UK

Pro-Palestinian protests outside London home of Israeli ambassador who ‘opposes two-state solution’

Henry Bodkin
Sat, December 16, 2023

Pro-Palestine protesters opposite the Israeli ambassador's residence in north London - Stefan Rousseau/PA


HOISTED BY HER OWN PETARD


Pro-Palestinian protesters have demonstrated outside the home of the Israeli ambassador to the UK, days after she publicly rejected a ‘two-state solution’.

A group waving flags and chanting slogans congregated outside the north London residence of Tzipi Hotovely on Saturday, one of dozens of locally-organised protests across the country.

Police had imposed an order preventing demonstrations outside Israel’s embassy in Kensington.

However, the Met said this did not extend to the ambassador’s home and that “no issues” with the demonstration had been reported.

Footage on social media showed placards reading “Stop killing kids. Free Gaza”, “stop the genocide” and one from the “International Jewish anti-Zionist network”.

Local Palestine supporters outside Southall Town Hall - Jeff Gilbert

Ms Hotovely appeared to publicly clash with Rishi Sunak last week after she told Sky News that Israel did not support the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

“The answer is absolutely no,” she said. “Israel knows today, and the world should know now that the Palestinians never wanted to have a state next to Israel.”

On Saturday, hundreds gathered outside her house and chanted “decolonise” and “ceasefire now”, with passing cars honking their horns in support.
‘She is not a very nice person’

One man with a megaphone standing outside the gated mansion in St John’s Wood said: “Many of you have seen the ambassador of Israel and concluded she is not a very nice person.

“So she may not be a very nice person but what we object to is that she is calling for a genocide.” It was met with chants of “shame on you”.

The protesters were observed by police. Last week, officers used their powers under the Criminal Justice and Police Act to move protesters from Just Stop Oil away from outside Sir Keir Starmer’s home, where they had been singing Christmas carols.

Anti-war activists make their point outside the Israeli ambassador's home - Stefan Rousseau/PA

In north London, about 100 pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered in Camden to call for a ceasefire, with some shouting “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”.

The controversial slogan is argued by Jewish groups and many politicians to amount to a call for the eradication of the state of Israel.

The Met Police was heavily criticised for failing to clamp down on anti-Semitic slogans for at the mass Palestinian marches in central London in the early weeks of the war.

The force have in recent weeks handed out leaflets at the marches, detailing examples of racist abuse, as well as making arrests.

It has also asked stewards from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign to proactively self-police their events.

Royal Society for Arts in Israel row as staff walk out over event
India McTaggart
Thu, December 14, 2023 

Pro-Palestine protesters gather outside a fundraiser for Israel at the Royal Society for Arts - VUK VALCIC/AVALON

The Royal Society for Arts (RSA) is embroiled in a row after its staff walked out over an event where Israel’s ambassador made a speech about the nation’s “resilience”.

Workers gathered outside the organisation’s building on Thursday to protest against the event, which aimed to promote trade between the UK and Israel.

Oliver Dowden, the Deputy Prime Minister and Tzipi Hotovely, the Israeli Ambassador to the UK, attended the event in Charing Cross, which was held to promote UK-Israeli trade ties and investment in startups.

But the presence of the ambassador – who is understood to have made a speech about Israeli resilience – was thought to have inflamed tensions as protesters encouraged others to join through social media and WhatsApp.

In a statement the RSA Union said staff were “shocked and disgusted” to discover that the organisation was hosting the event.

“As a union, we stand in full solidarity with the people of Palestine,” they said. “We were appalled that the RSA hosted leading figures in a government overseeing a brutal settler colonial occupation.”

The union added that “many staff made the decision to leave the building upon learning about the event”.

The RSA said it did not condone the event in an apology, claiming that details about the event were not disclosed in advance.

A spokesperson said: “An event is being held at the RSA today by an external client who did not disclose the full event details in advance. The RSA neither condones nor endorses this event. We are an apolitical organisation and have launched an internal investigation.

“We apologise extensively to anyone affected and upset by this today and will ensure that robust measures are put in place in the future to ensure this will not happen again.”

But the society was accused of being “disingenuous” in denying it knew of the event beforehand.

Atif Shafique, former senior researcher for the public services and communities team at the RSA, responded on X: “This post is disingenuous. The leaked email to staff shows you were made aware of the nature of the event yesterday.

“You could have – and should have – cancelled it then. If it was a front for a Russian fundraiser you certainly would have. As a former RSA employee, I’m appalled.”
Opportunity for entrepreneurs

The Restart IL. Economy London summit, held with support from the Israeli embassy, aimed to encourage investments in the country’s startups following the Oct 7 Hamas terror attack in which 1,200 Israelis were killed. The summit was described as an opportunity for entrepreneurs to meet with private and institutional investors rather than as a fundraiser.

The Telegraph understands there was an Israeli family present who expressed interest in investing in 1,200 startups in memory of all the victims of the attack.

A pre-recorded speech by Isaac Herzog, the Israeli president, was also shown to guests.

The Metropolitan Police arrested one man, who they said was not believed to be part of the protest, after he was asked to leave the event by security.

The force added that they dispersed the demonstrating group quickly with protesters moving away from the building before 2pm.

The RSA describes itself as a social change organisation with a founding mission to “embolden enterprise, enlarge science, refine art, improve our manufacturers and extend our commerce”.

Its president is the Princess Royal, who took over from the late Duke of Edinburgh in 2011, and its former patron was Elizabeth II. The organisation was granted a Royal Charter in the 1840s.

Notable fellows and former members include Stephen Hawking, Adam Smith, Benjamin Franklin, Charles Dickens, Sir David Attenborough and Dame Judi Dench.

Ahead of meeting with US envoy, Israeli president says now isn't time to discuss 2-state solution
JULIA FRANKEL
Updated Thu, December 14, 2023

Israel's President Isaac Herzog speaks during an interview at his official residence in Jerusalem, Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023. 

(AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's president has joined the ranks of high-ranking Israeli officials to speak out against a two-state solution after the war in Gaza.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday, Isaac Herzog said it is not the time to be talking about establishing an independent Palestinian state when the country's pain from Hamas' Oct. 7 attack is still fresh.

“What I want to urge is against just saying two-state solution. Why? Because there is an emotional chapter here that must be dealt with. My nation is bereaving. My nation is in trauma,” said Herzog.

“In order to get back to the idea of dividing the land, of negotiating peace or talking to the Palestinians, etc., one has to deal first and foremost with the emotional trauma that we are going through and the need and demand for full sense of security for all people,” he said.

Herzog spoke a day before a meeting with the White House’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan. The Biden administration has said that after the war, efforts must be renewed to restart negotiations aimed at establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel under the leadership of the Palestinian Authority.

Herzog, whose position is largely ceremonial, is a former leader of Israel's Labor Party, which advocates a two-state solution with the Palestinians.

But in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that triggered Israel's war in Gaza, Israeli leaders have spoken out against attempts to restart peace talks after the war and ruled out any role for the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority.

Some 1,200 people were killed in the Oct. 7 attack and 240 others were taken hostage. Israel immediately declared war, carrying out weeks of airstrikes and a ground offensive in which over 18,000 Palestinians have died, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

With the U.S. pushing for a timetable from Israel, Herzog predicted the Israeli campaign in hard-hit northern Gaza could wrap up within weeks. But he declined to say when the war would end.

Israel has ducked international calls for a ceasefire, saying it will press ahead until it dismantles Hamas' military and political capabilities.

“I think one can see that in the northern part of Gaza, one can see the horizon," Herzog said. “We can see the end of that campaign, not far away in the next few weeks.”

He added that the end of the campaign in the south would only come when Hamas was “completely eradicated."

Herzog also spoke in favor of an emerging U.S.-led coalition to protect the Red Sea from the Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

The Iranian-backed Houthis have carried out a series of attacks on vessels in the Red Sea and also launched drones and missiles targeting Israel. In recent days, they have threatened to attack any vessel they believe is either going to or coming from Israel.

The coalition, set to be formally announced next week, is composed of U.S. and European allies, and aims to protect international shipping from the Houthi attacks. Israel will not be contributing its own ships to the coalition, Israeli officials told The Associated Press, preferring to allow the international community to target the issue and focus on the war in Gaza.

“I demand and I call upon all nations who understand this to join the coalition, which is led by the United States of America, to fight against the Houthis and make it clear that this is unacceptable and won’t be repeated again,” said Herzog.

As Trump threatens to repeal Obamacare, these 'insurance godmothers' are signing Florida Latinos up

ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON
Updated Sat, December 16, 2023 








An insurance agent talks with clients inside the main location of Las Madrinas de los Seguros, Spanish for "The Godmothers of Insurance," at a shopping center in Miami, Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023.

 (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

MIAMI (AP) — Salsa music blares from the food court in a rundown Miami shopping center as Latinos head to a kiosk and an office showing signs for “ Obamacare,” where they hope to renew their health coverage plans before the year ends.

It’s areas near this mall where former Democratic President Barack Obama's health care overhaul is more popular than anywhere in the country, according to federal data. The region has also shifted away from Democrats to Republicans in recent years, with Donald Trump hosting several rallies here as part of his outreach to Latino voters.

Trump, the current front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, has pledged to renew efforts to repeal and replace the 2010 law — something that would be felt heavily in the region and could possibly reverse some of the GOP shift among South Florida's Latinos, experts say.


President Joe Biden's reelection campaign has already seized on Trump's statements about “Obamacare," which was enacted when Biden was vice president, as part of its broader efforts to shape the widely expected rematch with Trump next year.

“Health insurance is something that is extremely needed for everyone,” said Odalys Arevalo, one of the managing partners of a health insurance agency serving Spanish-speaking clients in Miami. “And I know that everybody that supports the Republican Party that has health insurance through Obamacare would not support the fact that it would be taken away from one day to another. That is a fact.”

Arevalo and her business partner, Mercy Cabrera, started enrollment centers to help people navigate the Affordable Care Act’s insurance marketplaces and remember how some Cubans would walk away uttering “no, no, no,” after seeing the name “Obamacare,” which was coined by Republicans opposing the overhaul as an expensive government takeover of health insurance.

Insurers could no longer deny coverage based on preexisting medical conditions, and that drew many Latinos to consider it, Arevalo says. In the following years, the women started enrolling tens of thousands, earning the nickname of “Madrinas del Obamacare,” or “Obamacare” godmothers, evoking the crucial role godparents play in Latino culture.

They have since renamed themselves “Las Madrinas de los Seguros,” or “insurance godmothers,” because they offer other plans. But they continue to feature the word “Obamacare” on their office walls and in their ads.

“Obamacare” is seen throughout Miami in advertising flags, businesses and bus signs. Federal data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services indicates how widely used it is here.

About 3.4 million Hispanics are signed up with insurance through the health law. Florida leads enrollment with more than 3.2 million consumers selecting a plan during last year's enrollment period from November 2022 to January. Miami-Dade is the county with the most people enrolled, with about 750,000 consumers, or more than one-fourth of the total population.

Florida is also one of 10 states that has resisted expanding Medicaid coverage under a provision of the health law.

The two Zip codes with the most sign-ups last year and this year are in Doral and Hialeah, hubs for the Venezuelan and Cuban communities that are just north of Miami and are common stops for Trump’s visits and rallies.

Last month, Trump posted on his Truth Social social media site that “the cost of Obamacare is out of control, plus, it’s not good Healthcare.” While he said he is looking at alternatives, he has not shared any plans. But Trump said he would not give up on terminating it — recalling when the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., blocked the then-president's effort to repeal the law in July 2017.

During Trump's administration, Republicans managed to pass a provision that reduced the penalty for not having health insurance to zero, the most unpopular part of the law and something that people in South Florida say made them feel more at ease with the plans.

The Miami Herald, in a recent editorial, called the plans by Trump — also echoed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, another 2024 GOP presidential candidate — “exceedingly out of touch with voters."

Biden’s campaign quickly mobilized a response and the chair of the Florida Democratic Party, Nikki Fried, specifically mentioned an area where “Obamacare” is popular.

“Miami-Dade County would be hardest hit by Trump’s anti-health care agenda,” Fried said.

According to a KFF poll conducted in May 2023, 59% of Americans say they have a favorable opinion of the Affordable Care Act. The same poll by the nonprofit organization focused on health policy found that 66% of Hispanics say they have a favorable opinion of the law.

According to APVoteCast, a wide-ranging survey of U.S. voters, 62% of 2022 midterm voters in Florida said it should be the responsibility of the federal government to make sure that all people in the country have health care coverage. About one-third of Florida voters in the 2022 midterm elections said that shouldn’t be the government’s job. Among Latino or Hispanic midterm voters in Florida, 77% said ensuring health care coverage for all should be the responsibility of the federal government, while 1 in 5 said it should not be.

Zulina Ruiz, a 72-year-old retired lawyer from Venezuela, said she found out about the Affordable Care Act options quickly after arriving in the U.S. in 2017. She said she is particularly grateful for having access to drugs to treat her high blood pressure. Green-card holders, refugees and other migrants who have been granted temporary protected status or who have come recently with humanitarian parole also qualify for coverage under the law.

“This is very important for me. I don’t think a candidate can just make this program disappear,” she said. “They would leave millions of low-income people without insurance.”

Ruiz became a U.S. citizen in May, but has not registered with any party. She does not know whom she will vote for next year.

“I am still not decided, and we don’t have official candidates yet,” Ruiz said, adding that she still feels more connected politically to Venezuela. Much of the growing support for Republicans in Miami is owed to Trump’s record opposing socialist leaders across Latin America, including imposing White House sanctions on Venezuelan officials.

“But health policy is a top priority for me,” Ruiz said.

The Biden campaign has run advertising in battleground states contrasting his efforts to lower drug costs with Trump’s renewed promise to repeal the health overhaul. The ad campaign did not include markets in Florida.

Arevalo, one of the “Obamacare godmothers,” thinks voters in Miami may not necessarily approve of all the positions of the candidates they ultimately back.

But as far as a local verdict on “Obamacare,” and despite initial hesitations about it, the program grew on people in Miami once they understood it, she said.

“When Trump was elected, some people came and said they wanted nothing to do with Obamacare. We said ‘Obamacare, Trumpcare, whatever,’” she said of what they told people. “The important thing is that everybody has access to health insurance and that they can take care of their health.”


Biden and Obama team up for Obamacare enrollment push following Trump’s latest repeal threat

Arlette Saenz and Kevin Liptak, CNN
Fri, December 15, 2023


President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama teamed up on a new video vowing to protect and expand Obamacare at a time when former President Donald Trump has threatened to renew his efforts to repeal the health care law if he wins a second term.

The White House will release the video on social media later Friday as part of its effort to promote open enrollment in the Affordable Care Act exchanges, a White House official told CNN.

The video, first shared with CNN, starts with Biden reading a text message that asks, “Hey President Biden, is Obamacare still a thing?” Biden then turns to Obama and says, “Is it still a thing?”

“Yes, Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act, Bidencare, whatever you call it – yes, it is still a thing,” Obama says. “The other side’s been trying to repeal it every year since it’s existed, but we’ll keep fighting to protect it.”

“Not just protect it but expand it, saving millions of dollars for working families. We’re covering more people than ever,” Biden adds. The president ends the video by saying, “It’s still a BFD,” a reference to his hot-mic expletive moment celebrating Obamacare’s passage in 2010.

The video, which was filmed last week when Obama made a previously undisclosed visit to the White House, coincides with the deadline to enroll in Obamacare plans to receive coverage at the start of the year. This year’s open enrollment period started on November 1 and runs through January 15 on the federal exchange, Healthcare.gov. Nearly 7.3 million people have signed up for 2024 coverage in the first five weeks, up nearly 34% from roughly the same period one year earlier.

The Biden-Obama collaboration comes as the White House and Biden campaign are eager to bring the health care debate front and center heading into the 2024 election. The new video does not name Trump, but it comes after Biden’s predecessor resurrected talk of repealing and replacing Obamacare last month. Trump’s move even surprised some of his own advisers as the law has gained popularity in recent years following multiple failed Republican attempts to scrap it.

The video marks the latest effort by Biden to lean on his former boss and partner to help make a health care push. Obama’s first public appearance at the White House since leaving the presidency came last year when he joined Biden to promote bolstering Obamacare by closing a loophole that prevented millions of families from receiving subsidies.

The former president has also taped videos celebrating record enrollment and the anniversary of his signature health care law. And he taped videos – often poking fun at himself – while in office and during Trump’s tenure encouraging Americans to sign up during open enrollment.

The Biden campaign has also tapped into Obama’s appeal in its fundraising efforts, releasing joint videos and holding contests for small dollar donors to meet the two men.

Reducing health care costs, including on prescription drugs, and expanding coverage are expected to be key feature of Biden’s 2024 platform. Biden often touts how he and congressional Democrats passed the Inflation Reduction Act, giving Medicare the ability to negotiate some drug prices for the first time and cutting the cost of insulin for Medicare enrollees.

On Thursday, he promoted another provision of that law that requires drug companies pay a rebate to Medicare if they raise their prices faster than inflation.

“It’s a rip off. They’re ripping off Medicare. They’re ripping off the American people, but we’re now fighting back,” Biden said at the National Institutes of Health. “We’re gonna save taxpayers money and discourage companies from raising prices in the first place.”

Last week, the Biden administration also took several incremental steps aimed at lowering health care costs by promoting competition.

But a recent KFF poll showed few Americans are aware of the provisions Biden often touts, highlighting one of the challenges facing the president as he tries to convince Americans his policies are helping them.


Biden, Obama team up for ObamaCare promotion after Trump threats

Brett Samuels
Fri, December 15, 2023 

President Biden and former President Obama teamed up for a video promoting the Affordable Care Act released Friday, the final day of open enrollment and as the signature law has faced renewed threats from former President Trump in his own campaign for the White House.

Obama filmed the roughly 30-second video alongside Biden during a recent undisclosed trip to the White House. Biden opens the video by reading a text message asking if ObamaCare is “still a thing.”

“Yes;, ObamaCare, the Affordable Care Act, BidenCare — whatever you call it — yes it is still a thing,” Obama says. “The other side’s been trying to repeal it every year since its existence, but we’ll keep fighting to protect it.”

“Not just protect it, but expand it,” Biden adds. “It’s saving millions of dollars for working families. We’re covering more people than ever.”

Friday was the final day for open enrollment for plans through the Affordable Care Act Marketplace. More than 7 million people had signed up for coverage as of last week.

Obama previously visited the White House in 2022 to promote the success of his signature health care law.

Trump, who is the front-runner for the GOP’s 2024 presidential nomination, campaigned on repealing ObamaCare during his first term, but the effort stalled in Congress. The former president, who is the front-runner for the GOP nomination in 2024, raised the topic again last month.

“We had a couple of Republican Senators who campaigned for 6 years against it, and then raised their hands not to terminate it. It was a low point for the Republican Party, but we should never give up!” he wrote on Truth Social.

He doubled down in a later social media post, saying ObamaCare “sucks” and that he would replace it with something else.

Trump’s remarks have already been used as fodder by the White House, the Biden campaign and Democrats, who view protecting Americans from losing health insurance as a winning argument that helped propel the party into the House majority in 2018.

The Indian Navy is shadowing a bulk carrier likely taken by Somali pirates in the Arabian Sea

Associated Press
Sat, December 16, 2023 

This handout photo made available by India's Press Information Bureau shows the Maltese-flagged MV Ruen. The Indian Navy said Saturday that it is shadowing a bulk carrier that was boarded by unknown attackers in the Arabian Sea and may have been taken by Somali pirates. The Indian Navy responded to the distress call by sending its anti-piracy patrol warship and maritime patrol aircraft to locate and assist the vessel, the Indian Navy said in its statement. (Press Information Bureau via AP)More


NEW DELHI (AP) — The Indian Navy said Saturday that it is shadowing a bulk carrier that was boarded by unknown attackers — likely Somali pirates — in the Arabian Sea.

The Maltese-flagged MV Ruen, with a crew of 18, had sent a Mayday message on the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations portal on Thursday indicating that six unknown people had boarded the vessel, the Indian Navy said in its statement.

The navy responded to the distress call by sending its anti-piracy patrol warship and maritime patrol aircraft to locate and assist the vessel, it added.

The aircraft overflew the hijacked vessel early Friday and has since been continuously monitoring the movement of the vessel, which the Indian Navy said was headed toward the coast of Somalia. It added that its warship, which was deployed in the Gulf of Aden for anti-piracy patrols, also intercepted the carrier early on Saturday.

The Ruen, which is managed by Bulgarian shipping company Navibulgar, was off the Yemeni island of Socotra when it was boarded on Thursday, the private intelligence firm Ambrey and the UKMTO said. Bulgarian authorities said the ship’s crew were nationals of Angola, Bulgaria and Myanmar.

“The necessary steps have been taken to pass the information on to all foreign partners and institutions that we will count on to provide assistance,” Bulgarian Foreign Minister Maria Gabriel told reporters Friday.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the assault. However, suspicion immediately fell on pirates from Somalia. Their activity has dropped in recent years, but there has been growing concern it could resume amid the political uncertainty in the country and wider chaos in the region that has included attacks on shipping by Yemeni Houthi rebels.

On Friday, the UKMTO issued a warning to shippers saying the security manager for the Ruen “believes the crew no longer has control of the vessel.” The European Union’s anti-piracy force in the region said the Spanish frigate Victoria was on its way to intercept the “alleged pirate-hijacked vessel.”

ICYMI

A binder full of Russian intelligence went missing during Trump's final days in office. His allies are looking for it, too.

Paul Squire
Fri, December 15, 2023 


More classified intel — this time about Russia — went missing during Trump's final days, CNN and the New York Times report.

The binder of intelligence about election interference disappeared, according to a CNN investigation.

Trump's allies are still looking for the binder and hope to make it public, the outlet reported.

Even more classified intelligence went missing as Donald Trump was leaving the White House in 2021, a CNN investigation found.

A binder full of intelligence about Russia's interference in the 2016 election vanished during Trump's final days in office, CNN reported on Friday, citing more than a dozen anonymous sources. A representative for Trump didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment about the CNN report.

The report was later confirmed by the New York Times, who cited "two people familiar with the matter."

That binder apparently had a lot of information. A court filing from Trump-friendly journalist John Solomon said the binder was "about 2,700 pages and was approximately ten inches thick."

The New York Times reported that the "substance" of the intelligence wasn't considered too sensitive, but the raw materials contained in the binder could be used to "reveal secret sources and methods."

Some of the material inside the binder was so classified, the binder was kept at CIA headquarters in Virginia, CNN reported, and analysis of the intel was kept in a locked safe.

That is, until Trump was leaving office.

On January 19, 2021 — two days before his presidency ended — Trump declassified portions of the binder as part of a flurry of last-minute declassifications and pardons for his allies.

The binder has since gone missing.

This binder isn't referenced in special counsel Jack Smith's sprawling indictment against Trump that accuses him of taking classified intel to Mar-A-Lago and trying to keep the government from getting it back.

Trump's own allies are searching for the binder since they want to make it public, thinking it'll exonerate Trump and help defend his criminal cases, CNN reported.

In his court filing, Solomon writes that he went to the White House in those final hours of Trump's presidency to review the intelligence and plan how to release it with then-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

The White House even gave Solomon the records "in a paper bag" to scan and prepare to release them on his website, according to the court document.

But that night, Solomon said in the filing, the administration asked for the documents back, so he returned them to the White House.

They've been missing since then, CNN reported.

Months later, Trump named Solomon as one of his representatives to the National Archives. Solomon has since been waging a battle in the courts to get the documents, arguing that the Department of Justice has them.

Key points from CNN’s report on a missing binder full of intelligence on Russia
Compiled by Zachary B. Wolf, CNN
Fri, December 15, 2023 



During then-President Donald Trump’s final days in office, a 10-inch-thick binder of raw Russian intelligence transported from the CIA went missing after it was last seen at the White House, CNN reported Friday. The investigation offered disturbing new details about the final frantic days of Trump’s term.

These revelations about what Trump tried to release publicly just before leaving the White House are yet another example of his ongoing effort to undercut the intelligence community on the issue of Russia. They are also a possible window into what he may view as unfinished business if he wins a second term as president next year.

CNN’s Jeremy Herb, Katie Bo Lillis, Natasha Bertrand, Evan Perez and Zachary Cohen have a methodical and in-depth report that also includes interactive features to explain what we know about how the binder got from the “safe within a safe” where it was kept at the CIA to the White House, where much of its contents were declassified by Trump.

The authors also explore what may have happened to the version of the binder that went missing. It does not appear to have been found, and intelligence officials briefed Senate Intelligence Committee leaders last year about ongoing efforts to retrieve it.

Read the full report here.

Some key passages from CNN’s report are below.

What was in the missing binder?

The binder contained raw intelligence the US and its NATO allies collected on Russians and Russian agents, including sources and methods that informed the US government’s assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to help Trump win the 2016 election, sources tell CNN.

The intelligence was so sensitive that lawmakers and congressional aides with top secret security clearances were able to review the material only at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, where their work scrutinizing it was itself kept in a locked safe.

Where did the binder come from?

The binder’s origins trace back to 2018, when Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee, led by Chairman Devin Nunes, compiled a classified report alleging the Obama administration skewed intelligence in its assessment that Putin had worked to help Trump in the 2016 election.

The GOP report, which criticized the intelligence community’s “tradecraft,” scrutinized the highly classified intelligence from 2016 that informed the assessment Putin and Russia sought to assist Trump’s campaign. House Republicans cut a deal with the CIA in which the committee brought in a safe for its documents that was then placed inside a CIA vault – a setup that prompted some officials to characterize it as a “turducken” or a “safe within a safe.”

Why was the binder brought from the CIA to the White House?

The former president had ordered it brought there so he could declassify a host of documents related to the FBI’s Russia investigation. Under the care of then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, the binder was scoured by aides working to redact the most sensitive information so it could be declassified and released publicly.

The Russian intelligence was just a small part of the collection of documents in the binder, described as being 10 inches thick and containing reams of information about the FBI’s “Crossfire Hurricane” investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia. But the raw intelligence on Russia was among its most sensitive classified materials, and top Trump administration officials repeatedly tried to block the former president from releasing the documents.

The day before leaving office, Trump issued an order declassifying most of the binder’s contents, setting off a flurry of activity in the final 48 hours of his presidency. Multiple copies of the redacted binder were created inside the White House, with plans to distribute them across Washington to Republicans in Congress and right-wing journalists.

Instead, copies initially sent out were frantically retrieved at the direction of White House lawyers demanding additional redactions. … An unredacted version of the binder containing the classified raw intelligence went missing amid the chaotic final hours of the Trump White House. The circumstances surrounding its disappearance remain shrouded in mystery.

What does the government say?

US officials repeatedly declined to discuss any government efforts to locate the binder or confirm that any intelligence was missing.

Is the binder part of the criminal case against Trump for mishandling classified documents?

The binder was not among the classified items found in last year’s search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, according to a US official familiar with the matter, who said the FBI was not looking specifically for intelligence related to Russia when it obtained a search warrant for the former president’s residence last year.

There’s also no reference to the binder or the missing Russian intelligence in the June indictment of Trump over the mishandling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
Copies of a redacted version were made. How did they leave the White House?

On January 19, 2021, Trump issued a declassification order for a “binder of materials related to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation.”

The White House had planned to distribute the declassified documents around Washington, including to Trump-allied conservative journalist John Solomon. But Trump’s order did not lead to its release – and earlier this year Solomon sued the Justice Department and National Archives for access to the documents.

Solomon claims that on the night of January 19, Meadows invited him to the White House to review several hundred pages of the declassified binder. One of Solomon’s staffers was even allowed to leave the White House with the declassified records in a paper bag.

(Cassidy) Hutchinson (one of Meadows’ top aides) writes in her book that (then-White House Counsel Pat) Cipollone told her after 10:30 p.m. on January 19 to have Meadows retrieve the binders that had been given to Solomon and a right-wing columnist. “The Crossfire Hurricane binders are a complete disaster. They’re still full of classified information,” Hutchinson writes that Cipollone told her. “Those binders need to come back to the White House. Like, now.”

The documents were returned the next morning, on January 20, after they were picked up by a Secret Service agent in a Whole Foods grocery bag, according to Hutchinson.
Where might the missing binder be?

Hutchinson … testified to Congress and wrote in her memoir that she believes Meadows took home an unredacted version of the binder. She said it had been kept in Meadows’ safe and that she saw him leave with it from the White House.

“I am almost positive it went home with Mr. Meadows,” Hutchinson told the January 6 committee in closed-door testimony, according to transcripts released last year.

A lawyer for Meadows, however, strongly denies that Meadows mishandled any classified information at the White House, saying any suggestion Meadows was responsible for classified information going missing was “flat wrong.”
Does Trump still want the binder released?

In June 2022, Trump named Solomon and (former Trump official Kash) Patel as his representatives to the National Archives, who were authorized to view the former president’s records. Solomon’s lawsuit included email correspondence showing how Solomon and Patel tried to get access to the (declassified version of the) binder as soon as they were named as Trump’s representatives.

“There is a binder of documents from the Russia investigation that the President declassified with an order in his last few days in office. It’s about 10 inches thick,” Solomon wrote in June 2022 to Gary Stern, the Archives’ general counsel. “We’d like to make a set of copies – digital or paper format – of every document that was declassified by his order and included in the binder.”

In February and March, the FBI released under the Freedom of Information Act several hundred pages of heavily redacted internal records from its Russia investigation, following lawsuits from conservative groups seeking documents from the probe.

The Justice Department said in a June filing seeking to dismiss Solomon’s lawsuit that the FBI’s document release had fulfilled Meadows’ request for a Privacy Act review, noting that it had “resulted in the posting of most of the binder” on the FBI’s FOIA website.

Binder with top-secret Russia intelligence missing since end of Trump term -source

Fri, December 15, 2023 

Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends a "Commit to Caucus" event for his supporters in Coralville

By Jonathan Landay

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A binder holding top-secret intelligence that contributed to a U.S. assessment that Russia tried to help throw the 2016 U.S. election to Donald Trump has been missing since the last days of his presidency, a source familiar with the issue said.

The Russia intelligence was included with other documents in a binder that Trump directed the CIA to send to the White House just before he left office so he could declassify materials related to the FBI probe of Russian interference in the 2016 vote, the source said.

The Russia materials included highly classified raw intelligence gathered by the U.S. and NATO allies, fueling fears that the methods used to collect the information could be compromised, the source added.

Trump's presidential campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence in January 2017 released an assessment that found Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government conducted a campaign of disinformation and cyberattacks to “help … Trump’s election chances” by denigrating his Democratic foe, Hillary Clinton.

Russia denies interfering in the election.

The disappearance of the binder ignited such deep concerns that the government last year offered to brief the Senate Intelligence Committee, which accepted, the source said.

CNN first reported the missing binder.

In a federal court document filed in August by John Solomon, a conservative journalist, the binder was described as 10-inches thick. Trump appointed Solomon to be a representative authorized to access records from his presidency in the National Archives.

The court document said that Mark Meadows, who served as Trump’s last chief of staff, was involved in handling the missing binder and developing with Solomon a strategy to release the materials that Trump planned to declassify.

Meadows did not immediately respond to a request for comment made via the Conservative Partnership Institute, where he is a senior partner.

The source said the binder contained other information related to the FBI's "Crossfire Hurricane" investigation, including materials on the origins of the probe collected by Trump aides and botched FBI applications for wiretap warrants.

They also included anti-Trump text messages between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, FBI officials who were involved in the probe, the source said.

Much of that material is not considered sensitive, said the source.

It was covered in a heavily redacted version of the binder that was declassified and posted in five parts on the FBI’s website in 2022.

Trump has repeatedly called the FBI investigation a hoax.

Solomon’s federal court filing said that just before Trump left office after his defeat by U.S. President Joe Biden, Solomon was told by Meadows that Trump intended to order the declassification of the Crossfire Hurricane materials in the binder.

Two days before his term ended, the document said, Trump and Meadows told Solomon that the binder had been declassified. On Jan. 19, Meadows invited Solomon to the White House to review several hundred declassified pages and discuss the materials’ public release, it said.

Copies were provided to Solomon. As he began preparing a story for his website, it continued, he received a call from the White House asking that copies be returned for additional redactions.

“Meadows promised Solomon that he would receive the revised binder,” said the document. “This never happened.”

There has been no trace of the classified version since then.

(Reporting by Jonathan Landay; Additional reporting by Gram Slattery; Editing by Don Durfee and Daniel Wallis)


Top secret US intelligence file on Putin disappeared during Trump presidency

Tony Diver

THE TELEGRAPH
Fri, December 15, 2023 

The missing binder had not been found in Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where other classified documents were discovered - AFP

A binder containing highly classified information on Russian election interference went missing at the end of the Trump administration and has never been recovered, US sources said.

American intelligence officials are concerned that the file of national secrets could be exposed, revealing the CIA’s official assessment of Russian attempts to secure the 2016 election for Donald Trump.

It came as the Kremlin said on Friday that it wants a “more constructive” relationship with the US following the 2024 elections in a hint that Vladimir Putin would favour Mr Trump over Joe Biden.

Western leaders are increasingly concerned that the re-election of Mr Trump, who has praised Putin in the past for strong leadership, will damage attempts to contain Moscow.

The binder was last seen in the White House in the final days of Mr Trump’s presidency, a CNN report said, as aides worked to redact classified information from the FBI’s investigation into Russian interference.

It is believed to contain intelligence gathered by the US and other Nato allies, and details the work of Russian agents during the 2016 election.

A separate report by Robert Mueller, who was appointed to investigate Russian interference in 2016, found that Putin’s agents attempted to sway the election results “in sweeping and systematic fashion”.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov appeared to suggest that Putin is hoping Donald Trump will win next year’s US presidential election. - SPUTNIK/VIA REUTERS

The report found no collusion between Mr Trump and Putin, but it ruled that Mr Trump was “receptive” to offers of assistance from the Russians.

The binder is believed to have been held at the CIA, with intelligence officials requiring top-level clearance to handle it within the agency’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

But it later went missing during a frantic attempt to declassify reports relating to Russian interference by Mr Trump and his aides as he prepared to leave office in January 2021, multiple sources told CNN.

One aide to Mark Meadows, Mr Trump’s chief of staff, has testified to Congress that she is “almost positive it went home with [him]”. Mr Meadows denies that allegation.

The binder had not been found in Mr Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where other classified documents were discovered, despite aides’ attempts to track it down, according to the report.

The existence of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago has since become the subject of a federal indictment against Mr Trump, who faces trial in Florida.

While the disappearance of classified documents at the end of Mr Trump’s tenure in the White House has been previously reported and investigated, the disappearance of the Russian interference binder was revealed yesterday.

Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s press secretary, appeared to suggest that the Kremlin is hoping Mr Trump will win next year’s presidential election.
Rare interview

Mr Peskov told NBC in a rare interview with foreign press that the Russian president wants a more constructive relationship with the US built on the “importance of dialogue”.

Asked directly about Mr Trump, Mr Peskov said Putin wants to work with “anyone who will understand that from now on, you have to be more careful with Russia, and you have to take into account its concerns”.

Mr Trump has previously been criticised for his approach to Russia, and has described Putin as “smart” and a “genius” for his approach to the invasion of Ukraine.

He has also promised to end the war in Ukraine “in one day” if he was elected president, by brokering negotiations between the two countries.

In return, Putin has said he “cannot help but feel happy” about Mr Trump’s plan to “resolve all burning issues within several days”. The former US president responded: “I like that he said that, because that means what I’m saying is right.”

However, on Friday, Mr Peskov said the conflict was “too complicated” to end so quickly, and admitted for the first time it was a “war” rather than a “special military operation” – the phrase Russia has used until now to describe its activity in Ukraine.

Attacking the US, the Russian spokesman said the Biden administration was fuelling the war and putting Ukrainians at risk.

He said: “You are telling them: ‘Go and die. Don’t worry, we will give you enough money and enough armaments, but you should go and die.’ And you know pretty well that they cannot win.”


Binder Of Classified Russia-Related Intelligence Vanished At End Of Trump Presidency: Reports

Sara Boboltz

HUFFPOST
Fri, December 15, 2023


A binder of highly classified information relating to Russian attempts to interfere in the 2016 election disappeared at the very end of Donald Trump’s presidency in 2021, according to reports Friday by CNNand The New York Times.

The binder reportedly featured raw intelligence gathered by the U.S. and NATO allies, including some extremely sensitive details on sources — including human sources — and methods of gathering the information.

Both outlets reported that the matter had so alarmed national security officials that they briefed the Senate Intelligence Committee about efforts to retrieve the material last year.

The outlets also said that the binder had not turned up in a search for classified material at a Trump property — the same FBI search that formed the basis of one of the federal criminal cases against him.

CNN reported that information contained in the binder was supposed to be accessed inside a safe at the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

As president, Trump had demanded to receive documents emerging from the government investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, which was believed to have helped Trump’s campaign. Trump had become “obsessed” with the Russia investigation, The New York Times wrote, and he aimed to declassify whatever related documents he could.

Aides reportedly brought classified material to the White House for review and redaction. Copies of redacted versions of the binder’s contents were reportedly made; the original, unredacted version of the binder is what went missing.

Mark Meadows, who was the White House chief of staff at the time, assisted in this effort, writing about it in his 2021 memoir, “The Chief’s Chief.” His former aide Cassidy Hutchinson has said that she saw Meadows leave the White House with the unredacted binder tucked under his arm.

The New York Times reported that Trump and an aide also made reference to Meadows’ alleged possession of the unredacted binder in an interview for a book about the Trump presidency.

An attorney for Meadows strongly denied in statements to both outlets that he mishandled any classified information.

The missing material had been dubbed the “Crossfire Hurricane” binder, after the FBI’s name for its Russia investigation.

Both The New York Times and CNN said that much of the information contained in the binder is not considered particularly sensitive, but that the presence of raw intelligence was cause for alarm.


A Binder on Highly Classified Russian Intel Went Missing Under Trump

Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling

THE NEW REPUBLIC
Fri, December 15, 2023 



A 10-inch-thick binder of highly classified raw data regarding Russian election interference went missing in the final days of the Trump administration, a new report reveals.

The loss of the massive binder, which has yet to be found two years after it was first reported missing, included details on Russian agents that informed the government’s assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin had worked to help Trump win the 2016 election, according to a sprawling CNN investigation.

The information inside was so sensitive that lawmakers and congressional aides looking to review the materials had to do so under top secret security clearances and only inside a locked safe at CIA headquarters.

The binder included a GOP report on Russian intelligence, foreign intelligence surveillance warrants on a Trump campaign adviser from 2017, interview notes with Trump-Russia dossier author Christopher Steele, internal FBI and DOJ communications, and FBI reports from a confidential source related to FBI’s “Crossfire Hurricane” investigation, among other documents, according to the outlet.

It was last seen at the White House.

In the waning hours of the administration, Trump ordered a host of documents, including the binder, to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for mass declassification in a scheme to prove that the FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation into his 2016 campaign ties was a hoax.

Republican aides spent days scrubbing the binder, redacting the most sensitive details so that an abridged version could be released to the public, even against the behest of other top Trump administration officials who repeatedly attempted to block the former president from releasing its contents, according to the outlet.

A day before his term was set to end, Trump issued an order to preemptively declassify most of the binder’s contents well before it was ready and regardless of some of the redactions. Multiple copies of the redacted version had been created inside the White House, with plans to hand them off to Republicans and right-wing journalists. But that’s not what happened. Instead, White House lawyers scrambled, forcing an immediate retrieval of some documents that had already been sent off, and demanding that the documents be stripped down more.

“The Crossfire Hurricane binders are a complete disaster. They’re still full of classified information,” White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson recalled a White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, telling her. “Those binders need to come back to the White House. Like, now.”

With minutes to spare before Joe Biden’s inauguration, Trump’s White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows hand-delivered a redacted copy of the binder to the Justice Department for a final review.

“I personally went through every page, to make sure that the President’s declassification would not inadvertently disclose sources and methods,” he wrote in his book detailing his time as Trump’s chief.

Meanwhile, the original, unredacted version had gone missing.

But Hutchinson believed she had a clue as to its location. In a closed-door testimony before the January 6 committee, Hutchinson pointed a finger directly at her old boss in relation to the possible whereabouts of the original binder.

“I am almost positive it went home with Mr. Meadows,” Hutchinson said, according to transcripts.

Meadows’s legal team has vehemently denied that he mishandled any classified or sensitive documents.

Apart from Meadows, there seem to be no obvious leads for the location of the binder, which could expose some of America’s most closely guarded national security secrets. Somehow, it was not one of the 11,000 documents discovered at Trump’s Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago.

Classified Russian Election Meddling Intel Vanished From Trump White House: Report

Nikki McCann Ramirez

ROLLING STONE
Fri, December 15, 2023 


A binder containing highly classified information regarding Russia’s efforts to meddle with the 2016 election disappeared from the West Wing at the end of Donald Trump’s presidency —- and has never been found, according to a report from CNN.

The binder, described as 10 inches thick and containing a trove of information on the FBI’s “Crossfire Hurricane” Russia investigation, was moved from the CIA’s headquarters to the White House days before Trump left office so the former president could declassify its contents.

According to a Jan. 2021 White House memo issued the day before President Biden’s inauguration, Trump wrote that he had personally requested and received “a binder of materials related to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation. Portions of the documents in the binder have remained classified and have not been released to the Congress or the public.”

“I determined that the materials in that binder should be declassified to the maximum extent possible,” Trump wrote.

Sources tell CNN that the declassification order caused chaos within the White House. The binder reportedly contained extremely sensitive, raw intelligence on Russia gathered by the U.S. and NATO allies. As White House lawyers scrambled to appropriately redact its contents — and retrieve improperly redacted copies — the original, unredacted binder vanished.

Despite Trump’s order, the Justice Department has yet to make the documents available to the public. The binder was not identified among the hundreds of classified documents found in Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago during a 2022 search by the FBI.

According to transcripts released by the Jan. 6 committee last year, in closed-door testimony, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson told the committee she was “almost positive” the binder went home with former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

“I don’t think that would have been something that he would have destroyed. It was not returned anywhere, and it never left our office to go internally anywhere. It stayed in our safe in the office safe most of the time,” Hutchinson said, adding that she realized the binder was no longer in the safe on her last day at the White House.

Hutchinson also told the committee that Meadows had fiercely guarded the original, unredacted copy of the binder. “He wanted to keep that one close hold,” she said. “He didn’t want that one to be widely known about. I just know Mr. Meadows. He wouldn’t have had that one copied unless he did it on his own.”

Attorneys for Meadows strongly denied the claims. “Mr. Meadows was keenly aware of and adhered to requirements for the proper handling of classified material, any such material that he handled or was in his possession has been treated accordingly and any suggestion that he is responsible for any missing binder or other classified information is flat wrong,” Meadows’ attorney George Terwilliger said in a statement to CNN.

While Trump has not been directly linked to the binder’s disappearance, Rolling Stone reported last year that in the final days of his presidency, Trump told advisers he needed to preserve documents related to Russia to prevent their destruction by his enemies.

Sources told Rolling Stone that the former president raised concerns that the incoming Biden administration would seek to “shred,” bury, or destroy documents containing “evidence” that Trump was somehow wronged by federal investigations into Russian election interference.

Intelligence officials had long resisted Trump’s efforts to declassify the document and continued to thwart him after he left office. Several of the hastily redacted versions of the binder are now housed in the National Archives, and it’s certainly possible that if Trump regains the presidency in 2024 he will revive his efforts to secure the release of their contents.

Classified binder on Russian meddling went missing as Trump left office: Reports

Tara Suter

THE HILL
Fri, December 15, 2023 


A binder containing classified information related to Russian meddling in the 2016 election went missing as former President Trump left office, according to new reports.

The binder contained U.S. and NATO-ally “raw intelligence” on Russia and Russian agents, CNN first reported. The binder was last spotted at the White House during the former president’s final days in office and reportedly hasn’t been seen since.

The “Crossfire Hurricane” binder has sparked concern about the possible spread of sensitive information, The New York Times reported. The binder’s name mirrors that of the FBI’s investigation into alleged connections between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia.

The information in the binder, described as being 10 inches thick, was so sensitive that even lawmakers and congressional aides with top secret security clearances could only go over the material at the CIA headquarters in McLean, Va., CNN reported.

A source said the substance of the binder’s material isn’t seen as particularly sensitive, the Times reported, but that it contained details that intelligence agencies thought could reveal secret sources and methods. A redacted version is available on the FBI’s website.

Trump issued an order with the aim of declassifying the majority of the binder’s contents in the days before he left office, according to CNN.

A source close to Trump told the Times that the binder’s contents captured the former president’s attention. Trump aides worked on redactions for parts of the material in 2021 due to Trump’s plans to declassify and share parts of the content publicly. Copies were made of the redacted version, and one conservative writer allegedly received some of the binder’s material from Mark Meadows, then-White House chief of staff.

After the Department of Justice (DOJ) voiced worries about the material’s distribution, the copies were taken back, sources told the Times.

Meadows went to the DOJ shortly before President Biden’s inauguration to deliver a redacted copy of the binder for a final review, CNN reported. However, the department hasn’t released all the documents.

Trump suggested in 2021 that Meadows still had contents from the binder, the Times reported.

“I would let you look at them if you wanted,” Trump reportedly said in an interview at the time, according to the Times. “It’s a treasure trove.”

Meadows’s lawyer said he does not possess the binder, according to the Times.

“Mark never took any copy of that binder home at any time,” George J. Terwilliger III told the Times.

References to the binder or lost Russian intelligence were not in Trump’s indictment in the the Mar-a-Lago documents case from June, CNN reported.

Liberal gun-control bill passes in the Senate, set to become law

CBC
Thu, December 14, 2023 

Bill C-21 promises to crack down on homemade ghost guns, such as these 3D-printed guns. (Mark Cumby/CBC - image credit)


The Liberal government's gun-control bill passed a final vote in the Senate on Thursday, clearing the way for it to become law.

Bill C-21 was introduced in May 2022, but faced legislative hurdles after a Liberal MP introduced a number of controversial amendments that gun advocacy groups and opposition parties fervently opposed and forced the government to walk back.

The legislation will cement a freeze on handgun sales, increase penalties for firearm trafficking and try to curb homemade "ghost" guns.


The bill also seeks to ban assault-style firearms that fall under a new technical definition. The government had proposed a more stringent definition, but dropped a number of amendments to the bill in February after facing backlash.

Those amendments would have banned assault style weapons under the Criminal Code, rather than through regulation, and would have included any rifle or shotgun that could accept a magazine with more than five rounds — whether it actually has such a magazine or not.

Firearms advocates said including those rules in the bill would have effectively banned a number of popular hunting rifles.

While PolySeSouvient — a gun control advocacy group which includes survivors of the 1989 mass shooting at Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique — criticized the government for dropping those amendments, it welcomed the passage of Bill C-21 on Thursday.

"Bill C-21 contains solid measures to better protect victims of domestic abuse from gun threats and violence thanks to a series of measures related to this oft-neglected aspect of gun control," PolySeSouvient spokesperson Nathalie Provost said in a media statement.

"These measures represent concrete and effective progress and will save many lives," she said.

But the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights said the legislation unfairly targets lawful gun owners.

"[The bill] focused solely on licensed sport shooters, the very people not committing the violent crime plaguing our cities," the group said in a statement.

The bill passed in the Senate without any amendments by a vote of 60 to 24. It now awaits Royal Assent to officially become law.

Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic LeBlanc is seen as he waits to appear at the Senate National Security, Defence and Veterans Affairs committee in Ottawa, Monday, Oct. 23, 2023.

Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic LeBlanc is seen as he waits to appear at the Senate National Security, Defence and Veterans Affairs committee in Ottawa, Monday, Oct. 23, 2023. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc has said the government will re-establish the Canadian Firearms Advisory Committee to independently review the classification of existing models that fall under the new definition of a prohibited firearm in the bill.

He told senators in October the exercise would identify guns legitimately used for hunting, which would be excluded from the ban.

LeBlanc said the government would also implement a long-planned buyback of 1,500 firearm models and variants banned through order-in-council in May 2020.

In addition, the government plans to enact regulations to ensure a comprehensive ban on large-capacity magazines.

Turkey strongly condemns Israeli raid on Jenin, calls for accountability

Reuters
Thu, December 14, 2023 

Israeli raid in Jenin


ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey strongly condemns "provocations" by Israeli forces during raids on a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin and the desecration of a mosque there, Turkey's foreign ministry said, calling for those responsible to be punished.

Israeli troops killed a youth at a hospital and read out Jewish prayers at a mosque in Jenin during the raids that Palestinian authorities said killed 12 and that Israel said helped capture dozens of militants.

"We strongly condemn the provocations of Israeli soldiers who stormed the Jenin Refugee Camp, and disrespected sanctity of a place of worship by entering the mosque," Spokesman Oncu Keceli said on social messaging platform X late on Thursday.


"In East Jerusalem and the West Bank, where tensions are running extremely high due to settler terror and heavy pressure and attacks by Israeli security forces against Palestinians, we expect attacks on Muslim holy places to be ended immediately and those who perpetrate these provocations to be punished in the most severe way," he added.

The Palestinian government criticised the operation inside Jenin as a "dangerous escalation" and in a statement said the desecration of the mosque by some Israeli troops fanned religious tension. Israel's army said it would discipline the soldiers.

Turkey, which supports a two-state solution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has harshly criticised Israel for its attacks on Gaza and in the West Bank, saying the Israeli settlers in the region were "terrorists". It has called for an immediate ceasefire and slammed Western support for Israel.

(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Lincoln Feast)

Videos show Israeli soldiers in Gaza burning food, vandalizing a shop and ransacking private homes

Ivana Kottasová and Celine Alkhaldi, CNN
Fri, December 15, 2023 

The Israeli soldier looks directly into the camera, then turns around and sets a pile of food supplies on fire.

“We turn on the light against this dark place and burn it until there is no trace of this whole place,” he says as another soldier fuels the flame.

The soldiers say they are in Shejaiya, a neighborhood in Gaza City, deep in the besieged enclave. They are filming themselves burning food in a place where the humanitarian situation is now so bad that international organizations are warning people are at risk of dying of starvation.

This video is only one of several circulating online and reviewed by CNN that show Israeli soldiers in Gaza behaving in offensive and disrespectful ways toward the civilian population. Other videos show soldiers ransacking private homes, destroying civilian property and using racist and hateful language.

Asked by CNN about the videos, the Israel Defense Forces did not dispute their veracity, location or that IDF soldiers were involved. It condemned the soldiers’ behavior, which it said does not align with its rules, adding that the perpetrators will be punished.

“The IDF has taken action and will continue acting to identify misconduct and behavior that does not align with the expected morals and values of IDF soldiers,” it said in a statement sent to CNN.

The videos, many of them posted on social media apparently by the soldiers themselves, are adding to the international outcry over the IDF’s conduct as the military offensive against Hamas continues in Gaza. Israel launched the war following the Hamas terrorist attack on Israeli soil on October 7, when more than 1,200 people were killed and around 240 taken hostage.

Since the start of the war, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza, 18,412 have been killed in Israeli attacks in the enclave. While CNN cannot independently verify that number, the IDF has said it has struck more than 22,000 targets in Gaza in the first six weeks of the war.

An image shared online shows an Israeli soldier next to a sign that says "Instead of erasing graffiti, let us erase Gaza." - Obtained by CNN

While the IDF says it is not targeting civilians in Gaza, the videos show some of its soldiers paying little respect to the lives of ordinary Gazans.

In one video, a soldier is seen going through a woman’s wardrobe, including her underwear, making derogatory, sexist remarks about Arab women.

Another clip shows an IDF soldier vandalizing a shop in what he says is Jabalya, a city in northern Gaza.

One by one, he takes store’s items, smashing them against the floor and the counter. At one point, he takes two dolls from the shelf and shatters their heads.

In other videos, smiling soldiers are seen destroying civilian cars with a military vehicle, riding children’s bicycles through the rubble of a destroyed building, and making fun of the lack of water supply in a private home.

A photo shared online shows a soldier standing next to a Hebrew sign spraypainted on a wall in Gaza that says: “Instead of erasing graffiti, let us erase Gaza.”

Dror Sadot, from the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, said the videos are just one symptom of a much bigger issue.

“It’s more than just disrespect and disregard, it’s dehumanization,” she told CNN. “And I think it’s not surprising when you hear what politicians and top officials are saying about Palestinians in Gaza, without differentiating between Hamas and the civilians. It sinks down,” she added.

Sadot said she believed the IDF policy towards Gaza is one of “revenge” for the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7.

The shock of the scale and brutality of the attack reverberated through Israel, a relatively small country with a population of less than 10 million. Many Israelis know someone who was killed, lost a relative or friend or was affected in some other way.

“When it’s been so blatant that Israel is doing much of a revenge act over Gaza, it’s not a surprise that the soldiers are also coming for revenge. Humiliating people and property, taking those videos,” she said.

Israeli society is still overwhelmingly supportive of the IDF and its operation in Gaza, despite the rising number of Israeli casualties, the international opposition, the high civilian death toll and, most recently, videos such as these.

A video posted online shows an Israeli soldier is seen smashing merchandise in a shop in Gaza. - Obtained by CNN

Retired IDF General Israel Ziv told CNN he had seen the videos and was so disturbed by them that he reached out to IDF commanders in charge of the soldiers involved.

“I was (told) that the brigade commander will punish the ones who did that once they stop fighting,” he told CNN.

In its statement to CNN, the IDF said that “disciplinary measures will be taken regarding the soldiers involved.”

Asked for details about the measures, the IDF did not respond to CNN’s questions.

On Thursday, commenting on separate videos that showed Israeli soldiers singing Jewish prayers into the loudspeakers of a mosque in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, the IDF said it had removed those involved from operational activity and they would be “disciplined accordingly.”

CNN’s Gianluca Mezzofiore, Abeer Salman, Alex Marquardt and Michael Conte contributed reporting.

FCC shoots down nearly $1B in Starlink subsidies

Rafi Schwartz, The Week US
Fri, December 15, 2023

Starlink hardware.

For the second time in as many years, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission has rejected an effort by Elon Musk's Starlink internet service provider company to receive nearly $1 billion in government subsidies to expand rural broadband service. The decision, announced this week by the independent government agency tasked with regulating much of the country's media and broadcast infrastructure, reaffirms a 2022 rejection of Starlink's application for over $885 million from the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund program — a more than $20 billion initiative designed to bring high-speed internet to far-flung communities across the country.

Explaining that the agency has a "responsibility to be a good steward of limited public funds," FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel justified this week's rejection, claiming that "careful legal, technical and policy review" had determined Musk's Starlink company had ultimately "failed to meet its burden" to receive the funding. The language echoed Rosenworcel's 2022 assertion that although Starlink "has real promise," it was ultimately a "still developing technology for consumer broadband." Among the FCC's concerns was the "uncertain nature" of Starlink parent company SpaceX's Starship rockets, which have yet to achieve stable orbit.

The decision not to grant Starlink the federal subsidies was not, however, unanimous, with the FCC board's Republican members dissenting. The rejection fits the "Biden administration’s pattern of regulatory harassment" against Musk and his businesses, Senior Republican Commissioner Brendan Carr wrote, claiming that the White House is "choosing to prioritize its political and ideological goals at the expense of connecting Americans."

'Dissolve the program and return funds to taxpayers'

Reaction to the FCC's decision from Musk and his associates was predictably swift and severe, with SpaceX legal chief Christopher Cardaci writing he was "deeply disappointed and perplexed" by the rejection in a letter to the commission obtained by The Verge. Musk himself weighed in on X, formerly Twitter, claiming that Starlink was the "only company actually solving rural broadband at scale!" Without offering specifics, Musk also insisted "they should arguably dissolve the program and return funds to taxpayers, but definitely not send it those who aren't getting the job done." Musk has previously "acknowledged Starlink's capacity limits several times," Ars Technica noted.

Musk's mother, Maye — who often intervenes on her adult son's behalf — also joined the fray, asking President Biden if he has "any idea how furious I am?" and insisting that "people in other countries are proud of Elon."

The FCC had "invoked dubious grounds" to reject Starlink's application, according to The Wall Street Journal's editorial board, which not only agreed with Commissioner Carr's suggestion of political bias against Musk, but raised the prospect of broader industry interference, as well. In rejecting Starlink, the FCC's Democrats may be "doing the bidding of the Communications Workers of America, which represents workers at traditional broadband providers" and whose unionized members would be largely excluded from a Starlink project.

'Experimental special temporary authorization'

Critics of Starlink's rural broadband proposal have long accused the company of wasteful misdirection, by "bidding for the right to serve a large number of very urban areas that the FCC’s broken system deemed eligible for awards," media advocacy group Free Press reported in 2020, at the onset of the project's application process, in which Starlink was initially approved for the subsidies. In particular, the group noted, many of the sites used by Musk in the application were "urban airports, parking lots and dog parks" in densely populated cities.

Other concerns center on the cost to consumers, with TechDirt's Karl Bode pointing out that "Starlink requires a $600 up front equipment fee and costs $110 a month" even as "data consistently shows that affordability is a key obstacle to broadband adoption."

While Starlink's rural broadband subsidy may no longer be a reality, the FCC this week nevertheless went out of its way to approve another of the ISP's proposals, granting SpaceX special dispensation to test its burgeoning cellular data program across the United States. As first reported by PC News, the FCC on Thursday "issued the company an 'experimental special temporary authorization to conduct" a massive test of its ability to use "840 satellites — each one acting as orbiting cell tower— to beam the connectivity to 2,000 test devices on the ground" across more than two dozen locations.