion Zone” on campus, “segregating Jewish students and preventing them from accessing the heart of campus.”  “To enter the Jew Exclusion Zone, a person had to make a statement pledging their allegiance to the activists’ views and have someone within the encampment ‘vouch’ for the individual’s fidelity to the activists’ cause,” the lawsuit said. “[T]he practical effect was to deny the overwhelming majority of Jews access to the heart of the campus.” CALIFORNIA RABBI PUTS COLLEGES ON NOTICE AFTER ‘NATIONAL FAILURE’ TO PROTECT JEWISH STUDENTS The lawsuit claimed that “UCLA’s administration knew about the activists’ extreme actions, including the exclusion of Jews.” “But, in a remarkable display of cowardice, appeasement, and illegality, the administration did nothing to stop it.” UCLA Chancellor Gene Block publicly acknowledged that “‘students on their way to class have been physically blocked from accessing parts of the campus,’” the suit states.  On Tuesday, a federal district court in California sided with the Jewish students, saying, “In the year 2024, in the United States of America, in the State of California, in the City of Los Angeles, Jewish students were excluded from portions of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith. This fact is so unimaginable and so abhorrent to our constitutional guarantee of religious freedom that it bears repeating, Jewish students were excluded from portions of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith.” UCLA STUDENT SLAMS UNIVERSITY FOR ‘ENCOURAGING VIOLENCE,’ TURNING CAMPUS INTO ‘WAR ZONE’: ‘THIS IS A DISGRACE’ “UCLA does not dispute this. Instead, UCLA claims that it has no responsibility to protect the religious freedom of its Jewish students because the exclusion was engineered by third-party protesters. But under constitutional principles, UCLA may not allow services to some students when UCLA knows that other students are excluded on religious grounds, regardless of who engineered the exclusion,” Judge Mark C. Scarsi said in the court order.  Yitzchok Frankel is a third-year law student at UCLA and father of four who said he faced antisemitic harassment last semester for wearing a kippah and was forced to abandon his regular routes through campus because of the Jew Exclusion Zone.  “No student should ever have to fear being blocked from their campus because they are Jewish,” Frankel said. “I am grateful that the court has ordered UCLA to put a stop to this shameful anti-Jewish conduct.”  Frankel detailed how UCLA’s continued failures have forced him to cancel plans on campus with his family and to forgo opportunities to mentor incoming Jewish students on campus during orientation week. Eden Shemuelian, another law student, said he has also had to avoid using campus facilities and participating in law school orientation events because of UCLA’s continuing failures to ensure the safety and equal access of Jewish students.  UCLA FORCED TO MOVE TO REMOTE LEARNING AMID ANTISEMITIC PROTESTS, ENCAMPMENT ON CAMPUS Tuesday’s ruling said that Frankel, Shemuelian and others should be allowed to return to campus without facing such antisemitic bigotry. The court-ordered injunction is the first in the nation against a university for allowing an antisemitic encampment to be established on campus.  The injunction goes into effect today, Aug. 15. UCLA is expected to appeal the ruling to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.  Mary Osako, UCLA vice chancellor for strategic communications, told Fox News Digital that the school is “closely reviewing the Judge’s ruling and considering all our options moving forward.” “UCLA is committed to fostering a campus culture where everyone feels welcome and free from intimidation, discrimination, and harassment,” Osako said. “The district court’s ruling would improperly hamstring our ability to respond to events on the ground and to meet the needs of the Bruin community.”

JD Vance agrees to debate Tim Walz on Oct. 1

JD Vance agrees to debate Tim Walz on Oct. 1

Ohio Sen. JD Vance announced Thursday that he has accepted an invitation to debate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Oct. 1.  “The American people deserve as many debates as possible, which is why President Trump has challenged Kamala to three of them already,” Vance wrote in a post on X. “Not only do I accept the CBS debate on October 1st, I accept the CNN debate on September 18th as well. I look forward to seeing you at both!”  Walz, who is Vice President Harris’ running mate on the Democratic presidential ticket, said on X yesterday “See you on October 1, JD.”  CBS News said in a prior statement that it invited both candidates to a debate in New York City, with Oct. 1 being one of the available dates.  FORMER OBAMA OFFICIAL DEFENDS HARRIS NOT TALKING TO PRESS IF IT ‘HELPS HER WIN’  “We look forward to their responses and providing voters with an opportunity to hear directly from the vice-presidential candidates,” the network said.  Although Vance said on X that he would debate Walz on CNN on Sept. 18 – it’s not immediately clear if Walz will attend that date.  TRACKING KAMALA HARRIS’ POLICY REVERSALS: A COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF KEY ISSUE FLIP-FLOPS  The Harris campaign did not immediately respond Thursday to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.  CNN is quoting a spokesperson as saying that the network “invited both Senator Vance and Governor Walz to a Vice Presidential debate this fall, and Senator Vance has accepted.”  “We are always in communication with the campaigns around opportunities for the American public to hear from leading candidates for President and Vice President of the United States, and we look forward to this programming in the fall,” the spokesperson added. 

Celebrities have ‘incredibly powerful’ ability to influence election: Harvard study

Celebrities have ‘incredibly powerful’ ability to influence election: Harvard study

Celebrities have a “powerful” ability to influence elections and increase voter turnout, a Harvard study found. “While some polling shows that people claim they aren’t influenced by celebrity voices when it comes to politics, more rigorous evidence indicates that these voices are incredibly powerful,” reads a study conducted by Harvard’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. “Nonprofits report higher rates of online voter registration or poll worker sign-ups when a celebrity promotes these calls to action. This potential impact is why nonprofits, candidates, and elected officials are increasingly seeking ways to engage celebrities.” Researchers working on the study analyzed the approaches of 15 managers, publicists, nonprofit partners, philanthropic advisers and celebrities, including well-known names such as Hailey Bieber, David Dobrik, Billie Eilish, Trevor Noah, Taylor Swift, Kerry Washington and The Roots co-founder and drummer Questlove. FOX NEWS POLL: NEW MATCHUP, SAME RESULT – TRUMP BESTS HARRIS BY ONE POINT  “Celebrities, like all of us, face choices about how to engage in democracy. For example, they can serve as surrogates for political candidates, helping to ‘rally the base’ or reach new audiences,” the study reads, adding that there is also evidence that “celebrities can help with candidate fundraising, attracting large crowds to political events or volunteer shifts, which draws press attention.” Overall, the researchers found that celebrities are motivated to activism not only because of their beliefs, but because it can also be “good for their brands,” something that was supported by a previous study on the issue. “It helps your audience stay connected to you—a connection based on values, which humanizes an artist and a celebrity in a way that the audience then feels like they know you. And then, when your next film or album comes out, this audience that’s connected to you wants to support you, wants to show up,” Questlove’s Manager Dawn White told researchers. POLLING GURU CAUTIONS PUBLIC AGAINST OVER RELYING ON POLLS: IN LAST TWO ELECTIONS, ‘THEY UNDERESTIMATED TRUMP’  The study argues that the impact celebrities have can be massive, pointing to a 2018 Instagram story posted by Swift to her 112 million followers to register to vote at vote.org. That one post led to 65,000 new registrants in 24 hours and 250,000 over 72 hours. Swift has continued to make similar posts over the years since, while her following has more than doubled to 283 million over the same time period. Researchers found that celebrities have a more profound impact on “younger generations,” which are not as easy to reach through traditional “mainstream media and other get-out-the-vote efforts.” “Their control of and presence on social media positions them as centralized sources of information to be tapped into and utilized by those looking to increase voter participation,” the study reads. However, the research also found that celebrity impact has been limited by a lack of organization, including a lack of formal programs that would allow them to test and track their efforts. “Consequently, there is an extraordinary opportunity and potential to grow, mature, and formalize celebrity civic engagement efforts, which can significantly impact civic culture,” the study included. “That being said, the available data indicate that some approaches work better than others.”

US, China standoff over Olympic athlete drug testing prompts new House GOP probe

US, China standoff over Olympic athlete drug testing prompts new House GOP probe

FIRST ON FOX: A group of House Republicans is jumping into the fight between the U.S. and China’s dispute over the global agency charged with regulating athletes’ use of performance-enhancing drugs. “We, the undersigned members of Congress, are writing to express our grave concern regarding recent developments involving the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and its handling of doping allegations,” a letter to WADA President Witold Banka read. “The transparency and integrity of global sports are at stake, and we believe it is imperative to address these issues promptly and thoroughly.” BALANCE OF POWER: TRUMP CAMPAIGN SLAMS SEN TESTER AS ‘RADICALLY OUT OF TOUCH’ AFTER ABORTION AD ROLLOUT The letter by Reps. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., and Morgan Griffith, R-Va., first pointed to allegations that WADA kept secret that 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for banned substances before the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, news it was forced to disclose after being uncovered by journalists. “It has now come to light that two additional Chinese swimmers, including one member of China’s 2024 Paris Olympics team, tested positive in 2022 for a banned drug,” the lawmakers wrote. An investigation by China’s anti-doping body blamed contaminated hamburger meat for the drug’s existence in the two swimmers’ bodies, a finding WADA did not dispute. U.S. officials have accused WADA of a lack of transparency for weeks leading up to the recently ended Paris Olympics. A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee held a hearing in June with star swimmers Michael Phelps and Allison Schmitt, when they said athletes had lost faith in the international agency. CHINESE SHIPBUILDING CAPACITY OVER 200 TIMES GREATER THAN US, NAVY INTELLIGENCE SAYS WADA has defended itself by accusing the U.S. of putting it in the middle of the country’s own geopolitical disputes. A top WADA official told the BBC in late July, “Certain individuals [in the US] are attempting to score political points purely on the basis that the athletes in question are Chinese.” The GOP lawmakers are asking the body to hand over “a detailed account” of its probe into the 23 Chinese swimmers it cleared and explain why it did not disclose the results publicly sooner, as well as a demand to commission a third-party independent investigation into the decision. “The American public, athletes, and the global sports community deserve answers. We stand by the principle that sports should be free from corruption and that those who violate anti-doping rules must be held accountable, regardless of nationality,” the letter said.  The sporting tensions are part of the growing rift between the U.S. and China, with relations between the two superpowers at their frostiest level in modern history. CCP-TIED EV COMPANY BACKED BY DEMS BUYS UP MICHIGAN LAND MILES FROM US MILITARY BASES China has responded to the U.S.’s allegations with accusations of double-standards, calling for more drug testing for American athletes. However, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) told Fox News Digital that it supports Lesko’s letter. “Those with nothing to hide would embrace the opportunity to answer questions and provide the information stakeholders need to feel confident that the rules are being evenly enforced,” said USADA CEO Travis T. Tygart. “We deeply appreciate every effort to ensure accountability, transparency, and a strong global anti-doping regulator on behalf of clean athletes.” Fox News Digital reached out to WADA for comment.